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# Fractional generalization of the Ginzburg-Landau equation: An unconventional approach to critical phenomena in complex media

## Abstract

Equations built on fractional derivatives prove to be a powerful tool in the description of complex systems when the effects of singularity, fractal supports, and long-range dependence play a role. In this paper, we advocate an application of the fractional derivative formalism to a fairly general class of critical phenomena when the organization of the system near the phase transition point is influenced by a competing nonlocal ordering. Fractional modifications of the free energy functional at criticality and of the widely known Ginzburg-Landau equation central to the classical Landau theory of second-type phase transitions are discussed in some detail. An implication of the fractional Ginzburg-Landau equation is a renormalization of the transition temperature owing to the nonlocality present.

The formulation of fractional kinetics  has led to a considerable progress in our vision of complex systems at the microscopic level. The use of fractional derivative operators $``$ unconventional analytical tools extending the familiar high-school calculus to a broader class of mathematical objects $``$ has been recognized in the modern physics  owing to its elegance and the proximity to the standard, well established algorithms. The fractional kinetic equations dealing with generalized derivatives in space and time incorporate in a natural, unified way the key features of non-Gaussianity and long-range dependence that often break down the restrictive assumptions of locality and lack of correlations underlying the conventional statistical mechanical paradigm. From a probabilistic standpoint, fractional kinetics extends Gaussian stochastic processes (i.e., Brownian random walks) by taking into account long-range correlated events in the tail of the probability density function. Such events dominate, for instance, Lévy-type processes  and fractal time random walks (FTRW’s) , the simplest model realizations accounting for anomalous transport phenomena in turbulent media . Manifestations of fractional kinetics have been found in, e.g., point vortex flows , low confinement mode plasmas , non-Gaussianity of fluctuations measured in the edge and scrape-off layer region of fusion devices , etc. A comprehension of the essential role played by FTRW and Lévy statistics in the microscopic description of turbulence and chaos stipulated fractional generalizations of the diffusion and Fokker-Planck-Kolmogorov equations, discussed in a series of publications . Beside the theory of turbulent diffusion, applications of fractional kinetics concern the fractional Kramers problem , relaxation in polymer systems and rebinding phenomena in proteins , scale-invariance and universality near a phase transition point , cosmic rays acceleration , the dynamics of fracton excitations , including modulational instability  and self-focusing of waves on fractals , and many other realizations . The current state of the art is summarized in review articles .

In this Letter, we advocate an application of the fractional derivative formalism to the thermodynamics of second-type phase transitions in the presence of a coexisting nonlocal ordering which may influence the properties of the basic “symmetric” phase below the transition point. As an example, we mention highly correlated electron liquid states, such as electron liquids with fractionally charged excitations , as well as high-temperature superconducting fluid phases in copper-oxide compounds and their derivatives  where the nonlocal ordering can be associated with the so-called “stripy” order . A growing evidence of stripes and of their role in the superconducting transition at high temperatures is a hot topic in condensed matter research .

In what follows, we imply a phase diagram which accommodates two thermodynamically distinct phases, the “symmetric” (superconducting) phase below the transition temperature $`T_c`$, and “asymmetric” (normal) phase above the $`T_c`$. As usual, the deviation between the symmetric and normal phases for $`TT_c`$ is characterized by the order parameter, $`\psi =\psi (x)`$, which is assumed to be an analytical function of a 1-dimensional coordinate variable, $`x`$.

Our study has two interconnected goals. First, we suggest that an interaction between the $`\psi `$ order and a coexisting nonlocal ordering can be characterized by a fractional generalization of the free energy expansion near the transition point. Second, we demonstrate that the order parameter $`\psi `$ obeys an integro-differential equation which can be fairly considered as a fractional extension of the widely known Ginzburg-Landau equation, central to the classical Landau theory of second-type phase transitions. This unconventional, fractional equation incorporates in an analytically appealing way the effect of long-range dependence posed by the underlying nonlocal ordering.

We start up with the conventional free energy expansion (Refs.  and )

$$F=F_n+_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}𝑑x\left[\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{4m}|_x\psi |^2+a|\psi |^2+\frac{b}{2}|\psi |^4\right]$$
(1)
in vicinity of the critical point $`TT_c`$. The term marked by $`F_n`$ denotes the contribution from the normal phase. Equation (1) concerns with the real-space derivative $`_x\psi `$ along the coordinate $`x`$. For the sake of simplicity, we shall also use the notation $`\psi _x^{}`$ for $`_x\psi `$. The coefficient $`a=\alpha (TT_c)`$ in Eq. (1) is proportional to the deviation between $`T`$ and $`T_c`$. Note that $`a=\alpha (TT_c)`$ changes sign at criticality: This behavior does not depend on the nature of the symmetric and normal phases and mirrors the generic features of topology of the phase diagram. The system-specific information is contained in the parameters $`\alpha `$ and $`b`$. The value of $`\alpha >0`$ in accordance with the fact that the symmetric phase occurs below $`T_c`$. The coefficient $`b>0`$ depends solely on the mass density of the material (but not on the thermodynamic temperature $`T`$). The bulk distribution of the order parameter extremizes the free energy functional in Eq. (1), leading to the classical Ginzburg-Landau equation

$$\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{4m}_x^2\psi +a\psi +b|\psi |^2\psi =0.$$
(2)
The key issue about Eq. (2) is the infinitesimal $``$ local $``$ character of the $`\psi (x)`$ variation, manifest in the assumption that only a differential contribution $`|_x\psi |^2`$ in the free energy density comes into play for $`TT_c`$. Statistically, this means that the blobs of the symmetric phase appear at random throughout the material as the temperature $`T`$ approaches the critical range. The property of randomness is explicit from the convolution of $`_x\psi `$ with a Gaussian $`G_\lambda (x)=\mathrm{exp}[x^2/\lambda ]/\sqrt{\pi \lambda }`$, where $`\lambda `$ is the correlation (coarse-graining) length, physically corresponding to the typical size of the blobs:

$$_x\psi G_\lambda (x)=_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}𝑑y\psi _y^{}G_\lambda (xy).$$
(3)
At length scales $`x`$ large compared to $`\lambda `$, the Gaussian $`G_\lambda (x)`$ in Eq. (3) can be fairly approximated by the Dirac delta function $`\delta (x)`$, yielding $`_x\psi G_\lambda (x)_x\psi \delta (x)`$. The convolution $`_x\psi \delta (x)`$ is then exactly the local derivative $`_x\psi \psi _x^{}`$.

We now turn to the order parameter $`\mathrm{}=\mathrm{}(x)`$ for the coexisting nonlocal symmetry. The interaction between $`\psi `$ and $`\mathrm{}`$ orders may be envisaged as a nonrandom appearance of the “superconducting” blobs for $`TT_c`$ over a broad range of scales $`x\lambda `$. In this connection, the parameter $`\mathrm{}(x)`$ acquires the role of the Gaussian $`G_\lambda (x)\delta (x)`$ in Eq. (3). Replacing $`\delta (x)`$ by $`\mathrm{}(x)`$, one encounters the convolution $`_x\psi \mathrm{}(x)`$, which substitutes the local derivative $`_x\psi \delta (x)`$ in the free energy expansion (1). We may now postulate the free energy expansion for a long-range correlated thermodynamical system at criticality in the generalized form

$$F=F_n+_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}𝑑x\left[A_{\mathrm{}}|_x\psi \mathrm{}|^2+a_{\mathrm{}}|\psi |^2+\frac{1}{2}b_{\mathrm{}}|\psi |^4\right]$$
(4)
where $`\mathrm{}=\mathrm{}(x)`$ quantifies the underlying nonlocal symmetry. The coefficients $`A_{\mathrm{}}`$, $`a_{\mathrm{}}`$, and $`b_{\mathrm{}}`$ introduced in Eq. (4) replace $`\mathrm{}^2/4m`$, $`a`$, and $`b`$, respectively, in the conventional free energy expansion in Eq. (1).

Our further interest is on the specific type of nonlocality consistent with a self-similar $``$ fractal $``$ organization. The focus on fractals  is motivated by a general tendency of complex systems to reveal, at or near a critical point, scale-invariant dynamical properties . The phenomenon is often associated with the issue of self-organized criticality . Self-organized critical behavior, due to multiscale Josephson coupling of the superconducting domains, was advocated for granular and polycrystalline superconductors in Ref. . In the framework of our study, we assume the nonlocal symmetry has fractal support considered as a Cantor set  on the 1-dimensional Euclidean axis $`x`$. The fractal geometry of the support appears in the power-law behavior of the order parameter $`\mathrm{}`$: This behavior, in turn, may be identified with the scaling of the two-point correlation function for the fractal distribution :

$$\mathrm{}(xy)=\mathrm{}_0|xy|^\mu $$
(5)
where $`\mathrm{}_0`$ is a normalization constant. The power exponent $`\mu `$ in Eq. (5) can further be expressed in terms of the Hausdorff fractal dimension $`d_f`$ of the Cantor set:

$$\mu =1d_f.$$
(6)
By its definition , the Hausdorff dimension of a Cantor set ranges from 0 to 1. In the latter case, the set occupies the entire Euclidean axis $`x`$. Accordingly, the power exponent $`\mu `$ varies from a maximal value equal 1 to a minimal value equal 0. In view of Eq. (5), the convolution $`_x\psi \mathrm{}(x)`$ becomes

$$_x\psi \mathrm{}(x)=\mathrm{}_0_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}𝑑y\psi _y^{}|xy|^\mu .$$
(7)
The integration in Eq. (7) can be expressed in a suitable compact form by using the notion of a fractional derivative . In fact, integrating by parts in Eq. (7), one gets

$$_x\psi \mathrm{}(x)=\mathrm{}_0_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}𝑑y\psi (y)_y|xy|^\mu .$$
(8)
The operation $`_y`$ applied to $`|xy|`$ is equivalent with the derivative $`_x`$ over the parameter $`x`$: This derivative can then be taken out of the integral sign, yielding

$$_x\psi \mathrm{}(x)=\mathrm{}_0_x_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}𝑑y\psi (y)|xy|^\mu .$$
(9)
Splitting the integration from $`\mathrm{}`$ to $`+\mathrm{}`$ into two integrals, from $`\mathrm{}`$ to $`x`$ and from $`x`$ to $`+\mathrm{}`$, and taking into account the reflection symmetry $`\psi (y)=\psi (y)`$ for the $`\psi `$ order, from Eq. (9) one obtains

$$_x\psi \mathrm{}(x)=2\mathrm{}_0_x_{\mathrm{}}^x𝑑y\psi (y)(xy)^\mu .$$
(10)
Setting the normalization $`2\mathrm{}_0=1/\mathrm{\Gamma }(1\mu )`$ in Eq. (5), we find $`_x\psi \mathrm{}(x)_x^\mu \psi `$, where

$$_x^\mu \psi \frac{1}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(1\mu )}_x_{\mathrm{}}^x𝑑y\psi (y)(xy)^\mu $$
(11)
is exactly the Riesz definition  of the fractional derivative of order $`0<\mu 1`$, and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ denotes the Euler gamma function. Note that $`_x^\mu `$ is integro-differential operator for all $`0<\mu <1`$. In the “integer” limit of $`\mu 1`$, the operation in Eq. (11) is equivalent with the conventional first-order derivative $`_x`$: The proof rests on the Abel identities discussed in Ref. . In terms of fractional derivatives, the free energy expansion in Eq. (4) reads

$$F=F_n+_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}𝑑x\left[A_\mu |_x^\mu \psi |^2+a_\mu |\psi |^2+\frac{1}{2}b_\mu |\psi |^4\right].$$
(12)
Here we changed the subscript $`\mathrm{}`$ to $`\mu `$ everywhere in $`A_{\mathrm{}}`$, $`a_{\mathrm{}}`$, and $`b_{\mathrm{}}`$. Expression (12) leads to the issue of a fractional Ginzburg-Landau equation, as we now proceed to show. In fact, varying the integral in Eq. (12) over the complex conjugate $`\psi ^{}`$ and considering $`\psi `$ and $`\psi ^{}`$ as independent order parameters, we have

$$\delta F=_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}𝑑x\left[A_\mu _x^\mu \psi _x^\mu \delta \psi ^{}+a_\mu \psi \delta \psi ^{}+b_\mu |\psi |^2\psi \delta \psi ^{}\right].$$
(13)
Making use of the integration-by-part formula

$$_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}𝑑y\phi _1(y)_y^\mu \phi _2(y)=_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}𝑑y\phi _2(y)_y^\mu \phi _1(y)$$
(14)
from Eq. (13) one arrives at

$$\delta F=_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}𝑑x\left[A_\mu _x^\mu _x^\mu \psi +a_\mu \psi +b_\mu |\psi |^2\psi \right]\delta \psi ^{}$$
(15)
yielding, in view of the extremum $`\delta F=0`$,

$$A_\mu _x^\mu _x^\mu \psi +a_\mu \psi +b_\mu |\psi |^2\psi =0.$$
(16)
Varying the integral in Eq. (12) over $`\psi `$ leads to the conjugate equation

$$A_\mu _x^\mu _x^\mu \psi ^{}+a_\mu \psi ^{}+b_\mu |\psi |^2\psi ^{}=0$$
(17)
which is physically identical to Eq. (16). Equation (16) can be considered as a fractional generalization of the Ginzburg-Landau Eq. (2). The fractional Ginzburg-Landau Eq. (16) determines the bulk distribution of the order parameter $`\psi `$ in the presence of a coexisting nonlocal symmetry, whose support is a Cantor set of the Hausdorff dimension $`d_f=1\mu `$. The coefficient $`A_\mu `$ consistent with the fractional diffeo-integration in Eqs. (12) and (16) could be defined by

$$A_\mu =\lambda ^{2\mu 2}\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{4m}$$
(18)
where $`\lambda `$ is the microscopic correlation length. In the conventional case of $`\mu 1`$, the value of $`A_\mu `$ reduces to $`\mathrm{}^2/4m`$.

Let us now discuss a likely form for the coefficient $`a_\mu `$ in Eq. (16). Without loss of generality, we may admit that $`a_\mu `$ is a linear function on thermodynamic temperature $`T`$. (We assume that all explicit nonlinearities have already been allocated to a single term traced by $`b_\mu `$.) Let $`a_\mu `$ cross zero at some $`T=T_\mu `$, i.e.,

$$a_\mu =\alpha (TT_\mu ).$$
(19)
Equation (19) is a simplest extension of the conventional formula $`a=\alpha (TT_c)`$ central to the classical Landau theory (Refs.  and ). An important issue about Eq. (19) is that the cross-over temperature $`T_\mu `$ where $`a_\mu `$ changes sign may not coincide with the transition temperature $`T_c`$ when the effects of nonlocality play a role (i.e., when the index $`\mu `$ is smaller than 1). From the standpoint of a formal derivation, the value of $`T_c`$ enabling the occurrence of a nontrivial $`\psi `$ order in the presence of the competing nonlocal symmetry decouples from $`T_\mu `$ owing to the fractional nature of the Riesz operators $`_x^\mu `$ and $`_x^\mu `$ which integrate the response from the heavy-tailed correlation function $`\mathrm{}(xy)`$ in Eqs. (11) and (16) and thereby contribute (along with the parameter $`a_\mu `$) into an amplitude in front of $`\psi `$. (This amplitude then balances the nonlinear term $`b_\mu |\psi |^2`$ below the transition point.) Physically, the deviation between $`T_c`$ and $`T_\mu `$ has the sense of a characteristic energy of correlations contained in the fractional Laplacian, $`A_\mu _x^\mu _x^\mu `$. By order of magnitude,

$$T_cT_\mu A_\mu /\alpha \lambda ^{2\mu }\mathrm{\Gamma }^2(1\mu )$$
(20)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the Euler gamma function. As $`\mu `$ tends to 1, the deviation in Eq. (20) vanishes: $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(1\mu )\mathrm{}`$ leading to $`T_\mu T_c`$. The conventional expression $`a=\alpha (TT_c)`$ is then recovered from Eq. (19). In this limit, the nonlocal symmetry confines on a set whose Hausdorff measure is zero, i.e., $`d_f0`$ for $`\mu 1`$. This behavior reproduces the assumptions of the classical theory .

In the opposite limit of $`\mu 0`$, the fractal support underlying the nonlocal symmetry extends to the whole of the 1-dimensional coordinate space whose Hausdorff measure is now maximized to be $`d_f1`$. This almost regular distribution bears features enabling to associate it with a “stripe” , a long-range ordering that seems to mediate superconductivity in complex materials such as copper-oxide compounds and their derivatives .

As $`\mu 0`$, the gamma function in Eq. (20) drops to a minimal value equal $`1`$, enabling a considerable deviation between $`T_c`$ and $`T_\mu `$. It can be conjectured that, in general, this deviation accounts for the “anomalous” transition temperatures observed in high-temperature superconductors. A self-consistent estimate of the parameter $`T_c`$ may then be obtained from Eq. (20). A key step is the expression (Refs.  and )

$$\alpha \mathrm{{\rm Y}}\times (T_c/\epsilon _F)$$
(21)
which relates the quantity $`\alpha `$ to the system-specific characteristics such as electron energy at the Fermi edge, $`\epsilon _F`$ (typically, of the order of few eV). The coefficient $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ in Eq. (21) depends on the nature of the microscopic pairing mechanism (e.g., phonon, fracton, or exciton) (see Refs.  and ). In the case of phonons $``$ acoustic or (quasi)acoustic modes serving as an interface for the conventional Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) picture of superconductivity in regular crystals  $``$ the value of $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}7`$ (Refs.  and ), but it can be much smaller (of the order of 1 or even less) in the Little’s exciton scenario, in which phonons are replaced by other electrons . Combining Eqs. (20) and (21), we find, in the extreme of $`\mu 0`$,

$$T_c\frac{\mathrm{}}{2\lambda }\sqrt{\frac{\epsilon _F}{m\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}}$$
(22)
provided that $`T_cT_\mu `$. Assuming, further, the correlation length $`\lambda `$ is of nanoscales $``$ the range typically found for the high-temperature superconductors  $``$ from Eq. (22) one concludes a characteristic transition temperature $`T_c100`$ K where the estimate $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}7`$ has been used. Non-BCS pairing processes corresponding to smaller values of $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ would imply a considerably higher critical temperature $`T_c`$, up to room-temperature values. A feasible role of such processes in two-dimensional electron systems with multi-scale long-range correlations is addressed in Refs.  and . A fractional kinetics constituent in the occurrence of the ensuing superconducting fluid state will be the subject of a forthcoming publication. We believe this constituent is crucial for the unconventional superconductivity in materials with complex microscopic organization.

A. V. M. is grateful to G. M. Zaslavsky for illuminating discussions on different aspects of fractional kinetics. This study was sponsored by the Science Support Foundation, INTAS Grant 03-51-3738, RFBR project 03-02-16967, and “Scientific School” Grant 1739.2003.2.


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# Some notes about matrices, 3

## 1 Projective spaces

Let $`n`$ be a positive integer. As usual, $`𝐑`$, $`𝐂`$ denote the real and complex numbers, respectively, and $`𝐑^n`$, $`𝐂^n`$ consist of the $`n`$-tuples of real and complex numbers, respectively. The $`n`$-dimensional *real and complex projective spaces* $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐏}^n`$, $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^n`$ consist of the real and complex lines through the origin in $`𝐑^{n+1}`$, $`𝐂^{n+1}`$, respectively.

To put it another way, if $`𝐑_{}`$, $`𝐂_{}`$ denote the nonzero real and complex numbers, respectively, then we have natural actions of $`𝐑_{}`$, $`𝐂_{}`$ on $`𝐑^{n+1}\backslash \{0\}`$, $`𝐂^{n+1}\backslash \{0\}`$ by scalar multiplication, and the projective spaces are the corresponding quotient spaces. In other words, two nonzero vectors $`v`$, $`w`$ in $`𝐑^{n+1}`$, $`𝐂^{n+1}`$ lead to the same point in the corresponding projective space exactly when they are scalar multiples of each other. Note that we get canonical mappings from $`𝐑^{n+1}\backslash \{0\}`$, $`𝐂^{n+1}\backslash \{0\}`$ onto $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐏}^n`$, $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^n`$, in which a nonzero vector $`v`$ is sent to the line through the origin which passes through $`v`$, which consists of all scalar multiples of $`v`$.

If $`L`$ is a nontrivial linear subspace of $`𝐑^{n+1}`$, $`𝐂^{n+1}`$ of dimension $`l+1`$, say, then we get an interesting space $`𝐏(L)`$ consisting of all lines through the origin in $`L`$, which we can think of as sitting inside of $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐏}^n`$, $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^n`$, as appropriate. More precisely, $`𝐏(L)`$ is basically a copy of $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐏}^l`$ or $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^l`$. These are the $`l`$-dimensional “linear subspaces” of projective space, analogous to linear subspaces of $`𝐑^n`$, $`𝐂^n`$.

If $`A`$ is an invertible linear transformation on $`𝐑^{n+1}`$ or on $`𝐂^{n+1}`$, then $`A`$ takes lines to lines, and induces a transformation $`\widehat{A}`$ on the corresponding projective space. Notice that $`\widehat{A}`$ is automatically a one-to-one transformation of the corresponding projective space onto itself, with

(1.1)
$$\widehat{A}^1=\widehat{(A^1)},$$

and $`\widehat{A}`$ maps linear subspaces of projective space to themselves, in the sense of the preceding paragraph. Also, if $`A_1`$, $`A_2`$ are invertible linear transformations on $`𝐑^{n+1}`$ or on $`𝐂^{n+1}`$, then the induced transformations $`\widehat{A}_1`$, $`\widehat{A}_2`$ on the corresponding projective space satisfy

(1.2)
$$\widehat{A}_1\widehat{A}_2=\widehat{(A_1A_2)}.$$

Let $`H`$ be a hyperplane in $`𝐑^{n+1}`$ or in $`𝐂^{n+1}`$, which is to say a linear subspace of dimension $`n`$, and let $`v`$ be a nonzero vector in $`𝐑^{n+1}`$, $`𝐂^{n+1}`$, as appropriate. This leads to an affine hyperplane $`H+v`$, consisting of all vectors of the form $`w+v`$, $`wH`$, and which does not contain the vector $`0`$. For each $`wH`$, we can look at the line through $`w+v`$, which we can view as an element of the corresponding projective space.

In other words, we basically get an embedding of $`H`$ into the corresponding projective space, $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐏}^n`$ or $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^n`$. Of course we can also think of $`H`$ as being isomorphic to $`𝐑^n`$ or $`𝐂^n`$, so that we are really looking at a bunch of embeddings of $`𝐑^n`$, $`𝐂^n`$ into $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐏}^n`$, $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^n`$, respectively. For instance, we can do this with $`H`$ equal to the $`j`$th coordinate hyperplane in $`𝐑^{n+1}`$, $`𝐂^{n+1}`$, $`1jn+1`$, which is defined by the condition that the $`j`$th coordinate of vectors in $`H`$ are equal to $`0`$, and we can take $`v`$ to be the $`j`$th standard basis vector, with $`j`$th coordinate equal to $`1`$ and the other $`n`$ coordinates equal to $`0`$.

These $`n+1`$ embeddings of $`𝐑^n`$, $`𝐂^n`$ into $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐏}^n`$, $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^n`$ corresponding to the $`n+1`$ coordinate hyperplanes in $`𝐑^{n+1}`$, $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^{n+1}`$ are sufficient to cover the projective space, i.e., every point in projective space shows up in the image of at least one of the embeddings. For a given hyperplane $`H`$, the set of points in the projective space which do not occur in the embedding of $`H`$ is the same as $`𝐏(H)`$. Thus the set of missing points in the projective space lie in a projective subspace of dimension $`1`$ less.

Using these embeddings of $`𝐑^n`$, $`𝐂^n`$ into the corresponding projective spaces, we can think of the projective spaces as being manifolds. That is, these embeddings provide local coordinates for all points in the projective space. Two different embeddings which contain the same point $`p`$ in their image are compatible in terms of topology and also smooth structure, and indeed there is a finer “projective” structure which is reflected in the presence of nice projective subspaces, for instance.

Note that two invertible linear transformations $`A_1`$, $`A_2`$ on $`𝐑^{n+1}`$ or on $`𝐂^{n+1}`$ lead to the same induced transformation on projective space if and only if there is a nonzero scalar $`\alpha `$ such that $`A_2=\alpha A_1`$. Thus the group of these “projective linear transformations” has dimension $`(n+1)^21`$ over the real or complex numbers, as appropriate. Also, for any pair of points $`p`$, $`q`$ in a projective space, there is a projective linear transformation which takes $`p`$ to $`q`$.

## 2 Grassmannians

Fix positive integers $`k`$, $`n`$ with $`k<n`$. The Grassmann spaces $`G_𝐑(k,n)`$, $`G_𝐂(k,n)`$ consist of the $`k`$-dimensional linear subspaces of $`𝐑^n`$, $`𝐂^n`$, respectively. When $`k=1`$ this reduces to the $`(n1)`$-dimensional projective spaces.

Suppose that $`L`$, $`M`$ are linear subspaces of $`𝐑^n`$ or of $`𝐂^n`$ such that $`L`$ has dimension $`k`$, $`M`$ has dimension $`nk`$, and the intersection of $`L`$, $`M`$ consists of only the zero vector. Thus $`L`$ and $`M`$ are complementary, and if $`A`$ is a linear mapping from $`L`$ to $`M`$, then the graph of $`A`$, consisting of the vectors

(2.1)
$$v+A(v),vL,$$

is also a $`k`$ dimensional subspace of $`𝐑^n`$ or of $`𝐂^n`$, as appropriate. In this way we can embed the vector space of linear transformations from $`L`$ to $`M`$ into the Grassmannian, and in particular this provides a nice coordinate patch around $`L`$ itself.

In particular, notice that the dimension of the Grassmann space of $`k`$ planes in $`𝐑^n`$ or $`𝐂^n`$ is

(2.2)
$$k(nk)$$

with respect to the real or complex numbers, as appropriate. Just as for projective spaces, invertible linear transformations on $`𝐑^n`$ or on $`𝐂^n`$ induce interesting mappings on the corresponding Grassmannians. These actions are again transitive, because if $`L_1`$, $`L_2`$ are $`k`$-dimensional linear subspaces of $`𝐑^n`$ or of $`𝐂^n`$, then there is an invertible linear transformation $`A`$ on $`𝐑^n`$ or on $`𝐂^n`$, as appropriate, such that $`A(L_1)=L_2`$.

There is a natural correspondence between the Grassmann spaces of $`k`$-dimensional linear subspaces in $`𝐑^n`$ or in $`𝐂^n`$ and the Grassmann spaces of $`(nk)`$-dimensional linear subspaces of $`𝐑^n`$ or in $`𝐂^n`$, respectively. One might prefer to think of $`k`$-dimensional linear subspaces of $`𝐑^n`$ or $`𝐂^n`$ as being associated to $`(nk)`$-dimensional linear subspaces of the corresponding dual spaces, by looking at intersections of kernels of linear functionals in a subspace of a dual space. Alternatively, one can think of linear subspaces of dimension $`k`$ as being associated to their orthogonal complements, which are linear subspaces of dimension $`nk`$, using inner products.

## 3 Hopf-type spaces

Fix a positive integer $`n`$, and consider $`𝐑^n\backslash \{0\}`$, $`𝐂^n\backslash \{0\}`$. On these spaces one can consider multiplication by integer powers of $`2`$. One can then consider the corresponding quotients by this action, which is to say to identify two nonzero vectors which can be expressed as integer powers of $`2`$ times each other.

There are natural mappings from these spaces to the corresponding projective spaces of dimension $`n1`$, by looking at the lines through nonzero vectors, which are not changed by nonzero scalar multiples in general. As for projective spaces, invertible linear mappings on $`𝐑^n`$ or on $`𝐂^n`$ induce nice transformations on the quotients by the actions of powers of $`2`$, and indeed these transformations are compatible with the ones on projective spaces too. In the quotients by integer powers of $`2`$, there are interesting subspaces arising from linear subspaces back in $`𝐑^n`$ or in $`𝐂^n`$.

Of course one can consider integer powers of other scalars with absolute value larger than $`1`$ in place of $`2`$, and have similar properties. Analogous objects have been studied using more complicated invertible linear transformations on $`𝐑^n`$ or on $`𝐂^n`$ rather than scalar multiplication. This can lead to more tricky kinds of twisting, for instance.

## 4 Hopf fibrations

Let $`n`$ be a positive integer. There is an obvious mapping from the unit sphere in $`𝐑^{n+1}`$, consisting of vectors with norm $`1`$, to $`n`$-dimensional real projective space $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐏}^n`$. Namely, if $`x𝐑^{n+1}`$ and $`|x|=1`$, the line through $`x`$ leads to a point in $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐏}^n`$, and every element of $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐏}^n`$ arises in this manner exactly twice.

Similarly, there is a natural mapping from the unit sphere in $`𝐂^{n+1}`$, consisting of vectors with norm $`1`$, to complex projective space $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^n`$. If $`v`$ is a vector in $`𝐂^{n+1}`$ with $`|v|=1`$, then the line through $`v`$ leads to a point in $`𝐂^n`$. Two vectors $`v`$, $`w`$ in $`𝐂^n`$ with $`|v|=|w|=1`$ correspond to the same element of $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^n`$ if and only if there is a complex number $`\alpha `$ such that $`|\alpha |=1`$ and $`w=\alpha v`$.

In other words, the inverse image of a point in $`\mathrm{𝐑𝐏}^n`$ back in the unit sphere of $`𝐑^{n+1}`$ consists of two points, while in the complex case the inverse image of a point in $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^n`$ back in the unit sphere in $`𝐂^{n+1}`$ is a circle. In terms of the unit sphere in $`𝐂^{n+1}`$, there is a family of circles which cover the whole sphere and which are pairwise disjoint. When $`n=1`$, these are circles in the $`3`$-dimensional sphere which are linked with each other.

The $`n=1`$ case has other nice properties. One can identify $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^1`$ with a $`2`$-dimensional sphere, basically because $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^1`$ can be expressed as $`𝐂`$ with a single additional point, which one might denote $`\mathrm{}`$. With respect to this identification, projective linear transformations on $`\mathrm{𝐂𝐏}^1`$ correspond to transformations of the form

(4.1)
$$z\frac{az+b}{cz+d}$$

on $`𝐂\{\mathrm{}\}`$, with the usual conventions like $`1/0=\mathrm{}`$, and where $`(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{ab}{cd})`$ is an invertible $`2\times 2`$ matrix.


text:
# Almost exponential transverse spectra from power law spectra

(printed )

## Abstract

Abstract We point out that exponential shape of transverse spectra can be obtained as the Fourier transform of the limiting distribution of randomly positioned partons with power law spectra given by pQCD, which actually realize Tsallis distributions. Such spectra were used to obtain hadron yields by recombination in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC energies.

In relativistic heavy-ion collisions exponential transverse momentum distributions has been observed at low to mid transverse momenta, $`p_T14`$ GeV PHENIX ; STAR ; NA49 . This fact was often interpreted as an indication that the source of the particles can be described by a temperature. This view climaxed in the ”thermal model” which assumes a situation well described by equilibrium thermodynamics THERMAL .

Regarding experimental data the exponential law is most prominent in the transverse mass spectra which fit the form $`\mathrm{exp}((mm_T)/T)`$ with $`m_T=\sqrt{m^2+p_T^2}`$ at mid-rapidity at SPS and RHIC energies quite well. A tendency of increasing slopes with increasing hadron masses in these spectra is usually interpreted as a sign of flow, on the basis of the relation $`T=T_0+mu^2`$ FLOW . A fit to pion, kaon and proton spectra at RHIC gives $`T_0140`$ MeV and $`u^20.50.6`$ at freeze outRHIC-FLOW . A possible interpretation of this fit is a common flow pattern and a common temperature, $`T_0`$, for all hadrons produced in the heavy-ion collision. This value, converted back to no-flow by using the above formula for pions gives about $`T210`$ MeV, which is somewhat above the color deconfinement temperature predicted by lattice QCD calculations LQCD .

Since there is no known hadronic process which could thermalize on such a short timescale at which this thermal state must have developed, it is tempting to consider quark level mechanisms as reason for the observed exponential spectra.

Constituent quark and parton recombination models have been utilized as a picture of hadron formation in relativistic heavy-ion collisions in recent years ALCOR ; RECOMB . This idea roots in the constituent quark model of hadrons originally combining mesons from two, baryons from three quark-like partons. In order to obtain an exponential hadron spectrum by this mechanism, one needs to start with parton spectra which are already exponential in the intermediate $`p_T`$ regime of $`24`$ GeV. At higher transverse momenta these spectra go over into power laws, as given by pQCD calculations. According to the respective regions of dominance exponential and power law parton distributions are simply added as a phenomenological effort to generate the desired experimental hadron spectra.

In this letter we present a mechanism, by which power law spectra of partons can be combined to give an exponential spectrum. For this process, one needs several partons to recombine to a constituent quark in contrast to the final step of hadron recombination where only two or three such dressed quarks are used. In the following we show that the exponential can be constructed as the limiting distribution of cut power laws in the form

$$w(E)=a\left(1+\frac{E}{b}\right)^c$$
(1)
with parameters $`a`$, $`b`$ and $`c`$ fitted to pQCD calculation results as in Refs.PARTON . Here we modified somewhat the original formula by using $`E`$, the parton energy, instead of the transverse momentum $`p_T`$. At zero rapidity it is, however, equal to the transverse mass $`m_T`$, and for large transverse momenta to $`p_T`$:

$$E=\mathrm{cosh}y\sqrt{p_T^2+m^2}$$
(2)
For large transverse momenta $`w(E)`$ goes over into a power law spectrum: $`wab^c|p_T|^c`$.

Before turning to the combination of power laws let us briefly recall the familiar case of the central limit theorem CLIM . Short tailed probability distributions all lead to a Gaussian probability distribution for the sum of random deviates in the limit of infinitely many independent draws. It is easy to demonstrate this by considering uniform random deviates $`x_i`$. Then $`w(x_i)=0.5`$ if $`x_i`$ is in the interval $`[1,1]`$ and zero otherwise. We seek the distribution $`P_n(x)`$ of the scaled sum,

$$x=\sqrt{\frac{3}{n}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}x_i.$$
(3)
It is given by the n-fold integral

$$P_n(x)=\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\left(\frac{1}{2}_1^1𝑑x_i\right)\delta \left(x\sqrt{\frac{3}{n}}\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}x_j\right).$$
(4)
In order to derive the Gaussian in the $`n\mathrm{}`$ limit we use its Fourier transform,

$$\stackrel{~}{P}_n(k)=_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}𝑑xe^{ikx}P_n(x).$$
(5)
The $`x`$-integral is easily done, and the remainder factorizes into $`n`$ equal contributions,

$$\stackrel{~}{P}_n(k)=\left(\frac{\mathrm{sin}(k\sqrt{3/n})}{k\sqrt{3/n}}\right)^n$$
(6)
In the large $`n`$ limit we arrive at

$$\stackrel{~}{P}_{\mathrm{}}(k)=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}\left(1\frac{k^2}{2n}\right)^n=e^{k^2/2}.$$
(7)
The inverse Fourier transformation results in the standard Gaussian

$$P_n(x)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi }}e^{x^2/2}.$$
(8)
Fig.1 demonstrates that this limit is approached very quickly, already the sum of $`n=3`$ uniform random deviates is distributed nearly Gaussian.

For the general case one uses an arbitrary distribution, $`w(x_i)`$ normalized to one, $`w(x)𝑑x=1`$. The central moments of a distribution are given by higher derivatives of the logarithm of the Fourier transform. For those of the $`n`$-fold sum we have

$$c_j(n)=\left(\frac{1}{i}\frac{}{k}\right)^j\mathrm{log}\stackrel{~}{P}_n(k)|_{k=0}$$
(9)
Since $`\mathrm{log}\stackrel{~}{P}_n(k)=n\mathrm{log}\stackrel{~}{w}(ka_n)`$ when looking for the distribution $`P_n(x)`$ of the scaled sum $`x=a_n_ix_i`$, we arrive at the following scaling law for the central moments

$$c_j(n)=na_n^jc_j(1).$$
(10)
With a choice of $`a_n1/\sqrt{n}`$ one assures that

$$\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}c_j(n)=0,\mathrm{for}j>2.$$
(11)
Consequently the limiting distribution, $`P_{\mathrm{}}(x)`$, is Gaussian.

Now we consider the dressing of constituent quarks with gluons. One may assume that the constituent energy and mass coalesces from $`n`$ equal, partonic amounts – a kind of additive parton model – but this is not necessary. The total mass in this case would be $`M=E_i`$, and each parton would carry a fraction of the transverse momentum, $`\lambda _ip_T=𝒪(p_T/n)`$. In the following we assume that the spectral shape of the constituent partons (recombining later to hadrons) is proportional to the Fourier transform of the composite wave function. Further we assume, that such a constituent quark (e.g. an up quark) is composed of a bare up quark (the seed) and $`n`$ gluons (in general, sea partons). Since these partons are almost massless, we consider the center of energy as the proper coordinate for the constituent wave function:

$$x=\frac{E_ix_i}{E_i}=\lambda _ix_i$$
(12)
with $`\lambda _i=1`$. By equal sharing of the total energy, which is the case whenever the fusion happens at low relative momenta, it is the arithmetic mean (with $`1/n`$ scaled sum) of random parton coordinates. Its distribution, $`P_n(x)`$, is interpreted in the present model as the constituent quark wave function squared. Its Fourier transform is proportional to the momentum spectrum and is obtained as $`n`$-fold product of individual parton spectra, each carrying a fraction of the total energy. For the sake of simplicity representing all bare parton distribution $`\stackrel{~}{w}`$ by the same distribution, we have, in the general case, $`n`$ contributions:

$$\stackrel{~}{P}_n(k)=\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}\stackrel{~}{w}(\lambda _ik)$$
(13)
with $`_1^n\lambda _i=1`$. Considering cut power law parton spectra as given by eq.(1) the $`n`$-fold spectrum at $`y=0`$ rapidity becomes

$$\stackrel{~}{P}_n(p_T)=\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}a_i\left(1+\frac{\lambda _iM_T}{b}\right)^c.$$
(14)
Since all $`\lambda _i`$ are positive factors and their sum is normalized to one, the limiting distribution for $`n\mathrm{}`$ enforces that all $`\lambda _i0`$ and hence results in an exponential distribution, normalized to $`\stackrel{~}{P}_{\mathrm{}}(0)=1`$:

$$\stackrel{~}{P}_{\mathrm{}}(p_T)=\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{MM_T}{b/c}\right).$$
(15)
This is the central result of the present letter. It predicts a spectral slope determined by pQCD as being $`T=b/c`$. From standard fits to the pQCD parton spectra one gets $`T170210`$ MeV, depending on the flavor under consideration and details of the fit to the power law distribution from pQCD. This slope has nothing to do with the lattice QCD phase transition.

Our result can be understood by noticing that the cut power law parton distribution of eq.(1) is the canonical Tsallis distribution TSALIS  with a temperature $`T=b/c`$ and $`q=11/c`$. This distribution maximizes the Tsallis entropy with the usual canonical constraint $`_iE_iw(E_i)=const`$. The down-scaled product of $`n`$ such distributions is still of the Tsallis form at the same temperature $`T=b/c`$ but it belongs to the parameter $`q=11/(cn)`$. In the $`n\mathrm{}`$ limit $`q1`$ and the usual canonical distribution is recovered with the familiar exponential spectrum. By using the rather large values for $`c`$ usually obtained by fitting pQCD results, namely $`c=8`$, one obtains the following series: $`q_10.875`$, $`q_20.94`$, $`q_30.96`$, etc.

It is interesting to recall here another physical application of the Tsallis distribution. Imperfectly thermalized systems, e.g. a finite number of oscillators, also lead to a $`q`$ value not equal to one. In the case of $`(n+1)`$ oscillators, however, one arrives at a value bigger than one: $`q=1+1/n`$TSALIS . One obtains a distribution reminiscent of the discretized path integral sum,

$$w_i=\frac{1}{Z}\left(1\frac{\epsilon _i}{nT}\right)^n,$$
(16)
while primordial parton distributions belong to a $`q`$ value less than one,

$$w_i=\frac{1}{Z}\left(1+\frac{\epsilon _i}{nT}\right)^n.$$
(17)
Of course, both distributions approach the Gibbs distribution as $`n\mathrm{}`$.

We interpret the high power $`c89`$ in pQCD results as an accidental value simulating an ”almost thermal” distribution with an effective $`q0.820.89`$ near to one. This explains why the observed hadron spectra at low and intermediate $`p_T`$ appear nearly exponential in heavy-ion and many other collisions. Parton recombination to hadrons amplifies this effect leading to $`q=11/(cn)`$ by $`n`$-fold recombination. The Tsallis distribution comes very close to the Gibbs distribution. As we shall argue in the following, recombination processes are faster and more effective with increasing phase space volume. Consequently heavy-ion collisions are the best experiments to study strongly interacting matter (QCD) as close to the canonical distribution as possible. (It is a further interesting question whether the primordial parton distribution is described by a smaller power $`c`$ in $`e^+e^{}`$ collisions than in heavy-ion reactions. This fact could shed a new light onto thermal model interpretation of hadron production in $`e^+e^{}`$ reactions Becattini ). A remaining question is that how large $`n`$ has to be for $`P_n`$ to look exponential. Fig.2 shows this behavior with the parameters $`b=2`$ GeV, $`c=8`$ (causing $`T=250`$ MeV). Here the convergence is slower than in the case of the sum of uniform random deviates approaching a Gaussian. The value $`n=20`$ would be characteristic for pion from additive mass estimate $`M_\pi /m_q21.5`$ with $`m_q=(m_u+m_d)/2`$.

Another question is in which proportions the constituent partons, used for recombination to mesons and baryons, may consist of contributions from clusters of perturbative partons of different complexity $`n`$. Our suggestion is, that one may not necessarily need to go far in $`n`$, i.e. to use already exponential spectra for recombination, in order to have an effective parton distribution close to the usually applied one. In particular, and for the case of simplicity, we discuss the $`n=2`$ case here: it improves already the original $`n=1`$ distribution a lot in the direction of the assumed exponential.

Fusion of a quark with a gluon and its radiation may be considered as dynamical processes between $`n=1`$ and $`n=2`$ parton clusters. In order to find an equilibrium ratio of these two type of partons one inspects a rate equation. The detailed balance leads to the familiar proportionality applied in recombination models:

$$f_2(E)=\frac{\gamma }{\mathrm{\Gamma }}f_1^2(E/2).$$
(18)
The effective spectrum we consider is given by

$$f(E)=A_1w(E,b,c)+A_2w^2(E,2b,2c).$$
(19)
Inspecting the sum of thermal and original power law parton distribution yields used for recombination by Fries. et al. Ref.RECOMB , one concludes that the ratio $`A_2/A_10.15`$ gives already a surprisingly good approximation in the relevant $`p_T`$ range from $`b1.5`$ GeV to $`12`$ GeV (cf. Fig.3). We note that in the original spectra parton energy loss and a blue shift of the temperature of the thermal part due to radial flow have been included. For our figure we used the same single parton yield, scaled down by a factor $`0.87`$ and added its square at $`p_T/2`$ with weight $`0.13`$. The corresponding Tsallis ”temperature” is $`b/c=190`$ MeV.

For realistic meson and baryon formation a further recombination should be applied for each constituent of a hadron, possibly with different flavor, in the final hadronization process. In a heavy-ion collision event many processes go on in parallel. While some quarks are dressing up to become constituent quarks, some other partons are fragmenting to lower $`p_T`$ hadrons directly. The hadron $`p_T`$ spectra then are composed at least from these two components, but maybe also of ”partially dressed” quarks if a moderate $`n`$ in the production of their center of energy from random positioned gluons appear. These may contribute at intermediate $`p_T`$ to the hadron formation by recombination as well; their yield is, however, reduced compared to the ones behaving nearly exponentially.

The competition between fragmentation and recombination may in general ease the entropy problem of the pure recombination models, where finally one deals with fewer hadrons than partons.

We analyze the entropy problem now for the final hadronization step. As an approximation established by the above discussion, we consider the recombination of exponential spectra from exponential precursors. The entropy can be obtained using the Boltzmann formula (the $`q=1`$ case of the more general Tsallis entropy)

$$S=(f\mathrm{ln}f)\frac{d^3p}{(2\pi )^3}V$$
(20)
while the number of particles are given by

$$N=f\frac{d^3p}{(2\pi )^3}V.$$
(21)
The distribution $`f(p)`$ we consider is proportional to the Fourier transform of the probabilities. Since they were normalized as $`\stackrel{~}{P}_n(0)=1`$, here we have an unknown factor related to total numbers: $`f=a\stackrel{~}{P}`$. For example for exponential spectra to combine, one gets $`f^n(p/n)=a^{n1}f(p)`$. This leads to the familiar coalescence formula $`N_n=C_nN_1^n`$ (with $`C_n`$ being proportional to $`(VT^3)^{1n}`$) as well. The $`n`$-cluster entropy becomes

$$S_n=(dn\mathrm{ln}a)N_n,$$
(22)
due to $`p/T=d`$ when considering $`d`$-dimensional momentum exponentials. At the same time the relative number of $`n`$-clusters is related to the parameter $`a`$ as $`N_n/N_1=a^{n1}`$.

The sum of all $`n>1`$-cluster entropies is then the entropy of the recombined state, $`S_H`$, while $`S_Q=S_1`$ is that of the primordial state. From the phase space integrals one gets

$$S_H=\underset{n>1}{}S_n=d\underset{n>1}{}N_n\mathrm{ln}a\underset{n>1}{}(nN_n),$$
(23)
where the number of quarks redistributed in hadrons occurs as the last term in the expression:

$$\underset{n>1}{}nN_n=N_1=N_Q$$
(24)
is the recombination sum rule (counting $`n`$ quarks in an $`n`$-fold cluster). While this rule is quite strict in the recombination of constituents, for dressing up quarks with gluons, of course, such a constraint is not valid. Whenever this sum rule applies, one obtains

$$S_H=S_Q+d\left(N_H\underset{n>1}{}nN_n\right),$$
(25)
when expressing $`\mathrm{ln}a`$ from the $`n=1`$ case of eq.(22). Since the recombined sum goes over $`n>1`$ indices, and all $`N_n`$ are by definition positive, $`S_n<S_1`$ is unavoidable by the recombination of exponential spectra. With other words, after recombination there are fewer hadrons than constituents built into hadrons. The opening of several different flavor channels may ease this problem, but cannot completely solve it. The missing entropy is either generated by i) volume expansion (i.e. the flow must be generated or accelerated by the recombination process) or by ii) fragmentation, when a single parton produces several hadrons (as it is known from $`e^+e^{}`$ 2-jet events), or by iii) the excitation of internal degrees of freedom of the hadrons.

Based on these principles all hadronic transverse momentum distributions measured at RHIC can be worked out as outlined in this letter. The previously assumed exponential parton spectra now are derived in the intermediate $`p_T`$ range by folding pQCD power law spectra. No assumption of a heat bath, a temperature or thermal equilibrium is required. We present this scenario as an alternative to, and at the same time a possible explanation for, the remarkable phenomenological success of the thermal model.

We do not believe, however, that this result reduces the usefulness of heavy-ion collisions in the search for quark matter. Asymmetric jet quenching and the meson – baryon scaling of the azimuthal flow ($`v_2`$) indicate the presence of a collective state with properties of a highly absorptive, perhaps colored, medium. The present explanation of exponential transverse spectra from pQCD and random statistics phenomenology offers an alternative to the ad hoc assumption of a thermal state. In fact, the independence of dressing gluons when combined to a constituent parton is an ingredient of getting the exponential $`p_T`$ distribution. This condition is probably satisfied only in heavy-ion collisions. Our model also calls attention to the fact that ”statistical” is not always synonymous with equilibrium Gibbs thermodynamics. Certain dynamical phenomena, like e.g. self organizing criticality and – what we have just discussed – limiting parton distributions, belong to a more general framework of statistical physics.

The exponential $`m_T`$-spectra in fact approach at low $`p_T`$ a Gaussian, $`\mathrm{exp}(p_T^2/(2mT))`$, the textbook case of a thermal distribution. It is interesting to note that several recent articles consider a Gauss distributed intrinsic parton $`p_T`$ in the generalized parton distribution functions (GPD-s) GPD . The Tsallis distribution predicts $`\frac{1}{2}p_T^2=m_T(b+m_T)`$ leading to $`p_T^21`$ GeV2, if using a constituent mass of $`m_T=0.3`$ GeV and the cut-off $`b=1.5`$ GeV, in good agreement with recent theoretical analysis of high energy $`pp`$ data.

We have seen, however, that the parameter $`T`$ in this distribution is not related to a heat bath or another source of statistical fluctuations. It is combined from two pQCD parameters, from a cut-off $`b`$ and a power $`c`$ as being $`T=b/c`$. The ”heating agent” in a general sense here is the effective number of independent dressing gluons per constituent, $`n`$, which should lead to a Tsallis distribution with $`q=11/(cn)`$ quite close to an exponential at low $`p_T`$. If the transverse positions of the dressing partons are averaged as independent random variables, the distribution of their center of energy will have a Fourier spectrum, which is nearly exponential up to $`p_T3`$ GeV.

Acknowledgment Discussions with J. Zimányi and R. Fries are gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks to C.Nonaka for making available pQCD fit parameters and fragmentation function parameterizations. T.S.B. thanks the hospitality of Duke University which was expressed towards him during his stay in Durham. This work has been supported in part by DOE grant FG02-96ER-40945 and by a grant of the Hungarian National Research Fund OTKA (T034269).


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# Hadron formation in electron induced reactions at HERMES energies

## Abstract

We investigate meson electroproduction off complex nuclei in the kinematic regime of the HERMES experiment using a semi-classical transport model which is based on the Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) equation. We discuss coherence length and color transparency effects in exclusive $`\rho ^0`$ production as well as hadron formation and attenuation of charged pions, kaons, protons and anti-protons in deep inelastic lepton scattering off nuclei.

High energy meson electroproduction off complex nuclei offers a promising tool to study the physics of hadron formation. The relatively clean nuclear environment of electron induced reactions makes it possible to investigate the timescale of the hadronization process as well as the properties of hadrons immediately after their creation. In addition one can vary the energy and virtuality of the exchanged photon to examine the phenomenon of color transparency (CT).

In previous works Eff00 ; Fal02 ; Fal03a  we have developed a method to combine the quantum mechanical coherence in the entrance channel of photonuclear reactions with a full coupled channel treatment of the final state interactions (FSI) in the framework of a semi-classical transport model. This allows us to include a much broader class of FSI than usual Glauber theory.

In our approach the lepton-nucleus interaction is split into two parts: 1) In the first step the electron emits a virtual photon which is absorbed on a nucleon of the target nucleus; this interaction produces a bunch of particles that in step 2) are propagated within the transport model. The virtual photon-nucleon interaction itself is simulated by the Monte Carlo generator PYTHIA v6.2 PYTHIA  which well reproduces the experimental data on a hydrogen target. Instead of directly interacting with a quark inside the target nucleus the virtual photon might fluctuate into a vector meson ($`\rho ^0,\omega ,\mathrm{\Phi },J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$) or perturbatively branch into a $`q\overline{q}`$ pair before the interaction. While the latter is very unlikely in the kinematic regime of the HERMES experiment as we have shown in Ref. Fal03a  the vector meson fluctuations become important at low $`Q^2`$ and clearly dominate the exclusive vector meson production measured at HERMES. The coherence length, i.e., the length that the photon travels as such a vector meson fluctuation $`V`$ can be estimated from the uncertainty principle:

$$l_V=\frac{2\nu }{Q^2+m_V^2}.$$
(1)
Here $`\nu `$ denotes the energy of the photon, $`Q^2`$ its virtuality and $`m_V`$ the mass of the vector meson fluctuation. If $`l_V`$ becomes larger than the internucleon distance in the nucleus the interactions triggered by the vector meson component $`V`$ get shadowed in nuclear reactions Fal02 ; Fal03a .

A direct photon interaction or a non-diffractive interaction of one of the hadronic fluctuations leads to the excitation of one or more hadronic strings which finally fragment into hadrons. The time, that is needed for the fragmentation of the strings and for the hadronization of the fragments, we denote as formation time $`\tau _f`$ in line with the convention in transport models. For simplicity we assume that the formation time is a constant $`\tau _f`$ in the rest frame of each hadron and that it does not depend on the particle species. We recall, that due to time dilatation the formation time $`t_f`$ in the laboratory frame is then proportional to the particle’s energy

$$t_f=\gamma \tau _f=\frac{z_h\nu }{m_h}\tau _f.$$
(2)
Here $`m_h`$ denotes the hadron’s mass and $`z_h`$ is the energy fraction of the photon carried by the hadron. The size of $`\tau _f`$ can be estimated by the time that the constituents of the hadrons need to travel a distance of a typical hadronic radius (0.5–0.8 fm).

The formation time also plays an important role in the investigations of ultra-relativistic heavy ion reactions. For example, the observed quenching of high transverse momentum hadrons in $`Au+Au`$ reactions relative to $`p+p`$ collisions is often thought to be due to jet quenching in a quark gluon plasma. However, the attenuation of high $`p_T`$ hadrons might also be due to hadronic rescattering processes Gal02  if the hadron formation time $`\tau _f`$ (in its rest frame) is sufficiently short.

We assume that hadrons, whose constituent quarks and antiquarks are created from the vacuum in the string fragmentation, do not interact with the surrounding nuclear medium within their formation time. For the leading hadrons, i.e. those involving quarks (antiquarks) from the struck nucleon or the hadronic components of the photon, we assume a reduced effective cross section $`\sigma _{lead}`$ during the formation time $`\tau _f`$ and the full hadronic cross section $`\sigma _h`$ ($`h=\pi ^\pm ,K^\pm ,p,\mathrm{}`$) later on. The hadrons with $`z_h`$ close to one are predominantly leading hadrons and can interact directly after the photon-nucleon interaction. Particles that emerge from the middle of the string might escape the nucleus due to time dilatation. However, about $`2/3`$ of these intermediate $`z_h`$ hadrons (mainly pions) are created from the decay of vector mesons that have been created in the string fragmentation. Because of their higher mass $`m_h`$ (0.77 – 1.02 GeV) these vector mesons may form (or hadronize) inside the nucleus (see Eq. (2)) and thus be subject to FSI. The effect of the FSI, finally, will depend dominantly on the nuclear geometry, i.e. the size of the target nucleus.

The FSI are described by a coupled-channel transport model based on the Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) equation. For the details of the model we refer the reader to Ref. Eff99 . The important difference to a purely absorptive treatment of the FSI is that the particles resulting from the $`\gamma ^{}A`$ reaction do not have to be created in the primary $`\gamma ^{}N`$ interaction. In a FSI with a nucleon a hadron might not only be absorbed but also be decelerated in an elastic or inelastic collision. Furthermore, it may in addition produce several low energy particles. In the case of electroproduction of hadrons this finally leads to a redistribution of strength from the high $`z_h`$ part of the hadron energy spectrum to lower values of the energy fraction $`z_h`$.

In Fig. 1 we show the transparency ratio

$$T_A=\frac{\sigma _{\gamma ^{}A\rho ^0A^{}}}{A\sigma _{\gamma ^{}N\rho ^0N}}$$
(3)
for exclusive $`\rho ^0`$ production as a function of the coherence length (1) in comparison with the HERMES data HERMESrho . The solid line displays the result that one gets if one uses our Glauber expression from Ref. Fal03a .

The result of the transport model is represented by the open squares. For each data point we have made a separate calculation with the corresponding values of $`\nu `$ and $`Q^2`$. For the $`N`$ target the Glauber and the transport calculation are in perfect agreement with each other and the experimental data. This demonstrates that, as we have discussed in Ref. Fal02 , Glauber theory can be used for the FSI if the right kinematic constraints are applied.

After applying all of the experimental cuts from Ref. HERMESrho , nearly all of the detected $`\rho ^0`$ stem from diffractive $`\rho ^0`$ production for which we assume zero formation in the calculations. The $`N`$ data seems to support the assumption that the time needed to put the preformed $`\rho ^0`$ fluctuation on its mass shell and let the wave function evolve to that of a physical $`\rho ^0`$ is small for the considered values of $`Q^2`$. Furthermore, the photon energy is too low to yield a large enough $`\gamma `$ factor to make the formation length exceed the internucleon distance and make CT visible. This conclusion is at variance with that reached in Ref. Kop01  where the authors also stress that one might see an onset of CT when investigating the transparency ratio as a function of $`Q^2`$ for fixed coherence length.

We now turn to $`Kr`$ where we expect a stronger effect of the FSI. Unfortunately there is yet no data available to compare with. As can be seen from Fig. 1 the transport calculation for $`Kr`$ gives a slightly smaller transparency ratio than the Glauber calculation, especially at low values of the coherence length, i.e. small momenta of the produced $`\rho ^0`$. There are two reasons for this: About 10% of the difference arises from the fact that within the transport model the $`\rho ^0`$ is allowed to decay into two pions. The probability that at least one of the pions interacts on its way out of the nucleus is about twice as large as that of the $`\rho ^0`$. The other reason is that in the Glauber calculation only the inelastic part of the $`\rho ^0N`$ cross section enters whereas the transport calculation contains the elastic part as well. Thus all elastic scattering events out of the experimentally imposed $`t`$-window are neglected in the Glauber description. It is because of this $`t`$-window that also elastic $`\rho ^0N`$ scattering reduces the transport transparency ratio shown in Fig. 1. Both effects are more enhanced at lower energies and become negligible for the much smaller $`N`$ nucleus.

In Ref. Fal03b  we investigated the energy $`\nu `$ and fractional energy $`z_h=E_h/\nu `$ dependence of the charged hadron multiplicity ratio

$$R_M^h(z,\nu )=\left(\frac{N_h(z,\nu )}{N_e(\nu )}\right)_A/\left(\frac{N_h(z,\nu )}{N_e(\nu )}\right)_D$$
(4)
in DIS off nuclei and compared with the $`N`$ HERMESDIS\_N  and $`Kr`$ HERMESDIS\_Kr  data from the HERMES collaboration. In Eq. (4) $`N_h(z,\nu )`$ represents the number of semi-inclusive hadrons in a given ($`z,\nu `$)-bin and $`N_e(\nu )`$ the number of inclusive DIS leptons in the same $`\nu `$-bin.

In Ref. Acc02  the observed $`R_M^h`$ spectra were interpreted as being due to a combined effect of a rescaling of the quark fragmentation function in nuclei due to partial deconfinement as well as the absorption of the produced hadrons. Furthermore, calculations based on a pQCD parton model Wang ; Arl03  explain the attenuation observed in the multiplicity ratio solely by partonic multiple scattering and induced gluon radiation neglecting any hadronic FSI. It has already been pointed out by the authors of Ref. Acc02  that a shortcoming of the existing models is the purely absorptive treatment of the FSI. We avoid this problem by using the coupled-channel transport model.

In Ref. Fal03b  we used the high $`z_h`$ part of the charged hadron data from Ref. HERMESDIS\_Kr  to fix the leading hadron cross section to $`\sigma _{\mathrm{lead}}=0.33\sigma _h`$ during the formation time. The data for $`N`$ and $`Kr`$ could then be well described using a formation time $`\tau _f>`$ 0.3fm/c for all hadrons. This value is compatible with the analysis of antiproton attenuation in $`p+A`$ reactions at AGS energies Cas02 .

In Fig. 2 we show the results for the calculated multiplicity ratio of $`\pi ^{}`$, $`\pi ^+`$, $`K^{}`$, $`K^+`$, $`p`$ and $`\overline{p}`$ for Kr in comparison with the experimental data HERMES\_new . In our calculations we use the kinematic cuts of the HERMES experiment and take the detector geometry into account. We use a constant formation time of 0.5 fm/c and again scale all leading hadron cross sections with the same factor 0.33 during the formation time. Without further fine tuning we get a satisfying description of all the data meaning that the formation times of mesons, baryons and antibaryons are about equal.

The authors acknowledge valuable discussions with A. Accardi, N. Bianchi, A. Borissov, C. Greiner and V. Muccifora. This work was supported by DFG and BMBF.


text:
# The Structure of High Redshift Galactic Halos

## 1. Introduction

As we have heard throughout this meeting, absorption line spectroscopy is a powerful and accurate technique for determining abundances in the interstellar and intergalactic media. The advantages of this technique become even more pronounced for applications in the high redshift universe where the familiar UV transitions used to determine gas phase abundances are shifted into the optical. In this regime these transitions can be studied with efficient CCD detectors mounted on large ground-based telescopes. By exploiting these advantages, enormous progress has been in the last decade in determining the metal abundances of high redshift absorption systems with accuracies that rival those possible for Galactic stars. Given the impressive bulk of abundance data for a range of chemical elements, it is somewhat ironic that other (perhaps more fundamental) properties of absorption galaxies such as size, luminosity and morphology remain relatively unconstrained, with information available for only a handful of low redshift systems.

One technique that has been used to expand upon the single dimension studies of QSO absorbers is to use multiple, but closely spaced lines of sight, either via gravitational lensing or chance alignments of quasars. The multiple lines of sight (LOS) will then intersect intervening galaxies at different transverse locations, offering the opportunity to probe the absorber on parsec to kiloparsec scales (e.g. Rauch 2002). In order to improve our knowledge of the sizes and internal velocity structure of high redshift absorbing galaxies, we have undertaken a program with HST to obtain spatially resolved spectra of the lensed QSO APM08279+5255 ($`z_{\mathrm{em}}=3.9`$), a unique triply imaged QSO (Ibata et al. 1999; Lewis et al. 2002) with image separations ranging between 0.15 and 0.38 arcsec. This sightline is particularly rich with absorption systems over a large redshift range (Ellison et al. 1999a,b) and therefore offers an exceptional opportunity to study the intervening gas on a range of transverse scales.

We assume the ‘concensus’ cosmology of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$, $`H_0=70`$ km s-1 Mpc-1 throughout and convert literature values to this scale when making comparisons. We also assume that the redshift of the lensing galaxy is $`z_{\mathrm{lens}}=1.062`$.

## 2.  An Overview of the Data

We have obtained spatially resolved spectra of the 3 components of APM08279+5255 with STIS on board the HST. A total of 25 orbits was divided between 5 wavelength settings to achieve a total coverage of $`6000`$ to $`8600`$ Å. The spectral resolution is 1.6 Å FWHM and the typical S/N per pixel ranges from 60 to 20. In Figure 1 we plot an example of the extracted STIS spectra with absorption systems labelled. Full details of the data acquisition and reduction, as well as measurements of absorption line equivalent widths (EWs) can be found in Ellison et al. (2003).

## 3. Comparison of Low and High Ionization Absorbers

In Figure 2 we show a comparison of EWs for low (Mg II and Fe II) and high (C IV and Si IV) ionization absorbers in 2 of the 3 LOS, labelled A and B (see Ibata et al. 1999 for NICMOS imaging of the three closely spaced components). The striking result of this plot is that the high ionization systems trace each other relatively closely in terms of line strength, whereas there can be marked differences in the low ionization systems. However, one should bear in mind that the redshifts, and therefore transverse separations, are different for these systems; C IV absorbers are observed with typical separations of several hundred pc, whereas Mg II systems probe scales of a few kpc. Nonetheless, these results confirm earlier work by Rauch et al. (1999, 2000, 2001) that cooler, low ionization gas is clumped on smaller scales than the warmer, more highly ionized component.

## 4. Coherence Scales of Absorbers

C IV absorbers have been studied in lensed sightlines on a range of scales that confirm coherence over $``$ 100 $`h_{70}^1`$ kpc (e.g. Petitjean et al. 1998; Lopez et al. 2000). The transverse separations towards APM08279+5255 are considerably smaller than this, and, as is evident from Figure 2, a high degree of coherence is seen at $`z3`$ on scales of 100s of pc. However, little work has been done previously on the low ionization systems due to a paucity of statistics. For the first time, we have a sufficient number of Mg II systems to attempt a maximum likelihood estimate of coherence scale based on the number of coincidences and anti-coincidences in pairs of LOS using the technique of McGill (1990). For the full sample of Mg II absorbers we find a most likely coherence radius of $`R=3.0h_{70}^1`$ kpc, with 95% confidence limits of 2.1 and 6.2 kpc (Figure 3). This is apparently at odds with the size of Mg II halos, $``$50 kpc, inferred by Steidel, Dickinson, & Persson (1994) from the number density of absorbers and galaxy impact parameters. However, we can divide our sample of Mg II absorbers into ‘strong’ (EW $`0.3`$ Å, the typical EW of most absorption line system surveys) and weak (EW $`<0.3`$ Å) subsets. We can only place a lower limit of $`R>1.4h_{70}^1`$ kpc on the strong absorbers because all systems are seen in all LOS. For weak systems, we infer a most likely coherence radius of $`2.0h_{70}^1`$ kpc with 95% confidence limits of 1.5 and 4.4 kpc (see Figure 3). This could be explained if the filling factor of the low ionization gas decreases towards the outer part of the galaxy, leading to a smaller coherence scale for low EW absorbers. This scenario seems to be qualitatively supported by the observations of Churchill et al. (2000) that impact parameter is anti-correlated with $`N`$(Mg II).

We can also examine whether absorption systems exhibit larger transverse variations as a function of LOS separation. In Figure 4 we have plotted the mean fractional variation in EW for absorption systems in this study and for data compiled from the literature as a function of transverse separation. It can be seen that for the low ionization systems the mean variation is the same for all separations within the large scatter. This is probably due to the fact that individual components cannot be traced over more than a few hundred pc (Rauch et al. 2002). The high ionization systems, however, show a clear trend for larger variations with increasing LOS separation.

These results are qualitatively similar to observations of the Galaxy, where cold gas traced by Na I shows fine spatial structure on AU scales (e.g. Lauroesch, Meyer & Blades 2000). Slightly warmer, but still predominantly neutral, gas marked by Ca II (which is comparable to the phase traced by Mg II and Fe II studied here) also shows small scale variations, but is less clumpy than the cold gas (e.g. Redfield & Linsky 2002). The warm ionized component, traced for example by C IV, is much more smoothly distributed and shows far less variation (Savage, Sembach & Lu 1997).

These results show the power of multiple LOS spectroscopy for providing information on the spatial extent and kinematics of intervening galaxies which cannot be obtained by other means.

### Acknowledgments.

SLE is very grateful to the IAU for a generous travel grant and to the SOC and LOC for their help in facilitating attendance at this enjoyable symposium.

## References

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Churchill, C. W., Mellon, R. R., Charlton, J. C., Vogt, S., 2003, ApJ, 593, 203

Ellison, S. L., Ibata, R., Pettini, M., Lewis, G., Aracil, B., Petitjean, P., Srianand, R., 2003, A&A, submitted.

Ellison, S. L., Lewis, G. F., Pettini, M., Chaffee, F. H., Irwin, M. J., 1999a, ApJ, 520, 456

Ellison, S. L., Lewis, G. F., Pettini, M., Sargent, W. L. W., Chaffee, F. H., Foltz, C. B., Rauch, M., Irwin M. J., 1999b, PASP, 111, 946

Ibata, R., Lewis, G. F., Irwin, M. J., Lehar, J., Totten, E. J., 1999, AJ, 118, 1922

Lauroesch, J. T., Meyer, D. M., & Blades, J. C., 2000, ApJ, 543, L43

Lewis, G. F., Ibata, R., A., Ellison, S. L., Aracil, B., Petitjean, P., Pettini, M., Srianand, R., 2002, MNRAS, 334, L7

Lopez, S., Hagen, H.-J., Reimers, D., 2000, A&A, 357, 37

McGill, C., 1990, MNRAS, 242, 544

Petitjean, P., Surdej, J., Smette, A., Shaver, P., Mücket, J., Remy, M., 1998, A&A, 334, L45

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text:
# A common trend in the chemical evolution of Local Group dwarf spheroidals and Damped Ly 𝛼 systems

## 1 Introduction

With the advent of 10-m class optical telescopes equipped with high resolution spectrographs, Local Group dwarf galaxies may now be observed on a star by star basis and abundance ratios measured with sufficent accuracy for probing their chemical evolution (see e.g. Shetrone et al. 2001). With the same type of instrumentation, detailed abundances can be obtained at high redshift for the class of quasar absorbers with highest HI column density, the Damped Lyman alpha (DLA) systems (see e.g. Prochaska et al. 2001). Evidence is accumulating that these absorbers originate in the interstellar gas of high redshift galaxies. Study of their abundances can be used to compare their chemical evolution properties with those of local dwarfs. In the hierarchical bottom-up scenario for galaxy formation, dwarf galaxies are the basic building blocks out of which larger galaxies are assembled. If this picture is correct, one expects to find a significant fraction of dwarf galaxies when looking at the high redshift Universe. Comparing the chemical abundances of local dwarfs with those of high redshift DLAs may provide clues in favour or against this scenario. In this contribution we compare abundances in Local Group dwarf spheroidals, described in the next section, with those DLA systems, described in Section 3.

## 2 LG dwarf spheroidals

We obtained abundances of Local Group galaxies using the UVES spectrograph fed by the Kueyen-VLT 8.2m ESO telescope. For two giants in the Sgr dSph galaxy we determined the detailed abundances using the UVES commissioning data (Bonifacio et al. 2000). Recently we have increased the sample by analysing ten more giants Bonifacio et al. (2003). The spectra have a resolution $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda /\lambda 43000`$ and cover the range 480–680 nm. Each star was observed repeatedly and the final S/N ratio on the coadded spectrum was in the range 20–40 at 530 nm. Some examples of spectra are shown in Fig. 1. Effective temperatures were derived from the $`(VI)_0`$ colour of Marconi et al. (1998), through the calibration of Alonso et al. (1999), adopting a mean reddening $`E(VI)=0.22`$, $`A_V=0.55`$ and a distance modulus $`mM=16.95`$ (Marconi et al. 1998). The abundances were derived mainly from equivalent widths using the WIDTH code (Kurucz 1993), although some lines were treated with spectrum synthesis SYNTHE code (Kurucz 1993). In both cases ad hoc  model atmospheres were computed with the ATLAS code. The surface gravities were adjusted to satisfy the iron ionization equilibrium, and were all around log g = 2.5, as expected from the location of the stars in the colour-magnitude diagram and the comparison with theoretical isochrones.

Two main results can be derived from our sample of 12 giant stars: (1) the Sgr dSph galaxy hosts a relatively metal-rich population, which in fact dominates our sample; (2) the $`\alpha `$/Fe ratio is solar or sub-solar, even for the most metal-poor star of the sample, star # 432 with \[Fe/H\]=–0.83 and \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\]$`0.1`$. This chemical pattern is clearly distinct from what observed in Milky Way stars of comparable metallicity. Both results can be seen in Fig. 2, where we plot the ratio \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] $``$ 0.5$`\times `$(\[Mg/Fe\]+\[Ca/Fe\]) versus \[Fe/H\] for the twelve stars of our sample (solid circles) and for Milky Way stars (crosses). In Fig. 2 we also plot the same ratios measured in stars of other 7 Local Group dwarf spheroidals (open circles), collected from the literature (Shetrone et al. 2001, 2003). All together, the data of the 8 dwarf spheroidals show a remarkable continuity in the \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] versus \[Fe/H\] plane.

## 3  Damped Ly $`\alpha `$ systems

The most widely measured $`\alpha `$/Fe ratio in DLA systems is Si/Fe, since both Si and Fe have several unsaturated transitions redshifted into the optical range (e.g. Prochaska et al. 2001). The Si/Fe ratios in DLAs can be significantly enhanced due to dust depletion and their interpretation in terms of chemical evolution requires a preliminary correction from dust effects (Vladilo 1998).

Recently we have presented a new method aimed at correcting interstellar abundances for dust depletion, taking into account possible variations of the chemical composition of the dust (Vladilo 2002). The method can be applied to interstellar measurements in galaxies with non solar composition and, in particular, to DLA systems. The method requires a determination of the column densities of Fe, Zn, and the element X for which the ratio X/Fe must be corrected. A guess of the intrinsic Zn/Fe ratio in the system is also required. The method has been tested in the SMC, where the interstellar (\[Si/Fe\],\[Fe/H\]) data show a large scatter (Welty et al. 2001) and differ from the typical stellar SMC values (Russell & Dopita 1992) as a consequence of dust depletion, which is known to affect the interstellar measurements. As shown in Fig. 3, the application of the method to the interstellar measurements brings together all the interstellar and stellar data of the SMC. This result indicates the importance and the validity of the dust correction method.

In Fig. 2 we plot the (\[Si/Fe\], \[Fe/H\]) data in DLA systems corrected for dust (triangles). The original measurements are based on spectra collected with the Keck and the VLT telescopes (see references in Vladilo 2002). The dust corrected data in Fig. 2 have been obtained assuming that the intrinsic Zn/Fe in DLAs is slightly oversolar, \[Zn/Fe\]=+0.1 dex, as observed in Milky Way stars (Gratton et al. 2003). Should the intrinsic Zn/Fe ratio be solar, the corrected \[Si/Fe\] ratios would be lower by $`0.1`$ dex.

From Fig. 2 one can see that the (\[$`\alpha `$/Fe\], \[Fe/H\]) data of DLAs follow the same trend shown by dwarf spheroidals of the Local Group.

## 4 Discussion

The distribution of the (\[$`\alpha `$/Fe\],\[Fe/H\]) data points in Fig. 2 has several implications concerning the chemical evolution properties of dSph galaxies of the Local Group and DLA systems.

The remarkable continuity between our data points of the Sgr dSph (solid circles in Fig. 2) and the data of the other dSph galaxies collected from the literature (open circles) suggests that dwarf spheroidals lie on a similar evolutionary path, but some are more evolved than the others.

The similarity between local dwarf spheroidals (circles) and high redshift DLA systems (triangles) indicate that these two distinct types of objects share a common evolutionary path. This result is roubust against variations of the input parameters in the dust correction procedure.

An origin of low redshift ($`z1`$) DLA systems in dwarf, compact and low surface brightness galaxies, with little contribution from spirals, was indicated by imaging studies (Le Brun et al. 1997; Rao & Turnshek 1998). The present analysis of abundance ratios indicates that also at high redshift ($`z1.5`$) most DLA systems behave similarly to local dwarfs as far as the chemical evolution is concerned. The \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] values tend to decrease with metallicity for each class of objects considered in Fig. 2 (dSph stars, Milky Way stars, DLA systems). Chemical evolution models can explain such a decrease in terms of a time delay between an early enrichment due to type II SNae, rich in $`\alpha `$-capture elements, and a subsequent enrichment due to type Ia SNae, rich in Fe-peak elements (see e.g. Calura et al. 2003). The decrease of \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] is predicted to be faster for galaxies with high rates of star formation and slower for galaxies with low rates, or episodic star formation. In this context the lower \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] values of dSph stars and DLA systems, compared to those of Milky Way stars at the same level of metallicity, may reflect a difference in the star formation rate, the Milky Way having been characterized by a higher or more continuous star formation rate than dSph galaxies and DLA systems.

## 5 Conclusions

We compared $`\alpha `$/Fe abundance ratios measured in stars of Local Group dSph galaxies, in stars of the Milky Way, and in DLA systems. The $`\alpha `$/Fe ratios of the Local Group include our recent measurements of 12 stars in the Sgr dSph galaxy. By adding up literature data, a total of 8 dwarf spheroidal galaxies were considered. The $`\alpha `$/Fe ratios of the DLA systems were corrected for dust depletion with a method recently developed by us and tested in the ISM of the SMC. The sample includes 22 DLA systems with Si/Fe data. The analysis of the data in the plane $`\alpha `$/Fe versus Fe/H shows a remarkable similarity between the Local Group dwarf spheroidals and the high-redshift DLA systems. This result indicates that these two distinct types of galaxies share a common trend of chemical evolution.

The similarity between high-redshift DLA systems ($`z1.5`$) and local dwarfs derived from the abundance analysis is in line with the results of imaging studies of low-redshift DLA systems ($`z1`$) which indicate that most DLA galaxies are dwarf, compact, or low surface brightness galaxies, with little contribution from spirals.

dSph stars and DLA systems have $`\alpha `$/Fe ratios systematically lower than those of Milky Way stars of same metallicity. In terms of the time delay interpretation of chemical evolution models, this result suggests that, on average, the dSph galaxies and DLA systems are characterized by lower (or more episodic) star formation rates than the Milky Way. This suggests that, with possible exceptions, DLAs do not represent the young stage of Milky-Way type spirals. In addition, it is unlikely that DLAs could be major building blocks out of which the proto-Milky Way was formed, considering that the vast majority of Milky-Way stars show significantly enhanced $`\alpha `$/Fe ratios at low metallicity.


text:
# Positive Correlations in Tunneling through coupled Quantum Dots

## 1 Introduction

Resonant tunneling of electrons through bound states in mesoscopic double barrier devices still attracts wide research activities. Not only the current flow is of interest. Due to the granularity of the electron charge the tunneling current is a discrete stochastic process which leads to shot noise in the current signal . The spectral power density gives information about temporal correlations which are not available by conductance measurements alone. In the pioneering theoretical work of L. Y. Chen et al.  a suppression of the zero-frequency spectral power density $`S`$ with respect to the uncorrelated value $`S_P=2eI`$ (Poissonian noise, $`e>0`$ is the elementary charge, $`I`$ is the average current) in tunneling through double barriers was obtained. This refers to negative correlations in the tunneling current due to Pauli’s exclusion principle: if the bound state becomes occupied by tunneling of an electron, then a subsequent electron “has to wait” until the state becomes empty. Hence, negative correlations are a fingerprint of the fermionic statistics of electrons. Contrarily, boson statistics lead to positive correlations, e.g. in the intensity-intensity correlation function of emission of photons from a black radiation source due to temporal bunching of emission events ( and references therein).

For tunneling through quantum dots (QDs) Coulomb interaction generates an additional source of correlations. It was shown in Ref.  that for an asymmetric setup of the tunneling rates in a system of two capacitively coupled QD states the current-voltage characteristic exhibits negative differential conductance. In this regime positive correlations in the tunneling current are present (super-Poissonian shot noise). Here, we give a detailed examination of this effect and show that its origin is related to bunching of tunneling events due to Coulomb blocking. Positive correlations in tunneling current were also investigated in a double barrier resonant tunneling diode , in coupled metallic QDs , and in a single-electron transistor setup .

## 2 Model

We consider two QD single-particle states with energies $`E_{1/2}`$ which are coupled to emitter/collector contacts by tunneling rates $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{E/C}^i`$ ($`i=`$ 1,2), respectively. The emitter/collector contact is assumed to be in local equilibrium and the occupation is given by the Fermi functions $`f_{E/C}(E)`$ and chemical potentials $`\mu _{E/C}`$, respectively. An applied bias voltage $`eV=\mu _E\mu _C`$ drives the QD system out of equilibrium. The tunneling energy $`E`$ is given by the difference of energies before and after a tunneling process considering the charging energy $`U`$ which is present if both QD states are occupied. The time evolution of the occupation probabilities $`P_\nu `$ for the Fock states $`\nu =(n_1,n_2)`$ ($`n_i\{0,1\}`$, $`i=`$ 1,2) is described by the Master equation $`\underset{¯}{\overset{\dot{}}{P}}=\underset{¯}{\underset{¯}{𝐌}}\underset{¯}{P}`$. The 4$`\times `$4-matrix $`\underset{¯}{\underset{¯}{𝐌}}`$ consists of the transition rates for tunneling into or out of the QD system which contain the occupation of the contacts and the tunneling rates (for details see ).

The stationary current is given by $`I=_\nu \left(\underset{¯}{\underset{¯}{𝐣}}_𝐄\underset{¯}{P}^0\right)_\nu `$ with the stationary occupation probability given by $`\underset{¯}{\underset{¯}{𝐌}}\underset{¯}{P}^0=0`$ and the operator for the current at the emitter barrier $`\underset{¯}{\underset{¯}{𝐣}}_𝐄`$, respectively. The current-current correlation function at the emitter barrier for $`t0`$ is $`C_{EE}(t)I_E(t)I_E(0)I^2=_\nu \left(\underset{¯}{\underset{¯}{𝐣}}_𝐄\underset{¯}{\underset{¯}{𝐓}}(t)\underset{¯}{\underset{¯}{𝐣}}_𝐄\underset{¯}{P}^0\right)_\nu +\delta (t)eII^2`$ with the time translation operator $`\underset{¯}{\underset{¯}{𝐓}}(t)\mathrm{exp}\underset{¯}{\underset{¯}{𝐌}}t`$ so that $`\underset{¯}{P}(t)=\underset{¯}{\underset{¯}{𝐓}}(t)\underset{¯}{P}(0)`$ holds . Then, the spectral power density reads (Wiener-Khintchine theorem) $`S_{EE}(\omega )=2_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑tC_{EE}(t)\mathrm{cos}\omega t`$. As a measure for correlations at the emitter barrier the Fano factor is defined as $`\alpha (\omega )\frac{S_{EE}(\omega )}{2eI}`$ which is unity for uncorrelated tunneling, $`<1`$ for negative correlations, and $`>1`$ for positive correlations in the tunneling current (super-Poissonian shot noise). Note that $`S_{EE}(0)=S_{CC}(0)=S_{EC}(0)=S_{CE}(0)`$, but $`S(\omega )S_{EE}(\omega )`$ for $`\omega 0`$.

## 3 Results and Discussion

We consider the case where both energies of the QD single-particle states are equal: $`E_1=E_2`$, the tunneling rates to the emitter are equal: $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_E^1=\mathrm{\Gamma }_E^2\mathrm{\Gamma }_E`$, and a bias voltage $`V`$ is applied such that both single-particle states $`(1,0)`$ and $`(0,1)`$ can be occupied but the occupancy of the doubly-occupied state $`(1,1)`$ is energetically forbidden. Then, the zero-frequency Fano factor is derived analytically to be

$$\alpha (0)=1+\frac{2\left[\gamma _1^2+\gamma _2^2\gamma _1\gamma _2(2+\gamma _1+\gamma _2)\right]}{\left(\gamma _1+\gamma _2+\gamma _1\gamma _2\right)^2}$$
(1)
with the ratios of collector and emitter tunneling rates $`\gamma _i\mathrm{\Gamma }_C^i/\mathrm{\Gamma }_E`$ ($`i=`$ 1,2). The dependence of the Fano factor on $`\gamma _1`$ and $`\gamma _2`$ is depicted in Fig.1a. The Fano factor is symmetric with respect to an interchange of $`\gamma _1`$ and $`\gamma _2`$. Two different regions corresponding to $`\alpha 1`$ and $`\alpha >1`$ are labeled by $`N`$ and $`P`$, respectively. The region $`N`$ indicates negative correlations in the tunneling current for $`\gamma _i1`$ ($`i=`$ 1,2). In this regime, mutual Coulomb blocking of the single-particle states $`(1,0)`$ and $`(0,1)`$ is negligible since the levels are mostly empty in time average due to the stronger collector coupling. If either one ratio or both ratios become smaller than unity the tunneling is positively correlated (region $`P`$ in Fig. 1a) except for $`\gamma _1\gamma _2`$ where $`\alpha `$ approaches unity. Hence, the conditions for positive correlations are: $`\gamma _1<1`$ or $`\gamma _2<1`$, and $`\gamma _1\gamma _2`$. To illustrate the effect of positive correlations we consider a realisation of time-dependent currents $`I_1(t)`$ and $`I_2(t)`$ through the levels 1 and 2, respectively, in Fig. 1b. There, it is assumed that $`\gamma _1\gamma _2=`$1. If an electron jumps from the emitter into level 1 (black peak) this level becomes occupied. Until the level becomes empty by tunneling of the electron out in the collector (grey peak) no electrons can jump in level 2 (Coulomb blocking). Only if level 1 is empty, a current $`I_2`$ is flowing. Hence, a bunching of tunneling events in current $`I_2(t)`$ occurs.

In Fig. 2 the frequency-dependent Fano factor $`\alpha (\omega )`$ and in the insets of Fig. 2 the current-current correlation function $`C_{EE}(t)`$ at the emitter barrier are shown. The dashed curve $`\alpha (\omega )`$ represents the case $`\gamma _1=\gamma _2=`$1. It exhibits a minimum at $`\omega =`$0 and approaches unity for $`\omega \pm \mathrm{}`$. The corresponding correlation function in the left inset is negative for all times, i.e. only negative correlations are present (region $`N`$ in Fig.1a). By lowering $`\gamma _1`$ below one a maximum at $`\omega =0`$ and two minima symmetric to $`\omega =`$0 arise (dotted curve: $`\gamma _1=`$0.4, $`\gamma _2=`$1; full curve: $`\gamma _1=`$0.2, $`\gamma _2=`$1). The correlation function (full curve in the right inset of Fig. 2) belonging to the full curve $`\alpha (\omega )`$ ($`\alpha >`$1, $`P`$-region in Fig. 1a) has now two contributions with different signs: positive (dotted curve) and negative (dashed curve). The positive part of the correlation function is due to the bunching of tunneling events as discussed with respect to Fig. 1b and the negative part is due to anti-bunching caused by Pauli’s exclusion principle which is still present in the bunches of tunneling through the current carrying level. Therefore, the frequency-dependent Fano factor in Fig. 2 consists of a sum of two Lorentzians with either positive or negative sign and different FWHM corresponding to the two time scales related to the respective collector tunneling rates.

## 4 Conclusions

We discussed the effect of positive correlations in the tunneling current through two single-particle states in a regime where mutual Coulomb blocking leads to bunching of tunneling events. We showed that the current-current correlation function at one barrier consists of the sum of a negative and a positive term for an asymmetric choice of the tunneling rates of both QD states. Then, the corresponding spectral power density is a sum of two Lorentzians with different FWHM and different signs which gives rise to a maximum in the zero-frequency Fano factor and which can become larger than one (super-Poissonian shot noise).

This work was supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft in the framework of SFB 296.