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# The Shapes of Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

## 1 Introduction

Observationally based estimates of the three-dimensional shapes of galaxies serve as a diagnostic of the physics of galaxy formation and evolution. Galaxies can only be seen in projection against the sky; thus, astronomers can only attempt to deduce their three-dimensional properties from their two-dimensional, projected properties. Obviously, information about intrinsic shapes is lost in projection; for instance, using only the two-dimensional surface photometry of a given galaxy, it is impossible to determine its intrinsic three-dimensional shape.

Elliptical galaxies have isophotes that are well approximated as ellipses (hence the name “elliptical”). The shape of an ellipse is specified by its axis ratio $`q`$, with $`0q1`$. The three-dimensional isophotal surfaces of elliptical galaxies are generally modeled as ellipsoids. A stellar system whose isophotal surfaces are similar, concentric ellipsoids, without axis twisting, will have projected isophotes which are similar, concentric ellipses, without axis twisting (Contopoulos, 1956; Stark, 1977). The apparent axis ratio $`q`$ of the projected ellipses depends on the viewing angle and on the intrinsic axis ratios $`\beta `$ and $`\gamma `$ of the ellipsoid. Here, $`\beta `$ is the ratio of the intermediate to long axis, and $`\gamma `$ is the ratio of the short to long axis; thus, $`0\gamma \beta 1`$.

Beginning with Hubble (1926), many attempts have been made to deduce the distribution of intrinsic shapes of elliptical galaxies, given their distribution of apparent shapes. The early assumption, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, was that elliptical galaxies were oblate spheroids, flattened by rotation (Sandage, Freeman, & Stokes, 1970). If elliptical galaxies were all oblate spheroids ($`\beta =1`$), or all prolate spheroids ($`\beta =\gamma `$), and if their orientations were random, then it would be possible to deconvolve their distribution of apparent axis ratios $`f(q)`$, to find their distribution of intrinsic axis ratios $`N(\gamma )`$. However, the pioneering work of Bertola & Capaccioli (1975) and Illingworth (1977) led astronomers to abandon the assumption that elliptical galaxies are necessarily oblate. The shapes of ellipticals have been reanalyzed with the assumption that they are intrinsically prolate or triaxial, rather than oblate (Binney, 1978; Benacchio & Galletta, 1980; Bingelli, 1980; Binney & de Vaucouleurs, 1981; Ryden, 1996).

Statements about the intrinsic shapes of galaxies must be statistical in nature, since astronomers do not exactly know the distribution $`f(q)`$ of axis ratios for a given class of galaxy. In this paper, we will be examining the apparent axis ratios for galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey(hereafter SDSS; York et al. 2000). The set of axis ratios we analyze constitute a finite sample drawn from a parent population $`f(q)`$. In this paper, we take into account the finite size of the sample in rejecting or accepting, at a known confidence level, two null hypotheses: that the galaxies are randomly oriented oblate spheroids, or that they are randomly oriented prolate spheroids. To accomplish this, we make a kernel estimate, $`\widehat{f}(q)`$, of the distribution of axis ratios and mathematically invert $`\widehat{f}(q)`$ to find $`\widehat{N}_o(\gamma )`$ and $`\widehat{N}_p(\gamma )`$, the estimated distribution of intrinsic axis ratios for a population of oblate spheroids and a population of prolate spheroids, respectively.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In section 2, we describe the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and the methods by which the apparent axis ratios of the galaxies are estimated. In section 3, we present a brief review of the nonparametric kernel estimators used in this paper. In sections 4 and 5, we find the kernel estimate $`\widehat{f}(q)`$ for galaxies with de Vaucouleurs luminosity profiles and for galaxies with exponential profiles, and find the implications for their intrinsic shapes. In section 6, we discuss our results.

## 2 Data

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey is a digital photometric and spectroscopic survey which will, when completed, cover one quarter of the celestial sphere in the North Galactic hemisphere, and produce a smaller ($`225\mathrm{}\mathrm{°}`$) but much deeper survey in the South Galactic hemisphere. The photometric mosaic camera ((Gunn, et al., 1998) ; see also Project Book §4111 http://www.astro.princeton.edu/PBOOK/welcome.htm, “ The Photometric Camera”) images the sky by scanning along great circles at the sidereal rate. The imaging data are produced simultaneously in five photometric bands ($`u^{}`$, $`g^{}`$, $`r^{}`$, $`i^{}`$, and $`z^{}`$; Fukugita et al. (1996)) with effective wavelengths of 3543, 4770, 6231, 7625, and 9134 Å222 We refer to the measured magnitudes in this paper as $`u^{}`$, $`g^{}`$, $`r^{}`$, $`i^{}`$, and $`z^{}`$ because the absolute calibration of the SDSS photometric system is still uncertain at the $`0.03^m`$ level. The SDSS filters themselves are referred to as $`u^{}`$, $`g^{}`$, $`r^{}`$, $`i^{}`$, and $`z^{}`$. All magnitudes are given on the $`AB_\nu `$ system (Oke & Gunn, 1983). For additional discussion regarding the SDSS photometric system see Fukugita et al. (1996) and Fan (1999)..

In June 2001, the SDSS presented Early Data Release (EDR) to the general astronomical community, consisting 462 square degrees of imaging data in five bands. The data are acquired in three regions; along the celestial equator in the Southern galactic sky; along the celestial equator in the northern galactic sky; and in a region overlapping the Space Infrared Telescope Facility First Look Survey. Galaxies in the EDR were analyzed with the SDSS photometric pipeline Photo (Lupton et al., 2001). This code fits two models to the two-dimensional image of each galaxy. One model has a de Vaucouleurs profile:

$$I(r)=I_0\mathrm{exp}\left(7.67[(r/r_e)^{1/4}]\right)$$
(1)
which is truncated beyond $`7r_e`$ to go smoothly to zero at $`8r_e`$, and with some softening within $`r_e/50`$. The second model has an exponential profile:

$$I(r)=I_0\mathrm{exp}(1.68r/r_e)$$
(2)
which is truncated beyond $`3r_e`$ to go smoothly to zero at $`4r_e`$. Each model is assumed to have concentric isophotes with constant position angle $`\varphi `$ and axis ratio $`q`$. Before the model is fit to the data, the model is convolved with a double-Gaussian fit to the point spread function (PSF). Assessing each model with a $`\chi ^2`$ fit gives $`r_e`$, $`q`$, and $`\varphi `$ for the best-fitting model, as well as $`P(\mathrm{deV})`$ and $`P(\mathrm{exp})`$, the likelihood associated with the best-fitting de Vaucouleurs and exponential model, respectively.

We use the model fits in the $`r^{}`$ band to divide the galaxies into two classes: the “de Vaucouleurs” galaxies are those with $`P(\mathrm{deV})>P(\mathrm{exp})`$ and the “exponential” galaxies are those with $`P(\mathrm{exp})>P(\mathrm{deV})`$. In our data analysis we chose the likelihood $`P>10^5`$ for well behaved distribution of galaxies and the spectroscopic redshift $`z<0.2`$, to reduce the effects of gravitational lensing of foreground objects. In addition, we require that a fit using one of the galaxy models is better than a pure PSF fit. The spectroscopic sample of the EDR contains 13092 de Vaucouleurs galaxies, and 6081 exponential galaxies, based on these criteria. Although the classification in the SDSS is based purely on the surface brightness profile, it is generally true that galaxies classified as “elliptical” in the standard morphological schemes are better fitted by de Vaucouleurs profiles than by exponential profiles (Kormendy & Djorgovski, 1989), while galaxies morphologically classified as “spiral” are better fitted by exponential profiles.

The SDSS photometric analysis also provides an independent measure of the axis ratio; one based on the second moments of the surface brightness distribution. The Stokes parameters $`Q`$ and $`U`$ are given in terms of the flux-weighted second moments as

$`Q`$ $``$ $`x^2/r^2y^2/r^2`$ (3)
$`U`$ $``$ $`xy/r^2`$ (4)
If the isophotes of the galaxy are indeed concentric ellipses of constant position angle and axis ratio, then the axis ratio $`q_{\mathrm{Stokes}}`$ is related to the values of $`Q`$ and $`U`$ by the relation

$$q_{\mathrm{Stokes}}=\frac{\sqrt{Q^2+U^2}1}{\sqrt{Q^2+U^2}+1}.$$
(5)
Unlike the axis ratios $`q_{\mathrm{model}}`$ found by fitting models, the values of $`q_{\mathrm{Stokes}}`$ do not attempt to correct for the effects of seeing.

For the galaxies in the SDSS EDR, the value of $`q_{\mathrm{Stokes}}`$ is generally larger than $`q_{\mathrm{model}}`$ as shown in Figure 1. To investigate the origin of this difference, we used the elliptical isophote fitting routine in Imaging and Reduction Analysis Facility (IRAF) to plot $`q`$ versus $`r/r_e`$ for a subset of galaxies in the sample. Figure 2 shows the result for just four of the de Vaucouleurs galaxies examined. The horizontal dashed lines indicate $`q_{\mathrm{Stokes}}`$ plus and minus the estimated error $`\sigma `$ in $`q_{\mathrm{Stokes}}`$; the horizontal dotted lines indicate $`q_{\mathrm{model}}`$ plus and minus the estimated error $`\sigma `$ in $`q_{\mathrm{model}}`$. For these four galaxies, as for most galaxies in the SDSS, $`q_{\mathrm{Stokes}}`$ is greater than $`q_{\mathrm{model}}`$. As is also typical, $`q(r)`$ found by fitting individual isophotes decreases as a function of radius; most elliptical galaxies are rounder in their central regions than in their outer regions (Ryden, Forbes, & Terlevich, 2001). The values of $`q_{\mathrm{Stokes}}`$, based on the luminosity-weighted second moments, are primarily indicating the axis ratio of the central regions of each galaxy, where the surface brightness is highest. The values of $`q_{\mathrm{model}}`$, by contrast, are more strongly influence by the axis ratio in the outer regions. Since, in this paper, we are not primarily interested in the central regions of the galaxies, we will adopt $`q_{\mathrm{model}}`$ as our primary measure of the axis ratio.

The distribution of galaxies in the SDSS EDR is strongly bimodal in the $`g^{}r^{}`$ versus $`u^{}g^{}`$ color-color diagram (Strateva et al., 2001). The optimal color separation between the two peaks is at $`u^{}r^{}=2.22`$. The detection of a local minimum indicates that the two peaks correspond roughly to early-type (E, S0) and late-type (Sa, Sb, Sc, Irr) galaxies. The late-type galaxies are the bluer group, reflecting their more recent star formation activity. The color criterion of Strateva et al. (2001) provides another means of dividing our data set. In addition to distinguishing between de Vaucouleurs and exponential galaxies, we can also distinguish between red ($`u^{}r^{}>2.22`$) and blue ($`u^{}r^{}2.22`$) galaxies. Unsurprisingly, the de Vaucouleurs galaxies are predominantly red and the exponential galaxies are predominantly blue. Of the 13092 de Vaucouleurs galaxies, 10898 are red, but only 2194 are blue. Of the 6081 exponential galaxies, 4697 are blue, while only 1384 are red.

## 3 Method

We use a standard nonparametric kernel technique to estimate the distribution of intrinsic axis ratios. General reviews of kernel estimators are given by Silverman (1986) and Scott (1992); applications to astronomical data are given by Vio et al. (1994), Tremblay & Merritt (1995), and Ryden (1996). Here we give a brief overview, adopting the notation of Ryden (1996). Given a sample of axis ratios for $`N`$ galaxies, $`q_1`$, $`q_2`$, $`\mathrm{}`$, $`q_N`$, the kernel estimate of the frequency distribution $`f(q)`$ is

$$\widehat{f}(q)=\frac{1}{Nh}\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}K\left(\frac{qq_i}{h}\right),$$
(6)
where $`K(x)`$ is the kernel function, normalized so that

$$_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}K(x)𝑑x=1,$$
(7)
and $`h`$ is the kernel width, which determines the balance between smoothing and noise in the estimated distribution. One way of choosing $`h`$ is to use the value which minimizes the expected value of the integrated mean square error between the true $`f`$ and the estimated $`\widehat{f}`$ (Tremblay & Merritt, 1995). We follow Silverman (1986) in using the formula

$$h=0.9AN^{0.2},$$
(8)
with $`A=\mathrm{min}(\sigma ,Q_4/1.34)`$, where $`\sigma `$ is the standard deviation of the data and $`Q_4`$ is the interquartile range. This formula for $`h`$ minimizes the expected value of the mean square error for samples which are not strongly skewed (Silverman, 1986; Vio et al., 1994). We choose a Gaussian kernel, to ensure that $`\widehat{f}`$ is smooth and differentiable.

To obtain physically reasonable results, with $`\widehat{f}=0`$ for $`q<0`$ and $`q>1`$, we apply reflective boundary conditions (Silverman, 1986; Ryden, 1996). In practice, this means replacing the simple Gaussian kernel with the kernel

$$K_{\mathrm{ref}}=K\left(\frac{qq_i}{h}\right)+K\left(\frac{q+q_i}{h}\right)+K\left(\frac{2qq_i}{h}\right).$$
(9)
Use of this kernel assures the correct normalization, $`_0^1\widehat{f}(q)𝑑q=1`$.

If we suppose that the $`N`$ galaxies in our sample are randomly oriented oblate spheroids, then the estimated frequency of intrinsic axis ratios, $`\widehat{N}_o(\gamma )`$ can be found by the mathematical inversion

$$\widehat{N}_o(\gamma )=\frac{2\gamma \sqrt{1\gamma ^2}}{\pi }_0^\gamma \frac{d}{dq}\left(q^1\widehat{f}\right)\frac{dq}{\sqrt{\gamma ^2q^2}}.$$
(10)
Similarly, if the galaxies are assumed to be randomly oriented prolate spheroids, the estimated frequency of intrinsic axis ratios, $`\widehat{N}_p(\gamma )`$ is given by

$$\widehat{N}_p(\gamma )=\frac{2\sqrt{1\gamma ^2}}{\gamma \pi }_0^\gamma \frac{d}{dq}\left(q^2\widehat{f}\right)\frac{dq}{\sqrt{\gamma ^2q^2}}.$$
(11)
If the oblate hypothesis is incorrect, then the inversion of equation (10) may result in $`\widehat{N}_o`$ which is negative for some values of $`\gamma `$. Similarly, if the prolate hypothesis is incorrect, $`\widehat{N}_p`$, from equation (11), may be negative.

To exclude the oblate or prolate hypothesis at some statistical confidence level, we must take into account the errors in $`\widehat{f}`$ both from the finite sample size and from the errors in measuring $`q`$ for individual galaxies. The error due to finite sampling can be estimated by bootstrap resampling of the original data set. Randomly taking $`N`$ data points, with replacement, from the original data set, a new estimator $`\widehat{f}`$ is created from the bootstrapped data, and is then inverted to find new estimates of $`\widehat{N}_o`$ and $`\widehat{N}_p`$. After creating a large number of bootstrap estimates for $`\widehat{f}`$, $`\widehat{N}_o`$, and $`\widehat{N}_p`$, error intervals can be placed on the original kernel estimates. In this paper, we did 300 bootstrap resamplings of each data set. An additional source of error in $`\widehat{f}`$, $`\widehat{N}_o`$, and $`\widehat{N}_p`$ is the error that is inevitably present in the measured values of the apparent axis ratio. The SDSS EDR galaxies have an error $`\sigma _i`$ associated with the axis ratio $`q_i`$ of each galaxy. To model the effect of errors, we replace the kernel width $`h`$ given by equation (8) with a broader width

$$h_{}^{}{}_{i}{}^{}=\sqrt{h^2+\sigma _i^2}.$$
(12)
## 4 Galaxies with de Vaucouleurs Profiles

We can now apply the mathematical apparatus described in the previous section to our four subsamples of galaxies: red de Vaucouleurs galaxies, blue de Vaucouleurs galaxies, red exponential galaxies, and blue exponential galaxies. Unfortunately, given the desirability of large $`N`$ in determining $`f(q)`$, not all the galaxies in the SDSS EDR are sufficiently well-resolved for their axis ratios to be reliably determined. A plot of $`q_{\mathrm{model}}`$ versus $`r_e`$, measured in units of the PSF width (PSFW), as shown in Figure 3, reveals that the galaxies with $`q_{\mathrm{model}}=1`$ are mainly galaxies whose effective radius is not much larger than the PSF width (typically, $`r_e2\mathrm{PSFW}`$). For instance, Figure 4 shows the estimated distribution $`\widehat{f}(q_{\mathrm{model}})`$ for all the red de Vaucouleurs galaxies ($`N=10,898`$). In addition to the main peak at $`q_{\mathrm{model}}0.80`$, there is a secondary peak at $`q_{\mathrm{model}}=1`$. To eliminate these spuriously round, poorly resolved galaxies, we retain in our samples only those galaxies with $`r_e>2\mathrm{PSFW}`$. After this purge of too-small galaxies, there are $`N=5659`$ galaxies in the red de Vaucouleurs subsample, $`N=1784`$ galaxies in the blue de Vaucouleurs subsample, $`N=815`$ galaxies in the red exponential subsample, and $`N=2263`$ galaxies in the blue exponential subsample.

The estimated distribution $`\widehat{f}(q_{\mathrm{model}})`$ for the edited subsample of red de Vaucouleurs galaxies (excluding galaxies with $`r_e<2\mathrm{PSFW}`$) is shown as the solid line in the upper panel of Figure 5. Note that the secondary peak at $`q_{\mathrm{model}}=1`$ has disappeared. The dashed lines to either side of the solid line are the 80% confidence intervals, estimated by bootstrap resampling, while the dotted lines are the 98% confidence interval. The estimated distribution $`\widehat{N}_o(\gamma )`$ of intrinsic axis ratios, given the oblate hypothesis, is shown in the middle panel of Figure 5. The 98% confidence interval drops below zero for $`\gamma >0.91`$; thus the oblate hypothesis for this subsample of galaxies can be rejected at the 99% (one-sided) confidence interval. To produce as few nearly circular galaxies as are seen, there would have to be a negative number of nearly spherical oblate galaxies. The estimated distribution $`\widehat{N}_p(\gamma )`$, given the prolate hypothesis, is shown in the bottom panel of Figure 5. The best estimate for $`\widehat{N}_p`$, shown as the solid line, is positive everywhere. Thus, the surface photometry of the red de Vaucouleurs galaxies is consistent with their being a population of randomly oriented prolate spheroids. If they are all prolate, their average intrinsic axis ratio is

$$\gamma _p=_0^1\gamma \widehat{N}_p(\gamma )𝑑\gamma =0.608.$$
(13)
Although the shape distribution for red de Vaucouleurs galaxies is consistent with the prolate hypothesis, it doesn’t require prolateness. The galaxies could also be triaxial and produce the same distribution of apparent shapes.

Plots of $`\widehat{f}`$, $`\widehat{N}_o`$, and $`\widehat{N}_p`$ are given in Figure 6 for the 1784 blue de Vaucouleurs galaxies. Just as for the red de Vaucouleurs galaxies, the oblate hypothesis can be rejected at the 99% confidence level, due to the scarcity of nearly circular galaxies in projection. The prolate hypothesis, though, cannot be rejected at the 90% confidence level for this sample; see the bottom panel of Figure 6. If the blue de Vaucouleurs galaxies are prolate, then $`\widehat{N}_p`$ yields an average intrinsic axis ratio $`\gamma _p=0.592`$, only slightly smaller than that for red de Vaucouleurs galaxies. As a measured by Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test, however, the distribution of $`q`$ for blue de Vaucouleurs galaxies is significantly different from that for red de Vaucouleurs. The K-S probability from comparing the two samples is $`P_{KS}=3\times 10^3`$; i.e., the two samples are different at the 99.7% confidence level.

## 5 Galaxies with Exponential Profiles

Unlike galaxies with de Vaucouleurs profiles, which are generally smooth ellipticals, galaxies with exponential profiles are generally spiral galaxies, containing nonaxisymmetric structures such as spiral arms and bars. Given such a large amount of substructure present in spiral galaxies, attempting to characterize their shape by a single axis ratio $`q`$ is a gross oversimplification. Nevertheless, as long as it is not over-analyzed, the distribution $`\widehat{f}(q)`$ contains useful information about the overall shape of exponential galaxies.

For instance, Figure 7 shows the estimated value of $`\widehat{f}(q_{\mathrm{model}})`$ for the 815 red exponential galaxies. The peak in $`\widehat{f}`$ is at $`q_{\mathrm{model}}0.27`$, and relatively few red exponential galaxies have $`q_{\mathrm{model}}>0.6`$. The large apparent flattening of the galaxies in the red exponential subsample is a sign that they are not a population of randomly oriented disks. Instead, the sample preferentially contains edge-on, or nearly edge-on disks. The red color of galaxies in this subsample is not the intrinsic color of the stars, but rather is the result of internal reddening by dust in the galaxy’s disk. For a typical edge-on spiral galaxy like NGC 4594, the maximum reddening $`E(BV)`$ is 0.4 (Knapen et al., 1991). Then the corresponding reddening in the $`ur`$ color will be $``$ 1, using the transformation $`E(ur)=[A_u/E(BV)A_r/E(BV)]E(BV)`$ with $`A_u/E(BV)=5.155`$ and $`A_r/E(BV)=2.751`$ (Stoughton et al., 2001).

By contrast, Figure 8 shows the estimated value of $`\widehat{f}(q_{\mathrm{model}})`$ for the 2263 blue exponential galaxies. The apparent shapes of blue exponential galaxies are very different from the apparent shapes of red exponential galaxies; a K-S test comparing the two populations yields $`P_{\mathrm{KS}}=5.10^{95}`$. The scarcity of exponential galaxies with $`q0.9`$ is an indication that the exponential galaxies are not perfectly axisymmetric disks. Indeed, visual inspection of the SDSS images reveals that most of the exponential galaxies contain readily visible nonaxisymmetric structure, in the form of spiral arms, bars, or tidal distortions.

## 6 Discussion

The galaxies in the SDSS EDR with de Vaucouleurs profiles have a distribution of apparent shapes which is incompatible (at the 99% confidence level) with their being randomly oriented oblate spheroids. This is consistent with the result found by Lambas, Maddox, & Loveday (1992) for a sample of 2135 elliptical galaxies with shapes estimated from survey plates of the APM Bright Galaxy Survey. When the SDSS survey is complete, it will provide a sample of galaxies $`20`$ times larger than the SDSS EDR. This increase in sample size will enable us to determine more accurately the distribution of apparent axis ratios $`f(q)`$. The kernel width $`h`$ will be decreased by a factor $`20^{0.2}0.55`$. The error intervals, which are essentially determined by the $`N^{1/2}`$ fluctuations in bins of width $`h`$, will be reduced by a factor $`20^{0.4}0.30`$. Although a simple increase in the sample size will not enable us to determine the true distribution of intrinsic shapes, it will enable us to make stronger statistical statements about our rejection or acceptance of the prolate or oblate hypothesis.

The blue de Vaucouleurs galaxies, with a mean axis ratio of $`q_{\mathrm{model}}=0.639`$, are only slightly flatter in shape than the red de Vaucouleurs galaxies, with $`q_{\mathrm{model}}=0.652`$. Thus, if the color of the blue de Vaucouleurs galaxies is the result, at least in part, of recent star formation, we can conclude that the overall shape of the galaxies is not strongly affected by star formation. Although elliptical galaxies with old stellar populations tend to be rounder than those with young stellar populations (Ryden, Forbes, & Terlevich, 2001), this difference is only large at small radii ($`rr_e/8`$), while the values of $`q_{\mathrm{model}}`$ used in this paper emphasize the axis ratio at much larger radii ($`rr_e`$).

The galaxies with exponential profiles have, by contrast, shapes which are strongly dependent on color, with the red exponential galaxies consisting predominantly of dust-reddened edge-on (or nearly edge-on) disks. A significant number of galaxies in the SDSS EDR appear to be edge-on late-type galaxies, with exponential profiles, rather than early-type galaxies, with de Vaucouleurs profiles. The number of red exponential galaxies ($`N=815`$) is 14.4% of the number of red de Vaucouleurs galaxies ($`N=5,659`$). Thus, if we attempted to select out elliptical galaxies purely on the basis of color, we would have been faced with a significant contamination by reddened disks. Spectroscopy or accurate surface photometry are required to distinguish between elliptical galaxies and disk galaxies. This analysis agrees very well with the result of Schade et al. (1999) and carries substantially more statistical weight.

In summary, galaxies with de Vaucouleurs profile have an axis ratio distribution consistent, at a high confidence level, with their being randomly oriented prolate spheroids (though it is also consistent with their being triaxial systems). Galaxies with exponential profiles have an axis ratio distribution which is dependent on color, suggesting that red exponential galaxies are nearly edge-on systems reddened by dust. Since a fair number of red galaxies in the SDSS EDR are nearly edge-on exponential disks, it is dangerous to select elliptical galaxies purely on the basis of color.

We wish to thank Ani Thakar for his assistance in downloading the data, and Brian Yanny, Jordi Miralda-Escudé, Richard Pogge and David Weinberg for their valuable suggestions. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is a joint project of The University of Chicago, the Institute of Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), New Mexico State University, Princeton Observatory, the United States Naval Observatory, and the University of Washington. Apache Point Observatory, site of the SDSS telescopes, is operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC). Funding for the project has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the SDSS member institutions, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, and the Max Planck Society. The SDSS website is http://www.sdss.org/.


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# Scalar Mesons within a model for all non-exotic mesons

## 1 Introduction

Strong interactions have been under study for over half a century by now. Starting from curiosity over nuclear forces , they have been developing towards the need to understand Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) . The modelling and analysis of meson-meson scattering is thereby believed to give valuable contributions. Here we will report on a model for meson-meson scattering which has been very successful in predicting and reproducing a host of experimental data with a very limited number of parameters . It is based on our perspective of QCD, as outlined below.

Mesons are composed of quarks, antiquarks, and gluons, whether stable with respect to OZI-allowed hadronic decay, i.e., bound states like $`K`$, $`J/\psi `$, and $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$, or unstable, decaying into two or more lighter mesons, like e.g. the resonances $`\rho `$, $`\omega `$, and $`\varphi `$. Mesons can be described by systems of one constituent quark ($`q`$) confined to one constituent antiquark ($`\overline{q}`$). Constituent quarks and antiquarks, which can be thought of as lumps of bare quarks surrounded by glue and a cloud of virtual $`q\overline{q}`$ pairs, determine the flavour of the meson and the bulk of its mass. The remaining strong interactions may be parametrised by an effective confining potential, e.g. a harmonic oscillator.

Decay of a meson into a pair of lighter mesons is assumed to be the result of the creation of a new constituent $`q\overline{q}`$ pair with the quantum numbers of the vacuum ($`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{0}^{}`$), leading to OZI-allowed transitions. Mesonic resonances in meson-meson scattering are supposed to be formed through the inverse phenomenon, i.e., the annihilation of a constituent $`q\overline{q}`$ pair with the quantum numbers of the vacuum, one from each of the two mesons involved in the scattering process.

The spatial quantum numbers ($`\nu ,J^{PC}`$) of a meson, either bound state or resonance, follow from the total spin of the constituent $`q\overline{q}`$ pair, their relative orbital angular momentum $`\mathrm{}`$, and their radial quantum number $`\nu `$.

In Fig. (1) we schematically show how the model for the description of non-exotic meson-meson scattering works. The employed dynamics is characterised by confinement and $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{0}^{}`$ $`q\overline{q}`$-pair creation. Confinement is provided by a harmonic oscillator potential with universal frequency $`\omega `$. On the other hand, $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{0}^{}`$ $`q\overline{q}`$-pair creation is modelled by a transition potential $`V_t`$, which has two parameters, that is, the universal overall transition intensity $`\lambda `$, and a distance parameter $`a`$ that is related to the shape of the transition potential. The so-called colour splitting of pseudo-scalar and vector mesons is absorbed in the transition potential through the parameter $`g_c`$, at least in the present version of the model.

The four model parameters and the four constituent quark masses for non-strange (either $`u`$ or $`d`$), strange, charm, and bottom quarks are adjusted to the data, i.e., to partial-wave cross sections of meson-meson scattering, or to mesonic bound-state and resonance spectra. Model predictions can then be obtained by giving as input data the relevant quantum numbers, namely flavour, isospin, total angular momentum, parity, and possibly charge conjugation. The outputs of the model are not only predictions for scattering quantities, but also comprise bound-state spectra and corresponding wave functions for the mesonic systems under study.

The philosophy of the model is simple: in the scattering region for a meson-meson scattering process we assume the coexistence of a variety of different systems or channels, that is, one or more confined $`q\overline{q}`$ pairs, and all combinations of meson-meson pairs that have the correct quantum numbers. For instance, when studying scattering in an isosinglet, we assume that there are definitely non-zero probabilities to find in the interaction region an $`n\overline{n}`$ pair, an $`s\overline{s}`$ pair, but also a $`\pi \pi `$ pair, a $`K\overline{K}`$ pair, and so forth. The first type of channels differs from the second type in that $`q\overline{q}`$ pairs are permanently confined, whereas meson-meson pairs feel more modest forces, which might even be neglected in lowest order.

When we describe quarkonia by wave functions $`\psi _c`$ and two-meson systems by wave functions $`\psi _f`$, then we obtain for their time evolution the wave equations

$$\left(EH_c\right)\psi _c\left(\stackrel{}{r}\right)=V_t\psi _f\left(\stackrel{}{r}\right)\text{and}\left(EH_f\right)\psi _f\left(\stackrel{}{r}\right)=\left[V_t\right]^T\psi _c\left(\stackrel{}{r}\right).$$
(1)
Here, $`H_c`$ describes the dynamics of confinement in the interaction region, $`H_f`$ the dynamics of the scattered particles, and $`V_t`$ the communication between the two different sectors.

For the dynamics of confinement we understand here that, as a function of the interquark distance $`r`$, the resulting quark-antiquark binding forces grow rapidly outside the interaction region. Consequently, we must eliminate $`\psi _c`$ from the equations (1), since it is vanishing at large distances and thus unobservable. Formally, it is easy to do so. We thus obtain the relation

$$\left(EH_f\right)\psi _f\left(\stackrel{}{r}\right)=\left[V_t\right]^T\left(EH_c\right)^1V_t\psi _f\left(\stackrel{}{r}\right).$$
(2)
The set of coupled equations (2) for the two-meson channels represented by $`\psi _f`$ can be solved for the scattering amplitude, either numerically or analytically, once $`H_c`$, $`H_f`$, and $`V_t`$ are specified.

## 2 Fixing the parameters

The two parameters $`\lambda `$ and $`a`$ of the transition potential $`V_t`$ can be fixed, together with the charm and bottom masses, by the spectra of the $`c\overline{c}`$ and $`b\overline{b}`$ vector states. A comparison of model results with experiment is shown in Table (1). In the first column of the table we find the spectroscopic notation for the various states: the first symbol indicates the quarkonium radial excitation $`N=\nu +1`$, which for the here employed harmonic-oscillator confinement is related to the total bare quarkonium mass $`E_\mathrm{}\nu `$ by

$$E_\mathrm{}\nu =\omega \left(2\nu +\mathrm{}+\frac{3}{2}\right)+\text{quark masses}.$$
(3)
In the last column of Table (1) we find the meson-meson channels which are involved in the determination of the quarkonia spectra. Vector-vector channels come in pairs, one for total spin zero and one for total spin equal to two. Moreover, spin 2 may combine with $`F`$ waves. The complete wave function of charmonium (bottomonium) is thus composed of twelve channels, the two $`c\overline{c}`$ ($`b\overline{b}`$) channels, one for $`S`$ wave and one for $`D`$ wave, coupled to ten meson-meson channels through $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{0}^{}`$ transitions. Note that not all of these channels are open for the systems under consideration, but that does not necessarily mean their influence is negligible. The relative coupling intensities for the various channels, which follow from the three-meson vertices defined in Refs. , are tabulated in Ref. . In Nature, many more meson-meson channels couple in principle, but in the present version of the model only pseudoscalar and vector mesons are considered in the initial and final scattering states, since these are generally the ones that lie close enough to have an appreciable effect.

The non-strange and strange constituent quark masses are fixed by the elastic $`P`$-wave $`\pi \pi `$ and $`K\pi `$ scattering phase shifts, respectively, as shown in Fig. (2).

We observe from the first plot that the agreement between model and experiment is not perfect for larger values of the $`\pi \pi `$ invariant mass. We believe this to be a consequence of neglecting residual strong forces in meson-meson scattering that are not due to the $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{0}^{}`$ mechanism, like meson exchange. This might also explain why for $`K\pi `$ scattering the model gives superior results. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that a model which describes the $`c\overline{c}`$ and $`b\overline{b}`$ quarkonia bound states and resonances very well, can predict to a fair precision the $`\pi \pi `$ and $`K\pi `$ scattering data, just by fixing reasonable values for $`m_n`$ and $`m_s`$. Furthermore, we notice that the correct slopes of the phase shifts at $`90^{}`$, as a function of the invariant masses, imply the model predicts the right widths for the $`\rho `$(770) and the $`K^{}(892)`$.

Finally, the parameter $`g_c`$, which accounts for the hyperfine mass splitting of pseudoscalar and vector mesons, is fixed by the mass differences between the $`\pi \eta \eta ^{}K`$ and $`\rho \omega \varphi K^{}`$ nonets. In Table (2) we summarise the model results  for the light vector-meson sector.

We find good agreement between model and experiment. However, with respect to the radial excitations of the $`\rho (770)`$ meson, we believe that the particles refered to in Ref. , are the $`D`$ states. In the harmonic-oscillator spectrum a $`D`$ state is degenerate with the $`S`$ state belonging to the next radial excitation. Through the coupling to the meson-meson channels the degeneracy is lifted, which gives rise to separate resonances (see Fig. 3 below). Also the $`\varphi (1680)`$ corresponds in our model to the $`\varphi (1D)`$ state.

For the pseudoscalars and the open-charm states, not shown here, the model predictions  manifest much more disagreement with the data. Possible causes are a deficient treatment of chiral symmetry, relativity, and pseudothresholds. Further study on these points is clearly required, which is already in course.

## 3 Resonances

The overall transition parameter $`\lambda `$ provides the communication between permanently closed $`q\overline{q}`$ channels and meson-meson scattering channels. To lowest order, this describes the decay of a meson, but to higher order also the occurrence of resonances in meson-meson scattering. For $`\lambda =0`$, the set of equations (1) describes free, non-interacting two-meson systems with a continuum spectrum above threshold, and confined $`q\overline{q}`$ systems with a discrete mass spectrum, the so-called bare mesons, as given by formula (3) for non-negative integer values of the radial quantum number $`\nu `$. When $`\lambda `$ is non-zero, then, for energies above threshold, the model describes the scattering of interacting two-meson systems, elastic as well as non-elastic, whereas, for energies below threshold, the model describes physical mesons that are stable with respect to OZI decays. A resonance does not represent just one single state, but rather a continuum of states. Each state under the resonance has a different mass, whereby the intensities of its couplings to the different two-meson systems are proportional to the corresponding partial-wave scattering cross sections at that energy. Hence, a resonance should be represented by a whole range of masses, though with varying importance for the scattering data. Such a phenomenon can also be described by a single complex number, namely a singularity in the analytically continued scattering amplitude. For narrow resonances, which here correspond to small values of $`\lambda `$, the real and imaginary parts roughly equal the central resonance mass and half its width, respectively. However, for broad and highly deformed resonances, corresponding to the realm of strong interactions in our model, such simple relations do not exist. It would be helpful if in experiment complex masses could be measured, but exciting the imaginary parts of masses at particle accellerators goes far beyond our imagination as yet. At best, experiment supplies us with partial-wave cross sections, for which scattering amplitudes have to be constructed. Breit-Wigner shapes  are the usual techniques, though for strong interactions probably not the most adequate tools. Moreover, since each scattering amplitude has a different pole structure, no generally applicable method exists how to locate singularities. Accordingly, since these poles, with the respective residues, constitute the most relevant information on scattering properties, it would be helpful if the Particle Data Group Collaboration could show us the world averages of full shapes of elastic and inelastic partial-wave cross sections or phase shifts, rather then just the central masses and widths of resonances.

For the time being, it seems that we must content ourselves with at least agreement on the number of scattering-amplitude singularities within large intervals of the invariant mass. For small values of $`\lambda `$, complex poles in the relevant Riemann sheet are expected to lie close to the bare meson masses, whereas for increasing $`\lambda `$ the singularities move farther away. Hence, one might expect that their number agrees with the number of bare mesons. Consequently, bound states and resonances could then both be labelled by the spectroscopic quantum numbers, as for instance shown in Table (1). Nevertheless, in the case of the scalar mesons we will see below that not all singularities stem from the bare spectrum.

Bare masses represent bare mesons that result from permanent confinement only. Therefore, models restricted to this particular sector of strong interactions should not adjust their parameters to the bound states and resonances from experiment, although this is common practice unfortunately. In Fig. (3) we depict how the real parts of the poles for the vector charmonium states behave in our model, when $`\lambda `$ is varied.

For $`\lambda =0`$, the bare spectrum of formula (3) is shown. For $`\lambda =1`$, one obtains the model result of Table (1). Note that the effect of open-charm channels on the ground state is highly non-perturbative, despite of these channels being all virtual.

Bound states can be represented by special singularities of the scattering amplitude, i.e., poles on the real energy axis below the lowest threshold of the system. The $`J/\psi `$ (1S) is an example of such a state (see Fig. 3). It consists of two $`c\overline{c}`$ channels, a dominant one in $`S`$ wave, the other one in $`D`$ wave, as well as of channels with virtual pairs of $`D`$, $`D_s`$, $`D^{}`$, and $`D_s^{}`$ mesons in $`P`$ or $`F`$ waves. The $`\psi `$(2S) is an example of a bound state which originates in a bare meson located in the open-charm continuum. For values of $`\lambda `$ up to $`0.6`$, the $`\psi `$(2S) singularity of the scattering amplitude has an imaginary part, which corresponds to a resonance. But at the $`D\overline{D}`$ threshold, the $`\psi `$(2S) pole turns real, for $`\lambda 0.6`$. For the model value of $`\lambda =1`$, the singularity is found on the real axis below the $`D\overline{D}`$ threshold, in accordance with the physical $`\psi `$(2S) state.

## 4 Scalar mesons

In the foregoing, we have discussed how the parameter $`\lambda `$, which describes the overall intensity of the coupling of $`q\overline{q}`$ systems to meson-meson scattering channels through the $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{0}^{}`$ mechanism, can be adjusted to the data. When we carefully inspect wave equation (2), then we observe that the centrifugal barrier is the main contribution of the left-hand side of the equation, whereas the right-hand side is proportional to $`\lambda ^2`$. Consequently, for $`S`$-wave scattering, in the absence of a centrifugal barrier, the right-hand side of Eq. (2) dominates the interaction. Now, for low energies far away from the bare states, this term has the form of a potential barrier, in which loosely bound two-meson systems may exist, solely depending on the value of $`\lambda `$. This is exactly what happens for the light flavours. The $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{0}^{}`$ barrier, not high enough to form bound states, gives rise to a complete nonet of light scalar resonances with central mass positions at about 0.8–1.0 GeV.

For $`S`$-wave meson-meson scattering, our model produces, besides an infinity of $`J^P=0^+`$ $`S`$-matrix poles or resonances, each stemming from a level in the bare spectrum, also one additional singularity that is of a completely different nature. In Fig. (4), we schematically depict this situation. The nonets of scalar resonances are formed by $`P`$-wave $`q\overline{q}`$ states coupled to pseudoscalar-pseudoscalar and vector-vector two-meson channels. There are two isodoublets (non-strange+strange), which among their decay modes have a $`K\pi `$ channel. Then there is one isotriplet (non-strange+non-strange) involving an $`\eta \pi `$ channel. And finally there is a system of two isosinglet channels, one for $`n\overline{n}`$ and one for $`s\overline{s}`$, which mostly couple to each other through their common $`\pi \pi `$ and $`K\overline{K}`$ channels.

Each of the isodoublet states has an extra pole  at $`727i263`$ MeV, which corresponds to the two doublets of $`K_0^{}(830)`$ resonances. The three isotriplet states have extra poles  at $`962i28`$ MeV, which describe the triplet of $`a_0(980)`$ resonances. Finally, the coupled system of isosinglets has extra poles  at $`470i208`$ MeV and $`994i20`$ MeV, which yield the $`f_0`$(400–1200) and $`f_0(980)`$ resonances, respectively.

The wave functions of the $`K_0^{}(830)`$, $`a_0(980)`$, $`f_0`$(400–1200), and $`f_0(980)`$ resonances do not have nodes. Consequently, in this sense they must be considered ground states. The $`a_0(980)`$ and $`f_0(980)`$ resonances are experimentally well established. The $`f_0`$(400–1200) resonance is still disputed, whereas the $`K_0^{}(830)`$ has recently been reported in preliminary experimental work .

The nonet of resonances stemming from the nonet of ground states of the bare meson spectrum around 1.4 GeV consists of the experimentally established scalars $`K_0^{}(1430)`$, $`a_0(1450)`$, $`f_0(1370)`$, and $`f_0(1500)`$. The higher nonets are still incomplete.

Scalar mesons, especially the light ones, have been the subject of lively debate for several decades. We believe that the here described model has all the necessary ingredients for a reasonable description of the data (see also Ref. ).

In Fig. (5), the prediction of Ref.  for the $`S`$-wave cross section in isodoublet $`\pi K`$ scattering is shown. One observes that the central peak lies at 832 MeV. Nevertheless, the related singularity of the $`\pi K`$ scattering amplitude we found at $`714i228`$ MeV. Hence, straightforward relations between bumps in the cross section and pole positions do not always exist.

Recently it has been recognised that $`S`$-matrix pole positions have more consistency than resonant structures in the data. Values found in the literature for the $`\sigma `$ and $`\kappa `$ resonances are collected and depicted in Table (3). The world averages for the $`f_0`$(400–1200) and $`K_0^{}(830)`$ pole positions, thereby ignoring the differences in the nature of the various analyses, are

$$f_0\left[(506\pm 119)i(246\pm 85)\text{MeV}\right];K_0^{}\left[(786\pm 78)i(255\pm 96)\text{MeV}\right].$$

## 5 Radiative transitions

Multichannel wave functions are neither very suitable for figures, nor for comprehensive tables. Radiative decays, however, represent a rather sensitive test for their correctness. Such tests has been carried out in Ref.  for the $`c\overline{c}`$ and $`b\overline{b}`$ sectors of the model. It involves the development of a formalism for radiative transitions of multicomponent systems with quarkonium and meson-meson channels. In Tables (4) and (5), we compare the theoretical predictions of Ref.  for the $`c\overline{c}`$ and $`b\overline{b}`$ systems, respectively, with the presently available data.

The agreement of the model’s predictions with the data is fairly good and has much improved since their publication in 1991, which is an additional argument in favour of the usefulness of the employed formalism.

## 6 Data analysis

The here described model produces non-exotic bare mesons with all possible angular quantum numbers and an infinity of radial excitations, which, through the universal parameters $`\lambda `$ and $`a`$, turn into the experimental spectra of all existing mesonic bound states and resonances. However, in spite of the model’s success to reproduce a host of experimental data with a very limited number of parameters, it is clearly not suited as a tool for data analysis, owing to the specific model choice of the confining $`q\overline{q}`$ potential, and furthermore the rather complicated matrix expressions needed to obtain $`S`$-matrix-related observables.

In recent work , we have indicated how the model’s formalism may be applied to data analysis. The bare meson masses and their couplings to the meson-meson channels enter as free fit parameters in this approach. In particular, we have shown that the $`S`$-matrix singularities describing the light scalar mesons also appear here. Hence, this simplified model, which can be solved analytically, serves well as a laboratory for studying the general properties of meson-meson scattering. Moreover, for a more detailed description of specific processes, parts of the analytic solutions can be substituted by adjustable parameters.

## 7 Hybrids

In a recent work , Frank Close suggests the use of a model similar to ours for the study of hybrids. Certainly, as the objects which we here call constituent quarks can exchange quark and colour degrees of freedom, one may naturally think of different quark and/or colour configurations. In this sense, also exotic mesonic resonances could, in principle, be accommodated.

## 8 Conclusions

Bound states and resonances are most conveniently characterised by singularities of the scattering matrix as a function of the total invariant mass. It has the advantage that even in cases where the resonating behaviour of the scattering cross sections is not very clear from experiment, their existence clarifies the classification of well-established resonances into flavour multiplets . However, a disadvantage is that each different theoretical model locates such poles at different complex values. Hence, no agreement can be expected on their positions. Nevertheless, when several analyses, describing the same phenomenon, obtain poles at more or less the same values, like those given in Table (3), then no doubt can exist about their existence in the true model of Nature.

Knowledge about how the poles depend on the parameters of strong interactions in each model could, moreover, lessen the discrepancies. Since it is indispensable to gain experience on the behaviour of mesonic $`S`$-matrix singularities, it is useful to dispose of analytical expressions that incorporate most of our knowledge on strong interactions, and are also capable of describing the data to a moderate degree of accuracy. The outlined simplified model serves well for that purpose.

Acknowledgement: This work has been partly supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia of the Ministério da Ciência e da Tecnologia of Portugal, under contract numbers POCTI/35304/FIS/2000, and CERN/P/FIS/40119/2000.


text:
# Density Matrix Renormalization Group Approach to the Massive Schwinger Model

## Abstract

The massive Schwinger model is studied, using a density matrix renormalization group approach to the staggered lattice Hamiltonian version of the model. Lattice sizes up to 256 sites are calculated, and the estimates in the continuum limit are almost two orders of magnitude more accurate than previous calculations. Coleman’s picture of ‘half-asymptotic’ particles at background field $`\theta =\pi `$ is confirmed. The predicted phase transition at finite fermion mass $`(m/g)`$ is accurately located, and demonstrated to belong in the 2D Ising universality class.

The Schwinger model, or quantum electrodynamics in one space and one time dimension, exhibits many analogies with QCD, including confinement, chiral symmetry breaking, charge shielding, and a topological $`\theta `$-vacuum. It is a common test bed for the trial of new techniques for the study of QCD: for instance, several authors have discussed new methods of treating lattice fermions using the Schwinger model as an example .

Our purpose in this paper is twofold. First, we aim to explore the physics of this model when an external ‘background’ electric field is applied, as discussed long ago in a beautiful paper by Coleman. Secondly, we wish to demonstrate the application of density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) methods  to a model of this sort, with long-range, non-local Coulomb interactions. The DMRG approach has been used with great success for lattice spin models and lattice electron models such as the Hubbard model; here we apply it to a lattice gauge model.

Choosing a time-like axial gauge $`A_0=0`$, the Schwinger model Hamiltonian becomes

$$H=𝑑x\left(i\overline{\psi }\gamma ^1(_1+igA_1)\psi +m\overline{\psi }\psi +\frac{1}{2}E^2\right).$$
(1)
where $`\psi `$ is a 2-component spinor field, since there is no spin in one space dimension. The coupling $`g`$ has dimensions of mass, so the theory is super-renormalizable. Using $`g`$ as the scale of energy, the physical properties of the model are then functions of the dimensionless ratio $`m/g`$. Gauss’ law becomes

$$_1E=_1\dot{A}^1=gj^0=g\overline{\psi }\gamma ^0\psi .$$
(2)
where $`E`$ is the 1-component electric field. This can be integrated to give

$$E=g𝑑xj^0(x)+F,$$
(3)
showing that $`E`$ is not an independent field, but can be determined in terms of the charge density $`j^0(x)`$, up to the constant of integration $`F`$, which corresponds to a “background field”, as discussed by Coleman . We can think of the background field as created by condenser plates at either end of our one-dimensional universe.

If $`|F|>g/2`$, charged pairs will be produced, and separate to infinity, until the field is reduced within the range $`|F|g/2`$, thus lowering the electrostatic energy per unit length. Thus physics is periodic in $`F`$ with period $`g`$, and it is convenient to define an angle $`\theta `$ by $`\theta =2\pi F/g`$. Then we can always choose $`\theta `$ to lie in the interval $`[0,2\pi ]`$.

In the weak-coupling limit $`m/g\mathrm{}`$, the vacuum contains no fermionic excitations, and the vacuum energy density $`ϵ_0`$ is given purely by the electrostatic energy term (we ignore the energy of the Dirac sea) $`ϵ_0=F^2/2`$ $`(\theta \pi )`$ or $`(gF)^2/2`$ $`(\pi \theta 2\pi )`$.

Thus there is a discontinuity in the slope of the energy density, corresponding to a first-order phase transition, at $`\theta =\pi `$. In the strong-coupling limit $`m/g=0`$, on the other hand, chiral invariance demands that the vacuum energy density remains constant as a function of $`\theta `$. Thus we expect a first-order transition at $`\theta =\pi `$ for large $`m/g`$, which terminates at a second order critical point at some finite $`(m/g)_c`$. The two-fold vacuum degeneracy would naturally lead one to expect that the transition will lie in the Ising universality class.

Normally, charge is confined in the model: there is a ‘string’ of constant electric field (or flux) connecting any pair of opposite charges . But Coleman  points out that in the very special case $`\theta =\pi `$, the peculiar phenomenon of “half-asymptotic” particles arises. In the weak-coupling limit, one can envisage the state shown in Fig. 1. The electric field energy density is the same in between each pair of particles, and they can therefore move freely, as long as they maintain the same ordering, i.e. no pair of fermions interchanges positions.

The one-dimensional fermionic theory can be mapped into an equivalent Bose form . At $`m/g=0`$, the theory is exactly solvable, and reduces to a theory of free, massive bosons, with mass $`M=g/\sqrt{\pi }`$, independent of the background field $`\theta `$. At large $`m/g`$ and $`\theta =\pi `$, where the spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs, the half-asymptotic particles are found to correspond to topological solitons, or “kinks” and “antikinks”, in the Bose language .

There have been very few attempts to verify these predictions numerically, that we are aware of. Hamer, Kogut, Crewther and Mazzolini used finite-lattice techniques to address the problem, and located the phase transition at $`\theta =\pi `$ to lie at $`(m/g)_c=0.325(20)`$, with a correlation length index $`\nu =0.9(1)`$. Schiller and Ranft  used Monte Carlo techniques to locate the phase transition at $`(m/g)_c=0.31(1)`$. For zero background field, on the other hand, many different numerical methods have been applied to the Schwinger model; for a recent review, see Sriganesh et al. .

We employ the Kogut-Susskind  Hamiltonian lattice formulation of the Schwinger model, following Banks et al. . The dimensionless lattice Hamiltonian is

$$W=\frac{2}{ag^2}H=\underset{n}{}L^2(n)+\mu \underset{n}{}(1)^n\varphi ^{}(n)\varphi (n)ix\underset{n}{}\left[\varphi ^{}(n)e^{i\theta (n)}\varphi (n+1)\text{h.c.}\right]$$
(4)
where $`a`$ is the lattice spacing, $`\varphi (n)`$ is a single-component fermion field at site $`n`$, $`e^{i\theta (n)}`$ is the link variable at link $`n`$, and $`\mu =2m/(g^2a)`$, $`x=1/(g^2a^2)`$.

We use a “compact” formulation where the gauge field becomes an angular variable $`0\theta (n)2\pi `$ on the lattice, and $`L(n)`$ is the conjugate spin variable (the lattice equivalent of the electric field)

$$[\theta (n),L(m)]=i\delta _{nm}$$
(5)
so that $`L(n)`$ has integer eigenvalues $`L(n)=0,\pm 1,\pm 2,\mathrm{}`$.

In the lattice strong-coupling limit $`x0`$, the unperturbed ground state $`|0`$ has

$$L(n)=0,\varphi ^{}(n)\varphi (n)=\frac{1}{2}[1(1)^n],\text{all }n$$
(6)
whose energy we normalize to zero. The lattice version of Gauss’ law is then taken as

$$L(n)L(n1)=\varphi ^{}(n)\varphi (n)\frac{1}{2}[1(1)^n]$$
(7)
which means excitations on odd and even sites create $`1`$ units of flux, corresponding to “electron” and “positron” excitations respectively. Eq. (7) determines the electric field $`L(n)`$ entirely, up to an arbitrary additive constant $`\alpha `$, which then represents the background field. Allowing $`\alpha `$ to be non-zero, the electrostatic energy term is modified to $`_nL^2(n)_n(L(n)+\alpha )^2`$. The physics of the background field then matches precisely with the continuum discussion. Physics is then periodic in $`\alpha `$ with period 1, and the background field variable is $`\theta =2\pi \alpha `$ .

In the weak-coupling limit $`m/g\mathrm{}`$ and for background field $`\alpha =1/2`$, there are two degenerate vacuum or ‘loop’ states, $`|\frac{1}{2}`$ and $`|\frac{1}{2}`$, corresponding to $`\{L(n)+\alpha =\pm 1/2,\text{ all }n\}`$, respectively. On a finite lattice, the eigenstates will be the symmetric and anti-symmetric combinations of those, and we will denote the energy gap between them by $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$. The single-fermion state will consist of a single electron with $`L(n)+\alpha =+1/2`$ to its left and $`1/2`$ to its right; the energy gap between this and the ground state will be denoted $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1`$. Finally, the energy gap to the lowest 2-particle electron-positron state will be denoted $`\mathrm{\Delta }_2`$.

We will also study two order parameters which can be used to characterize the phase transition at $`\theta =\pi `$. The first one is the average electric field

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }^\alpha =\frac{1}{N}\underset{n}{}(L(n)+\alpha )_0,$$
(8)
which in the weak-coupling limit $`m/g\mathrm{}`$ takes values $`\pm 1/2`$ for the zero-loop and one-loop states respectively. The second order parameter is the axial fermion density suggested by Creutz

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }^5`$ $`=`$ $`i\overline{\psi }\gamma ^5\psi /g_0`$ (9)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i\sqrt{x}}{N}}{\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}(1)^n\left[\varphi ^{}(n)\varphi (n+1)\text{h.c.}\right]_0.`$ (10)
Our results are based on the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method . The method employed here is the “infinite system” DMRG method, as prescribed by White , used both with open and periodic boundary conditions (OBC and PBC). Due to the presence of the electric field on the links, and the differing nature of the odd and even-numbered sites, some modifications were made to the method, although nothing that changes the spirit of the DMRG.

For a particular spin configuration with OBC, if we specify the incoming electric field for the first site of the chain, then according to Gauss’s law the electric field for all the links can be deduced. If PBC are imposed, then as there is no particular link to fix the electric field, we can have loops of electric flux extending throughout the ring. In the presence of a background field we simply add (or subtract) $`\alpha `$ from the values of the electric fields due to the spin configuration. A cutoff, or maximum loop value was chosen such that full convergence was reached to machine precision. A loop range of \[-5,5\] was more than sufficient in most cases.

In the standard “infinite system” method one splits the chain (or ring) into two blocks and two sites, and in each DMRG iteration the blocks increase in size by a single site. Due to the differing nature of the odd and even sites in the lattice formulation (4), we modify this so that two sites are augmented each time, so that the superblock grows by four sites in a single DMRG iteration. We truncate the basis in each DMRG iteration such that there are a maximum of 125 states per spin sector per loop in a block.

The accuracy of the DMRG calculation is strongly dependent on the parameter values $`x`$ and $`m/g`$. In the worst case scenario $`(m/g=0.3;x=100;\theta =\pi ;N=256)`$ with PBC, which represents the smallest lattice spacing used for this study, and lies in the critical region, the ground state energy can be resolved to 1 part in $`10^6`$, while the two-particle gap is resolved to 1 part in $`10^3`$, while the order parameters are accurate to 3 figures. It is more usual to obtain ground state eigenvalues to near machine precision, and “vector” gap errors of 1 part in $`10^6`$.

We begin with the case of zero background field, $`\theta =0`$, in order to demonstrate the power of the DMRG method. The most accurate results to date are those of Sriganesh et al. , who used exact diagonalization on lattices up to $`N=22`$ sites. With DMRG it is possible to go to $`N=256`$ sites, such that there is essentially no extrapolation necessary to obtain the bulk limit $`N\mathrm{}`$. Fig. 2 shows the data for $`m/g=0`$, which is the exactly soluble case. For $`x=4`$ through to $`x=100`$ we have 6 figure convergence. The final continuum limit $`a0`$ or $`x\mathrm{}`$ is obtained by making polynomial fits in powers of $`1/\sqrt{x}=ga`$ as used in Ref. . Our final estimate of $`m^{}/g=0.56419(4)`$ for this case agrees extremely well with the analytic result of $`1/\sqrt{\pi }=0.5641896..`$, and is about 25 times more accurate than the corresponding estimate $`0.563(1)`$ by Sriganesh et al. .

We now turn to the case of background field $`\theta =\pi `$. First, we use finite-size scaling theory to estimate the position of the critical point, by calculating “pseudo-critical points” at each lattice size $`N`$, and each lattice spacing $`x`$. The pseudo-critical point is defined as the point where two successive finite-lattice energy gaps scale like $`1/N`$. For this exercise we used the ‘loop gap’ $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0/g`$, which collapses to zero at the pseudo-critical point. The pseudo-critical points converge very rapidly to the bulk limit, like $`1/N^3`$. The results are shown in Fig. 3. A quadratic fit in $`1/\sqrt{x}`$ extracts the continuum limit, which we estimate to be $`(m/g)_c=0.3335(2)`$. This is consistent with the previous estimates by Hamer et al.  of $`(m/g)_c=0.325(20)`$, or Schiller and Ranft , $`(m/g)_c=0.31(1)`$, but with two orders of magnitude improvement in accuracy.

Finite-size scaling theory  also allows us to estimate the critical indices for the model. The order parameters $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_N^\alpha `$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_N^5`$, for instance, are expected to scale like $`N^{\beta /\nu }`$ . Then the logarithmic ratios

$$\frac{\mathrm{ln}[\mathrm{\Gamma }_N((m/g)_N^{})/\mathrm{\Gamma }_{N1}((m/g)_N^{})]}{\mathrm{ln}[N/(N1)]}\frac{\beta }{\nu }$$
(11)
give a direct estimate of the index ratio. Fig. 4 shows the resulting estimates for $`\beta /\nu `$, obtained from the electric field order parameter, and for $`1/\nu `$, obtained from the beta function. We see essentially no variation in the exponents with lattice spacing, to within the accuracy of our calculations. Our best estimates for the critical exponents are thus $`\nu =0.99(1)`$, $`\beta /\nu =0.125(5)`$. These results provide reasonably conclusive evidence that the Schwinger model transition at $`\theta =\pi `$ lies in the same universality class as the one dimensional transverse Ising model, or equivalently the 2D Ising model, with ($`\nu =1,\beta =1/8`$).

We now turn to estimating continuum limit values for the energy gaps and order parameters. The convergence at $`\theta =\pi `$ is not so good as at $`\theta =0`$. Fig. 5 displays our final results for the energy gaps $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0/g`$ between the “loop” states, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1/g`$ in the 1-particle sector, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_2/g`$ in the 2-particle sector, for all values of $`m/g`$.

We see that all gaps vanish at the critical point. The ‘loop’ gap is zero for all $`m/g>(m/g)_c`$, as predicted by Coleman . The 2-particle gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_2/g`$ vanishes at the critical point $`(m/g)_c`$, but on either side of the critical point there is a finite gap, and an almost linear behavior with $`m/g`$. Note, however, that the behavior is not exactly linear. The 1-particle gap vanishes for $`m/g<(m/g)_c`$, while for $`m/g>(m/g)_c`$ it is very close to half the 2-particle gap. Once again, the behavior is very nearly linear in $`m/g`$.

The pattern of eigenvalues exhibited in Fig. 5 bears an extraordinary resemblance to that of the transverse Ising model . In particular, we see that the energy of the 1-particle or ‘kink’ state vanishes at the critical point, and then remains degenerate with the ground state for $`(m/g)<(m/g)_c`$. Assuming this degeneracy is exact, this indicates that a ‘kink condensate’ will form in the ground state for small mass, as discussed by Fradkin and Susskind. It also indicates the existence of a new ‘dual symmetry’ in the model, which is spontaneously broken in the low-mass region, and has not been explored hitherto. There should also be a ‘dual order parameter’ associated with this symmetry.

We may also obtain estimates for the order parameters $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^5`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^\alpha `$ as functions of $`m/g`$. Our results are displayed in Fig. 6. Both order parameters are zero, within errors, for $`m/g<(m/g)_c`$. It appears that both order parameters turn over and drop abruptly to zero as the critical point is approached from above, consistent with the small exponent $`\nu =1/8`$ found previously. The axial density $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^5`$ decreases steadily towards zero at large $`m/g`$, whereas $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^\alpha `$ approaches the expected value of $`1/2`$. More detailed results will be given in a forthcoming paper.

We would like to thank Profs. Michael Creutz and Jaan Oitmaa and Dr. Zheng Weihong for useful discussions and help. We are grateful for computational facilities provided by The New South Wales Center for Parallel Computing, The Australian Center for Advanced Computing and Communications and The Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing. R.B. was supported by The Australian Research Council and The J. G. Russell Foundation.


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# Oxygen-isotope effect on the in-plane penetration depth in underdoped Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7-δ as revealed by muon-spin rotation

## Abstract

The oxygen-isotope (16O/18O) effect (OIE) on the in-plane penetration depth $`\lambda _{ab}(0)`$ in underdoped Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7-δ was studied by muon-spin rotation. A pronounced OIE on $`\lambda _{ab}^2(0)`$ was observed with a relative isotope shift of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{ab}^2/\lambda _{ab}^2=5(2)\%`$ for $`x=0.3`$ and -9(2)% for $`x=0.4`$. It arises mainly from the oxygen-mass dependence of the in-plane effective mass $`m_{ab}^{}`$. The OIE exponents of $`T_c`$ and of $`\lambda _{ab}^2(0)`$ exhibit a relation that appears to be generic for cuprate superconductors.

preprint: PREPRINT ()

The pairing mechanism responsible for high-temperature superconductivity remains elusive in spite of the fact that many models have been proposed since its discovery. A fundamental question is whether lattice effects are relevant for the occurrence of high-temperature superconductivity. In order to clarify this point a large number of isotope-effect studies were performed since 1987 Franck94 . The first oxygen-isotope effect (OIE) studies on the transition temperature $`T_c`$ were performed on optimally doped samples, showing no significant isotope shift Batlogg87 . However, later experiments revealed a small but finite dependence of $`T_c`$ on the oxygen-isotope mass $`M_\mathrm{O}`$ Batlogg87a ; Cardona88 ; Crawford90 ; Zech94 , as well as on the copper-isotope mass $`M_{\mathrm{Cu}}`$ Franck93 ; Zhao96 . Moreover, a general trend in the dependence of the OIE exponent $`\alpha _\mathrm{O}=d\mathrm{ln}T_c/d\mathrm{ln}M_\mathrm{O}`$ on the doping level was found which appears to be generic for all cuprate superconductors Franck94 ; Crawford90 ; Franck91 ; Zhao96 ; Zhao98 : In the underdoped region $`\alpha _\mathrm{O}`$ is large, even exceeding the conventional BCS-value $`\alpha =0.5`$ and becomes small in the optimally doped and overdoped regime.

There is increasing evidence that a strong electron-phonon coupling is present in cuprate superconductors, which may lead to the formation of polarons (bare charge carriers accompanied by local lattice distortions) Alexandrov94 ; Mueller2000 . One way to test this hypothesis is to demonstrate that the effective mass of the supercarriers $`m^{}`$ depends on the mass $`M`$ of the lattice atoms. This is in contrast to conventional BCS superconductors, where only the ‘bare’ charge carriers condense into Cooper pairs, and $`m^{}`$ is essentially independent of $`M`$. For cuprate superconductors (clean limit) the in-plane penetration depth $`\lambda _{ab}`$ is simply given by $`\lambda _{ab}^2(0)n_s/m_{ab}^{}`$, where $`n_s`$ is the superconducting charge carrier density, and $`m_{ab}^{}`$ is the in-plane effective mass of the superconducting charge carriers. This implies that the OIE on $`\lambda _{ab}`$ is due to a shift in $`n_s`$ and/or $`m_{ab}^{}`$:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{ab}^2(0)/\lambda _{ab}^2(0)=\mathrm{\Delta }n_s/n_s\mathrm{\Delta }m_{ab}^{}/m_{ab}^{}.$$
(1)
Therefore a possible mass dependence of $`m_{ab}^{}`$ can be tested by investigating the isotope effect on $`\lambda _{ab}`$, provided that the contribution of $`n_s`$ to the total isotope shift is known.

Previous OIE studies of the penetration depth in YBa2Cu3O7-δ Zhao95 , La2-xSrxCuO4 Zhao97 ; Zhao98 ; Hofer2000 , and Bi1.6Pb0.4Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+δ Zhao2001  indeed showed a pronounced oxygen-mass dependence on the supercarrier mass. However, in all these experiments the penetration depth was determined indirectly from the onset of magnetization Zhao95 ; Zhao2001 , from the Meissner fraction Zhao97 ; Zhao98 , and from magnetic torque measurements Hofer2000 . The muon-spin rotation ($`\mu `$SR ) technique is a direct and accurate method to determine the penetration depth $`\lambda `$ in type II superconductors. In this Letter, we report $`\mu `$SR measurements of in-plane penetration depth $`\lambda _{ab}`$ in underdoped Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7-δ ($`x=0.3`$ and 0.4) with two different oxygen isotopes (16O and 18O). A large OIE on $`\lambda _{ab}`$ was observed which mainly arises from the oxygen-mass dependence of $`m_{ab}^{}`$ .

Polycrystalline samples of Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7-δ ($`x=0.3`$ and $`x=0.4`$) were prepared by standard solid state reaction YPr123preparation . Oxygen isotope exchange was performed during heating the samples in 18O2 gas. In order to ensure the same thermal history of the substituted (18O) and not substituted (16O) sample, two experiments (in 16O2 and 18O2) were always performed simultaneously. The exchange and back exchange processes were carried out at 600oC during 25 h, and then the samples were slowly cooled (20oC/h) in order to oxidize them completely. The 18O content in the samples, as determined from a change of the sample weight after the isotope exchange, was found to be 78(2)% for both samples. The total oxygen content of the samples was determined using high-accuracy volumetric analysis YPr123preparation . To examine the quality of the samples low-field (1mT, field-cooled) SQUID magnetization measurements were performed (see Fig. 1). For both concentrations the $`T_c`$ onset for the 16O samples was higher than for 18O with nearly the same transition width. An oxygen back exchange of the 18O sample ($`x=0.4`$) resulted within error in almost the same magnetization curve as for the 16O sample, confirming that the back exchange is almost complete. The results of the OIE on $`T_c`$ are summarized in Table I. Taking into account an isotope exchange of 78%, we found $`\alpha _\mathrm{O}`$ = 0.22(4) for $`x=0.3`$ and $`\alpha _\mathrm{O}`$ = 0.37(5) for $`x=0.4`$, in agreement with previous results Franck91 ; Zhao96a .

The $`\mu `$SR experiments were performed at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland, using the $`\pi `$M3 $`\mu `$SR facility. The samples consisted of sintered pellets ( 12 mm in diameter, 3 mm thick) which were mounted on a Fe2O3 sample holder in order to reduce the background from muons not stopping in the sample. The polycrystalline Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7-δ samples were cooled from far above $`T_c`$ in a magnetic field of 200 mT perpendicular to the sample disk. Time-differential $`\mu `$SR spectroscopy was employed, from which one can deduce the probability distribution of the local magnetic field $`p(B)`$ of the vortex state by measuring the time evolution of the muon-spin polarization Lee99 . In a powder sample the magnetic penetration depth $`\lambda `$ can be extracted from the muon-spin depolarization rate $`\sigma (T)1/\lambda ^2(T)`$, which probes the second moment $`\mathrm{\Delta }B^2^{1/2}`$ of $`p(B)`$ in the mixed state Lee99 ; Zimmermann95 . For highly anisotropic layered superconductors (like the cuprate superconductors) $`\lambda `$ is mainly determinated by the in-plane penetration depth $`\lambda _{ab}`$ Zimmermann95 : $`\sigma (T)1/\lambda _{ab}^2(T)n_s/m_{ab}^{}.`$

The depolarization rate $`\sigma `$ was extracted from the $`\mu `$SR time spectra using a Gaussian relaxation function $`R(t)=\mathrm{exp}[\sigma ^2t^2/2]`$. Figure 2 shows the temperature dependence of the measured $`\sigma `$ for the Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7-δ samples with $`x=0.3`$. Similar results were obtained for the samples with $`x=0.4`$. It is evident that the values of $`\sigma `$ for 18O are systematically lower than those for 16O. As expected for a type II superconductor in the mixed state, $`\sigma `$ continuously increases below $`T_c`$ with decreasing temperature Zimmermann95 . The sharp increase of $`\sigma `$ below $`10`$ K is due to antiferromagnetic ordering of the Cu(2) moments Seaman90 . Above $`T_c`$ a small temperature independent depolarization rate $`\sigma _{nm}0.15\mu \mathrm{s}^1`$ is seen, arising from the nuclear magnetic moments of Cu and Pr. Therefore, the total $`\sigma `$ is determined by three contributions: a superconducting ($`\sigma _{sc}`$), an antiferromagnetic ($`\sigma _{afm}`$), and a small nuclear magnetic dipole ($`\sigma _{nm}`$) contribution. Because $`\sigma _{afm}`$ is only present at low temperatures, data points below 10 K were not considered in the analysis. The superconducting contribution $`\sigma _{sc}`$ was then determined by subtracting $`\sigma _{nm}`$ measured above $`T_c`$ from $`\sigma `$. In Fig. 3 we show the temperature dependence of $`\sigma _{sc}`$ for the Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7-δ samples with $`x=0.3`$ and 0.4. It is evident that for both concentrations a remarkable oxygen isotope shift on $`T_c`$ as well as on $`\sigma _{sc}`$ is present.

The data in Fig. 3 were fitted to the power law $`\sigma _{sc}(T)/\sigma _{sc}(0)=1(T/T_c)^n`$ Zimmermann95  with $`\sigma _{sc}(0)`$ and $`n`$ as free parameters, and $`T_c`$ fixed. The values of $`T_c`$ were taken from the magnetization measurements (see Table I). The values of $`\sigma _{sc}(0)`$ obtained from the fits are listed in Table I and are in agreement with previous results Seaman90 . The exponent $`n`$ was found to be $`n=2.0(1)`$ for $`x=0.3`$ and $`n=1.5(1)`$ for $`x=0.4`$, which is typical for underdoped YBCO Zimmermann95 . Moreover, $`n`$ is within error the same for 16O and 18O. This implies that $`\sigma _{sc}`$ has nearly the same temperature dependence for the two isotopes (see Fig. 3). In order to proof that the observed OIE on $`\lambda _{ab}(0)`$ are intrinsic, the 18O sample with $`x=0.4`$ was back exchanged (18$``$ 16O). As seen in Fig. 3, the data points of this sample (cross symbols) indeed coincide with those of the 16O sample. From the values of $`\sigma _{sc}(0)`$ listed in Table I the relative isotope shift of the in-plane penetration depth $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{ab}^2(0)/\lambda _{ab}^2(0)=[\sigma _{sc}^{18\mathrm{O}}(0)\sigma _{sc}^{16\mathrm{O}}(0)]/\sigma _{sc}^{16\mathrm{O}}(0)`$ was determined. Taking into account an isotope exchange of 78%, one finds $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{ab}^2(0)/\lambda _{ab}^2(0)=5(2)\%`$ and -9(2)% for $`x=0.3`$ and 0.4, respectively (Table I). For the OIE exponent $`\beta _\mathrm{O}=d\mathrm{ln}\lambda _{ab}^2(0)/d\mathrm{ln}M_\mathrm{O}`$, one readily obtains $`\beta _\mathrm{O}`$ = 0.38(12) for $`x=0.3`$ and $`\beta _\mathrm{O}`$ = 0.71(14) for $`x=0.4`$ (Table I). This means that in underdoped Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7-δ the OIE on $`\lambda _{ab}^2`$ as well as on $`T_c`$ increase with increasing Pr doping $`x`$ (decreasing $`T_c`$ ). This finding is in excellent agreement with the recent magnetic torque measurements on underdoped La2-xSrxCuO4 Hofer2000 .

According to Eq. (1) the observed $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{ab}^2(0)/\lambda _{ab}^2(0)`$ is due to a shift of $`n_s`$ and/or $`m_{ab}^{}`$. For La2-xSrxCuO4 several independent experiments Zhao97 ; Zhao98 ; Hofer2000  have shown that the change of $`n_s`$ during the exchange procedure is negligibly small. In the present work we provide further evidence: (i) The fully oxygenated Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7-δ samples ($`\delta 0`$) were all prepared under identical conditions, either in a $`{}_{}{}^{16}\mathrm{O}_{2}^{}`$ or $`{}_{}{}^{18}\mathrm{O}_{2}^{}`$ atmosphere YPr123preparation , and the Pr content $`x`$ did not change. It is very unlikely that $`n_s`$ changes significantly upon 18O substitution, and after the back-exchange (18O$``$ 16O) the same results are obtained (see Figs. 1, 3 and Table I). (ii) According to a model Lichtenstein95  that describes the suppression of $`T_c`$ in Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7-δ, the number of supercarriers decreases linearly with increasing $`x`$ in the range of $`0.05<x<0.5`$, and consequently $`\mathrm{\Delta }n_s/n_s=\mathrm{\Delta }x/x`$. Moreover, for $`0.1<x<0.5`$ the transition temperature $`T_c`$ decreases linearly with $`x`$, with $`\mathrm{\Delta }T_c/\mathrm{\Delta }x150`$ K/Pr atom Franck91 . Combining this two relations one obtains: $`\mathrm{\Delta }T_c150x\mathrm{\Delta }n_s/n_s`$. Assuming that the observed OIE on $`\lambda _{ab}^2`$ is only due to a change of $`n_s`$ ($`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{ab}^{}/m_{ab}^{}0`$), one can estimate the corresponding shift of $`T_c`$. For $`x=0.3`$ and $`x=0.4`$ one finds $`\mathrm{\Delta }T_c1.8(4)`$ K and $`4.2(6)`$ K, respectively. The experimental values, however, are much lower (see Fig. 1): $`\mathrm{\Delta }T_c=1.3(1)`$ K ($`x=0.3`$) and $`\mathrm{\Delta }T_c=1.7(1)`$ K ($`x=0.4`$). We thus conclude that any change in $`n_s`$ during the exchange procedure must be small, and that the change of $`\lambda _{ab}`$ is mainly due to the OIE on the in-plane effective mass $`m_{ab}^{}`$ with $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{ab}^{}/m_{ab}^{}5(2)`$ % and 9(2) % for $`x=0.3`$ and $`x=0.4`$, respectively. This implies that the effective supercarrier mass $`m_{ab}^{}`$ in this cuprate superconductor depends on the oxygen mass of the lattice atoms, which is not expected for a conventional phonon-mediated BSC superconductor.

In Fig. 4 the exponent $`\beta _\mathrm{O}`$ versus the exponent $`\alpha _\mathrm{O}`$ for Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7-δ is plotted. For comparison we also included the recent magnetic torque results of underdoped La2-xSrxCuO4 Hofer2000 . It is evident that these exponents are linearly correlated: $`\beta _\mathrm{O}=A\alpha _\mathrm{O}+B`$. A best fit yields $`A=1.8(4)`$ and $`B=0.01(12)`$, so that $`\beta _\mathrm{O}A\alpha _\mathrm{O}`$. This empirical relation appears to be generic for cuprate superconductors. Quantitatively one can understand this behavior in terms of an empirical relation between $`T_c`$ and the $`\mu `$SR depolarization rate $`\sigma _{sc}(0)`$ Uemura89 ; SchneiderKeller92 . It was shown SchneiderKeller92  that for most families of cuprate superconductors the simple parabolic relation $`\overline{T}_c=2\overline{\sigma }(1\overline{\sigma }/2)`$ describes the experimental data rather well (here $`\overline{T}_c=T_c/T_c^m`$, $`\overline{\sigma }=\sigma _{sc}(0)/\sigma _{sc}^m(0)`$, and $`T_c^m`$ and $`\sigma _{sc}^m(0)`$ are the transition temperature and depolarization rate of the optimally doped system). Using this parabolic Ansatz, one readily obtains the linear relation between $`\beta _\mathrm{O}`$ and $`\alpha _\mathrm{O}`$: $`\beta _\mathrm{O}/\alpha _\mathrm{O}=1+1/2[(1(1\overline{T}_c)^{1/2})/(1\overline{T}_c)^{1/2}]`$.

In the heavily underdoped regime ($`\overline{T}_c0`$) $`\beta _\mathrm{O}/\alpha _\mathrm{O}1`$. For the underdoped samples shown in Fig. 4 the reduced critical temperature $`\overline{T}_c`$ is in the range 0.5 to 0.7, yielding $`\beta _\mathrm{O}/\alpha _\mathrm{O}=1.21.4`$, in agreement with $`A=1.8(4)`$ obtained from the experimental data. Very recently, it was pointed out SchneiderKeller2001  that the unusual doping dependence of the OIE on $`T_c`$ and on $`\lambda _{ab}^2(0)`$ naturally follows from the doping driven 3D-2D crossover and the 2D quantum superconductor to insulator transition in the underdoped limit. It is predicted that in the underdoped regime $`\beta _\mathrm{O}/\alpha _\mathrm{O}1`$, which is consistent with the parabolic Ansatz.

In summary, we performed $`\mu `$SR measurements of the in-plane penetration depth $`\lambda _{ab}`$ in underdoped Y1-xPrxBa2Cu3O7-δ ($`x=0.3,0.4`$) for samples with two different oxygen isotopes (16O and 18O). A pronounced OIE on both the transition temperature $`T_c`$ and $`\lambda _{ab}^2(0)`$ was observed, which increases with decreasing $`T_c`$. The isotope shift on $`\lambda _{ab}^2(0)`$ is attributed to a shift in the in-plane effective mass $`m_{ab}^{}`$. For $`x=0.3`$ and 0.4 we find $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{ab}^{}/m_{ab}^{}=5(2)\%`$ and -9(2)%, respectively. Furthermore, an empirical relation between the OIE exponents $`\beta _\mathrm{O}`$ and $`\alpha _\mathrm{O}`$ was found that appears to be generic for various classes of cuprate superconductors. The OIE on $`m_{ab}^{}`$ implies that the superconducting carriers have polaronic character, and that lattice effects play an essential role in the occurrence of high-temperature superconductivity.

We are grateful to G.M. Zhao, T. Schneider, and K.A. Müller for many fruitful discussions and to A. Amato, U. Zimmermann, and D. Herlach from PSI for technical support during the $`\mu `$SR experiments. This work was partly supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation.


text:
# *

#### LUTH – Observatoire de Paris–Meudon, 5, place Jules Janssen, F-92.195, Meudon Cedex, France (Boud.Roukema@obspm.fr)
Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, ul. Bartycka 18, P-00-716 Warsaw, Poland
University of Warsaw, Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, P-00-927 Warsaw, Poland

## 1 Introduction

The Universe is a physical object. Physical objects have shapes and sizes.

So, a major goal of observational cosmology is to measure the shape and size of the Universe (within appropriate mathematical theory relating to geometry), or else to convincingly show that these are unmeasurable. The alternative, to suppose that the Universe is a spiritual object, without a shape or size, is not part of the domain of science.

### 1.1 Relativity and geometry

General relativity relates local geometry to the physical content of the Universe. However, it is insufficient to describe the global shape and size of the Universe: the Hilbert-Einstein equations only treat limiting quantities towards an arbitrary point, i.e. they are local.

An extension of general relativity, for example, a theory of quantum gravity, should relate the physical content of the Universe to its global shape and size. Jürgen Ehlers \[private communication\] pointed out that in this sense, one could say that general relativity, as a theory relating gravity to geometry, is incomplete, so that while the global geometry of the Universe is independent of the present theory of general relativity, it could be said to be constrained by a more complete form of general relativity, in a theory yet to be found and/or agreed upon.

### 1.2 Observational detection: topological lensing

Just as general relativity and local perturbations in geometry lead to the observable phenomenon of gravitational lensing, whatever theory extends general relativity, yielding constraints on global geometry, would reveal itself by topological lensing .

This is the basic principle common to (nearly) all suggested techniques of detecting global geometry. (See 2.B.i and 2.B.ii of  for the only techniques known to this author which are independent of this principle.) Just as gravitational lensing is caused by multiple geodesics from an object to the observer, topological lensing would also be caused by multiple geodesics to the observer. In the former case, the geodesics only differ very slightly, over a small portion of their length — due to the gravitational distortion induced by an intervening massive object. But in the latter case, the geodesics are, in general, of very different lengths and point in very different directions, since they are simply two different ways of crossing the Universe between two points.

The “object” observed may either be a gravitationally collapsed, luminous astrophysical object (methods A.i listed in ), or a “patch” of photon emitting plasma seen as a fluctuation in the cosmic microwave background (methods A.ii listed in ). Due to the pioneering stage of this research, terminology and approaches to classifying the different methods of applying of this principle still vary somewhat.

## 2 A non-exhaustive list of recommended reading on background mathematics (geometry/topology), (lack of) physical theory and observational strategies

Apart from articles based on workshops in  and , the following may help guide the reader through the rapidly expanding literature.

### 2.1 Geometry/topology

For the background mathematics (and some comments on observational strategies),  is recommended, but has been complemented recently by a thorough article on multiply connected spherical spaces , which have become relevant due to increasing evidence that the observable Universe is approximately flat, just as the surface of the Earth is nearly flat. The curvature radius $`R_C`$ of a section of the Earth’s surface of radius $`R_H6400`$ km or smaller satisfies $`R_C\stackrel{>}{}R_H`$; similarly, the curvature radius $`R_C`$ of the observable Universe is estimated in comoving units as $`R_C\stackrel{>}{}R_H10`$ $`h^1`$Gpc, where $`R_H`$ is the horizon radius of the Universe and the local cosmological parameters, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\text{m}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, the density parameter and the cosmological constant respectively, are $`(\mathrm{\Omega }_\text{m}=0.3,\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7)`$.

### 2.2 (Lack of) physical theory

For a shorter description of the background mathematics, but also some references to the beginnings of theoretical work which could be useful for a physical theory of global geometry,  is recommended. (This also includes a short historical introduction.) Ideas on topological evolution during the quantum epoch  and a diverse range of physical approaches in §VI of  are just a few examples of theoretical work.

### 2.3 Observational strategies

Definitions of the more formal terms corresponding to “shape” and “size”, e.g. the “3-manifold of the spatial hypersurface at constant cosmological time” for “shape”, and the “injectivity diameter” (twice the injectivity radius) for “size”, are illustrated in fig. 10, §5.1 of , using the terminology of .

Most of the empirical work has (understandably) been done independently of any physical theory of global geometry, i.e. has just assumed a standard Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric. For a rapid introduction to this approach, newcomers to the field might want to skip straight to §5.1 of , and fill in later on the fuller mathematical and historical background.

For an overview and brief description of how the principle of multiple imaging is applied in practice, (i) to collapsed objects spread through three-dimensional comoving space and (ii) to the cosmic microwave background, which would uniquely be in two-dimensional comoving space if the cosmological constant were zero and the density parameter unity, see . Although several methodical developments and observational analyses have been carried out by various groups since , the observational constraints on the size of the Universe, i.e. on the injectivity diameter, remain essentially unchanged from the scales listed for the different approaches in table 2 of §5.2 of , i.e. $`2r_{\text{inj}}\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}`$ $`h^1`$Gpc.

The history of the search for exoplanets in the 1990’s suggests that the inclusion of a “reasonable” but uncertain theoretical assumption (that a planet massive enough to be detectable could not occur close to its parent star, with an orbital period of only a few days) may lead to ignorance of an astrophysical discovery present in existing observational data. Nevertheless, as a strategical choice it is valid, as long as strong claims are not made.

This is the case in most of the cosmic microwave background analyses for cosmic topology, listed as A.ii.3 in .

A brief discussion of what the assumptions are and why they limit the generality of the conclusions of those analyses is provided in §1.2 of .

A new major review on cosmic topology, mostly focussing on cosmic microwave background methods, is .

For the more observationally minded, two applications of approach A.i.3, using physical characteristics of individual objects in order to detect candidate topologically lensed images, published more recently than refs  and , are presented here as illustrations of some of the more direct observational approaches possible.

## 3 GAIA: the Milky Way as the ultimate extragalactic source

By the end of the decade, it is planned to launch a satellite, GAIA, which will make parallax measurements of a billion stars in the Milky Way. This should lead to unprecedented understanding of how the Milky Way formed, and should make it possible to estimate dates of important past events in the history of the Galaxy, including merger events with small neighbouring galaxies, and major events of “nuclear” activity, i.e. of times when our galaxy would have appeared as a quasar or other Active Galactic Nucleus galaxy (AGN) if seen from afar. (In fact, evidence is mounting that mergers and AGN phases probably coincide.)

Since AGNs are typically seen to high redshifts, e.g. $`z2`$, the precise dating of past AGN events of the Galaxy would indicate narrow bands of redshift in which topologically lensed images of our Galaxy would be seen. This could lead either to detection of candidate generators (a generator is a path joining topologically lensed images, corresponding to a single “loop around” the Universe), or to increased confidence in lower limits to $`2r_{\text{inj}}`$ (apart from caveats due to AGNs being missed in the plane of the Galaxy).

Fig. 1 illustrates the observational situation, and also shows an example of some of the basic elements of global geometry in a Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker Universe. For developing one’s basic intuition of observational cosmic topology, it is recommended to be able to switch between thinking in modes (i), (ii) and (iii) as listed in the figure and in, e.g. . Mode (i) is probably the most intuitive for the 2-dimensional case, but difficult for 3-dimensional space; mode (ii) is probably easiest for thinking of the physics; and mode (iii) is generally best for analysing observations.

So GAIA might just possibly turn out to be a powerful probe for observational cosmology. See  for a recent discussion of searching for high redshift images of the Galaxy, and  for brief comments on the relevance of GAIA.

## 4 Similar morphologies of radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs)

Although topologically lensed pairs of images would in general occur at very different redshifts, there are certain cases where the redshifts can be very nearly equal. The “matched circles principle” (; see fig. 2 of  for an explanation of the principle and fig. 3 of  for examples of matching and non-matching circles in 4-year COBE data), adapted in the obvious way for an arbitrary sub-horizon redshift, defines these cases.

A striking coincidence in the morphologies of two radio-loud, double-lobed, compact steep spectrum AGNs, 3C186 and 4C+36.21, yields a good illustration of the falsifiability of specific candidate generators of the global geometry of the Universe .

The redshift of 3C186 is known: $`z=1.063`$, but the redshift of 4C+36.21 is unknown. These two images could only be two topological images of a single RLAGN if the redshift of 4C+36.21 were to lie in the very small interval which gives a physically reasonable expansion speed for the jet (positive and not slower than about $`0.01c`$).

4C+36.21 is seen with a linear size in proper units of about 1.6$`h^1`$kpc, and 3C186 is 6.5$`h^1`$kpc in size, so that the 4C+36.21 image must be just slightly earlier in time than 3C186, but not too much earlier, if the identity hypothesis were to be correct.

The measured redshift of 4C+36.21 would have to lie in the very narrow range $`1.0630<z\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1.0635}`$.

A spectroscopic estimate of the redshift of 4C+36.21 is planned. A redshift outside of this range would clearly refute the hypothesis.

A redshift within the required range would be exciting, but would require many more observational tests before it could be considered to provide a serious candidate estimate (roughly 1 $`h^1`$Gpc) of the size of the Universe.

## 5 Conclusion

Although the subject of cosmic topology is just over a century old (; it predates general relativity), it was only in the late 1980’s and the 1990’s that significant observational attention started being paid to the subject. With estimates of the local cosmological parameters finally converging on consistent values, the natural followup is the quest for measuring global cosmological parameters.