text:
# Constructing Confinement

## 1 Introduction

One of the key impediments to understanding QCD at low energy is a quantitative description of confinement. Here, we demonstrate how confinement may be constructed with a nonperturbative many-body analysis of QCD in Coulomb gauge.

The starting point is the QCD Hamiltonian in Coulomb gauge, as derived by Schwinger and Christ and Lee:

$`\overline{H}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑𝐱\psi ^{}\left(i𝜶\mathbf{}+\beta m\right)\psi }+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle 𝑑𝐱\left(𝒥^{1/2}𝚷𝒥𝚷𝒥^{1/2}+𝐁𝐁\right)}`$ (1)
$``$ $`g{\displaystyle 𝑑𝐱\psi ^{}𝜶𝐀\psi }+H_c.`$
where $`H_C`$ is the nonabelian version of the instantaneous Coulomb interaction:

$$H_C=\frac{1}{2}𝑑𝐱𝑑𝐲𝒥^{1/2}\rho ^a(x)𝒥^{1/2}K_{ab}(𝐱,𝐲;𝐀)𝒥^{1/2}\rho ^b(y)𝒥^{1/2}.$$
(2)
In this expression the total charge density is denoted by $`\rho `$, $`𝒥`$ is the Faddeev-Popov determinant, $`𝒥=\mathrm{det}(D)`$, $`D`$ is the covariant derivative in adjoint representation, $`D^{ab}=\delta ^{ab}\mathbf{}gf^{abc}𝐀^c`$, and $`K`$ is the nonabelian kernel

$$K_{ab}(𝐱,𝐲;𝐀)𝐱,a|\frac{g}{\mathbf{}𝐃}(\mathbf{}^2)\frac{g}{\mathbf{}𝐃}|𝐲,b,$$
(3)
We shall make use of the inverse Faddeev-Popov operator, $`d=g/(\mathbf{}D)`$ in the following.

Coulomb gauge is particularly efficacious in describing QCD in the confinement region because all degrees of freedom are physical (no gauge constraints need be applied) and the instantaneous interaction provides an excellent starting point for the bound state problem. Furthermore, it is easy to see that the Coulomb interaction must yield confinement for static quarks because transverse gluon exchange is suppressed in the heavy quark limit. Thus it is clear that determining the behaviour of $`K`$ is of central importance to developing an understanding of low energy QCD.

## 2 IR and UV Behaviour of QCD in Coulomb gauge

The evaluation of the Coulomb interaction is a nontrivial endeavour! However, the problem simplifies dramatically if one is willing to focus on the leading infrared (IR) behaviour of the theory (which, of course, is where confinement lies). To understand this statement it is useful to recall an old story in many-body physics.

A naive attempt to compute the ground state energy of an electron gas (with an assumed positive background) at higher order is confounded by IR divergences arising from the instantaneous (abelian) Coulomb interaction. This problem was resolved many years ago by Bohm and Pines who showed that summing the leading IR-divergent diagrams (the ring diagrams) effectively replaces the divergent Coulombic $`1/q^2`$ behaviour with a convergent $`1/q^2ϵ(\omega ,k)`$ behaviour. In fact, the sum has a wholly different analytic structure than any finite order in perturbation theory can produce. We now demonstrate that a similar situation occurs in the nonabelian case.

The vertices of QCD in Coulomb gauge are shown in Figure 1 (there are additional vertices where $`n`$ transverse gluons are emitted from the Coulomb interaction). We denote these vertices by $`\alpha `$ and call the number of vertices of a given type in a time-ordered diagram, $`n_\alpha `$. We anticipate that the Coulomb kernel $`K`$ does indeed cause an IR divergence when inserted in a typical diagram. We denote the divergence due to $`K`$ by $`\lambda `$ (for concreteness, one may consider $`\lambda `$ as an IR regulator). A general diagram then has an IR divergence of order $`\lambda ^M`$ where $`M=D_KD_gD_q`$. Here $`D_K`$, $`D_g`$, $`D_q`$, and $`D_d`$ represent the number of Coulomb, gluon, quark, and Faddeev-Popov propagators respectively. The following relationships may be easily verified: $`2D_K=n_{ggK}+n_{qgK}+n_{Kgd}`$, $`2D_d=n_{Kgd}+2n_{dgd}+n_{qqd}`$, and $`n_{Kgd}=n_{ggd}+n_{qqd}`$; employing these leads to $`M=1+2D_K+D_d_\alpha n_\alpha `$, and finally

$$M=1n_{4g}n_{3g}n_{qqg}$$
(4)
This equation is of central importance – no diagrams are more divergent than $`K`$ itself, and increasing the number of four gluon, three gluon, or quark-gluon vertices decreases the degree of divergence. Thus the leading IR behaviour of QCD is contained in matrix elements of the Hamiltonian itself – specifically it is not in iterations of $`H`$.

Before applying these results we consider the ultraviolet (UV) behaviour of QCD in Coulomb gauge. It is well known that the beta function of QCD may be obtained directly from the Coulomb interaction (there is no need to consider loop corrections to vertices). Thus an accurate evaluation of $`K`$ is sufficient to determine both the long distance and short distance behaviour of the static quark confinement potential!

## 3 Coupled Gap Equations

The previous observations simplify the evaluation of the Coulomb kernel: the leading IR divergent diagrams coincide with those of the rainbow ladder approximation. Furthermore, vertex corrections to the rainbow ladder Dyson equation are suppressed in the IR limit (see Ref.  for more details). Thus $`K`$ may be evaluated by solving a relatively simple nonlinear integral equation.

An important additional step needs to be taken before evaluating $`K`$. Diagrams are all evaluated with respect to an implicit vacuum, normally taken to be trivial. However, a trivial vacuum is not likely to be a good starting point for describing confinement. Thus we choose to introduce extra freedom into the problem with the aid of a variational vacuum ansatz:

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_0[𝐀]=𝐀|\omega =\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{1}{2}𝑑\mathrm{𝐤𝐀}^a(𝐤)\omega (k)𝐀^a(𝐤)\right].$$
(5)
Here, $`\omega `$ is an unknown function to be determined by minimizing the vacuum energy density.

The particular form of the trial vacuum is unimportant – it merely serves as a method to define the basis with which we choose to describe low energy QCD. The Fock space which is built on our variational vacuum consists of quasiparticles – constituent quarks and gluons. These degrees of freedom obey dispersion relations with infrared divergences due to the long-range instantaneous Coulomb interaction of the bare partons with the mean field vacuum. This interaction makes colored objects infinitely heavy thereby removing them from the physical spectrum. However, color neutral states remain physical because the infrared singularities responsible for the large self-energies are canceled by infrared divergences responsible for the long-range forces between the constituents. This is the origin of the “colour confinement” phenomenon.

Having specified the vacuum (up to the function $`\omega `$) we are ready to evaluate the Coulomb interaction. Since the result depends on $`\omega `$ we must also fix $`\omega `$ by minimizing the vacuum energy density (this is just the gap equation). However, the vacuum energy depends on $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0|H_C|\mathrm{\Psi }_0`$, which depends on $`K`$! Thus we must solve coupled equations for the gap and for $`K`$. Doing so yields a result for $`\omega `$ which may then be used to evaluate $`K`$ – the equations themselves determine the gluonic (and hence quark) quasiparticle interaction.

The details of this procedure are described in Ref. . The result for $`\omega `$ is shown in Figure 2. The data are presented with respect to a scale $`m_g=\omega (0)`$ which must be determined by comparison with experiment (recall that this is full QCD, the theory needs to be regulated and renormalized; the existence of $`m_g`$ is due to dimensional transmutation). Finally, the Coulomb interaction may be evaluated. The result (after numerical Fourier transforming) is shown in Figure 3. Taking lattice data as “experiment” allows us to determine $`m_g`$ in terms of the lattice scale (the Sommer parameter). One finds $`m_g600`$ MeV.

Finally, an examination of the UV limit of the coupled gap equations reveals that 12/11 of the one loop beta function is recovered. The reason is that the vacuum expectation value of the Coulomb interaction does not include the gluon loop contribution to the running coupling. This is generated by iterating the Hamiltonian and may be incorporated if desired. Figure 3 makes it clear that this will have little phenomenological effect.

## 4 Conclusions

Coulomb gauge allows dramatic simplification of the confinement (and bound state) problem of QCD. Confinement must be contained in the nonabelian Coulomb interaction. We have shown that the combination of allowing modest flexibility in the vacuum and a judicious evaluation of the Coulomb kernel is sufficient to derive the lattice Wilson potential to great accuracy.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to make cartoons which explain ‘why’ confinement occurs in this formalism. Nevertheless it is tempting to speculate that the origin of confinement is related to the Gribov problem – the nonuniqueness of Coulomb gauge. A simple practical resolution of the Gribov problem is to restrict the set of gauge configurations to those which form an absolute minimum of a functional in gauge transformation space (it is $`F[u]=\mathrm{Tr}d^3x(𝐀^u)^2`$ where $`𝐀^u=u𝐀u^{}u\mathbf{}u^{}`$). The resulting set is called the fundamental modular region. It may be shown that this region is convex, includes the origin, and intersects the Gribov horizon (defined as the location in gauge space where the Faddeev-Popov operator vanishes). Two factors of the inverse Faddeev-Popov operator appear in the Coulomb interaction, and hence gauge configurations near the horizon are naively strongly suppressed. However the horizon forms a boundary in an infinite dimensional space and therefore carries a vast entropy. It is possible that these effects cancel, leaving a strong IR enhancement in the inverse Faddeev-Popov operator, $`d`$, and therefore in $`K`$. Details of this picture and phenomenological implications are being examined.

## Acknowledgments

ES would like to thank the organizers of the Lake Louise Winter Institute for providing a truly marvelous venue for discussing physics and Dean Karlen and Francois Corriveau for organizing the first annual LLWI hockey game. This work was supported by DOE under contracts DE-FG02-00ER41135, DE-AC05-84ER40150 (ES), and DE-FG02-87ER40365 (AS).


format: text

text:
# Hidden Orbital Order in 𝑈𝑅𝑢₂𝑆𝑖₂

When matter is cooled from high temperatures, collective instabilities develop amongst its constituent particles that lead to new kinds of order. An anomaly in the specific heat is a classic signature of this phenomenon. Usually the associated order is easily identified, but sometimes its nature remains elusive. The heavy fermion metal $`URu_2Si_2`$ is one such example, where the order responsible for the sharp specific heat anomaly at $`T_0=17K`$ has remained unidentified despite more than seventeen years of effort. In $`URu_2Si_2`$, the coexistence of large electron-electron repulsion and antiferromagnetic fluctuations in $`URu_2Si_2`$ leads to an almost incompressible heavy electron fluid, where anisotropically paired quasiparticle states are energetically favored. In this paper we use these insights to develop a detailed proposal for the hidden order in $`URu_2Si_2`$. We show that incommensurate orbital antiferromagnetism, associated with circulating currents between the uranium ions, can account for the local fields and entropy loss observed at the $`17K`$ transition; furthermore we make detailed predictions for neutron scattering measurements.

The intermetallic compound $`URu_2Si_2`$ contains a dense lattice of local moments where quantum fluctuations barely prevent spin ordering; the residual antiferromagnetic couplings between the strongly repulsive electrons are large and can drive new types of collective instabilities. At $`T_0=17.5K`$, $`URu_2Si_2`$ undergoes a second-order phase transition characterized by sharp discontinuities in bulk properties including specific heat, linear and nonlinear susceptibilities, thermal expansion and resistivity. The accompanying gap in the magnetic excitation spectrum suggests the formation of an itinerant spin density wave at this temperature; however the size of the observed staggered moment ($`m_0=0.03\mu _B`$) cannot account for the entropy loss at this transition. The distinction between the primary hidden order parameter and the secondary magnetic order parameter is clarified by high-field measurements which indicate that the bulk anomalies survive up to an applied field strength of $`40T`$, whereas the magnetically ordered moment is destroyed by fields less than half this magnitude ($`15T`$). Furthermore the size of the small ordered moment grows linearly with pressure, while the gap associated with the hidden order is relatively robust over this pressure range.

There have been many theoretical proposals for the primary order parameter in $`URu_2Si_2`$. Two recent NMR studies have provided new insights on this outstanding problem with crucial consequences for the nature of the hidden order. It has been widely assumed that the spin antiferromagnetism and the hidden order are coupled and homogeneous. However a recent NMR study of $`URu_2Si_2`$ under pressure indicates that for $`T<T_0`$ there exist distinct antiferromagnetic and paramagnetic regions, implying that the magnetic and the hidden orders are phase-separated. This conclusion, supported by $`\mu SR`$ data, implies that the hidden order phase contains no spin order. The observed growth of the staggered spin moment with applied pressure is then simply a volume fraction effect which develops separately from the hidden order via a first order transition. At ambient pressure roughly a tenth or less of the system is magnetic with $`m_{spin}=0.3\mu _B`$. The key implication of these measurements for theory is that the magnetic and the hidden order parameters are independent.

In a parallel study, NMR measurements at ambient pressure on $`URu_2Si_2`$ indicate that at $`TT_0`$ the central (non-split) silicon NMR line-width develops a field-independent, isotropic component whose temperature-dependent magnitude is proportional to that of the hidden order parameter. These results imply an isotropic field distribution at the silicon sites whose root-mean square value is proportional to the hidden order ($`\psi `$)

$$B^\alpha (i)B^\beta (j)=A^2\psi ^2\delta _{\alpha \beta },$$
(1)
and is $`10`$ Gauss at $`T=0`$. This field magnitude is too small to be explained by the observed moment which induces a field $`B_{spin}=\frac{8\pi }{3}\frac{M}{a^3}=100`$ Gauss where $`a`$ is the $`UU`$ bond length ($`a=4\times 10^8`$ cm). Furthermore this moment is aligned along the $`c`$-axis, and thus cannot account for the isotropic nature of the local field distribution detected by NMR. These measurements indicate that as the hidden order develops, an isotropically distributed static magnetic field develops at each silicon site. This is unambiguous evidence that the hidden order parameter breaks time-reversal invariance.

Guided by these recent experiments, we now discuss our proposal for the nature of the hidden order parameter. The magnetic fields at the silicon nuclei have two possible origins: the conduction electron-spin interaction and the orbital shift due to current densities. In $`URu_2Si_2`$, the electron fluid exhibits a strong Ising anisotropy along the $`c`$-axis, as measured by the Knight shift; hence electron-spin coupling cannot be responsible for the observed isotropic fields. It would thus appear that these local fields are induced by currents that develop inside the crystal as the hidden order develops, and accordingly we attribute the observed isotropic linewidth to the orbital shift.

In this paper we propose that $`URu_2Si_2`$ becomes an incommensurate orbital antiferromagnet (OAF) at $`T=T_0`$ with charge currents circulating between the uranium ions. Similar states have been studied extensively in the context of the two-dimensional Hubbard model, particularly in connection with staggered flux phases. More recently commensurate current density wave order has been proposed to explain the spin-gap phase in the underdoped cuprate superconductors. The planar tetragonal structure of $`URu_2Si_2`$ lends itself naturally to an anisotropic charge instability of this type. Here we show that incommensurate orbital antiferromagnetic order in $`URu_2Si_2`$ can quantitatively account for the existing specific heat and NMR data for $`TT_0`$. In order to test this proposal, we make specific predictions for neutron scattering. Calculation of the structure factor requires knowledge of the fields throughout the full volume in real-space. Since the NMR only yields this information at discrete points we need some additional input to proceed. In the orbital antiferromagnet, the spatial dependence of the fields throughout the sample is determined by the requirement that the field distribution at the silicon sites is isotropic. Using this approach, we are able to link quantitatively the fields observed by NMR to the large specific heat anomaly that develops at $`T_0`$. We also use the spatial field distribution associated with the incommensurate orbital antiferromagnet to predict the position, intensity and form-factor associated with neutron scattering peaks on a surface of constant anisotropy in momentum space centered on the origin.

We begin by estimating the local fields at the silicon sites due to orbital currents circulating around the square uranium plaquettes in the $`ab`$ plane. On dimensional grounds, the current along the $`UU`$ bond is given by $`I\frac{e\mathrm{\Delta }}{\mathrm{}}`$ where $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is the gap associated with the formation of hidden order. Then the field induced at a height $`a`$ above a plaquette is $`B\left(\frac{2}{ac}\right)\left(\frac{e\mathrm{\Delta }}{\mathrm{}}\right)`$ = 11 Gauss, in good agreement with the local field strength detected in $`NMR`$ measurements; here we have used $`\mathrm{\Delta }=110K`$. The resulting orbital moment, $`m_{orb}0.02\mu _B`$, is comparable to the effective spin moment at ambient pressure ($`m_0=m_{spin}[P_{amb}]=[.10]m_{spin}=0.03\mu _B`$). We emphasize that an orbital moment produces a local field an order of magnitude less than that associated with a spin moment of the same value; the low field strengths observed at the silicon sites are quantitatively consistent with our proposal that they originate from charge currents.

An orbital moment, $`m_{orb}=0.02\mu _B`$, can also account for the sizeable entropy loss at the transition. In a metal the change in entropy is given by $`\mathrm{\Delta }S=\mathrm{\Delta }\gamma _nT_0`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }\gamma _n`$ is the change in the linear specific heat coefficient resulting from the gapping of the Fermi surface. $`\mathrm{\Delta }\gamma _n`$ is inversely proportional to the Fermi energy $`ϵ_F`$ of the gapped Fermi surface. Thus in general, the change in entropy per unit cell is given by $`\mathrm{\Delta }Sk_B\frac{k_BT_0}{ϵ_F}`$. Exploiting the mean-field nature of this transition ($`2\mathrm{\Delta }T_0`$), we find that

$$\mathrm{\Delta }S_{OAFM}k_B\left(\frac{m_{orb}}{\mu _B^{}}\right)=0.02k_B\left(\frac{\mu _B}{\mu _B^{}}\right)$$
(2)
where $`\mu _B^{}=\left(\frac{e}{\mathrm{}c}\right)a^2ϵ_F`$, is the saturated orbital moment reached when the hidden order gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is approximately $`ϵ_F`$. The ratio $`\mu _B/\mu _B^{}=(\frac{a_o}{a})^2(\frac{ϵ_H}{ϵ_F})`$, where $`a_0`$ is the Bohr radius and $`ϵ_H=e^2/(2a_0)`$ is the energy of a hydrogen atom. For $`URu_2Si_2`$, the very large size of $`\left(\frac{ϵ_H}{ϵ_F}\right)10^3`$ produced by the large mass renormalization of the heavy electrons actually offsets the small ratio $`\frac{a_0}{a}10^1`$, so that $`\mu _B/\mu _B^{}10`$, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }S_{OAFM}0.2k_B=0.3k_B\mathrm{ln}2`$ is a number in good agreement with experiment. The critical field for suppressing the associated thermodynamic anomalies is distinct from its spin counterpart; the ratio $`\frac{H_c^{orb}}{H_c^{spin}}\frac{\mu _B}{\mu _B^{}}10`$ is qualitatively consistent with the observed critical field of approximately $`40T`$ associated with the destruction of the hidden order. From this simple discussion, we see that the sizable entropy loss associated with the development of the orbital antiferromagnetic state is a direct consequence of the strong renormalization of the electron mass in $`URu_2Si_2`$ ($`\frac{m^{}}{m}\frac{ϵ_H}{ϵ_F}`$). The absence of such a large effective mass ($`\frac{m^{}}{m}3`$) in the cuprates could explain why analogous thermodynamic anomalies are difficult to observe there.

Next we test whether the proposed orbital antiferromagnetism will yield the observed isotropic local fields. In order to do so, we allow the circulating current around a plaquette (cf. Fig. 1) centered at site $`𝐗`$ to develop a modulated magnetization $`M(𝐗)=\psi e^{i𝐐𝐗}`$. The current along a bond is then the difference of the circulating currents along its adjacent plaquettes. The field at a silicon site can be computed using Ampere’s law, where the relevant vector potential is

$$𝐀(𝐱)=\frac{1}{c}\underset{j}{}_{𝐱_j^{(1)}}^{𝐱_j^{(2)}}𝑑x^{}\frac{𝐈(𝐱_j)}{|𝐱(𝐱_j+𝐱^{})|}.$$
(3)
where $`𝐱_j^{(1,2)}`$ are the endpoints of the bond at site $`𝐱_j`$.

The silicon atoms in $`URu_2Si_2`$ are located at low-symmetry sites, so that the fields do not cancel; they reside above and below the centers of the uranium plaquettes. Microscopically, wave-vector selection is most likely due to details of the Fermi surface, however we can obtain a good idea of the likely modulation $`Q`$ vector from the isotropic nature of the field distribution at the silicon sites. For example, in the commensurate case $`𝐐=(1/2,1/2,1)`$, the fields on the silicon sites are only along the c-axis and thus the field distribution would be highly anisotropic. Consider a wave-vector $`(q,q,1)`$ (c.f. Fig. 1). In this case, the currents are modulated within a plane with a wavelength $`2\pi /q`$, but staggered between planes. This then produces a circulating field distribution where the component of the field parallel to the $`(0,0,1)`$ planes becomes larger and larger as $`q`$ is reduced. To obtain an isotropic field distribution, $`q`$ needs to be reduced to a point where the horizontal and vertical components of the field are comparable. A detailed calculation based on the above model, shows that the condition of perfect isotropy yields a circle of wave-vectors (Fig. 2.) centered around $`Q=(0,0,1)`$ with a radius $`q0.22`$. Relaxation of this constraint results in an annulus of possible $`Q`$ vectors as shown in Fig. 2.

Our proposal of incommensurate current ordering in $`URu_2Si_2`$ can be tested by experiment. In particular we can Fourier transform the real-space magnetic fields to calculate the neutron scattering cross-section

$$\frac{d\sigma }{d\mathrm{\Omega }}=\left(\frac{g_Ne}{8\pi \mathrm{}c}\right)^2|\stackrel{}{B}(q)|^2=r_o^2S(q).$$
(4)
Here $`|\stackrel{}{B}(q)|^2`$ is the structure factor of the magnetic fields produced by the orbital currents and $`S(q)=|B(q)|^2/(4\pi \mu _B)^2`$ is the structure factor of the orbital magnetic moments, measured in units of electron Bohr magnetons ($`\mu _B`$). The factor $`r_0=\frac{g_Ne^2}{4m_ec^2}`$, $`m_e`$ is the electron mass and $`g_N`$ is the neutron gyromagnetic ratio. Using the vector potential from eq. (3), we have calculated the magnetic field distribution for the incommensurate  orbital antiferromagnet described above, and find that its Fourier transform is given by

$$\stackrel{}{B}(q)=\frac{4\pi }{c}NIa^2\underset{𝐆n_1,n_2,n_3}{}\delta _{q,Q+G}j_0\left[\frac{q_xa}{2}\right]j_0\left[\frac{q_ya}{2}\right](1+(1)^{(n_1+n_2+n_3)})\left(\frac{q_y\widehat{x}q_x\widehat{y}}{2q}\right)\times \widehat{q},$$
(5)
where $`j_0(x)=\frac{\mathrm{sin}x}{x}`$. From this expression, we can determine the intensities and the form factors associated with the diffraction. We find that there exists a set of dominant peaks associated with a constant anisotropy locus of wavevectors (Fig. 2.) in the first Brillouin zone (BZ) where $`S(q)=0.18\left(\frac{NIa^2}{c\mu _B}\right)^2`$, indicating that roughly a fifth of the total integrated weight of $`S(q)`$ (TIW) lies here. Using the sum rule that relates the TIW to the square of the moment, and the fact that at ambient pressure only a tenth of the sample is (spin) magnetic, we find that the scattering peaks due to orbital ordering in the first BZ should have 1/50 the intensity of the analogous spin magnetic peaks at ambient pressure. We have also calculated that these peaks will have a form-factor (cf. inset Fig. 2) that scales with wavevector as $`q^4`$, where this power-law decay is signatory of an extended scattering source.

We end with remarks about the microscopic formation of these charge currents. At low temperatures heavy electron materials form almost incompressible Fermi liquids. The large Coulomb repulsion between the Landau quasiparticles strongly suppresses on-site charge fluctuations, demanding nodes in the particle-hole wavefunction. The resulting anisotropically paired states are also favored by the residual antiferromagnetic interactions that persist in the heavy electron fluid. Indeed we believe that the same d-wave pairing that drives the superconducting transition in $`URu_2Si_2`$ at $`T=1.5K`$ also plays an important role in the formation of the orbital antiferromagnetism. We have found that the development of such anisotropic charge-density wave pairing occurs naturally in a simple model of $`URu_2Si_2`$ with nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions,

$$H_I=\underset{\stackrel{}{q}}{}J(\stackrel{}{q})\stackrel{}{S}(\stackrel{}{q})\stackrel{}{S}(\stackrel{}{q}).$$
(6)
Here $`\stackrel{}{S}(\stackrel{}{q})`$ is the Fourier transform of the magnetization at wavevector $`\stackrel{}{q}`$ and $`J(\stackrel{}{q})=2J(\mathrm{cos}q_x+\mathrm{cos}q_y)`$ for a nearest-neigbour interaction between adjacent $`U`$ atoms in the basal plane. Expanding this interaction in terms of quasiparticle operators, we find that it can be re-written as a sum of attractive interactions in four independent anisotropic charge density wave channels:

$$H_I=J\underset{\mathrm{\Gamma }=1,4,k_1,k_2,Q}{}(\gamma _{k_1}^\mathrm{\Gamma })^{}\gamma _{k_2}^\mathrm{\Gamma }\rho _{k_1}(Q)\rho _{k_2}(Q).$$
(7)
Here $`\rho _k(Q)=_{\sigma =\pm 1/2}c_{kQ/2\sigma }^{}c_{k+Q/2\sigma }`$ is the charge density operator at wavevector $`Q`$, expressed in terms of creation and annihilation operators of the heavy quasiparticles. The form factors are $`\gamma ^{1,2}(\stackrel{}{k})=\mathrm{cos}(k_x)\pm \mathrm{cos}(k_y),\gamma ^{3,4}(\stackrel{}{k})=i(\mathrm{sin}(k_x)\pm \mathrm{sin}(k_y))`$. Of these four possibilities, channels $`1`$ and $`3`$ do not have nodes, and are therefore suppressed by local Coulomb interactions. In the remaining two channels, only $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=4`$ breaks time reversal symmetry, giving rise to incommensurate orbital currents. One of the questions for further study concerns the excitations of this mean-field state. In particular, an incommensurate OAF is expected to exhibit a gapless phason mode associated with slow fluctuations of its wavevector. $`URu_2Si_2`$ is known to develop a dispersing singlet excitation at $`T=T_0`$. This mode was previously attributed to spin antiferromagnetism, now known to be absent from the hidden order phase. We plan to study the possible identification of this propagating mode with the phason of an incommensurate orbital antiferromagnet.

In summary, we have discussed the theoretical implications of two recent NMR experiments on the hidden order in $`URu_2Si_2`$. Pressure-dependent measurements indicate that it is completely independent of the spin magnetism in this material. We argue that the development of isotropically distributed magnetic fields at the silicon sites at $`T=T_0`$ implies that the hidden order parameter breaks time-reversal symmetry. The size and the isotropy of these observed local fields lead us to propose that $`URu_2Si_2`$ becomes an incommensurate orbital antiferromagnet at $`T<T_0`$. The heavy electron mass reduces the saturation value of the orbital moment, accounting for the sizable entropy loss at the transition and the scale of the associated critical field. We calculate the positions, intensities and form-factor associated with the resulting neutron scattering peaks so that this proposal can be tested by experiment.

We would like to acknowledge discussions with G. Aeppli, H. Amitsuka, O. Bernal, S. Chakravarty, L.P. Gorkov, G. Lonzarich, K. McEuen, D. McLaughlin, D. Morr and C. Nayak. P. Coleman and V. Tripathi are supported by the National Science Foundation.

Figure Captions

1. Magnetic field distribution associated with incommensurate orbital currents in the $`(0,0,1)`$ plane. (a) Schematic illustration of incommensurate orbital currents, showing resulting magnetic fields above and below the $`(0,0,1)`$ plane, (b) Side view showing how proposed field distribution is isotropic at silicon sites with a staggered current distribution between layers corresponding to $`Q=(0.16,0.16,1)`$.
2. An isotropic magnetic field distribution at the silicon sites can be produced by many different wave vectors $`Q`$ for orbital order, all of which give qualitatively similar neutron scattering patterns. (a) Contour plot showing locus of constant anisotropy around a ring of radius $`Q_{}=0.22`$ in the vicinity of $`Q=(0,0,1)`$. (b) Predicted elastic neutron scattering intensity, where $`\stackrel{~}{S}(q)^{\frac{1}{2}}=S(q)^{\frac{1}{2}}/\left(\frac{NIa^2}{c\mu _B}\right)\sqrt{|B(q)|^2}`$ gives a measure of the Fourier spectrum of magnetic fields $`B(q)`$, plotted for the representative case $`Q=(0.16,0.16,1)`$.

Fig. 1

Fig. 2


text:
# Excursions into the Evolution of Early-Type Galaxies in Clusters

## 1 Introduction

The opening line of Walter Baade’s lectures on the evolution of stars and galaxies (Baade, 1963) reads: “The study of the evolution of stars and galaxies is in a stage of rapid development, and we are still at the beginning”. Almost half a century later the former statement is still timely, as advances in technology have opened new windows for the exploration of galaxy evolution. The first clue that galaxies change through cosmic time is that galaxies at high redshift ($`z`$) appear systematically brighter than those at lower $`z`$. We may identify two reasons for this brightening: it could be that either the stellar content was intrinsically brighter at an earlier epoch or that galaxies appear brighter due to the properties of the space-time. We are fortunate that those issues happened to be the main running themes of this rather interesting conference. Clearly, if we want to understand the brightening of high-$`z`$ galaxies, we need to understand the role of stellar evolution in galaxies as well as the propagation of light in different cosmological models. With these elements in mind let us explore the evolution of galaxy cluster ETG and its possible connections with the evolution of field ETG. We note that ETG were once considered the simplest stellar systems. Nevertheless, ETG, despite their apparently simple appearance, pose some difficult problems to models of galaxy formation and evolution. Perhaps the most remarkable is the inexistence of a comprehensive theory of stellar formation in dynamically hot systems (Silk, 1999).

Clusters of galaxies provide us with probes to study the effects of the environment on the evolution of galaxies (Oemler, 1974; Dressler, 1984). Indeed, it has been found that clusters provide a hostile environment for some galaxies (e.g., dwarf galaxies: López-Cruz et al. 1997; Hilker 1998, and low surface brightness: Gregg & West 1998). In contrast, ETG flourish in such rich environments: this is just a paraphrase of the density-morphology relation Dressler (1980). Interestingly, the physical parameters of these galaxies, such as colors, size (e.g., the effective radius $`R`$), luminosity ($`L`$), velocity dispersion ($`\sigma `$), surface brightness ($`I`$), etc., have the same pairwise correlations originally found for field ETG (e.g., $`L\sigma ^4`$). The correlations among these parameters are synthesized by the fundamental plane ($`R\sigma ^{1.4\pm 0.15}I^{0.9\pm 0.1}`$; FP; Djorgovski & Davis 1987). Nevertheless, the effects of the environment may be indicated by an augmented tightness in the correlations for cluster galaxies (e.g., Schade et al., 1999; Trager, Faber, & Dressler, 2001).

In this review we present the results of some apparently disconnected evolutionary studies. We have explored two projections of the fundamental plane. These studies have led us to conclude that ETG in the central regions (the inner $`1h_{50}^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$)111A Hubble constant of $`H_{}=50h_{50}\mathrm{Mpc}\mathrm{km}^1\mathrm{s}^1`$ is used throughout. of rich clusters conform to an old population that has been evolving passively since $`z3`$. We do not intend to present a comprehensive review (see elsewhere, e.g., Kormendy & Djorgovski, 1989; Buzzoni, Renzini, & Serrano, 1995; Arnaboldi, Da Costa, & Saha, 1996; Cepa & Carral, 1998; Ellis, 2001); however, we do intend to arrive at a unifying view on the evolution of ETG.

## 2 The Size-Magnitude Relation

The work of Barrientos, Schade, & López-Cruz (1996) was the first study from a series that compared ETG in an intermediate-$`z`$ cluster (CL $`0939+4713`$ at $`z=0.41`$, observed with the HST) with those of a nearby rich cluster (the Coma cluster at z=0.023, observed with the KPNO 0.9m) in a bidimensional space that is defined by axes: size versus integrated magnitude. The size is defined as the core radius in a bidimensional de Vacouleurs fit to the surface brightness distribution, and the integrated magnitude was computed by the integration of the best fit. The resulting size-magnitude relation (SMR) is expected as it conforms one of the projections of the FP (Djorgovski & Davis, 1987). When the k-corrected SMR of Coma and CL $`0939+4713`$ are compared, an offset of $`\mathrm{\Delta }M_B=0.72\pm 0.24`$ is detected. This offset indicates that the galaxies in CL $`0939+4713`$ are brighter than the ones in Coma. We can explain this result either by assuming that the size remained fixed and the change was due to the evolution of the underlying stellar population (passive evolution) or by assuming that both the size and the magnitude were changing due to mergers. Although mergers could have been important at the time of cluster formation (Schweizer, 2001); the merger hypothesis is not favored because in the central regions of rich clusters the large cluster velocity dispersions ($`\sigma _{cluster}750\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$) would make merging inefficient. Moreover, the general merger rate222For example merger rate $`(1+z)^{2.3\pm 0.7}`$ (Patton et al., 2002) is very low at $`z<1`$. Hence, we can conclude that the observed changes are due to passive evolution. Similar amount of luminosity evolution was reported by previous observations in clusters around quasars (Yee & Green, 1987).

Changes in luminosity can easily be explained with the aid of the single burst model (cf., Tinsley, 1980; Buzzoni, 1995; van Dokkum et al., 1998) where a burst of star formation occurs at an epoch $`t=t_{}`$. It can be shown that the expected luminosity evolution is described by a power law $`L(t)\left[\frac{1}{tt_{}}\right]^\kappa `$, with $`\kappa =[1.30.27(s1)]>0`$ where $`x=(s1)`$ is the slope of the IMF; it has been found that $`\kappa `$ depends on the metallicity and the passband333 A useful approximation valid at low $`z`$ is provided by mpty universe model ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_{}=0`$). A simple relation results for the luminosity evolution as a function of $`z`$: $`L(z)\left[\frac{(1+z)(1+z_{})H_{}}{(z_{}z)}\right]^\kappa `$, where $`z_0[\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}]>z`$ is the galaxy formation redshift.. Hence, as $`t`$ becomes larger than $`t_{}`$ the luminosity decreases, in agreement with the expected dimming in luminosity as stars evolve off the giant branch. Further studies (Schade et al., 1996b; Schade, Barrientos, & López-Cruz, 1997) have included more clusters and a larger number of galaxies and have confirmed and extended the early result of Barrientos, Schade, & López-Cruz. Figure 1 taken from Schade, Barrientos, & López-Cruz (1997) summarizes the results from our previous studies. It is found that $`\mathrm{\Delta }Mz`$, in addition the direct comparison with the models of Buzzoni (1995) has given us a constraint on $`s`$. The four most deviant points in this figure are produced by poor sampling. Therefore, we can safely conclude that our observations are in agreement with models with $`s=2.35`$, i.e., $`x=1.35`$ the Salpeter IMF (Salpeter, 1955).

## 3 The Color-Magnitude Relation

The first pairwise relationship discovered among the physical properties of ETG was the color-magnitude relation (CMR). It was originally discovered by Baum (1959) as a trend in which the brightest galaxies are also the reddest. In the same paper Baum, with the aid of a simple population synthesis model, demonstrated that ETG were dominated by old Population I stars, contrary to the then popular belief that globular clusters and ETG had the same stellar make up. Baum’s observations and their interpretation signified a turning point in our understanding of ETG. The work of Sandage (1972), Faber (1973), and Visvanathan & Sandage (1977) showed that the CMR can be parameterized by a straight line within a luminosity interval of about 8 magnitudes. This remarkable property suggests that ETG from giants to dwarves, with the exception of some brightest cluster galaxies (BCG)444Sometimes BCG in cooling flow clusters show very blue cores (e.g., McNamara & O’Connell, 1992; López-Cruz, 1997) hence, some BCG deviate from the CMR, have shared a common history of star formation, even when dwarfs and giants are structurally and dynamically different: a dwarf elliptical galaxy is not a scaled-down giant ETG (Ferguson & Binggeli, 1994). This difference in dynamical behavior is further suggested by the break away of dwarves from the FP and the SMR. The other important property is the universality of the CMR at least for clusters at low redshift (e.g., Sandage & Visvanathan, 1978; Bower, Lucey, & Ellis, 1992; López-Cruz & Yee, 2002). The CMR was first explained by Arimoto & Yoshii (1987) in terms of the combined effects of dissipative galaxy formation and metallicity.

Three constraints on the last epoch of strong galaxy formation in ETG can be derived from the study of the CMR. Bower, Lucey, & Ellis (1992) showed that the dispersion of the CMR is a good indicator of the age spread in the stellar population, since newer episodes would increase the dispersion about the CMR. We have found that the dispersion is smaller than the limit of our observations for galaxies in the central regions of clusters at lower redshift (the LOCOS sample, López-Cruz, 1997, 2001). The second constraint is provided by the absolute color evolution of ETG, this can be measured by changes of the zero point of the CMR (see, Stanford, Eisenhardt, & Dickinson, 1998). The third constraint is provided by the slope of the CMR: in the classical scenarios (e.g., Kodama & Arimoto, 1997) star formation is regulated by supernova driven winds. In these models the strongest changes in the stellar population properties occur during the first 5 Gyrs after formation. Hence if we are able to identify evolution in the slope of the CMR, we could in principle constrain the epoch of the last major starburst. We have attempted such a test using archive HST observations and LOCOS data (Gladders et al., 1998). The merit of this test is that the slope, being a ratio of colors, is independent of the calibrations and therefore we are provided by an unbiased estimator that can be readily compared with the models.

The comparison of our observed CMR slopes to a suite of four models with different formation epochs and cosmologies is presented in Figure 2. The overall slope of the red sequence seems to be consistent with passive evolution for all clusters, implying that the populations we have sampled have similar evolutionary histories and time-scales. The observed slopes of the higher redshift clusters are perfectly consistent with a high formation redshift, and a conservative limit of $`z2`$ can be set. Note that up to redshifts of z$``$0.4, observations of the slope of the red sequence have little power to distinguish between formation epochs with z$``$1.0. The change in slope at z$``$0.4 is exclusively due to blue-shifting of the rest-frame band-passes. However, beyond z$``$0.5, the expected slopes for the lowest-formation-epoch models rapidly diverge from the observed slopes. This turnover is a result of the differing metalicities in the ETG population as a function of mass; at ages younger than $``$ 5 Gyr, the color evolution of the stellar population in a metal-rich ETG is significantly different from that of a metal-poorer elliptical (Kodama, 1997; Kodama & Arimoto, 1997). From Figure 2 it is evident that that the slope of the CMR provides a good marker on the last episode of star formation in cluster ETG that is almost independent of the cosmology.

## 4 Discussion & Conclusions

The two studies that have been presented here strongly suggest that ETG in clusters are evolving passively. Also Pahre, Djorgovski, & de Carvalho (1996) and Lubin & Sandage (2001) using the Tolman test have shown indirect evidence that also suggest that ETG are evolving passively.

We have used the poor-man’s approach to the FP in order to address the evolution of ETG. Can we expect to detect the same kind of evolution using the FP itself? The answer is yes: there are many FP studies for cluster galaxies at low and intermediate $`z`$ that have agreed that ETG are evolving passively (e.g., Jørgensen, Franx, & Kj ærgard (1996); van Dokkum et al. (1998)).

Figure 1 also reveals that the best agreement between the models and the observations is reached with a Salpeter IMF. This is remarkable since Salpeter (1955) defined the IMF for the solar neighborhood. Field ETG at higher redshifts also reveal a Salpeter IMF (Schade et al., 1999). Star formation being such a complex physical process has all the characteristic of self-organized criticality (see, Melnick & Selman, 2000). Our results along with those of Melnick & Selman further supports the universality of the IMF.

Our general conclusion, which also agrees with many other studies (see, Peebles, 2002), is that cluster ETG coevally formed at $`z>3`$ and have been evolving passively since then. Moreover, a single burst with a Salpeter IMF suffices to explain the observations presented in this review.

OLC research is supported in part by CONACyT-México Young Researcher Grant No. J32098-E


text:
# Peak effect in single crystal MgB2 superconductor for 𝐇∥𝑐-axis

## Abstract

We have studied the phase diagram of MgB2 superconductor using a single crystal for $`𝐇c`$-axis. For the first time we report the existence of peak effect in the screening current in MgB2 single crystal for $`𝐇c`$-axis. In the magnetic field regime $`10<H<13.5`$ kOe the local fundamental diamagnetic moment displays a very narrow diamagnetic step, with a temperature width of the same size as the zero dc-magnetic field transition. For higher field this step is transformed to a peak which is related with the peak effect in the screening current. Finally, for $`H<10`$ kOe the diamagnetic step is transformed to a gradual transition. Our findings for the vortex matter phase diagram for the MgB2 are closely related with theoretical predictions concerning the vortex matter phase diagram of a type II superconductor in the presence of weak point disorder.

The recent discoverynagamatsu01  that MgB2 compound is a superconductor with remarkably high transition temperature $`T_c39`$ K has generated extensive scientific research (for a review see Ref. buzea01, ). MgB2 is an anisotropic lima01 ; lee01 ; xu01 ; simon01 ; budko01 ; Papav  type II superconductor with a sample dependent anisotropic constant $`\gamma =H_{\mathrm{c2}}^{\mathrm{ab}}/H_{\mathrm{c2}}^c`$, taking values sologubenko02a ; sologubenko02b ; sologubenko02c ; eltsev02 ; pradhan01 ; manzano02 ; angst02  into interval $`2\gamma 6`$. The absence of weak link problem bulk  in polycrystalline MgB2 samples gives expectations for its using in practical applications. Furthermore, the intermediate $`T_c`$ of MgB2, in comparison with high-$`T_c`$ and low-$`T_c`$ conventional superconductors, makes significant the experimental exploration of its vortex matter phase diagram, considering MgB2 as a model physical system where both thermal fluctuations and disorder must be treated on an equal footing. In addition, the MgB2 gives us the opportunity for experimental verification of theoretically proposed issues, like the melting transition of the vortex matter, the Bragg and amorphous vortex phases review .

In this paper, we report a detailed study of the vortex matter phase diagram for $`𝐇c`$-axis. In the magnetic field regime $`10<H<13.5`$ kOe the local fundamental diamagnetic moment displays a very narrow diamagnetic step, with a temperature width of the same size as the zero dc-magnetic field superconducting transition. For higher fields this step is transformed to peak which is related with the peak effect. Finally, for $`H<10`$ kOe the diamagnetic step is transformed to a gradual transition. Our findings for the vortex matter phase diagram for the MgB2 are closely related with the theoretical ideas proposed recently giamarchi ; grtas96 ; gingras96 ; koshelev98 ; vinokur98 ; kierfield98 ; mikitik01 ; radzyner02 .

MgB2 single crystals have been grown under high pressure in the quasiternary Mg-MgB2-BN system at a pressure of 4-6 GPa and temperature 1400-1700oC for 5-60 mins, in a BN container, using a cubic-anvil press (TRY Engineering). The present experiments were performed on a small ($`250\times 250\times 40`$ $`\mu `$m3 ) MgB2 single crystal using as magnetic induction sensor a GaAsIn Hall sensor with an active area of $`50\times 50`$ $`\mu `$m2, superimposing ac ($`H_{\mathrm{ac}}=H_\mathrm{o}\mathrm{sin}(2\pi ft),`$ $`f=0.8`$ Hz) and dc magnetic fields parallel to the crystal’s $`c`$-axis ($`𝐇_{\mathrm{dc}}𝐇_{\mathrm{ac}}c`$). The real and imaginary part ($`V=V^{}+iV^{\prime \prime }`$) of the modulated Hall voltage, which is proportional to the local magnetic induction ($`VB_z`$), in the surface of the crystal, was measured by means of two lockin amplifiers. Measurements were performed as a function of temperature (isofield measurements) and also as a function of the applied field (isothermal measurements). As cryogenic environment and for the dc-field production a 10 T OXFORD cryostat has been used. Besides the superior sample quality, one of the most important aspects of our measurements is the sample’s microscopic size, restricting to a minimum any residual inhomogeneities.

Measurements of local magnetic induction in zero dc-magnetic field for $`H_\mathrm{o}=1.4`$ Oe, display a $`T_c=38.3`$ K with a transition width (defined at the levels 10% and 90% of the real part of $`B^{}`$ ) $`\mathrm{\Delta }T0.16`$ K, indicating a high quality single crystal. Fig. 1(a) shows the real and imaginary parts of the local fundamental susceptibility ($`\chi ^{}=V^{}/H_\mathrm{o}1`$, $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }=V^{\prime \prime }/H_\mathrm{o}1`$) as function of temperature, measured under a dc magnetic field of $`H_{\mathrm{dc}}=15`$ kOe for ac-field $`H_\mathrm{o}=3.4`$ Oe. The measurements have been taken during cooling and heating. As temperature decreases both $`\chi ^{}`$ and $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }`$ traces remain zero. Right below a temperature, which is denoted by $`T_{\mathrm{irr}}`$, both real and imaginary parts form a peak, with a peak-width roughly 0.5 K. Moreover, the characteristic points of the peak, the onset temperature $`T_\mathrm{o}`$, the location of the peak, $`T_\mathrm{p}`$, and $`T_{\mathrm{irr}}`$ do not depend on the amplitude of the ac-field. The same holds and for the other dc-fields where the peak effect is present (vide infra). As temperature further decreases both $`\chi ^{}`$ and $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }`$ exhibit the characteristic functional form of a superconducting sample, which supports a screening current, increasing monotonically down to $`T=0`$. The broad second maximum in $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }(T)`$-curve, implies a small critical current density (low pinning). More importantly, Fig. 1(b) shows that in the region $`T_\mathrm{o}<T<T_\mathrm{p}`$, the curves measured during cooling are above those measured during heating. Our observation can be attributed to the so-called peak effect which appears both in low and high $`T_c`$ superconductors. To the best of our knowledge it is the first time that such an experimental result concerning the MgB2 is reported. At the $`T_{\mathrm{irr}}`$ the vortex lattice, due to the pinning of flux lines, can support a finite critical current which leads to the screening of ac magnetic field. Both the temperature and field dependance of screening current display a peak. Different scenarios have been suggested for the peak effect. The explanation for the peak effect in terms of flux lattice properties was first suggested by Pippardpippard69 . Pippard’s idea was that the energy to shear a flux lattice elastically goes to zero near $`H_{c2}`$ more rapidly than the pinning energy. This allows the lattice to become more distorted near $`H_{c2}`$. It adjusts to increase pinning energy and thus has a higher critical current. Subsequently, Larkin and Ovchinnikovlarkin79  interpreted the peak effect based on the hypothesis that the elastic moduli of the vortex lattice suddenly soft while going from local to nonlocal elasticity. Recently the onset of the peak effect has been associated with the proliferation of dislocations in the flux-line lattice giamarchi ; grtas96 ; gingras96 ; koshelev98 ; vinokur98 ; kierfield98 .

Fig. 2 shows the real part of the local magnetic moment near the peak regime for $`H_{\mathrm{dc}}=23`$ kOe, for various ac fields, during cooling and heating. In the particular magnetic field for $`H_\mathrm{o}=1.7`$ Oe the measurement shows a strong hysteretic behavior for $`T<T_\mathrm{p}`$. This hysteretic behavior reduces as the amplitude of ac-field increasesstamopoulos02 . Indeed, in the measurement for $`H_\mathrm{o}=5.7`$ Oe the hysteretic behavior is negligible. In addition, the width of the peak now is $`1`$ K in comparison with the width observed for $`H_{\mathrm{dc}}=15`$ kOe. More importantly, the peak is more obvious as the amplitude of ac-field increases. The peak effect has also been observed in isothermal measurements, as Fig. 2(b) illustrates. The observed thermomagnetic history dependence of the ac-response is not compatible with the conventional critical-state model. This model treats the critical current, $`J_c`$ as a single valued function of the magnetic induction $`B`$ and temperature $`T`$, while our measurements indicate that $`J_c`$ depends on the measuring path in the regime $`T<T_\mathrm{p}`$. The observed behavior can be understood as follows: as we expose the system to an applied dc-field followed by cooling, through the $`H_{c2}^c`$-line, the topological defects remain as temperature decreases (the field cooling disordered phase is simply supercooled from the phase existing above $`T_\mathrm{p}`$). In other words, the field cooling state yields a disordered vortex glass phase. During heating this disordered state becomes more order with consequent lower critical current in comparison with the field cooling one. The observation of the peak effect, with negligible thermomagnetic history effects, for large amplitude of the ac-field, may be related with the unblocking of the vortices from their pinned meta-stable configuration. The ac-field triggers a transition into the stable low pinning state which does not change on subsequent larger ac-field measurements.

More interestingly, detailed measurements in the regime $`8H<15`$ kOe revealed that the peak effect has been transformed to a very narrow diamagnetic step with a temperature width of similar size (or less) as the zero dc-field transition. Moreover, for fields $`H_{\mathrm{dc}}10`$ kOe (see Fig. 3) the diamagnetic step at the onset of the transition becomes a gradual transition (see Fig.3). Our findings concerning the diamagnetic step in $`m^{}`$ are in accordance with the magnetoresistance results of Eltsev et al. eltsev02  where an extremely sharp drop in the magnetoresistance has been observed, in the same magnetic field regime. Our observations resemble the vortex flux lines lattice melting transition observed in YBa2Cu3O7-δ crabtree99  near critical points. Based on this analogy is plausible that in this regime the transition concerns a first order transition of the vortex lattice. Below and above the low ($`H_{\mathrm{lcp}}`$) and upper ($`H_{\mathrm{ucp}}`$) boundaries of this regime the transition is transformed to a second order.

Based on the local measurements a phase diagram for MgB2 has been constructed. In Fig. 4 plotted are the onset points of the appearance of diamagnetic local moment that coincide with the end point of peak effect. If the pinning of the vortex lattice starts exactly below the upper critical field these points correspond to the upper critical field $`H_{c2}^c`$ of MgB2. In transport measurements the $`H_{c2}`$ line is determined by the onset of the magneto-resistance drop eltsev02 . The locus of these points is distinctly different from our $`H_{\mathrm{irr}}`$, but most probably the onset of non-ohmic behavior0203337  has to do with surface superconductivity.

As illustrated in Fig. 4, for $`T>T_c/2`$, the $`H_{\mathrm{irr}}`$ line displays a positive curvature, while for $`T<T_c/2`$ it displays a negative curvature and approaches zero temperature with nearly zero slope at $`H_{\mathrm{irr}}(0)29`$ kOe. The experimental points can be reproduced very well using the empirical formula $`H_{\mathrm{irr}}(T)=29[1(T/T_c)^2]^{1.45}`$. Included also are the points where the peak is located, as well as the onset. The region at which the peak effect occurs, occupies a small fraction of the region of the mixed state, located slightly below the $`H_{\mathrm{irr}}(T)`$ line. In the regime between 10 and 15 kOe the peak effect is transformed to a very narrow diamagnetic step and finally, for lower fields the transition becomes gradual.

It is widely accepted that the vortex phase diagram in the presence of weak point disorder consists of three generic phases, the vortex liquid, the high field amorphous vortex glass and the low field, low temperature Bragg glass review . These phases are governed by the three basic energies: the energy of thermal fluctuations, pinning and elastic energies. The transition lines are determined by matching any of the two basic energies and the match of all three energies marks the tricritical point giamarchi ; grtas96 ; gingras96 ; koshelev98 ; vinokur98 ; kierfield98 . Based on this unified picture we associate the line defined by the onset of peak effect to the transition of a Bragg glass phase to an amorphous vortex glass. The point where the peak effect is terminated can be attributed to an upper tricritical point. At this point the Bragg glass transition line intersects the $`H_{\mathrm{irr}}`$-line mikitik01 . Based on the sharpness of the onset of the diamagnetic local moment in the regime $`10<H<13.5`$ kOe, the transition in this regime resembles the first order melting transition. Finally, at the regime $`0<H<10`$ kOe the transition becomes second order. Since the thermal energies ($`kT`$) and the fluctuation effects ($`\gamma \lambda ^2/\xi `$) for MgB2 are of the same order of magnitude as the high-$`T_c`$ superconductors this scenario is very realistic.

In the case of Nb there is structural evidence ling01  for a first-order vortex solid-liquid transition at the peak temperature of the peak effect. In analogy, MgB2 may exhibit a melting of the vortex lattice at the peak temperature, $`T_\mathrm{p}`$. Above $`T_\mathrm{p}`$ we have a vortex liquid up to $`T_{c2}`$ where the sample transits from the mixed state to the normal.

In summary, we experimentally estimated the vortex matter phase diagram for MgB2 single crystal superconductor for $`𝐇c`$-axis. We found that in a narrow temperature (or field) regime a peak in the screening current exists. The three distinct behaviors of the onset of the diamagnetic local moment resemble the picture of the melting transition with two critical points.

###### Acknowledgements.

This work was partially supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) as collaborative research and development of fundamental technologies for superconductivity applications


text:
# Fourier imaging study of efficient near-field optical coupling in solid immersion fluorescence microscopy

## Abstract

We measured images and Fourier images of fluorescence for 0.11- and 0.22-$`\mu `$m-diameter dye-doped polystyrene micro-sphere beads on a solid immersion lens, and experimentally verified strongly-angle-dependent fluorescence intensities due to efficient near-field optical coupling in solid immersion fluorescence microscopy. The results are interpreted in comparison with calculated emission patterns of an emission dipole placed near a solid surface, which establish a basic model for high-collection efficiency in solid-immersion fluorescence microscopy.

A solid immersion lens (SIL) is an aberration-free truncated-sphere-shaped solid lens with high refractive index $`n`$ used in proximity of a sample for high-resolution near-field optical microscopy Mansfield90a . Since 1990, various applications of SILs to high-resolution optical read-out have been reported, such as scanning optical microscopy Mansfield90a ; Ghislain98a ; Ghislain99a , optical storage Mansfield93a ; Terris94a ; Terris96a ; Ichimura97 ; Stotz97a ; Chekanov99a ; Kino99a , and spectroscopic imaging of semiconductor nano-structures Sasaki97 ; Yoshita98a ; Yoshita98b ; Yoshita00a ; Poweleit98a ; Wu99 ; Vollmer99a  and dye molecules Koyama99 ; Wu99b ; Wu00 .

Recently, it is found in SIL fluorescence microscopy experiments on semiconductors Sasaki97 ; Yoshita98a  and dye molecules Koyama99  that the SIL fluorescence microscopy has a significant advantage of high collection efficiency simultaneously with high resolution.

To interpret the high collection efficiency in SIL fluorescence microscopy Koyama99 , we made numerical calculation of radiation patterns for an emission dipole located in the near-field regime of an air-SIL interface assuming a theoretical model by Hellen and Axelrod Hellen87 . Calculated radiation patterns show that fluorescence is predominately emitted in the direction of the SIL. We estimated collection efficiencies on the basis of the emission patterns under various experimental conditions, and gave an explanation of the observed improvement of collection efficiency in the SIL microscopy.

However, quantitative experiments to prove the high efficiency in SIL fluorescence microscopy are still few, and the above model to estimate the efficiency seems to require more experimental justifications. For this purpose, efficiency measurements for various combinations of SILs and samples with good accuracy are necessary. Furthermore, direct observation of the radiation patterns of fluorescence in SIL fluorescence microscopy is essentially important.

We verify, in this paper, the radiation patterns of fluorescence by measuring angle-dependent fluorescence intensities via Fourier imaging as well as angle-integrated fluorescence intensities from both sides of the air-SIL interface. In the angle-integrated-intensity measurement we made statistical analysis of data to accurately evaluate the improvement in collection efficiency. These experiments confirm that the radiation patterns predicted by the above dipole model are indeed realized, and that the model well describes the efficient near-field optical coupling in SIL fluorescence microscopy. The results justify the estimation of absolute values of collection efficiency in SIL fluorescence microscopy, and a value of 62% is obtained in the present experiment.

The samples used in the experiment were dye-doped polystyrene micro sphere beads (Molecular Probes, F-8887) of 0.11 and 0.22 $`\mu `$m diameters with fluorescence peak at 600 nm. We attached the beads directly to flat surfaces of SILs by putting small drops of water solution of the beads with about $`10^7`$ concentration in volume and letting water dried out. Though the bead samples are not ideal for theoretical modeling, they are experimentally easy to handle and stable in fluorescence intensity and in spatial position. The SILs used here were 2-mm-diameter hemisphere SILs with refractive index $`n`$=1.845 (LaSF9-glass) and 1.687 (SF8-glass) prepared by polishing sphere lenses into hemisphere shape (by Ogura Jewel Industry Co., Ltd.).

We used a standard Nikon optical microscope (Nikon, Optiphot-100s), equipped with an infinite conjugate objective lens with NA=0.8, Köhler epi-illumination optics for 546 nm line of 100W mercury lamp, a tube lens, and a cooled charge-coupled device (CCD) camera (Princeton Instruments, TEA/CCD512TKM/1) for image detection.

To perform fluorescence microscopy with a SIL, we set the SIL with beads on the microscope stage with its flat surface down, as shown in the inset of Fig. 1 (a), and viewed the beads through the SIL. As a reference, we performed conventional fluorescence microscopy, by setting the same SIL with beads with its flat surface up, as shown in the inset of Fig. 1 (b), using the SIL merely as a glass substrate. In the rest of this paper, we denote the measurement in the configuration of the inset of Fig. 1 (a) shortly as the SIL microscopy or the measurement via SIL, while that of Fig. 1 (b) as the conventional microscopy or the measurement via air.

Figures 1 (a) and (b) show the fluorescence images of 0.11-$`\mu `$m-diameter beads in the same region obtained via SIL ($`n`$=1.845) and via air, respectively, where we found fluorescence spots of four beads (a-d) in the same arrangement. Spot sizes in Fig. 1 (a) are small, 0.34 $`\mu `$m on average, compared with those in (b), 0.46 $`\mu `$m, which demonstrates improved spatial resolution in the SIL microscopy. Figure 1 (a) and (b) are displayed in their respective intensity scales, but actually the spots in (a) were much brighter than those in (b).

The uniformity and strength of illumination should be commented here. Since in the SIL microscopy we simply added the SIL to the setup of the Köhler illumination microscope, illumination rays are refracted at the SIL’s surfaces. Figure 1 (c) shows the illumination density in the SIL microscopy ($`n`$=1.845) in comparison with the original Köhler illumination density, which is calculated on the basis of ray tracing schematically shown in the inset. The illumination density is very uniform, within 2% gradual variation, in the region of 100-$`\mu `$m-radius around the center, which completely covers the effective field of view for the 2-mm-diameter SIL Baba99 . The excitation density enhanced by a factor of 2.83 at the center corresponds to a product of a convergence factor of $`n^2`$=3.40 and transmittance $`[4n/(1+n)^2]^2`$ = 0.83 for normal incidence at interfaces.

Figure 2 shows fluorescence intensities of 29 beads with 0.11 $`\mu `$m diameter obtained with a NA=0.8 objective lens via SIL ($`n`$=1.845) and via air. Each data point corresponds to each bead. The $`x`$-axis represents the intensity measured in the conventional microscopy, while the $`y`$-axis indicates the intensity in the SIL microscopy. The distribution of data on the $`x`$-axis is wide, where $`\overline{x}`$ (mean value) $`\pm `$ $`\sigma _x`$ (standard deviation) of 1.0$`\pm `$0.38 is shown by the horizontal bar. Similarly wide distribution is observed on the $`y`$-axis, where $`\overline{y}\pm \sigma _y`$ of $`22.4\times (1.0\pm 0.29)`$ is shown by the vertical bar. The wide distribution is most likely caused by the size distribution of the beads, which is $`\pm `$30% in volume, or $`\pm `$10% in diameter.

The data are well fitted to a straight line $`y=ax`$, as shown in Fig. 2. Two points far from the others, indicated by open circles, were omitted in the least-square fitting procedure, because each of them might be unresolved two or more beads. Then, the value of $`a`$, which represents the intensity ratio of the fluorescence observed in the SIL microscopy to the conventional one, is obtained as 21.9 with the estimated error as small as 1.9. To evaluate the emission intensity ratio of fluorescence for identical illumination density, we have to divide the ratio $`a`$ by the factor of $`n^2[4n/(1+n)^2]^2`$ = 2.83. The emission intensity ratio of 7.7$`\pm `$0.7 is obtained from $`a=21.9\pm 1.9`$.

Note that $`\overline{y}/\overline{x}`$ gives similar value of 22.4 for $`a`$ with a large uncertainty of 48% as $`[\sigma _x^2/\overline{x}^2+\sigma _y^2/\overline{y}^2]^{1/2}`$. While the correlation plot and the least-square fitting of Fig. 2 is useful to minimize the error of $`a`$, reasonably good estimation of $`a`$ is obtained simply by $`\overline{y}/\overline{x}`$. This supports the validity of our previous result for larger beads with 0.22 $`\mu `$m diameter, which was $`a=13\pm `$3.6 obtained as $`\overline{y}/\overline{x}`$ Koyama99 . The emission intensity ratio of 4.6$`\pm `$1.3 is obtained after division by 2.83. Upper columns in Table 1 summarize these results for two kinds of beads.

Figure 3 (a) shows examples of calculated emission patterns for a randomly oriented emission dipole located at a distance $`z`$ from the surface of a SIL with index $`n`$ assuming $`z`$=0.06 $`\mu `$m and $`n`$=1.845 (solid curve) and 1.687 (dashed curve) in the theoretical model of Ref. Hellen87  mentioned in the introduction. Note that the values of emission intensity ratio obtained by the above experiment correspond to the ratio of intensities integrated within $`0<\mathrm{sin}\theta <`$NA=0.8 in the SIL side and the air side, where $`\theta `$ is the polar angle of emission.

To verify angle-dependent emission patterns like Fig. 3 (a), we next measured Fourier images of emission from the beads. In the measurement, we used the same Nikon optical microscope as the above measurement, but switched a tube lens to relay lenses and monitored fluorescence intensities on the back focal plane of the objective lens with a cooled CCD camera Feke98 . According to the Abbe’s sine condition, the emission intensities in the direction of the polar angle $`\theta `$ from the beads are shown in the Fourier image intensities at the radius proportional to $`\mathrm{sin}\theta `$.

Figure 3 (b) shows a Fourier image of a 0.22-$`\mu `$m-diameter bead on a SIL ($`n`$ = 1.687) obtained in the conventional microscopy configuration. The outline of the bright circular region represents the aperture of the objective, which corresponds to $`\mathrm{sin}\theta _{\text{max}}`$= 0.8 in this case. The Fourier image is fairly uniform within the circle, indicating that the emission depends little on the polar angle $`\theta `$ via air, similarly to the pattern in (a).

Figure 3 (c) and (d) show Fourier images of a 0.22-$`\mu `$m-diameter bead obtained in the SIL microscopy with $`n`$=1.687 and 1.845, respectively. Each has a bright ring, which corresponds to the emission peak at the critical angle in the calculated pattern in (a). The ring diameter in (d) is obviously smaller than in (c). This is consistent with the difference of the calculated emission peak angle between $`n`$=1.687 and 1.845 as shown in (a).

In order to examine the Fourier images, or the strong angular-dependence in emission patterns, in the SIL microscopy in detail, we plotted in Fig. 4 their cross-sectional profiles across their image centers, or $`\mathrm{sin}\theta `$ dependence of the emission intensity, for $`n`$=1.845 SIL. The thick solid and dotted curves in Fig. 4 show the cross-sectional profiles for the measured Fourier images of the emission from 0.22- and 0.11-$`\mu `$m-diameter beads, respectively, normalized at $`\mathrm{sin}\theta `$=0. Both curves go to zero for $`\mathrm{sin}\theta >0.8`$ limited by NA of the objective lens. Remarkable difference between the two curves is observed in the region of $`\mathrm{sin}\theta >0.542=1/n`$, or $`\theta `$ beyond the critical angle, since the light coupled via the evanescent field into the SIL is sensitive to the distance $`z`$ between the dipole and the SIL surface. The observed Fourier images demonstrate that the near-field optical coupling plays essential role in high collection efficiency in the SIL fluorescence microscopy.

For reference to the experimental data, we calculated emission patterns as functions of polar angle $`\theta `$ for randomly oriented emission dipoles located at various distance $`z`$ from the dielectric surface after Ref. Hellen87 . The four thin solid curves in Fig. 4 are cross-sectional profiles of Fourier images normalized at $`\mathrm{sin}\theta `$=0 calculated for $`z`$=0, 0.02, 0.06, and 1.00 $`\mu `$m. While all the four curves are similar for $`\mathrm{sin}\theta <0.542=1/n`$, strong increase of intensity in $`\mathrm{sin}\theta >0.542=1/n`$ occurs for smaller $`z`$. It is found that the two experimental curves for 0.22- and 0.11-$`\mu `$m-diameter beads are similar to the calculated curves for $`z`$=0.06 and 0.02 $`\mu `$m, respectively.

The similarity between experimental data and calculation suggests that the fundamental process is modeled properly, though it is not understood why small values of $`z`$=0.06 and 0.02 $`\mu `$m gave the best fit for 0.22- and 0.11-$`\mu `$m-diameter beads, respectively, rather than the center-of-mass distances of 0.11 and 0.055 $`\mu `$m form the SIL surface. As a whole, however, the results of Fourier images in Figs. 3 and 4 together with the result of Fig. 2 confirm strong angular dependence in near-field optical coupling for efficient SIL fluorescence microscopy.

In the end, we estimate absolute values of collection efficiency in the present experiments. For 0$`<\mathrm{sin}\theta <`$0.8, we indeed measured angular-dependent and angular-integrated intensities of fluorescence both in the air and SIL directions for 0.22- and 0.11-$`\mu `$m-diameter beads. If we extrapolate the angle-dependence data of two kinds of beads with the calculated curves for dipoles at $`z`$=0.02 and 0.06$`\mu `$m to the 0.8$`<\mathrm{sin}\theta <`$1 region, we complete emission patterns in all directions.

Then the estimated values of collection efficiency in the SIL microscopy and in the conventional microscopy are 62% and 14% for 0.22-$`\mu `$m-diameter bead, whereas the values are 62% and 8% for 0.11-$`\mu `$m-diameter bead. The value of 62% for the SIL microscopy is obtained by considering reflection loss at the spherical surface of the SIL. If we reduce the reflection loss by anti-reflection coating, the collection efficiency should be raised to 68%. Remaining portions of 18% and 24% for 0.22- and 0.11-$`\mu `$m-diameter beads are lost in directions of 0.8$`<\mathrm{sin}\theta <`$1. These values, shortly summarized in lower columns of Table 1, show the significant advantage of the SIL in observing weak fluorescence of small samples efficiently.

In summary, we observed strong angular dependence in fluorescence intensities in SIL fluorescence microscopy via Fourier imaging for 0.11- and 0.22-$`\mu `$m-diameter dye-doped polystyrene micro-sphere beads. The efficiency for 0.11$`\mu `$m diameter beads in SIL microscopy was 7.7$`\pm `$0.7 times higher than that measured in the conventional microscopy, and its absolute value was estimated to be 62%. The results show that the efficient near-field optical coupling in SIL fluorescence microscopy are confirmed experimentally and are approximately modeled as dipole emissions near the SIL surface.

We would like to thank Dr. T. D. Harris (Praelux) for valuable discussion and suggestion. This work is partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture, Japan.


text:
# Jamming and asymptotic behavior in competitive random parking of bidisperse cars

## Abstract

We propose a generalized car parking problem where either a car of size $`\sigma `$ or of size $`m\sigma `$ ($`m>1`$) is sequentially parked on a line with probability $`q`$ and $`(1q)`$, respectively. The free parameter $`q`$ interpolates between the classical car parking problem at either extreme ($`q=0`$ and $`q=1`$) and the competitive random sequential adsorption of a binary mixture in between. We find that the coverage in the jamming limit for a mixture always exceeds the value obtained for the uni-sized case. The introduction of a bidisperse mixture results in the slow approach ( $`t^1`$) to the jamming limit by the smaller species while the larger species reach their asymptotic values exponentially fast $`t^1e^{(m1)qt}`$.

The adsorption of particles on a flat substrate is a common phenomenon and it is of wide interest in physics, chemistry, biology and in many other branches of science and technology. Examples are the adsorption of macromolecules, colloidal particles, bacteria, proteins and latex particles kn.has1 ; kn.has2 ; kn.has3 . Due to its wide range of applications, there has been continuing effort to develop and enrich our understanding of the topic through all the avenues of research comprising experimental, numerical and analytical means kn.has11 .

From the theoretical viewpoint, the simplest model that can still capture the generic features of the adsorption phenomenon is the kinetics of random sequential adsorption (RSA) of monodisperse particles on a clean d-dimensional substrate kn.has4 . In this process, particles are deposited randomly, one at each time step, with the restriction that overlap is forbidden. The one dimensional continuum version of the RSA process is popularly known as the random car parking (RCP) problem. This simple RSA model ignores diffusional relaxation, precise particle-particle and particle-substrate interaction (though the hard-core interaction is incorporated) and desorption or evaporation of the adsorbed particles. Nevertheless, there has been a continued effort to bridge the gap between the experimental conditions and the simplest form of RSA. As a result, there are many interesting variants of RSA. Examples include the cooperative sequential adsorption kn.has4 ; kn.has15 , the accelerated random sequential adsorption kn.rodgers , the ballistic deposition kn.talbot , the RSA on disordered substrates kn.naim , the RSA of growing objects kn.rodgers1 . Several attempts have been made to include the transport of deposited particles by diffusion (see kn.privman  and references therein). One issue inherent to the experimental realization is that the adsorbing particles are not always perfectly monodisperse. Polydispersity is almost an inevitable property in many real life situations. The binary mixture is the simplest and the first step toward the understanding of polydisperse system. There has been an increasing interest in the study of the RSA of mixtures with a strict lower and upper size cut-off kn.meakin ; kn.bonnier ; kn.has5 ; kn.has6 , and continuous mixtures obeying a power-law size distribution kn.has7 . It is important to note that in the former case the structure of the monolayer in the long time limit is described by the jamming coverage, whereas in the latter case the resulting monolayer is uniquely characterized by the fractal dimension of the arising pattern kn.has7 . Much of the theoretical effort was restricted only to a binary mixture of particles with very large size differences kn.has5 ; kn.has6 . However, mixtures with a narrow distribution of sizes have more practical relevance than mixtures with large size differences.

In this article we consider the RSA of two species and incorporate a parameter that controls the competition between the adsorbing species. Hence we shall call it competitive random sequential adsorption (CRSA) kn.hassan . The motivation of setting the present problem came from its potential applications in polymer, aerosol and colloidal science. Consider the case of the adsorption of polymer chains onto a surface or the reactions along polymer chains, which was in fact the motivation of the original work by Flory kn.has2 . The polymer chains are naturally not all of the same length, instead they are a mixture of chains of lengths differing by an integer multiple of a certain size unit. Of course, the ideal case to consider would be the study of a polydisperse mixture with strictly lower and upper size cut-off which would warrant greater complexity. Nevertheless, the present work still captures all the essential and generic aspects of the adsorption of mixtures in the simplest possible way. Thus, our model provides useful insight for the analysis of more complex problems. We find that the mixtures exhibit a behavior which is qualitatively and quantitatively different from that of the monodisperse adsorption.

It is worth to mention that although the RSA problem is based on a simplified picture, yet it is analytically tractable only in one dimension. This is typical for many problems of statistical physics. The underlying reason is that the shielding property can only be found in 1d. Here shielding means that in 1d the adsorption of a particle on an empty interval separates it into two disconnected smaller intervals, both having the same geometry as their parent interval and hence they can be treated as an independent interval. Therefore, much of the information in higher dimensions is provided by numerical simulations or by experiment. We can identify two separate characteristic time scales in adsorption phenomena: the time between depositions, $`t_d`$, and the time required for the deposited particles to reorganize themselves on the substrate, $`t_r`$. In the context of the present work, we restrict ourselves to the case where the relaxation time is very large, $`t_d<<t_r`$, so that the deposited particles on the substrate do not have enough time to reorganize to find the minimum energy configuration and hence the system is driven out of equilibrium. Such a situation is expected when the attractive contact energy between the adsorbed particles and the substrate is sufficiently higher than the thermal agitation energy $`k_BT`$. Restriction to the monolayer formation and the irreversibility of the process make it one of the simplest yet interesting and challenging problems in statistical physics. Despite the inherent simplicity of the RSA model, it has in fact reproduced many experimental results. Namely, the RSA of monodisperse hard particles was first shown to describe the experimental results of the adsorption of proteins kn.feder , and later that of latex and submicron colloid particles kn.onada  on flat surfaces, for example. In these processes, it is known that the relaxation is typically very slow and hence the simple RSA algorithm works well. The known key features of the RSA processes are:

* The process results in a unique jamming coverage in the thermodynamic limit. The final monolayer is uniquely characterized by the jamming coverage $`\theta _d(\mathrm{})`$ in d dimensions, defined as the fraction of the substrate covered by the depositing particles, which is always less than unity due to its irreversible character, and the restriction to the monolayer growth.
* Near the jamming limit, the approach of the coverage $`\theta _d(t)`$ to its final value $`\theta _d(\mathrm{})`$ obeys the relation

$$\theta _d(\mathrm{})\theta _d(t)t^{1/d}.$$
(1)
This is widely known as Feder’s law kn.feder  and the theoretical arguments supporting it have been presented independently by Swendsen and Pomeau kn.swendsen .
* Another surprising result in RSA of d-dimensional hyperspheres is that an estimate of the final jamming coverage $`\theta _d(\mathrm{})`$ can be obtained with a reasonably good degree of accuracy from the result of the one dimensional model (RCP) through the relation

$$\theta _d(\mathrm{})(\theta _1(\mathrm{}))^d.$$
(2)
Although the strict equality as conjectured by Palasti kn.palasti  is not valid, the relation often provides a remarkably accurate estimate.

The problem of the competitive random sequential adsorption can be formulated as follows. Assume that we have a particle reservoir which contains a binary mixture of chemically identical particles of two different sizes. Further, assume that a fraction $`q`$ of the particles in the reservoir is of size $`\sigma `$ and the rest, i.e. a fraction $`(1q)`$ of size $`m\sigma `$, $`m>1`$. The algorithm of the process is then as follows

* A particle is picked randomly for deposition on the substrate: it can be of size $`\sigma `$ with probability $`q`$ or of size $`m\sigma `$ with probability $`p=1q`$.
* Randomly a position is chosen on the substrate.
* The particle is deposited on the substrate if the chosen position falls on an empty interval and it is large enough to accommodate the particle. Otherwise the particle is rejected.
* In either case the time is increased by one unit.
* The process is repeated until no more gaps with size larger than $`\sigma `$ are left on the substrate.

The task now rests on translating the problem in question into a set of equations for the gap size distribution function $`G(x,t)`$ to describe how it evolves in time. Before doing so, we first note that the two events (adsorption of $`\sigma `$ and $`m\sigma `$) are mutually exclusive, i.e. at each time step only one particle is adsorbed. This is ensured by the fact that either the particle of size $`\sigma `$ is adsorbed with probability $`q`$ or a particle of size $`m\sigma `$ is adsorbed with probability $`(1q)`$. Then, we can immediately generalize the classical car parking problem and write the following set of equations for $`G(x,t)`$ for $`xm\sigma `$

$`{\displaystyle \frac{G(x,t)}{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`(x\sigma _{av})G(x,t)+2q{\displaystyle _{x+\sigma }^{\mathrm{}}}G(y,t)𝑑y`$ (3)
$`+`$ $`2p{\displaystyle _{x+m\sigma }^{\mathrm{}}}G(y,t)𝑑y,`$
and for $`x<m\sigma `$

$`{\displaystyle \frac{G(x,t)}{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`2q{\displaystyle _{x+\sigma }^{\mathrm{}}}G(y,t)𝑑y+2p{\displaystyle _{x+m\sigma }^{\mathrm{}}}G(y,t)𝑑y`$ (4)
$``$ $`H(x\sigma )q(x\sigma )G(x,t),`$
where $`\sigma _{av}=\{m+q(1m)\}\sigma `$ is the average particle size and $`H(z)`$ is the Heaviside step function. Equations (3) and (4) satisfy the conservation law

$$_0^{\mathrm{}}\left(x+\{m+q(1m)\}\sigma \right)G(x,t)𝑑x=1.$$
(5)
To solve the kinetic equation, we seek in Eq. (3) a trial solution of the form

$$G(x,t)=A(t)e^{(x\sigma _{av})B(t)},$$
(6)
where $`A(t)`$ and $`B(t)`$ are yet undetermined functions. Substituting the trial solution into Eq. (3), we obtain the following two differential equations for $`A(t)`$ and $`B(t)`$

$$\frac{d\mathrm{ln}A(t)}{dt}=2q\frac{e^{\sigma t}}{t}+2p\frac{e^{m\sigma t}}{t},\frac{dB(t)}{dt}=1.$$
(7)
Solving these equations subject to the initial conditions

$$\underset{L\mathrm{}}{lim}_0^{\mathrm{}}G(x,0)𝑑x=0,\underset{t0}{lim}_0^{\mathrm{}}xG(x,t)𝑑x=1,$$
(8)
and satisfying the conservation law Eq. (5), gives

$$A(t)=t^2F(\sigma t)\mathrm{and}B(t)=t,$$
(9)
where the dimensionless quantity $`F(\sigma t)`$ is

$$F(\sigma t)=e^{2_0^{\sigma t}\{q(1e^u)+p(1e^{mu})\}𝑑u/u}.$$
(10)
Note that if we set $`\sigma =0`$ in Eq. (3), we can still recover the well known solution of random scission model of a binary fragmentation process $`G(x,t)=t^2\mathrm{exp}[xt]`$ kn.has9 . The complete solution to Eq. (3) is therefore

$$G(x,t)=t^2F(\sigma t)e^{(x\sigma _{av})t}\mathrm{for}xm\sigma .$$
(11)
We can solve Eq. (4) directly for a narrow size difference ($`1<m2`$), since in this case only the known solution (11) contributes to the integrals in (4). To this end we seek a trial solution of the form

$$G(x,t)=C(x,t)e^{q(x\sigma )t}.$$
(12)
In this domain, $`\sigma `$ is the minimum gap size, and hence the minimum value of the lower limit of the first integral of Eq. (4) is $`2\sigma `$. Therefore, if we restrict to $`1<m2`$ we can substitute the solution of Eq. (3) into both integrals and obtain the solution for $`\sigma <x<m\sigma `$

$`G(x,t)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^t}F(\sigma s)s(2qe^{\sigma (mp1)s}+2pe^{qm\sigma s})`$ (13)
$`\times `$ $`e^{(x(qt+ps)q\sigma t)}ds.`$
Defining $`G(x,t)G(x\sigma _{av},t)`$ for $`xm\sigma `$ we find that the solution of Eq. (3) satisfies the identity

$$G(\{x\sigma _{av}\}\lambda ,t/\lambda )=\lambda ^2G(x\sigma _{av},t).$$
(14)
This relation is the hallmark for the existence of scale invariance and it is equivalent to the data-collapse formalism kn.stanley . It means that if the deposition rate $`(x\sigma _{av})`$ is increased by a factor $`\lambda `$, and the observation time is decreased by the same factor, then the resulting structure would look the same except for the numerical pre-factor.

From the gap size distribution function one can immediately find the total coverage $`\theta _T(t)`$ by the adsorbed particles through the definition

$$\theta _T(t)=1_0^{\mathrm{}}xG(x,t)𝑑x.$$
(15)
For $`0<q<1`$, both species contribute to the total coverage $`\theta _T(t)=\theta _S(t)+\theta _L(t)`$. In order to obtain expressions for the coverages by the small and the large particles, $`\theta _S(t)`$ and $`\theta _L(t)`$, we substitute the solutions of Eq. (3) and (4) in $`\dot{\theta }_T(t)`$. After some lengthy yet simple manipulations, we obtain the contribution of the small particles $`\theta _S(t)`$

$`\theta _S(t)`$ $`=`$ $`2{\displaystyle _0^t}𝑑sF(s)se^{kps}(qe^s+pe^{(k+1)s})`$ (16)
$`\times \left({\displaystyle \frac{e^{k(ps+qt)}1}{(ps+qt)}}{\displaystyle \frac{e^{ks}1}{s}}\right)`$
$`+q{\displaystyle _0^t}F(s)(1+ks)e^{kqs}𝑑s,`$
where $`k=(m1)`$, and the contribution of the large particles $`\theta _L(t)`$

$$\theta _L(t)=pm_0^tF(s)e^{kqs}𝑑s.$$
(17)
We calculate the coverage in the jamming limit ($`t\mathrm{}`$) of our model by direct numerical integration of the above two equations. The two terms in $`\theta _S`$ are the contributions made by the adsorption of small particles in the domains $`\sigma x<m\sigma `$ and $`xm\sigma `$, respectively. The individual concentration of cars of size $`\sigma `$ and $`m\sigma `$ on the monolayer depends on their respective probabilities $`q`$ and $`p`$. The final concentration of small particles will always exceed $`q`$, since the smaller particles have a higher success rate in the competition with the larger species, in particular when the substrate is already densely populated. For $`m=1`$, the first term in $`\theta _S(t)`$ is zero and the remaining terms of $`\theta _T(t)`$ yield

$$\theta _T(t)=_0^tF(s)𝑑s=\theta _\mathrm{R}(t),$$
(18)
where $`\theta _\mathrm{R}(t)`$ is the coverage for RCP model with $`\theta _\mathrm{R}(\mathrm{})=0.748\mathrm{}`$, the famous Renyi-limit.

To test our analytic results, we simulate the CRSA problem on a computer. Naturally, the simulations restrict on finite substrate lengths $`L`$. However, for sufficiently large lengths $`L\sigma `$ the effects of finite $`L`$ are small. The algorithm we use follows literally the steps i)v) described in the introduction. The time scale in the simulations is set by the number of particles brought to the substrate (if adsorbed or not). The discrete ‘loop index’ $`i`$ of the simulation relates to the time scale of the rate equations $`t`$ as

$$t=i\frac{\sigma }{L}.$$
(19)
Using this time scale and expressing all lengths in the simulation in terms of $`\sigma `$, the simulational results can be directly compared to the solution to the rate equations. In Fig. 1 the results for the jamming coverage are shown for the case $`m=1.5`$, where the parameter $`q`$ is varied. In general, we find an excellent agreement between simulation and our theory. The total coverage is found to be always larger for binary mixtures ($`q0,q1`$) than for the uni-sized case ($`q=0`$ or $`q=1`$). For a given $`m`$ the maximum coverage $`\theta _T^{\mathrm{max}}(\mathrm{})`$ occurs when the concentration of the smaller species in the reservoir is small, i.e. at $`q0^+`$. In this limit, the larger species are adsorbed first until their jamming limit is reached. Then the remaining gaps are filled by the smaller species. In other words, the two processes (adsorption of small and large particles) are decoupled. As a result, the chronology of the adsorption of the small and large species strongly influences the dynamics of the system vis-a-vis the final coverage as well as the final number density of each species on the substrate. Note that the particles are drawn from an infinite reservoir, i.e. no matter how small the concentration of small particles in the reservoir will be, they still may be picked up at the expense of many failures. The maximum coverage for a given $`m`$ occurs at $`q0^+`$ and it decreases monotonically as $`m`$ decreases, eventually coinciding with the Renyi-limit at $`m=1`$. The highest coverage is obtained for a large size ratio ($`m\mathrm{}`$) of the binary mixture (see Fig. 2). In the limit $`m\mathrm{}`$ and $`\sigma >0`$ the maximum total coverage is

$$\theta _T^{\mathrm{max}}(\mathrm{})=\theta _\mathrm{R}(\mathrm{})+(1\theta _\mathrm{R}(\mathrm{}))\theta _\mathrm{R}(\mathrm{})=0.937\mathrm{}.$$
(20)
The simulation with $`m=20`$ shown in Fig. 2 is already very close to this limit. This implies that a maximum of $`93.7`$ percent of the total space can be covered by a randomly adsorbed binary mixture. Note that the coverage for the CRSA of a binary mixture has no smooth transition to that of a mixture of points and finite sized particles in the limit $`m\mathrm{}`$; the small particles, no matter how small their finite length is, will always contribute to $`\theta _S`$, and thus, the total coverage $`\theta _T`$ is always larger than the Renyi-limit $`\theta _\mathrm{R}(\mathrm{})`$. Only if their length is indeed zero, so that $`\theta _S(\mathrm{})=0`$, the only role the point particles can play is to prevent the large particles from reaching the Renyi-limit. Also this problem may be solved exactly kn.has10 . The result for the total coverage

$$\theta _T(t)=p_0^tF(s)e^{qs}𝑑s.$$
(21)
In this case the total coverage stems from the large particles alone and Feder’s law does no longer holds.

From the gap size distribution function one can also obtain the number density of the individual species, using the definition

$$n_S+n_L=_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑yG(y,t).$$
(22)
Using similar manipulations as we did for the jamming coverage we find

$$n_S(t)=\theta _S(t)\mathrm{and}n_L(t)=\theta _L(t)/m.$$
(23)
Fig. 3 shows the time dependence of the coverage by small, large, and by both species. $`\theta _L(t)`$ approaches its asymptotic value (the jamming limit) much more rapidly than $`\theta _S(t)`$. In order to quantify the approach to the respective asymptotic values we plot $`\mathrm{ln}[\theta _S(\mathrm{})\theta _S(t)]`$ vs $`\mathrm{ln}[t]`$ (Fig. 4). The small particles reach their jamming limit algebraically, obeying Feder’s law (Eq. (1)). Asymptotically the coverage for the large particles, Eq. (17) behaves as

$$\theta _L(t)\theta _L(\mathrm{})e^{(m1)qt}/t.$$
(24)
Thus the large particles reach their asymptotic value exponentially with an algebraic prefactor $`t^1`$, hence not obeying Feder’s law. This implies that the asymptotic behavior of the total coverage is dominated by the slow dynamics of the smaller specie, approaching the final values algebraically as $`t^1`$ (see Fig. 4). Thus, we verified the validity of Feder’s law for the present system. Note that according to Eq. (23) the number densities will follow the asymptotic behavior of the respective coverages.

The present work provides an exact theoretical basis for the RSA of mixtures. Our results are in good qualitative agreement with the numerical simulations presented by Meakin and Jullien kn.meakin  for the two-dimensional CRSA of disks. Especially, they find a more efficient coverage for the mixture as well. This is in contrast to the study of CRSA by Bonnier kn.bonnier  in 1d, who claims that this behavior was typical for lattice models, while his continuum model predicts a less efficient coverage by the mixture than by the RSA of uni-sized objects. The continuum model we have studied in this work is consistent with its lattice counterpart. Our results are supported by the good agreement with the direct simulation. Furthermore, the dependence of our results on $`q`$ and $`m`$ is in excellent qualitative agreement with the results reported in kn.meakin . Further, Meakin and Jullien too confirm Feder’s law for the small particle species, and find an exponential approach of the coverage by the large ones. In this context it is interesting to verify Palasti’s conjecture (Eq. (2)), taking the values from Fig. 3 of the paper by Meakin and Jullien for the jamming coverage by a binary mixture of disks. We find a deviation of at most 5% from the estimates provided by our one-dimensional data and Eq. (2). This confirms that 1d models, despite their simplicity, indeed may prove useful in gaining information about higher dimensions, in contrast to many problems in equilibrium statistical physics. There, in general, 1d systems often have very little relevance to 2d or to higher dimension, e.g. no thermodynamic phase transitions are possible in 1d. In RSA there is no phase transition in the adsorbed monolayer regardless of its dimensionality. The 1d model already has all the ingredients such as total irreversibility with the associated memory effect or exclusion or blocking phenomena that make their behavior nontrivial and qualitatively similar to that observed in higher dimensions, except a trivial quantitative difference. Of course, the RSA with hard objects covers less and less fraction of the substrate as the dimension increases.

In conclusion, we have shown that an analytical model for the CRSA of a binary mixture in one dimension predicts a jamming limit that is always larger than that for the uni-sized case. In the limits $`q=0`$, $`q=1`$, as well as $`m=1`$ we recover the classical result $`\theta _\mathrm{R}=0.748`$ for the equal sized RSA process. In all other cases, i.e. for true binary mixtures, we find a larger jamming limit in theory and simulation. We have explicitly shown that not only the size ratio between the two species $`m`$ which is an important parameter, but also the concentration of the individual species in the reservoir which depends on $`q`$ is an equally important parameter. It appears that the smaller the concentration of the small particles in the reservoir, the higher the jamming coverage. In general, our analytical results are in excellent agreement with direct numerical simulations. In addition, they show an excellent qualitative agreement with numerical simulation results in higher dimension which emphasize the importance of 1d model. The time-asymptotic approach of the jamming limit is dominated by the contribution of the small particles, and we confirm the $`1/t`$ behavior predicted by Feder’s law in one dimension. The large particles reach their contribution to the jamming limit exponentially with an algebraic pre-factor.

This work was supported by the Alexander von Humboldt foundation under the Georg Forster Fellowship (M. K. H.), by the Ministerium für Forschung in Brandenburg (J. S.), and by the Deutsche Volkswagen-Stiftung (B. B.).