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# Propagation of electromagnetic waves in space plasma.

## 1 Introduction.

Coherent light-matter interactions are usually associated with high Planck temperatures, such as in lasers operation. However, these interactions occur often at all intensities of light. For example, a change in the density of the media, a light pulse is propagating in, results in refraction, a coherently scattered Rayleigh mode which occurs at even the lowest detectable intensities.

Incoherent Rayleigh scattering (such as the blue of the sky) is generally coincidental with incoherent Raman scattering. There are naturally occurring conditions where Raman scattering is coherent. This is ”Coherent Raman Effect on Incoherent Light” (CREIL). The first part of section 2 summarizes the theory of CREIL, more precisely developed in previous papers . The second part of this section compares the properties of the CREIL with the properties of its avatar, Impulsive Stimulated Raman Scattering (ISRS) . ISRS is easily obtained in the laboratory. Section 3 develops the result of a previous paper  indicating that the CREIL introduces a bistability during the propagation of the high flux of light radiated by an extremely hot source into low pressure atomic hydrogen. Section 4 shows that this bistability produces a multiplication of absorption lines (The Lyman forest).

Sections 5 and 6 demonstrate applications of the CREIL in astrophysics: Section 6 applies the theoretical results obtained in section 4 to a cloud of dirty hydrogen surrounding an accreting neutron star. The very complicated spectrum which is obtained has the properties found in quasar spectra, solving both the question of the origin and nature of the quasars; and the lack of observation of accreting neutron stars, (which should be easily detectable, but have not been identified). Section 6 is an application of the CREIL to the solar plasma, explaining the broadening of lines in the corona (Wilson- Bappu effect ), and the anomolous blueshift of the radio transmissions of the Pioneer 10 and 11 space probes.

## 2 A Summary of the ”Coherent Raman Effect on Incoherent Light” (CREIL).

A difference in phase exists between an exciting monochromatic beam, and the same beam scattered by molecules without a change of frequency (Rayleigh scattering). Rayleigh scattering is not time dependant, so that both the scattered and the incidental beams remain coherent after collisions, and interfere with each other to produce refraction. These collisions introduce only small perturbations. This is the source of Rayleigh incoherent scattering observed in sunlight.

If the scattered light has a different frequency, the difference in phase increases linearly with the time. Since each collision restarts the scatterings, they reset the initial phase, introducing an incoherence between the light scattered by different molecules. To prevent this incoherence, a coherent effect requires light pulses that are shorter than the collisional moment (the mean time between two collisions).

The interference of two laser beams (or of the beams of a Michelson interferometer with a moving mirror) produces beat frequencies. If the duration of the observation is short, or if short pulses are used, the beats are not detectable and a spectrometer then sees a single, intermediate alias frequency. An elementary computation shows that the obtained frequency is in proportion to the amplitudes of the mixed beams. It is worth noting Doppler effects due to the thermal or turbulent speed of the molecules is negligible, corresponding to the Raman frequency. Under both conditions, the light pulses are shorter than the collisional moment, and shorter than the period of the beats (the period of the Raman resonance), define “ultrashort pulses”as defined by G. L. Lamb as “shorter than all relevant relaxation times”.

The above explanation is simplistic and flawed. This is very evident when the intensity of the light is low: When light propagates into a medium, the medium is polarized (allowing a non-destructive observation of the light). This means, that light increases the energy of the medium by a small displacement of the energy levels, rather than a transition. In refraction, this energy is provided by the pulse of light while its amplitude increases, and returned when the amplitude decreases. This is not possible with a simple Raman scattering, therefore there must be second radiative process which allows a return of the molecule to its stationary state. The simplest process is an opposing Raman scattering. It is from these concepts: Coherent Raman scattering and the tensors of polarization, that the rigorous definition of the Coherent Raman Effects on Incoherent Light (CREIL) is obtained:

CREIL is a coherent interaction between a set of pulsed electromagnetic modes which increases their entropy by a transfer of energy from the hot modes to the cold modes, and a corresponding red (resp. blue) shift of the hot (resp. cold) modes. This interaction requires as a catalyst , a low pressure gas, in which the light transition pulses are shorter than the kinetic collisional rate of the gas, and also shorter than the periods of quadrupolar resonances. Since this is a coherent effect, CREIL does not blur the images.

Very often the beam temperatures are very different, so that CREIL is generally limited by the optical properties of the gas. Assuming that the dispersion of the polarisability is neglected, the relative frequency shifts $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu /\nu `$ do not depend on the frequencies $`\nu `$, so that CREIL frequency shifts may be easily confused with Doppler frequency shifts.

The simplest way to meet the conditions necessary for CREIL is by using ultrashort laser pulses. With femtosecond lasers, this experiment is easy to demonstrate, but the peak intensity needed to detect the light is so large that the frequency shift is also a function of this intensity: This is known as Impulsive Stimulated Raman Scattering (ISRS), in which the frequency shift is nearly proportional to the intensity.

ISRS may be observed in the laboratory using condensed matter and infrared frequencies while CREIL requires low pressure gases and hyperfine (or equivalent) frequencies. Thus, the difference of the lengths of the pulses between lasers (femtoseconds) and ordinary incoherent light (of the order of 5 nanoseconds) drastically increases the path length necessary to observe this phenomenon, rendering experimental conformation of this process in the laboratory impractical. However, a space-based demonstration has already been unwittingly conducted (see section 6).

## 3  Propagation of Bolometric Light in hot, homogenous hydrogen.

To create a CREIL effect in an extended photosphere, it is first assumed the gas pressure has been reduced to where the rms time between kinetic collisions is longer than the average length of the pulses, of the order of 5 nanoseconds. The thermal radiation provides the cold transfer mode.

In a very hot zone, the atoms are ionised; there are no absorption or emission by the protons, but heavier atoms emit spectra.

As the medium cools, the ionization and the thermal excitation of the atoms deminishes. The hydrogen Lyman emission or absorptions lines begin to form. In their ground quantum state (principal quantum number $`n=1`$), the neutral atoms have the well known 1420 MHz resonance, the excitation period of which is too short to allow a CREIL. But, the resonances corresponding to the quadrupole allowed transitions ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$F = 1) that have the following frequencies 178MHz in the 2s1/2 spin state, 59MHz in 2p1/2 spin state, and 24MHz in 2p3/2 are low enough to allow CREIL, and high enough to produce a strong CREIL effect. With each increase in principal quantum number, the Lyman absorption and the quadrupolar resonance frequencies decrease rapidly, so the CREIL effects are usually only active in the second and third quantum numbers.

As a first approximation of quantum effects, assume only a single CREIL mechanism after a Lyman $`\alpha `$ absorption. Now assume that the propagation of the light along a path $`L`$ produces a frequency shift $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$ of the Lyman line, the displacement of the shift being much greater than the width of the line. This shift occurs only when the atoms are pumped by Lyman absorptions, to low values of the final quantum number n. The resulting redshift is proportional to the number (per unit of area) of excited atoms. Assuming that the decay time of the excited states is constant, the energy absorbed over $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$ has a well defined value that is proportional to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu `$. The subtraction of the corresponding constant, (characteristically constant) intensity $`I_c`$ from the spectrum previously written into the light increases the contrast of this spectrum. On the other hand, the absorptions which occur during the redshift cause wide, weak, unobservable lines.

This supposition fails if $`I_c`$ is greater than the incident intensity, that is if the absorption of the energy in a line width is unable to produce a redshift greater than the $`\alpha `$ line width. In this case, after a short path in the gas, it is no longer possible to achieve Lyman pumping, and there is a termination of this redshifting mode. All lines, in particular the lines of impurities in the medium are written into the spectrum by this process. The contribution to CREIL by other Lyman absorptions does little to alter the previous description. For instance, it may be necessary to have a full Lyman beta absorption to cause a succinct disappearance of the redshift; but this does not extend to higher quantum numbers because the efficiency of the CREIL decreases.

To summarize, the bistability of the interaction induces two types of propagation: If the intensity is greater than $`I_c`$, the light is redshifted so that no spectral lines are visibly written into the spectrum. If the intensity is less than $`I_c`$, there is very little redshifting, all spectral lines of the gas are visibly written into the spectrum.

Now assume that the hydrogen is heated by the absorption. If the temperature becomes high enough to pump atoms into excited states, the heating increases the redshifting power of the gas , allowing a pumping of a higher intensity by previously not absorbed regions of the light spectrum; this induces an even greater heating: a new contribution to the bistability appears.

## 4 Multiplication of the spectral lines by a propagation in atomic, homogenous hydrogen.

Assume that the intensity in the light spectrum is generally greater than $`I_c`$. In this case, there is usually a redshift which blurs the absorptions lines. If it so happens that an absorption line for which the intensity is lower than $`I_c`$ is redshifted to superimpose on a strong Lyman absorption line, the redshifted line is fully absorbed by the Lyman absorption, the redshift stops, and the whole spectrum of the gas may be written into the spectrum. The coincidence of the written, redshifted Lyman $`\beta `$ (resp. Lyman $`\gamma `$) line with the Lyman $`\alpha `$ line of the gas writes the Lyman pattern into the spectrum of the light. The initial and just written Lyman patterns differ by the shift of frequencies $`\nu _{(\beta \mathrm{resp}.\gamma )}\nu _\alpha `$ between the $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ (resp. $`\gamma `$) lines. As in the standard computations the lines are considered as Lyman $`\alpha `$, the frequency shift is relative to the Lyman $`\alpha `$ frequency:

$$\begin{array}{c}z_{(\beta \mathrm{resp}.\gamma ),\alpha }=\frac{\nu _{(\beta \mathrm{resp}.\gamma )}\nu _\alpha }{\nu _\alpha }\hfill \\ \frac{11/(3^2\mathrm{resp}\mathrm{.\hspace{0.17em}4}^2)(11/2^2)}{11/2^2}\hfill \end{array}$$
(1)
$$\begin{array}{c}z_{(\beta ,\alpha )}5/270.185230.0617;\hfill \\ z_{(\gamma ,\alpha )}=1/4=0.25=40.0625.\hfill \end{array}$$
(2)
Similar to $`z_{(\gamma ,\beta )}7/1080.065.`$ The redshifts appear, with a good approximation as the products of $`z_b=0.062`$ and an integer $`q`$, the resulting pattern of harmonic intensities is observed in the spectra of the quasars (Burbidge , Burbidge & Hewitt , Tifft , Bell , Bell & Comeau ).

The intensities of the Lyman lines are decreasing functions of the final principal quantum number $`n`$, so that the inscription of a pattern is better for $`q=3`$ than for $`q=4`$ and a fortiori for $`q=1`$.

Iterating, the coincidences of the shifted line frequencies with the Lyman $`\beta `$ or $`\alpha `$ frequencies build a “tree”, final values of $`q`$ being sums of the basic values 4, 3 and 1. Each step being characterised by the value of q, a generation of successive lines is characterised by successive values of $`q:q_1,q_2\mathrm{}`$ As the final redshift is $`q_Fz_b=(q_1+q_2+\mathrm{})z_b`$, the addition $`q_F=q_1+q_2+\mathrm{}`$ is both a symbolic representation of the successive elementary processes, and the result of these processes.

The metaphor “tree”, is not very good because “branches”of the tree may be “stacked”by coincidences of frequencies. A remarkable coincidence happens for $`q=10`$, this number being obtained by the effective coincidences deduced from:

$$10=3+3+4=3+4+3=4+3+3=3+3+3+1=\mathrm{}$$
(3)
$`q=10`$ is so remarkable that $`z_f=10z_b=0.62`$ may seem experimentally a value of $`z`$ more fundamental than $`z_b`$.

In these computations, the levels for a value of the principal quantum number $`n`$ greater than 4 are neglected by reasoning that the corresponding transitions are too weak. It is worth noting that an emission line written over the continuous spectrum increases the redshift, so that it decreases the absorptions: the coincidence of a written emission line with a Lyman line seems to induce emission lines, so that the previous description applies to the emission lines as well.

## 5 Propagation of the light in the halo of a hot star.

First assume that this halo is made mostly of atomic hydrogen, and we generally do not take the impurities into account.

Close to the star, the pressure and temperature are high and the atoms of hydrogen are fully ionised, there is no CREIL and no redshifting. Since a star is not a blackbody, the gas is hotter than the light (just as in the corona of the Sun), the emission lines of the (ionized) impurities appear sharp. At greater distances, the multiplication of the lines described in section 4 comes into play.

At a small distance, the gas is relatively dense and hot enough for some thermal population of the excited states of the hydrogen. Therefore, there is always some redshift manifest as line broadening. As the temperature decreases, the emission lines disappear, and after a no-line region, which corresponds to an approximate equality of the temperatures of the gas and the light, the Lyman absorption lines appear. The saturation of the lines due to the relatively high density of gas corresponds to an equilibrium of temperature between the gas and the light at the top of the broad lines; these lines get the shape of a trough.

This description fails if the star radiates a strong radio field. This accelerates the free electrons, ionizing the gas in these relatively high density regions. This is why radio-loud stars do not have broad lines. At a very great distances, after creating the spectral Lyman forest, the Lyman absorption disappears, the hydrogen cools and becomes diatomic. All redshifted wavelengths provide energy for blue shifting of low energy frequencies in the thermal and radio bandwidths. These converge in the infrared frequency range, making “very distant”objects appear very dusty.

## 6 Observations of the CREIL in the solar system.

The variation of frequency shifts on the solar disk shows three origins for these shifts: Doppler, gravitational, and a shifting proportional to the path of the light through the corona. CREIL effects easily explains the corona line shifting and the resulting Wilson-Bappu effect  in stellar spectra.

Another result of CREIL is evident in a crucial experiment : Fixed Doppler radio signals to or from Pioneer 10 and 11 are blueshifted. Assume that the solar plasma between these Pioneer probes and the Earth contains molecules possessing resonances in the megaherz range (either or for instance Lyman pumped atomic hydrogen). These molecules transfer by a CREIL process, energy from the solar radiation in the optical range to the thermal radiation close to 2.7K. The energy of the radio waves in the optical mode selected by the radio-telescopes is increased by the emitters, over the 2.7K radiation energy which makes the background noise, just enough to allow the detection. This leads to a net blue shifting of the signals during radiation transfers.

Crucial experiments could be performed: the blueshift should disappear if a continuous, constant amplitude wave were emitted. Studying the variations of the blueshift as a function of the length of emitted pulses, a spectroscopy of the quadrupolar resonances in the solar plasma could be tried.

## 7 Conclusion

The displacement of quasars by intrinsic CREIL redshifting has prevented the proper assessment of their fundamental nature. We have demonstrated how the spectrum of quasars contains the signature of the missing accreting neutron stars , (Treves and Colpi , Popov et al ).

A previously proposed new model of the quasar  is not conceptually wrong, but more complicated and less precise than this one. Our present model uses only the consequences of the standard spectroscopy and matches many phenomonon as observe in nature. This is especially true when compared with the standard cosmological model. Specifically:

\- Since most of the redshift is intrinsic, quasars are not as distant as current estimates. Consequently, when the Hubble law is applied to the remaining redshifted lines , they are much closer, less massive, and less brilliant than current theory dictates.

\- The complexity of quasar spectra, including the shapes of the lines, is best explained by CREIL effects in a simple dirty hydrogen halo, as opposed to a sequence of baffling jets and sporatic clouds strained by dark matter .

\- Radio-loud quasar spectra demonstrate strong absorptions close to the redshift of the emission lines, these lines are intrinsically redshifted into broad lines in radio-quiet quasars .

\- In a Big Bang scenario, since the neutron stars \[quasars\] are not older than the local universe, no early generation of iron is needed to explain these spectra.

\- Since CREIL depends on the polarisability of an active gas, the dispersion of this polarisability produces variations of the relative frequency shifts $`\mathrm{\Delta }\nu /\nu `$ which distort the multiplets: there is no need to vary the fine structure constants , to acheive these effects.

\- The most redshifted and bright objects, in particular the broad absorption line (BAL) quasars, emit a relatively hot thermal spectrum  synthesized by CREIL.

\- The Seyfert galaxies may actually be accreting neutron stars blurred by exceptionally thick inhomogeneous clouds.

CREIL is necessary to understand the variations of redshifts in the photosphere of the sun, and the anomalous blueshifts of the radio emissions of the Pioneer space probes. It is a powerful tool in understanding the propagation of the light in low pressure gases, and to understanding many other astronomical observations.


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# Twistors and Holographyemail: chamblin@prancer.physics.louisville.edu

## I Introduction

Throughout history , one of the central problems faced by philosophers and scientists has been the simple query: How does one define the concepts of space and time? Are they merely abstractions which we have introduced in order to facilitate a description of the inter-relationship between things which actually ‘exist’ (e.g., such as material bodies)? Or do space and time ‘exist’ in and of themselves, without any reference to observable consequences? Although such Machian musings may seem esoteric, they actually take on a new and exciting life when viewed in the light of modern ideas coming from theoretical physics, especially quantum gravity. Indeed, most theoretical physicists today would probably agree that ‘space’ and ‘time’ will be effective concepts which only emerge at low energies. At scales past the Planck energy, ‘space’ and ‘time’ will simply cease to have any operational meaning, and some more fundamental ideas (comprising quantum gravity) will have to take over.

Of course, at first it seems nonsensical to assert that the ‘ultimate theory’ should be constructed without invoking the use of the words ‘space’ or ‘time’. After all, from our earliest days of undergraduate physics, we were all weaned on physical theories which simply would not make any sense without reference to these concepts. More precisely, theories such as classical or quantum mechanics are useful precisely because they are bodies of knowledge which allow us to predict, with at least some probability, the nature of future events given some knowledge about present or past events. One of the conceptual obstructions to constructing a quantum theory of gravity is that it is unclear what the theory will have to do with prediction; although certain quantum gravity models do yield predictions (such as the No Boundary Proposal), much more work on connecting quantum gravity with the low energy world around us is needed.

On the aesthetic level, however, the construction of a quantum theory of gravity may be the most beautiful way of solving the puzzle of space and time by showing that the concepts can be removed altogether from scientific discourse (since they are low energy manifestations of some more fundamental concepts); surely, Ernst Mach would be proud of this approach. On the other hand, even if we do discover such a ‘pre-geometric’ form of quantum gravity, we will still need to understand how general relativity can emerge at low energies.

Motivated by this problem, various authors have put forward the idea that the ‘Holographic Principle’ should somehow be incorporated into any attempt to construct a quantum theory of gravity. This principle, which was first developed in papers by ’t Hooft  and Susskind , is on the surface a radical statement about how many degrees of freedom there are in Nature. In essence, the principle asserts that a physical system can be completely described by information which is stored at the boundary of the system, without exceeding one bit of information per unit Planck area.

For some time, there was no precise covariant statement of the Holographic Principle; however, this situation was rectified in a series of elegant papers by Fischler and Susskind  and Bousso (, , ). In particular, by carefully choosing the lightlike surfaces (called ‘light-sheets’) where the entropy of a given system can reside, Bousso was able to develop a mathematically precise covariant entropy conjecture.

Soon after the work of Fischler, Susskind and Bousso (FSB), a proof of various classical versions of Bousso’s bound was provided by Flanagan, Marolf and Wald (FMW) . In order to make a mathematically precise statement, which could consequently be proven, they had to take the crucial step of introducing the notion of an entropy flux vector, usually denoted $`s^a`$. The total entropy through a given light-sheet is then defined to be the integral of $`s^a`$ over the surface of the light-sheet. They showed that FSB-type bounds could be proven, provided the entropy flux vector satisfied the following two criteria:

A: $`(s_ak^a)^2T_{ab}k^ak^b/(16\pi )+\sigma _{ab}\sigma ^{ab}/128\pi ^2`$

B: $`|k^ak^b_as_b|\pi T_{ab}k^ak^b/4+\sigma _{ab}\sigma ^{ab}/32`$

where $`k^a`$ denotes the tangent vector to a given null geodesic $`\lambda `$ generating the light sheet in question, $`T_{ab}`$ denotes the stress-energy tensor, and $`\sigma _{ab}`$ denotes the shear tensor of the null congruence . In essence, one may regard conditions (1) and (2) as the ‘definition’ of an acceptable entropy flux vector ***Recently, other simple sufficient conditions for the entropy bound have been derived . For the purposes of this note, and of these conditions will suffice.. Crudely, the stress-energy part of the entropy flux is generated by ‘matter’ degrees of freedom, whereas the shear part corresponds to purely gravitational degrees of freedom . Finally, we point out that there have been some criticisms of the covariant entropy bound and of the holographic principle more generally, see e.g., , ,  and  as examples.

In this paper, we adopt the philosophy that ultimately a quantum theory of gravity will be some structure which relates information \- in some primal form - with the geometry of space and time. A natural question is therefore: ‘Where’ is information stored, and how much information can we store there? The covariant entropy bound gives us a proposal: Information is stored on those surfaces where the entropy bound holds. It therefore behooves us to classify the most general set of such surfaces.

## II Twistors, timesheets and entropy

According to one definition, a ‘null’ twistor is a null geodesic in Minkowski space ,  For the sake of simplicity, we will use the term ‘twistor’ and ‘null twistor’ interchangeably here.. Consider a point $`x`$ in spacetime. Then there is a full ‘lightcone’ worth of null rays through that point. Put another way, a point in spacetime corresponds to an $`S^2`$ in twistor space. Similarly, consider some spacelike 2-surface $`B`$. Then the space of twistors over B is an $`S^2`$ bundle over B. We denote this bundle of null rays over $`B`$ $`T_B`$:

$`T_B=S^2B`$Given the bundle of null rays over $`B`$, we can consider smooth sections of this bundle. Given a section $`s`$ of this bundle, we will define certain surfaces, called ‘timesheets’, I thank R. Bousso for suggesting the name ‘timesheet’. associated with the section $`s`$ as follows: Given a point $`x`$ in $`B`$, $`s`$ corresponds to a null ray or vector. Since we are assuming the spacetime is time orientable, this can be decomposed into a future directed geodesic (from $`x`$), and similarly a past directed geodesic from $`x`$. The future timesheet associated with $`s`$, denoted $`T_s^+(B)`$ is obtained by terminating each future directed null generator of s at any caustic. There is the obvious corresponding definition for the past timesheet, $`T_s^{}(B)`$. Terminating these surfaces at caustics is of course the prescription Bousso gives for terminating lightsheets, the only difference here is that these sections are in general timelike. In order to understand this, it is useful to recall the Raychaudhuri equation , , :

$$\frac{d\theta }{d\lambda }=\frac{\theta ^2}{2}\sigma _{ab}\sigma ^{ab}+\omega _{ab}\omega ^{ab}8\pi T_{ab}k^ak^b$$
(1)
Bousso assumes that the null generators of lightsheets are everywhere orthogonal to $`B`$, which means that the rotation or twist parameter vanishes:

$`\omega _{ab}=0`$In general one could imagine that the congruence is not orthogonal, and that the twist is non-vanishing. Assuming causality, it follows that the surface will in general be timelike. Intuitively, the reader should think of d-dimensional Minkowski space as a hypersurface in (d+1)-dimensional Minkowski. It is certainly the case that d-dimensional Minkowski can be ‘ruled’ by null curves (you just introduce advanced and retarded null coordinates on the hypersurface), but it is a timelike hypersurface relative to the ambient (d+1)-dimensional coordinates.

However, there is one key point here: In order for the entropy bound to hold, the expansion parameter $`\theta `$ must satisfy the crucial inequality

$$\frac{d\theta }{d\lambda }\frac{\theta ^2}{2}$$
(2)
In particular, (2) must be satisfied everywhere on the timesheet. Given (1), this means that the following inequality must hold:

$$8\pi T_{ab}k^ak^b+\sigma _{ab}\sigma ^{ab}\omega _{ab}\omega ^{ab}$$
(3)
If the inequality (3) is satisfied everywhere along a given timesheet, then we will say that the timesheet is holographic, for the simple reason that the entropy bound will hold on the timesheet. But there is yet another subtlety: It could be the case that the twist tensor diverges too quickly, so that the inequality (3) is violated. To see that this may not happen, recall the equation for the twist tensor :

$$k^c_c\omega _{ab}=\frac{d}{d\lambda }(\omega _{ab})=\theta \omega _{ab}$$
(4)
Similarly, the shear tensor satisfies the equation

$$\frac{d}{d\lambda }(\sigma _{ab})=\theta \sigma _{ab}+\widehat{C_{abcd}}k^ck^d$$
(5)
where the ‘hat’ ($`\widehat{C}`$) operation over the Weyl tensor $`C`$ is explained in . Now, suppose that the inequality (3) is initially satisfied - then $`\theta `$ is initially decreasing towards minus infinity. If we assume that $`\theta `$ reaches minus infinity in a finite amount of affine parameter time, we can estimate how $`\omega _{ab}`$ and $`\sigma _{ab}`$ must vary in order for the conjugate point to be reached. Following along the geodesic, it follows that as $`\theta `$ runs to minus infinity, $`\omega _{ab}`$ and $`\sigma _{ab}`$ must ‘scale’ at the same rate, so that their effects are precisely cancelled. While this does not forbid violation of (3) at some points where the original covariant entropy bound holds, it does suggest that as long as there is enough shear it should be possible to allow for fluctuations away from orthogonality.

So when can holographic timesheets exist? Well, it is clear that they only exist when there is a ‘sufficient’ amount of entropy floating around in the spacetime. If both the shear tensor and the stress-energy tensor vanish, then the rotation will have to vanish and one must return to using the Bousso prescription.

Turning this around, suppose we try to ‘force’ a given amount of entropy flux through a given region. Then the criteria A and B for the covariant entropy bound imply that we must correspondingly see an increase in either the shear tensor or the stress-energy tensor through that region. But this in turn implies that we will have more freedom in our choice of holographic timesheets. Put another way, we could think of measuring the ‘size’ of the space of holographic timesheets. The space of holographic timesheets on $`B`$, which we denote $`H(B)`$, is a compact subset of the compact twistor bundle over B (here we are assuming that $`B`$ is some compact spacelike 2-surface), so $`H(B)`$ has some finite volume, vol$`H(B)`$. So it would seem that there is a direct relationship between entropy flux in spacetime, and the volume of the space of holographic timesheet sections in twistor space. We emphasize that this proposal is a definition of (and indeed a conjecture about) how entropy in spacetime might be realized in twistor space.

## III Conclusion: Lightsheets via twistor topology?

An old dream of the twistor programme was that physics should be formulated in twistor space - that in some sense twistors are more ‘fundamental’ than spacetime points , . Here, we have explored this possibility, at least for the case of ‘real’ twistors, which may be thought of as the bundle of null rays over a given spacetime. Since the modern, fully covariant realizations of the holographic entropy bound suggest that we should think of information as being defined on null rays, this is suggestive that twistor theory may indeed play a role in the construction of a quantum theory of gravity. At the very least, holography is a little more ‘obvious’ in twistor space: Given a holographic timesheet, the entropy integral over the timesheet is manifestly two-dimensional in twistor space. The assumptions underlying the bound then amount to the statement that you can only place a certain amount of ‘entropy’ on a given twistor or null ray. It would be interesting to have some fundamental explanation for this statement.

While this construction may seem academic, it may also have some useful applications. In particular, one may imagine scenarios where the Bousso lightsheet may be forced to fluctuate . Such a fluctuation will generically produce some timesheet. As long as the fluctuation is sufficiently small, so that (3) is still satisfied, then the covariant entropy bound will still hold. In this sense, we feel that allowing for timesheets in the formulation of the bound only makes the bound more robust.

Finally, we would like to mention an exciting possibility that may allow for the construction of an entropy bound that only uses topological properties of twistor space. It has been known, through the work of Low and others (, ), that there is a relationship between linking in twistor space and causal structure in spacetime. To be precise, recall that a point in spacetime corresponds to an $`S^2`$ in twistor space. Then it turns out that, at least for suitably ‘simple’ spacetimes, two points in spacetime are causally related if and only if the corresponding two-spheres are ‘linked’. Now assume that we focus on a small causal diamond in the spacetime, which is globally hyerbolic with some Cauchy surface $`S`$, and let $`A`$ be some spacelike region with boundary $`B`$. Low  has further argued that the Bousso choice for the lightsheet of $`B`$ corresponds precisely to the future horismos of $`A`$ §§§The reader will recall that the future horismos of $`A`$ is just the boundary of the Cauchy development.. Put another way, in twistor space the lightsheet is just a boundary between a region of linked spheres and a region of unlinked spheres. Thus, the lightsheet can be specified in terms of purely topological data in twistor space. We would emphasize that this can only really be true for very simple spacetimes, but it would be interesting to see how robustly these speculations can be implemented.

###### Acknowledgements.

AC was supported by a Director’s Funded Fellowship at Los Alamos National Lab. I would like to thank the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics for hospitality while this work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. PHY99-07949. I also thank Raphael Bousso, Rob Low and Don Marolf for correspondence.


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# Skyrmion formation in 1+1 dimensions with chemical potential

## I Introduction

Production of topological defects is of considerable importance in the context of the early universe. Many particle physics models of unification of forces predict the existence of topological defects. These defects may be produced during various phase transitions in the early universe . The first detailed theory of formation of topological defects, in the context of the early universe, was proposed by Kibble . However, the basic physical picture of the Kibble mechanism applies equally well to the large variety of topological defects known to arise in condensed matter systems . This allows the possibility of testing the Kibble mechanism in various condensed matter systems, see refs. . In fact, the basic mechanism has many universal predictions which make it possible to use condensed matter experiments to carry out rigorous experimental tests of these predictions made for the defects in cosmology . The Kibble mechanism has also been used to study baryon formation during chiral symmetry breaking transition in relativistic heavy ion collisions  within the context of Skyrmion picture of baryons. There are important issues for the case of continuous transitions where the issue of relevant correlation length has been analyzed by Zurek . In this Kibble-Zurek mechanism, defect formation is determined by the critical slowing down of the order parameter and depends on the rate of transition etc.

In all these discussions of formation of topological defects (here, for the sake of uniform terminology, we will use the term topological defect even for Skyrmions, though they are not defects in the usual sense) defects and anti-defects form with equal probabilities. However, there are many physical situations where formation of defects is favored over the anti-defects (or vice-versa). For example, in discussing the formation of flux tubes in type II superconductors in the presence of external magnetic field there will be a finite density of flux tubes, all oriented along the direction of external field (which we call as strings, the opposite orientation being associated with anti-strings). In addition there will be random formation of strings and anti-strings. Thus the basic mechanism of defect formation here should be able to account for the bias in the formation of strings over anti-strings. Formation of superfluid vortices (e.g. in 4He) with the superfluid transition being carried out in a rotating vessel will also produce biased vortex formation.

A similar situation arises in the context of Skyrmion picture of baryon formation. When one wants to study baryon formation during chiral phase transition in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, then one has to deal with the situation of non-zero baryon excess over antibaryons. This is certainly true for energies up to SPS. Even for RHIC, the baryon chemical potential is about 50 MeV for the central rapidity region . This requires that the basic mechanism of Skyrmion formation should be able to incorporate an intrinsic bias in favor of Skyrmions over anti-Skyrmions (depending on the sign of the chemical potential). Such a bias can not only affect the estimates of net density of Skyrmions and anti-Skyrmions, it can have crucial effects on the predictions relating to Skyrmion-anti-Skyrmion correlations.

It is known that the topological models of formation of defects imply very specific defect-anti-defect correlations . Predictions of these correlations, have a very important advantage over the predictions of defect density (as discussed in ref.). In situations where there is no natural accurate determination of the correlation length, as in the case of heavy-ion collisions, reasonable predictions of defect (Skyrmion) density cannot be independently made. Essentially, given a value of correlation length, any baryon density can be fitted. In contrast, the predictions of defect-anti-defect correlations can be put in a universal form such that they only depend on average defect/anti-defect separation (i.e. defect/anti-defect density $`\rho `$) . With experimentally observed value of $`\rho `$, theory of defect formation makes a unique prediction about defect-anti-defect correlations. This is well understood for the unbiased defect/anti-defect formation situation . Such correlations need to be understood for the case of biased formation, where clearly a bias of (say) defects over anti-defects may affect these correlations in a crucial manner. Thus, once the theory of defect formation is extended for the situation of non-zero chemical potential, this can be used to make very specific predictions about baryon-anti-baryon correlations in heavy ion collisions. Another important point is that in QCD the baryon number is strictly conserved. This implies that in a given region undergoing chiral phase transition, net Skyrmion number produced must be constrained (to be equal to the net baryon number of that region).

In this paper we initiate a study for incorporating the effects of a bias in the theory of defect formation via the Kibble mechanism. We will first motivate the basic ideas using physical picture of flux tube formation in the presence of external field. We will see that this necessitates changing the basic picture of elementary domain where the order parameter is conventionally taken to be constant. In contrast, if the symmetry breaking phase transition (i.e. superconducting transition) occurs in the presence of external magnetic field then due to the presence of non-zero vector potential the order parameter should be taken to vary within a domain. We mention here that the prescription of order parameter inside a given domain, and even more importantly, the prescription for the inter-domain variation of order parameter (the so called geodesic rule) is ambiguous for the case of gauge theories . However, even apart from those considerations, it will be clear (as discussed below) that biased formation of strings cannot occur unless one either modifies the geodesic rule, or introduces the spatial variation of the order parameter within a domain. (We mention here that we are assuming that the flux tube production is not dominated by fluctuations of magnetic field, e.g. as discussed in ref.).

We will next analyze the case of Skyrmion formation. Here a bias in the formation of (say) Skyrmions is expected if there is non-zero chemical potential for baryon number. We will see that the introduction of a chemical potential term in the effective potential for the linear chiral sigma model will lead to spatial variation of order parameter being preferred, having lower free energy than the case of constant order parameter. This bias can be exactly calculated for the simpler case of 1+1 dimensions. Even though the nature of exact bias and its implications is complicated to analyze for higher dimensions, we expect similar techniques to work there. We hope to discuss that in a future work.

The paper is organized in the following manner. Section II discusses the basic idea of biasing defects for the case of flux tube formation in a superconductor in the presence of external magnetic field. In rest of the paper we discuss the case of Skyrmions in one space dimension. In section III we describe the modified picture of Skyrmion formation in the presence of a chemical potential term. In section IV we present the analytical estimate as well as numerical simulation results for the case when the physical space (taken for simplicity to be $`S^1`$, as discussed below) consists of only two domains. Numerical simulation results for the 3-domain case are presented in Sect.V. Sect. VI presents discussions and conclusions.

## II Example of superconductor in external field

We first discuss the case of a type II superconductor in 2 space dimensions. This discussion will only be qualitative. Our purpose here is to bring out the naturalness of spatially varying order parameter within a domain in the presence of external magnetic field. Detailed discussion of spatial variation for this case will be deferred for a future work as this case has fundamental differences from the present case of Skyrmion. (For superconductors, bias originates from non-zero vector potential in the covariant derivative. Also 2+1 dim. case is much more difficult to analyze than the 1+1 dim. case which we discuss in the present paper).

The free energy density for the superconductor is given by,

$`F=|D_i\psi |^2+a(T)|\psi |^2+b|\psi |^4`$ (1)
$`D_i\psi =(_iieA_i)\psi ;i=1,2.`$ (2)
$`A_i`$ are the spatial components of the vector potential and $`b>0`$, while $`a(T)>0`$ for $`T>T_c`$ and $`a(T)<0`$ for $`T<T_c`$. $`T_c`$ is the critical temperature. Here, we are not including the field strength term. We are only focusing on the nature of order parameter within a domain in the superconducting phase from the point of view of the Kibble mechanism. Thus full dynamics of gauge field is not being considered here. (As mentioned above, we are also not considering here the situation when flux tube formation may arise due to fluctuations of the magnetic field ).

For $`T<T_c`$, in the superconducting state, $`D_i\psi =0`$ inside a superconductor which leads to flux quantization. In the absence of any external fields, the formation of flux tubes during a superconducting transition can be studied using the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. The physical 2 dimensional region undergoing the phase transition will develop a domain structure. Phase $`\theta `$ of $`\psi `$ will be constant within a domain. $`\theta `$ varies randomly from one domain to another while $`\theta `$ interpolates smoothly in between two adjacent domains (see ref. for a discussion of this point). Using this the probability of flux vortices (for two space dimensions) can be determined to be 1/4 per domain .

Now consider the case when the phase transition is happening in the presence of external magnetic field. This will require that there be a net excess of strings over anti-strings. (Note that even with the conventional mechanism, net string number is not zero in a given sample. However, there the net string number could be positive or negative, with zero average.) One way to implement an overall excess of strings over anti-antistrings can be to impose the net winding number at the boundary of the sample. This way one can unambiguously fix the net excess of flux vortices over anti-vortices. However, if one simply fixes the variation of $`\theta `$ at the boundary of the sample, and keeps the conventional picture of defect formation for the inside region (i.e. random $`\theta `$ for each domain and geodesic rule for regions in-between the domains), then it is easy to see that essentially all the excess vortices will be concentrated within one domain thickness of the boundary. This is because for regions which are more than one domain distance away from the boundary, conventional defect formation applies. This leads to defect-anti-defect symmetry on statistical basis for those regions. Even if there is slight excess of vortices in the interior region in one case, anti-vortices may be in excess in the next case (with this excess being proportional to $`N^{1/4}`$, $`N`$ being net number of defects+anti-defects in the interior region). Thus, essentially entire excess vortex number imposed by the boundary winding will have to be carried by the one domain thick shell within the boundary.

Similar situation can be argued even for the case of Skyrmions. It is important to realize that net winding for integer winding Skyrmions cannot be fixed in this manner by prescribing a winding at the boundary. This is because each full integer winding Skyrmion represents a compactified region of space where the boundary of a ball (disk in 2 space dimensions and 3-ball in 3 space dimensions) has a constant value of the chiral field. Thus there is no memory of winding of Skyrmion at the boundary of the region. However, as discussed in the literature , integer winding Skyrmions almost never form during a phase transition. It is only the partial winding Skyrmions which have reasonable probability of formation. The winding numbers of these partial winding Skyrmions can be fixed by prescribing the winding at the boundary. For example, for 2-d Skyrmions with Skyrmion winding being carried by the polar angle $`\theta `$ and the azimuthal angle $`\varphi `$ on $`S^2`$, one can assume that $`\theta `$ never approaches $`\pi `$ outside the partial Skyrmions (with $`\theta =0`$ at the center of the Skyrmion). Then $`\varphi `$ windings will determine whether one has Skyrmion or anti-Skyrmion. Fixing $`\varphi `$ winding at the boundary of the 2-dimensional region will fix the net Skyrmion number, assuming that these partial Skyrmions will evolve to become integer Skyrmions. (Actual situation is more complicated as the variation of the polar angle $`\theta `$ may in general be different in different partial Skyrmion regions.) It may thus be possible that one will end up with the same situation as discussed above for the case of superconductor. That is, if a net Skyrmion winding is fixed at the boundary of the region, then the excess Skyrmions will all be essentially concentrated within few domains thick shell at the boundary.

Clearly this situation is not satisfactory. When excess flux vortices form due to external field, they are roughly uniformly distributed in the sample. Similarly, non-zero baryonic chemical potential will lead to a uniform excess in the baryon density over anti-baryon density. It is then clear that one needs to modify the whole picture of defect formation itself. As we will discuss below, fixing boundary windings can be used to implement exact conservation of defect number, say Skyrmion number. (This exact conservation may not be needed for the superconductor case where a net statistical excess of strings may be sufficient.) However, this has to be supplemented with modification in the basic defect formation picture in order to distribute the excess defects uniformly in the whole region. We now discuss this modification of the defect formation picture.

Let us again consider the case of a 2-dimensional region undergoing superconducting transition in the presence of external field. Until the order parameter field $`\psi `$ settles to its thermodynamic equilibrium value, there will be non-zero currents present and $`D_i\psi `$ will not necessarily vanish inside the superconductor. As $`\psi `$ approaches the equilibrium value, the magnetic field will be pushed out of the superconducting regions, getting trapped in the form of isolated vortices, and $`D_i\psi `$ will approach zero inside the superconducting region. If $`\theta `$ is taken to be constant inside each domain, as in the case of zero external field, then $`A_i`$ will also be constant inside each domain. This will require modification for the standard geodesic rule to account for extra vortices due to external field. Though this possibility cannot be easily ruled out (and needs to be examined carefully), it is certainly not very natural. This leads to the requirement that the biased formation of vortices over anti-vortices is entirely due to regions in-between the domains. Certainly, for a second order transition, the splitting of the region in terms of elementary domains and inter-domain regions is somewhat ambiguous. Domains do not have completely constant $`\theta `$ with all the $`\theta `$ variation remaining in the inter-domain regions. In fact, one can very well consider the inter-domain regions as elementary domains with original domains becoming the inter-domain regions. Statistically it should not make much difference in calculation of defect formation probabilities. Thus, if vortices are to be biased over anti-vortices, then it looks unnatural to assume that the domain picture remains unchanged while only the inter-domain regions implement the biased vortex formation.

A more satisfactory picture, which as we will see below, also naturally fits with the picture of Skyrmion formation with non-zero chemical potential, is the following. As there is a net magnetic field going through the region, we assume that $`\theta `$ inside each domain has spatial variation. With $`D_i\psi =0`$ inside each domain, it will imply specific biased variation of the vector potential inside each domain. Combined with a suitably modified geodesic rule, this will lead to an overall excess of flux vortices over anti-vortices. (Similarly, if we consider superfluid vortices forming during phase transition in a rotating vessel, then due to already present fluid velocity, a non-zero gradient of the condensate phase should naturally arise.) For the superconductor case, the exact nature of the spatial variation of $`\theta `$ (and consequently of $`A_i`$) will depend on the choice of gauge etc.

There are several points here that one should be careful about. First, as mentioned above, the dynamics of flux tube formation may be dominated by fluctuations of magnetic field, as discussed in ref.. The considerations discussed here do not apply to such cases. Second point is that the uniform field at the beginning of phase transition will become unstable at the end of the transition, after all that is how the flux tubes form. The choice of vector potential to bias $`\theta `$ variation should take into account such a dynamics of the magnetic field. These are complex issues and need to be examined in detail. These issues for the case of 2-dimensional superconductor, and for superfluids, will be discussed in a future work. The arguments we have discussed for this case are very crude. Our purpose here was only to physically motivate that spatially varying order parameter within a domain can arise in a physical example. As we will see below, same effect can arise by postulating a chemical potential term for the free energy for the Skyrmion case.

## III Skyrmions in 1+1 dimensions

Above, we have tried to argue qualitatively what kind of modifications are needed for the basic domain picture to implement the biased formation of defects. We now consider the case of Skyrmion formation in one space dimension where these ideas can be concretely implemented. To represent the situation of a nonzero chemical potential, we will add a $`\mu N`$ term to the effective potential of linear chiral sigma model (see ref. in this context). Here $`N`$ is the topological Skyrmion winding number to be identified with the baryon number (in 3+1 dimensions). In one space dimension we can write the appropriate free energy (for possibly inhomogeneous field configurations) as follows. For simplicity of presentation we use dimensionless variables. We divide the free energy density by $`m^2`$, the coefficient of $`\varphi ^2`$ term. Length scales are measured in units of $`m^1`$, and the chemical potential $`\mu `$ in units of $`m`$. We can now write down the dimensionless free energy as,

$`F={\displaystyle [|_x\varphi |^2|\varphi |^2+\lambda |\varphi |^4\mu n(x)]𝑑x},`$ (3)
$`n(x)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi }}_x\theta .`$ (4)
Here $`N=n(x)𝑑x`$ is the Skyrmion number. $`\varphi `$ takes values on a circle $`S^1`$, which can be written as $`\varphi =\varphi _0e^{i\theta }`$.(We mention that there is no strictly conserved topological current for the case of linear sigma model, hence no exact conservation of Skyrmion number. This is why, to implement exact conservation of baryons we will need to fix the winding number at the boundary of the sample.)

Let us determine what configuration of $`\varphi `$ is preferred for the domain. In one space dimension only topological configurations are the Skyrmions. For these, the magnitude of $`\varphi `$ can be taken to be constant $`\varphi _0`$ for the entire 1 dimensional physical space. The quadratic and quartic terms in $`\varphi `$ in Eq.(3) then add up to give a constant which we can neglect in the following discussion. The relevant terms in $`F`$ from Eq.(3) are,

$$F_d=[\varphi _0^2(_x\theta )^2\frac{\mu }{2\pi }_x\theta ]𝑑x.$$
(5)
Note that, Skyrmion number $`N`$ is a topological invariant only when boundary conditions are fixed. Further, we determine the local value of equilibrium order parameter by minimizing the free energy density hence $`n(x)`$ can affect the determination of the equilibrium value of the order parameter as we show below. The chemical potential term, being a total derivative, does not contribute to the field equation $`_x^2\theta =0`$. A general solution of this equation is $`\theta (x)=\alpha x+\theta _0`$. As the free energy density in the expression for $`F_d`$ depends only on $`_x\theta =\alpha `$, we minimize it with respect to $`\alpha `$ to get,

$$\alpha =_x\theta =\frac{\mu }{4\pi \varphi _0^2}\mu ^{}.$$
(6)
We therefore see that for non-zero $`\mu `$, constant $`\theta `$ is not preferred as an equilibrium configuration. This is an unconventional result. Normally, for a theory where some internal symmetry is spontaneously broken, the vacuum is translationally invariant. This is how the effective potential is calculated, starting from the effective action, and restricting to constant field configuration. Spatial variations of the order parameter are conventionally discussed only as departure from the equilibrium situation. The non-trivial part of the above equation is that spatial variation of the order parameter is present even for the equilibrium configuration of the order parameter. This is happening due to the fact that the chemical potential term for the Skyrmion number is expressed in terms of the derivative of the order parameter field $`\varphi `$. As long as derivative terms come with positive definite contributions to the free energy, the equilibrium order parameter configuration (i.e. with lowest free energy) will be spatially constant. This is what happens with the conventional $`(_i\varphi )^2`$ term. Even the presence of Skyrme term  will lead to the same conclusion, i.e. constant order parameter. The situation is completely different with the above chemical potential term. This term is linear in the derivative of $`\varphi `$ and hence not positive definite. Therefore, it is no longer certain that the equilibrium configuration will be that of a constant $`\varphi `$. It will be interesting to investigate how one can justify this type of picture at a more fundamental level. For example, for QCD with fundamental degrees of freedom being quarks and gluons, a chemical potential term for the baryon number apparently has no reason to lead to a situation where the equilibrium order parameter should have spatial variations. However, as we have argued above, in the chiral models, the chemical potential term for the baryon (Skyrmion) number should naturally lead to spatial variation for the equilibrium order parameter. In this context, we mention ref. where a chemical potential term for the Skyrmion number has been derived.

With Eq.(6), our strategy for determining the formation of Skyrmion will be as follows. We split the physical space, say x axis, in terms of elementary domains which are one dimensional segments for the present case. We choose random values of $`\theta `$ in the middle of each domain. In a given domain, the spatial variation of $`\theta `$ from one end to the other end is then determined by integrating Eq.(6). With uniform variation of $`\theta `$ across the domain, net $`\theta `$ variation within a given domain of size equal to correlation length $`\xi `$, will be,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\theta =\frac{\mu \xi }{4\pi \varphi _0^2}=\mu ^{}\xi .$$
(7)
We still need to specify how $`\theta `$ is supposed to interpolate in between two adjacent domains. Conventionally (i.e. with $`\mu =0`$) one simply uses the geodesic rule which is the statement of minimizing the free energy in the inter-domain region. Note that this geodesic rule does not require specification of how large the inter-domain region actually is. With non-zero $`\mu `$, one needs to specify more details about the inter-domain region. We will still follow the spirit of the geodesic rule, i.e. minimize the net free energy in the inter-domain region. However, due to the chemical potential term it does not lead to the conventional geodesic rule. Depending on the value $`\theta `$ at the end of one domain, and the value $`\theta ^{}`$ at the beginning of the next domain, it may happen that the longer path on the vacuum manifold $`S^1`$ may be preferred in some cases. An example of this is shown in Fig.1 where, due to the chemical potential term, the anti-clockwise variation from $`\theta `$ to $`\theta ^{}`$ may have lower free energy compared to the shorter clock-wise variation. We compare the values of $`F_d`$ (Eq.(5)) for the two paths on $`S^1`$, with opposite orientations, joining $`\theta `$ and $`\theta ^{}`$. The path with lower value of $`F_d`$ is selected to represent the $`\theta `$ variation in the inter-domain region. We take uniform variation of $`\theta `$ for both paths, any other variation should give higher free energy for a given orientation of path (unless the chemical potential term in Eq.(5) becomes completely dominant). The choice of the path not only depends on $`\theta `$ and $`\theta ^{}`$, but also on the domain size $`\xi `$ as well as the size of the inter-domain region (and obviously on $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ in Eq.(7)). We therefore introduce another length scale $`\chi `$ which represents the size of the inter-domain region. We will present results for varying values of $`\xi `$ and $`\chi `$. These two different length scales have a clear meaning in a first order transition via bubble nucleation. The core of bubble representing uniform magnitude of the order parameter will have size $`\xi `$ while the bubble wall region for two coalescing bubbles can represent the inter-domain region with size $`\chi `$. (Just like the conventional case of $`\mu =0`$, free energy in the inter-domain region will be higher which, for the bubble case, can come from the energy of coalescing bubble walls). For a second order transition, definition of domain and inter-domain regions is much more fluid. One can take $`\xi `$ to represent the region where the order parameter variation is given by the field equation (Eq.(7)) whereas, in the inter-domain region larger variations of $`\theta `$ may occur.

Using Eqs.(5) and (7), it is easy to show that, for $`0<\theta <\theta ^{}<2\pi `$, the anti-clockwise variation from $`\theta `$ to $`\theta ^{}`$ has lower free energy compared to the clockwise variation if the following condition is satisfied,

$$\theta ^{}\theta <\mathrm{\Delta }\theta \frac{\chi }{\xi }+\pi .$$
(8)
Here $`\theta `$ and $`\theta ^{}`$ are the values of the phase at the two end points of a given inter-domain region (i.e., say, $`\theta `$ at the end of one domain and $`\theta ^{}`$ at the beginning of the next domain). From Eq.(8) we see directly that for $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta >0`$, anti-clockwise variation may be preferred even when this variation is larger than $`\pi `$.

Due to this detailed rule for determination of $`\theta `$ in the inter-domain region, the final probability becomes dependent on the length scales $`\xi `$ and $`\chi `$ in a complicated manner. It then becomes very difficult to determine analytically the probability of Skyrmion formation in this case. In the following, we will present an analytical calculation of the probability for the two domain case, but for three domain case we will need to resort to numerical simulation for determination of this probability.

Another important point is that the formation of Skyrmion is actually very different from the formation of other topological defects like monopoles, strings etc. This is because Skyrmions require constant boundary conditions for their topological description. These issues have been discussed in the literature. One determines the probability of formation of partial winding Skyrmion which is expected to subsequently evolve into a full integer winding Skyrmion . However, these complications are not relevant for the main point of the present work which is to investigate the effects of non-zero chemical potential on the basic theory of defect formation.

To avoid the issues of boundary conditions etc. for Skyrmion case, we will further simplify the problem. For the present case of one space dimension, we consider the physical space to be compact, i.e. a circle $`S^1`$. Further we consider the size of the circle to be sufficiently small so that it can accommodate only a couple of correlation domains which are sufficient to form one Skyrmion in the whole circle. This way the issue of boundary condition becomes irrelevant. For $`\mu =0`$ case this would have been the same as the calculation of the probability of winding around a loop going through couple of domains, i.e. the probability of vortices.

## IV two domain case

We know that for $`\mu =0`$ case there is no possibility of any winding unless one considers three or more domains. This is not the case for $`\mu 0`$ case. Due to the spread of $`\theta `$ (given by Eq.(7)) within a given domain, it is easy to see that even if the physical space $`S^1`$ has only two domains, one can still get non-trivial windings. Each domain already contains partial positive windings (for $`\mu >0`$). Inter-domain regions only need to complete this winding. It is also easy to convince oneself that there is no possibility of getting any anti-winding with only two domains (again, for $`\mu >0`$ case). \[Positive windings correspond to the case when, as one goes around the closed path in physical space in an anti-clockwise/clockwise direction, then the variation of $`\theta `$ in the order parameter space $`S^1`$ is also in an anti-clockwise/clockwise direction. Negative windings will correspond to the case when the direction of variation of $`\theta `$ in the order parameter space is opposite to the direction of the path in the physical space.\]

Consider the physical space $`S^1`$ (as discussed above) consisting of two domains as shown in Fig.2. The two random values of $`\theta `$ at the centers of the two domains are $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$. The anti-clockwise variation of $`\theta `$ as given by Eq.(7) within each domain is shown in the figure. Arrows in the figure show anti-clockwise path taken in the physical space to calculate the winding of $`\theta `$. For notational simplicity, we denote the beginning values of $`\theta `$ (along the anti-clockwise path in the physical space) in each of the two domains as follows,

$$\alpha \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\theta }{2}\theta _1,\mathrm{and}\beta \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\theta }{2}\theta _2.$$
(9)
With this, the values of $`\theta `$ at the other ends of each domain become $`\theta _1+\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ and $`\theta _2+\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ respectively. In Fig.2, domains (of size $`\xi `$) are shown by the dashed curves and inter-domain regions (of size $`\chi `$) are shown by the dotted curves.

We will set $`\theta _1=0`$, so that all other angles shown in Fig.2 are less than 2$`\pi `$ and are measured from $`\theta _1=0`$. We also assume that $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ as given in Eq.(7) is less than $`\pi `$ to simplify the analytical estimates. Within each of the two domains the variation of $`\theta `$ is equal to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ (as given in Eq.(7)) and is in the anti-clockwise direction on the vacuum manifold $`S^1`$. The formation of defect or antidefect then depends on whether in the two inter-domain regions $`\theta `$ interpolates in the clockwise direction or in the anti-clockwise direction. (We again repeat that we are using the terms defect and antidefects even for Skyrmions and anti-Skyrmions, though they are not defects in the usual sense). Let us call the inter-domain region from $`\theta _1+\mathrm{\Delta }\theta \theta _2`$ as Junction 1 and the inter-domain region from $`\theta _2+\mathrm{\Delta }\theta \theta _1`$ as Junction 2. Then there will be four cases depending on the direction of the variation of $`\theta `$ at these two junctions.

(1): Junction 1 clockwise, Junction 2 anti-clockwise

(2): Junction 1 anti-clockwise, Junction 2 clockwise

(3): Junction 1 clockwise, Junction 2 clockwise

(4): Junction 1 anti-clockwise, Junction 2 anti-clockwise

As $`\theta _1`$ has been set equal to zero, the value of $`\theta _2`$ will decide which of the above cases is preferred as the lowest free energy configuration, and hence the resulting winding number.

First consider the situation when, on the vacuum manifold $`S^1`$, $`\theta _2`$ lies in between $`\theta _1(=0)`$ and $`\theta _1+\mathrm{\Delta }\theta (=\mathrm{\Delta }\theta )`$. It is easy to see that in this situation, cases (1) and (2) give rise to one positive winding each, case (3) gives no winding and case (4) leads to a positive winding number 2 defect.

Using Eq.(8), we see that for case (4) the requirement of anti-clockwise variation at Junction 1 implies

$$2\pi \mathrm{\Delta }\theta +\theta _2<\mathrm{\Delta }\theta \frac{\chi }{\xi }+\pi \theta _2<\mathrm{\Delta }\theta (\frac{\chi }{\xi }+1)\pi .$$
(10)
If we assume that the values of chemical potential, the domain size $`\xi `$, and the inter-domain size $`\chi `$ are such that,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\theta <\frac{\pi }{(\frac{\chi }{\xi }+1)},$$
(11)
then we see that the requirement at junction 1 cannot be satisfied since $`\theta _2>0`$. Thus no winding 2 defects will form in this case. We will assume this to be the case for the analytical estimates. Thus, here, we are calculating the probability of defects when the bias given by the chemical potential (Eq.(7)) is not very large. We do this for the sake of simplicity as analytical estimates for large $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ become more complicated (with larger variety of configurations contributing to defect formation). When we present numerical results, then we will present results for larger values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ also.

For case (2) we see that the requirement on Junction 1 is the same as in case (4). With the requirement on $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ as given in Eq.(11), we thus see that no defects will form for the case (2).

Now let us discuss case (1). The conditions on $`\theta _2`$ from Junction 2 and Junction 1 are, respectively,

$`\theta _2>\mathrm{\Delta }\theta ({\displaystyle \frac{\chi }{\xi }}+1)+\pi A`$ (12)
$`\theta _2>\mathrm{\Delta }\theta ({\displaystyle \frac{\chi }{\xi }}+1)\pi =A.`$ (13)
Note that with Eq.(11), $`A>0`$. Also, we are discussing the case when $`0<\theta _2<\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ hence the allowed range for $`\theta _2`$ (from Eq.(12)) is $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta A=\mathrm{\Delta }\theta (\frac{\chi }{\xi }+2)\pi `$. Thus, if we make a stronger restriction (compared to that given by Eq.(11)) on $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ such that,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\theta <\frac{\pi }{(\frac{\chi }{\xi }+2)},$$
(14)
then no defects will form in case (1) also. We will assume that Eq.(14) is satisfied by the parameters so that no defects are formed when $`\theta _2`$ lies between $`0(=\theta _1)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$.

Let us now consider the situation when $`\theta _2>2\pi \mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$. (Note, $`\theta _2<2\pi `$.) Again completing path anticlockwise in the physical space in Fig.2, one can see that in this situation also, cases (1) and (2) give rise to one positive winding (assumed to be anti-clockwise winding) each, case (3) gives no winding and case (4) leads to a winding number 2 defect. Following the arguments as above for all the four junction conditions, one can show that, with Eq.(14), no defects are formed in this case.

Finally we discuss the situation when $`\theta _2`$ takes any value in the rest of the vacuum manifold, i.e. $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta <\theta _2<2\pi \mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$. In this situation one can see that cases (1) and (2) do not give any defects. Case (3) gives an anti-defect whereas case (4) gives formation of winding one defect. As we have mentioned earlier, for the two domain case no anti-winding defects can form. One can see it here directly also by requiring the conditions on Junction 2 and Junction 1 for case (3), i.e.

$`2\pi \theta _2\mathrm{\Delta }\theta >\mathrm{\Delta }\theta {\displaystyle \frac{\chi }{\xi }}+\pi `$ (15)
$`\theta _2\mathrm{\Delta }\theta >\mathrm{\Delta }\theta {\displaystyle \frac{\chi }{\xi }}+\pi ,`$ (16)
respectively. These give,

$`\theta _2<\mathrm{\Delta }\theta ({\displaystyle \frac{\chi }{\xi }}+1)+\pi `$ (17)
$`\theta _2>\mathrm{\Delta }\theta ({\displaystyle \frac{\chi }{\xi }}+1)+\pi .`$ (18)
These conditions are mutually inconsistent since $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta (\frac{\chi }{\xi }+1)>0`$. Thus no antidefects form.

We thus consider the last case (4). Junction 2 condition gives

$$\theta _2>\mathrm{\Delta }\theta (\frac{\chi }{\xi }+1)+\pi .$$
(19)
Junction 1 condition gives,

$$\theta _2<\mathrm{\Delta }\theta (\frac{\chi }{\xi }+1)+\pi .$$
(20)
One can easily check that these conditions are consistent with the range of $`\theta _2`$ for this case, i.e. $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta <\theta _2<2\pi \mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$.

Thus, the allowed range of $`\theta _2`$ for the formation of winding one defects is

$$\theta _2^{\mathrm{Range}}=(2\mathrm{\Delta }\theta )(\frac{\chi }{\xi }+1).$$
(21)
As $`\theta _2`$ can take any value between $`0`$ and $`2\pi `$, we conclude that the probability for the formation of winding one defects for the two domain case is

$$P=\frac{(\mathrm{\Delta }\theta )(\frac{\chi }{\xi }+1)}{\pi }.$$
(22)
This expression is valid for the values of parameters such that Eq.(14) is satisfied. No antiwinding defects are formed for the two domain case.

We have carried out numerical simulation for the two domain case by randomly assigning values of $`\theta _1`$ and $`\theta _2`$ (note, that this is completely equivalent to assigning random values of $`\theta `$ at the middle of the domains) as shown in Fig.2. For each of the two junctions, we then compare the free energies (Eq.(5)) for the clockwise and the anti-clockwise variations of $`\theta `$ around the vacuum manifold and select the path with lower free energy. Net winding is then calculated for the anti-clockwise path in the physical space starting from, and ending at $`\theta _1`$. Fig.3 shows the results of numerical simulation. Symbols give the numerical simulation values of the probability $`P`$ which is the probability of positive windings as a function of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$. (Here, as $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ is varied, $`\xi `$ is kept fixed in Eq.(7).) Solid continuous lines show the plots of the analytical results in Eq.(22). This is plotted only up to the value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta =\frac{\pi }{(\frac{\chi }{\xi }+2)}`$ as allowed by Eq.(14). We see that simulation results completely agree with the analytical results. We had carried out simulation for 100,000 events so the numerical errors are negligible. One point here is that, although Eq.(22) seems to imply that only the ratio $`\chi /\xi `$ is relevant for the probability calculation, it is because we have restricted to small $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ case. For larger values of chemical potential, the probability depends more generally on $`\xi `$ and $`\chi `$, though it becomes complicated to work out all possible configurations. We also note that for $`\xi =1,\chi =2`$, probability of 2-winding Skyrmions also becomes non-zero beyond $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta 1.1`$. For values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ larger than this, the total probability plot for this case also includes the contributions from these 2-winding Skyrmions. (We do not plot the probabilities beyond $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta \pi /2`$ as for higher values even higher winding Skyrmions start forming and correspondence with the analytical estimates becomes more remote.) Double winding Skyrmions are counted as 2 times single winding Skyrmion. In this sense the total probability for this case represents the average number of positive winding Skyrmions.

## V three domain case

For three domain case we do not attempt analytical estimate as it becomes very complicated. Physical space is divided in three domains (with three inter-domain regions) in a similar manner as the two domain case in Fig.2. Random values of the three angles in the three domains are chosen (at the beginning of each domain, which, as discussed for the two domain case, is equivalent to selecting random values at the middle of each domain). The path on the vacuum manifold is numerically determined for each inter-domain region by calculating free energies as before.

Figs.4 and 5 show plots for the case of three domains. Fig.4a shows the plots of the total probability $`p_+`$ of Skyrmion formation (giving average positive winding Skyrmion). We see that this increases with increasing value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ (and hence $`\mu `$). Total probability is calculated by multiplying the number of Skyrmions of a given winding number by the winding number. The value of this probability $`p_+`$ thus refers to average positive winding Skyrmion number. Fig.4b shows the probability $`p_{}`$ of anti-Skyrmion formation. AntiSkyrmions are found only with winding minus one for this three domain case. In Fig.4, we can make comparison with the conventional case of $`\mu =0`$. We thus see that plots of winding plus one and minus one intersect the y axis ($`\mu =0`$) at $`p_+p_{}0.125`$ (corresponding to the net probability = 1/4 of defect or anti-defect formation). We see that non-zero $`\mu `$ affects the probabilities very strongly. Interesting thing to note is that the net probability of formation of Skyrmion or anti-Skyrmion also increases with $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$, as shown in Fig.4c.

Fig.5a-d show plots of probabilities (again, average Skyrmion number) for positive winding Skyrmions for windings +1, +2, +3, and +4 respectively. (Note that for the dotted curve in Fig.5a, the probability of winding one Skyrmion becomes almost zero beyond $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta 1.5`$, which is responsible for the change of slope for the corresponding plot in Fig.4a.) We plot probabilities for values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta <\pi `$ (for Fig.4 and 5, except Fig.4b where plot is given only upto $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ = 0.75 as $`P_{}`$ becomes zero beyond this value). This is because of two reasons. First it already illustrates the basic features of probabilities of defect and antidefect formation in the presence of a bias. Secondly, already in this case very complex Skyrmion configurations (with winding numbers 3 and 4) start forming. The plots of total probability are then calculated by multiplying the number of Skyrmions of a given winding number by the winding number. The value of the probability thus refers to average Skyrmion number. For values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ larger than $`\pi `$ even larger winding Skyrmions (winding 5) start forming and it becomes difficult to extract any pattern from the plots. In this sense the parts of the plots for smaller values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ ($`<\pi /2`$) are most physical as they primarily contain Skyrmions up to winding 2, and one can get a feeling for how probabilities are changing with changing $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$.

Another point is that the probabilities depend in a complex manner on the two length scales $`\xi `$ and $`\chi `$. Though one may expect that $`\theta `$ variation within a domain, and its bias in the inter-domain region both should have similar effects. But our plots do not imply that. In fact, there is an important difference between the region of the domain and the inter-domain region in our model. Inside a domain, variation of $`\theta `$ is fixed by Eq.(6). Whereas in the inter-domain region the variation is fixed by the boundary conditions at the ends of the region and crucially depends on the length scales $`\xi `$ and $`\chi `$. It may be interesting to investigate this issue further, possibly by developing some scheme which treats the domain and inter-domain regions on a somewhat equal footing.

We have thus achieved our goal, that is, we have developed a mechanism which uniformly biases the formation of windings of one sign over the opposite windings. It is very satisfying that a very natural extension of the sigma model effective potential with a chemical potential term leads to qualitatively similar picture of spatially varying $`\theta `$ within an elementary domain as one expected in the case of flux tube formation for superconducting transition in the presence of external field (or the superfluid case).

## VI Conclusions and Discussions

We mention an interesting possibility which arises from the observation in Fig.4 that anti-Skyrmion probability $`p_{}`$ drops to zero at some value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ (corresponding to some specific value of $`\mu ^{}`$) before the Skyrmion probability (average Skyrmion number) $`p_+`$ crosses the value 1. If one can get a similar plot for the realistic 3+1 dimensional case, then the value of chemical potential $`\mu _{}`$, beyond which $`p_{}`$ drops to zero, may have some relationship with the critical value of the chemical potential $`\mu _c`$ in the QCD phase diagram at T = 0 (for massless flavors, as explicit symmetry breaking has not been accounted for in the present model). This is because, for $`\mu >\mu _{}`$ in our model, the effects of phase transition induced domain-to-domain fluctuations, (thermal or quantum), become sub-dominant compared to the effects of the bias generated by $`\mu `$, thereby leading to zero anti-baryon production. Any further increase in $`\mu `$ only creates more baryons, consistent with increasing $`\mu `$, without creating any anti-baryons. It seems reasonable to expect that for $`\mu <\mu _c`$ in the QCD phase diagram, the chiral transition (by varying temperature) should be able to produce at least some anti-baryons also, especially due to non-equilibrium nature of the domain structure of the chiral order parameter. For $`\mu >\mu _c`$ there is no phase transition, and for $`T=0`$ one does not expect any anti-baryons to be present. Similar thing is happening here where no anti-baryons are produced in our model for $`\mu >\mu _{}`$, suggesting a possible relationship of $`\mu _{}`$ with $`\mu _c`$. One could also explore whether $`\mu _c`$ could be related to the value of $`\mu `$ in our model beyond which the Skyrmion probability (average Skyrmion number) crosses 1. However, in that regime every domain will have a Skyrmion on the average and the situation will resemble less like the situation of a phase transition.

We note here that a term, similar to the chemical potential term in Eq.(3), has been used previously in the context of certain models of electroweak baryogenesis where, to favor baryons over anti-baryons, a CP violating term is introduced by writing an effective chemical potential term for the Chern-Simons number . However, there this term corresponds to the winding number of the gauge fields, and not the Higgs field as in the present case. Hence, the chemical potential term in ref.  does not affect the vacuum configuration. It affects the evolution of the fields, thereby biasing the dynamics in favor of positive change in the Chern-Simon number. If a term like we use in the present paper can be written down for the Higgs field also in those models , then our results of the present paper suggest that one may be able to produce baryon asymmetry using biased production of texture configurations over anti-texture configurations (apart from any bias coming from dynamics). At the same time, discussions of the CP violating term in ref. suggest that one may be able to bias production of Skyrmions over anti-Skyrmions by biasing the field evolution dynamics in favor of Skyrmions over anti-Skyrmions. Though here it would happen in different way compared to the case in ref. where competing time scales of the Higgs field evolution and gauge field evolution play a crucial role. In the context of chiral models, one will utilize the fact that, as mentioned above, initially only partial winding Skyrmions are expected to form which evolve to full winding Skyrmions subsequently. If the dynamics could be favored for positive windings compared to negative windings then one can imagine that a large number of initial partial positive winding configurations will have chance of evolving to (positive) integer winding, while a lesser number of configurations will be able to evolve to (negative) integer windings. It will be interesting to investigate these possibilities.

Many steps remain to complete the program initiated in the present work. First, one needs to investigate the formation of Skyrmions in a one-dimensional space of large extent where issues of boundary conditions will play a role. Though, non-trivial aspects of evolution of partial winding Skyrmions into full winding Skyrmions are expected to occur only in 2 or higher 3 space dimensions. For 2 and 3 dimensions one needs to work out the exact nature of spatial variation of the chiral order parameter within a domain as well as for inter-domain regions. Then the above described program will be easily extended for these dimensions as well. Also, in the context of chiral phase transition in QCD, one would like to implement exact Skyrmion (baryon) number conservation. That is, for a given volume of physical space, defect formation mechanism should be able to produce a given amount of net Skyrmion excess over anti-Skyrmion. This is to represent the experimental situation where a given volume of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) in chirally symmetric state undergoes chiral symmetry breaking. Resulting net baryon number should exactly equal the baryon number contained in the original QGP region. (Neglecting any baryon diffusion across the boundary of the region under consideration.) As mentioned above, we can now achieve it in the following manner. We fix the winding at the boundary of the whole region to exactly equal to the required baryon number inside the boundary (i.e. the initial baryon number of the QGP volume). The problem of concentration of excess baryons near the shell (as mentioned above) can now be avoided by using the modified defect formation method for the interior region. The value of $`\mu `$ can be adjusted suitably such that it leads to uniform excess of baryon density from the shell to the interior region.

In conclusion, we have proposed a method to handle production of topological defects when physical situation requires excess of windings of one sign over the opposite ones. We have considered the case of Skyrmions in 1+1 dimensions and have shown that addition of a chemical potential term leads to modification in the order parameter distribution inside elementary domains leading to excess production of Skyrmions over anti-Skyrmions (for $`\mu >0`$, for negative $`\mu `$ anti-Skyrmions are preferred over Skyrmions). Extension of these techniques to the 3 dimensional case will give us a realistic Skyrmion formation mechanism which can be applied for the case of relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Same ideas will also help to investigate formation of flux vortices in superconductors in the presence of external magnetic field, as well as formation of superfluid vortices when the transition is carried out in a rotating vessel. As our results show, biased formation of defects can strongly affect the estimates of net defect density. Also, these studies may be crucial in discussing the predictions relating to defect-anti-defect correlations. Once the theory of defect formation is extended for the situation of non-zero chemical potential, this can be used to make very specific predictions about baryon-anti-baryon correlations in heavy ion collisions.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are very thankful to A.P. Balachandran and Balram Rai for many useful discussions and comments. We also thank Sanatan Digal, Hari Kumar, Ananta P. Mishra, Rajarshi Ray and Supratim Sengupta for useful suggestions. AMS and VKT acknowledge the support of the Department of Atomic Energy- Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (DAE-BRNS), India, under the research grant no 2003/37/15/BRNS/66. SS would like to thank the Nuclear Theory Center, Indiana University, Bloomington for hospitality. VKT would also like to thank the Physics Department, D.D.U. Gorakhpur University for support.