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# Measurement of the shear strength of a charge-density wave

## Abstract

We have explored the shear plasticity of charge density waves (CDWs) in NbSe3 samples with cross-sections having a single micro-fabricated thickness step. Shear stresses along the step result from thickness-dependent CDW pinning. For small thickness differences the CDW depins elastically at the volume average depinning field. For large thickness differences the thicker, more weakly pinned side depins first via plastic shear, and shear plasticity contributes substantial dissipation well above the pinning force. A simple model describes the qualitative features of our data, and yields a value for the CDW’s shear strength of approximately $`9.5\times 10^3`$ Nm-2. This value is orders of magnitude smaller than the CDW’s longitudinal modulus but much larger than corresponding values for flux-line lattices, and in part explains the relative coherence of the CDW response.

charge density wave; shear plasticity, NbSe3; vortex lattices, flux-line lattices, driven periodic media

The elastic and plastic properties of driven periodic media including charge/spin density waves (CDWs/SDWs) feinberg , flux-line lattices in type-II superconductors blatter ; marchetti ; yoon  and Wigner crystals andrei  are central to understanding their rich dynamics and phase behavior. Impurities, dislocations and other disorder pin the periodic medium in each case, so that a minimum or threshold force must be applied to produce collective motion. Shear moduli are especially important because they determine the extent of shear plasticity. In experiments on moving flux-line lattices, shear plasticity dominates so that the coherent oscillations at the washboard frequency $`\nu _\lambda `$ expected in a purely elastic system are replaced by an incoherent response with large $`\frac{1}{f}`$-like noise clem , and vanishing of the shear modulus leads to liquid-like motion.

Shear plasticity also plays an important role in charge- and spin-density wave motion, rounding the depinning transition, broadening the spectral width of the coherent oscillations, and smearing out velocity steps caused by mode locking to an applied ac drive. Experiments show that this shear primarily results from meso/macroscopic sample inhomogeneities maher ; rare homogeneous samples of the CDW conductor NbSe3 show highly coherent washboard oscillations and complete harmonic and subharmonic mode locking thorne , suggesting that the intrinsic CDW response is nearly elastic.

Here we show that crystals with micro-fabricated steps running along the direction of CDW conduction show a non-monotonic variation of their depinning force with the size of the step, due to shear along the step. A simple model reproduces this variation, and allows us to determine the CDW’s shear strength to be $`9.5\times 10^3`$ Nm-2. This value is more than three orders of magnitude smaller than the shear elastic modulus dicarlo\_adelman , and two orders of magnitude smaller than the contribution of the pinned CDW to the shear modulus of the crystal xiang . It is much larger than for flux-line lattices, which explains in part the relative coherence of the CDW response.

NbSe3 and related quasi-one-dimensional CDW materials grow as long thin ribbons. Shear usually results from steps in crystal thickness associated with small-angle grain boundaries that run along the ribbon ($`𝐛`$) axis, which corresponds to the direction of CDW motion. Because typical crystal thicknesses are smaller than the CDW’s bulk phase correlation length in the thickness $`𝐚^{}`$ direction ($`2\mu `$m in undoped crystals), the depinning field varies inversely with crystal thickness $`E_T\frac{1}{t}`$ yetman ; mccarten . As a result, thicker regions of the crystal cross-section have smaller depinning fields than thinner regions and tend to shear away from them, as illustrated in, e.g., Figures 3 and 4 of Li *et al.* li .

Detailed information about shear can be obtained by measuring the CDW response versus step height in samples with a single well-defined step, shown in Figure 1. The CDWs in rectangular regions 1 and 2 of thickness $`t_1`$ and $`t_2`$ have depinning fields $`E_{T1}`$ and $`E_{T2}`$. They interact via a shear force $`F_{shear}`$ along the direction of CDW motion at the interface between them. This force acts to retard motion of the thicker, more weakly pinned region 1 and assist motion of the thinner, more strongly pinned region 2.

If no slip occurs at the boundary (the static friction regime), then elastic coupling causes regions 1 and 2 depin at a common field $`E_T`$ given by

$$E_{T,el}=\frac{E_{T1}t_1w_1+E_{T2}t_2w_2}{t_1w_1+t_2w_2},$$
(1)
where $`w_1`$ and $`w_2`$ are the widths of regions 1 and 2, respectively. In thin crystals where $`E_T\frac{1}{t}`$ and assuming $`w_1=w_2`$, Eq. 1 reduces to $`E_{T,el}=2E_{T1}/(1+\frac{t_2}{t_1})`$.

The frictional force $`F_{shear}`$ has a maximum static value $`F_{max}`$, beyond which plastic slip occurs along the interface. The thick region 1 shears and slides relative to the thin region 2 at a field

$$E_{T,pl}=E_{T1}+\frac{F_{max}}{Q_1}$$
(2)
where $`Q_1=en_cw_1t_1l`$ is the total CDW charge in region 1 which couples to the electric field. The maximum shear force should be proportional to the area of the interface between the two regions, and thus to $`t_2`$. With $`t_1`$ fixed, Eq. 2 becomes

$$E_{T,pl}=E_{T1}+\frac{\sigma _s}{en_cw_1}\frac{t_2}{t_1}$$
(3)
where $`\sigma _s`$ is the plastic shear strength.

To study CDW shear, a NbSe3 crystal with a nearly rectangular cross-section is selected and placed on a substrate patterned with an array of non-perturbing gold electrical probes, each $`2`$ $`\mu `$m wide in the direction of CDW motion. At least $`1`$ $`\mu `$m of UV-5 resist is spun onto the crystal and substrate and then cured at $`130^{}`$C, the highest temperature to which the crystal is exposed during processing. The resist is patterned using a Cambridge-LEICA E-beam system 10.5. After developing, the pattern is etched into the sample using a CF4 dry plasma etch. The etch depth and spatial consistency can be monitored using the resistance per unit length for each probe pair along the sample. The average thickness is then calculated from the optically measured crystal width and NbSe3’s room temperature resistivity of $`1.86`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }\mu `$m mccarten . More details on the fabrication process are found in oneill .

We explored two different sample designs. The first, shown in Figure 2(a) and (b), has three distinct cross-sections: an as-grown rectangular segment at one end with thickness $`t_1`$, an etched rectangular segment at the other end with thickness $`t_2`$, and a middle segment with a step running along $`𝐛`$ separating unetched and etched regions of thickness $`t_1`$ and $`t_2`$, respectively.

The second sample design, shown in Figure 2(c) and (d), is etched to produce a thickness step along its entire length. This eliminates current density changes and contributions to $`E_T`$ from longitudinal phase slip gill\_maher  present in the first design, and thus yields more precise measurements of shear effects on $`E_T`$. The NbSe3 crystal used had two small steps. A portion of the crystal width containing the steps was thinned by repeated etching through the same resist mask, as shown in Figure 2(c), and transport measurements were performed after each etch. This yielded $`E_T`$ as a function of the thickness ratio $`\frac{t_2}{t_1}`$. This process was then repeated using the remaining, initially step-free part of the crystal, as shown in Figure 2(d). Data for two samples, A and B, fabricated using the first and second process, respectively, are described here. Measurements were performed at $`T=120`$ $`K`$ where longitudinal phase slip contributions to $`E_T`$ are smallest. For both samples the thickness was less than the bulk CDW phase-phase correlation length in the $`𝐚^{}`$ direction, so that depinning fields $`E_T1/t`$ are expected.

Figures 3(a) and 3(b) show the measured four-probe differential resistance $`\frac{dV}{dI}`$ versus electric field on Samples A and B, respectively. For Sample A, the unetched region 1 and uniformly etched region 3 have depinning fields $`E_T`$ in the ratio $`1:2.4`$. This roughly matches the thickness ratio $`1:2.0`$ determined from room temperature resistance measurements. Consequently, despite producing a somewhat rougher surface, etching yields roughly the same thickness-dependent $`E_T`$ as is observed in unetched crystals of different thicknesses mccarten . Curve 2 in Figure 3(a) for the stepped segment 2 shows two separate depinnings for the etched and unetched portions of the crystal cross-section. The smaller depinning field of the unetched portion is increased only slightly from that of the unetched and step-free segment 1, suggesting that it shears from the etched portion. The larger depinning field of the thin, etched portion is lower than that of the unstepped etched segment 3, indicating that shear forces exerted by the depinned CDW in the thick portion assist depinning in the thin portion.

For Sample B, the normalized resistivities versus field in Figure 3(b) for the initial, unetched sample and for the through-etched sample are nearly identical and show a large, abrupt drop at $`E_T`$, indicating excellent sample quality and that side-wall roughness induced by etching is unimportant. In contrast, for partial etching the differential resistance well above $`E_T`$ is significantly larger than for the unetched or through-etched sample, and grows with etch depth. The differential conductance associated with CDW motion at $`E=16E_T`$ is 9% smaller for a $`600`$ nm etch depth ($`t_2/t_1=0.33`$) than for the through-etched crystal. This indicates that shear friction \- in the form of shear-induced CDW phase vortex/dislocation “turbulence” \- along the step strongly affects CDW dynamics.

To accurately determine how the depinning field of Sample B varies with etched thickness ($`t_2/t_1`$), both the low-frequency noise amplitude and the differential resistance were measured versus electric field, as shown in Figure 3. The noise amplitude increases by orders of magnitude when the CDW or a portion of it depins fleming , and provides the most sensitive probe of $`E_T`$ . The cleanest data were obtained for the second etch sequence of Figure 2(d), starting with the rectangular cross-section produced in 2(c). To simplify interpretation, the widths of the etched and unetched portions were chosen to be nearly identical and equal to $`12`$ $`\mu `$m.

Figure 3(c) shows the depinning field $`E_T`$ versus both sample cross-sectional area and thickness ratio $`\frac{t_2}{t_1}`$. Although there is some scatter, the data clearly show two distinct regimes. For $`\frac{t_2}{t_1}`$ close to $`1`$ (small steps), $`E_T`$ increases with decreasing $`\frac{t_2}{t_1}`$. For $`\frac{t_2}{t_1}`$ close to $`0`$ (large steps), $`E_T`$ increases with increasing $`\frac{t_2}{t_1}`$. This general behavior is consistent with the simple model of Equations 1-3. For large etch thicknesses $`\frac{t_2}{t_1}1`$, the shear stress at the boundary between etched and unetched regions is small. $`\frac{dV}{dI}`$ drops sharply and smoothly, indicating that the entire sample volume depins at a unique $`E_T`$, determined by the volume average of $`E_{T1}`$ and $`E_{T2}`$ given by Equation 1. As the etched thickness and $`\frac{t_2}{t_1}`$ decrease, the shear stress $`\sigma _s`$ eventually is sufficient to cause shear slip along the boundary. In this case, $`\frac{dV}{dI}`$ shows two successive “drops” corresponding to depinning of the unetched (thick) and etched (thin) regions, respectively. The thick region’s depinning field $`E_T`$ is the sum of the pinning force $`E_{T1}`$ in that region and the maximum retarding shear force exerted across the area of contact between the CDWs. This is determined by the maximum shear stress $`\sigma _{s,max}`$ (force/area) times the contact area $`t_2`$ and is given by Equation 2.

The dotted and dashed lines in Figure 3(c) are fits to Eqns. 1 and 2 in the elastic and plastic regimes, respectively. The overall qualitative agreement is remarkable given the simplicity of our model. The elastic regime fit has no adjustable parameters, since $`E_T(t)`$ for our undoped NbSe3 crystals has been determined in independent measurements mccarten , and is in good quantitative agreement as well. The CDW’s elastic shear stress along the boundary grows as $`t_2/t_1`$ becomes smaller. From the location of the cross-over between the elastic and plastic regimes we can estimate the CDW’s maximum elastic shear stress from Equation 3 as $`\sigma _s=\frac{en_cw_1}{2}\frac{t_1}{t_2}[E_T(\frac{t_2}{t_1})E_{T1}]`$. Using the known cross-section dimensions $`w_1`$, $`t_1`$ and $`t_2`$, a condensate density $`n_c=1.9\times 10^{21}`$ cm-3, and the value of $`E_T`$ from the elastic fit at $`t_2/t_1=0.66`$ yields $`\sigma _{max,el}=6.6\times 10^3`$ Nm-2. The plastic fit (dashed line) in Figure 3(c) is given by $`E_T(\frac{t_2}{t_1})E_T(0)0.026\frac{t_2}{t_1}`$ (in Vcm-1). From this fit we obtain the plastic shear strength $`\sigma _s`$ at the interface between the thick and thin portions of the sample of $`\sigma _s9.5\times 10^3`$ Nm-2, in rough agreement with the maximum elastic shear strength. These estimates do not account for the effects of non uniform stresses along the interface due to the L-shaped cross-section.

A rough lower bound for the CDW’s shear modulus $`C`$ may be estimated from the ratio of the maximum elastic shear stress to the CDW shear strain when adjacent chains are $`\frac{\pi }{2}`$ out of phase. This gives the relation $`\sigma _s\frac{1}{4}\frac{\lambda _c}{d}C`$, where $`\lambda _c`$ is the CDW wavelength and $`d`$ is the distance between adjacent chains smaalen . This gives $`C2.1\times 10^4`$ Nm-2, more than $`3`$ orders of magnitude smaller than NbSe3’s measured longitudinal modulus $`5\times 10^8`$ Nm-2 dicarlo\_adelman  by the measured ratio $`10`$ of the longitudinal and transverse correlation lengths. As in ordinary crystals and flux-line lattices, the measured stress is likely reduced from its theoretical value by crystal and CDW defects.

The elastic moduli of flux-line lattices depend on magnetic field. The shear modulus $`c_{66}`$ increases roughly linearly at small fields, reaching a maximum at intermediate fields before dropping to zero at high fields. In Nb3Ge, the maximum value is $`10`$Nm-2 at $`\frac{B}{B_{c2}}0.3`$ pruymboom . Measurements on vortices in nm-scale, weakly pinned Nb3Ge channels in a strongly pinned background pruymboom  yield a maximum plastic shear strength at $`\frac{T}{T_c}=0.6`$ and $`\frac{B}{B_{c2}}0.4`$ of $`0.4`$ Nm-2. These shear modulus and shear strength values are roughly six and four orders of magnitude smaller, respectively, than the corresponding CDW values, consistent with the much more nearly elastic collective response of CDWs. The character of the bulk collective response depends on the ratio of the elastic strength to the bulk pinning strength, which is reflected in the ratio of the correlation length to the lattice periodicity. In CDW systems this ratio is typically $`10^3`$ to $`10^4`$, two to three orders of magnitude larger than is typical in flux-line lattices.

In conclusion, we have observed a crossover from elastic to plastic behavior in the depinning of charge-density waves in crystals with artificially produced cross-section steps. From this behavior we have determined the shear strength of the $`T_{P1}`$ CDW in NbSe3. This measurement provides a basis for understanding shear plasticity in CDW systems, and its relation to plasticity observed in other driven disordered media.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank Rut Besseling for fruitful discussions. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) (DMR 0101574 and INT 9812326). K. O’N. was supported by a U. S. Department of Education Fellowship. Nanofabrication work was performed at the Cornell Nano-Scale Science & Technology Facility, supported by the NSF(ECS-9731293), its users, and its industrial affiliates.


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# On the “Causality Argument” in Bouncing Cosmologies

(November 3rd, 2003)

## Abstract

We exhibit a situation in which cosmological perturbations of astrophysical relevance propagating through a bounce are affected in a scale-dependent way. Involving only the evolution of a scalar field in a closed universe described by general relativity, the model is consistent with causality. Such a specific counter-example leads to the conclusion that imposing causality is not sufficient to determine the spectrum of perturbations after a bounce provided it is known before. We discuss consequences of this result for string motivated scenarios.

It was recently acknowledged that perhaps the most fundamental key questions of string  or M-theory could be addressed in the framework of time-dependent cosmological background . Conversely, it was found that this new physics may imply new solutions for the dynamics of the early Universe. It is the case in particular of the pre big-bang paradigm , or the more controversial  ekpyrotic scenario . In both these last two models, the effective four dimensional theory presents a transition between a contracting and an expanding phase, i.e. a bounce .

In general, both the contracting and expanding phases can be described by well controlled low-energy physics for which high energy corrections (the $`\alpha ^{}`$ terms  in string theory for instance) are negligible. As a consequence, before (and after) the bounce takes place, it is possible to calculate unambiguously the spectrum of gravitational perturbations. On the contrary, the bounce itself demands full knowledge of such corrections which are, in practice, either difficult to implement  or simply unknown. This is why propagating perturbations through the bounce represents a technical challenge but is of uttermost importance, in order to make contact with observational cosmology.

The impossibility to know precisely the dynamics of the bouncing phase has led to postulate that its effect would reduce at most to a scale independent modification of the overall amplitude . As a matter of fact, both during the radiation to matter  transition and through the preheating , which are two other examples of short duration cosmological transitions, the spectrum is propagated in a scale-independent way. The purpose of this letter is to re-examine this assumption in the context of bouncing universes. We show, by means of a specific counter-example, that such a cosmological transition can affect large wavelengths in a scale-dependent way and this without violating causality. Thus, this last argument cannot be invoked to justify the abovementionned postulate.

The simplest way to study a nonsingular bounce is to consider general relativistic Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) models with closed spatial sections and a scalar field . We choose $`\eta =0`$ to be the conformal time at which the bounce occurs. Then, without loss of generality, the FLRW scale factor in the vicinity of the bounce (i.e. for $`\eta 1`$) can be described by a power series expansion in $`\eta `$ with one free parameter for each term of the series. We choose those such that the scale factor can be approximated by

$$\frac{a(\eta )}{a_0}1+\frac{1}{2}\left(\frac{\eta }{\eta _0}\right)^2+\delta \left(\frac{\eta }{\eta _0}\right)^3+\frac{5}{24}(1+\xi )\left(\frac{\eta }{\eta _0}\right)^4.$$
(1)
The first free parameter $`a_0`$ represents the value of the scale factor at the bounce. The second free parameter, namely $`\eta _0`$, gives the typical timescale of the bounce (the physical duration of the bounce is $`t_0=a_0\eta _0`$) and determines the corresponding de Sitter-like tangent model , the deviation from which being measured by the third and fourth free parameters $`\delta `$ and $`\xi `$, hence the non intuitive coefficients in Eq. (1); they are, in some sense similar to the slow-roll parameters of inflationary cosmology although they are not restricted to small values. It has been shown in Ref.  that one should restrict attention to $`11/5\xi \mathrm{}<0.1`$. If $`\delta =0`$, the bounce is symmetric. For $`|\eta /\eta _0|1`$, the above model is assumed to be connected to other cosmological epochs. Note also that adding more terms in the series (1) does not change the following argument .

The free parameter $`\eta _0`$ is directly connected to the null energy condition (NEC) $`\rho +p0`$, where $`\rho `$ and $`p`$ are respectively the energy density and the pressure. Indeed, at the bounce, Einstein equations imply that

$$\underset{\eta 0}{lim}\left(\rho +p\right)=2\frac{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}{a_0^2},$$
(2)
where the parameter $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ is defined by the following expression

$$\mathrm{{\rm Y}}1\frac{1}{\eta _0^2}\frac{\phi _0^2}{m_{_{\mathrm{Pl}}}^2},$$
(3)
where $`\phi `$ is the scalar field driving the bounce, behaving as $`\phi =\phi _0+\phi _0^{}\eta +\mathrm{}`$ (a prime denotes a derivative with respect to conformal time) around the bounce, and $`m_{_{\mathrm{Pl}}}`$ is the Planck mass. Combining both equations, we see that the NEC is satisfied at the bounce provided $`|\eta _0|1`$, the limiting case $`\eta _0=1`$ corresponding to the vacuum equation of state $`\rho =p`$. The previous considerations demonstrate that the bounce cannot be made arbitrarily short if one wants to preserve the NEC. Under this last condition, the short bounce limit is not $`\eta _00`$ but rather $`\eta _01`$, i.e. $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}0`$. Note that since $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ is related to the kinetic energy density of the scalar field to the Planck density, one expects $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}1`$.

Let us now turn to the study of the cosmological perturbations around the previous model (see Ref. ). The gravitational fluctuations are characterized by the curvature perturbations on zero shear hypersurfaces, i.e. the Bardeen potential $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$, whose master equation of motion reduces to that of a parametric oscillator given by

$$u^{\prime \prime }+\left[n\left(n+2\right)V_u\left(\eta \right)\right]u=0,$$
(4)
where the factor $`n(n+2)`$ arises from the eigenvalue of the Laplace-Beltrami operator on the closed spatial sections (hence $`n`$ is an integer). In the above equation, we have introduced a new gauge-invariant quantity, $`u`$, related to $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ by (see Ref.  for details) $`\mathrm{\Phi }\sqrt{3\kappa }u/(2a^2\theta )`$, where $`\kappa =8\pi /m_{_{\mathrm{Pl}}}^2`$ and $`a^{}/a`$. The quantity $`\theta `$ is defined by $`\theta ^2a^2\left(1+p/\rho \right)\left(1+^2\right)`$. This quantity only depends on the scale factor and its derivatives (up to the fourth order).

It is well known that only those modes having $`n>1`$ are not gauge modes. A crucial point is that the values of $`n`$ of astrophysical interest today are such that $`n1`$ (e.g. for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\mathrm{now}}1.01`$, $`60<n<6\times 10^6`$). They are related to the more usual wavenumber $`k^2`$, commonly used in inflationary cosmology, by the relation $`k^2=n(n+2)(\mathrm{\Omega }1)`$ which shows that, in this last context, $`k^21`$ (since $`\mathrm{\Omega }1`$ at the end of inflation with a very high accuracy). The effective potential $`V_u(\eta )`$ in Eq. (4) can be expressed as

$$V_u(\eta )=\frac{\theta ^{\prime \prime }}{\theta }+3(1c__\mathrm{S}^2),$$
(5)
where $`c__\mathrm{S}^2p^{}/\rho ^{}`$ which, in some regimes, can be interpreted as the sound velocity. Contrary to the flat case, the effective potential cannot be cast into the form of the second derivative of a function over that function.

The fact that the effective potential only depends on the scale factor and its derivatives means that it can be calculated for a general bounce given by Eq. (1). Far from the bounce, but still with $`\eta <\eta _0`$, we have $`V_u(\eta )4`$. In the vicinity of the bounce and in the limit of a short bounce satisfying the NEC, one has

$$\underset{\eta 0}{lim}V_u=\frac{27\delta ^2}{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}^2}\frac{81\delta ^2}{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}+\frac{5\xi }{2\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}+𝒪(\mathrm{{\rm Y}}^0).$$
(6)
Let us notice that $`V_u(\eta =0)`$ is an extremum of the potential only in the case $`\delta =0`$. We see that the height of the effective potential diverges in the limit $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}0`$. Therefore, in this limit, the bounce will necessarily affect the propagation of all the Fourier modes, regardless of the values of the parameters $`a_0`$, $`\delta `$ or $`\xi `$. In other words, the spectrum of the fluctuations cannot a priori propagate through the bounce without being changed in the NEC-preserved short time limit. This conclusion is generic and does not depend on the details of the model.

Is this compatible with causality? Let us first recall that causality relies on the concept of horizon which, requiring an integration over time $`d__\mathrm{H}(t)=a(t)_{t_\mathrm{i}}^ta^1(\tau )d\tau `$, $`t_\mathrm{i}`$ being the initial time (which should be $`t_\mathrm{i}=\mathrm{}`$ in the case of nonsingular cosmology), is a global quantity. Assuming from the outset an homogeneous background is problematic whenever the implied horizon is finite since in this case there exists scales larger than $`d__\mathrm{H}`$; somehow, imposing any condition on these scales is acausal. In other words, $`d__\mathrm{H}`$ fixes the scale limit below which the theory is physically meaningfull. Technically, this means that whenever a homogeneous background is assumed, one should proceed as follows: solve, mathematically, the perturbation equations for all modes $`\lambda `$, and then implement causality by restricting attention to those satisfying $`\lambda d__\mathrm{H}`$. To be able to decide whether this condition is met, one needs to embed the local bounce transition into a complete global model providing $`d__\mathrm{H}`$. In conclusion, without knowledge of the function $`a(t)`$ for all $`t`$, there can be no fundamental principle which would preclude large scales to be spectrally affected by a local effective potential (4). (Note that bounces are usually implemented in order to regularize the singularity, leading to a geodesically complete universe, and hence an infinite horizon.)

Another possible source of confusion is the often made identification of the Hubble scale $`\mathrm{}__\mathrm{H}=a^2/a^{}`$, a local quantity, with the horizon $`d__\mathrm{H}`$. Once a given scale $`\lambda `$ is inside the horizon at some time $`t=t_0`$, it remains so for any time $`t>t_0`$ because the ratio of the horizon to the physical scale at time $`t`$ is

$$\frac{d__\mathrm{H}}{\lambda }=\frac{k}{2\pi }_{t_\mathrm{i}}^{t_0}\frac{\mathrm{d}\tau }{a(\tau )}+\frac{k}{2\pi }_{t_0}^t\frac{\mathrm{d}\tau }{a(\tau )},$$
(7)
where $`k`$ is the comoving wavenumber of the scale under consideration. The first term is by assumption greater than unity and the second one is positive definite, hence the statement. By the same token, any scale which is outside the horizon will eventually enter it later (unless a singularity develops before). In constrast, as is well-known in the inflationary situation, a given scale can either exit or enter the Hubble radius, which can be done because $`\lambda \mathrm{}__\mathrm{H}`$ is physical, contrary to $`\lambda d__\mathrm{H}`$. In the case of a bouncing universe, the Hubble radius diverging at the bounce, all scales are, at some stage, sub-Hubble. For flat spatial sections, a super-Hubble scale also means that the mode is below the effective potential of the perturbation. This is no longer the case in the curved bouncing model for which the mode can be sub-Hubble although potential dominated, as was discussed in Ref. .

We now calculate explicitly the effect of a symmetric bounce ($`\delta =0`$) on the evolution of the cosmological perturbations. In this case, it turns out  that the effective potential can be expressed as the ratio of two polynomials of order $`24`$; it is represented in Fig. 1.

Obviously, for such a complicated potential, the equation of motion (4) cannot be solved analytically. However, in the case we are interested in, namely $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}1`$, the potential has a simple behavior, which can be studied simply by retaining only the smallest order terms in $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$.

In the limit where $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ goes to zero, the extremum of the potential $`V_0`$ diverges while its width, characterized by $`\eta _\mathrm{z}`$, shrinks to zero, namely

$$V_0=\frac{5\xi }{2\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}+𝒪(\mathrm{{\rm Y}}^0),\eta _\mathrm{z}=\sqrt{\frac{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}{5\xi }}+𝒪(\mathrm{{\rm Y}}^{3/2}).$$
(8)
This observation is confirmed by a study of the wings in Fig. 1 whose height and position are found to be

$$V_\mathrm{w}=\frac{5\xi }{6\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}+𝒪(\mathrm{{\rm Y}}^0),\eta _\mathrm{w}=\sqrt{\frac{4\mathrm{{\rm Y}}}{5\xi }}+𝒪(\mathrm{{\rm Y}}^{3/2}),$$
(9)
and exhibit therefore a similar behavior in the NEC-preserved short time limit. The previous properties suggest that we deal with a distributional effective potential, and indeed, a more careful analysis reveals that

$$V_u(\eta )=C_\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(\eta ),$$
(10)
where the constant $`C_\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ is given by $`C_\mathrm{{\rm Y}}[5\pi ^2\xi /(8\mathrm{{\rm Y}})]^{1/2}`$ and where the function $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(\eta )`$ is a representation of the Dirac $`\delta `$-function, i.e. $`lim_{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}0}\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(\eta )=\delta (\eta )`$. Note that even though the potential appears singular, this is nothing but a computational trick allowing an easy derivation of the resulting spectrum (recall that in realistic situations, the parameter $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ must remain small but nonvanishing ). The equation of motion (4) of the quantity $`u`$ can now be written as

$$u^{\prime \prime }+[n(n+2)+C_\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\delta (\eta )]u=0,$$
(11)
which is nothing but a Schrödinger-like equation for a distributional potential. Right before (superscript $`<`$) and after (superscript $`>`$) the point $`\eta =0`$, but still within the bounce epoch, a Fourier mode does not interact with the barrier since the potential vanishes and the solutions are just linear combinations of plane waves $`\mathrm{e}^{i\sqrt{n(n+2)}\eta }`$ and $`\mathrm{e}^{i\sqrt{n(n+2)}\eta }`$ with coefficients $`A^>`$, $`B^>`$ and $`A^<`$, $`B^<`$ before and after the bounce respectively.

In order to calculate what is the spectrum after the bounce, being given some initial conditions before the bounce, one must apply junction conditions. In the case at hand, the matching conditions are $`[u]u(0^+)u(0^{})=0`$ and $`[u^{}]=C_\mathrm{{\rm Y}}u(0)`$, the last one coming from an integration of the equation of motion in a thin shell around $`\eta =0`$. This reduces to

$`A^>+B^>`$ $`=`$ $`A^<+B^<,`$ (12)
$`A^>B^>`$ $`=`$ $`A^<B^<{\displaystyle \frac{C_\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(A^<+B^<)}{i\sqrt{n(n+2)}}}.`$ (13)
In the limit $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}0`$, the constant $`C_\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$ diverges and therefore the second term in Eq. (13) is dominant. Straightforward algebraic manipulation allows us to determine the transfer matrix defined by

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}A^>\\ B^>\end{array}\right)=T_u\left(\begin{array}{c}A^<\\ B^<\end{array}\right),$$
(14)
and we obtain the following expression

$$T_u=i\sqrt{\frac{5\pi ^2\xi }{32n(n+2)}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 1\\ 1& 1\end{array}\right)\frac{1}{\mathrm{{\rm Y}}^{1/2}}.$$
(15)
Some comments are in order at that point. First, one sees that, as discussed above, the transfer matrix depends on the wavenumber. Our calculation permits to actually predict accurately what the dependence is: $`[n(n+2)]^{1/2}`$. Moreover, the calculation also predicts the dependence of the transfer matrix on the parameter $`\xi `$ (except in the limit $`\xi 0`$ for which a different calculation must be done ). A point worth mentioning is that the overall amplitude diverges as $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}0`$. Since $`u`$ is just a mathematically convenient variable, this is not necessarily problematic. Indeed, using the relation between $`u`$ and the Bardeen potential $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$, and the fact that, at the bounce, Eq. (2) holds, one can show that the spectrum of the Bardeen potential is perfectly finite after the bounce, even in the limit $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}0`$. Note also that the fact that relevant scales may be larger than the duration of the bounce itself does not preclude them to be affected by the transition. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the above result has been recovered in Ref.  using a different method, including the numerical factor in the overall amplitude.

In more standard situations, even though the amplitude of $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ might change, the curvature perturbation on uniform density hypersurfaces, i.e. the quantity called $`\zeta _{_{\mathrm{BST}}}`$ , does not. Indeed, it satisfies

$$\frac{\zeta _{_{\mathrm{BST}}}^{}}{}\left[\frac{1}{3}\left(\frac{k}{}\right)^2\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Phi }^{}}{}+\mathrm{\Phi }\right)+\frac{\kappa a^2}{2^2}\delta p_{\mathrm{nad}}\right],$$
(16)
which was been shown  to hold independently of the gravitational field equations. Eq. (16) implies that $`\zeta _{_{\mathrm{BST}}}`$ is conserved under the conditions that there is no entropy perturbation ($`\delta p_{\mathrm{nad}}=0`$), the decaying mode of $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is neglected, and the scales are super-Hubble ($`k`$). Since $`=0`$ at the bounce, the Hubble radius is larger than any relevant scale during a finite interval around the bounce, i.e. cosmological scales are not large in the super-Hubble sense. Through the bounce, moreover, the notion of decaying and growing modes is irrelevant. Two conditions out of three being violated, $`\zeta _{_{\mathrm{BST}}}`$ has no reason to be conserved, and hence is not convenient for describing a bouncing transition. One should note, additionnally, that since the spectrum of $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is altered, there is no reason why $`\zeta _{_{\mathrm{BST}}}`$ should not be also spectrally distorted through a bounce.

In this letter, we have demonstrated that there is no reason to believe that the spectrum of large scale cosmological fluctuations is not affected by a short duration bounce, although this is not necessarily the case (one could choose for instance $`\eta _01`$, however hard this is to reconcile with the field theoretical treatment  or have a “slow-roll” kind of bounce with $`\eta _0=1`$ ). We have shown that this occurs when one approaches the NEC violation and we have also demonstrated that this effect does not violate causality. This result may find important applications: although the calculation discussed here is based on general relativity, there is no reason why causality should act differently in the framework of, say, string theory. In string motivated cosmological scenarios (as for instance in the pre-big bang paradigm  or in the ekpyrotic case ), the calculation of the power spectrum of cosmological fluctuations is done in the contracting phase and the predictions relevant for observational purposes then stems from the assumption that for sufficiently large scales, perturbations are essentially not affected by the bounce. Our result indicates that this assumption is far from trivial and may challenge the conclusions reached so far in the literature.

We wish to thank R. Brandenberger, A. Buonanno and particularly F. Finelli and D. J. Schwarz for enlightening discussions over many points discussed in this paper.


text:
# Charge-ordering, commensurability and metallicity in the phase diagram of layered NaₓCoO₂.

## Abstract

The phase diagram of non-hydrated $`\mathrm{Na}_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{CoO}_2`$ has been determined by changing the Na content $`x`$ using a series of chemical reactions. As $`x`$ increases from 0.3, the ground state goes from a paramagnetic metal to a charge-ordered insulator (at $`x=\frac{1}{2}`$) to a ‘Curie-Weiss metal’ (around 0.70), and finally to a weak-moment magnetically ordered state ($`x>0.75`$). The unusual properties of the state at $`\frac{1}{2}`$ (including particle-hole symmetry at low $`T`$ and enhanced thermal conductivity) are described. The strong coupling between the Na ions and the holes is emphasized.

Research on oxide conductors has uncovered many interesting electronic states characterized by strong interaction, which include unconventional superconductivity, and charge- or spin-ordered states Tokura ; Maeno . Recently, attention has focussed on the layered cobaltate $`\mathrm{Na}_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{CoO}_2`$. At the doping $`x\frac{2}{3}`$, $`\mathrm{Na}_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{CoO}_2`$ exhibits an unusually large thermopower Terasaki . Although the resistivity is metallic, the magnetic susceptibility displays a surprising Curie-Weiss profile Ray , with a magnitude consistent with antiferromagnetically coupled spin-$`\frac{1}{2}`$ local moments equal in number to the hole carriers Wang . The thermopower at 2.5 K is observed to be suppressed by an in-plane magnetic field Wang . This implies that the enhanced thermopower is largely due to spin entropy carried by strongly correlated holes (Co4+ sites) hopping on the triangular lattice. When intercalated with water, $`\mathrm{Na}_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{CoO}_2`$$`y`$$`\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{O}`$ becomes superconducting at or below 4 K Takada  for $`\frac{1}{4}<x<\frac{1}{3}`$ Cava ; MIT ; Jin . These experiments raise many questions. Is the Curie-Weiss state at $`\frac{2}{3}`$ continuous with the $`\frac{1}{3}`$ state surrounding superconductivity? Are commensurability and charge-ordering effects important? To address these questions, we have completed a study of the phase diagram of non-hydrated $`\mathrm{Na}_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{CoO}_2`$. As $`x`$ increases from 0.3 to 0.75, we observe a series of electronic states, the most interesting of which is an insulating state at $`x=\frac{1}{2}`$ that involves charge ordering of the holes together with the Na ions. We identify details specific to the triangular lattice, especially in the metallic state from which the superconducting composition evolves, and comment on recent theories.

Starting with powder or single-crystal samples with $`x`$ 0.75, we vary $`x`$ by specific chemical deintercalation of Na (Fig. 1, caption). Powders of Na0.77CoO2 were made by solid-state reaction of stoichiometric amounts of Na2CO3 and Co3O4 in oxygen at 800 C. Sodium de-intercalation was then carried out by treatment of samples in solutions obtained by dissolving I2 (0.2 M, 0.04 M) or Br2 (1.0 M) in acetonitrile. After magnetic stirring for five days at ambient temperature, they were washed with copious amounts of acetonitrile and multiple samples were tested by the ICP-AES method to determine Na content. Unit-cell parameters were determined by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) with internal Si standards. For the transport studies, we first grew a boule (with $`x`$ = 0.75) in an optical furnace by the floating-zone technique. Crystals cleaved from the boule (1.5 mm $`\times `$ 2 mm $`\times `$ 0.2 mm) were immersed in solutions of I2, Br2 in acetonitrile or NaClO3 in water for up to 2 weeks to deintercalate sodium. Because of the strong sensitivity of the electronic states to $`\mathrm{\Delta }x`$, it was essential to fine-tune the de-intercalation times and conditions until high uniformity of the Na distribution was achieved (as measured by the line-width of the XRD). Moreover, by combining powder XRD and inductively-coupled plasma analysis (ICP) experiments, we measured accurately the variation of the $`c`$-axis lattice parameter vs. $`x`$ (Fig. 1C).

Figure 1A shows the systematic variation of the magnetic susceptibility $`\chi `$ with $`x`$. Previous work Ray ; Wang  shows that for $`x\frac{2}{3}`$, $`\chi `$ vs. $`T`$ follows the Curie-Weiss law $`\chi =C/(T+\theta )`$ with $`\theta `$ 70 K. Above $`\frac{2}{3}`$, we find that, at $`x`$ = 0.75, $`\chi `$ is slightly rounded below 20 K, consistent with the appearance of a weak magnetization $`M`$ ($`0.03\mu _B`$ per Co with $`\mu _B`$ the Bohr magneton). A spin-density-wave (SDW) state at 0.75 has been suggested Motohashi ; Sugiyama . When we decrease $`x`$ below $`\frac{2}{3}`$, the Curie-Weiss divergence in $`\chi `$ is progressively reduced with decreasing $`x`$ until it vanishes at $`\frac{1}{2}`$. Close inspection of $`\chi `$ at $`\frac{1}{2}`$ reveals the existence of 2 sharp cusps at $`T_{c1}`$ = 88 K and $`T_{c2}`$ = 53 K (arrows). These 2 transitions signal the onset of an insulating state which we discuss shortly. In this charge-ordered state, $`\chi `$ remains independent of the magnetic field $`H`$, which is inconsistent with magnetic ordering. With further decrease of $`x`$ below $`\frac{1}{2}`$ to $`x`$ = 0.31, the profile of $`\chi `$ becomes relatively featureless, although its magnitude remains large compared with the Pauli susceptibility in conventional metals.

In contrast with the smooth evolution of $`\chi `$ vs. $`x`$, the in-plane resistivity $`\rho `$ shows a dramatic change in behavior across $`x=\frac{1}{2}`$ (Fig. 1B). At all $`x`$ values away from $`x=\frac{1}{2}`$, $`\rho `$ is ‘metallic’ in its $`T`$ dependence. For e.g., in the well-studied Curie-Weiss state ($`x`$ = 0.68, 0.71), $`\rho `$ has a characteristic $`T`$-linear profile below 100 K Wang . At higher doping ($`x`$ = 0.75), $`\rho `$ shows a distinct change-in-slope near 20 K in agreement with previous work Sugiyama . This reflects the onset of weak magnetic order discussed above. In contrast to these metallic states, insulating behaviour abruptly appears at $`x=\frac{1}{2}`$. Initially, $`\rho `$ in this sample increases gradually as $`T`$ falls towards $`T_{c1}`$ and $`T_{c2}`$, where it exhibits weak anomalies (note change in scale). Below $`T_{c2}`$, however, $`\rho `$ rises rapidly to reach $`20`$ m$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$cm at 4 K. This insulating state is confined to a narrow interval in $`x`$. At our lowest doping $`x`$ = 0.31, we recover a high-conductivity metallic state. Below 30 K, $`\rho `$ follows a $`T^2`$ behavior and falls to a value (9 $`\mu \mathrm{\Omega }`$cm) that is $``$5 times lower than at $`x=0.71`$.

The results from $`\chi `$ and $`\rho `$ imply the phase diagram displayed in Fig. 2. The dominant feature in the $`T`$-$`x`$ plane is the narrow insulating state at $`x=\frac{1}{2}`$ which separates two distinct metallic states. Below $`\frac{1}{2}`$, we have a ‘paramagnetic metal’ with high conductivity whereas, above $`\frac{1}{2}`$, we have a ‘Curie-Weiss’ metallic state in which a $`T`$-linear resistivity Wang  coexists with a $`\chi `$ that is Curie-Weiss like Ray ; Wang .

What is the nature of the insulating state at $`x=\frac{1}{2}`$? An important feature specific to this state is revealed by electron-diffraction studies (Fig. 2B). Even at 300 K, the Na ions at $`x=\frac{1}{2}`$ order as a superstructure with lattice vectors $`a\sqrt{3}\widehat{𝐱}`$ and $`2a\widehat{𝐲}`$ in the basal plane with $`a`$ the hexagonal lattice parameter. By contrast, at other doping levels, the superstructure Bragg spots are either much weaker or absent.

The long-range nature of the Na superstructure is brought out clearly by the thermal conductivity $`\kappa `$ measured parallel to the layers (as in layered oxides, $`\kappa `$ here is dominated by the phonons). Because phonons are strongly scattered by disorder in the Na sublattice, we expect the phonon mean-free-path $`\mathrm{}_{ph}`$ to be much longer at $`\frac{1}{2}`$ than at neighboring $`x`$ values. This is strikingly confirmed by the curves of $`\kappa `$ vs. $`T`$ (Fig. 3). In the metallic samples ($`x`$ = 0.31 and 0.71), $`\kappa `$ is only weakly $`T`$ dependent and relatively small at all $`T`$. However, in the crystal with $`x=\frac{1}{2}`$, it rises steeply below $`T_{c2}`$ to 300 W/mK, an exceptionally high value that is comparable to that observed in high-purity quartz and diamond. Hence both the diffraction and $`\kappa `$ results provide strong evidence that, in sharp contrast with the metallic states, the Na ions at $`x=\frac{1}{2}`$ order with very long range correlation even at $`T`$ 300 K.

Further insight into the insulating state is provided by the Hall coefficient $`R_H`$ (Figs. 3A and C). At $`\frac{1}{2}`$, we find that, above 200 K, $`R_H`$ is hole-like with a $`T`$-independent value equivalent to a Hall density $`1/eR_H`$ = 1.8$`\times 10^{21}\mathrm{cm}^3`$. (In metallic samples, however, $`R_H`$ is $`T`$ dependent; see below). Near $`T_{c1}`$, $`R_H`$ rises to a weak maximum and then plunges to large negative values. Below $`T_{c2}`$, it increases dramatically in magnitude to a peak value 250 times greater than its magnitude above 200 K. The giant increase in $`|R_H|`$ implies that the itinerant carrier density $`n`$ decreases by $``$2 orders of magnitude. The profile of the in-plane thermopower $`S`$ is qualitatively similar. $`S`$ changes sign near $`T_{c1}`$, and attains a large negative peak below $`T_{c2}`$. However, the relative increase in magnitude ($``$20) is smaller.

The behavior of $`R_H`$ at low $`T`$ reveals an unusual feature of the insulating state. $`|R_H|`$ falls steeply towards zero as $`T0`$. This contrasts with the usual behavior in semiconductors where it diverges as $`1/n`$ (as $`n0`$). In general, we have $`R_H=\sigma _H/H\sigma ^2`$, with $`\sigma _H`$ the Hall conductivity and $`\sigma =1/\rho `$ the conductivity. The decrease of $`R_H`$ to zero as $`T0`$ implies that $`\sigma _H`$ must vanish faster than the rate at which $`\rho ^2`$ is increasing. The vanishing of the Hall current at low $`T`$ implies that the charge excitations exhibit strict particle-hole symmetry. They are neither hole-like nor electron-like in their response to the applied field.

Previous transport Wang ; WangHall , magnetic Ray , and angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) Hasan  experiments point to the conclusion that strong correlation is essential for understanding the electronic properties of $`\mathrm{Na}_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{CoO}_2`$. On the triangular lattice in the CoO2 layer, a fraction $`(1x)`$ of the sites are occupied by itinerant spin-$`\frac{1}{2}`$ holes (Co4+) hopping in a diamagnetic background of Co3+ ions Wang . The hopping amplitude $`t`$ for $`x\frac{2}{3}`$ measured by ARPES Hasan  is quite small ($`|t|`$ 7 meV). The Fermi Surface encircles the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ point, consistent with a negative sign for $`t`$.

Recently, several groups have applied the $`tJ`$ Hamiltonian to $`\mathrm{Na}_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{CoO}_2`$ Baskaran ; Shastry ; Lee ; Motrunich . The derived phase diagram is strongly informed by the classical lattice-gas model which predicts that, on the triangular lattice, the electrons (holes) crystallize into a $`\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}`$ structure at $`x=\frac{1}{3}`$ ($`\frac{2}{3}`$Motrunich . However, at $`\frac{1}{2}`$, commensurability effects are weakest and charge ordering is not favored. We also note that the density of states calculated in 2D tight-binding approximation Shastry ; Lee ; Baskaran  reveals no sharp anomaly at $`x=\frac{1}{2}`$ if $`t<0`$ (a van-Hove singularity does occurs at $`x=\frac{1}{2}`$ if $`t>0`$). Hence the observed insulating state is quite unexpected.

The phase diagram in Fig. 2 reveals a characteristic feature of $`\mathrm{Na}_\mathrm{x}\mathrm{CoO}_2`$, namely, the strong influence of the Na ions on the electronic properties. The occurence of the insulating state seems to require a strong interaction between the ions and holes even though they occupy separate layers. For either charge species alone on the triangular lattice at $`x=\frac{1}{2}`$, the liquid state seems to be more stable at finite temperature. However, if both populations are present, density fluctuations in one will strongly influence the other. The incipient localization of the holes is evident at 300 K as indicated by the weakly rising $`\rho `$ (Fig. 1B). In turn, as the amplitude of the hole-density modulation grows, it becomes more favorable energetically for the Na ions to order. The strong coupling leads to a steep increase in both modulation amplitudes until a transition occurs in which the carriers condense into an insulating charge-ordered state. First-principles density functional calculations for $`x=\frac{1}{2}`$ Singh  show a very sharp peak in the density of states at the Fermi energy. This may account for the enhanced sensitvity to Na ordering at this particular doping.

It is interesting to compare the paramagnetic metal with the Curie-Weiss metal. As noted, at low $`T`$, $`\sigma `$ is $``$5 times higher in the former. In the sample with $`x=`$ 0.31, the nearly $`T`$-independent value of $`R_H`$ at low $`T`$ gives a Hall density = $`2.8\times 10^{22}\mathrm{cm}^3`$, which is in agreement with the 2D hole density calculated from $`n_{2D}=(2/\sqrt{3}a^2)(1x)`$, where $`a`$ = 2.82 Åis the lattice parameter of the triangular lattice. The large hole density and high conductivity at low $`T`$ implies that screening of charge fluctuations is quite effective at 0.31. Accordingly, its transport properties are more conventional than those of the Curie-Weiss metal. In the latter, the thermopower is greatly enhanced by a large spin-entropy component Wang . The susceptibility has a Curie-Weiss profile with a magnitude consistent with a spin-$`\frac{1}{2}`$ local-moment population equal to the hole concentration $`(1x)`$. These properties are anomalous from the viewpoint of a conventional metal. Finally, as shown in Fig. 3C, $`R_H`$ is initially negative at low $`T`$, but becomes positive near 200 K (for $`x`$ = 0.71) and displays an unusual $`T`$-linear increase over a broad range of $`T`$ WangHall . Holstein Holstein  has shown that coherent interference leads to a $`T`$-linear dependence of $`R_H`$ for electrons hopping on a triangular lattice. A similar $`T`$-linear behavior has been derived for correlated holes by Shastry and coworkers Shastry  for the high-frequency $`R_H(\omega )`$. This anomalous behavior appears to be intrinsic to the triangular lattice in the regime $`k_BT|t|`$. The hole-like sign of $`R_H`$ at high $`T`$ is consistent with $`t<0`$ consistent with ARPES Hasan ; Motrunich ; Shastry . The $`T`$-linear dependence of $`R_H`$ is present at $`x=0.31`$ but much weaker. As discussed above, the transport properties in these 2 metallic states are again very different from those in the charge-ordered phase at $`x=\frac{1}{2}`$ that separates them.

Finally, we remark that the superconducting state produced by intercalation with H2O evolves from the paramagnetic metal which is separated from the Curie-Weiss state by the charge-ordered insulator. It is unlikely that antiferromagnetic correlations, so strongly visible at $`x\frac{2}{3}`$, play a role in the superconducting state. Moreover, in the paramagnetic metal, we have not observed any evidence for $`\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3}`$ charge ordering, nor any evidence for a ferromagnetic instability. The large carrier density ($`3\times 10^{22}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ at $`x`$ = 0.31) is 10 times larger than in the cuprates (doped at 0.3). However, the larger effective mass $`m^{}`$ here may reduce the superfluid density $`n_s/m^{}`$ to a value comparable to that observed in the overdoped limit in cuprates.

We thank Thomas S. Connell for performing the ICP-AES analysis, and P. A. Lee for valuable comments. The research at Princeton is supported by a MRSEC grant from the National Science Foundation (DMR 0213706). MLF and RJC were partially supported by NSF Grant DMR 0244254.
$``$*Permanent address*: Center for Crystal Science and Technology, University of Yamanashi, 7 Miyamae, Kofu, Yamanashi 400-8511, Japan.


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# Faithful sharing of multipartite entanglement over noisy quantum channels

## Abstract

We present a protocol in which two or more parties can share multipartite entanglement over noisy quantum channels. The protocol is based on the entanglement purification presented by Shor and Preskill \[Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 441 (2000)\] and the quantum teleportation via an isotropic state. We show that a nearly perfect purification implies a nearly perfect sharing of multipartite entanglement between two parties so that the protocol can assure a faithful sharing of multipartite entanglement with Shor and Preskill’s proof on the entanglement purification.

During the last two decades, the theories on quantum communication protocols, such as quantum key distribution (QKD) BB84 ; Ekert91 ; B92  and quantum teleportation BBCJPW , have considerably been developed, and have improved quantum information sciences. Furthermore, quantum communication has almost attained to the practical stage.

A lot of quantum communication protocols BB84 ; Ekert91 ; B92 ; BBCJPW ; multipartite  require perfect quantum channels, which can conventionally be obtained from entangled particles shared between two or more parties, even though quantum channels are typically noisy. Thus, in order to succeed in a faithful quantum communication via a noisy channel, first of all we have to find a process to share a nearly perfect entangled state in a given situation by means of local quantum operations and classical communication (LOCC), which are allowed to perform in quantum communication. The process is called the entanglement purification, which have been studied in several ways BBPSSW ; BDSW ; VP ; Horodeckis ; SP ; BCGST . In particular, quantum error correcting codes are closely related with entanglement purification protocols BDSW ; SP ; BCGST .

We first review the entanglement purification protocol presented by Shor and Preskill SP . The protocol exploits the Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) code CSS , one of the representative quantum error-correcting codes, and has a merit that one can check the fidelity of the finally shared channel with a perfect quantum channel before completing the protocol, since the protocol was originally constructed in order to prove the security of the QKD protocol proposed by Bennett and Brassard BB84 . Thus, if two parties successfully pass the checking procedure in the protocol, then they can share nearly perfect bipartite entanglements with high probability.

We consider the CSS code of $`C_1`$ over $`C_2`$, which encodes $`m`$-qubits in $`n`$-qubits and can correct up to $`t`$ errors, where $`C_1`$ and $`C_2`$ are classical linear codes such that

$$\{0\}C_2C_1_2^n.$$
(1)
The entanglement purification protocol based on the CSS code is as follows: (1) Alice creates $`2n`$ Einstein-Podolski-Rosen (EPR) pairs in the state $`(|\varphi ^+\varphi ^+|)^{2n}`$, where

$$|\varphi ^+=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(|0|0+|1|1\right)$$
(2)
is one of Bell states. (2) Alice selects a random $`2n`$-bit string $`b`$, and performs a Hadamard transform on the second qubit of each EPR pair for which $`b`$ is 1. (3) Alice sends the second qubit of each EPR pair to Bob. (4) Bob receives the qubits and publicly announces this fact. (5) Alice selects $`n`$ of the $`2n`$ encoded EPR pairs to serve as check bits to test for noises. (6) Alice announces the bit string $`b`$, and which $`n`$ EPR pairs are to be check bits. (7) Bob performs Hadamards on the qubits where $`b`$ is $`1`$. (8) Alice and Bob each measure their qubits of the $`n`$ check EPR pairs in the $`|0`$, $`|1`$ basis and share the results. If more than $`t`$ of these measurements disagree, they abort the protocol. (9) Alice and Bob make the measurements on their code qubits of $`\sigma _z^{[r]}`$ for each row $`rH_1`$ and $`\sigma _x^{[r]}`$ for each row $`rH_2`$. Alice and Bob share the results, compute the syndromes for bit and phase flips, and then transform their state so as to obtain $`m`$ nearly perfect EPR pairs.

Here, $`\sigma _a^{[r]}`$ is defined by

$$\sigma _a^{[r]}=\sigma _a^{r_1}\sigma _a^{r_2}\mathrm{}\sigma _a^{r_n}$$
(3)
for a Pauli matrix $`\sigma _a`$, $`a\{x,z\}`$ and a binary vector $`r=(r_1,r_2,\mathrm{},r_n)`$, and $`H_1`$ and $`H_2`$ are parity check matrices for $`C_1`$ and $`C_2^{}`$ respectively. We then obtain the following lemma.

Lemma 1: Shor-Preskill.— There exists an entanglement purification protocol between two parties, Alice and Bob, in which if they have greater than an exponentially small probability of passing the test then the fidelity of Alice and Bob’s state $`\rho _{AB}`$ with $`(|\varphi ^+\varphi ^+|)^m`$ is exponentially close to 1.

Here, the fidelity $`F`$ of $`\sigma `$ with $`\tau `$ is defined by

$$F(\sigma ,\tau )=\mathrm{tr}\left(\sqrt{\sigma ^{1/2}\tau \sigma ^{1/2}}\right),$$
(4)
and we then note that

$$F(\rho _{AB},\left(|\varphi ^+\varphi ^+|\right)^m)=\sqrt{\varphi ^+|^m\rho _{AB}|\varphi ^+^m}.$$
(5)
In this work, we are going to prove the following theorem by exploiting some appropriate LOCC and nearly perfect bipartite entangled states obtained from the entanglement purification protocol in Lemma 1.

Theorem 1.— There exists a protocol in which two parties can faithfully share a given multipartite entanglement over noisy quantum channels.

For the detailed proof of Theorem 1, we present some notations and two more lemmas.

Let

$$|\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+=\frac{1}{\sqrt{d}}\underset{j=0}{\overset{d1}{}}|j|j$$
(6)
be one of $`d`$-dimensional generalized Bell states. We remark that $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_2^+=|\varphi ^+`$ and that when $`d=2^m`$

$$|\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+_{AB}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2^m}}\underset{j_2^m}{}|j_A|j_B=|\varphi ^+_{AB}^m.$$
(7)
We now consider a one-parameter class of states in $`dd`$ quantum systems, called the isotropic states Horodeckis ,

$`\rho _F=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1F}{d^21}}\left(II|\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+|\right)+F|\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+|`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{d^2(1F)}{d^21}}{\displaystyle \frac{II}{d^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{d^2F1}{d^21}}|\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+|,`$ (8)
with $`F=\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+|\rho _F|\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+`$. The isotropic states $`\rho _F`$ have an important property that $`\rho _F`$ is separable if and only if $`\rho _F`$ has positive partial transposition if and only if $`0F1/d`$ Horodeckis , and furthermore several measures of entanglement for the isotropic states can be calculated by the explicit formulas isotropic . Let $`𝒯_{\mathrm{iso}}`$ be the $`(UU^{})`$-twirling operator defined by

$$𝒯_{\mathrm{iso}}(\rho )=𝑑U(UU^{})\rho (UU^{})^{},$$
(9)
where $`dU`$ denotes the standard Haar measure on the group of all $`d\times d`$ unitary operations. Then the operator satisfies the following two properties: $`𝒯_{\mathrm{iso}}(\rho )=\rho _{F(\rho )}`$ with $`F(\rho )=\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+\left|\rho \right|\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+`$ for any state $`\rho `$ in a $`dd`$ quantum system, and $`𝒯_{\mathrm{iso}}(\rho _F)=\rho _F`$. We note that $`𝒯_{\mathrm{iso}}`$ can be implemented by means of LOCC DCLB . Employing the isotropic states $`\rho _F`$ and the twirling operator $`𝒯_{\mathrm{iso}}`$, we readily obtain the following lemma which has essentially originated from the results in Horodeckis .

Lemma 2.— Suppose that Alice and Bob share a state $`\rho _{AB}`$ in $`dd`$ quantum system, $`_A_B`$, such that

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+\left|\rho _{AB}\right|\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+1\epsilon $$
(10)
for some $`\epsilon >0`$. Then Alice can teleport any pure state $`|\psi `$ in $`_A`$ to Bob in the state $`\rho _{|\psi }`$ satisfying

$$\psi \left|\rho _{|\psi }\right|\psi 1\frac{d}{d+1}\epsilon ,$$
(11)
by means of LOCC.

Proof of Lemma 2. First, Alice and Bob transform $`\rho _{AB}`$ to an isotropic state $`\rho _F`$ by employing the LOCC which can implement the $`(UU^{})`$-twirling operator $`𝒯_{\mathrm{iso}}`$, where $`F=\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+\left|\rho _{AB}\right|\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+1\epsilon `$. Then Alice teleport a given state $`|\psi `$ to Bob via $`\rho _F`$, using the standard quantum teleportation scheme. Let $`\rho _{|\psi }`$ be Bob’s final state. Since the scheme produces the fidelity 1 via a maximally entangled state $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+|`$ and the fidelity $`1/\sqrt{d}`$ via the maximally mixed state $`II/d^2`$, it follows from Eq. (8) that

$`\psi \left|\rho _{|\psi }\right|\psi =`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{d(1F)}{d^21}}+{\displaystyle \frac{d^2F1}{d^21}}`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{Fd+1}{d+1}}1{\displaystyle \frac{d}{d+1}}\epsilon .`$ (12)
This completes the proof. $`\mathrm{}`$

The final lemma is a generalization of Theorem 5.3 in KL  into $`d`$-dimensional quantum systems.

Lemma 3.— Let $``$ be a quantum operation on a $`d`$-dimensional quantum system $`_A`$, and $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_A_R`$ a purification of a state $`\rho _A`$ on $`_A`$, where $`_R`$ is a reference system such that $`\mathrm{tr}_R(|\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }|)=\rho _A`$. Suppose that there is $`\epsilon >0`$ such that

$$\psi |(|\psi \psi |)|\psi 1\epsilon $$
(13)
for all $`|\psi `$ in the support of $`\rho _A`$. Then

$`\mathrm{\Psi }|`$ $`\left[\left(_R\right)\left(|\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }|\right)\right]|\mathrm{\Psi }`$
$`1\left(1+d_0\underset{jk}{\mathrm{max}}\{p_jp_k\}\right)\epsilon ,`$ (14)
where $`d_0`$ is the Schmidt number of $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ and $`\sqrt{p_j}`$ are the Schmidt coefficients of $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ with respect to the bipartite quantum system $`_A_R`$.

Proof of Lemma 3. By the Schmidt decomposition theorem, $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ can be written as

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }=\underset{j=0}{\overset{d1}{}}\sqrt{p_j}|\psi _j|\varphi _j_A_R$$
(15)
with $`p_j0`$ and mutually orthogonal $`|\psi _j`$’s in $`_A`$, and it clearly follows that

$$\rho _A=\underset{j=0}{\overset{d1}{}}p_j|\psi _j\psi _j|.$$
(16)
Then the left-hand side in Eq. (14) becomes

$$\underset{j,k=0}{\overset{d1}{}}\underset{\mu }{}p_jp_k\psi _j\left|E_\mu \right|\psi _j\psi _k\left|E_\mu ^{}\right|\psi _k,$$
(17)
where $`(\sigma )=_\mu E_\mu \sigma E_\mu ^{}`$ is the Kraus operator-sum representation of $``$ with

$$\underset{\mu }{}E_\mu ^{}E_\mu =I.$$
(18)
For $`0\theta 2\pi `$, we let

$$|\psi _\theta =\underset{j=0}{\overset{d1}{}}(e^{\iota \theta })^{q_j}\sqrt{p_j}|\psi _j$$
(19)
where $`\iota =\sqrt{1}`$ and $`q_j`$ are inductively defined by $`q_0=0`$ and $`q_j=_{l=0}^{j1}q_l+1`$ for $`j1`$, that is, $`q_j=2^{j1}`$ for $`j1`$. Then it follows from Eq. (13) that

$`1\epsilon `$ $`\psi _\theta |(|\psi _\theta \psi _\theta |)|\psi _\theta `$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{j,j^{},k,k^{}=0}{\overset{d1}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{\mu }{}}(e^{\iota \theta })^{q_jq_j^{}+q_kq_k^{}}`$
$`\sqrt{p_jp_j^{}p_kp_k^{}}\psi _j^{}\left|E_\mu \right|\psi _k\psi _k^{}\left|E_\mu ^{}\right|\psi _j,`$ (20)
for any $`0\theta 2\pi `$. Averaging uniformly the last equation in the inequality (20) over all values of $`\theta `$, from Eq. (17) we obtain the following inequality:

$`1\epsilon `$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{j,k=0}{\overset{d1}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{\mu }{}}p_jp_k\psi _j\left|E_\mu \right|\psi _j\psi _k\left|E_\mu ^{}\right|\psi _k`$
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{jk}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{\mu }{}}p_jp_k\psi _j\left|E_\mu \right|\psi _k\psi _k\left|E_\mu ^{}\right|\psi _j`$
$``$ $`\mathrm{\Psi }|\left[\left(_R\right)\left(|\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }|\right)\right]|\mathrm{\Psi }`$
$`+\underset{jk}{\mathrm{max}}\{p_jp_k\}{\displaystyle \underset{jk}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{\mu }{}}\psi _j\left|E_\mu \right|\psi _k\psi _k\left|E_\mu ^{}\right|\psi _j.`$ (21)
We note that

$$\psi _k\left|E_\mu \right|\psi _k\psi _k\left|E_\mu ^{}\right|\psi _k1\epsilon ,$$
(22)
by Eq. (13) in the assumption of the lemma. Since it follows from Eq. (18) that for any $`k`$

$$\underset{j=0}{\overset{d1}{}}\underset{\mu }{}\psi _j\left|E_\mu \right|\psi _k\psi _k\left|E_\mu ^{}\right|\psi _j=1,$$
(23)
we get the following inequality:

$$\underset{jk}{}\underset{\mu }{}\psi _j\left|E_\mu \right|\psi _k\psi _k\left|E_\mu ^{}\right|\psi _jd_0\epsilon .$$
(24)
Hence, from the inequalities (21) and (24) we obtain the inequality (14). Therefore, the proof is completed. $`\mathrm{}`$

We remark that since $`p_jp_k1/4`$ for all $`jk`$

$$\mathrm{\Psi }|\left[\left(_R\right)\left(|\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }|\right)\right]|\mathrm{\Psi }1\frac{d_0+4}{4}\epsilon ,$$
(25)
and that if $`\rho _A=I/d`$, that is, $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is a pure maximally entangled state in a $`d`$-dimensional quantum system then the right-hand side in the inequality (14) becomes

$$1\frac{d+1}{d}\epsilon ,$$
(26)
and hence with the result of Lemma 2, we readily obtain the following corollary.

Corollary 1.— Suppose that Alice and Bob share a state $`\rho _{AB}`$ in $`dd`$ quantum system, $`_A_B`$, such that

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+\left|\rho _{AB}\right|\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+1\epsilon ,$$
(27)
that Alice prepares another state $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+`$, and that Alice teleport the second half of $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+`$ to Bob via $`\rho _{AB}`$. Then the state which they finally share has the fidelity not less than $`\sqrt{1\epsilon }`$ with $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_d^+`$.

By virtue of the above lemmas, we now prove Theorem 1.

Proof of Theorem 1. For $`N>m`$, we let $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_A_A^{}`$ be an $`N`$-qubit state which Alice and Bob want to share in the way that Alice and Bob possess $`Nm`$ and $`m`$ particles, respectively, where $`_A`$ is an $`m`$-qubit system, and let $`\rho _A=\mathrm{tr}_A^{}|\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }|`$.

The protocol in which Alice and Bob can faithfully share $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is as follows: (1) Alice and Bob perform the entanglement purification protocol in Lemma 1, so that they can share nearly perfect states. (2) Alice and Bob transform the shared state to an isotropic state by means of LOCC. (3) Alice prepares the state $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$, and then they perform the standard teleportation scheme on $`m`$ particles of $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ via the isotropic state.

We now show that the above protocol can guarantee the faithful sharing of $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$.

By Lemma 1, Alice and Bob can share $`2m`$-qubit state $`\rho _{AB}`$ such that

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_{2^m}^+\left|\rho _{AB}\right|\mathrm{\Phi }_{2^m}^+1\epsilon $$
(28)
for some sufficiently small $`\epsilon >0`$. Thus, it follows from Lemma 2 that Alice can teleport any $`m`$-qubit pure state $`|\psi `$ to Bob in the state $`\rho _{|\psi }`$ satisfying

$$\psi \left|\rho _{|\psi }\right|\psi 1\frac{2^m}{2^m+1}\epsilon $$
(29)
by transforming $`\rho _{AB}`$ to an isotropic state $`\rho _F`$ with $`F=\mathrm{\Phi }_{2^m}^+\left|\rho _{AB}\right|\mathrm{\Phi }_{2^m}^+`$.

Since all pure states in the support of $`\rho _A`$ clearly satisfy the inequality (29), by Lemma 2 and Lemma 3, we conclude that

$`\mathrm{\Psi }|`$ $`\left[\left(_A^{}\right)\left(|\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }|\right)\right]|\mathrm{\Psi }`$
$`1{\displaystyle \frac{2^m}{2^m+1}}\left(1+d_0\underset{jk}{\mathrm{max}}\{p_jp_k\}\right)\epsilon ,`$ (30)
where $``$ is the quantum operation representing the standard teleportation via $`\rho _F`$, and $`d_0`$ is the Schmidt number of $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ and $`\sqrt{p_j}`$ the Schmidt coefficients of $`|\mathrm{\Psi }`$ with respect to a given bipartite system $`_A_A^{}`$. Therefore, since $`\epsilon `$ is sufficiently small, the proof of Theorem 1 is completed. $`\mathrm{}`$

We remark that the right-hand side in the inequality (30) is not less than

$$1\frac{2^m(d_0+4)}{4(2^m+1)}\epsilon ,$$
(31)
by the inequality (25).

Since more than two parties can share a multipartite entanglement by sequentially executing the protocol for two parties, we immediately obtain the following corollary.

Corollary 2.— Several parties can faithfully share a given multipartite entanglement over noisy quantum channels.

In conclusion, we have presented a protocol in which two parties can faithfully share multipartite entanglement over noisy quantum channels, and have shown that a nearly perfect purification implies a nearly perfect sharing of multipartite entanglement between two parties. Thus, we have finally proven that the protocol can assure a faithful sharing of multipartite entanglement with Shor and Preskill’s proof on the entanglement purification. For example, if Alice and Bob want to share an $`N`$-qubit maximally entangled state such as

$$\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(|0^N+|1^N\right)$$
(32)
so that they have $`Nm`$ and $`m`$ particles respectively, and if the fidelity of the quantum channel obtained from Lemma 1 with a perfect quantum channel is equal to $`\sqrt{1\epsilon }`$, then by the proofs of the lemmas in this work we can clearly show that after completing the protocol the final shared state exactly has the fidelity

$$\sqrt{1\frac{32^{m1}}{2^m+1}\epsilon }$$
(33)
with the original state in Eq. (32), where the fidelity in Eq. (33) is greater than $`\sqrt{1(3/2)^m\epsilon }`$. Thus, if Alice and Bob appropriately choose the CSS code in Lemma 1 so that $`\epsilon `$ is sufficiently small, then they can share a state close to the original state. In the similar way, our protocol can be applied to a lot of quantum cryptographic protocols using multipartite entanglement. Hence, it could play a significant role in proving the security of those protocols.

S.L. acknowledges Prof. Jaewan Kim and Dr. Sangchul Oh in KIAS for useful discussions. S.L. was supported by a KIAS Research Fund (No. 02-0140-001), S.C. by the Korean Ministry of Planning and Budget, and D.P.C. by a KIAS Research Project (No. M1-0326-08-0002-03-B51-08-002-12) funded by the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology.


text:
# Quantum information entropies of the eigenstates and the coherent state of the Pöschl-Teller potential

## I Introduction

Information entropy plays a crucial role in a stronger formulation of the uncertainty relations. The information theoretic uncertainty relations were first conjectured by Everett Everett  and Hirschman Hirschman  in 1957, and proved by Bialynicki-Birula and Mycielski, and independently by Beckner BBM . From the general properties of the Fourier transform, it was proved that, $`S_{pos}+S_{mom}1+\mathrm{ln}\pi `$. Here, $`S_{pos}=𝑑x|\psi (x)|^2\mathrm{ln}|\psi (x)|^2`$ and $`S_{mom}=𝑑p|\stackrel{~}{\psi }(p)|^2\mathrm{ln}|\stackrel{~}{\psi }(p)|^2`$, are the position and momentum space entropies, respectively. In a $`D`$\- dimensional space, the right hand side of the above inequality contains a multiplicative factor $`D`$. The above equation, known in the literature as Beckner, Bialynicki-Birula and Mycielski (BBM) inequality, captures the physical fact that localized $`|\psi (x)|^2`$ leads to a diffused $`|\stackrel{~}{\psi }(p)|^2`$ and vice-versa. It should be emphasized that, though $`S_{pos}`$ and $`S_{mom}`$ are individually unbounded, their sum is bounded from below. It is interesting to point out that, the above mentioned inequality was discovered by Everett in the context of many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. A general framework for deriving uncertainty relations of the above type, between general dynamical variables, not necessarily canonically conjugate ones, have been given recently Deutsch ; Partovi ; Birula1 ; Dodo ; Uffink ; Ruiz .

These entropies lead to new and stronger version of the Heisenberg uncertainty relations. Using a variational inequality, relating entropy and standard deviation for an arbitrary one dimensional variable $`A`$ BBM ; Shannon ; Dehesa1 : $`S(A)\frac{1}{2}+\mathrm{ln}(\sqrt{2\pi }\mathrm{\Delta }A)`$ and the BBM inequality, one can derive Heisenberg type uncertainty relations. These relations, which are based on standard deviations, are not very reliable, particularly when conjugate variables are discrete and the corresponding Hilbert space is finite dimensional. These entropies have been quite useful for characterizing quantum entanglement, since the von Neumann entropy $`S=Tr\{\widehat{\rho }\mathrm{ln}\widehat{\rho }\},`$ for the reduced density operators, is often difficult to calculate. Various properties of quantum mechanical entropy and its classical counterparts have been elucidated in Refs.Wehrl ; Wehrl1 ; Petz . As is clear, the single-particle distribution densities, measuring the spread of the wave functions in coordinate and momentum spaces, define their respective entropies. Interestingly, in the density functional theory of Hohenberg and Kohn, the single particle densities also completely characterize a many-body system Kohn .

The analytical determination of position and momentum space entropies have been carried out only for a few quantum mechanical systems. For the simple harmonic oscillator, the entropies were exactly calculated for the ground state, in both, coordinate and momentum space, for which the BBM inequality is saturated opatrny . For an arbitrary state, the entropies were determined approximately, using asymptotic values of the entropy of the orthogonal Hermite polynomials. The entropy integrals $`P_n^2(x)\mathrm{ln}P_n^2(x)𝑑\mu (x)`$, for several orthogonal polynomials $`P_n`$’s having suitable measures, have been recently studied, from which the asymptotic expressions for the information entropies for large values of $`n`$, have been obtained for $`D`$ dimensional harmonic oscillator and Coulomb problems Dehesa . Information entropy of neutral atoms Gadre ; Gadre1 , in the Thomas-Fermi theory, also manifests in a universal form, analogous to the one given in Ref. BBM . Information entropies in various contexts e.g., mathematical physics, mathematics, information theory, chemical physics and other areas of physics, have been extensively analyzed in recent times Majernik ; Majernik1 ; Jacobi ; Romano ; Sheorey ; Santha ; Buyarov ; Buyarov1 ; AbeSuzuki ; Bala ; GSA ; Abe ; Barnett ; Abe1 ; Coffey ; Ferrari ; Rajagopal .

The present article is devoted to the study of the information entropies of the Pöschl-Teller (PT) family of potentials. These potentials widely appear in the analysis of soliton bearing nonlinear equations e.g., Bose-Einstein condensates and in quantum problems on curved background Das ; Pethick ; Jatkar . In the following section, we first consider the hyperbolic PT potential and evaluate the position and momentum space entropies exactly for the ground state, for a range of potential strengths. For the first excited state, we calculate these entropies, numerically, which is shown to satisfy the bound obtained by Bialynicki-Birula and Mycielski. Some interesting features of the entropy densities are then graphically demonstrated. In the third section, we compute the position space entropy densities of the coherent states of the trigonometric PT potential, which exhibits revival and fractional revival, due to interference effects. Under time evolution these densities reveal interesting patterns in the space-time flow of information entropy. We conclude in the last section after pointing out various future directions of work in this area.

## II Information Entropy for Pöschl-Teller systems

We begin with the Schrödinger equation for hyperbolic Pöschl-Teller potential, which is reflectionless and admits $`n`$ bound states for integer values of $`n`$ (In units $`\mathrm{}=2m=1`$),

$`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{d^2}{dx^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{n(n+1)}{4}}\mathrm{sech}^2({\displaystyle \frac{x}{2}})\right]\psi ^{(n)}(x)=E\psi ^{(n)}(x).`$ (1)
The normalized ground state eigenfunction is given by,

$$\psi _o^{(n)}(x)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2B(\frac{1}{2},n)}}\mathrm{sech}^n(\frac{x}{2}),$$
(2)
where $`B(\frac{1}{2},n)`$ is the Beta-function.

Using the definition of position space entropy, after a lengthy but straightforward calculation, we obtain the analytical expression:

$$S_{pos}=(2n1)\mathrm{ln}2+\mathrm{ln}B(\frac{1}{2},n)+2n[\mathrm{\Psi }(2n)\mathrm{\Psi }(n)],$$
(3)
where $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is the digamma function.
For $`n=1`$ and $`2`$, the position space entropy has the values $`S_{pos}=2`$ and $`\frac{10}{3}\mathrm{ln}6`$, respectively.

The corresponding momentum space entropies can be evaluated by first obtaining the momentum space ground state wavefunctions, which are the Fourier transforms of the corresponding position space wavefunctions:

$$\psi _0^{(n)}(p)=A\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}^nB(\frac{n}{2}+ip,\frac{n}{2}ip).$$
(4)
For $`n=1`$, $`\psi _o(p)=\sqrt{\frac{\pi }{2}}`$ $`\mathrm{sech}(\pi p)`$ and the $`S_{mom}`$ can be easily evaluated,

$`S_{mom}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}2\psi _o^2(p)\mathrm{ln}\psi _o(p)𝑑p`$
$`=`$ $`2\mathrm{ln}(2\pi ),`$
and the corresponding BBM inequality reads

$$S_{pos}+S_{mom}=4\mathrm{ln}2\pi 1+\mathrm{ln}(\pi ).$$

For higher values of $`n`$, evaluation of momentum space entropies is quite cumbersome, instead we plot entropy-densities for both position and momentum space. As shown in Fig.1 and 2, it is interesting to notice that, the position entropy-density plots, develop a dip at its peak as we increase the value of the parameter $`n`$; exactly contrary behavior is observed in their momentum space counterparts. As seen in Fig3., for the ground state, as $`n`$ increases, the BBM inequality tends to be saturated. Physically, for increasing $`n`$, the depth of the potential increases and it increasingly resembles the oscillator potential, which saturates the above inequality.

We now proceed to evaluate the position space entropies of the first excited state. The corresponding wave function for the potential $`V(x)`$ reads,

$$\psi _1^{(n)}(x)=N\mathrm{sech}^{n1}(\frac{x}{2})\mathrm{tanh}(\frac{x}{2})\text{for}n2,$$
(5)
where $`N=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2[B(\frac{1}{2},n1)B(\frac{1}{2},n)]}}`$ is the normalization constant.

For $`n=2`$, $`S_{pos}=2.23472`$ and for general $`n`$ the behavior of the position space information entropy is depicted in Fig.2. Table.1, depicts the BBM inequality for the first excited state as a function of $`n`$. One sees that, as the value of $`n`$ increases the sum of the entropies tends towards a saturation value higher than the ground state value.

Table 1: Table for BBM inequality for the first excited state of the hyperbolic Pöschl-Teller potential.

| $`n`$ | $`S_{pos}`$ | $`S_{mom}`$ | $`S_{pos}+S_{mom}`$ | $`1+\mathrm{ln}\pi `$ | $`n`$ | $`S_{pos}`$ | $`S_{mom}`$ | $`S_{pos}+S_{mom}`$ | $`1+\mathrm{ln}\pi `$ |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| $`2`$ | $`2.23472`$ | $`0.722555`$ | $`2.95728`$ | $`2.1447`$ | $`8`$ | $`1.0971`$ | $`1.63508`$ | $`2.73217`$ | $`2.1447`$ |
| $`3`$ | $`1.7988`$ | $`1.0384`$ | $`2.8372`$ | $`2.1447`$ | $`9`$ | $`1.02621`$ | $`1.70025`$ | $`2.72646`$ | $`2.1447`$ |
| $`4`$ | $`1.56242`$ | $`1.22799`$ | $`2.7904`$ | $`2.1447`$ | 10 | $`0.96409`$ | $`1.7579`$ | $`2.72199`$ | $`2.1447`$ |
| $`5`$ | $`1.40082`$ | $`1.36474`$ | $`2.76556`$ | $`2.1447`$ | 11 | $`0.908807`$ | $`1.80958`$ | $`2.71839`$ | $`2.1447`$ |
| $`6`$ | $`1.27825`$ | $`1.47193`$ | $`2.75018`$ | $`2.1447`$ | 12 | $`0.859009`$ | $`1.85643`$ | $`2.71544`$ | $`2.1447`$ |
| $`7`$ | $`1.1796`$ | $`1.56013`$ | $`2.73973`$ | $`2.1447`$ | 13 | $`0.81371`$ | $`1.89926`$ | $`2.71297`$ | $`2.1447`$ |

## III Entropy Densities for Coherent States of Trigonometric Pöschl-Teller Potential

Quantum systems with eigen spectra depending quadratically on a quantum number $`n`$ are known to show revival and partial revivals in time evolution of corresponding wave packets. These quantum carpet structures have been studied quite extensively Bluhm . There have been suggestions to use the revival structure for obtaining a factorization algorithm Mack . The possibility of realizing PT type of potentials in atomic systems such as BEC, through optical means, makes the study of time evolution of these systems more interesting Kutz . It should be pointed out that perturbation of BEC on a soliton or cnoidal wave type solitary train background are known to satisfy the hyperbolic or trigonometric PT Schrödinger equations Pethick . In the following we study the time evolution of the information entropy density for an annihilation operator coherent state of the trigonometric PT potential Charan . The fact that, coherent structure like laser is an annihilation operator eigen state and the coherent manipulation of atoms, possibly with optical means is being increasingly considered seriously, may make these analyses useful. The trigonometric case has been chosen deliberately, since it has an infinite number of bound states as compared to the hyperbolic one, which makes the construction of the coherent states straightforward.

We consider here the Hamiltonian of symmetric Pöschl-Teller(SPT) potential (in the units $`\mathrm{}=2m=1`$),

$$H=\frac{d^2}{dy^2}+\frac{\alpha ^2\rho (\rho 1)}{\mathrm{cos}^2(\alpha y)},$$
(6)
with eigenvalues and eigenfunctions, in the variable $`x=\mathrm{sin}(\alpha y)`$,

$`E_n^{SPT}`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha ^2(n+\rho )^2`$
$`\psi _n^{SPT}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha (n!)(n+\rho )\mathrm{\Gamma }(\rho )\mathrm{\Gamma }(2\rho )}{\sqrt{\pi }\mathrm{\Gamma }(\rho +1/2)\mathrm{\Gamma }(n+2\rho )}}\right]^{1/2}(1x^2)^{\rho /2}C_n^\rho (x).`$ (7)
Recently based on a dynamical SU(1,1) algebra, an annihilation operator coherent state, was constructed for this system: $`K_{}|\gamma >=\gamma |\gamma >`$, here $`K_{}`$ is the annihilation operator of the SU(1,1) algebra Charan . The coordinate space realization of this coherent state is given by:

$$\stackrel{~}{\chi }_{SPT}(x,\gamma )=N(\gamma )^1\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\left[\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(2\rho )\mathrm{\Gamma }(\rho +1/2)\sqrt{\pi }}{\alpha (n!)(n+\rho )\mathrm{\Gamma }(2\rho )\mathrm{\Gamma }(2\rho +n)}\right]^{1/2}\gamma ^n\psi _n^{SPT}(x)$$
(8)
As already pointed out in the beginning of this section, the quadratic nature of the spectra of SPT potential leads to the possibility of revival and fractional revival in this quantum system due to subtle interference effects. Keeping in mind, the fact that in the realistic situations the complete span of the wave functions may not be available, we study the time evolution of position space entropy densities for various values of $`n`$, i.e., the number of states, interfering and constituting the resultant coherent wave packet. The effect of change of coherence parameter $`\gamma `$ on the same is also analyzed. These are depicted in the Figs. 4 and 5. One finds dramatic changes in the carpet structure of the entropy densities in space and time. One observes rich tapestry like structures, where one can manipulate the valleys and ridges of the entropy density in space and time. It is interesting to observe that, as we increase the value of coherence parameter $`\gamma `$, keeping $`n`$ fixed at some value, the various ridges come close together and form a continuous structure. These patterns become sharper for the higher values of $`n`$.

## IV Conclusions

In conclusion, we have studied the information entropies of a class of quantum systems belonging to the Pöschl-Teller family of potentials. Exact results, for the position space entropies of the ground and first excited states of the hyperbolic Pöschl-Teller potential were obtained, for a range of potential strengths. The expression for momentum space entropy was obtained analytically for the ground state and numerically computed for the first excited state. It was found that, these entropies satisfy the Beckner, Bialynicki-Birula and Mycielski inequality. The entropy densities for the above cases were depicted graphically, for demonstrating the entropy distribution in the well. For the trigonometric case, after investigating the entropies associated with the eigenstates, we studied the time evolution of entropy density for the coherent state Charan . The intricate carpet structure shows the richness of this quantum system, which needs to be explored further. It should be noted that, coherent states are being envisaged for the storage of quantum information. Pöschl-Teller potential manifests in quantum problems on curved background Jatkar , as also in non-linear integrable models with soliton solutions like, KdV equation Das . In light of this, the physical relevance of the information entropies computed here, needs further study. We hope to come back to some of these questions in future.

Acknowledgements: We acknowledge many useful discussions with Prof. K.D. Sen, who also brought to our notice many relevant references. We are thankful to Prof. V.B. Sheorey for discussions and to Dr. J. Banerji for help in the numerical works. A.K. acknowledges the financial support of CSIR India through S.R.F.