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# Observation of the onset of strong scattering on high frequency acoustic phonons in densified silica glass

## Abstract

The linewidth of longitudinal acoustic waves in densified silica glass is obtained by inelastic x-ray scattering. It increases with a high power $`\alpha `$ of the frequency up to a crossover where the waves experience strong scattering. We find that $`\alpha `$ is at least 4, and probably larger. Resonance and hybridization of acoustic waves with the boson-peak modes seems to be a more likely explanation for these findings than Rayleigh scattering from disorder.

A controversy regarding the fate of very high frequency acoustic-like excitations in glasses arose in recent years Cou01 ; Ruo01 . Acoustic waves propagate in glasses up to rather high frequencies, for example up to at least $`\mathrm{\Omega }/2\pi 0.4`$ THz in vitreous silica, $`v`$-SiO2 Rot84 ; Zhu91 . However, silica shows a pronounced “plateau” in the temperature ($`T`$) dependence of its thermal conductivity $`\kappa (T)`$ Zel71 . This feature was explained by postulating the existence of a rapid crossover of acoustic waves into a regime where they experience strong scattering Gra86 . In $`v`$-SiO2, this crossover is expected at a frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{co}}/2\pi 1`$ THz Ray89 . For the observed horizontal plateau to occur, besides strong scattering of thermal phonons, phonons of lower $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ must also experience a sufficiently strong $`T`$-independent scattering Ran88 . Several models predict that the inhomogeneous width of acoustic waves can increase with a high power of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, typically in $`\mathrm{\Omega }^4`$ Car61 ; Kar85 , leading to this rapid crossover. However, the origin of the high power remained debated, whether Rayleigh scattering from structural defects Gra86 , or resonance with local modes Kar85 ; Dre68 ; Yu87 . Rayleigh scattering seems generally too weak in materials as homogeneous as dense glasses to be able to account for the relatively low $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{co}}`$ suggested by the position of the plateau Gra86 ; Ran88 . The local modes are seen in the “boson peak” (BP) and produce an excess over the Debye specific heat Buc86 . Successful models based on resonance or on soft potentials were developed to describe the observed properties, e.g. in Kar85 ; Gra90 ; Par01 .

It might seem, judging from some recent literature Ruo01 , that the above picture should be revised after it became possible to observe in glasses the spectrum of longitudinal acoustic (LA) waves at THz frequencies with x-ray Brillouin scattering (BS) Set98 . This new experimental tool is important here, as it potentially allows to check some of the previous conjectures. It led to many publications claiming to prove that sound propagates at frequencies much above the early expectations for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{co}}`$, e.g. Ben96 ; Pil00 . In this respect, it must be emphasized that inelastic x-ray scattering (IXS) still is a difficult spectroscopy with severe limitations on resolution and intensity. Firstly, it is practically not possible with current instruments to investigate scattering vectors $`Q`$ below $`1`$ nm-1, a value which happens to coincide with the expected wave vector $`q`$ at crossover, $`q_{\mathrm{co}}`$, in $`v`$-SiO2 Ray89  and in many other glasses. Secondly, the narrowest instrumental profile allowing for sufficient intensity Ver96  still has an energy width around 1.5 meV (or $`0.4`$ THz) and extended Lorentzian-like wings. Owing to the relatively strong elastic scattering of glasses, this tends to mask the weaker Brillouin signal. For these reasons it is still not possible to investigate with IXS the LA waves of $`v`$-SiO2 at frequencies where their linewidth might grow in $`\mathrm{\Omega }^4`$ For96 ; Vac97 . Finally, the signal-to-noise ratio being also small, the subtle changes in BS lineshapes that indicate strong scattering might easily go unnoticed For97 . To alleviate several of these difficulties, we investigated permanently densified silica glass, $`d`$-SiO2, in which $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{co}}/2\pi 2`$ THz and $`q_{\mathrm{co}}2`$ nm-1 Rat99 ; For02 . A clear demonstration of a rapid increase of the LA-width as $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ approaches $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{co}}`$ from below is still missing. This is a crucial check for the onset of strong scattering. It is all the more important that many recent Letters advocated acoustic linewidths that vary as $`Q^2`$ up to very high $`Q`$-values, denying the onset of strong scattering and the existence of the corresponding crossover, e.g. Ben96 ; Pil00 ; Del98 ; Mon99 ; Ruo99 ; Ang00 ; Ruo00 . In this Letter, we use the window between the smallest accessible $`Q`$ and the $`q_{\mathrm{co}}`$ of $`d`$-SiO2 to study the approach of the crossover. We find a width in $`\mathrm{\Omega }^\alpha `$ with $`\alpha `$ at least equal to 4 and probably larger, corroborating the early intuition of a rapid crossover to strong scattering.

The experiments were performed on the high-resolution IXS spectrometer ID16 at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France. The x-ray energy is 21.7 keV. The main components of the spectrometer are a $`T`$-scanned monochromator, the sample, a battery of five $`T`$-stabilized spherical analyzers, and the corresponding detectors. The instrumental lineshape was determined for each analyzer behind its standard slit of $`20\times 60`$ mm (width$`\times `$height), using the signal from the first sharp diffraction peak of polymethyl methacrylate at 20 K. Very clean Voigt-like shapes were obtained with half-widths at half-maximum of $`0.75`$ meV. The analyzers permit data collection at five $`Q`$ in increments of $`3`$ nm-1. As we are now interested in small $`Q`$, the first analyzer was placed to the left of the forward direction, and the second to the right. This allows simultaneous collection of two interesting data points with $`Q2`$ nm-1. The data presented here were thus acquired with only three different positions of the first analyzer, $`Q=2,1.8`$, and 1.6 nm-1. Each spectrum was accumulated for nearly two full days. The sample of $`d`$-SiO2, of density 2.62 g/cm3, is the same as in previous measurements Rat99 ; For02 . It is heated at 565 K to increase the inelastic signal. At this $`T`$, the densified structure does not relax. This was subsequently checked with optical BS, the sound velocity providing a sensitive test for the density Rat99 .

Figure 1 illustrates typical spectra and their fits. The indicated values of $`Q`$ correspond to the center of the collection slit which gives a spread $`\mathrm{\Delta }Q\pm 0.18`$ nm-1. The spectra consist in a strong elastic peak plus a weaker Brillouin doublet. In Fig. 1a, the full raw spectrum is shown for the smallest usable $`Q`$, namely $`Q=1.17`$ nm-1 foot . The dashed line follows the elastic peak, illustrating the relative weakness of the doublet. To extract information on the position $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and half-width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, the spectra are first adjusted to a damped harmonic oscillator (DHO) profile plus an elastic central peak (CP), convoluted with the instrumental function. Account is taken of the broadening due to the collection angle by summing over contributions from surface elements of the slit, each at its own $`Q`$, using $`d\mathrm{\Omega }/dQ=v_\mathrm{g}`$. Here $`v_\mathrm{g}`$ is the group velocity which is determined iteratively. There are four free parameters in the fits: the integrated intensities of the elastic ($`I_{\mathrm{CP}}`$) and inelastic ($`I_{\mathrm{DHO}}`$) components, $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. The small background shown by the baselines is fixed to the detector noise, measured independently. Figs. 1b,c illustrate, for the two extreme values of $`Q`$ measured below crossover, the inelastic part that remains after subtraction of the adjusted elastic contribution $`I_{\mathrm{CP}}`$. The solid lines are the DHO fits. In Fig. 1b the width is mostly instrumental, while in 1c it is due to a large part to a real broadening of the Brillouin signal.

The values obtained for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ are shown in Fig. 2 against those for $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ which agree with Rat99 . $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ increases very rapidly with $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. There should be a homogeneous broadening contribution to this width, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{hom}}`$. It is estimated from $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{hom}}\mathrm{\Omega }^2`$ by extrapolation of an optical BS determination, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{hom}}/2\pi =26\pm 5`$ MHz for $`\mathrm{\Omega }/2\pi =41.5`$ GHz at 600 K RatTh99 . Interestingly, in that BS experiment the linewidths of $`d`$-SiO2 are very near those of crystal quartz over a broad range of $`T`$, whereas the linewidths of $`v`$-SiO2 are typically four times larger. Thus, it seems reasonable to assume $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{hom}}\mathrm{\Omega }^2`$, as e.g. the Akhiezer mechanism might extend up to the THz region in $`d`$-SiO2 at these elevated $`T`$-value. This gives the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{hom}}`$ drawn in Fig. 2. The total rate is then approximated by Matthiesen’s rule of adding rates due to independent processes, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{hom}}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{inh}}`$ Vac97 . The inhomogeneous scattering width is adjusted to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{inh}}\mathrm{\Omega }^\alpha `$. A fit of the five measured points with this expression gives the solid line in Fig. 2 with $`\alpha =4.21\pm 0.15`$, and $`\chi ^2=0.76`$. For comparison, if we force $`\alpha =2`$, the best fit shown by the dotted line gives $`\chi ^2=5.4`$.

The inelastic intensities, $`I_{\mathrm{DHO}}`$, derived from these fits are shown in the inset of Fig. 2. With the very clean instrumental profile and the long accumulation times, these are much more significant than previous ones Rat99 . They are compared to $`v_{\mathrm{LA}}^2`$ (line), where $`v_{\mathrm{LA}}=\mathrm{\Omega }/Q`$ is the phase velocity determined in this experiment. The line is scaled to coincide with the most precise low $`Q`$ point. One notes an excess in the observed $`I_{\mathrm{DHO}}`$ which grows as $`Q`$ approaches $`q_{\mathrm{co}}`$. One should ask whether this is due to the use of the DHO instead of the more appropriate effective-medium-approximation (EMA) lineshape Rat99 . To investigate this we adjust all spectra to the EMA, including those obtained above $`q_{\mathrm{co}}`$ on the other detectors. We find that $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{co}}=8.5`$ meV gives a good overall adjustment with the other parameters as in Rat99 . With these parameters fixed, there only remain the intensities $`I_{\mathrm{EMA}}`$ and $`I_{\mathrm{CP}}`$ to fit each individual spectrum. At small $`Q`$, for example for $`Q=1.17`$ nm-1, the EMA and the DHO are equivalent. On the other hand, for $`Qq_{\mathrm{co}}`$, the EMA is superior as shown in Figs. 1e,f. This particular spectrum is the average of three similar spectra acquired on the third analyzer at $`Q=`$ 4, 4.2, and 4.4 nm-1, for a total counting time of nearly one week. The three spectra were independently fitted and then added, reducing the size of the error bars. Fig. 1e shows that the DHO demands a larger signal at small $`\omega `$ than the EMA in Fig. 1f. The fit adjusts this by using a smaller $`I_{\mathrm{CP}}`$ for the DHO, but this is not able to represent properly the profile. Below $`q_{co}`$, a similar comparison is shown in Figs. 1c,d. One notices the same trend. However, this is not the reason for the excess intensity. Indeed, we find that $`I_{\mathrm{DHO}}I_{\mathrm{EMA}}`$ well within the error bars for all five data points. The small dip in the center of the EMA fits is compensated by their more extended wings. The intensity excess seems thus real. For the present discussion, the main virtue of the EMA is to provide a fair estimate for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{co}}`$. There is of course no $`\alpha `$ to be extracted from this EMA which postulates $`\alpha =4`$.

We now remark that the highest point in Fig. 2 is nearly at $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{co}}`$. Owing to the Ioffe-Regel saturation of the damping, one cannot expect that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{inh}}\mathrm{\Omega }^\alpha `$ extends up to this point. The saturation of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{inh}}`$ is an important aspect of the EMA Rat99 . Therefore, it is more reasonable to only fit the lowest four points to the power law. The result is shown by the dashed line in Fig. 2, which corresponds to $`\alpha =5.7\pm 1.0`$ with $`\chi ^2=0.28`$. The extrapolation of this fit to the highest point gives a $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{inh}}`$ nearly equal to twice the observed one. This is precisely the saturation expected near crossover Rat99 . The value of $`\alpha `$ obtained in this manner does not change by allowing for the uncertainty in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{hom}}`$, only its uncertainty increases slightly. If $`\alpha `$ is really so large, the onset of strong scattering of sound cannot be due to Rayleigh scattering from structural inhomogeneities which give $`\alpha =4`$ Car61 .

Resonance of sound with point-like local modes, assuming a bilinear coupling, leads to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{inh}}(\mathrm{\Omega })\rho (\mathrm{\Omega })`$ where $`\rho (\mathrm{\Omega })`$ is the mode density of states (DOS) Kar85 ; Gra90 . Fig. 3 shows the DOS of $`d`$-SiO2 taken from Ina98  after subtraction of a Debye contribution of $`1.44\times 10^5\times (\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega })^2`$, with $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }`$ in meV. The BP, $`\rho (\mathrm{\Omega })/\mathrm{\Omega }^2`$, with its maximum near $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{co}}`$ For02 , is also shown. The values of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{inh}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ are drawn on the same plot for comparison. They increase together with $`\rho `$ but do not seem exactly proportional to $`\rho `$. There can be several reasons for this. One is that an exact determination of $`\rho (\mathrm{\Omega })`$ with neutron scattering is always a difficult task, especially for $`d`$-SiO2 as a large sample can contain a few less densified fragments. Another possible reason is more profound. In silica the BP relates to rigid tetrahedra rotations Heh00  which cannot be point-like in this connected network Tra02 . Thus, it produces a diffuse optic branch which hybridizes with the acoustic branch, an effect that depends both on the frequency and size of the excitations. Hence, there might be too few BP modes of sufficient spatial extent (a few nm) to appreciably hybridize with acoustic phonons at $`q=1.17`$ nm-1. The anomalous BS intensity increase near $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{co}}`$ can also result from this hybridization. Either the hybridization effectively softens the LA waves increasing their fluctuation amplitudes over what $`v_{\mathrm{LA}}`$ suggests, or the coupled local modes give themselves a coherent contribution to the BS amplitude. Further investigations are needed to clarify these points.

As final remark we stress that a logarithmic presentation of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(Q)`$ over a large range of $`Q`$ can be misleading. This is illustrated in Fig. 4 for the data presented here. The line is a fit with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }Q^\gamma `$, which gives $`\gamma =2.47\pm 0.08`$. Such plots have often been taken as evidence for the absence of crossover phenomena, e.g. in Ben96 ; Ruo99 ; Ruo01 . The above discussion shows that this reasoning is unfounded. In Fig. 4, the lowest $`Q`$ point is purely homogeneously broadened, the next four points are dominated by inhomogeneous broadening, the sixth point is near crossover, and the following three points are well above crossover. Hence, that presentation averages over three distinct regimes: one where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{hom}}`$, one which is dominated by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{inh}}`$, and finally one where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ should not be extracted from DHO fits. The rapidly growing $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{inh}}`$ only dominates $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ over a narrow range in $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ (or $`Q`$). To be able to conclude about $`\alpha `$ as we do here, one needs: $`i`$) to know the position of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{co}}`$ and, $`ii`$) to have a sufficient number of data points with significant values of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ just below $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{co}}`$. This was not the case in previous experiments, e.g. in For02  or in Mat01 .

In this Letter, we reported the first spectroscopic observation of the onset of strong scattering of LA waves with $`q<q_{\mathrm{co}}`$ in a network glass. In that region of $`q`$ the inhomogeneous linewidth grows with a very high power of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, at least equal to 4, and probably higher. Also the intensity shows an anomalous increase with $`q`$. It seems that these results could be explained by the resonance and hybridization of the LA waves with the local BP modes. If so, these measurements might provide some information about the structure of glasses at extended length scales about which so little is known otherwise.

Dr. M. Arai is thanked for the excellent sample and Prof. M. Dyakonov for an interesting discussion.


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# Is There A Higgs Boson With Mass Below 100 GeV/c2 In The LEP Data?

## 1 Introduction

The search for a Higgs boson is arguably the top priority of particle physics today. It is also the most tantalizing. On the one hand, direct searches at LEP II have set lower limits of 114 GeV/c2  for a Standard Model Higgs boson and 89.9 GeV/c2 for the Minimal Supersymmetric Model Higgs . On the other hand, indirect evidence from virtual Higgs effects in electroweak fits to LEP, SLC and Tevatron data suggest a Higgs exists with a mass significantly lower than these bounds. The fits to the $`Z`$ data imply a mass of about 81 GeV/c2  while the latest fit to the $`W`$ data using the measured top quark mass gives a Higgs mass of just 26 GeV/c2 . Of course, the uncertainties are large (30-50 GeV/c2) in both types of fit but nevertheless there is a growing feeling that these fits and the direct search result are an indication of a deviation from the Standard Model.

The assumption is that, for some reason, the Higgs mass is larger than the central value predicted by the fits. However this may not be so. In a companion paper  we have proposed a scenario with a universal Higgs-fermion coupling and its application to a Two Higgs Doublet Model (2HDM) of type II. With some reasonable parameters, a Higgs boson with a mass compatible with the fit values but a hadronic branching ratio of between 66% and 80% is predicted. These hadronic jet flavours are equally $`u`$ and $`c`$ (*not* $`b`$) with the remaining decays being to invisible neutrinos.

Although such a model sidesteps the limits imposed by the standard analyses quoted above, the LEP Higgs Working Group has combined flavour independent Higgs search results from the four LEP collaborations  and produced a paper, with preliminary results , which appears to impose serious constraints. At face value, figure 2 from that paper suggests that, with a $`Z`$-Higgs production cross section roughly equal to the Standard Model rate and a hadronic branching ratio of about 80%, there can be no Higgs boson with a mass below about 110 GeV/c2.

## 2 Flaws in the Flavour Independent Higgs Search

The flavour independent Higgs search has two significant flaws. Firstly the decay width of the Higgs boson in the Universal Higgs-Fermion Coupling model could be much larger than orthodox models and this needs to be taken into consideration.

Secondly, and more importantly, no account has been taken of any quantum interference between the signal and background. The signal process is $`e^+e^{}HZ`$ 4-jets while the background processes are $`e^+e^{}ZZ`$ 4-jets and $`e^+e^{}W^+W^{}`$ 4-jets. The interference may be significant because the $`H`$ could have a similar mass to the $`W`$ and $`Z`$ and similar quark branching ratios. (Of course, the $`Z`$ and $`W`$ are spin one while the $`H`$ is spin zero.)

The result of such interference could be dips and rises in the production cross-section rather than a simple step. Whether this is what is seen in figure 2 of the LEP Higgs Working Group paper is impossible to tell but it is intiguing. Of course a careful simulation of the interference (if any) will be needed and we encourage the LEP Higgs Working Group to undertake this analysis as soon as possible. If a Higgs boson does hide in the LEP data, presumably charm tagging as a function of the electron-positron centre-of-mass energy will be required to dig it out.

## 3 Conclusion

The current flavour independent Higgs search result from LEP cannot currently exclude a low mass Higgs boson with properties similar to a $`Z`$ until quantum interference is simulated between $`HZ`$ and $`ZZ`$ production and the effect of broad Higgs decay widths are considered. Consequently the central result from the indirect (electroweak fit) Higgs searches is still viable.

## Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Bill Murray for drawing my attention to the flavour independent search paper.


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# Geometry of differential operators, and odd Laplace operators

Let $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ be an arbitrary linear differential operator of the second order acting on functions on a (super)manifold $`M`$. In local coordinates $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\frac{1}{2}S^{ab}_b_a+T^a_a+R`$. The principal symbol of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is the symmetric tensor field $`S^{ab}`$, or the quadratic function $`S=\frac{1}{2}S^{ab}p_bp_a`$ on $`T^{}M`$. The principal symbol can be understood as a symmetric “bracket” on functions: $`\{f,g\}:=\mathrm{\Delta }(fg)(\mathrm{\Delta }f)g(1)^{\epsilon \stackrel{~}{f}}f(\mathrm{\Delta }g)+\mathrm{\Delta }(1)fg`$, where $`\epsilon =\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$ is the parity of the operator $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$; in coordinates $`\{f,g\}=S^{ab}_bf_ag(1)^{\stackrel{~}{a}\stackrel{~}{f}}`$. In the following by a bracket in a commutative algebra we mean an arbitrary symmetric bi-derivation. The problem is to describe all operators $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ with a given $`S^{ab}`$, or, which is the same, all operators generating a given bracket $`\{f,g\}`$. Without loss of generality we set $`R=\mathrm{\Delta }(1):=1`$ in the sequel. Initially we suppose that the operators act on scalar functions; operator pencils acting on densities of arbitrary weights will naturally appear in the course of study. Everything is applicable to supermanifolds as well as to usual manifolds. For odd operators in the super case questions about identities of the Jacobi type arise. The problem is closely related with the geometry of the Batalin–Vilkovisky formalism in quantum field theory (description of the “generating operators” for an odd bracket).

The first non-trivial observation is that Hörmander’s subprincipal symbol $`\mathrm{sub}\mathrm{\Delta }=(_bS^{ba}(1)^{\stackrel{~}{b}(\epsilon +1)}2T^a)p_a`$ can be interpreted as an “upper connection” in the bundle $`\mathrm{Vol}M`$. Precisely, $`\gamma ^a=_bS^{ba}(1)^{\stackrel{~}{b}(\epsilon +1)}2T^a`$ has the transformation law $`\gamma ^a^{}=\left(\gamma ^a+S^{ab}_b\mathrm{ln}J\right)\frac{x^a^{}}{x^a}`$, where $`J=\frac{Dx^{}}{Dx}`$ (the Jacobian), and it specifies a “contravariant derivative” $`^a\rho =(S^{ab}_b+\gamma ^a)\rho `$ on volume forms. The coordinate-dependent Hamiltonian $`\gamma =\mathrm{sub}\mathrm{\Delta }=\gamma ^ap_a`$ plays the role of a local connection form. If the matrix $`S^{ab}`$ is invertible, then we can lower the index $`a`$ and get a usual connection. (Let us stress that $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ acts on functions, and a priori there is no extra structure on our manifold. The bundle $`\mathrm{Vol}M`$ and an upper connection in it arise from the operator itself.) Thus, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is defined by a set of data: a bracket on functions and an associated upper connection in $`\mathrm{Vol}M`$.

Define the algebra of densities $`𝔙(M)`$ as the algebra of formal linear combinations of densities of arbitrary weights $`w`$. In $`𝔙(M)`$ there is a unit $`1`$ and a natural invariant scalar multiplication. The scalar product is given by the formula: $`𝝍,𝝌=_M\mathrm{Res}(t^2𝝍(x,t)𝝌(x,t))Dx`$. We specify elements of $`𝔙(M)`$ by generating functions $`𝝍(x,t)`$ defined on a manifold $`\widehat{M}`$. One can classify the derivations of $`𝔙(M)`$ . A bracket of weight $`0`$ in $`𝔙(M)`$ is specified by a tensor $`(\widehat{S}^{\widehat{a}\widehat{b}})=\left(\begin{array}{cc}S^{ab}& t\gamma ^a\\ t\gamma ^a& t^2\theta \end{array}\right)`$ on $`\widehat{M}`$, where $`S^{ab}`$ gives a bracket on $`M`$, $`\gamma ^a`$ gives an upper connection in $`\mathrm{Vol}M`$ associated with $`S^{ab}`$, and the term $`\theta `$ is a second order geometric object (depending on $`S^{ab}`$ and $`\gamma ^a`$), similar to the Brans–Dicke field in Kaluza–Klein type theories. A set of data $`S^{ab},\gamma ^a,\theta `$ is equivalent (non-canonically) to a set consisting of $`S^{ab}`$, a vector field and a scalar. Operators in the algebra $`𝔙(M)`$ are written as operator pencils $`\mathrm{\Delta }_w`$ acting on $`w`$-densities. A pencil $`\mathrm{\Delta }_w`$ is self-adjoint if $`(\mathrm{\Delta }_w)^{}=\mathrm{\Delta }_{1w}`$. A second order differential operator in $`𝔙(M)`$ is represented by a quadratic pencil $`\mathrm{\Delta }_w=\mathrm{\Delta }_0+wA+w^2B`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ is a second order operator on functions, $`A`$ and $`B`$ having orders $`1`$ and $`0`$.

###### Theorem 1.

For the algebra $`𝔙(M)`$ there is a one-to-one correspondence between brackets and second order operators with the self-adjointness condition. To a bracket with the matrix $`\widehat{S}^{\widehat{a}\widehat{b}}`$ corresponds a “canonical pencil”
$`\mathrm{\Delta }_w=\frac{1}{2}\left(S^{ab}_b_a+\left(_bS^{ba}(1)^{\stackrel{~}{b}(\epsilon +1)}+(2w1)\gamma ^a\right)_a+w_a\gamma ^a(1)^{\stackrel{~}{a}(\epsilon +1)}+w(w1)\theta \right).`$

The corresponding operator in the algebra $`𝔙(M)`$ is the Laplacian constructed from $`\widehat{S}^{\widehat{a}\widehat{b}}`$ and the canonical divergence on $`\widehat{M}`$ . There is a unique canonical pencil passing through an operator on $`w_0`$-densities with a given “non-singular” weight $`w_00,\frac{1}{2},1`$. A pencil can be recovered from an operator on functions up to $`w(w1)f`$, where $`f`$ is a scalar.

Consider odd operators. To them correspond odd brackets. Notice that an odd symmetric bracket is transformed into an even antisymmetric bracket by the parity shift. If $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is odd and $`\mathrm{ord}\mathrm{\Delta }2`$, then $`\mathrm{ord}\mathrm{\Delta }^23`$. The condition $`\mathrm{ord}\mathrm{\Delta }^22`$ is equivalent to the Jacobi identity for the bracket generated by $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. In this case $`D=(S,\mathrm{\_})`$ is a differential in $`C^{\mathrm{}}(T^{}M)`$, and for an upper connection $`\gamma =\gamma ^ap_a`$ the notion of curvature makes sense: $`F=D\gamma `$.

###### Theorem 2.

An operator $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is a derivation of the generated bracket (equivalently, $`\mathrm{ord}\mathrm{\Delta }^21`$) if and only if $`D\gamma =0`$.

The flatness of $`\gamma `$ is “subsumed” by the Jacobi identity for a bracket in $`𝔙(M)`$:

###### Theorem 3.

The Jacobi identity for an odd bracket in $`𝔙(M)`$ is equivalent to the equations $`(S,S)=0`$, $`(S,\gamma )=0`$, $`(S,\theta )+(\gamma ,\gamma )=0`$, $`(\gamma ,\theta )=0`$. (In such case also $`\mathrm{\Delta }_w^2=_X`$ for some $`X\mathrm{Vect}(M)`$, which is automatically Poisson.)

###### Corollary.

If the odd bracket on $`M`$ specified by $`S^{ab}`$ is non-degenerate, then the Jacobi identity for the bracket in $`𝔙(M)`$ implies $`\gamma ^a=S^{ab}\gamma _b`$, $`\theta =\gamma ^a\gamma _a`$, where $`\gamma _a=_a\mathrm{ln}\rho `$, and $`\rho =e^𝒜`$ is a local volume form. Hence, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is defined by a bracket on $`M`$ and an “effective action” $`𝒜`$.

The condition $`\mathrm{\Delta }^2=0`$ in the odd symplectic case gives the Batalin–Vilkovisky equation for an action $`𝒜`$. In the general odd Poisson case the “Batalin–Vilkovisky equations” are written for a pair of flat connections and possess a groupoid property. They describe a change of the operator $`\mathrm{\Delta }^2`$ on functions or $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ on half-densities .

The theory can be generalized for operators and brackets of nonzero weight. It is interesting to consider a generalization for operators of higher order (where homotopy algebras should appear).