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# Geometric Stability of Brane-worlds

## I  Introduction

The ”brane-worlds” program proposes a unification of all interactions at the TeV scale, with the supposition that there are large (as compared to Planck’s length) extra dimensions. The hierarchy problem is solved by the assumption that the four-dimensional space-time geometry undergoes quantum fluctuations along the extra dimensions, but the gauge interactions of the standard model remain confined within the space-time. This is implemented by the introduction of a fundamental Planck scale in the higher dimensional bulk, while the effective four-dimensional Planck mass is adjusted in accordance with the geometry of the higher dimensional space. The geometrical scenario compatible with these assumptions is that of four-dimensional space-times, the brane-worlds, are dynamically embedded in a higher dimensional solution Einstein’s equations .

In contrast with Kaluza-Klein and Superstring theories the brane-world unification in principle may be experimentally verified by high-energy collisions at hundreds of TeV. Another implication that may soon be checked is the modification of Newton’s law of gravitation at sub millimeter scale .

There is not yet a theory of brane-worlds in the sense that the fundamental principles are well established. Some earlier publications, not always acknowledged, have proposed some basic concepts and formal tools. For example, the confinement of gauge interactions to space-time behaving as a potential well in a higher dimensional space has been suggested in the early eighties . Applications of space-time embeddings to the quantization of the geometry, to generate internal symmetries and as an alternative to compactification, have been around for a considerable time . Recent reviews and additional references can be found in .

Presently there are two conceptually distinct approaches to brane-worlds. One of them is based on a higher dimensional space with product topology $`M_4\times B_N`$, $`N2`$, where $`B_N`$ is the a finite volume internal space, similar to Kaluza-Klein theory . The other, is defined on a 5-dimensional anti-deSitter geometry, with brane-like boundary conditions . Current problems include the stability of the brane-world structure; the lack of a proper explanation of the confinement of the gauge fields and a consistent definition of the quantum states .

The purpose of this paper is to show that the stability of the embedding is a central property of brane-worlds compatible with the aforementioned assumptions, independently of models and metric ansatzes. More specifically, we show in sections II and III that the stability conditions for the classical perturbations of a brane-world, regardless of the size, number and signature of the extra dimensions, provide the dynamics of the brane-world evolution. The cases with just one extra dimensions, studied in section IV, are found to have limited properties, including the need for confinement mechanisms which are independent and may interfere with the stability conditions. The quantum fluctuations of the brane-worlds described in section V, induce topological changes which are incompatible with a fixed topology. We show that such topological changes result from the multiparameter quantum fluctuations. In section VI it is shown that the differentiable structure of the brane-world also implies in the existence a confined gauge field structure. Finally, the concluding section also discusses on the number and size of the extra coordinates.

## II  Brane-worlds perturbations

In very general terms, a brane-world may be described as a locally embedded space-time, capable of quantum fluctuations along the extra dimensions, but retaining the gauge interactions confined within. These conditions impose dynamical conditions on the embedding, producing what could be called a dynamical embedding of space-times as opposed to the more common analytic embedding.

It is well known, that any space-time $`\overline{V}_n`$ may be locally embedded into a manifold $`V_D`$, with sufficiently large dimension $`D`$. The number of extra dimensions $`N=Dn`$ depends on the geometries of $`\overline{V}_n`$ and of $`V_D`$, and of course of the type of embedding map, which may be local, non-local, isometric, and conformal among other possibilities.

The simplest examples are those of space-times isometrically embedded in a flat space $`M_D`$, where the embedding is given by analytic functions . The analytic assumption greatly simplifies the embedding and it implies that $`D`$ is at most $`10`$. In brane-worlds it is not obvious that the analyticity condition holds under the assumed conditions and in special under the quantum fluctuations. However, it seems reasonable to assume that the embedding remains differentiable, determined by the classic Gauss-Codazzi-Ricci equations. In this case, the limiting dimension for flat embeddings rises to $`D=14`$, with a wide range of compatible signatures . We will see that the differentiable hypothesis is consistent with the Einstein-Hilbert dynamical principle, which lies at the basis of the mentioned dynamical embedding.

For generality, we consider an n-dimensional submanifold with arbitrary metric signature embedded in a D-dimensional space, which is a solution of higher dimensional Einstein’s equations***The use of generic signature may cause the emergence of ghosts. However, in view of prospective topological changes, it would be unwise to any specify the signature at this stage. The expressions can be adjusted to specific signatures by simple arithmetics. .

The embedding of the background $`\overline{V}_n`$, with metric $`\overline{g}_{ij}`$, is given by local the map $`\overline{𝒳}:\overline{V}_nV_D`$ such that All Greek indices run from 1 to $`D`$. Small case Latin indices $`i,j,k\mathrm{}`$ run from 1 to $`n`$. An overbar denotes an object of the background space-time. The covariant derivative with respect to the metric of the higher dimensional manifold is denoted by a semicolon and $`\xi _{;i}^\mu =\xi _{;\gamma }^\mu \overline{𝒳}_{,i}^\gamma `$ denotes its projection over $`V_n`$. The curvatures of the higher dimensional space are distinguished by a calligraphic $``$ ..

$$\overline{𝒳}_{,i}^\mu \overline{𝒳}_{,j}^\nu 𝒢_{\mu \nu }=\overline{g}_{ij},\overline{𝒳}_{,i}^\mu \eta _A^\nu 𝒢_{\mu \nu }=0,\eta _A^\mu \eta _B^\nu 𝒢_{\mu \nu }=g_{AB}$$
(1)
where we have denoted by $`𝒢_{\mu \nu }`$ the metric of $`V_D`$ in arbitrary coordinates and $`g_{AB}`$ denotes the components of the metric of the complementary space $`B_N`$ in the basis $`\{\eta _A\}`$.

One way to generate a brane-world is to deform the background space-time $`\overline{V}_n`$, in such a way that it remains compatible with the gauge confinement and the quantum fluctuations.

The perturbations of an embedded geometry with respect to a small parameter $`s`$ along an arbitrary transverse direction $`\zeta `$ in $`V_D`$ has been defined long ago , starting with the perturbation of the embedding map

$`𝒵^\mu (x^i,s)`$ $`=`$ $`\overline{𝒳}^\mu +s\mathrm{\pounds }_\zeta \overline{𝒳}^\mu )=\overline{𝒳}^\mu +s[\zeta ,𝒳]^\mu `$ (2)
The presence of a component of $`\zeta `$ tangent to $`V_n`$ is a cause for concern because it induces coordinate gauges. That is, a perturbation could be altered by a mere coordinate transformation. In general relativity, this problem is aggravated by the diffeomorphism invariance of the theory. There, the traditional solutions consist in imposing specific conditions on the metric, tetrads or even on the sources . Another solution, consists in choosing a hypersurface orthogonal perturbation (or equivalently, using the ADM language, to eliminate the shift function), with the obvious limitations resulting from the use of special coordinates .

In the case of brane-worlds, the extra dimensions do not share the same diffeomorphism invariance of $`V_n`$. Consequently, the limitations imposed by the choice of a hypersurface orthogonal vector does not apply. An additional simplification is obtained by taking the norm of this vector to be $`\pm 1`$. This is equivalent to normalize the lapse function to one in the ADM case, and using the extra coordinates $`s^A`$ to play the role of the ”lapses”.

With these precautions, the perturbations of the embedding map along an orthogonal direction $`\overline{\eta }_A`$, for some fixed value of $`A`$, gives

$`𝒵_{,i}^\mu (x,s^A)=\overline{𝒳}_{,i}^\mu (x)+s^A\overline{\eta }_{A,i}^\mu (x).`$ (3)
On the other hand, since $`\overline{\eta }_A(x^i)`$ are independent vectors, depending only of $`x^i`$, they remain unperturbed

$`\eta _A^\mu (x^i)=\overline{\eta }_A^\mu +s^B[\overline{\eta }_B,\overline{\eta }_A]^\mu =\overline{\eta }_A^\mu `$ (4)
The metric of the perturbed manifold may be written in generic coordinates as

$$g_{ij}=\overline{g}_{ij}+f_{ij}(x^i,s^A)$$
(5)
Taking $`s^A`$ small as compared to one, the Taylor expansion of $`f_{ij}`$ in terms of $`s^A`$, gives the four-dimensional gravitational field in the vicinity of the brane-world. For a specified direction $`\eta _A`$, the linear perturbation assumes the form

$`g_{ij}=\overline{g}_{ij}+s^A\gamma _{ijA}(x^i)`$

Applying the de Donder gauge condition to the linearized Einstein’s equations, we obtain the homogeneous gravitational wave equations with respect to the extra dimension $`\eta _A`$. For a vacuum space-time the resulting wave equation reads as

$$\mathrm{}^{ij}{}_{k\mathrm{}}{}^{}\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij}^{A}(x,s)=0$$
(6)
where $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij}^A=\gamma _{ij}1/2\gamma \overline{g}_{ij}`$, $`\gamma =\overline{g}^{mn}\gamma _{mn}`$ and where we have denoted the generalized topological Dalambertian (de Rahm) wave operator by

$`\mathrm{}^{ij}{}_{k\mathrm{}}{}^{}=\overline{g}^{ij}_k_{\mathrm{}}+2\overline{R}_k\mathrm{}^{ij}+2\overline{R}_{(k}^i\delta _\mathrm{})^j`$

We interpret the solutions of (6) as describing gravitational waves over the curved background $`\overline{V}_n`$, in response to the quantum fluctuations of the brane-world. As such, these gravitational waves belong to the so-called high frequency limit, with a wavelength which is small as compared with the characteristic length of the background geometry . To define this property we may use the Gaussian reference frame based on the perturbed submanifold and the normal $`\eta _A`$. The embedding equations for the perturbed geometry are

$$𝒵_{,i}^\mu 𝒵_{,j}^\nu 𝒢_{\mu \nu }=g_{ij},𝒵_{,i}^\mu \eta _A^\nu 𝒢_{\mu \nu }=g_{iA},\eta _A^\mu \eta _B^\nu 𝒢_{\mu \nu }=g_{AB}$$
(7)
where now we have the mixed metric components $`g_{iA}=s^MA_{iMA}`$, with

$$A_{iAB}=\eta _{B;i}^\mu \eta _A^\nu 𝒢_{\mu \nu }=\overline{\eta }_{B;i}^\mu \overline{\eta }_A^\nu 𝒢_{\mu \nu }=\overline{A}_{iAB}$$
(8)
The extrinsic curvatures are

$$k_{ijA}=𝒵_{,i}^\mu \eta _{A;j}^\nu 𝒢_{\mu \nu }$$
(9)
Replacing (3) in (7), we obtain the perturbation of the metric

$`g_{ij}=\overline{g}_{ij}2s^A\overline{\kappa }_{ijA}`$ $`+`$ $`s^As^B(\overline{g}^{mn}\overline{\kappa }_{imA}\overline{\kappa }_{jnB}`$ (10)
$`+`$ $`g^{MN}A_{iMA}A_{jNB})`$ (11)
and the perturbed extrinsic curvature in the same Gaussian frame

$`\kappa _{ijA}=\overline{\kappa }_{ijA}s^B(\overline{g}^{mn}\overline{\kappa }_{miA}\overline{\kappa }_{jnB}+g^{MN}A_{iMA}A_{jNB})`$

Equations (8), (9) and (11) give the evolution of the three basic geometrical attributes of the perturbed geometry. Comparing (9) and the derivative of (11) we obtain

$$\frac{g_{ij}}{s^A}=2\kappa _{ijA}$$
(12)
which generalizes York’s relation used in the ADM formalism. Similar expressions were applied to geometric perturbations in .

The curvature radii of the background $`\overline{V}_n`$ are defined as the solutions of the homogeneous equation

$$(\overline{g}_js^Ak_{ijA})dx^i=0,A\text{ fixed}.$$
(13)
From $`det(\overline{g}_js^Ak_{ijA})=0`$ we obtain $`n\times N`$ distinct solutions, $`s=\rho _i^A`$, one for each principal direction $`dx^i`$ and for each normal $`\eta _A`$. These are local invariant properties of $`\overline{V}_n`$ and as such they are independent of the chosen Gaussian system . Since (11) can be written as

$`g_{ij}=\overline{g}^{mn}(\overline{g}_{im}s^A\overline{k}_{imA})(\overline{g}_{jn}s^B\overline{k}_{jnB})+g^{MN}A_{iMA}A_{jNB}`$

it follows that the components

$$\stackrel{~}{g}_{ij}=\overline{g}^{mn}(\overline{g}_{im}s^A\overline{k}_{imA})(\overline{g}_{jn}s^B\overline{k}_{jnB})$$
(14)
becomes singular at the curvature centers. Therefore, the fluctuations of the brane-world which are compatible with the regularity of the embedding should not reach these points. Since the smaller solutions $`\rho _i^A`$ contribute more significantly to the overall curvature of $`\overline{V}_n`$, the characteristic length of the background geometry suitable for comparing with the wavelength is

$$\frac{1}{\overline{\rho }}=\sqrt{\overline{g}^{ij}g_{AB}\frac{1}{\overline{\rho }_A^i}\frac{1}{\overline{\rho }_B^j}}$$
(15)
which represents a classical limitation of the perturbations.

## III Dynamics

To obtain the dynamical properties of the fluctuations which are compatible with the embedding, we apply the integrability conditions for the embedding, the Gauss, Codazzi and Ricci equations respectively

$`R_{ijkl}`$ $`=`$ $`2g^{MN}\kappa _{i[kM}\kappa _{jl]N}+_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }𝒵_{,i}^\mu 𝒵_{,j}^\nu 𝒵_{,k}^\rho 𝒵_{,l}^\sigma `$ (16)
$`\kappa _{i[jA,k]}`$ $`=`$ $`g^{MN}A_{[kMA}\kappa _{ij]N}+_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }𝒵_{,i}^\mu \eta ^\nu 𝒵_{,j}^\rho 𝒵_{,k}^\sigma `$ (17)
$`2A_{[jAB;k]}`$ $`=`$ $`2g^{MN}A_{[jMA}A_{k]NB}`$ (18)
$``$ $`g^{mn}\kappa _{[jmA}\kappa _{k]nB}_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }𝒵_{,j}^\rho 𝒵_{,k}^\sigma \eta _A^\nu \eta _B^\mu `$ (19)
These equations represent the conditions for a perturbation of $`\overline{V}_n`$ to be stable as a submanifold (and in particular a brane-world) .

The relevance of the above equations to the stability of brane-worlds has been pointed out in some particular situations, using the conformal flatness properties . In this section we show that that the implications of (17) to the dynamics of brane-worlds is quite general, independently of models or any additional assumption on the geometries of $`V_D`$ and $`V_n`$. For this, purpose, consider the expression $`\xi ^{\mu \nu }=g^{ij}Z_{,i}^\mu Z_{,j}^\nu `$. From (7) it follows that

$`\xi ^{\mu \nu }𝒢_{\mu \nu }=n\text{and}\xi ^{\mu \nu }\eta _A^\alpha 𝒢_{\mu \alpha }=0`$

so that $`\xi ^{\mu \nu }`$ cannot be proportional to $`𝒢^{\mu \nu }`$. Writing $`\xi ^{\mu \nu }=𝒢^{\mu \nu }+\zeta ^{\mu \nu }`$, we find that $`\zeta ^{\mu \nu }`$ must satisfy

$`𝒢_{\mu \nu }\zeta ^{\mu \nu }=N\text{ and}\zeta _{\mu \nu }\eta _A^\mu \eta _B^\nu =g_{AB}`$

The solution of these algebraic equations, compatible with (7) is $`\zeta ^{\mu \nu }=g^{AB}\eta _A^\mu \eta _B^\nu `$, so that

$$g^{ij}𝒵_{,i}^\mu 𝒵_{,j}^\nu =𝒢^{\mu \nu }g^{AB}\eta _A^\mu \eta _B^\nu $$
(20)
Applying this result in the contractions of the first equation (17), we obtain the Ricci scalar for the perturbed geometry

$`R`$ $`=`$ $`(\kappa ^2h^2)+2g^{MN}_{\mu \nu }\eta _M^\mu \eta _N^\nu `$ (21)
$``$ $`g^{AB}g^{MN}_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }\eta _A^\mu \eta _B^\sigma \eta _M^\nu \eta _N^\rho `$ (22)
where we have denoted $`\kappa ^2=\kappa _{ijA}\kappa ^{ijA}`$ and the mean curvatures $`h_A=g^{ij}\kappa _{ijA}`$ with norm $`h^2=g^{AB}h_Ah_B`$. Using the Gaussian frame we see that the last term vanishes and that

$`g^{AB}_{\mu \nu }\eta _A^\mu \eta _B^\nu =g^{AB}{\displaystyle \frac{h_A}{s^B}}+\kappa ^2`$

Therefore, (21)reduces to

$`R=(\kappa ^2+h^2)2g^{AB}{\displaystyle \frac{h_A}{s^B}}`$

To obtain the canonical structure associated with the perturbations we may write the Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian for $`V_D`$, after discarding the derivative terms $`h_A/s^B`$ as surface termsTo allow for different signatures, we have denoted $`𝒢=det(𝒢_{\alpha \beta })`$ module the signature of the extra dimensions..

$$(g,g_{,i},g_{,A})=\sqrt{𝒢}=\left[R+(\kappa ^2+h^2)\right]\sqrt{𝒢}$$
(23)
The components of the momentum canonically conjugated to $`𝒢_{\alpha \beta }`$ relative to the normal direction $`\eta _A`$ are

$`p_{(A)}^{\alpha \beta }={\displaystyle \frac{}{\left(\frac{𝒢_{\alpha \beta }}{s^A}\right)}}`$

In particular, using (12) we obtain the tangent components

$$p_{(A)}^{ij}=(\kappa _A^{ij}+h_Ag^{ij})\sqrt{𝒢}$$
(24)
which describe the momentum the metric geometry of $`V_n`$, when propagated along the extra dimensions.

On the other hand, the perturbation does not prescribe the evolution of $`𝒢_{iA}`$ and $`𝒢_{AB}`$. The corresponding momenta are be set as constraints:

$`p_{(B)}^{iA}`$ $`=`$ $`2{\displaystyle \frac{_{\alpha \beta }\eta ^\alpha \eta ^\beta }{\frac{𝒢_{iA}}{s^B}}}\sqrt{𝒢}=0,`$ (25)
$`p_{(C)}^{AB}`$ $`=`$ $`2{\displaystyle \frac{_{\alpha \beta }\eta _A^\alpha \eta _B^\beta }{\frac{𝒢_{AB}}{s^C}}}\sqrt{𝒢}=0`$ (26)
The constraint (IV) correspond to our previous choice of zero shift function, while (IV) corresponds to the normalization of the lapse.

The Hamiltonian for each single direction $`\eta ^A`$, is defined by the Legendre transformation

$`_A(g,p)`$ $`=`$ $`p_{(A)}^{ij}g_{ij,A}=`$ (27)
$``$ $`R\sqrt{𝒢}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{𝒢}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{p_A^2}{n+1}}p_{ij(A)}p_{(A)}^{ij}\right)`$ (28)
leading to Hamilton’s equations,

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dg_{ij}}{ds^A}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta _A}{\delta p^{ij(A)}}}={\displaystyle \frac{2}{\sqrt{𝒢}}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{g_{ij}p_A}{n+1}}p_{ij(A)}\right),`$ (29)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{dp_{(A)}^{ij}}{ds^A}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta _A}{\delta g_{ij}}}=G_{ij}\sqrt{g\epsilon }+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{g\epsilon }}}[{\displaystyle \frac{2p_Ap_{ij(A)}}{n+1}}`$ (30)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}({\displaystyle \frac{p_A^2}{n+1}}+p_{ij(A)}p_{(A)}^{ij})g_{ij}]`$ (31)
The first of these equations coincides with (12) expressed in terms of $`p_{ij(A)}`$. The second equation gives the evolution of the extrinsic curvature of the perturbation in terms of momentum. Consequently, the stability conditions for the perturbations, represented by (17) are consistent with the Einstein-Hilbert dynamics for $`V_D`$.

## IV Hypersurface Brane-worlds

When $`D=n+1`$, the brane-worlds are hypersurfaces of $`V_D`$. All expressions can be derived from the general case by setting $`A,B\mathrm{}=n+1`$ and $`g_{AB}=g_{n+1n+1}=\epsilon =\pm 1`$. Since in this case the ”twisting vector” $`A_{iAB}`$ vanishes, the integrability conditions lose Ricci’s equation. The remaining Gauss-Codazzi equations may be applied to derive the dynamics of the hypersurface for a general $`V_{(n+1)}`$. Expression (20) in this case becomes

$$g^{ij}𝒵_{,i}^\mu 𝒵_{,j}^\nu =𝒢^{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{\epsilon }\eta ^\mu \eta ^\nu $$
(32)
As before, replacing in Gauss’ equation, after removing the total derivative terms the Lagrangian (23) reduces to

$$=\left[R+\frac{1}{\epsilon }(\kappa ^2+h^2)\right]\sqrt{𝒢}$$
(33)
where now we have denoted $`h=g^{ij}k_{ij}`$ and $`k^2=k^{ij}k_{ij}`$.

The momentum canonically conjugated to the metric $`𝒢_{\alpha \beta }`$, with respect to the perturbation parameter $`s`$ is (here the dot means derivation with respect to $`s`$) $`p^{\alpha \beta }=/(\dot{𝒢}_{\alpha \beta })`$, with components

$`p^{ij}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\epsilon }}(k^{ij}+hg^{ij})\sqrt{𝒢}`$
$`p^{in+1}`$ $`=`$ $`2{\displaystyle \frac{_{\alpha \beta }\eta ^\alpha \eta ^\beta }{\dot{𝒢}_{in+1}}}\sqrt{𝒢}=0,`$
$`p^{n+1n+1}`$ $`=`$ $`2{\displaystyle \frac{_{\alpha \beta }\eta ^\alpha \eta ^\beta }{\dot{𝒢}_{n+1n+1}}}\sqrt{𝒢}=0`$
The Hamiltonian corresponding to the one parameter perturbation is

$`=p^{\alpha \beta }\dot{𝒢}_{\alpha \beta }`$ $`=`$ (34)
$`R\sqrt{𝒢}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon }{𝒢}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{p^2}{n+1}}p_{ij}p^{ij}\right)\sqrt{𝒢}`$ (35)
where $`p=𝒢_{\alpha \beta }p^{\alpha \beta }`$. This describes the same perturbations of an arbitrary metric with some limitations to be noted:

Since $`A_{iAB}=0`$, the perturbed metric in the Gaussian frame becomes simply

$`g_{ij}=\stackrel{~}{g}_{ij}=\overline{g}^{mn}(\overline{g}_{im}sk_{im})(\overline{g}_{jn}sk_{jn})`$

which is singular at the curvature centers of $`V_{n+1}`$ defined by $`det(\overline{g}_{ij}sk_{ij})=0`$. The solutions of this equation are the curvature radii $`\rho _i`$, one for each principal direction $`dx^i`$. The characteristic length has more significant contributions from the smaller $`\rho _i`$, in accordance with (15),

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\overline{\rho }}}={\displaystyle \sqrt{\epsilon \frac{\overline{g}_{ij}}{\overline{\rho }_i\overline{\rho }_j}}}`$

This is again an invariant property of the embedded background geometry. As it was already commented, the properties of this characteristic length have implications on the perturbations of brane-world geometry. In particular, a known result states that if $`V_n`$ has more than two finite curvature radii $`\rho _i`$, then the hypersurface becomes indeformable .

A particularly interesting example is given by a constant curvature space $`V_{(n+1)}`$. More specifically, consider the (non-compact) anti-De Sitter space $`AdS_{(n+1)}`$, with $`ϵ=1`$:

$$_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }=\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}(𝒢_{\mu \rho }𝒢_{\nu \sigma }𝒢_{\mu \sigma }𝒢_{\nu \rho })$$
(36)
We obtain, $`_{\mu \nu }=n\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}𝒢_{\mu \nu }`$, so that the constraints (IV), (IV) become identities and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}`$ can be interpreted as a bulk cosmological constant.

In this particular case, the integrability conditions are considerably simpler:

$`R_{ijkl}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\epsilon }}\kappa _{i[k}\kappa _{l]j}\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}(g_{ik}g_{jl}g_{il}g_{jk})`$
$`\kappa _{i[j;k]}`$ $`=`$ $`0`$
where we notice that the Riemann tensor of $`V_{(n+1)}`$ is entirely projected into the $`n`$-dimensional hypersurface. Therefore, it is more natural to derive Einstein’s equations for $`V_n`$. Using (32), we obtain

$$G_{ij}=\frac{1}{\epsilon }t_{ij}(k)+\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}(\frac{n}{2}1)(n1)g_{ij}=8\pi GT_{ij}$$
(37)
where we have denoted

$`t_{ij}(k)=k_i^mk_{mj}hk_{ij}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(k^2h^2)g_{ij}`$

and $`T_{ij}`$ denotes the energy-momentum tensor of the four-dimensional sources. Since the last equality in (37) is not a differentiable equation on $`g_{ij}`$, it implies that this energy-momentum tensor becomes algebraically related to the extrinsic curvature $`k_{ij}`$ which represents a serious limitation for the brane-world. In this respect, it has been noted that when $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{}<0`$, the null energy condition for $`T_{ij}`$ is not compatible with the embedding .

We will see in section VI that the condition $`A_{iAB}=0`$ means that the gauge structure does not arise from the integrability conditions. Consequently it has to be imposed over the geometrical structure, requiring additional conditions to ensure the stability of the hypersurface brane-worlds.

## V Quantum states

Klein’s compactification of the extra dimension was introduced to make Kaluza’s theory compatible with quantum mechanics. Specifically, the normal modes of the harmonic expansion with respect to the internal parameters (of Planck’s length size) were set in correspondence with the quantum modes . This eventually led to a major problem, namely the inability to generate light chiral fermions at the electroweak sector of the theory. More specifically, the strong curvature of the internal space contributed to large mass fermion states, which would necessarily be observable at the electroweak scale.

On the other hand, in brane-worlds the extra dimensions are macroscopic, so that the harmonic expansion of physical fields over $`V_D`$ would not lead to the correct quantum phenomenology. In its place, we look at the linear gravitational wave equation (6) in the de Donder gauge. However, two points must be observed: Firstly, the quantum fluctuations of the geometry should be independent of the classical approximation order on $`s^A`$. Furthermore, the classical waves correspond to the quantum fluctuations of the geometry. This suggests that the definition of the quantum states should precede the linear approximation of the metric.

One way to define the quantum states relative to the extra dimensions is to use the canonical formalism associated with the perturbations. In fact, the Poisson bracket structure for each extra dimension $`\eta _A`$ defined by

$`[,_A]={\displaystyle \frac{\delta }{\delta g_{ij}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\delta _𝒜}{\delta p^{ij(A)}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\delta }{\delta p^{ij(A)}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\delta _𝒜}{\delta g_{ij}}}`$

can be derived consistently with (28), (29) and (31), with the commutator between two independent perturbations given by $`[_A,_B]`$. Therefore the quantum fluctuations may be defined for each independent extra dimension $`\eta _A`$, and the superposition principle applied afterwards.

As one example, consider Schrödinger’s equation

$$i\mathrm{}\frac{d\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij(A)}}{ds^A}=\widehat{}_A\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij(A)}$$
(38)
where the operator $`\widehat{}_A`$ is constructed with the perturbation Hamiltonian (28). The probability of a brane-world to be in a state $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij(A)}`$ is given by the Hilbert norm

$`<\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij(A)},\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij(A)}>={\displaystyle \mathrm{\Psi }_{ij(A)}^{}\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij(A)}𝑑v}`$

where the integral extends over a volume in $`V_D`$ with a base on a compact region of the background and a finite extension of the extra coordinates $`s^A`$. Considering two independent directions $`\eta _A`$ and $`\eta _B`$, the transition probability between the corresponding states is given by the integral $`<\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij(A)},\mathrm{\Psi }_{k\mathrm{}(B)}>`$.

Topological changes are expected to occur in any quantum theory of space-times . Therefore, we cannot use a fixed product topology for $`V_D`$, as in . With multiple evolution parameters we may have a more complex topological variation than those expected in a single time theories. For example, if $`\eta _A`$ and $`\eta _B`$ are both space-like, then $`<\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij(A)},\mathrm{\Psi }_{k\mathrm{}(B)}>`$ corresponds to a space-like handle. On the other hand, if $`\eta _A`$ and $`\eta _B`$ have both time-like signatures, then the classical limit of the transition probability corresponds to a classical loop involving two internal time parameters, suggesting a multidimensional time machine. Finally, if $`\eta _A`$ and $`\eta _B`$ have different signatures, then the transition probability $`<\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij(A)},\mathrm{\Psi }_{k\mathrm{}(B)}>`$ corresponds to a signature change.

An example of the last case is given by the Kruskal brane-world regarded as a perturbation of the embedded Schwarzschild space-time, in such a way that the latter becomes geodesically complete. These spaces are both embedded in six dimensional flat spaces, with signatures $`(5,1)`$ and $`(4,2)`$ respectively . The Schwarzschild space-time is a subset of Kruskal space-time, but they do not belong to the same fixed embedding space. However, they may be considered as classical limits of distinct quantum states of the dynamically embedded Kruskal brane-world, with a signature transition at the horizon.

As a final remark we add that due to the extrinsic nature of the parameters $`s^A`$, equation (38) may be understood as first quantization of the brane-world geometry. However, it does not exclude the quantization of the metric as an effective field theory in four dimensions, taking for example $`V_D`$ as the space of all deformed metrics .

## VI Confinement

The confinement hypothesis for gauge fields implies that regardless of the electromagnetic, weak and strong interactions taking place inside the brane-world, its differentiable structure remains intact. Since, those interactions are concomitant with the quantum fluctuations of the geometry, it follows that equations (17) must also be compatible with the confinement of the gauge fields.

The basic field variables in (17) are $`g_{ij}`$, $`\kappa _{ijA}`$ and $`A_{iAB}`$. The first two vary with the perturbation and they are related by (12). On the other hand, from (8) it follows that $`A_{iAB}`$ remain confined in the sense that they remain unchanged, independently of the quantum fluctuations of the brane-world. The relevant but so far little explored fact, is that those components transform as the components of a gauge potential under the group of isometries of the complementary space $`B_N`$. This follows directly from the transformation of the mixed component of the metric tensor, under a local infinitesimal coordinate transformation of $`B_N`$

$`s^A=s^A+\xi ^A\text{with}\xi ^i=0,\text{and}\xi ^Aa=\mathrm{\Theta }_M^A(x^i)s^M`$

where $`\mathrm{\Theta }_B^A`$ are the infinitesimal parameters. Denoting generic coordinates in $`V_D`$ by $`\{x^\mu \}=\{x^i,s^A\}`$, it follows that

$`g_{iA}^{}=g_{iA}+g_{i\mu }\xi _{,A}^\mu +g_{A\mu }\xi _{,i}^\mu +\xi ^\nu {\displaystyle \frac{g_{iA}}{x^\nu }}+0(\xi ^2)`$

The transformation of $`A_{iAB}`$ follows from

$`A_{iAB}^{}={\displaystyle \frac{g_{iA}^{}}{s^B}}={\displaystyle \frac{g_{iA}^{}}{s^B}}\xi _{,B}^\mu {\displaystyle \frac{g_{iA}^{}}{x^\mu }}`$

Using $`\xi _{,B}^A=\mathrm{\Theta }_B^A(x^i)`$, $`\xi _{,i}^A=\mathrm{\Theta }_B^As^B`$ and $`\xi _{BC}^A=0`$ we obtain

$$A_{iAB}^{}=A_{iAB}2g^{MN}A_{iM[A}\mathrm{\Theta }_{B]M}+g_{MB}\mathrm{\Theta }_{A,i}^M$$
(39)
which shows that indeed $`A_{iAB}`$ transforms as a gauge potential. Once the group of isometries of $`B_N`$ has been characterized, the above transformation may also be written in terms of its structure constants .

To conclude the characterization of $`A_{iAB}`$, we notice that the metric of $`V_D`$ written in the Gaussian frame has separate has components

$`g_{ij}`$ $`=`$ $`𝒵_{i,}^\mu 𝒵_{,j}^\nu 𝒢_{\mu \nu }=\overline{g}_{ij}2s^A\overline{k}_{ijA}`$ (40)
$`+`$ $`s^As^B\left(\overline{g}^{mn}\overline{k}_{imA}\overline{k}_{jnB}+\overline{g}^{MN}A_{iMA}A_{jNB}\right)`$ (41)
$`g_{iA}`$ $`=`$ $`𝒵_{,i}^\mu \eta _A^\nu 𝒢_{\mu \nu }=s^MA_{iMA}`$ (42)
$`g_{AB}`$ $`=`$ $`\eta _A^\mu \eta _B^\nu 𝒢_{AB}`$ (43)
or, in matrix notation,

$$𝒢_{\alpha \beta }=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\stackrel{~}{g}_{ij}+g^{MN}A_{iM}A_{jN}& A_{iA}\\ A_{jB}& g_{AB}\end{array}\right)$$
(44)
where $`\stackrel{~}{g}_{ij}`$ is given by (14) and

$$A_{iA}=s^MA_{iMA}$$
(45)
The metric (44) has the same appearance as the Kaluza-Klein metric ansatz, with the exception that $`\stackrel{~}{g}_{ij}`$ is not the background metric but rather an untwisted perturbation of it, given by (14).

The Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian derived directly from (44) is

$$=\sqrt{𝒢}=R\sqrt{\stackrel{~}{g}ϵ}+\frac{1}{4}trF^2\sqrt{\stackrel{~}{g}ϵ}$$
(46)
where we have denoted $`ϵ=det(g_{AB})`$, $`F^2=F_{ij}F^{ij}`$ and $`F_{ij}=[D_i,D_j]`$, $`D_i=_i+A_i`$. Considering the gauge group as the group of isometries of $`B_N`$, the gauge connection $`A_i`$ can be expressed in the Killing basis $`\{K^{AB}\}`$ of the corresponding Lie algebra as

$`A_i=A_{iAB}K^{AB}`$

From (46) we see that the bulk gravitational field described by $`𝒢_{\alpha \beta }`$ decomposes in a four dimensional gravitational interaction represented by $`\stackrel{~}{g}_{ij}`$, plus the gauge interactions represented by $`A_{iAB}`$, much in the sense of Kaluza-Klein theory.

## VII Conclusion

We have taken an approach to brane-world theory that is independent of the two known models proposed in . Starting with the classic perturbation analysis of submanifolds, the geometric stability conditions (17) for the perturbation are assumed to hold throughout. The conclusion is that those equations in fact determine the brane-world dynamics in the general case.

From the fact that the internal parameters do not share the same diffeomorphism invariance of the gauge fields, we have described a non-constrained canonical structure which reproduces the classical perturbation equations. The perturbation Hamiltonians, one for each extra dimension, is compatible with a canonical quantization relative to the internal parameters $`s^A`$. It was also noted that the quantum fluctuations in general are not compatible with the adoption of a fixed topology for $`V_D`$.

We find it significant to brane-worlds the fact that when $`N2`$, the twisting vector $`A_{iAB}`$, has the structure of a confined gauge field built in (17).

It is normally assumed that the brane-world is four-dimensional. However, this assumption must be consistent with the properties of the embedding and the gauge group $`G`$. Since the host space $`V_D`$ may be thought of as populated by point particles to (n-1)-dimensional objects, the end product of their dynamics is the n-dimensional brane-world regarded as a dynamically embedded space-time. As such, the differentiable equations (17) assume the role of structure preserving equations for brane-worlds embedded in a $`V_D`$ with $`Dn(n+3)/2`$. Setting $`D=n+N`$, it follows that $`n^2+n2N0`$.

For the standard model gauge group $`SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)`$ acting on a seven dimensional projective space, we find $`n3.27`$, meaning that the standard model just fits in four-dimensional stable brane-worlds. On the other hand, using the $`SO(10)`$ GUT we obtain exactly $`n=4`$, suggesting that four dimensional brane-worlds have a natural existence in a particular fourteen dimensional theory with signature $`(11,3)`$ and with $`SO(1O)`$ as the gauge group.

Our final remark concerns the size of the extra dimensions and the consequent modification of Newton’s law at small distances. From (14) it follows that the perturbation becomes singular at the curvature centers of the background characterized by $`\rho _i^A`$, so that $`s^A`$ must remain in the open intervals $`[0,\pm \rho _i^A)`$. This means that as long as the curvature radii $`\rho _i^A`$ remain finite, the volume of the complementary space available for the graviton probes is finite. In this case, noting that the right hand side of (23), depends only on $`x^i`$, we may evaluate the action integral in that region

$`{\displaystyle \sqrt{𝒢}d^{n+N}v}={\displaystyle \left([R(k^2+h^2)]\sqrt{\stackrel{~}{g}}\sqrt{ϵ}d^nv\right)d^Nv}`$

which leads to an argument similar to that in , but without assuming the product topology:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{M_{}^{2+N}}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{M_{pl}^2}}(1K)𝒱`$

where we have denoted $`K=(k^2+h^2)]\sqrt{\stackrel{~}{g}ϵ}d^nv`$, $`𝒱`$ is the finite volume of the region in the complementary space and $`M_{}`$ is the Planck’s mass in the bulk.

The volume $`𝒱`$ depends on the curvature of $`\overline{V}_n`$ and it is detailed by the different values of $`\rho _i^A`$ as given by (15). Therefore, defining an internal spherical space with radius $`\overline{\rho }`$, we have $`𝒱\overline{\rho }^N`$, so that

$`\overline{\rho }^N{\displaystyle \frac{M_{pl}^2}{M_{}^{2+N}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(1K)}},K1`$

This gives the same estimates as in  when $`K`$ is small as compared to one. The case $`N=1`$ has been ruled out in our analysis because of the limitations imposed on the brane-world fluctuations. The actual distances probed by gravitons depend on further analysis of the quantum states.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors wish to acknowledge the stimulating discussions on the subject with Drs. P. Caldas and Vanda Silveira.


text:
# Preparation of Schrödinger cat states with cold ions beyond the Lamb-Dicke limit

## Abstract

A scheme for preparing Schrödinger cat (SC) states is proposed beyond the Lamb-Dicke limit in a Raman-$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-type configuration. It is shown that SC states can be obtained more efficiently with our scheme than with the former ones.

In recent years the system of cold ions moving in a harmonic trap is considered to be a prospective physical setting for the preparation and investigation of nonclassical states \[1-3\]. It has been proven that, in the limit where coherent interaction can dominate over dissipative process, the model of a cold ion strongly coupled to a harmonic oscillator is formally similar to the cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED).

Almost all schemes for the preparation of nonclassical motional states of a trapped ion are based on the Lamb-Dicke limit(LDL) under the weak excitation regime(WER), which correspond to the actual case in the present ion-trap experiments \[4-6\]. The LDL means that the spatial dimensions of the ground motional state are much smaller than the effective wavelength of the laser wave, and the WER is the condition that the Rabi frequency describing the laser-ion interaction is much smaller than the trap frequency. In the case of the LDL and WER, Jaynes-Cummings model(JCM) can be used to describe the trapped ion system in the supposition that the ion is of two levels, the trap’s potential can be quantized to be a harmonic oscillator, and the radiating lasers can be taken as the classical forms of standing or traveling waves. Some techniques developed in the framework of cavity QED based on JCM can be immediately transcribed to the ion trap system by taking advantage of the analogy between the cavity QED and the ion trap problem. Recently, a scheme  for the preparation of Schrödinger cat (SC) states was proposed under the strong excitation regime (SER), opposite to the WER. As in the SER the Rabi frequency is very large, the operation time for the state preparation can be much reduced, which is advantageous to avoid the decoherence. On the other hand, we also noted that the case beyond the LDL has been discussed intensively for the rapid laser-cooling of the ion \[10-12\]. It has been shown that the laser-ion interaction beyond the LDL in the manipulation of the cold ions is helpful for reducing the noise in the trap, loosing the confinement of the trap and improving the cooling rate. However, as far as we know, no specific proposal has been put forward so far for preparing nonclassical states of the ion beyond the LDL.

In this letter, we try to prepare the SC states  under the WER, but beyond the LDL. The SC state, i.e., the superposition of macroscopically distinguishable states, has been drawn much attention over past several decades due to both the SC paradox, i.e., a Schrödinger’s thought experiment, and the possibility of experimental realization in the mesoscopic system. Under both the LDL and WER, there have been some proposals \[14-16\] for the preparation of SC states with trapped cold ions. Experimentally, SC states have been obtained in NIST group with single cold $`{}_{}{}^{9}Be^+`$. We will show that, beyond the LDL, the preparation of SC states can be made more rapidly and simply than those within the LDL. From the viewpoint of decoherence, it may be of importance for the experimental implementation and measurement due to the reduction of the operation time.

We investigate the situation that the single ultracold ion radiated by lasers in the Raman-$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-type configuration. The electronic structure is employed with two lower levels $`|e>`$ and $`|g>`$ coupled to a common upper state $`|r>`$, and the two lasers with frequencies $`\omega _1`$ and $`\omega _2`$ respectively are assumed to propagate along opposite direction. For a sufficiently large detuning to the level $`|r>`$, $`|r>`$ may be adiabatically eliminated, and what we have to treat is an effective two-level system, in which the lasers drive the electric-dipole forbidden transition $`|g>`$$`|e>`$. The dimensionless Hamiltonian of such a system in the frame rotating with the effective laser frequency $`\omega _l`$$`(=\omega _1\omega _2)`$ can be written as

$$H=\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }}{2}\sigma _z+a^+a+\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{2}[\sigma _+e^{i\eta (a^++a)}+\sigma _{}e^{i\eta (a^++a)}]$$
(1)
where the detuning $`\mathrm{\Delta }=(\omega _0\omega _l)/\nu `$ with $`\omega _0`$ being the transition frequency of two levels of the ion, and $`\nu `$ the frequency of the trap. $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the Rabi frequency and $`\eta `$ the effective Lamb-Dicke parameter given by $`\eta =\eta _1+\eta _2`$ with subscripts denoting the counterpropagating laser field. $`\sigma _i`$ ($`i=\pm ,z`$) are Pauli operators, and $`a^+`$ and $`a`$ are operators of creation and annihilation of the phonon field, respectively. The notations ’+’ and ’-’ in front of $`i\eta (a^++a)`$ correspond to the absorption of a photon from one beam followed by emission into the other beam and vice versa, respectively. $`\nu `$ is generally supposed to be much greater than the atomic decay rate, called the strong confinement limit, for neglecting the effect of the atomic decay. We first perform following unitary transformations on Eq.(1), that is

$$H^I=THT^+=\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{2}\sigma _z+a^+ai\xi (a^+a)\sigma _xϵ\sigma _x+\xi ^2$$
(2)
where $`T=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}D^+& D\\ D^+& D\end{array}\right)`$ with $`D=e^{i\xi (a^++a)}`$, $`\xi =\eta /2`$, $`ϵ=\mathrm{\Delta }/2`$, and $`\sigma _x=\sigma _++\sigma _{}`$. As we suppose $`\mathrm{\Omega }1\xi `$, Eq.(2) can be reduced to

$$H^I=a^+ai\xi (a^+a)\sigma _xϵ\sigma _x+\xi ^2$$
(3)
where the detuning term $`ϵ`$ is retained due to no special requirement on it. Therefore, the time evolution operator in the original representation is

$$\widehat{U}(t)=T^+\mathrm{exp}(iH^It)T$$

$$=\frac{1}{2}e^{i\xi ^2t}\left(\begin{array}{cc}D& D\\ D^+& D^+\end{array}\right)e^{it[a^+ai\xi (a^+a)\sigma _xϵ\sigma _x]}\left(\begin{array}{cc}D^+& D\\ D^+& D\end{array}\right).$$
(4)
Direct algebra on Eq.(4) yields

$$\widehat{U}(t)=\frac{1}{2}e^{i\xi ^2t}\left(\begin{array}{cc}e^{ia^+at}De^{\xi t(a^+a)}& e^{ia^+at}De^{\xi t(a^+a)}\\ e^{ia^+at}D^+e^{\xi t(a^+a)}& e^{ia^+at}D^+e^{\xi t(a^+a)}\end{array}\right)\times $$

$$\left(\begin{array}{cc}cosh[\xi (a^+a)t]& sinh[\xi (a^+a)t]\\ sinh[\xi (a^+a)t]& cosh[\xi (a^+a)t]\end{array}\right)\times $$

$$\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}[\frac{\xi }{2}t^2(a^++a)]& i\mathrm{sin}[\frac{\xi }{2}t^2(a^++a)]\\ i\mathrm{sin}[\frac{\xi }{2}t^2(a^++a)]& \mathrm{cos}[\frac{\xi }{2}t^2(a^++a)]\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}ϵt& i\mathrm{sin}ϵt\\ i\mathrm{sin}ϵt& \mathrm{cos}ϵt\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{cc}D^+& D\\ D^+& D\end{array}\right)$$
(5)
in which we have used Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff theorem, and formulas $`e^{iA\sigma _x}=\mathrm{cos}A+i\sigma _x\mathrm{sin}A`$ and $`e^{A\sigma _x}=coshA+\sigma _xsinhA`$.

Consider that the ion has been laser-cooled to the dark state $`|g>|0>`$ beyond the LDL\[10-12\], where we denote the electronic and motional ground states by $`|g>`$ and $`|0>`$ respectively. Defining $`|e>=\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\ 0\end{array}\right)`$ and $`|g>=\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ 1\end{array}\right)`$, a laser pulse $`\widehat{V}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 1\\ 1& 1\end{array}\right)`$ applied on the ion will yield the state $`\mathrm{\Psi }_1=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|e>+|g>)|0>`$. Then performing $`\widehat{U}(t)`$ on $`\mathrm{\Psi }_1`$, we have the superposition of coherent states correlated with the internal states of the ion

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_2=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}e^{i\xi ^2t}[e^{iϵt}|e>|i\frac{\xi }{2}t^2e^{it}>+e^{iϵt}|g>|i\frac{\xi }{2}t^2e^{it}>].$$
(6)
Finally, we apply $`\widehat{V}`$ once again, which produces

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_3=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}e^{i\xi ^2t}(\mathrm{\Phi }_+|e>+\mathrm{\Phi }_{}|g>)$$
(7)
with the SC states $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\pm =\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(e^{iϵt}|i\frac{\xi }{2}t^2e^{it}>\pm e^{iϵt|}|i\frac{\xi }{2}t^2e^{it}>)`$.

Let us take more specific consideration on Eq.(7). To measure the SC states perfectly, we can use the technique of electronic shelving amplification. By introducing the fourth electronic level $`|f>`$ of the ion, and a weak laser beam resonant with the transition of $`|g>|f>`$, we can obtain $`\mathrm{\Phi }_+`$ perfectly corresponding to no fluorescence in observation. However, to obtain a perfect $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{}`$, we have to modify the last step of above preparation process, that is, replacing $`\widehat{V}`$ with $`\widehat{V}^{}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 1\\ 1& 1\end{array}\right)`$. Then we have

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_3^{^{}}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}e^{i\xi ^2t}(\mathrm{\Phi }_{}|e>+\mathrm{\Phi }_+|g>).$$
(8)
So the perfect $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{}`$ can be obtained similarly in the absence of fluorescence. Another problem is that, $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\pm `$ should be macroscopic in the sense that the component states $`|i\frac{\xi }{2}t^2e^{it}>`$ and $`|i\frac{\xi }{2}t^2e^{it}>`$ are distinguishable. Unfortunately, if $`t=k\pi `$ with $`k=0,1,2,\mathrm{}`$, SC states $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\pm =\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}[e^{iϵk\pi }|(1)^ki\frac{\xi }{2}k^2\pi ^2>\pm e^{iϵk\pi }|(1)^ki\frac{\xi }{2}k^2\pi ^2>]`$ can not be observed directly since its probability distribution in the position representation has only one peak centred at $`<R>=0`$. So we had better choose the time $`t=\frac{1}{2}(2k+1)\pi `$ with $`k=0,1,2,\mathrm{}`$. The SC state at this moment is of the form

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_\pm =\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}[e^{i\frac{ϵ}{2}(2k+1)\pi }|(1)^k\frac{1}{8}\xi (2k+1)^2\pi ^2>\pm e^{i\frac{ϵ}{2}(2k+1)\pi }|(1)^k\frac{1}{8}\xi (2k+1)^2\pi ^2>]$$
(9)
which has two maxima in the position representation centred at $`<R>\pm \frac{1}{8}\xi (2k+1)^2\pi ^2`$. As distinguishing the two component coherent states needs the two peaks to be spatially separated by more than a wavelength, we should wait for at least $`t\sqrt{2\pi /\xi }`$ when applying $`\widehat{U}(t)`$ on the ion.

The form of Eq.(7) is very similar to the experimental results in Ref.. However, as the laser-cooling of the ion beyond the LDL to the motional ground state is more rapid than the case under the LDL, and the procedure of preparing the SC state in our scheme is simpler than that in Ref., our scheme is obviously more efficient. In fact, comparing with former various schemes, our scheme is also more efficient in the preparation of the SC state. In Refs., the laser pulses should be applied on the ion alternatively from opposite directions for many times in order to obtain a observable SC state. In contrast, we only have three steps of the laser-ion interaction, i.e., $`\widehat{V}\widehat{U}(t)\widehat{V}`$ or $`\widehat{V}\widehat{U}(t)\widehat{V}^{}`$, and a suitable choice of $`t`$. In Ref., the SC state is obtained as the final result of the spontaneous emission process. So the state preparation will take a long time if the trapped ion is nearly isolated from the external environment. Moreover, as Refs. describe the process under the LDL and WER, it is easily found that preparing observable SC states with those schemes is also time-consuming. On the contrary, in our scheme, as $`\eta `$ is large, and the values of the component coherent states are proportional to $`t^2`$, the time for preparing a observable SC state is much shorter than that in above schemes.

More specifically, even if we neglect the speed-up in the laser-cooling of the trapped ion beyond the LDL, following simple numerical estimates for the preparation time of the observable SC states can also show the advantage of our scheme. With current experimental parameters of $`\eta =0.202`$, (dimensionless) $`\mathrm{\Omega }=0.1`$ and $`\nu =10^7Hz`$, we obtain that the dimensionless time for preparing a observable SC state with the scheme in  is $`\frac{\pi }{4}(\sqrt{\frac{\pi }{2\eta ^2}}1)=4.09`$ in the supposition that the delay time between any two operations of laser pulses can be omitted, and the time corresponding to  is $`\frac{\pi e^{\eta ^2/2}}{\eta \mathrm{\Omega }}=159`$. If we choose the scheme in  and the cold ion $`{}_{}{}^{9}Be^+`$, the time will be much longer since the metastable level of $`{}_{}{}^{9}Be^+`$ is $`110`$ seconds. So the minimum dimentionless time is $`10^7`$. In contrast, with our scheme, $`t\sqrt{4\pi /\eta }=2.51`$ if $`\eta =2.0`$. In fact, $`\eta `$ can be maximized to 3.0 , so $`t`$ can be minimized to 2.05.

In summary, a simple but efficient scheme for preparing the SC states of motion of a cold trapped ion has been proposed based on the ion under the WER but beyond the LDL. As far as we know, it is the first proposal for the preparation of nonclassical motional states of the cold ions beyond the LDL. As the trapped ions beyond the LDL are less tightly confined and more rapidly laser-cooled, which meets the requirement of the ion trap quantum computing, the investigation on the laser-ion interaction beyond the LDL is of importance. We also note a proposal using SC states to be the robust qubits for the quantum computing. Therefore we believe the present work would be helpful for the future exploration of the ion-trap system beyond the LDL, although the experimental work in this respect has not been reported yet.

The work is partly supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation under Grant No.19904013.


text:
# Some solutions of linearized 5-d gravity with brane

## 1 Introduction and Summary

For a long time the idea is investigated that the number of spacial dimensions exceeds three. This supposition was used in efforts to unify electromagnetic and gravitational interactions. String theory predicts an existence of more than three space dimensions. One interesting attempt  based on more old ideas  is the proposition to use the higher-dimensional mechanism for solving the hierarchy problem. It is assumed that the visible flat $`(1+3)`$-d spacetime (brane) is embedded within a 5-d spacetime. Apart from other approaches an additional dimension is considered to be noncompact. Gravity on the brane resembles the usual 4-dimensional Einstein gravity for long distances due to the special choice of metric, cosmological constant and brane tension. The investigation of this scenario shows that some problems exist .

It is important to verify a physical noncontradiction of the RS-metric: $`ds^2=(k|z|+1)^2\eta _{MK}dX^MdX^K`$. In this work we consider small gravitational fields and in particular the question: is metric perturbations remain small everywhere in the 5-dimensional spacetime? We assume that the brane is spherically symmetric. By $`r/k`$ and $`z`$ denote coordinates on the brane and normal to the brane respectively. Using variables $`R=\sqrt{r^2+(kz+1)^2}`$ and $`p=r/R`$, we separate linearized Einstein equations and get an extensive class of static and wave solutions. Nonstationary solutions depend on time $`t`$ as $`\mathrm{exp}(i(tR))`$ and describe waves radiating outward from an imaginary source located at the Planck distance $`1/k`$ from the brane. Obtained solutions may be of any degree of decreasing at infinity. A matter on the brane and stringlike formations lined orthogonally to the brane represent field sources.

## 2 Linearized equations

The action describing 5-dimensional void spacetime including the 4-dimensional brane with matter is

$$S=d^5X\left[\sqrt{|g_{(5)}|}\left(\frac{R}{2}\mathrm{\Lambda }\right)+\sigma \delta (z)\sqrt{|g_{(4)}|}(1+_{(4)}^{\text{matter}})\right],$$
(1)
where $`ds^2=g_{MK}dX^MdX^K`$ is a 5-dimensional interval of spacetime with a metric $`g_{MK}(M,K=0,1,2,3,5)`$ and coordinates $`X^M=(x^\mu ,x^5=z),(\mu ,\kappa =0,1,2,3)`$; $`g_{(4)\mu \kappa }`$ and $`x^\mu `$ are a metric and coordinates on the brane located at $`z=0`$.

5-dimensional Einstein equations are

$$R_{MK}\frac{1}{2}g_{MK}R=\mathrm{\Lambda }g_{MK}+\sigma \delta (z)\left(g_{(4)}^{\mu \kappa }+T_{(4)}^{\text{matter}\mu \kappa }\right)\sqrt{\left|\frac{g_{(4)}}{g_{(5)}}\right|}g_{\mu M}g_{\kappa K}.$$
(2)
In the absence of gravitational waves and a matter the solution of (2) is given by the background RS-metric

$$ds^2=H^2(z)\eta _{MK}dX^MdX^K,$$
(3)
where $`\eta _{MK}`$ is a Minkowski metric with the signature $`(+,,,,)`$ and $`H(z)=k|z|+1`$. The cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and the brane tension $`\sigma `$ relate to the constant $`k`$ as $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=6k^2,\sigma =6k`$ .

Consider background metric perturbations parameterized by a tensor $`h_{MK}`$

$$g_{MK}=H^2(z)(\eta _{MK}+h_{MK}).$$
(4)
In the axial gauge $`(h_\kappa ^\kappa =0,h_{55}=h_{5\mu }=0)`$ linearized Einstein equations take the form

$$\left(\mathrm{}_{(4)}+_z^2\frac{3sgn(z)}{k|z|+1}_z\right)h_{\mu \kappa }=12k\delta (z)T_{(4)\mu \kappa }^{\text{matter}(1)},$$
(5)
where $`T_{(4)\mu \kappa }^{\text{matter}(1)}`$ is the 1-st order contribution of matter on the brane to an energy-momentum tensor calculated using unperturbed metric. We suppose that there is no contribution from a matter on the brane in zero-order. This equation comes also from the other gauge choices . Since the operator acting on $`h_{\mu \kappa }`$ does not depend on indices $`\mu ,\kappa `$, we shall drop them for simplicity and use further the definitions $`h`$ and $`T`$ for $`h_{\mu \kappa }`$ and $`T_{(4)\mu \kappa }^{\text{matter}(1)}`$ respectively.

## 3 Solution of equations

Consider first the equation (5) in the area outside the brane. For $`z>0`$, we have

$$\left(\mathrm{}_{(4)}+_z^2\frac{3k}{kz+1}_z\right)h=0.$$
(6)
Suppose the brane is spherically symmetric; then the dependence of $`h`$ on $`x_1,x_2,x_3`$ reduces to the dependence on $`r=k\sqrt{x_1^2+x_2^2+x_3^2}`$ only. Let $`t=kx_0,R=\sqrt{r^2+(kz+1)^2},p=r/R`$ be new variables; then equation (6) written for the function $`f=rh`$ takes the form

$$\frac{^2f}{t^2}+\frac{^2f}{R^2}\frac{2}{R}\frac{f}{R}+\frac{1}{R^2}\left((1p^2)\frac{^2f}{p^2}+2p\frac{f}{p}\right)=0.$$
(7)
To find a solution we use the method of dividing variables. Let $`f`$ takes the form

$$f=e^{iϵt}R^{3/2}(1p^2)H(R)P(p),$$
(8)
where $`ϵ=0,\pm 1`$. For the function $`H`$ we obtain the equation containing an arbitrary constant $`\nu `$

$$R^2H^{\prime \prime }+RH^{}+\left(R^2ϵ^2\left(\nu +\frac{1}{2}\right)^2\right)H=0.$$
(9)
If $`ϵ=\pm 1`$, then (9) is a Bessel equation. The function $`P`$ satisfy the Legendre equation

$$(1p^2)P^{\prime \prime }2pP^{}+\left(\nu (\nu +1)\frac{4}{1p^2}\right)P=0.$$
(10)
A general solution $`P(p,\nu )`$ of (10) is a linear combination of Legendre functions $`P_\nu ^2(p)`$ and $`Q_\nu ^2(p)`$ of the first and second kinds respectively.

The explicit form of $`P(p,\nu )`$ for $`\nu =0,1,2`$ is

$`P(p,0)`$ $`=c_{01}{\displaystyle \frac{p}{1p^2}}+c_{02}{\displaystyle \frac{1+p^2}{1p^2}},`$
$`P(p,1)`$ $`=c_{11}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1p^2}}+c_{12}{\displaystyle \frac{p\frac{p^3}{3}}{1p^2}},`$ (11)
$`P(p,2)`$ $`=c_{21}(1p^2)+c_{22}\left({\displaystyle \frac{4p}{1p^2}}+6p+3(1p^2)\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1+p}{1p}}\right)\right).`$
Here and further, $`a_i,c_{ij},`$ are arbitrary constants.

## 4 Static solutions

If we assume $`ϵ=0`$ in (8), then $`h`$ does not depend on time and takes the form

$$h=\left(a_1R^{\nu +1}+a_2R^\nu \right)\frac{1p^2}{p}P(p,\nu ).$$
(12)
A solution have physical significance if $`h`$ decreases as $`R`$ increases, so $`a_1=0`$ in (12) for $`\nu 0`$.

First consider solutions corresponding to the case $`\nu =1`$,

$`h_1`$ $`=a_1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r}},`$ (13)
$`h_2`$ $`=a_2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{R}}\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{r}{R}}\right)^2\right).`$ (14)
In order to find the energy-momentum tensor $`T`$ corresponding to $`h`$, we replace $`z`$ by $`|z|`$ in $`h`$ and act on $`h`$ by the operator from the left part of the equation (5).A nonzero result appears in two cases.

In the fist case solution has a singularity of $`1/r`$ type as $`r0`$. This is the case of the solution $`h_1`$. The result of action on $`1/r`$ by operator $`\frac{1}{r^2}\frac{}{r}\left(r^2\frac{}{r}\right)`$ from $`\mathrm{}_{(4)}`$ is $`\delta (r)`$. It signifies that the source of the field is a string located at $`r=0`$ along $`z`$ direction normally to brane hyperplane. The action (1) does not presuppose an existence of similar sources however corresponding local matter term can be easily included. Since initially it was assumed that perturbations are small, such solutions are correct in the $`r>r_0`$ area only. The condition that $`h`$ is small in comparison with $`\eta `$ determines the value of $`r_0`$. The area $`r<r_0`$ is occupied by a source. Notice that similar sources are typical for the considered geometry, they arises for example in nonperturbative solutions of the ”black cigar” type .

The second case corresponds to the action of $`^2/z^2`$ operator on $`h`$. Taking into account that $`h`$ depends on $`|z|`$, we have

$$\frac{^2h}{z^2}=\frac{^2h}{|z|^2}+\frac{h}{|z|}2\delta (z).$$
(15)
From (15) and (5) we find $`T`$

$$T=\frac{1}{6k}\frac{h}{|z|}(z=0).$$
(16)
Since $`h`$ depends on $`z`$ by means of dependence on $`R`$, we obtain

$$T=\frac{1}{6R}\frac{h}{R}(R=\sqrt{r^2+1}).$$
(17)
In the case of solution $`h_2`$ determined by (14) we get

$$T_2=\frac{a_2}{6(r^2+1)^{\frac{5}{2}}}.$$
(18)
As a second example consider the case $`\nu =2`$. Solutions take the forms

$`h_3`$ $`=a_3{\displaystyle \frac{1}{rR}}\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{r^2}{R^2}}\right)^2,`$ (19)
$`h_4`$ $`=a_4\left({\displaystyle \frac{10}{R^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{6r^2}{R^4}}+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{rR}}\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{r^2}{R^2}}\right)^2\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{R+r}{Rr}}\right)\right).`$ (20)
Substituting $`h_3`$ in (5), we receive following expression for the right part

$$2a_3\left(\frac{\delta (r)}{k|z|+1}+\delta (z)\frac{4r^21}{r(r^2+1)^{\frac{7}{2}}}\right).$$
(21)
This source consists from a matter distributed on the brane and a string. The energy-momentum tensor $`T_4`$ corresponding to the solution $`h_4`$ describes a matter located on the brane only and looks like

$$T_4=a_4\left(\frac{4(r^25)}{(r^2+1)^3}+\frac{3(4r^21)}{r(r^2+1)^{\frac{7}{2}}}\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{\sqrt{r^2+1}+r}{\sqrt{r^2+1}r}\right)\frac{6}{(r^2+1)^{\frac{5}{2}}}\right).$$
(22)
## 5 Wave solutions

Now we assume $`ϵ=1`$ in (9). Then (8) depends on time and (9) has a form of the Bessel equation. We choose the Hankel function $`H(R)=H_{\nu +\frac{1}{2}}^{(2)}(R)`$ as a solution of (9). Then a general solution for $`h`$ describes outgoing wave. This is clearly seen in the case of integer $`\nu `$ when a simple explicit expression for $`H_{\nu +\frac{1}{2}}^{(2)}(R)`$ exists

$$H_{\nu +\frac{1}{2}}^{(2)}(R)=constR^{\nu +\frac{1}{2}}\left(\frac{d}{RdR}\right)^\nu \frac{e^{iR}}{R}.$$
(23)
We present solutions and their asymptotics for some values of $`\nu `$.

### Case $`\nu =0`$

$$h=e^{i(tR)}\left(c_{01}+c_{02}\left(\frac{R}{r}+\frac{r}{R}\right)\right).$$
(24)
As $`r\mathrm{}`$

$$he^{i(tr)}\left(c_{01}+2c_{02}+\frac{c_{02}}{4}\left(\frac{k|z|+1}{r}\right)^4\right),$$
(25)
as $`r0`$

$$he^{i(tk|z|1)}c_{02}\frac{k|z|+1}{r},$$
(26)
as $`|z|\mathrm{}`$

$$he^{i(tk|z|)}\left(c_{02}\frac{k|z|}{r}+c_{01}+\frac{3c_{02}}{2}\frac{r}{k|z|}\frac{5c_{02}}{8}\left(\frac{r}{k|z|}\right)^3\right).$$
(27)
In this case a solution exists containing an arbitrary function $`g`$.

$$h=g(tR)\left(c_{01}+c_{02}\left(\frac{R}{r}+\frac{r}{R}\right)\right).$$
(28)
### Case $`\nu =1`$

$$h=e^{i(tR)}\left(i+\frac{1}{R}\right)\left(c_{11}\frac{R}{r}+c_{12}\left(1\frac{1}{3}\left(\frac{r}{R}\right)^2\right)\right).$$
(29)
As $`r\mathrm{}`$

$$he^{i(tr)}\left(i+\frac{1}{r}\right)\left(c_{11}+\frac{2}{3}c_{12}\right),$$
(30)
as $`r0`$

$$he^{i(tk|z|1)}\left(i+\frac{1}{k|z|+1}\right)\left(c_{11}\frac{k|z|+1}{r}+c_{12}\right),$$
(31)
as $`|z|\mathrm{}`$

$$he^{i(tk|z|)}\left(ic_{11}\frac{k|z|}{r}+ic_{12}+c_{11}\frac{1}{r}+\frac{ic_{11}}{2}\frac{r}{k|z|}+c_{12}\frac{1}{k|z|}\right).$$
(32)
### Case $`\nu =2`$

$$h=e^{i(tR)}\frac{R}{r}(1+3i\frac{1}{R}+3\frac{1}{R^2})(c_{21}(1\left(\frac{r}{R}\right)^2)^2$$

$$+c_{22}(4\frac{r}{R}+6\frac{r}{R}(1\left(\frac{r}{R}\right)^2)+3(1\left(\frac{r}{R}\right)^2)^2\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{R+r}{Rr}\right))).$$
(33)
As $`r\mathrm{}`$

$$he^{i(tr)}4c_{22}\left(1+3i\frac{1}{r}\right),$$
(34)
as $`r0`$

$$he^{i(tk|z|1)}c_{21}\frac{k|z|+1}{r}\left(1+3i\frac{1}{k|z|+1}+3\frac{1}{(k|z|+1)^2}\right),$$
(35)
as $`|z|\mathrm{}`$

$$he^{i(tk|z|)}\left(c_{21}\frac{k|z|}{r}16c_{22}+3ic_{21}\frac{1}{r}+\frac{1}{k|z|}\left(\frac{3c_{21}}{2}r+48ic_{22}+3c_{21}\frac{1}{r}\right)\right).$$
(36)
Some solutions asymptotically diverge but linear combinations of solutions always exist having any desirable degree of convergence at infinity. For example we can linear combine six above presented solutions into two independent expressions having zero asymptotics at infinity.

$$h_5=conste^{i(tR)}(\frac{r^2}{R^2}\frac{r^3}{R^3}+\frac{3i}{R}(12\frac{r}{R}\frac{1}{3}\frac{r^2}{R^2}+\frac{r^3}{R^3})$$

$$+\frac{3}{R^2}\frac{R}{r}(1\frac{r^2}{R^2})^2).$$
(37)
As $`r\mathrm{}`$

$$h_5conste^{i(tr)}\frac{i}{r},$$
(38)
as $`r0`$

$$h_5conste^{i(tk|z|1)}\frac{3}{(k|z|+1)r},$$
(39)
as $`|z|\mathrm{}`$

$$h_5conste^{i(tk|z|)}\frac{3}{k|z|}\left(i+\frac{1}{r}\right).$$
(40)
And

$$h_6=conste^{i(tR)}(66\frac{r^2}{R^2}\frac{6i}{R}(1+\frac{r^2}{R^2})+\frac{6}{R^2}(53\frac{r^2}{R^2})$$

$$+\frac{3R}{r}(1+\frac{3i}{R}+\frac{3}{R^2})(1\frac{r^2}{R^2})^2\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{R+r}{Rr}\right)).$$
(41)
As $`r\mathrm{}`$

$$h_6conste^{i(tr)}\frac{12i}{r},$$
(42)
as $`r0`$

$$h_6conste^{i(tk|z|1)}\frac{12}{k|z|+1}\left(i+\frac{4}{k|z|+1}\right),$$
(43)
as $`|z|\mathrm{}`$

$$h_6conste^{i(tk|z|)}\left(\frac{12i}{k|z|}+\frac{3}{(kz)^2}\left(16+r^2\right)\right).$$
(44)
Obtained solutions describe waves outgoing from an imaginary point source located outside of the brane. For waves in the regions $`z>0`$ and $`z<0`$ the source is located at ($`r=0,z=1/k`$) and ($`r=0,z=1/k`$) respectively. Notice that in accordance with  $`1/k`$ is of the Planck length order ($`10^{33}`$ sm), so for greater distances, one may suggest that the source is located on the brane.

Since our solution describes waves propagating with the speed of the light, we can consider them as gravitational waves in the 5-dimensional spacetime. However since a wave propagates with the speed of the light in the $`R`$ direction, the speed of the wave in the $`r`$ direction i.e. on the brane must be greater due to the pure geometrical reason. Indeed, an four-dimensional observer residing on the brane does not see any tachyons. A wave on the brane corresponds to variations of a matter distributed on the brane. In order to imitate a gravitational radiation of a point imaginary source in the 5-dimensional spacetime, a variations phase speed must exceed the speed of the light. Notice that contrary to the group speed the wave’s phase speed may be of any value. At distances $`>>1/k`$ the difference between the speed of the light and the speed of the wave on the brane is $`1/r^2`$.

Above we in detail analyzed some solutions which have simple analytical representations. The general solution (8) gives possibilities to study various gravitational fields and sources. It is demonstrated that perturbations exist which remain small everywhere in the 5-dimensional spacetime. It signifies that at this point the RS-metric is not self-contradictory. On the other hand existing of wave solutions suggests that the brane may radiate in the outer space and a violation of the brane energy-momentum conservation may take place. Static solutions may give some information about possible nonperturbative solutions.

## Acknowledgments

Author would like to thank I.Ya.Aref’eva, M.G.Ivanov and I.V.Volovich for fruitful discussions.


text:
# Transition quadrupole moments in 𝛾-soft nuclei and the triaxial projected shell model

## Abstract

ABSTRACT: Transition probabilities of the ground-state bands in $`\gamma `$-soft nuclei are studied for the first time using the triaxial projected shell model approach. It is observed that the angular-momentum dependence of the transition quadrupole moment $`Q_t`$ is related to the triaxial deformation of the nuclear mean-field potential. The introduction of the $`\gamma `$-degree of freedom in the shell model basis is shown to have a little influence on the constant behavior of the low-spin $`Q_t`$ in a well-deformed nucleus. However, the increasing collectivity with spin for the low-spin states in a $`\gamma `$-soft nucleus can only be explained by considering the triaxial mean-field deformation.

The study of the nuclear shape as a function of angular-momentum has remained in the forefront of the nuclear physics research. The study of transition probabilities plays an important role in our understanding of the shape evolution. For instance, probability of the electric quadrupole transition directly reflects the deformation of a nuclear system. For a spherical nucleus, the electric quadrupole transition is of the order of a Weisskopf unit, whereas for a deformed system the transition is several hundred times the Weisskopf estimate . Nuclear deformation is also believed to be one of the most important physical quantities in the astrophysical interest . Many nuclei in nuclear periodic table exhibit axially symmetric deformation in their ground-state, with the projection of angular-momentum on the symmetry-axis as a conserved quantum number. This is referred to as the $`K`$-quantum number and the rotational bands are labelled with this quantum-number. In fact, the majority of electromagnetic transitions in nuclei are found to strictly obey the selection rules based on the $`K`$ quantum-number . The violation of $`K`$-selection rules is an indication that the system is not axially symmetric. This has been demonstrated, for example, in high-$`K`$ isomeric states .

Well-deformed nuclei, in particular those in the heavy mass regions, exhibit the characteristics of an axially symmetric-rotor in the low-spin states of their ground-band (g-band). For example, in well-deformed rare-earth nuclei, the transition quadrupole moments $`Q_t`$ usually show a constant behavior for the spin-range $`0I10`$, before the first band-crossing. This behavior has been found in many calculations with the cranked mean-field models (see, for example, Ref. ) and also in those with angular-momentum projection .

However, the properties of quadrupole moments for nuclei in the transitional regions have been less understood. There has been a long-standing problem in nuclear structure physics: what are the finger prints of triaxial deformation in the electromagnetic transition probabilities in the g-bands for transitional nuclei? In the present work, we would like to address this question. It is demonstrated that the angular-momentum dependence of the transition quadrupole moments for the low-spin states can provide a measure of the triaxial deformation.

The nuclei discussed here with neutron-number around 90 have g-bands that are quasi-rotational with considerable vibrational character. The ground-state energy surface of these transitional nuclei has been shown to have a shallow minimum at a finite $`\gamma `$-deformation in the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) calculations . It was demonstrated that such a shallow minimum becomes a prominent one when projected onto spin $`I=0`$ . Thus, to describe these transitional nuclei, it is important to consider the basis-states which are eigen-states of the triaxial mean-field potential rather than axial basis used in most of the earlier studies . The necessity of introducing triaxiality to describe the observed g-band moment of inertia of transitional nuclei has recently been demonstrated . The restriction to an axially deformed basis in the projected shell model approach  was released by performing three-dimensional angular-momentum projection on the triaxial deformed basis. This approach has been referred to as the triaxial projected shell model (TPSM). It was shown that the observed steep increase of moment of inertia for transitional nuclei can be well described  by considering $`\gamma `$-deformation. It was found later  that, with the same triaxial deformation, the first excited TPSM band describes also the observed $`\gamma `$-vibrational band, and the second excited TPSM band reproduces the experimental $`\gamma \gamma `$-band.

In the present work, the transition quadrupole moments $`Q_t`$ are studied for the first time by using the TPSM. In this approach, the states with good angular-momentum are obtained by projection from the triaxial Nilsson wave-function using the three-dimensional angular-momentum projection method. Here, our interest lies in the low-spin states with $`0I10`$ before the quasi-particle (qp) alignments, and therefore, we shall restrict our many-body basis to the angular-momentum projected triaxial qp-vacuum state:

$$\left\{\widehat{P}_{MK}^I|\mathrm{\Phi }>,0KI\right\},$$
(1)
where $`\widehat{P}_{MK}^I`$ is the projection operator

$$\widehat{P}_{MK}^I=\frac{2I+1}{8\pi ^2}𝑑\mathrm{\Omega }D_{MK}^I(\mathrm{\Omega })\widehat{R}(\mathrm{\Omega }),$$
(2)
and $`|\mathrm{\Phi }>`$ represents the triaxial qp vacuum state. This is the simplest possible configuration space for an even-even nucleus. It should be noted that for the case of axial-symmetry, the qp-vacuum state has $`K=0`$, whereas in the present case with triaxial deformation, the vacuum state has all possible $`K`$-values. The rotational bands based on the triaxial vacuum state are obtained by specifying different values for the $`K`$-quantum number in the rotational $`D`$-matrix. The allowed values of the $`K`$-quantum number for a given intrinsic state are determined through the following symmetry requirement. For $`\widehat{S}=e^{ı\pi \widehat{J}_z}`$, we have

$$\widehat{P}_{MK}^I|\mathrm{\Phi }>=\widehat{P}_{MK}^I\widehat{S}^{}\widehat{S}|\mathrm{\Phi }>=e^{ı\pi (K\kappa )}\widehat{P}_{MK}^I|\mathrm{\Phi }>,$$
(3)
where $`\widehat{S}|\mathrm{\Phi }>=e^{ı\pi \kappa }|\mathrm{\Phi }>`$. For the self-conjugate vacuum state, $`\kappa =0`$ and, therefore, it follows from Eq. (3) that only even-values of $`K`$ are permitted.

As in the earlier PSM calculations, we use the pairing plus quadrupole-quadrupole Hamiltonian

$$\widehat{H}=\widehat{H}_0\frac{1}{2}\chi \underset{\mu }{}\widehat{Q}_\mu ^{}\widehat{Q}_\mu G_M\widehat{P}^{}\widehat{P}G_Q\underset{\mu }{}\widehat{P}_\mu ^{}\widehat{P}_\mu .$$
(4)
The corresponding triaxial Nilsson Hamiltonian is given by

$$\widehat{H}_N=\widehat{H}_0\frac{2}{3}\mathrm{}\omega \left\{ϵ\widehat{Q}_0+ϵ^{}\frac{\widehat{Q}_{+2}+\widehat{Q}_2}{\sqrt{2}}\right\}.$$
(5)
In Eq. (4), $`\widehat{H}_0`$ is the spherical single-particle Hamiltonian, which contains a proper spin–orbit force . For the axial deformation $`ϵ`$ in the Nilsson model, we take the values given in Ref. . The interaction strengths are taken as follows: The $`QQ`$-force strength $`\chi `$ is adjusted such that the quadrupole deformation $`ϵ`$ is obtained as a result of the self-consistent mean-field HFB calculation . The monopole pairing strength $`G_M`$ is of the standard form $`G_M=\left[21.2413.86(NZ)/A\right]/A`$, with “$``$” for neutrons and “$`+`$” for protons, which approximately reproduces the observed odd–even mass differences in the mass region. This choice of $`G_M`$ is appropriate for the single-particle space employed in the PSM, where three major shells are used for each type of nucleons ($`N=4,5,6`$ for neutrons and $`N=3,4,5`$ for protons, a model space appropriate for normally deformed rare earth nuclei). The quadrupole pairing strength $`G_Q`$ is assumed to be proportional to $`G_M`$, the proportionality constant being fixed as usual to be in the range 0.16 – 0.18. These interaction strengths are consistent with those used previously for the same mass region .

The Hamiltonian in Eq. (4) is diagonalized using the projected basis of Eq. (1). The obtained wave-function can be written as

$$\mathrm{\Psi }_{IM}^\sigma =\underset{K}{}f_{IK}^\sigma \widehat{P}_{MK}^I|\mathrm{\Phi }>.$$
(6)
Note that, although only the qp-vacuum state is included in the basis in Eq. (1), its triaxial nature generates the $`K`$-state mixing when the diagonalization is carried out. The expansion coefficients $`f`$, obtained through the diagonalization of the shell-model Hamiltonian, describe the amount of $`K`$-mixing and specify various physical states (e.g. g-, $`\gamma `$-, $`\gamma \gamma `$-bands) . The wave-function is then used to evaluate the electromagnetic transition probabilities. The reduced electric transition probabilities $`B(EL)`$ from an initial state $`(\sigma _i,I_i)`$ to a final state $`(\sigma _f,I_f)`$ are given by

$$B(EL,I_iI_f)=\frac{1}{2I_i+1}|<\mathrm{\Psi }_{I_f}^{\sigma _f}||\widehat{Q}_L||\mathrm{\Psi }_{I_i}^{\sigma _i}>|^2,$$
(7)
and the reduced matrix element can be expressed as

$`<`$ $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{I_f}^{\sigma _f}\widehat{Q}_L\mathrm{\Psi }_{I_i}^{\sigma _i}>`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{K_i,K_f}{}}f_{I_iK_i}^{\sigma _i}f_{I_fK_f}^{\sigma _f}{\displaystyle \underset{M_i,M_f,M}{}}()^{I_fM_f}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}I_f& L& I_i\\ M_f& M& M_i\end{array}\right)`$
$`\times <\mathrm{\Phi }|\widehat{P}_{}^{I_f}{}_{K_fM_f}{}^{}\widehat{Q}_{LM}\widehat{P}_{K_iM_i}^{I_i}|\mathrm{\Phi }>`$
$`=`$ $`2{\displaystyle \underset{K_i,K_f}{}}f_{I_iK_i}^{\sigma _i}f_{I_fK_f}^{\sigma _f}`$
$`\times {\displaystyle \underset{M^{},M^{\prime \prime }}{}}()^{I_fK_f}(2I_f+1)^1\left(\begin{array}{ccc}I_f& L& I_i\\ K_f& M^{}& M^{\prime \prime }\end{array}\right)`$
$`\times {\displaystyle }d\mathrm{\Omega }D_{M^{\prime \prime }K_i}(\mathrm{\Omega })<\mathrm{\Phi }|\widehat{Q}_{LM^{}}\widehat{R}(\mathrm{\Omega })|\mathrm{\Phi }>.`$
The transition quadrupole moment $`Q_t(I)`$ is related to $`B(E2)`$ transition probability through

$$Q_t(I)=\sqrt{\frac{16\pi }{5}}\frac{\sqrt{B(E2,II2)}}{}.$$
(10)
In the calculation, we have used the standard effective charges of 1.5e for protons and 0.5e for neutrons .

The variation of $`Q_t`$ as a function of spin $`I`$ provides the information about the shape evolution of a rotating nucleus. In the simplest approximation for a nucleus as an axially deformed rigid-body, $`Q_t`$ has a constant value for all the spin-states in a given band. In fact, for well deformed nuclei, one finds more or less a constant value of $`Q_t`$ at low-spin states up to the first band-crossing region. Experimentally, deviations are observed from the rigid-body behavior in many nuclei at high-spin states, especially in the band-crossing region – one often observes a drop in $`Q_t`$ due to small overlap between the wave-functions of the initial and the final states involved. It was shown  that the drop in $`Q_t`$ in the band-crossing region cannot be quantitatively described by various types of cranking models where angular momentum is not treated as a good quantum-number, but the calculations based on the projected shell model with axially symmetric basis can reproduce this phenomenon . Very recently, it has been reported that angular momentum projection on the cranked HFB states can also describe the drop . In the present work, we shall discuss the spin states below the band-crossing region.

The constant behavior of $`Q_t`$ till the band-crossing region is noticed for most of the nuclei that are well deformed in the ground-state. In comparison, for some light rare-earth nuclei that belong to the transitional region, for instance, 154-158Dy and 156-160Er, $`Q_t`$ depicts a variation with angular-momentum for the low-spin states of the g-band, well below the band crossing region. The existing experimental data seem to indicate a general trend of increasing $`Q_t`$ for the spin region $`0I10`$. This variation of $`Q_t`$ cannot be explained by calculations using the projected shell model with axially-symmetric basis .

In Fig. 1, the results of $`Q_t`$ are presented for various values of the triaxial deformation parameter $`ϵ^{}`$ to investigate the dependence of $`Q_t`$ on the triaxiality of the deformed Nilsson basis. $`ϵ^{}=0`$ in Fig. 1 corresponds to the axially symmetric case. The calculated $`Q_t(II2)`$ are normalized to the lowest transition $`Q_t(20)`$ in order to demonstrate more clearly any changes in $`Q_t`$ as a function of spin. 154Dy has neutron number 88 and represents a transitional nucleus. Experimentally, a steady increase of $`Q_t`$ has been observed for the several low-spin states  (the drop of $`Q_t`$ at $`I=10`$ is due to the first band-crossing). As can be seen in the top panel of Fig. 1, this feature cannot be obtained when an axially symmetric basis ($`ϵ^{}=0`$) is employed in the calculation. With increasing $`ϵ^{}`$ values, the calculated $`Q_t`$ curves become steeper, and eventually the observed $`Q_t`$ can be reproduced with $`ϵ^{}0.15`$.

In the bottom panel of Fig. 1, similar calculations have been done for a well deformed nucleus 166Er having neutron number 98. The measured $`Q_t`$ shows a rather constant behavior for the low-spin region . It is interesting to observe very different calculated curves from those in the top panel of Fig. 1: with increasing $`ϵ^{}`$ values, the calculated $`Q_t`$ curves keep showing a nearly constant behavior. Slightly enhanced values are obtained only with the largest $`ϵ^{}`$ in the calculation. We can thus conclude that the triaxial basis has no significant effect on the g-band properties for a well deformed nucleus that exhibits an axial rotor behavior near the ground-state.

In Figs. 2 and 3, the results of the TPSM calculations are compared with the available experimental data for Dy- and Er-isotopes. In order to demonstrate the feature of increasing $`Q_t`$, we present them in the normalized form $`Q_t(II2)/Q_t(20)`$ as in Fig. 1. (We would like to add that our calculations also reproduce the absolute values of $`Q_t`$ for all the nuclei studied quite accurately). It is found that by employing a triaxial deformation $`ϵ^{}0.15`$, the observed feature of the $`Q_t`$’s can be reproduced reasonably well in most of the cases. At this stage, a fine adjustment of $`ϵ^{}`$ in the calculations for each individual nucleus is not necessary since in many of the data discussed here, the experimental uncertainties are quite large.

As is clear in Fig. 2. the experimental $`Q_t`$ for 154Dy  can be nicely reproduced till $`I=8`$. This was not possible in the projected shell model calculations if axially deformed basis was used . The general feature of the observed $`Q_t`$ for 156Dy  also shows an increasing trend with increasing spin, which is described by the present calculations. The physical reasons for a sudden drop in the experimental $`Q_t`$ at $`I=6`$ are unclear. In 158Dy, the increase in the experimental $`Q_t`$  is not as significant as in the two lighter isotopes. This feature has also been reproduced in our calculations with the same $`ϵ^{}`$ used for the 154Dy and 156Dy calculations.

The results for three light Er-isotopes are presented in Fig. 3. The experimental $`Q_t`$ of the first three spin-states in 156Er  exhibit an increasing trend in $`Q_t`$ as a function of spin, which is correctly described. The $`Q_t`$ for 158Er were measured in Ref.  up to very high-spin states. The data clearly depict an increasing trend, which is reasonably described by the calculation. The data for 160Er  depict nearly constant values for the three low-spin states, with slight variations for $`I=8`$ and 10. The agreement of our calculation for this nucleus is also satisfactory. We remark that with the configuration space and interaction strengths employed in the present work, the calculated moments of inertia for the g-bands and the calculated spectra for the multi-phonon $`\gamma `$-vibrational bands were shown to agree well with the observed data .

The behavior of $`Q_t`$ as a function of angular momentum may provide a measure of the triaxiality for a nuclear system. For the transitional nuclei studied in the present work, larger increase in $`Q_t`$ with angular momentum corresponds to higher values of triaxiality used in the basis. The triaxial deformation parameter $`ϵ^{}`$ is approximately related to the conventional triaxial parameter $`\gamma `$ through the relation $`\mathrm{tan}\gamma =\frac{ϵ}{ϵ^{}}`$. The value of $`ϵ`$ is held fixed for each nucleus in the calculations, and therefore, $`\gamma `$ increases linearly with $`ϵ^{}`$. For those well deformed nuclei, the dependence of $`Q_t`$ on the basis triaxiality is insensitive. Therefore, the g-band $`Q_t`$ alone are not sufficient to determine triaxiality for a well deformed nucleus, and additional physical quantities must be supplied .

In conclusion, the low-spin transition quadrupole moments of the ground-state bands in $`\gamma `$-soft nuclei have been studied using the triaxial projected shell model approach. The shell model diagonalization is carried out with three-dimensional angular-momentum projection based on the triaxial deformed Nilsson-states. It has been shown that for transitional nuclei, the rotational evolution of the transition quadrupole moments depends sensitively on triaxial deformation of the mean-field potential.

The development of the three-dimensional angular-momentum projection method for the electromagnetic transition calculations has opened possibility of the application of the projected shell model approach to a wide range of problems. The next important application would be the study of the inter-band transitions between the ground-state band and the $`\gamma `$-bands. This work is presently being pursued and the results will be published in the near future.