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# Untitled Document

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When a target manifold contains an embedded defect its symmetry group is spontaneously broken to those of the world volume of the defect and its complement. The low energy quantum fluctuations of the defect in directions associated with broken symmetry generators correspond to Nambu-Goldstone degrees of freedom. It is well known that defects, such as an embedded domain wall, may cause the localization of additional massless as well as massive scalar and fermionic degrees of freedom on their world volume . The idea that such localized degrees of freedom constitute the matter of our universe is explored in brane-world scenarios . While in a field theoretical context defects embedded in a flat (non-compact) target space do not yield localized gauge fields as zero modes , several alternative mechanisms that result in (quasi-) localized non-Abelian gauge fields on the defect have been proposed . (Kaluza-Klein localization of the gauge field zero mode for compact or finite volume spaces is readily realized .) In any realistic brane-world scenario localized gauge fields are a physical necessity, and, regardless of the underlying physics, gauge fields are required to be present in the effective world volume field theory. The invariance of the world volume action under target space and gauge symmetries then dictates the form of the interaction between the gauge fields and the Nambu-Goldstone fields.

The purpose of this brief report is to extend the construction of the low energy effective action of a non-BPS p=2 brane embedded in a N=1, D=4 target superspace of reference  to include gauge fields in addition to the Nambu-Goldstone and matter degrees of freedom. This is done in a model independent way through the method of non-linear realizations of the spontaneously broken target space super-Poincaré symmetries. Actions for non-BPS D-branes have been constructed in reference . There the Green-Schwarz action , excluding the Wess-Zumino term, was utilized to find the action for a Dp-brane embedded in D=10 superspace. The relation of the generalized Green-Schwarz method of  to the coset method employed here, and in reference , remains to be elucidated. However, in the BPS superparticle case, the relation between the Green-Schwarz action and that obtained using nonlinear realization techniques has been clarified in references . Returning to the non-BPS p=2 brane at hand, the Poincaré symmetries of the D=3 world volume space- time of the brane, which has static gauge coordinates $`x^m`$, $`m=0,1,2`$, are realized linearly. The broken translation symmetry Nambu-Goldstone boson is denoted by $`\varphi (x)`$ and the broken SUSY Goldstino D=3 (real) Majorana fields are denoted by $`\theta _i(x)`$ and $`\lambda _i(x)`$, $`i=1,2`$. In addition there is an auxiliary Nambu-Goldstone D=3 vector field, $`v^m(x)`$, associated with the broken D=4 Lorentz transformations. It can be expressed in terms of the independent degrees of freedom $`\varphi `$, $`\theta `$ and $`\lambda `$ through the “inverse Higgs mechanism” .

The non-linear realization of the N=1, D=4 super-Poincaré symmetry group $`G`$, with its broken space translation symmetry and the broken supersymmetries, induces a Nambu-Goldstone field dependent world volume general coordinate transformation

$$dx^m=dx^nG_n^m,$$
(1)
where

$$G_n^m=\frac{x^m}{x^n}=\delta _n^mi(_n\theta \gamma ^0\gamma ^m\xi +_n\lambda \gamma ^0\gamma ^m\eta )_n\varphi b^m+ϵ_n^{ms}\alpha _s.$$
(2)
Concurrent with this are the non-linear transformations of the Nambu-Goldstone fields

$`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$ $`=`$ $`z+(\xi \gamma ^0\lambda \theta \gamma ^0\eta )b^mx_m`$ (3)
$`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta _i`$ $`=`$ $`\xi _i{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}b_m(\gamma ^m\lambda )_ii\rho \lambda _i{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}\alpha _m(\gamma ^m\theta )_i`$ (4)
$`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _i`$ $`=`$ $`\eta _i+{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}b_m(\gamma ^m\theta )_i+i\rho \theta _i{\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}\alpha _m(\gamma ^m\lambda )_i`$ (5)
$`\mathrm{\Delta }v^m`$ $`=`$ $`+{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{v^2}}{\mathrm{tanh}\sqrt{v^2}}}\left(b^m{\displaystyle \frac{v^rb_rv^m}{v^2}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{v^rb_rv^m}{v^2}}+ϵ^{mnr}\alpha _nv_r.`$ (6)
where the set of transformation parameters $`\{z,a^m,(\xi _i,\eta _i),b^m,\alpha ^m,\rho \}`$ correspond to the {broken D=4 translation, unbroken D=3 space-time translations, (broken SUSY, broken SUSY), broken D=4 Lorentz rotations, unbroken D=3 Lorentz rotations, unbroken $`R`$} transformations of the N=1, D=4 super-Poincaré symmetries. (Since the unbroken symmetries are those of the D=3 Poincaré group, the D=4 transformation parameters and the Nambu-Goldstone fields are expressed in terms of their D=3 Lorentz group transformation properties.) The intrinsic variation of the fields, $`\delta \phi \phi ^{}(x)\phi (x)`$, is related to the above total variation, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\phi =\phi ^{}(x^{})\phi (x)`$, by the Taylor expansion shift in the space-time coordinates: $`\delta \phi =\mathrm{\Delta }\phi \delta x^m_m\phi `$, with $`\delta x^m=x^mx^m=a^mi(\overline{\xi }\gamma ^m\theta +\overline{\eta }\gamma ^m\lambda )\varphi b^m+ϵ^{mnr}\alpha _nx_r`$.

According to the coset construction method , the dreibein, the covariant derivatives of the Nambu-Goldstone fields and the spin connection can be obtained from the Maurer-Cartan one-forms. The covariant world volume coordinate differentials, $`\omega ^a`$, are found in terms of the dreibein, $`e_m^a`$, and the world-volume coordinate differentials, $`dx^m`$,

$$\omega ^a=dx^me_m^a,$$
(7)
where the dreibein has the factorized form $`e_m^a=\widehat{e}_m^bN_b^a`$ . The Akulov-Volkov dreibein $`\widehat{e}_m^a`$ is

$$\widehat{e}_m^a=A_m^a=\delta _m^a+i_m\theta \gamma ^0\gamma ^a\theta +i_m\lambda \gamma ^0\gamma ^a\lambda ,$$
(8)
while the Nambu-Goto dreibein $`N_a^b`$ has the form

$$N_a^b=\delta _a^b+\left[\mathrm{cosh}\sqrt{v^2}1\right]\frac{v_av^b}{v^2}+\left(\widehat{𝒟}_a\varphi +\widehat{𝒟}_a\theta \gamma ^0\lambda \theta \gamma ^0\widehat{𝒟}_a\lambda \right)v^b\frac{\mathrm{sinh}\sqrt{v^2}}{\sqrt{v^2}},$$
(9)
where $`\widehat{𝒟}_a=\widehat{e}_a^{1m}_m=A_a^{1m}_m`$ is the Akulov-Volkov partial (SO(1,2)) covariant derivative. In addition the Maurer-Cartan one-form defines the covariant derivatives of the Nambu-Goldstone fields. In particular, the fully (SO(1,3)) covariant derivative, $`_a\varphi `$, of the translational Nambu-Goldstone boson $`\varphi `$ can be expanded in terms of the Akulov-Volkov partially covariant coordinate differential basis one-forms, $`\widehat{\omega }^a=dx^m\widehat{e}_m^a`$,

$$N_a^b_b\varphi =\mathrm{cosh}\sqrt{v^2}\left[\left(\widehat{𝒟}_a\varphi +\widehat{𝒟}_a\theta \gamma ^0\lambda \theta \gamma ^0\widehat{𝒟}_a\lambda \right)+v_a\frac{\mathrm{tanh}\sqrt{v^2}}{\sqrt{v^2}}\right].$$
(10)
Setting $`_a\varphi =0`$ results in the “inverse Higgs mechanism” , allowing $`v^m`$ to be expressed in terms of the independent Nambu-Goldstone degrees of freedom, $`\varphi `$, $`\theta `$ and $`\lambda `$, as

$$v_a\frac{\mathrm{tanh}\sqrt{v^2}}{\sqrt{v^2}}=\left(\widehat{𝒟}_a\varphi +\widehat{𝒟}_a\theta \gamma ^0\lambda \theta \gamma ^0\widehat{𝒟}_a\lambda \right).$$
(11)
The covariant world volume coordinate differentials $`\omega ^a`$ transform under the N=1, D=4 super-Poincaré group $`G`$ as structure group vectors

$$\omega ^b=\omega ^aL_a^b,$$
(12)
where

$$L_a^b=(e^{i\beta ^c\stackrel{~}{M}_c})_a^b,$$
(13)
with the D=3 Lorentz vector representation matrix $`(\stackrel{~}{M}_c)_a^b=iϵ_{ca}^b`$. The field dependent transformation parameter $`\beta ^c`$ is determined from the non-linear realization of $`G`$ on the coset element $`\mathrm{\Omega }G/H`$ through $`g\mathrm{\Omega }=\mathrm{\Omega }^{}h`$, with the group element $`gG`$ corresponding to the transformation, $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{}G/H`$ the transformed coset element, and $`hH=SO(1,2)R`$, the unbroken D=3 Lorentz and $`U_R(1)`$ symmetry groups. For infinitesimal D=4 Lorentz transformations, with D=3 parameters $`\alpha ^m`$ for the unbroken transformations and $`b^m`$ for the broken ones, the induced local Lorentz transformation parameter was determined in  to be

$$\beta ^a(g,v)=\alpha ^a\frac{1}{2}\frac{\mathrm{tanh}\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{v^2}}{\frac{1}{2}\sqrt{v^2}}ϵ^{abc}b_bv_c.$$
(14)
Correspondingly, under a $`G`$-transformation the dreibein, $`e_m^a`$, transforms with one world index and one tangent space (structure group) index as

$$e_m^a=G_m^{1n}e_n^bL_b^a,$$
(15)
and likewise for the inverse dreibein

$$e_a^{1m}=L_a^{1b}e_b^{1n}G_n^m.$$
(16)
Utilizing the flat tangent space metric, $`\eta _{ab}`$, the induced world volume metric tensor is given in terms of the dreibein as

$$g_{mn}=e_m^a\eta _{ab}e_n^b.$$
(17)
Consequently the invariant interval can be expressed as $`ds^2=dx^mg_{mn}dx^n`$. The leading term in the D=4 super-Poincaré invariant action is given by integrating the constant brane tension, $`\sigma `$, over the area of the brane

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=\sigma d^3xdete.$$
(18)
The matter fields localized on the brane are characterized by their D=3 Lorentz group (with generators $`M^a`$) transformation properties. A scalar field, $`S(x)`$, is in the trivial representation of the Lorentz group: $`M^a(\stackrel{~}{M}^a)=0`$. Fermion fields, $`\psi _i(x)`$, are in the spinor representation: $`M^a(\stackrel{~}{M}^a)_{ij}=1/2\gamma _{ij}^a`$. Each matter field, $`M(x)`$, transforms under $`G`$ as

$$M^{}(x^{})\stackrel{~}{h}M(x),$$
(19)
where $`\stackrel{~}{h}`$ is given by

$$\stackrel{~}{h}=e^{i\beta _a(g,v)\stackrel{~}{M}^a},$$
(20)
while the $`R`$-transformation properties have been suppressed. The covariant derivative for the matter field is defined using the Maurer-Cartan spin connection one-form  $`\omega _M^a=\left(\mathrm{cosh}\sqrt{v^2}1\right)ϵ^{abc}\frac{v_bdv_c}{v^2}`$ as

$$M(d+i\omega _M^a\stackrel{~}{M}_a)M.$$
(21)
It has the same transformation properties as the matter field itself,

$$(M)^{}(x^{})=\stackrel{~}{h}M(x).$$
(22)
The spin connection one-form, $`\omega _M^a`$, can be expanded in terms of the covariant coordinate differential basis, $`\omega ^a`$, $`\omega _M^a=\omega ^a\mathrm{\Gamma }_a^b(=dx^m\mathrm{\Gamma }_m^b)`$ with components

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_a^b=\left(\mathrm{cosh}\sqrt{v^2}1\right)ϵ^{bcd}\frac{v_c𝒟_av_d}{v^2},$$
(23)
where $`𝒟_a=e_a^{1m}_m`$. As well, expanding the covariant derivative one-form in terms of $`\omega ^a`$, the component form of the covariant derivative is obtained

$$_aM=\left(𝒟_a+i\mathrm{\Gamma }_a^b\stackrel{~}{M}_b\right)M.$$
(24)
The component form of the covariant derivative has the $`G`$ transformation law

$$\left(_aM\right)^{}(x^{})=\stackrel{~}{h}L_a^{1b}_bM(x).$$
(25)
The definition of the covariant derivative must be extended when the matter fields also belong to representations of a local internal symmetry group $`𝒢`$

$$M^\alpha (x)=(U(ϵ))_\beta ^\alpha M^\beta (x),$$
(26)
where the representation matrix

$$(U(ϵ))_\beta ^\alpha =(e^{igϵ^A(x)T^A})_\beta ^\alpha ,$$
(27)
is given in terms of the world volume local transformation parameters $`ϵ^A(x)`$, the gauge coupling constant $`g`$ and the representation generator matrices $`(T^A)_\beta ^\alpha `$, $`A=1,2,\mathrm{},\mathrm{dim}\left[𝒢\right]`$. The generators obey the associated Lie algebra $`[T^A,T^B]=if^{ABC}T^C`$, and are normalized so that $`\mathrm{Tr}[T^AT^B]=1/2\delta ^{AB}`$. In order to extend the invariance of the action to include gauge transformations, the world volume Yang-Mills gauge potential one-form, $`A(x)`$, must be introduced, where

$`A(x)`$ $`=`$ $`dx^mA_m(x)`$ (28)
$`=`$ $`dx^m(iT^AA_m^A(x)).`$ (29)
Under $`G`$-transformations the Yang-Mills one-form is invariant: $`A^{}(x^{})=A(x)`$, that is the world index gauge field transforms as a coordinate differential

$$A_m^{}(x^{})=G_m^{1n}A_n(x).$$
(30)
Under $`𝒢`$-transformations the Yang-Mills field transforms as a gauge connection

$$A^{}=U(ϵ)AU^1(ϵ)+\frac{1}{g}(dU(ϵ))U^1(ϵ).$$
(31)
Hence, the gauge and super-Poincaré covariant derivative of the matter field is obtained

$$M=[d+i\omega _M^a\stackrel{~}{M}_{Ma}gA]M.$$
(32)
Under super-Poincaré transformations the covariant derivative transforms as does $`M`$,

$$(M)^{}(x^{})=\stackrel{~}{h}(M)(x).$$
(33)
Likewise, under gauge transformations the covariant derivative remains in the same matter field representation of $`𝒢`$

$$(M)^{}=U(ϵ)(M).$$
(34)
The matter field derivative can be expanded in terms of the world volume coordinate differentials $`dx^m`$ as

$$_mM=\left(_m+ie_m^a\mathrm{\Gamma }_a^b\stackrel{~}{M}_bgA_m\right)M.$$
(35)
The fully covariant derivatives for the scalar, $`S(x)`$, and fermion, $`\psi _i(x)`$, matter fields have the explicit form

$`(_mS)^\alpha `$ $`=`$ $`_mS^\alpha igA_m^A(T^A)_\beta ^\alpha S^\beta `$ (36)
$`(_m\psi )_i^\alpha `$ $`=`$ $`_m\psi _i^\alpha {\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}\mathrm{\Gamma }_m^a(\gamma _a)_{ij}\psi _j^\alpha igA_m^A(T^A)_\beta ^\alpha \psi _i^\beta .`$ (37)
Employing the world volume induced metric, $`g^{mn}`$, and dreibein, $`e_a^{1m}`$, the matter field fully invariant action is given by

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{matter}}=d^3xdete_{\mathrm{matter}},$$
(38)
where the fully invariant matter field Lagrangian $`_{\mathrm{matter}}`$, which takes the form

$`_{\mathrm{matter}}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{Tr}\left[(_mS)^{}g^{mn}(_nS)\right]V(S)`$ (40)
$`+i\overline{\psi }\gamma ^ae_a^{1m}_m\psi \overline{\psi }m\psi +Y(S,\overline{\psi }\psi ),`$
includes a globally $`𝒢`$-invariant scalar field potential $`V(S)`$, and (if possible to form) globally $`𝒢`$-invariant fermion mass terms $`\overline{\psi }m\psi `$, and generalized Yukawa couplings $`Y(S,\overline{\psi }\psi )`$.

The Yang-Mills field strength two-form, $`F`$, is defined as

$$FdA+gAA.$$
(41)
As a two-form, $`F`$ is invariant under $`G`$-transformations while under $`𝒢`$-transformations it is in the adjoint representation

$$F^{}=U(ϵ)FU^1(ϵ).$$
(42)
Expanding $`F`$ in terms of the coordinate differential basis $`dx^m`$, $`F=\frac{1}{2}dx^ndx^m(iT^AF_{mn}^A)`$, the world index field strength tensor is obtained

$$F_{mn}^A=_mA_n^A_nA_m^A+gf^{ABC}A_m^BA_n^C.$$
(43)
The fully invariant Yang-Mills action (constructed in  when only supersymmetry is realized nonlinearly) is secured as

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{Y}\mathrm{M}}=d^3xdete_{\mathrm{Y}\mathrm{M}},$$
(44)
with the invariant Lagrangian $`_{\mathrm{Y}\mathrm{M}}`$ given by

$$_{\mathrm{Y}\mathrm{M}}=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{Tr}[F_{mn}g^{mr}g^{ns}F_{rs}].$$
(45)
There are two other useful one-form bases in which to express the derivatives and gauge fields. The basis consisting of the fully covariant world volume coordinate differentials $`\omega ^a=dx^me_m^a`$ and the basis consisting of the partially (SO(1,2)) covariant Akulov-Volkov one-forms $`\widehat{\omega }^a`$ with $`\omega ^a=\widehat{\omega }^bN_b^a`$. The exterior derivative can be expanded in these bases as $`d=dx^m_m=\omega ^a𝒟_a=\widehat{\omega }^a\widehat{𝒟}_a`$ where the derivatives are related by the Nambu-Goto dreibein, $`𝒟_a=N_a^{1b}\widehat{𝒟}_b`$. Likewise, the gauge field one-form has the expansion

$$A=dx^mA_m=\omega ^aA_a=\widehat{\omega }^a\widehat{A}_a.$$
(46)
As previously noted, the fully covariant basis $`\omega ^a`$ transforms according to the vector representation of the D=3 (local) Lorentz structure group, $`\omega ^a=\omega ^bL_b^a`$ with the Nambu-Goldstone field dependent matrix $`L_b^a`$ given in equations (13) and (14). So the fully covariant gauge field transforms analogously, $`A_a^{}(x^{})=L_a^{1b}A_b(x)`$. The partially covariant basis differentials $`\widehat{\omega }^a`$ transform SO(1,2) covariantly but not SO(1,3) covariantly,

$`\widehat{\omega }^a`$ $`=`$ $`\widehat{\omega }^b\widehat{L}_b^a`$ (47)
$`=`$ $`\widehat{\omega }^b\left(\delta _b^a+\alpha ^cϵ_{cb}^a+v_bb^a{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{tanh}\sqrt{v^2}}{\sqrt{v^2}}}\right),`$ (48)
with $`v^a`$ related to the Nambu-Goldstone fields via the “inverse Higgs” mechanism, equation (11), and likewise for the partially covariant gauge fields

$$\widehat{A}_a^{}(x^{})=\widehat{L}_a^{1b}\widehat{A}_b(x).$$
(49)
In similar fashion, the fully covariant derivative transforms as $`𝒟_a^{}=L_a^{1b}𝒟_b`$ while the SO(1,2) partially covariant Akulov-Volkov derivative transforms as $`\widehat{𝒟}_a^{}=\widehat{L}_a^{1b}\widehat{𝒟}_b`$. The invariant interval can be expressed in each basis by use of a metric specific to it

$$ds^2=dx^mg_{mn}dx^n=\omega ^a\eta _{ab}\omega ^b=\widehat{\omega }^an_{ab}\widehat{\omega }^b,$$
(50)
with $`\eta _{ab}`$ the flat tangent space Minkowski metric and $`n_{ab}`$ the Nambu-Goto metric made from the Nambu-Goto dreibein $`N_a^b`$, $`n_{ab}=N_a^c\eta _{cd}N_b^d=\eta _{ab}\frac{v_av_b}{v^2}\mathrm{tanh}^2\sqrt{v^2}`$.

The matter field covariant derivatives can be expressed in each basis as

$`(_aS)^\alpha `$ $`=`$ $`𝒟_aS^\alpha igA_a^A(T^A)_\beta ^\alpha S^\beta `$ (51)
$`(\widehat{}_aS)^\alpha `$ $`=`$ $`\widehat{𝒟}_aS^\alpha ig\widehat{A}_a^A(T^A)_\beta ^\alpha S^\beta `$ (52)
$`(_a\psi )_i^\alpha `$ $`=`$ $`𝒟_a\psi _i^\alpha {\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}\mathrm{\Gamma }_a^b(\gamma _b)_{ij}\psi _j^\alpha igA_a^A(T^A)_\beta ^\alpha \psi _i^\beta `$ (53)
$`(\widehat{}_a\psi )_i^\alpha `$ $`=`$ $`\widehat{𝒟}_a\psi _i^\alpha {\displaystyle \frac{i}{2}}\widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_a^b(\gamma _b)_{ij}\psi _j^\alpha ig\widehat{A}_a^A(T^A)_\beta ^\alpha \psi _i^\beta ,`$ (54)
with $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Gamma }}_a^b=N_a^c\mathrm{\Gamma }_c^b`$. With these replacements, the fully invariant matter field Lagrangian, equation (40), can be written in the two bases as

$`_{\mathrm{matter}}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{Tr}\left[(_aS)^{}\eta ^{ab}(_bS)\right]V(S)`$ (56)
$`+i\overline{\psi }\gamma ^a_a\psi \overline{\psi }m\psi +Y(S,\overline{\psi }\psi )`$
$`_{\mathrm{matter}}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{Tr}\left[(\widehat{}_aS)^{}n^{ab}(\widehat{}_bS)\right]V(S)`$ (58)
$`+i\overline{\psi }\widehat{\gamma }^a\widehat{}_a\psi \overline{\psi }m\psi +Y(S,\overline{\psi }\psi ),`$
with the Dirac matrices in the partially covariant basis defined by means of the Nambu-Goto dreibein $`\widehat{\gamma }^a=\gamma ^bN_b^{1a}`$.

The Yang-Mills fields expressed in terms of the different bases have correspondingly modified gauge variations

$`A_a^{}`$ $`=`$ $`U(ϵ)A_aU^1(ϵ)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{g}}(𝒟_aU(ϵ))U^1(ϵ)`$ (59)
$`\widehat{A}_a^{}`$ $`=`$ $`U(ϵ)\widehat{A}_aU^1(ϵ)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{g}}(\widehat{𝒟}_aU(ϵ))U^1(ϵ).`$ (60)
Also, the field strength tensor takes the various forms

$`F_{ab}^A`$ $`=`$ $`𝒟_aA_b^A𝒟_bA_a^A+gf^{ABC}A_a^BA_b^C`$ (61)
$`\widehat{F}_{ab}^A`$ $`=`$ $`\widehat{𝒟}_a\widehat{A}_b^A\widehat{𝒟}_b\widehat{A}_a^A+gf^{ABC}\widehat{A}_a^B\widehat{A}_b^C.`$ (62)
As with the matter field Lagrangian, the fully invariant Yang-Mills Lagrangian, equation (45), in these bases becomes

$`_{\mathrm{Y}\mathrm{M}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{Tr}[F_{ab}\eta ^{ac}\eta ^{bd}F_{cd}]`$ (63)
$`_{\mathrm{Y}\mathrm{M}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{Tr}[\widehat{F}_{ab}n^{ac}n^{bd}\widehat{F}_{cd}].`$ (64)
The work of TEC and MN was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy under grant DE-FG02-91ER40681 (Task B).


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# Perspectives in Galactic Chemical Evolution studies

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Despite the lack of a reliable model of Galactic Chemical Evolution (GCE) considerable progress has been made in the past few years, due to:

\- an impressive amount of observational data concerning abundance ratios either in the Milky Way (Carretta et al. 2002, Truran et al. 2002, Andriefsky et al. 2002, and references therein) or in extragalactic systems (e.g. Prochaska and Wolfe 2002);

\- the publication of detailed nucleosynthesis yields (e.g. van den Hoek and Groenewegen 1997 for intermediate mass stars; Woosley and Weaver 1995, Nomoto et al. 1997, Limongi et al. 2000, for massive stars; Iwamoto et al. 1999 for SNIa).

Interpreted in the framework of simple “toy” models of GCE these data offer mainly information about: i) evolutionary timescales of corresponding production sites, ii) physics of those sites, iii) nature of relevant nucleosynthetic processes.

In this, highly biased, review I focus on a few selected topics, where recent theoretical and/or obervational progress has been made and important developments are expected in the future.

## 2 EVOLUTION OF Mg ISOTOPIC RATIOS IN THE MILKY WAY

There are very few cases where observations allow to check models of isotopic abundance evolution in the Galaxy, especially concerning the early (i.e. halo) phase of that evolution. One of these rare cases concerns the Mg isotopes, which are mainly produced by hydrostatic burning in the carbon and neon shells of massive stars. The production of the neutron-rich isotopes 25Mg and 26Mg is affected by the neutron excess (their yields increase with initial stellar metallicity) while 24Mg is produced as a primary (its yield is independent of metallicity). Thus, the isotopic ratios 25Mg/24Mg and 26Mg/24Mg are expected to increase with metallicity (Fig. 1, left panel).

In Fig. 1 (right panel) we compare our results of a detailed GCE model (Goswami and Prantzos 2000) with observations from various sources, including the yet unpublished data of Yong and Lambert (Yong, private communication). The observational trends are, globally, reproduced by our model, although the model isotopic ratios are systematically lower than observations. This was also noticed in Timmes et al. (1995). It may well be that the Woosley and Weaver (1995, WW95) yields underestimate the importance of the neutron excess in the production of the Mg isotopes or that the Yong and Lambert data systematically overestimate those ratios. Another possibility is that there is some other source of the neutron-rich Mg isotopes in the late halo, like e.g. AGB stars with He-shells hot enough to activate the 22Ne($`\alpha `$,n)25Mg neutron source. This reaction would provide neutrons for the s-process in those stars, but also produce large amounts of 25Mg and 26Mg.

In any case, future observations of isotopic ratios at all metallicities (like those of the Ti isotopes, Young and Lambert in preparation) will bring a substantial refinement in our understanding of stellar nucleosynthesis.

## 3 (IM)PERFECT MIXING IN THE EARLY GALAXY?

Standard models of GCE assume instantaneous and perfect mixing of the stellar ejecta with the ISM; this leads to a unique value of metallicity (or of the abundance ratio of any two elements) at all times. This simplistic assumption may not hold, since simple arguments suggest that complete mixing may require many millions of years; during that time a new star may be born with its composition affected mostly by the ejecta of a closeby supernova. A dispersion of abundance ratios, increasing at earlier times (and lower metallicities) is, naively, expected in that case.

Those ideas are supported by observations of s- and r- elements (e.g. Truran et al. 2002). However, for elements up to the Fe-peak Carretta et al. (2002) find no hints for intrinsic dispersion down to \[Fe/H\]$``$-3 (Fig. 2). This result is intriguing since simple models, both 1-D (Tsujimoto and Shigeyama 1998; Karlsson and Gustafsson 2001) and 2-D (Argast et al. 2000, 2002), find that an important scatter should be obtained at such low metallicities, its amplitude depending on adopted yields and model assumptions.

The results of recent 1-D models of inhomogeneous GCE (Ishimaru et al. 2002) are displayed in Fig. 3. Two sets of stellar yields are used (Nomoto et al. 1997 and WW95). The resulting dispersion is compared to the observational one (estimated by Ryan et al. 1996). Depending on the adopted set of yields, a rather impotant dispersion is expected for $`\alpha `$-elements around \[Fe/H\]$``$-3 and below, while at metallicities higher than \[Fe/H\]=-2 the theoretical scatter is extremely small. Note that uncertainties introduced by observational errors ($``$0.1 dex) are not taken into account in the displayed model results.

In the future, systematic surveys of low metallicity stars will help to constrain stellar yields (and their dependence on stellar mass) and to a better understanding of mixing processes in the ISM.

## 4 ABUNDANCES IN THE MILKY WAY DISK

Observed profiles of MW disk (gas, stars, SFR and abundances) require a larger SF efficiency and/or a smaller timescale of formation (through infall) in the inner disk (Boissier and Prantzos 1999). Models reproducing the above observational constraints with few parameters predict that abundance gradients were steeper in the past (e.g. Hou et al. 2000); they became progressively flatter due to the inside-out formation of the disk (see Fig. 4). That prediction is in agreement with the recent observational results of Maciel and da Costa 2001 (see Fig. 5), based on oxygen abundances of planetary nebulae of various age classes \[Note: taking into account the uncertainties in evaluating ages of planetary nebulae, the importance of that agreement should not be overestimated; it is, however, encouraging\].

It should be noted that the magnitude of the abundance gradient has been questioned again, recently: Deharveng et al. (2000) and Pilyugin et al. (2002) (based on abundances in HII regions) and Cunha et al. 2002 (based on abundances of B-stars) find systematically smaller oxygen gradients than the “canonical” one of $``$-0.07 dex/kpc; clearly, the issue of the abundance gradient in the Milky way (and other disk galaxies) is still an open one.

In that respect, it should be noted that a recent study of abundances in Cepheids (with rather well determined distances) finds a bimodal slope of the abundance profile, flatter in the solar neighborhood and steeper inwards (Andrievsky et al. 2002a,b). One of the important points of that work is the determination of stellar abundance patterns concerning a large number of elements (about 25). As can be seen in Fig. 6, there is a well defined abundance pattern, scaled with metallicity, for elements up to the Fe peak (upper panel), while no such pattern is evident for heavier elements (lower panel). This is the first study establishing detailed abundance patterns in the inner Milky Way; further works of that kind in the future will allow to study abundance patterns in those regions in the same way as we study today detailed abundance patterns (mean trends, scatter, etc) in stars of the galactic halo; interpretation of those patterns will require the calculation of detailed stellar yields up to metallicities of 3 Z.

## 5 “PRIMARY” NITROGEN IN THE EARLY GALAXY?

Nitrogen is the main product of the CN cycle operating in core H-burning in intermediate and high mass stars, in shell H-burning in stars of all masses and in the putative Hot-Bottom Burning (HBB) in massive (4-8 M) AGB stars. In the former two cases N is produced from the initial C (and O) entering the stars, whereas in the latter from the C produced by the 3-$`\alpha `$ reaction in the He-shell (and brought to the envelope by convective motions during thermal pulses). Thus, in the first two cases N is produced as a secondary (its yield being quasi-proportional to initial stellar metallicity) and in the latter as a primary (its yield being quasi-independent of metallicity) \[see top panel of Fig. 7\].

No stellar evolution model finds HBB in a self-consistent way up to now: because of uncertainties in the treatment of convection the depth of the convective envelope has to be adjusted in order to reach the required high temperatures (as e.g. in vdHG97). However, there is another way to produce primary N: rotationally induced mixing may mix protons to He-regions with abundant C from the 3-$`\alpha `$ reaction. Self-consistent (1-D) models of rotating stars have been recently calculated by Meynet and Maeder (2002, MM02). Their N yields appear in Fig. 7 (bottom panel): at low metallicities, substantial amounts of quasi-primary N are produced in intermediate mass rotating stars (with typical rotational velocities VROT=300 km/s).

The implications of those results for the evolution of N in the Galaxy are shown in Fig. 8. The N yields of the rotating stars of MM02 lead to an evolution similar to the one obtained with the HBB yields of vdHG97: N behaves as primary with respect to Fe, starting at \[Fe/H\]$``$–2. With “standard” yields of non-rotating stars (with no HBB), N is always produced as secondary, but it behaves as primary w.r.t Fe (its secondary production being matched by the delayed Fe ejection from SNIa) only after \[Fe/H\]$``$–1.

Current obervations do not allow to conclude whether primary N is needed below \[Fe/H\]$``$–2. If this were the case, primary N from massive stars (which dominate at such low metallicities and early times, due to their short lifetimes) would be required; the corresponding mechanism has not been found up to now. Alternatively, the timescales of simple models of GCE (like the one of Fig. 8), which are not seriously constrained by other observations, should have to be revised.

## 6 ABUNDANCE PATTERNS IN DLAs

Damped Lyman $`\alpha `$ systems (DLAs) are high column density gaseous systems (N(HI)$`>`$2 1020 cm-2), detected through their absorption lines in the optical spectra of quasars, up to relatively high redshifts (up to $`z`$5). Their study constitutes a powerful means to investigate the properties of distant galaxies (or of their building blocks). In particular, DLA metal abundances have been widely used in the past few years to probe the nature of DLAs (e.g. Prochaska & Wolfe 2002 and references therein). However, it is not clear whether the observed abundances allow that, because of various biases: depletion of metals into dust (Pei and Fall 1995) or bias against too high or too low metal column densities (Boissé et al. 1998). The latter bias, in particular, may explain the observed absence of evolution in the absolute abundance of Zn/H as a function of redshift, as suggested in Prantzos and Boissier (2000).

Abundance ratios offer a better diagnostic tool than absolute abundances for the study of the chemical evolution of a system. However, in the case of DLAs, the possibility of depletion into dust grains (even to a small extent) makes difficult a direct interpretation of the observed abundance patterns (see Vladilo 2002).

Hou et al. (2001) found an anticorrelation between the observed abundance ratio X/Zn (where Zn is assumed to be undepleted and X stands for the refractories Fe, Cr and Ni) and metal column density (Fig. 9). They suggested that this trend is an unambiguous sign of depletion, since metal column density is a measure of the amount of dust along the line of sight. Prochaska and Wolfe (2002) reached similar conclusions, finding that the anticorrelation is also present if S is used instead of Zn.

Once dust depletion is unambiguously found, it is interesting to see whether the depletion pattern ressembles to the ones encountered in the various gaseous phases of the Milky Way (cold or warm clouds of the halo or the disk, see Savage and Sembach 1996). Hou et al. (2001) found that : if one assumes that the intrinsic metallicity pattern in DLAs is the one given by their models (of disk galaxies), a difficulty arises with S, which is found to be depleted at high $`=[Zn/H]+log(NHI)`$; if, on the other hand, it is assumed that the intrinsic DLA pattern is solar, a problem arises with Mn, which is found to be depleted at low $``$. In both cases the depletion patterns ressemble more to the one of warm halo clouds in the Milky Way (Fig. 10).

In any case, further studies of abundance patterns in DLAs will allow to probe the nature of those systems and to study the early phases of cosmic chemical evolution.


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# Chiral Nonanalytic Behaviour: The Edinburgh Plot

## 1 INTRODUCTION

It is now well established that the one- or two-loop truncated expansion of dimensionally-regulated (dim-reg) chiral perturbation theory ($`\chi `$PT) is unable to reach the masses at which current dynamical lattice QCD calculations are made. In our previous works we have presented improved regulation schemes that re-sum the series in a way that suppresses higher-order terms and increases its range of applicability. These functional forms for the nucleon, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$  and $`\rho `$ meson  not only reproduce the nonanalytic behaviour of dim-reg $`\chi `$PT in the small quark mass region, but have the same limit exhibited by lattice simulations at larger quark masses.

## 2 Extrapolation Forms

Goldstone Boson loops are implicitly included in all lattice calculations. The most important sources of nonanalytic behaviour include those self-energy processes which vary most rapidly with pion mass near the chiral limit. In the specific cases of the nucleon and rho meson the self-energy diagrams that contribute the dominant nonanalytic behaviour are shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The construction of such functional forms relies on the realisation that the source of the Goldstone boson field is not point-like, as taken in dim-reg $`\chi `$PT. The source is in fact a complex system of quarks and gluons, and we use an optimal regulator based on this extended object to introduce an additional scale into $`\chi `$PT. This optimal regulation scheme extends the applicable range of $`\chi `$PT into the region where the lattice is now making calculations. The approach is systematic in that it can be improved by calculating the higher-order terms in the chiral expansion. This additional regulator scale also has a simple physical basis. If the mass of the Goldstone boson is larger than the regulator scale the Compton wavelength of the pion will be less than the extended size of the source, and so the induced effects are suppressed, whilst if the pseudoscalar mass is less than that of the source regulator the rapid non-linear behaviour is evidenced.

The one-loop functional forms for the nucleon and $`\rho `$-meson are

$`m_N`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha +\beta m_\pi ^2+\sigma _N(\mathrm{\Lambda }_N,m_\pi ),`$ (1)
$`m_\rho `$ $`=`$ $`A+Bm_\pi ^2+\sigma _\rho (\mathrm{\Lambda }_\rho ,m_\pi ),`$ (2)
where the self-energy contributions of Figs. 1 and 2 are absorbed in the $`\sigma _N`$ and $`\sigma _\rho `$, respectively, and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the regulator parameter. In previous works we have shown that at light quark mass ($`m_qm_\pi ^2`$) we reproduce the exact nonanalytic behaviour of dim-reg $`\chi `$PT, with the correct model independent coefficients of the lowest nonanalytic terms. As the mass of the quarks increases, toward those masses now being accessed on the lattice, the regulator parametrized by the additional scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ suppresses the Goldstone boson loops, resulting in the linear behaviour seen on the lattice.

It is important to not only attempt to respect the constraints of $`\chi `$PT in an extrapolation function, but to consider the differences between calculations performed on the lattice as compared to those done in the continuum. The process of putting quarks on the lattice changes the induced effects as a result of the discretisation and finite volume of space-time. The available momenta for the self-energy terms are both discretised and limited in value. Any extrapolation method ignoring this fundamental difference from the continuum is flawed. A simple replacement of the integral over loop momentum in the self-energy terms with a sum over the available momenta provides an estimate of this important insight.

Finally, the nature of the rho meson is considered. The rho is an unstable particle in nature and yet on the lattice we see no evidence for this decay. It is clear that an extrapolation form (in particular for unstable particles) must allow for decays in the right kinematic region. The preferred rho decay is p-wave to two pions, and we simply do not see this on the lattice because of the heavy quarks and large minimum non-vanishing momentum. However, in the continuum limit and at light quark masses, Eq. (2) does allow this decay.

## 3 The Edinburgh Plot

We present our prediction for the behaviour of the Edinburgh plot in Fig. 3. We have used data from the UKQCD  (open symbols) and CP-PACS  (filled symbols) collaborations. Two additional points are included in the figure. The physical point is indicated by the star at the experimentally measured ratios of the nucleon, rho and pion masses. The other star is the prediction from heavy quark theory, where the masses of the hadrons are proportional to the sum of their constituent quarks. The solid curve is the infinite volume, continuum prediction based on Eqs. (1) and (2) for the extrapolation of the nucleon and rho meson masses. The excellent agreement with the lattice calculations at reasonably large values of $`m_\pi /m_\rho `$ is expected. The heavy quark mass suppresses the Goldstone effects and we reproduce the well known linear behaviour. The point of inflexion at $`m_\pi /m_\rho =1/2`$ is an effect of the opening of the rho decay channel. The lowest CP-PACS point is below the opening of this channel. However, as discussed in previous work , the kinematics of their lattice do not allow the rho to decay. As a consequence, the self-energy contributions at this point are noticeably different between the continuum and lattice.

As we have the ability to make predictions for the extrapolated masses on both the lattice and in the continuum we consider a simple investigation of the behaviour of a lattice with $`16`$ sites in the spatial directions with a lattice spacing of $`0.13`$fm. We have used exactly the same fit parameters as previously, and present the results as the dashed line in Fig. 4. In addition, we overlay new data from the MILC collaboration  calculated on a similarly sized lattice. The agreement between our prediction and the data is encouraging as there is a suggestion of a divergence away from the continuum prediction at the lighter quark masses. We also note the significant difference between our prediction and the physical point at realistic quark masses is yet another indication that to get accurate calculations at light quark masses, large volume lattices are a necessity.

## 4 CONCLUSION

We have shown that a physically-motivated regulator leads to a well behaved chiral expansion that provides a method for extrapolating current lattice QCD calculations to light quark masses. The functional forms presented not only respect the constraints of traditional dim-reg $`\chi `$PT at light quark masses but also have the correct functional form as the quark masses tend to the region now inhabited by lattice QCD.

It has proved necessary to not only include the correct chiral behaviour, but to also allow decays where relevant and incorporate the modified physics of the lattice, in particular the discretisation of the available momenta.

## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council and the University of Adelaide. SVW thanks PPARC for support.


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# Elliptic flow from partially thermalized heavy-ion collisionsThis work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-FG02-01ER41190.

## 1 MOTIVATION

One of the most important discoveries at RHIC so far has been the strong elliptic flow generated in non-central collisions . For not too peripheral collisions the measured elliptic flow coefficient $`v_2(p_{})`$ at midrapidity almost exhausts the hydrodynamic limit  up to transverse momenta $`p_{}2`$ GeV, and in this entire domain the dependence of $`v_2`$ on the mass of the emitted particles  accurately follows the hydrodynamically predicted pattern . This means that the distribution of the momenta of well over 99% of the emitted particles is accurately described by (ideal) hydrodynamics.

Why is this so important? The initial transverse momentum distribution of the particles generated by the colliding nuclei is locally isotropic. Only their spatial distribution in the transverse plane is initially deformed (for $`b\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$). Interactions among the produced quanta are required to transfer this spatial anisotropy to momentum space. A non-vanishing $`v_2`$ is thus an unambiguous signature for reinteractions in the produced matter, and the observed large $`v_2`$ values prove that the initial parton liberation process is separated from the experimentally observed final state by a violently interacting stage of dynamical evolution. Consequently, there is a priori little reason to expect that calculable properties of the early matter formed in the reaction zone immediately after nuclear impact (such as, for example, the central rapidity density and the shapes of the rapidity and transverse momentum distributions of the produced gluons ) have any direct relationship with the corresponding experimentally observed values. The evolution of spectral shapes due to the strong rescattering must be taken into account, and even though adiabatic cooling and the build-up of collective flow move the spectral slopes in opposite directions it is highly unlikely that these effects cancel completely. Elliptic flow itself is an example for a qualitative change of the spectra between particle formation and decoupling.

Microscopic studies  show that $`v_2(p_{})`$ is a monotonic function of the mean free path, $`\lambda (\sigma \rho )^1`$; the hydrodynamic limit is approached from below as $`\lambda \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$. The observation that at RHIC $`v_2(p_{})`$ almost exhausts the hydrodynamic limit thus appears to force the conclusion  that the fireballs formed in Au+Au collisions at RHIC thermalize fast and efficiently. Since the creation of elliptic flow is driven by the spatial deformation of the reaction zone which quickly decreases either spontaneously via free-streaming  or (more rapidly) as a result of the flow anisotropy itself , $`v_2`$ is sensitive to the very early collision stage. Within hydrodynamics the RHIC $`v_2`$ data can only be reproduced by assuming thermalization at times $`\tau _{\mathrm{th}}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}`$ fm/$`c`$ (we use $`\tau _{\mathrm{th}}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.6}`$ fm/$`c`$ ). As the hydrodynamic limit of $`v_2`$ can only be reached from below and the data almost exhaust it, we can use the hydrodynamic model to estimate the energy density at thermalization. One finds values  at least an order of magnitude above the critical one for hadronization, $`ϵ\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}`$ GeV/fm3. The thermalized state formed $`\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}`$ fm/$`c`$ after nuclear impact must therefore have been a quark-gluon plasma which, according to the hydrodynamical simulations, lives for several fm/$`c`$ before hadrons first appear. Unless the presented chain of arguments leading to the conclusion of early thermalization can be broken, the implication is unavoidable that at RHIC a well-developed quark-gluon plasma has been created.

The purpose of the work reported here  is to try to poke holes into the early thermalization argument. It was already pointed out by Ollitrault  that $`v_2`$ is sensitive to the stiffness of the equation of state (EOS) of the thermalized matter and increases monotonically with the sound velocity $`c_s^2=P/e`$. Might it be possible to trade off thermalization against a stiffer EOS? The concrete idea studied by us  was that perhaps the thermalization of the (on average much larger) longitudinal momenta of the liberated partons takes longer than transverse thermalization, resulting in a smaller longitudinal than transverse thermal pressure. As shown by Teaney at this conference, this is similar to the expected effects from shear viscosity on the longitudinal hydrodynamic expansion . If we exaggerate a bit and idealize the model by assuming collisionless free-streaming with boost-invariant initial conditions in the longitudinal direction coupled with complete local thermalization of the transverse momenta, we can write down an analytic expression for the phase-space distribution function in terms of macroscopic parameters for which we can analytically derive macroscopic equations of motion which generalize the usual ideal hydrodynamic equations. In this idealization there is no longitudinal pressure at all; all the hydrodynamic work goes in the transverse direction. Can we generate larger elliptic flow in this way? If yes, the RHIC data would no longer saturate the theoretical limit and the fast thermalization argument would break down. We’ll see that it doesn’t.

## 2 A TRANSVERSALLY THERMALIZED MODEL (TTHM)

With boost-invariant initial conditions, assuming that all particles originate at $`t=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$ from $`z=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$ (i.e. infinitely Lorentz contracted colliding nuclei), an appropriate ansatz for the phase-space distribution of massless gluons is

$$f(𝒙,𝒌,t)=\frac{\tau _0}{\tau }\delta (y\eta )\frac{1}{\gamma _{}}\frac{1}{e^{ku/T}1}.$$
(1)
Here $`\tau =\sqrt{t^2z^2}`$, $`\eta =\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{ln}\frac{t+z}{tz}`$, and $`y=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{ln}\frac{k^0+k_z}{k^0k_z}`$. We use longitudinal boost-invariance to parametrize the local flow as $`u^\mu =\gamma _{}(\mathrm{cosh}\eta ,𝒗_{},\mathrm{sinh}\eta )`$. The transverse flow velocity $`𝒗_{}`$ with $`\gamma _{}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}/\sqrt{1v_{}^2}`$ and the “transverse temperature” $`T`$ are functions of the longitudinal proper time $`\tau `$ and the transverse position $`𝒙_{}`$, but independent of space-time rapidity $`\eta `$. Due to the free-streaming constraint $`\delta (y\eta )`$ the exponent of the Bose distribution reduces to $`ku=\gamma _{}k_{}(1\widehat{𝒌}_{}𝒗_{})`$, showing thermalization of only the transverse momenta.

Inserting this ansatz into the kinetic definition of the gluon energy momentum tensor, $`T^{\mu \nu }(𝒙,t)=\nu _g\frac{d^3k}{(2\pi )^3}\frac{k^\mu k^\nu }{k^0}f(𝒙,𝒌,t)`$ ($`\nu _g=16`$ is the gluon spin-color degeneracy), one finds

$$T^{\mu \nu }=\left(e+P_{}\right)u^\mu u^\nu P_{}\left[g^{\mu \nu }+n^\mu n^\nu +v_{}(u^\mu m^\nu +m^\mu u^\nu )\right]$$
(2)
with the equation of state (EOS) $`e(𝒙_{},\tau )=2P_{}(𝒙_{},\tau )=\nu _g(\tau _0/\tau )(\pi ^2T^4(𝒙_{},\tau )/60)`$. The difference between longitudinal and transverse momenta requires two additional vectors to decompose $`T^{\mu \nu }`$, $`n^\mu =(\mathrm{sinh}\eta ,0,0,\mathrm{cosh}\eta )`$ and $`m^\mu =\gamma _{}(v_{}\mathrm{cosh}\eta ,\widehat{𝒗}_{},v_{}\mathrm{sinh}\eta )`$ with $`nm=nu=mu=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$. The resulting extra terms relative to the ideal fluid decomposition can be viewed as viscous corrections . The EOS is consistent with a vanishing trace of $`T^{\mu \nu }`$ for massless particles and the absence of longitudinal pressure; the corresponding sound velocity $`c_s=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}/\sqrt{2}`$ is larger than for an ideal gluon gas, i.e. the EOS is stiffer.

With the decomposition (2) the macroscopic equations of motion $`_\mu T^{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$ become

$$\frac{T^{0\nu }}{\tau }+\frac{T^{0\nu }}{\tau }+_{}^jT^{j0\nu }=0,\nu =0,1,2,3,j=1,2,3.$$
(3)
The only difference from the analogous ideal hydrodynamic equations  is the absence of a term $`P/\tau `$ on the right hand side of the $`\nu =\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$ equation, reflecting work done by the longitudinal pressure. Standard hydrodynamic codes for the transverse expansion of systems with longitudinal boost invariance can thus be used to solve these equations.

## 3 RESULTS

Lacking longitudinal pressure, the energy density in TTHM decreases more slowly with $`\tau `$ than in ideal hydrodynamics (HDM). However, the larger transverse pressure performs more work in the transverse directions, resulting in stronger radial and elliptic flow. As a consequence, initial conditions which in HDM lead to a consistent description of the data produce in TTHM much too flat transverse momentum spectra. The reproduction of the central collision data via TTHM thus requires retuned initial conditions. This retuning is facilitated by the numerical observation  that for massless particles the TTHM dynamics leads to completely time-independent transverse momentum spectra; transverse flow buildup thus exactly compensates for cooling! We have no analytical explanation for this fact. It implies that the final slope of the transverse momentum spectrum is given by the initial temperature; steeper final spectra thus require a reduced initial temperature. To maintain the measured normalization $`dN/dy`$ one then must also increase the initial longitudinal volume, by increasing the starting time $`\tau _0`$ for the TTHM dynamics. This implies late transverse thermalization (and, of course, an even later longitudinal one).

To obtain the same final spectra and radial flow in TTHM as in HDM tuned to RHIC data, we find that we should start the transverse expansion about 10 times later with a $`1520`$ times lower initial energy density. The total remaining time until freeze-out is thereby shortened considerably, and even though we do not take into account the decrease of the spatial deformation of the reaction zone by transverse free-streaming prior to the onset of transverse TTHM dynamics, we find that now considerably less elliptic flow (only about half as much as in HDM) is generated (Fig. 1). As the data almost exhaust the HDM values, TTHM underpredicts them by about a factor two, both for the $`p_{}`$-integrated elliptic flow $`v_2`$ (Fig. 1a) and for the $`p_{}`$-slope of the differential elliptic flow $`v_2(p_{})`$ (Fig. 1b). The TTHM model is thus experimentally excluded; only a model such as HDM with a considerable degree of early longitudinal thermalization can describe the RHIC measurements.

In closing we note that for massless bosons $`v_2(p_{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$ approaches a non-zero value (Fig. 1b). This reflects the singular nature of the Bose distribution at $`p_{}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$ . We suggest to use this as a test for thermalization of small-$`p_{}`$ gluons in parton cascades and of direct photons in experiment.


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# Topological susceptibility with the improved Asqtad action

## 1 INTRODUCTION

The cost of lattice simulations increases dramatically as the lattice spacing is decreased. Improvement programs seek to avoid these costs by reducing lattice artifacts at larger lattice spacing. Whether lattice artifacts are successfully reduced depends on the observable. The staggered fermion Asqtad action  is designed to remove $`𝒪(a^2)`$ lattice artifacts at tree level, resulting in an improved flavor symmetry and better chiral properties . However, the Asqtad quark-gluon vertex is not as smooth as that of the more elaborate HYP action  and zero modes are not treated as rigorously as with the more expensive domain wall and overlap actions. Through a rougher vertex, quark propagation might be influenced by small instanton-like dislocations, and with imprecise zero modes, at small quark mass the fermion determinant may fail to suppress adequately configurations with nonzero topological charge.

## 2 TOPOLOGICAL SUSCEPTIBILITY

A good test of the effectiveness of zero mode suppression is the identity in chiral perturbation theory  relating the susceptibility of the topological charge to the light quark masses

$`\chi _{\mathrm{top}}={\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{V}}={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Sigma }}{\left(\frac{1}{m_u}+\frac{1}{m_d}+\frac{1}{m_s}\right)}},`$ (1)
where $`Q=F_{\mu \nu }^a\stackrel{~}{F}_{\mu \nu }^ad^4x/32\pi ^2.`$ For three flavors with $`m_u=m_d`$ we write the susceptibility as

$$\chi _{\mathrm{top}}=f_\pi ^2m_\pi ^2/[4(1+m_{ud}/2m_s)],$$
(2)
showing that it vanishes linearly in the square of the pion mass in the chiral limit.

Shown in Figs. 1 and 2 are recent results for the $`N_f=2`$ relation, for the unimproved and improved Wilson actions and the conventional thin-link staggered fermion action , suggesting that at a lattice spacing $`a<0.1`$ fm the chiral prediction 2 is reasonably well satisfied as far as testing was possible. More recently, as shown in Fig. 2 the relation was tested in simulations with dynamical HYP fermions at $`a=0.17`$ fm with a dramatic improvement over thin-link, but suggesting that even here a smaller lattice spacing is needed .

## 3 MEASUREMENT

We have measured the topological charge on an ensemble of $`20^3\times 64`$ ($`a=0.13`$ fm) and $`28^3\times 96`$ ($`a=0.09`$ fm) gauge configurations generated in the presence of $`2+1`$ flavors of Asqtad dynamical quarks of varying masses. The charge is obtained by integrating the topological charge density, defined as an approximation to $`F_{\mu \nu }^a\stackrel{~}{F}_{\mu \nu }^a/32\pi ^2`$.

As usual, prior to measuring the topological charge, it is necessary to smooth the gauge configurations to remove short wavelength fluctuations. Smoothing was done with a series of hypercubic blocking sweeps . This method seeks to achieve a smooth configuration with a minimal distortion of the topological structures . Accordingly we take as few smoothing sweeps as necessary, and find that the susceptibility is constant within errors after from one to six such sweeps. The improved cooling technique gave similar values of $`Q`$ .

Results are shown in Fig. 3. Evidently, the Asqtad action, like the conventional staggered action, requires a lattice spacing less than approximately 0.1 fm to obtain reasonably good agreement with leading order chiral perturbation theory.

## 4 PERSISTENCE OF TOPOLOGICAL CHARGE

A particularly noteworthy feature of our measurements is the persistence of the total topological charge. Time histories for two light quark masses are shown in Fig. 4. This phenomenon has been noted for the conventional staggered fermion action  and appears to be rather more pronounced for Asqtad with a better gauge action at comparable lattice spacing and pion mass, but in our case worse for the heavier light quark. In both cases the R algorithm is used in the updating process. For the pure gauge theory, overrelaxation plus heatbath updating decorrelates rapidly.

## 5 CONCLUSIONS

Our preliminary findings are that the Asqtad action, like the conventional staggered fermion action, requires a lattice spacing less than approximately 0.1 fm to give reasonably good chiral behavior for the topological susceptibility. However, in connection with a small step-size updating algorithm, the action gives strong persistence of the topological charge. We are investigating the implications of these results.

Computations were performed at LANL, NERSC, NCSA, ORNL, PSC, SDSC, FNAL, the CHPC (Utah) and the Indiana University SP. This work is supported by the U.S. NSF and DOE.


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# Large-scale Vortices in Protoplanetary Disks: On the observability of possible early stages of planet formation

## 1 Introduction

Klahr & Bodenheimer (2002) show that a global baroclinic instability represents a source for turbulence leading to angular momentum transport in Keplerian accretion disks with a radial gradient in entropy. Their hydrodynamical simulations show that this baroclinic flow is unstable and produces pressure waves, Rossby waves, and vortices in the $`r\varphi `$ plane of the disk. Most interestingly, these hyper-dens anti-cyclonic vortices form out of little background noise and become long-lasting features, which have been suggested to lead to the formation of planets (e.g. Adams & Watkins 1995). These pre-planetary matter concentrations have a surface density up to four times higher then the ambient medium. They furthermore concentrate dust in their centres, stressing their importance for the planetary formation process (e.g. Barge & Sommeria 1995).

## 2 Hydrodynamic and radiative transfer simulations

Using the code TRAMP (Klahr et al. 1999), we perform 2D hydrodynamic simulations of the evolution of the inner region (1–10 AU) of a circumstellar disk with an initial mass of $`2\times 10^3\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{}}`$. The comparison with previous models of circumstellar disks around T Tauri stars shows (see, e.g., Wood et al. 2002, Cotera et al. 2001) that this corresponds to a total disk mass on the order of $`10^2\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{}}`$. As described by Klahr & Bodenheimer (2002) we treat the evolution of the vertically integrated density $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ and internal energy $`\mathrm{\Sigma }T_{\mathrm{cent}}`$. The initial model had a slope in surface density of $`R^{0.75}`$ and a temperature slope of $`R^{1.0}`$ which represents a constant pressure scale height of $`H/r=0.055`$. The vertically integrated pressure is then given by the ideal gas equation. Sources $`Q^+`$ for internal energy are the usual $`PdV`$-work as well as the dissipation of possible shocks via a simple von Neumann-Richtmyer viscosity (see Stone & Norman 1992). A sink for the internal energy is a black body cooling function $`Q^{}=aT_{\mathrm{eff}}^4`$ mimicking the effect of optically thick radiation in the disk and cooling with the effective (surface) temperature $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=T_{\mathrm{cent}}(4/3\tau )^{1/4}`$ with the optical depth $`\tau `$ as a function of temperature and surface density. The simulation uses 128 cells in the azimuthal direction and 128 logarithmically distributed cells in the radial direction. The initial distribution was disturbed by a $`0.1`$ percent perturbation in density and left to evolve freely afterwards under the influence of the global radial entropy gradient. After $`10^4`$ yrs a huge anti-cyclonic hyper-dens vortex has formed (see Klahr & Bodenheimer 2002). Afterwards the 3D data was re-established by assuming a local vertical pressure equilibrium.

Based on the density and temperature distributions we performed radiative transfer simulations using the three-dimensional continuum radiative transfer code MC3D (Wolf 2002; see also Wolf et al. 1999, Wolf & Henning 2000). The goal of these simulations was to obtain images at frequencies of 345 GHz and 900 GHz. While the first frequency was chosen in order to allow comparison with former investigations focused mainly on this frequency, the second frequency marks the planned upper limit of the frequency range to be covered by ALMA111See http://www.arcetri.astro.it/science/ALMA/ for a compilation of ALMA related documents. and is of special importance for the observation of small spatial structures. The resulting images provide the basis for simulations of the continuum observations with ALMA discussed in §3.

Since we consider continuum observations at submillimeter wavelengths, the circumstellar dust is the dominant source of emission. The dust grains are assumed spherical, consisting of a mixture of 62.5 % astronomical silicate and 37.5 % graphite (optical data from Weingartner & Draine 2001222See also http://www.astro.princeton.edu/$`\stackrel{~}{}`$ draine.). For the graphite we adopt the usual “$`\frac{1}{3}\frac{2}{3}`$” approximation (Draine & Malhotra 1993). The size distribution $`n(a)`$ of the grains follows a power law, $`n(a)a^{3.5}`$, with grain radii in the range $`0.005\mu \mathrm{m}a1\mu \mathrm{m}`$. The gas-to-dust mass ratio amounts to 100:1 in our simulations.

## 3 Simulations of observations with ALMA

For simulation of the observations with ALMA we use the simulator software published by Pety et al. (2001). Since the goal of the observation is to find small-scale structures in circumstellar disks, we consider the ALMA configuration with the longest baselines (max. baseline: $``$13 km) in which the 64 12m-antennas are distributed in rings. In accordance with the suggestions given by Pety et al. (2001), the following main types of errors are introduced in order to make the simulations realistic: (a) frequency-dependent receiver- and system temperatures as given by Guilloteau (2002), (b) random pointing error during the observation with a maximum value of of 0.6” in each direction, and (c) $`30^\mathrm{o}`$ phase noise. Further error sources, such as amplitude errors and “anomalous” refraction (due to the variation of the refractive index of the wet air along the line of sight) are considered as well. The observations are simulated for continuous observations centered on the meridian transit of the object. The object passes the meridian in zenith where an opacity of 0.15 is assumed. The bandwidth amounts to 8 GHz.

Fig. 1 shows simulated images of the undisturbed disk in comparison to the disk with the evolved baroclinic instability at 345 GHz and 900 GHz for object distances of 50 pc and 140 pc. The hyper-dens vortex is clearly visible even at the lower frequency. However, in the case of an assumed distance of 140 pc, the vortex causes a slight asymmetry in the reconstructed image only and could be hardly identified. Since several well-studied nearby star-forming regions which can be observed from the prospective ALMA site are located at a distance between 140 pc and 200 pc, such as Taurus, Lupus, Ophiuchus, Corona Australis, and Chamaeleon, we concentrate on simulations at 900 GHz in the following. Furthermore, even more distant star-forming regions (e.g., in Aquila, Vulpecula, Vela, Perseus, Puppis, and Orion) are considered by comparison of simulated 900 GHz observations of the evolved disk seen under different inclinations in distances up to 300 pc in Fig. 2. While the main characteristics of the vortex (pre-planetary matter concentration), such as its spatial extent and brightness contrast to the surrounding medium clearly can be extracted from the images of objects at a distance of 140 pc, even the spiral pattern in the circumstellar disk (which is another, weaker feature of the disk in this evolutionary state) could be resolved in the case of a very close young stellar object such as TW Hya. At a distance of 300 pc the vortex is visible at low inclinations of the disk only, while it causes a slight asymmetry of the image at higher inclinations.

Finally, we consider possible observing strategies (selected objects vs. surveys) which mainly results in the question of required total integration time per object. In Fig. 3 images of the evolved disk seen face-on resulting from total integration times of 5 min to 8 h are shown. It turns out that exposure times of 5 min are sufficient to detect the vortex and to derive its roughly parameters. In order to map the spiral density structures in the case of an object at a distance of 50 pc, an integration time of 1-2 h is required. A longer exposure time does not significantly increase the information content of the reconstructed image. For objects in nearby star-forming regions (distance: 140 pc), a quick “snapshot” survey is sufficient since even much longer integration times will not allow derivation of further details of the turbulent structure of the disk.

## 4 Conclusions

We found that ALMA will be able to map the anti-cyclonic hyper-dens vortices from the global baroclinic instability representing an early stage of planet formation. In nearby star-forming regions, the main parameters of the predicted global baroclinic instability in proto-planetary disks can be derived within several minutes of integration time. For even closer objects (within a distance of about 50 pc) a detailed structure of the spiral density pattern will be possible. We want to stress that the largest planned baselines and high frequencies are required for these observations.

We wish to thank F. Gueth for many helpful suggestions concerning the ALMA simulator and L. Hillenbrand for careful reading of the manuscript. S. Wolf was supported through the HST Grant GO 9160, and through the NASA grant NAG5-11645. H. Klahr was supported by the NASA grant NAG5-4610, the NSF grant AST 9987417, and by a special NASA astrophysics theory program which supports a joint Center for Star Formation Studies at NASA-Ames Research Center, UC Berkeley, and UC Santa Cruz.


text:
# Possible Transiting Planet Candidates from the EXPLORE Project

## 1. Introduction

The EXPLORE (EXtrasolar PLanet Occultation REsearch) Project is a series of searches for transiting extrasolar planets orbiting Galactic plane stars using 4-m class telescopes. As an integral part of the search strategy, radial velocity (RV) follow-up observations for mass confirmation are done on 8–10m class telescopes. In June 2001, we used the CTIO 4-m telescope for 11 nights (6 clear) to observe the EXPLORE I field, located at $`l=28,b=3`$ (Mallén-Ornelas et al. 2002). The best 37,000 light curves were examined, and RV follow-up of three planet candidates was done on the VLT in September 2001 (Mallén-Ornelas et al., in prep.). In December 2001 we used the 3.6-m CFHT for 16 nights (14 clear) to observe the EXPLORE II field, located at $`l=203,b=0.7`$ (Yee et al., in prep.). The best 12,000 light curves were examined, and RV follow-up of 2 planet candidates and 2 additional eclipsing systems was done at Keck in February 2002 (Mallén-Ornelas et al., in prep.). Here we present a summary of the transiting planet candidates for which we have RV follow-up.

## 2. What Makes a Good Transiting Planet Candidate?

Light curves with very precise photometry and good time sampling can be used to determine the eclipse shape and select the best transiting planet candidates with minimal contamination from other systems that can mimic the transit signature. In general terms, the best planet candidates will have very shallow eclipses ($`<`$2–3%, implying a small companion) of short duration ($`<`$3h for a 3–4 day period transit, implying a dwarf star), with a clear flat bottom, and preferrably with a steep ingress/egress (i.e., a “box shape”). For a full discussion on candidate selection and possible contaminants see Seager & Mallén-Ornelas (2002) and Mallén-Ornelas et al. (2002). A mass measurement from RV observations is required in order to confirm the presence of a planet, as opposed to a brown dwarf or a stellar companion. In particular, the RV data should show only one velocity peak (indicative of the presence of a single star), and ideally result in a mass detection (with $`M_{planet}<13M_J`$). Note that in the absence of an actual mass detection, a good upper limit of 1–2 $`M_J`$ may be used to make the case for a planet as long as the eclipses can be confirmed with certainty, and possible contaminants can be ruled out with confidence.

## 3. Possible Planet Candidates from the EXPLORE Project

A total of three planet candidates from the EXPLORE I search were followed-up with the VLT+UVES in September 2001. For the EXPLORE II search, two planet candidates as well as two (brigher) stars with deeper eclipses were observed with Keck+HIRES in February 2002. Based on the window function of our observations, on the number of light curves examined, assuming that 0.75% of single stars have a close-in giant planet, and adopting a binary fraction of 1/2, we expect to find 1 planet in the EXPLORE I search and 1–2 planets in the EXPLORE II search. Here we summarize our preliminary findings on the five planet candidates for which we have conducted RV follow-up observations. The essential information is presented in tables 1 and 2, and a brief discussion is given for each candidate. A full description of our results will be presented in two future papers (Mallén-Ornelas et al., in prep.). Light curves and preliminary RV plots for some of the systems discussed here can be found in Yee et al. (2002).

### 3.1. Summary of Possible Planet Candidates

Table 1 lists the I and V magnitudes, eclipse depth, and period for the five transiting planet candidates with RV follow-up. Note that in some cases it is possible that the period listed is a multiple of the true period, since additional intervening eclipses may have occurred during the day. Table 2 gives the eclipse and RV characteristics of the transit candidates, which can be used to determine whether each system is a good planet candidate. As mentioned in § 2, the best planet candidates have “box-shaped” short-duration eclipses with clear flat bottoms. In the case of a planet the RV should show only one velocity peak in the cross-correlation, and any RV variations should be of very small amplitude. For some of the EXPLORE data, poor S/N in the light curve prevented us from ascertaining the eclipse shape in some cases, marked with a “?” in Table 2. Bad weather during the RV follow-up resulted in poor phase coverage for EX2c11s4809, which unfortunately prevented us from measuring a mass for this otherwise promising planet candidate.

| Table 1: General characteristics for transit candidates with RV follow-up | | | | | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Star ID | I | V | \# of Eclipses | Eclipse Depth | Period |
|  | (mag) | (mag) |  | (mag) | (days) |
| EXP1c02s46830 | 16.1 | 17.7 | 1111there is a possible second eclipse with low S/N | 0.015 | ? |
| EXP1c01s52805 | 16.2 | 17.9 | 2 | 0.03 | 2.2 |
| EXP1c07s18161 | 17.6 | 19.4 | 2 | 0.025 | 3.8 |
| EXP2c11s4809 | 18.3 | 20.0 | 3 | 0.017 | 3.0 |
| EXP2c10s5069 | 18.4 | 20.1 | 4 | 0.008 | 4.0 |
| 1 there is a possible second low-S/N eclipse in this object | | | | | |

| Table 2: Eclipse and RV characteristics for transit candidates | | | | | | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| with RV follow-up | | | | | | |
| Star ID | Eclipse Characteristics | | | RV Characteristics | | Possible |
|  | Flat? | Boxy? | Short? | Peaks | Shifts | Planet? |
| EXP1c02s46830 | ? | N | Y | 1 | Y | ? |
| EXP1c01s52805 | Y | N | Y | 2 | Y | No |
| EXP1c07s18161 | ? | ? | Y | 1 | N | Yes |
| EXP2c11s4809 | Y | Y | Y | 1 | ? | Yes |
| EXP2c10s5069 | ? | ? | Y | 1 | N | Yes |

### 3.2. Individual systems

$``$ EXP1c02s46830. Only one clear eclipse was detected, and the long ingress and egress duration make it an unlikely planet candidate. A steady decrease in RV of $``$500 m/s was detected over the 8 days spanned by the observations. However, a planet cannot be ruled out until a period is measured (either from the eclipses or the RV variations) which will enable a mass determination.

$``$ EX1c01s52805. The RV data for this object had two velocity peaks, revealing a system composed of a close eclipsing binary, plus a brighter superimposed star with no significant RV shifts. Note that the eclipses for this system have clear flat bottoms but are not “box-shaped”. Although it is possible for a planet crossing close to the stellar limb to produce transits with a long ingress and egress, such planet transits are much less common than “box-shaped” transits (Seager & Mallén-Ornelas 2002).

$``$ EXP1c07s18161. This system has 2 detected eclipses, though the S/N is not high enough to ascertain eclipse shape with confidence. There is only one RV peak, and we place a preliminary upper mass limit of 2–3 $`M_J`$. Thus, this is a very promising planet candidate. To definitely establish this system as a planet, we require further photometric observations to confirm the eclipses, and ideally more RV data to obtain an actual mass detection.

$``$ EXP2c11s4809. This system has very clear flat-bottomed eclipses, and only one RV peak. However, due to poor weather we were unable to obtain enough phase coverage to place a useful mass limit. Further RV observations leading to a mass measurement are required to establish the nature of this system.

$``$ EXP2c10s5069. We detected 4 eclipses, but all with very low S/N so the eclipse shape could not be determined with certainty. Only one RV peak was found, with no detected shifts. To establish this system as a planet we need more RV data to attempt a mass detection, as well as photometric observations to increase the S/N of the eclipses.

## 4. Summary and Conclusions

We have presented a status report on the transit candidates from the EXPLORE Project’s first two surveys. Out of three systems with RV follow-up in the EXPLORE I search, one was found to be a close stellar binary plus a blended star, a second one is an unlikely planet candidate that nonetheless has not been entirely ruled out as a planet, and a third one is a promising planet candidate based on an upper mass limit. The two candidates with RV follow-up in the EXPLORE II search remain good planet candidates, although more RV data are required for both systems, and more photometric data are also desirable for EXP2c10s5069, which has extremely shallow eclipses detected with low S/N.

We have shown that it is possible to produce a clean set of planet candidates from a deep transit search and place meaningful mass limits (2–3 $`M_J`$) on the companions via follow-up RV observations. We emphasize that in order to find one good planet candidate, it is necessary to monitor several thousands of stars with good time coverage, high photometric precision, and time sampling which is good enough to determine the eclipse shape.

## References

Mallén-Ornelas, G., Seager, S., Yee, H. K. C., Minniti, D., Gladders, M. D., Mallén-Fullerton, G., Brown, T., 2002, ApJ, accepted, astro-ph/0203218

Seager, S., & Mallén-Ornelas, G. 2002, ApJ, submitted, astro-ph/0206228

Yee, H. K. C., Mallén-Ornelas, G., Seager, S., Gladders, M. D., Brown, T., Minniti, D., Ellison, S. L., Mallén-Fullerton, G. 2002, to appear in Proc. SPIE Conf.: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, astro-ph/0208355


text:
# Sign of refractive index and group velocity in left-handed media

## I Introduction

Victor Veselago was the first to consider the left-handed media (LHM) Veselago (1967, 1968), which he defined as the media with simultaneously negative and almost real electric permittivity $`ϵ`$ and magnetic permeability $`\mu `$ in some frequency range. He showed that the LHM have a number of peculiar properties. All these properties follow from the fact that vectors $`𝐤,𝐄,𝐇`$ of the plane electromagnetic wave form a left-handed rather than a right-handed set. Then, the Poynting vector $`𝐒`$ has a direction opposite to the direction of the wave vector $`𝐤`$. The left-handed set can be easily obtained from Maxwell’s equations for harmonic fields $`c𝐤\times 𝐇=\omega ϵ(\omega )𝐄`$ and $`c𝐤\times 𝐄=\omega \mu (\omega )𝐇`$.

One of the most interesting properties of the LHM is a negative refraction at the interface of a regular medium (RM) and a LHM. The negative refraction follows immediately from the continuity of the tangential component of $`𝐤`$ and normal component of $`𝐒`$. The anomalous Snell’s law which describes negative refraction of the wave incident from the RM has a form

$$\frac{\mathrm{sin}\theta _i}{\mathrm{sin}\theta _r}=\frac{n_l}{n_r},$$
(1)
where $`\theta _r,\theta _i`$ are the angles of refraction and incidence respectively, $`n_l,n_r`$ are positive refractive indices of the LHM and the RM. The negative refraction has been recently observed by Shelby, Smith, and ShultzShelby et al. (2001) and by KosakaKosaka et al. (1998) in completely different systems.

Veselago was the first to propose that the refractive index $`n_l`$ in the LHM is negative. In our understanding his only reason was that with this assumption Snell’s law Eq.(1) acquires the standard form. Smith and Kroll (SK) arguedSmith and Kroll (2000) that in the LHM the refractive index should be negative while the group velocity (GV) is positive. This point of view is widely spread now Garcia and Nieto-Vesperinas (2002); Valanju et al. (2002); Smith et al. (2002); Pendry (2000); Markos and Soukoulis (2001). Based upon this statement Valanju et al.Valanju et al. (2002) challenged the Veselago’s results and claimed that the refraction on the RM-LHM interface is positive.

In this paper we critically analyze this point of view. First we discuss the definition of the refractive index in an isotropic medium. It follows from the wave equation that

$$\omega ^2n^2=c^2k^2,$$
(2)
where $`n^2=ϵ\mu `$. Now one should relate the wave vector k to $`n`$. The main principle should be that a refractive index represents a property of an isotropic medium and it is independent of the direction of vector $`𝐤`$. We write the relation in the form

$$𝐤=\frac{\omega n}{c}𝐥,$$
(3)
where $`𝐥`$ is a unit vector in the direction of $`\mathrm{Re}𝐤`$. By definition $`\mathrm{Re}n=n^{}>0`$. Note, that in the isotropic RM the vector $`\mathrm{Im}𝐤`$ has the same direction as $`\mathrm{Re}𝐤`$. Thus, the above definition gives that in the RM $`n^{}>0`$ and $`n^{\prime \prime }=\mathrm{Im}(n)>0`$. The definition of Eq.(3) is used in Eq.(83.13) of Landau and Lifshitz textbookLandau et al. (1984). We show, however, that in the LHM Eq.(3) leads to a negative $`n^{\prime \prime }`$.

Another definition, though non-traditional, is as good as the previous one for both types of materials. It reads

$$𝐤=\frac{\omega n_{}}{c}𝐥.$$
(4)
In this case $`n_{}^{}<0`$. We argue here that for both types of materials all results obtained using definition of Eq.(3) may be rewritten through $`n_{}`$ by the change $`nn_{}`$. It follows from the fact that neither Maxwell’s equation nor the boundary conditions include the refractive index.

There is the third definition which goes back to BrillouinBrillouin (1960). One may consider $`n=\sqrt{\mu ϵ}`$ as an analytical function of the complex frequency $`\omega `$ in the upper half plane of $`\omega `$. According to Brillouin one should choose the Riemann surface of this function as a surface where $`n1`$ at $`\omega \mathrm{}`$ along the real axis. Brillouin has shown how to make an analytical continuation to find both $`n^{}`$ and $`n^{\prime \prime }`$ everywhere along the real axis for the case $`\mu =1`$ and $`ϵ(\omega )`$ having an anomalous dispersion. In this case $`n^{}`$ happens to be positive. Thus, it does not contradict Eq.(3).

SK show that for some specific form of the product $`ϵ(\omega )\mu (\omega )`$ the Brillouin’s method gives $`n^{}<0`$ just in the region with both $`ϵ<0,\mu <0`$. Note, that we are not aware of any general theorem that proves this statement for any functions $`ϵ(\omega )`$ and $`\mu (\omega )`$ with usual analytical properties. The result of SK means, that one should use the definition of Eq.(3) for the frequency range where $`ϵ`$, $`\mu `$ are positive and Eq.(4) where both $`ϵ`$, $`\mu `$ are negative. However, from our point of view, both definitions are equivalent. SK argued also, that one can obtain the correct sign for the energy losses in the LHM only when $`n^{}<0`$. We show below that this statement is incorrect.

## II General theorems

First we prove two important theorems which are independent of the above definitions of the refractive index.

Theorem 1: The group velocity $`\omega /𝐤`$ in an isotropic medium is positive in the RM and negative in the LHM.  In fact, this means that vectors $`\omega /𝐤`$ and $`𝐤`$ are parallel in the RM and antiparallel in the LHM.

Proof: Taking the gradient of $`\omega ^2n^2=c^2k^2`$ in $`𝐤`$ space one gets

$$\frac{\omega }{𝐤}=\frac{2c^2𝐤}{d\left[\omega ^2n^2\right]/d\omega }.$$
(5)
The total time-averaged electromagnetic energy density of the plane wave is Landau et al. (1984)

$$\overline{U}=\frac{1}{16\mu \omega }\frac{d\left[\omega ^2n^2\right]}{d\omega }|E|^2.$$
(6)
Since the energy density $`\overline{U}`$ is positive, one gets that

$$\frac{d}{d\omega }\left[\omega ^2n^2\right]<0(\mathrm{for}\mathrm{the}\mathrm{LHM}),$$
(7)
$$\frac{d}{d\omega }\left[\omega ^2n^2\right]>0(\mathrm{for}\mathrm{the}\mathrm{RM}).$$
(8)
Thus, Eqs.(5,7,8) prove the statement. One can see that the criterion which distinguishes between LHM and RM is independent of the sign of $`n`$.

Note: Eq.(5) is valid for both definitions of $`n`$ given by Eqs(3,4). Assuming the definition of Eq.(3), one can restore the usual equation for the GV

$$\frac{\omega }{𝐤}=\frac{𝐤}{k}\frac{c}{d(n\omega )/d\omega }.$$
(9)
However, this equation is not valid at $`n<0`$. Assuming the definition of Eq.(4), one gets

$$\frac{\omega }{𝐤}=\frac{𝐤}{k}\frac{c}{d(n_{}\omega )/d\omega }.$$
(10)
SK claim that GV is positive in the LHM because they use Eq.(9) with non-traditional negative $`n`$. The most important mistake of Valanju et al.Valanju et al. (2002) is of the same origin.

Corollary: The main statement of Veselago, that the vectors $`𝐒`$ and $`𝐤`$ have opposite directions in the LHM, can be obtained from the condition that the energy of the electromagnetic field is positive without using the first order Maxwell’s equations.

Proof: It is easy to show that for a plane wave in an isotropic nearly lossless medium the time averaged Poynting vector is

$$𝐒=\overline{U}\frac{\omega }{𝐤}.$$
(11)
Thus, using Theorem 1 one can obtain the main result of Veselago: in the LHM the vectors S and k have opposite directions. The negative RM-LHM refraction follows from this result and standard boundary conditions at the interface.

Notes: 1. From Eqs.(7,8) follows that the negative sign of the GV and the Veselago results, including the negative refraction at the RM-LHM interface, are independent of the sign of $`n`$.

2. In the isotropic medium with small losses the negativeness of the GV might be a more general signature of the LHM than $`ϵ<0`$, $`\mu <0`$.

Theorem 2: The product $`n^{}n^{\prime \prime }`$ is positive in the RM and negative in the LHM.

Proof: This statement based upon the thermodynamic inequalities for imaginary parts of $`ϵ`$ and $`\mu `$ in a passive material Landau et al. (1984)(p. 274)

$$ϵ^{\prime \prime }>0,\mu ^{\prime \prime }>0.$$
(12)
The dispersion equations has a form $`k^2=(n^{}+in^{\prime \prime })^2\omega ^2/c^2=(ϵ^{}+iϵ^{\prime \prime })(\mu ^{}+i\mu ^{\prime \prime })\omega ^2/c^2`$. The imaginary part of this relation reads

$$ϵ^{}\mu ^{\prime \prime }+\mu ^{}ϵ^{\prime \prime }=2n^{}n^{\prime \prime }.$$
(13)
Therefore

$$n^{}n^{\prime \prime }>0\mathrm{in}\mathrm{the}\mathrm{RM},n^{}n^{\prime \prime }<0\mathrm{in}\mathrm{the}\mathrm{LHM}.$$
(14)
## III Sign of refractive index

Thus, using the fundamental thermodynamic properties we have shown, that the sign of the product $`n^{}n^{\prime \prime }`$ and the sign of the GV are different for the LHM and RM. Both $`n^{}n^{\prime \prime }`$ and the GV are invariant with respect to change of the sign of $`n`$ and in the rest of our paper we discuss whether or not the sign of $`n`$ has any physical meaning.

To illustrate our point of view we consider the same problem as SK. They study an infinite sheet of current at $`x=0`$, embedded into the LHM (Fig. 1). The surface current density is $`j=j_0\mathrm{exp}(i\omega t)`$. They solve the equation for the $`z`$-component of the electric field $`E(x,t)`$

$$\frac{^2E(x)}{x^2}+\frac{\omega ^2}{c^2}n^2E(x)=\frac{4\pi i\omega }{c^2}\mu j_0\delta (x)$$
(15)
to show that the power radiated by the sheet of current is positive only if the refractive index is negative.

Now we demonstrate that the same condition can be fulfilled without introducing the negative $`n`$. Following Veselago we choose the direction of the wave vector $`𝐤`$ from the causality condition. In the LHM it should be directed towards the source of the wave, while in the RM it should be directed outward the source. In both, LHM and RM $`𝐒`$ should be directed outward the source (Fig.1). Using boundary condition at $`x=0`$

$$\frac{E(x)}{x}|_+\frac{E(x)}{x}|_{}=\frac{4\pi i\omega }{c^2}\mu j_0,$$
(16)
the electric field can be written in the form

$$E(x,t)=\frac{2\pi \omega }{kc^2}\mu j_0e^{i(𝐤𝐱\omega t)}=\frac{2\pi \omega }{kc^2}\mu j_0e^{i(k|x|\omega t)},$$
(17)
where $`𝐤=k𝐥`$, $`𝐥`$ is a unit vector in the direction of $`\mathrm{Re}𝐤`$ (see Fig.1). Taking into account that $`\omega n=ck`$, and introducing real and imaginary parts of the refractive index the solution can be written in the following form

$$E(x,t)=\frac{2\pi \omega }{n\kappa c^2}\mu j_0e^{(in^{}n^{\prime \prime })\kappa |x|i\omega t},$$
(18)
where $`\kappa =\omega /c>0`$. From Eq.(18) one can see that $`n^{\prime \prime }`$ should be negative in the LHM to provide the decay of the wave in the direction of the energy propagation. Since we have chosen $`n^{}>0`$ this result follows also from Theorem 2.

Using the solution for the electric field one can see that

$$\frac{1}{2}j^{}E(x)𝑑x=\frac{\pi \omega \mu }{kc^2}j_0^2=\frac{\pi |\mu |}{cn}j_0^2>0.$$
(19)
The refractive index $`n`$ obeys the usual equation $`n=ck/\omega `$. It is easy to show that $`S_x=\pi |\mu |j_0^2/2cn>0`$ at $`x>0`$ and that $`S_x=\pi |\mu |j_0^2/2cn<0`$ at $`x<0`$.

Now we analyze solution of SK. It reads

$$E(x,t)=\frac{2\pi \omega }{n_{}\kappa c^2}\mu j_0e^{i(n_{}\kappa |x|\omega t)}.$$
(20)
With $`n_{}=n_{}^{}+in_{}^{\prime \prime }`$ this equation takes the form

$$E(x,t)=\frac{2\pi \omega }{n_{}\kappa c^2}\mu j_0e^{(in_{}^{}n_{}^{\prime \prime })\kappa |x|i\omega t}.$$
(21)
It follows then, that the solution written in this form dictates $`n_{}^{\prime \prime }`$ to be positive. This result also follows from Theorem 2 for the LHM because $`n_{}^{}`$ is negative.

Using expression Eq.(20) one gets

$$\frac{1}{2}j^{}E(x)𝑑x=\frac{\pi \mu }{cn_{}}j_0^2=\frac{\pi |\mu |}{cn}j_0^2>0.$$
(22)
Thus, we see that the descriptions of this problem for the LHM in terms of $`n`$ and $`n_{}`$ are identical. The SK’s solution Eq.(21) can be obtained from Eq.(18) by changing $`nn_{}`$.

Moreover, even the RM can be described in terms of negative refractive index $`n_{}`$. Suppose, that our sheet of current is embedded into a RM. Then the correct solution for the electric field can be written in the form

$$E(x,t)=\frac{2\pi \omega }{n_{}\kappa c^2}\mu j_0e^{i(n_{}\kappa |x|\omega t)}.$$
(23)
Note that this time $`n_{}^{\prime \prime }`$ should be negative, that also supports our theorem because we consider the RM with negative $`n_{}^{}`$.

The above examples confirm our point of view that the sign of $`n^{}`$ is not the criterion which makes a difference between the LHM and RM. We think that these examples reflect the general case and the reason is that any electrodynamics problem can be formulated in terms of $`ϵ`$ and $`\mu `$, so that the question of the sign of $`n`$ does not appear.

Since the mathematical description with both $`n`$ and $`n_{}`$ is the same, we doubt that there is a way to find the sign of $`n`$ either from experimental or from computational data.

Smith et al.Smith et al. (2002) attempted to find the sign of $`n`$ from the reflection and transmission. Transmission $`t`$ and reflection $`r`$ coefficients for waves normally incident on a LHM slab with the width $`d`$ can be written in a form

$$t^1=\left[\mathrm{cos}(n\kappa d)\frac{i}{2}\left(\mu +ϵ\right)\frac{\mathrm{sin}(n\kappa d)}{n}\right]e^{i\kappa d}$$
(24)
$$r=\frac{i}{2}te^{i\kappa d}(\mu ϵ)\frac{\mathrm{sin}(n\kappa d)}{n}.$$
(25)
These equations are invariant with respect to change $`nn_{}`$. However the authors of Smith et al. (2002) solve them with respect to $`n^{}`$,$`n^{\prime \prime }`$ and impose the condition $`n^{\prime \prime }>0`$. Then, in agreement with Theorem 2, they find that in the LHM $`n^{}<0`$. They claim that the condition $`n^{\prime \prime }>0`$ is valid for any passive material. From our point of view the conditions $`\mathrm{Im}ϵ>0`$ and $`\mathrm{Im}\mu >0`$ define a passive material, and we are not aware of any theorem about the sign of $`n^{\prime \prime }`$.

## IV Fermat’s principle for the LHM

Fermat’s principle for the LHM has been recently formulated by Veselago Veselago  in terms of negative refractive index. Here we show how to do it keeping the refractive index positive for both LHM and RM. A simple generalization of the Maupertuis principle for the particles reads

$$\delta _{𝐫_1}^{𝐫_2}𝐤𝑑𝐥=0,$$
(26)
where $`d𝐥`$ is a vector in the direction of propagation of photons which is parallel to the GV or to the Poynting vector. In the RM $`𝐤d𝐥=(\omega n/c)dl`$, while in the LHM $`𝐤d𝐥=(\omega n/c)dl`$. Equation(26) describes the propagation of rays. Following VeselagoVeselago  we apply this principle to refraction of the waves at the RM-RM and RM-LHM interfaces. Consider a point A with coordinates ($`0,a`$) in a RM with the refractive index $`n`$ and a point D with coordinates ($`y^{},z^{}`$) in the material with the positive refractive index $`n_1`$ (Fig. 2). We consider two cases: first - when the media at $`z>0`$ is a RM, second - when it is a LHM described by a positive refractive index $`n_1`$. Using Fermat’s principle we find the path of the ray of light coming from A to D. Equation (26) in the case of RM-RM interface has a form

$$\frac{ny}{\sqrt{a^2+y^2}}+\frac{n_1(yy^{})}{\sqrt{(z^{})^2+(yy^{})^2}}=0.$$
(27)
This equation gives the usual Snell’s law $`n\mathrm{sin}\theta _i=n_1\mathrm{sin}\theta _r`$ because $`\mathrm{sin}\theta _i=y/\sqrt{a^2+y^2}`$, $`\mathrm{sin}\theta _r=(y^{}y)/\sqrt{(z^{})^2+(y^{}y)^2}`$. The propagation of rays in this case is shown at Fig. 2 by the dashed line ACD.

In the case of RM-LHM interface the Fermat’s principle Eq.(26) gives

$$\frac{ny}{\sqrt{a^2+y^2}}\frac{n_1(yy^{})}{\sqrt{(z^{})^2+(yy^{})^2}}=0,$$
(28)
which is the anomalous Snell’s law $`n\mathrm{sin}\theta _i=n_1\mathrm{sin}\theta _r`$ providing the negative refraction. The propagation of rays is shown by the solid line ABD at Fig. 2. Note, that $`n=n_1`$ is a special case. Under this condition there is a focal point inside the LHM with coordinates $`(0,a)`$. One can see from Eq.(28) that at $`n=n_1`$ all rays go through this point. The optical length of the path, which can be defined as

$$\frac{c}{\omega }_A^D𝐤𝑑𝐥,$$
(29)
is zero for any ray going from A to the focal point. The focal point is absent for $`nn_1`$ Veselago (1967).

## V Conclusions

1. We have proven two theorems based upon fundamental thermodynamic inequalities that show the difference between the LHM and the RM. The first one states that the GV is negative in the LHM and positive in the RM. If the losses are small, one could get all Veselago’s results from this theorem without using the first order Maxwell’s equations. The second theorem claims that the product $`n^{}n^{\prime \prime }`$ is positive in the RM and negative in the LHM.

2. Both theorems are invariant with respect to change of the sign of refractive index.

3. We have shown that the introduction of negative refractive index is possible in both RM and LHM. However it may be misleading because some traditional electrodynamics expressions including Eq.(9) become incorrect if $`n`$ is negative. That is the reason why some authorsSmith and Kroll (2000); Valanju et al. (2002) claim that GV in the LHM is positive.

4. We have generalized the Fermat’s principle for the LHM using positive value of $`n`$ and have shown that it leads to a negative refraction at the RM-LHM interface.

5. Thus we do not see any reason to ascribe a negative refractive index to the LHM.

###### Acknowledgements.

The work has been funded by the NSF grant DMR-0102964.