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# On the quantum phase problem

## Abstract

We present a phase formalism that passes the Barnett-Pegg acid test, i.e. phase fluctuations for a number state are the expected value $`\pi ^2/3`$ which are the fluctuations for a classical random phase distribution. The formalism is shown to have consistency subjected to different approaches.

The search for a Hermitean phase operator started with the beginning of quantum electrodynamics. The problem of phase was first addressed by Dirac Dirac  early in the history of quantum mechanics. However, Dirac’s solution was found to suffer from mathematical difficulties Louissel . Since then several formalisms have been introduced Susskind ; Pegg ; Paul  that however have not been completely satisfactory because the way they are constructed (see Lynch Lynch  for a review). One of the most successful formalisms is that of Pegg and Barnett Pegg  that is build in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space and where all the calculations on physical quantities must be done in such a space and only after they (the calculations) have been realized the infinite-dimensional limit is taken. Not surprisingly, the Pegg-Barnett phase operator passes the Barnett-Pegg ”acid test” Barnett  that states that the phase fluctuations for a number state must be equal to $`\pi ^2/3`$, which is the value for a classical random phase distribution.

Other approaches based on radial integration of quasiprobability distribution functions have been proposed to describe phase properties (see for instance Schleich ). However, (radially) integrated distributions such as the Wigner function have shown not to work well because of its negativity Garraway .

Other mechanisms to describe phase have been proposed that directly write the Wigner function not in terms of position and momentum but on number and phase Vaccaro .

Here we would like to put forward a formalism for phase that passes Barnett-Pegg’s acid test.

Classically we may decompose a complex c-number, $`A`$, in amplitude and phase by simply writing $`A=re^{i\varphi }`$, with $`r=|A|`$ and

$$\varphi =i\mathrm{ln}\frac{A}{r},$$
(1)
where it is implied that we have chosen the principal branch of the multi-valued logarithm function.

A Hermitean operator in correspondence to the classical form (1) was proposed by Arroyo Carrasco and Moya-Cessa Arroyo

$$\widehat{\varphi }=\frac{i}{2}\widehat{D}(\chi )\left[\mathrm{ln}\left(1+\frac{\widehat{a}}{\chi }\right)\mathrm{ln}\left(1+\frac{\widehat{a}^{}}{\chi }\right)\right]\widehat{D}^{}(\chi ),$$
(2)
where $`\widehat{a}`$ and $`\widehat{a}^{}`$ are the annihilation and creation operator for the harmonic oscillator, respectively, $`\widehat{D}(\chi )=e^{\chi (\widehat{a}^{}\widehat{a})}`$ is the displacement operator with $`\chi `$ a real parameter to ensure convergence of the series

$$\mathrm{ln}\left(1+\frac{\widehat{a}}{\chi }\right)=\underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{(1)^{k1}}{k}\left(\frac{\widehat{a}}{\chi }\right)^k.$$
(3)
The operator (2) may be found to be Turski’s operator Turski  by using the unity operator given in terms of coherent states $`\widehat{1}=\frac{1}{\pi }|\alpha \alpha |d^2\alpha `$ and inserting this expression into (2) which yields

$$\widehat{\varphi }=\frac{i}{2}\widehat{D}(\chi )\left[\mathrm{ln}\left(1+\frac{\widehat{a}}{\chi }\right)\frac{1}{\pi }|\alpha \alpha |d^2\alpha \frac{1}{\pi }|\alpha \alpha |d^2\alpha \mathrm{ln}\left(1+\frac{\widehat{a}^{}}{\chi }\right)\right]\widehat{D}^{}(\chi ),$$
(4)
and that may finally be written as

$$\widehat{\varphi }=\frac{i}{2\pi }(\mathrm{ln}\alpha \mathrm{ln}\alpha ^{})|\alpha \alpha |d^2\alpha .$$
(5)
Again, choosing the principal branch in the above equation, we can rewrite (5) as

$$\widehat{\varphi }=\frac{1}{\pi }\theta |\alpha \alpha |d^2\alpha ,$$
(6)
where $`\theta =\mathrm{arg}(\alpha )`$. It may be easily shown that the operator (6) obeys the equation of motion

$$\frac{d\widehat{\varphi }}{dt}=i\omega [\widehat{a}^{}\widehat{a},\widehat{\varphi }]$$
(7)
where $`\omega `$ is the frequency of the harmonic oscillator. Note that for a phase operator defined in a finite dimensional Hilbert space to obey such equation of motion, the harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian should be defined also in a finite dimensional Hilbert space Buzek .

Dirac’s original idea was to define the phase operator as the argument of the annihilation operator. We can calculate the average value of the argument of the annihilation operator, given a wave function $`|\psi `$, by using the $`Q`$-function defined as

$$Q(\alpha )=\frac{1}{\pi }|\alpha |\psi |^2,$$
(8)
by recalling that

$$f(\widehat{a})=f(\alpha )Q(\alpha )d^2\alpha $$
(9)
such that

$$\mathrm{arg}(\widehat{a})=\mathrm{arg}(\alpha )Q(\alpha )d^2\alpha ,$$
(10)
that corresponds to the average value of (6):

$$\psi |\widehat{\varphi }|\psi =\frac{1}{\pi }\theta |\alpha |\psi |^2d^2\alpha \mathrm{arg}(\widehat{a}).$$
(11)
We can calculate average values of the moments of $`\mathrm{arg}(\widehat{a})`$ via (9) as

$$\mathrm{arg}^k(\widehat{a})=\theta ^kQ(\alpha )d^2\alpha ,$$
(12)
such that we can compute the phase uncertainty, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi =\mathrm{arg}^2(\widehat{a})\mathrm{arg}(\widehat{a})^2`$ for a number state $`|n`$, yielding the result

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi =\frac{\pi ^2}{3},$$
(13)
and where we have used

$$Q(\alpha )=\frac{1}{\pi }|\alpha |n|^2=\frac{e^{|\alpha |^2}}{\pi }\frac{|\alpha |^{2n}}{n!},$$
(14)
i.e. giving the correct phase uncertainty expected for a state of undefined phase. We can finally write

$$\mathrm{arg}^k(\widehat{a})\widehat{\varphi ^k}=\widehat{\varphi ^k}\frac{1}{\pi }|\alpha \alpha |d^2\alpha \frac{1}{\pi }\theta ^k|\alpha \alpha |d^2\alpha $$
(15)
and

$$\widehat{e^{i\varphi }}=\frac{1}{\pi }e^{i\theta }|\alpha \alpha |d^2\alpha $$
(16)
such that

$$\widehat{e^{i\varphi }}\widehat{e^{i\varphi }}=\widehat{e^{i\varphi }}\frac{1}{\pi }e^{i\theta }|\alpha \alpha |d^2\alpha =\frac{1}{\pi }e^{i\theta }e^{i\theta }|\alpha \alpha |d^2\alpha =\widehat{1}$$
(17)
i.e. the exponential of phase is a unitary operator within the formalism.

In conclusion, we have presented a formalism for phase that passes Barnett-Pegg’s acid test giving the correct phase uncertainty for a number state.


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# Scale Invariant Spectrum from Variable Speed of Light Metric in a Bimetric Gravity Theory

## 1. Introduction

In previous published work , a bimetric gravity theory was developed based on the geometric relationship:

$$\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }+B_\mu \varphi _\nu \varphi ,$$
(1)
with $`B`$ a constant with the dimensions of a squared length, and the scalar field $`\varphi `$ we shall call the biscalar field. The essential idea is that the tensor $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$–which we refer to as the “matter metric”–provides the geometry on which matter fields propagate and interact, whereas it is the tensor $`\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }`$–which we refer to as the gravitational metric–that represents the gravitational geometry through which gravitational waves propagate. As we shall show in Section 2, the presence of this type of prior-geometric structure in spacetime implies a differing propagation speed for matter and gravitational waves, and dramatically alters the coupling of matter to geometry. (An alternative bimetric theory has also been developed based on the structure: $`\widehat{g}_{\mu \nu }=g_{\mu \nu }+B\psi _\mu \psi _\nu `$ where $`\psi _\mu `$ is a vector field .) While such structures have been considered by other authors , to our knowledge their consequences had not been considered in a cosmological setting prior to our work . It is also the explicit bimetric structure (1) that distinguishes this approach from other investigations of models with a ‘varying speed of light’ (see, for example ).

A derivation of an approximately scale-invariant microwave background spectrum was obtained previously  by invoking a secondary mechanism, similar to that of chaotic inflation, whereby a mass was introduced for the biscalar field and the quantum fluctuations in the biscalar field were generated as the biscalar field ‘rolled’ along the attractor as it approached the bottom of the potential well. However, it is desirable to discover whether an alternative ‘purely’ VSL mechanism exists which can generate a scale invariant microwave background spectrum, without relying on the introduction of a potential, and therefore bears no relation to a potential-dominated inflationary scenario.

In the following, we will demonstrate in the affirmative that this is indeed the case. In Section 3, we introduce a frame where the gravitational metric $`\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }`$ takes on the standard comoving Friedman-Robertson-Walker form, which we will refer to as the “VSL frame”, since in this frame the speed of light will vary as the universe expands. In Section 4, we show that perturbations of the scalar field $`\varphi `$ that provide the bimetric structure in (1) satisfy an Einstein Klein-Gordon equation. With vanishing potential for this field, we can obtain the desired scale invariant spectrum by assuming that the scalar perturbation modes are born, or emerge from a spacetime region with a length scale less than a fixed length scale $`\mathrm{}_0`$. This follows the idea of Hollands and Wald  in which the modes emerge in a ground state wavefunction at a scale $`R_k=R(t_k)`$ at a time $`t_k`$.

In contrast to the picture described by Hollands and Wald, the radiation density in the volume of space determined by $`\mathrm{}_0`$ is highly diluted by means of a VSL mechanism. This justifies the use of the biscalar field to generate the seeds of structure formation, circumventing the major criticism by Kofman, Linde and Mukhanov  of the Hollands and Wald scenario. The other important observation that we make here is that $`\mathrm{}_0`$ can be chosen to be related to the parameter $`B`$ in the bimetric structure through: $`\mathrm{}_0\sqrt{12B}`$, and we obtain the correct order of magnitude of the CMB spectrum $`\delta _H10^5`$ if $`\mathrm{}_010^5\mathrm{}_P`$, where $`\mathrm{}_P`$ is the Planck length $`\mathrm{}_P=\sqrt{G\mathrm{}/c^3}10^{33}\mathrm{cm}`$. We therefore feel that the bimetric structure should also play a fundamental role in understanding the mode creation mechanism as well. Following a brief discussion of the consistency of choosing the parameters of the model in Section 5, we make some concluding statements in Section 6.

## 2. The model

The model that we introduced in  consisted of a self-gravitating scalar field coupled to matter through the matter metric (1), with the action

$$S=S_{\mathrm{grav}}+S_\varphi +\widehat{S}_\mathrm{M},$$
(2)
where

$$S_{\mathrm{grav}}=\frac{1}{\kappa }𝑑\mu (R[\mathrm{g}]+2\mathrm{\Lambda }),$$
(3)
$`\kappa =16\pi G/c^4`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the cosmological constant, and we employ a metric with signature $`(+,,,)`$. We will write, for example, $`d\mu =\sqrt{\mathrm{g}}d^4x`$ and $`\mu =\sqrt{\mathrm{g}}`$ for the metric density related to the gravitational metric $`\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }`$, and similar definitions of $`d\widehat{\mu }`$ and $`\widehat{\mu }`$ in terms of the matter metric $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$, and $`c`$ denotes the currently measured speed of light. Note that from (1) the determinants are related by

$$\mu =\sqrt{K}\widehat{\mu },$$
(4)
where

$$K=1B\widehat{\mathrm{g}}^{\mu \nu }_\mu \varphi _\nu \varphi .$$
(5)
The minimally-coupled scalar field action is

$$S_\varphi =\frac{1}{\kappa }𝑑\mu \left[\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{g}^{\mu \nu }_\mu \varphi _\nu \varphi V(\varphi )\right],$$
(6)
where the scalar field $`\varphi `$ has been chosen to be dimensionless. The energy-momentum tensor for the scalar field that we will use is given by

$$T_\varphi ^{\mu \nu }=\frac{1}{\kappa }\left[\mathrm{g}^{\mu \alpha }\mathrm{g}^{\nu \beta }_\alpha \varphi _\beta \varphi \frac{1}{2}\mathrm{g}^{\mu \nu }\mathrm{g}^{\alpha \beta }_\alpha \varphi _\beta \varphi +\mathrm{g}^{\mu \nu }V(\varphi )\right],$$
(7)
and is the variation of the scalar field action with respect to the gravitational metric: $`\delta S_\varphi /\delta \mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }=\frac{1}{2}\mu T_\varphi ^{\mu \nu }`$.

We construct the matter action $`\widehat{S}_\mathrm{M}`$ using the combination (1) resulting in the identification of $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }`$ as the physical metric that provides the arena on which matter fields interact. That is, the matter action $`\widehat{S}_\mathrm{M}[\psi ^I]=\widehat{S}_\mathrm{M}[\widehat{\mathrm{g}},\psi ^I]`$, where $`\psi ^I`$ represents all the matter fields in spacetime, is one of the standard forms, and therefore the energy-momentum tensor derived from it by

$$\frac{\delta S_\mathrm{M}}{\delta \widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }}=\frac{1}{2}\widehat{\mu }\widehat{T}^{\mu \nu },$$
(8)
satisfies the conservation laws

$$\widehat{}_\nu \left[\widehat{\mu }\widehat{T}^{\mu \nu }\right]=0,$$
(9)
as a consequence of the matter field equations only . It is the matter covariant derivative $`\widehat{}_\mu `$ that appears here, which is the metric compatible covariant derivative determined by the matter metric: $`\widehat{}_\alpha \widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }=0`$. In this work we assume a perfect fluid matter model:

$$\widehat{T}^{\alpha \beta }=\left(\rho +\frac{p}{c^2}\right)\widehat{u}^\alpha \widehat{u}^\beta p\widehat{\mathrm{g}}^{\alpha \beta },$$
(10)
with $`\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }\widehat{u}^\mu \widehat{u}^\nu =c^2`$.

As described in , the gravitational field equations for this model can be written as

$$G^{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{g}^{\mu \nu }+\frac{\kappa }{2}T_\varphi ^{\mu \nu }+\frac{\kappa }{2}\frac{\widehat{\mu }}{\mu }\widehat{T}^{\mu \nu },$$
(11)
and that for the scalar field (written here in terms of matter covariant derivatives) as

$$\overline{\mathrm{g}}^{\mu \nu }\widehat{}_\mu \widehat{}_\nu \varphi +KV^{}[\varphi ]=0.$$
(12)
In the latter, we have defined the biscalar field metric

$$\overline{\mathrm{g}}^{\mu \nu }=\widehat{\mathrm{g}}^{\mu \nu }+\frac{B}{K}\widehat{}^\mu \varphi \widehat{}^\nu \varphi \kappa B\sqrt{K}\widehat{T}^{\mu \nu },$$
(13)
which is a third metric structure forced upon us by the structure of the field equations, and controls the causal propagation of the biscalar field. We have previously shown that the field equations in this theory are consistent with the Bianchi identities .

Note that there is no source for the biscalar field in (12). This implies that as the universe expands the biscalar field becomes increasingly diluted to the point where it has unobservable consequences at present, despite the rather large energy scale implied by the relation $`\sqrt{12B}=\mathrm{}_010^5\mathrm{}_P`$ that we derive below. To see this, perform a post-Newtonian expansion of the gravitational field in the solar system: $`\mathrm{g}_{00}c^2+2GM_{}/1\mathrm{AU}`$; if the contribution from the biscalar field is to be as large as the Newtonian gravitational potential, then we have: $`2GM_{}/1\mathrm{AU}B\dot{\varphi }^2`$. Using the determined magnitude of $`B`$ this can be written: $`\dot{\varphi }^2=24M_{}c^3/(10^{10}\mathrm{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}\mathrm{AU})`$ or $`\dot{\varphi }10^{35}\mathrm{Hz}10^8/t_P`$. In the very early universe the biscalar field will be ‘rolling’ fast enough to approach these energies, but as it will redshift as $`\dot{\varphi }1/R^3`$ (see (26)), such biscalar field effects will be unobservable at present.

## 3. Cosmology

We will work in a frame where the gravitational metric $`\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }`$ is comoving, that is

$$\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{diag}(c^2,R^2(t)\gamma _{ij}),$$
(14)
with coordinates $`(t,x^i)`$ and $`3`$-metric $`\gamma _{ij}`$ on the spatial slices of constant time. As a result of this coordinate choice and the definitions (1) and (13), we find

$$\widehat{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{diag}(K^1c^2,R^2(t)\gamma _{ij}),$$
(15)
where from (5):

$$K=\left(1+\frac{B}{c^2}\dot{\varphi }^2\right)^1.$$
(16)
From (14) we see that the constant $`c`$ will represent the speed of propagation of gravitational waves in this model, whereas from (15) the speed of light (and the limiting speed of other matter fields) is time-dependent and given by

$$c_\gamma (t)=c/\sqrt{K}=c\left(1+\frac{B}{c^2}\dot{\varphi }^2\right)^{1/2}.$$
(17)
We see that $`c_\gamma (t)\mathrm{}`$ and $`K(t)0`$ when $`B\dot{\varphi }^2/c^2\mathrm{}`$, and expect that at present $`K1`$ and so $`c_\gamma c`$.

In general relativity (GR), one can always perform a diffeomorphism to remove such a time-dependence of the speed of light. In the bimetric gravity theory there are two speeds, and, while this can still be achieved by introducing a new time variable through $`d\tau =dt/\sqrt{K}`$, in the resulting frame the speed of gravitational wave propagation would no longer be constant. Note that the dimensionless ratio of the two propagation velocities: $`c/c_\gamma =\sqrt{K}`$ is a covariantly defined quantity by (5), and encodes exactly this situation: only if $`K=1`$ will a diffeomorphism be able to simultaneously make both propagation velocities equal. This makes the time dependence of $`c_\gamma `$ (in this frame) a non-trivial feature of the theory.

The matter stress-energy tensor (using $`\widehat{u}^0=c`$):

$$\widehat{T}^{00}=K\rho ,\widehat{T}^{ij}=\frac{p}{R^2}\gamma ^{ij},$$
(18)
then leads to the conservation laws (an overdot indicates a derivative with respect to the time variable $`t`$, and $`H=\dot{R}/R`$ is the Hubble function)

$$\dot{\rho }+3H\left(\rho +\frac{p}{c^2}\right)=0.$$
(19)
Since we are interested in the very early universe, we will assume a radiation equation of state:

$$p=\frac{1}{3}c^2\rho ,$$
(20)
and we will write:

$$\rho =\rho _{\mathrm{𝑟𝑎𝑑},0}\left(\frac{R_0}{R}\right)^4,$$
(21)
where the radiation energy density at present is: $`\rho _{\mathrm{𝑟𝑎𝑑},0}4.8\times 10^{34}\mathrm{g}/\mathrm{cm}^3`$. In this model we are assuming that the radiation that fills the universe is truly ‘primordial’.

The Friedmann equation is given by

$$H^2+\frac{kc^2}{R^2}=\frac{1}{3}c^2\mathrm{\Lambda }+\frac{1}{6}\left(\frac{1}{2}\dot{\varphi }^2+c^2V[\varphi ]\right)+\frac{1}{6}\kappa c^4\sqrt{K}\rho ,$$
(22)
and the biscalar field equation is:

$$(1\kappa c^2BK^{3/2}\rho )\ddot{\varphi }+3H(1+\kappa B\sqrt{K}p)\dot{\varphi }+c^2V^{}[\varphi ]=0,$$
(23)
with the biscalar field metric given by:

$$\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{diag}(c^2(1\kappa c^2BK^{3/2}\rho ),R^2(t)(1+\kappa B\sqrt{K}p)\gamma _{ij}).$$
(24)
It is useful at this point to introduce the following quantities derived from the constant $`B`$ which will appear throughout this work:

$$H_B^2=\frac{c^2}{12B},\rho _B=\frac{1}{2\kappa c^2B},$$
(25)
the latter comes from $`H_B^2=\frac{1}{6}\kappa c^4\rho _B`$.

Previously , we considered the generation of the seeds for structure formation in the early universe through a mechanism similar to that of chaotic inflation. We shall now obtain the seeds for structure formation from a purely VSL mechanism by working in the comoving gravitational metric (14) (VSL metric frame). The essential idea here is that it is possible in the very early universe that $`K`$ is very small: $`B\dot{\varphi }^2c^2`$, in which case the matter contribution to the Friedmann equation is small compared to the contribution from the biscalar field kinetic term. We are interested in a scenario that does not depend on choosing a particular form for the biscalar field potential, and so we will set $`V[\varphi ]=0`$.

We assume in (23) that the bracketed terms are both approximately one, and so: $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }`$ (we shall justify this assumption in Section 5), which gives us the solution:

$$\dot{\varphi }=\sqrt{12}H_B\left(\frac{R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}{R}\right)^3.$$
(26)
We have chosen the arbitrary constant of integration $`R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}`$ to parameterize the time at which $`K=1/2`$, that is

$$K=\left[1+\left(\frac{R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}{R}\right)^6\right]^1,$$
(27)
so that it indicates the time at which the gravitational and matter metrics are close to coinciding. The subscript $`\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}`$ indicates that this is the ‘phase transition’, when standard local Lorentz symmetry with a single light cone will be restored–it is also the end of the period that will appear as inflation in the matter frame.

The Friedmann equation is then

$$H^2+\frac{kc^2}{R^2}=\frac{1}{3}c^2\mathrm{\Lambda }+H_B^2\left(\frac{R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}{R}\right)^6,$$
(28)
from which it is easy to see that at early enough times, the behavior of the universe is dominated by the contribution from the biscalar field. We shall assume that this is the case, and consequently neglect the cosmological constant and spatial curvature throughout the remainder of this work. As a result, we have the approximate solution

$$R=R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}(3H_Bt)^{1/3},H=\frac{1}{3t},$$
(29)
where we have chosen $`t=0`$ when $`R=0`$, and at the phase transition $`t_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}=1/(3H_B)`$, which means that $`H_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}=H_B`$.

As this is not an inflationary solution, it appears that it does not solve the horizon and flatness problems. It must be remembered though, that we are working in a comoving gravitational frame, and the speed of matter propagation is very much larger than that of gravitational waves. So the coordinate distance that light would travel since the initial singularity is given by the null geodesics of (15) rather than those of (14), that is:

$$\frac{cdt}{KR}\frac{1}{t^{4/3}},$$
(30)
where we have used (29). This clearly diverges as $`t0`$, showing that there is no (matter) particle horizon in the spacetime.

Another way of seeing this is to perform the diffeomorphism to put the matter metric into comoving form:

$$d\tau =K^{1/2}dt=\sqrt{1+(3H_Bt)^2}dt,$$
(31)
which is easily integrated:

$$3H_B\tau =1+\sqrt{1+(3H_Bt)^2}+\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{ln}\left[\frac{\sqrt{1+(3H_Bt)^2}1}{\sqrt{1+(3H_Bt)^2}+1}\right],$$
(32)
where we have chosen the constant of integration so that $`\tau =0`$ corresponds to $`3H_Bt1`$. Note that the interval $`t(0,\mathrm{})`$ has been mapped to $`\tau (\mathrm{},\mathrm{})`$, so a comoving matter observer will ‘see’ an infinitely old universe. Using this, it is not difficult to show that $`t\tau `$ for $`3H_Bt1`$ and $`3H_Bt2\mathrm{exp}(3H_B\tau )`$ for $`3H_Bt1`$. Thus, in the comoving matter frame we have

$$R(\tau )\{\begin{array}{cc}R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}2^{1/3}e^{3H_B\tau }\hfill & 3H_Bt1,\hfill \\ R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}(3H_Bt)^{1/3}\hfill & 3H_Bt1,\hfill \end{array}$$
(33)
which clearly shows that a comoving material observer will see a period of inflation. These results can be understood directly from the Friedmann equations in a comoving matter frame as well .

This is a recurring theme in such bimetric models: the frame in which one chooses to work colours the interpretation that one puts on the physics. In the comoving gravitational frame the speed of light varies in time, and the horizon problem is solved due to the very large propagation velocity of light in the very early universe. In a frame where the speed of light is constant, the altered coupling of matter to the gravitational sector and the presence of the biscalar field leads to an inflating spacetime.

## 4. Scalar Mode Perturbations

In the comoving gravitational frame we are considering a universe with a minimally-coupled Einstein Klein-Gordon field, and so scalar mode fluctuations: $`\varphi =\varphi (t)+\delta \varphi (t,\stackrel{}{x})`$, about the background cosmological solution can be treated in a straightforward way. Ignoring gravitational back-reaction, we find the field equation for the perturbation of the biscalar field

$$\frac{d^2\delta \varphi _\stackrel{}{k}}{dt^2}+3H\frac{d\delta \varphi _\stackrel{}{k}}{dt}+\frac{c^2\stackrel{}{k}^2}{R^2}\delta \varphi _\stackrel{}{k}=0,$$
(34)
where $`\delta \varphi =(2\pi )^{2/3}d^3k\mathrm{exp}[i\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{x}]\delta \varphi _\stackrel{}{k}`$. The (real) solution to (34) for our spacetime is given by Bessel functions:

$$\delta \varphi _\stackrel{}{k}=A(\stackrel{}{k})J_0(\xi )+B(\stackrel{}{k})Y_0(\xi ),\xi =\frac{ck}{2R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}H_B}\left(\frac{R}{R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}\right)^2.$$
(35)
Since $`\xi 1`$ would correspond to a mode passing inside the horizon, we expect that in the very early universe we would have $`\xi 1`$ for modes of interest. Using the fact that $`R_0H_0/(R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}H_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}})1`$, for modes near the pivot point: $`ck7R_0H_0`$ we see that this is the case. Thus, we cannot assume a scenario where the modes are ‘born’ in the quantum vacuum in the early universe.

Also note that re-writing (34) in terms of the matter comoving time $`\tau `$ as defined by (31) results in a field equation that is very different than in what would appear in a deSitter spacetime:

$$\frac{d^2\delta \varphi _\stackrel{}{k}}{d\tau ^2}+\frac{d\mathrm{ln}\left(R^3/\sqrt{K}\right)}{d\tau }\frac{d\delta \varphi _\stackrel{}{k}}{d\tau }+\frac{Kc^2\stackrel{}{k}^2}{R^2}\delta \varphi _\stackrel{}{k}=0.$$
(36)
The additional factor $`K`$ multiplying the spatial derivative terms is a reflection of the fact that the null cone of the biscalar field is smaller by exactly this factor over that of matter. It is also easy to see that since in the very early universe $`KR^6`$, the biscalar field modes never appear to be ‘inside the horizon’.

Hollands and Wald  assume that modes are born or emerge from a fundamental description of spacetime in the ‘ground state’ of a flat spacetime wave operator at some length scale $`\mathrm{}_0`$. We interpret this to mean that modes emerge from a spacetime foam in a classical state that is essentially a normalized plane wave of the flat spacetime wave operator:

$$\delta \varphi _\stackrel{}{k}(t_k)=\sqrt{\frac{\kappa \mathrm{}c^2}{(2\pi R_k)^32\omega _k}}\mathrm{cos}(\omega _kt_k\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{x}+\delta ),\omega _k=\frac{ck}{R_k},$$
(37)
where the scale at which the mode is born is given by the Hollands-Wald condition:

$$R_k=k\mathrm{}_0.$$
(38)
Since we will eventually relate this length scale to that appearing in the metric (1) by $`\sqrt{12B}\mathrm{}_0`$, we expect that a more fundamental description of this mechanism in terms of (quantum) biscalar field dynamics should be possible. We leave this to future work.

If one assumes that one should use (37) as initial data for the classical solution of (34), then we match not only the initial perturbation but also its time derivative. Doing so and keeping only the dominant contribution as $`\xi 0`$ gives

$$\delta \varphi _\stackrel{}{k}\sqrt{\frac{9\kappa \mathrm{}c^2}{(2\pi R_k)^332\omega _k}}\mathrm{cos}(\omega _kt_k\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{x}+\delta )\mathrm{ln}(\xi _k)J_0(\xi ),$$
(39)
where $`\xi _k`$ represents $`\xi `$ evaluated at $`R=R_k`$. The (non-scale invariant) contribution that appears here results from the fact that we matched to the initial state and its time derivative, and the Bessel function $`Y_0(z)`$ is logarithmically divergent when $`\xi 0`$. The Hollands and Wald  wave function did not have this additional logarithmic term, which will lead to slight deviations from a scale invariant spectrum.

We obtain the spectrum of scalar field fluctuations to be

$$𝒫_{\delta \varphi }=\frac{9}{2(2\pi )^3}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{\mathrm{}_0}\right)^2\mathrm{ln}^2(\xi _k),$$
(40)
and the curvature power spectrum is then found in the usual way (recall that $`\dot{\varphi }^2=12H^2`$ in this spacetime):

$$𝒫_{}=\left(\frac{H^2}{\dot{\varphi }^2}\right)𝒫_{\delta \varphi }=\frac{3}{8(2\pi )^3}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{\mathrm{}_0}\right)^2\mathrm{ln}^2(\xi _k),$$
(41)
where, using the condition (38):

$$\xi _k=\frac{\sqrt{12B}\mathrm{}_0^2k^3}{2R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}^3}.$$
(42)
From (41) the scalar mode spectral index is calculated:

$$n_s=1+\frac{d\mathrm{ln}𝒫_{}}{d\mathrm{ln}k}=1+\frac{6}{\mathrm{ln}(\xi _k)},$$
(43)
and the running of the spectral index is calculated from: $`\alpha _s=dn_s/d\mathrm{ln}k`$, from which we find the relation

$$\alpha _s=\frac{1}{2}(1n_s)^2.$$
(44)
In the large scale limit, we also have

$$\delta _H=\frac{2}{5}\sqrt{𝒫_{}}\frac{2}{5}\sqrt{\frac{3}{8(2\pi )^3}}\left(\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{\mathrm{}_0}\right)|\mathrm{ln}(\xi _k)|.$$
(45)
Assuming that $`\mathrm{}_0\sqrt{12B}`$ and evaluating the logarithm at the pivot point, $`ck7R_0H_0`$, this simplifies to

$$\delta _H\frac{\mathrm{}_P}{\mathrm{}_0}.$$
(46)
To see this, note that for this scale: $`\xi _k(7H_0R_0/H_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}})^3`$, where we have used: $`H_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}=H_B`$ and (25). Using standard physics following $`R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}`$, one finds that $`H_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}/R_0H_0\sqrt{10^{60}z_{\mathrm{eq}}}(T_P/T_{\mathrm{pt}})`$ , which gives $`\mathrm{ln}(\xi _k)200`$, which combines with the coefficient in (45) to give a factor of order unity. We can then match the amplitude of the observed CMB fluctuations: $`\delta _H10^5`$ by fixing the bimetric length scale:

$$\mathrm{}_0\sqrt{12B}10^5\mathrm{}_P,$$
(47)
which gives

$$n_s0.97,\alpha _s4.5\times 10^4.$$
(48)
This compares well with the recent WMAP result: $`n_s=0.99\pm 0.04`$ .

While it is straightforward to use this mechanism to also generate a nearly scale invariant spectrum of tensor fluctuations, we have to show that the ratio of the scalar and tensor amplitudes is relatively small to match the WMAP data. The observational upper bound on this ratio is of order 20% . This we leave for future work.

## 5. The Very Early Universe

Now that we have determined a reasonable choice of parameters, we can justify the assumption that we made in Section 3, namely, that we can take $`\overline{\mathrm{g}}_{\mu \nu }\mathrm{g}_{\mu \nu }`$. In order to do so it is sufficient to show that $`\kappa c^2B\sqrt{K}\rho 1`$ since from (27), $`K1`$ in the very early universe and we are assuming the equation of state (20).

Using the Friedmann equation (22) and the biscalar field equation (23), it is straightforward to show (with $`V=0`$) that

$$\frac{d}{dt}\left[1\kappa c^2B\sqrt{K}\rho \right]=3H\kappa c^2BK^{3/2}\left(\rho +K^1\frac{p}{c^2}\right)\frac{1\kappa c^2B\sqrt{K}\rho }{1\kappa c^2BK^{3/2}\rho },$$
(49)
and so $`\kappa c^2B\sqrt{K}\rho =1`$ is a fixed point of the system. It is also a degeneracy point of the biscalar field metric though, and is the $`R0`$ limit of any universe in which $`\rho `$ is non-vanishing. So if we were to follow the model described in Section 3 back to $`R=0`$, there would necessarily be an earlier time period during which matter fields would be important.

Rather than dominating the Friedmann equation, the presence of matter merely serves to cause $`KR^4`$ rather than $`KR^3`$ as $`R0`$ . This is easily seen from the Friedmann equation (22), where the matter energy density contributions approach a constant $`H_B^2`$ whereas the biscalar field kinetic terms continue to dominate: $`\dot{\varphi }^2H_B^2/K`$. We will not treat this stage of the universe explicitly. Instead we assume that modes of interest are generated after this stage, and so if we define the quantity:

$$F=2\kappa c^2B\sqrt{K}\rho =\sqrt{K}\frac{\rho }{\rho _B},$$
(50)
we should have $`F1/2`$.

The transition $`F1`$ should happen for some $`R_iR_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}`$, and using (27) this initial transition is given by

$$\frac{R_i}{R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}=e^𝒩\frac{\rho _{\mathrm{𝑟𝑎𝑑},0}}{\rho _B}\left(\frac{R_0}{R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}\right)^4=\frac{\rho _P}{\rho _B}\left(\frac{T_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}{T_P}\right)^4,$$
(51)
where we have introduced the total number of e-folds of inflation $`𝒩`$ in the comoving matter frame, and we have used $`\rho _PR_P^4=\rho _{\mathrm{𝑟𝑎𝑑},0}R_0^4`$, $`R_0T_0=RT`$ and $`\rho _P=c^5/(G^2\mathrm{})`$ is the Planck mass density.

In order to solve the horizon and flatness problems in the comoving matter frame, we need the size of the cosmological horizon: $`r_c=cR_0/(RH)`$ to be much larger at $`R_{\mathrm{𝑞𝑔}}`$ than it is at present, leading to $`R_0H_0R_{\mathrm{𝑞𝑔}}H_{\mathrm{𝑞𝑔}}`$. Relating these to the phase transition (the end of inflation in the comoving matter frame) we have

$$\frac{R_0H_0}{R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}H_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}\frac{R_iH_i}{R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}H_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}e^𝒩,$$
(52)
where we have noted that the Hubble parameter is approximately constant during the early universe in the comoving matter frame. Using standard physics following $`R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}`$ interpreted as the end of ‘inflation’, this yields the constraint :

$$e^𝒩\frac{T_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}{T_P}\sqrt{10^{60}z_{eq}},$$
(53)
where we have used $`R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}H_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}/(R_0H_0)=\sqrt{10^{60}z_{\mathrm{eq}}}(T_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}/T_P)`$, and $`T_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}`$ is the temperature at the phase transition satisfying $`1>T_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}/T_P>10^5`$, $`T_P`$ is the Planck temperature, and $`z_{eq}4.3\times 10^4\mathrm{\Omega }h4\times 10^4`$ is the redshift at matter-radiation equality. This yields the usual result that $`𝒩60`$ will solve the horizon and flatness problems.

Evaluating (50) at the time when a particular mode was born, we have

$$F_k=\frac{4\pi }{3}\frac{12B}{\mathrm{}_P}\left(\frac{T_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}{T_P}\right)^4\left(\frac{R_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}{k\mathrm{}_0}\right),$$
(54)
which for the pivot point, $`ck7R_0H_0`$, reduces to

$$F_{\mathrm{pivot}}2\times 10^{29}\frac{(12B)^{3/2}}{\mathrm{}_0\mathrm{}_P^2}\left(\frac{T_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}}{T_P}\right)^5,$$
(55)
and using $`l_0=\sqrt{12B}`$ and (47), the condition $`F_{\mathrm{pivot}}1`$ leads to

$$T_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑡}}10^8T_P10^{24}\mathrm{K}.$$
(56)
Using this result in (51) we can determine the ratio:

$$\frac{\rho _B}{\rho _P}10^{32}e^𝒩,$$
(57)
so that if we assume that the inequality (56) is saturated, and provided that $`𝒩74`$ we will have $`\rho _B<\rho _P`$.

Thus, we have shown that modes of interest can be created during the time when $`F1`$, that we have sufficient inflation in the matter metric frame to solve the horizon and flatness problems, and that the fundamental length scale of our model $`\sqrt{B}`$ is larger than the Planck length $`\mathrm{}_P`$.

## 6. Conclusions

We have sought to derive an approximately scale invariant CMB spectrum from a purely VSL mechanism, working in a frame where the speed of light $`c_\gamma (t)`$ is dynamical. In the limit of large $`c_\gamma (t)`$, we find that the radiation density and entropy in the very early universe are significantly diluted, so that the Einstein Klein-Gordon wave equation legitimately controls the behavior of the perturbative scalar wave modes.

These wave modes are born in a spatial volume determined by the length scale $`\sqrt{12B}`$ that appears in the bimetric structure of our theory, and are matched to a state that is consistent with the flat space classical wave function (37). Thus, we do not obtain the seeds of structure formation from quantum fluctuation modes in a de Sitter adiabatic vacuum, as in the case of standard inflation models . The derivation of the scale invariant spectrum from inflation models is not unique, in so far as one has to choose the initial conditions for inflation either through the ‘new’ inflationary models or the ‘chaotic’ models . The former depend on having an initial universe that is sufficiently homogeneous to allow enough e-folds of inflation, while the latter depend on an ‘anthropic’ principle for their motivation. Moreover, the choice of an adiabatic vacuum for the emergence of the fluctuation modes in inflationary models is ambiguous . In our model, the choice of initial conditions relies on $`c_\gamma (t)`$ becoming large in the early universe, so that the VSL mechanism (or inflationary mechanism in the gravitational metric frame) can become operative.

A calculation of the power spectrum leads to a fit to the thermal CMB spectrum $`\mathrm{\Delta }T/T10^5`$ for the length scale $`\sqrt{12B}10^5\mathrm{}_P`$ and the prediction for the spectrum index $`n_s0.97`$. The observed acoustic peaks  at later times will follow from our early universe prediction of the spectrum by an analysis similar to the one used in inflation theory . We have yet to derive the tensor modes spectrum in our model, and a derivation of the polarization of the spectral modes is also needed to compare with the recent WMAP data . Since we have truly primordial matter in this model, we must also be cautious about the possibility of radiation structure re-emerging and dominating the scalar modes at later times. One might expect that the enlarged VSL light cone can produce Cherenkov radiation that could dilute this source of radiation. This is an issue that requires further consideration.

We have set out to show that a purely VSL motivated scheme, within the scenario of the scalar-tensor bimetric gravity theory, can successfully lead to a scale invariant CMB spectrum. By using the Hollands-Wald idea of having the perturbative scalar wave modes born in a spatial volume outside the horizon whose size is governed by the length scale $`\sqrt{12B}`$, we have demonstrated that we have indeed succeeded in our quest. The origin of the spacetime foam region which determines the ground state of the perturbative modes still needs to be understood, but the model can be considered a self-consistent way to explain the origins of the seeds of galaxy formation which is not based on a standard inflationary model.

## acknowledgments

One of the authors (JWM) thanks Glen Starkman for enlightening discussions; this research was supported by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.


text:
# Tri-hamiltonian Toda lattice and a canonical bracket for closed discrete curves

## 1 Introduction

The Toda lattice hierarchy is a set of equations, including the Toda equation:

$$\ddot{q}_k=e^{q_{k+1}q_k}e^{q_kq_{k1}}.$$

The Toda equation is sometimes also called first flow equation of the Toda lattice hierarchy, it was discovered by Toda in 1967 \[To89\]. A good overview about the literature about the Toda lattice can be found in \[FT86, Sur03\]. It is a wellknown fact that the Toda lattice hierachy has a socalled trihamiltonian structure (for an overview about trihamiltonian structures please see \[Sur03\] and the therein cited references). In particular this means that the Toda lattice as a dynamical system admits three different poisson structures. In the following article it will be shown explicitly how these three different structures can be globally obtained from the the canonical poisson structure on $`^{2N}`$. We will confine ourselves to the study of the periodic Toda lattice hierachy. To do so we define a map from canonical coordinates on $`^{2N}`$ to the $`2N`$ (periodic) Flaschka-Manakov \[Man74, Fla74a, Fla74b\] variables that depends on a spectral parameter. The canonical poisson structure on $`^{2N}`$ induces then a Poisson structure for the periodic Flaschka-Manakov variables, which is the tri-hamiltonian Poisson structure of the Toda lattice .

The paper is organized as follows: We will briefly recall the connection between discrete curves in $`^2`$ and the Toda lattice hierachy, for a more thorough investigation of that connection please see \[HK02\]. In particular this brief part should serve as a motivation for how the spectral parameter dependent map is derived. The phase space of all closed (real) discrete curves of length $`N`$ is $`^{2N}`$, hence the canonical poisson structure on $`^{2N}`$ is a Poisson structure on the phase space of all closed discrete curves. In the second part we will then state that this canonical Poisson structure is in fact a Poisson structure which gives the three brackets of the (periodic) Toda lattice.

## 2 Discrete curves and the Toda lattice

###### Definition 2.1

A discrete curve in $`^2`$ is a map

$`\gamma :`$ $``$ $`^2`$
$`k`$ $``$ $`\gamma _k=\left(\begin{array}{c}x_k\\ y_k\end{array}\right)`$ (3)
Define:

$`g_k`$ $`=`$ $`det(\gamma _k,\gamma _{k+1})=x_ky_{k+1}y_kx_{k+1}`$ (4)
$`u_k`$ $`=`$ $`det(\gamma _{k1},\gamma _{k+1})=x_{k1}y_{k+1}y_{k1}x_{k+1}`$ (5)
We will from now on consider the generic case $`g_k0`$ for all $`k`$. The following lemma can be straightforwardly obtained by using the above definitions (5):

###### Lemma 2.2

$$\gamma _{k+1}=\frac{1}{g_{k1}}(u_k\gamma _kg_k\gamma _{k1}).$$
(6)
If the variables $`u_k`$ and $`g_k`$ and initial points $`\gamma _0`$ and $`\gamma _1`$ are given, then lemma 6 is a recursive definition of a discrete curve.

Note that $`det(\gamma _k,\frac{\gamma _{k+1}\gamma _{k1}}{g_k+g_{k1}})=1`$. This means that $`\gamma _k`$ and $`\frac{\gamma _{k+1}\gamma _{k1}}{g_k+g_{k1}}`$ are linearly independent. Hence an arbitrary flow on (or variation of) $`\gamma `$ can be written in the following way:

$$\frac{d}{dt}\gamma _k=\dot{\gamma }_k=\alpha _k\gamma _k+\frac{\beta _k}{u_k}(\gamma _{k+1}\gamma _{k1})\alpha _k,\beta _k.$$
(7)
The variables $`\alpha _k,\beta _k`$ are arbitrary. Equations (6) and (7) can also be reformulated as a zero-curvature condition. Define:

$$F_k=\left(\begin{array}{c}\gamma _k^T\hfill \\ \gamma _{k1}^T\hfill \end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}x_k\hfill & y_k\hfill \\ x_{k1}\hfill & y_{k1}\hfill \end{array}\right).$$
(8)
###### Lemma 2.3

Let $`\alpha _k,\beta _k`$ be arbitrary and $`g_k`$,$`u_k`$ be as defined in (5). Then

$$F_{k+1}=L_kF_k\dot{F}_k=V_kF_k$$

with

$$L_k=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\frac{1}{g_{k1}}u_k& \frac{g_k}{g_{k1}}\\ 1& 0\end{array}\right)V_k=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\alpha _k+\frac{1}{g_{k1}}\beta _k& (1+\frac{g_k}{g_{k1}})\frac{\beta _k}{u_k}\\ (1+\frac{g_{k2}}{g_{k1}})\frac{\beta _{k1}}{u_{k1}}& \alpha _{k1}\frac{1}{g_{k1}}\beta _{k1}\end{array}\right).$$
(9)
The compatibility equation

$$\dot{L}_k=V_{k+1}L_kL_kV_k$$
(10)
is satisfied for all $`\alpha _k,\beta _k`$.

The compatibility equation (10) is also called zero curvature equation or condition. We call $`F_k`$ a discrete frame.

###### Lemma 2.4

A flow on the discrete curve $`\gamma `$ given by (7) generates the following flow on the variables $`g_k`$:

$$\dot{g}_k=g_k(\alpha _{k+1}+\alpha _k)+\beta _{k+1}\beta _k.$$
(11)
###### Lemma 2.5

A flow on the discrete curve $`\gamma `$ given by (7) generates the following flow on the variables $`u_k`$:

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \dot{u}_k& =& u_k(\alpha _{k1}+\alpha _{k+1})\hfill \\ & +& \beta _{k1}\frac{g_k}{u_{k1}g_{k1}}(g_{k2}+g_{k1})\beta _{k+1}\frac{g_{k1}}{u_{k+1}g_k}(g_k+g_{k+1})\hfill \\ & +& u_k(\frac{1}{g_k}\beta _{k+1}\frac{1}{g_{k1}}\beta _{k1})\hfill \end{array}$$
(12)
Define

$`a_k`$ $`:=`$ $`g_k^2`$
$`b_k`$ $`:=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{u_k}{g_{k1}g_k}}\lambda ,`$ (13)
where $`\lambda `$ is an arbitrary (but in particular time independent) parameter. Clearly the flows on the variables $`g_k`$ and $`u_k`$ given in (11) and (12) define flows on the variables $`a_k`$, $`b_k`$ via definitions (13).

###### Theorem 2.6

Denote

$$V_k:=\left(\begin{array}{cc}v_k^{11}& v_k^{12}\\ v_k^{21}& v_k^{22}\end{array}\right).$$

Define

$$\alpha _k:=v_k^{11}+\frac{v_k^{12}u_k}{g_{k1}+g_k}\beta _k:=\frac{v_k^{12}g_{k1}u_k}{g_{k1}+g_k}.$$
(14)
By (7) and with definition (14), $`\alpha _k`$ and $`\beta _k`$ define a flow on discrete curves in $`^2`$ depending on the choice of the $`V_k`$. This induces via the definition (13) a flow on the variables $`a_k,b_k`$.

If the $`\{V_k\}_{k\{1\mathrm{}N\}}`$ ($`V_k`$ periodic) are the two dimensional Lax matrices defining the n’th Toda flow (see e.g.\[FT86, Sur03\]) with $`\lambda `$ being the corresponding spectral parameter, then $`\{a_k,b_k\}_{k\{1\mathrm{}N\}}`$ ($`a_k,b_k`$ periodic) are the Flaschka-Manakov variables obeying the n’th Toda flow.

For a proof of theorem (2.6) and lemmas (12) and (11) please see \[HK02\] Note that the Toda flows (as flows on the Flaschka-Manakov variables $`a_k,b_k`$) do not depend on the choice of $`\lambda `$, whereas the corresponding flows for the determinants $`g_k`$ and $`u_k`$ of course depend on the choice of $`\lambda `$.

## 3 How to derive Toda Poisson brackets from the canonical Poisson bracket

The following theorem is easy to state and can be verified straightforwardly. Nevertheless the assertion itself is not really suggestive apriori. And indeed it was not found by good guessing and then verifying, but by starting with the brackets of the Toda model (while assuming that they can be derived from the canonical coordinates via the below map) and the help of a computer algebra system.

###### Theorem 3.1

Let $`N>3`$. Let $`\{x_i,y_i|i\{0\mathrm{}N1\}\}`$ be canonical coordinates on $`^{2N}`$. Define the following symplectic structure on $`^{2N}`$:

$$\mathrm{\Omega }:=2\underset{i=0}{\overset{N}{}}dx_idy_i$$

which leads to the ultralocal Poisson relations:

$$\{x_i,y_i\}=\frac{1}{2},\text{and zero else.}$$

Let $`x,y`$ describe a periodic phase space, i.e:

$`x_{k+N}`$ $`:=`$ $`x_k`$ (15)
$`y_{k+N}`$ $`:=`$ $`y_k`$ (16)
Define:

$`g_k`$ $`:=`$ $`x_ky_{k+1}y_kx_{k+1}`$ (17)
$`u_k`$ $`:=`$ $`x_{k1}y_{k+1}y_{k1}x_{k+1}`$ (18)
$`a_k`$ $`:=`$ $`g_k^{(2)}`$ (19)
$`b_k`$ $`:=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{u_k}{g_{k1}g_k}}\lambda ,`$ (20)
where $`\lambda `$ arbitrary.

Then the Poisson relations for the variables $`a_i`$ and $`b_i`$, which are given via the ultralocal relations for $`x_i`$ and $`y_i`$ read as:

$`\{a_k,a_{k+1}\}`$ $`=`$ $`2a_ka_{k+1}b_{k+1}2a_ka_{k+1}\lambda `$ (21)
$`\{b_k,b_{k+1}\}`$ $`=`$ $`a_k(b_k+b_{k+1})2a_k\lambda `$ (22)
$`\{b_k,a_{k2}\}`$ $`=`$ $`a_{k2}a_{k1}`$ (23)
$`\{b_k,a_{k1}\}`$ $`=`$ $`a_{k1}(b_k^2+a_{k1})+2b_ka_{k1}\lambda +a_{k1}\lambda ^2`$ (24)
$`\{b_k,a_k\}`$ $`=`$ $`a_k(b_k^2+a_k)2b_ka_k\lambda a_k\lambda ^2`$ (25)
$`\{b_k,a_{k+1}\}`$ $`=`$ $`a_ka_{k+1}`$ (26)
and zero for all the remaining commutators. For each power of $`\lambda `$ this gives one of the three Poisson brackets of the Toda lattice hierachy (as e.g. given in \[Sur03\]).

Note that the brackets (21)-(26) make only sense if $`N>3`$. Nevertheless the canonical Poisson structure defines also a Poisson structure on the Flaschka-Manakov variables for N=1,2,3.

## 4 Conclusions

The extremly nice Poisson bracket for the coordinates of closed discrete curves, which lead to the brackets of the periodic Toda lattice suggests that the study of discrete curves in the context of the Toda lattice is not an exotic geometrical excursion but rather a very natural choice.

The map from the canonical coordinates $`x_k`$,$`y_k`$ to the Flaschka-Manakov variables $`a_k`$, $`b_k`$ is not one-to-one. This becomes also clear by studying the phase space of quasiperiodic discrete curves, i.e. curves for which $`\gamma _{k+N}=\gamma _k,`$ where $`GL(2,)`$. If $`SL(2,)`$ then the corresponding Flaschka-Manakov variables are also periodic, but are not necessarily restricted to the leaves given by the Casimir functions. Nevertheless we expect that Poisson brackets for that general case will be rather nontrivially. We are investigating that phase space right now.

The canonical coordinates are matrix entries of the discrete frame $`F_k`$ given in (8). In that sense the canonical bracket can be seen as a bracket for the frame. The frame is the (partially discrete) integral of the zero curvature condition in (10) subject to a periodicity condition (i.e. being a closed curve). It is an interesting question wether other integrable systems are admitting such a simple bracket for their corresponding frames.

So it may be also important to find out, wether there is a connection to the work of Gelfand and Zakharevich \[GZ\], where its proven that there exists a local isomorphism between the bihamiltonian bracket of the periodic Toda lattice and a product of two canonical brackets (at generic points).

It would also be interesting to study wether the above could be extended to generalized Toda systems \[Kos79\].

## 5 Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Tim Hoffmann for helpful discussions.


text:
# Induced Formation of Primordial Low-Mass Stars

## 1 Introduction

As many recent numerical (Bromm, Coppi & Larson 1999, 2002; Abel, Bryan & Norman 2000) and semi-analytical (Schneider et al. 2002, Omukai & Inutsuka 2002, Omukai & Palla 2003) studies have shown, the first luminous objects, the so called Population III (Pop III) stars, are likely to be very massive. According to these studies, stars with a characteristic mass of 100-600 $`M_{}`$ originate in the primordial gas, whereas low mass objects should not have formed due to the lack of heavy elements. High mass stars are indeed required to account for the unexplained Near Infrared Background (Salvaterra & Ferrara 2003; Magliocchetti, Salvaterra & Ferrara 2003). Bromm et al. (2001) and Schneider et al. (2002) have shown that there exists a critical metallicity ($`Z_{cr}=10^{5\pm 1}Z_{}`$) setting the transition from a high-mass to a low-mass fragmentation mode of star formation. The exact value of $`Z_{cr}`$ depends on the fraction of heavy elements that are depleted onto dust grains (Schneider et al. 2003). In this scenario, a gas cloud with a metallicity $`Z10^{5.1}Z_{}`$ can lead to the formation of low mass stars if $`20`$% of the heavy elements is in dust grains (Schneider et al. 2003). The recent discovery of the most iron-poor star (\[Fe/H\]$`=5.3\pm 0.2`$) ever seen in our Galaxy (Christlieb et al. 2002) could be an example of such low-mass metal poor stars originated from a gas with mean metallicity of $`10^{5.1}Z_{}`$ (Schneider et al. 2003; but see Umeda & Nomoto (2003), who have pointed out that this star could have instead formed from a carbon-rich, iron-poor gas, with a corresponding mean metallicity of $`10^2Z_{}`$).

An alternative potentially viable mechanism to form low-mass, metal-poor stars does exist. Indeed, Nakamura & Umemura (2001, 2002, hereafter NU01 and NU02) have studied the collapse and fragmentation of filamentary primordial gas clouds using one- and two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations coupled with the nonequilibrium processes of molecular hydrogen formation. They have shown that filaments with relatively low initial density ($`n<\text{few}\times 10^4\text{cm}^3`$) tend to fragment into dense clumps before the central density reaches $`10^810^9\text{cm}^3`$; the fragment mass is around 100 $`M_{}`$. In contrast, if a filament has initially a larger density, fragmentation continues until the clumps become optically thick to H2 lines, leading to a typical fragment mass of $`1M_{}`$. So the resulting IMF of first stars would be bimodal, with a low-mass peak around $`12M_{}`$ and a high-mass peak at a few hundred $`M_{}`$. Mackey et al. (2003) have suggested that these low-mass peak stars could form in the gas shocked by the explosion of the first generation of very massive supernovae (SNe).

In this paper, we put this hypothesis on a more quantitative basis. We will show that the shell is gravitationally unstable only for large explosion energies and that gravitationally unstable clumps are likely to form long-living, low-mass, metal-poor stars, that could be detected through dedicated surveys as the Hamburg/ESO objective prism survey (Christlieb et al. 2001).

The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2 we calculate the SN-driven shell evolution and derive the conditions for gravitational instability. In Section 3 we examine the instability in the expanding shell for different explosion energies and interstellar medium (ISM) densities, whereas in Section 4 we calculated the properties of unstable fragments. In Section 5 we constrain the fragment metallicity; Section 6 discusses the consequences for Pop III star formation scenarios.

## 2 Evolution of the shell

One can show that as far as the ambient gas pressure and cooling can be neglected, the shell evolution is described by the analytic expression derived by Sedov (1959):

$$R_{sh}\left(\frac{E_{SN}}{\rho _0}\right)^{1/5}t^{2/5},$$
(1)
where $`t`$ is the time elapsed from the explosion, $`E_{SN}`$ is the total explosion energy, and $`\rho _0=\mu m_Hn_0`$ is the density of the ISM ($`n_0`$ is the gas number density and $`\mu =0.59`$ is the mean molecular weight of a primordial ionized H/He mixture).

The further evolution of a SN-driven shell in the interstellar medium can be studied using the thin shell approximation (Ostriker & McKee 1988; Madau, Ferrara & Rees 2001). The momentum and energy conservation yield the following relevant equations:

$$\frac{d}{dt}(V_{sh}\rho _0\dot{R}_{sh})=4\pi R_{sh}^2(P_bP),$$
(2)
$$\frac{dE_b}{dt}=4\pi R_{sh}^2P_b\dot{R}_{sh}V_{sh}\overline{n}_{H,b}^2\mathrm{\Lambda }(\overline{T}_b),$$
(3)
where the subscripts ‘sh’ and ‘b’ indicate shell and bubble quantities, respectively. Here, $`R_{sh}`$ is the shell radius, $`V_{sh}=(4\pi /3)R_{sh}^3`$ is the volume enclosed by the shell; the overdots represent time derivatives. $`P`$ is the ISM pressure. The shell expansion is driven by the internal energy $`E_b`$ of the hot bubble gas, whose pressure is $`P_b=E_b/2\pi R_{sh}^3`$ (for a gas with adiabatic index $`\gamma =5/3`$). Finally, $`\overline{n}_{H,b}^2\mathrm{\Lambda }(\overline{T}_b)`$ is the cooling rate per unit volume of the hot bubble gas, whose average hydrogen density and temperature are $`\overline{n}_{H,b}`$ and $`\overline{T}_b`$, respectively. The right-hand side of eq. (2) represents the momentum gained by the shell from the SN-shocked wind, while the right-hand side of eq. (3) describes the mechanical energy input, the work done against the shell, and the energy losses due to radiation.

As cooling becomes important for the swept up gas, the shock is no longer driven by the heated gas and the evolution enters the momentum conserving phase, satisfying the familiar ‘Oort snowplow’ solution, $`R_{sh}t^{1/4}`$.

### 2.1 Cooling time

The cooling time is given by

$$t_{cool}=\frac{3}{2}\frac{kT_{ps}}{n_{ps}\mathrm{\Lambda }(T_{ps})},$$
(4)
where $`n_{ps}=n_0(\gamma +1)/(\gamma 1)`$ is the post-shock density and $`T_{ps}`$ the post-shock temperature for an adiabatic shock, and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(T_{ps})`$ is the cooling function for a primordial gas. The evolution of the bubble gas temperature $`T_b`$ is given by (Madau, Ferrara, Rees 2001)

$$\frac{dT_b}{dt}=3\frac{T_b}{R_{sh}}\dot{R}_{sh}+\frac{T_b}{P_{sh}}\dot{P}_{sh}\frac{23}{10}\frac{C_1}{C_2}\frac{kT_b^{9/2}}{R_{sh}^2P_{sh}}.$$
(5)
where $`C_1=16\pi \mu m_p\eta /25k`$ and $`C_2=(125/39)\pi \mu m_p`$ and $`\eta =6\times 10^7`$ (c.g.s. units) is the classical Spitzer thermal conduction coefficient (we have assumed a Coulomb logarithm equal to 30). This relation closes the system of equations (2)-(3).

If the shell lives for sufficiently long time (i.e. $`t_{cool}t`$), the gas cools down to a final temperature $`T_f300`$ K. This temperature is the minimum temperature provided by cooling from H2 molecules forming under nonequilibrium conditions in the post-shock gas (Ferrara 1998).

### 2.2 Perturbations in the shell

The problem of the fragmentation of expanding shell has been adressed by several authors (Ostriker & Cowie 1981; Elmegreen 1994; Wünsch & Palous 2001; Ehlerova & Palous 2002). Here we apply these studies to the case of first SNe exploding in a medium of primordial composition.

The linear growth of perturbations in an expanding shell was derived by Elmegreen (1994). Expansion tends to suppress (stabilize) the growth of density perturbations owing to stretching, hence counteracting the self-gravity pull. The instantaneous maximum growth rate is

$$\omega =\frac{3\dot{R}_{sh}}{R_{sh}}+\left[\left(\frac{\dot{R}_{sh}}{R_{sh}}\right)^2+\left(\frac{\pi G\rho _0R_{sh}}{3c_{s,sh}}\right)^2\right]^{1/2},$$
(6)
where $`c_{s,sh}=(kT_f/\mu m_H)^{1/2}`$ is the sound speed in the shell. Instability occurs only if $`\omega >0`$, or

$$\frac{\dot{R}_{sh}}{R_{sh}}<\frac{1}{8^{1/2}}\frac{\pi G\rho _0R_{sh}}{3c_{s,sh}}\frac{t_{cross}}{t_{ff}^2},$$
(7)
where $`t_{cross}R_{sh}/c_{s,sh}`$ is the crossing time in the shell and $`t_{ff}`$ is the free-fall time. Furthermore, if the fragment mass is close to (but slightly above) the Jeans mass, the $`\omega >0`$ condition translates into $`\dot{R}_{sh}/R_{sh}<1/t_{ff}`$. So, large shell velocity-to-radius ratios inhibit the formation of gravitationally unstable fragments. These relations are derived under the assumption of supersonic motion, i.e. $`\dot{R}_{sh}(t)>c_{s,0}`$, where $`c_{s,0}`$ is the sound speed in the ISM. If the shock decays into a pressure wave before the onset of the instability (i.e. before $`\omega >0`$), no fragmentation will take place and the shell will be dispersed by random gas motions.

The most rapidly growing mode has wavelength

$$\lambda _f=\frac{6c_{s,sh}^2}{G\rho _0R_{sh}}[1+(1\xi ^2)^{1/2}]^1,$$
(8)
where the dimensionless parameter $`\xi `$ is given by

$`\xi =\left({\displaystyle \frac{8^{1/2}\dot{R}_{sh}}{R_{sh}}}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{\pi G\rho _0R_{sh}}{3c_{s,sh}}}\right).`$
We will show later that the typical fragment size ($`R_f=\lambda _f/2`$) is greater than the thickness of the shell. In the radiative phase the thickness is determined by the so-called cooling length, i.e. the distance travelled by the gas accelerated at the postshock velocity in a cooling time: $`\mathrm{\Delta }R_{sh}\dot{R}_{sh}t_{cool}`$. In this case it is likely that disk-like fragments form with mass

$$M_f=\pi \rho _{sh}\mathrm{\Delta }R_{sh}R_f^2,$$
(9)
where $`\rho _{sh}`$ is the mean density in the thin shell, given by the ratio between its mass $`M_{sh}`$ (equal to the shell swept up mass) and its volume $`V_{sh}`$

$$\rho _{sh}=\frac{M_{sh}}{V_{sh}}=\frac{4}{3}\rho _0\frac{R_{sh}}{\mathrm{\Delta }R_{sh}}.$$
(10)
For subsequent purposes we define the ratio of gravitational-to-pressure force evaluated in the direction along the fragment radius, $`R_f`$:

$$f=\frac{\pi G\mu m_H\rho _{sh}R_f\mathrm{\Delta }R_{sh}}{(3/2)kT_f}.$$
(11)
## 3 Instability in the expanding shell

We solve numerically Eq. (2)-(3) and Eq. (5) for different values of the unperturbed ISM density $`n_0`$, and of the explosion energy, $`E_{SN}`$, following the time evolution of the shell radius ($`R_{sh}`$) and velocity ($`\dot{R}_{sh}`$).

The unperturbed medium is assumed to be metal free and homogeneous. The SN progenitor ionizes the medium within its Strömgren radius, $`R_s=(3Q_H/4\pi n_0^2\alpha ^2)^{1/3}`$, where $`Q_H`$ is the mass-dependent stellar ionizing photon rate and $`\alpha `$ is the hydrogen recombination rate to levels $`2`$. The radius of the ionized bubble reaches $`R_s`$ is a recombination time $`t_{rec}=(\alpha n_0)^1`$; however, the heated gas will start to freely expand at roughly its sound speed ($`c_s10`$ km/s for an ionized gas) if the dynamical time $`R_s/c_s<t_{}`$, the lifetime of the star. In this case, by the time of the SN explosion the ionized region has grown to several tens of pc essentially independent of the initial value of $`R_s`$; inside this region the density and pressure are almost constant, thus motivating our constant density approximation.

After the SN explosion, in the absence of ionizing photons, the gas would recombine on a timescale, $`t_{rec}`$. In practice, the gas is kept ionized by the radiation from the shock radiative precursor and its temperature remains $`10^4`$ K until ionizing photons continue to be produced. This condition is fullfilled as long as the shock velocity is larger than $`80`$ km/s (Draine & McKee 1993). It is only a recombination time after such event that the gas can finally recombine and cool to 300 K.

At each time step we check the supersonic motion ($`\dot{R}_{sh}>c_{s,0}`$) and instability ($`\omega >0`$) conditions. If both conditions are satisfied we further check that the cooling time is shorter than the age of the shell, so that the temperature has decreased to $`T_f300`$ K. At this point we calculate the fragment density (Eq. 10), mass (Eq. 9), and the ratio $`f`$ (Eq. 11).

We consider here SN energies in the range $`10^{51}10^{53}`$ erg, the lower limit being typical of core-collapse Type II SNe (SNII) explosions and the upper limit corresponding to the energy released by the most massive pair-instability SN ($`\text{SN}_{\gamma \gamma }`$) explosions (Heger & Woosley 2002). We explore the range of ISM densities $`n_0=10^210^4\text{cm}^3`$. Fig. 1 shows the time-evolution of the shell radius and velocity for $`n_0=5\text{cm}^3`$ and three explosion energies. The bottom panel shows the corresponding evolution of the instability growth rate $`\omega `$. Only the explosions of $`\text{SN}_{\gamma \gamma }`$ induce shell instability and fragmentation.

Fig. 2 shows the region of the parameter space $`E_{SN}n_0`$ where both the conditions $`\omega >0`$ and $`\dot{R}_{sh}>c_{s,0}`$ are verified and therefore the shell is gravitationally unstable. In addition, we also require that the shell mass at the time of instability does not exceed the total gas mass of the host galaxy. To exemplify, in the Figure we assume that the first stars form in halos with mass $`M_{gal}`$ corresponding to virial temperature $`T_{vir}=10^4`$ K. Under these conditions, we see from Fig. 2 that, if the shell mass does not exceed the baryonic in the galaxy, all explosions with energies $`E_{SN}10^{51}`$ erg can lead to shell fragmentation. However, the minimum ambient density required to induce such fragmentation is much larger, $`n_0>300\text{cm}^3`$, for SNII (explosion energy $`10^{51}`$ erg) than for $`\text{SN}_{\gamma \gamma }`$, for which the instability can occur even at lower ambient densities. Hence, pair-instability SNe are more suitable triggers of induced star formation.

We conclude that the first pair-instability SNe are able to trigger self-propagating star formation under a wide range of ambient conditions, whereas expanding shells created by less energetic ‘classical’ or subluminous (as those proposed by Shigeyama & Tsujimoto 1998) SNII cannot fragment unless the density is very high.

## 4 Properties of the fragments

Let us now explore in more details the properties of the gravitationally unstable fragments. As it is clear from Eqs. (8)-(9) the fragment mass is a function of the explosion energy (through $`R_{sh}`$ and $`\dot{R}_{sh}`$), of the initial density of the medium, $`n_0`$, and of the density of the thin shell, $`\rho _{sh}`$ (proportional to the shell swept up mass, and thus function of $`R_{sh}`$). The growth time of the unstable fragments is $`\omega ^1`$.

In all unstable cases, the age of the shell is larger than the cooling time and the thin shell approximation is valid ($`\mathrm{\Delta }R_{sh}/R_{sh}<10^3`$). The instability sets in at 0.2-50 Myr after the explosion and the typical fragment radius and mass is in the range $`21000`$ pc and $`10^{47}M_{}`$, respectively (the upper limits refer to the lowest ambient density). The density of the fragments varies between $`110\text{cm}^3`$ and $`6\times 10^7\text{cm}^3`$; as we discuss below, this spread has important implications for the mass of the second generation of stars formed. Large values of the gravitational-to-pressure force ratio ($`f8`$) are found in all unstable cases. This is because high shell velocities stretch the perturbations, stabilizing the shell (see Eq. 7) and so the instability conditions are satisfied only when the fragments have collected a sufficiently large mass, yielding large values of $`f`$.

NU01 (see their Fig. 6) have shown that primordial filaments fragment into dense clumps whose masses depend on $`n_{sh}`$ and $`f`$. For a quasi-equilibrium clump (i.e. $`f>1`$), fragmentation proceeds until the fragment is close to the Bonnor-Ebert mass value corresponding to the initial density of the clump111This is strictly true only for $`n_{sh}n_{cr}=10^4\text{cm}^3`$ where $`n_{cr}`$ is the critical density which marks the transition from NLTE to LTE regime for H2 cooling (see discussion in Schneider et al. 2002). (Palla 2002, Mackey et al. 2003). If $`f`$ is increased to 3, a bifurcation takes place at $`n_{sh}10^5\text{cm}^3`$. For models with $`n_{sh}>10^5\text{cm}^3`$ the minimum fragment mass is 1-2 $`M_{}`$, while for $`n_{sh}<10^5\text{cm}^3`$ it is larger than $`100M_{}`$. Further increase of $`f`$ causes the low mass regime to extend down to $`n_{sh}10^4\text{cm}^3`$.

In the low mass regime, the fragmentation proceeds down to smaller subclumps searching for an equilibrium between gravitational and pressure forces (thus decreasing $`f`$); at the same time the density of the subclumps tends to increase. For $`f`$ values around 8, this equilibrium cannot be reached before the subclump becomes optically thick to H2 lines. At this stage, the initial clump has already fragmented into protostellar cores with typical masses $`10^2M_{}`$222In the case of a strictly metal-free gas the minimum mass essentially coincides with the Chandrasekhar mass, i.e. $`12M_{}`$ (Uehara et al. 1996). Although the exact value of the resulting stellar mass depends on the details of subsequent gas accretion and, possibly, on the merging of protostellar cores, it is unlikely that these are so efficient to form a massive star. In fact, the relaxation time corresponding to the ensemble of $`m10^2M_{}`$ protostellar cores resulting from the fragmentation of a $`M_f=10^5M_{}`$ clump is $`36`$ Gyr.

As mentioned above, we find $`f8`$ for all the unstable case. According to NU02 (see their Fig. 5a), this $`f`$ value leads to the preferential formation of low-mass stars provided the density of the fragment is larger than $`2\times 10^3\text{cm}^3`$. Such condition is verified for all values of the ambient density $`n_0`$ and explosion energy $`E_{SN}`$ except for the small area depicted in Fig. 2, where instead high mass ($`M100M_{}`$) stars can form as a result of the fragment collapse. The formation of high mass stars can only be induced by $`\text{SN}_{\gamma \gamma }`$, but the range of suitable ambient densities is small enough that such event can be regarded as unlikely.

## 5 Mixing efficiency and metallicity of the fragments

In order to derive the mean metallicity of the thin shell (and of the fragments), one should be able to follow the mixing of SN ejecta with the shell gas. The standard hydrodynamical response to a sudden release of energy implies that the two gases (the swept up matter and the ejecta), after crossing their respective shocks find themselves well separated by a contact discontinuity. However, many mechanisms (e.g. cloud crushing, thermal evaporation, hydrodynamical instabilities, effects caused by explosion inside wind-driven shells and by fragmented ejecta) can disrupt the contact discontinuity leading to a mixing of the heavy elements into the swept-up matter in the thin shell (Tenorio-Tagle 1996). A precise description of such physical processes is extremely difficult as it requires ultra-high resolution simulations (de Avillez & Mac Low 2002; Kifonidis et al. 2003).

The mean metallicity of the shell (or fragment) is

$$Z_f=f_{mix}\frac{M_{ej}}{M_{sh}}$$
(12)
where $`f_{mix}`$ is the (unknown) mixing factor of ejected matter in the thin shell and $`M_{ej}`$ is the ejected mass in heavy elements. For $`\text{SN}_{\gamma \gamma }`$, $`M_{ej}0.4M_{}`$ (Heger & Woosley 2002). Even requiring that mixing is very efficient (i.e. $`f_{mix}=1`$), we always find that the mean metallicity of the fragments is $`10^{3.5}Z_{}<Z<10^{2.6}Z_{}`$. In more realistic cases, however, mixing is likely to be much more inefficient ($`f_{mix}1`$), so the above value, $`10^{2.6}Z_{}`$ is a strict upper limit. At face value, if the most iron poor star observed in our Galaxy (\[Fe/H\] = $`5.3`$, Christlieb et al. 2002) formed through this mechanism, it would imply that $`f_{mix}0.03`$. Note that in principle zero-metallicity low-mass stars can form via the proposed mechanism if $`f_{mix}=0`$.

## 6 Discussion

We have shown that the explosion of the first SNe are able to trigger further star formation. If the shell mass does not exceed the baryonic in the galaxy, all explosions with energies $`E_{SN}10^{51}`$ erg can lead to shell fragmentation. However, the minimum ambient density required to induce such fragmentation is much larger, $`n_0>300\text{cm}^3`$, for SNII (or subluminous supernovae) than for pair-instability ones, which can induce star formation even at lower ambient densities. Fragmenting shells become gravitationally unstable 0.2-50 Myr after the explosion, depending on the explosion energy and density of the unperturbed medium. We have identified the fastest growing mode in the unstable shells and derived the mass, density and gravitational-to-pressure force ratio, $`f`$, of the corresponding fragments. Their typical mass is in the range $`10^{47}M_{}`$ and density in the range $`1106\times 10^7\text{cm}^3`$. In all cases, we find very large values of the gravitational-to-pressure force ratio ($`f8`$), indicating that the formation of low-mass, long-living stars is the most likely outcome. A narrow region of the $`n_0E_{SN}`$ parameter space allows the formation of massive stars from fragments originating from $`\text{SN}_{\gamma \gamma }`$ shells. However, the density range is small enough to consider this possibility as unlikely.

The mean metallicity of the stars formed through this mechanism depends on the mixing history of the shell which is largely unknown, as discussed in the previous Section. Depending on the efficiency of this process and on the combined properties of the explosion energy and ambient density, the metallicity of this second generation, low-mass stars can be anywhere in the range $`0Z10^{2.6}Z_{}`$.

The mechanism here proposed is thus able to produce long-living, low-mass extremely metal-poor (or even metal-free, if $`f_{mix}=0`$) stars that can be found in the Milky Way halo. These stars can populate the low-mass peak of the bimodal IMF proposed by NU01 and NU02 or can be the typical members of the so-called II.5 population (Mackey et al. 2003). The formation of these second generation stars requires the presence of a first generation of massive stars exploding as pair-instability SNe.

So far, only one extremely iron-poor star with \[Fe/H\]$`<5`$ has been identified (HE0107-5240, Christlieb et al. 2002). If this result were to be confirmed by the analysis of the complete volume sampled by the Hamburg/ESO survey, several implications for the self-propagating star formation mode can be drawn: the observed lack of \[Fe/H\]$`<5`$ halo stars would imply that mixing of metals in the unstable shell must occur with moderately high efficiencies ($`f_{mix}>10\%`$). Alternatively, the mechanism here proposed might not lead to a large number of observed iron-poor halo stars because: (i) the typical mass of this second-generation stars is $`>12M_{}`$ so that their lifetimes are not long enough to be observable as main sequence stars in our Galaxy halo; (ii) pair-instability SNe are rare because the IMF of the first stars is shaped so that only a small fraction of zero-metallicity massive stars form in the mass range of pair-instability SNe, $`140M_{}<M_{\gamma \gamma }<260M_{}`$.

Conversely, if more very iron-deficient (\[Fe/H\]$`<5`$) stars were to be identified, the statistics and properties of these old stellar relics might lead to important constraints on the dominant processes which enable low-mass star formation in primordial environments. In particular, three viable mechanisms have been proposed for the origin of HE0107-5240 (Christlieb et al. 2002). Their main difference relies in the interpretation of the observed surface abundance of C, N (and O; Christlieb et al. 2004). In particular, if one assumes that the observed Fe is not a good indicator of the metallicity of the gas cloud out of which the star formed and that C and N were already present in the star forming gas (C, N pre-formation scenario), then HE0107-5240 formed with an initial metallicity of $`Z10^2Z_{}`$. Indeed, Umeda & Nomoto (2003) have shown that the abundance pattern of HE0107-5240 is in good agreement with nucleosynthetis yields of a faint SN explosion of a $`25M_{}`$ zero-metallicity star releasing a kinetic energy of $`0.3\times 10^{51}`$ erg. If so, due to the small explosion energy, self-propagating star formation could not have occurred and the star must have formed on a longer timescale from the gas enriched by the SN. Alternatively, if one assumes that the observed Fe is a good indicator of the parent cloud metallicity and that C and N were synthetized in the stellar interior (C, N post-formation scenario)333These “post-formation” scenarios require a sensible explanation for the large observed C and N abundances. So far, it is still unclear whether efficient mixing during the He-flash can fully account for the observed abundances or if it had enough time to operate in HE0107-5240 (Schlattl et al. 2001, 2002; Siess et al. 2002)., then HE0107-5240 formed with an initial metallicity of $`Z10^{5.1}Z_{}`$. Indeed, the observed abundance pattern for elements heavier than Mg (that cannot be formed in the interior of a $`0.8M_{}`$ star such as HE0107-5240 and thus retain memory of the nucleosynthesis yields of the pre-enriching star) are well reproduced by the predicted yields of a 200 $`M_{}`$ $`\text{SN}_{\gamma \gamma }`$. In this case, HE0107-5240 could have formed on a short timescale through the self-propagating star formation mechanism or, on a longer timescale, from the gas enriched by the SN if $`20\%`$ of the metals were depleted onto dust grains (Schneider et al. 2003; Schneider, Ferrara & Salvaterra 2003).

## Acknowledgements

We thank T. Abel, F. Nakamura, M. Umemura & K. Omukai for enlightening discussions and useful comments to the paper.


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# 𝒂_𝟎⁺(𝟗𝟖𝟎)–resonance production in 𝒑𝒑→𝒅𝑲⁺(𝑲^𝟎)̄ reactions close to threshold

## Abstract

The reaction $`ppdK^+\overline{K^0}`$ has been investigated at an excess energy of $`Q=46`$ MeV above the $`K^+\overline{K^0}`$ threshold with ANKE at COSY–Jülich. From the detected coincident $`dK^+`$ pairs about 1000 events with a missing $`\overline{K^0}`$ were identified, corresponding to a total cross section of $`\sigma (ppdK^+\overline{K^0})=(38\pm 2_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm 14_{\mathrm{syst}})`$ nb. Invariant–mass and angular distributions have been jointly analyzed and reveal $`s`$–wave dominance between the two kaons, accompanied by a $`p`$–wave between the deuteron and the kaon system. This is interpreted in terms of $`a_0^+(980)`$–resonance production.

One of the primary goals of hadronic physics is the description of the internal structure of mesons and baryons, their production and decays, in terms of quarks and gluons. However the severe complications, related to nonperturbative contributions and confinement effects in QCD, mean that progress in understanding the structure of light hadrons has mainly been within models which use effective degrees of freedom. The constituent quark model is one of the most successful in this respect (see e.g. Morgan ). This approach treats the lightest scalar resonances $`a_0/f_0(980)`$ as conventional $`\overline{q}q`$ states. However the structure of these states seems to be more complicated and they have also been identified with $`K\overline{K}`$ molecules Weinstein  or compact $`qq`$$`\overline{q}\overline{q}`$ states Achasov . It has even been suggested that at masses below 1.0 GeV a complete nonet of 4–quark states might exist Close . Possible deviations from the minimal quark model is also generating much interest in the baryon sector, where the recently discovered low-lying $`\theta ^+`$ state in the $`K^+n`$ system penta  requires at least five quarks.

At COSY–Jülich cosy  an experimental program has been started, using the ANKE spectrometer ANKE\_NIM , which aims at exclusive data on $`a_0/f_0`$ production from $`pp`$, $`pn`$, $`pd`$ and $`dd`$ interactions close to the $`K\overline{K}`$ threshold css2002 . The final goal will be the extraction of the $`a_0/f_0`$ mixing amplitude to shed light on the nature of the light scalar resonances. Here, we report about the first exclusive study of the reaction $`ppdK^+\overline{K^0}`$, where some fraction of the kaon pairs is expected to stem from the decay of the $`a_0^+`$–resonance. The measurements were performed at a beam energy of $`T_p=2.65`$ GeV ($`p_p=3.46`$ GeV/c), corresponding to an excess energy of 46 MeV above the $`K\overline{K}`$ threshold.

The isovector $`a_0(980)`$ has been studied in $`p\overline{p}`$ annihilations Amsler , in $`\pi ^{}p`$ collisions Teige , and $`\gamma \gamma `$ interactions L3 . Data on radiative $`\varphi `$–decays SND ; KLOE  are interpreted in terms of $`a_0/f_0`$ production in the channels $`\varphi \gamma a_0/f_0\gamma \pi ^0\eta /\pi ^0\pi ^0`$. In $`pp`$ reactions the $`a_0(980)`$ has been seen at $`T_p=450`$ GeV WA102 , and a resonant structure around 980 MeV/c2 has been observed in inclusive $`ppdX^+`$ data at $`p_p=3.8`$, 4.5 and 6.3 GeV/c LBL .

ANKE is located at an internal target position of COSY, which supplies stored proton beams with intensities up to $`4\times 10^{10}`$. A $`H_2`$ cluster–jet target target  has been used, providing areal densities of $`5\times 10^{14}`$ cm-2. The luminosity has been measured with the help of $`pp`$ elastic scattering events by detecting one fast proton concurrently recorded with the $`dK^+`$ data QNP2002 . Protons in the angular range $`\vartheta =5.5^{}9^{}`$ have been selected, since the ANKE acceptance changes smoothly for these angles and the elastic peak in the momentum distribution is easily distinguished from the background. The average luminosity during the measurements has been determined to $`L=(2.7\pm 0.1_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm 0.7_{\mathrm{syst}})\times 10^{31}`$ s-1 cm-2 corresponding to $`L_{\mathrm{int}}=3.3`$ pb-1.

ANKE comprises three dipole magnets (D1–3), which guide the circulating COSY beam. The central C–shaped spectrometer dipole D2 downstream of the target separates the reaction products from the beam. The angular acceptance of D2 for kaons from $`a_0^+`$ decay is $`|\vartheta _\mathrm{H}|12^{}`$ horizontally and $`|\vartheta _\mathrm{V}|3.5^{}`$ vertically K\_NIM . The angular acceptance for the fast deuterons ($`p_d2100`$ MeV/c) is roughly $`|\vartheta _\mathrm{H}|10^{}`$ and $`|\vartheta _\mathrm{V}|3.0^{}`$ and depends on the momentum in the horizontal direction d\_breakup .

Positively charged kaons are identified in range telescopes, located at the side of D2 along the focal surface, providing excellent kaon–vs.–background discrimination. The kaons were identified by means of time–of–flight (TOF) and energy–loss ($`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$) measurements. Details of the procedure can be found in Ref. K\_NIM . For our measurements, only some of the telescopes were used, covering the lower momentum range ($`p_{K^+}=(390625)`$ MeV/c) of the $`a_0^+`$ decay $`K^+`$ mesons. Two multi–wire proportional chambers (MWPCs) positioned in front of the telescopes allow to deduce the ejectile momenta and to suppress scattered background ANKE\_NIM ; K\_NIM . Coincident fast particles and elastically scattered protons are detected in the ANKE forward–detection (FD) system consisting of two layers of scintillation counters for TOF and $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ measurements as well as three MWPCs, each with two sensitive planes, for momentum reconstruction and background suppression ANKE\_NIM ; d\_breakup .

Two bands from protons and deuterons are clearly seen in the time difference between the detection of a $`K^+`$–meson in one of the telescopes and a particle in the FD as a function of the FD particle momentum (see Fig. 1a). The deuterons are selected with the criterion indicated by the dashed lines. In Fig. 1b) the missing–mass distribution $`m(pp,dK^+)`$ for the selected $`ppdK^+X`$ events is presented. At $`T_p=2.65`$ GeV the missing particle $`X`$ must be a $`\overline{K^0}`$ due to charge and strangeness conservation. The measured $`dK^+`$ missing–mass distribution peaks at $`m_{\overline{K^0}}=498`$ MeV/c2, reflecting the clean particle identification. Approx. 1000 events within the gate indicated by the dashed arrows are accepted as $`dK^+\overline{K^0}`$ events for further analysis. The remaining background from misidentified particles is ($`9\pm 2`$) %.

The tracking efficiency for kaons in the side MWPCs has been determined by requiring TOF and $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ of a kaon (and any particle in FD) and calculating the ratio of identified kaons (as peak in the TOF distribution) with and without demanding a reconstructed track. The efficiency depends on the telescope number, i.e. $`K^+`$–momentum, and varies between 71 % and 93 %. The efficiency of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ criterion for the $`K^+`$ mesons has been deduced with the help of simultaneously recorded $`pppK^+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ events which — due to the significantly larger cross section — can be selected by TOF alone. This efficiency is independent on the telescope number and amounts to 52 %. The FD MWPC efficiencies have been determined for each of the six sensitive planes individually from events with hits in all other five planes. The information from two horizontal (vertical) planes has been used to reconstruct the intersection point in the remaining plane and, subsequently, to determine the efficiency distribution across the chamber areas, i.e. the angular and momentum dependences. The average FD track efficiency for deuterons is 73 %. The efficiency of the FD scintillators and all TOF criteria is larger than 99 % K\_NIM . The data have been corrected for all efficiencies on an event–by–event basis.

The differential acceptance of ANKE has been obtained with the Monte–Carlo method described in Ref. disto , which allows one to determine the acceptance independently of the ejectile distributions at the production point. The acceptance is defined as a discrete function of the five relevant degrees of freedom in the 3–body final state. For an unpolarized measurement the acceptance can be expressed by a 4–dimensional matrix with four independent kinematical variables. Two different matrices, each composed of 500 elements (see Table 1), were used for the reconstruction of the invariant masses $`m(K^+\overline{K^0})`$, $`m(d\overline{K^0})`$ and the center–of–mass (cms) angular distributions $`|\mathrm{cos}(pk)|`$, $`|\mathrm{cos}(pq)|`$, $`\mathrm{cos}(kq)`$ (for a definition see Fig. 2). 90 million events following a phase–space distribution were simulated and tracked through ANKE, taking into account small angle scattering, decay in flight and the MWPC resolutions. Subsequently, the missing mass and angular distributions have been corrected with the weights from the corresponding acceptance matrices on an event–by–event basis. The impact of the few acceptance holes has been investigated using distributions with different shapes in the masses and angles and is included in the systematic error of the differential distributions and the total cross section. The efficiency and acceptance corrected data are shown in Fig. 3 with statistical error bars and systematic uncertainties.

The integrated acceptance of ANKE for the $`dK^+\overline{K^0}`$ events is $`2.2`$ %. Taking into account all correction factors a total cross section of $`\sigma (ppdK^+\overline{K^0})=(38\pm 2_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm 14_{\mathrm{syst}})`$ nb has been derived.

The mass and angular resolutions for the spectra in Fig. 3 have been obtained from simulations and amount to: $`\delta m_{K^+\overline{K^0}}=(81)`$ MeV/c2 in the range $`(0.9911.038)`$ GeV/c2, $`\delta m_{d\overline{K^0}}3`$ MeV/c2 in the full mass range, and $`\delta (\mathrm{cos}(\vartheta ))0.2`$ for all angular spectra (FWHM values). The effect of these resolutions on the shape of the differential spectra is included in the systematic errors shown in Fig. 3. Due to the finite values of $`\delta m`$ some events lie outside the kinematical limits at $`m(K^+\overline{K^0})=0.991`$ and $`m(d\overline{K^0})=2.420`$ GeV/c2, respectively. These data points have been excluded from the fit described below.

In the close–to–threshold regime only a limited number of final states can contribute. If we restrict ourselves to the lowest partial waves, we need to consider either a $`p`$–wave in the $`K\overline{K}`$ system accompanied by an $`s`$–wave of the deuteron with respect to the meson pair or an $`s`$–wave $`K\overline{K}`$ with a $`p`$–wave deuteron. Selection rules do not allow for $`s`$–waves in both subsystems simultaneously. Under these assumptions one may write for the square of the transition matrix element

$`\overline{||^2}`$ $`=`$ $`C_0^qq^2+C_0^kk^2+C_1(\widehat{p}\stackrel{}{k})^2+C_2(\widehat{p}\stackrel{}{q})^2`$ (1)
$`+C_3(\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{q})+C_4(\widehat{p}\stackrel{}{k})(\widehat{p}\stackrel{}{q}),`$
with $`\widehat{p}=\stackrel{}{p}/|\stackrel{}{p}|`$. The parameters $`C_i`$ can be directly related to the 8 allowed partial wave amplitudes, as was done e.g. in Refs. Grishina\_PLB ; Tarasov ; kthhs . Only $`K\overline{K}`$ $`p`$–waves contribute to $`C_0^q`$ and $`C_2`$, only $`K\overline{K}`$ $`s`$–waves to $`C_0^k`$ and $`C_1`$, and only $`s`$-$`p`$ interference terms to $`C_3`$ and $`C_4`$. Thus, a fit to the data supplies direct information on the relative strength of the different partial waves. The result of the fit is shown as the solid line in Fig. 3 and the corresponding parameters $`C_i`$ are displayed in Table 2 (note that from our spectra $`C_3`$ and $`C_4`$ cannot be extracted individually but only ($`C_3+(1/3)C_4`$)). The overall agreement between fit and data confirms the assumption that only the lowest partial waves contribute. The dashed lines in Fig. 3 depict the contributions from $`K\overline{K}`$ $`s`$–waves only ($`C_0^q=C_2=C_3=C_4=0`$) and the dotted line those from pure $`K\overline{K}`$ $`p`$–waves ($`C_0^k=C_1=C_3=C_4=0`$). Thus, we find that the reaction is dominated by the $`K\overline{K}`$ $`s`$–wave. The contribution from $`K\overline{K}`$ $`p`$–waves is less than 20%.

Since the $`K\overline{K}`$ $`p`$–waves prefer large invariant masses, it is the slope at higher $`K\overline{K}`$ masses that sets an upper bound for the $`p`$–wave contribution. On the other hand, the slope of the $`|\mathrm{cos}(pq)|`$ distribution determines the minimum $`p`$–wave strength. Therefore, the contribution of $`K\overline{K}`$ $`p`$–waves is strongly constrained by the data. The deviation in the upper left panel might indicate a small contribution from a $`d`$–wave of the deuteron with respect to the $`s`$–wave meson pair. Note that this $`d`$–wave contribution would have only little influence on the shapes of the other measured distributions.

Since the excess energy is small and the nominal mass of the $`a_0^+`$ is very close to the $`K\overline{K}`$ threshold, the resonance cannot be seen as a clear structure in the invariant mass spectra but in any case the propagation of low energy $`s`$–wave $`K\overline{K}`$ pairs should be governed by the $`a_0^+`$–resonance due to the proximity of its pole to the $`K\overline{K}`$ threshold. This, together with the result of the fit leads us to the conclusion that the reaction $`ppdK^+\overline{K}^0`$ at $`T_p=2.65`$ GeV proceeds mainly via the $`a_0^+`$–resonance.

In Ref. Grishina\_MESON2002  a model has been presented which describes both resonant, dominated by the direct $`a_0`$ production off a single nucleon, as well as non–resonant $`K\overline{K}`$ production, driven by a $`\pi K^{}\pi `$ exchange current. This current, due to G–parity conservation, generates the $`K\overline{K}`$ pair in a relative $`p`$–wave. The only free parameter of the model, an overall factor, was adjusted to higher energy data LBL . The predictions of this model for some of the spectra measured in this experiment are shown in Fig. 4. A scaling factor of 0.75 has been included in order to adjust the model results to the integrated cross section.

As can be seen from the figure the model calculations agree with the data for $`m(K^+\overline{K}^0)`$ and $`|\mathrm{cos}(pq)|`$, the spectra which are most sensitive to the relative $`s`$– and $`p`$–wave contributions. The discrepancy in Fig. 4, left side, indicates that there might be another possible reaction mechanism involved. Here it is important to note that within the model from Ref. Grishina\_MESON2002  the ratio of integrated resonant to non–resonant production cross section has very little sensitivity on the details of the $`\mathrm{cos}(pk)`$ distribution.

To summarize, first data on the reaction $`ppdK^+\overline{K^0}`$ close to the production threshold are presented. The total cross section for this reaction as well as differential distributions have been determined. Dominance of the $`K\overline{K}`$ $`s`$–wave ($`>`$ 80 % of the total cross section) has been deduced based on a joint analysis of angular and invariant mass spectra. This is a clear evidence for a predominant resonant production via the $`a_0^+(980)`$. A comparison of the experimental data to model calculations Grishina\_MESON2002  shows, that the background ($`K\overline{K}`$ $`p`$–waves) can be understood in terms of a simple meson exchange current. Further theoretical investigations are necessary to identify the possible role of a strong $`d\overline{K}`$ interaction as proposed in Ref. a0\_Oset . Here both a measurement at higher energies and polarization experiments would be of great use. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of studying light scalar resonances in exclusive measurements close to the $`K\overline{K}`$ threshold with high mass resolution and low background using ANKE at COSY-Jülich.

We regret to announce that one of the authors, Sasha Petrus, died in a tragic accident on May 19, 2002. We are grateful to W. Borgs, C. Schneider and the IKP technicians for the support during the beamtime and to J. Ritman and C. Wilkin for stimulating discussions and careful reading of the manuscript. The work at ANKE has partially been supported by: BMBF (grants WTZ-RUS-684-99, 686-99, 211-00, 691-01, GEO-001-99, POL-007-99, 015-01), DFG (436 RUS 113/444, 561, 630); Polish State Committee for Scientific Research (2 P03B 101 19); Russian Academy of Science (RFBR99-02-04034, 18179a, 06518, 02-02-16349); ISTC (1861, 1966).