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# Problems and cures (partial) for holographic cosmology

## 1 Introduction

The very nature of the theory of quantum gravity is being revealed by consistent formulations of quantum gravitational phenomena as the string/M theory do, as well as by principles that underlie the precise formulation of the theory. It is believed that a primary principle of the theory of quantum gravity is the Holographic Principle, that states that a physical system can be described only by degrees of freedom living in its boundary. When we descend to a classical description the previous principle adopts the form of an entropy bound that admits different formulations depending on the strength of the gravitational interaction.

There was a proliferation of entropy bounds that made any prediction meaningless. Fortunately a covariant formulation for the maximum entropy allowed for a physical system was given and the possibilities drastically reduced. In order that different observers agree with the entropy of a system they must measure the entropy traversing a light sheet (LS), that is the locus spanned by the null congruence, generated with the area decreasing light rays orthogonal to a spacelike codimension two surface. The LS ends in a singularity, or a caustic where the area begins to increase. The covariant entropy bound (CEB) establishes that the amount of entropy measured in this way is bounded by one quarter of the area, in Planck units, of the spacelike codimension two surface where the congruence begins. All the entropy bounds were special relaxed cases of the covariant bound, except the Bekenstein bound (BB).

To put all the entropy bounds together we need to use the generalized covariant entropy bound(GCEB) that truncates the LS with a second spacelike codimension two surface and establish that the amount of entropy traversing the truncated LS is bounded by one quarter of the difference of area between both boundaries. It is evident that the GCEB implies the CEB, and it has been shown that the BB can also be deduced from the GCEB. So the GCEB is the stronger formulation of the bound and by imposing it on different physical systems we obtain further insights on the nature of the holographic principle and the theory of quantum gravity.

We are interested on the validity of the GCEB for expanding isotropic cosmological scenarios. It is the case that the GCEB is violated near the apparent horizon (AH). The reason is that on the AH the LS develops a maximum area; if we truncate the LS near the AH the difference of areas goes to zero as the second power of the affine parameter that parametrizes the LS, whereas the entropy traversing the LS goes to zero as the first power of the same parameter; so unavoidably we are facing a violation of the GCEB for small enough values of the affine parameter. In a possible resolution of the violation of the GCEB is addressed by admitting for the carriers of entropy, only particles with a wavelength smaller than the physical separation between the two spacelike surfaces bounding the LS.

In this article we study the difficulties that appear near the AH to satisfy the GCEB in Friedman-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker(FLRW) cosmologies. We can solve the discrepancies using an infrared cutoff to cut the modes with a wavelength larger than the size they traverse; we do it for a radiation dominated model. The use of different cutoffs for different parts of a given LS seems to be related with an intrinsic non additivity of the entropy that we comment. Because we use the cosmic time as the affine parameter, we are able to obtain an expression for the amount of time we must wait since the AH to satisfy the GCEB. Our result can be put in a suggestive form as a cosmological uncertainty relation.

.

## 2 The GCEB in a FLRW universe

### 2.1 The location of the AH in proper coordinates

Now we study the problems that appear near the AH in FLRW cosmologies where the LS develops the maximum area. The metric has its standard form

$$ds^2=dt^2+R^2(t)\left(\frac{dr^2}{1\kappa r^2}+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_2^2\right);$$
(1)
the coordinates are comoving with the cosmic fluid, $`t`$ is the cosmic time and $`d\mathrm{\Omega }_2^2`$ is the metric of the two dimensional unit sphere. $`\kappa =\pm 1,0`$ is the spatial curvature and the velocity of light is $`c=1`$. By the isotropy property the origin $`r=0`$ is a generic point and all directions are equivalent; we fix the polar angles by fixing a radial direction. We can use conformal coordinates

$$d\eta =\frac{dt}{R(t)},d\chi =\frac{dr}{(1\kappa r^2)^{\frac{1}{2}}},$$
(2)
and in this coordinates the metric is conformal to the flat metric,

$$ds^2=R^2(\eta )(d\eta ^2+d\chi ^2).$$
(3)
When we analyze the causal structure in the unphysical flat metric, we do not appreciate nothing particular at the location of the AH; however, if we use proper coordinates to locate the events, a maximum of the proper distance appears for the flat case (see Figure 1). The proper distance to the origin $`D`$ for an event at a given time, is relate to its radial coordinate by

$$dD^2=R^2(t)\frac{dr^2}{1\kappa r^2},$$
(4)
and the relevant part of the metric adopts the form

$$ds^2=dt^2+(dDHDdt)^2,$$
(5)
where $`H=H(t)`$ is the Hubble constant. The null geodesics, that would constitute the LS where we must measure the entropy, are given, in the conformal case by $`\eta =\pm \chi `$; if we use proper coordinates, $`ds^2=0`$ translates into

$$\dot{D}=HD\pm 1;$$
(6)
$`\dot{D}`$ is the derivative of $`D`$ with respect to cosmic time. The two signs correspond to the outgoing/ingoing nature of the photon with respect to the origin. The AH appears for the ingoing light ray; the photon near the Big Bang, although it is directed toward the origin (its radial coordinate $`r`$ is decreasing), due to the expansion of the Universe begins to recede in proper coordinates; as the expansion evolves the proper distance of the photon attains a maximum and subsequently begins to diminishes until the origin is reached111It is possible that the photon never reaches the origin; this is a signal of the presence of event horizons.. The AH is locate where the area spanned by the ingoing photons is maximum. If the universe is flat maximum area implies maximum proper distance $`D`$, so that $`\dot{D}=0`$, and substituting in (6) the proper distance to the AH is given by $`D_{AH}=1/H`$. In Figure 1 the past lightcone of a fiducial observer placed at the origin is drawn for the two coordinates mentioned above, the conformal $`(\eta ,\chi )`$, and the proper $`(t,D)`$. The part of this lightcones beginning in the apparent horizon and directed in both cosmic time directions conform two LS where we study the validity of the GCEB.

### 2.2 Violation of the GCEB near the AH

The GCEB establish that the entropy traversing a truncated LS is bounded by the difference of the areas of the two limiting spacelike surfaces. In our analysis one of the boundaries will be the spacelike surface spanned by the AH. We extend our LS up to another isotropic spacelike surface. We assume a density of entropy $`s(t)`$ that depends only on cosmic time $`t`$, and use proper coordinates $`(D(t),t)`$. For simplicity we develop the flat case $`\kappa =0`$, but the result is easily generalized. We use units with $`G=c=\mathrm{}=k_B=1`$.

The formulation of the GCEB is

$$S(t)\frac{1}{4}\mathrm{\Delta }A=\frac{1}{4}(A(t_{AH})A(t)),$$
(7)
where $`A(t)`$ is the area of the the isotropic surface bounding the LS, $`t_{AH}`$ is the cosmic time that locates the AH and $`S(t)`$ is the amount of entropy passing the truncated LS. In terms of the proper distance $`D(t)`$ we have

$$S(t)=_{t_{AH}}^t𝑑t^{}4\pi D^2(t^{})s(t^{}),$$
(8)
and

$$\frac{1}{4}\mathrm{\Delta }A=\pi (D^2(t_{AH})D^2(t)).$$
(9)
Taking $`t`$ near $`t_{AH}`$ and Taylor expanding (8) and (9) near the AH gives

$$S4\pi D^2(t_{AH})s(t_{AH})\mathrm{\Delta }t,$$
(10)
and

$$\frac{1}{4}\mathrm{\Delta }A\pi D(t_{AH})\ddot{D}(t_{AH})\mathrm{\Delta }t^2,$$
(11)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=|t_{AH}t|`$. It is then clear that for small enough values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$, $`\frac{1}{4}\mathrm{\Delta }A<S`$ and the GCEB is violated.

## 3 Restricting $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$ to satisfy the GCEB

In order to respect the GCEB we must limit the separation in cosmic time between both spacelike surfaces, so $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$ would be greater than a minimum value $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_m`$ that is obtained saturating the bound, $`S(\mathrm{\Delta }t_m)=\mathrm{\Delta }A(\mathrm{\Delta }t_m)/4`$,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }t_m=4\frac{D(t_{AH})}{\ddot{D}(t_{AH})}s(t_{AH}).$$
(12)
The equation of the null geodesic (6) is now derived with respect to the cosmic time

$$\ddot{D}=\dot{H}D+\dot{D}H,$$
(13)
and on the AH, for a flat universe, the maximum area implies maximum distance $`\dot{D}=0`$; substituting in (13) we obtain that $`\dot{H}=\ddot{D}/D`$; then, using (12), the GCEB is satisfied if

$$\mathrm{\Delta }t\mathrm{\Delta }t_m=4\frac{s(t_{AH})}{\dot{H}(t_{AH})}.$$
(14)
For $`\kappa 0`$ the previous expression generalizes to

$$\mathrm{\Delta }t4\frac{s(t_{AH})}{\dot{H}(t_{AH})\frac{\kappa }{R^2(t_{AH})}}.$$
(15)
Our analysis has been purely kinematic, now we use the dynamics. The Friedman equations allows us to write

$$\dot{H}\frac{\kappa }{R^2}=4\pi (\rho +p),$$
(16)
where $`\rho `$ and $`p`$ are the density and pressure of the fluid that governs the cosmic evolution. The previous expression is valid also for non zero cosmological constant. If the equation of state of the fluid is $`p=\omega \rho `$, the restriction on the cosmic time can be put as

$$\mathrm{\Delta }t\frac{1}{\pi (1+\omega )}\frac{s}{\rho },$$
(17)
where the variables are evaluated on the AH. If the expansion is adiabatic

$$s=\frac{\rho +p}{T},$$
(18)
where $`T`$ is the temperature of the fluid. Then (17) adopts the form

$$\mathrm{\Delta }t\frac{1}{\pi T_{AH}},$$
(19)
the temperature being evaluated on the AH. This result was obtained by Bousso for the particular example of Guedens (a closed radiation dominated universe). We see that (19) is a general result, only requiring an adiabatic expansion.

## 4 Interpreting the results

We have obtained the minimum value for the cosmic time that we must wait to satisfy the GCEB, that is $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_ms/\rho `$. It is important to know the behavior of this value as the universe evolves; so we study the quotient between $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_m`$ and a cosmic time scale. We know that if the expansion is adiabatic and $`\omega `$ constant, $`sR^3`$ and $`\rho R^{3(1+\omega )}`$. On the other hand for a flat universe $`Rt^{\frac{2}{3(1+\omega )}}`$. Taking $`t_{AH}`$ as the scale we have

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }t_m}{t_{AH}}t_{AH}^{\frac{\omega 1}{\omega +1}};$$
(20)
it is clear that the previous quotient decreases with cosmic time if $`\omega <\omega _c=1`$, the Fischler-Susskind limit.

Let us now focus on the expression (19). If $`T_{AH}`$ is the temperature of the cosmic fluid, its inverse will be a measure of the typical wavelength of the quanta that carries the entropy, $`\mathrm{\Delta }t1/\pi T_{AH}\lambda _M`$. So, when we count the entropy that traverses the LS, it is natural to consider only those modes whose wavelength is smaller than the size of the LS; that is, $`\lambda <\lambda _M`$ and we must cut the modes using the previous infrared cutoff . If $`t_0`$ is the cosmic time where the LS, beginning in the AH, is truncated, when counting the amount of entropy passing by such LS we must use a thermal distribution with an IR cutoff $`\lambda \lambda _M=t_0t_{AH}`$222 We consider the future directed LS, the past directed one admits a similar analysis and we give the numerical result for both LS.; the density of entropy at each time (or temperature) is obtained integrating the distribution with the appropriate limits,

$$s(T,\lambda _M)=\frac{2gT^3}{3\pi ^2}_{\lambda _M^1}^{\mathrm{}}\frac{dxx^3}{e^x1};$$
(21)
we suppose that the quanta is bosonic and that the degeneracy is $`g`$. Now we integrate the previous density between two temperatures (or times)

$$S(t_f,\lambda _M)=_{T_{AH}}^{T_0}𝑑t(T)4\pi D^2s(T,\lambda _M),$$
(22)
where for the dependence of $`D`$ with $`t`$ we must integrate (6) using the explicit function for the scale factor. The functional dependence of cosmic time with the temperature depends on the nature of the fluid that fills the universe; for radiation, $`tT^2`$ and we can compute the previous integral; it only remains to compare with one quarter of the decrease of the area.

In the Figure 2 we plot this relation and we see that the introduction of the physical IR cutoff restores the GCEB for all truncated LS on this sort of cosmological scenarios

The introduction of a cutoff to satisfy the GCEB imply a non-additivity of the entropy. Consider a truncated LS $`L`$ made by two adjacent LS’s so that $`L=L_1+L_2`$; the entropy on $`L_i`$ accounts for the modes with $`\lambda \lambda _i`$, $`i=1,2`$; for the entropy on $`L`$ we must consider the modes with $`\lambda \lambda _1+\lambda _2`$. It is clear that we lose the additivity (extensivity) of the entropy and

$$S(L=L_1+L_2)S(L_1)+S(L_2).$$
(23)
Wether this is a mathematical artifact or can be related with a fundamental non additivity of the entropy in string/M-theory is an open question.

To finish the discussion of our results, consider the expression (17); near the AH a constant density is a good approximation and we have

$$\mathrm{\Delta }t\frac{S}{M},$$
(24)
where $`S`$ and $`M`$ are the total entropy and mass traversing the small LS. There is an adjusting mechanism; if more entropy tries to pass the LS, for a given $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$, more energy is used to carry the entropy and consequently the LS curves more and the bound is satisfied. In the extreme situation, when only one bit of mass $`M_1`$ passes through the LS, $`S1`$ and (24) has the form of a cosmological uncertainty relation, namely

$$\mathrm{\Delta }tM_11,$$
(25)
suggesting a deep connection between quantum mechanics, general covariance and the GCEB, in this cosmological setup.

## Acknowledgments

We acknowledge discussions with R. Bousso, R. Guedens and S.F. Ross. We thanks also L. J. Boya for reading the manuscript. This work was supported by MCYT (Spain) grant FPA2000-1252.


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# Noise spectroscopy and interlayer phase-coherence in bilayer quantum Hall systems

## Abstract

Bilayer quantum Hall systems develop strong interlayer phase-coherence when the distance between layers is comparable to the typical distance between electrons within a layer. The phase-coherent state has until now been investigated primarily via transport measurements. We argue here that interlayer current and charge-imbalance noise studies in these systems will be able to address some of the key experimental questions. We show that the characteristic frequency of current-noise is that of the zero wavevector collective mode, which is sensitive to the degree of order in the system. Local electric potential noise measured in a plane above the bilayer system on the other hand is sensitive to finite-wavevector collective modes and hence to the soft-magnetoroton picture of the order-disorder phase transition.

Introduction: Bilayer quantum Hall systems near total filling factor $`\nu =1`$ undergo a quantum phase transition from a compressible state to an incompressible state with interlayer phase-coherence as the ratio of layer separation to magnetic length $`d/l`$ is reduced murphy . This phase-coherent state survives in the limit of vanishing interlayer tunneling $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t`$, in which case the charge-gap in the phase-coherent state arises purely because of electron-electron interactions between the two layers. The incompressible state can be regarded either as an easy-plane ferromagnet fertig ; abp ; kmky ; qhreviews  or as excitonic superfluid elhole . The estimated tunneling amplitude in the experimental samples, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t50\mu `$K, is much smaller than any other energy-scale ibs , suggesting that interlayer phase-coherence is established spontaneously when the ratio $`d/l`$ is smaller than some critical value $`d_{cr}/l`$. Transport measurements in these systems change spectacularly when the compressible-to-incompressible phase boundary is crossed ibs ; mk  and can largely be explained in terms of excitonic condensate and quasiparticle contributions bilayertheory ; prl . However, key questions remain about both the nature of the phase transition and the mechanism which drives it. Is the transition between a phase-coherent state and an exotic compressible state? demler  Is the transition driven by the percolation of regions which are incompressible? ady  Is the transition weakly first-order in the absence of disorder? john  Is the transition associated with softening of the collective-mode at a finite wavevector? fertig ; abp ; pel  How does disorder affect these scenarios? To address these questions, it is necessary to understand the evolution of the two important energy scales, the collective-mode gap at zero wavevector and the roton-minimum gap near $`kl1`$, near the phase-boundary. In this Letter we show that noise-spectroscopy of interlayer current probes the collective mode energy at zero wavevector, whereas noise-spectroscopy of charge imbalance probes the roton-like minimum in the collective mode energy. Combined, these two measurements can establish the nature of the transition and shed light on effect of disorder on the transition.

Noise analysis has been used extensively to probe intrinsic properties of many different systems noiserefs . For example, it can be used to measure the atomic magnetic resonance in a sample without an external noise source mitsui  and has been suggested as a technique for single-spin detection using a scanning tunneling microscope jhu . In this paper we propose that the same technique can be used to answer key questions in bilayer quantum Hall systems. Although the average current between layers is zero when the system is not driven by an interlayer electrochemical potential difference, spectral analysis of fluctuations in the current can reveal the condensate and quasiparticle energy scales of the phase-coherent state. Current fluctuations of the system are controlled by the current-current susceptibility. In the absence of an electron-hole condensate, this susceptibility is controlled by the incoherent contribution of quasiparticles in the system, and the correlation time of fluctuations will be dominated by the quasiparticle energy gap. In contrast, the appearance of the condensate implies a collective mode which transfers charge from one layer to the other. This collective mode will contribute to the fluctuations; hence in the ordered state we will have a qualitatively different spectrum of fluctuations. A similar analysis applies to the fluctuations in the charge imbalance which lead to fluctuations in the electrostatic potential. These effects are the basis of the noise spectroscopy we propose. We find that the current-current correlator oscillates with characteristic frequency equal to the collective-mode energy at zero wavevector, $`\omega _c=E_{sw}(\mathrm{𝟎})`$ (we use units such that $`\mathrm{}=1`$), if the interlayer transport is predominantly collective. We also find that the electrostatic-potential correlator at long times has a characteristic frequency equal to the collective-mode energy minimum, $`\omega ^{}=E_{sw}^{}`$, which occurs at a finite wavevector $`kl1`$. Thus noise-spectroscopy of a bilayer system can probe the two important energy scales, $`E_{sw}(\mathrm{𝟎})`$ and $`E_{sw}^{}`$, in the phase-coherent state and their evolution as $`dd_{cr}`$.

In the following paragraphs, we describe the microscopic model we use for a biased bilayer system, obtain analytical expressions for the current-current and electrostatic-potential correlators in terms of bilayer response functions, and discuss the implications of these results.

Microscopic Model: Let us consider a biased bilayer system with filling factor $`\nu _T`$ in the top layer and $`\nu _B`$ in the bottom layer such that the total filling factor $`\nu =\nu _T+\nu _B=1`$. We use a pseudospin language to describe the bilayer system.

$$\widehat{S}_\alpha (𝐫)=\frac{1}{2}\underset{\sigma ^{},\sigma }{}c_\sigma ^{}^{}(𝐫)\tau _{\sigma ^{}\sigma }^{(\alpha )}c_\sigma (𝐫)$$
(1)
is the pseudospin density in direction $`\alpha `$ at position $`𝐫`$, $`\sigma ,\sigma ^{}`$ are the pseudospin labels, and $`\tau _{\sigma ^{}\sigma }^{(\alpha )}`$ are Pauli spin matrices with pseudospin up/down representing electrons in top/bottom layers. The microscopic Hamiltonian for the bilayer system is given by $`\widehat{H}=\widehat{H}_0+\widehat{V}`$. The one-body term is

$$\widehat{H}_0=_𝐫\left[\mathrm{\Delta }_t\widehat{S}_x(𝐫)+\mathrm{\Delta }_v\widehat{S}_z(𝐫)\right]$$
(2)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t`$ is the interlayer tunneling amplitude and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_v`$ is the bias voltage which leads to unequal filling factors in the two layers. The interaction term $`\widehat{V}`$ is a sum of the intra-layer Coulomb interaction, $`V_A(𝐤)=2\pi e^2/ϵk`$ and the interlayer Coulomb interaction $`V_E(𝐤)=e^{kd}V_A(𝐤)`$. Note that the antisymmetric combination $`V_x=(V_AV_E)/2`$ is not rotationally invariant in the pseudospin space. In the pseudospin-language, the phase-coherent incompressible state is an $`XY`$ easy-plane ferromagnet and has a uniform non-zero value of $`\widehat{S}_z(𝐫)`$ when the filling factors in the two layers are unequal biased ; tutuc . When $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t0`$ the U(1) symmetry in the $`x`$-$`y`$ plane in pseudospin-space is broken explicitly, and the uniform ordered moment $`\stackrel{}{M}`$ lies in the $`x`$-$`z`$ plane, $`\stackrel{}{M}=M_0(\mathrm{sin}\theta _v,0,\mathrm{cos}\theta _v)`$ biased . $`M_0`$ is the dimensionless order parameter which vanishes near the incompressible-state phase-boundary and approaches 1 as the layer separation $`d0`$. The angle $`\theta _v`$ is determined by self-consistent Hartree and exchange contributions to the tunneling amplitude and bias voltage, and is given by $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _v=\mathrm{\Delta }_v/\mathrm{\Delta }_{vc}`$ in the limit $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t0`$. Here $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{vc}(d)=2\left[V_x(0)\mathrm{\Gamma }_x(0)\right]`$ is inverse of the exchange-enhanced interlayer capacitance, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_x=(\mathrm{\Gamma }_A\mathrm{\Gamma }_E)/2`$, and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{(A/E)}(𝐤)`$ are the intra-layer/interlayer Coulomb exchange interactions.

Current Noise: The only term in the microscopic Hamiltonian which does not conserve particle number within each layer separately is proportional to the interlayer tunneling amplitude $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t`$. Therefore the total interlayer current $`\widehat{I}`$, obtained by using the continuity equation cav1 , is given by

$$\widehat{I}=e\mathrm{\Delta }_t_𝐫\widehat{S}_y(𝐫).$$
(3)
In the absence of any electrochemical potential difference between the two layers the average interlayer current is zero, $`\widehat{I}=0`$. However, as we will see, the current-current correlations are nonzero. Let us consider the symmetrized current-current correlator, $`C_I(t)=\widehat{I}(t)\widehat{I}(0)+\widehat{I}(0)\widehat{I}(t)`$. Using Eq.(3), it is straightforward to express the correlator in terms of pseudospin response function

$$C_I(t)=\left(e\mathrm{\Delta }_t\right)^22\mathrm{R}\mathrm{e}\chi _{yy}(𝐤=0,t)$$
(4)
where $`\chi _{yy}(𝐤,t)T\widehat{S}_y(𝐤,t)\widehat{S}_y(𝐤,0)`$ is the time-ordered pseudospin susceptibility. For quantum Hall bilayers, it is possible to calculate the susceptibility analytically from the microscopic Hamiltonian using different approximations which capture either the quasiparticle or the collective-mode physics. Since the interlayer transport in the phase-coherent state is presumably collective ibs ; mk ; bilayertheory ; prl , we evaluate the susceptibility using generalized random phase approximation (GRPA) which captures the physics of collective modes fertig ; kmky ,

$$\chi _{yy}(𝐤,i\mathrm{\Omega }_n)=\frac{e^{k^2l^2/2}}{8\pi l^2}\frac{2iM_0a_{\theta _v}(𝐤)}{(i\mathrm{\Omega }_n)^2E_{sw}^2(𝐤)},$$
(5)
where $`i\mathrm{\Omega }_n`$ is a bosonic Matsubara frequency and the exponential prefactor arises from projection onto the lowest Landau level. The collective-mode dispersion is given by $`E_{sw}(𝐤)=\sqrt{a_{\theta _v}(𝐤)b_{\theta _v}(𝐤)}`$ where biased

$$a_{\theta _v}(𝐤)=\mathrm{\Delta }_{qp}M_0\mathrm{\Gamma }_E(𝐤)+2M_0\left[V_x(𝐤)\mathrm{\Gamma }_x(𝐤)\right]\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _v$$
(6)
is the cost of charge-imbalance fluctuation and $`b_{\theta _v}(𝐤)=\mathrm{\Delta }_{qp}M_0\mathrm{\Gamma }_E(𝐤)`$ is the cost of phase-fluctuations in the $`x`$-$`y`$ plane. Here, the quasiparticle energy splitting is given by $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{qp}=M_0\mathrm{\Gamma }_E(0)`$ when $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t0`$ or $`\mathrm{\Delta }_v0`$; for a nonzero tunneling and nonzero bias voltage the quasiparticle energy splitting is obtained by solving the self-consistent Hartree-Fock mean-field equations numerically biased .

We emphasize that the pseudospin susceptibility $`\chi _{yy}`$ is calculated in the presence of finite interlayer tunneling. Therefore the cost of uniform phase-fluctuations is non-zero, $`b_{\theta _v}(\mathrm{𝟎})0`$, and the collective mode energy at the origin is nonzero, $`E_{sw}(\mathrm{𝟎})\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }_t\left(\mathrm{\Delta }_t+M_0\mathrm{\Delta }_{vc}\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _v\right)}0`$. When $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t0`$, the static uniform susceptibility (5) diverges as expected in a state which possesses a spontaneous broken symmetry. It is necessary to treat the interlayer tunneling non-perturbatively because the interlayer current operator $`\widehat{I}`$ vanishes at $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t=0`$ prl ; fertig2 . It follows from Eq.(5) that the current-current correlator is given by

$$C(t)=\left(e\mathrm{\Delta }_t\right)^2\frac{2M_0a_{\theta _v}(\mathrm{𝟎})}{8\pi l^2E_{sw}(\mathrm{𝟎})}\mathrm{cos}\left(E_{sw}(\mathrm{𝟎})|t|\right)$$
(7)
Eq.(7) is the first principle result of the paper. It shows that the current-current correlator oscillates with characteristic frequency $`\omega _c=E_{sw}(\mathrm{𝟎})`$ and its strength is proportional to $`M_0`$. Therefore the noise spectroscopy of interlayer current will be able to probe the collective mode energy at zero wavevector. Note that near the incompressible-to-compressible phase boundary, the only parameter in $`E_{sw}(\mathrm{𝟎})`$ which varies rapidly with $`d/l`$ is the order-parameter $`M_0`$; the tunneling amplitude $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t`$ and the exchange-enhanced inverse capacitance $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{vc}`$ are relatively constant. Therefore, the dependence of the condensate frequency $`\omega _c`$ on $`d/l`$ will provide a direct measurement of the phase-coherent order parameter $`M_0`$. For typical values of system parameters, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t50\mu `$K and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{vc}50`$K, and balanced bilayers ($`\theta _v=\pi /2`$), we get $`\omega _c\sqrt{M_0}`$ GHz (for example, with $`M_010^110^2`$, we have $`\omega _c100300`$ MHz).

Electrostatic Potential Noise: Now let us consider the effect of random charge-imbalance fluctuations on the electrostatic potential. We assume that the potential is measured (using, for example, a single-electron transistor) in a plane located at distance $`R`$ above the top layer yacobi . The change in the electrostatic potential $`\delta \varphi `$ produced by a change in the interlayer charge-imbalance is caveat2

$$\delta \varphi (𝐤)=2eV_x(𝐤)e^{kR}\delta S_z(𝐤)$$
(8)
where $`\delta S_z(𝐫)`$ is the fluctuation in the charge-imbalance at position $`𝐫`$. In steady state, the potential fluctuations average to zero $`\delta \varphi =0`$. However, the potential correlator is non-zero. Let us define $`C_\varphi (r,t)=\delta \varphi (𝐫,t)\delta \varphi (\mathrm{𝟎},0)+\delta \varphi (\mathrm{𝟎},0)\delta \varphi (𝐫,t)`$. It follows from Eq.(8) that this correlator is related to the time-ordered pseudospin susceptibility $`\chi _{zz}`$,

$$C_\varphi (r,t)=4e^2\frac{kdk}{2\pi }J_0(kr)e^{2kR}V_x^2(𝐤)2\mathrm{R}\mathrm{e}\chi _{zz}(𝐤,t).$$
(9)
Eq.(9) is the second principle result of this paper. Following the analysis in the current-noise case, the GRPA susceptibility which captures the physics of collective excitations is given by

$$\chi _{zz}(𝐤,t)=\frac{e^{k^2l^2/2}}{8\pi l^2}\frac{M_0b_{\theta _v}(𝐤)}{E_{sw}(𝐤)}\mathrm{exp}\left(iE_{sw}(𝐤)|t|\right).$$
(10)
We note that the static uniform $`\chi _{zz}`$ susceptibility vanishes in the limit $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t0`$, in contrast to the static uniform $`\chi _{yy}`$ susceptibility (5). It is also worth emphasizing that the potential correlator $`C_\varphi (r,t)`$ can be evaluated perturbatively in the tunneling amplitude $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t`$, whereas the current-current correlator $`C_I(t)`$ requires a non-perturbative calculation. First let us concentrate on the short-time behavior of the correlator function $`C_\varphi (r,t)`$. It follows from Eq.(10) that the correlator saturates at $`t=0`$ and falls off quadratically with $`t`$ at short times $`|t|\mathrm{\Delta }_{qp}^1`$. It is primarily sensitive to the phase-fluctuations cost $`b_{\theta _v}(𝐤)`$, which does not change qualitatively as a function of increasing $`d/l`$. Figure 1 shows the typical $`r`$-dependence of the potential correlator $`C_\varphi (r,t)`$ at short-times for different values of $`d/l`$.

To simplify the discussion of the long-time correlator, we will specialize to a bilayer system with $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t0`$ and consider only local correlations, $`r=0`$, although the results obtained here are valid in general. We remind the Reader that the approximation $`\mathrm{\Delta }_t=0`$ is justified when evaluating the potential correlator $`C_\varphi (r,t)`$. Restricting to a local correlator corresponds to the usual experimental situation with one single-electron transistor probe yacobi  which measures (the noise in) the electrostatic potential. At long times, the integral in Eq.(9) is dominated by the region in momentum-space where the pseudospin-wave energy is minimum. It is known that in bilayer systems the collective-mode dispersion typically has two minima fertig ; abp ; kmky . The first minimum occurs at the origin, $`𝐤=0`$, and the collective mode dispersion in the vicinity is linear. The second minimum occurs near $`kl1`$. The collective-mode energy at this minimum, $`E_{sw}^{}(d)`$, reduces as the ratio $`d/l`$ is increased, due to the lowered energy cost for charge-imbalance fluctuations, $`a_{\theta _v}(kl1)0`$. It follows from Eq.(10) that the region near the second minimum gives a diverging contribution, $`\chi _{zz}1/\sqrt{a_{\theta _v}}\mathrm{}`$, and that contribution varies strongly with layer separation $`d/l`$. Thus, the long-time potential correlator $`C_\varphi `$ has a component with frequency $`\omega ^{}=E_{sw}^{}(d)`$ which varies rapidly with $`d/l`$. The strength of this feature in the potential correlator scales as $`\sqrt{M_0/(dd_{cr})}`$. The incompressible-to-compressible phase transition which occurs at a critical layer separation $`d_{cr}`$ can be understood in terms of the collapse of this collective-mode energy minimum, $`E_{sw}^{}(d_{cr})=0`$ fertig ; abp . A measurement of the characteristic frequency $`\omega ^{}`$ and its dependence on $`d/l`$ can directly probe the collective-mode energy gap collapse and shed light on whether it is instrumental to the phase transition pel . The variation of $`E_{sw}^{}(d)`$ with $`d/l`$ can also provide an independent direct measure of the order parameter $`M_0`$, since close to the phase-boundary the minimum collective-mode energy can be approximated as $`E_{sw}^{}(d)\sqrt{M_0(dd_{cr})}`$.

Figure 2 shows the Fourier transform of the long-time correlator $`C_\varphi (0,t)`$ for different values $`d/l`$, whereas the inset shows the corresponding collective-mode dispersions. The peak near $`\omega /(e^2/ϵl).06`$ is not sensitive to $`d/l`$ and represents the contribution from region near the origin where the collective-mode dispersions for all values of $`d/l`$ are essentially the same. The second peak occurs at $`\omega =\omega ^{}=E_{sw}^{}(d)`$ and varies rapidly with $`d/l`$. The strength of this frequency component increases when $`dd_{cr}`$ as expected from Eq.(10generic .

Summary: We have shown that spectral analysis of fluctuations in bilayer quantum Hall systems provides a novel probe of the phase-coherent state. We predict that the current-noise spectrum has a characteristic frequency $`\omega _c=E_{sw}(\mathrm{𝟎})`$ if the interlayer transport is collective. We also predict that the noise in the electrostatic potential has a dominant frequency component equal to the collective-mode energy minimum at finite wavevector, $`\omega ^{}=E_{sw}^{}`$. These two measurements can probe directly the order-parameter of the phase-coherent state as well as the collapse of the collective-mode energy gap $`E_{sw}^{}`$ near the incompressible-to-compressible phase-boundary. Our theoretical analysis of these quantities does not account for the influence of disorder and inhomogeneity, and does not allow for the possibility that exotic correlated states appear on either side of the phase transition. Although the analysis of the noise spectra in these scenarios is more complex than in the BCS-like excitonic condensate case considered here, it is clear that there will be substantial differences, especially as the phase boundary is approached. Experimental tests of the predictions made above, which we regard as a starting point for the interpretation of experiment, will shed light on the nature of the compressible-to-incompressible phase-transition, and deepen our understanding of the phase-coherent state in quantum Hall bilayers.

It is a pleasure to thank Z. Nussinov for useful discussions. This work was supported by DOE LDRD (LANL), by the NSF under grant DMR0115947 (UT), and by the Welch Foundation (UT).


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# Potential Variations in the Interstellar N I AbundanceBased on observations made with the NASA-CNES-CSA 𝐹𝑎𝑟 𝑈𝑙𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑐 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑟, which is operated for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University under NASA contract NAS 5-32985, and the NASA/ESA 𝐻𝑢𝑏𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑇𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑝𝑒, obtained from the MAST data archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute. STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under the NASA contract NAS 5-26555.

## 1 Introduction

Elemental abundance studies are important for models of Galactic chemical evolution. Studies of the interstellar oxygen abundance support a relatively constant value of O/Htot = (3.43 $`\pm `$ 0.15) $`\times `$ 10-4 out to $``$ 1000 kpc, with any variability less than the 1 $`\sigma `$ measurement uncertainties (Meyer, Jura, & Cardelli 1998; Cartledge et al. 2001; André et al. 2003). The situation is not as clear for carbon and nitrogen. In this work, we focus specifically on the abundance of interstellar nitrogen.

It is generally believed that interstellar nitrogen is a product of the CNO cycle and recycled into the ISM through the winds of low and intermediate mass stars (e.g., red giant branch and/or asymptotic giant branch stars (AGB); Pilyugin, Thuan, & Vichez 2003). In contrast, oxygen is produced in stars during the He burning phase and is returned to the ISM via supernovae.

Early studies (Lugger et al. 1978; Ferlet 1981; York et al. 1983) of interstellar N I using the Copernicus satellite investigated moderately dense lines of sight and found that $`N`$(N I) increases linearly with $`N`$(Htot) \[$`N`$(Htot) = 2$`N`$(H2) + $`N`$(H I)\]. Using high-quality Goddard High-Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) data for seven sight lines with $`N`$(Htot) $``$ 1021 cm-2, Meyer, Cardelli, & Sofia (1997) suggested that the interstellar nitrogen abundance is constant, N/Htot = (7.5 $`\pm `$ 0.4) $`\times `$ 10-5. However, Jenkins et al. (1999) and Sonneborn et al. (2000), using data from the Interstellar Medium Absorption Profile Spectrograph (IMAPS), show a factor-of-2 variation in the N I abundance between $`\delta `$ Ori \[N I/Htot = (3.97 $`\pm `$ 0.30) $`\times `$ 10-5\] and $`\gamma ^2`$ Vel \[N I/Htot = (7.99 $`\pm `$ 0.47) $`\times `$ 10-5\].

In the near interstellar medium (ISM), $`d`$ $``$ 100pc, N I is more affected by ionization than O I because O I is coupled more strongly to H I by charge exchange reactions (Sofia & Jenkins 1998; Jenkins et al. 2000; Lehner et al. 2003). Therefore, these near ISM sightlines (Lehner et al. 2003) will not be discussed here. The effects of ionization at larger column densities are thought to be insignificant. In addition, nitrogen is not incorporated into refractory interstellar dust grains (Sofia, Cardelli, & Savage 1994). Nitrogen bearing interstellar ices (Gibb, Whittet, & Chiar 2001; Chiar et al. 2002) are not expected along our moderately reddened ($`A_v`$ $``$ 2.0) sight lines since interstellar ices do not form until $`A_v`$ $``$ 3 (Whittet et al. 2001). However, nitrogen chemistry and N2 formation should become important.

In order to probe the extent of potential variations in the interstellar nitrogen abundance, we have undertaken a survey of the weak interstellar N I doublet $`\lambda \lambda `$1159.817, 1160.937. Use of this doublet removes uncertainty in oscillator strengths ($`f`$-values) for different transitions and allows for a direct comparison to the work of Meyer et al. (1997). Our survey utilized archival data from the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE; Moos et al. 2000) and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) toward 17 high-density \[$`N`$(H) $``$ 1021 cm -2\] sightlines.

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

### 2.1 $`FUSE`$ Data

The N I data for 16 of the stars studied here, shown in Table 1, were obtained throughout the $`FUSE`$ Prime mission phase (November 1999 $``$ March 2003). All of the data were acquired with the star in the large aperture (30 $`^{\prime \prime }`$ x 30 $`^{\prime \prime }`$; LWRS) with the exception of HD 219188 for which the medium aperture (4 $`^{\prime \prime }`$ x 20 $`^{\prime \prime }`$; MDRS) was utilized. The data cover the wavelength range 905 $``$ 1185 Å with a spectral resolution equivalent to $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`v`$ $``$ 20 km s-1. The weak interstellar N I doublet at 1160 Å appears in both the LiF1 and LiF2 channels which provides a consistency check to rule out the possibility of detector artifacts.

The time-tagged and histogram data were reduced and calibrated with CalFUSE111The CalFUSE Pipeline Reference Guide is available at http://fuse.pha.jhu.edu/analysis/pipeline\_reference.html. (version 2.2.2; Dixon & Sahnow 2003). CalFUSE provides the appropriate Doppler corrections to remove the effects of the spacecraft motion and places the data on the heliocentric velocity scale ($`V_{helio}`$). The wavelength solution provides good relative calibration across the LiF channels. In order to minimize the uncertainties in the relative wavelength calibration between exposures, the data were co-added with a cross correlation technique. We used interstellar H2 lines in several of the $`FUSE`$ channels to fix the velocity scale ($`V_{rel}`$). The final summed spectra (near 1160 Å) have signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios between $``$ 20 and $``$ 300 per resolution element for all data sets. S/N ratios greater than 30 were obtained utilizing focal plane splits or other similar procedures.

### 2.2 STIS Data

STIS observed HD 147888 (N I $`\lambda `$1161) for 1656 s on 2000 Aug 17, HD 24534 (O I $`\lambda `$1356) for 2945 s on 2001 Mar 25, and HD 219188 (O I $`\lambda `$1356) for 1200 s on 2001 Sept 27. The N I $`\lambda `$1161 data for HD 147888 used the E140H grating centered at 1271 Å and the 0.2′′ x 0.09′′ aperture resulting in a resolving power ($`R`$) of about 100,000 ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`v`$ $``$ 2.8 km s-1). The O I $`\lambda `$1356 data utilized the same grating but with the 0.1′′ x 0.03′′ aperture centered on $`\lambda `$1416 for HD 24534 and on $`\lambda `$1271 for HD 219188 resulting in $`R`$ $``$ 200,000 ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`v`$ $``$ 1.5 km s-1).

The E140H setup centered at $`\lambda `$1271 used to measure N I toward HD 147888, is not ideal since the stronger N I line is not obtained. In addition, the MgF2 detector windows severely attenuates the flux below 1200 Å. The 1161 Å line can only be detected in relatively dense sightlines or with long exposure times. With the exception of HD 147888, examination of the archival data for other sightlines did not reveal evidence for the N I 1161 Å line due to the relatively low S/N ($``$ 15 per resolution element).

The data were reduced and extracted with the CALSTIS pipeline (v2.13b). The subtraction of background and scattered light from the echelle data employs the algorithm of Lindler & Bowers (2000). CALSTIS provides the appropriate Doppler corrections to place the spectra on the $`V_{helio}`$ scale. The spectrum of HD 147888 at N I $`\lambda `$1161 has a S/N ratio of $``$ 12 per resolution element. For O I $`\lambda `$1356 toward HD 24534 and HD 219188, we obtained a S/N of $``$ 70 and 48 per resolution element, respectively.

## 3 Results and Discussion

Figure 1 shows the apparent column density (ACD) profiles, $`N_a(v)`$, for both members of the weak interstellar N I doublet toward 2 stars of our stellar sample. See Savage & Sembach (1991) for a detailed discussion of the apparent optical depth method. The excellent overall agreement between the $`N_a(v)`$ profiles for both members of the N I doublet implies that the apparent column densities are the true column densities. Table 1 presents our N I column densities, the average of both members of the doublet except HD 147888 (assumed to be unsaturated). Also presented are the measured equivalent widths ($`W_\lambda `$s) of the N I doublet for each star. Finally, Table 1 shows the available $`Copernicus`$, $`International`$ $`Ultraviolet`$ $`Explorer`$, GHRS, IMAPS, and STIS measurements of $`N`$(N I), $`N`$(Htot), and $`N`$(O I).

Figure 2 ($`Top`$) shows $`N`$(N I)/$`N`$(Htot) versus $`N`$(Htot) which reveals a departure from the average at high column densities. With the exception of $`\delta `$ Ori, the N I abundance appears to be constant for $`N`$(Htot) $``$ 1021 cm-2, but an anticorrelation seems to be present for greater column densities. A Student t test yields a 7.6% probability that the data sets for $`N`$(Htot) $``$ 1021 cm-2 and $`N`$(Htot) $``$ 1021 cm-2 (including the outlier $`\delta `$ Ori) arise from the same parent population. If $`\delta `$ Ori is excluded, the probability is reduced to 1.3%. Therefore, we conclude that the observed variability is real. Figure 2 ($`Bottom`$) depicts $`N`$(N I)/$`N`$(O I) as a function of $`N`$(Htot). The data point for HD 147888, the densest sightline presented here, is high because O I is slightly depleted (Cartledge et al. 2001). The large scatter in N/O supports that the variation in N I is not an artifact introduced by the larger uncertainties for $`N`$(Htot).

In order to test whether the observed N I variability is due to observational effects (i.e., saturation) we calculated curves-of-growth for four stars which exhibited deviant behavior (e.g., HD 179406) and six stars which did not. The curve of growth results agree with those obtained from the ACD method. Additionally, our results compare favorably to previous N I measurements (Hoopes et al. 2003; Sonnentrucker 2003, private communication). We believe saturation effects to be minimal since $`\tau _{\mathrm{N}\mathrm{I}}`$/$`\tau _{\mathrm{O}\mathrm{I}}`$ = 1.4 and O I shows little evidence for saturation (e.g., Cartledge et al. 2001).

A second source of systematic error could arise if the instrinsic absorption profile consisted of a narrow, but unsaturated, feature plus broad shallow wings. In such a scenario, the weak N I doublet associated with the broad component could be too weak to be detected at low S/N. If enough H I column is located in the broad component, this could skew the N I/Htot ratio to systematically low values. We can investigate this possibility in two ways: 1.) through a comparison of the measured Doppler broadening parameter, $`b`$-value, for the N I and hydrogen lines and 2.) comparing N I/Htot vs. distance to test whether systematically lower ratios are caused by additional weak kinematic components for the longer lines-of-sight (Spitzer 1985).

Unfortunately, both the Ly-$`\alpha `$ line of H I and the $`J`$ = 0, 1 lines of H2 typically lie on the square-root part of the curve of growth for these sightlines and are insensitive to the $`b`$-value. However, $`b`$-values can nominally be measured for the $`J`$ $``$ 2 lines of H2. The published $`b`$-values for HD 73882, HD 110432, HD 185418, and HD 192639 (Rachford et al. 2001; Sonnentrucker et al. 2002; Sonnentrucker 2003, private communication), all show comparable or smaller $`b`$-values for H2 than for N I indicating that all the N I is detected. Additionally, no statistically significant slope of N I/Htot vs. stellar distance (125pc $``$ $`d`$ $``$ 2kpc) is found for our sample. These points argue against intrinsic line shape contributing to the N I/Htot deficiencies reported herein.

### 3.1 N2

Based on models of steady-state, gas-phase interstellar chemistry, N2 is expected to be the most abundant nitrogen-bearing molecule in dense clouds. Viala (1986) predicts that at the column densities of the sight lines studied here \[$`N`$(Htot) of a few times 1021 cm-2\], the N2 column densities should be on the order of 15% of the N I abundance or $`N`$(N2) $``$ 1016 cm-2. Inclusion of time dependence or depletion onto grain mantles (Bergin, Langer, & Goldsmith 1995) could result in a slightly smaller gas-phase N2 abundance. However, N2 is still predicted to be the most abundant nitrogen bearing molecule.

The strongest band of N2, covered by $`FUSE`$, is the 0-0 band of the c$`{}_{4}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{}`$1$`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$$`{}_{}{}^{+}{}_{u}{}^{}`$ $``$ X1$`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$$`{}_{}{}^{+}{}_{g}{}^{}`$ transition of N2 at 958 Å. Other N2 bands reside in the far-ultraviolet, but are blended with more abundant species (e.g., H2). Utilizing the laboratory wavelengths and $`f`$-values for the 0-0 band (Stark et al. 2000), we created several synthetic N2 spectra, assuming level populations for excitation temperatures between 10 $``$ 1000 K (c.f., McCandliss 2003). Our synthetic spectrum is saturated for $`N`$(N2) = 1016 cm-2. Therefore, we searched our $`FUSE`$ data for the presence of N2.

Figure 3 ($`Top`$) exhibits the 958 Å portion of the spectrum toward HD 210839 \[$`E`$($`B`$ $``$ $`V`$) = 0.62 mag.\] and the bottom panel shows our synthetic N2 spectrum for $`N`$(N2) = 1015 cm-2, 10% of that predicted. The lower column density incorporates the effects of four velocity components detected in O I $`\lambda `$1356 (André et al. 2003) along the line of sight with similar amounts of material. There is no evidence for N2 in the spectrum of HD 210839 to a level of a few times 1014 cm-2. Examination of the ten densest sightlines that have $`FUSE`$ data also show a similar dearth of N2. Hence, gas-phase N2 cannot explain the observed N I variability. Quantitative limits on N2 will be presented in a subsequent paper.

## 4 Summary

Our data show that the interstellar N I abundances relative to H I and O I appear to vary. Very high-resolution studies of these and other sight lines will help to verify and expand the findings reported here. Although N2 is expected to be the most abundant nitrogen-bearing molecule in moderately dense \[log $`N`$(H2) $``$ 1021 cm-2\] clouds (e.g., Viala 1986), our data do not support the predicted abundances. The presence of an anticorrelation above $`N`$(Htot) = 1021 cm-2 suggests that the mostly likely explanation of the interstellar N I variability is the need for a better understanding of nitrogen chemistry. However, differences in the mixing processes of products from AGB stellar outflows and SN may also contribute.

We thank the FUSE Science Operations team for their dedication and efforts in acquiring these observations. This research made use of the Simbad database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France.


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# Energy loss of pions and electrons of 1 to 6 GeV/c in drift chambers operated with Xe,CO2(15%)

## 1 Introduction

The ALICE Transition Radiation Detector (TRD)  is designed to provide electron identification and particle tracking in the high-multiplicity heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. To achieve the challenging goals of the detector, accurate pulse height measurement in drift chambers operated with Xe,CO2(15%) over the drift time of about 2 $`\mu `$s is a necessary requirement. For such precision measurements, it is of particular importance first to collect  and then to properly amplify  all the charge deposited in the detector. For electrons, the transition radiation (TR), produced in an especially designed raditor, is overimposed on the ionization energy loss and helps crucially in improving the electron/pion separation. A factor of 100 pion rejection for 90% electron efficiency is the design goal of the detector and was demonstrated with prototypes . The measurements of ionization energy loss (dE/dx) in TRD will contribute to the identification of other charged particles, supplementing the identification power of the ALICE Time Projection Chamber. A good understanding of dE/dx in the TRD is a prerequisite for high-precision simulations of the detector performance in terms of TR.

Existing measurements of dE/dx in Xe-based mixtures  are scarce and have good precision on an absolute energy scale only in one case . Calculations of dE/dx can reproduce the measured data, in particular for Xe-based mixtures . Ref.  is an excellent early overview on energy loss measurements and calculations as well as on its application to particle identification. For a more recent account, see ref. .

We report on dE/dx measurements performed during prototype tests for the ALICE TRD. The experimental setup and method of data analysis are described in the next section. We then present the basic ingredients of our simulation code and discuss the general outcome. The measured data in comparison to the calculations are presented in Section 4.

## 2 Experimental setup

The results are obtained using prototype drift chambers (DC) with a construction similar to that anticipated for the final ALICE TRD , but with a smaller active area (25$`\times `$32 cm2). To allow the measurement of the pure ionization energy loss for electrons, no radiator was used for the present measurements. The prototypes have a drift region of 30 mm and an amplification region of 7 mm. Anode wires (W-Au) of 20 $`\mu `$m diameter are used, with a pitch of 5 mm. The cathode wires (Cu-Be) have 75 $`\mu `$m diameter and a pitch of 2.5 mm. We read out the signal on a segmented cathode plane with rectangular pads of 8 cm length and 0.75 cm width. The entrance window (25 $`\mu `$m aluminized Kapton) simultaneously serves as gas barrier and as drift electrode. We operate the drift chambers with the standard gas mixture for the TRD, Xe,CO2(15%), at atmospheric pressure. The gas is recirculated using a dedicated gas system. Our nominal gain of about 4000 is achieved with an anode voltage of 1.55 kV. For our nominal drift field of 0.7 kV/cm, the detector signal is spread over about 2 $`\mu `$s.

We use a prototype of the charge-sensitive preamplifier/shaper (PASA) especially designed and built for the TRD in 0.35 $`\mu `$m CMOS technology. It has a noise on-detector of about 1000 electrons r.m.s. and the FWHM of the output pulse is about 100 ns for an input step function. The nominal gain of the PASA is 12 mV/fC, but during the present measurements we use a gain of 6 mV/fC for a better match to the range of the employed Flash ADC (FADC) system with 0.6 V voltage swing. The FADC has adjustable baseline, an 8-bit non-linear conversion and 20 MHz sampling frequency. The FADC sampling was rebinned in the off-line analysis to obtain 100 ns time bins as for the final ALICE TRD . The data acquisition (DAQ) was based on a VME event builder and was developed at GSI .

The energy calibration of the detectors has been performed using a 55Fe X-ray source. A spectrum of the integrated 55Fe signal is shown in Fig. 1 for our nominal anode voltage of 1.55 kV. The spectrum has been calibrated with one gain parameter (the baseline is obtained using empty presamples, there is no offset) using the main peak of 5.96 keV. The arrow marks the expected position of the escape peak of Xe at 1.76 keV, (the weighted average of the $`L`$ lines of Xe is 4.202 keV), which is in good agreement with the measurements. The energy resolution for the main peak is 23% FWHM.

Four identical drift chambers were used for the beam measurements, without any radiator in front. The variation of the gas gain for each individual chamber is within 10% and is calibrated away. The measurements are carried out at momenta of 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 GeV/c at the T10 secondary beamline of the CERN PS . The momentum resolution is $`\mathrm{\Delta }p/p1\%`$. The beam intensity is up to 3000 particles per spill of about 1 second. As the beam diameter was of the order of 2.5 cm, we usually limited the readout of the DC to 8 pads. This also minimizes data transfer on the VSB bus connecting the FADC and the event builder. The beam is a mixture of electrons and negative pions. Similar sample sizes of pion and electron events are acquired within the same run via dedicated triggers. For the present analysis we have selected clean samples of pions and electrons using coincident thresholds on two Cherenkov detectors and on a lead-glass calorimeter . The incident angle of the beam with respect to the normal to the anode wires (drift direction)is 15 to avoid gas gain saturation due to space charge .

## 3 Procedure and inputs for energy loss calculations

The calculations are performed using a standalone Monte Carlo program especially written for this purpose. In general, the ingredients needed for calculating the ionization energy loss of an incoming charged particle in any material are just the number of the primary inelastic collisions and the spectrum of the energy transfer in these collisions. These quantities depend on the particle type and momentum (or Lorentz factor $`\gamma `$) and on the medium traversed. In our case, the inputs were extracted from GEANT3 .

The energy spectrum of primary electrons released in inelastic collisions of a minimum ionizing particle (MIP, $`\gamma `$=4) is presented in Fig. 2. In GEANT3 an implementation of the photoabsorption ionization model  is used to calculate this spectrum. This is the integral spectrum of the number of the inelastic collisions per centimeter with an energy transfer greater than $`E`$, $`(\mathrm{d}N/\mathrm{d}x)_{>E}`$. For comparison, we plot also, arbitrarily normalized, the pure Rutherford spectrum, which, in the integral form, has a 1/$`E`$ dependence. The calculated spectrum has structures coresponding to the atomic shells (most conspicous are the N and M shells of Xe) and approaches the Rutherford limit for large values of the energy transfer.

The total number of primary collisions per cm of traversed gas, $`N`$, is the value corresponding to the lower limit of the energy transfer and is 19.3 for our case. Note that this number is much smaller compared than the values quoted in earlier works: 48 by Ermilova et al.  and 44 by Sauli  or Zarubin . On the other hand, Va’vra  has recently deduced that $`N`$ is about 25 for Xe. The lowest value of the energy transfer in the GEANT3 spectrum is 11.26 eV . Since the value of the lowest ionization potential for Xe is $`I`$=12.13 eV (for CO2 $`I`$=13.81 eV) , we restrict for our simulations the lowest energy transfer to this value of 12.13 eV, while keeping unchanged the number of primary collisions. This threshold leads to an increase of the simulated average energy loss by 4% compared to the case when 11.26 eV would be the lowest allowed energy transfer.

In addition to the material-dependent values presented above, one has to specify their dependence on the incoming particle’s Lorentz factor, $`\gamma `$. We assume that the spectral shape of the energy transfer is independent of $`\gamma `$ and only the total number of primary collisions depends on $`\gamma `$. This factor, $`f`$, is the relative increase of $`N`$ with respect to the value for MIP. Its dependence, as extracted from GEANT3, is presented in Fig. 3 for our gas mixture. Note that in GEANT3 the Fermi plateau corresponds to a number of primary inelastic collisions 1.55 times larger with respect to MIP. This value is sizeably larger than the value of 1.36 calculated by Ermilova et al. . As we shall see below, our measurements favor an even higher Fermi plateau than that extracted from GEANT3, of about 1.61. This is shown by the dashed line in Fig. 3. For a given detector thickness $`D`$ and for a given $`\gamma `$ value, the spectrum presented in Fig. 2 is sampled on average $`N_{tot}=NDf(\gamma )`$ times. For an individual track, the actual number of inelastic collisions is obtained by sampling a Poissonian distribution with the average $`N_{tot}`$.

The $`\delta `$-rays (energetic electrons produced in inelastic collisions) are tracked for energies above 10 keV. This class is what we denote here generically $`\delta `$-rays (there is no accepted threshold above which a primary electron is called $`\delta `$-ray). For these electrons the range is calculated according to the formula :

$$R(E)=AE\left(1\frac{B}{1+CE}\right),$$
(1)
with $`A`$=5.37$``$10-4 gcm-2keV-1, $`B`$=0.9815, and $`C`$=3.123$``$10-3 keV-1 . $`E`$ is the energy of the $`\delta `$-ray. For instance, for our gas mixture, the range is 0.52 mm for 10 keV and 27.4 mm for 100 keV $`\delta `$-rays. We assume that the $`\delta `$-rays move on a straight trajectory co-linear with the parent particle. If a $`\delta `$-ray was produced in the detector depth such that the range is greater than the remaining path length of the parent track in the detector, the $`\gamma `$ of the $`\delta `$-ray is calculated and its energy deposit is treated as for an independent track and added to the parent track. For our detector geometry, 15.3% of the tracks of 2 GeV/c pions have a $`\delta `$-ray above 10 keV. Of those, 16.3% (or 2.5% of all the tracks) escape from the detector volume.

In Fig. 4 we present the comparison of the energy loss integrated over the detector thickness, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, for pions of 2 GeV/c. The four cases are for: i) all tracks, ii) tracks not containing any $`\delta `$-ray, ii) tracks with $`\delta `$-ray, but which are completely absorbed in the detector, and iv) tracks for which one $`\delta `$-ray escapes the detector. For this last case the energy loss in this example is calculated taking the total energy of the $`\delta `$-ray. These spectra illustrate the contribution of $`\delta `$-rays to the well known Landau shape of energy loss in thin detectors: the tail originates from the tracks for which one or more $`\delta `$-rays have been produced . Depending on the detector thickness, some of those will escape the detection volume. This leads to the distinction between the energy loss and the energy deposit, which comprises only the detected signal (and is obviously smaller than the energy loss). The flat energy loss distribution for tracks containing escaped $`\delta `$-rays (dot-dashed histogram) is the result of the random distribution of these $`\delta `$-rays in the detector thickness: the lower energy $`\delta `$-rays escape only if they are produced at the end of the path of the parent particle in the detector, while the very energetic ones escape no matter where they are produced.

## 4 Results and discussion

In Fig. 5 we present the measured distributions of energy loss for pions and electrons for the momentum of 2 GeV/c. Our high-statistics measurements with FADCs with large dynamic range make available for the first time complete energy loss spectra. A very good agreement between data and calculations is seen for the case of $`\delta `$-rays escaping the detector volume. As noted above, those $`\delta `$-rays influence only the tails of the distributions. This is the reason why the most probable value (MPV) of the spectrum and not its mean value is most commonly used to characterize the energy loss in thin detectors. From here on we consider only the simulated results taking into account the tracking of escaped $`\delta `$-rays. The measurements for all momenta are presented in Fig. 6 together with simulations. One can notice that, due to the relativistic rise of the pions, the separation between the pions and electrons is reduced as a function of momentum. This is the reason why one employs the extra contribution of transition radiation in order to achieve a good electron/pion identification with a TRD. In general, the agreement between data and calculations is good for all momenta, but on a linear scale one can already notice that the widths of the distributions are larger in case of simulations (see below). The calculated distributions are for the modified Fermi plateau. All the measured spectra are available at the web page of our collaboration . Note that, due to the track incidence at 15 with respect to the normal incidence, the distributions correspond to an effective detector thickness of 3.83 cm.

In Fig. 7 we present the momentum dependence of the energy loss values for electrons and pions, for two cases: MPVs and average values. The MPVs are extracted from fits with a convolution of a Landau function and a Gaussian. The measured data are compared to the results of simulations. The errors on the data represent an estimated 2% point-to-point accuracy, originating from minute changes of the gas composition and pressure. We estimate an overall uncertainty of the absolute energy calibration of about 5%. The statistical error of the Landau fit is negligible. As noted earlier, for our momentum values, the pions are in the regime of the relativistic rise, while the electrons are at the Fermi plateau. These two regimes are reflected in the measured values of the energy loss. Note that our average values for electrons are lower than those reported by Fischer et al. , who measured a value of about 9 keV/cm at the Fermi plateau. Appuhn et al.  have reported for electrons even larger values of about 12 keV/cm, with a slightly increasing trend for the same momentum range as ours.

The calculations reproduce well the absolute magnitude and the general trends of the data, however, in case of electrons, only with the modified value of the Fermi plateau. The calculations show a more pronounced relativistic rise than the measurements. Also, in case of the average values, the calculations indicate that the Fermi plateau is reached for the electrons for all momentum values, while the data show a slight increase for momenta below 2 GeV/c. Despite the above-mentioned 5% overall uncertainty of the measured values, it is evident that the calculations cannot consistently explain the measured values for pions and electrons unless one introduces the modified Fermi plateau.

The comparion of the measured and simulated values of the FWHM of the energy loss spectra, normalized to MPV, is shown in Fig. 8 for pions and electrons as a function of particle momentum. The FWHM is determined by the magnitude of the ionization, in particular by the average number of primary inelastic collisions. For pions, as a consequence of the relativistic rise, one expects that the FWHM is decreasing as a function of momentum and this is indeed the trend of our measured values. For electrons, due to their constant energy loss, the FWHM is expected to be constant, but the measurements show a slight increase as a function of momentum. This is not quantitatively understood, but Bremsstrahlung is the only candidate to explain such a behavior. Our measured values for pions are larger than those reported in ref.  by about 15%.

The calculations reproduce the measured trend for pions, but show clearly larger values of FWHM. The expected constant value of FWHM for electrons is confirmed by the calculations. Bremsstrahlung is not included for the simulated events. Larger FWHMs in case of calculations may be a consequence of too low a number of primary inelastic collisions predicted by GEANT. Obviously, one can not increase this number unconditionally. The spectrum of the energy transfer has to be changed in this case too, otherwise the average values of dE/dx would no longer be in agreement with the measurements. As emphasized by the authors of GEANT3 , the shape of the energy transfer spectrum at low energy is strongly dependent on the choice and treatment of the photo-absorption cross sections. If the FWHM is only determined by the number of primary collisions, a simple Poisson scaling implies that about 25 primary collisions per cm would be required for an agreement between our measurements and the simulations in case of pions. This value is identical to the one inferred by Va’vra . Another possibility is that for the measurements the Penning effect increases the secondary electron statistics . We note that similarly larger widths of simulated distributions compared to measurements are also apparent in ref. .

In Fig. 9 we present the relativistic rise of the most probable value of the energy loss. Our data are compared to other measurements  and to calculations. For this relative comparison, we have normalized our measured value for 3 GeV/c pions ($`\gamma `$=21) to the calculations. Note that the absolute MPVs of data and calculations agree perfectly at this momentum value (see Fig. 7). The agreement with existing measurements is very good. In particular, we would like to emphasize the perfect agreement with the Fermi plateau value of Walenta et al. . As expected from the previous comparisons, the calculations reproduce the data well, but only in case of the modified Fermi plateau. The results of GEANT4 calculations  are included as well. The value of the Fermi plateau in GEANT4 is very close to the GEANT3 case and, as a consequence, underpredicts our measurements. The approach to the plateau is more gradual in case of GEANT4 and this agrees with the measurements of Herold et al. , which are clearly overpredicted by our calculations. A Fermi plateau of about 1.98 was calculated  using the density effect correction of Sternheimer and Peierls . On the other hand, Cobb et al.  have calculated a value of 1.73, very close to our measured value. Note that the value of the Fermi plateau in the case of MPV, 1.75, is larger compared to the corresponding value for the average energy loss, 1.61 (which is obviously identical to the input value for the Fermi plateau of the number of primary collisions), and the onset of the plateau starts at somewhat larger values of $`\gamma `$ (see also Fig. 3) .

The results presented above allow the calculation of the electron/pion rejection using pure dE/dx measurements. The results are presented in Fig. 10. A likelihood method  on the total energy loss spectra (see Fig. 7) has been used to extract the pion efficiencies for 90% electron efficiency. The measured experimental data for 4 layers has been used to calculate the expected performance for the final ALICE TRD configuration with 6 layers. The experimental errors are of the order of the dimension of the points. The data are compared to the performance extracted from the simulations using an identical procedure. Clearly, the modified Fermi plateau is needed in order to explain the measured pion efficiencies. Moreover, as a result of the faster relativistic rise in the simulations compared to the data, the simulations show a degradation of the pion rejection performance which is steeper than the measurements. The larger widths of the simulated Landau distributions play a role, too.

In ALICE TRD the contribution of TR is significantly improving the electron identification performance . Pion efficiencies below 1% have been achieved in tests with prototypes . However, particle identification using dE/dx will be used for other charged particles, for which truncated means could be a more advantageous way to exploit the measured signal. In case of electron/pion separation, the comparison of measurements and calculations in terms of pure dE/dx is just a necessary step in understanding the contribution of TR, in particular the comparison between measurements and simulations of the TRD performance.

## 5 Summary

We have reported measurements of ionization energy loss in drift chambers operated with Xe,CO2(15%), carried out using prototype drift chambers for the ALICE TRD. Pions and electrons with momenta from 1 to 6 GeV/c were studied. Our high-statistics measurements with FADCs with large dynamic range make available for the first time complete energy loss spectra. Our measured relativistic rise agrees well with existing measurements. The measured distributions are in general well reproduced using microscopic calculations with GEANT3 input parameters, but a modified value of the Fermi plateau (an increase from 1.55 to 1.61) is needed to explain the electron data. The calculations show wider distributions compared to the measurements, suggesting that the number of primary collisions is too low in the standard GEANT3 input values. Apparently, all the noticed discrepancies between data and GEANT3 will apply in case of GEANT4, too.

## Acknowledgments

We acknowledge A. Radu and J. Hehner for the skills and dedication in building our detectors. We acknowledge useful discussions with S. Biagi. We would also like to acknowledge P. Szymanski for help in organizing the experiment and A. Przybyla, and M. Wensveen for technical assistance during the measurements. We thank N. Kurz for assistance with the data acquisition.