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# An ESO/VLT survey of NIR (Z≤25) selected galaxies at redshifts 4.5<z<6: constraining the cosmic star formation rate near the reionization epoch Based on observations obtained in service mode at the ESO VLT for the program 65.O-0445

## 1 Introduction

Current findings on the production of the stellar baryon budget of the Universe (Madau et al. 1998), have shown a complex, gradual process, spread across a considerable fraction of the cosmological lifetime, rather than confined into a preferred epoch in the past. The evolution of the rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity density can be used to trace this process: since it is produced mainly by O, B short-living massive stars, it is almost independent of the star formation history of the galaxies (Madau, Pozzetti & Dickinson 1998), but it is tied to the fraction of the current star formation rate not extincted by dust.

Measurements of the UV luminosity density from local environment up to $`z1`$ show an increase with redshift (Lilly et al. 1996, Madau 1996, Wilson et al 2002). At the highest redshifts, where the results are often based on imaging surveys and photometric redshifts, the UV luminosity density appears to be roughly constant between $`z=1`$ and $`z4`$ ( Connolly et al 1997, Pascarelle et al 1998, Fontana et al. 1999, Steidel et al 1999, Lanzetta et al. 2002)

Here we focus upon the redshift interval $`z=4.56`$, a range which marks a critical phase in the history of the Universe, when it was just emerging from the reionization epoch. Although first glances of the early Universe have been made possible from Sloan Survey, that have provided the first statistically defined sample of quasars extending up to $`z=6.28`$, the galaxy population at these epochs is presently nearly unexplored.

Indeed it is at these very high redshifts that it is possible to set severe constraints on the physical mechanisms that drive the galaxy formation and evolution. The main goal behind the study of high redshift galaxies is the construction of a coherent picture of the physical processes that led to galaxy evolution. Within the framework of gravitational instability driven by primordial fluctuation, simple but physically motivated prescriptions have been used over the last years to describe the main processes involved (e.g. White & Frenk 1991; Cole et al. 1994,2000; Somerville & Primack 1999; Menci et al. 2002). These models are not as “tunable” as commonly believed since they can not be modified freely to match the high redshift observables without worsening the local fits (e.g. the local luminosity function or local Tully-Fisher relation). In this respect, any discrepancy between the model predictions and the observed properties reveals the lack or incorrect treatment of some fundamental processes. In this context, it is important to perform these comparisons directly at the highest redshifts, where the physical processes leading to present-day galaxies are caught in act.

Despite the obvious interest in the field, and the exciting results obtained at $`z3`$ (Steidel et al. 1996), the discovery of galaxies at $`z>4.5`$ has been so far serendipitous. There are obvious difficulties to tackle: first, the objects become progressively fainter and rarer. Second, the multicolor “drop–out” criteria used to select high–$`z`$ galaxies must be shifted from the UV-visual into the near-IR bands to follow the rest–frame UV. For the same reasons, the spectroscopic follow–up is progressively harder. Besides this, the number of possible interlopers increases, with early–type galaxies and late–type stars progressively entering in the selection criteria. The current statistics of high–$`z`$ galaxies reflects these problems. Few serendipitous objects have been identified (e.g. Spinrad et al 1998), mostly because of a large EW emission line identified as Ly$`\alpha `$, (e.g. Chen et al 1999; Hu et al. 1998, 1999, 2002). Some identification have been later disputed on the basis of deep imaging shortward of the (presumed) Lyman Limit (Chen et al 2000, Stern et al 2000). In general, the search of $`z5`$ emission line galaxies has been shown to suffer from the strong contamination by OII emitters at $`z1.4`$ (Stern et al 2000). Thus, the conclusions that can be drawn from the few objects observed so far are that a) spectroscopy is by itself not conclusive at these redshifts to derive a firm estimate of the average cosmic star formation rate, firstly because it mostly requires the existence of a strong Ly$`\alpha `$ emission line, and because of the contamination from OII emitters; and b) deep imaging observations are required in any case not only to select the objects but also to validate the spectroscopic identifications.

Previous color selections at $`z>4.5`$ based on the photometric redshift technique (Fontana et al. 1999, 2002) took advantage of the very deep HST North and South samples, discovering 4 $`z>5.5`$ candidates in each field down to $`I_{AB}<27.5`$. Evidence has come up for a comoving UV luminosity density at $`z5`$ lower by a factor of 5 than at $`z3`$. However, this estimate is based on a sample of very faint sources selected in a small area and could be strongly affected by the presence of large-scale structure in the “pencil” beams.

For this reason, we have started a relatively deep survey of galaxies selected in the Z band to search for galaxies at $`4.5z6.2`$, covering two well known fields where broad band multicolor imaging is available, namely the extended ESO Imaging Survey (EIS) Hubble Deep Field South and the NTT Deep Field. We have designed a strategy based on a combination of intermediate and broad band filters to identify high–$`z`$ galaxies against the increasingly large number of interlopers. We emphasize that this is not a “pre–selection” survey, but it is designed to provide by itself a reliable identification for the bulk of the galaxy population at $`z5`$. To increase the accuracy of the photometric estimate of the redshift and to minimize the presence of interlopers (mainly intermediate redshift early–type galaxies and late type stars) in our high $`z`$ sample, we have included a set of intermediate band filters namely IB691, IB834 and IB915, available at the ESO/VLT FORS imager. These filters, although of intermediate width, are relatively efficient since they sample spectral regions devoid of strong sky emission lines. The adopted filter set is thus tailored to trace the peculiar spectral features of the extremely high redshift galaxies, i.e. the flat rest–frame UV continuum that even at $`z6`$ can be sampled by the Z-IB915 color and the very abrupt change of the shape due to the hydrogen absorption spectral breaks by the intergalactic and interstellar medium sampled by the bluer bands.

In the following, we will adopt a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM cosmology with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }=1`$ and $`H_0=70`$ km/s/Mpc. All magnitudes will be given in the AB system.

## 2 Photometric database and the selection of the sample

The dataset that we have analyzed consists of a composite sample of optical and infrared images centered on two public deep fields: a 16.3 $`arcmin^2`$ area around the ESO/NTT deep field (NDF, Arnouts et al. 1999) and a 13.6 $`arcmin^2`$ area around the Hubble Deep field South (HDFS). The new data presented here have been obtained with the spectroimagers FORS1 and FORS2, at VLT-Antu and VLT-Keyun respectively, in the R, IB691, I, IB834, Gunn $`z`$ and IB915 bands, and coupled with available UBV and near–IR images obtained at NTT (Saracco et al 1999, (da Costa et al 1998, Fontana et al 2000). Details of the observations are given in Table 1.

Data reduction has followed the usual steps for deep imaging surveys in dithered mode, as described for instance in Fontana et al (2000). Since fringing effects have been found to be significant in the reddest bands, we have applied a special care in masking even the faintest objects prior to fringing removal. To account for the remaining sky residuals and for the pixel–to–pixel correlation induced by dithering, we have adopted an estimation of the noise from sky variance inside a 3” diameter aperture as described in Hu et al. (1999).

In the overall 29.9 $`arcmin^2`$ area common to the optical and IR observations, a photometric multicolor catalog of objects detected in the Gunn $`z`$ band has been extracted following a recipe tailored to obtain accurate color photometry from ground–based images with different seeing conditions that we developed and tested on the imaging data of the K20 survey (Cimatti et al 2002). Total magnitudes and colors have been estimated by the SExtractor code (Bertin & Arnouts 1996). For relatively bright objects, both the total flux in the Gunn $`z`$ images and colors have been estimated from the MAG\_AUTO magnitude. For faint objects, we have used aperture magnitudes obtained by measuring fluxes within three increasing aperture diameters of 1”, 2” or 3” depending on the relative distance of the nearest source. In this case, an average correction (estimated on brighter galaxies) has been applied to account for seeing differences among different bands. The choice of apertures of 1”, 2” and 3” has been taken on the basis of the results obtained within the K20 dataset, where we found that using apertures as large as 3” (for isolated objects) still leads to an improvement in the accuracy of photometric redshifts. In the case of the present data, where the sample is deeper and the seeing of the the detection image is better than the K20 $`K`$ images, we verified that the results do not depend on the exact choice of the largest aperture. Indeed, we still select the same sample of $`z4.5`$ candidates and obtain similar estimates of the UV luminosity densities even using catalogs based on 2” apertures, although the total magnitudes of individual objects may vary up to about 0.1 mags. We limit in the following the discussion to the $`Z_{AB}<25`$ subsamples.

The selection of high–$`z`$ candidates has been performed using the complete multiband catalogs. The spectral features that identify high redshift galaxies are the abrupt spectral breaks due to intervening and intrinsic HI absorption and the flat rest–frame UV continuum long-ward of Lyman $`\alpha `$. In particular, the HI absorption produces flux dropouts in the V, R and even I bands as the redshift increases from $`z=4.5`$ to $`z=6`$. The selection of high–$`z`$ candidates is usually done with color selection criteria sensitive to this pattern. In our case, due to the large number of filters adopted and to the relatively wide redshift range covered, we have directly applied our photometric redshift code, that is described in details in Giallongo et al (1998) and Fontana et al (2000). The only difference respect to these papers is that we have used here a set of spectral templates obtained with the Pegase 2.0 code (Fioc and Rocca-Volmerange 1997), that we have found to provide accurate redshift estimation on ground–based data sets (Cimatti et al 2002, Fontana et al 2002). As shown in Fontana et al (1999) and Fontana et al (2000), the selection of high–$`z`$ candidates with photometric redshifts is at least as efficient as the simple “drop–out” technique at $`z3`$, and more efficient at higher $`z`$.

Potential contaminants of the selected subsample of $`z_{fit}>4.5`$ candidates might come either by early–type galaxies at $`z>1`$ (that may mimic the large spectral breaks in the optical bands) or by cool galactic stars that could mimic the main spectral features of galaxies in this redshift range, as shown by Fontana et al (2000).

The contaminations from the first class of interlopers is easy to treat with our filter set, since early–type galaxies have very bright detections in the infrared J and K bands, so that they are automatically excluded by our photometric redshift code.

The cleaning of the sample from the second kind of interlopers has been achieved following a double selection criterion, based both on morphological and spectral informations. Morphology has been taken into account using the SExtractor CLASS\_STAR classification parameter (Bertin 1996), that sharply classifies the objects in our samples down to $`Z_{AB}24`$. In addition, the stellar spectral library by Pickles (1998) has been used to compute the expected stellar colors in our filter sets, to provide additional spectroscopic criteria for the star–galaxy separation.

We have first obtained the exclusion of obvious bright stars from the sample removing the objects at $`Z_{AB}24`$ with CLASS\_STAR $`0.85`$: the objects removed by this criteria are also better fitted by stellar templates. We provide a check of the reliability of this morphology-based classification in figure 1, where the best fit galactic spectrum is shown along with a best fit outcome from a library of stellar spectra for four out of the whole sample of CLASS\_STAR $`>0.85`$ and $`Z_{AB}24`$ high redshift candidates. After this selection we found no high redshift candidate at this relatively bright magnitude cut.

In the fainter magnitude interval $`24<Z_{AB}25`$, 16 objects have been detected by our photometric redshift code as having $`z>4.5`$. Here an automatic classification becomes less reliable, since morphology cannot be accurately estimated at these faint levels. These candidates have been therefore inspected visually, and morphological information has been complemented with a comparison between the best fit $`\chi ^2`$ of the galactic template and the $`\chi _{STAR}^2`$ of the stellar spectra.

From this analysis, we have singled out a “minimal” subsample of 4 sources, that represent the most robust candidates showing clear extended morphological features, self–consistently detected in more than one band. On the other hand, 3 point like sources have been excluded as having stellar full widths at half maximum in more than one band. For these objects, the spectral energy distribution is also more consistent with that predicted by the stellar library, i.e. $`\chi _{STAR}^2<\chi ^2`$. The remaining 9 objects constitute the sample of candidates showing ambiguous characteristics, i.e. $`\chi _{STAR}^2>\chi ^2`$ but compact morphology or extended morphology but $`\chi _{STAR}^2<\chi ^2`$.

The spectral energy distribution of 12 out of our 13 candidates are shown for illustrative purpose in Fig.2, together with their best fit galaxy templates. The crucial role played by intermediate band filters is evident especially in those cases where only upper limits or strongly uncertain values are available for the NIR J,K bands. In this way it is possible to sample the main features of this spectra, i.e. the strong drop short-ward the Lyman series absorption and the quite flat behavior long-ward the same wavelength with an accuracy sufficient to discriminate between galaxies at $`4.5<z<5`$ and $`5<z<6`$.

In the following we will also use the photometric redshift sample of the WFPC2–HDFN and WFPC2–HDFS fields, presented in Fontana et al (2000) and Fontana et al (2003), to select $`z>5`$ galaxies at a deeper threshold of $`I_{AB}27.2`$. For the HDFS, the sample has been obtained from a new optical–IR catalog that uses ultra-deep IR observations obtained with VLT–ISAAC. The catalog extraction procedure is described in Vanzella et al (2001), while the final optical–IR photometric redshift catalogs are presented in Fontana et al (2003). In both cases, we will adopt a $`I_{AB}27.2`$ selection criterion that ensures a small level of systematics in the estimated magnitudes (Vanzella et al 2001). Combining the two HDFs samples, we identify at $`I_{AB}27.2`$ 25 galaxies in the range $`4.5z<5`$ and 16 at $`5z6`$. A large variance still exists between the statistics in the two field, with 17 (4) objects at $`4.5z<5`$ ($`z>5`$) in the HDFS, against 8 (12) in the HDFN.

A close up of the HDFS $`z>5`$ candidates is shown in Fontana et al (2003).

We note that the new WFPC2–HDFS catalog leads to major changes respect to the one used in Fontana et al (1999), that was based on the Stony–Brook catalog (Lanzetta et al 2002). In particular, three clear candidates at $`z5.5`$ that were absent in the previous catalog have been found at $`I_{AB}27.2`$. We found that this comes from a systematic underestimate of the magnitudes at the faint levels in the Stony–Brook catalog, that prevented these objects from being included in the $`I_{AB}`$ selected catalog.

The resulting integral surface density of the $`Z_{AB}<25`$ candidates at $`z>4.5`$ is in the range $`0.130.44`$ arcmin-2 and that in the highest redshift bin $`5<z6`$ is between $`0.070.13`$ arcmin-2. It should be emphasized that the stellar contamination of candidates at $`z>4.5`$ ranges from a minimum of about 20% to a maximum of 75%. Thus any estimate of the surface density of very high $`z`$ protogalaxies should include a careful analysis of the contamination by the faint stellar population present in a given survey. In the two HDFs, the resulting surface densities at $`I_{AB}27.2`$ is of $`3.1`$ arcmin-2 and $`2`$ arcmin-2, respectively.

Our lower and upper limits on the observed number densities at $`Z_{AB}<25`$ and $`5<z6`$ are 2–4 times higher than those predicted in the redshift range $`5.5<z6.5`$ by Yan et al (2002), who assumed that the shape of luminosity function does not change from $`3`$ to $`z6`$. The slightly higher value that we find is manly due to the lower normalization adopted by Yan et al (2002), who chose to adopt $`1.37`$ galaxies arcmin-2 at $`I_{AB}27.2`$, while we detect $`2`$ galaxies arcmin-2, and to the slightly lower redshift bin that we select. We also note that the ratio betwwen the number densities measured at $`Z_{AB}25`$ and at $`I_{AB}27.2`$ is within a factor of two of that predicted by Yan et al (2002), which may suggest that the slope of the UV luminosity function remains indeed unchanged from $`z3`$ to $`z6`$.

## 3 Evaluating the observed and predicted UV luminosity density

We present in this section the UV luminosity density resulting from our samples, using the usual $`1/V_{max}`$ formalism as described in Poli et al (2001). Given the good agreement between data of the two fields, we compute the average UV luminosity density (LD hereafter) of the total sample including both NDF and HDFS objects, in the two redshift bins $`4.5<z5`$ and $`5<z<6`$.

In both bins, the uncertainties due to possible stellar contamination are bracketed by the two triangles in the same redshift bin. The upward triangles represent the estimate derived from our minimal sample. The downward ones are derived from the total sample. Error bars are simply computed from Poisson statistics on the total number of galaxies in each bin following the recipe in Geherels (1986) in the case of small numbers.

Although we are focusing on the two highest redshift bins, we have also computed the luminosity density at $`2.5<z<4.5`$, to show its evolution on a complete $`Z<25`$ sample. Again, photometric redshifts are estimated from the multiband observations, and stars have been excluded with a morphological and spectral classification similar to the one described above.

The observed quantities are shown in Fig 3a. As in Fontana et al. (1999), and at variance with other works, we have not corrected the observed values of the UV LD for incompleteness or extinction, but we explicitly show the differential effects of the inclusion of a magnitude limit and different dust extinction curves on the theoretical expectations that we will discuss below.

To complement these observations, we present in Fig. 3b the same quantities derived in the WFPC2 HDFN and HDFS $`I_{AB}27.2`$ samples.

At face value, the resulting picture is that the observed UV LD at $`Z_{AB}<25`$ remains about constant in the redshift interval $`2.5<z<4.5`$ to values of the order of $`10^{26}`$ erg s-1 Hz-1 Mpc-3 and then decreases by a factor of 10 reaching $`10^{25}`$ (average between our minimal and total sample of $`5<z<6`$ candidates).

However, the comparison between the UV LD values computed in this way at different redshifts is prone to several biases. First, the $`Z<25`$ or $`I_{AB}27.2`$ selection criterion results in a progressively brighter cutoff to the luminosity function at increasing redshifts. Second, the rest–frame wavelength span by the Gunn $`z`$ band ranges from 2250 Åat $`z3`$ to 1300 Åat $`z6`$, which may introduce color–dependent selection effects when computing the UV LD in the lowest redshift bins. The correction of both effects is uncertain, since it depends on the (largely unknown) shape of the luminosity function and color properties of the high–$`z`$ galaxies.

In order to deal with these systematics in a clean way, we reproduce them in the theoretical predictions as we will describe below. A coarse correction of the varying luminosity cutoff is possible if we compute the UV LD limited at the faintest absolute magnitude of the highest $`z=56`$ sample, i.e. at limiting fluxes of $`1.2\times 10^{29}`$ erg/s and $`3.6\times 10^{28}`$ erg/s (corresponding to $`M_{1400}19.8,21.1`$) in the $`Z`$ and $`I`$ selected samples, respectively. The corresponding values are shown with empty symbols in both figures. The resulting picture is that the UV luminosity density of the brightest galaxies results to be roughly constant from $`z3`$ to $`z6`$.

The values of the UV luminosity densities are given in Tab.2.

## 4 Discussion

In this work we have presented the results of a pilot survey aimed at detecting $`z>4.5`$ galaxies with deep multicolor images. The key features of our approach are a) the use of an extended set of broad (UBVRIZJK) and intermediate band ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda 400`$ Å) filters centered at 6900 and 8340 Å, b) the adoption of conservative thresholds on the S/N for object detection and c) the application morphological and spectral criteria: all these aspects improve the estimates of the redshifts, and help exclude or minimize the number of lower $`z`$ interlopers. When applied to the present data set, these criteria make it possible to reject all the brightest interlopers, that would dominate the LD, and to select a “minimal” sample of 4 high–confidence candidates at $`z>4.5`$, and a sample of 9 additional candidates where the stellar contamination is uncertain. This ambiguity depends on the relative depth of our data set: it is well within the possibilities of red–enhanced imagers at 8–m class telescope or of ACS to extend this kind of analysis 1-2 magnitudes fainter, so that the stellar contamination to the LD can be lowered by a large amount, as in the case of deeper but smaller WFPC2-HDF data that we present here.

Even with this ambiguity, the two selected datasets constrain the $`z>4.5`$ UV LD with sufficient accuracy to show that the observed $`Z_{AB}<25`$ UV LD drops by about one order of magnitude from $`z3`$ to $`z6`$. This drop is largely due to the progressively brighter cutoff in the rest frame luminosity function: if we correct for this incompleteness, the UV LD appears to be roughly constant from $`z2.5`$ up to $`z6`$.

The present results are apparently in contrast with recent findings by Lanzetta et al (2002), who make use of the same WFPC2–HDF data and apply photometric redshifts, that claim the global SFR to steadily increase up to $`z=12`$. Unfortunately, the overall approach and techniques adopted are so different that it is difficult to make a clean comparison. First, we note that the use of wide aperture magnitude and the adoption of a much higher S/N threshold to the catalog strongly reduce the systematics in the WFPC2 data induced by surface brightness dimming, that otherwise require the complex and model–dependent correction applied by Lanzetta et al (2002). Besides, we draw our conclusions from a homogeneous sample, that includes only objects selected down to the same absolute magnitude limit, rather than correcting for the incomplete coverage of the luminosity function, as done by Lanzetta et al (2002). Finally, the photometric redshift distribution obtained by Lanzetta et al (2002) is markedly different from our own, and peaks at $`z0`$, a factor that may lead to an overestimate of the faint end of the SFR distribution function that is used to correct the high–$`z`$ data. Despite all these differences, it is to be noted that the two results are still consistent when the more conservative estimate of Lanzetta et al (2002) is compared with our data in the appropriate redshift range $`z3`$ to $`z6`$: given the overall uncertainties both analyses suggest that UV LD is roughly constant in this redshift range.

The question that naturally arises is whether a constant UV LD up to $`z6`$ may be compatible with the hierarchical scenario of galaxy formation. To discuss this point, we present in both panels of fig. 3 the UV LD predicted by the CDM semianalytic model described in Menci et al. (2002). This model is based on the Cole et al (2000) recipes, with an additional improved treatment of aggregation of satellite galaxies in common DM haloes. We first show that the total SFR derived from this model (thin solid lines) is nearly constant from $`z2`$ to about $`z5`$, and then fades by only a factor about 5 at $`z=6`$.

To allow a fair comparison with our data, we have applied the effects of magnitude limit cut and dust extinction directly to the theoretical model. The effect is shown by the thick solid lines in Fig3a and Fig3b. The shaded area show the possible effects of dust extinction, ranging from no dust (upper lines) to SMC-like extinction curve (lower lines). Please note that the inclusion of dust correction effects in the theoretical model decreases the average UV LD respect to the unextincted amount. It appears that while the CDM model broadly encompasses the observed values, it progressively under-predicts the LD observed in the bright $`Z_{AB}<25`$ sample, while over-predicts the LD observed in the faintest $`I_{AB}<27.2`$ sample. This behavior can be understood in term of a poor match to the slope of the UV luminosity function. At the brightest magnitudes, the CDM model under-predicts the number of bright sources, while it over-predicts the number of fainter sources dominating the deeper sample. This is analogous to what already found at $`z3`$ and confirms a general trend of this version of CDM models to under-predict the amount of star–formation rate in high redshift massive objects (Somerville and Primack 2001, Poli et al 2001 and Menci et al 2002, Cimatti et al 2002).

The origin of this discrepancy is likely tied to the lack or to the oversimplified treatment of fundamental physical process. Indeed, we remark that the basic recipes adopted in this model already concur to enhance the SFR in high redshift massive objects, and that these aspects are further boosted with respect to the models that we used in Fontana et al (1999). The star formation rate is computed as $`\dot{M}_{}=M_g/\tau _{}`$, where $`M_g`$ is the amount of cool gas and the time-scale $`\tau _{}`$ is proportional to the dynamical time $`\tau _{dyn}`$ and to the galaxy circular velocity $`V_c`$ as $`\tau _{}=ϵ_{}^1\tau _{dyn}\left(V_c/200\mathrm{km}/\mathrm{s}\right)^\alpha _{}`$. Since both $`M_g`$ and $`1/\tau _{dyn}`$ increase with redshift, and $`\alpha _{}=1.5`$, these models naturally predict that the star-formation rate increases with redshift (for a given galaxy mass), and is more efficient in massive galaxies (at a given redshift). In addition, feedback effects are also a strong function of $`V_c`$, since they scale as $`\left(V_c\right)^{5.5}`$, and again strongly favor the more massive objects. These basic recipes, combined with the effects of the biased process of galaxy formation induced by hierarchical merging, already conspire to boost at high $`z`$ the SFR in massive objects, with respect to the less massive one.

In the present context, it is not possible to flatten the high–$`z`$ luminosity function by simply changing the free parameters of the model, since one rapidly worsens the fit to the local observables (Cole et al 2000).

Other physical processes that are important in the high–$`z`$ Universe are not included in our model. On the one hand, mechanical and ionizational feedback on the intergalactic medium by early galaxy and QSO formation is not included in our rendition, a process that is expected to quench the SFR in low mass objects and hereby to flatten the low luminosity side of the LF. On the other hand, molecular cooling is efficient at high $`z`$ and not included here. Another possibility that has been proposed is that the starburst efficiency increases during major mergers. These “starburst” models are known to increase the bright side of the LF at $`z=34`$ (Somerville and Primack 1999), but require new additional free parameters to be introduced in the models, and may become less efficient at $`z>5`$, when major merging events are very rare. The challenge of the next years is to include all these processes in a self consistent picture that reproduce the high–$`z`$ observables.

The VLT data used in this work have been mostly obtained in the framework of the proposal 65.O-0445: we are grateful to the VLT operators and scientists that have performed the observations in service mode. The Gunn $`z`$ observations of the NDF have been obtained during the Science Verification Phase of FORS2-VLT. UBV and IR images of the HDFS have been obtained by the EIS survey. The UBV observations of the NDF were performed in SUSI-2 guaranteed time of the Observatory of Rome in the framework of the ESO-Rome Observatory agreement for this instrument. We thank the referee, R. Windhorst, for careful reading of the manuscript and useful comments.


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# Two-dimensional electron gas in a periodic potential and external magnetic field: states of pairs and three-particle systems

## 1 Introduction

The quantum Hall effect and high temperature superconductivity have raised interest in properties of the two-dimensional electron gas subjected to electric and magnetic fields. The observation of (negatively) charged excitons  has recalled a forty-year old concept of excitons, ‘trions’ or ‘charged excitons’, introduced by Lampert in 1958 . Recently, such excitons, consisting of two holes and an electron or two electrons and hole (denoted $`X^\pm `$, respectively), have been investigated both experimentally and theoretically . In the ealier paper  the trion states have been discussed; they have been classified using a direct coupling of three one-particle states and in a two-step procedure: (i) coupling of particle and antiparticle states to obtain states of an electrically neutral system and then (ii) coupling with hole (electron) states to determine states of a trion $`X^\pm `$. The aim of this work is to present classification of three-particle states (strictly speaking states of particle-particle-antiparticle systems) when at first step states of a pair of indentical (charged) particles are constructed. The antiparticle states are taken into account in the second step. Such an approach allow to discuss pair states, what may be important in considerations of high-$`T_\mathrm{c}`$ superconductors, where Cooper pairs are confined to Cu-O planes.

The classification presented in this paper, like in the previous one , is based on translational symmetry in the presence of a periodic potential and an external, constant and homogeneous, magnetic field. To perform this task the so-called magnetic translation operators, introduced by Brown  and Zak , are used. These operators commute with the standard Hamiltonian of an electron in the magnetic field $`𝐇=\times 𝐀`$ and a periodic potential $`V(𝐫)`$

$$=\frac{1}{2m}\left(𝐩+\frac{e}{c}𝐀\right)^2+V(𝐫).$$
(1)
The Born–von Kármán (BvK) periodic conditions imposed on a system lead to a finite-dimensional projective representation of the 2D translation group formed by the magnetic translation operators. The Kronecker products of irreducible projective representations can be applied to description of multi-particle states , what has been done lately for trions . It seems that investiagtions of pairs should be much easier. However, trions, consisting of two electrons and a hole or two holes and an electron, have the total charge $`\pm e`$ and, therefore, behave in a similar way as a single electron and a hole, respectively. On the other hand, a pair of electrons (holes) has the charge $`2e`$ and one has to take into account parity of the Born–von Kármán period $`N`$. It means that cases of odd and even period should be considered separtely.

Investigating problems, which involve the magnetic field $`𝐇`$ determined by the vector potential $`𝐀`$, one has to keep in mind that some results may depend on a chosen gauge, though physical properties should be gauge-independent. Two gauges are most frequently used in description of the 2D electron systems: the Landau gauge with $`𝐀=[0,xH,0]`$ and the antisymmetric one with $`𝐀=(𝐇\times 𝐫)/2`$. The relations between these gauges was discussed in the earlier article , so this problem is left out in the present considerations. However, it should be underlined that a form representation matrices depend on chosen gauge and, moreover, obtained representations are inequivalent, what means, among others, that their bases are not related by a unitary transformation. Since it is a symmetry adapted basis what results from presented material, then it is important to stress that the Landau gauge is assumed and obtained results can not be immediately applied to other gauges. For the sake of simplicity the considerations are limited to this case and the presented results correspond to the limit of high magnetic fields, i.e. there is no Landau level mixing.

## 2 Pairs of identical particles

The movement of two-dimensional charged particles in a periodic potential and, like in the Hall effect, subjected to a magnetic field is described by the magnetic translation operators introduced by Brown  and Zak . These operators form a projective representation of the two-dimensional translation group $`T=\{𝐑=[n_1,n_2]n_1,n_2𝐙\}`$ ; a series of articles on such representations was presented by Backhouse and Bradley . Possible applications to multiparticle states were presented by the author in some earlier works , where products of projective representations has been considered, but the irreducible basis has not been determined. The first attempt to determine trion states was based on two approaches: (i) a direct coupling of three one-particle states and (ii) construction of particle-antiparticle states and then coupling with one-particle state .

Investigating movement of charged particles in a magnetic field one has to distinguish the periodic (Born–von Kármán) conditions related to the periodicty of a crystal lattice and the magnetically periodic conditions introduced by Brown . Let $`D`$ be a projective representattion of $`T`$ with basis vectors labelled by $`|w`$. Then, in short, the magnetic period $`N_{\mathrm{mag}}`$ is determined by the equality $`D(N_{\mathrm{mag}}𝐑)|w=\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\phi }|w`$, whereas the Born–von Kármán period $`N`$ requires $`\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}\phi }=1`$. It means, for example, that standard (one-dimensional) irreducible vector representations $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^{k_1,k_2}[n_1,n_2]|w=\mathrm{exp}[2\pi \mathrm{i}(k_1n_1+k_2n_2)/N]|w`$ corresponds to $`N_{\mathrm{mag}}=1`$. To simplify the present considerations it is assumed that the magnetic field and the Born–von Kármán period $`N`$ are such that a single particle states are related to an $`N`$-dimensional projective representation (i.e. $`N_{\mathrm{mag}}=N`$)

$$D_{jk}^l[n_1,n_2]=\delta _{j,kn_2}\omega _N^{ln_1j},$$
(2)
where $`l`$ is mutually prime with $`N`$, $`\omega _N=\mathrm{exp}(2\pi \mathrm{i}/N)`$, $`j,k,n_1,n_2=0,1,\mathrm{},N1`$ and all expressions are calculated modulo $`N`$ . This formula can be also expressed by the action of $`D^l`$ on basis vectors $`|s`$, $`s=0,1,2,\mathrm{},N1`$

$$D^l[n_1,n_2]|s=\omega _N^{ln_1(sn_2)}|sn_2.$$
(3)
It is assumed that a single particle under question is a hole (or any particle with the charge $`q>0`$) but this assumption does not lead to any lost of generality.

### 2.1 Representations with odd dimension

The case of $`N`$ odd is very simple. Since $`\mathrm{gcd}(l,N)=1`$ and $`N`$ is odd then $`\mathrm{gcd}(2l,N)=1`$, too. Therefore (cf. )

$$D^lD^l=ND^{2l},$$
(4)
i.e. two-particle states are $`N`$-fold degenearted and related to the projective representation $`D^{2l}`$. One of possible forms of the irreducible basis is

$$|s_2^r=|s+r|sr,s,r=0,1,2,\mathrm{},N1,$$
(5)
where the subscript ‘2’ indicates states of a pair and $`r`$ is the repetition index. For the sake of simplicity, here and thereafter the symbol ‘$``$’ is omitted in the tensor product of vectors. This result can be easily verified using Eq. (3):

$`(D^lD^l)[n_1,n_2]|s_2^r`$ $`=`$ $`D^l[n_1,n_2]|s+rD^l[n_1,n_2]|sr`$
$`=`$ $`\omega _N^{2ln_1(sn_2)}|s+rn_2|srn_2=D^{2l}[n_1,n_2]|s_2^r.`$
### 2.2 Representations with even dimension

The case $`N=2M`$ leads to the representations product in the following form

$$D^lD^l=M(D^{l;00}D^{l;10}D^{l;01}D^{l;11}),$$
(6)
where each of four representations on the RHS is $`M`$-dimensional and they form a complete set of inequivalent irreducible projective representations of $`𝐙_N𝐙_N`$ (or, in the other words, the magnetic translation operators with $`N_{\mathrm{mag}}=M`$ and the Born–von Kárman period $`N`$). The first representation, labelled by ‘$`00`$’, is analogous to this given by Eqs. (2) and (3)

$`D_{jk}^l[n_1,n_2]`$ $`=`$ $`\delta _{j,k\eta _2}\omega _M^{l\eta _1j};`$ (7)
$`D^l[n_1,n_2]|s`$ $`=`$ $`\omega _M^{l\eta _1(s\eta _2)}|s\eta _2,`$ (8)
where $`s=0,1,2,\mathrm{},M1`$ now and $`\eta _i=n_imodM`$, $`i=1,2`$. All representations can be expressed by a general formula

$$D^{l;k_1k_2}[n_1,n_2]|s=\omega _N^{ln_1(2s2\eta _2+k_1)}(1)^\alpha |s\eta _2,$$
(9)
where $`k_1,k_2=0,1`$ and $`\alpha =1`$ for $`1n_2sM`$ and $`\alpha =0`$ otherwise. The irreducible bases can be chosen in the following way (vectors are not normalized throughout this paper)

$`|s_2^{r;00}`$ $`=`$ $`|s+r|sr+|M+s+r|M+sr,`$ (10)
$`|s_2^{r;10}`$ $`=`$ $`|s+r|sr+1+|M+s+r|M+sr+1,`$ (11)
$`|s_2^{r;01}`$ $`=`$ $`|s+r|sr|M+s+r|M+sr,`$ (12)
$`|s_2^{r;11}`$ $`=`$ $`|s+r|sr+1|M+s+r|M+sr+1,`$ (13)
where $`s,r=0,1,2,\mathrm{},M1`$. These formulae can be verified by simple calculations.

## 3 Trion states

In the presented approach trion states are constructed from states of a pair, discused in the previous section, and antiparticle states related to the $`N`$-dimensional representation $`D^l`$. Therefore, we start from investigation of products $`D^{2l}D^l`$ and $`D^{l;k_1k_2}D^l`$, for odd and even $`N`$, respectively. In both cases, the resultant representations is a multiplicity of $`D^l`$ , namely

$`D^{2l}D^l`$ $`=`$ $`ND^l,`$ (14)
$`D^{l;k_1k_2}D^l`$ $`=`$ $`MD^l.`$ (15)
The first case ($`N`$ odd) is again very simple. Let $`|w_t`$ denote a trion state and $`|u_{}`$ — a state of an antiparticle, then one of possible choice of basis vectors is as follows

$$|w_t^v=|w+v_2|w+2v_{},w=0,1,2,\mathrm{},N1,$$

where $`v=0,1,2,\mathrm{},N1`$ is the repetition index. Since pair states have additional repetition index $`r`$, then the trion states in this case are labelled by $`w,r,v=0,1,2,\mathrm{},N1`$, where $`w`$ is a vector index and $`r,v`$ are repetition indices. Taking into account Eq. (5) one obtains

$$|w_t^{r,v}=|w+v_2^r|w+2v_{}=|w+v+r|w+vr|w+2v_{}.$$
(16)
The states

$$|w_t^{pq}=|w+p|w+q|w+p+q_{}$$
(17)
obtained previously  correspond to $`p=v+r`$ and $`q=vr`$ (calculated mod $`N`$, of course). Note that for $`N=2M`$ this relations can not be inverted since $`v=(p+q)/2`$ and $`r=(pq)/2`$ have no solutions mod $`N`$ for odd $`p+q`$ and $`pq`$, respectively.

In the case $`N=2M`$ considerations are a bit more difficult but since one knows the final results, states $`|w^{pq}`$, then they may serve as a usefull hint. There are $`N^2=4M^2`$ different bases labelled by $`p,q=0,1,2,\mathrm{},N1`$, however if $`p^{}=p+M`$ and $`q^{}=q+M`$ then states $`|w^{pq}`$ and $`|w^{p^{}q^{}}`$ have the same third element in the tensor products because (see Eq. (17))

$$|w^{p^{}q^{}}=|w+p+M|w+q+M|w+p+q_{}.$$
(18)
Therefore, they can be gathered into $`2M^2=NM`$ pairs

$$|w^{pq}\text{and}|w^{(p+M)(q+M)}.$$

The ranges of indices have to be chosen in such a way that pairs $`pq`$ and $`(p+M)(q+M)`$ run over two separte sets. This problem will be discussed below in more details. For each pair $`p,q`$ one can form two new bases, labelled by ‘+’ and ‘–’, respectively,

$$|w^{pq\pm }=|w^{pq}\pm |w^{(p+M)(q+M)},$$
(19)
so

$$|w^{pq\pm }=\left(|w+p|w+q\pm |w+p+M|w+q+M\right)|w+p+q_{}.$$
(20)
These vectors have the first part (in parentheses) in the form resembling equations (10)–(13). Therefore, one has to relate the repetition index $`r`$ and a label $`u`$ of a vector $`|u_{}`$ of the representation $`D^l`$ with the repetition indices $`p,q`$ and $`\pm `$ in Eq. (20). Moreover, due to the relation (15) the repetion index $`v=0,1,\mathrm{},M1`$ has to be taken into account. The similarity of Eq. (20) and Eqs. (10)–(13) suggests that the irreducible basis of the product $`D^{l;k_1k_2}D^l`$ can be chosen as tensor products $`|s_2|u_{}`$. The simplest to solve is the case of representations with $`k_2=0`$, i.e. $`D^{l;k_10}`$:

$`|w_t^v`$ $`=`$ $`|s+v_2^{00}|w+2v_{},`$ (21)
$`|w_t^v`$ $`=`$ $`|s+v_2^{10}|w+2v+1_{},`$ (22)
with $`s=wmodM`$; $`s+v`$ is calculated mod $`M`$, whereas $`w+2v`$ and $`w+2v+1`$ are calculated mod $`N`$. For example, when $`N=6`$ and $`l=1`$ one obtain bases in the following form

$`\{|0_2^{00}|0_{},|1_2^{00}|1,|2_2^{00}|2_{},|0_2^{00}|3,|1_2^{00}|4_{},|2_2^{00}|5\};`$
$`\{|1_2^{00}|2_{},|2_2^{00}|3,|0_2^{00}|4_{},|1_2^{00}|5,|2_2^{00}|0_{},|0_2^{00}|1\};`$
$`\{|2_2^{00}|4_{},|0_2^{00}|5,|1_2^{00}|0_{},|2_2^{00}|1,|0_2^{00}|2_{},|1_2^{00}|3\};`$
$`\{|0_2^{10}|1_{},|1_2^{10}|2,|2_2^{10}|3_{},|0_2^{10}|4,|1_2^{10}|5_{},|2_2^{10}|0\};`$
$`\{|1_2^{10}|3_{},|2_2^{10}|4,|0_2^{10}|5_{},|1_2^{10}|0,|2_2^{10}|1_{},|0_2^{10}|2\};`$
$`\{|2_2^{10}|5_{},|0_2^{10}|0,|1_2^{10}|1_{},|2_2^{10}|2,|0_2^{10}|3_{},|1_2^{10}|4\}.`$
These results can be used to determine the set a pair of indices $`pq`$ run over. However, in each case one has two possibilities, $`pq`$ and $`(p+M)(q+M)`$, and the appropriate choice can be done after considering representations $`D^{l;k_11}`$. The Eqs. (10) and (12) with formulae (21) and (22) give us bases $`|w_t^{r,v;00}`$ and $`|w_t^{r,v;10}`$, respectively (as above $`s=wmodM`$)

$`\left(|s+r+v|sr+v+|M+s+r+v|M+sr+v\right)|w+2v_{},`$ (23)
$`\left(|s+r+v|sr+v+1+|M+s+r+v|M+sr+v+1\right)|w+2v+1_{}.`$ (24)
Therefore, the admissible values of indices $`(pq)`$ are $`(v+r)(vr)`$ and $`(v+r)(v+1r)`$ for $`v,r=0,1,\mathrm{},M1`$ and all values are calculated mod $`N`$. In the considered example $`N=6`$ one obtaines the following 18 pairs: ‘$`00`$, ‘$`11`$’, ‘$`22`$’, ‘$`15`$’, ‘$`20`$’, ‘$`31`$’, ‘$`24`$’, ‘$`35`$’, ‘$`40`$’, ‘$`01`$, ‘$`12`$’, ‘$`23`$’, ‘$`10`$’, ‘$`21`$’, ‘$`32`$’, ‘$`25`$’, ‘$`30`$’, ‘$`41`$’. In a general case the two following arrays can be constructed:

$$\begin{array}{cccccc}vr& 0& 1& 2& \mathrm{}& M1\\ & & & & & \\ 0& 00& 1(N1)& 2(N2)& \mathrm{}& (M1)(M+1)\\ 1& 11& 20& 3(N1)& \mathrm{}& M(M+2)\\ 2& 22& 31& 40& \mathrm{}& (M+1)(M+3)\\ \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \\ M1& (M1)(M1)& M(M2)& (M+1)(M3)& \mathrm{}& (N2)0\end{array}$$

$$\begin{array}{cccccc}vr& 0& 1& 2& \mathrm{}& M1\\ & & & & & \\ 0& 01& 10& 2(N1)& \mathrm{}& (M1)(M+2)\\ 1& 12& 21& 30& \mathrm{}& M(M+3)\\ 2& 23& 32& 41& \mathrm{}& (M+1)(M+4)\\ \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \\ M1& (M1)M& M(M1)& (M+1)(M2)& \mathrm{}& (N2)1\end{array}$$

It can be easily observed that the index $`p`$ has $`N1`$ values 0,1,…,$`N2`$ and the index $`q`$ has the same $`p+1`$ values for $`p`$ and $`p^{}=N2p`$. These values are $`Np`$, $`Np+2`$, …, $`p`$ in the first case and $`Np+1`$, $`Np+3`$, …, $`p+1`$ for the representation $`D^{l;10}`$.

To complete the discussion one has to consider representations $`D^{l;k_11}`$. The irreducible bases of products $`D^{l;k_11}D^l`$ have a form similar to those given by Eqs. (21) and (22)

$`|w_t^v`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^\alpha |s+v_2^{01}|w+2v_{},`$ (25)
$`|w_t^v`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^\alpha |s+v_2^{11}|w+2v+1_{},`$ (26)
where $`\alpha `$ is an integer part of $`(w+v)/M`$. Since $`w+v=0,1,2,\mathrm{},N+M2`$ then $`(1)^\alpha =1`$ for $`w+v=M,M+1,\mathrm{},N1`$. The same example as in the previous case ($`N=6`$, $`l=1`$) leads to the following bases

$`\{|0_2^{01}|0_{},|1_2^{01}|1,|2_2^{01}|2_{},|0_2^{01}|3,|1_2^{01}|4_{},|2_2^{01}|5\};`$
$`\{|1_2^{01}|2_{},|2_2^{01}|3,|0_2^{01}|4_{},|1_2^{01}|5,|2_2^{01}|0_{},|0_2^{01}|1\};`$
$`\{|2_2^{01}|4_{},|0_2^{01}|5,|1_2^{01}|0_{},|2_2^{01}|1,|0_2^{01}|2_{},|1_2^{01}|3\};`$
$`\{|0_2^{11}|1_{},|1_2^{11}|2,|2_2^{11}|3_{},|0_2^{11}|4,|1_2^{11}|5_{},|2_2^{11}|0\};`$
$`\{|1_2^{11}|3_{},|2_2^{11}|4,|0_2^{11}|5_{},|1_2^{11}|0,|2_2^{11}|1_{},|0_2^{11}|2\};`$
$`\{|2_2^{11}|5_{},|0_2^{11}|0,|1_2^{11}|1_{},|2_2^{11}|2,|0_2^{11}|3_{},|1_2^{11}|4\}.`$
The formulae (21) and (22) have to be modified accordingly. However, the elements $`|v+r|vr`$ and $`|v+r|vr+1`$, corresponding to $`w=s=0`$, always have coefficient +1, since $`v<M`$ and $`w=0`$ when one calcualtes $`\alpha `$ in Eqs. (25) and (26). Therefore, the set of indices $`pq`$ determined in the previous cases need not be changed. If one wants replace a pair $`pq`$ by its counter-part $`(p+M)(q+M)`$, for example $`35`$ by $`02`$ in the considered example, then a sign in the corresponding formula, (25) or (26), has to be changed, i.e. $`\alpha `$ is replaced by $`\alpha +1`$.

## 4 Symmetrization of states

In the previous section the relation between the basis $`|w_t^{pq}`$, determined in  by a direct evaluation of a product of three representations $`D^lD^lD^l`$, and the basis $`|w_t^{r,v;k_1k_2}`$, presenetd in this paper, is established. Since the symmetrization of the basis $`|w_t^{pq}`$ and its relation with a basis related to the product $`D^l(D^lD^l)`$ are considered in the earlier paper , then the problem sated in the title of this section may be left out. However, having at hand the basis $`|s_2`$ for pairs of identical particle it is natural and obvious to investiagte the symmetry properties related with the transposition of particles.

As in all above problems the case of odd $`N=2M+1`$ is quite easy. It follows from Eq. (5) that $`r=0`$ leads to symmetric states

$$|0|0,|1|1,\mathrm{},|N1|N1.$$

The other $`N^2N`$ vectors are grouped in $`N1=2M`$ representations labelled by $`r=1,\mathrm{},N1`$. To construct symmetric (antisymmetric) states it is enough to take combinations

$$|s_2^{r\pm }=|s+r|sr\pm |sr|s+r,$$
(27)
where $`r=1,2,\mathrm{},M`$ now.

In the case of even $`N=2M`$ the product $`D^lD^l`$ decomposes into $`M`$ copies of four $`M`$-dimensional projective representations. Since the symmetrization of states has a slightly different form in each of these cases then they are considered separately.

The non-symmetrized basis of the representation $`D^{l;00}`$ is given by Eq. (10) as

$$|s_2^{r;00}=|s+r|sr+|M+s+r|M+sr.$$

The case $`r=0`$ again gives $`M`$ symmetric states. To consider the other $`M1`$ representations one has to check the parity of $`M`$. If $`M=2\mu `$, then for $`r=\mu `$ we have $`Mr=r`$ and $`M+r=Nr`$, so in this case all vectors are symmetric. The other vectors form symmetric and antisymmetric states in the standard way and it also concerns the case of odd $`M`$.

The ‘additional’ symmetric state found above for $`N=4\mu `$ is ‘lost’ considering $`D^{l;10}`$. Its irreducible basis (11)

$$|s_2^{r;10}=|s+r|sr+1+|M+s+r|M+sr+1$$

have no symmetric states for $`M=2\mu `$, but for odd $`M=2\mu 1`$ and $`r=\mu `$ the above formula reads

$$|s_2^{\mu ;10}=|s+\mu |s\mu +1+|s\mu +1|s+\mu ,$$
(28)
so these states are symmetric.

The similar considerations have to be performed for representations $`D^{l;k_11}`$ with special attention to the fact that

$$|sr|s+r|M+sr|M+s+r=(|s+r^{}|sr^{}+|M+s+r^{}|M+sr^{}),$$

where $`r=0,1,\mathrm{},M1`$ and $`r^{}=Mr`$.

## 5 Final remarks

The presented considerations have shown that the parity of the BvK period strongly influences the obtained results, whereas free trions behave in similar way as free electrons or holes and, therefore, their states does not depend on the parity. Of course, coupling of three (in general, $`n`$) identical partilces will lead to problems when $`N=3M`$ ($`N=nM`$, in a general case). It should be stressed that the degeneracy of obtained states is very high and there are many possibilities to construct states $`|s_2`$ of pairs and $`|w_t`$ of a three-particle systems. So we have to keep in mind that only a few possible choices of the irreducible basis has been presented in this paper. For example, the formulae (5)–(13) and following them Eqs. (16), (23), (24), are asymmetric with respect to the transposition of identical particles. Symmetrization of such states has been brielfy discussed in Sec. 4. In these simplified considerations there are no interactions between trions or Landau level mixing and, moreover, the spin or angular momentum numbers. Taking into account spins will allow to construct states completely antisymmetric with respect to the permutational symmetry. Such problem has been discussed lately by Dzyubenko et al.  in the absence of a periodic potential $`V(𝐫)`$, so there is no discrete translational symmetry. The relations for the total angular moment projections obtained there are the same as those presented in this paper for indices of vectors (taking into account the sign of charges). For example, in Eq. (16) one obtains

$$w=(w+v+r)+(w+vr)(w+2v).$$

It is interesting that Dzyubenko et al. obtained their results in the antisymmetric gauge $`𝐀=(𝐇\times 𝐫)/2`$, whereas in the presented considerations the Landau gauge has been used. It confirms that the physical properties are gauge-independent. On the other hand, the actual form of wave functions is not discussed here, but the relations between representations and their product are taken into account only. These relations are independent of the matrix representations and, similarly, the form of resultant basis is independent of the function form: for a given BvK period $`N`$ and any gauge irreducible projective representations are $`N`$-dimensional and their action on basis vectors are similar (up to a factor system) .


text:
# Adiabatic Landau-Zener-Stückelberg transition with or without dissipation in low spin molecular system V15

Present address: \]Department of Applied Physics, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CJ, Delft, Netherlands

## Abstract

The spin one half molecular system V15 shows no barrier against spin reversal. This makes possible direct phonon activation between the two levels. By tuning the field sweeping rate and the thermal coupling between sample and thermal reservoir we have control over the phonon-bottleneck phenomena previously reported in this system. We demonstrate adiabatic motion of molecule spins in time dependent magnetic fields and with different thermal coupling to the cryostat bath. We also discuss the origin of the zero-field tunneling splitting for a half-integer spin.

Research on quantum mechanical behavior in large systems is of fundamental interest and also of major importance in quantum computation related applications (Leggett (1980) and refs. therein). A special class are the magnetic two-level systems, realized in mesoscopic molecular crystals at miliKelvin temperatures Tupitsyn and Barbara (2001). Here, one scales up the quantum properties of one molecule in its local environment to large enough signals generated by the whole crystal. Any coupling between the *spin-up* and *spin-down* orientation of the molecular spin results in tunneling splittings whose magnitude control the quantum dynamics of the spin. Quantum tunneling of the magnetization across anisotropy barrier was observed in Mn12 or Fe8 high spin molecules Thomas et al. (1996) and quantum interference of tunneling paths was demonstrated in Fe8 Wernsdorfer and Sessoli (1999). In these molecules splittings are very small ($`10^6`$ K). Large splittings ($`10^3`$ K) are usually found in low spin molecules or high and intermediate spin molecules in large transverse fields Chiorescu et al. (2000a); Wernsdorfer and Sessoli (1999); Tupitsyn and Barbara (2001). In such systems, the archetype of which is the low spin molecule V15 Chiorescu et al. (2000b, c); Barbara et al. (2002) Landau-Zener-Stückelberg (LZS) tunneling probability Landau (1932) is very close to 1 and, in the absence of environment, the transitions should be adiabatic. At finite temperature, dynamics of the magnetic moment depend on direct spin-phonon transitions fed by the energy exchange with the cryostat. The $`S=1/2`$, V15 molecule shows an intrinsic phonon bottleneck (PB) effect with characteristic “butterfly” hysteresis loops. Such systems are experimental realizations of dissipative two-level systems Leggett et al (1987). Similar results were reproduced since then in other low-spin systems Schenker et al. . The PB phenomena belong to a general class of almost adiabatic transitions in which only a small fraction of heat inflows during the process of approach to equilibrium (which remains not completed). A similar example of almost adiabatic transition is found in the Foehn effect in meteorology and similar effects (“magnetic Foehn” effect Saito and Miyashita (2001)) have been found in the magnetization processes of some Fe-rings Nakano and Miyashita (2001).

In this letter we present new results on mechanisms involved in the quantum dynamics of the V15 molecular spin. We prove fully adiabatical motion of this molecular multispin system in time dependent magnetic fields and give more insight on the PB effect in showing ways to control dissipation in regions close to tunneling gaps. This gives the possibility to increase both relaxation and decoherence times. Furthermore, we discuss the origin of the zero-field splitting $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ for half-integer spin .

The V15 complex (K6\[V$`{}_{}{}^{\text{I}V}{}_{15}{}^{}`$As6O42(H2O)\]8H2O) forms a lattice with trigonal symmetry ($`a=14.029`$ Å, $`\alpha =79.26^{}`$, $`V=2632`$ Å3) with two V15 molecules per cell M$`\ddot{\mathrm{u}}`$ller and D$`\ddot{\mathrm{o}}`$ring (1988). All the fifteen V$`^{\text{I}V}`$ ions of spin $`S=1/2`$ are placed in a quasi-spherical layered structure formed of a triangle sandwiched between two non-planar hexagons. The exchange couplings between the V ions are antiferromagnetic making of V15 a typical example of frustrated molecule. After the PB study given in Chiorescu et al. (2000b), the next step, presented here, was to control the relaxation process by tuning the coupling between the spin-phonon system and the thermal reservoir. In order to reach a regime where spin dynamics is independent on the thermal bath, thus entering in a pure quantum regime, we minimized the coupling to the sample reservoir. This first limit of fast field variations and weak coupling to the cryostat, was reached by inserting a thermal isolator between the sample (a single-crystal of few tens of microns) and the sample-holder and restricting the temperature to lowest values. We optimized the other limit with best thermal coupling by using a mixture of silver powder with grease.

The magnetization curves *vs.* applied field $`B_0`$ ($`=\mu _0H`$) of Fig. 1 show either a weak hysteresis or no hysteresis at all, depending on the competition between two field-dependent parameters: relaxation rate $`\tau _H`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_H/v_{\mathrm{\Delta }_H}`$, the time spent by system at a given two-level energy separation ($`\mathrm{\Delta }_H=\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }_0^2+(2\mu _BB_0)^2}`$, $`v_{\mathrm{\Delta }_H}=\text{d}\mathrm{\Delta }_H/\text{d}t`$). In our experimental setup one may tune the ratio $`\tau _Hv_{\mathrm{\Delta }_H}/\mathrm{\Delta }_H`$ roughly between $`10^310^4`$ by adjusting the field sweeping rate and sample thermal coupling, which makes possible to study both regimes, spin system isolated (continous line, Fig. 1a) or in thermal equilibrium with the cryostat (dashed line, Fig. 1b). The PB model accounts for the interpretation Chiorescu et al. (2000b) of such hysteresis curves (for clarity only half cycles are shown in Figs. 1, negative field half cycles being symmetric to the positive field ones). The spin temperature $`T_S`$ is such that $`n_1/n_2=\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{\Delta }_H/k_BT_S)`$ where $`n_{1,2}`$ ($`n_{1,2eq}`$) are levels out-of-equilibrium (equilibrium) occupation numbers.

Most molecules are out of equilibrium, at a temperature $`T_S`$ different from the cryostat temperature $`T`$. Even for a good thermal contact between the sample and the cryostat, the energy flow from the latter is not sufficient to compensate the lack of phonons at energies $`\mathrm{}\omega =\mathrm{\Delta }_H\pm \mathrm{\Delta }\omega `$, if the field is swept fast enough. The phonon-bottleneck model presented in Chiorescu et al. (2000b); Abragam and Bleaney (1970) gives a relaxation law: $`t/\tau _H=x(t)x(0)+\mathrm{ln}((x(t)1)/(x(0)1))`$ where $`x=(n_1n_2)/(n_{1eq}n_{2eq})`$ and

$$\tau _H=\alpha \frac{\mathrm{tanh}^2(\mathrm{\Delta }_H/2k_BT)}{\mathrm{\Delta }_H^2},$$
(1)
is the relaxation time. The $`\alpha `$ parameter reflects the thermal coupling sample-cryostat (large value = weak coupling, small value = strong coupling); $`\alpha `$ is proportional to molecule density, phonon velocity, phonon-bath relaxation time and inverse proportional to levels width ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega `$, directly related to nuclear spin bath fluctuations Prokof’ev and Stamp (2000), of the order of 50 mK Carter et al. (1977)). To compare measured and calculated hysteresis curves one has to find the best set of parameters $`(\alpha ,\mathrm{\Delta }_0)`$. The experimental curves in Fig. 1a,b are best fitted by sets of parameters ($`\alpha 130`$ sK2, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_080`$ mK) and ($`\alpha 0.09`$ sK2, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_080`$ mK), respectively. As expected, ($`\alpha 0.15`$ sK2, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_050`$ mK) obtained in Chiorescu et al. (2000b), shows a comparable $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ and $`\alpha `$ between the present ones, meaning that the coupling with cryostat was intermediate compared with those of Fig. 1. It is interesting to mention that recent neutron scattering experiments done on V15 powder Chaboussant et al  obtained a value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ comparable to our first determinations.

In Fig. 1b one can see that magnetization curve becomes almost reversible if the field change is slow enough (dashed line). This is a natural consequence of Boltzmann thermal equilibrium when spin-phonon transitions are highly probable. When sweeping rate $`v_H`$ or thermal isolation $`\alpha `$ are increasing, the PB phenomena becomes more present and manifests itself through an opening in the hysteresis loops. In very low fields ($`0.1`$ T), the spin temperature is lower than the bath temperature ($`T_S<T`$). Then a PB plateau of almost constant magnetization develops and $`T_S`$ overpass $`T`$. At sufficiently high fields ($`0.5`$ T) the system reaches its equilibrium ($`T_S=T`$) by a small phonon avalanche. Of a particular interest is the case $`\alpha =130`$ sK2 when the sample is thermally isolated from the sample holder. The reversibility of Fig. 1a (continous line) is very different from the equilibrium reversibility. Here, the sweeping rate and isolation to the cryostat are large enough to drive the PB plateau near the saturation level: the PB phenomena is so important that the sample is completely isolated during our experimental time. The spin-phonon transitions have such a small probability that the system keeps its initial state (here, the groundstate), allowing precise measurements of slow (spin-phonon transitions free) relaxations. The multi-spin motion can therefore be considered as adiabatic with an excellent approximation and magnetization curve should be given by:

$$M=\frac{1}{2}\frac{\text{d}\mathrm{\Delta }_H}{\text{d}B_0}=\mu _B/\sqrt{1+\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_0}{2\mu _BB_0}\right)^2}.$$
(2)
Indeed, the adiabatic curve of Fig. 1a is nicely fitted by Eq. 2 with $`\mathrm{\Delta }_080`$ mK.

Magnetic relaxation experiments were performed in the same conditions as in Fig. 1a, for different values of the applied field. As an example, we show in Fig. 2 the results obtained for $`T=0.05`$, 0.15 K and two fields especially chosen outside and inside the degeneracy zone (where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_H(B_0)`$ is non-linear). The corresponding $`\tau _H`$ values, obtained by fitting the relaxation curves or simply calculated from Eq. 1 (with $`\alpha =130`$ sK2, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0=80`$ mK) are given in Tab. 1 . The fit using the relaxation law mentioned above (see Eq. 1) is in remarkably good agreement with the data when the relaxation experiment is performed relatively far from the degeneracy point. The fit is less performant for the faster relaxations developing inside the degeneracy zone and the obtained value for $`\tau _H`$ is $`35`$ times shorter than the expected value (deduced from the general shape of the hysteresis curve). This shows that in this case, *i.e.* within the mixing region, the phonons bath is no longer sufficient to explain the dissipation in this two level system. An excess relaxation comes from the Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya (D-M) interactions, allowed by molecule symmetry, and the spin bath, in particular from the fast fluctuations of the 51V nuclear spins. The D-M interactions generates off-diagonal terms coupling the spin-up and spin-down states, whereas the spin bath gives a noticeable spread of energy levels almost touching each other near zero-field, both effects enhancing the relaxation in this particular region. Also, they are at the origin of the large zero-field splitting $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ in the V15 molecule as it will be discussed below.

V15 has an effective spin $`1/2`$ which is a half-integer. As well known as the Kramers theorem, all the energy levels have to be at least doubly degenerate in the time reversal symmetry. Therefore, if we consider the tunneling of the magnetization of the half-integer spins in a single mode path-integral formula, the tunneling rate must be zero. This is due to zero tunnel splitting $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$. The consequence is that magnetization reversals cannot be adiabatic with half-integer spins. However, as shown above, the V15 system shows very clear adiabatic spin reversal, with zero field splitting about almost 0.1 K. The most characteristic feature of V15 is its multispin character. We shall see that this character is a necessary but not sufficient condition for producing finite zero-field splittings with odd-integer spins. Note that $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ cannot be due to internal dipolar fields which range in the mT scale. However, these fields together with nuclear spins certainly provide sources of decoherence.

Due to frustration on antiferromagnetic triangles in V15, the energy structure of this system consists of one quartet ($`S=3/2`$) and two doublets ($`S=1/2`$) well separated from excited levels by a gap of the order $`10^2`$ K. At zero field, the groundstate is fourfold degenerated (although with a spin $`S=1/2`$). By making use of this degree of freedom one can have avoided level structures Miyashita and Nagaosa (2002). In order to mix the states whose magnetization differs by 1, we need the interactions to contain $`S^+`$ and $`S^{}`$. In the theoretical calculations the transverse field is often used for this purpose. However, in order to find the source of the avoided level crossing for the molecules in zero field, we have to find interactions with time reversal symmetry, that is, products of even number of spin operators, such as $`S^zS^x`$, etc. Generally symmetric combinations of operators, *e.g.* $`S_i^zS_j^x+S_i^xS_j^z`$, are rearranged into anisotropy and do not cause avoided level structure. This is not the case with antisymmetric combinations of the form $`S_i^zS_j^xS_i^xS_j^z`$ for which it has been found that new avoided level structures are created (such terms were proposed to induce gaps otherwise forbidden in magnetic molecules Barbara et al. (1998)). This is a sufficient condition for having a finite zero-field splitting with half-integer spins. The subsequent structure of energy spectrum at low energy is generally like the one depicted in Fig. 3 for the case of a frustrated triangle (the 15 spins 1/2 form 3 effective spins 1/2, antiferromagnetically coupled Chiorescu et al. (2000c)). Here, we introduced the D-M interaction ($`D=50`$ mK) in a simple way to demonstrate the gap actually opens with this type of perturbation. However, the real molecule consists of more complicated structure where a spin of the inner triangle connects to spins of upper and lower hexagons of the V15 molecule, and other D-M interactions can exist and should be taken into account Konstantinidis and Coffey . More realistic energy structure will be investigated after the determination of arrangement of D-M interactions on the bonds de Raedt et al. . For an effective triangle, there are two sets of avoided structures and they cross in zero field, allowing the Kramers theorem to be satisfied. Depending on the details of D-M interactions, two different situations may occur depending if the two sets of level repulsion structures are or are not orthogonal to each other. In the first case the four states are classified into two sets of subspaces, and the LZS mechanism exactly holds because the LZS transition occurs independently in each branch of avoided level crossing structure. In the second case, the four states form an irreductible space, where one of the state scatters into all of the four states when the field is swept, and the LZS mechanism should not hold. However, even in this last case, the change of magnetization at the crossing point as a function of the sweeping velocity is almost perfectly expressed by the LZS formula Miyashita and Nagaosa (2002). As a consequence, one can say that the change of magnetization in multispin systems with D-M interactions, should follows the LZS model in a wide range of interaction parameters.

In short, previous studies of the ”butterfly hysteresis loop” in the multi-spin V15 molecule Chiorescu et al. (2000b, c) are now extended to the non-dissipative LZS regime. First, we have shown that the crossover from the dissipative to the non-dissipative LZS regime, can easily be achieved by changing the coupling of the sample to the cryostat. This first demonstration of dissipation control in a two level system has important implications for further applications on quantum information and computers. The role of the spin-bath becomes visible when experiments are performed near zero-field, in the level mixing region. However, the associated relaxation times are still long enough to allow adiabatic magnetization experiments. Secondly, we directly verified the zero-field gap previously obtained in the dissipative regime and attributed to the effect of D-M interactions of this multi-spin system. The third result is the clear comparison between experiments and theory, showing that the conditions for the existence of a gap in a half-integer multi-spin system with antisymmetric interactions (*e.g.* D-M interaction) are fullfilled.

###### Acknowledgements.

We are very pleased to thank H. Bögge, A.K. Zvezdin, D. Mailly, K. Saito and N. Nagaosa for on-going collaborations and useful discussions.


text:
# Time correlated quantum amplitude damping channel

## Abstract

We analyze the problem of sending classical information through qubit channels where successive uses of the channel are correlated. This work extends the analysis of C. Macchiavello and G. M. Palma to the case of a non-Pauli channel - the amplitude damping channel. Using the channel description outlined in S. Daffer, et al., we derive the correlated amplitude damping channel. We obtain a similar result to C. Macchiavello and G. M. Palma, that is, that under certain conditions on the degree of channel memory, the use of entangled input signals may enhance the information transmission compared to the use of product input signals.

In real physical quantum transmission channels, it is common to have correlated noise acting on consecutive uses. This is in contrast to the class of memoryless channels, in which uncorrelated (independent) noise acts on each use. The problem of the classical capacity of quantum channels with time correlated noise was first considered by C. Macchiavello and G. M. Palma Mac . They analyzed the specific case of sending qubits (quantum states belonging to 2-dimensional Hilbert spaces, each spanned by orthonormal vectors $`\{|0,|1\}`$) with two consecutive uses of a quantum depolarizing channel with partial memory. The action of such a channel on an input state described by the density operator $`\pi `$, is defined by the completely positive, trace-preserving map to an output state, another density operator $`\rho `$ Kraus ; Mac :

$$\pi \rho =\mathrm{\Phi }(\pi )=(1\mu )\underset{i,j=0}{\overset{3}{}}A_{ij}^u\pi A_{ij}^u+\mu \underset{k=0}{\overset{3}{}}A_{kk}^c\pi A_{kk}^c,$$

where $`0\mu 1`$. With probability $`(1\mu )`$, the noise is uncorrelated and completely sepcified by the Kraus operators

$$A_{00}^u=p_0II,A_{01}^u=\sqrt{p_0p_1}I\sigma _x,A_{02}^u=\sqrt{p_0p_2}I\sigma _y,A_{03}^u=\sqrt{p_0p_3}I\sigma _z,$$

$$A_{10}^u=\sqrt{p_0p_1}\sigma _xI,A_{11}^u=p_1\sigma _x\sigma _x,A_{12}^u=\sqrt{p_1p_2}\sigma _x\sigma _y,A_{13}^u=\sqrt{p_1p_3}\sigma _x\sigma _z,$$

$$A_{20}^u=\sqrt{p_0p_2}\sigma _yI,A_{21}^u=\sqrt{p_1p_2}\sigma _y\sigma _x,A_{22}^u=p_2\sigma _y\sigma _y,A_{23}^u=\sqrt{p_2p_3}\sigma _y\sigma _z,$$

$$A_{30}^u=\sqrt{p_0p_3}\sigma _zI,A_{31}^u=\sqrt{p_1p_3}\sigma _z\sigma _x,A_{32}^u=\sqrt{p_2p_3}\sigma _z\sigma _y,A_{33}^u=p_3\sigma _z\sigma _z,$$

while with probability $`\mu `$, the noise is correlated and specified by

$$A_{00}^c=\sqrt{p_0}II,A_{11}^c=\sqrt{p_1}\sigma _x\sigma _x,A_{22}^c=\sqrt{p_2}\sigma _y\sigma _y,A_{33}^c=\sqrt{p_3}\sigma _z\sigma _z.$$

Here, $`0p1`$, $`p_0=(1p)`$, $`p_1=p_2=p_3=\frac{1}{3}p`$, and

$$I=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right),\sigma _x=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 1& 0\end{array}\right),\sigma _y=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& i\\ i& 0\end{array}\right),\sigma _z=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right)$$

are the identity and Pauli matrices respectively. The key object in their analysis is the mutual information for two uses of the channel,

$$I_2()=S(\rho )\underset{i}{}q_iS(\rho _i)$$
(1)
where $`=\{q_i,\pi _i\}`$, with $`q_i0`$, $`_iq_i=1`$, is the input ensemble of states $`\pi _i`$, transmitted with a priori probabilities $`q_i`$, of two - generally entangled - qubits. In Eq.(1),

$$S(\sigma )=\mathrm{tr}(\sigma \mathrm{log}_2\sigma )$$

is the von Neumann entropy, $`\rho =_iq_i\rho _i`$, and $`\rho _i=\mathrm{\Phi }(\pi _i)`$. For the following choice of equally-weighted ensemble of orthonormal input states,

$$\pi =\frac{1}{4}(|\pi _1\pi _1|+|\pi _2\pi _2|+|\pi _3\pi _3|+|\pi _4\pi _4|),$$

$$|\pi _1=\mathrm{cos}\theta |00+\mathrm{sin}\theta |11,$$

$$|\pi _2=\mathrm{sin}\theta |00\mathrm{cos}\theta |11,$$

$$|\pi _3=\mathrm{cos}\theta |01+\mathrm{sin}\theta |10,$$

$$|\pi _4=\mathrm{sin}\theta |01\mathrm{cos}\theta |10,$$
(2)
Eq.(1) reduces to

$$I_2=2+\underset{i=1}{\overset{4}{}}e_i\mathrm{log}_2e_i$$

with

$$\eta =1\frac{4}{3}p,$$

$$e_1=e_2=\frac{1}{4}(1\eta ^2)(1\mu ),$$

$$e_{3,4}=\frac{1}{4}\left[(1+\mu )+\eta ^2(1\mu )\pm 2\sqrt{\eta ^2\mathrm{cos}^22\theta +[\mu +\eta ^2(1\mu )]^2\mathrm{sin}^22\theta }\right].$$

They showed that there exists a threshold value

$$\mu _t=\frac{\eta }{1+\eta }$$

for $`0<\eta <1`$, such that when $`\mu >\mu _t`$, $`I_2`$ is maximal for $`\theta =\frac{\pi }{4}`$ (i.e., the maximally entangled Bell states), while when $`\mu <\mu _t`$, $`I_2`$ is maximal for $`\theta =0`$ (i.e., the completely unentangled product states). Furthermore, at $`\mu =\mu _t`$, any set of states of the form Eq.(2) leads to the same $`I_2`$.

We note that, in the same manner, a quantum dephasing channel with uncorrelated noise can be defined as one specified by the following Kraus operators

$$D_{00}^u=(1p)II,D_{01}^u=\sqrt{p(1p)}I\sigma _z$$

$$D_{10}^u=\sqrt{p(1p)}\sigma _zI,D_{11}^u=p\sigma _z\sigma _z$$
(3)
and one with correlated noise by

$$D_{00}^c=\sqrt{1p}II,D_{11}^c=\sqrt{p}\sigma _z\sigma _z.$$
(4)
The same prescription can be applied to a quantum amplitude damping channel with uncorrelated noise as one specified by

$$E_{00}^u=E_0E_0,E_{01}^u=E_0E_1,E_{10}^u=E_1E_0,E_{11}^u=E_1E_1,$$
(5)
where, with $`0\chi \frac{\pi }{2}`$,

$$E_0=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}\chi & 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right),E_1=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 0\\ \mathrm{sin}\chi & 0\end{array}\right)$$
(6)
are the Kraus operators for an amplitude damping channel. Here, $`|0`$ and $`|1`$ denote the excited and ground states respectively. However, it is not a priori clear how the Kraus operators for a quantum amplitude damping channel with correlated noise could be constructed in a similar manner, if it is at all possible.

Recently, S. Daffer, et al. Daffer  used a special basis of left, $`\{L_i\}`$, and right, $`\{R_i\}`$, damping eigenoperators for a Lindblad superoperator,

$$\mathrm{\Phi }(\pi )=\mathrm{exp}(t)\pi ,$$

where $`t`$ is time, to calculate explicitly the image of a completely positive, trace-preserving map for a wide class of Markov quantum channels:

$$\pi \rho =\mathrm{\Phi }(\pi )=\underset{i}{}\mathrm{tr}(L_i\pi )\mathrm{exp}(\lambda _it)R_i.$$
(7)
For a finite $`N`$-dimensional Hilbert space,

$$\pi =\frac{1}{2}\underset{i,j=1}{\overset{N^21}{}}c_{ij}(F_j^{}F_i\pi +\pi F_j^{}F_i2F_i\pi F_j^{}),$$

with the system operators $`F_i`$ satisfying

$$\mathrm{tr}(F_i)=0,\mathrm{tr}(F_i^{}F_j)=\delta _{ij}.$$

The complex $`c_{ij}`$ form a positive matrix. The right eigenoperators $`R_i`$ satisfy the eigenvalue equation

$$R_i=\lambda _iR_i,$$
(8)
and the following duality relation

$$\mathrm{tr}(L_iR_j)=\delta _{ij}$$
(9)
with the left eigenoperators $`L_i`$. The amplitude damping and dephasing channels are examples of quantum Markov channels. The Lindblad equation Daffer

$$\pi =\frac{1}{2}\alpha (\sigma ^{}\sigma \pi +\pi \sigma ^{}\sigma 2\sigma \pi \sigma ^{}),$$
(10)
where $`\alpha `$ is a parameter analogous to the Einstein coefficient of spontaneous emission, and

$$\sigma ^{}\frac{1}{2}(\sigma _x+i\sigma _y),\sigma \frac{1}{2}(\sigma _xi\sigma _y)$$

are the creation and annihilation operators respectively, yields the amplitude damping channel, Eq.(6). And, the dephasing channel can be derived from Daffer

$$\pi =\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Gamma }(\pi \sigma _z\pi \sigma _z),$$
(11)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is another parameter. In this paper, we derive Eq.(4) from the Lindblad equation Eq.(12), that is, it gives the quantum dephasing channel with correlated noise. In a similar fashion, we solve Eq.(19) and interpret the resulting completely positive, trace-preserving map as one which describes a quantum amplitude damping channel with correlated noise. We then analyze, as in Ref.Mac , the action of a quantum amplitude damping channel with partial memory on Eq.(2). Our results are in agreement with those of Ref.Mac . That is, the transmission of classical information can be enhanced by employing maximally entangled states as carriers of information rather than product states.

We begin by solving the following Lindblad equation

$$\pi =\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Gamma }[\pi (\sigma _z\sigma _z)\pi (\sigma _z\sigma _z)].$$
(12)
Eq.(12) is an obvious extension of Eq.(11) with $`\sigma _z`$ replaced by $`(\sigma _z\sigma _z)`$. The rationale is so that the phase-flip actions of the channel would then be correlated. The method of solution involves first determining the right eigenoperators $`R_i`$, which solves Eq.(8):

$$R_{00}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cccc}1& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right),\lambda _{00}=0;R_{33}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cccc}1& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right),\lambda _{33}=0;$$
(13)
$$R_{01}^\pm =\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cccc}0& \pm 1& 0& 0\\ 1& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\end{array}\right),\lambda _{01}^\pm =\mathrm{\Gamma };R_{02}^\pm =\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cccc}0& 0& \pm 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 1& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\end{array}\right),\lambda _{02}^\pm =\mathrm{\Gamma };$$
(14)
$$R_{03}^\pm =\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cccc}0& 0& 0& \pm 1\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 1& 0& 0& 0\end{array}\right),\lambda _{03}^\pm =0;R_{11}=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\end{array}\right),\lambda _{11}=0;$$
(15)
$$R_{12}^\pm =\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cccc}0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& \pm 1& 0\\ 0& 1& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\end{array}\right),\lambda _{12}^\pm =0;R_{13}^\pm =\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cccc}0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& \pm 1\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0& 0\end{array}\right),\lambda _{13}^\pm =\mathrm{\Gamma };$$
(16)
$$R_{22}=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\end{array}\right),\lambda _{22}=0;R_{23}^\pm =\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cccc}0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& \pm 1\\ 0& 0& 1& 0\end{array}\right),\lambda _{23}^\pm =\mathrm{\Gamma }.$$
(17)
Notice that the index $`i`$ here is a doublet. Next, the left eigenoperators are determined by imposing Eq.(9). Finally, the image of the completely positive, trace-preserving map can be obtained via Eq.(7). In this case, we have

$$\pi \rho =\underset{i}{}\mathrm{tr}(L_i\pi )\mathrm{exp}(\lambda _it)R_i=\underset{j=0}{\overset{1}{}}D_{jj}^c\pi D_{jj}^c,$$

where $`D_{jj}^c`$ are given by Eq.(4), with

$$p\frac{1}{2}[1\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{\Gamma }t)].$$
(18)
Therefore, Eq.(12) does indeed yield a dephasing channel with correlated noise.

Next, we solve the Lindblad equation

$$\pi =\frac{1}{2}\alpha [(\sigma ^{}\sigma ^{})(\sigma \sigma )\pi +\pi (\sigma ^{}\sigma ^{})(\sigma \sigma )2(\sigma \sigma )\pi (\sigma ^{}\sigma ^{})].$$
(19)
This follows from the same rationale behind the construction of Eq.(12). By replacing $`\sigma `$ in Eq.(10) with $`(\sigma \sigma )`$, we expect the actions of the resulting channel to be correlated. We call it the quantum amplitude damping channel with correlated noise. The right eigenoperators $`R_i`$, which solves Eq.(8) are

$$R_{00}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cccc}0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 2\end{array}\right),\lambda _{00}=0;R_{33}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cccc}1& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right),\lambda _{33}=\alpha $$
(20)
and those in Eq.(14) to Eq.(17), but with the following respective eigenvalues,

$$\lambda _{01}^\pm =\lambda _{02}^\pm =\lambda _{03}^\pm =\frac{1}{2}\alpha ,$$

$$\lambda _{11}=\lambda _{12}^\pm =\lambda _{13}^\pm =\lambda _{22}=\lambda _{23}^\pm =0.$$
(21)
The left eigenoperators are determined as above, and Eq.(7) becomes

$$\pi \rho =\underset{i}{}\mathrm{tr}(L_i\pi )\mathrm{exp}(\lambda _it)R_i=\underset{j=0}{\overset{1}{}}E_{jj}^c\pi E_{jj}^c,$$

where

$$E_{00}^c=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}\mathrm{cos}\chi & 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right),E_{11}^c=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 0& 0\\ \mathrm{sin}\chi & 0& 0& 0\end{array}\right),$$
(22)
with

$$\mathrm{cos}\chi \mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{1}{2}\alpha t\right),\mathrm{sin}\chi \sqrt{1\mathrm{exp}(\alpha t)}.$$
(23)
We note that, in contrast to $`D_{00}^c`$ in Eq.(4), $`E_{00}^c`$ cannot be written as a tensor product of two two-by-two matrices. This gives rise to the typical “spooky” action of the channel: $`|01`$, $`|10`$, and any linear combination of them, and $`|11`$ will go through the channel undisturbed, but not $`|00`$.

It is interesting to note that Eq.(3) can also be derived by solving the following Lindblad equation,

$$\pi =\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Gamma }[\pi (I\sigma _z)\pi (I\sigma _z)]\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Gamma }[\pi (\sigma _zI)\pi (\sigma _zI)].$$

However, analogous approach for the amplitude damping channel with uncorrelated noise does not work. This is because the amplitude damping channel is by definition non-unital. This is not surprising in view of the fact that although all Lindblad superoperators have a Kraus decomposition, the converse is not true in general.

Now, we carry out the same analysis as in Ref.Mac  by considering

$$\pi \rho =\mathrm{\Phi }(\pi )=(1\mu )\underset{i,j=0}{\overset{1}{}}E_{ij}^u\pi E_{ij}^u+\mu \underset{i=0}{\overset{1}{}}E_{ii}^c\pi E_{ii}^c$$
(24)
and using Eq.(2). Eq.(1) then becomes

$$I_2=\underset{i=1}{\overset{4}{}}t_i\mathrm{log}_2t_i+\frac{1}{4}\underset{j=1}{\overset{4}{}}u_j\mathrm{log}_2u_j+\frac{1}{4}\underset{k=1}{\overset{4}{}}v_k\mathrm{log}_2v_k+\frac{1}{2}\underset{l=1}{\overset{2}{}}w_l\mathrm{log}_2w_l$$

with

$$\mathrm{\Theta }(\mu ,\chi )\frac{1}{2}\left[(3+\mu )+(1\mu )\left(\mathrm{cos}4\chi 32\mu \mathrm{cos}^2\chi \mathrm{sin}^4\frac{\chi }{2}\right)\right],$$

$$t_{1,2}=\frac{1}{4}(1\pm \mathrm{sin}^2\chi )[(1\pm \mathrm{sin}^2\chi )\mu \mathrm{sin}^2\chi ],$$

$$t_{3,4}=\frac{1}{4}[1(1\mu )\mathrm{sin}^4\chi ],$$

$$u_{1,2}=(1\mu )\mathrm{cos}^2\theta \mathrm{cos}^2\chi \mathrm{sin}^2\chi ,$$

$$u_{3,4}=\frac{1}{2}(1\mu )\mathrm{cos}^2\theta \mathrm{cos}^2\chi \mathrm{sin}^2\chi \pm \frac{1}{2}\sqrt{\mathrm{cos}^4\theta \mathrm{cos}^22\chi +\mathrm{sin}^4\theta +\mathrm{cos}^2\theta \mathrm{sin}^2\theta \mathrm{\Theta }(\mu ,\chi )},$$

$$v_{1,2}=(1\mu )\mathrm{sin}^2\theta \mathrm{cos}^2\chi \mathrm{sin}^2\chi ,$$

$$v_{3,4}=\frac{1}{2}(1\mu )\mathrm{sin}^2\theta \mathrm{cos}^2\chi \mathrm{sin}^2\chi \pm \frac{1}{2}\sqrt{\mathrm{sin}^4\theta \mathrm{cos}^22\chi +\mathrm{cos}^4\theta +\mathrm{cos}^2\theta \mathrm{sin}^2\theta \mathrm{\Theta }(\mu ,\chi )},$$

$$w_1=\mu +(1\mu )\mathrm{cos}^2\chi ,w_2=(1\mu )\mathrm{sin}^2\chi .$$
(25)
Numerical calculation of $`I_2`$ for $`\theta =\frac{\pi }{4}`$ (i.e., the maximally entangled Bell states), and $`\theta =0`$ (i.e., the completely unentangled product states), with $`0\chi \frac{\pi }{2}`$ and $`0\mu 1`$ allows us to compare the information carrying capacity of both forms of input state. Constructing graphs similar to that in Ref.Mac  shows for each $`\chi `$ there is a threshold $`\mu _t`$ such that for $`\mu >\mu _t`$, the performance of the Bell states for classical information transmission is better than that of the product states. While, for $`\mu <\mu _t`$, better performance is achieved by using the product states instead. For instance, when $`\chi =\frac{\pi }{5}`$, we have $`\mu _t(0.5,0.6)`$. Furthermore, for the product states

$$I_2(\theta =0,\mu =1,\chi )I_2(\theta =0,\mu =0,\chi ).$$
(26)
This is a direct consequence of the following inequality:

$$a\mathrm{log}a+x\mathrm{log}x(a+x)\mathrm{log}(a+x),a,x0.$$

What this shows is that in the case of quantum amplitude damping channel with perfect memory, it is possible to obtain enhanced information carrying performance even if we are using product input states. This is the same conclusion reached in Ref.Mac  for the case of a depolarizing channel.

In conclusion, we have extended the problem of time-correlated noise (or “channles with memory”) as considered in Ref.Mac  to the case of the amplitude damping channel. In the case of sending two qubits by successive uses of an amplitude damping channel with partial memory, we establish numerically that by using maximally entangled states rather than product states as information carriers, we can enhance the transmission of classical information over the quantum channel.

The authors thank Yuri Suhov and Daniel Oi for useful discussions. This publication is an output from project activity funded by The Cambridge MIT Institute Limited (“CMI”). CMI is funded in part by the United Kingdom Government. The activity was carried out for CMI by the University of Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. CMI can accept no responsibility for any information provided or views expressed.