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# Mass transfer in field of fast-moving deformation disturbance

## 1 Introduction

In recent experiments  on the irradiation of the thin-film metal samples by high power ion beams (HPIB) thin films of aluminium and silver on the niobium and copper substrates were irradiated by carbon ions. The considerable penetration depth of the film atoms into the substrate, exceeding the length of the projective path of carbon atoms, has been revealed in the irradiated samples. The estimation of the effective diffusion coefficients has given the anomalously high magnitudes  $`D10^210^4`$ sm2s-1. The effect of the intensive mass transfer by HPIB irradiation has been registered earlier in work . A similar effect has also been observed at electron and laser irradiation of solids  and at shock loading of the samples . The complete explanation of this phenomenon within the scope of the known diffusion mechanisms has not yet been found.
One of possible causes responsible for the accelerated mass transport is the shock wave, generated by irradiation, which is able to induce the enhanced migration of atoms on large depths . In investigating this mechanism of diffusion within the scope of the hydrodynamic description usually one starts from the known diffusion equation in which, according to Fick’s law, the diffusion flux is defined by gradients of the concentration of a diffusing substance, a pressure and a temperature. Such approach is well justified if the disturbances occurring in a system change slowly enough in comparison with the characteristic rate at which the given system approaches the local equilibrium. Meanwhile the interaction of particle beams with a solid induces in the latter rather fast hydrodynamic processes with the characteristic times of order or less than $`10^8`$s and the shock velocity can reach several kilometers per secund. Under these conditions one should expect a significant deviation of the system state from local equilibrium and the violation of Fick’s law and take into account an influence of the relaxation of the system on the process of mass transport.
In this paper we want to study within a simple model basic features the impurity transfer in the relaxating solid medium. More specifically the purpose of the work is to research the interstitial diffusion in the field of the fast moving deformation disturbance of the type of the shock wave. The velocity of the movement of this disturbance is supposed to be compared with the velocity of the propagation of concentration disturbances in the medium. The latter condition just defines the condition of absence of local equilibrium in the system . The task is also interest in connection with shock-compression experiments with metals containing considerable atomic concentrations of interstitial hydrogen .
The description of the fast hydrodynamical processes requires an extended number of independent variables, defining the nonequilibrium state of a medium, in comparison with conventional hydrodynamics. During the course of short enough the characteristic time intervals, in particular, the diffusion flux may not have time to relax to its local-equilibrium value, defined by Fick’s law and it should be considered as independent variable obeying some relaxation equation. The dissipative fluxes (diffusion flux, viscous pressure tensor, heat flux) included in the local conservative laws of mass, momentum and energy are frequently exploited as additional independent variables .
In section 2 we determine the total set of the independent variables suitable for the description of the fast hydrodynamical processes in the crystalline solid with interstitials. For these variables the derivation of the set of the coupled hydrodynamical equations, including a relaxation equation for the diffusion flux is given. Section 3 is devoted to the investigation of the mass transport in the field of fast-moving deformation disturbance of the crystal in the absence of local equilibrium in the system. Resume and concluding remarks are given in section 4.

## 2 Derivation of hydrodynamic equations

In this section we want to derive the set of equations relevant for the description of fast hydrodynamical processes in the crystalline solid with interstitial impurities. The complete set of the hydrodynamical equations has to contain the local conservation laws of mass , momentum and the equation for the entropy production

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\rho }{t}}+\text{div}\rho 𝐯=0,`$ (1)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{(\rho v_i)}{t}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Pi }_{ik}}{x_k}}=0,`$ (2)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{S}{t}}+\text{div}(S𝐯+{\displaystyle \frac{𝐪}{T}}{\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{\rho T}}𝐉)={\displaystyle \frac{R}{T}}.`$ (3)
Here $`\rho `$ is the total mass density of the medium (lattice plus interstitials), $`𝐯`$ is the mass velocity, $`S`$ is the entropy density of the medium, $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{ik}`$ is the tensor momentum flux density, $`𝐪`$ is the heat flux density, $`𝐉`$ is the diffusion flux density of interstitials, $`\nu `$ and $`T`$ are the chemical potential of the interstitials per unit of volume and the absolute temperature, respectively, and $`R(R>0)`$ is the dissipative function of the medium; summation over repeated Latin indices is implied.
Further we suppose that a concentration of vacancies is negligible or their mobility is significantly less than the mobility of interstitials so that the mass transport occurs mainly by the interstitial motion. Introducting the mass concentration of the interstitial particles $`c`$ we write down the continuity equation for the interstitial density $`c\rho `$ as follows

$`{\displaystyle \frac{(c\rho )}{t}}+\text{div}(c\rho 𝐯+𝐉)=0.`$ (4)
It should be noted that the diffusion flux $`𝐉`$, appearing in equations (3) and (4), is determined in a rest frame (moving with velocity $`𝐯`$ relative to the laboratory frame). Meanwhile for a crystal it is convenient to determine the diffusion flux $`𝐉_L`$ relative to a lattice. It is easy to see that both fluxes are related by $`𝐉=(1c)𝐉_L`$. As the mass concentration $`cm_p/m_L`$, where $`m_p`$ and $`m_L`$ are masses of an impurity particle and a host atom, then for light impurities (type of hydrogen), occurring into a matrix of heavy atoms, $`c<<1`$ even for the finite atomic concentration. Because of this $`𝐉𝐉_L`$.
The variables $`\rho ,𝐯,c,S`$, (or $`T`$) define conventional set of the independent hydrodynamical variables for a ”fluid-like” medium. A solid with point defects has the extra independent hydrodynamical variable. This is a displacement vector $`𝐮`$ defining displacement of lattice sites . In addition, according to above said, in the case of fast processes the dissipative fluxes - diffusion flux $`𝐉`$, heat flux $`𝐪`$ and viscous pressure tensor $`\pi _{ik}`$ must be included among the set of independent variables. For simplicity we shall assume that the relaxation times of fluxes $`𝐪`$ and $`\pi _{ik}`$ are considerably less than the relaxation time of diffusion flux and during characteristic time of the process under consideration the fluxes $`𝐪`$ and $`\pi _{ik}`$ have time to relax to their local equilibrium values . In this case diffusion flux $`𝐉`$ is the only new independent variable.
Thus we assume that quantities $`\rho ,𝐯,c,S,𝐮,𝐉`$ completely define the nonequilibrium state of the system. For such set variables the set of the hydrodynamical equations (1)-(4) has to be supplemented by the equations for the displacement vector $`𝐮`$ and the diffusion flux $`𝐉`$. To derive these equations and define the still unknown $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{ik},𝐪`$ and $`R`$, appearing in equations (1)-(4), we use the method originally applied in the theory of the superfluids for the derivation of the equations of the two-fluid hydrodynamics . The main idea, in the given case, is as follows. We shall find these quantities so that the conservation energy law

$$\frac{E}{t}+\text{div}𝐐=0,$$
(5)
would follow from equations (1)-(4) and the equations for $`\dot{𝐮},\dot{𝐉}`$ (an upper dot denotes the time derivative). In the equation (5) $`E`$ and $`𝐐`$ are the energy density and the energy flux density of the medium, respectively.
The energy $`E`$ is related by the Gallilean transformation to its value $`E_0`$ in the frame, where a given element of the volume of the medium rests, by the relationship

$$E=E_0+\frac{\rho v^2}{2}.$$
(6)
Let us now write down the differential of $`E_0`$, considered as a function of $`S,\rho ,c,𝐉`$ and the infinitesimal strain tensor $`u_{ij}`$ in the form

$$dE_0=TdS+\mu d\rho +\nu dc+\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ij}d\stackrel{~}{u}_{ij}+𝐰d𝐉,$$
(7)
here $`\mu `$ is the chemical potential of the medium, $`𝐰=E_0/𝐉`$ is the conjugate variables with $`𝐉`$, and $`\sigma _{ij}`$ is the symmetric, elastic stress tensor; here and further the tilde is used to denote the traceless part of a tensor. In the equation (7) it has been taken into account that the variation $`du_{ii}`$ of sum of diagonal components of the strain tensor $`u_{ij}`$ is determined by the variation of the density $`d\rho `$.
Differentiating the equation (6) with respect to time and using equation (7), one obtains

$$\frac{E}{t}=\frac{}{t}\left(\frac{\rho v^2}{2}\right)+T\frac{S}{t}+\mu \frac{\rho }{t}+\nu \frac{c}{t}+\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ij}\frac{\dot{u}_i}{x_j}+w_i\dot{J}_i.$$
(8)
Employing equations (1)-(4) we can write down the time derivatives as

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\rho v^2}{2}}\right)={\displaystyle \frac{v^2}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\rho }{t}}+v_i{\displaystyle \frac{(\rho v_i)}{t}}`$
$`=\text{div}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\rho v^2}{2}}𝐯\right)v_i{\displaystyle \frac{}{x_k}}(\mathrm{\Pi }_{ik}\rho v_iv_k),`$ (9)
$`T\dot{S}=T\text{div}\left(S𝐯+{\displaystyle \frac{𝐪}{T}}{\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{\rho T}}𝐉\right)+R`$
$`=\text{div}\left(TS𝐯+𝐪{\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{\rho }}𝐉\right)+𝐯(TS)T𝐯S`$
$`𝐉\left({\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{\rho }}\right)+R+𝐪{\displaystyle \frac{T}{T}}+T𝐉\left({\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{\rho T}}\right),`$ (10)
$`\nu \dot{c}=\nu 𝐯c\text{div}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{\rho }}𝐉\right)+𝐉\left({\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{\rho }}\right),`$ (11)
$`\mu \dot{\rho }=\text{div}(\mu \rho 𝐯)+𝐯(\mu \rho )\mu 𝐯\rho ,`$ (12)
$`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ij}{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{u}_i}{x_j}}={\displaystyle \frac{}{x_j}}(\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ij}\dot{u}_i)\dot{u}_i{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ij}}{x_j}}.`$ (13)
Inserting the equations (9)-(13) into equation(8) and taking into account that

$$E_0=TS+\mu \rho +\nu c+\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ij}\left(\frac{u_i}{x_j}\right)+w_iJ_i,$$

after long, though simple, transformations, one has

$`\dot{E}=\text{div}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{\rho v^2}{2}}𝐯+TS𝐯+\mu \rho 𝐯+𝐪\dot{𝐮}\stackrel{~}{\sigma }\right\}+v_k\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ij}{\displaystyle \frac{}{x_j}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{u_i}{x_k}}\right)`$
$`v_i{\displaystyle \frac{}{x_k}}\left(\mathrm{\Pi }_{ik}\rho v_iv_k+\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ik}\right)+𝐯(E_0+TS+\mu \rho )`$
$`+R+𝐪{\displaystyle \frac{T}{T}}+T𝐉\left({\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{\rho T}}\right)+(v_i\dot{u}_i){\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ij}}{x_k}}`$
$`+w_i(\dot{J}_i+𝐯J_i)`$ (14)
Finally equation (14) can be rewritten as

$`\dot{E}+`$ $`\text{div}\{{\displaystyle \frac{\rho v^2}{2}}𝐯+TS𝐯+\mu \rho 𝐯+𝐪\dot{𝐮}\stackrel{~}{\sigma }+𝐯\pi \}`$
$`=`$ $`R+𝐪{\displaystyle \frac{T}{T}}+\pi _{ik}{\displaystyle \frac{v_i}{x_k}}+T𝐉\left({\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{\rho T}}\right)+(v_i{\displaystyle \frac{du_i}{dt}}){\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ik}}{x_k}}+w_i{\displaystyle \frac{dJ_i}{dt}},`$ (15)
where the viscous pressure tensor $`\pi _{ik}`$ is defined from the equality

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_{ik}=\rho v_iv_k+p\delta _{ik}\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ik}+\pi _{ik}$$
(16)
and the notations have been introduced

$$p=E_0+TS+\mu \rho ,$$
(17)
and for the material derivative $`d/dt=/t+𝐯`$ .
In the derivation equation (16) we have neglected the term of the second order of infinitesimal in strains $`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{jk}u_i/x_j`$ in comparison with the linear term $`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ik}`$.
Equation (16) defines the momentum flux density, where $`p`$ can be interpreted as ”pressure” in the medium. Comparing further equation (15) with the energy conservation law (5) we define the energy flux density $`𝐐`$ and the dissipative function $`R`$ as

$$𝐐=\left(\frac{\rho v^2}{2}+E_0+p\right)𝐯+𝐪\dot{𝐮}\stackrel{~}{\sigma }+𝐯\pi $$
(18)
and

$`R`$ $`=`$ $`𝐪{\displaystyle \frac{T}{T}}\pi _{ik}{\displaystyle \frac{v_i}{x_k}}T𝐉\left({\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{\rho T}}\right)`$ (19)
$`(v_i{\displaystyle \frac{du_i}{dt}}){\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ik}}{x_k}}w_i{\displaystyle \frac{dJ_i}{dt}},`$
Since the energy $`E_0`$ is even under time reversal, the dependence between $`E_0`$ and $`J_i`$ in the simplest approximation has the form

$$E_0=\frac{1}{2}W_{ij}J_iJ_j+\mathrm{},W_{ij}=W_{ji},$$

where $`W_{ij}`$ is assumed to be constants and dots denote the terms of the highest order of infinitesimal in fluxes. In this case

$$w_i=\frac{E_0}{J_i}=W_{ik}J_k$$
(20)
and the dissipative function $`R`$ can be rewritten as

$$R=𝐪\frac{T}{T}\pi _{ik}\frac{v_i}{x_k}(v_i\frac{du_i}{dt})\frac{\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ik}}{x_k}J_iX_i,$$
(21)
where

$$X_i=T\frac{}{x_i}\left(\frac{\nu }{\rho T}\right)+W_{ij}\frac{dJ_j}{dt}.$$

In the framework of the linear theory the positive definiteness of $`R`$ leads to the linear relationships relating the dissipative fluxes to the thermodynamic forces. Taking into account Onsager’s reciprocity relations for the transport coefficients and time-reversal property of dissipative effects , we can write these relationships in the form

$`\pi _{ik}=\eta _{iklm}{\displaystyle \frac{v_l}{x_m}},`$ (22)
$`q_i={\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _{ik}^{}}{T^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{T}{x_k}}\alpha _{ik}^{}X_k\beta _{ik}^{}{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{kj}}{x_j}},`$ (23)
$`J_i={\displaystyle \frac{\alpha _{ik}^{}}{T^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{T}{x_k}}\gamma _{ik}^{}X_k\zeta _{ik}^{}{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{kj}}{x_j}},`$ (24)
$`v_i{\displaystyle \frac{du_i}{dt}}={\displaystyle \frac{\beta _{ik}^{}}{T^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{T}{x_k}}\zeta _{ik}^{}X_k\chi _{ik}^{}{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{kj}}{x_j}},`$ (25)
where the forth-rank tensor $`\eta `$ is related to the effect of the viscosity and $`\alpha _{ik}^{},\beta _{ik}^{},\mathrm{}`$ are tensor transport coefficients.
Let us eliminate the thermodynamic force $`X_k`$ from equations (23) and (25). Redenoting the transport coefficients and introducing the explicit definition of $`X_k`$ into equation (24) one rewrites the set (23)-(25) for the case of the cubic lattice as

$`𝐪=\alpha 𝐉\kappa {\displaystyle \frac{T}{T^2}}\beta \stackrel{~}{\sigma },`$ (26)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{d𝐮}{dt}}=𝐯\zeta 𝐉+\beta {\displaystyle \frac{T}{T^2}}+\kappa \stackrel{~}{\sigma },`$ (27)
$`\tau {\displaystyle \frac{d𝐉}{dt}}+𝐉=\gamma T\left({\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{\rho T}}\right)\omega {\displaystyle \frac{T}{T^2}}\lambda \stackrel{~}{\sigma },`$ (28)
where $`\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma \mathrm{}`$ are the scalar transport coefficients. $`\kappa `$ is connected with the heat conductivity , $`\tau `$ is the relaxation time of the diffusion flux. The coefficients $`\beta ,\kappa ,\lambda `$ determine the relation between the dissipative effects and shear stresses. The remaining coefficients are due to the processes of diffusion, thermal diffusion and barodiffusion (owing to the pressure dependence of the interstitial chemical potential $`\nu `$ in equation (28)).
Thus the complete set of the hydrodynamic equations of the system under consideration contains now equations (1)- (4) and equations (27), (28), where the fluxes $`\pi _{ik},𝐪`$ and the dissipative function $`R`$ are given by equations (22), (26) and (21). As it seen from (28) the equation for diffusion flux is the equation of a relaxation type. At $`\tau =0`$, i.e. for slow processes, it determines directly the diffusion flux in terms of gradients of the basic hydrodynamic variables.

## 3 Mass transfer in field of fast-moving deformation disturbance

In this section we consider the diffusion of interstitial impurities in the field of the fast-moving deformation disturbance of the type of a chock wave. We assume that the stepped disturbance (kink), for which the displacement field (along the $`x`$-axis) has the form

$$u(x,t)=u_0\left(1\mathrm{tanh}\frac{xVt}{\delta }\right),$$
(29)
where $`u_0`$ is the amplitude of the disturbance and $`\delta `$ is the width of the transition region, propagates along the $`x`$-direction with the constant velocity $`V`$ compared with the velocity of the propagation of concentration disturbances in the medium.
At the given motion of the lattice (29) the diffusion process is largely governed by the set of two equations: the local conservation law of mass (4) and the relaxation equation for the diffusion flux (28). Let us now transform the right side of equation (28) to the alternative form. Combining equations (7) and (17) and taking into account equation (20), one obtains

$$\rho d\mu =SdT+dp+\nu dc+\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ij}d\stackrel{~}{u}_{ij}+\frac{W}{2}dJ^2,$$
(30)
where $`W=\frac{1}{3}W_{ii}`$. It follows from equation (30) that one can consider the chemical potential $`\nu `$ to be a function of the independent variables $`T,p,c,\stackrel{~}{u}_{ij},J^2`$. Omitting essentially nonlinear terms, note that in the case of the cubic symmetry a scalar function can depend on the tensor $`\stackrel{~}{u}_{ij}`$ by convolution $`\stackrel{~}{u}_{ii}=0`$ only. Consequently one can consider $`\nu `$ to be a function of $`T,p,c`$ only.
The available experimental data indicate that when a shock wave propagates in a a solid the effect of thermodiffusion is neglected in comparison with borodiffusion . Here we also assume that the main factor determining mass transfer in our system is the effect of barodiffusion. Then omitting the gradient of a temperature one rewrites equation (28) in the more simple form as

$$\tau \frac{d𝐉}{dt}+𝐉=\gamma T\frac{}{c}\left(\frac{\nu }{\rho T}\right)c\gamma \frac{}{p}\left(\frac{\nu }{\rho T}\right)p\lambda \stackrel{~}{\sigma },$$
(31)
It follows from equation (16) that $`\sigma _{ik}=p\delta _{ik}+\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_{ik}`$, with $`\sigma _{ii}=3p`$ is the elastic stress tensor. In the one-dimensional case one neglects the influence of shear stress on a diffusion mobility 111In the one-dimensional case $`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }`$ is proportional to $`u/x`$. Therefore allowance for the term $`\lambda \stackrel{~}{\sigma }`$ in the right-hand side of Eq.(31) leads simply to redefinition of the constant $`G`$ in Eq. (33).. In addition, we assume that Hook’s law $`p=kU`$, relating the pressure $`p`$ with the deformation $`U=u/x`$ of a material element, is valid. Redenoting the constants in equation (31) one writes down in the linear approximation the coupled set of the one-dimensional versions of equations (4) and (31) as

$`\rho {\displaystyle \frac{c}{t}}={\displaystyle \frac{J}{x}},`$ (32)
$`\tau {\displaystyle \frac{J}{t}}+J=\rho D{\displaystyle \frac{c}{x}}+\rho G{\displaystyle \frac{U}{x}},`$ (33)
where $`G>0`$ has the meaning of the coefficient of the barodiffusion and $`D=\gamma \rho ^1T(\nu /\rho T)/c`$ is the diffusion constant. In addition, in obtaining of equation (32) and (33) we have neglected the term $`𝐯`$, appearing in the material derivative that is small for fast processes in comparison with the time derivative $`/t`$.
After some algebra, equations (32) and (33) are brought to the form

$`{\displaystyle \frac{c}{t}}+{\displaystyle \frac{D}{V_D^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{^2c}{t^2}}D{\displaystyle \frac{^2c}{x^2}}=G{\displaystyle \frac{^2U}{x^2}},`$ (34)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{J}{t}}+{\displaystyle \frac{D}{V_D^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{^2J}{t^2}}D{\displaystyle \frac{^2J}{x^2}}=\rho G{\displaystyle \frac{^2U}{xt}}.`$ (35)
At $`U=0`$ equation (34) (as well as equation(35)) is known as the telegrapher equation that, unlike to the classical diffusion equation, gives rise to the finite speed $`V_D^2=D/\tau `$ of the propagation of concentration perturbations .
It is convenient to consider equations (34) and (35) in the reference frame moving with velocity $`V`$ together with the front of the disturbance (29). Passing to the dimensionless coordinate $`\xi =(xVt)/\tau V_D`$, one has

$`(\phi ^21){\displaystyle \frac{d^2\overline{c}}{d\xi ^2}}\phi {\displaystyle \frac{d\overline{c}}{d\xi }}={\displaystyle \frac{d^2\overline{U}}{d\xi ^2}},`$ (36)
$`(\phi ^21){\displaystyle \frac{d^2\overline{J}}{d\xi ^2}}\phi {\displaystyle \frac{d\overline{J}}{d\xi }}=\phi {\displaystyle \frac{d^2\overline{U}}{d\xi ^2}},`$ (37)
where $`\phi =V/V_D`$, $`\overline{U}=GU/c_0D`$, $`\overline{c}=(cc_0)/c_0`$, $`\overline{J}=J/c_0\rho V_D`$ and $`c_0`$ is the equilibrium interstitial concentration.
Supposing that far from the front of the wave ($`\xi =0`$) the medium is not disturbed, we take the boundary conditions in the form

$$\xi \pm \mathrm{},\overline{c}0,\overline{J}0.$$
(38)
The solution of the boundary value problem (36) - (38) can be presented as follows

$$\overline{c}(\xi )=\{\begin{array}{cc}b\overline{U}(\xi )ab\underset{\mathrm{}}{\overset{\xi }{}}e^{a(\xi \xi ^{})}\overline{U}(\xi ^{})𝑑\xi ^{},\hfill & \phi <1,\hfill \\ \frac{d\overline{U}}{d\xi },\hfill & \phi =1,\hfill \\ b\overline{U}(\xi )+ab\underset{\xi }{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}e^{a(\xi \xi ^{})}\overline{U}(\xi ^{})𝑑\xi ^{},\hfill & \phi >1,\hfill \end{array}$$

Here $`a=\phi b`$, $`b=1/(1\phi ^2)`$ and the solution for the dimensionless flux $`\overline{J}`$ follows from (3) as a result of the replacement of $`b`$ by $`a`$. Equation (3) is the solution of boundary value problem for arbitrary deformation disturbance $`U`$, vanishing at $`\xi \pm \mathrm{}`$.
The transition to the local-equilibrium theory occurs if in equation (33) one puts formally $`\tau =0`$. Using the same dimensionless variables as in equations (36) and (37) one has in this case the following equations

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d^2\overline{c}_{leq}}{d\xi ^2}}\phi {\displaystyle \frac{d\overline{c}_{leq}}{d\xi }}={\displaystyle \frac{d^2\overline{U}}{d\xi ^2}},`$ (39)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{d^2\overline{J}_{leq}}{d\xi ^2}}\phi {\displaystyle \frac{d\overline{J}_{leq}}{d\xi }}=\phi {\displaystyle \frac{d^2\overline{U}}{d\xi ^2}}.`$ (40)
The solution of this equations has the standard form and we shall not give it here.
For the disturbance (29) $`\overline{U}(\xi )=U_0/(cosh^2\xi /\delta _1)`$, where $`U_0`$ is the known constant and $`\delta _1=\delta /\tau V_D`$, one rewrites equation (3) in the form

$$\overline{c}(\overline{\xi })/U_0=\{\begin{array}{cc}\frac{b}{\mathrm{cosh}^2\overline{\xi }}+(a\delta _1)b\underset{\mathrm{}}{\overset{\overline{\xi }}{}}\frac{e^{a\delta _1(\overline{\xi }\xi )}}{\mathrm{cosh}^2\xi }𝑑\xi ,\hfill & \phi <1,\hfill \\ \frac{2}{\delta _1}\frac{\mathrm{sinh}\overline{\xi }}{\mathrm{cosh}^2\overline{\xi }},\hfill & \phi =1,\hfill \\ \frac{b}{\mathrm{cosh}^2\overline{\xi }}(a\delta _1)b\underset{\overline{\xi }}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{e^{a\delta _1(\overline{\xi }\xi )}}{\mathrm{cosh}^2\xi }𝑑\xi ,\hfill & \phi >1,\hfill \end{array}$$

here $`\overline{\xi }=\xi /\delta _1`$. Equation (3) is the solution of the given problem at arbitrary values of parameters. Here we are interested in values of the parameter $`\phi =V/V_D`$ close to one for which $`|a|>>1,|b|>>1`$. At the same time the parameter $`\delta _1`$, characterizing the width of the transition region of the disturbance, can take, generally speaking, any values. In what follows we confine ourselves to two limiting cases.
1.The wide transition region, $`\delta _1=\delta /\tau V_D1`$. Figures 1-3 present the curves for the impurity concentration $`\overline{c}/U_0`$ (as well as for the diffusion flux $`\overline{J}/\phi U_0`$) at different values of the parameter $`\phi `$ in the case of the propagating local compression ($`U_0>0`$). This figures also show the difference between the local equilibrium and the local nonequilibrium (presence of the relaxation process in the medium) theories. In all cases the deformation disturbance produces the enhanced impurity concentration immediately before the front of the deformation wave (the region of $`\overline{\xi }>0`$), lowering it behind the front. In the region of the of the enhanced concentration the diffusion flux points in the direction of the disturbance propagation, while in the region of lowered concentration - in the opposite direction.
As figures 2 and 3 show, at $`\phi 1`$ the concentration perturbations are significantly greatly in the local nonequilibrium medium. In this case the diffusion flux is nearly twice as large as that for the local equilibrium system.
2.The narrow transition region, $`\delta _1=\delta /\tau V_D<<1`$. In what follows we consider the special case of $`\delta _1=1/|a|,|a|>>1`$. Figures 4-5 demonstrate a pronounced difference between two approaches. The ejection of the major number of interstitials into the region before the front of the wave is observed in the absence of a local equilibrium in the medium. In the latter case the impurity concentration in the indicated region is nearly by an order greater than the local equilibrium concentration that does not change practically with the rising of $`\phi `$. Figures 4-5 also show the considerable deviation for diffusion fluxes demonstrating the acceleration of the mass transfer under local nonequilibrium conditions. Note that at $`\phi >1`$ in the region of the front the diffusion fluxes referring to the different nonequilibrium states of the medium point in complete opposite directions. The difference between the local nonequilibrium curves at different magnitudes $`\phi `$ are shown in figure 6.
The reason of the enhanced impurity concentration before the front in the local-nonequilibrium system is that when the velocity of the deformation wave is near to $`V_D`$, the concentration disturbances have no time to propagate on large distances from the front. This has the effect of accumulation of interstitials in the indicated region. Here is a complete analogy with the task about the motion of a thermal source in a relaxating medium .
It should be noted that in the case of the local tension ($`U_0<0`$) the concentration peaks will form behind the front of the wave ($`\overline{\xi }<0`$) by the moving particles from the region $`\overline{\xi }>0`$.

## 4 Summary and conclusion

In this work we have presented the investigation of mass transfer in the field of the fast-moving deformation disturbance of the type of a shock wave, propagating in the infinite lattice with interstitial impurities. The research is motivated by experiments on the exposure of solid to dynamical external loads
For the description of fast hydrodynamical processes the extending of the set of the conventional variables, characterizing the nonequilibrium state of a solid is needed. In the given model the only extra variable is the diffusion flux, the relaxation time of which is assumed to be comparable to the timescale of the process under consideration. For the selected variables the set of the coupled hydrodynamical equations has been derived.
Having assumed that the main factor impacting on mass transfer in our case is the effect of barodiffusion , we reduce the diffusion task to the investigation of the set of two linear, one-dimensional equations. These are the equation for the interstitial concentration (36) and the relaxation equation for the diffusion flux (37). The solution of this set is defined by two dimensionless parameters $`\phi =V/V_D`$ and $`\delta _1=\delta /\tau V_D`$. At the different magnitudes $`\phi 1`$ we have considered two special cases $`\delta _11`$ and $`\delta _1<<1`$.
Figures 1-5 show that the occurrence of the relaxation process in the medium leads to the significant deviation of the concentration profiles and the diffusion fluxes from the local equilibrium diffusion data. The ejection of interstitials into the region before the front enables to speak about the effect of the entrainment of impurity particles by the wave. This effect takes place in the local equilibrium system also (see  as well), however at $`\delta _1<<1`$ to a largest measure it is displayed in the local nonequilibrium conditions (figures 4 and 5).
In the case of the local tension ($`U_0<0`$; the mirror reflection of the plots 1-6 relative to axis $`\overline{\xi }`$) the concentration peaks will form beyond the front of the wave by a ”suction” of particles from the range before the front into the extended range.
The case of $`\delta _11`$ ($`\delta \tau V_D`$) corresponds to the smooth enough behavior of the deformation disturbance. Here, in the region of the front, the local nonequilibrium diffusion flux is nearly twice as large as that for the local equilibrium system. The case of $`\delta _1<<1`$ ($`\delta <<\tau V_D`$) corresponds to the sharp deformation variations. From figures 4 and 5 it is seen that in this case one can speak about the significant acceleration of the mass transfer in the local nonequilibrium system. The all effects noted above are by an order less in the local equilibrium system.
Thus our investigation has shown that at the taken magnitudes of the parameters of the model an enhanced mass transfer takes place in local nonequilibrium system in comparison with the same process considered under the local equilibrium conditions.
Note in conclusion that the results presented here have been obtained within the scope of the linear theory. The set of the hydrodynamical equations derived in section 2 can form the basis for the investigation of nonlinear effects.


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# Electronic properties of the novel 4𝑑 metallic oxide SrRhO3

Fax.:\]+81-298-58-5650

## Abstract

The novel 4$`d`$ perovskite compound SrRhO3 was investigated by isovalent doping studies. The solubility limits of Ca and Ba onto Sr-site were below 80% and 20%, respectively. Although SrRhO3 was chemically compressed, approximately 5.7% by the Ca doping, no significant influence was observed on the magnetic and electrical properties.

Novel 4$`d`$ electronic compounds in the rhodium-oxide system with perovskite- and Ruddlesden-Popper-type structures were found recently, followed by intensive experimental investigations PRB01KY ; PRB02KY ; MRS02KY . An essential chemical reaction in synthesis of the compounds was provoked by a high-pressure and high-temperature heating (6 GPa and 1500 C) in our originally developed apparatus PRB01KY . The structure characteristics of the compounds were studied by means of powder neutron and x-ray diffraction PRB01KY ; PRB02KY ; The structural data clearly indicate them to be isostructural to the analogous ruthenium oxides with approximately the same degree of local structural distortions. The perovskite SrRhO3 is metallic with enhanced paramagnetism as is the analogous ruthenium oxide CaRuO3 PRL99KY . A comprehensive picture, however, for the magnetic and transport properties has not been fully established yet. The quadratic temperature dependence, for example, of the magnetic susceptibility data of SrRhO3 is unexpected, and it does not follow, even qualitatively, the models of conventional paramagnetism or self-consistent-renormalization PRB01KY .

In this short paper, we report the data of isovalent substitution studies on the perovskite SrRhO3. The Ca substitution was achieved onto the Sr site up to approximately 80%, resulting in 5.7% compression in unit-cell volume.

Variable composition precursors Sr1-xCaxRhOz ($`x=`$ 0 to 1 in 0.2 steps) were prepared from SrCO3 (99.9 %), CaCO3 (99.9 %) and Rh (99.9 %) powders. Mixtures were heated at 1200 C for 48 hrs in oxygen after a couple of pre-heatings. Each of those ($``$0.3 g) was then mixed with KClO4 (8 wt.%), and placed into Pt capsules. The capsules were compressed at 6 GPa and heated at 1500 C for 1 hr, followed by quenching to room temperature at the elevated pressure. Quality of the final products was examined by powder x-ray diffraction in a regular manner. The magnetic susceptibility of the selected samples was measured in a commercial apparatus (Quantum Design, MPMS-XL). The electrical resistivity was measured by a conventional dc-four-terminal technique.

It appeared that the Ca doped samples ($`x=`$0.2–0.6) were of high-quality as well as pure SrRhO3 PRB01KY . At $`x=`$0.8, a small fraction of an unknown phase was detected, indicating a limit on the Ca solubility. At the Ca-end ($`x=`$ 1.0), the sample consisted of multiple phases, which were unidentified. The various lattice parameters and the unit-cell volumes measured in the x-ray study are arranged in Fig.1. They decrease smoothly with increasing Ca concentration, consistent with Ca having a smaller ionic radius than Sr. The perovskite SrRhO3 was chemically compressed $`5.7\%`$ by the Ca substitution.

The temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity of the sample pellets were measured between 2 K and 380 K. Metallic behavior was observed for the samples between $`x=`$ 0 and 0.8 in the temperature range. Although the data were probably influenced somewhat by polycrystalline nature of the samples, the essential electrical characteristics should be metallic over the whole solid-solution.

The Ca concentration dependence of the magnetic properties was studied at 50 kOe between 2 K and 380 K. The magnetic susceptibility data could not be well fit to a typical Curie-Weiss type expression ($`1/\chi T`$). However, a linear region in the data is observed when plotted as $`1/\chi `$ vs $`T^2`$ as shown in Fig.2. To a first approximation, there is no change in slope of the linear part of the data with increasing Ca concentration, rather generally a rigid shift to higher values of $`1/\chi `$. Neither antiferromagnetic nor ferromagnetic order was observed, and therefore, the data do not provide sufficient evidence to determine the dominant influence on the rather unusual magnetic character ($`1/\chi T^2`$) in the metallic state.

The Ca-doping shifts the system away from a long-range magnetically ordered state, as the intersection between the horizontal axis and the extrapolated linear fit (Fig.2) moves away from the origin with increasing Ca concentration. Long-range order is expected to appear when the point intersects the origin, as found in the solid solution of the Ru analogue, (Ca,Sr)RuO3 PRL99KY . We were then motivated to try Ba-doping in the perovskite, essentially a study in negative compression (Ba has a lager ionic size than Sr). The amount of Ba substituted was, however, too insignificant to test the expectation. The orthorhombic structure quickly transformed to a hexagonal type with increasing Ba concentration JSSC81BLC ; the Ba-solubility limit was less than 20 % at the synthesis conditions.

In summary, we reviewed investigations of the isovalent doping studies on SrRhO3. The data indicate no remarkable change in the magnetic and electrical properties of SrRhO3, either qualitatively or quantitatively; the rather unusual magnetic character, quadratic temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility ($`1/\chi T^2`$) was robust against the 5.7% chemical compression. Hence, the open question still remains as to what mechanism is responsible for the magnetic characteristics. Further investigations, including testing aliovalent doping effects on SrRhO3, would be of interest.

We wish to thank Dr. M. Akaishi (NIMS) and Dr. S. Yamaoka (NIMS) for their advice on the high-pressure experiments.


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Over the past few years QED3 has attracted a lot of attention, because of potential applications to models of high $`T_c`$ superconductivity . It is also an interesting and challenging model field theory in its own right, which is seen as an ideal laboratory to study effects such as dynamical mass generation which may be relevant to phenomena described by more complicated gauge field theories such as technicolor . In three dimensions the model is super-renormalisable, because the coupling $`g`$ has mass dimension $`\frac{1}{2}`$ and so provides the intrinsic scale of the theory independently of any bare fermion mass $`m_0`$. This also implies asymptotic freedom, since for processes with momentum transfer $`kg^2`$ the theory is effectively non-interacting.

Non-trivial behaviour may arise in the infra-red, however, as suggested by an expansion in $`1/N_f`$, where $`N_f`$ is the number of (four-component) fermion species . In the large-$`N_f`$ limit the photon propagator is modified by the vacuum polarisation diagram from $`1/k^2`$ to $`1/[k^2+\frac{g^2}{8}N_fk]`$; in coordinate space the logarithmic Coulomb potential is thus modifed to $`1/r`$ for distances $`r(g^2N_f)^1`$. Naively we deduce that the confining property of the Coulomb potential is screened by virtual $`f\overline{f}`$ pairs. However, consider the energy required to excite a real $`f\overline{f}`$ pair into the vacuum state . The kinetic energy of the pair is positive and scales as $`r^1`$ by the uncertainty principle. For large $`r`$ therefore, both kinetic and potential terms scale as $`r^1`$ and it becomes a delicate question which dominates. Next we note that the dimensionless interaction strength scales in this regime as $`N_f^1`$, implying the possible existence of a critical $`N_{fc}`$ below which the negative potential term dominates as $`r\mathrm{}`$. Since as $`r0`$ the positive kinetic term must dominate the logarithmic Coulomb term, we deduce in this case the existence of an energy minimum at some non-zero $`r`$, implying the existence of stable $`f\overline{f}`$ bound states in the ground state. This semi-classical argument hence suggests a non-vanishing condensate $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }0`$ for $`N_f<N_{fc}`$. Since the condensate spontaneously breaks chiral symmetry, the fermions are imbued with a dynamically-generated mass. For asymptotically large $`r`$ the massive fermions decouple, ceasing to screen the charge, and the logarithmically-confining Coulomb potential is restored. The picture therefore predicts two possible phases for QED3: for $`N_f<N_{fc}`$ chiral symmetry is broken, so that the only massless states are Goldstone bosons, and electric charge is logarithmically confined; for $`N_f>N_{fc}`$ the theory is conformal, consisting of massless fermions interacting via a long-range $`1/r`$ interaction.

In this paper we address the question of whether chiral symmetry is spontaneously broken in QED3 for any value of $`N_f2`$, i.e. whether $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }0`$ in the chiral limit bare fermion mass $`m_00`$ and the continuum (weak coupling) limit $`g0`$. This question has received much study over the past decade, the principal approach being self-consistent solutions to truncated Schwinger-Dyson (SD) equation for the fermion propagator. Initial studies using the photon propagator derived from the leading order large-$`N_f`$ expansion suggested that the answer is positive with $`N_{fc}3.2`$ . Within this framework it was shown that the dynamically generated fermion mass is much less than the coupling contant, providing a natural hierarchy of mass scales. It is also possible to consider analytically continuing to a continuous number of flavors; the model in the limit $`N_fN_{fc}`$ is then supposed to undergo an infinite-order phase transition . Other studies taking non-trivial vertex corrections into account, however, predicted chiral symmetry breaking for arbitrary $`N_f`$ . More recent studies which treat the vertex consistently in both numerator and denominator of the SD equations have found $`N_{fc}<\mathrm{}`$, with a value either in agreement with the original study , or a slightly higher $`N_{fc}4.3`$ . Other analytical approaches have also been applied. A recent renormalization group analysis predicts $`3<N_{fc}<4`$ . Finally there is an argument based on the inequality

$$f_{IR}f_{UV},$$
(1)
where $`f`$ is the absolute value of the thermodynamic free energy, and can be estimated in the relevant limits simply by counting massless degrees of freedom, either fermions or Goldstones as reviewed below. For QED3 this yields the prediction $`N_{fc}\frac{3}{2}`$ .

There have also been attempts to resolve the issue via numerical simulation of non-compact lattice QED3. The obvious advantage of a computer simulation is that one can study any $`N_f`$ without any technical assumption concerning the convergence of expansion methods. Indeed, it is also possible to study the quenched ($`N_f=0`$) limit, in which case a numerical study has shown that chiral symmetry appears to be broken , with a dimensionless condensate $`\beta ^2\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }5\times 10^3`$, where $`\beta 1/g^2a`$ is the dimensionless lattice coupling constant ($`a`$ being the lattice spacing). For the unquenched theory, opinions have divided on whether $`N_{fc}`$ is finite and $`3`$ , or whether chiral symmetry is broken for all $`N_f`$ . The most recent study with $`N_f=2`$ on lattices up to $`16^3`$ found chiral symmetry breaking with $`\beta ^2\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }3\times 10^3`$ . This value is extracted, however, by simultaneous extrapolation to continuum, chiral, and thermodynamic limits, which is difficult to control since even with broken chiral symmetry there remain large finite volume effects due to the presence of a massless photon in the spectrum. For this reason it is unlikely that a numerical simulation will ever completely exclude chiral symmetry breaking for $`N_f>0`$, particularly if the condensate is suppressed by a typical non-perturbative factor $`\mathrm{exp}(CN_f)`$ .

In this paper we will present results of simulations on lattices considerably larger (up to $`50^3`$) and bare fermion masses considerably smaller ($`m_0a0.0000625`$) than any previous study, which enables us to approach all three limits with greater control. Our goal is to place a bound on any possible chiral condensate using as few assumptions as possible on the nature of the required extrapolations. Our conclusion is that for $`N_f=2`$, $`\beta ^2\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }<5\times 10^5`$, two orders of magnitude below the quenched value. For larger $`N_f`$ the condensate is smaller still. Since we see no direct evidence for chiral symmetry breaking, our results are consistent with $`N_{fc}<2`$, although as explained above an exponentially suppressed condensate is almost impossible to exclude. In the next section we briefly review the model, its symmetries, and the numerical methods used to simulate it. Our numerical results for the condensate appear in Section 3, in which in addition we present results for meson masses and susceptibilities, and Polyakov lines with both integer and fractional charges. All of these subsidiary quantities reveal evidence of strong finite volume effects which makes any conclusions drawn qualitative at best. Section 4 summarises our findings.

## 2 The Model

The continuum Lagrangian density describing QED3 is given in Euclidean metric by

$$=\frac{1}{4}F_{\mu \nu }F_{\mu \nu }+\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}_iD_\mu \gamma _\mu \mathrm{\Psi }_i+m_0\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}_i\mathrm{\Psi }_i$$
(2)
where $`D_\mu _\mu igA_\mu `$, and $`F_{\mu \nu }`$ is the field strength for the abelian gauge field $`A_\mu `$. The fermions $`\mathrm{\Psi }_i`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},N_f`$, are four-component spinors acted on by hermitian Dirac matrices $`\gamma _\mu `$, implying that the mass term proportional to $`m_0`$ is invariant under the 2+1 dimensional parity transformation.

Since the $`\gamma `$-matrices belong to a reducible representation of the Dirac algebra in three dimensions, the global symmetry of (2) is larger than naively expected. The matrices $`\{\mathrm{𝟏},\gamma _3,\gamma _5,\tau _3\}`$ where $`\tau _3i\gamma _3\gamma _5`$ generate a global U(2) symmetry. To see this define $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Psi }}\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\tau _3`$. For $`m_0=0`$ the U(2) symmetry is then

$$\mathrm{\Psi }U\mathrm{\Psi }\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Psi }}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Psi }}U^{}U\text{U(2)}.$$
(3)
The symmetry is broken, either explicitly by a bare mass or spontaneously by chiral condensation $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }0`$, to a residual U(1)$``$U(1)$`_{\tau _3}`$ where the first U(1) factor corresponds to global fermion number conservation, and the second to a symmetry

$$\mathrm{\Psi }e^{i\alpha \tau _3}\mathrm{\Psi }\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}e^{i\alpha \tau _3}.$$
(4)
Chiral symmetry breaking for the theory with $`N_f`$ flavors would then result in the pattern $`\text{U}(2N_f)\text{U}(N_f)\text{U}(N_f)_{\tau _3}`$.

The lattice action using staggered lattice fermion fields $`\chi ,\overline{\chi }`$ is given by

$`S`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{x,\mu <\nu }{}}F_{\mu \nu }(x)F_{\mu \nu }(x)+{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{x,x^{}}{}}\overline{\chi }_i(x)M(x,x^{})\chi _i(x^{})`$ (5)
$`F_{\mu \nu }(x)`$ $``$ $`\theta _{x\mu }+\theta _{x+\widehat{\mu },\nu }\theta _{x+\widehat{\nu },\mu }\theta _{x\nu }`$
$`M(x,x^{})`$ $``$ $`m_0\delta _{x,x^{}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{\mu }{}}\eta _\mu (x)[\delta _{x^{},x+\widehat{\mu }}U_{x\mu }\delta _{x^{},x\widehat{\mu }}U_{x\widehat{\mu },\mu }^{}].`$
The vectors $`x,x^{}`$ consist of three integers $`(x_0,x_1,x_2)`$ labelling the sites of an $`L^3`$ lattice. Since the gauge action $`F^2`$ is unbounded from above, (5) defines the non-compact formulation of lattice QED3. The $`\eta _\mu (x)`$ are Kawamoto-Smit phases ($`\eta _1(x)=1;\eta _2(x)=(1)^{x_1};\eta _0(x)=(1)^{x_1+x_2}`$) designed to ensure relativistic covariance in the continuum limit. For the fermion fields antiperiodic boundary conditions are used in the timelike direction and periodic boundary conditions in the spatial directions. The phase factors in the fermion bilinear are defined by $`U_{x\mu }\mathrm{exp}(i\theta _{x\mu })`$, where $`\theta _{x\mu }`$ is the gauge potential. In terms of continuum quantities, $`\theta _{x\mu }=agA_\mu (x)`$ and the coupling $`\beta \frac{1}{g^2a}`$, where $`a`$ is the physical lattice spacing. We prefer the non-compact version of lattice QED3, because it resembles more closely the continuum model we wish to compare with. In particular, magnetic monopole excitations, which are known to have a decisive effect on the infra-red behaviour of the compact model , are here strongly suppressed as $`\beta `$ is made large.

The particle content of eq.(5) has been analysed in , showing that in the long-wavelength limit $`N`$ flavors of staggered lattice fermion correspond to $`N_f=2N`$ of the four-component continuum flavors described by the action (2). For lattice spacing $`a>0`$, however, the global symmetries for $`m_0=0`$ are only partially realised. In this case the symmetry is

$`\overline{\chi }_o\overline{\chi }_oe^{i\alpha }`$ $`\chi _ee^{i\alpha }\chi _e`$
$`\overline{\chi }_e\overline{\chi }_ee^{i\beta }`$ $`\chi _oe^{i\beta }\chi _o,`$ (6)
where $`\chi _{o/e}`$ denotes the field on odd (i.e. $`\epsilon (x)(1)^{x_1+x_2+x_3}=1`$) and even sublattices respectively. Chiral symmetry breaking characterised by $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }\overline{\chi }\chi 0`$ now has the pattern $`\text{U}(N)\text{U}(N)\text{U}(N)`$. Only in the continuum limit $`\beta \mathrm{}`$ is the full symmetry of the continuum theory expected to be restored.

In the context of the current discussion the issue of whether the full U($`2N_f`$)=U($`4N`$) flavor symmetry is restored in the continuum limit $`\beta \mathrm{}`$ is very important. Take for instance the considerations of ref.  which constrain $`N_{fc}`$ via the inequality (1):

$$1+\frac{3}{4}(4N_{fc})1+2N_{fc}^2.$$
(7)
Here the left hand side of the inequality counts the number of massless thermodynamic degrees of freedom in the UV limit, which consist of a single bose (the photon) and $`4N_f`$ fermi degrees of freedom, the factor $`\frac{3}{4}`$ coming from the Fermi-Dirac distribution in 2+1 dimensions. The right hand side counts both the photon and the $`2N_f^2`$ Goldstone modes expected from the breaking $`\text{U}(2N_f)\text{U}(N_f)\text{U}(N_f)`$. Eq. (7) yields the bound $`N_{fc}\frac{3}{2}`$. If, however, chiral symmetry broke according to the staggered pattern $`\text{U}(N)\text{U}(N)\text{U}(N)`$, then the inequality becomes

$$1+\frac{3}{4}(8N_c)1+N_c^2,$$
(8)
implying $`N_{fc}=2N_c12`$ . An observation of broken chiral symmetry in the $`\beta \mathrm{}`$ limit in lattice QED3 simulations with $`N_f2`$ therefore implies either that the arguments leading to the constraint (1) are incorrect, or that flavor symmetry restoration does not occur in this model.

The numerical results presented here were obtained by simulating the action (5) using a standard Hybrid Monte Carlo (HMC) algorithm. The form of (5) permits an even-odd partitioning, which means that a single flavor of staggered fermion can be simulated. The minimum number of continuum flavors which can be simulated with a local action is thus $`N_f=2`$. We used the following methods to optimise the performance of the HMC algorithm. Firstly the effective coupling $`\beta ^{}`$ used during integration of the equations of motion along a microcanonical trajectory was tuned so as to maximise the acceptance rate of the Monte Carlo procedure for a fixed microcanonical time-step $`d\tau `$. As the lattice size was increased $`d\tau `$ had to be taken smaller and the optimal $`\beta ^{}`$ approached $`\beta `$. For example for the $`N_f=2`$ case on a $`16^3`$ lattice and coupling $`\beta =0.60`$ the choices $`d\tau =0.025`$ and $`\beta ^{}=0.6007`$ gave acceptance rate greater than $`90\%`$ for all bare masses of interest. To maintain this acceptance rate on a $`32^3`$ lattice we used $`d\tau =0.015`$ and $`\beta ^{}=0.6004`$. Secondly the Monte Carlo procedure was optimised by choosing the trajectory length at random from a Poisson distribution with mean $`\overline{\tau }=1`$. This method of optimisation, which guarantees ergodicity, also decreases autocorrelation times dramatically. Statistical errors in our measurements were calculated by jackknife blocking, which accounts for autocorrelations in a raw dataset. We found the errors remained stable as the number of blocks was varied from 10 to 50.

## 3 Simulation Results

### 3.1 Chiral Symmetry Breaking

First let us make a statement of the problem we are addressing. Since a continuous symmetry is never broken spontaneously on a finite volume, we are required to work with $`m_00`$ and study the limiting behaviour as the explicit symmetry breaking is removed. Since for an asymptotically-free theory the UV behaviour is governed by the gaussian fixed point at the origin, then the continuum limit of the model lies in the limit $`\beta \mathrm{}`$, and all physical quantities should be expressible in terms of the scale set by the dimensionful coupling $`g`$. To compare simulation results taken at different couplings (lattice spacings), therefore, it is natural to work in terms of dimensionless variables such as $`\beta m_0`$, $`L/\beta `$, or $`\beta ^2\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }`$. As the continuum limit is approached, data taken at different $`\beta `$ should collapse onto a single curve when plotted in dimensionless units. Formally, chiral symmetry in QED3 is broken if

$$\underset{\beta \mathrm{}}{lim}\underset{\beta m_00}{lim}\underset{L/\beta \mathrm{}}{lim}\beta ^2\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }0.$$
(9)
In practice taking the limits in the required order is difficult, for several reasons: (i) The lattice itself distorts continuum physics considerably unless the lattice spacing $`a`$ can be chosen small compared to the relevant physical wavelengths in the system - as we already mentioned in the previous section a non-zero lattice spacing breaks explicitly the continuum U$`(2N_f)`$ symmetry of the action; (ii) the size of the lattice $`L^3`$ must be large not just in dimensionless units but also compared to any dynamically generated correlations in the system; and (iii) the chiral extrapolation $`m_00`$ requires some theoretical prejudice. If the volume is large enough, $`m_0`$ lies in the linear regime of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }(m_0)=\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }(0)+m_0\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }(0)^{}+\mathrm{}`$ and linear extrapolations of the data work well. However, the chiral extrapolation is based on assumptions which are not necessarily valid when $`m_0=0`$. New physics at $`m_0=0`$ may alter the situation. In our study despite the fact that in all our simulations we reached the “linear regime” we take a conservative stance by defining an upper bound for the condensate which is half its value at the smallest $`m_0`$.

In Fig. 1 we plot the dimensionless chiral condensate $`\beta ^2\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }`$ vs. the dimensionless bare mass $`\beta m_0`$ for $`N_f=2,4,8,16`$. The coupling $`\beta =0.6`$ and the lattice volume is $`16^3`$. We generated approximately 1000 trajectories for each data point – statistical error bars are generally smaller than the size of the symbols. As $`N_f`$ increases the chiral condensate decreases (for $`m_00`$) because of increased screening of the interaction by dynamical fermions. As $`m_00`$ all the curves tend to pass smoothly through the origin. There is no sign of any discontinuous behaviour as $`N_f`$ is altered. This motivates us to study in more detail the pattern of chiral symmetry breaking at small $`N_f`$ on larger volumes near the chiral limit.

To check whether lattice data are characteristic of the continuum limit we next plot in Fig. 2 the dimensionless chiral condensate $`\beta ^2\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }`$ vs. the dimensionless fermion bare mass $`\beta m_0`$ for $`N_f=2`$ at different values of the coupling $`\beta =0.45,0.60,0.75,0.90`$. In order to disentangle the lattice discretisation effects from the finite size effects we keep the volume in physical units $`(L/\beta )^3`$ constant. It can be easily inferred from the graph that at strong coupling ($`\beta =0.45`$) discretisation effects are significant whereas for $`\beta 0.60`$ the lattice artifacts become small since the data almost fall on the same line within the resolution of our analysis.

Having clarified the issue of the continuum limit we next investigate the thermodynamic limit, simulating with $`N_f=2`$ at $`\beta =0.6`$. In Fig. 3 we present our results for $`\beta ^2\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }`$ vs. $`\beta m_0`$ on different lattice sizes: $`8^3,16^3,24^3,32^3`$ and $`48^3`$. Note that the volumes and masses explored here are considerably closer to the thermodynamic and chiral limits than those of the study of , for which $`L/\beta 32`$ and $`\beta m_00.005`$. We generated $`300800`$ configurations for each data point. This enables us to expose finite size effects at different values of the fermion bare mass. Finite size effects become small (but still significant) for $`L24`$ ($`L/\beta 40`$), which is consistent with the quenched results of ; however as $`L`$ increases all the lines continue to pass smoothly through the origin, suggesting that chiral symmetry remains unbroken.

As well as the chiral condensate, we have also studied mesonic correlation functions. In many cases these quantities yield useful information about the nature of the ground state model, although they are also more prone to finite volume effects than the simple order parameter. Fig. 4 shows results from $`N_f=2`$, $`\beta =0.6`$ on lattice size $`16^3`$ and $`32^3`$ for the ratio of longitudunal to transverse susceptibilities $`R\chi _l/\chi _t`$, where $`\chi _{l,t}`$ are the integrated propagators in scalar and pseudoscalar meson channels respectively:

$$\chi _l=\underset{x}{}\overline{\chi }\chi (0)\overline{\chi }\chi (x);\chi _t=\underset{x}{}\overline{\chi }\epsilon \chi (0)\overline{\chi }\epsilon \chi (x).$$
(10)
The longitudinal susceptibility $`\chi _l`$ has contributions from diagrams with both connected and disconnected fermion lines; we checked that the connected contribution is dominant throughout our parameter space. These quantities are much noisier than the chiral condensate. The transverse susceptibility is most conveniently estimated via the Ward identity $`\chi _t=\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }/m_0`$. In the chiral limit we expect

$$\underset{m_00}{lim}R=\{\begin{array}{cc}0,\hfill & \text{chiral symmetry broken;}\hfill \\ 1,\hfill & \text{chiral symmetry unbroken.}\hfill \end{array}$$
(11)
As we can see from the figure, at large values of $`m_0`$ the finite size effects are small, but become significantly larger at intermediate values of $`m_0`$. This implies that finite volume effects are not fully under control; the fact that $`R`$ from both $`16^3`$ and $`32^3`$ lattices appears to converge to 1 as $`m_00`$ decreases does not necessarily imply chiral symmetry is unbroken. It could be attributed to finite volume effects. Nonetheless, there is no indication of any range of $`m_0`$ over which $`dR/dm_0`$ is positive, required if chiral symmetry is broken. In Fig. 5 we plot $`R`$ vs. $`m_0`$ for $`N_f=2,4`$. This result is compatible with the data presented in Fig. 1, i.e. that the explicit chiral symmetry breaking at nonzero $`m_0`$, indicated by the departure of $`R`$ from unity, is stronger as $`N_f`$ decreases.

In Fig. 6 we present the results for the pion mass $`M_\pi `$ vs. fermion bare mass $`m_0`$ for $`N_f=2`$, $`\beta =0.6`$ and lattice sizes $`16^3,32^3,48^3`$. If the model is chirally symmetric we expect $`M_\pi m_0`$; otherwise from conventional PCAC arguments we expect $`M_\pi \sqrt{m_0}`$. As in the case of $`R`$, $`M_\pi `$ suffers from very strong finite volume effects and therefore decisive conclusions cannot be drawn. In Fig.7 we plot the pion and sigma masses vs. $`m_0`$ for $`N_f=2`$, $`\beta =0.6`$ and lattice size $`32^3`$. The masses tend to become equal as $`m_00`$, and show no sign of tending to zero in the chiral limit. It should be noted in this regard that there are SD calculations predicting the absence of light scalar excitations for $`N_f>N_{fc}`$ . However, as already stressed no definitive conclusions can be drawn until finite size effects are under control.

Since our best chance of controlling the extrapolation to infinite volume appears to come from measurements of the order parameter, where signals are less noisy and finite volume effects relatively small, we now return to this and discuss results from $`N_f=2`$ simulations at $`\beta =0.75`$, closer to the continuum limit than our previous simulations. These datasets result from between 300 and 500 HMC trajectories. We studied the behaviour of the chiral condensate in detail in the large volume and small $`m_0`$ limits. Fig. 8 shows results for $`\beta ^2\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }`$ vs. $`\beta m_0`$ extracted from simulations on system sizes $`10^3,20^3,30^3,40^3`$ and $`50^3`$. These simulations were performed very close to the chiral limit $`(m_00.005)`$. Although we don’t extrapolate our data to the chiral limit it is clear that all the data tend to pass smoothly through the origin. A comparison of the $`40^3`$ and $`50^3`$ points shows that finite volume effects are under control, at least for $`\beta m_00.0007`$. Fig. 9 shows the same data zoomed to the vicinity of the origin. We can see that even when $`m_0`$ is very small, the data tend to pass smoothly through the origin: there is no indication of any tendency for the extrapolated intercept to be non-zero signalling chiral symmetry breaking. With the conservative criterion adopted above we conclude that for $`N_f=2`$, $`\beta ^2\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }5\times 10^5`$, which is a strong indication that chiral symmetry in QED3 may be restored for $`N_f2`$.

In Figs. 8 and 9 we plotted the condensate vs. bare mass keeping the lattice volume $`L^3`$ constant along each line. Hitherto we have assumed that the physical volume of the system is proportional to $`(L/\beta )^3`$. If dynamical mass generation occurs by some means, however, so that a correlation length $`\xi <\mathrm{}`$ develops, then the correct measure of the physical volume is the ratio $`(L/\xi )^3`$ (this is merely the statement that finite volume effects are sensitive to which phase the theory resides in). This quantity varies along the constant lattice volume lines of Figs. 8,9 because $`\xi `$ is in principle a function of both $`m_0`$ and $`\beta `$. We have attempted to study finite volume effects taking this possibility into account: since however we don’t have an accurate estimate of a correlation length $`\xi `$ either from the sigma mass, because of strong finite volume effects, or from the fermion mass, because the corresponding propagator is not gauge invariant, we are forced to estimate the behaviour of $`\xi (\beta ,m_0)`$ directly from the condensate data. Since the precise relation between $`\xi `$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is unknown, we proceed by observing that in all of our datasets for fixed $`\beta `$ and $`m_00.001`$ it is approximately true that $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }m_0`$ and assuming that $`\xi \overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }^\alpha m_0^\alpha `$ for some power $`\alpha =(d1\eta _{\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }})^1`$ where $`\eta _{\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }}`$ is the anomalous scaling dimension of the composite operator $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }`$. We then cover the range of possibilities by evaluating the condensate keeping $`Lm_0^\alpha `$ constant, with the choices $`\alpha =\frac{1}{2}`$ expected for a QCD-like theory in which $`\eta _{\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }}`$ is perturbatively small; and $`\alpha =1`$, expected for a theory such as the NJL model in which $`\eta _{\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }}d2`$ and the condensate is directly proportional to the dynamically-generated scale. A value predicted for QED3 with $`N_f<N_{fc}`$ by the SD approach is $`\alpha =\frac{2}{3}`$ corresponding to $`\eta _{\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }}=\frac{1}{2}`$ .

The results for $`\beta =0.75`$ and $`m_00`$ are shown in Figs. 10 and 11 respectively. In the case of the constant $`L\sqrt{m_0}`$ normalisation the lattice sizes for the three curves shown are $`[50^3,36^3,30^3,26^3,22^3]`$, $`[40^3,28^3,24^3,20^3,18^3]`$ and $`[30^3,22^3,18^3,16^3,14^3]`$. For constant $`Lm_0`$ the sequences are $`[50^3,26^3,18^3,14^3,10^3]`$, $`[40^3,20^3,14^3,10^3,8^3]`$ and $`[30^3,16^3,10^3,8^3,6^3]`$. By the very nature of the way the curves are produced an extrapolation to a non-trivial chiral limit is impossible, since eventually the assumption that $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }m_0`$ must break down; we note, however, that both sets of curves have negative curvature. It is also apparent that the curves with constant $`L\sqrt{m_0}`$ appear to approach the infinite volume limit uniformly over a wide range of $`m_0`$, whereas those keeping $`Lm_0`$ constant diverge as $`m_0`$ increases. This is tentative evidence against a large value for $`\eta _{\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }}`$.

### 3.2 Deconfinement of Fractional Charge

Finally we consider a different issue, namely the confining properties of the theory. Since the gauge degrees of freedom are non-compact, matter fields and/or test charges may in principle be defined with any value of electric charge $`\stackrel{~}{g}`$ which need not be commensurate with the dynamical fermion charge $`g`$. If the latter is the case, then such fractional charges should be confined by the Coulomb potential independent of the phase of the model, since long-range forces cannot in this case be screened by virtual $`f\overline{f}`$ pairs. It has been pointed out, however, that when the chiral symmetry of QED3 is broken, either explicitly or spontaneously, then there may be a transition to a phase where fractional charge is deconfined at non-zero temperature .

In brief, on a system with finite extent $`T^1`$ in the Euclidean time direction, the action (2) has a global $`Z`$ symmetry under non-periodic gauge transformations; in a static gauge this corresponds to invariance under

$$A_0(\stackrel{}{x})A_0(\stackrel{}{x})+2\pi \frac{nT}{g},n\text{Z}.$$
(12)
It is readily seen that worldlines of all integer-charged matter fields are invariant under (12). For fractionally-charged particles, however, this is no longer the case. The analysis of  derives an effective potential $`𝒱(A_0)`$ which is periodic under (12); as $`T`$ increases the barrier between non-equivalent minima of $`𝒱`$ grows until the system becomes trapped near one such minimum, breaking the $`Z`$ symmetry, with the fractionally-charged Polyakov line $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{\stackrel{~}{g}}(\stackrel{}{x})=\mathrm{exp}i\stackrel{~}{g}_0^{T^1}A_0(\stackrel{}{x})𝑑x_0`$ acting as a gauge invariant order parameter. By analogy with Yang-Mills theory the symmetry broken phase is identified as one in which fractional charge is deconfined.

In the simulations of this paper we have not examined systems with the Euclidean time direction distinguished; however, we have found it interesting to check whether the $`Z`$ symmetry is broken as a means of monitoring finite volume effects. We have chosen to examine charges which are rational fractions of the fundamental charge: $`\stackrel{~}{g}=g/n`$, and define the Polyakov loop $`\mathrm{\Pi }_n(\stackrel{}{x})`$ by

$$\mathrm{\Pi }_n(\stackrel{}{x})=\underset{t=1}{\overset{L_t}{}}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{i}{n}\theta _0(\stackrel{}{x},t)\right).$$
(13)
The original $`Z`$ symmetry (12) translates into a $`Z_n`$ symmetry on $`\mathrm{\Pi }_n`$; spontaneous breaking is therefore signalled by a non-zero expectation of $`\text{Re}(L^3_\stackrel{}{x}\mathrm{\Pi }_n(\stackrel{}{x}))^n`$. In Fig. 12 we plot distributions of this quantity for $`n=1,2,4`$ and 8 on a sequence of lattice volumes. On all systems the $`n=1`$ data is sharply peaked about zero, indicating that there is no deconfinement of the fundamental integer charge111More precisely, it suggests the free energy of an isolated fundamental charge diverges in the thermodynamic limit, which could also occur in the conformal phase.. On $`8^3`$, however, the distributions for all $`n2`$ are skewed in the positive direction, indicating deconfinement. As the volume is increased, permitting fluctuations of the fields to develop over longer distances, the deconfinement signal is washed out until on $`32^3`$ only charges with $`\stackrel{~}{g}=g/8`$ remain deconfined. A possible explanation of why smaller charges are harder to confine in a finite volume is that $`\stackrel{~}{g}^2`$ itself provides the scale in the logarithmic potential.

## 4 Summary and Outlook

In our study of QED3 with $`N_f2`$ we attempted to establish whether chiral symmetry is broken or not by studying various observables close to the continuum limit $`g0`$, on different volumes in order to detect and control finite size effects and near the chiral limit $`m_00`$. As expected, susceptibilities and meson masses suffer from strong finite size effects and by themselves they do not allow us to reach a definitive conculsion. However, for the chiral condensate the continuum, thermodynamic and chiral limits are under better control. On the volumes we have been able to study we have seen no evidence for chiral symmetry breaking for any $`N_f2`$.

Our upper bound for the condensate in the $`N_f=2`$ case is $`\beta ^2\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }5\times 10^5`$, to be compared with the estimate for the quenched model $`\beta ^2\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }5\times 10^3`$ . In addition, for all $`N_f2`$ the curves of $`\beta ^2\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\mathrm{\Psi }`$ vs. $`\beta m_0`$ tend to pass smoothly through the origin with no sign of any discontinuous behaviour in $`N_f`$. This is evidence against the suggestion that the IR fixed point behaviour of QED3 for $`N_fN_{fc}`$ coincides with the UV behaviour of the three dimensional Thirring model as suggested by both the large-$`N_f`$ expansion and SD studies . For the Thirring model the critical $`N_{fc}`$ below which a non-trivial UV fixed point exists has been estimated by Monte Carlo simulation to be $`N_{fc}5`$ . The two models appear to lie in different universality classes, possibly because for $`N_f<N_{fc}`$ the Thirring model has no massless degree of freedom corresponding to the photon.

We are currently simulating the model with $`N_f=1`$ to check whether in this case chiral symmetry is broken, as predicted by . It will also be interesting in this respect to study whether the continuum U$`(2N_f)`$ symmetry is restored; this may entail the use of improved fermion actions  in future simulations. We also plan to extend our work to study in detail the deconfinement phase transition of fractional electric charges at $`T>0`$.

## Acknowledgements

SJH and CGS were supported by a Leverhulme Trust grant, and JBK in part by NSF grant PHY-0102409. The computer simulations were done on the Cray SV1’s at NERSC, the IBM-SP at NPACI, and on the SGI Origin 2000 at the University of Wales Swansea. We have enjoyed discussions with Ian Aitchison, Nick Mavromatos, Sarben Sarkar and Rohana Wijewardhana.


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# An interpretation of the black-body radiation

## Abstract

The black-body radiation is reinterpreted in terms of the photon’s many-body wave functions in analogy with the condensed matter physics. This interpretation has implications on the wave-particle duality, and on the difference between the photon and the matter wave.

PACS codes: 03.65.Ta, 05.30.Jp, 42.50.Ar
Keywords: wave-particle duality, black-body radiation, Planck distribution, photon

The black-body radiation, a photon gas coupled with the matter in the thermal equilibrium, was historically a starting point for the birth of the quantum physics. The low-frequency region of the Planck distribution at high temperature agrees with the result by the classical electromagnetism, and its high-frequency region at low temperature represents the particle nature of the light (the photon), which characterizes the black-body radiation as a phenomenon representing the wave-particle duality . The wave-particle duality is now a conceptual basis of the quantum physics, but it continues to be a problematic idea which is beyond our imagination. As a result, the light is often explained in such a way that it changes its nature according to the apparatus it is interacting with: The light is a wave when passing through a pair of slits, but it is a stream of photons when it strikes a detector.

Normally the Planck distribution is derived on the picture of the independent particles obeying the Bose statistics. The statistical mechanics of the black-body radiation is sometimes regarded as a subject which has been already understood. This paper points out that, when the Planck distribution is reinterpreted using the concept of the many-body wave function  (in analogy with the condensed matter physics), there still exists some points to be considered. The typical Bose particle in the condensed matter physics is the helium-4. In the study of the helium-4, Feynman proposed an interesting method of introducing the Bose statistics which emphasized the role of the many-body wave function . His method gave us the same result as the conventional one for the helium. But when it is applied to the photon, it discloses the significant nature of photon which has not been stressed until now. This paper applies his method to the photon, and discusses its implication.

Consider $`N`$ photons having a following partition function in a box,

$$Z=\underset{p}{}<p_1,\mathrm{}p_N|\mathrm{exp}(\beta H)|p_1,\mathrm{}p_N>.$$
(1)
To grasp the deep meaning of the quantization, it is useful to begin with the classical picture, and to focus on where the quantum feature is introduced. If the photon is treated as if it is a massless classical particle with an energy $`\mathrm{}cp`$, the partition function for a single photon has such a form as,

$$Z_1=\underset{p}{}<p|\mathrm{exp}(\beta \mathrm{}cp)|p>.$$
(2)
The quantum nature of the photon appears in the $`N`$-photon system obeying the Bose statistics. The permutation symmetry is imposed, but its appearance is affected by the thermal disturbance. We assume that, among the $`N`$ photons, $`s`$ photons having the same momentum and polarization form a coherent many-body wave function, in which the permutation symmetry is satisfied in such a way that an interchanging of the $`s`$ photons leaves the wave function unaltered.

Here, the phrase “wave function consisting of $`s`$ photons” must be used carefully. The wave function gives information about the possibility of one photon in a particular place and not the probable number of photons in that place. (As Dirac stated, each photon interferes only with itself .) Hence, each photon has its own wave function spreading out in the coordinate space, and in some cases it reaches to the macroscopic distance. Here, the number $`s`$ does not reflect the spatial size of the many-body wave function, but it reflects the number of photons connected by the Bose statistics. (In this paper, we call the many-body wave function consisting of many photons a macroscopic wave function with this meaning.)

From now, we show that the photon’s many-body wave function gives us a natural interpretation of the black-body radiation. In view of $`\mathrm{exp}(\beta \mathrm{}cp)`$ in Eq.(2), the many-body wave function consisting of $`s`$ photons with the same momentum will contain $`\mathrm{exp}(\beta \mathrm{}cps)`$ in $`Z`$ (Eq.(1)). The integral of $`\mathrm{exp}(\beta \mathrm{}cps)`$ over the length and orientation of $`p`$ such as,

$$f_s=2_0^{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{exp}(\beta \mathrm{}cps)4\pi p^2\frac{dp}{(2\pi )^3}=\frac{2}{\pi ^2}\left(\frac{k_BT}{\mathrm{}c}\right)^3\frac{1}{s^3},$$
(3)
is a quantity representing the many-body wave function consisting of $`s`$ photons with the same momentum and polarization, which will serve as an element for interpreting $`Z`$ in terms of the many-body wave function. (A factor 2 in front of the integral comes from the photon’s helicity states.)

The partition function derived from the Planck distribution has a following form,

$$Z=\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{(k_BT)^3}{3\pi ^2(\mathrm{}c)^3}_0^{\mathrm{}}\frac{p^3dp}{e^p1}\right).$$
(4)
Using the Riemann zeta function,

$$\zeta (r)=_0^{\mathrm{}}\frac{x^{r1}dx}{e^x1}=\mathrm{\Gamma }(r)\underset{s=1}{}\frac{1}{s^r},$$
(5)
$`Z`$ has a following form,

$$Z=\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{2}{\pi ^2}\left(\frac{k_BT}{\mathrm{}c}\right)^3\underset{s=1}{}\frac{1}{s^4}\right].$$
(6)
Expanding the exponential function and using the explicit form of $`f_s`$ (Eq.(3)), one obtains,

$$Z=\underset{s=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\underset{\xi _s=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{1}{\xi _s!}\left(\frac{f_s}{s}\right)^{\xi _s}.$$
(7)
With a slight modification such as,

$$Z=\frac{1}{N!}\underset{\{\xi _s\}}{}\left(\frac{N!}{_{s=1}\xi _s!s^{\xi _s}}\right)f_1^{\xi _1}f_2^{\xi _2}\mathrm{}f_s^{\xi _s}\mathrm{},$$
(8)
this expression allows a following combinatorial interpretation: In the black-body radiation consisting of $`N`$ photons, each photon belongs to one of the many-body wave function $`f_s`$ consisting of $`s`$ photons. These wave functions appear $`\xi _s`$ times in the black-body radiation, a distribution of which is $`\{\xi _1,\mathrm{},\xi _s,\mathrm{}\}`$ being subject to $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_ss\xi _s=N`$. Since the $`s`$ photons are indistinguishable, the bracket in the right-hand side of Eq.(8) agrees with the number of ways of rearranging $`N`$ photons into the wave functions having the distribution $`\{\xi _s\}`$.

The physical meaning of this wave function is as follows. In the small momentum at high temperature, the Planck distribution agrees with the energy spectrum obtained when we regard the black-body radiation as the classical electromagnetic wave. In view of Eq.(3), it is the very same small $`p`$ and small $`\beta `$ in the exponent that determines $`f_s`$ for a large $`s`$ in the integrand. This suggests that the $`f_s`$ for the large $`s`$ is related to the object of the classical physics, or more precisely, the expectation value of the field operator in the many-body wave function, which consists of many photons having the same momentum and polarization, corresponds to the classical electromagnetic wave. When extrapolating this view to the small $`s`$, we are led to an image of the black-body radiation as a random assembly of the small packets of the electromagnetic wave, the photon number of which is distributed proportionally to $`1/s^3`$  (Eq.(3)). At a smallest limit of the packet, we find a photon there. Conversely, in the course of a scaling up process ($`s\mathrm{}`$), the wave function loses its quantum nature, making its expectation value the classical wave.

To understand the photon, it is useful to compare it with the matter wave having an energy $`p^2/2m`$. Using this energy in Eq.(3), one obtains,

$$f_s^{}=_0^{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{exp}(\frac{\beta p^2s}{2m})4\pi p^2\frac{dp}{(2\pi )^3}=\left(\frac{mk_BT}{2\pi }\right)^{1.5}\frac{1}{s^{1.5}},$$
(9)
Feynman showed that a substitution of $`f_s^{}`$ to Eq.(7) reproduces the grand partition function of the Bose distribution . In view of Eq.(3) and (9), one find that $`f_s`$ is a more rapidly decreasing function of $`s`$ than $`f_s^{}`$, meaning that as $`s\mathrm{}`$ the contribution of the electromagnetic wave consisting of many photons falls more rapidly than that of the matter wave consisting of the same number of particles.

At first sight, this result seems to be contradictory to our naive expectation that $`f_s`$ is larger than $`f_s^{}`$ for a large $`s`$, because the classical electromagnetic wave propagates macroscopically. But it has a following obvious reason. Generally, in the energy spectrum of the system, a component which mainly determines the statistical properties of the system is the small-momentum and low-frequency one. In the Boltzmann factor of Eq.(3) and (9), $`\mathrm{}cp`$ is larger than $`p^2/2m`$ for a small $`p`$. Hence, the electromagnetic wave consisting of $`s`$ photons gives a smaller contribution $`\mathrm{exp}(\beta \mathrm{}cps)`$ to $`Z`$ than the matter wave consisting of $`s`$ particles gives $`\mathrm{exp}(\beta p^2s/2m)`$ to $`Z`$. This means that, compared with the matter wave, the macroscopic coherence of the classical electromagnetic wave, which is normally observed in the non-equilibrium situation, is drastically suppressed in the thermal equilibrium.  (We must note that $`s`$ in $`f_s`$ and $`f_s^{}`$ does not correspond to the quantity directly observed in the experiments such as the wave packet’s length in the coordinate space . Rather, $`f_s`$ and $`f_s^{}`$ are manifestations of the both waves in the statistical-mechanical formalism.)

The wave-particle duality appears in the fluctuation as well. As is well known, using the Planck distribution in $`<\mathrm{\Delta }E^2>=^2logZ/\beta ^2`$, the square of the relative fluctuation of the black-body radiation energy in a given frequency interval $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$ is obtained as follows,

$$\frac{<\mathrm{\Delta }E^2>}{<E>^2}=\frac{h\nu }{<E>}+\frac{1}{\rho (\nu )\mathrm{\Delta }\nu }.$$
(10)
where $`\rho (\nu )`$ is a density of oscillations between $`\nu `$ and $`\nu +\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$ . The first term in the right-hand side shows that, as the mean energy increases, the relative fluctuation decreases, suggesting an accumulation of the many independent and small fluctuations such as a creation and an annihilation of the photon. The second term does not depend on the mean energy, suggesting the fluctuation of the wave energy. In the random assembly of the waves, the accidental superposition of two waves with slightly different frequencies (beats) gives rise to such a fluctuation.

From a viewpoint of the photon’s many-body wave function, this wave-particle duality in the fluctuation can be interpreted as follows. Using Eq.(3) and (8) in $`<\mathrm{\Delta }E^2>=^2logZ/\beta ^2`$, one obtains,

$$<\mathrm{\Delta }E^2>=\frac{3(k_BT)^2}{Z}\underset{i}{}\left[\frac{1}{N!}\underset{\{\xi _s\}}{}\left(\frac{N!}{_ss^{\xi _s}}\right)\frac{f_1^{\xi _1}}{\xi _1!}\mathrm{}\frac{f_i^{\xi _i}}{(\xi _i1)!}\mathrm{}\frac{f_s^{\xi _s}}{\xi _s!}\mathrm{}\right].$$
(11)
In $`<\mathrm{\Delta }E^2>`$, a wave function consisting of $`i`$ photons appears $`\xi _i`$ times as frequently as others. The fluctuation of the black-body radiation is a sum of independent fluctuations caused by an appearance or a disappearance of the many-body wave functions, whose constituents range from a single photon to a macroscopic number of photons. When the fluctuation is caused by the wave function with a large $`s`$, many photons having the same momentum and polarization participate in it at once, thus being observed as a fluctuation of the wave. On the contrary, when the fluctuation is caused by the wave function with small $`s`$, it is observed as a particle-number fluctuation. In view of Eq.(11), in addition to the both extreme limits (wave or particle fluctuation), other fluctuations having intermediate scales exist as well.

In the statistical optics, the wave-particle duality is discussed in terms of the correlation tensor including the two-points correlation function of the electric field or the magnetic field such as,

$$<E_i^{}(r_1,t_1)E_j^+(r_2,t_2)>,<B_i^{}(r_1,t_1)B_j^+(r_2,t_2)>.$$
(12)
The correlation tensor of the black-body radiation was calculated by several authors, which shows that the range of its field correlation in the coordinate space is of order $`\mathrm{}c/k_BT`$ . This means that the coherence volume is of order $`(\mathrm{}c/k_BT)^3`$. In the Planck distribution, the average density of the photons has a value such as,

$$\frac{2}{\pi ^2}\left(\frac{k_BT}{\mathrm{}c}\right)^3\zeta (3),$$
(13)
meaning that the average number of the photons in the coherence volume $`(\mathrm{}c/k_BT)^3`$ is of order unity $`2\zeta (3)/\pi ^21`$,. This single photon in the coherence volume must belong to one of the many-body wave functions consisting of $`s`$ photons. Equation.(3) says that its statistical weight is proportional to $`1/s^3`$. This suggest that the interference in the black-body radiation is a phenomenon caused by the wave functions consisting of only a few photons. In our picture of the black-body radiation, $`f_s`$ must play an important role in the coherence. Probably, the correlation tensor is not the only quantity measuring the coherence of the black-body radiation. The conventional definition of the degree of the coherence must be interpreted in terms of the photon’s many-body wave function, which is a subject of future paper.

This paper discusses the wave-particle duality in the case of the black-body radiation. But the former is not a concept limited to the thermal equilibrium, but an universal one. Hence, for other photon’s distributions that are made by passing the black-body radiation through some filter, if we have an appropriate statistical factor instead of the Boltzmann factor, we can apply the combinatorial interpretation in terms of the photon’s many-body wave function to such photon’s distributions as well.

Furthermore, if we find a statistical factor appropriate for the non-equilibrium photon’s distribution, a scope of this interpretation expands further. This statistical factor will open a new possibility for understanding the wave-particle duality. For this purpose, we must find a statistical factor corresponding to the apparatus which the photon interacts with. When the light is observed by one apparatus, $`f_s`$ may have a weak $`s`$-dependence, so that the macroscopic many-body wave function, which consists of photons with the same momentum and polarization, appears as frequently as the microscopic one, thus leading to the wave picture of the light. On the contrary, when observed by another apparatus, $`f_s`$ may be a rapidly decreasing function of $`s`$, so that the light seems to consist of only microscopic wave function, thus leading to the particle picture of the light . Only when we are able to describe the behavior of light in an unified scheme, instead of beginning with two completely different pictures, we know the true meaning of the wave-particle duality. This is an open problem.

Acknowledgment

The author thanks Y.Koh for a critical comment.


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# Vortex avalanches and self organized criticality in superconducting niobium

## Figure Captions

Figure 1 Magnetic landscape of the Nb superconductor. The magneto-optical image (top) shows how the flux penetrates into one half of a $`1.5\times 1.5\times 0.25mm^3`$ Nb foil at a field of 400 Oe applied perpendicular to the sample at $`T=4.8K`$. The image brightness represents the local density of the magnetic vortices. The 3D-plot (bottom) of the penetration pattern shows that the magnetic landscape consists of several ridges with smooth slopes, which rise up from the flat Meissner state (flux free) area. Included in the figure is the location of a Hall probe array where each of the 11 probes detects the flux under an area of $`10\times 10mm^2`$. As the applied magnetic field increases all the ridges grow gradually on a macroscopic scale, quite similarly to the way sandpiles increase in size when grains are added.

Figure 2 Vortex avalanches seen by a Hall probe during field increase. The main curve was obtained from probe number 4 from the sample edge in Fig. 1, and contains more than 40,000 data points. The insets show zooms in two different field windows revealing distinct steps as a manifestation of avalanche dynamics. The experiment was performed at $`T=4.8K`$.

Figure 3 Size distribution of avalanches. The statistics is based on nearly 200 000 avalanche events measured in the Hall probes located as shown in Fig. 1. Steps less than $`0.5\mathrm{\Phi }_o`$ were excluded from the counting of events. The avalanche sizes were exponentially binned, giving equi-distant points in the log-log plot. The data are fitted by the straight line $`P(s)s^\tau `$, with $`\tau =3.0\pm 0.2`$.

Figure 4 Magneto-optical image of the sample with an overlay showing 5 different locations of the Hall probe array used for supplementary measurements. Location (I) is identical to the one in Fig. 1. The image was taken at 450 Oe and 4.8 K, and the scale bar is 0.2 mm long.


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# I Introduction

## I Introduction

###

Recently Figueiredo  has discussed the motion of quantum spinning test particles in the case of Gödel space-time in Einstein-Cartan gravity. The need of quantum spin instead of using simply classical spinning particles stems from the fact that as shown by Hehl  and Yasskin and Stoeger  only quantum spin through their appearence in isolated spinning particles like electron or neutrinos or in extended bodies with a net polarisation, interacts with Cartan torsion. With this motivation in this letter we drop the requirement of spinning quantum particles and consider just classical spinning particles by making use of GR instead of Einstein-Cartan theory of gravity. Recently another example  of this application has been done in the case of spinning particles around spinning string in EC gravity since in this case the exterior of the spinning string is nothing bur a Riemannian spacetime instead of the usual Riemann-Cartan spacetime. In this letter we investigate three cases of polarisation along three distinct axis of the Gödel anisotropic universe. It is shown that a classical spinning polarised particle along the y-axis possess a minimum energy just in the case all spin components vanish. Thus one may say that the minimum energy is attained only for spinless particles, while in the other two directions the spin components do not vanish, thus one may say that spinninig particles possess a minimum energy orbit. We also show that in the case of $`p_z=0`$ the enrgy is negative and the motion is bound. Previously Novello et al  have investigated the confinment of spinless test particles and investigate the geodesic confinment of spinless particles in the context of Gödel metric. In some sense the work presented here is a generalization of their work. It is also interesting to call the attention to the fact that one of the motivations for our study is that Maeda et al  have investigate the production of chaos in the motion of spinning particles around the Schwarzschild and Kerr geometries in GR.

## II Killing conserved currents in Gödel spacetime

The equations of motion of the spinning particle in GR were investigated by Papapetrou  and Dixon . They are given by the set of equations

$$\frac{dx^\mu }{d\tau }=v^\mu $$
(1)
$$\frac{Dp^\mu }{D\tau }=R_{}^{\mu }{}_{\nu \rho \sigma }{}^{}(\mathrm{\Gamma })v^\nu S^{\rho \sigma }K_{}^{\mu }{}_{\nu \sigma }{}^{}v^\nu p^\sigma $$
(2)
$$\frac{DS^{\mu \nu }}{D\tau }=p^\mu v^\nu p^\nu v^\mu $$
(3)
Here $`\tau `$ is the proper time of the orbit , while $`S^{\mu \nu }`$ ,$`v^\mu `$ and $`p^\mu `$ are respectively the spin tensor, four-velocity and four-momentum of the spinning particle. The proper time is chosen in such a way that $`v^\mu v_\mu =1`$. The absolute derivative $`\frac{D}{D\tau }`$ on the RHS of equations (2) and (3) is the Riemannian derivative with respect to the Christoffel connection. The connection $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ in the Riemannian connection. Since $`p^\mu `$ is no longer parallel to the velocity $`v^\mu `$ we need a supplementary condition called Dixon condition on the center of mass and given by

$$p_\mu S^{\mu \nu }=0$$
(4)
Here the mass of the spinning particle m is given by

$$m^2=p_\mu p^\mu $$
(5)
As in GR chaos case the system considered here has several conserved quantities. In the Riemannian case ,the magnitude of the spin S is given by

$$S^2:=\frac{1}{2}S_{\mu \nu }S^{\mu \nu }$$
(6)
which are constants of motion. The Riemannian constants of motion reads

$$C:=\xi ^\mu p_\mu \frac{1}{2}[\xi _{\mu ,\nu }]S^{\mu \nu }$$
(7)
where the coma denotes partial derivative. In the next section we shall consider the angular-momentum constants from the Killing constants $`C_\xi `$ and the constraints equations. Here $`\xi ^\mu `$ is the Killing vector obeying the well-known Killing equation

$$\xi _{(\mu ;\nu )}=0$$
(8)
where the semi-collon denotes the Riemannian covariant derivative. The Gödel line element would be written in retangular coordinates since this choice of coordinates proves to be easier to handle and to obtain the expressions of the spin components in terms of the linear momentum components. The Gödel metric is given by

$$ds^2=\frac{1}{2\omega ^2}((dt+e^xdz)^2+dx^2+dy^2+\frac{1}{2}e^{2x}dz^2)$$
(9)
where $`\omega ^2`$ is the rotation of the universe squared. Let us now consider the five-Killing vectors corresponding to the five isometries of the Gödel spacetime

$$\xi _1^\mu =(1,0,0,0)$$
(10)
$$\xi _2^\mu =(0,0,1,0)$$
(11)
$$\xi _3^\mu =(0,0,0,1)$$
(12)
$$\xi _4^\mu =(0,1,0,z)$$
(13)
$$\xi _5^\mu =(2e^x,z,[e^{2x}\frac{1}{2}z^2],0)$$
(14)
Substitution of these Killing vectors into the Dixon-Papapetrou general relativistic conserved quantities, one obtains

$$E=p_t+\frac{e^x}{4\omega ^2}S^{zx}$$
(15)
which is the total energy explicitly displaying the spin-orbit interaction. The other four conserved quantities are

$$J=C_3=p_z\frac{e^x}{4\omega ^2}[S^{tx}S^{xz}]$$
(16)
where J is the total angular momentum while the others are

$$C_5=0=[2p_te^x+p_xz+p_y(e^x\frac{1}{2}z^2)+\frac{e^x}{2\omega ^2}[S^{tx}\frac{1}{2}S^{xz}e^x+e^xS^{yx}e^xS^{yz}]]$$
(17)
$$C_4=p_xp_z$$
(18)
$$C_2=p_y$$
(19)
where $`C_5`$ is chosen to vanish for convenience.Where to perform this computation use has been made of the following nonvanishing components of the spin tensor $`S^{\mu \nu }`$ as

$$s=(S^{tx},S^{ty},S^{tz},S^{xy},S^{xz},S^{yz})$$
(20)
where the spin tensor components satisfy the following property $`S^{\mu \nu }=S^{\nu \mu }`$. In the next section we shall examine three distinct cases corresponding to the case of motion of spin polarised motion along the three distinct axes $`x`$ ,$`y`$ and $`z`$ and analyse their properties.

## III Spin polarised motion in Gödel Universe

In this section we shall be concerned with the motion of the spinning particles polarised along the three distinct directions. For example in the first case we shall consider the motion of the spinning particle confined at the plane $`xz`$ where the spin of the spinning particle is polarized along the $`y`$-direction and i) $`p_y=0`$. In this case we consider that the only non-vanishing components of spin tensor are $`S^{xz}`$, $`S^{tx}`$, $`S^{ty}`$ and $`S^{tz}`$ in principle. Substitution of this constraint into the center of mass expression (4) yields

$$S^{tx}p_x+S^{tz}p_z=0$$
(21)
which is equivalent to

$$S^{tz}=S^{xz}\frac{p_x}{p_z}$$
(22)
the other components of the center of mass equation yields

$$S^{yt}=0$$
(23)
$$S^{xz}=\frac{4\omega ^2p_t[Jp_z]}{p_t+p_z}$$
(24)
$$S^{tx}=\frac{4\omega ^2p_z[Jp_z]}{p_t+p_z}$$
(25)
Substitution of the last expression into the center of mass component equation yields

$$S^{tz}=\frac{4\omega ^2p_x[Jp_z]}{p_t+p_z}$$
(26)
These expressions allows us to compute the the spin components in terms of the linear momenta. To achieve these results we have used another constraint which is $`C_5=0`$. Substitution of expression (24) into (16) yields

$$E=p_t+\frac{e^xp_t[Jp_z]}{p_t+p_z}$$
(27)
In the following subsection we shall compute the analogous example in the case the spin is polarised along the the $`xaxis`$ which means that the only spatial component of spin that survives is $`S^{yz}`$. Therefore this case is ii)$`p_x=0`$ Thus in this case we have that $`S^{xz}`$ and $`S^{yx}`$ vanish and this allows us to simplify the Killing conserved currents in the following manner. From the center of mass equations

$$S^{xt}p_t+S^{xy}p_y+S^{xz}p_z=0$$
(28)
Placing the constraints of the vanishing of the other spatial components of the spin tensor we obtain

$$S^{xt}p_t=0$$
(29)
which yields $`S^{tx}=0`$. Substitution of this constraint into the $`C_5=0`$ expression yields

$$J=C_3=p_z\frac{e^x}{4\omega ^2}S^{tx}$$
(30)
From this last expression one obtains the expression for $`S^{tx}`$

$$S^{tx}=4[Jp_z]e^x\omega ^2$$
(31)
But from expression $`S^{tx}=0`$ one obtains

$$J=p_z$$
(32)
From the remaining center of mass components one obtains

$$S^{yt}=\frac{p_z}{p_t}S^{yz}$$
(33)
$$S^{zt}=\frac{p_y}{p_t}S^{yz}$$
(34)
To obtain these expressions one needs the component $`S^{yz}`$ which in turn is given by the $`C_5=0`$ equation

$$2p_te^x+p_y(e^x\frac{1}{2}z^2)\frac{1}{2\omega ^2}S^{yz}=0$$
(35)
This expression allows us to write the $`S^{yz}`$

$$S^{yz}=[2p_te^x+p_y(e^x\frac{1}{2}z^2)]2\omega ^2$$
(36)
Note that also since the motion is confined to the $`x=0`$ plane then the last expression reduces to

$$S^{yz}=[2p_t+p_y(1\frac{1}{2}z^2)]2\omega ^2$$
(37)
and at the $`z=x=0`$ or y-axis this expresion reduces to the simpler form

$$S^{yz}=[2p_t+p_y]2\omega ^2$$
(38)
Note finally that since $`S^{xz}=0`$ this time the total energy is $`E=p_t`$ which allows us to say that the minimum energy for the spinning particle is not trivial in the sense that the particles need not be spinless in this case. Let us finally consider the case where iii) $`p_z=0`$. In this case the only nonvanishing component of the spin is $`S^{xy}`$. By analogy with the previous case we can compute the component $`S^{tx}`$ from the expression $`C_3=J`$ as

$$S^{tx}=e^x4J\omega ^2$$
(39)
Also in this case the energy is minimum for the spinning particle motion. It is intresting to pointed out that we can considered an important application of the ideas discuss here if we relax the hypothesis of polarisation and consider just the possibility that the particles are just confined in Gödel geometry at the initial instant of time. This could lead us to investigate the possibility of chaos and the precession of spin of the particles yieldind chaos. This study may appear elsewhere.

## Acknowledgement

I am deeply grateful to Professor Yu N. Obukhov, Prof. P.S.Letelier and Professor I.D. Soares for helpful discussions on the subject of this paper. Financial support from CNPq. and UERJ is gratefully acknowledged.