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# Modulational Instability and Complex Dynamics of Confined Matter-Wave Solitons

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## Abstract

We study the formation of bright solitons in a Bose-Einstein condensate of 7Li atoms induced by a sudden change in the sign of the scattering length from positive to negative, as reported in a recent experiment (Nature 417, 150 (2002)). The numerical simulations are performed by using the 3D Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE) with a dissipative three-body term. We show that a number of bright solitons is produced and this can be interpreted in terms of the modulational instability of the time-dependent macroscopic wave function of the Bose condensate. In particular, we derive a simple formula for the number of solitons that is in good agreement with the numerical results of 3D GPE. By investigating the long time evolution of the soliton train solving the 1D GPE with three-body dissipation we find that adjacent solitons repel each other due to their phase difference. In addition, we find that during the motion of the soliton train in an axial harmonic potential the number of solitonic peaks changes in time and the density of individual peaks shows an intermittent behavior. Such a complex dynamics explains the “missing solitons” frequently found in the experiment.

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The recent experimental observation of dark  and bright  solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates has renewed the interest in the intriguing dynamical phenomena of nonlinear matter waves . In the experiment of Strecker et al.  soliton trains have been formed by making a stable condensate of 7Li atoms with a large positive scattering length $`a_s`$ using a Feshbach resonance and then switching $`a_s`$ to a negative value. The formation of the soliton train has been interpreted as due to quantum mechanical phase fluctuations of the Bosonic field operator . By imposing a suitable space dependent pattern in the initial phase of the Bose condensate and then using the 1D time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE), Al Khawaja et al.  have reproduced the formation of the soliton train.

In this paper we show that the formation and subsequent evolution of a soliton train can be adequately investigated by using the classical (mean-field) time-dependent 3D GPE with a dissipative term which takes into account the three-body recombination process that is crucial during the collapse of the condensate . The multi-soliton configuration is obtained without imprinting the initial wave function with a fluctuating phase. We show that the soliton train is produced by the modulational instability (MI) of the evolving classical phase of the Bose condensate (see also ). MI is a nonlinear wave phenomenon in which an exponential growth of small perturbations results from the interplay between nonlinearity and anomalous dispersion. MI has been previously studied for waves in fluids , in plasma physics , in nonlinear optics , and also in the context of the superfluid-insulator transition of a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a periodic potential . Here we find that the number of bright solitons induced by MI is given by a simple analytical formula which reproduces our numerical simulations. By investigating the long time evolution of the soliton train under the action of a harmonic potential of frequency $`\omega _z`$ in the travelling axial direction we find that the center of mass motion is periodic with frequency $`\omega _z`$ but the density of each solitonic peak strongly changes in time.

At zero temperature the macroscopic wave function $`\psi (𝐫,t)`$ of a Bose-Einstein condensate made of 7Li atoms can be modeled by the following dissipative time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation

$$\left[i\mathrm{}\frac{}{t}+\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m}^2UgN|\psi |^2+i\gamma N^2|\psi |^4\right]\psi =0,$$
(1)
where $`g=4\pi \mathrm{}^2a_s/m`$, $`a_s`$ is the s-wave scattering length, $`m`$ the atomic mass, $`N`$ is the number of condensed atoms and $`\gamma `$ is the strength of the dissipative three-body term . At $`t=0`$ the condensate wave function is normalized to one. Following the experiment of Strecker et al. , the external potential $`U(𝐫)`$ is given by

$$U(𝐫)=\frac{m}{2}\left[\omega _{}^2(x^2+y^2)+\chi ^2\omega _z^2z^2\right]+V_L(z)$$
(2)
where $`V_L(z)`$ is the box optical potential that initially confines the condensate in the longitudinal direction. The harmonic confinement is anisotropic with $`\omega _{}=2\pi \times 800`$ Hz and $`\omega _z=2\pi \times 4`$ Hz. $`\chi `$ is a parameter that modifies the intensity of confinement in the axial direction.

To investigate the formation of the train of bright solitons, we first calculate the ground-state wave function of the condensate with a positive scattering length $`a_s=100a_B`$, where $`a_B=0.53\AA `$ is the Bohr radius, by using Eq. (1) with imaginary time and $`\gamma =0`$. The numerical code implements in cylindric symmetry $`(z,r)`$ a finite-difference splitting method (spatial grid with $`400\times 100`$ points) with a predictor-corrector algorithm to treat the nonlinear term . We choose a condensate with longitudinal width $`L=284.4`$ $`\mu `$m and $`N=10^4`$ atoms. Then we use the ground-state wave function as initial condition for the time-evolution of Eq. (1) with $`a_s=3a_B`$, $`V_L(z)=0`$ and $`\chi =0`$. Following  we choose $`\gamma =1.77\times 10^{11}`$ $`(\mathrm{}\omega _z)/a_z^6`$. $`\gamma `$ is important during the collapse, because is fixes the critical density at which the compression ceases.

In Figure 1 we plot the probability density in the longitudinal direction $`\rho (z)=𝑑x𝑑y|\psi (x,y,z)|^2`$ of the evolving wave-function. The initially homogeneous condensate shows the formation of 5 peaks. Note that initially the phase of the condensate is set equal to zero. After the formation, the peaks start to separate each other showing a repulsive force between them. Eventually each peak evolves with small shape oscillations but without appreciable dispersion. This means that strictly speaking the train is not made of shape-invariant waves. We will use the word “solitons” to indicate the peaks of the train because they remain spatially localized during the time evolution. The formation of these solitons can be explained as due to the modulational instability (MI) of the time-dependent wave function of the Bose condensate, driven by imaginary Bogoliubov excitations . The Bogoliubov elementary excitations $`ϵ_k`$ of the static Bose condensate $`\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫)`$ can be found from Eq. (1) by looking for solutions of the form $`\psi (𝐫,t)=e^{i\mu t/\mathrm{}}\left[\mathrm{\Phi }(𝐫)+u_k(𝐫)e^{iϵ_kt/\mathrm{}}+v_k^{}(𝐫)e^{iϵ_kt/\mathrm{}}\right],`$ and keeping terms linear in the complex functions $`u(𝐫)`$ and $`v(𝐫)`$. Neglecting the dissipative term $`\gamma `$, in the quasi-1D limit  one finds $`ϵ_k=\sqrt{\mathrm{}^2k^2/(2m)\left(\mathrm{}^2k^2/(2m)+2g_{1D}n\right)},`$ where $`g_{1D}=g/(2\pi a_{}^2)`$ with $`a_{}=\sqrt{\mathrm{}/(m\omega _{})}`$, $`n=N/L`$ is the linear density and $`L`$ is the length of the condensate. By suddenly changing the scattering length $`a_s`$ to a negative value, the excitations frequencies corresponding to $`k<k_c=\sqrt{16\pi |g_{1D}|n}`$ become imaginary and, as a result, small perturbations grow exponentially in time. It is easy to find that the maximum rate of growth is at $`k_0=k_c/\sqrt{2}`$. The wavelength of this mode is $`\lambda _0=2\pi /k_0`$ and the ratio $`L/\lambda _0`$ gives an estimate of the number $`N_s`$ of bright solitons which are generated: $`N_s=\sqrt{N|a_s|L}/(\pi a_{}).`$

As predicted by this formula, Figure 2 shows that the number of peaks grows with the scattering length. The predicted number $`N_s`$ of solitons is in very good agreement with the numerical results: $`N_s=2.60`$ for $`a_s=1a_B`$, $`N_s=4.51`$ for $`a_s=3a_B`$ and $`N_s=5.82`$ for $`a_s=5a_B`$. The period $`\tau _0=\mathrm{}/Im\left(\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{k_0}\right)`$ associated to the most unstable mode is given by $`\tau _0=mL^2/(\pi \mathrm{}N_s^2),`$ in rough agreement with the numerically estimated formation time of the strongest fluctuations in the number of peaks belonging to the soliton train.

In the experiment of Strecher et al.  there are initially about $`10^5`$ atoms. In this case our numerical (see below) and analytical results predict the formation of about $`N_s=15`$ solitons, that is twice the number experimentally detected. We have verified that the number of solitons does not depend on the dissipation constant $`\gamma `$ of Eq. (1) but increasing $`\gamma `$ the densities of solitons are reduced and their widths are increased. Note that in this system recombination processes have not been investigated experimentally and these phenomena can affect the imaging process of soliton train densities.

We have also verified that the number of solitons increases by increasing $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$, the delay time between the removal of endcaps and the change of scattering length (in figure 1 and 2 it is $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=0`$). For instance, with the data and units of Figure 2, $`N_s=6`$ for $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=0.3`$ and $`N_s=7`$ for $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=0.6`$. That is a simple consequence of the enlargement of the axial width of the Bose-Einstein condensate, in full agreement with the experimental results .

In order to clarify the role of phases in the interaction between bright solitons we consider a simpler model: two solitons without dissipation. It has been found that the effective interaction between two bosonic matter waves depends on their phase difference $`\varphi `$ , being proportional to $`a_s\mathrm{cos}(\varphi )`$ . The axial wave function $`f(z)`$ of a bright soliton under transverse harmonic confinement can be analytically determined  by using the nonpolynomial Schrödinger equation (NPSE), an effective 1D equation we have recently derived from the 3D GPE . In  we have shown that 1D GPE reproduces bright solitons of 3D GPE only when the Bose condensate is strongly cigar-shaped. Instead, NPSE always reproduces 3D GPE solitons with great accuracy. As initial condition for the numerical solution of the time-dependent NPSE (spatial grid of $`10^4`$ points) we choose $`\psi (z)=\left[f(zz_0)+f(z+z_0)e^{i\varphi }\right]/\sqrt{2}`$, where $`\varphi `$ is the phase difference of the two neighboring solitons centered in $`z_0`$ and $`z_0`$.

In Figure 3 we plot the time evolution of $`N_R/N`$, where $`N_R`$ is the number of atoms in the right soliton, for some values of $`\varphi `$ with $`N|a_s|/a_{}=1/\sqrt{10}`$, $`\omega _{}/\omega _z=10`$ and $`\chi =0`$. For $`\varphi =0`$ the two solitons are attractive and eventually form a static peak which radiates small waves. For $`\varphi =\pi /4`$ the centers of the two solitons do not change with time but they exchange atoms as in a Josephson junction. Obviously the amount of atom exchange will depend on the details of the two solitons at initial time (widths and separation distance). We find such a complex exchange of atoms for $`0<\varphi <\pi /2`$, while for $`\varphi =\pi /2`$ the two solitons are weakly repulsive, their shapes change with time and eventually two solitons of different density appear because the Josephson exchange cannot continue when the two solitons separate due to their repulsive interaction. Note that with $`\varphi =\pi /2`$ the densities of the two peaks are inverted. For larger values of $`\varphi `$ the dynamics is quite similar to the $`\varphi =\pi /2`$ case, with two solitons of different shapes getting away from each other. The fraction of exchanged atoms between the two solitons goes to zero as $`\varphi `$ approaches $`\pi `$ due to the increase of repulsive interaction and the decrease of interaction time. Exactly at $`\varphi =\pi `$ parity symmetry of the problem inhibit atom exchange.

In the soliton train shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2 the phase difference of adjacent solitons is not imposed a priori at $`t=0`$, like in Ref. , but is self consistently determined by the GPE. As a consequence, its value is not exactly equal to $`\pi `$ and it changes with time. It is interesting to study the long time evolution of the soliton train under axial harmonic confinement as done in the experiment of Strecker et al. using $`10^5`$ 7Li atoms . Instead of 3D GPE in this numerical simulation we use the 1D GPE (spatial grid of $`10^4`$ points) with rescaled effective interaction and dissipative term , which allows to extend our calculations to long times. As explained in , 1D GPE is obtained from 3D GPE by imposing a Gaussian wave function of width $`a_{}`$ in the transverse direction. Note that we have verified that the 1D GPE results are in good agreement with 3D GPE ones for the set of parameters of Streker et al. experiment .

In Figure 4 we show three frames of the traveling train as color contour-plots of the density. In each pannel the orizontal axis is the $`z`$ coordinate and the vertical axis is the $`x`$ coordinate. The center of mass of the soliton train oscillates with the frequency of the harmonic confinement. Moreover, the solitons spread out in the middle and bunch at the turning points in very good agreement with the experimental results under similar conditions .

It is interesting to observe that during the time evolution the densities of bright solitons oscillate in an irregular way and, at certain instants, a few solitons practically disappear and reappear after a while. Such intermittent behavior is related to the complex dynamics of the bright soliton phases due to the presence of axial harmonic confinement. As confirmed in Figure 5, in absence of axial confinement ($`\chi =0`$), after a transient the peaks, separating each other, become true solitons. In particular, the number $`N_p`$ of peaks in the train gets constant and equal to the analytically estimated number $`N_s`$ of bright solitons. Instead, in presence of axial harmonic confinement ($`\chi =1`$), $`N_p`$ changes in time. Obviously, in this case the peaks never become true solitons.

In the experiment of Strecker et al.  “missing solitons” are frequently observed during the time evolution of the train . Our results strongly suggest that the phenomenon of “missing solitons” is related to the intermittent dynamics of individual peaks in the train under axial harmonic confinement.

To simulate the finite resolution of the experimental detection and imaging process, we calculate the covolution $`\overline{\rho }(z)=𝑑z^{}G(zz^{})\rho (z^{})`$ of the axial density profile $`\rho (z)`$ with a Gaussian $`G(z)`$ having the width of a single soliton. As shown in Figure 5, for $`\chi =1`$ the number $`N_p`$ of peaks of the smoothed density $`\overline{\rho }(z)`$ oscillates in time around a mean value smaller than $`N_s`$. In fact, many peaks of the train aro too close to be seen by using a finite resolution of the density: that becomes dramatic at the turning points. Thus, the effect of finite resolution could explain the disagreement between the experimentally observed number of solitons and its analytical estimate based on modulational instability.

In Figure 5 it is also shown the behavior of $`N_p`$ with initially $`10^4`$ atoms. Remarkably, in this case the largest values of $`N_p`$ are obtained when the train is in the middle of the trap: contrary to the case with initially $`10^5`$ atoms, the solitons bunch in the middle and spread out at the turning points. Such a phenomenon can be qualitatively explained observing that the energy of the repulsive interaction between solitons decreases by reducing the number of atoms . It follows that below a critical threshold in the number of atoms the repulsive interaction between solitons is overcome by the potential energy of solitons and the solitons cross in the middle of the trap. We have verified that to get spreading solitons in the middle of the trap with initially $`10^4`$ atoms it is necessary to strongly reduce the axial frequency ($`\chi =1/4`$).

In conclusion, we have successfully explained and numerically simulated the dynamical process of soliton train formation induced by modulational instability in the framework of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a three-body dissipative term. Contrary to the claim of Al Khawaja et al. , it is not necessary to include quantum phase fluctuations to trigger the formation of the soliton train. We have also investigated the soliton-soliton interaction and found a novel phenomenon: the intermittent dynamics of individual peaks during the time evolution of the soliton train in an axial harmonic potential. Signatures of this phenomenon can be extracted from the data of the experiment of Strecker et al. . Because of the intimate connection between atom optics with Bose-Einstein condensates and light optics we believe that the intermittent dynamics in soliton trains may be also observed with optical solitons in fibres.

L.S. thanks R.G. Hulet for many useful e-discussions.


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# References

Saturated-absorption spectroscopy: Eliminating crossover resonances using co-propagating beams

Ayan Banerjee

Vasant Natarajan

vasant@physics.iisc.ernet.in

Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, INDIA

## Abstract

We demonstrate a new technique for saturated-absorption spectroscopy using co-propagating beams that does not have the problem of crossover resonances. The pump beam is locked to a transition and its absorption signal is monitored while the probe beam is scanned. As the probe comes into resonance with another transition, the pump absorption is reduced and the signal shows a Doppler-free dip. We use this technique to measure hyperfine intervals in the $`D_2`$ line of 85Rb with a precision of 70 kHz, and to resolve hyperfine levels in the $`D_2`$ line of 39K that are less than 10 MHz apart.

OCIS codes: 300.6460 Spectroscopy, saturation, 300.6210 Spectroscopy, atomic, 020.2930 Hyperfine structure

Laser spectroscopy in atomic vapor is often limited by Doppler broadening. The standard method to overcome the first-order Doppler effect is to use saturated-absorption spectroscopy . In this technique, the laser is split into a weak probe beam and a strong pump beam, and the two beams are sent in opposite directions through the vapor. Due to the opposite Doppler shifts, only the zero-velocity atoms (i.e. atoms moving perpendicular to the direction of the beams) interact with both beams. For these atoms, the stronger pump beam saturates the transition and the probe-absorption spectrum shows a Doppler-free “dip” at line center. Ideally, the linewidth of the dip is limited only by the natural linewidth of the transition.

The above analysis is correct for two-level atoms, i.e. where the other atomic levels are far away compared to the Doppler width. However, in most real atoms, there are several closely-spaced hyperfine levels within the Doppler profile. The presence of multiple levels is a problem in saturated-absorption spectroscopy and results in what are called “crossover resonances”. These spurious resonances occur when the laser is tuned exactly midway between two transitions, so that for some velocity group, the pump drives one transition while the probe drives the other. Since both transitions start from the same ground level, the pump is still effective in reducing absorption from the probe. Crossover resonances are particularly problematic for high-resolution spectroscopy on two levels whose spacing is only slightly larger than the natural linewidth. In this case, the crossover resonance often swamps the real peaks and makes it impossible to resolve the two transitions.

In this article, we demonstrate an alternate technique for saturated-absorption spectroscopy that does not have the problem of crossover resonances. The technique uses to advantage the multilevel structure of the atom in creating differential absorption between the pump and probe beams. The basic idea is to have the two beams co-propagate through the vapor, with the pump frequency fixed on one transition while the probe is scanned over the other transitions. Unlike in conventional saturated-absorption spectroscopy, both beams have roughly equal intensities, and it is the absorption of the pump beam that is monitored. Since the pump is locked to a transition, it is absorbed only by the zero-velocity atoms. The absorption signal remains constant as the probe is scanned since the probe is generally absorbed by a different velocity group. However, as the probe comes into resonance with another transition for the zero-velocity group, the absorption of the pump is reduced and the signal shows a Doppler-free dip.

There are two primary advantages to our scheme. The first, as mentioned earlier, is the absence of crossover resonances. The second is that the signal appears on a flat background. This is different from conventional saturated-absorption spectroscopy where the probe absorption has an underlying Doppler profile which can affect the determination of the peak centers. We have applied this technique to spectroscopy on the $`D_2`$ lines of 85Rb and 39K. In the case of Rb, we measure the hyperfine interval between the $`F=1`$ and 2 levels in the $`5P_{3/2}`$ state with a precision of 70 kHz. In K, we are able to resolve all three hyperfine transitions in the $`D_2`$ line, which are completely merged in ordinary saturated-absorption spectroscopy.

The first set of experiments were done with a vapor of 85Rb atoms. The experimental schematic is shown in Fig. 1. The pump and probe beams are derived from two frequency-stabilized diode lasers  operating on the Rb $`D_2`$ line at 780 nm ($`5S_{1/2}5P_{3/2}`$ transition). The intensity in each beam is about 10 $`\mu `$W/cm2. The two beams co-propagate through a room-temperature vapor cell such that the angle between them is less than 10 mrad. The pump laser is locked to a hyperfine transition using saturated-absorption spectroscopy in another Rb vapor cell. The probe laser is scanned by double-passing through an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) and scanning the AOM frequency. The double passing is necessary to maintain directional stability of the beam, which can otherwise lead to systematic shifts of the peak positions. The probe intensity is also stabilized by adjusting the rf power into the AOM in a servo loop.

A normal saturated-absorption spectrum for the $`D_2`$ line in 85Rb is shown in Fig. 2. The underlying Doppler profile has been subtracted using a second probe beam that does not interact with the pump. The spectrum is for transitions starting from the $`F=2`$ ground level. The $`F^{}=1`$ and 2 levels in the excited state are barely visible because they are only 30 MHz apart  and overlap with the crossover resonance in between. The linewidth of the peaks is 12–15 MHz compared to the natural linewidth of 6 MHz. The primary causes for the increased linewidth are power broadening due to the pump beam and a small angle between the counter-propagating pump and probe beams. In addition, the lineshape of the peaks depends crucially on the intensities in the two beams. At high pump intensities, optical-pumping effects and the effect of velocity redistribution of the atoms from radiation pressure leads to inversion of the peaks or distortion of their Lorentzian lineshape . This is seen in the lower trace of Fig. 2 where the pump intensity has been increased by a factor of 2. The $`F^{}=1`$ and 2 peaks get distorted and the $`F^{}=(1,2)`$ crossover resonance becomes inverted.

The dramatic improvement in the spectrum with our new technique is seen in Fig. 3. The pump laser is locked to the $`F=2F^{}=3`$ transition while the probe laser is scanned over a frequency range of 50 MHz covering the $`F^{}=1`$ and 2 hyperfine levels. The pump-transmission signal shows two well-resolved peaks corresponding to these levels. The spectrum appears on a flat background and there is no crossover resonance in between. The peaks also have symmetric Lorentzian lineshapes with no significant pulling due to the neighboring peak.

There are two advantages to scanning the probe laser using an AOM instead of the grating angle that controls the optical feedback. The first is that it guarantees linearity of the scan since the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) that determines the AOM frequency has a linear transfer function. Secondly, the scan axis has absolute frequency calibration once the voltage-to-frequency transfer function of the VCO is known. This transfer function is readily measured using a frequency counter. We have used the advantage of a calibrated frequency scan to precisely determine the hyperfine interval in Fig. 3. By fitting Lorentzians to the two peaks, we determine the peak centers with a precision of 50 kHz. This yields the value of the interval to be 29.35(7) MHz. The result is in good agreement with earlier values of 29.26(3) MHz  and 29.30(3) MHz  obtained by us using other techniques. The high level of precision in the current work is a direct consequence of being able to resolve the two transitions without an intervening crossover resonance. One potential source of error in hyperfine measurements is a systematic shift in the lock point of the laser from peak center. However, in our scheme, this is not a problem because both pump and probe beams address the same velocity group. Thus a shift in the pump-laser lock point causes the entire set of hyperfine peaks to shift but the intervals do not change.

We have performed a second set of experiments with 39K. For this, the two diode lasers are chosen to operate on the $`D_2`$ line of K at 767 nm ($`4S_{1/2}4P_{3/2}`$ transition). The probe laser does not pass through an AOM but is scanned by scanning the grating. The consequent variation in the direction is negligible for the results presented here. The beams co-propagate through an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) glass cell maintained at a pressure below $`10^8`$ torr using an ion pump. K vapor is produced by heating a getter source  with a current of 2.6 A. The UHV environment is necessary to minimize linewidth broadening due to background collisions. The getter source also gives us control over the amount of K vapor in the cell, which is optimized for obtaining the narrowest linewidth.

In Fig. 4, we show the spectrum for $`F=2F^{}`$ transitions in 39K. With conventional saturated-absorption spectroscopy, we obtain a single peak containing all the transitions. The underlying Doppler profile is also seen. The lineshape of the peak is a convolution of 6 peaks lying within 30 MHz of each other . Indeed, it is hard to identify the location of the peak center with respect to the actual hyperfine transitions. By contrast, the new technique shows the locations of the three levels quite clearly. While the linewidth is still large enough that the peaks overlap, there is no ambiguity in identifying their locations.

In summary, we have demonstrated a technique for saturated-absorption spectroscopy in multilevel atoms using co-propagating pump and probe beams. The pump laser is locked to a transition so that it addresses only the zero-velocity atoms. The transmission of the pump shows Doppler-free peaks when the probe comes into resonance with another transition for the same zero-velocity atoms. The main advantages of the technique are the absence of crossover resonances and the appearance of the signal on a flat background. We demonstrate the power of this technique for hyperfine spectroscopy of closely-spaced levels by using an AOM to measure the smallest interval in the $`5P_{3/2}`$ state of 85Rb. We are also able to resolve hyperfine transitions in the $`D_2`$ line of 39K. In the current work, we have used two lasers to generate the pump and probe beams, which appears disadvantageous compared to the use of one laser in conventional saturated-absorption spectroscopy. However, it is possible to generate the probe beam from the pump laser using one or more AOMs, which has advantages for scanning the probe in a calibrated manner. Finally, the pump intensity in our scheme has to be kept very small. At higher intensities, we see clear evidence of dressed states created due to the coherent driving by the pump laser. Indeed, we have used this technique as a means of studying dressed states in room-temperature vapor without complications from Doppler broadening .

The authors thank Dipankar Das for help with the experiments. This work was supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.


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# Giant phonon anomalies in the pseudo-gap phase of TiOCl

(July, 22nd, 2003)

## Abstract

We report infrared and Raman spectroscopy results of the spin-1/2 quantum magnet TiOCl. Giant anomalies are found in the temperature dependence of the phonon spectrum, which hint to unusual coupling of the electronic degrees of freedom to the lattice. These anomalies develop over a broad temperature interval, suggesting the presence of an extended fluctuation regime. This defines a pseudo-gap phase, characterized by a local spin-gap. Below 100 K a dimensionality cross-over leads to a dimerized ground state with a global spin-gap of about 2$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{spin}`$ 430 K.

Recently a new class of spin-1/2 transition metal oxides has been identified based on $`\mathrm{Ti}^{3+}`$ ion in a distorted octahedral coordination of oxygen and/or chlorine axt97 ; isobe02 ; seidel03 ; isobe02b . Such compounds especially in two dimensions (2D) are candidates for exotic electronic configurations beyon93  and for superconductivity based on dimer fluctuations seidel03 ; seidel03b . Despite different stoichiometry and structural details their low-energy degrees of freedom are characterized by spin-1/2 quantum magnetism with a singlet ground state as a result of a phase transition. Some of these aspects are reminiscent of a spin-Peierls instability bray83 . However, significant differences from such a scenario show up as an extended fluctuation regime above the transition temperature, an extremely large magnitude of the singlet-triplet excitation spin-gap and pronounced phonon anomalies. Therefore, it is tempting to assign part of the dynamics of these phenomena to large electronic energy scales, associated with orbital degrees of freedom. This idea stems from the orbital degeneracy of $`\mathrm{t}_{2\mathrm{g}}`$ states of the $`\mathrm{Ti}^{3+}`$ ions ($`3\mathrm{d}^1`$, s=1/2) in octahedral surrounding and from the fact that their orbital ordering can be destabilized by quantum fluctuations khaliullin00 ; brink02 . Furthermore, novel mechanisms, based on the creation of a coherent spin-orbital structure pati98 ; yamashita00 ; koleshuk01 , have been predicted in order to obtain a spin-gap state and coupled spin-orbital modes. Since the lattice is strongly coupled to the orbital state, pronounced phonon anomalies are expected. Up to now for none of the discussed titanates axt97 ; isobe02 ; seidel03 ; isobe02b  a combined study of the spin and phonon excitation spectrum is available. This is partly related to the problem of growing sufficiently large single crystals for spectroscopic studies.

In this letter we present an infrared (IR) absorption and Raman scattering study on high quality single crystals of insulating $`\mathrm{TiOCl}`$. We demonstrate an unusual coupling of the electronic degrees of freedom to the lattice which is manifested by pronounced phonon anomalies and an extended fluctuation regime, defining a pseudo-gap phase with a characteristic temperature $`\mathrm{T}^{}`$$``$ 135 K.

TiOCl is a 2D oxyhalogenide formed of $`\mathrm{Ti}^{3+}\mathrm{O}^2`$ bilayers, separated by $`\mathrm{Cl}^{}`$ bilayers. The basic $`\mathrm{TiCl}_2\mathrm{O}_4`$ octahedra build an edge-shared network in the ab-plane of the orthorhombic unit cell. Above 100 K the magnetic susceptibility $`\chi (\mathrm{T})`$ of TiOCl is only weakly temperature dependent and forms a broad maximum at $`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{max}}`$ = 400 K. This motivated the proposal of a RVB ground state for this system beyon93 . However, $`\chi (\mathrm{T})`$ can be fitted using a s=1/2 Heisenberg spin chain model with an AF exchange coupling constant J=660 K (Ref. seidel03, ). Furthermore, $`\chi (\mathrm{T})`$ displays a sharp drop and a kink at $`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c1}}`$ = 66 K and $`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c2}}`$=94 K (Ref. seidel03, ; imai03, ), respectively, with a small anomaly in the specific heat $`\mathrm{c}_\mathrm{p}`$(T) (Ref. lee03, ) at $`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c2}}`$ only. The first order phase transition at $`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c1}}`$ also involves a static structural component that leads to a doubling of the unit cell in b-axis direction lee03 . The origin of the 1D exchange path has been identified as a direct exchange of Ti $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{xy}}`$ states aligned along the b-axis. From band structure calculations it is deduced that the other two dxz and dyz orbitals remain degenerate and are shifted to higher energies seidel03 . The comparably large antiferromagnetic exchange is unlikely to be understood solely on the basis of direct exchange. Additional superexchange pathes would involve oxygen sites that connect Ti-sites of the upper and lower bilayer and contribute to a possible 2D character of the spin system. As we will see in the following, such a scenario makes TiOCl an unique system to study the effect of coupled spin/lattice fluctuations on the basis of a complex exchange topology.

The first microscopic information about this interplay came from NMR/NQR experiments imai03  on $`{}_{}{}^{35}\mathrm{Cl}`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{47,49}\mathrm{Ti}`$. The relaxation rate of $`{}_{}{}^{35}\mathrm{Cl}`$ sites indicates dynamic lattice distortions with a high temperature onset at $``$ 200 K. For the $`{}_{}{}^{47,49}\mathrm{Ti}`$ sites, $`(\mathrm{TT}_1)^1`$, which probes the spin degrees of freedom, reaches a maximum at T=135 K. The temperature dependence of $`(\mathrm{TT}_1)^1`$ implies a pseudo-gap phase in the homogeneous state of the spin system with an estimated pseudo-gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{fluct}}`$$``$430 K (Ref. imai03, ). This is extraordinarily large when compared to the transition temperatures, leading to $`2\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{fluct}}`$/$`\mathrm{k}_\mathrm{B}\mathrm{T}_\mathrm{c}`$=9.1 and 13, for $`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c2}}`$ and $`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c1}}`$, respectively. These ratios are not consistent with a spin-Peierls mechanism for this gap formation bray83 .

Optical reflectivity $`R(\omega )`$ and Raman scattering experiments have been performed with light polarization within the ab-plane. The Kramers-Kronig transformation of $`R(\omega )`$ allows us to evaluate the real part $`\sigma _1(\omega )`$ of the optical conductivity. Details pertaining to the optical experiments can be found elsewhere wooten ; lemmens-rev . Due to the $`\mathrm{D}_{2\mathrm{h}}`$ point group symmetry of the atoms in TiOCl, optical reflectivity and Raman spectroscopy complement each other. With light polarization within the ab-plane they exclusively probe in-plane and out-of-plane (c-axis) displacements, respectively.

IR-spectroscopy results (Fig. 1) in the far infrared spectral range show a strong anisotropy of the optical response within the ab-plane, indicative of the low dimensionality of $`\mathrm{TiOCl}`$. The inset (a) displays the absorption spectrum up to the ultraviolet spectral range at 300 K, and emphasizes the energy interval dominated by the electronic interband transitions. The observed peak at $`10^4\mathrm{cm}^1`$ (1 eV) as well as maxima between 3.2x104 and 5.6x10$`{}_{}{}^{4}\mathrm{cm}_{}^{1}`$ (4 and 7 eV) (down-arrow and up-arrows in inset (a) of Fig. 1) are interpreted as the predicted splitting of the t2g states and the interband transitions between the O and Cl p-levels and the Ti d-levels, respectively seidel03 . The $`\sigma _1(\omega )`$ spectra above 2x104 $`cm^1`$ turn out to be polarization independent.

In the far-infrared (main panels of Fig. 1) $`\sigma _1(\omega )`$ is dominated by strong peaks at 294 $`\mathrm{cm}^1`$ and at 438 $`\mathrm{cm}^1`$ along the chain b-axis and the transverse a-axis, respectively. In addition, broad and less intense modes are detected along both polarization directions. Considering the space group $`Pmmn(59)`$ of $`\mathrm{TiOCl}`$ at room temperature and light polarization in the ab-plane, two $`\mathrm{B}_{3\mathrm{u}}`$ modes polarized along the a-axis and two $`\mathrm{B}_{2\mathrm{u}}`$ modes along the b-axis are expected as infrared active phonons. Our calculations predict the $`\mathrm{B}_{3\mathrm{u}}`$ phonons at 100 and 431 $`\mathrm{cm}^1`$ and the $`\mathrm{B}_{2\mathrm{u}}`$ ones at 198 and 333 cm-1 (see down-arrows in Fig. 1). The two high frequency ones can be identified with the most pronounced features in the spectra caimi03 . The larger number of broad and less intense modes are attributed to a lower symmetry than assumed so far. The anisotropy of the optical spectra allows us to exclude twinning or leakage effects of the polarizer.

We note that with decreasing temperature the two strongest modes at 294 $`\mathrm{cm}^1`$ and at 438 $`\mathrm{cm}^1`$ display a pronounced narrowing of their linewidth $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. The temperature dependence of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ (inset (b) of Fig. 1) shows a 49% and 35% decrease between 300 and 10 K along the b- and a-axis, respectively. This strong renormalization for temperatures higher than $`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c2}}`$ is in agreement with the NMR imai03  and ESR results kataev . Furthermore, the spectral weight at low frequencies tends to decrease below 200 K (Fig. 1). The total spectral weight, obtained by integrating $`\sigma _1(\omega )`$ is, however, conserved and it is fully recovered by $`10^4\mathrm{cm}^1`$. A detailed analysis of the IR-phonon spectra and their temperature dependence will be presented elsewhere caimi03 .

For Raman scattering with the light polarized within the ab-plane three phonon modes are expected for the $`Pmmn(59)`$ space group. These Ag modes have only displacements along the c-axis of the unit cell and are predicted at 247, 333 and 431 $`\mathrm{cm}^1`$ within the shell model calculation. The Raman spectra with (aa) and (bb) polarization, shown in the lower inset of Fig. 2, indeed display three modes at 203, 365 and 430 $`\mathrm{cm}^1`$, denoted by $`\beta `$, $`\gamma `$ and $`\delta `$, respectively. However, the response in (bb) polarization, parallel to the chain direction of the $`\mathrm{t}_{2\mathrm{g}}`$ orbitals, is dominated by a very broad scattering continuum with a maximum at about 160 $`\mathrm{cm}^1`$, denoted by $`\alpha `$. With decreasing temperature its linewidth strongly decreases and the maximum of the $`\alpha `$-mode softens down to 130 $`\mathrm{cm}^1`$, i.e. by $``$20%. This very large softening occurs in the fluctuation regime between 200 K and $`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c1}}`$. The energy of this mode is moreover comparable to the characteristic temperature T of the pseudo-gap phase determined by NMR. Also the other modes change appreciably by splitting into several sharp components as shown in the inset. Finally, for T$`<`$$`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c1}}`$ all transition-induced modes have a sharp and comparable linewidth and no more anomalies are observed (see Fig. 2).

In the low-energy range and for T$`<`$$`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c1}}`$, a change of a continuum of scattering is visible in Fig. 3. This gradual depletion has an onset frequency of 300 $`\mathrm{cm}^1`$430 K. Since similar effects have been observed in $`\mathrm{NaV}_2\mathrm{O}_5`$ and $`\mathrm{Sr}_{14}\mathrm{Cu}_{24}\mathrm{O}_{41}`$ at the doubled spin-gap of the systems, see, e.g. Ref. lemmens-rev, , we also attribute this onset in TiOCl to 2$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{spin}}`$=300 $`\mathrm{cm}^1`$. The spin-gap 2$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{spin}}`$ is about a factor of two smaller than the pseudo-gap 2$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{fluct}}`$ determined by NMR imai03  and leads to more reasonable gap ratios of $`2\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{spin}}`$/$`\mathrm{k}_\mathrm{B}\mathrm{T}_\mathrm{c}`$=4.6 and 6.7, for $`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c2}}`$ and $`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c1}}`$, respectively. The larger ratio compared to the mean-field result ($`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$/$`\mathrm{k}_\mathrm{B}\mathrm{T}_\mathrm{c}`$=3.52) might be attributed to competing exchange paths or electronic degrees of freedom. Also in, $`\mathrm{NaTiSi}_2\mathrm{O}_6`$, a related 1D titanate, orbital ordering at $`\mathrm{T}_\mathrm{c}`$=210 K leads to a large spin-gap with $`2\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{spin}}`$/$`\mathrm{k}_\mathrm{B}\mathrm{T}_\mathrm{c}`$=4.8 (Ref. isobe02, ).

Figure 3 shows the Raman scattering in the energy range comparable to the exchange coupling constant J. With polarization parallel to the chain axis (bb) two maxima, a symmetric and an asymmetric one, are observed at frequencies corresponding to 2J and 3J. The first maximum (2J) resembles the two-magnon continuum of the spin tetrahedra system $`\mathrm{Cu}_2\mathrm{Te}_2\mathrm{O}_5\mathrm{Br}_2`$, which is in the proximity to a quantum critical point lemmens01 ; gros03 . The second maximum (3J) is not expected within a simple spin Hamiltonian and a single exchange path lemmens-rev  and might be related to the proposed superexchange path. Its higher energy is consistent with a larger coordination number of the involved magnetic sites in 2D. A better understanding of the electronic structure of TiOCl would allow to further analyze the high energy scattering. There is no pronounced temperature dependence of the high energy scattering with the exception of a moderate reduction in intensity. Therefore, a dramatic change of the local hopping pathes and the involved orbital states is not supported in the investigated temperature regime. The left, low-energy edge of the pyramid-like scattering contribution can be interpreted as a second onset of local spin excitations at 600 $`\mathrm{cm}^1`$$``$860 K. This two-particle excitation gap is identical in energy to the pseudo-gap 2$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{fluct}}`$ identified in NMR imai03 . It also exists for temperatures T$`>`$$`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c2}}`$.

For Raman shifts $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega `$$``$2J a modulation of the scattering intensity is observed with a characteristic energy of 60-70 $`\mathrm{cm}^1`$. This value corresponds quite well to the energy separation between the $`\beta `$-mode and the $`\alpha `$-mode. Such an effect implies an effective modulation of the exchange coupling by the two modes and a large density of states over a considerable phase space. A somewhat comparable signature has been found in $`\mathrm{Sr}_{14}\mathrm{Cu}_{24}\mathrm{O}_{41}`$ due to a charge ordering-induced modulation of the exchange in the rungs of the spin ladders schmidt03 . Furthermore, we observe that the $`\alpha `$ mode for T$`<`$$`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c1}}`$ has the same appearance and linewidth as the other phonons, while the intensity of magnetic scattering is at least one order of magnitude smaller.

From our point of view, the fluctuation regime is mainly characterized by the large anomalies of the $`\alpha `$-mode and its peculiar coupling to the spin excitation spectrum. All observations point to a phonon as the origin of the $`\alpha `$-mode. As the symmetry-allowed modes ($`\beta `$, $`\gamma `$, $`\delta `$) have all been observed and the large intensity of the $`\alpha `$-mode is not consistent with a smaller, local symmetry breaking, we attribute the $`\alpha `$-mode to the Brillouin zone boundary. Certainly, due to its close proximity in energy, the $`\beta `$-mode is its related zone center Raman-allowed phonon mode. Lattice shell model calculations show that the respective displacement is a pure c-axis in-phase Ti-Cl mode. A projection of the corresponding zone-boundary displacement onto two adjacent Ti chains is given in the inset of Fig. 3. The displacement leads to an alternating deflection of the Ti sites out of the b-axis chain. The effect of such a displacement on the electronic states can be quite drastic. The higher lying $`\mathrm{t}_{2\mathrm{g}}`$ $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{xz}}`$ and $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{yz}}`$ states, that mediate the exchange perpendicular to the chains, are admixed to the ground state and the respective hopping matrix elements should be enhanced valenti03 . Further arguments that point into this direction are the large magnitude of the exchange coupling along the chain axis with respect to the phonon frequency and that J is only one order of magnitude smaller than the splitting of the $`\mathrm{t}_{2\mathrm{g}}`$ levels seidel03 . A coupling of low and high energy scales via the quasi-degenerate orbitals of the $`\mathrm{Ti}^{3+}`$ sites is a peculiarity of the present and the earlier mentioned titanates. The pronounced softening and large scattering intensity of the $`\alpha `$-mode in the pseudo-gap regime is therefore a direct fingerprint of the coupled spin-lattice fluctuations. As the softening is strongly nonlinear the change of population number are large and not comparable with usual effects of anharmonicity.

Finally, we address the peculiar ordering phenomena with the three characteristic temperatures $`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c1}}`$, $`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c2}}`$ and T that in our opinion reflect the interplay of thermal and quantum fluctuations. While with decreasing temperatures (T$``$T) the coherence length of the structural distortion slowly increases, the magnetic correlations cross-over from 2D to 1D due to a change of the $`\mathrm{t}_{2\mathrm{g}}`$ orbital admixture. The energy gain for T$``$$`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c2}}`$ is mainly related to the spin system. Therefore the related anomaly in the specific heat is small lee03  and in conventional x-ray scattering no sign of a coherent structural distortion can be found kataev . The structural distortions become long range only for T$``$$`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c1}}`$ as consequence of an order-disorder transition due to the significant spin-lattice coupling lee03 . Below this temperature the system shows a more conventional spin-Peierls-like behavior with a global spin-gap 2$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{spin}}`$. Consequently, the spin-gap 2$`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{fluct}}`$ is the smallest energy for a local double-spin-flip in the short-range-order distorted (pseudo-gap) phase. Therefore, it is not related to the transitions at $`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c1}}`$ and $`\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{c2}}`$.

To conclude, an extended fluctuation regime has been investigated in the $`\mathrm{Ti}^{3+}`$ bilayer system TiOCl using IR and Raman spectroscopy. It is proposed that a dimensionality crossover of the spin subsystem is induced by the population of a soft phonon with an energy comparable to the fluctuation scale T of the pseudo-gap phase. We anticipate that to further substantiate our scenario neutron scattering investigations or inelastic x-ray scattering would be very important together with further theoretical modelling.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors acknowledge fruitful discussions with C. Gros, R. Valenti, T. Saha-Dasgupta, R. Kremer, A. Perucchi, V. Gnezdilov, B. Batlogg, H. Thomas, B. Keimer, and P.A. Lee. This work was supported primarily by the MRSEC Program of the National Science Foundation under award number DMR 02-13282, DFG SPP1073, NATO PST.CLG.9777766, INTAS 01-278, and the Swiss National Foundation for the Scientific Research.


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# 1 Ikeda - like diagrams for neutron rich nuclei {^{3𝑍}}{_𝑍}𝐴_{2𝑍}.

Triton clustering in neutron rich nuclei and Ikeda - like diagrams

Afsar Abbas
Institute of Physics

Bhubaneshwar-751005, India

email: afsar@iopb.res.in

Abstract

It is shown here that new experiments confirm author’s recent prediction of a strong tendency for triton clustering in light neutron rich nuclei. As such the neutron halo phenomena is naturally explained here. Prediction of exotic molecular states rich in tritonic clusters is made here through new Ikeda-like diagram configurations for the nuclei $`{}_{Z}{}^{3Z}A_{2Z}^{}`$ . Hence this model is well confirmed experimentally and makes several new predictions which can be tested experimentally.

Clustering , in particular that of $`\alpha `$, has been a persistent aspect of nucler structure and reaction studies . So much so that some have speculated of the existence of $`\alpha `$ \- matter in contrast to nuclear matter. Hence it is commonly believed that multi-$`\alpha `$ structures of various geometry should be present in nuclei . In fact even linear $`\alpha `$ chains are expected to occur too . Even when the neutron number increases drastically ( as it happens in the case of neutron rich light nuclei ) the $`\alpha `$ structure is believed to persist . This is the standard picture of neutron rich nuclei accepted today.

However it may very well be that as neutron number increaes away from the line of nuclear stability, some new structures may start manifesting themselves. Indeed a new model arising from Quantum Chromodyanamics (QCD) and quark model considerations shows that this actually should be happening . Therein the author has recently predicted that triton clustering rather than $`\alpha `$ clustering should be the dominant aspect of the structure of neutron rich nuclei . In this paper here, experimental evidences shall be presented to support this view of triton clustering in neutron rich nuclei. In addition Ikeda - like diagrams with triton rich linear structures ( which can be tested experimenatlly ) shall also be presented. One interesting case where one such prediction has already been confirmed shall be discussed.

Ideas based on QCD and quark model allow us to see a common thread in such diverse nuclear phenomenon as : 1. The hole at the centre of the density distribution in $`{}_{}{}^{3}H,{}_{}{}^{3}He`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{4}He`$, 2. The halo phenomena is neutron rich nuclei, 3. The formation and persistence of clusters in nuclei and 4. The nuclear molecule effects. It turns out that all these require an understanding of two or more nucleons strongly overlapping over a small local region of size $`1fm`$. This necessarily requires considerations of multi-quark configurations like 6-, 9- and 12-quarks. It was shown by the author  that the nucleons do not like to go into these configurations and thereby the above mentioned nuclear effects are given a consistent explanation. The reader may refer to  for further details.

For our purpose here, note the effect of triton clustering for neutron rich nuclei predicted in this model . It was shown that as more and more neutrons are added to light nuclei there is a marked effect that an $`\alpha `$ plus two neutrons prefer to go to a configuration of two tritons. There is a continuous competition between an $`\alpha `$ cluster plus two neutrons remaining as such versus these changing into two clusters of tritons. For a single such configuration in $`{}_{}{}^{6}He`$ this breakup does not happen and to a very good approximatioon $`{}_{}{}^{6}He`$ remains an $`\alpha `$ plus two neutrons for the ground state and low energy excitations. This has important consequences like forming a halo  and thus providing us with a better insight into the structure of other A=6 nuclei like $`{}_{}{}^{6}Li`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{6}Be`$ . The effect of triton clustering also helps us to explain the phenomenoa of neutron halos .

In our model for example, $`{}_{}{}^{12}Be`$ rather being treated as consisting of 2$`\alpha `$ \+ 4n configuration ( as done by others  ) is treated as made up of 4t ( note that ’t’ stands for triton ) . As such it forms a compact core and when two more neutrons are added to it they are consigned to stay outside the surface of the core and thereby forming a halo for $`{}_{}{}^{14}Be`$. It is clustering of either only tritons or with tritons and $`\alpha `$ that one gets a compact core, like $`{}_{}{}^{10}Be`$ froms a core of $`\alpha `$ \+ 2t to give $`{}_{}{}^{11}Be`$ a one neutron halo structure .

$`{}_{}{}^{18}C`$ is made up of 6t and then $`{}_{}{}^{19}C`$ forms a one neutron halo around this core. $`{}_{}{}^{17}B`$ is two neutron halo nucleus with a core of $`{}_{}{}^{15}B`$ made up of 5t. This structure is indeed so stable that it can accept four more neutrons attached to its surface to form $`{}_{}{}^{19}B`$.

There have been claims that inspite of higher values for one neutron and two neutron separation energies for $`{}_{}{}^{15}C`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{16}C`$ respectively, these are actually one and two neutron halo nuclei . In our model $`{}_{}{}^{14}C`$ forms a compact core of the structure 2$`\alpha `$ \+ 2t. Our model also makes a unique prediction that this nucleus should have marked depression at the centre in its matter distribution and also therefore have a pronounced excess of matter concentration on the surface . (It is hoped that with the currently proposed lepton-RIB colliders it should be possible to obtain charge density distribution of these radioacutive nuclei in the near future). Thereby the extra neutrona in $`{}_{}{}^{15}C`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{16}C`$ would not be able to penetrate through the surface as that would entail 6-,9- or 12-quark configurations locally and as this is suppressed due to QCD and quark model considerations, these extra neutrons form a halo around this core of $`{}_{}{}^{14}C`$.

As per this model $`{}_{}{}^{21}N`$ would consist of 7t and form a good core. Then $`{}_{}{}^{22}N`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{23}N`$ would appear as one-neutron and two-neutron halo nuclei respectively - exacly as seen in the experiments . For the Oxygen case $`{}_{}{}^{24}O`$ is made up of 8t and in our model this should be extra stable. Interestingly this is what has been found experimentally . Note that in our model $`{}_{}{}^{22}O`$ has structure $`\alpha `$ \+ 6t. The number of clusters here are the same as in the very stable 7t structure of $`{}_{}{}^{21}N`$ as indicated above. Hence this nucleus could also be very stable. Thus as one or two neutrons are added to it, it may show them as halo nuclei. Thus both $`{}_{}{}^{23}O`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{24}O`$ would appear as halo nuclei . This interesting situation calls for further study. However, first it has to be clearly understood whether it is a real halo effect we are seeing or a very thick neutron skin.

It was suggested by Ikeda  that cluster like configurations would appear in light A=4n self conjugate nuclei near the threshold energy for breakup into proper sub-nuclei. The corresponding Ikeda diagrams gave visual pictures of relevant structures . Note that this necessarily involved clusters of $`\alpha `$ particles.

In our model here as triton clustering appears to be such a dominant effect for neutron rich nuclei , then quite clearly we should expect that for nuclei $`{}_{Z}{}^{3Z}A_{2Z}^{}`$ similar triton rich cluster structures would exist. Therfore configurations with neutron rich nuclei would appear near the threshold energy for decay into corresponding relevant sub-nuclei. These Ikeda - like diagrams are here given in Figure 1. So as not to clutter the figure not all the relevant diagrams are shown here. For example for $`{}_{}{}^{12}Be`$ the configuration $`{}_{}{}^{6}He`$ \+ 2t ( 22.42 MeV) is not shown. Also not listed are situations with one or more $`\alpha `$ in it eg. $`\alpha `$ \+ 2t + 2n for $`{}_{}{}^{12}Be`$.

Recently exotic molecular states in $`{}_{}{}^{12}Be`$ have been found . This was in the study of breakup of $`{}_{}{}^{12}Be`$ into $`{}_{}{}^{6}He`$ \+ $`{}_{}{}^{6}He`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{4}He`$ \+ $`{}_{}{}^{8}He`$. These can be interprested as coming from $`\alpha `$ \- 4n - $`\alpha `$ configurations . This is the standard way. However these same molecular resonances can also be understood in our model in terms of Ikeda-like diagrams given here ( I thank Isao Tanihata for bringing this experiment to my attention  ). Thus we can treat this experiment to be confirming our prediction here also. However, unique confirmation would come when molecular configurations rich in tritons, like for example the existence of molecular configurations $`{}_{}{}^{9}Li`$ +t for $`{}_{}{}^{12}Be`$ breakup would be demonstrated. These experiments should be possible with present day techniques with RIB in different laboratories.

In summary, further experiments continue to confrm author’s recent model prediction of strong triton clustering tendencies in neutron rich nuclei. This helps to explain the neutron halo phenomena also. This allows us to make predictions for triton rich molecular configurations arising from Ikeda - like diagranms for the neutron rich nuclei.

Acknowledgement:

The author would like to thank Dr. P. Arumugam for help with the figure.

References

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2. W von Oertzen, Z. Phys. A 357 (1997) 355

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9. I. Tanihata. Nucl. Phys. A 685 (2001) 80c

10. P. G. Hansen, Nucl. Phys. A 553 (1993) 89c

11. A. Abbas, ” Structure of A=6 nuclei: $`{}_{}{}^{6}He`$, $`{}_{}{}^{6}Li`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{6}Be`$,

IOP Preprint: IP/BBSR/2003-18 (June ’03): physics/0306186

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15. I. Tanihata - private communication


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The experimental studies of supersymmetric (SUSY) particles will play an important role at future colliders. Studying the properties of the 3rd generation sfermions will be particularly interesting because of the effects of the large Yukawa couplings. The lighter of their mass eigenstates may be the lightest charged SUSY particles and they could be investigated at an $`e^+e^{}`$ linear collider . Moreover, they could also be copiously produced in the decays of heavier SUSY particles. Several phenomenological studies on SUSY particle searches have been performed in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM)  with real SUSY parameters. Analyses of the decays of the 3rd generation sfermions $`\stackrel{~}{t}_{1,2}`$, $`\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}`$, $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_{1,2}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\nu }_\tau `$ in the MSSM with real parameters have been made in Refs. , and phenomenological studies of production and decays of the 3rd generation sfermions at future $`e^+e^{}`$ linear colliders in Ref. .

In general, however, some of the SUSY parameters may be complex, in particular the higgsino mass parameter $`\mu `$, the gaugino mass parameters $`M_{1,2,3}`$ and the trilinear scalar coupling parameters $`A_f`$ of the sfermions $`\stackrel{~}{f}`$. The SU(2) gaugino mass parameter $`M_2`$ can be chosen real after an appropriate redefinition of the fields. The experimental upper bounds on the electric dipole moments (EDMs) of electron, neutron and the 199Hg and 205Tl atoms may pose severe restrictions on the phases of the SUSY parameters, though they are model dependent. In the constrained MSSM the phase of $`\mu `$ turns out to be restricted to the range $`|\phi _\mu |\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0.1}`$ if all SUSY masses are in the TeV range . On the other hand, in more general models, such as those with lepton-flavour violation, no restriction on the phase $`\phi _\mu `$ from the electron EDM at one-loop level is obtained . Restrictions arising due to two-loop contributions to the EDMs are less severe .

Therefore, in a complete phenomenological analysis of production and decays of the SUSY particles one has to take into account that $`A_f`$, $`\mu `$ and $`M_1`$ can be complex. The most direct and unambiguous way to determine the imaginary parts of the complex SUSY parameters could be done by measuring relevant CP-violating observables. For example, for the case of sfermion decays CP-violating  and T-violating  observables have been proposed. On the other hand, also the CP-conserving observables depend on the phases of the complex parameters, because in general the mass-eigenvalues and the couplings of the SUSY particles involved are functions of the underlying complex parameters. For example, the decay branching ratios of the Higgs bosons depend strongly on the complex phases of the $`\stackrel{~}{t}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{b}`$ sectors , while those of the staus $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_{1,2}`$ and $`\tau `$-sneutrino $`\stackrel{~}{\nu }_\tau `$ can be quite sensitive to the phases of the stau and gaugino-higgsino sectors . Also the Yukawa couplings of the third generation sfermions are sensitive to the SUSY phases at one-loop level . Furthermore, explicit CP violation in the Higgs sector can be induced by $`\stackrel{~}{t}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{b}`$ loops if the parameters $`A_t`$, $`A_b`$ and $`\mu `$ are complex . It is found  that these loop effects could significantly influence the phenomenology of the Higgs boson sector.

In this article we study the effects of the phases of $`A_t`$, $`A_b`$, $`\mu `$ and $`M_1`$ on the decay branching ratios of the $`\stackrel{~}{t}_{1,2}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}`$ with $`\stackrel{~}{q}_1`$ ($`\stackrel{~}{q}_2`$) being the lighter (heavier) squark. We take into account the explicit CP violation in the Higgs sector. We will show that the influence of the phases can be quite strong in a large domain of the MSSM parameter space. This could have an important impact on the search for $`\stackrel{~}{t}_{1,2}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}`$ and on the determination of the MSSM parameters at future colliders.

In section 2 we discuss the SUSY CP phase dependences of masses, mixings and couplings. Section 3 contains our numerical investigation on the CP phase dependence of the branching ratios of $`\stackrel{~}{t}_{1,2}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}`$ decays. In section 4 we present our conclusions.

## 2 SUSY CP Phase Dependences of Masses, Mixings and Couplings

In the MSSM the squark sector is specified by the mass matrix in the basis $`(\stackrel{~}{q}_L,\stackrel{~}{q}_R)`$ with $`\stackrel{~}{q}=\stackrel{~}{t}`$ or $`\stackrel{~}{b}`$

$$_{\stackrel{~}{q}}^2=\left(\begin{array}{cc}m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_L}^2& a_q^{}m_q\\ a_qm_q& m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_R}^2\end{array}\right)$$
(1)
with

$`m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_L}^2`$ $`=`$ $`M_{\stackrel{~}{Q}}^2+m_Z^2\mathrm{cos}2\beta (I_3^{q_L}e_q\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W)+m_q^2,`$ (2)
$`m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_R}^2`$ $`=`$ $`M_{\{\stackrel{~}{U},\stackrel{~}{D}\}}^2+m_Z^2\mathrm{cos}2\beta e_q\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W+m_q^2,`$ (3)
$`a_qm_q`$ $`=`$ $`\{\begin{array}{c}(A_t\mu ^{}\mathrm{cot}\beta )m_t(\stackrel{~}{q}=\stackrel{~}{t})\hfill \\ (A_b\mu ^{}\mathrm{tan}\beta )m_b(\stackrel{~}{q}=\stackrel{~}{b})\hfill \end{array}`$ (6)
$`=`$ $`|a_qm_q|e^{i\phi _{\stackrel{~}{q}}}(\pi <\phi _{\stackrel{~}{q}}\pi ).`$ (7)
Here $`I_3^q`$ is the third component of the weak isospin and $`e_q`$ the electric charge of the quark $`q`$. $`M_{\stackrel{~}{Q},\stackrel{~}{U},\stackrel{~}{D}}`$ and $`A_{t,b}`$ are soft SUSY–breaking parameters, $`\mu `$ is the higgsino mass parameter, and $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =v_2/v_1`$ with $`v_1`$ $`(v_2)`$ being the vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field $`H_1^0`$ $`(H_2^0)`$. As the relative phase $`\xi `$ between $`v_1`$ and $`v_2`$ is irrelevant in our analysis, we adopt the $`\xi =0`$ scheme . We take $`A_q`$ ($`q=t,b`$) and $`\mu `$ as complex parameters: $`A_q=|A_q|e^{i\phi _{A_q}}`$ and $`\mu =|\mu |e^{i\phi _\mu }`$ with $`\pi <\phi _{A_q,\mu }\pi `$. Diagonalizing the matrix (1) one gets the mass eigenstates $`\stackrel{~}{q}_1`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{q}_2`$

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}\stackrel{~}{q}_1\\ \stackrel{~}{q}_2\end{array}\right)=R^{\stackrel{~}{q}}\left(\begin{array}{c}\stackrel{~}{q}_L\\ \stackrel{~}{q}_R\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{i\phi _{\stackrel{~}{q}}}\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\stackrel{~}{q}}& \mathrm{sin}\theta _{\stackrel{~}{q}}\\ \mathrm{sin}\theta _{\stackrel{~}{q}}& e^{i\phi _{\stackrel{~}{q}}}\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\stackrel{~}{q}}\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\stackrel{~}{q}_L\\ \stackrel{~}{q}_R\end{array}\right)$$
(8)
with the masses $`m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_1}`$ and $`m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_2}`$ ($`m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_1}<m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_2}`$), and the mixing angle $`\theta _{\stackrel{~}{q}}`$

$`m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_{1,2}}^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_L}^2+m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_R}^2\sqrt{(m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_L}^2m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_R}^2)^2+4|a_qm_q|^2}),`$ (9)
$`\theta _{\stackrel{~}{q}}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{tan}^1(|a_qm_q|/(m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_1}^2m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_R}^2))(\pi /2\theta _{\stackrel{~}{q}}0).`$ (10)
The $`\stackrel{~}{q}_L\stackrel{~}{q}_R`$ mixing is large if $`|m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_L}^2m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_R}^2|\stackrel{<}{}|a_qm_q|`$, which may be the case in the $`\stackrel{~}{t}`$ sector due to the large $`m_t`$ and in the $`\stackrel{~}{b}`$ sector for large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ and $`|\mu |`$. From Eqs. (6),(9) and (10) we see that $`m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_{1,2}}^2`$ and $`\theta _{\stackrel{~}{q}}`$ depend on the phases only through a term $`\mathrm{cos}(\phi _{A_q}+\phi _\mu )`$. This phase dependence of the $`\stackrel{~}{t}`$ ($`\stackrel{~}{b}`$) sector is strongest if $`|A_t||\mu |\mathrm{cot}\beta `$ ($`|A_b||\mu |\mathrm{tan}\beta `$).

The properties of charginos $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }_i^\pm `$ ($`i=1,2`$; $`m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^\pm }<m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_2^\pm }`$) and neutralinos $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }_j^0`$ ($`j=1,\mathrm{},4`$; $`m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0}<\mathrm{}<m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_4^0}`$) are determined by the parameters $`M_2,M_1,\mu `$ and $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$. We assume that the gluino mass $`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}`$ is real. We write the U(1) gaugino mass $`M_1`$ as $`M_1=|M_1|e^{i\phi _1}(\pi <\phi _1\pi )`$. Inspired by the gaugino mass unification we take $`|M_1|=(5/3)\mathrm{tan}^2\theta _WM_2`$ and $`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}=(\alpha _s(m_{\stackrel{~}{g}})/\alpha _2)M_2`$. In the MSSM Higgs sector with explicit CP violation the mass-eigenvalues and couplings of the neutral and charged Higgs bosons, $`H_1^0,H_2^0,H_3^0`$ $`(m_{H_1^0}<m_{H_2^0}<m_{H_3^0})`$ and $`H^\pm `$, including Yukawa and QCD radiative corrections, are fixed by $`m_{H^+},\mathrm{tan}\beta ,\mu ,m_t,m_b,M_{\stackrel{~}{Q}},M_{\stackrel{~}{U}},M_{\stackrel{~}{D}},A_t,A_b,|M_1|,M_2`$, and $`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}`$ . The neutral Higgs mass eigenstates $`H_1^0,H_2^0`$ and $`H_3^0`$ are mixtures of CP-even and CP-odd states ($`\varphi _{1,2}`$ and $`a`$) due to the explicit CP violation in the Higgs sector. For the radiatively corrected masses and mixings of the Higgs bosons we use the formulae of Ref..

Here we list possible important decay modes of $`\stackrel{~}{t}_{1,2}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}`$:

$`\stackrel{~}{t}_1`$ $``$ $`t\stackrel{~}{g},t\stackrel{~}{\chi }_i^0,b\stackrel{~}{\chi }_j^+,\stackrel{~}{b}_1W^+,\stackrel{~}{b}_1H^+`$ (11)
$`\stackrel{~}{t}_2`$ $``$ $`t\stackrel{~}{g},t\stackrel{~}{\chi }_i^0,b\stackrel{~}{\chi }_j^+,\stackrel{~}{t}_1Z^0,\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}W^+,\stackrel{~}{t}_1H_k^0,\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}H^+`$ (12)
$`\stackrel{~}{b}_1`$ $``$ $`b\stackrel{~}{g},b\stackrel{~}{\chi }_i^0,t\stackrel{~}{\chi }_j^{},\stackrel{~}{t}_1W^{},\stackrel{~}{t}_1H^{}`$ (13)
$`\stackrel{~}{b}_2`$ $``$ $`b\stackrel{~}{g},b\stackrel{~}{\chi }_i^0,t\stackrel{~}{\chi }_j^{},\stackrel{~}{b}_1Z^0,\stackrel{~}{t}_{1,2}W^{},\stackrel{~}{b}_1H_k^0,\stackrel{~}{t}_{1,2}H^{}.`$ (14)
The decays into a gauge or Higgs boson in (11)-(14) are possible in case the mass splitting between the squarks is sufficiently large . The explicit expressions of the widths of the decays (11)-(14) in case of real SUSY parameters are given in . Those for complex parameters can be obtained by using the corresponding masses and couplings (mixings) from Refs. and will be presented elsewhere .

The phase dependence of the widths stems from that of the involved mass-eigenvalues, mixings and couplings among the interaction-eigenfields. Here we summarize the most important features of the phase dependences.

1. $`\stackrel{~}{q}_i`$ ($`\stackrel{~}{q}=\stackrel{~}{t},\stackrel{~}{b}`$) sectors:

1. The mass-eigenvalues $`m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_{1,2}}`$ are sensitive to the phases $`(\phi _{A_q},\phi _\mu )`$ via $`\mathrm{cos}(\phi _{A_q}+\phi _\mu )`$ if and only if $`|a_qm_q|(m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_L}^2+m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_R}^2)/2`$ and $`|A_q||\mu |C_q`$ (with $`C_t=\mathrm{cot}\beta `$ and $`C_b=\mathrm{tan}\beta `$).
    2. The $`\stackrel{~}{q}`$-mixing angle $`\theta _{\stackrel{~}{q}}`$ (given by $`\mathrm{tan}2\theta _{\stackrel{~}{q}}=2|a_qm_q|/(m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_L}^2m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_R}^2)`$ ) is sensitive to $`(\phi _{A_q},\phi _\mu )`$ via $`\mathrm{cos}(\phi _{A_q}+\phi _\mu )`$ if and only if $`2|a_qm_q|\stackrel{>}{}|m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_L}^2m_{\stackrel{~}{q}_R}^2|`$ and $`|A_q||\mu |C_q`$.
    3. The $`\stackrel{~}{q}`$-mixing phase $`\phi _{\stackrel{~}{q}}`$ in Eq.(7) is sensitive to ($`\phi _{A_q}`$, $`\phi _\mu `$), $`\phi _{A_q}`$ and $`\phi _\mu `$ if $`|A_q||\mu |C_q`$, $`|A_q||\mu |C_q`$ and $`|A_q||\mu |C_q`$, respectively. For large squark mixing the term $`\mathrm{sin}2\theta _{\stackrel{~}{q}}\mathrm{cos}\phi _{\stackrel{~}{q}}`$ can result in a large phase dependence of the decay widths  (see Eq.(8)).
2. $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }_i^0`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }_j^\pm `$ sectors:

1. $`m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_i^0}`$ ($`i=1,\mathrm{},4`$) and the $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }^0`$-mixing matrix are sensitive $`[`$insensitive$`]`$ to the phases $`(\phi _1,\phi _\mu )`$ for small $`[`$large$`]`$ $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$.
    2. $`m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_{1,2}^\pm }`$ and the $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }^\pm `$-mixing matrices are sensitive $`[`$insensitive$`]`$ to $`\phi _\mu `$ for small $`[`$large$`]`$ $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$.
3. $`H^\pm `$ sector:
This sector is independent of the phases.
4. $`H_i^0`$ sector:

1. $`m_{H_i^0}`$ ($`i=1,2,3`$) are sensitive $`[`$insensitive$`]`$ to the phase sums $`\phi _{A_{t,b}}+\phi _\mu `$ for small $`[`$large$`]`$ $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ .
    2. In general the $`H_i^0`$-mixing matrix (a real orthogonal $`3\times 3`$ matrix $`O_{ij}`$) is sensitive to $`\phi _{A_{t,b}}+\phi _\mu `$ for any $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ .
5. The couplings among the interaction-eigenfields:

1. For the decays into fermions and gauge bosons in Eqs.(11)-(14), they are gauge couplings and$`/`$or Yukawa couplings ($`h_{t,b}`$), and are independent of the phases at tree-level.
    2. For the decays into Higgs bosons in Eqs.(11)-(14), the $`\stackrel{~}{q}_L`$-$`\stackrel{~}{q}_R`$ ($`\stackrel{~}{q}_L`$-$`\stackrel{~}{q}_L`$, $`\stackrel{~}{q}_R`$-$`\stackrel{~}{q}_R`$) couplings are dependent on (independent of) the phases $`\phi _{A_t}`$, $`\phi _{A_b}`$ and $`\phi _\mu `$;

    $`C(\stackrel{~}{b}_L^{}\stackrel{~}{t}_RH^{})`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{sin}\beta h_t(A_t^{}\mathrm{cot}\beta +\mu )`$ (15)
    $`C(\stackrel{~}{t}_L^{}\stackrel{~}{b}_RH^+)`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{cos}\beta h_b(A_b^{}\mathrm{tan}\beta +\mu )`$ (16)
    $`C(\stackrel{~}{t}_L^{}\stackrel{~}{t}_R\varphi _1)`$ $``$ $`h_t\mu `$ (17)
    $`C(\stackrel{~}{t}_L^{}\stackrel{~}{t}_R\varphi _2)`$ $``$ $`h_tA_t^{}`$ (18)
    $`C(\stackrel{~}{t}_L^{}\stackrel{~}{t}_Ra)`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{sin}\beta h_t(A_t^{}\mathrm{cot}\beta +\mu )`$ (19)
    $`C(\stackrel{~}{b}_L^{}\stackrel{~}{b}_R\varphi _1)`$ $``$ $`h_bA_b^{}`$ (20)
    $`C(\stackrel{~}{b}_L^{}\stackrel{~}{b}_R\varphi _2)`$ $``$ $`h_b\mu `$ (21)
    $`C(\stackrel{~}{b}_L^{}\stackrel{~}{b}_Ra)`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{cos}\beta h_b(A_b^{}\mathrm{tan}\beta +\mu )`$ (22)
    with

    $`h_t`$ $`=`$ $`gm_t/(\sqrt{2}m_W\mathrm{sin}\beta )`$ (23)
    $`h_b`$ $`=`$ $`gm_b/(\sqrt{2}m_W\mathrm{cos}\beta ).`$ (24)
    Here $`\varphi _i=O_{ij}H_j^0`$ ($`i=1,2`$) and $`a=O_{3j}H_j^0`$ are the CP-even and CP-odd neutral Higgs bosons, respectively .

According to items (I)-(V) we expect that the widths (and hence the branching ratios) of the decays (11)-(14) are sensitive to the phases ($`\phi _{A_t}`$, $`\phi _{A_b}`$, $`\phi _\mu `$, $`\phi _1`$) in a large region of the MSSM parameter space.

## 3 Numerical Results

Now we turn to the numerical analysis of the $`\stackrel{~}{t}_{1,2}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}`$ decay branching ratios. We calculate the widths of all possibly important two-body decay modes of Eqs.(11)-(14). Three-body decays are negligible in the parameter space under study. In order to improve the convergence of the perturbative expansion  we calculate the tree-level widths by using the corresponding tree-level couplings defined in terms of “effective” MSSM running quark masses $`m_{t,b}^{run}`$ (i.e. those defined in terms of the effective running Yukawa couplings $`h_{t,b}^{run}`$ $`m_{t,b}^{run}`$). For the kinematics, e.g., for the phase space factor we use the on-shell masses obtained by using the on-shell (pole) quark masses $`M_{t,b}`$. We take $`M_t=175`$ GeV, $`M_b=5`$ GeV, $`m_t^{run}=150`$ GeV, $`m_b^{run}=3`$ GeV, $`m_Z=91.2`$ GeV, $`\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W=0.23`$, $`m_W=m_Z\mathrm{cos}\theta _W`$, $`\alpha (m_Z)=1/129`$, and $`\alpha _s(m_Z)=0.12`$ (with $`\alpha _s(Q)=12\pi /((332n_f)\mathrm{ln}(Q^2/\mathrm{\Lambda }_{n_f}^2))`$, $`n_f`$ being the number of quark flavors). In order not to vary too many parameters we fix $`|A_t|=|A_b||A|`$ and $`M_2=300`$ GeV, i.e. $`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}=820`$ GeV. In the following we will assume that $`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}>m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2,\stackrel{~}{b}_2}`$ so that the decays $`\stackrel{~}{t}_it\stackrel{~}{g}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{b}_ib\stackrel{~}{g}`$ are kinematically forbidden. In our numerical study we take $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1}`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2}`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_1}`$, $`|A|`$, $`|\mu |`$, $`\phi _{A_t}`$, $`\phi _{A_b}`$, $`\phi _\mu `$, $`\phi _1`$ and $`m_{H^+}`$ as input parameters, where $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_{1,2}}`$ and $`m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_1}`$ are the on-shell squark masses. Note that for a given set of the input parameters we obtain two solutions for ($`M_{\stackrel{~}{Q}}`$, $`M_{\stackrel{~}{U}}`$) corresponding to the two cases $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$ and $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}<m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$ from Eqs. (1)-(6) and (9) with $`m_t`$ replaced by $`M_t`$. In the plots we impose the following conditions in order to respect experimental and theoretical constraints:

1. $`m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^\pm }>103`$ GeV, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0}>50`$ GeV, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1,\stackrel{~}{b}_1}>100`$ GeV, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1,\stackrel{~}{b}_1}>m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0}`$,
$`m_{H_1^0}>105`$ GeV,
2. $`|A_t|^2<3(M_{\stackrel{~}{Q}}^2+M_{\stackrel{~}{U}}^2+m_2^2)`$, and $`|A_b|^2<3(M_{\stackrel{~}{Q}}^2+M_{\stackrel{~}{D}}^2+m_1^2)`$, where $`m_1^2=(m_{H^+}^2+m_Z^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W)\mathrm{sin}^2\beta \frac{1}{2}m_Z^2`$ and $`m_2^2=(m_{H^+}^2+m_Z^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W)\mathrm{cos}^2\beta \frac{1}{2}m_Z^2`$,
3. $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho (\stackrel{~}{t}\stackrel{~}{b})<0.0012`$  using the formula of ,
4. $`2.010^4<B(bs\gamma )<4.510^4`$  assuming the Kobayashi-Maskawa mixing also for the squark sector.

Condition (i) is imposed to satisfy the experimental mass bounds from LEP . (ii) is the approximate necessary condition for the tree-level vacuum stability . (iii) constrains $`\mu `$ and $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ (in the squark sector). For the calculation of the $`bs\gamma `$ width we use the formula of  including the O($`\alpha _s`$) corrections as given in .

As alreaday mentioned the experimental upper limits on the EDMs of electron, neutron, 199Hg and 205Tl strongly constrain the SUSY CP phases . One interesting possibility for evading these constraints is to invoke large masses (much above the TeV scale) for the first two generations of the sfermions , keeping the third generation sfermions relatively light ( $`\stackrel{<}{}`$ 1 TeV). In such a scenario ($`\phi _1`$, $`\phi _\mu `$) and the CP phases of the third generation ($`\phi _{A_t}`$, $`\phi _{A_b}`$, $`\phi _{A_\tau }`$) are practically unconstrained . We adopt this scenario. Furthermore, we have checked that the electron and neutron EDM constraints at two-loop level  are fulfilled in the numerical examples studied in this article.

In Fig.1 we plot the contours of the branching ratios of the $`\stackrel{~}{t}_1`$ decays $`B(\stackrel{~}{t}_1t\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0)`$ and $`B(\stackrel{~}{t}_1b\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^+)`$ in the $`|A||\mu |`$ plane for $`\phi _{A_t}=0`$ and $`\pi /2`$ with $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =8`$, ($`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_1}`$) = (400,700,200) GeV, $`\phi _{A_b}=\phi _1=0`$, $`\phi _\mu =\pi `$, and $`m_{H^+}=600`$ GeV in the case $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$. In the case $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}<m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$ we have obtained similar results. As expected, these branching ratios are sensitive to the phase $`\phi _{A_t}`$ in a sizable region of the $`|A||\mu |`$ plane. The difference between $`\phi _{A_t}=0`$ (Figs. 1a and c) and $`\phi _{A_t}=\pi /2`$ (Figs. 1b and d) can be explained by item (I). Especially the strong $`\phi _{A_t}`$ dependence of the decay width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\stackrel{~}{t}_1b\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^+)`$ is a result of item (I)(c) . Moreover, the $`\stackrel{~}{t}`$-mixing angle $`\theta _{\stackrel{~}{t}}`$ is sensitive to $`\mathrm{cos}(\phi _{A_t}+\phi _\mu )`$ for large $`|A_t|`$(= $`|A|`$) with $`|A_t||\mu |/8`$, which is a consequence of item (I)(b).

In Fig.2 we plot the contours of the $`\stackrel{~}{t}_1`$ decay branching ratios $`B(\stackrel{~}{t}_1t\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0)`$ and $`B(\stackrel{~}{t}_1b\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^+)`$ in the $`\phi _{A_t}\phi _\mu `$ plane for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =8`$, ($`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2}`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_1}`$)=(400,700,200) GeV, $`|A|=800`$ GeV, $`|\mu |=500`$ GeV, $`\phi _{A_b}`$=$`\phi _1`$=0, and $`m_{H^+}=600`$ GeV in the case $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$. In the case $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}<m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$ we have obtained similar results. One sees that these branching ratios depend quite strongly on the CP phases $`\phi _{A_t}`$ and $`\phi _\mu `$, as follows from item (I).

In Fig.3 we show the $`\phi _\mu `$ dependence of the $`\stackrel{~}{t}_1`$ decay branching ratios $`B(\stackrel{~}{t}_1t\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0)`$ and $`B(\stackrel{~}{t}_1b\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^+)`$ for $`\phi _1=0`$ and $`\pi /2`$ with $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =5`$, ($`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2}`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_1}`$)=(400,700,200) GeV, $`|A|=800`$ GeV, $`|\mu |=500`$ GeV, $`\phi _{A_t}=\phi _{A_b}=0`$, and $`m_{H^+}=600`$ GeV in the case $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$. For $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}<m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$ we have obtained similar results. As can be seen in Fig.3 the branching ratios are very \[somewhat\] sensitive to $`\phi _\mu `$ $`[\phi _1]`$ for small $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$=5. For this choice of parameters the masses and mixings of $`\stackrel{~}{t}`$, $`\stackrel{~}{b}`$, $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }^0`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }^\pm `$ are sensitive to $`\phi _\mu `$, while only the masses and mixings of $`\stackrel{~}{\chi }^0`$ are sensitive to $`\phi _1`$ , as can be seen from items (I) and (II). In general, according to items (I), (II) and (V), the $`\stackrel{~}{t}_1`$ decay branching ratios tend to be sensitive \[insensitive\] to $`\phi _{A_t}`$ \[$`\phi _{A_b}`$, $`\phi _\mu `$, and $`\phi _1`$\] for large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta (\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}15})`$ in case the width of the $`\stackrel{~}{b}_1H^+`$ mode in Eq. (11) (which can be sensitive to ($`\phi _{A_t}`$, $`\phi _{A_b}`$) as seen from Eqs. (8, 15, 16)) is relatively small. We have confirmed this.

In Fig.4 we show the $`\phi _{A_t}`$ dependence of the $`\stackrel{~}{t}_2`$ decay branching ratios for $`\phi _\mu =0`$ and $`\pi /2`$ with $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$=8, ($`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_1}`$)=(400,700,200) GeV, $`|A|=800`$ GeV, $`|\mu |=500`$ GeV, $`\phi _{A_b}`$=$`\phi _1`$=0, and $`m_{H^+}=600`$ GeV in the case $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$. The case $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}<m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$ leads to similar results. We see that the $`\stackrel{~}{t}_2`$ decay branching ratios are very sensitive to $`\phi _{A_t}`$ and depend significantly on $`\phi _\mu `$. This can be expected from items (I), (II), (IV) and (V)(b). From item (I)(c) \[(IV)(b) and (V)(b)\] we expect that the widths of the decays $`\stackrel{~}{t}_2b\stackrel{~}{\chi }_{1,2}^+`$ \[$`\stackrel{~}{t}_1H_k^0`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}H^+`$\] in Eq.(12) can be sensitive to $`\phi _{A_t}`$ \[$`\phi _{A_{t,b}}`$ and $`\phi _\mu `$\] for large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta (\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}15})`$ if they are kinematically allowed. We have confirmed this.

For $`\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}`$ decays we have obtained results similar to those for the $`\stackrel{~}{t}_{1,2}`$ decays. Here we show just a few typical results for them. In Fig.5 we show the $`\phi _{A_b}`$ dependence of the $`\stackrel{~}{b}_1`$ \[$`\stackrel{~}{b}_2`$\] decay branching ratios for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$=30, ($`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1}`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2}`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_1}`$)=(200,700,400) GeV \[(175,500,350) GeV\], ($`|A|`$, $`|\mu |`$)=(800,700) GeV \[(600,500) GeV\], $`\phi _{A_t}`$=$`\phi _\mu `$=$`\pi `$, $`\phi _1`$=0, and $`m_{H^+}=180`$ GeV in the case $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$. For $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}<m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$ our results are similar. We find that the $`\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}`$ decay branching ratios are very sensitive to $`\phi _{A_b}`$ as expected from items (IV)(b) and (V)(b). The main reason is that the decay widths for $`\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}\stackrel{~}{t}_1H^{}`$ strongly depend on $`\phi _{A_b}`$ (and $`\phi _\mu `$) for large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ (see Eqs.(15,16)). This explains also the tendency of the $`\phi _{A_b}`$ dependence of the branching ratios for the other decays shown in Fig.5. For small $`\mathrm{tan}\beta 8`$ we expect that the $`\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}`$ decay branching ratios can be somewhat sensitive to $`\phi _{A_{t,b}}`$ and $`\phi _\mu `$ (see items (I) and (V)(b)). Similarly, we expect that the decay widths of $`\stackrel{~}{t}_{1,2}H^{}`$ can be fairly sensitive to $`\phi _{A_{t,b}}`$ and $`\phi _\mu `$. We have confirmed this.

## 4 Conclusions

We have calculated the branching ratios of the two-body decays of $`\stackrel{~}{t}_{1,2}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}`$ and studied their CP phase dependence within the MSSM with complex parameters $`A_t`$, $`A_b`$, $`\mu `$ and $`M_1`$. We have shown that the effect of the SUSY CP phases on the branching ratios can be quite strong in a large domain of the MSSM parameter space. The $`\phi _{A_b}`$ dependence of the $`\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}`$ decay branching ratios is mainly due to the $`\phi _{A_b}`$ dependence of their couplings to the Higgs bosons. In the case of the $`\stackrel{~}{t}_{1,2}`$ decays the branching ratios depend on $`\phi _{A_t}`$ also via the $`\stackrel{~}{t}`$-mixing phase $`\phi _{\stackrel{~}{t}}\phi _{A_t}`$ for $`|A_t||\mu |/\mathrm{tan}\beta `$, in addition to the $`\phi _{A_t}`$ dependence of the mixing angle $`\theta _{\stackrel{~}{t}}`$ and their couplings to the Higgs bosons. Some of the branching ratios can change by a factor of 2 or more when varying the phases. This CP phase dependence of the branching ratios could have an important impact on the search for $`\stackrel{~}{t}_{1,2}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{b}_{1,2}`$ and on the determination of the MSSM parameters at future colliders.

## Acknowledgements

The authors thank W. Majerotto and Y. Yamada for helpful discussions. W.P. thanks E. Lunghi for useful discussions on the $`bs\gamma `$ constraint. This work was supported by the ‘Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung’ of Austria, Projects No. P13139-PHY and No. P16592-N02 , and by the European Community’s Human Potential Programme under contract HPRN-CT-2000-00149. W.P. is supported by ‘Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung’ of Austria, Erwin Schrödinger fellowship Nr. J2272, and partly by the ‘Schweizer Nationalfonds’.

Figure Captions

Figure 1: Contours of the $`\stackrel{~}{t}_1`$ decay branching ratios $`B(\stackrel{~}{t}_1t\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0)`$ (a,b) and $`B(\stackrel{~}{t}_1b\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^+)`$ (c,d) in the $`|A||\mu |`$ plane for $`\phi _{A_t}=0`$ (a,c) and $`\pi /2`$ (b,d) with $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =8`$, ($`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_1}`$) = (400,700,200) GeV, $`\phi _{A_b}`$=$`\phi _1`$=0, $`\phi _\mu `$=$`\pi `$, and $`m_{H^+}=600`$ GeV in the case $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$. The blank areas are excluded by the conditions (i) to (iv) given in the text.

Figure 2: Contours of the $`\stackrel{~}{t}_1`$ decay branching ratios $`B(\stackrel{~}{t}_1t\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0)`$ (a) and $`B(\stackrel{~}{t}_1b\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^+)`$ (b) in the $`\phi _{A_t}`$-$`\phi _\mu `$ plane for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =8`$, ($`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_1}`$)= (400,700,200) GeV, $`|A|=800`$ GeV, $`|\mu |=500`$ GeV, $`\phi _{A_b}`$=$`\phi _1`$=0, and $`m_{H^+}=600`$ GeV in the case $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$.

Figure 3: $`\phi _\mu `$ dependence of the $`\stackrel{~}{t}_1`$ decay branching ratios $`B(\stackrel{~}{t}_1t\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^0)`$ and $`B(\stackrel{~}{t}_1b\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^+)`$ for $`\phi _1=0`$ (solid lines) and $`\pi /2`$ (dashed lines) with $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =5`$, ($`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_1}`$)=(400,700,200) GeV, $`|A|=800`$ GeV, $`|\mu |=500`$ GeV, $`\phi _{A_t}`$=$`\phi _{A_b}`$=0, and $`m_{H^+}=600`$ GeV in the case $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$.

Figure 4: $`\phi _{A_t}`$ dependence of the $`\stackrel{~}{t}_2`$ decay branching ratios for $`\phi _\mu =0`$ (a) and $`\pi /2`$ (b) with $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$=8, ($`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_1}`$)=(400,700,200) GeV, $`|A|=800`$ GeV, $`|\mu |=500`$ GeV, $`\phi _{A_b}`$=$`\phi _1`$=0, and $`m_{H^+}=600`$ GeV in the case $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$. Note that the $`\stackrel{~}{t}_1H_{2,3}^0`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{b}_1H^+`$ modes are kinematically forbidden here.

Figure 5: $`\phi _{A_b}`$ dependence of the $`\stackrel{~}{b}_1`$ (a) \[$`\stackrel{~}{b}_2`$ (b)\] decay branching ratios for $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$=30, ($`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2}`$,$`m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_1}`$)= (200,700,400) GeV \[(175,500,350) GeV\], ($`|A|`$, $`|\mu |`$)=(800,700) GeV \[(600,500) GeV\], $`\phi _{A_t}`$=$`\phi _\mu `$=$`\pi `$, $`\phi _1`$=0, and $`m_{H^+}=180`$ GeV in the case $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_L}m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_R}`$. Only interesting modes are shown in Fig.b where we have $`m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_2}`$ 570GeV and ($`m_{H_1^0}`$,$`m_{H_2^0}`$,$`m_{H_3^0}`$) $``$ (114,156,158) GeV.

Fig.2

Fig.3