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# Visualizing the collapse and revival of wavepackets in the infinite square well using expectation values

## Abstract

We investigate the short-, medium-, and long-term time dependence of wave packets in the infinite square well. In addition to emphasizing the appearance of wave packet revivals, i.e., situations where a spreading wave packet reforms with close to its initial shape and width, we also examine in detail the approach to the collapsed phase where the position-space probability density is almost uniformly spread over the well. We focus on visualizing these phenomena in both position- and momentum-space as well as by following the time-dependent expectation values of and uncertainties in position and momentum. We discuss the time scales for wave packet collapse, using both an autocorrelation function analysis, as well as focusing on expectation values and find two relevant time scales which describe different aspects of the decay phase. In an Appendix, we briefly discuss wave packet revival and collapse in a more general, one-dimensional power-law potential given by $`V_{(k)}(x)=V_0|x/a|^k`$ which interpolates between the case of the harmonic oscillator ($`k=2`$) and the infinite well ($`k=\mathrm{}`$).

I. Introduction

The study of wave packet solutions of the Schrödinger equation in model potentials can illuminate many aspects of wave mechanics, both semi-classical features which have an obvious classical analog, as well as purely quantum mechanical effects. Since the first numerical studies of wave packet motion goldberg\_1  appeared in this journal, there have been a large number of papers illustrating such phenomena as wave packet interactions with square barriers or wells barrier\_1 , multi-well systems multi\_well , multi-dimensional scattering multi\_dimensional , and in systems of relevance to solid-state physics solid\_state\_physics . Popular simulation packages styer\_1  now allow students to easily visualize the time-evolution of quantum states in a number of systems (as opposed to the more traditional static images of single stationary state solutions) and allow them to systematically vary the values of important physical parameters to study the dependence on such quantities as the particle mass, incident energy, and barrier/well properties such as height/depth and width.

Such studies have become increasingly relevant as pedagogical tools as wave packet propagation in more realistic quantum mechanical bound state systems has been probed experimentally, especially the behavior of Coulomb wave packets on circular circular  or elliptical elliptical  orbits which are accessible in Rydberg atom states rydberg\_experimental . One of the most intriguing aspects of such systems is that initially localized wave packets, which have a short-term time evolution which exhibits simple classical behavior, will spread significantly after several orbits, entering a so-called collapsed phase, only to reform later in the form of a quantum revival in which the spreading reverses itself and the wave packet relocalizes.

One of the early papers to point out the possibility of such collapse/revival behavior in the context of the infinite well was by Segre and Sullivan segre\_and\_sullivan . They studied the motion of bound state wave packets in such a system using a simple “sum over energy eigenstates” method. These authors noted, in passing only, many of the same aspects observed in the Coulomb system, namely the spatial spreading of the wave packet, continuing until the probability density is almost uniformly spread over the entire well, and then reforming into something like the $`t=0`$ configuration.

More recently, Bluhm, Kostelecký, and Porter square\_1  have examined the time evolution and revival structure of wave packets in more generic one-dimensional systems (examining the harmonic oscillator and infinite well in particular as special cases) while Aronstein and Stroud square\_2  have focused on fractional revivals fractional\_revivals  in the infinite well, also presenting visualizations of position-space probability densities. These studies have made extensive use of the autocorrelation function introduced by Nauenberg autocorrelation , defined by

$`C(t)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}}\psi ^{}(x,t)\psi (x,0)𝑑x`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}}\varphi ^{}(p,t)\varphi (p,0)𝑑p`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}|a_n|^2e^{iE_nt/\mathrm{}}`$
where the final form is useful if the bound state wave packet is written in terms of energy eigenstates, $`u_n(x)`$, via

$$\psi (x,t)=\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}a_nu_n(x)e^{iE_nt/\mathrm{}}$$
(2)
The quantity $`C(t)`$, which measures the overlap of the initial state wave packet (in either position- or momentum-space) with the state at later times, can be used in its last form to derive information about the classical period of motion, as well as revival and superrevival times square\_1 , using information on the $`n`$-dependence of the $`E_n`$.

While the autocorrelation function is a powerful tool for such formal and general analyses square\_3 , plots of the time-dependence of $`C(t)`$ are rather distant from the intuitive picture of initially semi-classical particle motion in the well, accompanied by wave packet spreading, leading to a collapsed state. Plots of position-space probability densities, such as those in Ref. square\_2  for isolated times, contour plots ($`|\psi (x,t)|^2`$ versus $`(x,t)`$) for all $`t`$ up to a revival period (as in the ’quantum carpet’ visualization in Ref. square\_5 ), or even in the form of more dynamic animations, all can give valuable information on the behavior of the quantum state in position-space as a function of time.

A much more direct connection, however, to an intuitive classical description involving particle trajectories can be obtained by evaluating the time-dependent expectation values of standard variables such as position and momentum, $`x_t`$, $`p_t`$, which can then be compared to familiar classical results, illustrating the expected quasi-classical behavior over the first few periods, but also demonstrating the results of purely quantum effects during the collapse and various revival phases. Since the collapse is due to the spreading of the wave packet, it is also natural to ’track’ the behavior of the spreads or uncertainties in the same variables, $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_t`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }p_t`$, as functions of time, examining as well how these behave during the semi-classical, collapse, and revival phases. Taken together, these can offer a natural visualization and complementary description of the quantum state over all of the natural time scales in the problem, including the semi-classical and collapsed phases which have not been examined in as much detail as the important revival structures. While the results we present here will be evaluated numerically, our approach is the same as that taken by Styer styer\_2  in understanding wave packet propagation through expectation values and uncertainties.

In this note, we begin by very briefly reviewing the autocorrelation approach to the revival structure of wave packet propagation in the infinite well in Section IIA. We illustrate this with calculations, not only of the standard $`C(t)`$ over the revival period, but of a related correlation function which provides information on the reformation of the wave packet at half-revival periods as well as providing additional illustrative evidence for fractional revivals. Probability density plots, in both position- and momentum-space, are also provided to illustrate the connections to the autocorrelation function approach as we review and extend the results in Refs. square\_1  and square\_2 , but also for later comparison to results obtained from expectation values. In Section IIB we focus on the short-term evolution of wave packets, visualizing through expectation values and uncertainties in both $`x`$ and $`p`$, the quasi-classical propagation and the quantum spreading leading to collapse. In Section IIC, we repeat this analysis, but instead focus on the entire revival period, providing more graphic evidence of the reformation at the half-revival time. In contrast to earlier works, in Section IID, we focus on the medium-term time dependence, emphasizing the approach to the collapsed phase. We study the decay in the degree of correlation between the initial packet and later states (as measured by $`|C(t)|`$) as well as the approach to the quasi-uniform or ’flat’ probability density phase discussed by Segre and Sullivan segre\_and\_sullivan . We find that the time scale for the initial loss of coherence as measured by $`|C(t)|`$ is simply related to the free particle spreading time, $`t_0`$, while that which describes the approach to the ’flat’ or truly collapsed state, $`t_{\text{flat}}`$ (as given by the approach of $`x_t`$, $`p_t`$, and most obviously $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_t`$ to their ’flat’ values), are, in fact, different and we examine both in detail. In this regard, we find that an approach involving expectation values and uncertainties provides useful information which is not encoded so obviously in the autocorrelation approach.

Finally, in an Appendix, we consider wave packet revivals in a more general, one-dimensional power-law potential given by $`V_{(k)}(x)=V_0|x/a|^k`$ as this form interpolates smoothly between the case of the harmonic oscillator ($`k=2`$) and the infinite well ($`k=\mathrm{}`$). Using simple WKB methods for the estimation of the energy eigenvalues (as was done in Ref. sukhatme ) and the methods in Ref. square\_1 , we can explicitly exhibit the scaling of the revival time with $`k`$ which gives the familiar result for the infinite well and which also exhibits the appropriate divergence ($`T_{rev}\mathrm{}`$ as $`k2`$) as one approaches the harmonic oscillator case. For this same general system, we also evaluate the revival times for half-wells where one introduces an infinite wall at the origin and restricts the particle in $`V_{(k)}(x)`$ to have $`x>0`$. Gea-Banacloche bounce  has recently examined the case of a ’quantum bouncing ball’ in such a potential ($`V(z)=mgz`$ for $`z>0`$ so that $`k=1`$) and we find that our general result reproduces that special case.

II. Visualizing wavepacket revivals and collapse

While the revival structure of wave packets in the infinite well has been discussed in detail in Refs. square\_1  and square\_2 , we will briefly recall the most important points of an autocorrelation function analysis of this system, extending these results slightly and providing some complementary visualizations of related topics.

A. Autocorrelation function analysis

For definiteness, we consider the one-dimensional infinite square well system, with walls at $`x=0,L`$, for which the most general time-dependent solution of the Schrödinger equation (since this system does not allow for unbound or continuum states) is given by the infinite discrete summation

$$\psi (x,t)=\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}a_nu_n(x)e^{iE_nt/\mathrm{}}$$
(3)
where the (normalized) eigenstates and energy eigenvalues are, of course,

$$u_n(x)=\sqrt{\frac{2}{L}}\mathrm{sin}\left(\frac{n\pi x}{L}\right)\text{and}E_n=n^2\frac{\mathrm{}^2\pi ^2}{2mL^2}$$
(4)
Recall that the normalization of the position- and momentum-space wavefunctions are related via

$$1=\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}|a_n|^2=_0^L|\psi (x,t)|^2𝑑x=_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}|\varphi (p,t)|^2𝑑p=1$$
(5)
Because we are interested in evaluating expectation values of many quantities for somewhat detailed comparison, we will be careful to ensure that any wave packet is appropriately normalized.

Because the quantized energy eigenvalues are integral multiples of a common value, it is easy to see that any such solution will exhibit revivals or reformations, where $`\psi (x,t+T)=\psi (x,t)`$, when

$$e^{iE_nT/\mathrm{}}=+1\text{or}T=\frac{4mL^2}{\mathrm{}\pi }$$
(6)
which will be called the revival time. As shown in Refs. square\_2  and square\_5 , the wave packet will also reform itself at half this time as well, but in a possibly different location. We see this by noting that

$`\psi (Lx,t+T/2)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}a_nu_n(Lx)e^{iE_n(t+T/2)/\mathrm{}}`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}a_nu_n(x)e^{iE_nt/\mathrm{}}\left[\mathrm{cos}(n\pi )\mathrm{cos}(n^2\pi )\right]`$
$`=`$ $`\psi (x,t)`$
This connection can be written in the form

$$\psi (Lx,t+T/2)=\psi (x,t)\psi (x,t+T/2)=\psi (Lx,t)$$
(8)
or

$$|\psi (x,t+T/2)|^2=|\psi (Lx,t)|^2$$
(9)
so that at half the revival time later, any initial wavepacket will reform itself (same shape, width, etc.), but at a location mirrored about the center of the well.

The momentum behavior of the system will be given by

$$\varphi (p,t)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi \mathrm{}}}_0^L\psi (x,t)e^{ipx/\mathrm{}}𝑑x$$
(10)
at all times and we can use this connection to understand the behavior of the wave packet in momentum space at $`T/2`$. We note that

$`\varphi (p,t+T/2)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi \mathrm{}}}}{\displaystyle _0^L}\psi (x,t+T/2)e^{ipx/\mathrm{}}𝑑x`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi \mathrm{}}}}{\displaystyle _0^L}\psi (Lx,t)e^{ipx/\mathrm{}}𝑑x`$
$`=`$ $`e^{ipL/\mathrm{}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi \mathrm{}}}}{\displaystyle _0^L}\psi (y,t)e^{ipy/\mathrm{}}𝑑y\right]`$
$`=`$ $`e^{ipL/\mathrm{}}\varphi (p,t)`$
so that

$$|\varphi (p,t+T/2)|^2=|\varphi (p,t)|^2$$
(12)
and half a revival time later the initial momentum profile is also reproduced, except flipped in sign ($`pp`$), so that the particle is moving in the ’other direction’. These statements are true of any general time-dependent solution of the form in Eqn. (3) for the infinite square well.

For a typical wave packet solution, the expansion coefficients are such that they are sharply peaked about some large value of $`n`$, say $`n_0>>1`$, so that the packet can be characterized by a momentum value $`p_0n_0\pi \mathrm{}/L`$. The period of the classical motion will be given by $`\tau =2L/v_0`$ and if we associate $`v_0=p_0/m`$ we find that

$$\tau =\frac{2L}{p_0/m}=\frac{2L^2m}{n_0\pi \mathrm{}}=\frac{1}{2n_0}\left[\frac{4mL^2}{\mathrm{}\pi }\right]=\frac{1}{2n_0}T$$
(13)
(See also Ref. square\_1  for a more general discussion of the classical period.) We thus expect the wave packet to undergo many classical periods before reforming itself in a revival and note that there are at least two important time scales in the problem, namely $`T>>\tau `$.

As an explicit example of a bound-state wave packet, we will use a quasi-Gaussian form, with expansion coefficients given by

$$a_n=\sqrt{\frac{\alpha \mathrm{}\sqrt{\pi }}{L}}e^{\alpha ^2(p_np_0)^2/2}e^{ip_nx_0/\mathrm{}}$$
(14)
where

$$p_n\frac{n\pi \mathrm{}}{L}\text{and}p_0\frac{n_0\pi \mathrm{}}{L}$$
(15)
define the central momentum, corresponding to an initial speed to the right of $`v_0p_0/m`$. The initial position of the wave packet is then given by $`x_0`$. (This is similar to the form used in Ref. segre\_and\_sullivan .)

This form gives an initial wave packet which is almost Gaussian and hence very similar in most regards to the standard analytic result seen in many textbooks where explicit free-particle wave packets are constructed. (See, for example, Refs. liboff , robinett\_gaussian .) For example, with this normalization, the expansion coefficients are already almost normalized (but we explicitly ensure the proper normalization in all of our numerical calculations) and the initial uncertainties or spreads in the wave packet are given (to an excellent approximation) by

$$\mathrm{\Delta }p=\frac{1}{\alpha \sqrt{2}}\text{and}\mathrm{\Delta }x_0=\frac{\alpha \mathrm{}}{\sqrt{2}}$$
(16)
provided $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_0<<L`$. We recall that the corresponding free particle wave packet with Gaussian shape given by the continuous momentum weighting

$$\varphi (p)=\sqrt{\frac{\alpha }{\sqrt{\pi }}}e^{\alpha ^2(pp_0)^2/2}e^{ipx_0/\mathrm{}}$$
(17)
spreads with time with a spatial uncertainty given analytically by

$$\mathrm{\Delta }x_t=\mathrm{\Delta }x_0\sqrt{1+\left(\frac{t}{t_0}\right)^2}\text{where}t_0m\mathrm{}\alpha ^2=\frac{2m(\mathrm{\Delta }x_0)^2}{\mathrm{}}$$
(18)
This spreading time, $`t_0`$, defines a third time scale in the problem which we can write in the following form

$$\frac{t_0}{\tau }=n_0\pi \left(\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }x_0}{L}\right)^2$$
(19)
for future comparison. For our explicit calculations, we choose the numerical values $`2m=\mathrm{}=L=1`$ to define the model system and for the specific wave packet solution we use

$$\mathrm{\Delta }x_0=0.05\alpha =\frac{1}{10\sqrt{2}}\mathrm{\Delta }p=10$$
(20)
with

$$x_0=0.5\text{and}n_0=400$$
(21)
With these values we have $`T/\tau =2n_0=800`$ and $`t_0/\tau =\pi `$ so that the wave packet will spread significantly on the time scale of a few classical periods.

Using this explicit wave packet, we can evaluate the autocorrelation function given by Eqn. (Visualizing the collapse and revival of wavepackets in the infinite square well using expectation values) and we plot $`|C(t)|`$ versus $`t`$ over half a revival period in Fig. 1. (The plot is symmetric about the half-revival time, $`T/2`$.) The initial decrease in correlation for $`t\stackrel{>}{_{}}0`$ is seen as the ’decay’ in $`|C(t)|`$, while the structures in $`C(t)`$ due to many of the fractional revivals square\_2 , fractional\_revivals  are also apparent. In order to show evidence for the reformation at $`T/2`$ mentioned above, we also show in Fig. 1 a plot of a related correlation function defined by

$`\overline{C}(t)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}}\psi ^{}(Lx,t)\psi (x,0)𝑑x`$ (22)
$`=`$ $`\left[{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}}\varphi ^{}(p,t)\varphi (p,0)𝑑p\right]e^{+ipL/\mathrm{}}`$
which measures the correlation between the initial wave packet and later states which are ’flipped’ about the center of the well or, equivalently, reappear with opposite momentum profiles. Using this form, the reformation at $`T/2`$ is clearly seen ($`|\overline{C}(T/2)|=1`$) as well as additional evidence for fractional revivals.

Also using this specific wave packet as an example, we illustrate the position-space probability densities at several times in Fig. 2. The initial, centered wave packet at $`t=0`$ (solid curve) can be seen later at several obvious fractional revival times. The packet at $`t=\tau /8`$ (dashed curve) can also be seen one-half revival time later, reformed on the other side of the well as dictated by Eqn. (9). The position-space probability density at a more ’random’ later time ($`t=124\tau `$) illustrates the observation of Ref. segre\_and\_sullivan  where the position-space probability has become almost equally distributed over the entire well; the arrow indicates the magnitude of a truly uniform probability distribution given by $`P_{CL}(x)=1/L`$ (corresponding to the numerical values used here.)

In order to extract information on the momentum-space wavefunctions, we can Fourier transform Eqn. (3), but we can also formally invert $`\psi (x,t)`$ to write

$$\varphi (p,t)=\underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}a_n\varphi _n(p)e^{iE_nt/\mathrm{}}$$
(23)
where the momentum-space eigenstates corresponding to the $`u_n(x)`$ are given by

$$\varphi _n(p)=\sqrt{\frac{\mathrm{}}{\pi L}}\left(\frac{p_n}{p^2p_n^2}\right)\left\{(1)^ne^{ipL/\mathrm{}}1\right\}$$
(24)
so that

$$p_t=_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}p|\varphi (p,t)|^2𝑑p$$
(25)
and similarly for other powers of momentum, which will be useful below.

We plot, in Fig. 3, the momentum-space probability densities corresponding to the times in Fig. 2 and note that the wave packet is characterized by a reversal in momentum at $`T/2`$ as in Eqn. (12). The initial value of the momentum spread ($`\mathrm{\Delta }p=10`$) is also recovered at the half-revival, but the uncertainty at many later times is governed not by the intrinsic width of the initial $`\varphi (p,0)`$ peak, but rather by the ’distance’ between the two sharp and well-isolated momentum peaks at approximately $`\pm p_0`$ which gives $`\mathrm{\Delta }p+p_0`$ for much of the collapsed phase.

While these examples are somewhat illustrative of the time-dependence of the expectation values and uncertainties in position and momentum variables, we now turn our attention to more detailed examinations of the behavior of $`x_t`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_t`$, $`p_t`$, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }p_t`$ over three important time scales.

B. Expectation value analysis: short-term, classical behavior

In many situations, the hierarchy of times given by $`\tau <t_0<<T`$ will hold and we will examine the time-dependence of the wave packet propagation over the first few classical periods. Using our standard parameter set, we calculate the expectation values and spread in position over a time scale equal to the first ten classical periods, $`(0,10\tau )`$ and plot the results in Fig. 4. The periodic and almost classical nature of the time-dependence of $`x_t`$ is clear (compare to Fig. 5 which gives the purely classical result for $`x(t),v(t)`$ over the same period), but obvious differences are also present. The amplitude of the motion, operationally defined by half the total “left-to-right” distance in $`x_t`$ (which for a purely classical particle would be constant and equal to L/2) clearly decreases with time in the quantum case and the reason for this is clear from the corresponding plot of the time-dependent spatial uncertainty, $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_t`$. The wave packet disperses in time (away from its initial $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_0=0.05`$ value, given by the horizontal dashed line) and its width increases, initially at least, in a manner completely consistent with a free particle Gaussian wave packet, as the dotted curve which forms the upper envelope for the solid data is given by Eqn. (18). (In this case, the importance of including the exact quantum time-dependence and not ignoring the dispersion ignore\_dispersion  is obvious.) The sharp ’dips’ in $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_t`$ correspond to ’collisions’ of the wave packet with the walls and have been recently studied in the context of a single ’bounce’ robinett\_and\_doncheski . As the wave packet gets wider, the value of $`x_t`$ at the classical collision times decreases (at the right wall) or increases (at the left wall) as the spreading wave packet finds it more difficult to approach the walls. Despite this obvious quantum effect, the short-term time dependence of the system is relatively classical, just as in the Coulomb case.

Turning attention now to the momentum-space behavior, we can make use of Eqn. (23) to evaluate $`p_t`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }p_t`$ and we plot these values in Fig. 6 over the first ten classical periods. The correspondence between the sharp classical ’jumps’ in the $`v(t)`$ versus $`t`$ plot in Fig. 5 and the $`t`$-dependent quantum expectation value of $`p`$ in Fig. 6 is clear, but these changes become increasingly ’softer’ as the wave packet broadens. The plot of $`\mathrm{\Delta }p_t`$ versus $`t`$ is consistent with expectations from the ’single-bounce’ case considered in Ref. robinett\_and\_doncheski . During periods when the packet is not involved in collisions, the momentum spread is initially simply given by the intrinsic width of $`\varphi (p)`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }p_0`$, but increases dramatically during a collision with a wall. At such points, where the momentum distribution is shifting from a single large peak at positive $`p=+p_0`$ to a similar one at $`p=p_0`$, the spread in momentum values is dominated by the ’distance’ between the two peaks. For example, a simple model for the momentum distribution at the collision time might be

$$P_{CL}(p)=\frac{1}{2}\left[\delta (pp_0)+\delta (p+p_0)\right]$$
(26)
which gives $`p=0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }p=+p_0`$. This behavior is clearly seen during collisions for times satisfying $`t<t_0`$. The increasing spread in the position-space wave packet (approaching $`\mathrm{\Delta }p+p_0`$) clearly implies that the momentum distribution comes to include significant components with both $`p\pm p_0`$ for later times as well, giving the same large value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }p_t`$ over much of the collapsed phase (as seen earlier in the numerical values in Fig. 3.)

C. Expectation value analysis: long-term revival behavior

Turning now to the long-time dependence of the wave packet, we plot, in Fig. 7, $`x_t`$ versus $`t`$ over one entire revival time ($`T=800\tau `$.) In the top plot of Fig. 7, we show $`x_t`$ for the wave packet at times given by $`t=(n+1/8)\tau `$ and $`(n+5/8)\tau `$ as the solid and dashed curves respectively. (The $`t=n\tau `$ data yield the horizontal line at $`x_t=0.5L`$.) The $`(n+1/8)\tau `$ data (solid curve) corresponds to those times at which the classical particle would be one-half of its way from the center to the right-hand side and classically would always be located at $`x_t=0.75L`$, as indicated by the horizontal dashed line: the $`(n+5/8)\tau `$ case would similarly give $`x_t=0.25L`$ in the classical limit. While the wave packet data are initially consistent with these classical results, they quickly flatten during the collapsed phase so that the expectation value of position at even these times is consistent with $`x=0.5L`$. We note that at $`t800\tau =T`$ the expectation values again match the classical results, which is our first indication of the expected revival or reformation from this expectation value approach.

Similarly, we note that at $`t400\tau =T/2`$, we find that the expectation values for position have reversed themselves, consistent with Eqn. (8) for the half-revival. In the lower half of Fig. 7, we show results for $`x_t`$ for all times in the range $`t=(116\tau ,164\tau )`$ to illustrate the fine structure apparent in the time-dependence and how the wave packet oscillates, with very small excursions, around $`x_t=0.5L`$ during most of the collapsed phase.

In order to further probe the manner in which the probability distribution ’flattens’ during the collapse and reforms during a revival, we plot in Fig. 8 the uncertainty $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_t`$ versus time over the same time periods as in Fig. 7: we show values for times given by $`t=n\tau `$ only. To compare the results to a putative flat probability distribution, we note that this case would be given by

$$P_{\text{flat}}(x)=\frac{1}{L}$$
(27)
and would yield expectation values

$$x_{\text{flat}}=\frac{L}{2}x^2_{\text{flat}}=\frac{L^2}{3}\mathrm{\Delta }x_{\text{flat}}=\frac{L}{\sqrt{12}}=0.288L$$
(28)
We note that $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_t`$ grows (consistent with Eqn. (18)), but rapidly flattens out during much of the collapsed phase at a value which is indeed consistent with $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_{\text{flat}}=0.288L`$ over much of the entire revival period. (At the bottom of Fig 8, we show the behavior of $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_t`$ for all times in the interval $`(116\tau ,164\tau )`$ indicating the oscillations around the expected ’flat’ result.)

The revivals at $`T=800\tau `$ and $`T/2=400\tau `$ are also apparent here as the uncertainty returns to its initial value, indicating a reformation of the initial wave packet, perhaps at a different location. We also note, however, the additional feature of quasi-revivals at $`t=200\tau `$ and $`600\tau `$ ($`T/4,3T/4`$) where the wave packet returns to its initial width. To illustrate the nature of the wave packet at these times, we have already shown in Fig. 2 the form of the packet near $`t200\tau `$. The wave packet at $`t=200\tau `$ does not precisely return to its initial state (the real part of $`\psi (x,T/4)`$ is larger than $`\psi (x,0)`$, while the imaginary part of $`\psi (x,T/4)`$ vanishes), but does so in a way which reproduces $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_{t=T/4}=\mathrm{\Delta }x_0`$. We can see that this is a very special case, as the $`t=\tau /8`$ wave packet is obviously split into two pieces at $`t=\tau /8+T/4`$ as it is ’half way’ to being reformed at the half-revival time. We can also note that at $`t=100\tau ,300\tau ,500\tau `$, and $`700\tau `$ that there are ’anti-revivals’ in that the wave packets are spread somewhat more than during the rest of ’flat phase’ of the collapsed phase. The position-space wavefunction at $`t=100\tau `$ was also shown in Fig. 2 to illustrate this ’anti-correlation’.

We can also visualize the long-time behavior of the momentum-space variables by plotting $`p_t`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }p_t`$ versus $`t`$ over one revival time in Fig. 9 (again, for values of $`t=n\tau `$.) We note that the momentum spread quickly saturates at the ’flat’ value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }p=+p_0`$, except when it returns for revivals at $`t=T/2`$ and $`T`$. The expectation value of momentum reverses sign at $`t=T/2`$, as expected from Eqn. (12), while returning to its original value only at the standard revival when $`t=T`$.

While we have explicitly considered only the quasi-Gaussian wavepacket with specific numerical values here, many of the same effects are seen quite generally. Changes in most of the parameters simply change the appropriate time scales involved. Wave packets with different initial positions, $`x_0L/2`$, do not exhibit the special quasi-revivals at $`t=T/4,3T/4`$ because they lack the required additional symmetry. Different functional forms for the expansion coefficients (the discrete versions of Lorentzian momentum weightings or initially flat spatial wave packets, for example) all exhibit similar behavior to that discussed here.

D. Expectation value analysis: medium-term, collapse behavior

One aspect of the behavior of wave packets in the infinite well which has not been examined in much detail as has the pattern of revivals (fractional or otherwise) is the decay phase, the time over which the spreading of the wave packet leads to an increasing lack of coherence (as measured by $`C(t)`$) and because of which the position-space probability density approaches the ’flat’ distribution observed by Segre and Sullivan segre\_and\_sullivan . One measure of a decay time scale associated with this spreading is given by the scaling behavior of $`|C(t)|`$ at integral values of the classical period, namely $`t=n\tau `$. For the oscillator, for example, we have $`|C(t=n\tau )|=1`$ since the wave packet motion reforms exactly with the classical oscillation frequency. For the infinite well, we find (after a large number of numerical trials) that the autocorrelation function for such integral times is initially given by

$$\left|C(t=n\tau )\right|e^{(n\tau /T_C)^2}\text{for}n\tau \stackrel{<}{_{}}T_C$$
(29)
where the collapse time, $`T_C`$, is given by

$$T_C=\frac{T}{2\pi \mathrm{\Delta }n^2}=4t_0=4\left(\frac{2m(\mathrm{\Delta }x_0)^2}{\mathrm{}}\right)$$
(30)
and where $`\mathrm{\Delta }n`$ is the dispersion in the $`n`$-distribution for the Gaussian wave packet. This result may not be unexpected since the decrease in coherence measured by $`C(t)`$ is directly tied to the spreading of the wavepacket and $`t_0`$ is therefore the natural time scale which arises in an autocorrelation analysis of this type.

Examination of Fig. 8, however, suggests that there is a second scale involved in the decay process, namely that associated with the time it takes for the wave packet to approach the spatially flat probability distribution. In order to better visualize the approach to the ’flat’ distribution, we plot $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_t`$ versus $`t`$ in the range $`(0,T/8=100\tau )`$ for three different values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_0`$ in Fig. 10. We note that in each case the uncertainties initially follow the free-particle Gaussian result in Eqn. (18), but then level off to the same ’flat’ value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_{\text{flat}}=L/\sqrt{12}`$. We can estimate the time it takes to reach the constant value during the collapse phase by equating

$$\frac{L}{\sqrt{12}}=\mathrm{\Delta }x_{\text{flat}}=\mathrm{\Delta }x_t=\mathrm{\Delta }x_0\sqrt{1+\left(\frac{t}{t_0}\right)^2}$$
(31)
which gives

$$t_{\text{flat}}t_0\left(\frac{L}{\sqrt{12}\mathrm{\Delta }x_0}\right)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{6\pi }}\left(Tt_0\right)^{1/2}=\frac{8}{\sqrt{12}}\left(\frac{mL\mathrm{\Delta }x_0}{\mathrm{}}\right)$$
(32)
which defines still another time scale, typically an intermediate scale between $`t_0`$ and $`T`$. Numerical studies, such as in Fig. 10, indicate that the position-space uncertainty saturates at its ’flat’ value at a time given roughly by $`2t_{\text{flat}}`$. The three cases shown in Fig. 10 then illustrate that this flattening time does indeed scale with $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_0`$, in contrast to the coherence decay time scale $`T_C`$ which is proportional to $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_0^2`$. We can see the same flattening time scale (and its proportionality to $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_0`$) by plotting the medium-scale time dependence of $`x_t`$, $`p_t`$, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }p_t`$ in Fig. 11, all of which approach the appropriate ’flat’ value with a time scale of roughly $`2t_{\text{flat}}`$. It is not immediately apparent how information on this important time scale is readily obtainable from an autocorrelation analysis (for example, as shown in Fig. 1), providing more evidence for the usefulness of this more intuitive approach.

E. Conclusions

We have studied the time-dependence of wave packets in the infinite well, their collapse and revival structure, and the time scales appropriate for each phase by examination of the expectation values and uncertainties in the familiar variables of one-dimensional quantum mechanics, position and momentum. The visualizations provided here complement more formal derivations of revival structures studied using autocorrelation function analyses. In the case of the approach to the collapsed phase of the wave packet approaching a ’flattened’ state, this type of expectation value analysis very naturally yields information on the scaling properties of the natural time scale for the collapse, in contrast to an autocorrelation function approach where such information is not so immediately and intuitively obvious.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant DUE-9950702. We are grateful for helpful comments made by R. Diehl, M. Doncheski, and J. Yeazell as well as for the very useful advice of a referee.

Appendix

Motivated by the simple revival structure observed for the harmonic oscillator and infinite well potentials in Ref. square\_1 , we present here a brief analysis of the revival time for the general, one-dimensional power-law potential

$$V_{(k)}(x)V_0\left|\frac{x}{a}\right|^k$$
(33)
which interpolates between these two special cases for $`k=2`$ (oscillator) and $`k=\mathrm{}`$ (infinite square well). While there is really only one independent dimensionful parameter in this potential, namely $`V_0/a^k\alpha `$, we write it in this form to emphasize the $`k\mathrm{}`$ limit where we obtain an infinite well (of width $`2a`$, compared to our earlier analysis.) A simple variation is the ’half’ power-law potential given by

$$\stackrel{~}{V}_{(k)}(x)=\{\begin{array}{cc}V_{(k)}(x)\hfill & \text{for }x>0\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{for }x<0\hfill \end{array}$$
(34)
which is then appropriate for the analysis of the ’quantum bouncing ball’ discussed recently in Ref. bounce  when $`k=1`$ and $`V_0/amg`$.

In order to make use of an autocorrelation analysis as in Ref. square\_1 , we require the quantized energy eigenvalues, $`E_n^{(k)}`$. Since we are dealing with situations in which $`n>>1`$, it will be a good approximation to utilize the WKB energy quantization condition to evaluate the $`E_n^{(k)}`$. The standard version (which assumes wave-function matching at linear walls via Airy functions) is given by

$$_{x_0}^{+x_0}\sqrt{2m\left[E_n^{(k)}V_{(k)}(x)\right]}𝑑x=\left(n+\frac{1}{2}\right)\mathrm{}\pi $$
(35)
with $`n=0,1,2,\mathrm{}`$ and where

$$\pm x_0=\pm \left(\frac{E_n}{V_0}\right)^{1/k}a$$
(36)
are the classical turning points. This expression is known to be exact for the harmonic oscillator. When the boundary conditions at a given turning point are imposed by infinite walls where the wavefunction must actually vanish, the appropriate matching coefficients are $`C_L,C_R=1/2`$ instead of the $`C_L,C_R=1/4`$ for linear walls russian\_wkb , so that for the infinite square well the right hand side is replaced by $`(n+1/2)(n+1)`$ which also gives the exact answer for this case. (The combination of the two to describe the ’half oscillator’ where $`V(x)=m\omega ^2x^2/2`$ for $`x>0`$ and an infinite wall at the origin is then also given exactly with these two cases.) Using the standard WKB form for all $`k<\mathrm{}`$, we find the energy quantization condition sukhatme

$$E_n^{(k)}=\left[(n+1/2)\frac{\mathrm{}\pi }{2a\sqrt{2m}}V_0^{1/k}\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(1/k+3/2)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(1/k+1)\mathrm{\Gamma }(3/2)}\right]^{2k/(k+2)}$$
(37)
(where $`(n+1/2)(n+1)`$ for $`k\mathrm{}`$.) This reproduces the exact oscillator and infinite well examples in the $`k=2`$ and $`k\mathrm{}`$ limits. The classical periods for a given value of $`k`$ and $`n`$ will then be given by

$$\tau _n^{(k)}=\frac{2\pi \mathrm{}}{E_n^{(k)}}(n+1/2)\left(\frac{2+k}{2k}\right)\tau (k,n)$$
(38)
which reduces to the familiar oscillator and infinite well results. Using the result of Ref. square\_1  for the revival time, namely

$$T=\frac{4\pi \mathrm{}}{d^2E_n/dn^2}=\frac{4\pi \mathrm{}}{E_n^{\prime \prime }}$$
(39)
we find that the revival times are given by the simple expression

$$T_{rev}=T(k,n)=\left|\frac{k+2}{k2}\right|2n\tau (k,n)$$
(40)
This can be confirmed by explicit evaluation of $`|C(t)|`$, $`|\overline{C}(t)|`$ over one revival time for any value of $`k>0`$ where one finds plots which are very similar to Fig. 1, except that the revivals are no longer exact as they are in the case of the infinite well. This form explicitly exhibits the divergence we expect in the oscillator case (when $`k2`$) where the wave packets are exactly periodic saxon , holstein .

We have also performed a more numerical analysis using the quasi-Gaussian wave packet to examine the short-time decay in correlations as measured by the decrease in the magnitude of $`|C(t)|`$. When we evaluate the autocorrelation function at integral values of the classical period, we again find that

$$|C(t=n\tau )|e^{(n\tau /T_C)^2}$$
(41)
where

$$T_C\left[\left|\frac{k+2}{k2}\right|2n\tau (k,n)\right]\frac{1}{2\pi \mathrm{\Delta }n^2}=\frac{T(k,n)}{2\pi \mathrm{\Delta }n^2}$$
(42)
which reproduces the result for the infinite well we have considered more explicitly, as well as exhibiting the appropriate divergence as $`k2`$ as we approach the exactly periodic oscillator case. This result also holds for other, non-Gaussian wave packet expansions, with the numerical factor $`2\pi `$ replaced by different numerical coefficients of the same order. Two open questions which would be interesting to explore further in this context of the general well are whether during the collapsed phase the position-space probability naturally approaches a semi-classical probability density (as in Ref. robinett\_classical\_probability\_density ) over much of the collapsed phase and, if so, how the ’flattening’ time to approach this semi-classical distribution scales with $`k`$ and other parameters, i.e., what is the generalization of Eqn. (32).

The case of the ’half’ general-power law potential given by Eqn. (34) is easily analyzed in the same manner. The WKB energy quantization condition is applied at the classical turning points $`x=+x_0`$ and $`x=0`$ with the result

$$\stackrel{~}{E}_n^{(k)}=\left[(n+3/4)\frac{\mathrm{}\pi }{a\sqrt{2m}}V_0^{1/k}\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(1/k+3/2)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(1/k+1)\mathrm{\Gamma }(3/2)}\right]^{2k/(k+2)}$$
(43)
with the factor $`(n+3/4)(n+1)`$ for $`k\mathrm{}`$. (Recall the discussion after Eqn. (36) about the appropriate matching coefficients for infinite wall boundaries.) The classical period is then given by Eqn. (38) with $`E_n^{(k)}\stackrel{~}{E}_n^{(k)}`$ and $`(n+1/2)(n+3/4)`$. We find that the same relationship between revival time and classical period as in Eqn. (40) holds and we note that our general result then reproduces the revival time found in the special case of the ’quantum bouncer’ considered in Ref. bounce  when $`k=1`$ and $`V_0/a=mg`$.

Gea-Banacloche bounce  has also discussed a collapse time for the case of the ’quantum bouncing ball’ (the $`k=1`$ case of the ‘half-well’) and we note in passing that his expression is close in spirit to the ’flattening’ time discussed for the infinite well as his expression for the collapse time scales as $`1/\mathrm{\Delta }n`$ as does $`t_{\text{flat}}`$, and not, for example, like $`T_C1/\mathrm{\Delta }n^2`$ for the decay time obtained by the scaling properties of the autocorrelation function.

Figure Captions

* Plot of the autocorrelation function, $`|C(t)|`$, (in Eqn. (Visualizing the collapse and revival of wavepackets in the infinite square well using expectation values)) for the infinite square well. The modulus of $`C(t)`$ is evaluated at integral values of $`t/\tau `$ over the first half revival time; the curves are symmetric about $`t=T/2=400\tau `$. The vertical dashed lines indicate values of some of the possible fractional revivals, namely $`(p/q)T`$ for integral values of $`p<q`$. The standard wave packet parameters in Eqns. (14), (20), and (21) are used. The related correlation function, $`\overline{C}(t)`$, defined in Eqn. (22), is also plotted and shows much of the same structure, including the ‘anti-revival’ at $`t=T/2=400\tau `$ where the wave packet reforms, but with opposite momentum values.
* Position-space probability distributions, $`|\psi (x,t)|^2`$ versus $`x`$, for the quasi-Gaussian wave packet at various times. The top panel shows the wave packet at and just after the initial time. The $`t=100\tau `$ plot is typical of a fractional revival where the wave packet reforms into a small number of recognizable features. The $`t=124\tau `$ is typical of a more random later time when the wavefunction approaches the ’flat’ probability distribution, $`P_{\text{flat}}(x)=1/L`$, indicated by the horizontal arrow. The $`t200\tau `$ cases show a special fractional revival where an initially central ($`x_0=0`$) wave packet reforms with the initial value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_0`$. Finally, the reformation of the $`t=0`$ wave packet at the half-revival time, $`t=T/2=400\tau `$ is indicated, as is the reformation of the $`t=\tau /8`$ packet, but flipped about the center of the well as in Eqn. (9).
* Momentum-space probability distributions, $`|\varphi (p,t)|^2`$ versus $`p`$, corresponding to the sample times shown in Fig. 2; the vertical dashed lines indicate the values $`p=\pm p_0=\pm n_0\pi \mathrm{}/L=\pm 400\pi `$. Note the reversal in momentum values at the half-revival time, $`t=T/2=400\tau `$.
* Average value for position, $`x_t`$ (top), and spread in position, $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_t`$ (bottom), for the quasi-Gaussian wavepacket defined by the parameters in Eqns. (14), (20), and (21) over a time interval corresponding to the first ten classical periods. In the bottom figure, the first three multiples of the spreading time, $`t_0`$, are shown (vertical dashed lines). The horizontal dashed line corresponds to the initial spread, $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_0=0.05`$. The dotted curve is given by the expression for the time-dependent $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_t`$ for free-particle Gaussian wavepackets given by Eqn. (18).
* Classical motion ($`x(t)`$ and $`v(t)`$ versus $`t`$) of a point particle in an infinite square well potential, starting at the center of the well with constant speed $`v_0`$, moving in the positive-$`x`$ direction.
* Same as Fig. 4, but for the average value of momentum, $`p_t`$ (top), and spread in momentum, $`\mathrm{\Delta }p_t`$ (bottom). In the bottom plot, the initial momentum spread, $`\mathrm{\Delta }p_0`$, is shown as a horizontal dashed line, as is the maximum value, $`\mathrm{\Delta }p=+p_0`$, corresponding roughly to two equal peaks in $`|\varphi (p,t)|^2`$ at $`p=\pm p_0`$ as in Eqn. (26).
* Average value of position, $`x_t`$ versus $`t`$, over one revival time ($`T=800\tau `$). The average value of position for $`t=(n+1/8)\tau `$ (solid) and $`(n+5/8)\tau `$ (dashed) are plotted in the top figure. (For values given by $`t=n\tau `$, one obtains the horizontal solid line corresponding to $`x_t=0.5L`$.) The revival at $`t=T=800\tau `$ where expectation values return to their $`t0`$ values is evident, as is the half-revival at $`t=T/2=400\tau `$ where the expectation values are mirrored about the center of the well as predicted by Eqn. (8). The value of $`x_t`$ for all times during the interval $`(116\tau ,164\tau )`$ is shown on the bottom plot, indicating the small oscillations about the ’flat’ value of $`x=0.5L`$ during most of the collapsed phase.
* Uncertainty or spread in position, $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_t`$ versus $`t`$ (evaluated at times given by $`t=n\tau `$) over one revival time ($`T=800\tau `$). The ’flat’ value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_{\text{flat}}=L/\sqrt{12}0.288L`$ is shown as the dashed horizontal line. The spread in position initially follows the dashed curve (indicated by $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_{\text{free}}`$) given by the free-particle expression in Eqn. (18), but then ’turns over’ and approaches the ’flat’ value. The time interval $`(116\tau ,164\tau )`$ is also shown to indicate the oscillations around the ’flat’ value during the collapsed phase. The full revival at $`t=T=800\tau `$ as well as the half-revival at $`t=T/2=400\tau `$ are evident, as are the special quasi-revivals at $`T/4=200\tau `$ and $`3T/4=600\tau `$ which appear in the $`x_0=L/2`$ case only.
* Average value ($`p_t`$ versus $`t`$) and uncertainty ($`\mathrm{\Delta }p_t`$ versus $`t`$) in momentum for the quasi-Gaussian wave packet over one revival time. The reversal in momentum seen in $`p_t`$ and the reformation of the wave packet to its initial width are obvious at the half-revival time, $`t=T/2=400\tau `$. The spread in momentum corresponding to the ’flat’ distribution of probability in position-space ($`\mathrm{\Delta }p=+p_0`$) is also evident over a large fraction of the collapsed phase.
* Plot of $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_t`$ versus $`t`$ showing the approach to the ’flat’ distribution for various values of the initial spread, $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_0`$. In each case, the curves initially follow the free-particle Gaussian expression in Eqn. (18), but then ’turn over’ and saturate at $`\mathrm{\Delta }x=L/\sqrt{12}`$.
* Plots of $`x_t`$ (top), $`p_t`$ (middle), and $`\mathrm{\Delta }p_t`$ (bottom) showing the approach to the values of these quantities corresponding to the ’flat’ distribution. Note that the characteristic time for flattening is the same in all three cases and that it scales as indicated in Eqn. (32), namely $`t_{\text{flat}}\mathrm{\Delta }x_0`$.


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# An Alternative to RDF-Based Languages for the Representation and Processing of Ontologies in the Semantic Web

## 1 Introduction

One of the most popular approaches to the representation and processing of ontological knowledge in the Semantic Web is a family of languages based on the Resource Description Framework (RDF), such as RDF Schema (RDFS), the Ontology Inference Layer (OIL) and DAML+OIL (see, for example, ). For the sake of brevity, these languages will be referred to as ‘RDF+’.

This paper describes an alternative approach to the representation and processing of ontologies based on the ICMAUS111Short for information compression by multiple alignment, unification and search theory of computation and AI. An overview of the theory is presented in  with more detail in .

In this context, the word ‘alternative’ is intended as an inclusive OR, not an exclusive OR. The RDF+ and ICMAUS approaches appear to have complementary strengths and may be used together. In the spirit of evolvability in the Web, they may be developed in parallel.

The main benefits of the ICMAUS approach appear to be:

* Simplicity and comprehensibility in the way knowledge is represented.
* An ability to cope with errors and uncertainties in knowledge.
* A versatile reasoning system with capabilities in the kinds of probabilistic reasoning that seem to be required in the Semantic Web.

In what follows, the ICMAUS theory is first described in outline. Then an example is presented showing how an ontology may be represented and processed in the ICMAUS framework. This is followed by a comparison with RDF+.

## 2 The ICMAUS theory

The ICMAUS theory grew out of a long tradition in psychology that many aspects of perception, cognition and the workings of brains and nervous systems may be understood as information compression. It is founded on principles of Minimum Length Encoding (MLE), pioneered by  and others (see ).

The theory is conceived as an abstract model of any system for processing information, either natural or artificial. In broad terms, it receives data (designated ‘New’) from its environment and adds these data to a body of stored of knowledge (called ‘Old’). At the same time, it tries to compress the information as much as possible by searching for full or partial matches between patterns and unifying patterns or sub-patterns that are the same. In the process of compressing information, the system builds ‘multiple alignments’ of the kind shown below.

The ICMAUS framework is partially realised in the SP61 computer model that builds multiple alignments but requires its store of Old knowledge to be supplied by the user. It also calculates probabilities for inferences that can be drawn from the multiple alignments. The SP70 model, which is less mature, is an augmented version of SP61 that embodies all elements of the framework including a process of learning by building the repository of Old, stored knowledge. Both models have polynomial time complexity.

The ICMAUS framework is Turing-equivalent in the sense that it can model a universal Turing machine  but it can perform a range of AI-style operations without the kind of programming that would be needed to make a Turing machine perform in the same way.

To date, the main areas to which the ICMAUS framework has been applied are probabilistic reasoning , parsing and production of natural language , fuzzy pattern recognition and best-match information retrieval , planning and problem solving, modelling concepts in logic and mathematics, and unsupervised learning .

## 3 The representation and processing of ontologies in the ICMAUS framework

In the ICMAUS framework, all knowledge is represented by arrays of symbols in one or two dimensions termed patterns. In work to date, the main focus has been on one-dimensional patterns. A symbol in this context is a ‘mark’ that can be matched in a yes/no manner with other symbols but has no intrinsic meaning. In the example below, each symbol is represented by a string of non-space characters.

As in bioinformatics, a multiple alignment in the ICMAUS framework is an arrangement of two or more sequences of symbols in rows (or columns) so that, by judicious ‘stretching’ of sequences where necessary, symbols that match each other are arranged in columns (or rows). By contrast with the bioinformatics concept (where all sequences have the same status), one of the sequences in each alignment is New and the rest are Old. A ‘good’ alignment is one where the New pattern can be encoded economically in terms of the Old patterns, in accordance with MLE principles (see ).

Figure 1 shows the best alignment found by SP61 with a set of patterns in Old describing classes of entity and the pattern ‘Jack stethoscope black-bag fair-hair blue-eyes Dorking’ in New. By convention, the New pattern is always shown in column 0, with Old patterns in the remaining columns. Apart from this constraint, the ordering of patterns across the columns is entirely arbitrary.

To avoid creating an alignment that would be too big to fit on the page, many details have been omitted. There is, for example, nothing in this alignment to show the structure of a person’s body or legs (column 2) or the nature of that person’s nose or mouth (column 7).

In the majority of cases, a given pattern contains one or more symbols that serve as a means of identifying the pattern and referencing it from one or more other patterns within the system. An example from Figure 1 is the pair of symbols ‘person’ and ‘#person’ at the beginning and end of the pattern shown in column 2. These have a rôle in the system which is similar to the way in which symbols such as ‘$`<`$person$`>`$’ and ‘$`<`$/person$`>`$’ would be used in XML. The XML style could be used instead.

### 3.1 Recognition and retrieval

The most natural interpretation of an alignment like the one shown in Figure 1 is that it is the result of a process of pattern Recognition and information Retrieval and, as discussed below, inference or Reasoning (RRR).

In this example, the New pattern may be seen as fragmentary information about some unknown entity and the alignment shows that it has been recognised as being one Jack Jones of Dorking (column 1). At the same time, the unknown entity is recognised as belonging to the class ‘person’ (column 2), the class ‘male’ (‘gender’ in column 8), and the class ‘doctor’ (‘profession’ in column 3).

The alignment may also be seen as the result of a process of information retrieval, in the manner of ‘query-by-example’ in a conventional database.

This process of recognition/retrieval is ‘fuzzy’ in the sense that it can find good partial matches between patterns as well as exact matches. This capability stems from the use of an improved form of ‘dynamic programming’ at the heart of the SP61 model.

### 3.2 Reasoning

Any symbol in an Old pattern in an alignment that is not matched with a symbol in New represents an inference that may be drawn from the alignment.

From the alignment in Figure 1 we can infer inter alia that ‘Jack Jones’ is (probably) a doctor with the usual attributes of doctors (shown as ‘…’) and that he (probably) has a head, body and legs and other attributes of people. In effect, Jack Jones ‘inherits’ the attributes of ‘doctor’ and ‘person’ in the manner of inheritance in object-oriented systems.

The alignment in Figure 1 also illustrates another kind of ‘deduction’. The pattern shown in column 9 records the well-known association between the name ‘Jack’ and the attribute ‘male’. This provides an inferential link between ‘Jack’ in column 0 and the pattern representing the male gender shown in column 8. Notice also how the male characteristics, ‘beard’ and ‘deep’ (voice) which are part of that pattern are tied in to their proper places in the patterns for ‘head’ (column 7) and ‘person’ (column 2), respectively.

These are just two relatively simple examples of the way in which the ICMAUS framework supports reasoning. The system lends itself most naturally to probabilistic reasoning including inheritance of attributes and probabilistic ‘deduction’ (as we have seen), and also probabilistic chains of reasoning, abductive reasoning, nonmonotonic reasoning and ‘explaining away’. Each pattern in Old has an associated frequency of occurrence in some domain and this information can be used by the SP61 model to calculate probabilities of alternative inferences drawn by the system. A relatively full account of how the system can perform these kinds of reasoning and how probabilities are calculated is presented in  (see also ).

Although the system is fundamentally probabilistic, it can in principle also support classical ‘exact’ modes of reasoning, as described in .

### 3.3 Representation of knowledge

Although all knowledge in the system is represented with ‘flat’ patterns, the way in which the system builds multiple alignments means that these flat patterns can be used to represent a wide variety of other structures including context-free and context sensitive grammars (see ), class-inclusion hierarchies and part-whole hierarchies (discussed below), if-then rules, networks and trees , and others. This subsection briefly reviews a selection of issues related to the representation of ontologies.

#### 3.3.1 Classes and instances

In the ICMAUS framework, there is no formal distinction between a ‘class’ and an ‘instance’—both these things are represented with patterns. In Figure 1, a pattern like the one for ‘person’ (column 2) is most naturally interpreted as a class while the pattern representing ‘Jack Jones’ (column 1) may be seen as an instance.

Philosophically, there is some justification for blurring the traditional distinction between ‘class’ and ‘instance’. Although a given person like ‘Jack Jones’ may seem like a singleton, any such concept is derived from a myriad of individual ‘perceptions’: Jack going for a walk, Jack in the office, Jack eating a sandwich, and so on. There is no real justification for making a fundamental distinction between this kind of complex concept and other concepts that are more commonly regarded as classes.

### 3.4 Properties and values

The attributes of a class may be represented by literals such as ‘stethoscope’ in column 3 of Figure 1 or they may be represented by a pair of symbols such as ‘name #name’ in column 2, or ‘hcolour #hcolour’ in column 5. Any pair of symbols like that may function as a ‘slot’ or ‘variable’ or, in the terms of RDF, a ‘property’. And each such slot may receive a range of alternative ‘values’, such as ‘Jack Jones’ for the ‘name #name’ slot and ‘fair-hair’ for the ‘hcolour #hcolour’ slot.

#### 3.4.1 Intensional and extensional representation of classes

In the ICMAUS framework, classes may be represented intensionally with patterns like the ones for ‘person’ or ‘profession’ and they may also be represented extensionally. An example of the latter in Figure 1 is ‘hcolour’, already mentioned, where the range of possible values for that property is represented in Old by patterns such as ‘hcolour fair-hair #hcolour’, ‘hcolour black-hair #hcolour’ and ‘hcolour red-hair #hcolour’. Any other class may be represented extensionally in a similar way.

#### 3.4.2 Cross-classification and multiple inheritance

The system accommodates a strict hierarchy of classes and subclasses but it also supports cross-classification at any level in a hierarchy, with ‘multiple’ inheritance from overlapping classes. In Figure 1, the classes ‘doctor’ (profession) and ‘male’ (gender) are both subclasses of ‘person’ but neither one is a subclass of the other. These are classes that overlap in the world as we know it and any given person may inherit attributes from either one, or both, or neither.

#### 3.4.3 Properties, values and classes

In our everyday ‘natural’ concepts, it is often difficult to make a firm distinction between ‘properties’, ‘values’ and ‘classes’. A concept like ‘doctor’ may be regarded as a property of some individual person (with a range of alternative values such as ‘paediatrician’, ‘haematologist’ etc) or, as in Figure 1, it may be seen as a value of a property such as ‘profession’, and in all cases it may be regarded as a class.

The ICMAUS system reflects this aspect of ‘properties’, ‘values’ and ‘classes’ by making no formal distinction between them.

#### 3.4.4 Class-inclusion relations, part-whole relations and their integration

Apart from the class-inclusion relations that can be seen in Figure 1, the alignment shows how a person is composed of a ‘head’, ‘body’ and ‘legs’, how the ‘head’ is composed of ‘hair’, ‘eyes’, ‘nose’ etc, with further detail for ‘hair’ and ‘eyes’. A more comprehensive example would expand the hierarchical structure of other parts such as ‘body’ and ‘legs’.

As discussed below, the ICMAUS framework allows class-inclusion relations to be integrated with part-whole relations in a way which is, arguably, more satisfactory that with RDF+ and some other languages in the object-oriented tradition.

#### 3.4.5 The order of symbols in patterns and alignments

In the building of multiple alignments, the order of symbols in patterns is important. This is appropriate for many applications (e.g., natural language processing) but in other applications (e.g., medical diagnosis) it is useful to be able to treat patterns as unordered collections of symbols. This can be achieved by the provision of a ‘framework’ pattern as explained in .

#### 3.4.6 Syntax and semantics

In the ICMAUS framework, there is no formal distinction between syntax and semantics. In some applications (e.g., natural language processing) any given symbol or pattern may be assigned informally to one rôle or the other—but any such distinction relates to the particular application rather than the system itself.

Any symbol or combination of symbols may be seen to represent the ‘meaning’ of one or more other symbols with which it is associated. In this connection, rôles can easily be reversed: ‘smoke’ normally means ‘fire’ but (less certainly) ‘fire’ can also mean ‘smoke’.

## 4 RDF+ and ICMAUS compared

In this discussion, RDF+ will be equated with RDF, RDFS and DAML+OIL but similar remarks probably apply to other RDF-based proposals. RDF provides a syntactic framework, RDFS adds modelling primitives such as ‘instance-of’ and ‘subclass-of’, and DAML+OIL provides a formal semantics and reasoning capabilities based on Description Logics (DLs), themselves based on predicate logic.

### 4.1 Representation of knowledge

The ICMAUS theory incorporates a theory of knowledge in which syntax and semantics are integrated and many of the concepts associated with ontologies are implicit. There is no need for the explicit provision of constructs such as ‘Class’, ‘subClassOf’, ‘Type’, ‘hasPart’, ‘Property’, ‘subPropertyOf’, or ‘hasValue’. Classes of entity and specific instances, their component parts and properties, and values for properties, can be represented in a very direct, transparent and intuitive way, as described above. In short, the ICMAUS approach allows ontologies to be represented in a manner that appears to be simpler and more comprehensible than RDF+, both for people writing ontologies and for people reading them.

#### 4.1.1 Class-inclusion relations and part-whole relations

There is a part-whole relation between the intensional description of a class and the class itself. In the ICMAUS framework, this part-whole relation can be exploited to represent part-whole hierarchies that are integrated with class-inclusion hierarchies and participate fully in inheritance.

RDF+ represents part-whole relations using constructs such as ‘hasPart’ or ‘partOf’. In other object-oriented languages (e.g., Simula and C++) this kind of mechanism can mean restrictions on the inheritance of information from part-whole hierarchies. It is not entirely clear whether or not these restrictions also apply to RDF+.

### 4.2 Reasoning

Reasoning in RDF+ is based on predicate logic and belongs in the classical tradition of monotonic deductive reasoning in which propositions are either true or false. By contrast, the main strengths of the ICMAUS framework are in probabilistic ‘deduction’, abduction and nonmonotonic reasoning. There is certainly a place for classical styles of reasoning in the Semantic Web but probabilistic kinds of reasoning are needed too. The following subsections expand on these points.

#### 4.2.1 Probabilistic and exact reasoning

At the heart of the ICMAUS system is an improved version of ‘dynamic programming’ that can find good partial matches between patterns as well as exact matches. The building of multiple alignments involves a search for a global best match amongst patterns and accommodates errors of omission, commission and substitution in New information or Old information. This kind of capability—and the ability to calculate probabilities of inferences—seems to be outside the scope of ‘standard’ reasoning systems currently developed for RDF+ (see, for example, ). It has more affinity with ‘non-standard inferences’ for DLs (see, for example, ).

Given the anarchical nature of the Web, there is a clear need for the kind of flexibility provided in the ICMAUS framework. It may be possible to construct ontologies in a relatively disciplined way but ordinary users of the web are much less controllable. The system needs to be able to respond to queries in the same flexible and ‘forgiving’ manner as current search engines. Although current search engines are flexible, their responses are not very ‘intelligent’. The ICMAUS framework may help to plug this gap.

#### 4.2.2 Deduction and abduction

With the Semantic Web, we may, on occasion, wish to reason deductively (e.g., a flat battery in the car means that it will not start) but there will also be occasions when we wish to reason abductively (e.g., possible reasons for the car not starting are a flat battery, no fuel, dirty plugs etc). For each alternative identified by abductive reasoning, we need some kind of measure of probability.

Although classical systems can be made to work in an abductive style, an ability to calculate probabilities or comparable measures needs to be ‘bolted on’. By contrast, the ICMAUS system accommodates ‘backwards’ styles of reasoning just as easily as ‘forwards’ kinds of reasoning and the calculation of probabilities derives naturally from the MLE principles on which the system is founded.

#### 4.2.3 Monotonic reasoning, nonmonotonic reasoning and default values

If we know that all birds can fly and that Tweety is a bird then, in classical logic, we can deduce that Tweety can fly. The ‘monotonic’ nature of classical logic means that this conclusion cannot be modified, even if we are informed that Tweety is a penguin.

In the Semantic Web, we need to be able to express the idea that most birds fly (with the default assumption that birds can fly) and we need to be able to deduce that, if Tweety is a bird, then it is probable that Tweety can fly. If we learn subsequently that Tweety is a penguin, we should be able to revise our initial conclusion.

This kind of nonmonotonic reasoning is outside the scope of classical logic but is handled quite naturally by the ICMAUS framework (see ).

## 5 Conclusion

One of the strengths of the ICMAUS framework is that it allows ontological knowledge to be represented in a manner that is relatively simple and comprehensible. It has an ability to cope with uncertainties in knowledge and it can perform the kinds of probabilistic reasoning that seem to be needed in the Semantic Web.

The ICMAUS framework also has strengths in other areas—such as natural language processing, planning and problem solving, and unsupervised learning—that may prove useful in the future development of the Semantic Web.

## Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to Manos Batsis, Pat Hayes, Steve Robertshaw and Heiner Stuckenschmidt for constructive comments that I have received on these ideas.


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# 𝐾⁻/𝐾⁺ ratio at GSI in hot and dense matter

## I Introduction

Heavy-ion collisions at energies around 1-2 AGeV offer the possibility of studying hadrons under extreme conditions , and especially the properties of antikaons in a hot and dense medium. A considerable effort has been invested in analysing heavy-ion data implementing the modified properties of the hadrons in the medium where they are produced. In particular the multiplicity of kaons and antikaons could give information about their in-medium properties.

One first observation in C$`+`$C and Ni$`+`$Ni collisions  is that, as a function of the energy difference $`\sqrt{s}`$-$`\sqrt{s_{th}}`$, where $`\sqrt{s_{th}}`$ is the energy for the particle production (2.5 GeV for $`K^+`$ via $`pp\mathrm{\Lambda }K^+p`$ and 2.9 GeV for $`K^{}`$ via $`ppppK^{}K^+`$), the number of $`K^{}`$ balanced the number of $`K^+`$ although in $`pp`$ collisions the production cross-sections close to threshold are 2-3 orders of magnitude different. This could be interpreted as an indication of an attractive $`K^{}`$ optical potential in the medium.

It has also been observed that the $`K^{}/K^+`$ ratio remains almost constant for C$`+`$C, Ni$`+`$Ni and Au$`+`$Au collisions for 1.5 AGeV . This could indicate that the absorption of $`K^{}`$ via $`K^{}NY\pi `$ is suppressed and/or an enhanced $`K^{}`$ production is obtained because of an attractive $`K^{}`$ optical potential.

Finally, a centrality independence for the $`K^{}/K^+`$ ratio has been noticed in Au$`+`$Au and Pb$`+`$Pb reactions at 1.5 AGeV . A recent interpretation claims that this centrality independence is a consequence of the strong correlation between the $`K^+`$ and $`K^{}`$ yields . In fact, the centrality independence of the $`K^{}/K^+`$ ratio has often been advocated as signalling the lack of in-medium effects in the framework of statistical models as the volume cancels out exactly in the ratio . However, Brown et al. introduced the concept of “broad-band equilibration”  according to which the independence on centrality of the $`K^{}/K^+`$ ratio can be explained including medium effects.

This paper is devoted to study the influence of dressing the antikaons on the $`K^{}/K^+`$ ratio with particular emphasis of bringing new insight into the role of in-medium effects in heavy-ion collisions at GSI energies.

## II In-medium effects on thermal models: $`𝑲^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{/}𝑲^\mathbf{+}`$ ratio

In this section we present a calculation of the $`K^{}/K^+`$ ratio in the framework of the statistical model. The basic hypothesis is to assume thermal and chemical equilibrium  in the final state of relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions. One deals with an hadronic gas model which is a dilute system of hadrons that can be described by two parameters: the baryonic chemical potential $`\mu _B`$ and the temperature $`T`$.

The fact that the number of strange particles in the final state is small at GSI energies requires an exact treatment of strangeness conservation, while the baryonic and charge conservation laws can be satisfied on average.

Therefore, using statistical mechanics, one obtains for the $`K^{}/K^+`$ ratio

$`{\displaystyle \frac{K^{}}{K^+}}={\displaystyle \frac{Z_K^{}^1}{Z_{K^+}^1}}{\displaystyle \frac{Z_{K^+}^1+Z_{M,S=+1}^1}{Z_K^{}^1+Z_{B,S=1}^1+Z_{M,S=1}}}`$ (1)
where $`Z_{K^+}^1(Z_K^{}^1)`$ is the one-particle partition function for $`K^+(K^{})`$, and $`Z_{B,S=\pm 1}^1(Z_{M,S=\pm 1}^1)`$ indicate the sum of one-particle partition functions for baryons (mesons) with $`S=\pm 1`$. It is interesting to note that the $`K^{}/K^+`$ ratio is independent of the volume and, hence, the same in the canonical and grandcanonical scheme used for strangeness conservation in contrast to the $`K^{}`$ and $`K^+`$ multiplicities alone .

As mentioned in the Introduction, our objective is to study how the in-medium modifications of the properties of the hadrons at finite temperature affect the value of the $`K^{}`$/$`K^+`$ ratio, focusing our attention on the dressing of antikaons. For consistency with previous works, we prefer to compute the inverse ratio $`K^+`$/$`K^{}`$

$`{\displaystyle \frac{K^+}{K^{}}}={\displaystyle \frac{Z_{K^+}^1(Z_K^{}^1+Z_\mathrm{\Lambda }^1+Z_\mathrm{\Sigma }^1+Z_\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}^1)}{Z_K^{}^1Z_{K^+}^1}}=1+{\displaystyle \frac{Z_\mathrm{\Lambda }^1+Z_\mathrm{\Sigma }^1+Z_\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}^1}{Z_K^{}^1}}`$ (2)
This expression is equivalent to Eq. (1) but takes into account only the most relevant contributions. For balancing the number of $`K^+`$, the main contribution in the $`S=1`$ sector comes from $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ hyperons and, in a smaller proportion, from $`K^{}`$ mesons and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}(1385)`$ resonances. The number of $`K^{}`$ is balanced by the presence of $`K^+`$ mesons.

Then, the particles involved in the calculation should be dressed according to their properties in the hot and dense medium in which they are embedded. For the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, the partition function

$`Z_{\mathrm{\Lambda },\mathrm{\Sigma }}=g_{\mathrm{\Lambda },\mathrm{\Sigma }}V{\displaystyle \frac{d^3p}{(2\pi )^3}e^{\frac{\sqrt{m_{\mathrm{\Lambda },\mathrm{\Sigma }}^2+p^2}U_{\mathrm{\Lambda },\mathrm{\Sigma }}(\rho )+\mu _B}{T}}},`$ (3)
is built using a mean-field dispersion relation for the single-particle energies ($`U_\mathrm{\Lambda }(\rho )=340\rho +1087.5\rho ^2`$ of Ref. , where $`U_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is given in MeV and $`\rho `$ in $`\mathrm{fm}^3`$, and $`U_\mathrm{\Sigma }(\rho )=30\rho /\rho _0`$ MeV of Ref.  with $`\rho _0=0.17\mathrm{fm}^3`$). The resonance $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}(1385)`$ is described by a Breit-Wigner shape

$`Z_\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ $`=`$ $`g_\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}V{\displaystyle \frac{d^3p}{(2\pi )^3}_{m_\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}2\mathrm{\Gamma }}^{m_\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}+2\mathrm{\Gamma }}𝑑se^{\frac{\sqrt{p^2+s}}{T}}\frac{1}{\pi }\frac{m_\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }}{(sm_\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}^2)^2+m_\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}^2\mathrm{\Gamma }^2}e^{\frac{\mu _B}{T}}},`$ (4)
with $`m_\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}=1385\mathrm{MeV}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=37\mathrm{MeV}`$.

Finally, two different prescriptions for the single-particle energy of the antikaons have been used (see Fig.2). First, we use the on-shell or mean-field approximation for the $`K^{}`$ potential. In this approach the partition function reads

$`Z_K^{}`$ $`=`$ $`g_K^{}V{\displaystyle \frac{d^3p}{(2\pi )^3}e^{\frac{\sqrt{m_K^{}^2+p^2}U_K^{}(T,\rho ,E_K^{},p)}{T}}},`$ (5)
where $`U_K^{}(T,\rho ,E_K^{},p)`$ is the $`K^{}`$ single-particle potential in the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach  (see l.h.s. of Fig. 2) based on the $`\overline{K}N`$ meson-exchange potential of the Jülich group . The second approach incorporates the $`K^{}`$ spectral density,

$`Z_K^{}`$ $`=`$ $`g_K^{}V{\displaystyle \frac{d^3p}{(2\pi )^3}𝑑sS_K^{}(p,\sqrt{s})e^{\frac{\sqrt{s}}{T}}},`$ (6)
using the s-wave component of the Jülich interaction and adding the p-wave contributions as done in Ref.  (see r.h.s. of Fig. 2). This p-wave components come from the coupling of the $`K^{}`$ meson to hyperon-hole states ($`YN^1`$).

## III Results for the $`𝑲^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{/}𝑲^\mathbf{+}`$ ratio

In this section we discuss the effects of dressing the $`K^{}`$ mesons in hot and dense matter on the $`K^{}/K^+`$ ratio using an experimental value of 0.031 $`\pm `$ 0.005 as reported in  for Ni$`+`$Ni collisions at 1.93 AGeV.

In Fig. 1 the inverse ratio, $`K^+/K^{}`$, is shown for two temperatures ($`T=50`$ MeV and $`T=80`$ MeV) using different approaches for the dressing of the $`K^{}`$ meson: free gas (dot-dashed lines), the on-shell approach (dotted lines) and using the $`K^{}`$ spectral density including s-waves (long-dashed lines) or both s- and p-waves (solid lines). We note that the ratio grows with $`e^{\mu _B/T}`$ as we increase the density. The curves representing the $`K^+/K^{}`$ ratio tend to bend down after the initial increase when the in-medium $`K^{}`$ properties are included. This effect is clearly seen when the s- and p-wave contributions of the $`K^{}`$ spectral self-energy are taken into account in the spectral density. Actually, the low energy components of the $`K^{}`$ spectral density related to $`YN^1`$ excitations are responsible for this behaviour (see the overlap of the Boltzmann factor with the low energy region of the $`K^{}`$ spectral density in Fig. 2). A flat region as a function of the density is observed, which is in qualitative agreement with the “broad-band equilibration” advocated by Brown et al.. However, this behaviour was found using a mean-field model, through a compensation of the increased attraction of the mean-field $`K^{}`$ potential with the increase in the baryon chemical potential as density grows. In contrast, our mean-field approach does not achieve this “broad-band” behaviour.

In order to obtain the relation between the temperature and the chemical potential for a fixed value of the $`K^+/K^{}`$ ratio, the l.h.s. of Fig. 3 shows the values of temperature and chemical potential compatible with a value of $`K^+/K^{}=30`$ for the approaches discussed above. The dot-dashed line stands for a free gas, similar to the calculations of Ref.. The on-shell approach (dotted line) does not represent the broad-band effect, as already mentioned. But due to the enhanced attraction felt by the $`K^{}`$ mesons for higher densities, the chemical potential $`\mu _B`$ compatible with the value of the experimental ratio measured also increases for a given temperature. When the $`K^{}`$ spectral density containing s-wave components is used (dashed line), two possible solutions that are compatible with the ratio emerge. Finally, a band of chemical potentials $`\mu _B`$ up to 850 MeV at a temperature of $`T35`$ MeV appears, when both, s- and p-wave contributions are considered (solid line). However, in the latter case, the temperature is too low to be compatible with the measured slope parameter of the pion spectra and the corresponding freeze-out densities are too small (up to $`0.02\rho _0`$ only), so we can hardly speak of a “broad band” feature in the sense of that of Brown et al. In the r.h.s. of Fig. 3 we represent the temperature and chemical potential for different values of the ratio when the full $`K^{}`$ spectral density is used. One observes that the ratio should be of the order of $`15`$ to obtain the more plausible temperature of $`T70`$ MeV. We note that this reduced ratio translates into an overall enhanced production of $`K^{}`$ by a factor of 2 compared to the experimental value. This effect is a consequence of the additional strength of the $`K^{}`$ spectral density at low energies.

## IV Conclusions

The influence of a hot and dense medium on the properties of the hadrons involved in the determination of the $`K^{}`$/$`K^+`$ ratio has been studied, paying special attention to the properties of antikaons. The temperature and chemical potential compatible with a given ratio depend very strongly on the approach used for the in-medium property of the $`K^{}`$($`T35`$ MeV and $`\mu _B`$ up to $`850`$ MeV for $`K^+`$/$`K^{}=30`$ with the full $`K^{}`$ spectral density).

The “broad-band equilibration” advocated by Brown, Rho and Song is not achieved in the on-shell approach. This behaviour is only observed when $`K^{}`$ is described by the full spectral density due to the coupling of the $`K^{}`$ meson to $`YN^1`$ states. However, the $`K^{}/K^+`$ ratio is in excess by a factor of 2 with respect to the experimental one. Dynamical non-equilibrium effects could explain the number of on-shell $`K^{}`$ at freeze-out. This study is left for forthcoming work.

## Acknowledgments

This work is partially supported by DGICYT project BFM2001-01868, by the Generalitat de Catalunya project 2001SGR00064 and by NSF grant PHY-03-11859. L.T. also wishes to acknowledge support from the Ministerio de Educación y Cultura (Spain).


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Extra-dimensional scenarios have been put forward in recent times as a possible solution to the so called hierarchy problem . Such models typically bring down the Planck scale from their traditional high values to a scale in the TeV region. While there would be correctional terms to measurables in high energy processes coming from excitations of standard model particles, there is also the very interesting possibility that such models would give rise to the presence of black holes in the TeV region rather than the normal Planck mass scale . Since TeV scale laboratory collisions are well within view, we should expect, if these models are valid, black hole production in the laboratory. The detection of such black holes would be usually studied by its decay products in such collisions.

In the classical scenario , one would expect a black hole to radiate through a black body radiation spectrum. This would be reflected in the decay products having large multiplicity and large transverse energy . One of course has no clue at the moment whether such classical ideas would survive in a full quantum theory of gravitation which of course does not exist till now. However, this picture cannot survive if the black hole mass is close to the Planck mass. As the black hole starts radiating its mass would decrease and approach the Planck mass, where Hawking’s approximation breaks down. The radiation emitted at that stage is probably highly non-thermal .

The situation becomes more reminiscent of atomic radiation if one accepts some current ideas regarding quantization of black hole mass. This idea of quantization was first put forward by Bekenstein  and has been dealt with by a number of authors since. If the quantization picture is correct then the ideas mentioned above, regarding radiation emitted by a black hole according to the black body radiation formula, may be expected via the correspondence principle only when the level splitting becomes very small compared with the mass. The ground state of such a system would be stable against such radiation but would probably decay into ordinary particles. If the Planck mass is indeed in the TeV region, then as we go to higher and higher values of energy in the laboratory, the ground state black hole would be the first one to be reached in a quantized black hole scenario. It is thus interesting then to think about the possible signatures for that.

In a recent publication Bilke et al.  have put forward the interesting idea that for such quantized black holes, for low values of quantum numbers, the black hole should be treated like any other particle, describable by a quantum field which interacts with other standard model fields. They concentrate on a doubly charged black hole and work out possible signatures of that in a possible electron-electron TeV scale scattering. We find this idea very interesting and the purpose of this note is to further consider this picture in relation to neutral systems.

The quantization formula for the black hole mass has the form

$$M_{bh}^2=gM_P^2\left[n\left(1+\alpha \frac{q^2}{2n}\right)+\frac{j^2}{n}\right]$$
(1)
where $`M_P`$ is the Planck mass, $`\alpha `$ the fine structure constant, $`n`$ the radial quantum number, $`j`$ the angular momentum of the black hole as constrained by

$$j^2+\frac{\alpha q^2}{4}n^2.$$

$`g`$ is a pre-factor whose actual value is somewhat uncertain. We shall take the value of $`g`$ as given by Khriplovich  and we shall see that the type of conclusions we wish to draw are independent of this particular choice. The central point about the relevance of this mass formula for high energy scattering is that it not only relates the masses and the ground state, and its excitations, but also predicts that charged and neutral black holes must exist together with unequal but correlated masses. This is completely different from the situation in a hadronic resonance where charged and neutral resonant states have only electromagnetic splittings. Not only that, as we show below, the neutral and charged black holes in the ground state will exhibit different characteristics in high energy collisions.

Consider first a doubly charged black hole in the ground state $`n=1`$ which we represent as discussed above by a scalar field $`\varphi _c`$. Its interaction with electron field $`\psi `$ can be written down as

$$L_{int}^c=\frac{i\kappa ^c}{2}M_{bh}^c\varphi _c\stackrel{~}{\psi }C\psi $$
(2)
where $`\kappa ^c`$ is the effective coupling constant,$`C`$ is the charge conjugation matrix and $`M_{bh}^c`$ is the mass of the doubly charged black hole with $`q=2`$ and $`j=0`$. As shown in by Bilke et al. , the coupling constant $`\kappa ^c`$ can be related to the Schwarzschild radius $`R_s`$ in $`(n+3)`$-dimensions :

$`\kappa ^c`$ $`=`$ $`2R_s`$ (3)
$`R_s`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi }M_P}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{M_{bh}^c}{M_P}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{8\mathrm{\Gamma }(\frac{n+3}{2})}{n+2}}\right)\right]^{\left(\frac{1}{n+1}\right)}.`$ (4)
The matrix element for the scattering process

$$e^{}(p_1)+e^{}(p_2)e^{}(p_3)+e^{}(p_4)$$

through the black hole of mass $`M_{bh}^c`$ considered as a Breit-Wigner resonance of width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{tot}^c`$ is

$`M(p_1,p_2;p_3,p_4)`$ $`=`$ $`M^{}(p_3,p_4)\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{s(M_{bh}^c+\frac{i\mathrm{\Gamma }_{tot}^c}{2})^2}}\right\}M(p_1,p_2)`$ (5)
$`M(p,q)`$ $`=`$ $`i\kappa ^cM_{bh}^c\stackrel{~}{u}(p)Cu(q)`$ (6)
where $`s`$ is the centre of mass energy squared. We can readily calculate the total cross section with this amplitude. Neglecting masses in the incoming and outgoing channels, we get

$$\sigma (s)=\frac{(\kappa ^cM_{bh}^c)^4s}{16\pi }\frac{1}{|s(M_{bh}^c+\frac{i\mathrm{\Gamma }_{bh}^c}{2})^2|^2}$$
(7)
The cross section calculated above differs from the one calculated by Bilke et al.  in one essential respect. Unlike them we have not assumed that the resonant black hole emits particles with a black body radiation spectrum which would have necessitated multiplying the phase space at every point with a statistical factor. We feel justified in doing so since at the ground level, there is no classical Hawking radiation and therefore there is no question of particles being emitted as if they are emitted from a black body of a certain temperature. As emphasized earlier, the hypothesis we are testing is whether a black hole after emitting all the Hawking type of radiation it could and falling to the ground state can be treated like any other particle describable by a field.

The cross section given above as such is not suitable for direct comparison with experimental data since it involves an unknown quantity, namely the total width. The elastic width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^c`$ can of course be easily calculated from the basic interaction given above and turns out to be

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }^c=\frac{(\kappa ^c)^2(M_{bh}^c)^3}{8\pi }.$$
(8)
Bilke et al.  make the assumption that the total and the elastic widths are equal. We believe that this assumption is justified in the charged case but not in the neutral case and this is the key to the difference in behaviour of the two. To show this, consider an extra particle (considered spinless for simplicity) described by a field $`\chi `$ produced in the collision along with the electrons. The coupling of the charged black hole to the three particle state of two electrons and the scalar is effectively described by the interaction

$$L^\chi =\frac{i\kappa ^c}{2M_P}M_{bh}^c\varphi _c\chi \stackrel{~}{\psi }C\psi ,$$
(9)
where the Planck mass in the denominator effectively compensates the extra dimension introduced by the scalar field in the Lagrangian. There is of course no proof that the effective Lagrangian above should be related to the Lagrangian given in equation (2) except on dimensional grounds, and the fact we are dealing with interactions at scales defined by the Planck mass. With this Lagrangian we can easily calculate the cross section for the process

$$e^{}+e^{}e^{}+e^{}+\chi $$

and we get

$$\sigma (e^{}+e^{}e^{}+e^{}+\chi )=\left[\frac{s}{48\pi ^2M_P^2}\right]\sigma (e^{}+e^{}e^{}+e^{}).$$
(10)
The factor in square brackets on the right hand-side is of course much less than one. This situation will become worse for multi-particle production and hence we find that the assumption made by Bilke et. al  is justified.

Consider now an electrically neutral process, like a pair of photons, producing a black hole. Like the charged case, the interaction can be defined by a Lagrangian:

$$L_{int}=\frac{\kappa }{M_{bh}}\varphi .F_{\mu \nu }F^{\mu \nu },$$
(11)
where $`\varphi `$ represents the neutral black hole field, $`M_{bh}`$ its mass given be equation (1) and $`\kappa `$ represents the coupling. Just as in the charged case, we can relate $`\kappa `$ to the Schwarzschild radius $`R_s`$ and we get an identical result $`\kappa =2R_s`$. The calculation for the cross section

$$\gamma +\gamma \gamma +\gamma $$

through the neutral black hole proceeds exactly parallel to the charged case with identical results. The crucial difference comes about in this case because although multi-particle production will be suppressed as in the charged case there are other two particle channels available for coupling to the neutral black hole. Neglecting particle masses, all these two particle channels will be produced approximately with the same cross section and hence in this the total width is no longer going to be equal to the elastic one but will be the elastic one multiplied by the number of two particle channels. In the standard model it is easily seen there will be 28 open two body channels. The cross section for the process

$$\gamma +\gamma \gamma +\gamma $$

will again be given by equation (7) with this understanding of the total cross section. The total cross section in this case of course will be 28 times the elastic one. This difference between the neutral and charged cross section as outlined above dictates that the neutral one should be much more flatter with the peak occurring at a slightly lower value, as predicted by the mass formula equation (1).

Figure 1 shows our result for a value of the Planck mass equal to 1TeV and the pre-factor $`g`$ taken to be $`g=0.614/\pi `$. The exact position of the peak of course depends on $`g`$ which as stated before has some uncertainty, but the relative position of the peak is independent of $`g`$. In figure 2 we show the same results for different values of the number of extra dimensions $`n`$.

In conclusion, we have shown that in the extra-dimensional scenario with quantized masses of the black hole, there are specific signatures which can be examined in a TeV scale scattering of particles. The chief characteristics are the necessary occurrence of a peak for neutral processes at a mass lower by a known factor from the peak position in a doubly charged scattering process. Further, characteristically, the neutral peak may be expected to much flatter as compared to the charged one. All these seem to be realizable experimentally in the foreseeable future.

## Acknowledgements

SRC would like to acknowledge the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for support through a research grant. This work was supported by the Australian Research Council and a grant from Melbourne University.