text:
# Some recent developments in models with absorbing states

## I Introduction

Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics is nowaday a very active research field MARRODICKMAN  and there are several reasons for that. First, the most interesting phenomena in Nature take place out of equilibrium. The best example is provided by living matter. More generally, systems which are open (traversed by fluxes of energy, entropy or matter) may reach stationary states which cannot be described by equilibrium statistical physics. Second, the properties of systems in equilibrium are by now rather well understood as equilibrium statistical physics is a well established theory. The puzzling problem of universal behavior observed in the vicinity of second order phase transitions is beautifully explained by the renormalization group approach RG . It is thus natural to try to extend our understanding of equilibrium systems to nonequilibrium ones.

Indeed, the situation is not so clear for nonequilibrium statistical mechanics for which no general theory has been developed yet. This is particularly true for the case of nonequilibrium phase transitions where, according to the values of some control parameters, the system can change, continuously or not, from one stationary state to another one MARRODICKMAN .

At the microscopic level, models for nonequilibrium phase transitions are usually defined in term of a master equation GARDINER . Most of the physics is contained in the transition rates. One of the key difference between equilibrium and nonequilibrium systems is related with the detailed-balance condition which is generally not obeyed in nonequilibrium. As a result, if is often impossible to find an analytical solution to the master equation, even for the stationary state. This is why a lot of results in this field are obtained by numerical simulations. At a coarse-grained level, the physics is often described in terms of a generalized Langevin equation. Unfortunately, there is no general method which allows us to perform, in a controlled way, the coarse-graining process and usually the determination of the form taken by the Langevin equation is based only on general symmetry arguments VANK ; GRIEN ; MUNOZ ; DICK . This procedure is particularly ambiguous for systems with noise HOWARD . When the noise is multiplicative different interpretations of the stochastic process described by the master equation are possible, leading to further confusion VANKB ; DENBROECK .

There are many examples of nonequilibrium phase transitions. One of the simplest examples is provided by an Ising like model with competing dynamics. The system is in contact with two heat baths at different temperature, each generating a microscopic dynamics obeying detailed-balance (see MDONE ; MDTWO ; PRIVMAN  for more details). As a result of this competition, effective long range interaction develops in the system and its critical properties are similar to the ones of equilibrium models. Another generic way to obtain nonequilibrium phase transition is to induce dynamical anisotropy. This can be done in several ways. Examples are given by the so-called driven lattice gases DRIVEN , where particles diffusing on a lattice are driven by an external field oriented in a particular direction. At low temperature, the system exhibits a nonequilibrium phase transition and the ordered phase is characterized by strong anisotropy. As a result, the critical properties belong to a new universality class, not related with equilibrium phase transitions.

The question of the characterization of the possible universality classes for nonequilibrium phase transition is thus an important one which is much debated. The effects of violating detailed-balance on the universal static and dynamic scaling behavior has been investigated independently by Grinstein et al. JAPRA  and Täuber et al. TAUBER . It turns out that the standard critical dynamics universality classes are rather robust and that detailed-balance can be effectively restored at criticality in some cases. Nevertheless, this is not always true and a complete characterization of the nonequilibrium universality classes is clearly a difficult and open question.

An important type of nonequilibrium phase transition is the so-called absorbing state phase transition that takes place when a system during its evolution reaches a configuration in which it remains trapped forever. Such a state is called an absorbing state and a given system may have one or more such states. Absorbing states are present in numerous systems encountered in physics, chemistry and biology. A lot of efforts have been devoted to the study of such systems and there are some comprehensive reviews on this subject HAYE2000 ; GEZA2002 .

In the present paper we describe some recently obtained results that are not yet covered in these reviews and that are related with our own research in this field. In particular, we describe a certain $`d`$-dimensional model with $`q`$ absorbing states whose dynamics can be considered as a modification of the Metropolis algorithm for the equilibrium Potts model POTTS1 . We describe the role of $`q`$ and $`d`$ on the critical behaviour of this model. We also show that some other details of the dynamics, as e.g., positivity of certain transition rates POTTS2  or the range of interactions POTTS3 , influence the critical behaviour. Although its dynamics looses the detailed balance property, the model still bears some similarity to the equilibrium Potts model, that is also reflected in the overall behaviour of the model in the $`(q,d)`$ plane. In a certain case, when the range of interactions in our model is increased, we observe that the so-called voter transition CHATE , that typically occurs for $`q=d=2`$, is splitted into two phase transitions: first a spontaneous symmetry breaking preselects one of the two absorbing states and then a collapse on the preselected absorbing state takes place POTTS3 . Since our model is expressed in terms of spin operators and a Hamiltonian-like function, one can easily construct its various generalizations that would include multi-spin interactions, anisotropies or higher order symmetries ($`O(N)`$). Such models might exhibit novel properties and also enrich the collection of relations between equilibrium and nonequilibrium systems.

Recently a class of nonequilibrium phase transitions is intensively studied in the context of synchronization FUJISAKA . When for example two identical chaotic dynamical systems are sufficiently strongly connected, they might synchronize against each other. Since the system cannot escape from the synchronized state it is actually a certain absorbing state. For spatially extended dynamical systems (e.g., coupled map lattices) the synchronization transition (ST) resembles some absorbing state phase transitions that are typical to statistical mechanics models. Some arguments were given PIKKURTHS  that ST should generically belong to the same universality class as a certain model of a driven interface bounded with a wall (BKPZ). However, for a certain class of dynamical systems ST has a different critical behaviour, namely it belongs to the DP universality class LIVI . Despite some attempts, theoretical understanding of the mechanism that changes the critical behaviour is still missing LIPDROZSOS ; MUNOZPASTOR ; AHLERSLIVI . An interesting related problem is a nature of a multicritical point that possibly joins the critical lines of DP and BKPZ type. There are some indications that these problems might be also related with some particle systems like the recently intensively studied PCPD model PCPD .

In section II we discuss the Potts model with absorbing states. The synchronization of extended chaotic systems is discussed in section III, and these two sections are essentially independent. Conclusions are presented in section IV.

## II Absorbing-state Potts model

An important step toward the classification of absorbing state phase transitions into universality classes was made by Janssen and Grassberger who predicted that a large group of models falls into the so-called directed percolation universality class (DP) and it was conjectured that all models with a single absorbing state, positive one-component order parameter and short-range dynamics should generically belong to this universality class DP . By now their conjecture received numerous and convincing support. It also raised a possibility that the number of absorbing states $`q`$ might be a relevant parameter that determines the critical behaviour of a given model. And indeed, there are some examples that show that models with $`q=2`$ share the same critical behaviour that is called the parity conserving (PC) universality class PC ; HAYE97 . However, it turns out that PC criticality appears only for models with symmetrical absorbing states. Even a small asymmetry in the dynamics of the model that would favour one of the absorbing states over the other will drive the system into the DP universality class SYMMETRIC . Models with $`q>2`$ were also examined and using a relation with some particle systems it was predicted that such models are generically in the active phase and only in a limiting case undergo a phase transition related with a certain multispecies branching-annihilating random walk model HAYE97 ; CARLON . As we will discuss in this section, the number $`q`$ does not fix the critical behaviour because some other details of the dynamics play a role too. For example, we can change the critical behaviour by suppressing certain transition rates or extending the range of interactions. Many factors are therefore responsible for the critical behaviour of a given model.

We should mention that absorbing phase transitions also take place in some particle systems like e.g., branching-annihilating random walk (BARW). For such models the critical behaviour is determined, e.g., through some symmetries of their dynamics, rather than by the number of absorbing states (that is usually the vacuum). For $`d=1`$, at the coarse grained level, models with multiple absorbing states can be related with some particle systems. For higher dimensions, such an analogy in general does not hold. There are already some reviews on this subject HAYE2000 ; GEZA2002 .

### II.1 Definition of the model and the Monte Carlo method

Before defining our dynamical model, let us recall some basic properties of the usual equilibrium Potts model WU . First, we assign at each lattice site $`i`$ a $`q`$-state variable $`\sigma _i=0,1,\mathrm{},q1`$. Next, we define the energy of this model through the Hamiltonian:

$$H=\underset{i,j}{}\delta _{\sigma _i\sigma _j},$$
(1)
where summation is over pairs of $`i`$ and $`j`$ which are usually nearest neighbours and $`\delta `$ is the Kronecker delta function. This equilibrium model was studied using many different analytical and numerical methods and is a rich source of information about phase transitions and critical phenomena WU . To simulate numerically the equilibrium Potts model defined using the Hamiltonian (1), one introduces a stochastic Markov process with transition rates chosen in such a way that the asymptotic probability distribution is the Boltzmann distribution. One possibility of choosing such rates is the so-called Metropolis algorithm BINDER . In this method one looks at the energy difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ between the final and initial configuration and accept the move with probability min$`\{1,\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{\Delta }E/T}\}`$, where $`T`$ is temperature measured in units of the interaction constant of the Hamiltonian (1), which was set to unity. To obtain a final configuration one selects randomly a site and its state (one out of $`q`$ in our case). In the above described algorithm for $`T>0`$ there is always a positive probability of leaving any given configuration (even when the final configuration has a higher energy). Accordingly, such a model does not have absorbing states for $`T>0`$.

A nonequilibrium Potts model having $`q`$ absorbing states can be obtained by making the following modification in the Metropolis dynamics POTTS1 ; POTTS2 : when all neighbours of a given site are in the same state as this site, then this site cannot change its state (at least until one of its neighbours is changed). Let us notice that any of the $`q`$ ground states of the equilibrium Potts model is an absorbing state of the above defined nonequilibrium Potts model. Moreover, the rules of the dynamics of our model depends on the parameter $`T`$ that for the equilibrium Potts model would be the temperature. Although for our model the thermodynamic temperature cannot be defined, we will refer to $`T`$ as temperature.

To study the properties of this model we performed standard Monte Carlo simulations. A natural characteristic of models with absorbing states is the steady-state density of active sites $`\rho `$. A given site $`i`$ is active when at least one of its neighbours is in a state different than $`i`$. Otherwise the site $`i`$ is nonactive. In addition to the steady-state density we also looked at its time dependence $`\rho (t)`$. In the active phase $`\rho (t)`$ converges to the positive value, while at criticality, $`\rho (t)`$ has a power-law decay $`\rho t^\mathrm{\Theta }`$. In addition, we used the so-called dynamic Monte Carlo method where one sets the system in the absorbing state, locally initiate activity, and then monitor some stochastic properties of surviving runs GRASSTORRE . The most frequently used characteristics are the survival probability $`P(t)`$ that the activity survives at least until time $`t`$ and the number of active sites $`N(t)`$ (averaged over all runs). At criticality these quantities are expected to have power-law decay: $`P(t)t^\delta `$ and $`N(t)t^\eta `$.

### II.2 $`d=1`$

First, let us consider the case $`q=2`$. The simplest possibility is to consider our model on a one-dimensional chain. However, for $`q=2`$ and for any temperature $`T`$, this model is trivially equivalent to the $`T=0`$ temperature Ising model with Metropolis dynamics. Indeed, in this case the allowed moves are only those which do not increase energy and they are always accepted. The same rule governs the dynamics of the $`T=0`$ Ising chain. To overcome this difficulty, we studied our model on a ladder-like lattice, where two chains are connected by interchain bonds such that each site has three neighbours.

Monte Carlo simulations of the model show that for large enough $`T`$ the model remains in the active (disordered) phase. After reducing the temperature below a certain critical value, the model collapses on one of the absorbing states. The evolution to the absorbing state resembles the coarsening process. Measuring the critical exponents at the critical point we found that their values are very close to those of the PC universality class, which is an expected result.

We also did simulations for $`q=3`$, 4, and 5. In this case we found that our model remains in the active phase for any $`T>0`$ and collapses on one of its absorbing states only at $`T=0`$. It was already suggested that an absence of the transition for models with $`q>2`$ absorbing states is a generic feature HAYE97 ; CARLON . Such a conclusion can be obtained relating a model with absorbing states with multi-species BARW model that in some case are known to exhibit such a behaviour TAUBERCARDY . However, such a relation is not rigorously established and must be taken with care. And indeed, one can show that in some cases models with $`q>2`$ absorbing states behave differently.

In the following we shall describe a modification of our nonequilibrium Potts model that even for $`q>2`$ undergoes a transition at positive temperature. To comply with ref. POTTS2 , we refer to this modification as a model B. All we have to do is to introduce the following restriction in the dynamics of our model: a flip into a state different than any of its neighbours is forbidden. In other words, we suppress the spontaneous creation of, e.g., domains of type A between domains of type B and C. Here, A, B, and C denote three (out of $`q`$) different states. Let us also notice that the above restriction does not break the symmetry and the absorbing states of model B are symmetric with respect to its dynamics. Numerical simulations of such a model for $`q>2`$ show that at positive temperature it undergoes a phase transition that belongs to the PC universality class POTTS2 . It was suggested that with the above restriction, the long-time dynamics of model B in the active phase and close to the critical point is dominated by parity conserving processes and that might explain the origin of PC criticality.

### II.3 $`d>1`$

The nonequilibrium Potts model was also studied on higher dimensional lattices and below we briefly describe the obtained results POTTS1 .
(i) $`d=2,q=2`$:
Models with a single absorbing state on $`d=2`$ lattices typically belong to the DP universality class. It is interesting to ask whether for $`d=2`$ models with double absorbing states share the same critical behaviour. Recent numerical calculations show that indeed there is a group of such models that have the same critical behaviour, that was termed the voter universality class CHATE . The name of this universality class was given after a voter model that was originally proposed as a model of spreading of an opinion LIGGETT . Later, various generalizations of this model were also studied VOTER . In the voter model the order parameter vanishes continuously to 0 upon approaching a critical point but the decay is slower than any power law. In addition, the time decay of the order parameter at criticality is also slower than any power law decay and is in fact logarithmic, as it can be shown exactly KRAP . Such an unusual behaviour explains the numerical difficulties in studying models of this universality class POTTS1 . The nonequilibrium Potts model for $`q=2`$ and on square lattice with nearest neighbour interactions also belongs to the voter universality class POTTS3 . It was suggested that two-dimensional models with double absorbing state should generically belong to the voter universality class CHATE . However, as we describe below, there are some exceptions from this rule POTTS3 .

An interesting feature of the voter critical point is the fact that at this point actually two phenomena seem to take place. One of them is the symmetry breaking between two competing states of the model, that is similar to the symmetry breaking in the Ising model. The second phenomenon is the phase transition between active and absorbing phases of the model. It turns out that these two phase transitions can be separated and it happens in the $`q=2`$ Potts model on the square lattice with interactions up to the third nearest neighbour. In this case the behaviour of the model can be thus described as follows. At sufficiently high temperature $`T`$ the model remains in the disordered phase. Upon reducing of temperature, the model first undergoes the symmetry breaking phase transition. Calculation of the Binder cumulant suggests that this transition belongs to the Ising type universality class. Upon further decrease of $`T`$, the model undergoes a second phase transition into an absorbing state. Since at this point the symmetry is already broken and the absorbing state is already preselected, this second transition, as expected, belongs to the DP universality class.

The Ising-type phase transition is just one example of a symmetry breaking. The voter criticality can be regarded as a superposition of this transition with DP transition. One can ask whether other types of symmetries, such as e.g., $`Z_3`$ or $`U(1)`$ can be superposed with DP. Possibly in such a case a new critical behaviour might result.
(ii) $`d=2,q=3`$
In this case (nearest-neighbour interactions) there is a clear evidence of the discontinuous phase transition. In particular, the steady-state density of active sites $`\rho `$ has a discontinuous behaviour and the time dependent $`\rho (t)`$ develops a plateau at a critical point.
(iii) $`d=3,q=2`$
To split the voter critical point in the two-dimensional case we had to include further neighbour interactions. Alternatively, increasing the dimensionality up to $`d=3`$ also results in two separate phase transitions POTTS3 . It would be interesting to check whether in the three-dimensional case some additional interactions (possibly antiferromagnetic ones) could actually lead to the overlap of these two transitions.

Studying our nonequilibrium Potts model for some values of $`q`$ and $`d`$ we were tempted to speculate on the overall behaviour of the phase diagram in the $`(q,d)`$ plane POTTS1 . Indeed, it seems that the $`(q,d)`$ plane is divided into three parts with (i) non-mean-field critical behaviour (ii) mean-field critical behaviour, and (iii) discontinuous transitions. Arrangements of these parts suggests that the qualitative behaviour of our model resembles the behaviour of the equilibrium Potts model. If so, it would imply that the modification of the dynamics that we introduced, and that imply the existence of absorbing states, might not change that much the qualitative behaviour of the model (as compared to the equilibrium one).

Since our model is formulated in terms of spin-like variables, we can easily introduce its various modifications that for example will take into account lattice anisotropy, multi-spin interactions, external fields or additional symmetries (gauge, $`U(1)`$,…). For example some equilibrium homogeneous spin models are known to exhibit glassy behaviour GLASS . One of the questions is whether a similar behaviour exists when the dynamics with absorbing states is used.

## III Synchronization of dynamical systems

Recently, synchronization of dynamical, and in particular chaotic, systems received considerable attention FUJISAKA . This is to large extent related with its various experimental realizations in lasers, electronic circuits or chemical reactions EXP . So far, most of the attention has been focused on the behaviour of the low-dimensional systems. More recently, spatially extended, i.e., highly-dimensional, systems are also drawing some interest EXTENDED . Since the synchronized state is an attractor of the dynamics, it can be considered as an absorbing state. Consequently, a transition into a synchronized state (ST) for spatially extended systems bears some similarity to absorbing state phase transitions. However, for continuous dynamical systems, like e.g., coupled map lattices (CML) KANEKO , the system cannot reach a perfectly synchronized state in a finite time. This is in contrast with for example some cellular automata that typically can reach an absorbing state in finite time. In some cases such a difference has probably a negligible effect and ST belongs to the directed percolation universality class LIVI . But there are some other arguments suggesting that the critical behaviour at ST typically is different and belongs to the bounded Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class PIKKURTHS . A possible crossover between these two universality classes is recently intensively studied LIPDROZSOS ; MUNOZPASTOR ; AHLERSLIVI .

### III.1 Coupled-Map Lattices

To provide a more detailed example we examine a model recently proposed by Ahlers and Pikovsky that consists of two coupled CML’s AHLERS ,

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}u_1(x,t+1)\\ u_2(x,t+1)\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1\gamma & \gamma \\ \gamma & 1\gamma \end{array}\right)\times \left(\begin{array}{c}(1+ϵ\mathrm{\Delta })f(u_1(x,t+1))\\ (1+ϵ\mathrm{\Delta })f(u_2(x,t+1))\end{array}\right),$$
(2)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }v`$ is the discrete Laplacian $`\mathrm{\Delta }v(x)=v(x1)2v(x)+v(x+1)`$. Both space ($`x`$) and time ($`t`$) are discretized, $`x=1,2\mathrm{},L`$ and $`t=0,1,\mathrm{}`$. Periodic boundary conditions are imposed $`u_{1,2}(x+L,t)=u_{1,2}(x,t)`$ and, similarly to previous studies, we set the intrachain coupling $`ϵ=1/3`$. Varying the interchain coupling $`\gamma `$ allows us to study the transition between synchronized (large $`\gamma `$) and chaotic (small $`\gamma `$) phases. Local dynamics is specified through a nonlinear function $`f(u)`$.

Next, we introduce a synchronization error $`w(x,t)=|u_1(x,t)u_2(x,t)|`$ and its spatial average $`w(t)=\frac{1}{L}_{x=1}^Lw(x,t)`$. The time average of $`w(t)`$ in the steady state will be simply denoted as $`w`$. In the chaotic phase one has $`w>0`$, while in the synchronized phase $`w=0`$. Moreover, at criticality, i.e. for $`\gamma =\gamma _c`$, $`w(t)`$ is expected to have a power-law decay to zero $`w(t)t^\mathrm{\Theta }`$. In the stationary state, and for $`\gamma `$ approaching the critical value $`\gamma _c`$ one expects that $`w(\gamma _c\gamma )^\beta `$.

For $`f(u)=2u\mathrm{mod}(1)`$, i.e., a Bernoulli map, Pikovsky and Ahlers AHLERS  found that ST belongs to the DP universality class. Such a behaviour is in agreement with earlier predictions by Baroni et al. LIVI  that DP critical behaviour should exist for maps with strong nonlinearities (in the case of the Bernoulli map it is even a discontinuity). Let us notice, however, that DP criticality is typically attributed to models with a single absorbing state. On the other hand, an extended dynamical system as e.g. (2) has infinitely many synchronized states. Recently, we applied a dynamical Monte Carlo method to study model (2). Our results show DROZLIPSYNCH  that exponents $`\eta `$ and $`\delta `$ depend on the type of a synchronized state, but their sum $`\eta +\delta `$ remains constant. Such a situation is known to take place in some other models with infinitely many absorbing states INFINITY .

A different critical behaviour emerges for the symmetric tent map $`f(u)=12|u1/2|`$. Since the map is now continuous, as expected, ST belongs to the BKPZ universality class. But what is going on when the symmetricity of the tent map is gradually distorted? In particular, let us examine the following map

$$f(u)=\{\begin{array}{cc}au\hfill & \mathrm{for}0u<1/a\hfill \\ a(1u)/(a1)\hfill & \mathrm{for}1/au1,\hfill \end{array}$$
(3)
with $`1<a2`$. For $`a=2`$ this is the symmetric tent map. Let us notice that in the limit $`a1`$, the slope of the second part of this map diverges. In such a limit the map has a strong nonlinearity and we expect that ST in this case belongs to the DP universality class. Numerical calculations show, however, that DP criticality sets in already for $`a`$ in a finite distance from 1 DROZLIPSYNCH . In such a way model (2) with the map (3) allows us to study the change of the universality class of ST. An interesting possibility is that at a certain $`a=a_c>1`$, where DP and BKPZ critical lines intersect, a multicritical behaviour appears. Numerical simulations of model (2) are not yet conclusive enough, but it is possible that additional insight into this problem can be obtained using certain effective models of ST. This problem is discussed in the next subsection.

### III.2 Interfacial models of synchronization

An interesting approach to ST was initiated by Pikovsky and Kurths PIKKURTHS . They have argued that the temporal evolution of the small perturbation of a synchronized state $`w(x,t)`$ of the system (2) in the continuous limit should obey the following Lagevin-type equation PIKKURTHS ; AHLERS

$$\frac{w(x,t)}{t}=[a+\xi (x,t)p|w(x,t)|^2]w(x,t)+ϵ\frac{^2w(x,t)}{x^2},$$
(4)
where $`a`$ is a control parameter connected with the transverse Lyapunov exponent $`\lambda _{}`$, that describes an exponential growth of $`w(x,t)`$. The Gaussian stochastic process $`\xi (x,t)`$ has the properties

$$\xi (x,t)=0,\xi (x,t)\xi (x^{},t^{})=2\sigma ^2\delta (xx^{})\delta (tt^{}).$$
(5)
Applying the Hopf-Cole transformation $`h=\mathrm{ln}|w|`$, Eq. (4) is transformed into a driven interface model

$$\frac{h(x,t)}{t}=a+\xi (x,t)p\mathrm{e}^{2h(x,t)}+ϵ\frac{^2h(x,t)}{x^2}+ϵ[h(x,t)/x]^2,$$
(6)
which is the KPZ equation KPZ  with an additional exponential saturation term. In Eq. (6), synchronization corresponds to an interface moving towards $`\mathrm{}`$, and the saturation term prevents the interface from moving towards large positive value. Equation (6) is usually referred to as the bounded KPZ equation.

Critical exponents of model (6TU  remain in a satisfactory agreement with those obtained for the CML model (2) with the symmetric tent map AHLERS . However, the relation with model (6) offers little understanding of what changes the universality class into DP for strongly nonlinear local maps $`f(u)`$. Recently, there were some attempts to understand the emergence of the DP universality class. For example Muñoz and Pastor-Satorras MUNOZPASTOR , showed numerically that DP might emerge in a more general version of Eq. (4). However, the origin of certain additional terms that appear in their approach is not yet clear.

In another approach LIPDROZSOS , we proposed a certain SOS model whose dynamics is motivated by the dynamics of synchronization error in CML model (2). In this SOS model ST transition is essentially mapped onto a certain wetting transition. It turns out that when certain transition rates, that might be related with a binding potential of a wall, decay exponentially fast with the distance from the wall $`h`$, the wetting transition belongs to the DP universality class. There is a hope that for another form of these transition rates BKPZ universality class will be recovered but we still did not succeed to confirm it. On the other hand, when these transition rates decay as a power of $`h`$, the SOS model exhibits a different critical behaviour. Surprisingly, critical exponents in this case remain in a good agreement with those calculated recently for the bosonic version of the PCPD model CHATEKOCKEL . Whether this is just a numerical coincidence or a manifestation of a deeper relation is yet to be seen COMM1 . Another approach to examine a change of the universality class in ST using an interfacial model was proposed by Ginelli et al AHLERSLIVI .

## IV Conclusions

In the present paper we described some of our recent results on models with absorbing states. In particular we examined phase transitions and critical behaviour in the nonequilibrium Potts model with absorbing states. We also described the connections between synchronization of spatially extended chaotic systems and absorbing phase transitions. We related the synchronization problem with some models of a driven or wetting interfaces. It would fulfill our goals if this work would stimulate further research in this field. For example, we showed that when the third nearest neighbour interactions are included, the voter critical point in the Potts model is splitted. But this further range interactions are of the same strength as nearest neighbour interactions. One can consider a model with varying strength of further range interactions. At a certain amplitude of this interactions the splitting should appear. At this point three critical lines will meet: voter, Ising and directed percolation. It would be interesting to examine in more details the nature of such a tricritical point. Synchronization transition and its connection with interfacial models is still intensively studied by several groups and further interesting results are likely to appear.

###### Acknowledgements.

This work was partially supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the project OFES 00-0578 ”COSYC OF SENS”.


format: text

text:
# Acknowledgement

## Acknowledgement

The Authors would like to acknowledge Professor John J. Quinn as coauthor of original ideas of chapters 8 and 9.

Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Topological methods for description
of quantum many-body systems
2.1. Configuration spaces of quantum many-body systems
of various dimensions
2.2. Quantization of many-body systems
2.3. The first homotopy group for the many-particle
configuration space – braid groups
2.4. Braid groups for specific manifolds

3. Quantization of many-particle systems
and quantum statistics in lower dimensions
3.1. Topological limitations of quantum-mechanical description
of many-particle systems
3.2. Quantum statistics and irreducible unitary representations
of braid groups for selected manifolds
3.3. Non-Abelian statistics

4. Topological approach to composite particles
in two dimensions
4.1. Mathematical model of composite particles
4.2. Configuration space for the system of composite particles

5. Many-body methods for Chern–Simons systems
5.1. Random phase approximation for an anyon gas
5.2. Correlation energy of an anyon gas
5.3. Hartree–Fock approximation for Chern–Simons systems
5.4. Diagram analysis for a gas of anyons

6. Anyon superconductivity
6.1. Meissner effect in an anyon gas at $`\mathrm{T}=0`$
6.2. Gas of anyons at finite temperatures
6.3. Higgs mechanism in an anyon superconductor
6.4. Ground state of an anyon superconductor in the Hartree–Fock
approximation

7. The fractional quantum Hall effect
in composite fermion systems
7.1. Hall conductivity in a system of composite fermions
7.2. Ground state energy of composite fermion systems
7.3. Metal of composite fermions
7.4. BCS paired Hall state

8. Quantum Hall systems on a sphere
8.1. Spherical system
8.2. Composite fermion transformation
8.3. Hierarchy

9. Pseudopotential approach to the fractional quantum
Hall states
9.1. Problems with justification of the composite
fermion picture
9.2. Numerical studies on the Haldane sphere
9.3. Pseudopotential approach
9.4. Energy spectra of short range pseudopotentials
9.5. Definition of short range pseudopotential
9.6. Application to various pseudopotentials
9.7. Multi-component systems

Appendix A. Homotopy groups

Appendix B. Correlation function for anyon gas
in the self-consistent Hartree approximation

Index

References

A sample of this book is available at:
http://www.opu.co.uk/isbn/0-19-852870-1


text:
# On the embedding of branes in five-dimensional spaces

## I Acknowledgement

C. Romero thanks CNPq for financial support.


text:
# Gap evolution in 𝜈=1/2 bilayer quantum Hall systems

## Abstract

Fractional quantum Hall states in bilayer system at total filling fraction $`\nu =1/2`$ are examined numerically under some ranges of the layer separation and interlayer tunneling. It is shown that the ground state changes continuously from two-component state to one-component state as the interlayer tunneling rate is increased, while the lowest excited state changes discontinuously. This fact explains observed unusual behavior of the activation energy which reveals upward cusp as a function of interlayer tunneling. Some trial wave functions for the ground state and quasihole states are inspected.

The fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE)tsui  occurs at filling factor $`\nu n\varphi _0/B=p/(2p\pm 1)`$ ($`p`$ integer) in a two-dimensional electron system with a perpendicular magnetic field $`B`$, while the $`\nu =1/2`$ effect has never been observedjian . Here $`\varphi _0hc/e`$ is the flux quantum and $`n`$ is the electron density. In the physics of the FQHE system, the composite fermion picture is quit usefuljain . In this description, the $`\nu =p/(2p\pm 1)`$ FQHE state can be understood as the $`\nu ^{}=p`$ integer quantum Hall effect of composite fermions which possess two flux quanta $`2\varphi _0`$jain . Thus, $`\nu =1/2`$ corresponds to zero field system of composite fermions and the ground state can be understood as the Fermi liquid state of composite fermionshlr .

On the other hand at $`\nu =5/2`$, which is half filling of the second Landau level, the fractionally quantized plateau of the Hall resistance was observedwill2 . After some numerical investigationsmorf ; hr , the ground state at $`\nu =5/2`$ is believed to be a kind of $`p`$-wave paired state of composite fermions first discussed by Moore and Read:mr

$`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{MR}}=\mathrm{Pf}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{u_iv_jv_iu_j}}\right){\displaystyle \underset{i<j}{}}(u_iv_jv_iu_j)^2.`$ (1)
Here we use spherical geometrysphere  for convenience, $`(u_i,v_j)=(\mathrm{cos}(\theta _i/2)\mathrm{e}^{i\varphi _i/2},\mathrm{sin}(\theta _i/2)\mathrm{e}^{i\varphi _i/2})`$ is spinor coordinate of the $`i`$’th electron, and $`\mathrm{Pf}[A]`$ is the Pfaffian of an antisymmetric matrix $`A`$.

When the internal degree of freedom such as spin or layer index is introduced, the physics becomes more colorful. The $`\nu =1/2`$ FQHE was observed in a double-quantum-well (DQW) structureeis1  and a wide-single-quantum-well (WSQW)suen1 . In a two-layer system without interlayer transfer, the ground state can be approximated as a two-component state proposed by Halperin:hal

$`\mathrm{\Psi }_{331}`$
$`={\displaystyle \underset{i<j}{}}(u_iv_jv_iu_j)^3{\displaystyle \underset{i<j}{}}(\eta _i\xi _j\xi _i\eta _j)^3{\displaystyle \underset{i,j}{}}(u_i\xi _jv_i\eta _j)^1,`$
at certain ranges of the ratio of the layer separation and the magnetic length $`d/l`$ymg . Here $`(u_i,v_i)`$ and $`(\eta _i,\xi _i)`$ are complex spinor coordinates of electrons in the top and bottom layer, respectively. The experimental result of $`d/l`$-dependence of the 1/2 FQHE in DQWeis1  fits the theoretical prediction very wellymg . On the other hand, the 1/2 state measured in WSQW is more subtlesuen1 , since such a system possesses the duality of a bilayer and thick single-layer system. In fact, both one-componentgww2  and two-componenthe  theoretical models have been proposed. To see the nature of the ground state in WSQW experimentally, Suen et al. measured activation energy as a function of interlayer tunnelingsuen2 . At $`\nu =2/3`$ the gap shows downward cusp behavior which indicates a clear transition from two-component to one-component, while at $`\nu =1/2`$ such a characteristic was not observed. Since the gap first increases when $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$ is decreased, they considered the two-component state, most likely $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{331}`$-like state, as the ground state. They also concluded that the two-component state does not evolve to the one-component FQHE state but to a metallic state as $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$ increases. At the center of the FQHE region, the gap has a sharp upward cusp.

There are also some theoretical progresses. Based on the pairing picture of composite fermions, Halperin considered the continuous evolution of the ground state between $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{331}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{MR}}`$, and proposed a $`d`$-$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$ phase diagramhal2 . Pursuing this scenario, Ho argued interesting connections between these 1/2 FQHE states and superfluid 3Heho . Namely $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{331}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{MR}}`$ correspond to the ABM state and A1 state, respectively, and the introduction of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$ corresponds to the Zeeman splitting along the $`x`$-axis in 3He superfluid. Here the pseudospin $``$ and $``$ assign electron in the top layer and bottom layer, respectively. Such a mean-field picture of composite fermion pairing possesses a beautiful structure. However, the relation to the experimental result mentioned above has been unclear and it stays only in theoretical curiosity. In this article we perform a numerical investigation of the evolution of the $`\nu =1/2`$ FQHE state as a function of interlayer tunneling and the layer spacing. It is shown that the ground state evolves continuously, while the quasihole state changes discontinuously between two-component and one-component states. Based on these results, a reasonable explanation for inscrutable upward cusp behavior of the activation energy is presented.

The Hamiltonian is given by

$`H=H_{SAS}+H_C.`$ (3)
The single-particle Hamiltonian; $`H_{SAS}=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}_m(c_m^{}c_m+c_m^{}c_m)=\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}S_x`$ describes electron transfer between the layers. Here the total pseudospin operator is defined as $`𝐒=_mc_{m\sigma }^{}\frac{𝝈_{\sigma \sigma ^{}}}{2}c_{m\sigma ^{}}`$. On the other hand $`H_C`$ represents the usual Coulomb interaction within and between the layers: $`H_C=\frac{1}{2}_{m_1m4}m_1,m_2|V_{\sigma \sigma ^{}}|m_3,m_4c_{m_1\sigma }^{}c_{m_2\sigma ^{}}^{}c_{m_3\sigma ^{}}c_{m_4\sigma }`$. To model a bilayer system, we consider not only the layer spacing $`d`$ but also the thickness $`w`$. They are treated by using the following form of Coulomb interaction: $`V_{}=V_{}=e^2/ϵ\sqrt{r^2+w^2}`$ and $`V_{}=V_{}=e^2/ϵ\sqrt{r^2+d^2}`$. Since we are interested in changing $`d`$, the thickness is fixed at $`w=3.8l`$ in this article. We first consider the quantity given as $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_\varphi =E(N_\varphi +1,N)+E(N_\varphi 1,N)2E(N_\varphi ,N)`$ in $`N=6`$ electron system as a function of interlayer tunneling where the number of flux $`N_\varphi =2N3=9`$ for the ground state with $`p`$-wave paired stateymg ; gww . As shown in Fig.1 the upward cusp behavior is found at $`d/l=5.0,5.5,7.0`$, and 9.0. The charged excitations are quasiholes or vortices, which effectively contain a half quantum of flux because of pairing. Thus to obtain the activation energy, one should divide the value $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_\varphi `$ by 2 after subtracting the interaction energy for two $`e^{}=\pm e/4`$ charges. In consideration of this fact, upward cusp behavior of the activation energy observed experimentally is reproduced in our simple theoretical model.

Our statement is following. The ground state changes continuously contrary to the case of $`\nu =2/3`$, while the quasihole state changes discontinuously as a function of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$. The calculated expectation value $`S_x`$ indicates a continuous evolution from two-component ($`S_x=0`$) to one-component ($`S_x=N/2`$) as shown in Fig2. Now we show our calculated overlaps between the exact ground state and the trial states as a function of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$ at $`d/l=5.0`$ in Fig.2. The data shows $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{331}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{MR}}`$ are relevant for small $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$ and large $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$, respectively. We found that the crossing point of these two quantities corresponds to the point of upward cusp in the quantity $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_\varphi `$ at each value of $`d/l`$. Thus contrary to the conclusion of ref.he  or ref.suen2 , we found that the upward cusp is related to the crossover between the single component and two component states. Next we inspect the $`𝐝`$-vector description of Ho which is given byho  $`𝐝(\theta )=(0,i\mathrm{sin}\theta ,\mathrm{cos}\theta )`$ at the middle range of tunneling. The $`p`$-wave paired state can be written as

$`\mathrm{\Psi }_\mathrm{H}[𝐝(\theta )]=\mathrm{Pf}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\chi [𝐝(\theta )]}{u_iv_jv_iu_j}}\right){\displaystyle \underset{i<j}{}}(u_iv_jv_iu_j)^2,`$ (4)
where the $`2\times 2`$ matrix:

$`\chi =i[(𝐝(\theta )𝝈)\sigma _y]=\left[\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \mathrm{cos}\theta & \hfill \mathrm{sin}\theta \\ \hfill \mathrm{sin}\theta & \hfill \mathrm{cos}\theta \end{array}\right]`$ (7)
is related to the order parameter of the triplet pairingho ; rg . Note that $`\theta =0`$ and $`\theta =\pi /4`$ correspond $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{331}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{MR}}`$, respectively. We constructed the wave function eq.(4) explicitly for several value of $`\theta `$, and compared with the exact ground state in a six electron system. The optimized $`\theta `$ which has largest overlap with the ground state wave function at each value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$ is plotted in Fig.3. The trial state eq.(4) with the optimized $`\theta `$ has large overlap about 0.9. Note that in triplet pairing the pseudospin is given as $`𝐒i𝐝\times 𝐝^{}`$. However the pseudospin operator does not commute with the total Hamiltonian, so above value does not correspond to the exact value calculated in Fig.2. It is different from the mean-field theory of composite fermionho ; rg .

As we saw in Fig.2, $`S_x`$ for the state with one extra flux quantum (dashed line) has a break in the line at $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}/(e^2/ϵl)=0.013`$, that indicates a level crossing between two-component and one-component in the quasihole states. As we mentioned above, the elementary charged excitations are described as a half quantum vortex $`\varphi _0/2`$ which is called a quasihole. However, it is impossible to construct numerically the one half flux state. So we consider the one extra flux quantum state which should correspond to the two-quasihole state. The quasiholes in the Pfaffian state are thought to obey non-abelian statisticsmr . For $`2n`$ quasihole states the $`2^{n1}`$ degeneracy is needed to possess non-abelian statistics. Read and Rezayirr  confirmed this nature in an exact diagonalization investigation with three body interaction which is the parent Hamiltonian for the Pfaffian state and its quasihole excited statesgww . One of the two-quasihole state is the Laughlin type quasiholesphere  state: $`_{i=1}^Nv_i\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{MR}}`$ with the total angular momentum $`L=3`$ for a six electron system which corresponds to the two-quasihole state with zero relative angular momentum. Because of the long-range nature of the Coulomb interaction, such a state with higher total angular momentum should be higher in energy. The quantum number of the relative angular momentum of the two-quasiholes must be even because of their statistics. So the state with smaller energy has $`L=1`$ and the trial function for two-quasiholes is given bymr ; rr

$`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{MR}}^{2qh}=\mathrm{Pf}\left({\displaystyle \frac{u_iv_j+v_iu_j}{u_iv_jv_iu_j}}\right){\displaystyle \underset{i<j}{}}(u_iv_jv_iu_j)^2.`$ (8)
One of the quasihole is on the north pole and the other is on the south pole. We expect such a state becomes relevant in a bilayer system with large $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$. Actually $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{MR}}^{2qh}|\mathrm{\Psi }=0.93929`$ at $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}=0.08(e^2/ϵl)`$ and $`d/l=5.0`$. In the opposite limit of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}0`$ the quasihole states for $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{331}`$ which are given by $`_{i=1}^N_{}v_i\mathrm{\Psi }_{331}`$ and $`_{i=1}^N_{}\xi _i\mathrm{\Psi }_{331}`$ might be relevant. The lowest energy state with two quasiholes should have zero total angular momentum. Figure 4 shows energy eigenvalues in the six electron system with an extra flux as a function of the total angular momentum $`L`$ and interlayer tunneling $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$. The state with $`L=0`$ is lowest in the absence of tunneling. As $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$ increases energy of the state with $`L=1`$ decreases and becomes lowest when $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$ exceeds $`0.013(e^2/ϵl)`$. The latter state can be approximated by $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{MR}}^{2qh}`$. The level crossing point exactly corresponds to the cusp point in Fig.1. In other words, the upward cusp is a sign of the transition between abelian and non-abelian statistics.

Now we study larger $`d/l`$ region. The $`\nu =1/2`$ FQHE state is observed in the WSQW with large $`d/l>7`$. This fact is far from what was originally expectedymg . Figure.5 shows the interlayer pair-correlation function $`g_{}(r)`$ at $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}=0`$. In a crude sence, the $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{331}`$ state can be understood as two Laughlin 1/3 states locked togerther so that the electrons in one layer are bound to correlation holes in the other. We can find that correlation hole or locking between the layers declines and the system goes into the uncorrelating phase when $`d/l`$ becomes large as shown in Fig.6. Thus FQHE state is not realized at $`d/l>7`$ if $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}=0`$. On the other hand, at large $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}/(e^2/ϵl)`$ our quantitative phase diagram depicted in the inset of Fig.3 indicates the 1/2 FQHE. Actually as shown in Fig.6, the ground state at large $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$ can be understood as the Pfaffian state, and the Ho’s state (4) with $`\theta =\pi /6`$ is relevant around the cusp point. The two-quasihole state also shows level crossing when the tunneling rate $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$ is increased. As Fig.6 shows, at the large $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$ region two-quasihole state of Moore and Read is relevant.

As a supplement, we comment on the experiment at large $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$. In the experiment the gap becomes smaller when $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}`$ is increased further, and vanishes at $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}/(e^2/ϵl)>0.08`$suen2 . To realize this larger tunneling region, magnetic field is reduced, and not only $`d/l`$ but also $`w/l`$ becoems small ($`w/l2.5`$). That is to say the well-width $`w`$ should be appreciated as the third consequent parameter. When $`w`$ and $`d`$ are significantly small and tunneling rate is large, the system corresponds to a flat single layer system, and the Rezayi-Read staterezayiread  describing the Fermi liquid state of composite fermionshlr  might be relevant, and quantized plateau does not appear. In fact, in the limit of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{SAS}\mathrm{}`$ and $`d=w0`$, the two-correlation function in the symmetric sector (dashed line) shows ‘$`2k_F`$-like oscillation’rezayiread  at $`N=10`$ and $`N_\varphi =18`$ as we see in Fig.5. Contrary, at $`d=w=6.0l`$ the short range repulsion is reduced and the ocsillation disapears that indicates the Cooper instability. Thus to observe the one-component 1/2 FQHE, a sample with wide enough well and large tunneling rate should be needed.

In this paper we have investigated the evolution of the $`\nu =1/2`$ bilayer FQHE state. We showed that the ground state evolves continuously as the tunneling rate is changed, while the quasihole state reveals a level crossing from two-component to one-component. The fact that the energy gap becomes maximum through the transition is really unusual within the physics of quantum phase transition. Perhaps similar singularity might be observed in transport phenomena such as the Hall resistance of drag current or pseudospin current.

This work is supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) 10640301 and 14540294 from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture.


text:
# Force network ensemble: a new approach to static granular matter

## Regular packings

The triangular snooker-like packings shown in Fig. 1a have $`3N`$ unknown forces (boundary forces included) that are constrained by the $`2N`$ equations of mechanical equilibrium. Even though the packing geometry is completely regular, the ensemble approach yields irregular force networks and a broad $`P(f)`$.

Labeling each bond by a single index $`k`$, the mechanical equilibrium can be expressed as

$$A\stackrel{}{f}=\stackrel{}{0}\mathrm{with}\stackrel{}{f}(f_1,f_2,\mathrm{},f_{3N}),$$
(3)
where $`A`$ is a $`3N`$ times $`2N`$ sparse matrix. There is thus an $`N`$-dimensional subspace of allowed force configurations that obey mechanical equilibrium. Eq. (3) is homogeneous, but in physical realizations an overall force scale is determined by the externally applied stresses and/or the gravitational bulk forces. The simplest manner to do so here is to fix the external pressure by specifying the total boundary forces. For the snooker-triangles it then follows that the sum of all forces is constant. We are thus considering the phase space defined by the force balance (3), the “pressure” constraint $`_kf_k=F_{\mathrm{tot}}`$, and the condition that all $`f`$’s are positive:

$$𝒜\stackrel{}{f}=\stackrel{}{b}\mathrm{and}f_k0,$$
(4)
where the fixed matrix $`𝒜`$ is the matrix $`A`$ extended by the pressure constraint and $`\stackrel{}{b}=(0,0,0,\mathrm{},0,F_{\mathrm{tot}})`$.

To compute $`P(f)`$ for larger packings, we have applied a simulated annealing procedure numrec . Starting from an ensemble of random initial force configurations we sample the space of mechanically stable networks, using a penalty function whose degenerate ground states are solutions of Eq. (4). We have carefully checked that results do not depend on the initial configurations, and furthermore perfectly reproduce the distribution $`P(f)`$ for 3 and 6 balls, which can be worked out analytically longpaperagain .

The two force networks shown in Fig. 1 are typical solutions $`\stackrel{}{f}`$ obtained by this scheme. We limit the discussion to $`P(f)`$ for interparticle forces, and address the boundary forces which show different distributions elsewhere rapid ; longpaperagain . The interparticle $`P(f)`$ for packings of increasing number of balls are presented in Fig. 2. Note that all $`P(f)`$’s display a peak for small $`f`$, which is typical for jammed systems liuletter . For large packings, this peak rapidly converges to its asymptotic limit. The tail of $`P(f)`$ broadens with system size, but the present data is not conclusive about its asymptotic characteristics.

## Irregular packings

We now apply our force ensemble approach to a more realistic system with a random packing geometry, and study a shear-stress induced unjamming transition. To obtain a representative irregular contact geometry, we perform a standard Molecular Dynamics simulation of a 50:50 binary mixture of 1024 particles with size ratio 1.4 that have a purely repulsive 12-6 Lennard-Jones interaction (a shifted potential with the attractive tail cut off), the same system as the one studied by O’Hern et al. liuletter . We then quench such a finite temperature simulation onto a $`T=0`$ random packing with a steepest descent algorithm numrec . The static contact network that we obtain in this way then defines the matrix $`𝒜`$ in Eq. (3).

The $`P(f)`$ obtained for this fixed packing is displayed in Fig. 3: even for a single contact geometry, we clearly reproduce a realistic $`P(f)`$ which is very similar to both that of the triangular packings and to those obtained in experiments and simulations network ; Pf .

To investigate the role of the particle hardness, we have performed MD simulations of the same system with increasingly hard particles, obtained by varying the prefactor of the potential at constant pressure. For our original MD, which defined $`𝒜`$, the particles are fairly soft with $`\epsilon 0.1`$, and the corresponding $`P(f)`$ is somewhat different from the one in the force ensemble. When the hardness of the particles is increased, $`\epsilon `$ diminishes and the corresponding $`P(f)`$ indeed approaches the force ensemble $`P(f)`$. For the hardest particles ($`\epsilon 0.02`$) these $`P(f)`$’s are virtually indistinguishable. We find that this holds for a variety of force laws longpaperagain . This confirms the validity of our approach for hard particles.

## Unjamming by shear

It is also possible to study the effect of a shear stress on the force network ensemble by using the relation between the microscopic forces and the macroscopic stress field:

$$\sigma _{\alpha \beta }=\frac{1}{V}\underset{k}{}\left(𝐟_k\right)_\alpha \left(𝐫_k\right)_\beta ,$$
(5)
and extending the matrix of Eq. (4) with the three linear constraints of Eq. (5). The average value of the force is set to unity by requiring $`\sigma _{xx}=\sigma _{yy}=1/2`$ rfootnote , and we vary $`\tau =\sigma _{xy}/\sigma _{xx}`$.

We find that $`P(f)`$ evolves from a “jammed” distribution with a peak, to an “unjammed” monotonous distribution as a function of shear stress (Fig. 4a). As a function of the angle $`\varphi `$, $`f`$ varies in good approximation as $`1+2\tau \mathrm{sin}(2\varphi )`$. This variation is consistent with Eq. (5) as well as with the alignment of the dominant contacts visible in Fig. 4b – note the similarity to experimentally obtained sheared networks shearclement . Since $`P(f)`$ contains forces in all directions, the broadening of $`P(f)`$ with shear stress follows immediately from this angular modulation of $`f`$. However, this is only part of the story: we find that the shape of $`P(f)`$ also varies with direction, from extremely jammed along the force lines, to almost purely exponential along the weak principle direction (not shown) longpaperagain .

When $`\tau `$ approaches $`1/2`$, $`f`$ becomes zero along the weak principle direction, which implies that all forces along the weak direction approach zero. This can be interpreted as the breaking of contacts (see Fig. 4c). In addition, when $`\tau 1/2`$, the contact number drops to $`z=4`$ (inset of Fig. 4a), and beyond this point, stable force networks are no longer possible. This simple mechanism thus provides $`\tau =1/2`$ as a definite upper bound for the critical yield stress gm ; nedderman ; herrmann ; duran . In terms of the “slip angle” this value corresponds to $`30^{}`$. On the other hand, it has been speculated liuletter ; grestjam  that the qualitative change of $`P(f)`$ from peak to plateau could also be indicative of yielding; in our ensemble this occurs at $`\tau =0.26`$ suggesting a slip angle of $`15^{}`$.

## Outlook

We have proposes a novel ensemble approach to athermal hard particle systems. The full set of mechanical equilibrium constraints were incorporated, in contrast to more local approximations or force chain models qmodel ; max\_entropy ; edwards3D ; halseyinagroove ; chainmodel . A number of crucial questions can possibly be addressed within our framework. (1) Our approach is perfectly suited to include frictional forces, since these are difficult to express in a force law but simple to constrain by the Coulomb inequality. (2) The contact and force networks of sand piles exhibit different anisotropies under different construction histories vanel ; 2Dbehringer . We suggest that contact network anisotropies may be sufficient to obtain the pressure dip under properly created piles. (3) The problem defined by Eqs. (4) could be generalized to arbitrary $`𝒜`$ and $`\stackrel{}{b}`$, for which we can calculate $`P(f)`$ and may ask under what conditions $`P(f)`$ has an exponential tail, appear jammed etc. Preliminary work indicates that for realistic $`𝒜`$ but taking $`\stackrel{}{b}`$ nonzero with mean square average proportional to $`T`$ captures the effect of a finite temperature of $`P(f)`$ longpaperagain .

We are grateful to Jan van der Eerden, Alexander Morozov and Hans van Leeuwen for numerous illuminating discussions. JHS gratefully acknowledges support from the physics foundation FOM, and MvH support from the science foundation NWO through a VIDI grant.


text:
# References

Erratum to:
Canonical coherent states for the relativistic harmonic oscillator, J. Math. Phys. 36(7), 3191 (1995)

V. Aldaya1,2 and J. Guerrero2,3

July 2003

11footnotetext: Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Apartado Postal 3004, 18080 Granada, Spain22footnotetext: Instituto de Física Teórica y Computacional Carlos I, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Campus de Fuentenueva, Granada 18002, Spain33footnotetext: Departamento de Matemática Aplicada, Facultad de Informática, Campus de Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain
In the mentioned paper  we introduced higher-order (non-polynomial), relativistic creation and annihilation operators, $`\widehat{a},\widehat{a}^{}`$, with canonical commutation relation $`[\widehat{a},\widehat{a}^{}]=1`$ rather than the covariant one $`[\widehat{z},\widehat{z}^{}]`$ energy and naturally associated with the $`SL(2,R)`$ group. The canonical (relativistic) coherent states were then defined as eigenstates of $`\widehat{a}`$. Also, a canonical, minimal representation was constructed in configuration space by means of eigenstates of a canonical position operator.

Unfortunately the expression of the operator $`\widehat{\kappa }`$ (closely related to the energy operator) just after formula (18), then after formula (34), was miswritten. In fact, we printed the classical function of $`\kappa `$ in terms of the functions $`z`$ and $`z^{}`$ (see eq. (2)), whereas the correct, quantum expression is:

$$\widehat{\kappa }=\frac{1}{2N}+\sqrt{(1\frac{1}{2N})^2+\frac{2}{N}\widehat{z}^{}\widehat{z}}$$

This misprint had not been detected because we always used the power series expansion (formula (17)), which features a full independence on the (energy eigenstate) basis $`\{|n>\}`$. However, very recently, H.A. Kastrup dealing with an analogous construction  has detected the above-mentioned misprint . We are very grateful to him for pointing it out.


text:
# Coherent manipulation of electronic states in a double quantum dot

## Abstract

We investigate coherent time-evolution of charge states (pseudo-spin qubit) in a semiconductor double quantum dot. This fully-tunable qubit is manipulated with a high-speed voltage pulse that controls the energy and decoherence of the system. Coherent oscillations of the qubit are observed for several combinations of many-body ground and excited states of the quantum dots. Possible decoherence mechanisms in the present device are also discussed.

Initiated by various experiments on atomic systems, studies on coherent dynamics have been extended to small-scale quantum computers BookNielsenChuang . Nano-fabrication technology now allows us to design artificial atoms (quantum dots) and molecules (coupled quantum dots), in which atomic (molecular)- like electronic states can be controlled with external voltages TaruchaAAPRL ; OosterkampNature ; FujisawaScience . Coherent manipulation of the electronic system in quantum dots and a clear understanding of decoherence in practical structures are crucial for future applications of quantum nanostructures to quantum information technology.

In this Letter, we describe the coherent manipulation of charge states, in which an excess electron occupies the left dot or the right dot of a double quantum dot (DQD). The coherent oscillations between the two charge states are produced by applying a rectangular voltage pulse to an electrode. Although this scheme is analogous to experiments on a superconducting island NakamuraNature , our qubit is effectively isolated from the electrodes during the manipulation, while it is influenced by strong decoherence during the initialization due to the coupling with the electrodes. This controlled decoherence provides an efficient initialization scheme.

We consider a DQD consisting of left and right dots connected through an interdot tunneling barrier. The left (right) dot is weakly coupled to the source (drain) electrode via a tunneling barrier \[see Fig. 1(a)\]. The conductance through the device is strongly influenced by the on-site and interdot Coulomb interactions WilfredRMP . In the weak-coupling regime at a small source-drain voltage, $`V_{sd}`$, a finite current is only observed at the triple points, where tunneling processes through the three tunneling barriers are allowed. Under an appropriate condition where only the interdot tunneling is allowed, Coulomb interactions effectively isolate the DQD from the source and drain electrodes. In this case, we can consider two charge states, in which an excess electron occupies the left dot ($`|L`$) or the right dot ($`|R`$) with electrochemical potentials $`E_L`$ and $`E_R`$, respectively. In practice, each charge state involves (many-body) ground and excited states. When the two specific states are energetically close to each other and the excitation to other states can be neglected, the system can be approximated as a two-level system (qubit). It is characterized by the energy offset, $`\epsilon E_RE_L`$, and the interdot tunneling, which gives an anti-crossing energy, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ OosterkampNature . The effective Hamiltonian is

$$H=\frac{1}{2}\epsilon (t)\sigma _z+\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma _x,$$
(1)
where $`\sigma _x`$ and $`\sigma _z`$ are the Pauli matrices for pseudo-spin bases of $`|L`$ and $`|R`$. When $`E_L`$ and $`E_R`$ of the localized states are crossed by changing $`V_{sd}`$, for instance, as shown by dashed lines in Fig. 1(b), the eigenenergies, $`E_b`$ and $`E_a`$, for bonding and anti-bonding states respectively, show anti-crossing as shown by solid lines. The coherent oscillation of the system is expected with the angular frequency given by $`\mathrm{\Omega }=\sqrt{\epsilon ^2+\mathrm{\Delta }^2}/\mathrm{}`$.

The DQDs (samples I and II with almost identical dimensions) used for this work are defined in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure containing a two-dimensional electron gas, as shown in Fig. 1(a). The experiments were performed in a magnetic field of 0.5 T at lattice temperature $`T_{lat}`$ 20 mK, unless otherwise noted. The effective electron temperature, however, remained at $`T_{elec}`$ 100 mK. Each dot in both samples contains about 25 electrons and has an on-site charging energy $`E_c`$ 1.3 meV. The interdot electrostatic coupling energy is $`U`$ 200 $`\mu `$eV. Figure 2(a) shows the current spectrum $`I`$ of sample I when the voltage, $`V_R`$, on the right gate \[$`G_R`$ in Fig 1(a)\] is swept at a large source-drain voltage $`V_{sd}=`$ 650 $`\mu `$V. Each dot contains several energy states in the transport window of width $`eV_{sd}`$, and resonant tunneling between them is clearly resolved as current peaks, two of which (resonances $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$) are shown in Fig. 2(a). Resonance $`\alpha `$ ($`\beta `$) is probably associated with the ground state of the left dot and the first (second) excited state of the right dot. In the vicinity of each peak, a two-level system (qubit) can be defined by only taking into account a single discrete state in each dot, $`|L`$ and $`|R`$. The qubit parameters, $`\epsilon `$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, and tunneling rates, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_L`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$, respectively for left and right barriers, can be controlled independently by external gate voltages, and are determined from the elastic current spectra OosterkampNature ; FujisawaScience ; WilfredRMP .

In order to manipulate the qubit, a rectangular voltage pulse is applied to the drain electrode. This switches the source-drain bias voltage $`V_{sd}`$ between $`V_p=`$ 650 $`\mu `$V, at which the tunneling between the DQD and the electrodes is allowed, and zero, at which the DQD is effectively isolated from the electrode due to Coulomb interactions. At the same time, due to the electrostatic coupling between the QDs and electrodes, the pulse also switches the energy offset between $`\epsilon =\epsilon _0`$ at $`V_{sd}=V_p`$ and $`\epsilon _1`$ at $`V_{sd}=0`$ ($`\epsilon _1\epsilon _0`$ 30 $`\mu `$eV), as shown for $`\epsilon _1=0`$ in Fig. 1(b). We designed the pulse sequence for initialization, coherent manipulation, and measurement in the following way.

For initialization, a relatively large source-drain voltage, $`V_{sd}=V_p`$, was applied under appropriate gate voltages, so that $`E_L`$ and $`E_R`$ are in between the electrochemical potentials of the source and drain electrodes, $`\mu _S`$ and $`\mu _D`$ ($`\mu _S>E_L,E_R>\mu _D=\mu _SeV_p`$). For example, in the off-resonance condition ($`\epsilon =\epsilon _0\mathrm{\Delta }`$) as shown in Fig. 1(c), electron-phonon interaction provides finite inelastic tunneling, whose rate is $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_i`$, between the two states FujisawaScience . We adjusted $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_L`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$ to make them sufficiently larger than $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_i`$ so that the current would be limited by the inelastic tunneling between the dots. This sequential tunneling process accumulates an excess electron in the left dot, providing the initial state $`|L`$. Note that this initialization works even in the resonance condition ($`\epsilon _0=0`$) when $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_L`$ and $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$ are greater than $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. Significant decoherence from the dissipative tunneling processes holds the system in the localized state $`|L`$ rather than in the delocalized states.

For coherent manipulation, we non-adiabatically change $`V_{sd}`$ to zero, which shifts the energy offset to $`\epsilon =\epsilon _1`$. A typical energy diagram for $`\epsilon _1`$ 0 is shown in Fig. 1(d). In this case, the inter-dot electrostatic coupling prevents the electron tunneling into and out of the DQD by any first-order tunneling process, and negligible current flows through the DQD. Hence the system is well approximated by Eq. 1. The system prepared in $`|L`$ goes back and forth between $`|L`$ and $`|R`$ coherently. We maintain $`V_{sd}=0`$ for the pulse length, $`t_p=`$ 80 - 2000 ps, during which the oscillation continues.

Then, the large bias voltage is restored for the measurement \[Fig. 1(e)\]. The large tunneling rates ($`\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_L,`$ $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_R>\mathrm{\Delta }`$) effectively stop the coherent manipulation, and thereby provide a strong measurement. If the system ends up in $`|R`$ after the manipulation, the electron tunnels out to the drain electrode and contributes to the pumping current. The system goes back to the initial state $`|L`$ after waiting longer than $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_L^1+`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_R^1`$. However, no pumping current is expected for $`|L`$, which is already the initial state. Hence, this pumping current depends on the probability of finding the system in $`|R`$.

In practice, we repeatedly applied many pulses with a repetition frequency $`f_{rep}`$ = 100 MHz and measured the average dc current, $`I`$, which comprises the coherent pumping current and inelastic current that flows during initialization. In order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, we employed a lock-in amplifier technique to measure the pulse-induced current $`I_p`$ by switching the pulse train on and off at a low modulation frequency of 100 Hz. We estimated the average number of pulse-induced tunneling electrons, $`n_p=I_p/ef_{rep}`$.

A color plot of $`n_p`$ as functions of $`V_R`$ and $`t_p`$ is shown in Fig. 2(b). Sweeping $`V_R`$ mainly shifts $`E_R`$ and changes the energies $`\epsilon _0`$ and $`\epsilon _1`$ simultaneously by keeping $`\epsilon _1\epsilon _0`$ almost constant. A clear oscillation pattern is observed in a wide range of $`V_R`$. Local-maxima of the oscillation amplitude appeared for relatively long $`t_p`$ at gate voltages indicated by long-dashed lines, where the two states must be resonant ($`\epsilon _1`$ = 0) during manipulation. We confirmed that the oscillation patterns in Fig. 2(b) are attributed to resonances $`\alpha `$ (clear oscillation) and $`\beta `$ (faint oscillation) from their $`V_p`$ dependence. The energy offsets $`\epsilon _{0,i}`$ and $`\epsilon _{1,i}`$ for resonance $`i`$ ($`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$) are also shown in Fig. 2(b).

The oscillation pattern for resonance $`\alpha `$ shows that the amplitude and period decrease as $`\epsilon _{1,\alpha }`$ goes away from $`\epsilon _{1,\alpha }=0`$. The current amplitude is asymmetric about $`\epsilon _{1,\alpha }=0`$, and the oscillation continues until $`\epsilon _{1,\alpha }`$ 40 $`\mu `$eV. These features are qualitatively consistent with a calculation based on the time-dependent Schrödinger equation and Eq. 1 using a time-dependent $`\epsilon (t)`$ with a finite rise time ($``$ 100 ps) of the pulse NakamuraNature . The strong oscillation in the range of $`\epsilon _{0,\alpha }<0<\epsilon _{1,\alpha }`$ can be understood as an interference between coherent time-evolution at $`\epsilon (t)`$ 0 during the finite rise time of the pulse and that during the fall time of the pulse. It should be noted that clear oscillation is seen even at $`\epsilon _{0,\alpha }=0`$ (indicated by a black dotted line), where two localized states are resonant during the initialization but off-resonant during the manipulation. This feature is convincing evidence that there is strong decoherence during initialization. The density matrix calculation for our initialization condition gives the decoherence rate, $`\mathrm{}(\mathrm{\Gamma }_R+\mathrm{\Gamma }_L)/2`$ 30 $`\mu `$eV StoofPRB , which is greater than $`\mathrm{\Delta }=`$ 9 $`\mu `$eV for resonance $`\alpha `$. However, the Coulomb blockade effect eliminates this decoherence during manipulation, as mentioned before. Therefore, we presume that the oscillation at $`\epsilon _{0,\alpha }=0`$ is induced by the modulation of the decoherence rate. In contrast, the disappearance of the oscillation at $`\epsilon _{0,\beta }=0`$ (indicated by a white dotted line) for resonance $`\beta `$ ($`\mathrm{\Delta }=`$ 30 $`\mu `$eV) might arise from the inefficient initialization that provides a statistical mixture of bonding and antibonding states.

The qubit state can be manipulated arbitrarily. Ideally, the quarter period oscillation at $`\epsilon _1=0`$ corresponds to the $`\pi /2`$ pulse that prepares a superposition state $`\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|L+i|R)`$. Leaving a state at $`\epsilon =\epsilon _2\mathrm{\Delta }`$ for a specific time $`t_\varphi `$ gives a phase shift $`\epsilon _2t_\varphi /\mathrm{}`$ between $`|L`$ and $`|R`$. Therefore arbitrary states can be prepared by tailoring the pulse waveform $`\epsilon (t)`$ even at a constant $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. The demonstration of phase-shift operations will be published elsewhere PhaseGate .

Figure 2(c) shows typical $`n_p(t_p)`$ traces at $`\epsilon _1=0`$ for resonances $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$. The oscillation can be fitted well by an exponential decay of the cosine function and a linearly decreasing term,

$$n_p(t_p)A\frac{1}{2}B\mathrm{exp}(t_p/T_2)\mathrm{cos}(\mathrm{\Omega }t_p)\mathrm{\Gamma }_it_p,$$
(2)
except when $`t_p`$ 100 ps (the rise time of the pulse). The last term comes from the fact that the inelastic tunneling current is blocked during the manipulation. Actually $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_i`$ (6 ns)-1 obtained for $`\alpha `$ from this fitting is consistent with the inelastic dc current, which should be $`e\mathrm{\Gamma }_i`$ in the absence of the pulse. The offset, $`A`$ 0.6, and amplitude, $`B`$ 0.3, of the oscillation for $`\alpha `$ are comparable to the ideal case ($`A=`$ 0.5 and $`B=`$ 1 at $`\epsilon _1=0`$), although they are degraded by the finite rise time of the pulse and non-ideal initialization/measurement processes. The oscillation frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and the decoherence time $`T_2`$ can be obtained from the fitting ($`\mathrm{\Omega }/2\pi `$ 2.3 GHz and $`T_2`$ 1 ns for resonance $`\alpha `$ at $`\epsilon _1=0`$).

We estimate how the decoherence rate $`T_2^1`$ depends on the energy offset $`\epsilon _1`$ \[Fig. 3(a)\], coupling energy $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ \[Fig. 3(b)\], and the lattice temperature $`T_{lat}`$ \[Fig. 3(c)\]. Here $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, which is determined from the fitting ($`\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }`$ at $`\epsilon _1=0`$), can be varied by changing the gate voltage $`V_C`$ on the central gate $`G_C`$ as shown in Fig. 2(d). Although decoherence from first-order tunneling processes is eliminated during manipulation, other decoherence sources are significant in our measurement.

Firstly, background charge fluctuations and noise in the gate voltages affect $`\epsilon `$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, which change the oscillation frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and dephase the system ItakuraPRB ; NakamuraPRL . The fluctuation, $`\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }`$, of $`\epsilon `$ in our sample ranges between 1.6 $`\mu `$eV, which is estimated from the fluctuation of $`I`$ in a frequency range 0.1 - 5 Hz, and 3 $`\mu `$eV, which is the narrowest linewidth of the resonant peak we obtained in sample I in the weak coupling limit ($`\mathrm{\Delta }<`$ 1 $`\mu `$eV) FujisawaScience . The corresponding decoherence rate, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\epsilon =|d\mathrm{\Omega }/d\epsilon |\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }`$ to the lowest order, for $`\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }=`$ 1.6 $`\mu `$eV is shown by a solid line in Fig. 3(a). This qualitatively explains the large decoherence rate at $`\epsilon _10`$, where the system is sensitive to $`\stackrel{~}{\epsilon }`$. However, the decoherence rate at $`\epsilon _1=0`$ cannot be explained with this model, and should be dominated by other mechanisms.

Secondly, we consider cotunneling effects. Although the first-order tunneling processes are prohibited during manipulation, higher-order tunneling (cotunneling) processes can occur because relatively high $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_L`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$ were chosen for efficient initialization. For simplicity, we only estimate one of the cotunneling processes, which scatters the electron from the anti-bonding state to the bonding state (eigenstates of the qubit), from second order Fermi’s golden rule. This gives a transition rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{cot}=(8/h)\mathrm{\Delta }(\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Gamma })^2/U^2`$ at $`\epsilon _1=0`$, $`V_{sd}=0`$ and zero temperature when the barrier is symmetric ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\mathrm{\Gamma }_L=\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$) Eto . $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{cot}`$ shown by solid lines in Figs. 3(b) and 3(c) actually includes thermal broadening in the source and drain \[$`T_{elec}=`$ 100 mK is assumed in Fig. 3(b)\]. Although we cannot determine the parameters precisely, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{cot}`$ is comparable to the observed $`T_2^1`$. We believe that the cotunneling effect is significant in our measurement but can be easily diminished by choosing smaller $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and by making the interdot electrostatic coupling energy $`U`$ larger.

Lastly, we discuss electron-phonon interactions, which is an intrinsic decoherence mechanism in semiconductor QDs FujisawaScience ; FujisawaNature . Spontaneous acoustic phonon emission remains even at zero temperature and causes the inelastic tunneling between the two states FujisawaScience . The phonon emission rate estimated from the inelastic current or from the fitting with Eq. 2 is $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_i`$ $``$ (4 - 20 ns)-1, which depends on $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, at $`\epsilon =`$ -30 $`\mu `$eV. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_i`$ of our interest at $`\epsilon =`$ 0 should be faster because of the spatial overlap of the eigenstates, and may be comparable to the observed $`T_2^1`$. By assuming Ohmic spectral density for simplicity, the spin-boson model predicts the decoherence rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{sb}=\frac{\pi }{4}g\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{coth}(\mathrm{\Delta }/2k_BT_{lat})`$ for $`\epsilon =`$ 0, where $`g=`$ 0.03 is the dimensionless coupling constant that was chosen to fit with the temperature dependence data \[see dashed line in Fig. 3(c)\] BrandesPRB ; Leggett . This $`g`$ is a reasonable value to explain the inelastic current BrandesPRB , and thus phonon emission seems to be significant in our system.

Therefore, the qubit is strongly influenced by low-frequency fluctuation when $`|\epsilon |\mathrm{\Delta }`$, cotunneling at high tunneling rates, and acoustic phonons at high temperature. The resonances $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ actually involve excited states in the right dot, and the relaxation to the ground state should also cause decoherence. Other mechanisms, such as the fluctuation of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and the electromagnetic environment, may have to be considered to fully understand the decoherence. It should be noted that the quality of the coherent oscillation was improved by reducing high-frequency noise from the gate voltages and the coaxial cable. The remaining noise may also contribute to the decoherence. We hope that some decoherence effects can be reduced by further studies.

In summary, we have successfully manipulated the artificial qubit in a double quantum dot. Coherent oscillations are observed for several combinations of ground and excited states. In the present experiments, there was no condition where two kinds of oscillations coincided, indicating that the two-level system is still a good approximation. However, application of a two-step voltage pulse, which consecutively adjusts the system at two resonances ($`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ for instance) in a short time, would mix three quantum states coherently. Therefore, DQDs are promising for studying multi-level coherencyBrandesPRL3level , and the experiments can be extended to electron-spin manipulations and two-qubit operations PashkinNature2qubit .

We thank T. Brandes, T. Itakura, Y. Nakamura, K. Takashina, Y. Tokura, and W. G. van der Wiel for their stimulating discussions and help.