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# Discovery of Two Relativistic Neutron Star–White Dwarf Binaries.

## 1 Introduction

The first surveys of the Galactic plane at high frequencies for radio pulsars (Clifton & Lyne, 1986; Johnston et al., 1992) uncovered a much younger and more distant population than the traditional 400 MHz surveys. High frequency surveys are much less affected by the deleterious effects of scatter-broadening and dispersion smearing which make short period pulsars impossible to detect at large dispersion measures. Unfortunately, the sampling rates employed in these early surveys limited their sensitivity to millisecond pulsars (MSPs) (Johnston & Bailes, 1991), and the spatial coverage was limited by the small beam of a radio telescope at high frequencies. No millisecond pulsars were discovered in these early high-frequency surveys. It was widely believed (Foster, Fairhead, & Backer, 1991) that MSPs were steep-spectrum objects, and that there was little point in searching for them at high frequencies. As the population of MSPs became larger however, a series of spectral studies (Lorimer et al., 1995; Toscano et al., 1998) provided evidence that spectra of millisecond pulsars were not too dissimilar from that of normal pulsars. In a simulation of the Galactic millisecond pulsar population, Toscano et al. (1998) predicted that high frequency surveys undertaken with the Parkes multibeam system (Staveley-Smith et al., 1996) should detect a large number of millisecond pulsars. Motivated by this study we have conducted the first large-scale survey for millisecond pulsars at intermediate Galactic latitudes.

Our survey covered the region enclosed by $`5\mathrm{°}<|b|<15\mathrm{°}`$ and $`100\mathrm{°}<l<50\mathrm{°}`$. Pointed observations of 265 seconds were made with the 64-m Parkes radiotelescope using the 21-cm multibeam receiver. The receiver consists of thirteen dual linear polarization feeds arranged in a sparse focal-plane pattern which allows full sky coverage with beams overlapping at the half-power points. This increases the rate of sky coverage by a factor of thirteen over a single-beam receiver and enabled us to conduct a large-scale survey in only 14 days of integration time. The system is sensitive to frequencies from 1230 MHz to 1530 MHz, with an average total system noise temperature of 24 K. The backend system was built at Jodrell Bank for the ongoing deep Galactic plane multibeam pulsar survey (Lyne et al., 2000). It includes twenty-six filterbanks, each with ninety-six channels and total bandwidth of 288 MHz, centred at a sky frequency of 1374 MHz. Filterbank outputs were summed in polarisation pairs and one-bit digitised with an integration time of 125 $`\mu `$s. The large bandwidth, narrow channels, fast sampling, low system temperature and multiple beams facilitiated the discovery of a large number of pulsars, including millisecond pulsars, with greater time efficiency than any previous large survey. Data were recorded on magnetic tape for offline processing on the Swinburne supercluster, a network of 64 Compaq Alpha workstations, using standard techniques (Manchester et al., 1996).

The survey is now complete. Full details of the survey will be provided in a subsequent paper (Edwards et al., in prep.). In all, we have discovered 58 new pulsars, of which one has a period of 44 ms and seven others have periods less than 20 milliseconds. In this Letter we will discuss the two recycled pulsars for which we have phase-connected solutions, PSRs J1157–5112 and J1757–5322.

## 2 PSR J1157–5112 — Ultramassive Companion

PSR J1157–5112 is a 44 ms pulsar in a 3.5 d circular orbit, discovered in an observation made on 1999 Jan 19th. Its parameters, derived from pulse time-of-arrival analysis, are listed in Table 1. The pulsar’s relatively short pulse period, small spin-down rate and circular orbit indicate recycling in a binary from an evolved companion (van den Heuvel, 1984). If the companion formed a neutron star after recycling the pulsar, we would expect an eccentric orbit due to the sudden mass loss associated with the neutron star’s production. The circularity of the orbit implies that the companion is a white dwarf. Since observed neutron star masses are consistent with a Gaussian distribution with a standard deviation of just 0.04 M around the mean of 1.35 M (Thorsett & Chakrabarty, 1999), a conservative lower limit on the mass of the companion white dwarf can be obtained by assuming a 1.27 M pulsar and an edge-on orbit. This means that $`M_{\mathrm{WD}}>`$ 1.14 M, indicating an “ultra-massive” ONeMg degenerate, and could easily be near the Chandrasekhar limit if the orbit is near the median inclination angle of binaries. By similar reasoning, if the white dwarf mass is less than 1.35 M, the pulsar mass is at most 1.75 M.

A number of ultra-massive white dwarf systems are now known. The largest sample are those that have been discovered in recent X-ray and extreme ultraviolet observations (Bergeron, Saffer, & Liebert, 1992; Vennes et al., 1997), the masses of which are estimated from model-dependent spectroscopic measurements. The companion to PSR J1157–5112 is the first ultra-massive white dwarf to have a firm lower mass limit which relies only on the narrow band of observed neutron star masses and Newtonian physics. Steller mergers have been suggested for the formation of ultra-massive white dwarfs, however it is clear from the maintenance of a binary association that this is not the case with the companion of PSR J1157–5112, which must have resulted from largely standard stellar evolution.

PSR J1157–5112 is the latest example of a pulsar system that possesses a very massive white dwarf companion. Recent optical observations of the eccentric binary pulsar B2303+46 have indicated that a faint object consistent with a white dwarf is coincident with the position of the pulsar (van Kerkwijk & Kulkarni, 1999). If this proves to be a genuine association, the periastron advance and mass function limit the companion mass to greater than 1.2 M. The newly discovered pulsar binary J1141–6545 (Kaspi et al., 2000), with a minimum companion mass of 0.95 M is probably also a white dwarf (Kaspi et al., 2000; Tauris & Sennels, 2000). The orbits of these systems are highly eccentric and thus it is believed that the neutron stars were born after their white dwarf companions. Since the pulsar in the PSR J1157–5112 binary is recycled, it is the first example of an ultra-massive white dwarf that was formed after the neutron star.

The high mass ratio between any possible progenitor to the white dwarf and the pulsar must have resulted in a phase of unstable mass transfer. The system probably passed through a common envelope phase when the white dwarf progenitor was on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB), as suggested by van den Heuvel (1994) for the PSR J2145–0750 system. Recent models (Ritossa, García-Berro, & Iben, 1999) indicate that main sequence stars as massive as 11 M can avoid core collapse on the AGB to produce ultra-massive white dwarfs ($`M_{\mathrm{WD}}=1.37`$ M in the above case). Given that envelope loss in the common envelope phase reduces the resultant remnant mass from a donor star of given mass (Iben & Tutukov, 1993), we expect that the progenitor to the white dwarf companion of PSR J1157–5112 weighed in excess of 10 M. This would mean that the companion’s radius (Ritossa, García-Berro, & Iben, 1996; García-Berro, Ritossa, & Iben, 1997; Iben, Ritossa, & García-Berro, 1997; Ritossa, García-Berro, & Iben, 1999) was $`<800`$ R at the time of Roche lobe overflow. The orbital energy lost during spiral-in to the current orbit was insufficient to expel the envelope of the companion, without an additional energy source such as an accreting neutron star. Future proper motion measurements will help constrain models for its evolution. For an 11 M companion with a pre-CE Roche lobe radius $`>`$ 500 R (requiring that at most 7/8 of the envelope ejection energy comes from non-orbital sources), the kick velocity of the pulsar birth event must have been $`<`$ 120 km s-1 for the system to have remained bound. On the other hand, if the system was much closer at the time of explosion much greater kicks could be accommodated and we might expect the system to have a very large runaway velocity (Bailes, 1989).

Along with J1757–5322 (below), J1157–5112 brings the total number of intermediate mass binary pulsars (those with white dwarf companions heavier than 0.6 M) (Arzoumanian, Cordes, & Wasserman, 1999; Tauris & Savonije, 1999; Camilo et al., 1996) to seven. The companion of PSR J1157–5112 is by far the most massive of the class. That the neutron star survived what seems to have been a common envelope phase with a massive AGB star strongly supports the case against black hole formation via hypercritical accretion (Armitage & Livio, 2000).

## 3 PSR J1757–5322 – Coalescing Binary

PSR J1757–5322 is an 8.9 ms pulsar which was discovered in an observation made on 1999 May 8th, at an epoch where the orbital acceleration experienced by the pulsar ($``$7.5 km s-2 in the line-of-sight) resulted in noticable period evolution in the 265-s integration. Subsequent observations revealed the pulsar to be in a nearly circular 11-h orbit with a companion of at least 0.55 M. A phase coherent timing solution has been obtained, the parameters of which are listed in Table 1. From similar reasoning to that invoked above for J1157–5112, we expect that the companion is a white dwarf. Its parameters are compatible with the common envelope model discussed above for the intermediate mass binary pulsars.

The J1757–5322 system is highly relativistic, having the highest orbital velocity of all circular orbit binaries (followed by J1157–5112). The near-circularity of the orbit reduces the measurability of relativistic effects, however some effects could be measurable in the coming decades with long timing baselines. Specifically, assuming an inclination angle $`i=60\mathrm{°}`$ (the median value for randomly oriented orbits), General Relativity predicts that the periastron of J1757–5322 is advancing at a rate of $``$ 1$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$2 yr-1, that its orbital period is decreasing by 1.8 $`\mu `$s yr-1, that the pulsar’s spin axis is precessing an entire turn every 1700 yr and that the system will coalesce in at most 9.5 Gyr due to the emission of gravitational waves. The Shapiro delays due to space-time curvature around the companion (for $`i=60\mathrm{°}`$) are 29 $`\mu `$s and 13 $`\mu `$s peak-to-peak respectively for PSR J1157–5112 and PSR J1757–5322, and may be considerably longer if the systems are nearly edge-on to the line of sight.

After about 7.6 Gyr the orbital period of J1757–5322 will have decreased to one-third its current value, resulting in four times the orbital acceleration. Such a system, if observed in our survey would have experienced significant signal-to-noise ratio loss, limiting the chance of detection. However, such a system will only live for $``$400 Myr, as compared to $``$8 Gyr for the preceding less accelerated post-CE evolution phase in which J1757–5322 was detected. Such highly accelerated systems are thus likely to be an order of magnitude lower in detectable population.

The companion of J1757–5322 will fill its shrinking Roche lobe when it has an orbital period of $``$50 s. The range of potential outcomes of this is diverse and interesting. Models suggest that after a period of mass transfer, the white dwarf will tidally disrupt and form an accretion disk around the pulsar in just a few seconds if the companion mass is greater than about 0.7 M(van den Heuvel & Bonsema, 1984). The rapid mass transfer will result in an enormous release of energy, potentially in the form of a gamma-ray burst. However, it is not clear whether or not the accretion luminosity would be self-limiting due to the outward radiation pressure inhibiting mass transfer (Fryer et al., 1999). If there is no remnant of the white dwarf we might expect a solitary millisecond pulsar with a very rapid rotation rate (van den Heuvel & Bonsema, 1984) (possibly like PSR B1937+21) and bigger than average mass. Alternatively it may be that the mass of the pulsar is driven over the critical limit for neutron stars and becomes a black hole. If the disk surrounding the neutron star is not completely destroyed the formation of a planetary system around a millisecond pulsar is not unreasonable, similar to PSR B1257+12. On the other hand if just 5% of the mass of the white dwarf is retained intact, a short-period eclipsing pulsar system such as PSR J2051–0827 may result. The measurement of the proper motion of the system is therefore vital in addressing these issues. A large velocity would provide a good match to the planet pulsar PSR B1257+12. A very small velocity is probably less conclusive.

The observed rate of gamma-ray bursts in the local Universe (Phinney, 1991) is now broadly compatible with the expected coalescence rate of pulsar-white dwarf binary systems. There are now three such systems known that will coalesce in the lifetime of the universe. PSR J0751+1807 will coalesce in $``$7 Gyr. It is only 2 kpc away but has a light 0.15 M companion that upon reaching its critical Roche lobe will undergo stable mass transfer to its much heavier pulsar companion, resulting in an ultra-compact X-ray binary (Ergma, Lundgren, & Cordes, 1977). PSR J1141–6545, as mentioned above, has a white dwarf companion of at least 0.95 M in an eccentric orbit that will coalesce in only $``$1.3 Gyr, and is $``$3.2 kpc distant. It is a prime candidate for rapid mass transfer after the onset of Roche lobe overflow and a potential gamma-ray burst progenitor due to its high mass. The alarming thing about this pulsar is its youth. Its characteristic age is just 1 Myr and it may not pulse for much more than 10 Myr due to magnetic dipole breaking pushing it past the rotation limit for the emission of radio pulses. If we take the standard pulsar beaming fraction of $``$5, and the short lifetime of the binary in an observable state ($``$10 Myr) compared to the coalescence time (1.3 Gyr), the extrapolated Galactic coalescence rate for such objects is enormous! We could reasonably expect there to be $`5\times 1300/10=850`$ dead white dwarf neutron star binaries within a few kpc of the Sun that will coalesce in less than a Hubble time. The total Galactic population would then be 1-2 orders of magnitude greater than this, and the coalescence rate near 10-5 yr-1 per Galaxy, similar to that expected of double neutron star binaries, another candidate for gamma-ray bursts (Phinney, 1991; Narayan, Paczyński, & Piran, 1992).

The contribution of PSR J1757–5322 to the inferred deathrate of white dwarf-neutron star binaries is much smaller. With the relative proximity ($``$2 kpc) but enormous characteristic age ($``$5 Gyr) of PSR J1757–5322, we might expect $``$250 similar coalescing systems in the Galaxy, with a coalescence rate of 5$`\times 10^8`$yr-1 if we assume an evenly distributed disk population 15 kpc in radius. Hence there should be $``$500 systems in the Galaxy which have already coalesced, compatible with the observed population of Galactic disk pulsars with planetary or evaporating white dwarf remnant companions (three within 1.5 kpc).

The white dwarf companions of PSR J1157–5112 and PSR J1757–5322 are possibly observable with 10m class telescopes or HST. PSR B0655+64 ($`M_{\mathrm{WD}}>`$ 0.64 M) has a timing age of 3.6 Gyr and a 22nd R-magnitude companion (Kulkarni, 1986) at a distance of about 500 pc. The pulsars described here are probably 2-4 times as distant and of comparable timing ages so we might expect their companions to have R-magnitudes of 24-26. Detections of the companions to PSR J1757–5322 and PSR J1157–5112 will provide invaluable information about the cooling times of massive white dwarfs as the pulsars give an independent estimate of their age.

We thank Simon Johnston for helpful comments on the manuscript, and the members of the Swinburne pulsar group (in particular W. van Straten) for assistence with observations. We are indepted to the Galactic plane multibeam survey team for the use of equipment built for that survey and for timing observations made on our behalf. This work was supported by an APA scholarship (R.E.) and ARC fellowships (M.B.) and grants.


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# SUSX-TH-00-016 hep-th/0010142Topological Objects in 5D Maxwell Einstein Supergravity

## 1 Introduction

d=5 N=2 U(1) gauged Supergravity is interesting as it is the simplest supergravity theory in 5 dimensions  and it can be shown to arise from compactification of M-theory on a Calabi-Yau 3-fold . It has also enjoyed a ressurgence of interest recently as various authors (e.g. ,) have attempted to find a M-theoretic realisation of the Randall-Sundrum models . The bosonic part of the un-gauged Lagrangian can be written

$$e^1=\frac{1}{2}R\frac{1}{4}G_{IJ}(\varphi )F_{\mu \nu }^IF^{\mu \nu J}\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu }\overline{g}_{xy}(\varphi )^\mu \varphi ^x^\nu \varphi ^y+\frac{e^1}{48}ϵ^{\mu \nu \rho \sigma \lambda }C_{IJK}F_{\mu \nu }^IF_{\rho \sigma }^JA_\lambda ^K$$
(1)
where $`g_{\mu \nu }`$ is the 5-D space-time Metric, $`\mu ,\nu `$=0,..,4. The couplings of the n scalars $`\overline{g}_{xy}`$, $`x,y`$=0,..,n-1, form the metric of an n dimensional hypersurface embedded in an n+1 dimensional space. This n+1 dimensional space is parametrised by the coordinates $`X^I`$ and has a metric $`G_{IJ}`$, $`I,J`$=0,..,n, which also gives the vector couplings in the Lagrangian. When considering the above lagrangian in the context of M-theory compactification, the total volume scalar of the Calabi-Yau is part of the universal hypermultiplet and, as here we only consider the vector multiplets, we are free to set it equal to 1. The remaining degrees of freedom of the manifold are the Kähler moduli $`t^I`$ and they are related to the $`X^I`$ as follows

$$V=C_{IJK}t^It^Jt^K=\frac{1}{6}C_{IJK}X^IX^JX^K|_{V=1}=1$$
(2)
setting $`X^I=6^{2/3}t^I|_{V=1}`$. In this context the $`C_{IJK}`$ are the intersection numbers of the Calabi-Yau, $`C_{IJK}`$ being constant and symmetric. The dimension of $`t^I`$ (and $`X^I`$) is equal to the number of harmonic (1,1) cycles of the manifold, so $`n=h_{(1,1)}1`$.

The solution of this equation determines the n-dimensional scalar hypersurface and the metric on the (n+1)-dimensional space is given by

$`G_{IJ}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{^2}{_I_J}}(lnV)|_{V=1}`$ (3)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[C_{IJK}X^K{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}(C_{IKL}X^KX^L)(C_{JMN}X^MX^N)\right]`$
Usually we are free to identify the hypersurface $`\varphi ^y`$ directions with the embedding space $`X^y`$ directions allowing the metric on the scalar manifold to be written

$$\overline{g}_{xy}=G_{IJ}\frac{X^I}{\varphi ^x}\frac{X^J}{\varphi ^y}=G_{xy}+G_{y0}\frac{X^0}{X^x}+G_{x0}\frac{X^0}{X^y}+G_{00}\frac{X^0}{X^x}\frac{X^0}{X^y}.$$
(4)
The gauging of the theory is achieved by turning on the M-theory 4-form field strength in the internal directions of the Calabi-Yau which gives a constant $`n+1=h_{(1,1)}`$ dimensional vector field, $`\alpha _I`$, throughout the (n+1)-dimensional embedding space . This yields the superpotential

$$W=\alpha _IX^I$$
(5)
and the scalars obtain a potential

$$U=6\left(\frac{3}{4}\overline{g}^{xy}\frac{W}{\varphi ^x}\frac{W}{\varphi ^y}W^2\right).$$
(6)
The setup is now completely determined by $`C_{IJK}`$ and $`\alpha _I`$, but there are some constraints on the kind of supergravities allowed. Firstly, supersymmetry requires $`\overline{g}_{xy}`$ to be such that the embedding space metric $`G_{IJ}`$ must be positive definite . Secondly, to avoid unphysical situations, the kinetic term for the scalars must obey the constraint $`g_{\mu \nu }\overline{g}_{xy}^\mu \varphi ^x^\nu \varphi ^y0`$. The positivity of the vector coupling places restraints on the intersection matrix.

## 2 Multiple Branches and Incomplete Spaces

To visualise some of the features of this situation, one can consider the configuration examined in . This corresponds to the intersection matrix

$$C_{000}=1,C_{0xy}=\frac{1}{2}\delta _{xy},C_{00x}=0$$
(7)
The scalar manifold corresponding to these intersection numbers has been plotted in figure 1 and consists of three surfaces, two of which meet at the circle where the roots defining them start to become complex conjugate. The shading on the plot shows the values of superpotential for a gauging vector $`\alpha _0=0,\alpha _x=1`$. In this diagram, it is possible to see the non-trivial topologies that can be obtained where two solutions of the cubic equation meet.

It is tempting to try and utlise these topological features to evaid the results of  and  which show the difficulties in obtaining a domain wall solution in this type of supergravity. However the internal metric of the scalar manifold is positive definite on the (upper) hypersurface which is everywhere real, but not on the other two surfaces. There are several interesting topologies which can arise upon solution of the cubic polynomial for other intersection numbers but none of them immediately lend themselves to domain wall construction.

There are also matrices corresponding to situations where only part of a manifold has a positive definite scalar metric and vector coupling, whereas other regions are non positive definite. Some of the allowed regions also posess interesting topologies, but before presenting an example, it is important to consider what happens as we pass from a positive region into a negative one.

To do so we write the metric in the following way.

$$ds^2=\mu ^2(dt^2+dx_3^2)+\frac{d\mu ^2}{\mu ^2W(\mu )^2}$$
(8)
Now we can write the progress through moduli space as we move through the fifthe dimension as a beta function

$$\beta ^x=\mu \frac{d}{d\mu }\varphi ^x=3g^{xy}\frac{_yW}{W}$$
(9)
By investigating an idealised situation with one scalar $`\varphi `$ and a superpotential and metric behaving in the way illustrated in figure 2 we can deduce what will happen as the flow crosses between the two regions. The flow is attracted to the point where the metric goes to zero, although it cannot cross that point, as if it were to cross onto the other side there would be an infinite repulsion. In this way the fields will be attracted to the edge of the region which posesses a positive definite manifold.

## 3 An Example

Consider the situation correpsonding to two scalar fields and the intersection matrix

$$C_{000}=1,C_{0xy}=\delta _{xy},C_{00x}=0,C_{222}=1,C_{221}=1.$$
(10)
If one takes the cubic surface corresponding to the solution of the polynomial obtained from these intersection numbers and then calculates which regions of this surface posess a positive definite scalar metric, the surface generated contains a central region with non-positive scalar metric into which the scalar field will not flow, although the flow will be attracted to the edge of this region. We are again free to choose the gauging vector $`\alpha _0=1,\alpha _1=1/2,\alpha _2=1/2`$ and then plot the allowed region of this manifold and the superpotential within that region (see figure 3).

There are no fixed points within the allowed region which satisfy the criterion $`\frac{W}{\varphi ^x}=0`$, but there are points on the edge of the disallowed central region which act as effective saddle points. Normal to the dividing line the fields are trapped on one side by the increasing superpotential and on the other by the forbidden region. Parallel to the dividing line the superpotential falls away in both directions. Without such a mechanism it is impossible to obtain saddle points in the superpotential in this simplest of d=5 supergravities .

The choice of gauging vector was made to provide an offset superpotential with a minimum and a maximum provided the fields are trapped to the edge of the forbidden region. The situation is reminiscent of an axion potential where the symmetry of a U(1) minimum is lifted by the addition of another potential slanted in one direction. This configuration is interesting as it forces the fields away from what would be the trivial situation of only one $`AdS_5`$ vacuum at the critical point of the superpotential. This point would only be accessible if the central region of this solution had a positive definite scalar metric. Also, because of the non trivial topology of the permitted region, field configurations may exist where the one minimum of the superpotential serves as both vacua of a domain wall solution, again reminiscent of axionic domain walls.

## 4 Geometry of the Effective Fixed Points

Although this situation seems to solve some of the problems which were first clarified in , it is still not a viable realisation of the Randall Sundrum models. In these models, it is neccesary to have two $`AdS_5`$ minima on either side of an interpolating saddle point (assuming no imposition of $`Z_2`$ symmetry). The criteria for this has been well studied, see e.g. . At the critical points where $`AdS_5`$ is desired, the normal to the scalar manifold must be parallel to the gauging vector $`\alpha _I`$. Using the very special coordinates $`t^I`$ and following the conventions of  the normal is written

$$\frac{V}{t^I}=\frac{}{t^I}C_{LMN}t^Lt^Mt^N=3t_I.$$
(11)
As we are free to choose the gauging vector, it is possible to obtain the corrct vacua, although how contrived that choice is would ultimately depend upon the details of the compactification from 11 dimensions. Finding a BPS solution around the loop is more difficult. As pointed out in , the neccesary condition for a BPS configuration is that the normal to the hypersurface remains parallel to the harmonic function of the solution and this problem will be addressed in future work.

In this letter we have presented the possibility that the topology of the allowed regions on the scalar manifold, i.e. those regions with positive definite vector and scalar metrics, can in certain situations be non-trivial and this may aid the construction of domain walls solutions. While this work was in progress a number of papers were published with alternative and interesting solutions to these problems (see ,&). I have also been made aware of some relevant previous work e.g. .

## Acknowledgements

I benefited during the early part of this work from conversations with David Bailin, Klaus Behrndt and Tom Dent. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the Sussex astronomy group for their help with FORTRAN, especially Joy Muanwong.


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# Influence of Capillary Condensation on the Near-Critical Solvation Force

## Abstract

We argue that in a fluid, or magnet, confined by adsorbing walls which favour liquid, or $`(+)`$ phase, the solvation (Casimir) force in the vicinity of the critical point is strongly influenced by capillary condensation which occurs below the bulk critical temperature $`T_c`$. At $`T`$ slightly below and above $`T_c`$, a small bulk field $`h<0`$, which favours gas, or $`()`$ phase, leads to residual condensation and a solvation force which is much more attractive (at the same large wall separation) than that found exactly at the critical point. Our predictions are supported by results obtained from density-matrix renormalization-group calculations in a two-dimensional Ising strip subject to identical surface fields.

Finite-size contributions to the free energy of a fluid confined between two parallel walls, separated by a distance $`L`$, give rise to a force per unit area between the walls or an excess pressure which is termed the solvation force $`f_{solv}(L)`$ . This force is, essentially, that which is measured in the surface force apparatus . Theory predicts that at the critical point of a fluid the solvation force becomes long ranged as a result of critical fluctuations , a phenomenon which is a direct analog of the well-known Casimir effect in electromagnetism . The existence of the long-ranged critical Casimir force should be common to all systems characterized by fluctuating quantities with external constraints . As yet there has been no direct, unambiguous experimental verification of the critical Casimir effect in fluids , although recent experiments do provide indirect evidence for its existence . One of the difficulties is that the predicted leading power law decay of the Casimir force at bulk criticality, $`f_{solv}(L)k_BT_cA_{12}(d1)L^d`$, as $`L\mathrm{}`$, is for (bulk) spatial dimension $`d=3`$, of the same form as the solvation force arising from dispersion forces. Moreover the amplitude in many systems may be much smaller than the corresponding Hamaker constant . The Casimir amplitude $`A_{12}`$ is a universal number, however, its value depends on the type of boundary conditions imposed on the two walls . The most relevant for experiments on pure fluids or for binary mixtures are symmetry breaking boundary conditions, i.e., when the confining walls exert surface fields on molecules in the fluid. Here we exploit the mapping between fluids and the Ising model and consider Ising spin systems subject to identical surface fields $`h_1=h_2>0`$. For these systems $`f_{solv}(L)`$ is expected to be attractive for all thermodynamic states. In $`d=2`$, the Casimir amplitude is known exactly $`A_{11}A_{++}=\pi /48`$ , whereas in $`d=3`$ the most recent theoretical result is -0.428  and the Monte Carlo estimate is -0.35 . In this Letter we show that other, near-critical, thermodynamic states exhibit a significantly stronger solvation force (for fixed, large $`L`$) than that found exactly at the bulk critical point, and we suggest that this has repercussions for experimental studies.

For Ising-like systems with $`h_1=h_2>0`$ in vanishing bulk field $`h=0`$, $`f_{solv}`$ as a function of temperature attains a pronounced minimum above the bulk critical temperature $`T_c`$. The scaling function $`W_{++}(y)`$, defined by $`f_{solv}/k_BT_cL^dW_{++}(y)`$, was determined by exact transfer matrix methods in $`d=2`$ . The minimum occurs when $`y\tau (L/\xi _0^+)^{1/\nu }=2.23`$, or $`L2.23\xi `$, and the amplitude at this extremum is about 6.6 times the Casimir value $`W_{++}(0)=A_{++}(d1)`$. Here $`\tau (TT_c)/T_c`$ and $`\xi =\xi _0^+\tau ^\nu `$ (with $`\nu =1`$ in $`d=2`$) is the bulk correlation length. In mean field the minimum occurs for $`L3.7\xi `$ and the amplitude is about 1.4 times $`W_{++}(0)`$ . Borjan and Upton  have calculated $`W_{++}(y)`$ in $`d=3`$ using local functional methods and they find the minimum at $`L3.1\xi `$, and the amplitude at the extremum is about 2.1 times $`W_{++}(0)`$. The bulk field dependence of the solvation force at $`T=T_c`$ is similar to the temperature dependence at $`h=0`$, i.e., $`f_{solv}`$ attains a pronounced minimum at some $`h_{min}<0`$ . In $`d=2`$ the scaling function of $`f_{solv}`$ with $`h`$ was obtained using the density-matrix renormalization-group (DMRG) method. The striking feature is that at the minimum this function is about 100 times bigger than the Casimir amplitude ! In mean field it is about 10 times the Casimir value . Thus, the solvation force is much stronger for states which lie slightly off bulk coexistence, with $`h<0`$. In this Letter we investigate the origin of the very attractive solvation force and argue that in a fluid confined by identical, strongly adsorbing walls the form of the near-critical, long-ranged solvation force is strongly influenced by capillary condensation, i.e., the shift of the bulk first-order transition which occurs below $`T_c`$. Recall that for surface fields $`h_1=h_2>0`$ and bulk dimension $`d3`$, two phase coexistence occurs in the confined system, with finite (large) $`L`$, along a line $`h_{co}(T)`$ ending in a (capillary) critical point $`(h_{CL},T_{CL})`$. $`T_{CL}(h_1)`$ lies below $`T_C`$ and $`h_{CL}(h_1)<0`$ . The coexistence (capillary condensation) line has a positive slope and is located at $`h<0`$. $`f_{solv}`$ exhibits a discontinuous jump on crossing the coexistence line and singular behaviour at $`(h_{CL},T_{CL})`$ ; for $`d3`$ the capillary criticality corresponds to the $`d1`$ universality class. The form of $`f_{solv}`$ for $`T>T_{CL}`$ and $`h<0`$ does not seem to have been investigated in any detail. We perform such an investigation for Ising films using the DMRG method. Although for bulk $`d=2`$ systems there can be no true phase transition for finite $`L`$, there is still a line of sharp (very weakly rounded) first-order transitions in the Ising film ending in a pseudocritical point . We determine this pseudocoexistence line and investigate $`f_{solv}`$ for temperatures above the capillary condensation line and states approaching the bulk critical regime.

Consider a $`d=2`$ Ising strip with $`L`$ parallel rows subject to surface fields $`h_1=h_2(h_L)>0`$ with the Hamiltonian $`H`$:

$$H/J=\underset{<i,j>}{}\sigma _i\sigma _j+h\underset{i}{}\sigma _i+h_1\underset{i}{\overset{(1)}{}}\sigma _i+h_L\underset{i}{\overset{(L)}{}}\sigma _i,$$
(1)
where $`\sigma _i`$ is a spin variable taking the value $`\pm 1`$ and $`J>0`$ is the coupling constant. The first sum runs over all nearest-neighbour pairs of sites while the last two sums run, respectively, over the first and the $`L`$th row. $`h`$ is the bulk magnetic field. The total free energy per site of this system can be written as $`f(L,T,h_1,h)=f_b(T,h)+\frac{2}{L}f_w(T,h_1,h)+\frac{1}{L}f^{}(L,T,h_1,h)`$, where $`f_b`$ is the bulk free energy, $`f_w`$ is the $`L`$-independent wall tension at each wall, and $`f^{}(L)`$ is the finite-size contribution to the free energy, which vanishes for $`L\mathrm{}`$. All energies are measured in units of $`J`$, temperature in units of $`J/k_B`$ and the width $`L`$ in units of the lattice constant $`a`$. The solvation force for our system is defined as $`f_{solv}=(f^{}/L)_{T,h_1,h}`$. We calculate $`f_{solv}`$ using the recently developed, very accurate DMGR method, which provides an efficient algorithm for the construction of the effective transfer matrix for large systems . A great advantage of this method is that it works equally well for $`h0`$, for which no exact solutions are available, as for $`h=0`$. The total free energy $`f`$ is obtained from the leading eigenvalue $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ of the effective transfer matrix which in the DMRG method is calculated numerically . By calculating the excess free energy per unit area $`f_{ex}(L)\left(ff_b\right)L`$ at $`L_0+2`$ and $`L_0`$ we obtain $`f_{solv}`$ by a finite difference. Figure 1 summarizes our results for $`f_{solv}`$ in a film of width $`L=200`$ and $`h_1=10`$, conditions which pertain to the infinite surface field scaling limit . $`f_{solv}`$ is calculated as a function of $`h`$ for several temperatures above and below $`T_c`$. For the three lowest temperatures shown we find a very weakly rounded jump of the solvation force from zero to a negative value. As mentioned earlier, a discontinuous jump is characteristic of the solvation force at a first-order capillary condensation phase transition . At fixed large $`L`$ and fixed temperature $`T<T_{CL}`$, $`f_{solv}`$ should change abruptly from values appropriate to a spin down $`()`$: $`f_{solv}^{}0`$ to values appropriate to a spin up $`(+)`$: $`f_{solv}^+2hm^{}(T)`$, where $`m^{}(T)>0`$ is the bulk spontaneous magnetization . The calculated gradients of $`f_{solv}`$ at the three lowest temperatures in Fig. 1 agree with the known values of $`2m^{}(T)`$ to a relative accuracy of $`10^4`$. Coexistence is given by the Kelvin equation  which for the strong surface fields $`h_1`$ considered here takes the form $`h_{co}(T)\sigma (T)/Lm^{}(T)`$, where $`\sigma (T)`$ is the interfacial tension between coexisting (+) and (-) phases. The presence of thick wetting films of + spin in the (-) phase gives rise to non-trivial corrections which shift the condensation line to larger values of $`h`$ ; nevertheless the Kelvin equation does predict the correct qualitative behavior of the condensation line at low temperatures. The Kelvin result implies $`\mathrm{\Delta }f_{solv}f_{solv}^+f_{solv}^{}2h_{co}(T)m^{}(T)2\sigma (T)/L`$, i.e., the magnitude of the jump should decrease in the same fashion as the interfacial tension, as $`T`$ increases at fixed $`L`$. Our numerical results confirm the predicted trend . A second signature of capillary condensation is a discontinuous jump (see Fig. 2) of the total adsorption, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=_{l=1}^L<\sigma _l>`$, from negative values characteristic of a (-) phase, with wetting films of + spin, to positive values characteristic of a (+) phase condensing in the slit. The simple formula $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma }^+\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}2Lm^{}(T)`$  provides a good qualitative description of the jump $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ obtained by DMRG for the three lowest temperatures.

The jumps in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ are slightly less rounded than in $`f_{solv}`$ but they occur at the same value of $`h`$. This is illustrated further in Fig. 3 where for each $`T`$ we plot the inflection point $`()`$ of $`f_{solv}`$. Note that these points lie on the line $`h_0(T)`$ defined by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0`$ or, equivalently, by the maxima of the total free energy $`f`$. For temperatures higher than $`\tau =0.0505`$ we observe a change in the behaviour of $`f_{solv}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$; see Figs. 1 and 2. As the temperature increases the jump of $`f_{solv}`$ gradually transforms into a minimum, whose depth decreases and moves monotonically towards $`h=0`$. $`\tau =0.0063`$ corresponds to the temperature at which $`f_{solv}`$ exhibits a minimum as a function of $`\tau `$ for $`h=0`$ and $`L=200`$ . At this temperature the minimum of $`f_{solv}`$ as a function of $`h`$ is still present and its depth is about 4.8 times bigger than $`f_{solv}(h=0)`$. For temperatures up to the critical temperature the magnetization profiles for small $`h`$ are similar to that of a “condensed” (+) (liquid) phase. Moreover, $`f_{solv}`$ still varies linearly with $`h`$, as is implied by the approximate treatment above, although the linear region does shrink as $`\tau 0^{}`$. The adsorption $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ exhibits a steep increase at $`\tau =0`$ (Fig. 2) indicating residual condensation. However, the locus of $`h_0(T)`$ moves to larger $`h`$ for $`\tau >0`$, as does the inflection point of $`f_{solv}`$; see Fig. 3. The longitudinal spin-spin correlation length $`\xi _{}`$ provides an alternative signature of capillary condensation. If we take the transfer matrix in the infinite dimension then $`\xi _{}^1(L,T,h_1,h)=\mathrm{ln}[\mathrm{\Lambda }_1/\mathrm{\Lambda }_0]`$, where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ are the largest and the second largest eigenvalues. We calculated $`\xi _{}^1`$ as a function of $`h`$ for a series of temperatures. At the three lowest temperatures considered in Figs. 1 and 2, where the solvation force and the adsorption behave in a way characteristic of capillary condensation, $`\xi _{}^1`$ has a sharp minimum at some $`h_{min}(T)<0`$ with $`\xi _{}^1(h_{min})0`$. The values of $`h_{min}(T)`$ lie very close to those where $`f_{solv}`$ jumps and to $`h_0(T)`$; see Fig. 3. Recall that in Ising strips with periodic boundary conditions the two largest eigenvalues of the transfer matrix are asymptotically degenerate such that, as $`L\mathrm{}`$, $`\xi _{}^1\mathrm{exp}(L\sigma (T)/k_BT)`$ for states on the line of pseudocoexistence $`h=0`$, $`T<T_c`$. Moreover, as in the periodic system , our calculated $`\xi _{}^1`$ is symmetric and increasing linearly in $`h`$ in the close neighbourhood of its minimum, i.e., near pseudocoexistence. As the temperature increases the minimum gradually lifts away from zero and becomes more shallow. Its location remains close to $`h_0(T)`$ until just below $`T_c`$. For $`T>T_c`$, $`h_{min}(T)`$ moves towards $`h=0`$; see Fig. 3 .

In the light of these various results it is natural to identify $`h_0(T)`$, at sufficiently low $`T`$, with the pseudocoexistence line $`h_{co}(T)`$. Determining the pseudocritical temperature $`T_{CL}`$ is more difficult. However, different criteria, namely the erosion of the jumps in $`f_{solv}`$ and in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and the lifting away from zero of the minimum of $`\xi _{}^1`$, all yield similar estimates. We also calculated the average “central bond energy” $`U_{L/2}<\sigma _{L/2}\sigma _{L/2+1}>`$ at points on the line $`h_0(T)`$ and $`U_{L/2}/T`$ on that line. The latter has a pronounced minimum at $`T2.145`$ where $`h_0(T)0.00184`$ for the case $`L=200,h_1=10`$ considered here. Although the critical point is not sharp in this system the various criteria do indicate a significant change in character for $`T`$ between 2.155 and 2.160, providing the estimate for $`T_{CL}`$. Such estimates are consistent with the scaling relations  for $`(h_{CL},T_{CL})`$ .

We expect that in $`d=3`$, where there is true coexistence for $`T<T_{CL}`$, $`f_{solv}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ should behave in a similar fashion to what is observed in $`d=2`$, but now the jumps of $`f_{solv}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ will be discontinuous. Also on the critical isotherm $`T=T_{CL}`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }(h_{CL}h)^{1/\delta }`$, as $`hh_{CL}^{}`$, and $`\delta =15`$, the $`d=2`$ Ising exponent. Explicit mean-field results for a Landau (square-gradient) theory support our expectations for $`T<T_{CL}`$ and for $`T>T_{CL}`$, where $`f_{solv}2hm^{}(T)`$ for $`h0^{}`$ . Our results imply that the solvation force in a real confined fluid at temperatures near $`T_c`$ and at reservoir densities slightly below the critical value (or compositions slightly away from the critical composition in a binary mixture) should be much more attractive than the Casimir value for the same $`L`$, although the effect may be less pronounced than in $`d=2`$. In keeping with others  we suggest that experiments which aim to measure the Casimir force, e.g. by atomic force microscopy or surface force apparatus, and future theoretical work should focus on the $`\tau `$ and $`h`$ dependence of $`f_{solv}`$, i.e., the scaling function, not just the Casimir amplitude. Finally we note that the existence of a long-ranged, strongly attractive solvation force between two large colloidal particles immersed in a near-critical fluid can have ramifications for aggregation or flocculation of the particles . Studies such as the present should indicate where aggregation is potentially the strongest.

###### Acknowledgements.

We are grateful to A. Ciach and P. J. Upton for helpful discussions and F. Schlesener for informing us of his results. This work was partially funded by KBN grants No. 2P03B10616 and No. 3T09A07316 and by the Polish Academy of Sciences - Royal Society Travel Grants.


text:
# Preheating and phase transitions in gauge theories 11footnote 1 Talk presented at SEWM2000, Marseille, France, 14–17 June, 2000.

## 1 Introduction

If CP is violated at high energies by some physics beyond the standard model, the electroweak theory and the standard Big Bang scenario seem to contain all the ingredients for explaining the baryon asymmetry of the universe. The necessary out-of-equilibrium conditions are provided by the dynamics of the phase transition and the last one of the three Sakharov conditions, baryon number violation, is satisfied by sphaleron processes, which change the Chern-Simons number and consequently, due to a quantum anomaly, also the baryon number.

However, although sphaleron processes become less frequent after the phase transition, they don’t disappear completely. Instead, their rate is proportional to $`\mathrm{exp}(M_{\mathrm{sph}}/T)`$, where $`M_{\mathrm{sph}}\varphi `$ and $`\varphi `$ is the expectation value of the Higgs field, and unless $`\varphi `$ is large enough, the baryon asymmetry generated in the transition can be washed out. This can only be avoided if the transition is strongly enough first order so that the discontinuity of the Higgs field is $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi >T`$.

In the minimal standard model, the Higgs mass $`m_H`$ is the only unknown parameter, and lattice simulations have revealed that, whatever its value, the transition is not strong enough. In more complicated models, such as MSSM, there are more unknown parameters and this freedom makes it possible to satisfy the constraint, but only barely.

In an alternative scenario proposed recently by two groups, the electroweak baryogenesis takes place during a period of preheating after inflation. This requires that inflation ends at an energy scale that is below the electroweak scale and that a large fraction of the energy of the inflaton is transferred rapidly to the standard model fields by a parametric resonance. In the resulting non-equilibrium power spectrum, all the fermionic fields and the short-wavelength modes of the bosons are practically in vacuum, but the long-wavelength bosonic modes have a high energy density. The sphaleron rate depends strongly on the temperature of these long-wavelength modes and is therefore very high, and the out-of-equilibrium processes can generate a large baryon asymmetry very quickly. Eventually the system equilibrates and the effective temperature decreases by a rate determined by the decay rate of gauge bosons into fermions, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1`$ GeV. The final temperature $`T_{\mathrm{reheat}}`$ is determined by the initial energy density and provided that it is low enough, $`T_{\mathrm{reheat}}<0.5T_c`$, the sphaleron rate becomes negligible and the baryon washout is avoided.

In this talk, I will discuss the recent numerical simulations, in which this process was studied in the Abelian Higgs model.

## 2 Simulations

Instead of considering any particular model of inflation, we simply assume that the inflaton interacts mostly with the Higgs, and that from the point of view of the gauge fields, we can describe the Higgs and the inflaton by a single scalar degree of freedom, which has a large energy density in its long-wavelength modes, which is realized by giving the scalar field $`\varphi `$ a large initial value $`\varphi _0`$. Since very little is known about the details of the inflaton, it is difficult to improve this approximation.

When inflation ends, the inflaton field is typically still quite far away from its minimum and contains a large amount of energy. Because inflation dilutes all inhomogeneities, this energy is concentrated in the very long-wavelength modes. Moreover, all the standard model fields are in vacuum.

Instead of the full standard model gauge group, we used only a single Abelian gauge field, because that makes the simulation much simpler and is unlikely to change the qualitative behaviour. The Lagrangian of our model is

$$L=\frac{1}{4}F^{\mu \nu }F_{\mu \nu }+(D^\mu \varphi )^{}D_\mu \varphi \lambda (|\varphi |^2v^2)^2,$$
(1)
where the gauge covariant derivative is $`D_\mu \varphi =_\mu \varphi +ieA_\mu \varphi `$, and $`F_{\mu \nu }=A_{\nu ;\mu }A_{\mu ;\nu }`$.

Since the occupation numbers of the long-wavelength modes will be high, the dynamics of the system can be approximated by the classical equations of motion. However, the quantum vacuum fluctuations are important as seeds for the parametric resonance, and therefore we approximate them by adding Gaussian fluctuations with the same two-point function as in the quantum vacuum, i.e.

$$\varphi ^{}(\stackrel{}{k})\varphi (\stackrel{}{k}^{})=\frac{1}{2\omega (\stackrel{}{k})}(2\pi )^3\delta ^{(3)}(\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{k}^{}).$$
(2)
In a sense, this means that the quantum effects are approximated to leading order in perturbation theory.

In the full electroweak case, the effective temperature of the long-wavelength modes decreases mostly because the Higgs and gauge bosons decay into fermions. We approximate this by letting the universe expand according to $`a=\sqrt{1+2Ht}`$ at the rate $`H=\dot{a}/a0.7`$ GeV$`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. This has the effect of reducing the energy in the long-wavelength modes, and if we use the conformal time coordinate $`\eta `$ defined by $`d\eta dt/a`$, it appears simply as a changing mass term for the Higgs field

$$m^2(t)=2\lambda v^2a^2+_\eta ^2a/a.$$
(3)
In the simulation, we used a $`240^3`$ lattice with lattice spacing $`\delta x/a=1.4`$ TeV-1 and time step $`\delta t/a=0.14`$ TeV-1. The couplings were $`e=0.14`$, $`\lambda =0.04`$ and $`v=246`$ GeV. The initial value of the Higgs field was $`\varphi _0=1`$ TeV.

## 3 Results

The time evolution of $`|\varphi |^2`$ is shown in Fig. 1. (We have subtracted the dominant ultraviolet divergence $`|\varphi |^2_{\mathrm{div}}0.226/\delta x^2`$.) This model does not have any local order parameter in the rigorous sense, and $`|\varphi |^2`$ in particular is non-zero in both the symmetric and the broken phase. However, Fig. 1 shows that until $`t7`$ GeV-1, $`|\varphi |^2`$ decreases roughly as $`a^1`$, indicated by the dotted line, which strongly suggests that no Higgs condensate is present and that the system is in the symmetric phase. After that, the condensate develops, and $`|\varphi |^2`$ starts to approach its vacuum expectation value.

In the inset of Fig. 1, we have plotted the power spectrum of the electric field in terms of the effective temperature as a function of momentum at various times during the time evolution. The definition of $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ is

$$T_{\mathrm{eff}}(k)=\frac{1}{2}|E_i^\mathrm{T}(k)|^2\frac{d^3k}{(2\pi )^3},$$
(4)
where the superscript T indicates the transverse component of the electric field; the longitudinal component is fixed by the Gauss law. In thermal equilibrium at temperature $`T`$, $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}(k)=T`$ for every $`k`$. We can see that initially, the power spectrum develops a sharp peak, which later spreads, and the power spectrum reaches a quasi-equilibrium form in which the long-wavelength modes $`k<k_{}e\varphi _0`$ are at a high effective temperature $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}\varphi _0/e`$. The short-wavelength modes with $`k>k_{}`$ remain in vacuum, where the effective temperature due to vacuum quantum fluctuations is $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=k_{}/2`$. Because of the expansion of the space, the cutoff scale and the effective momentum decrease as $`a^1`$, but apart from that, the form of the power spectrum remains qualitatively the same until the end of our simulations.

The form of this quasi-equilibrium power spectrum is crucial for the scenario of electroweak baryogenesis at preheating. The sphaleron rate is proportional to $`T^4`$ and is only sensitive to the long-wavelength modes, and as their temperature is high, the baryon number violation is very strong. Furthermore, $`\varphi ^2`$ and $`A_i^2`$ also have much larger values than they would have in equilibrium with the same energy density and since the effective mass of the Higgs field is given by

$$m_\varphi ^22\lambda v^2+4\lambda \varphi ^2+e^2A_i^2,$$
(5)
the symmetry restoration is much easier. Thus it may be possible to generate the baryon asymmetry during a period of this “non-thermal” symmetry restoration, and since the effective temperature decreases much faster than the baryons can decay, the baryon asymmetry will quickly freeze in.

Our results show that the qualitative behaviour of gauge-Higgs models is compatible with electroweak baryogenesis at preheating. In order to test the scenario quantitatively, we are currently working on simulations in the SU(2)$`\times `$U(1) theory.

## Acknowledgments

I would like to thank E.J. Copeland and P.M. Saffin for collaboration on this subject, and PPARC and the University of Helsinki for financial support. This work was conducted on the SGI Origin platform using COSMOS Consortium facilities, funded by HEFCE, PPARC and SGI.