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# Some Thoughts on the Quantum Theory of de Sitter Space

## 1 Introduction

Observations suggest that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. The simplest explanation of this acceleration is a non-zero cosmological constant. Conventional string/M theory cannot accommodate a positive cosmological constant. At best it can have metastable positive energy density minima of an approximately defined effective potential in extreme regions of moduli space. The significance of these minima is currently under study. In these talks I concentrated on the alternative hypotheses that there is an extension of string theory which defines quantum theor(ies) of gravity for any positive cosmological constant, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, which approach an isolated super-Poincare invariant string/M vacuum in the limit of vanishing $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The finite $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ theories are conjectured to have a finite number of physical states.

The fact that different values of the cosmological constant define different quantum systems, rather than different superselection sectors of the same system, is, for negative cosmological constant, one of the predictions of the AdS/CFT correspondence. One can view the negative cosmological constant as a parameter which controls the behavior of the high energy density of states in an asymptotically AdS universe. For positive cosmological constant the conjecture is that there is a high energy cutoff, and a finite number of states, controlled by the value of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$.

To understand why one would make such a conjecture, consider the description of dS space in terms of asymptotic past and future boundaries $`_\pm `$, as advocated by Witten and Strominger. Naively, one might imagine a theory of correlation functions on these boundaries, which could be interpreted as defining a sort of S-matrix for dS space. In the semiclassical approximation, these would be defined by solutions of the bulk field equations, with boundary conditions on $`_\pm `$ . In asymptotically flat or AdS universes, such a definition makes sense because generic solutions with such boundary conditions exist, and have at most localized singularities111If the Cosmic Censorship hypothesis is correct, every such singularity is shrouded behind a black hole horizon.. The phase space of the system in these cases is indeed parametrized by arbitrary perturbations on the boundary.

This is not correct in asymptotically dS space. Heuristically, if we insist that each boundary probe insert a minimal finite energy density (in global coordinates), no matter how small, into the system, then the solution with some finite number of probes will have an energy density of order the Planck scale by the time the minimal radius of dS space is achieved. The solution will have a singular Big Crunch or Big Bang and will fail to be asymptotically dS in either the past or the future222The question of whether such singular, unidirectionally asymptotically dS spaces have a finite number of states is more complicated. To answer it one must have a theory of the singularity. If one makes the hypothesis that solutions in which the singularity occurs at different values of the radius of the dS sphere should not be included in the same system, then these spaces have only finite numbers of states as well.. A more mathematical statement of this is that the phase space of Einstein gravity plus sensible matter with asymptotically dS boundary conditions in both past and future is compact. This is not yet a theorem, but is believed by many relativists. Preliminary results in this direction were obtained in unpublished work of Horowitz and Itzhaki. It is well known that classical systems with compact phase space have a finite number of states when quantized.

A different, but related argument for a finite number of states comes from a study of classical and semiclassical physics within the causal diamond of a timelike observer in dS space. This region has a timelike Killing vector, and the corresponding classical Hamiltonian  has finite energy excitations corresponding to Kerr-dS black holes of various radii and angular momenta. There is a maximum energy black hole: the Nariai solution. Semiclassical arguments indicate that the density matrix describing dS space is thermal, with a fixed temperature and finite entropy. When combined with an upper bound on the energy spectrum, a finite entropy thermal density matrix implies a finite number of states. This was the original argument in . The two arguments are related because the result of a too violent perturbation of the boundary of dS space is undoubtedly the creation of large black holes. When the black hole size exceeds the Nariai limit, we instead get a spacelike singularity covering an entire Cauchy surface of the space-time.

## 2 Groups, and boundaries

Isometries are diffeomorphisms and diffeomorphisms are gauge transformations. Thus, in general we do not expect an action of isometries on the physical states of a quantum system which obeys the principle of general covariance. Instead, global symmetry groups are constructed from equivalence classes of diffeomorphisms with certain action on the timelike or null boundary of a space-time. Global dS space does not have such boundaries, but the causal patch of a timelike observer does. In  it was suggested that the entire quantum mechanics of dS space could be understood from the point of view of any given observer, with the different descriptions related by a Cosmological Complementarity principle. This is a generalization of the idea of Black Hole Complementarity introduced by Susskind, Uglum and Thorlacius and by ’t Hooft. E. Verlinde has suggested the name Observer Complementarity for the general principle which states that observers who are classically causally disconnected, use the same Hilbert space in the quantum theory (in field theory they would use independent tensor factors of the Hilbert space), but measure mutually non-commuting observables.

Gomberoff and Teitelboim have shown how to construct classical symmetry generators for general Kerr-dS black hole spacetimes. In this formalism one can treat empty dS space as the zero mass limit of a black hole. The only generators which make sense are those which preserve the causal patch and its cosmological horizon, which is the surface on which boundary conditions are imposed and the generators are defined. These form an $`R\times SO(3)`$ subgroup of the $`SO(4,1)`$ isometry group of $`dS_4`$. The coset of this subgroup in the dS group is a set of gauge transformations, which map the physical Hilbert space into copies of it viewed from the point of view of different timelike observers.

This restriction to a subgroup is satisfying, because it is compatible with a quantum theory with a finite number of physical states. However, it seems to raise a puzzle about how the Poincare group will emerge in the small $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ limit, since we usually realize it as a contraction of the full dS group. In order to understand what is going on, we should compare the boundaries of the two space-times, where the symmetry generators are defined, rather than the bulk, where the isometries act as diffeomorphisms i.e. gauge transformations.

The near horizon geometry of dS space is

$$ds^2=R^2(dudv+d\mathrm{\Omega }^2)$$
(1)
where $`v0`$ defines the future cosmological horizon. The static Hamiltonian is the boost generator on $`u`$ and $`v`$.

Future null infinity in asymptotically flat spacetime is the $`v0`$ limit of

$$ds^2=\frac{(dudv+d\mathrm{\Omega }^2)}{v^2}$$
(2)
.

To remove the infinity one performs an infinite conformal transformation, and obtains a manifold with only conformal structure and coordinates $`(u,\mathrm{\Omega })`$. The asymptotic symmetry group is the semi-direct product of the conformal group of the sphere (isomorphic to the Lorentz group) with the infinite abelian group whose generators are $`f(\mathrm{\Omega })_u`$, with arbitrary $`f`$ . This is the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs group. If we restrict attention to classical vacuum spacetimes with no classical gravitational radiation (as would be appropriate in dimensions where an S-matrix exists), this can be reduced to the Poincare subgroup where $`f`$ is restricted to be the constant function or the $`j=1`$ spherical harmonic.

Apart from the rotations of the sphere, the static dS subgroup and the Poincare group have no generators in common. Lorentz invariance is a conformal symmetry which appears only in the limit of infinite dS radius.

Thus, in constructing a quantum theory of dS space, one is interested in finding two different Hamiltonians. One is an exact symmetry which describes time translation for a static observer at the center. The second is the Poincare Hamiltonian, which is relevant for describing scattering processes in the limiting asymptotically flat spacetime. A priori there is no connection between these two generators, but we might expect some similarities for a subclass of localizable low energy states.

## 3 States, localization, and temperature

The local rule for maximizing entropy in a gravitational system is to form a large black hole. In dS space this procedure reaches a limit at the Nariai black hole. Every black hole in dS space has both a cosmological and a black hole horizon, but even the sum of the entropies of the two horizons of the Narai black hole is only $`2/3`$ of the entropy of the full dS space. Indeed, the total entropy of a black hole monotonically decreases in dS space, while the entropy associated with the black hole horizon increases.

This is an indication that the black hole states are actually relatively low entropy states of the full dS spacetime. They are made by borrowing degrees from the horizon of empty dS space and freezing them into special configurations. We will see a rather explicit model of this below.

Another class of states in dS quantum mechanics may be termed field theoretic states. These are the states which are well approximated by the treatment of quantum field theory in curved spacetime. Their back reaction on the geometry is supposed to be negligible. At the very least, we must require that they do not collapse into black holes.

The entropy of field theory states in a given volume (with no constraint on the energy) is dominated by the ultraviolet, where the field theory is described by a fixed point. The entropy is of order $`M^3R^3`$, where $`M`$ is a UV cutoff. The energy of these states is of order $`M^4R^3`$. In order that the Schwarzchild radius of the system be less than $`R`$, we must have $`M^4R^2<1`$, in Planck units. Thus, the entropy in field theoretic states is less than $`R^{\frac{3}{2}}`$. In the static patch of dS space, $`R`$ is at most the dS radius. Thus, field theoretic states are even less entropic than black holes.

One concludes that most of the states are viewed by the static patch observer as being associated with the horizon of empty dS space. These have classical energy $`0`$. From the point of view of classical GR, the association of the bulk of the entropy with the horizon is quite reasonable. The static observer never sees anything fall through the horizon, but does see any object to which she is not bound, get squeezed into an infinitesimal region near the horizon. The global observer sees these objects as living in a large set of disjoint horizon volumes, and finds a natural explanation for most of the entropy being invisible to any given static observer .

Our identification of field theoretic states allows us to understand how the global point of view of quantum field theory in curved spacetime might be approximately correct. Above we have stressed Observer Complementarity: all of the physics can be described from the point of view of a given static observer. In the analogous, but different situation of black holes in asymptotically infinite spaces, none of the degrees of freedom associated to the black hole horizon by the Schwarzschild observer, commute with the complete set of asymptotic observations made by this observer. If they did, then the principle of Black Hole Complementarity would not resolve the Information Paradox. All of the information available to the Schwarzschild observer can be read by him in terms of scattering measurements which are describable by local field theory (that is, the measurement itself, not necessarily the scattering amplitude being measured, can be so described).

The static observer in dS space is, in some respects, analogous to the Schwarzschild observer, but we have identified an important difference. Only a fraction of order $`R^{\frac{1}{2}}`$ of the total entropy available in the static observer’s Hilbert space refers to local field theoretic measurements. This is consistent with the possibility of making of order $`R^{1/2}`$ commuting copies of the field theoretic degrees of freedom in a given horizon volume. Quantum field theory in global dS space predicts that in the far future one can find an infinite number of commuting copies of the degrees of freedom in a given horizon volume. Here we see that this becomes a better approximation at large $`R`$, although the number of copies is never strictly infinite.

If on the other hand, we make black holes whose size scales with the horizon, then there is no similar multiplication. The full quantum theory of dS space must be able to accommodate both sorts of state. However, it is amusing to note that the field theoretic states in a maximal collection of disjoint horizon volumes seem to be more typical states of the system than those with large black holes. They can saturate the full dS entropy.

The states which a static observer associates with the horizon of empty dS space dominate the thermal density matrix at the dS temperature. This is surely true if they have strictly zero energy. A much more likely picture is that they are distributed between $`E=0`$ and a cutoff $`E=\mathrm{\Delta }`$, with a density $`e^{S_{dS}}`$. In this case they will still dominate the thermal entropy. Higher energy states are much less entropic. As a consequence, the thermal entropy of dS space will be close (in the limit of large $`R`$) to the logarithm of the number of horizon states, which, in the same limit, is approximately the total number of states of the system.

This picture of the spectrum of the dS Hamiltonian, suggests a self consistent explanation for the origin of the dS temperature. Namely, if we postulate this dense set of low energy states, and assume that their Hamiltonian is a random matrix, so that dynamics in this subspace is chaotic (as chaotic as a finite quantum system can ever be), then perhaps we need only postulate a weak coupling between these states and any other states of the system in order to explain why the localized systems experience thermal fluctuations. The dS temperature would then be determined by the cutoff $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ on the low energy spectrum. My student, Lorenzo Mannelli, is trying to prove this.

## 4 Measurement theory in dS space

Theoretical physics was invented to describe the result of outside measurement on an isolated system. With the advent of quantum mechanics, we have had to pay a little more attention to what we really mean by a measuring process. Initial discussions of this had to assume the existence of a separate classical world of measuring equipment. More modern discussions view this as an approximate description of a self consistent process of measurement of one quantum system by another. The discussion in this section of measurement theory in dS space is based on the paper.

There has been much discussion in the recent measurement theory literature of “environmental decoherence”: The effects of random interactions between the measurement apparatus and a large unmeasured “environment”. While not denying the existence of such effects for all realistic measurements, I would like to believe that they are not logically necessary to the existence of a sensible theory of measurement. If we are to take the step of extending the formalism of quantum theory to describe the entire universe, we must give up the crutch of unmeasured environments.

I believe that a reasonable measurement theory exists, without postulating environmental decoherence. All of measurement theory rests on Von Neumann’s observation that ordinary unitary evolution can take an uncorrelated state of a system plus a measuring apparatus into an entangled state in which each eigenstate of a complete set of commuting observables of the system, is correlated with a different “pointer” state of the apparatus.

$$a_n|n>|A>a_n|n>|A_n>$$
(3)
In the theory of environmental decoherence, it is assumed properties of the pointer states’ interaction with the random environment that enable one to claim that further measurements on the system will not be sensitive to the relative phases of the $`a_n`$. An alternative explanation of decoherence is illustrated by a simple model. Suppose we are trying to measure a single spin, and we model our measuring apparatus by a cutoff quantum field theory with two degenerate minima, $`\varphi _\pm `$ in a volume $`V`$ which is large in cutoff units. Postulate a nonlocal coupling of the spin to the field theory which correlates the state $`\sigma _3=1`$ with $`\varphi _+`$ and $`\sigma _3=1`$ with $`\varphi _{}`$. This is a cartoon of the amplification that is necessary to get a microscopic phenomenon to register on a macroscopic apparatus.

What do we mean by this correlation? $`\varphi _\pm `$ are not really single states but labels for whole ensembles of states in which the field takes values very close to $`\varphi _\pm `$ in most of the volume $`V`$. Now consider any operator $`O_{loc}`$ which is localized in a volume much less than $`V`$. The matrix elements of $`O_{loc}`$ between any pair of states from the two different ensembles, is of order $`e^V`$. I now claim that our correlated state is one in which we can say that a measurement has been made. Further local perturbations of the apparatus will not change the fact that the states where the spin is positive and negative can communicate only by amounts of order $`e^V`$. Expectation values of system operators in the correlated state and all states it evolves into under local perturbations over times short compared to $`e^V`$ will follow the rules of classical probability.

Over times of order $`e^V`$, tunnelling between the two would be superselection sectors will occur, and the measurement will lose its coherence. But in ordinary quantum mechanics we can imagine taking $`V`$ as large as we like. Thus we can approximate Copenhagen measurements of quantum systems as well as we like, and thus give operational meaning to the mathematically precise formulae of the quantum theory.

In theories of quantum gravity this argument must be rethought. The large, almost classical, measuring devices will gravitate and have potentially large effects on the system they are supposed to be measuring. The only way to avoid this, is to place the measuring devices further and further away from the system, as we try to make them larger in order to make the measurements more precise and more robust against quantum fluctuations in the apparatus. This is why the only mathematically precise observables in good theories of quantum gravity are S-matrix elements (and their analogs in other infinite geometries).

We can see that when we come to dS space we are in a bind. If we are trying to measure the results of an experiment, which is traveling along a particular timelike geodesic, the best we can do is to measure its influence on a freely falling detector that is practically at the cosmological horizon of the experimental system. This is the closest analog of a scattering matrix that can be achieved in dS space. The detector can be made very large without significant effect on the experiment.

The key question now is how large it can be. If we require that the detector’s workings can be understood with “current technology”, then according to the above discussion, the detector must be built from what we have called field theoretic states in the static patch. In that case, an extremely conservative lower bound on the tunneling amplitudes between pointer states of the detector, is of order $`e^{bR^{3/2}}`$, with $`b`$ a constant (much) less than one and $`R`$ the radius of dS space. This can only be achieved with detectors whose size is a finite fraction of the cosmological horizon.

There is a hypothetical possibility for the construction of more robust detectors. For field theoretic detectors, tunneling amplitudes, are of order $`N^p`$, where $`p`$ can be a number of order $`1`$, and $`N`$ is the number of states of the detector. Black holes whose size scales like the cosmological horizon have a much larger number of states than any field theoretic system. In principle they could provide the mechanism for more robust detectors. However, in order for that to work, one must be able to construct pointer states for the black hole. In field theoretic models the robustness of pointer states depends on the concept of superselection sector, which is itself a consequence of locality. Such considerations do not apply to the states on a black hole horizon. Indeed, the existence of an elaborate set of pointer states of a black hole, which would enable us to make precise and robust measurements of a multitude of observables external to the black hole, would seem to contradict the no hair theorem and the thermal nature of black hole physics. Nonetheless, since we cannot rule out the possibility rigorously, the use of black holes as detectors must be considered. The tunneling amplitudes between pointer states of such monstrous detectors would be bounded from below by something of order $`e^{cR^2}`$. Again we would expect $`c`$ to be much less than one.

These considerations imply that there is a fundamental limit, both to the precision of any measurement in dS space and to the amount of time for which any actual physical object in dS space can play the role of an idealized Copenhagen measuring device. This time scale is always much less than the Poincare recurrence time, even if we accept the bizarre possibility of detectors constructed from the microstates of black holes.

Historically, mathematical formulae for observable quantities in theoretical physics were presumed (to the extent they were presumed exactly correct) to be precise results to which actual measurements could approximate with any required degree of precision. Once we accept the rules of quantum mechanics, and the hypothesis that the entire universe has a finite number of physical states this can no longer be correct. Considerations of gravitational interactions and the geometry of dS space give us a more refined estimate of the fundamental limits on the precision of measurements in such a situation. It seems absolutely clear that there will then be many Hamiltonian descriptions of the physics of dS space, that will fit all conceivable experiments within the fundamental limits on their precision. It also seems clear where the modifications that do not affect ordinary measurements will come from. Most of the states on the horizon do not affect measurements in the interior, apart from providing the thermal bath at the dS temperature, and perhaps renormalizing the effective local field theory Lagrangian describing field theory states in the interior. We have already suggested the idea that the horizon states could be described by a random Hamiltonian with an appropriate spectral cutoff related to the dS temperature.

It seems likely to me that the proper mathematical description of this situation will utilize the concept of universality classes from the theory of phase transitions. dS space is a finite system. The vanishing cosmological constant limit is a critical limit in which the number of states goes to infinity. There will be a universality class of Hamiltonians which describe dS space in this limit, and give the same answers for all observables with the fundamental limits on precision that we have outlined. Our considerations suggest that the predictions of these different mathematical theories will be the same, over reasonable periods of time, to all orders in powers of the cosmological constant. The imprecisions we have identified vanish like the exponential of a power of the cosmological constant. This means that for all practical purposes, the mathematical formulation of dS space will be predictive.

However, when it comes to questions of what happens to the system over a Poincare recurrence time  the different Hamiltonians will give different results. The Poincare recurrence time is the inverse of the level splitting we have hypothesized between states on the cosmological horizon. Thus, if the Hamiltonian ambiguity is indeed mainly associated with the description of the horizon states, we expect all of the physics on the recurrence time scale to be completely unpredictable. Different Hamiltonians in the universality class will give different results. Since, in principle, no actual observations of this physics can be made, this should not bother us. Rather, we might want to view it as a sort of gauge ambiguity in the description of dS space, which affects mathematical aspects of the formalism, without affecting the predictions for observable physics.

It is tantalizing to try to associate this ambiguity with the gauge invariance of general relativity under change of time coordinate, the famous Problem of Time. Indeed, in spaces without asymptotic boundary, a generally covariant theory does not give any definite prescription for what the time evolution operator is. Wheeler-deWitt quantization suggests instead that a system may have many non-commuting time evolution operators associated with different semiclassical clocks. The mutual quantum incompatibility between different semiclassical clocks is at the root of the principle of observer Complementarity. At the classical level, we have tried to remove this ambiguity for dS space by choosing the proper time of a given timelike observer to define the Hamiltonian. However, a fixed timelike observer is a classical concept. Perhaps the inevitable imprecisions we have discovered in the quantum mechanics of dS space can be related to a quantum version of the Problem of Time.

There is one final note about measurement theory in dS space, which connects this discussion to our previous remarks about symmetry generators. The freely falling devices we have been thinking about up to this point do not really correspond to measurements made by an observer bound to the experiment which defines the particular static coordinate system that our quantum formalism refers to. Rather, they are the best dS approximation to “S-matrix meters”. They measure amplitudes which will become the scattering matrix in the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }0`$ limit.

Actual measurements done by a static observer are of necessity less precise than these S-matrix measurements. Since he remains bound to the experiment, the size of device that he can build without gravitationally interacting with the experiment and changing its result, is much more limited. In order to read the results of the S-matrix meters he must send devices out to their position, which must then accelerate back to him. These devices will be affected by the very high temperature radiation that an accelerated observer experiences near the horizon.

The approximate Poincare generators will have a natural action on the states measured by the freely falling S-matrix meters. On the other hand, the measurements made by the bound observer will be naturally described in terms of the static dS Hamiltonian.

## 5 A toy model of dS quantum mechanics

This model has been constructed in collaboration with B. Fiol. It is definitely work in progress, and a lot more progress needs to be made. There are several basic principles that we used. The first was to realize the spherical geometry of the cosmological horizon, in a way that was compatible with having a finite number of states. This motivates the introduction of fuzzy spheres (M. Li has utilized fuzzy spheres for a hypothetical description of dS quantum mechanics.). For the moment our considerations are restricted to four spacetime dimensions. The corresponding fuzzy sphere is two dimensional and this is the only case where a complete technology exists. The restriction to four dimensions may be only technical, but it may have a deeper significance. If the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }0`$ limit of the theory is supersymmetric, it must be four dimensional. Only minimal four dimensional SUGRA admits a dS deformation.

The second principle that we use is the approximation of Asymptotic Darkness. That is, we attempt to describe a quantum theory with stable black holes, and account for the entropy and energy of these black holes. The idea is to find a description of the high energy spectrum, where Hawking decay is negligible. This should make sense for asymptotically small $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. In dS space, in contrast to asymptotically infinite spaces, one must, even in the asymptotic darkness approximation, take into account the huge reservoir of dS vacuum states. The asymptotic darkness approximation also neglects the splittings between black hole eigenstates, as well as those between vacuum eigenstates.

There is a peculiar feature of the asymptotic darkness approximation in dS space. In AdS space, large black holes are stable. In asymptotically flat space, they are unstable but correspond to long lived resonances in scattering amplitudes. The black hole mass thus has significance even when corrections to the asymptotic darkness approximation are taken into account. By contrast, in dS space a black hole decays into objects which fall through its cosmological horizon333Even if the black hole leaves behind a stable remnant, its mass will be much smaller than that of the hole. In this case some of the statements below will be modified, but only by replacing vacuum state by stable remnant state in appropriate places.. Thus, in the full theory, a black hole must be viewed as a state which can be written as a superposition of vacuum eigenstates. It’s energy cannot be much above the dS temperature. Thus, corrections to the asymptotic darkness approximation are large.

One can get an intuitive idea for why this might be so by considering moving black holes in the asymptotic darkness approximation. Consider a pair of black holes, which are not bound by their mutual gravitational attraction, as viewed from the static frame defined by one of them. The second black hole will fall into the cosmological horizon of the first and therefore has (approximately) zero energy as measured by the Hamiltonian in the static frame. This is true even for black holes which are for some finite range of time, very close to the central one. One concludes that there must be superpositions of vacuum eigenstates whose spacetime description is arbitrarily close to that of the static frame black hole. The number of these states is much larger than the number of static black hole states444This discussion is valid for black holes whose size does not scale to infinity with the dS radius. The concept of multiple black holes moving with respect to each other probably does not make sense close to the Nariai limit.. It is easy to imagine that when we split the Hamiltonian as $`H=H_{AD}+V`$, in the asymptotic darkness approximation, that the perturbation $`V`$ will have order one matrix elements between the static black hole state and superpositions of vacuum states which represent close by, moving, black holes. These can lead to a significant lowering of the actual black hole eigenvalue.

Given this remark, one may question the utility of the asymptotic darkness approximation for studying dS space. Recall however that there are two interesting Hamiltonians to construct in dS space with small $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The other one is the approximate Poincare Hamiltonian. The splitting of the Hilbert space into black hole states and vacuum states will definitely be useful for the Poincare generator. Although I will not discuss the Poincare generator here , this is the best we can do at present, so let us proceed.

Our fundamental variable will by a complex $`N\times N+1`$ matrix, $`\mathrm{\Psi }_i^A`$. We view it as a bimodule over the fuzzy sphere by allowing the appropriate irreducible representation of $`SU(2)`$ to act on it both on the left and the right. It is clear that $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ transforms in a half integral spin representation. In the limit $`N\mathrm{}`$ it will be a section of the spinor bundle on the sphere. We will quantize $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ as a fermion, consistent with the spin statistics theorem,

$$[\mathrm{\Psi }_i^A,(\mathrm{\Psi }^{})_B^j]_+=\delta _i^j\delta _B^A.$$
(4)
The Fock space formed by these fermionic operators has dimension $`2^{N(N+1)}`$. Recalling that the radius of the fuzzy sphere scales like $`N`$, we see an entropy that scales like the area, at least for the completely uncertain density matrix on this space.

In the asymptotic darkness approximation we expect the entire Hilbert space to decompose into eigenspaces of an approximate Hamiltonian, corresponding to the vacuum, and to black holes of various masses. We will take the Hamiltonian in this approximation to commute with the total fermion number (we do not expect such a quantum number in the exact theory). It is then natural to choose the vacuum density matrix to be the projection operator on half-filled states, relative to the Fock vacuum of $`\mathrm{\Psi }_i^A`$.

A corresponding guess for the black hole states is to write $`N=N_++N_{}`$, with $`N_+N_{}`$. The black hole density matrix is then the projection on states, where we only allow filling by creation operators from either the first $`N_+`$ rows and $`N_++1`$ columns, or the last $`N_{}`$ rows and last $`N_{}+1`$ columns to act on the vacuum, and consider both subsystems to be at half filling.

The microcanonical entropy of this state is $`\frac{N_+^2}{2}+\frac{N_{}^2}{2}`$ (for large values of the two integers). We identify the two terms in this formula with the entropies of the cosmological and black hole horizons of the Schwarzschild-deSitter black holes. They coincide for the maximal black hole horizon area, which occurs at $`N_+=N_{}`$. The total entropy is then equal to one half what we have identified as the entropy of empty dS space.

Although this is qualitatively the behavior we expect from the semiclassical thermodynamics of dS space, one would like to do better and get the relative coefficient in the entropy on the nose (the absolute coefficient will just be the identification of Newton’s constant in this system). The cosmological and black hole horizons satisfy the classical relations

$$R_+^2+R_{}^2+R_+R_{}=R^2$$
(5)
which gives a factor of $`2/3`$ between the total Nariai black hole entropy and the empty dS entropy. Our calculation is clearly missing an entropy of order $`R_+R_{}`$.

There are two possible explanations for this discrepancy. First, we should really be calculating a thermal entropy in the canonical ensemble at the dS temperature. We have defined black hole states by forbidding the excitation of the off diagonal operators entirely. Perhaps instead they should be allowed, but with Boltzmann suppression. Since the log of the number of these states is of order $`N_+N_{}`$ one can hope to make up our entropy deficit by including them. In order to get a finite fraction of the state counting entropy, the energy we assign to these states has to be of order the dS temperature.

Another possibility is that the factor of $`4/3`$ between the two answers should be viewed as an artifact of the asymptotic darkness approximation, analogous to the factor that occurs in the free field calculation of the entropy of near extremal black three branes. In this view, only the fully interacting theory will get the coefficient correct. The fully interacting theory will however have to deal with the fact that the black holes are unstable. In such a calculation, the entropy of empty dS space should be counted as the thermal entropy of the entire Hilbert space, including the sectors that are black hole eigenstates in the asymptotic darkness approximation. It is not clear to me whether the semiclassical calculation of Gibbons and Hawking refers to the full entropy, or the entropy of the empty dS vacuum in the approximation in which black holes are stable eigenstates, orthogonal to the vacuum states .

As noted in the beginning of this section, the explicit model of dS quantum mechanics is as yet in a very primitive stage. Nonetheless, it gives a hint about the way in which a consistent quantum theory could reproduce the semiclassical thermodynamics of dS space.

## 6 Conclusions

Semiclassical analysis leads to the conclusion that a quantum theory of dS space should have a finite number of states. This is implied both by (as yet non-rigorous) arguments that the phase space of quantum gravity with past and future asymptotically dS boundary conditions, is compact, and by the combination of the finiteness of the Gibbons-Hawking entropy and the cutoff on static energies implied by the existence of a maximal mass black hole.

The dS entropy is thermal, but analysis of states in dS space leads to the conclusion that it must primarily represent a very dense spectrum of levels of the static Hamiltonian at energies below the dS temperature. The entropy is then, approximately the logarithm of the number of these states. The entropy of states that can be described by local field theory in a given horizon volume is bounded by something of order $`R^{3/2}`$. This is consistent with a dual description of the full set of states in terms of $`R^{1/2}`$ commuting copies of the field theoretic degrees of freedom. I argued that this is approximately the same as the description of (cutoff )local field theory in global coordinates, except that the latter formalism implies an infinite number of copies of the static patch degrees of freedom. From the point of view of the static observer, the states corresponding to local excitations outside his horizon are viewed as very low energy states on the horizon. The global field theoretic picture breaks down drastically when processes which create horizon scale black holes in a single static patch are considered. These put the system into a low entropy state in which the dynamics outside the horizon is frozen.

The existence of this dense spectrum of levels suggests a mechanism for understanding the temperature of dS space. It is simply the result of interaction of the localizable states with these low energy horizon degrees of freedom. The temperature is an indication of the energy cutoff on the horizon states. Calculations to verify this conjecture and understand the precise relation between temperature and cutoff are in progress.

The finiteness of the number of states and the paucity of states that can be described by field theory inside the cosmological horizon, puts fundamental limits on measurements in dS space. In particular, no self consistent measuring device can be constructed in the theory, which will retain its classical character over times comparable to the Poincare recurrence time.

In my view this represents a fundamental ambiguity in the mathematical description of dS space. Many mathematical theories will give the same results for all measurable quantities within the limits set by the unavoidable lack of precision of measurement in this system. The ambiguities are smaller than any power of the cosmological constant in Planck units, and have little practical significance, but they are conceptually important. To someone in a pretentious frame of mind, they represent the fundamental limit on the basic assumption of theoretical physics, that the observer can be separated from the object it observes. It is likely that most of the ambiguity refers to the dynamics of the horizon states. I would conjecture that they can be described by a more or less random Hamiltonian, subject to a few constraints.

The above discussion was relevant to the observations made by a timelike observer in dS space. The quantum mechanics of such an observer uses the static dS Hamiltonian. I showed that in the limit of vanishing cosmological constant, we should expect the system to exhibit a new symmetry group, the Poincare group555I have argued elsewhere that actually the full Super-Poincare group will arise in the limit. (most of) which is not related to the dS generators, and in particular, not to the static Hamiltonian. The complicated horizon states completely decouple from this limiting dynamics. It describes observations made by freely falling detectors, near the cosmological horizon. In the limit, the horizon becomes null infinity and we find the dynamics of an asymptotically flat space-time.


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# Vorton Existence and Stability

## 1 Introduction

Topological defects are known to play an important role in many physical contexts and they may also impact cosmology, the relativistic setting for this present study (for a review, see ref. ). Amongst the possible cosmic defects, vortex-strings have a prominent position because they naturally evolve into a scale-invariant configuration, therefore avoiding analogues of the monopole problem of cosmological domination. These strings might be responsible for a variety of astrophysical phenomena, such as cosmic rays, gravitational wave radiation, or gravitational lensing. The richness of their phenomenology comes in part from the possibility of additional internal structure, making them superconducting ref. .

These superconducting strings have been widely studied, and this article follows a companion paper , which investigated in detail the model studied here. Previously, we considered analytic criteria for current and charge stability on these strings, confirming this with numerical simulations. This work allowed us to predict the equilibrium state of a cosmic string loop stabilized by the angular momentum of this charge and current, while also setting new limits on the available range of parameters. Let’s mention that the potential existence of vorton solutions has been postulated recently in other important physical contexts such as QCD  and high-$`T_\mathrm{c}`$ superconductivity . We note that if we are able, here, to establish vorton stability in vacuum (i.e. resisting collapse due to the powerful tension of a relativistic string), then these results bode well for their as yet untested stability in less extreme physical situations. We emphasise that here we are focussing on classical vorton stability, while for a discussion of quantum stability the reader is referred to  and references therein.

The structure of this letter is as follows: After summarizing our previous results for vorton equilibrium states, we will examine additional relevant perturbations which we have observed as a result of our work. Finally, we will give an account of our numerical results on vortons and their long-term stability given elliptically perturbed initial conditions.

## 2 The framework

Our study is based on the model first proposed in ref.  :

$``$ $`=(_\mu \varphi )(^\mu \varphi )^++(_\mu \sigma )(^\mu \sigma )^+{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _\varphi }{4}}(|\varphi |^2\eta _\varphi ^2)^2`$ (1)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _\sigma }{4}}(|\sigma |^2\eta _\sigma ^2)^2\beta |\varphi |^2|\sigma |^2,`$
where the two complex scalar fields $`\varphi `$ and $`\sigma `$ are minimally coupled, each being invariant under $`U(1)`$ transformations.

If the constants of the theory (the couplings and the vacuum expectation values) are chosen carefully, one can break the $`\varphi `$-symmetry, leading to $`|\varphi |=\eta _\varphi `$, while keeping $`\sigma =0`$ in the vacuum, because of the non-vanishing interaction term. Along a $`\varphi `$ cosmic string, the interaction vanishes, and $`\sigma `$ can form a condensate. (For a detailed acount on this model, see ref. ) We have been able to give necessary conditions on the parameters of the lagrangian for the string to be superconducting:

$`\lambda _\varphi <{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _\sigma ^2}{16\beta }},`$ $`\beta <{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _\sigma }{4}},`$ $`\eta _\sigma ^2<{\displaystyle \frac{\eta _\varphi ^2}{2}}..`$ (2)
This $`|\sigma |`$ condensate can also carry charge and currents along the string (taken to lie on the $`z`$-axis), as can be readily seen from the ansatz:

$$\sigma =|\sigma |(r)e^{i(\omega t+kz)},$$
(3)
which induces a (Noether) charge $`Q`$ and a current $`J`$ on the string worldsheet:

$$Q=\omega 𝑑z𝑑S|\sigma |^2,J=k𝑑z𝑑S|\sigma |^2,$$
(4)
as well as a topologically conserved quantity, the winding number:

$$N=𝑑z\frac{k}{2\pi }.$$
(5)
These features alter significantly the standard string cosmology scenario, with perhaps the most striking consequence of superconductivity being the classical stability of string loops. These loops, which were dubbed *vortons* in ref. , cannot decay because of the angular momentum of their charge carriers.

We present in fig.1 a typical, straight superconducting string profile. The parameters used here saturate the bounds given by eq.(2), in order to get a condensate well localised along the string, appropriate for numerical simulations with boundary restrictions. In general, one can expect a condensate somewhat broader than the underlying vortex: $`\delta _\sigma >\delta _\varphi `$, or equivalently, $`\beta \eta _\varphi ^2\frac{1}{2}\lambda _\sigma \eta _\sigma ^2=m_\sigma ^2<m_\varphi ^2=\frac{1}{2}\lambda _\varphi \eta _\varphi ^2`$. It is probably worth emphasizing here the model dependence of vorton studies: the parameter space is very broad, and we need a specific particle physics model fixing the couplings to make more precise predictions about their properties.

In our previous paper, we have been able to analyticaly characterize the equilibrium states proving, in principle, that vortons should occur for every initial non-zero value of $`Q`$ and $`N`$. If, as usual, we call $`\mu `$ the string tension, and we define

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }=𝑑S|\sigma |^2,\mathrm{\Sigma }_4=𝑑S|\sigma |^4,$$
(6)
we can recall the following equilibrium conditions. In the *chiral* case $`\omega ^2=k^2`$, vortons will shrink or expand until:

$$\omega ^2=k^2=(\mu \frac{1}{4}\lambda _\sigma \mathrm{\Sigma }_{4o})/(2\mathrm{\Sigma }_o),$$
(7)
where the suffix $`o`$ denotes the chiral value of a quantity (or equivalently, when $`\omega =k=0`$). In the *electric* ($`\omega ^2>k^2`$) or *magnetic* ($`\omega ^2<k^2`$) regimes, given that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{QN}=Q/N`$, we showed that the vorton state would minimize the following function of $`\omega ^2k^2=u^2`$:

$$=N\left[\frac{(\mu \frac{\lambda _\sigma }{4}\mathrm{\Sigma }_4(u^2))}{\mathrm{\Sigma }(u^2)}\sqrt{\frac{\mathrm{\Sigma }_{QN}^2\mathrm{\Sigma }^2(u^2)}{u^2}}+2\mathrm{\Sigma }_{QN}^2\sqrt{\frac{u^2}{\mathrm{\Sigma }_{QN}^2\mathrm{\Sigma }^2(u^2)}}\right],$$
(8)
which clearly admits such a minimum. Given an initial state with small seed charges and currents, we demonstrated that the smaller final equilibrium state will generically be located away from the chiral state (which is not an attractor – see ref.  for details).

## 3 Stability analysis

We employed numerical methods to investigate the behaviour of these equilibrium vorton states, which enabled us to identify and analytically characterise various instabilities corresponding to different regimes of the loop. We have already proved in  that a straight superconducting string cannot evolve too deeply into the magnetic regime ($`\omega ^2<k^2`$), because of nonlinear effects that force the condensate to become pinched locally and to unravel, thus losing winding number.

Our analytical analysis, and a suitable ansatz for $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_4`$, gave a precise criterion for the threshold value $`k_{inst}`$ of this instability. Let’s define $`\alpha =\frac{\lambda _\sigma }{4}\mathrm{\Sigma }_{4o}/\mathrm{\Sigma }_o`$, and $`k_c`$, the maximum $`k`$ value associated with a non-vanishing condensate. Then,

$$\frac{1}{k_{inst}^2}=\frac{1}{\alpha }+\frac{1}{k_c^2}$$
(9)
We have also studied the chiral and electric cases, and we were unable to find an instability of this kind, suggesting that these regimes are stable against a ‘pinching’ perturbation. There is, however, another potential instability particularly relevant in the electric regime.

In the model presented in eq. (1), the radial loop equilibrium discussed above in 8 is only valid if one assumes that the charge and the current remain localised on the string’s worldsheet. When we consider small loops, especially those tractable numerically, this assumption is not necessarily valid. The potential cost of the vortex/condensate separation can be evaluated using the usual profiles for the vortex, and we obtain the following stability criterion (see ref. ):

$$\frac{R}{\delta _\sigma }\text{ }>\frac{\lambda _\varphi }{2\beta }\frac{\mu _\varphi }{\sigma _o^2},$$
(10)
where $`R`$ is the radius of the vortex loop. Generically, the right hand side of (10) is quite large, and so stable loops require $`R>>\delta _\sigma `$. This is a problem for real vortons in the electric regime. The width of the condensate diverges as they go deeper into the electric regime, and so these loops can prove quite hard to stabilise. Numerically, memory limitations are such that we cannot achieve more than $`R20\delta _\sigma `$, and thus we are faced with this potential splitting instability even in the chiral regime, since this is just the order of magnitude given by (10), as we have demonstrated in our simulations.

To overcome this difficulty, we have modified the interaction term in eq.(1), $`V_{int}=\beta |\varphi |^2|\sigma |^2`$, by considering a toy model with $`V_{int}=\beta ^{}|\varphi |^6|\sigma |^2`$. Because of the higher power of $`\varphi `$ involved, the effective potential seen by the condensate is much closer to a square well, which allows $`\sigma `$ to build up a higher and more robust condensate, as can be seen from fig.2. This represents only a quantitative, rather than qualitative, modification of the vorton model with the new criterion for the splitting instability becoming less stringent. Then, the constraint given by (10) is relaxed to $`R/\delta _\sigma \text{ }<5`$, and we can create numerical configurations in which the condensate and the underlying vortex are held together tightly.

## 4 Vorton simulations

The theory defined in the previous section is ideal for numerical simulations. Our code evolves the fields according to the full 3D equations of motion arising from eq.(1), using a lattice-inspired hamiltonian formalism  modified from . energy and charge conservation in all simulations was maintained to below 1% accuracy.

First, we study the perfectly circular chiral case. The initial configuration was obtained using an SOR relaxation routine to calculate the radial profiles. We then used the ansatz:

$$\sigma (r,\theta ,\varphi )=|\sigma |(r,\theta )e^{i(k\varphi +\omega t)},$$
(11)
which describes a homogeneous chiral vorton. Here, we have neglected small corrections due to the curvature.

We then let the loop evolve with our code, using (Dirichlet) reflective boundary conditions which do not act to stabilise the configuration. We could observe the loop slowly oscillating around its equilibrium position, in agreement with the radial analysis we have given (see also ). As can be seen in fig.3, the whole structure appears to be remarkably stable.

We now turn our attention to vorton stability with respect to perturbations in the eccentricity $`ϵ`$, by considering a loop with $`ϵ<1`$. To ensure that the current is initially homogeneous, we have to consider the modified ansatz:

$$\sigma (r,\theta ,s)=|\sigma |(r,\theta )e^{ks+\omega t}.$$
(12)
where $`s`$ is the arclength along the string. This arclength is given by an elliptic integral which we evaluate accurately using the Gauss-Tschebychev algorithm (as can be found in *e.g.* ).

Our observations are summarized in fig. 4, where we can see clearly that the loop is actually oscillating between its initial configuration, and another, somewhat larger loop with higher eccentricity, tilted in the direction opposite to the current flow. We note also that this behaviour satisfies $`TL`$, where $`T`$ is the period of the movement, and $`L`$ is the length of the loop.

This can be understood if one considers the effect on the current of squashing a circular vorton, to make it look like an ellipse. To lowest order, the net effect on the angular momentum of the current is to induce a correction of the form:

$$M=M_0(1+\frac{ϵ^2}{4}).$$
(13)
Thus, the angular momentum of the current is incresaed with the eccentricity, and this has to be compensated by a rotation of the loop in the opposite direction (we discuss the transfer of momentum at length elsewhere ). Despite the oscillating eccentricity, ultimately these loops tend to evolve towards more circular configurations, as can be seen from the last two plots in fig.4.

Eccentric loop configurations retained their identity for more than 10,000 time steps (many light-crossing times), and so these simulations appear to establish that stable vortons should form during the evolution of the universe. Two small caveats to this conclusion remain. First, in the very longest simulations of over 30,000 timesteps, the build-up of background radiation (due to the reflective boundary conditions) causes some friction on the time-varying current which is eventually driven towards the less stable magnetic regime. We are developing absorbing boundary conditions for massive radiation to test the significance of this boundary artifact. Secondly, there is the sensitivity of these objects to their initial conditions, since a slight mismatch in the phase of the condensate can have dramatic consequences on the subsequent evolution of the loop. This problem is still under active investigation and will be discussed at greater length elsewhere.

## 5 Conclusions and discussion

We have presented in this paper the first simulations of vortons, which appear to strongly indicate their stability, and hence their cosmological relevance (as well as in other physical contexts). Stable vortons may have profound consequences for cosmology. These objects can be very massive, and they could account for dark matter, or even dominate the universe . They are naturally associated with very high energies, and this makes them prime candidates for high-energy astrophysical puzzles, like cosmic rays  or gamma ray bursts . Further study is required to test these hypotheses, but there can be little doubt that a deeper understanding of the microphysics of superconducting strings will further the confrontation between vortons and observations.

## Acknowledgements

Y.L. and E.P.S.S. gratefully aknowledge useful conversations with Jose Blanco-Pillado, Daniele Steer, Brandon Carter and Patrick Peter. Numerical simulations were performed on the COSMOS supercomputer, the Origin3800 owned by the UK Computational Cosmology Consortium, supported by Silicon Graphics Computer Systems, HEFCE and PPARC.


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# Description of the 𝐷^∗_𝑠(2320) resonance as the 𝐷𝜋 atom

## Abstract

We discuss the possibility that the recently reported resonance in the $`D_s\pi ^0`$ spectrum can be described in terms of residual $`D\pi `$ interactions.

preprint: IFT/12/02

The BaBar collaboration has recently reported a narrow resonance in the $`D_s^+(1968)\pi ^0`$ spectrum Aubert:2003fg . The mass of the resonance $`M_r=2.32\text{ GeV}`$ is significantly below the $`DK`$ threshold, and the width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }9\text{ MeV}`$ is of the order of a typical hadronic decay width for a light meson emission from a charmed resonance.

In the charmed sector there are three, stable under hadronic decays, light-flavored, $`c\overline{q}`$, $`q=u,d,s`$, $`D`$-mesons, the $`D^0(1870)`$, $`D^+(1870)`$ and $`D_s(1968)`$ together with their spin excitations with $`J^P=1^{}`$, the $`D^{}(2010)`$ and the $`D_s^{}(2110)`$ in the $`u,d`$ and strange sector respectively PDG . Other well established resonances have $`J^P=1^+`$, the $`D_1(2420)`$ and the $`D_{s1}(2536)`$. In terms of the quark model classification the ground states with $`J^P=0^{}`$ correspond to $`{}_{}{}^{2S+1}L_{J}^{}=^1S_0`$ $`c\overline{q}`$ states, the $`J^P=1^{}`$ natural parity sates are identified as $`{}_{}{}^{3}S_{1}^{}`$ states and the $`J^P=1^+`$ unnatural party resonances are the $`J=1`$ members of the $`L_{c\overline{q}}=1`$ multiplet containing states with the following quantum numbers, $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{0}^{}`$, $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{1}^{}`$, $`{}_{}{}^{0}P_{1}^{}`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{2}^{}`$. The predicted $`{}_{}{}^{1}P_{2}^{}`$ states could be assigned to $`D_2^{}(2460)`$ and $`D_{sJ}(2573)`$ resonances and two more states, the $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{0}^{}`$ and a linear combination of the $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{1}^{}`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{1}P_{1}^{}`$ are still to be found.

As pointed out by Barnes et al. the identification of the BaBar state with the $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{0}^{}`$ member of the $`L_{c\overline{q}}=1`$ multiplet is unlikely Barnes:2003dj . Its mass is $`230\text{ MeV}`$ below the average of the $`D_{s1}`$ ($`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{1}^{}`$) and $`D_{sJ}`$ masses. Furthermore from the heavy quark symmetry it is expected that two out of the four $`L_{c\overline{q}}=1`$ states, corresponding to the $`j_{\overline{q}}=L_{c\overline{q}}+1/2_{\overline{q}}=3/2`$ doublet are narrower then the other two from the $`j_{\overline{q}}=1/2`$ doublet. The former can be identified with the narrow $`D_{s1}`$ and $`D_{sJ}`$ states, while the latter would include the $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{0}^{}`$ state, which in a quark model is predicted to have width of the order of hundreds of  MeV Godfrey:wj .

To summarize, the measured charmed mesons resonances, with the exception of the latest BaBar state seem to agree well with the quark mode. From the point of view of this classification, two states, one with $`J^P=0^+`$ and one with $`J^P=1^+`$ are missing; however, they may well be much broader then those observed.

Since the $`J^P=0^+`$ BaBar state is not expected to belong to a $`c\overline{q}`$ family we investigate the possibility it is molecular in nature. This could happen if there is a strong flavor-singlet attraction between the pion and the $`c\overline{s}`$ mesons. Since $`m_\pi /m_{c\overline{q}}<10\%`$ one could consider the BaBar state as a result of a pion being captured by a non-relativistic (even static) charmed meson. Since the width of the resonance measured by BaBar, ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }\text{ }<10\text{ MeV}`$) is small compared to the energy difference between nearby coupled channels, e.g. $`|m_{D_s^{}(2320)}m_{DK}^{tr}|=40\text{ MeV}`$, channels other than the measured $`D_s\pi `$ should be unimportant.

Even though it is expected that there are residual flavor-neutral interactions mediated by glueball (pomeron) exchanges, the details of such processes are presently unknown. It is possible, however to formulate the problem using effective interactions once the relevant energy-momentum scales have been identified. In particular, the $`D_s\pi `$ interactions are mediated via multi-gluon exchange and its spectral properties at low mass can be saturated by $`\eta ^{}`$ exchanges thus correlated with matter fields Rosenzweig:1979ay . The virtual light quark matter fields coupled to $`\pi `$ or $`D`$ mesons probe the light quark distribution in these particles up to momentum scales of the order of the QCD scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }0.51\text{ GeV}`$, thus momenta in virtual meson propagators should be truncated at $`p\text{ }<\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The effective $`D\pi `$ interaction obtained this way could then be used to calculate the $`D\pi `$ scattering amplitude Oller:1998zr ; Oller:1998hw . This requires iteration of the real part of virtual $`D\pi `$ exchanges. Since we are not explicitly including contributions from other channels the energies of the intermediate states have to be truncated at $`E(p)E_{th}`$. For example for the $`DK`$ threshold, $`E_{th}=2.36\text{ GeV}`$, which implies the relative momentum in the $`D\pi `$ system $`p340\text{ MeV}`$. Thus the cutoff, $`\mu `$ on the loop integrals over $`D\pi `$ states should be of the order of a few hundred MeV. Of course if all coupled channels were explicitly included, it would be possible able to set $`\mu \mathrm{}`$.

To summarize, the effective $`D\pi `$ flavor-singlet interaction should have a natural strength if the scale in the interaction is of the order of the QCD scale ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$) and the $`D\pi `$ amplitude is truncated at momenta of the order of a few hundred MeV ($`\mu `$).

The effective interaction can be deduced from an effective QCD Lagrangian which includes anomalous $`U_A(1)`$ symmetry breaking Rosenzweig:1979ay . For the system under study, the relevant part of such a Lagrangian is given by DiVecchia:1980ve ; Bass:1999is ; Bass:2001zs

$$=\frac{f_\pi ^2}{4}Tr\left(^\mu U_\mu U\right)+\frac{f_\pi ^2}{4}TrM\left(U+U^{}\right)+\frac{1}{2}iQTr\left[\mathrm{log}U\mathrm{log}U^{}\right]+\frac{3}{m_\eta ^2f_\pi ^2}Q^2+Q^2\left[\frac{9\beta }{2f_\pi ^2m_\eta ^4}Tr\left(^\mu U_\mu U\right)+\frac{c}{f_\pi ^4}D^2\right].$$

The first two terms represent the lowest order terms of a nonlinear chiral Lagrangian, with $`U=\mathrm{exp}(i\pi ^aT^a/f_\pi +i\sqrt{2/3}\eta _0/f_\pi )`$, $`\pi ^a`$ and $`\eta _0`$ being the octet and singlet meson fields, respectively. We have neglected small terms which differentiate between the flavor octet, $`f_\pi `$ and the flavor singlet meson decay constants. The $`Q=(\alpha /4\pi )F\stackrel{~}{F}`$ represents the gluon field and the term linear in $`Q`$ is responsible for the anomalous coupling of the gluon to matter fields and for the $`U_A(1)`$ symmetry breaking. The first $`Q^2`$-dependent term can be interpreted as the kinetic term of the gluon field. Finally the last two terms represent flavor-singlet, lowest dimension gluon coupling to the light meson octet and the charmed, $`D`$ meson field. The coupling constant $`\beta =0.63`$ can be determined from the $`\eta ^{}\pi \pi \eta `$ decay DiVecchia:1980ve ; Bass:2001zs  and, as discussed above, the unknown coupling $`c`$, is expected to be of the order of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^2`$. Using the equations of motion, the $`Q`$-field can be replaced by the matter $`\eta _0`$ field which among others leads to the following interactions,

$$_{\pi \pi \eta _0\eta _0}=\frac{3}{2}\frac{\beta }{f_\pi ^2}\eta _0^2_\mu \pi ^a^\mu \pi ^a,_{DD\eta _0\eta _0}=\frac{c}{6}\frac{m_\eta ^4}{f_\pi ^2}\eta _0^2D^2.$$
(1)
These result in an effective $`D\pi `$ Lagrangian given by

$`L_{D\pi }=c{\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{m_\eta ^4}{f_\pi ^4}}{\displaystyle 𝑑x𝑑y(_\mu \pi ^a(x))^2T\eta _0^2(x)\eta _0^2(y)D^2(y)}.`$
The expectation value of the $`\eta `$ (gluon) field is replaced by an instantaneous contact term, smeared over the QCD scale,$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, $`T\eta _0^2(x)\eta _0^2(y)\delta (x^0y^0)\mathrm{\Lambda }^4\delta _\mathrm{\Lambda }^3(𝐱𝐲)/m_\eta ^4`$, resulting in a final $`D\pi `$ effective potential,

$`V_{D\pi }={\displaystyle \frac{\beta c}{4f_\pi ^4}}{\displaystyle 𝑑𝐱(_\mu \pi ^a(𝐱))^2D^2(𝐱)},`$
(3)
with $`c=O(\mathrm{\Lambda }^2)O(1\text{ GeV}^2)`$. Due to absence of multi-particle, relativistic effects and the low momentum approximation ($`p\text{ }<\mu `$), the scattering amplitude can be determined from $`(1VG)^1V`$ with $`G=(E\sqrt{m_D^2+p^2}\sqrt{m_\pi ^2+p^2}+iϵ)^1`$ being the free $`D\pi `$ propagator. The scattering $`S`$-wave phase shift can then be easily calculated for the potential of Eq. (3) and is given by,

$$\mathrm{tan}\delta (E)=\frac{E_\pi ^2(p)pc\beta f(p/\mu )}{32\pi f_\pi ^4E(p)(1J[E(p)])},$$
(4)
with $`E(p)=E_\pi (p)+E_D(p)=\sqrt{m_\pi ^2+p^2}+\sqrt{m_D^2+p^2}`$ and $`J(E)`$ being the contribution from the real part of $`D\pi `$ loop cutoff by a form factor $`f(p/\mu )`$ with $`\mu =O(\text{ few 100 MeV })`$,

$$J(E)=\frac{c\beta }{32\pi ^2f_\pi ^4}_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑k\frac{k^2E^2(k)f(k/\mu )}{E_\pi (k)E_D(k)\left[E(p)E(k)+iϵ\right]}.$$
(5)
The comparison between our theoretical prediction and the BaBar result is shown in Fig. 1. Instead of plotting the data, for simplicity we plot a phase shift resulting from a Breit-Wigner (BW) parameterization of a resonance with mass $`M_r=2.32\text{ GeV}`$ and width, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_r=10\text{ MeV}`$ (equal to the experimental resolution of the BaBar measurement). We recall that a resonance phase shift, parametrized by a simple (without energy dependence in the width) Breit-Wigner formula gives,

$$\mathrm{sin}^2\delta _{BW}(E)=\frac{(\mathrm{\Gamma }_rM_r)^2}{\left[(E^2M_r^2)^2+(\mathrm{\Gamma }_rM_r)^2\right]},$$
(6)
where $`M_r`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_r`$ are the mass and width of the resonance, respectively. In Fig. 1 this is shown by the shaded region, whose size was fixed to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{sin}^2\delta _{BW}=0.1`$ roughly corresponding to size of the errorbars in the mass distribution of the $`D_s\pi `$ events shown in Ref. Aubert:2003fg . The prediction for $`D\pi `$ phase shift from Eq. (4) is shown with the solid line and it was calculated using $`c=1\text{ GeV}^2`$ and $`\mu =341\text{ MeV}`$.

Since the resonance is narrow it is clear that the position and width will be sensitive to these parameters. For example with $`c`$ fixed changing $`\mu `$ by $`\pm 20\%`$ shifts the position of the resonance between $`2.257`$ and $`2.393\text{ GeV}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ decreases for low $`M_r`$ to $`7\text{ MeV}`$, as the resonance mass approaches the $`D\pi `$ threshold, and increases to $`22\text{ MeV}`$ at the high mass. However, by changing both $`c`$ and $`\mu `$ within their natural ranges it is possible to restore the original resonance parameters. The increasing discrepancy between the BW parameterization and the solid line at higher mass is due to absence of phase space factors (demanded by unitarity) in the BW parameterization.

In summary we have found that using reasonable assumptions regarding flavor-independent interactions between the pion and the charmed-strange mesons, with natural parameters it is possible to reproduce a narrow resonance in the $`D\pi `$ spectrum. Such states should also be present in other charge modes, e.g. $`D_s\pi ^\pm `$. We have also checked that our findings are insensitive to the details of a formulation, e.g. we studied the nonrelativistic approximation and used the $`N/D`$ method Oller:1998zr .

A similar analysis applied to the $`J^P=0^+`$ $`D\pi `$ and $`DK`$ systems produces scalar resonances with masses and widths listed in Table. 1. These predictions should be easily tested by experiment because of the narrow width of the states involved. These masses are comparable with the quark model predictions of $`M_{D_0}=2.4\text{ GeV}`$ and $`M_{D_{s0}}=2.48\text{ GeV}`$ respectively Godfrey:xj , however none of these states have been observed yet. We have also found that the observed $`D_1^{}(2420)`$, and $`D_{s1}(2536)`$ can be generated in the $`D^{}\pi `$ and the $`D^{}K`$ systems using a similar mechanism. Resonances in $`D^{}\pi `$ or $`D^{}K`$ could in principle be studied this way as well; however, since the lifetimes of the $`D^{}`$’s are comparable to that of the expected two-meson resonance the breakup channels of the $`D^{}`$ would have to be included explicitly and those may prevent from narrow resonance in the two-meson channels to be formed in the first place. This is also true for possible molecular states build around $`c\overline{c}`$ mesons which can annihilate through strong interactions. Finally the interaction of Eq. (3) also leads to interactions in the relative $`P`$-wave of the two-meson system, however the resulting phase shift is slowly varying and does not display resonance characteristics.

It is a pleasure the acknowledge Alex Dzierba, Don Lichtenberg, Dan Krop and Scott Teige for several discussions. This work was supported in part by US DOE contract, DE-FG02-87ER40365.


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# Orbital quantization in the high magnetic field state of a charge-density-wave system

(March 19, 2024)

## Abstract

A superposition of the Pauli and orbital coupling of a high magnetic field to charge carriers in a charge-density-wave (CDW) system is proposed to give rise to transitions between subphases with quantized values of the CDW wavevector. By contrast to the purely orbital field-induced density-wave effects which require a strongly imperfect nesting of the Fermi surface, the new transitions can occur even if the Fermi surface is well nested at zero field. We suggest that such transitions are observed in the organic metal $`\alpha `$-(BEDT-TTF)2KHg(SCN)4 under a strongly tilted magnetic field.

A quantization of the orbital motion of charge carriers in quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) organic conductors (TMTSF)2X under high magnetic fields leads to a remarkable quantum phenomenon of field-induced spin-density waves (FISDW) (see  for a review). In these salts, the conducting band can be described near the Fermi level by the simplified dispersion law:

$$ϵ(𝐤)=\mathrm{}v_F\left(\left|k_x\right|k_F\right)2t_y\mathrm{cos}(k_ya_y)2t_y^{}\mathrm{cos}(2k_ya_y)2t_z\mathrm{cos}(k_za_z),$$
(1)
where $`\frac{t_y}{E_F}\frac{t_y^{}}{t_y}0.03`$; $`\frac{t_z}{E_F}10^3`$; $`E_F`$, $`v_F`$, and $`k_F`$ are, respectively, the Fermi energy, Fermi velocity and Fermi wavenumber in the chain direction $`x`$; $`a_y`$ and $`a_z`$ are the interchain distances. Correspondingly, the Fermi surface (FS) is represented by two flat, only slightly warped sheets extended in $`k_yk_z`$ plane. At small $`t_y^{}`$ such a FS is subject to a nesting instability resulting in an insulating charge-density wave (CDW) or spin-density wave (SDW) groundstate . In the (TMTSF)2X salts the groundstate is a SDW. One can increase the “antinesting” term $`t_y^{}`$, e.g. by applying pressure, thereby weakening the nesting instability. At $`t_y^{}>t_y^{}k_BT_c(0)`$ \[where $`T_c(0)`$ is the density-wave transition temperature at $`t_y^{}=0`$\] the SDW is completely suppressed . However, a magnetic field $`𝐁`$ applied along the $`z`$-axis restricts electron orbits to the chain direction, i.e. enhances their one-dimensionality, and restores the SDW state . Since the FS nesting is strongly imperfect, the new SDW state is semimetallic rather than insulating. Under a high magnetic field the semimetallic spectrum is subdivided into Landau subbands and the system gains energy when the Fermi level is situated between adjacent subbands. This can be achieved by an appropriate choice of the nesting vector $`𝐐`$ which determines the size of the semimetallic pockets. As a result, $`𝐐`$ becomes field-dependent, deviating from its ideal value $`𝐐_0=(2k_F,\pi /a_y,\pi /a_z)`$, and at low enough temperatures the system undergoes a series of first order phase transitions to FISDW subphases with quantized values of the $`Q_x`$ component :

$$Q_{xN}=2k_F+NG,$$
(2)
where $`N`$ is an integer and $`G=2ea_yB_z/\mathrm{}c`$.

Similarly, the orbital effect has been predicted to produce field-induced charge-density wave (FICDW) subphases . The theoretical predictions are supported by recent pressure-dependent magnetotransport studies of the organic conductor $`\alpha `$-(BEDT-TTF)2KHg(SCN)4  which is believed to be in a CDW state with a nested Q1D part of its FS below $`8.5`$ K . However, in comparison with the SDW case, the situation in CDW systems is more complicated due to the presence of an additional, Pauli effect. The CDW formation is based on the pairing interaction between the electrons and holes having the same spin and separated in $`k`$-space by a unique wavevector (nesting vector) $`𝐐`$. A magnetic field lifts the degeneracy between two subbands with the parallel and antiparallel spins, respectively, so that the zero-field wavevector does not provide optimal nesting conditions for either of the subbands. This leads to a decrease of the critical temperature $`T_c(B)`$ . It is mainly the Pauli effect which determines the shape of the $`BT`$ phase diagram of $`\alpha `$-(BEDT-TTF)2KHg(SCN)4 at ambient pressure, in the field perpendicular to the highly conducting $`ac`$-plane . However, the orbital effect was also suggested to play a significant role under pressure  or in a magnetic field strongly tilted towards the $`ac`$-plane .

In this Letter, we propose that the superposition of Pauli and orbital effects of a high magnetic field on a CDW can give rise to a series of transitions between subphases with quantized values of the nesting vector. By contrast to the above mentioned FISDW and FICDW effects, these new transitions do not require a suppressed density wave state at zero magnetic field ($`t_y^{}>t_y^{}`$). We analyze the complex behavior of $`\alpha `$-(BEDT-TTF)2KHg(SCN)4 in tilted magnetic fields and argue that the proposed phenomenon is realized in this compound.

The field-induced transitions in single crystals of $`\alpha `$-(BEDT-TTF)2KHg(SCN)4 were studied by simultaneous measurements of magnetic torque and resistivity versus magnetic field as described elsewhere . The resistivity was measured in the $`b^{}`$ direction ($`b^{}ac`$). The sample could be turned with respect to the magnetic field and its orientation was defined by the tilt angle $`\theta `$ between the $`b^{}`$-axis and the field direction. The absolute value of $`\theta `$ was determined to the accuracy of $`0.1^{}`$. This was assured by measuring the frequency of the de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) oscillations originating from the second, quasi-two-dimensional, conducting band which precisely follows the $`1/\mathrm{cos}\theta `$-law.

We start with a qualitative consideration of the field dependence of the $`x`$ component of the nesting vector for a CDW system described by the dispersion relation (1) with a negligibly small $`t_z`$ and $`0<t_y^{}<t_y^{}`$. Treating each spin subband independently, one can express the optimal nesting conditions as $`Q_{\text{opt,}x}^{()}(B)=Q_{0x}\pm 2\mu _BB/\mathrm{}v_F`$, where the sign $`+()`$ stands for the spins parallel (antiparallel) to the applied field (see dashed lines in Fig.1). Nevertheless, the system as a whole maintains the constant nesting vector $`𝐐_0`$ and both subbands will remain fully gapped up to the critical field $`B_k\mathrm{\Delta }_{\text{CDW}}/2\mu _B`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\text{CDW}}`$ is the CDW energy gap . Above $`B_k`$, $`𝐐_0`$ is no more a good nesting vector as it leads to ungapped states in both subbands. Then, at low enough temperatures, $`T<T^{}0.6T_c(0)`$, a CDWx state with the field-dependent nesting vector, $`Q_x(B)=Q_{0x}+q_x^{\text{Pauli}}(B)`$, is formed . The additional term $`q_x^{\text{Pauli}}(B)`$ asymptotically approaching the value $`2\mu _BB/\mathrm{}v_F`$ is schematically shown in Fig. 1 by the thin solid line. With this term the nesting conditions are obviously improved for one of the spin subbands (say, the spin-up subband) at the cost of an additional unnesting of the other (spin-down).

So far the Pauli effect was considered as a mechanism dominating the evolution of the CDW in a magnetic field. If the antinesting term $`t_y^{}`$ is sufficiently lower than the critical value $`t_y^{}`$, the orbital effect below $`B_k`$ only leads to a small increase of the CDW gap with increasing field. However, for $`B>B_k`$ one should take into account that the carriers of the spin-down subband become partially ungapped. If the field is not too high, this subband forms small, closed in $`k_xk_y`$ plane pockets . The situation resembles the “conventional” FISDW or FICDW cases with $`t_y^{}t_y^{}`$; only the unnesting role is taken by the Pauli effect. Therefore, one can expect the orbital quantization condition in the form of Eq.(2) to be set on the nesting vector. However, the quantized levels should be now counted from $`Q_{\text{opt,}x}^{}(B)`$:

$$Q_{x,N}^{\text{orbit}}=Q_{0x}2\mu _BB/\mathrm{}v_F+NG.$$
(3)
The corresponding values $`q_{x,N}^{\text{orbit}}=Q_{x,N}^{\text{orbit}}Q_{0x}`$ are schematically shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1.

As a result, the most favorable values of the nesting vector above $`B_k`$ are determined by intersections of the continuous curve $`q_x^{\text{Pauli}}(B)`$ with the straight lines $`q_{xN}^{\text{orbit}}`$, i.e. by the superposition of the Pauli and quantum orbital effects. Thus, with changing the field we obtain a series of first order transitions between CDW subphases characterized by different quantized values of the nesting vector as schematically shown by thick lines in Fig. 1. Note that our model implies an increase of the quantum number $`N`$ with increasing $`B`$, in contrast to what is usually observed in known orbital quantization phenomena.

The presented qualitative model will now be compared with the experimental results on $`\alpha `$-(BEDT-TTF)2KHg(SCN)4. Fig. 2 shows magnetic torque and interlayer resistance recorded at increasing (solid lines) and decreasing (dashed lines) field sweeps, at $`\theta =81.4^{}`$. In agreement with previous reports , below 2 K both quantities consistently display irregular oscillations with a significant hysteresis. Both the amplitude of the oscillations and strength of the hysteresis rapidly increase with decreasing temperature. The so-called kink transition at $`B_k12.7`$ T is supposed to be the transition between the CDW0 groundstate and CDWx . This transition is considerably shifted from its zero-angle value $`B_k(\theta =0)24`$ T (see inset in Fig. 2 for comparison). In addition, there are two features at higher fields reminiscent of first order phase transitions.

In order to clarify the origin of the observed structure, we have studied in detail how it develops with changing $`\theta `$. In the following we analyze the torque data divided by $`\mathrm{sin}(2\theta )`$ in order to enable a direct comparison between the curves recorded at different $`\theta `$’s. The features in the magnetoresistance are found to correlate with those in the torque (see e.g. Fig. 2) although at $`\theta `$ approaching $`90^{}`$ they become more smeared and difficult to interpret in terms of phase transitions.

Fig. 3 shows the field-dependent torque at different angles, $`T=0.4`$ K (the curves are vertically shifted with respect to each other for clarity). The data represented by solid lines have been taken at increasing $`B`$; additionally, down sweeps are shown for $`81^{}<\theta <84^{}`$ (dashed lines) to illustrate the hysteresis. The curves corresponding to $`\theta <81^{}`$ have been obtained by filtering out the dHvA oscillations from the measured signal. An example of the total signal, including the oscillations, at $`\theta =67.1^{}`$ is given by the grey dotted line in Fig. 3a.

At relatively low angles, one can see a sharp kink transition which takes place at $`22.5`$ T at 53. It gradually shifts down, saturating at $`10`$ T as $`\theta `$ approaches 90. As $`B_k`$ decreases below 20 T, the transition becomes less pronounced although can still be detected up to $`\theta 85^{}`$. Below $`B_k`$, a weak additional feature is observed up to 78 (dotted line in Fig. 3a). While its origin is not clear at present, it may be related to the hysteretic changes of the magnetoresistance  and magnetothermopower  observed in the same field range earlier.

Starting from 65, new features emerge at the high-field side, moving to lower fields with further increasing $`\theta `$. Like the kink transition, they are rather sharp at high fields and gradually fade below 20 T. The structure changes with increasing rate at $`\theta 90^{}`$. At the same time the features become less pronounced and could not be resolved above $`88^{}`$. While the observed behavior is strongly suggestive of multiple phase transitions, at the moment it is difficult to determine the exact location of each transition. However, taking into account the character of changes in the magnetization and the hysteresis behavior, it is reasonable, by analogy with $`B_k`$, to identify the transition points with local maxima in the derivative $`(M/B)_\theta `$.

Such points are plotted in Fig. 4 in the form of a $`B\theta `$ phase diagram. In the inset the same data are replotted against $`1/\mathrm{cos}\theta `$ in order to show the region near $`90^{}`$ in more detail. The crosses represent $`B_k(\theta )`$, the empty circles correspond to the weak feature below $`B_k`$, and the solid circles delineate the boundaries between new subphases within the high-field state. There is a clear tendency for all the transitions to shift to lower fields with increasing $`\theta `$. Further, the increasingly strong angular dependence in the vicinity of $`\theta =90^{}`$ and the absence of the features at the exactly parallel orientation suggest that the orbital effect determined by the perpendicular component of magnetic field $`B_z=B\mathrm{cos}\theta `$ plays a crucial role. On the other hand, the CDW state is obviously subject to the strong Pauli effect at $`B>B_k`$ . Therefore it is very likely that the observed transitions originate from an interplay between the Pauli and orbital effects on the high field CDW state.

From Fig. 1 it is clear that the proposed multiple transitions can only take place if more than one quantum level intersect the $`q_x^{\text{Pauli}}(B)`$ curve, i.e. when $`3G=6ea_yB_z/\mathrm{}c<4\mu _BB/\mathrm{}v_F`$. This condition is obviously not satisfied at low $`\theta `$ where only one, kink transition is observed. With increasing $`\theta `$, the separation between the levels, $`G`$, proportional to the perpendicular field component $`B_z`$ decreases whereas the isotropic Pauli effect remains unchanged. Starting from a threshold angle $`\theta ^{}`$, the above condition becomes fulfilled and a new transition emerges at a high field, shifting towards $`B_k`$ at a further increase of $`\theta `$. In our experiment the first transition above $`B_k`$ is found at $`\theta 65^{}`$. This allows us to estimate the upper limit for the Fermi velocity in the 1D direction: $`v_F2\mu _Bc/3ea_y\mathrm{cos}65^{}9\times 10^6`$ cm/sec, which is in good agreement with the recently reported value $`v_F=6.5\times 10^6`$ cm/sec . Thus, the proposed model explains not only the occurrence of multiple first-order transitions above $`B_k`$, but also the threshold angle above which they start to appear as well as the general tendency of them to shift towards $`B_k`$ with further tilting the field.

Obviously, the sharpness of the transitions between the quantum orbital levels should strongly depend on temperature and on the strength of the perpendicular field component. This is consistent with the observed damping of the structure with increasing temperature (Fig. 2) or at $`\theta `$ very close to $`90^{}`$ (Fig. 3b).

The experimental phase diagram (Fig. 4) looks more complicated than it would be expected within the present qualitative model: some phase lines appear to be split, giving rise to additional subphases. This disagreement is, however, not surprising. On the one hand, it is not excluded that the additional phase, CDWy ($`q_x=0;q_y0`$), which was not taken into account here, emerges at a certain angular and field range . On the other hand, the orbital quantization effects are known to strongly depend on the exact FS geometry, i.e on details of the antinesting term, in the case of FISDW . According to the band structure calculations , the antinesting term in the present compound must be significantly more complex than suggested by the model spectrum (1). Therefore it is expected to also lead to considerable complications in high-field subphase structure. There are other open questions, such as the transition-like feature below $`B_k`$ and the considerable (although at a slower rate) decrease of $`B_k`$ with increasing $`\theta `$. A development of a quantitative theory will certainly help to understand the entire phase diagram of the present compound and to get a deeper insight into the interplay of the Pauli and orbital effects on CDW.

The experimental data presented in this paper have been obtained at the Grenoble High Magnetic Field Laboratory. The work was supported by HPP Programme of EU, contracts HPRI-1999-CT-00030 and HPRI-CT-1999-40013, INTAS grant 01-0791, and RFBR 03-02-16121.

Figure captions

Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of the field dependence of the CDW wavevector (thick line) originating from the superposition of the Pauli effect (thin solid line)  and orbital quantization. The quantized orbital levels (dotted lines) are counted from $`q_{\text{opt,}x}^{}(B)`$ corresponding to the optimal nesting vector for the spin-down subband which is partially ungapped above $`B_k`$.

Fig. 2. (a) Up (solid lines) and down (dashed lines) field sweeps of the magnetic torque of $`\alpha `$-(BEDT-TTF)$`{}_{2}{}^{}K`$Hg(SCN)4 at $`\theta =81.4^{}`$, at $`T=0.4`$ and 1.3 K. (b) The same for the interlayer resistance. Vertical line indicates the kink transition field $`B_k`$. Inset: magnetoresistance at a low $`\theta `$, $`T=0.4`$ K.

Fig. 3. Evolution of the high-field structure in the steady torque with changing $`\theta `$. Solid lines: up sweeps of the field; dashed lines (at $`81^{}<\theta <84^{}`$): down sweeps. For $`\theta <81^{}`$ the dHvA signal is subtracted; an example of the total signal is given by the grey dotted line for $`\theta =67.1^{}`$.

Fig. 4. $`B\theta `$ phase diagram of $`\alpha `$-(BEDT-TTF)$`{}_{2}{}^{}K`$Hg(SCN)4. Crosses: kink transition $`B_k`$; open circles: weak feature below $`B_k`$; solid circles: multiple transitions inside the high-field state. Lines are guides to the eye.


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# Comment on Repulsive Casimir Forces

A recent theoretical calculation shows that the Casimir force between two parallel plates can be repulsive for plates with nontrivial magnetic propertiesprl . According to the authors, the effect may be observed with known materials, such as ferrites and garnets, and it might be possible to engineer micro- or nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS or NEMS) that could take advantage of a short range repulsive force. Here we show that on the contrary the Casimir force between two parallel plates in vacuum at micron and submicron distance is always attractive.

The Casimir energy $`E`$ per unit area of two infinite slabs of materials with permittivity and permeability $`ϵ_{1,2}`$, $`\mu _{1,2}`$ maintained at a distance $`a`$ in vacuum is given by equation (4) of prl . To obtain equation (4), the authors parametrize the field modes using the vector k $`=(k_x,k_y,k_t)`$. In their notation, $`k_x`$ and $`k_y`$ are the components of the wave vector parallel to the plates, and $`k_t`$ is defined by the Wick rotation $`k_ti\omega `$, where $`\omega `$ is the frequency. Integrating equation (4) over $`|`$k$`|`$ to obtain a simpler equation for $`E`$, the authors implicitly that $`ϵ_{1,2}`$ and $`\mu _{1,2}`$ do not depend on $`\omega `$. From equation (7), the authors derive the following conclusions:

(i) When both materials have high $`\mu `$ and $`ϵ`$, the sign of the force depends on the impedances of the materials.

(ii) When one of the two bodies is a perfect conductor, and the other has large $`\mu `$ and $`ϵ`$, the sign of the force depends on the impedance of the latter.

(iii) In the uniform velocity of light (UVL) case, the sign of the force depends on the values of $`\mu `$ of the two materials.

Finally the authors claim that a class of materials with high permeability might be suitable for a demonstration of the repulsive Casimir force, which could play a crucial role in the construction of MEMS and NEMS.

All the conclusions depend on the authors’ physically incorrect assumption that $`ϵ_{1,2}`$ and $`\mu _{1,2}`$ are independent of $`k_t`$.

While the assumption that $`ϵ`$ and $`\mu `$ are independent of $`\omega `$ is incorrect, one can examine the question whether in the range of frequencies which give the largest contribution to the Casimir force (corresponding to wavelengths $`a`$) this is indeed a reasonable approximation or not. The plate-sphereps , cylinder-cylindercy  or plate-platepp  separations used in Casimir force measurements, as well as the typical distances between mechanical parts in MEMS and NEMS and those relevant to stiction problems, are in the submicron to micron range, corresponding to frequencies in the optical to mid-infrared region. In this spectral range definitely $`ϵ`$ cannot be assumed to be weakly dependent on frequency for most materials. Furthermore, concerning the hypothesis on $`\mu _{1,2}`$, it can be shown from theoretical arguments that in the optical range the permeability of materials ceases to have physical meaninglandau . In practice, no known material presents significant deviations from $`\mu =1`$ in a much wider spectral range. As a consequence, for separations in the micron and submicron range, equation (4) becomes the usual Lifshitz formulalifshitz , from which it follows that the Casimir force between is always attractive.

Interestingly another recent articleprlbruno  shows that for two ferromagnetic slabs the magneto-optical Kerr effect gives rise to an additional attractive Casimir magnetic force. The result is obtained using an equation similar to equation (4) of prl . In this case, however, it is implicitly assumed that $`\mu =1`$, and the force is calculated by only considering the dependence of the dielectric tensor on $`\omega `$.

In conclusion we believe that the calculations presented in prl  are not suitable for drawing conclusions on the sign and the magnitude of the Casimir force between real device elements at distances relevant to Casimir force measurements and to nanomachinery. At these distances the Casimir force between two slabs in vacuum is always attractive.

We thank C. Varma for useful discussions.