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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Recent research has explored the notion that artificial spike-based computation, inspired by models of computations in the central nervous system, may present significant advantages for specific types of large scale problems . This intuition is motivated in part by the fact that while neurons in the brain are enormously ”slower” than silicon based elements (about six orders of magnitude in both elementary computation time and signal transmission speed), their performance in networks often compares very favorably with their artificial counterparts even when reaction speed is concerned. In a sense, evolution may have been forced to develop extremely efficient computational schemes given available hardware limitations.

In this paper, we study new models for two common instances of such computation, winner-take-all and coincidence detection. In both cases, very fast convergence is achieved and network complexity is linear in the number of inputs.

We first present a simple network of FitzHugh-Nagumo (FN) neurons for fast winner-take-all computation. In contrast to most existing studies, e.g. the recent , the network’s initial state can be arbitrary, and its convergence is guaranteed in at most two spiking periods, making it particularly suitable to track time-varying inputs. If several neurons receive the same largest input, they all spike as a group.

Using a very similar architecture, but replacing global inhibition by global excitation, we obtain an FN network for fast coincidence detection, in a spirit similar to . Again the system’s response is practically immediate, regardless of the number of inputs.

In section 2 we review basic properties of the FitzHugh-Nagumo model in its dimensionless version. Sections 3 and 4 discuss applications to the design of fast winner-take-all networks and coincidence detection networks. Brief concluding remarks are offered in Section 5.

## 2 The FitzHugh-Nagumo Model

The FitzHugh-Nagumo model  is a well-known simplified version of the classical Hodgkin-Huxley model , the first mathematical model of wave propagation in squid nerve. Originally derived from the Van der Pol oscillator , it can be generalized using a linear state transformation to the dimensionless system

$$\{\begin{array}{cc}\dot{v}=v(\alpha v)(v1)w+I\hfill & \\ \dot{w}=\beta v\gamma w\hfill & \end{array}$$
(1)
where $`\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma `$ are positive constants. Here $`v`$ models membrane potential, $`w`$ accommodation and refractoriness, and $`I`$ stimulating current.

Simple properties of the FN model  can be exploited for neural computations. For appropriate parameter choices, there exists a unique equilibrium point for any given value of $`I`$. Furthermore, this equilibrium point is stable, except for a finite range $`I_lII_h`$ where the system tends to a limit cycle. The steady-state value of $`v`$ at the stable equilibrium point increases with $`I`$.

## 3 Winner-Take-All Network

Winner-take-all (WTA) networks, which pick the largest element from a collection of inputs, are ubiquitous in models of neural computation, and have been used extensively in the contexts of competitive learning, pattern recognition, selective visual attention, and decision making . Furthermore, Maass  showed that WTA represents a powerful computational primitive as compared to standard neural network models based on threshold or sigmoidal gates.

The architectures of most existing WTA models are based on inhibitory interactive networks, implemented either by a global inhibitory unit or by mutual inhibitory connections. Many studies, such as , require the system dynamics to be initiated from a particular state, which prevents real-time tracking of time-varying inputs. Starting with , many WTA implementations in analog VLSI circuits have been proposed. While they do guarantee a unique global minimum, dynamic analysis is difficult and computation resolution limited. Studies of spike-based WTA computation, as in , are comparatively recent. In this section, we describe a very simple network of FitzHugh-Nagumo neurons for fast winner-take-all computation, whose complexity is linear in the number of inputs. The network’s initial state can be arbitrary, and its convergence is guaranteed in at most two spiking periods, making it particularly suitable to track time-varying inputs. If several neurons receive the same largest input, they all spike as a group of winners.

As illustrated in Figure 1, the network consists of $`n`$ FN neurons. Each neuron receives a stimulating input $`I_i`$ from outside as well as a common inhibition current $`z`$ from the global inhibition neuron. The dynamics of the FN neurons ($`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$) are

$$\{\begin{array}{cc}\dot{v}_i=v_i(\alpha v_i)(v_i1)w_i+I_iz\hfill & \\ \dot{w}_i=\beta v_i\gamma w_i\hfill & \end{array}$$

The dynamics of the global inhibition neuron switches between a charging mode and a discharging mode. It starts charging if there is any FN neuron spiking in the network, i.e. when $`v_i`$ exceeds a given threshold value $`v_0`$. It switches to discharging if the state is saturated (enough close to the saturation value in simulation) and stays at this mode until next time a FN neuron spikes. The specific dynamics of these two modes can be very general. For simplicity, we use

$$\dot{z}=\{\begin{array}{cc}k_c(zz_0)\mathrm{charging}\mathrm{mode}\hfill & \\ k_dz\mathrm{discharging}\mathrm{mode}\hfill & \end{array}$$

where $`z_0`$ is a constant saturation value, and $`k_c`$ and $`k_d`$ are the charging rate and discharging rate.

Within at most two periods, the winner will be the only neuron spiking in the whole network. In some cases, this is achieved within the first period.

To perform WTA computation, we set the charging rate of the global neuron to be fast and the discharging rate to be slow. Thus, similarly to , if there is any FN neuron spiking, the strength of the inhibition current increases to its saturation value very rapidly, leaving no chance for the other neurons to spike. The global neuron then discharges slowly, which lets the FN neurons smoothly approach the oscillation region. The first neuron entering the oscillation region will be the one with the largest input. So it spikes as the winner and ignites a new period. Note that before enter the oscillation region, all FN neurons converge to their equilibrium points with the equilibrium point of the winner having the largest value. A slowly discharging process allows the winner to occupy the highest position and helps it to spike immediately once it enters the oscillation region. Given the parameters of the FN neurons, the frequency of the result depends on the global neuron’s saturation value, its charging and discharging rates, and the value of the largest input. If we also fix the global neuron dynamics, the frequency increases with the increasing of the largest input. Simulation results are shown in Figure 2.

Remarks

$``$ Initial conditions and computation speed The mechanism described above guarantees that initial conditions can be set arbitrarily, which cannot be realized by most of the previous WTA models. With appropriate parameters, the computation can be completed at most in two periods. The first spiking neuron is chosen by initial conditions, while the second one is the neuron with the largest input, which remains the winner until the inputs change. Actually, if the initial inhibition is set large enough so that all the FN neurons are depressed in the beginning, then the neuron with the largest input will spike first. The computation speed of our FN network is faster and more robust than the WTA model recently presented in , whose network of integrate-and-fire neurons has to wait until the winner gets the right to spike, which may take a long time for large networks.

$``$ Varying inputs and noise Since initial conditions do not matter in our model, the network can easily track time-varying inputs. Figure 3 illustrates such an example, where three inputs switch winning positions several times. The spiking neuron always tracks the largest input. The computation is robust to signal noise as well.

$``$ Multiple winners Decreasing the global neuron discharging rate $`k_d`$ extends the waiting time before the winner enters the oscillation region. This is helpful if there exist several neurons receiving the same largest input and we expect them all spike as a group of winners. Enlarging the time neurons stay in the stable region allows these neurons with the same input converge to each other, and to enter the oscillation region and spike simultaneously ( Figure 4). Note that in , only one winner can succeed and it is picked arbitrarily from the group of candidates.

If the network size is small, the network may be augmented with all-to-all couplings between FN neurons, with the coupling gain increasing with the similarity of the inputs (e.g., of the form $`e^{\alpha |I_jI_i|}`$ ). This lets the neurons receiving identical inputs converge together exponentially (using partial contraction theory ) and thus provides another solution to the multiple-winner problem.

$``$ Computation resolution Computation resolution can be improved by decreasing the global neuron discharging rate $`k_d`$ while increasing the charging rate $`k_c`$. Decreasing $`k_d`$ allows the winner fully distinguished with the following neurons; increasing $`k_c`$ prevents the following neurons spike after the winner. Figure 4 illustrates such an example with winners $`I_{max}=120`$ while the second largest input $`I_{10}=119.5`$. The resolution here is much better than the WTA models presented previously, including . It can be further enhanced by decreasing the relaxation time of the FN neurons.

$``$ Input bounds The inputs to the FN neurons should be lower-bounded by $`I_l`$ (the lower threshold of the oscillation region) to guarantee that the neurons can spike before the inhibition is fully released. They should also be upper bounded to set $`z_0`$.

$``$ $`K`$-Winner-Take-All $`K`$-Winner-Take-All ($`k`$-WTA) is a common variation of WTA computation , where the output indicates for each neuron whether its input is among the $`k`$ largest. An example $`k`$-WTA circuit in  extends the WTA model in  by formulating the problem in terms of mathematical programming, but it inherits its low resolution limit from  as well. Conversely, the advantages of the above FN network generalize to the $`k`$-WTA case. As inhibition decreases, the FN neurons enter the oscillation region rank-ordered by their inputs. For WTA computation, we charge the inhibition neuron after the first arrival. For $`k`$-WTA computation, we only need to modify the charging moment to capture the $`k^{\mathrm{th}}`$ arrival instead. Since the neurons enter the oscillation region in sequence, they spike in sequence. If we set $`k=n`$, we get a pre-ordered spiking sequence in each period, which may be used to realize soft-WTA , and also provides a simple desynchronization mechanism for binding problems . The computation resolution follows directly from that in WTA. A detailed description and discussion of the $`k`$-WTA network will be presented separately.

$``$ Spike-controlled coupling and slow inhibition The feedforward and recurrent connections used in our WTA network are similar to those in , where a “universal” control system is developed based on olivo-cerebellar networks. The couplings inside the circuit are also spike-controlled and they use a FitzHugh-Nagumo-like model containing four variables. A similar mechanism is also used in , where WTA is implemented to compute the object with the largest size. Slowly-discharged inhibition is also used in biologically motivated models such as .

$``$ Computational complexity The complexity of the network is $`O(n)`$. Since the FN neurons are independent, they can be added or removed from the network at any time.

## 4 Fast Coincidence Detection

Recent neuroscience research suggests that coincidence detection plays a key role in temporal binding . Hopfield et al.  proposed two neural network structures, both able to capture a “many-are-equal” moment, to model speech recognition and olfactory processing. A similar computation can be implemented by FN neurons, with faster and more salient response.

Consider a leader-followers network with a structure similar to Figure 1, except that the global neuron (the leader) is now excitatory, and the connections from the leader to the followers are unidirectional. For simplicity, we assume that all the neurons are FN neurons with the same parameters but different inputs. The dynamics of the leader $`(v_o,w_o)`$ obeys equations (1) while those of the followers ($`i=1,\mathrm{},n`$) are

$$\{\begin{array}{cc}\dot{v}_i=v_i(\alpha v_i)(v_i1)w_i+I_i+k(v_0v_i)\hfill & \\ \dot{w}_i=\beta v_i\gamma w_i\hfill & \end{array}$$

where $`k(v_0v_i)`$ is the coupling force from the leader to the followers. Neurons $`i`$ and $`j`$ synchronize only if inputs $`I_i`$ and $`I_j`$ are identical. We define the system output accordingly to capture the moment when this condition becomes true for a large number of inputs, as illustrated in Figure 5. Note that the coupling gain $`k`$ should be large enough to guarantee synchronization (an explicit threshold can be computed analytically ), but not so large as to have the leader numerically dominate the dynamic differences between the followers. More general formal studies of synchronization can be found in , based on nonlinear contraction theory.

## 5 Concluding Remarks

Basic computations such as winner-take-all and coincidence detection can be performed fast and robustly using extremely simple spike-based models. The results are currently being extended to higher-level perception problems.

Acknowledgments: This work was supported in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. The authors benefited from stimulating discussions with Matthew Tresch.


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# 𝒮𝒫ℳ Bulletin Issue number 6: November 2003 CE

## 1. Editor’s note

After a long break, we are back with some very interesting research announcements and an open problem which is one of the most difficult, long lasting, and important problems in the field.

A major change in this bulletin is that from now on it will usually not appear monthly, but more close to quarterly. Special announcements (if urgent) will be made by text emails. Contributions to the next issue are, as always, welcome.

### Previous issues

The first issues of this bulletin, which contain general information (first issue), basic definitions, research announcements, and open problems (all issues) are available online:

1. First issue: http://arxiv.org/abs/math.GN/0301011
2. Second issue: http://arxiv.org/abs/math.GN/0302062
3. Third issue: http://arxiv.org/abs/math.GN/0303057
4. Fourth issue: http://arxiv.org/abs/math.GN/0304087
5. Fifth issue: http://arxiv.org/abs/math.GN/0305367

### Contributions

Please submit your contributions (announcements, discussions, and open problems) by e-mailing us. It is preferred to write them in . The authors are urged to use as standard notation as possible, or otherwise give a reference to where the notation is explained. Contributions to this bulletin would not require any transfer of copyright, and material presented here can be published elsewhere.

### Subscription

To receive this bulletin (free) to your e-mailbox, e-mail us.

*Boaz Tsaban*, tsaban@math.huji.ac.il

http://www.cs.biu.ac.il/~tsaban

## 2. Research announcements

### 2.1. The Topological Version of Fodor’s Theorem

The following purely topological generalization is given of Fodor’s theorem (also known as the “pressing down lemma”): Let $`X`$ be a locally compact, non-compact $`T_2`$ space such that any two closed unbounded111A set is bounded if it has compact closure. (c u b) subsets of $`X`$ intersect; call $`SX`$ stationary if it meets every c u b in $`X`$. Then for every neighbourhood assignment $`U`$ defined on a stationary set $`S`$ there is a stationary subset $`TS`$ such that

$$\{U(x):xT\}\mathrm{}.$$

Just like the “modern” proof of Fodor’s theorem, our proof hinges on a notion of diagonal intersection of c u b’s, definable under some additional conditions.

We also use these results to present an (alas, only partial) generalization to this framework of Solovay’s celebrated stationary set decomposition theorem.

*Istvan Juhasz*, juhasz@renyi.hu

*A. Szymanski*

### 2.2. Continuous images of big sets and additivity of $`s_0`$ under CPAprism

We prove that the Covering Property Axiom CPAprism, which holds in the iterated perfect set model, implies the following facts.

* There exists a family $`𝒢`$ of uniformly continuous functions from $``$ to $`[0,1]`$ such that $`|𝒢|=\omega _1`$ and for every $`S[]^𝔠`$ there exists a $`g𝒢`$ with $`g[S]=[0,1]`$.
* The additivity of the Marczewski ideal $`s_0`$ of is equal to $`\omega _1<𝔠`$.

*Krzysztof Ciesielski*, K\_Cies@math.wvu.edu

*Janusz Pawlikowski*, pawlikow@math.uni.wroc.pl

### 2.3. Uncountable $`\gamma `$-sets under axiom CPA$`{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{game}}{}_{\mathrm{cube}}{}^{}`$

In the paper we formulate a Covering Property Axiom CPA$`{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{game}}{}_{\mathrm{cube}}{}^{}`$, which holds in the iterated perfect set model, and show that it implies the existence of uncountable strong $`\gamma `$-sets in $``$ (which are strongly meager) as well as uncountable $`\gamma `$-sets in $``$ which are not strongly meager. These sets must be of cardinality $`\omega _1<𝔠`$, since every $`\gamma `$-set is universally null, while CPA$`{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{game}}{}_{\mathrm{cube}}{}^{}`$ implies that every universally null has cardinality less than $`𝔠=\omega _2`$.

We will also show that CPA$`{}_{}{}^{\mathrm{game}}{}_{\mathrm{cube}}{}^{}`$ implies the existence of a partition of $``$ into $`\omega _1`$ null compact sets.

*Krzysztof Ciesielski*, K\_Cies@math.wvu.edu

*Andrés Millán*, amillan@math.wvu.edu

*Janusz Pawlikowski*, pawlikow@math.uni.wroc.pl

### 2.4. Ultrafilters with property (s)

A set X which is a subset of the Cantor set has property $`(s)`$ (Marczewski (Spzilrajn)) iff for every perfect set $`P`$ there exists a perfect set $`Q`$ contained in $`P`$ such that $`Q`$ is a subset of $`X`$ or $`Q`$ is disjoint from $`X`$. Suppose $`U`$ is a nonprincipal ultrafilter on $`\omega `$. It is not difficult to see that if $`U`$ is preserved by Sacks forcing, i.e., it generates an ultrafilter in the generic extension after forcing with the partial order of perfect sets, then $`U`$ has property $`(s)`$ in the ground model. It is known that selective ultrafilters or even $`P`$-points are preserved by Sacks forcing. On the other hand (answering a question raised by Hrusak) we show that assuming CH (or more generally MA for countable posets) there exists an ultrafilter $`U`$ with property $`(s)`$ such that $`U`$ does not generate an ultrafilter in any extension which adds a new subset of $`\omega `$.

The paper is available online at

> http://arXiv.org/abs/math/0310438

*Arnold W. Miller*, miller@math.wisc.edu

### 2.5. There may be no Hausdorff ultrafilters

An ultrafilter $`U`$ is Hausdorff if for any two functions $`f,g`$ mapping $``$ to $``$, $`f(U)=g(U)`$ iff $`f(n)=g(n)`$ for $`n`$ in some $`X`$ in $`U`$. We will show that it is consistent that there are no Hausdorff ultrafilters.

The paper is available online at

> http://arXiv.org/abs/math/0311064

*Tomek Bartoszynski*, tomek@math.boisestate.edu

*Saharon Shelah*, shelah@math.huji.ac.il

### 2.6. Proper forcing and rectangular Ramsey theorems

I prove forcing preservation theorems for products of definable partial orders preserving the cofinality of the meager or null ideal. Rectangular Ramsey theorems for related ideals follow from the proofs.

The paper is available online at

> http://arXiv.org/abs/math/0311135

*Jindrich Zapletal*, zapletal@math.ufl.edu

### 2.7. Cardinal characteristics of the ideal of Haar null sets

We calculate the cardinal characteristics of the $`\sigma `$-ideal $`𝒩(G)`$ of Haar null subsets of a Polish non-locally compact group $`G`$ with invariant metric and show that $`\mathrm{𝖼𝗈𝗏}(𝒩(G))𝔟\mathrm{max}\{𝔡,\mathrm{𝗇𝗈𝗇}(𝒩)\}\mathrm{𝗇𝗈𝗇}(𝒩(G))\mathrm{𝖼𝗈𝖿}(𝒩(G))>\mathrm{min}\{𝔡,\mathrm{𝗇𝗈𝗇}(𝒩)\}`$. If $`G=_{n0}G_n`$ is the product of abelian locally compact groups $`G_n`$, then $`\mathrm{𝖺𝖽𝖽}(𝒩(G))=\mathrm{𝖺𝖽𝖽}(𝒩)`$, $`\mathrm{𝖼𝗈𝗏}(𝒩(G))=\mathrm{min}\{𝔟,\mathrm{𝖼𝗈𝗏}(𝒩)\}`$, $`\mathrm{𝗇𝗈𝗇}(𝒩(G))=\mathrm{max}\{𝔡,\mathrm{𝗇𝗈𝗇}(𝒩)\}`$ and $`\mathrm{𝖼𝗈𝖿}(𝒩(G))\mathrm{𝖼𝗈𝖿}(𝒩)`$, where $`𝒩`$ is the ideal of Lebesgue null subsets on the real line. Martin Axiom implies that $`\mathrm{𝖼𝗈𝖿}(𝒩(G))>2^\mathrm{}_0`$ and hence $`G`$ contains a Haar null subset of $`G`$ that cannot be enlarged to a Borel or projective Haar null subset of $`G`$. This gives a negative (consistent) answer to a question of S.Solecki. To obtain these estimates we show that for a Polish non-locally compact group $`G`$ with invariant metric the ideal $`𝒩(G)`$ contains all $`o`$-bounded subsets (equivalently, subsets with the small ball property) of $`G`$.

*Taras Banakh*, tbanakh@franko.lviv.ua

### 2.8. A note on generalized Egorov’s theorem

We prove that the following generalized version of Egorov’s theorem is independent from the ZFC axioms of the set theory.

Let $`\{f_n\}_{n\omega }`$, $`f_n:0,1R`$, be a sequence of functions (not necessarily measurable) converging pointwise to zero for every $`x0,1`$. Then for every $`\epsilon >0`$, there are a set $`A0,1`$ of Lebesgue outer measure $`m^{}>1\epsilon `$ and a sequence of integers $`\{n_k\}_{k\omega }`$ with $`\{f_{n_k}\}_{k\omega }`$ converging uniformly on $`A`$.

*Tomasz Weiss*, tomaszweiss@go2.pl

## 3. Problem of the month

The following is extracted from . Borel’s Conjecture, which was proved to be consistent by Laver, implies that each set of reals satisfying $`𝖲_1(𝒪,𝒪)`$ (and the classes below it) is countable. From our point of view this means that there do not exist ZFC examples of sets satisfying $`𝖲_1(𝒪,𝒪)`$. A set of reals $`X`$ is a *$`\sigma `$-set* if each $`G_\delta `$ set in $`X`$ is also an $`F_\sigma `$ set in $`X`$. In  it is proved that every element of $`𝖲_1(_\mathrm{\Gamma },_\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ is a $`\sigma `$-set. According to a result of Miller , it is consistent that every $`\sigma `$-set of real numbers is countable. Thus, there do not exist uncountable ZFC examples satisfying $`𝖲_1(_\mathrm{\Gamma },_\mathrm{\Gamma })`$. The situation for the other classes, though addressed by top experts, remains open. In particular, we have the following.

###### Problem 3.1 (, \[4, Problem 45\], ).

Does there exist (in ZFC) an uncountable set of reals satisfying $`𝖲_1(_\mathrm{\Gamma },)`$?

By , this is the same as asking whether it is consistent that each uncountable set of reals can be mapped onto a dominating subset of $`{}_{}{}^{}`$ by a Borel function. This is one of the major open problems in the field.


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# Idempotents of Clifford Algebras11footnote 1Presented at the 12th International Colloquium “Quantum Groups and Integrable Systems”, Prague, 12-14 June 2003.

## 1 Introduction

In higher dimensional quantum field theories, as well as in higher dimensional relativistic quantum mechanics, a problem frequently arises how to project onto a specific invariant irreducible subspace of the spinor space. This problem is related to constructing and classifying idempotents of the corresponding Clifford algebras. Discrete families of primitive idempotents have been described by Chevalley  and are traditionally used to generate spinor representations of Clifford algebras .

In this paper we classify idempotents for arbitrary Clifford algebras $`C^{p,q}`$ over the reals. Some low dimensional examples are discussed.

In order to find all idempotent elements in a Clifford algebra $`C^{p,q},`$ we use its matrix representation. Due to the Wedderburn theorem, simple Clifford algebras are isomorphic to full matrix algebras over a division ring. The semisimple Clifford algebras are direct sums of such two simple algebras. In the Table 1 we recall the well known isomorphisms between Clifford algebras $`C^{p,q}`$ and matrix rings,

where $`,,`$ denote the real numbers, the complex numbers and the quaternions, respectively.

In the following we find all classes of idempotents, up to an isomorphy of the chosen basis, using a specific matrix representation for every particular Clifford algebra $`C^{p,q}`$.

## 2 The case $`pq`$ $`(\text{mod }8)=3,7`$

Let us start with case $`C^{p,q}M(2^{\frac{p+q1}{2}},)`$. Suppose that $`𝐀M(n,)`$ with $`N=2^{\frac{p+q1}{2}}`$ is an idempotent matrix. By means of a similarity transformation it can be transformed to its Jordan form. Consequently, the idempotency implies that the Jordan form of $`𝐀`$ must be (up to a transposition of the basis vectors) of the form $`\mathrm{\Pi }_n=\mathrm{diag}\{\underset{n}{\underset{}{1,1,\mathrm{},1}},\underset{Nn}{\underset{}{0,\mathrm{},0}}\}`$, $`n=0,1,2,\mathrm{},N`$; note two trivial cases: $`n=0`$ ($`𝐀=0`$) and $`n=N`$ ($`𝐀=I`$). Therefore, $`𝐀`$ has the form

$$𝐀=𝐒\mathrm{\Pi }_n𝐒^1\text{where}𝐒𝐆=\text{GL}(N,).$$

Evidently, the families –i.e. orbits of the $`\text{GL}(N,)`$ group action– of idempotents can be distinguished by the trace of their elements, since these traces are group characters. Each orbit of an idempotent family is generated from a single $`\mathrm{\Pi }_n`$. The $`\mathrm{\Pi }_n`$ form a section of the discrete Weyl group, generating the ring of irreducible representations. The stability group of $`\mathrm{\Pi }_n`$ is the direct product $`𝐆_o:=\text{GL}(n,)\times \text{GL}(Nn,)`$. The matrices $`𝐒`$ can be decomposed as $`𝐒_{𝐆/𝐆_o}𝐒_{𝐆_o}`$ with $`𝐒_{𝐆_o}𝐆_o`$ and $`𝐒_{𝐆/𝐆_o}𝐆/𝐆_o`$, $`[𝐆_o𝐒]=0`$. It is clear that

$$𝐀=𝐒_{𝐆/𝐆_o}\mathrm{\Pi }_n𝐒_{𝐆/𝐆_o}^1,$$

i.e., the manifold of the idempotents in this case forms a variety homeomorphic to the coset space

$$𝐆/𝐆_o=\frac{\text{GL}(N,)}{\text{GL}(n,)\times \text{GL}(Nn,)}.$$

Denoting this manifold by $`\text{IDEM}_n(C^{p,q}),`$ we obtain the following families of idempotents for $`(pq)\text{mod }8=3,7:`$

$$\text{IDEM}_n(C^{p,q})\frac{\text{GL}(N,)}{\text{GL}(n,)\times \text{GL}(Nn,)}.$$

where $`N=2^{\frac{p+q1}{2}}`$, $`n=0,1,2,\mathrm{},N`$.

Notice that the real dimension of $`\text{IDEM}_n`$ in these cases is

$$dim_{}\text{IDEM}_n(C^{p,q})=2(N^2n^2(Nn)^2)=4n(Nn).$$

## 3 The case $`pq`$ $`(\text{mod }8)=2,0`$

In this case $`C^{p,q}M(2^{\frac{p+q}{2}},)`$. In complete analogy to the previous case we obtain the following classification of idempotents:

$$\text{IDEM}_n(C^{p,q})\frac{\text{GL}(N,)}{\text{GL}(n,)\times \text{GL}(Nn,)},$$

where $`N=2^{\frac{p+q}{2}}`$, $`n=0,1,2,\mathrm{},N`$. In particular,

$$dim_{}\text{IDEM}_n(C^{p,q})=2n(Nn).$$

## 4 The case $`pq`$ $`(\text{mod }8)=4,6`$

In this case $`C^{p,q}M(2^{\frac{p+q}{2}},)`$. As before222The problem of diagonalization of quaternionic matrices and their Jordan form was considered, for example, in . we easily conclude that in this case

$$\text{IDEM}_n(C^{p,q})\frac{\text{GL}(N,)}{\text{GL}(n,)\times \text{GL}(Nn,)}.$$

$`N=2^{\frac{p+q2}{2}}`$, $`n=0,2,4,\mathrm{},N`$, and333$`n`$ is even because of the preservation of the quaternionic structure.

$$dim_{}\text{IDEM}_n(C^{p,q})=8n(Nn).$$

## 5 The case $`pq`$ $`(\text{mod }8)=1`$

In this case $`C^{p,q}=M(2^{\frac{2+q1}{2}},)M(2^{\frac{2+q1}{2}},)`$. Taking into account idempotency condition we can diagonalize idempotent $`𝐀`$ in this case to the form $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{n,m}=\mathrm{diag}\{\underset{n}{\underset{}{1,1,\mathrm{},1}},\underset{Nn}{\underset{}{0,\mathrm{},0}};\underset{m}{\underset{}{1,1,\mathrm{},1}},\underset{Nm}{\underset{}{0,\mathrm{},0}}\}`$ where $`N=2^{\frac{p+q1}{2}}`$. The stability group of $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{n,m}`$ should be a subgroup of $`\text{GL}(N,)\times \text{GL}(N,)`$ so it is simply $`(\text{GL}(n,)\times \text{GL}(Nn,))\times (\text{GL}(m,)\times \text{GL}(Nm,))`$. Therefore, the families of idempotents in this case are homeomorphic to the coset space

$$\text{IDEM}_{n,m}(C^{p,q})\frac{\text{GL}(N,)}{\text{GL}(n,)\times \text{GL}(Nn,)}\times \frac{\text{GL}(N,)}{\text{GL}(m,)\times \text{GL}(Nm,)},$$

$`N=2^{\frac{p+q1}{2}}`$, $`n=0,1,\mathrm{},N`$, $`m=0,1,\mathrm{},N`$, and

$$dim_{}\text{IDEM}_{n,m}(C^{p,q})=2(n(Nn)+m(Nm)).$$

## 6 The case $`pq`$ $`(\text{mod }8)=5`$

In this case $`C^{p,q}=M(2^{\frac{2+q3}{2}},)M(2^{\frac{2+q3}{2}},)`$. Using results obtained in Sect.4 we find that

$$\text{IDEM}_{n,m}(C^{p,q})\frac{\text{GL}(N,)}{\text{GL}(n,)\times \text{GL}(Nn,)}\times \frac{\text{GL}(N,)}{\text{GL}(m,)\times \text{GL}(Nm,)},$$

$`N=2^{\frac{p+q3}{2}}`$, $`n=0,2,4,\mathrm{},N`$, $`m=0,2,4,\mathrm{},N`$, and

$$dim_{}\text{IDEM}_{n,m}(C^{p,q})=8(n(Nn)+m(Nm)).$$

## 7 Low dimensional examples

### 7.1 The case $`pq`$ $`(\text{mod }8)=3,7`$

The lowest dimensional examples in this case are $`C^{3,0}`$ and $`C^{1,2}`$. We have chosen the following basis for these algebras:

$$\begin{array}{c}C^{3,0}=\text{span}\{I,\stackrel{}{\sigma },i\stackrel{}{\sigma },iI\}\hfill \\ C^{1,2}=\text{span}\{I,\sigma ^1,i\sigma ^2,i\sigma ^3,i\sigma ^1,\sigma ^2,\sigma ^3,iI\}\hfill \end{array}\}M(2,),$$

where the $`\sigma _i`$’s are Pauli matrices. Thus

$$𝐀=\frac{1}{2}(I+\stackrel{}{\phi }\stackrel{}{\sigma }),\stackrel{}{\phi }=\stackrel{}{y}+i\stackrel{}{z}\text{ where }\stackrel{}{y},\stackrel{}{z}^3.$$

If $`𝐀`$ is an idempotent matrix, then we obtain two equations for $`\stackrel{}{y},\stackrel{}{z}`$ of the form:

$$\stackrel{}{y}^2\stackrel{}{z}^2=1,$$
(1)
$$\stackrel{}{y}\stackrel{}{z}=0.$$
(2)
We see that the hypersurface given by (1) can be identified with the hyperboloid $`H_{3,3}`$ in $`^6`$. It can be shown that (2) represents a rotated cone $`V_{3,3}`$. Therefore, the variety of idempotents in the Clifford algebras $`C^{3,0}`$ and $`C^{1,2}`$ are isomorphic to the intersection of the hyperboloid (1) and the cone (2), $`H_{3,3}V_{3,3}`$.

$$\text{IDEM}_1(C^{3,0})=\text{IDEM}_1(C^{1,2})=\frac{\text{GL}(2,)}{\text{GL}(1,)\times \text{GL}(1,)}H_{3,3}V_{3,3},$$

$$dim_{}\text{IDEM}_1(C^{3,0})=dim\text{IDEM}_1(C^{1,2})=41(21)=4.$$

Now we can display exact expressions for the most general idempotent element $`𝐀`$ in our examples.

* In $`C^{3,0}`$, if we denote basis elements as

$$e^0=I,e^1=\sigma ^1,e^2=\sigma ^2,e^3=\sigma ^3,$$

$$e^{12}=i\sigma ^1,e^{23}=i\sigma ^2,e^{31}=i\sigma ^3,e^{123}=iI,$$

then

$$𝐀=\frac{1}{2}(e^0+y_1e^1+y_2e^2+y_3e^3+z_1e^{12}+z_2e^{23}+z_3e^{31}).$$
* In $`C^{1,2}`$, if we denote basis elements as

$$e^0=I,e^1=\sigma ^1,e^2=i\sigma ^2,e^3=i\sigma ^3,$$

$$e^{12}=i\sigma ^1,e^{23}=\sigma ^2,e^{31}=\sigma ^3,e^{123}=iI,$$

then we find

$$𝐀=\frac{1}{2}(e^0+y_1e^1+z_2e^2+z_3e^3z_1e^{12}+y_2e^{23}y_3e^{31}).$$

In both cases, $`\stackrel{}{y}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{z}`$ satisfy (1) and (2).

### 7.2 The case $`pq`$ $`(\text{mod }8)=2,0`$

The lowest dimensional Clifford algebras in this case are $`C^{2,0}`$ and $`C^{1,1}`$. We express all elements of these algebras in the following basis:

$$\begin{array}{c}C^{2,0}=\text{span}\{I,\sigma ^3,\sigma ^1,i\sigma ^2\}\hfill \\ C^{1,1}=\text{span}\{I,\sigma ^1,i\sigma ^2,\sigma ^3\}\hfill \end{array}\}M(2,),$$
(5)
$$𝐀=\frac{1}{2}(I+\stackrel{}{\phi }\stackrel{}{\sigma }),\stackrel{}{\phi }=(x,iz,y)\text{ where }x,y,z,$$

$$𝐀^2=𝐀\stackrel{}{\phi }^2=1,$$

$$\stackrel{}{\phi }^2=1x^2+y^2z^2=1.$$
(6)
If $`𝐀`$ is an idempotent matrix, then we find that $`\{\stackrel{}{\phi }^2\}`$ defines a one-sheet hyperboloid $`H_{2,1}`$ given by Eq. (6). Therefore the variety of idempotents $`\text{IDEM}_1(C^{2,0})`$ and $`\text{IDEM}_1(C^{1,1})`$ is isomorphic to such a hyperboloid.

$$\text{IDEM}_1(C^{2,0})=\text{IDEM}_1(C^{1,1})=\frac{\text{GL}(2,)}{\text{GL}(1,)\times \text{GL}(1,)}H_{2,1}$$

Note also that $`dim_{}\text{IDEM}_1(C^{2,0})=dim_{}\text{IDEM}_1(C^{1,1})=21(21)=2`$. We can rewrite the idempotent matrices in the chosen basis for the Clifford algebras under study.

* In $`C^{2,0}`$ we choose a basis

$$e^0=I,e^1=\sigma ^3,e^2=\sigma ^1,e^{12}=i\sigma ^2,$$

and obtain

$$𝐀=\frac{1}{2}(e^0+ye^1+xe^2+ze^{12}).$$
* In $`C^{1,1}`$ we choose a basis

$$e^0=I,e^1=\sigma ^1,e^2=i\sigma ^2,e^{12}=\sigma ^3,$$

and obtain

$$𝐀=\frac{1}{2}(e^0+xe^1+ze^2ye^{12}).$$

In the both cases, $`x,`$ $`y,`$ and $`z`$ satisfy equation (6).

For concrete low dimensional calculations it is convenient to use computer algebra systems. The presented low dimensional examples can be performed using CLIFFORD444http://www.math.tntech.edu/rafal/, a package for Maple555http://www.maplesoft.com .

## 8 Conclusions

We have demonstrated that idempotents of Clifford algebras form algebraic varieties. These are smooth manifolds in the natural topology. Since idempotents can be used to generate left and right spinor ideals, which carry representations of the algebra under consideration, these varieties contain valuable information about invariant subspaces and the representations. Since Clifford algebras can in general be obtained by tensoring lower dimensional Clifford algebras, present work provides information about tensor product representations that is valuable for branching processes and possibly for quantum information processing.

An obvious task for future research is to study intertwiners between the idempotent orbits. This is related to topological questions about the Witt ring on representations and should then be related to Brauer-Wall groups. One might expect to gain insight via, for example, Hopf fibration of spheres into the number and mutual relations of the intertwiners. Furthermore, it may be promising to reinspect the Radon-Hurwitz number involved in the matrix algebra isomorphisms, which counts the number of global vector fields, by performing the present work directly in an algebraic setting without using the matrix representations.


text:
# Decay of 𝐶/𝑍_𝑛: exact supergravity solutions

## 1 Introduction

Despite the impressive progress that has been made in the last several years in our understanding of open string tachyon condensation, the problem of closed string tachyon condensation remains deep and mysterious. Among the many advantages enjoyed by those studying open string tachyons,111See  for a nice review of open and closed string tachyon condensation, emphasizing the differences between the two cases. perhaps the most fundamental is that, by taking the string coupling small, they can decouple the closed string degrees of freedom and work in a fixed gravitational background. Obviously, when studying closed string tachyons no such consistent truncation is possible, and one is forced to deal with the often complicated gravitational dynamics as an essential part of the condensation process. For example, since the energy density released during closed string tachyon condensation is proportional to $`1/G_\mathrm{N}`$ (compared to $`1/\sqrt{G_\mathrm{N}}`$ in the open string case), the gravitational back-reaction can never be neglected.

The situation is actually worse than this. Given that, generically, a string scale (times the above factor of $`1/G_\mathrm{N}`$) energy density is being released, one would expect that massive string modes get excited during the decay, and that a fully stringy treatment is therefore necessary. There is no guarantee that the notion of a smooth geometry described by the massless fields continues to be valid; most dramatically, the spacetime itself could cataclysmically decay into nothing. However, if the tachyon locus has a transverse dimension for the energy to dissipate into (and if the decay doesn’t somehow open up a tear in spacetime), then it is plausible that at late times the massive string fields will dump their energy into the massless ones. In that case, as time goes on stringy effects will become less and less important, and eventually one will end up with a conventional gravity scenario in which energy propagates away from the tachyon locus at the speed of light, with a concomitant back-reaction of the geometry. This is essentially the picture proposed by Adams, Polchinski, and Silverstein  in their study of the decay of the $`C/Z_n`$ orbifold of type II string theory: within a few string times,222H. Liu has argued that this process could in fact take a time inversely proportional to the string coupling. the energy released in the decay is converted into a circular dilaton wave that expands at the speed of light, leaving behind a bubble of flat space.

Typically in general relativity, even such “pedestrian” back-reaction problems are difficult or intractable, and one often resorts to an approximation in which the back-reaction of the geometry is treated as a perturbation on the equations of motion of the matter fields. The purpose of this note is to point out that, in the example of $`C/Z_n`$, there exists a simple method for solving the coupled dilaton-graviton equations of motion exactly and generally. Thus the back-reaction problem need not be an obstacle to understanding the decay process. In particular, the solution confirms the conjecture of APS regarding the late-time evolution of the system.

It is an oft-heard speculation that tachyon condensation processes are modelled by an RG flow of the worldsheet theory seeded by the tachyon vertex operator (which is relevant when stripped of its time dependence) . How the word “modelled” should be precisely understood in this context depends on who is speaking, and to understand the connection better it may be useful to have examples of decay processes in which both the time evolution and the RG flow are known explicitly. An exact solution to the RG equations for this system is already known  (this solution is valid only when the curvature scales are much larger than the string scale, just as for the time evolution solution considered in this paper). Thus, $`C/Z_n`$ can in principle now serve as a laboratory for testing ideas about the quantitative connection between these two types of evolution.

In Section 2 below, we set up the equations of motion for the system, namely a massless scalar minimally coupled to 2+1 gravity. We then show, using the rotational symmetry and making a judicious choice of coordinate system, that the equation of motion for the dilaton is the same as that for a dilaton in Minkowski space, i.e. is decoupled from the back-reaction of the geometry. This allows the equations to be solved in two steps: first, the dilaton equation of motion is straightforwardly solved, then the back-reaction of the geometry is found by solving a first-order equation for a metric coefficient that is sourced by the dilaton’s energy. Among other things, this method guarantees that under non-singular initial conditions the energy will indeed radiate to infinity and that no singularity can form.

In Section 3, we study solutions to the equations of motion. The quantitative behavior of the system at late times for generic initial conditions is easily found. One general result is that in the final state the dilaton returns to its initial value—the tachyon condensation does not lead the system to run either to strong or to weak coupling. A numerical example is presented to illustrate quantitatively how the dilaton wave carries the spatial curvature with it, leaving behind a bubble of flat space. In the limit of a spatially localized dilaton source, a formula is derived for the change in the deficit angle in terms of the source’s frequency spectrum. Finally, a thin-shell solution is derived for the limit in which the source is localized both in the space and in time.

This problem has previously been solved in the strong coupling limit by Gregory and Harvey . Their method is somewhat more involved than ours but their results are consistent with ours.

## 2 Equations of motion

We wish to study the decay of the unstable $`C/Z_n`$ orbifold of type II string theory as a classical time-dependent process. We can consistently truncate the dynamics to $`2+1`$ dimensions, namely the two of the orbifold plus time .333The reason is that the CFT describing the extra seven dimensions is coupled to the $`2+1`$ dimensional CFT neither in the initial configuration nor by the tachyon vertex operator, and therefore decouples entirely. In other words, the on-shell tachyon vertex operator must extend to an exactly marginal operator in the $`2+1`$ dimensional CFT alone. The extra seven dimensions may be in the form of $`R^7`$, or any other unitary $`\widehat{c}=7`$ CFT. The equation of motion for the $`B`$-field requires its field strength to be a constant multiple of the volume form on the unreduced $`2+1`$ dimensions. This constant vanishes in the initial orbifold configuration, and must therefore vanish everywhere. So the only active NS-NS fields are the metric and the dilaton $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$, and their action is

$$S=\frac{1}{2\kappa _3^2}d^3x\sqrt{G}e^{2\mathrm{\Phi }}\left(R_3+4G^{\mu \nu }_\mu \mathrm{\Phi }_\nu \mathrm{\Phi }\right),$$
(1)
The analysis is simplified by passing to the 3-dimensional Einstein frame metric $`g_{\mu \nu }=e^{4\mathrm{\Phi }}G_{\mu \nu }`$, in terms of which the action is

$$S=\frac{1}{2\kappa _3^2}d^3x\sqrt{g}\left(R4g^{\mu \nu }_\mu \mathrm{\Phi }_\nu \mathrm{\Phi }\right).$$
(2)
Here and below the Ricci scalar and tensor are those derived from $`g_{\mu \nu }`$. The system we are considering thus consists of a scalar minimally coupled to $`2+1`$ gravity.444The analysis that follows would require only a trivial modification for a situation with multiple minimally coupled scalars, for example if one wanted to consider a more complicated decay pathway in which some moduli of the internal seven dimensions were active.

However, in the system under consideration the supergravity equations of motion will be violated by stringy effects in two different ways. First, the initial orbifold configuration has a conical singularity (with a quantized deficit angle). (If the decay is appropriately fine-tuned, then the final configuration may also have a conical singularity, with a smaller deficit angle.) Second, during the decay itself, the tachyon and (presumably) the massive string fields become active. Furthermore, during this phase the curvatures and energy densities will be large in string units, rendering the supergravity equations of motion invalid. As argued above, however, it is believed that after a sufficiently long time the energy will have spread out over a large region and the massive fields will have dumped their energy into the massless ones.

From a practical point of view, there are two ways we can encode our ignorance about what happens during this stringy phase of the decay. In this section we will mostly treat it as defining some unknown initial conditions, from which we can evolve the supergravity equations of motion forward in time. In the next section, when we write down explicit solutions, it will be more convenient to encode the “bad” behavior in an unknown source function for the supergravity fields. This function is initially localized at the origin and only sources the metric, but then during the decay sources the dilaton as well (since it must carry away the energy released by the decay), and finally turns off once supergravity becomes valid everywhere.

We choose (for the moment) to work in light-cone coordinates, so that without loss of generality the metric is given by

$$ds^2=4e^{2\sigma (u,v)}dudv+r^2(u,v)d\theta ^2.$$
(3)
This choice does not fix the gauge completely, as we can still replace $`u`$ by an arbitrary function of itself and $`v`$ by an arbitrary function of itself and leave the metric in this form.

A simplifying feature of massless scalars is that their stress tensor has the same structure as the Einstein tensor,

$$\frac{\kappa _3^2}{4}T_{\mu \nu }=_\mu \mathrm{\Phi }_\nu \mathrm{\Phi }\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu }_\lambda \mathrm{\Phi }^\lambda \mathrm{\Phi },$$
(4)
so that the Einstein equation can be written as

$$R_{\mu \nu }=4_\mu \mathrm{\Phi }_\nu \mathrm{\Phi }.$$
(5)
With the symmetries we have imposed, this equation has four non-trivial components. We begin by considering the angular component:

$$R_{\theta \theta }=4\left(_\theta \mathrm{\Phi }\right)^2=0.$$
(6)
Evaluating the Ricci tensor on the metric 3, we find that this implies

$$_u_vr=0.$$
(7)
Hence the function $`r`$ can be decomposed into “left-moving” and “right-moving” pieces:

$$r(u,v)=r_u(u)+r_v(v).$$
(8)
Let us assume without loss of generality that both $`u`$ and $`v`$ are future-directed coordinates. Barring the existence of trapped or anti-trapped surfaces,555The subsequent analysis can be used to derive a non-singular evolution from any Cauchy surface that does not contain a trapped surface. This shows that a trapped surface cannot form, as expected in $`2+1`$ gravity. we can further assume without loss of generality that $`u`$ is everywhere outward-directed and $`v`$ is everywhere inward-directed, i.e. $`r_u`$ is monotone increasing and $`r_v`$ is monotone decreasing. We can therefore use our remaining coordinate freedom to choose the $`u`$ and $`v`$ coordinates such that

$$u=r_u,v=r_v.$$
(9)
The metric is now

$`ds^2`$ $`=`$ $`4e^{2\sigma (u,v)}dudv+(uv)^2d\theta ^2`$ (10)
$`=`$ $`e^{2\sigma (t,r)}(dt^2+dr^2)+r^2d\theta ^2`$
(where $`t=u+v`$). The static orbifold is described by a constant value of $`\sigma `$:

$$\sigma =\mathrm{ln}n(C/Z_n).$$
(11)
The only remaining coordinate freedom is an overall shift of $`t`$, which we will fix (up to an ambiguity of a few string lengths) by saying that the stringy phase of the tachyon condensation occurs at $`t=0`$. The three remaining Einstein equations 5 in this coordinate system are

$`R_{uu}={\displaystyle \frac{2_u\sigma }{uv}}`$ $`=`$ $`4(_u\mathrm{\Phi })^2`$
$`R_{vv}={\displaystyle \frac{2_v\sigma }{uv}}`$ $`=`$ $`4(_v\mathrm{\Phi })^2`$
$`R_{uv}=2_u_v\sigma `$ $`=`$ $`4_u\mathrm{\Phi }_v\mathrm{\Phi }.`$ (12)
The consistency of these equations is guaranteed by the conservation of the stress tensor 4. Given $`\mathrm{\Phi }(u,v)`$, they have a unique solution for $`\sigma `$ once an initial or final value is chosen. In $`t,r`$ coordinates they read:

$$_t\sigma =4r_t\mathrm{\Phi }_r\mathrm{\Phi },_r\sigma =2r\left((_t\mathrm{\Phi })^2+(_r\mathrm{\Phi })^2\right).$$
(13)
Finally, we have the dilaton equation of motion, $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Phi }=0`$. The great advantage of the coordinate system 10 is that $`\sigma `$ drops out of this equation (assuming again that $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ doesn’t depend on $`\theta `$); as in flat space, we have

$$\left(_t^2\frac{1}{r}_rr_r\right)\mathrm{\Phi }=0.$$
(14)
The problem thus splits into two steps: first solve the equation of motion 14 for the dilaton; then, to find the gravitational back-reaction, plug the solution into 2 or 13 and solve for $`\sigma `$.

## 3 Solutions

As explained at the beginning of section 2, the supergravity equations of motion are violated during the stringy phase of tachyon condensation, when $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is sourced so that it can carry away the energy released in the decay. Thus, rather than 14, we actually have

$$\left(_t^2\frac{1}{r}_rr_r\right)\mathrm{\Phi }=2\pi \rho (t,r),$$
(15)
where the source $`\rho `$ is presumably supported within a few string lengths of the origin, both in space and in time. Assuming that $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is initially constant with no incoming radiation, $`\mathrm{\Phi }(u,v=\mathrm{})=\mathrm{\Phi }^{(0)}`$, equation 15 is in principle straightforwardly solved using the retarded Green function,

$$G(t,r)=\{\begin{array}{cc}0,& t<r\\ \frac{1}{\sqrt{t^2r^2}},& t>r\end{array}.$$
(16)
At late times the leading behavior will be governed by the total amount of dilaton sourced, $`R=2\pi 𝑑t𝑑rr\rho (t,r)`$:

$$\mathrm{\Phi }(t,r)\mathrm{\Phi }^{(0)}+\frac{R}{\sqrt{t^2r^2}},trl_\mathrm{s}$$
(17)
(unless $`R`$ vanishes, in which case the leading behavior will be governed by the lowest non-zero moment of $`\rho `$). Note in particular that in the final static solution ($`t\mathrm{}`$ with $`r`$ fixed) the dilaton returns to its initial value $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{(0)}`$. If the order of the final-state orbifold is $`n_\mathrm{f}`$, then, using equations 17 and 13, at late times the geometry will be given by

$$\sigma (t,r)=\mathrm{ln}n_\mathrm{f}4r_t^{\mathrm{}}𝑑t^{}_t\mathrm{\Phi }_r\mathrm{\Phi }\mathrm{ln}n_\mathrm{f}+\frac{R^2r^2}{(t^2r^2)^2},trl_\mathrm{s}.$$
(18)
As an example, figure 1 shows a numerical solution to equations 15 and 13 (obtained using Mathematica) for the decay of $`C/Z_3`$ to the plane. The source function was

$$\rho (t,r)=\alpha e^{t^2r^2},$$
(19)
where the normalization $`\alpha =0.19`$ was set by requiring $`\sigma `$ to decrease by $`\mathrm{ln}3`$.

The change in the order of the orbifold group, from $`n_\mathrm{i}`$ to $`n_\mathrm{f}`$, clearly dictates the total amount of energy released in the form of dilaton radiation. In the limit where the sources are spatially localized,666Note that this is a formal limit; with a point source for $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ the energy density diverges like $`1/r^2`$ near the origin, leading to a geometrical singularity as $`\sigma `$ goes to $`\mathrm{}`$ (like $`\mathrm{ln}r`$) there.

$$\rho (t,r)=\delta ^2(r)\rho (t),$$
(20)
we can see this connection explicitly in the following relation, which can be derived from equations 16 and 13:

$$\mathrm{ln}\frac{n_\mathrm{f}}{n_\mathrm{i}}=\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma =2_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑\omega \omega |\stackrel{~}{\rho }(\omega )|^2,$$
(21)
where $`\stackrel{~}{\rho }(\omega )=𝑑te^{i\omega t}\rho (t)`$. Equation 21 establishes that $`n_\mathrm{f}n_\mathrm{i}`$; this is a special case of the theorem that Bondi energy decreases as a function of light-cone time. Note that $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma `$ is independent of $`R=\stackrel{~}{\rho }(0)`$.

It is possible to take a further limit where the source is localized in time as well, holding $`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma `$ fixed. In the resulting solution, $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is constant, while $`\sigma `$ is a step function of $`v`$:777To be slightly more precise, this solution can be obtained by considering the following field configuration:    $`\sigma `$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{ln}n_\mathrm{i}+\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma f(v/ϵ)`$    $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Phi }^{(0)}+\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma ϵ/2u}f(v/ϵ),`$   where
$$f(x)=\{\begin{array}{cc}0,& x0\\ x,& 0x1\\ 1,& x1\end{array}.$$
At finite $`ϵ`$ this configuration does not quite satisfy the equations of motion, but the errors vanish in the limit $`ϵ0`$.

$$\sigma (u,v)=\{\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{ln}n_\mathrm{i},& v<0\\ \mathrm{ln}n_\mathrm{f},& v>0\end{array}.$$
(22)
###### Acknowledgments.

I would like to thank A. Adams, A. Dabholkar, A. Fayyazuddin, R. Gopakumar, H. Liu, G. Mandal, S. Minwalla, J. Raeymaekers, and A. Sen for useful discussions, and S. Minwalla for useful comments on the manuscript. I would especially like to thank A. Fayyazuddin for suggesting this problem to me while we were both visiting the Perimeter Institute. This work was completed while I was a Visiting Fellow at the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research. I would also like to thank the Harish-Chandra Research Institute for hospitality while some of this work was complete. I am supported by a Pappalardo Fellowship from MIT. This work is supported in part by funds provided by the U.S. Department of Energy under cooperative research agreement DF-FC02-94ER40818.


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# Field-angle Dependence of the Zero-Energy Density of States in the Unconventional Heavy-Fermion Superconductor CeCoIn5

## References


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# CP violation in 𝐵→ϕ𝐾_𝑆 decay at large tan𝛽

## Abstract

We consider the chargino contribution to the CP violation in $`B\varphi K_S`$ decay in the minimal supersymmetric standard model at large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$. It is shown that the Wilson coefficient $`C_{8g}`$ of the chromomagnetic penguin operator can be significantly enhanced by the chargino-mediated diagrams while satisfying other direct/indirect experimental constraints. The enhanced $`C_{8g}`$ allows large deviation in the CP asymmetry from the standard model prediction.

preprint:     hep-ph/0312101 KIAS-P03090

The measurement of CP asymmetries at B-factories is a powerful probe of new physics (NP). In the standard model (SM), the origin of CP violation is the phase $`\delta _{\mathrm{CKM}}`$ in the $`3\times 3`$ Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix of quark mixing. In general, there can be many new sources of CP violation in new physics models beyond the SM.

The time-dependent CP asymmetry in the neutral $`B`$ decays to CP eigenstates $`Bf_{\mathrm{CP}}`$ gives information on the two classes of CP violation $`C_f`$ and $`S_f`$ Nir:2002gu :

$`A_{\mathrm{CP}}(t)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\overline{B}(t)f_{\mathrm{CP}})\mathrm{\Gamma }(B(t)f_{\mathrm{CP}})}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(\overline{B}(t)f_{\mathrm{CP}})+\mathrm{\Gamma }(B(t)f_{\mathrm{CP}})}}`$ (1)
$`=`$ $`C_f\mathrm{cos}(\mathrm{\Delta }m_Bt)+S_f\mathrm{sin}(\mathrm{\Delta }m_Bt),`$
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_B`$ is the mass difference of the $`B`$ system and $`B(\overline{B})(t)`$ is the state at time $`t`$ which was $`B(\overline{B})`$ at $`t=0`$. The CP asymmetries $`C_f`$ and $`S_f`$ are determined by

$`\lambda _{\mathrm{CP}}e^{2i(\beta +\theta _d)}{\displaystyle \frac{\overline{A}}{A}},`$ (2)
where $`\beta (\theta _d)`$ is the contribution of SM (NP) to the phase in the $`B\overline{B}`$ mixing and $`\overline{A}(A)`$ is the decay amplitude for $`\overline{B}(B)f_{\mathrm{CP}}`$.

While the time-dependent CP asymmetry in $`BJ/\psi K`$ decay

$`\mathrm{sin}2\beta _{J/\psi K_S}S_{J/\psi K_S}=0.734\pm 0.054.`$ (3)
is consistent with the CKM picture of CP violation in the SM, the CP asymmetry in $`B\varphi K_S`$, $`S_{\varphi K_S}`$, measured at Belle belle03

$`S_{\varphi K_S}=0.96\pm 0.50_{0.11}^{+0.09}`$ (4)
differs from the SM expectation by $`3.4\sigma `$111The result of BaBar babar03  is consistent with the SM at $`1\sigma `$ level,    $`S_{\varphi K_S}=0.45\pm 0.43\pm 0.07.`$  (5) . With the presence of NP, large deviation from $`\overline{A}/A=1`$ is generally allowed in the loop-induced process $`B\varphi K_S`$ contrary to the tree-level diagram dominated $`BJ/\psi K_S`$ decay. Then from (2) we can see (4) can be generated with (3) untouched in case $`\overline{A}/A`$ has a large phase.

The minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) is one of the most promising candidates of NP. In the MSSM, it has been shown that (4) can be accomodated if there exist new flavor structures in the up- or down-type squark mass matrices b2kp\_glu . In this talk we show the phases in the flavor conserving soft parameters ($`\mu ,A_t,M_2`$) may be responsible for the deviation in (4) via chargino-scalar top loops Baek:2003kb . In this case the source of flavor mixing is CKM as in the SM.

Specifically, we adopt a decoupling scenario where the masses of the first two generation scalar fermions are very heavy ($`𝒪(10\text{ TeV})`$), so that the SUSY FCNC and SUSY CP problems are solved without a naturalness problem.

In this decoupling scenario, it has been shown that the light stop and chargino contributions still allows large direct CP asymmetry in the radiative $`B`$ decay up to $`\pm 16`$Baek:1998yn . It should be noted that the new contribution to $`B\overline{B}`$ mixing is very small and this model is naturally consistent with (3Baek:1998yn .

In the analysis we have decoupled the charged Higgs contribution by assuming $`m_{H\pm }1`$ TeV to evade the very stringent two-loop EDM constraints at large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ and relatively light pseudo scalar Higgs Chang:1998uc .

We note that the $`C_{7\gamma (8g)}^{\chi ^\pm }`$ has the enhancement factors $`m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_I^\pm }/m_b`$ by the chirality flip inside the loop and can dominate the SM contribution. On the other hand the Wilson coefficients of QCD penguin operators ,$`C_{3,\mathrm{},6}`$, preserve the chirality and don’t have such enhancement factors. In addition, due to the super-GIM mechanism, the chargino contribution to $`C_{3,\mathrm{},6}`$ are much smaller than the SM values. The contribution to chirality flipped operators $`C_{7\gamma (8g)}^{{}_{}{}^{}\stackrel{~}{\chi }_{}^{\pm }}`$ are suppressed by $`m_s/m_b`$. We neglect the contribution of electroweak penguin operators which are also expected to be negligible in our scenario. Therefore the large deviation in $`\overline{A}/A`$ should be generated soley by $`C_{8g}`$ in this scenario.

To calculte the hadronic matrix elements we use the QCD factorization method in ref. Beneke:2001ev . The required $`C_{8g}^{\stackrel{~}{\chi }^\pm }(m_b)`$ ($`C_{8g}^{\mathrm{SM}}(m_b)0.147`$) for large deviation of CP asymmetries can be estimated from the approximate numerical expression for $`\overline{A}`$:

$`\overline{A}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{p=u,c}{}}V_{ps}^{}V_{pb}(a_3+a_4^p+a_5)`$ (6)
$``$ $`3.9\times 10^4(3.7e^{0.21i}+4.5C_{8g}).`$
In the above expression the largest errors which are about 20% come from the decay constants and form factors. These uncertainties are largely canceled in the asymmetries in (1).

In (6) and the following analysis, we did not include weak annihilation contributions which are power suppressed but may be numerically important. These contributions are not derived in QCD factorization on first principles, and additional phenomenological parameter which can contain strong phase should be introduced to estimate the divergent integral at end point. The CP asymmetries $`C_{\varphi K}`$, $`S_{\varphi K}`$ can be increased depending on the size and phase of the parameter.

In Fig. 1, we show $`S_{\varphi K}`$ as a function of $`\mathrm{arg}(C_{8g})`$ for $`|C_{8g}|=0.33,0.65`$ and $`1.0`$. From this figure, we can see $`|C_{8g}|0.330.65`$ with large positive phase can accomodate the deviation within 1$`\sigma `$.

Since the chargino contributions to $`C_{7\gamma }`$ and $`C_{8g}`$ have similar structures, one may think that large deviation in $`C_{8g}`$ may result in the large deviation $`C_{7\gamma }`$. Too large deviation in $`C_{7\gamma }`$ will violate the measurement of $`B(BX_s\gamma )`$, for which we take $`2\times 10^4<B(BX_s\gamma )<4.5\times 10^4`$ Chen:2001fj , because it is already consistent with the SM prediction.

Due to the different loop functions, however, the two Wilson coefficients are not strongly correlated, and it is possible to have large deviation in $`C_{8g}`$ while keeping $`|C_{7\gamma }|`$ constrained to satisfy $`B(BX_s\gamma )`$. Since $`C_{8g}`$ is proportional to $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ for large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$, we need relatively large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ to have sizable effects.

The neutral Higgs boson $`h^0`$ which is lighter than the $`Z`$-boson at tree level has large radiative corrections Okada:1990vk  which can be approximated at large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ as

$`m_{h^0}^2m_Z^2+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{m_t^4}{v^2}}\mathrm{log}\left({\displaystyle \frac{m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1}m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_2}}{m_t^2}}\right),`$ (7)
where $`v246`$ GeV. LEP II sets the lower limit on the SM-like Higgs boson mass: $`m_{h^0}114.3`$ (GeV) at 95% CL Hagiwara:fs . This limit gives very strong constraint on the stop masses.

At large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$($`𝒪(50)`$), the SUSY QCD and SUSY electroweak correction to the non-holomorphic couplings $`H_u^{}D^cQ`$ become very important. This gives large correction on the down-type quark masses and some CKM matrix elements Hall:1993gn

$`m_b={\displaystyle \frac{\overline{m}_b}{1+\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_3\mathrm{tan}\beta }},V_{JI}=V_{JI}^{\mathrm{eff}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1+\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_3\mathrm{tan}\beta }{1+ϵ_0\mathrm{tan}\beta }}\right]`$ (8)
where $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_3ϵ_0+ϵ_Yy_t^2`$ and $`(JI)=(13)(23)(31)(32)`$. $`\overline{m}_b`$, $`V_{JI}^{\mathrm{eff}}`$ are $`b`$-quark mass and CKM elements measured at experiments, respectively. Note that these SUSY threshold corrections are not easily decoupled even for very heavy superparticles. For degenerate SUSY parameters, $`ϵ_00.013`$ and $`ϵ_Y0.003`$.

For the numerical analysis we fix the CKM matrix by using $`|V_{us}^{\mathrm{eff}}|=0.2196`$, $`|V_{cb}^{\mathrm{eff}}|=4.12\times 10^2`$ and $`|V_{ub}^{\mathrm{eff}}|=3.6\times 10^3`$ Hagiwara:fs , leaving only $`\delta _{\mathrm{CKM}}`$ as free parameter. For example, for $`\delta _{\mathrm{CKM}}=\pi /3`$, we get $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{B_d}=0.491`$ ps-1 and $`\mathrm{sin}2\beta =0.729`$, which are close to the experimental central values Hagiwara:fs . The free SUSY parameters in our scenario are $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$, $`M_2`$, $`\mu `$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{Q}}`$, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{t}}`$ and $`A_t`$ ($`m_{H^\pm }=1`$ TeV) (also $`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}},m_{\stackrel{~}{b}}`$ are relevant for large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$). In Fig. 2, we show the distribution of $`C_{8g}`$ in the complex plane for $`\delta _{\mathrm{CKM}}=\pi /3`$, $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =35(60)`$, $`m_{H^\pm }=1`$ TeV, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{Q}}=0.5`$ TeV, $`m_{\stackrel{~}{g}}=1`$ TeV, and $`m_{\stackrel{~}{b}_R}=0.5`$ TeV. We scanned the other parameters as follows:

$`0<m_{\stackrel{~}{t}}<1\text{ TeV},0<|\mu |<1\text{ TeV},`$
$`0<|A_t|<2\text{ TeV},0<|M_2|<1\text{ TeV},`$
$`\pi <\mathrm{arg}(\mu ),\mathrm{arg}(A_t),\mathrm{arg}(M_2)<\pi .`$ (9)
We have fixed the phase on the gluino mass parameter such that $`\mathrm{arg}(m_{\stackrel{~}{g}})+\mathrm{arg}(\mu )=\pi `$ to maximize the SUSY QCD correction. When scanning, we imposed the $`B(BX_s\gamma )`$ constraint and the direct search bounds on the (s)particle masses Hagiwara:fs : $`m_{h^0}114.3`$ GeV and $`m_{\stackrel{~}{\chi }_1^\pm },m_{\stackrel{~}{t}_1}100`$ GeV.

From Fig. 2, we can see that our scenario can easily accommodate the discrepancy (4). As mentioned above, we have chosen large value for the charged Higgs mass $`m_{H^\pm }=1`$ TeV to safely suppress the Barr-Zee type two-loop EDM constraints which are significant if $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ Chang:1998uc  is large and the pseudo-scalar Higgs boson ($`A^0`$) is relatively light 222The SUSY contribution to $`(g2)_\mu `$ is also small in this case. Arhrib:2001xx .. We have checked that for the smaller $`m_{H^\pm }`$ the larger deviation in $`S_{\varphi K}`$ is possible due to the cancellation in the real part with the chargino contribution. Therefore Fig. 2 is a rather conservative result for $`S_{\varphi K}`$. We have checked that the allowed range for $`S_{\varphi K}`$ is not sensitive to the change in $`\delta _{\mathrm{CKM}}`$ if we impose the constraint (3).

The $`B(B\varphi K)`$ varies moderately over the parameter space we considered and seldom exceeds $`15\times 10^6`$, which is acceptable compared with the experimental measurements. Also the mass difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_s`$ in the $`B_s\overline{B_s}`$ system is close to the SM expectation $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_s14.5`$ ps-1 in the most region of parameter space we considered, which may distinguish our scenario from other scenarios in refs. b2kp\_glu .

For large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ in the MSSM, through the Higgs-mediated FCNC the $`B(B_s\mu ^+\mu ^{})`$ can be enhanced by a few orders of magnitude over the SM prediction bsll . Observation of this leptonic decay mode, for example at Tevatron Run II, would be clear signal of NP. However, this is possible only for relatively light $`A^0`$. Since the large deviation in the $`S_{\varphi K}`$, although it needs new CP violating phase(s) of $`𝒪(1)`$, does not necessarily require light $`A^0`$ as we have shown, these two decay modes can be complementary to each other in searching for the MSSM at large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$.

In conclusion we have considered the chargino contribution to the CP asymmetries $`S_{\varphi K}`$ and $`C_{\varphi K}`$ of $`B\varphi K_S`$ decay in the CP violating MSSM scenario at large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$. We have shown that through the enhanced Wilson coefficient $`C_{8g}`$ of chromo-magnetic penguin operator by the large SUSY threshold corrections Hall:1993gn , there can be large deviations in the CP asymmetries.