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# The environment of active objects in the nearby universe

## 1 Introduction

Studies of the environment of quasars have been the subject of several works in recent years. Some of the analysis in the local universe, $`z<0.6`$, suggest that quasars reside in groups (Fisher et al 1996), or in clusters (Smith et al 1999, Mc. Lure & Dunlop 2000). However, Martínez et al. (1999) using a quasar-galaxy cross-correlation analysis suggest that high density environments may not be representative of the typical quasar neighbourhood at low redshifts.

At higher redshifts, $`z>0.6`$, some authors have found evidence of a different environment for radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars (Yee & Green 1987, Yee 1990). Radio-loud quasars being associated mainly with rich Abell clusters while radio-quiet quasars residing either in groups or in the outskirts of clusters. However, more recent studies by Wold et al. (2000, 2001) and Best (2000) cast considerable doubts on previous results since these new analysis do not show any appreciable difference between the typical galaxy overdensity around radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars.

The discussion about the influence of quasar activity on the formation and evolution of galaxies has continued during the last decades. The possibility that the surrounding galaxies could be responsible for triggering and fueling the quasars was first suggested by Toomre & Toomre (1972). Interacting galaxies and mergers are efficient means of transporting gas into the inner regions of the host galaxy. On the other hand, the large range of influence of a quasar may have implications for structure formation. According to Rees (1988) and Babul & White (1991) quasars may ionize the surrounding medium up to several megaparsecs away. A different approach is adopted by other authors (see for instance Voit 1996 and Silk & Rees 1998), where a fraction of the energy released by quasars is transferred via energetic outflows to the gaseous medium.

In this paper we attempt a characterization of the environment of quasars and active galaxies in the nearby universe by considering the galaxy density enhancement using cross-correlation analysis with APM galaxies. We also use the distribution of $`b_JR`$ colours of neighbouring galaxies to explore their stellar population properties and deepen our understanding of nuclear activity and galaxy formation and evolution. In section 2 we describe the data, section 3.1 deals with the cross-correlation analysis, section 3.2 with the relative distribution of $`b_JR`$ colour indexes of APM galaxies around the different target samples. Finally, section 4 provides a brief discussion of the main results.

## 2 Data

The active object target samples used in this work consist in radio-loud quasars, hereafter RLQs, radio-quiet quasars, hereafter RQQs, and active galaxies, hereafter AGNs, from the Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei 9nth Ed. Catalog (Véron-Cetty & Véron 2000). The cluster targets consist in clusters of galaxies taken from the X-ray Bright Abell Cluster Sample (XBACS) (Ebeling et al. 1996) and Abell clusters with richness $`R=1`$ and $`R=0`$ selected from Abell et al. (1989).

All target samples have been restricted to the redshift range $`0.1z0.25`$ taking into account the similarity of the target redshift distributions within this range, and the large amplitude of correlation of the targets with APM galaxies. Tracer galaxies within $`0.5^{}`$ of the targets were taken from the APM Southern Sky Catalogues (http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~apmcat/) and restricted to those targets for which data in the two bands $`b_J`$ and $`R`$ are available. The final number of targets in each sample are listed in Table 1. The samples of Abell clusters were restricted to richness $`R1`$ to avoid the inclusion of clusters already considered in the XBACS sample since XBACS include mostly $`R2`$ clusters.

We have also considered 30 randomly selected fields to make an appropriate comparison with the mean background properties. Main characteristics of the target samples analysed are also listed in Table 1.

The different target samples have similar redshift distributions as it can be seen in Figure 1, so that the results of our analysis are not subject to different $`K`$-correction effects as well as other possible systematic that depend on sample depth. For comparison, in each panel of Figure 1 is shown the expected redshift distribution of APM tracer galaxies for a limiting apparent magnitude $`b_J^{\mathrm{lim}}=20.5`$ (see Baugh & Efstathiou 1993) in arbitrary units.

## 3 Analysis

### 3.1 Galaxy overdensities around the targets

In order to make a suitable characterisation of the typical galaxy density enhancement around the objects in the selected samples, we computed the cross-correlation functions for centers of the different target samples and APM tracers with a limiting magnitude $`b_J^{\mathrm{lim}}=20.5`$. Since all center targets in our samples have measured redshifts, we are able to compute cross-correlations as a function of projected distance which improves the information obtained from angular correlations.

We have used the following estimator of the two-point correlation function:

$$W(r_p)=\frac{DD(r_p)N_R}{DR(r_p)N_D}1,$$
(1)
where $`DD(r_p)`$ and $`DR(r_p)`$ are the number of target-galaxy and target-random point pairs respectively, separated in each case by a projected distance $`r_p`$ in the interval $`[r_p\mathrm{\Delta }r_p,r_p+\mathrm{\Delta }r_p]`$, $`N_D`$ and $`N_R`$ are the number of objects in the data and random catalogs respectively. When computing projected distances we have assumed a flat cosmology ($`q_0=0.5`$) and a Hubble constant $`H_0=100h\mathrm{kms}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$. The resulting cross-correlation functions are shown in Figure 2. Error bars in these figures were estimated with the bootstrap resampling technique (Barrow et al. 1984) with 30 bootstrap samples.

In Figure 2 we show the projected cross-correlation functions corresponding to the three cluster samples and the samples of active objects, where it can be seen the decrease of the cross-correlation amplitude moving from richer to poorer clusters as well as the lack of strong correlation for the samples of active objects. It is clear that the projected cross-correlation functions of the samples of active objects have systematically lower amplitude than those of cluster samples (even $`R=0`$) and they are indistinguishable taking into account uncertainties.

Assuming a power-law model for the spatial correlation function, $`\xi (r)=(r/r_0)^\gamma `$, the projected correlation function is

$$W(r_p)=C\pi ^{1/2}\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }((\gamma 1)/2)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\gamma /2)}\frac{r_0^\gamma }{r_p^{(\gamma 1)}}.$$
(2)
where the constant $`C`$,

$$C=\frac{_ip(y_i)}{_i\left(\frac{1}{y_i^2}\right)_0^{\mathrm{}}p(x)x^2𝑑x},$$
(3)
takes into account the probability $`p(x)`$ for a tracer galaxy to be found at a distance $`x`$ from the observer and is derivable from the galaxy luminosity function $`\varphi (L)`$:

$$p(x)_{L_{\mathrm{min}}(x)}^{\mathrm{}}\varphi (L)𝑑L,$$
(4)
where a galaxy at a distance $`x`$ must have a luminosity greater than $`L_{\mathrm{min}}(x)`$ to be included in the tracer sample (see Lilje & Efstathiou 1988). In equation (3) $`y_i`$ is the radial distance to the $`i`$th center target. We have used a Schechter fit to the luminosity function (Schechter 1976) for the tracer galaxies with parameters $`M_{b_J}^{}=19.7+5\mathrm{log}h`$, $`\alpha =1.0`$ and we have included a linear $`K`$-correction, $`K=3z`$, in computing $`L_{\mathrm{min}}(x)`$. By fitting power-laws to the cross-correlation functions we have inferred slopes and correlation lengths for the cluster samples. We obtain $`\gamma =2.09\pm 0.09`$, $`r_0=(11\pm 2)h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ for XBACS; $`\gamma =1.9\pm 0.2`$, $`r_0=(11\pm 3)h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ for Abell $`R=1`$; $`\gamma =1.9\pm 0.2`$, $`r_0=(9\pm 2)h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ for Abell $`R=0`$.

The low amplitude and the large error bars of the cross-correlations of active objects do not allow adequate power-law fits. A useful quantity to characterise the typical galaxy overdensity around the center targets considers the number of tracer galaxies at projected distances $`r_p1h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ with respect to the random fields,

$$N_{TARGET}^{\mathrm{excess}}=NN_{RAN}$$
(5)
Our sample of tracer galaxies are limited to $`b_J20.5`$ and corresponds to objects brighter than $`M_{b_J}=17.7+5\mathrm{log}h`$ at $`z0.15`$. We find for active objects $`N_{AGNs}^{\mathrm{excess}}15`$; $`N_{RQQs}^{\mathrm{excess}}13`$; $`N_{RLQs}^{\mathrm{excess}}10`$. For clusters we find $`N_{XBACS}^{\mathrm{excess}}100`$; $`N_{R=1}^{\mathrm{excess}}50`$ and $`N_{R=0}^{\mathrm{excess}}30`$. From these results it is clear that active objects are not typically located in moderately rich galaxy enhancements such as Abell $`R=0`$ clusters, as suggested in previous works (see for instance Smith et al. 1999, Mc. Lure & Dunlop 2000).

### 3.2 Distribution of $`b_JR`$ colour indexes of neighbouring galaxies

The relative fraction of different stellar populations in galaxies are reflected in the $`b_JR`$ colour index. Elliptical galaxies, dominated by an old population of stars, have typical values $`b_JR1.52`$, while in late types with recent episodes of star formation, $`b_JR<1`$. In this subsection we explore the properties of the stellar populations of galaxies in the vicinity of the different target samples using $`b_JR`$ colour indexes. We study the normalised distribution of $`b_JR`$ of APM galaxies around the targets within a projected distance $`r_p<0.5h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$. We adopt the same limiting apparent magnitude $`b_J^{\mathrm{lim}}=20.5`$ for all tracer samples and we compute:

$$f(b_JR)=\frac{N(b_JR)}{N^{TOT}\mathrm{\Delta }(b_JR)},$$
(6)
where $`N(b_JR)`$ is the number of APM galaxies with colour indexes in the interval defined by $`[(b_JR)\mathrm{\Delta }(b_JR)/2,(b_JR)+\mathrm{\Delta }(b_JR)/2]`$, and $`N^{TOT}`$ is the total number of APM galaxies within $`r_P0.5h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$. Error bars in these distributions were computed using the bootstrap resampling technique. We subtract from these distributions the colour distribution of tracer galaxies in the randomly selected fields. The results are displayed in Figure 3. As it is expected from the well known morphology-density relation (Dressler 1980), there is a marked relative excess of early ($`1b_JR2`$) to late type galaxies ($`0b_JR1`$) within $`r_p0.5h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ for the three samples of clusters, an effect that is stronger for the richer cluster samples. Active objects show a weaker tendency, although, the distribution of colours of RQQs shows a similar excess of red galaxies than in $`R=0`$ clusters. For RLQs, the signal for the presence of a red galaxy population is almost negligible, while AGNs show an intermediate behavior between RQQs and RLQs.

To quantify the previous results, we have computed a parameter $`𝒫`$ that characterizes the relative fraction of red to blue galaxies in a given range of projected separations

$$𝒫=\frac{N_RN_{b_J}}{N_R+N_{b_J}},$$
(7)
where $`N_R`$ is the number of neighbour tracer galaxies in the range $`1b_JR2`$ and $`N_{b_J}`$ is the number in the range $`0b_JR1`$. In Table 2 we list this parameter for three projected distance ranges ($`r_p0.3h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$, $`r_p0.5h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ and $`r_p1h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$) and their corresponding bootstrap resampling uncertainties estimates.

The values of $`𝒫`$ in Table 2 allow us to quantify and extend the previous results of this subsection. By inspection to this table it can be seen that galaxies in clusters show the tendency of systematically larger colour indexes near the center. The population of galaxies in the neighbourhood of RQQs have $`𝒫`$ comparable to that of galaxies in $`R=1`$ and $`R=0`$ Abell clusters. It is worth to notice the negative values of $`𝒫`$ for galaxies in the vicinity of RLQs which indicate the lack of a red galaxy population, characteristic of high density regions, around these objects. In order test the stability of these results we have changed the boundaries adopted to calculate the values of $`𝒫`$. The analysis shows that the above conclusions are robust and do not depend on the particular choice of colour boudaries in the calculations, provided the parameter $`𝒫`$ reflects the relative fraction of early-type to late-type galaxies.

## 4 Discussion

The results discussed previously lead us to conclude that quasars and AGNs are not placed in galaxy density enhancements corresponding to rich and moderately rich clusters of galaxies. As it can be clearly appreciated by inspection to Figure 2, the galaxy overdensity around these center targets is significantly lower than that corresponding to Abell $`R=1`$ or $`R=0`$ clusters of galaxies. Thus, active objects are more likely to reside in groups (typically 10 neighbours with $`M_{b_J}M_{b_J}^{}+2`$ within $`r_p1h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$). It has been often argued that quasar environment correspond to that of moderately rich clusters, our results indicate that active nuclei reside in regions of at most half the projected galaxy density of $`R=0`$ clusters.

The distribution of $`b_JR`$ colour indexes of galaxies within projected distances $`r_p1h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ centered on RLQs is significantly different than that corresponding to clusters. This fact suggests that the stellar population of the neighbouring galaxies of RLQs differs significantly from that in rich and moderate galaxy density enhancements. The environments of RQQs show $`b_JR`$ colour indexes similar to galaxies in clusters while AGNs show an intermediate behavior.

We find statistical evidence that the distribution of $`b_JR`$ colours of galaxies in the vicinity of radio-quiet and radio-loud quasars are different. The latter have a population of neighbouring galaxies with lower values of colour indexes. This fact should be considered in models of the effects of nuclear activity on galaxy formation and evolution.

## 5 Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Howard Yee for useful comments. We are indebted to Dr. Carlton Baugh for reading the manuscript and providing helpful suggestions. The authors would like to thank the anonymous referee for helpful comments that improved the previous version of this paper.

This research was partially supported by grants from CONICET, Agencia Córdoba Ciencia, Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and Fundación Antorchas, Argentina.


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# Drag on particles in a nematic suspension by a moving nematic-isotropic interface

## Abstract

We report the first clear demonstration of drag on colloidal particles by a moving nematic-isotropic interface. The balance of forces explains our observation of periodic, strip-like structures that are produced by the movement of these particles.

Colloidal dispersions of small particles in nematic liquid crystals are a novel, interesting type of soft matter. The difference from ordinary colloids arises from the orientational ordering of the liquid crystal molecules and the resulting structure in the colloid. Topological defects Lubensky et al. (1998); Stark (1999); Andrienko et al. (2001, 2002) and additional long-range forces between the colloidal particles Lev and Tomchuk (1999) are immediate consequences of this ordering. The nematic-induced interparticle interaction brings a new range of effects to the system: supermolecular structures Poulin et al. (1997); Poulin and Weitz (1998); Loudet et al. (2000); Loudet and Poulin (2001), cellular structures Anderson et al. (2001); Anderson and Terentjev (2001), and even a soft solid Meeker et al. (2000) can be observed. Colloidal dispersions in liquid crystals also have a wide variety of potential applications Russel et al. (1989).

A range of problems similar to those of polymer dispersed liquid crystals also arise in nematic colloidal dispersions. The nematic ordering makes it difficult to suspend small particles in a liquid crystal host. Particles often segregate into agglomerates distributed nonuniformly in the cell. The resulting spatial distribution of the particles is difficult to control. Our research explores the factors that affect the spatial distribution of these particles and indicates ways to control the complex morphology of these systems.

In this paper we report the first demonstration of drag on colloidal particles by a moving nematic-isotropic (NI) interface. We calculate a critical radius above which the particles cannot be captured by the moving interface. We predict that this critical radius is sensitive to the viscous properties of the host liquid crystal, the value of the anchoring coefficient of the liquid crystal on the particle surface, and the velocity of the moving interface. Most important, we can move particles of specified radius and can control the spatial distribution of these particles in the cell.

In order to understand how the particles are moved by the nematic-isotropic transition front we used particles of different size as well as particles made of different materials. In the first part of our experiments we used nearly monodisperse spheres of silica ($`R=0.005,0.5`$, and $`1\mu \text{m}`$). To prove our predictions based on initial experimental observations and to demonstrate the controllability of the spatial distribution of particles in anisitropic colloidal suspensions, we used large polymer particles, $`R=8\mu \text{m}`$ 111these particles are widely used as spacers in LCD industry Micropearl SP, made of cross-linked copolymer with divinylbenzene as a major component, $`\rho =1.051.15\text{g cm}^3`$.. In all cases particles were dispersed at concentrations of $`\varphi =15\text{wt \%}`$, in the liquid crystal 5CB at room temperature ($`25^0\mathrm{C}`$) (the isotropic-nematic transition temperature of pure 5CB is $`T_{\mathrm{NI}}35^0\mathrm{C}`$). The sample was subjected to ultrasound in order to uniformly disperse the particles in 5CB. Some of the preparations were made at higher temperatures, in the nematic or isotropic state of the liquid crystal.

The homogeneous mixture was deposited between two polymer-covered glass substrates and heated above the nematic-isotropic transition point. The cell thickness was $`100\mu \text{m}`$. The homogeneous suspension was observed under crossed polarizers using an optical microscope, Fig. 1a.

The mixture was cooled to a temperature below the transition point. Depending on the rate of cooling, we observed different structures. Fast quenching to room temperature (cooling rate $`10^0\text{C min}^1`$) resulted in phase separation and formation of a cellular structure, with particle-free nematic domains separated by particle-rich regions, Fig. 1b. Properties of these structures have been reported previously Anderson et al. (2001); Anderson and Terentjev (2001); Meeker et al. (2000). Decreasing the cooling rate, we observed formation of a striped structure (Fig. 1c). The particle-rich regions were no longer forming a cellular structure but were arranged in a set of stripes, separated by particle-free regions. Using optical microscope images we postulate that we have large nematic and isotropic domains separated by a moving interface. The direction of the stripes is parallel to the moving interface (the interface was moving from the left to the right of the cell in the geometry depicted in Fig. 1). The spatial period of the striped structure depended on the cooling rate, as well as on the particle size. Increasing the particle size, as well as decreasing the cooling rate, resulted in an increase of the spatial period. We also noticed that the stripes do not appear if we have considerably larger silica particles, $`R>0.5\mu \text{m}`$. Also, decreasing the cooling rate resulted in a chaotic merging of stripes and formation of a “root”-like pattern, Fig. 1d. These results indicate that the particles are pushed by the moving nematic-isotropic phase transition front.

Using optical microscopy we were able to directly observe the movement of larger ($`R=8\mu \text{m}`$) but less dense polymer spheres. We could see these particles being moved by an advancing nematic to isotropic phase boundary. Fig. 2 shows pictures of this moving front taken at different times. Clearly the particles are pushed by this advancing front, remaining in the isotropic phase.

A simple analysis accounts for these experimental observations. We consider several mechanisms which contribute to the total drag force acting on a particle at a NI interface. First, the surface tension coefficient might differ at the particle-nematic or particle-isotropic part of the interface. An additional pressure caused by the curvature can be given by $`P=2\sigma /R`$, where $`R`$ is the radius of the curvature (in our case it is the radius of the particle) and $`\sigma `$ is the surface tension coefficient. This pressure contributes to the total drag force as $`F_\sigma =2\pi (\sigma _N\sigma _I)R[1(d/R)^2]`$, with the amplitude growing linearly with the droplet radius. Here $`d`$ is the distance from the particle center to the interface. The value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma =\sigma _N\sigma _I`$ depends on the surface treatment of the particles and is unknown (and difficult to measure) for our system. However, the order of magnitude can be estimated from the change of the surface tension coefficient of the glass-5CB interface Tintaru et al. (2001), $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma 10^210^3\text{dyne cm}^2`$.

Second, the particle creates long-range distortions of the director in a nematic phase. To minimize elastic distortion energy, the nematic tries to expel particles into the isotropic phase. The elastic forces have two origins: due to the director deformations in the bulk nematic and due to the anchoring of the director at the particle surface. An estimation of these contributions can be done by dimensional analysis. For the surface contribution, the only combination which has dimension of force is $`WR`$, where $`W`$ is the anchoring coefficient. Therefore, the surface contribution to the drag force is proportional to $`WR`$, $`F_\text{s}=WRg_\text{s}(d/R)`$, where $`g_\text{s}(x)`$ is a dimensionless function of the penetration depth, $`d/R`$.

One can have two different situations for the bulk contribution. For weak anchoring, $`WR/K<<1`$, the bulk contribution is proportional to the squared characteristic deviation of the director, $`\beta _0WR/K`$ Kuksenok et al. (1996). Now $`W^2R^2/K`$ has the dimension of force, yielding $`F_\text{b}=W^2R^2/Kg_\text{b}(d/R)`$. In contrast, in the case of strong anchoring, $`WR/K>>1`$, the anchoring does not enter the elastic contribution, and $`F_\text{b}=Kg_\text{b}(d/R)`$. Here, again, $`g_\text{b}(x)`$ is a dimensionless function. For 5CB 222typical values for 5CB (room temperature): $`K_{11}=6.410^7\text{dyne}`$, $`K_{22}=310^7\text{dyne}`$, $`K_{33}=1010^7\text{dyne}`$, $`W10^210^4\text{dyne}`$, $`\sigma 40\text{dyne cm}^2`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma 10^210^3\text{dyne cm}^2`$ Tintaru et al. (2001), $`\eta =0.81\text{P}`$, density of the silica particles, $`\rho =2.5\text{g cm}^3`$, density of the polymer, $`\rho =1.051.15\text{g cm}^3`$, packing fraction of the aggregates, $`\varphi =0.30.8`$., and typical values of the anchoring energy, $`W10^310^4\text{dyn cm}^1`$, $`WR/K<<1`$ for silica particles and $`WR/K1`$ for polymer particles. Therefore, for silica particles, we have the weak anchoring regime. In contrast, polymer particles provide strong anchoring of the director. We also note that, when particles agglomerate, the effective radius increases and we have a strong anchoring regime even for small particles.

Finally, there is a friction drag contribution, which, in the first approximation, is given by the Stokes formula, $`F_\eta =6\pi R\eta v`$ Billeter and Pelcovits (2000). The total drag on the particle is the sum of all contributions, $`F_{\text{drag}}=F_\sigma +F_\text{b}+F_\text{s}+F_\eta `$.

Solution of Newton’s equations of motion with $`F_{\text{drag}}`$ as a force completes the description of the particle dynamics. It is clear, however, that small heavy particles cannot be moved by the interface. The maximal radius can be estimated from the conservation of linear momentum. To capture a particle of mass $`m`$, the interface has to transfer to it a linear momentum $`mv`$. If we assume that the particle does not move (or it moves much slower than the interface, which is valid for massive particles) then the total linear momentum transferred to the particle reads

$$mv=_{t_1}^{t_2}F_{\text{drag}}𝑑t=\frac{1}{v}_R^RF_{\text{drag}}\left(x\right)𝑑x,$$
(1)
Here we assumed that the interface touches the particle at time $`t_1`$ and leaves it at time $`t_2`$, $`x=vt`$. Substituting $`F_{\text{drag}}`$ we obtain

$$R_{\mathrm{max}}=\frac{\frac{8}{3}\pi \mathrm{\Delta }\sigma +\delta _\text{s}W6\pi \eta \mathrm{\Delta }r}{\frac{4}{3}\pi \rho v^2\delta _\text{b}W^2/K},$$
(2)
where $`\delta _i`$ are geometrical constants, $`\rho `$ is the density of the particle, $`\mathrm{\Delta }r`$ is the final displacement of the particle due to the drag force.

Several important conclusions can be drawn. First, if the particle is too big, the moving interface is not able to transfer sufficient linear momentum to it. Only particles with $`R<R_{\mathrm{max}}(v,W,\sigma )`$ will be captured by the interface. From eqn (2) one can see that $`R_{\mathrm{max}}v^2`$, i.e. only a slowly moving interface is able to capture the particles. The estimate of this velocity is given by the zero of the denominator of eqn (2), $`vW/\sqrt{K\rho }1\text{mm sec}^1`$. This is of the order of the limiting velocity for the cellular structure we observed in our experiments: if the interface moves more slowly, then stripes appear, otherwise the cellular structure forms (see Fig. 1).

The main conclusion is that $`R_{\mathrm{max}}`$ is a function of the material parameters, i.e. can be effectively controlled, for example, by changing the surface treatment of the particles (anchoring energy $`W`$). Increase in the anchoring energy leads to an increase of $`R_{\mathrm{max}}`$. Moreover, strong enough anchoring favors formation of a defect near the particle Poulin et al. (1997); Lubensky et al. (1998), contributing to an even higher energetic barrier created by elastic forces.

On the other hand, if the particle is captured by the interface, the elastic force scales as $`R^2`$, and the opposing viscous drag scales as $`R`$. Therefore, there is a minimal radius, $`R_{\mathrm{min}}`$, starting from which particles will be dragged by the interface. If the particle is dragged by the interface at a constant speed, then $`F_{\text{drag}}=0`$, yielding

$$R_{\mathrm{min}}=\frac{6\pi \eta v2\pi \mathrm{\Delta }\sigma \gamma _\text{s}W}{\gamma _\text{b}W^2/K},$$
(3)
where $`\gamma _i=g_i(0)`$ are some constants. Eqn (3) implies that, in order to be moved by the interface, the particles have to be big enough. Only in this case can elastic forces overcome viscous drag. Substituting values typical for 5CB and using the slowest cooling rate, we obtain $`R_{\mathrm{min}}0.01\mu \text{m}`$ which qualitatively agrees with the minimum size of silica particles we were able to move.

To explain formation of the striped structure, we note that, in practice, particles aggregate into clusters. While an aggregate moves, it captures more and more particles, growing in size. The anchoring parameter $`WR/K`$ also increases and we switch from the weak anchoring to the strong anchoring regime. The bulk elastic contribution is then proportional to the elastic constant $`K`$ and the elastic force is no longer growing as $`R^2`$. Therefore, at some $`R_\text{c}`$, the friction drag overcomes the elastic contribution and the aggregate breaks through the interface. A stripe forms and the particles start to accumulate again. The condition $`F_{\text{drag}}=0`$ gives the critical size of the aggregate

$$R_\text{c}=\frac{\gamma _\text{b}K}{6\pi \eta v2\pi \mathrm{\Delta }\sigma },$$
(4)
which is about $`1\mu \text{m}`$ for typical experimental values.

From conservation of mass one can show that the radius of the aggregate increases linearly with time until it reaches $`R_\text{c}`$,

$$R=R_0+\frac{1}{4}\varphi \frac{\rho _{\text{LC}}}{\rho _\text{a}}vt.$$
(5)
Here $`R_0`$ is the initial radius of the aggregate, $`\rho _\text{a}`$ is the density of the aggregate. Therefore, the distance between two stripes is given by

$$\lambda 4\varphi ^1\frac{\rho _\text{a}}{\rho _{\text{L}C}}R_\text{c},$$
(6)
and is of the order of $`0.1\text{mm}`$, again in qualitative agreement with experiment, Fig. 1.

In conclusion, we have demonstrated moving colloidal particles by a moving nematic-isotropic interface. We have also determined the factors such as particle size, anchoring energy and speed of the moving front, that control the particle movement. By controlling these factors we can control the morphology of the colloid and its physical properties. Such control is necessary to develop and optimize these colloids for specific applications.

###### Acknowledgements.

This research was supported through INTAS grant 99-00312 and ALCOM grant DMR 89-20147.


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# Giant Radio Pulses from the Millisecond Pulsar PSR B1937+21 at 327 MHz

## 1 Introduction

Recently Kinkhabwala and Thorsett  (henceforth KT) studied giant radio pulses from the fastest known millisecond pulsar to date, PSR B1937$`+`$21, simultaneously at frequencies 2380 mega hertz (MHz), 1420 MHz and 430 MHz, using total intensity data from the Arecibo Radio Telescope (ART) (see also Sallmen & Backer ; Cognard et al. ). They used coherent dedispersion to obtain a time resolution of $``$ 0.1 to 0.2 micro seconds ($`\mu `$s). Their main conclusions are (1) “ at each frequency, giant pulses are emitted only in narrow ($``$ 10 $`\mu `$s) windows of pulse phase located $``$ 55-70 $`\mu `$s after the main and interpulse peaks”, (2) their “ … mean arrival phase appears stable”, (3) their cumulative intensity distribution is roughly power law with an exponent of $`1.8`$.

This article reports the result of analyzing seven giant pulses from PSR B1937$`+`$21, obtained at 326.5 MHz using ORT; only a single linear polarization was available, and incoherent dedispersion was used. Although the data were observed with a sampling interval of 102.4 $`\mu `$s, the pulse phases of giant pulses were obtained with accuracies of 15 to 20 $`\mu `$s; the instrument, the method of observation, and the several variations of data reduction for diverse purposes are given in Vivekanand et al. , Vivekanand , and Vivekanand . While the above pulse phase accuracies are $``$ two orders of magnitude lower than those of KT, they are sufficient for the current purpose; they are much smaller than the widths of giant pulses that are affected by interstellar scattering and dispersion broadening at 326.5 MHz (discussed later).

Table 1 lists 5 of the total 7 data files observed during the later half of May 1995, in which giant pulses were found. For technical reasons, the first 6 000 of the 681 984 samples (each of duration 102.4 $`\mu `$s) were ignored in each file. The data were folded at the corresponding period (table 1); 15 times samples were synthesized in each period, whose duration differed from file to file, but is approximately 103.85 $`\mu `$s. In each file, consists of 44 436 useful periods of data, the five highest peaks were found, and giant pulses were identified as those whose peak signal to noise ratio (SNR) was higher than or close to 10.0. Then their pulse phases and their uncertainties were derived as in Vivekanand . Then the integrated profile of each file was cross correlated with that of file observed at UT 22:24:37 on 1995-05-22 (no giant pulses were found in this file), and the data were shifted in each file (using FFT technique) by the corresponding amount of time.

PSR B1937$`+`$21 has a very small rotation period; so it requires fast sampling rates that are not available at ORT. It has a high dispersion measure; so coherent dedispersion technique is required to maintain the required sensitivity; that is also not available at ORT. Therefore observing this pulsar at ORT is a difficult exercise, although ORT is the most powerful telescope operating currently at $``$ 327 MHz. The top panel of fig. 1 shows ten periods of PSR B1937$`+`$21 centered around the strongest giant pulse observed at ORT. The ordinate was obtained in units of the signal to noise ratio as described in Vivekanand . The effects of dispersion smearing and interstellar scattering are evident in the bottom panel of fig. 1.

## 2 Intensity Distribution

These data are too meager to verify the cumulative intensity distribution reported by KT of giant pulses of PSR B1937$`+`$21. So only a consistency check will be done here, using their 430 MHz observations. This frequency is appropriate for comparison with current ORT observations since interstellar scattering of giant pulses affects their 430 MHz observations, just as it does the ORT observations, but hardly their 1420 MHz or 2380 MHz observations.

The effective collecting area of ART is $``$ 49 700 square meters (m2), obtained from the antenna gain $`G`$ value of 18.0 Kelvin per Jansky (K/Jy) quoted by Thorsett & Stinebring () for observations of PSR B1937$`+`$21. That of ORT is $``$ 7 400 (m2); this is obtained from the $`G=1.9`$ (K/Jy) (Selvanayagam et al ) for the correlation mode of operation of ORT, and noting that the current observations have been done in the total power mode, which gains a factor $`\sqrt{2}`$. This reduces by factor $``$ 6.7 the sensitivity of ORT with respect to that of ART. The system temperature of ART is 170 K towards PSR B1937$`+`$21 (Thorsett & Stinebring ); that of ORT is the receiver temperature plus spillover of 110 K (Selvanayagam et al ) plus the galactic background contribution of 202 K, obtained by scaling 117 K (see equation 8-6 of Manchester & Taylor ) by the frequency scaling factor $`(400/326.5)^{2.7}1.73`$ (see Salter & Brown  for the exponent 2.7). This reduces ORT’s relative sensitivity by the further factor $`312/1701.84`$. The total available bandwidths at the two telescopes contribute a factor $`\sqrt{10/8}`$ 1.12, while a factor $`\sqrt{2}`$ arises due to the availability of only a single polarization at ORT.

At 430 MHz, KT look for giant pulses by integrating the flux density within a 150 $`\mu `$s window “located on the tails of the main pulse (MP) and the interpulse (IP)”; in this work they are located by means of their peak SNR, measured within a single time sample of duration 102.4 $`\mu `$s. Further, interstellar scattering broadening of giant pulses in KT is $``$ 30 $`\mu `$s at 430 MHz (their table 1), while interstellar dispersion smearing is negligible due to coherent dedispersion. Thus at ART the energy of giant pulses can be assumed to be effectively spread over the detection window width of $`150\mu `$s. On the other hand, scatter broadening at ORT is $`30\times \left(430.0/326.5\right)^490.0`$ $`\mu `$s (see Manchester & Taylor ); and dispersion smearing within each frequency channel is $``$ 165 $`\mu `$s. Now, scatter broadening occurs at each frequency within the observing bandwidth. Thus at ORT the energy of giant pulses can be expected to be spread over $`\sqrt{90^2+165^2}`$ 188 $`\mu `$s. Thus the relative sensitivity of ORT is reduced by $`188/1501.25`$ due to smearing of giant pulse energy over a longer time, and by $`\sqrt{150.0/102.4}1.21`$ due to the reduced measurement window.

ORT’s relative sensitivity is further affected by two uncertain factors. The first is a reduction by factor $`\alpha `$, due to refractive interstellar scintillation, phasing of ORT, etc; $`\alpha `$ can be $``$ 2 or even more at ORT (see Vivekanand ).

The second is $`\beta `$, due to the relative SNR thresholds chosen in both works. The threshold is $``$ 10 in this work; i.e., at ORT one has observed $`7`$ giant pulses in $`8.1`$ minutes of observation above a SNR threshold of $`10`$. In KT this number is not explicitly stated. However, from their fig. 7 one can deduce that a fraction of $`10^4`$ of their $`10^6`$ total periods (KT mislabel these as “pulses” in the second last para of page 365, which can be confused with the giant pulses) have integrated fluxes greater than $`2000[\mathrm{Jy}\mu \mathrm{s}]`$, at 430 MHz, within the $`150\mu `$s window. The corresponding flux density threshold will be $`2000[\mathrm{Jy}\mu \mathrm{s}]/150[\mu \mathrm{s}]13[\mathrm{Jy}]`$. Now, the noise of ART within the $`150\mu `$s window would be $`170[\mathrm{K}]/G[\mathrm{K}/\mathrm{Jy}]/2/\sqrt{10[\mathrm{MHz}]\times 150[\mu \mathrm{s}]}0.12`$ Jy (the extra factor of 2 in the denominator arises due to the definition of the gain $`G`$ of an antenna). Thus KT would have observed $`100`$ giant pulses above the SNR threshold of $`110`$ (Kinkhabwala ).

Thus the relative sensitivity of ORT is enhanced by a factor $`\beta 110/1011`$ due to the relative SNR thresholds of both works. Finally, the giant pulse flux density scales with observing frequency as $`\nu ^{3.1}`$ (KT); this would further enhance the sensitivity of ORT with respect to that of ART by the factor $`\left(430.0/326.5\right)^{3.1}`$ 2.35.

This leads to an effective sensitivity of ORT that is a factor $`6.7\times 1.84\times 1.12\times 1.41\times 1.25\times 1.21\times \alpha /11/2.351.14\times \alpha `$ less than that of ART.

Now, KT claim that the fraction of giant pulses above a flux density $`S`$ is proportional to $`S^{1.8}`$; actually the abscissa in their fig. 7 is intensity $`I`$, which is $`S`$ multiplied by a fixed duration of time. So the number of giant pulses ORT should have recorded in half an hour would be $`100\times \left(1.14\times \alpha \right)^{1.8}`$. Therefore in the $``$ 8.1 minutes of actual observation, ORT is expected to record $`21/\left(\alpha \right)^{1.8}`$ giant pulses.

For $`\alpha 1`$, this is a factor $`3`$ higher than the number of giant pulses actually observed at ORT; $`\alpha `$ needs to be $`1.8`$ for the numbers to match, which is not unreasonable at ORT. Furthermore, small changes in some of the above numbers can cause significant change in the final result. For example, assuming that the scatter broadening is 40 (instead of 30) $`\mu `$s further reduces the number of giant pulses potentially observable by $`14`$%. As another example, if the giant pulse flux density is assumed to scale with observing frequency as $`\nu ^{2.6}`$, instead of as $`\nu ^{3.1}`$, since such a possibility exits in fig. 10 of KT, the number of giant pulses potentially observable decreases by $`28`$%. It is therefore concluded that the seven giant pulses of PSR B1937$`+`$21 observed in about 8.1 minutes of the current ORT observations are consistent with the cumulative intensity distribution of KT.

## 3 Phase Distribution

The effective time resolution of these data is so many times worse than that of KT that once again a detailed comparison is not possible with their work. However fig. 2 shows that there is broad agreement.

### 3.1 Mean Arrival Phase

The mean pulse phase of the 6 giant pulses in the main pulse of the integrated profile of PSR B1937$`+`$21 (fig. 2) is 0.242$`\pm `$0.006, in units of the pulsar period ($``$ 1.55770 ms). For reference, the phase of the peak of the main pulse in fig. 2 is 0.247 (discussed later). The error on the mean pulse phase is $`0.006\times 1557.79.3\mu `$s. This is obtained by taking into account (1) the formal estimation error on the phase of each giant pulse (column 6 of table 1; see Vivekanand  for details), (2) the departure of the estimated phase of each giant pulse from the mean of all six values (column 5 of table 1), and (3) reducing by $`\sqrt{6}`$ the final answer. Assuming Gaussian statistics one can conclude that most giant pulses (in the main pulse of PSR B1937$`+`$21 at 326.5 MHz) arrive within a phase window of $`9.3\times 547\mu `$s; this is consistent with the narrow window of $``$ 10 $`\mu `$s obtained by KT at higher radio frequencies. A corresponding comment can not be made regarding the giant pulses in the inter pulse of PSR B1937$`+`$21 at 326.5 MHz, since these data contain only one such; it occurs $`19\mu `$s after the inter pulse peak.

A visual inspection of fig. 2 shows that the arrival phases of giant pulses in the main pulse of PSR B1937$`+`$21 at 326.5 MHz are “stable” as claimed by KT. Once again this work can not comment on the stability of the arrival phases of giant pulses in the inter pulse.

### 3.2 Its Separation From Pulse Peak

The mean pulse phase of the peak of the main pulse of PSR B1937$`+`$21 in fig. 2, obtained by weighting the abscissa with the ordinate in the top panel, is 0.247 with (comparatively) negligible error. So it is separated from the mean pulse phase of giant pulses by $`\left(0.2420.247\right)\times 1557.708\mu `$s, which is within measurement errors. This implies that the mean arrival phase of giant pulses is coincident with the mean pulse phase of the main component of the integrated profile of PSR B1937$`+`$21 at 326.5 MHz. The separation of $`8\mu `$s is independent of the scatter broadening at ORT; that is expected to bias both the mean pulse phase of a giant pulse (modeled as a delta function convolved with a truncated exponential function), as well as the mean pulse phase of the main pulse of the integrated profile (modeled as a Gaussian convolved with a truncated exponential function), by the same amount, viz., the scatter broadening width.

This is inconsistent with the $`5570\mu `$s separation noted by KT. They mention that the separation has a “lower limit of 49 $`\mu `$s at 430 MHz”; this also appears to be the case from a visual inspection of the bottom panel of their fig. 2. Therefore the best explanation currently is that ORT observations, obtained using only a single linear polarization, might bias the mean pulse phase of the peak of the integrated profile to a greater extent than they do the mean pulse phases of giant pulses. This is plausible if, for example, the mean position angle of the linear polarization vector is different in the two cases; or if it changes across the integrated profile at a rate that is different for the rate of change across the giant pulses, since the former is expected to be dominated by the non-giant pulse (or the so called normal) emission. However this result merits verification by future observations.

This analysis is obviously not possible for the interpulse of PSR B1937$`+`$21 in the current data.

## 4 Discussion

This work supports, at 326.5 MHz, the reported behavior of giant pulses of PSR B1937$`+`$21 at higher radio frequencies (KT), although with meager data. It is encouraging that this was possible with data having only a single linear polarization, and which also suffer from severe interstellar scattering.

KT showed that timing the giant pulses of PSR B1937$`+`$21 gives precision comparable to that obtained by timing the integrated profile, on the short time scales ($``$ hours). Whether this leads to better long term timing precision depends upon the emission characteristics of giant pulses – how fast does their average profile stabilize, etc. (KT). This problem can be studied with actual data, as is currently being undertaken by KT at the higher radio frequencies. Unfortunately this can not be done at 326.5 MHz because of the technical limitations of ORT. It would have been nice if one could theoretically study the problem; but that would require more information on the intrinsic scatter of the giant pulse emission phase.

## 5 Acknowledgements

I thank the referee for corrections and suggestions, and Ali Kinkhabwala for clarifications. This research has made use of NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Abstract Service.


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# Epitaxial Thin Films of the Giant-Dielectric-Constant Material CaCu3Ti4O12 Grown by Pulsed-laser Deposition

## Abstract

Pulsed-laser deposition has been used to grow epitaxial thin films of the giant-dielectric-constant material CaCu3Ti4O12 on LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 substrates with or without various conducting buffer layers. The latter include YBa2Cu3O7, La1.85Sr0.15CuO4+δ and LaNiO3. Above 100K - 150K the thin films have a temperature independent dielectric constant as do single crystals. The value of the dielectric constant is of the order of 1500 over a wide temperature region, potentially making it a good candidate for many applications. The frequency dependence of its dielectric properties below 100K - 150K indicates an activated relaxation process.

Ferroelectric or relaxor materials, such as (Ba, Sr)TiO3 (BST) Kotecki99 , SrTiO3 (STO) HCLi98  and KTa1-xNbxO3 (KTN) Samara00 , have been widely studied for various electronics applications, including dynamic random access memory(DRAM). This is because, in general, a high static dielectric constant is only observed in either a ferroelectric or a relaxor material. However, both types of material show a peak in the dielectric constant as a function of temperature, making it undesirable for many applications because a strong temperature dependence may cause the related device to fail with temperature variations in the environment. Recently CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) was discovered to have an extraordinarily high dielectric constant $``$ 80,000 at room temperature with minimal temperature dependence above 100K. Subramanian00 ; Ramirez00 ; Homes01  No ferroelectric lattice distortion has been observed by either high-resolution X-ray Ramirez00  or neutron powder diffraction Subramanian00 , posing interesting questions : why does the material have such a giant dielectric constant and why does the latter decrease dramatically below 100K. It is therefore of considerable interest both from a fundamental and an application point of view to see whether one can make thin films of this material and examine its properties. In this letter, we show that high quality CCTO thin films can be epitaxially grown on various substrates with or without conducting buffer layers. The low frequency dielectric constant is lower than that of the single crystal, but still $``$ 1500 over a wide temperature region, making it a competitive candidate for many applications.

The CCTO thin films were grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on LaAlO3 (LAO) or STO substrates, as well as YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO), La1.85Sr0.15CuO4+δ (LSCO) and LaNiO3 (LNO) buffer electrode layers. These electrode layers were also deposited on the substrates $`insitu`$ by PLD before the deposition of the CCTO thin film. The CCTO target was prepared by solid state reaction with the purity of the powders confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction. A KrF excimer laser (wavelength: 248 nm) was used with an energy density of $``$ 2.0 J/cm2 and a repetition rate of 5 Hz. The substrate was heated to 720 C (800 C for the YBCO layer). An oxygen pressure of 200 mTorr was used during the deposition for all materials. After deposition, the films were cooled to room temperature at a rate of 60 C per minute. Au pads, 0.5 mm2 in area with a thickness of about 4000 Å, were thermally evaporated to form a parallel-plate capacitor structure. Due to the difficulty of etching the CCTO thin films while maintaining the film quality, contacts were made to two of the top Au pads effectively, allowing the capacitance to be measured in two capacitors connected in series by the bottom electrodes. Dielectric constants and loss tangents were measured by a Keithley 3330 LCZ meter from 200Hz to 100kHz.

Thin films grown directly on STO substrates do not have the correct phase or may have more than one orientation of CCTO. This is understandable since the lattice mismatch between STO and CCTO is large. CCTO has a cubic structure with a lattice constant $`a`$=7.36 Å ($`a/2`$=3.68 Å), while STO has a cubic lattice constant $`a`$=3.905 Å. Thin films grown on the LAO substrate have only one orientation. This is shown in Fig.1 (a) in a $`\theta 2\theta `$ X-ray diffraction scan. Only the ($`l00`$) peaks from CCTO are present indicating that the out-of-plane alignment is good. The substrate temperature and the oxygen pressure were found to be crucial for single phase formation of CCTO. Indeed thin films deposited at 780 C or 20 mTorr were found to include the (310) orientation. In order to make dielectric measurements, various conducting perovskite oxides were fabricated as the bottom electrodes. Shown in Fig.1 (b) is a $`\theta 2\theta `$ scan of a 6000 Å CCTO thin film on a 1500 Å LSCO buffer layer on the STO substrate. Only the ($`00l`$) peaks from both CCTO and LSCO layers are present in the spectrum with peaks from the STO substrate, indicating both layers grow with the $`c`$-axis perpendicular to the substrate surface. It is worth pointing out that, with a LSCO buffer layer, the CCTO thin films can also be grown epitaxially on a STO substrate.

The in-plane epitaxy of the CCTO thin films were examined by $`\varphi `$ scans. Fig.2 shows the results of such a scan from the same bilayer thin film as in Fig.1 (b). Sharp peaks appear with 90 intervals for both the CCTO and LSCO layers, and the STO substrate, indicating the $`a`$ axis of the CCTO and LSCO layers are well aligned with the substrate. Combined with the $`\theta 2\theta `$ scan, it shows we have an excellent epitaxy between the CCTO thin film, the LSCO buffer layer and the STO substrate. Thus we are in a position to study the properties of CCTO in thin film format.

Because LNO has a lattice constant closer to CCTO than YBCO and a much better conductivity than LSCO, we made our measurement on thin films of CCTO/LNO/LAO. The temperature dependence of the dielectric constant and loss tangent for such a film at various frequencies from 200Hz to 100kHz is shown in Fig.3 (a) and (b) respectively. The dielectric constant has a fairly high value at room temperature, but, unlike the single crystal data, with a large frequency dependence. It decreases rapidly with decreasing temperature. The loss tangent shows the same trend with temperature. In fact both are very similar to the very first report by Subramanian et al. at high temperature. Subramanian00  Below a temperature of 250K, the film behaves almost exactly the same as a single crystal. The dielectric constants at all frequencies have a constant value of the order of 1500 until about 100K - 150K, when they decrease rapidly to approximately 200. This value is different from that of the single crystal, which is about 100. Homes01  Obviously, the system undergoes a transition from a high $`ϵ`$ state at high temperature to a low $`ϵ`$ state at low temperature and the frequency dependence only takes place around the transition temperature regime, which is about 100K - 150K. The transition takes place at higher temperatures at higher frequencies. Correspondingly, the peak observed in the temperature dependence of the loss tangent, shifts toward higher temperature. Finally, it is interesting to note that the results shown in Fig.3 are very similar to those from the bulk material CdCu3Ti4O12, which does not have the same giant dielectric constant at room temperature as bulk CCTO. Homes02

The large dielectric constant of CCTO has been interpreted as an extrinsic mechanism, which was assumed to come from the sample microstructure such as boundary or interface effects. He02  In fact, one recent paper has claimed that CCTO is a one-step internal barrier layer capacitor. Sinclair02  With such a model, one would conclude that the thin films have less defects than the single crystals because of their lower dielectric constant. This is a possiblility though it can often be the reverse. Thin films, with their much reduced size in one dimension, may have less planar defects, such as grain boundaries and twin interfaces, than single crystals, particularly if the latter have a large amount of intrinsic planar defects. Comparing the data from the single crystals and the thin films, it seems that the constant value of dielectric constant in a certain temperature region and the decrease at low temperature is a consistent property of the material, presenting an interesting problem as to why the dramatic increase at even higher temperature only shows up in thin films or polycrystalline samples. Subramanian00  The dielectric constant also has a significant dependence on the thickness of the CCTO thin films. To date, thin films with a thickness less than 3000 Å have a much lower dielectric constant ($``$700). However it should be possible to improve this by further optimizing the growth conditions, such as oxygen pressure and cooling rate after the deposition or different conducting bottom electrode layer. These studies as well as thickness dependence of the dielectric properties will be published elsewhere.

Finally, it is worth pointing out that the loss tangent in the thin film is actually lower than in the single crystal. This may well be a reflection that the single crystals have more defects than the thin films. Since the low temperature decrease of the dielectric constant towards 100 or 200 is certainly associated with the peak observed in the temperature dependence of the loss tangent, this might just be due to the fact that the constant value ($``$1500) of the dielectric constant in the thin film is much lower than in the single crystal ($`>`$10,000). A precise description should involve an understanding of the observed peak. Homes et al. used a Debye relaxation model to describe the frequency dependence of the dielectric constant and find a thermally activated behavior with an activation energy of about 630K in single crystal. Homes01  Here we show a simple way to get a similar result from our loss tangent data. In Fig.4, we plotted the frequency on a logarithmic scale versus the inverse peak temperature in our loss measurement. Along with the thin film data we also show the data from a single crystal. Clearly a linear dependence is observed, indicating that $`f\mathrm{exp}(U_0/kT)`$, in both sets of data. U0 for the single crystal is 690K which is about the same as the value from fitting to the Debye relaxation model for the dielectric constant. Homes01  U0 for the thin film is 880K. The difference may well reflect the fact that the thin film is under strain due to the lattice mismatch. Of course, the microstructure and defects and domain difference would also play a role. Further study on the evolution of the activated relaxation with thin film thickness will be conducted.

In conclusion, we have successfully grown epitaxial CCTO thin films by pulsed laser deposition. Thin films have similar properties to the previously studied single crystals. The dielectric constant is above 1500 within a fairly large temperature region, making it a very attractive material for many applications. Further investigations including the thickness dependence and electric field dependence are under way.

Helpful discussions with Myron Strogin, Genda Gu, Chris Homes and Tom Vogt are gratefully acknowledged. This work was supported in part by the Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886.


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# O(4) texture with a cosmological constant

## I Introduction

Phase transitions associated with the symmetry breaking in the early universe could produce topological defects. Those are core defects such as domain walls, cosmic strings, and monopoles, or textures .

Global textures are produced when a continuous global symmetry $`G`$ is broken to a group $`H`$. The resulting homotopy group $`\pi _D(G/H)`$ is nontrivial, and the vacuum manifold is $`S^D`$; for $`G`$=O(N) models, $`H`$=O(N-1) and $`D=N1`$. The mapping from the physical space to the vacuum manifold is $`R^DS^D`$.

The Lagrangian describing such texture models is

$$=\frac{1}{2}_\mu \mathrm{\Phi }^a^\mu \mathrm{\Phi }^a\frac{\lambda }{4}(\mathrm{\Phi }^a\mathrm{\Phi }^a\eta ^2)^2,$$
(1)
where $`a=1,\mathrm{},N`$. This Lagrangian has O(N) symmetry. After the phase transition, the scalar field acquires the value in the vacuum manifold, $`\mathrm{\Phi }^a\mathrm{\Phi }^a=\eta ^2`$, of which symmetry is O(N-1).

The energy of this model in $`D`$ spatial dimensions is given by

$$E=d^Dx\left[\frac{1}{2}(\mathrm{\Phi }^a)^2+V(\mathrm{\Phi }^a)\right]I_1+I_2.$$
(2)
By transforming $`\mathrm{\Phi }^a(x)`$ under the rescaling $`x\alpha x`$, the energy configuration becomes

$$E_\alpha =\alpha ^{2D}I_1+\alpha ^DI_2.$$
(3)
For a global texture, the potential part of the energy vanishes, $`I_2=0`$, since the scalar field sits on the vacuum manifold in the entire space $`R^D`$. Equation (3) tells us that the energy is a function of the rescaling factor $`\alpha `$. The configuration relaxes to acquire the minimum energy. Therefore, O(2) texture ($`D=1`$) expands ($`\alpha `$ decreasing), and O(4) texture ($`D=3`$) collapses since there is no stable minima in $`E_\alpha `$ with respect to (w.r.t.) $`\alpha `$. Only O(3) texture ($`D=2`$) is stable. This is the well-known Derrick’s theorem .

Collapsing O(4) textures produced during the Grand Unified phase transitions attracted much interest in the early 1990’s due to their potential cosmological significance . As the universe expands and cools down, the texture knots shrink and radiate away into Goldstone bosons. The texture collapse occurs at the speed of light, and correlates the scalar field on larger and larger scales. Quickly the correlation length grows to the horizon scale, and expands with it. As the texture collapses, the gradient energy of the scalar field gets concentrated at the center of the texture. This energy becomes large enough for the scalar field to overcome the potential barrier, and to leave the vacuum manifold. The texture unwinds in the end. During the collapsing texture leaves a signature in the structure formation of the universe.

Textures do not require a complete winding for collapse. Above some critical noninteger winding number $`0.5`$, textures collapse . The stability of textures in an expanding background has also been investigated for the radiation-dominated, matter-dominated and inflation era .

A non-vanishing cosmological constant has attracted increasing attention as a source for an accelerating universe. Supernova observation data show that the universe is accelerating rather than decelerating. The simplest source for such expansion is a cosmological constant.

If it existed, the story of texture stability could be altered. With a cosmological constant the universe undergoes de Sitter expansion. O(4) textures formed in such a background could slow down their collapse, or could even stabilize themselves to co-move with the background.

In this paper, we investigate O(4) textures with a cosmological constant. We study both the scalar and the gravitational field configurations. We solve the field equations numerically, and seek the static solutions. We also check the stability of them.

When there is a positive cosmological constant, a horizon develops in the geometry. There exists a static texture solution which is regular across the horizon. However, the scalar field of this solution does not complete its winding beyond the horizon; the winding number is nonintegral $`0.88`$. There also exist static solutions in which scalar-field derivatives are singular at the horizon; however, the scalar field itself is “finite” at the horizon. The value of the scalar field at the horizon can be either higher than that of the regular solution, or lower. For this type of solution, the texture can even complete one winding within the horizon. Both of the regular and the singular solutions are physical.

The regular solution is unstable under a small perturbation. The singular solutions of the high scalar field at the horizon are also unstable. The others look stable.

In Sec. II, we present the model and field equations. In Sec. III, we study texture solutions in pure de Sitter space. In Sec. IV, we include the texture self-gravity. In Sec. V, we check the stability of the solutions. In Sec. VI, we discuss the texture evolution. We conclude in Sec. VII.

## II The model

The action describing an O(4) texture with a cosmological constant is

$$𝒮=d^4x\sqrt{g}\left[\frac{2\mathrm{\Lambda }}{16\pi G}\frac{1}{2}_\mu \mathrm{\Phi }^a^\mu \mathrm{\Phi }^a\frac{\lambda }{4}(\mathrm{\Phi }^a\mathrm{\Phi }^a\eta ^2)^2\right],$$
(4)
where $`\mathrm{\Phi }^a`$ is the scalar field with $`a=1,\mathrm{},4`$, $`\eta `$ is the symmetry breaking scale, and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the cosmological constant. We are mainly interested in the case of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }>0`$. We assume the spherical symmetry and the general static form of the metric is

$$ds^2=B(r)dt^2+A(r)dr^2+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_2^2.$$
(5)
We consider a scalar field everywhere in space to reside in the vacuum manifold, $`\mathrm{\Phi }^a\mathrm{\Phi }^a=\eta ^2`$. The scalar field is of the form,

$$\mathrm{\Phi }^a=\eta (\mathrm{sin}\chi \mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{cos}\varphi ,\mathrm{sin}\chi \mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{sin}\varphi ,\mathrm{sin}\chi \mathrm{cos}\theta ,\mathrm{cos}\chi ),$$
(6)
where $`\theta `$ and $`\varphi `$ are the usual spherical coordinates. $`\chi `$ is a function of the radial coordinate, $`\chi (r)`$. In this case, the nonlinear $`\sigma `$-model approximation is applied, and $`\lambda `$ in the potential is treated as a Lagrangian multiplier. The scalar field equation, then, is

$$^\mu _\mu \mathrm{\Phi }^a=\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }^b(^\mu _\mu \mathrm{\Phi }^b)}{\eta ^2}\mathrm{\Phi }^a=\frac{(^\mu \mathrm{\Phi }^b)(_\mu \mathrm{\Phi }^b)}{\eta ^2}\mathrm{\Phi }^a.$$
(7)
The energy-momentum tensor is given by

$$T_{\mu \nu }=_\mu \mathrm{\Phi }^a_\nu \mathrm{\Phi }^a\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu }_\alpha \mathrm{\Phi }^a^\alpha \mathrm{\Phi }^a.$$
(8)
With the given metric (5), the Einstein’s equation leads to

$`G_t^t`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{A}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{A^{}}{Ar}}+{\displaystyle \frac{A1}{r^2}}\right)=8\pi G\eta ^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{\chi ^2}{2A}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}^2\chi }{r^2}}\right)+\mathrm{\Lambda },`$ (9)
$`G_r^r`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{A}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{B^{}}{Br}}+{\displaystyle \frac{A1}{r^2}}\right)=8\pi G\eta ^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{\chi ^2}{2A}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}^2\chi }{r^2}}\right)+\mathrm{\Lambda },`$ (10)
$`G_{\theta _i}^{\theta _i}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{A}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{B^{\prime \prime }}{2B}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{B^{}}{B}}\right)^2+{\displaystyle \frac{A^{}B^{}}{4AB}}{\displaystyle \frac{B^{}}{2Br}}+{\displaystyle \frac{A^{}}{2Ar}}\right]=8\pi G\eta ^2{\displaystyle \frac{\chi ^2}{2A}}+\mathrm{\Lambda },`$ (11)
and the scalar field equation leads to

$$\frac{\chi ^{\prime \prime }}{A}+\frac{1}{A}\left(\frac{B^{}}{2B}\frac{A^{}}{2A}+\frac{2}{r}\right)\chi ^{}\frac{\mathrm{sin}2\chi }{r^2}=0.$$
(12)
In the field equations, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ can be absorbed into the radial coordinate by rescaling. Then, the equations are free of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, and the solutions are as well. This implies that the solutions look self-similar one another for different $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ scales. The only physical difference is that the configuration stretches along the radial direction by the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ scale.

## III Solutions in pure de Sitter space

In this section, we investigate texture configurations in pure de Sitter space without including the self-gravity of the texture field. In this case, solutions are more tractable analytically as well as numerically. The background geometry is

$$ds^2=(1\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }}{3}r^2)dt^2+\frac{1}{1\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }}{3}r^2}dr^2+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_2^2.$$
(13)
The scalar field equation with this metric is

$$\chi ^{\prime \prime }+\frac{2(12R^2)}{R(1R^2)}\chi ^{}\frac{\mathrm{sin}2\chi }{R^2(1R^2)}=0.$$
(14)
Here, we rescaled the radial coordinate by $`R=(\mathrm{\Lambda }/3)^{1/2}r`$, and the prime denotes differentiation w.r.t. $`R`$. The horizon is located at $`R=1`$. This equation is solved only numerically. The numerical calculation is impossible at the horizon, $`R=1`$, where the equation becomes singular. However, if we fix the value of the scalar field at the horizon as a boundary condition, we can avoid the difficulty. The equation is numerically solved by the relaxation method after fixing two-point boundary values at $`R=0`$ and $`R=1`$. We locate the center of texture at the origin, $`\chi (0)=0`$.

First, let us discuss the regular solution. If $`\chi `$ is finite up to the second derivative at the horizon, from Eq. (14) we have a regularity condition for $`\chi `$ at the horizon as

$$2\chi _h^{}+\mathrm{sin}2\chi _h=0,$$
(15)
where the subscript h denotes the value at the horizon. We found numerically that this condition is satisfied when $`\chi _h0.64192\pi `$. If we proceed numerical calculation outside the horizon with this value, the scalar field reaches $`\chi (R\mathrm{})0.72081\pi `$ asymptotically. The scalar field of this regular configuration does not complete winding in the vacuum manifold even at infinity. The solution is plotted in Fig.1(a).

Besides the regular solution, there exist solutions in which $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }`$ at the horizon is infinite. From Eq. (14), when $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }`$ is infinite, unfortunately there would not be a definite information of $`\chi `$ and $`\chi ^{}`$ at the horizon; $`\chi ^{}`$ can be either finite, or infinite at the horizon. However, we observe that $`\chi ^{}`$ approaches a very large value close to the horizon. This indicates that $`\chi ^{}`$ may be infinite there—we checked that at least $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }(R1)^s`$ type of solution does not exist, where $`s<0`$.

Such solutions exist for $`\chi _h0.445\pi `$ and $`0.65\pi \chi _h1.1\pi `$. However, close to $`\chi _h0`$ and $`0.65\pi `$ the derivative $`\chi _h^{}`$ is not very large though. Other values of $`\chi _h`$ than those for regular and singular solutions, field configurations are not so conventional; they do not monotonically increase, but decrease close to the horizon. The singular solutions are plotted in Fig.1(b).

Note that in flat spacetime as well as in self-gravitating spacetime without a cosmological constant, there do not exist static configurations above some critical noninteger winding number smaller than one. However, with a cosmological constant, we have static solutions up to $`\chi _h1.1\pi `$. For $`\chi _h=\pi `$, the texture completes one winding at the horizon, and for $`\pi <\chi _h1.1\pi `$, it does even inside the horizon. We will see that this is also true for the case including the self-gravity of the texture field in the next section. This result agrees with the expectation we mentioned in the Introduction. Collapse is balanced by the expansion of the background.

For a given singular configuration inside the horizon, the matching solution outside must exist. However, as the field equation (14) does not provide any information about the functional form, or specific values of the field derivatives at the horizon, we cannot continue numerical calculations to the region outside of the horizon.

Considering solutions only inside the horizon is justified as following. When the texture is formed, the scalar field acquires values in the vacuum manifold. Different regions in space take different values of the field. The correlation length scale within which the region takes the same value, cannot exceed the cosmological horizon scale at the moment of formation. Usually the formation of one defect is completed within the cosmological horizon. Other defects are formed in the neighborhood.

In the present case, if we include the contribution of other matters (for example, the texture field itself) to the energy density of the universe, the cosmological horizon determined by the total energy density is always smaller than the de Sitter horizon. Therefore, considering solutions only inside the de Sitter horizon is perfectly guaranteed.

Although singular solutions would be accepted by the above justification, we need to comment some trouble associated with them. First, if $`\chi ^{}`$ is infinite at the horizon, the curvature diverges. If we include the self-gravity of the texture, the horizon is not only a coordinate singularity, but becomes a curvature singularity. If there is a curvature singularity, the signal emitted from it can propagate to the inner region. Observers off the center of the texture eventually will see the signal. This trouble may be resolved if we put the causal boundary to the cosmological horizon which is inside the de Sitter horizon. Hence, the texture configuration is cut by neighboring textures before it develops a singularity.

As we will see in Sec. V, the static texture configurations are unstable under small perturbations. The scalar field may evolve in such a way as to remove the singular behavior at the horizon.

In addition, when the field gradient is very large locally, the scalar field acquires enough energy to overcome the potential barrier. Therefore, the nonlinear $`\sigma `$-model approximation is not valid any longer.

Even though the solutions obtained here are static inside the horizon, they co-move with the expanding background. The configuration will be self-similar as time passes unless there are perturbations.

## IV Self-gravitating solutions

In this section, we include the effect of the texture self-gravity. For textures of GUT symmetry-breaking scale, $`\eta 10^3m_p10^{16}\text{GeV}`$, the effect is very small. Therefore, the results are very similar to those in the previous section.

The location of the horizon is displaced a little bit from that of pure de Sitter space. Numerically we can perform calculations close to the horizon where $`1/A10^{(45)}`$. Beyond that point, the values in calculation exceed the numerical limit. Therefore, we obtain numerical solutions up to that point.

Let us investigate the regular solution at the horizon. If we define $`Q=1/A`$, the scalar field equation (12) becomes

$$\chi ^{\prime \prime }+\left(\frac{B^{}}{2B}+\frac{Q^{}}{2Q}+\frac{2}{R}\right)\frac{\mathrm{sin}2\chi }{QR^2}=0.$$
(16)
All physical quantities in the above equation are regular at the horizon. We perform Taylor expansion for each quantity about the horizon, $`R=R_h+x`$, where $`B(R_h)=Q(R_h)=0`$,

$`B`$ $`=`$ $`b_1x+b_2x^2+b_3x^3+\mathrm{},`$ (17)
$`Q`$ $`=`$ $`q_1x+q_2x^2+q_3x^3+\mathrm{},`$ (18)
$`\chi `$ $`=`$ $`f_0+f_1x+f_2x^2+f_3x^3+\mathrm{}.`$ (19)
We plug these quantities in the field equation (16), and expand it in the power of $`x`$. Equating the coefficient of each term to be zero gives relations among coefficients in the expansion series above. The first term, $`1/x`$, in the expansion gives

$$f_1\frac{\mathrm{sin}2f_0}{q_1R_h^2}=0.$$
(20)
In other words,

$$\chi _h^{}+\frac{A_h^2}{A_h^{}R_h^2}\mathrm{sin}2\chi _h=0.$$
(21)
Note that this condition reduces to the regularity condition (15) in de Sitter space for $`R_h=1`$ and $`A=1/(1R^2)`$. We numerically search the solution which satisfies the above condition close to the horizon. We found that the solution exists when $`\chi (R_b)0.64295022\pi `$ for $`\eta =0.02m_p`$,Throughout the paper, we show the numerical results for $`\eta =0.02m_p`$ in order to see the gravitational effect clearly. where $`R_b`$ is the location of the last mesh of our numerical calculation. This is very close to $`\chi _h`$ for the pure de Sitter solution. The solution is plotted in Fig.2. For this solution $`R_b0.99535`$ and $`1/A(R_b)8.7\times 10^5`$. Although we are not able to perform numerical calculations beyond the horizon, we believe that the configuration is also very similar to the pure de Sitter one there.

We have also singular solutions similar to the de Sitter ones. For the singular ones, we performed the calculation up to $`R_b0.99483`$ where $`1/A(R_b)1.0\times 10^4`$. For the texture with one winding number, we imposed the boundary value of the scalar field, $`\chi (R_b)=0.9282\pi `$. Since $`\chi `$ increases very rapidly close to the horizon, it is reasonable to impose this boundary value at $`R=R_b`$ estimated from the de Sitter solution for $`\chi _h=\pi `$. This solution is plotted in Fig.2 as well as the other singular solution for $`\chi (R_b)=0.53149\pi `$. Similar to the de Sitter solutions, there also exist unconventional solutions for $`0.53149\pi <\chi (R_b)0.64\pi `$. This range got narrowed compared with the de Sitter one.

The gravitational fields of the singular solution for $`\chi (R_b)=0.9282\pi `$ are plotted in Fig.3. They are not much different from the pure de Sitter solutions.

As it was discussed in the previous section, the singular behavior of the derivatives of the scalar field at the horizon turns the horizon to be singular. From the regularity condition at the horizon, $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }`$ is infinite. We cannot determine the definite value of $`\chi ^{}`$ there. It could be either finite, or infinite. From our numerical calculations, however, it is obvious that $`\chi ^{}`$ is a very large number. This indicates that the curvature at the horizon diverges. The Ricci scalar evaluated from the energy-momentum tensor depends on $`\chi ^{}`$,

$$=16\pi G\eta ^2\left(\frac{\chi ^2}{2A}+\frac{\mathrm{sin}^2\chi }{r^2}\right)+4\mathrm{\Lambda }.$$
(22)
We plot the Ricci scalar for the singular solution in Fig.4. It diverges steeply approaching the horizon. The other scalar curvatures evaluated from the metric contains $`\chi ^{}`$. However, it is not so clear if they involve the terms of $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }`$ which is clearly divergent.

The horizon in pure de Sitter space is an observer-dependent property. To a given observer $`A`$, it is $`A`$’s future and past event horizon beyond which events are causally disconnected with $`A`$. Observers at different locations in space have their own horizon which is different from one another. If there is a texture centered at $`A`$’s location, the spacetime is no longer homogeneous. In this situation, observers have their own horizon which is different from the one in pure de Sitter space. Their horizon is still a local property in terms of causality. However, the curvature singularity located at $`A`$’s horizon is a global property. Every observer should recognize this singularity if it is located inside his/her own horizon. What makes the horizon, a priori, a local property of $`A`$’s be so special (singular) is that the texture is “centered” at $`A`$’s location. The way to circumvent the trouble caused by the singularity was discussed in the previous section.

It is not unusual that a naked singularity exists in the geometries of topological defects. For example, global cosmic strings and supermassive gauge cosmic strings possess a singularity in the spacetime . The difference is that the singularity in the string geometry is accompanied with the regular scalar field configuration. In the case of texture, the singularity arises only when the scalar field behaves singularly at the horizon; the horizon is regular if the scalar field is regular there.

## V Stability

In previous sections, we found out static texture solutions co-moving with the expanding background. In Refs. , it was investigated that textures are very unstable even in expanding backgrounds. Textures collapse, or expand further. It is worthwhile to check if our static solutions are stable, or not. We adopt the linear-perturbation method used, for example, in Ref.  where authors check the stability of black holes. This method finds if there is an unstable mode in perturbations, but does not describe the evolution precisely after the perturbations.

Let us expand the gravitational fields and the scalar field as

$`B(t,r)`$ $`=`$ $`B_0(r)+ϵB_1(t,r)+𝒪(ϵ^2),`$ (23)
$`A(t,r)`$ $`=`$ $`A_0(r)+ϵA_1(t,r)+𝒪(ϵ^2),`$ (24)
$`\chi (t,r)`$ $`=`$ $`\chi _0(r)+ϵ\chi _1(t,r)+𝒪(ϵ^2),`$ (25)
where $`B_0(r)`$, $`A_0(r)`$, $`\chi _0(r)`$ are the static solutions we obtained in the previous section, and $`ϵ`$ is a small number. We expand the time-dependent field equations in the power of $`ϵ`$, and keep the terms only up to the first-order in $`ϵ`$. The time-dependent Einstein equations are

$`G_t^t`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{A}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{A^{}}{Ar}}+{\displaystyle \frac{A1}{r^2}}\right)=8\pi G\eta ^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\chi }^2}{2B}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\chi ^2}{2A}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}^2\chi }{r^2}}\right)+\mathrm{\Lambda },`$ (26)
$`G_r^r`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{A}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{B^{}}{Br}}+{\displaystyle \frac{A1}{r^2}}\right)=8\pi G\eta ^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\chi }^2}{2B}}{\displaystyle \frac{\chi ^2}{2A}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}^2\chi }{r^2}}\right)+\mathrm{\Lambda },`$ (27)
$`G_{tr}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{A}}{Ar}}=8\pi G\eta ^2\dot{\chi }\chi ^{},`$ (28)
and the scalar field equation is

$$\frac{\ddot{\chi }}{B}\frac{1}{B}\left(\frac{\dot{B}}{2B}\frac{\dot{A}}{2A}\right)\dot{\chi }\frac{\chi ^{\prime \prime }}{A}\frac{1}{A}\left(\frac{B^{}}{2B}\frac{A^{}}{2A}+\frac{2}{r}\right)\chi ^{}+\frac{\mathrm{sin}2\chi }{r^2}=0.$$
(29)
We plug expansions (23)-(25) in the above field equations. The first-order terms in $`ϵ`$ gives equations as following.

From the $`G_{tr}`$ equation,

$$\frac{\dot{A_1}}{A_0r}=8\pi G\eta ^2\chi _0^{}\dot{\chi _1},$$
(30)
of which solution is

$$\frac{A_1}{A_0r}=8\pi G\eta ^2\chi _0^{}\chi _1+f(r),$$
(31)
where $`f(r)`$ is an integration constant w.r.t. time. This solution satisfies $`G_t^t`$ equation and we can fix the integration constant, $`f(r)=0`$, as a boundary condition. This gives the unique solution to Eq. (31). This boundary condition is appropriate because it is consistent with reasonable initial conditions, $`A(t=0,r)=A_0(r)`$ and $`\chi (t=0,r)=\chi _0(r)`$. This means that perturbations are zero initially, $`A_1(0,r)=0`$ and $`\chi _1(0,r)=0`$, but their velocities are not.

The $`G_t^t+G_r^r`$ equation gives

$$\frac{1}{A_0}\left(\frac{B_1^{}}{B_0}\frac{A_1^{}}{A_0}\frac{B_0^{}B_1}{B_0^2}+\frac{A_0^{}A_1}{A_0^2}\right)=\frac{A_1}{A_0^2}\left(\frac{B_0^{}}{B_0}\frac{A_0^{}}{A_0}+\frac{2}{r}\right)16\pi G\eta ^2\frac{\mathrm{sin}2\chi _0}{r}\chi _1.$$
(32)
The scalar field equation gives

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\ddot{\chi _1}}{B_0}}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\chi _1^{\prime \prime }}{A_0}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{A_0}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{B_0^{}}{2B_0}}{\displaystyle \frac{A_0^{}}{2A_0}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{r}}\right)\chi _1^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{cos}2\chi _0}{r^2}}\chi _1`$ (33)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2A_0}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{B_1^{}}{B_0}}{\displaystyle \frac{A_1^{}}{A_0}}{\displaystyle \frac{B_0^{}B_1}{B_0^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{A_0^{}A_1}{A_0^2}}\right)\chi _0^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{A_1}{A_0}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}2\chi _0}{r^2}}=0.`$ (34)
Using Eqs. (31) and (32), the perturbation terms $`B_1`$, $`A_1`$, $`B_1^{}`$, and $`A_1^{}`$ are nicely eliminated in the scalar field equation (34),

$$\frac{A_0}{B_0}\ddot{\chi _1}\chi _1^{\prime \prime }+a(r)\chi _1^{}+b(r)\chi _1=0,$$
(35)
where

$`a(r)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{B_0^{}}{2B_0}}+{\displaystyle \frac{A_0^{}}{2A_0}}{\displaystyle \frac{2}{r}},`$ (36)
$`b(r)`$ $`=`$ $`A_0\left[{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{cos}2\chi _0}{r^2}}+8\pi G\eta ^2\chi _0^{}r\left[{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{sin}2\chi _0}{r^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{A_0}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{B_0^{}}{2B_0}}{\displaystyle \frac{A_0^{}}{2A_0}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r}}\right)\chi _0^{}\right]\right].`$ (37)
Therefore, the perturbation equation for $`\chi _1`$ involves only the quantities obtained from static solutions. Let us take the perturbed scalar field in the form,

$$\chi _1(t,r)=\phi (r)e^{i\omega t},$$
(38)
then the equation for the amplitude $`\phi (r)`$ becomes

$$\frac{B_0}{A_0}[\phi ^{\prime \prime }(r)+a(r)\phi ^{}(r)+b(r)\phi (r)]=\omega ^2\phi (r).$$
(39)
This is an eigenvalue equation with the eigenvalue $`\omega ^2`$. We rescale the radial coordinate and amplitude function by

$`z`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^r}\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{A_0}{2B_0}}}𝑑r,`$ (40)
$`\psi (z)`$ $`=`$ $`N{\displaystyle \frac{\phi (r)r}{z}},`$ (41)
where $`N`$ is a normalization constant. This rescaling puts the equation into the non-relativistic Schrödinger-type equation in spherical coordinates

$$\left[\frac{1}{2}\frac{d^2}{dz^2}\frac{1}{z}\frac{d}{dz}+V(z)\right]\psi (z)=\omega ^2\psi (z),$$
(42)
where the potential is

$$V[z(r)]=\frac{B_0}{A_0}\left[\frac{1}{2r}\left(\frac{B_0^{}}{B_0}\frac{A_0^{}}{A_0}\right)+b(r)\right].$$
(43)
The advantage of deriving the equation into this form is that the shape of the potential $`V`$ provides insight for the eigenvalue spectrum. If $`V`$ is a potential well, there exists a discrete eigenvalue spectrum. If the minimum of $`V`$ is negative, there possibly exists negative eigenvalues, so $`\omega `$ can be imaginary. In such a case, the perturbed field has an exponentially increasing, or decreasing solution depending on the boundary condition we impose. Even if there exists only one negative eigenvalue of $`\omega ^2`$, the system becomes completely unstable.

Now with the given equation above, let us examine the stability of the solutions obtained in the previous section. First, for the regular solution, the potential $`V`$ is plotted in Fig.5. It is a potential well with a negative minimum. We numerically solve the eigenvalue equation (39) rather than Eq. (42). As the potential $`V`$ diverges at origin, we set the boundary condition, $`\psi (0)=0`$, so $`\phi (0)=0`$. For the regular solution at the horizon, $`\chi _0^{}(r_h)`$ is finite, and $`B_0(r_h)=1/A(r_h)=0`$. Therefore, it is easy to see $`\phi (r_h)=0`$. With these two boundary conditions for $`\phi (r)`$, we found a negative eigenvalue, $`\omega ^2=0.7033105\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The corresponding eigenfunction $`\psi (r)`$ is plotted in Fig.5. Our regular solution is unstable under small perturbations.

Now, let us examine singular solutions. We are particularly interested in the solution with $`\chi _0(r_h)\pi `$, which completes one winding in the region under consideration. The potential $`V`$ is plotted in Fig.6. The potential diverges at the origin similar to that of the regular one. And, as we approach the horizon, $`rr_h`$ ($`z\mathrm{}`$),Even though finite $`z`$ region is shown in the plot, $`z`$ goes to infinity as we approach the horizon. This is evident if we consider the pure de Sitter case where analytic form of radial rescale is possibly obtained, $`z=(r_h/\sqrt{2})\mathrm{tanh}^1(\sqrt{r/r_h})`$. We insist that the situation be similar in the self-gravitating case. the potential also diverges. Therefore, we impose boundary conditions, $`\psi (0)=\psi (z\mathrm{})=0`$, which, in turn, gives $`\phi (0)=\phi (r_h)=0`$. Numerical calculation shows that there exists a negative eigenvalue, $`\omega ^2=0.207815\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The corresponding eigenfunction is plotted in Fig.6. The static singular solution with $`\chi _0(r_h)\pi `$ is unstable.

For the other singular solutions with $`0<\chi _0(r_b)0.53149\pi `$, the potential $`V`$ has a negative minimum also. However, it is very close to zero. There does not necessarily exist a negative eigenvalue in such a case. In particular, if the symmetry-breaking scale $`\eta `$ is raised, the minimum value of $`V`$ is raised above zero. Therefore, we conclude that this type of singular solutions is stable.

Even though we are not so convinced to study the unconventional solutions with $`0.53149\pi <\chi _0(r_b)0.64\pi `$, the potential $`V`$ for those solutions has a deep negative minimum, and the solutions are unstable. Therefore, in the rest of this paper, we will consider that textures are stable only for $`\chi _b0.53149\pi `$.

As a result, the static regular solution and singular solutions with a high winding number up to one (or, a little bit higher than one) are unstable under perturbations.<sup>§</sup><sup>§</sup>§The winding number is evaluated as $`W=\chi _b/\pi (\mathrm{sin}2\chi _b)/2\pi `$, where $`\chi _b`$ is the value of the scalar field at the boundary under consideration. In this work, however, we shall mostly use $`\chi _b`$ for numerical values rather than elaborating to calculate the corresponding $`W`$. Depending on the boundary conditions imposed at the moment of perturbations, textures collapse, or expand w.r.t. the expanding background.

The perturbed expansion proceeds behind the cosmological horizon, so it is not very interesting cosmologically. The collapse will be discussed in the next section.

## VI Cosmological evolution

In this section, we qualitatively discuss the evolution of the configurations we obtained. As we mentioned earlier, the configurations are self-similar regardless of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ scale. Imposing a definite $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ value fixes the physical length scale.

If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is very large and dominates the energy density of the universe, the situation corresponds to inflation. The large $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ plays the role of the vacuum energy given by the inflaton field. In this case, the cosmological horizon scale determined by the total energy of the universe is comparable to the horizon scale $`r_h(\mathrm{\Lambda }/3)^{1/2}`$ of our solution. Then the whole configuration we obtained up to the horizon is applicable.

Unstable textures collapse during inflation. Even if the collapse reaches a relativistic speed, however, it would not be able to compensate the inflationary expansion. Textures survive for the inflation era. After inflation ends, textures will collapse to the origin very quickly, and unwind themselves in the end.

For the rest of the history of the universe except present, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ remains very small compared with the total energy. The cosmological horizon scale is much smaller than $`r_h`$. If textures are formed at this stage, the causality bound prohibits the formation of a large texture extended to $`r_h`$. Neighboring textures are formed before that. Even though such a large texture had been formed with a high winding number up to one, the observers would see only a part of it, so an incomplete winding in the universe. After textures start to collapse, they will see the scalar field with higher values crossing into the boundary of the universe. In the end, the observers who initially saw a part of the winding, will see the complete winding of the field.

We found that the static textures for $`\chi _b0.53149\pi `$ are unstable. Even though the universe with a cosmological constant is topologically different from those without it, (for example, there is no static solution for high winding numbers in the others) collapsing behavior is very similar. In Ref. , it was investigated that textures collapse for winding number $`WW_c0.6`$ in the flat, radiation, and matter background. Depending on the initial configuration imposed, the collapsing time varies. It can be explained as following. For $`WW_c`$, there does not exist a static solution in such backgrounds. Imposing the initial configuration already implies a certain amount of perturbation. The higher $`W`$ is, the larger are the perturbations. For our case, the static configuration will start to collapse slowly. However, the collapse will reach a relativistic speed in the end.

Textures with $`\chi _b0.53149\pi `$ are stable according to our investigation. As it was pointed out in Ref. , they behave as a local fluctuation, and will decay into Goldstone bosons.

## VII Conclusions

In this work, we investigated O(4) textures with a positive cosmological constant. It has been previously investigated that O(4) textures collapse in the flat, self-gravitating, radiation, and matter background. There was no static solution found out in those backgrounds, especially for high winding number textures. However, with a cosmological constant, we found out that O(4) textures have static configurations for all winding numbers up to slightly higher than one. De Sitter expansion of the background prevents the texture from collapsing. However, the static configuration is unstable under small perturbations if the winding number is larger than some critical value, $`\chi _b0.53149\pi `$ (for $`\eta =0.02m_p`$).

The textures with such high winding numbers will collapse after the perturbations are applied. Initially the collapse will occur slowly, but it will reach a relativistic speed in the end. At the final stage, the field gradient energy will be concentrated about the center, and textures will unwind. Meanwhile, textures will leave a signature in the large-scale structure formation of the universe. The resulting signature will be similar to that of the textures in the other backgrounds.

For $`\chi _h0.53149\pi `$, textures are stable. They will decay into Goldstone bosons in the end.

The static configurations we obtained fit the region inside the horizon. They co-move with the expanding background while they are stable. The scalar field is definite everywhere within the horizon. For most of the configurations except the regular one, the static solutions have singular field derivatives at the horizon. This singular behavior turns the horizon to become a curvature singularity. However, this is not a matter so much because the horizon is always located outside the cosmological causal bound.

The detailed evolution based on solving time-dependent field equations was not investigated in this work. It will be interesting to perform numerical simulations for such a evolution. In this case, we can extend the model to a quintessence field background of which equation of state is $`P=w\rho `$ ($`1<w<0`$). For such a field, there would not exist a static description of the spacetime. Therefore, numerical simulation is very useful to investigate the evolution. The quintessence field may affect the texture evolution more than the cosmological constant, because its energy density could be relatively high at the early stage of the universe.

###### Acknowledgements.

I am grateful to Chryssomalis Chryssomalakos, Jemal Guven, Hernando Quevedo, Marcelo Salgado, and Daniel Sudarsky for helpful discussions. I also thank to Tanmay Vachaspati for encouragement and discussions. This work was supported in part by Proyecto de Investigacion DGAPA IN119799.