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# First order phase transition from the vortex liquid to an amorphous solid

## Abstract

We present a systematic study of the topology of the vortex solid phase in superconducting Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 samples with low doses of columnar defects. A new state of vortex matter imposed by the presence of geometrical contours associated with the random distribution of columns is found. The results show that the first order liquid-solid transition in this vortex matter does not require a structural symmetry change.

As a consequence of the interaction between vortices and quenched disorder in superconducting samples, the vortex liquid solidifies through a first order phase transition (FOT)  into a topologically ordered solid with elastic deformations, the Bragg glass phase. Artificially introduced correlated defects, as those produced by heavy ion irradiation, transform the first order liquid-solid transition into a second order one in which the solid vortex phase, the Bose Glass, has no topological quasi long range order. However, studies  of the phase diagram of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (BSCCO-2212) have shown that the FOT is robust in the presence of low density of columnar defects. In this case the FOT is preserved even for vortex densities comparable to those of defects.

High dose of columnar defects has two main effects on the vortex system. On one hand, its random distribution suppresses the FOT; on the other hand, the correlated potential hardens the vortex lines inducing a divergent vortex tilting elastic constant, $`C_{44}`$, at the Bose Glass transition. The results in Ref.  indicate that the disorder induced by a low density of columnar defects is too weak to change the order of the liquid-solid transition. This could imply that the quasi long range order of the Bragg Glass is preserved despite the presence of correlated defects.

The aim of this work is to establish the correlation between the space configuration of columnar defects and the vortex structure created in the presence of those defects. This goal is achieved visualizing the vortex structure by means of the magnetic decoration technique in samples where the liquid-solid phase transition has been characterized by differential magneto optics (DMO) . The observed vortex topology is discussed in terms of the nature of the liquid-solid transition.

The BSCCO-2212 samples used in this work were irradiated at GANIL by 1 GeV Pb ions parallel to the $`c`$ axis of the crystal. In order to compare the vortex structure in the presence of columnar defects with that of the pristine sample, the irradiation was made through an ad-hoc stainless steel mask that allows to have irradiated and non irradiated regions in the same sample (see inset of Fig 1(a)). We have investigated four samples irradiated with doses corresponding to $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }=5,10,50`$ and $`100`$G, where $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$, the matching field, is usually defined as $`n_{col}\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ with $`n_{col}`$ the density of columns and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ the flux quantum. The $`HT`$ phase diagram obtained by DMO imaging  for these samples is shown in Fig. 1(a). It is important to remark that this high sensitivity technique shows that the FOT is not only preserved in the presence of low density of columnar defects but the transition temperature is raised when compared to that of pristine samples. For samples with $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }=5`$ and $`10`$G the melting line is first order and for the $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }=100`$G sample is continuous in the range of fields investigated by magnetic decoration. For the $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }=50`$G sample a critical point at $`70`$G separating the FOT at lower fields from a continuous one at higher fields is found. The magnetic decoration was performed after cooling the sample in the presence of a field, FC experiment, down to $`4.1`$K. The results obtained in the non irradiated regions confirm the high quality of the crystals.

Figure 1(b) shows the vortex structure in the non irradiated and irradiated regions obtained by magnetic decoration after FC the $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }=10`$G sample in a field of $`40`$G. A sharp boundary separates the Bragg Glass in the non irradiated region from a structure with no long range crystalline order in the irradiated one.

The experimental results show that the vortex structure is polycrystalline for $`B>B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and amorphous in the range $`B<B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$. Examples of Delaunay triangulations of polycrystalline vortex structures observed by magnetic decoration after FC the $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }=10`$G sample in fields of $`80`$G and $`40`$G are shown in Fig. 2(a) and (b), respectively. Fig. 2(c) shows the vortex structure for $`B=B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$. The black dots indicate topological defects (non-sixfold coordinated vortices). Figure 3 depicts decoration images of amorphous structures obtained in the regime $`B<B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$; (a) after FC the $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }=50`$G sample in a field of $`30`$G and (b) after FC the $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }=100`$G sample in a field of $`80`$G.

Contrary to what is often observed in homogeneous materials, we argue that the nature of the polycrystalline structure shown in Fig. 2 is an intrinsic property of the vortex matter in the presence of randomly distributed correlated defects. To demonstrate this we have used the dynamic annealing method  in which the magnetic field is tilted back and forth before the decoration is made. This procedure is known to remove the grain boundaries in NbSe2 and to reorder the crystalline vortex lattice  in non irradiated BSCCO-2212 samples. In contrast, we find that the polycrystalline structure of the irradiated region is not altered after applying this annealing procedure. This supports that the observed structure is the equilibrium one rather than a metastable configuration resulting from the typical nucleation and growth processes.

The above discussion suggests that the grain boundaries of the polycrystalline structure are fixed in space by the random distribution of columnar defects. If this were the case the area of the grains for a given $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ would be field independent contrary to what is observed in homogeneous low $`T_c`$ superconductors. To verify this, we studied the statistical distribution of the grain areas as a function of the applied field for $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }=5`$ and $`10`$G samples. The grain boundaries are defined as the interface between crystallites which orientations differ by 10 degrees or more. The areas of the different grains are measured counting the number of vortices within them. The analysis of many pictures shows that the histogram of the grain sizes is broad with upper and lower limiting values for the grain areas for each applied field. The number of vortices, $`N_{vg}`$, within the largest and smallest grains (upper and lower limits of the histogram) are proportional to $`B`$ as shown in Fig. 4 for $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }=10`$G sample. Identical behavior is found in the $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }=5`$G sample with the shift of the distribution of grain areas corresponding to the lower irradiation dose. Furthermore, the average number of vortices per grain (defined as the ratio between the total number of vortices within grains and the number of grains) is also found to be proportional to $`B`$, see Fig. 4 (solid squares). These results make evident that the size of the different grains for a given $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is field independent contrary to what is found in low $`T_c`$ superconductors, where the average grain size grows with the magnetic field . The invariance of the grain size with $`B`$ in the irradiated regions strongly supports that the grain size as well as the space distribution of the grains are determined by the landscape of the columnar defects.

In order to understand the relation between grain boundaries and the distribution of correlated defects we have generated a set of random points simulating the positions of columnar defects, see Fig. 2(d) (white dots). This configuration is found to be equivalent to that of columnar defects detected after etching mica irradiated by heavy ions with comparable doses, see inset in Fig. 4. It is interesting to remark that the distribution of columnar defects is not homogeneous on the scale of the lattice parameter in the range of fields investigated. The in-plane inhomogeneous distribution and the correlated character of the columnar defects suggest the presence of a network of contours extending throughout the thickness of the sample associated with the localization of vortices on columns. In Fig. 2(d) the contours are represented by the gray connected areas indicating the range of interaction ( penetration depth) of vortices localized on defects. These vortices create energy barriers that inhibit the propagation of the crystalline vortex lattice, giving rise to the polycrystalline structure observed in the regime $`B>B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$. Thus, the observed grain boundaries in samples with low irradiation dose have a different origin than those associated with metaestable states in homogeneous systems . The apparent grain boundaries in the irradiated samples are field independent vortex contours fixed in space by the random distribution of columns. This prompts us to propose a new state of vortex matter where the total number of vortices is divided in two species, one corresponds to the fraction of vortices localized on contours, $`\rho _{cont}`$, and the other forming the crystallites surrounded by the contours, $`\rho _{crys}`$.

Based on the above discussion we present a simplified picture that allows to predict the dependence of the number of topological defects (non sixfold coordinated vortices) of the polycrystalline structure, $`N_{def}`$, on $`B`$ and $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$. The total number of defects is counted in an arbitrary large area that contains many grains. The reported data was obtained from an inspected area of the order of $`10^4\mu m^2`$, much larger than the maximum grain size for the different $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ investigated. From the inspection of many images of the vortex structure in the irradiated regions we find that most of the topological defects are located along the contours separating the crystallites. Thus, as a first order approximation we assume that $`N_{def}`$ is proportional to the number of vortices localized on the contours, $`N_{cont}`$. The total length of the contours within the inspected area can be written as $`L=N_{cont}a_0`$ where $`a_0`$ is the average vortex distance. The experimental results showing the field independence of the areas of the crystallites (see Fig. 4) imply that $`L`$ is only function of $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$. Therefore $`N_{def}N_{cont}L(B_\mathrm{\Phi })/a_0L(B_\mathrm{\Phi })B^{1/2}`$. On the other hand, the self similarity of the space distribution of random columnar defects imposes that the areas enclosed by the contours scale with $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and consequently $`L(B_\mathrm{\Phi })B_\mathrm{\Phi }^{1/2}`$. Therefore, the fraction of vortices involved in topological defects, $`\rho _{def}`$, is

$$\rho _{def}=N_{def}/N_v(B_\mathrm{\Phi }/B)^{1/2}$$
(1)
In Fig. 5 we plot $`\rho _{def}`$ obtained from Delaunay triangulations of vortex structures for all $`B`$ and $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ investigated. The black line corresponds to the square root dependence predicted by Eq. 1. Despite the crude approximations, $`N_{def}N_{cont}`$ and $`L(B_\mathrm{\Phi })B_\mathrm{\Phi }^{1/2}`$, we see that for $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }<B`$ the experimental results are well described by this simple model. On the other hand, the deviation of the experimental data from the dependence predicted for $`\rho _{def}`$ in the range $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }/B>1`$ is evident.

The failure of the model to describe the amorphous state is expected, since for fields $`BB_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ a significative fraction of the areas enclosed by the contours fixed in space are not large enough to allocate vortices with crystalline symmetry, $`\rho _{crys}0`$. In this limit, despite most of the vortices remain pinned on columns, $`\rho _{cont}1`$, the number of topological defects is not proportional to $`L(B_\mathrm{\Phi })/a_0`$; i.e. $`a_0`$ is not an appropriate length scale to apply the scaling argument.

The $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }/B`$ independence of the fraction of defects in the amorphous state ($`\rho _{def}0.5`$) is remarkable, see Fig. 5. To investigate the origin of this result we have generated a random distribution of points with the constrain that the distance between near neighbors is not less than $`50\%`$ of the lattice parameter of a perfect lattice with the same density. The constrain is chosen to allow the fluctuations of the average distance between points to be that observed in the amorphous vortex structure. It is found that the fraction of defects obtained from Delaunay triangulation of this simulated distribution of points is the same as that for the vortex structure for $`B<B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$, indicating that in this regime most of the vortices are pinned on a random distribution of columnar defects.

The analysis of the vortex structure for $`B>B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ as well as for $`B<B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$, Fig. 5, strongly supports that in both limits the topological defects are associated with vortices localized on columns. For $`B>B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ the topological defects of the vortex structure are mainly due to plastic distortions induced by the presence of crystallites. In the other limit, $`B<B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$, the space within the contours does not allow to form crystallites, $`\rho _{crys}0`$, and the defects are associated with vortices localized on a fraction of columns compatible with the constrain mentioned above. It is clear that $`B/B_\mathrm{\Phi }1`$ marks the transition from a topological state described by a collection of crystallites to a state characterized by an amorphous structure, both determined by the random distribution of columns.

As a consequence of the results discussed above we see that in the limit $`B<B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ no crystalline structure can be accommodated within the small contours determined by the columnar defects, $`\rho _{crys}0`$. Thus, an amorphous vortex structure characterizes the solid state. This is particularly relevant when analyzing the interrelation between the solid structure and the nature of the vortex liquid-solid transition. The critical point at $`70`$G in the phase diagram of the $`B_\mathrm{\Phi }=50`$G sample indicates that most of the field range where the first order melting takes place corresponds to the regime $`B<B_\mathrm{\Phi }`$. Thus, the observed amorphous vortex structure, see Fig. 3(a), rules out the widely accepted correlation between a first order liquid-solid transition and a structural symmetry transformation. Moreover, we observe no difference between the topological order in Figs. 3 (a) and (b) despite the fact that the former structure has solidified through a FOT whereas the latter through a continuous phase transition.

In summary, a new vortex matter with two types of vortices has been discovered, giving support to the recently suggested vortex porous structure  and the interstitial liquid. One type is associated with vortices localized upon the topological contours formed by the random distribution of columnar defects and the other with vortices forming the crystallites. The relative distribution of vortices in these two classes explains the topological transformation of the solid from a Bragg Glass ($`B_\mathrm{\Phi }=0`$) into a polycrystal ($`B_\mathrm{\Phi }<B`$) and then into an amorphous structure ($`B_\mathrm{\Phi }>B`$) as the density of columnar defects is increased. The lack of correlation between the structure of the vortex solid and the order of the melting transition opens an important question on the microscopic mechanism that triggers melting in vortex solids. The detection of a FOT between an amorphous solid and a liquid makes evident that the first order melting transition in vortex matter does not require the widely accepted long range structural order of the solid state.

MM, YF and FC acknowledge E. Jagla, P. Cornaglia and F. Laguna for useful discussions and suggestions. FC and EZ acknowledge the support by the Fundación Antorchas-WIS collaboration program. Work partially supported by ANPCYT PICT99-5117. M. M. and Y. F. hold a fellowship of CONICET.


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# Remarks on rich subspaces of Banach spaces

## 1. Introduction

In this paper we present some results concerning the notion of a rich subspace of a Banach space as introduced in . In that paper (see also ), an operator $`T:XY`$ is called narrow if for every $`x,yS(X)`$ (the unit sphere of $`X`$), $`\epsilon >0`$ and every slice $`S`$ of the unit ball $`B(X)`$ of $`X`$ containing $`y`$ there is an element $`vS`$ such that $`x+v>2\epsilon `$ and $`T(yv)<\epsilon `$, and a subspace $`Z`$ of $`X`$ is called rich if the quotient map $`q:XX/Z`$ is narrow. We recall that a slice of the unit ball is a nonvoid set of the form $`S=\{xB(X):Rex^{}(x)>\alpha \}`$ for some functional $`x^{}X^{}`$. Thus, $`Z`$ is a rich subspace if for every $`x,yS(X)`$, $`\epsilon >0`$ and every slice $`S`$ of $`B(X)`$ containing $`y`$ there is some $`zX`$ at distance $`\epsilon `$ from $`Z`$ such that $`y+zS`$ and $`x+y+z>2\epsilon `$. Actually, we are not giving the original definition of a narrow operator but the equivalent reformulation from \[13, Prop. 3.11\].

These ideas build on previous work in  and ; however we point out that the above definition of richness is unrelated to Bourgain’s in . Narrow operators were used in  and  to extend Pełczyński’s classical result that neither $`C[0,1]`$ nor $`L_1[0,1]`$ embed into spaces having unconditional bases.

The investigation of narrow operators is closely connected with the Daugavet property of a Banach space. A Banach space $`X`$ has the Daugavet property whenever $`\mathrm{Id}+T=1+T`$ for every rank-1 operator $`T:XX`$; prime examples are $`C(K)`$ when $`K`$ is perfect (i.e., has no isolated points), $`L_1(\mu )`$ and $`L_{\mathrm{}}(\mu )`$ when $`\mu `$ is nonatomic, the disc algebra, and spaces like $`L_1[0,1]/V`$ when $`V`$ is reflexive. For future reference we mention the following characterisation of the Daugavet property :

###### Lemma 1.1.

The following assertions are equivalent:

* $`X`$ has the Daugavet property.
* For every $`xS(X)`$, $`\epsilon >0`$ and every slice $`S`$ of $`B(X)`$ there exists some $`vS`$ such that $`x+v>2\epsilon `$.
* For all $`xS(X)`$ and $`\epsilon >0`$, $`B(X)=\overline{\mathrm{co}}\{vB(X):x+v>2\epsilon \}`$.

Therefore, $`X`$ has the Daugavet property if and only if $`0`$ is a narrow operator on $`X`$ or equivalently if and only if there exists at least one narrow operator on $`X`$. It is proved in  that then every weakly compact operator on $`X`$ with values in some Banach space $`Y`$ (indeed, every strong Radon-Nikodým operator) and every operator not fixing a copy of $`\mathrm{}_1`$ is narrow (and hence satisfies $`\mathrm{Id}+T=1+T`$ when it maps $`X`$ into $`X`$). Consequently, a subspace $`Z`$ of a space with the Daugavet property is rich if $`X/Z`$ or $`(X/Z)^{}`$ has the RNP.

Also, $`X`$ has the Daugavet property if and only if $`X`$ is a rich subspace in itself or equivalently if $`X`$ contains at least one rich subspace.

The general idea of these notions is that a narrow operator is sort of small and hence a rich subspace is large. In Section 2 of this paper we study rich subspaces of $`L_1`$. With reference to a quantity that is reminiscent of the Dixmier characteristic we show that a rich subspace is indeed large: a subspace with a bigger “characteristic” coincides with $`L_1`$. As an application we present an interpolation property of Sidon sets. We remark that the counterpart notion of a small subspace of $`L_1`$ has been defined and investigated in .

These results notwithstanding, Section 3 gives examples of rich subspaces that appear to be small, namely there are examples of nonseparable spaces and separable rich subspaces.

In Section 4 we study hereditary properties for the Daugavet property in tensor products. Although there are positive results for rich subspaces of $`C(K)`$, we present counterexamples in the general case.

## 2. Rich subspaces of $`L_1`$

Let $`XL_1=L_1(\mathrm{\Omega },\mathrm{\Sigma },\lambda )`$ be a closed subspace where $`\lambda `$ is a probability measure. We define $`C_X`$ to be the closure of $`B(X)`$ in $`L_1`$ with respect to the $`L_0`$-topology, the topology of convergence in measure. Note that for $`fC_X`$ there is a sequence $`(f_n)`$ in $`B(X)`$ converging to $`f`$ pointwise almost everywhere and almost uniformly. In this section, the symbol $`f`$ refers to the $`L_1`$-norm of a function.

In \[13, Th. 6.1\] narrow operators on the space $`L_1`$ were characterised as follows.

###### Theorem 2.1.

An operator $`T:L_1Y`$ is narrow if and only if for every measurable set $`A`$ and every $`\delta ,\epsilon >0`$ there is a real-valued $`L_1`$-function $`f`$ supported on $`A`$ such that $`f=0`$, $`f1`$, the set $`\{f=1\}`$ of those $`t\mathrm{\Omega }`$ for which $`f(t)=1`$ has measure $`\lambda (\{f=1\})>\lambda (A)\epsilon `$ and $`Tf\delta `$. In particular, a subspace $`XL_1`$ is rich if and only if for every measurable set $`A`$ and every $`\delta ,\epsilon >0`$ there is a real-valued $`L_1`$-function $`f`$ supported on $`A`$ such that $`f=0`$, $`f1`$, $`\lambda (\{f=1\})>\lambda (A)\epsilon `$ and the distance from $`f`$ to $`X`$ is $`\delta `$.

Actually, in  only the case of real $`L_1`$-spaces was considered, but the proof extends to the complex case. Indeed, instead of the function $`v`$ that is constructed in the first part of the proof of \[13, Th. 6.1\] one uses its real part and employs the fact that for real-valued $`L_1`$-functions $`v_1`$ and $`v_2`$ satisfying

$$1\delta <_\mathrm{\Omega }|v_1|d\lambda _\mathrm{\Omega }(v_1^2+v_2^2)^{1/2}𝑑\lambda 1$$

we have $`v_2\sqrt{2\delta }`$.

###### Proposition 2.2.

If $`X`$ is rich, then $`\frac{1}{2}B(L_1)C_X`$.

###### Proof.

Since $`C_X`$ is $`L_1`$-closed, it is enough to show that $`f_A:=\chi _A/\lambda (A)2C_X`$ for every measurable set $`A`$. By Theorem 2.1 there is, given $`\epsilon >0`$, a real-valued function $`g_\epsilon `$ supported on $`A`$ with $`g_\epsilon 1`$ and $`g_\epsilon =0`$ such that $`\{g_\epsilon <1\}`$ has measure $`\epsilon `$ and the distance of $`g_\epsilon `$ to $`X`$ is $`\epsilon `$. Clearly $`g_\epsilon /\lambda (A)f_A`$ in measure as $`\epsilon 0`$ and

$$g_\epsilon =g_\epsilon ^++g_\epsilon ^{}=2g_\epsilon ^+2\lambda (A).$$

Therefore, there is a sequence $`(f_n)`$ in $`X`$ of norm $`2`$ converging to $`f_A`$ in measure. ∎

###### Proposition 2.3.

If $`\frac{1}{2}B(L_1)C_Y`$ for all $`1`$-codimensional subspaces $`Y`$ of $`X`$, then $`X`$ is rich.

###### Proof.

Again by Theorem 2.1, we have to produce functions $`g_\epsilon `$ as above on any given measurable set $`A`$. Therefore, we let $`Y=\{fX:_Af=0\}`$. By assumption, there is a sequence $`(f_n)`$ in $`Y`$ such that $`f_n2\lambda (A)`$ and $`f_n\chi _A`$ in measure.

We shall argue that $`Imf_n0`$. Let $`\eta >0`$. If $`n`$ is large enough, the set $`B_n:=\{|f_n\chi _A|\eta \}`$ has measure $`\eta `$. For those $`n`$,

$$0=_ARef_n=_{AB_n}Ref_n+_{AB_n}Ref_n$$

implies that

$$_{AB_n}|Ref_n|\left|_{AB_n}Ref_n\right|=\left|_{AB_n}Ref_n\right|\lambda (AB_n)(1\eta )$$

and

$$Ref_n_A\lambda (AB_n)(1\eta )+_{AB_n}|Ref_n|2(\lambda (A)\eta )(1\eta ).$$

Hence,

$$2(\lambda (A)\eta )(1\eta )Ref_n_Af_n_Af_n2\lambda (A),$$

and it follows for one thing that $`Imf_n_A`$ is small provided $`\eta `$ is small enough (cf. the remarks after Theorem 2.1) and moreover that

$$f_n_{[0,1]A}2\eta +2\eta \lambda (A).$$

Consequently, $`Imf_n0`$ as $`n\mathrm{}`$.

Now let $`\delta =\epsilon /9`$ and choose $`n`$ so large that the set $`B:=\{|Ref_n\chi _A|\delta \}`$ has measure $`\delta `$ and $`Imf_n\delta `$. Then there exists a real-valued function $`h`$ such that $`h=0`$ on $`[0,1](AB)`$, $`h=1`$ on $`AB`$, $`_Ah=0`$ and $`hRef_n2\delta `$. Now

$`h_A`$ $`=2h^+_A2(\lambda (A)\delta )`$
$`h`$ $`Ref_n+2\delta 2(\lambda (A)+\delta ),`$
so

$$h_{[0,1]A}4\delta .$$

Furthermore,

$`h^+_A`$ $`=h^+_{AB}+h^+_{AB}h^+_{AB}+\lambda (A)\delta ,`$
$`2h^+_A`$ $`=h_A2(\lambda (A)+\delta ),`$
so

$$h^+_{AB}2\delta ,$$

and it follows that there is a function $`g=g_\epsilon `$ such that $`g=0`$ on $`[0,1]A`$, $`g=1`$ on $`AB`$, $`g=0`$, $`g1`$ and $`gh4\delta `$. Then

$$dist(g,X)gf_ngh+hRef_n+Imf_n9\delta =\epsilon ,$$

as requested. ∎

Since a $`1`$-codimensional subspace of a rich subspace is rich \[12, Th. 5.12\], Proposition 2.2 shows that Proposition 2.3 can actually be formulated as an equivalence. This is not so for Proposition 2.2: the space constructed in Theorem 6.3 of  is not rich, yet it satisfies $`\frac{1}{2}B(L_1)C_X`$.

We sum this up in a theorem.

###### Theorem 2.4.

$`X`$ is a rich subspace of $`L_1`$ if and only if $`\frac{1}{2}B(L_1)C_Y`$ for all $`1`$-codimensional subspaces $`Y`$ of $`X`$.

The next proposition shows that the factor $`\frac{1}{2}`$ is optimal.

###### Proposition 2.5.

If, for some $`r>\frac{1}{2}`$, $`rB(L_1)C_X`$, then $`X=L_1`$.

###### Proof.

Suppose $`hL_{\mathrm{}}`$, $`h_{\mathrm{}}=1`$, and let $`Y=\{fL_1:fh=0\}`$. Assume that $`B(L_1)sC_Y`$; we shall argue that $`s2`$. This will prove the proposition since every proper closed subspace is contained in a closed hyperplane.

Assume without loss of generality that $`h`$ takes the (essential) value $`1`$. Let $`\epsilon >0`$, and put $`A=\{|h1|<\epsilon /2\}`$; then $`A`$ has positive measure. There is a sequence $`(f_n)`$ converging to $`\chi _A`$ in measure such that $`f_ns\lambda (A)`$ and $`f_nh=0`$ for all $`n`$. Since $`f_nh\chi _Ah`$ in measure as well, there is, if $`n`$ is a sufficiently large index, a subset $`A_nA`$ of measure $`(1\epsilon )\lambda (A)`$ such that $`|f_nh1|<\epsilon `$ on $`A_n`$. For such an $`n`$,

$`\left|{\displaystyle _{A_n}}f_nh\right|`$ $`=`$ $`\left|\lambda (A_n){\displaystyle _{A_n}}(1f_nh)\right|`$
$``$ $`\lambda (A_n){\displaystyle _{A_n}}|1f_nh|(1\epsilon )\lambda (A_n),`$
and therefore

$$_{A_n}|f_nh|(1\epsilon )\lambda (A_n)$$

and, if $`B_n`$ denotes the complement of $`A_n`$,

$$_{B_n}|f_nh|\left|_{B_n}f_nh\right|=\left|_{A_n}f_nh\right|(1\epsilon )\lambda (A_n)$$

so that

$$s\lambda (A)f_nf_nh2(1\epsilon )^2\lambda (A).$$

Since $`\epsilon >0`$ was arbitrary, we conclude that $`s2`$. ∎

Thus, the rich subspaces appear to be the next best thing in terms of size of a subspace after $`L_1`$ itself. At the other end of the spectrum are the nicely placed subspaces, defined by the condition that $`B(X)`$ is $`L_0`$-closed. Recall that $`X`$ is nicely placed if and only if $`X`$ is an $`L`$-summand in its bidual, i.e., $`X^{}=X_1X_s`$ ($`\mathrm{}_1`$-direct sum) for some closed subspace $`X_s`$ of $`X^{}`$ \[9, Th. IV.3.5\].

We now look at the translation invariant case, and we consider $`L_1(𝕋)`$ (or $`L_1(G)`$ for a compact abelian group). As usual, for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ the space $`L_{1,\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ consists of those $`L_1`$-functions whose Fourier coefficients vanish off $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$.

###### Proposition 2.6.

Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and suppose that $`L_{1,\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ is rich in $`L_1`$. Then for every measure $`\mu `$ on $`𝕋`$ and every $`\epsilon >0`$ there is a measure $`\nu `$ with $`\nu \mu +\epsilon `$ and $`\widehat{\nu }(\gamma )=\widehat{\mu }(\gamma )`$ for all $`\gamma \mathrm{\Lambda }`$ that is $`\epsilon `$-almost singular in the sense that there is a set $`S`$ with $`\lambda (S)\epsilon `$ and $`|\nu |(𝕋S)\epsilon `$.

###### Proof.

Let $`\mu =f\lambda +\mu _s`$ be the Lebesgue decomposition of $`\mu `$, and let $`\delta >0`$. By Proposition 2.2 there is a function $`gL_{1,\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ such that $`g2f`$ and $`A:=\{|fg|>\delta \}`$ has measure $`<\delta `$. Let $`B:=\{|fg|\delta \}`$. Then

$$g\chi _A2fg\chi _B2ff\chi _B+\delta =f+f\chi _A+\delta .$$

Therefore we have for $`\nu :=\mu g\lambda `$

$`\nu `$ $`=`$ $`(fg)\lambda +\mu _s`$
$``$ $`f\chi _A+g\chi _A+(fg)\chi _B+\mu _s`$
$``$ $`2f\chi _A+2\delta +\mu ,`$
and hence $`\nu \mu +\epsilon `$ if $`\delta `$ is sufficiently small.

Clearly $`\widehat{\nu }=\widehat{\mu }`$ on the complement of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, and if $`N`$ is a null set supporting $`\mu _s`$, then $`S:=AN`$ has the required properties if $`\delta \epsilon `$. ∎

We apply these ideas to Sidon sets, i.e., sets $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$ such that all functions in $`C_\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$ have absolutely sup-norm convergent Fourier series. (See  for recent results on this notion.) If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the complement of a Sidon set, then $`L_1/L_{1,\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ is isomorphic to $`c_0`$ or finite-dimensional \[18, p. 121\]. Hence $`L_{1,\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ is rich by \[13, Prop. 5.3\], and Proposition 2.6 applies. Thus, the following corollary holds.

###### Corollary 2.7.

If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$ is a Sidon set and $`\mu `$ is a measure on $`𝕋`$, then for every $`\epsilon >0`$ there is an $`\epsilon `$-almost singular measure $`\nu `$ with $`\nu \mu +\epsilon `$ and $`\widehat{\nu }(\gamma )=\widehat{\mu }(\gamma )`$ for all $`\gamma \mathrm{\Lambda }^{}`$.

To show that there are also non-Sidon sets sharing this property we observe a simple lemma.

###### Lemma 2.8.

If $`Z`$ is a rich subspace of $`X`$, then $`L_1(Z)`$ is a rich subspace of the Bochner space $`L_1(X)`$.

###### Proof.

It is enough to check the definition of narrowness of the quotient map on vector-valued step functions. Thus the assertion of the lemma is reduced to the assertion that $`Z_1\mathrm{}_1Z`$ is a rich subspace of $`X_1\mathrm{}_1X`$; but this has been proved in . ∎

Now if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a co-Sidon set, then $`L_1(L_{1,\mathrm{\Lambda }})L_{1,\times \mathrm{\Lambda }}(𝕋^2)`$ is a rich subspace of $`L_1(L_1)L_1(𝕋^2)`$, and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{}=\times (\backslash \mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is a non-Sidon set with reference to the group $`𝕋^2`$ for which Corollary 2.7 is valid.

## 3. Some examples of small but rich subspaces

In this section we provide examples of nonseparable Banach spaces and separable rich subspaces.

First we give a handy reformulation of richness. We let

$$D(x,y,\epsilon )=\{zX:x+y+z>2\epsilon ,y+z<1+\epsilon \}$$

for $`x,yS(X)`$.

###### Lemma 3.1.

The following assertions are equivalent for a Banach space $`X`$.

* $`Z`$ is a rich subspace of $`X`$.
* For every $`x,yS(X)`$ and every $`\epsilon >0`$,

$$y\overline{\mathrm{co}}\left(y+\left(D(x,y,\epsilon )Z\right)\right).$$
* For every $`x,yS(X)`$ and every $`\epsilon >0`$,

$$0\overline{\mathrm{co}}\left(D(x,y,\epsilon )Z\right).$$

###### Proof.

(i) $``$ (ii) is a consequence of the Hahn-Banach theorem, and (ii) $``$ (iii) is obvious. ∎

For $`Z=X`$, (ii) boils down to condition (iii) of Lemma 1.1.

In the examples we are going to present $`Z`$ will be a space $`C(K,E)`$ embedded in a suitable space $`X`$. The type of space we have in mind will be defined next.

###### Definition 3.2.

Let $`E`$ be a Banach space and $`X`$ be a sup-normed space of bounded $`E`$-valued functions on a compact space $`K`$. The space $`X`$ is said to be a $`C(K,E)`$-superspace if it contains $`C(K,E)`$ and for every $`fX`$, every $`\epsilon >0`$ and every open subset $`UK`$ there exists an element $`eE`$, $`e>(1\epsilon )sup_Uf(t)`$, and a nonvoid open subset $`VU`$ such that $`ef(\tau )<\epsilon `$ for every $`\tau V`$.

Basically, $`X`$ is a $`C(K,E)`$-superspace if every element of $`X`$ is large and almost constant on suitable open sets.

Here are some examples of this notion.

###### Proposition 3.3.

* $`D[0,1]`$, the space of bounded functions on $`[0,1]`$ that are right-continuous and have left limits everywhere and are continuous at $`t=1`$, is a $`C[0,1]`$-superspace.
* Let $`K`$ be a compact Hausdorff space and $`E`$ be a Banach space. Then $`C_w(K,E)`$, the space of weakly continuous functions from $`K`$ into $`E`$, is a $`C(K,E)`$-superspace.

###### Proof.

(a) $`D[0,1]`$ is the uniform closure of the span of the step functions $`\chi _{[a,b)}`$, $`0a<b<1`$, and $`\chi _{[a,1]}`$, $`0a<1`$; hence the result.

(b) Fix $`f`$, $`U`$ and $`\epsilon `$ as in Definition 3.2; without loss of generality we assume that $`sup_Uf(t)=1`$. Consider the open set $`U_0=\{tU:f(t)>1\epsilon \}`$. Now $`f(U_0)`$ is relatively weakly compact since $`f`$ is weakly continuous; hence it is dentable \[1, p. 110\]. Therefore there exists a halfspace $`H=\{xE:x^{}(x)>\alpha \}`$ such that $`f(U_0)H`$ is nonvoid and has diameter $`<\epsilon `$. Consequently, $`V:=f^1(H)U_0`$ is an open subset of $`U`$ for which $`f(\tau _1)f(\tau _2)<\epsilon `$ for all $`\tau _1,\tau _2V`$. This shows that $`C_w(K,E)`$ is a $`C(K,E)`$-superspace. ∎

The following theorem explains the relevance of these ideas.

###### Theorem 3.4.

If $`X`$ is a $`C(K,E)`$-superspace and $`K`$ is perfect, then $`C(K,E)`$ is rich in $`X`$; in particular, $`X`$ has the Daugavet property.

###### Proof.

We wish to verify condition (iii) of Lemma 3.1. Let $`f,gS(X)`$ and $`\epsilon >0`$. We first find an open set $`V`$ and an element $`eE`$, $`e>1\epsilon /4`$, such that $`ef(\tau )<\epsilon /4`$ on $`V`$. Given $`N`$, find open nonvoid pairwise disjoint subsets $`V_1,\mathrm{},V_N`$ of $`V`$. Applying the definition again, we obtain elements $`e_jE`$ and open subsets $`W_jV_j`$ such that $`e_j>(1\epsilon /4)sup_{V_j}g(t)`$ and $`e_jg(\tau )<\epsilon /4`$ on $`W_j`$. Let $`x_j=ee_j`$, let $`\phi _jC(K)`$ be a positive function supported on $`W_j`$ of norm $`1`$ and let $`h_j=\phi _jx_j`$. Now if $`t_jW_j`$ is selected to satisfy $`\phi _j(t_j)=1`$, then

$$f+g+h_j(f+g+h_j)(t_j)>e+e_j+x_j\epsilon /2>2\epsilon $$

and

$$g+h_j<1+\epsilon $$

since $`g(t)+h_j(t)1`$ for $`tW_j`$, and for $`tW_j`$

$$g(t)+h_j(t)e_j+\phi _j(t)x_j+\epsilon /4(1\phi _j(t))e_j+\phi _j(t)e+\epsilon /4.$$

This shows that $`h_jD(f,g,\epsilon )C(K,E)`$. But the supports of the $`h_j`$ are pairwise disjoint, hence $`1/N_{j=1}^Nh_j2/N0`$. ∎

###### Corollary 3.5.

* $`C[0,1]`$ is a separable rich subspace of the nonseparable space $`D[0,1]`$.
* If $`K`$ is perfect, then $`C(K,E)`$ is a rich subspace of $`C_w(K,E)`$. In particular, $`C([0,1],\mathrm{}_p)`$ is a separable rich subspace of the nonseparable space $`C_w([0,1],\mathrm{}_p)`$ if $`1<p<\mathrm{}`$.

Let us remark that there exist nonseparable spaces with the Daugavet property with only nonseparable rich subspaces. Indeed, an $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{}}`$-sum of uncountably many spaces with the Daugavet property is an example of this phenomenon. To see this we need the result from  that whenever $`T`$ is a narrow operator on $`X_1_{\mathrm{}}X_2`$, then the restriction of $`T`$ to $`X_1`$ is narrow too, and in particular it is not bounded from below. Now let $`X_i`$, $`iI`$, be Banach spaces with the Daugavet property and let $`X`$ be their $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{}}`$-sum. If $`Z`$ is a rich subspace of $`X`$, then by the result quoted above there exist elements $`x_iS(X_i)`$ and $`z_iZ`$ with $`x_iz_i1/4`$; hence $`z_iz_j1/2`$ for $`ij`$. If $`I`$ is uncountable, this implies that $`Z`$ is nonseparable.

## 4. The Daugavet property and tensor products

One may consider the space $`C(K,E)`$ as the injective tensor product of $`C(K)`$ and $`E`$; see for instance \[6, Ch. VIII\] or \[19, Ch. 3\] for these matters. It is known that $`C(K,E)`$ has the Daugavet property whenever $`C(K)`$ has, regardless of $`E`$ ( or ), and it is likewise true that $`C(K,E)`$ has the Daugavet property whenever $`E`$ has, regardless of $`K`$ . This raises the natural question whether the injective tensor product of two spaces has the Daugavet property if at least one factor has.

We first give a positive answer for the class of rich subspaces of $`C(K)`$; for example, a uniform algebra is a rich subspace of $`C(K)`$ if $`K`$ denotes its Silov boundary and is perfect.

###### Proposition 4.1.

If $`X`$ is a rich subspace of some $`C(K)`$-space, then $`X\widehat{}_\epsilon E`$, the completed injective tensor product of $`X`$ and $`E`$, is a rich subspace of $`C(K)\widehat{}_\epsilon E`$ for every Banach space $`E`$; in particular, it has the Daugavet property.

###### Proof.

We will consider $`X\widehat{}_\epsilon E`$ as a subspace of $`C(K,E)`$. In order to verify (iii) of Lemma 3.1 let $`f,gS(C(K,E))`$ and $`\epsilon >0`$ be given. Further, let $`\eta >0`$ be given. We wish to construct functions $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_nD(f,g,\epsilon )X\widehat{}_\epsilon E`$ such that $`\frac{1}{n}_{j=1}^nh_j2\eta `$.

There is no loss in assuming that $`\eta \epsilon `$. Consider $`U=\{t:f(t)>1\eta /2\}`$. By reducing $`U`$ if necessary we may also assume that $`g(t)g(t^{})<\eta `$ for $`t,t^{}U`$. Fix $`n2/\eta `$ and pick $`n`$ pairwise disjoint open nonvoid subsets $`U_1,\mathrm{},U_n`$ of $`U`$; this is possible since $`K`$ must be perfect, for $`C(K)`$ carries a narrow operator, viz. the quotient map $`q:C(K)C(K)/X`$. By applying \[13, Th. 3.7\] to $`q`$ we infer that there exists, for each $`j`$, a function $`\psi _jX`$ with $`\psi _j0`$, $`\psi _j=1`$ and $`\psi _j<\eta /2`$ off $`U_j`$. Choose $`t_jU_j`$ with $`\psi _j(t_j)=1`$. We define

$$h_j=\psi _j(f(t_j)g(t_j))X\widehat{}_\epsilon E$$

and claim that $`h_jD(f,g,\eta )D(f,g,\epsilon )`$. In fact,

$$f+g+h_jf(t_j)+g(t_j)+h_j(t_j)=2f(t_j)>2\eta .$$

Also, $`g+h_j<1+\eta `$, for if $`tU_j`$, then

$`g(t)+h_j(t)`$ $``$ $`g(t_j)+h_j(t)+g(t)g(t_j)`$
$`<`$ $`(1\psi _j(t))g(t_j)+\psi _j(t)f(t_j)+\eta `$
$``$ $`1+\eta ,`$
and for $`tU_j`$ we clearly have $`g(t)+h_j(t)<1+\eta `$.

It is left to estimate $`\frac{1}{n}_{j=1}^nh_j`$. If $`t`$ does not belong to any of the $`U_j`$, we have

$$\frac{1}{n}\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}h_j(t)\eta ,$$

and if $`tU_i`$, we have

$$\frac{1}{n}\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}h_j(t)\frac{n1}{n}\eta +\frac{1}{n}h_i(t)\eta +\frac{2}{n}2\eta $$

by our choice of $`n`$. ∎

In general, however, the above question has a negative answer.

###### Theorem 4.2.

There exists a two-dimensional complex Banach space $`E`$ such that $`L_1^{}[0,1]\widehat{}_\epsilon E`$ fails the Daugavet property, where $`L_1^{}[0,1]`$ denotes the space of complex-valued $`L_1`$-functions.

###### Proof.

Consider the subspace $`E`$ of complex $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{}}^6`$ spanned by the vectors $`x_1=(1,1,1,1,1,0)`$ and $`x_2=(0,\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2},\frac{i}{2},\frac{i}{2},1)`$. The injective tensor product of $`E`$ and $`L_1^{}[0,1]`$ can be identified with the space of 6-tuples of functions $`f=(f_1,\mathrm{},f_6)`$ of the form $`g_1x_1+g_2x_2`$, $`g_1,g_2L_1^{}[0,1]`$, with the norm $`f=\mathrm{max}_{k=1,\mathrm{},6}f_k_1`$. To show that this space does not have the Daugavet property, consider the slice

$$S_\epsilon =\{f=(f_1,\mathrm{},f_6)L_1^{}[0,1]E:Re_0^1f_1(t)𝑑t>1\epsilon ,f1\}.$$

Every $`f=g_1x_1+g_2x_2S_\epsilon `$ satisfies the conditions

$$g_1>1\epsilon ,\mathrm{max}\{g_1\pm \frac{1}{2}g_2,g_1\pm \frac{i}{2}g_2\}1.$$

Now the complex space $`L_1`$ is complex uniformly convex . Therefore, there exists a function $`\delta (\epsilon )`$, which tends to 0 when $`\epsilon `$ tends to 0, such that $`g_2<\delta (\epsilon )`$ for every $`f=g_1x_1+g_2x_2S_\epsilon `$. This implies that for every $`fS_\epsilon `$

$$1x_2+f\frac{3}{2}+\delta (\epsilon ).$$

So if $`\epsilon `$ is small enough, there is no $`fS_\epsilon `$ with $`1x_2+f>2\epsilon `$. By Lemma 1.1, this proves that this injective tensor product does not have the Daugavet property. ∎

For the projective norm it is known that $`L_1(\mu )\widehat{}_\pi E=L_1(\mu ,E)`$ has the Daugavet property regardless of $`E`$ whenever $`\mu `$ has no atoms . Again, there is a counterexample in the general case.

###### Corollary 4.3.

There exists a two-dimensional complex Banach space $`F`$ such that $`L_{\mathrm{}}^{}[0,1]\widehat{}_\pi F`$ fails the Daugavet property, where $`L_{\mathrm{}}^{}[0,1]`$ denotes the space of complex-valued $`L_{\mathrm{}}`$-functions.

###### Proof.

Let $`E`$ be the two-dimensional space from Theorem 4.2; note that $`(L_1^{}\widehat{}_\epsilon E)^{}=L_{\mathrm{}}^{}\widehat{}_\pi E^{}`$. Since the Daugavet property passes from a dual space to its predual, $`F:=E^{}`$ is the desired example. ∎

## 5. Questions

We finally mention two questions that were raised by A. Pełczyński which we have not been able to solve.

(1) Is there a rich subspace of $`L_1`$ with the Schur property? It was recently proved in  that the subspace $`XL_1`$ constructed by Bourgain and Rosenthal in , which has the Schur property and fails the RNP, is a space with the Daugavet property; however, it is not rich in $`L_1`$.

(2) If $`X`$ is a subspace of $`L_1`$ with the RNP, does $`L_1/X`$ have the Daugavet property? The answer is positive for reflexive spaces , for $`H^1`$  and a certain space constructed by Talagrand  in his (negative) solution of the three-space problem for $`L_1`$ .


text:
# Observation of narrow-band noise accompanying the breakdown of insulating states in high Landau levels

## Abstract

Recent magnetotransport experiments on high mobility two-dimensional electron systems have revealed many-body electron states unique to high Landau levels. Among these are re-entrant integer quantum Hall states which undergo sharp transitions to conduction above some threshold field. Here we report that these transitions are often accompanied by narrow- and broad-band noise with frequencies which are strongly dependent on the magnitude of the applied dc current.

Strong evidence now exists which suggests that in the presence of a modest perpendicular magnetic field $`B`$, a clean two-dimensional electron system (2DES) with density $`n_s`$ supports many-body phases distinct from the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) states which dominate at high fieldsjpesscom . These new phases form when the 2DES occupies three or more orbital Landau levels (LLs). Near half filling of the spin resolved LLs, e.g. at filling fraction $`\nu =hn_s/eB=9/2`$, 11/2, etc., states exhibiting highly anisotropic longitudinal resistance develop at temperatures below about 100 mKlilly1 ; du . These are believed to be closely related to the striped charge density wave (CDW) states predicted by Hartree-Fock theoryKFS ; MC .

Near 1/4 and 3/4 filling of the same high LLs, additional phases exist whose main experimental signature is an isotropic vanishing of the longitudinal resistance and a re-entrant integer quantization of the Hall resistancelilly1 ; du . These states are separated from the nearby conventional integer quantum Hall states by narrow regions of non-zero longitudinal resistance and non-quantized Hall resistance. The re-entrant aspect of these states suggests that they reflect collective, as opposed to single particle, insulating configurations of the electrons in the uppermost LL. Indeed, prevailing theory predicts that the ground state of the 2DES at these fillings is a pinned triangular CDW, analogous to a Wigner crystal but with two or more electrons per unit cellKFS ; MC ; rezayi2 ; yoshi . Estimates of the lattice constant of such “bubble” phases are on the order of 100 nm under typical circumstances. This picture is supported by non-linear dc current-voltage ($`I`$-$`V`$) measurements in which sharp onsets to conduction are observed in the re-entrant integer quantum Hall effect (RIQHE) statescooper1 . Such threshold behavior is a common feature of transport in conventional CDW systems, such as NbSe3gruner . It has also been observed in 2DESs at low filling of the $`N=0`$ LL where Wigner crystallization is thought to occurwigner1 . Recently, Lewis *et al.*lewis  have observed sharp resonances in the microwave conductivity of the 2DES in the vicinity of the RIQHE states and have suggested that they may reflect a pinning mode of the bubble crystalresonances .

Here we report a remarkable new aspect of the RIQHE: the abrupt onset of conduction at high dc bias is often accompanied by narrow- and broad-band noise which is very sensitive to the dc current carried by the 2DES. While it is tempting to compare the narrow-band noise to the “washboard” noise encountered in the sliding transport of conventional CDW compoundsgruner , the low frequencies ($`5\mathrm{kHz}`$) we observe may point to a different origin. Nevertheless, the dynamical features described here form an important part of the phenomenology of the RIQHE and include the first observation of narrow-band noise in the quantum Hall regimebbnoise .

Noise accompanying RIQHE breakdown has been observed in four different GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures. We focus here on a 30 nm GaAs quantum well containing a 2DES with density $`n_s=2.9\times 10^{11}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ and mobility $`\mu =2.3\times 10^7\mathrm{cm}^2/\mathrm{Vs}`$. Eight diffused In ohmic contacts were positioned at the corners and side midpoints of the $`4\times 4`$ mm square sample. The linear response longitudinal resistance was obtained by driving low level purely ac current (typically 10 nA at 13 Hz) between midpoint contacts on opposite sides of the sample and recording the voltage drop between adjacent corner contacts. The non-linear response of the sample was observed using purely dc current excitation and monitoring both the dc and ac components of the resulting voltage.

Figure 1a shows the linear response longitudinal resistances measured with net current flow along the orthogonal $`[110]`$ and $`[1\overline{1}0]`$ crystal axes at $`T=50`$ mK over the filling factor range $`5>\nu >4`$. As is usually the case when no external symmetry-breaking field is presentnote1 , the resistance shows a deep minimum around $`\nu =9/2`$ for current flow along $`[110]`$ and a strong maximum for current flowing along $`[1\overline{1}0]`$. Flanking the region of anisotropy are the RIQHE states around $`\nu 4+1/4`$ and 4+3/4 filling, where the longitudinal resistance vanishes isotropically. Although not shown, the Hall resistance is quantized in these regions, at $`h/4e^2`$ and $`h/5e^2`$ respectively.

$`I`$-$`V`$ characteristics of the RIQHE states were obtained using a circuit shown in Fig. 1b. At $`\nu =4.27`$, near the center of the high-field RIQHE, $`V_{dc}`$ versus $`I_{dc}`$ is shown in Fig. 1b. For small $`I_{dc}`$ the RIQHE remains intact, i.e. $`V_{dc}=0`$. The current is flowing entirely within the filled $`N=0`$ and $`N=1`$ lower LLs while the quasiparticles in the partially-filled $`N=2`$ LL remain insulating. At $`I_{dc}1.1\mu \mathrm{A}`$, however, $`V_{dc}`$ abruptly becomes non-zero as the RIQHE breaks down and current begins to flow in the $`N=2`$ LLcooper1 .

Fig. 1c shows that along with the sharp dc response, a nonzero $`V_{ac}`$ appears as the RIQHE breaks down. Four 10 ms traces of the net longitudinal voltage $`V_{ac}`$+$`V_{dc}`$, taken at different values of $`I_{dc}`$, are displayed. For $`I_{dc}`$$`=0.5`$ $`\mu `$A, $`V_{ac}`$ is very small and displays only background noise. Above the dc threshold current of 1.1 $`\mu `$A, however, $`V_{ac}`$ begins to fluctuate. Immediately above threshold, at $`I_{dc}`$$`=1.2`$ $`\mu `$A, a reproducible burst-like pattern separated by irregular intervals is observed. At higher currents $`V_{ac}`$ shows unambiguous narrow-band noise, oscillating around 3 kHz for $`I_{dc}`$$`=1.4`$ $`\mu `$A. As $`I_{dc}`$ is increased further, the noise frequency rises: by $`I_{dc}`$$`=1.7`$ $`\mu `$A, fluctuations on time scales of less than 0.1 ms are seen. We emphasize that this noise in $`V_{ac}`$ develops spontaneously in the RIQHE regions of high LLs under purely dc current excitation. The noise arises from the 2DES itself and is not due to interactions with the external circuitry.

Figure 2 illustrates the spectral content of the noise associated with the breakdown of the RIQHE near $`\nu 4+1/4`$. Figure 2a shows a typical dc $`I`$-$`V`$ characteristic, the threshold to conduction occuring close to $`1.0\mu \mathrm{A}`$, while Fig. 2b displays a logarithmic plot of the simultaneously recorded Fourier power spectrum of $`V_{ac}`$. The full gray scale in Fig. 2b corresponds to a noise power variation of 37 dB. The faint horizontal lines running across the entire image are artifacts arising from background electronic pick-up. It is apparent from the figure that as the dc breakdown current is exceeded, the power spectrum erupts from quiescence into a rich pattern of sharp spectral lines and their harmonics along with weaker broadband features. The narrow-band features can be very sharply defined: $`Q`$-factors of 25 are typical but values in excess of 1000 have been seen.

It is evident from Fig. 2b that the noise “fingerprint” is strongly dependent upon the dc current flowing through the sample. Indeed, in some respects the noise power spectrum mirrors the dc $`I`$-$`V`$ characteristic: Immediately above threshold $`V_{dc}`$ rises linearly with $`I_{dc}`$; at the same time, the frequencies of the dominant noise modes also rise roughly linearly. At higher dc currents, $`V_{dc}`$ exhibits sharp step-like features and ultimately begins to fall. Likewise, the power spectrum undergoes abrupt structural changes and eventually the dominant mode frequencies also begin to subside.

The slight differences between the dc $`I`$-$`V`$ data in Figs. 2a and 1b, which were taken at the same temperature and magnetic field, are typical of the day-to-day variations encountered during the course of the experiment. Similarly, the noise spectrum exhibited variations from measurement to measurement under identical conditions as well as between measurements taken at slightly different filling factors within a given RIQHE or with different voltage contact configurations. In spite of these quantitative differences, the qualitative features of the noise, i.e. its onset near dc breakdown, its strong current dependence, and its complex spectral makeup, are robust.

Noise features similar to those seen in the RIQHE near $`\nu 4+1/4`$ have also been found in several other RIQHE states. In addition to the RIQHE near $`\nu 4+3/4`$ in the same spin branch of the $`N`$=2 LL, narrow band noise has been observed in RIQHE states near $`\nu 5+1/4`$ and 6+1/4, the last being in the $`N`$=3 LL. Although the strength and detailed spectral make-up of the noise vary widely, the qualitative effect is the same. Figures 2c and 2d show representative $`I`$-$`V`$ data and noise spectra from the RIQHE near $`\nu 6+1/4`$.

The noise accompanying RIQHE breakdown is restricted to the same narrow ranges of filling factor and low temperatures as the sharp features in the dc $`I`$-$`V`$ curvescooper1 . In Fig. 3 the average noise level, $`V_{rms}`$, in the filling factor range $`5>\nu >4`$ is overlaid on the longitudinal resistance data shown in Fig. 1a. The quantity $`V_{rms}`$ represents the rms noise voltage in a bandwidth of 1 to 25 kHz, calculated from the noise spectra at fixed dc current and averaged over all $`I_{dc}`$ from 0 to $`3\mu \mathrm{A}`$. Qualitatively, $`V_{rms}`$ is just the averaged intensity of a noise fingerprint like the one in Fig. 2b. The baseline of $`V_{rms}`$ in Fig. 3, about $`1.4\mu \mathrm{V}`$, is equal to the background noise signal in the 1-25 kHz bandwidth at $`I_{dc}`$$`=0`$. Clearly, excess noise above this baseline is absent over most of the range $`4<\nu <5`$. In particular, no excess noise is observed in the integer QHE regions at $`\nu =4`$ and $`\nu =5`$, nor in the region of anisotropic transport around $`\nu =9/2`$. (The latter is true regardless of the direction of the current flow.) In contrast, a strong peak in $`V_{rms}`$ is observed in the RIQHE region around $`\nu 4+1/4`$, and a lesser but still noticeable peak is present in the RIQHE near $`\nu 4+3/4`$. The substantial difference in the noise power exhibited by these two RIQHE states is not understood. We emphasize, however, that such apparent breakdowns of particle-hole symmetry in 2D electron systems are commonplace. For example, recent studies of the subtle FQHEpangap  and insulating phaseseisenstein  in the $`N`$=1 LL have revealed a similar lack of symmetry about half-filling. As in the present situation, the collective states on the high magnetic field side of half-filling are stronger than their counterparts on the low field side. Spin effects and/or LL mixing may be involved, but there is as yet no real understanding of such phenomena.

The inset to Fig. 3 shows that the excess noise observed in the RIQHE is strongly temperature dependent, disappearing above about 100 mK just like all other signatures of the recently discovered collective phenomena in high LLsjpesscom .

Because the breakdown of the RIQHE may reflect the depinning of an electron bubble lattice, it is logical to compare the observed narrow-band noise with the “washboard” noise encountered in conventional CDW compoundsfleming . Washboard noise is believed to reflect the spatial periodicity of the depinned CDW as it slides across the impurity potential in the sample. Consistent with this, the noise frequency is found to be proportional to the current carried by the CDWgruner . In the present case of a 2DES, the generally increasing frequency of the narrow-band noise immediately above the RIQHE breakdown is suggestive of a similar mechanism. In addition to washboard noise, conventional CDW systems exhibit a variety of interference phenomena between narrow-band noise modes and externally applied ac signalsgruner . Indeed, we have recently observed similar effects in RIQHE breakdown, including examples of mode-locking and mode-mixingfuture .

Despite these similarities, it is difficult to understand the very low frequencies of the noise observed in our experiment. Assuming, for example, that 100 nA flows via the sliding of a bubble CDW with a 100 nm lattice constant, the expected washboard frequency in our sample (assuming the current density is uniform) would be on the order of 10 MHz, not the few kHz that we observe. There are, of course, uncertainties in such an estimate. For example, the fraction of the total current $`I_{dc}`$ which flows in the partially filled $`N=2`$ Landau level is not accurately known. Below breakdown $`I_{dc}`$ flows entirely within the $`N=0`$ and $`N=1`$ LLs beneath the Fermi level. Far above breakdown, or, equivalently, at very high temperatures, at most $`6\%`$ (=0.25/4.25) of $`I_{dc}`$ at $`\nu =4+1/4`$ flows in the valence LL. Immediately above breakdown the situation is less clear. Hall voltage measurements suggest that the fraction of $`I_{dc}`$ flowing in the valence LL increases smoothly from zero at breakdown to a few percent well above it, but it is difficult to analyze such data in a model-independent way. Although this current shunting effect could reduce the expected noise frequencies substantially, it seems unlikely that it can account for the kHz noise frequencies which are still observed when the $`I_{dc}`$ exceeds breakdown by hundreds of nA.

The observation of anomalously low-frequency narrow-band noise does not rule out a sliding charge density wave picture of RIQHE breakdown. In fact, the low bandwidth ($`100\mathrm{kHz}`$) of our current experimental setup leaves higher frequency “conventional” narrow-band noise undetectable in any case. Nonetheless, the existence of low-frequency noise demands a more complex model than an ideal bubble lattice uniformly sliding across the macroscopic dimensions of our samples. Such a more realistic scenario will have to incorporate the well-known inhomogeneity of current flow in the quantum Hall regime and the possibility of non-uniform plastic or filamentary flow within the driven CDW lattice. The latter phenomena are thought to occur in other 2D systems, such as driven vortex latticesvortex , and have been discussed in the context of the depinning of the hypothesized Wigner crystal in the lowest LL at very low filling factorsfertig ; olson .

The noise reported here might instead be related to the processes responsible for the breakdown of the conventional integer QHEnachtwei . The phenomenology of QHE breakdown is quite rich, with substantial differences between samples of different density, mobility and geometry. Numerous mechanismsnachtwei  for the breakdown have been proposed, including runaway heating, Zener tunneling, inter-LL transitions, backscattering filament formation, and magneto-exciton generationeaves . Not surprisingly, no single theory satisfactorily explains all the experimental results. While the breakdown of the RIQHE resembles that of the conventional integer QHE, there are important differences. For example, the observed threshold fields for conventional integer QHE breakdown in comparable bulk 2D samples exceed those we find in the RIQHE by large factors, typically $`10^310^4`$. In addition, narrow-band noise has not been observed in conventional integer QHE breakdown.

In conclusion, we have observed complex noise spectra accompanying the breakdown of the re-entrant integer quantized Hall states of 2DESs in high LLs. These states, which represent insulating configurations of the electrons in the uppermost LL, may well be pinned “bubble” charge density waves. After breakdown under the stress of a large Hall electric field, both narrow- and broad-band noise appears in the current-voltage characteristics of these states. Although the frequencies of the narrow-band modes generally increase with the current driven through the system, they are too low to be readily accounted for by a simple sliding charge density wave model.

We thank V. Oganesyan, S. Brown, and R. Thorne for useful discussions and M.P. Lilly for his work on the early stages of this experiment. This work was supported by the DOE under Grant No. DE-FG03-99ER45766 and the NSF under Grant No. DMR0070890.


text:
# Coupling nuclear reaction rates with temperature in explosive conditions

## 1 Introduction

Violent phenomenae in astrophysics are often related with the sudden release of nuclear binding energy. In some cases, when material is very degenerate, such release is practically isochoric and we refer it as explosive ignition. In other situations there is some expansion and the evolution takes place at nearly constant pressure and high temperature. In both combustion regimes, however, the nuclear system evolves from the initial composition to a final state characterized by the coexistence of hundreds or even thousands elements in chemical equilibrium. From the point of view of stellar modelization, different burning regimes translates into a variety of subroutines in order to properly handle all combustion stages. It is frequent to use a second order implicit scheme to integrate the chemical equations and assume NSE wherever density and temperature are high enough. While this approach has proven useful in many situations, it would be worthwile an integration algorithm suitable to handle rapid combustion, including the limiting cases of QSE and NSE, fast and stable enough to keep large time-steps. A possible solution is to couple molar fractions with temperature through the energy or entropy equation as proposed by E.Müller . Taking a small network of 13 nuclei, from $`\alpha `$ to $`{}_{}{}^{56}Ni`$, he showed how the inclusion of temperature effects was decisive to avoid the numerical oscillations which otherwise show up during and after the relaxation to the NSE regime. In this paper we extend the previous work of Müller considering a larger nuclear network and providing some more test cases. In addition we also propose a slightly different integration method which is very robust and straightforward to implement. Nowadays, the effort to write the proposed numerical scheme for large networks (even ’kilo-nuclide’ networks) can take great advantage of libraries of theoretical reaction rates recently published .

## 2 Description of the method

First of all the chemical equations are written in their implicit form and linearized taking $`Y_i^{n+1}=Y_i^n+\mathrm{\Delta }Y_i`$ as described in . In addition we also take $`T^{n+1}=T^n+\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ and make a first order Taylor expansion of nuclear rates with respect the temperature. For instance, for photodesintegration rates we take $`\lambda _i^{n+1}=\lambda _i(T^n)+\lambda _i/T|_{T^n}\mathrm{\Delta }T`$. Neglecting second order terms like $`\mathrm{\Delta }Y_i\mathrm{\Delta }Y_k`$ or $`\mathrm{\Delta }Y_i\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ the discretized system of equations reads:

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }Y_i}{\mathrm{\Delta }T}=\underset{k,l}{}r_{kl}Y_l^n\mathrm{\Delta }Y_k\left(\underset{j}{}r_{ij}Y_j^n\right)\mathrm{\Delta }Y_i+\underset{m}{}\lambda _m\mathrm{\Delta }Y_m\lambda _i\mathrm{\Delta }Y_i+\underset{k,l}{}r_{kl}Y_k^n\mathrm{\Delta }Y_l$$

$$\underset{i,j}{}r_{ij}Y_i^n\mathrm{\Delta }Y_j+\left(\underset{k,l}{}r_{kl}^{^{}}Y_k^nY_l^n\underset{j}{}r_{ij}^{^{}}Y_i^nY_j^n+\underset{m}{}\lambda _m^{^{}}Y_m^n\lambda _i^{^{}}Y_i^n\right)\mathrm{\Delta }T$$

$$+\underset{k,l}{}r_{kl}Y_k^nY_l^n\underset{j}{}r_{ij}Y_i^nY_j^n+\underset{m}{}\lambda _mY_m^n\lambda _iY_i^n$$
$`(1)`$
where $`r_{ij}=\rho Na\sigma ,v_{ij}`$ stands for particle reactions, $`\lambda _i`$ is for photodesintegrations, an upper comma means to take the temperature derivative and the remaining symbols have the usual meaning. In addition we need an extra equation to close the system. We took the energy equation, which for an adiabatic process can be written as follows:

$$\underset{i}{}BE_i\mathrm{\Delta }Y_i\left\{\left(\frac{U}{T}\right)^n\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\rho }{\rho ^2}\left(\frac{P}{T}\right)^n\right\}\mathrm{\Delta }T=T^n\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\rho }{\rho ^2}\left(\frac{P}{T}\right)^n$$
$`(2)`$
Eventual diffusion terms should be added to the independent terms to the right of Equation 2. This method can be applied to arbitrarly large networks. The computational effort to integrate the system with and without thermal coupling is practically the same.

### 2.1 Tests realized

The nuclear evolution of dense plasmas under extreme thermal conditions involve a large quantity of nuclei. However, in current multidimensional simulations of supernovae and others explosive events the size of the network is strongly constrained by computational efficiency. Small networks of around ten nuclei are used in this case, which approximately give the correct nuclear energy rate. Thus, we have checked the method with two networks of different size: an $`\alpha `$-chain of 14 nuclei from $`\alpha `$ to $`{}_{}{}^{60}Zn`$ (including $`{}_{}{}^{12}C`$, and $`{}_{}{}^{16}O`$ binary reactions) and a network of moderate size with 86 nuclei from protons and neutrons to $`{}_{}{}^{60}Zn`$. Nuclear rates were taken from  and the sparse matrix solver was that of .

The following cases of astrophysical interest were successfully calculated: a) isochoric combustion of an initial fuel composed by $`{}_{}{}^{12}C+^{16}O`$ at $`\rho =10^9g.cm^3`$ followed by an adiabatic expansion in the hydrodynamical time (Figure 1, upper right), b) photodesintegration of a system composed of $`{}_{}{}^{56}Fe`$ at constant density of $`10^9g.cm^3`$ (bottom left) and, c) isobaric propagation of a nuclear flame in a medium composed by $`{}_{}{}^{12}C+^{16}O`$ and $`\rho =10^9g.cm^3`$ (bottom right). As a comparation, the isochoric burning case was also calculated without thermal coupling. In this case the oscillations of both, abundances and temperature, are clearly visible when NSE is approached (upper left, using 14 nuclei).

Fortunately, once the thermal coupling was included the QSE and the NSE regimes were smoothly achieved with no fluctuation in all cases, allowing the scheme to take longer time-steps in these phases. More details about the performance of the method will be presented elsewhere .

This work has benefited from the MCYT grants EPS98-1348 and AYA2000-1785 and from the DGES grants PB98-1183-C03-02.


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# Estimating the post-measurement state

## Abstract

We study generalized measurements (POVM measurements) on a single $`d`$-level quantum system which is in a completely unknown pure state, and derive the best estimate of the post-measurement state. The mean post-measurement estimation fidelity of a generalized measurement is obtained and related to the operation fidelity of the device. This illustrates how the information gain about the post-measurement state and the corresponding state disturbance are mutually dependent. The connection between the best estimates of the pre- and post-measurement state is established and interpreted. For pure generalized measurements the two states coincide.

There are two important properties in which measurements on a quantum system differ from measurements in classical physics: Even if a finite number of identical copies of a system are available, it is in general impossible to obtain complete information about the state of the system. Furthermore, information can be extracted from a quantum system only at the cost of disturbing it.

These aspects are studied in the framework of quantum estimation theory which has recently attracted much interest. It plays an important role in quantum data processing in the context of quantum information and computing. A typical topic is the determination of the optimal fidelity of the estimated quantum state from $`N`$ identically prepared copies of the quantum system . Algorithms for constructing an optimal positive operator valued measure (POVM measurement) were discussed in . Adaptive projection measurements were treated in . A related subject to the present discussion is the tension between information gain and disturbance . The balance between the mean operation fidelity and the estimation fidelity of the pre-measurement state has been studied by Banaszek . We will come back to his results later.

The purpose of this Letter is studying the estimation of the post-measurement state. Suppose a generalized measurement (POVM measurement) is performed on a single $`d`$-level system of pure but otherwise completely unknown quantum state. Knowing the measurement result and the specifications of the measurement, what is the best estimate of the post-measurement state and what is the corresponding highest fidelity? Of all measurements granting a certain estimation fidelity, which is the one with the lowest disturbance? And finally, how are the best estimations of the pre- and post-measurement states related? All these questions will be answered below in closed analytical forms.

Situations in which it is important to guess the ”post-measurement state” are known from everyday life. Medical inspections with x-rays, radioactive chemicals etc. are invasive measurements as quantum measurements in general are. The more information such inspections provide the more damage they cause. No copy of the patient is available. The patient’s state is therefore to be estimated on the basis of a single run inspection whereby the doctor has to decide about the strength of his intervention in choosing a balance between information gain and disturbance. Since, furthermore, any subsequent medical treatment must take into account that an unavoidable disturbance has happened, it has to be adjusted to the post- and not to the pre-inspection state.

There are quantum informatic setups exhibiting such characteristic traits. A typical example is a sequence of generalized measurements aiming at the monitoring of the state evolution of a single quantum system . An important strategy to improve the information and to diminish the disturbance is to adjust the parameters of each forthcoming generalized measurement to the expected pre-measurement state . To this end, the post-measurement state of the previous measurement must be estimated. We will not work out this example, but rather turn to the post-measurement state in general.

A given generalized measurement is described by a set of $`n`$ operators $`M_s`$, where the index $`s=1,\mathrm{},n`$ labels the possible readouts of the measurement. These measurement operators, also called Kraus-operators, act on the quantum state of the measured system. One may think of a $`d`$-level system. The readout $`s`$ will in general not correspond to one of these levels, contrary to typical projective measurements. The pure pre-measurement state $`|\psi `$ of the system is changed by a generalized measurement with outcome $`s`$ into the conditional post-measurement state

$$|\psi ^{(s)}=\frac{M_s|\psi }{\sqrt{\psi |M_s^{}M_s|\psi }}.$$
(1)
Obviously, $`|\psi ^{(s)}`$ will always depend on the initial state $`|\psi `$ unless the rank of $`M_s`$ is $`1`$. Therefore the post-measurement state remains in general unknown if $`|\psi `$ is unknown, and can only be estimated. The probability for the measurement result $`s`$ to occur is given by

$$p_s=\psi |E_s|\psi ,$$
(2)
where the operators $`E_s`$ are defined by

$$E_s:=M_s^{}M_s.$$
(3)
They are positive operators satisfying a completeness relation $`_{s=1}^nE_s=\mathrm{𝟙}`$ which guarantees $`_{s=1}^np_s=1`$ for the probabilities. The set $`\{E_s\}`$ is called a positive-operator-valued measure (POVM) and the individual operators $`E_s`$ are also known as POVM elements or effects.

To prepare later calculations we introduce the spectral decomposition of $`E_s`$

$$E_s=\underset{i=1}{\overset{d}{}}a_i^{(s)}|r_i^{(s)}r_i^{(s)}|.$$
(4)
$`a_i^{(s)}`$ are the positive eigenvalues. The eigenvectors $`\{|r_i^{(s)}\}`$ form an orthonormal basis. Due to the polar decomposition theorem (cf. e.g.), we may split the measurement operator $`M_s`$ into a product of a unitary operator $`U_s`$ and the square root of $`E_s`$

$$M_s=U_s\sqrt{E_s}.$$
(5)
This implies

$$M_sM_s^{}=U_sE_sU_s^{}.$$
(6)
Thus the positive operators $`M_sM_s^{}`$ and $`E_s`$ have the same eigenvalues $`a_i^{(s)}`$ and the diagonal representation of $`M_sM_s^{}`$ becomes

$$M_sM_s^{}=\underset{i=1}{\overset{d}{}}a_i^{(s)}|l_i^{(s)}l_i^{(s)}|.$$
(7)
The eigenvectors $`|l_i^{(s)}=U_s|r_i^{(s)}`$ form again an orthonormal basis. Herewith and with the help of eqs.(4) and (5) we obtain as result the useful bi-orthogonal expansions of the unitary operators $`U_s`$ and of the measurement operators $`M_s`$:

$$U_s=\underset{i=1}{\overset{d}{}}|l_i^{(s)}r_i^{(s)}|$$
(8)
$$M_s=\underset{i=1}{\overset{d}{}}\sqrt{a_i^{(s)}}|l_i^{(s)}r_i^{(s)}|.$$
(9)
$`|l_i^{(s)}`$ and $`|r_i^{(s)}`$ are the l.h.s. and r.h.s. eigenvectors of $`M_s`$, respectively. The number of non-zero eigenvalues $`\sqrt{a_i^{(s)}}`$ equals the rank of $`M_s`$.

Based on this we can now move to the problems of quantum state estimation. We assume a single $`d`$-level quantum system prepared in a completely unknown pure pre-measurement state $`|\psi `$. A particular generalized measurement specified by the known set $`\{M_s\}`$ of operators is performed with measurement result $`s`$ which is read off. What is the optimal strategy for the estimation of the post-measurement state $`|\psi ^{(s)}`$ prepared by the measurement? It is worthwhile to emphasize that the only data available for the estimation are the set $`\{M_s\}`$ specifying the measurement and the value $`s`$ of the actual readout.

If the state $`|\chi ^{(s)}`$ is proposed as an estimate of the unknown post-measurement state $`|\psi ^{(s)}`$, the fidelity

$$f_s=|\chi ^{(s)}|\psi ^{(s)}|^2=\frac{1}{p_s}|\chi ^{(s)}|M_s|\psi |^2$$
(10)
is a measure of the quality of the estimation. The fidelity $`\overline{f}`$ averaged over all measurement outcomes reads: $`\overline{f}=_{s=1}^nf_sp_s`$. The mean estimation fidelity $`G_{\mathrm{post}}(\chi )`$ in case the in-going (pre-measurement) state is completely unknown, is the result of an integration over all possible states $`|\psi `$:

$$G_{\mathrm{post}}(\chi ):=\overline{f}𝑑\psi =𝑑\psi \underset{s=1}{\overset{n}{}}\chi ^{(s)}|M_s|\psi \psi |M_s^{}|\chi ^{(s)},$$
(11)
with respect to the normalized unitary invariant measure on the state space, yielding:

$$G_{\mathrm{post}}(\chi )=\frac{1}{d}\underset{s=1}{\overset{n}{}}\chi ^{(s)}|M_sM_s^{}|\chi ^{(s)}.$$
(12)
By virtue of eq.(7), each component in the sum over $`s`$ in (12) is maximized if $`|\chi ^{(s)}`$ is chosen to be the eigenvector $`|l_{\mathrm{max}}^{(s)}`$ of $`M_sM_s^{}`$ of the maximum eigenvalue $`a_{\mathrm{max}}^{(s)}`$. For the measurement result $`s`$ the best estimate of the post-measurement state is therefore given by

$$|\chi _{\mathrm{post}}^{(s)}=|l_{\mathrm{max}}^{(s)}.$$
(13)
In case of degeneracy of the greatest eigenvalue $`a_{\mathrm{max}}^{(s)}`$, any state vector from the corresponding eigenspace represents an optimal estimation of the post-measurement state. The maximum value of $`G_{\mathrm{post}}(\chi )`$ reads

$$G_{\mathrm{post}}=\frac{1}{d}\underset{s=1}{\overset{n}{}}a_{\mathrm{max}}^{(s)}.$$
(14)
$`G_{\mathrm{post}}`$ is the mean post-measurement estimation fidelity. $`|\chi _{\text{post}}^{(s)}`$ and $`G_{\mathrm{post}}`$ are determined solely by the operators $`M_s`$ which specify the generalized measurement.

We now address the question, how $`G_{\mathrm{post}}`$ is related to the mean operation fidelity $`F`$ which describes how much the state after the measurement resembles the original one. The larger the value $`F`$ of a measurement is, the weaker is its disturbing influence. Arguing as above, $`F`$ is obtained from eq.(11) if we replace $`|\chi ^{(s)}`$ by $`|\psi `$:

$$F=𝑑\psi \underset{s=1}{\overset{n}{}}|\psi |M_s|\psi |^2.$$
(15)
It may be rewritten as :

$$F=\frac{1}{d(d+1)}\left(d+\underset{s=1}{\overset{n}{}}|\text{tr}M_s|^2\right).$$
(16)
To derive a relation between $`G_{\mathrm{post}}`$ and $`F`$, it is useful to first relate $`G_{\mathrm{post}}`$ to the estimation fidelity of the pre-measurement state. Denoting this estimate by $`|\chi ^{(s)}`$, the corresponding mean estimation fidelity, in analogy to $`G_{\mathrm{post}}(\chi )`$ of eq.(11), reads:

$$G_{\mathrm{pre}}(\chi )=𝑑\psi \underset{s=1}{\overset{n}{}}p_s|\chi ^{(s)}|\psi |^2$$
(17)
which may be rewritten according to Banaszek  as

$$G_{\mathrm{pre}}(\chi )=\frac{1}{d(d+1)}\left(d+\underset{s=1}{\overset{n}{}}\chi ^{(s)}|E_s|\chi ^{(s)}\right).$$
(18)
The optimum pre- and post-measurement fidelities are closely related. For a given measurement result $`s`$, the best estimate $`|\chi _{\mathrm{pre}}^{(s)}`$ of the pre-measurement state is the one which maximizes the corresponding component in the sum in eq.(18). Because of eq.(4), it is given by the eigenvector $`|r_{\mathrm{max}}^{(s)}`$ of $`E_s`$ belonging to the maximum eigenvalue . But this eigenvalue is again $`a_{\mathrm{max}}^{(s)}`$. The best estimate of the pre-measurement state related to the outcome $`s`$ is therefore

$$|\chi _{\mathrm{pre}}^{(s)}=|r_{\mathrm{max}}^{(s)}.$$
(19)
We denote the corresponding maximum value of $`G_{\mathrm{pre}}(\chi )`$ by $`G_{\mathrm{pre}}`$ and call it the mean pre-measurement estimation fidelity. Comparing it to the form (14) of $`G_{\mathrm{post}}`$, we obtain the simple new relationship:

$$G_{\mathrm{pre}}=\frac{1}{d+1}(1+G_{\mathrm{post}}).$$
(20)
This result allows us to transcribe Banaszek’s constraint  between $`F`$ and $`G_{\mathrm{pre}}`$ into a constraint relating $`F`$ and $`G_{\mathrm{post}}`$:

$$\sqrt{(d+1)F1}\sqrt{G_{\mathrm{post}}}+\sqrt{(d1)(1G_{\mathrm{post}})}.$$
(21)
To illustrate how state disturbance and information gain are related for the post-measurement situation, we display the domain of possible combination of $`F`$ and $`G_{\mathrm{post}}`$ in the $`G_{\mathrm{post}}`$-$`F`$ plane. If the system is not influenced at all, the measurement has the operation fidelity $`F=1`$. In this case the guess of the pre- and post-measurement state is totally random which amounts to $`G_{\mathrm{pre}}=G_{\mathrm{post}}=1/d`$. On the other hand there are measurements which allow to predict the post-measurement state exactly (e.g. projection measurements), i.e., with maximum fidelity $`G_{\mathrm{post}}=1`$. This leads via eq.(20) to $`G_{\mathrm{pre}}=2/(d+1)`$. This result for $`G_{\mathrm{pre}}`$ has also been obtained in . It is known  that it corresponds to $`F=2/(d+1)`$. To summarize, the domain of possible combinations $`(G_{\mathrm{post}},F)`$ is limited by $`1/dG_{\mathrm{post}}1`$ and $`2/(d+1)F1`$ as well as by the inequality (21). The boundaries of the domain are indicated in Fig. 1 for $`d=2`$, including the dashed lines. In this domain, every particular generalized measurement $`\{M_s\}`$ corresponds to a point. Its position illustrates to what extent the information about the outgoing (post-measurement) state is gained at the cost of disturbing the in-going (pre-measurement) one. Large values of $`F`$ combined with large values of $`G_{\mathrm{post}}`$ characterize the most optimal type of generalized measurement. For increasing dimension $`d`$ of the state space all types of measurements become less advantageous (cf. Fig. 1).

To complete this discussion we return to the question: What type of generalized measurements apart from projection measurements make it possible to know the post-measurement state $`|\psi ^{(s)}`$ exactly? As we mentioned earlier, the necessary condition is the rank of Kraus-operator $`M_s`$ be $`1`$:

$$M_s=\sqrt{a^{(s)}}|l^{(s)}r^{(s)}|.$$
(22)
From eq.(1) it follows that the post-measurement state is always $`|l^{(s)}`$ independently of the otherwise unknown pre-measurement state. If we apply our general rule (13) to this trivial case we find that, indeed, the best estimate is the true one: $`|\chi _{\mathrm{post}}^{(s)}=|l^{(s)}`$. The rule (19) yields $`|\chi _{\mathrm{pre}}^{(s)}=|r^{(s)}`$ for the best estimate of the pre-measurement state. Hence the ultimate form of the rank-one Kraus-operators is this:

$$M_s=\sqrt{a^{(s)}}|\chi _{\mathrm{post}}^{(s)}\chi _{\mathrm{pre}}^{(s)}|.$$
(23)
The corresponding effects $`E_s`$ are then given by

$$E_s=a^{(s)}|\chi _{\mathrm{pre}}^{(s)}\chi _{\mathrm{pre}}^{(s)}|.$$
(24)
The completeness relation $`E_s=\mathrm{𝟙}`$ constrains the pre-measurement state estimates to form an overcomplet basis in general. The set of post-measurement states is not constrained at all. Note that the multiplicity of different measurement results $`s`$ may exceed the number $`d`$ of levels in our system. Since neither $`|\chi _{\mathrm{pre}}^{(s)}`$ nor $`|\chi _{\mathrm{post}}^{(s)}`$ have to form orthogonal systems they are in general not the eigenstates of any Hermitian observable. So we are still having a generalized measurement and not a projective measurement. The post-measurement state is nevertheless exactly known $`(G_{\mathrm{post}}=1)`$ and the optimal estimate of the pre-measurement state $`|\chi _{\mathrm{pre}}^{(s)}`$ is of maximal estimation fidelity $`G_{\mathrm{pre}}=2/(d+1)`$.

We turn to a further aspect of information gain and state disturbance. In eq.(5) we have uniquely decomposed the measurement operation $`M_s`$ which corresponds to the measurement result $`s`$, into the positive operator $`\sqrt{E_s}`$ and a unitary operator $`U_s`$. The unitary part does not change the von Neumann entropy. By virtue of eq.(2), all information, which is contained in a measurement result, goes back to $`\sqrt{E_s}`$. In particular, the estimation fidelities $`G_{\mathrm{post}}`$ and $`G_{\mathrm{pre}}`$ (14,18) depend only on the eigenvalues of $`E_s`$. The part $`\sqrt{E_s}`$ of $`M_s`$ represents, at a given information gain, the unavoidable minimal disturbance of the state vector. We call $`\sqrt{E_s}`$ the pure measurement part of a generalized measurement and a measurement with $`U_s=\mathrm{𝟙}`$ a pure measurement. The operation fidelity $`F`$ depends on the unitary parts $`U_s`$, too. The inequality (21) shows that the maximal operation fidelity $`F`$ is limited by $`G_{\mathrm{post}}`$ and therefore by the pure measurement part.

Having connected the three mean fidelities $`F,G_{\mathrm{pre}}`$ and $`G_{\mathrm{post}}`$, we connect now the best guesses $`|\chi _{\mathrm{pre}}^{(s)}`$ and $`|\chi _{\mathrm{post}}^{(s)}`$ for the pre- and post-measurement states, respectively. The two best guesses are the distinguished pair of l.h.s. and r.h.s. eigenvectors to the same eigenvalue, cf. eqs.(13) and (19). Invoking the expansions (8) and (9), this leads directly to the results

$$U_s|\chi _{\mathrm{pre}}^{(s)}=|\chi _{\mathrm{post}}^{(s)}$$
(25)
and

$$\frac{M_s|\chi _{\mathrm{pre}}^{(s)}}{\sqrt{a_{\mathrm{max}}^{(s)}}}=|\chi _{\mathrm{post}}^{(s)}.$$
(26)
Equation (25) shows that the best estimate for the post-measurement state can be obtained from the best estimate of the pre-measurement state by applying merely the unitary part $`U_s`$ of the measurement operator. This has the surprising consequence that for all pure measurements the best estimations for the pre- and post-measurement state always agree if the in-going state $`|\psi `$ is completely unknown. This is the case regardless of the values of the operation fidelity $`F`$ and the estimation fidelities $`G_{\mathrm{pre}}`$ and $`G_{\mathrm{post}}`$.

Finally we give a physical interpretation of relation (26). As a matter of fact, both the pre- and post-measurement states become only partially revealed by the estimation procedure. Nonetheless, even non-optimal estimates $`|\chi _{\mathrm{pre}}^{(s)}`$, $`|\chi _{\mathrm{post}}^{(s)}`$ must obey the constraint (26) expressing the certain fact that the post-measurement state results from the generalized measurement (1) of the pre-measurement one. Recall that we estimated the optimum pre- and post-measurement states by maximizing independently the pre- and post-measurement fidelities. We did not guarantee explicitly that the two optimum states $`|\chi _{\mathrm{pre}}^{(s)}`$, $`|\chi _{\mathrm{post}}^{(s)}`$ satisfy the exact constraint. The derived result (26) proves that they do.

In conclusion, we have studied generalized measurement $`\{M_s\}`$ on a single $`d`$-level quantum system. For the case when the initial state is pure and otherwise completely unknown, we pointed out that the best estimates of the pre- and post-measurement states for a given measurement readout $`s`$ are the respective right and left eigenvectors of $`M_s`$, belonging to the (common) largest eigenvalue. The mean post-measurement estimation fidelity of the measurement device is also calculated and shown to satisfy a simple relationship with the mean pre-measurement estimation fidelity. A constraint between the post-measurement estimation fidelity and the operation fidelity of the measurement illustrates how state disturbance and information gain about the post-measurement state are competing with each other. We have shown that for pure generalized measurements the independent best estimates of the pre- and post-measurement states agree. We have proved that, in general, they are related via the corresponding measurement operator as we expect of them.

This work was supported by the Optik Zentrum Konstanz. L.D. acknowledges the support from the Hungarian Science Research Fund under Grant 32640.