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# High-bias stability of monatomic chains

## I Introduction

As the down-scaling of electronic components is advancing at an impressive rate, the general interest in dissipation and thermal transport at comparable scales is increasing. Technical applications using these small scale devices will have higher and higher densities of components making heat generation one of the biggest problems to overcome. We, therefore, need to develop a better fundamental understanding of the properties of matter at small size scales. A recent review cahill03  on thermal transport at the nanoscale shows how fast this field has been growing during the last few years. It also shows that at scales of the order of several nanometers the quantum behavior of matter starts to have a major impact on the thermal behavior of the sample. As an example, Yao et al. yao00  have shown that the current through a single-wall carbon nanotube is saturating as the voltage reaches values of several volts, a behavior which is not expected from a simple down-scaling of classical effects.

Here we study the thermal behavior of metals at the smallest length-scales, below 1 nm. A review of results in this field has recently appeared agrait03 . In recent experiments it was shown that some metals have the property of spontaneously forming monatomic chains just before rupture yanson98 ; ohnishi98 . Although atomic chains are intrinsically metastable, experiments at high bias voltages showed they have a surprising current-carrying capacity yanson98 , and current densities up to 109 A/mm2 could be reached. Currently the lengths of these chains is limited to about seven atoms. A better understanding of dissipation and relaxation phenomena may lead the way to fabricate longer chains. With these monatomic chains being nearly ideal one-dimensional conductors this would provide means to further study the fundamental properties of conductors in one dimension.

In the experiments described below we probe the stability of many individual monatomic chains by looking at their rate of survival at high bias voltages. Although these nanowires due to their small size are ballistic, high bias results in a small probability for inelastic scattering of the electrons to phonons. Energy dissipation has been demonstrated to come into play when $`eV`$ for the bias voltages applied is raised above the characteristic zone-boundary phonon energy agrait02 . Energy dissipation will take place on the scale of the electron-phonon scattering length (typically $``$100 nm), but the number of scattering events per volume will be largest inside the atomic wire itself due to the large current density. As a consequence the average lattice vibration energy at the narrowest cross-section will be larger than anywhere else in the contact, which can be viewed as an increased local effective temperature, $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. This elevated local temperature can lead to the rupture of the contact and is therefore an important parameter.

There have been several experimental attempts in measuring this local effective temperature inside metallic point contacts, but it has been difficult to obtain quantitative results. Van den Brom et al. brom98  have exploited the switching rate between two different configurations in atomic sized contacts. When the energy barrier between the two configurations is low enough (which is often found on the verge of an atomic reconstruction) the local temperature can activate the jumps between the two levels, and the switching rate is determined by the ratio of the effective barrier and the thermal energy. To obtain the effective temperature from this switching rate an estimate of this barrier is required, which is difficult in view of the unknown atomic configurations. In order to circumvent this problem the switching rate between the two states was followed while changing the bias voltage and the bath temperature independently brom01 . A comparison between the changes in the switching rates in these two cases would provide a calibration of the relation between the bias voltage and the effective temperature. However, the thermal expansion in the electrodes due to the changing temperature changes the atomic configuration considerably, making it difficult to draw definite conclusions.

Here we discuss measurements of the fracture rate of atomic chains as a function of the voltage bias. The advantage over previous work on $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ in atomic-sized conductors is that they are free of lattice imperfections and impurities and the structure is known, except for the configuration at the end points. The energy barrier that has to be considered in the process is therefore less complex. Moreover, it is possible to consider chains of various lengths, which provides us with a control parameter of the point contact geometry.

The paper is organized as follows. After some details on the experimental techniques we show in section III that the breaking of an ensemble of chains cannot be described by a simple activated process. We argue (section IV) that there are a number of parameters involved that lead to a distribution of Boltzmann factors and we show that the observed distribution in breaking voltages can be fairly well described without adjustable parameters. One of the assumptions, here, is that there is a variation in effective barriers to breaking as a result of a distribution of tensile forces in the chains. We verify this assumption in section V by comparison to the measured phonon mode energy in the chains, which reflects the actual tensile force in the monatomic wire. All experiments to this point were done on gold chains and this is compared to results for platinum in section VI, which can only be qualitative for lack of data available in the literature. We conclude (section VII) that we have a fairly good description of Joule heating in these atomic-sized conductors and we obtain a realistic estimate for the lattice temperature at finite bias.

## II Experimental techniques

The experiments have been performed using the Mechanically Controllable Break Junction (MCBJ) technique ruitenbeek97 . By this technique one breaks a wire of the desired metal in a controlled fashion with the use of a piezo-electric element. The wire is only broken once the sample is under vacuum and the temperature in the vacuum chamber is stable at 4.2 K. Thermal contact to the sample is provided by a copper finger in order to avoid using thermal contact gas. The advantages of the MCBJ technique are, firstly, a large mechanical stability due to the small mechanical loop connecting the two wire ends. This can be of crucial importance when one tries to determine the stability of monatomic chains. Secondly, the cryogenic vacuum without use of thermal exchange gases ascertains the absence of gas molecules in the environment that could lead to additional cooling of the contact and contamination of the metal nanowire. Our relying on cryogenic vacuum has the disadvantage that we cannot increase the temperature of the experiment much since this would lead to a deterioration of the vacuum. The gold and platinum wires used here have a purity of at least 99.998 %.

Chains of atoms were produced in the following way. During the breaking of the wire by use of the piezo-element the wire conductance decreases in steps muller92 , which have been shown to be due to atomic reconfigurations rubio01 . The last plateau in the conductance, observed just before the conductance suddenly drops to a negligible value and the wire is broken, is generally due to a contact with the cross section of a single atom krans93 . When the length of this plateau exceeds the typical length for a single atom it can be considered as a measure for the length of an atomic chain being formed yanson98 ; untiedt02 . In order to fabricate atomic chains of a given length $`L`$ the process is repeated as long as the contact breaks before the plateau (and chain) reaches the desired length: The two electrodes are pushed together again to reestablish a big contact and a new atomic contact is pulled out. When after several attempts the desired chain-length is reached the piezo movement is halted and measurements on the properties of the atomic chain are started. During this procedure the conductance of the atomic contact is measured using a constant bias voltage of the order of 10 mV.

The effective length $`L`$ that we will use as a parameter below refers to the length of the last plateau in the conductance, as was done in previous studies yanson98 ; untiedt02 . The length measures the stretching of the contact from the point where the conductance first drops to the value of a single-atom contact. It is widely accepted that the starting point corresponds to a contact of one atom. Depending on the detailed evolution of the chain a plateau length of $`L=0.5`$ nm for gold would have two or three atoms in a row, and $`L=1`$ nm would have four or five atoms. Some recent model calculations jelinek03 ; nakamura99  suggest that the structure of the contact at the starting point of a plateau can be viewed as two electrodes ending in a single atom and touching vertex-atom to vertex-atom which would make the chains one atom longer, but this remains to be verified experimentally.

## III Rate of decay of atomic chains

One would expect the stability of the monatomic chain to be determined by the ratio of the energy barrier against breaking, $`W`$, and the effective temperature, $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. A population, $`𝒫`$, of chains would then show an exponential decay as a function of time, $`t`$,

$$𝒫(t)=𝒫(0)\mathrm{exp}(t/\tau ),\tau =\frac{1}{f}\mathrm{exp}(W/k_\mathrm{B}T_{\mathrm{eff}}),$$
(1)
where $`f`$ is the frequency by which the system attempts to overcome the barrier. In estimates and simulations given below we will take $`f=3.5\times 10^{12}`$ Hz, a typical phonon frequency for monatomic gold chains agrait02 ; montgomery03 .

In order to investigate this stability by a simple experiment the decay of a population of monatomic gold chains was followed as a function of time. The moment a chain of the desired length is created is taken as $`t=0`$ and the time until the chain spontaneously breaks was stored for a set of consecutively formed chains. The evolution of the number of surviving chains as a function of time, out of an initial population of 100, is presented in figure 1. Clearly, the observed dependence is not described by the expected exponential decay. The inset in figure 1 shows that it actually more closely follows a logarithm. A logarithm can be obtained if we consider for the chains in the population a distribution of barriers, a distribution of effective temperatures, or both. Note that the characteristic time for breaking is influenced by the applied bias voltage, which is 200 mV in the example of figure 1. Near zero bias the lifetime of atomic chains at 4.2 K is mainly limited by the patience of the experimentalist.

## IV A distribution of Boltzmann factors

The distribution of lifetimes for given effective length $`L`$ observed in figure 1 may result from a variation in the energy barrier $`W`$ of the chain, which is likely due to variation in the tensile force. From the fact that a chain will always break when the tensile force exerted is large enough, one can conclude that the effective barrier height must decrease with force. As shown by the force measurements on monatomic chains performed by Rubio et al. rubio01  the force varies strongly while pulling to form a chain, and will sensitively depend on the atomic configurations at the connection points to the banks. Assuming a dominant lowest order (linear) term the barrier energy can be written as

$$W=W_0\alpha |V|\beta |F|,$$
(2)
where $`W_0`$ is the equilibrium barrier energy. We have also included a linear decrease of the barrier due to electromigration upon application of a bias voltage $`V`$. This term is motivated by model calculations by Todorov et al. todorov01 ; todorov02  Using a single-orbital tight-binding model they have shown that the barrier against breaking reduces linearly with voltages up to 1 V. More recent calculations based on density functional theory by Brandbyge et al. brandbyge03  have shown that the electromigration force can be highly non-linear. However, for many configurations it will be a reasonable approximation.

Apart from a variation in the energy barrier we should also consider the local effective temperature at the point contact. For vanishing bias voltages the effective temperature approaches the bath temperature, $`T_0`$. Beyond a certain threshold voltage it should rise due to a voltage-driven term, $`T_\mathrm{V}`$. Following reference todorov01,  we describe the local effective temperature of the atomic contact as:

$$T_{\mathrm{eff}}=(T_0^4+T_\mathrm{V}^4)^{1/4}.$$
(3)
An estimate for the dependence of $`T_\mathrm{V}`$ on voltage can be obtained from an earlier paper by Todorov todorov98 . Three terms are included in the estimate: (1) Heating by the electrons due to creation of phonons in the atomic wire, (2) the cooling by the electrons due to absorbtion of phonons, and (3) cooling by the thermal transport of energy away from the point contact into the metal banks. If only the first two terms are included the temperature is simply proportional to the voltage, $`k_\mathrm{B}T_{\mathrm{eff}}eV`$, where it has been assumed that electrons exchange at most a single quantum of vibration energy. Note that recent experimental work by Zhitenev et al. zhitenev02  on molecular junctions indicates that several vibrational quanta can be deposited per electron. However, this effect can be attributed to the relatively long residing times of the electrons inside the molecular bridge aji03 . Earlier experimental work on phonon spectroscopy in monatomic gold chains agrait02  shows that multiple phonon scattering is negligibly small for these ballistic wires, in agreement with the assumption by Todorov.

An effective temperature $`k_\mathrm{B}T_{\mathrm{eff}}eV`$ would correspond to thousands of Kelvins at commonly employed bias voltages. However, the third term, the thermal conduction to the banks, limits the heating considerably. It is more difficult to make precise estimates, but when the behavior of the banks is taken to follow the bulk heat conduction and heat capacity we obtain todorov98

$$T_\mathrm{V}=\gamma \sqrt{L|V|}$$
(4)
where $`\gamma `$ is a proportionality constant given as $`\gamma =60`$ K V-1/2 nm-1/2 and $`L`$ is the length of the chain. This was qualitatively confirmed by an independent approach by Chen et al. chen03 .

In order to investigate experimentally the effect of bias voltage heating on the stability of the chains, taking a distribution of wire properties into account, we proceeded as follows. First chains of the desired length are produced following the procedure described above. This is done at a bias voltage of 10 mV, a value which is below the typical electron-phonon excitation energy agrait02 . This ensures that the effective temperature in the point contact will remain close to the bath temperature. Once a chain has been formed we wait for 1 s to see whether the chain is indeed stable. Next, the voltage is ramped with a constant speed of about 1 V/s until the chain breaks. The bias voltage at breaking is stored and it is reset to 10 mV. The electrodes are then pushed together again to repeat the experiment for the next chain. The results for such an experiment are represented in figure 2. The top panel shows a histogram constructed from the measured bias voltages at breaking for a set of 500 gold atomic chains with $`L=0.5`$ nm. The distribution clearly peaks at 1.2 V with a full width at half maximum of 0.6 V. The lower panel shows a similar set of experimental results for chains of $`L=1.0`$ nm in length. In this case we observe two peaks in the distribution, one at low bias representing a large fraction of chains that break early, and a second peak at 0.8 V. A possible dependence on the voltage ramp speeds was not investigated, but earlier work found negligible influence of this parameter in atomic contacts nielsen02a .

We have suggested above that the breaking of the atomic chains can be described as a thermally activated process. However, for this we need to verify that the energy barrier is not significantly modified by thermal expansion due to the rising of the local effective temperature at high bias voltage. In a test we measured two sets of 500 atomic chains. With the first set the bias voltage was suddenly increased from 15 to 800 mV once the chains had been formed. A large number of chains was seen to break following a similar logarithmic time dependence as displayed in figure 1. With the second set we suddenly dropped the voltage from 300 to 50 mV after which we observed not a single chain breaking. Note that a higher bias should lead to thermal expansion of the electrodes kolesnychenko01  and thus to a smaller tensile stress than at low bias. These two tests show that the influence of the thermal expansion on the energy barrier, if present, is dominated by the thermally activated breaking.

In order to compare the results of figure 2 with the proposed model for the variation of the energy barrier and effective temperature on bias voltage we need realistic estimates for the constants in equation 2. We adopt the values $`W_0=0.738`$ eV and $`\alpha =0.14`$ eV/V obtained in reference todorov01,  from a non-equilibrium tight-binding calculation for a gold atomic chain. The value for $`\beta `$ in equation 2 can be estimated from the results by Rubio et al. rubio01  They found that gold atomic chains typically break at a tensile force of 1.5 nN. At the point of breaking the lifetime, $`\tau `$, of a chain has been reduced to the experimental time scale, which is $`0.1`$ s in the experiments of reference rubio01, . The local effective temperature at the point contact will be given by the bath temperature in view of the low bias voltage of 10 mV used in these experiments. For $`\tau =0.1`$ s and $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=T_0=4.2`$ K we obtain from equation 1 an average barrier of 0.011 eV at breaking. The barrier of 0.738 eV therefore nearly vanishes under the influence of a tensile force of 1.5 nN, resulting in a value of $`\beta =0.49`$ eV/nN.

We will now see whether the combination of these values give a reasonable description of the experimental results of figure 2. We assume here that the only missing, i.e. not measured, parameter is the tensile force. The average tensile force on an atomic chain can be estimated from figure 1 in reference rubio01,  to be $`0.95\pm 0.15`$ nN. We performed a numerical simulation of these data based on equations 1 to 4 and using a normal distribution of forces with a mean value of 0.95 nN and a standard deviation of 0.15 nN, which produces the distribution presented in figure 2. The peak position and width agree very well with those observed in the experiment. Note that all parameters have been obtained from independent model calculations and experimental data, so that there are no adjustable parameters. For an effective length $`L=`$1 nm (lower panel) the peak in the numerical simulation is slightly higher than observed. A more significant disagreement is in the width of the distribution, which is about twice as large in the numerical result, and also the peak at zero bias remains unexplained. Nevertheless, the qualitatively agreement obtained using literature values for the parameters suggests that we have at least captured some of the physics involved. Thus, this analysis suggests that the broad distribution in breaking voltages is mainly caused by the large distribution of tensile forces in an ensemble of atomic chains. The processes leading to the relatively unstable chains breaking at very low voltages is unclear as of yet. A possible explanation would be a large portion of chains quickly breaking when the bias voltage reaches the threshold value of the lowest phonon mode in the point contact.

In order to follow the length dependence in more detail we have constructed histograms similar to the ones shown in figure 2 for many chain-lengths. From the histograms we extract the position of the maximum of the distribution at finite bias and plot this as a function of length. This dependence is depicted in figure 3 and shows that the average breaking voltage decreases from 1.2 V at $`L=0.45`$ nm to just below 0.6 V at $`L=1.25`$ nm.

With the same values for the model parameters as used above we obtained the curve shown in figure 3. In view of the fact that there are no free parameters the agreement between the model and experiment is surprisingly good, although the values at greater length demonstrate a larger deviation. The reason for the deviation may be in the model or the choice of parameters. However, one aspect that we have ignored and that should become important for longer chains is the contribution of the entropy. The larger number of bonds present in longer chains will reduce the effective barrier hageman00 .

## V Test of the variation in tensile forces

In order to test whether the width in the experimental distribution at higher bias voltages is the result of a variation in the tensile forces one would like to be able to measure the forces in the point contact. The MCBJ in its original configuration is not suitable to determine these, but it is possible to obtain some information in an indirect way using Point Contact Spectroscopy (PCS) yanson74 . By this technique one probes the differential conductance $`dI/dV`$ as a function of voltage using a small modulation superimposed on the dc bias ramp. As soon as the excess energy, $`eV`$, of the electrons shooting through the point contact becomes larger than the energy of a phonon mode inside the contact a new channel for back-scattering sets in resulting in a sudden reduction of the conductance. This technique was applied to atomic contacts by Untiedt et al. untiedt00  and to monatomic gold chains by Agraït et al. agrait02 , who showed that the observed phonon energy decreases when the tensile force on the chain is increased. This is as intuitively expected: As the tensile force $`F`$ increases the distance between the atoms $`a`$ in the chain increases leading to a weaker bond and a lower stiffness $`\kappa =dF/da`$. Since the observed longitudinal phonon mode energy is proportional to $`\sqrt{\kappa }`$ the phonon frequency changes accordingly.

We make use of this effect in the following experiment. First we produce a chain of the desired length via the procedure described above. Next, a point contact spectrum is recorded by measuring the differential conductance as a function of bias voltage in the interval between -50 and +50 mV, using a lock-in amplifier. Some chains are lost during this procedure due to an increase of the effective temperature caused by the increased bias voltage. When this happens the data are discarded and a new chain is formed. After having measured the differential conductance the bias voltage is ramped up similar as in the previous experiment, at a rate of 1 V/s. The data are stored and analyzed after collecting a large set of curves. For all point contact spectra that show a clear phonon signal the phonon frequency can be compared to the breaking voltage. The data are then sorted according to the observed phonon frequencies and collected in bins of 1 meV wide. For the data within each bin the average breaking voltage and its standard deviation are evaluated.

Figure 4 shows the average breaking voltage as a function of the observed phonon frequencies, where the error bars on each data point represent the standard deviation. For a small fraction of about 2% of the spectra more than one phonon frequency could be identified, and these were not taken into account in figure 4. The break voltage in the graph clearly rises as a function of phonon energy, just as is expected. For a higher phonon frequency the force constant $`\kappa `$ is higher and the chain is expected to be less strained, and thus the energy barrier to breaking is higher. The distribution of breaking voltages at each phonon energy is still quite broad. From this observation one can conclude that the tensile force indeed plays the expected role on the stability, but that there are still other parameters that influence the survival rate of atomic chains at high bias voltage. Such parameters could be variations in the shape of the leads giving rise to differences in thermal conduction and effective temperatures. Also, various atomic configurations of the leads at the connection points to the chain may give rise to different equilibrium values for the barrier at zero voltage and zero strain, $`W_0`$. This may also lead to a variation in the dependence of the barrier on bias voltage via electromigration forces.

## VI Platinum

Gold is not unique in forming atomic chains and it is now known that this property is shared with Pt and Ir smit01 . In contrast to Au, Pt is a metal with both a significant density of s and of d-electrons at the Fermi energy. The behavior for Pt could therefore deviate from the results predicted by the model presented above, since the theory was largely based on the single-orbital tight-binding studies by Todorov et al. todorov01 .

The inset of figure 5 shows a histogram of breaking voltages for 500 Pt atomic chains, measured by the same method as figure 2 for Au. Since the conductance for Pt single-atom contacts or monatomic chains is not as sharply defined near a quantum unit of conductance as is the case for Au the length of the atomic chain is less obviously defined. This problem was discussed and successfully addressed in reference smit01,  and we employ the same approach for determining the effective chain length. Although the results in figure 5 are largely similar to those obtained for Au they differ in some respects. First, for an effective length of $`L=1.0`$ nm the position of the maximum is now located at 0.17 V, much lower than found for Au, while the width of 0.12 V is only slightly smaller. Also, the fraction of chains breaking at very low currents is significantly smaller.

Just as for Au one can follow the position of the maximum in the breaking currents as a function of length. Such a graph is presented in figure 5, where the filled data points represent data in the same length interval that was also measured for Au, while the open symbols are at smaller lengths. This is to emphasize that the differences in behavior are less dramatic than a comparison of the two figures may suggest. The rapid rise towards smaller lengths may not be unique for Pt. We would like to use again equations 2 through 4 to describe the experimental results for the breaking voltage as a function of length. However, in contrast to Au most parameters in the model cannot be found in the literature. Therefore, we take a slightly different approach and start from the assumption that all chains break as soon as their mean lifetime becomes of the order of the characteristic experimental time-scale. We further assume that the effective temperature at breaking is much larger than the bath temperature, so that $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}T_\mathrm{V}`$. Combining equations 24 we obtain

$$\tau =\frac{1}{f}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{W_F\alpha |V|}{k_\mathrm{B}\gamma \sqrt{L|V|}}\right),$$
(5)
where $`W_F=W_0\beta |F|`$ represents the barrier against breaking averaged over a distribution of forces. We set $`\tau `$ equal to an experimental time scale of 10 ms, but the choice affects the results only logarithmically. Taking $`W_F`$ = 0.23 eV, (note, this is $`W_0`$ reduced by the averaged strain) $`\gamma `$ = 200 KV-1/2nm-1/2 and $`\alpha `$ = 0.39 eV/V, a set of values which is within reasonable limits, the resulting curve shown in figure 5 describes the experimental data quite well. This set of values is not unique as can be seen from inspection of equation 5: the values of $`\alpha `$, $`\gamma `$ and $`W_F`$ can be scaled by an arbitrary constant. Yet, we can find reasonable values for the constants and obtain a good qualitative description of the data using the same model as for Au above. For $`L0`$ the break voltage assumes a value $`W_F/\alpha `$ while for large $`L`$ the break voltage decreases as $`1/L`$, but is expected to saturate when $`eV`$ approaches the characteristic phonon energies of the chain.

## VII Conclusions

We have studied monatomic chains for Au and Pt and find a systematic dependence of the characteristic chain-breaking voltage vs the chain length. Atomic chains sustain surprisingly large current densities, but the maximum current (or voltage) decreases as the chain length grows. We have adopted a model proposed by Todorov and coworkers and find a satisfactory agreement with the observations. Especially for gold the agreement is surprisingly good in view of the fact that we have not used any adjustable parameter. Yet, there are deviations that are not captured by the model and that require further study. For Pt the general behavior of the average breaking voltage as a function of length can also be closely described by the model, although the parameters have not been independently verified. The agreement obtained inspires confidence in equations 3 and 4 and we can now estimate the effective (lattice) temperature inside the atomic wire. It rises proportional to the square root of of the bias voltage for sufficiently large bias and for a monatomic gold chain of length $`L=1`$ nm at $`V=1`$ V it reaches a temperature of 60 K, which is well above the bath temperature of 4.2 K.

We thank M. Pohlkamp and M. Heijdra for valuable assistance with the experiments and gratefully acknowledge discussions with T.N. Todorov, J. Hoekstra and A.P. Sutton. This work is part of the research program of the “Stichting FOM,”. C.U. has been supported by the European Union under contract No. HPMF-CT-2000-00724 and by the Spanish ‘Ramón y Cajal’ program of the MCyT.


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# Borel Fixed Initial Ideals of Prime Ideals in Dimension Two

## Abstract.

We prove that if the initial ideal of a prime ideal is Borel-fixed and the dimension of the quotient ring is less than or equal to two, then given any non-minimal associated prime ideal of the initial ideal it contains another associated prime ideal of dimension one larger.

The research of the author was partially supported by the National Security Agency.

Let $`R=k[x_1,x_2,\mathrm{},x_r]`$ be a polynomial ring over a field. We will say that an ideal $`IR`$ has the *saturated chain property* if given any non-minimal associated prime ideal $`Q`$ of $`I`$ there exists an associated prime ideal $`PQ`$ such that $`dim(R/P)=dim(R/Q)+1`$. Therefore given $`Q`$ an associated prime ideal of $`I`$, there exists a saturated chain of associated prime ideals $`P_1P_2\mathrm{}P_n=Q`$ such that $`P_1`$ is minimal and $`dim(R/P_i)=dim(R/P_{i+1})+1`$ for $`1in1`$.

In 1999 Hosten and Thomas \[HT\] proved that the initial ideal of a toric ideal has this saturated chain property. This type of connectivity does not exist in general for initial ideals of prime ideals as the following counter-example, provided by Hosten and S. Popescu, illustrates.

###### Counter Example 1.

Take the toric ideal $`xza^2,yzb^2,tzc^2`$ and substitute $`zt`$ for $`t`$, making the ideal $`xza^2,yzb^2,z^2tzc^2`$ which is still a prime ideal. Using the reverse lexicographic order and the variable order $`x>y>z>t>a>b>c`$ the initial ideal of this prime ideal is $`J=z^2,yz,xz,zb^2,za^2,ytb^2,xtb^2,xta^2`$. The primary decomposition of $`J`$ is

$$J=x,y,zy,t,zt,z,a^2z,a^2,b^2x,y,z^2,a^2,b^2.$$

Hence $`Ass(R/J)=\{x,y,z,y,t,z,t,a,z,z,a,b,x,y,z,a,b\}`$.

Hosten and others have since constructed families of prime ideals such that the initial ideal of a prime ideal in the family does not have the saturated chain property. However, it was conjectured that lexicographic generic initial ideals of homogeneous prime ideals have the saturated chain property. We prove that if $`P`$ is a homogeneous prime ideal of $`R=k[x_1,x_2,\mathrm{},x_r]`$, $`dim(R/P)=2`$ and the initial ideal of $`P`$ is Borel-fixed, then the initial ideal of $`P`$ has the saturated chain property. There are many prime ideals with Borel-fixed initial ideal since for any prime ideal $`P`$ the generic initial ideal of $`P`$ is Borel-fixed. While we restrict the dimension, we do not make any assumptions on the monomial order used, nor do we require that the initial ideal be generic, only Borel-fixed which is weaker.

We collect some key definitions and properties and then give the main theorem. A *monomial order* $``$ on a polynomial ring $`R=k[x_1,x_2,\mathrm{},x_r]`$ over a field $`k`$ is a total order on the monomials in $`R`$ such that $`m1`$ for each monomial $`m`$ in $`R`$ and if $`m_1,m_2,n`$ are monomials in $`R`$ with $`m_1m_2`$ then $`nm_1nm_2`$. A monomial order on a polynomial ring in several variables generalizes the notion of degree for a polynomial ring in one variable. The *initial term* of an element $`fR`$, denoted $`in(f)`$, is the largest term of $`f`$ with respect to a fixed monomial order. Given an ideal $`I`$ of $`R`$, the *initial ideal* is defined to be $`\{in(f):fI\}`$, and is denoted $`in(I)`$. It should be noted that different monomial orders may yield different initial ideals, so whenever an initial ideal is referred to, it is assumed a monomial order has been fixed. A *Gröbner basis* is a subset $`\{g_1,\mathrm{},g_n\}`$ of $`I`$ such that $`in(I)=in(g_1),\mathrm{},in(g_n)`$.

Let $`𝒢=Gl(r,k)`$ be the $`r\times r`$ invertible matrices over the field $`k`$. Let $`g=(g_{ij})`$ be a matrix in $`𝒢`$. The *Borel subgroup* $`B=\{(g_{ij})𝒢g_{ij}=0\text{ for }j>i\}`$ is the subgroup of $`𝒢`$ of lower triangular matrices. We get an automorphism of $`R`$ from $`g`$ by describing how $`g`$ acts on the variables. Define $`g(x_i)=_{j=1}^rg_{ij}x_j`$. Notice that if $`m`$ is a monomial $`x_1^{j_1}\mathrm{}x_r^{j_r}`$ then $`g(m)=_l(_kg_{lk}x_k)^{j_l}`$. Define $`g(I)=\{g(f)fI\}`$ to be the action of $`g`$ on an ideal $`I`$ in $`R`$. An ideal $`I`$ is said to be *Borel-fixed* if $`g(I)=I`$ for every $`gB`$. Green \[Gre\] gives a more convenient way, for our purposes, of thinking about Borel-fixed ideals through the following definition and proposition.

###### Definition 2.

\[Gre, Definition 1.24\] An elementary move $`e_k`$ for $`1kn1`$ is defined by $`e_k(x^J)=x^{\widehat{J}}`$ where $`\widehat{J}=(j_1,\mathrm{},j_{k1},j_k+1,j_{k+1}1,j_{k+2},\mathrm{},j_r)`$ and where we adopt the convention that $`x^J=0`$ if some $`j_m<0`$.

###### Proposition 3.

\[Gre, Proposition 1.25\] Let $`I`$ be a monomial ideal. The following are equivalent.
(1) If $`x^JI`$, then for every elementary move $`e_k(x^J)I`$;
(2) $`g(I)=I`$ for every $`g`$ belonging to the Borel subgroup;
(3) $`in(g(I))=I`$ for every $`g`$ in some open neighborhood of the identity in $`B`$.

The main property of Borel-fixed ideals that we want to get from this definition is that if $`x_jmI`$, where $`m`$ is any monomial in $`R`$, then $`x_imI`$ for every $`i<j`$. Another key property of Borel-fixed ideals involves the structure of the associated primes of $`R/I`$.

###### Corollary 4.

\[E, Corollary 15.25\] If $`I`$ is a Borel-fixed ideal in $`R`$ and $`P`$ is an associated prime of $`R/I`$, then $`P=(x_1,\mathrm{},x_j)`$ for some $`j`$. If $`Q=(x_1,\mathrm{},x_t)`$ is a maximal associated prime then $`x_{t+1},\mathrm{},x_r`$ (in any order) is a maximal $`(R/I)`$-regular sequence in $`(x_1,\mathrm{},x_r)`$.

Let $`I`$ be the initial ideal of a prime ideal $`PR=k[x_1,x_2,\mathrm{},x_r]`$. Assume $`<`$ is the reverse lexicographic order. A theorem of Bayer and Stillman \[BS, Theorem 2.4\], gives that the image of $`x_r`$, in $`R/I`$, is a non-zero divisor in $`R/I`$ if and only if the image of $`x_r`$, in $`R/I`$, is a non-zero divisor in $`R/P`$. Using this and the fact that $`P`$ is a prime ideal, $`x_r`$ is a non-zero divisor in $`R/I`$ and hence cannot be in any associated prime of $`R/I`$. Hence, if $`codim(I)=r2`$, that is if $`dim(R/P)=2`$, and $`I`$ is a Borel-fixed ideal, then $`Ass(R/I)=\{x_1,\mathrm{},x_{r2}\}`$ or $`Ass(R/I)=\{x_1,\mathrm{},x_{r2},x_1,\mathrm{},x_{r1}\}`$. Since the initial ideal of a prime ideal is equidimensional \[KS\], a similar assessment of the possible choices for the set of associated prime ideals of such an initial ideal establishes that for any monomial order $`dim(R/P)=2`$ is the first interesting dimension for this question.

###### Theorem 5.

Let $`R=k[x_1,x_2,\mathrm{},x_r]`$ and $`P`$ be a homogeneous prime ideal in $`R`$ such that $`dim(R/P)=2`$. Fix a monomial order. Assume the initial ideal $`in(P)`$ is a Borel-fixed ideal. Then $`in(P)`$ has the saturated chain property.

Proof. The ring $`R`$ is regular, so $`dim(R/P)=2`$ implies $`\mathrm{codim}(P)=r2`$. Let $`I=in(P)`$, then the codimension of $`I`$ is also $`r2`$. The prime ideal $`(x_1,\mathrm{},x_{r2})`$ is minimal over $`I`$, since $`I`$ is equidimensional \[KS\], Borel-fixed and codimension $`r2`$. Therefore $`(x_1,\mathrm{},x_{r2})`$ is in $`Ass(R/I)`$. We assume $`(x_1,\mathrm{},x_r)Ass(R/I)`$, as otherwise, by Corollary 4, there is nothing to prove. We prove that $`(x_1,\mathrm{},x_{r1})Ass(R/I)`$.

Since $`(x_1,\mathrm{},x_r)Ass(R/I)`$ there exists a monomial $`zRI`$ such that $`\mathrm{ann}_{(R/I)}(\overline{z})=(\overline{x_1},\mathrm{},\overline{x_r})`$, where $`\overline{x}`$ denotes the image of $`x`$ in $`R/I`$. All such $`z`$ are in the socle of $`R/I`$ which is a finite dimensional vector space and hence there is a monomial of maximal total degree such that its annihilator, in $`R/I`$, is exactly the maximal ideal $`(\overline{x_1},\mathrm{},\overline{x_r})`$. Choose $`z`$ to be a monomial of maximal total degree in the socle of $`R/I`$. Since $`\mathrm{ann}_{R/I}(\overline{z})=(\overline{x_1},\mathrm{},\overline{x_r})`$ we know $`z(x_1,\mathrm{},x_r)I`$. Hence there exist $`f_1,\mathrm{},f_rP`$ homogeneous, such that $`f_i=x_iz+h_i`$ and $`x_iz>in(h_i)`$ for $`1ir`$. We may assume $`in(h_i)I`$, since if $`in(h_i)I`$, then there exists a homogeneous polynomial $`G`$ in $`P`$ such that $`G=in(h_i)+g`$ and $`in(G)=in(h_i)`$. The difference $`f_iG`$ is in $`P`$ and $`in(f_iG)=x_iz`$. Repeat this process until a polynomial is obtained where all terms smaller than $`x_iz`$ are not in $`I`$ replace $`f_i`$ with this new polynomial. During this process the leading term of the polynomial did not change. Also, for $`i=r1,r`$, $`f_i`$ must have a second term, since if there is not a second term then $`x_izP`$ implies either $`x_iP`$ or $`zP`$. If $`zP`$ then $`zI`$, a contradiction. Thus $`x_iP`$, but $`i=r1`$ or $`i=r`$ so $`(x_1,\mathrm{},x_{r1})I`$ contradicts $`\mathrm{codim}(I)=r2`$. Hence $`f_i`$ must have a second term for $`i=r,r1`$.

Form the S-polynomial for $`f_{r1}`$ and $`f_r`$, that is

(1) $`x_rf_{r1}x_{r1}f_r=`$ $`x_rh_{r1}x_{r1}h_rP.`$
Since the S-polynomial is in $`P`$ its initial term is in $`I`$.

Suppose all of the monomials that form $`x_rh_{r1}`$ and those that form $`x_{r1}h_r`$ are the same. Then $`x_r`$ divides $`h_r`$ and $`x_{r1}`$ divides $`h_{r1}`$. Therefore $`x_{r1}(z+h_{r1}/x_{r1})P`$ and hence $`x_{r1}P`$ or $`z+h_{r1}/x_{r1}P`$. The first case implies $`(x_1,\mathrm{},x_{r1})I`$ and the second case implies $`zI`$ which are both contradictions. Write $`h_{r1}=r_1m_1+\mathrm{}+r_sm_s`$ where $`r_1,\mathrm{}r_sk`$ and $`m_1,\mathrm{},m_s`$ are monomials such that $`m_1>\mathrm{}>m_s`$ and similarly write $`h_r=s_1n_1+\mathrm{}+s_tn_t`$, $`s_1,\mathrm{},s_tk`$, $`n_1>\mathrm{}>n_t`$ monomials. Choose $`i`$ smallest such that either $`x_rm_i=x_{r1}n_i`$ and $`r_is_i`$ or $`x_rm_ix_{r1}n_i`$. We consider two cases.

(1): $`x_rm_i=x_{r1}n_i`$ and $`r_is_i`$ or $`x_rm_i>x_{r1}n_i`$ so $`x_rm_i`$ is the leading monomial of the S-polynomial $`S(f_{r1},f_r)`$.

(2): $`x_{r1}n_i>x_rm_i`$ so $`x_{r1}n_i`$ is the leading monomial of $`S(f_{r1},f_r)`$.

In case (1) $`x_rm_i`$ is in $`I`$. This implies $`x_jm_iI`$ for $`1jr`$ since $`I`$ is Borel-fixed (Proposition 3). Hence $`m_i(x_1,\mathrm{},x_r)I`$ which implies $`(\overline{x_1},\mathrm{},\overline{x_r})=\mathrm{ann}_{R/I}(\overline{m_i})`$ and hence $`\overline{m_i}`$ is in the socle of $`R/I`$. The total degree of $`x_{r1}z`$ is the same as that for $`m_i`$ since $`f_{r1}`$ is homogeneous, so the total degree of $`m_i`$ is strictly larger than the total degree of $`z`$. This contradicts our choice of $`z`$ in the socle.

In case (2) $`x_{r1}n_i`$ is in $`I`$. Again, $`x_in_iI`$ for $`1ir1`$ and hence $`(\overline{x_1},\mathrm{},\overline{x_{r1}})\mathrm{ann}_{R/I}(\overline{n_i})`$. Since $`n_iI`$, if we have equality then $`(x_1,\mathrm{},x_{r1})Ass(R/I)`$. If the containment $`(\overline{x_1},\mathrm{},\overline{x_{r1}})\mathrm{ann}_{R/I}(\overline{n_i})(\overline{x_1},\mathrm{},\overline{x_{r1}})`$ is strict then $`\overline{x_r}^t`$ is in $`\mathrm{ann}_{R/I}(\overline{n_i})`$ for some $`t1`$. Choose $`t`$ least such that $`\overline{x_r}^t\mathrm{ann}_{R/I}(\overline{n_i})`$. Then $`x_r^tn_iI`$ and hence $`x_jx_r^{t1}n_i(I)`$ for $`1jr`$. This implies

(2)
$$(\overline{x_1},\mathrm{},\overline{x_r})=\mathrm{ann}_{R/I}(\overline{x_r^{t1}n_i}),$$

and since $`x_r^{t1}n_iI`$ by the minimality of $`t`$, $`x_r^{t1}n_i`$ is in the socle of $`R/I`$. The total degree of $`x_r^{t1}n_i`$ is greater than or equal to that of $`n_i`$ and hence strictly greater than the total degree of $`z`$. Therefore, Equation 2 gives a contradiction to our choice of $`z`$ and $`\mathrm{ann}_{R/I}(\overline{n_i})=(\overline{x_1},\mathrm{},\overline{x_{r1}})`$ as desired. $`\mathrm{}`$


text:
# Evolution of Superconductivity and Charge Density Wave Ordering in the Lu5Ir4(Si1-xGex)10 Alloy System

## I Introduction

The compound Lu5Ir4Si10 is a member of a class of ternary transition metal silicides which form in the tetragonal Sc5Co4Si10 type structure. It has a superconducting transition temperature of 3.9 K and undergoes a phase transition below 83 K which has been shown to be a strongly coupled charge density wave ordering transition . High pressure studies by Shelton et. al. showed that the superconductivity was enhanced and the CDW was suppressed progressively by the application of pressure . This implies an intricate interplay between the two phenomena. From heat capacity and susceptibility measurements, almost a 36% reduction in the density of states at the Fermi level due to the CDW transition was predicted . However, a recent Si NMR report on powdered polycrystalline samples did not find any energy gap at the Si site associated with the CDW transition .

Given that the CDW is suppressed on the application of pressure and that there is no change at the Si site across the CDW transition, one would expect the isostructural compound Lu5Ir4Ge10, which has a larger unit cell, to show a CDW transition at an elevated temperature compared to Lu5Ir4Si10. However, Lu5Ir4Ge10 is found to show only a superconducting transition below 2.4 K without any CDW ordering at high temperatures. Thus it is of interest to investigate how the CDW and superconductivity evolve when we dope with small quantities of Ge at the Si site in Lu5Ir4Si10. Towards this end we have started a detailed investigation of the superconductivity and CDW ordering in the alloy system Lu5Ir4(Si1-xGex)10. Here we present our dc susceptibility measurements to show the dependence of TC and the TCDW on concentration x of Ge in the alloy.

## II EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS

Polycrystalline samples of Lu5Ir4(Si1-xGex)10 with x = 0.0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 1.0 were prepared by arc melting together pieces taken in appropriate proportions from master alloys of the parent compounds Lu5Ir4Si10 and Lu5Ir4Ge10. The samples were annealed in a sealed quartz tube at 950 oC for 8 days. Powder X-ray diffraction measurements confirmed the structure and the absence of any impurity phases.
The superconducting transition temperature TC and the CDW ordering temperature TCDW were determined by measuring the dc susceptibility using a commercial SQUID magnetometer.

## III RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In Fig. 1 we show the temperature dependence of the susceptibility for the samples with x = 0.0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05 and 0.1 between 10 and 300 K to concentrate on those values of x where the CDW is seen. The signature of a CDW in the susceptibility is a diamagnetic drop across the transition which comes about due to the reduction of the density of states at the Fermi surface because of the opening up of a gap at the Fermi surface accompanying the CDW ordering.
It can immediately be seen that even small doping concentrations affect the CDW strongly. From an onset temperature of 83 K for the undoped sample Lu5Ir4Si10, the CDW starts to shift to lower temperatures and also begins to broaden out considerably as we increase the Ge concentration in the alloy. At a concentration of only 10%, the CDW has been completely wiped out. We have determined TCDW by peaks in the curves of d($`\chi `$)/dT vs T.
In Fig. 2 we show the phase diagram of TC vs concentration x for all the samples. We have determined the TC from measurements of $`\chi `$ vs T (not shown here) between 2 to 8 K in a field of 10 Oe. We find that the TC increases very rapidly for small amounts of Ge in the alloy when the CDW is also affected the most. At the value of x = 0.1 for which the CDW has been completely suppressed, the TC also stop to increase rapidly and sort of saturates at a value of about 6.5 K before decreasing again for higher values of x where the disorder takes over. For comparison we show in the inset of fig. 2, the variation of TCDW with the concentration x.

## IV CONCLUSION

We have measured dc susceptibility of the allow system Lu5Ir4(Si1-xGex)10 for x = 0.0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 1.0 to investigate the evolution of the superconductivity and CDW transitions with increasing concentration of Ge. We find that the CDW transition is strongly suppressed from 83 K for x = 0 down to 50 K for x = 0.05. There is no signature of the CDW in $`\chi `$ for higher values of x. There is a simultaneous enhancement of the superconducting transition temperature from 3.9 K for x = 0.0 to 6.5 K for x = 0.1. Our results indicate that there is a strong interplay and competetion between the superconductivity and the CDW ordering in this compound. Also, we find that the CDW is suppressed even though we are expanding the lattice which suggests that disorder suppresses the CDW more strongly than pressure. In other words, the CDW transition is more sensitive to disorder than to pressure.