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# Principal Power of the CMB

## I Introduction

High precision cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropy measurements from WMAP have ushered in a new era in the determination of the initial conditions for structure formation and their implications for the physics of the early universe Peietal03 . Hints of deviations from power law initial conditions from WMAP in the form of marginally significant coherent glitches over several multipoles and running of the tilt can be tested by the Planck satellite Planck  and definitively measured with a high precision CMB polarization experiment such as the envisaged Inflation Probe CMBPol CMBPol .

Significant deviations would imply that the initial power spectrum is not scale free and hence traditional descriptions such as a constant running of the tilt, motivated by the small deviations expected from slow-roll inflation (e.g. MukFelBra92 ), can lead to misinterpretation and biases in parameter determination.

A large body of work already exists on more general approaches. They are typically based on flat bandpowers, discrete sampling with interpolation for continuity or smoothness, wavelet expansions or more generally some predetermined set of windows on, or effective regularization of, the initial power spectrum MukWan03 ; MilNicGenWas02 ; TegZal02 ; BriLewWelEfs03 .

In this paper, we study the fundamental physical limitations placed on the measurement of the initial power spectrum by geometric projection, acoustic physics, gravitational lensing, and the joint fitting of cosmological parameters. We then use this study to develop complementary techniques that are optimized with respect to the physics of the CMB rather than prior assumptions about the form of the initial power spectrum.

The outline of this paper is as follows. In §II, we study the processes that transfer fluctuations from the initial curvature perturbation to the observed temperature and polarization fields and quantify the limitations imposed by acoustic physics and geometric projection. In §III, we introduce a discrete parameterization of the initial spectrum that is matched to the further limitations imposed by gravitational lensing. In §IV, we employ Fisher matrix techniques to study the effect of joint estimation of the initial spectrum and cosmological parameters. In §V, we construct modes which best constrain from scale-free initial conditions out of its principal components. We conclude in §VI.

## II Transfer Functions and Projection

Acoustic and gravitational physics generate CMB temperature fluctuations $`\mathrm{\Theta }=\mathrm{\Delta }T(\widehat{𝐧})/T`$ and polarization fluctuations $`E(\widehat{𝐧})`$ ZalSel97  in the angular direction $`\widehat{𝐧}`$ from an initial spatial curvature fluctuation $`\zeta (𝐱)`$, which we will specify in the comoving gauge. The observable angular power spectra are defined by the two point function of their multipole moments

$$X_\mathrm{}m^{}X_\mathrm{}^{}m^{}^{}=\delta _{\mathrm{}\mathrm{}^{}}\delta _{mm^{}}C_{\mathrm{}}^{XX^{}},$$
(1)
where $`X,X^{}\mathrm{\Theta },E`$ and consequently are related to the initial curvature power spectrum

$$\zeta ^{}(𝐤)\zeta (𝐤^{})=(2\pi )^3\delta (𝐤𝐤^{})\frac{2\pi ^2}{k^3}\mathrm{\Delta }_\zeta ^2(k).$$
(2)
For slow-roll inflation the initial spectrum is given by (e.g. see MukFelBra92 )

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_\zeta ^2(k)=\frac{G}{\pi ϵ}H_i^2,$$
(3)
where $`H_i`$ is the Hubble parameter, $`ϵ=3(1+w_i)/2`$, and $`w_i`$ is the equation of state, all evaluated when the $`k`$-mode exited the horizon during inflation. To the extent that $`H_i`$ and $`w_i`$ are constant, the spectrum is scale invariant; to the extent that the evolution is small across observable scales, the spectrum is a scale-free power law.

The mappings between the two sets of power spectra are specified by transfer functions

$$\frac{\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}+1)C_{\mathrm{}}^{XX^{}}}{2\pi }=d\mathrm{ln}kT_{\mathrm{}}^X(k)T_{\mathrm{}}^X^{}(k)\mathrm{\Delta }_\zeta ^2(k).$$
(4)
Note that unlike the familiar transfer function of the matter power spectrum, the CMB transfer functions are inherently two-dimensional since they convert spatial fluctuations to angular fluctuations HuSug95b .

These transfer functions are obtained by numerically solving the linearized Einstein-Boltzmann equations. The publically available CMBFast SelZal96  and CAMB LewChaLas00  integral codes do return these functions in principle. However they implicitly assume that the initial conditions are smooth so that the observable power spectra can be rapidly calculated by interpolation in $`\mathrm{}`$ and $`k`$. This interpolation can cause problems if the initial power spectrum contains features that are comparable to the gridding, e.g. typically $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{}=50`$. Traditional Boltzmann hierarchy codes WilSil81 ; BonEfs84 ; WhiSco96  on the other hand solve the equations for every $`\mathrm{}<\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{max}}`$ but typically sample sparsely in the computationally costly $`k`$-modes and so require explicit smoothing in $`\mathrm{}`$ HuScoSugWhi95 .

We have instead developed an independent, fast version of a Boltzmann hierarchy code whose speed without smoothing is comparable to the public codes with an evaluation at every $`\mathrm{}`$. Specifically the code solves the linearized equations HuSelWhiZal98  and the multilevel-atom calibrated 2-level hydrogen and helium recombination equations SeaSasSco99  in the comoving gauge out to $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{max}}=6000`$ with absorptive boundary conditions. We have checked that the agreement with CMBFast v4.3 with RECFast for smooth initial conditions is typically at the few $`10^3`$ level and comparable to the numerical error in CMBFast SelSugWhiZal03 .

For this work, we oversample the transfer functions with 3750 logarithmically spaced $`k`$-modes from $`k=10^{4.35}10^{1.35}`$ Mpc-1 ($`\delta k/k=1.8\times 10^3`$) and 2500 $`k`$-modes from $`10^{1.35}10^{0.35}`$ Mpc-1 ($`\delta k/k=0.9\times 10^3`$). Figure 1 shows the transfer functions for the fiducial flat cosmology with dark energy density $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{DE}}=0.72`$, dark energy equation of state $`w=1`$, matter density $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh^2=0.145`$, baryon density $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2=0.024`$ and reionization optical depth $`\tau =0.17`$.

The most notable feature of the transfer functions is the main projection ridge along the diagonal at $`kD_{}=\mathrm{}`$, where the angular diameter distance to recombination $`D_{}=13.8`$Gpc in the fiducial model. It is instructive to consider first the simple Sachs-Wolfe (SW) SacWol67  limit of purely gravitational effects in a flat universe. Here the temperature fluctuation is a projection of $`1/3`$ of the Newtonian gravitational potential or equivalently $`1/5`$ of the comoving curvature,

$`\mathrm{\Theta }_\mathrm{}m`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑\widehat{𝐧}Y_\mathrm{}m^{}(\widehat{𝐧})\mathrm{\Theta }(\widehat{𝐧})}`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑\widehat{𝐧}Y_\mathrm{}m^{}(\widehat{𝐧})\frac{1}{5}\zeta (𝐱=D_{}\widehat{𝐧})}`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{4}{5}}\pi {\displaystyle \frac{d^3k}{(2\pi )^3}i^{\mathrm{}}j_{\mathrm{}}(kD_{})Y_\mathrm{}m^{}(\widehat{𝐤})\zeta (𝐤)},`$
$`E_\mathrm{}m`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (5)
Terefore comparing Eqn. (1) (2) and (4), we obtain

$`T_{\mathrm{}}^\mathrm{\Theta }(k)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{2\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}+1)}}{5}}j_{\mathrm{}}(kD_{}),`$
$`T_{\mathrm{}}^E(k)`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (6)
By further assuming a fiducial model with a scale-invariant initial power spectrum

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_\zeta ^2(k)|_{\mathrm{fid}}=\delta _\zeta ^2=(5.07\times 10^5)^2,$$
(7)
we can evaluate the integral over $`\mathrm{ln}k`$ to obtain

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}+1)}{2\pi }}C_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{\Theta }\mathrm{\Theta }}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_\zeta ^2}{25}},`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}+1)}{2\pi }}C_{\mathrm{}}^{EE}`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (8)
The sums over $`\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{}`$ yield the spatial power spectra

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{\Theta }^2(k)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=2}{\overset{\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{max}}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}}}T_{\mathrm{}}^\mathrm{\Theta }(k)T_{\mathrm{}}^\mathrm{\Theta }(k)\mathrm{\Delta }_\zeta ^2{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_\zeta ^2}{25}},(\mathrm{}1),`$
$`\mathrm{\Delta }_E^2(k)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}=2}{\overset{\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{max}}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{}}}T_{\mathrm{}}^E(k)T_{\mathrm{}}^E(k)\mathrm{\Delta }_\zeta ^2=0,`$ (9)
which quantifies the contribution per log interval to the field variance $`X(\widehat{𝐧})X(\widehat{𝐧})`$ BonEfs87 . Thus geometric projection represents a power conserving mapping described by the spherical Bessel function $`j_{\mathrm{}}(kD_{})`$. Under the SW approximation the transfer function of Fig. 1 would appear as a diagonal band that narrowed with increasing $`k`$.

The actual transfer functions differ from the SW approximation in interesting ways. Figure 2 compares the $`\mathrm{}`$-space and $`k`$-space power spectra for the fiducial model. The oscillations at high $`k`$ or $`\mathrm{}`$ are the familiar acoustic oscillations. For the temperature transfer function, the oscillations mainly trace the local plasma temperature at recombination and modulate the transfer as $`\mathrm{cos}(ks_{})`$. Here $`s_{}`$ is the sound horizon at recombination; $`s_{}=144.5`$ Mpc-1 in the fiducial model. We will number the $`m`$th acoustic temperature peak as having wavenumber $`k_m=m\pi /s_{}`$.

Figure 3 shows a mode near the $`k_{m=4}`$. Though the projection has a peak at $`\mathrm{}kD_{}`$ with a narrow width of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{}1020`$, there is a strong asymmetry in the tails that skews the transfer of broadband power to $`\mathrm{}<kD_{}`$. This asymmetry reflects the fact that a wave that is nearly parallel to the line-of-sight will have a projected wavenumber $`\mathrm{}kD_{}`$ as the $`j_{\mathrm{}}(kD_{})`$ factor in the transfer implies. The asymmetry in the projection places the angular peaks $`\mathrm{}_m`$ at values that are a few percent less than $`k_mD_{}`$ HuWhi97a . The asymmetry has a larger affect on the broadband power on small scales. Since photon diffusion during recombination cuts off the spectrum at $`k=k_D0.1`$ Mpc-1, a given $`\mathrm{}`$ in the damping tail shows a deficit of broadband power from the oscillating tails of high $`k`$ modes.

Even in $`k`$-space, there is finite power at half integral $`m`$. Here the plasma velocity induces a Doppler effect that modulates the transfer function as $`\mathrm{sin}(ks_{})`$. Moreover the $`\mathrm{}`$-structure of the transfer function differs qualitatively from the SW result. Since the velocity transverse to the line of sight yields no Doppler effect, the transfer function distributes $`k`$-power as $`j_{\mathrm{}}^{}`$ instead of $`j_{\mathrm{}}`$ HuSug95b . In Fig. 3 we show a mode with $`m=5/2`$. Notice that there is no concentration of power near $`\mathrm{}=kD_{}`$. Since power in these modes is distributed only broadband in $`\mathrm{}`$, recovery of features in the initial power spectrum at these wavenumbers from the temperature power spectrum will be severely limited.

At $`k\pi /s_{}`$, effects between recombination and the present further broaden the transfer of power. As the photons traverse decaying potentials wells (hills) during the end of radiation domination and the onset of dark energy domination, they suffer a net gravitational blueshift (redshift). We call latter the integrated Sachs Wolfe effect SacWol67  and the former the radiation effect (also known as the early ISW effect HuSug95b ). Since the distance to the observer is now $`D<D_{}`$, the projection takes the power to lower $`\mathrm{}`$ or larger angles. Conversely a single $`\mathrm{}`$ acquires power from a broad range in $`k`$. We show individual $`\mathrm{}`$-elements of the transfer function in Fig. 4 for $`\mathrm{}=2`$, $`\mathrm{}_{m=2}=531`$ and $`\mathrm{}_{m=3}=812`$. Note the broad distribution in $`\mathrm{ln}k`$ for contributions to the temperature quadrupole $`\mathrm{}=2`$. Even at the $`m`$th peak in $`\mathrm{}`$ there are secondary contributions from the wavenumbers near $`k_{m+1/2}`$ due to the broad projection of the Doppler effect.

The acoustic and projection limitations of the temperature power spectrum are largely removed with polarization information. Near the end of recombination, photon diffusion creates local quadrupolar temperature anisotropy. Thomson scattering of radiation with a quadrupolar temperature anisotropy linearly polarizes it. The acoustic polarization transfer is therefore modulated according to velocity gradients or $`(k/k_D)\mathrm{sin}(ks_{})`$ and like the Doppler effect is out of phase with the local temperature. Unlike the Doppler effect, the projection of polarization is sharp (see Fig. 3). The spherical decomposition of plane wave $`E`$-polarization projects as ZalSel97

$$j_{\mathrm{}}(kD_{})\sqrt{\frac{3}{8}\frac{(\mathrm{}+2)!}{(\mathrm{}2)!}}\frac{j_{\mathrm{}}(kD_{})}{(kD_{})^2},$$
(10)
leading to a nearly diagonal transfer function (see Fig. 1). Furthermore there is only one source of acoustic polarization unlike the temperature and so the power spectrum in $`k`$ space $`\mathrm{\Delta }_E^2(k)`$ possesses zeros at $`k_m`$, where $`m`$ is an integer. These sharp features in $`k`$ are only moderately smoothed by the projection. Finally the low $`k`$, low $`\mathrm{}`$ end of the polarization transfer function is dominated by rescattering during reionization. The projection remains fairly sharp in comparison to the ISW dominated temperature projection though the shorter distance to the reionization epoch leads to a slightly larger $`\mathrm{}`$ for a given $`k`$.

In summary, the temperature and polarization fields are complementary in the transfer function, both in the out-of-phase acoustic power in $`k`$ and in the sharpness of the geometric projection to $`\mathrm{}`$. With both spectra and the cross correlation, there is high sensitivity to the initial power spectrum in the whole acoustic range $`k0.020.2`$ Mpc-1 with projection limiting the sharpness of features in $`\mathrm{}`$ to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{}1020`$. The reionization bump in the polarization also offers a cleaner probe of the long wavelength modes. Although it is still severely limited by cosmic variance and the determination of the reionization history from smaller scale modes, polarization can in principle provide an incisive test for long wavelength power in our horizon volume. It can then determine whether the anomalously small low order temperature multipoles found by COBE and WMAP are due to a lack of long wavelength power in our horizon volume or a chance cancellation with more local effects.

## III Discrete Representation and Gravitational Lensing

Due to the geometric projection and, as we shall see, gravitational lensing, sharp features in the initial power spectrum will not be preserved in the observable angular power spectra. For these reasons the transfer function cannot be inverted directly to obtain the initial power spectrum from the measured angular power spectra even with perfect measurements. Furthermore, as we shall see in the next section, the transfer function itself depends on cosmological parameters that must be jointly estimated from the data.

Given the physical limitations of the transfer function it is convenient to represent the initial power spectrum by a discrete set of parameters. This discretization will also facilitate the treatment of gravitational lensing below. Specifically, we represent the initial power spectrum as

$$\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Delta }_\zeta ^2(k)=\mathrm{ln}\delta _\zeta ^2+\underset{i}{}p_iW_i(\mathrm{ln}k),$$
(11)
where $`W`$ is the triangle window

$`W_i(\mathrm{ln}k)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{max}(1\left|{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{ln}k\mathrm{ln}k_i}{\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{ln}k}}\right|,0),`$ (12)
and we have assumed a constant

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{ln}k=\mathrm{ln}k_{i+1}\mathrm{ln}k_i.$$
(13)
The parameters $`p_i`$ then represent perturbations about the fiducial scale invariant model with $`\delta _\zeta =5.07\times 10^5`$. An arbitrary initial power spectrum is then represented as the linear interpolation in a log-log plot of points sampled at $`k_i`$. If the initial power spectrum contains features below the sampling rate then the points represent averages through the windows. This parameterization preserves the positive definiteness of the initial power spectrum at the expense of making the initial power spectrum non-linear in the parameters.

We can now define the infinitesimal response in the observable power spectra to the initial power parameters

$`D_\mathrm{}i^{XX^{}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{C_{\mathrm{}}^{XX^{}}}{p_i}}|_{\mathrm{fid}}`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\pi }{\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}+1)}}{\displaystyle d\mathrm{ln}kT_{\mathrm{}}^X(k)T_{\mathrm{}}^X^{}(k)\delta _\zeta ^2W_i}.`$
This response function is a true transfer matrix for small perturbations $`p_i`$ from the fiducial model,

$$C_{\mathrm{}}^{XX^{}}C_{\mathrm{}}^{XX^{}}|_{\mathrm{fid}}+\underset{i}{}D_\mathrm{}i^{XX^{}}p_i.$$
(15)
In Fig. 5 (solid lines) we show this transfer matrix for three choices of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{ln}k=0.09`$, $`0.05`$ and $`0.02`$ and $`k_ik_{m=6}0.13`$ Mpc-1. Note that the intrinsic resolution from the projection is only being reached at the finest binning for this high a $`k`$.

The necessity of fine binning at high $`k`$ reflects a trade-off in the choice of parameterization of the initial power spectrum. A logarithmic parameterization facilitates working with traditional approaches. Inflationary deviations from scale-invariance are usually quantified by the tilt $`n`$ and its running $`\alpha `$

$`\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Delta }_\zeta ^2(k)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{ln}\delta _\zeta ^2+(n1)\mathrm{ln}({\displaystyle \frac{k}{k_0}})+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\alpha \mathrm{ln}^2({\displaystyle \frac{k}{k_0}}).`$ (16)
Thus the traditional parameterization is a Taylor expansion in log-log space around the pivot point $`\mathrm{ln}k_0`$. As a Taylor expansion, this parameterization can only be extended to a large dynamic range $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{ln}(k/k_0)>1`$ if $`\alpha (1n)1`$ and can yield misleading results if extended beyond its regime of applicability. Nevertheless, the effect of $`n`$ and $`\alpha `$ can be easily constructed from the discrete parameters

$`p_i`$ $``$ $`(n1)\mathrm{ln}({\displaystyle \frac{k_i}{k_0}})+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\alpha \mathrm{ln}^2({\displaystyle \frac{k_i}{k_0}}),`$ (17)
to high accuracy with logarithmically spaced modes.

The drawback of a logarithmic representation is that the geometric projection causes a smoothing that is roughly linear in $`\mathrm{}`$ and hence the minimum $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{}/\mathrm{}`$ of features decreases with $`\mathrm{}`$. However there is a second fundamental limitation on features in the power spectrum that takes over at high $`\mathrm{}`$: gravitational lensing Sel96b .

Gravitational lensing deflects each line of sight according to the angular gradient in the projected potential $`\varphi `$

$`\widehat{𝐧}`$ $``$ $`\widehat{𝐧}+\varphi (\widehat{𝐧}),`$
$`\varphi (\widehat{𝐧})`$ $`=`$ $`2{\displaystyle 𝑑D_c\frac{D_{}D}{D_{}D}\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐱=\widehat{𝐧}D,D_c)},`$ (18)
where the conformal lookback time $`D_c=D`$ in the flat fiducial model. $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is the Newtonian curvature and it is related to the density perturbation in the comoving gauge by the Poisson equation. In the fiducial cosmology, an rms deflection of $`\sigma _d3^{}`$ arises from the projected potential

$$\sigma _d^2=\underset{\mathrm{}}{}\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}+1)\frac{2\mathrm{}+1}{4\pi }C_{\mathrm{}}^{\varphi \varphi }$$
(19)
and gets its main contributions from $`\mathrm{}50`$. In other words, the arcminute scale deflections have a coherence of several degrees. Also important are the fluctuations at the arcminute scale which cause a deflection of a few arcseconds.

Following the linearized all-sky harmonic approach Hu00b , the change in the observed power spectrum is

$`\delta C_l^{XX^{}}`$ $`=`$ $`[\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}+1){\displaystyle \frac{s_X^2+s_X^{}^2}{2}}]{\displaystyle \frac{\sigma _d^2}{2}}C_{\mathrm{}}^{XX^{}}`$
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}_2}{}}C_\mathrm{}_1^{\varphi \varphi }C_\mathrm{}_2^{XX^{}}({}_{s_X}{}^{}M_{\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}_2}^{})({}_{s_X^{}}{}^{}M_{\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}_2}^{}),`$
where $`s_\mathrm{\Theta }=0`$ and $`s_E=2`$ and the mode coupling term

$`{}_{s}{}^{}M_{\mathrm{}\mathrm{}_1\mathrm{}_2}^{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}[\mathrm{}_1(\mathrm{}_1+1)+\mathrm{}_2(\mathrm{}_2+1)\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}+1)]`$ (24)
$`\times \sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{(2\mathrm{}_1+1)(2\mathrm{}_2+1)}{4\pi }}}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{}& \mathrm{}_1& \mathrm{}_2\\ s& 0& s\end{array}\right),`$
if $`\mathrm{}+\mathrm{}_1+\mathrm{}_2=`$ even; 0 if odd.

This mode coupling leads to a broadening of features in the angular power spectra in two ways. The main effect is a large-angle warping of the temperature and polarization maps that does not change the overall power in sub-degree scale fluctuations. Here the two terms in Eqn. (III) mainly cancel and the linearized approximation retains validity beyond $`\mathrm{}^2\sigma _d^2/2=1`$ except for unphysical spectra with features of $`\delta \mathrm{}1`$ Sel96b . However they induce a smoothing effect on features in the angular power spectrum and hence place a limit on resolving features in the initial curvature spectrum. In the absence of lensing, the resolution in harmonic space $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{}`$ is set by the fundamental mode of the survey, i.e. for the full sky $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{}=1`$. In the presence of lensing, the incoherence of the deflections in patches subtending more than a few degrees effectively prevents their mosaicing to achieve higher resolution. This effect places a resolution limit of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{}50`$ for the modes $`\mathrm{}10^3`$ for which arcminute scale deflections are important. Thus a sampling rate of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{ln}k=0.05`$ is sufficient even on these scales.

The second effect is from the smaller deflections with arcminute scale coherence. These induce additional arcminute scale fluctuations from the distortion of primary fluctuations on larger scales Zal00 . In the fiducial model, this secondary power becomes comparable to the primary power in temperature at $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{sec}}3000`$ and essentially eliminates the primary information on the initial power spectrum beyond $`k\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{sec}}/D_{}0.02`$ Mpc-1. Thus a sampling rate of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{ln}k=0.05`$ suffices for the whole observable regime.

On the other hand the lensing potential power spectrum $`C_{\mathrm{}}^{\varphi \varphi }`$ is also a source of information about the curvature fluctuations at late times. Unfortunately due to the projection in Eqn. (18), lensing has little ability to distinguish sharp features in the initial power spectrum and even the interpretation of broadband power depends on the dark-energy and massive-neutrino dependent growth rate of structure KapKnoSon03 . We ignore the information here by neglecting the sensitivity to the parameters coming from $`C_{\mathrm{}}^{\varphi \varphi }/p_i`$ and the information in the $`B`$-mode polarization. In this approximation, derivatives of the lensed CMB power spectra in Eqn. (III) are simply given by the lensing of the power spectrum derivatives calculated from the transfer functions. In Fig. 5 (dashed lines) we show the effect of gravitational lensing on the power transfer. Now even features with $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{ln}k=0.05`$ are limited by lensing. We will hereafter adopt this spacing as the fiducial choice which leads to 200 parameters for the initial power spectrum.

## IV Statistical Forecasts and Cosmological Parameters

A third limitation on the recovery of the initial power spectrum comes from degeneracy with cosmological parameters such as the energy density of the particle constituents of the universe today. We employ the Fisher matrix technique to study the effect of degeneracies. Construction of the Fisher matrix will also be the first step in building statistics that are immune to cosmological parameter uncertainty.

We begin by appending the $`n_c`$ cosmological parameters to the initial power vector $`p_i`$ to form the joint parameter vector $`p_\mu `$, $`\mu =1,\mathrm{},n_k,\mathrm{},n_k+n_c`$. The Fisher matrix for a cosmic variance limited measurement out to $`\mathrm{}=\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{sec}}`$ is

$$F_{\mu \nu }=\underset{\mathrm{}=2}{\overset{\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{sec}}}{}}\frac{2\mathrm{}+1}{2}\mathrm{Tr}[𝐃_\mathrm{}\mu 𝐂_{\mathrm{}}^1𝐃_\nu \mathrm{}𝐂_{\mathrm{}}^1],$$
(25)
where we have suppressed the $`XX^{}`$ indices in a matrix notation for the derivatives and the power; here

$$(𝐃_\mathrm{}\mu )_{XX^{}}=D_\mathrm{}\mu ^{XX^{}}\frac{C_{\mathrm{}}}{p_\mu }$$
(26)
is the generalization of the transfer matrix Eqn. (III). Given gravitational lensing constraints and other sources of foreground contamination, we will take $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{sec}}=3000`$.

The inverse Fisher matrix approximates the covariance matrix of the parameters. In particular, the marginalized 1-$`\sigma `$ errors on a given parameter $`\sigma (p_\mu )`$ are given by

$$\sigma ^2(p_\mu )=C_{\mu \mu }(𝐅^1)_{\mu \mu }.$$
(27)
The Fisher matrix also allows for a simple conversion between representations of the parameter set $`p_a`$ and $`p_\mu `$

$$F_{\mathrm{ab}}=\underset{\mu \nu }{}\frac{p_\mu }{p_a}F_{\mu \nu }\frac{p_\nu }{p_b},$$
(28)
where $`p_a`$ can have a lower dimensionality, e.g. by going from the initial power parameterization of $`p_i`$ to $`n`$ and $`\alpha `$ through Eqn. (17).

In Fig. 6, we show the statistical errors on the initial power spectrum parameters $`p_i`$. Even in the absence of cosmological parameters ($`n_c=0`$) the constraints on the $`p_i`$ are strongly modulated by the acoustic oscillations with temperature information alone. The $`k`$-modes associated with the acoustic troughs (half integral $`m`$) are poorly constrained while those associated with the peaks (integral $`m`$) are fairly well constrained. For low $`k`$, both the projection and cosmic variance severely limits the resolution in $`k`$ leading to a strong anticorrelation between points. Hence only broadband power and not features can be recovered. For $`k>0.2`$ Mpc-1 the cut off at $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{sec}}=3000`$ limits the information.

With the addition of the polarization and cross spectra information, the modulation of errors with the peaks reverses. Now modes associated with acoustic troughs are better constrained than those associated with the peaks. The polarization information becomes even more important once the cosmological parameters are added back in. In Fig. 6 we take 6 additional parameters $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_mh^2`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{DE}}`$, $`w`$, $`\tau `$ and $`r`$, where $`r`$ is the tensor-scalar ratio. With temperature information alone, the ability to measure an individual $`p_i`$ is essentially completely destroyed since the response to a cosmological parameter can always be mimicked by a particular superposition of $`p_i`$’s Kin01 . However only six such combinations are lost and so with the addition of polarization information with its complementary transfer function, the effect of marginalizing cosmological parameters is fairly small. In fact even with temperature information alone, there are modes that are very well constrained. The raw marginalized errors on $`p_i`$ are misleading in that they do not show the covariance. It is therefore useful to find a more efficient representation of the information that accounts for projection, lensing and cosmological parameters.

## V Principal Components and Deviated Spectrum

Given the limitations imposed by projection, lensing and cosmology what kinds of deviations from a scale-free initial spectrum can the CMB best probe? To answer this question, we now consider a principal component representation of features.

The information retained after including these three effects is quantified by the covariance matrix of the deviation parameters $`p_i`$, the $`C_{ij}`$ subblock of the joint covariance matrix $`C_{\mu \nu }`$. Employing the Fisher matrix approximation of the last section, we can determine the principal component representation based on the orthonormal eigenvectors $`S_{ia}`$ of $`C_{ij}`$

$$C_{ij}=A^2\underset{a}{}S_{ia}\sigma _a^2S_{ja},$$
(29)
where $`A`$ is a normalization parameter. For a fixed $`a`$, $`S_{ia}`$ specifies a linear combination of the deviation parameters $`p_i`$ for a new representation of the spectrum

$$m_a=A\underset{i}{}S_{ia}p_i,$$
(30)
where the covariance matrix of the mode amplitudes is given by

$$m_am_b=\sigma _a^2\delta _{ab}.$$
(31)
This relationship can also be derived from Eqn. (28). In other words, the eigenvectors form a new basis that is complete and yields uncorrelated orthogonal measurements with variance given by the eigenvalues. We choose the normalization $`A=(\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{ln}k)^{1/2}`$ so that a $`m_a=1`$ corresponds to a deviation with unit variance when integrated over $`d\mathrm{ln}k`$, i.e.

$$A^2d\mathrm{ln}kS_{ia}^2\underset{i}{}S_{ia}^2=1.$$
(32)
Modes corresponding to combinations that are degenerate with cosmological parameters or due to the projection and lensing have high eigenvalues and high variances and may be removed without loss of information.

In Fig. 7, we show the first five eigenvectors of the covariance matrix including both temperature and polarization information. In this case we append $`\mathrm{ln}\delta _\zeta `$ (or $`\mathrm{ln}A`$) and $`n`$ to the list of cosmological parameters included in §IV. By doing so, the best constrained eigenvectors automatically null out changes in the amplitude and tilt and so can be interpreted as the best modes to search for deviations from scale-free initial conditions. They also tend to null out any slowly varying component from residual secondary effects and foregrounds. As a consequence, their form is similar to Fourier modes confined to the well-measured acoustic regime $`0.020.2`$ Mpc-1 with the constant and gradient term (in $`\mathrm{ln}k`$) removed. For the cosmic variance temperature and polarization spectra assumed in the Fisher matrix calculation, the mode errors are shown in Fig. 8 (solid line) and remain below the percent level for $`50`$ modes.

Note that truncation of the eigenmodes does not limit types of initial spectra that can be tested against the measurements $`m_a`$ since any spectrum may be projected onto the measurement basis. As an example, consider constraints on a constant running of the tilt $`\alpha `$ in the measurement basis. Each mode independently measures $`\alpha `$ with a variance

$$\sigma _a^2(\alpha )=AS_{ia}\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{ln}^2(\frac{k_i}{k_0}),$$
(33)
where the pivot $`k_0`$ is arbitrary since the $`S_{ia}`$ null out a constant deviation. Since each measurement is independent, the total variance is given by

$$\frac{1}{\sigma ^2(\alpha )}=\underset{a=1}{\overset{a_{\mathrm{max}}}{}}\frac{1}{\sigma _a^2(\alpha )}.$$
(34)
This cumulative sum is shown in Fig. 8 (dashed line). Information on $`\alpha `$ is efficiently captured in the first 10 eigenmodes.

The principal component technique can be made into a practical tool for searches for deviations from scale-free initial curvature fluctuations. The best measured modes are fairly smooth and take forms that are independent of the discretization $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{ln}k`$ of the underlying representation. Hence they may be replaced by a continuous representation for parameter estimation with an efficient integral code such as CMBFast or CAMB. The parameters $`m_a`$ can then be added in the usual way to a Monte Carlo Markov Chain. Deviations of the true model from the assumed fiducial model in constructing the eigenmodes and non-linearities in the parameter dependence will degrade the statistical orthogonality of modes implied by Eqn. (31). These covariances will nonetheless be captured in the likelihood exploration. The process may also be iterated if the assumed eigenvectors deviate substantially from those of the best fit cosmology.

Furthermore, although we have assumed a perfect experiment here to determine the limitations imposed by physical processes on feature recovery, the techniques are readily optimized for specific experiments. One simply replaces the power spectra in Eqn. (25) for the Fisher matrix with the total signal and noise power spectra of a given experiment. In Fig. 9, we show a simple example where the experiment is parameterized by a white noise level in $`\mu `$K-radian $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ and the FWHM of a Gaussian beam $`\theta `$. Here

$`C_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{\Theta }\mathrm{\Theta }}|_{\mathrm{noise}}`$ $`=`$ $`({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }T}{T}})^2e^{\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}+1)\theta ^2/8\mathrm{ln}2},`$
$`C_{\mathrm{}}^{EE}|_{\mathrm{noise}}`$ $`=`$ $`2({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }T}{T}})^2e^{\mathrm{}(\mathrm{}+1)\theta ^2/8\mathrm{ln}2},`$
$`C_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{\Theta }E}|_{\mathrm{noise}}`$ $`=`$ $`0.`$ (35)
We show the best eigenmode for two examples that roughly bracket the expectations for the completed WMAP and Planck missions. Note that the main effect is to replace the cutoff imposed by $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{sec}}`$ with that of the beam. However the smaller $`\mathrm{}`$ range and the loss of polarization in the high noise example complicate the form of the mode because it adjusts to remain orthogonal to the cosmological parameters.

## VI Discussion

Physical limitations imposed by the formation and evolution of CMB temperature and polarization anisotropy limit the ability to recover the initial power spectrum from even perfect measurements of angular power spectra. The initial power spectrum can be well measured in the acoustic regime $`k=0.020.2`$ Mpc-1 but projection and gravitational lensing prevents resolution of features smaller than $`\mathrm{\Delta }k/k0.05`$. The complementary acoustic polarization information greatly assists in filling in the coverage near the acoustic troughs and in immunizing the determination to cosmological parameter degeneracies. Furthermore polarization in principle offers a cleaner probe of long-wavelength power through reionization effects. Beyond purely two-point statistics in the temperature and polarization fields, the limitations of gravitational lensing can in principle be removed HuOka01 ; HirSel03 . This can moderately improve the resolution of features but will only be possible with ultra-high precision polarization measurements across nearly the whole sky.

We have constructed the best statistics for measuring deviations from scale-free initial conditions given these physical limitations on power spectra. They are constructed from the principal components of the covariance matrix. These modes resemble a Fourier expansion of the initial spectrum that is localized to the acoustic regime. Approximately 50 modes in this regime ultimately can be measured with percent level precision. These modes can provide many independent measurements of model-motivated parameters such as the running of the tilt as a consistency check that such simpler parameterizations are adequate.

Although beyond the scope of this work, the principal component technique can be developed into a practical tool for the search for deviations from scale-free conditions with current experiments. These may also include non-CMB sources with the appropriate addition of Fisher matrices. Here the physical limitations imposed on the modes would be supplemented by experimental limitations. The principal component technique provides a general, physically-motivated and complementary tool for the study of the initial power spectrum and its implications for early universe physics.

Acknowledgments: This work was supported by NASA NAG5-10840 and the DOE OJI program. We thank the Aspen Center for Physics and the participants of the CMB workshop, epecially endgamers S. Bridle, M. Kaplinghat, A. Lewis, S. Myers, B. Wandelt, and Y. Wang.


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# Proof-of-Concept Experiments for Quantum Physics in Space

## I Introduction

Space provides a unique ”lab”-environment for quantum entanglement: In the case of massive particles, the weak gravitational interaction enables the expansion of testing fundamental quantum properties to much more massive particles than is possible today Arndt02 . In the case of photons, the space environment allows much larger propagation distances compared to earth-bound free space experiments. This is mainly due to the lack of atmosphere and due to the fact that space links do not encounter the problem of obscured line-of-sight by unwanted objects or due to the curvature of the Earth. Quantum experiments over long distances are usually based on the transmission of photons. Earth-based transmission is limited, however, to some hundred kilometers both for optical fibers Waks02 ; Gisin02  and for ground-to-ground free-space links Horvath02 . The added value of space will open up new possibilities for true long-distance experiments based on quantum entanglement utilizing satellites.

At present, ESA and NASA are hosting five experimental missions concerned primarily with fundamental physics in space, namely LISA LISA03a , OPTIS OPTIS01a , GP-B GPB03a , MICROSCOPE MICROSCOPE01a  and STEP STEP03a  111European Space Agency (ESA); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA); Satellite Based Optical Test of Special and General Relativity (OPTIS); Gravity Probe-B (GP-B); MICROSatellite pour l’Observation du Principe d’Equivalence (MICROSCOPE); Satellite Test of the Equivalence Principle (STEP). We suggest in the following a series of proof-of-concept demonstrations for quantum physics experiments in space. The first part of the paper introduces several fundamental tests concerning both the nature of quantum correlations and the interplay between quantum physics and relativity. In the second part, we identify a test of Bell’s inequality over astronomical distances as the first important achievement for entanglement-based quantum experiments in space. We propose a series of experiments consisting of three stages, each based on the other, which will eventually lead to the first satellite-based demonstration of violating a Bell inequality over distances that are not feasible with only earth-bound technology. This will also be of importance for future applications of novel quantum communication technologies based on satellites Aspelmeyer03a .

## II Fundamental Tests of Quantum Physics in Space

In the following, we conceive experiments for the demonstration of fundamental principles of quantum physics, which make advantageous use of the space infrastructure. Specifically, we will exploit the possibilities of satellite-distributed quantum entanglement with photons. Those experiments, although envisioned to be realizable only as long-term projects, include

* a Bell experiment using only satellites to demonstrate quantum correlations over astronomical distances (see Sect. II.1.1),
* a Bell experiment utilizing the freedom of choice of human observers as the necessary random element in choosing the measurement basis(see Sect. II.1.2),
* experiments testing different models considering the collapse of the wave function as a physical process (see Sect. II.1.3),
* experiments concerning special relativistic and general relativistic effects on quantum entanglement (see Sect. II.2), and
* Wheeler’s delayed choice experiment (see Sect. II.3).

### II.1 Testing Bell-type inequalities

Classical physics is based on the assumptions of locality and realism. Reality supposes that results of measurements are associated to properties that the particles carry prior to and independent of measurements. Locality supposes that the measurement results are independent of any action performed at spacelike separated locations. Local realism imposes certain constraints on statistical correlations of measurements on multi-particle systems (Bell inequalities) Bell64 . Quantum mechanics, however, violates the Bell inequalities and is therefore in contradiction with at least one of the underlying principles. Up to now, many experiments have been performed confirming the quantum mechanical predictions (for an overview of these so-called ”Bell experiments” see for example Tittel and Weihs Tittel01a ). To perform such kind of experiments over long (even astronomic) distances would verify the validity of quantum physics and the preservation of entanglement on these scales (see Sec. II.1.1). Additionally, a Bell experiment is always the first step towards the experimental realization of entanglement based quantum communication schemes. Furthermore, a possible decay in the quantum correlations can be used to test relativistic influences (see Sec. II.2) and models proposing a physical collapse of the wave function (see Sec. II.1.3).

#### II.1.1 Bell experiments over long distances

Photons are ideal for propagating over long-distances in vacuum. The experimental prerequisites to perform Bell experiments are a source of entangled photons (located in the transmitter terminal) and two analyzing receiver-terminals, which individually can vary their measurement basis and store the arrival time of single-photon detection events with respect to a local time standard. Specifically, in the case of polarization-entangled photons, polarization measurements are performed with varying polarizer settings at each receiver site. To guarantee the independence of the measurements in each of the receiver-terminals, the measurements have to be space-like separated. This is more readily accomplished over large distances between the receiver terminals. In the long run, the optimal solution for a Bell experiment over long distances would be to exclude atmospheric losses by placing both receiver terminals and the transmitter terminal on independent satellites (see fig. 1).

This scheme would allow an almost arbitrary variation of the distances between the different terminals. At the same time, different relative velocities can be chosen, which is also be desirable for other experiments proposed in this paper (e.g. the experiments utilizing special relativistic effects). The actual achievable distance is ultimately limited by the size of the transmitting and receiving telescopes.

#### II.1.2 An ultimate Bell experiment

A fully conclusive experiment to test the violation of a Bell inequality has to obey true randomness in the choice of the measurement settings: the experimenters’ measurement choices have to be assumed to be uncorrelated with properties of the measured system prior to measurement (“free will” criterion) Bell85 . Thus far, all experiments utilized classical or quantum random number automata for the choice of their measurement. However, in a completely deterministic universe, the free will criterion may not be met, since these choices of the settings could be conspiratorially correlated with the properties of the measured system 222Note, that this scenario would also make the conceptual distinction between ”locality” and ”non-locality” obsolete.. In order to lead the determinism-argument completely ad absurdum, we suggest to take the ”free-will” criterion literally and involve two human beings in the Bell experiment, who decide on the choice of the measurement settings freely and independent from each other. In this case, a violation of a Bell inequality would imply, for a deterministic view, that even our free will is conspiratorially correlated with the properties of the measured system.

To perform this ultimate Bell experiment, two astronauts have to be placed apart far enough to make sure that their decisions which measurement to perform are space-like separated during the experiments and to ensure that they have sufficient time to make these decisions. Specifically, if we assume a transmitter terminal emitting entangled photon pairs mid-way between the astronauts and if we safely grant each of the astronauts one second of time to make his conscious decision of parameter settings333We note that it takes of the order of 0.1 s to make a conscious decision., the two of them would have to be separated by at least two light seconds, i.e. approx. $`\mathrm{600\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ km 444That way the astronaut’s free choice is made at a time after the entangled photon pair has been emitted and thus cannot influence the creation of the state.. To reach the necessary distance between the two astronauts, it would suffice to place them in opposing directions at approximately the distance of the moon. One possible scenario is as follows: the two astronauts and the source are all placed in orbits around Earth such that during some periods of time the distances necessary to perform the experiment are reached (see Fig. 2a). Alternatively, it is in principle possible to send only one astronaut to space while the second experimenter stays on Earth. The advantage of a completely space-based scenario is of course the absence of atmospheric losses.

A different scenario could be combined with a future Mars mission. One experimenter accompanies the mission while the second one stays on Earth (or on-board the ISS to exclude atmospheric influences) and the source of entangled photon pairs is sent to an orbit between the orbits of Earth and Mars. As soon as the necessary distances are reached the experiment can be performed (see Fig. 2b).

#### II.1.3 Experiments testing the physical collapse of the wave function

In a quantum measurement, we find the system to be in one of the eigenstates of the observable defined by the measurement apparatus. A specific example is the measurement on a wave packet. Such a wave packet is more or less well-localized, but we can always perform a position measurement on a wave packet which is better localized than the dimension of the packet itself. This so-called ”collapse of the wave function” is a change in the quantum state of a system which is sometimes viewed as a real physical process. Although we do not share the view that the collapse of the wave function 555The wave function is a purely mathematical description of the knowledge about the system. When the state of a quantum system has a non-zero value at some position in space at some particular time it does not mean that the system is physically present at that point, but only that our knowledge (or lack of knowledge) of the system allows for the possibility of being present at that point at that instant. is a physical process, we may still ask with which velocity such a collapse would propagate Scarani00 . Experimental tests might exploit the fact that, assuming the collapse takes place in a preferred reference frame, the observation of quantum correlations in a moving reference frame allows to give a lower bound on the speed Scarani00 . Present experiments give lower bounds for the velocity of a potential physical collapse up to $`10^7`$ times the speed of light Zbinden01a . Bringing such experiments to space could drastically expand the testable scale, primarily due to the large distances involved and the high speeds of the satellites.

### II.2 Tests of special and general relativistic effects on quantum entanglement

#### II.2.1 Experiments involving special relativistic effects

Due to the potentially high velocities and large distances in space experiments, it might be of interest to consider possible relativistic effects on entanglement, although it is obvious that these effects will not be dominating. A recent overview on many of these effects has been given by Peres and Terno Peres02a .

Recent research shows that the entanglement of polarization-entangled photon pairs depends in general on the observers’ reference frame Bergou03a , in other words, polarization entanglement alone is not a Lorentz-invariant scalar. Yet, the overall entanglement in the full Hilbert space of the two photons is preserved under Lorentz transformation, which means that entanglement is effectively transferred between the degrees of freedom polarization and momentum Milburn02a ; Gingrich02a ; Li02a . Similar effects can also be observed for massive particles between spin and momentum. Note that, in a standard lab experiment, such transformations would require the use of optical elements such as polarizing beamsplitters Zukowski88 .

To test the behaviour of entanglement under Lorentz transformations, scenarios have to be found in which the relative velocities between observers and a transmitter terminal carrying the entangled source is high enough to allow for the measurement of special relativistic effects. To arrive at high relative velocities, the space–to–space scenario is again the most flexible one, also since all the other Bell experiments can easily be performed using the same resources.

#### II.2.2 Experiments involving general relativistic effects

When sharing entanglement over distances comparable to or greater than the distance Sun - Earth, one has to consider the possibility of gravitational influences on entanglement.

Polarization- and spin-entanglement leads to correlations between the outcomes of polarization (or spin) measurements on both of the particles. Such measurements however, can only have an unambiguous operational meaning if directions like ”horizontal” or ”vertical” (”up” or ”down”) on each side are well defined. Many experimental schemes for quantum communication (e.g. quantum key distribution) require a common reference frame between the observers 666A counter-example are Bell-type experiments, which do not need a common reference frame.. For two particles moving apart, the initially joint reference frames, which yield perfect correlations will be parallel-transported along their individual trajectories. In general, however, quantum particles need not be associated with a unique trajectory. Therefore, one has to take into account all paths a particle can possibly take and sum up the effects of gravity on the particle along these ways weighted by their probability-amplitudes. For each path, the reference frame yielding perfect correlations will be slightly different. Recently it was suggested, that this can lead to a decrease in the correlations between two particles Mensky00a ; Terashima03 . Bell-experiments over sufficiently large distances might be able to demonstrate such effects although up to now the work on this field is purely conceptual and no theoretical predictions have been made as to quantify the expected decrease in quantum correlations in actual experiments.

#### II.2.3 Entanglement-Enhanced Interferometry

Quantum entanglement allows to effectively increase the phase-sensitivity $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }`$ of interferometers. By preparing specific photon-number entangled states in the arms of an interferometer $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }`$ can be improved quadratically from $`1/\sqrt{N}`$ to $`1/N`$, where N is the number of photons in the input state entering the interferometer Caves80a ; Jacobson95 . Dowling Dowling98a  derived a general formalism valid for fermions and bosons and provided estimates for the performance of optical, atom-beam, and atom-laser interferometers 777Note, that a direct comparison between atomic and optical interferometers has to take into account the momentum, the flux and the roundtrip time (time needed for a particle to pass through the interferometer) of the particles involved. While photons have clear disadvantages concerning their momentum, atoms suffer from low flux and long roundtrip times.. For example, an optical entanglement-enhanced interferometer might be up to $`10^8`$ times more sensitive than a regular interferometer for the same number of photons passing through the interferometer 888With today’s state of the art technology, however, the possible flux achievable for single photon interferometers is incomparably higher than for entanglement-enhanced interferometers..

##### Testing the Lense-Thirring effect using entanglement

Though general relativity is in many ways an established theory there are still some of its central predictions that need accurate testing like the Lense-Thirring effect Lense18 . This effect is due to the dragging of inertial frames in the vicinity of rotating gravitating bodies like Earth, which induces an anisotropy in the surrounding space-time Misner73a ; Ciufolini95a . First experimental evidence has already been collected by the LAGEOS and LAGEOS II satellites Ciufolini98a . In general, this anisotropy is experimentally accessible via the Sagnac effect, by which a preferred direction in an interferometer creates a phase shift between interfering modes (see e.g. Stedman Stedman97a ). Specifically, a weak gravitational field results in a phase-shift

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Psi }=\frac{4\pi }{\lambda }𝑑x^ih_{0i},$$
(1)
where $`\lambda `$ is the mean wavelength in the absence of rotation. $`h_{\mu \nu }`$ describes the deviation of the metric tensor from the Minkowski-metric ($`\eta _{\mu \nu }`$) and thus a small deviation from flat space-time: $`g_{\mu \nu }=\eta _{\mu \nu }+h_{\mu \nu }`$. This is an important objective of the HYPER-mission, which will be using ”hyper”-cold-atom interferometers with increased experimental resolution to obtain more accurate measurements of the Lense-Thirring effect. An additional increase is to be expected by the use of entanglement-enhanced interferometry (see Sec. II.2.3). A general requirement for such experiments would be an optical interferometer in space. Since large optical distances should be covered, one can ideally imagine a flotilla configuration of satellites, where optical path lengths can be stabilized down to sub-wavelength scales. Such flotilla configurations are currently being investigated by ESA and NASA as high-resolution telescopes based on nulling interferometry Darwin .

##### Testing Gödel’s cosmological model

In 1949 Gödel suggested an alternative solution for Einstein’s field equations of gravitation by assuming a net rotation of the universe as a whole Godel49 . It was recently pointed out by Delgado et al. Suessmann02a , how an entanglement-enhanced interferometric resolution might lead to the possibility to experimentally test for Gödel’s cosmological model. Since rotating masses are involved, the experimental scheme is naturally equivalent to the one used for the test of the Lense-Thirring effect (see above). Taking into account the overall mass density distribution (Delgado et al. assume $`\rho =210^{31}gcm^3`$) one can predict the rotation-rate for the universe to be $`\mathrm{\Omega }_U4\times 10^{19}rads^1`$, which is still small compared to the rotation rate corresponding to, for example, the Earth’s Lense-Thirring effect $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{TL}10^{14}rads^1`$ Suessmann02a . Currently, without using entanglement, the best achievable accuracy is approx. $`10^{16}rads^1`$ calculated for the HYPER-interferometer in the course of one year. This means, an experimental run to test for Gödel’s model would take some 1000 years to be accomplished. However, taking into account the possibility of entanglement-enhanced interferometry would possibly allow for much shorter, eventually experimentally feasible integration times.

### II.3 Wheeler’s Delayed Choice experiment

Delayed choice experiments show in an impressive way how physical realism, namely that particles have definite paths (position and momentum are equally well defined), leads to contradictions with either quantum physics or locality (see e.g. Hellmuth et al. Hellmuth87a ). They are generally based on the fact, that, depending on the experimental setup, a quantum system can either exist in a superposition of two orthogonal states or is ”localized” in one of the two states. However, the decision on the actual setup can be delayed way beyond the time, when the system enters the experimental apparatus. This contradicts the realist notion that the properties of a physical system are predetermined during the whole time of the experiment. Taking physical intuition to the extreme, John Wheeler proposed an experiment, in which the experimenter’s intervention might be delayed even by some millions of years Wheeler78a : Suppose there is a light source at an astronomical distance, emitting single photons in our direction. All these photons have to pass a gravitational lens (e.g. a galaxy or a black hole) in a way that the possible paths (to the right and to the left of the massive object) cross in the vicinity of Earth (see fig. 3). One may now ask, how the photons will behave depending on the experimenter placing a beamsplitter at the intersection or not. Quantum physics predicts that the presence or absence of interference only depends on the actual positioning of the beamsplitter as decided by the experimenter, although in a pure realist’s particle-picture the particle had to choose its way maybe millions of years ago. In other words, the realist seems to be ”deciding what the photon shall have done after it has already done it!” Miller83a .

For an experimental realization it would not be feasible to bring a single-photon light source to the other end of a galaxy to test these assumptions. However, there have indeed been discovered objects we see twice as their light passes on two sides of a gravitational lens Schneider92a ; Walsh79a . In principle, all one would have to do is placing a beamsplitter in the intersection of the two paths and try to observe interference. Practically, the two possible ways of the photons will slightly differ, i.e. their optical paths will differ by a few lightyears. Therefore one would have to introduce a delay-loop in one of the arms to allow for interference. Obviously, a loop delaying a photon for five years might be hard to realize.

## III Feasible proof-of-principle experiments

After having discussed experiments for fundamental tests of quantum physics in space, we will now provide a roadmap towards first feasible demonstrations of the underlying concepts. This will eventually lead to an experiment in which quantum entanglement is distributed between two ground stations via a satellite link.

It has been argued recently that state-of-the-art technology can already be used to exchange single-photons Nordholt02 ; Rarity02  or even entangled photon pairs Aspelmeyer03a  via optical free-space links between satellites and/or ground stations thus allowing novel quantum communication protocols such as quantum cryptography in a space setting. The next step is to perform proof-of-principle experiments actually testing these findings using satellite-to-ground links. Both, the distribution of ”single-photon” faint-laser pulses and the distribution of entanglement via terrestrial optical free-space links has already been verified experimentally over considerable distances Hughes1 ; Kurtsiefer1 ; Aspelmeyer03c . With this in mind we propose three space experiments which will eventually lead to a long-distance Bell experiment. The realization of these experimental schemes is of a modular nature where the source of entanglement is placed within a space-borne transmitter terminal and the measuring units are placed in independent receiver terminals at ground stations. In a first experiment, single photons are sent from the space-borne transmitter terminal to a ground station to demonstrate single-photon quantum cryptography (see fig. 4a). In a second experiment, this scheme is used to demonstrate secure quantum key distribution between two arbitrary ground stations by independently establishing a key at each pass of the satellite (see fig. 4b). In a third experiment, entangled photons are distributed to two ground stations simultaneously allowing the violation of a Bell’s inequality between independent ground stations separated by more than 1600 kilometers (see fig. 4c).

### III.1 Technological baseline and preliminary design

All proposed experiments are based on the preparation and manipulation of photonic entanglement. We will focus here on polarization-entangled photon pairs, since this is most suited for the propagation through the non-birefringent atmosphere Aspelmeyer03a .

#### III.1.1 Transmitter

The transmitter terminal comprises the entangled photon source, modules for polarization-sensitive manipulation and detection of single photons, and a telescope combined with an optical pointing, acquisition and tracking (PAT) system 999PAT systems are used to establish and maintain the line-of-sight connection in optical free-space links when the terminals are moving relatively to each other. to establish the downlink(see Fig. 5). The photons of each entangled pair are coupled into optical fibers, which allow polarization control via (piezomechanical) bending of the fibers. Coupling to the classical optical head is then achieved via a fiber coupler. Depending on the stage of the experiment, the two photons of the entangled pair are either both transmitted through separate telescopes or only one is transmitted while the other one is immediately detected. The entangled photon source subsystem comprises additional laser diodes for alignment of the optical fibers. The reference laser of the PAT subsystem is linearly polarized and optionally pulsed to provide both an orientational and a timing reference frame between transmitter and receiver site. A point ahead angle unit (PAA) provides the required non-parallelity between the optical axes of the downlink and the uplink.

We distinguish the following modes of operation of the transmitter terminal: (i) Standby mode (A closed optical loop for internal alignment purposes is operational when no downlink is established), (ii)PAT mode (When a link is available in principle, the PAT sequence is initiated.), and (iii) Quantum communication mode (When the downlink is available, the entangled photon source is operating with the alignment laser diodes being inactive.).

#### Receiver

The receiver terminal comprises a single-photon analysis and detection subsystem (analogous to the unit used in the transmitter terminal) and an optical subsystem consisting of a telescope and a PAT unit (see Fig. 6). Another polarization analysis subsystem monitors the polarization of the transmitter reference laser, which is used to compensate for any orientational misalignment between transmitter and receiver polarization. The polarization analysis based on the reference laser signal does not require the use of single-photon detectors due to the high intensity of the beam to be analyzed. The signal from this analysis is used to properly orient the polarization in the single-photon beam path. The reference laser of the receiver station(s) is operating at a wavelength differing from the transmitter reference laser in order to keep cross talk sufficiently low.

The modes of operation of the receiver terminal are as follows 101010For the sake of simplicity, we consider only one of the photons of the entangled pair.: (i) Standby mode (When the transmitter terminal is in standby mode, the receiver terminal is not operating.), (ii) PAT mode (When a link is available in principle, the PAT sequence is initiated.), and (iii) Quantum communication mode (When the downlink is established, the beam received from the reference laser of the transmitter terminal is separated by a dichroic mirror from the single-photon data beam. During the availability of the downlink, data is acquired and stored locally with respect to an accurate local time standard.).

### III.2 Experiment 1: Single downlink

For the first experiment, the transmitter terminal is suggested to be placed onto a low-Earth-orbiting (LEO) platform, while one receiver terminal is installed at an optical ground station. Positioning of the transmitter terminal is critical insofar as it requires nadir pointing of the module. One possible platform which fulfills this requirement is one of the external payload facility stations at ESA’s Columbus module hosted by the International Space Station (ISS) esa01\_1 . The receiver module is located at an optical ground station such as ESA’s station (OGS) at Tenerife which will have to be adapted to properly interface with the receiver.

#### III.2.1 Availability of ISS–to–ground link

The ISS orbits at an altitude of around $`400km`$, the inclination angle is $`51^{}`$ and one orbit lasts for 92 minutes. The possible duration of a communication link depends on the height above sea level, the geographical latitude and altitude of the ground station and the minimum elevation angle 111111The elevation angle for which communication is possible may be restricted by atmospheric conditions or limited line of sight near groun.. Figure 7 shows schematically the trajectory of the ISS over a ground station. We have highlighted the part where a link is possible, i.e. for elevation angles exceeding a certain minimum value. The link duration for a certain ground station does not only depend on the elevation angle but also on the longitudinal shift ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ longitude) of the individual pass-over. In Fig. 8 corresponding numerical values for the OGS can be read off. The results for other ground stations mentioned in Section III.4.1 do not differ significantly. Orbits with a value for $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ longitude $`<25^{}`$ will yield useful link durations. This will be experienced for some 14% of all the orbits. With 15 orbits per day this results in two useful links within 24 hours.

#### III.2.2 Description of experiment

In the first stage, only one of the photons of an entangled pair is transmitted to a ground station while the other photon is directed to the polarization-analysis subsystem, where it is detected with respect to one of four polarization states (out of two non-orthogonal bases, i.e. for example {0$`^{}`$,90$`^{}`$} and {45$`^{}`$,135$`^{}`$}). Its detection also serves as a trigger event, indicating that a single photon is emitted along the downlink. Polarization and detection time (with respect to a local time standard) are locally stored.

At the receiver, two signals generated by the transmitter have to be processed: the single photons representing the quantum communication and the reference laser beam. They are spatially separated by making use of their different wavelengths (single photons: $`\lambda 800nm`$, reference laser: $`\lambda 950nm`$). Since the reference laser is linearly polarized, a polarization analysis of the transmitted beam could be used to find the relative rotational orientation between transmitter and receiver terminal (Note that it is useful, though not always mandatory, to establish a common reference frame for the polarizers onboard the transmitter and for those of the receiver. This can easily be done by calibrating all linear optical elements with respect to a laboratory reference frame.). The corresponding feedback signal is used to control the state of polarization (SOP) in the single photon beam to compensate for orientational misalignment. The single photons in the quantum communication channel are then randomly detected with respect to one of two polarization bases, which are chosen equivalent to the bases used on-board the transmitter terminal (e.g. {0$`^{}`$,90$`^{}`$} and {45$`^{}`$,135$`^{}`$}). Polarization and detection time (with respect to a local time standard) are locally stored.

With a presumed pair generation rate of $`500000`$ per second and an estimated loss of $`6.5dB`$ for the local detection of qubits 121212This is a result of optical losses and finite detection efficiency. one can expect a count rate of approx. $`112000s^1`$ single photons within the transmitter terminal itself. With the total attenuation of $`25dB+6.5dB=31.5dB`$ for the downlink Aspelmeyer03a , we arrive at a count rate of approx. $`350s^1`$ caused by the qubits at the receiver terminal. As outlined in an earlier paper Aspelmeyer03a , we assume a total background count rate of approx.$`1000s^1`$ for night-time operation, which leads to 1350 counts $`s^1`$ for the entire detection process. The final signal rate (defined by the number of joint detection events at the transmitter and receiver terminal) is then expected to be approx.80$`s^1`$ (i.e. the pair generation rate reduced by the total link attenuation of $`31.5dB+6.5dB=38dB`$). For a link duration of 300 seconds this accumulates to a net qubit transmission of 2400 qubits. One can expect erroneous coincident detection events on the order of $`2s^1`$, which yields a bit error of approx. 2.5%.

After the experiment, the local data is corrected for varying signal propagation times and for varying local time standards (the latter should be negligible when atomic clocks are being used, while the signal propagation time could be monitored during the experiment by periodically pulsing the transmitter reference laser. This would allow to take into account a varying transmitter-receiver distance along the orbit.). After this data correction the data sets will be compared with each other to obtain first information about the link quality such as efficiency and atmospheric effects. Eventually, a BB84 quantum key distribution protocol Bennett84  can be established by openly comparing certain subsets of the locally stored data sets. Then the net key bit rate and the quantum bit error rate (QBER) of the quantum key distribution protocol will be evaluated. Given the above approximations, a raw key generation rate of 1.2 kbit per link duration of approx. 5 minutes might be expected, since in only half of the cases the joint measurements on the photon pair will have been performed along the same basis at the receiver and the transmitter.

### III.3 Experiment 2: Two independent single-photon downlinks

Experiment 2 will establish a quantum key exchange between two independent ground stations over distances not feasible with Earth-bound technology. No modification of the space module is required but a second (independent) ground station has to be equipped with an additional receiver module. This second ground station can be located at any arbitrary global position which allows optical contact with the ISS.

#### III.3.1 Description of experiment

In order to achieve a key exchange between separate ground stations via ISS, each of the two ground stations will independently establish a quantum key with the space-based transmitter terminal as is described for Experiment 1 (see Section III.2.2). Since the space platform has access to both keys, it can send a logical combination of the keys (e.g. logically connected by XOR) via classical communication channels publicly (i.e. not secured) to either of the ground stations, where the key of the other ground station can be generated. In principle, a key exchange can thus be achieved between arbitrary ground stations. However, in this scenario the security requirement upon the transmitter terminal is as high as for the ground station. This requirement could be overcome if one distributes entangled qubits directly to different ground stations (see Experiment 3, Section III.4). In this case, the satellite does not obtain any knowledge about the distributed key.

With respect to qubit transmission and key exchange rates the same estimates apply as above for Experiment 1 (see Sect. III.2.2).

### III.4 Experiment 3: Simultaneous entangled-photon downlink

A highly desirable prerequisite for Experiment 3 is a successful completion of all stages of Experiments 1 and 2. This includes the successful establishment and characterization of a downlink quantum channel as well as the realization of the BB84 quantum cryptography protocol. In Experiment 3, timing and orientational synchronization has to be established simultaneously between two ground stations and the ISS. This represents another degree of complexity compared to Experiment 2, where the two ground stations have been addressed independently. However, Experiment 3 will allow a test of Bell’s inequality over distances only achievable with space technology, and, additionally, a demonstration of quantum key distribution based on entanglement Ekert91a  which relaxes the security requirements for the satellite significantly as in this case the satellite would not hold any information about the generated key.

The locations of the two ground stations have to be chosen in such a way that a simultaneous link between ISS and the ground stations can be established (see Section III.4.1). In order to demonstrate features unique for this experiment, the distance between the two ground stations should be chosen sufficiently large, i.e. beyond distances which can be bridged with optical fiber technology (which is limited to a few $`100km`$). At the same time, a modification of the transmitter terminal is required. It now has to include two separate telescopes together with two independent PAT subsystems. This design could already be applied in Experiments 1 and 2 by using a flip mirror in one of the telescopes’ input ports to direct the photon beam to the analyzer subsystems. With such a transmitter design, no further modification would be necessary when proceeding from Experiments 1 and 2 to Experiment 3.

#### III.4.1 Simultaneous link between ISS and two ground stations

The scenario illustrating possible simultaneous links between the ISS and two ground stations is presented in Fig. 9. The link duration now depends on the distance between the stations, the angles $`\phi `$ and $`\xi `$ (resulting from the geographical position of the two stations), and the minimum acceptable elevation angle. Table 1 gives the corresponding values for four representative scenarios.

In Fig. 10 we present link durations for the optimum case, where the ISS passes both ground stations in the symmetric way indicated in Fig. 9. For each scenario a maximum range of longitude for which a link can be established results from the geographical position of the stations involved. It is some $`25^{}`$ for the link with Calar Alto and Tenerife or Matera, some $`10^{}`$ for Tenerife and Matera. The two stations in Calar Alto and Sierra Nevada are so close to each other that the longitudinal range is $`36^{}`$. The corresponding link rates are tow per day for Calar Alto and Tenerife or Matera, one for Tenerife and Matera and three per day for Calar Alto and Sierra Nevada.

#### III.4.2 Description of experiment

Both photons of the entangled pair are now transmitted simultaneously to two separate ground stations via independent telescopes. Therefore, at the transmitter, no analysis and detection of single photons takes place during quantum communication.

The situation at the receiver stations is equivalent to Experiment 1 (see Section III.2.2). At each of them, the single-photon quantum communication signal is separated from the reference laser beam, where the latter serves both as a rotational reference with respect to the transmitter terminal (i.e. it provides a control signal to actively achieve proper orientation of polarization by rotating the polarization in the quantum communication channel) and allows for signal propagation measurement to correct for varying link distance along the orbit. The single photons from the quantum communication channel are then detected with respect to one of two (non-orthogonal) polarization bases. Polarization and detection time (with respect to a local time standard) are locally stored. Before a comparison of the locally acquired data can take place, the data is corrected for varying signal propagation times and varying local time standards.

With an estimated total link attenuation of approx. $`31.5dB`$ (we assume a loss of $`25dB+6.5dB=31.5dB`$ for each of the downlinks), one can, in the ideal case, expect a count rate of approx. $`1350s^1`$ single photon counts in total at each of the receiver terminals for night-time operation (here, too, this number includes background radiation). The final coincidence rate (defined by the number of joint detection events between the two receiver terminals) is then calculated by attenuating the available $`500000`$ counts/s by $`63dB`$, yielding 0.25 counts/s. For a link duration of 300 seconds this accumulates to a net bit transmission of 75 bits. One can expect erroneous coincident detection events on the order of 2.5 per 100 seconds, which results in a bit error of approx. 10%.

The first step to be performed will be a test of Bell’s inequality between the two ground stations. Note once more that, due to the large distance between the two ground stations, such a test cannot be performed without employing an Earth-orbiting satellite. In a first set of measurements, the entangled quantum state is characterized with respect to its polarization correlations by keeping the analyzer bases at both receiving stations fixed at {0$`^{}`$,90$`^{}`$} and {45$`^{}`$,135$`^{}`$} (except for a varying compensation of the transmitter rotation). When comparing the data sets of the two receiver stations, all the joint detection events measured with analyzer settings with parallel and 45 relative orientation (eight probabilities for joint events in total) provide already certain bounds for the degree of purity and entanglement of the state.

In a further set of measurements, one of the receiver stations keeps the orientation of its analyzing bases fixed at {0$`^{}`$,90} and {45$`^{}`$,135$`^{}`$}, while at the other station the analyzing bases are rotated by 22.5$`^{}`$, resulting in the basis sets {22.5,112.5} and {67.5, 157.5} (e.g. by applying an offset angle to the polarization compensation controlled via the reference laser beam). The data set of 16 different polarization correlations between the two ground stations already allows a test of the violation of a Bell inequality of the CHSH type CHSH69 . In addition, strict Einstein locality conditions can be obeyed by randomly switching the measurement basis at both receiver stations Weihs98a .

The second stage of the experiment is a combination of the measurements described above. With equivalent orientation of the analyzer modules in the {0$`^{}`$,90$`^{}`$} and {45$`^{}`$/135$`^{}`$} bases at both receiver stations, the coincidence events measured in the same basis (e.g. in the {45$`^{}`$,135$`^{}`$} basis for both receiver stations) allow to establish a quantum cryptographic key analogous to Experiment 1 (see Section III.2.2). Additionally, both of the receiver stations are allowed to randomly rotate their analyzer basis by 22.5$`^{}`$, thus also performing a test of Bell’s inequality. The violation of a Bell inequality is sufficient as a security proof of the quantum key distribution protocol Fuchs97a ; Scarani01a ; Acin03 . Net key bit rate, QBER and degree of security of the quantum key distribution will be evaluated. Given the above approximations, a raw key generation rate of 600 bits per link duration of approx. 5 minutes might be expected.

## IV Conclusions

We conclude that present day technology enables us to bring quantum entanglement into space thus taking advantage of this unique ”lab” environment. It allows us to perform fundamental tests of quantum physics, above all a test of Bell’s inequality, at distances far beyond the capabilities of Earth-bound laboratories. In the first stages, those distances might not be astronomical, as would be the case when using a flotilla of satellites, but already with the use of a LEO-based transmitter and two Earth-bound receivers one can overcome the Earth-bound limitations by several orders of magnitude. Although there exists not yet a space-qualified source of entangled photons, the system complexity of present diode setups is sufficiently low to consider space qualification a feasible task. In the long run, placing both the source and the receivers in space additionally opens up the possibilities to perform novel tests of quantum physics making specific use of the added value of space.

###### Acknowledgements.

This paper evolved from a project supported by the European Space Agency under ESTEC/Contract No. 16358/02/NL/SFe, ”Quantum Communications in Space”. We wish to thank Josep Maria Perdigues Armengol for monitoring and supporting this work. We further acknowledge support by the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF) and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.


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# Current reversal with type-I intermittency in deterministic inertia ratchets

## Abstract

The intermittency is investigated when the current reversal occurs in a deterministic inertia ratchet system. To determine which type the intermittency belongs to, we obtain the return map of velocities of particle using stroboscopic recording, and numerically calculate the distribution of average laminar length $`l`$. The distribution follows the scaling law of $`lϵ^{1/2}`$, the characteristic relation of type-I intermittency.

In the last ten years there has been an increasing interest on the ratchet system. The ratchet system has been studied theoretically and experimentally in many different fields of science, e.g., molecular motors Astumian ; Bier , new methods of separation of particles Rousselet , and current-voltage rectification in asymmetric superconducting quantum interference devicesZapata . More recently there have been several works on ratchet system in quantum domain Olson ; Grifoni , Josephson junction arrayLee , and etc.

Ratchet system history  is generally defined as a system that is able to transport particles in a periodic structure with nonzero macroscopic velocity, although on average no macroscopic force is acting Hanggi . For directional motion of particle with no macroscopic force, or unbiased fluctuation in a periodic structure, the system has to be driven away from thermal equilibrium by an additional deterministic Magnasco ; Vicsek  or stochastic pertubation Bartussek ; Dialynas . Besides the breaking of thermal equilibrium, for directional motion the breaking of spatial inversion symmetry is usually required further Reimann . For this, the potential has a spatially asymmetric shape that is called ‘ratchet’. It has also shown that the directional motion can exist in the presence of spatially symmetric potential with external pertubation that is time-asymmetric Seeger .

Many works on ratchet system have been mainly limited on the overdamped case. In these works, systems in interest are related to microscopic scale in which thermal fluctuations or noises play a dominant role. Recently, Jung, Kissner, and Hänggi have considered the effect of finite inertia on ratchet system Jung . By considering the inertia term, the dynamics can exhibit both regular and chaotic behaviors. They have shown that deterministic chaos, to some extent, mimics the role of noise. Also, it shows that there exists multiple current reversals as the amplitude of external driving is varied. Thereafter this system has been called ‘deterministic inertia ratchets’ or ‘deterministic underdamped ratchets’ Arizmendi ; Barbi .

In a recent letter, Mateos has shown that the origin of current reversal in the deterministic inertia ratchets may be related to a bifurcation from chaotic to regular regime Mateos . The observation of intermittent chaos has also been addressed before the occurrence of current reversal. However, Mateos has merely mentioned the diffusion property in intermittent chaotic regime. After his work, it has been conjectured that the mechanism of current reversal may be related to a crisis bifurcation in which a chaotic state suddenly becomes periodic Arizmendi . Furthermore, it was shown that current reversal in the same system can occur even in the absence of bifurcation from chaotic to regular regime on the other parameter ranges. This current reversal is interpreted in terms of change of the stability of the periodic rotating orbits Barbi . At present, up to our knowledge, any further work on the classification of the type of intermittency just past the bifurcation has not been reported.

On the other hand, the Pameau and Manneville types of intermittency are mainly classfied into types I, II, and III by the structure of local Poincaré map, $`v_{n+1}=v_n+av_n^2+ϵ`$, $`v_{n+1}=(1+ϵ)v_n+av_n^3`$, and $`v_{n+1}=(1+ϵ)v_nav_n^3`$, respectively Manneville . And these types of intermittency are characterized by characteristic relations, $`lϵ^{1/2}`$ for type-I, and $`lϵ^1`$ for type-II and type-III, where $`l`$ is the average laminar length. Here the parameter $`ϵ`$ in type-I intermittency is the channel width between the diagonal line and the local Poincaré map, while $`1+ϵ`$ in type-II and type-III is the slope of the local Poincaré map around the tangent point.

The aim of this report is to investigate the intermittency of current reversal phenomenon in the deterministic inertia ratchets. We take the same system as in Ref. Mateos , and explicitly show that there exists type-I intermittency when current reversal occurs from choatic to regular regime.

Now, let us consider a system in which a particle moves in ratchet potential, subjected to time-periodic driving and damping. The equation of motion is written as

$$\frac{d^2x}{dt^2}+b\frac{dx}{dt}+\frac{dV}{dx}=a\mathrm{cos}(\omega t),$$
(1)
where b is the friction coefficient, and $`\omega `$ and a are the frequency and the amplitude of the external driving, respectively. Here $`V(x)`$ in Fig. 1 is the ratchet potential, and is given by

$$V(x)=C\frac{\mathrm{sin}2\pi (xx_0)+0.25\mathrm{sin}4\pi (xx_0)}{4\pi ^2\delta },$$
(2)
where C and $`x_0`$ are introduced to show the potential has minimum at $`x=0`$ with $`V(0)=0`$, and $`\delta =\mathrm{sin}(2\pi |x_0|)+\mathrm{sin}(4\pi |x_0|)`$.

Among the three dimensionless parameters in Eq.(1), we vary the parameter $`a`$, and fix $`b=0.1`$ and $`\omega =0.67`$ throughout this paper as in Ref. Mateos . And the equation of motion, Eq.(1) is nonlinear, and the inertial term associated with the second derivative of $`x`$ allows the possibility of chaotic orbits. We solve this system numerically, using fourth-order Runge-Kutta algorithms. Because of sensitivity of the above chaotic system, we calculate all values and parameters including $`\delta `$ with double precision.

In this system, there exists a bifurcation from chaotic to regular regime when current reversal takes place through varying the parameter $`a`$ Mateos . As shown in Fig. 2, the particle shows intermittent chaotic behavior in the bifurcation region. The particle moves almost regularly in a negative direction, and occasionally shows chaotic burst.

Furthermore, to study the behavior of the system during the current reversal, we plot a bifurcation diagram of velocity of a particle. For obtaining a bifurcation diagram, we take stroboscopic recording of the first derivative of x at times, $`t=k\tau `$, where $`k`$ is the positive integer, and $`\tau `$ is the period of the external driving, $`\tau =2\pi /\omega `$. In the bifurcation diagram, Fig. 3, velocities of the particle are plotted on the paramater range of $`a(0.074000000,0.086000000)`$, after long initial transient data are dropped. The result is analogous to Fig. 2(a) in Ref. Mateos .

In Fig. 3, two fixed points of velocities plotted in the bifurcation diagram at $`a=0.074000000`$ correspond to the regular positive current of particle having period two, while four fixed points of velocities at $`a=0.080990000`$ correspond to the regular negative current of particle having period fourMateos . During this current reversal, there is a period-doubling route to chaos, as shown in Fig. 3. Bifurcation from chaotic to regular regimes takes place at critical value $`a_c`$, just above $`a=0.080947429`$ comment . After this bifurcation, a periodic window corresponding to the regular negative current emerges.

To determine which type above intermittency belongs to, we numerically obtain the return map, $`f^4(v_n)`$, which shows the relation between the velocity of particle, $`v_n`$ and the velocity of particle, $`v_{n+1}`$ after $`4\tau `$ time interval elapse, with external driving period $`\tau `$, $`\tau =2\pi /\omega `$. We use the value of $`\tau `$ with double precision because of the sensitivity of the chaotic system. In Fig. 4, we plot the return map at just below $`a_c`$. Fig. 5 is enlargement of the part of Fig. 4 in the vicinity of $`v_n=0.031`$. The points on the digonal line in the return map correspond to the states of $`v_{n+1}=v_n`$, i.e, four periodic motion.

As shown in Fig. 5, the return map is nearly tangent to the diagonal line at the parameter $`a`$ just below $`a_c`$. When a particle remains in a narrow channel, the trajectory shows almost a regular periodic behavior. After the particle escapes from this narrow channel, the trajectory shows a chaotic burst, and then goes back to the channel. (This process keeps repeating.) As increasing $`a`$ from the value of just below $`a_c`$ to $`a_c`$, the channel width narrows more and more so that the particle spends most of the time in the channel. After all, the return map crosses the diagonal line, when $`a`$ becomes larger than $`a_c`$, and two crossing points corresponding to the stable and unstable fixed points are made. Among these points, the stable fixed point corresponds to the regular negative current of particle. Like this, the intermittency emerges, before the return map undergoes a tangent bifurcation. This analysis well agrees with the result shown in Fig. 6, which is similar to that of MateosMateos .

In Fig. 6, one of two attractors is the chaotic one for $`a=0.080947429`$, just below $`a_c`$, and the other is the period four attractor for $`a=0.080990000`$, corresponding to the regular negative current. Note that these two attractors are obtained by confining the dynamics in one potential well that include $`x=0`$, i.e, in the range of $`x(0.37473443,0.62526557)`$. The latter consists of four points at the phase space. In the chaotic attractor, a particle spends most of the time in the vicinity of four point attractors corresponding to the regular negative current, and once in a while intermittently moves in a chaotic way.

So far, we have investigated the type of intermittency qualitatively. For quantitative characterization of the type of intermittency, let us survey the scaling law for duration of the laminar state, which means the particle remains in the narrow channel, as shown in Fig. 5. We calculate the average laminar length $`l`$ by averaging the iterated numbers of the return map at the laminar state, as varying $`a`$ from the range of below $`a_c`$ to $`a_c`$. Numerically, we take the laminar state is the situation that the difference between $`v_{n+1}`$ and $`v`$ is less than $`0.0003`$. The result has shown in Fig. 7. The distribution of the average laminar length follows the scaling law of $`lϵ^{1/2}`$ with $`ϵ=aa_c`$. It agrees with that the distribution of the average laminar length of the type-I intremittency is of the form $`lϵ^{1/2}`$ if there are no external noises Manneville ; Kim ; Kye . Therefore, the intermittency that exists before the bifurcation taking place from the chaotic to the regular regime is the type-I intermittency.

In conclusion, we have investigated the mechanism of current reversal in deterministic inertia ratchets. By numerically obtaining the return map of velocities, and the scaling law giving the characteristic relation of intermittency, we have explicitly shown that the type-I intermittency exists when the current reversal occurs from the chaotic to the regular regime.

The authors thank D.-U. Hwang, J.-W. Ryu, and M.-U. Kim for valuable discussions. This work was supported by the Creative Research Initiatives of the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology. Two of us(W.-S.S and Y.-J.P.) acknowledge support from the Sogang University Research Grants in 2003.