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# Length Scales of Acceleration for Locally Isotropic Turbulence

## Abstract

Length scales are determined that govern the behavior at small separations of the correlations of fluid-particle acceleration, viscous force, and pressure gradient. The length scales and an associated universal constant are quantified on the basis of published data. The length scale governing pressure spectra at high wave numbers is discussed. Fluid-particle acceleration correlation is governed by two length scales; one arises from the pressure gradient, the other from the viscous force.

preprint: Phys Rev Lett - fluid dynamics

Accelerations in turbulent flow are violent LaPortaetal  and are important to many types of studies. Experiments in which particles are tracked in turbulence have found accelerations as large as 1500 times that of gravity and have quantified the probability density of accelerations to show that extreme events are likely because the accelerations are highly intermittent LaPortaetal . Understanding turbulent accelerations is essential to many studies, including dispersion and settling of particles in turbulence Taylor35 alternate , other interactions of bubbles and particles in turbulence alternate , effects on flying insects LaPortaetal , pollutant transport Yeung97 , and to the applicability of Taylor’s hypothesis Heskestad Gledzer . Turbulent accelerations are the object of several studies aimed at solving the mystery of rain onset from liquid-water clouds; the accelerations affect collision-coalescence, preferential concentration, and local supersaturation rainman . To advance understanding of turbulent accelerations, the length scales of acceleration correlations are quantified here, and those scales are discussed in connection with the scaling of the pressure spectrum by Gotoh and Fukayama GotohFukay  and the inertial-range scale found for fourth-order velocity structure functions by Kerr et al. KerrMeneGot .

Universal scaling of the small-scales of turbulence and its analogue in other areas of physics are discussed in Ref. SreenAnton97 . The K41 K41  scaling parameters are mean energy dissipation rate $`\epsilon `$ and kinematic viscosity $`\nu `$. Traditional scaling uses K41 scaling of small-scale statistics, and seeks the resultant $`R_\lambda `$ dependence of the scaled statistic AntoniaChamSaty81 SreenAnton97 ; that $`R_\lambda `$ dependence is akin to symmetry breaking. Here, $`R_\lambda u_1^2^{1/2}\lambda _T/\nu `$ is the Reynolds number, where Taylor’s Taylor35  length scale is $`\lambda _T\left[u_1^2/\left(u_1/x_1\right)^2\right]^{1/2}`$ and $`u_1^2`$ is the variance of one component of velocity. Since $`u_1^2`$ is a property of the large-scale structure, so is $`R_\lambda `$. A radical departure from tradition is to deduce scaling relationships from relationships amongst statistics as determined from the equations of motion. That method leads, for example, to the assertion that mean-squared pressure-gradient scales with an integral of the fourth-order velocity structure function Hill2002 ; for such deduced scaling, there is no residual dependence on large-scale parameters Hill2002 . The deductive method is extended herein to the length scales of acceleration. To quantify the deduced length scales, it is necessary here as in Ref. Hill2002  to use existing turbulence phenomenology; that causes both $`\epsilon `$ and $`R_\lambda `$ to appear herein. However, the deductive theory does not explicitly contain K41 scales or $`R_\lambda `$.

The fluid-particle acceleration $`a_i`$ is related to the acceleration caused by the viscous force, $`\nu _𝐱^2u_i`$, and that caused by the pressure gradient, $`_{x_i}p`$, by the Navier Stokes equation: $`a_iDu_i/Dt=_{x_i}p+\nu _{x_n}_{x_n}u_i`$, where $`u_i`$ is the velocity,$`p`$ is pressure divided by fluid density; density is constant. Here, $`_𝐱^2_{x_n}_{x_n}`$ is the Laplacian operator, $``$ denotes differentiation with respect to the subscript variable, summation is implied by repeated Roman indices, Consider two points of measurements, $`𝐱`$ and $`𝐱^{}𝐱+𝐫`$; let $`r\left|𝐫\right|`$, and let prime denote evaluation at $`𝐱^{}`$; e.g., $`p^{}p(𝐱^{},t)`$, $`u_i^{}u_i(𝐱^{},t)`$, etc. Two-point differences are denoted by $`\mathrm{\Delta }ppp^{}`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }u_iu_iu_i^{}`$, etc.; angle brackets, i.e., $``$, denote an average. Let the 1-axis be in the direction of $`𝐫`$ such that the 2- and 3-axes are perpendicular to $`𝐫`$. Taylor’s Taylor35  length scale $`\lambda _T`$ is the length scale of the parabola that osculates the velocity correlation at $`𝐫=0`$. Specifically, for $`𝐫=(r_1,0,0)`$, $`u_1u_1^{}/u_1^2=1\left(r_1/2\lambda _T\right)^2+\mathrm{}`$. We consider the spatial correlation tensors of fluid-particle acceleration $`a_ia_j^{}`$, pressure gradient $`_{x_i}p_{x_j^{}}p^{}`$, and viscous force per unit mass $`\nu _𝐱^2u_i\nu _𝐱^{}^2u_j^{}`$, as well as the pressure structure function $`D_P\left(r\right)\mathrm{\Delta }p^2`$ and spatial spectra. We determine the length scales of those statistics. The length scales considered in this paper are, like $`\lambda _T`$, the length scale of the parabolas that osculate those spatial correlations at $`𝐫=0`$. Unlike $`\lambda _T`$, all the length scales defined here do not depend on a large-scale parameter like $`u_1^2`$.

The considered statistics, $`_{x_i}p_{x_j^{}}p^{}`$, $`D_P`$, etc., are related to the fourth-order velocity structure function (i.e., $`𝐃_{ijkl}\left(𝐫\right)\mathrm{\Delta }u_i\mathrm{\Delta }u_j\mathrm{\Delta }u_k\mathrm{\Delta }u_l`$) in Ref. HillWilczak ; that theory is based on the Navier Stokes equation, incompressibility, and local isotropy, without further assumptions. The theory HillThoroddsen  also relates $`\nu _𝐱^2u_i\nu _𝐱^{}^2u_i^{}`$ to the third-order velocity structure function $`𝐃_{ijk}\left(𝐫\right)\mathrm{\Delta }u_i\mathrm{\Delta }u_j\mathrm{\Delta }u_k`$. The theory has been used to calculate $`_{x_i}p_{x_j^{}}p^{}`$ and $`\nu _𝐱^2u_i\nu _𝐱^{}^2u_i^{}`$ from $`𝐃_{ijkl}`$ and $`𝐃_{ijk}`$, respectively, by means of hot-wire anemometry HillThoroddsen  and from direct numerical simulation (DNS) (see Figs. 12, 13 of Ref. VedulaYeung ), as well as to compare $`D_P`$ calculated from $`𝐃_{ijkl}`$ with $`D_P`$ calculated from DNS pressure fields HillBoratav . The theory also determines the length scales of those statistics, which is the topic here.

Taylor series expansion is used in Ref. HillWilczak  to formulate the scaling lengths of $`_{x_i}p_{x_j^{}}p^{}`$. For brevity, denote the mean-squared pressure gradient by $`\chi _{x_i}p_{x_i}p`$(sum on $`i`$). The longitudinal component of the pressure-gradient correlation is $`_{x_1}p_{x_1^{}}p^{}`$ (the 1-axis is in the direction of $`𝐫`$). Power series expansion of the theory’s HillWilczak  relationship between $`_{x_1}p_{x_1^{}}p^{}`$ and components of $`𝐃_{ijkl}`$ gives

$`_{x_1}p_{x_1^{}}p^{}`$ $`=\left(\chi /3\right)\left(1r^2/2\lambda _1^2+\mathrm{}\right);`$ (1)
$`\lambda _1`$ $`\left[\chi /36\left(_{x_1}u_1\right)^4h_Q\right]^{1/2};`$ (2)
$`h_Q`$ $`1+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{\left(_{x_1}u_2\right)^4}{\left(_{x_1}u_1\right)^4}}3{\displaystyle \frac{\left(_{x_1}u_1\right)^2\left(_{x_1}u_2\right)^2}{\left(_{x_1}u_1\right)^4}}`$ (3)
$`={\displaystyle \frac{7}{16}}\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{\omega _k\omega _ks_{ij}s_{ij}}{\left(s_{ij}s_{ij}\right)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{\left(\omega _k\omega _k\right)^2}{\left(s_{ij}s_{ij}\right)^2}}\right).`$ (4)
Thus, $`\lambda _1`$ is the scaling length for the longitudinal component $`_{x_1}p_{x_1^{}}p^{},`$ analogous with Taylor’s scale. In Eq. (4), $`h_Q`$ is given in terms of 3 of the 4 fourth-order invariants determined by Siggia Siggia81 , where $`s_{ij}`$ is the rate of strain tensor and $`\omega _k`$ is the vorticity. The invariant missing from Eq. (4) is the one that Siggia Siggia81  expected to vary with $`R_\lambda `$ differently than the other 3, so there is no conflict with the expectation expressed in Ref. HillWilczak  that $`h_Q`$ becomes a constant at large Reynolds number. Also, note that $`h_Q=\left(^2p\right)^2/1575\left(s_{ij}s_{ij}\right)^2`$. The corresponding length scale of the transverse component of the pressure gradient correlation is $`3^{1/2}\lambda _1`$ (Ref. HillWilczak  Eq. (61)), and that of $`_{x_i}p_{x_i^{}}p^{}`$ is $`\left(9/5\right)^{1/2}\lambda _1`$. The analogous length scale of $`D_p\left(r\right)`$ is $`\sqrt{6}\lambda _1`$ (Ref. HillWilczak  Eq.(38), et seqq.). The above shows that to cause pressure-gradient correlations to coincide near the origin of a graph, one divides them by $`\chi `$ and uses $`r/\lambda _1`$ on the abscissa; for $`D_P\left(r\right)`$, $`D_P\left(r\right)/\chi \lambda _1^2`$ should be on the ordinate with $`r/\lambda _1`$ on the abscissa. The pressure spectrum is the sine transform of the pressure-gradient correlation \[Ref. HillWilczak , Eqs. (15), (22a)\]. Because $`\lambda _1`$ scales the pressure-gradient correlation at small $`r`$, it follows that to cause pressure spectra to coincide at viscous-range wave numbers, one should divide the spectra by $`\chi \lambda _1^3`$ and use $`k\lambda _1`$ on the abscissa ($`k`$ is wave number). A Reynolds number limitation for this to be so is discussed near the end.

To calculate $`\lambda _1`$ using Eq. (2) we must evaluate $`h_Q`$ using Eqs. (3) or (4). Siggia’s Siggia81  DNS data for $`R_\lambda 60`$ to $`90`$ gives a single value $`h_Q0.28`$. The DNS data of Kerr Kerr85  and the experimental data of Tsinober et al. Tsinoberetal97 , Pearson and Antonia PearsonAntonia , and Zhou and Antonia ZhouAnt00 , can be used to calculate $`h_Q`$; the result is shown in Fig. 1. As suggested by the error bars, the data of Zhou and Antonia do not give a reliable value of $`h_Q`$, but those data are consistent, within experimental error, with the other data. The data of Pearson and Antonia PearsonAntonia  (see their Fig. 7), for which error bars are not available, have scatter similar to those of Ref. ZhouAnt00 . However, by fitting their data to straight lines over a broad range of $`R_\lambda `$, Pearson and Antonia PearsonAntonia  mitigate random error to find that for $`37<R_\lambda <10^3`$, $`\left(_{x_1}u_2\right)^4/\left(_{x_1}u_1\right)^4=5.52`$ and $`\left(_{x_1}u_1\right)^2\left(_{x_1}u_2\right)^2/\left(_{x_1}u_1\right)^4=0.84`$. Use of Eq. (3) then gives $`h_Q=0.32`$; that value is shown as the solid line extending over the range $`37<R_\lambda <10^3`$ in Fig. 1. Note the slight increase of $`h_Q`$ with decreasing $`R_\lambda `$ at $`R_\lambda <20`$. The data of Refs. Kerr85 -PearsonAntonia  are in such good agreement that $`h_Q`$ is probably independent of $`R_\lambda `$ for the range $`20<R_\lambda <10^3`$, wherein $`h_Q0.3`$, and this value might persist for $`R_\lambda \mathrm{}`$.

Because $`\lambda _1`$ is essential for scaling, we next quantify it by means of existing phenomenology. Use of existing phenomenology requires use of the K41 acceleration scale, $`\epsilon ^{3/4}\nu ^{1/4}`$, and introduction of $`\eta \left(\nu ^3/\epsilon \right)^{1/4}`$, $`\epsilon =15\nu \left(_{x_1}u_1\right)^2`$, and $`F\left(_{x_1}u_1\right)^4/\left(_{x_1}u_1\right)^2^2`$ into Eq. (2). Doing so reexpresses (2), without approximation, as

$$\lambda _1=\left(5/2\right)\eta \left(\chi /\epsilon ^{3/2}\nu ^{1/2}\right)^{1/2}\left(Fh_Q\right)^{1/2}.$$
(5)
We emphasize that the theory HillWilczak  does not contain K41 scaling. Use of Eq. (5) leads to asymptotic expressions for $`\lambda _1`$ for high and low $`R_\lambda `$ as follows. On the basis of empirical data for the form of $`D_{1111}\left(r\right)`$, an approximation for $`\chi `$ is $`\chi 3.1H_\chi \epsilon ^{3/2}\nu ^{1/2}F^{0.79}`$ for $`R_\lambda 400`$ Hill2002 . This formula produced quantitative agreement Hill2002  with the DNS data of Refs. VedulaYeung  and GotohFukay  when combined with the data for $`F`$ at high Reynolds numbers from Ref. AntoniaChamSaty81 , namely $`F1.36R_\lambda ^{0.31}`$. Recently, the same DNS data as that of Ref. GotohFukay  have been used to give values of $`F`$ in Ref. GotohFukNak . Those values at $`R_\lambda 400`$ are consistent with $`F1.18R_\lambda ^{0.31}`$. To use $`F1.18R_\lambda ^{0.31}`$ instead of $`F1.36R_\lambda ^{0.31}`$ and to maintain quantitative agreement of $`\chi `$ with the DNS data of Refs. VedulaYeung -GotohFukay , it is necessary to use the coefficient $`3.5`$ instead of $`3.1`$ in $`\chi 3.1H_\chi \epsilon ^{3/2}\nu ^{1/2}F^{0.79}`$. That is, to be consistent with the data of both Refs. GotohFukNak  and GotohFukay , we use, for $`R_\lambda 400`$,

$$\chi 3.5H_\chi \epsilon ^{3/2}\nu ^{1/2}F^{0.79}4.4H_\chi \epsilon ^{3/2}\nu ^{1/2}R_\lambda ^{0.25}.$$
(6)
Evidence that $`H_\chi `$ is a constant for $`R_\lambda 80`$ and that its value is about $`0.65`$ is given in Ref. Hill2002 . For $`H_\chi =0.65`$, Eq. (6) agrees quantitatively with the DNS data in Table 1 of Ref. GotohFukay  for $`R_\lambda 387`$; also, Eq. (6) is a good approximation of the DNS data for $`R_\lambda `$ as small as $`200`$. Substitute Eq. (6) in Eq. (5) to obtain, for $`R_\lambda >400`$,

$$\lambda _14.7\eta \left(H_\chi /F^{0.21}h_Q\right)^{1/2}6.8\eta R_\lambda ^{0.033}.$$
(7)
For the right-most expression in Eq. (7), $`H_\chi =0.65`$, $`h_Q=0.3`$, and $`F1.18R_\lambda ^{0.31}`$ were used. For the case of low Reynolds numbers, Ref. Hill2002  obtains

$$\chi 0.11\epsilon ^{3/2}\nu ^{1/2}R_\lambda \text{ for }R_\lambda 20,$$
(8)
which agrees with the DNS data of Ref. VedulaYeung . For low Reynolds numbers, use Eq. (8) in Eq. (2) to obtain

$$\lambda _10.83\eta \left(R_\lambda /Fh_Q\right)^{1/2}\text{ for }R_\lambda <20.$$
(9)
None of Eqs. (6) to (9) is K41 scaling because of their $`R_\lambda `$ dependence. Figure 2 shows $`\lambda _1`$ increasing relative to $`\eta `$ as $`R_\lambda `$ increases from $`9`$ to attain a maximum near $`R_\lambda 150`$, beyond which $`\lambda _1`$ gradually decreases relative to $`\eta `$ in agreement with Eq. (7).

We now consider the spatial correlation of the viscous force because it it is part of the fluid-particle correlation as well as of intrinsic interest HillAlternativ . The spatial correlation of $`\nu _𝐱^2𝐮`$ is HillThoroddsen HillAlternativ :

$`V_{ij}\left(𝐫\right)`$ $``$ $`\nu ^2_𝐱^2u_i_𝐱^{}^2u_i^{}={\displaystyle \frac{\nu ^2}{2}}_𝐫^2_𝐫^2D_{ij}\left(𝐫\right)`$ (10)
$`=`$ $`\left(\nu /4\right)_𝐫^2_{r_k}D_{ijk}\left(𝐫\right),`$ (11)
where $`_𝐫^2`$ is the Laplacian operator in $`𝐫`$-space. Then, for the longitudinal components of $`V_{ij}\left(𝐫\right)`$, Eq. (11) yields HillThoroddsen

$`V_{11}\left(r\right)`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\nu /2r^3\right)\text{[}D_{111}\left(r\right)+2D_{122}\left(r\right)`$ (12a)
$`5r_rD_{122}\left(r\right)r^2_r^2D_{122}\left(r\right)\text{]}.`$
A similar formula applies to the transverse component $`V_{22}\left(r\right)`$ HillThoroddsen . Power series expansion gives $`D_{111}\left(r\right)=\left(_{x_1}u_1\right)^3r^3\left[1\left(r^2/\left(2\lambda _{D_{111}}^2\right)\right)+\mathrm{}\right]`$, where
$$\lambda _{D_{111}}=\left[\frac{4\left(_{x_1}u_1\right)^3}{3\left(_{x_1}^2u_1\right)^2_{x_1}u_1+2\left(_{x_1}u_1\right)^2_{x_1}^3u_1}\right]^{1/2}.$$
(13)
Then, Eq. (12a) yields

$$V_{11}\left(r\right)=\frac{35}{6}\nu \left(_{x_1}u_1\right)^3\left[1\left(r^2/2\lambda _{V_{11}}^2\right)+\mathrm{}\right],$$

where $`\lambda _{V_{11}}=\lambda _{D_{111}}/\sqrt{18/5}`$ is the length scale of the osculating parabola of $`V_{11}\left(r\right)`$. The corresponding expansions of the transverse component of $`V_{ij}\left(𝐫\right)`$ and $`V_{ii}\left(r\right)`$ give length scales $`\lambda _{V_{11}}/\sqrt{2}`$ and $`\lambda _{V_{11}}/\sqrt{5/3}`$, respectively. Kolmogorov’s equation can relate the velocity-derivative moments in Eq. (13) to other high-order derivative moments; this gives the same result as would beginning with the relationship of $`V_{ij}\left(𝐫\right)`$ to $`D_{ij}\left(𝐫\right)`$ in Eq. (10). The difficulty of observing the initial fall-off of $`V_{11}\left(r\right)`$, and hence its length scale $`\lambda _{V_{11}}`$ is clearly illustrated in Fig. 3 of Ref. HillThoroddsen  and Fig. 13 of Ref. VedulaYeung  and their discussions; one requires a spatial resolution substantially finer than $`\eta `$. Such fine resolution data is not yet available. The high-order derivative moments in the denominator of Eq. (13) likewise require fine spatial resolution; their Reynolds-number dependence has not been investigated, but it would be surprising if they obey K41 scaling.

Despite these difficulties, we can obtain the $`r`$-values at which $`V_{11}\left(r\right)/V_{11}\left(0\right)=0.5`$, and similarly for the transverse component, from the graphs of those correlation coefficients in Fig. 13 of Ref. VedulaYeung ; the $`r`$-values are $`3.5\eta `$ and $`2.5\eta `$ for longitudinal and transverse components, respectively. Limited to $`R_\lambda =230`$ of the DNS run in Fig. 13 of Ref. VedulaYeung , $`3.5\eta `$ and $`2.5\eta `$ are the first estimates of these length scales. It is not suggested that these length scales maintain fixed ratio to $`\eta `$ as $`R_\lambda `$ varies.

The fluid-particle acceleration correlation is HillWilczak

$$A_{ij}\left(𝐫\right)a_ia_j^{}=_{x_i}p_{x_j^{}}p^{}+V_{ij}\left(𝐫\right).$$
(14)
As a result of the differing length scales of $`_{x_i}p_{x_j^{}}p^{}`$ and $`V_{ij}\left(𝐫\right)`$, the theory requires that the initial fall-off of the longitudinal component $`A_{11}\left(r\right)`$ be described by two length scales; the same is true for the transverse component and for $`A_{ii}\left(r\right)`$. For example, consider the trace $`A_{ii}\left(r\right)`$ and $`R_\lambda =230`$. From the above discussion we have $`\lambda _{V_{11}}=3.5\eta `$ such that $`\lambda _{V_{ii}}=\lambda _{V_{11}}/\sqrt{5/3}=2.7\eta `$. From Fig. 2 at $`R_\lambda =230`$ we have that the length scale of $`_{x_i}p_{x_i^{}}p^{}`$ is $`\sqrt{9/5}\lambda _1=7.6\eta `$. Also, $`V_{ii}\left(0\right)/\chi =0.015`$ at $`R_\lambda =230`$ Hill2002 VedulaYeung . Thus, $`A_{ii}\left(r\right)`$ has an initial rapid but small-amplitude decay (1.5% of the total) from $`V_{ii}\left(r\right)`$, having scale $`2.7\eta `$, followed by the larger amplitude and more gradual decay of $`_{x_i}p_{x_i^{}}p^{}`$ with scale $`7.6\eta `$. It is not implied that the two length scales maintain fixed ratio as $`R_\lambda `$ varies; the example above is for $`R_\lambda =230`$.

We noted above that to cause pressure spectra to coincide at viscous-range wave numbers, one should divide the spectra by $`\chi \lambda _1^3`$ and use $`k\lambda _1`$ on the abscissa. However, the Reynolds number must be large enough that, at high wave numbers, the pressure spectrum has negligible contributions from the sine transform of the pressure-gradient correlation at$`r`$ on the order of the integral scale. How large is large enough? From the pressure spectra from isotropic DNS shown in Fig. 5 of Gotoh and Fukayama GotohFukay , where $`k\eta `$ is the abscissa, combined with the weak variation of $`\lambda _1/\eta `$ shown in Fig. 2 for $`100<R_\lambda <400`$, it seems that $`R_\lambda 200`$ is large enough. Of course, no such limitation applies to scaling of $`_{x_i}p_{x_j^{}}p^{}`$ and $`D_p\left(r\right)`$ with the parameters $`\chi `$ and $`\lambda _1`$.

Kerr et al. KerrMeneGot  identify, by empirical means, a length scale within the inertial range of fourth-order velocity structure functions ($`𝐃_{ijkl}\left(𝐫\right)`$) such that scaling exponents should be determined only from $`r`$ greater than that scale. In the inertial range, the divergence of $`𝐃_{ijkl}\left(𝐫\right)`$ equals the pressure-gradient velocity-velocity structure function which is, in turn, related to $`A_{ij}\left(𝐫\right)`$ (Eqs. 9, 10, A4, A5 of Ref. hillBor01 ). Taylor series expansion of those relationships shows that $`\lambda _1`$ is a scale of, at least, linear combinations of the nonzero components of $`𝐃_{ijkl}\left(𝐫\right)`$. From Fig. 2 of Ref. KerrMeneGot , their empirical scale is about 5 times $`\lambda _1`$; on the other hand, $`\lambda _1`$ is only the initial roll-off of $`_{x_i}p_{x_j^{}}p^{}`$. Further work is needed to establish a causal relationship between the scales, if one exists.

The theory HillWilczak  predicts the scaling with $`\chi `$ that was found empirically in Refs. VedulaYeung  and GotohFukay . Even for large Reynolds numbers, dividing $`_{x_1}p_{x_1^{}}p^{}`$ by $`\chi `$ and $`D_P\left(r\right)`$ by $`\chi \lambda _1^2`$ and similarly for pressure spectra is not K41 scaling. The approximation Eq. (6) contains, in addition to K41 scaling parameters, the factor $`F`$ and thereby dependence on $`R_\lambda `$. The deviation of both $`\chi `$ and $`F`$ from K41 scaling is large for large variations of Reynolds number. Whether or not $`\lambda _1/\eta `$ continues the weak downward trend shown in Fig. 2 or becomes constant as $`R_\lambda \mathrm{}`$ is also a topic for further investigation, as is the relationship of $`\eta `$ to the viscous-force scale $`\lambda _{V_{11}}`$.


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# Vacuum Structure of the Ichimatsu-Decomposed Lattice Models

## 1 MOTIVATION

The lattice realization of super Yang-Mills theory has been considered very difficult though highly desirable as a non-perturbative formulation. In our previous work and talk , we reported the presence of exact fermionic symmetries on the ‘Ichimatsu’ lattice, a novel lattice. If the symmetries survive in the continuum limit, they would be related to a supersymmetry if not to the BRS symmetry.

From the equation presented shortly, we know that the fermionic symmetries cannot survive on the ordinary lattice. Therefore it is of crucial importance to study the continuum limit on the ‘Ichimatsu’ lattice.

## 2 CELL+PIPE MODEL

Plaquettes on the regular lattice gauge theory are decomposed into two sets:

(i) plaquettes on cell
$`U_{n,\mu \nu }`$ on $`\{n_\mu +n_\nu 0(mod2)\}`$;

(ii) plaquettes on pipe
$`U_{n,\mu \nu }`$ on $`\{n_\mu +n_\nu 1(mod2)\}`$.

One a $`(\mu ,\nu )`$ plane, one finds an alternating or chequered pattern and it is called as an ‘Ichimatsu’ pattern . The fields of the Ichimatsu lattice theory are link variables, $`U_{n,\mu }`$, as the gauge field, and a real staggered fermion, $`\xi _n`$, as the fermion field.

The gauge action of our model (cell+pipe) is

$$S_{\mathrm{gauge}}=\frac{\beta _c}{2}\underset{\mathrm{on}\mathrm{cell}}{}\mathrm{Tr}U_{n,\mu \nu }\frac{\beta _p}{2}\underset{\mathrm{on}\mathrm{pipe}}{}\mathrm{Tr}U_{n,\mu \nu }.$$

The fermionic symmetry transformation of the fermion field is written as

$$\delta \xi _n(1\frac{\beta _p}{\beta _c})\underset{0<\mu <\nu }{}()^{n_\mu +n_\nu }(C_{n,\mu \nu }^{(+)}+C_{n,\mu \nu }^{()})F_{n,\mu \nu }$$

where $`C_{n,\mu \nu }^\pm `$ are Grassman-odd parameters.

It should be emphasized that on the usual regular lattice ($`\beta _c=\beta _p`$), the transformation goes down to $`O(a)`$. Therefore it is important to study the dynamical properties on the two-couplings space ($`\beta _p,\beta _c`$). From now on, we switch off fermion effects in our model and concentrate on the vacuum structure of the gauge sector.

## 3 EXPECTED PROPERTIES OF OUR MODEL

### 3.1 Mean Field Approximation

We take a link variable $`<U_{n,\mu }>=v_\mu `$ as a mean field. This approximation is not gauge-invariant and it is useful only in the first view of the phase diagram.

The results are

(1) There exists an exact duality under $`(\beta _c,\beta _p)(\beta _p,\beta _c)`$, that is, the partition functions are invariant under the interchange of couplings;

$$Z_{\mathrm{MF}}(\beta _c,\beta _p)=Z_{\mathrm{MF}}(\beta _p,\beta _c).$$

(2) In the cell model (defined by putting $`\beta _p=0`$) and the pipe model ($`\beta _c=0`$), phase transitions occur.

These results are independent of the spatial dimension and the gauge group. A rough sketch of the diagram is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Phase diagram of cell+pipe model in mean field approximation.

### 3.2 Analytical Results

1. Regular lattice gauge theory ($`\beta _c=\beta _p=\beta `$)

When $`\beta _p=\beta _c=\beta `$, our model becomes a usual regular lattice gauge theory. On the regular lattice, the 3D $`Z_2`$ gauge theory has a phase transition point while the 4D SU(2) gauge theory has a crossover point.

2. Four phase boundaries

In order to understand the phase diagram, it is necessary to analyse the limiting cases, $`\beta _c\mathrm{or}\beta _p0\mathrm{or}\mathrm{}`$. We can obtain analytical results for these limiting cases. In the cell model, $`\beta _p=0`$, the system is decomposed to a finite degrees of freedom and it is exactly solvable. The pipe model, $`\beta _c=0`$, is equivalent to one plaquette model and is also exactly solvable. Both cases have no phase transition contrary to the result of the mean field approximation.

In $`\beta _p\mathrm{or}\beta _c\mathrm{}`$, plaquettes on cell or pipe are strongly connected. The dynamics for these situations is not known and the numerical analysis is necessary.

3. Possibility of the continuum limit and its phase transition

To take the continuum limit of our model, we must avoid the phase transition point or line. If we go across the singularity, then we miss the information on the vacuum, such as confinement. If one want to be consistent with confinement and asymptotic freedom, the phase diagram must be smoothly connected between the weak and strong coulping regions.

## 4 PHASE DIAGRAM FOR ICHIMATSU PATTERN LATTICE

### 4.1 3D Z2 Case

The action is written as

$$S=\beta _c\underset{\mathrm{plaq}.\mathrm{on}\mathrm{cell}}{}UUUU\beta _p\underset{\mathrm{plaq}.\mathrm{on}\mathrm{pipe}}{}UUUU$$

where $`U`$ is a link variable taking the values, $`\pm 1`$. Note the normalisation of the coupling constants differs from the SU(2) case. For the regular lattice ($`\beta _c=\beta _p=\beta `$), it is found that there occurs the 2nd order phase transition at $`\beta =0.76`$ obtained by the analysis of the equivalent Ising spin. We have simulated 3D Z2 cell+pipe model for the size, $`4^3,8^3`$ and $`16^3`$.

Fig. 2. 3D plot for ($`\beta _p,\beta _c`$, specific heat) in 3D Z2model.

From Fig. 2, we can see that the phase transition point is extended to the connected pipe ($`\beta _c\mathrm{},\beta _p=0.55`$) model and the connected cell ($`\beta _p\mathrm{},\beta _c=0.38`$) model.

The phase diagram for 3D Z2 model is obtained in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Phase diagram for 3D Z2 model.

### 4.2 4D SU(2) case

For lattice size, $`8^4,12^4,16^4`$, we calculated the internal energy and the specific heat. In Fig. 4a, we show a crossover behaviour ($`\beta _p=\beta _c2.0`$) on a regular lattice and a sharp peak of the specific heat for the connected cell model in Fig. 4b.

Fig. 4a. A crossover in the regular lattice model.

Fig. 4b. A peak of specific heat at $`\beta _c=25`$.

Our simulations are consistent with the following statements: 1) the peak in Fig. 4b is that of the 2nd order phase transition; 2) no peak is present in the connected cell model; 3) a crossover line extends to $`(\beta _p\mathrm{},\beta _c0)`$.

## 5 SUMMARY AND DISCUSSIONS

To consider exact fermionic symmetries on lattice, we decomposed all plaquettes into two sets, the cell and pipe. The vacuum structure of the gauge sector was investigated to study its continuum limit.

Phase diagrams of 3D Z2 and 4D SU(2) models were studied. We found a ‘corridor’ (singularity free region) between strong coupling and weak coupling regions for 4D SU(2) case (Fig. 5); the diagram is a single phase. The 3D Z2 model has two phases.

Fig. 5. Phase diagram for 4D SU(2) model.

This is our first non-perturbative result on an ‘Ichimatsu’ lattice gauge theory. Further results along this direction will be reported in the forthcoming paper.


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# Dynamically Stabilized Bright Solitons in a Two-Dimensional Bose-Einstein Condensate

## Abstract

We demonstrate that matter-wave bright solitons can be stabilized in 2D free space by causing the strength of interactions to oscillate rapidly between repulsive and attractive by using, e.g., Feshbach resonance.

A pendulum with an oscillating pivot can have a stable configuration with its bob situated above the pivot (the inverted pendulum Landau ). This well-known but surprising phenomenon is attributed to a net stabilizing force produced by alternating stabilizing and destabilizing forces at a frequency much faster than the natural oscillation frequency of the fixed-pivot pendulum. Similar physics has been employed to focus beams of charged particles in a synchrotron (alternating-gradient focusing Feynman ) and to trap ions in the Paul trap Dehmelt . In this Letter, we present a novel application of such a stabilizing mechanism to producing bright solitons in a two-dimensional (2D) Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). By a ‘bright’ soliton we mean a stable, solitary wave whose density is greater than the background one.

In 1D, when the interatomic interaction is attractive, bright solitons can be stabilized even without a trapping potential Khay ; Strecker . In 2D or 3D free space, however, the kinetic pressure and the attractive force cannot balance, and the condensate always collapses or expands. This can be understood by the following simple argument. When the characteristic size of the condensate is $`R`$, the kinetic and interaction energies are proportional to $`R^2`$ and $`R^d`$ in $`d`$ dimensions, and an effective potential for $`R`$ is the sum of these energies. The effective potential, therefore, has a minimum only for $`d=1`$. Here we present a novel method to stabilize solitons in 2D by causing the interaction to oscillate rapidly using, e.g., Feshbach resonance Inouye ; Cornish .

The system considered here is a BEC confined in a quasi-2D axisymmetric trap Gorlitz , where the axial confinement energy $`\mathrm{}\omega _z`$ is much larger than the radial confinement and interaction energies. We assume that the condensate wave function $`\psi `$ is always in the ground state of the harmonic potential with respect to the $`z`$ direction, and that the dynamics are effectively 2D in the $`x`$-$`y`$ plane; we will justify these assumptions later. We let the radial confinement frequency $`\omega _{}(t)`$ and the s-wave scattering length $`a(t)`$ vary in time. The system is then described by the Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation:

$$i\frac{\psi }{t}=\frac{1}{2}^2\psi +\frac{\omega _{}^2(t)}{2}r^2\psi +g(t)|\psi |^2\psi ,$$
(1)
where $`r^2x^2+y^2`$ and $`g(t)(8\pi m\omega _z/\mathrm{})^{1/2}Na(t)`$ describes the strength of interactions. In Eq. (1), length, time, frequency, and $`\psi `$ are measured in units of $`d_0[\mathrm{}/(m\omega _0)]^{1/2}`$, $`\omega _0^1`$, $`\omega _0`$, and $`N^{1/2}/d_0`$, where $`\omega _0\omega _{}(0)`$.

We make the strength of interaction oscillate rapidly at frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. The oscillation of the scattering length with $`\mathrm{\Omega }\omega _{}`$ is studied in Ref. Abdul  in a different context. Experimentally, the speed of the change in the strength of interaction using Feshbach resonance is limited by that of the applied magnetic field $`1`$ G/$`\mu `$Claussen , which is sufficient for our purpose. In order to avoid nonadiabatic disturbances that destabilize a soliton state, we gradually switch on interaction and simultaneously turn off the radial confinement potential as follows

$`g(t)`$ $`=`$ $`f(t)(g_0+g_1\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Omega }t),`$ (2)
$`\omega _{}^2(t)`$ $`=`$ $`1f(t),`$ (3)
where $`f(t)`$ is a ramp function

$$f(t)=\{\begin{array}{cc}t/T\hfill & (0tT)\hfill \\ 1\hfill & (t>T).\hfill \end{array}$$
(4)
The interaction and the potential can be changed independently using an optical trap and magnetic-field-induced Feshbach resonance.

We numerically solve the GP equation (1) with time-dependent parameters (2)-(4) using the Crank-Nicholson scheme Ruprecht . The initial state is assumed to be the noninteracting ground state in the presence of the radial confinement potential with $`\omega _0`$. We gradually increase the strength of interaction and switch off the trap according to the linear ramp (4) with $`T=20`$. Figure 1 demonstrates the dynamic stabilization of a soliton in 2D, where the parameters used are $`g_0=2\pi `$, $`g_1=8\pi `$, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }=40`$ \[Fig. 1 (a)\] and $`\mathrm{\Omega }=30`$ \[Fig. 1 (b)\].

Since the value of $`g_0=2\pi `$ exceeds the critical strength of attractive interaction for the collapse $`g_{\mathrm{cr}}5.8`$ Adhikari , the condensate would collapse if the oscillating term $`g_1\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Omega }t`$ were absent. Even after the radial confinement potential vanishes ($`t>20`$), the soliton shape is maintained as shown in the insets of Fig. 1. The plots of the peak density $`|\psi (r=0)|^2`$ and the monopole moment $`r=r|\psi |^2𝑑𝐫`$ rapidly oscillate at frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. We note here that the dynamics of BEC can be separated into two parts: a rapidly oscillating part with small amplitude and a slow, smoothly varying part. After the rapid oscillations are averaged out, the width and the peak density are fairly constant as seen in Fig. 1 (a). However, when the nonadiabaticity of ramp function $`f(t)`$ is not negligible, the lowest breathing mode (but no other radial modes) is excited as illustrated in Fig. 1 (b), where the breathing mode is caused by an effective potential due to the oscillating interaction \[see Eqs. (9)-(11)\]. The amplitude of the excitation decreases with increasing ramp time $`T`$. Such excitations can be suppressed by choosing the appropriate ramp functions for $`g(t)`$ and $`\omega _{}(t)`$. We have confirmed that no symmetry-breaking mode grows in the azimuthal direction. The system is therefore free from such modulational instabilities.

We checked the validity of the quasi-2D approximation by numerically integrating the GP equation in 3D axisymmetric systems with large asymmetry parameters $`\omega _z/\omega _{}50`$, and found that soliton stabilization occurs without axial modes being excited. Our prediction of dynamically stabilizing bright solitons in 2D is, therefore, experimentally feasible with an oblate trap as realized by the MIT group Gorlitz .

To understand the behavior in Fig. 1, we employ the variational method with a Gaussian wave function Garcia ; SaitoA ; Abdul

$$\psi (r,t)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi }R(t)}\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{r^2}{2R^2(t)}+i\frac{\dot{R}(t)}{2R(t)}r^2\right],$$
(5)
where $`R(t)`$ is the variational parameter characterizing the size of the condensate, and the imaginary term in the exponent describes mass current. Substituting Eq. (5) into the action that derives the GP equation (1) and minimizing the action with respect to $`R(t)`$, we obtain the equation of motion for $`R(t)`$ as

$$\ddot{R}(t)=\frac{1}{R^3(t)}+\frac{g_0+g_1\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Omega }t}{2\pi R^3(t)},$$
(6)
where we set $`f(t)=1`$. We separate $`R(t)`$ into the slowly varying part $`R_0(t)`$ and the rapidly oscillating part $`\rho (t)`$ as $`R(t)=R_0(t)+\rho (t)`$ Landau . When $`\mathrm{\Omega }1`$, $`\rho (t)`$ becomes of the order of $`\mathrm{\Omega }^2`$, and we keep the terms of the order of up to $`\mathrm{\Omega }^2`$ in the following analysis. Substituting this $`R(t)`$ into Eq. (6), we obtain the equations of motion for the rapidly and slowly varying parts as

$`\ddot{\rho }(t)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{g_1}{2\pi R_0^3(t)}}\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Omega }t,`$ (7)
$`\ddot{R_0}(t)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{g_0+2\pi }{2\pi R_0^3(t)}}{\displaystyle \frac{3g_1}{2\pi R_0^4(t)}}\overline{\rho (t)\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Omega }t},`$ (8)
where the overline indicates the time average of the rapid oscillation. Equation (7) yields $`\rho (t)=g_1/[2\pi \mathrm{\Omega }^2R_0^3(t)]\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Omega }t`$. Substituting this into Eq. (8), we obtain the equation of motion for the slowly varying part as

$$\ddot{R_0}=\frac{}{R_0}\left(\frac{g_0+2\pi }{4\pi R_0^2}+\frac{g_1^2}{16\pi \mathrm{\Omega }^2R_0^6}\right)\frac{U(R_0)}{R_0}.$$
(9)
The minimum of the effective potential $`U`$ is attained at

$$R_{\mathrm{min}}^4=\frac{3g_1^2}{4\pi \mathrm{\Omega }^2(g_0+2\pi )},$$
(10)
and the frequency of small oscillations (breathing mode) around the minimum is given by

$$\omega _{\mathrm{br}}^2=\frac{8\mathrm{\Omega }^2}{3g_1^2}(g_0+2\pi )^2.$$
(11)
The Gaussian approximation thus indicates that a soliton is stable for $`g_0<2\pi `$.

The physical mechanism of soliton stabilization can be understood from the above discussion. In the inverted pendulum, the interplay between the micromotion of the bob and the force gradient (i.e., stronger oscillating force for larger deviation from the equilibrium position) produces a pseudopotential. Since the pseudopotential is proportional to the square of the amplitude of the oscillating force Landau , a potential barrier is formed around the equilibrium position, thereby preventing the pendulum from swinging down. Such a mechanism also stabilizes a BEC in a double-well potential with oscillating interaction Ab2000  and an optical beam propagating in nonlinear medium with an alternating nonlinearity Towers . In the present case, the oscillating “force” for $`R`$ is given by $`g_1\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Omega }t/(2\pi R^3)`$, which becomes larger for smaller $`R`$. This force gradient and the micromotion of $`R`$ produce a pseudopotential proportional to the square of the “force” $`R^6`$, which prevents the system from collapsing by counteracting the $`R^2`$ term that describes the attractive interaction.

In order to stabilize the soliton, $`|g_0|`$ must exceed the critical value of collapse, $`|g_{\mathrm{cr}}|5.8`$, which is smaller than that of the Gaussian approximation, $`|g_{\mathrm{cr}}|=2\pi `$, since the Gaussian wave function underestimates the peak density SaitoA . In fact, the GP equation predicts that a soliton state for $`g_0=2\pi `$ is stable (Fig. 1). Although the Gaussian approximation does not accurately describe the exact soliton stability condition, Eqs. (10) and (11) capture the $`g_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ dependences of $`R_{\mathrm{min}}`$ and $`\omega _{\mathrm{br}}`$. Figure 2 (a) illustrates the monopole moment $`r`$ versus $`(g_1/\mathrm{\Omega })^{1/2}`$, where the circles are obtained by varying $`g_1`$ and the squares by varying $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$.

We note that the plots are fairly well proportional to $`(g_1/\mathrm{\Omega })^{1/2}`$, in agreement with Eq. (10). Figure 2 (b) shows the frequencies $`\omega _{\mathrm{br}}`$ of the slow oscillations \[as shown in Fig. 1 (b)\] versus $`\mathrm{\Omega }/g_1`$. The plots are linear in $`\mathrm{\Omega }/g_1`$, which is consistent with Eq. (11).

The appropriate parameter range for stabilizing solitons with size $`R1`$ is found to be $`0.4g_1/\mathrm{\Omega }1.2`$ and $`g_02\pi `$ for $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ much larger than the breathing-mode frequency $`\omega _{\mathrm{br}}`$. For $`\mathrm{\Omega }10`$, the rapid oscillations are disturbed by nonadiabatic slow dynamics, and the soliton becomes unstable. In analogy with the inverted pendulum problem, this corresponds to a situation in which, the pendulum bob falls a long way during a single pivot cycle at a low pivot oscillation frequency. Thus, the effective force fails to stabilize the pendulum bob. When $`g_1/\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is small or $`|g_0|`$ is large, the effective force is not sufficient to prevent the atoms from accumulating at the center. As a result, the peak density first grows, the condensate then expands due to the $`R^6`$ potential, and subsequently most of the expanded atoms accumulate at the center due to the $`R^2`$ potential. Thus, the condensate repeatedly contracts and expands. In each expansion, atoms that are elastically scattered with high energy cannot return to the soliton region due to the absence of the external confinement potential, and the condensate gradually decays.

We next consider the case in which two or more solitons coexist. The effective interaction between solitons depends on their relative phase Gordon . Figure 3 shows the dynamics of solitons with $`g(t)=2\pi +8\pi \mathrm{sin}40t`$.

In Figs. 3 (a) and (c), a weak radial confinement $`\omega _{}^2=0.1\omega _0^2`$ is added to keep the solitons from flying away. The initial states are taken to be $`\psi _{\mathrm{sol}}(x+3,y)\psi _{\mathrm{sol}}(x3,y)`$ in Figs. 3 (a) and (b), where $`\psi _{\mathrm{sol}}`$ is the wave function of a single soliton prepared as in Fig. 1 (a). When two solitons have phases differing by $`\pi `$, they repel each other and oscillate at frequency $`2\omega _{}`$ \[Fig. 3 (a)\]. This situation is similar to the quasi-1D experiment performed by the Rice group Strecker , where adjacent solitons repel each other due to the $`\pi `$-phase difference. When two solitons have the same phase, they approach each other without the confinement potential, and merge into one condensate, which then expands \[Fig. 3 (b)\].

The repulsive interaction between solitons in 2D might suggest that a stable “soliton lattice” can be formed without an external periodic potential. However, this is not the case. Figure 3 (c) shows time evolution of a “soliton lattice,” where initially the adjacent solitons have phases differing by $`\pi `$ and their configuration is slightly perturbed to a rhombus to examine the stability against lattice distortion. There is a dynamical instability such that diagonal solitons merge, which is followed by complicated dynamics. In the presence of a periodic potential, such alternative-phase structures are shown to be both stable in 1D Bronski  and unstable, but can survive for a long time with appropriate parameters, in 2D and 3D Deconinck . In order to study the stability of our system in a periodic potential, we inserted the “plug” (an external potential such as $`e^{4r^2}`$) between diagonal solitons, and found that the lattice structure survives for a long time.

In conclusion, we have demonstrated that matter-wave bright solitons can be stabilized in 2D free space by oscillating the strength of the interaction around an attractive value $`g_0<g_{\mathrm{cr}}`$ with an amplitude $`g_1>|g_0|`$. The rapid oscillation of interaction produces an effective barrier that prevents the condensate from collapsing and stabilizes solitons. The interaction between solitons can be either repulsive or attractive, depending on their relative phase, and for repulsive interaction a soliton lattice can be stabilized using an optical plug. This novel technique of increasing dimensions of matter-wave bright solitons might be applied for quantum information processing using BEC solitons on a microchip substrate Hansel . It merits further study to examine whether BEC “droplets” in 3D can be created with the appropriate parameters and ramp schemes.

This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Grant No. 11216204) and Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture of Japan, by the Toray Science Foundation, and by the Yamada Science Foundation.


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# Length-based conjugacy search in the braid group

## 1. Introduction

Assume that $`G`$ is a nonabelian group. The following problem has a long history and many applications (see ).

###### Problem 1.1 (Generalized Conjugacy Search Problem).

Given elements $`b_1,\mathrm{},b_nG`$ and their conjugations by an unknown element $`xG`$,

$$xb_1x^1,xb_2x^1,\mathrm{},xb_nx^1,$$

find $`x`$ (or any element $`\stackrel{~}{x}G`$ such that $`\stackrel{~}{x}b_i\stackrel{~}{x}^1=xb_ix^1`$ for $`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$.)

In the sequel, we will not make any distinction between the actual conjugator $`x`$ and any other conjugator $`\stackrel{~}{x}`$ yielding the same results.

The *braid group* $`B_N`$ is the group generated by the $`N1`$ *Artin generators* $`\sigma _1,\mathrm{},\sigma _{N1}`$, with the relations

$`\sigma _i\sigma _{i+1}\sigma _i`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _{i+1}\sigma _i\sigma _{i+1},`$
$`\sigma _i\sigma _j`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _j\sigma _i\text{ when }|ij|>1`$
Information on the basic algorithms in the braid group is available in  and the references therein. We will focus on the case where $`G`$ is the subgroup of $`B_N`$ generated by given elements $`a_1,\mathrm{},a_m`$. A solution of the generalized conjugacy problem in this case immediately implies the vulnerability of several cryptosystems introduced in , and the methods of solution may be applicable to several other cryptosystems from .

### History, motivation, and related work

The length-based approach to the Conjugacy Problem was suggested by Hughes and Tannenbaum in , as a potential attack on the cryptosystems introduced in . Based on , Garrett  has doubted the security of these cryptosystems. But soon afterwards he published an errata withdrawing these doubts (see ). The reason was that no known realization of Hughes and Tannenbaum’s scheme (i.e., definition of actual, effective length functions) was given before, and in particular, the success probability of this approach could not be estimated. The purpose of the current paper is to introduce and compare several such realizations, and provide actual success probabilities for specific parameters.

We stress that we are not interested here in the best possible solution of the generalized conjugacy problem, but rather in settling the debate concerning the applicability of the Hughes-Tannenbaum length-based approach to the problem.

Other approaches appear in  and turn out more successful. However, the length-based approach has several advantages: First, one does not need to know the conjugated element in order to find the conjugator using this approach, and second, it essentially deals with *arbitrary equations*. The current paper gives the foundations of this approach, on which we build in , where an extension of this approach is suggested and good success rates are achieved for arbitrary equations.

Some of the citations of the present paper (see ) refer to its preliminary draft , which contains much more details and examples. We have tried to make the present version concise.

### Length-based attacks

Throughout this paper we make the following assumptions:

1. The conjugator $`x`$ belongs to a given finitely generated subgroup of $`B_N`$, whose generators

$$\{a_1,\mathrm{},a_m,a_1^1,\mathrm{},a_m^1\}$$

are given,
2. $`x`$ was generated as a product of a fixed, known number of generators $`a_i^{\pm 1}`$ chosen at random from the set of generators;
3. We are given elements

$$xb_1x^1,\mathrm{},xb_nx^1$$

where each $`b_iB_N`$ is generated by some (nontrivial) random process, and we wish to find $`x`$.

We try to find the conjugator $`x`$ by using the property that for an appropriate, efficiently computable *length function* $`\mathrm{}`$ defined on $`B_N`$, $`\mathrm{}(a^1ba)`$ is usually greater than $`\mathrm{}(b)`$ for elements $`a,bB_N`$. Therefore, we try to reveal $`x`$ by peeling off generator after generator from the given braid elements $`xb_1x^1,\mathrm{},xb_nx^1`$: Assume that

$$x=g_1g_2\mathrm{}g_k,$$

where each $`g_i`$ is a *generator*. We fix some *linear order* $``$ on the set of all possible $`n`$-tuples of lengths, and choose a generator $`g`$ for which the lengths vector

$$\mathrm{}(g^1xb_1x^1g),\mathrm{},\mathrm{}(g^1xb_nx^1g)$$

is minimal with respect to $``$. With some nontrivial probability, $`g`$ is equal to $`g_1`$ (or at least, $`x`$ can be rewritten as a product of $`k`$ or fewer generators such that $`g`$ is the first generator in this product), so that $`g^1x=g_2\mathrm{}g_k`$ is a product of fewer generators and we may continue this way, until we get all $`g_i`$’s forming $`x`$.

If one is capable of doing $`O((2m)^t)`$ computations, it is better to check all possibilities of $`g_1\mathrm{}g_t`$ by peeling off $`g_1\mathrm{}g_t`$ from $`x`$ and choosing the $`t`$-tuple which yielded the minimal lengths vector. We will call this approach *look ahead of depth $`t`$*.

In order for any of the above to be meaningful, we must define the length function $`\mathrm{}`$ and the linear ordering $``$. We will consider several candidates for these.

## 2. Realizations of the length function

We assume that each generator $`a_i`$ is obtained by taking a product of some fixed number of (randomly chosen) Artin generators, to whom we refer as the “length” of the generators. Unless otherwise stated, in all of our experiments the length of each element $`a_i`$ is $`10`$. By a *generator* we mean either an element $`a_i`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},m`$, or its inverse. We will (informally) write $`|x|=n`$ when we mean that $`x`$ was generated by a product of $`n`$ generators chosen at random (with uniform distribution) from the list of $`2m`$ generators $`a_1,\mathrm{},a_m,a_1^1,\mathrm{},a_m^1`$.

### 2.1. The length function $`\mathrm{}`$

The *Garside normal form* of an element $`wB_N`$ is the unique presentation of $`w`$ in the form $`\mathrm{\Delta }_N^rp_1\mathrm{}p_k`$, where $`r0`$ is minimal and $`p_1,\mathrm{},p_k`$ are permutation braids in left canonical form . Using the Garside normal form, one can assign a “length” to each $`wB_N`$ efficiently .

###### Definition 2.1.

The *Garside length* of an element $`wB_N`$, $`\mathrm{}_\mathrm{G}(w)`$, is the number of Artin generators needed to write $`w`$ in its Garside normal form. If the Garside normal form of $`w`$ is $`\mathrm{\Delta }_N^rp_1\mathrm{}p_k`$, then

$$\mathrm{}_\mathrm{G}(w)=r\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{N}{2}\right)+\underset{i=1}{\overset{k}{}}|p_i|,$$

where $`|p|`$ denotes the length of the permutation $`p`$.111The length of a permutation $`p`$ is the number of order distortions in $`p`$, that is, pairs $`(i,j)`$ such that $`i<j`$ and $`p(i)>p(j)`$.

The problem with this function is that it is not close enough to being monotone with $`|x|`$: One has to multiply many generators before an increase in the length function is observed. The left part of Figure 1 shows, for a fixed word $`b`$, $`\mathrm{}_\mathrm{G}(xbx^1)`$ as a function of $`|x|`$. Its right part shows the *average* of $`\mathrm{}_\mathrm{G}(xbx^1)`$ computed over $`1200`$ random words.

We wish to have a length function that is closer to being monotone. For each permutation braid $`p`$, $`\stackrel{~}{p}:=p^1\mathrm{\Delta }_N`$ is a permutation braid. Thus, if $`w=\mathrm{\Delta }_N^rp_1\mathrm{}p_k`$ and $`r>0`$, we can replace $`\mathrm{\Delta }_N^1p_1`$ with $`\stackrel{~}{p}_1^1`$ to get $`w=\mathrm{\Delta }_N^{(r1)}\stackrel{~}{p}_1^1p_2\mathrm{}p_k`$. Now, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_N`$ almost commutes with any permutation braid: For each permutation braid $`q`$ there exists a permutation braid $`q^{}`$ such that $`|q^{}|=|q|`$ and $`q\mathrm{\Delta }_N=\mathrm{\Delta }_Nq^{}`$, that is, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_N^1q^1=(q^{})^1\mathrm{\Delta }_N^1`$. Consequently, $`w=\mathrm{\Delta }_N^{(r2)}(\stackrel{~}{p}_1^{})^1\mathrm{\Delta }_N^1p_2\mathrm{}p_k`$, and we can replace $`\mathrm{\Delta }_N^1p_2`$ with $`\stackrel{~}{p}_2^1`$ as before. We iterate this process as much as possible, to get a presentation

$$w=\{\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{\Delta }_N^{(rk)}(\stackrel{~}{p}_1^{})^1\mathrm{}(\stackrel{~}{p}_k^{})^1\hfill & k<r\hfill \\ (\stackrel{~}{p}_1^{})^1\mathrm{}(\stackrel{~}{p}_r^{})^1p_{r+1}\mathrm{}p_k\hfill & rk\hfill \end{array}$$

In each case, $`w`$ has the form $`a^1b`$ where $`a,b`$ are positive braid words or the identity element, and we define the *reduced Garside length* to be the sum of the length of $`a`$ and the length of $`b`$.222The length of a positive braid word is well defined to be the number of generators in its presentation. This is equivalent to the following.

###### Definition 2.2.

Let $`w=\mathrm{\Delta }_N^rp_1\mathrm{}p_k`$ be the Garside normal form of $`w`$. The *Reduced Garside length* of $`w`$ is defined by

$$\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{RG}}(w)=\mathrm{}_\mathrm{G}(w)2\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{min}(r,k)}{}}|p_i|$$

This function turns out much closer to monotone than $`\mathrm{}_\mathrm{G}`$ – see Figure 2.

### 2.2. Statistical comparison of the length functions

The purpose of the length function $`\mathrm{}`$ is to distinguish between the case $`|X|=k1`$ (after peeling off a correct generator) and $`|X|=k+1`$ (after trying to peel off a wrong generator). Thus, a natural measure for the effectiveness of the length function is the distance in standard deviations between $`\mathrm{}(X^{})`$ and $`\mathrm{}(X)`$ when $`|X^{}|=|X|+2`$.

We fixed a random set of $`20`$ generators in $`B_{81}`$, and computed (an approximation of) $`E(\mathrm{}(X^{})\mathrm{}(X))/\sqrt{V(\mathrm{}(X^{})\mathrm{}(X))}`$ as a function of $`|X|`$ for $`|X|=1,\mathrm{},100`$. (Roughly speaking, when $`n`$ independent samples are added, the effectiveness of the comparison is $`\sqrt{n}`$ times this number.) We did that for both $`\mathrm{}_\mathrm{G}`$ and $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{RG}}`$. The results appear in Figure 3, and show that the score for $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{RG}}`$ is significantly higher. This phenomenon is typical – we have checked several random subgroups of the braid group and all of them exhibited the same behavior.

More evidence for the superiority of $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{RG}}`$ over $`\mathrm{}_\mathrm{G}`$ will be given in the following sections.

## 3. Realizations of the linear ordering $``$

Recall that after peeling off a candidate for a generator and evaluating the resulting lengths, we need to compare the vectors of lengths according to some linear ordering $``$, and choose a generator which gave a minimal vector with respect to $``$. We tested two natural linear orderings.

The most natural approach is to take the average of the lengths in the vector. This is equivalent to the following.

###### Definition 3.1 (Average based linear ordering).

$$\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _n_{_{\mathrm{Av}}}\beta _1,\mathrm{},\beta _n\text{if}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\alpha _i\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\beta _i.$$

With this at hand, we have performed the following experiment. We fixed a subgroup of $`B_{81}`$ generated by $`m=20`$ generators. Then we chose at random $`200`$ elements of the form $`xw_j`$ which share the same leading prefix $`x`$, and for each generator $`a_i^{\pm 1}`$ we computed $`\mathrm{}(a_i^{\pm 1}xw_j)`$ for each $`j`$ (and $`\mathrm{}=\mathrm{}_\mathrm{G}`$ or $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{RG}}`$). For each of these two length functions $`\mathrm{}`$, we have sorted the resulting length vectors according to $`_{_{\mathrm{Av}}}`$ and checked the position of the “correct” generator, i.e., the generator which appeared leftmost in our computation of the word.333In principle there could be more than one “correct” generator, but when the generators are long enough this is unlikely to happen often. We repeated the computations for $`138`$ distinct $`X`$’s, and for $`|X|=40`$ and $`|X|=100`$. For an ideal length function (and an ideal linear ordering $``$), the correct generator would always be ranked first, and the results in Figure 4 show that $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{RG}}`$ is closer to this ideal than $`\mathrm{}_\mathrm{G}`$: In the graphs, we show the *distribution* (lower part of the graph) and the *accumulated distribution* (upper part of the graph) of the position of the correct generator, for each of the length functions.

However, it turns out that even for the better length function $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{RG}}`$, the task of identifying the correct generator is not trivial. To demonstrate this, we selected at random one of the cases of $`x`$ from the previous experiment, and computed over the given $`200`$ samples the distribution of $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{RG}}`$ for each generator. Figure 5 shows the distribution for the correct generator (in boldface) and of arbitrarily chosen $`7`$ out of the remaining $`40`$ generators (for an aesthetic reason we did not plot all $`40`$).

While the correct distribution tends more to the left (i.e., to smaller values), there is a large overlap with the rest of the distributions. We must emphasize that while Figure 5 demonstrates the typical case, there exist cases where the distribution of the correct generator is not the leftmost. In these cases the current method is doomed to fail, no matter how many conjugations we are given for the same conjugator.

Finally, for the sake of comparison, we define one more natural linear ordering of the space of length vectors. We expect the correct generator to yield the shortest length more often than the other generators. This motivates the following definition.

###### Definition 3.2 (Majority based linear ordering).

Consider the set of all obtained length vectors. For each $`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$, consider the $`i`$th coordinate of each vector and let $`\mu _i`$ denote the minimum of all these $`i`$th coordinate values. Then

$$\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _n_{_{\mathrm{Maj}}}\beta _1,\mathrm{},\beta _n\text{if}|\{i:\alpha _i=\mu _i\}||\{i:\beta _i=\mu _i\}|.$$

In the following section we compare the success probabilities of the length-based approach using the two length functions and two linear orderings defined in this section.

## 4. Experimental results for the conjugacy problem

### 4.1. The probability of obtaining the correct generator

In this experiment we determine the probability that the correct generator is indeed the minimal with respect to the length function $`\mathrm{}`$ and linear ordering $``$ used. The choice of parameters in the experiments throughout the paper are usually motivated by the choices given in , which are believed there to make the generalized conjugacy problem difficult.

We made $`200`$ experiments using the following parameters: $`N=81`$, $`n`$ and $`m`$ (the number of $`a_i`$’s and $`b_i`$’s, respectively) are both $`20`$, the elements $`a_i`$ and $`b_i`$ are products of $`10`$ random Artin generators, and $`x`$ is the product of $`5`$, $`10`$, $`20`$, $`40`$, $`60`$, or $`100`$ random generators $`a_i^{\pm 1}`$, respectively. We tested look ahead depth $`t=1,2`$. In each cell of Table 1, below the probability that the correct generator is first, we wrote the probability of its being second.

Table 1 shows that the Reduced Garside length function $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{RG}}`$ is significantly better than the standard Garside length function $`\mathrm{}_\mathrm{G}`$. Also, observe that using look ahead depth $`2`$ is preferable to using look ahead depth $`1`$ twice (to see this, square the probabilities for $`t=1`$). Another natural approach to using look ahead $`t>1`$ is to consider only the first generator (of the word with the least score) as correct, and ignore the rest of the generators. This means that in the algorithm for finding $`x`$, we peel off only one generator at a time despite the fact that we used look ahead $`t>1`$. This gives better success rates than just taking $`t=1`$, and our experiments indicate that this approach may be slightly better than that of taking the whole look ahead word, but we did not extensively check this conjecture since the differences were not significant. Some other variants of the usage of look ahead are mentioned in .

### 4.2. Nonsymmetric parameters

This experiment checks the effect on the probability of success when the lengths of the generators $`a_i`$ and elements $`b_i`$ (in terms of Artin generators) are not equal.

We tested the probability of success for $`N=81`$, $`n=m=20`$, look ahead depth $`t=2`$, and $`|x|=30`$.

As expected, Table 2 shows that if the length of the elements $`a_i`$ increases then so does the probability to find a correct generator (this is like making look ahead deeper without exponentially increasing the number of candidates for the prefix of $`x`$). On the other hand, the effect of the length of the elements $`b_i`$ is not significant.

### 4.3. Increasing the number of given conjugates

Several experiments showed that increasing the number $`n`$ of given elements $`xb_ix^1`$ from few (about $`10`$) to many (about $`3000`$) did not significantly increase the probability that the correct generator appears first.

In an instance of the problem the length function $`\mathrm{}`$ and the (unknown) element $`x`$ are fixed, and this defines for each generator $`g`$ the distribution $`F_g`$ of $`\mathrm{}(g^1xbx^1g)`$ over random words $`b`$ of a fixed given length (in terms of Artin generators). For each $`g`$, we have a sample of the distribution $`F_g`$ for each given equation. In most cases, the expectancy of $`F_g`$ where $`g`$ is the first letter in $`x`$ is smaller than the other expectancies (see Section 3), and then enough samples will allow us to identify $`g`$. However in some cases the minimal expectancy is obtained for another generator. In these cases adding more samples cannot help, and so the probability to find the correct generator does not tend to $`1`$ when we increase the number of samples.

Another important observation is that few samples (about $`15`$) are needed in order to get very close to the expectancy of the distributions $`F_g`$. In light of the preceding paragraph, the outcome of the algorithm can be decided after a relatively small number of samples (i.e., given conjugates) are collected. In particular, the success probability does not significantly improve when $`n`$ is large.

### 4.4. Finding $`x`$

The simplest way to try and obtain all generators of $`x`$ and therefore $`x`$ would be to use any of the above algorithms iteratively, at each step peeling off the first generator. In the following experiment, the probability to find *all of* $`x`$ this way was tested. Here too, the lengths of the $`a_i`$’s and $`b_i`$’s were $`10`$ Artin generators. We made $`500`$ experiments, using a weaker variant of $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{RG}}`$ as the length function, and with no look ahead ($`t=1`$). We repeated this for $`B_4,\mathrm{},B_{20}`$ and $`x`$ of lengths $`2`$ to $`18`$ generators $`a_i^{\pm 1}`$. The result is the number of successes out of $`500`$ tries.

The results suggest that while we already obtain solutions (with nontrivial probability) for some nontrivial parameters, we must extend the approach in order to consider harder parameters. A successful extension is discussed in . In the sequel we discuss some other possible extensions.

## 5. Possible improvements and conclusions

One approach is to create new conjugates by multiplying any number of existing ones (or their inverses). In fact, if $``$ is the group generated by $`b_1,\mathrm{},b_n`$, then the group generated by $`xb_1x^1,\mathrm{},xb_nx^1`$ is $`xx^1`$. By Section 4.3, this does not help much.

The algorithm can be randomized by conjugating the given elements $`xb_1x^1,\mathrm{},xb_nx^1`$ by a random (known) element $`ya_1,\mathrm{},a_m`$, so that running it several times increases the success probability. The problem with this approach is that the conjugator becomes longer and therefore the probability of success in each single case decreases.

Our experiments showed that the peeling off process often enters a loop, that is, a stage to which we return every several steps. This can sometimes be solved by conjugating with a random known element after we enter the loop. We also tried to change the length function or the linear ordering when we enter a loop. These approaches were successful for small parameters but did not result in a significant improvement for large parameters.

We did not try approaches of learning algorithms, neural networks, etc. A simple example is to try and learn the distribution of the lengths for the correct generator and define the linear ordering according to the likelihood test.

The purpose of this paper was to check the applicability of Hughes and Tannenbaum’s length-based approach against the key agreement protocols introduced in . Our results suggest that this approach requires an unfeasible computational power in order to solve the generalized conjugacy search problem for the parameters used in these protocols. However, this method has natural extensions which can make it applicable: In  we suggest one particularly successful extension, and it turns out that it can solve these and other problems with standard computational power.


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# TOP AND HIGGS PHYSICS AT THE TEVATRON

## 1 Introduction

One of the great unsolved puzzles in particle physics revolves around the generation of mass: how do particles become massive? this question is answered in the context of the Standard Model by the Higgs mechanism, which is evoked to break electroweak symmetry. It predicts the existence of a neutral scalar particle, the yet unobserved Higgs boson.

In the Standard Model, the coupling strength between a fermion and the Higgs boson, the Yukawa coupling, determines the fermion mass, which is not predicted by the theory. For all fermions, this coupling is small, except for one particle: the top quark. The top quark mass is close to the electroweak breaking scale and its Yukawa coupling is within a few percent of unity. Those intriguing characteristics have lead some to speculate that the top quark itself is involved in electroweak symmetry breaking or that its mass is a fundamental parameter of a more basic, underlying theory.

We currently know experimentally very little about both the Higgs boson and the top quark. However, in the next few years, the CDF and D$`\mathrm{}`$ experiments at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider will pursue a program of precision measurements of the top quark and will conduct an intensive search for the Higgs boson.

In these proceedings, I will summarize our current experimental understanding of the top quark and discuss the prospects for precision measurements in the coming years. I will then give an overview of the strategies that will be used to search for the Higgs boson.

## 2 The Top Quark

The top quark was discovered by the CDF and D$`\mathrm{}`$ collaborations in 1995. This discovery was not unexpected since the structure of the SM requires that there be an SU(2) partner to the b quark. What did come as a surprise was the top quark’s mass: 175 $`GeV/c^2`$, about 35 times more massive than the b quark, the heaviest known fermion at the time. Given its mass, many properties of the top quark can be calculated within the Standard Model and are given in Table 1.

An interesting consequence of the very short lifetime of the top quark is that it decays before it has time to hadronize. There are therefore no top hadrons and the top quark can thus be studied as a “free” quark.

### 2.1 Run 1 measurements

After the discovery of the top quark, the CDF and D$`\mathrm{}`$ collaborations undertook studies aimed at characterizing its properties. Because of the statistically limited data sample available in Run 1, most measurements had large uncertainties, with the notable exception of the top mass (see Table 2 and Figure 1). Therefore, our current experimental understanding of the top quark is still very limited and leaves room for potential surprises.

### 2.2 Run II Top Physics Program

With the start of Run II at the Tevatron, the era of precision top physics has begun. During this period that started in 2000 and that should extend until the start of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, we expect to collect a clean data sample of over 1000 events where at least one B hadron is identified. Table 3 lists some measurement goals from the CDF and D$`\mathrm{}`$ experiments . In the following, I will focus on two of the most important top physics measurements in Run II.

#### 2.2.1 Single top production

The top quark discovery relied on the production of $`t\overline{t}`$ pairs via the strong interaction. Top quarks can also be produced singly, via the electroweak interaction. At the Tevatron, two production processes dominate: the s-channel W\* process, and the t-channel W-gluon fusion process

The single top production cross section is proportional to the CKM matrix element $`V_{tb}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}`$. The measurement of the cross section can thus be interpreted as a measurement of $`V_{tb}`$, with fewer assumptions than in branching ratio measurements that can be used to infer $`V_{tb}`$. The production cross section can also be sensitive to non-standard couplings of the top quark, making it a very interesting observable to search for new physics.

Understanding single top production will also be important for the Tevatron Higgs search since the $`WH`$ channel, with $`Hb\overline{b}`$, has an identical final state with kinematics very similar to the $`W^{}`$ channel.

Finally, because the single top production proceeds through the V-A interaction, the resulting top quarks are polarized. Since top quarks decay before they hadronize, we should be able to make top quark polarization measurements that have only been made with leptons.

#### 2.2.2 Top mass measurement

Precision electroweak measurements have allowed us to probe the effect or radiative corrections on various electroweak observables. Those radiative corrections can exhibit a quadratic dependence on the top quark mass, making this parameter and its experimental error important inputs to global electroweak fits. In fact, our current understanding of the self-consistency of the Standard Model and our knowledge of the Higgs mass are limited by the accuracy to which we currently know the top quark mass. For this reason, reducing the uncertainty on the top quark mass will be one of the top priorities of the Run II physics program.

The goal for the experiments in Run II is to reduce the uncertainty to 2-3 $`GeV/c^2`$. Attaining this level of precision will require a large-scale effort to significantly improve our understanding of the jet energy scale and of hard initial and final state QCD radiation. Part of the needed improvements will be made possible with the use of in situ calibration samples e.g. the $`Wjj`$ resonance present in $`t\overline{t}`$ decay or the $`Zb\overline{b}`$ resonance.

## 3 Higgs Search at the Tevatron

In the next few years, the Tevatron experiments will have a unique opportunity to find or exclude the SM Higgs boson before the LHC experiments are commissioned.

After a short review of the production and decay properties of the Higgs boson, I will give a summary of the strategies and techniques that will be employed in this ambitious search. A detailed study can be found in the Report of the Tevatron Higgs Working Group.

### 3.1 Higgs Production and Decay

Figure 2 shows the Higgs production cross section at the Tevatron as a function of the Higgs boson mass. Over the mass range shown, the gluon-gluon fusion process dominates. The cross section for WH and ZH production is lower, but these modes allow for smaller backgrounds and a straightforward trigger signature through the leptonic decay of the weak bosons. The $`Ht\overline{t}`$ mode has a spectacular decay signature with two W bosons and 4 b quarks but suffers from a very small cross section.

Figure 3 shows the Higgs branching ratio as a function of Higgs mass. Two mass ranges can be identified: the low-mass range where the dominant Higgs decay mode is to a pair of b quarks and the high-mass range where the Higgs decays to a pair of W bosons. Different experimental strategies have been developed to deal with these two mass regimes.

#### 3.1.1 Experimental tools

As mentioned above, the low-mass regime is dominated by Higgs decays to $`b\overline{b}`$. In order to maximize the search sensitivity, we will need to optimize B tagging efficiency and improve dijet mass resolution.

To observe a $`Hb\overline{b}`$ resonance that is as narrow as possible in the background-dominated dijet mass spectrum, we need to make improvements in the jet energy resolution. To this effect, CDF developed in Run I a technique that makes use of tracking, preshower, and shower maximum detectors to improve its energy resolution. It is hoped that both detectors will be able to achieve a $`Hb\overline{b}`$ mass resolution of about 10%.

The two experiments have much improved tracking systems for Run II. The D$`\mathrm{}`$ detector now has a large silicon vertex detector surrounded by a fiber tracker. The two devices are immersed in a 2 Tesla magnetic field. CDF replaced its drift chamber and its silicon vertex detector which now has an acceptance that extends to $`|\eta |<2`$. These improvements will translate into significantly higher b-tagging efficiencies relative to what was obtained in Run I. The results that will be presented later assumed a tight b-tag efficiency of 60% and a loose b-tag efficiency of 75%, while keeping the fake rate under 1%.

The Tevatron Higgs Working Group studied potential improvements that could be made by using neural networks, which have been extensively used by the LEP experiments in their Higgs searches. The outcome of the study was very promising and a neural net analysis was used to obtain the results presented in Figure 4.

Before the Higgs search attains the sensitivity required for an observation, we will be searching for two Standard Model signals that have not yet been observed: single top in the $`W^{}`$ channel and $`WZ`$, with $`Zb\overline{b}`$. Both these channels have the same final state with similar kinematics as the $`WH`$ channel but have significantly higher $`\sigma \times BR`$. This will provide opportunities to exercise analysis tools and estimate background rejection techniques well before a Higgs signal becomes visible.

### 3.2 Results from Tevatron Higgs Working Group

#### 3.2.1 Low Mass Range

Results from the $`WH`$ and $`ZH`$ channels with $`Hb\overline{b}`$ and the leptonic decay of the weak bosons are presented in Table 4. One jet from the Higgs decay is required to be tagged by a “tight” algorithm and the other jet by a “loose” algorithm whose efficiencies were mentioned earlier. The main backgrounds come from $`t\overline{t}`$, $`Wb\overline{b}`$, single top, and WZ.

#### 3.2.2 High Mass Range

The high mass region is dominated by the Higgs decay to $`WW^{}`$ and $`WW`$. In this case, one can afford to make use of the gluon fusion production mechanism that has a higher cross section. However, the results below also use the associated Higgs production mechanism since it can provide striking trilepton signatures. The main backgrounds come from $`WW`$, $`WZ`$, $`ZZ`$, and $`t\overline{t}`$. The results of the study are presented in Table 5.

#### 3.2.3 Combined Results

The integrated luminosity required to observe or exclude a Higgs Boson as a function of Higgs mass is shown in Figure 4. The study finds that a SM Higgs with a mass up to 135 $`GeV/c^2`$ can be excluded at 95% CL with 6 $`fb^1`$ and up to 180 $`GeV/c^2`$ with 10 $`fb^1`$. With 15 $`fb^1`$, one could obtain 3 $`\sigma `$ “evidence” up to 135 $`GeV/c^2`$.

The study assumed a $`b\overline{b}`$ dijet mass resolution of 10%, b-tagging efficiencies of 75% on one of the B hadrons (tight algorithm), and 60% on the other (loose algorithm). Acceptance and efficiencies for signal and backgrounds were estimated using a Monte Carlo simulation that parametrized the response of a generic Run II detector. The size of the bands on Figure 4 reflect a 30% uncertainty that includes b-tagging, mass resolution, background rate and other effects.

## 4 Conclusion

With the beginning of Run II at the Tevatron, the era of precision top physics has begun and the hunt for the Higgs boson has resumed. This exciting period will be followed with the commissioning of the LHC, a true “top quark factory”. The measurements made in the next decade should allow us to determine whether the generation of mass for elementary particles is indeed described by the Higgs mechanism of the Standard Model and whether the top quark plays a special role in the breaking of electroweak symmetry.


text:
# 𝒫𝒯 symmetry and supersymmetry

## 1 Supersymmetry for pedestrians, or bosons and fermions in Witten’s picture

In the review  of the Witten’s (or so called supersymmetric) quantum mechanics one finds the specific Fock vacuum

$$q|0=\left[\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{exp}(q^2/2)/\sqrt{\pi }\\ 0\end{array}\right],q(\mathrm{},\mathrm{}).$$
(1)
In the upper line we recognize the ground state of the one-dimensional harmonic oscillator $`H^{(HO)}=p^2+q^2`$ and see that “bosons” may be created/annihilated by the action of the respective operators $`_r+q`$ and $`_r+q`$ (to be denoted as $`B^{(1/2)}`$ and $`A^{(1/2)}`$ here). The solvable harmonic-oscillator character of this elementary model enables us to define the three two-by-two matrices

$$^{}=\left[\begin{array}{cc}0& 0\\ 1& 0\end{array}\right],=\left[\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 0& 0\end{array}\right],𝒩_{}=\left[\begin{array}{cc}0& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right]$$
(2)
which create and annihilate a “fermion” and determine the fermionic number, respectively. Formally, this enables us to introduce the two partner Hamiltonians $`H_{(L)}=H^{(HO)}1`$, $`H_{(R)}=H^{(HO)}+1`$ and identify the underlying symmetry with the superalgebra $`sl(1/1)`$ generated by the following three operator matrices

$$=\left[\begin{array}{cc}H_{(L)}& 0\\ 0& H_{(R)}\end{array}\right],𝒬=\left[\begin{array}{cc}0& 0\\ A& 0\end{array}\right],\stackrel{~}{𝒬}=\left[\begin{array}{cc}0& B\\ 0& 0\end{array}\right].$$
(3)
One easily verifies that $`\{𝒬,\stackrel{~}{𝒬}\}=`$ while $`\{𝒬,𝒬\}=\{\stackrel{~}{𝒬},\stackrel{~}{𝒬}\}=0`$ and $`[,𝒬]=[,\stackrel{~}{𝒬}]=0`$.

Our forthcoming considerations may by summarized as a generalization of the above harmonic-oscillator-based model to $`D`$ dimensions. Beyond its obvious phenomenological and methodical appeal, the mathematical motivation for such a construction stems from the well known requirements of absence of the centrifugal-type singularities in the general Witten’s formalism . Indeed, within the standard, Hermitian quantum mechanics, all ways of suppression of this difficulty seem to remain unclear up to these days . In contrast, the weakening of the Hermiticity (to the so called $`𝒫𝒯`$ symmetry – see below) appears to be amazingly efficient in this context .

## 2 $`𝒫𝒯`$ symmetry for pedestrians, interpreted as a regularization of a spike in the force

Our key idea dates back to Buslaev and Grecchi  who proposed a specific regularization of the non-vanishing centrifugal term in $`D1`$ dimensions (in their case, for some specific anharmonic oscillator examples) via a constant complex shift of the coordinate $`r=|\stackrel{}{q}|`$, better understood as a transition to the (increasingly popular ) non-Hermitian formalism of the so called $`𝒫𝒯`$ symmetric quantum mechanics . In its present implementation, this merely means an extension of the real-line symmetry $`𝒫r=r`$ in (2.1) to the complex plane of $`rlC`$. Thus, we require the invariance of our Hamiltonian with respect to the parity $`𝒫`$ multiplied by the time reversal mimicked by the complex conjugation, $`𝒯i=i`$.

### 2.1 Illustration: $`𝒫𝒯`$ symmetric version of the $`D`$dimensional harmonic oscillator

For the sake of brevity we shall only assign here our supersymmetry generators to the generalized class of the spiked harmonic oscillator Hamiltonians

$$H^{(\alpha )}=\frac{d^2}{dr^2}+\frac{\alpha ^21/4}{r^2}+r^2,\alpha >0.$$

Their Buslaev’s and Grecchi’s regularization will use $`r=xi\epsilon `$ with real $`x`$ and has thoroughly been studied in ref. . Its normalizable wave functions

$$\psi (r)_N^{(\varrho )}=r|N,\varrho =\frac{N!}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(N+\varrho +1)}r^{\varrho +1/2}\mathrm{exp}(r^2/2)L_N^{(\varrho )}(r^2)$$
(4)
and energies

$$E=E_N^{(\varrho )}=4N+2\varrho +2,\varrho =Q\alpha $$

are both labeled by an additional quantum number $`Q=\pm 1`$ of the so called quasi-parity. In the context of fields, this concept proves closely related to the well known charge-conjugation symmetry $`𝒞`$ .

## 3 $`𝒫𝒯`$ symmetric supersymmetry and the pedestrian’s spiked harmonic oscillator

We noticed in ref.  that the complexification of $`r`$ regularizes the Witten’s spiked harmonic oscillator (SHO) superpotential

$$W^{(\gamma )}(r)=\frac{_rr|0,\gamma }{r|0,\gamma }=r\frac{\gamma +1/2}{r}r=r(x)=xi\epsilon ,xIR$$

as well as all the related operator matrix elements in the $`sl(1/1)`$ generators (3),

$$A^{(\gamma )}=_r+W^{(\gamma )},B^{(\gamma )}=_r+W^{(\gamma )},\gamma 0,\pm 1,\mathrm{},$$
(5)
$$H_{(L)}=BA=\widehat{p}^2+W^2W^{},H_{(R)}=AB=\widehat{p}^2+W^2+W^{}.$$

This returns us to the $`D=1`$ oscillator of section 1 at the “exceptional” value of $`\gamma =1/2`$ while at all the complex $`\gamma `$ we have the generalized SUSY partners,

$$H_{(L)}^{(\gamma )}=H^{(\alpha )}2\gamma 2,H_{(R)}^{(\gamma )}=H^{(\beta )}2\gamma ,\alpha =|\gamma |,\beta =|\gamma +1|.$$

Whenever $`\gamma (\mathrm{},\mathrm{})`$ is real (while $`\alpha =|\gamma |`$ and $`\beta =|\gamma +1|`$ are defined as positive), we have to distinguish between the following three different SUSY regimes characterized by the unbroken $`𝒫𝒯`$ symmetry,

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}I.\hfill & \mathrm{large}\mathrm{negative}\gamma =\alpha <1,\hfill & \mathrm{dominant}\alpha =\beta +1\hfill \\ II.\hfill & \mathrm{small}\mathrm{negative}\gamma =\alpha >1,\hfill & \mathrm{both}\mathrm{small},\alpha +\beta =1\hfill \\ III.\hfill & \mathrm{positive}\gamma =\alpha >0,\hfill & \mathrm{dominant}\beta =\alpha +1\hfill \end{array}.$$

The energies (arranged in the descending order) form a (once degenerate) completely real quadruplet at each $`N`$,

$$\begin{array}{cccc}& & & \\ & & & \\ & & & \\ \mathrm{SUSY}\mathrm{partner}\mathrm{energies}& I.& II.& III.\\ & & & \\ & & & \\ & & & \\ E_{(L)}^{(\beta )}& 4N+4\alpha & 4N+4& 4N+4\\ E_{(L)}^{(\alpha )}& 4N+4\alpha & 4N+4\alpha & 4N\\ E_{(L)}^{(\beta )}& 4N+4& 4N+4\alpha & 4N4\alpha \\ E_{(L)}^{(\alpha )}& 4N& 4N& 4N4\alpha \\ & & & \\ & & & \end{array}$$

It is amusing to notice that up to the regular case (with $`\alpha =1/2`$) there always exist two alternative $`\gamma =\pm \alpha `$ to a given $`\alpha >0`$. Thus, each $`\alpha `$ also has the two different partners $`\beta `$ such that $`\beta _1=|\alpha 1|<\alpha <\beta _2=\alpha +1`$. Finally, in the domain II, all our SUSY construction remains perfectly valid even in the Hermitian limit $`\epsilon 0`$ .

## 4 Non-standard $`𝒫𝒯`$ symmetric supersymmetries

### 4.1 Working at a fixed parameter $`\alpha `$

The respective annihilation and creation of ref.  was mediated by the second-order differential operators

$$A^{(\gamma 1)}A^{(\gamma )}=A^{(\gamma 1)}A^{(\gamma )}=𝐀(\alpha )$$

$$B^{(\gamma )}B^{(\gamma 1)}=B^{(\gamma )}B^{(\gamma 1)}=𝐁(\alpha )$$

with the “norm” $`c_5(N,\gamma )=4\sqrt{(N+1)(N+\gamma +1)}`$ and property

$$𝐀(\alpha )_{N+1}^{(\gamma )}=c_5(N,\gamma )_N^{(\gamma )},𝐁(\alpha )_N^{(\gamma )}=c_5(N,\gamma )_{N+1}^{(\gamma )}.$$

Hamiltonian $`H^{(\alpha )}=[𝐀(\alpha )𝐁(\alpha )𝐁(\alpha )𝐀(\alpha )]/8`$ satisfies commutation relations

$$𝐀(\alpha )H^{(\alpha )}H^{(\alpha )}𝐀(\alpha )\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4}𝐀(\alpha ),H^{(\alpha )}𝐁(\alpha )𝐁(\alpha )H^{(\alpha )}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4}𝐁(\alpha )$$

of the Lie algebra $`sl(2,IR)`$ with the normalized generators $`𝐀(\alpha )/\sqrt{32}`$, $`𝐁(\alpha )/\sqrt{32}`$ and $`H^{(\alpha )}/4`$. As a consequence, the new, $`𝒫𝒯`$ SUSY results from eq. (3), with $`A`$, $`B`$ and $`H_{(L/R)}`$ replaced by $`𝐀(\alpha )`$, $`𝐁(\alpha )`$ and $`𝐆_{(𝐋/𝐑)}=(𝐇^{(\alpha )}\mathrm{𝟐})^\mathrm{𝟐}\mathrm{𝟒}\alpha ^\mathrm{𝟐}`$, respectively. The SHO eigenvectors themselves may then be obtained as solutions of the differential equations of the fourth order (cf. ref. ) which, in our case, read

$$𝐆_{(L)}|N^{(\gamma )}=\mathrm{\Omega }_N^{(\gamma )}|N^{(\gamma )},𝐆_{(R)}|N^{(\gamma )}=\mathrm{\Omega }_{N+1}^{(\gamma )}|N^{(\gamma )}.$$

where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_N^{(\gamma )}=16N(N+\gamma )`$. This is our present main result.

### 4.2 SUSY constructions at the complex $`\gamma `$

Marginally, let us note that even the complex choice of $`\gamma `$ (when the $`𝒫𝒯`$ symmetry itself is broken) may lead to the partially real SUSY spectrum of energies. In order to show that, one has to derive a few identities for the Laguerre polynomials in (4) showing that the operators (5) change merely the subscripts or superscripts . In the regime with the spontaneously broken $`𝒫𝒯`$ symmetry we may distinguish between the two options,

$$\{\begin{array}{ccc}\delta >0\mathrm{in}\gamma =i\delta ,\hfill & \alpha =i\delta ,\hfill & \beta =1+\alpha \hfill \\ \eta >0\mathrm{in}\gamma =i\eta ,\hfill & \alpha =i\eta ,\hfill & \beta =1\alpha \hfill \end{array}$$

and get the partially real energy multiplets

$$\{\begin{array}{cccc}E_{(L)}^{(+\alpha )}=4n,\hfill & E_{(L)}^{(\alpha )}=E_{(R)}^{(\beta )}=4n4\alpha ,\hfill & E_{(R)}^{(+\beta )}=4n+4\hfill & \\ E_{(L)}^{(\alpha )}=4n,\hfill & E_{(L)}^{(+\alpha )}=E_{(R)}^{(\beta )}=4n+4\alpha ,\hfill & E_{(R)}^{(+\beta )}=4n+4\hfill & \end{array}$$

Similarly, at $`\gamma =N+iq\delta `$ with $`q=\pm 1`$ and $`\delta >0`$, i.e., with no $`𝒫𝒯`$ symmetry at all, we get

$$E_{(L)}=\{\begin{array}{cc}4n4\gamma \hfill & \\ 4n\hfill & \end{array},E_{(R)}=\{\begin{array}{cc}4n4\gamma \hfill & \\ 4n+4\hfill & \end{array}$$

for the indices $`\beta _1=N1+i\delta `$, $`\alpha =N+i\delta `$ and $`\beta _2=N+1+i\delta `$, still giving the partially real energy spectra.

### Acknowledgements

Work partially supported by the grant of GA AS CR Nr. A 1048004.

## References


text:
# Hot exciton transport in ZnSe quantum wells

## Abstract

The in–plane transport of excitons in ZnSe quantum wells is investigated directly by microphotoluminescence in combination with a solid immersion lens. Due to the strong Fröhlich coupling, the initial kinetic energy of the excitons is well controlled by choosing the excess energy of the excitation laser. When increasing the laser excess energy, we find a general trend of increasing transport length and more importantly a pronounced periodic quenching of the transport length when the excess energy corresponds to multiples of the LO–phonon energy. Such features show the dominant role of the kinetic energy of excitons in the transport process. Together with the excitation intensity dependence of the transport length, we distinguish the phonon wind driven transport of cold excitons and defect–limited hot exciton transport.

The in-plane transport of excitons in semiconductor quantum wells (QWs) has attracted a lot of interest due to both fundamental and technological reasons. Generally, there are several possible transport processes after an optical excitation. The first one is the classical diffusion of cold excitonsb3910901 . In this case, the excitons have the same temperature as the lattice. The transport can be well described by the diffusion equation, with a constant diffusivity. The second process is the transport of hot excitonsb4613461 , initially ballistic (before the first scattering event) and then diffusive. Since the excitons remain hot, the transport is coupled with the relaxation process. This kind of transport cannot be described by the diffusion equation, since the effective ’diffusivity’ varies in both temporal and spatial domains. Beside these ’active’ transport processes, which are governed by the velocity of the excitons, the excitons can also be passively driven by other factors, i.e., phonon windb391862 . Due to the increasing importance of nanostructures, transport of excitons or carriers has to be understood on a length scale comparable to the mean free path of the particles. It is obvious that here strong deviations from classical transport can be expected.

During the past two decades, the transport experiments have concentrated mainly on III–V semiconductor QWs. The employed optical techniques, namely transient–gratingb307346 ; b476827 , pump–probeb391862 ; b4613461 , time–of–flightb3910901 ; b4914523 , microphotoluminescence ($`\mu `$–PL)b584728  and near–field pump–probeb602101 , have achieved an increasing spatial resolution. The in–plane transport of excitons in II–VI QWs was less investigated, and the transport has been regarded as classical diffusionjap81536 ; apl74741 .

In this letter, we investigate the exciton in–plane transport in ZnSe QWs on the length scale of few $`\mu `$m by solid immersion lens (SIL)–enhanced $`\mu `$-PL. We show that the exciton transport in this regime is not classical diffusion, but dominated by hot exciton transport. In particular, we exploit the effect that, in contrast to GaAs QWs, the initial kinetic energy of the excitons in ZnSe QWs can be tuned in a well defined manner, due to LO-phonon assisted generation of the excitons.

The confocal $`\mu `$–PL system consists of a microscope objective (20$`\times `$, NA=0.4) and a hemisphere SILapl741791  of refractive index $`n_r=2.2`$. The SIL is adhesively fixed to the sample surface. The spatial resolution of the whole system was determined to be about 400 nm (FWHM of the Airy pattern). The excitation source is a cw Ti:sapphire laser pumped by an Ar–ion laser and frequency–doubled using a BBO crystal. The laser beam is focused on the sample surface by the objective. The luminescence is collected by the same objective. A 20 $`\mu `$m pinhole in the image plane of the objective limits the detection area to 455 nm in diameter. All measurements were performed at 7 K.

Two samples are studied in this investigation. Sample 1 is a 120 periods of $`\mathrm{ZnSe}(7.3\mathrm{nm})/\mathrm{ZnS}_{0.1}\mathrm{Se}_{0.9}(10.7\mathrm{nm})`$ multiple QW grown by MOVPE. Sample 2 is a ZnSe (5 nm) single QW with $`\mathrm{Zn}_{0.9}\mathrm{Mg}_{0.1}\mathrm{S}_{0.16}\mathrm{Se}_{0.84}`$ barriers grown by MBE. The PL spectra of the two samples (Fig. 1) are dominated by the peaks of the heavy hole excitons (hh), with similar linewidth of about 2 meV. However, we note that the linewidth cannot be used for comparing the quality of the two samples, since the carrier confinements are different due to the different barrier materials. Actually, the luminescence efficiency of sample 2 is two orders higher than that of sample 1, that indicates the higher quality of sample 2. The samples were excited locally through the objective, and the spectra from different positions of the sample were measured by scanning the pinhole in the image plane of the objective. This allows us to gain the spatial profile of luminescence by drawing the spectrally integrated hh intensity as function of spatial position. The upper squares in the inset of Fig. 1 give an example of the spatial profiles measured in this way. By Gaussian fit, shown as the upper curve, we obtained the transport length as the FWHM of the Gaussian function. The profile of the laser spot was also measured during the same scan, as shown in the lower part of the inset.

The exciton formation and relaxation processes in these samples are well understood from monitoring the temporal evolution of the LO–phonon replicab571390 . In Fig. 2, we show a schematic

drawing of these processes. After the optical excitation, the electron–hole pairs created in continuum states form excitons directly assisted by emission of LO–phonons within few ps, due to the strong Fröhlich coupling in polar II-VI quantum structures. These hot excitons relax rapidly by emission of LO–phonons, until their kinetic energy is lower than the LO–phonon energy, $`E_{LO}`$ (31.8 meV for both samples, measured by Raman spectroscopy). Then the relaxation can only be achieved slowly by emission of acoustic phonons and continues over some 100 psb571390 . We define the excess energy of the excitation, $`E_{excess}`$, as the difference between the laser energy and the energy of the hh exciton resonance, $`E_{laser}E_{hh}`$. In this investigation, $`E_{excess}`$ is chosen such that the exciton can only emit one or two LO-phonons after formation. In this case, we can define the exciton initial kinetic energy of the slow relaxation process realized by acoustic phonon emission to be $`E_{ini}=E_{excess}nE_{LO}`$, in which $`n`$ equals to 1, 2 or 3 depending on $`E_{excess}`$. By tuning the $`E_{excess}`$, we can periodically tune the $`E_{ini}`$, and thus the initial in–plane group velocity of the excitons, to investigate the influence of this velocity on the transport process.

Figure 3 shows the excess energy dependence of the transport length for both samples. When $`E_{excess}<E_{LO}`$, the luminescence is very weak due to the inefficient exciton formation since the LO–phonon emission path is not available. We note that in the case of $`E_{excess}E_{LO}`$, the hh peak is

superimposed by a strong resonant Raman scattering peak. By multi-peak fitting, we can subtract the later from the hh peak, so the spatial profile gained in this case is not influenced by the Ramam scattering. In Fig. 3, we can observe two features: (1) a general trend of increasing transport length with increasing $`E_{excess}`$ and more importantly (2) a pronounced periodic quenching of the transport length when $`E_{excess}nE_{LO}`$.

In Fig. 4, we show the excitation intensity dependence of the transport length of sample 1. Several values of $`E_{excess}`$ are chosen in the range of $`1E_{LO}`$ to $`2E_{LO}`$, and the corresponding values of the $`E_{ini}`$ are shown in Fig. 4. We estimate the exciton density from the excitation intensity, as shown in Fig. 4 as the top axis. An absorption coefficient of $`6.5\times 10^4/\mathrm{cm}`$ (measured by absorption spectroscopy) and a decay time of 300 ps (measured by time-resolved photoluminescence) are used for this estimation. We find from Fig. 4 that in the cases of small $`E_{ini}`$ (1 meV and 7

meV), the transport length increases sub–linearly with the excitation intensity. For higher $`E_{ini}`$, the transport length is independent on the excitation intensity.

In the case of phonon wind driven transport, the transport length increases with the excitation intensityb391862 , while for the classical diffusion of cold excitons and the hot exciton transport, the transport lengths are independent on the excitation intensity. In our experiment, when the $`E_{excess}`$ is slightly larger than $`nE_{LO}`$, cold excitons are generated with small $`E_{ini}`$. According to the excitation intensity dependence behavior, these cold excitons are driven by phonon wind. Increasing the $`E_{excess}`$ within one period, we observe the increase of the transport length in Fig. 3. This behavior can be explained by either the hot exciton transport or the phonon wind driven model. In the former case the $`E_{ini}`$ increases with $`E_{excess}`$, while in the latter case, the force of the phonon wind also increases with the $`E_{excess}`$ due to the increasing of the number of phonons emitted during the relaxation of the excitons. However, the latter possibility can be ruled out by the strong periodic feature observed in Fig. 3. As mentioned above, the $`E_{ini}`$ is a periodic function of the $`E_{excess}`$ with a period of $`E_{LO}`$ due to the fast LO-phonon emission. Thus, the periodic feature can be well explained by the hot exciton transport. In the phonon wind driven model, the wind force is anticipated to be increase monotonously with $`E_{excess}`$, since the LO-phonons emitted during the relaxation decay into acoustic phonons within few psb5014179 . For these reasons, we attribute the transport of the excitons with high $`E_{ini}`$ to the hot exciton transport. Actually, since the phonon wind cannot drive the excitons at drift velocities exceeding the sound velocityb391862 , the influence of the phonon wind on the hot excitons should be weak. The above explanations are confirmed by the independence of transport length on the excitation intensity for hot excitons, as observed in Fig. 4.

Finally, we discuss briefly the influence of defects on the transport properties. In Fig. 3, we find the transport length of sample 2 is larger than that of sample 1. The dip around $`1E_{LO}`$ is more pronounced in sample 1 than in sample 2, comparing with the dips around $`2E_{LO}`$. In the case of $`E_{excess}1E_{LO}`$ (see $`E_{exc}^{^{}}`$ in Fig. 2), the exciton formation is inefficient due to the small momentum difference. However, the formation can be assisted by the relaxation of momentum conservation due to defects (shown as the dashed line after the $`E_{exc}^{^{}}`$ in Fig. 2). Thus, the dip around 1$`E_{LO}`$ is anticipated to be more pronounced in the sample containing more defects (sample 1, due to the smaller transport length and the lower luminescence efficiency). Furthermore, the periodic feature of the transport length is more pronounced in sample 1 than in sample 2 (see the dips around 3$`E_{LO}`$). This coincides with the fact that normally in PLE, the LO–phonon cascades are easier to be observed in the samples containing more defects, and can be attributed to the loss of excitons during the slow relaxation process. The difference of the two samples implies that the hot exciton transport in these samples is limited by defects. This statement is also consistent with calculations of the transport length from exciton acoustic-phonon interaction neglecting defects, which yields expected values of about 10 $`\mu `$m.

In summary, we measured directly the in-plane transport of excitons in ZnSe QWs on the length scale of few $`\mu `$m by SIL–enhanced $`\mu `$–PL. Due to the strong Fröhlich coupling, the initial kinetic energy of the excitons is well controlled by tuning the laser excess energy. We find the dominant role of the kinetic energy of excitons in the transport process. The cold excitons are driven by the phonon wind. For the excitons with high initial kinetic energies, the process is dominated by the hot exciton transport. Furthermore, the hot exciton transport is limited by defects.

We gratefully acknowledge the growth of the excellent samples by the group of M. Heuken (Aachen) and the group of D. Hommel (Bremen). This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.