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# A Quantum Dot in the Kondo Regime Coupled to Superconductors

## Abstract

The Kondo effect and superconductivity are both prime examples of many-body phenomena. Here we report transport measurements on a carbon nanotube quantum dot coupled to superconducting leads that show a delicate interplay between both effects. We demonstrate that the superconductivity of the leads does not destroy the Kondo correlations on the quantum dot when the Kondo temperature, which varies for different single-electron states, exceeds the superconducting gap energy.

carbon nanotubes,electric transport,quantum dots

The electron spin is of central importance in two of the most widely studied many-body phenomena in solid-state physics: the Kondo effect and superconductivity. The Kondo effect can be understood as a magnetic exchange interaction between a localized impurity spin and free conduction electrons Kouwenhoven1 . In order to minimize the exchange energy, the conduction electrons tend to screen the spin of the magnetic impurity and the ensemble forms a spin singlet. In an s-wave superconductor the electrons form pairs with antialigned spins and are in a singlet state as well. When present simultaneously, the Kondo effect and superconductivity are usually expected to be competing physical phenomena. In a standard s-wave superconductor containing magnetic impurities, for example, the local magnetic moments tend to align the spins of the electron pairs in the superconductor which often results in a strongly reduced transition temperature. A more subtle interplay has been proposed for exotic and less well understood materials such as heavy-fermion superconductors in which both effects might actually coexist Cox .

Given the complexity of a system involving two different many-body phenomena, it would be highly desirable to have a means to investigate their mutual interplay at the level of a single impurity spin. In this respect, the study of a quantum dot as an artificial impurity in between superconducting reservoirs is of great interest. This approach has already proved very successful in the study of the Kondo effect in normal metals Goldhaber ; Cronenwett ; Nygard . Here we achieve this for a carbon nanotube quantum dot coupled to superconducting Au/Al leads.

The device we consider consists of an individual multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWNT) of $`1.5`$$`\mu `$m length between source and drain electrodes that are separated by 250 nm Buitelaar . The lithographically defined leads were evaporated over the MWNT, 45 nm of Au followed by 135 nm of Al. The degenerately doped Si substrate was used as a gate electrode. Low-temperature transport measurements of the device exhibited pronounced superconducting proximity effects, as did all other 14 measured samples having Au/Al contacts.

Before investigating the influence of the superconducting correlations in the leads, the sample is characterized with the contacts driven normal by a magnetic field of 26 mT. This field is quite small in terms of the Zeeman energy ($`g\mu _BB=3.0`$$`\mu `$eV at $`B=26`$ mT where $`\mu _B`$ is the Bohr magneton and $`g2`$ the gyromagnetic ratio) but exceeds the critical field of the electrodes, which was experimentally determined to be $`12`$ mT. Figure 1 shows a greyscale representation of the differential conductance as a function of source-drain ($`V_{sd}`$) and gate voltage ($`V_g`$). An alternating sequence of truncated low-conduction ‘diamonds’, linked by narrow ridges of high conduction can be seen. The size of the diamonds reflects the magnitude of the addition energy $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_{add}`$ which measures the difference in chemical potential of two adjacent charge states of the dot. In the constant interaction model $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_{add}=U_C+\delta E`$, where $`U_C=e^2/C_\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is the single-electron charging energy, $`C_\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ the total electrostatic capacitance and $`\delta E`$ the single-electron level spacing Kouwenhoven2 . Starting from an even filling number, $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_{add}=U_C+\delta E`$ for the first added electron (large diamond) and $`U_C`$ for the second one (small diamond). The horizontal features at $`V_{sd}0`$ mV truncating the large diamonds are attributed to the onset of inelastic co-tunneling. From the size of the truncated diamonds we obtain $`\delta E0.400.70`$ meV. The charging energy is obtained from the size of the (faintly visible) small diamonds and yields $`U_C0.45`$ meV.

The high-conductance ridges are a manifestation of the Kondo effect occurring when the number of electrons on the dot is odd (total spin $`S=1/2`$). The width of the Kondo resonance reflects the binding energy of the spin singlet between the spin polarized dot and the electrons in the leads and is usually described by a Kondo temperature $`T_K`$. Several of the Kondo ridges observed show a conductance saturation at the lowest temperatures and the valley between peaks has completely disappeared at $`T50`$ mK, which is the base electron temperature of our dilution refrigerator. Figures 1c-e show that the Kondo ridges follow the expected behavior such as a logarithmic increase of the linear-response conductance $`G`$ below $`T_K`$, a saturation of $`G`$ at $`TT_K`$ and a linear splitting into components at $`V_{sd}=\pm g\mu _BB/e`$ when a magnetic field is applied.

¿From the width of the Kondo ridge out-of-equilibrium, the full width at half-maximum (FWHM) corresponds to $`k_BT_K`$, we estimate a Kondo temperature of $`0.82`$ K for ridge ‘$`A`$Meir . The Kondo temperature can also be obtained from the temperature dependence of the linear-response conductance. In the middle of the ridge this is given by the empirical function: $`G(T)=G_0/(1+(2^{1/s}1)(T/T_K)^2)^s`$, where $`s=0.22`$ for a spin $`1/2`$ system and $`G_0`$ is the maximum conductance Goldhaber2 . A best fit to the data yields $`G_0=1.96`$$`e^2/h`$ and $`T_K=0.75`$ K, in agreement with the estimate of $`T_K`$ from the width of the Kondo ridge. From here on the width of the resonance out-of-equilibrium is taken as the measure of $`T_K`$. For the ridges ‘$`B`$’ and ‘$`C`$’ this yields $`T_K`$’s of $`1.11`$ K and $`0.96`$ K respectively.

We now turn to the behavior of the conductance when the magnetic field is switched off and the reservoirs become superconducting. Figure 2 shows a greyscale representation of the differential conductance versus $`V_{sd}`$ and $`V_g`$ for the same gate range of Fig. 1 at $`B=0`$ mT. Note that the vertical axis is shown only between -0.3 and 0.3 mV here. From comparing Figs. 1 and 2 it is clear that the conductance pattern has completely changed. The horizontal lines around $`V_{sd}=\pm 0.20`$ mV in Fig. 2 correspond to the superconducting gap of $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$, and mark the onset of direct quasi-particle tunneling between source and drain aluminium . These lines continue throughout the whole measured gate range, fluctuating slightly with varying $`V_g`$, and have been observed for all 14 samples studied. The appearance of a subgap structure at $`V_{sd}2\mathrm{\Delta }`$ can be understood by invoking multiple Andreev reflection (MAR) at the boundaries of the superconducting leads and the quantum dot Andreev ; Blonder . Andreev reflection is a higher-order tunneling process in which an incident electron is converted into a Cooper pair, leaving a reflected hole in the normal region (see Fig. 2c). Andreev reflection has been studied extensively in mesoscopic devices such as thin wires or break junctions Scheer1  in which electron-electron interaction and energy-level quantization can be neglected.

In a quantum dot, however, Coulomb interaction can not be neglected and is expected to suppress higher-order MAR Ralph ; Mopurgo . It is evident from Fig. 2 that the current through the dot also crucially depends on the level position of the electron states and on the number of electrons on the dot, having total spin $`S=0`$ or $`S=1/2`$. Note, that both $`U_C,\delta E>2\mathrm{\Delta }`$ in the gate range of Fig. 2 and only a single level is expected to be present within a bias window $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$.

We will first discuss the conductance behavior in the even diamonds ($`S=0`$). In the normal state the conductance has a relatively large value of $`0.5`$$`e^2/h`$ in the middle of the diamonds but becomes suppressed when the leads are superconducting, see Fig. 2d-e. Whereas in the normal state second-order elastic co-tunneling processes can contribute significantly to the conductance in our device, this is no longer allowed in the superconducting state due to the opening of an energy gap in the leads. Only higher-order MAR processes can give rise to a finite conductance at small bias. The dominant order $`n`$ depends on $`V_{sd}`$ as $`2\mathrm{\Delta }/enV_{sd}2\mathrm{\Delta }/e(n1)`$ and is therefore large when $`V_{sd}`$ is small. This leads to a rapid decay of the linear-response conductance when a single-electron state is tuned away from the Fermi energy of the leads and $`G`$ almost completely vanishes in the middle of the diamonds. When $`V_{sd}`$ is increased, lower-order MAR processes become possible. Indeed at $`V_{sd}0.10`$ mV ($`\mathrm{\Delta }/e`$) the current increases (see peaks in the $`dI/dV`$ in Figs. 2d-f), corresponding to the opening of a channel with one Andreev reflection ($`n=2`$). In Fig. 2e peaks in the $`dI/dV`$ at even lower $`V_{sd}`$ can be observed (arrows), probably involving a process with two Andreev reflections ($`n=3`$), shown schematically in Fig. 2c.

It is interesting to note that, as indicated in Fig. 2a by the dotted white lines, the Andreev peaks appear to shift in energy as $`V_g`$ is changed. This is unique for quantum dots and related to the shift of the level position of the single-electron states with $`V_g`$ Yeyati ; Johansson . A detailed comparison of the observed energy dependence of the MAR peaks with theory is beyond the scope of this report and will be published elsewhere.

For the odd diamonds ($`S=1/2`$) the situation is different. In the normal state the source and drain electrode are strongly coupled by virtue of the Kondo effect. The lowest-order process in the normal state, where one electron on the dot is replaced by another one with opposite spin, is no longer directly possible in the superconducting state since each such process must necessarily break a Cooper pair. One might therefore expect the Kondo effect to be suppressed when the leads become superconducting. Indeed, the conductance in the middle of two of the Kondo ridges ($`A`$ and $`C`$) diminishes in the superconducting state. The conductance of Kondo ridge $`B`$, however, is actually enhanced and a narrow resonance remains around $`V_{sd}=0`$ mV, see Fig. 2f. Note that ridge $`B`$ has a higher $`T_K`$ than those of $`A`$ and $`C`$. These observations are in accordance with theoretical predictions which state that the Kondo resonance should not be destroyed by the superconductivity if $`T_K`$ is sufficiently large Abrikosov ; Glazman ; Avishai . More precisely, a cross-over is expected for $`k_BT_K\mathrm{\Delta }`$.

The Kondo temperature varies from level to level reflecting the fact that the wavefunctions of the particular quantum states can have different overlaps with the electrodes. Since we observe a multitude of Kondo resonances in our MWNT quantum dot, having a variety of $`T_K`$’s we are able to test the theoretical predictions mentioned above. The width (FWHM) of the observed Kondo ridges, corresponding to $`k_BT_K/e`$, ranges between 0.045 and 0.29 mV. The superconducting gap is a constant ($`\mathrm{\Delta }/e0.10`$ mV), which means that the ratio of both numbers can both be slightly larger or smaller than 1 depending on the particular level. In Fig. 3 we show 3 different Kondo ridges with increasing $`T_K`$ from left to right. The conductance in the middle of the narrowest ridge is clearly suppressed when the leads become superconducting. At the other end of the spectrum, however, a pronounced increase can be observed. This can be understood qualitatively considering that in the latter case the energy necessary to break a Cooper pair, which is proportional to $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, is more than compensated for by the formation of the Kondo singlet, having a binding energy of $`k_BT_K`$. The Kondo state now provides a strong coupling between superconducting electrodes and the conductance can increase far beyond its normal-state value Kasumov ; supercurrent . In Fig. 4 we show the ratio of the conductances in the superconducting and normal state, $`G_S/G_N`$, versus $`T_K/\mathrm{\Delta }`$ for all measured Kondo resonances. The cross-over between increased and suppressed conductance indeed appears at $`T_K/\mathrm{\Delta }1`$, consistent with the theoretical predictions.

The present study has shown detailed transport measurements of a carbon nanotube quantum dot coupled to superconducting leads. Exactly such systems are presently considered as excellent candidates for the creation of nonlocal spin-entangled electron pairs Recher ; Bena . In these proposals the superconductor acts as a natural source of entangled electrons (the Cooper pairs) and the repulsive interaction in the nanotubes can be exploited to spatially separate the electrons of a pair. Future research will explore this important topic further.

We thank B. Babić, M. Iqbal, H. Scharf, and C. Terrier for experimental help and D. Babić, W. Belzig, C. Bruder, V. Golovach, L. Glazman, J. Martinek, and A. Zaikin for discussions. We thank L. Forró for the MWNT material, J. Gobrecht for providing the oxidized Si substrates and P. Gueret for the dilution refrigerator. This work has been supported by the Swiss NFS and the NCCR on Nanoscience.


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# Testing the principle of equivalence with Planck surveyor

## Abstract

We consider the effect of the violation of the equivalence principle (VEP) by the massive neutrino component on the Cosmic Microwave Background angular power specrum. We show that in the presence of adiabatic and isocurvature primordial density perturbations the Planck surveyor can place limits on the maximal VEP by the massive neutrino component at the level of $`\mathrm{few}\times 10^5`$, valid in the general relativity, for the case in which the gravity is the single source of VEP. This work has been performed within the framework of the Planck/LFI activities.

Cosmology: cosmic microwave background – dark matter – large scale structure – Elementary particles  preprint: APS/123-QED

The atmospheric neutrino experiments Fukuda98 ; Ambrosio98  provide strong evidence for neutrino oscillations implying a non-zero neutrino mass with a lower limit $`0.040.08`$ eV. The latest measurements of the contribution of double beta decay to the neutrino mass matrix Kla2001  place an upper limit on the neutrino mass of $`m_\nu 0.26`$eV. The direct implication of these results is the non-negligible contribution of the hot dark matter (HDM) to the total mass density of the universe and the existence of three massive neutrino flavors (i.e. a density parameter $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\nu h^2_{i=1}^3m_i/93`$eV, where $`h=H_0/100`$ Km s-1 Mpc-1 is the dimensionless Hubble constant). The introduction of a HDM component in the form of massive neutrinos with the total mass in eV range is also required for consistency between the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy at small scales with the Large Scale Structure (LLS) of the universe derived from galaxy surveys Scott94 ; White95 ; Primack95 ; Gawiser98 .

The most popular mechanisms examined as possible solutions to the neutrino oscillation problem are the mass-mixing vacuum and the matter induced (MSW) oscillations MSW , having as basic underlying hypothesis the existence of non-degenerated neutrino masses and the non equivalence of neutrino weak and mass eigenstates.

An alternative mechanism to these approaches is the neutrino oscillations due to the Violation of the Equivalence Principle (VEP) that can occur if the week equivalence principle is not satisfied, i.e. the coupling of neutrinos with the gravitational field is non-universal and the flavor eigenstates are not identical to the states that couple to gravity Gas88 ; Gas89 ; Har91 ; Har96 . Such mechanism has been investigated by using the experimental results from Super-Kamiokande (SK) Gago2000 ; Casini2000  and Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) Ray2002  collaborations. Recent works have considered the possibility to test VEP by using astrophysical neutrino sources Min95  as well as the effect of neutrino oscillations induced by VEP as an explanation of the pulsar kick velocity Horvat98 .

A deviation from the equivalence principle can be parametrized by assuming that the parametrized-post Newtonian (PPN) parameters for a given metric have particle-dependent values Will93 . In the conformal Newtonian gauge the perturbations in the Robertson-Walker spacetime are characterized by two scalar potentials $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ which appear in the line element as Muk92 :

$$ds^2=a^2(\tau )[(1+2\alpha \mathrm{\Psi })d\tau ^2+(12\gamma \mathrm{\Phi })dx^i\mathrm{d}x_i],$$
(1)
where $`a(\tau )`$ is the cosmic scale factor ($`a_0`$=1 today) and $`\tau `$ is the conformal time. $`\alpha `$ and $`\gamma `$ are theory dependent parameters: in the general relativity $`\alpha =\gamma =1`$ while in alternative theories of relativity satisfying the equivalence principle $`\alpha `$ and $`\gamma `$ need not to be unity but their values are universal (the same for all kinds of particles). In eq. (1) $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ plays the role of the gravitational potential in the Newtonian limit Ma95 . Limits on the VEP for $`\alpha =1`$ have been obtained from the supernova SN1987A by comparing the arrival time for photons and neutrinos ($`|\gamma _\gamma \gamma _\nu |<`$ few $`\times 10^3`$) Longo88 ; Krauss88  and for neutrinos and antineutrinos ($`|\gamma _{\nu _e}\gamma _{\overline{\nu }_e}|<10^6`$) LoSecco98 ; Pakvasa99 .

The CMB anisotropy holds the key for understanding the seeds of the cosmological structures and allows the measurement of the most important cosmological parameters. The new generation of CMB experiments such as MAP 222http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov and Planck 333http://astro.estec.esa.nl/Planck will achieve enough precision to reveal the structure formation process up to arcminute angular scales. The aim of this paper is to study the possibility to test with Planck the VEP by the massive neutrino component.

The evolution of the density fluctuations from the early universe involves the integration of coupled and linearized Boltzmann, Einstein and fluid equations Ma95  for all the relevant species (e.g., photons, baryons, cold dark matter, massless and massive neutrinos). The differences introduced in the gravitational potential due to the VEP by the massive neutrino component can generate metric perturbations that affect the evolution of the density fluctuations of all the components, leaving imprints on the CMB angular power spectrum.

A recent work Popa2000  analysed the possibility to detect neutrino oscillations with accurate CMB experiments. In the presence of a large neutrino asymmetry the mass-mixing vacuum neutrino oscillations left detectable imprints on the CMB anisotropy and polarization power spectra. For a neutrino flavor $`\nu _i`$ with energy $`E_{\nu _i}`$ and mass $`m_{\nu _i}0.26`$ eV, the survival probability after the propagation through the distance $`L`$ in the expanding universe, $`𝒫_{\nu _i,\nu _i}(E_{\nu _i},L)=1\mathrm{sin}^2\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\theta _0\mathrm{sin}^2(\pi L/\lambda )`$, $`\theta _0`$ being the vacuum mixing angle, does not exhibit a dependence on the oscillation length $`\lambda E_{\nu _i}`$, as $`L>>\lambda `$ and $`<\mathrm{sin}^2(L/\lambda )>1/2`$.

For the VEP induced oscillation, the oscillation probability is given by the same equation, replacing $`\theta _0`$ with the gravitational mixing angle, $`\theta _G`$, and with the oscillation length given by $`\lambda (\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _{\nu _i}E_{\nu _i})^1`$, where $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is the gravitational potential and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _{\nu _i}=1\alpha _i`$ parametrizes the VEP by the neutrino flavor $`\nu _i`$ Har96 ; Ray2002 . Also in the VEP case, $`L>>\lambda `$ for neutrinos with masses $`m_\nu 0.26`$ eV and the oscillation probability is not sensitive to the VEP parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _i`$. It follows that the mass-mixing vacuum oscillations can not be distinguished from VEP induced oscillations by using the CMB anisotropy.

On the other hand, the imprint of the clusterization process on the CMB anisotropy depends on the dynamics of the involved particles Popa2002  and can be then sensitive to the VEP. We evaluate the effect of the VEP by the massive neutrinos computing the CMB temperature fluctuations generated in the non-linear stages of the universe evolution when clusters and superclusters of galaxies start to form. We place limits on the maximal VEP by the massive neutrinos in the general relativity, valid for the case in which gravity is the only source of VEP.

In Popa2002  we studied the CMB anisotropy induced by the non-linear perturbations in the massive neutrino density associated with the non-linear gravitational clustering process. This process generates metric perturbations leading to a decrease in the CMB anisotropy power spectrum of amplitude $`\mathrm{\Delta }T/T10^6`$ for angular resolutions between $`4`$ and 20 arcminutes, depending on the cluster mass scale $`M_{clust}`$ and the neutrino fraction $`f_\nu =\mathrm{\Omega }_\nu /(\mathrm{\Omega }_b+\mathrm{\Omega }_{cdm})`$, where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\nu `$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{cdm}`$ are the energy density parameters for neutrinos, baryons and cold dark matter particles, respectively. In the Newtonian limit, the neutrino gravitational clustering can be described as a deviation from the background by a potential $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ given by the Poisson equation:

$$^2\mathrm{\Psi }(\stackrel{}{r},a)=4\pi Ga^2\rho _m(a)\delta _m(\stackrel{}{r},a),$$
(2)
where $`\stackrel{}{r}`$ is the position 3-vector, $`\rho _m(a)`$ is the matter density and $`\delta _m(\stackrel{}{r},a)`$ is the matter density fluctuation. The equations governing the motion of each particle species $`i`$ ($`i`$ = cold dark matter, baryons, neutrinos) in the expanding universe are given by Kates1991 ; Gleb1994 :

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d\stackrel{}{q}_i}{da}}=aH(a)\alpha _i\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{\Psi },{\displaystyle \frac{d\stackrel{}{r}_i}{da}}=\stackrel{}{q}_i[a^3H(a)]^1,`$ (3)
where $`\stackrel{}{q}_i`$ is the comoving momentum and $`H(a)`$ is the Hubble expansion rate:

$`H^2(a)={\displaystyle \frac{8\pi G}{3}}(\mathrm{\Omega }_m/a^3+\mathrm{\Omega }_r/a^4+\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }+\mathrm{\Omega }_k/a^2).`$
Here $`G`$ is the gravitational constant, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m=\mathrm{\Omega }_b+\mathrm{\Omega }_{cdm}+\mathrm{\Omega }_\nu `$ is the matter energy density parameter, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_r`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_k=1\mathrm{\Omega }_m\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ are the density parameters for radiation (including the contribution from photons and relativistic neutrinos), vacuum energy and the curvature of the universe. The parameter $`\alpha _i`$ from the eq. (3) accounts for the coupling of each $`i^{th}`$ particle species with the gravitational potential. The Newtonian description given by eqs. (2) and (3) applies in the limit of the weak gravitational field if, at each time step, the size of the non-linear structures is much smaller than the causal horizon size (i.e., the background curvature is negligible).

By using numerical simulations Popa2002 , we evaluate the effect of the gravitational clustering on the CMB anisotropy power spectrum first assuming $`\alpha _i=1`$ for all the particles and then considering that the equivalence principle is violated only by massive neutrinos ($`\alpha _\nu 1`$).

We consider a flat $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CHDM cosmological model with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$=0.38, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$=0.62, H0=62 Km s-1 Mpc-1, three massive neutrino flavors giving a neutrino fraction $`f_\nu `$=0.06 ($`m_\nu `$=0.78eV, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\nu `$=0.022), and adopt a cluster mass $`M_{clust}=`$1.5$`\times 10^{15}M_{}`$. We assume a primordial power spectrum with adiabatic perturbations and a scalar spectral index $`n^{adi}=0.98`$ and neglect, for simplicity, the contributions from the tensorial modes (gravitational waves) and the reionization effects. This model is consistent with the LSS data and the latest CMB anisotropy measurements, allowing at the same time a pattern of neutrino masses consistent with the results from neutrino oscillation and double beta decay experiments. Panel a) from Fig. 1 presents the CMB anisotropy power spectra obtained from numerical simulations for different values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _\nu =1\alpha _\nu `$. The VEP parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _\nu 0`$ induced metric perturbations, leading to a decrease of the CMB temperature anisotropy at small scales as $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _\nu `$ increases.

In order to evaluate to what extent the Planck surveyor can test the VEP by the massive neutrino component, we compute the $`1\sigma `$ errors on the estimates of the cosmological parameters and on the parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _\nu `$ by using the Fisher information matrix approach. We consider for this computation only the Planck “cosmological” channel between 70 and 217 GHz, a sky coverage $`f_{sky}=0.8`$ and neglect for simplicity the foreground contamination Popa2001 .

The CMB anisotropies are sensitive to the cosmological parameters through the evolution of the cosmological perturbations since the end of the inflation. The simplest one-field inflation model predicts primordial adiabatic density fluctuations. Isocurvature density perturbations can also arise in multiple field inflation models Enk ; Linde ; Langlois ; Turok . In order to test the sensitivity of the CMB anisotropy to the VEP parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _\nu `$ for conditions more general than the pure adiabatic case, we include in our Fisher analysis the parameters for the amplitude of the baryon isocurvature density mode $`<I_bI_b>`$, neutrino isocurvature density mode $`<I_\nu I_\nu >`$, their cross-correlation $`<I_\nu I_b>`$ as well as their cross-correlations with the adibatic mode $`<AI_b>`$ and $`<AI_\nu >`$, defining the following parametric fiducial power spectrum Turok1 :

$`C_l(\stackrel{}{p})`$ $`=`$ $`C_l^A(\stackrel{}{p})`$
$`+`$ $`<I_\nu I_\nu >C_l^{I_\nu }(\stackrel{}{p})+<I_bI_b>C_l^{I_b}(\stackrel{}{p})`$
$`+`$ $`<AI_\nu >C_l^{A,I_\nu }(\stackrel{}{p})+<AI_b>C_l^{A,I_b}(\stackrel{}{p})`$
$`+`$ $`<I_\nu I_b>C_l^{I_\nu ,I_b}(\stackrel{}{p}),`$
where $`\stackrel{}{p}`$ represents the cosmological parameters of our $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CHDM cosmological model, $`C_l^A(\stackrel{}{p})`$, $`C_l^{I_\nu }(\stackrel{}{p})`$, $`C_l^{I_b}(\stackrel{}{p})`$ are the power spectra for the adiabatic, neutrino isocurvature and baryon isocurvature density mode, $`C_l^{A,I_\nu }`$ and $`C_l^{A,I_b}`$ are the power spectra of the cross-correlation between the adiabatic and neutrino isocurvature density mode and adiabatic and baryon isocurvature density mode and $`C_l^{I_\nu ,I_b}(\stackrel{}{p})`$ corresponds to the cross-correlation between neutrino isocurvature and baryon isocurvature density mode. The power spectra $`C_l^A`$, $`C_l^{I_\nu ,I_\nu }`$ and $`C_l^{I_b,I_b}`$ are computed by using the CMBFAST code Zal96  with primordial conditions including also the neutrino isocurvature density mode given by Turok . The cross-correlation power spectra are computed by running the CMBFAST code with two modes excited and then substracting the power spectra computed when each mode was individually excited, following the prescriptions of Turok1 . For each mode we assume a primordial power spectrum with a scalar spectral index $`n^{adi}=n_\nu ^{iso}=n_b^{iso}=0.98`$. For this computation we do not consider the cold dark matter isocurvature density mode, as its power spectrum is very similar to that obtained for the baryon isocurvature density mode. We consider four fiducial models: only the adiabatic mode (FM1), the adiabatic mode, the neutrino isocurvature density mode and their cross-correlation (FM2), the adiabatic mode, the baryon isocurvature density mode and their cross-correlation (FM3), and the adiabatic and all isocurvature modes as well as their cross-correlations (FM4). Panel c) of Fig. 1 presents the four fiducial power spectra obtained for $`<I_bI_b>=0.1`$, $`<I_\nu I_\nu >=0.1`$, $`<AI_b>=0.07`$, $`<AI_\nu >=0.07`$, $`<I_\nu I_b>=0.05`$ and assuming $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _\nu `$=0: they turn to be in a rough agreement with the current CMB anisotropy data \[37–40\].

Table 1 presents the $`1\sigma `$ errors on the cosmological parameters, amplitudes of different modes and the VEP parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _\nu `$ potentially measurable by using the Planck observations of the CMB temperature anisotropy. Although the Fisher matrix approach is sensitive to the considered fiducial model and to the number of parameters involved in the computation, this results shows that the Planck surveyor will be able to place an upper limit on the VEP parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _\nu `$ of $`\mathrm{few}\times 10^5`$, valid in the general relativity, for the case in which the gravity is the only source of VEP.

###### Acknowledgements.

L.A.P. acknowledge for the financial support from the European Space Agency. We acknowledge the Italy-Romania Bilateral Agreement (Project n. 37) financial support.


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# Effects of Strong Color Fields on Baryon Dynamics

## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful to M. Bleicher, K. Schweda, X. N. Wang for valuable comments. We thank the UrQMD collaboration for permission to use the UrQMD transport model. S.S. has been supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation through a Feodor Lynen Fellowship. This research used resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC). This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098, the BMBF, GSI, and DFG.


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# Tuning p-wave interactions in an ultracold Fermi gas of atoms

## Abstract

We have measured a p-wave Feshbach resonance in a single-component, ultracold Fermi gas of 40K atoms. We have used this resonance to enhance the normally suppressed p-wave collision cross-section to values larger than the background s-wave cross-section between 40K atoms in different spin-states. In addition to the modification of two-body elastic processes, the resonance dramatically enhances three-body inelastic collisional loss.
PACS number(s): 34.50.-s, 32.80.Pj, 05.30.Fk

The ultralow temperature regime accessible in atomic physics is characterized by collision energies so low that centrifugal forces can prevent scattering of atoms with nonzero relative angular momentum. In this case the atoms collide predominantly via s-partial waves ($`l=0`$). Even this restricted regime has demonstrated remarkably rich physics in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates . However, the situation is dramatically different for ultracold fermionic atoms. For identical fermions the Pauli exclusion principle forbids s-wave collisions. This means the dominant interaction is via p-wave collisions ($`l=1`$). These collisions are suppressed by centrifugal effects as described by the Wigner threshold law , which demands that the elastic scattering cross section diminishes with temperature as $`\sigma T^2`$. For this reason evaporative cooling of fermions to ultralow temperatures can be achieved only in a mixture of different spin states of the same atom  or by sympathetic cooling with a different atom .

However, p-wave collisions can become prominent in the presence of a scattering resonance, such as a Feshbach resonance, which occurs when the relative energy of an incident atom pair is nearly degenerate with a quasi-bound molecular state. In ultracold collisions Feshbach resonances are useful because the energy at which they occur can be tuned by applying an external magnetic field. For this reason they have been exploited to measure atomic interactions with great precision  and to influence the effective interaction between atoms . In all previous cases Feshbach resonances have only been observed in bosonic species , or else between two distinct spin states of fermions .

In this Letter we report the first measurement of a magnetic-field dependent Feshbach resonance in p-wave collisions between ultracold fermionic atoms. This resonance occurs between 40K atoms in the $`|F,m_F`$ $`=|9/2,7/2`$ state as predicted in Ref.  and results in p-wave interactions that are nearly as strong as those from a nearby s-wave resonance between the two distinct spin states $`|9/2,7/2`$ and $`|9/2,9/2`$ . We have measured and characterized inelastic collisional losses near this p-wave resonance, including loss at the nearby s-wave resonance.

The experiments reported here employ previously developed techniques for cooling and spin state manipulation of 40K. Atoms in the $`|9/2,9/2`$ and $`|9/2,7/2`$ states are first held in a magnetic trap and cooled by forced evaporation . The gas is then polarized in the $`|9/2,9/2`$ state and loaded into a far-off resonance optical dipole trap (FORT). Adiabatic rapid passage is then used to obtain the desired spin composition . First, the $`|9/2,9/2`$ gas is completely transferred to the $`|9/2,9/2`$ state with a 10 ms rf frequency sweep across all ten spin states at a field of $`30`$ G. To create a pure $`|9/2,7/2`$ gas we then move to a higher field, $`80`$ G, and sweep the magnetic field while applying rf at a fixed frequency to drive the $`|9/2,9/2`$ to $`|9/2,7/2`$ transition.

A collision measurement is performed in the optical trap using cross-dimensional rethermalization as described in Ref. . Our optical trap is characterized by transverse frequencies of $`\nu _y1`$ kHz and $`\nu _x`$ = 1.7 $`\nu _y`$ and an axial frequency of $`\nu _z`$ = $`\nu _y`$/80. For high collision rates we use rethermalization between the two transverse directions to ensure that the collision time, not the trap period, defines the rethermalization time $`\tau `$. We extract the elastic scattering cross section $`\sigma `$ via the relation $`\frac{1}{\tau }=\frac{2}{\alpha }n\sigma v`$, where the mean relative speed is given by $`v=4\sqrt{k_BT/\pi m}`$ and the number density is given by $`n=\frac{1}{N}n(\stackrel{}{r})^2d^3\stackrel{}{r}`$, where $`N`$ is the total number of atoms. The constant $`\alpha =4.1`$ is the calculated average number of binary p-wave collisions per atom required for thermalization .

Cross sections for p-wave collisions measured in this way are shown in Fig. 1(a) as a function of the magnetic field. The dominant feature of this resonance is a peak in $`\sigma `$ that rises over 3 orders of magnitude above the small background cross section. To the low field side of this peak the effective p-wave interactions are expected to be repulsive, while to the high field side they should be attractive. The zero crossing of the resonance, which is predicted to be $`20`$ G below the peak, is not observed experimentally. Instead, away from the resonance peak we measure a background value of $`10^{13}`$ cm2, consistent with a spin state impurity of $`<0.2\%`$.

For comparison we also show in Fig. 1(b) the s-wave resonance observed between $`|9/2,7/2`$ and $`|9/2,9/2`$ atoms. This plot includes data from Ref.  as well as additional measurements near the peak of the resonance. The presence of non-negligible off-resonant scattering in the s-wave case makes the characteristic asymmetry of the Fano lineshape more apparent for this resonance than for the p-wave resonance . Note that, despite the differences in the background p-wave and s-wave cross sections, the strengths of these partial waves become comparable on resonance.

For these data, the magnetic field values B were calibrated using rf-driven Zeeman transitions and have a systematic uncertainty of $`\pm 0.1\%`$. The error bars in $`\sigma `$ are dominated by measurement uncertainties in $`\tau `$. In addition, $`\sigma `$ has an overall systematic uncertainty of $`\pm 50\%`$ that comes from measurements of $`N`$. The curves in Fig. 1 are best-fit theory calculations using the standard close-coupling theory of ultracold collisions and are appropriately thermally averaged . The relative position of the s-wave and p-wave resonances depends sensitively on the $`C_6`$ van der Waals coefficient. This arises from the role that the van der Waals potential plays in setting the centrifugal barrier height for p-wave collisions. Measuring the separation in magnetic field of the two resonances therefore enables us to determine a value of $`C_6=3902\pm 15`$ atomic units, in good agreement with the predicted value of $`C_6=3897\pm 15`$ . The values for $`a_t`$ and $`a_s`$ obtained from the simultaneous fit are consistent with the values quoted in Ref. .

One striking feature of Fig. 1 is the close proximity of the p-wave resonance to the previously reported s-wave resonance in 40K. At zero temperature, the two resonances are separated in field by only 3.2 $`\pm `$ 0.8 G. This result is apparently purely coincidental. By artificially varying either $`C_6`$, $`a_s`$, or $`a_t`$ for potassium we have calculated that the resonances both shift to different values of the field. For example, if the singlet scattering length had been 165 $`a_0`$ instead of 104 $`a_0`$, the resonances would have been separated by $`70`$ G.

To view the temperature dependence of the p-wave resonance, we plot in Fig. 2 the elastic scattering cross section for $`|9/2,7/2`$ collisions at two temperatures. For this plot the data from Fig. 1 are divided into two temperature sets and compared to thermally averaged theoretical results based on our best-fit potassium potentials. We observe that the resonance lineshape in Fig. 2 displays an asymmetry characteristic of near-threshold resonances, as is seen in photoassociation spectroscopy . The onset of the resonance at 198.4 $`\pm `$ 0.5 G is sharp and relatively insensitive to temperature; this is the field value at which a high-lying molecular bound state appears as a low-energy resonance, and can be accessed at any temperature. In contrast, the high field tail of the asymmetric peak is a strong function of temperature.

In addition to elastic scattering, inelastic collision rates can be altered at Feshbach resonances. For the combinations of spin states we are studying, spin-exchange collisions are energetically forbidden at these temperatures and magnetic field strengths. Thus, for the p-wave resonance the dominant two-body inelastic collision process is the reaction $`|9/2,7/2+|9/2,7/2`$ $`|9/2,7/2+|9/2,9/2`$, driven by a comparatively weak magnetic dipole interaction. On the other hand, for the s-wave resonance, the $`|9/2,7/2`$ and $`|9/2,9/2`$ states are distinguished by being the two lowest-energy states of the 40K atom at the magnetic fields in this experiment; they are therefore immune to any two-body losses associated with the s-wave resonance. Further, by symmetry there can be no p-wave Feshbach resonance between atoms in these two spin states of 40K.

Significant trap loss can also arise from three-body collisions, in which two atoms recombine into a bound molecular state, while the third atom carries away the binding energy. For bosons these collisions can cause a significant limitation to trap lifetimes near a Feshbach resonance . For ultracold fermions three-body interactions can be suppressed by Fermi statistics . However, this statistical suppression does not exist at a scattering resonance, and thus three-body loss is expected near the peaks of our Feshbach resonances.

We have probed inelastic collisions near the p-wave resonance by tracking depletion of trapped atoms. Figure 3(a) presents the inelastic collisional loss near the p-wave resonance for a gas of $`|9/2,7/2`$ atoms. Here we assume the loss is dominated by three-body processes and characterize the loss in terms of a three-body atom loss rate $`L_3`$. Due to our uncertainty in measured N ($`\pm 50\%`$), all quoted values for $`L_3`$ have a systematic uncertainty of a factor of three. Near the resonance the loss rate varies by orders of magnitude, just as the elastic rate does, with rate constants comparable to those seen for bosons. The loss rate also shows the characteristic asymmetry arising from threshold effects, as seen in the elastic two-body cross section.

Because this p-wave resonance is likely to affect inelastic collision processes at the nearby s-wave resonance, we have also measured atom loss rates for a gas containing an equal mixture of $`|9/2,9/2`$ and $`|9/2,7/2`$ atoms. Here we examined the atom loss across the peaks of both the p-wave and s-wave resonances, whose zero temperature resonance positions are located at 198.4 $`\pm `$ 0.5 G and 201.6 $`\pm `$ 0.6 G respectively. As shown in Fig. 3(b), the loss at a temperature of $`2.8\pm 0.4`$ $`\mu K`$ is a broad peak that encompasses both resonances. At a lower temperature of $`1.25\pm 0.10`$ $`\mu K`$ the loss appears as two distinct peaks, one at the same magnetic field as the p-wave loss peak and the other near the peak of the s-wave resonance.

In general, three-body loss processes in a Fermi gas are influenced by Fermi exchange symmetry. With two distinct spin states present, a three-body collision may involve either a pair of atoms in one spin state and the third atom in the other, or else all three atoms in the same spin state. Away from resonance, this difference combined with Fermi exchange symmetry alters the threshold behavior of three-body collisions . On resonance, the influence of this dynamics remains to be explored.

We have also performed a study of the density dependence of the observed loss at the p-wave resonance through measurements of loss of atoms in time as the density of the gas changed by an order of magnitude. The loss trends were analyzed with the following rate equation .

$$\frac{dN}{dt}=L_2nNL_3n^2N\frac{N}{\tau _0}$$
(1)
Here, $`n^2=\frac{1}{N}n(\stackrel{}{r})^3d^3\stackrel{}{r}`$, and $`\tau _0=32`$ seconds describes the exponential lifetime of atoms in our optical trap. The time evolution of the size of the gas is included in the density terms. For a field of 198.8 G, we plot in Fig. 4 the number loss $`dN/dt`$ as a function of the atomic density $`n`$. The solid and dashed lines in Fig. 4 are best fits assuming exclusively three-body loss ($`L_2=0`$) or two-body loss ($`L_3=0`$) respectively. The data at this field are clearly consistent with three-body, but not two-body, losses. Figure 5 presents the results of this procedure at various field values across the p-wave resonance. Here we compare the two-body and three-body loss at a density typical of the initial density of our cloud, $`n=3\times 10^{12}`$ cm-3. At the peak of the Feshbach resonance the three-body loss clearly dominates over the limiting value of $`L_2`$. For comparison we also plot the theoretically expected two-body loss rate, which lies within the measured upper limit for this rate. A similar analysis of the loss of $`|9/2,7/2`$ and $`|9/2,9/2`$ atoms near the s-wave peak shows that this loss process is also predominantly three-body at our typical densities.

In conclusion, we have observed a p-wave Feshbach resonance for ultracold fermions and characterized both the elastic and inelastic processes near this resonance in 40K. The observed elastic cross sections for the combination of the p-wave and nearby s-wave resonances constrain $`C_6`$ for potassium. Further, the modification of the elastic cross sections provided by these resonances yields ultracold fermions with tunable interactions. In particular, the availability of both p-wave and s-wave resonance offers the opportunity to study strong interactions between both identical and non-identical fermions. Among the most interesting prospects for such strong interactions is driving Cooper pairing of fermionic atoms . However, three-body interactions result in dramatic losses at these 40K resonances. Thus, understanding on-resonance threshold behavior of the three-body collisions involved will be critical to utilizing these resonances to achieve a strongly interacting Fermi gas of atoms.

This work is supported by NSF, ONR, and NIST. C. A. Regal acknowledges support from the Hertz Foundation. We also acknowledge useful conversations with C. H. Greene, B. D. Esry, and H. Suno, and we thank M. L. Olsen for contributions.


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# Air parcel random walk and droplet spectra broadening in clouds

## Abstract

We study the effect of turbulent flow on the droplet growth in a cloud during the condensation phase. Using the air parcel model, we describe analytically how the size distribution of droplets evolves at the different stages of parcel movement. We show that turbulent random walk superimposed on an accelerated ascent of the parcel makes the relative width of droplet distribution to grow initially as $`t^{1/2}`$ and then decay as $`t^{3/2}`$.

The growth mechanism of small water droplets in clouds is the condensation of water vapour PK . While the dynamics of droplet growth is well understood, no consistent statistical theory exists yet for describing the evolution of droplet spectra in the cloud — see PK ; K  and the references therein. The main difficulties in this task are that a consistent theory should describe the interaction of at least four fields in the cloud: vapour concentration, temperature, droplet distribution and velocity. For sufficiently small droplets, the concentration inhomogeneities due to droplet inertia are negligible WM ; SE ; FFS . In cloud cores, vapour concentration and temperature also can be considered smooth functions of position, so here we shall only consider their vertical dependence. It is the velocity field which has a turbulent nature and can be considered as a stochastic variable. The statistical description of random interacting fields belongs to the class of field-theoretical problems which are generally unsolvable. In our case, neglecting the spatial fluctuations of concentrations and temperature, one can turn the problem into that of a random walk superimposed on a regular drift in the prescribed environment. Three limiting cases of that problem (with no drift, permanent-velocity drift and permanent-acceleration drift) are solved here analytically. This might provide a useful opportunity for comparison with the data of observations and numerical simulations. We use the concept of an air parcel PK , which means that we consider a macroscopic volume of air, which is moving through the cloud with the droplets within it. Together with the deterministic motion and growth, the parcel participates in a turbulent random walk which can be modelled as brownian motion on a timescale larger than the velocity correlation time. We examine how the form of the droplet size distribution changes with time. It is shown that the dynamics of the form of the distribution (spectrum) strongly depends on the deterministic motion. The relative spectral width decreases while the parcel is moving upwards either with constant acceleration or with a constant velocity. When there is no vertical drift (the parcel comes into mechanical equilibrium with its environment and wanders around a fixed height), the relative width of the distribution begins to grow. The form of the spectrum increases in width. We also show, that the distribution of droplets over sizes is asymmetric: power law at small sizes part is determined by the activation of new nuclei while the large sizes part is exponential.

Advection and diffusion of passive fields in turbulent fluid is usually described with the Kraichnan model (see e.g. FGW ). According to this model the velocity field can be considered a stochastic Markovian process. The stochastic description is valid when the fluid motion is chaotic. This is true in the case of fully developed turbulence which corresponds to large values of Reynolds number Frisch . In real clouds the observed Reynolds number is of order $`\mathrm{R}e10^5÷10^8`$ PK , which is certainly enough to assume air velocity field stochastic. The validity of the zero correlation time assumption is proved by the following arguments: correlation times of velocity fluctuations do not exceed $`10^2`$ s, while the duration of the condensational stage lasts $`10^3`$ s or more PK . Thus a more realistic model, which takes into account the finite correlation times would give a small correction not exceeding $`10\%`$. In this paper we focus only on the vertical motion of a particle, because horizontal inhomogeneities have fluctuating nature, and will not lead to any new qualitative effect. We also neglect collisions and coalescence of droplets by considering the initial stage of growth when droplets are small and the only relevant droplet growth mechanism is condensation of water vapourPK . Using all these assumptions, one can write the set of equations describing the dynamics of a single droplet PK ; K :

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}A}{\mathrm{d}t}}={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}a^2}{\mathrm{d}t}}=s(z,t),`$ (1)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}z}{\mathrm{d}t}}=u(t)+v(t).`$ (2)
Here $`a`$ is the droplet radius, $`A=a^2`$ is a variable, proportional to the droplet surface area, and $`s`$ is the local supersaturation rate defined as $`s=n/n_01`$, where $`n`$ and $`n_0`$ are the local vapour concentration and the concentration of saturated vapour correspondingly. We have set the coefficient of propotionality to $`1`$, which can be always achieved by using the proper dimensional units. For any given droplet, the supersaturation rate changes with time because the air parcel containing this droplet is lifted up to the cloud and is being cooled along the way. The vertical velocity of a parcel (2) consists of two components: the deterministic $`u(t)`$, which corresponds to the macroscopic updraft flow and the random $`v(t)`$ which is due to turbulent velocity fluctuations. We will consider the random velocity to be gaussian and short correlated

$$v(t)v(t^{})=D\delta (tt^{}).$$
(3)
In the following we will analyze the dynamics of the droplet distribution $`P(A,z,t)`$. The quantity $`P(A,z,t)\mathrm{d}A\mathrm{d}z`$ represents the fraction of the droplets which are located in the area $`(z,z+\mathrm{d}z)`$ and have the surface area in the interval $`(A,A+\mathrm{d}A)`$. As long as we do not take into account the interaction of the droplets, the dynamical equation governing the evolution of the spectrum is described by the Liouville equation that corresponds to the single droplet dynamics (1,2):

$$\left\{_t+s(z,t)_A+\left[u(t)+v(t)\right]_z\right\}P(A,z,t)=0.$$
(4)
Applying the standard procedure of averaging over the white noise (3) one obtains the Fokker-Planck equation:

$$\left\{_t+s(z,t)_A+u(t)_z\frac{1}{2}D_z^2\right\}P(A,z,t)=0.$$
(5)
The second and third terms describe the advection of the droplets in phase space due to deterministic terms in equations (1,2). They are responsible for the motion of the distribution center. The third term comes from the stochastic part of the velocity and its main effect is the spectrum broadening. We assume that the initial droplet size is small so that we can set $`P(A,z,0)=\delta (A)\delta (z)`$. This equation can not be solved for general supersaturation field $`s(z,t)`$. However it has an analytic solution for a stationary linear profile $`s(z,t)=s_0+s_1z`$ which we consider as a reasonable local approximation of the real supersaturation field. The expression for $`P(A,z,t)`$ is rather bulky. However the size distribution $`P(A,t)=dzP(A,z,t)`$ is described by the simple expression

$$P(A,t)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi \delta A^2(t)}}\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{(AA_0(t))^2}{2\delta A^2(t)}\right].$$
(6)
Here $`A_0(t)=_0^tdt^{}\left(s_0+s_1z_p(t^{})\right)`$ and $`z_p(t)`$ is a a deterministic parcel trajectory: $`z_p(t)=_0^tdt^{}u(t^{})`$. The distribution width is $`\delta A^2(t)=Ds_1^2t^3/3`$. Usually one is interested in the distribution of radius $`a`$; from (6) we see that it will be substantially non-gaussian in our case as $`P_a(a,t)=2aP(a^2,t)`$. Nevertheless, it will still have the bell-form and can be described by it’s center $`a_0(t)=\sqrt{A_0}`$ and width

$`\delta a(t)=\sqrt{A_0+\delta A}\sqrt{A_0}={\displaystyle \frac{\delta A}{\sqrt{A_0+\delta A}+\sqrt{A_0}}}.`$ (7)
One can see that in some situations the distribution in $`a`$ can be narrowed, even if it is broadened for the variable $`A`$. The growth rate of the distribution width can be described by the variable $`\xi =\delta A/A_0`$. The relative width of the distribution over radii is then

$$\frac{\delta a}{a_0}=\frac{\xi }{\sqrt{1+\xi }+1}.$$
(8)
The r.h.s. of this relation is a monotonic function, so the relative width of the distribution over $`a`$ behaves qualitatively in the same way as the variable $`\xi `$. Even the regular (non-turbulent) part of the parcel motion in a real cloud can be very complicated. At the beginning the parcel is being lifted up the cloud because of the convection mechanism. The parcel is accelerated until the velocity reaches some stationary value due to the drag force. During the motion the temperature of the parcel changes because of droplet growth and heat exchange. When the parcel temperature becomes equal to the ambient temperature, its velocity decreases to zero and it stays at this steady height. One can analyze such a movement by considering three limiting cases: when the parcel is accelerated so $`u(t)=u_0+\text{a}t`$; when the parcel’s velocity is constant: $`u(t)=u`$; and when the parcel has reached its steady height, and its velocity is zero, $`u(t)=0`$. In the following sections we will analyze these three cases and show that they correspond to the different types of behaviour of the size distribution function.

We start from the simplest case of zero velocity. As already mentioned, this case is important when analyzing the last part of the parcel’s movement. On this part the distribution center has already moved from $`A=0`$ and its width is also finite. However if the steady stage lasts for a long time, the initial conditions are forgotten, and one can treat this problem with the initial conditions $`A(0)=0`$ and $`\delta A(0)=0`$. The solution of this problem was introduced in the previous section (6), and one obtains: $`z_p(t)=0`$, $`A_0(t)=s_0t`$, $`\delta A^2(t)=Ds_1^2t^3/3`$. Thus for the relative width one finds:

$$\xi =\frac{\delta A}{A}=\sqrt{D/3}\frac{s_1}{s_0}t^{1/2}.$$
(9)
Therefore the distribution is being broadened with a rate $`\xi t^{1/2}`$ at this stage. Turning to the radius distribution, $`P_a(a,t)`$, one can say that its relative width is increasing with the same rate $`\delta a/a\xi t^{1/2}`$ for small times $`t<s_0^2/s_1^2D`$, but as $`\xi `$ becomes large enough according to (8) its growth rate changes to $`\delta a/a\xi ^{1/2}t^{1/4}`$. The radius distribution is broadened slower than that of the surface area. It is worth noting that in stratiform clouds where the deterministic parcel movement is small the zero velocity case is most important. We see,that one should observe strongly broadened distributions there.

Next we consider the constant velocity case: $`z_p(t)=ut`$, $`A_0(t)=A_0(0)+s_0t+(s_1u/2)t^2`$. Again, at large enough times, the distribution forgets about the initial conditions (which were formed during the acceleration stage) and the last term in $`A_0(t)`$ will become dominant, so $`A_0=(s_1u/2)t^2`$, $`\delta A^2=(Ds_1^2/3)t^3`$. Therefore the relative distribution width is slowly decreasing: $`\xi t^{1/2}`$, while the center of the distribution and its absolute width are growing with the rates $`a_0=\sqrt{A_0}t`$, $`\delta a\sqrt{A_0}\xi t^{1/2}`$.

Finally, we consider a uniformly accelerating parcel. Here one finds $`s(t)=s(z_p(t))=s_0+s_1u_0t+s_1\text{a}t^2`$. If initial droplets sizes are small, we can easily find the dynamics of the center of drops surface area distribution, $`A_0(t)=s_0t+(s_1u_0/2)t^2+(s_1\text{a}/6)t^3`$. The relative width behaves like

$$\xi =\frac{\delta A}{A_0}=\frac{\sqrt{Ds_1^2/3}t^{3/2}}{s_0t+(s_1u_0/2)t^2+(s_1\text{a}/6)t^3}.$$
(10)
At the very small times the relative width is growing with the rate $`\xi t^{1/2}`$, as in the zero velocity case. At large times, when the parcel has accelerated enough, the relative width tends to zero as $`\xi t^{3/2}`$. Therefore, there is a time when the relative width has a maximum. The position of the maximum is determined by the values of $`u_0,\text{a}`$. It can be estimated as $`t_{\mathrm{max}}\mathrm{min}[s_0/(s_1u_0),\sqrt{s_0/(s_1\text{a})}]`$. The value of the maximum is in this case $`\xi _{\mathrm{max}}\sqrt{Dt_{\mathrm{max}}}s_1/s_0`$. It is interesting, that the absolute width $`\delta a=\sqrt{A_0}(\sqrt{1+\xi }1)\sqrt{A_0}\xi `$ is always increasing, and approaches a constant asymptotic value at large times. The particular value of this width is a complicated function of all the parameters.

The figure 1 shows the qualitative behaviour of the absolute and relative width for the three analyzed cases. The pictures should not be considered as a prediction for some particular cloud, but as an example, which shows how different velocity trajectory can affect the distribution parameters.

So far we have analyzed the situation where small droplets are injected into the cloud only once, at the beginning. In real clouds the situation is certainly different. New nuclei are activated all the time, and their activation surely affects the distribution form. Nevertheless, we will show that this effect of new nuclei activation does not change the large droplet sizes part of the distribution. The droplet size distribution can be written as follows:

$$n(a,t)=_0^tdt^{}n_0(t^{})P_a(a,tt^{}),$$
(11)
where $`n_0(t)\mathrm{d}t`$ is the number of nuclei activated in the interval $`(t,t+\mathrm{d}t)`$. Luckily the theory of nuclei activation is well developed (PK, ). The simplest model of nuclei activation predicts, that the activation rate is proportional to some power of local supersaturation rate, $`n_0(t)s^k(t)`$, and usually $`k>0`$. The absolute width $`\delta a(t)`$ of the distribution $`P_a(a,t)`$ is a growing function, therefore the front of the real distribution will be always determined by the droplets which began to grow at $`t=0`$. Nevertheless the new droplets determine the form of the left part. Assuming the distribution to be narrow enough, one can have the following approximation to the small droplet part of the spectrum: $`n(a_0\mathrm{\Delta }a,t)n_0(t^{})`$, where $`t^{}`$ is determined by the condition that $`P_a(a,t^{})`$ should be centered at $`a\mathrm{\Delta }a`$. For example for the acceleration stage $`s(t)=s_0+s_1\text{a}t^2/2`$, and the center position is given by $`A_0(t)=s_0t+s_1\text{a}t^3/6t^3`$. Thus $`a_0(t)t^{3/2}`$. From the definition of $`t^{}`$ we find $`tt^{}(a_0\mathrm{\Delta }a)^{2/3}`$, so $`t^{}a_0^{2/3}(a_0\mathrm{\Delta }a)^{2/3}a_0^{1/3}\mathrm{\Delta }a`$ for small $`\mathrm{\Delta }aa_0`$. Recalling that $`n_0(t)s^k`$, we find that $`n(a_0\mathrm{\Delta }a,t)\left(s_0+c\mathrm{\Delta }a^2\right)^k`$. We can see that the left part will have a rather wide power law tail distinct from a narrow exponential right tail. This is also an important result, which might be observed in real clouds.

To conclude, we have shown that the evolution of size distribution of droplet spectra can be divided into three different stages. At each stage, the relative width of the distribution behaves according to different power laws: it grows with a rate $`\xi t^{1/2}`$ at the zero velocity stage, and decays with the laws $`\xi t^{1/2},\xi t^{3/2}`$ on the stages with parcel constant velocity, constant acceleration respectively. The dynamics of real air parcels is more complicated, and the equation (6) allows one to estimate the distribution width according to our model. However, from physical reasoning we see that real parcel dynamics can be approximated by three consequent stages, where the relative width asymptotics were computed analytically.

We have also shown, that the left part of droplet size spectra is mainly determined by the process of nuclei activation during the initial stage of parcel movement. In this case one will observe a power-law tail in the small droplets part of spectrum, in contrary to exponential tail for large droplet sizes, which is determined by the parcel’s velocity fluctuations.

Acknowledgements: Author would like to thank G. Falkovich for the most fruitful and inspiring discussions and M.G. Stepanov for useful remarks and technical assistance in making figures.


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# Evidence for weak itinerant long-range magnetic correlations in UGe2

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## Abstract

Positive muon spin relaxation measurements performed on the ferromagnet UGe2 reveal, in addition to the well known localized $`5f`$-electron density responsible for the bulk magnetic properties, the existence of itinerant quasi-static magnetic correlations. Their critical dynamics is well described by the conventional dipolar Heisenberg model. These correlations involve small magnetic moments.

\] The discovery of superconductivity below 1 K within a limited pressure range in the ferromagnet UGe2  provides an unanticipated example of coexistence of superconductivity and strong ferromagnetism. The electronic pairing mechanism needed for superconductivity is believed to be magnetic in origin. However, it is amazing that ferromagnetically ordered uranium magnetic moments with so large magnitude ($`1.4\mu _\mathrm{B}`$ at ambient pressure as deduced from magnetization measurements) are directly involved . Since the pairing must involve the conduction electrons, it is important to characterize their magnetic properties. Because of the restrictions imposed by the magnetic form factor, this can not be done by diffraction techniques. As the muons localize in interstitial sites, they have the potentiality to yield information on the conduction electrons. Here we show, using the muon spin relaxation technique, that UGe2 is actually a dual system where two sub-states of $`f`$ electrons coexist. We indeed report the existence at ambient pressure of itinerant long-range magnetic correlations with magnetic moments of $`0.02\mu _\mathrm{B}`$ and a spectral weight in the megahertz range. A quantitative understanding of this state is moreover reached assuming that these correlations involve only long wavelength fluctuation modes.

UGe2 is a ferromagnet with a Curie temperature $`T_\mathrm{C}52`$ K which crystallizes in the orthorhombic ZrGa2 crystal structure (space group Cmmm) . Magnetic measurements indicate a strong magnetocrystalline anisotropy  with easy magnetization axis along the $`𝐚`$ axis.

We present results obtained by the muon spin relaxation ($`\mu `$SR) technique. Fully polarized muons are implanted into the studied sample. Their spin (1/2) evolves in the local magnetic field, $`𝐁_{\mathrm{loc}}`$, until they decay into positrons. Since the positron is emitted preferentially in the direction of the muon spin at the decay time, it is possible to follow the evolution of the muon spin polarization . The measured physical parameter is the so-called asymmetry which characterizes the anisotropy of the positron emission. Below $`T_\mathrm{C}`$, if $`𝐁_{\mathrm{loc}}`$ has a component perpendicular to the initial muon beam polarization, $`𝐒_\mu `$ (taken parallel to $`Z`$), we expect the asymmetry to display spontaneous oscillations with an amplitude maximum for $`𝐁_{\mathrm{loc}}𝐒_\mu `$. On the other hand, if $`𝐁_{\mathrm{loc}}𝐒_\mu `$, the asymmetry can be written as the product of an initial asymmetry related to sample, $`a_\mathrm{s}`$, and the muon spin relaxation function, $`P_Z(t)`$, which monitors the dynamics of $`𝐁_{\mathrm{loc}}`$.

UGe2 crystals were grown from a polycrystalline ingot using a Czochralski tri-arc technique . We present results for two samples. Each consists of pieces cut from the crystals, put together to form a disk and glued on a silver backing plate. They differ by the orientation (either parallel or perpendicular) of the $`𝐚`$ axis relative to the normal to the sample plane. The measurements were performed at the EMU spectrometer of the ISIS facility, from 5 K up to 200 K, mostly in zero-field. Additional $`\mu `$SR spectra were recorded with a longitudinal field.

We found that the temperature dependence of $`a_\mathrm{s}`$ for $`𝐒_\mu 𝐚`$ is consistent with $`𝐁_{\mathrm{loc}}𝐚`$. In agreement with that conclusion, a spontaneous muon spin precession resulting in wiggles in the asymmetry is observed for $`𝐒_\mu 𝐚`$. Defining $`T_\mathrm{C}`$ as the temperature at which the wiggles disappear, we found $`T_\mathrm{C}`$ = 52.49 (2) K. This value coincides with the maximum of the relaxation rate (to be evidenced below) for $`𝐒_\mu 𝐚`$ and $`𝐒_\mu 𝐚`$.

In this letter we focus on the description of data taken around the Curie point.

All the spectra were analyzed as a sum of two components: $`aP_Z^{\mathrm{exp}}(t)=a_\mathrm{s}P_Z(t)+a_{\mathrm{bg}}`$. The first component describes the $`\mu `$SR signal from the sample and the second accounts for the muons stopped in the background, i.e. the cryostat walls and sample holder. In zero-field, for all relevant temperatures and for the two orientations of $`𝐒_\mu `$ relative to $`𝐚`$, $`P_Z(t)`$ is well described by an exponential function: $`P_Z(t)`$ = $`\mathrm{exp}(\lambda _Zt)`$ where $`\lambda _Z`$ measures the spin-lattice relaxation rate at the muon site. An example is shown in Fig. 1. $`a_{\mathrm{bg}}`$, which is basically temperature independent, was measured for $`𝐒_\mu 𝐚`$ and $`T<T_\mathrm{C}`$ as the constant background signal. We got $`a_{\mathrm{bg}}`$ = 0.077 . For $`𝐒_\mu 𝐚`$, it could only be estimated from the sample size since the relaxation was never strong enough to measure it directly. We took $`a_{\mathrm{bg}}`$ = 0.064. The uncertainty on this $`a_{\mathrm{bg}}`$ leads to an uncertainty on the absolute value of $`\lambda _Z(𝐒_\mu 𝐚)`$ of $`10\%`$.

In Fig. 2 we display $`\lambda _Z(T)`$ measured in zero-field for $`𝐒_\mu 𝐚`$ and $`𝐒_\mu 𝐚`$. For both geometries, $`\lambda _Z(T)`$ exhibits a maximum at $`T_\mathrm{C}`$. It is due to the critical slowing down of the spin dynamics. Surprisingly the anisotropy between the orientations is very weak although UGe2 is known to be extremely anisotropic . Furthermore we show in the following lines that $`\lambda _Z(T)`$ near $`T_C`$ is quantitatively understood in the framework of the Heisenberg model with dipolar interactions, whereas UGe2 is considered as an Ising system. The magnetic signal that we observe has therefore a different origin than the well documented uranium magnetic state observed e.g. by macroscopic measurements.

$`\lambda _Z(T)`$ has been computed several years ago  for the critical regime of dipolar Heisenberg ferromagnets and has been successfully compared to experiments . It is based on the derivation of the static and dynamical scaling laws from mode coupling theory . The two scaling variables at play depend on two material parameters: $`\xi _0`$, the magnetic correlation length at $`T=2T_\mathrm{C}`$, and $`q_D`$, the dipolar wave vector which is a measure of the strength of the exchange interaction relative to the dipolar energy. This model initially derived for the paramagnetic phase applies also below $`T_C`$ .

Specifically, the model predicts that $`\lambda _Z(T)`$ = $`𝒲[a_\mathrm{L}I^\mathrm{L}(T)+a_\mathrm{T}I^\mathrm{T}(T)]`$ where $`I^{\mathrm{L},\mathrm{T}}`$  are scaling functions obtained from mode coupling theory and $`a_{\mathrm{L},\mathrm{T}}`$ are parameters determining respectively the amount of longitudinal (L) and transverse (T) fluctuations probed by the measurements. The L,T indices denote the orientation relative to the wave vector of the fluctuation mode. $`a_{\mathrm{L},\mathrm{T}}`$ only depend on muon site properties. The result of the fit of $`\lambda _Z(T)`$ is shown in the inserts of Fig. 2. The divergence of $`\lambda _Z`$ at $`T_\mathrm{C}`$ is strongly reduced by the effect of the dipolar interaction . The temperature scale gives the product $`q_\mathrm{D}\xi _0`$ . For $`𝐒_\mu 𝐚`$, we get $`q_\mathrm{D}\xi _0`$ = 0.021 (2), and for $`𝐒_\mu 𝐚`$, $`q_\mathrm{D}\xi _0^+`$ = 0.043 (2) and $`q_\mathrm{D}\xi _0^{}`$ = 0.020 (2). The index $`+`$ ($``$) on $`\xi _0`$ specifies that we consider the paramagnetic (ferromagnetic) state. $`\xi _0(𝐒_\mu 𝐚)>\xi _0(𝐒_\mu 𝐚)`$ in the paramagnetic state, suggesting that the magnetic correlations are somewhat anisotropic. The fact that $`\xi _0^+>\xi _0^{}`$ is an expected feature . The relaxation rate scale yields $`𝒲^+a_\mathrm{L}`$ = 0.140 (4) MHz and $`𝒲^{}a_\mathrm{L}`$ = 0.20 (2) MHz for $`𝐒_\mu 𝐚`$. The transverse contribution to $`\lambda _Z`$ for both $`T<T_\mathrm{C}`$ and $`T>T_\mathrm{C}`$ is more difficult to estimate since $`a_\mathrm{T}`$ is found much lower than $`a_\mathrm{L}`$. Reasonable fits are obtained with $`a_\mathrm{T}/a_\mathrm{L}`$ = 0.036 (14). We have computed $`a_\mathrm{L}`$ and $`a_\mathrm{T}`$ for different possible muon sites and found only one site satisfying $`a_\mathrm{T}<a_\mathrm{L}/2`$. This is site $`2b`$ (in Wyckoff notation) of coordinates (0, 1/2, 0) for which $`a_\mathrm{L}`$ = 1.2486, $`a_\mathrm{T}`$ = 0.0386. We then deduce $`𝒲^+`$ = 0.112 (3) MHz and $`𝒲^{}`$ = 0.161 (16) MHz. The scale deduced from the measurements with $`𝐒_\mu a`$ is about twice as large, pointing out again to the weak anisotropy of the magnetic correlations.

In order to further characterize the relaxation near $`T_\mathrm{C}`$, we performed at a given temperature longitudinal field measurements for the two orientations of $`𝐒_\mu `$ relative to $`𝐚`$. The field responses for the two geometries are similar. An illustration is given in Fig. 1. Surprisingly, the spectra are field dependent at extremely low $`B_{\mathrm{ext}}`$, proving that the probed magnetic fluctuations are quasi-static (fluctuation rate in the MHz range) and since $`\lambda _Z`$ is small, the associated magnetic moment must be small as well. Quantitatively, the field dependence of $`P_Z(t)`$ can not be described consistently either by a simple exponential relaxation form (see the lower panel of Fig. 1) nor by a relaxation function computed with the strong collision model assuming an isotropic Gaussian component field distribution . On the other hand, the relaxation is well explained if we assume that the distribution of the local field at the muon, $`B_{\mathrm{loc}}`$, is squared-Lorentzian . We write $`P_Z(t)`$ = $`P_Z(\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{Lor}},\nu _f,t)`$ where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{Lor}}`$ characterizes the width of the field distribution and $`\nu _f`$ its fluctuation rate . A global fit of the spectra ($`B_{\mathrm{ext}}`$ = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0 and 2.0 mT) taken at a given temperature is possible. For $`𝐒_\mu 𝐚`$ at $`T`$ = 52.59 (2) K, the description of the seven spectra is done with $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{Lor}}`$ = 70 $`\mu `$T and $`\nu _f`$ = 0.10 MHz. For $`𝐒_\mu 𝐚`$ at $`T`$ = 52.47 (2) K the two parameters are $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{Lor}}`$ = 40 $`\mu `$T and $`\nu _f`$ = 0.50 MHz: the zero-field spectra have therefore been recorded in the motional narrowing limit ($`\nu _f/(\gamma _\mu \mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{Lor}})>1`$ where $`\gamma _\mu `$ is the muon gyromagnetic ratio; $`\gamma _\mu `$ = 851.6 Mrad s-1T-1). This justifies the formalism used to treat $`\lambda _Z(T)`$ close to $`T_\mathrm{C}`$.

We now present an interpretation of our results.

We first note that the detected fluctuations can not arise directly from the localized uranium $`5f`$ electrons since $`\nu _f`$ would then be in the THz window as estimated from $`\nu _fk_\mathrm{B}T_\mathrm{C}/\mathrm{}`$, rather than in the MHz range as measured. We also already mentioned that the observed $`\mu `$SR signal has not the properties expected from the known macroscopic properties. These apparently conflicting results can be understood if the $`5f`$ electrons are viewed as two electron subsets. This picture has already been argued for UCu5  and UPd2Al3 . However, for UGe2 the signatures of both subsets are found at a single temperature, the Curie temperature, whereas for UCu5 and UPd2Al3 the temperatures at which the two subsets are detected are far apart. So UGe2 presents a novel variant of the two electron subset model. Within this picture, the anisotropy of the magnetization arises from the localized $`5f`$ spectral density and the magnetic fluctuations probed by $`\mu `$SR is a signature of the band-like electrons. We do not detect the signature of the localized $`5f`$ electrons, because of the strong motional narrowing of the related relaxation rate. It is observed for the ferromagnet YbNiSn; see Ref. .

The effect of the dipolar interaction on the quasi-elastic linewidth, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(q)`$, of the fluctuations has already been observed for the weak itinerant ferromagnet Ni3Al . In particular, at criticality $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(q)q^{5/2}`$, as expected from scaling . Thus it is not completely surprising to detect its influence on $`\lambda _Z(T)`$ for the band-like electrons of UGe2. Quantitatively, the data have been described in the established framework of critical dynamics . We shall now prove that the detected magnetization density arises entirely from long wavelength, i.e. small $`q`$, fluctuations. The magnetic properties of weak itinerant ferromagnets are explained with the latter hypothesis . In our model the values of $`𝒲`$ and $`\nu _f`$ and of the magnitude of the band-like uranium magnetic moment, $`m_\mathrm{U}`$, are controlled by two wavevectors: $`q_\mathrm{D}`$ already introduced and the cut-off wavevector, $`q_c`$, which sets the upper bound for the wavevector of the fluctuations involved in the build-up of the magnetization density. For simplicity we consider that the magnetic properties of this electronic subset are isotropic. We shall detail the analysis of the data taken with $`𝐒_\mu 𝐚`$. The same approach works equally well for the data recorded with $`𝐒_\mu 𝐚`$. As explained below, we get an overall consistent picture setting $`q_\mathrm{D}=1.0\times 10^3`$ Å-1 and $`q_c=0.1`$ Å-1.

The magnetization arising from the conduction electrons can be viewed as a stochastic variable with a variance $`(\delta )^2`$. From the fluctuation-dissipation (Nyquist’s) theorem , $`(\delta )^2`$ obeys the sum rule

$`(\delta )^2={\displaystyle \frac{3k_\mathrm{B}T}{2\pi ^2\mu _0}}{\displaystyle _0^{q_c}}\chi (q)q^2dq,`$ (1)
if the energy of the magnetic fluctuations is smaller than the thermal energy. $`\mu _0`$ is the permeability of free space. Assuming an Ornstein-Zernike form for the wavevector dependent susceptibility, $`\chi (q)`$, and since $`q_\mathrm{D}`$ is very small, $`(\delta )^2`$ $`3k_\mathrm{B}Tq_\mathrm{D}^2q_c/(2\pi ^2\mu _0)`$. Since $`m_\mathrm{U}=v_0\sqrt{(\delta )^2}`$ where $`v_0`$ is the volume per uranium atom ($`v_0`$ = 61.6 Å3), we infer $`m_\mathrm{U}=0.02\mu _\mathrm{B}`$ at $`T_\mathrm{C}`$. Interestingly, the analysis of polarized neutron scattering data suggests for the conduction electrons a magnetic moment of $`0.04(3)\mu _\mathrm{B}`$ at low temperature .

The scale $`𝒲`$ for $`\lambda _Z`$ can then be computed within the framework presented above. Numerically, from Eq. 5.10c of Ref. , we get $`𝒲`$ = 0.16 MHz, close to the measured values. With the same theory, $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Gamma }(q)=\mathrm{\Omega }q^{5/2}`$ with $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ = 18 meVÅ2.5 at criticality and for small $`q_\mathrm{D}`$ (see Eq. 4.14b of Ref. ). Since the measured dynamics is mainly driven by the fluctuations at $`q_\mathrm{D}`$ , we estimate $`\nu _f\mathrm{\Gamma }(q_\mathrm{D})`$ = 0.87 MHz, not far from the measured value.

We now discuss the magnitude of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{Lor}}`$. If the distribution of $`B_{\mathrm{loc}}`$ was Gaussian, the zero-field width of the distribution would be $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{Gauss}}`$ = 1.7 mT for muon at site $`2b`$, and $`m_\mathrm{U}=0.02\mu _\mathrm{B}`$ computed using the Van Vleck type formalism of Ref.. However the distribution is squared-Lorentzian rather than Gaussian. Such a distribution is observed in systems with diluted and disordered magnetic moments . According to Uemura et al. , $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{Lor}}=\sqrt{\pi /2}c\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{Gauss}}`$ where $`c`$ is the concentration of moments at the origin of the distribution. This relation leads to $`c`$ = 1.9 %, consistent with the usual fact that a tiny fraction of the total number of valence electrons are able to contribute to the magnetic susceptibility.

From the $`q_\mathrm{D}`$ value we derive the exchange interaction. We obtain $`2𝒥=k_\mathrm{B}T_\mathrm{C}/4.2`$ (see Eq. 4.4b of Ref.  and Ref. ). For comparison, the same method gives $`2𝒥/k_\mathrm{B}T_\mathrm{C}=1/11`$ and $`1/20`$ for metallic Fe and Ni, respectively. Therefore the evaluation of the exchange energy is quite reasonable. From the measured product $`q_\mathrm{D}\xi _0^+`$, we get $`\xi _0^+43`$ Å. This means that the interaction between the itinerant magnetic moments is relatively long-range, even far outside the critical regime. Although about an order of magnitude larger than for conventional ferromagnets, $`\xi _0^+`$ compares favorably with the neutron result for Ni3Al: $`\xi _0^+`$ = 24 (9) Å. For the same compound, we derive from  that $`q_c`$ = 0.2 Å-1, a value twice as large as found for UGe2. The moment carried by the itinerant electrons is about four times smaller for UGe2 than for Ni3Al . Nearest neighbor U atoms form zigzag chains parallel to $`𝐚`$ . This may lead to magnetic frustration and thus explains the disordered nature of the distribution of $`B_{\mathrm{loc}}`$. A proper understanding of the origin of the squared-Lorentzian distribution requires more work.

One may question the uniqueness of our interpretation. We first note that the observed $`\lambda _Z`$ can not arise from an impurity phase since the measured critical dynamics occurs right at the well known Curie temperature of UGe2. It could be argued that the observed signal is the signature of a weak disorder in the uranium magnetic moments. This has already been seen in UAs  where the $`\mu `$SR signal below the Néel temperature has been attributed to a diluted source of small magnetic moments. Their quasi-static nature is related to the absence of spin excitations. However, the moments we observe in UGe2 are quasi-static even above $`T_\mathrm{C}`$.

In conclusion we have shown that at ambient pressure UGe2 is a dual system where an electronic subset of itinerant states coexist with the subset of localized $`5f`$ electrons responsible for the well known bulk magnetic properties. Its associated magnetic moment is quite small and characterized by a very slow spin dynamics. A quantitative picture for that subset is achieved by assuming that only fluctuations at long wavelength are at play. It would be of interest to follow the small moment itinerant state as a function of pressure to determine whether the Cooper’s pairs arise from it. However, it seems difficult to perform that task with $`\mu `$SR, unless the spin-lattice relaxation rate increases appreciably at high pressure.


text:
# FeH Absorption in the Near-Infrared Spectra of Late M and L Dwarfs

## 1 Introduction

Absorption bands due to FeH are ubiquitous in the red and near-infrared (0.7 $`<`$ $`\lambda `$ $`<`$ 1.3 $`\mu `$m) spectra of late-type dwarfs. The most conspicuous FeH feature is the bandhead of the Wing-Ford band (Wing & Ford 1969) at 0.99 $`\mu `$m which arises from the 0$``$0 ($`\upsilon ^{}\upsilon ^{\prime \prime }`$) transition of the $`F`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Delta }X`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Delta }`$ system. Schiavon et al. (1997) obtained moderate-resolution spectra (R$``$13,000) of a sample of early to mid M stars to study the dependence of the Wing-Ford band on atmospheric parameters. Their spectra show that absorption features due to FeH dominate the spectra of the M dwarfs from 0.9850 to 1.0200 $`\mu `$m. Other bandheads of this electronic system have also been detected in the spectra of late-type dwarfs including the 2$``$0 at 0.7786 $`\mu `$m (Tinney & Reid 1998), the 1$``$0 at 0.8692 $`\mu `$m (Kirkpatrick et al. 1999; Martín et al. 1999), the 2$`1`$ at 0.902 $`\mu `$m (Tinney & Reid 1998), the 0$``$1 at 1.1939 $`\mu `$m (Jones et al. 1996; McLean et al. 2000; Leggett et al. 2001; Reid et al. 2001), and the 1$``$2 at 1.2389 $`\mu `$m (McLean et al. 2000; Leggett et al. 2001; Reid et al. 2001).

In a recent study of infrared sunspot spectra, Wallace & Hinkle (2001, hereafter WH) identified 68 lines common to both a sunspot spectrum and a laboratory spectrum of FeH between 1.581 and 1.755 $`\mu `$m. In addition, they identified four bandheads in the FeH spectrum at 1.58263, 1.59118, 1.62457, and 1.61078 $`\mu `$m. Based on the theoretical work of Langhoff & Bauschlicher (1990), they tentatively assigned this band to the 0$``$0 transition of the $`E`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Pi }A`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Pi }`$ system.

WH noted that three of the bandheads, at 1.58263, 1.59118, 1.62457 $`\mu `$m, could be seen in the low-resolution spectra of late M and L dwarfs (e.g., Leggett et al. 2001). These bandheads probably account for the three unidentified absorption features in the spectra of L dwarfs at 1.58, 1.613, and 1.627 $`\mu `$m reported by Reid et al. (2001). WH also obtained a high-resolution (R=50,000), 70 Å-wide spectrum of GJ 569B (M8.5 V) centered at 1.6578 $`\mu `$m and identified 13 lines common to both the dwarf spectrum and FeH spectrum. At least in this narrow wavelength range, the dwarf spectrum was dominated by FeH absorption lines.

In the course of conducting a 0.8 to 4.2 $`\mu `$m spectroscopic survey of M, L and T dwarfs, we have identified numerous weak absorption features throughout the near-infrared spectra of the M and L dwarfs. In an attempt to determine the origin of these features, and motivated by the work of WH, we have compared our spectra to a laboratory FeH emission spectrum to determine whether FeH produces these absorption features.

In this paper, we present medium-resolution $`z`$-, $`J`$\- and $`H`$-band spectra of four late-type dwarfs with spectral types ranging from M8 to L7.5 along with the identification of nearly 100 FeH absorption features. In §2, we discuss the dwarf spectra while in §3 we discuss the FeH spectrum. In §4 we compare the FeH spectrum and the dwarf spectra and in §5 we discuss our results. Our conclusions are summarized in §6.

## 2 M and L Dwarf Spectra

As part of a infrared spectroscopic survey of $``$20 M, L, and T dwarfs, three of us (M.C.C., J.T.R., and W.D.V.) have obtained spectra of VB 10 (M8 V), 2MASS 1439$`+`$1929 (L1 V), 2MASS 1507$``$1627 (L5 V), and 2MASS 0825+2115 (L7.5 V) using SpeX on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. The resolving power, R, of the spectra is $``$2000 except for 2MASS 0825+2115 for which R$``$1200. The spectral classification of the L dwarfs is from Kirkpatrick et al. (1999). The observing strategy and data reduction techniques can be found in Cushing et al. (in preparation). The signal-to-noise of the spectra is $`>`$50.

We use A0 V stars as telluric standards and as a result, care must be taken in removing the strong hydrogen absorption lines from their spectra. The standard procedure to remove intrinsic stellar lines is to interpolate across them using continuum points on either side of the lines. Although this process works well for isolated lines in regions where the atmospheric transmission is flat, it can introduce severe artifacts into the final spectra if performed in regions where there are many overlapping stellar lines and/or the atmospheric transmission is varying rapidly (Burgasser et al. 2002, Figure 3.14). Our telluric correction method uses a high-resolution model spectrum of Vega to remove the intrinsic spectrum of the A0 V standards.

An example of the process is shown in Figure 1 which shows the $`H`$-band spectrum of the A0 V standard for VB 10 (lower spectrum), the resulting telluric correction spectrum (middle spectrum), and the theoretical atmospheric transmission for an airmass of 1.5 and 1.6 mm of precipitable water vapor as computed with ATRAN (Lord 1992). We have also indicated the positions of the Brackett lines. Our telluric correction process removes the hydrogen lines in the A0 V star to a level of $`<`$2% above the continuum and leaves only the atmospheric transmission and instrument response function. The telluric correction spectrum is then divided into the dwarf spectra to remove telluric absorption and the instrument response function. The telluric correction process does not introduce artifacts into the dwarf spectra.

## 3 FeH Spectrum

One of us (S.P.D.) obtained the laboratory FeH spectrum using a King furnace at a temperature of 2700 K and the Fourier Transform Spectrometer at the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak. The furnace sample was powdered iron and the filling gas was hydrogen at a pressure of 500 Torr. It is possible that water and other contaminants could produce additional absorption features in the resulting spectrum. To avoid this, an enclosed optical path was set up using large bore glass tubing that was flushed with flowing nitrogen. The spectrometer was set to a resolution width of 0.040 cm-1 which is equivalent to a resolving power R$``$150,000 at 1.6 $`\mu `$m.

A close examination of the spectrum from 0.96 to 2.00 $`\mu `$m verified that the lines analyzed by Phillips et al. (1987) were present, and accounted for all the strong emission lines between 0.78 and 1.34 $`\mu `$m. Unidentified lines outside this region were assumed to be FeH because they showed the same line shapes and widths as those of identified lines. There were two regions of unidentified absorption lines in the spectrum, interspersed with the emission lines and centered at 1.13 and 1.95 $`\mu `$m. None of the data in this paper covers regions that included absorption lines.

In the data-reduction process, the continuous background from the furnace was subtracted off, and the emission line spectrum set to a baseline of zero intensity. The observed line widths were twice the instrumental resolution width, owing somewhat to the high temperature but mostly to the high pressure of hydrogen. In order to compare the FeH spectrum to the dwarf spectra, we have degraded the resolution of the FeH spectrum to match that of the dwarf spectra by convolving it with a Gaussian of FWHM = 5.4, 6.5, and 8.1 Å, the resolution of our observations in the $`z`$, $`J`$, and $`H`$ bands, respectively.

## 4 Comparison of FeH and Dwarf Spectra

In the following sections, we compare $`z`$-, $`J`$-, and $`H`$-band spectra of the 4 dwarfs to the FeH spectrum. In addition to lowering the resolution of the FeH spectrum to R=2000 (see §2), we have resampled it onto the wavelength grid of the dwarf spectra. The vacuum wavelengths of the FeH features in the $`z`$, $`J`$, and $`H`$ bands are given in Table 1. Since we cannot resolve individual FeH lines with a resolution of $`R`$2000, all of the the FeH features listed in Table 1 are blends of FeH lines.

### 4.1 $`z`$ Band Comparison

Figure 2 shows the $`z`$-band spectrum of FeH and VB 10 in the lower and upper panels, respectively. The FeH absorption features in this spectral region arise primarily from the 0$``$0 band of the $`F`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Delta }X`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Delta }`$ system. The strongest feature in the dwarf and FeH spectrum is the bandhead of the 0$``$0 band at 0.988 $`\mu `$m. We also have identified 33 absorption features redward of this bandhead which are present in the dwarf spectrum and in the FeH spectrum and have listed them in Table 1.

The feature at 1.0060 $`\mu `$m arises from the the $`F`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Delta }_{7/2}^{}X`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Delta }_{7/2}^{}`$ Q-branch (Phillips et al. 1987). Phillips et al. (1987) also identified another weaker Q-branch of the ($`F`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Delta }_{5/2}^{}X`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Delta }_{5/2}^{}`$) at 0.997904 $`\mu `$m which we cannot unambiguously identify. There are also three broad features in the VB 10 spectrum at 0.99513, 1.03490 and 1.06664 $`\mu `$m which have no counterparts in the FeH spectrum. The feature at 1.03490 $`\mu `$m is most likely a blend of the Fe $`a`$ 5P2 $``$ $`z`$ 5F$`{}_{}{}^{}{}_{3}{}^{}`$ line at 1.0343720 $`\mu `$m, the Ca 4$`p`$ 1P1 $``$ 5$`s`$ 1S4 line at 1.0346646 $`\mu `$m and the two weak FeH features at 1.03398 and 1.03554 $`\mu `$m. This broad features disappears in the spectra of the mid L dwarfs revealing the two weaker FeH features. The other two features at 0.99513 and 1.06664 $`\mu `$m remain unidentified because their shapes and relative strengths do not match the FeH features at those wavelength.

Figure 3 shows the $`z`$-band spectra of the four dwarfs. The 33 features are indicated with dotted lines. The bandhead, Q-branch, and 33 features are present in all of the dwarf spectra except for 2MASS 0825$`+`$2115 (L7.5 V) in which the features are either absent or considerably weaker. This dramatic weaking of the 0$``$0 band is consistent with the recent finding of Burgasser et al. (2002) and will be discussed in §5.

### 4.2 $`J`$ Band Comparison

Figure 4 shows the $`J`$-band spectrum of FeH and VB 10 in the lower and upper panels, respectively. We believe the FeH features in this spectral region arise from the 0$``$1 and 1$``$2 bands of the $`F`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Delta }X`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Delta }`$ system. The most prominent features are the bandheads of the 0$``$1 and 1$``$2 bands at 1.1939 and 1.2389 $`\mu `$m, respectively. There are also some atomic absorption features seen in the dwarf spectrum namely the K I 4$`p`$ 2P $``$ 5$`s`$ 2S multiplet at 1.2432 and 1.2522 $`\mu `$m, the Al I 4$`s`$ 2S $``$ 4$`p`$ 2P multiplet at 1.3117 and 1.3154 $`\mu `$m and the $`a`$ 5P3 $``$ $`z`$ 5D$`{}_{4}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{}`$ Fe line at 1.1976 $`\mu `$m.

The features at 1.20907, 1.21126, 1.21348 and 1.22210 $`\mu `$m were previously identified as FeH absorption features by Jones et al. (1996). We have identified the feature at 1.22210 $`\mu `$m as the $`F`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Delta }_{7/2}^{}X`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Delta }_{7/2}^{}`$ Q-branch (Phillips et al. 1987). In addition we have identified 24 new features which are present in the dwarf spectrum and in the FeH spectrum and have listed them in Table 1 along with the four features identified by Jones et al. (1996). The FeH features between 1.2 and 1.235 $`\mu `$m arise from the 0$``$1 band while the features longward of 1.24 $`\mu `$m arise from the 1$``$2 band although some P-branch lines from the 0$``$1 band are also present.

Figure 5 shows the $`J`$-band spectra of the four dwarfs. The 28 features are indicated with dotted lines. The bandheads, Q-branch, and 28 features are again present in all of the dwarf spectra except for 2MASS 0825$`+`$2115 (L7.5 V) where the features are either weaker or absent.

### 4.3 $`H`$ Band Comparison

Figure 6 shows the $`H`$-band spectra of FeH and VB 10 in the lower and upper panels, respectively. We believe the absorption features in this spectral region are caused by FeH and arise from the 0$``$0 band of the $`E`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Pi }A`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Pi }`$ system. Three of the four bandheads identified by Wallace & Hinkle (2001) at 1.58263, 1.59118, 1.62457 $`\mu `$m are clearly present. We have identified 34 features, 32 of which are new, that are present in the VB 10 spectrum and in the FeH spectrum and have listed them in Table 1. Two of the feautures at 1.65512 and 1.66100 $`\mu `$m are blends of the 13 FeH lines identified in the spectrum of GJ 569B by Wallace & Hinkle (2001). There is also a strong absorption feature at 1.64053 $`\mu `$m which has no counterpart in the FeH spectrum and remains unidentified. This feature is located within a much broader absorption feature which does appear in the FeH spectrum.

Figure 7 shows the $`H`$-band spectra of the 4 late-type dwarfs along with the location of the 34 features described above and three of the four bandheads identified by Wallace & Hinkle (2001). The three bandheads and 34 features are conspicuous in all of the dwarf spectra except for 2MASS 0825+2115 (L7.5 V) where the FeH features are considerably weaker. This is consistent with the weakening of the FeH absorption features in both the $`z`$\- and $`J`$-band and is further evidence that FeH is the cause of most of the absorption seen in the $`H`$-band spectra of late-type dwarfs.

## 5 Discussion

Our results indicate FeH is an important opacity source in the atmospheres of late-type dwarfs from 0.99 to 1.7 $`\mu `$m. Not only does FeH produce at least 6 bandheads in this wavelength range, but now nearly 100 weaker features which are presumably blends of numerous individual absorption lines. Although Wallace & Hinkle (2001) found that FeH absorption is present in the $`H`$-band spectra of late-type dwarfs, their detections were limited to the three bandheads and 13 lines in a narrow 70 Å-wide spectrum. We have shown that medium-resolution dwarf spectra from 1.56 to 1.76 $`\mu `$m consist of numerous absorption features, almost all of which are due to FeH. Likewise, the 0.99 to 1.1 $`\mu `$m dwarf spectra consist of numerous absorption features which are also almost all caused by FeH.

As noted in §4, the FeH absorption features throughout the near-infrared spectra of 2MASS 0825$`+`$2115 (L7.5 V) are either much weaker than the earlier L dwarfs or absent entirely. Burgasser et al. (2002) have also found that the Wing-Ford band at 0.99 $`\mu `$m weakens and then disappears in mid to late L dwarfs. This is consistent with Fe condensing out of the atmosphere and forming a cloud layer which drops below the photosphere with decreasing effective temperature thus removing Fe-bearing molecules (FeH) from the layers above the cloud layer. However, they also find that the bandhead reappears in the early to mid T dwarfs. Since this is inconsistent with the scenario just described, Burgasser et al. (2002) propose holes are present in the cloud layer which allow the observer to see to deeper and thus hotter layers where FeH is not depleted. Unfortunately, we cannot test whether the FeH features in the $`J`$\- and $`H`$-band spectra will reappear in early T dwarf spectra since strong methane absorption features appear in both the $`J`$\- and $`H`$-band at these low effective temperatures and will mask any FeH features that may be present.

The appearance of two CrH bandheads of the $`A`$ $`{}_{}{}^{6}\mathrm{\Sigma }_{}^{+}`$ $``$ $`X`$ $`{}_{}{}^{6}\mathrm{\Sigma }_{}^{+}`$ system at 0.86 (0$``$0) and 0.99685 (0$``$1) $`\mu `$m are a defining characteristic of the L spectral type. In fact, a spectral index based on the 0$``$0 bandhead is used to spectral type L dwarfs in the red-optical (Kirkpatrick et al. 1999). We question the identification of the 0$``$1 bandhead at 0.997 $`\mu `$m since there are three FeH absorption features at this wavelength that are apparent in the spectra of the mid M to late L dwarfs. This may explain the scatter in the spectral index defined using the 0$``$1 bandhead (Kirkpatrick et al. 1999). Only higher resolution spectra will be able to determine to what extent the 0$``$1 CrH bandhead is present.

Finally, it should be noted that the opacities for FeH used in current atmospheric models are known to be incorrect (P. Bernath et al., in preparation). In addition, an analysis similar to that of Phillips et al. (1987) has yet to be performed on the new $`E`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Pi }A`$ $`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{\Pi }`$ system identified by Wallace & Hinkle (2001). Atmospheric models are necessary to determine the effective temperature scale for late-type dwarfs and until the correct FeH opacities are included in these models, obtaining good fits between the observations and models near FeH features may be difficult. Fortunately, there is work currently under way to revise the FeH opacities (P. Bernath et al., in preparation). Once this work is completed, it should also be possible to constrain the abundance of FeH in the atmospheres of late-type dwarfs as has recently be done for CrH (Burrows et al. 2002) and CO (Noll et al. 1997).

## 6 Conclusions

We have presented $`z`$-, $`J`$-, and $`H`$-band spectra of four dwarfs with spectral types ranging from M8 to L7.5. Using a laboratory FeH emission spectrum, we have identified nearly 100 FeH absorption features in the dwarf spectra. The $`H`$-band spectra contain 34 features which have counterparts in the FeH spectrum. Taken together with the results of Wallace & Hinkle (2001), our results suggest that FeH absorption dominates the spectra of late-type dwarfs from 1.56 to 1.76 $`\mu `$m.

M. Cushing acknowledges financial support from the NASA Infrared Telescope facility. We obtained the atmospheric transmission data from the Gemini Observatory, http://www.gemini.edu/sciops/ObsProcess/obsConstraints/ocTransSpectra.html. We thank Sandy Leggett for useful discussions. This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France as well as the Online Brown Dwarf Catalog (http://ganymede.nmsu.edu/crom/cat.html), which is compiled and maintained by Christopher R. Gelino at New Mexico State University. Finally we thank the referee, P. C. Stancil, for his useful suggestions.