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# Gapless Magnetic and Quasiparticle Excitations due to the Coexistence of Antiferromagnetism and Superconductivity in CeRhIn5 : A study of 115In-NQR under Pressure

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## Abstract

We report systematic measurements of ac-susceptibility, nuclear-quadrupole-resonance (NQR) spectrum, and nuclear-spin-lattice-relaxation time ($`T_1`$) on the pressure ($`P`$)- induced heavy-fermion (HF) superconductor CeRhIn5. The temperature ($`T`$) dependence of $`1/T_1`$ at $`P`$ = 1.6 GPa has revealed that antiferromagnetism (AFM) and superconductivity (SC) coexist microscopically, exhibiting the respective transition at $`T_N=2.8`$ K and $`T_c^{MF}`$ = 0.9 K. It is demonstrated that SC does not yield any trace of gap opening in low-lying excitations below $`T_c^{onset}=2`$ K, but $`T_c^{MF}=0.9`$ K, followed by a $`T_1T`$ = const law. These results point to the unconventional characteristics of SC coexisting with AFM. We highlight that both of the results deserve theoretical work on the gapless nature in low-lying excitation spectrum due to the coexistence of AFM and SC and the lack of the mean-field regime below $`T_c^{onset}=2`$ K.

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In recent years, an intimate interplay between antiferromagnetism (AFM) and superconductivity (SC) has been the most interesting and outstanding issue in cerium (Ce)-based heavy-fermion (HF) systems. The finding of $`P`$-induced SC in CeCu2Ge2, CeIn3, CePd2Si2 and CeRhIn5 strongly suggest that AFM and SC are related to each other since $`P`$-induced SC occurs either when AFM vanishes or coexists with it . Among them, the study on the cubic CeIn3 and the quasi-two dimensional tetragonal CeRhIn5 is promising for systematic investigation of an intimate interplay between AFM and SC. A new HF antiferromagnetic compound CeRhIn5 revealed an antiferromagnetic to superconducting transition at a relatively lower critical pressure $`P_c`$ = 1.63 GPa and higher $`T_c`$ = 2.2 K than in previous examples .

At $`P`$ = 0, a previous 115In-NQR study found that CeRhIn5 has an incommensurate wave vector $`\mathrm{q}_\mathrm{M}`$ = (1/2, 1/2, 0.297) below the Néel temperature $`T_N`$ = 3.8 K . A neutron experiment revealed the reduced Ce magnetic moments $`M_s`$ $``$ 0.8$`\mu _\mathrm{B}`$ in the antiferromagnetic ordered state . Our previous NQR study showed that $`T_N`$ gradually increases up to 4 K as $`P`$ increases up to $`P`$ = 1.0 GPa and decreases with further increasing $`P`$ . In addition, the temperature ($`T`$) dependence of nuclear-spin-lattice-relaxation rate $`1/T_1`$ has probed pseudogap behavior at $`P`$ = 1.23 and 1.6 GPa . This suggests that CeRhIn5 may resemble other strongly correlated electron systems . At $`P`$ = 2.1 GPa above $`P_c`$, $`1/T_1`$ decreases obeying a $`T^3`$ law without the coherence peak just below $`T_c`$. This indicates that the SC of CeRhIn5 is unconventional one and it has line-node gap . Most remarkably, at $`P`$ = 1.75 GPa, the onset of AFM is evidenced from a clear split in 115In-NQR spectrum due to the spontaneous internal field $`H_{int}`$ below $`T_N`$ = 2.5 K. Simultaneously, bulk SC below $`T_c`$ = 2.0 K is demonstrated by the observation of the Meissner diamagnetism signal. These results have demonstrated that AFM coexists homogeneously with the SC at a microscopic level at the border where both SC and AFM meet one another .

In this letter, we report systematic measurements of ac-susceptibility ($`\chi _{ac}`$) in $`P=1.122.0`$ GPa and focus on novel superconducting characteristics in the coexistent state of AFM and SC for CeRhIn5 at $`P`$ = 1.6 GPa.

CeRhIn5 forms in HoCoGa5 type structure where CeIn3 and RhIn2 layers alternately stack along the $`c`$-axis. Accordingly, there are two inequivalent In sites per unit cell for NQR measurements. The 115In-NQR measurements at the In(1) site surrounded by four Ce atoms were performed using laboratory built spectrometer . The NQR spectrum was obtained by plotting the intensity of spin-echo signal as a function of frequency at 1$`\nu _Q`$ ($`\pm 1/2\pm 3/2`$) transition which is the lowest one of the four transitions for the In nuclear spin $`I`$ = 9/2. The 115In-NQR $`T_1`$ was measured at the transitions of 2$`\nu _Q`$ ($`\pm 3/2\pm 5/2`$) above $`T`$ = 1.4 K, and at 1$`\nu _Q`$ below $`T`$ = 1.4 K with the saturation-recovery method. The high-frequency $`\chi _{ac}`$ measurements under $`P`$ were carried out by measuring the inductance of an in situ NQR coil as reported in the previous report. To obtain hydrostatic $`P`$, a BeCu piston-cylinder cell was used with Daphne oil (7373) as a $`P`$-transmitting medium up to $`P`$ = 2.0 GPa. For our $`P`$ cell, a value of $`P`$ distribution ($`\mathrm{\Delta }P/P`$) is less than 3 % at low $`T`$, determined from a broader NQR linewidth at $`P`$ = 1.6 GPa than at ambient $`P`$.

Fig. 1 indicates a rich $`PT`$ phase diagram of CeRhIn5 for AFM and SC referred from the previous report . The SC seems to survive under AFM near the magnetic criticality in CeRhIn5. Note that the present measurement of $`\chi _{ac}`$ reveals progressive reduction in the value of bulk superconducting transition temperature $`T_c^{MF}`$ as shown by closed circle in Fig.1.

Figs. 2a and 2b indicate the respective $`T`$ dependencies of $`\chi _{ac}`$’s and their $`T`$ derivatives $`d\chi _{ac}/dT`$ in $`P=1.122.0`$ GPa. At $`P`$ = 1.12 GPa, $`\chi _{ac}`$ decreases slightly below 1 K with a size in reduction of $`\chi _{ac}`$ ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\chi _{ac}`$) due to SC being about only 4% of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\chi _{ac}`$(bulk) for the bulk Meissner diamagnetism at $`P`$ = 2.0 GPa. It remains unclear whether this reduction arises from some diamagnetism associated with superconducting fluctuations or possible experimental uncertainty. At least, it may be ruled out that bulk superconducting transition does not occur at $`P`$ = 1.12 GPa. We note that the specific-heat result under $`P`$ suggests $`P_c(SC)1.5`$ GPa at which the bulk SC sets in . Consistently, a bulk nature of SC in a range $`P=1.532.0`$ GPa is corroborated by the observation of the Meissner diamagnetism signal whose size is almost the same as in the exclusively superconducting phase. Thus, the SC in CeRhIn5 emerges at pressures exceeding $`P_c(SC)1.5`$ GPa as seen in Fig.1. As seen in Fig. 2a, however, it should be noted that the superconducting transition width becomes significantly broader with decreasing $`P`$. A similar behavior is also seen in the $`P`$ dependence of resistivity over the same $`P`$ range. Although a zero resistance is observed at $`T_c^{zero}`$, the decrease in resistance towards $`T_c^{zero}`$ becomes broadest at $`P=1.6`$ GPa (see Fig.5b) . $`\mathrm{\Delta }\chi _{ac}`$’s at $`P`$ = 1.53 and 1.6 GPa decrease to 80% of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\chi _{ac}`$(bulk) for the bulk Meissner diamagnetism at $`P`$ = 2.0 GPa. These anomalous phenomena are associated with novel superconducting characteristics inherent to the microscopic coexisting state of AFM and SC, but not due to some phase separation between SC and AFM. This is because the homogeneous AFM over the whole sample is evidenced at $`P`$ = 1.6 GPa without any trace for the phase separation between AFM and SC as shown below. As seen in Fig.2a, $`T_c^{onset}`$ is defined as a temperature below which the diamagnetism starts to appear, whereas a peak of $`d\chi _{ac}/dT`$ as $`T_c^{MF}`$ as seen in Fig .2b.

Next we present microscopic evidence for novel superconducting characteristics at the coexisting state of AFM and SC in CeRhIn5 at $`P`$ = 1.6 GPa. The inset of Fig.3 displays the NQR spectra above and below $`T_N`$ at $`P`$ = 1.6 GPa. Below $`T_N`$ = 2.8 K, the NQR spectrum splits into two peaks due to the appearance of $`H_{int}`$ at the In site. This is clear evidence for the occurrence of AFM at $`P`$ = 1.6 GPa as well as reported in the previous result at $`P`$ = 1.75 GPa. The plots of $`H_{int}(T)/H_{int}(0)=M_s(T)/M_s(0)`$ vs $`(T/T_N)`$ at $`P`$ = 0 and 1.6 GPa are compared in Fig.3, showing nearly the same behavior. Here $`H_{int}(0)`$ is the value extrapolated to $`T`$ = 0 K and $`M_s(T)`$ is the $`T`$ dependence of spontaneous staggered magnetic moment. The character of AFM at $`P`$ = 1.6 GPa is expected to be not so much different from that at $`P`$ = 0.

Fig. 4 indicates the $`T`$ dependence of $`1/T_1`$ at $`P`$ = 1.6 GPa. A clear peak in $`1/T_1`$ is due to critical magnetic fluctuations at $`T_N`$ = 2.8 K. Below $`T_N`$ = 2.8 K, $`1/T_1`$ continues to decrease moderately down to $`T_c^{MF}`$ = 0.9 K even though passing across $`T_c^{onset}2`$ K. This relaxation behavior suggests that the SC does not develop following the mean-field approximation below $`T_c^{onset}`$. Most remarkably, $`1/T_1`$ decreases below $`T_c^{MF}`$, exhibiting a faint $`T^3`$ behavior in a narrow $`T`$ range. With further decreasing $`T`$, $`1/T_1`$ becomes proportional to the temperature, indicative of a gapless nature in low-lying excitation spectrum in the microscopically coexisting state of SC and AFM. Thus the $`T_1`$ measurement unravels that an intimate interplay between AFM and SC givies rise to some amplitude fluctuations of superconducting order parameter between $`T_c^{onset}`$ and $`T_c^{MF}`$. Such the fluctuations may be responsible for the broad transition in resistance and $`\chi _{ac}`$ measurements and for the slightly reduced value less than $`\mathrm{\Delta }\chi _{ac}`$(bulk) in the $`P`$ range higher than $`P`$ = 1.75 GPa (see Fig.2). Furthermore, the $`T_1T`$ = const. behavior well below $`T_c^{MF}`$ evidences the gapless nature in the coexisting state of AFM and SC. This result is consistent with those in CeCu2Si2 at the border of AFM and a series of CeCu2(Si1-xGe2)2 compounds that show the coexistence of AFM and SC. The specific-heat result, that probed a finite value of its $`T`$-linear contribution, $`\gamma _0`$ $``$100mJ/molK2 at $`P`$ = 1.65 GPa is now understood due not to a first-order like transition to SC, but to the gapless nature in the coexisting state of AFM and SC. It is noteworthy that such the $`T_1T`$ = const. behavior is not observed below $`T_c`$ at $`P`$ = 2.1 GPa, consistent with the specific-heat result under $`P`$ as well . This means that the origin for the $`T_1T`$ = const. behavior below $`T_c^{MF}`$ at $`P`$ = 1.6 GPa is not associated with some impurity effect. If it were the case, the residual density of states below $`T_c`$ should not depend on $`P`$. This novel feature differs from the uranium(U)-based HF antiferromagnetic superconductor UPd2Al3 which has multiple 5$`f`$ electrons. In UPd2Al3, a superconducting transition occurs at $`T_c`$ = 1.8 K well below the long-range antiferromagnetic order at $`T_N`$ = 14.3 K . The 27Al-NQR $`T_1`$ results in UPd2Al3 are indicated in the inset of Fig.4 . $`1/T_1`$ decreases obeying a $`T^3`$ law over three orders of magnitude below the onset of $`T_c`$ without any trace for $`1/T_1T`$ = const. behavior. This is consistent with the line-node gap even in the coexisting state of AFM and SC below $`T_c`$.

In order to highlight the novel superconducting nature in a microscopic level, the $`T`$ dependence of $`1/T_1T`$ is shown in Fig.5a at $`P`$ = 1.6 GPa in $`T`$ = 0.05 - 6 K and is compared with the $`T`$ dependence of the resistance $`R(T)`$ at $`P`$ = 1.63 GPa referred from the literature . Although each value of $`P`$ is not exactly the same, they only differ by 2%. We remark that the $`T`$ dependence of $`1/T_1T`$ points to the pseudogap behavior around $`T_{PG}^{NQR}`$ = 4.2 K, the AFM at $`T_N`$ = 2.8 K, and the SC at $`T_c^{MF}`$ = 0.9 K at which $`d\chi _{ac}/dT`$ has a peak as seen in Fig.5b. This result itself evidences the microscopic coexistent state of AFM and SC. A comparison of $`1/T_1T`$ with the $`R(T)`$ at $`P=1.63`$ GPa in Fig.5b is informative in shedding light on the uniqueness of superconducting and magnetic characteristics. Below $`T_{PG}^{NQR}`$, $`R(T)`$ starts to decrease more rapidly than a $`T`$-linear variation extrapolated from high $`T`$ side. It continues to decrease across $`T_N`$ = 2.8 K, reaching zero resistance at $`T_c^{zero}`$ 1.5 K. The resistive transition width for SC becomes broader. Unexpectedly, $`T_c^{onset}`$ 2 K, that is defined as the temperature below which the diamagnetism starts to appear, is higher than $`T_c^{zero}`$ 1.5 K. Any signature for the onset of SC from the $`1/T_1`$ measurement is not evident in between $`T_c^{onset}`$ and $`T_c^{MF}`$, demonstrating that the mean-field type of gap does not grow up down to $`T_c^{MF}`$ 0.9 K. The existence of fluctuations due to the interplay of AFM and SC is responsible for the broad transition towards SC that coexists with AFM.

Finally, we remark that recent neutron-diffraction experiment suggests almost the $`P`$ independent size of staggered moment $`M_s`$ in the antiferromagnetic ordered state , in contrast to the large $`P`$ dependence of $`H_{int}`$ as seen in Fig.1. Its relatively large size of moment with $`M_s0.8\mu _B`$ seems to support such a picture that the same $`f`$-electron exhibits simultaneously itinerant and localized dual nature because there is only one $`4f`$-electron per Ce3+ ion. In this context, it is natural to consider that the superconducting nature in the coexisting state of AFM and SC belongs to a novel class of phase which differs from the conventional $`d`$-wave SC with the line-node gap. As a matter of fact, a theoretical model has been recently put forth to address the underlying issue in the coexistent state of AFM and SC.

In conclusion, we have reported the microscopic coexistence of AFM and SC from the systematic measurements of the $`T`$ dependencies of $`1/T_1`$ and NQR spectra for CeRhIn5 at $`P`$ = 1.6 GPa. Also, the coexistent state is suggested to persist down to $`P`$ 1.5 GPa at least from the measurement of $`\chi _{ac}`$. The detailed measurement of $`1/T_1`$ has revealed that SC does not yield any trace of gap opening in low-lying excitations below the onset temperature $`T_c^{onset}`$ = 2 K, but $`T_c^{MF}`$ = 0.9 K, followed by the $`1/T_1T`$ = const. law in low $`T`$ regime. These results differ from any previous examples, pointing to the novel characteristics of SC coexisting with AFM. We highlight that both of the results deserve theoretical work on the gapless nature in low-lying excitation spectrum due to the coexistence of AFM and SC and the lack of the mean-field regime below $`T_c^{onset}=2`$ K.

One of authors (S.K.) thanks K. Ishida and H. Kotegawa for useful discussions. This work was supported by the COE Research grant (10CE2004) of Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Sport, Science and Culture of Japan.

* Present address: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kobe University, Nada, Kobe 657-8501, Japan \** Present address: Department of Physics, Faculty of Engineering, Tokushima University, Tokushima 770-8506, Japan \*** Present address: Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Aobaku Katahira, Sendai 980-8577, Japan


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# The Incidence of Strong-Lensing Clusters in the Red-Sequence Cluster SurveyBased on observations collected at the Baade 6.5m Telescope, the CFHT 3.6m telescope, and the CTIO 4m telescope.

## 1 Introduction

The incidence of giant arcs due to the strong lensing effects of galaxy clusters is in principle calculable, given a known cluster population, a cosmology, and a source population (Bartelmann et al., 1998, hereafter B98). The cosmology has an effect on the expected result, both because of its effect on angular diameter distances, and more importantly by its effect on the lens population. The evolution of the space density of massive clusters with redshift is strongly affected by the parameters $`\sigma _8`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ (e.g., Oukbir & Blanchard, 1992; Carlberg et al., 1997; Bahcall & Fan, 1998), and to a lesser extent $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ (e.g., Haiman, Mohr, & Holder, 2001). This has a strong effect on the expected lensing incidence. Moreover, the cosmology affects the internal details of the cluster lens population; significant sub-structure and ellipticity are known to boost lensing cross sections (e.g., Oguri, 2002; Bartelmann, Steinmetz, & Weiss, 1995) and the occurrence of such features is affected by cosmology (e.g., Richstone, Loeb, & Turner, 1992). Unfortunately, the internal properties of galaxy clusters are likely also affected by non-cosmological physics, including the detailed nature of dark matter (e.g., Meneghetti et al., 2001), and the effects of baryons on the cluster mass profile in the cluster core (e.g., Williams, Navarro, & Bartelmann, 1999). The source population also affects the incidence of arcs. These various complications make the prediction of arc statistics a challenging problem, and likely limits the cosmological impact of such studies.

However, B98 showed that the influence of cosmology on arc statistics is dramatic, with variations in arc counts of several orders of magnitude between extreme models. Given this sensitivity to cosmology, one might hope that this effect would dominate and allow one to use arc statistics as a cosmological test. Notably, both the results of B98 using the EMSS (Einstein Medium Sensitivity Survey) cluster sample and Zaritsky & Gonzalez (2002) using primarily the LCDCS (Las Campanas Distant Cluster Survey) cluster sample show that the observations clearly favor an open, low-$`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ universe. Both samples overproduce arcs in comparison to the currently favored flat $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM model by a factor of $``$10.

In this paper we describe another cluster arc sample which has far too many arcs compared to the standard expectation for a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM cosmology. The cluster sample is drawn from the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey (RCS; Gladders & Yee, 2003) and includes five clusters with arcs in a primary sample drawn directly from the survey images and a further three from a secondary followup sample. We briefly describe the survey and each arc system in §2. In §3 we analyse the occurrence rates and redshifts of single- and multiple-arc clusters and from that conclude that internal lens structure, rather than cosmology, is the likely cause of the discrepancy.

## 2 The RCS Sample

The RCS is a $``$90 square degree $`R_C`$\- and $`z^{}`$-band imaging survey designed primarily to search for galaxy clusters to redshifts as high as $`z=1.4`$ (see Gladders & Yee, 2003, for further details). The images, acquired at the CFHT and CTIO 4m telescopes using mosaic cameras, are relatively shallow, with $`5\sigma `$ point source limits typically 24.8 mag in $`R_C`$ (Vega normalized) and 23.6 mag in $`z^{}`$ (SDSS normalized). Despite this, the original survey contains 5 clusters with features interpreted as giant arcs due to strong lensing. We designate this the primary sample. An ongoing follow-up project, consisting in part of deeper $`I`$-band imaging using the Baade 6.5m telescope of one hundred of the most significant $`z>0.95`$ RCS cluster candidates, has also turned up a secondary sample of 3 clusters with giant arcs, selected from a sample to date of 46 clusters.

In both samples, the arcs were detected by visual examination of known cluster fields, with the cluster found in each case as an over-density of red galaxies using a variant of the algorithm defined in Gladders & Yee (2000). Several of the brightest and most obvious arcs in the primary sample were found independently by a direct examination of images during the initial observing. The effective selection area for these brightest arcs in the primary sample is the full area of the RC. For some fainter arcs variations in seeing and sky brightness make the effective areas smaller; the images of clusters with arcs all have seeing better than one arcsecond, and approximately 80% of the RCS has similar image quality. Overall, the survey data for fields with arc clusters are typical, both in seeing and sky brightness. All of the RCS survey data has also been visually examined by various individuals to check the object finding in the primary processing, and a large fraction of the good-seeing data were re-examined by H. Hoekstra while checking all the weak-lensing results (Hoekstra et al., 2002). It is thus highly unlikely that comparable undiscovered arcs exist in the RCS survey data.

The secondary arc sample is drawn from data with much better seeing than the RCS data - a median seeing of 0″.45 for the run, with no image worse than 0″.7 - and all these data have been visually examined for arcs. No other arcs comparable to the three in the secondary sample exist in these data.

Below we briefly describe each arc system, and argue the strong-lensing interpretation for each object. A summary of the cluster and arc properties, including length-to-width ratios for the arcs, is given in Table 1. Table 1 includes a measure of the relative rank of the detection significance for each cluster. This is computed considering all RCS cluster candidates over the redshift spanned by all the lens candidates for the primary sample ($`0.64<z<0.87`$), and within only the 46 clusters imaged so far when considering the secondary sample. Table 1 also provides an estimate of the surface brightness limits at 5$`\sigma `$, per square arcsecond, for the detection image for each arc.

### 2.1 Primary Sample

#### 2.1.1 RCS0224.5-0002

Even considering only the ground-based data (Gladders, Yee, & Ellingson, 2002), this spectroscopically confirmed $`z=0.773`$ cluster is the single most obvious case of strong lensing in the RCS, with the most distant arc spectroscopically confirmed at $`z=4.8786`$. Recent HST imaging (Gladders et al., 2003) shows that the features visible in the ground-based data probably correspond to images of three different background sources, with two of the sources at a similar redshift. Sources at a similar redshift are clustered significantly on the distance scales relevant here, and so conservatively this represents a two-arc system to the depth imaged in the RCS. In the deeper HST observations, another fainter giant arc system - either a third or fourth arc system depending on interpretation - is also visible (Gladders et al., 2003).

#### 2.1.2 RCS0348.8-1017

This single arc, shown in Figure 1a, is apparently produced by a poor cluster at a photometric redshift of 0.80$`\pm `$0.05. The lens is at a lower significance than the lower limit for the primary RCS catalog. The arc is blue compared to other nearby objects; this fact, as well as the morphology and the object’s location with respect to an apparent poor cluster, argues for the lensing interpretation in this case.

#### 2.1.3 RCS1324.5+2845

This extremely rich cluster, at a photometric redshift of 0.85$`\pm `$0.05, produces one apparent giant arc, and several other features which are suggestive of strong lensing. As can be seen in Figure 1b, follow-up of this system is complicated by the presence of two nearby bright stars. The interpretation of the extended feature as an arc is primarily based on its extremely elongated morphology, and tangential alignment with respect to the cluster center.

#### 2.1.4 RCS1419.2+5326

RCS1419.2+5326, shown in Figure 1c, is a spectroscopically confirmed $`z=0.64`$ cluster (Ellingson et al., 2003) which produces two obvious giant arcs. These objects are both blue. The color, overall morphology, as well as the tangential arrangement with respect to the cluster core suggests a strong lensing interpretation. Moreover, note that the fainter of the two putative arcs is about twice as distant from the cluster center as the brighter arc. Giant arcs occur near critical curves, and the significant differences in radial position of these arcs makes it unlikely that they are at similar redshifts. The more distant arc also has a lower surface brightness, and it is also marginally redder. Based on these differences, we suggest that the two arcs correspond to images of two different background sources, with the fainter corresponding to a source at significantly higher redshift than the brighter.

#### 2.1.5 RCS1620.2+2929

This spectroscopically confirmed $`z=0.87`$ compact and rich cluster (Ellingson et al., 2003) has one feature which is suggestive of an arc, and several other smaller sources with strong tangential shear apparently aligned about the cluster core. This arc candidate, shown in Figure 1d, has an unusual color compared to all other galaxies in the immediate field. The color of the galaxy as well as its morphology are consistent with a strong-lensing interpretation, but this should be considered the least secure arc candidate in the primary sample.

### 2.2 Secondary Sample

#### 2.2.1 RCS2122.9-6150

This cluster is shown in Figure 2a, and is at a photometric redshift of 1.1$`\pm `$0.10. The giant arc candidate is obvious, consisting of an extended feature near and somewhat tangential to the apparent cluster cD. This object is not visible in the original RCS survey data and hence no useful color information is currently available.

#### 2.2.2 RCS2156.7-0448

RCS2156.7-0448, shown in Figure 2b, is a rich cluster at a photometric redshift of 1.2$`\pm `$0.10. It has one candidate arc, located near the apparent cluster cD galaxy and tangential to it. This object also has a relatively uniform surface brightness along its entire length, arguing against it being a projection of several disk galaxies. The putative arc is barely visible in the original RCS survey imaging, and appears bluer than the cluster galaxies in that data. This should be considered the least-likely arc candidate in the secondary sample.

#### 2.2.3 RCS2319.9+0038

This rich cluster is at a photometric redshift of 1.0$`\pm `$0.1. $`I`$-band Baade 6.5m imaging, shown in Figure 2c, suggests the presence of two arcs. Bluer imaging, shown in Figure 2d, reveals that this is in fact a three arc system, and clearly confirms that RCS2319.9+0038 is another spectacular example of strong lensing by a high redshift cluster, comparable to RCS0224.5-0002. These data also show that one of the arcs is a $`B`$-band dropout. For the purposes of constructing a statistical sample we consider only the $`I`$-band data and treat this as a two arc system.

## 3 Discussion

The standard prediction from B98 for the number of giant arcs due to clusters in a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM universe is approximately one arc per 150 square degrees, integrated over $`0<z<1`$, for sources at $`z=1`$. Though the RCS cluster sample probes a somewhat different redshift range (in particular the secondary arc sample described above) the resulting differences should be factors of order unity. Even considering only the primary RCS arc sample (5 clusters, 7 arcs) and ignoring details of specific arc length-width sub-samples, we find disagreement with the Bartlemann $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM predictions by a factor of 10-20. Similar disagreements exist for the EMSS sample (B98) and the LCDCS (Zaritsky & Gonzalez, 2002).

There are three basic ways to increase the number of arcs predicted: increase the surface density of sources, increase the number of lenses, or increase the cross section of the lenses. Cosmology affects the latter two, but not the first. The number of sources, and their redshift distribution, is a well established observable, and is now in principle known to extremely faint limits due to the Hubble Deep Fields (e.g. Casertano et al., 2000, and references therein). The expected number of lenses is a strong function of the cosmology, and observably depends on the mass limit in a given sample. Establishing precisely the same limit in theoretical calculations is non-trivial and may represent a significant source of error in comparing observations to predictions. The cross section of individual lenses is also a function of mass, with more massive clusters having larger cross sections. Moreover, lensing cross sections can be strongly affected by such things as lens ellipticity (Oguri, 2002), projected secondary structures (Wyithe, Turner, & Spergel, 2001), internal cluster substructure (Bartelmann, Steinmetz, & Weiss, 1995), the presence of a central cD galaxy (Williams, Navarro, & Bartelmann, 1999), and the cluster mass profile (Takahashi & Chiba, 2001), at least some of which are also affected by cosmology (e.g., Richstone, Loeb, & Turner, 1992). The cross section of a given lens for a source at a given redshift is also a function of cosmology since this affects the size of the lens caustics in the source plane.

A further expression of the discrepancy between theory and observations is suggested by the relative proportion of single to multiple arc clusters. In either the RCS primary or secondary sample, in which arcs are found on the basis of examining images of uniform depth of a large number of clusters, the probability of two arcs occurring around any one cluster is approximately $`P^2`$, if the probability of forming a single arc is merely $`P`$. This ignores the effects of source redshift on the lensing cross section, but is of sufficient precision for the following discussion. If one makes the further simple assumption that all the lensing clusters are drawn from the same parent population, each member of which has a similar lensing cross-section, the implication from the primary sample is that the probability, $`P`$, of forming an arc for any one cluster is 2/5. Similarly $`P=1/3`$ from the secondary sample. Both samples also contain one single-arc system with a tentative identification; exclusion of these systems implies even higher lensing probabilities. However, based on the detection rankings in Table 1, it appears that many of the individual clusters with arcs do not stand out in the context of the whole cluster sample, with many other clusters without arcs showing similar or greater cluster detection significance.

To produce the large proportion of multiple arc clusters seen in the RCS, we require at least some clusters with large lensing probabilities, and this conclusion is independent of the number of clusters considered. Given the large number of clusters in the RCS which do not show arcs, it seems likely that the distribution of lensing probabilities is strongly skewed, with a tail of high probability lenses. Mass is an obvious underlying property which might cause this, since variations in the cluster mass as given by the cluster mass function produces a small sub-population (the most massive clusters) which have an enhanced lensing cross section.

To investigate the effect of the cluster mass function on the expected proportion of single to multiple arc clusters, we use the cluster catalogs from the Hubble Volume Virgo simulations111The simulations used in this paper were carried out by the Virgo Supercomputing Consortium using computers based at the Computing Centre of the Max-Planck Society in Garching and at the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre. The data are publicly available at http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/NumCos (Evrard et al., 2002) to construct mock samples of clusters over the redshift and mass range explored by the RCS. In simple symmetric lens models the probability of forming giant arcs for any one cluster scales linearly with mass because the length of the caustic is proportional to mass; to form a giant arc one must cross the caustic, and so length is the relevant quantity. Detailed measurements of known strong lensing clusters suggest that the relationship between mass and lensing power is shallower than this (Williams, Navarro, & Bartelmann, 1999), though with significant scatter. Simulations conversely suggest that the scaling between mass and lensing cross section is steeper (e.g., Meneghetti, Bartelmann & Moscardini, 2003). We use the simplest model, with the lensing cross section proportional to mass, as a middle ground between these extremes. This is sufficient for the simple illustrative models shown here.

The lensing probability for each cluster in the mass function is set relative to a fiducial value, $`P_{14.7}`$. $`P_{14.7}`$, which is the lensing probability for a 5$`\times 10^{14}`$h-1M$``$ cluster, is arbitrarily adjusted in order to reproduce the number of single arc systems observed in the primary sample. This particular mass is chosen since it is approximately the lower mass limit used by B98 when comparing to arc numbers in the EMSS cluster sample (Le Fèvre et al., 1994).

The value of $`P_{14.7}`$ is a function of the lower mass limit used, since a lower mass limit yields a larger number of clusters in the mock catalog, and hence requires a lower values of $`P_{14.7}`$ in order to reproduce a fixed number of single arcs. Figure 3 shows the value of $`P_{14.7}`$ required to reproduce the number of single arc clusters observed, versus mass limit for limits ranging from 0.5$`\times 10^{14}`$h-1M to 5.5$`\times 10^{14}`$h-1M. The resulting percentage of multiple to single arc clusters is also shown. Limits greater than 5.5$`\times 10^{14}`$h-1M produce a sample with an insufficient number of clusters and are hence not considered. At any reasonable mass cut, this model $`overproduces`$ arcs compared to the results of B98, and always $`underproduces`$ multiple-arc clusters as observed by the RCS. Overall, simply scaling the cluster lensing cross section by the cluster mass produces a poor fit both to the RCS observations and previous extensive modeling efforts.

A better match to both the results of B98 and the RCS than that shown in Figure 3 is achieved if the distribution of probabilities is even more skewed than one would infer from the cluster mass function. As a simple test, we consider an ad hoc model in which a small fraction of clusters have a dramatically increased lensing cross section. Such a modification has the advantage of keeping the lensing probabilities for the bulk of the cluster fairly low. B98 modeled only a small sample of clusters (only nine in any one cosmology) and might well not have included any of these suggested extreme systems. Note also that changes in source populations and cosmology may do little to produce changes in the $`distribution`$ of lensing probabilities. Effects producing a global increase in the lensing probabilities will enhance the ratio of multiple to single arcs found, but at the expense of worsening the already poor agreement with the B98 $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM result.

Figure 4, similar to Figure 3, shows the result of a particular toy model in which a random ten percent of all clusters have lensing cross sections increased by a factor of ten. Figure 4 considers the lensing probabilities both for the entire cluster population and only the “typical” clusters; the former produces overall lensing probabilities consistent with the EMSS as seen by Luppino et al. (1999), while the latter produces probabilities much closer to those modeled by B98. The percentage of multiple arc clusters produced is now significantly higher, with values not inconsistent with those seen from the primary and secondary RCS samples. Notably, further observations of the two most striking double-arc clusters in this sample also suggest that these clusters are remarkably good lenses, and hence that positing a sub-population of “super lenses” is not unreasonable. As discussed in §2.2.1, bluer and deeper observations of both clusters reveal further giant arc features in each system. In particular, RCS0224-0003 shows what can be interpreted as three giant arc systems in the initial ground-based images, and clearly shows a fourth giant arc system in relatively shallow HST imaging (Gladders et al., 2003).

The redshift distribution of the RCS primary arc sample provides conclusive evidence that, as suggested by the above toy models, mass is not the dominant factor which determines lensing cross sections. For the more massive clusters which make up the bulk of the parent population of lensing clusters, the RCS is complete from about $`0<z<1.1`$ (Gladders & Yee, 2003). However, all the RCS clusters in the primary sample are at $`0.64<z<0.87`$, despite the fact that clusters at moderate redshifts($`z`$0.3-0.4) are better lenses because their caustics are bigger for distant sources, and that massive clusters are more abundant at lower redshift. Qualitatively, based on the Hubble Volume simulations used above, and taking $`M`$5.0$`\times 10^{14}`$h-1M as a cut for massive clusters, the median redshift of massive clusters is only 0.49 in a $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$ universe, and less than 30% of all such clusters are at a redshift higher than the lowest redshift arc cluster seen in the RCS primary sample. The probability that the RCS primary arc cluster sample is drawn from this population of simulated massive clusters is less than 0.001. Something must act to reduce the cross section of analogs to the RCS primary sample clusters at later times.

Observations of clusters at redshifts similar to the RCS arc clusters indicate that massive high-redshift clusters are often elongated or occur with associated superstructure (e.g., Gioia et al., 1999) and likely have significant substructure; seen in appropriate projection such systems will have enhanced lensing cross sections. If the formation process of clusters tends to produce more such systems at higher redshifts, this might explain both the high proportion of multiple arc clusters seen, and their tendency to be at unexpectedly high redshifts.

Another possible explanation of the redshift distribution of the RCS lenses is that the cluster potentials are more concentrated at high redshift . Such an effect is well known from n-body simulations, in which the concentration of a given halo is observed to be correlated with the value of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ at the redshift at which it collapsed (Navarro, Frenk, & White, 1997). The RCS sample may be the first sample with sufficient redshift grasp to observe this effect. Moreover, the multiple-arc clusters, particularly RCS0224-0003, have regular concentric arcs; this implies that a single potential is responsible for the lensing, and that it is unlikely to be highly substructured. This contrasts with the multiple arc systems seen in deep HST imaging around extremely massive lower redshift clusters (e.g. Kneib et al., 1996) in which substructure clearly has a significant effect.

Finally, we note that in general, better agreement is found with the results of B98 by comparing the RCS samples to an open CDM model, since this model produces approximately the correct number of arcs. The results of B98 show that a significant portion of this increase in arcs numbers is due to larger lensing cross sections, in addition to a global increase in the number of clusters in such a cosmology. It is unclear whether this may result in the skewed lensing probability distribution required by the RCS data, and whether an open CDM model would correctly reproduce the multiple to single arc ratio observed. It would be useful to redo the calculations of B98 with this in mind, in particular paying attention to multiple arc systems. Though numerous other observations appear to indicate that open CDM models are unlikely, and in particular the CMB results indicate that the universe is near to flat (e.g. de Bernardis et al., 2002), the continuing suggestion that an open CDM universe is preferred by arc statistics makes this topic worth revisiting.

## 4 Conclusions

We have presented a total of seven new lensing clusters from the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey. In conjunction with one system already in the literature (Gladders, Yee, & Ellingson, 2002), this sample has been analysed in the context of theoretical predictions for lensing statistics in a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM universe. The long-standing disagreement between theory and observations, in which the actual arc numbers are severely under-predicted for this cosmology, is confirmed by these new data. The most striking property of the RCS sample is the large number (3 of 8) of multiple arc lensing clusters seen. An open CDM model is still preferred by the RCS data, since this produces more arcs, in part due to clusters with individually larger cross sections and thus a greater tendency to produce multiple arc systems.

The high frequency of multiple arc systems result implies that there exists a sub-population of clusters which are extraordinarily good lenses. The overall high redshift of the RCS lens sample suggest that the source of these “super-lenses” is likely related to the process of cluster formation, and possibly due to some combination of substructure, lens ellipticity, and projection of associated structure along the line of sight. An alternate interpretation is that these lenses are particularly dense, as is expected on theoretical grounds for clusters which form early. Regardless of cause, these results suggest that some physical effect must serve to reduce the lensing cross sections of clusters at later times, the opposite of what is expected if mass is the primary parameter controlling lensing cross sections.

Notably, these effects may have not been well captured in previous modeling efforts due to the small number of clusters simulated, and an incomplete treatment of surrounding structures. We suggest that future efforts to model lensing by clusters must include both a large number of clusters, and the complete line of sight to each in order to correctly model such effects. Consideration of multiple arcs in such models may help rehabilitate arc statistics as a cosmological tool, as it provides an independent check on the modeling. Finally, we note that the presence of a skewed distribution of lensing probabilities for clusters, implied by our data, may complicate the use of such clusters as probes of the global properties of cluster dark matter haloes. Clusters showing arcs may represent a significantly biased sample.

We thank the CFHT, CTIO and Magellan TACs for generous allocations of observing time. MDG is partially supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada via an NSERC PDF, and thanks G. Oemler for useful discussions. MDG is also partially supported by an HST GTO grant. PBH acknowledges financial support from Fundación Andes. LFB’s research is supported by Fondecyt under proyecto #1000537. The research of HY is supported by grants from NSERC and the University of Toronto.


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# The magnetic field influence on magnetostructural phase transition in Ni2.19Mn0.81Ga

## Abstract

Magnetic properties of a polycrystalline alloy Ni2.19Mn0.81Ga, which undergoes a first-order magnetostructural phase transition from cubic paramagnetic to tetragonal ferromagnetic phase, are studied. Hysteretic behavior of isothermal magnetization $`M(H)`$ has been observed in a temperature interval of the magnetostructural transition in magnetic fields from 20 to 100 kOe. Temperature dependencies of magnetization $`M`$, measured in magnetic fields $`H=400`$ and 60 kOe, indicate that the temperature of the magnetostructural transition increases with increasing magnetic field.

Mn-containing Heusler alloys Ni2+xMn1-xGa have been intensively studied during last years owing to their unique combination of ferromagnetism and a structural (martensitic) phase transition. Since martensitic transformation in Ni–Mn–Ga is of a thermoelastic type, the materials exhibit a well-defined one- and two-way shape memory effect . For the stoichiometric Ni2MnGa composition, martensitic transition temperature $`T_m=202`$ K and Curie temperature $`T_C=376`$ K . A phase diagram of magnetic and structural transitions in Ni2+xMn1-xGa alloys studied, theoretically and experimentally, in Refs. . It has been found, that a partial substitution of Mn for Ni leads to a decrease of Curie temperature $`T_C`$ and an increase of the martensitic transition temperature $`T_m`$ until they merge in a compositional interval $`x=0.180.20`$ (Fig. 1). The application of an external magnetic field results in an increase of the martensitic transition temperature \[6–8\]. If applied magnetic field is strong enough, a reversible magnetostructural transition can be realized in the magnetic field at constant temperature and pressure . This means that the structural state of a sample can be switched reversibly and that magnetic shape memory effect can be realized by means of magnetic-field-induced martensitic transition . Although Ni2+xMn1-xGa alloys were studied by a variety of methods, a systematic study of their magnetic properties in the vicinity of the magnetostructural transition is lacking. Magnetic properties of Ni2.18Mn0.82Ga were studied in Ref. , where hysteretic behavior of temperature dependencies of magnetization $`M(T)`$ has been observed. However, the anomalous field dependence of magnetization $`M`$, reported in Ref. , was found to be sample dependent and, therefore needs further investigation. The aim of this work is to investigate magnetic properties of polycrystalline Ni2.19Mn0.81Ga alloy in strong magnetic fields in the vicinity of the magnetostructural transition.

Polycrystalline Ni2.19Mn0.81Ga ingots were prepared by a conventional arc-melting method in argon atmosphere. To attain a good compositional homogeneity, the ingots were remelted three times. Since weight loss during melting was approximately 0.1%, the composition of the ingots was assumed to be the nominal one. The ingots were annealed in vacuum at 1050 K for 3 days. The sample for measurements was cut from the middle part of the ingot. Temperature and magnetic field dependencies of magnetization were measured by a magnetometer equipped with a Hall sensor. Magnetic fields up to 100 kOe were generated by a Bitter magnet. Measurements of $`M(H)`$ were done in the following way. Initially the sample was heated to $`T=380`$ K, well above the temperature of the transition. After that the sample was cooled down to a desired temperature, which was controlled by a temperature controller. In these measurements the magnetic field was changed with a step of 10 kOe and was kept for some time in order to insure that processes of structural transformation for a given strength of the magnetic field had completely been finished.

Typical temperature dependencies of magnetization $`M`$ in the vicinity of the magnetostructural transition are shown in Fig. 2. It is evident that as in the case of weak magnetic field $`H=400`$ Oe (Fig. 2a), in a strong magnetic field $`H=60`$ kOe (Fig. 2b), the magnetization has a prominent temperature hysteresis. Therefore, the magnetic transition in the Ni2.19Mn0.81Ga alloy possesses characteristics typical of a first-order phase transition. Under the action of the magnetic field the characteristic temperatures of the magnetostructural transition shift upward with a rate of $`0.1`$ K/kOe. This value agrees well with the data, published in Refs. .

Isothermal magnetization curves taken at various temperatures in the vicinity of the magnetostructural transition are shown in Fig. 3. The $`M(H)`$ curves, measured at $`T=327`$ (Fig. 3a) and 345 K (Fig. 3d) have field dependencies of magnetization typical of a ferromagnet and a paramagnet, respectively. Contrary to this, the $`M(H)`$ curves, measured in the temperature interval of the mixed (martensite and austenite) state (Fig. 3b and 3c) demonstrate hysteretic anomalies of magnetization in magnetic field up to 100 kOe. As is seen from Fig. 3b, in the magnetic field 0–20 kOe the behavior of the magnetization is similar to the paramagnetic state. Further increase of the magnetic field results in an anomalous growth of the magnetization, which reaches, in a magnetic field of 100 kOe, 90% of the magnetization of the ferromagnetic state at $`T=327`$ K (Fig. 3a). Upon subsequent removal of the magnetic field, the magnetization remains constant down to 20 kOe, where a drastic decrease, typical for technical magnetization curve of a ferromagnet, is observed. Based on the behavior of $`M(H)`$, measured at $`T=339`$ K, it can be suggested that induced by the magnetic field, low-temperature (martensitic) ferromagnetic state of the sample remains stable upon removal of the magnetic field.

The $`M(H)`$ dependencies, measured during application and removal of magnetic field at $`T=341`$ K are shown in Fig. 3c. At this temperature the behavior of the magnetization is similar to the paramagnetic state in magnetic fields up to 30 kOe. When the magnetic field increases from 30 to 100 kOe, the magnetization anomalously grows and reaches a value of 60% of the magnetization of the ferromagnetic state at $`T=327`$ K. Upon subsequent decrease of the magnetic field from 100 to 30 kOe, the attained value of the magnetization is preserved. A rapid change of $`M`$ occurs at $`H=30`$ kOe, where the magnetization drops to a value of 110% of the magnetization of the paramagnetic state at $`T=345`$ K. During further decrease of the magnetic field from 30 to 0 kOe, the behavior of the magnetization is typical of the paramagnetic state. The anomalous $`M(H)`$ dependencies measured at $`T=341`$ K can be explained as due to a reversible structural transformation from paramagnetic austenite to ferromagnetic martensite, induced by a magnetic field at a constant temperature.

The presented results of the magnetic measurements are in accordance with experimental results, reported by Dikshtein et al. , where a reversible magnetic-field-induced structural phase transition was observed by an optical method. As is seen from Fig. 3, induction of a structural transition by a magnetic field is accompanied by unusual behavior of the isothermal magnetization $`M(H)`$ in the temperature interval of the coexistence of ferromagnetic martensite and paramagnetic austenite. Actually, similar anomalies on $`M(H)`$ dependencies were observed in Gd5(SixGe4-x) , which is another representative of the intermetallic compounds with coupled magnetostructural transition. Since such systems, with a close relation between crystallographic structure and magnetism, are of a great technological significance, further studies of magnetostructural transitions in Ni2+xMn1-xGa , Co–Ni–Ga, and Co–Ni–Al  alloys are of considerable interest.

We are grateful to Professor A. N. Vasil ev for helpful discussions. This work was partially supported by the Grant of RFBR–BRFBR 02–02–81030 Bel2002a, by the Grant of RFBR 02–02–16636a, and by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) No. 11695038 from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and Izumi Science Technology Foundation.


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# Calculation of the interspecies s-wave scattering length in an ultracold Na-Rb vapor

## I Introduction

The $`s`$-wave scattering length $`a`$ plays a central role in the description of atom-atom collisions at ultralow temperatures ($`T`$ $``$ 1 mK). In this regime, the cross section for elastic collisions, $`\sigma _{el}\pi a^2`$, and the cross section for inelastic spin-exchange collisions, $`\sigma _{ex}\pi (a_ta_s)^2`$, are both expressed in terms of $`a`$ Weiner et al. (1999). The scattering length is also a critically important parameter in the physics of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). For a bosonic atomic species i, a BEC is stable only if $`a_i>0`$. In addition, efficient evaporative cooling demands that $`\sigma _{el}\sigma _{ex}`$ Ketterle and van Druten (1996). A priori calculations of $`a`$ are thus of fundamental interest, and the quest for BEC in alkali-metal atoms has spurred on efforts to calculate the scattering length in many atomic species.

A majority of the work on scattering lengths has concentrated on interactions between like alkali-metal atoms. However, the recent production of Bose-Fermi mixtures in 6Li-23Na Hadzibabic et al. (2002), 6Li-7Li Truscott et al. (2001); Schreck et al. (2001), and 40K-87Rb Roati et al. (2002) and dual-species BEC in 41K-87Rb Modugno et al. (2002) has renewed interest in binary mixtures of ultracold gases. In these systems, the interspecies scattering length $`a_{12}`$ is the basic quantity parametrizing the interactions between component atomic species. $`a_{12}`$ determines the efficiency of sympathetic cooling en route to the formation of quantum degenerate mixtures, and in the case of two-species BECs (TBECs), $`a_{12}`$ determines the stability and miscibility of these mixtures TBE . However, relatively few calculations of interspecies scattering lengths exist Venturi et al. (2001); Int . This is due, in part, to the incomplete characterization of diatomic interaction potentials for many pairs of alkali-metal atoms.

In this paper we calculate the scattering lengths for the Na-Rb system. We construct the NaRb potential from a combination of spectroscopic data and precise long-range interaction parameters, and use a simple method for calculating the singlet and triplet scattering lengths for the isotopomers 23Na87Rb and 23Na85Rb. The Na-Rb system is interesting in part because its an obvious candidate for TBEC. Both of the component species have been condensed and the condensates have been studied in detail BEC . The Na-Rb TBEC has been treated theoretically, and its properties are sensitive to the value of the interspecies scattering length $`a_{NaRb}`$ TBE .

This paper is divided into four sections. In Sec. II, we discuss methods for calculating $`a_{NaRb}`$, and address the source of errors involved in these calculations. In Sec. III, we introduce two hybrid potentials for the NaRb molecule, and contrast our potentials with previous results. In Sec. IV, we present our calculations for $`a_{NaRb}`$, and discuss the feasibility of producing a TBEC in the Na-Rb system.

## II Scattering Length

If the potential $`V(r)`$ is known for all $`r`$, then the scattering length $`a`$ can be calculated Joachain (1975). The procedure is to numerically integrate the radial Schrodinger equation for low collision energies to large values of $`r`$. At large $`r`$ the numerical wave function $`u(r)`$ is “matched” to an asymptotic form $`\chi (r)`$ by requiring that $`\frac{}{r}\mathrm{ln}u(r)=\frac{}{r}\mathrm{ln}\chi (r)`$ at the match point $`r=r_m`$. The asymptotic wave function can be written as

$$\chi _{l=0}(r)\frac{1}{k}[\mathrm{sin}(kr)+\mathrm{tan}(\delta _o)\mathrm{cos}(kr)],$$
(1)
where $`k`$ is the atomic wave vector and $`\delta _o`$ is the $`s`$-wave phase shift. In the limit that $`k0`$, the wave function asymptotically approaches a straight line as $`r\mathrm{}`$. The scattering length is given by the $`r`$ intercept of this line SLf , and can be formally defined in terms of the $`s`$-wave phase shift as

$$a=\underset{k0}{lim}\frac{\mathrm{tan}(\delta _o)}{k}.$$
(2)
For low collision energies, $`r_m`$ should be large to ensure that the numerical wave function attains its asymptotic behavior. The total integration time can be reduced by calculating the corrections to the asymptotic wave function at smaller values of the match point $`r=r_m`$. For example, Marinescu has shown Marinescu (1994) that the wave function for large $`r`$ may be written as $`\chi (r)=\alpha ϵ_\alpha (r)+\beta ϵ_\beta (r)`$, where the functions $`ϵ_{\alpha ,\beta }(r)`$ are solutions to the differential equations $`ϵ_{\alpha ,\beta }^{\prime \prime }(r)=[2\mu V(r)/\mathrm{}^2]ϵ_{\alpha ,\beta }(r)`$ subject to the boundary conditions $`ϵ_\alpha (r)r`$ and $`ϵ_\beta (r)1`$ as $`r\mathrm{}`$. These equations cannot be solved exactly. However, if an analytic expression for the long-range potential is known, then the functions $`ϵ_{\alpha ,\beta }(r)`$ may be estimated to arbitrary precision using a method of successive approximations. The scattering length is given by $`a=\beta /\alpha `$, and can be found by applying the usual continuity condition at $`r=r_m`$.

The uncertainty in the calculated value of $`a`$ depends upon the reliability of the potential $`V(r)`$. Gribakin and Flambaum Gribakin and Flambaum (1993) have shown that for diatomic potentials which fall off at long range as $`C_6/r^6`$, the scattering length is given by

$$a=a_o[1\mathrm{tan}\{\mathrm{\Phi }(E=0)\pi /8\}],$$
(3)
where $`a_o`$ is a“mean scattering length”, and $`\mathrm{\Phi }(E)`$ is the semiclassical phase, defined as

$$\mathrm{\Phi }(E)=_{r_{inner}}^{r_{outer}}\sqrt{\frac{2\mu (EV(r))}{\mathrm{}^2}}𝑑r,$$
(4)
where $`r_{inner}`$ ($`r_{outer}`$) is the inner (outer) classical turning point of the potential at energy $`E`$ and $`\mu `$ is the reduced mass of the colliding atoms. As can be seen from Eq. (3), the scattering length is infinite if $`\mathrm{\Phi }(E=0)=(n3/8)\pi `$, where ($`n`$=1,2,3,…). This situation occurs if the $`n\mathrm{th}`$ vibrational state of the potential $`V(r)`$ is barely bound at $`E=0`$. In general, $`V(r)`$ will not admit a barely bound state. However, variations of the potential within its estimated uncertainties will shift the energies of its bound states, and states lying closest to dissociation experience the largest shifts. A bound state may even be introduced or removed from the well, depending on the size of the potential shift and the proximity of a bound or virtual level to the dissociation energy. As states are added or removed from the well, the scattering length passes through $`\pm \mathrm{}`$. Therefore, if the interatomic potential is not known well enough to predict whether or not a barely bound state exists, then $`a`$ cannot be specified within finite bounds.

Because of the extreme sensitivity of $`a`$ to the binding energy of the highest vibrational state of the interatomic potential $`V(r)`$, the most precise calculations of $`a`$ in alkali-metal atoms typically rely on the spectroscopy of bound states near dissociation. Two-color photoassociation or Raman spectroscopy is used to resolve these lines to high precision Abraham et al. (1995). In the absence of near-dissociation spectroscopy, the scattering length may still be calculated, but the accuracy and precision of such a calculation is limited by the accuracy and precision of the interatomic potential $`V(r)`$. In the case of alkali-metal dimers, spectroscopy is sparse and near-dissociation spectroscopy is nonexistent. However, the potential $`V(r)`$ may still be “assembled” from RKR (Rydberg-Klein-Rees) RKR  data and well-known analytic expressions for short- and long-range potentials to create a “hybrid” potential valid for all $`r`$. In assigning error bars to $`a`$, care must be taken to ensure that variations of the hybrid potential within its estimated uncertainties do not introduce or remove bound states from the well. For example, uncertainties in the $`C_6`$ coefficient of NaK allowed for additional bound states in its hybrid potential, and frustrated attempts to determine the scattering length for some isotopomers Venturi et al. (2001). Fortunately, this is not the case for NaRb, as shown below.

## III N$`𝐚`$R$`𝐛`$ Potentials

Compared to many alkali-metal dimers, the ground states of the NaRb molecule are relatively well-known. Rovibrational states to within 5$`\%`$ of dissociation have been observed in both the triplet $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ Wang et al. (1991) and singlet $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ potential wells Kasahara et al. (1996); Docenko et al. (2002). The rotationless interatomic potentials $`V_s(r)`$ and $`V_t(r)`$, corresponding to the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ and $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ states, respectively, have been determined through RKR analysis, and a direct fit to the singlet spectrum Docenko et al. (2002) using a modified Lennard-Jones (MLJ) Haj  parametrization has also been performed. Ab initio ground state potential curves for NaRb have been calculated Korek et al. (2000). However, these curves are not very accurate, so we do not use them in constructing our interatomic potentials.

At large $`r`$, the NaRb interatomic potential is accurately represented by a sum of two independent contributions, the exchange and dispersion energies. The dispersion energy is given by a well-known expansion in powers of $`r^1`$:

$$V_{disp}(r)=\left(\frac{C_6}{r^6}+\frac{C_8}{r^8}+\frac{C_{10}}{r^{10}}\right).$$
(5)
The coefficients $`C_n`$ may be calculated from a knowledge of atomic polarizabilities Stone (1996). The exchange interaction is calculated using the surface integral method of Smirnov and Chibisov Smi , which yields

$$V_{ex}(r)=\pm \frac{1}{2}J(A,B,\alpha ,\beta ,r)r^{\frac{2}{\alpha }+\frac{2}{\beta }\frac{1}{(\alpha +\beta )}1}e^{(\alpha +\beta )r},$$
(6)
where $`\alpha ^2/2`$ and $`\beta ^2/2`$ are the ionization energies (in atomic units) of each atom, and $`r`$ is assumed to be in units of Bohr radii. The function $`J(A,B,\alpha ,\beta ,r)`$ can be expanded in a power series $`_n(J_nr^n(\alpha \beta )^n)/n!`$ whose coefficients $`J_n`$ are expressed as integrals that must be solved numerically. The complete long-range potential is then given by

$$V_{LR}(r)=V_{disp}(r)\pm V_{ex}(r).$$
(7)
The exchange energy is positive (negative) for the triplet (singlet) state. As $`r\mathrm{}`$, the long-range interaction potential is dominated by the well-known van der Waals potential $`C_6/r^6`$. The exchange interaction is expected to become important inside the LeRoy radius $`R_{LeRoy}`$ LeRoy (1973), beyond which the potential is well approximated by the dispersion energy alone. For NaRb, $`R_{LeRoy}`$ 11 $`\mathrm{\AA }`$.

The NaRb molecular potentials can be modelled by smoothly joining RKR data to the long-range interaction potentials. Zemke and Stwalley (Z-S) have constructed such hybrid potentials for the $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ and $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ states of the NaRb molecule Zemke and Stwalley (2001). More complete spectra of the NaRb singlet state Docenko et al. (2002) and a more precise estimate of the $`C_6`$ coefficient for NaRb Derevianko et al. (2001) have since become available, allowing us to construct new hybrid potentials for both the NaRb $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ and $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ states. For $`r<11\mathrm{\AA }`$, we use the recent MLJ potential to model the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ state. Our potential for the $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ state is identical to the Z-S triplet potential for $`r<13.5788\mathrm{\AA }`$. Our long-range potential differs from that used by Z-S in a number of ways. We use the $`C_8`$ and $`C_{10}`$ dispersion coefficients recommended by Marinescu and Sadeghpour Marinescu and Sadeghpour (1999), but choose for $`C_6`$ the highly precise value calculated by Derevianko *et al.* Derevianko et al. (2001). For the exchange energy, we used the heteronuclear expression of Smirnov and Chibisov given by Eq. (6). Both the singlet MLJ and triplet RKR potential curves are joined smoothly to our long-range potential as given by Eq. (7). Our complete long-range potential is given in Table 1.

## IV Results and Discussion

### IV.1 Na-Rb scattering lengths

To calculate the singlet or triplet scattering lengths, we choose the hybrid potential $`V_s(r)`$ or $`V_t(r)`$ and integrate the radial Schrodinger equation at $`E=0`$ from $`r_{inner}`$ to the match point $`r_m`$ using the Numerov algorithm Koonin and Meredith (1990). The reduced mass $`\mu `$ is given by $`M_{Na}M_{Rb}/(M_{Na}+M_{Rb})`$, where $`M`$ labels the atomic mass of either 23Na, 85Rb, or 87Rb. We expect the isotopic correction to the internuclear potential $`V(r)`$ to be negligible Docenko et al. (2002). Following Ref. Marinescu (1994), the scattering length is given by

$$a=\frac{uϵ_\alpha ^{}u^{}ϵ_\alpha }{uϵ_\beta ^{}u^{}ϵ_\beta }|_{r=r_m},$$
(8)
where $`u(r)`$ is the numerically integrated wave function, and the functions $`ϵ_{\alpha ,\beta }(r)`$ are determined from the long-range potential, as discussed in Sec. II. The primes denote derivatives with respect to $`r`$. We found that a fourth-order approximation to $`ϵ_\alpha (r)`$ and $`ϵ_\beta (r)`$ guaranteed convergence to a reliable value of $`a`$ at a match point $`r_m=100\mathrm{\AA }`$. Our results are summarized in Table 2.

Because the scattering length is very sensitive to the details of the interatomic potential $`V(r)`$, it is important to ensure that our calculated values of $`a`$ are stable with respect to changes in $`V_{s,t}(r)`$ within their known experimental or theoretical uncertainties. These include uncertainties in the value of the dissociation energy $`D_e`$, the inner and outer turning points of the RKR potentials, the binding energy of the observed vibrational states, and the coefficients of the long-range parameters. We estimate our errors by calculating the change in the semiclassical phase $`\mathrm{\Phi }(E=0)`$ due to the error in each parameter of our potential. These “phase errors” $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$ are then summed in quadrature to give a total phase error $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi _{total}`$. We convert this value into a scattering length error using Eq. (3).

For the triplet state, the error in $`a`$ was estimated with respect to the uncertainties in $`D_e`$, $`C_6`$, and the RKR turning points. In the case of the singlet state, the MLJ parametrization allowed us to simultaneously vary all parameters in a statistically meaningful way. We treated the MLJ parameters as random variables with a well-defined mean and standard deviation. The phase $`\mathrm{\Phi }(E=0)`$ was then calculated for 100 “random” potentials. The phase error was determined by examining the distribution of phases. This phase error was used to calculate the error in $`a_s`$.

As shown in Table 2, our error bars are small. This is, in some ways, a fortuitous result. Had a bound or virtual state been closer to dissociation, variations in the potential may have caused the phase to pass through a region where $`a\mathrm{}`$. Because the scattering lengths are relatively small, they are more stable with respect to changes in the corresponding potential. In addition, our hybrid potentials are reasonably well constrained. This is due, in part, to the observation of bound states relatively close to dissociation in the NaRb triplet well, which enabled Z-S to reduce the uncertainty in the dissociation energy to $`\mathrm{\Delta }(D_e)=\pm 0.1\mathrm{cm}^1`$, and the very precise calculation of the $`C_6`$ coefficient by Derevianko Derevianko et al. (2001).

One interesting consequence of the new singlet potential is the appearance of an additional bound state. We found that our complete potential for the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ state supported 83 bound states, whereas the corresponding Z-S potential only supported 82 bound states. This can be understood by examining Fig. 1, which shows the energy difference between the Z-S singlet and MLJ potentials for $`6\mathrm{\AA }<\mathrm{r}<11\mathrm{\AA }`$.

Because the MLJ potential is everywhere deeper, the wave vector $`k(E=0)`$ will be larger for all $`r`$. In semiclassical terms, the wave function will build up more phase $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ in this potential. In our case, $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{MLJ}\mathrm{\Phi }_{ZS}\pi `$, so that another bound state appears in the MLJ molecular well. The energy differences between the two curves is due primarily to errors in the extrapolation procedure used by Z-S to connect the short- and long-range components of their hybrid singlet state potential.

### IV.2 Two-species Na-Rb BEC

Having calculated the Na-Rb scattering lengths, we now consider the properties of a mixture of Na and Rb condensates. The interactions in a Na-Rb TBEC are parametrized by three scattering lengths: $`a_{Na}`$, $`a_{Rb}`$, and $`a_{NaRb}`$. The values of $`a_{Rb}`$ and $`a_{Na}`$ are known to high precision, and are given in Table 3.

We consider a Na-Rb mixture in which the Na atoms are in the state $`|F_{Na},m_{Na}`$, and the Rb atoms are in the state $`|F_{Rb},m_{Rb}`$, where $`F`$ is the total angular momentum of the atom and $`m`$ is its projection on the quantization axis. We represent the two-atom state by the ket $`|F_{Na},m_{Na};F_{Rb},m_{Rb}`$. To calculate the scattering lengths we use the low-energy elastic approximation Dalgarno and Rudge (1965); Côté et al. (1998), which assumes that elastic collisions dominate the total cross section for collisions. This approximation gives for the scattering lengths

$$a=a_sP_s+a_tP_t,$$
(9)
where $`P_s`$ and $`P_t`$ are the probabilities of the atoms being in a singlet or triplet state, respectively. To calculate the probabilities $`P_s`$ and $`P_t`$, we project the state $`|F_{Na},m_{Na};F_{Rb},m_{Rb}`$ onto the states $`|S,m_S;I,m_I`$, where $`S`$ and $`I`$ refer to the total electronic and nuclear spin of the two-atom system, respectively, while $`m_{S,I}`$ are their projections onto the quantization axis. This basis is useful for characterizing the system at smaller internuclear distances where the exchange energy dominates. In this region, $`F_{Na}`$ and $`F_{Rb}`$ are no longer “good” quantum numbers, and the singlet and triplet states are labeled by $`S=0,1`$, respectively.

To calculate the projections $`C_{S,m_S,I,m_I}^{F_{Na},m_{Na},F_{Rb},m_{Rb}}=S,m_S;I,m_I|F_{Na},m_{Na};F_{Rb},m_{Rb}`$, we perform the angular momentum recoupling of the four quantum numbers $`S_{Na}`$, $`I_{Na}`$, $`S_{Rb}`$ and $`I_{Rb}`$ by making use of the Wigner 9-j symbols and standard Clebsch-Gordan algebra. We calculated the complete recoupling matrices $`U_{SIFF}`$ for both 23Na85Rb and 23Na87Rb, and extracted the probabilities $`P_s`$ and $`P_t`$ for all input channels $`|F_{Na},m_{Na};F_{Rb},m_{Rb}`$. The scattering length for an arbitrary input channel is then given by Eq. (9).

Knowledge of $`a`$ enables us to calculate the cross section for elastic collisions, $`\sigma _{el}=4\pi a^2`$. Elastic collisions mediate the rethermalization of atoms during evaporative cooling and sympathetic cooling. Furthermore, knowledge of $`a_s`$ and $`a_t`$ allows us to characterize the inelastic losses in the system. The dominant two-body mechanism for the loss of atoms from a trap is spin-exchange collisions. In this type of collision, the internal spin states of one or both of the atoms changes. In the case of magnetically trapped samples, such collisions can cause atoms to be ejected from the mixture by sending them into nontrappable spin states. More generally, the atoms may be ejected if the spin reorientation energy is converted to kinetic energies greater than the depth of the (magnetic or optical) potential confining the mixture. In the elastic approximation we can write the cross section for such inelastic processes as Côté et al. (1998)

$$\sigma _{ex}=M_{if}\pi (a_ta_s)^2,$$
(10)
where $`M_{if}`$ is a factor that depends on the asymptotic hyperfine states involved in the collision. Letting primes denote the asymptotic output channel, we have

$$M_{if}=\left[\underset{m_S,I,m_I}{}(C_{S=0}C_{S=0}^{}C_{S=1}C_{S=1}^{})\right]^2,$$
(11)
where $`C`$ is the projection coefficient defined above, and the indices have been suppressed.

The achievement of a miscible two-component BEC places a number of constraints on the three relevant scattering lengths. Efficient sympathetic cooling requires a large magnitude of $`a_{NaRb}`$. Collisional stability against spin-exchange collisions requires small values of $`\sigma _{ex}`$, which implies that the difference between $`a_s`$ and $`a_t`$ be small. Dynamical stability of the individual BECs requires $`a_{Na}>0`$ and $`a_{Rb}>0`$. In the Thomas-Fermi approximation, the criteria for stability implies the existence of a critical value of $`|a_{NaRb}|=a_c`$ above which the two-species condensate cannot coexist. The criteria is given by $`|a_{NaRb}|a_c=\gamma \sqrt{a_{Na}a_{Rb}}`$, where $`\gamma =\sqrt{M_{Na}M_{Rb}}/(M_{Na}+M_{Rb})`$ Esr . For $`a_{NaRb}a_c`$ the attraction between the condensates overwhelms the repulsive interaction within each condensate and they collapse, while for $`a_{NaRb}a_c`$ the mutual repulsion of the two condensates is too great for them to overlap at all.

The single-species scattering lengths are positive for both 23Na-23Na and 87Rb-87Rb collisions, which allows for single-species BEC in either atomic species. Using Eq. (9) and the scattering lengths given in Tables 2 and 3, we calculate $`a_c`$ for all asymptotic states in a 23Na-87Rb mixture. The near equality of $`a_s`$ and $`a_t`$ implies that $`\sigma _{el}`$ will be approximately the same for all states, and that $`\sigma _{ex}`$ will be small. Therefore interspecies elastic collisions will dominate inelastic spin-exchange collisions. Using the mean values for the triplet and singlet scattering lengths given in Table 2, we find that for all asymptotic two-atom states, $`a>a_c`$. Taking into account the known uncertainties in the various scattering lengths, we find that the inequality $`a>a_c`$ still holds. We therefore conclude that a stable, miscible TBEC in a 23Na-87Rb mixture is not possible.

Next, we consider the mixture 23Na-85Rb. This is an interesting case, since BEC has only been observed in 85Rb by utilizing a Feshbach resonance to tune the scattering length of the $`|F=2,m_F=2`$ state Cornish et al. (2000). To simplify our analysis, we eliminate from consideration those states for which the 85Rb single-species scattering length is negative. Of the remaining states, we choose states that are lossless with respect to both homo- and heteronuclear spin-exchange collisions. Because of the large positive singlet scattering length in 85Rb, there is a large variation in $`a_{el}`$ from state to state. If we use the mean values for the interspecies scattering lengths given in Table 2, we again find no asymptotic states that satisfy the condition for TBEC stability.

## V Conclusions

We have derived hybrid potentials for the $`X^1\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ and $`a^3\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ states of the NaRb molecule. We compare them to other recently derived potentials, and we discuss why our potentials are preferred. We have calculated the singlet and triplet scattering lengths from these potentials for both 23Na85Rb and 23Na87Rb. Using the elastic approximation, we have calculated the scattering length for all two-atom asymptotic hyperfine states for both isotopomers. The cross sections for elastic and inelastic spin-exchange collisions can be found using these values. Applying the Thomas-Fermi approximation criterion for TBEC stability, we find no two-atom asymptotic states for which a NaRb TBEC is stable. Further experimental studies of ultracold Na-Rb vapors, including efforts to produce a TBEC in the NaRb system, will help refine our knowledge of the interatomic potentials and test these conclusions.

###### Acknowledgements.

This work was supported in part by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, by the National Science Foundation, and by the U.S. Army Research Office.


text:
# Primordial braneworld black holes: significant enhancement of lifetimes through accretion

## Abstract

The Randall-Sundrum (RS-II) braneworld cosmological model with a fraction of the total energy density in primordial black holes is considered. Due to their 5-d geometry these black holes undergo modified Hawking evaporation. It is shown that during the high energy regime accretion from the surrounding radiation bath is dominant compared to evaporation. This effect increases the mass of the black holes till the onset of matter (or black hole) domination of the total energy density. Thus black holes with even very small initial masses could survive till several cosmologically interesting eras.

Primordial black holes are formed through various mechanisms in the early universe. Depending on their evolution and evaporation time, relic black holes could have significant cosmological consequences. For instance, they could be responsible for the generation of the observed baryon asymmetry in the universe. Futhermore, depending on how long the relic black holes survive, these could also serve as viable candidates for cold dark matter. The key question in the cosmology of primordial black holes is the duration of their lifetimes, vis-a-vis their initial mass spectrum and formation times. In this article we focus on this issue in the context of the RS-II braneworld model.

In the RS-II braneworld scenario matter and radiation are confined to the 3-brane, whereas gravity propagates also in the bulk. The cosmological ramifications of this model have received much attention recently. In this model there exists a regime during the early stages when the expansion rate of the universe is proportional to its energy density. However, the standard cosmological evolution is recovered for times $`t>>t_c`$, where $`t_c`$ is related to $`l`$, the size of the extra dimension. The present experimental limit to this size is $`l0.1\mathrm{mm}`$. Our purpose here is to consider the black holes which are formed in the early (high energy) phase of this braneworld model. Such black holes obey a modified Hawking evaporation law due to a different induced metric on the brane (compared to standard 4d black holes) and also because of the radiation of a part of the gravitational energy into the bulk. Moreover, accretion from the surrounding radiation bath could have a significant effect on the evolution of these black holes. In what follows we describe in detail the effects of the interplay of evaporation and accretion on the lifetime of a population of primordial black holes in the braneworld.

We begin with an early era in the high energy braneworld phase in which a certain number density $`n_{BH}`$ of primordial black holes with individual mass $`M`$ exchange energy with the surrounding radiation by accretion and evaporation. Let the fraction of the total energy in black holes at some initial time $`t_0`$ be $`\beta `$. Hence, the cosmological evolution will be governed by the Friedmann equation, the evolution equation for black hole mass, and the equation for radiation density incorporating the effects of evaporation and accretion. These three equations (for $`tt_c`$) are given by

$$\frac{\dot{a}^2}{a^2}=\left(\frac{8\pi t_c}{3M_4^2}\right)^2\left(Mn_{BH}+\rho _R\right)^2,$$
(1)
$$\dot{M}=\frac{AM_4^2}{Mt_c}+\frac{64M\rho _Rt_c}{3M_4^2}$$
(2)
and

$$\frac{d}{dt}\left(\rho _R(t)a^4(t)\right)=\dot{M}(t)n_{BH}(t)a(t)$$
(3)
where $`(A3/(16)^3\pi )`$ and $`M_4`$ ($`l_4`$) are the 4d Planck mass (length).

A full numerical integration of the above equations would lead to the general description of the cosmology we are considering. However, here we assume the condition of radiation domination, i.e., $`\beta 1`$ ($`\rho _RMn_{BH}`$) to hold. (Note that we have already made another simplifying assumption by choosing the same initial mass $`M_0`$ and formation time $`t_0`$ for all black holes, instead of considering a realistic mass spectrum). Under these assumtions Eqs.(1) and (3) simplify to yield $`at^{1/4}`$ and $`\rho _R1/t`$ during the high energy brane phase, i.e., for $`tt_c`$. For later times, the standard radiation dominated expansion is recovered. It was shown in  that during the radiation dominated high energy phase, the solution of the black hole equation (2) is such that the mass of an individual black hole continues to grow as

$$\frac{M(t)}{M_0}\left(\frac{t}{t_0}\right)^B$$
(4)
where $`(B2/\pi )`$. Due to an imperfect efficiency of accretion, the value of the number $`B`$ might get reduced by an $`O(1)`$ factor. Nevertheless, this result indicates the dominance of accretion over evaporation in the dynamics of primordial braneworld black holes.

It can be further shown that for the condition of radiation domination to hold up to $`t_c`$, one must have

$$\frac{\beta }{1\beta }<\left(\frac{t_0}{t_c}\right)^{B+1/4}$$
(5)
Beyond $`t_c`$, the cosmology enters the standard low energy phase. During this stage the black hole masses continue to grow up to a certain time $`t_t`$ after which the surrounding radiation gets dilute enough for accretion to become negligible. Henceforth, evaporation takes over the dynamics, and the solution of the black hole equation (2) can be approximated by

$$M(t)=\left[M^2(t_t)\frac{2AM_4^2}{t_c}(tt_t)\right]^{1/2}$$
(6)
From Eq.(6) the lifetime of black holes is derived to be

$$\frac{t_{end}}{t_4}\frac{4}{A}(2\sqrt{2})^B\left(\frac{M_0}{M_4}\right)^{2B}\frac{t_c}{t_4}\left(\frac{t_t^2}{t_ct_4}\right)^B$$
(7)
The exact computation of $`t_t`$ can only be done by a full numerical simulation of Eqs.(1–3). In comparison with the the results for primordial black holes in standard cosmology, one finds that the lifetime of braneworld black holes are significantly longer. Although the modified evaporation law and accretion are both responsible for this effect, the latter is certainly the more effective reason. For example, with the inclusion of accretion in a suitable parameter range, subplanckian ($`M_0<M_4`$) black holes could survive up to the era of nucleosynthesis, and those with initial mass $`M_010^3\mathrm{g}`$ could survive up to the present era.

To summarize, we have seen that accretion from the surrounding radiation bath is an important effect for primordial black holes in the high energy phase of the RS-II braneworld scenario. For a wide range of values of the initial black hole mass and the size of the extra dimension, accretion indeed dominates over evaporation. Significant enhancement of the black hole lifetime occurs. Consequently, several astrophysical constraints on primordial black holes are impacted. The multifarous consequences of long-lived black holes in cosmology need to be investigated in more details.


text:
# Superfluid Fermi Gases with Large Scattering Length

Permanent Address:\] Department of Physics and Astronomy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, U.S.A.

## Abstract

We report quantum Monte Carlo calculations of superfluid Fermi gases with short-range two-body attractive interactions with infinite scattering length. The energy of such gases is estimated to be $`(0.44\pm 0.01)`$ times that of the noninteracting gas, and their pairing gap is approximately twice the energy per particle. PACS: 03.75.Fi, 05.30.Fk, 21.65.+F

In dilute Fermi gases the pair interactions have a range much smaller than the interparticle spacing. However, when the two-particle scattering length is large, these short range interactions can modify the gas properties significantly. A well known example is low density neutron matter which may occur in the inner crust of neutron stars Pethick and Ravenhall (1995). The two-neutron interaction has a range of $`2`$ fm, but the scattering length is large, $`18`$ fm, so that even at densities as small as one percent of the nuclear density the parameter $`ak_F`$ has magnitude much larger than one. Bertsch proposed in 1998 that solution of the idealized problem of a dilute Fermi gas in the limit $`ak_F\mathrm{}`$ could give useful insights into the properties of low density neutron gas.

Cold dilute gases of 6Li atoms have been produced in atom traps. The interaction between these atoms can be tuned using a known Feshbach resonance; and the estimated value of $`ak_F`$ in the recent experiment O’Hara et al. (2002) is $`7.4`$. As the interaction strength is increased beyond that for $`a=\mathrm{}`$, we get bosonic two-fermion bound states. In this sense a dilute Fermi gas with large $`a`$ is in between weak coupling BCS superfluid and dilute Bose gases with Bose-Einstein condensation Randeria (1995). Attempts to produce Bose gases in the limit, $`a/r_0\mathrm{}`$ using Feshbach resonances Stenger et al. (1999); Roberts et al. (2001), are in progress, and their energy has been recently estimated using variational methods Cowell et al. (2002).

In the $`a\mathrm{}`$ limit $`k_F^2/m`$ is the only energy scale, and the ground state energy of the interacting dilute Fermi gas is proportional to the noninteracting Fermi gas energy:

$$E_0(\rho )=\xi E_{FG}=\xi \frac{3}{10}\frac{k_F^2}{m}.$$
(1)
Baker Baker (1999) and Heiselberg Heiselberg (2001) have attempted to obtain the value of the constant $`\xi `$ from expansions of the Fermi gas energy in powers of $`ak_F`$. Heiselberg obtained $`\xi =0.326`$, while Baker’s values are $`\xi =0.326`$ and $`0.568`$.

Fermi gases with attractive pair interaction become superfluid at low temperature. The BCS expressions in terms of the scattering length were given by Leggett Leggett (1980), and they were used to study the properties of superfluid dilute Fermi gases, as a function of $`ak_F`$, by Engelbrecht, Randeria and Sá de Melo Engelbrecht et al. (1997). For $`ak_F=\mathrm{}`$ they obtain an upperbound, $`\xi =0.59`$, using the BCS wave function. These gases are also estimated to have large gaps comparable to the ground state energy per particle.

Here we report studies of Fermi gases with quantum Monte Carlo methods using the model potential:

$$v(r)=\frac{2}{m}\frac{\mu ^2}{\mathrm{cosh}^2(\mu r)}.$$
(2)
The zero energy solution of the two-body Schrödinger equation with this potential is $`\mathrm{tanh}(\mu r)/r`$ and corresponds to $`a=\mathrm{}`$. The effective range is $`2/\mu `$, and in order to ensure that the gas is dilute we use $`\mu r_0>10`$, where $`r_0`$ is the unit radius; $`\rho r_0^3=3/4\pi `$. All the results presented here are for $`\mu r_0=12`$; however some of the calculations were repeated for $`\mu r_0=24`$ and the results extrapolated to $`1/\mu 0`$.

We have carried out fixed node Green’s function Monte Carlo Anderson (1975) (FN-GFMC) calculations with trial wave functions of the form:

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_V(𝐑)=\underset{i,j^{}}{}f(r_{ij^{}})\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐑),$$
(3)
where $`i,j,\mathrm{}`$ and $`i^{},j^{},\mathrm{}`$ label spin up and down particles, and the configuration vector $`𝐑`$ gives the positions of all the particles. Only the antiparallel spin pairs are correlated in this $`\mathrm{\Psi }_V`$ with the Jastrow function $`f(r_{ij^{}})`$. The parallel spin pairs do not feel the short range interaction due to Pauli exclusion.

In FN-GFMC the $`\mathrm{\Psi }_V`$ is evolved in imaginary time with the operator $`e^{H\tau }`$ while keeping its nodes fixed to avoid the fermion sign problem. In the limit $`\tau \mathrm{}`$ it yields the lowest energy state with the nodes of $`\mathrm{\Psi }_V`$. These nodes, and hence the FN-GFMC energies, do not depend upon the positive definite Jastrow function. Nevertheless it is useful to reduce the variance of the FN-GFMC calculation. In the present work we use approximate solutions of the two-body Schrödinger equation:

$$\left[\frac{1}{m}^2+v(r)\right]f(r<d)=\lambda f(r<d),$$
(4)
with the boundary conditions $`f(r>d)=1`$ and $`f^{}(r=d)=0`$ Cowell et al. (2002). The value of $`d`$ is obtained by minimizing the energy calculated using variational Monte Carlo. Note that a dilute Fermi gas is stable even when $`a\mathrm{}`$, unlike dilute Bose gases in the $`a\mathrm{}`$ limit.

The calculations are carried out in a periodic cubic box having $`\rho L^3=N`$. The single particle states in this box are plane waves with momenta $`𝐤_i`$:

$$𝐤_i=\frac{2\pi }{L}(n_{ix}\widehat{x}+n_{iy}\widehat{y}+n_{iz}\widehat{z}).$$
(5)
The free-particle energies depend only on $`I=n_x^2+n_y^2+n_z^2`$. For $`N=14`$ and 38 we have closed shells having states with $`I1`$ and $`I2`$ occupied. The commonly used Jastrow-Slater (JS) $`\mathrm{\Psi }_V(𝐑)`$ is obtained by using:

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_\mathrm{S}=[𝒜\underset{I<I_{\mathrm{max}}}{}e^{i𝐤_𝐢𝐫_j}][𝒜\underset{I<I_{\mathrm{max}}}{}e^{i𝐤_𝐢𝐫_j^{}}],$$
(6)
in Eq. 3. The more general, Jastrow-BCS $`\mathrm{\Psi }_V(𝐑)`$ has:

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{BCS}}=𝒜[\varphi (r_{11^{}})\varphi (r_{22^{}})\mathrm{}\varphi (r_{nn^{}})],$$
(7)
with $`n=N/2`$. The antisymmetrizer $`𝒜`$ in the $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{BCS}}`$ separately antisymmetrizes between the spin up and down particles. The $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{BCS}}`$ describes the component of the BCS state with $`N`$ particles when

$`|\mathrm{BCS}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}(u_i+v_ia_{𝐤_i}^{}a_{𝐤_i}^{})|0,`$ (8)
$`\varphi (r)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{v_i}{u_i}}e^{i𝐤_i𝐫}.`$ (9)
The nodal surfaces of $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{BCS}`$ depend upon the pairing function $`\varphi (r)`$, and equal those of $`\mathrm{\Phi }_S`$ when $`v_i=0`$ for all $`k_i>k_F`$.

FN-GFMC gives upperbounds to the energy, which equal the exact value when the trial wave function has the nodal structure of the ground state. Therefore, we can determine the $`\varphi (r)`$ variationally by minimizing the FN-GFMC energy. We use the parameterization:

$`\varphi (𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{\beta }(r)+{\displaystyle \underset{i,II_C}{}}\alpha _I\mathrm{exp}[i𝐤_𝐢𝐫],`$ (10)
$`\stackrel{~}{\beta }(r)`$ $`=`$ $`\beta (r)+\beta (Lr)2\beta (L/2),`$ (11)
$`\beta (r)`$ $`=`$ $`[1+\gamma br][1\mathrm{exp}[cbr]]{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{exp}[br]}{cbr}}.`$ (12)
The function $`\stackrel{~}{\beta }(r)`$ has a range of $`L/2`$, the value of $`\gamma `$ is chosen such that it has zero slope at the origin, and $`I_C=4`$ here.

The parameters $`b,c`$ and $`\alpha _{II_C}`$ of $`\varphi (𝐫)`$ are optimized by choosing a random distribution of initial values and measuring the parameters of the lowest-energy (longest-lasting) configurations in FN-GFMC calculation. For 38 particles it produces an optimum set of parameters $`br_0=0.8`$, $`c=10`$, $`\alpha _{I=0,4}=0.016,0.466,0.0068,0.00091,0.0007`$ which give the smallest FN-GFMC energy having $`\xi =0.440(2)`$. Calculations in which $`\beta (r)=0`$ give optimum values $`\alpha _{I=0,4}=0.24,1.0,0.2,0.057,0.035`$ and $`\xi =0.459(2)`$, while the Slater $`\varphi _S(𝐫)`$ having $`\beta (r)=0`$ and $`\alpha _{I=0,4}=1,1,1,0,0`$ gives a much larger $`\xi =0.54`$.

The optimum $`\varphi (𝐫)`$ is compared with the $`\varphi _S(𝐫)`$ in Fig. 1; it has a sharper peak at $`r=0`$. This peak depends upon the Jastrow function $`f(r)`$ acting between all the $`N^2/4`$ antiparallel spin pairs. For example, the $`\varphi (r)`$ obtained by solving the BCS equation with the bare potential in uniform gas without the $`f(r)`$ has a much sharper peak.

The optimum $`\varphi (𝐫)`$ has $`\alpha _0<\alpha _1`$ for N = 38; in contrast the variationally determined BCS wave function has $`\alpha _0\alpha _1`$. The momentum distribution of particles in the trial and evolved ($`\tau =0`$ and $`\mathrm{}`$) wave functions are shown in Figure 2. For N = 38 the occupation of the $`I=0`$ state is smaller than the $`I=1`$, calculations with much larger values of $`N`$ are planned to test if this is a finite box size effect.

We have attempted further optimizations by incorporating backflow Feynman and Cohen (1956); Schmidt et al. (1981) into the BCS pair functions $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }`$. Initial calculations indicate that this will reduce the $`\xi `$ by $``$ 0.02. On the other hand, estimates of the corrections due to the finite range of the present interaction indicate that going to the $`1/\mu 0`$ limit will raise $`\xi `$ by a similar amount. Thus our present upperbound for the constant $`\xi `$ is 0.44(1).

In order to estimate the gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ of this superfluid we studied differences between energies of systems with odd and even number of particles. A general wave function with $`n`$ pairs, $`u`$ spin up and $`d`$ spin down unpaired particles can be written as:

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{BCS}}(R)=𝒜\left\{\left[\varphi (r_{11^{}})\mathrm{}\varphi (r_{nn^{}})\right]\left[\psi _1(𝐫_{n+1})\mathrm{}\psi _u(𝐫_{n+u})\right]\left[\psi _1(𝐫_{(n+1)^{}})\mathrm{}\psi _d(𝐫_{(n+d)^{}})\right]\right\}.$$
(13)
The unpaired particles are in $`\psi _i`$ and $`\psi _j`$ single particle states. We can write this wave function as the determinant of an $`M\times M`$ matrix where $`M=n+u+d`$ Bouchaud et al. (1988). For example, when $`u=2`$ and $`d=3`$ the matrix is given by:

$$\left(\begin{array}{cccccc}\varphi (r_{11^{}})& \varphi (r_{12^{}})& \mathrm{}& \varphi (r_{1(n+d)^{}})& \psi _1(𝐫_1)& \psi _2(𝐫_1)\\ \varphi (r_{21^{}})& \varphi (r_{22^{}})& \mathrm{}& \varphi (r_{2(n+d)^{}})& \psi _1(𝐫_2)& \psi _2(𝐫_2)\\ \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}& \mathrm{}\\ \varphi (r_{(n+u)1^{}})& \varphi (r_{(n+u)2^{}})& \mathrm{}& \varphi (r_{(n+u)(n+d)^{}})& \psi _1(𝐫_{n+u})& \psi _2(𝐫_{n+u})\\ \psi _1(𝐫_1^{})& \psi _1(𝐫_2^{})& \mathrm{}& \psi _1(𝐫_{(n+d)^{}})& 0& 0\\ \psi _2(𝐫_1^{})& \psi _2(𝐫_2^{})& \mathrm{}& \psi _2(𝐫_{(n+d)^{}})& 0& 0\\ \psi _3(𝐫_1^{})& \psi _3(𝐫_2^{})& \mathrm{}& \psi _3(𝐫_{(n+d)^{}})& 0& 0\end{array}\right)$$
(14)
The fact that the general $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{BCS}}(𝐑)`$ can be expressed as a determinant makes it possible to perform numerical calculations for large values of $`N`$. When $`N=2n`$, the fully paired ground state has $`u=d=0`$, while those of systems with $`N=2n+1`$ have either $`u`$ or $`d=1`$.

The FN-GFMC ground state energies for various values of $`N`$ are shown in figure 3. The straight dotted line in Fig. 3 is $`0.44E_{FG}`$. The calculated energies have the odd-even gap expected in superfluids, and well known in nuclei. The values of the odd-even gap:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }(N=2n+1)=E(N)\frac{1}{2}(E(N1)+E(N+1)),$$
(15)
are shown in Fig. 4. The estimated value of the gap is $`0.9E_{FG}`$ or $`2\xi E_{FG}`$. In fact the odd particle removal energies, $`E(N=2n+1)E(N=2n)`$, at fixed density, are $`(4/3)E_{FG}`$. The odd particles in the interacting gas have energies higher than that for noninteracting. Apparently the odd particles do not gain any benefit from the attractive pair potential, on the other hand they hinder the pairing of the others. BCS calculations including polarization correction Gorkov and Melik-Barkhudarov (1961); Heiselberg et al. (2000) give $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0.81E_{FG}`$ in the large $`a`$ limit.

Several consequences of the strong pairing in this superfluid gas are seen in the calculated energies. Noninteracting Fermi gases have shell gaps at $`N=14`$ and 38; they are not noticeable in this gas. The ground states of 15 and 17 particle systems have momenta with $`I=1`$ rather than the $`I=2`$ in noninteracting states and the $`I=0`$ expected in the limit of strongly-bound pairs.

Some of the differences between the nodal structures of the JS and J-BCS wave functions can be seen by considering the case where $`𝐫_i=𝐫_i^{}`$. For the JS case, the up and down determinants will then be identical and the complete wave function will be the square of one of these determinants. We now imagine exchanging the positions of two pairs by rotating them around their center of mass. Since each determinant must change sign, the JS wave function must go through zero during this exchange. When the pairs are separated by small distances the up and down determinants are no longer equal. Thus they will change signs at different points along the exchange path. We therefore expect a negative region which will effectively block these “two-boson” exchanges for fixed node calculations. In the J-BCS case, the exchanges can occur without crossing a node. In the composite boson limit where $`\varphi (r)`$ is strongly peaked around the origin, there is no sign change under pair exchanges when all the pairs are well separated.

In order to further understand the difference between the JS and J-BCS wave functions we studied their nodal structure for the following three-pair exchange. In randomly chosen configurations distributed with $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{\mathrm{J}\mathrm{BCS}}^2(𝐑)`$ the three closest pairs $`ii^{}`$, $`jj^{}`$ and $`kk^{}`$ were identified. Their center of masses are denoted by $`𝐒_l`$. The wave functions $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(x)`$ are calculated for the positions defined as follows: All particles $`m,m^{}i,i^{},j,j^{},k,k^{}`$ retain their positions in the random configuration. The positions of $`i,j,k`$ are given by:

$$𝐫_i=𝐒_i+𝐬+x(𝐒_j𝐒_i),$$
(16)
and cyclic permutations of it. Here $`𝐬`$ is the relative distance between particles in a pair. Those of $`i^{},j^{},k^{}`$ have $`𝐬`$ in place of $`𝐬`$, and the typical value, $`|𝐬|=0.25r_0`$ is used in these studies. The three pairs complete a circular exchange $`ii^{}jj^{}kk^{}`$, in the $`x=0`$ to 1 interval. We calculate the ratio $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(x)/\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(x=0)`$ for many configurations. Note that $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(1)/\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(0)=1`$. In a fixed node calculation the space where this ratio is negative is blocked for the diffusion of the configuration. For JS and J-BCS wave functions the ratios are negative, on average, over 29 and 17 % of the $`x=0`$ to 1 domain. For about half of the configurations the J-BCS had positive ratio for all values of $`x`$, while only 20 % of the JS configurations have this property.

We therefore picture the change in the nodal structure in going from the JS to the J-BCS wave functions as an opening up of the configuration space to allow pairs to exchange without crossing a node. For systems with a paired ground state, the J-BCS presumably allows off diagonal long range order via these pair exchanges. In most cases the energy difference between the normal state evolved from the JS wave function and the superfluid state evolved from J-BCS is very small $`(<0.1\%)`$, and calculations of the type presented here are difficult. However, in dilute Fermi gases with large negative $`a`$ this difference is $``$ 20 % and calculations of the superfluid are possible with bare forces.

We would like to thank M. Randeria, A. J. Leggett, and D.G. Ravenhall for useful discussions. The work of JC is supported by the US Department of Energy under contract W-7405-ENG-36, while that of SYC, VRP and KES is partly supported by the US National Science Foundation via grant PHY 00-98353.