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# Does Cosmic No-Hair Conjecture in Brane Scenarios follow from General Relativity?

## I Introduction

The idea of brane world scenarios may resolve the challenging problem in theoretical physics namely the unification of all forces and particles in nature. It is suggested that we live in a four dimensional brane embedded in a higher dimensional space-time. As a result, the fundamental higher dimensional Planck mass could be of same order as the electro weak scale and thereby one of the hierarchy problems in the current standard model of high-energy physics are resolved \[1-4\].

According to Randall and Sundrum  it is possible to have a single massless bound state confined to a domain wall or 3-brane in five dimensional non-factorizable geometries. They have shown that this bound state corresponds to the zero mode of the Kaluza-Klein dimensional reduction and is related to the four dimensional gravitation . Hence all matter and gauge fields (except gravity) are confined to a 3-brane embedded in a five dimensional space-time (bulk) while gravity can propagate in the bulk. As a consequence, the gravity on the brane can be described by the Einstein’s equations modified by two additional terms, namely (i) quadratic in matter variables and (ii) the electric part of the five dimensional Weyl tensor .

In general terminology, the CNHC  states that “all expanding universe models with a positive cosmological constant asymptotically approach the de-Sitter solution”. To address the question whether the universe evolves to a homogeneous and isotropic state during an inflationary epoch, Gibbons and Hawking  and then Hawking and Moss  developed this conjecture. Subsequently, Wald  gave a formal proof of it for homogeneous cosmological models (Bianchi models) with a positive cosmological constant. He assumed that the matter field should satisfy strong and weak energy conditions.

In this paper we wish to extend Wald’s  result in the brane world scenario and examine whether the new conditions can be minimize using those in general relativity.

## II Cosmic No Hair Conjecture in Brane World

According to Roy Maartens , the Einstein equations on the brane can be written as

$$G_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{\Lambda }g_{\mu \nu }+\kappa _4^2T_{\mu \nu }+\kappa _5^4S_{\mu \nu }E_{\mu \nu }$$
(1)
where $`S_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`T_{\mu \nu }`$ are the two correction terms (local and non-local) in the energy momentum tensor. The local correction term $`S_{\mu \nu }`$ has the expression

$$4S_{\mu \nu }=\frac{1}{3}TT_{\mu \nu }T_{\mu \rho }T_\nu ^\rho \frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu }\left(\frac{1}{3}T^2T_{\rho \sigma }T^{\rho \sigma }\right)$$
(2)
while $`E_{\mu \nu }`$ is the electric part of the 5D Weyl tensor in the bulk. Now the scalar constraint (initial value constraint) equation and the Roychoudhuri equation on the brane has the form

$$G_{\mu \nu }n^\mu n^\nu =\mathrm{\Lambda }+\kappa _4^2T_{\mu \nu }n^\mu n^\nu +\kappa _5^4S_{\mu \nu }n^\mu n^\nu E_{\mu \nu }n^\mu n^\nu $$
(3)
and

$$R_{\mu \nu }n^\mu n^\nu =\mathrm{\Lambda }+\kappa _4^2\left(T_{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu }T\right)n^\mu n^\nu +\kappa _5^4\left(S_{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu }S\right)n^\mu n^\nu E_{\mu \nu }n^\mu n^\nu $$
(4)
where $`n^\mu `$ is the unit normal to the spatial homogeneous hypersurfaces. In terms of the homogeneous hypersurface elements namely, the projected metric $`h_{\mu \nu }(=g_{\mu \nu }+n_\mu n_\nu )`$ and the extrinsic curvature $`K_{\mu \nu }(=_\nu n_\mu )`$ and using the Gauss-Codazzi equations the above two equations namely equations (3) and (4) become

$$K^2=3\mathrm{\Lambda }+\frac{3}{2}\sigma _{\mu \nu }\sigma ^{\mu \nu }\frac{3}{2}{}_{}{}^{(3)}R+3\kappa _4^2T_{\mu \nu }n^\mu n^\nu +3\kappa _5^4S_{\mu \nu }n^\mu n^\nu 3E_{\mu \nu }n^\mu n^\nu $$
(5)
and

$$\dot{K}=\mathrm{\Lambda }\frac{1}{3}K^2\sigma _{\mu \nu }\sigma ^{\mu \nu }\kappa _4^2\left(T_{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu }T\right)n^\mu n^\nu \kappa _5^4\left(S_{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu }S\right)n^\mu n^\nu +E_{\mu \nu }n^\mu n^\nu $$
(6)
where the dot denotes the Lie derivative with respect to proper time, $`K`$ is the trace of the extrinsic curvature, $`\sigma _{\mu \nu }`$ is the shear of the time like geodesic congruence orthogonal to the homogeneous hypersurfaces and $`{}_{}{}^{(3)}R`$ is the scalar curvature of the homogeneous hypersurfaces.

Using the idea of Wald and proceeding along his approach (for details see Wald et al  and Chakraborty et al ) one can find that for CNHC we must have

$$(a)S_{\mu \nu }n^\mu n^\nu 0\text{and}\left(S_{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu }S\right)n^\mu n^\nu 0$$
(7)
and

$$(b)E_{\mu \nu }n^\mu n^\nu 0$$
(8)
in addition to the weak and strong energy conditions for the matter field

$$T_{\mu \nu }n^\mu n^\nu 0\text{and}\left(T_{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu }T\right)n^\mu n^\nu 0$$
(9)
Now if we use the expression (2) for $`S_{\mu \nu }`$ in (7) then we get

$$\frac{1}{3}Tb\frac{1}{2}T_{\rho \sigma }T^{\rho \sigma }(T_{\mu \rho }n^\mu )(T_\nu ^\rho n^\nu )0$$
(10)
and

$$\frac{1}{3}Ta(T_{\mu \rho }n^\mu )(T_\nu ^\rho n^\nu )0$$
(11)
where $`a=T_{\mu \nu }n^\mu n^\nu `$ and $`b=\left(T_{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu }T\right)n^\mu n^\nu `$ are positive due to (9).

Also using the symmetry properties of $`E_{\mu \nu }`$, it is possible to decompose it with respect to any time like observer $`\stackrel{}{u}(u^\alpha u_\alpha =1)`$ as

$$E_{\mu \nu }=\left(\frac{\kappa _5}{\kappa _4}\right)^4\left[\left(u_\mu u_\nu +\frac{1}{3}h_{\mu \nu }\right)U+2(u_\mu Q_\nu )+P_{\mu \nu }\right]$$

with the properties

$$Q_\mu u^\mu =0,P_{(\mu \nu )}=P_{\mu \nu },P_\mu ^\mu =0,P_{\mu \nu }u^\nu =0$$

If we consider the Bianchi models then due to the symmetry of the spatial geometry we may choose

$$Q_\mu =P_{\mu \nu }=0,$$

and the scalar part namely $`U`$ is termed as dark energy density as it has energy-momentum tensor that of a radiation perfect fluid. So the restriction (8) implies that dark energy density should be always positive i.e.,

$$U0$$
(12)
As it is not possible to make any restriction on $`T_{\mu \nu }`$ to satisfy inequations (10) and (11), so let us examine with some realistic model for the matter field.

## III Examples

(a) Perfect fluid model:
In this case the energy-momentum tensor has the form

$$T_{\mu \nu }=(\rho +p)n_\mu n_\nu +pg_{\mu \nu },n_\mu n^\mu =1$$

with $`\rho `$ and $`p`$ as the energy density and isotropic pressure respectively.

The weak and strong energy conditions demand

$$a=\rho 0\text{and}2b=\rho +3p0$$
(13)
Hence the inequations (7) (i.e., inequations (10) and (11)) take the form

$$\rho ^20\text{and}\rho (3p+2\rho )0$$
(14)
which are always true. Thus for perfect fluid model CNHC is automatically satisfied in brane scenarios if it is valid in general relativity.

(b) General form of energy-momentum tensor:
The general form of the brane energy momentum tensor for any matter fields (scalar field, perfect fluids, kinematic gases, dissipative fluids, etc.) including a combination of different fields can be covariently written as

$$T_{\mu \nu }=\rho n_\mu n_\nu +ph_{\mu \nu }+\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }+q_\mu n_\nu +q_\nu n_\mu $$
(15)
Here the energy flux $`q_\mu `$ and the anisotropic stress $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }`$ are projected, symmetric and traceless that is

$$q_\mu n^\mu =0,\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }n^\mu =0,\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{\Pi }_{\nu \mu },\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }g^{\mu \nu }=0$$

Thus for this form of energy-momentum tensor, the restrictions on $`S_{\mu \nu }`$ now result

$$\frac{1}{3}\rho ^2\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }\mathrm{\Pi }^{\mu \nu }0$$
(16)
and

$$\frac{1}{3}\rho (3p+2\rho )q_\mu q^\mu 0$$
(17)
As for realistic matter, the energy density should be larger than the anisotropic stress and heat flux is very small in magnitude so the inequalities (16) and (17) are automatically satisfied. Hence the CNHC is satisfied for the above form of general energy-momentum tensor.

For future work, it will be interesting to find any general restrictions on $`T_{\mu \nu }`$ so that CNHC is automatically satisfied in brane world scenario.

Acknowledgement:

The authors are thankful to Prof. U. C. De of Kalyani University for valuable discussion. The authors are also thankful to D. Marolf for his valuable suggestions. Finally the authors are grateful to referees’ for their comments which improve the paper. One of the authors (U.D) is thankful to CSIR (Govt. of India) for awarding a Junior Research Fellowship.

References:
$`[1]`$ Maartens Roy, Reference Frames and Gravitomagnetism, eds J F Pascual-Sanchez, L Floria, A San Miguel, F Vicente (World Scientific, 2001) pp. 93-119; (also gr-qc/0101059 (2001)).
$`[2]`$ Chakraborty S and Chakraborti S, Class. Quantum Grav. 19 3775 (2002).
$`[3]`$ Randall L and Sundrum R, Phys. Rev. Lett. 83 3770 (1999).
$`[4]`$ Randall L and Sundrum R, Phys. Rev. Lett. 83 4690 (1999).
$`[5]`$ Maartens R, Phys. Rev. D 62 084023 (2000); Campos A and Sopuerta C F, Phys. Rev. D 63 404012 (2001); Phys. Rev. D 64 104011 (2001).
$`[6]`$ Gibbons G W and Hawking S W, Phys. Rev. D 15 2738 (1977).
$`[7]`$ Hawking S W and Moss I G, Phys. Lett. 110B 35 (1982).
$`[8]`$ Wald R M, Phys. Rev. D 28 2118 (1983).
$`[9]`$ Chakraborty S and Paul B C, Phys. Rev. D 64 127502 (2001);


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# Radiation Hardness and Linearity Studies of CVD Diamonds

## 1 Introduction

With the establishment of the Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) growth processes, diamond detectors started to be extensively investigated for their use for particle detection at future high energy and nuclear physics experiments. The developments were driven by the need for a radiation detector, particularly at the upcoming generation of experiments at hadron colliders like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The main problem diamond is faced with is its small charge collection efficiency, resulting in bad signal to noise ratios. Most of the studies, focused on the hadronic radiation hardness properties, have shown that diamond detectors suffer some radiation damage for fluences of neutrons, protons or pions above approximately $`10^{15}`$/cm2 .
At a possible future high energy electron positron collider like TESLA , the detectors in the very forward region are subjected to very high radiation doses, mostly electromagnetic radiation produced as beamstrahlung. Doses as high as several MGy per year are expected. Recently a number of studies have been published on the use of diamond in these regions as a possible detector material .
In this paper, after a description of the principle of operation of diamonds and the definition of some important parameters, we summarize the results concerning the radiation hardness, the Thermally Stimulated Current measurements (TSC) and the linearity tests.

## 2 Principle of Operation

Diamond has a number of properties which make it an attractive material for use in particle detection applications. The ionization produced by energetic charged particles passing through a thin diamond film, typically of the order of 300-500 $`\mu `$m thick, creates about 36 electron-hole pairs per $`\mu m`$ of diamond. By applying a potential difference (typically 1V/$`\mu m`$) between the two electric contacts the charges start to migrate toward them. Due to impurities and dislocations in the diamond, some of the migrating charges are trapped and may contribute to space charge, which builds up and polarizes the diamond crystal. The charge induced on the contacts $`Q_{\mathrm{induced}}`$ is then smaller than the total charge created in the diamond $`Q_{\mathrm{deposit}}`$.
A widely used figure of merit of the diamond material is its charge collection efficiency defined as $`ϵ=Q_{\mathrm{induced}}/Q_{\mathrm{deposit}}`$. For current diamond material the charge collection efficiency is typically below $`50\%`$.
If the diamond is exposed to high levels of ionizing radiation, additional defect may be created in the diamond lattice, which may trap charge. These defects may be caused by impurities in the material (e.g. Nitrogen) or by structural damage to the lattice (e.g. dislocations, etc.). Several methods exist to study the defects and to better understand the mechanism of charge trapping in diamond. A particular powerful method one is the method of Thermally Stimulated Current (TSC). In this method, after having filled the traps at room temperature, the diamond is heated up. The rise of the sample temperature induces thermal detraping at a rate depending on the temperature and on the energy levels of the traps. A current proportional to the trap density and to the release rate is then observed between the contacts of the diamond sample. The TSC dependence on the temperature gives information about the energy levels and the density of the impurities in the diamond.
In addition to maintaining a good charge collection efficiency, a detector to be used in a high radiation rate environment also has to show a linear response to large energy deposition. This is particularly important for the application of this material in a possible forward detector at a linear collider, where energy deposits over many orders of magnitude are to be expected.
In the following sections, we summarize studies and present results for both radiation and linearity issues for diamond detectors. For a more detailed description of the analysis see reference .

## 3 Radiation Hardness

The response of CVD diamonds to uniform ionization densities has been measured using the setup shown in figure 1. The diamond samples were metalized with Ti/Pt/Au electrodes on both sides and placed in front of a collimated 90Sr source which delivers electrons up to a maximum energy of 2.28 MeV. In order to guarantee that only signals from 90Sr decay electrons which penetrate the diamond are recorded, a silicon trigger counter is placed behind the diamond sensor. The diamond signal is amplified using a charge integration amplifier circuit and can be viewed on a digital scope or recorded on a computer for future analysis. From the measured charge, one can estimate the charge collection efficiency.

Three Diamond samples were exposed to electromagnetic radiation with two different ranges: below and above the threshold for non ionizing damages. A 10 KeV photon beam provided by the Hasylab facility at DESY with an average dose rate of 14 Gy/s was used to irradiate two diamond samples for doses up to 1.6 and 6.8 MGy. A third diamond sample was sent to a 60Co irradiation facility which provides photons with energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV. The diamond sample was irradiated with a dose of 10 MGy.

Figure 2 show the total relative charge collection efficiency for the three diamond samples for different irradiation doses. No indication of degradation of the diamond quality as a function of the radiation dose has been observed.

## 4 Thermally Stimulated Current

Using the TSC method several diamond samples have been studied for their defect structure. After irradiation the samples were exposed to photons from a weak 10 KeV source to create electron-hole pairs in the sample.
To measure the TSC, a nominal voltage of 50 V was applied on one contact of the diamond during measurement and irradiation periods. The other contact was connected to a Keithley 6514 nano-A meter to measure the current. To generate the TSC, a remote-controlled heating element was used. The temperature was monitored using a thermocouple element read by a voltmeter.
Before heating the diamond, a fixed period of irradiation was used to create electron-hole pairs in the diamond and fill traps. For this purpose, the 10 KeV photon beam was directed on a 100 $`\times `$ 100 $`\mu `$m2 slit. A remote-controlled shutter was placed between the detector and the slit to switch the beam on and off between data taking periods. For each acquisition sequence, an irradiation period of 60 s, well below the time period over which saturation effects become important, was done before the TSC curve was recorded. To study the influence of different areas on the diamond on the measurement an area of 1 mm2 was scanned in steps of 100 $`\times `$ 100 $`\mu `$m2.
Figure 3 shows a sample TSC curve of the evolution of the measured current with temperature. A fit to the TSC curves was performed to evaluate the energy levels, the frequency factors and the total density of traps. The deconvolution analysis yields to two energy levels equal to 0.35 and 1.19 eV.

## 5 Response Linearity

The linearity of the response of the diamond detector was tested using the Hasylab synchrotron radiation facility at DESY. A diamond detector was placed in a 10 KeV photon beam which was intense enough to provide a high energy density two orders of magnitude larger than what is expected at the TESLA Luminometer. The beam intensity was about 2000 photons per bunch on a $`300\times 300`$ $`\mu `$m2 area. The beam was shone on a diamond surface of about 1 mm2, defined by a copper mask. The photon flux on the detector for the maximum beam current (about 80 mA) corresponds to a deposited energy density in the diamond of about 7.5 GeV/cm2 for a 300 $`\mu `$m thick diamond.
Figure 4 shows a sketch of the experimental setup used for the linearity studies. The diamond detector was read out using an Amptek A250 pre-amplifier, that was followed by an Ortec amplifier/shaper with a 50 ns shaping time. The output signal of the amplifier/shaper was sent to a Lecroy 1182 ADC.

Figure 5 shows the variation of the measured signal as a function of the energy density in the diamond. One can clearly notice the linear relationship between the energy deposited in the diamond detector and the total collected charge. For low energy densities, one sees a non-linear behavior, ascribed to the pedestal. The bottom plot on figure 5 shows the relative difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$(ADC counts)/(ADC counts) between the data and the linear fit to these data.
These measurements show that the diamond detector is linear to better than 2% up to 7.5 GeV/cm2 for a detector thickness of 300 $`\mu `$m.

## 6 Conclusions

Properties of CVD diamond detectors like their radiation hardness, their characterization using the TSC method and their linearity response to large amount of electromagnetic deposited energy, have been studied. Diamonds detectors have been found to exhibit a linear response to better than 2% for energy depositions of up to 250 GeV / cm3.


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# Development prospects and stability limits of the mid-IR Kerr-lens mode-locked lasers

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Compact diode-pumped sources of the femtosecond pulses tunable within the wavelength range between 2 and 3 $`\mu `$m are of interest for various applications, such as laser surgery, remote sensing and monitoring, spectroscopy of semiconductors etc. To date only cryogenically operated Pb-salt diode lasers, optical parametrical oscillators and difference-frequency convertors were available for the operation in this spectral range. Therefore the possibility of the direct mid-IR lasing from the new class of the transition-metal doped chalcogenides  has attracted much attention. The impressive advantages of these media are room-temperature operation between 2 and 3 $`\mu `$m, possibility of direct diode pumping, high emission and absorption cross-sections, negligibly low excited-state absorption and, as consequence, low thermal load (the basic laser material characteristics will be described in the next section). The most remarkable examples of such lasers are Cr2+-doped ZnSe, ZnS and ZnTe. To date the following achievements for these media have been demonstrated: 1) for Cr:ZnSe CW operation with over 1.7 W power , over 1100 nm tunability , over 350 nm tunable diode-pumped CW operation , active mode locking  and active modulator assisted passive mode locking  were achieved; 2) for Cr:ZnS pulsed  and tunable CW operation  were obtained. Cr:ZnTe, which is a member of the considered media class, remains unexplored.

In spite of the numerous advantages, there exist some obstacles for femtosecond pulse generation from these lasers. As they are the semiconductors, i.e. possess a comparatively narrow band-gap, the nonlinear refraction in the active crystal is large (see below). Hence the self-focusing has a comparatively low threshold which in the combination with the self-phase modulation produce a tendency to the multiple pulse operation in the Kerr-lens mode locking (KLM) regime . Thus, there is a need in the study of the KLM stability limits and methods of the stability enhancement in the considered lasers. Moreover, the large absorption and emission cross sections tend to the stabilization of the CW operation, which prevents the KLM self-start.

In this paper we present an analysis of the nonlinear refraction in the Zinc-chalcogenides (by the example of ZnSe). In the combination with the lasing properties this defines the main requirements to the KLM optimization. Then, the results of the numerical optimization of the KLM aimed at the multipulsing suppression and taking into account a strong saturation of the Kerr-lens induced fast absorber are presented. We demonstrate the possibility of the few optical cycle pulse generation from the Cr-doped Zinc-chalcogenodes. The problem of the self-starting KLM is analyzed on the basis of the generalized momentum method taking into account real-world laser configurations, gain guiding, soft-aperture, thermo-lensing and other properties of the considered laser materials. The presented models are quite general and can be applied to the overall optimization of the different KLM lasers.

## 2 DISTRIBUTED MODEL AND BASIC PARAMETERS

Simulation of the KLM can be based on the two quite different approaches. First one supposes the full-dimensional modelling taking into account the details of the field propagation in the laser cavity . The minimal dimension of such models is 2+1 and they allow the description of the spatio-temporal dynamics of the ultrashort pulses and their mode pattern. Its main disadvantages are a large number of the parameters resulting in ambiguity of the optimization procedure and complexity of the interpretation of the obtained results. Second approach is based on 1+1 dimensional model in the framework of the so-called nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau equation , which describes the KLM as an action of the fast saturable absorber governed by the few physically meaningful parameters, viz., its modulation depth $`\gamma `$ and the inverse saturation intensity $`\sigma `$. This method allows the analytical realization in the week-nonlinear limit , however in the general case the numerical simulations are necessary. We shall base our analysis on the both approaches.

In the beginning let us consider the master equation describing the ultrashort pulse generation in the KLM solid-state laser:

$$\frac{a(z,t)}{z}=\left[\alpha \rho +\left(t_f^2\frac{^2}{t^2}i\underset{m=2}{\overset{N}{}}\frac{(i)^m\beta _m}{m!}\frac{^m}{t^m}\right)\frac{\gamma }{1+\sigma \left|a(z,t)\right|^2}i\delta \left(\left|a(z,t)\right|^2\frac{i}{\omega _0}\frac{}{t}\left|a(z,t)\right|^2\right)\right]a(z,t),$$
(1)
where $`a(z,t)`$ is the field amplitude (so that $`|a|^2`$ has a dimension of the intensity), $`z`$ is the longitudinal coordinate normalized to the cavity length (thus, as a matter of fact, this is the cavity round-trip number), $`t`$ is the local time, $`\alpha `$ is the saturated gain coefficient, $`\rho `$ is the linear net-loss coefficient taking into account the intracavity and output losses, $`t_f`$ is the group delay caused by the spectral filtering within the cavity, $`\beta _m`$ are the $`m`$-order group-delay dispersion (GDD) coefficients, $`\delta `$ = $`l_gn_2\omega _0/c`$ = $`2\pi n_2l_g/(\lambda _0n)`$ is the self-phase modulation (SPM) coefficient, $`\omega _0`$ and $`\lambda _0`$ are the frequency and wavelength corresponding to the gain band maximum, $`n`$ and $`n_2`$ are the linear and nonlinear refraction indexes, respectively, $`l_g`$ is the double length of the gain medium (we suppose that the gain medium gives a main contribution to the SPM). The last term in Eq. (1) describes the self-steepening effect and for the simplification will be not taken into account in the simulations. As an additional simplification we neglect the stimulated Raman scattering in the active medium . These two factors will be considered hereafter.

The gain coefficient obeys the following equation:

$$\frac{\alpha (z,t)}{t}=\sigma _a\left(\alpha _{\mathrm{max}}\alpha (z,t)\right)\frac{I_p}{\mathrm{}\omega _p}\sigma _g\alpha (z,t)\frac{\left|a(z,t)\right|^2}{\mathrm{}\omega _0}\frac{\alpha (z,t)}{T_r}.$$
(2)
Here $`\sigma _a`$ and $`\sigma _g`$ are the absorption and emission cross-sections of the active medium, respectively, $`T_r`$ is the gain relaxation time, $`I_p`$ is the absorbed pump intensity, $`\omega _p`$ is the pump frequency, $`\alpha _{max}`$ = $`\sigma _gN_gl_g`$ is the maximum gain coefficient, $`N_g`$ is the concentration of the active centers. The assumption $`\tau _pT_{cav}`$ ($`\tau _p`$ is the pulse duration, $`T_{cav}`$ is the cavity period) allows the integration of Eq. (2). Then for the steady-state gain coefficient we have:

$$\alpha =\frac{\alpha _{\mathrm{max}}\sigma _aI_pT_{cav}}{\mathrm{}\omega _p\left(\frac{\sigma _aI_pT_{cav}}{\mathrm{}\omega _p}+\frac{E}{E_s}+\frac{T_{cav}}{T_r}\right)},$$
(3)
where $`E_s`$ = $`\mathrm{}\omega _p/\sigma _g`$ is the gain saturation energy flux, $`E`$ = $`_{T_{cav}/2}^{T_{cav}/2}\left|a(t)\right|^2𝑑t`$ is the pulse energy.

For the numerical simulations in the framework of the distributed model it is convenient to normalize the time and the intensity to $`t_f`$ = $`\lambda _0^2/(\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda c)`$ and $`1/\delta `$, respectively ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$ is the gain bandwidth). The simulation were performed on the $`2^{12}\times 10^4`$ mesh. Only steady-state pulses were considered. As the criterion of the steady-state operation we chose the peak intensity change less than 1% over last 1000 cavity transits.

The KLM in the considered model (1, 3) is governed by the only four basic parameters: $`\alpha \rho `$, $`\beta _2`$, $`\gamma `$, and $`\sigma `$. This allows unambiguous multiparametric optimization. In the presence of the higher-order dispersions, the additional $`\beta _m`$ parameters appear. This complicates the optimization procedure, but keeps its physical clarity.

Now let us consider the basic active media parameters.

It should be noted that the $`n_2`$ values were experimentally measured at the wavelengthes which are smaller than $`\lambda _0`$ (see Fig. 1). Therefore we have to estimate theirs at the generation wavelength. Such estimation can be obtained from the two  or four  bands models of semiconductor. The most simple estimation results from the former model, which gives the following formula:

$$n_2(esu)=K\frac{G(\mathrm{}\omega /E_g)\sqrt{E_p}}{nE_g^4},$$
(4)
where $`K`$ = (0.5 - 1.5)$`\times 10^8`$ and $`E_p`$ = 21 eV are the material independent constants, $`E_g`$ is the band-gap width in eV, $`G`$ is the form-factor. Using for $`K`$ the values 0.86–1.5 $`\times 10^8`$ and for $`E_p`$ the values 21–24 eV, we obtained the estimations presented in Table 1. The calculated $`n_2`$ dispersion for ZnSe is shown in Fig. 1 .

We note that the semiconductor nature of these active media results in the extremely high nonlinear refraction coefficients in the comparison with Ti:sapphire (1.2$`\times 10^{13}`$ esu). Also, we have to note that there exists the orientational dependence of $`n_2`$, which can be especially large for the birefringent ZnS. But even for the cubic ZnSe, the orientational variation of $`n_2`$ can reach 70% (see Fig. 2).

In addition to the large $`n_2`$ the considered media possess the strong quadratic-nonlinearity due to absence of the center of inversion (for ZnSe and ZnTe). For example, $`d_{36}`$ = 33 pm/V for ZnSe. However, as a result of the cubic structure, there exists the strong orientational dependence of the effective second-order nonlinearity (see Fig. 2), so that the maximum effective nonlinear coefficient is only 0.17$`d_{36}`$. The coherent length for this media is only 23 $`\mu `$m that strongly reduces an efficiency of the second-harmonic generation. Nevertheless, the cascaded second-order process can contribute to the effective $`n_2`$ . Our calculation demonstrate (see Fig. 3 ) that this contribution is small in the comparison with the third-order $`n_2`$.

As a result, the simulation parameters corresponding to the above introduced normalizations are summarized in Table 2. $`P=\sigma _aT_{cav}I_p/\left(\mathrm{}\omega _0\right)`$, $`ϵ`$ = $`t_fE_s^1/\delta `$; $`P_{cr}`$=$`2n_0/(n_2k^2)`$ and $`I_{sat}`$=$`h\nu _0/(\sigma _gT_r)`$ are the critical power of the self-focusing (beyond the parabolical approximation for the Gaussian beam) and the gain saturation intensity, respectively.

## 3 DISTRIBUTED MODEL: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

First of all we have to consider the meaning of the optimization procedure. The numerical simulations demonstrate that there exist some values of the saturation parameter $`\sigma `$, which provide the near chirp-free pulse generation. These values of $`\sigma `$ can be considered as “optimal”. However, there is an additional factor, which has to be taken into account: the pulse shortening is possible by the $`\sigma `$ growth and $`\beta _2`$0. We consider the values of $`\beta _2`$ and $`\sigma `$ as optimal if they correspond to the generation of the shortest pulse. The main obstacle on the way of the pulse shortening is the multiple pulse generation . The strong tendency to the multipulsing results from 1) $`E_s^1`$ decrease, 2) $`P`$ increase, 3) fast absorber saturation favored by the large $`\sigma `$. The relatively large values of $`\sigma _g`$ and $`\lambda _0`$ for the considered media result in the increase of the first parameter. However, the large absorption cross sections and SPM coefficients increase two later parameters. If the growth of the first parameter corresponds to the gain saturation and thereby to the stabilization of the pulse against the laser continuum growth, the larger $`P`$ and $`\sigma `$ initiate the rise of the continuum and the excitation of the perturbations inside the ultrashort pulse . Hence, the optimization means the multiple pulses suppression allowing the pulse shortening.

Additional limitations on the pulse shortening result from the achievable values of the saturation parameter $`\sigma `$. In the KLM lasers this parameters is governed by the cavity alignment: the shift towards the cavity stability zone increases $`\sigma `$ (see next section). So, the highest values of $`\sigma `$ are reached in the immediate vicinity of the cavity stability boundary. This requires a too thorough cavity optimization and can not be considered as operational. Hence, the optimization aimed at the pulse shortening is based on the variation of all four parameters of master Eq. (1) and is constrained by the above described reasons.

Fig. 4 shows the parameters of Eq. (1), which for the fixed $`\alpha \rho `$, $`\gamma `$ and $`\sigma `$ correspond to the minimum achievable $`\beta _2`$, where the pulse width has a minimum. The further $`\beta _2`$ decrease results in the multipulse operation. Thus, the points in Fig. 4 lie on the boundary of the stable single pulse operation. There is a set of the general tendencies characterizing this boundary.

There exists a limited on $`\alpha \rho `$ range of the stable single pulse operation, which expands as a result of the $`\sigma `$ and $`\gamma `$ growth. The increase of $`\sigma `$ shifts this region towards the smaller $`\alpha \rho `$. However, when $`\sigma >`$100 the transition to multipulsing is possible. As every point in Fig. 4 corresponds to the fixed dimensionless $`E`$ (see Fig. 5), the choice of the appropriate level of $`\alpha \rho `$ for the fixed laser configuration (i.e. fixed $`\gamma `$, $`\sigma `$ and $`\beta _2`$) is realized by the variation of $`P`$ (pump, see Eq. (3)) as well as $`\rho `$ (output loss). It is possible also to change $`\alpha `$ by the change of $`\alpha _{max}`$ due to variation of the crystal length or the active ions concentration or by the change of $`T_r`$ due to variation of the active ions concentration. Note also, that the $`l_g`$ decrease increases $`ϵ`$ (due to the $`\delta `$ decrease), which describes the “strength” of the gain saturation relatively the SPM. Hence, $`ϵ`$ increase expands the stability region towards the higher pump and allows the higher pulse energies (because they $`1/\delta `$).

The $`E`$ decrease for the fixed $`\alpha \rho `$, which takes a place for $`\beta _2`$0 (Fig. 5), has to be accompanied by $`P`$, $`\alpha _{max}`$, $`T_r`$ decrease or by $`ϵ`$, $`\rho `$ increase in order to prevent from the continuum amplification. The last is the main source of the pulse destabilization and suppresses the single pulse operation in the vicinity of zero GDD. Hence, the pulse generation for $`\alpha \rho \gamma >`$0 is not possible. $`\alpha \rho \gamma =`$0 corresponds to the specific hybrid regime with the coexistent pulse and continuum .

Since the approach of the GDD to zero has to be accompanied by the pump decrease, this results in the growth of the $`\sigma `$ required for the pulse stabilization (Fig. 4). This can demand too thorough cavity alignment. Moreover, for the large $`\sigma `$ we need the larger minimum $`|\beta _2|`$ providing the single pulse operation so that the dependence of the minimum $`|\beta _2|`$ on the $`\sigma `$ for the fixed $`\alpha \rho `$ has a parabolic-like form .

The most interesting features are the shift of the stability region towards the smaller $`\sigma `$ (Fig. 4) and the pulse shortening as a result of the $`\gamma `$ increase. For example, the minimum pulse duration $`\tau _p`$ for $`\gamma =`$0.03 is 7$`t_f`$ whereas for $`\gamma =`$0.05 it is 5$`t_f`$ (this is 19 fs for Cr:ZnSe and Cr:ZnS and 23 fs for Cr:ZnTe). The bad news here is the need for the hard-aperture KLM to provide the larger modulation depth. This reduces the KLM self-starting ability.

The regions of the parameters allowing the shortest pulses are shown in Fig. 6. The $`\alpha \rho `$ increase reduces the minimum $`\sigma `$ parameter producing the shortest pulses. However, the region of their existence shortens on $`\sigma `$.

Let us consider the concrete parameters of Table 2. The pump thresholds allowing 7$`t_f`$ pulse durations are shown in Fig. 7. The threshold decreases from Cr:ZnS through Cr:ZnSe to Cr:ZnTe that results from the $`ϵ`$ decrease. This means that the SPM becomes stronger relatively the gain saturation under this transition. As a result, the tendency to the pulse destabilization intensifies and this demands to reduce the intracavity power by means of the pump decrease.

Thus, the $`ϵ`$ decrease reducing KLM threshold turns in the intracavity pulse energy decrease (Fig. 8). The highest value of $`ϵ`$ for Cr:ZnS resulting from the large $`\sigma _g`$ in the combination with comparatively small $`\delta `$ produces the stabilization of the shortest pulses with the highest energies.

Note, that the larger absorption cross-section for Cr:ZnTe results in the highest absorbed pump energy for the fixed pump intensity and mode area. This is a positive factor for the KLM threshold lowering. However, this can be a negative factor, when the SPM is the source of the pulse destabilization because the additional efforts for the intracavity power decrease are necessary (see also next section).

At last, we consider the contribution of the third-order dispersion, which can be large for the lasers under consideration. There are the technological troubles in the use of the chirped-mirror technique for the dispersion compensation in the mid-IR due to high value of $`\lambda _0`$. Therefore the usual technique utilizing the prisms for the dispersion control can be useful in the considered situation. As a result, the third-order net-dispersion coefficient $`|\beta _3|`$ increases.

For the simulation we choose $`\beta _3=`$-5900 fs3. As it can be seen from Fig. 9, the shape of the stability boundary does not change in the comparison to $`\beta _3=`$0 . However, the minimum pulse duration increases from 5$`t_f`$ for $`\beta _3=`$0 to 9$`t_f`$ (34 fs for Cr:ZnS, Cr:ZnSe and 40 fs for Cr:ZnTe). The additional effect is the pronounced (up to 140 nm) Stokes shift of the peak wavelength (Fig. 9 shows this shift on the stability boundary for Cr:ZnSe and Cr:ZnS). This shift is typical also for such IR lasers as Cr:LiSGaF, Cr:LiSAF, Cr4+:YAG  and can reduce the pulse energy due worse overlap between gain band and pulse spectrum. However, for the media under consideration the wavelength shift is small in comparison with the full gain band width and the energy decrease is not critical.

## 4 TIME-SPATIAL MODEL: SELF-START ABILITY OF THE KERR-LENS MODE LOCKING

In the previous section we considered the ultrashort pulse stability on the basis of the distributed 1+1-dimensional model. However, this model can not provide answers to the basic questions: what is the self-start ability of the Kerr-lens mode locking and what has the real-world laser configuration to be?

These questions require an analysis on the basis of the time-spatial model. The simplest way is the assumption of the Gaussian spatial distribution for the laser beam reducing problem to the 1+2-dimensions. The free-space propagation of the Gaussian beam can be considered on the basis of the usual ABCD-matrix formalism, while the propagation inside the nonlinear active medium is described by the following equation:

$$\frac{a(z,r,t)}{z}i\left[\frac{2\vartheta r^2a(z,r,t)}{w_p^2}\frac{\frac{a(z,r,t)}{r}+\frac{r^2a(z,r,t)}{r^2}}{2kr}+\beta _2^2\frac{^2a(z,r,t)}{t^2}\right]a(z,r,t)+i\chi \left|a(z,r,t)\right|^2a(z,r,t)=$$
(5)
$$\alpha \mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{2r^2}{w_p^2}\right)a(z,r,t)+t_f^2\frac{^2a(z,r,t)}{t^2}.$$

Here $`\beta _2^{}`$ and $`t_f^{}`$ are the group-velocity dispersion and the inverse group-velocity delay coefficients (for ZnSe we used $`\beta _2^2`$=2054 fs2/cm and $`t_f^{}`$=13 fs/cm).

The left-hand side of Eq. (5) describes the non-dissipative factors: thermo-lensing  ($`\vartheta `$=$`k\frac{dn_0}{dT}\zeta P_a\mathrm{exp}\left(\zeta z\right)`$/ $`\left(4\pi n_0\kappa _{th}\right)`$, $`k`$ is the wave number, $`\frac{dn_0}{dT}`$ is the coefficient of the refractive index thermo-dependence (5.35$`\times 10^5K^1`$ for ZnSe), $`\zeta `$ is the loss coefficient at the pump wavelength, $`P_a`$ is the pump power, $`\kappa _{th}`$ is the thermo-conductivity coefficient (0.172 $`WK^1cm^1`$ for ZnSe)); diffraction (in the cylindrically symmetrical case); group-velocity dispersion and self-phase modulation (providing self-focusing for radially varying beam, $`\chi `$=$`n_2k/n_0`$). The right-hand side of Eq. (5) describes the dissipative factors inside the gain medium: radially varying gain (providing gain guiding and soft aperture action, $`\alpha `$ and $`w_p`$ are the saturated gain coefficient and the pump beam size, respectively); spectral filtering caused by the gain band profile.

It is convenient to rewrite Eq. (2) in the following way:

$$\alpha =\frac{2\alpha _{\mathrm{max}}\sigma _aP_aT_r}{\mathrm{}\omega _p\pi w_p^2\left(\frac{2\sigma _aP_aT_r}{\mathrm{}\omega _p\pi w_p^2}+\frac{2\upsilon P_g}{\pi w^2I_s}\frac{\tau _p}{T_{cav}}+1\right)},$$
(6)
where $`\upsilon `$=$`E\pi w^2/(2P_g\tau _p)`$ ($`P_g`$ is the generation power), $`w`$ is the generation mode beam size. $`\upsilon `$=$`\sqrt{\pi \mathrm{/}2}`$ for the pulse with the Gaussian time-profile, 2 for the $`sech`$-shaped pulse and 1 for the CW (in the latter case $`\tau _p`$=$`T_{cav}`$).

The crucial simplification in the analysis of Eq. (5) is based on the so-called aberrationless approximation: the propagating field has the invariable spatial-time profile, which is described by the set of the $`z`$-dependent parameters. In the non-dissipative case this approximation allows the variational approach providing rigorous description of the Gaussian beam propagation outside the parabolical approximation .

In the dissipative case we have to use the momentum method . However, in contrast to Refs.  we shall consider the momentums resulting from the symmetries of Eq. (5). The $`aa\mathrm{exp}\left(i\varphi \right)`$ invariance, the transverse and time translating invariance suggest the following momentums :

$$T_{m,n}=\underset{\mathrm{}}{}r^mt^n\left|a\right|^2𝑑r𝑑t,$$

$$J_{m.n}=\underset{\mathrm{}}{}r^mt^n\left(a\frac{a^{}}{t}a^{}\frac{a}{t}\right)𝑑r𝑑t,$$
(7)
$$M_{m.n}=\underset{\mathrm{}}{}r^mt^n\left(a\frac{a^{}}{r}a^{}\frac{a}{r}\right)𝑑r𝑑t.$$

Like the variational approach we can substitute to Eqs. (4) the trial solution describing the ultrashort pulse. If we take the Gaussian time-spatial profile $`a(z,r,t)=W(r)\mathrm{exp}\left(G(r)\frac{r^2}{2w(r)^2}+ib(r)r^2\frac{t^2}{\tau (r)^2}+i\psi (r)t^2\right)`$ ($`W(r)`$ is the complex amplitude, $`2w^2`$=$`w^2`$, $`G(r)`$ is the pulse amplification parameter excepting the geometrical magnification for the Gaussian beam), the equations describing the evolution of the pulse and beam parameters are :

$$\frac{dw^{}}{dz}=\frac{2}{k}w^{}\left(z\right)b\left(z\right)\frac{2\alpha w^{}\left(z\right)^3}{w_p^2\left(1+\frac{2w^{}\left(z\right)^2}{w_p^2}\right)^{3\mathrm{/}2}},$$

$$\frac{d\tau \left(z\right)}{dz}=\left[\frac{2}{\tau \left(z\right)}2\tau \left(z\right)^3\psi \left(z\right)^2\right]t_f^2+2\beta _2^2\tau \left(z\right)\psi \left(z\right),$$

$$\frac{dG\left(z\right)}{dz}=\frac{\alpha }{1+\frac{2w^{}\left(z\right)^2}{w_p^2}}\frac{2t_f^2}{\tau \left(z\right)^2}\beta _2^2\psi \left(z\right),$$
(8)
$$\frac{db\left(z\right)}{dz}=\frac{2\vartheta }{w_p^2}+\frac{2b\left(z\right)^2}{k}+\frac{\sqrt{2}P_0e^{2G\left(z\right)}}{\pi P_{cr}kw\left(z\right)^4}\frac{1}{2kw^{}\left(z\right)^4},$$

$$\frac{d\psi \left(z\right)}{dz}=2\beta _2^2\left(\frac{1}{\tau \left(z\right)^4}\psi \left(z\right)^2\right)\frac{8t_f^2\psi \left(z\right)}{\tau \left(z\right)^2}+\frac{2P_0e^{2G\left(z\right)}}{\pi P_{cr}w\left(z\right)^2\tau \left(z\right)^2},$$

$$P_g=P_0e^{2G\left(z\right)},$$

where $`P_0`$ and $`w_0^{}`$ are the power and the beam size before the active medium, respectively.

Eq. (8) in the combination with the ABCD-formalism allows defining the stability regions for CW, single- and multiple pulsing (the latter requires the trivial generalization of the trial function). Such regions can predict the real-world laser configurations providing the self-starting Kerr-lens mode locking.

As it is seen from Table 2 the main features of the considered active media are the comparatively low $`P_{cr}`$ (e.g. $`P_{cr}`$=2.6 MW for Ti:sapphire) and the extremely low $`I_{sat}`$ (300 kW for Ti:sapphire). This causes the stabilization of the CW against the mode locking due to the strong gain saturation. However, as it is seen from Eqs. (6, 8) (note that the gain saturation is intensity-dependent, but the self-focusing is power-dependent), we can enhance the tendency to the mode locking due to the suppression of the gain saturation. This can be achieved by the growth of the generation mode within the active medium owing to, for example, the cavity shortening or the decrease of the folding mirrors curvature (Fig. 10). At the same time we have to keep the moderate level of the absorbed pump power and to use the asymmetrical cavity in order to separate the stability zones. The preferable configurations correspond to the pulse operation without the CW. This occurs between the CW stability zones (see Fig. 10).

## 5 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we presented the models, which can be usable for the numerical optimization of the KLM lasers. On the basis of these models, the KLM abilities of the Cr-doped Zinc-chalcogenides were estimated. It was shown, that the strong SPM inherent to these media and destabilizing the single pulse operation can be overcomed by the choice of the appropriate GDD, pump, modulation depth and saturation parameter of the Kerr-lensing induced fast saturable absorber. As a result, the Cr:ZnTe possesses the lowest KLM threshold, however strong SPM constrains the achievable pulse power for this laser. The best stability for the highest energy flux and the shortest pulse duration (19 fs) are achievable in Cr:ZnS. Cr:ZnSe. The presence of the third-order dispersion increases the minimum achievable pulse durations up to 34 - 40 fs and causes the strong (up to 140 nm) Stokes shift of the generation wavelength. However, the latter effect does not reduce noticeably the pulse energy. The Kerr-lens mode locking self-start ability of the considered active media is reduced by the strong gain saturation so that the cavity tuning providing the ultrashort pulsing differs essentially from that for the Ti:sapphire. We have to avoid over-pumping and over-shortening of the generation mode. As a result, the short and asymmetrical cavities with the comparatively large curvature of the folding mirrors are preferable. On the whole, the Cr-doped Zinc-chalcogenides have the prospects for the sub-50 fs generation that amounts to only few optical cycles around 2.5 $`\mu `$m.

## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by Austrian National Science Fund Project M688.


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

In the framework of the renormalization-group (RG) approach to critical phenomena, a quantitative description of many continuous phase transitions can be obtained by considering an effective Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson (LGW) theory, containing up to fourth-order powers of the field components. The simplest example is the O($`N`$)-symmetric $`\varphi ^4`$ theory,

$$_{O(N)}=d^dx\left[\frac{1}{2}\underset{i}{}(_\mu \mathrm{\Phi }_i)^2+\frac{1}{2}r\underset{i}{}\mathrm{\Phi }_i^2+\frac{1}{4!}u\underset{ij}{}\mathrm{\Phi }_i^2\mathrm{\Phi }_j^2\right],$$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is an $`N`$-component real field. This model describes several universality classes: the Ising one for $`N=1`$ (e.g., liquid-vapor transition), the XY one for $`N=2`$ (e.g., superfluid transition in 4He), the Heisenberg one for $`N=3`$ (isotropic magnets), and long self-avoiding walks for $`N0`$ (dilute polymers). See, e.g., Refs.  for recent reviews. But there are also other physically interesting transitions described by LGW theories characterized by more complex symmetries.

The general LGW Hamiltonian for an $`N`$-component field $`\mathrm{\Phi }_i`$ can be written as

$$=d^dx\left[\frac{1}{2}\underset{i}{}(_\mu \mathrm{\Phi }_i)^2+\frac{1}{2}\underset{i}{}r_i\mathrm{\Phi }_i^2+\frac{1}{4!}\underset{ijkl}{}u_{ijkl}\mathrm{\Phi }_i\mathrm{\Phi }_j\mathrm{\Phi }_k\mathrm{\Phi }_l\right],$$
(2)
where the number of independent parameters $`r_i`$ and $`u_{ijkl}`$ depends on the symmetry group of the theory. An interesting class of models are those in which $`_i\mathrm{\Phi }_i^2`$ is the only quadratic invariant polynomial. In this case, all $`r_i`$ are equal, $`r_i=r`$, and $`u_{ijkl}`$ satisfies the trace condition  $`_iu_{iikl}\delta _{kl}`$. In these models, criticality is driven by tuning the single parameter $`r`$. Therefore, they describe critical phenomena characterized by one (parity-symmetric) relevant parameter, which often corresponds to the temperature. Of course, there is also (at least one) parity-odd relevant parameter that corresponds to a term $`_ih_i\mathrm{\Phi }_i`$ that can be added to the Hamiltonian (2). For symmetry reasons, criticality is observed for $`h_i0`$. There are several physical systems whose critical behavior can be described by this type of LGW Hamiltonians with two or more quartic couplings, see, e.g., Refs. . More general LGW Hamiltonians, that allow for the presence of independent quadratic parameters $`r_i`$, must be considered to describe multicritical behaviors arising from the competition of distinct types of ordering. A multicritical point can be observed at the intersection of two critical lines with different order parameters. In this case the multicritical behavior is achieved by tuning two relevant scaling fields, which may correspond to the temperature and to an anisotropy parameter .

In the field-theory (FT) approach the RG flow is determined by a set of RG equations for the correlation functions of the order parameter. In the case of a continuous transition, the critical behavior is determined by the stable fixed point (FP) of the theory, which characterizes a universality class. The absence of a stable FP is instead an indication for a first-order transition, even in those cases in which the mean-field approximation predicts a continuous transition. But, even in the presence of a stable FP, a first-order transition may still occur for systems that are outside its attraction domain. The RG flow can be studied by perturbative methods, by performing an expansion in powers of $`ϵ4d`$ or a fixed-dimension (FD) expansion in powers of appropriate zero-momentum quartic couplings . In these perturbative approaches, the computation and the resummation of high-order series is essential to obtain reliable results for three-dimensional transitions (see Refs.  for reviews). Beside improving the accuracy, in some cases high-order calculations turn out to be necessary to determine the correct physical picture in three dimensions.

In this paper we give an overview of the perturbative FT results obtained for a number of three-dimensional transitions described by LGW Hamiltonians. In Sec. 2 we discuss the stability of the O($`N`$)-symmetric fixed point under generic perturbations in three-dimensional $`N`$-component systems. In Sec. 3 we discuss the critical behavior of Ising-like systems with quenched disorder effectively coupled to the energy, for instance the randomly dilute Ising model. In Sec. 4 we consider frustrated spin models with noncollinear order, whose critical behavior is effectively described by an O($`M`$)$``$O($`N`$)-symmetric Hamiltonian with $`M=2`$. Finally, in Sec. 5 we discuss the predictions of the O($`n_1`$)$``$O($`n_2`$)-symmetric $`\varphi ^4`$ theory for the multicritical behavior observed near the point where two critical lines with symmetry O($`n_1`$) and O($`n_2`$) meet.

## 2 Stability of the O($`N`$)-symmetric fixed point

In order to discuss the stability of the O($`N`$) FP in a generic $`N`$-component system, it is convenient to consider polynomial perturbations $`P_{m,l}^{a_1,\mathrm{},a_l}`$, $`ml`$, which are of degree $`m`$ in the $`N`$-component field $`\mathrm{\Phi }^a`$ and transform as the $`l`$-spin representation of the O($`N`$) group. Explicitly formulae can be found in Ref. . In addition, one should also consider perturbations containing derivatives of the field. At least near four dimensions, one can use standard RG arguments to show that, beside the O($`N`$)-symmetric terms $`P_{2,0}=\mathrm{\Phi }^2`$ and $`P_{4,0}=(\mathrm{\Phi }^2)^2`$, only three other perturbations should be considered, $`P_{2,2}^{ab}`$, $`P_{4,2}^{ab}`$, and $`P_{4,4}^{abcd}`$. The stability properties of the O($`N`$) FP depend on the RG dimensions $`y_{m,l}`$ of these perturbations.111Note that $`P_{2,2}^{ab}`$ and $`P_{4,4}^{abcd}`$ are RG eigenoperators, while $`P_{4,2}^{ab}`$ must be in general properly subtracted, i.e. the RG eigenoperator is $`P_{4,2}^{ab}+zP_{2,2}^{ab}`$ for a suitable value of $`z`$.

In Table 1 we report FT estimates of the RG dimensions $`y_{m,l}`$ for $`N=2,3,4,5`$, obtained from the analysis of six-loop FD and five-loop $`ϵ`$ series .222Results obtained in other theoretical approaches and in experiments can be found in Refs.  and references therein. The quadratic perturbations $`P_{2,2}^{ab}`$ are relevant for the description of the breaking of the O($`N`$) symmetry down to O($`M`$)$``$O($`NM`$). Since $`y_{2,2}>0`$, they are always relevant. The RG dimension $`y_{4,2}`$ is negative for any $`N`$, so that the corresponding spin-2 perturbation $`P_{4,2}^{ab}`$ is always irrelevant. On the other hand, the sign of $`y_{4,4}`$ depends on $`N`$: it is clearly negative for $`N=2`$ and positive for $`N4`$. For $`N=3`$ it is marginally positive, suggesting the instability of the O(3) FP under generic spin-4 quartic perturbations. Actually the stability of the O($`N`$) FP can be inferred from the RG flow of the cubic-symmetric LGW Hamiltonian for an $`N`$-component field

$$_c=d^dx\left\{\frac{1}{2}\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\left[(_\mu \mathrm{\Phi }_i)^2+r\mathrm{\Phi }_i^2\right]+\frac{1}{4!}\left[u(\underset{i}{\overset{N}{}}\mathrm{\Phi }_i^2)^2+v\underset{i}{\overset{N}{}}\mathrm{\Phi }_i^4\right]\right\}.$$
(3)
The point is that the cubic-symmetric perturbation $`_i\mathrm{\Phi }_i^4`$ is a particular combination of the spin-4 operators $`P_{4,4}^{abcd}`$ and of the spin-0 term $`P_{4,0}`$. The RG flow for the cubic-symmetric theory has been much investigated using various FT and lattice techniques . The O($`N`$) FP turns out to be unstable for $`N>N_c`$ with $`N_c3`$. The most accurate results have been provided by analyses of high-order FT perturbative expansions, six-loop FD and five-loop $`ϵ`$ series, see e.g. Refs. , which find $`N_c\mathrm{}<2.9`$ in three dimensions, and the existence of a stable FP characterized by a reduced cubic symmetry for $`NN_c`$. These results imply that the O($`N`$)-symmetric FP is unstable under spin-4 quartic perturbations for $`N3`$, and can be applied to establish the stability of the O($`N`$) FP in any physical critical phenomenon that is effectively described by a generic LGW Hamiltonian for an $`N`$-component field.333 Note that the condition that $`\mathrm{\Phi }_i^2`$ is the only quadratic invariant forbids the presence in the Hamiltonian of any spin-2 term $`P_{2,2}^{ab}`$. Analogously, the trace condition $`_iu_{iikl}\delta _{kl}`$ forbids quartic polynomials transforming as the spin-2 representation of the O($`N`$) group, i.e. the operators $`P_{4,2}^{ab}`$.

## 3 Randomly dilute Ising model

In the last few decades many theoretical and experimental studies have investigated the critical properties of statistical models in the presence of quenched disorder. A typical example is obtained by mixing a uniaxial antiferromagnet with a nonmagnetic material, such as FexZn1-xF2 and MnxZn1-xF2. These materials can be modeled by the randomly dilute Ising model (RDIM)

$$_{\mathrm{RDIM}}=J\underset{<ij>}{}\rho _i\rho _js_is_j,$$
(4)
where the sum is extended over all nearest-neighbor sites of a lattice, $`s_i=\pm 1`$ are the spin variables, $`\rho _i`$ are uncorrelated quenched random variables, which are equal to one with probability $`x`$ (the spin concentration) and zero with probability $`1x`$ (the impurity concentration). Above the percolation threshold of the spin concentration, the critical behavior of the RDIM belongs to a new universality class that is distinct from the Ising universality class of pure systems, and that is shared by all systems with quenched disorder effectively coupled to the energy. See, e.g., Refs.  for recent reviews.

Using the FT approach and the replica method, one arrives at the effective LGW Hamiltonian $`_c`$ , cf. Eq. (3), which is expected to describe the critical properties of the RDIM in the limit $`N0`$. The most precise FT results for the critical exponents have been obtained by analyzing the FD six-loop expansions . The major drawback of the FT perturbative approach is the non-Borel summability of the series due to a more complicated analytic structure of the field theory corresponding to quenched disordered models. Nevertheless, series analyses seem to provide sufficiently robust estimates, which are in good agreement with experiments and recent Monte Carlo simulations. The results of the six-loop analysis are reported in Table 2, where they are compared with estimates obtained in Monte Carlo simulations of the RDIM and in experiments on uniaxial magnets. The values of the exponents are definetely different from those of the pure Ising universality class, where, e.g., $`\nu =0.63012(16)`$ .

Using the FT approach, one can also compute the critical exponent $`\varphi `$ describing the crossover from random-dilution to random-field critical behavior in Ising systems, and in particular the crossover observed in dilute anisotropic antiferromagnets when an external magnetic field is applied . The crossover exponent $`\varphi `$ is related to the RG dimensions of the quadratic operator $`\mathrm{\Phi }_i\mathrm{\Phi }_j`$ ($`ij`$) in the limit $`N0`$ . Six-loop computations  provide the estimate $`\varphi =1.43(1)`$, which turns out to be in good agreement with the available experimental estimates, for example $`\varphi =1.42(3)`$ for FexZn1-xF2 .

Finally, we mention that six-loop perturbative series for multicomponent systems with quenched disorder, taking also into account a possible cubic anisotropy, have been computed and analyzed in Refs. .

## 4 Frustrated spin models with noncollinear order

In physical magnets noncollinear order is due to frustration that may arise either because of the special geometry of the lattice, or from the competition of different kinds of interactions . Typical examples of systems of the first type are stacked triangular antiferromagnets (STA’s), where magnetic ions are located at each site of a three-dimensional stacked triangular lattice. On the basis of the structure of the ground state, in an $`N`$-component STA one expects a transition associated with a breakdown of the symmetry from O($`N`$) in the HT phase to O($`N2`$) in the LT phase. The nature of the transition is still controversial. In particular, the question is whether the critical behavior belongs to a new chiral universality class, as originally conjectured by Kawamura . On this issue, there is still much debate, FT methods, Monte Carlo simulations, and experiments providing contradictory results in many cases (see, e.g., Ref. for a recent review of results). Overall, experiments on STA’s favor a continuous transition belonging to a new chiral universality class.

The determination of an effective LGW Hamiltonian describing the critical behavior leads to the O($`M`$)$``$O($`N`$)-symmetric theory

$$_{ch}=d^dx\left\{\frac{1}{2}\underset{a}{}\left[(_\mu \varphi _a)^2+r\varphi _a^2\right]+\frac{1}{4!}u\left(\underset{a}{}\varphi _a^2\right)^2+\frac{1}{4!}v\underset{a,b}{}\left[(\varphi _a\varphi _b)^2\varphi _a^2\varphi _b^2\right]\right\},$$
(5)
where $`\varphi _a`$, $`a=1,\mathrm{},M`$, are $`N`$-component vectors. The case $`M=2`$ with $`v>0`$ describes frustrated spin models with noncollinear order; 444Negative values of $`v`$ correspond to magnets with sinusoidal spin structures. $`N=2`$ and $`N=3`$ correspond to XY and Heisenberg systems, respectively. Recently the Hamiltonian (5) has been also considered to discuss the phase diagram of Mott insulators . See Refs.  for other applications.

Six-loop calculations  in the framework of the $`d=3`$ FD expansion provide a rather robust evidence for the existence of a new stable FP in the XY and Heisenberg cases corresponding to the conjectured chiral universality class, and contradicting earlier studies based on much shorter (three-loop) series . It has also been argued  that the stable chiral FP is actually a focus, due to the fact that the eigenvalues of its stability matrix turn out to have a nonzero imaginary part. The new chiral FP’s found for $`N=2,3`$ should describe the apparently continuous transitions observed in STA’s. The FT estimates of the critical exponents are in satisfactory agreement with the experimental results, including the chiral crossover exponent related to the chiral degrees of freedom . We also mention that high-order FT analyses of two-dimensional systems have been reported in Ref. .

On the other hand, other FT studies, see, e.g., Ref. , based on approximate solutions of continuous RG equations, do not find a stable FP, thus favoring a weak first-order transition. Monte Carlo simulations have not been conclusive in setting the question, see, e.g., Refs. . Since all the above approaches rely on different approximations and assumptions, their comparison and consistency is essential before considering the issue substantially understood.

## 5 Multicritical behavior in O($`n_1`$)$``$O($`n_2`$) theories

The competition of distinct types of ordering gives rise to multicritical behavior. More specifically, a multicritical point (MCP) is observed at the intersection of two critical lines characterized by different order parameters. MCP’s arise in several physical contexts, for instance in anisotropic antiferromagnets, in high-$`T_c`$ superconductors, in 4He, etc. The multicritical behavior arising from the competition of two orderings characterized by O($`n`$) symmetries is determined by the RG flow of the most general O($`n_1`$)$``$O($`n_2`$)-symmetric LGW Hamiltonian involving two fields $`\varphi _1`$ and $`\varphi _2`$ with $`n_1`$ and $`n_2`$ components respectively, i.e.

$`_{mc}={\displaystyle d^dx\left[\frac{1}{2}(_\mu \varphi _1)^2+\frac{1}{2}(_\mu \varphi _2)^2+\frac{1}{2}r_1\varphi _1^2+\frac{1}{2}r_2\varphi _2^2+u_1(\varphi _1^2)^2+u_2(\varphi _2^2)^2+w\varphi _1^2\varphi _2^2\right]}.`$ (6)
The critical behavior at the MCP is determined by the stable FP when both $`r_1`$ and $`r_2`$ are tuned to their critical value. An interesting possibility is that the stable FP has O($`N`$) symmetry, $`Nn_1+n_2`$, so that the symmetry gets effectively enlarged approaching the MCP.

The phase diagram of the model with Hamiltonian (6) has been investigated within the mean-field approximation in Ref. . If the transition at the MCP is continuous, one may observe either a bicritical or a tetracritical behavior. But it is also possible that the transition at the MCP is of first order. $`O(ϵ)`$ calculations in the framework of the $`ϵ`$ expansion  show that the isotropic O($`N`$)-symmetric FP ($`Nn_1+n_2`$) is stable for $`N<N_c=4+O(ϵ)`$. With increasing $`N`$, a new FP named biconal FP (BFP), which has only O($`n_1`$)$``$O($`n_2`$) symmetry, becomes stable. Finally, for large $`N`$, the decoupled FP (DFP) is the stable one. In this case, the two order parameters are effectively uncoupled at the MCP, giving rise to a tetracritical behavior.

The $`O(ϵ)`$ computations provide useful indications on the RG flow in three dimensions, but a controlled extrapolation to $`ϵ=1`$ requires much longer series and an accurate resummation exploiting their Borel summability. For this purpose we have extended the $`ϵ`$ expansion to $`O(ϵ^5)`$ . A robust picture of the RG flow predicted by the O($`n_1`$)$``$O($`n_2`$)-symmetric LGW theory can be achieved by supplementing the analysis of the $`ϵ`$ series with the results for the stability of the O($`N`$) FP (cf. Sec. 2), which were also obtained by analyzing six-loop FD series, and with nonperturbative arguments allowing to establish the stability of the DFP . Since the Hamiltonian (6) contains spin-4 quartic perturbations with respect to the O($`N`$) FP, the results for the spin-4 RG dimension $`y_{4,4}`$ (cf. Table 1) imply that the O($`N`$) FP is stable only for $`N=2`$, i.e. when two Ising-like critical lines meet. It is unstable in all cases with $`N3`$. This implies that for $`N3`$ the enlargement of the symmetry O($`n_1`$)$``$O($`n_2`$) to O($`N`$) does not occur, unless an additional parameter is tuned beside those associated with the quadratic perturbations. For $`N=3`$, i.e. for $`n_1=1`$ and $`n_2=2`$, the critical behavior at the MCP is described by the BFP, whose critical exponents turn out to be very close to those of the Heisenberg universality class. For $`N4`$ and for any $`n_1,n_2`$ the DFP is stable, implying a tetracritical behavior. This can also be inferred by using nonperturbative arguments  that allow to determine the relevant stability eigenvalue from the critical exponents of the O($`n_i`$) universality classes.

Anisotropic antiferromagnets in a uniform magnetic field $`H_{}`$ parallel to the anisotropy axis present a MCP in the $`TH_{}`$ phase diagram, where two critical lines belonging to the XY and Ising universality classes meet . The above results predict a multicritical behavior described by the BFP, contradicting the $`O(ϵ)`$ calculations that suggested the stability of the O(3) FP. Notice that it is hard to distinguish the biconal from the O(3) critical behavior. For instance, the correlation-length exponent $`\nu `$ differs by less than 0.001 in the two cases.

The case $`N=5`$, $`n_1=2`$, $`n_2=3`$ is relevant for the SO(5) theory  of high-$`T_c`$ superconductors, which proposes a description of these materials in terms of a three-component antiferromagnetic order parameter and a $`d`$-wave superconducting order parameter with U(1) symmetry, with an approximate O(5) symmetry. Within the SO(5) theory, it has been speculated that the antiferromagnetic and superconducting transition lines meet at a MCP in the temperature-doping phase diagram, which is bicritical and shows an effectively enlarged O(5) symmetry. There are also recent claims in favor of the stability of the O(5) FP based on Monte Carlo simulations of three-dimensional five-component systems . Our results on the RG flow of the O(2)$``$O(3) theory show that the O(5) FP cannot describe the asymptotic critical behavior at the MCP, unless a further tuning of the parameters is performed. Therefore, the O(5) symmetry is not effectively realized at the point where the antiferromagnetic and superconducting transition lines meet. The multicritical behavior is either governed by the tetracritical decoupled fixed point or is of first-order type if the system is outside its attraction domain. The predicted tetracritical behavior may explain a number of recent experiments that provided evidence of a coexistence region of the antiferromagnetic and superconducting phases, see, e.g., Ref. . The O(5) FP is unstable with a crossover exponent $`\varphi _{4,4}0.15`$, which, although rather small, is nonetheless sufficiently large not to exclude the possibility of observing the RG flow towards the eventual asymptotic behavior for reasonable values of the reduced temperature, even in systems with a moderately small breaking of the O(5) symmetry, such as those described by the projected SO(5) model discussed in Refs. .


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# Dynamical stabilization of classical multi electron targets against autoionization

## References


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# 1 Comparison of synthetic line profiles of H𝛼 and He I, 6678Å to the observations of a low luminosity sdB star on the EHB (left) and a more luminous post-EHB star (right).

Subdwarf B (sdB) stars form the blue end of the horizonal branch (EHB). Their peculiar atmospheric abundance patterns are due to diffusion processes. However, diffusion models fail to explain these anomalies quantitatively. From a NLTE model atmosphere analysis of 40 sdB stars, Heber et al.  found that the four most luminous stars in their sample have already evolved off the EHB (post-EHB) and display anomalous H$`\alpha `$ and HeI 6678Å line profiles, i.e, the lines are too broad and shallow and may even show some emission. For illustration we compare in Fig. 1 the spectrum of a post-EHB stars (PG 1000$`+`$408) to that of a typical EHB stars (PG 1110$`+`$294). Note that synthetic line profiles displayed are not fits to the observed line profiles but are calculated from models with atmospheric parameters that have been predetermined by matching their blue spectra \[Maxted et al. 2001\]. The observed H$`\alpha `$ and HeI 6678Å line profiles of all EHB stars, however, are very well reproduced by the synthetic spectra as is demonstrated in Fig. 1 for PG 1110$`+`$294.

What is the reason for the line profile anomaly for the more luminous sdB stars? The spectral analysis was carried out using static, hydrogen and helium line blanketed model atmospheres. There are two assumptions in the models that might not hold for the four luminous post-EHB stars. The influence of metal lines on the atmospheric structure has been neglected and hence metal line blanketing could alter the synthetic spectrum more severely for the post-EHB stars than for the EHB stars. However, metal lines are very weak or absent in the available medium resolution optical spectra of the post-EHB stars and are even weaker than in a typical EHB star. Alternatively, assuming hydrostatic equillibrium might be incorrect. Mass loss rates of radiatively driven winds increase non-linearly with increasing stellar luminosity. Therefore we expect stellar winds to effect the most luminous stars in our sample the most just as it is observed. Hence we regard the observed spectral anomalies as signatures of a stellar wind, the first such detection in this class of star (if confirmed). High-quality UV spectra are needed to derive more stringent limits on the mass loss rates as well as on the metal abundances of the programme stars. Recent model calculations for globular cluster HB stars of late B-type \[Vink & Cassisi 2002\], which accounted for stellar winds, provided encouraging progress towards a solution of the zoo of problems associated with globular clusters’ blue HBs. However those stars are considerably cooler than our programme stars. Similar calculations of synthetic spectra for the latter are urgently needed to validate the stellar wind hypothesis.


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# First Search for the Flavor Changing Neutral Current Decay 𝐷⁰→𝛾𝛾

CLEO Collaboration

## Abstract

Using 13.8 fb-1 of data collected at or just below the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)`$ with the CLEO detector, we report the result of a search for the flavor changing neutral current process $`D^0`$ $``$ $`\gamma \gamma `$. We observe no significant signal for this decay mode and determine 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions $`(D^0\gamma \gamma )/(D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0)`$ $`<`$ 0.033 and $`(D^0\gamma \gamma )`$ $`<`$ 2.9 $`\times `$ 10-5.

preprint: CLNS 02/1806preprint: CLEO 02-15

In the standard model (SM), flavor changing neutral current (FCNC) processes are forbidden at the tree level but can occur at higher loop level. Therefore, they provide a good opportunity to probe new physics beyond the SM, especially those processes where very small SM signals are expected. The experimental studies of FCNC processes for charm have lagged behind those of the other flavors. The decay $`D^0\gamma \gamma `$ is a FCNC process which has not been measured. The branching fraction for $`D^0\gamma \gamma `$ expected from SM physics is about 10-8 or less fajfer ; burdman , but gluino exchange in supersymmetric models with reasonable parameters can enhance the SM rate by as much as two orders of magnitude prelovsek-wyler .

In this Letter, we present results of the first search for the FCNC process $`D^0\gamma \gamma `$. The data were collected with two configurations (CLEO II CLEOII  and CLEO II.V CLEOII.V ) of the CLEO detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR). They consist of 13.8 fb-1 taken at or just below the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$(4S) where $`c\overline{c}`$ or other accessible quark pairs are produced with the $`D^0`$ candidates produced in the hadronization of $`c\overline{c}`$ pairs. The final states of the decays under study are reconstructed by combining detected photons or neutral pions with charged pions. The detector elements most important for the results presented here are the tracking system, which consists of several concentric detectors operating inside a 1.5 T superconducting solenoid, and the high-resolution electromagnetic calorimeter, consisting of 7800 CsI(Tl) crystals. For CLEO II, the tracking system consists of a 6-layer straw tube chamber, a 10-layer precision drift chamber, and a 51-layer main drift chamber. The main drift chamber also provides a measurement of the specific ionization loss, $`dE/dx`$, used for particle identification. For CLEO II.V the straw tube chamber was replaced by a 3-layer, double-sided silicon vertex detector, and the gas in the main drift chamber was changed from an argon-ethane to a helium-propane mixture.

Due to the small expected branching fraction, the mass resolution for two-photon final state, and the huge combinatoric backgrounds from random photons, it is extremely difficult to find a $`D^0`$ mass peak in $`\gamma \gamma `$ invariant mass if searching directly for $`D^0\gamma \gamma `$. However, the situation is very different if we require the $`D^0`$ to be produced from the decay $`D^+D^0\pi ^+`$. The energy release $`Q`$ of candidates for the decay $`D^+D^0\pi ^+`$ is given by $`Q/c^2M(D^+)M(D^0)M_{\pi ^+}`$. In this expression, $`M(D^+)`$ and $`M(D^0)`$ are the invariant masses of the $`D^+`$ and $`D^0`$ candidates, respectively, and $`M_{\pi ^+}`$ is the $`\pi ^+`$ mass pdg . There exists an excellent calibration mode, $`D^+D^0\pi ^+`$ where $`D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0`$. This calibration mode and the signal mode have similar final state particles so many common systematic errors will cancel. The branching fraction of $`D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ was measured to be $`(D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0)`$ $`=`$ (8.4 $`\pm `$ 2.2) $`\times `$ 10-4 pdg ; selen . The CLEO resolution in $`Q`$ is better than 1 MeV and does not differ significantly between the two $`D^0`$ decay modes. The analysis strategy to search for $`D^0\gamma \gamma `$ is to use $`D^+D^0\pi ^+`$ where $`D^0\gamma \gamma `$ and $`D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0`$, and calculate the ratio, $`(D^0\gamma \gamma )/(D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0)`$. Charge-conjugate modes are implied throughout this Letter.

Candidates for $`D^0`$ meson decays are reconstructed by combining two detected photons or neutral pions. The invariant mass of the two photons or neutral pions is required to be within 2.5 standard deviations ($`\sigma `$) of the known $`D^0`$ mass pdg . The photon candidates are required to pass quality cuts and not to be associated with charged tracks. To form $`\pi ^0`$ candidates, pairs of photon candidates with invariant mass within $`3\sigma `$ of the $`\pi ^0`$ mass $`M_{\pi ^0}`$ pdg  are fitted kinematically with the mass constrained to $`M_{\pi ^0}`$. To reduce combinatoric backgrounds, each $`\pi ^0`$ or photon candidate in the $`D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ or $`\gamma \gamma `$ candidate is required to have momentum greater than 0.55 GeV/$`c`$. Furthermore, each $`D^0`$ candidate is required to have momentum greater than 2.2 GeV/$`c`$. These requirements come from an optimization that minimizes the statistical error of the branching fraction $`D^+D^0\pi ^+`$ where $`D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0`$.

A $`\pi ^+`$ is then combined with the $`D^0`$ candidate to form a $`D^+`$ candidate. The $`\pi ^+`$ candidate must be a well-reconstructed track originating from a cylinder of radius 3 mm and half-length 5 cm centered at the $`e^+e^{}`$ interaction point. The minimum momentum requirement on the $`D^0`$ candidate of 2.2 GeV/$`c`$ corresponds to a lower limit on the $`\pi ^+`$ momentum of approximately 100 MeV/$`c`$. The $`dE/dx`$ information for the $`\pi ^+`$ candidate, if it exists and is reliable, is required to be within $`3\sigma `$ of its expected value. The two energetic photons, one from each $`\pi ^0`$ in $`D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ decay, can form fake $`D^0\gamma \gamma `$ candidate. To limit cross-feed from $`D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0`$, a photon candidate in $`D^0\gamma \gamma `$ is rejected if $`M(\gamma \gamma )`$ is within $`3\sigma `$ of $`M_{\pi ^0}`$ when combined with any other photon in the event ($`\pi ^0`$ veto).

To estimate the detection efficiencies and backgrounds, we generate $`D^+D^0\pi ^+`$ with $`D^0\gamma \gamma `$ and $`D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0`$, together with generic Monte Carlo events ($`u\overline{u}`$, $`d\overline{d}`$, $`s\overline{s}`$, and $`c\overline{c}`$) produced near the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)`$, and simulate the CLEO detector response with GEANT GEANT . Simulated events for the CLEO II and CLEO II.V configurations are processed in the same manner as the data. With the above event selection, multiple candidates per event are rare (less than 1%). From Monte Carlo simulations, the cross feed contribution from $`D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ to $`D^0\gamma \gamma `$ in the signal region of the $`Q`$ distribution is about one event (or about 4 events without the $`\pi ^0`$ veto). Other cross feed contributions from possible $`D^0\eta \eta `$, $`\eta X`$ decays are negligible.

Figure 1 shows the $`Q`$ distributions for $`D^+D^0\pi ^+`$ candidates where $`D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ and $`D^0\gamma \gamma `$. The circles with error bars are CLEO data which are fit using a binned likelihood fit to a Gaussian function with expected mean and width determined from signal Monte Carlo simulation, on top of a threshold background function. For $`D^+D^0\pi ^+`$ where $`D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0`$, $`N(\pi ^0\pi ^0)=628.0\pm 31.8`$ signal events are observed. The signal and background levels found in the data are in good agreement with those obtained from Monte Carlo simulations. For $`D^+D^0\pi ^+`$ where $`D^0\gamma \gamma `$, no significant enhancement is observed in the signal region. The signal yield from the fit is $`N(\gamma \gamma )=19.2\pm 9.3`$ events.

From Monte Carlo simulations, the relative efficiency for $`D^0\gamma \gamma `$ and $`D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ is determined to be: $`ϵ(\gamma \gamma )/ϵ(\pi ^0\pi ^0)`$ = 1.58 $`\pm `$ 0.05. The systematic uncertainties come from event selection, signal yield from data and Monte Carlo simulation, and are listed in Table I. The other common systematic uncertainties for $`D^+D^0\pi ^+`$ cancel in measuring $`(D^0\gamma \gamma )/(D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0)=[N(\gamma \gamma )/N(\pi ^0\pi ^0)]/[ϵ(\gamma \gamma )/ϵ(\pi ^0\pi ^0)]=0.0194\pm 0.0094`$. Combining the signal yields, relative selection efficiency and systematic uncertainties in $`D^+D^0\pi ^+`$ where $`D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ and $`D^0\gamma \gamma `$, we then obtain a 90% confidence level (C.L.) upper limit by the following method. We only consider the physical region of the ratio $`(D^0\gamma \gamma )/(D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0)`$ assuming that the shape of the likelihood is Gaussian with an unknown mean, but whose standard deviation is determined by the statistical and systematic errors added in quadrature. We then determine the 90% C.L. upper limit to be the mean of the Gaussian, 90% of whose probability lies above the observed ratio. We set an upper limit: $`(D^0\gamma \gamma )/(D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0)`$ $`<`$ 0.033 at the 90% C.L. Using $`(D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0)`$ $`=`$ (8.4 $`\pm `$ 2.2) $`\times `$ 10-4 pdg ; selen , we similarly set an upper limit: $`(D^0\gamma \gamma )`$ $`<`$ 2.9 $`\times `$ 10-5 at the 90% C.L.

In summary, we report the result of a search for the FCNC process of $`D^0\gamma \gamma `$. We observe no significant signal for this decay mode and determine the first 90% C.L. upper limits on the following branching fractions: $`(D^0\gamma \gamma )/(D^0\pi ^0\pi ^0)`$ $`<`$ 0.033 and $`(D^0\gamma \gamma )`$ $`<`$ 2.9 $`\times `$ 10-5. This result is an order of magnitude above the theoretical prediction of Ref. prelovsek-wyler .

We gratefully acknowledge the effort of the CESR staff in providing us with excellent luminosity and running conditions. We appreciate useful discussions with M. Neubert. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Research Corporation, and the Texas Advanced Research Program.