text:
# Calcutation of kaon matrix elements in quenched domain-wall QCD with DBW2 gauge action

## 1 Introduction

In order to treat the QCD effect in non-leptonic kaon decays non-perturbatively, it is important for the matrix elements of the local operators to be calculated on the lattice. A couple of years ago, CP-PACS and RBC Collaboration  calculated all of the matrix elements for the interaction of $`K\pi \pi `$ decay: $`H_W=_iC_i(\mu )Q_i`$. Using the domain-wall fermion formalism to realize the chiral symmetry required in this calculation, they reported small and negative values of $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ in conflict with the experimental result. In these works, however, there are several uncontrolled systematic errors coming from 1) the small, but non-zero breaking of chiral symmetry, 2) finite lattice spacing, 3) the perturbative treatment of the charmed quark in the matrix elements, 4) quenching effect, and 5) $`K\pi \pi `$ matrix elements obtained from $`K\pi `$ and $`K0`$ by using lowest order chiral perturbation theory .

In order to examine the first three of above systematic errors extensively, we are performing a quenched simulation with domain-wall fermion and the DBW2 gauge action which improves the chiral symmetry on the lattice . The degree of chiral symmetry breaking is decreased by a factor 1/10 compared with the previous work of RBC Collaboration. In addition, the effect of the charmed quark on the lattice can be examined as well as the scaling violation.

In the rest of this article, we present the contents of the numerical simulation and report preliminary results of kaon B-parameter $`B_K`$ and the matrix elements which numerically dominate $`\mathrm{\Delta }I=1/2`$ rule and $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$. Our dynamical simulation to study the quenching effect is reported in refs. .

## 2 Numerical Simulation

In Table. 1, simulation parameters used in this calculation and preliminary results of basic quantities are summarized. Our strategy of gauge generation with a rather fine lattice spacing and well-distributed topological charge is discussed in ref. . Since quark mass $`m_fa`$ is introduced as a parameter of the boundary condition in the fifth dimension in domain-wall QCD, localization of chiral modes on both domain-walls in the fifth dimension tends to fail for a heavy quark mass. However, our small lattice spacing made the value of $`m_ca`$ acceptable as a domain-wall fermion: $`m_ca`$ 0.45. We observed that, around this value, the shape of the wave function in the fifth dimension was qualitatively similar to that with much smaller $`m_f`$. The small value of residual quark mass $`m_{\mathrm{res}}\stackrel{<}{_{}}`$ 0.3 MeV demonstrates the good chiral symmetry. Therefore, it is expected that at least for those operators that do not mix with lower dimensional ones, finite $`L_s`$ causes negligible chiral symmetry breaking effects.

## 3 Kaon B-parameter $`B_K`$

$`B_K`$ on the lattice can be obtained as a ratio of the matrix elements of $`Q_{\mathrm{\Delta }S=2}=[\overline{s}\gamma _\mu (1\gamma _5)d]^2`$ and axial current $`A_4`$. Our result is shown in Fig. 1 as a function of $`m_fa`$. The fit function used is $`B_K=\xi _0[1+Cm_fa\mathrm{ln}(m_fa)]+\xi _1m_fa`$ with the coefficient $`C`$ taken from analytic result . In this chiral fit, $`\chi ^2/\mathrm{dof}=0.76`$ is obtained.

Taking only statistical errors into account, our preliminary results are summarized as

$`B_K^{\mathrm{latt}}(m_fa=0.0155)=0.552(11),`$
$`B_K^{\mathrm{RI}\text{-}\mathrm{MOM}}(\mu =2\mathrm{GeV})=0.542(11),`$
$`B_K^{\overline{\mathrm{MS}},\mathrm{NDR}}(\mu =2\mathrm{GeV})=0.549(11),`$
$`\widehat{B}_K=0.764(15).`$
The lattice value $`B_K^{\mathrm{latt}}`$ is quoted at $`m_f=m_s/2`$ (filled symbol in Fig. 1). By a non-perturbative renormalization procedure following , we obtained renormalization factor $`Z_{B_K}^{\mathrm{RI}\text{-}\mathrm{MOM}}(\mu =2\mathrm{GeV})=0.9816(79)`$. In this step, we also estimated the degree of the mixing of the operators with wrong chirality. As expected by the small value of $`m_{\mathrm{res}}`$, all elements of the amputated four-point function in the chirality basis were observed to be less than 0.2% of the $`(VV+AA,VV+AA)`$ element which corresponds to $`Z_{B_K}`$. Though we shifted $`B_K^{\mathrm{RI}\text{-}\mathrm{MOM}}`$ to $`B_K^{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}`$  and the renormalization group invariant (RGI) value $`\widehat{B}_K`$  with $`N_f=0`$, results will change less than 1% even with $`N_f=3`$. Our result of $`B_K^{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}(\mu =2\mathrm{GeV})`$ is consistent with CP-PACS  ($`a^1`$ 2.9 GeV, $`24^3\times 60\times 16`$) and the previous work of RBC .

## 4 $`K\pi `$ matrix elements

At the lowest order of chiral perturbation theory, $`K\pi \pi `$ matrix elements are proportional to $`K\pi `$ matrix elements calculated on the lattice . For $`i=1`$$`6,9`$ and $`10`$, these matrix elements are related as

$`\pi ^+\pi ^{}\left|Q_i^{(I)}\right|K^0=`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{m_K^2m_\pi ^2}{\sqrt{2}f}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\pi ^+\left|Q_i^{(I)}\right|K^+_{\mathrm{sub}}}{m_{\mathrm{PS}}^2}}+𝒪(m_{\mathrm{PS}}^2)\right],`$ (1)
where $`Q_i^{(I=0,2)}`$ is the contribution to the final state with $`I=0,2`$. Only for the case of $`\mathrm{\Delta }I=1/2`$, or $`I=0`$, subtraction is needed to resolve mixing with a lower dimensional operator:

$`\pi ^+\left|Q_i^{(0)}\right|K^+_{\mathrm{sub}}=\pi ^+\left|Q_i^{(0)}\alpha _iQ_{\mathrm{sub}}\right|K^+,`$ (2)
$`Q_{\mathrm{sub}}`$ $``$ $`(m_s+m_d)\overline{s}d(m_sm_d)\overline{s}\gamma _5d,`$ (3)
$`\alpha _i`$ $`=`$ $`0\left|Q_i^{(0)}\right|K^0/0\left|Q_{\mathrm{sub}}\right|K^0.`$ (4)
In Fig. 2, $`K\pi `$ matrix elements of $`Q_2^{(0)}`$ (left) and $`Q_{2c}=(\overline{s}u)_L(\overline{u}d)_L`$ (right) are presented before and after the subtraction of (2). In particular, one finds that the slope of the subtracted matrix element of $`Q_{2c}`$ is much smaller than that of $`Q_2^{(0)}`$, which might mean a minor contribution of $`\pi \pi \left|Q_{2c}\right|K`$ to $`\mathrm{\Delta }I=1/2`$ rule.

Fig. 3 shows $`\pi ^+\left|Q_6^{(0)}\right|K^+`$ without the subtraction (left) and $`0\left|Q_6^{(0)}\right|K^0/0\left|\overline{s}\gamma _5d\right|K^0`$ as a function of $`m_sam_da`$ (right) whose slope should be $`\alpha _6`$. Though these are an example with $`m_ca=0.40`$, their dependence on $`m_ca`$ is not visible, so far. While the slopes of both quantities are determined within the error of 2% and 0.2% respectively, $`K\pi \pi `$ matrix element which is obtained as a combination of them has the error more than $`200\%`$ due to a severe subtraction. Therefore, before we can quote result for $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}\left|Q_6^{(0)}\right|K^0`$, we need to significantly improve our statistics.

For $`i=7`$ and $`8`$, $`K\pi \pi `$ and $`K\pi `$ matrix elements are related as

$`\pi ^+\pi ^{}\left|Q_i^{(I)}\right|K^0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}f}}\pi ^+\left|Q_i^{(I)}\right|K^+`$ (5)
$`+𝒪(m_{\mathrm{PS}}^2).`$
We show $`\pi ^+\left|Q_8^{(2)}\right|K^+`$ in Fig. 4 and observe its expected shape and intercept roughly consistent with previous works .


format: text

text:
# MOND and the “Dearth of Dark Matter in Ordinary Elliptical Galaxies”

## 1 Introduction

Romanowsky et al. (2003) have recently presented dynamical studies of three elliptical galaxies based on the measurement of radial velocities of a large number of planetary nebulae in each of these galaxies. This method is rather more reliable, and is extended to considerably larger radii, than the standard method of interpreting the line-of-sight-integrated line profiles (see e.g., Gerhard et al. 2001, and Baes and Dejonghe 2002). The dynamical modelling of Romanowsky et al. (2003) “indicates the presence of little if any dark matter in these galaxies”. They conclude that this does not naturally conform with the CDM paradigm.

Our purpose is to point out that the results of Romanowsky et al. are not only in agreement with the predictions of MOND, but go beyond existing support of MOND, probing, as they do, the highest acceleration end in the galaxy sequence, higher than what has been probed with rotation curves of spiral galaxies.

MOND is an empirically motivated modification of Newtonian dynamics at low accelerations, suggested as an alternative to dark matter (Milgrom 1983). For quasi-spherical galaxies such as we have at hand here, the true (MOND) acceleration $`𝐠`$ is, to a very good approximation, related algebraically to the acceleration $`𝐠_𝐧`$ calculated from Newtonian dynamics via

$$𝐠\mu (|𝐠|/a_0)=𝐠_𝐧,$$

where $`a_0`$ is the MOND acceleration constant, and the interpolating function $`\mu (x)`$ approaches 1 in the limit $`x1`$ (the Newtonian limit), and approaches $`x`$ at low accelerations $`x1`$ (the MOND limit). Thus, in this low acceleration limit $`g=\sqrt{g_na_0}`$, predicting asymptotically flat rotation curves for finite mass bodies, with an asymptotic velocity of $`V_{\mathrm{}}=(GMa_0)^{1/4}`$, where $`M`$ is the total (baryonic) mass.

Newtonian dynamics predicts, of course, that masses having homologous density distributions will have similar rotation curves. This is not so in MOND, where the existence of a preferred acceleration value implies different behavior for galaxies with different surface densities relative to the critical value $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_m=a_0/G`$. In other words, the MOND potential field, and, in particular, the shape of the MOND rotation curve, depends on the parameter Milgrom (1983)

$$\xi (MG/R_e^2a_0)^{1/2}=V_{\mathrm{}}^2/R_ea_0,$$

where $`R_e`$ is some measure of the size of the (baryonic) galaxy, which for ellipticals we take as the effective radius (the projected half-mass radius).

Galaxy systems with $`\xi 1`$ have internal accelerations greater than $`a_0`$ in their main body, which is thus in the Newtonian regime. Such high-surface-density objects are expected to show only a mild mass discrepancy within a few $`R_e`$, as, in this case, $`\xi R_e`$ marks the transition radius from the Newtonian to the MOND regime. At the other end, low surface density galaxies, with $`\xi 1`$, are in the MOND regime throughout, and are predicted to show a large mass discrepancy within the optical image.

As a class, normal elliptical galaxies lie at the high $`\xi `$ end of this sequence. Assuming a mean $`M/L=4`$ for the elliptical galaxies observed and catalogued by Jørgensen et al. (1995a,b), we estimate that $`<\xi >=3.5`$ for this sample, compared to values of typically 2 to 3 for HSB disk galaxies.

In light of all this, the results of Romanowsky et al. (2003) are expected in MOND.

In section 2 we compare these results with the predictions of MOND, and discuss the implications in section 3.

## 2 Results

The essential results of Romanowsky et al. (2003) are reproduced in our Fig. 1a, which is based on their Fig. 4. The points with error bars show the velocity dispersion of planetary nebulae averaged over the indicated radial bins as a function of radius in units of the effective radius. The solid points are measurements of the stellar velocity dispersion. We see that the planetary nebulae kinematics probe the gravitational field to considerably larger radii than do the stellar kinematics, particularly in the case of NGC 3379. The dotted line, also from Fig. 4 of Romanowsky et al., shows the predicted line-of-sight velocity dispersion assuming that light traces mass and that the velocity distribution is isotropic. The light distribution is fitted with a Hernquist model (Hernquist 1990) having the appropriately chosen effective radius. The corresponding B-band mass-to-light ratios are, in solar units, 11.4 for NGC 821, 4.7 for NGC 3379, and 5.4 for NGC 4494. The obvious conclusion is that, except perhaps for NGC 821, the observations are consistent with these light-traces-mass models and the required M/L values suggest little dark matter, if any. A fourth galaxy, NGC 4697, was studied earlier Méendez et al. (2001). It was probed to smaller radii, and seems to indicate similar behavior. We will only discuss it in passing.

We also show in Fig. 1a the predictions of MOND, with the solid lines corresponding to the same Hernquist models and to isotropic velocity distributions. The MOND interpolating function is taken to have the same form always used before in rotation curve studies, i.e.,

$$\mu (x)=x/\sqrt{1+x^2},$$

and we use a value of $`a_0=1\times 10^8`$ cm s<sup>-2</sup>, based upon the analysis of Bottema et al. (2002) making use of the new distance scale. (All along we use the distances adopted by Romanowsky et al.; recall that the distance affects the MOND predictions differently from those of Newtonian dynamics.)

There is, of course, nothing preferable about an isotropic velocity distribution; so, to gain some idea of the uncertainty due the unknown orbit population, we also show MOND models with a variable anisotropy ratio (becoming more radial outwards). The anisotropy parameter in these models is given by

$$\beta =\frac{r^2}{(r_{a}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}+r^2)}$$

where the anisotropy radius $`r_a=3R_e`$ in all cases. Such a run of anisotropy is typical of systems that form by dissipationless collapse (van Albada 1982).

Fig. 1b shows the MOND predicted $`M/L`$ runs, normalized to the central value, for the three galaxies (calculated solely from the light distribution, and simply given by $`1/\mu (|𝐠|/a_0)`$). They give the predicted runs of Newtonically deduced mass discrepancy. So, MOND does predict a mild mass discrepancy in these three galaxy within the range studied. Romanowsky (private communication) finds that the range of $`M/L`$ values deduced from Jeans modelling of the velocity data of NGC 821 and NGC 4494, considering only models with a constant anisotropy ratio, are milder than those given in Fig. 1b. The differences are, however, well within the uncertainties due to measurement errors, assumed distances, and modelling.

We see that, by and large, the binned, line-of-sight dispersion data are as consistent with the MOND predictions as they are with the Newtonian, no DM ones. The reason is that within the radii measured the mass discrepancy predicted by MOND is not larger than the measurement errors and/or the uncertainties due to the unknown orbit population.

To better manage these latter uncertainties, Romanowsky et al. applied to the best studied galaxy, NGC 3379, an orbit-library method described in detail in their paper (this entails, of course, variable anisotropies in the velocity distribution). The outcome of this analysis is a better constrained range of allowed potential fields for this galaxy. This is described as a permitted range of rotation curves given in their Fig A2, and reproduced here in our Fig. 2 as the hatched area. The dotted curve in Fig. 2 shows the Newtonian rotation curve for the adopted Hernquist model, with a constant $`M/L_B`$ value of 5.5 solar units, chosen to fit the inner parts, near the maximum (and no dark matter). The solid line is the MOND prediction for the same mass model. The MOND rotation curve for a spherical galaxy with a de Vaucouleur profile having $`\xi =5`$ is, in fact, given in Figure 1b of Milgrom (1983), and matches very nearly the deduced rotation curve for NGC 3379, which has $`\xi 5.7`$.

We see that this more refined distillation of the data, encapsuled in the deduced rotation curve, does indicate the development of a mild mass discrepancy at the larger radii, rather as predicted by MOND. Note that because the accelerations at several effective radii are near $`a_0`$, the exact shape of the MOND rotation curve depends upon the precise form of $`\mu `$, but here this is a relatively unimportant detail. The main point is that MOND predicts the very pronounced decline in the deduced rotation curve of NGC 3379, as never seen before.

## 3 Discussion

We see that the MOND predictions of the kinematics of the galaxies under study, as deduced from the observed light distribution assuming a constant $`M/L`$ value, agree well with the observations, assuming very reasonable orbit populations. The strength and importance of these findings is, however, not in the exact quality of the agreement. We have seen more impressive performances of MOND in predicting rotation curves of disc galaxies (e.g., Sanders & McGaugh 2002), where the data are more accurate, and where the uncertainty in orbit population is hardly present. The importance here is that this new comparison confirms the prediction of MOND regarding the high acceleration end of the galaxy distribution Milgrom (1983), which has not been probed before.

NGC 3379 is the best studied of the three and with the measurements going the farthest in unit of $`R_e`$. It has $`\xi 5.7`$, and seems to be the present record holder among galaxies with measured extended rotation curves. Accordingly, in conformity with the MOND predictions, it is also the record holder in the extent of the observed decline of its rotation curve. For NGC 821 $`\xi 3.6`$, and for NGC 4494 $`\xi 3.4`$. For the previously studied NGC 4697, $`\xi 3.3`$, similar to that of NGC 4494.

These last three galaxies are nearer in their $`\xi `$ value to some of the HSB spirals, especially those with a substantial bulge. In comparison, a similarly defined quantity for dwarf spheroidal galaxies can be as small as $`\xi 0.1`$. For LSB spirals $`\xi 0.5`$, (e.g., NGC 1560) and for HSB spirals with measured extended rotation curves $`\xi 2.5`$ (e.g., NGC 2903). In such HSB spirals we expect to find a similar “dearth of DM” if we measure their rotation curve only as far as a few half mass radii (for NGC 2903, about 3.5 kpc). Such HSB galaxies are well fit by a “maximum disk”, whereby the rotation curve in the inner regions is explained by the visible disk with a reasonable $`M/L`$ ratio, implying that very little dark matter is required there. Because the rotation curves are, in fact, measured to rather larger radii, and a mass discrepancy does develop in full strength at the outskirts, we don’t view these HSB galaxies as devoid of a mass discrepancy, only as developing it at larger radii. This is also what MOND predicts for the galaxies in the present study (as shown by the $`M/L`$ runs in Fig. 1b).

There are ellipticals with $`\xi 3`$, as studied here, for which a mass discrepancy has been claimed already at smaller radii. If these are substantiated, and correctly interpreted, they would certainly argue against MOND. There are, for example, ellipticals such as M87 (e.g. Côté et al. 2001) and M49 (e.g., Côté et al. 2003) that have been dynamically studied by both globular cluster (GCs) dynamics and x-rays. They sit, however, at the center of galaxy clusters (“Virgo A” for M87, and the sub cluster “Virgo B” for M49). It is known that, in the context of MOND, there is a remaining “missing mass” problem for the central regions of clusters (see, e.g., Sanders 2003); that additional mass, perhaps undetected baryonic matter or massive neutrinos, is required to make up the MOND dynamical mass budget. The mass discrepancies deduced around such galaxies may be reflecting these known cluster discrepancies. Moreover, in the case of M49, which presumably falls in the external field of the main cluster together with “Virgo B”, there is a possibility of departure from viriality in the globular cluster system (magnified by MOND effects). This might be suggested by two peculiarities: a. the velocity dispersion of the metal-rich GCs is significantly lower than that of the metal-poor ones although they both supposedly probe the same gravitation field. In fact, if taken in itself, the metal-rich-GC dispersion is consistent with MOND. b. the GC velocity dispersion profile adopted by Côté et al. (2003) (taken as that of the combined population) is not a continuation of the stellar dispersion profile at smaller radii, which, like that of the metal-rich GCs, does appear to decline with radius, and does not imply a mass discrepancy. In any event, the examples of M87 and M49 are not the clean cases of isolated galaxies which would comprise ideal tests of MOND.

In another instance, Gerhard et al. (2001) studied the dynamics of ellipticals by modelling the profiles of the line-of-sight-integrated lines, extending, typically, to $`0.5R_e2R_e`$. Their deduced, enclosed $`M/L`$ values rise slowly with radius. The increase in $`M/L`$ at the last measured point over the central value is in most cases between 10 and 50 percent, with a few going up to 80 percent. Gerhard et al. take this rise to be the onset of the mass discrepancy in these galaxies, which would thus occur at rather smaller radii than found by Romanowsky et al. (2003). Gerhard et al. do not show errors on their deduce values, but they state that “the typical uncertainty in the outermost circular velocity is $`\pm (1015)\%`$”. This translates to a $`\pm (2030)\%`$ uncertainty in $`M/L`$, rather comparable with the whole claimed effect in most cases. When plotted against the acceleration, their $`M/L`$ values begin to increase at accelerations between 3 and 30 times higher than $`a_0`$. Gerhard et al. view this as showing that the mass discrepancy in ellipticals sets in at accelerations that are an order of magnitude higher than in spirals, which, if true, would fly in the face of MOND.

We contend that these M/L increases reported by Gerhard et al., whatever they are due to, do not mark the onset of the mass discrepancy. Two of the three galaxies studied in Romanowsky et al., NGC 4494 and NGC 3379, are also in the Gerhard et al. sample. For NGC 4494, Gerhard et al. find that $`M/L`$ increases already by 40 percent at their last measured point of $`0.7R_e`$. For NGC 3379, they deduce a rotation curve that becomes flat at about $`1R_e`$ and remains so to their last measured point of about $`2R_e`$, where their deduced $`M/L`$ value has risen already to 20 percent above the central value, whereas Romanowsky et al. tell us that the rotation curve declines at least down to $`6R_e`$. If the results of Romanowsky et al. are valid, the $`M/L`$ increases that Gerhard et al. find for these two galaxies cannot possibly mark the onset of the mass discrepancy; and this obviously casts heavy doubt on their conclusion for other galaxies. Note also that their $`M/L`$ values increase much more slowly as a function of the acceleration than they do in spirals: instead of increasing as $`1/a`$, as predicted by MOND, and as observed, they increase by a few tens of percents over a decade in $`a`$. So, this is certainly not MOND translated to higher accelerations, or a “non-universality of $`a_0`$” as has been claimed.

These deduced $`M/L`$ increases may result from actual increase in the stellar $`M/L`$ values; or, they may be artifacts of the analysis, or due to unaccounted for systematics, as, in fact, has been proposed by Baes and Dejonghe (2002).

We thank Aaron Romanowsky and Nigel Douglas for providing their data in practical form, and for very helpful discussions.


text:
# Weighted Density Approximation Description of Insulating YH3 and LaH3

## Abstract

Density functional calculations within the weighted density approximation (WDA) are presented for YH3 and LaH3. We investigate some commonly used pair-distribution functions G. These calculations show that within a consistent density functional framework a substantial insulating gap can be obtained while at the same time retaining structural properties in accord with experimental data. Our WDA band structures agree with those of $`GW`$ approximation very well, but the calculated band gaps are still 1.0-2.0 eV smaller than experimental findings.

The rare earth trihydrides, $`M`$H3, where $`M`$ = Y, La – Lu, are the subject of considerable practical and theoretical interest. The rare earths absorb hydrogen readily and in the trihydride form have among the largest hydrogen to metal ratios of the elemental hydrides libowitz . The fully hydrogenated materials are insulating, while those with less hydrogen are metallic, and in thin film form they can be used as switchable mirrors huiberts . It is important to demonstrate a correct description of these trihydrides in first-principles approaches in order to validate calculations for more complex metal hydrogen systems. However the standard first-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) within the local density (LDA) and generalized gradient (GGA) approximations incorrectly predict metallic behavior for the rare earth trihydrides. Here we explore application of the weighted density approximation (WDA). We find a WDA that works for these materials (and others), indicating that the gap problem here is not due to unusual correlations or quasiparticle corrections, but is simply a problem with the LDA and GGA exchange correlation (xc) functionals.

The rare earth dihydrides, $`M`$H2, are metallic. The trihydrides on the other hand are insulating with optical gaps of the order of 2 eV, with a metal insulator transition at a hydrogen content correlated with rare earth ionic radius huiberts . This insulating gap of the trihydrides may be understood in terms of simple picture, in which H forms a negative ion, H-, fully ionizing the metal atoms, thus forming a gap between H bands and higher lying metal $`sd`$ conduction bands. This simple picture is supported by infrared and photoemission measurements rode ; osterwalder . It is consistent with the fact that all the rare earth trihydrides are insulators despite differences in the details of their crystal structures. These range from the $`fcc`$ derived structure of LaH3 to the not fully solved hexagonal structure of YH3 miron ; pebler ; udovic ; zogal .

Computations within the LDA predict a metallic band structure with substantial overlap between H and metal derived bands zogal ; swit ; dekker ; wang . This severe gap problem could be due to several possible causes: (1) use of an incorrect crystal structure; (2) an extreme case of LDA error in predicting gaps; (3) unusual correlation effects; or (4) self-interaction errors in LDA. Early attempts at resolving this discrepancy focused on crystal structure. Indeed it was shown that with optimized crystal structures, DFT calculations could yield insulating band structures for YH3 kelly ; ahuja . Unfortunately, these relaxed structures are not consistent with diffraction measurements, and such an explanation would not explain the similar insulating properties of the other $`M`$H3 compounds.

DFT is a theory of ground state properties, and the eigenvalues of the Kohn-Sham equations cannot be equated to quasiparticle excitations onida . Nevertheless, any non-pathological accurate approximation to the exact DFT must predict an insulating Kohn-Sham band structure, because static responses and other ground state properties depend on the presence or absence of a gap. For example, LO-TO splitting would be present in the phonon spectrum of ionic insulator like YH3, but not in a metal.

Recent studies on rare earth trihydrides have considered electron correlation effects ng ; eder ; vg ; vg2 ; miyake , particularly electron correlations on the H sites. However, since there are no partially occupied $`d`$ or $`f`$ orbitals in LaH3 and YH3, nor is there evidence that these materials are near a quantum critical point, these hydrides would represent a rather novel class of strong correlated materials. Calculations done within the $`GW`$ approximation show that band gaps that are reconcilable with experiment are obtained, both with the cubic BiF3 structure (LaH3) and the hexagonal HoD3 structure (a simplified YH3 structure) vg ; vg2 ; miyake . The $`GW`$ method approaches the problem as being most simply viewed as due to the treatment of excited states, but if the problem is due to self-interaction, it is fundamentally a ground state problem. The LDA makes large errors in description of the one-electron hydrogen atom because of incomplete cancellation of the Hartree and xc self-interactions. One way to remove the spurious self interactions in LDA and GGA calculations is the so-called self interaction correction zunger . In this approach an orbital dependent self interaction is calculated at each step and used to create an orbital dependent single particle Hamilitonian. This method suffers from basis set dependence, e.g. the computed correction is zero for a Bloch state representation. We explore whether one can remain within conventional ground state DFT and obtain the proper electronic structure of rare earth trihydrides.

The weighted density approximation (WDA) gunna76 ; alonso78  has the exact non-local form of DFT expression of xc energy,

$$E_{\mathrm{xc}}[n]=\frac{n(𝐫)n(𝐫^{})}{|𝐫𝐫^{}|}[g_{xc}(𝐫,𝐫^{})1]𝑑𝐫𝑑𝐫^{}.$$
(1)
Since the exact pair-distribution function $`g_{xc}(𝐫,𝐫^{})`$ is elusive, a model WDA function $`G`$ is made,

$$g_{xc}(𝐫,𝐫^{})1=G[|𝐫𝐫^{}|,\overline{n}(𝐫)],$$
(2)
where the weighted density $`\overline{n}`$ can be determined from the xc hole condition:

$$n(𝐫^{})G[|𝐫𝐫^{}|,\overline{n}(𝐫)]𝑑𝐫^{}=1.$$
(3)
This assures no self-interaction in a one-electron system. The WDA also gives the correct result for the uniform electron gas because it reduces to the LDA in this case. A seemingly natural choice of $`G`$ would be of a uniform system, but Mazin and Singh mazin98  emphasized, based on the xc kernel, that $`G`$ of the uniform electron gas is not optimal. People advanced several model forms of $`G`$, such as the Gunnarsson-Jones (G-J) gunna80  ansatz, $`G^{\mathrm{G}\mathrm{J}}(r,n)=c\{1\mathrm{exp}([\frac{r}{\lambda }]^k)\}`$, with $`k=5`$; and the Gritsenko et al.  (GRBA) grit93  ansatz, $`G^{\mathrm{GRBA}}(r,n)=c\mathrm{exp}([\frac{r}{\lambda }]^k)`$, with $`k=1.5`$. In this letter, we also used a homogeneous type of $`G`$ ggp02 , and another G-J type for $`k=4`$ (G-J4), which was tested by Rushton et al.  for silicon rushton . To avoid the unphysical WDA inter-shell interaction, we used the shell-partition method gunna76 ; singh93 ; wu2003 .

As mentioned before, although the exact structure of hexagonal YH3 is still under investigation, its insulating property is believed to be an electronic property, i.e., not sensitive to the crystal structure gogh ; molen . So we studied a simplified hexagonal LaF3 structure with a Y2H6 unit cell wang , in which Y atoms form a hexagonal close-packed (hcp) structure. The measured lattice constants are $`a=3.672`$ Å and $`c/a=1.81`$. We optimized the H positions using LDA and WDA (with four types of $`G`$), and all the results are consistent with the previous LDA result wang . We also optimized the equilibrium volume with the calculated atomic positions and fixed $`c/a`$ ratio. Table 1 shows that the WDA volumes are only about 2-3% deviated from experimental data.

To determine the band structure of the hexagonal YH3, We used the experimental volume and a $`12\times 12\times 8`$ special $`𝐤`$-point mesh. The calculated bands of the LDA and WDA (with the G-J4 type of $`G`$) are shown in Fig. 1. The LDA predicts a direct band gap of 1.0 eV at $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and an overlap of 0.93 eV between $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and K, which leads to a semi-metal. Our present LDA results are a little different from the previous (0.6 eV for the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ gap and 1.3 eV for the overlap wang ) because we used the Hedin-Lundqvist xc function, whereas they used the Wigner ansatz. On the other hand, the WDA predicts a direct $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ gap of 2.2 eV, and opens up a fundamental gap of 0.41 eV between $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and K. Thus the WDA predicts a substantial insulating gap. Our WDA band gaps are pretty close to the $`GW`$ calculations vg  of 0.6 eV for the fundamental gap and 2.9 eV for the direct $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ gap. In the Brillouin zone of the more complicated tripled HoD3 structure of YH3, this indirect $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-K gap will be folded to form a direct gap at $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ point, and they are roughly of the same order of magnitude wang ; vg .

We also calculated the WDA bands with the other three types of $`G`$, and the results are shown in Table 2. We found the WDA with all these $`G`$ functions gives better band gaps than the LDA. Except for the G-J4 form, the GRBA grit93  form is superior to the other two, because it predicts a smaller band overlap between $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and K. These results illustrate that the WDA band structure is sensitive to the choice of $`G`$. We compare these pair-distribution functions by drawing them together in Fig. 2, where $`n=3/(4\pi r_s^3)`$, and in the WDA calculations of YH3, $`0.8<r_s<2.3`$. We found the G-J4 form has the shortest range, and the range of GRBA ansatz is shorter than the other two. Our calculations indicate that the WDA with shorter range $`G`$ gives larger band gaps. Interestingly, such functions, particularly GRBA, yield static responses closer to Monte Carlo results for the uniform electron gas mazin98 .

We performed LDA and WDA (with G-J4 only) calculations on cubic BiF3 structure of YH3 and LaH3, in which the Y or La atoms constitute a face-centered cubic (fcc) lattice and H atoms are located at the tetrahedral and octahedral sites. Recently the insulating fcc YH3 was stabilized by MgH2 molen . There is a large discrepancy of the measured volumes of fcc YH3. Ahuja et al.  ahuja  expected 32.2 Å3, while van der Molen et al.  molen  extrapolated 36.9 Å3 and Gogh et al.  gogh  obtained 38.0 Å3. Our LDA and WDA equilibrium volumes are 32.4 Å3 and 35.2 Å3 respectively. We used the experimental volume of 36.9 Å3. For LaH3 the measured volume 44.2 Å3 is close to LDA and WDA equilibrium volumes. We used a $`12\times 12\times 12`$ special $`𝐤`$-point mesh.

In Fig. 3 are the calculated band structures of cubic YH3 and LaH3. The LDA predicts that both of them semi-metals with direct overlaps of 1.0 eV for YH3 and 0.46 eV for LaH3 at $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ point, which agree with previous calculations miyake ; alford . Contrary to the LDA, the WDA predicts that both trihydrides are semiconductors with direct $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ gaps of 0.19 eV and 0.80 eV for YH3 and LaH3 respectively. However the fundamental gaps are about 0.1 eV smaller, because the lowest conduction bands at L is slightly lower than that at $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Our WDA band gaps are in good agreement with previous $`GW`$ calculations. Alford et al.  alford  predicted a $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ gap of 0.2-0.3 eV for YH3 and 0.8-0.9 eV for LaH3, and Chang et al. cbl  obtained 0.8 eV for LaH3. We found that the hexagonal and cubic YH3 have similar small gaps, suggesting that the insulating properties are of electronic origin rather than structural.

Another interesting feature of the WDA band structures is that compared with the LDA, the overall valence bandwidth hardly changes. This is also consistent with previous $`GW`$ calculations vg ; miyake ; alford , but in contrast to the many-body model Hamiltonian calculations which show a large valence bandwidth decrease ng . It confirms the previous conclusion vg ; alford  that rear-earth trihydrides are just band insulators, and that strong correlations are not required.

Although our DFT-WDA band gaps of YH3 and LaH3 agree with previous $`GW`$ quasiparticle calculations very well, the measured optical gap is $``$2.8 eV for YH3 and $``$1.8 eV for LaH3, which are still 1-2 eV larger. Gelderen et al.  vg  argued that the fundamental band gap of hexagonal YH3 is not the measured optical gap due to the forbidden transition between the highest valence and the lowest conduction bands, and they concluded that the measured value corresponds to the direct gap at $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ of the hexagonal LaF3 structure. However the real hexagonal YH3 is more complex and it may have low symmetry so that the dipole matrix element is not zero. Our DFT-WDA method may underestimate band gaps due to the DFT gap discontinuity at the fermi level godby86 .

In conclusion, we have studied the band structures of the hexagonal YH3 and cubic YH3 and LaH3 using the first-principles WDA method. The calculations showed that YH3 and LaH3 are both semiconductors, and this insulating property does not rely on the detailed crystal structure. The calculated band gaps agree with previous $`GW`$ calculations very well, and they are also consistent with experiment. Our WDA calculations also predicted good ground-state structures. The success of WDA may be attributed to the absence of self-interaction in H $`1s`$ sates.

We are grateful for helpful discussions with I. Geibels, P. Vajda and K. Yvon. This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research under ONR Grants N000149710052, N00014-02-1-0506 and N0001403WX20028. Calculations were done on the Center for Piezoelectrics by Design (CPD) computer facilities and on the Cray SV1 at the Geophysical Laboratory supported by NSF EAR-9975753, and the W. M. Keck Foundation. We also thank the Institut du Developpement et des Ressources en Informatique Scientifique (IDRIS) for a grant of computer time. DJS is grateful for the hospitality of the University of Paris Orsay during part of this work.


text:
# Improving the locality of the overlap Dirac operator via approximate solutions of the Ginsparg-Wilson relation

## Abstract

We determine a free field hypercubic lattice Dirac operator which is optimally close to satisfying the Ginsparg-Wilson relation. Inserting this operator into the overlap formula, we show that the analytic locality bound on the resulting overlap Dirac operator is substantially stronger than in the standard case. The improvement generally persists in gauge backgrounds when the plaquette variables are all close to unity.

The overlap Dirac operator provides a formulation of lattice QCD with exactly massless quarks . Actually there are many overlap operators: for each choice of ultra-local lattice Dirac operator $`D`$ an overlap Dirac operator $`D_{ov}`$ is obtained by inserting $`D`$ into the overlap formula:

$`D_{ov}={\displaystyle \frac{m}{a}}(1+A(A^{}A)^{1/2}),AD{\displaystyle \frac{m}{a}}`$ (1)
Here $`a`$ is the lattice spacing and $`m`$ is a parameter which controls topological properties of $`D_{ov}`$ and the number of fermion species described by the corresponding lattice fermion action. In the standard overlap operator, $`D`$ is taken to be the Wilson-Dirac operator $`D_w`$.

The locality issue for $`D_{ov}`$ is nontrivial due to the inverse square root $`(A^{}A)^{1/2}`$ in (1), which also causes difficulties for numerical implementation. To ensure that the lattice theory is in the right universality class to reproduce continuum physics, $`D_{ov}`$ should be exponentially-local. An exponential-locality bound was derived in :

$`(A^{}A)^{1/2}(x,y)Ke^{\stackrel{~}{\theta }|xy|/a}`$ (2)
where $`|xy|_\mu |x_\mu y_\mu |`$. Set $`l`$ to be the maximum distance in units of lattice spacing between lattice sites coupled by $`D`$ as measured by this norm (e.g. $`l=1`$ for the Wilson-Dirac operator). Then the decay constant in (2) is

$`\stackrel{~}{\theta }=\theta /2l`$ (3)
with $`\theta `$ determined by the condition number $`C`$:

$`\theta =\mathrm{log}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{C}+1}{\sqrt{C}1}}\right),C={\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _{max}(A^{}A)}{\lambda _{min}(A^{}A)}}`$ (4)
$`\lambda _{max}`$ ($`\lambda _{min}`$) are the maximum (minimum) eigenvalues. Moreover $`K=\lambda _{min}(A^{}A)^{1/2}`$ (this and (3)–(4) were not written out explicitly in  but follow easily from the formulae derived there). To obtain a locality bound independent of the gauge field, gauge field-independent bounds $`0<uA^{}Av<\mathrm{}`$ are required; then $`\lambda _{min}`$ and $`\lambda _{max}`$ can be replaced by $`u`$ and $`v`$, respectively, in the preceding. An upper bound $`v`$ can easily be derived via triangle inequalities. However, to get a nonzero lower bound $`u`$ some restriction on the lattice gauge fields is generally required, since gauge backgrounds in which $`A`$ has zero-modes do exist in general (reflecting topological properties of $`D_{ov}`$). In the standard Wilson-Dirac case this can be done by imposing an admissibility condition

$`1U(p)<ϵ\text{plaquette }p.`$ (5)
The currently sharpest lower bound is $`16(2+\sqrt{2})ϵA_w^{}A_w`$ (in 4 dimensions and with $`m=1`$) .

In  the possibility of improving locality and convergence properties of the overlap Dirac operator by taking the input $`D`$ to be an approximate solution of the Ginsparg-Wilson (GW) relation  was pointed out. This is based on the observation that if $`D`$ is an exact GW solution, i.e. $`\gamma _5D+D\gamma _5=\frac{a}{m}D\gamma _5D`$, then the overlap formula simply gives this operator back again: $`D_{ov}=D`$. (To see this, note that the GW relation is equivalent to $`A^{}A=(\frac{m}{a})^2`$ where $`AD\frac{m}{a}`$.) It is known that ultra-local operators cannot exactly satisfy the GW relation ; but approximate solutions are possible, and for these the preceding observation implies $`D_{ov}D`$, indicating that $`D_{ov}`$ is “close to being ultra-local”. This heuristic reasoning needs to be treated with caution though, because if $`D`$ is very close to satisfying the GW relation then it must be “almost non-ultralocal”. In this note we attempt to get a more precise analytic understanding of the situation by considering the improvement that can be achieved in the locality bound (2). If $`D`$ is an approximate GW solution, i.e. $`A^{}A(\frac{m}{a})^2`$, then $`\lambda _{min}\lambda _{max}(\frac{m}{a})^2`$, hence the condition number $`C`$ is close to unity and consequently the parameter $`\theta `$ in (4) is very large. However, the effect of the the increase in $`\theta `$ in the decay constant (3) must be at least partly offset by an increase in $`l`$, since the closer $`D`$ is to satisfying the GW relation the longer its range must be. Therefore, to improve the locality bound on the overlap Dirac operator, we are led to look for short range approximate solutions to the GW relation to use as input in the overlap formula.

A natural arena in which to look for such operators is the class of hypercubic operators. These are the lattice Dirac operators which couple sites within the same lattice hypercube. For such operators the parameter $`l`$ in (3) equals the spacetime dimension $`d`$, so in 4 dimensions an increase in $`\theta `$ by more than a factor of 4 is required in order to achieve a locality bound that is stronger than the one for the standard overlap operator. We begin by considering the free field case. Define the hermitian operators $`S_\mu =\frac{1}{2i}(T_{+\mu }T_\mu )`$ and $`C_\nu =\frac{1}{2}(T_{+\nu }+T_\nu )`$ where $`T_{+\mu }`$ ($`T_\mu `$) are the usual forward (backward) parallel transport operators. Then a general free field hypercubic operator can be written in terms of the free field $`S_\mu `$’s and $`C_\nu `$’s as

$`D={\displaystyle \frac{1}{a}}(\gamma ^\mu \rho _\mu +\lambda )`$ (6)
$`i\rho _\mu =S_\mu _{p=1}^d2^p\kappa _p_{\nu _2<\mathrm{}<\nu _p,\nu _j\mu j}C_{\nu _2}\mathrm{}C_{\nu _p}`$ and $`\lambda =_{p=0}^d2^p\lambda _p_{\nu _1<\mathrm{}<\nu _p}C_{\nu _1}\mathrm{}C_{\nu _p}`$ Here $`\kappa _1,\mathrm{},\kappa _d`$ and $`\lambda _0,\mathrm{},\lambda _d`$ are coupling parameters; they are the most general couplings allowed by the lattice symmetries. The requirements of correct formal continuum limit ($`D\gamma ^\mu _\mu `$) and vanishing bare mass are equivalent to the constraints $`_{p=1}^d2^p\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{d1}{p1}\right]\kappa _p=1`$ and $`_{p=0}^d2^p\left[\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{d}{p}\right]\lambda _p=0`$. These can be used to eliminate $`\kappa _1`$ and $`\lambda _0`$; then $`D`$ contains $`2d1`$ free parameters $`\kappa _2,\mathrm{},\kappa _d;\lambda _1,\mathrm{},\lambda _d`$. (The Wilson-Dirac operator, which contains just one free parameter –the Wilson parameter $`r`$ – is obtained by setting $`\kappa _1=1/2`$, $`\lambda _0=dr`$, $`\lambda _1=r/2`$ and $`\kappa _p=\lambda _p=0`$ for $`p2`$.)

A number of free field hypercubic operators which approximately satisfy the GW relation are already known and have been discussed in : the truncation of the standard overlap operator, the truncated Fixed Point (FP) operator (the FP operator is a GW solution which is known explicitly only in the free field case ), and the “GW-improved” operator obtained by inserting the truncated FP operator into the overlap formula and then truncating again. However, one can attempt to do better still by considering the condition number (4) as a function $`C=C(\kappa _2,\mathrm{},\kappa _d;\lambda _1,\mathrm{},\lambda _d)`$ on the parameter space of free field hypercubic operators and finding the point(s) at which $`C`$ has a minimum. We did this numerically, using the expression $`C=\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{max}{k}\{A^{}A(k)\}/\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{min}{k}\{A^{}A(k)\}`$ where $`A^{}A(k)`$ is the free field momentum representation of $`A^{}A`$. For concreteness we fix the spacetime dimension to be $`d=4`$ and set $`m=1`$ in (1), i.e. $`aAaD1`$. The lattice spacing $`a`$ drops out in the expression for $`C`$. When calculating a minimum of $`C(\kappa _2,\mathrm{},\lambda _4)`$ numerically one must specify an initial point (actually two initial points for our Mathematica calculation). We tried various choices of starting points corresponding to the truncated FP operator and other free field hypercubic operators considered in . In each case the the numerical calculation converged to the same minimum of $`C(\kappa _2,\mathrm{},\lambda _4)`$ at the point in parameter space listed in the last column of Table 1.

Thus we have found a new free field hypercubic operator which is optimally close to satisfying the GW relation, at least compared to other operators in a neighbourhood of the truncated FP operator.

In Table 2 we list $`\lambda _{min}`$, $`\lambda _{max}`$ and the condition number $`C`$ for the new operator, as well as the decay constant $`\stackrel{~}{\theta }`$ in the locality bound (2) for the corresponding overlap Dirac operator, and compare with the values for other operators. The $`\stackrel{~}{\theta }`$ for the new operator is significantly larger than for the previously considered free field hypercubic operators, and is larger than the Wilson-Dirac $`\stackrel{~}{\theta }`$ by more than a factor of 3.

Gauged hypercubic operators can be built up in various ways from free field operators. We now point out that if the free field operator is a good approximate GW solution then the same is generally true for the gauged operator when the gauge field satisfies the admissibility condition (5) with small $`ϵ`$. General ultra-local gauged lattice Dirac operators are polynomials in the parallel transporters $`T_{\pm \mu }`$. Since these can be expressed in terms of the $`S_\mu ,C_\nu `$ defined earlier, $`A^{}A=A^{}A(S_\mu ,C_\nu )`$. Inserting the spectral decompositions $`S_\mu =_{\alpha _\mu }s_{\mu \alpha _\mu }P_{\mu \alpha _\mu }`$, $`C_\nu =_{\beta _\nu }c_{\nu \beta _\nu }P_{\nu \beta _\nu }`$ (where $`P_{\mu \alpha _\mu }`$, $`Q_{\nu \beta _\nu }`$ are the projections onto the eigenspaces with eigenvalues $`s_{\mu \alpha _\mu }`$, $`c_{\nu \beta _\nu }`$, respectively), and using the fact that in any gauge background $`s_{\mu \alpha _\mu },c_{\nu \beta _\nu }[1,1]`$, one can make a connection with $`A^{}A_{free}`$ and derive bounds

$`\lambda _{min,f}\lambda _{min,f}(C_f1)K_{}O(ϵ)A^{}A`$
$`\lambda _{max,f}+\lambda _{min,f}(C_f1)K_{}+O(ϵ)`$ (7)
(the derivation will be given elsewhere) where the subscript “$`f`$” refers to the free field quantities. Here $`K_{}=\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{max}{\psi =1}|_{\sigma ()}\psi ,𝒪_\sigma \psi |`$ where $`𝒪_{\alpha _1\mathrm{}\beta _4}P_{1\alpha _1}\mathrm{}Q_{4\beta _4}`$ and the sum is restricted to the $`\sigma =\{\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\beta _4\}`$ for which $`\psi ,𝒪_\sigma \psi `$ is negative. Since $`_{\sigma (+)}\psi ,𝒪_\sigma \psi +_{\sigma ()}\psi ,𝒪_\sigma \psi =1`$ for all unit norm $`\psi `$, and $`|\psi ,𝒪_\sigma \psi |1`$ $`\sigma `$, we can expect $`K_{}`$ to be of order 1 in typical gauge backgrounds. Then, if the free field operator is a good approximate GW solution (i.e. $`C_f1`$), the terms with $`K_{}`$ are very small in (7). The bounds then imply that the condition number of the gauged operator is close to the free field condition number when $`ϵ`$ is small. Finally we mention that hypercubic and other short range lattice Dirac operators which are reasonable approximate GW solutions in equilibrium gauge backgrounds have already been found in numerical work; see  and the ref.’s therein.

I thank Wolfgang Bietenholz for discussions.


text:
# AGB stars in the Magellanic Clouds & in other members of the Local Group

## 1. Introduction

There are two main advantages of studying asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in the galaxies of the Local Group (LG). First that we are able using the current instrumentation to resolve their stellar content and second that these stars can be considered to be approximately all at the same distance. Recent studies of AGB stars in the Magellanic Clouds allowed us to gain insight into the near–infrared (near–IR) stellar content of the galaxies, their surface distribution and the ratio between carbon–rich (C–rich) and oxygen–rich (O–rich, M–type) AGB stars easily statistically distinguished in the colour–magnitude diagram (CMD, $`JK_S`$, $`K_S`$). More recent near–IR observations of other galaxies in the Local Group have been analyzed to tell us similar informations.

## 2. Results on the Magellanic Clouds

Among the latest near–IR instruments DENIS and 2MASS have released a large amount of data on AGB stars in the Magellanic Clouds. In particular in the DENIS catalogue towards the Magellanic Clouds (DCMC – Cioni et al. 2000a) there are $`32800`$ AGB stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and $`7650`$ in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), of which $`7570`$ and $`1640`$ are C–rich. Blanco et al. (1983) estimated about $`11000`$ and $`2900`$ C–rich stars in the LMC and SMC, respectively. Accounting for about $`10\%`$ misclassification among the M0–1 stars below the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) which are missed by our selection criteria based on the near–IR colour–magnitude diagram (CMD), we detect most of the AGB stars in both Galaxies. Infact we detect about the same C stars found by Kontizas et al. (2001) in the LMC ($`7750`$) and those $`1707`$ found by Rebeirot et al. (1983) in the SMC.

AGB stars are easily distinguished in the CMD ($`IJ`$, $`I`$) as the plume of objects above the TRGB redder of a given line that discriminates between the younger and older populations (Cioni et al. 2000b). These AGB stars distribute smoothly over the surface of the Clouds in contrast with the bar–like and patchy distribution of the younger stars. In the CMD ($`JK_S`$, $`K_S`$) C–rich AGB stars occupy a red branch compared to the location of O–rich stars. The distribution of the ratio between C–rich and O–rich (C/M ratio) AGB stars outlines in the LMC a ring–like structure of increasing values (Cioni & Habing 2003). Because the C/M ratio is a strong indicator of metallicity the first global evidence that there is a radial metallicity gradient in the LMC was found. The ratio is patchy and irregularly distributed in the SMC. By fitting the distribution of points (Log($`C/M`$) versus \[Fe/H\]) in other galaxies of the LG a metallicity spread of about $`0.75`$ dex within each Cloud was derived. The larger uncertainty remains in the calibration and scatter of this relation.

## 3. Results in other Local Group galaxies

Based on the results obtained in the Magellanic Clouds I started in collaboration with Habing a near–infrared campaign from the La Palma observatory to mosaic other galaxies of the LG in $`I`$, $`J`$ and $`K_S`$. The goal is to find, study and compare the AGB stellar population.

Fig.1 shows: the ($`JK_S`$, $`K_S`$) diagram for all the sources detected within an area of $`20^{}\times 20^{}`$ centered on NGC6822 (a), the histogram of the $`JK_S`$ colour at about $`0.3`$ mag above the TRGB where the dashed line discriminates between O–rich and C–rich AGB stars (b), and the histograms of $`J`$ (c) and $`K_S`$ (d) where the dashed line indicates the approximate location of the TRGB. In NGC6822 we detect about $`1339`$ C stars, approximately $`400`$ more than Letarte et al. (2002), and $`2774`$ M stars. The distribution of the whole AGB population is shown in Fig.2 while Fig.3 shows the distribution of the C/M ratio. Using the same relation discussed in Sect.2 we derive that the gray scale and the contours span a range of 1.65 dex in \[Fe/H\]. Contrary to Nowotny et al. (2003) we do detect regions with a different C/M ratio. Note that in the $`K_S`$ band the differential reddening is negligible and that foreground stars have been removed. The striking difference between the two figures indicates the potential of the C/M ratio to study the chemical history of galaxies.

Similar figures, though with less statistics have been obtained for NGC147 and NGC185. Observations of Draco have just been reduced and unfortunately the observations of LeoA, LeoI and LeoII took place during variable sky conditions which considerably affect the quality of the resulting CMDs.

In the Southern Hemisphere the central region of a few galaxies has been observed using SOFI at the NTT in the near–IR wave bands by Tolstoy back in 1998. The CMDs of DDO210, Fornax, SagDIG and Pegasus show clear red giant branches reaching in Fornax the red clump. These galaxies are not rich in AGB stars especially of C type except Pegasus that shows a plum of objects with quite red $`JK_S`$ colours. These relatively deep data are probably suitable to derive the metallicity and the age of the observed region (about $`5^{}\times 5^{}`$) from the slope and colour of the RGB as in Davidge (2003). New observations of these and other galaxies visible from the Southern Hemisphere took place at the end of July 2003 in collaboration also with Reijkuba.

The wealth of near–IR data on galaxies in the Local Group either than the Magellanic Clouds will definitely benefit from the latest theoretical results by Marigo et al. (2003). The authors were able to successfully model the red tail of C stars producing a synthetic ($`K_S`$, $`JK_S`$) diagram in very good agreement with the observational data. The key ingredient is to assume an opacity that in cool stars varies with the chemical composition in addition to the assumption of a given pulsation mode (the first overtone for C stars).

## 4. Conclusions

Large scale informations on AGB stars in the Magellanic Clouds, NGC6822, NGC147 and NGC185 have been discussed: their location in the near–IR CMD, their spatial distribution and that of the C/M ratio. The latter is an important abundance indicator, especially for those systems too far away to measure abundances with other tracers. In the near future we will complete the reduction of complementary I–band measurements, try to complete the observations of some targets not yet fully mosaiced and to continue a monitoring program (in the I–band) that will provide us with an indication about the variability of the target stars. Ultimately we count on publishing homogeneous catalogues of AGB variables that will be useful to the whole community to perform stellar population studies in these relatively nearby galaxies.

## References

Blanco V.M., McCarthy M.F., 1983, AJ 88, 1442

Cioni M.-R.L., Habing H.J., 2003, A&A 402, 133

Cioni M.-R.L., Habing H.J., Israel F.P., 2000b, A&A 358, L9

Cioni M.-R.L., Loup C., Habing H.J., et al., 2000a, A&A 144, 235

Davidge T.J., 2003, AJ 125, 3046

Kontizas E., Dapergolas A., Morgan D.H., et al., 2001, A&A 369, 932

Letarte B., Demers S., Battinelli P., et al., 2002, AJ 123, 832

Marigo P., Girardi L., Chiosi C., 2003, A&A 403 225

Nowotny W., Kerschbaum F., Olofsson H., et al., 2003, 403, 93

Rebeirot E., Martin N., Prevot L., et al., 1983, A&AS 53, 255


text:
# Untitled Document

Re/Os constraint on the time-variability of
the fine-structure constant
Yasunori Fujii1 and Akira Iwamoto2

1Advanced Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Shinjuku, Tokyo, 169-8555 Japan
2Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI), Tokai-mura, Naka-gun, Ibaraki, 319-1195 Japan
Abstract

We argue that the accuracy by which the isochron parameters of the decay $`{}_{}{}^{187}\mathrm{Re}^{187}\mathrm{Os}`$ are determined by dating iron meteorites may not directly constrain the possible time-dependence of the decay rate and hence of the fine-structure constant $`\alpha `$. From this point of view, some of the attempts to analyze the Oklo constraint and the results of the QSO absorption lines are re-examined.

Recently it has been claimed  that the long-lived beta decay $`{}_{}{}^{187}\mathrm{Re}^{187}\mathrm{Os}`$ should constrain the time-variability of the fine-structure constant $`\alpha `$ more strongly than pointed out before . At the core of the argument, however, the authors assumed that the limit of time variation of the decay rate is of the same order as the accuracy by which the decay rate itself is determined. One of the purposes of this note is to re-examine this hypothesis by checking the basic procedure of dating meteorites. We find that the decay rate measured at the present time is a time-average of the local decay rate which can be time-dependent. Obviously the rate of change, which is also time-dependent in general, is entirely different from the accuracy of the average. In spite of this difference in principle, there might be a correlation in practice, which is, however, to be tested observationally.

In order to show how we have reached this conclusion, we begin with a brief account of how the decay rate of rhenium can be used to date iron meteorites for which recent analysis was carried out with an improved precision . The fundamental formulation will then be followed by the comments, (i) the implication of direct measurement of today’s value of the decay rate, (ii) how Dyson’s original idea is affected by our present knowledge of dating, and (iii) a theoretical example in which the uncertainty of the averaged decay rate comes from the time dependence of the decay rate, illustrating that the relation between them can be complicated even if there is any in practice.

We also emphasize that the present issue attracts wide attention because of the question if what is claimed to be the constraint from dating meteorites can be understood consistently with other constraints on the time-dependence of $`\alpha `$, from the Oklo phenomenon  and the QSO absorption lines . For this reason, the second half of this note is devoted to a phenomenological re-examination of the theoretical analyses in terms of the cosmological scalar field , in which fitting all of the observations on the changing $`\alpha `$ has been attempted. We find that the result is rather disappointing if we accept an important feature of the analysis of the QSO data; a rather “flat” distribution of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha /\alpha `$ . We then suggest that an even better fit can be obtained if we do not impose the constraint from $`\mathrm{Re}`$-$`\mathrm{Os}`$ decay.

Suppose a meteorite is formed at the time $`t=t_1`$, which is about 4.6 Gys ago, and will be called the “meteorite time” in what follows. After this time, the amounts of $`{}_{}{}^{187}\mathrm{Re}`$ and the related $`{}_{}{}^{187}\mathrm{Os}`$ are conveniently measured in terms of the ratios to the stable isotope $`{}_{}{}^{188}\mathrm{Os}`$: $`N_{\mathrm{Re}}^{187}\mathrm{Re}/^{188}\mathrm{Os}`$ and $`N_{\mathrm{Os}}^{187}\mathrm{Os}/^{188}\mathrm{Os}`$, respectively. The former would decay according to

$$N_{\mathrm{Re}}(t)=Ae^{\lambda (tt_1)},$$
(1)
with the decay rate $`\lambda `$ assumed to be constant, for the moment. In practice, we consider a group of meteorites supposed to have started nearly at the same time, $`t=t_1`$. The initial value $`A=N_{\mathrm{Re}}(t_1)`$ may be different from meteorite to meteorite due to chemical fractionations under different initial pressures and temperatures. For each meteorite, the amount lost would appear as $`{}_{}{}^{187}\mathrm{Os}`$;

$$N_{\mathrm{Os}}(t)=A\left(1e^{\lambda (tt_1)}\right)+B,$$
(2)
where $`B`$ denotes the amount which had been present in the solar system before $`t_1`$ not necessarily due to the decay of $`{}_{}{}^{187}\mathrm{Re}`$. It seems reasonable to assume $`B`$ which is common throughout the group. By eliminating $`A`$ from (1) and (2) we obtain

$$N_{\mathrm{Os}}(t)=S(t)N_{\mathrm{Re}}(t)+B,$$
(3)
where the time-dependent $`S(t)`$ is given by

$$S(t)=e^{\lambda (tt_1)}1,$$
(4)
which starts with zero, increasing as $`tt_1`$.

At the present time $`t_0`$ with $`t_0t_14.6\times 10^9\mathrm{y}`$, we measure $`N_{\mathrm{Re}}(t_0)`$ and $`N_{\mathrm{Os}}(t_0)`$, plotting the latter against the former which takes different values because of different $`A`$. The result should be a straight line (3) with the common slope $`S(t_0)`$ given by (4) with $`t_0`$ for $`t`$, and the intercept $`B`$. This plot is called the Re-Os “isochron,” as shown in Fig. 1 of . If the age $`t_0t_1`$ is determined by other more accurate isochrons, U-Pb, for example, we may determine the rate $`\lambda `$.

Recently four groups (IIA, IIIA, IVA and IVB) of iron meteorites have been analyzed carefully , determining the slopes with the accuracy of 0.5%. It was argued  that this accuracy is to be the same as the one by which $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda /\lambda `$ of the time-variation of $`\lambda `$ is constrained. They also exploited the theoretical relation

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda }{\lambda }1.9\times 10^4\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha }{\alpha },$$
(5)
where the “amplification factor” on the right-hand side comes from an exceptionally small $`Q`$-value, which makes the decay of $`{}_{}{}^{187}\mathrm{Re}`$ particularly suitable to probe possible time-variability of $`\alpha `$ in the Coulomb-only approximation. Imposing the same 0.5% for the accuracy in determining the constant above on the left-hand side now interpreted as the one for the possible time-variation yields

$$\left|\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha }{\alpha }\right|\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}2.5}\times 10^7,$$
(6)
over the time span of $`t_0t_1`$. As it turns out this is roughly as strong as the constraint obtained from the Oklo phenomenon, and is nearly two orders of magnitude more stringent than the nonzero value indicated by the QSO result. We will show, however, that the left-hand side of (5) may not be 0.5% mentioned above.

Suppose now $`\lambda `$ varies with time. Since the law of decay is described originally in terms of a differential equation, (1) is modified to

$$N_{\mathrm{Re}}(t)=A\mathrm{exp}\left(_{t_1}^t\lambda (t^{})𝑑t^{}\right).$$
(7)
The expression (1) with $`t=t_0`$ holds true if $`\lambda `$ is re-interpreted as an average:

$$\overline{\lambda }=\frac{1}{t_0t_1}_{t_1}^{t_0}\lambda (t^{})𝑑t^{}.$$
(8)
All we can do from dating meteorites at the present time is to measure the average (8), which masks any variation during the whole history between $`t_1`$ and $`t_0`$. In this respect the method is different in principle from  and , in which the past events are directly probed. We have no way to distinguish potentially different functions $`\lambda (t)`$ as long as they give the same average value. Any time-dependence in $`\lambda (t)`$ is allowed no matter how precisely $`\overline{\lambda }`$ is determined. We are going to illustrate the points by a few examples.

In order to detect time-dependence of $`\lambda `$, one of the most direct ways in principle is to find the present value $`\lambda _0`$, though it ought to be a difficult experiment because of an extremely small rate. A recent accurate measurement  provides

$$\lambda _0=(1.68\pm 0.50)\times 10^{11}\mathrm{y}^1,$$
(9)
which is consistent with the value of $`\overline{\lambda }=1.67\times 10^{11}\mathrm{y}^1`$ used in . From the uncertainty of 3% in (9) follows that $`\lambda (t)`$ might have deviated from $`\overline{\lambda }`$ at least by 3%, or even by 6%, sometime during the whole history of the meteorite, though depending on what time interval defines $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda /\lambda `$.

We might assume the simplest linear approximation in which we have a straight line for $`\lambda (t)`$ which passes through $`\overline{\lambda }`$ at the middle, $`(t_1+t_0)/2`$, giving $`|\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda /\lambda |3\times 10^2`$ at $`t=t_1`$. Combining this with (5) we find that $`|\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha /\alpha |1.5\times 10^6`$ toward 4.6 Gys ago. This turns out to be much larger than (6). Notice that we could change the slope, the rate of time-change of $`\lambda `$ without changing the average, as long as we keep the middle point intact. A more precise determination of $`\lambda _0`$ will lower the lower-bound, but will never lower the upper-bound.

As a historical example of a non-linear function, let us re-evaluate Dyson’s proposal  who argued that if $`\alpha `$ toward the meteorite time was very large, and so was $`\lambda `$, we would find no leftover $`{}_{}{}^{187}\mathrm{Re}`$ around us today. The contradiction can be avoided if a possible change of $`\lambda (t)`$, and of $`\alpha (t)`$, near the meteorite time is kept below certain limit.

Dyson’s idea can be represented by a simplified step function,

$$\lambda (t)=\{\begin{array}{cc}\lambda _2,\hfill & \text{for}t_1tt_2,\hfill \\ 0,\hfill & \text{for}t_2tt_0,\hfill \end{array}$$
(10)
where $`t_2`$ is an intermediate time between $`t_1`$ and $`t_0`$ while the constant $`\lambda _2`$ is chosen to be higher than $`\overline{\lambda }`$, so that the decay life-time defined by $`\tau _2=\lambda _2^1`$ is shorter than $`\overline{\tau }=\overline{\lambda }^1`$ (by 200 times in ). In order to allow the largest possible $`\lambda _2`$ for a given interval $`t_2t_1`$, we chose in the second line the minimized $`\lambda (t)`$ satisfying the natural condition $`\lambda (t)0.`$ We also add another narrow region prior to $`t_0`$ for which $`\lambda (t)=\overline{\lambda }`$, assuming that today’s $`\lambda `$ equals $`\overline{\lambda }`$. The time interval of this region can be chosen very small, however, such that its effect to the integral will be negligibly small.

By requiring that the integral of (10) gives $`\overline{\lambda }`$ correctly, we obtain the relation

$$(t_2t_1)\lambda _2=(t_0t_1)\overline{\lambda },\text{or}\frac{t_2t_1}{\tau _2}=\frac{t_0t_1}{\overline{\tau }}.$$
(11)
By noticing that $`\overline{\tau }=6\times 10^{10}\mathrm{y}`$ is much larger than $`t_0t_1`$ in the last equation, we conclude

$$t_2t_1\tau _2,$$
(12)
implying that there was no time sufficiently long for the Re decay to be completed. In other words, we still see rhenium around us no matter how short its decay life-time might be at the earliest time. This shows that the established $`\overline{\lambda }`$ no longer allows a naive argument .

As another exercise of the technique of a step function, let us start with a constant $`\lambda (t)=\overline{\lambda }`$ then introduce a local change $`\lambda (t)=\lambda _2\overline{\lambda }+\delta `$ in the interval $`t_1tt_2`$. We are replacing the second line, 0, of (10) by $`\overline{\lambda }`$. The relative time-change $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda /\lambda `$ may be defined by the change of $`\lambda `$ from “today’s” value $`\overline{\lambda }`$ divided by certain average of $`\lambda (t)`$. The former is obviously $`\delta `$ while the latter is close to $`\overline{\lambda }`$ as long as $`|\delta |\overline{\lambda }`$, hence

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda }{\lambda }=\frac{\delta }{\overline{\lambda }}.$$
(13)
The uncertainty of the average $`\overline{\lambda }`$ will be determined by something different, like the isochron parameters. It still seems interesting to suppose that possible inaccuracy in evaluating the contribution from $`\delta `$ causes $`\mathrm{\Delta }\overline{\lambda }((t_2t_1)/(t_0t_1))\delta `$. By combining this with (13) we find

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\overline{\lambda }}{\overline{\lambda }}\frac{t_2t_1}{t_0t_1}\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda }{\lambda }.$$
(14)
This illustrates how the two kinds of relative changes can be different from each other even if they share the same common origin, $`\delta `$ in the range $`t_1tt_2`$. In contrast to a naive expectation for the basic equality between the two, as expressed in , we realize that the relation depends on how $`\lambda (t)`$ behaves, through the ratio $`(t_2t_1)/(t_0t_1)`$ in our simplified example. We also point out that the numerator $`t_2t_1`$ on the right-hand side of (14) is simply the interval of a nonzero change of $`\lambda (t)`$, independently of when it occurred, not necessarily at the earliest time. A question might then be raised against a procedure in , in which a constraint (6) on $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha /\alpha `$ is imposed right on the meteorite time.

We also note that, apart from the precise timing, the relation (14), substituted from (5) on the right-hand side, together with the isochron constraint $`|\mathrm{\Delta }\overline{\lambda }/\overline{\lambda }|\stackrel{<}{}0.5\%`$ may even derive $`|\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha /\alpha |0.5\times 10^5`$, nearly the same as the weighted mean of the QSO result , if we choose $`(t_2t_1)/(t_0t_1)0.05`$.

We have so far argued conceptually that the constraint (6) may not be derived unambiguously, particularly at or near the meteorite time. Now as a test of the “hypothesis” in , we are going to show purely phenomenologically that this constraint is likely in conflict with the available QSO result.

For the later convenience, we define the fractional look-back time $`u=1t/t_0`$. We then recall that the data points in  (the “fiducial sample,” Fig. 8) distribute from $`u=0.203(z=0.229)`$ to $`u=0.875(z=3.666)`$. The meteorite time $`u_{\mathrm{met}}=0.33`$ is above the lowest data point, but certainly far below most of other data points. All the 128 data points are summarized by

$$y\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha }{\alpha }\times 10^5=0.54\pm 0.12,$$
(15)
with $`\chi _{\mathrm{rd}}^2=1.06`$. Accommodating (6), or $`|y|=0.025`$, into the overall fit $`y(u)`$ might be achieved either by i) an exponential fall as $`u`$ decreases, or by ii) an oscillatory $`y(u)`$ with one of zeros nearly identified with $`u_{\mathrm{met}}`$. The former choice has an advantage that other two important constraints, the Oklo constraint at $`u_{\mathrm{oklo}}0.14`$ and $`y(0)=0`$ (by definition) would be complied almost automatically.

We thus start with assuming

$$y(u)=ae^{b(uu_{\mathrm{met}})},$$
(16)
where $`b>0`$ ($`u`$ is in the opposite direction with $`t`$) while $`a=y(u_{\mathrm{met}})`$. We expect that this is a behavior that simulates the dominant pattern of the fits attempted in  reasonably well in the relevant time range.

We determine $`a`$ and $`b`$ by minimizing $`\chi ^2`$ for the QSO data. The reduced chi-squared $`\chi _{\mathrm{rd}}^2=\chi ^2/(1282)=1.07`$ is obtained for $`a=0.354`$ and $`b=1.39`$. The above $`\chi _{\mathrm{rd}}^2`$ turns out to be nearly the same as $`1.06`$ for the simple weighted mean (fit in terms of a horizontal straight line, $`y=0.54`$), while the size $`a`$ turns out more than an order of magnitude larger than the desired value $`0.025`$ for (6). The corresponding fit is shown in Fig. 1, in which only the 13 binned data (see Fig. 8 of ) is shown for a easier comparison with the fit.

Figure 1: An exponential fit (16) to the QSO result  shown as a binned fit, though the minimizing $`\chi ^2`$ itself has been made with respect to the original 128 data points. The minimum $`\chi _{\mathrm{rd}}^2=1.069`$ is obtained for $`a=0.354`$ and $`b=1.39`$. The horizontal long-dashed line represents the weighted mean $`y=0.54`$. A flat distribution of the data is obvious. The Oklo time $`u_{\mathrm{oklo}}=0.14`$ and the meteorite time $`u_{\mathrm{met}}=0.33`$ are shown by upward arrows.

Figure 2: The 68% confidence region around the minimized $`\chi ^2`$ of the fit corresponding to Fig. 1, as indicated by a cross.

We also estimated the confidence region for 68%, as shown in Fig. 2, which shows that $`a=0.025`$ is entirely out of the contour. Around this value of $`a`$, we find no 2-dimensional minimum of $`\chi ^2`$. We tentatively fixed $`a=0.025`$ and searched for $`b`$ to minimize $`\chi ^2`$, obtaining $`b=7.28`$ with $`\chi _{\mathrm{rd}}^2=1.13`$. By comparing the corresponding fit shown in Fig. 3 with the previous Fig. 1, we find an obvious reason for a poorer agreement; the assumed small $`y(u_{\mathrm{met}})`$ required a sufficiently large value of $`b`$, which in turn forced $`y`$ to rise too much as $`u`$ increases, thus enhancing $`\chi ^2`$. In other words, a flat distribution of the QSO data points, as was seen also in the previous result , dose not favor a small $`y(u_{\mathrm{met}})`$. The same consequence appears to be shared by the fits in  (with $`E=12`$), in  (Fig. 3) and in  (Fig. 13).

Figure 3: A tentative fit with a fixed $`a=0.025`$ but with $`b=7.28`$ that minimizes chi-squared, resulting in $`\chi _{\mathrm{rd}}^2=1.13`$. Notice too sharp a fall of the curve toward the higher $`u`$.

We have further tried to see tentatively if the situation improves by replacing $`u_{\mathrm{met}}0.33`$ by $`u_{\mathrm{oklo}}0.14`$, but finding little changed basically. We admit that the exponential suppression alone, like (16), fails to accommodate the QSO result, as long as we accept the detailed behavior shown by .

We have developed, on the other hand, a fit based on the damped-oscillator behavior as inspired by the scalar field in the scalar-tensor theory of gravity playing a crucial role in understanding the accelerating universe . In  we assumed a phenomenological function

$$y=ae^{bu}\mathrm{sin}\left(2\pi \left(uu_{\mathrm{oklo}}\right)/T\right),$$
(17)
which is chosen to vanish at $`u_{\mathrm{oklo}}`$ as an approximate expression for a small value $`|y(u_{\mathrm{oklo}})|=10^210^3`$. The smallest $`\chi _{\mathrm{rd}}^2=1.09`$ was obtained for $`a=0.151,b=2.4,T=0.714`$, fitting the QSO result nearly as good as the weighted-mean with $`\chi _{\mathrm{rd}}^2=1.06`$ . Notice that $`b`$ is smaller than 7.28 as was used in Fig. 3. This made it easier to be consistent with the flat behavior of the QSO data toward the high-$`u`$ end. Recall that we did not appeal to a strong suppression of the exponential function for the expected small value of $`|y(u_{\mathrm{oklo}})|`$.

We then find it difficult, however, to satisfy the constraint (6) at $`u_{\mathrm{met}}`$ as well, because $`u_{\mathrm{met}}u_{\mathrm{oklo}}0.19`$ is much smaller than $`T`$, which is sufficiently large to keep the data distribution “flat.” Alternatively we may choose $`u_{\mathrm{met}}`$ as one of the zeros of $`y`$ and then trying to suppress $`y(u_{\mathrm{oklo}})`$ sufficiently small. This cannot be immediately ruled out as long as we accept $`b`$ as large as 8. This choice, apart from the tendency of the cosmological solutions favoring smaller $`b`$, makes it more difficult to comply another natural condition $`y(0)=0`$. If we follow the foregoing discussion not to appreciate the constraint (6) at the meteorite time, we may propose a better, though still phenomenological, fit to satisfy both of the constraints at $`u=0`$ and $`u_{\mathrm{oklo}}`$ to be comfortably consistent with the QSO result, as will be shown separately.

We finally point out that the constraints still from the Oklo and QSO results might be related to the evolution of the scalar field affecting directly the way of cosmological acceleration, through which we further look into the possibly changing $`\alpha `$ in the eras of CMB and the nucleosynthesis .

One of us (Y.F.) thanks Hisayoshi Yurimoto, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, for his help to understand physics of meteorite dating.

References

1. K.A. Olive, M. Pospelov, Y.-Z. Qian, A. Coc, M. Cassé and E. Vangioni-Flam, Phys. Rev. D66, 045022 (2002).
2. F.J. Dyson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 19, 1291 (1967).
3. M.I. Smoliar, R.J. Walker and J.W. Morgan, Science 271, 1099 (1996).
4. A.I. Shlyakhter, Nature 264, 340 (1976); T. Damour and F.J. Dyson, Nucl. Phys. B480, 37 (1996); Y. Fujii, A. Iwamoto, T. Fukahori, T. Ohnuki, M. Nakagawa, H. Hidaka, Y. Oura and P. Möller, Nucl. Phys. B573, 377 (2000); Proc. Int. Conf. on Nuclear Data for Science and Technology, 2001, hep-ph/0205206.
5. J.K. Webb, M.T. Murphy, V.V. Flambaum, A. Dzuba, J.D. Barrow, C.W. Churchill, J.X. Prochaska and A.M. Wolfe, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 091301 (2001).
6. M.T. Murphy, J.K. Webb, V.V. Flambaum, MNRAS, to be published, astro-ph/0306483.
7. C. Wetterich, Phys. Lett. B561, 10 (2003).
8. L. Anchordoqui and H. Goldberg, hep-ph/0306084.
9. C.L. Gardner, astro-ph/0305080.
10. M. Galeazzi, F. Fontanelli, F. Gatti and S. Vitale, Phys. Rev. C63, 014302 (2000).
11. Y. Fujii and K. Maeda, The scalar-tensor theory of gravitation, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
12. Y. Fujii, to be published in Phys. Lett. B, astro-ph/0307263.