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# Turbulent-like Fluctuations in Quasistatic Flow of Granular Media

## Abstract

We analyze particle velocity fluctuations in a simulated granular system subjected to homogeneous quasistatic shearing. We show that these fluctuations share the following scaling characteristics of fluid turbulence in spite of their different physical origins: 1) Scale-dependent probability distribution with non-Guassian broadening at small time scales; 2) Power-law spectrum, reflecting long-range correlations and the self-affine nature of the fluctuations; 3) Superdiffusion with respect to the mean background flow.

preprint: HEP/123-qed

The key role of fluctuations in quasistatic (QS) flow of granular media has been noted by several authors refering basically to stress fluctuations in time or the inhomogeneous distribution of forces in spacemiller ; radjai . Amazingly, few studies have been reported about the fluctuations of particle velocities under homogeneous strain conditions. These fluctuations have been observed to occur in a correlated fashion, though their scaling properties have not yet been analyzedmisra ; kuhn . Other recent studies concern mainly Couette flows where the strain is localized in the vicinity of the inner rotating cylinderlosert\_bocquet .

Analogies may be drawn with driven multiphase media dominated by steric interactions at the microscopic scale. Rheologically oriented studies of foams, for example, reveal large-scale cell rearrangements and vortex-like structures of the velocity field that control the complex flow behavior of foamsdurian ; debregeas . However, the (capillary) elasticity of cell walls is an important factor that discourages a closer comparison with systems composed of stiff elements such as granular materials. Concentrated suspensions provide a closer analogy in this respect. There exists now convincing evidence based on particle tracking that non-Brownian particles in a sheared fluid at small Reynolds numbers undergo a (kinematic) diffusive motion beyond a concentration-dependent set-in timerouyer ; marchioro .

A much more remote comparison can be made with the field of turbulence. There obviously the physics is fondamentally different from that governing granular media. Nevertheless, the rich body of work devoted to the statistical analysis of the fluctuating part of the velocity field in turbulence provides a suitable framework that can be applied in order to characterize the analogous fluctuating part of the velocity field in a granular medium. To be more concrete, let us consider the following key aspects of turbulent fluctuationsfrisch : 1) Non-Gaussian broadening of the probaility density functions (pdf’s) of velocity differences as a manifestation of small-scale intermittency, 2) Multiscale organization of the velocity field reflected in its power-law spectrum, and 3) Anomalous diffusion pertaining to the Richardson regime. Although deeply rooted in fluid dynamics (Navier-Stokes equations, inertia regime), these scaling features may, in principal, prove to be relevant as well within a different physical context such as granular flows.

Following this route, the objective of this paper is to show that particle velocity fluctuations in a QS granular flow, simulated by means of the molecular dynamics method, exhibit indeed strikingly similar features. A strict analogy with turbulence makes certainly not much sense because of a drastically different physics that underlies these fluctuations. In particular, inertia effects are basically irrelevant in a QS granular flow, and frictional and hard-core inelastic interactions between particles have little in common with molecular interactions in a fluid. But, precisely because of these dissimilarities, the observed analogy in terms of scaling properties is quite nontrivial and it might lead to new insights in both fields. In the following, we first describe the simulated granular system and our procedures of data analysis. Then, we present our main results focussing on the pdf’s, correlations and diffusion, respectively.

The investigated granular model is a two-dimensional assembly of 4000 frictional discs with diameters uniformly distributed between $`D_{min}`$ and $`D_{max}`$ with $`D_{max}=3D_{min}`$. The particles interact through a stiff linear repulsive force as a function of mutual overlaps and the Coulomb friction law. The equations of motion for particle displacements and rotations are integrated by means of a predictor-corrector schemeallen .

An accurate evaluation of the statistics of fluctuations requires long-time homogeneous and steady shearing. However, ordinary wall-type boundary conditions induce a pronounced layering effect and the corners enhance the local frustrations whereby large strain and stress inhomogeneities arise when the box shape changes. System-size inhomogeneities may also occur due to shear localization. In order to circumvent such unwanted effects, we used bi-periodic boundary conditions following a method similar in spirit to that devised by Parrinello and Rahmanparrinello .

In our simulations, the gravity was set to zero and a confining pressure was applied along the $`y`$ direction. The width $`L`$ of the simulation cell was kept constant. The displacement field is decomposed into an affine displacement field $`\delta 𝒓^i(\delta r_x^i,\delta r_y^i)`$ and a fluctuating field $`\delta 𝒔^i(\delta s_x^i,\delta s_y^i)`$ of zero mean ($`\delta 𝒔=0`$) carried by the particles $`i`$. The system is driven by imposing $`\delta r_{x}^{}{}_{}{}^{i}=\delta t\gamma r_y^i`$, where $`\gamma `$ is a constant shear rate and $`\delta t`$ is the time step. In other words, the $`k=0`$ Fourier mode of the total strain is imposed, corresponding to a large scale forcing. This driving mode was applied on a dense packing prepared by isotropic compaction. The height $`H`$ of the packing increases (dilation) in the initial stages of shearing before a homogeneous steady state is reached where $`\delta H/H\delta r_{y}^{}{}_{}{}^{i}/r_y^i`$ fluctuates around zero. The focus of this paper is the field $`\delta 𝒔^i`$ which corresponds to a spatially periodic motion of the particles with respect to the background flow $`\delta 𝒓^i`$.

Although our dynamic simulations involve the physical time, the inertial effects are negligibly small and the granular texture evolves quasistatically at time scales well below $`\gamma ^1`$. We normalize all times by $`\gamma ^1`$ so that the dimensionless time $`t`$ in what follows will actually represent the cumulative shear strain. We will also use the mean particle diameter $`D`$ to scale displacements. As a result, the velocities will be scaled by $`\gamma D`$ and the power spectra in space by $`(D^2\gamma )^2`$. In our simulations the time step was $`\delta t10^7`$ (in dimensionless units), and more than $`2.10^7`$ steps were simulated, corresponding to a total strain larger than $`2`$. The solid fraction and the average coordination number in the steady state were about $`0.8`$ and $`3.8`$, respectively.

It is important to emphasize here that the granular nature of our system does not allow to apply exactly the same procedures of data analysis as in turbulence. Turbulence studies focus mainly on velocity differences $`\delta v`$ measured at a fixed point of a fluid over a time interval $`\tau `$ or between two points separated by a distance $`r`$. In contrast, the particle-scale granular motion involves a discrete displacement field that is carried by individual particles. Thus, our natural framework is Lagrangian rather than Eulerian. These differences are certainly important for a strict one-to-one comparison, but here we basically consider turbulence as a reference field from which we extract tools to characterize granular fluctuations.

Another distinctive feature of granular flow is that, due to collisions, the velocities are discontinuous in time. As the positions are better behaved, we characterize the fluctuating motions of the particles by “tracer” velocities defined from particle displacements $`\delta 𝒔^i`$ by

$$𝒗^i(t,t+\tau )=\frac{1}{\tau }_t^{t+\tau }\delta 𝒔^i(t^{})𝑑t^{}$$
(1)
where $`\tau `$ is the time resolution. Since we are concerned with steady flow, the statistical properties of $`𝒗`$ (pdf’s, correlations) are independent of $`t`$ (though, as shown below, they crucially depend on $`\tau `$). Hence, accurate statistics can be obtained by cumulating the data from different time slices of a single simulation running for a long time.

Fig. 1 shows a snapshot of fluctuating velocities $`𝒗^i`$ for a short time lag $`\tau =10^7`$. We see that large-scale well-organized displacements coexist with a strongly inhomogeneous distribution of amplitudes and directions on different scales. Eddy-like structures (though without the singular vorticity concentrated in the core of these eddies) appear quite frequently, but they survive typically for strains $`\tau `$ less than $`10^3`$. After such short times, large-scale eddies break down and new (statistically uncorrelated) structures appear. This behaviour is radically different from turbulence where the eddies survive long enough to undergo a significant distortion due to fluid motionfrisch .

We consider now the pdf’s of the components $`v_x^i(t,t+\tau )`$ and $`v_y^i(t,t+\tau )`$ as a function of time resolution $`\tau `$. The pdf’s of $`v_y^i`$ are shown in Fig.2 for a short integration time $`\tau =10^3`$, and for a long integration time $`\tau =10^1`$. The pdf has changed from a nearly Gaussian shape at large $`\tau `$ to a non-Gaussian shape with broad stretched exponential tails extending nearly to the center of the distribution at small $`\tau `$. We found no simple form allowing to fit the non-Gaussian pdf over the whole velocity range.

In order to characterize this non-Gaussian broadening of the pdf’s as a function of $`\tau `$, we calculated the flatness $`F=v_y^4/v_y^23`$, which is zero for a Gaussian distribution and $`3`$ for a purely exponential distribution. The values of $`F`$ as a function of $`\tau `$, shown in Fig.3, are consistent with zero at large $`\tau `$ ($`\tau >0.2`$) and rises to $`5`$ for our finest time resolution ($`\tau =10^7`$). A strictly similar behaviour was observed for the component $`v_x`$.

The broadening of the exponential tails of the pdf’s at increasingly smaller scales is a hallmark of fully developped turbulence (for velocity differences)vincent . It is attributed to the phenomenon of intermittency, i.e. strong localized energy transfers at small scales. In a QS granular flow, the basic physical mechanism underlying the fluctuations is the mismatch of the uniform strain field applied at the boundaries or in the bulk, with mutual exclusions of the particles. As a result, the local strains deviate from the mean (global) strain. The observation of a transition toward a Gaussian distribution for large time lags is a sign of loss of correlation and/or exhaustion of large fluctuations in the increment of displacement which occur at different times. Unfortunately, the rich multifractal scaling of velocity fluctuations is out of reach within the present investigation due to demanding statisticsbenzi . The analogy with turbulence, however, suggests further study along such routes.

In order to quantify the extent of these correlations, we estimated the power spectrum $`E`$ of velocity fluctuations both along and perpendicular to the flow and at different times. The Fourier transform was performed over the fluctuating velocity field defined on a fine grid by interpolating the velocities from particle centers. The power spectra were quite similar along and perpendicular to the flow, and for different snapshots of the flow. The averaged one-dimensional spectrum is shown in Fig.4. It has a clear power-law shape $`k^\beta `$ ranging from the smallest wavenumber $`k=D/L`$, corresponding to scale $`L`$, up to a cut-off around $`k=0.5`$, corresponding to nearly two particle diameters. The exponent is $`\beta 1.245/4`$ over one decade (to be compared with the exponent $`5/3`$ as a hallmark of 3D turbulence for the spectrum of velocity differences). This means in practice that the fluctuating velocity field is self-affine with a Hurst exponent $`H=(\beta 1)/2=0.12`$feder .

Due to the peculiar behavior of the velocity field (discontinuous in time), one might expect that the power spectrum is sensitive to the time resolution $`\tau `$. However, we checked that the value of $`\beta `$ is independent of $`\tau `$. It is also noteworthy that, the presence of long range correlations in displacements, reflected in the value of $`\beta `$, is in strong contrast with the observed correlation lengths of nearly $`10D`$ for contact forcesradjai .

The long-time behaviour may be studied by considering the effective diffusion of the particles. Normal diffusion implies that the root-mean-square (rms) relative displacements $`\lambda `$ in a given direction varies in proportion to the square root of time. In 3D fluid turbulence at high Reynolds numbers, the long-time pair diffusivity of suspended particles is anomalous, following the Richardson law $`\lambda \tau ^{3/2}`$. This superdiffusion law reflects the Kolmogorov-Obukhov velocity spectrum $`v_\lambda \lambda ^{1/3}`$, where $`v_\lambda =\lambda (\tau )/\tau `$ is the characteristic velocity difference over a distance $`\lambda `$frisch ; isichenko .

We analyzed the kinematic diffusion of single particles in our QS granular flow. One example of a single particle trajectory with respect to the background strain is shown in Fig.5. We see that the fluctuating displacement is of the order of the mean particle diameter for a strain of the order of unity. Fig.6 shows the rms relative displacement $`\lambda (\tau )`$ of all particle pairs initially in contact, as a function of time along $`x`$ and $`y`$ directions. This clearly corresponds to a superdiffusion behaviour,

$$\lambda \tau ^\alpha ,$$
(2)
with $`\alpha 0.9`$ for both components over nearly $`3`$ decades of strain. Particle self-diffusivities exhibit a similar law. Since large-scale structures are short lived, anomalous diffusion scaling in our granular system can not be solely attributed to velocity correlations. This behaviour reveals, above all, the long-time configurational memory of a granular medium in QS flow.

We note that Fig.6 shows no anisotropy for the diffusion. In fact, the steric exclusion effects dominate over the large-scale strain field for small diffusive displacements (one particle diameter, corresponding to $`2\%`$ of the cell size in our simulations), and hence the anisotropy may be weak at such scales. Moreover, we observe no crossover to normal scaling within the investigated strain range. We cannot exclude that for larger strains, when two particles are more widely separated, a normal diffusion law is recovered. However, this would require extremely long computations, and, experimentally, strains of the order of unity are already above standard tests.

In summary, we analyzed fluctuating particle displacements with respect to the background quasistatic shear flow in a model granular medium. These fluctuations were shown to have the following scaling charactersitics: 1) The pdf’s undergo a transition from streched exponential to gaussian as the time lag is increased; 2) The power spectrum (in space) of the velocity field obeys a power law, reflecting long range correlations and the self-affine nature of the fluctuations; 3) The fluctuating displacements have a superdiffusive character. These observations contradict somehow the conventional wisdom which disregards kinematic fluctuations in macroscopic modelling of plastic flow in granular media. Several basic aspects of quasistatic granular flow (elementary representative volumes, mean field approximation, memory effects, mixing) are thus concerned by these findingsroux .

There appears an evident analogy with the scaling features of turbulence that was also discussed throughout this paper. Of course, this analogy does not imply that a QS granular flow can be considered as turbulent in the standard sense of fluid dynamics. In particular, because of the fundamentally different origin of granular fluctuations, a direct reference to the underlying physics of turbulence can be misleading. But, the observed analogy in terms of scaling characteristics is consistent enough to upgrade kinematic fluctuations in quasistatic granular flows to the rank of a systematic phenomenology which could be coined by the term “granulence” as compared to “turbulence” in fluids.

Interestingly, this analogy works with three-dimensional turbulence although our data concern a two-dimensional granular flow. The energy cascade in turbulence is governed by inertia, and two- and three-dimensional systems do differ significantly in this respect. In quasistatic granular flow, the fluctuating velocity field is a consequence of the geometrical compatibility of the strain with particle arrangements, and dissipation is mainly governed by friction at the particle scale. The difference between two- and three-dimensional systems may thus be less crucial, but it was not investigated in the present work. Quite independently of its physical origins, this analogy is suggestive enough to be used as a promising strategy towards a refined probabilistic description of granular flow in the plastic regime.

It is a great pleasure to acknowledge N. Schorghofer for his careful reading of the manuscript and valuable comments about this work, as well as J.E. Wesfreid and T. Witten for very interesting discussions.


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The Coupled Map Lattice (CML) was introduced as a simple model capturing the essential features of nonlinear dynamics of extended systems . Over the past decade research centred around CML has yielded suggestive conceptual models of spatiotemporal phenomena, in fields ranging from biology to engineering. In particular, this class of systems is of considerable interest in modelling phenomena as diverse as josephson junction arrays, multimode lasers, vortex dynamics, and even evolutionary biology. The ubiquity of distributed complex systems has made the CML a focus of sustained research interest.

A very well-studied coupling form in CMLs is nearest neighbour coupling. While this regular network is the chosen topology of innumerable studies, there are strong reasons to re-visit this fundamental issue in the light of the fact that some degree of randomness in spatial coupling can be closer to physical reality than strict nearest neighbour scenarios. In fact many systems of biological, technological and physical significance are better described by randomising some fraction of the regular links \[2-7\]. So here we will study the spatiotemporal dynamics of CMLs with some of its coupling connections rewired randomly, i.e. an extended system comprised of a collection of elemental dynamical units with varying degrees of randomness in its spatial connections.

Specifically we consider a one-dimensional ring of coupled logistic maps. The sites are denoted by integers $`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$, where $`N`$ is the linear size of the lattice. On each site is defined a continuous state variable denoted by $`x_n(i)`$, which corresponds to the physical variable of interest. The evolution of this lattice, under standard nearest neighbour interactions, in discrete time $`n`$ is given by

$$x_{n+1}(i)=(1ϵ)f(x_n(i))+\frac{ϵ}{2}\{x_n(i+1)+x_n(i1)\}$$
(1)
The strength of coupling is given by $`ϵ`$. The local on-site map is chosen to be the fully chaotic logistic map: $`f(x)=4x(1x)`$. This map has widespread relevance as a prototype of low dimensional chaos.

Now we will consider the above system with its coupling connections rewired randomly in varying degrees, and try to determine what dynamical properties are significantly affected by the way connections are made between elements. In our study, at every update we will connect a fraction $`p`$ of randomly chosen sites in the lattice, to 2 other random sites, instead of their nearest neighbours as in Eqn. 1. That is, we will replace a fraction $`p`$ of nearest neighbour links by random connections. The case of $`p=0`$ corresponds to the usual nearest neighbour interaction, while $`p=1`$, corresponds to completely random coupling \[2-7\].

This scenario is much like small world networks at low $`p`$, namely $`p0.01`$. Note however that we explore the full range of $`p`$ here. In our work $`0p1`$. So the study is inclusive of, but not confined to, small world networks.

## 2 Numerical Results

We will now present numerical evidence that random rewiring has a pronounced effect on spatiotemporal synchronisation. The numerical results here have been obtained by sampling a large set of random initial conditions ($`10^4`$), and with lattice sizes ranging from $`10`$ to $`1000`$.

Figs. 1 and 2 display the state of the network, $`x_n(i),i=1,\mathrm{}N`$, with respect to coupling strength $`ϵ`$, for the limiting cases of nearest neighbour interactions (i.e. $`p=0`$) and completely random coupling (i.e. $`p=1`$). It is clearly seen that the standard nearest neighbour coupling does not yield a spatiotemporal fixed point anywhere in the entire coupling range $`0ϵ1`$ .

Now the effect of introducing some random connections, i.e. $`p>0`$, is to create windows in parameter space where a spatiotemporal fixed point state gains stability, i.e. where one finds all lattice sites synchronised at $`x_n(i)=x^{}=3/4`$, for all sites $`i`$ and at all times $`n`$. Note that $`x^{}=f(x^{})`$ is the fixed point solution of the individual chaotic maps, and is strongly unstable in the local chaotic map. We then have for all $`p>0`$, a stable region of synchronised fixed points in the parameter interval: $`ϵ_{bifr}ϵ1.0`$. The value of $`ϵ_{bifr}`$, where the spatiotemporally invariant state onsets, is dependent on $`p`$. It is evident from Fig. 2 that $`ϵ_{bifr}`$ for completely random coupling $`p=1`$ is around $`0.62`$.

The relationship between the fraction of rewired connections $`p`$ and the range, $`=(1ϵ_{bifr})`$, within which spatiotemporal homogeniety is obtained, is displayed in Fig. 3. It is clearly evident that unlike nearest neighbour coupling, random coupling leads to large parameter regimes of regular homogeneous behaviour, with all lattice sites synchronised exactly at $`x(i)=x^{}=0.75`$. Furthermore the synchronised spatiotemporal fixed point gains stability over some finite parameter range under any finite $`p`$, i.e. whenever $`p>0`$, however small, we have $`>0`$. In that sense strictly nearest neighbour coupling is singular as it does not support spatiotemporal synchronisation anywhere in coupling parameter space, whereas any degree of randomness in spatial coupling connections opens up a synchronised fixed point window. Thus random connections yield spatiotemporal homogeneity here, while completely regular connections never do.

The relationship between $`ϵ_{bifr}`$, the point of onset of the spatiotemporal fixed phase, and $`p`$ is shown in Fig. 4. Note that for $`p<0.1`$ random rewiring does not affect $`ϵ_{bifr}`$ much. Only after $`p0.1`$ does $`ϵ_{bifr}`$ fall appreciably. Further, it is clearly evident that for $`0.1<p1`$ the lower end of the stability range falls with increasing $`p`$ as a well defined power law. Note that lattice size has very little effect on $`ϵ_{bifr}`$, and the numerically obtained $`ϵ_{bifr}`$ for ensembles of initial random initial conditions over a range of lattice sizes $`N=10,50,100`$ and $`500`$ fall quite indistinguishably around each other.

The robust spatiotemporal fixed point supported by random coupling may have significant ramifications. It has immediate relevance to the important problem of controlling/synchronising extended chaotic systems . Obtaining spatiotemporal synchronisation by introducing some random spatial connections may have practical utility in the control of large interactive systems. The regularising effect of random coupling may then help to devise control methods for spatially extended interactive systems, as well as suggest natural regularising mechanisms in physical and biological systems.

## 3 Analytical Results

We shall now analyse this system to account for the much enhanced stability of the homogeneous phase under random connections. The only possible solution for a spatiotemporally synchronized state here is one where all $`x_n(i)=x^{}`$, and $`x^{}=f(x^{})`$ is the fixed point solution of the local map. For the case of the logistic map $`x^{}=4x^{}(1x^{})=3/4`$.

To calculate the stability of the lattice with all sites at $`x^{}`$ we will construct an average probabilistic evolution rule for the sites, which becomes a sort of mean field version of the dynamics. Some effects due to fluctuations are lost, but as a first approximation we have found this approach qualitatively right, and quantitatively close to to the numerical results as well.

We take into account the following: all sites have probability $`p`$ of being coupled to random sites, and probability $`(1p)`$ of being wired to nearest neighbours. Then the averaged evolution equation of a site $`j`$ is

$$x_{n+1}(j)=(1ϵ)f(x_n(j))+(1p)\frac{ϵ}{2}\left\{x_n(j+1)+x_n(j1)\right\}+p\frac{ϵ}{2}\left\{x_n(\xi )+x_n(\eta )\right\}$$
(2)
where $`\xi `$ and $`\eta `$ are random integers between $`1`$ and $`N`$.

To calculate the stability of the coherent state, we perform the usual linearization. Replacing $`x_n(j)=x^{}+h_n(j)`$, and expanding to first order gives

$`h_{n+1}(j)=(1ϵ)f^{}(x^{})h_n(j)`$ $`+`$ $`(1p){\displaystyle \frac{ϵ}{2}}\left\{h_n(j+1)+h_n(j1)\right\}`$
$`+`$ $`p{\displaystyle \frac{ϵ}{2}}\left\{h_n(\xi )+h_n(\eta )\right\}`$
$`(1ϵ)f^{}(x^{})h_n(j)`$ $`+`$ $`(1p){\displaystyle \frac{ϵ}{2}}\left\{h_n(j+1)+h_n(j1)\right\}`$
as to a first approximation one can consider the sum over the fluctuations of the random neighbours to be zero. This approximation is clearly more valid for small $`p`$.

For stability considerations one can diagonalize the above expression using a Fourier transform ($`h_n(j)=_q\varphi _n(q)\mathrm{exp}(ijq)`$, where $`q`$ is the wavenumber and $`j`$ is the site index), which finally leads us to the following growth equation:

$$\frac{\varphi _{n+1}}{\varphi _n}=f^{}(x^{})(1ϵ)+ϵ(1p)\mathrm{cos}q$$
(4)
with $`q`$ going from $`0`$ to $`\pi `$. Clearly the stabilisation condition will depend on the nature of the local map $`f(x)`$ through the term $`f^{}(x)`$ in Eqn. 4. Considering the fully chaotic logistic map with $`f^{}(x^{})=2`$, one finds that the growth coefficient that appears in this formula is smaller than one in magnitude if and only if

$$\frac{1}{1+p}<ϵ<1$$
(5)
i.e.

$$ϵ_{bifr}=\frac{1}{1+p}$$
(6)
and the range of stability $``$ is

$$=1\frac{1}{1+p}=\frac{p}{1+p}$$
(7)
For small $`p`$ ($`p<<1`$) standard expansion gives

$$p$$
(8)
The usual case of regular nearest neighbour couplings, $`p=0`$, gives a null range, as the upper and lower limits of the range coincide. When all connections are random, i.e. $`p=1`$ the largest stable range is obtained, and the lower end of the stable window $`ϵ_{bifr}`$ is minimum, with $`ϵ_{bifr}=1/2`$. So stability analysis also clearly dictates that enhanced stability of the homogeneous phase must occur under random connections, just as numerical evidence shows.

Fig. 3 exhibits both the analytical expression of Eq.(7) and the numerically obtained points for comparison. It is clear that for small $`p`$ the numerically obtained $`p`$ is in complete agreement with the analytical formula. But for higher $`p`$ some deviation is discernable, as the ignored effect of the fluctuating contributions from random neighbours is weighted by $`p`$, and hence more pronounced for large $`p`$. Here the numerically obtained result goes as

$$ϵ_{bifr}p^\varphi $$
(9)
for $`0.1<p1`$, with $`\varphi 0.2`$ (see Figs. 4 and 7).

Note that when $`p<0.1`$ the effect on $`ϵ_{bifr}`$ is not significant. Only when $`0.1<p1`$ does $`ϵ_{bifr}`$ fall appreciably. So connecting elements in a small world network is not sufficient to make much difference to the onset of the stable spatiotemporally synchronised state .

## 4 Results from Other Models

In order to examine the range of applicability of this phenomena we have examined coupled tent maps and coupled sine circle maps as well. In the case of coupled tent maps the local map in Eqn. 1 is given as

$$f(x)=12|x1/2|$$
(10)
The tent map has an unstable fixed point at $`x^{}=2/3`$, with local slope $`f^{}(x^{})=2`$. For coupled circle map networks the local map in Eqn. 1 is given as

$$f=x+\mathrm{\Omega }\frac{K}{2\pi }\mathrm{sin}(2\pi x)$$
(11)
and Eqn. 1 is taken $`mod1`$. In the representative example chosen here the parameters of the circle map are $`\mathrm{\Omega }=0,K=3`$. Here too the local map has a strongly unstable fixed point at $`x^{}=\frac{1}{2\pi }\mathrm{sin}^1(\mathrm{\Omega }/K)`$, with $`f^{}(x^{})=2`$. Numerics very clearly show that both these systems yield the same phenomena as logistic maps, namely, one obtains a stable range for spatiotemporal synchronisation on random rewiring (see Figs. 5 and 6 for the limiting cases of $`p=0`$ and $`p=1`$ in coupled circle maps).

Since the $`f^{}(x^{})`$ of both the tent map and the circle map above is $`2`$, we expect from our analysis (Eqn. 4) that their $`ϵ_{bifr}`$ and $``$ will be the same as for logistic maps. This is indeed exactly true, as is evident from Fig. 7 which displays the point of onset of spatiotemporal synchronisation for all three cases. In fact the numerically obtained $`ϵ_{bifr}`$ values for ensembles of coupled tent, circle and logistic maps fall indistinguishably around each other, even for high $`p`$ where Eqn. 4 is expected to be less accurate.

Additionally one can infer from the stability analysis above, how strongly unstable the local maps can possibly be while still allowing random connections to stabilise the spatiotemporal fixed point. From Eqn. 4 it follows that the onset of spatiotemporal regularity is governed by the condition

$$|f^{}(x^{})|<\frac{1ϵ+ϵp}{1ϵ}=1+\frac{ϵp}{1ϵ}$$
(12)
Clearly then, locally unstable maps with $`|f^{}(x^{})|>1`$ can be stabilised by any finite $`p`$, i.e. by any degree of randomness in the coupling connections. As coupling strength $`ϵ`$ and fraction of rewiring $`p`$ increases, maps with increasingly unstable fixed points can be synchronised stably by random rewiring. For regular coupling ($`p=0`$) on the other hand the local instability can only be as large as $`1`$, i.e. if and only if the local components possess stable fixed points can their network be stabilised at spatiotemporal fixed points, as numerics have already shown.

Lastly, in certain contexts, especially neuronal scenarios, the randomness in coupling may be static. In the presence of such quenched randomness in the couplings, once again one obtains a stable range $``$ for spatiotemporal synchronisation. But unlike dynamical rewiring where the $``$ is independent of the size and initial preparation of the lattice and its connections, here there is a spread in the values of $``$ obtained from different (static) realisations of the random connections. Futhermore, this distribution of $``$ is dependent on the size of network. For instance, on an average, networks of size $`N=10`$ with fully random static connections ($`p=1`$) yield $`ϵ_{bifr}0.75`$ and those of size $`N=100`$ yield $`ϵ_{bifr}0.85`$, as opposed to $`ϵ_{bifr}0.62`$ obtained for all $`N`$ for dynamically updated random connections. Fig. 8 displays the average range $`<>`$ with respect to network size $`N`$, indicative of clear scaling behaviour:

$$<>N^\nu $$
(13)
with $`\nu 0.24`$. This suggests that the range narrows slowly with increasing network size. So, while in the limit of infinite lattices there will be no spatiotemporal synchronisation, for finite networks static randomness will lead to stable windows of spatiotemporal synchronisation.

This behaviour can be understood by a examining the linear stability of the homogeneous solution: $`x_n(j)=x^{}`$ for all sites $`j`$ at all times $`n`$. For instance for the case of fully random static connections $`p=1`$, considering the dynamics of small perturbations over the network one obtains the transfer matrix connecting the perturbation vectors at successive times to be a sum of a $`N\times N`$ diagonal matrix, with entries $`(1ϵ)f^{}(x^{})`$, and $`ϵ/2\times 𝐂`$ where $`𝐂`$ is a $`N\times N`$ sparse non-symmetric matrix with two random entries of $`1`$ on each row. Now the minimum of the real part of the eigenvalues of $`𝐂`$, $`\lambda _{\mathrm{min}}`$, crucially governs the stability. Typically $`ϵ_{bifr}=2/\{\lambda _{\mathrm{min}}+4\}`$ when $`f^{}(x^{})=2`$. Now the values of $`\lambda _{\mathrm{min}}`$ obtained from different static realisations of the connectivity matrix $`𝐂`$ are distributed differently for different sizes $`N`$. For small $`N`$ this distribution is broad and has less negative averages ($`1`$). On the other hand for large $`N`$ the distribution gets narrower and tends towards the limiting value of $`2`$. This results in a larger range of stability, and greater spread in $`ϵ_{bifr}`$ for small networks. In fact for small $`N`$, certain static realisations yield a larger range of stability ($`1/2`$) than dynamic rewiring.

## 5 Conclusions

In summary then, we have shown that random rewiring of spatial connections has a pronounced effect on spatiotemporal synchronisation. In fact strictly nearest neighbour coupling is not generic, in that it does not support any spatiotemporal fixed point phase, while the smallest degree of random rewiring has the effect of creating a window of spatiotemporal invariance in coupling parameter space. Further the regularising effect of random connections can be understood from stability analysis of the probabilistic evolution equation for the system, and approximate analytical expressions for the range and onset of spatiotemporal synchronisation have been obtained. The key observation that random coupling regularises may then help to devise control methods for spatially extended interactive systems, as well as suggest natural regularising mechanisms in physical and biological systems.

Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Neelima Gupte for many stimulating discussions and ideas on the subject.


text:
# Quantum Entanglement of Moving Bodies

## Abstract

We study the properties of quantum information and quantum entanglement in moving frames, and show that the entanglement between the spins and the momenta of two particles become mixed when viewed by a moving observer. A pair of particles that is entangled in spin but not momentum in one reference frame, may, in another frame, be entangled in momentum at the expense of spin-entanglement. Similarly, entanglement between momenta may be transferred to spin under a Lorentz transformation. While spin and momentum entanglement each is not Lorentz invariant, the joint entanglement of the wave function is.

Mostly, theories in physics are born out of necessity, but not always. The thermodynamics of moving bodies for example (relativistic thermodynamics) was a hotly contested topic without resolution  (but see ) mostly because no experiment required it. As a side-effect, it was learned that the temperature concept in relativistic thermodynamics is ambiguous simply because radiation that is perfectly black-body in an inertial frame is not thermal if viewed from a moving frame . This is an interesting result for information theory , however, since if probability distributions can depend on the inertial frame, then so can Shannon entropy and information. Even more interesting are the consequences for quantum information theory, where quantum entanglement plays the role of the primary resource in quantum computation and communication . Relativistic quantum information theory may become a necessary theory in the near future, with possible applications to quantum teleportation  entanglement-enhanced communication , quantum clock synchronization, and quantum-enhanced global positioning .

Entanglement is a property unique to quantum systems. Two systems (microscopic particles or even macroscopic bodies ) are said to be quantum entangled if they are described by a joint wave function that cannot be written as a product of wave functions of each of the subsystems (or, for mixed states, if a density matrix cannot be written as a weighted sum of product density matrices). The subsystems can be said not to have a state of their own, even though they may be arbitrarily far apart. The entanglement produces correlations between the subsystems that go beyond what is classically possible . It is this feature that enables quantum communication protocols such as teleportation and super-dense coding. However, the preparation, sharing, and purification of entanglement is usually a complicated and expensive process that requires great care. It is therefore of some importance to understand all those processes that might affect quantum entanglement (in particular those processes that lead to decoherence). It was shown recently that Lorentz boosts can affect the marginal entropy of a single quantum spin . Here, we determine that the entanglement between two systems depends on the frame in which this entanglement is measured. We show that a fully entangled spin-1/2 system (a Bell state) loses entanglement if observed by a Lorentz-boosted observer. Thus, Lorentz boosts introduce a transfer of entanglement between degrees of freedom, that could be used for entanglement manipulation. While the entanglement between spin or momentum alone may change due to Lorentz boosts, the entanglement of the entire wave function (spin and momentum) is invariant.

In order to define the momentum eigenstates for a massive particle with spin, we start by defining the rest frame eigenstates

$`P^\mu |\mathrm{𝟎}\lambda `$ $`=`$ $`|\mathrm{𝟎}\lambda p_0^\mu ,`$ (1)
$`𝐉^2|\mathrm{𝟎}\lambda `$ $`=`$ $`|\mathrm{𝟎}\lambda s(s+1),`$ (2)
$`J_z|\mathrm{𝟎}\lambda `$ $`=`$ $`|\mathrm{𝟎}\lambda \lambda ,`$ (3)
where $`p_0^\mu =(m,\mathrm{𝟎})`$, $`s`$ is the total angular momentum of the particle, and $`\lambda `$ is the $`z`$ component of angular momentum. Since the particle is at rest, $`s`$ and $`\lambda `$ are the spin and the $`z`$ component of the spin for the particle respectively.

We define a momentum state by acting on the rest frame state with a pure Lorentz boost

$$|𝐩\lambda L(\xi _𝐩)|\mathrm{𝟎}\lambda .$$
(4)
where $`L(\xi _𝐩)`$ is a boost such that

$$L(\xi _𝐩)(m,\mathrm{𝟎})=(\sqrt{𝐩^2+m^2},𝐩)$$
(5)
where the rapidity, $`\xi _𝐩`$, is given by

$`\mathrm{sinh}|\xi _𝐩|`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{|𝐩|}{m}}`$ (6)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\xi _𝐩}{|\xi _𝐩|}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{𝐩}{|𝐩|}}.`$ (7)
In what follows, we use $`𝐩`$ to represent the 4-vector $`(\sqrt{𝐩^2+m^2},𝐩)`$ unless it is ambiguous.

The effect of an arbitrary Lorentz transformation $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ (rotation and boost) on a momentum eigenstate is

$`\mathrm{\Lambda }|𝐩\lambda `$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Lambda }L(\xi _𝐩)|\mathrm{𝟎}\lambda `$ (8)
$`=`$ $`L(\xi _{\mathrm{\Lambda }𝐩})L(\xi _{\mathrm{\Lambda }𝐩})^1\mathrm{\Lambda }L(\xi _𝐩)|\mathrm{𝟎}\lambda .`$ (9)
Since $`L(\xi _{\mathrm{\Lambda }𝐩})^1\mathrm{\Lambda }L(\xi _𝐩)`$ leaves $`\mathrm{𝟎}`$ invariant it must be a rotation. These rotations are called the Wigner rotations $`R(\mathrm{\Lambda },𝐩)`$, and they act only on the rest frame spin component $`\lambda `$. Hence, we can write

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }|𝐩\lambda =\underset{\lambda ^{}}{}|\mathrm{\Lambda }𝐩\lambda ^{}D_{\lambda ^{},\lambda }^{(s)}(R(\mathrm{\Lambda },𝐩)),$$
(10)
where $`D_{\lambda ^{},\lambda }^{(s)}(R)`$ is the spin $`s`$ representation of the rotation $`R`$. Here, we restrict ourselves to $`s=1/2`$, but the generalization to larger spins is straightforward. For a review of momentum eigenstates and spin, see . Since a local unitary transformation will not affect any measure of entanglement , the unitary transformation $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ on the infinite dimensional space of momentum and rest frame spin will not change the entanglement between two particles provided we do not trace out a part of the wavefunction. However, in looking at the entanglement between spins, tracing out over the momentum is implied.

The wavefunction for two massive spin-1/2 particles can be written as

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }_{AA^{}BB^{}}=\underset{\lambda \sigma }{}g_{\lambda \sigma }(𝐩,𝐪)|𝐩\lambda _{AA^{}}|𝐪\sigma _{BB^{}}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{d}}𝐩\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{d}}𝐪,$$
(11)
where $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{d}}𝐩`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{d}}𝐪`$ are the Lorentz-invariant momentum integration measures given by

$$\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{d}}𝐩\frac{\mathrm{d}^3𝐩}{2\sqrt{𝐩^2+m^2}}$$
(12)
and the functions $`g_{\lambda \sigma }(𝐩,𝐪)`$ must satisfy

$$\underset{\lambda \sigma }{}|g_{\lambda \sigma }(𝐩,𝐪)|^2\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{d}}𝐩\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{d}}𝐪=1.$$
(13)
To an observer in a frame Lorentz transformed by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^1`$ the state $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_{AA^{}BB^{}}`$ appears to be transformed by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Using Eq. (10), and a change of variables for $`𝐩`$, $`𝐪`$, $`\lambda `$ and $`\sigma `$, $`g_{\lambda \sigma }(𝐩,𝐪)`$ goes through the following transformation

$$g_{\lambda \sigma }(𝐩,𝐪)\underset{\lambda ^{}\sigma ^{}}{}U_{\lambda ,\lambda ^{}}^{(\mathrm{\Lambda }^1𝐩)}U_{\sigma ,\sigma ^{}}^{(\mathrm{\Lambda }^1𝐪)}g_{\lambda ^{}\sigma ^{}}(\mathrm{\Lambda }^1𝐩,\mathrm{\Lambda }^1𝐪)$$
(14)
where we defined

$$U_{\lambda ,\lambda ^{}}^{(𝐩)}D_{\lambda ,\lambda ^{}}^{(\frac{1}{2})}(R(\mathrm{\Lambda },𝐩))$$
(15)
for compactness of notation. The Lorentz transformation can be viewed as a unitary operation, $`R(\mathrm{\Lambda },𝐩)`$, conditioned on $`𝐩`$ acting on the spin, followed by a boost $`𝐩\mathrm{\Lambda }𝐩`$ on the momentum represented by the circuit diagram in fig. 1.

By writing $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_{AA^{}BB^{}}`$ as a density matrix and tracing over the momentum degrees of freedom, the entanglement between $`A`$ and $`B`$, (that is, between the spin-degrees of freedom) can be obtained by calculating Wootters’s concurrence

$$C(\rho _{AB})=\mathrm{max}\{\lambda _1\lambda _2\lambda _3\lambda _4,0\},$$
(16)
where $`\{\lambda _1,\lambda _2,\lambda _3,\lambda _4\}`$ are the square roots of the eigenvalues of the matrix $`\rho _{AB}\stackrel{~}{\rho }_{AB}`$, and $`\stackrel{~}{\rho }_{AB}`$ is the “time-reversed” matrix

$$\stackrel{~}{\rho }_{AB}=(\sigma _y\sigma _y)\rho _{AB}^{}(\sigma _y\sigma _y).$$
(17)
The first step in calculating the Lorentz transformed concurrence is to find an explicit form for $`U_{\lambda ,\lambda ^{}}^{(𝐩)}`$. Since any Lorentz transformation $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ can be written as a rotation $`R(𝚯)`$ followed by a boost $`L(\xi )`$ (see also Eq. (8)) it is clear that for a pure rotation, $`U_{\lambda ,\lambda ^{}}^{(𝐩)}`$ does not depend on $`𝐩`$. Hence, tracing over the momentum after a rotation will not change the concurrence. Therefore, we can look only at pure boosts, and without loss of generality we may choose boosts in the $`z`$-direction. Writing the momentum 4-vector in polar coordinates as

$$𝐩=[E,p\mathrm{cos}(\theta )\mathrm{sin}(\varphi ),p\mathrm{sin}(\theta )\mathrm{sin}(\varphi ),p\mathrm{cos}(\varphi )],$$
(18)
we obtain

$$U^{(𝐩)}=\left[\begin{array}{cc}\alpha & \beta e^{i\theta }\\ \beta e^{i\theta }& \alpha \end{array}\right],$$
(19)
where

$`\alpha `$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{E+m}{E^{}+m}}}\left[\mathrm{cosh}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\xi }{2}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{p\mathrm{cos}(\varphi )}{(E+m)}}\mathrm{sinh}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\xi }{2}}\right)\right],`$ (20)
$`\beta `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{p\mathrm{sin}(\varphi )}{\sqrt{(E+m)(E^{}+m)}}}\mathrm{sinh}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\xi }{2}}\right),`$ (21)
and

$$E^{}=E\mathrm{cosh}(\xi )+p\mathrm{cos}(\varphi )\mathrm{sinh}(\xi ).$$
(22)
Here we use $`\xi =|\xi |`$ as the rapidity of the boost in the $`z`$ direction.

For momentum distributions in this letter we use a “relativistic gaussian” with width $`\sigma _r`$

$$f(𝐩)=\sqrt{\frac{1}{N(\sigma _r)}\mathrm{exp}(\frac{p^2}{2\sigma _r^2})},$$
(23)
which differs from the standard gaussian only in the normalization $`N(\sigma _r)`$, chosen in accordance with (12).

For a spin Bell state $`|\varphi ^+`$ with momenta in a product gaussian, we have

$$g_{\lambda \sigma }(𝐩,𝐪)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\delta _{\lambda \sigma }f(𝐩)f(𝐪).$$
(24)
Boosting this state, we move some of the spin entanglement to the momentum. Tracing out the momentum from the Lorentz-transformed density matrix destroys some of the entanglement, and hence the concurrence in the moving frame diminishes. The change in concurrence depends only on the ratio $`\sigma _r/m`$ and $`\xi `$. Figure 2 shows the concurrence vs. rapidity $`\xi `$, for $`\sigma _r/m=1`$ and $`4`$. The decrease from the maximum value (the concurrence is one for Bell states) documents the boost-induced decoherence of the spin entanglement.

In the limit $`\xi \mathrm{}`$ (boost to the speed of light), the concurrence saturates, i.e., it reaches a constant value that depends on the mass of the particles and the shape of the momentum distribution. In this particular example, it depends on the ratio $`\sigma _r/m`$. The saturation level decreases as $`\sigma _r/m`$ increases until $`\sigma _r/m3.377`$ when the saturation level becomes zero. Note that in the limit of “pure” momentum states (plane waves), the spins undergo local unitary rotations but entanglement transfer does not occur, as was observed in . The reason for the saturation can be seen by examining (19) in the limit $`\xi \mathrm{}`$

$`\underset{\xi \mathrm{}}{lim}\alpha `$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{E+m}{2(E+p\mathrm{cos}(\varphi ))}}}\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{p\mathrm{cos}(\varphi )}{E+m}}\right)`$ (25)
$`\underset{\xi \mathrm{}}{lim}\beta `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{p\mathrm{sin}(\varphi )}{\sqrt{2(E+m)(E+p\mathrm{cos}(\varphi ))}}}.`$ (26)
The parameter $`\beta `$ represents the amount of rotation due to the boost. If we maximize $`\beta `$ with respect to $`\varphi `$ we obtain

$$\beta \frac{\frac{p}{m}}{1+\sqrt{1+\left(\frac{p}{m}\right)^2}},$$
(27)
which is a monotonically increasing function of $`p/m`$. For a particle of mass $`m`$ and magnitude of momentum $`p`$, Eq. (27) represents the maximal amount of rotation due to a boost. By increasing $`\sigma _r/m`$ in our example, we effectivly increase this limit for $`\beta `$, and hence how much we can alter the concurrence. Note that since for large $`p/m`$ the rotation $`\beta `$ tends to one, the Lorentz transformation is equivalent to a conditional spin flip in this regime.

If boosts can disentangle spins, can they transfer entanglement from the momentum degrees of freedom to an unentangled spin wavefunction? Indeed this is possible. One way to achieve this is to take any of the resulting states after boosting the state in Eq. (24) and apply the inverse boost to increase concurrence to one. Note that the increase in spin entanglement comes at the expense of a loss of momentum entanglement, since the entanglement between all degrees of freedom (spin and momentum) is constant under Lorentz transformations.

Simply reversing a previously applied Lorentz transformation as in the last example is not a very satisfying way to create entanglement. Is there a way we could create an unentangled state in the laboratory frame that would appear entangled to a moving observer? Consider the state

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }_{AA^{}BB^{}}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(|𝐩,𝐩|\varphi ^++|𝐩_{},𝐩_{}|\varphi ^{}\right)$$
(28)
where $`𝐩`$ and $`𝐩_{}`$ are both in the $`x`$, $`y`$ plane, have the same magnitude $`p`$, and are perpendicular. We could imagine such a state arising from a particle decay where the products are restricted to movement in the $`x`$ or $`y`$ axes with a conditional $`\sigma _z`$ gate on the perpendicular direction. The reduced density matrix $`\rho _{AB}`$ for this wavefunction is separable, and its concurrence vanishes. However, taking the large $`p`$ limit in Eqs. (25) and (26) and choosing $`\varphi `$ and $`\theta `$ appropriate for $`𝐩`$ and $`𝐩_{}`$ in the $`x`$ and $`y`$ directions respectively, one can show that for a large boost in the $`z`$ direction both $`|\varphi ^+`$ and $`|\varphi ^{}`$ are transformed into the $`|\psi ^{}`$ state and hence the spins are maximally entangled in this reference frame. In fact, the concurrence as a function of $`𝐩`$ and $`\xi `$ is given by

$$C(\rho _{AB})=\frac{p^2(\mathrm{cosh}^2(\xi )1)}{(\sqrt{1+p^2}\mathrm{cosh}(\xi )+1)^2},$$
(29)
when choosing $`m=1`$. Note that the concurrence is greater than zero whenever $`p`$ and $`\xi `$ are nonzero, and as $`p`$ and $`\xi `$ become large the concurrence tends to one. So, if we restrict ourselves to spin measurements, an observer in the rest frame of the decay particle cannot use entanglement as a resource (e.g., for teleportation, super-dense coding, etc.) while the moving observer can. Such a purification of spin entanglement is not always possible, however, and the following theorem characterizes the limitations:

Theorem: The entanglement between the spin and momentum parts of a pure state wave function, $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_{AA^{}BB^{}}`$, must be non-zero to allow the spin entanglement to increase under Lorentz transformations.

Proving the contrapositive, starting with a product state of the form

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }_{AA^{}BB^{}}=|\psi _{A^{}B^{}}|\varphi _{AB}$$
(30)
and applying boosts of the form $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ or even $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$, we obtain

$$\rho _{AB}=\underset{i}{}p_iU_A^iV_B^i|\varphi \varphi |U_A^iV_B^i,$$
(31)
where $`U_A^i`$ and $`V_B^i`$ are unitary operators and the sum $`_ip_i`$ will be an integral for certain states $`|\psi `$. We can now plug Eq. (31)into any entanglement monotone $`E(\rho )`$ and obtain the inequality

$`E(\rho _{AB})`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}p_iE(U_A^iV_B^i|\varphi )`$ (32)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}p_iE(|\varphi )`$ (33)
$`=`$ $`E(|\varphi )`$ (34)
where inequality (32) comes from the definition of an entanglement monotone . Hence, the spin entanglement can only decrease after a Lorentz transformation. $`\mathrm{}`$

Note that this theorem does not hold if arbitrary unitary operations are applied to a particle’s spin and momentum degrees of freedom (for instance a swap gate), but it does hold for the entire class of unitaries realized by Lorentz transformations.

We have investigated the properties of moving entangled pairs of massive particles. Because Lorentz boosts entangle the spin and momentum degrees of freedom, entanglement can be transferred between them. This is true for single particles , and we have shown here that it is true for pairs, where the Lorentz boost affects the entanglement between spins. Quite generally, we can say that fully entangled spin states will (depending on the initial momentum wavefunction) most likely decohere due to the mixing with momentum degrees of freedom. We also note, however, that such mixing can purify spin entanglement if the momentum degrees are entangled with the spin. The physics of creating entanglement between spins and between momenta is very different. Thus, the possibility of entanglement transfer via Lorentz boosts could conceivably, in special situations, lead to simplified state preparation and purification protocols.

We would like to thank Jonathan Dowling, and the members of the JPL Quantum Computing Group, for useful discussions and encouragement. We also acknowledge Daniel Terno for valuable suggestions. This work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (California Institute of Technology) under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, with support from the National Security Agency, the Advanced Research and Development Activity, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the Office of Naval Research.


text:
# References

$`\underset{¯}{\text{ON THE COVARIANT QUANTIZATION OF GREEN-SCHWARZ}}`$

$`\underset{¯}{\text{SUPERSTRING AND BRINK-SCHWARZ SUPERPARTICLE}}`$

M. Caicedo, M Lledó $`\underset{¯}{\text{A. Restuccia}}`$ and J. Stephany

Dept. of Physics, Simon Bolivar University, Caracas

The covariant quantization of the interacting Green-Schwarz  Superstring (GSSS) is one of the interesting problems to solve in String Theory.The formulation of Superstrings a la Green-Schwarz manifestly supersymmetric on the target manifold has several advantages over the NRS  formulation. In fact, the latest is only a perturbative approach to the interacting Superstring Theory. Moreover, supersymmetry on the target manifold is obtained only after summation over spin structures. However this problem for odd spin structures has not been completely understood.

The Green-Schwarz second quantized action for superstrings has only been consistently formulated in the Light Cone Gauge . In spite of the fact that several attempts have been performed, the covariant formulation of the problem has not been obtained. The difficulty to start with, has been that the first class constraints associated to gauge symmetries of the first quantized theory appear mixed with second class ones and no local, Lorentz covariant, approach to extend them to a set of only first class constraints has been yet developed.The same problem appears in the covariant quantization of the Brink-Schwarz  Superparticle (BSSP) which describes the zero mode structure of the GSSP.

In order to circumvent the problem presented by the mixing of first and second class constraints in a covariant treatment other actions for the description of the Superparticle, following original ideas of Siegel were proposed. The so-called Siegel Superparticle, SSP , does not have the same number of degrees of freedom as the BSSP. It corresponds to ignore the second class constraints of the BSSP formulation, leaving only the first class constraints which may be covariantly projected from the original BSSP set of constraints. The fact that SSP has a number of degrees of freedom different from BSSP is a consequence of the non trivial restrictions imposed by the second class constraints.

The Modified Siegel Superparticles, MSSPI  and MSSPII  have the same physical spectrum as the BSSP, allowing a formulation in terms of first class constraints only. The formulations however are given in terms of $`\underset{¯}{\text{irregular}}`$ constraints, in distinction from the original BSSP formulation. If the constraints of a dynamical system are expressed as the kernel of a map $`\varphi `$ between Banach manifolds,

$$\varphi :MN$$

and if for some $`m`$ belonging to the kernel of $`\varphi `$ the induced tangent map at $`m`$, $`T_m\varphi `$, is not surjective we call the constraint irregular.

If $`\varphi `$ is a regular constraint $`\varphi ^1(0)`$ always define a submanifold. If $`\varphi `$ is irregular, $`\varphi ^1(0)`$ is not necessarily a submanifold. For irregular constraints the Lagrange multiplier theorem does not in general apply. In fact one of the hypothesis is the regularity of the constraints. This implies that the generalized canonical quantization which introduces all constraints into the action using Lagrange multipliers is not in general valid. In fact the effective action of a constrained theory with first class irregular constraints is well defined only in a gauge implemented by a gauge condition on the associated Lagrange multipliers. In particular this restriction allows a covariant gauge condition. However, the action on a canonical gauge is ill defined. Consequently the off-shell reduction to the physical modes, which is one of the main arguments to prove unitary of the S-matrix by functionals methods, cannot be proven.

A general discussion on the quantization for irregular systems is given in . The presence of irregular constraints in all the Modified Siegel Superparticle and Superstring actions does not allow, because of the previous arguments, the direct application of the Batalin-Vilkovisky approach to quantize the problem, and so far have failed to solved the problem of the covariant quantization.

For the same reasons the off-shell nilpotent BRST charge for the Superparticle  has been obtained only in a indirect way which does not give any insight into the geometric structure of the theory nor any idea on the generalization to the Superstring problem.

In this work we present a direct alternative approach to the covariant quantization of the BSSP using infinite auxiliary fields. At any truncated level the theory is not Lorentz covariant. The covariance is obtained only after the introduction of the infinite auxiliary fields. It leads directly to BRST charge previously found in  and to the Kallosh action . The formulation is based upon a general canonical approach for dynamical systems restricted by reducible first and second class constraints . In this approach the phase space is extended to a larger manifold where all extended constraints are first class. By an appropriate gauge fixing one may reduce the functional integral to a functional integral on the original constrained manifold, with the correct functional measure. It is an off-shell approach allowing the systematic construction of the off-shell nilpotent BRST charge and of the BRST invariant effective action.

The first order action for the ten dimensional BS superparticle is

$$S=<P_\mu _\tau \chi ^\mu +\overline{\xi }\mathit{}_\tau \xi +eP^2>$$
(1)
where $`e`$ is a Lagrange multiplier associated to the constraint

$$P^2=0.$$
(2)
Let $`\eta `$ be the momenta canonically conjugate to $`\xi `$. Since the action (1) is first order in $`_\tau \xi `$ its dynamics is restricted by,

$$\varphi =\eta \mathit{}\xi =0.$$
(3)
The canonical Hamiltonian action of the system is

$$S=<P_\mu _\tau \chi ^\mu +\overline{\eta }_\tau \xi +eP^2+\overline{\psi }(\eta \mathit{}\xi )>$$
(4)
where $`\overline{\psi }`$ are Lagrange multipliers associated to the constraints (3).

Constraints (3) are a combination of first and second class ones. We enlarge the phase space by introducing the following auxiliary fields

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_1=\eta _1+\mathit{}\xi _1\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_1=\eta _1\mathit{}\xi _1.$$

The enlarged constraints are in this case

$$\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_0=\eta \mathit{}\xi +\mathrm{\Phi }_1.$$
(5)
It is necessary to add the restriction

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_1^{}=0.$$
(6)
where $``$ is the transverse projection in the sense .

The factor $`det\{\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_1^{},\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_1^{}\}^{1/2}`$ in the measure of the functional integral is in principle as problematic as the factor $`det\{\varphi ^{},\varphi ^{}\}^{1/2}`$ in the direct approach. Nevertheless we observe that constraint (6) is equivalent to a reducible constraint

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_1=0,\mathit{}\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_1|_{firstclass}=\mathit{}\eta _10.$$
(7)
We iterate now the process and introduce $`\xi _2`$, $`\eta _2`$ and $`\omega _2`$. We obtain again

$$\omega _2=2\mathit{}\mathrm{\Phi }_2=\eta _2+\mathit{}\xi _2\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_2=\eta _2\mathit{}\xi _2$$
(8)
and we have the new constraints

$$\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_1=\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_1+\mathrm{\Phi }_2\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_2^{}=0$$
(9)
For the same reason as above we take instead of (9) the reducible constraint

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_2=0\mathit{}\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_2|_{firstclass}=\mathit{}\eta _20$$
(10)
and continue the process. After $`\mathrm{}`$ steps we have

$$\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_{i1}=\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_{i1}+\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_ii=1,\mathrm{},\mathrm{}\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_{\mathrm{}}^{}=0$$
(11)
with $`\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_0\varphi `$.

At this level the classical action may be written in terms of the canonical variables in the form

$$S_{\mathrm{}}=<P_\mu \dot{x}^\mu +\underset{i=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\eta _i\dot{\xi }^i+\lambda P^2+\underset{i=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}1}{}}\overline{\psi }^i\mathit{}\eta _i+\underset{i=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\lambda ^i\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_{i1}>.$$
(12)
subject to the second class constraints

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}_{\mathrm{}}^{}=0.$$

Here $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_{\mathrm{}}`$ in (12) is irreducible,the other constraints being infinite reducible. At each level $`\mathrm{}`$ the formulation (12) is not Lorentz covariant due to the transverse projection the second equation.

In order to avoid this problem we may introduce infinite auxiliary fields. We then obtain

$$S_{\mathrm{}}=<P_\mu \dot{x}^\mu +\underset{i=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\eta _i\dot{\xi }^i+\lambda P^2+\underset{i=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\overline{\psi }^i\mathit{}\eta _i+\underset{i=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\lambda ^i\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_{i1}>.$$
(13)
which was first obtained by Kallosh in .

The effective action associated to (13) may be truncated at any level $`\mathrm{}`$ by imposing appropriate gauge fixing conditions and the effective action associated to (12) is regained. In the limit case $`\mathit{}`$ $`\eta _i`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_i`$ $`i=0,\mathrm{},\mathrm{}`$ are regular infinite reducible first class constraints. This allows the systematic Batalin-Fradkin construction of the off-shell nilpotent BRST charge. The result as was shown by Kallosh in ref.  match with the BRST operator with the correct cohomology for the BSSP.

The superparticle action on both an $`N=1`$ and $`N=2`$ superworldline was discovered by Sorokin, Tkach and Volkov . We shall refer them as STVSP1 and STVSP2 respectively.

The STVSP1 contains as one of the field equation the same constraint (3) as in the BSSP. The correct quantization of it follows in the same lines as we have described the BSSP.

The STVSP2 contains an extension of (3) to a more general phase space which coincides with the extension proposed in . The set of constraints proposed in  are first class only and have two stages of reducibility. However the twistorial approach of  doesn’t get rid of the second class constraints present in the Superstring case.

An extension of the approach presented here, for the covariant treatment of the Superparticle, has been performed which in particular generalizes the twistorial approach of . Its application to the GSSS is under study. We hope to report on it soon.


text:
# HST STIS observations of four QSO pairsBased on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. Based on observations carried out at the European Southern Observatory (ESO, programme No. 66.A-0624) with UVES on the 8.2 m VLT-Kuyen telescope operated at Paranal Observatory; Chile.

## 1 Introduction

Recent $`N`$-body numerical simulations reproduce successfully the global characteristics of the neutral hydrogen absorptions observed in quasar spectra, the so-called Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest (Cen et al.  1994; Petitjean et al.  1995, Hernquist et al.  1996; Zhang et al.  1995; Mücket et al.  1996; Miralda-Escudé et al.  1996; Bond & Wadsley  1998). The absorptions arise from density inhomogeneities in a smooth all-pervading intergalactic medium. Simulations show that the intergalatic gas traces the potential wells of the dark matter well at high redshift. It is therefore possible to constrain the characteristics of the dark-matter density field from observation of the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest along a single line of sight (Croft et al. 2000). The addition of transverse information from observation of QSO pairs or more generally groups of quasars at small projected separation in the sky will probably revolutionize this field in the next few years (Petitjean  1997). Indeed, inversion methods that have been recently implemented show that it is possible to recover the 3D topology of the dark-matter field using a dense network of lines of sight (Nusser & Haehnelt 1998, Pichon et al. 2001, Rollinde et al. 2001).

After the early discovery of common absorptions in pairs of quasars (Shaver et al. 1982, Shaver & Robertson 1983, Weyman & Foltz 1983, Foltz et al. 1984), it was shown that the gaseous complexes giving rise to the absorptions should have large dimensions. In particular, studies of gravitationally lensed quasars (Smette et al. 1992, Smette et al.  1995) yielded a lower limit of 100 $`h_{50}^1`$ kpc on the diameter of Lyman-$`\alpha `$ absorbers. Similar results were obtained from pairs of quasars with small separation (Bechtold et al.  1994; Dinshaw et al.  1994; Petitjean et al. 1998, D’Odorico et al.  1998; Monier et al.  1998). Larger separations have been investigated by Crotts & Fang  (1998), Dinshaw et al.  (1998), Monier et al.  (1999) and Williger et al. (2000). All studies conclude that absorptions are correlated on scales larger than 500 $`h_{50}^1`$ kpc.

Unlike the case of QSO pairs with small angular separations where the correlation can be explained by the fact that the lines of sight intercept the same absorber, the correlation for larger separations is certainly due to the clustering properties of distinct clouds. When observing triplets of quasars separated by 1 to 2 arcmin on the sky, corresponding to $``$0.5 to 1 Mpc proper distance scales, both Crotts & Fang (1998) and Young et al. (2001) find statistically significant triple coincidences that they interpret as the presence of sheetlike structures along which inhomogeneous absorbers cluster.

The number of such experiments is small however and it is important to increase the statistics. Here we present HST observations of four pairs of quasars. The $``$2 and $``$3 arcmin angular separations between the two quasars of each pair probes scales between 1.0 and 1.5 $`h_{50}^1`$ Mpc proper distance at $`z`$ $``$ 1. This is where the transition between individual halos and filamentary or sheet-like large scale structures is expected (Mücket et al.  1996, Charlton  1997).

We describe the observations in Sect. 2 and comment on individual metal line systems in Sect. 3. Correlations between metal line and Lyman-$`\alpha `$ systems are respectively discussed in Sect. 4 and 5. Conclusions are drawn in Sect. 6.

## 2 Observations

Observations were carried out on the Hubble Space Telescope using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) with the G230L grating and the Near-UV-MAMA detector. This configuration yields a mean spectral resolution of R = 700 (FWHM = 3.4 Å at $`\lambda `$ = 2374 Å) and a wavelength coverage from 1570 Å to 3180 Å. The observations were reduced at the Goddard Space Flight Center with the STIS Investigation Definition Team (IDT) version of CALSTIS (Lindler  1998). Standard reduction and calibration were used. Special care was taken to determine accurately the background due to the sky and the dark current. The zero point of the wavelength scale for individual exposures was determined requiring the Galatic interstellar absorptions to occur at rest. The correction can always be performed because the Galactic Mgii doublet is well detected in every single spectrum. When the Feii lines were also detected we checked that the dispersion in the zero point is smaller than the spectral resolution. The resulting spectra are shown in Fig. 1. The quasar continuum was fitted with Gaussian profiles for emission lines and simple cubic splines in regions between emission lines. The best fit was found by varying the position of the control points of the cubic splines. The resulting continuum was slightly manually adjusted in regions that were poorly fitted as for example near broad emission lines and Lyman limits. The detection of absorption lines in the normalized spectrum was performed by filtering each spectrum to improve the contrast between lines and noise. This has been performed by successively applying a wavelet filter and an “upgraded” median filter to the spectrum.

We used for the wavelet filter B3-spline scaling functions. This filter selects the wavelength scales corresponding to the width of the absorption lines (see panel b of Fig. 2). Pixels from the wavelet filtered spectra are sorted in increasing order keeping trace of the pixel permutations. The distribution of the pixel values is shown in panel (c) of Fig. 2. A lower limit of the level of noise in each pixel can be estimated (dashed line) and substracted to the real pixel value (panel d in Fig. 2). Pixels are then reordered and the resulting spectrum is shown in panel (e) of Fig. 2. This filtered spectrum is used to define regions where possible absorption lines are present using a threshold defined so that no line is lost in the next step. We then compute in the original spectrum the equivalent width and the associated noise over each of these regions and select only those with an equivalent width to noise ratio larger than 2. The corresponding regions are then fitted with a Voigt profile fitting program to derive the position of absorption features. This software makes a $`\chi ^2`$ minimisation in each region adding lines until the reduced $`\chi ^2`$ reaches a value lower than or equal to 1.

For each absorption feature, we calculate the equivalent width in windows centered on the minimum of the line and of widths an increasing number of pixels. The signal-to-noise ratio computed from the noise spectrum is plotted as a function of the distance to the central pixel (panel f of Fig. 2). The S/N ratio of the line was taken at the maximum of the curve and the equivalent width was computed by integrating the fitted profile. The lines with S/N ratio greater than 4 are listed with their identification in Tables 2 to 5. In these tables, uncertain positions or identifications are indicated by a colon.

## 3 Comments on individual metal line systems

In this Section we comment on the intervening metal line systems identified in the spectra. To refer to an absorption feature, we use the numbering given in Tables 2 to 5.

### 3.1 LBQS 0019$``$0145A zem = 1.59

The HST data on this quasar have been complemented with a high resolution (R $``$ 40000) UVES spectrum covering the wavelength ranges 3900$``$5200 Å and 5450$``$9300 Å. The exposure time was two hours.

#### 3.1.1 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 0.6514

The strong absorption feature #13 at $`\lambda `$2559.23 cannot be explained by Lyman-$`\beta `$ at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.4976 alone because the corresponding equivalent width is too large. As there is a strong Civ system at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 0.65142 in the spectrum of LBQS 0019$``$0145B, we tentatively note that the additional absorption could be due to Civ at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 0.6514. The corresponding Lyman-$`\alpha `$ absorption is unfortunately redshifted below the Lyman limit of the $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.4976 system. Mgii$`\lambda `$2803 at this redshift is not detected in the UVES spectrum down to $`w_{\mathrm{obs}}=35`$ mÅ.

#### 3.1.2 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 0.6953

Mgii$`\lambda `$2796 ($`w_\mathrm{r}`$$``$0.8 Å), Feii$`\lambda `$2382 ($`w_\mathrm{r}`$$``$0.5 Å), Mgi$`\lambda `$2852 and Caii absorptions are detected at this redshift in the UVES spectrum in addition to Alii$`\lambda `$1670 (line #28) which is detected in the HST spectrum. Unfortunately, the Hi$`\lambda `$1215 line is redshifted at $`\lambda `$ = 2060 Å, below the Lyman limit of the $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.4976 system.

The profile of the Mgii and Feii absorptions consists of two main absorption features approximately $`100\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ apart and separated by a sharp drop in optical depth near the center (see Fig. 3). As described by Bond et al.  (2001), and despite the moderate Mgii$`\lambda `$2796 equivalent width, this profile may indicate that the line of sight intercepts a superwind.

#### 3.1.3 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.2412

Strong Hi$`\lambda `$1215 (line #21), Hi$`\lambda `$1025, Siii, Siiii$`\lambda `$1206, Siiv, Nv and Cii$`\lambda `$1334 absorptions associated with this system are detected in the HST spectrum. Additional Mgii, Mgi$`\lambda `$2852, Feii and Aliii$`\lambda `$1854, 1862 absorptions are seen in the UVES spectrum (see Fig. 3). Despite the low resolution of the HST spectrum, damped wings are clearly seen in the case of the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line. The simultaneous fit of the Lyman-$`\alpha `$, and Lyman-$`\beta `$ absorptions gives log $`N`$(Hi)$``$20.5 (see Fig. 4). The observed Feii and Mgii lines are heavily saturated so that only a lower limit on the column densities can be derived, log $`N`$(Feii & Mgii)$`>`$15. Znii is not detected with log $`N`$(Znii$`<11.4`$ implying that metallicity relative to solar, \[Zn/H\] $`<`$ $``$1.75, is one of the smallest observed at low redshift (see e.g. Ledoux et al.  2001). Note that the large column density found for Mgii implies that the neutral part of the system cannot account for all the Mgii we see.

As for the system at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 0.6953, the profiles of the absorptions consist of two main components separated by about 50 km s-1. This again may indicate that the line of sight intercepts a superwind.

#### 3.1.4 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.3088

The system is unambiguously identified by sharp Mgii$`\lambda `$2796, 2803 absorptions ($`w_\mathrm{r}`$$``$0.07 Å) detected in the UVES spectrum. The Lyman-$`\alpha `$ absorption is blended with Mgii$`\lambda `$2796 from the interstellar medium.

#### 3.1.5 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.4976

This strong system is detected by Hi$`\lambda `$1215, 1025, 972, 949, 937 and Ciii$`\lambda `$977 absorptions. It is at the origin of the Lyman limit at $`\lambda `$ $``$ 2270 Å and therefore log $`N`$(Hi$`>`$ 18. A possible Mgii$`\lambda `$2796 absorption line is present in the UVES spectrum with $`w_{\mathrm{obs}}`$ $``$ 25 mÅ.

### 3.2 LBQS 0019$``$0145B zem = 1.04

Only one metal line system along this line of sight is detected at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 0.6513 by Hi$`\lambda `$1215, Civ$`\lambda `$1548, 1550 and Siiv$`\lambda `$1393, 1402 absorptions.

### 3.3 Q 0035$``$3518 zem = 1.20

#### 3.3.1 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.088

Strong Hi$`\lambda `$972, 1025, 1215 and Siii$`\lambda `$1260 absorptions are detected in this system. The latter line is probably blended with an other Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line however. Moreover, an absorption feature detected at the 2.5$`\sigma `$ level is observed at the expected position of Cii$`\lambda `$1334 at $`\lambda 2785`$ Å.

#### 3.3.2 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.1954

This system is at slightly larger redshift than the quasar ($``$+1200 km s-1). It shows strong associated Ovi absorption. Nv$`\lambda `$1238 is detected at the 2.5$`\sigma `$ level.

### 3.4 Q 0035$``$3520 zem = 1.52

The four metal line systems detected in this quasar are all within 3500 km s-1 from the emission redshift of the quasar. As they are approximately at the same redshift, their Lyman-$`\beta `$ and Ovi absorptions are blended. The resulting blend corresponds to the four strong features seen at $`\lambda `$2600 Å in Fig. 1.

#### 3.4.1 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.4927

The Lyman-$`\beta `$ line of this system is observed at $`\lambda `$2550 Å, but is below the 4$`\sigma `$ detection limit. As no other metal line is detected, the Ciii$`\lambda `$977 identification is tentative and the feature at $`\lambda `$2437.38 could be a blend of Lyman-$`\gamma `$ at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.50621 and Lyman-$`\alpha `$ at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.00492.

#### 3.4.2 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.50362

This system consists of Hi$`\lambda `$949, 972, 1025, 1215, Ovi and Ciii$`\lambda `$977 absorptions. A feature is also observed at the expected wavelength of the associated Siiii$`\lambda `$1206 absorption ($`\lambda `$3020 Å).

#### 3.4.3 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.5118

Hi$`\lambda `$1025, 1215, Ovi, Ciii$`\lambda `$977 and Siiii$`\lambda `$1206 are observed at this redshift.

#### 3.4.4 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.5158

This system has all the characteristics of an associated system with very strong Nv and Ovi lines. Therefore the Niii and Ciii identifications are tentative.

### 3.5 Q 0037$``$3544 zem = 0.84

#### 3.5.1 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 0.5922

Strong Hi$`\lambda `$1215 and Civ absorptions are detected. Siiv$`\lambda `$1393, 1402 are redshifted at $`\lambda `$2219.4 and 2231.31 Å (lines #8 and #9). Given the strengths of the corresponding absorption features, it is most probable that the two Siiv lines are blended with additional Lyman-$`\alpha `$ lines. An absorption feature is detected at the expected position of Siiii$`\lambda `$1206 ($`\lambda `$1920 Å) but is below the 4$`\sigma `$ threshold.

#### 3.5.2 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 0.6961

This system consists of a Civ doublet detected outside the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest. The Lyman-$`\alpha `$ absorption is observed at wavelength 2062 Å, but is below the 4$`\sigma `$ threshold.

#### 3.5.3 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 0.8364

Hi$`\lambda `$1215, Siiii$`\lambda `$1206 and Civ absorptions are observed at this redshift. Moreover, a feature is observed at the expected position of Siii$`\lambda `$1260 ($`\lambda `$2316 Å).

### 3.6 Q 0037$``$3545 zem = 1.10

We do not identify any metal line system along this line of sight.

### 3.7 PC 1320+4755A zem = 1.56

#### 3.7.1 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.0762

Strong Hi$`\lambda `$949, 972, 1025, 1215, Ciii$`\lambda `$977, Siiv, Siii$`\lambda `$1260 and Cii$`\lambda `$1334 absorptions are detected at this redshift. Additional features are observed at the expected wavelengths of the associated Niii989 ($`\lambda `$2055 Å) and Siii$`\lambda `$1190, 1993 ($`\lambda `$2470 & 2480 Å). This system is at the origin of the Lyman limit seen at $``$1890 Å and therefore log $`N`$(Hi$`>`$ 18.

#### 3.7.2 $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.4329

Strong Hi (from Lyman-$`\alpha `$ to Lyman-$`\zeta `$) , Ovi, Siiii$`\lambda `$1206 and Siii$`\lambda `$1260 absorptions are observed. From the partial Lyman limit seen at $``$2210 Å, we derive log $`N`$(Hi$``$ 17.3.

### 3.8 PC 1320+4755B zem = 1.11

Only one metal line system is detected along this line of sight at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 0.9270. It consists of Hi$`\lambda `$1215, Siiii$`\lambda `$1206, Siiv and Civ absorptions. A feature is observed at the position of the associated Siii$`\lambda `$1260 ($`\lambda `$2430 Å).

## 4 Correlation of metal line systems

We summarize in Table 6 the metal line systems seen along one line of sight for which the corresponding absorption along the adjacent line of sight could be observed. In case of blending, $`w_{\mathrm{obs},\mathrm{min}}`$ and $`w_{\mathrm{obs},\mathrm{max}}`$ are the minimum and maximum equivalent width of the transition. These values are computed using consistency arguments relating the equivalent widths of lines observed in the same system (see examples in Sect. 5.1). The 4$`\sigma `$ detection limits are also indicated.

There are only 6 metal line systems which have all $`w_\mathrm{r}`$(Lyman-$`\alpha `$$`>`$ 1 Å. Apart from the Civ system at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 0.65 toward LBQS 0019$``$0145B which may have a coincident absorption in LBQS 0019$``$0145A (see Sect. 3.1.1), none of the other systems are detected along the adjacent line of sight down to a 4$`\sigma `$ limit of $`w_\mathrm{r}`$(Lyman-$`\alpha `$$`<`$ 0.40 Å. As the system at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.19 toward Q 0035$``$3518 could be associated with the quasar, this means that out of 5 intervening metal line systems with $`w_\mathrm{r}`$(Lyman-$`\alpha `$$`>`$ 1 Å, only one is present in the two lines of sight.

Correlation of Civ systems however has been claimed on large scales at high redshift (e.g. Williger et al. 1996). Moreover, of the five $`w_\mathrm{r}`$ $`>`$ 0.4 Å Lyman-$`\alpha `$ systems seen at the same $`z`$ $``$ 2 redshift in the three spectra of KP 76, 77 and 78 (triple hits over 2-3 arcmin separations), two show associated Civ although Civ is seen only in about one $`w_\mathrm{r}`$ $`>`$ 0.4 Å Lyman-$`\alpha `$ system out of ten (Crotts & Fang 1998). All this may indicate that the transverse clustering of Civ systems is less pronounced at $`z`$ $``$ 1 than at $`z`$ $``$ 2 (see also D’Odorico et al. 2002).

## 5 Correlation in the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest

### 5.1 The Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line list

From the line lists obtained as described in Sect. 2 and given in Tables 2 to 5, we have extracted for each pair of QSOs, a master line-list of Lyman-$`\alpha `$ lines based on several criteria: (i) we include all isolated lines when no other identification is found; (ii) the lines must be at more than 3000 km s-1 blueward of the two Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emission lines; (iii) we use physical consistency arguments to infer the presence of Lyman-$`\alpha `$ lines blended with metal lines (for example Civ$`\lambda `$1548 cannot be weaker than Civ$`\lambda `$1550); only limits on the equivalent width can be inferred this way; (iv) we impose some equivalent width threshold. The Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line list is summarized in Table 7. The columns correspond to: #1 and #6 line number in the spectrum (see Fig. 1); #2 and #7 Lyman-$`\alpha `$ redshift; #3:#4 and #8:#9 the range in equivalent widths in case of blending (see below); #5 and #10 the 4$`\sigma `$ equivalent width detection limit using the width of the line detected along either line of sight.

In LBQS 0019$``$0145A, absorption #3 cannot only be Ovi$`\lambda `$1037 as it has $`w_{\mathrm{obs}}`$ = 2.10 Å whereas $`w_{\mathrm{obs}}`$(OVI1031) = 1.64 Å. The hidden Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line has 0.28 $`<`$ $`w_{\mathrm{obs}}`$ $`<`$ 0.49 Å corresponding to the Ovi doublet ratio ranging from 1 to 2.

Absorption #8 coincides in redshift with Ciii at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.49672. However, we consider this identification unlikely. Indeed, the line is quite strong ($`w_{\mathrm{obs}}`$ = 1.12 Å) even though the UVES and STIS spectra do not show any other metal lines at this redshift except for a very weak Mgii$`\lambda `$2796 line system and a 2.5$`\sigma `$ feature shifted by 1.5 Å from the expected position of Siiii$`\lambda `$1206. Therefore, we identify this line as Lyman-$`\alpha `$ at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.00660.

In LBQS 0019$``$0145B, the limits on the equivalent width of the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line blended with Siiv$`\lambda `$1402 at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 0.65381 in feature #12 are derived applying the doublet ratio to the Siiv$`\lambda `$1393 equivalent width.

In Q 0035$``$3518, we estimate the equivalent width of Lyman-$`\gamma `$ (line #2) from the associated Lyman-$`\alpha `$ and Lyman-$`\beta `$ absorptions.

In Q 0035$``$3520, for feature #7, we assume that Ciii$`\lambda `$977 at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.49469 contributes very little since the associated Lyman-$`\alpha `$ absorption is weak and no other metal line is detected; limits on the equivalent width of the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.00497 come from limits on Lyman-$`\gamma `$ at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.50621 derived from the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ absorption. Similarly, we have constrained the equivalent width of Lyman-$`\beta `$ at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.47617 in the absorption feature #11 from the associated Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line.

In PC 1320+4755A, the limits on the equivalent width of Lyman-$`\delta `$ (feature #1) and Lyman-$`\gamma `$ (feature #2) at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.07575 come from their associated Lyman-$`\beta `$ and Lyman-$`\alpha `$ absorptions. For feature #3 we assumed for the equivalent width of Ciii$`\lambda `$977 a conservative limit of 1.5 Å from the associated Cii$`\lambda `$1334 line. Finally, lower and upper limits on the equivalent width of Ovi$`\lambda `$1031 at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 1.07726 (feature #5) and Feii$`\lambda `$2344 at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}`$ = 0 (feature #11) come from Ovi$`\lambda `$1037 which has an equivalent width $`w_{\mathrm{obs}}0.8`$ Å, below the 4$`\sigma `$ detection limit, and Feii$`\lambda `$2600 respectively.

Note that the number of metal lines which could be misidentified as Lyman-$`\alpha `$ lines is expected to be small. Indeed, they can be neither Mg ii nor Fe ii lines because the strongest potential lines of these species are redshifted beyond the wavelength of the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line with the highest redshift in our sample. They cannot be lines too close in wavelength to Lyman-$`\alpha `$ as our careful procedure would have identified them. The only possibility is that some isolated Al ii$`\lambda `$1670 or C iv$`\lambda `$1548 (with C iv$`\lambda `$1550 not detectable) lines could be present in the wavelength range where we search for coincidences. The number of C iv and Mg ii systems with $`w_\mathrm{r}`$ $`>`$ 0.3 Å at $`z`$ $``$ 0.3 is 0.87 and 0.75 per unit redshift respectively (Bergeron et al. 1994, Boissé et al. 1992). We consider that half of the Mg ii systems have an associated Al ii line and half of the C iv systems would have only C iv$`\lambda `$1548 detected. Moreover, only less than two-third of these systems have $`w_\mathrm{r}`$ $`>`$ 0.4 Å which is the usual 4 $`\sigma `$ limit of our spectra. As our survey samples a redshift interval of $`\mathrm{\Delta }z`$ = 2.96 (considering six lines of sights, see Table 1), the expected number of misidentified lines is of the order of 1 to 2. This is to be compared to the 46 Lyman-$`\alpha `$ lines with $`w_\mathrm{r}`$ $`>`$ 0.4 Å we detect. Note that the latter number is consistent with the number of lines detected in the HST Key-program (Jannuzi et al. 1998).

### 5.2 Correlation

From the master line list, we selected lines with $`w_\mathrm{r}>`$0.3 Å and applied the Nearest-Neighbor method as described in e.g. Young et al.  (2001) to estimate the level of correlation between absorptions detected along adjacent lines of sight. In this method, there is no a priori velocity separation limit in the definition of a coincidence. A couple of lines along two different lines of sight is declared to be a coincidence if each of the lines is the nearest neighbor of the other. Note that the procedure underestimate the clustering signal as it does not take into account the difference of S/N ratio along the two lines of sight.

The distributions of velocity separations ($`|\mathrm{\Delta }v|`$) between the two lines in a coincidence are plotted in Fig. 5 for the pairs with angular separation $``$2 arcmin (Panel a), 3 arcmin (Panel b) and the complete sample (Panel c). To improve statistics, we have added to our results, the data of Young et al.  (2001) on two additional pairs separated by $``$2 arcmin and $``$3 arcmin. The results are plotted in Fig. 5 for the pairs with an angular separation $``$2 (Panel d), 3 arcmin (Panel e) and for all the pairs (Panel f).

To estimate the excess of correlation with respect to randomly placed absorption lines, we produced 100000 simulated master line lists drawn from a population of randomly redshifted lines, taking the same number of lines and the same wavelength range as in the observed spectra. Results of applying the same method to the simulated line lists are given as dotted lines in Fig. 5. The error bars in the figure correspond to the rms of the values found in the simulation. As the corresponding distribution is not Gaussian, we indicate in the following the probability that the observed number of coincidences occurs in the simulated population.

We detect 2 and 4 coincidences with $`|\mathrm{\Delta }v|`$ smaller than 500 km s-1 in the two pairs separated by $``$2 arcmin and $``$3 arcmin respectively. The fact that the number of coincidences is smaller in the closest pairs is not statistically significant. When the complete sample is used (Panel c of Fig. 5), the excess in the first bin ($`|\mathrm{\Delta }v|`$$`<`$500 km s-1) is significant at the 99.20% level. To increase the statistics, we have added to our sample data from Young et al.  (2001). The total number of coincidences with $`|\mathrm{\Delta }v|`$$`<`$500 km s-1 and $`w_\mathrm{r}`$ $`>`$ 0.3 Å is increased to 6, 8 and 14 for the pairs separated by $``$2 arcmin, $``$3 arcmin and the complete sample. The corresponding excesses relative to simulations of randomly placed lines are significant at the 95.57%, 99.92% and 99.97% levels respectively. The excess is about the same when no threshold is applied to the equivalent width (see Fig. 6). In that case, the number of coincidences in the first bin is 20 and the excess is detected at the 4$`\sigma `$ level.

This clearly shows that the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest is correlated on scales larger than 1$`h_{50}^1`$ Mpc proper at $`z`$ $``$ 1. However, we should note that, in the complete sample, 12 of the 20 coincidences with $`|\mathrm{\Delta }v|`$ smaller than 500 km s-1 actually have $`|\mathrm{\Delta }v|`$ greater than 200 km s-1. This is also the case for 8 of the 14 coincidences in the $`w_\mathrm{r}`$ $`>`$ 0.3 Å sample. These velocity differences are probably related to peculiar velocities of different objects and reveal that the scale we probe is not related to the real size of individual absorbers.

In Fig. 8 we plot the equivalent width observed along one line of sight versus the equivalent width observed along the second line of sight for the 20 pairs with velocity differences smaller than 500 km s-1. There is no clear trend in the plot. This is not really surprizing as we do not expect the absorption strengths to be correlated at such a separation neither in the case of a common absorber nor in the case of independent objects.

## 6 Conclusion

We have searched for coincidences of Lyman-$`\alpha `$ absorbers at $`z`$ 1 along the lines of sight toward four pairs of quasars with separations 2$``$3 arcmin, observed with HST STIS. Using the Nearest-Neighbor statistics, we have constructed the distribution of the velocity difference between absorption lines detected along two adjacent lines of sight. We have compared this observed distribution to that derived from Monte-Carlo simulations placing at random the same number of lines in the same wavelength ranges as in the observations. For lines with $`w_\mathrm{r}`$ $`>`$ 0.3 Å , we find an excess of coincidences with velocity separations smaller than 500 km s-1 significant at the 99.2% level. Combining our data with those in the literature (Young et al. 2001), the excess relative to simulations is significant at the 99.97% level for lines with $`w_\mathrm{r}`$ $`>`$ 0.3 Å and at the 99.98% level if no condition on the equivalent width is imposed.

The result is consistent with the findings of similar studies at higher redshift (Crotts & Fang  1998, Williger et al.  2000). There is however an important difference between high and intermediate redshift observations. At high redshift, the excess is seen for velocity separations between two coincident lines smaller than 200 km s-1. At lower redshift, the mean velocity difference is larger (see Fig. 7). This is not a systematic effect related to the low spectral resolution of our data. It could be related to the increase of peculiar velocities with decreasing redshift for comparable spatial scales. This conclusion is strengthened by the fact that the transverse correlation, $`\chi _i(1F_1(\lambda _i))\times (1F_2(\lambda _i))`$ where $`F_1(\lambda _i)`$ and $`F_2(\lambda _i)`$ are the two QSO normalized fluxes at wavelength $`\lambda _i`$, at $`z`$ $``$ 1 measured on our spectra is very small, $`|\chi |<0.01`$, whereas it is of the order of 0.2 at $`z`$ $``$ 2 for the same separation (Rollinde et al. in preparation, see also McDonald 2000, 2001 and Viel et al. 2001). This can be explained by the fact that large values of $`\chi `$ are due to coincidences with velocity separations smaller than the spectral resolution. In conclusion, evolution from high to low redshift is not seen in the level of correlation but rather in the velocity difference between lines of sight which increases with decreasing redshift. Simulations have shown that absorption lines with a given column density correspond to higher overdensities at low-redshift compared to high redshift and most of the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest at low redshift is to be revealed by very weak lines (Riediger et al.  1998; Theuns et al.  1998; Penton et al. 2000). Therefore, detailed study of the cosmological evolution of the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest will only be possible when the sensitivity of the instruments will be high enough to routinely detect lines with $`w_\mathrm{r}`$ $`<`$ 0.01 Å in the UV.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank Cédric Ledoux for the reduction of the LBQS 0019$``$0145A UVES spectrum. This work was supported in part by the European RTN program “The Intergalactic Medium” and by a PROCOPE program of bilateral collaboration between France and Germany. BA and PPJ thank AIP for hospitality.