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# High time resolution observations of the January 2000 glitch in the Vela pulsar

## 1 Introduction

Observations of pulsar glitches, in addition to providing insights into the phenomenon itself, offer one of the few probes of neutron star structure, and thus the physics of ultra-dense matter. Vela is the brightest known radio pulsar, and as it is at a declination of -45o, it is above the horizon at the Hobart Radio Observatory (Mount Pleasant) for more than 18 hours a day. It undergoes large glitches in pulse rate every few years and so provides an excellent probe of the physics of glitches.

Since 1981 the University of Tasmania has devoted a 14m diameter antenna at its Mt Pleasant Observatory to measurements of arrival times of pulses from the Vela pulsar. During this time we have observed 7 large glitches, or sudden decreases, in the period of the pulsar (McCulloch et al., 1983, 1987, 1990; McCulloch, 1996).

The telescope has a single pulse observing system whose speed and sensitivity have been enhanced in order to answer a number of questions; how quickly does the crust accelerate to the new period during a glitch, how soon does the recovery from the glitch start, and what is the form of this recovery?

On 2000 January 16 (MJD 51559) the rate of pulsation jumped with a fractional period change of $`3.1\times 10^6`$, the largest recorded for this pulsar. The glitch was automatically detected and we issued an IAU telegram (Dodson et al., 2000) within 12 hours, allowing the X-ray telescope, Chandra, to make Target of Opportunity (TOO) observations (Helfand et al., 2001). These observations have so far failed to find the signature of neutron star heating, which was the driver for the TOO, but have produced spectacular images of the X-ray pulsar wind nebula.

## 2 Observations

The reported observations were made simultaneously at 635 MHz, 990 MHz and 1390 MHz, to allow continuous measurement of the dispersion measure (DM). Dual channel receivers with an equivalent system temperature of 60 K are used at each frequency, except for 1390 MHz, where only the right handed circular polarisation is observed. Receiver bandwidths of 250 kHz at 635 MHz, 800 kHz at 990 MHz and 2 MHz at 1390 MHz limit the pulse broadening from interstellar dispersion to less than 1% of the pulse period. The detected output from each receiver was folded for 2 minutes to give integrated pulse profiles from 1,344 pulses. The profiles were subsequently combined to give profiles of total intensity. The signal-to-noise ratio in each total intensity profile is typically 30:1, allowing a mean pulse arrival time to be determined to an accuracy of $`80\mu `$s at 635 MHz, $`60\mu `$s at 990 MHz and $`180\mu `$s at 1390 MHz per integration.

The recent improvements in the time resolution have been achieved by incoherently de-dispersing over 8 adjacent channels at 990 MHz, thereby increasing the signal to noise ratio and allowing observations of single pulses. The de-dispersed bandpass is sampled at 2 kHz and recorded directly onto disk for later retrieval, while an ‘on the fly’ monitoring system folds on a ten second basis for which the RMS is $`85\mu `$s. These arrival times are monitored and if a glitch is detected a warning is issued and the single pulse data are retained.

## 3 Timing fits

The full, folded, timing profiles are stored in EPN format (Lorimer et al., 1998), cross correlated with high signal to noise profile templates, then fitted to find the time of arrival (TOA) of the pulse.

A Taylor expansion is parameterised in terms of the spin-down model phase ($`\varphi `$) around a selected epoch ($`t`$ relative to $`t_0`$) with frequency $`\nu `$, and frequency derivative $`\dot{\nu }`$, and has the form;

$$\varphi _m(t)=\varphi _0+\nu (tt_0)+\frac{1}{2}\dot{\nu }(tt_0)^2+\frac{1}{6}\ddot{\nu }(tt_0)^3$$
(1)
The post glitch frequency change can be written as the sum of the pre-glitch frequency plus the permanent change at the time of the glitch, plus other decay terms:

$$\nu (t)=\nu _0+\mathrm{\Delta }\nu _p+\mathrm{\Delta }\dot{\nu _p}t+\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Delta }\ddot{\nu _p}t^2+\mathrm{\Sigma }_n\mathrm{\Delta }\nu _ne^{t/\tau _n}$$
(2)
However, it should be noted that some investigators set the permanent change terms, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\dot{\nu _p}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\ddot{\nu _p}`$ to zero. We have allowed $`\mathrm{\Delta }\dot{\nu _p}`$ to take non-zero values, but keep $`\mathrm{\Delta }\ddot{\nu _p}`$ as zero. Both of these terms affect only the longest time-scales, where both timing noise and the occurrence of the subsequent glitches make definitive separation impossible.

The data presented here were recorded between MJD 51505 and 51650. The arrival time data have been transformed to the Solar System barycentre using standard techniques. The position and proper motion of the Vela pulsar was defined by data from the Radio VLBI position of Legge (2001). The recorded TOAs from all frequencies and both systems were fitted in the program TEMPO 111See http://pulsar.princeton.edu/tempo (Taylor, Manchester, Nice, Weisberg, Irwin, Wex, & Standish 1970). The results of this fit are given in Table 1.

Figure 1a shows the residuals from the pre-jump fit for data taken on 2000 January 16 (MJD 51559) with the full polarisation system. Shortly after 07:34 UT, the residuals diverge from the fit, indicating a sudden decrease in pulse period. Figure 1b shows an hour of data starting at MJD 51559.3. Individual data points represent ten second averages constructed from the single pulse data. The period jump occurs on a very short timescale, without warning. The observations are consistent with an instantaneous change in period; modeling has shown that a spin-up timescale of forty seconds would produce a three sigma signal.

The separation into four time-scales is clear. The longer three decay terms are similar to those previously reported (Alpar et al., 1993; Flanagan, 1990), and are in an approximately equal ratio of 5.9:5.7. These have been associated with the vortex creep models by Alpar et al. (1993) and others. The fast decay timescale, not previously observed (or observable) is shown separated from the other effects in figure 2. We have subtracted the terms found by TEMPO in the 2 minute data from the single pulse data folded for 10 seconds. In this plot a gradual spin-up (as opposed to instantaneous) would be a negative excursion around the projected time of the glitch, as we’d have overestimated the phase in the model. We see a positive excursion, followed by a rapid decay. A positive excursion could be produced by the pulsar slowing down just before the glitch or, more likely, if the estimate of the glitch epoch was too early because there was an extra component not resolvable in the 2 minute data. Once the original fit was removed this would give a linear rise with the gradient $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$ found in the 2 minutes data, followed by a decay. We have fitted this rise ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu \mathrm{\Delta }t`$) followed by a forth exponential decay term to give the true glitch epoch and the fastest decay term.

## 4 The single pulse system

Since the acceleration of the crust cannot be instantaneous, it should be possible to observe the spin-up of the rotation period of the pulsar. The parallel single pulse system designed to observe this has a three $`\sigma `$ detection limit of less than 40 seconds. This is in contrast to the observations made on the Crab (Wong et al., 2001), where the spin-up timescale has been observed to take about half a day. No variation could be seen either before or after the glitch in profile shape, magnitude, or polarisation in the radio observations on any time-scale. The raw time series using both long and short timescales has been closely examined to look for other periodic and quasi-periodic signals, but no extra terms were found.

## 5 Estimates for the force from the vortex lines

We will use our data to explore one model of pulsar glitches in which the glitches are a consequence of pinning of superfluid vortices to the stellar crust. As the neutron star slows due the external drag on the crust, an angular momentum excess develops in the pinned superfluid. Ultimately the vortices unpin catastrophically, transferring the excess momentum to the crust, producing a glitch.

Our high time resolution studies permit constraints on the manner in which the liquid interior imparts its angular momentum to the crust. This coupling is thought to be due to dissipative motion of vortices through the crustal lattice after unpinning. Various papers have tackled calculation of the drag on vortex lines within the superfluid (e.g. Bildsten & Epstein (1989); Epstein & Baym (1992); Jones (1992)) produced by vortex-neutron scattering in the crust. We will ignore the details of the interaction here, as it is not a simple process. However, given that we have a lower limit for the spin-up time, we can obtain an observational limit for the force per length, $`f`$, that a vortex line exerts on the superfluid during this spin-up phase in Vela. Assuming that pinned vorticity in the crust is responsible for the glitch, it is straightforward to calculate the torque required to spin-up the pulsar, and then, by assuming canonical neutron star radii, crust depths and vortice lengths, give the force per unit length.

During the spin-up, the torque on the crust, $`𝒩`$, is:

$$𝒩=I_s\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }_s/\mathrm{\Delta }t$$

where $`I_s`$ is the moment of inertia of the portion of the superfluid that drives the glitch and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }_s`$ is the change in angular velocity of that component, $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$ is the spin-up time. Since angular momentum is conserved in the glitch, the torque is

$$𝒩=I_{crust}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }/\mathrm{\Delta }t$$

where $`I_{crust}`$ is the moment of inertia of the solid crust plus any component that is coupled to it over a timescale in less than the spin-up time $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the observed spin-up of the crust over $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$.

In magnitude, the torque is

$$𝒩=F_\varphi R$$

where $`F_\varphi `$ is the azimuthal component of the force that vortices exert on the lattice during the glitch, and $`R`$ is the average distance of vortices from the rotation axis, approximately the stellar radius. The azimuthal force is

$$F_\varphi =fHN_v$$

where $`f`$ is the force exerted per unit length per vortex, $`H`$ is the average length of a vortex, and $`N_v`$ is the total number of vortices that are participating in the spin-up.

The number of vortices is

$$N_v=n_v2\pi R\mathrm{\Delta }R$$

where $`n_v`$ is the number of vortices per unit area and $`\mathrm{\Delta }R`$ is the thickness of the pinning region (approximately the thickness of the crust). The number density of vortices in a rotating superfluid is

$$n_v=2\mathrm{\Omega }_s/\kappa $$

where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_s`$ is the superfluid rotational velocity, approximately equal to the rotational velocity of the crust and $`\kappa `$ is the quantum of circulation of a neutron fluid (0.0019 cm2/s). Putting these expressions together gives a constraint for $`f`$:

$$f=I_{crust}\frac{\kappa \mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }/\mathrm{\Delta }t}{H4\pi \mathrm{\Omega }R^2\mathrm{\Delta }R}$$
(3)
$`\mathrm{\Delta }R`$, the thickness of the crust, is about 0.1 km. We take $`H`$, the length of a vortex, to be roughly $`\mathrm{\Delta }R`$.

We defined $`I_{crust}`$ as the moment of inertia of the solid plus any other component coupled to it in a timescale less than $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$. If the core fluid is tightly coupled to the solid crust over $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$, then $`I_{crust}`$ is approximately the moment of inertia of the entire star (about $`10^{45}`$ g cm2). On the other hand, if the core is decoupled over $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$ then $`I_{crust}`$ would correspond to the moment of inertia of the solid crust only, which is about $`10^{43}`$ g cm2 for a moderate equation of state. So we can obtain a lower limit on $`f`$.

$$f10^{12}I_{crust,43}\mathrm{dyn}/\mathrm{cm}$$

Where $`I_{crust,43}`$ is the crust inertia in units of $`10^{43}`$ g cm2. Vortices could pin to the lattice with a force $`10^4`$ times this (Link & Cutler, 2002), but our observations constrain the value of $`f`$ during the dissipative regime, whilst the pulsar is being spun up. Putting the same parameters into the Crab time-resolved glitch of MJD 50259.93 (Wong et al., 2001) we find that in that case $`f4\times 10^5`$ dyn/cm. This is further evidence, if more was needed, that the Crab pulsar is a very different object from the Vela pulsar. The major difference between the Crab and the Vela pulsars is the age, and therefore the temperature. Jones (1992) found a strong temperature dependence for some scattering processes, and these differences may be key to our understanding of the momentum transfer in glitches. Further spin-up observations for both the Crab and Vela are required.

## 6 Future development

Further improvements of the single pulse system are being undertaken, with a new coherent dedispersion system, which will allow a detection limit of a few seconds, the order of the fastest coupling times in all theoretical models. This should also allow us to measure $`f`$, the force per unit length on the vortices, and confirm the fast decay term. Higher time resolution will allow further constraints on the coupling of the crust to the liquid interior, including the core. We will also co-ordinate with Chandra to reduce the TOO delay time in order to determine whether a very short lived thermal pulse might be emitted.

The day to day maintenance of the 14m telescope, over 20 years has been a herculean task, to which too many people to name have contributed. Also we greatly appreciated the extremely helpful suggestions on the text from the referee, B. Link and also from S. Johnston.


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# Observation of Two-dimensional Spin Fluctuations in the Bilayer Ruthenate Sr3Ru2O7 by Inelastic Neutron Scattering

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## Abstract

We report the first observation of two-dimensional incommensurate magnetic fluctuations in the layered metallic perovskite Sr3Ru2O7. The wavevectors where the magnetic fluctuations are strongest are different from those observed in the superconducting single layer ruthenate Sr2RuO4 and appear to be determined by Fermi surface nesting. No antiferromagnetic ordering is observed for temperatures down to 1.5 K. For temperatures $`T`$20 K, the fluctuations become predominately ferromagnetic. Our inelastic neutron scattering measurements provide concrete evidence of the coexistence of competing interactions in Sr3Ru2O7 and of the low energy scale of the fluctuations.

preprint: Preprint

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The nature of magnetic correlations in layered oxide perovskites such as cuprates, manganites and ruthenates is at the heart of theoretical and experimental challenges in contemporary solid state physics. In recent years, the discovery of unconventional superconductivity in the single-layer ruthenate Sr2RuO4  has generated significant interest in this and related ruthenates. The experimental observation of low energy incommensurate 2D spin fluctuations in Sr2RuO4  has raised the question of the relevance of spin fluctuations to the mechanism producing p-wave pairing in this material. The closest relative of Sr2RuO4, the bilayer Sr3Ru2O7, is a paramagnet where ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic correlations may be in competition, and ferromagnetism can be induced by pressure or impurities . In high-quality single crystals of Sr3Ru2O7, the resistivity exhibits a Fermi-liquid $`T^2`$ temperature dependence below 10 K . However, a moderate magnetic field induces a metamagnetic transition, which is accompanied by a striking deviation from Fermi liquid behaviour . Sr3Ru2O7 appears to be a strong candidate to exhibit a metamagnetic quantum critical end-point, driven by the magnetic field and characterized by the absence of spontaneous symmetry breaking . In this letter we report the first observations of low-energy spin fluctuations in Sr3Ru2O7 as measured by inelastic neutron scattering.

With respect to the conducting and magnetic properties of Sr3Ru2O7, the fundamental building blocks of its crystal structure are the RuO2 bilayers joined by an SrO layer. These slabs are separated along the crystal $`𝒄`$-direction by two rock salt-type layers of SrO which decouple the slabs electronically and magnetically. At the same time, and in contrast to the single layer compound Sr2RuO4, the RuO6 octahedra in Sr3Ru2O7 are rotated around the $`𝒄`$-axis, by $`7^{}`$, changing the unit cell from body-centred tetragonal to a $`\sqrt{2}\times \sqrt{2}`$ larger face-centred orthorhombic cell . The rotation is expected to reduce the in-plane Ru-Ru hopping, and hence increase the density of states at the Fermi level , which may enhance the magnetic fluctuations.

Single crystals of Sr3Ru2O7 were grown using a mirror furnace, and were checked for homogeneity and purity by magnetic, resistive, and crystallographic measurements. All crystals used in this study showed the characteristic peak in susceptibility at a temperature of 17 K and no ferromagnetism. For the inelastic neutron scattering experiments, three crystals were mounted so that their axes coincided to form a mosaic sample with total mass 0.9 g. The sample was mounted in a cryostat on the cold neutron three-axis spectrometer IN14 at the ILL. For simplicity, we describe our results using the undistorted tetragonal cell of the compound, which has the $`a`$ and $`b`$ lattice parameters equal to the in-plane Ru-O-Ru distance, 3.87 Å. The $`𝒄`$-axis is perpendicular to the RuO2 planes and has the magnitude 20.7 Å, which is twice the spacing of the RuO2 bilayers, reflecting the body-centred stacking of bilayers . Using this unit cell, the main nuclear Bragg peaks of the 3-D structure occur at points $`(h,k,l)`$ in reciprocal space with integer $`h,k`$ and $`l`$ and $`(h+k+l)`$ even. The less intense ones, arising from the rotations of the octahedra, occur at some of the points where $`h`$ and $`k`$ are half-integral and $`l`$ is an integer.

We performed extensive measurements with $`(h,k,0)`$ as the scattering plane and further measurements in the $`(h,0,l)`$ plane. Unlike Sr2RuO4, magnetic fluctuations at our base temperature of 1.5 K were not observed to peak along the $`(h,h,0)`$ direction from a reciprocal lattice point; instead they were detected along $`(h,0,0)`$. Figure 1 shows representative scans along major symmetry directions at a constant energy transfer (from neutrons to the sample) of 2 meV. Figure 1(a) shows a double set of peaks along the $`(h,0,0)`$ direction at the positions $`𝑸(1\pm 0.25,0,0)`$ and $`(1\pm 0.09,0,0)`$. The intrinsic nature of such peaks was demonstrated by the observation of a signal of similar intensity around the symmetry-related $`(0,1,0)`$ point and the presence of four peaks in the “perpendicular” scan through $`(1,0,0)`$ shown in Figure 1(b). In addition, the variation of intensity within each set of peaks is quantitatively consistent with the rapid falloff of the Ru magnetic form factor with the magnitude of $`𝑸`$ , providing strong evidence for the magnetic nature of the excitations.

Furthermore, as shown later, the intensity does not increase with temperature as would be expected if the scattering were due to lattice vibrations. The extent of the magnetic fluctuations in the $`(h,k,0)`$ plane of reciprocal space was established by the scans shown in Fig. 1(c) and (d). These show that the excitations give a broad peak centred on the $`(h,0,0)`$ axis. The results are summarised in the inset: the excitation intensity peaks at two incommensurate wavevectors of the form $`𝒒_\delta \{0.25,0,0\}`$ and $`𝒒_ϵ\{0.09,0,0\}`$, distributed symmetrically about $`(1,0,0)`$. It is natural to assume that these arise from peaks in the wavevector-dependent susceptibility at nesting vectors of the Sr3Ru2O7 Fermi surface. This is not yet known experimentally, although it has been calculated . The coupling between the two halves of a bilayer splits each of the three sheets observed in Sr2RuO4. This, and the rotation of the octahedra cause hybridisation between the bands. It appears from the calculations , that compared with Sr2RuO4, much of the nesting at the Fermi level is removed, except between parts of the $`\alpha `$ sheets (Ru $`d_{xz}`$ and $`d_{yz}`$ orbitals). The calculated sheets have nesting vectors along the (tetragonal) $`\{1,0,0\}`$ directions with values which are comparable with (although not equal to) those we observe. It seems reasonable to conclude that the differences of our results from those on single-layer Sr2RuO4  arise from the effects of bilayers and octahedral rotation on the Fermi surface in our system.

Measurements as a function of $`l`$ allow us to determine the fundamental fluctuating unit in Sr3Ru2O7 in this energy range. Fig. 2 shows the variation along $`𝒄`$* of the intensity of the signal at $`𝒒_\delta `$. The experimental data are well-represented by $`If(𝑸)^2\mathrm{cos}^2(2\pi lz/c)`$, where $`f(𝑸)`$ is the Ru form factor and $`2z=0.194c`$ is the distance between the RuO2 planes in a bilayer. This function corresponds to the two halves of a bilayer fluctuating in phase with each other, but with no correlation between bilayers, so that the fluctuations are effectively two-dimensional. A similar argument  was used to demonstrate 2D fluctuations in YBCO, but with the two halves of the bilayer in antiphase. We point out an important consequence of our results: since $`(1,0,0)`$ is a reciprocal lattice point of a RuO2 bilayer, the values of the $`𝒒`$-vectors of excitations should be measured from this point, rather than $`(0,0,0)`$ or $`(1,0,1)`$, which are the closest reciprocal lattice points of the 3D crystal structure.

We now consider the energy dependence of these excitations. Fig. 3 shows four representative $`𝑸`$-scans with energy transfers of 1,2,3 and 4 meV at $`T=1.5`$ K.

The peaks appear to disperse slightly, and merge at higher energies. We have also performed a $`𝑸`$-scan over this region at zero energy transfer, which showed no evidence for static magnetic ordering near $`𝒒_\delta `$ or $`𝒒_ϵ`$. This result is in agreement with those of . We conclude that at finite temperature only finite frequency, short-range magnetic correlations exist.

Fig. 4 shows the energy dependence of the signal at $`𝒒_\delta `$. We have fitted the response to a simple Lorentzian model for the susceptibility: $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }(𝑸,\omega )=\chi ^{}(𝑸)\times \omega \mathrm{\Gamma }(𝑸)/\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }^2(𝑸)+\omega ^2\right)`$. We find that the characteristic energy $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Gamma }=2.3\pm 0.3`$ meV, which is much less than 9 meV reported in the single layer compound Sr2RuO4 . The presence of dispersion on an energy scale much smaller than $`ϵ_F`$ and the small energy scale of the fluctuations indicates the strong renormalising effects of electron correlations in our compound. We also note that the susceptibility is large, translating to $`\chi ^{}(𝑸_\delta )`$ of $`1.6\times 10^2`$ emu/mol Ru. This indicates that Sr3Ru2O7 is much closer to magnetic order than its sister compound.

We have also followed the fluctuations as a function of temperature at an energy transfer of 3.1 meV around $`𝑸_\delta =(0.75,0,0)`$ (Fig. 5). At base temperature, the two peaks associated with the incommensurate spin fluctuations are well defined and intense. However, as the temperature is increased, the intensity of the incommensurate peaks falls off, and is replaced by a broad peak of similar intensity around the 2D reciprocal lattice point $`(1,0,0)`$. This position is not a Bragg peak of either the tetragonal or the orthorhombic cell, so does not give rise to a low energy acoustic phonon. Hence the peak at $`(1,0,0)`$ is most likely of magnetic origin. We have confirmed by measurements along $`𝒄`$* that this signal also arises from fluctuations of a bilayer unit. Our findings point to a crossover in the nature of the low energy magnetic correlations in this material. At high temperatures, 2D ferromagnetic fluctuations dominate the correlations; as the temperature is lowered, instead of converging to a long-lived ferromagnetic state, the system is sidetracked to a different behaviour with antiferromagnetic finite frequency 2D excitations.

In Fig. 6, we show that the change with temperature in the nature of magnetic fluctuations is reflected in macroscopic properties. At a temperature $``$20 K, there is a peak in the magnetic susceptibility (a), and and also in the susceptibility close to a ferromagnetic position measured by neutron scattering (b). The antiferromagnetic fluctuations (c) fall away rapidly with increasing temperature and this is reflected in the change in sign of the longitudinal magnetoresistance (d) . It is not clear what causes this dramatic change in magnetic correlations, but it may be related to a loss in c-axis electronic coherence, which reveals itself as a steep rise in the c-axis resistivity in this temperature region . It is of interest that in the compound Ca2-xSrxRuO4 , doping with Sr drives the system from an insulating antiferromagnetic state, through a phase with a ferromagnetic instability to a metallic superconducting one. In contrast, in Sr3Ru2O7 the competing interactions coexist in the same high-quality stoichiometric samples.

In conclusion, we have observed strong 2D spin fluctuations of the bilayers in Sr3Ru2O7. At high temperatures these fluctuations are predominantly ferromagnetic in nature, and cross over to incommensurate ones at low temperatures, with wavevectors close to those expected for nesting vectors of the Fermi surface. The small characteristic energy of these fluctuations and their ambivalent nature suggests that they are implicated in and related to the metamagnetic transition observed at low temperatures. We note that a strong temperature-dependence of the electronic properties and magnetic excitations is also observed in High Tc superconductors  and heavy fermion systems . Thus the behaviour of Sr3Ru2O7 may ultimately be related to its proximity to a quantum critical point .

Present address: FKF, Max Planck Institut, Stuttgart, D-70569, Germany; e-mail: l.capogna@fkf.mpg.de
e-mail: e.m.forgan@bham.ac.uk
§Present address: Electrotechnical Laboratory, Tsukuba, Ibara 305-8568, Japan


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# Spin force dependence of the parton distributions: the ratio 𝐹₂^𝑛(𝑥,𝑄²)/𝐹₂^𝑝(𝑥,𝑄²)

## I Introduction

Constituent quark models (CQM) provide a basic tool for the description of low-energy hadron phenomena. Important features of non-perturbative quantum chromodynamics (QCD) can be incorporated in the CQM providing a framework for quantitative calculations of hadron properties and reaction observables. In particular CQM can be made to incorporate some of the basic symmetries  of QCD and, at the same time, can be defined within relativistic frameworks where covariance is preserved .

Gluons and quark-antiquark pairs surrounding a current quark are considered an integral part of it and together they make the constituent quark: a picture which seems to be substantiated by recent lattice QCD results .

Once explicit gluon degrees of freedom are integrated out, spin-dependent forces emerge within a potential description. Such forces between quarks have been associated to the chromomagnetic interaction of one-gluon exchange (OGE) , to Goldstone-boson exchange (GBE) in connection with the breaking of chiral symmetry , and to the effects of instantons . At present all three models seem to have enough flexibility to approximate, to a large extent, existing data and the question whether they are just different ways of describing the same thing, remains unanswered. Actually the debate on the “defects” of the OGE as well as of the GBE is particularly active . The investigation has been mainly confined to low-energy hadron excitation spectrum  and to the electroweak form factors of the nucleon . In the present work we want to enlarge considerably the front of a possible comparison between the OGE and the GBE dynamical mechanisms considering the effects of the spin-dependent forces on the nucleon deep inelastic responses (structure functions).

Despite the fact that the subject has a rather long story, we can show that only at present we have the necessary tools to address the problem in a simple and transparent way and to elucidate the important role of spin-dependent forces on parton distributions. Let us begin summarizing existing approaches.

F.E. Close in 1973  discussed the sensitivity of the ratio $`F_2^n/F_2^p`$ in relation with spin-dependent forces. He used a model of the nucleon where the nucleon first breaks up into a quark (which then interacts with the electromagnetic field) and a “quasi” particle called core. The core can have spin 0 or 1 and these two components have equal probability in a $`SU(6)`$ symmetric model only (where spin-dependent forces are neglected). He concluded that the predictions for the ratio $`F_2^n/F_2^p`$ are related to the high-momentum behaviour of the proton-$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ transition form factors.

Carlitz  investigated the $`SU(6)`$ symmetry breaking effects in deep inelastic scattering concluding that the mass difference between $`N`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ states of the 56 baryons implies that the ratio $`F_2^n/F_2^p`$ should approach 1/4 as $`x1`$. In a more recent work Close and Thomas  related the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$-N mass difference, to the ratio of neutron and proton inelastic structure functions and to deep inelastic polarization asymmetries.

Nathan Isgur  in a quite recent paper investigates the hyperfine-perturbed quark model to make predictions for the nucleon spin-dependent distribution functions and shows that precise measurements of the asymmetries $`A_1^p(x)`$ and $`A_1^n(x)`$ (in the valence region) can test the model and verify the “normal” behaviour of the valence-quark spin distribution at variance with the (sometimes) invoked “spin crisis”. In the same paper Isgur critically discusses the history of the $`SU(6)`$-breaking effects with particular emphasis on the ratio $`F_2^n/F_2^p`$. In fact both papers of Close and Carlitz and Thomas studied the behaviour of the spin 1 ($`\psi ^1`$) and zero ($`\psi ^0`$) pair wave-functions separately; an approximated scheme which is not consistent with the Pauli principle unless $`\psi ^1`$ and $`\psi ^0`$ have very special properties under the permutation group in three dimensions. Isgur concludes that the situation remains rather unclear also because most authors have attempted “absolute” calculations of the structure functions with the unavoidable need of assumptions, approximations and “procedures”. A criticism which involves also other calculations .

Aim of the present paper is a close investigation of the relation between the $`SU(6)`$-breaking effects, responsible for the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$-N mass splitting and the charge radius of the neutron, and the ratio $`F_2^n/F_2^p`$. In our approach the Pauli principle is fully satisfied and we can compare effects of spin-dependent forces originating from both: chromomagnetic (hyperfine) OGE interaction and chiral symmetry motivated GBE mechanism. Because of the large debate on the subject, this last result is probably the most motivating one, and we show that the Pauli principle effect reveals to be of crucial importance in the discussion.

## II Partons and quarks

Let us introduce the method we use to calculate the proton and neutron structure functions and its quite natural connection with the nucleon wave-function built in a given quark model.

The work by Glück, Reya and coworkers  has shown that, starting from a parton parametrization at a low resolution scale $`\mu _0^2`$, the experimental deep inelastic structure functions at high-momentum transfer can be reproduced and even predicted . $`\mu _0^2`$ is evaluated by evolving back the second moment of the valence distribution to the point where it becomes dominant. The procedure, closely related to a suggestion due to Parisi and Petronzio , assumes that there exists a scale, $`\mu _0^2`$, where the short range (perturbative) part of the interaction is negligible, therefore the glue and sea are suppressed, and the long range (confining) part of the interaction produces a proton composed of three (valence) quarks only. Jaffe and Ross  proposed thereafter to ascribe the quark model calculations of matrix elements to the hadronic scale $`\mu _0^2`$. For larger $`Q^2`$ their Wilson coefficients will give the evolution as dictated by perturbative QCD. In this way quark models, summarizing a great deal of hadronic properties, may substitute low-energy parametrizations*** Let us stress that for the QCD evolution one needs matrix elements of the twist-two part of the current and not the calculation of the full response at low scale..

Following such a path, a partonic description can be generated from gluon radiation even off a pure valence quark system, which can be used to evaluate the non-perturbative input occurring in the Operator Product Expansion (OPE) analysis of lepton-hadron scattering in QCD . A systematic analysis shows that the approach can consistently be developed at Next-to-Leading Order both for polarized and unpolarized structure functions, including non-perturbative contributions from the nucleon cloud  or from the partonic substructure of the constituent quarks. In addition it can consistently be improved including relativistic covariance effects within the light-front Hamiltonian dynamics .

In the light-front description of deep inelastic scattering, the parton model is recovered, in the Bjorken limit, due to the dominance of short light-cone distances in the relevant Feynmann diagrams. As a consequence the partonic description can be developed in the rest frame of the hadron by using light-cone formalism. In particular the $`i`$-th parton distribution can be related to the light-cone momentum densityA formal derivation of Eq. (1) can be found in the paper by Mair and Traini in ref..

$$q_i^{()}(x,\mu _0^2)=\frac{1}{(1x)^2}d^3kn_i^{()}(𝐤^2)\delta \left(\frac{x}{1x}\frac{k^+}{M_N}\right),$$
(1)
where $`k^+/P^+=k^+/M_N=(\sqrt{𝐤^2+m_i^2}+k_z)/M_N`$ is the light-cone momentum fraction of the struck parton in the rest frame, $`M_N`$ and $`m_i`$ are the nucleon and parton mass respectively and $`n_i^{}(𝐤^2)`$, $`n_i^{}(𝐤^2)`$ represent the light-cone momentum density of the $`i`$-th parton whose spin is aligned ($``$) or anti-aligned ($``$) to the total spin of the parent nucleon. If one assumes that at the scale $`\mu _0^2`$ only the $`u`$ and $`d`$ constituent quarks are resolved, the momentum densities can be written

$$n_{u(d)}^{()}(𝐤^2)=N,J_z=+\frac{1}{2}|\underset{i=1}{\overset{3}{}}\frac{1+()\tau _i^z}{2}\frac{1+()\sigma _i^z}{2}\delta (𝐤𝐤_i)|N,J_z=+\frac{1}{2}.$$
(2)
The light-cone distributions (2) can be evaluated including relativistic effects as introduced by a light-front formulation of a three-body interacting system . As a consequence we remain within a constituent picture where the partons in the rest frame are identified with three (constituent) quarks at the hadronic scale, and covariance requirement as well as Pauli principle are fulfilled.

Since the hadronic scale $`\mu _0^2`$ turns out to be very low ($`\mu _0^2(0.10.2)`$ GeV2), close to the constituent quark massThe actual value of the scale $`\mu _0^2`$ ranges from 0.1 GeV2, if only valence quarks are considered, to 0.37 GeV$`{}_{}{}^{2}\text{[24]}`$, when non-perturbative $`q\overline{q}`$ pairs and gluons are included., we assume that the constituent picture at this scale is represented by a constituent quark model, with parameters fixed to reproduce the basic features of the nucleon spectrum in the energy region $`12`$ GeV. The constituent quark models we will make use of, in the present paper, are the Isgur-Karl model (IK) proposed long ago  and the GBE recently developed .

In particular the unpolarized valence parton distributions $`q^{}(x,\mu _0^2)+q^{}(x,\mu _0^2)=q_V(x,\mu _0^2),`$ (with $`qu,d`$), at the hadronic scale are related to the scalar momentum densities $`n_{u(d)}(𝐤)^2`$ (with $`d^3𝐤n_{u(d)}(𝐤^2)=2(1)`$) calculated making use of the wave-functions of the IK or GBE models with no free parameters. The dynamical effects due to the $`SU(6)`$-breaking terms in the quark Hamiltonian are entirely embedded in the momentum densities and no approximation is required. Details of the approach can be found in ref..

## III Results and discussion

The results for the (twist-two part of) proton and neutron structure functions predicted by the two models, are shown in Figs. 1 both at the hadronic scale and experimental scale $`Q^2=10`$ GeV2. The $`x`$-dependence of the IK and GBE models differs quite substantially in the large $`x`$-region both at the hadronic and at the experimental scale. In particular the IK model lacks high-$`x`$ components: a result related to the lack of high-momentum components in the nucleon wave-function. The relativized nature of the GBE Hamiltonian reflects into a larger component of high momenta in the corresponding densities, an important ingredient to reproduce the behaviour of the structure functions at high-$`x`$ related to the presence of the $`_{i=1}^3\sqrt{𝐤_i^2+m_i^2}`$ term in the Hamiltonian and therefore manifested in all the relativized models.

Before entering the discussion let us notice that the expected results for $`F_2^n`$ and $`F_2^p`$ can be separated in two main regions. The low-$`x`$ ($`x0.3`$) region will be dominated by gluonic and sea partons. In the present calculation they are generated via bremsstrahlung radiation through renormalization group evolution. It is well known that the inclusion of these hard partons is not sufficient to explain the absolute values of the structure functions at low-$`x`$ and soft components have to be added at the hadronic scale to approach the data. Therefore we do not consider our calculation to be quantitative for that region. At most we will obtain a qualitative description of the two structure functions.

In the region of large-$`x`$ ($`0.3x`$) the structure functions $`F_2^n`$ and $`F_2^p`$ are dominated by valence parton effects which are sensitive to the quark model wave-functions. It is just that region where the results for the ratio $`F_2^n/F_2^p`$ can become a specific test for the model wave-functions.

Our main results are presented in Figs. 2, and a few comments are in order:

i) Despite of the large sea and gluon contributions produced by QCD evolution (as illustrated in the Figs. 1 a and 1 b) the ratio $`F_2^n/F_2^p`$ is scarcely influenced by the perturbative QCD radiative effects, as expected. $`F_2^n(x,\mu _0^2)/F_2^p(x,\mu _0^2)F_2^n(x,Q^2=10\mathrm{GeV}^2)/F_2^p(x,Q^2=10\mathrm{GeV}^2)`$ for the whole range $`0.3x0.7`$. Such insensitivity is, in our case, an advantage. In fact the effects of QCD evolution largely cancel in the ratio $`F_2^n/F_2^p`$ compensating also the uncertainties coming from an evolution which starts from a quite low hadronic scale§§§ We do not need to enter a large discussion to justify our evolution approach because of such large cancellation. Details and discussions can be found in ref... As a result, the details connected with the model wave-functions are emphasized (see Figs. 2 a,2 b).

ii) In particular it is evident that the Leading Order and the Next-to-Leading Order results do not differ appreciably.

iii) The ratio $`F_2^n/F_2^p`$ differs from the value 2/3, the asymptotic value for $`SU(6)`$-symmetric models, because of the presence of spin-dependent forces in the model Hamiltonian.

iv) Both the chromomagnetic (hyperfine) interaction of the IK model and the chiral mechanism of the GBE model fail to reproduce the correct behaviour of the experimental data in the region of validity of our calculation, namely $`0.3x0.7`$. A conclusion already known in the case of the IK model , but valid also for the GBE model. Note that this discrepancy is highly significant, since it concerns the region of Bjorken-$`x`$ where valence quarks dominate. Therefore complications arising from sea and gluon contributions cannot affect these results.

v) The effects of the large amount of high-momentum components generated by the relativistic expression of the kinetic energy can be noticed in the case of the GBE model, where the deviation with respect to the $`SU(6)`$-symmetric value 2/3 is shifted at higher value of $`x`$. Similar effects are found in a calculation  which makes use of the relativized extension of the IK model proposed by Isgur and Capstick.

vi) It should be stressed that the disagreement emerges only if the Pauli principle effects are properly included. A simple model of the scattering involving separately the effects from an active quark plus a core of spin 1 and 0 quark pairs, would naturally reproduce the decreasing behaviour of the ratio $`F_2^n/F_2^p`$ as function of $`x`$.

vii) The disagreement with the experimental data does not depend on the details of the wave-function, but on the specific form of the $`SU(6)`$ breaking terms introduced in the model Hamiltonian. They are quite similar in the case of GBE and OGE models despite of the different dynamical mechanisms invoked.

In conclusion, by means of a direct and transparent light-front calculation, we have shown that the ratio between the neutron and the proton structure functions is sensitive to the spin-dependent part of the quark-model Hamiltonian describing $`SU(6)`$-breaking effects at low hadronic energy. The correct theoretical behaviour of the ratio can be obtained only if the Pauli principle is preserved in the explicit calculation of the structure functions. Both hyperfine interactions, from the one-gluon-exchange potential model and from the spin dependent part of the Goldstone-boson interaction, cannot reproduce the large-$`x`$ behaviour of the data even at the qualitative level. The $`SU(6)`$-breaking mechanism seen in deep inelastic scattering seems to be different from the dynamical effects at low-energy, at least in the two cases we studied. Previous studies of unpolarized structure functions  show that a model able to invert the tendency of a ratio larger than 2/3 in the large-$`x`$ region is the algebraic model proposed by Iachello . Despite the fact that the model is built in such a way that only the symmetry properties are retained and no dynamical mechanisms can be deduced, the parametrization which emerges is consistent with the data, in particular if the structure of the (effective) constituent quark is taken into account . Work to include the instanton dynamics and to enlarge the study of $`SU(6)`$ breaking effects into the region of polarized parton distributions is in progress.

## Acknowledgments

We acknowledge useful conversations with Sergio Scopetta, Silvano Simula, and Vicente Vento. We are grateful to Wolfram Weise for a careful reading of the manuscript and interesting comments. We also thank R.F. Wagenbrunn for providing us with the nucleon wave-functions in the GBE model.

Figure captions

Fig. 1 a: The proton structure function as predicted by the IK and GBE models at the hadronic scale (dotted and dot-dashed curves, respectively), and at the scale $`Q^2=10`$ GeV2 (dashed and continuous lines, respectively). Fit to the experimental data from the CTEQ5(D) analysis of ref. : triangles.

Fig. 1 b: As in Fig. 1 a for the neutron structure function.

Fig. 2 a: The ratio $`F_2^n/F_2^p`$ as function of $`x`$ for the GBE model at the hadronic scale (dot-dashed curve), and at the scale $`Q^2=10`$ GeV2; Leading-Order evolution (dotted curve), Next-to-Leading-Order evolution (full curve). Fit to the experimental data from the CTEQ5(D) analysis of ref. : triangles.

Fig. 2 b: The ratio $`F_2^n/F_2^p`$ as function of $`x`$ for the IK model. Notations as in Fig. 2 a.


text:
# Anomalous Magnetic Field Dependence of the Thermodynamic Transition Line in the Isotropic Superconductor (K,Ba)BiO3

## Abstract

Thermodynamic (specific heat, reversible magnetization, tunneling spectroscopy) and transport measurements have been performed on high quality (K,Ba)BiO3 single crystals. The temperature dependence of the magnetic field $`H_{Cp}`$ corresponding to the onset of the specific heat anomaly presents a clear positive curvature. $`H_{Cp}`$ is significantly smaller than the field $`H_\mathrm{\Delta }`$ for which the superconducting gap vanishes but is closely related to the irreversibility line deduced from transport data. Moreover, the temperature dependence of the reversible magnetization present a strong deviation from the Ginzburg–Landau theory emphasazing the peculiar nature of the superconducting transition in this material.

The $`HT`$ phase diagram of high $`T_c`$ superconducting oxides has been the focus of intense theoretical and experimental study during the past decade . One of the most interesting phenomemon which has been observed is the existence of a melting line $`T_m(H)`$ above which the vortex lattice melts into a liquid of entangled lines . This melting has very important consequences for the physics of vortices, since the free motion of the flux lines in the liquid state gives rise to a large dissipation and renders the system useless for applications. The presence of this liquid phase also hinders any direct determination of the upper critical field $`H_{c2}`$ from standard magnetotransport data. Indeed, any resistive ”critical” field $`H_R(T)`$ defined as the field for which the resistivity reaches some arbitrary value $`R`$ (e.g. $`50\%`$ of the normal state resistivity), then presents a positive curvature in high $`T_c`$ cuprates  as well as in (K,Ba)BiO3 , .

Similarly, the presence of strong thermal fluctuations also complicates the determination of $`H_{c2}`$ from thermodynamic measurements. These fluctuations lead to broad and smooth anomalies in specific heat measurements ($`C_p`$). Thus the field $`H_{Cp}`$ (defined for instance by the inflexion point of $`C_p/T`$) can present either a positive curvature in Y1Ba2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) crystals , a linear dependence in Tl2Ba2Cu06  or even almost no dependence with field in highly anisotropic systems such as Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8  and HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8+δ . It is still unclear whether this upper critical field still exists as a transition line or is just some smooth crossover between the vortex liquid and the normal state. In order to shed light on this issue, we performed thermodynamic (specific heat, magneto-tunneling, reversible magnetization) and transport measurements on high quality optimally doped $`(K_x,Ba_{1x})BiO_3`$ single crystals (x $``$ 0.4).

Thermal fluctuations are small in this system (the Ginzburg number $`G_i`$ is only $`10^4`$) due to its isotropic structure, a $`T_c31`$K, and a coherence length on the order of $`30`$ Å. Nevertheless, some of us have previously shown that the magneto-transport data is well described by the vortex-glass scaling formalism  suggesting that the vortex solid melts into a liquid at high temperature through a second order phase transition. In the following, the vortex-glass transition field $`H_{vg}`$ is defined as the field for which $`R0`$. On the other hand, magnetotunneling measurements have shown that the superconducting gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ closes above some characteristic field $`H_\mathrm{\Delta }`$. The corresponding $`H_\mathrm{\Delta }(T)`$ line is in reasonable agreement with the classical Werthamer-Helfang-Hohenberg (WHH) theory for the upper critical field . The physical image emerging from those measurements was then that of a liquid phase existing for $`H_{vg}<H<H_\mathrm{\Delta }H_{c2}`$. However, we will show here that the magnetic field $`H_{Cp}`$ is smaller than $`H_\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and presents a strong positive curvature, indicating a very peculiar nature for the thermodynamic superconducting transition.

The measurements were performed on new particularly homogeneous single crystals presenting very sharp superconducting transitions in both transport ($`\mathrm{\Delta }T_c0.15`$K) and ac susceptibility ($`\mathrm{\Delta }T_c0.2`$K for $`h_{ac}<0.01`$G) measurements. The specific heat was measured by an ac technique  which allows us to measure small samples (here a few $`10^2`$ mm3) with high sensitivity (typically $`1`$ part in $`10^4`$). Heat was supplied to the sample at a frequency $`\omega `$ on the order of a few Hz by a light emitting diode via an optical fiber. The induced temperature oscillations were measured by a chromel-constantan thermocouple, which was calibrated in situ using a very pure silver single crystal as a reference. These measurements are only relative and were renormalized using the data from ref . Figure 1 displays the temperature dependence of the specific heat at various magnetic fields up to $`5`$T. The $`7`$T curve is equal to the normal state specific heat above $`T=T_c(H=7T)20`$K and has been used as a base line in Fig.1.

The unusally high quality of our crystals is attested to by the narrow width of the transition, which is on the order of $`1K`$ in zero magnetic field, and by the amplitude of the specific heat jump, $`\mathrm{\Delta }C_p(T_c)/T_c45`$ mJ.mol-1K-2. This ratio is $``$ 2 and 5 times larger than that of refs. and , respectively, which are the only prior reports of a specific heat anomaly at $`T_c`$ in this system. This allowed us to study the magnetic field dependence of the specific heat anomaly in much greater detail. As shown in Fig.1, this anomaly remains well defined in magnetic fields. The $`T_{Cp}(H)`$ curve corresponding to any characteristic point of the transition (e.g. the onset, mid-point or maximum) presents a clear positive curvature. This can be seen in Fig.2 where $`T_{Cp}`$ corresponds to the onset of the peak. The shaded area represents the temperature difference between the onset and the mid-point of the transition. A very similar upward curvature has been obtained in two other samples. A positive curvature was already obtained by transport  and magnetic measurements . However, in non-classical superconductors, there is an ambiguity in defining $`H_{c2}`$ using those techniques.

Another striking feature of the specific heat anomaly is the rapid collapse of its height with field. Such a behaviour was previously observed in high $`T_c`$ materials   and is usually attributed to the presence of highly field dependent thermal fluctuations. The observation of a similar collapse in $`(K,Ba)BiO_3`$ remains a puzzling issue. Geometrical arguments based on entropy conservation imply that this reduction must be accompanied by a rapid, anomalous, increase of the specific heat at low temperature for fields much smaller than the upper critical field of $`30`$T deduced from transport data. The data from ref  also suggest such a behaviour.

As pointed out above, the specific heat measurements are in striking contrast with our previous magneto-tunneling  data which suggested than the upper critical field (defined as the field $`H_\mathrm{\Delta }`$ for which the superconducting gap is completely closed) presents a classical WHH dependence. We have thus performed similar magneto-tunneling measurements on the sample which has been used in the specific heat experiments. The inset of Fig.1 shows the evolution of the tunneling spectra near the normal state at $`T=20`$K with increasing magnetic fields. $`H_\mathrm{\Delta }`$ has been defined as the field for which the superconducting gap is compeltely closed ($`H_\mathrm{\Delta }(20K)10`$T). As shown by the bold curve, at $`H=H_{Cp}(20K)7`$T, a gap some feature remains clearly visible in the corrersponding tunneling spectrum (bold curve). As showis still well developed and it closes at about $`10`$T. As shown in Fig.2, in agreement with our previous data, the curvature is much less pronounced for $`H_\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and surprisingly $`H_{vg}<H_{Cp}<H_\mathrm{\Delta }`$. Note than even though the difference between $`T_{Cp}`$ and $`T_\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is quite large, the resistivity reaches about $`95\%`$ of its normal state value ($`R_N`$) at $`T_{Cp}`$ and smoothly increases up to $`100\%`$ for $`TT_\mathrm{\Delta }`$ (see Fig.3). The specific heat anomaly thus defines a fundamental boundary below which the resistivity drops rapidly towards zero but superconductivity is only completely destroyed at $`T=T_\mathrm{\Delta }`$ for which $`R=R_N`$ and the superconducting gap is completely suppressed. Note that the difference between $`T_\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and $`T_{Cp}`$ is not due to sample homogeneities since heavy ion irradiation leads to an increase of $`T_{Cp}`$ which then tends towards $`T_\mathrm{\Delta }`$ . This difference could be due to the existence of a pseudo-gap but, in contrast to cuprates, this pseudo-gap would only occur in non zero magnetic field.

To complete this study of the thermodynamic properties, we have performed reversible magnetization measurements ($`M_{rev}`$) using a SQUID magnetometer. In the intermediate magnetic field range, $`H_{c1}HH_{c2}`$, the reversible magnetization of extreme type-II superconductors in the London model  is given by : $`M_{rev}=\frac{\alpha \mathrm{\Phi }_0}{32\pi \lambda ^2}\mathrm{ln}\frac{\beta H_{c2}(T)}{H}`$ where $`\alpha 1`$, $`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ is the flux quantum, $`\lambda (T)`$ the magnetic penetration depth, $`H_{c2}(T)`$ the upper critical field and $`\beta 0.37`$ . Thus, $`M_{rev}/`$ln$`(H)`$ is expected to be proportional to $`1/\lambda ^2(T)(1T/T_c)`$ close to $`T_c`$. $`M_{rev}`$ presents a clear logarithmic dependence (see ) and the corresponding $`M_{rev}/`$ln$`(H)`$ are shown in Fig.4. However, as shown, strong deviations from the expected linear behaviour are visible and $`M_{rev}/`$ln$`(H)`$ can be described much better by a $`(1T/T_c)^{1.5}`$ law (solid line, the dotted line is a WHH dependence for $`1/\lambda ^2`$). A similar deviation is usually observed in high $`T_c`$ cuprates  and has been attributed to the presence of strong fluctuations. It was originally suggested by Nelson et al.  that elastic distortions of the vortex lattice (in the presence of strong thermal fluctuations) may lead to a significant contribution to the entropy of the system. However the corresponding contribution to $`M_{rev}/`$ln$`(H)`$ is expected to be of the order of $`k_BT/\mathrm{\Phi }_0\xi `$ (where $`k_B`$ is the Boltzmann constant), which is about one order of magnitude smaller than the observed deviation in $`(K,Ba)BiO_3`$ .

Both specific heat and reversible magnetization data thus point out the peculiar nature of the superconducting transition in (K,Ba)BiO3. Moreover, as shown in Fig.2, $`H_{vg}`$ and $`H_{Cp}`$ present a very similar temperature dependence emphasizing the close relation between those two lines. As shown in the inset of Fig.3, the $`R=0`$ criterion is close to the mid-point of the $`C_p`$ transition. This then suggests two possibilities: either (i) the positive curvature in $`H_R`$ is not due to the melting of the vortex solid as usually suggested but is an intrinsic property of the $`H_{c2}`$ line ($`=H_{Cp}`$) or (ii) the specific heat anomaly is not related to $`H_{c2}`$ but instead marks a transition in the vortex state. Many theoretical models have been developped in order to explain a ”possible” upward curvature of the upper critical field in cuprates (including a spin-charge separation  or very strong coupling ) but none of those models can be applied to the (K,Ba)BiO3 system. A positive curvature has also been predicted by Ovchinnikov and Kresin  in the presence of inhomogeneities and/or magnetic impurities. However, in this case this curvature is only expected to appear at low temperature (i.e. when the superconducting coherence length becomes smaller or on the order of the size of the impurity) and $`H_{c2}`$ is still expected to vary linearly with $`T`$ close to $`T_c`$. Finally, the condensation of charged bosons in magnetic field is also expected to lead to a positive curvature . But, one has then to take into account the fact that we do not observe any feature in the tunneling spectra above $`T_{Cp}`$ in zero magnetic field. On the other hand, a second scenario is that $`H_{c2}H_\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and that the specific heat anomaly marks a transition within the vortex state. For instance, specific heat anomalies, both peaks and/or steps, have been observed for transitions in the vortex state in YBCO  . However, even though the amplitude of $`\mathrm{\Delta }C_p`$ per unit volume measured here is similar to the one associated with vortex melting in YBCO, its shape is quite different and looks much like a classical superconducting transition.

In summary, specific heat and reversible magnetization measurements demonstrate the very peculiar nature of the thermodynamic superconducting transition in the cubic (K,Ba)BiO3 system. The strong deviations from the Ginzburg–Landau model in the reversible magnetization, the rapid collapse of the specific heat anomaly with magnetic field and the positive curvature in $`H_{vg}(T)`$ associated with a vortex-glass scaling behaviour, all suggest the presence of strong fluctuations. It is interesting to note that the superconducting transition in (K,Ba)BiO3 occurs in the vicinity of a metal - insulator transition and the carrier density is very small in this system. This might lead to the presence of large quantum fluctuations  . The field $`H_\mathrm{\Delta }`$ for which the superconducting gap completely disappears in tunneling spectroscopy is larger than the field $`H_{Cp}`$ corresponding to the onset of the specific heat anomaly. $`H_{Cp}`$ (as well as any characteristic field deduced from transport measurements) presents a clear positive curvature.

We would like to thank L.Paulius for interesting discusions and N.E.Phillips and R.A.Fischer for sending us their specific heat data on (K,Ba)BiO3.


text:
# Classical electrons in laterally coupled diatomic 2D artificial molecule

## I INTRODUCTION

Quantum dots (sometimes called artificial atoms) are nanoscale semiconductor structures where a small number of electrons are confined into a small spatial region.Ashoori (1996); Kastner (1993) The electron motion is usually further restricted to two dimensions. There is strong theoretical evidence for the existence of a limit where the electron system crystallises to Wigner molecules, which is seen as the localisation of the electron density around positions that minimise the Coulomb repulsion. Egger et al. (1999); Reimann et al. (2000); Creffield et al. (1999); Reusch et al. (2001); Harju et al. ; Koskinen et al. (1997); Maksym et al. (2000) In the limit of weak confinement (low density) or a very strong magnetic field the quantum effects are quenched or obscured and the classical electron correlations start to dominate the properties of the system. The ultimate limit is a purely classical system where only the Coulomb repulsion between the electrons defines the ground state. The problem reduces to finding the classical positions of electrons (which depend on the forms of the confining and the interaction potentials) that minimise the total energy of the system.

There is growing interest in calculatingImamura et al. (1999); Nagaraja et al. (1999); Partoens and Peeters (2000); Chakraborty et al. (1991); Wensauer et al. (2000); Kolehmainen et al. (2000); Jannouleas and Landman (2001) and measuringLivermore et al. (1996); Oosterkamp et al. (1998); Brodsky et al. (2000) the properties of coupled quantum dots. Due to the 2D nature of quantum dots the two-atom system is different whether the quantum dots are coupled in the plane in which the electrons are confined (laterally coupled) or in the perpendicular direction (vertically coupled). Especially for laterally coupled quantum dots only a limited number of studies have appeared.Chakraborty et al. (1991); Wensauer et al. (2000); Kolehmainen et al. (2000); Jannouleas and Landman (2001) Classical studies serve as a good starting point for more demanding quantum mechanical calculations. Moreover, the study of classical electrons in vertically coupled artificial atoms has revealed interesting structural transitions in the ground state electron configurations as a function of the distance between the atoms.Partoens et al. (1997)

Apart from quantum dots in the classical limit the point charges in 2D can be used to model also other physical systems. Examples include vortex lines in superconductors and superfluids and electrons on the surface of liquid He (see Ref. Kong et al., 2001 and references therein). In the theoretical field, the ground state configurations of a confined classical 2D electron system have been studied in the case of a single artificial atom in Refs. Kong et al., 2001; Bolton and Rössler, 1993; Bedanov and Peeters, 1994; Lai and I, 1999; Date et al., 1998; Campbell and Ziff, 1979; Schweigert and Peeters, 1995 and for the vertically coupled artificial atom molecule as a function of the inter-atom distance in Ref. Partoens et al., 1997. Recently, also some experimental studies of 2D confined charged classical particle systems have appeared to reflect the classical cluster patterns in 2D.Juan et al. (1998); Saint Jean et al. (2001)

Classical point charges in a two-dimensional infinite plane crystallise into a hexagonal lattice at low temperatures. Parabolic confinement in the artificial atom, on the other hand, favours circularly symmetric solutions. The ground state configuration is thus determined by two competing effects, circular symmetry and hexagonal coordination, thus resulting in non-trivial particle configurations. The reported configurations of the electron clusters in a single artificial atom do not all agree between different studies. The differences can be partly explained by the different forms of confinement and interaction potentials. However, when the number of particles, $`N`$, confined in the atom is one of the following $`N=25,7,10,12,14,19`$ all results are in agreement while differences appear for $`N=6,8,9,11,13,1518,20`$ (for $`N20`$).

In this paper we consider two laterally coupled artificial atoms and classical electrons in the molecule. The changes in the ground state electron configurations are studied for $`N=220`$ electrons in the molecule as the inter-atom distance is changed. The energies of the metastable states are also calculated at different distances and their role in the structural transitions in the ground state electron configurations is discussed. We also reproduce electron configurations of the single parabolic artificial atom. The differences between different calculations and experimental results are discussed in the limit of single atom.

## II Monte Carlo simulation

The classical electrons in the artificial atom molecule are modelled with the Hamiltonian

$`H`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m^{}\omega _0^2{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\mathrm{min}[(\stackrel{}{r}_id/2)^2,(\stackrel{}{r}_i+d/2)^2]`$ (1)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{e^2}{4\pi ϵ_0ϵ}}{\displaystyle \underset{i<j}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{|\stackrel{}{r}_i\stackrel{}{r}_j|}}.`$
Each of the $`N`$ electrons is described with coordinates $`\stackrel{}{r_i}=(x_i,y_i)`$ in two-dimensional space. The harmonic confinements are positioned symmetrically around the origin with distance $`d`$ between the minima. $`m^{}`$ is the electron effective mass, $`\omega _0`$ the confinement strength and $`ϵ`$ the dielectric constant. We measure the energy in meV and distance in Å. The confinement strength was set to $`\mathrm{}\omega _0=3`$ meV and typical GaAs parameters were chosen to the effective mass and the dielectric constant: $`m^{}=0.067m_e`$ and $`ϵ=13`$. The calculated energy values and distances could be scaled to correspond to different values of $`\omega _0,m^{},ϵ`$, but changing the parameters also changes the effective distance between the minima, $`d`$, and then the minimum energy configuration may not be the same anymore. Therefore we have have one significant parameter in the system, $`d`$, which scales as $`(m^{}\omega _0^2ϵ)^{1/3}`$.

The minimum energy as a function of the positions of the particles, $`E_{tot}=\mathrm{min}E(\stackrel{}{r}_1,\mathrm{},\stackrel{}{r}_N)`$, is solved with a standard Metropolis Monte Carlo method Metropolis et al. (1953) starting from a randomly chosen initial electron configuration $`\stackrel{}{r}_1,\mathrm{},\stackrel{}{r}_N`$. The accuracy and simulation time needed with the Metropolis algorithm was found to be well sufficient for the current problem. We compared the calculated energies in the limit of a single artificial atom to those given in Ref. Kong et al., 2001, and the results were found to be in complete agreement within the given accuracy.

In the simulations we choose four different distances between the atoms and perform 300 test runs at each particle number ($`N=220`$) and distance ($`d=0,200,600`$ and $`1000`$ Å). In addition to minimum energy configurations we also obtain metastable states that are higher in energy compared to the ground state.

When the ground and metastable states are obtained at $`d=0,200,600,1000`$ Å we study the structural transitions between ground state electron configurations at the intermediate distances. The electron configurations obtained from the fixed $`d`$ calculations are taken as an input to Monte Carlo minimisations where the attempt step is set so small that the electron configuration cannot change to another. Then the distance is slightly altered ($`dd\pm 1`$ Å) and a new energy with slightly modified positions is calculated for the configuration defined by the input. The calculated new configuration is taken as an input to the next calculation with a new distance between the atoms, and so all distances between $`d=0,200,600,1000`$ Å are well sampled. However, it may happen that a configuration becomes unstable as the distance is changed. In that case the simulation converges to some other stable configuration, which can be seen as a sudden jump to a new energy value in the $`E(d)`$-plots. The energies of all states are studied as a function of the distance and structural transitions in the ground state configurations are examined.

## III Results

The results for the ground and metastable states are summarised in Table 1. The electron configurations are given at four different distances between the artificial atoms. The ground state energy and the corresponding configuration at the four distances is represented in the row following the particle number $`N`$. If there exist metastable states at the given $`N`$ and $`d`$ the energy difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }E/N`$ to the ground state and the electron configuration for the metastable state is also reported. However, not all metastable configurations are marked in Table 1, since when starting the simulation from random positions more electrons can be trapped in one artificial atom than in the other. Only metastable states with either the same number of electrons per atom (for even $`N`$) or only one more at one than the other atom (for odd $`N`$) are reported. The notation for the configurations in a single artificial atom is chosen so that electrons are thought to be organised in (nearly) concentric shells around the potential minimum: (N1,N2,N3), where N1 denotes the number of electrons in the innermost shell, N2 the next shell and N3 the number of electrons in the outermost shell. (For $`N20`$ only three shells are occupied). For laterally coupled two-atom artificial molecule we have chosen the following notation for configurations: At $`d=200`$ Å the configuration is marked as if it would still be on a single atom centred around the midpoint connecting the two atoms. At $`d=600`$ and $`1000`$ Å the configurations are given as configurations of two separated atoms.

For example, as Table 1 and Fig 1 (a) indicate, with eight particles in the single artificial atom ($`d=0`$ Å) the ground state is (1,7), one electron in the centre and seven electrons in the circular shell, and there exist no metastable states. At $`d=200`$ Å a new ground state has appeared with configuration (2,6) (Fig. 1 (b)) while (1,7) has changed to a metastable state (see also Table 1). At distances $`d=600`$ Å and $`d=1000`$ Å the notation is changed to two-atom configurations and for $`N=8`$ the ground state is marked with (4),(4), see Figs. 1 (c) and (e).

The notation for configurations is not always exhaustive. The relative orientation of different shells and the relative orientations of the configurations of the two atoms at $`d=600,1000`$ Å do not always become clear from Table 1. For example, when either or both atoms are left with four electrons ($`N=7,8,9`$), the orientation of the square(s) relative to the other atom changes as the distance is increased. At smaller distances the position of the square of four electrons is such that the tips of the squares are in the same line with the positions of the minima (see Fig. 1 (c) for $`N=8`$ at $`d=600`$ Å). As the distance is increased the square (or two squares with $`N=8`$) turns onto its side (see Fig. 1 (e) for $`N=8`$ at $`d=1000`$ Å). For $`N=8`$ at $`d=600`$ Å there also exists a metastable state where one of the squares is lying on its side and the other on the tip (Fig. 1 (d)). Even though we divide electrons into shells in our notation it does not mean that the shells are strictly circular even for $`d=0`$. This can be seen clearly for $`N=12`$ in Fig 1 (f), where the outer shell resembles more like an incomplete triangle with the tips missing. The configuration marked with (1,5) in the two-atom configurations in Table 1 cannot be identified strictly to (6) but neither to (1,5). Therefore we choose the notation (1,5) to describe the configuration. The difference between (1,5) and (1,5) can be seen with the (1,5),(1,5) metastable state in Fig. 1 (g). The configurations of the ground and metastable states for $`N=13`$ at $`d=200`$ Å are marked in the same way in the Table, but are different as can be seen in Figs. 1 (h) and (i). For the highest energy metastable state for $`N=17,d=200`$ Å the two-atom notation would have described the configuration better, Fig. 1 (l). One metastable state for $`N=19`$ and the ground state and one metastable state for $`N=20`$ at $`d=200`$ Å could not be described with the shell structure notation. The configurations are depicted in Figs. 1 (m),(n) and (o), respectively.

As the distance between the atoms is increased it is not always clear whether the electrons just follow the two atoms drawn apart and continuously change to two separated atoms. Sometimes metastable states change to a ground state and the ground state to a metastable state as the distance between the atoms is increased. The clearest example can be seen in Table 1 for six electrons between $`d=0`$ and $`d=200`$ Å. At $`d=0`$ the (1,5) configuration is the ground state and (6) the metastable state. At $`d=200`$ Å it is the other way around: (6) is the ground and (1,5) a metastable state. The energy as a function of distance for two alternative configurations is shown in Fig.2 (a). The transition point, marked with a small circle, is at $`d=111.6`$ Å. The transition is continuous with respect to energy as a function of distance, but the curvature of the $`E(d)`$-curve is different and therefore the first derivative of energy with respect to $`d`$ is discontinuous. This is a first-order discontinuous structural transition in the electron configuration. Hereafter, by discontinuous structural transitions we mean the qualitative change in the ground state electron configuration which is discontinuous with respect to $`E/d`$ at the transition point.

In addition to $`N=6`$, for $`N=8,11,16`$ and $`19`$ one qualitative change in the electron configuration is observed as a function of $`d`$. For $`N=8`$ at $`d=135.9`$ Å the electron configuration changes from (1,7) to (2,6), see Fig 2 (b). Notice that the (2,6) configuration is not stable at the limit of one atom and becomes unstable approximately below $`d=17`$ Å. For $`N=11`$ there exists one metastable state, (2,9), at $`d=200`$ Å, which at $`214.2`$ Å changes to a ground state as is depicted in Fig. 2 (c). With $`N=16`$ the configuration changes from (1,5,10) to (6,10) at $`d=102.4`$ Å. The energy differences between ground and metastable states are small and metastable states exist only in the proximity of the transition point (Fig. 2 (d)). At $`d=80`$ Å the (1,5,10) configuration which is plotted below the energy curve is still the ground state and the (6,10) configuration plotted above the energy curve has appeared as a metastable state. For $`N=19`$ Fig. 2 (e) shows how the (1,6,12) configuration, which is the ground state at $`d=200`$ Å, has changed to a rather unsymmetric configuration at $`d=250`$ Å. This unsymmetric configuration changes continuously to (2,8),(1,8) (lower middle plot in (e)) which at $`586.0`$ Å changes discontinuously to (2,8),(2,7) configuration. The (2,8),(2,7) configuration appears approximately at $`415`$ Å as a metastable state. The (1,8),(2,8) persists as a metastable state to the greatest studied distance of $`1000`$ Å as is also indicated in Table 1. The other metastable states at $`d=0`$ and $`200`$ Å do not change to a ground state.

More than one discontinuous transformation in the electron configurations is found for $`N=17`$ and $`18`$, see Figs. 3 (a) and (b). For $`N=17`$ the (1,6,10) changes to (6,11) at $`d=145.0`$ Å. The (6,11) configuration parts to (1,7),(1,8) two-atom configuration, which is the ground state up to $`d=501.1`$ Å, where the (2,7) configuration of the other atom becomes more stable than (1,8), thus (1,7),(1,8)$``$(1,7),(2,7). The (1,7),(2,7) configuration persists as a ground state to greater distances. Qualitatively similar transformations are seen for $`N=18`$ as for $`N=17`$. First the centred cluster (1,6,11) changes to an open configuration (6,12) at $`d=233.9`$ Å. The open configuration follows the separation of atoms adopting the configuration (1,8),(1,8), where as in $`N=17`$, the (2,7) becomes more stable than (1,8). However, we now see two discontinuous transformations. The first at $`d=522.8`$ Å when (1,8),(1,8)$``$(2,7),(1,8) and the second at $`d=593.4`$ Å when (2,7),(1,8)$``$(2,7),(2,7).

For other electron numbers besides the reported $`N=6,8,16,17,18,19`$ we do not observe discontinuous structural transitions in the electron configuration as the distance between the two atoms is increased. A few examples of continuous electron configuration changes are shown in Fig. 4. For $`N=12`$ the (3,9) configuration transforms continuously to resemble the (6),(1,5) two-atom configuration. Between $`200`$ Å and $`450`$ Å the row of electrons pushes itself forward when the atoms move apart, resulting in the symmetric configuration (1,5),(1,5). For $`N=14`$ the electron configuration follows the separation of atoms in a symmetrical form, but after $`d=250`$ Å both sides start to twist towards the (1,6),(1,6) two-atom configuration. For $`N=20`$ the transformation is hard to describe, but it is continuous. The three distinct metastable states at $`d=0`$ and $`200`$ Å, seen in Table 1, never change to a ground state and vanish at other distances.

The changes in energy per particle of the ground states at the four studied distances as a function of $`N`$ are shown in Fig. 5. At $`d=`$ 0 there are small troughs at $`N=3,6,10`$ and $`17`$, at adding the fourth, seventh, eleventh and eighteenth particle. Moving to greater distances between the atoms, the change in the chemical potential is clearly peaked. Going to an odd number of particles increases the chemical potential much more than going to an even number of particles. Interesting is the intermediate distance of $`d=`$ 200 Å where this trend is observed for $`N=2,3,4`$ and $`9,10,11`$, but otherwise the curve shows no clear structure and does not strictly follow the shape of the $`d=0`$ Å curve either.

## IV Discussion

At $`d=0`$ (single artificial atom) our results are in agreement with other Monte Carlo (MC) and molecular dynamics (MD) studies with parabolic confinement and pure Coulomb interaction. Bolton and Rössler (1993); Bedanov and Peeters (1994); Schweigert and Peeters (1995); Lai and I (1999); Date et al. (1998); Kong et al. (2001) However, for $`N=17`$ Bolton et al.  Bolton and Rössler (1993) obtain the (1,5,11) configuration instead of (1,6,10) which our and other calculationsBedanov and Peeters (1994); Schweigert and Peeters (1995); Lai and I (1999); Kong et al. (2001) predict. Ref. Bolton and Rössler, 1993 may contain an error since in a later work by BoltonBolton (1994) the configuration for $`N=17`$ was reported to be (1,6,10). There is also a difference for $`N=21`$ in Ref. Bolton and Rössler, 1993 which was later corrected.Bolton (1994)

Besides calculating the ground state configurations Kong et al.  Kong et al. (2001) also examined metastable states for $`N=140`$. Our results are in agreement (we calculated configurations only for $`N20`$) both in ground and metastable states except that for $`N=18`$ Kong et al. found two metastable states whereas we see only one. In addition to the (1,6,11) and (1,7,10) they also obtain (6,12) as a metastable state. We repeated the simulation with 3000 independent test runs, but were still unable to find the (6,12) configuration.

We can conclude that different calculations for the $`r^2`$ confinement and $`1/r`$ interaction potential are in good general agreement. The few experiments on charged particles trapped in 2D as well as calculations with different forms of interaction and confinement potentials reveal also different configurations for the cluster patterns. The interaction between the particles could be logarithmic, which is the case with infinite charged lines moving in 2D (vortex lines etc.) or perhaps Yukawa type with a strong but short-range repulsion (screened Coulomb interaction). The form of the confinement is usually chosen to be parabolic (Lai and I Lai and I (1999) tested also a steeper confinement with $`r^4`$ contribution). However, for the question whether the potential in experiments with clusters is parabolic there is no clear answer. Therefore it is not surprising that the experiments and also calculations with different functional forms of interaction and confinement result in different cluster patterns.

Lai and I Lai and I (1999) calculated and summarised the configuration patterns with different interactions and tested also $`r^4`$ contribution to the confinement and compared the results to dust particle experiments. Juan et al. (1998) Saint Jean et al.  Saint Jean et al. (2001) measured the configurations with electrostatically interacting charged balls of millimeter size moving on a plane conductor. They made a comparison with simulations and quite surprisingly found the best agreement with a relatively old simulation with vortex lines in a superfluidCampbell and Ziff (1979) with logarithmic interaction, which again was not in agreement with the dust particle experimentsJuan et al. (1998) nor with the purely logarithmic interaction used by Lai and I. Lai and I (1999) Despite the differences there are some particle numbers where the configuration seems to be the same regardless of the experiment or functional form of the interaction or confinement. These particle numbers are $`N=3,4,5,7,10,12,14,19`$.

Partoens et al. Partoens et al. (1997) examined the ground states of even number of classical electrons evenly distributed in two vertically coupled artificial atoms as a function of the distance between the atoms. As in our study of laterally coupled atoms discontinuous transitions between configurations occur as a function of the distance $`d`$. The difference is that for vertically coupled atoms one can see intuitively that transitions should occur between $`d=0`$ and $`d\mathrm{}`$ whereas in laterally coupled atoms the configurations can be pulled apart with some $`N`$ without qualitative (discontinuous) changes in the electron configurations. For vertically coupled atoms discontinuous transitions (first order with respect to energy) in electron configurations are observed for all even $`N20`$ whereas for laterally coupled atoms we see also purely continuous changes as $`d\mathrm{}`$.

To summarise, we have calculated ground and metastable state configurations of classical point charges confined in two dimensions with two laterally coupled parabolic potential wells. Ground and metastable electron configurations were studied as a function of the distance between the atoms and discontinuous (in $`E/d`$) transitions in the ground state configurations were observed for particle numbers $`N=6,8,11,16,17,18,19`$. The configurations of purely classical electrons in laterally coupled two-minima potential have an interesting and complex spectrum as the distance between the minima is changed.

###### Acknowledgements.

This work has been supported by the Academy of Finland through its Centers of Excellence Program (2000-2005).