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# Resistance proof, folding-inhibitor drugs

## Abstract

Conventional drugs work, as a rule, by inhibiting the enzymatic activity of specific proteins, capping their active site. In this paper we present a model of non- conventional drug design based on the inhibiting effects small peptides obtained from segments of the protein itself have on the folding ability of the system. Such peptides attach to the newly expressed (unfolded) protein and inhibit its folding, inhibition which cannot be avoided but through mutations which in any case denaturate the enzyme. These peptides, or their mimetic molecules, can be used as effective alternative drugs to those already available, displaying the advantage of not suffering from the upraise of resistence.

Drugs perform their activity either by activating or by inhibiting some target component of the cell. In particular, many inhibitory drugs bind to an enzyme and deplete its function by preventing the binding of the substrate. This is done by either capping the active site of the enzyme (competitive inhibition) or, binding to some other part of the enzyme, by provoking structural changes which make the enzyme unfit to bind the substrate (allosteric inhibition). The two main features that inhibitory drugs must display are efficiency and specificity. In fact, it is not sufficient that the drug binds to the substrate and reduces efficiently its activity. It is also important that it does not interfere with other cellular processes, binding only to the protein it was designed for. These features are usually accomplished designing drugs which mimick the molecular properties of the natural substrate. In fact, the pair enzyme/substrate have undergone milions of years of evolution in order to display the required features. Consequently, the more similar the drug is to the substrate, the lower is the probability that it interferes with other cellular processes. Something that this kind of inhibitory drugs are not able to do is to avoid the development of resistance, a phenomenon which is typically related to viral protein targets. Under the selective pressure of the drug, the target is often able to either mutate the amino acids at the active site or at sites controlling its conformation in such a way that the activity of the enzyme is essentially retained, while the drug is no longer able to bind to it. An important example of drug-resistance is connected with AIDS. In this case, one of the main target proteins, HIV-protease, is able to mutate its active site so as to avoid the effects of drug action within a period of time of 6-8 months (cf. e.g. new1 ; new2 ). In the present paper we discuss the design of drugs which interfere with the folding mechanism of the target protein, destabilizing it and making it prone to proteolisis. We shall show that these drugs are efficient, specific and do not suffer from the upraise of resistance. The model of protein folding we employ is largely used in the literature. In spite of its simplicity, it reproduces well the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of real proteins sh1 ; sh2 ; jchemphys1 . The model describes a protein as a chain of beads sitting on a cubic lattice, each bead representing an amino acid and interacting with the neighbouring beads through a contact potential. There are twenty kinds of beads to account for the twenty kinds of natural amino acids. Consequently the contact potential is defined by a 20$`\times `$20 matrix, extracted from statistical analysis of the contacts of real proteins mj .

Using this model, it has been shown that single domain proteins fold according to a hierarchical mechanism jchemphys2 ; jchemphys3 . Starting from an elongated conformation, it is found that, highly conserved and strongly interacting amino-acids lying close along the designed chain form small local elementary structures (LES). Due to the small conformational space available and to their large attractive propensity, these LES are formed at a very early stage in the folding process and are very stable. The rate limiting step of this process corresponds to the assembly of the LES to build their native, non–local contacts(folding nucleus). This nucleation can be done in a relatively short time, because LES, moving as almost rigid entities, not only reduce the conformational space available to the protein but also display low probability of forming non-native interactions. Furthermore they interact with each other more strongly than single amino acids belonging to these structures dojchemphys3 . The nucleation event corresponds to the overcoming of the major free energy barrier found in the whole folding process sh\_nucl . After this is accomplished the remaining conformational space available to the protein is so small that the system reaches the native state almost immediately. In keeping with these results we suggest the use of short peptides with the same sequence as the LES (in the following, shortened as p–LES) to destabilize the protein. We test this suggestion on three sequences designed to fold to the three different structures displayed in Fig. 1. The corresponding sequences are listed in the caption to the figure. It was shown in a previous work 1d3d  that the associated LES are built out of residues 3–6, 11–14 and 27–30 for sequence (a) of Fig. 1 (known as S36 in the literature), of residues 1–6, 20–22 and 30–31 for sequence (b) and of residues 34–42 and 2–12 for sequence (c).

To asses the ability p–LES display in destabilizing designed proteins, we have performed Monte Carlo simulations of a system composed of the protein and a number $`n_p`$ of p–LES in a cubic cell of linear size $`L`$ with periodic boundary conditions dimer . Each simulation starts from a random conformation of the system and is carried on through $`10^8`$ MC steps at fixed temperature $`T`$. During the simulation, we have collected the histogram of the order parameter $`q`$, defined as the relative number of native contacts, parameter which measures the extent to which the equilibrium state reached by the protein is similar to the native conformation.

In Fig. 2(a) we display the equilibrium distribution of $`q`$, calulated at $`T=0.24`$ and $`L=7`$ for the system composed of sequence S36 and a number of p–LES 3’–6’ as a function of $`n_p`$ (concentration)footnote . While the distribution of $`q`$ values in the absence of p–LES (solid line) shows a two–peaks shape, reflecting a all-none transition between the native ($`q>0.7`$) and the unfolded ($`q<0.6`$) state, the presence of p–LES reduces markedly the stability of the protein. The effect of the other p–LES, i.e. 11’–14’ and 27’–30’, is similar to that found for the peptide 3’–6’and is displayed in Figs. 2(b) and (c). The strength of the inhibitory effect, measured in terms of relative population $`p_1`$ of the native state ($`q>0.7`$) of the protein in presence of p–LES, is displayed in Fig. 3.

To further test the validity of these results, we have repeated the above calculations making use of peptides corresponding to segments of the protein sequence other than those corresponding to LES. In Fig. 2(d) the effect of peptides corresponding to residues 8–11 is shown. One can notice that the protein is not destabilized to any significant extent. To ensure that this result is not a consequence of the weak binding of the peptide to the protein, we have replaced the amino-acids 8’–11’ of the peptide by amino acids which interact with the complementary amino acids of the protein (i.e. amino acids 21,22,15 and 14 respectively, cf.Fig1(a)) as strongly as those belonging to LES do. No difference with the results shown in Fig.2(d) was found.

The thermodynamics which is at the basis of the disruptive mechanism of p–LES is quite simple. In fact there are three thermodynamically relevant states in the range of temperatures where the protein is stable: 1) the state in which the protein is folded and the $`n_p`$ p–LES do not interact with the protein (whose free energy is taken as reference and assigned a value $`\mathrm{\Delta }F_1=0`$), 2) the state in which a p–LES is bound to the (complementary) LES of the protein preventing it from folding, its free energy being $`\mathrm{\Delta }F_2=\mathrm{\Delta }F_0+E_{LES}+TS_tT\mathrm{log}n_p`$ where the quantity $`\mathrm{\Delta }F_0`$ is the difference in free energy between the unfolded and the native state of the isolated protein, $`E_{LES}`$ is the interaction energy between the p–LES and the complementary LES and $`S_t`$ is the translational entropy of a p–LES, 3) the state in which the protein is unfolded and the p–LES do not interact with the protein, the associated free energy being $`\mathrm{\Delta }F_3=\mathrm{\Delta }F_0`$. The translational entropy can be estimated using the relation

$$S_t(n_p)=\mathrm{log}\left[12(Vv_{prot}(n_p1)v_{ples})\right],$$
(1)
where $`V=343`$ is the volume of the cell (in lattice units) in which the simulations are performed, $`v_{prot}=166`$ is the average volume occupied by the protein, $`v_{ples}=20`$ is the average volume occupyied by a p–LES, while the prefactor $`12`$ accounts for the orientation of the p–LES. It then follows that the equilibrium probability that the protein is folded, i.e. in state 1), is given by

$$p_1=\frac{1}{1+e^{\mathrm{\Delta }F_0/T}[n_pe^{S_t(n_p)E_{LES}/T}+1]}.$$
(2)
In Figs. 3(a), (b) and (c) are displayed the values of $`p_1`$ associated with the sequence $`S36`$ and the three p–LES 3’–6’, 11’–14’ and 27’–30’ as a function of $`n_p`$ (solid dots). The continuous curves are the the results obtained making use of Eq. (2) and of the numeric values $`\mathrm{\Delta }F_0=0.038`$ (obtained from MC simulations) and $`E_{LES}`$ ($`=2.5`$(a),$`2.0`$(b),-2.5(c)).

The overall agreement found between the three-state model and the results of MC simulations suggests that the destabilization of the protein is, in fact, due to the binding of the p–LES to the protein. Naively speaking, the protein prefers to bind the p–LES instead of the native LES because in this ways it saves internal entropy, which is not compensated by the loss of translational entropy.

The above results also suggest that the state associated with the p–LES bound to sites of the protein surface different from the LES is not relevant. This state has a relative free energy $`\mathrm{\Delta }F_4=E^{}+TS_tT\mathrm{log}n_p`$, where $`E^{}`$ is the interaction energy between the p–LES and the surface of the protein. The effect of this state on the stability of the protein would be to raise the asymptotic value of $`p_1`$ for large values of $`n_p`$. The fact that in none of the cases studied (cf. Figs. 3(a), (b) and (c) ) the asymptotic value of $`p_1`$ is different from zero indicates that $`E^{}E_{LES}`$. In other words, the binding properties of the p–LES are highly specific. It could hardly have been different: since p–LES are identical to LES, a propensity of LES to bind some non–native part of the protein would imply the stabilization of a metastable state, something that evoultion tends to avoid.

In Fig. 3(d) we display the dependence of $`p_1`$ with temperature (solid dots) for the case of p–LES 3’–6’and $`n_p=2`$. The results of the simulations are well reproduced by the predictions obtained making use of Eq. (2). In these estimates the temperature dependence of $`\mathrm{\Delta }F_0`$ has been approximated with that of the Random Energy Model derrida ; jchemphys2 . The non–monotonic behaviour of $`p_1(T)`$ is a consequence of the competition between the stabilization of the native state and the decrease of the free energy of the unfolded states taking place as the temperature is lowered. At high temperatures, the state 3), which is independent on $`n_p`$, becomes important, weakening the overall dependence of $`p_1`$ on $`n_p`$. We have repeated the calculations described above, but this time making use of sequences obtained from S36 by introducing random point mutations in the LES 27-30. In this way we try to mimic the development of drug resistance of a viral protein. We observe two situations: I)if the protein is (upon mutation) still able to fold the scenario corresponding to Figs 1(a)-(c) is still valid, II)if the mutation denaturates the protein, the p-LES does not, essentially, bind any more to it.

We have found that also the dynamical properties of p–LES make them suitable to be used as drugs. Starting from a random conformation of the protein and of the peptides, we have calculated the probability $`P(t)`$ that the bond between residue 30 of the protein and 3’ of any of the p–LES 3’-6’ is formed as a function of time. This bond is chosen as representative of the interaction between the whole LES 27–30 and the p–LES 3’-6’, the dynamics of the other bonds associated with the same LES being quite similar. The shape of the calculated probability function is well fitted by a single exponential $`P(t)(1\mathrm{exp}(t/\tau ^{}))`$, where $`\tau ^{}`$ is the characteristic time of bond formation. The dependence of $`\tau ^{}`$ on the number $`n_p`$ of p–LES is displayed in Fig. 4 as a solid line, where it is compared to the average time needed for the p–LES to build the bond 30-3’ with the protein after a random search in the volume of the cell, that is

$$\frac{12(Vv_{prot}(n_p1)v_{ples})}{n_p}.$$
(3)
The result obtained making use of this relation is also displayed in Fig. 4 (dashed curve). The agreement with the result of the numerical simulations indicates that the random search is the actual mechanism which leads to the binding of the p-LES to its (complementary LES. The fact that $`P(t)`$ is well reproduced by a single exponential indicates furthermore that this is the only mechanism operative. In particular, this result excludes the possibility that the p–LES binds tightly to some other part of the protein. Such a scenario would produce a double– or more–fold–exponential shape of $`P(t)`$.

To be noted that the binding time $`\tau ^{}`$ of p–LES to the protein is much shorter than the binding time of the associated native contact between LES within the protein. In particular, the result displayed Fig. 4 and associated with contact 30-3’ is to be compared to the value $`\tau =1.310^5`$ of the native contact 30-3 jchemphys3 . The reason for this result is associated with the fact that, unlike LES, p–LES are not slowed down by the polymeric connection with the rest of the protein. A consequence of this fact is the ability p–LES have to bind to LES of the protein even if this is in its (equilibrium) native state. The p–LES can take advantage of the thermal fluctuations of the protein and make use of the fact that these fluctuations display a recursion time (which, assuming that the system is ergodic, is equal to the mean first passage time) much longer than the time needed by p–LES to enter and disrupt the protein by binding to one of its the LES. As a matter of fact, we have calculated the distribution of $`qvalues`$ starting from the protein in the native state, finding the same distribution as that displayed in Fig. 2.

Calculations as those described above and leading to the results displayed in Figs. 2-4 have also been carried out for the other two model proteins displayed in Fig. 1. The outcome of these calculations are, as a rule, in agreement with those found in connection with sequence S36. To be noted, however, an important difference found in connection with sequence b) (36-mer). This designed protein displays, in the folding process, three LES of length 2, 3 and 6, respectively. While the p–LES built of 6 residues inhibits folding as those described above, the other two p–LES do not. This is connected with the small size of these p–LES, which makes them quite unspecific. In fact, the probability that a p–LES binds to some part of the protein other than the target LES decreases exponentially with the number of residues involved.

We have shown that it is possible to inhibit the activity of a protein by disrupting its folding with the help of small peptides which mimick the LES of the protein. The very reason why LES make single domain proteins fold fast confers p–LES the required features to act as effective drugs, that is, efficiency and specificity. They are efficient because they bind as strongly as LES do. Since LES are responsible for the stability of the protein, their stabilization energy must be of the order of several times $`kT`$. These peptides are also as specific as LES are. In fact LES have evolved so as to prevent the upraise of metastable states and to avoid aggregation, aside of securing the protein to fold fast. The possibility of developing non–conventional drugs for actual situations is tantamount to being able to determine the LES for a given protein. This can be done either experimentally (e.g. making use of $`\phi `$–value analysisfersht  or ultrafast stopped flow experiments) or extending the algorithm discussed in ref. 1d3d  making use of a realistic force field. The resulting peptides can be used either directly as drugs, or as templates to build mimetic molecules, which eventually do not display side effects connected with digestion or allergies.

A feature which makes, in principle, these drugs quite promising as compared to conventional ones is to be found in the fact that the target protein cannot evolve through mutations to escape the drug, as happens in particular in the case of viral proteins, because the mutation of residues in the LES would anyway lead to protein denaturation.


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# Extrasolar Planet Transit Light Curves and a Method to Select the Best Planet Candidates for Mass Follow-up

## 1. Assumptions

The following assumptions and conditions are necessary for a light curve to yield a unique solution of planet and star parameters:
$``$ The planet orbit is circular (valid for tidally-circularized extrasolar planets);
$``$ $`M_p`$ $``$ $`M_{}`$ and the companion is dark compared to the central star;
$``$ The stellar mass-radius relation is known;
$``$ The light comes from a single star, rather than from 2 or more blended stars;
$``$ The eclipses have flat bottoms. This implies that the companion is fully superimposed on the central star’s disk and requires that the data is in a band pass where limb darkening is negligible;
$``$ The period can be derived from the light curve (e.g., the two observed eclipses are consecutive).
In this article $`M`$ is mass, $`R`$ is radius, $`\rho `$ is density, $`P`$ is period, $`a`$ is orbital semi-major axis, $`i`$ is the orbital inclination, and $`G`$ is the Gravitational constant. Where required the subscript $`p`$ is for planet, $``$ for stellar, and $``$ for solar.

## 2. The Simplified Equations

Five equations are used to uniquely solve for $`M_{}`$, $`R_{}`$, $`a`$, $`i`$, and $`R_p`$. The simplified equations presented below require the additional assumption that $`R_{}a`$.

Transit depth

$$\mathrm{\Delta }F\frac{F_{notransit}F_{transit}}{F_{notransit}}=\left(\frac{R_p}{R_{}}\right)^2.$$
(1)
Total transit duration

$$t_T=\frac{PR_{}}{\pi a}\sqrt{\left(1+\frac{R_p}{R_{}}\right)^2\left(\frac{a}{R_{}}\mathrm{cos}i\right)^2}.$$
(2)
Transit shape ($`t_F=`$ flat part of transit and $`t_T=`$ total transit duration)

$$\left(\frac{t_F}{t_T}\right)^2=\frac{\left(1\frac{R_p}{R_{}}\right)^2\left(\frac{a}{R_{}}\mathrm{cos}i\right)^2}{\left(1+\frac{R_p}{R_{}}\right)^2\left(\frac{a}{R_{}}\mathrm{cos}i\right)^2}.$$
(3)
Kepler’s Third Law

$$P^2=\frac{4\pi ^2a^3}{GM_{}}.$$
(4)
Stellar mass-radius relation

$$R_{}=kM_{}^x.$$
(5)
Here $`k`$ is a constant coefficient for each stellar sequence (main sequence, giants, etc.) and $`x`$ describes the power law of the sequence (e.g., $`k=1`$ and $`x0.8`$ for F–K main sequence stars (Cox 2000)). Note that Kepler’s Third Law and the stellar mass-radius relation set a physical scale to two disks passing in front of each other. This breaks the geometrical degeneracy and allows a unique solution.

## 3. The Simplified Solution

The five parameters $`M_{}`$, $`R_{}`$, $`a`$, $`i`$, and $`R_p`$ can be solved for uniquely from the above five equations. Moreover, the impact parameter $`ba\mathrm{cos}i/R_{}`$ and stellar density $`\rho _{}`$ can be solved for uniquely without the stellar mass-radius relation.

$$b=\left[\frac{(1\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }F})^2\left(\frac{t_F}{t_T}\right)^2(1+\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }F})^2}{1\left(\frac{t_F}{t_T}\right)^2}\right]^{1/2}.$$
(6)
$$\frac{\rho _{}}{\rho _{}}=\frac{32}{G\pi }P\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }F^{3/4}}{\left(t_{T}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}t_F^2\right)^{3/2}}.$$
(7)
$$\frac{M_{}}{M_{}}=\left[k^3\frac{\rho _{}}{\rho _{}}\right]^{\frac{1}{13x}}.$$
(8)
$$\frac{R_{}}{R_{}}=k\left(\frac{M_{}}{M_{}}\right)^x=\left[k^{1/x}\frac{\rho _{}}{\rho _{}}\right]^{\frac{x}{(13x)}}.$$
(9)
$$a=\left[\frac{P^2GM_{}}{4\pi ^2}\right]^{1/3}.$$
(10)
$$i=\mathrm{cos}^1\left(b\frac{R_{}}{a}\right).$$
(11)
$$\frac{R_p}{R_{}}=\frac{R_{}}{R_{}}\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }F}=\left[k^{1/x}\frac{\rho _{}}{\rho _{}}\right]^{\frac{x}{(13x)}}\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }F}.$$
(12)
## 4. Application

The above analytical solution has many applications, all related to selecting the best transit candidates for radial velocity mass follow-up. Here we only have room to describe one application; for others see Seager & Mallén-Ornelas (2002).

The stellar density $`\rho _{}`$ can be uniquely determined from the light curve alone without using the stellar mass-radius relation, as seen from equation (7). A measured $`\rho _{}`$ can be used in three ways. (1) From the light curve alone a main sequence star and a giant star can be distinguished because main sequence stars occupy a unique position in a $`\rho _{}`$ vs. spectral type diagram (Figure 1). Hence a giant star with an eclipsing stellar companion can be ruled out. (2) From the light curve and the stellar mass-radius relation $`R_p`$ can be estimated (equation (12)). Even for slightly evolved stars an upper limit on $`R_{}`$ and hence $`R_p`$ can be derived. (3) A common false positive planet transit can be ruled out by comparing $`\rho _{}`$ derived from the light curve with $`\rho _{}`$ derived from a spectral type. If the two $`\rho _{}`$ differ then something is amiss with the assumptions in §1. The common case is the situation where a binary star system has its eclipse depth reduced to a planet-size eclipse due to the light from a third, contaminating, star (Figure 2). The contaminating star may be a chance alignment of a foreground or background star, or a third star as part of a triple star system. For a real example of this “blended star” situation, see Mallén-Ornelas et al. (2002).

### Acknowledgments.

This work was supported by the W. M. Keck Foundation and the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

## References

Cox, A. N. 2000, Allen’s Astrophysical Quantities, (Springer-Verlag: New York), p. 355-357

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

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


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# The QCD phase diagram for small chemical potentials

## 1 Introduction

To understand recent heavy-ion collisions, it is mandatory to study the QCD phase diagram for high temperatures and small chemical potentials. It is well known that the order of the phase transition is strongly dependent on quark masses and chemical potential.

In the space of two degenerate light quark masses $`m_{u,d}`$, one heavier mass $`m_s`$ and the quark chemical potential $`\mu `$, one expects a critical surface, which bends over the quark mass plane and separates the regime of first order phase transitions from the crossover regime as shown in fig. 1.

To determine the order of the phase transition we compute the Binder Cumulant of the chiral condensate, $`B_4`$, at $`\mu =0`$ for several quark masses at the pseudo-critical coupling $`\beta _c(m)`$. We define $`\beta _c`$ as the peak position of the chiral susceptibility. $`B_4`$ is given by

$$B_4=\frac{(\delta \overline{\psi }\psi )^4_{\beta _c,m}}{(\delta \overline{\psi }\psi )^2_{\beta _c,m}^2},\delta \overline{\psi }\psi =\overline{\psi }\psi \overline{\psi }\psi .$$
(1)
This quantity is a renormalization group invariant quantity, with a universal value at $`m=m_{crit}`$. The universality class is that of the 3d Ising model with $`B_4=1.604`$. The critical surface is then given by the surface of constant $`B_4=1.604`$.

To explore the regime of $`\mu 0`$ we compute derivatives of transition temperature, pressure, energy density, quark number density and Binder Cumulant with respect to $`\mu `$. Direct Monte Carlo simulations for $`\mu 0`$ are not possible due to the sign problem. We therefore use a reweighting method at $`\mu =0`$ based on Taylor expansion of the fermion determinant and all observables up to order $`\mu ^2`$. To be more precise, the expansion is given in terms of $`\mu /T`$ as the lattice chemical potential is given in units of the lattice cut-off, $`\mu ^{latt}=a\mu ^{phys}\mu /T`$.

## 2 Reweighting in quark mass and chemical potential

Ferrenberg and Swendsen’s reweighting method is a very useful technique to investigate critical phenomena. Multi parameter reweighting was first applied to the problem of finite density QCD in ref. 4. We use the Taylor expanded reweighting formula up to order $`\mu ^2`$, which is given by

$$O_{(\beta ,\mu )}=\frac{\left(O_0+O_1\mu +O_2\mu ^2\right)\mathrm{exp}\left\{R_1\mu +R_2\mu ^2\right\}\mathrm{exp}\left\{\mathrm{\Delta }S_g\right\}}{\mathrm{exp}\left\{R_1\mu +R_2\mu ^2\right\}\mathrm{exp}\left\{\mathrm{\Delta }S_g\right\}}.$$
(2)
Here we have

$$R_i=\frac{N_f}{4i!}\frac{^i\mathrm{ln}detM(\mu )}{\mu ^i}|_{\mu =0}\text{and}O_i=\frac{1}{i!}\frac{^iO(\mu )}{\mu ^i}|_{\mu =0}$$
(3)
We calculate the reweighting operators $`R_i`$ using stochastic estimators. One can easily deduce the corresponding reweighting operators for mass reweighting. We have control over the sign problem through the odd reweighting operators $`R_{2j+1}`$, which are purely imaginary. The phase, $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$, of the fermion determinant, $`detM=|detM|\mathrm{exp}\{i\mathrm{\Theta }\}`$, is in leading order given by $`\mathrm{\Theta }=\mu \text{Im}R_1`$. From this we find increasing phase fluctuations for increasing volume, number of flavors, $`n_f`$, and for decreasing $`m`$ and $`T`$.

## 3 The transition to the QGP and the equation of state

In 2-flavor QCD the transition from a hadron gas to the QGP will be a continuous but rapid crossover for non vanishing quark masses and small values of $`\mu `$. In order to estimate the transition line we performed simulations with 2 flavors of improved fermions on a $`16^3\times 4`$ lattice and quark masses of $`am=0.1`$ and $`am=0.2`$. From the peak positions of the Polyakov loop susceptibility and the chiral susceptibility we find $`d^2\beta _c/d\mu ^2=1.07(24)`$ and $`d^2\beta _c/d\mu ^2=1.10(68)`$ respectively, which agrees with results of ref. 7. To set the physical scale we use the string tension and obtain $`a(d\beta /da)=2.08(43)`$ at $`(\beta ,m)=(3.65,0.1)`$. Combining these results yields

$$T_c\frac{d^2T_c}{d\mu _q^2}=\frac{1}{N_t^2}\frac{d^2\beta _c}{d\mu ^2}\left(a\frac{d\beta }{a}\right)^1=0.14(7).$$
(4)
Derivatives of the pressure $`p`$ and the interaction measure $`ϵ3p`$ are related to the quark number density $`n_q`$ and quark number susceptibility $`\chi _s=n_q/\mu _q`$ in the following way:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{(p/T^4)}{\mu _q}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{VT^3}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{ln}Z}{\mu _q}}={\displaystyle \frac{n_q}{T^4}}`$ (5)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{^2(p/T^4)}{\mu _q^2}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{VT^3}}{\displaystyle \frac{^2\mathrm{ln}Z}{\mu _q^2}}={\displaystyle \frac{\chi _s}{T^4}}`$ (6)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{^2}{\mu _q^2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{ϵ3p}{T^4}}\right)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{T^4}}{\displaystyle \frac{\chi _s}{\beta }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{a}}{\displaystyle \frac{a}{\beta }}\right)^1.`$ (7)
We obtain $`T^2^2(p/T^4)/\mu _q^20.69`$ and $`T^2^2(ϵ/T^4)/\mu _q^210.6`$ at $`\beta _c`$ and $`am=0.1`$. In the RHIC regime of $`\mu _q/T_c0.1`$ the deviation of $`p/T^4`$ and $`ϵ/T^4`$ from results at $`\mu =0`$ thus is only a 1% effect. From the second derivatives of $`p`$ and $`ϵ`$ with respect to $`\mu `$ together with the derivatives with respect to $`T`$, we calculate the lines of constant pressure and energy density, which are within errors parallel to the phase transition line:

$$T\frac{dT}{d(\mu _q^2)}=\{\begin{array}{c}0.106(21):\text{(pressure)}\hfill \\ 0.081(20):\text{(energy)}\hfill \end{array},T_c\frac{dT_c}{d(\mu _q^2)}=0.07(3).$$
(8)
The quark number density is zero at $`\mu =0`$. For $`\mu 0`$ It can be estimated via $`n_qa^3=\mu _qa\chi _Sa^2`$. This is $`n_q/T^3=0.693(5)\mu _q/T`$ and $`n_q/T^3=0.490(4)\mu _q/T`$ at $`am=0.1`$ and $`am=0.2`$, which translates into roughly 9% and 6% of nuclear matter density at the RHIC point. All these results are summarised in fig. 2 (left). In addition we also show the freeze-out temperature. This suggest that at sufficiently large $`\mu _B`$ there is the chance to observe experimentally a strongly interacting hadron gas phase, whereas for small $`\mu _B`$ hadrons seem to freeze out right after the phase transition from QGP to the hadronic phase.

## 4 The chiral critical point

To determine the critical surface shown in fig. 1(left) we performed calculations with much lighter quark masses. For 3 flavors of improved fermions, a mass value of $`am=0.005`$ and a volume of $`12^3\times 4`$, we measured the reweighting operators $`R_1,R_2`$ needed for reweighting in $`m`$ and $`\mu `$. At present we have five $`\beta `$-values, with a total number of 6100 trajectories. For $`am=0.01`$ and $`V=16^3\times 4`$ we use $`R_1=\overline{\psi }\psi `$ for mass reweighting. To determine the critical mass value $`\overline{m}`$, we compute $`B_4`$ as a function of $`m`$. The two different volumes have an intersection point near the value of $`B_4=1.604`$, i.e. 3d Ising universality class. Due to the large errors we give an upper bound for the critical mass only, which is $`a\overline{m}<0.0075`$, or in terms of the pion mass $`\overline{m}_{PS}<190MeV`$.

For increasing quark chemical potential $`\mu _q`$ we find a decreasing Binder Cumulant. From the two partial derivatives $`B_4/(am)`$ and $`B_4/(a^2\mu ^2)`$, which we get from straight line fits of the reweighted data, and the assumption that $`B_4/(am)`$ is constant in $`am`$, one can compute the quantity $`(a\overline{m})/(a^2\mu ^2)`$. The first derivatives $`B_4/(a\mu )`$ and $`(a\overline{m})/(a\mu )`$ vanish because of symmetry reasons. A jackknife analysis yields $`a^1\overline{m}/(\mu ^2)=0.82(23)`$, or equivalently $`T\overline{m}/(\mu ^2)=0.21(6)`$. We thus find that the critical quark mass, $`\overline{m}`$, increases with increasing chemical potential as anticipated in fig. 1 (left),

$$\overline{m}(\mu )m_3+0.21\mu ^2/T.$$
(9)
Here $`m_3`$ is the critical quark mass for 3 degenerate flavor at $`\mu =0`$, which turns out to be roughly twice as large as the physical light quark masses, $`m_32m_{u,d}^{phys}`$. This result is shown in fig. 2 (right).

Based on these results we can give a first estimate for the location of the chiral critical point, i.e. the second order endpoint in the phase diagram shown in fig. 2 (left). To do so we use $`m_{u,d}^{phys}/T=0.016`$, and assume that the curvature of the critical surface is the same for 3 and 2+1-flavor. In eq. 9 we should then replace $`m_3`$ by $`m_{21}4m_{u,d}^{phys}`$, which can be deduced from fig. 1 (right). We are interested in that point on the critical surface that corresponds to the physical ratio of quark masses, i.e. $`R=m_s^{phys}/m_{u,d}^{phys}=24`$. From eq. 9 we then find $`\mu _q/T_c1.25`$, which corresponds to $`\mu _B3.75T_c650`$ MeV and roughly coincides with the estimate given in ref. 12. Nevertheless our present uncertainties do not yet allow a reasonable error estimate on this value.

## Acknowledgments

The work has been supported by the DFG under grant FOR 339/1-2. I thank the members of the Bielefeld-Swansea collaboration for giving me the opportunity to present our new preliminary results prior to publication.


text:
# On the possibility of supercavitation in the quantum ether

## Abstract

In this speculative note some of the conceivable options of supercavitation in the vacuum of quantized field theory are discussed. The resulting modes of propagation could in principle be faster than the velocity of light in unbounded space-time.

supercavitation; quantum ether

Supercavitation is a phenomenon by which an object travels almost frictionless with high velocities inside a gas bubble surrounded by a liquid ashley . So far, supercavitation has mostly been applied to military use.

Whereas folklore claims that relativity theory excludes any sort of ether, the general theory of relativity einstein-aether ; dewitt-synthesis  and quantum field theory dirac-aether  conceptualize entities, often called “ground state,” “vacuum,” or “empty space,” which resemble the pre-relativistic “mechanic” ether in many respects. Thus it is not totally unreasonable to speculate that an analogous phenomenon might also occur in the quantum field theoretic vacuum.

The main issues of supercavitation seems to be to (i) reach and (ii) maintain this state, with the additional desideratum of (iii) flight, in particular direction, control. Let us therefore first discuss conceivable options for the formation of “bubbles of exotic vacuum,” and then proceed to their maintenance and guidance.

As regards the initial stage of reaching an environment which might be capable of supercavitating, one candidate would be the formation of a Casimir vacuum between conducting plates milonni-book , which, due to boundary conditions, lacks certain modes of the electromagnetic field. As a consequence, the radiative corrections and the associated renormalized physical entities such as mass, anomalous magnetic moment 1996-mass  and the index of refraction scharnhorst  are modified. The refractive index $`n(\omega )<1`$ ($`\omega `$ indicates dependence on photon frequency) decreases relative to the refractive index in unbounded space (taken to be unity here), making possible velocities of light $`v=c/n(\omega )>c`$ higher than the speed of light in unbounded vacuum $`c`$.

Another possibility would be to consider a squeezed vacuum, or an environment which is characterized by superluminally “moving” charge-current patterns; i.e., synchronized arrays of charges acting similar to phase array radar systems. Maybe also certain divergences of rotating electromagnetic fields could be utilized arda:84 .

The maintenance and steering of supercavitation in the quantum ether remains an open question. In the case of a cavity in which a Casimir vacuum is confined it is unclear if this cavity can be engineered to become a dynamical one. So far, mostly static problems have been considered; with perfectly conducting, fixed walls. It may happen, though, that, due to mirror charges or other effects, the boundary of this cavity can become a dynamical interface.

It is an often heard belief that superluminal transfer of information or travel of objects and agents would result in time paradoxes; since then it would be feasible in certain relativistic coordinate frames to “reverse the flow of time,” to “travel to the past,” and what not. Yet, many chronology protection schemes and remedies of different sorts have been proposed for these scenarios godel-sch ; recami:01 ; nahin ; svozil-2001-convention , which may make such concerns less troublesome.

A caveat: Let me, instead of a summary, reiterate that this note is very speculative and contains remotely conceivable options for supercavitation in the quantum ether. I am aware that this appears to be impossible to realize with today’s scientific and technological means. Nevertheless, if our ancestors had never dreamed of possibilities of sailing faster then the wind or rafting quicker than the currents, then we might not be able to cross the continents, let alone to leave our planet.


text:
# The spectroscopic orbit and other parameters of AE Arae

## 1. Introduction

The aim of this work was to determine periods and spectroscopic orbits of symbiotics, for which observational data already exists but have yet not been analyzed. High resolution spectra for AE Ara were collected with the 2.15 m telescope of CASLEO at San Juan, Argentina, during the period 1990$``$2001. We have also collected all published optical spectroscopic data (see Mikołajewska et al. 2002 for references) as well as visual photometry from the Variable Star Section Circulars of The Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand (RASNZ; Fig. 1).

We have measured the radial velocities of the cool component from the M-type absorption lines. The individual radial velocities were obtained by gaussian fitting of the line profiles an a mean value was calculated for each spectrum. In addition, we have determined the radial velocities of the broad emission wings of H$`\alpha `$, H$`\beta `$ and HeII$`\lambda `$4686 which are formed in the inner region of the accretion disk or in an extended envelope near the hot component (see. Quiroga et al. 2002; Mikołajewska et al. 2002 for details of the method).

Optical emission line fluxes were also derived, either by integrating the line profile or by fitting Gaussian profiles, as well as the \[TiO\]1 and \[TiO\]2 indices as defined by Kenyon & Fernandez-Castro (1987).

## 2. Orbital period and spectroscopic orbits

We have analyzed the RASNZ visual photometry using the period-search method described by Schwarzenberg-Czerny (1997). We have found a significant frequency peak ($`3\sigma `$) at $`0.00125\text{day}^1`$ which represents light changes with amplitude of about 0.4 mag and period of about 800 days.

The radial velocities , emission line fluxes, and \[TiO\]1 indices (Fig. 2), all show the same periodicity, which we attribute to the orbital period. In all cases, the most regular changes have been obtained with 812-day period, giving the ephemeris

$$\text{Min}=\text{JD}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2450217}(\pm 3)+812(\pm 2)\times \text{E}.$$
(1)
The broad emission line wings of HeII 4686 show the highest amplitude and a mean velocity similar to the red giant systemic velocity. They are clearly in antiphase with the M-giant curve which suggest that they are formed in a same region very near to the hot component (Fig. 2). Our best orbital solution for the M giant is consistent with a circular orbit and the time of the spectroscopic conjunction coincides with the photometric minimum. The orbital solutions in Table 1 and Fig. 2 are obtained assuming $`e=0`$ and the spectroscopic conjunction given by Eq.(1).

Combining the semi-amplitudes of the M giant and the HeII emission wing component from Table 1 gives a mass ratio $`q=M_\mathrm{g}/M_\mathrm{h}=4.4\pm 1.5`$, the component masses of $`M_\mathrm{g}\mathrm{sin}^3i1.7\mathrm{M}_{}`$ and $`M_\mathrm{h}\mathrm{sin}^3i0.4\mathrm{M}_{}`$, and the binary separation $`a\mathrm{sin}i2\mathrm{A}\mathrm{U}.`$

## 3. The hot component and its activity

The visual light curve of AE Ara (Fig. 1) display a very deep minimum near MJD 46950 ($`\varphi 0`$ according to our ephemeris) and two bright maxima around MJD 46700 ($`\varphi 0.7`$) and MJD 47300-400 ($`\varphi 0.50.6`$). The fact that the minimum is practically as deep as usually strongly suggests that the hot component is responsible for this brightening.

The optical brightening is accompanied by an increase in emission line fluxes (Fig. 2) and broadening of the emission line wings. Near the bright visual maximum around MJD 46700, however, the HeII 4686 emission line flux was suppressed indicating a decrease of the hot component temperature, possibly because of increasing optical depth in the hot component wind.

The observed changes in the emission line profiles are typical of symbiotic stars at outbursts, especially symbiotic novae, and suggest enhancement of a wind from the hot component surface. Such wind seems to be permanently present in AE Ara as suggested by a presence of broad wings in HeII 4686 emission line, as well as a broad CIV 5802,5812 emission lines. The CIV lines are typical for early type Wolf-Rayet (W-R) WC stars and subluminous W-R stars found in some planetary nebula, and they are rarely observed in symbiotic systems. For example, they were detected during late outburst phase in the symbiotic nova AG Peg, and at some phase of the recent outburst of AS 338. In AE Ara, the CIV lines are almost as strong as HeII 4686, and their full width is of about 600 km s-1, similar to the FW of the HeII line. Both the CIV and HeII probably arise from the hot component wind. The presence of such a wind is also suggested by the large contribution of the hot component to the optical continuum. In fact, the $`UBV`$ colours of the hot component (derived from the $`UBV`$ data corrected for contribution from the M 5.5 III star) are very similar to those of the hottest W-R/WC stars, which strongly suggests presence of an extended expanding atmosphere. We estimate the mass loss rate $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{h}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{few}\times 10^810^7\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ from the intensities of HeII 1640 and HeII 4686 emission lines.

The presence of an extended photosphere and moderate velocity wind, makes it difficult to estimate properly the effective temperature and luminosity from the available data. Although, a star with $`T_\mathrm{h}\mathrm{70\hspace{0.17em}000}\mathrm{80\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ K and $`L_\mathrm{h}10002000\mathrm{L}_{}`$, accounts for our observations, both better spectroscopic observations especially in the ultraviolet as well as detailed models will be necessary to get accurate and reliable physical parameters of the hot component.

### Acknowledgments.

This research was partly founded by KBN Research Grant No. 5 P03D 019 20.

## References

Kenyon, S.J., Fernandez-Castro, T. 1987, AJ93, 938

Mikołajewska, J., Quiroga, C., Belczyński, K., Brandi, E., Garcia, L. Ferrer, O. 2002, A&A, submitted

Quiroga, C., Mikołajewska, J., Brandi, E., Ferrer, O., Garcia, L. 2002, A&A, 387, 139

Schwarzenberg-Czerny, A. 1997, ApJ, 489, 941


text:
# A Model of the Temporal Variability of Optical Light from Extrasolar Terrestrial Planets

## References

Ford, E.B., Seager, S., & Turner, E.L. 2001, Nature 412: 6850, 885-886

Goode, P.R., Qui, J., Yurchyshyn, V., Hickey, J., Chu, M-C., Kolbe, E., Brown, C.T., & Koonin, S.E. 2001, Geophysical Research Letters 28: 9, 1671-1674

Schafer, J.P. & Turner, E.L. 2002, this proceedings 2H.2

Traub, W.A. & Jucks, K.W. 2002, AGU Geophysical Monograph, 130, 369


text:
# Non-simple localizations of finite simple groups

## Introduction

A group homomorphism $`\phi :HG`$ is said to be a localization if and only if $`\phi `$ induces a bijection

$$\phi ^{}:\mathrm{Hom}(G,G)\mathrm{Hom}(H,G)$$
(0.1)
This is an ad hoc definition which comes from \[Cas, Lemma 2.1\]. More details on localizations can be found there or in the introduction of \[RST\], where we exclusively study localizations $`HG`$, with both $`H`$ and $`G`$ simple groups. Due to the tight links with homotopical localizations much effort has been dedicated to analyze which algebraic properties are preserved under localization. An exhaustive survey about this problem is nicely exposed in \[Cas\] by Casacuberta. For example, if $`H`$ is abelian and $`\phi :HG`$ is a localization, then $`G`$ is again abelian. Similarly, nilpotent groups of class at most 2 are preserved (see \[Lib2, Theorem 3.3\]), but the question remains open for arbitrary nilpotent groups. Finiteness is not preserved, as shown by the example $`A_nSO(n1)`$ (this is the main result in \[Lib1\]). In the present paper we focus on simplicity of finite groups and answer negatively a question posed both by Libman in \[Lib2\] and Casacuberta in \[Cas\] about preservation of simplicity. In these papers it was also asked whether perfectness is preserved. This is not the case either, as we show with totally different methods in \[RSV\].

Our main result here is that if $`HG`$ is a localization with $`H`$ simple then $`G`$ need not be simple in general, see Corollary 1.7. There is for example a localization map from the Mathieu group $`M_{11}`$ to the double cover of the Mathieu group $`M_{12}`$. This is achieved by a thorough analysis of the effect of a localization on the Schur multiplier, which encodes the information about the universal central extension. More precisely we prove the following:

Theorem 1.5 Let $`i:HG`$ be an inclusion of two non-abelian finite simple groups and $`j:\stackrel{~}{H}\stackrel{~}{G}`$ be the induced homomorphism on the universal central extensions. Assume that $`G`$ does not contain any non-trivial central extension of $`H`$ as a subgroup. Then $`i:HG`$ is a localization if and only if $`j:\stackrel{~}{H}\stackrel{~}{G}`$ is a localization.

We only consider non-abelian finite simple groups since the localization of a cyclic group of prime order is either trivial or itself (\[Cas, Theorem 3.1\]). Naturally the second part of the paper deals with the effect of a localization on the outer automorphism group, which roughly speaking is dual to the Schur multiplier as it encodes the information about the “super-group” of all automorphisms.

Theorem 2.4 Let $`i:HG`$ be a localization between two non-abelian finite simple groups. It extends then to a monomorphism $`j:\mathrm{Aut}(H)\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$, which we assume induces an isomorphism $`\mathrm{Out}(H)\mathrm{Out}(G)`$. Then $`j:\mathrm{Aut}(H)\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ is a localization.

The converse does not hold: There exists a localization $`\mathrm{Aut}(L_3(2))S_8`$, but the induced morphism $`L_3(2)A_8`$ fails to be one.

Acknowledgments: We would like to thank Jon Berrick and Jacques Thévenaz for helpful comments.

## 1 Preservation of simplicity

We first need to fix some notation. Let $`Mult(G)=H_2(G;)H^2(G;^\times )`$ denote the Schur multiplier of the finite simple group $`G`$ and $`Mult(G)\stackrel{~}{G}G`$ be its universal central extension. In particular the only non-trivial endomorphisms of $`\stackrel{~}{G}`$ are automorphisms. This is due to the fact that the only proper normal subgroups of $`\stackrel{~}{G}`$ are contained in $`Mult(G)`$ and $`Hom(G,\stackrel{~}{G})=0`$ since the universal central extension is not split. For more details, a good reference is \[Wei, Section 6.9\]. Recall also that a group $`G`$ is perfect if it is equal to its commutator subgroup. Equivalently $`G`$ is perfect if $`H_1(G;)=0`$. If moreover $`H_2(G;)=0`$ we say that $`G`$ is superperfect. Hence for a perfect group $`G`$ we have that $`\stackrel{~}{G}=G`$ if and only if $`G`$ is superperfect.

Is simplicity preserved under localization? We next show that the answer is affirmative if $`H`$ is maximal in $`G`$. By $`C_p`$ we denote a cyclic group of order $`p`$.

###### Proposition 1.1

Let $`G`$ be a finite group and let $`H`$ be a maximal subgroup which is simple. If the inclusion $`HG`$ is a localization, then $`G`$ is simple.

Proof. First notice that $`H`$ cannot be normal in $`G`$. Indeed if $`H`$ is normal, the maximality of $`H`$ implies that the quotient $`G/H`$ does not have any non-trivial proper subgroup. Hence $`G/HC_p`$ for some prime $`p`$. But then $`G`$ has a subgroup of order $`p`$ and there is an endomorphism of $`G`$ factoring through $`C_p`$, whose restriction to $`H`$ is trivial. This contradicts the assumption that the inclusion $`HG`$ is a localization.

Let $`N`$ be a normal subgroup of $`G`$. As $`H`$ is simple, $`NH`$ is either equal to $`\{1\}`$ or $`H`$. If $`NH=H`$, as $`H`$ is maximal, then either $`N=G`$ or $`N=H`$, and we just showed that the latter case is impossible. If $`NH=\{1\}`$, then either $`N=\{1\}`$ or $`NH=G`$ as $`H`$ is maximal. The second case cannot occur because it would imply that $`G=NH`$, but $`HNH`$ cannot be a localization since both the identity of $`G`$ and the projection onto $`H`$ extend the inclusion $`HG`$. Therefore there are no normal proper non-trivial subgroups in $`G`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

We indicate next (in Corollary 1.7) a generic situation where the localization of a simple group can be non-simple (it will actually be the universal cover of a simple group). To achieve this we study when a localization of finite simple groups induces a localization of the universal covers.

###### Proposition 1.2

Let $`H`$ and $`G`$ be non-abelian finite simple groups. Assume that any homomorphism between the universal central extensions $`\stackrel{~}{H}\stackrel{~}{G}`$ sends $`Mult(H)`$ to $`Mult(G)`$. Then $`p:\stackrel{~}{G}G`$ and $`q:\stackrel{~}{H}H`$ induce an isomorphism $`F:\mathrm{Hom}(\stackrel{~}{H},\stackrel{~}{G})\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{Hom}(H,G)`$.

Proof. First notice that $`p`$ and $`q`$ induce indeed a map $`F:\mathrm{Hom}(\stackrel{~}{H},\stackrel{~}{G})\mathrm{Hom}(H,G)`$ by our assumption that any homomorphism $`\stackrel{~}{H}\stackrel{~}{G}`$ sends the center to the center. We show now that $`F`$ is surjective. Let $`\alpha :HG`$. Using the $`k`$-invariants $`k_H:K(H,1)K(Mult(H),2)`$ and $`k_G:K(G,1)K(Mult(G),2)`$ classifying the universal central extensions, construct the commutative diagram

Taking vertical fibres gives precisely a map $`K(\stackrel{~}{H},1)K(\stackrel{~}{G},1)`$ induced by some morphism $`\beta :\stackrel{~}{H}\stackrel{~}{G}`$ with $`F(\beta )=\alpha `$. Let us show now that $`F`$ is also injective by indicating an equivalent construction. Given a morphism $`\alpha :HG`$, construct the pull-back $`P_\alpha `$ of $`p`$ along $`\alpha `$. Then $`P_\alpha H`$ is a central extension, so that there exists a unique compatible morphism $`\stackrel{~}{H}P_\alpha `$. The composite $`\stackrel{~}{H}P_\alpha \stackrel{~}{G}`$ is hence the unique morphism whose image under $`F`$ is $`\alpha `$. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Corollary 1.3

Let $`G`$ be a non-abelian finite simple group and denote by $`p:\stackrel{~}{G}G`$ its universal central extension. Then we have an isomorphism $`F:\mathrm{Aut}(\stackrel{~}{G})\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$.

Proof. We have to check that any homomorphism $`\stackrel{~}{G}\stackrel{~}{G}`$ sends the center to the center. As the only morphism which is not an automorphism is the trivial one, this is a clear consequence of the fact that the image of the center is contained in the center of the image. The proposition tells us that we have an isomorphism $`F:\mathrm{Hom}(\stackrel{~}{G},\stackrel{~}{G})\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{Hom}(G,G)`$, therefore also one $`F:\mathrm{Aut}(\stackrel{~}{G})\stackrel{}{}\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

One should be warned that this result does not imply that an automorphism of the universal central extension always induce the identity on the center (of course all inner automorphisms do so). For example let $`G=L_3(7)=A_2(7)`$, so $`\stackrel{~}{L}_3(7)=SL_3(7)`$ and $`Mult(L_3(7))=Z(SL_3(7))/3`$ is generated by the diagonal matrix $`D`$ whose coefficients are $`2`$’s. There is an outer “graph automorphism” of order $`2`$ given by the transpose of the inverse. It sends a matrix $`A`$ to $`{}_{}{}^{t}A_{}^{1}`$, so the image of $`D`$ is $`D^1`$.

###### Proposition 1.4

Let $`G`$ be a finite simple group. Then, the universal cover $`\stackrel{~}{G}G`$ is a localization.

Proof. We have to show that $`\stackrel{~}{G}G`$ induces a bijection $`\mathrm{Hom}(G,G)\mathrm{Hom}(\stackrel{~}{G},G)`$ or equivalently, $`\mathrm{Aut}(G)\mathrm{Hom}(\stackrel{~}{G},G)\{0\}`$. This follows easily since the only non-trivial proper normal subgroups of $`\stackrel{~}{G}`$ are contained in its center $`Mult(G)`$. Thus any non-trivial homomorphism $`\stackrel{~}{G}G`$ can be decomposed as the canonical projection $`\stackrel{~}{G}G`$ followed by an automorphism of $`G`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Theorem 1.5

Let $`i:HG`$ be an inclusion of two non-abelian finite simple groups and $`j:\stackrel{~}{H}\stackrel{~}{G}`$ be the induced homomorphism on the universal central extensions. Assume that $`G`$ does not contain any non-trivial central extension of $`H`$ as a subgroup. Then $`i:HG`$ is a localization if and only if $`j:\stackrel{~}{H}\stackrel{~}{G}`$ is a localization.

Proof. The map $`i:HG`$ is a localization if and only if it induces an isomorphism $`\mathrm{Hom}(H,G)\mathrm{Hom}(G,G)`$. Let us analyze the behavior of morphisms $`\phi :\stackrel{~}{H}\stackrel{~}{G}`$. By composing with $`q:\stackrel{~}{G}G`$ we get a morphism $`\stackrel{~}{H}G`$. As $`G`$ does not contain any subgroup isomorphic to a central extension of $`H`$, we see that $`\phi (Mult(H))Mult(G)`$. We deduce now by Proposition 1.2 that the universal central extensions induce isomorphisms $`\mathrm{Hom}(\stackrel{~}{H},\stackrel{~}{G})\mathrm{Hom}(H,G)`$ as well as $`\mathrm{Hom}(\stackrel{~}{G},\stackrel{~}{G})\mathrm{Hom}(G,G)`$. Both isomorphisms are compatible, so $`i:HG`$ is a localization if and only if $`j:\stackrel{~}{H}\stackrel{~}{G}`$ induces an isomorphism $`\mathrm{Hom}(\stackrel{~}{H},\stackrel{~}{G})\mathrm{Hom}(\stackrel{~}{G},\stackrel{~}{G})`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Remark 1.6

We do not know how to remove the assumption on the centers in Proposition 1.2. There exist indeed morphisms between covers of finite simple groups which do not send the center to the center. One example is given in \[CCN, p.34\] by the inclusion $`\stackrel{~}{A}_5U_3(5)`$. A larger class of examples is obtained as follows: Let $`H`$ be a finite simple group of order $`k`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{H}`$ its universal central extension of order $`n=|Mult(H)|k`$. The regular representations $`HS_k`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{H}S_n`$ actually lie in $`A_k`$ and $`A_n`$ because the groups are perfect. Therefore $`A_n`$ contains both $`H`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{H}`$ as subgroups. However we do not know of a single example of a localization $`HG`$ which does not satisfy this assumption and it is rather easy to check in practice.

Question: Let $`i:HG`$ be a localization. Is it possible that some subgroup of $`G`$ be isomorphic to a non-trivial central extension of $`H`$? If the answer is no, we would get a more general version of Theorem 1.5. This would form a perfectly dual result to Theorem 2.4 if the extra assumption that $`i`$ induces an isomorphism $`H_2(i;):Mult(H)Mult(G)`$ has to be used.

Beware that in general the induced morphism on the universal central extensions given by the above theorem is not an inclusion. For example $`L_2(11)U_5(2)`$ is a localization by the main theorem in \[RST\]. However $`U_5(2)`$ is superperfect and the universal central extension $`SL_2(11)`$ of $`L_2(11)`$ is not a subgroup of $`U_5(2)`$. Nevertheless there is a localization $`SL_2(11)U_5(2)`$. The dual situation when $`H`$ is superperfect leads to our counterexamples.

###### Corollary 1.7

Let $`i:HG`$ be an inclusion of two non-abelian finite simple groups and assume that $`H`$ is superperfect. Let also $`j:H=\stackrel{~}{H}\stackrel{~}{G}`$ denote the induced homomorphism on the universal central extensions. Then $`i:HG`$ is a localization if and only if $`j:H\stackrel{~}{G}`$ is a localization.

Proof. There are no non-trivial central extensions of $`H`$ so Theorem 1.5 applies. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Example 1.8

The inclusion $`M_{11}\stackrel{~}{M}_{12}`$ of the Mathieu group $`M_{11}`$ into the double cover of the Mathieu group $`M_{12}`$ is a localization. This follows from the above proposition. Note that $`M_{11}`$ is not maximal in $`\stackrel{~}{M}_{12}`$ (the maximal subgroup is $`M_{11}\times C_2`$), so this does not contradict Proposition 1.1. The following inclusions are localizations: $`Co_2Co_1`$ and $`Co_3Co_1`$ by \[RST, Section 4\]. As the smaller group is superperfect we get localizations $`Co_2\stackrel{~}{C}o_1`$ and $`Co_3\stackrel{~}{C}o_1`$.

We get many other examples of this type using \[RST, Corollary 2.2\]. All sporadic groups appearing in this corollary which have trivial Schur multiplier (that is $`M_{11}`$, $`M_{23}`$, $`M_{24}`$, $`J_1`$, $`J_4`$, $`Co_2`$, $`Co_3`$, $`He`$, $`Fi_{23}`$, $`HN`$, and $`Ly`$) admit the double cover of an alternating group as localization (as $`Mult(A_n)`$ is cyclic of order 2 for $`n>7`$).

###### Remark 1.9

The inclusion $`Fi_{23}B`$ of the Fischer group into the baby monster is a localization by \[RST, Section 3 (vi)\]. This yields a localization $`Fi_{23}\stackrel{~}{B}`$. As the double cover $`\stackrel{~}{B}`$ is a maximal subgroup of the Monster $`M`$, it would be nice to know if $`\stackrel{~}{B}M`$ is a localization. This would connect the Monster to the rigid component of the alternating groups (in \[RST\] we were able to connect all other sporadic groups to an alternating group by a zigzag of localizations).

## 2 Localizations between automorphism groups

The purpose of this section is to show that a localization $`HG`$ can often be extended to a localization $`\mathrm{Aut}(H)\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$, similarly to the dual phenomenon observed in Theorem 1.5. This generalizes the observation made by Libman (cf. \[Lib2, Example 3.4\]) that the localization $`A_nA_{n+1}`$ extends to a localization $`S_nS_{n+1}`$ if $`n7`$. This result could be the starting point for determining the rigid component (as defined in \[RST\]) of the symmetric groups, but we will not go further in this direction.

###### Lemma 2.1

Let $`G`$ be a non-abelian finite simple group. Then any proper normal subgroup of $`\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ contains $`G`$. In particular any endomorphism of $`\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ is either an isomorphism, or contains $`G`$ in its kernel.

Proof. Let $`N`$ be a normal subgroup of $`\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ and assume that it does not contain $`G`$. Since $`NG`$ is a normal subgroup of $`G`$, it must be the trivial subgroup. Hence the composite $`N\mathrm{Aut}(G)\mathrm{Out}(G)`$ is injective. The orbit under conjugation by $`G`$ of an automorphism in $`\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ is reduced to a point if and only if the automorphism is the identity. Thus $`N`$ has to be trivial. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Lemma 2.2

Let $`G`$ be a non-abelian finite simple group. Then any non-abelian simple subgroup of $`\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ is contained in $`G`$.

Proof. Let $`H`$ be a non-abelian simple subgroup of $`\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$. The kernel $`G`$ of the projection $`\mathrm{Aut}(G)\mathrm{Out}(G)`$ contains $`H`$ because $`\mathrm{Out}(G)`$ is solvable (this is the Schreier conjecture, whose proof depends on the classification of finite simple groups, see \[GLS, Theorem 7.1.1\]). $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Lemma 2.3

Let $`i:HG`$ be a localization between two non-abelian finite simple groups. Then it extends in a unique way to a monomorphism $`j:\mathrm{Aut}(H)\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$.

Proof. Since $`i`$ is a localization, it extends to a monomorphism $`j:\mathrm{Aut}(H)\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ by Theorem 1.4 in \[RST\]. The uniqueness is given by \[RST, Remark 1.3\]. Indeed, given a commutative square

Lemma 1.2 in \[RST\] implies that, for any $`\alpha \mathrm{Aut}(H)`$, $`j(\alpha )`$ is an automorphism of $`G`$ extending $`\alpha `$. But there exists a unique automorphism $`\beta :GG`$ such that $`\beta i=i\alpha `$ because $`i`$ is a localization. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Theorem 2.4

Let $`i:HG`$ be a localization between two non-abelian finite simple groups. It extends then to a monomorphism $`j:\mathrm{Aut}(H)\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$, which we assume induces an isomorphism $`\mathrm{Out}(H)\mathrm{Out}(G)`$. Then $`j:\mathrm{Aut}(H)\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ is a localization.

Proof. As $`i`$ is a localization it extends to a unique inclusion $`j:\mathrm{Aut}(H)\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ by the above lemma. Let $`\phi :\mathrm{Aut}(H)\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ be any homomorphism. We have to show that there is a unique $`\alpha :\mathrm{Aut}(G)\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ such that $`\alpha i=\phi `$. If $`\alpha :\mathrm{Aut}(G)\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ is not an isomorphism, it factorizes through some quotient $`Q`$ of $`\mathrm{Out}(G)`$ by Lemma 2.1. The assumption that $`j`$ induces an isomorphism on the outer automorphism groups implies then that the restriction of $`\alpha `$ to $`\mathrm{Aut}(H)`$ is trivial if and only if $`\alpha `$ is trivial. Therefore if $`\phi `$ is trivial, we conclude that the unique such $`\alpha `$ is the trivial homomorphism.

Let us assume that $`\phi `$ is not trivial. If it is an injection, the image of the composite $`\psi :H\mathrm{Aut}(H)\stackrel{\phi }{}\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ actually lies in $`G`$ by Lemma 2.2 and because $`HG`$ is a localization, there is a unique automorphism $`\alpha `$ of $`G`$ making the appropriate diagram commute. Conjugation by $`\alpha `$ on $`\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ is the unique extension we need. Indeed in the following diagram all squares are commutative and so is the top triangle:

The map $`\psi `$ is also a localization so that the bottom triangle commutes as well by Lemma 2.3. If $`\phi `$ is not injective, then $`H\mathrm{Ker}\phi `$ by Lemma 2.1. In that case the image of $`\phi `$ in $`\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ is some quotient of $`\mathrm{Out}(H)`$. As $`j`$ induces an isomorphism $`\mathrm{Out}(H)\mathrm{Out}(G)`$, $`\phi `$ clearly extends to a unique endomorphism of $`\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

The assumption that $`j`$ induces the isomorphism between the outer automorphism groups cannot be dropped. In fact even when $`\mathrm{Out}(H)`$ and $`\mathrm{Out}(G)`$ are cyclic of order $`2`$, a localization $`HG`$ does not always induce one $`\mathrm{Aut}(H)\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$. For example $`i:L_3(3)G_2(3)`$ is a localization (see \[RST, Proposition 4.2\]), but $`\mathrm{Aut}(L_3(3))`$ is actually contained in $`G_2(3)`$. Thus $`j:\mathrm{Aut}(L_3(3))\mathrm{Aut}(G_2(3))`$ cannot be a localization for the good and simple reason that the composite $`\mathrm{Aut}(L_3(3))\mathrm{Aut}(G_2(3))\mathrm{Out}(G_2(3))C_2\mathrm{Aut}(G_2(3))`$ is trivial. The same phenomenon occurs again for $`i:HeFi_{24}^{}`$. Still, many examples can be directly derived from this theorem, as it is often easy to check that $`j`$ must induce an isomorphism $`\mathrm{Out}(H)\mathrm{Out}(G)`$.

###### Corollary 2.5

Let $`i:HG`$ be a localization between two non-abelian finite simple groups. Assume that $`H`$ is a maximal subgroup of $`G`$ and that both $`\mathrm{Out}(H)`$ and $`\mathrm{Out}(G)`$ are cyclic groups of order $`p`$ for some prime $`p`$. Then $`j:\mathrm{Aut}(H)\mathrm{Aut}(G)`$ is a localization.

Proof. We only have to show that $`j`$ itself induces the isomorphism $`\mathrm{Out}(H)\mathrm{Out}(G)`$. Because these outer automorphism groups are cyclic of prime order, the induced morphism must be either trivial or an isomorphism. Being trivial means that any automorphism of $`H`$ is sent by $`j`$ to an inner automorphism of $`G`$, which can happen only if $`\mathrm{Aut}(H)`$ is a subgroup of $`G`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

Directly from the corollary we deduce that $`S_nS_{n+1}`$ and $`SL_2(p)S_{p+1}`$ are localizations (by \[RST, Proposition 2.3(i)\] $`L_2(p)A_{p+1}`$ is a localization). Suzuki’s chain of groups $`L_2(7)G_2(2)^{}J_2G_2(4)Suz`$ (see \[Gor, p.108-9\]) also extends to localizations of their automorphism groups

$$\mathrm{Aut}(L_2(7))\mathrm{Aut}(G_2(2)^{})\mathrm{Aut}(J_2)\mathrm{Aut}(G_2(4))\mathrm{Aut}(Suz).$$

###### Remark 2.6

The converse of the above theorem is false. There exists for example an inclusion $`\mathrm{Aut}(L_3(2))S_8`$ which is actually a localization (Condition (0.1) can be checked quickly with the help of MAGMA). However the induced morphism $`L_3(2)A_8`$ fails to be a localization: There are two conjugacy classes of subgroups of $`A_8`$ isomorphic to $`L_3(2)`$, which are not conjugate in $`S_8`$.

José L. Rodríguez

Departamento de Geometría, Topología y Química Orgánica, Universidad de Almería, E–04120 Almería, Spain, e-mail: jlrodri@ual.es

Jérôme Scherer

Departament de Matemàtiques, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E–08193 Bellaterra, Spain, e-mail: jscherer@mat.uab.es

Antonio Viruel

Departamento de Geometría y Topología, Universidad de Málaga, E–04120 Málaga, Spain, e-mail: viruel@agt.cie.uma.es


text:
# Quantum critical fluctuations in disordered 𝑑-wave superconductors

## Abstract

Quasiparticles in the cuprates appear to be subject to anomalously strong inelastic damping mechanisms. To explain the phenomenon, Sachdev and collaborators recently proposed to couple the system to a critically fluctuating order parameter mode of either $`id_{xy}`$\- or $`is`$-symmetry. Motivated by the observation that the energies relevant for the dynamics of this mode are comparable to the scattering rate induced by even moderate impurity concentrations, we here generalize the approach to the presence of static disorder. In the $`id`$-case, we find that the coupling to disorder renders the order parameter dynamics diffusive but otherwise leaves much of the phenomenology observed in the clean case intact. In contrast, the interplay of impurity scattering and order parameter fluctuations of $`is`$-symmetry entails the formation of a secondary superconductor transition, with a critical temperature exponentially sensitive to the disorder concentration.

Recent experimental work shows that essential aspects of the low-temperature behaviour of cuprate superconductors lie beyond the scope of orthodox BCS-type formulations in terms of a non-interacting quasiparticle (QP) system. Notably, high resolution angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) experiments ARPES  indicate a QP relaxation rate $`\kappa |ϵ|`$ proportional to the excitation energy (for temperatures $`T<|ϵ|`$), while the standard BCS picture predicts $`\kappa |ϵ|^3`$ eps3 . The much weaker $`|ϵ|`$ scaling most likely represents a correlation effect.

Arguing that a qualitative modification of the $`|ϵ|^3`$-law required coupling of the QP system to some kind of collective mode, Sachdev and collaborators SaC  recently proposed a dynamical generalization of the BCS order parameter field, viz.

$$\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}(𝐱,t)=\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}_0(𝐱)+i\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1(𝐱,t),$$
(1)
where $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}_0`$ is the background field of $`d_{x^2y^2}`$ angular momentum dependence and $`i\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1i\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}^{s/d_{xy}}`$ a time-dependent component of either $`s`$\- or $`d_{xy}`$-wave symmetry.

The basic idea behind the proposal (1) is that somewhere in close vicinity to the phase diagram of the system there might be a quantum critical point towards formation of a stable $`i\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1`$ order parameter amplitude (a $`d+is/d_{xy}`$ state.) Although the actual transition point may lie outside the accessible parameter space, its proximity will manifest itself through dynamical order parameter fluctuations, as described by (1).

The coupling of the collective mode $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1(t)`$ to the relativistic QPs strongly alters the low-energy phenomenology of the system SaC ; KP . Specifically, (i) scattering off the time-dependent order parameter fluctuations enhances the QP relaxation to a linear rate $`\kappa |ϵ|`$. This amplification mechanism appears to be insensitive to microscopic details such as the ultraviolet structure of the QP dispersion relation. In particular, (ii) no qualitative differences between $`s`$\- and $`d_{xy}`$-scattering exist. The coupling of the QPs to $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1`$ leads (iii) to the formation of long-ranged collective fluctuations which should SaC  be observable by neutron or Raman scattering. However, (iv) if sufficiently weak, the attractive interaction mediated by $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1`$ does not open a QP gap, i.e., it does not drive the system into a secondary superconductor instability.

It is the purpose of this Letter to explore whether elements of the phenomenology outlined above survive generalization to the presence of static disorder. In view of the fact that all features (i)-(iv) rely on a conspiracy of order parameter fluctuations and the Dirac spectrum of the QPs – the latter being thoroughly corrupted by impurity scattering – one might expect the answer to be largely negative. However, as we are going to show below this presumption is overly conservative: owing to a decoupling of the order parameter from the impurity scattering vertex ($`id`$-case) and/or the renormalization of the polarization operator by infrared-singular diffusion modes ($`is`$-case), the disordered system, too, turns out to be strongly affected by fluctuations of $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1(t)`$.

To summarize our main findings, (i’) notwithstanding the presence of disorder, the coupling of QPs to a dynamical order parameter of $`id`$-symmetry continues to induce an inelastic relaxation rate $`\kappa _{\mathrm{in}}|ϵ|`$. However, this contribution sits now superimposed on a structureless elastic background $`\kappa _{\mathrm{el}}\tau ^1`$, where $`\tau `$ denotes the impurity scattering time. Further, at low frequencies, $`|ϵ|<\tau ^1`$, a logarithmically singular third contribution $`\kappa _{\mathrm{sing}}\mathrm{ln}(\tau |ϵ|)`$ to the relaxation rate $`\kappa =\kappa _{\mathrm{in}}+\kappa _{\mathrm{el}}+\kappa _{\mathrm{sing}}`$ signals the formation of long-ranged diffusive excitations which eventually (for asymptotically low excitation energies/temperatures) fully absorb the spectral weight carried by individual QP states. (ii’) Unlike in the clean case, the system is no longer indifferent to the symmetry of $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1(t)`$. While in the $`id`$-case, QPs remain (marginally) stable objects and (iii’) the order parameter continues to exhibit fluctuation behaviour similar to that found in Refs. SaC ; KP , a conspiracy of impurity scattering and dynamical fluctuations of $`is`$-symmetry (iv’) drives the system into a secondary superconductor transition. More specifically, at the critical temperature

$$\stackrel{~}{T}_c\omega _0\mathrm{exp}(\stackrel{~}{r}/\nu _0),$$
(2)
the system enters a $`d+is`$ superconducting state and the QPs become gapped. Here $`\omega _0=\mathrm{min}[\omega _D,1/\tau ]`$, where $`\omega _D`$ is a phenomenological parameter setting the maximum (Debye) frequency of the order parameter fluctuations, $`1/\stackrel{~}{r}`$ denotes the amplitude of the order parameter fluctuations, and $`\nu _0`$ the residual low-energy density of states (DoS) induced by impurity scattering. Notice that through the dependence of the DoS on the impurity concentration, $`\nu _01/\tau `$, the transition temperature varies exponentially with the disorder strength. Since the latter can be deliberately changed by doping, the observability of a disorder-dependent BCS superconductor transition at low temperatures appears to impose a relatively straightforward criterion testing the presence of dynamical $`is`$-order parameter fluctuations in the system.

To prepare our discussion of the interplay order parameter fluctuations/disorder, let us briefly recapitulate the physics of the clean system. Denoting the two-component QP field by $`\psi ^a`$, where $`a=1,\overline{1},2,\overline{2}`$ enumerates the low-energy nodes in the Brillouin zone, and the time-dependent amplitude of the order parameter by $`\varphi (x)`$, the low-energy physics of the system is described by a composite action $`S[\varphi ,\psi ]=S[\psi ]+S[\varphi ]+S_\mathrm{c}[\varphi ,\psi ]`$. Here, $`x=(\tau ,𝐱)^T`$ is a three-component space-time argument and $`S[\psi ]=d^3x\psi ^a\left[_\tau +iv_\mathrm{F}(s_1^a\gamma ^1\sigma _1_1+s_2^a\sigma _2_2)\right]\psi ^a`$ the Dirac action of the unperturbed QPs where $`v_\mathrm{F}`$ is the Fermi velocity, $`\gamma t/|\mathrm{\Delta }_0|`$, $`t`$ the tight binding energy, $`s_j^a`$ are sign factors depending on the node index, and $`\sigma _j`$ Pauli matrices in particle/hole space ASZ . Further,

$$S[\varphi ]=d^3x\left[\frac{1}{2}\left((_\tau \varphi )^2+c^2(_𝐱\varphi )^2+r\varphi ^2\right)+\frac{u}{4!}\varphi ^4\right]$$
(3)
is a $`\varphi ^4`$-type action controlling the fluctuation behaviour of the order parameter field. ($`c`$, $`r`$, and $`u`$ are phenomenological constants, where $`r=0`$ marks the position of the quantum critical point into the $`d_{x^2y^2}+is/d_{xy}`$ phase.) Finally, the coupling between the QP fields and the collective mode $`\varphi `$ is mediated by the scattering vertex

$$S_\mathrm{c}[\varphi ,\psi ]=\lambda d^3x\psi ^a\mathrm{\Gamma }^a\sigma _3\psi ^a\varphi ,$$
(4)
where $`\lambda `$ is a coupling constant, and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^a`$ a symmetry factor discriminating between the two different types of order parameters: $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^a=1`$ ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }^a=()^a`$) for the case of $`is`$ ($`id`$) symmetry. Perhaps the most direct way to understand the consequences of this coupling mechanism is to integrate over the QP fields. This leads to an effective $`\varphi `$-action $`S_{\mathrm{eff}}[\varphi ]=S[\varphi ]+\delta S[\varphi ]`$, where $`\delta S[\varphi ]=\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{exp}(S_\mathrm{c}[\varphi ,\psi ])`$ measures the tendency of the system to create/annihilate a Cooper pair in response to fluctuations of the order parameter and $`\mathrm{}=𝒟(\psi ^{},\psi )\mathrm{exp}(S[\psi ^{},\psi ])(\mathrm{})`$ is the functional average over the QP action. For sufficiently weak coupling, $`\delta S[\varphi ]`$ can be approximated by its second order expansion in $`\varphi `$ (an RPA type approximation), i.e., $`\delta S[\varphi ]=\frac{\lambda ^2}{2}d^3xd^3x^{}\varphi (x)\chi (x,x^{})\varphi (x^{})`$, where

$`\chi (x,x^{})`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{tr}\left[\mathrm{\Gamma }^a\sigma _3𝒢^{aa^{}}(x,x^{})\mathrm{\Gamma }^a^{}\sigma _3𝒢^{a^{}a}(x^{},x)\right]`$ (5)
is the Cooper pair propagator, ‘tr’ stands for a trace over particle/hole indices, and $`𝒢^{aa^{}}(x,x^{})=\psi ^a(x)\psi ^a^{}(x^{})`$ is the Gorkov Green function.

Evaluating $`\chi `$ for the clean case (in which $`𝒢`$ becomes diagonal in momentum and nodal space), one finds

$$\delta S[\varphi ]=d^3k|\varphi _k|^2\left[C_1C_2(\omega _m^2+𝐤^2)^{1/2}\right],$$
(6)
where $`d^3kT_{\omega _m}d^2k`$ denotes a summation over the three-momentum $`k(\omega _m,𝐤)^T`$, and $`\omega _m`$ is a bosonic Matsubara frequency. While the constant contribution $`C_1`$ can be absorbed into a shifted value of the parameter $`r`$, the non-analytic operator $`(𝐤^2+\omega _m^2)^{1/2}\varphi ^2`$ – arising from the infrared singularity of the Dirac operator – dominantly influences the scaling behaviour of the model, and holds responsible for the anomalously strong QP relaxation rate.

As a corollary we remark that (ii’) the structures above are insensitive to the symmetry of $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1(t)`$. The difference between an $`s`$\- and a $`d`$-scattering amplitude, respectively, is that the former is constant while the latter changes sign from node to node. However, being quadratic in the scattering vertex, the pair susceptibility operator (and therefore the induced action $`\delta S`$) is oblivious to this difference. Further, (iv’) the rough estimate, $`C_1\lambda ^2_T^{\omega _0}𝑑ϵ\nu (ϵ)/ϵ`$ implies that the same linearity of the DoS, $`\nu (ϵ)|ϵ|`$, that led to the non-analytic structure of $`\delta S`$ excludes the formation of a Cooper instability in the $`\varphi `$-action. In contrast, coupling $`\varphi `$ to a fictitious QP species with an extended Fermi surface, $`\nu (ϵ)=\nu _0,`$ would lead to $`C_1(T)\lambda ^2\nu _0\mathrm{ln}(\omega _0/T)`$, i.e., the formation of a superconductor transition at a critical temperature $`\stackrel{~}{T}_c\omega _0\mathrm{exp}(\stackrel{~}{r}/\nu _0)`$, where $`\stackrel{~}{r}=r/\lambda ^2`$.

How then do these structures change in the presence of disorder? Before addressing this question in quantitative detail, let us briefly summarize a number of key elements entering the theory of the weakly disordered suppress-Delta  system: first, the picture developed in Refs. SaC ; KP  essentially relies on the linear singularity of the low-energy DoS. In contrast, disorder scattering leads to a randomization of spectral structures over scales $`\tau ^1`$ and, therefore, to a smearing of the low-energy cusp of the Dirac spectrum. Relatedly, the QP dynamics crosses over from ballistic at $`|ϵ|>\tau ^1`$ to diffusive at $`|ϵ|<\tau ^1`$. As relativistic QP dynamics is an essential input to the theory SaC ; KP  one may expect $`|ϵ|\tau ^1`$ to be a lower bound for its applicability. Finally, and in a way to be discussed in more detail below, the relaxation time (as well as DoS, spin- and thermal conductance) are affected by mechanisms of quantum interference, similar to the weak localization corrections known from the physics of normal metals.

To quantitatively explore the ramification of these mechanisms in the present context ff ; KYG ; classC , we consider the configurational average of the susceptibility operator $`\chi (x,x^{})_{\mathrm{dis}}`$. The most basic effect of impurity scattering will be that the two Green functions appearing in (5) acquire a self energy, $`𝒢^1(iϵ_n)𝒢^1(iϵ_n\zeta )+i\kappa _{\mathrm{el}}\mathrm{sgn}(ϵ_n)`$, where the real constants $`\kappa _{\mathrm{el}}=(2\tau )^1`$ and $`\zeta `$ are obtained for $`|ϵ|<\tau ^1`$ from (depending on the microscopic realization of the disorder) self-consistent Born or $`T`$-matrix perturbation theory leeYA .

We next observe that in the $`is`$-case the inclusion of a Green function self energy is partially compensated for by vertex corrections. Evaluating the quasiparticle/order parameter vertex within a ladder approximation shown in Fig. 1 (the latter stabilized by the parameter $`\gamma 1`$), one finds that the vertex is coupled to a mode $`𝒟_{nn^{}}(𝐪)=\left(D𝐪^2+|ϵ_n|+|ϵ_n^{}|\right)^1`$ similar to the singular ‘diffuson’ and ‘Cooperon’ modes of disordered metals. Here, $`D=(\gamma +\gamma ^1)/(\pi ^2\nu _0)`$ is the diffusion constant of the $`d`$-wave superconductor and $`ϵ_{n,n^{}}`$ are fermionic Matsubara frequencies. Including this mode in the calculation of the polarization operator, we find that

$$\delta S^{is}[\varphi ]=d^3k|\varphi _k|^2\left[C_1(T)+\mathrm{}\right],$$
(7)
where, apart from a $`T`$-independent shift $`\delta r(<r)`$, the constant term $`C_1(T)=\lambda ^2\nu _0\mathrm{ln}(\omega _0/T)+\delta r`$ now displays the characteristic low-temperature profile of $`s`$-wave superconductors, and the ellipses stand for operators involving derivatives. The low-$`T`$ singularity of $`C_1`$ implies that at the critical temperature (2) the $`\varphi `$-action becomes unstable, and a BCS transition into a phase with finite expectation value of the order parameter ($`\varphi 0`$) and gapped QP states occurs. The only significant difference to the BCS transition in conventional disordered metals is that presently the low-energy DoS $`\nu _0`$ – an essential ingredient to the buildup of a BCS instability – is generated by impurity scattering (rather than by the existence of an extended Fermi surface). I.e., unlike in normal metals, the critical temperature is exponentially sensitive to the disorder concentration.

The key phenomenon prescribing much of the physics of the complementary $`id`$-case is that here the susceptibility operator is not affected by vertex corrections. Formally, this follows from the fact that the mode $`𝒟`$ obtained by summing an impurity ladder (cf. Fig. 1) is isotropic in node space. As a consequence, the two nodal summations over the symmetry factors $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^a=()^a`$ at the vertices decouple and annihilate all contributions to the susceptibility operator, safe for the ‘bare bubble’ without vertex corrections. Heuristically, this mechanism can be understood by noting that multiple impurity scattering occurring in transit between two consecutive interactions with the order parameter field distributes the QP amplitude homogeneously over all nodes. The vanishing of the nodal average of $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Delta }}^{d_{xy}}`$ then implies the absence of multiple scattering contributions to the pair propagator.

Evaluating Eq. (5) for the self-energy decorated Green functions, we find

$$\delta S^{id}[\varphi ]=d^3k|\varphi _k|^2\left[C_1C_2\left(|\omega _m|+Dk^2\right)\right],$$
(8)
with the (now again finite at $`T0`$) constant $`C_1\lambda ^2\omega _Df(\omega _D\tau \zeta )`$, where $`f(x)`$ decreases from 1 at $`x1`$ to $`x`$ at $`x0`$, and $`C_2\lambda ^2`$. Importantly, a non-analytic contribution $`|\omega _m|\varphi ^2`$ survives the blurring of the low-energy spectrum by the imaginary part of the self-energy. The continued presence of an operator of engineering dimension $`1`$ indicates that the collective mode displays fluctuation behaviour similar to that in the clean case. Relatedly, a straightforward calculation along the lines of Ref. KP  shows that in the vicinity of the instability ($`rC_2|ϵ|`$) $`\kappa _{\mathrm{in}}|ϵ|`$, as in the absence of disorder, while for $`rC_2|ϵ|`$ we obtain Fermi liquid behaviour $`\kappa _{\mathrm{in}}ϵ^2`$.

Having identified the two terms $`\kappa _{\mathrm{in}}`$ and $`\kappa _{\mathrm{el}}`$, we proceed to discuss the contribution of disorder-induced quantum interference to the QP self energy. To leading order in an expansion in the small parameter $`g^1`$, where $`g=D\nu _0`$, the soft modes $`𝒟`$ couple to the self-energy operator through the diagram shown in Fig. 2. Physically (cf. Fig. 2), this diagram describes the self-interference of a QP traversing a scattering path twice. In close analogy to the weak localization corrections to the conductance of normal metals, these processes lead to a negative logarithmic correction $`\kappa _{\mathrm{sing}}(ϵ)g^1\mathrm{ln}(\tau |ϵ|)`$ to the self energy. In passing we note that the singularity of the interference correction to the DoS entails the existence of a crossover scale $`\omega ^{}\tau ^1\mathrm{exp}(g)`$, below which a proliferation of diffusion modes holds responsible for both, Anderson localization of the QP states and a linear vanishing of their DoS, $`\nu (ϵ)\nu _0|ϵ|/\omega ^{}`$ ASZ ; s-note .

While the logarithmic singularity of the self energy is primarily caused by disorder scattering, the presence of a dynamical $`id`$ order parameter necessitates to replace the bare diffusion mode by the ‘interacting’ mode shown in Fig. 2 (bottom). However, the quantitative summation over these self-interaction processes merely leads to an inessential renormalization of the prefactor, $`g^1g^1(1+F)`$, where $`F1`$ is an interaction-dependent constant, playing a role similar to the Fermi-liquid constants in normal metals.

Similar logarithmic corrections, weakly renormalized by QP interactions, are found for the (spin-) conductance and the DoS next ; gauge . These findings conform with the RG analysis of Ref. classC  which showed (albeit for the case of globally broken time-reversal invariance – symmetry class $`C`$ in the notation of Ref. classes , while the present problem falls into the more complex symmetry class $`C`$I) that interactions only weakly affect the low-energy disorder-generated interference phenomena is-note .

Summarizing, we have explored the interplay of disorder scattering and critical fluctuations of an $`is`$\- or $`id`$-order parameter component in two-dimensional cuprate superconductors. In the $`is`$-case, the most prominent effect caused by disorder is a secondary BCS transition whose critical temperature sensitively depends on the impurity concentration. In the complementary $`id`$-case, the addition of disorder to the system leaves much of the phenomenology derived in Refs. SaC ; KP  intact. Notably, for temperatures $`T<|ϵ|`$, the characteristic singularity $`\kappa _{\mathrm{in}}|ϵ|`$ pertains to the disordered case. Heuristically, these phenomena can be understood by noting that in the presence of disorder (and for mass parameters fine tuned to criticality) the collective mode corresponding to the order parameter amplitude diffuses and, therefore, continues to act as a strong agent of QP scattering. Finally, we included the (essentially disorder-generated) formation of logarithmic singularities at low energies into our discussion of the relaxation rate. Given that even moderate impurity concentrations ong  give rise to scattering times comparable to the energies ($`𝒪(20\mathrm{K})`$) estimated SaC  as characteristic for the fluctuations of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1`$, we believe that, for sufficiently low temperatures, our findings may be made visible experimentally.

###### Acknowledgements.

We are grateful to D.V. Khveshchenko, A.W.W. Ludwig, A.D. Mirlin, J. Paaske, S. Sachdev, M. Vojta and A.G. Yashenkin for valuable discussions. I.V.G. was supported by the Schwerpunktprogramm “Quanten-Hall-Systeme”, the SFB195 der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft, and by the RFBR.