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# Hopf Algebras of Dimension 2𝑝

## 0. Introduction

In recent years, there has been some progress on the classification problems of finite-dimensional Hopf algebras over an algebraically closed field $`k`$ of characteristic 0 (cf. \[Mon98\], \[And02\]). It is shown in \[Zhu94\] that Hopf algebras of dimension $`p`$, where $`p`$ is a prime, are isomorphic to the group algebra $`k[_p]`$. In \[Ng02b\] and \[Ng02a\], the author completed the classification of Hopf algebras of dimension $`p^2`$, which started in \[AS98\] and \[Mas96\]. They are group algebras and Taft algebras of dimension $`p^2`$ (cf. \[Taf71\]). However, the classification of Hopf algebras of dimension $`pq`$, where $`p,q`$ are distinct prime numbers, remains open in general.

It is shown in \[EG98\], \[GW00\] that semisimple Hopf algebras over $`k`$ of dimension $`pq`$ are trivial (i.e. isomorphic to either group algebras or the dual of group algebras). Most recently, Etingof and Gelaki proved that if $`p`$, $`q`$ are odd prime such that $`p<q2p+1`$, then any Hopf algebra over $`k`$ of dimension $`pq`$ is semisimple \[EG\]. Meanwhile, the author proved the same result, using different method, for the case that $`p`$, $`q`$ are twin primes \[Ng\]. In addition to that Williams settled the case of dimensions 6 and 10 in \[Wil88\], and Beattie and Dascalescu did dimensions 14, 65 in \[BD\]. Hopf algebras of dimensions 6, 10, 14 and 65 are semisimple and so they are trivial.

In this paper, we prove that any Hopf algebra of dimension $`2p`$, where $`p`$ is an odd prime, over an algebraically closed field $`k`$ of characteristic 0, is semisimple. By \[Mas95\], semisimple Hopf algebras of dimension $`2p`$ are isomorphic to

$$k[_{2p}],k[D_{2p}]\text{or}k[D_{2p}]^{}$$

where $`D_{2p}`$ is the dihedral group of order $`2p`$. Hence, our main result Theorem 3.3 completes the classification of Hopf algebras of dimension $`2p`$.

## 1. Notation and Preliminaries

Throughout this paper, $`p`$ is an odd prime, $`k`$ denotes an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0, and $`H`$ denotes a finite-dimensional Hopf algebra over $`k`$ with antipode $`S`$. Its comultiplication and counit are respectively denoted by $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and $`ϵ`$. We will use Sweedler’s notation \[Swe69\]:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }(x)=x_{(1)}x_{(2)}.$$

A non-zero element $`aH`$ is called group-like if $`\mathrm{\Delta }(a)=aa`$. The set of all group-like elements $`G(H)`$ of $`H`$ is a linearly independent set, and it forms a group under the multiplication of $`H`$. For the details of elementary aspects for finite-dimensional Hopf algebras, readers are referred to the references \[Swe69\] and \[Mon93\].

Let $`\lambda H^{}`$ be a non-zero right integral of $`H^{}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }H`$ a non-zero left integral of $`H`$. There exists $`\alpha \text{Alg}(H,k)=G(H^{})`$, independent of the choice of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, such that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }a=\alpha (a)\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ for $`aH`$. Likewise, there is a group-like element $`gH`$, independent of the choice of $`\lambda `$, such that $`\beta \lambda =\beta (g)\lambda `$ for $`\beta H^{}`$. We call $`g`$ the distinguished group-like element of $`H`$ and $`\alpha `$ the distinguished group-like element of $`H^{}`$. Then we have Radford’s formula \[Rad76\] for $`S^4`$ :

(1.1)
$$S^4(a)=g(\alpha a\alpha ^1)g^1\text{for }aH,$$

where $``$ and $``$ denote the natural actions of the Hopf algebra $`H^{}`$ on $`H`$ described by

$$\beta a=a_{(1)}\beta (a_{(2)})\text{and}a\beta =\beta (a_{(1)})a_{(2)}$$

for $`\beta H^{}`$ and $`aH`$. In particular, we have the following proposition.

###### Proposition 1.1 (\[Rad76\]).

Let $`H`$ be a finite-dimensional Hopf algebra with antipode $`S`$ over the field $`k`$. Suppose that $`g`$ and $`\alpha `$ are distinguished group-like elements of $`H`$ and $`H^{}`$ respectively. Then the order of $`S^4`$ divides the least common multiple of the order of $`g`$ and the order of $`\alpha `$. ∎

For any $`aH`$, the linear operator $`r(a)\text{End}_k(H)`$ is defined by $`r(a)(b)=ba`$ for $`bH`$. The semisimplicity of a finite-dimensional Hopf algebra can be characterized by the antipode.

###### Theorem 1.2 (\[LR87\], \[LR88\], \[Rad94\]).

Let $`H`$ be a finite-dimensional Hopf algebra with antipode $`S`$ over the field $`k`$. Then the following statements are equivalent:

1. $`H`$ is not semisimple;
2. $`H^{}`$ is not semisimple;
3. $`S^2id_H`$;
4. $`\text{Tr}(S^2)=0`$;
5. $`\text{Tr}(S^2r(a))=0`$ for all $`aH`$. ∎

###### Proposition 1.3 (\[Ng, Corollary 2.2\]).

Let $`H`$ be a finite-dimensional Hopf algebra over $`k`$ with antipode $`S`$ and $`g`$ the distinguished group-like element of $`H`$. If $`\text{lcm}(o(S^4),o(g))=n`$ is an odd integer greater than 1, then the subspace

$$H_{}=\{uHS^{2n}(u)=u\}$$

has even dimension. ∎

The following lemma is useful in our remaining discussion.

###### Lemma 1.4.

Let $`V`$ be a finite-dimensional vector space over the field $`k`$. If $`T`$ is a linear automorphism on $`V`$ such that $`\text{Tr}(T)=0`$ and $`o(T)=q^n`$ for some prime $`q`$ and positive integer $`n`$, then

$$qdim(V).$$

###### Proof.

Let $`\omega k`$ be a primitive $`q^n`$th root of unity and

$$V_i=\{uVT(u)=\omega ^iu\}\text{for}i=0,\mathrm{},q^n1.$$

Consider the integral polynomial

$$f(x)=\underset{i=0}{\overset{q^n1}{}}dim(V_i)x^i.$$

Since

$$0=\text{Tr}(T)=f(\omega ),$$

there exists $`g(x)[x]`$ such that

$$f(x)=\mathrm{\Phi }_{q^n}(x)g(x)$$

where $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{q^n}(x)`$ is the $`q^n`$th cyclotomic polynomial. Hence,

$$dim(V)=f(1)=\mathrm{\Phi }_{q^n}(1)g(1).$$

Since $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{q^n}(x)=\mathrm{\Phi }_q(x^{q^{n1}})`$, $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{q^n}(1)=\mathrm{\Phi }_q(1)=q`$. Thus we have

$$qdim(V).$$

## 2. Unimodularity of Hopf algebras of dimension $`2n`$

In this section, we prove that if $`H`$ is a non-semisimple Hopf algebra over $`k`$ of dimension $`2n`$, where $`n`$ is an odd integer, then $`H`$ or $`H^{}`$ is not unimodular. This result is essential to the proof of our main result in the next section.

###### Proposition 2.1.

Let $`H`$ be a finite-dimensional Hopf algebra over the field $`k`$ with antipode $`S`$. If $`H`$ is unimodular and $`o(S^2)=2`$, then

$$4dim(H).$$

###### Proof.

Let $`\lambda `$ be a non-zero right integral of $`H^{}`$. Since $`H`$ is unimodular, by \[Rad94, Proposition 2\],

$$\lambda (ab)=\lambda (S^2(b)a)$$

for all $`a,bH`$. Let

$$H_i=\{uH|S^2(u)=(1)^iu\}\text{for}i=0,1.$$

We claim that $`(a,b)=\lambda (ab)`$ defines a non-degenerate alternating form on $`H_1`$. For any $`a,bH_1`$,

$$\lambda (ab)=\lambda (S^2(b)a)=\lambda (ba).$$

Since $`\lambda (u)=\lambda (S^2(u))=\lambda (u)`$ for all $`uH_1`$, $`\lambda (H_1)=\{0\}`$. Let $`aH_1`$ such that $`\lambda (ab)=0`$ for all $`bH_1`$. Then for all $`bH_0`$, $`abH_1`$ and so $`\lambda (ab)=0`$. By the non-degeneracy of $`\lambda `$ on $`H`$, $`a=0`$. Therefore, $`(a,b)=\lambda (ab)`$ defines an non-degenerate alternating bilinear form on $`H_1`$ and hence $`dim(H_1)`$ is even. Since $`o(S^2)=2`$, by Theorem 1.2, $`\text{Tr}(S^2)=0`$ and so $`dim(H_0)=dim(H_1)`$. Therefore

$$dim(H)=dim(H_0)+dim(H_1)=2dim(H_1)$$

is a multiple of 4. ∎

###### Corollary 2.2.

Let $`H`$ be a Hopf algebra over $`k`$ of dimension $`2n`$ where $`n`$ is an odd integer. If $`H`$ is not semisimple, then $`H`$ or $`H^{}`$ is not unimodular.

###### Proof.

If both $`H`$ and $`H^{}`$ are unimodular, by Proposition 1.1, $`S^4=id_H`$. Since $`H`$ is not semisimple, by Theorem 1.2, $`o(S^2)=2`$. It follows from Proposition 2.1 that $`dim(H)`$ is then a multiple of 4 which contradicts $`dim(H)=2n`$. ∎

## 3. Hopf algebras of dimension $`2p`$

In this section, we prove, by contradiction, that non-semisimple Hopf algebras over $`k`$ of dimension $`2p`$, $`p`$ an odd prime, do not exist. By \[Mas95\], semisimple Hopf algebras of dimension $`2p`$ are

$$k[_{2p}],k[D_{2p}]\text{and}k[D_{2p}]^{}$$

where $`D_{2p}`$ is the dihedral group of order $`2p`$. Our main result completes the classification of Hopf algebras of dimension $`2p`$. We begin to prove our main result with the following lemma.

###### Lemma 3.1.

Let $`H`$ be a non-semisimple finite-dimensional Hopf algebra over $`k`$ of dimension $`2p`$ where $`p`$ is an odd prime. Suppose that $`g`$ and $`\alpha `$ are the distinguished group-like element of $`H`$ and $`H^{}`$ respectively. Then

$$\text{lcm}(o(g),o(\alpha ))=2\text{ or }p.$$

###### Proof.

Since $`H`$ is not semisimple, by Theorem 1.2, $`H^{}`$ is also not semisimple. Therefore $`|G(H)|`$ and $`|G(H^{})|`$ are strictly less than $`2p`$. By Nichols-Zoeller theorem \[NZ89\],

$$|G(H)|,|G(H^{})|\{1,2,p\}.$$

It follows from \[Ng02b, Lemma 5.1\] that

$$\text{lcm}(|G(H)|,|G(H^{})|)=1,2\text{ or }p.$$

Since $`\text{lcm}(o(g),o(\alpha ))`$ divides $`\text{lcm}(|G(H)|,|G(H^{})|)`$, we obtain

$$\text{lcm}(o(g),o(\alpha ))=1,2\text{ or }p.$$

By Corollary 2.2, $`\text{lcm}(o(g),o(\alpha ))>1`$ and so the result follows. ∎

###### Lemma 3.2.

Let $`H`$ be a finite-dimensional Hopf algebra over $`k`$ and $`aG(H)`$ of order $`d`$. Let $`\omega k`$ be a primitive $`d`$th root of unity and

$$e_i=\frac{1}{d}\underset{j=0}{\overset{d1}{}}\omega ^{ij}a^j(i=0,\mathrm{},d1).$$

Then $`dim(H)/d`$ is an integer, $`dim(He_i)=dim(H)/d`$ and $`S^2(He_i)=He_i`$ for $`i=0,\mathrm{},d1`$. In addition, if $`H`$ is not semisimple, then

$$\text{Tr}(S^2|_{He_i})=0$$

for $`i=0,\mathrm{},d1`$ .

###### Proof.

Let $`B=k[a]`$. Then $`B`$ is a Hopf subalgebra of $`H`$ and $`dim(B)=d`$. By Nichols-Zoeller theorem, $`H`$ is a free $`B`$-module. In particular, $`dim(H)`$ is a multiple of $`d`$ and

$$HB^{dim(H)/d}$$

as right $`B`$-modules. Note that $`e_0,\mathrm{},e_{d1}`$ are orthogonal idempotents of $`B`$ such that

$$1=e_0+\mathrm{}+e_{d1},$$

and $`Be_i=ke_i`$ . Therefore,

$$He_iB^{dim(H)/d}e_i=(Be_i)^{dim(H)/d}=(ke_i)^{dim(H)/d}$$

and so $`dim(He_i)=dim(H)/d`$ for $`i=0,\mathrm{},d1`$. Since $`S^2(a)=a`$, $`S^2(e_i)=e_i`$ for $`i=0,\mathrm{},d1`$. Therefore,

$$S^2(He_i)=HS^2(e_i)=He_i.$$

If, in addition, $`H`$ is not semisimple, by Theorem 1.2,

$$\text{Tr}(S^2|_{He_i})=\text{Tr}(S^2r(e_i))=0.$$

for $`i=0,\mathrm{},d1`$. ∎

###### Theorem 3.3.

If $`p`$ is an odd prime, then any Hopf algebra of dimension $`2p`$ over the field $`k`$ is semisimple.

###### Proof.

Suppose there exists a non-semisimple Hopf algebra $`H`$ of dimension $`2p`$. Let $`g`$ and $`\alpha `$ be the distinguished group-like elements of $`H`$ and $`H^{}`$ respectively. By Corollary 2.2, $`g`$ and $`\alpha `$ can not be both trivial. By Theorem 1.2, we may simply assume that $`g`$ is not trivial and $`o(g)=d`$. Let $`\omega k`$ be a primitive $`d`$th of unity and

$$e_i=\frac{1}{d}\underset{j=0}{\overset{d1}{}}\omega ^{ij}g^j(i=0,\mathrm{},d1).$$

By Lemma 3.1,

$$\text{lcm}(o(g),o(\alpha ))=2\text{ or }p.$$

If $`\text{lcm}(o(g),o(\alpha ))=2`$, then $`d=2`$ and $`S^8=id_H`$ by Proposition 1.1. It follows from Theorem 1.2 that

$$o(S^2)=2\text{or}4.$$

It follows from Lemma 3.2 that

$$dim(He_i)=p\text{and}\text{Tr}(S^2|_{He_i})=0(i=0,1).$$

Since $`o(S^2)=2`$ or $`4`$, there exists $`j\{0,1\}`$ such that

$$o(S^2|_{He_j})=2\text{or}4.$$

By Lemma 1.4, $`dim(He_j)`$ is even which contradicts that $`dim(He_j)=p`$.

If $`\text{lcm}(o(g),o(\alpha ))=p`$, then $`d=p`$ and $`S^{4p}=id_H`$. By Proposition 1.3, the subspace

$$H_{}=\{uH|S^{2p}(u)=u\}$$

has even dimension. On the other hand, by Lemma 3.2, we have

$$dim(He_i)=2\text{and}\text{Tr}(S^2|_{He_i})=0\text{for}i=0,\mathrm{},p1.$$

Thus, for $`i\{0,\mathrm{},p1\}`$, there is a basis $`\{u_i^+,u_i^{}\}`$ for $`He_i`$ such that

$$S^2(u_i^\pm )=\pm \zeta _i$$

for some $`p`$th root of unity $`\zeta _i`$. Thus, $`\{u_0^{},u_1^{},\mathrm{},u_{p1}^{}\}`$ forms a basis of $`H_{}`$ and so

$$dim(H_{})=p,$$

a contradiction! ∎

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank L. Long for her useful suggestions to this paper.


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# Generalized thermostatistics based on deformed exponential and logarithmic functions

## 1 What is thermostatistics?

See  for a conceptual foundation of thermostatistics. The presentation here emphasizes the role of the density of states.

A model of thermostatistics is described by a density of states $`\rho (E)`$ and a probability distribution $`p(E)`$, both functions of energy $`E`$. For a system in thermal equilibrium at temperature $`T`$, the probability distribution is given by the Boltzmann-Gibbs expression

$`p(E)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{Z(T)}}e^{E/T}\text{with}`$ (1)
$`Z(T)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle dE\rho (E)e^{E/T}}.`$ (2)
(Boltzmann’s constant $`k_B`$ is set equal to 1). Thermal averages are defined by

$`f={\displaystyle dE\rho (E)p(E)f(E)}.`$ (3)
Conserved quantities, other than energy, might be important. It is tradition to give a simplified treatment involving only energy. To keep notations simple the temperature dependence of $`p(E)`$ is not made explicit: $`p(E)`$ stands for $`p(E,T)`$.

A microscopic model of thermostatistics is specified by an energy functional $`H(\gamma )`$ over phase space $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, which is the set of all possible microstates of the system. Using $`\rho (E)\mathrm{d}E=\mathrm{d}\gamma `$ the integration in expressions (2, 3) can be replaced by an integration over phase space

$`f`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Gamma }}d\gamma p(\gamma )f(\gamma )\text{with}`$ (4)
$`p(\gamma )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{Z(T)}}\mathrm{exp}(H(\gamma )/T)\text{and}`$ (5)
$`Z(T)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Gamma }}d\gamma \mathrm{exp}(H(\gamma )/T).`$ (6)
In the quantum case the integration is replaced by a trace over operators. The formulas are

$`f`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{Z(T)}}\mathrm{Tr}\mathrm{exp}(H/T)f\text{with}`$ (7)
$`Z(T)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{Tr}\mathrm{exp}(H/T).`$ (8)
Paraphrasing the words of C. Tsallis during this conference, one can state that the Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution is not just an exponential distribution, but that it is important that it is a sum over all states of phase space, and that the exponential contains energy divided by temperature. In particular, if a microscopic model reproduces the experimentally observed probabilities $`p(\gamma )`$ at one given temperature then one can predict their value at all other temperatures. This predictive power is the main asset of thermostatistics.

## 2 Why Boltzmann-Gibbs?

In relevant examples of thermostatistics the density of states $`\rho (E)`$ increases as a power law $`\rho (E)E^{\alpha N}`$ with $`N`$ the number of particles and with $`\alpha >0`$. This increase in the density of states is essential to understand the paradox that according to the Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution the ground state is always the most probable state. Still, one never observes that the molecules of the air in a class room lie all on the floor. Moreover, energy fluctuations of a gas in equilibrium, away from any phase transition temperature, are negligible. The solution to the paradox is known as the entropy-energy balance. The increase of density of states $`\rho (E)`$ compensates the exponential decrease of probability density $`p(E)`$. The maximum of the product $`\rho (E)p(E)`$ is reached at some macroscopic energy far above the ground state energy. Indeed, one can write

$`\rho (E)p(E)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{Z(T)}}\mathrm{exp}\left(\mathrm{log}\rho (E)E/T\right).`$ (9)
The argument of the exponential function is maximal if $`E`$ satisfies

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\rho (E)}}\rho ^{}(E)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{T}}`$ (10)
($`\rho ^{}(E)`$ is the derivative of $`\rho (E)`$ w.r.t. $`E`$). If $`\rho (E)E^{\alpha N}`$ then $`E\alpha NT`$ follows, which is the equipartition theorem.

As a consequence of the equipartition theorem it is not easy to verify the Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution experimentally. Indeed, the energy of the system under study is always equal to the value predicted by (10), with negligible fluctuations. This indicates that the actual form of the probability distribution $`p(E)`$ is not firmly established and, in fact, is not very essential. Alternative expressions for $`p(E)`$ are acceptable provided they satisfy the equipartition theorem and reproduce thermodynamics. An indication of the need for a generalization of Boltzmann-Gibbs is the ubiquitous use of temperature-dependent Hamiltonians in applied statistical physics. As stressed in the previous section, (1) predicts the probability density $`p(E)`$ at all temperatures. In many cases this prediction is not very accurate, probably because of an incomplete knowledge of the density of states $`\rho (E)`$. However, instead of making $`\rho (E)`$ temperature-dependent, which is not supported by theory, one can as well try to replace the Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution by another expression more appropriate for the problem at hand.

## 3 The basic postulate

The present generalization of thermostatistics starts with generalizing the equipartition result (10). Let us postulate the existence of an increasing positive function $`\varphi (x)`$, defined for $`x0`$, such that

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{T}}={\displaystyle \frac{p^{}(E)}{\varphi \left(p(E)\right)}}`$ (11)
holds for all energies $`E`$ and temperatures $`T`$. Then the equation for the maximum of $`\rho (E)p(E)`$ becomes

$`0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}E}}\left(\rho (E)p(E)\right)`$ (12)
$`=`$ $`\rho ^{}(E)p(E){\displaystyle \frac{1}{T}}\rho (E)\varphi \left(p(E)\right).`$ (13)
This can be written as

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\rho ^{}(E)}{\rho (E)}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{T}}{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi \left(p(E)\right)}{p(E)}}.`$ (14)
The latter expression generalizes the equipartition theorem (10). The Boltzmann-Gibbs case is recovered with $`\varphi (x)=x`$.

The postulate (11) fixes the form of the probability distribution $`p(E)`$. To see this, introduce a function, denoted $`\mathrm{ln}_\varphi (x)`$, by

$`\mathrm{ln}_\varphi (x)={\displaystyle _1^x}dy{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\varphi (y)}}.`$ (15)
There are good reasons for calling this function a deformed logarithm. If $`\varphi (x)=x`$ then it coincides with the natural logarithm $`\mathrm{log}(x)`$. Because $`\varphi (x)`$ is positive for all positive $`x`$ one has that $`\mathrm{ln}_\varphi (x)`$ is negative for $`0<x<1`$ and positive for $`x>1`$. With some further technical conditions this function becomes a deformed logarithm in the sense of .

The inverse of the function $`\mathrm{ln}_\varphi (x)`$ is denoted $`\mathrm{exp}_\varphi (x)`$. From the identity $`1=\mathrm{exp}_\varphi ^{}\left(\mathrm{ln}_\varphi (x)\right)\mathrm{ln}_\varphi ^{}(x)`$ follows

$`\varphi (x)=\mathrm{exp}_\varphi ^{}\left(\mathrm{ln}_\varphi (x)\right).`$ (16)
Hence (11) can be written as

$`p^{}(E)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{T}}\mathrm{exp}_\varphi ^{}\left[\mathrm{ln}_\varphi \left(p(E)\right)\right].`$ (17)
This expression can be integrated. The result is

$`p(E)=\mathrm{exp}_\varphi \left(G_\varphi (T)E/T\right).`$ (18)
The function $`G_\varphi (T)`$ is the integration constant. It must be chosen in such a way that the normalization condition

$`1={\displaystyle dE\rho (E)p(E)}`$ (19)
is satisfied. Positivity $`p(E)0`$ is automatic because the range of the function $`\mathrm{exp}_\varphi (x)`$ is the domain of $`\mathrm{ln}_\varphi (x)`$, with possibly $`0`$ and $`+\mathrm{}`$ added. Expression (18) resembles the Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution (1). An important difference is that the normalization constant appears inside the function $`\mathrm{exp}_\varphi (x)`$. In case $`\varphi (x)=x`$ then one has $`G_\varphi (T)=\mathrm{log}\left(Z(T)\right)`$.

Starting from (18) a generalized thermostatistics can be developed — see . Most of the results that follow below are reformulations of the results found in the first part of . The variational principle obeyed by (18) is not discussed below.

## 4 Escort probabilities

In general it is difficult to calculate the integration constant $`G_\varphi (T)`$. A useful expression for its temperature derivative can be obtained in terms of escort probabilities. They originate from  and have been introduced in Tsallis’ thermostatistics in . The generalized definition is

$`P(E)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{Z(T)}}\varphi \left(p(E)\right)`$ (20)
with normalization factor

$`Z(T)={\displaystyle dE\rho (E)\varphi \left(p(E)\right)}.`$ (21)
Expectation values w.r.t. $`P(E)`$ are denoted

$`f_{}={\displaystyle dE\rho (E)P(E)f(E)}.`$ (22)
Note that $`P(E)`$ coincides with $`p(E)`$ in the Boltzmann-Gibbs case $`\varphi (x)=x`$ for all $`x`$.

Now calculate, using (16) and (20),

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}T}}p(E)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}_\varphi ^{}\left(G_\varphi (T)E/T\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}T}}G_\varphi (T)+{\displaystyle \frac{E}{T^2}}\right)`$ (23)
$`=`$ $`Z(T)P(E)\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}T}}G_\varphi (T)+{\displaystyle \frac{E}{T^2}}\right).`$ (24)
From (19) and (24) follows

$`0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle dE\rho (E)\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}T}p(E)}`$ (25)
$`=`$ $`Z(T){\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}T}}G_\varphi (T)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{T^2}}Z(T)E_{}.`$ (26)
Hence one has

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}T}}G_\varphi (T)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{T^2}}E_{}.`$ (27)
For further use note that (24) and (27) together give

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}T}}p(E)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{T^2}}Z(T)P(E)\left(EE_{}\right).`$ (28)
## 5 Thermodynamic relations

One goal of thermostatistics is to give a microscopic derivation of the laws of thermodynamics. This raises immediately the question in how far generalized thermostatistics is still compatible with thermodynamics.

Let us start with establishing thermal stability. Internal energy $`U(T)`$ is defined by $`U(T)=E`$, with $`p(E)`$ given by (18). Using (28) one obtains

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}T}}U(T)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle dE\rho (E)E\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}T}p(E)}`$ (29)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle dE\rho (E)E\frac{1}{T^2}Z(T)P(E)\left(EE_{}\right)}`$ (30)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{T^2}}Z(T)\left(E^2_{}E_{}^2\right)`$ (31)
$``$ $`0.`$ (32)
Hence, average energy is an increasing function of temperature. However, thermal stability requires more. Define $`\varphi `$-entropy (relative to $`\rho (E)\mathrm{d}E`$) by

$`S_\varphi (p)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle dE\rho (E)\left[\left(1p(E)\right)F_\varphi (0)F_\varphi \left(p(E)\right)\right]}`$ (33)
with

$`F_\varphi (x)={\displaystyle _1^x}dy\mathrm{ln}_\varphi (y).`$ (34)
Let us postulate that thermodynamic entropy $`S(T)`$ equals the value of the above entropy functional $`S_\varphi (p)`$ with $`p`$ given by (18). Then one finds

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}T}}S(T)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle dE\rho (E)\left(\mathrm{ln}_\varphi (p(E))F_\varphi (0)\right)\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}T}p(E)}`$ (35)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle dE\rho (E)\left(G_\varphi (T)+\frac{E}{T}F_\varphi (0)\right)\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}T}p(E)}`$ (36)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{T}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}T}}U(T).`$ (37)
To see the latter use that $`p(E)`$ is normalized to 1. This shows that temperature $`T`$ satisfies the thermodynamic relation

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{T}}={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}S}{\mathrm{d}U}}.`$ (38)
Because energy is an increasing function of temperature one concludes that entropy $`S`$ is a concave function of energy $`U`$. This property is known as thermal stability.

One can introduce the Helmholtz free energy $`F(T)`$ by the well-known relation $`F(T)=U(T)TS(T)`$. From (37) follows that

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}\beta }}\beta F(T)=U(T)\text{ with }\beta ={\displaystyle \frac{1}{T}}.`$ (39)
Now let us come back to (27), which is very similar to (39), with $`F(T)`$ replaced by $`TG_\varphi (T)`$ and with $`U(T)=E`$ replaced by $`E_{}`$. The comparison shows that $`TG_\varphi (T)`$ equals the free energy associated with the escort probability distribution $`P(E)`$, up to a constant independent of temperature $`T`$.

## 6 Tsallis’ thermostatistics

The most obvious generalization of Boltzmann-Gibbs thermostatistics is obtained by the choice $`\varphi (x)=x^q`$ with $`q>0`$. It reproduces Tsallis’ thermostatistics with some minor changes. The corresponding deformed logarithmic and exponential functions are

$`\mathrm{ln}_q(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _1^x}dyy^q={\displaystyle \frac{1}{1q}}\left(x^{1q}1\right)`$ (40)
$`\mathrm{exp}_q(x)`$ $`=`$ $`\left[1+(1q)x\right]_+^{1/(1q)}.`$ (41)
These have been introduced in . The probability distribution (18) becomes

$`p(E)`$ $`=`$ $`\left[1+(1q)\left(G_q(T)E/T\right)\right]_+^{1/(1q)}`$ (42)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{z_q(T)}}\left[1(1q)\beta _q^{}(T)E\right]_+^{1/(1q)}`$ (43)
with

$`z_q(T)`$ $`=`$ $`\left(1+(1q)G_q(T)\right)^{1/(q1)}\text{and}`$ (44)
$`\beta _q^{}(T)`$ $`=`$ $`z_q(T)^{1q}/T.`$ (45)
Originally , (43) was introduced with $`q`$ replaced by $`2q`$. The present expression was proposed in , be it with a different expression for $`\beta _q^{}(T)`$.

A nice feature of Tsallis’ thermostatistics is that the correspondence between $`p(E)`$ and the escort $`P(E)`$ leads to a dual structure, called the ’$`q1/q`$’-duality . Indeed, from

$`P(E)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{Z_q(T)}}p(E)^q\text{ follows }p(E)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{Z_{1/q}(T)}}P(E)^{1/q}.`$ (46)
However, there exists also a ’$`q2q`$’-duality the origin of which has been clarified in . Given $`\mathrm{ln}_\varphi (x)`$, a new deformed logarithmic function $`\mathrm{ln}_\psi (x)`$ is obtained by

$`\mathrm{ln}_\psi (x)=(x1)F_\varphi (0)xF_\varphi (1/x),`$ (47)
with $`\psi (x)`$ given by

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\psi (x)}}=F_\varphi (0)F_\varphi (1/x)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{x}}\mathrm{ln}_\varphi \left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{x}}\right).`$ (48)
In case $`\varphi (x)=x^q`$ follows $`\psi (x)=(2q)x^{2q}`$. Hence, the deformed logarithms $`\mathrm{ln}_q(x)`$ and $`\mathrm{ln}_{2q}(x)`$ can be deduced from each other, up to a constant factor, by the relation (47).

Now note that the definition (33) of entropy $`S_\varphi (p)`$ can be written as

$`S_\varphi (p)={\displaystyle dE\rho (E)p(E)\mathrm{ln}_\psi \left(1/p(E)\right)}.`$ (49)
With $`\psi (x)=x^q`$ this expression is Tsallis’ entropy

$`S_q(p)={\displaystyle dE\rho (E)\frac{1}{1q}\left(p(E)^qp(E)\right)}.`$ (50)
However, as noted above, $`\psi (x)x^{2q}`$ is needed. This leads to an expression for entropy with $`q`$ replaced by $`2q`$. In the Tsallis literature one has preferred to use always the same expression (50) for the entropy functional. Instead, the definition of average energy has been changed  from $`E`$ to $`E_{}`$. For most physicists the latter change is unacceptable. During this conference F. Baldovin suggested to interchange the roles of $`p(E)`$ and $`P(E)`$ so that the need for changing the definition of average energy disappears. This is what happened in the present paper.

## 7 Conclusions

It is possible to formulate a generalized thermostatistics in which the equipartition theorem holds in a modified form. Some aspects of thermodynamics, like thermal stability, are recovered. Other aspects, like extensivity, have not been considered because they will not hold in the generalized context. In the presentation, the role of the density of states $`\rho (E)`$ has been emphasized. By doing so the link is made between probability distribution functions $`p(E)`$ depending on energy $`E`$ and the distributions $`p(\gamma )`$ depending on points $`\gamma `$ in phase space $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$.

The generalized formalism is determined by the choice of an increasing positive function $`\varphi (x)`$, defined for $`x0`$. The standard formalism corresponds with $`\varphi (x)=x`$ for all $`x`$. Tsallis’ thermostatistics, with some minor changes, corresponds with the obvious choice $`\varphi (x)=x^q`$. The function $`\varphi (x)`$ can be used to define deformed logarithmic and exponential functions. The equilibrium probability distribution function $`p(E)`$ is then a generalization of the Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution, obtained by replacing the exponential function $`\mathrm{exp}(x)`$ by the deformed exponential function.

One of the advantages of formulating a rather general theory is that it clarifies some aspects of Tsallis’ thermostatistics by putting them in a broader context. In particular, the ’$`q1/q`$’ and ’$`q2q`$’-dualities have been discussed. The former one concerns the role of escort probabilities. The latter concerns the observation that from each deformed logarithm one can deduce another deformed logarithm. Clarifying these points makes clear that there is no need to modify the definition of average energy, as has been done in the recent Tsallis literature. Rather one should replace Tsallis’ entropy $`S_q(p)`$ by $`S_{2q}(p)`$. In this way one obtains a formalism which is satisfactory both from a physical and from a mathematical point of view, and which can be generalized to a much broader scope when needed.


text:
# Tunneling spectroscopy of NaxCoO2 and NaxCoO2⋅ yH2O

## Abstract

The single electron tunneling spectroscopy on superconductor NaxCoO2$``$ yH2O and its starting compound NaxCoO2 has been studied with point-contact method. The spectra of NaxCoO2 have two types of distinct shapes at different random locations, this is attributed to the non-uniformly distributed sodium escaped from the inner part of the sample. While all the measured spectra of the superconducting samples NaxCoO2$``$ yH2O have a good spatial reproducibility, and show a remarkable zero bias conductance depression appearing below an onset temperature which associates very well with the resistance upturn at around 45 K. The latter behavior resembles in some way the pseudogap feature in high-Tc cuprate superconductors.

After many years of intensive research on the physics of high Tc cuprate superconductors (HTSCs), there are still some crucial points needed to be clarified. A significant one is to determine the form of any other ground state coexisting and competing with superconductivity KangHJ2003 ; AlffL2003 , which is related to the possible existence and origin of the pseudogap—a suppression of the electronic states at the Fermi level in the normal state of HTSCs TallonJL2001 ; TimuskT1999 . Nonetheless, it is now widely accepted that the physics of HTSCs is that of the doped Mott insulator. Note that the recent synthesized superconductor Na0.35CoO2$``$ yH2O may also be viewed as a Mott insulator with electron doping of $`35\%`$ while its Tc is only about 5K TakadaK2003 . Furthermore, the superconductivity phase diagram of NaxCoO2$``$ yH2O system is found to be analogy to the HTSCs SchaakRE2003 . Therefore, the investigation on the electronic and magnetic behavior of these materials may highlight the characteristics responsible to the high Tc superconductivity of the cuprates. Besides the extensive experimental FooML2003 ; SakuraiH2003 ; LorenzB2003 ; CaoGH2003 ; KobayashiY2003 ; UelandBG2003 ; LynnJW2003  and theoretical BaskaranG2003 ; KumarB2003 ; WangQH2003 ; OgataM2003 ; TanakaA2003 ; SinghDJ2003 ; SanoK2003 ; LiT2003 ; SaD2003  studies of this new superconducting system, its starting compound NaxCoO2 has also attracted much attentions TerasakiI1997 ; TanakaT1994 ; RayR1999 ; OnoY2001 ; HasanMZ2003  and has been demonstrated to have some unconventional transport behavior and magnetic transition when $`x=0.75`$ MotohashiT2003 . However, to our knowledge no spectroscopic studies of both NaxCoO2$``$ yH2O and NaxCoO2 have been reported so far in literature.

In this paper, we present the results of point-contact spectroscopy measurements on NaxCoO2 and NaxCoO2$``$ yH2O compounds. The spectra of these two kinds of compounds have some essential differences not only on the spectral shape but also on their temperature dependence and spatial uniformity. Some possible mechanisms are suggested to explain all the observed novel spectral characteristics.

The information of the NaxCoO2$``$ yH2O samples used in this work are presented in Table 1. Fig. 1 shows the superconducting transition characterized by AC susceptibility measurements. The starting compounds of these two samples is Na0.70±0.05CoO2 (NSC070). Details of the sample preparation and characterizations have been given in Ref.ShiYG2003  for Na0.26CoO2$``$ 1.3H2O (SC026) and in Ref.CaoGH2003  for Na0.31CoO2$``$ 1.3H2O (SC031). Powder X-ray Diffraction measurements indicate that both samples are hexagonal single phase. The spectroscopy measurements on these samples (SC026,SC031 and NSC070) were proceeded with N/S (N=PtIr alloy; S denote samples) point contacts in the sample chamber of an Oxford cryogenic system MaglabExa12. As described in our previous works ShanL2003 , the PtIr tips were prepared by electrochemical etching in CaCl2 solution using Pt0.9Ir0.1 wire with a diameter of 0.25 mm. The approaching of the tip toward the sample was controlled by a differential screw. Typical four-terminal and lock-in technique were used to measure the differential resistance $`dV/dI`$ vs $`V`$ of the point contacts. Then the $`dV/dIV`$ curves were converted into the dynamical conductance $`dI/dVV`$ (or $`\sigma V`$) curves. In our tunneling spectroscopy measurements, we have processed bidirectional bias-voltage scanning in various rates, all the spectra presented in this paper are reproducible and have no hysteresis, so that the heating effect can be ruled out in these data.

Fig. 2(a) shows the temperature dependence of the resistance of sample-SC026 at various magnetic fields. The superconducting transition becomes broad with increasing field and an increase of normal-state resistance with decreasing temperature occurs at about 50K. However, the onset Tc does not depend significantly on the magnetic field. These characteristics are the same as that of sample-SC031 and the results presented in Ref.TakadaK2003 . Similar behavior is always observed in high-Tc copper oxides. As a comparison, we present in Fig. 2(b) the R-T relation of sample-NSC070. It is noted that the resistance decrease monotonically with decreasing temperature and a weak inflexion occurs at around 30K. Such remarkable resistive difference between the superconductors and their starting compounds with similar structure should be a reflection of their different electronic states.

Fig. 3 shows the typical tunneling spectra measured on the PtIr/NSC070 point contacts. Examining the gross features of a tunneling conductance curve shown in Fig. 3, one notes the background with a slight positive curvature, which is ordinary for the metal-insulator-metal junctions. A closer scrutiny in the region near zero bias reveals a small conductance dip as shown in the inset of Fig. 3(b). Such small dips exist between a narrow bias range of $`\pm 10`$mV at low temperatures while disappears for higher temperatures. These features are similar to that of nonequilibrium electron tunneling in metal-insulator-metal junctions AlderJG1975 ; WolfEL1985 .

As shown in Fig. 4, the other type of spectrum of sample-NSC070 has also been observed occasionally at some random positions of the sample surface. However, the little probability of observing such spectrum and its bad reproducibility indicate that it comes from some local properties. The zero bias conductance dip shown in Fig. 4 is much more significant than that shown in Fig. 3, that is, a giant resistance peak occurs. According to the model proposed by Zeller and Giaever ZellerHR1969 , such giant resistance peak around zero bias can be achieved if tunneling occurs through intermediate states on metal particles embedded in the oxide barrier. This is very close to the surface condition of sample-NSC070, since the sodium atoms between the CoO2 layers in NaxCoO2 are easy to escape from the bulk. Because the small amount of separated sodium on the surface are easily oxidated, it is possible in some positions of sample surface to form the oxide (or carbonate) barrier with embedded sodium particles, and hence the Giaever-Zeller two step tunneling model is favored. A direct consequence of such spatial un-uniformity is that, when the tip locates closely to the phase boundaries of the normal regions and the Giaever-Zeller regions, even a slight tip relaxation caused by temperature variation can lead to a remarkable change of the measured spectra. This is indeed observed in few cases in our measurements.

The measured tunneling spectra of samples SC026 and SC031 are presented in Fig. 5(a) and (b) respectively. No characteristic of superconductivity such as coherence peak can be detected in the measured tunneling spectra. This may be ascribed to the very low Tc, broad superconducting transition, and extremely low density of charge carriers. However, by comparing these results with that of NSC070, we can find following remarkable differences between them besides their distinct spectral details. Firstly, the spectra of superconducting samples have a good symmetry for the opposite sides of zero bias while the non-superconducting sample does not; Secondly, the spectral shape is identical for various positions on the surfaces of the superconducting samples, unlike their starting compounds. The good reproducibility of the temperature dependent spectra for the samples SC026 and SC031 in several thermal cycles indicates the phase stability and spatial homogeneity of the electronic states. The spatially consistent conductance depression may rule out the spatial-related mechanisms such as above discussed Giaever-Zeller model and the magnetic impurity effect. A roughly estimation of the onset temperature of this characteristic is somewhat above 45K for sample-SC026, which is close to the onset temperature of the resistance upturn as shown in Fig. 2(a). Another explanation for this conductance depression is the pseudogap effect as observed in cuprate high Tc superconductors. In fact, the shape and temperature dependence of this conductance depression are similar to that observed in the electronic doped cuprate superconductor Pr2-xCexCuO4-y AlffL2003 ; BiswasA2001 . In this sense, the occurence of the conductance deppression and the resistance enhancement with decreasing temperature correspond to the opening of the pseudogap around the Fermi level.

In order to get further insight into this anomalous conductance depression, we have studied the magnetic field influence on the tunneling spectroscopy. Fig. 6(a) shows the field dependence of the tunneling spectra and the details around zero bias are enlarged in the inset. It is noted that the spectra measured at various fields overlap each other at high bias while gradually separate from each other with decreasing bias voltage. In order to give a more clear elucidation, we present in Fig. 6(b) the field dependent spectra after a subtraction of the zero field one. It is obvious that the applied magnetic field induces an additional zero bias conductance depression with a magnitude in proportional to the magnetic field.

In summary, we have performed tunneling spectroscopy measurements on the PtIr/NaxCoO2 and PtIr/NaxCoO2$``$ yH2O point contacts. The observed spatially sensitive spectra of NaxCoO2 are associated with the non-uniformly distributed escaped sodium and its oxide. While the spatially consistent conductance depression in the spectra of NaxCoO2$``$ yH2O seems to be related to the resistance upturn at low temperature, which resembles in some way the pseudogap effect observed in the underdoped cuprate superconductors. However, its anomalous magnetic field dependence can not be directly comparable to the cuprate superconductors. Additional experiments are still needed to clarify this issue.

###### Acknowledgements.

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC 19825111, 10074078), the Ministry of Science and Technology of China ( project: NKBRSF-G1999064602 ), and Chinese Academy of Sciences with the Knowledge Innovation Project.


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# Curvature and isocurvature perturbations in a three-fluid model of curvaton decay

## I Introduction

Observational results obtained by a variety of recent cosmic microwave background and large scale structure experiments have greatly improved our picture of the Universe on the largest observable scales. These observations are consistent with a primordial spectrum of adiabatic, Gaussian, scale-independent perturbations trotta ; amen ; lewis ; wmap ; gauss\_test ; valvi ; julien ; gm ; sdss . An attractive explanation is that these primordial perturbations in the early radiation-dominated era originate from quantum fluctuations in an earlier inflationary era where small scale vacuum fluctuations can be stretched up to arbitrarily large scales LLBook . Although it is often assumed that primordial perturbations originate from adiabatic fluctuations of a slowly-rolling scalar field driving the inflationary expansion (the inflaton), any light scalar field (with effective mass less than the Hubble scale) will acquire an almost scale-invariant spectrum during an almost exponential expansion. Whether or not these isocurvature fluctuations in non-inflaton fields produce a primordial curvature perturbation depends upon whether or not the local value of that scalar field subsequently affects the local radiation density Mollerach ; LM .

In the curvaton scenario curvaton ; MT ; Enqvist  a light, weakly coupled scalar field remains decoupled from the inflaton during inflation and remains decoupled after the end of inflation. Once the Hubble scale drops below the effective mass of the curvaton, the field oscillates and eventually decays. But if the decay is late enough then the density of the non-relativistic curvaton may have grown large enough to contribute significantly (more than about 1%) to the total energy density of the universe. Then the local radiation density after curvaton decay depends upon the local value of the curvaton at the end of inflation and it is the initial isocurvature perturbation of the curvaton field that determines the primordial density perturbation. This scenario leads to new possibilities for building particle physics models of inflation modelbuilding  and qualitatively different constraints upon the inflationary parameters modelconstraints .

In the conventional slow-roll inflaton scenario there is a remarkable simplification when calculating observational constraints: one can calculate the primordial perturbations directly in terms of the inflaton field fluctuations during inflation, independently of the detailed physics of the end of inflation, reheating and the subsequent radiation-dominated era. This is because the inflaton fluctuations describe adiabatic perturbations about the background homogeneous cosmology on large scales and one can define a conserved curvature perturbation $`\zeta `$ directly from energy conservation WMLL ; conserved .

By contrast, fluctuations in the curvaton field describe non-adiabatic perturbations about the background cosmology and the total curvature perturbation $`\zeta `$ is no longer conserved on large scales. The non-adiabatic nature of the initial perturbations leaves open the possibility of residual isocurvature perturbations and detectable non-Gaussianity in the curvaton scenario curvaton ; MT ; LUW ; cdm . One can define individual curvature perturbations for the radiation and curvaton fluids that remain approximately conserved so long as the fluids can be assumed to be non-interacting WMLL ; conserved . This has been used to derive an approximate calculation of the resulting primordial perturbations in the curvaton scenario in terms of the curvaton density at the decay time in what has been called the sudden-decay approximation curvaton ; LUW .

However an accurate calculation of the resulting primordial perturbations requires numerical solution of the perturbation equations. This was performed in MWU  for a two-fluid model where non-relativistic curvaton particles decay into radiation. In this paper we extend this analysis to a three-fluid system to include the possibility that the curvaton also decays into non-relativistic cold dark matter (CDM). This allows us to calculate the residual isocurvature perturbation that may be inherited by the matter in this scenario. See Ref. MT  for a numerical solution of the perturbed curvaton equations in a field theory description. Analytic estimates of the amplitude of the residual isocurvature perturbation in other models for the CDM were given in Ref. cdm .

In section II we set up the coupled evolution equations for a system of dimensionless variables describing the evolution of the background homogeneous cosmology. We then give the coupled evolution equations for linear density perturbations in each fluid on uniform-curvature hypersurfaces in section III. In an appendix we present equations describing the evolution of curvature and isocurvature perturbations in manifestly gauge-invariant form and discuss the appearance of singularities for some gauge-invariant quantities in a system such as this that includes energy transfer between fluids. This is seen to be due to a singular choice of hypersurface rather than a breakdown of perturbation theory.

The primordial perturbations that result from an initial curvaton perturbation can be characterised by a transfer coefficient that is a unique function of a single dimensionless parameter that specifies the initial density of the curvaton relative to the curvaton decay rate. We give an accurate analytic approximation (to better than 1%) for the curvature transfer coefficient. The same coefficient also determines non-Gaussianity of the primordial perturbations curvaton  and, in our three-fluid model, the amplitude of the residual isocurvature perturbation. We are able to derive, as an exact result, a simple consistency relation between the ratio of isocurvature to curvature perturbations and the non-Gaussianity of the primordial perturbations, which was previously derived only using the sudden-decay approximation.

We present our conclusions in section IV.

## II Background equations and decay

In this section we will first review the governing equations of the background quantities in a Friedman–Robertson–Walker (FRW) universe and then find the evolution equations for the perturbations for three interacting fluids, following Ref. MWU . We begin the analysis after the end of inflation when the vacuum energy driving inflation has decayed into radiation. We assume that at that time the curvaton density is much smaller than the total density, consistent with the assumption that curvaton fluctuations are initially isocurvature perturbations.

The radiation ($`\gamma `$) is a relativistic fluid with pressure $`P_\gamma =\rho _\gamma /3`$. We model the other two components, the curvaton ($`\sigma `$) and the cold dark matter ($`m`$), as non-relativistic fluids, $`P_\sigma =P_m=0`$. This is a good description of the classical field dynamics once the Hubble rate has dropped below the effective mass of the curvaton so that the curvaton field begins coherent oscillations.

The evolution of a flat background FRW universe is governed by the Friedmann constraint and the continuity equation, respectively,

$`H^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{8\pi G}{3}}\rho ,`$ (1)
$`\dot{\rho }`$ $`=`$ $`3H\left(\rho +P\right),`$ (2)
where the dot denotes a derivative with respect to coordinate time $`t`$, $`H`$ is the Hubble parameter, and $`\rho `$ and $`P`$ are the total energy density and the total pressure, related to the density and pressure of the component fluids by

$$\underset{\alpha }{}\rho _\alpha =\rho ,\underset{\alpha }{}P_\alpha =P.$$
(3)
The continuity equation for each individual fluid in the background can be written as KS

$$\dot{\rho }_\alpha =3H\left(\rho _\alpha +P_\alpha \right)+Q_\alpha ,$$
(4)
where $`Q_\alpha `$ describes the energy transfer per unit time to the $`\alpha `$-fluid.

We assume the curvaton can decay into both radiation and cold dark matter, described by the two decay rates, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$ respectively. For simplicity we assume the decay rates are fixed constants. This gives the background energy transfer as

$`Q_\sigma `$ $`=`$ $`(\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2)\rho _\sigma ,`$ (5)
$`Q_\gamma `$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1\rho _\sigma ,`$ (6)
$`Q_\mathrm{m}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\rho _\sigma .`$ (7)
The cold dark matter in this model is assumed to be a non-relativistic product of curvaton decay, which does not interact with radiation even at these early times. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2/\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$ determines the energy density of cold dark matter particles relative to the radiation produced by curvaton decay. For the CDM to remain subdominant until matter-radiation equality at $`T_{\mathrm{eq}}1`$eV we require

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1}\left[\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}}{\mathrm{\Omega }_\gamma }\right]_{\mathrm{decay}}=\frac{T_{\mathrm{eq}}}{T_{\mathrm{decay}}}<10^6.$$
(8)
The final inequality follows from requiring that the curvaton decays before primordial nucleosynthesis ($`T_{\mathrm{decay}}>1`$MeV), after which time any significant entropy production would spoil theoretical predictions of the primordial abundance of light elements.

The background energy transfer must always obey the constraint

$$\underset{\alpha }{}Q_\alpha =0.$$
(9)
It is useful to rewrite the background equations (4), in terms of dimensionless density parameters

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma \frac{\rho _\sigma }{\rho },\mathrm{\Omega }_\gamma \frac{\rho _\gamma }{\rho },\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}\frac{\rho _\mathrm{m}}{\rho },$$
(10)
which gives the evolution equations

$`\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma ^{}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma \left(\mathrm{\Omega }_\gamma {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2}{H}}\right),`$ (11)
$`\mathrm{\Omega }_\gamma ^{}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1}{H}}+\mathrm{\Omega }_\gamma \left(\mathrm{\Omega }_\gamma 1\right),`$ (12)
$`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}^{}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_2}{H}}+\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}\mathrm{\Omega }_\gamma ,`$ (13)
where a dash denotes the differentiation with respect to the number of e-foldings, $`NH𝑑t`$.

The Friedmann constraint (1) then yields

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma +\mathrm{\Omega }_\gamma +\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}=1.$$
(14)
The evolution of the inverse Hubble parameter is governed by

$$\left(\frac{1}{H}\right)^{}=\left(1+\frac{1}{3}\mathrm{\Omega }_\gamma \right)\left(\frac{3}{2H}\right).$$
(15)
Hence we have an autonomous dynamical system consisting of the four Eqs. (1113), and (15), but the constraint (14) makes one of them redundant.

### II.1 Numerical solutions

In Fig.1 we show a phase-plane which plots the evolution of the curvaton energy density against the dimensionless decay rate, $`0<\mathrm{\Gamma }_1/(\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+H)<1`$. Note that for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$ the evolution of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma `$ is effectively independent of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$ and the phase-plane shown is identical to that studied in Ref.MWU .

All trajectories in the phase-plane in Fig.1 start close to the origin with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma 1`$ and $`H\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$. From the limiting form of Eqs. (11) and (14) for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\gamma 1`$ we can see that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma H^{1/2}e^N`$ MWU . Thus different trajectories can be identified by different values of the dimensionless parameter

$$p\left[\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma \left(\frac{H}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}\right]_{\text{initial}}.$$
(16)
If we consider the initial conditions for the fluid model to be set when the curvaton begins to oscillate ($`H_{\mathrm{in}}=m_\sigma `$) then we can write

$$p=\frac{8\pi \sigma ^2_{\mathrm{in}}}{3M_{\mathrm{Pl}}^2}\left(\frac{m_\sigma }{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1}\right)^{1/2}.$$
(17)
The curvaton vacuum expectation value is bounded, $`\sigma ^2_{\mathrm{in}}<M_{\mathrm{Pl}}^2`$, as we work in the regime where there is no phase of curvaton-driven inflation modelconstraints . Nonetheless $`p`$ can be large if the curvaton decay rate is slow, e.g., $`m_\sigma /\mathrm{\Gamma }_1(M_{\mathrm{Pl}}/m_\sigma )^2`$ for gravitational strength decay.

We show in Figures 2 to 4 examples of the time-evolution of the three fluid energy densities along different trajectories. Figure 2(a) corresponds to trajectory A of the phase–plane Figure 1. The system begins radiation dominated but as time passes the curvaton density, with a dust equation of state, grows relative to the radiation density. The energy density of the curvaton then rapidly decays when $`H\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$. In this example there is a period of curvaton domination ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma 1`$) before the curvaton decays.

Figure 3(a), corresponding to trajectory B of the phase–plane figure (1), has a lower value the parameter $`p`$, so the curvaton density does not climb as high before it decays away. Figure 4(a), corresponding to trajectory C of the phase–plane figure (1), has the lowest value of $`p`$ of the three plots and the ratio of initial curvaton density to the decay rate is low enough that there is no period of curvaton domination in this example.

## III Perturbed equations

The evolution equation for density perturbations in the $`\alpha `$ fluid is given on large scales and on uniform-curvature hypersurfaces by MWU

$$\dot{\delta \rho }_\alpha +3H(\delta \rho _\alpha +\delta P_\alpha )+Q_\alpha \frac{\delta \rho }{2\rho }\delta Q_\alpha =0,$$
(18)
where $`\delta \rho _\alpha `$, $`\delta P_\alpha `$ and $`\delta Q_\alpha `$ are the density perturbations, the pressure perturbation, and the energy transfer perturbation of the $`\alpha `$-fluid. $`\delta \rho `$ is the total density perturbation on the uniform-curvature hypersurfaces and appears in the equation for the perturbed energy transfer due to the gravitational time dilation MWU .

The perturbed energy transfer (assuming the physical decay rates are unperturbed) is given by,

$`\delta Q_\sigma `$ $`=`$ $`(\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2)\delta \rho _\sigma ,`$ (19)
$`\delta Q_\gamma `$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1\delta \rho _\sigma ,`$ (20)
$`\delta Q_\mathrm{m}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\delta \rho _\sigma .`$ (21)
We will evolve the perturbed conservation equations (18), which can be written in terms of the dimensionless density parameters as

$`\delta \rho _\sigma ^{}+\left(3+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2}{H}}\right)\delta \rho _\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2}{H}}\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\delta \rho }{2}}=0,`$ (22)
$`\delta \rho _\gamma ^{}+4\delta \rho _\gamma {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1}{H}}\left(\delta \rho _\sigma \mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\delta \rho }{2}}\right)=0,`$ (23)
$`\delta \rho _\mathrm{m}^{}+3\delta \rho _\mathrm{m}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_2}{H}}\left(\delta \rho _\sigma \mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\delta \rho }{2}}\right)=0.`$ (24)
where a prime denotes derivatives with respect to $`N`$.

Written in this form it is evident that the linear evolution of the density perturbations depends only upon the dimensionless background variables $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\alpha `$ and decay rates $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\alpha /H`$. Hence the final amplitude of the density perturbations, $`\delta \rho _{\alpha ,\mathrm{final}}`$, relative to the initial curvaton perturbation $`\delta \rho _{\sigma ,\mathrm{initial}}`$ will depend only upon which trajectory is followed in the background phase-space $`(\mathrm{\Omega }_\alpha ,\mathrm{\Gamma }_\alpha /H)`$. They will not depend on dimensional quantities such as $`H_{\mathrm{initial}}`$. In fact we will show that the large-scale perturbations after the curvaton has decayed can be written simply in terms of the initial curvaton perturbation and a function of the dimensionless parameter $`p`$ defined in Eq. (16).

### III.1 Curvature and isocurvature perturbations

The gauge-invariant variable, $`\zeta `$, introduced by Bardeen BST ; Bardeen88 , is commonly used to describe the large-scale curvature perturbation. It is equivalent to the curvature perturbation of uniform-density hypersurfaces and remains constant on super–horizon scales for adiabatic perturbations. This quantity is simply related to the total density perturbation on uniform-curvature hypersurfaces Bardeen88 ; WMLL

$$\zeta =H\frac{\delta \rho }{\dot{\rho }}.$$
(25)
We can also define the curvature perturbation on uniform $`\alpha `$-fluid density hypersurfaces, $`\zeta _\alpha `$, which is related to the $`\alpha `$-fluid density on uniform-curvature hypersurfaces WMLL

$$\zeta _\alpha =H\frac{\delta \rho _\alpha }{\dot{\rho }_\alpha }.$$
(26)
The total density perturbation is just the sum of the density perturbations of the individual fluids, $`\delta \rho =_\alpha \delta \rho _\alpha `$, and hence the total curvature perturbation $`\zeta `$ is the weighted sum of the individual perturbations WMLL ,

$$\zeta =\underset{\alpha }{}\frac{\dot{\rho }_\alpha }{\dot{\rho }}\zeta _\alpha .$$
(27)
The difference between any two individual curvature perturbations, $`\zeta _\alpha `$ and $`\zeta _\beta `$, describes an isocurvature or entropy perturbation WMLL ; MWU

$$𝒮_{\alpha \beta }=3\left(\zeta _\alpha \zeta _\beta \right).$$
(28)
Note that the definition of $`\zeta _\alpha `$ becomes singular whenever $`\dot{\rho }_\alpha =0`$. For instance the physical density of cold dark matter is initially vanishing, but growing due to the decay of the curvaton ($`\dot{\rho }_m>0`$). However after the curvaton has completely decayed, the matter density is diluted by the expansion ($`\dot{\rho }_m<0`$). At one instant we have $`\dot{\rho }_m=0`$ and $`\zeta _m`$ is ill-defined. This has been previously noted in the case of an oscillating scalar field at stationary values of the field Brandenberger . It is a consequence of the uniform $`\alpha `$-density hypersurfaces becoming ill-defined, and does not signal the breakdown of perturbation theory, as long as we can find some gauge where the hypersurfaces are well-defined and perturbations remain small (see Appendix).

In this case we will numerically solve for the fluid density perturbations on uniform-curvature hypersurfaces. Fig. 5 shows an example of the evolution of the density perturbations in equations (22) to (24) above, showing that they do indeed remain well-defined throughout the evolution.

From the density perturbations we then construct the curvature perturbations, Eq.(25) and (26), which gives

$$\zeta _\sigma =\frac{8\pi G}{3H}\frac{\delta \rho _\sigma }{\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma \left(3H+\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\right)},$$
(29)
$$\zeta _\gamma =\frac{8\pi G}{3H}\frac{\delta \rho _\gamma }{\left(4H\mathrm{\Omega }_\gamma +\mathrm{\Gamma }_1\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma \right)},$$
(30)
$$\zeta _\mathrm{m}=\frac{8\pi G}{3H}\frac{\delta \rho _\mathrm{m}}{\left(3H\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{m}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma \right)},$$
(31)
At late times, after the curvaton has completely decayed the fluids are non-interacting and have monotonically decreasing energy densities (diluted by the expansion) so the curvature perturbations, $`\zeta _\alpha `$, are well-defined, and constant on large scales. Observations of, for example, the CMB directly constrain the amplitude of the total curvature and isocurvature perturbations. On large angular scales the temperature perturbations on the surface of last-scattering are given by the Sachs-Wolfe effect bmt ; amen ; lewis

$$\left(\frac{\delta T}{T}\right)_{\mathrm{lss}}=\frac{1}{5}\left(\zeta _\gamma 2𝒮_{m\gamma }\right)_{\mathrm{lss}}.$$
(32)
### III.2 Numerical results

We have numerically evolved the coupled system of background equations (11)–(13) and (15) and first-order perturbations (22)–(24). In each case we begin with a smooth ($`\zeta _{\gamma \text{,in}}=0`$), dominant radiation fluid ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\gamma \text{,in}}1`$) and a subdominant curvaton fluid ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\sigma \text{,in}}1`$) with an initial perturbation $`\zeta _{\sigma \text{,in}}0`$. The cold dark matter density is initially zero ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{m}\text{,in}}=0`$, $`\zeta _{\mathrm{m}\text{,in}}=0`$), and is produced solely from curvaton decay. The initial density perturbations on uniform-curvature hypersurfaces are given in terms of $`\zeta _{\alpha \text{,in}}`$ from Eqs. (29)–(31).

In all cases we start the evolution at some high energy scale, with a large value of the Hubble parameter, characterised by a small initial value of the Hubble time relative to the decay time, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1/H_{\text{in}}1`$. The subsequent evolution is not directly affected by the precise value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1/H_{\text{in}}`$, but rather by the parameter $`p`$ defined in Eq. (16) which characterises the phase-space trajectory. In particular the final values of the curvature and isocurvature perturbations are a function solely of the parameter $`p`$.

Figures 2(b), 3(b) and 4(b) show the evolution of the large–scale curvature perturbations for the three fluids along three different background trajectories.

#### III.2.1 Radiation

The radiation curvature perturbation $`\zeta _\gamma `$ grows as the curvaton decays, and reaches an equilibrium point in the phase-space where $`\zeta _\gamma =\zeta _\sigma `$ MWU . The final value for $`\zeta _\gamma `$ relative to the initial value of $`\zeta _{\sigma \text{,in}}`$ depends upon the relative density of the curvaton at the decay epoch, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\sigma \text{,decay}}`$. This determines the proportion of the final radiation that comes from the decay of the perturbed curvaton.

For example, in Fig. 2(a), corresponding to trajectory A of Fig. 1, the curvaton comes to dominate ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma 1`$) before the decay epoch. Thus almost all the radiation at late times comes from the decay of the curvaton and hence, in Fig. 2(b), the radiation fluid at late times inherits the initial curvaton perturbation, $`\zeta _\gamma \zeta _{\sigma \text{,in}}`$. Compare this with Fig. 4, corresponding to trajectory C of the Fig. 1. In this case the curvaton decays while $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma 1`$ and the proportion of the final radiation energy density which results from the decay of the perturbed curvaton component is much smaller in this picture.

We define $`r`$ to be the ratio between the curvature perturbation of the radiation component at the end of the calculation (when all of the curvaton component has decayed away) to the initial curvaton perturbation,

$$\zeta _{\gamma \text{,out}}=r\zeta _{\sigma \text{,in}}.$$
(33)
We find that $`r`$ is solely a function of the choice of trajectory in the background phase-space, Fig. (1). Each trajectory is uniquely identified in terms of the initial data by the value of the parameter $`p`$ defined in Eq. (16).

We plot $`r`$ against $`p`$ in Fig. (6). At small values of $`p`$ this approaches a linear function

$$r0.924p,$$
(34)
see Fig. (7). This coincides with the sudden-decay approximation calculated in Ref. MWU  for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\sigma \text{,in}}1`$. The linear approximation is good to better than $`1`$% up to $`p=0.011`$ ($`r=0.0108`$) and better than $`10`$% up to $`p=0.11`$ ($`r=0.10`$).

At larger values of $`p`$ the transfer coefficient $`r(p)`$ turns over and $`r1`$ for $`p1`$. The full function is well fit by

$$r_{\text{fit}}(p)=1\left(1+\frac{0.924}{q}p\right)^q,$$
(35)
where, by fitting over the range $`10^2<p<10^2`$, we find $`q=1.24`$. This gives a fit to the numerical calculation of $`r(p)`$ to better than $`0.2`$% for any value of $`p`$.

#### III.2.2 Cold Dark Matter

In our model the universe starts with an initial cold dark matter density, $`\rho _m`$, equal to zero which then grows due to curvaton decay, but eventually starts decreasing due to cosmic expansion. As remarked earlier the curvature perturbation associated with the cold dark matter, $`\zeta _m`$, becomes ill-defined when $`\dot{\rho }_m=0`$. This occurs when $`Q_m=\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\rho _\sigma =3H\rho _m`$, in Eq. (4) for $`\alpha =m`$. The divergence of $`\zeta _m`$ is clearly seen at early times (before the curvaton decays) in Figures 2(b), 3(b) and 4(b).

The curvature perturbation $`\zeta _m`$ is initially time-dependent due to the energy transfer from the perturbed curvaton, but settles down to a constant value at late times, once the curvaton has completely decayed $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2H`$. We find that if the cold dark matter is produced solely from curvaton decay, it inherits a curvature perturbation $`\zeta _{m\text{,out}}`$ at late times equal to the initial curvaton perturbation, $`\zeta _{\sigma \text{,in}}`$.

This simple result can be derived by considering a composite energy density constructed from the CDM density and a fixed fraction of the curvaton density:

$$\rho _{\text{comp}}\rho _\mathrm{m}+\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2}\rho _\sigma .$$
(36)
From Eqs. (5) and (7) we see that the corresponding energy transfer is zero, i.e.,

$$Q_{\text{comp}}Q_\mathrm{m}+\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2}Q_\sigma =0.$$
(37)
Thus we obtain from Eqs. (4) and (18) the standard evolution equations for the composite energy density and its perturbation:

$`\dot{\rho }_{\text{comp}}`$ $`=`$ $`3H\rho _{\text{comp}},`$ (38)
$`\dot{\delta \rho }_{\text{comp}}`$ $`=`$ $`3H\delta \rho _{\text{comp}}.`$ (39)
Note that as both the curvaton and CDM are pressureless then so is the composite energy density, $`P_{\text{comp}}=0`$. Since we have a conserved energy density with a unique equation of state the corresponding curvature perturbation, defined by Eq. (26),

$$\zeta _{\text{comp}}=\frac{\delta \rho _{\text{comp}}}{3\rho _{\text{comp}}},$$
(40)
is conserved on large scales WMLL ; conserved .

Initially $`\rho _\text{m}=0`$ and $`\delta \rho _\text{m}=0`$ and hence $`\zeta _{\text{comp}}=\zeta _{\sigma \text{,in}}`$. At late times $`\rho _\mathrm{m}\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_2/(\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2)\right)\rho _\sigma `$, and $`\zeta _{\text{comp}}=\zeta _{\text{m ,out}}`$. Therefore

$$\zeta _{\text{m ,out}}=\zeta _{\sigma \text{,in}},$$
(41)
as we see in Figs. 2, 3 and 4.

#### III.2.3 Curvature and isocurvature perturbations

After the curvaton has decayed, ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma 0`$), we are left with one overall curvature perturbation, Eq. (27),

$$\zeta =\frac{4\mathrm{\Omega }_\gamma }{4\mathrm{\Omega }_\gamma +3\mathrm{\Omega }_\text{m}}\zeta _\gamma +\frac{3\mathrm{\Omega }_\text{m}}{4\mathrm{\Omega }_\gamma +3\mathrm{\Omega }_\text{m}}\zeta _\mathrm{m},$$
(42)
and one relative isocurvature (entropy) perturbation between the radiation and cold dark matter, Eq. (28),

$$𝒮_{\mathrm{m}\gamma }=3\left(\zeta _\mathrm{m}\zeta _\gamma \right).$$
(43)
The primordial curvature perturbation is usually taken to be the curvature perturbation at, for instance, the epoch of primordial nucleosynthesis when the Universe is known to be radiation dominated ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_\gamma \mathrm{\Omega }_\text{m},\mathrm{\Omega }_\sigma =0`$), and hence $`\zeta \zeta _\gamma `$.

We have seen that the primordial curvature perturbation relative to the initial curvaton perturbation is a function of the trajectory, $`r(p)`$ in Eq. (33),

$$\zeta |_{\text{nuc}}\zeta _{\gamma \text{,out}}=r\zeta _{\sigma \text{,in}},$$
(44)
whereas the final cold dark matter curvature perturbation is identical to the initial curvaton perturbation, Eq. (41). Hence

$$𝒮|_{\text{nuc}}𝒮_{\mathrm{m}\gamma \text{,out}}=3\left(1r\right)\zeta _{\sigma \text{,in}}.$$
(45)
If $`r=1`$ then we obtain an adiabatic curvature perturbation after the curvaton has decayed and there is no late-time isocurvature perturbation.

Note that the fitting function $`r_{\mathrm{fit}}(p)`$ given in Eq. (35) gives a good approximation, for $`1r`$ (better than $`1`$% for $`r<0.914`$ ($`p<8.14`$) or better than $`10`$% for $`r<0.993`$ ($`p<66`$)).

Therefore the primordial isocurvature and curvature perturbations are $`100\%`$ correlated with their ratio fixed by $`r(p)`$:

$$\frac{𝒮}{\zeta }|_{\text{nuc}}=\frac{3\left(1r\right)}{r}.$$
(46)
This expression was derived in Ref. LUW  using the sudden-decay approximation. We have shown that it is in fact an exact expression when the CDM is produced directly from the decay of the curvaton, and $`r`$ is defined by Eq. (33).

## IV Conclusions

In this paper we have studied the coupled evolution of background densities and linear perturbations of three interacting fluid components: radiation, a curvaton field and cold dark matter. We solve numerically the evolution equations for density perturbations on spatially flat hypersurfaces to calculate the spectrum of curvature and isocurvature (or relative entropy) perturbations that result from initial perturbations in the curvaton field.

Whereas the resulting radiation curvature perturbation, $`\zeta _{\gamma ,\mathrm{out}}`$, is dependent on the initial values of background parameters (such as curvaton density), we find the simple result that the final CDM curvature perturbation, $`\zeta _{\mathrm{m},\mathrm{out}}`$, is always exactly equal to the initial curvaton perturbation $`\zeta _{\sigma ,\mathrm{in}}`$, in a model where the CDM is directly produced by curvaton decay. We are able to demonstrate this analytically by constructing a conserved quantity, $`\zeta _{\text{comp}}`$, that at early times is equal to the curvaton perturbation and at late times is equal to the CDM curvature perturbation. In effect this solves the evolution of one degree of freedom and allows us to solve numerically only for $`\zeta _\gamma `$ as a function of input parameters.

The background evolution of the fluids is described by a trajectories in phase-space distinguished by a dimensionless parameter $`p=[\mathrm{\Omega }(H/\mathrm{\Gamma }_1)^{1/2}]_{\mathrm{in}}`$. The ratio $`r`$ between $`\zeta _{\gamma ,\mathrm{out}}`$ and $`\zeta _{\sigma ,\mathrm{in}}`$ is a function solely of this trajectory parameter $`p`$ and is well-fit by a simple numerical function given in Eq. (35). This coincides with the “sudden-decay approximation” curvaton ; MWU  for $`p1`$.

The resulting radiation and CDM perturbations after curvaton decay can then be used to predict the spectrum of CMB anisotropies in a given model where the CDM is produced directly as a curvaton decay product. CMB constraints are usually quoted in terms of the primordial curvature $`\zeta _{\text{nuc}}`$ and an isocurvature perturbation $`𝒮_{\text{nuc}}`$ around the epoch of primordial nucleosynthesis, leading to

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}\zeta \\ 𝒮\end{array}\right)_{\text{nuc}}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& r/3\\ 0& (1r)\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\zeta \\ 𝒮\end{array}\right)_{\mathrm{in}}.$$
(47)
In the curvaton scenario $`\zeta _{\mathrm{in}}=\zeta _{\gamma ,\mathrm{in}}=0`$ and $`𝒮_{\mathrm{in}}=3(\zeta _{\sigma ,\mathrm{in}}\zeta _{\gamma ,\mathrm{in}})=3\zeta _{\sigma ,\mathrm{in}}`$. Although the model we have studied describes the production of CDM directly from the curvaton decay, one would expect a similar result to hold for models where the net baryon or lepton number is directly produced from curvaton decay.

The matrix equation (47) is a particular case of the general form of the transfer matrix for curvature and isocurvature perturbations presented in Ref. amen ; wbmr  where the contribution of the initial isocurvature perturbation to the resulting primordial curvature and isocurvature perturbation is model dependent. For instance in a curvaton scenario where the CDM is a thermal relic which decouples from radiation sometime after the curvaton has decayed we have instead

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}\zeta \\ 𝒮\end{array}\right)_{\text{nuc}}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& r/3\\ 0& 0\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\zeta \\ 𝒮\end{array}\right)_{\mathrm{in}}.$$
(48)
The matrix equations (47) and (48) using the numerically determined function $`r(p)`$ \[or its approximate form $`r_{\mathrm{fit}}(p)`$\] enable one to relate CMB observations to curvaton model parameters such as the curvaton decay rate, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, and the curvaton density, $`\rho _\sigma `$, at some early time, characterised by the value of the Hubble rate $`H`$, and the initial spectrum of curvaton perturbations $`\zeta _\sigma =(1/3)\delta \rho _\sigma /\rho _\sigma `$.

For example, in the model where the CDM is directly produced by curvaton decay we confirm curvaton  that the relative amplitude of primordial isocurvature to curvature perturbations is a fixed ratio $`3(1r)/r`$ which is a function solely of the background parameter $`p`$ defined in Eq. (16). This holds independently of the “sudden-decay approximation” previously used.

In any curvaton model the transfer coefficient $`r`$ is independent of scale in the large-scale limit (by definition) so that the scale-dependence of the primordial perturbation spectra are inherited directly from the scale dependence of the curvaton perturbation at the end of inflation curvaton ; wbmr

$$\mathrm{\Delta }n_\sigma \frac{d\mathrm{ln}𝒫_{\delta \sigma }}{d\mathrm{ln}k}=2ϵ+2\eta _\sigma .$$
(49)
In this expression $`ϵ\dot{H}/H^2`$ is the usual dimensionless slow-roll parameter during inflation and $`\eta _\sigma m_\sigma ^2/3H^2`$ is the effective mass of the curvaton relative to the Hubble scale during inflation. Both the curvature and isocurvature perturbation (if any) originate from initial curvaton perturbation and are thus completely correlated, independent of the physics of the curvaton decay. In the absence of any additional source for the isocurvature perturbations, the curvature and any isocurvature perturbations must share the same spectral tilt, given by Eq. (49).

Note that the curvature transfer coefficient $`r`$ can also be related to the non-Gaussianity of the primordial perturbations. If $`r`$ is small then the initial curvaton perturbation $`\zeta _{\sigma ,\mathrm{in}}`$ must be correspondingly large in order to produce a given amplitude of primordial curvature perturbation. This leads to a larger contribution from second-order perturbations in the curvaton density, which shows up in the non-linearity parameter komsper ; gauss\_test

$$f_{\mathrm{NL}}\frac{5}{4r},$$
(50)
for $`r1`$ curvaton . (See bmr-nongauss  for corrections when $`r1`$.) There is thus a possible consistency test of this curvaton model using two observables. Existing constraints on the relative amplitude of primordial isocurvature to curvature perturbations lewis  constrain $`r>0.9`$ in models where the CDM is directly produced by curvaton decay, and hence limit the allowed non-Gaussianity. However in curvaton models which produce purely adiabatic perturbations ($`𝒮_{\text{nuc}}=0`$), determinations of the non-linear parameter $`f_{\mathrm{NL}}`$ may be the only way to determine independently both the transfer parameter $`r`$ (and hence the model parameter $`p`$) and the initial amplitude of the curvaton perturbation $`\zeta _\sigma `$.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors are grateful to David Lyth and Lorenzo Sorbo for useful comments. This work was supported by PPARC grants *PPA/G/S/2000/00115*, *PPA/G/S/2002/00098*, and *PPA/V/S/2001/00544*. KAM was supported by a Marie Curie Fellowship under contract number *HPMF-CT-2000-00981*. DW is supported by the Royal Society.

## Appendix A Gauge-invariant adiabatic and entropy perturbations

In a multi-component system it is often useful to re-write the coupled perturbation equations in terms of the instantaneous overall curvature perturbation (often called the adiabatic perturbation) and the relative entropy perturbations between fluids. In this appendix we follow the treatment of Ref. MWU  and the reader is referred to this source for more details. Throughout this paper we work in the large scale limit, i.e., neglecting gradient terms.

### A.1 Evolution of curvature and entropy perturbations

The gauge-invariant definition of the total curvature perturbation on uniform-density hypersurfaces is BST ; Bardeen ; WMLL

$$\zeta \psi H\frac{\delta \rho }{\dot{\rho }},$$
(51)
where $`\psi `$ and $`\delta \rho `$ are the gauge-dependent curvature and density perturbations. The evolution of the curvature perturbation is given on large scales by GBW ; WMLL ; MWU

$$\dot{\zeta }=\frac{H}{\rho +P}\delta P_{\mathrm{nad}},$$
(52)
where the non-adiabatic pressure perturbation is $`\delta P_{\mathrm{nad}}\delta Pc_\mathrm{s}^2\delta \rho `$ and the adiabatic sound speed is $`c_\mathrm{s}^2=\dot{P}/\dot{\rho }`$. Thus the total curvature perturbation is constant on large scales for purely adiabatic perturbations.

In the presence of more than one fluid, the total non-adiabatic pressure perturbation, $`\delta P_{\mathrm{nad}}`$, may be split into two parts,

$$\delta P_{\mathrm{nad}}\delta P_{\mathrm{intr}}+\delta P_{\mathrm{rel}}.$$
(53)
The first part is due to the intrinsic entropy perturbation of each fluid

$$\delta P_{\mathrm{intr}}=\underset{\alpha }{}\delta P_{\mathrm{intr},\alpha },$$
(54)
where the intrinsic non-adiabatic pressure perturbation of the $`\alpha `$-fluid is given by

$$\delta P_{\mathrm{intr},\alpha }\delta P_\alpha c_\alpha ^2\delta \rho _\alpha ,$$
(55)
where $`c_\alpha ^2\dot{P}_\alpha /\dot{\rho }_\alpha `$ is the adiabatic sound speed of that fluid. The second part of the total non-adiabatic pressure perturbation (53) is due to the relative entropy perturbation between different fluids,

$$\delta P_{\mathrm{rel}}\frac{1}{6H\dot{\rho }}\underset{\alpha ,\beta }{}\dot{\rho }_\alpha \dot{\rho }_\beta \left(c_\alpha ^2c_\beta ^2\right)𝒮_{\alpha \beta },$$
(56)
where $`𝒮_{\alpha \beta }`$ is the relative entropy (or isocurvature) perturbation, Eq. (28),

$$𝒮_{\alpha \beta }=3H\left(\frac{\delta \rho _\alpha }{\dot{\rho }_\alpha }\frac{\delta \rho _\beta }{\dot{\rho }_\beta }\right).$$
(57)
Note, that Eq. (56) corrects a sign error in Eq. (2.31) of Ref. MWU .

The evolution equation for the relative entropy perturbation $`𝒮_{\alpha \beta }`$ on large scales is given by MWU

$$\dot{𝒮}_{\alpha \beta }=3H\left(\frac{3H\delta P_{\mathrm{intr},\alpha }\delta Q_{\mathrm{intr},\alpha }\delta Q_{\mathrm{rel},\alpha }}{\dot{\rho }_\alpha }\frac{3H\delta P_{\mathrm{intr},\beta }\delta Q_{\mathrm{intr},\beta }\delta Q_{\mathrm{rel},\beta }}{\dot{\rho }_\beta }\right),$$
(58)
where the intrinsic non-adiabatic energy transfer perturbation is defined as MWU

$$\delta Q_{\mathrm{intr},\alpha }\delta Q_\alpha \frac{\dot{Q}_\alpha }{\dot{\rho }_\alpha }\delta \rho _\alpha ,$$
(59)
and the relative non-adiabatic energy transfer is defined as

$$\delta Q_{\mathrm{rel},\alpha }=\frac{Q_\alpha \dot{\rho }}{2\rho }\left(\frac{\delta \rho _\alpha }{\dot{\rho }_\alpha }\frac{\delta \rho }{\dot{\rho }}\right)=\frac{Q_\alpha }{6H\rho }\underset{\beta }{}\dot{\rho }_\beta 𝒮_{\alpha \beta }.$$
(60)
For fluids, such as radiation or non-relativistic matter in our curvaton model, with definite equation of state, $`P_\alpha (\rho _\alpha )`$, the intrinsic non-adiabatic pressure perturbation in Eq. (54) is zero. Hence the total non-adiabatic pressure perturbation (56) for our model can be written as

$$\delta P_{\mathrm{nad}}=\delta P_{\mathrm{rel}}=\frac{\dot{\rho }_\gamma }{9H\dot{\rho }}\left(\dot{\rho }_\mathrm{m}𝒮_{\mathrm{m}\gamma }+\dot{\rho }_\sigma 𝒮_{\sigma \gamma }\right).$$
(61)
Hence the evolution equation (52) for $`\zeta `$ is

$$\dot{\zeta }=\frac{H\dot{\rho }_\gamma }{3\dot{\rho }^2}\left(\dot{\rho }_\sigma 𝒮_{\sigma \gamma }+\dot{\rho }_\mathrm{m}𝒮_{\mathrm{m}\gamma }\right).$$
(62)
The intrinsic energy transfer perturbation, following from Eq. (21), are

$`\delta Q_{\mathrm{intr},\sigma }`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (63)
$`\delta Q_{\mathrm{intr},\gamma }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1}{3H}}\dot{\rho }_\sigma 𝒮_{\sigma \gamma },`$ (64)
$`\delta Q_{\mathrm{intr},\mathrm{m}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_2}{3H}}\dot{\rho }_\sigma 𝒮_{\sigma \mathrm{m}},`$ (65)
while the relative energy transfer perturbations are

$`\delta Q_{\mathrm{rel},\sigma }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{(\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2)\rho _\sigma }{6H\rho }}\left(\dot{\rho }_\gamma 𝒮_{\sigma \gamma }+\dot{\rho }_\mathrm{m}𝒮_{\sigma \mathrm{m}}\right),`$ (66)
$`\delta Q_{\mathrm{rel},\gamma }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_1\rho _\sigma }{6H\rho }}\left(\dot{\rho }_\sigma 𝒮_{\sigma \gamma }+\dot{\rho }_\mathrm{m}𝒮_{\mathrm{m}\gamma }\right),`$ (67)
$`\delta Q_{\mathrm{rel},\mathrm{m}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\rho _\sigma }{6H\rho }}\left(\dot{\rho }_\sigma 𝒮_{\sigma \mathrm{m}}\dot{\rho }_\gamma 𝒮_{\mathrm{m}\gamma }\right).`$ (68)
Hence the evolution of the relative entropy perturbations can be written as

$`\dot{𝒮}_{\sigma \gamma }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\rho }}\left[\mathrm{\Gamma }_1\rho _\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\rho }_\mathrm{m}}{\dot{\rho }_\gamma }}𝒮_{\mathrm{m}\gamma }(\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2)\rho _\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\rho }_\mathrm{m}}{\dot{\rho }_\sigma }}𝒮_{\sigma \mathrm{m}}\left(2\mathrm{\Gamma }_1\rho {\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\rho }_\sigma }{\dot{\rho }_\gamma }}\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\rho _\sigma {\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\rho }_\gamma }{\dot{\rho }_\sigma }}\right)𝒮_{\sigma \gamma }\right],`$ (69)
$`\dot{𝒮}_{\mathrm{m}\gamma }`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_1{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\rho }_\mathrm{m}}{\dot{\rho }_\gamma }}\mathrm{\Gamma }_2{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\rho }_\gamma }{\dot{\rho }_\mathrm{m}}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{\rho _\sigma }{2\rho }}𝒮_{\mathrm{m}\gamma }+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _\sigma }{2\rho }}\right){\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\rho }_\sigma }{\dot{\rho }_\mathrm{m}}}𝒮_{\sigma \mathrm{m}}\mathrm{\Gamma }_1\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _\sigma }{2\rho }}\right){\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\rho }_\sigma }{\dot{\rho }_\gamma }}𝒮_{\sigma \gamma },`$ (70)
$`\dot{𝒮}_{\sigma \mathrm{m}}`$ $`=`$ $`(\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2){\displaystyle \frac{\rho _\sigma }{2\rho }}{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\rho }_\gamma }{\dot{\rho }_\sigma }}𝒮_{\sigma \gamma }\left[\mathrm{\Gamma }_2\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _\sigma }{2\rho }}\right){\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\rho }_\sigma }{\dot{\rho }_\mathrm{m}}}+(\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2){\displaystyle \frac{\rho _\sigma }{2\rho }}{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\rho }_\mathrm{m}}{\dot{\rho }_\sigma }}\right]𝒮_{\sigma \mathrm{m}}\mathrm{\Gamma }_2{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _\sigma }{2\rho }}{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\rho }_\gamma }{\dot{\rho }_\mathrm{m}}}𝒮_{\mathrm{m}\gamma }.`$ (71)
Note that we can always identify a trivial solution to Eqs. (6971) with all the entropy perturbations $`𝒮_{\alpha \beta }=0`$ which corresponds to the adiabatic mode and leaves $`\zeta =`$ constant in Eq. (62), even in a system such as this including energy transfer between different components.

### A.2 Singular and Non–Singular Hypersurfaces

From Eq. (57) we see that the relative entropy perturbation $`𝒮_{\alpha \beta }`$ becomes singular whenever $`\dot{\rho }_\alpha =0`$. This can occur if we have multiple fluids with energy transfer between them whenever $`Q_\alpha =3H(\rho _\alpha +P_\alpha )`$. This is because the uniform $`\alpha `$-fluid hypersurfaces become ill-defined to first-order whenever $`\rho _\alpha `$ is stationary, i.e., the first-derivative vanishes.

Thus a divergence in a gauge-invariant quantity such as $`𝒮_{\alpha \beta }`$ need not signal the breakdown of perturbation theory, but instead may indicate that a particular choice of hypersurface was not well-defined Brandenberger . This is indeed the case in the curvaton model studied in this paper: we see that the density perturbations on uniform-curvature hypersurfaces remain finite even when $`\dot{\rho }_\alpha =0`$.

From the definition of $`𝒮_{\alpha \beta }`$, Eq. (57) above, we see that we can construct a non-singular quantity

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_{\alpha \beta }\dot{\rho }_\alpha \dot{\rho }_\beta 𝒮_{\alpha \beta }=3H\left(\dot{\rho }_\beta \delta \rho _\alpha \dot{\rho }_\alpha \delta \rho _\beta \right).$$
(72)
Since the definition of $`𝒮_{\alpha \beta }`$ is gauge invariant then so is $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\alpha \beta }`$.

The evolution equation for the total curvature perturbation on large scales, Eq. (52) can then be written in terms of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\alpha \beta }`$ as

$$\dot{\zeta }=\frac{1}{3H(\rho +P)^2}\underset{\alpha }{}\left\{H\delta P_{\mathrm{intr},\alpha }c_\alpha ^2\underset{\beta }{}\mathrm{\Delta }_{\alpha \beta }\right\}.$$
(73)
The uniform total density hypersurfaces, on which $`\zeta `$ is defined, always remain well defined, since $`\dot{\rho }0`$ after inflation.