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# The ATNF Pulsar Catalogue

## 1. Introduction

We have produced a new catalogue (accessed via a web or command-line interface) that contains all published rotation–powered pulsars, including those detected only at high energies. The catalogue also contains anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) and soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) for which coherent pulsations have been detected. We have excluded accretion–powered pulsars such as Her X-1 and the recently discovered X-ray millisecond pulsars (e.g. SAX J1808.4$``$3658; Wijnands & van der Klis 1998). We currently store information on 1300 pulsars.

For each pulsar we record up to 90 different parameters with full bibliographic information. For all pulsars we store names, positions, rotational frequencies and the type of pulsar (e.g. AXP). If published values exist, we also store parameters such as higher-order rotational frequency derivatives, pulse widths, orbital parameters, proper motions and any associations with globular clusters, the Magellanic clouds or supernova remnants. If enough information exists to calculate derived parameters then these may also be displayed using the web or command-line interfaces. Currently, 39 different derived parameters are included.

## 2. The web interface

A versatile web interface (http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat) has been developed to allow easy global access to our pulsar catalogue. The user may select parameters of interest, generate custom variables, select wanted (or unwanted) pulsars and tabulate the results in a variety of different forms. For browsers with Java enabled, the results may also be displayed graphically, as a two dimensional plot or as a histogram, using an interactive applet (Figure 1). We also provide a special ‘expert-mode’ of operation which can be accessed from http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat/expert.html. This mode allows the user to obtain pulsar parameters of specialist interest and to upload one or more personal catalogues to use instead of, or to merge with, the public catalogue. Such merging is not permanent and does not affect any other user of the system.

## 3. The command-line interface

Data can be obtained from the public or from a personal catalogue using a command line interface. This software has been tested on both Solaris and Linux machines and can be obtained via ATNF anonymous ftp (see authors for details). This software provides the same functionality as the web-based interface with the exception of the plotting routines. C functions are available to access the catalogue data directly.

## 4. Acknowledgements

Many people have contributed to the maintenance and upgrading of earlier versions of the database. We particularly thank Andrew Lyne of the University of Manchester, David Nice of Princeton University and Russell Edwards, then at Swinburne University of Technology. This work has made extensive use of NASA’s Astrophysics Data system and the SLALIB C routines.

## References

Wijnands, R. & van der Klis, M., Nature, 394, 344, 1998


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# Chiral 𝑑+𝑖𝑠 superconducting state in the two dimensional 𝑡-𝑡' Hubbard model

## Abstract

Applying the recently developed variational approach to Kohn-Luttinger superconductivity to the $`t`$-$`t^{}`$ Hubbard model in two dimensions, we have found, for sizeable next-nearest neighbor hopping, an electron density controlled quantum phase transition between a $`d`$-wave superconducting state close to half filling and an $`s`$-wave superconductor at lower electron density. The transition occurs via an intermediate time reversal breaking $`d+is`$ superconducting phase, which is characterized by nonvanishing chirality and density-current correlation. Our results suggest the possibility of a bulk time reversal symmetry breaking state in overdoped cuprates.

As demonstrated by Kohn and Luttinger (KL), the generic ground state of a clean degenerate electron system should be superconducting.Kohn65  Direct application of the KL approach to the $`t`$-$`t^{}`$ Hubbard model in two dimensions has shown that, at sufficiently weak coupling when no particle-hole instabilities develop, the phase diagram of the model in the $`t^{}/t`$ versus electron density, $`\rho `$, plane, exhibits several superconducting phases of different symmetry.Hlubina99  Similar conclusions have been reached previously in mean field studies of the $`t`$-$`t^{}`$-$`J`$ modelKoltenbah97  and more recently making use of the renormalization group methodShankar94 ; Zanchi97 ; Honerkamp01  and fluctuation exchange approximation.Aoki03  Thus, by tuning one control parameter ($`t^{}/t`$ or $`\rho `$), a quantum phase transition between two different superconducting states can be realized. The purpose of this paper is to study such transitions within a simple but realistic microscopic model.

As a particular example motivated by the physics of high temperature superconductors, we have chosen to study the two-dimensional $`t`$-$`t^{}`$ Hubbard model with the bare single particle dispersion $`\epsilon _𝐤=2t(\mathrm{cos}k_xa+\mathrm{cos}k_ya)+4t^{}\mathrm{cos}k_xa\mathrm{cos}k_ya`$ where $`a`$ is the in-plane lattice constant. This is the minimal model including electron correlations and reproducing the shape of the Fermi surface observed by angle resolved photoemission spectroscopyDamascelli03  in the cuprates. In a previous study,Hlubina99  we have shown that close to half filling $`d`$-wave is the dominant pairing symmetry in a broad range of $`t^{}/t`$ and that, under reducing the electron concentration, different pairing symmetries start to dominate. Here we have chosen to study the model for $`t^{}/t=0.45`$, in which case a density-controlled transition between the $`d`$-wave and $`s`$-wave pairing states was predicted to occur in the vicinity of $`\rho 0.7`$.Hlubina99  This choice of $`t^{}/t`$ is motivated by the observationHlubina99  that at smaller ratios of $`t^{}/t`$, the transition either happens at small electron fillings, or is located close to the Van Hove density in which case our method does not apply. Moreover, according to a recent study,Pavarini01  Tl and Hg based materials do indeed support sizeable next nearest neighbor hopping.

We address this problem within the recently developed variational approach to superconductivity.Mraz03  The main idea of Ref. Mraz03,  is as follows: Performing a canonical transformation which eliminates the scattering processes to first order in $`U/t`$ (where $`U`$ is the local Hubbard interaction), we have constructed an effective Hamiltonian which leads to an interaction in the Cooper channel of the form $`V_{\mathrm{𝐤𝐩}}=U+U^2\chi _1(𝐤+𝐩,\epsilon _𝐩\epsilon _𝐤)`$, where $`\chi _1(𝐪,\omega )`$ is the real part of the particle-hole susceptibility $`\chi (𝐪,\omega )=L^1_𝐊(f_𝐊f_{𝐊+𝐪})/(\epsilon _{𝐊+𝐪}\epsilon _𝐊\omega i0)`$ and $`L`$ is the number of lattice sites. Superconductivity is realized if a nontrivial order parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤`$ which solves the gap equation

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤=\frac{1}{L}\underset{𝐩}{}V_{\mathrm{𝐤𝐩}}\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐩\frac{\mathrm{tanh}(E_𝐩/2T)}{2E_𝐩}$$
(1)
can be found. In Eq. (1) we introduced the quasiparticle enegy $`E_𝐩=(\xi _𝐩^2+|\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐩|^2)^{1/2}`$, where $`\xi _𝐩=\epsilon _𝐩\mu `$ and $`\mu `$ is the chemical potential.

All calculations reported in this paper were performed for moderate interaction strength $`U/t=7`$. Strictly speaking, this is outside the region of validity of our weak-coupling approach. The need for such values of $`U`$ is due to the finite system sizes, typically up to $`512\times 512`$, which we can study within a reasonable time. At smaller values of $`U`$, the finite size effects become appreciable. However, we do not believe the large values of $`U`$ are a serious drawback of our calculations. In fact, in the $`d`$-wave state the value of $`U`$ is just a multiplicative factor entering $`V_{\mathrm{𝐤𝐩}}`$ (since the $`d`$-wave state is not affected at all by the constant term $`U`$ in $`V_{\mathrm{𝐤𝐩}}`$). On the other hand, although both terms in $`V_{\mathrm{𝐤𝐩}}`$ do affect the $`s`$-wave pairing state, we have checked a posteriori that our solutions in the $`s`$-wave channel exhibit very small on-site pairing amplitudes, thus providing a nontrivial self-consistency check of the calculation.

At $`\rho =0.685`$ we have solved the gap equation at $`T=0`$ by an iteration method. The calculation was performed many times, starting from a random complex vector $`\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤`$. We have found three types of solutions: pure $`d`$-wave, pure $`s`$-wave, and $`d+is`$-type solutions which can be written as $`\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤=d_𝐤+is_𝐤`$ with real $`d_𝐤`$ and $`s_𝐤`$. As a next step, we have required that the self-consistent solution is one of the above three types (which speeded up the calculation considerably) and in this way we calculated the data presented in Fig. 1a. Note that pure $`s`$-wave and $`d`$-wave solutions are stable for all studied densities, whereas the $`d+is`$-type solution can be stabilized only in the interval $`0.655<\rho <0.715`$.

We have calculated the BCS condensation energy $`E_{\mathrm{cond}}=_𝐤(E_𝐤|\xi _𝐤|)^2/2E_𝐤`$ as a function of $`\rho `$ for all three types of solutions. The results are plotted in Fig. 1b. We find that the $`d+is`$ state is the true ground state in the whole region of its stability. Thus, at weak coupling, the quantum phase transition between the $`s`$-wave state at low electron density and the high-density $`d`$-wave state occurs via a mixed symmetry state $`d+is`$, in agreement with a model calculation for an isotropic Fermi surface and separable interactions.Musaelian96  Within our mean field like approach, both $`s`$/$`d+is`$ and $`d`$/$`d+is`$ transitions are of second order. Field theoretic studies suggest that for the $`d`$/$`d+is`$ transition this is valid also beyond mean field.Vojta00 ; Khveshchenko01

It is worth pointing out that the complex admixture increases the condensation energy substantially, up to 30 per cent close to the crossing point of pure $`s`$-wave and $`d`$-wave states. Since the condensation energy is determined by the typical value of $`|\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤|`$ close to the Fermi energy and, according to Fig. 1a, the maximal value of $`|\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤|`$ is approximately the same in the mixed and pure states close to the crossing point, the density of states in the $`d+is`$ state must be substantially suppressed in the subgap region. This is indeed found in an explicit calculation, see Fig. 2. Note that a small true gap is opened in the $`d+is`$ state, whereas both the $`d`$-wave and the $`s`$-wave states are gapless.s\_wave

In order to get further insight into the nature of the $`d+is`$ state, let us consider the singlet pairing function $`F_{ij}=_\sigma \sigma c_{i\sigma }c_{j\sigma }`$. In the $`d+is`$ state we can write $`F_{ij}=D_{ij}+iS_{ij}`$ where $`D_{ij}=L^1_𝐤(d_𝐤/E_𝐤)\mathrm{cos}𝐤𝐑_{ij}`$, $`S_{ij}=L^1_𝐤(s_𝐤/E_𝐤)\mathrm{cos}𝐤𝐑_{ij}`$, and $`𝐑_{ij}`$ is the vector connecting lattice sites $`i`$ and $`j`$. Note that $`D_{ij}`$ and $`S_{ij}`$ are real and even in $`i`$,$`j`$. In Fig. 3 we plot $`|D_{ij}|`$ and $`|S_{ij}|`$ in the chiral state. We find that $`|D_{ij}|`$ is peaked for $`ji=(1,0)`$, $`(2,0)`$, and symmetry related points, whereas $`|S_{ij}|`$ peaks for $`ji=(3,0)`$, $`(3,1)`$, $`(2,2)`$, and symmetry related points. This means that the $`d`$-wave and $`s`$-wave states do not compete for the same Cooper pairs, allowing for a coexistence of both states in the $`d+is`$ state.

The temperature dependence of the $`d`$-wave and $`s`$-wave parts of the gap in the $`d+is`$ state is shown for $`\rho =0.7`$ in Fig. 4a. Two critical temperatures $`T_c^d`$ and $`T_c^{d+is}`$ can be defined, the mixed symmetry state being realized at $`T<T_c^{d+is}`$, and the pure $`d`$-wave state occuring at $`T_c^{d+is}<T<T_c^d`$. Collecting the data for different $`\rho =`$ const cuts together we obtain the phase diagram Fig. 1c. Note that the region of stability of the $`d+is`$ state shrinks with increasing temperature, due to the lower entropy in the mixed state than in the pure states.

The complex order parameter in the $`d+is`$ state implies that time reversal symmetry is broken. Moreover, the point group symmetry is reduced from $`C_{4v}`$ down to $`C_{2v}`$, i.e. the 90 rotations and reflections across the diagonals, $`m^{}`$, do not belong any more to the symmetry operations of the $`d+is`$ state. A physical order parameter which distinguishes the two possible time-reversal related states $`d+is`$ and $`dis`$ can be constructed as an odd function of the local spin operator $`𝐒_i=2^1\widehat{\sigma }_{\alpha \beta }c_{i\alpha }^{}c_{i\beta }`$ ($`\widehat{\sigma }`$ is the vector of Pauli matrices) or of the charge current $`j_{ij}=it_{ij}_\sigma (c_{i\sigma }^{}c_{j\sigma }c_{j\sigma }^{}c_{i\sigma })`$ defined on the bond $`ij`$.hopping  However, because of spin rotation invariance of the $`d+is`$ state, we have $`𝐒_i=0`$, while the unbroken $`m`$ reflection symmetry, i.e. $`xx`$, forces $`j_{ij}=0`$. Therefore more complicated functions of $`𝐒_i`$ and $`j_{ij}`$ have to be considered.

Let us start by taking the simplest order parameter made up solely of the spin operators. This must necessarily be a third power of $`𝐒_i`$. The spin chiralityWen89  $`E_{ijk}=𝐒_i\left(𝐒_j\times 𝐒_k\right)`$, where $`i`$, $`j`$, and $`k`$ are lattice sites, is a natural candidate for such an order parameter, since it is spin rotation invariant. Very recently, the $`d+id_{xy}`$ RVB spin liquid has been characterizedSorella03  by $`E_{ijk}`$ and in what follows we show that this order parameter is useful in our case as well, if the lattice points $`i`$, $`j`$, and $`k`$ are chosen in such a way that a nonzero value of $`E_{ijk}`$ is not prohibited by the remaining $`C_{2v}`$ symmetry.

In a singlet superconducting state, the chiral order parameter can be evaluated as

$`E_{ijk}={\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}\mathrm{Im}\left[G_{ij}F_{jk}F_{ki}^{}+G_{jk}F_{ki}F_{ij}^{}+G_{ki}F_{ij}F_{jk}^{}\right],`$ (2)
where $`G_{ij}=c_{i\sigma }^{}c_{j\sigma }=L^1_𝐤f_𝐤\mathrm{cos}𝐤𝐑_{ij}`$ is independent of $`\sigma `$ and an even function of $`i`$ and $`j`$. For convenience let us introduce the following abbreviated notation for the neighborhood of the lattice point $`𝐑`$ (see inset to Fig. 1d): $`0=𝐑𝐱+𝐲`$, $`1=𝐑𝐱`$, $`2=𝐑`$, $`3=𝐑+𝐲`$, and $`4=𝐑+𝐱`$, where $`𝐱`$ and $`𝐲`$ are unit lattice vectors in the $`x`$ and $`y`$ direction, repectively. Consider first the triangle 123. Since $`G_{12}=G_{23}`$, $`S_{12}=S_{23}`$, $`D_{12}=D_{23}`$, and $`D_{13}=0`$, making use of Eq. (2) one finds readily that $`E_{123}=(3/2)D_{12}(S_{12}G_{13}S_{13}G_{12})`$. In Fig. 1d we plot $`E_{123}`$ as a function of doping.

Let us point out that the chiral order parameter provides also a direct measure of broken spatial symmetries. In fact, the nonvanishing value of $`E_{123}`$ is a direct consequence of broken $`m^{}`$ symmetry, since in a $`m^{}`$ symmetric system $`E_{123}=E_{321}=E_{123}`$. Moreover, a clockwise rotation of the lattice around the point 2 leads to $`E_{123}E_{324}`$, and a straightforward calculation shows $`E_{324}=E_{123}`$. On the other hand, under the $`m`$ reflection we have $`E_{123}E_{423}=E_{123}`$, consistent with the invariance of the $`d+is`$ state under the $`m`$ reflection.

Let us turn to order parameters based on current operators. The simplest order parameter of this type isAnderson61

$$B_{ijk}=\frac{1}{2}n_ij_{jk}+j_{jk}n_i=t_{jk}\mathrm{Im}(F_{ij}^{}F_{ik}),$$

and the equality applies to a general singlet superconductor. For a $`d+is`$ superconductor, this specializes to $`B_{ijk}=t_{jk}\left(D_{ij}S_{ik}S_{ij}D_{ik}\right)`$. An example of $`B_{ijk}`$ is shown in Fig. 5. The nonvanishing density-current correlation $`B_{ijk}`$ suggests that potential scattering on imperfections such as impurities or surfaces will, in general, cause finite currents and magnetic fields in the vicinity of these defects. For scattering on nonmagnetic impurities, such currents have been explicitly calculated only recently (for a $`d+id_{xy}`$ superconductor).Salkola98  On the other hand, nonvanishing surface currents have been predicted already by Anderson and Morel.Anderson61  In our case the surface currents should be most pronounced for $`[110]`$-like surfaces, while for $`[100]`$-like surfaces the unbroken $`m`$ symmetry forbids the formation of such currents. This is fully consistent with the predictions of Ginzburg-Landau theory.Sigrist98

Next let us consider, in analogy to spin chirality, the third power of local current operators, $`P_{ijk}=j_{ij}j_{jk}j_{ki}j_{ik}j_{kj}j_{ji}`$. Note that, being an expectation value of a Hermitian operator $`j_{ij}j_{jk}j_{ki}+(j_{ij}j_{jk}j_{ki})^{}`$, the order parameter $`P_{ijk}`$ is a real quantity. A nonzero value of $`P_{ijk}`$ means that the product of three current operators along a closed loop is different for current operators ordered clockwise and anticlockwise around the loop. Therefore we call $`P_{ijk}`$ the current chirality. A lengthy but straightforward calculation shows that, in a singlet superconductor, $`P_{ijk}=(32/3)t_{ij}t_{jk}t_{ki}E_{ijk}`$. Thus, up to a trivial multiplicative constant, the spin and current chiralities are equal. Making use of the symmetry properties of $`E_{123}`$ we find that the four possible current chiralities which can be defined on an elementary plaquette 0123 of the square lattice satisfy $`P_{103}=P_{012}=P_{032}=P_{123}`$. The resulting current chirality pattern is shown in the inset of Fig. 1d. Note the similarity of Fig. 1d with the distribution of currents in a chiral state of a three-band model introduced by Varma as a description of the pseudogap phase of the cuprates.Varma97  This similarity is consistent with the recent symmetry classification of superconducting states coexisting with a chiral translationally invariant pseudogap phase of nonsuperconducting origin.Kaur03  The crucial difference of our calculation with respect to Ref. Varma97,  is that in our case no net currents are flowing, $`j_{ij}=0`$. This makes it possible that a translationally symmetric chiral state is realized also in a one band model.

Our weak coupling approach, which should be reliable sufficiently away from half filling, therefore predicts a bulk chiral $`d+is`$ state in overdoped cuprates with sizeable next-nearest neighbor hopping. Next we address the question about experimental observability of such a state. Upon cooling, two phase transitions should be visible. Figure 4b shows that this is indeed the case but the anomaly of the specific heat at $`T_c^{d+is}`$ is small, since the quasiparticles are already frozen out to a large extent at $`T_c^{d+is}`$. This is expected to be a generic result which holds except for the case when $`T_c^dT_c^{d+is}`$. On the other hand, within BCS theory the in-plane penetration depth is given by

$`\lambda ^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{e^2}{\epsilon _0da^2\mathrm{}^2c^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{L}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon _𝐤}{𝐤}}\right)^2\left[{\displaystyle \frac{f(E_𝐤)}{E_𝐤}}{\displaystyle \frac{f(\xi _𝐤)}{\xi _𝐤}}\right],`$
where $`d`$ is the interlayer distance. In Fig. 4c we show explicitly that $`T_c^{d+is}`$ should be observable in the temperature dependence of $`\lambda `$, and also of the spin susceptibility $`\chi `$. Note also the activated behavior at low temperatures which is consistent with the full gap.

Direct tests of time-reversal symmetry breaking are more involved, since in a perfect sample $`j_{ij}=0`$ and therefore no spontaneous magnetic fields develop. Moreover, since the photoemission experiments test only the diagonal part of the Nambu-Gorkov electron Green’s function, the broken parity in our $`d+is`$ state can not be directly measured by circular dichroismVarma97  of photoemission spectra.

Recently a spontaneous splitting of zero bias conductance peaks in a tunneling experiment on overdoped cuprates has been interpreted in terms of a bulk time reversal symmetry breaking superconducting state.Dagan01  However, this experiment measures the properties of a  oriented surface of a $`d`$-wave superconductor and in this geometry, time reversal symmetry may be broken in the vicinity of the surface even in absence of such symmetry breaking in the bulk.Sigrist98  Therefore phase sensitive experimental tests of the putative bulk chiral $`d+is`$ state at large doping should avoid geometries with in-plane edges. We propose to measure the current-phase relation $`I(\phi )`$ of $`c`$-axis Josephson junctions between a conventional superconductor and overdoped cuprates. Assuming that the Josephson coupling is due to a finite $`s`$ component of the cuprates, from the relative sign of the first and second harmonics of $`I(\phi )`$ one can determine the relative phase of the $`d`$ and $`s`$ components of the order parameter.Hlubina02

In conclusion, applying the recently developed variational approach to KL superconductors,Mraz03  we have shown that for sufficiently large next-nearest-neighbor hopping $`t^{}/t`$, the Hubbard model predicts a change of pairing symmetry from $`d`$-wave to $`s`$-wave with overdoping, in agreement with a previous calculation.Hlubina99  The quantum phase transition between the two superconducting states occurs via an intermediate chiral $`d+is`$ phase. We have shown that the density-current correlation and the spin and current chiralities serve as local measures of the broken time reversal and parity symmetry in the $`d+is`$ state, and we calculated their spatial distribution. Our results suggest the possibility of a bulk time reversal symmetry breaking state in overdoped cuprates with sizeable next-nearest neighbor hopping. We have calculated thermodynamic quantities which might be useful for experimental tests of the putative $`d+is`$ pairing state.

We thank M. Moško for suggestions on how to improve the convergence of the self-consistent calculation. RH thanks S. Sorella for discussions and the Italian Ministry for Education, Universities, and Research for financial support. This work was supported in part by the Slovak Scientific Grant Agency under Grant No. VEGA-1/9177/02 and by the Slovak Science and Technology Assistance Agency under the contract No. APVT-20-021602.


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# Weak limits for quantum random walks

## I Introduction

Let $`R_1,R_2,\mathrm{}`$ be independent identically distributed random variables taking values in the reals $``$, and suppose that they have common mean $`\mu =E(R_1)`$ and finite non-zero variance $`\sigma ^2=E(R_1^2)\mu ^2`$. The central limit theorem asserts that the sum $`X_n=_{i=1}^nR_i`$ satisfies

$$\frac{X_nn\mu }{\sigma \sqrt{n}}\text{N}\text{as}n\mathrm{}$$
(1)
where N denotes the normal (Gaussian) distribution with mean $`0`$ and variance $`1`$, and $``$ denotes weak convergence:

$$T_nT\text{if}E(f(T_n))E(f(T))$$
(2)
for all bounded continuous functions $`f:`$. An early version of this now classical theorem for random walks was proved as long ago as 1733 by de Moivre, grimmett . In the modern theory, the conditions on the $`R_i`$ are relaxed to allow non-independent non-identically distributed random variables taking values in general spaces. Since the weak limit of $`X_n`$, suitably normalized, depends only on the probability measures associated with the $`X_n`$, we may think of the central limit theorem as a result about weak limits of measures, rather than about the stochastic process $`(X_n:n1)`$ itself. This is an impoverishment of the theory, since it overlooks the random variables themselves.

There has been recent interest, kempe , in a new type of process termed a quantum random walk. Quantum random walks give rise to certain sequences $`(\mu _n:n1)`$ of probability measures, each of which is given in terms of the preceding measures in the sequence. Whilst it is possible as always to construct random variables having these measures, this may not be done in a natural manner as in the theory of stochastic processes. One may nevertheless ask whether, subject to an appropriate normalization, the $`\mu _n`$ converge weakly to some non-trivial distributional limit. Results in this direction have been obtained for one-dimensional quantum walks by Konno konno1 ; konno2 . We show in this note how to simplify and extend such results. We introduce a new method of studying such weak limits, and we apply this method to quantum walks in one and higher dimensions.

We consider first a quantum random walk on the integers $``$. At each time $`n`$ ($``$) the state of the particle is transformed by a unitary operator described by a rotation of the internal degree of freedom followed by a conditional shift of the position, nayak ; the internal degree of freedom represents a coin that determines the shift of the position. The overall state of the system belongs to the Hilbert space $`H_CH_P`$, where $`H_C`$ is associated with the internal degree of freedom (coin space) and $`H_P`$ with position. In the simplest case, we have $`H_C=^2`$ and $`H_P=\mathrm{}^2()`$. A suitable basis for $`H_P`$ is given by the eigenstates of the position operator $`X`$

$$Xv_x=xv_x,x,$$
(3)
subject to $`v_x,v_x^{}=\delta _{xx^{}}`$, the Kronecker delta. A general state of the system may be written with respect to this basis as

$$\psi =\underset{x}{}\underset{j}{}\psi _j(x)v_xw_j,$$
(4)
where the vectors $`w_j`$, $`j=1,2`$, define a standard basis in $`H_C`$. The probability $`\mu _n(x)`$ of finding the particle at the position $`x`$ at time $`n`$ is given by the standard rule

$$\mu _n(x)=\underset{j}{}|v_xw_j,\psi _n|^2$$
(5)
where $`\psi _n=U^n\psi _0`$ with $`U`$ the time-evolution operator of the walk and $`\psi _0`$ the initial state of the system.

The asymptotic properties of the sequence $`(\mu _n:n1)`$ are studied in the next section. Such results are extended in Section III to quantum walks in two and more dimensions. We highlight two special features of such asymptotics, namely: instead of normalizing by $`\sqrt{n}`$ as in (1), we shall normalize by $`n`$, and the weak limit is absolutely continuous with bounded support.

## II Weak limit for one-dimensional quantum walks

In order to define the position of a quantum particle as a random variable, we consider the evolution of the position operator in the Heisenberg picture starting from time $`n=0`$. At each time $`n`$, the eigenvalues of the operator $`X_nU^nXU^n`$ define the possible values of the particle’s position with corresponding probability given by (5), where the dependence on the initial state $`\psi _0`$ is explicit.

Although the position may be treated as an ordinary random variable, the sequence $`(X_n:n1)`$ does not define a stochastic process, since the simultaneous measurement of $`X_n`$ for different $`n`$ would change the quantum random walk at each step. Therefore we let the system evolve repeatedly under $`U`$ up to time $`n`$, without measuring it, and then we study the properties of the distribution $`\mu _n`$ of $`X_n`$.

Let $`\psi _0`$ be any initial state in $`H_CH_P`$ with all moments $`E(X^r)`$ finite. In order to simplify the calculations which follow, we consider transformations in terms of wave function components, and we take the Fourier transform space $`\widehat{\mathrm{}^2()}=L^2(𝕂)`$, where $`𝕂=[0,2\pi )`$ is thought of as the unit circle in $`^2`$. We define an inner product on $`L^2(𝕂)`$ by

$$\psi ,\varphi =_0^{2\pi }\overline{\psi (k)}\varphi (k)\frac{dk}{2\pi }$$
(6)
and we note the isometry between $`\mathrm{}^2()`$ and $`L^2(𝕂)`$ given by

$$(\psi _x)\underset{x}{}\psi _xe^{ixk},$$
(7)
with inverse

$$\psi \widehat{\psi }\text{where}\widehat{\psi }(x)=_0^{2\pi }e^{ixk}\psi (k)\frac{dk}{2\pi }.$$
(8)
The right shift $`S`$ on $`\mathrm{}^2()`$ given by $`S(\psi _x)_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}=(\psi _{x1})_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}`$ corresponds to the multiplication operator $`\widehat{S}\psi =e^{ik}\psi `$ on $`L^2(𝕂)`$.

Our fundamental Hilbert space is thus $`H=H_CL^2(𝕂)`$, the space of $`^2`$-valued functions

$$\psi (k)=\left(\begin{array}{c}\psi _1(k)\\ \psi _2(k)\end{array}\right)$$
(9)
on $`𝕂`$ satisfying

$$\psi ^2=\psi _1_{L^2}^2+\psi _2_{L^2}^2<\mathrm{}.$$

As usual, we consider state vectors normalized by $`\psi ^2=1`$. The evolution of the walk comprises repeated applications of an internal transformation (coin toss) $`A`$ acting on $`^2`$, followed by the shift $`S`$ given by

$$S\left(\begin{array}{c}\psi _1(k)\\ \psi _2(k)\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}e^{ik}\psi _1(k)\\ e^{ik}\psi _2(k)\end{array}\right).$$
(10)
Thus the total evolution $`U`$ on $`H`$ is given by

$$U\psi =\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{ik}& 0\\ 0& e^{ik}\end{array}\right)A\left(\begin{array}{c}\psi _1(k)\\ \psi _2(k)\end{array}\right)=U(k)\psi (k).$$
(11)
If we begin the quantum random walk with an initial state $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0H`$, its state after $`n`$ steps is

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_n=U^n\mathrm{\Psi }_0=U(k)^n\mathrm{\Psi }_0(k).$$
(12)
For each $`k`$, $`U(k)`$ has two eigenvalues $`\lambda _1(k)`$ and $`\lambda _2(k)`$ with $`|\lambda _j(k)|=1`$, and has corresponding eigenvectors $`v_1(k),v_2(k)^2`$ that define a basis for $`H`$. We assume henceforth that

$$\lambda _1(k)\lambda _2(k),$$
(13)
since otherwise $`U(k)`$ is diagonal; by (11) then $`A`$ is diagonal and the state evolves trivially, either to the right or to the left.

The mapping $`kU(k)`$ is $`C^{\mathrm{}}`$ and the eigenvalues are distinct for each $`k`$, and therefore the eigenvalues $`\lambda _j(k)`$ are $`C^{\mathrm{}}`$ functions of $`k`$, and the eigenvectors $`v_j(k)`$ may be chosen to be $`C^{\mathrm{}}`$ with normalization $`v_j(k)=1`$. By expanding the wave function in terms of this basis, the $`n`$th time evolution becomes

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_n(k)=U(k)^n\mathrm{\Psi }_0(k)=\lambda _1(k)^nv_1(k),\mathrm{\Psi }_0(k)v_1(k)+\lambda _2(k)^nv_2(k),\mathrm{\Psi }_0(k)v_2(k),$$
(14)
where each component on the right hand side is a $`C^{\mathrm{}}`$ function of $`k`$. The moments of the position distribution are given in terms of the operator $`X`$ according to the standard formula

$$E\left(X_n^r\right)=\mathrm{\Psi }_n,X^r\mathrm{\Psi }_n.$$
(15)
Using the isometry between $`\mathrm{}^2()`$ and $`L^2(𝕂)`$, the above expectation may be written as

$$E\left(X_n^r\right)=_0^{2\pi }\mathrm{\Psi }_n(k),D^r\mathrm{\Psi }_n(k)\frac{dk}{2\pi },$$
(16)
where $`D=\widehat{X}=id/dk`$ is the position operator in the momentum space $`L^2(𝕂)`$. For fixed $`r`$ we can compute $`D^r\mathrm{\Psi }_n(k)`$ by (14) and Leibniz’ rule. It is easily seen that

$`D^r\mathrm{\Psi }_n(k)=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{j}{}}(n)_r\lambda _j(k)^{nr}(D\lambda _j(k))^r`$
$`\times v_j(k),\mathrm{\Psi }_0(k)v_j(k)+\text{O}(n^{r1}),`$ (17)
where $`(n)_r=n(n1)\mathrm{}(nr+1)`$. Equations (16) and (II) yield, as $`n\mathrm{}`$,

$`E[(X_n/n)^r]`$ $`={\displaystyle _0^{2\pi }}{\displaystyle \underset{j}{}}\lambda _j(k)^{nr}\left(D\lambda _j(k)\right)^rv_j(k),\mathrm{\Psi }_0(k)\mathrm{\Psi }_n(k),v_j(k){\displaystyle \frac{dk}{2\pi }}+\text{O}(n^1)`$
$`={\displaystyle _0^{2\pi }}{\displaystyle \underset{j}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{D\lambda _j(k)}{\lambda _j(k)}}\right)^r|v_j(k),\mathrm{\Psi }_0(k)|^2{\displaystyle \frac{dk}{2\pi }}+\text{O}(n^1).`$ (18)
Let $`\mathrm{\Omega }=𝕂\times \{1,2\}`$, let $`\mu `$ be the probability measure on $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ given by $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_0(k),v_j(k)|^2dk/2\pi `$ on $`𝕂\times \{j\}`$. Let $`h_j(k)=\lambda _j(k)^1D\lambda _j(k)`$ and define $`h:\mathrm{\Omega }`$ by $`h(k,j)=h_j(k)`$. ($`h`$ is real because $`|\lambda _j(k)|=1`$.) By (18),

$$E[(X_n/n)^r]_\mathrm{\Omega }h^r𝑑\mu \text{as }n\mathrm{}.$$
(19)
Since $`h`$ is bounded and the above relation holds for all integers $`r0`$, we deduce by the method of moments the following. (See billingsley  for the general theory of weak convergence.)

###### Theorem 1.

With notation as above,

$$\frac{1}{n}X_nY=h(Z)\text{as }n\mathrm{},$$
(20)
where $`Z`$ is a random element of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ with distribution $`\mu `$.

In particular, the support of $`Y`$ is $`[\mathrm{min}h,\mathrm{max}h]`$, the range of $`h`$, at least provided the density of $`\mu `$ given above does not vanish on some interval.

A similar weak limit theorem for $`X_n/n`$ has been proved by Konno konno1 ; konno2 , by different methods and with a quite different description of the limit.

We note that no assumption has been made above on the matrix $`A`$ and the initial state $`\psi _0`$, and thus the above result holds for any unitary quantum walk on the integers, subject only to (13). Note also that $`\mu `$ depends only on the overlap between the initial state of the system and the eigenvectors of $`U(k)`$, whereas $`h`$ depends only on the coin flip matrix $`A`$.

As an example, we consider some specific cases of unitary quantum walks. We consider first the Hadamard matrix

$$A=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 1\\ 1& 1\end{array}\right).$$
(21)
By simple calculus,

$$\lambda _j(k)=\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}}\mathrm{sin}k\pm \sqrt{1\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{sin}^2k}$$
(22)
and thus

$$h(k,j)=\frac{i\lambda _j^{}(k)}{\lambda _j(k)}=\pm \frac{\mathrm{cos}k}{\sqrt{2\mathrm{sin}^2k}}.$$
(23)
Hence the limit distribution is concentrated on the interval

$$[\mathrm{min}h,\mathrm{max}h]=[\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}},\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}].$$
(24)
For a general unbiased walk, we take as coin flip the unitary matrix

$$U(\phi ,\psi )=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{i(\phi +\psi )}& e^{i(\phi \psi )}\\ e^{i(\phi \psi )}& e^{i(\phi +\psi )}\end{array}\right),$$
(25)
where $`\phi ,\psi `$, with corresponding evolution

$`U(k)`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{ik}e^{i(\phi +\psi )}& e^{ik}e^{i(\phi \psi )}\\ e^{ik}e^{i(\phi \psi )}& e^{ik}e^{i(\phi +\psi )}\end{array}\right)`$ (27)
$`U_{\phi \psi }(k).`$ (28)
With $`\phi +\psi =a`$, $`\phi \psi =b`$, the eigenvalues may be written in the form

$$\lambda _j(k)=\frac{i}{\sqrt{2}}\mathrm{sin}(k+a)\pm \sqrt{1\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{sin}^2(k+a)},$$
(29)
and therefore

$$h(k,j)=\frac{i\lambda _j^{}(k)}{\lambda _j(k)}=\pm \frac{\mathrm{cos}(k+a)}{\sqrt{2\mathrm{sin}^2(k+a)}}.$$
(30)
Thus the general unbiased walk has exactly the same behaviour as the Hadamard case, subject to a shift in the momentum parameter of the wave amplitudes. We have as before that the domain of the limit distribution is as in (24).

Finally we introduce a “biased” random walk by defining a bias factor $`\rho `$ in the coin flip matrix

$$U(\rho )=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\sqrt{\rho }& \sqrt{1\rho }\\ \sqrt{1\rho }& \sqrt{\rho }\end{array}\right),$$
(31)
that gives rise to the evolution

$$U_\rho (k)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{ik}\sqrt{\rho }& e^{ik}\sqrt{1\rho }\\ e^{ik}\sqrt{1\rho }& e^{ik}\sqrt{\rho }\end{array}\right).$$
(32)
The evolution under $`U`$ of a general two-component wave-function corresponds to

$`\left(\begin{array}{c}\psi _1\\ \psi _2\end{array}\right)`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{ik}& 0\\ 0& e^{ik}\end{array}\right)`$ (37)
$`\times \left(\begin{array}{c}\sqrt{\rho }\psi _1(k)+\sqrt{1\rho }\psi _2(k)\\ \sqrt{1\rho }\psi _1(k)+\sqrt{\rho }\psi _2(k)\end{array}\right),`$ (40)
where the two internal states transform differently. In fact, the first component receives a kick of momentum $`+k`$ with probability $`\rho `$ and $`k`$ with probability $`1\rho `$; the opposite holds for the second component.

In terms of $`\rho `$, the eigenvalues are

$$\lambda _j(k)=i\sqrt{\rho }\mathrm{sin}k\pm \sqrt{1\rho \mathrm{sin}^2k}$$
(41)
and thus

$$h(k,j)=\frac{i\lambda _j^{}(k)}{\lambda _j(k)}=\pm \frac{\mathrm{cos}k}{\sqrt{\rho ^1\mathrm{sin}^2k}}.$$
(42)
It follows that $`[\mathrm{min}h,\mathrm{max}h]=[\sqrt{\rho },\sqrt{\rho }]`$, whence the bias factor of the walk sets a limit on the asymptotic momentum distribution by changing the support of the limit distribution.

The representation (20) of the limit variable allows a direct computation of the asymptotic probability density function in most cases of interest. For example, assume that the initial state is at position $`0`$. If the coin initially is in a given state $`i=1`$ or 2, then $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0(k)=\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\ 0\end{array}\right)`$ or $`\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ 1\end{array}\right)`$, respectively, and thus $`\mu =|v_{ji}(k)|^2dk/2\pi `$ on $`𝕂\times \{j\}`$. If we consider instead a random initial state of the coin, we have a mixture of these two pure states and thus

$$\mu =\frac{1}{2}\underset{i=1}{\overset{2}{}}|v_{ji}(k)|^2\frac{dk}{2\pi }=\frac{dk}{4\pi }$$
(43)
on $`𝕂\times \{j\}`$; that is, $`\mu `$ is the uniform distribution on $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. In the Hadamard case, for example, with $`h`$ given by (23), if $`X_0=0`$ and the coin initially random, then, for $`1/\sqrt{2}y1/\sqrt{2}`$,

$`P(Yy)`$ $`={\displaystyle _{h^1([\mathrm{},y])}}𝑑\mu `$
$`=2{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{cos}k/\sqrt{1+\mathrm{cos}^2k}y}}{\displaystyle \frac{dk}{4\pi }}`$
$`=1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\pi }}\mathrm{arccos}\left({\displaystyle \frac{k}{\sqrt{1k^2}}}\right),`$
which gives as density $`f(y)`$ of $`Y`$,

$$f(y)=\frac{dy}{\pi (1y^2)\sqrt{12y^2}},$$
(44)
in agreement with the result of konno1 . The same holds for every unbiased walk defined by (25).

The above result can be interpreted as the weak convergence of the sequence $`\widehat{X}_n/n`$ of operators on $`H`$, as $`n\mathrm{}`$, to an operator $`V`$, defined on a dense subspace of $`H`$ with spectral resolution

$$V=\underset{j}{}\left(\frac{D\lambda _j(k)}{\lambda _j(k)}\right)dE_j(k),$$
(45)
where $`dE_j(k)`$ is the projector over the eigenspace corresponding to the eigenvalue $`\lambda _j(k)`$ of $`U(k)`$. (The weak convergence of unbounded operators here is formally defined as the weak convergence of the corresponding unitary operators $`\mathrm{exp}(is\widehat{X}_n/n)\mathrm{exp}(isV)`$ for every real $`s`$.) The limit operator is diagonal in the eigenbasis of the unitary evolution of the walk and gives

$$\widehat{X}_nVn,$$
(46)
that represents the Heisenberg equation of motion for the position, in the limit $`n\mathrm{}`$, if we interpret $`V`$ as the “velocity” operator. Thus, asymptotically, the centre of the wave packet moves with constant speed, given by $`V`$. It is worth pointing out that, although the equation of motion resembles the one of a classical system with constant velocity, the state of the quantum particle spreads in time, with a quadratic growth in the variance of the position distribution.

## III Weak limit for $`d`$-dimensional quantum walks

Let $`d1`$. The classical random walk on the integer lattice $`^d`$ models the motion of a particle that moves in an unbiased manner in a $`d`$-dimensional space. Let $`𝐞_i`$, $`i\{1,2,\mathrm{},n\}`$, be the unit vector in the direction of increasing $`i`$th coordinate. Let $`𝐑_1,𝐑_2,\mathrm{}`$ be independent identically distributed random variables, each being uniform on the set $`\{\pm 𝐞_i:i=1,2,\mathrm{},d\}`$. The position of the particle at time $`n`$ is given as the sum

$$𝐗_n=\underset{j=1}{\overset{n}{}}𝐑_j.$$
(47)
By the central limit theorem for $`d`$-dimensional random walk, the random vector $`𝐗_n/\sqrt{n}`$ converges weakly as $`n\mathrm{}`$ to a random vector in $`^d`$ having the multivariate normal distribution $`N(0,I/d)`$, where $`I`$ is the $`d\times d`$ identity matrix. We shall see in the following that a corresponding weak convergence holds for a $`d`$-dimensional quantum random walk.

The 1-dimensional quantum random walk of the last section may be extended to $`d`$ dimensions as follows. Let $`\mathit{ϵ}_1,\mathrm{},\mathit{ϵ}_{2d}`$ denote the $`2d`$ possible shift vectors $`\pm 𝐞_i`$, $`i=1,2,\mathrm{},d`$. The state of the system is a vector $`\mathrm{\Psi }=(\mathrm{\Psi }(𝐤)_J)_{J=1}^{2d}H=L^2(𝕂^d)^{2d}`$ where $`𝐤=(k_1,k_2,\mathrm{},k_d)`$ and the $`J`$th component corresponds to a shift by the vector $`\mathit{ϵ}_J`$. At each time, the state is transformed by applying a rotation $`A`$ acting on $`^{2d}`$, followed by a $`d`$-dimensional shift on $`L^2(𝕂^d)`$, cf. (10),

$$S^{(d)}\mathrm{\Psi }(𝐤)_J=e^{i\mathit{ϵ}_J𝐤}\mathrm{\Psi }(𝐤)_J.$$
(48)
The general unitary operator that evolves the walk from time $`n=0`$ is thus

$$U(𝐤)=𝒟\{e^{i\mathit{ϵ}_1𝐤},\mathrm{},e^{i\mathit{ϵ}_{2d}𝐤}\}A,$$
(49)
where $`𝒟`$ denotes the $`2d`$ diagonal matrix. The operator $`U(𝐤)`$ can be diagonalized in $`H`$, and has $`2d`$ eigenvalues and $`2d`$ eigenvectors. Assume that one may choose the latter as $`C^{\mathrm{}}`$ functions of $`𝐤`$. (See the remark at the end of the section.) Let $`v_J(𝐤)`$, $`\lambda _J(𝐤)`$ be respectively the eigenvectors and eigenvalues of $`U(𝐤)`$, with $`J=1,2,\mathrm{},2d`$. The initial state of the system can be written in this basis as

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_0(𝐤)=\underset{J=1}{\overset{2d}{}}v_J(𝐤),\mathrm{\Psi }_0(𝐤)v_J(𝐤)$$
(50)
and the state at time $`n`$ as

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_n(𝐤)=\underset{J=1}{\overset{2d}{}}\lambda _J^n(𝐤)v_J(𝐤),\mathrm{\Psi }_0(𝐤)v_J(𝐤).$$
(51)
The $`d`$-dimensional position operator $`X^{(d)}=(X_1,X_2,\mathrm{},X_d)`$ acts on $`L^2(𝕂^d)`$ as the differential vector operator $`D^{(d)}=(id/dk_1,id/dk_2,\mathrm{},id/dk_d)`$. By considering each component of $`D^{(d)}`$ separately, it is easily seen that the operators $`\widehat{X}_{i,n}`$ converge weakly on $`H`$, as $`n\mathrm{}`$, to the corresponding components $`V_i`$, where

$$V_i=\underset{J}{}\left(\frac{D_i\lambda _J(𝐤)}{\lambda _J(𝐤)}\right)dE_J(𝐤),$$
(52)
where $`dE_J(𝐤)`$ denotes again the projector onto the eigenspace of $`U(𝐤)`$ with eigenvalue $`\lambda _J(𝐤)`$. This does not imply, however, that the sequence of random vectors associated with the process converges weakly on $`\mathrm{\Omega }=𝕂^d\times \{1,\mathrm{},2d\}`$. In general, the evolution operator $`U(𝐤)`$ generates entanglement between the different spatial directions and it is necessary therefore to consider also the correlation terms between different components of $`\widehat{X}^{(d)}`$.

The so-called Cramér–Wold device enables a simplification: in order that a sequence of random variables converge weakly, it suffices that all linear combinations converge. More properly, we have the following, see billingsley , Theorem 29.4.

###### Theorem 2.

Consider a sequence $`𝐗_n=(X_{1,n},X_{2,n},\mathrm{},X_{d,n})`$, $`n1`$, of random $`d`$-vectors, and let $`𝐘=(Y_1,Y_2,\mathrm{},Y_d)`$ be a random $`d`$-vector. If

$$\underset{j=1}{\overset{d}{}}c_jX_{j,n}\underset{j=1}{\overset{d}{}}c_jY_j\text{as }n\mathrm{},$$
(53)
for all $`𝐜=(c_1,c_2,\mathrm{},c_d)^d`$, then $`𝐗_n𝐘`$.

Suppose for simplicity that $`d=2`$. For fixed $`r`$, we compute the expectation

$`E`$ $`\left[\left({\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{2}{}}}c_j\widehat{X}_{j,n}/n\right)^r\right]`$
$`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{n^r}}{\displaystyle \underset{p=0}{\overset{r}{}}}\left({\displaystyle \genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{r}{p}}\right)c_1^{rp}c_2^p\mathrm{\Psi }_n,D_1^{rp}D_2^p\mathrm{\Psi }_n,`$ (54)
where we have used the fact that operators along different directions commute. We have

$`D_2^p\mathrm{\Psi }_n(𝐤)`$ $`={\displaystyle \underset{J}{}}(n)_p\lambda _J^{np}(𝐤)\left(D_2\lambda _J(𝐤)\right)^pv_J(𝐤),\mathrm{\Psi }_0(𝐤)v_J(𝐤)+\text{O}(n^{p1})`$ (55)
$`D_1^{rp}[D_2^p\mathrm{\Psi }_n(𝐤)]`$ $`={\displaystyle \underset{J}{}}(n)_r\lambda _J^{nr}(𝐤)\left(D_1\lambda _J(𝐤)\right)^{rp}\left(D_2\lambda _J(𝐤)\right)^pv_J(𝐤),\mathrm{\Psi }_0(𝐤)v_J(𝐤)+\text{O}(n^{r1}).`$ (56)
Thus, as $`n\mathrm{}`$,

$`E\left[\left({\displaystyle \frac{(c_1\widehat{X}_1+c_2\widehat{X}_2)_n}{n}}\right)^r\right]`$
$`{\displaystyle \underset{J}{}\left\{\underset{p=0}{\overset{r}{}}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{r}{p}\right)c_1^{rp}c_2^ph_1(𝐤,J)^{rp}h_2(𝐤,J)^p\right\}|v_J(𝐤),\mathrm{\Psi }_0(𝐤)|^2\frac{d𝐤}{(2\pi )^2}}`$
$`={\displaystyle \{c_1h_1(𝐤,J)+c_2h_2(𝐤,J)\}^r|v_J(𝐤),\mathrm{\Psi }_0(𝐤)|^2\frac{d𝐤}{(2\pi )^2}},`$
where $`h_i(𝐤,J)=\lambda _J(𝐤)^1D_i\lambda _J(𝐤)`$, $`i=1,2`$. With $`\mathrm{\Omega }=𝕂^2\times \{1,2,3,4\}`$, and $`Z_n=c_1X_{1,n}+c_2X_{2,n}`$, we have

$$E\left[(Z_n/n)^r\right]_\mathrm{\Omega }(c_1h_1+c_2h_2)^r𝑑\mu ,$$
(57)
where $`\mu `$ is the probability measure on $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ given by

$$d\mu =|v_J(𝐤),\mathrm{\Psi }_0(𝐤)|^2\frac{d𝐤}{(2\pi )^2}\text{on }𝕂^2\times \{J\}.$$
(58)
By the method of moments as in the one-dimensional case and the Cramér–Wold device (Theorem 2), we obtain a generalization of Theorem 1 to the two-dimensional case.

As a simple example, consider the two-dimensional generalization of the Hadamard matrix given by

$$A=\frac{1}{2}\left(\begin{array}{cccc}\hfill 1& \hfill 1& \hfill 1& \hfill 1\\ \hfill 1& \hfill 1& \hfill 1& \hfill 1\\ \hfill 1& \hfill 1& \hfill 1& \hfill 1\\ \hfill 1& \hfill 1& \hfill 1& \hfill 1\end{array}\right).$$
(59)
In the above notation, the unitary operator that evolves the walk is represented by

$$U(𝐤)=𝒟\{e^{ik_1},e^{ik_2},e^{ik_2},e^{ik_1}\}A.$$
(60)
The operator $`U(𝐤)`$ may be expressed thus as a tensor product of two one-dimensional operators that describe Hadamard walks along the directions defined by $`k^+=(k_1+k_2)/2`$ and $`k^{}=(k_1k_2)/2`$:

$$U(𝐤)=U(k^+)U(k^{}).$$
(61)
Its eigenvalues and eigenvectors are products of those of $`U(k^+)`$, $`U(k^{})`$ respectively, and therefore

$$\lambda _J(𝐤)=\lambda _{j_+}(k^+)\lambda _j_{}(k^{}),$$
(62)
where the $`\lambda _j`$, $`j=1,2`$, are given by (22) and $`J=1,2,3,4`$ labels the pairs $`(j_+,j_{})`$ in some order. Thus

$`h_i(𝐤,J)=`$ $`\lambda _J(𝐤)^1D_i\lambda _J(𝐤)`$
$`=`$ $`\pm {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{cos}(k^+)}{2\sqrt{2\mathrm{sin}^2(k^+)}}}`$
$`\pm (1)^{i1}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{cos}(k^{})}{2\sqrt{2\mathrm{sin}^2(k^{})}}}.`$ (63)
for $`i=1,2`$. The limit velocity operator $`𝐕`$ is given by $`𝐕=(V_1,V_2)`$, with

$$V_i=\underset{J}{}h_i(𝐤,J)dE_J(𝐤),J=1,2,3,4.$$
(64)
The result may be extended to arbitrary dimension $`d2`$ using the same argument, yielding the following result.

###### Theorem 3.

For the $`d`$-dimensional quantum random walk,

$$\frac{1}{n}𝐗_n𝐘=(h_1(Z),\mathrm{},h_d(Z)),$$
(65)
where $`Z`$ is a random element of $`\mathrm{\Omega }=𝕂^2\times \{1,\mathrm{},2d\}`$ with distribution $`\mu `$ given by (58) and $`h_i(𝐤,J)=\lambda _J(𝐤)^1D_i\lambda _J(𝐤)`$.

The limit observable is again diagonal in the eigenbasis of $`U(𝐤)`$ and represents the velocity for $`n\mathrm{}`$.

###### Technical remark.

We assumed above that the eigenvectors of $`U(𝐤)`$ can be chosen as $`C^{\mathrm{}}`$ functions of $`𝐤`$. We do not know if this is always possible when $`d2`$, but it can be replaced by the following, weaker hypothesis, which we believe always holds: There exists an open subset $`O`$ of $`𝕂^d`$ with full Lebesgue measure (that is, the complement is a null set) such that the eigenvectors (and thus the eigenvalues) can be chosen infinitely differentiable in $`O`$. (For example, this holds if there is any point $`𝐤`$ where $`U(𝐤)`$ has distinct eigenvalues, because we then can choose $`O`$ as the subset of $`(0,2\pi )^d`$ where the discriminant is non-zero; we omit the proof that this set has the required properties.)

Under this assumption, the argument above holds for every initial value that is an infinitely differentiable function with support in $`O`$. (The function $`h`$ will be defined on $`O\times \{1,2,\mathrm{},2d\}`$, but that is enough.) Such functions are dense in $`H`$, by a standard $`L^2`$ result. Hence, given any initial state $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0`$, and an $`ϵ>0`$, we can find an initial state $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0^ϵ`$ with $`\mathrm{\Psi }_0\mathrm{\Psi }_0^ϵ<ϵ`$ for which

$$\frac{1}{n}𝐗_n^ϵ(h_1(Z^ϵ),\mathrm{},h_d(Z^ϵ)).$$
(66)
Since the evolution operators are unitary, we have $`\mathrm{\Psi }_n\mathrm{\Psi }_n^ϵ=\mathrm{\Psi }_0\mathrm{\Psi }_0^ϵ<ϵ`$ for every $`n`$, and it follows that for any observable event $`A`$, the probabilities $`(𝐗_nA)`$ and $`(𝐗_n^ϵA)`$ differ by at most $`2ϵ`$. Similarly, it is easy to see from (58) that $`|(ZB)(Z^ϵB)|<2ϵ`$ for every $`B\mathrm{\Omega }`$. It is now easy to interchange the two limits $`ϵ0`$ and $`n\mathrm{}`$ and obtain (65); see billingsley , Theorem 4.2. Theorem 3 thus holds for every initial state, also under the weaker assumption.

## IV Further extensions

We have, for simplicity, only considered simple random walks, where the shifts are by unit vectors. More generally, we can allow shifts by any given finite set $`\{\mathit{ϵ}_1,\mathit{ϵ}_2,\mathrm{},\mathit{ϵ}_N\}`$ of vectors in $`^d`$. The coin flip is now represented by a unitary matrix $`A`$ in $`^N`$. Theorem 3 extends to this case, with $`2d`$ replaced by $`N`$, by the same proof.

An interesting example is when the shift vectors are the $`2^d`$ vectors in $`\{1,1\}^d`$; thus each coordinate is shifted by $`\pm 1`$ in each step.

###### Acknowledgements.

PFS would like to thank the Statistical Laboratory, University of Cambridge, for its warm hospitality. Work by PFS was supported by the British Technion Society. This paper was completed during a programme at the Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge.


text:
# On a Separatrix in the Gravitational Collapse to an Overcritical Electromagnetic Black Hole

## Abstract

The dynamical properties of an electron–positron–photon plasma created by the vacuum polarization process occurring around a charged gravitationally collapsing core of an initially neutral star are examined within the framework of General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory. The Reissner–Nordström geometry is assumed to apply between the collapsing core and the oppositely charged remnant of the star. The appearance of a separatrix at radius $`\overline{R}`$, well outside the asymptotic approach to the horizon, is evidenced. The neutral electron–positron–photon plasma created at radii $`r>\overline{R}`$ self-propels outwards to infinity, following the classical PEM–pulse analysis . The plasma created at $`r<\overline{R}`$ remains trapped and follows the gravitational collapse of the core only contributing to the reduction of the electromagnetic energy of the black hole and to the increase of its irreducible mass. This phenomenon has consequences for the observational properties of gamma–ray bursts and is especially relevant for the theoretical prediction of the temporal and spectral structure of the short bursts.

, ,

The formulation of the physics of the *dyadosphere* of an electromagnetic black hole (EMBH) has been until now approached by assuming the vacuum polarization process *à là* Sauter–Heisenberg–Euler–Schwinger  in the field of an already formed Kerr–Newmann  or Reissner–Nordström black hole . This acausal approach is certainly valid in order to describe the overall energetics and the time development of the gamma–ray bursts (GRBs) reaching a remarkable agreement between the observations and the theoretical prediction, in particular with respect to: a) the existence of a proper gamma–ray burst (P–GRB) , b) the afterglow detailed luminosity function and spectral properties  and c) the relative intensity of the P-GRB to the afterglow .

This acausal approach has to be improved by taking into account the causal dynamical process of the formation of the dyadosphere as soon as the detailed description on timescales of $`10^410^3`$s of the P–GRB are considered. Such a description leads to theoretical predictions on the time variability of the P–GRB spectra which may become soon testable by a new class of specially conceived space missions.

It is the aim of this letter to report progress in this theoretically challenging process which is marked by distinctive and precise quantum and general relativistic effects. These new results have been made possible by the recent progress in Refs. ,  and especially . There it was demonstrated the intrinsic stability of the gravitational amplification of the electromagnetic field at the surface of a charged star core collapsing to an EMBH. The $`e^+e^{}`$ plasma generated by the vacuum polarization process around the core is entangled in the electromagnetic field . The $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs do thermalize in an electron–positron–photon plasma on a time scale $`10^210^4`$ times larger than $`\mathrm{}/m_ec`$ , where $`c`$ is the speed of light and $`m_e`$ the electron mass. As soon as the thermalization has occurred, a dynamical phase of this electrically neutral plasma starts following the considerations already discussed in . While the temporal evolution of the $`e^+e^{}\gamma `$ plasma takes place, the gravitationally collapsing core moves inwards, giving rise to a further amplified supercritical field, which in turn generates a larger amount of $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs leading to a yet higher temperature in the newly formed $`e^+e^{}\gamma `$ plasma. We report, in the following, progress in the understanding of this crucial dynamical process: the main difference from the previous treatments is the fact that we do not consider an already formed EMBH but we follow the dynamical phase of the formation of dyadosphere and of the asymptotic approach to the horizon by examining the time varying process at the surface of the gravitationally collapsing core.

The space–time external to the surface of the spherically symmetric collapsing core is described by the Reissner-Nordström geometry  with line element

$$ds^2=\alpha ^2dt^2+\alpha ^2dr^2+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2,$$
(1)
with $`d\mathrm{\Omega }^2=d\theta ^2+\mathrm{sin}^2\theta d\varphi ^2`$, $`\alpha ^2=\alpha ^2\left(r\right)=12M/r+Q^2/r^2`$, where $`M`$ and $`Q`$ are the total energy and charge of the core as measured at infinity. On the core surface, which at the time $`t_0`$ has radial coordinate $`r_0`$, the electromagnetic field strength is $`=\left(r_0\right)=Q/r_0^2`$. The equation of core’s collapse is (see ):

$$\frac{dr_0}{dt_0}=\frac{\alpha ^2\left(r_0\right)}{H\left(r_0\right)}\sqrt{H^2\left(r_0\right)\alpha ^2\left(r_0\right)}$$
(2)
where $`H\left(r_0\right)=\frac{M}{M_0}\frac{M_0^2+Q^2}{2M_0r_0}`$ and $`M_0`$ is the core rest mass. Analytic expressions for the solution of Eq. (2) were given in . We here recall that the dyadosphere radius is defined by $`\left(r_{\mathrm{ds}}\right)=_\mathrm{c}=`$ $`m_e^2c^3/e\mathrm{}`$  as $`r_{\mathrm{ds}}=\sqrt{eQ\mathrm{}/m_e^2c^3}`$, where $`e`$ is the electron charge. In the following we assume that the dyadosphere starts to be formed at the instant $`t_{\mathrm{ds}}=t_0\left(r_{\mathrm{ds}}\right)=0`$.

Having formulated the core collapse in General Relativity in Eq. (2), in order to describe the quantum phenomena, we consider, at each value of $`r_0`$ and $`t_0`$, a slab of constant coordinate thickness $`\mathrm{\Delta }r`$ small in comparison with $`r_{\mathrm{ds}}`$ and larger than $`\mathrm{}/m_ec^2`$. All the results will be shown to be independent on the choice of the value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }r`$. In each slab the process of vacuum polarization leading to $`e^+e^{}`$ pair creation is considered. As shown in  the pairs created oscillate  with ultrarelativistic velocities and partially annihilate into photons; the electric field oscillates around zero and the amplitude of such oscillations decreases with a characteristic time of the order of $`10^210^4`$ $`\mathrm{}/m_ec^2`$. The electric field is effectively screened to the critical value $`_\mathrm{c}`$ and the pairs thermalize to an $`e^+e^{}\gamma `$ plasma. While the average of the electric field $``$ over one oscillation is $`0`$, the average of $`^2`$ is of the order of $`_c^2`$, therefore the energy density in the pairs and photons, as a function of $`r_0`$, is given by

$$ϵ_0\left(r_0\right)=\frac{1}{8\pi }\left[^2\left(r_0\right)_c^2\right]=\frac{_c^2}{8\pi }\left[\left(\frac{r_{\mathrm{ds}}}{r_0}\right)^41\right].$$
(3)
For the number densities of $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs and photons at thermal equilibrium we have $`n_{e^+e^{}}n_\gamma `$; correspondingly the equilibrium temperature $`T_0`$, which is clearly a function of $`r_0`$ and is different for each slab, is such that

$$ϵ\left(T_0\right)ϵ_\gamma \left(T_0\right)+ϵ_{e^+}\left(T_0\right)+ϵ_e^{}\left(T_0\right)=ϵ_0,$$
(4)
with $`ϵ`$ and $`n`$ given by Fermi (Bose) integrals (with zero chemical potential):

$`ϵ_{e^+e^{}}\left(T_0\right)`$ $`=\frac{2}{\pi ^2\mathrm{}^3}{\displaystyle _{m_e}^{\mathrm{}}}\frac{\left(E^2m_e^2\right)^{1/2}}{\mathrm{exp}\left(E/kT_0\right)+1}E^2𝑑E,ϵ_\gamma \left(T_0\right)=\frac{\pi ^2}{15\mathrm{}^3}\left(kT_0\right)^4,`$ (5)
$`n_{e^+e^{}}\left(T_0\right)`$ $`=\frac{1}{\pi ^2\mathrm{}^3}{\displaystyle _{m_e}^{\mathrm{}}}\frac{\left(E^2m_e^2\right)^{1/2}}{\mathrm{exp}\left(E/kT_0\right)+1}E𝑑E,n_\gamma \left(T_0\right)=\frac{2\zeta \left(3\right)}{\mathrm{}^3}\left(kT_0\right)^3,`$ (6)
where $`k`$ is the Boltzmann constantFrom the conditions set by Eqs. (4), (5), (6), we can now turn to the dynamical evolution of the $`e^+e^{}\gamma `$ plasma in each slab. We use the covariant conservation of energy momentum and the rate equation for the number of pairs in the Reissner–Nordström geometry external to the star core:

$$_aT^{ab}=0,_a\left(n_{e^+e^{}}u^a\right)=\overline{\sigma v}\left[n_{e^+e^{}}^2\left(T\right)n_{e^+e^{}}^2\right],$$
(7)
where $`T^{ab}=\left(ϵ+p\right)u^au^b+pg^{ab}`$ is the energy–momentum tensor of the plasma with proper energy density $`ϵ`$ and proper pressure $`p`$, $`u^a`$ is the fluid $`4`$velocity, $`n_{e^+e^{}}`$ is the number of pairs, $`n_{e^+e^{}}\left(T\right)`$ is the equilibrium number of pairs and $`\overline{\sigma v}`$ is the mean of the product of the $`e^+e^{}`$ annihilation cross-section and the thermal velocity of pairs. We follow closely the treatment which we developed for the consideration of a plasma generated in the dyadosphere of an already formed EMBH . It was shown in  that the plasma expands as a pair–electromagnetic pulse (PEM pulse) of constant thickness in the laboratory frame. Since the expansion, hydrodynamical timescale is much larger than the pair creation ($`\mathrm{}/m_ec^2`$) and the thermalization ($`10^210^4\mathrm{}/m_ec^2`$) time-scales, in each slab the plasma remains at thermal equilibrium in the initial phase of the expansion and the right hand side of the rate Eq. (7) is effectively $`0`$, see Fig. 24 (second panel) of  for details.

If we denote by $`\xi ^a`$ the static Killing vector field normalized at unity at spacial infinity and by $`\left\{\mathrm{\Sigma }_t\right\}_t`$ the family of space-like hypersurfaces orthogonal to $`\xi ^a`$ ($`t`$ being the Killing time) in the Reissner–Nordström geometry, from Eqs. (7), the following integral conservation laws can be derived (see for instance )

$$_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_t}\xi _aT^{ab}𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }_b=E,_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_t}n_{e^+e^{}}u^b𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }_b=N_{e^+e^{}},$$
(8)
where $`d\mathrm{\Sigma }_b=\alpha ^2\xi _br^2\mathrm{sin}\theta drd\theta d\varphi `$ is the vector surface element, $`E`$ the total energy and $`N_{e^+e^{}}`$ the total number of pairs which remain constant in each slab. We then have

$$\left[\left(ϵ+p\right)\gamma ^2p\right]r^2=𝔈,n_{e^+e^{}}\gamma \alpha ^1r^2=𝔑_{e^+e^{}},$$
(9)
where $`𝔈`$ and $`𝔑_{e^+e^{}}`$ are constants and

$$\gamma \alpha ^1u^a\xi _a=\left[1\alpha ^4\left(\frac{dr}{dt}\right)^2\right]^{1/2}$$
(10)
is the Lorentz $`\gamma `$ factor of the slab as measured by static observers. We can rewrite Eqs. (8) for each slab as

$`\left(\frac{dr}{dt}\right)^2`$ $`=\alpha ^4f_{r_0},`$ (11)
$`\left(\frac{r}{r_0}\right)^2`$ $`=\left(\frac{ϵ+p}{ϵ_0}\right)\left(\frac{n_{e^+e^{}0}}{n_{e^+e^{}}}\right)^2\left(\frac{\alpha }{\alpha _0}\right)^2\frac{p}{ϵ_0}\left(\frac{r}{r_0}\right)^4,`$ (12)
$`f_{r_0}`$ $`=1\left(\frac{n_{e^+e^{}}}{n_{e^+e^{}0}}\right)^2\left(\frac{\alpha _0}{\alpha }\right)^2\left(\frac{r}{r_0}\right)^4`$ (13)
where pedex 0 refers to quantities evaluated at selected initial times $`t_0>0`$, having assumed $`r\left(t_0\right)=r_0`$, $`dr/dt|_{t=t_0}=0`$, $`T\left(t_0\right)=T_0`$.

Eq. (11) is only meaningful when $`f_{r_0}\left(r\right)0`$. From the structural analysis of such equation it is clearly identifiable a critical radius $`\overline{R}`$ such that:

* for any slab initially located at $`r_0>\overline{R}`$ we have $`f_{r_0}\left(r\right)0`$ for any value of $`rr_0`$ and $`f_{r_0}\left(r\right)<0`$ for $`rr_0`$; therefore a slab initially located at a radial coordinate $`r_0>\overline{R}`$ moves outwards,
* for any slab initially located at $`r_0<\overline{R}`$ we have $`f_{r_0}\left(r\right)0`$ for any value of $`r_+<rr_0`$ and $`f_{r_0}\left(r\right)<0`$ for $`rr_0`$; therefore a slab initially located at a radial coordinate $`r_0<\overline{R}`$ moves inwards and is trapped by the gravitational field of the collapsing core.

We define the surface $`r=\overline{R}`$, the *dyadosphere trapping surface* (DTS). The radius $`\overline{R}`$ of DTS is generally evaluated by the condition $`\frac{df_{\overline{R}}}{dr}|_{r=\overline{R}}=0`$. $`\overline{R}`$ is so close to the horizon value $`r_+`$ that the initial temperature $`T_0`$ satisfies $`kT_0m_ec^2`$ and we can obtain for $`\overline{R}`$ an analytical expression. Namely the ultrarelativistic approximation of all Fermi integrals, Eqs. (5) and (6), is justified and we have $`n_{e^+e^{}}\left(T\right)T^3`$ and therefore $`f_{r_0}1\left(T/T_0\right)^6\left(\alpha _0/\alpha \right)^2\left(r/r_0\right)^4`$ ($`r\overline{R}`$). The defining equation of $`\overline{R}`$, together with (13), then gives

$$\overline{R}=2M\left[1+\left(13Q^2/4M^2\right)^{1/2}\right]>r_+.$$
(14)
In the case of an EMBH with $`M=20M_{}`$, $`Q=0.1M`$, we compute:

* the fraction of energy trapped in DTS:

$$\overline{E}=_{r_+<r<\overline{R}}\alpha ϵ_0𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }0.53_{r_+<r<r_{\mathrm{ds}}}\alpha ϵ_0𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma };$$
(15)
* the world–lines of slabs of plasma for selected $`r_0`$ in the interval $`(\overline{R},r_{\mathrm{ds}})`$ (see Fig. 1);
* the world–lines of slabs of plasma for selected $`r_0`$ in the interval $`(r_+,\overline{R})`$ (see Fig. 2).

At time $`\overline{t}t_0\left(\overline{R}\right)`$ when the DTS is formed, the plasma extends over a region of space which is almost one order of magnitude larger than the dyadosphere and which we define as the *effective dyadosphere*. The values of the Lorentz $`\gamma `$ factor, the temperature and $`e^+e^{}`$ number density in the effective dyadosphere are given in Fig. 3.

In conclusion we see how the causal description of the dyadosphere formation can carry important messages on the time variability and spectral distribution of the P–GRB due to quantum effects as well as precise signature of General Relativity.


text:
# Evidence for the Jacobi shape transition in hot 46Ti

## 1 INTRODUCTION

The Jacobi shape transition, an abrupt change of nuclear shape from an oblate ellipsoid non-collectively rotating around its symmetry axis, to an elongated prolate or triaxial shape, rotating collectively around the shortest axis has been predicted to appear in many nuclei at angular momenta close to the fission limit . Signatures of the presence of elongated shapes can be found, among others, in the $`\gamma `$-decay of the Giant Dipole Resonance (GDR), in the giant back-bend of the $`E`$2 $`\gamma `$-transition energies  and in the angular distribution of the emitted charged particles.

Until now, however, a firm experimental evidence for the Jacobi shape transition in nuclei could not be established. Some indications of such elongated shapes were obtained in the studies of the GDR decay from 45Sc  and 46Ti  compound nuclei. In the case of 45Sc, the GDR measurement was inclusive, while for 46Ti it was more exclusive, namely it was associated with various $`\gamma `$-multiplicity values. However, in both studies other explanations, as for example contribution from fission could not be completely ruled out.

In order to address in more detail the problem of the Jacobi shape transition focusing on the GDR $`\gamma `$-decay, a new highly selective experiment for 46Ti was performed. To obtain high energy $`\gamma `$-ray spectra associated with fusion-evaporation reaction and free from contribution of fission products and/or other non-fusion reactions, the restrictive conditions of gating on well-known discrete lines of the evaporation residual nuclei were applied.

In this paper we report on some new results concerning the measurement of the high energy $`\gamma `$-rays with very stringent conditions selecting the highest part of the spin distribution.

The following section describes the experiment and the data analysis. The discussion of the results presented here focuses for the first time on the importance of the Coriolis splitting of the GDR components at the high rotational frequencies that can be reached only in light nuclei.

## 2 THE EXPERIMENT

The experiment was performed at the VIVITRON accelerator of the IReS Laboratory, Strasbourg (France), using the EUROBALL IV Ge-array coupled to the HECTOR array  and the charged particle detector EUCLIDES. The 46Ti compound nucleus was populated in the 18O+28Si reaction at 105 MeV bombarding energy. The excitation energy of the 46Ti nuclei was 86 MeV and the maximum angular momentum $`l_{max}`$ 35 $`\mathrm{}`$. For this experiment, the EUROBALL consisted of 26 germanium clover and 15 cluster detectors (all with the BGO anti-Compton shields), and 75% of the Inner-ball (83 BGO crystals) which together with the germanium detectors resulted in 65% efficiency for the multiplicity determination. The 8 large volume BaF2 detectors of the HECTOR were placed in the forward hemisphere, together with 4 small BaF2 detectors which provided a good time reference signal. The EUCLIDES consisted of 40 silicon telescope detectors covering approximately 90% of the solid angle. Only events having at least 2 Compton suppressed Ge signals and one high-energy $`\gamma `$-ray were accepted. A total number of 108 events were collected, in which the $`\gamma `$-ray energy in any BaF2 detector was larger then 4 MeV.

Figure 1 shows two measured high-energy $`\gamma `$-ray spectra. The first, displayed by the histogram, corresponds to the selection of $`\gamma `$-fold in the interval 11–20, as measured in the Innerball. The second spectrum, showed with filled squares, was obtained with the additional simultaneos selection of clean and well resolved low energy $`\gamma `$-ray transitions of 42Ca in the Ge-detectors of the EUROBALL array. This particular residual nucleus was expected to be populated only in the decay from the highest spin region of the compound nucleus and, therefore, by gating on it we obtained data corresponding to the highest spins and free from fission contaminations. The two spectra, normalized at $`E_\gamma =`$ 6 MeV, show differences in the two regions: around $`E_\gamma =`$ 9 MeV and around $`E_\gamma =`$ 17 MeV, where evident yield excesses were found in the germanium gated spectrum. These excesses are better evidenced in the inset to Figure 1, which shows the ratio of the two measured spectra.

## 3 THE STATISTICAL MODEL ANALYSIS

The statistical model analysis was made for the high energy $`\gamma `$-spectrum gated by the discrete transitions in 42Ca. This spectrum, being associated with a selected evaporation channel, was analyzed using the CASCADE code based on the Monte-Carlo technique. This, in fact, allows to select only those decay chains which lead to the population of a specific residual nucleus.

The used Monte Carlo version of the CASCADE code, previously employed for the analysis of the heavier mass data , was implemented for this mass region by choosing the most appropriate values of the statistical model parameters (e.g. level density was assumed to be in accordance with Reisdorf prescription , the yrast line was taken from the experiment and extrapolated by the liquid drop values).

In the left panel of the Figure 2, the best fit to the experimental data is shown with the full line together with the data (filled squares). It corresponds to a GDR strength function consisting of 3 components at $`E_{GDR}=`$ 10.8, 18 and 26 MeV exhausting approximately the entire EWSR strength.

In particular, the need of a low energy component at $``$ 10 MeV is consistent with the fact that this spectrum has an yield excess as compared to a more inclusive spectrum (see the inset to Figure 1). The quality of the fit can be judged more clearly by inspecting the right panel of Fig. 2. This figure shows the GDR strength function data, represented by the quantity $`F_{3L}(E_\gamma )Y_\gamma ^{exp}(E_\gamma )/Y_\gamma ^{cal}(E_\gamma )`$. In that expression $`Y_\gamma ^{exp}(E_\gamma )`$ and $`Y_\gamma ^{cal}(E_\gamma )`$ are the experimental and calculated spectra, respectively, shown in the left panel of Fig. 2. The best fit GDR strength function, $`F_{3L}(E_\gamma )`$, consists of 3-component Lorentzian function with parameters (energy, width and strength) taken from the best fit to the experimental spectrum. $`F_{3L}(E_\gamma )`$ and its individual components are also plotted in the figure. It should be noted, that the best fit line $`F_{3L}(E_\gamma )`$ corresponds to the effective nuclear shape probed by the GDR oscillations.

## 4 DISCUSSION

The most striking feature of our results is the presence of the excess of the $`\gamma `$-yield at $``$ 10 MeV, identified for the first time in this mass region. A possible explanation can be related to a mechanism such as the Coriolis splitting of the GDR lineshape controlled by the rotational frequency of the rotating nucleus. In fact, only in those light nuclei one can reach the highest values of the rotational frequency (2–3 MeV in the spin interval 20–30 $`\mathrm{}`$) and in this particular experiment we are able to select them much better than in the previous rather inclusive works. Therefore, we have investigated in detail the effect of the Coriolis splitting in the GDR lineshape as a function of the spin (rotational frequency) and the quadrupole deformation type ($`\gamma `$) and the size ($`\beta `$).

The expressions connecting the GDR vibrational frequencies to the rotational frequency  of the nucleus are reported in Table 1.

Figure 3 shows the calculated GDR lineshapes for 46Ti to emphasize how they evolve as the functions of $`I`$ and $`\beta `$ for the cases of prolate, oblate and triaxial shapes. One can clearly note that the Coriolis splitting is not affecting the oblate shapes ($`\gamma =`$ 60). In contrast, it produces strong effects, increasing as a function of spin, in the case of triaxial ($`\gamma =`$ 30) and especially prolate shapes ($`\gamma =`$ 0). In particular, it produces a rather strong and narow peak at $``$ 10 MeV for prolate and triaxial deformations with $`\beta `$ 0.4 which is similar to that we have observed in our experimental data.

In order to interprete the obtained GDR strength function data in the entire measured $`\gamma `$-ray energy region (5–30 MeV), we use the same approach as has been adopted in almost all experiments concerning the GDR in hot and rotating nuclei . This is based on the termal shape fluctuation model which predicts the GDR strength function corresponding to the shape ensemble probed by this collective excitation mode.

In the present case we have obtained the shape ensemble distributions (proportional to the the Boltzmann factor $`exp(F/T)`$, where $`F`$ is the free energy and $`T`$ is the temperature) for the relevant total excitation energy (85 MeV) and for different spins using the new parametrization of the liquid drop model LSD .

Those calculations show that the equilibrium shape of 46Ti undergoes the Jacobi transition from an oblate to a triaxial and a prolate shape for $`I=`$ 28 $`\mathrm{}`$. For the comparison with the experimental data at the highest spins populated in the reaction, we select the calulations for the spin interval 28–34 $`\mathrm{}`$ (this corresponds to an average temperature $`T=`$ 2 MeV and rotational frequency $`\omega =`$ 2.8 MeV). The calculations neglect shell effects, which are not expected to be important in this temperature region. The resulting GDR strength function, obtained as a weighted average (with the weight given by the Boltzmann factor) of strength functions calculated at each $`\beta ,\gamma `$ point (including also Coriolis effects), is displayed with the full line in Fig. 4 and compared with the experimental data. The remarkable good agreement between the theoretical predictions and the present experimental results is very much in favour of the presence of the Jacobi transition. More evidence for this transition is also given by the fact that the peak at $``$ 10 MeV can originate only in the presence of a fast rotation in nuclei of prolate or triaxial shapes (see discussion at the beginning of the section). In fact, for oblate shapes, typical for the equilibrium deformation at rotational frequencies lower than the critical value for the Jacobi transition, the Coriolis splitting is always absent.

A further signature for the Jacobi transition is the presence of two other broad components in the strength function at higher energies. One component, at $``$ 17 MeV, is clearly seen in the present data, while the other which is very broad (at 20–30 MeV) can only barely be identified because of the very limited statistics at these high energies in the present very exclusive spectrum.

In summary, the present work on the GDR $`\gamma `$-decay in the hot rotating nucleus, 46Ti, shows evidence for the expected Jacobi shape transition. It is based on the observation of two particular features in the measured GDR strength function. The first, already found in the previous works , is the presence of a high energy component related to large deformations. The second feature, identified for the first time in the present experiment, is the aperance of a GDR component at $``$ 10 MeV (in region where the statistics is very high), which is interpreted as due to the Coriolis splitting of the lowest vibrational frequency (which corresponds to the dipole vibration along the long axis of the well deformed prolate or triaxial shape) and consequently shifting down a part of the strength. This shows the importance of the selection of high rotational frequencies and of a good tagging on fusion-evaporation events in the investigations of nuclear shapes through the GDR $`\gamma `$-decay.

This work was supported by the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research (KBN Grant No. P03B 118 22), the European Commission contract EUROVIV, Danish Research Council and the Italian INFN.


text:
# Compression modulus of macroscopic fiber bundles.

## Abstract

We study dense, disordered stacks of elastic macroscopic fibers. These stacks often exhibit non-linear elasticity, due to the coupling between the applied stress and the internal distribution of fiber contacts. We propose a theoretical model for the compression modulus of such systems, and illustrate our method by studying the conical shapes frequently observed at the extremities of ropes and other fiber structures.

Threadlike objects are the constituents of many natural and synthetic materials safin ; fiberbook . At the microscopic level, filaments such as actin, microtubules and other semi-flexible polymers control not only the elastic and viscous properties of different biological architectures albertsbook  but also of polymer melts, surfactant solutions and gels doi:bookPD . These are collective properties that can be understood from the individual characteristics of the filaments like the bending and stretching elasticity or the friction coefficient landau:bookTE . At such small scales, thermal disorder plays a key role that has been successfully described within the framework of statistical mechanics. For instance, the reptation theory for polymer melts and solutions doi:bookPD ; degennes:bookSCPP  or the description of rigid gel elasticity jones:91  successfully account for the collective macroscopic behavior, based on a few, microscopic parameters of the single polymers. Surprisingly, macroscopic threadlike systems have been much less studied, in spite of their abundance in the natural and synthetic realms: hair, wool, cotton and other natural fibers or Nylon strings, ropes and textiles or glass wool belong to this class of systems fiberbook . Here also the elastic or friction constitutive parameters of the individual objects are well known. For instance, bending and stretching modulii of human hair, wool, Nylon and steel fibers can easily be found in the literature. But theories that predict collective fiber properties such as the compressibility of a hair tress, or studies that explain what forces play a role in a disentanglement action like combing or carding, are scarse carding ; glasswool . In this letter we argue that methods developed for fiber microscopic systems selinger  are also useful at the macroscopic level, and draw an analogy between the effect of thermal fluctuations and the effect of the intrinsic disorder carried by the spontaneous shapes of the fibers.

We consider a two dimensional fiber bundle as illustrated in figure 1. Discussion in two dimensions allows for a simpler presentation of the methods, while retaining the main ingredients of the problem. Extension to the three dimensional case will be discussed later. The bundle is composed of a large number $`𝒩`$ of elastic strands of length $`L`$, in a space of height $`d\times 𝒩`$, where $`d`$ is the average distance between two fibers. The shape of the fiber is described by the function $`\zeta _n(x)`$ that measures heigth deviations from the line of average position at height $`d\times n`$. This description in the Monge parametrization is well adapted to the shapes of interest, with a weak gradient $`d\zeta _n(x)/dx1`$. In the absence of interactions between fibers, each filament $`n`$ has a spontaneous shape, described by the function $`\zeta _{0,n}(x)`$. It is the disorder associated with the spontaneous shapes of the different fibers that leads to a non-trivial compression behavior of the whole system. Under an external force, the spontaneous shape of the fiber $`\zeta _{0,n}(x)`$ will be transformed into the actual shape $`\zeta _n(x)`$. Within the elastic limit, the deformation of a segment of length $`dx`$ around the natural shape will cost an elastic energy $`dU_\mathrm{b}`$, proportional to the bending modulus $`\kappa `$ and to the curvature differences, $`dU_\mathrm{b}=\kappa /2(\zeta _n^{\prime \prime }(x)\zeta _{0,n}^{\prime \prime }(x))^2dx`$.

The bending modulus $`\kappa `$ is a constitutive property of the fiber, that depends on the shape of its section and on the Young modulus of the material landau:bookTE . For instance, for a cylindral filament of radius $`a`$ and Young modulus $`E`$ one has $`\kappa =Ea^4/4`$. The total bending energy of the $`𝒩`$ filaments can then be written as :

$$U_\mathrm{b}=\frac{\kappa }{2}\underset{n=1}{\overset{𝒩}{}}_0^L𝑑x\left[\zeta _n^{\prime \prime }(x)\zeta _{0,n}^{\prime \prime }(x)\right]^2.$$
(1)
If one assumes that different fibers interact through a two body potential $`V`$, then the total interaction energy $`U_{\mathrm{int}}`$ can be written as

$$U_{\mathrm{int}}=\underset{n,m=1}{\overset{𝒩}{}}_0^L𝑑x_0^L𝑑x^{}V\left[\zeta _m(x)+md(\zeta _n(x^{})+nd)\right].$$
(2)
In order to bring the structure of the interaction energy to a tractable level, we follow a simple mean-field approximation, similar to the Helfrich treatment of thermally activated fluid membranes and fibers helfrichmemb ; helfrichfibers . We assume that forces between first-neighbors dominate the interaction energy, an exact assumption for excluded volume potentials and a good approximation for other short range forces such as those given by screened electrostatic potentials. Then the sum of the bending (1) and interaction (2) terms can be written as the effective energy

$$E_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{\kappa }{2}\underset{n=1}{\overset{𝒩}{}}_0^L𝑑x\left[\zeta _n^{\prime \prime }(x)\zeta _{0,n}^{\prime \prime }(x)\right]^2+\frac{B}{2}\underset{n=1}{\overset{𝒩}{}}_0^L𝑑x\left[\zeta _{n+1}(x)\zeta _n(x)\right]^2.$$
(3)
Because of the weak gradients involved, inter-fiber interactions take place only at the same $`x`$ coordinate. $`B`$ is the strength of the mean-field quadratic potential, to be determined by the self-consistent prescription $`B=d\times ^2e/d^2`$ where $`e=E_{\mathrm{eff}}/(L𝒩d)`$, is the average energy density. The equilibrium state of the fiber stack correponds to the minimum of the effective energy functional (3) with respect to the fiber configurations $`\{\zeta _n(x)\}`$, given the spontaneous shapes $`\{\zeta _{0,n}(x)\}`$, or more precisely, given the spontaneous curvatures $`\{\zeta _{0,n}^{\prime \prime }(x)\}`$. The spontaneous curvatures are to be treated as the random functions responsible for disorder in the system. Averages, denoted by $``$, will then be performed with the probability associated with the spontaneous curvature distribution. Before carrying forward the outlined procedure, it is of interest to review results for the thermal case, as this will help to build intuition for the key quantities controlling the stack structure.

In thermal stacks or bundles of fibers, disorder is introduced by the random Brownian motion of the fibers, which would otherwise be flat, i.e. $`\{\zeta _{0,n}(x)=0\}`$. The shape of a single fiber in solution is described by a persistent walk, a class of statistical walks where tangent correlations vanish exponentially over a persistence length $`\mathrm{}_p`$, related to the fiber rigidity through $`\mathrm{}_p=\kappa /(k_BT)`$. A persistent walk primarily moves along the forward direction for a short enough distance $`\mathrm{}`$, but it performs also side excursions of size $`D`$. From the equipartition theorem one has $`\mathrm{}_pD^2/\mathrm{}^31`$. In a stack, lateral excursions are limited by near-neighbors setting $`D=d`$. Typically, there is one interaction between fibers over a collision distance $`\mathrm{}_c\mathrm{}_p^{1/3}d^{2/3}`$. The energy density of the thermal stack $`e_T`$, being of the order of $`k_BT`$ per collision area, $`e_Tk_BT/(d\mathrm{}_c)`$, one gets a compression modulus:

$$B_T\frac{k_BT}{d^3}\left(\frac{d}{\mathrm{}_p}\right)^{1/3}=(k_BT)^{4/3}\kappa ^{1/3}d^{8/3},$$
(4)
which holds for large enough rigidities, $`\mathrm{}_pd`$.

In macroscopic fiber stacks, the disorder is quenched and introduced by the spontaneous disordered shapes $`\zeta _{0,n}(x)`$. Lets consider a typical shape of amplitude $`\zeta _0`$ and wavelength $`q_0^1`$. Clearly, there are no interactions for distances larger than the shape amplitude, $`d\zeta _0`$. For smaller distances the local gradients are of order of $`\zeta _0q_0`$, leading to a collision length $`\mathrm{}_cd/(\zeta _0q_0)`$. The energy density is thus given by $`e\kappa \zeta _0^2q_0^4\mathrm{}_c/(d\mathrm{}_c)=\kappa \zeta _0^2q_0^4/d`$, independent of $`\mathrm{}_c`$. It follows that the compression modulus reads:

$$B\kappa q_0^4\left(\frac{\zeta _0}{d}\right)^2.$$
(5)
It is worth at this stage to stress several striking differences and similarities between the thermal and the macroscopic cases. First, contrary to thermal stacks, where the compressibility is only governed by the persistence length $`\mathrm{}_p`$ and by the distance between fibers $`d`$, in macrosocopic fiber stacks the spacial scale associated with disorder inhomogeneities plays also an important role. As a matter of fact, the scale for compressibility is set by the combination $`\kappa q_0^4`$: stiffer fibers lead to harder macroscopic materials, quite at the opposite of thermal stacks where increasing fiber stiffness reduces fluctuations and softens the stack. Also, while the cost of confinement for thermally controlled fluctuations diverges as the confinement distance vanishes, only a finite amount of energy is required to completely flatten a macroscopic fiber. But in both cases, the compression modulii increase with the degree of disorder, measured by the temperature in the thermal system, and by the square amplitude of spontaneous shapes, $`\zeta _0^2`$ for the quenched bundle. And finally, the power law dependence of the thermal modulus is larger than the macroscopic one: quenched disorder appears to lead to more “robust” materials as these are less susceptible to variations in stack density. We now return to a more detailed calculation of the compression modulus.

It is convenient to perform the functional minimization of the effective energy (3) in the space of the eigenfunctions $`\left\{\mathrm{\Phi }_q\right\}`$ for the biharmonic operator, $`(^4/x^4q^4)\mathrm{\Phi }_q(x)=0`$. We choose also boundary conditions ensuring that there are no forces nor torques on the strands extremities: $`\mathrm{\Phi }_q^{(2)}(0)=\mathrm{\Phi }_q^{(2)}(L)=0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_q^{(3)}(0)=\mathrm{\Phi }_q^{(3)}(L)=0`$. The orthonormal set of eigenfunctions can be written as

$$\varphi _q(x)=\frac{\mathrm{cosh}(\alpha _p)\mathrm{cos}(\alpha _p)}{\mathrm{sinh}(\alpha _p)\mathrm{sin}(\alpha _p)}\left[\mathrm{sinh}\left(\alpha _p\frac{x}{L}\right)+\mathrm{sin}\left(\alpha _p\frac{x}{L}\right)\right]\left[\mathrm{cosh}\left(\alpha _p\frac{x}{L}\right)+\mathrm{cos}\left(\alpha _p\frac{x}{L}\right)\right],$$
(6)
where the numerical coefficients $`\alpha _p`$ are determined from the relation $`\mathrm{cos}(\alpha _p)\mathrm{cosh}(\alpha _p)=1`$. The solutions obey approximately $`\alpha _pqL\left(p+\frac{1}{2}\right)\pi `$ with $`p`$. We first develop the shapes $`\zeta _n(x)`$ and $`\zeta _{0,n}(x)`$ on the basis of the eigenfunctions (6),

$`\zeta _n(x)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{𝒩L}}}{\displaystyle \underset{q=\frac{\pi }{2L}}{\overset{+\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{Q=\frac{\pi }{d}}{\overset{\frac{\pi }{d}}{}}}\zeta _{qQ}\varphi _q(x)e^{iQnd}`$ (7)
$`\zeta _{0,n}(x)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{𝒩L}}}{\displaystyle \underset{q=\frac{\pi }{2L}}{\overset{+\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{Q=\frac{\pi }{d}}{\overset{\frac{\pi }{d}}{}}}\zeta _{0,qQ}\varphi _q(x)e^{iQnd},`$ (8)
where $`Q`$ is a wavevector along the stack direction, then minimise with respect to the coefficients $`\zeta _{qQ}`$ and finally compute the average energy density:

$$e=\frac{1}{2L𝒩d}\underset{q,Q}{}\frac{q^4\zeta _{0,qQ}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}B(Q)}{q^4+\frac{B(Q)}{\kappa }},$$
(9)
where $`B(Q)=2B(1\mathrm{cos}Qd)`$. Equation (9) shows how the spatial inhomogeneities of spontaneous shapes determine the energy density of the stack: the harmonic, elastic nature of the energy penalty for shape distortion and interfiber interactions translates into the sole dependence of the energy density on the values of the second moment of the shape disorder distribution, weighted by the classical correlation kernel for bending elasticity. A practical consequence of equation (9) is that it allows to connect fiber geometric information, available from a simple statistical analysis on fiber shapes, with collective properties such as the compression modulus $`B`$. As an example, we now calculate the compression modulus for monomodal structures of uncorrelated fibers, for which the standard square deviation is written as $`\zeta _{0,qQ}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}=𝒩L\zeta _0^2\delta _{qq_0}`$. In the limit where $`𝒩1`$, the dimensionless compression modulus $`\stackrel{~}{B}=B/(\kappa q_0^4)`$ obeys the self-consistent differential equation:

$$\stackrel{~}{B}=\stackrel{~}{d}\frac{^2}{\stackrel{~}{d}^2}\frac{1}{2\stackrel{~}{d}}\left[1\left(1+4\stackrel{~}{B}\right)^{1/2}\right],$$
(10)
where $`\zeta _0`$ now sets the natural distance units, $`\stackrel{~}{d}=d/\zeta _0`$. At short distances, the compression modulus is high, and equation (10) leads to the asymptotic form discussed in (5), $`B=\kappa q_0^4\zeta _0^2/d^2`$. For distances larger than the natural amplitude for spontaneous shape disorder, $`\zeta _0`$, the fibers don’t interact significantly, and the compression modulus vanishes exponentially $`B=\kappa q_0^4(d/\zeta _0)\mathrm{exp}[d/\zeta _0]`$. A numerical solution of equation (10) interpolating between these two regimes is presented in figure (2).

We now illustrate our results by studying the shape of the cones that appear at the end of ropes and other fiber bundles. The cones are generated by the expansion of the fibers, under the repulsive field that we discussed previously. The repulsive field experienced by one fiber, $`U(d)=B(d)d^2/2`$, can be roughly approximated by a step function of amplitude $`\kappa q_0^4\zeta _{0}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}/2`$ and range $`\zeta _0`$. The average path of one fiber is a straight, horizontal line, as long as it remains inside the constrained zone, as depicted in figure (3). When it escapes confinement, the fiber crosses an expanding zone where it still interacts with its neighbors. Under the repulsive forces, the fiber bends until it escapes the repulsive potential, for interfiber distances larger than the range of the potential $`\zeta _0`$. Bending of the fiber is caused by two localized forces of amplitude $`f=\kappa q_0^4\zeta _0^2/2`$ and opposite signs, applied by the two closest neighbors. After escaping the expanding interaction zone, the fiber follows a straight line, at an angle that depends on its distance from the center of the bundle. If one enumerates the fibers in the stack from $`n=1`$ in the center to $`n=𝒩/2`$ for the external fiber, the following set of equations recursively determine the position $`[\mathrm{}_n,y_n]`$ where a fiber escapes its neighbors potential

$`(\mathrm{}_{n1}\mathrm{}_n)(3\mathrm{}_{n1}^2(\mathrm{}_{n1}\mathrm{}_n)^2)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{6\kappa }{f}}(y_{n1}(n1)d)`$ (11)
$`(\mathrm{}_{n1}\mathrm{}_n)\mathrm{}_n^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\kappa }{f}}(y_nnd(\zeta _0d)),`$ (12)
where $`\mathrm{}_n`$ is measured from the border of the confinement zone and $`y_n`$ from the center of the stack. The distance $`d`$ is the interfiber separation in the confinement zone. Equations (12) and the boundary conditions $`y_1=\zeta _0`$ and $`\mathrm{}_{𝒩/2}^3=(y_{𝒩/2}d𝒩/2)3\kappa /f`$ determine the shape to the boundary $`y_n(\mathrm{}_n)`$, shown also in figure (3). The extension of the expansion zone, $`\mathrm{}_1`$, depends on the number of fibers and on the compression rate $`\alpha =(\zeta _0d)/\zeta _0`$, but not on the fiber rigidity: $`\mathrm{}_1\zeta _0𝒩^{2/3}\alpha ^{1/3}(q_0\zeta _0)^{4/3}`$. Similarly, the geometric shape of the cone, given by the slope of the last fiber $`\theta _{𝒩/2}`$, does not depend on the fiber rigidity, it is only fixed by the geometric quantites associated with the fiber disorder, $`\theta _{𝒩/2}\alpha ^{2/3}(q_0\zeta _0)^{4/3}`$.

For high enough fiber density, the compression modulus of a three dimensional bundle can be computed in manner similar to the two dimensional case. Indeed, if the density is so high as to provide a cage environment for each of the fibers, as depicted in figure (4), the forces between fibers are controlled by excluded volume interactions between near-neighbors. In this case, we define a two dimensional fiber density in the bundle $`\sigma =𝒩\pi a^2/𝒜`$ where $`𝒜`$ is the area of the bundle section. For a perfectly ordered hexagonal array one would have $`\sigma =2\pi \sqrt{3}/3a^2r^2`$, where $`r`$ is the distance between fiber centers. The maximum close packing density is $`\sigma _{\mathrm{max}}0.91`$. The relevant fluctuating distance $`d=r2a`$ is now a function of the fiber density $`\sigma `$. In the hexagonal case, the cage would hold up to to distances $`d=2a`$ or densities as small as $`\sigma _c=\pi \sqrt{3}/240.23`$. In this regime, the compression modulus is expected to vary as $`B_{3\mathrm{D}}\kappa q_0^4\zeta _0^2r^3`$. As explained above, for the non-thermal case, only a finite energy is required to completely flatten a fiber. Thus, the confinement energy density is here bound to a maximum value $`<e_{3\mathrm{D}}>\kappa q_0^4\zeta _0^2a^2`$, contrary to the three dimensional thermal situation selinger , where the energy density diverges as $`d^{8/3}`$. For densities smaller than $`\sigma _c`$, the situation is unclear, even for the thermal case. Large lateral excursions of the fiber are now possible witten , and there is not yet, to our knowledge, a clear criterium to determine the maximum allowed size of the excursions. We hope to address this question in future work.

As a summary, we have shown that stacks of macroscopic disordered fibers behave as a compressible material, the compression modulus being proportional to fiber rigidity, at the opposite of microscopic fiber stacks where it decreases with fiber rigidity. We have also shown how the compression modulus depends on stack density and on the geometric quantities characterizing spontaneous shape disorder. Our results allow to predict collective properties from the individual fiber characteristics and provide a new tool to interpret experiments in fiber systems. As an example of this we studied terminal bundle cones, showing that this class of shapes follows an universal behavior that depends only on fibers geometric features. Extension of our results to three dimensions is straightforward in the limit of large fiber density. The weak density limit poses an interesting challenge for fiber and polymer systems, both in the thermal and quenched cases.

###### Acknowledgements.

C.M. acknowledges support from the CNRS Chemistry Department under AIP “Soutien aux Jeunes Equipes”. We are grateful for inspiring discussions with F. Leroy, P. Barbarat and T. Witten.


text:
# DESY 03-144 ITEP-LAT/2003-25 KANAZAWA-03-29 Structure of the baryonic flux tube in 𝑁_𝑓=2 lattice QCD at finite temperature. Talk given by Y. Mori. at Lattice’03.

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Lattice studies of the baryonic system consisting of three static quarks (3Q) are important for clarification of the baryon structure. Recently there appeared a number of papers devoted to the studies of the 3Q system at zero temperature . It was concluded that the flux tube has a Y-shape, at least at large distances.

In this paper, we study the flux tube profile in the baryonic system at finite temperature in QCD with dynamical fermions. The structure of the flux tube is investigated with the help of Abelian observables after the maximally Abelian gauge is fixed. In particular, we study the monopole and the photon parts of Abelian flux tube profiles. In our previous study of the baryonic flux tube at zero temperature in both SU(3) gluodynamics and QCD with dynamical quarks  it has been demonstrated with an accuracy unmatched by gauge invariant nonabelian observables that the flux tube is of Y-shape. The Abelian and the monopole dominance phenomena well established in the gluodynamics  and in QCD with dynamical quarks  gives confidence that our results provide a qualitatively correct description of the baryonic flux tube at finite temperature. Our study is also important to check the dual superconductor scenario of confinement which predicts that the effective infrared theory of QCD should be a kind of the dual Abelian Higgs model.

## 2 SIMULATION DETAILS

To study QCD with dynamical quarks we consider $`N_f=2`$ flavors of degenerate quarks, using the Wilson gauge field action and non-perturbatively $`𝒪(a)`$ improved Wilson fermions . Configurations are generated on the $`16^3\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}8}`$ lattice at $`\beta =5.2`$, $`0.1330\kappa 0.1360`$, corresponding to temperatures below and above the finite temperature transition at $`\kappa _T=0.1344`$ ($`T_c=213(10)`$ MeV) . Details of the simulation can be found in . We fixed the maximally Abelian (MA) gauge on generated configurations employing the simulated annealing algorithm . The Abelian projection procedure  defines the diagonal link matrices

$$u(s,\mu )=\text{diag}\{u_1(s,\mu ),u_2(s,\mu ),u_3(s,\mu )\},$$

$$u_l(s,\mu )=e^{i\theta _l(s,\mu )}.$$

We study the Abelian action density

$$\rho _{\mathrm{ab}}(s)=\frac{\beta }{3}\underset{\mu >\nu }{}\underset{l}{}u_l(s,\mu \nu ),$$
(1)
where $`u_l(s,\mu \nu )`$ is the Abelian plaquette variable, the Abelian color electric field

$$E_l(s,j)=i\overline{\theta }_l(s,j4),$$
(2)
where $`\overline{\theta }_l(s,\mu \nu )`$ is the regular part of the Abelian plaquette angle, $`\theta _l(s,\mu \nu )=\overline{\theta }_l(s,\mu \nu )+2\pi n_l(s,\mu \nu )`$, and the monopole current

$$k_l(s,\mu )=\frac{i}{4\pi }ϵ_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }_\nu \overline{\theta }_l(s+\widehat{\mu },\rho \sigma ).$$
(3)
Correlators with the baryonic source are defined as follows:

$`\rho _{\mathrm{ab}}(s)_{3Q}={\displaystyle \frac{\rho _{\mathrm{ab}}(s)𝒫_{3Q}}{𝒫_{3Q}}},`$ (4)
where

$$𝒫_{3Q}=\frac{1}{3!}|\epsilon _{lmn}|P_l(\stackrel{}{s}_1)P_m(\stackrel{}{s}_2)P_n(\stackrel{}{s}_3)$$
(5)
$$P_l(\stackrel{}{s})=\underset{t=1}{\overset{N_t}{}}u_l(\stackrel{}{s},t,4),$$

$$E(s,j)_{3q}=$$
(6)
$$\frac{\frac{1}{3!}|\epsilon _{lmn}|E_l(s,j)P_l(\stackrel{}{s}_1)P_m(\stackrel{}{s}_2)P_n(\stackrel{}{s}_3)}{𝒫_{3Q}},$$

$$k(s,j)_{3q}=$$
(7)
$$\frac{\frac{1}{3!}|\epsilon _{lmn}|k_l(s,j)P_l(\stackrel{}{s}_1)P_m(\stackrel{}{s}_2)P_n(\stackrel{}{s}_3)}{𝒫_{3Q}}.$$

The Abelian field can be decomposed into the monopole and photon parts , and the monopole and photon observables can be defined similarly to eqs.(1)-(7).

## 3 NUMERICAL RESULTS

First we discuss the structure of the baryonic flux tube in the confinement phase. Fig.1 shows the monopole and photon parts of the color electric field in the 3Q system. The monopole part is squeezed into a flux tube while the photon part is of Coulombic form. In the monopole component the flux tube is compatible with Y-shape. We expect that the agreement with Y-shape will be better when the distance between quarks will be large in comparison with the intrinsic width of the flux tube.

The same conclusions can be drawn from the Fig.2 where the distribution of the monopole and photon parts of the action density is depicted. Fig.3 shows the monopole currents distribution. One can see circulating monopole currents around the color electric field in each slice. In the plane where the color electric field is divided into two parts, the circulating monopole current is not a perfect circle anymore. This indicates a possibility of forming two circulating currents if the distance between quarks would be made larger.

Next, we show how the profile of the flux tube changes when the temperature increases and crosses over to the high temperature phase. From Fig.4 one can see that the squeezed color electric field (the monopole component) disappear at $`T>T_c`$. In contrast, the photon component of the color electric field, depicted in Fig.1(right), does not show any essential changes when the temperature increases.

## ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work is supported by the SR8000 Supercomputer Project of High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK). A part of numerical measurements has been done using NEC SX-5 at RCNP of Osaka University. T.S. is partially supported by JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas No.13135210 and (B) No.15340073. The Moscow group is partially supported by RFBR grants 02-02-17308, 01-02-17456, 00-15-96-786, grants INTAS–00-00111 DFG-RFBR 436 RUS 113/739/0, and CRDF awards RPI-2364-MO-02 and MO-011-0.