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# Scientific Highlights of the HETE-2 Mission

## 1 Introduction

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most brilliant events in the Universe. Long regarded as an exotic enigma, they have taken center stage in high-energy astrophysics by virtue of the spectacular discoveries of the past six years. It is now clear that they also have important applications in many other areas of astronomy: GRBs mark the moment of “first light” in the universe; they are tracers of the star formation, re-ionization, and metallicity histories of the universe; and they are laboratories for studying core-collapse supernovae.

Three major milestones have marked this journey. In 1992, results from the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on board the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory ruled out the previous paradigm (in which GRBs were thought to come from a thick disk of neutron stars in our own galaxy, the Milky Way), and hinted that the bursts might be cosmological . In 1997, results made possible by BeppoSAX  decisively determined the distance scale to long GRBs (showing that they lie at cosmological distances), and provided circumstantial evidence that long bursts are associated with the deaths of massive stars (see, e.g., ). In 2003, results made possible by the High Energy Explorer Satellite 2 (HETE-2)  dramatically confirmed the GRB – SN connection and firmly established that long bursts are associated with Type Ic core collapse supernovae. Thus we now know that the progenitors of long GRBs are massive stars.

The HETE-2 mission has been highly productive in addition to achieving this breakthrough:

* HETE-2 is currently localizing 25 - 30 GRBs per year;
* HETE-2 has accurately and rapidly localized 43 GRBs in 2 1/2 years of operation (compared to 52 GRBs localized by BeppoSAX during its 6-year mission); 14 of these have been localized to $`<2`$ arcmin accuracy by the SXC plus WXM.
* 21 of these localizations have led to the identification of the X-ray, optical, or radio afterglow of the burst.
* As of the present time, redshift determinations have been reported for 11 of the bursts with afterglows (compared to 13 BeppoSAX bursts with redshift determinations).
* HETE-2 has detected 16 XRFs so far (compared to 17 by BeppoSAX).
* HETE-2 has observed 25 bursts from the soft gamma-ray repeaters 1806-20 and 1900+14 in the summer of 2001; 2 in the summer of 2002; and 18 so far in 2003. It has discovered a possible new SGR: 1808-20.
* HETE-2 has observed $``$ 170 X-ray bursts (XRBs) in the summer of 2001, $`>`$ 500 in the summer of 2002, and $`>`$ 150 so far in 2003 from $``$ 20 sources. (We pointed HETE-2 toward the Galactic plane during the summer of 2002 and caught a large number of XRBs in order to calibrate new SXC flight software.)

Fourteen GRBs have been localized by the HETE-2 WXM plus SXC so far. Remarkably, all 14 have led to the identification of an X-ray, optical, infrared, or radio afterglow; and 13 of 14 have led to the identification of an optical afterglow. In contrast, only $``$ 35% of BeppoSAX localizations led to the identification of an optical afterglow.

## 2 Scientific Highlights of the HETE-2 Mission

Confirmation of the GRB – SN connection is a singular achievement and certainly one of the scientific highlights of the HETE-2 mission. Other highlights of the mission include the following:

* HETE-2 made possible rapid follow-up observations of a short GRB, allowing severe constraints to be placed on the brightness of any X-ray or optical afterglow.
* The rapid follow-up observations made possible by HETE-2 have opened the era of high-resolution spectroscopy of optical afterglows (e.g, GRBs 020813, 021004, and 030329).
* Accurate, rapid HETE-2 localizations sent to ground-based robotic telescopes have made it possible to explore the previously unknown behavior of optical afterglows in the 3 - 20 hour “gap” immediately following the burst that existed in the BeppoSAX era. This has confirmed the existence of a very bright, distinct phase lasting $``$ 10 minutes.
* HETE-2 is solving the mystery of “optically dark” GRBs. As already remarked upon, the identification of an optical afterglow for 13 of 14 GRBs localized by the SXC plus WXM instruments on HETE-2 has shown that very few long GRBs are truly ”optically dark.”
* Optical and NIR follow-up observations made possible by HETE-2 have provided the best case to date of a GRB whose optical afterglow has been extinguished by dust, and several examples of GRBs with exceptionally dim optical afterglows. These GRBs would very likely have been classified as “optically dark” were it not for the accurate, rapid localizations provided by HETE-2.
* HETE-2 is revealing the nature of X-ray flashes (XRFs). Specifically, HETE-2 has provided strong evidence that the properties of XRFs, X-ray-rich GRBs, and GRBs form a continuum, and therefore that these three types of bursts are the same phenomenon.
* HETE-2 results also show that XRFs may provide unique insights into the nature of GRB jets, the rate of GRBs, and the role of GRBs in Type Ic supernovae. In particular, the HETE-2 results provide evidence that GRB jets are uniform rather than structured. They also suggest that the jets are very narrow, and that the rate of GRBs may be much larger than has been thought.

## 3 GRB – SN Connection

There has been increasing circumstantial and tantalizing direct evidence in the last few years that GRBs are associated with core collapse supernovae (see, e.g. ). The detection and localization of GRB 030329 by HETE-2  led to a dramatic confirmation of the GRB – SN connection. GRB 030329 was among the brightest 1% of GRBs ever seen. Its optical afterglow was $`12^{\mathrm{th}}`$ magnitude at 1.5 hours after the burst  – more than 3 magnitudes brighter than the famous optical afterglow of GRB 990123 at a similar time . In addition, the burst source and its host galaxy lie very nearby, at a redshift $`z=0.167`$ . Given that GRBs typically occur at $`z`$ = 1-2, the probability that the source of an observed burst should be as close as GRB 030329 is one in several thousand. It is therefore very unlikely that HETE-2, or even Swift, will see another such event.

The fact that GRB 030329 was very bright spurred the astronomical community – both amateurs and professionals – to make an unprecedented number of observations of the optical afterglow of this event. Figure 1 shows the light curve of the optical afterglow of GRB 030329 1-10 days after the burst. At least four dramatic “re-brightenings” of the afterglow are evident in the saw-toothed lightcurve. These may be due to repeated injections of energy into the GRB jet by the central engine at late times, or caused by the ultra-relativistic jet ramming into dense blobs or shells of material . If the former, it implies that the central engine continued to pour out energy long after the GRB was over; if the latter, it likely provides information about the last weeks and days of the progenitor star.

The fact that GRB 030329 was very nearby made its optical afterglow an ideal target for attempts to confirm the conjectured association between GRBs and core collapse SNe. Astronomers were not disappointed: about ten days after the burst, the spectral signature of an energetic Type Ic supernova emerged . The supernova has been designated SN 2003dh. Figure 2 compares the discovery spectrum of SN 2003dh in the afterglow light curve of GRB 030329 and the spectrum of the Type Ic supernova SN 1998bw. The similarity is striking. The breadth and the shallowness of the absorption lines in the spectra of SN 2003dh imply expansion velocities of $``$ 36,000 km s-1 – far higher than those seen in typical Type Ic supernovae, and higher even than those seen in SN 1998bw. It had been conjectured that GRB 980425 was associated with SN 1998bw (see, e.g., ), but the fact that, if the association were true, the burst would have had to have been $`10^4`$ times fainter than any other GRB observed to date made the association suspect. The clear detection of SN 2003dh in the afterglow of GRB 030329 confirmed decisively the connection between GRBs and core collapse SNe.

The association between GRB 030329 and SN 2003dh makes it clear that we must understand Type Ic SNe in order to understand GRBs. The converse is also true: we must understand GRBs in order to fully understand Type Ic SNe. It is possible that the creation of a powerful ultra-relativistic jet as a result of the collapse of the core of a massive star to a black hole plays a direct role in Type Ic supernova explosions , but it is certain that the rapid rotation of the collapsing core implied by such jets must be an important factor in some – perhaps many – Type Ic supernovae. The result will often be a highly asymmetric explosion, whether the result of rapid rotation alone or of the creation of powerful magnetic fields as a result of the rapid rotation .

The large linear polarizations measured in several bright GRB afterglows, and especially the temporal variations in the linear polarization (see, e.g., ), provide strong evidence that the Type Ic supernova explosions associated with GRBs are highly asymmetric. The recent dramatic discovery that GRB 021206 was strongly polarized  provides evidence that GRB jets are in fact dominated by magnetic energy rather than hydrodynamic energy.

In addition, the X-ray afterglows of several GRBs have provided tantalizing evidence of the presence of emission lines of $`\alpha `$-particle nuclei . These emission lines, if confirmed, provide severe constraints on models of GRBs and Type Ic supernovae \[see, e.g., \]. They may also provide information on the abundances and properties of heavy elements that have been freshly minted in the supernova explosion.

It is therefore now clear that GRBs are a unique laboratory for studying, and are a powerful tool for understanding, Type Ic core collapse supernovae.

Confirmation by HETE-2 of the connection between GRBs and Type Ic supernovae has also strengthened the expectation that GRBs occur out to redshifts $`z20`$, and are therefore a powerful probe of cosmology and the early universe.

## 4 Short GRBs

Assuming that short bursts follow the star-formation rate (as long bursts are thought to do), one can show  that the peak luminosities of short bursts are essentially the same as those of long bursts. Otherwise, little is known about the distance scale or the nature of short GRBs. BeppoSAX did not detect any short, hard GRBs during its 6-year mission, despite extensive efforts. The rapid HETE-2 and IPN localizations of GRB 020531  made possible rapid optical ($`t`$ = 2-3 hours) follow-up observations. No optical afterglow was detected . Chandra follow-up observations at $`t=5`$ days showed that $`L_X(\mathrm{short})/L_x(\mathrm{long})<0.010.03`$ . These results suggest that real time or near-real time X-ray follow-up observations of short GRBs may be vital to unraveling the mystery of short GRBs.

## 5 “Optically Dark” GRBs

Only $``$ 35% of BeppoSAX localizations of GRBs led to the identification of an optical afterglow. In contrast, 13 of the 14 GRBs localized so far by the WXM plus the SXC on HETE-2 have optical afterglows. HETE-2 is thus solving the mystery of “optically dark” bursts.

Three explanations of “optically dark” GRBs have been widely discussed:

* The optical afterglow is extinguished by dust in the vicinity of the GRB or in the star-forming region in which the GRB occurs (see, e.g., ).
* The GRB lies at very high redshift ($`z>5`$), and the optical afterglow is absorbed by neutral hydrogen in the host galaxy and in the intergalactic medium along the line of sight from the burst to us .
* Some GRBs have optical afterglows that are intrinsically very faint (see, e.g., ).

Rapid optical follow-up observations of the HETE-2–localized burst GRB030115  show that the optical afterglow of this burst is the best case observed to date of a burst whose optical afterglow is extinguished by dust. Figure 3 shows the NIR and optical afterglow spectrum of this burst and the best-fit model, assuming extinction by dust . The amount of extinction by dust is a sensitive function of the redshift of the burst. Since the redshift of this burst has not been reported as yet, the case shown in Figure 3 assumes $`z=3.5`$, the largest redshift allowed by the observations and the one that attributes the least amount of extinction by dust. The amount of extinction by dust in the optical is still substantial.

Rapid optical follow-up observations  of the HETE-2–localized burst GRB 021211  show that the optical afterglow of this burst is intrinsically much fainter than those observed previously. Figure 4 shows the light curve of the afterglow of GRB 021211 . The transition from the reverse shock component  to the forward shock component is clearly visible. Figure 4 also compares the afterglow of GRB 021211 to those of other GRBs. These observations show that the light curve of the afterglow of this burst tracks those of GRBs 990123 and 030329, but is three and six magnitudes fainter than them.

This burst would almost certainly have been classified as “optically dark” were it not for its accurate, rapid localization by HETE-2. Upper limits or measurements of the optical afterglows of other BeppoSAX– and HETE-2–localized bursts suggest that they too have afterglows that are very faint (see, e.g., ). GRBs with intrinsically faint afterglows may therefore account for a substantial fraction of bursts previously classified as “optically dark.”

The temporal behavior of the optical afterglow of the HETE-2–localized burst GRB 021004 was nearly flat at early times – a behavior that is different than any seen previously and that suggests the “central engine” powering the GRB continued to pour out energy long after the burst itself was over. Thus HETE-2 is making it possible to explore the previously unknown behavior of GRB afterglows in the “gap” in time from the end of the burst to 3 - 20 hours after the burst that existed in the BeppoSAX era.

## 6 GRBs as a Probe of Cosmology and the Early Universe

HETE-2 has decisively confirmed the connection between GRBs and the deaths of massive stars, as we have seen. The earliest massive stars are thought to have formed at redshifts $`z20`$  and died soon thereafter. Thus GRBs may mark the moment of “first light” and an end to the “dark ages” of the universe. Indeed, recent calculations suggest that 10-40% of all GRBs may lie at very high ($`z>5`$) redshifts .

GRBs are far and away the brightest objects in the universe, with $`\gamma `$-ray luminosities that are frequently 10 billion times greater than the optical luminosities of the supernovae with which they are associated, or of their host galaxies. It is no surprise, then, that the bursts are easily detectable out to redshifts $`z20`$ by HETE-2.

Somewhat surprisingly, the infrared and near-IR afterglows of GRBs are also detectable out to very high redshifts . The reason is that while the increase in distance and the redshift of the spectrum tend to reduce the spectral flux in a given frequency band, cosmological time dilation tends to increase it at a fixed time of observation after the GRB, since afterglow intensities decrease with time. These effects combine to produce little or no decrease – and can even produce an increase – in the spectral energy flux of GRB afterglows beyond $`z3`$ . Consequently, “optically dark,” but “near-infrared and infrared bright,” GRBs may be a powerful probe of cosmology and the early universe.

Figure 5 places GRBs in a cosmological context . At recombination, which occurs at redshift $`z=1100`$, the universe becomes transparent. The cosmic background radiation originates at this redshift. Shortly afterward, the temperature of the cosmic background radiation falls below 3000 K and the universe enters the “dark ages” during which there is no visible light in the universe. “First light,” which occurs at $`z20`$, corresponds to the epoch when the first stars form. Ultraviolet radiation from these first stars and/or from the first active galactic nuclei re-ionizes the universe. Afterward, the universe is transparent in the ultraviolet.

Important cosmological questions that observations of GRBs and their afterglows may address include the following :

$``$ The moment of “first light” and the earliest generations of stars merely by the detection of GRBs at very high redshifts;

$``$ The re-ionization of the universe by the shape of the red damping wing of the Gunn-Peterson trough due to Lyman $`\alpha `$ in the spectra of GRB afterglows.

$``$ The history of metallicity growth in the universe – in the star-forming entities in which the bursts occur, in damped Lyman $`\alpha `$ clouds, and in the Lyman $`\alpha `$ forest – by observations of metal absorption line systems in the spectra of GRB afterglows; and

$``$ The large-scale structure of the universe at very high redshifts ($`z>5`$) by the clustering of Lyman $`\alpha `$ forest lines and the metal absorption-line systems in the spectra of their afterglows.

The recently announced results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe indicate that re-ionization of the universe occurred at $`z=17\pm 5`$ , much earlier than previously thought. Such redshifts are far beyond those that can be probed using quasars or even Ly$`\alpha `$-emission galaxies. In contrast, GRBs are expected to occur out to the redshifts ($`z20`$) at which the first stars formed, stars whose UV light evidently re-ionizes the universe. Thus, GRBs may provide a unique probe of the re-ionization of the universe and the moment of “first light.”

HETE-2 has provided evidence that the isotropic-equivalent energies $`E_{\mathrm{iso}}`$ and luminosities $`L_{\mathrm{iso}}`$ of GRBs are correlated with redshift  (see Figure 6). The apparent correlations imply that GRBs evolve strongly with redshift – bursts at $`z=5`$ appear to be $``$ 400 times more luminous than those at $`z=0`$. These results strengthen evidence to this effect from analyses of the BATSE catalog of GRBs, using the variability of burst time histories as an estimator of burst luminosities (and therefore redshifts) , and from an analysis of BeppoSAX bursts only .

Strong evolution of $`E_{\mathrm{iso}}`$ and $`L_{\mathrm{iso}}`$ with $`z`$ would have profound implications for the nature of GRB progenitors and for the use of GRBs a a probe of cosmology and the early universe. The HETE-2 results suggest that GRBs at redshifts $`z`$ = 10 - 20 may be much more luminous – and therefore easier to detect – than has been thought, making GRBs a more powerful probe of the very high redshift universe.

## 7 Nature of X-Ray Flashes and X-Ray-Rich GRBs

Two-thirds of all HETE-2–localized bursts are either “X-ray-rich” or XRFs, and one-third are XRFs (see Figure 7).111We define “X-ray-rich” GRBs and XRFs as those events for which $`\mathrm{log}[S_X(230\mathrm{kev})/S_\gamma (30400\mathrm{kev})]>0.5`$ and 0.0, respectively. These events have received increasing attention in the past several years , but their nature remains largely unknown.

Clarifying the nature of XRFs and X-ray-rich GRBs, and their connection to GRBs, could provide a breakthrough in our understanding of the prompt emission of GRBs. The spectrum of the HETE-2–localized event XRF 020903  gave an upper limit $`E_{\mathrm{peak}}^{\mathrm{obs}}<`$ 5 keV (99.7% confidence level) making this event one of the softest bursts seen so far by HETE-2. Follow-up observations made possible by the HETE-2 localization identified the likely optical afterglow of the XRF . Later observations determined that the optical transient occurred in a star-forming galaxy at a distance $`z=0.25`$ ; both of these properties are typical of GRB host galaxies.

Analyzing 42 X-ray-rich GRBs and XRFs seen by FREGATE and/or the WXM instruments on HETE-2,  find that the XRFs, the X-ray-rich GRBs, and GRBs form a continuum in the \[$`S_\gamma (2400\mathrm{kev}),E_{\mathrm{peak}}^{\mathrm{obs}}`$\]-plane (see Figure 8). This result strongly suggests that all three kinds of events are the same phenomenon.

Furthermore,  have placed 9 HETE-2 GRBs with known redshifts and 2 XRFs with known redshifts or strong redshift constraints in the ($`E_{\mathrm{iso}},E_{\mathrm{peak}}`$)-plane (see Figure 9). Here $`E_{\mathrm{iso}}`$ is the isotropic-equivalent burst energy and $`E_{\mathrm{peak}}`$ is the energy of the peak of the burst spectrum, measured in the source frame. The HETE-2 bursts confirm the relation between $`E_{\mathrm{iso}}`$ and $`E_{\mathrm{peak}}`$ found by Amati et al.  for GRBs and extend it down in $`E_{\mathrm{iso}}`$ by a factor of 300. The fact that XRF 020903, one of the softest events localized by HETE-2 to date, and XRF 030723, the most recent XRF localized by HETE-2, lie squarely on this relation  provides additional evidence that XRFs and GRBs are the same phenomenon. However, additional redshift determinations are clearly needed for XRFs with 1 keV $`<E_{\mathrm{peak}}<30`$ keV energy in order to confirm these results.

## 8 Conclusions

The HETE-2 mission has been highly productive. It has observed more than 250 GRBs so far. It is currently localizing 25 - 30 GRBs per year, and has localized 43 GRBs to date. Twenty-one of these localizations have led to the detection of X-ray, optical, or radio afterglows, and as of now, 11 of the bursts with afterglows have redshift determinations. HETE-2 has also observed more than 45 bursts from soft gamma-ray repeaters, and more than 700 X-ray bursts.

HETE-2 has confirmed the connection between GRBs and Type Ic supernovae, a singular achievement and certainly one of the scientific highlights of the mission so far. It has provided evidence that the isotropic-equivalent energies and luminosities of GRBs are correlated with redshift, implying that GRBs and their progenitors evolve strongly with redshift. Both of these results have profound implications for the nature of GRB progenitors and for the use of GRBs as a probe of cosmology and the early universe.

HETE-2 has placed severe constraints on any X-ray or optical afterglow of a short GRB. It has made it possible to explore the previously unknown behavior optical afterglows at very early times, and has opened up the era of high-resolution spectroscopy of GRB optical afterglows. It is also solving the mystery of “optically dark” GRBs, and revealing the nature of X-ray flashes.


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# Experimental demonstration of photonic crystal waveplates

## Abstract

We have constructed and experimentally tested a microwave half waveplate using the dispersive birefringent properties of a bulk two-dimensional photonic crystal away from its band gap. Our waveplate device exhibited a 200:1 polarization contrast, limited by our experimental resolution. We anticipate that photonic crystal waveplates will have important practical applications in several areas, including integrated photonic circuits.

Photonic crystals are passive, usually dielectric, periodic structures capable of producing distinctive reflected and transmitted fields from impinging electromagnetic (EM) waves Yablonovitch1989 . These structures are known to selectively forbid the propagation of light within certain frequency and wavevector bands through interference between multiple Bragg reflections Chow2000 ; Hickmann2002 . This phenomenon has been described as a photonic band gap in analogy with the electronic band structures of solid state materials. Although this analogy is relevant, the scalar approximation used for electronic theory neglects polarization effects, associated with the vector fields of electromagnetic waves, essential for photonic crystals. Here we explore some polarization-dependent effects of photonic crystal structures.

Photonic band gap structures can, in principle, be constructed in essentially any geometry with periodicity in one, two, or all three dimensions. Unfortunately, fabrication difficulties increase substantially as the dimensionality of the periodicity is increased. Among the wide variety of possible applications based on the band structure of photonic crystals are novel waveguides Cregan1999  and the suppression of spontaneous emission, leading to the possibility of thresholdless lasers Yablonovitch1987 . In addition to the well-known intensity effects, it has also been shown that photonic crystals have a nontrivial effect on the phase of EM waves in the band gap Hache2002 ; Solli2002 .

Although the band gap characteristics of photonic crystals have received significant attention, their transmission and especially phase effects in transparent spectral regions have been much less studied. Furthermore, there has been relatively little attention paid to birefringent polarization effects associated with photonic crystals. Most of the existing experimental and theoretical work in this area has been confined to studies of polarization behavior in photonic band gap waveguides Ortigosa-Blanch2000 ; Hansen2001 ; Kerbage2002  or in photonic crystal lasing cavities Noda2001 . There has also been some theoretical and experimental investigation of polarization and birefringence in nonlinear fiber Bragg gratings Slusher2000 ; Pereira2002 . To date, the polarization properties of two-dimensional photonic crystals have been discussed only once Li2001 , in a paper theoretically predicting the birefringent behavior characteristic of a waveplate.

It is possible to understand the existence of birefringence in a bulk 2D photonic crystal based on the anisotropy of the structure. A bulk 2D crystal is one in which the extruded (nonperiodic) dimension is much longer than the lattice constant. Since the dielectric interfaces are curved, the Fresnel coefficients for the two possible polarizations are different at normal incidence, being cumulative for multiple interfaces. An alternative explanation is found by considering the transmission characteristics of the structure. In particular, it has already been shown that the amplitude transmission of an EM wave through a bulk 2D photonic crystal is polarization-dependent in the band gap region; the center frequency, depth, and spectral width of the band gap depend on the polarization Hickmann2002 . Furthermore, it is well known that the absorption lines of a dissipative EM system can have effects on the phases of transmitted waves, even for frequencies away from the absorptive spectral regions Jackson1999 . Although dielectric photonic crystals are dissipationless, the band gaps should create similar dispersive effects, even in transparent spectral regions Ditchburn1976 ; Kittel1996 . Since bulk 2D photonic crystals have well-defined, but characteristically different band gap properties for waves of different polarizations, they should also possess birefringent phase delay properties (i.e., indices of refraction) in transparent spectral regions. In fact, significant phase birefringence has already been reported within the band gap of a bulk 2D photonic crystal Solli2002 .

Since Maxwell’s equations are scale-invariant, all results presented here apply across the electromagnetic spectrum. Photonic crystal birefringence should enable the construction of waveplates in all regions of the EM spectrum. Particularly in the optical region, this large birefringence could lead to much more compact waveplates than are currently available. It may also have important applications in photonic crystal circuits, integrated nonlinear optical systems based on selectively-defective periodic dielectric structures which have been proposed as all-optical switches Mingaleev2002 . One could imagine highly integrable and compact photonic-crystal circuit elements such as polarization discriminators, polarizing beamsplitters and even optical diodes, based on photonic crystal waveplates.

In this work, we report the experimental demonstration of a bulk two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal waveplate. We have observed a relatively simple photonic band gap structure controllably rotate the angle of the plane of polarization of an incident linearly polarized EM wave. The photonic crystals used in this experiment were fabricated using a method that we have previously described Hickmann2002 . In summary, we stack hollow acrylic pipes in a hexagonal array, and cement them together with an acrylic solvent glue. The pipes used to construct the crystals used in this experiment have an outer diameter of 1/2 inch, and the final structures have air-filling fractions of 0.60. We tested crystals ranging from two to twenty layers of acrylic pipes. The microwave wavelength scale of these systems means that we can fabricate high-quality crystals relatively easily.

Our transmission measurement procedure has also been described elsewhere Hickmann2002 . Microwaves are broadcast from an HP 8720A vector network analyzer (VNA) and coupled into free space with a polarization-sensitive antenna (horn). The crystal and receiver horn (also polarization-sensitive) are placed inside a microwave-shielded box 1.6 m away with an aperture 14 cm $`\times `$ 17 cm. These distances are chosen so that the microwaves arriving at the crystal are effectively plane waves with a well-defined linear polarization. The crystal is oriented so that the microwaves are incident in the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }M`$ direction Foteinopoulou2001 . A schematic of the experimental setup is presented in Fig. 1.

We have observed a clean exponential formation of the band gap in this crystal with increasing number of layers Hickmann2002 . The band gap center frequency is roughly 11 GHz for transverse magnetic (TM) waves and 10.5 GHz for transverse electric (TE) waves. The band gap depth and width also depend on polarization. We label the polarizations TE (TM) for the case in which the electric field is perpendicular (parallel) to the plane of symmetry of the crystal.

The vector capability of the network analyzer allows us to measure both transmission and phase delay of the microwaves at the receiver horn. We initially measured the phase delay in the frequency region of 14 to 20 GHz. With a simple model of the relation between phase delay and the index of refraction Solli2002 , we calculated the index of refraction $`n(\omega )`$ for both polarizations of incident microwaves, where $`\omega `$ is the angular frequency. For a large range of frequencies (including frequencies far from the band gap), the two polarizations experience significantly different values of $`n(\omega )`$ (see Fig. 2), demonstrating birefringence and suggesting that this photonic crystal will behave as a waveplate for a particular frequency range.

For a given value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }n(\omega )n_{TE}(\omega )n_{TM}(\omega )`$, a zero-order half waveplate shifts the relative phase of the TE and TM polarizations by $`\pi `$, leading to the relation

$$|\mathrm{\Delta }n(\omega )|=\frac{\pi c}{\omega L}\text{,}$$
(1)
where L is the crystal length. Eq. 1 and the data from Fig. 2 indicate that our eight-layer crystal will act as a half waveplate for microwaves at 15.3 GHz. To demonstrate this, we first confirmed that our horns transmitted and received a single well-defined linear polarization of the electric field; for crossed transmitter and receiver horns, the power transmission was suppressed by $``$ 35 dB relative to the aligned configuration.

Next we recorded the power transmission through the crystal averaged over 15.2-15.4 GHz, as it was rotated through $`\pm 90^{}`$ about the axis of optical propagation (Fig. 3). For both crossed (solid squares) and aligned (open circles) transmitting and receiving horns, the results show a clear squared-sinusoid (Malus) law for the transmitted power, with the correct period for a half waveplate. In Fig. 3, we have also plotted the functions $`cos^2(2\theta )`$ (solid line) and $`sin^2(2\theta )`$ (dashed line), which fit the experimental data extremely well without the adjustment of any parameter. Since Malus’ law holds for both horn configurations, this effect is clearly due to polarization rotation and not to an overall drop in transmission through the crystal. The polarization contrast is better than 200:1 (limited by the experimental resolution of our setup), indicating that the linear polarization is not degraded by the crystal.

In conclusion, we have presented the first experimental demonstration of a photonic crystal waveplate, able to rotate linear polarizations through arbitrary angles. Any photonic crystal whose band gap properties depend on polarization should exhibit some type of birefringence. Furthermore, it should be possible to engineer or tailor the birefringence by tuning to different transparent frequency bands and/or modifying the relative properties of the band gaps by changing the filling fraction, lattice spacing, dielectric composition, or structure geometry. We anticipate that this type of birefringent behavior in photonic crystals will have significant applicability, particularly at optical wavelengths in integrated photonic circuits.

This work was supported by ARO grant number DAAD19-02-1-0276. We thank the UC Berkeley Astronomy Department, in particular Dr. R. Plambeck, for lending us the VNA. JMH thanks the support from Instituto do Milênio de Informação Quântica, CAPES, CNPq, FAPEAL, PRONEX-NEON, ANP-CTPETRO.


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# Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov Calculations in Coordinate Space: Neutron-Rich Sulfur, Zirconium, Cerium, and Samarium Isotopes

## I Introduction

One of the fundamental questions of nuclear structure physics is: how many neutrons or protons can we add to a given nuclear isotope before it becomes unstable against spontaneous nucleon emission? The neutron-rich side of the nuclear chart, in particular, exhibits thousands of nuclear isotopes still to be explored with new Radioactive Ion Beam facilities DOE02 . Another limit to stability is the superheavy element region around $`Z=124126`$ and $`N=184`$ which is formed by a delicate balance between strong Coulomb repulsion and additional binding due to closed shells KB00 . Theoretically, one expects profound differences between the known isotopes near stability and exotic nuclei at the neutron dripline, e.g. the appearance of neutron halos and neutron skins, and large pairing correlations.

There are various theoretical approaches to the nuclear many-body problem. For the lightest nuclei, e.g. $`{}_{}{}^{12}C`$, an exact diagonalization of the Hamiltonian in a shell model basis is feasible NV00 ; NO02 . Stochastic methods like the shell model Monte Carlo approach KDL97 ; PD03  may be used for medium-mass nuclei up to $`A60`$. For heavier nuclei, theorists tend to utilize self-consistent mean field theories; both non-relativistic versions WS94 ; DN96 ; TH96 ; CB98 ; RD99 ; SD00 ; YM01 ; TOU03  and relativistic versions Ri96 ; LR99 ; KB00  have been developed. As long as the pairing interaction is relatively weak, it is permissible to treat the mean field and the pairing field separately via Hartree-Fock theory with added BCS or Lipkin/Nogami pairing. This works well near the line of stability WS94 . However, as one approaches the driplines, pairing correlations increase dramatically and it is essential to treat both the mean field and the pairing field selfconsistently within the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) formalism YM01 . While the HF(B) theories describe the ground state properties of nuclei, their excited states can be obtained with the (quasiparticle) random phase approximation (Q)RPA Ma01 ; BD02 ; IJ03 .

In this paper we study the ground state properties of neutron-rich even-even nuclei up to the two-neutron dripline. Besides the large pairing correlations already mentioned, HFB calculations face another problem in this region: not only does one have to consider “well-bound” single-particle states (which determine the structure near stability), but in addition there are occupied “weakly-bound” states with large spatial extent. Furthermore, because the Fermi energy for neutrons $`ϵ_F0`$ at the dripline, virtual excitations into the continuum states become important for a proper description of the HFB ground state. All of these features represent major challenges for the numerical solution.

Traditionally, the HFB equations have been solved by expanding the quasiparticle wavefunctions in a harmonic oscillator basis ER93 . This works very well near the line of $`\beta `$ stability because only “well-bound” states need to be considered. However, as one approaches the driplines, the numerical solution becomes more challenging: in practice, it is very difficult to represent continuum states as superpositions of bound harmonic oscillator states because the former show oscillatory behavior at large distances while the latter decay exponentially. On the other hand, a direct solution of the HF(B) equations on a finite-size coordinate space lattice does not suffer from the above-mentioned shortcomings because no region of the spatial lattice is favored over any other region: well-bound, weakly- bound and (discretized) continuum states can be represented with the same accuracy. Therefore, the spatial lattice representation has inherent advantages for the theoretical description of exotic nuclei.

Using our recently developed HFB lattice code for deformed nuclei far from stability TOU03 , we have investigated the ground state properties of the sulfur isotope chain, starting at the line of stability ($`N=16`$) up to the two-neutron dripline (which turns out to be $`N=36`$ in our HFB calculations). Our calculations show both spherical and quadrupole- deformed g.s. deformations; in addition, there is evidence for shape coexistence in the very neutron-rich region. In particular, we calculate two-neutron separation energies, quadrupole moments, and rms-radii for protons and neutrons. Our HFB calculations are compared with results from relativistic mean field theory and with available experimental data.

We have also carried out HFB calculations for some recently measured heavier systems: among medium and heavy nuclei, 104Zr ($`\beta _2=0.45(4)`$) and 158Sm ($`\beta _2=0.46(5)`$) are among the most deformed isotopes HR03 . The large deformation could have its origin in the high spin down-sloping orbitals near $`Z=38,40,62`$ and $`N=40,64,96`$. These large prolate deformations at 104Zr and 158Sm are confirmed by Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculations carried out in the present work.

## II HFB equations in coordinate space

Recently, we have solved for the first time the HFB continuum problem in coordinate space for deformed nuclei in two spatial dimensions without any approximations, using Basis-Spline methods TOU03 . The novel feature of our HFB code is that it is capable of generating high-energy continuum states with an equivalent single-particle energy of hundreds of MeV. In fact, early 1-D calculations for spherical nuclei DN96  and our recent 2-D HFB calculations have demonstrated that one needs continuum states with an equivalent single-particle energy up to 60 MeV to describe the ground state properties accurately near the neutron dripline. Moreover, recent QRPA calculations by Terasaki et al. Te03  suggest that one needs to consider continuum states up to $`150`$ MeV for the description of collective excited states. It should be mentioned that current 3-D HFB codes in coordinate space, e.g. Ref. TH96 ; YM01 , utilize an expansion of the quasiparticle wavefunctions in a truncated HF-basis which is limited to continuum states up to about $`5`$ MeV of excitation energy. Alternatively, an expansion in a *s*tretched oscillator basis has also been explored SD00 .

A detailed description of our theoretical method has been published in ref. TOU03 ; in the following, we give a brief summary. In coordinate space representation, the HFB Hamiltonian and the quasiparticle wavefunctions depend on the distance vector $`𝐫`$, spin projection $`\sigma =\pm \frac{1}{2}`$, and isospin projection $`q=\pm \frac{1}{2}`$ (corresponding to protons and neutrons, respectively). In the HFB formalism, there are two types of quasiparticle wavefunctions, $`\varphi _1`$ and $`\varphi _2`$, which are bi-spinors of the form

$$\varphi _{1,\alpha }^q(𝐫)=\left(\begin{array}{c}\varphi _{1,\alpha }^q(𝐫,)\\ \varphi _{1,\alpha }^q(𝐫,)\end{array}\right),\varphi _{2,\alpha }^q(𝐫)=\left(\begin{array}{c}\varphi _{2,\alpha }^q(𝐫,)\\ \varphi _{2,\alpha }^q(𝐫,)\end{array}\right).$$
(1)
The quasiparticle wavefunctions determine the normal density $`\rho _q(𝐫)`$ and the pairing density $`\stackrel{~}{\rho }_q(𝐫)`$ as follows

$`\rho _q(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{E_\alpha >0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{\sigma =\frac{1}{2}}{\overset{+\frac{1}{2}}{}}}\varphi _{2,\alpha }^q(𝐫\sigma )\varphi _{2,\alpha }^q(𝐫\sigma ),`$ (2)
$`\stackrel{~}{\rho _q}(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{E_\alpha >0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{\sigma =\frac{1}{2}}{\overset{+\frac{1}{2}}{}}}\varphi _{2,\alpha }^q(𝐫\sigma )\varphi _{1,\alpha }^q(𝐫\sigma ).`$ (3)
In the wavefunctions, the dependence on the quasiparticle energy $`E_\alpha `$ is denoted by the index $`\alpha `$ for simplicity.

In the present work, we use Skyrme effective N-N interactions in the p-h channel, and a delta interactions in the p-p channel. For these types of effective interactions, the particle mean field Hamiltonian $`h`$ and the pairing field Hamiltonian $`\stackrel{~}{h}`$ are diagonal in isospin space and local in position space,

$$h(𝐫\sigma q,𝐫^{}\sigma ^{}q^{})=\delta _{q,q^{}}\delta (𝐫𝐫^{})h_{\sigma ,\sigma ^{}}^q(𝐫)$$
(4)
and

$$\stackrel{~}{h}(𝐫\sigma q,𝐫^{}\sigma ^{}q^{})=\delta _{q,q^{}}\delta (𝐫𝐫^{})\stackrel{~}{h}_{\sigma ,\sigma ^{}}^q(𝐫).$$
(5)
and the HFB equations have the following structure in spin-space TOU03 :

$$\left(\begin{array}{cc}(h^q\lambda )& \stackrel{~}{h}^q\\ \stackrel{~}{h}^q& (h^q\lambda )\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\varphi _{1,\alpha }^q\\ \varphi _{2,\alpha }^q\end{array}\right)=E_\alpha \left(\begin{array}{c}\varphi _{1,\alpha }^q\\ \varphi _{2,\alpha }^q\end{array}\right)$$
(6)
with

$$h^q(𝐫)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}h_{}^q(𝐫)& h_{}^q(𝐫)\\ h_{}^q(𝐫)& h_{}^q(𝐫)\end{array}\right),\stackrel{~}{h}^q(𝐫)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\stackrel{~}{h}_{}^q(𝐫)& \stackrel{~}{h}_{}^q(𝐫)\\ \stackrel{~}{h}_{}^q(𝐫)& \stackrel{~}{h}_{}^q(𝐫)\end{array}\right).$$
(7)
The quasiparticle energy spectrum is discrete for $`|E|<\lambda `$ and continuous for $`|E|>\lambda `$ DN96 . For even-even nuclei it is customary to solve the HFB equations for positive quasiparticle energies and consider all negative energy states as occupied in the HFB ground state.

## III  Numerical method

Using cylindrical coordinates $`(r,z,\varphi )`$, we introduce a 2-D grid $`(r_\alpha ,z_\beta )`$ with $`\alpha =1,\mathrm{},N_r`$ and $`\beta =1,\mathrm{},N_z`$. In radial direction, the grid spans the region from $`0`$ to $`r_{max}`$. Because we want to be able to treat octupole shapes, we do not assume left-right symmetry in $`z`$-direction. Consequently, the grid extends from $`z_{max}`$ to $`+z_{max}`$. Typically, $`z_{max}r_{max}`$ and $`N_z`$ $``$ $`2N_r`$.

For the lattice representation, the wavefunctions and operators are represented in terms of Basis-Splines. B-Splines of order $`M`$, $`B_i^M(x)`$, are a set ($`i=1,\mathrm{},𝒩`$) of piecewise continuous polynomial sections of order $`M1`$; a special case are the well-known finite elements which are B-Splines of order $`M=2`$. By using B-Splines of seventh or ninth oder, we are able to represent derivative operators very accurately on a relatively coarse grid with a lattice spacing of about 0.8 fm resulting in a lattice Hamiltonian matrix of relatively low dimension. While our current 2-D lattices are linear, a major advantage of the B-Spline technique is that it can be extended to nonlinear lattices (e.g. exponentially increasing) KO96  which will be particularly useful for problems where one is interested in the behavior of wavefunctions at very large distances.

The four components ($`n=1,\mathrm{},4`$) of the HFB bi-spinor wavefunction $`\psi _n(r,z)`$ are expanded in terms of a product of B-Splines

$$\psi _n(r_\alpha ,z_\beta )=\underset{i=1}{\overset{𝒩_i}{}}\underset{j=1}{\overset{𝒩_j}{}}B_i^M(r_\alpha )B_j^M(z_\beta )c_n^{ij}.$$
(8)
We construct the derivative operators contained in the Hamiltonian with the B-Spline Galerkin method OU99  while local potentials are represented by the collocation method WO95 ; KO96 . The numerical solution of the HFB equations results in a set of quasiparticle wavefunctions at the lattice points. The corresponding quasiparticle energy spectrum contains both bound and (discretized) continuum states. We diagonalize the HFB Hamiltonian separately for fixed isospin projection $`q`$ and angular momentum projection $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Note that the number of quasiparticle eigenstates is determined by the dimensionality of the lattice HFB Hamiltonian. For fixed values of $`q`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, we obtain $`4N_rN_z`$ eigenstates, typically up to 1,000 MeV.

In ref.TOU03 ; UOT03  we have investigated the numerical convergence of several observables as a function of lattice box size, grid spacing, and maximum angular momentum projection $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{max}`$. In the case of spherical nuclei, our calculations have been compared with the 1-D radial HFB results of Dobaczewski et al. DN96 , and indeed there is good agreement between the two. Production runs of our HFB code are carried out on an IBM-SP massively parallel supercomputer using OPENMP/MPI message passing. Parallelization is possible for different angular momentum states $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and isospins (p/n).

## IV Numerical results and comparison with experimental data

In this section we present numerical results of our 2D-HFB code and compare these to experimental data and other theoretical methods. In all of our calculations we utilized the Skyrme (SLy4) CB98  effective N-N interaction in the p-h and h-p channel, and for the p-p and h-h channel we use a delta interaction with the same parameter set as in ref. TOU03 : a pairing strength of $`V_0=170.0MeVfm^3`$, with an equivalent s.p. energy cutoff parameter $`_{max}=60`$ MeV. All calculations reported in this paper were carried out with B-Spline order $`M=7`$ and maximum angular momentum projection $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{max}=\frac{21}{2}`$.

### IV.1 Sulfur isotope chain up to the two-neutron dripline; shape coexistence studies

The sulfur isotopes ($`Z=16`$) have been investigated several years ago by Werner et al. WS94  using self-consistent mean field models: both Skyrme-HF and relativistic mean field (RMF) model calculations were carried out using a simple heuristic “constant pairing gap” approximation. Because of the well-known deficiencies of standard pairing theory in the exotic neutron-rich region, we have decided to re-investigate the sulfur isotope chain, starting at the line of stability ($`N=16`$) up to the two-neutron dripline (which turns out to be $`N=36`$ in our HFB calculations). Based on the above-mentioned earlier calculations, one may expect a wide range of ground state deformations, and in addition there has been some evidence for shape coexistence in this region WS94 . Because our HFB code TOU03  has been specifically designed to describe deformed exotic nuclei, the sulfur isotopes are expected to provide a rich testing ground for our calculations.

Within the single-particle shell model, one would expect nuclei such as $`{}_{16}{}^{44}S_{28}^{}`$ with “magic” neutron number $`N=28`$ to be spherical. But the mean field theories predict, in fact, deformed intrinsic shapes as a result of “intruder” states. Furthermore, in some of these isotopes shape coexistence has been predicted WS94 . All these phenomena depend strongly on the interplay between the mean field and the pairing field with is correctly described the the HFB theory. Furthermore, the neutron-rich $`N28`$ nuclei play a crucial role in astrophysics for the nucleosynthesis of the heavy Ca-Ti-Cr isotopes S93 .

In radial ($`r`$) direction, our lattice extends from $`012`$ fm, and in symmetry axis ($`z`$) direction from $`12,\mathrm{},+12`$ fm, with a lattice spacing of about $`0.8`$ fm in the central region. Angular momentum projections $`\mathrm{\Omega }=1/2,3/2,\mathrm{},21/2`$ were taken into account.

Figure 1 shows the calculated two-neutron separation energies for the sulfur isotope chain. The two-neutron separation energy is defined as

$$S_{2n}(Z,N)=E_{bind}(Z,N)E_{bind}(Z,N2).$$
(9)
Note that in using this equation, all binding energies must be entered with a *positive* sign. The position of the two-neutron dripline is defined by the condition $`S_{2n}(Z,N)=0`$, and nuclei with negative two-neutron separation energy are unstable against the emission of two neutrons.

The two-neutron separation energies have been calculated using various methods: in addition to HFB calculations (i.e. selfconsistent mean field with pairing), we have also carried out Hartree-Fock calculations with added Lipkin/Nogami pairing (HF+LN), and we compare our results to the relativistic mean field with BCS pairing (RMF) calculations by Lalazissis et al. LR99 . Experimental data based on measured binding energies AW95  are available up to the isotope $`{}_{}{}^{48}S`$. Fig. 1 shows that both the HFB and RMF calculations are in good agreement with experiment where available but there are dramatic differences as we approach the two-neutron dripline: Our HFB calculations predict $`{}_{}{}^{50}S`$ to be the last isotope that is stable against the emission of two neutrons. By contrast, the RMF approach predicts $`S_{2n}(Z,N)>0`$ at least up to $`{}_{}{}^{56}S`$. Our HF+LN calculations also yield positive $`2n`$-separation energies in the mass region investigated here. It should be stressed that, on theoretical grounds, neither BCS-type nor Lipkin-Nogami type pairing is justified for the very neutron-rich isotopes. Furthermore, it is well-known that the HF+LN method breaks down at magic numbers (the pairing gap does not vanish).

In Fig. 2 we show a comparison of the HFB and RMF results for the intrinsic electric quadrupole moments of the sulfur isotopes. In most cases, the HFB and RMF calculations show a similar trend: we observe a region with predominantly prolate deformation. Note, however, that for the most neutron-rich sulfur isotopes, our HFB theory predicts a prolate ground state whereas RMF theory yields an oblate shape. Direct measurements of electric quadrupole moments are only available for two of the sulfur isotopes. The data compilation of Stone S01  yields intrinsic electric quadrupole moments of $`Q^{exp}=0.15b`$ for $`{}_{}{}^{32}S`$ and $`Q^{exp}=+0.04b`$ for $`{}_{}{}^{34}S`$. Our HFB code yields $`Q_{HFB}=+0.113b`$ and $`+0.203b`$ for these two isotopes. The RMF calculations of Lalazissis et al. LR99  give values of $`Q_{RMF}=+0.339b`$ and $`+0.159b`$, respectively.

In intermediate-energy Coulomb excitation experiments, the energies and $`B(E2)`$ values of the lowest excited $`2^+`$ state were measured for $`{}_{}{}^{38,40,42}S`$ Sch96  and for $`{}_{}{}^{44}S`$ Gl97 . The analysis of the measured $`BE(2)`$ values in terms of the simple quadrupole-deformed rotor model yields the following experimental quadrupole deformations for the even sulfur isotopes $`{}_{}{}^{3844}S`$: $`|\beta _2^{exp}|=0.246(16),0.284(16),0.300(24),0.258(36)`$; our corresponding Skyrme-HFB theory results are $`\beta _2^{HFB}=0.16,0.26,0.25,0.29`$. Apparently, the HFB results for $`{}_{}{}^{40,42,44}S`$ are in good agreement with experiment, but there is a discrepancy in the case of $`{}_{}{}^{38}S`$: Skyrme-HFB predicts a less deformed shape than the experimental value. There is an even larger discrepancy between experiment and the RMF calculations which yield an almost spherical shape, $`\beta _2^{RMF}=0.054`$.

Both HFB and RMF calculations reveal shape coexistence in this region, with an energy difference between the ground state and the shape isomer that is usually quite small. For example, in the case of $`{}_{16}{}^{48}S_{32}^{}`$ our HFB code yields a ground state binding energy of $`362.56`$ MeV with a quadrupole deformation of $`\beta _2=0.11`$, and an oblate minimum at $`\beta _2=0.15`$ which is only $`0.49`$ MeV higher than the ground state. The RMF predicts in this case a ground state binding energy of $`362.97`$ MeV with oblate deformation of $`\beta _2=0.25`$, and a shape isomer with $`\beta _2=+0.179`$ which is located $`0.29`$ MeV above the ground state.

In Fig. 3 we show a comparison of the quadrupole moment for neutrons predicted by our HFB calculations and the RMF results of ref.LR99 . In both cases, the general trend is very similar to the result obtained for protons.

In Fig. 4 we compare the root-mean-square radii of protons and neutrons predicted by our HFB calculations and the RMF calculations with BCS pairing LR99 . Near the line of $`\beta `$-stability, the proton and neutron radii are almost identical, but as we approach the $`2n`$-dripline, we see clearly the development of a “neutron skin” as evidenced by the large difference between the neutron and proton rms radii. For example, in $`{}_{16}{}^{50}S_{34}^{}`$ our HFB calculations yield $`r_n=3.935`$ fm and $`r_p=3.364`$ fm, respectively. In general, the RMF calculations predict larger neutron rms radii for mass numbers $`A38`$ than do our HFB calculations.

### IV.2 Strongly deformed neutron-rich zirconium, cerium, neodymium, and samarium isotopes

Recently, triple-gamma coincidence experiments have been carried out with Gammasphere at LBNL HR03  which have determined half-lives and quadrupole deformations of several neutron-rich zirconium, cerium, and samarium isotopes. Furthermore, laser spectroscopy measurements Ca02  for zirconium isotopes have yielded precise rms-radii in this region. These medium/heavy mass nuclei are among the most neutron-rich isotopes ($`N/Z1.6`$) for which spectroscopic data are available. It is therefore of great interest to compare these data with the predictions of the selfconsistent HFB mean field theory.

A comparison of our HFB results and experimental data is given in table 1. The theoretical quadrupole deformations of the proton charge distributions agree very well with the measured data of ref.HR03 . In addition, our calculated proton rms-radius for $`{}_{}{}^{102}Zr`$ is in good agreement with recent laser spectroscopic measurements (see Fig.4 of ref.Ca02 ). Theoretical HFB predictions are also given for the neutron density distributions.

In table 2 we give a more detailed comparison of various theoretical calculations for $`{}_{62}{}^{158}Sm`$. As stated earlier, only the HFB theory provides a self-consistent treatment of both mean field and pairing properties. In contrast, the HF + Lipkin/Nogami and the RMF calculations treat mean field and pairing as separate entities. By comparing the HFB and HF+LN results in the first two columns with the measured binding energies and quadrupole deformations (last column) we find that our HFB lattice calculation yields values which are closer to the experimental data. Table 2 also shows that while the RMF theory reproduces the experimental binding energy quite well it seriously underpredicts the strong quadrupole deformation measured in ref. HR03 . In addition, table 2 compares theoretical results for other observables such as rms-radii for neutrons and protons, Fermi energies ($`\lambda _n,\lambda _p`$), pairing gaps ($`\mathrm{\Delta }_n,\mathrm{\Delta }_p`$), and pairing energies $`E_{pair}(n),E_{pair}(p)`$.

In Fig. 5 we depict contour plots of the density distributions for neutrons and protons in $`{}_{62}{}^{158}Sm`$. The large prolate quadrupole deformation is clearly visible. We also observe small density enhancements near the center of the nucleus which are caused by the nuclear shell structure.

Fig. 6 shows the corresponding pairing density for neutrons and protons; as discussed in ref.DN96 , this quantity describes the probability of *correlated* nucleon pair formation with opposite spin projection, and it determines the pair transfer formfactor. We can see that most correlated pair formation in $`{}_{62}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{158}`$Sm takes place outside the central region of the nucleus.

## V Conclusions

In this paper, we have performed Skyrme-HFB calculations in coordinate space for several neutron-rich exotic nuclei. The coordinate space method has the advantage that well-bound, weakly bound and (discretized) continuum states can be represented with the same numerical accuracy. The novel feature of our lattice HFB code is that it takes into account high-energy continuum states with an equivalent single-particle energy of 60 MeV or more. This feature is crucial when one studies nuclei near the neutron dripline TOU03 .

We have calculated the ground state properties of the sulfur isotope chain ($`Z=16`$), starting at the line of stability ($`N/Z=1`$) up to the two-neutron dripline with a neutron-to-proton ratio of $`N/Z2.2`$. In particular, we have calculated two-neutron separation energies, quadrupole moments and rms radii for protons and neutrons. In comparing our HFB calculations with other theoretical methods (RMF with BCS pairing and HF+Lipkin/Nogami) we find similar results near stability but dramatic differences near the 2n-dripline (see Figures 1 - 4). For example, our HFB calculations predict $`{}_{}{}^{50}S`$ to be the last isotope that is stable against the emission of two neutrons whereas the RMF approach predicts $`S_{2n}(Z,N)>0`$ at least up to $`{}_{}{}^{56}S`$. For $`{}_{}{}^{48}S`$, the last even-even isotope for which experimental binding energies are available (Fig. 1), the experimental value for the two-neutron separation energy is $`3.64`$ MeV, as compared to our HFB calculation result of $`3.49`$ MeV and the RMF result of $`5.24`$ MeV. Both our HFB calculations and the RMF calculations of ref.LR99  predict the existence of shape isomeric states in the neutron-rich sulfur isotopes. In Fig. 2 we compare calculated electric quadrupole moments. In most cases, the HFB and RMF calculations yield prolate quadrupole deformations. However, for the most neutron-rich sulfur isotopes, our HFB theory predicts a prolate ground state whereas RMF theory yields an oblate shape. Shape coexistence is found both in the HFB and RMF calculations, with fairly small energy difference between the ground state and the shape isomer. Specific results are given for $`{}_{16}{}^{48}S_{32}^{}`$. A comparison between the root-mean-square radii of protons and neutrons clearly exhibits the development of a “neutron skin” in the neutron rich sulfur isotopes: for example, in $`{}_{16}{}^{50}S_{34}^{}`$ our HFB calculations yield neutron and proton rms radii of $`r_n=3.935`$ fm and $`r_p=3.364`$ fm, respectively.

In connection with recent experiments at Gammasphere, we have carried out HFB calculations of medium/heavy mass nuclei with $`N/Z1.6`$. In particular, we have examined the isotopes $`{}_{}{}^{102,104}Zr`$, $`{}_{}{}^{152}Ce`$, $`{}_{}{}^{156}Nd`$, and $`{}_{}{}^{158,160}Sm`$. The theoretical quadrupole charge deformations for zirconium and cerium are in very good agreement with the new data. Also, our calculated proton rms radius for $`{}_{}{}^{102}Zr`$ agrees with recent laser spectroscopic measurements. Table 1 gives a summary of these results and presents predictions for two neutron-rich isotopes, $`{}_{}{}^{156}Nd`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{160}Sm`$, for which experimental data are expected to become available in the near future.

###### Acknowledgements.

This work has been supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under grant No. DE-FG02-96ER40963 with Vanderbilt University. The numerical calculations were carried out at the IBM-RS/6000 SP supercomputer of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center which is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy.


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# Contents

## 1 Introduction

The inflationary scenario provides a framework for resolving the problems of the standard big bang (SBB) and, most importantly, provides a causal mechanism for generating structure in the universe. Currently, however, a completely satisfactory realization of inflation is still lacking. A hint for finding a concrete realization of inflation comes from the transplankian problem. Despite their successes in solving the formation of structure problem, most scalar field driven inflation models generically predict that the near scale invariant spectrum of quantum fluctuations which seeded structure were generated in the transplanckian epoch. This, however, is inconsistent with the assumptions of a weakly coupled scalar field theory as well as the assumption that quantum gravity effects can be ignored in the model . One can then view the transplankian problem as an indication, and hence an opportunity, that the concrete derivation of inflation should be embedded in quantum gravity.

There is also another interesting hint that suggests that quantum gravity must play a role in our understanding of inflation. Inflation addresses the issue of initial conditions in the SBB, but solutions to scalar field theory driven inflation suffer from geodesic incompleteness. This is an indication that inflation itself requires the specification of fine tuned initial conditions . The issue of the robustness of the initial conditions necessary to start a phenomenologically acceptable period of inflation, and their sensitivity to the parameters of the underlying field theory, remain open questions which should in principle be addressed by quantum gravity.***There are other motivations for expecting a quantum gravitational derivation of inflation but this is outside the scope of this paper. A good discussion of this issue is nicely covered in a review by Robert Brandenberger . Therefore, a major goal of quantum gravity and cosmology is to find a quantum gravitational state which yields a consistent description of inflation. If this is accomplished then one may be in a better position to make observational predictions for CMB experiments.

The problem of inflation in quantum gravity has been much studied . However in the past the poor understanding of quantum gravity necessitated that the study of inflation be restricted to the semiclassical approximation. This restriction makes it difficult to obtain reliable results about issues such as initial conditions and transplankian effects that involve the regime in which quantum gravitational effects will be significant.

In this light it is worth noting that in recent years a great deal of progress has been made in a non-perturbative approach to quantum gravity, called loop quantum gravity . It is then appropriate to investigate whether these advances allow us to treat the problem of inflation within cosmology more precisely. Recent results of Bojowald and others  indicate that in loop quantum gravity one can find exact quantum states that allow us to investigate more precisely the role of quantum gravitational effects on issues in cosmology, including inflation and the fate of the initial singularity. Furthermore, for constant cosmological constant, there is an exact solution to the quantum constraints that define the full quantum general relativity, discovered by Kodama , which has both an exact Planck scale description and a semiclassical interpretation in terms of deSitter spacetime. While there are open issues of interpretation concerning this state , it is also true that it can be used as the basis of both non-perturbative and semiclassical caclulations . Furthermore, exact results in the loop representation have made possible an understanding of the temperature and entropy of deSitter spacetime  in terms of the kinematics of the quantum gravitational field.

Thus, there appears to be no longer any reason to restrict the study of quantum cosmology to the semiclassical approximation. In this paper we provide more evidence for this, by finding exact solutions to the equations of quantum cosmology that provide exact quantum mechanical descriptions of inflation.

In order to study the problem of inflation in quantum gravity we proceed by several steps. First, we couple general relativity to a scalar field, $`\varphi `$, with an arbitrarily chosen potential, $`V(\varphi )`$. We then choose a gauge for the Hamiltonian constraints in which this scalar field is constant on constant time hypersurfaces . This is appropriate for the study of inflation, because it has been shown that, in terms of the standard cosmological time coordinates, inflation cannot occur unless the fluctuations of the scalar field on constant time surfaces are small . There then always will exist a small, local rescaling of time that makes the scalar field constantTechnical subtleties regarding this choice of gauge are discussed below..

In this gauge the infinite number of Hamiltonian constraints are reduced to a single, time dependent Shroedinger equation . This is then solved, for homogeneous, isotropic fields, as follows. The corresponding classical Hamilton evolution equations are solved exactly by a class of Hamilton-Jacobi functions. Each solution involves the numerical integration of an ordinary first order differential equation. These reduce, in the limit of vanishing slow role parameter, $`\dot{V}/V`$, to the Chern-Simons invariant of the Ashtekar connection. This is good, as the latter is known to be the Hamilton-Jacobi function for deSitter spacetime . By exponentiating the actions of these solutions, one obtains a semiclassical state that reduces in the same limit to the Kodama state. These new solutions are only good in the semiclassical approximation. However, in this case it is possible to find the corrections which make the wavefunctionals into exact solutions of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation.

The connection to the Kodama state allows us also to investigate issues regarding the physical interpretation of that state such as the normalizability of the wavefuction . In the case studied here, each exact quantum state we find is delta-function normalizable in the physical Hilbert space, corresponding to the reduced, homogeneous, isotropic degrees of freedom. It is then interesting to ask whether fully normalizable states can be constructed by superposing the different solutions. In fact, at a given time, defined by the value of $`\varphi `$, the different solutions correspond to different ratios of $`\pi ^2/V(\varphi )`$, where $`\pi `$ is the canonical momenta of the scalar field. It is then reasonable to superpose such solutions as there is no reason to believe that quantum state of the universe should at early times be an eigenstate of the ratio of kinetic to potential energy. When we do this we find wavepackets which are exact normalizable solutions. This suggests that the problem of normalizability of the Kodama state in the exact theory may be resolved similarly by adding matter to the theory and then superposing extensions of the state corresponding to different eigenvalues of the matter energy momentum tensors.

In the next section we describe the scalar field general relativity system in the formalism of Ashtekar  together with the details of the procedure whereby the time gauge is fixed. Section 3 explains the reduction to homogeneous, isotropic fields in these variables, while section 4 describes the solutions to the resulting classical equations by means of a set of solutions to the Hamilton-Jacobi theory. The solutions are studied numerically and evidence for an attractor is found. In section 5 we quantize the homogeneous, isotropic system, discovering both semiclassical and exact solutions to the Schroedinger equation. Our conclusions and some directions for further research are described in the final section.

## 2 The Theory

We consider general relativity coupled to a scalar field, $`\varphi `$, and additional fields $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$, in the Ashtekar formulation of loop quantum gravityFor an introduction to the Ashtekar formalism in the context of cosmology, see . Other good, more general and complete reviews are in .. Working in the canonical formalism, the Hamiltonian constraint is of the form,

$$=^{grav}+\frac{1}{2}\pi ^2+\frac{1}{2}E^{ai}E_i^b_a\varphi _b\varphi +^\mathrm{\Psi }$$
(1)
where $`\pi `$ is the conjugate momentum to $`\varphi `$ and $`E^{ai}`$ is the conjugate momentum to the complex $`SO(3)`$ connection $`A_{ai}`$. The latter couple satisfy the Poisson bracket relation

$$\{A_{ai}(𝐱),E^{bj}(𝐲)\}=iG\delta _b^a\delta _i^j\delta ^3(𝐱,𝐲)$$
(2)
where $`G`$ is Newton’s constant.

In (1) we use $`^\mathrm{\Psi }`$ to denote the Hamiltonian constraint for all other matter fields. Unless otherwise noted, we adopt the convention that lowercase latin indices $`a,b,c,\mathrm{}`$ are spatial indices while lowercase latin indices $`i,j,k,\mathrm{}`$ are internal $`SO(3)`$ indices.

We include the scalar field potential $`V(\varphi )`$ in the gravitational term so that

$$^{grav}=\frac{1}{l_p^2}ϵ_{ijk}E^{ai}E^{bj}(F_{ab}^k+\frac{GV(\varphi )}{3}ϵ_{abc}E^{ck}).$$
(3)
where $`F_{ab}^k`$ is the curvature of the connection $`A_{ai}`$. Note that any bare cosmological constant, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, is included in $`V(\varphi )`$ and $`V(\varphi )=\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ gives the Hamiltonian constraint for general relativity sourced only by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and no scalar field.

We also will impose the Gauss’s law constraint, which enforces $`SO(3)`$ gauge invariance

$$𝒢^i=D_aE^{ai}$$
(4)
and the diffeomorphism constraint, that imposes spatial diffeomorphism invariance

$$𝒟_a=E^{bi}F_{abi}+\pi _a\varphi +𝒟_a^\mathrm{\Psi }$$
(5)
where $`𝒟_a^\mathrm{\Psi }`$ contains the matter fields.

We assume that spacetime has topology $`=𝒮\times R`$, where $`𝒮`$ is the spatial manifold. As we are interested in cosmology we assume $`𝒮`$ has no boundary, so that the Hamiltonian is given by

$$H(N)=_𝒮N$$
(6)
which is defined for any lapse $`N`$. We note that $`N`$ has density weight minus one.

### 2.1 Fixing the Time Gauge

In the Hamiltonian approach to general relativity, one is free to choose any slicing of spacetime into a one parameter family of spacelike surfaces, where that parameter can be considered to be a time coordinate. All such slicings are physically equivalent and the Hamiltonian constraint generates gauge transformations that take us from any one spatial slice to any other. The choice of a slicing is then a gauge choice.

In the usual treatments of inflation, the scalar field, $`\varphi `$, is required to be homogeneous to a good approximation. As the deviations from homogeneity must be small for inflation to occur at all, in solutions to Einstein’s equations in which inflation takes place we can assume that the surfaces of constant $`\varphi `$ are spacelike. The scalar field also varies as the universe expands, that is, it is “rolling down the hill”. It is then possible to measure time during inflation by the value of the $`\varphi `$ field, keeping in mind that the *forward* progression of time corresponds to $`\varphi `$ changing in the *negative* direction.

As a result, we will choose to gauge fix the action of the Hamiltonian constraint so that $`\varphi `$ is constant on constant time surfaces. We do this by imposing the gauge condition

$$_a\varphi =0.$$
(7)
We need to ensure that this condition is maintained by evolution generated by the Hamiltonian $`H(N)`$. That is, we demand

$$0=\frac{d_a\varphi }{dt}=\{_a\varphi ,H(N)\}=_a(N\pi )$$
(8)
which tells us that, to ensure the gauge condition is preserved, we must use a lapse

$$N=k/\pi $$
(9)
where $`k`$ is a constant.

The gauge condition (7) is not good on the whole configuration space as there are solutions to Einstein’s equations for which none of the constant $`\varphi `$ surfaces are spacelike. Thus, (7) is more than a gauge choice, it is also a restriction on the space of solutions. Nevertheless, it is a restriction which is appropriate to the study of inflation as there are results that indicate that, in models where the metric is approximately spatially homogeneous, inflation only takes place for solutions in which $`\varphi `$ is also, to a good approximation, spatially homogeneous.

However, for most initial data that satisfies (7), it is known that the gauge condition will not be preserved forever. The condition cannot be preserved if $`\pi `$ becomes zero at any point on $`𝒮`$.

Of course, $`\pi `$ is chosen on the initial data surface, and then evolves. Equation (9) tells us that an infinite lapse is required to preserve the gauge condition at points where $`\pi `$ vanishes. So by fixing the gauge to (7) we will generally be able to study only a finite period in the evolution of the universe. The extent of the period in which the gauge choice is good depends on the initial values taken for $`\pi `$ and the other fields. As we are interested in modeling inflation in which deviations from homogeneity must be assumed to be small, we will assume that the gauge choice remains good for the entire period of inflation. However, after we have built the quantum theory, we will have to be concerned with the extent to which these conditions are reliable.

As the hamiltonain constraint does not commute with the gauge condition, we have to solve all but one of the infinite number of Hamiltonian constraints for the conjugate variable $`\pi `$. The one that is not solved is the constraint whose lapse is inversely proportional to $`\pi `$, as that constraint commutes with the gauge condition.

We then find that

$$\pi =\pm [2^{grav}2^\mathrm{\Psi }]^{1/2}.$$
(10)
There is one remaining Hamiltonian constraint which must be imposed which is

$$0=(N=k/\pi )=\frac{k}{2}_𝒮\pi \frac{1}{2}H$$
(11)
To get the dimensions right, $`N`$ should be dimensionless so we pick $`k=1/l_p^2`$. Then $`H`$ is the Hamiltonian for evolution in the gauge we have picked. It is given by

$$H=\pm \frac{\sqrt{2}}{l_p^2}_𝒮[^{grav}^\mathrm{\Psi }]^{1/2}.$$
(12)
Finally, we define

$$P=\frac{1}{l_p^2}_𝒮\pi $$
(13)
which has dimensions of energy.

Thus, if we call the time $`T=l_p^2\varphi `$, where the factor of $`l_p^2`$ is included so that $`T`$ has dimensions of time, we have the Poisson bracket

$$\{T,P\}=1.$$
(14)
We then have from (11)

$$P+H=0,$$
(15)
taking note of the fact that the Hamiltonian is time dependent because the potential term in $`^{grav}`$ depends on $`T`$. Herein, we will use $`V(T)`$ to denote the value of the original potential $`V(\varphi )`$ evaluated at $`\varphi =T/l_p^2`$. We thus have reduced general relativity to an ordinary Hamiltonian system with a time dependent Hamiltonian.

## 3 The Homogeneous Case

In this paper we will be concerned with the spatially homogeneous case, in order to be able to compare our approach to the standard results in inflationary cosmology. Thus,we now turn to the reduction of the Hamiltonian system just derived to the case of spatially homogeneous and isotropic universes. We will also consider from now on only the case in which the scalar field is the sole matter field.

The description of deSitter spacetime in Ashtekar-Sen variables is described in . In a spatially flat slicing of deSitter spacetime, the $`SO(3)`$ gauge can be chosen so that the solution is given by diagonal and homogeneous fields

$$A_{ai}=i\delta _{ai}A,E^{ai}=\delta ^{ai}E$$
(16)
where $`A`$ and $`E`$ are constant on each spatial slice $`𝒮`$.

DeSitter spacetime with cosmological constant, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, is given by

$$A=hf(t),E=f^2,f(t)=e^{ht}$$
(17)
where the Hubble parameter is $`h^2=G\mathrm{\Lambda }/3`$ and $`t`$ is the usual time coordinate defined so that the spacetime metric is given by

$$ds^2=dt^2+f^2\left(ds_3\right)^2$$
(18)
where $`\left(ds_3\right)^2`$ is the flat metric on $`𝒮`$.

We will consider the generalization of deSitter spacetime in which the homogeneous scalar field is used as the time coordinate, so that $`A`$ and $`E`$ are separately functions of $`T`$. In these coordinates, the spacetime metric is

$$ds^2=N^2dT^2+E(T)\left(ds_3\right)^2.$$
(19)
where $`N`$ is the lapse (9).

The gauge and diffeomorphism constraints are solved automatically by the reduction to a homogeneous solution and the curvature is given by

$$F_{abi}=A^2ϵ_{abi}.$$
(20)
The gravitational part of the Hamiltonian constraint in this reduced model is given by

$$^{grav}=\frac{6}{l_p^2}E^2\left(A^2+\frac{l_p^2V(T)}{3}E\right).$$
(21)
Given that $`𝒮`$ is not compact and our fields homogeneous, we must give a well defined meaning to the integral over $`𝒮`$. As space is homogeneous, we can integrate over a compact region $`\mathrm{\Sigma }𝒮`$ such that

$$_\mathrm{\Sigma }=L^3$$
(22)
where $`L`$ is a fixed, non-dynamical length scale. In this way, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a finite representative of the entire homogeneous space. We will use the dimensionless ratio $`R=L/l_p`$. $`R`$ is a free parameter in the homogeneous cosmological model that is not part of the full field theory, but arises from the reduction from a field theory to a mechanical system.

If there are no matter fields, we then have the Hamiltonian

$$H(A,E,T)=\pm R^3\sqrt{12E^2\left(A^2\frac{l_p^2V(T)}{3}E\right)}.$$
(23)
In this way we have a finite dimensional Hamiltonian theory of cosmology with a spatially homogeneous scalar field.

## 4 Solution of the Hamiltonian System

In order to find a solution for $`A(T)`$ and $`E(T)`$ we must first determine their symplectic relationship. Integrating $`E^{bj}(𝐲)`$ over $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ in (2)§§§$`E^{bj}`$ has spatial density weight one and so can be integrated over the spatial manifold., substituting our homogeneous variables (16), and taking the trace over the free indices gives the Poisson bracket

$$\{A,R^3l_pE\}=3$$
(24)
where we recognize $`(R^3l_p/3)E`$ as the conjugate momentum to A.

### 4.1 Derivation of the Hamilton-Jacobi Function

We now proceed to solve our model using Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) theory. We search for a Hamilton-Jacobi function $`S(A,T)`$ such thatOther approaches to inflation which involve solutions to the Hamilton-Jacobi equations, in the “old” canonical variables, are described in .

$$E=\frac{3}{R^3l_p}\frac{S}{A},P=\frac{S}{T}$$
(25)
where the normalization of E is due to the relationship (24). Substituting these into equation (15) using the Hamiltonian (23) gives the HJ equation

$$\frac{S}{T}=\frac{6}{l_p}\sqrt{3\left(\frac{S}{A}\right)^2\left(A^2\frac{l_pV(T)}{R^3}\frac{S}{A}\right)}$$
(26)
where we have chosen the positive root of the Hamiltonian.

A function $`S_{cs}(A,T)`$ will have zero energy if it satisfies

$$\frac{S_{cs}}{A}=\frac{R^3}{l_pV(T)}A^2$$
(27)
so that $`H(A,\frac{S_{cs}}{A},T)=0`$. This implies

$$S_{cs}(A,T)=\frac{R^3}{3l_pV(T)}A^3.$$
(28)
However, this does not solve the Einstein equations because

$$P=\frac{S_{cs}}{T}=\frac{\dot{V}}{V}S_{cs}0$$
(29)
in general.

We pause in our derivation to note that (28) is related to the Kodama solution of the full quantum theory , because $`S_{cs}`$ is proportional to the Chern-Simons invariant

$$Y_{CS}(A)=\text{Tr}(AdA+\frac{2}{3}AAA)=iR^3l_p^3A^3$$
(30)
where the last equality comes from using the homogeneous variables (16).

We can understand why $`S_{cs}`$ is not a solution to our model. Were $`V(T)`$ constant so that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=V`$ were the cosmological constant, (28) would be the Hamilton-Jacobi function for deSitter spacetime (see ). Were this the case, we would have to have $`\pi =0`$ so that the scalar field contributed no kinetic energy, but only the constant potential energy. As discussed above, this would violate our gauge condition (7).

The deviation from deSitter spacetime is then given by terms proportional to the ratio $`r=\pi ^2/2V`$. This is proportional to the “slow roll parameter”

$$\eta =l_p\frac{\dot{V}}{V}.$$
(31)
When $`r`$ and $`\eta `$ are small, the kinetic energy of the scalar field is small compared to its potential energy.

To get a solution to our model, which requires $`\pi 0`$, we need to modify deSitter spacetime by terms proportional to $`r`$ and $`\eta `$. To do this, we modify the HJ function (28), which gives deSitter spacetime, by adding a new dimensionless function of time, $`u(T)`$, so that,

$$S_u(A,T)=\frac{R^3A^3}{3l_pV}(1+u(T)).$$
(32)
We expect to find that $`u(T)`$ scales with $`r`$ and $`\eta `$. We plug this into the Hamilton-Jacobi equation, (26,) and we find an equation for $`u(T)`$

$$\dot{u}=\frac{\dot{V}}{V}(1+u)+\frac{18i}{l_p}(1+u)\sqrt{3u}.$$
(33)
We note that the $`A`$ decouples, as each term in (26) is proportional to $`A^3`$. The result is that for every solution to (33) we get a cosmological model.

Before looking at the consequences of our solution, we first show that, for $`u0`$, the spacetime deviates from deSitter spacetime. Recall that deSitter spacetime is the unique Lorentzian solution which satisfies the self-dual condition

$$J_{ab}^i=F_{ab}^i+\frac{l_p^2\mathrm{\Lambda }}{3}ϵ_{abc}E^{ci}=0$$
(34)
where the proportionality can be taken to define $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. In the homogeneous case we define $`J`$ such that $`J_{ab}^i=Jϵ_{ab}^i`$ so the self-dual condition reads

$$J=A^2+\frac{l_p^2\mathrm{\Lambda }}{3}E=0.$$
(35)
For solutions generated by (32), taking $`V(T)\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, we have

$$J=uA^2$$
(36)
which, for non-trivial spacetimes, only vanishes if $`u(T)0`$.

### 4.2 Analysis of the Solutions

Given our HJ equation (32) we can calculate the lapse function (9) to be

$$N=i\frac{Vl_p}{6A^3(1+u)\sqrt{3u}}.$$
(37)
Introducing the integration constant $`\alpha `$ that one obtains from integrating equation (33) and a further integration constant $`\beta `$ (both dimensionless) we can derive a relationship between $`A`$ and $`T`$ by

$$\frac{S_u}{\alpha }=\beta .$$
(38)
This leads to the equation of motion

$$A(T)=\left[\frac{3l_pV(T)\beta }{R^3}\left(\frac{u}{\alpha }\right)^1\right]^{\frac{1}{3}}.$$
(39)
In practice, the values of $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ are determined by the initial $`A(T_0)`$ and $`E(T_0)`$. Note that the partial derivative of $`u`$ will, in general, add further $`T`$ dependence to $`A(T)`$. We can then use equation (39) to derive the $`T`$ dependence of the conjugate momentum to be

$$E(T)=\frac{3^{5/3}\beta ^{2/3}(1+u)}{R^2l_p^{4/3}V^{1/3}}\left(\frac{u}{\alpha }\right)^{\frac{2}{3}}$$
(40)
Given the form of the metric in these coordinates (19) we see that the $`TT`$ component of the metric is given by $`N^2`$. In order for the metric to remain real and Lorentzian, we must have that $`N^2`$ be positive and real. Looking at (37) we see that this requires that $`u(T)`$ be negative and real. Furthermore, for the metric to remain Lorentzian we require that $`E>0`$. Equation (40) then requires that $`u>1`$. Hence, our gauge condition will break down unless

$$1<u(T)<0.$$
(41)
This then places a strong restriction on the value of $`u`$.

In order to get a sense of the behaviour of $`u(T)`$, we have solved (33) numerically for the quartic potential

$$V(T)=\lambda \left(T^2m^2\right)^2+V_{min}$$
(42)
for several initial conditions $`u(T_0)`$ consistent with the restrictions discussed above. Potentials of this sort are renormalizable and satisfies the slow roll condition.

Unless otherwise noted, we always take $`T_0>m`$ so that $`T=l_p^2\varphi `$ proceeding in the negative direction corresponds to $`\varphi `$ “rolling down the hill”. These solutions can be seen in Figure 1 for $`\lambda =1`$, $`m=2`$ and $`V_{min}=5`$. These plots show the generic behaviour of $`u`$ for a wide range of parameters in (42).

The most noticeable characteristic is the apparent attractor in Figure 1. That is, all initial conditions satisfying our physical condition (41) merge to the same solution for some $`T<T_0`$. The significance of this apparent robustness to initial conditions suggests a universality in the phenomena of inflation, which should be further investigated.

Furthermore, in Figure 1 we see that, for $`T>m`$, all of our solutions remain within the bounds $`1<u<0`$. However, for $`T<m`$, $`u`$ quickly becomes positive and takes on an imaginary component and the metric becomes unphysical. $`T=m`$ corresponds to the scalar field having its minimum potential energy and is traditionally the end of the inflationary period. Hence, it is not surprising that our gauge condition should break down at this point, as discussed in section 2.1. This break-down of the gauge condition at the minimum of the inflaton potential is a common feature for all of the different parameters in (42) that were attempted. Of note is the case where $`V_{min}=0`$ in which the evolution equation (33) becomes singular for $`T=m`$.

While we defer a full numerical analysis of our model to a later time, we briefly discuss the behavior of $`u`$ for “unphysical” initial conditions that do not satisfy (41). It is clear from (33) that an initial condition $`u(T_0)>0`$ forces $`u`$ to have an imaginary component and hence give an unphysical metric. For all of the initial conditions $`u(T_0)<1`$ that were attempted we found that $`u`$ rapidly diverged to $`\mathrm{}`$. Hence, the physical conditions imposed on $`u`$ seem to be reflected in its functional behavior governed by (33).

## 5 Quantum Mini-Superspace

We now proceed to build a quantum theory from our classical Hamiltonian theory and find a full solution to the resulting Schrödinger equation.

First, we take quantum states to be functions $`\mathrm{\Psi }(A,T)`$. We then define $`\widehat{A}`$ to be a multiplicative operator and define the operators

$$\widehat{P}\mathrm{\Psi }=i\mathrm{}\frac{\mathrm{\Psi }}{T}\widehat{E}\mathrm{\Psi }=\frac{i\mathrm{}}{l_pR^3}\frac{\mathrm{\Psi }}{A}.$$
(43)
Again, the normalization of $`\widehat{E}`$ stems from the relation (24). Herein, we will work in units such that $`\mathrm{}=1`$.

The evolution equation becomes a time dependent Schrödinger equation,

$$i\frac{\mathrm{\Psi }}{T}=\widehat{H}\mathrm{\Psi }$$
(44)
where we choose the ordering of the quantum Hamiltonian to be

$$\widehat{H}=\frac{\sqrt{12}i}{l_p}\frac{}{A}\left(A\sqrt{\widehat{J}}\right)$$
(45)
where we define $`\widehat{J}`$ as

$$\widehat{J}:=1\frac{iVl_p}{3R^3A^2}\frac{}{A}.$$
(46)
Note that we have taken the negative root of the classical Hamiltonian in constructing the Hamiltonian operator.

We then take a semi-classical quantum state

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_u(A,T)=e^{iS_u(A,T)}=e^{i\frac{A^3R^3}{3Vl_p}(1+u)}$$
(47)
and note that it is an eigenfunction of $`\widehat{J}`$ with a time dependent eigenvalue $`u(T)`$

$$\widehat{J}\mathrm{\Psi }_u=u(T)\mathrm{\Psi }_u$$
(48)
which implies

$$\sqrt{\widehat{J}}\mathrm{\Psi }_u=i\sqrt{u(T)}\mathrm{\Psi }_u.$$
(49)
Hence, the action of the Hamiltonian on our semi-classical state is

$$\widehat{H}\mathrm{\Psi }_u=\left[\frac{6iA^3R^3(1+u)\sqrt{3u}}{Vl_p^2}+\frac{6\sqrt{3u}}{l_p}\right]\mathrm{\Psi }_u.$$
(50)
We now show that $`\mathrm{\Psi }_u`$ is, indeed, an approximate solution to the Schrödinger equation (44) by computing the time derivative

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Psi }_u}{T}=\frac{6A^3R^3(1+u)\sqrt{3u}}{Vl_p^2}\mathrm{\Psi }_u.$$
(51)
where we have used the fact that $`u(T)`$ is a solution of (33). Comparing (50) and (51) we see that, provided

$$\left|\frac{A^3R^3(1+u)}{Vl_p}\right|1,$$
(52)
our semi-classical state (47) is indeed an approximate solution to the Schrödinger equation.

To find a full solution to (44), we take the ansatz

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(A,T)=\mathrm{\Psi }_u(A,T)\chi (T)$$
(53)
where $`\chi `$ is an arbitrary function of $`T`$ alone. Substitution of (53) into the Schrödinger equation yields the equation

$$\frac{\chi }{T}=\frac{6i\sqrt{3u}}{l_p}\chi $$
(54)
which can be immediately integrated to give

$$\chi (T)=e^{\frac{6\sqrt{3}i}{l_p}_{T_0}^T\sqrt{u(t)}𝑑t}.$$
(55)
This yields

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(A,T)=e^{\frac{6\sqrt{3}}{l_p}_{T_0}^T\sqrt{u(t)}𝑑t+i\frac{A^3R^3}{3Vl_p}(1+u)}$$
(56)
which is a full solution to the Schrödinger equation (44). We have factored the $`i`$ into the square root term so that $`\sqrt{u}`$ is real for solutions of $`u`$ that satisfy the physical condition (41).

To summarize, given a solution of (33) we have found a complete solution (56) to the quantum theory of a homogeneous cosmology coupled to a scalar field in a potential.

### 5.1 Wavepackets and Normalizable States

Finally, we describe the physical inner product and show how to construct exact, normalizable, quantum states of the universe. In quantum gravity, the physical inner product is determined by the reality conditions for physical observables. In the present case, in which all gauge degrees of freedom are fixed by either gauge conditions or the reduction to homogeneous, isotropic solutions, $`A(T)`$ and $`E(T)`$ are physical degrees of freedom, and they are indeed real. In the representation we are using in which states are functionals of $`A`$ and $`T`$ and the latter is the time coordinate, the physical inner product is hence,

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(T)|\mathrm{\Psi }(T)=𝑑A|\mathrm{\Psi }(A,T)|^2.$$
(57)
Our exact solutions (56) are phases, so long as $`u(T)`$ is real and negative, corresponding to real solutions to the classical Einstein equations. Hence, with this restriction the solutions are all delta function normalizable.

Following the usual procedure in quantum theory, we can construct normalizable solutions by constructing wavepackets. We may note that at a given $`T`$, different classical solutions, with different values of $`u(T)`$ correspond to cases in which the scalar field $`\varphi T`$ is moving at different rates. Thus, while $`V(T)`$ is fixed at the same $`T`$, $`\pi (T)`$ can vary, leading to different ratios of $`\pi (T)^2/V(T)`$. However, quantum mechanically we would expect that this ratio would not be a sharp observable. Thus the quantum state of the expanding universe should not physically be built from a single solution to the classical equations, $`u(T)`$. As there is no reason to expect that the initial conditions for $`u(T)`$ are fixed classically in the very early universe, we should expect the inflating universe to be described by a a wavepacket corresponding to superposing over solutions that differ in the value of $`u(T)`$ at fixed $`T`$.

To do this, let us fix $`T=T_0`$, and consider initial values for $`u(T_0)`$. To construct a wavepacket we consider a central value $`u_0`$ and define $`v=u(T_0)u_0`$. We then label

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(A,T_0)_v=e^{i\frac{A^3R^3}{3V(T_0)l_p}(1+u_0+v)}$$
(58)
Given a normalizable function $`f(v)`$ we may then define an exact solution determined by the initial conditions

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(A,T_0)_f=𝑑vf(v)\mathrm{\Psi }(A,T_0)_v.$$
(59)
By a suitable choice of $`f(v)`$, with support in the physical interval, $`u=u_0+v(1,0)`$, the initial state is normalizable.

Let us then define $`(T,v)=_{T_0}^T\sqrt{u(t)}𝑑t`$ with initial condition $`u(T_0)=u_0+v`$ and $`u_v(T)`$ to be the value of $`u`$ at time $`T`$ with the same initial condition. Then the wavepacket at later time is given by

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(A,T)_f=𝑑vf(v)e^{\frac{6\sqrt{3}}{l_p}(T,v)+i\frac{A^3R^3}{3Vl_p}(1+u_v(T))}.$$
(60)
## 6 Conclusions and Discussion

The results of this paper represent a step towards a detailed study of the very early universe beyond the semiclassical approximation, in which quantum gravitational effects are treated in a non-perturbative and background independent manner. For each potential $`V(\varphi )`$ and classical slow roll solution $`u(T)`$ consistent with inflation, we have found a quantum state given by (56) which is an exact solution to the quantum equations of motion, but has a classical limit given by that classical solution. Furthermore, we can construct normalizable states which are wavepackets around the initial conditions that generate that classical solution. Thus, inflation is here described in terms of exact quantum states.

As a byproduct, the simplicity of the Hamilton-Jacobi solutions to the coupled Einstein-scalar field problem, using the Ashtekar formulation, may provide a new, simplified approach to studying inflation classically. In our first investigation of the problem we found an attractor, suggesting, at least in this case, a possible universality in the dynamics of the very early universe. This deserves more investigation, as it may provide an understanding of the hypothesis of chaotic inflation .

A number of very interesting questions remain, which these results suggest can now be approached.

* It would be very interesting to understand the relationship of these results to those of Bojowald and others, in the context of loop quantum cosmology . In that case a similar reduction is used, and solutions to quantum cosmology are found which are exact and non-perturbative. However Bojowald’s results obtained using a representation conjugate to that used here, which is roughly a dimensionally reduced spin network basis. A number of interesting results are obtained, including indications that the initial singularity is removed. It would then be very useful to establish a homogeneous version of the loop transform, to express the states studied here in Bojowald’s representation.
* The ordering of the Hamiltonian used here is not Hermitian. It is easy in the dimensional reduction to find Hermitian orderings for the Hamiltonian. The exact quantum states found here will solve the Hermitian ordering of the Schrodeinger equation at the semiclassical approximation. It is challenging, but not impossible, to find exact results for the case of Hermitian ordering. If not, at least a semiclassical expansion could be constructed that would be reliable above the Planck scale, whose leading order terms would be given by the states found here.
* It will be also interesting to incorporate the inhomogeneous modes of the gravitational and matter fields by means of a perturbative expansion around the states constructed here. The aim here will be first principles predictions for transplankian effects in the spectra of scalar and tensor perturbations, as well as polarizations, detectible in cosmological observations.
* We note that the validity of our gauge condition ends roughly when inflation ends, as surfaces of constant $`\varphi `$ no longer track surfaces of constant scale factor, once the universe enters the stage where, in terms of the latter, the scalar field oscillates around the miniumum of $`V(\varphi )`$. We see that at this point in the classical dynamics, $`u(T)`$ becomes complex, leading to complex values of the spacetime metric. To study the problem of exiting from inflation it will then be necessary to choose another time parameter, which is good throughout the exit from inflation, and use the wavefunction generated here as initial conditions for evolution in that parameter.
* There exist extensions of the Kodama state to supergravity with $`N=1,2`$ . It is then likely that the results of the present paper can be extended to supersymmetric models of inflation.
* It will be interesting to investigate whether the mechanism used here to construct normalizable states will work in the full theory, perhaps resolving the issue of the normalizability of the Kodama state.

## ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are grateful to Robert Brandenberger, Laurent Freidel, John Moffat, Michael Peskin, and Hendryk Pfeiffer for conversations during the course of this work. LS would like to thank SLAC and the Physics Department of Stanford University, and SA would like to thank the Perimeter Institute for hospitality during the course of this work.