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# Dirac Branes, Characteristic Currents and Anomaly Cancellations in 5-Branes

## 1 Currents

P-branes, Dirac strings and their generalizations found a natural mathematical formulation in terms of (de Rham) currents: a $`p`$-current in a $`d`$-dimensional space $`M`$ is a ”$`p`$-form whose coefficients are distributions” or, more precisely, a linear functional on the space of smooth ($`dp`$)-forms with compact support, continuous in the sense of distributions . As an example let us consider $`M=𝐑^4,\gamma `$ a curve, which one might identify as the worldline of a charged particle, parametrized in terms of the proper time $`\tau `$. There is a 3-current naturally associated to $`\gamma `$:

$`j(x)`$ $`=`$ $`j_{\mu \nu \rho }(x)dx^\mu dx^\nu dx^\rho `$ (1)
$`j_{\mu \nu \rho }(x)`$ $`=`$ $`ϵ_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }{\displaystyle \frac{dx^\sigma (\tau )}{d\tau }\delta ^{(4)}(xx(\tau ))𝑑\tau }.`$
This example also justifies the term ”current” because, with the physical identification alluded above, $`j`$ is really the (Hodge dual of the) electromagnetic current generated by a charged particle of unit charge. Obviously, in particular, all smooth $`p`$-forms are $`p`$-currents.

Moving from to $`p`$-forms to $`p`$-currents we gain a very useful extension of Poincaré duality. We recall that Poincaré duality for forms  is a map from the homology class of a $`k`$-cycle (”closed $`k`$-surface”) $`c`$ into the cohomology class of a $`dk`$ closed form $`\alpha _c`$ such that for any closed $`k`$-form $`\beta `$ of compact support

$$_c\beta =_M\alpha _c\beta .$$
(2)
In the space of currents there is a natural map from $`k`$-chains (”$`k`$-surfaces”) $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_k`$ to $`dk`$ currents, $`PD`$ $`(\mathrm{\Sigma }_k)`$, generalizing Poincaré duality in the sense that

$$_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_k}\beta =_MPD(\mathrm{\Sigma }_k)\beta ,$$
(3)
for every smooth $`k`$-form $`\beta `$ of compact support.

It is clear that, loosely speaking, the coefficients of $`PD(\mathrm{\Sigma }_k)`$ are $`\delta `$-functions with support on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_k`$ as in the previous example where $`j=PD(\gamma )`$. In particular, the image by $`PD`$ of a closed surface is a closed current and

$$PD(\mathrm{\Sigma }_k)=dPD(\mathrm{\Sigma }_k),$$
(4)
where $``$ denotes the boundary operator. $`k`$-currents which are linear combinations with integer coefficients of $`PD`$ of $`k`$-chains are called integral currents. If well defined, an integral like

$$PD(\mathrm{\Sigma }_k)PD(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{dk})$$
(5)
is an integer, the intersection number of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_k`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{dk}`$.

## 2 Dirac branes

Let us show how one uses currents to describe Dirac strings or their generalizations. Suppose one has an equation of motion for an invariant curvature $`H`$, e.g. the field strength of a monopole,

$$dH=j,$$
(6)
where $`j=PD(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ for some worldvolume $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ of a closed brane. A generalization of Poincaré lemma  then proves that there exists a surface $`S`$ such that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }=S`$, so that by (4)

$$j=dC,C=PD(S).$$
(7)
The surface $`S`$ is defined modulo a boundary, i.e. we can replace $`S`$ by $`S^{}=S+V`$, then accordingly we replace $`C`$ by

$$C^{}=PD(S^{})=C+PD(V)=C+dPD(V).$$
(8)
It is clear that if $`H`$ is the field strength of a monopole and $`j`$ the generated magnetic current in $`d=3+1`$, then $`C`$ may be identified as the worldvolume of its Dirac string. Hence in general if $`j`$ is a $`(dp)`$-current describing the worldvolume of a $`(p1)`$-brane, we say that the corresponding $`(dp1)`$-current $`C`$ describes the worldvolume of a $`p`$-Dirac brane. In terms of this $`p`$-Dirac brane, one can solve (6), in a topologically trivial space-time, by

$$H=dA+C,$$
(9)
where $`A`$ is a $`dp2`$ gauge form, and must be interpreted in a distributional sense, i.e. as a $`dp2`$-current. The ”curvature” (2) is invariant under the change of Dirac brane:

$$AAPD(V),CC+dPD(V),$$
(10)
where $`V`$ is a $`p+2`$ surface.

## 3 Characteristic currents

Actually we need a refinement of the notion of current because in supergravity (SUGRA) one has to consider what naively can be interpreted as the restriction of an integer current to its support, which is clearly mathematically ill defined. As an example consider, in $`d=4`$, a surface current $`j=PD(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ where $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is a 2-surface parametrized by $`\tau \{\tau _1,\tau _2\}`$, which admits a local representation analogous to (1):

$`j(x)`$ $`=`$ $`j_{\mu \nu }(x)dx^\mu dx^\nu `$
$`j_{\mu \nu }(x)`$ $`=`$ $`ϵ_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }{\displaystyle }{\displaystyle \frac{dx^\rho (\tau )}{d\tau _1}}{\displaystyle \frac{dx^\sigma (\tau )}{d\tau _2}}`$
$`\delta ^{(4)}`$ $`(xx(\tau ))d^2\tau `$
Then in $`j(x)|_\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ the term $`\delta ^{(4)}(xx(\tau ))|_\mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{}`$ for $`x\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ and the term $`dx^\mu dx^\nu dx^\rho |_\mathrm{\Sigma }0`$. To deal with this problem we need some preliminary remarks. We recall that a tubular neighbourhood $`N(X)`$ of a closed submanifold $`X`$ of codimension $`k`$ is isomorphic to the normal bundle $`N`$ of $`X`$ which is an $`SO(k)`$-bundle over $`X`$. Mathematicians call characteristic current  in an $`SO(k)`$-bundle over $`X`$ a family of smooth closed currents $`j^ϵ,ϵ>0`$ on the total space of the bundle, regularizing $`PD(X)`$, satisfying:

$$j^ϵ|_X=\chi _k(N),\underset{ϵ0}{lim}j^ϵ=PD(X)$$
(12)
where $`\chi _k(N)`$ denotes the $`k`$-Euler form of the $`SO(k)`$-bundle. We need a slightly weaker definition where the first equation in (12) is replaced by

$$\underset{ϵ0}{lim}j^ϵ|_X=\chi _k(N).$$
(13)
By abuse of language we still refer to such $`j^ϵ`$ as a characteristic current. One can easily verify that in a flat space-time a characteristic current is obtained by replacing the $`\delta `$-function appearing in the definition of $`j=PD(X)`$ by a gaussian:

$$\delta (xx(\tau ))\frac{e^{}\frac{(xx(\tau ))^2}{ϵ}}{(\pi ϵ)^{d/2}}$$
(14)
and identifying the bundle $`N`$ with $`N(X)`$. For characteristic currents we have

$$j^ϵj^ϵ_{ϵ0}\chi _k(N)PD(X).$$
(15)
We remark that by means of the regularization (14) one can extend the notion of characteristic current also to non-closed submanifolds and via covariantization to non flat spaces-time. Furthermore since this regularization corresponds to a convolution, it commutes with the exterior differential $`d`$.

## 4 PST formalism

The last ingredient we need is the Pasti-Sorokin-Tonin (PST) formalism  to deal with duality conditions, e.g. for invariant curvatures of the rank 2 and 6 Ramond-Ramond fields in type IIA SUGRA 10:

$$H_3=H_7,$$
(16)
or self-duality conditions, e.g. for the invariant curvature of the 2-form on the worldvolume of the M 5-brane in SUGRA 11:

$$h_3=h_3.$$
(17)
The PST approach allows to write, in a topologically trivial space time, an action which is local, although non-polynomial, diffeomorphism invariant and which permits to derive duality or self-duality conditions as equations of motion. Let us sketch the basic idea, for details see . (To simplify the notation from now on the wedge product symbol $``$ is understood and some sign depending on the dimension $`d`$ and the rank of the form is omitted, see ).

One introduces a 0-form $`a`$ and defines the 1-form

$$v(x)=\frac{da(x)}{da(x)},$$
(18)
where $`||da||^2=(dada)`$. Let us assume that we are dealing with a model involving a pair of forms with invariant curvatures of rank $`k`$ and $`dk`$, denoted by $`F^1`$ and $`F^2`$, satisfying a duality condition

$$F^1=F^2,F^\alpha =dA^\alpha +C^\alpha ,$$
(19)
and whose dynamics is determined by a ”Maxwell” like action. Defining

$$f^\alpha =i_v(F^\alpha F_\beta ϵ^{\alpha \beta }),$$
(20)
where $`i_v`$ denotes the contraction with the vector field correponding to $`v`$, one can verify that the action

$`S_{PST}(A^\alpha ,C^\alpha )={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}`$ $`{\displaystyle }`$ $`(F^\alpha F^\alpha +f^\alpha f^\alpha )`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$ $`{\displaystyle }`$ $`(C^1dA^2dA^1C^2)`$ (21)
gives the duality condition as equation of motion, besides the ”Maxwell” equations. The analogous action for the self-dual case $`F=F`$ is obtained identifying $`A^1=A^2`$, $`C^1=C^2`$ and it is given by

$$S_{PST}=\frac{1}{2}(FF+ff)+C𝑑A.$$
(22)
The basic reason why the PST formalism works correctly is the existence of a (PST)-symmetry

$$\delta A^\alpha =\frac{\phi }{da}f^\alpha ,\delta a=\phi ,$$
(23)
allowing to choose the 0-form $`a`$ arbitrarily, so that it does not propagate unphysical degrees of freedom, in addition to a symmetry

$$\delta A^\alpha =\mathrm{\Phi }^\alpha da$$
(24)
allowing to reduce the second order equations of motions for the gauge fields to the first order duality equation. $`\phi `$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }^\alpha `$ are transformation parameters. Together with the invariance under Dirac brane changes, the PST symmetries fix the action completely in the self-dual case, leaving the freedom to add a term

$$\frac{1}{2}C^1C^2$$
(25)
in the dual-case.

Furthermore if the invariant curvatures have the more general structure

$$F^\alpha =dA^\alpha +C^\alpha +L^\alpha ,$$
(26)
where $`L^\alpha `$ are fields not transforming under Dirac brane changes, then the above symmetries identify the invariant action as

$$S_{PST}(A^\alpha ,C^\alpha +L^\alpha )+\frac{1}{2}(C^1L^2L^1C^2).$$
(27)
Finally let us make a remark on the nature of the coupling $`C`$-$`A`$ in PST.

To get an intuitive idea consider the case where $`C_2=j_2=0`$ then, a ”magnetic coupling” $`C`$-$`A`$ in the action would have the structure

$$\frac{1}{2}FF=\frac{1}{2}(dA+C)(dA+C)$$
(28)
whereas on ”electric coupling” would be

$$𝑑AC=A𝑑C=Aj.$$
(29)
In the PST approach instead we have

$$\frac{1}{4}FF+\frac{1}{2}𝑑AC$$
(30)
hence it is a kind of ”dyonic” $`C`$-$`A`$ coupling with ”$`\frac{1}{2}`$ magnetic coupling” and ” $`\frac{1}{2}`$ electric coupling”.

## 5 Dirac branes approach to p-brane systems

To every (elementary) closed $`p`$-brane we associate a $`d(p+1)`$ current $`j_{dp+1}`$ describing the worldvolume $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{p+1}`$ of the brane, via $`PD`$: $`j_{dp+1}=PD(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{p+1})`$. Since $`jj_{dp+1}`$ is closed we can associated a $`(p+1)`$ \- Dirac brane via:

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }_{p+1}=\mathrm{\Sigma }_{p+2},PD(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{p+2})=C_{d(p+2)}C,$$
(31)
so that $`j=dC`$.

The $`p`$-brane interacts with a gauge $`(p+1)`$-form either electrically, and then no Dirac brane is needed, or magnetically, and then in our formalism we have an associated Dirac brane. In particular if a $`p`$-brane is electrically coupled, its dual $`(d(p+4))`$-brane is magnetically coupled. In the PST formalism, due to the ”dyonic coupling”, Dirac branes are always needed.

One introduces a manifestly Lorentz-invariant action describing the interaction between gauge forms, $`p`$-branes and $`(p+1)`$-Dirac branes via the PST formalism (or the related Schwinger  or Zwanziger  formalisms, see ). This procedure requires as consistency condition the indipendence of the choice of the Dirac branes. This put strong restrictions, such as Dirac quantization conditions, which in turn might generate new physics like spin-statistics transmutation for dyons in $`d=4`$  . (This transmutation has been discussed at quantum field theory level in , combining a formalism involving Mandelstam strings, developed in , with Schwinger or PST techniques).

## 6 Anomaly cancellation in 5-branes

Let us apply the formalism sketched above to analyze the anomaly cancellations in 5-branes.

We discuss in particular the system SUGRA 10+ heterotic 5-brane + heterotic string . The gauge $`p`$-forms of SUGRA are denoted by $`B_2`$ and $`B_6`$, the current associated to the 5-brane by $`J_4=PD(\mathrm{\Sigma }_6`$) and its Dirac brane by $`C_3`$ and the current associated to the heterotic string by $`J_8=PD(\mathrm{\Sigma }_2)`$ and its Dirac brane by $`C_7`$. We denote the $`SO(1,9)`$ curvature by $`R`$, the $`SO(32)SU(2)`$ curvature by $`FG`$ and the curvature of the normal $`SO(4)`$ bundle $`N`$ of the 5-brane by $`T`$. In terms of these curvatures one defines

$`X_8`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{192(2\pi )^4}}(trR^4+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}(trR^2)^2`$ (32)
$``$ $`trR^2trF^2+8trF^4)`$
$`X_4`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4(2\pi )^2}}(trR^2trF^2)`$ (33)
$`Y_4`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{48(2\pi )^2}}(trR^22trT^224trG^2)`$ (34)
$`\chi _4`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{8(2\pi )^2}}ϵ^{a_1a_2a_3a_4}T^{a_1a_2}T^{a_3a_4},`$ (35)
where $`\chi _4`$ is the Euler form of $`N`$. The invariant polynomials are then given by $`X_8X_4`$ (SUGRA), $`X_8+(X_4+\chi _4)Y_4`$ (5-brane), $`X_4`$ (string), a factor $`2\pi `$ being omitted. With the standard convention, e.g.

$$X_8=dX_7,\delta X_7=dX_6^1,$$
(36)
where $`\delta `$ denotes the gauge variation, the anomaly polynomials obtained via transgression are given by $`X_6^1X_4`$ (SUGRA), $`X_6^1+(X_2^1+\chi _2^1)Y_4J_4`$ (5-brane) $`X_2^1J_8`$ (string).

The cancellation of anomalies is due to Green-Schwarz  plus inflow  mechanisms. In the standard treatment the cancelling terms in the lagrangian are $`B_2X_8`$ (SUGRA), $`(B_6+B_2Y_4)J_4`$ (5-brane), $`B_2J_8`$ (string) with the gauge transformations:

$$\delta B_2=X_2^1,\delta B_6=X_6^1,$$
(37)
but with an additional contribution on the 5-brane given by

$$(\delta B_2)|_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_6}=\chi _2^1$$
(38)
to cancel $`\chi _2^1Y_4J_4`$; this last transformation corresponds to the inflow.

However a clear-cut definition strictly localized on the 5-brane appears somewhat cumbersome, in fact if the additional transformation (38) is added with a characteristic function of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_6`$, then from the point of view of distribution theory it is irrelevant, because $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_6`$ is of measure zero in $`\text{R}^{10}`$ and the characteristic function is bounded, on the other hand if it is added with a $`\delta `$-function on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_6`$, then it modifies the equations of motion. A solution is obtained via a smoothing operation, mathematically using Thom forms , but then this contribution is no more localized strictly on the 5-brane.

The Dirac brane approach automatically solves this problem . In fact, we start from the equations for the invariant curvatures

$`dH_3`$ $`=X_4+J_4`$ (39)
$`dH_7`$ $`=X_8+Y_4J_4+J_8`$ (40)
$`H_3`$ $`=H_7`$ (41)
and we write $`X_4=dX_3,X_8=dX_7`$, $`Y_4=dY_3`$, where $`X_3,X_7,Y_3`$ are the corresponding Chern-Simons forms, and

$$h_2=i_v(H_3H_7),h_6=i_v(H_7H_3).$$
(42)
According to the rules outlined in previous section we pose

$`H_3`$ $`=dB_2+X_3+C_3`$
$`H_7`$ $`=dB_6+X_7+Y_3J_4+C_7,`$
where $`X_3`$ and $`X_7+Y_3J_4`$ play the role of $`L^\alpha `$ in the equation (26). In quadratic approximation for $`h_2`$ and $`h_6`$, but a Born-Infeld action can be easily arranged , the relevant part of the lagrangian of the coupled system is given by:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}`$ $`(H_3H_3+H_7H_7+h_2h_2+h_6h_6)`$ (44)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$ $`(X_7+Y_3J_4+C_7)dB_2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(X_3+C_3)dB_6`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$ $`(X_7+Y_3J_4)C_3+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}X_3C_7+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}C_3C_7.`$
The gauge transformations are given by

$$\delta B_2=X_2^1,\delta B_6=X_6^1Y_2^1J_4,$$
(45)
completely free of ambiguities. The corresponding contribution to the anomaly is given by,

$``$ $`{\displaystyle [\frac{1}{2}(X_2^1X_8+X_6^1X_4)]}+X_2^1J_8`$
$`+`$ $`(X_6^1+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(X_2^1Y_4+Y_2^1X_4)+Y_2^1J_4)J_4`$
which is equal, up to trivial cocycles, to

$$[X_6^1X_4+X_2^1J_8+(X_6^1+X_2^1Y_4+Y_2^1J_4)J_4].$$
(47)
The last term in (47) is naively ill-defined, but using the theory of characteristic currents developed above (i.e. replacing $`J_4J_4`$ by $`lim_{ϵ0}J_4^ϵJ_4^ϵ`$) gives the desired term $`Y_2^1\chi _4J_4=\chi _2^1Y_4J_4`$\+ trivial cocycle. Hence we obtain the cancellation of anomalies with the inflow contribution strictly localized on the 5-brane.

## 7 Some remarks on M5

An action for the coupled system SUGRA 11 + M5-brane was first proposed in , but it fails to exhibit Dirac brane independence and does not consider the anomaly cancellation. Anomaly cancellation was achieved in  but via smoothing of the M5-brane worldvolume, using a regular Thom form, and this might cause some problem if one considers the coupling also to the M2-brane, due to a violation of Dirac quantization for fluxes, introduced by the non-locality involved in the construction. A local mechanism for anomaly cancellation was proposed in , but it needs reducible connections in the $`SO(5)`$-normal bundle of the 5-brane and the complete action for the coupled system is not discussed; a residual dependence of a 5-vector field on M5 remains in this approach.

We reconsider this problem in collaboration with M. Tonin  using the formalism of Dirac branes and characteristic currents. We analyze the complete coupled system and we achieve a complete cancellation of gauge and gravitational anomalies, in local form. However, as in , it remains a dependence of the direction along which the worldvolume of the Dirac brane, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_7`$, is attached to the worldvolume, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_6=\mathrm{\Sigma }_7`$, of the M5-brane. This dependence however, completely disappears in the system of NS-5-brane coupled to the II A SUGRA 10, treated with our formalism, a priori corresponding to a dimensional reduction. For details of our analysis of the M5-brane see , here we simply sketch how the formalism of characteristic currents helps in the game. One of the new features appearing in the treatment of this system is the Chern-Simons term $`A_3dA_3dA_3`$, where $`A_3`$ is the gauge 3-form of SUGRA 11. When a coupling with an M5-brane is considered, it is clear how to modify $`dA_3`$: simply adding the Poincaré dual of the worldvolume associated to the 6-Dirac brane, $`C_4=PD(\mathrm{\Sigma }_7)`$, but it is less clear how to modify $`A_3|_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_7}`$ since $`C_4`$ is not a closed form. However, using the theory of characteristic currents, replacing $`C_4`$ by $`C_4^ϵ`$, we have a natural candidate, because the pull-back of $`C_4^ϵ`$ to $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_7`$ is given by $`\chi _4`$, the Euler form of the normal bundle of the Dirac 6-brane. $`\chi _4`$ is a closed form, hence locally $`\chi _4=d\chi _3`$, and $`\chi _3`$ is the natural candidate we are looking for.

Finally we remark a suggestive feature of the formalism: a priori it is consistent with the modified Dirac quantization condition  for the invariant curvature $`H_4`$ $`=dA_3+C_4`$. In fact $`H_4|_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_6}`$ involves a term $`C_4|_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_6}`$, naively ill-defined. Using the characteristic currents we replace it by

$$\underset{ϵ0}{lim}C_4^ϵ|_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_6}=\frac{\chi _4}{2}|_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_6}$$
(48)
where $`\chi _4`$ is the Euler characteristic of the $`SO(4)`$-bundle of the Dirac brane. Hence for a 4-cycle $`Z_4`$ in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_6`$ we have

$$_{Z_4}H_4=_{Z_4}\frac{\chi _4}{2}\frac{\text{Z}}{2},$$
(49)
so that the cohomology class of $`H_4`$ is a priori half-integer valued, as discussed in .

Acknowledgments. We thank M.Tonin for the joy of collaboration and I. Bandos, P. Pasti and D. Sorokin for useful discussions.


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# ON THE DUAL INTERPRETATION OF ZERO-CURVATURE FRIEDMANN-ROBERTSON-WALKER MODELS

## 1 Introduction

It is already a well stablished fact that a variety of line elements may satisfy the Einstein equations for different (physically meaningful) stress-energy tensors (see  and references therein).

Particularly interesting is the situation with Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) models, which, as it has been shown (,, and references therein), do not necessarily represent perfect fluid solutions, but can also be exact solutions for viscous and heat conducting fluids, with or without an electromagnetic field.

Thus, for example, it has been shown , that the zero-curvature FRW metric

$$ds^2=dt^2+R^2(t)\left(dr^2+r^2d\theta ^2+r^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta d\varphi ^2\right)$$
(1)
satisfies Einstein equations, not only for perfect fluid matter distributions

$$\overline{T}_{\mu \nu }=(\overline{\rho }+\overline{p})v_\mu v_\nu +\overline{p}g_{\mu \nu },$$
(2)
but also, for the stress-energy tensor of a magnetohydrodynamic viscous fluid with heat conducion, viz.

$$T_{\mu \nu }=E_{\mu \nu }+(\rho +p\xi \mathrm{\Theta })u_\mu u_\nu +(p\xi \mathrm{\Theta })g_{\mu \nu }2\eta \sigma _{\mu \nu }+q_\mu u_\nu +q_\nu u_\mu $$
(3)
where $`E_{\mu \nu },\rho ,p,\xi ,\eta ,\mathrm{\Theta },\sigma _{\mu \nu }`$ and $`q_\mu `$ denote respectively, the electromagnetic stress-energy tensor, the energy density, the pressure, the bulk and shear viscosity coefficients, the expansion, the shear tensor and the heat flux vector.

A fundamental difference between both interpretations of the models resides in the fact that observers moving along $`v^\mu `$ (perfect fluid case) are comoving with the fluid, whereas those moving along $`u^\mu `$ (dissipative case) detect a radial velocity of fluid particles (tilted models) . In other words, in the dissipative models the source is necessarily non-comoving or tilting relative to the geometrically “preferred” Ricci eigenvector . According to Coley and Tupper  this tilting velocity might be related to the observed motion of our galaxy relative to the microwave background radiation (CMB), and seems to be consistent with measurements of the dipole anisotropy of the CMB temperature distribution .

A detailed analysis of many of those models shows that their observational predictions are in good agreement with available data .

In this work, both interpretations are not considered as alternative, mutually exclusive possibilities, but rather as consecutive phases in the evolution of the model. More specifically, we shall consider the case when, initially, the system evolves as perfect fluid without dissipation, and then at some instant starts to dissipate, tending eventually again to a perfect fluid as $`t\mathrm{}`$. The question we want to answer here is: what could be the necessary condition for that transition to occur?.

For simplicity we shall consider neither electromagnetic field ($`E_{\mu \nu }=0`$) nor bulk viscosity ($`\xi =0`$). Furthermore, the viscosity term will be modeled through an anisotropic fluid and only transport equation for the heat flux will be needed. The reason of this simplification becomes clear later.Also, it should be kept in mind that the approach used in this work only provides a ”snapshot” of the system at the moment it enters the dissipative regime, thereby giving only a hint about its tendency, and not a complete description of its evolution.All these simplifications represent the price to pay in order to deal with mathematically tractable equations.

Two different initial situations will be considered:

1. The system initially evolves strictly as a perfect fluid. By this we mean that there is not dissipation whatsoever and preferred observers (associated with the four velocity of the fluid) are (strictly) comoving with the fluid.
2. The system initially evolves very close to the perfect fluid regime, but there is still an small (in a sense to be defined below) amount of dissipation, because of which, preferred observers are not strictly comoving with the fluid, but detect an small radial motion of the fluid, so that quadratic and higher powers, as well as time derivatives, of radial velocity are neglected during this “quasi-perfect fluid”regime.

Then it is assumed that at some instant (say $`t=\stackrel{~}{t}`$), our system starts to deviate from either of the initial regimes and enters into dissipative regime. In the first case the system leaves the perfect fluid condition by starting to dissipate. In the second case the system abandons the quasi-perfect fluid regime by increasing the rate of dissipation.

We shall find conditions for transitions described above to occur. With this purpose we shall evaluate field equations and transport equations immediately after $`\stackrel{~}{t}`$, where immediately means on a time scale of the order of relaxation time. We shall see that the so called “critical point” plays a fundamental role in the occurrence of the transition to the dissipative regime.

The critical point , corresponds to the situation when (in relativistic units)

$$\frac{\kappa T}{\tau (\rho +p)}=1$$
(4)
where $`\kappa ,T`$ and $`\tau `$ denote heat conduction coefficient, temperature and relaxation time respectively.

It has been shown  that under that condition, the effective inertial mass of any fluid element, just after the system departs from equilibrium, vanishes. Also, it has been shown that as a self-gravitating system approaches the critical point, its active gravitational mass behaves in such a way that enhances the instability of the system .

It will be shown below that transition from perfect fluid to dissipative regime is allowed only if the system is at the critical point. However, transition from the quasi-perfect fluid phase to a dissipative regime is, in principle, always possible, and closer is the system to the critical point, faster is the transition.

## 2 Field and Transport equations

### 2.1 Field equations

First of all, note that for any locally-Minkowskian observer, comoving with the fluid, the four velocity takes the obvious form

$$\stackrel{~}{u}^\mu =(1,0,0,0),$$
(5)
then, performing a Lorentz boost to the frame with respect to which a fluid element has radial velocity $`\omega `$, we find (in the coordinate system of (1))

$$u^\mu =(\frac{1}{\sqrt{1\omega ^2}},\frac{\omega R^1}{\sqrt{1\omega ^2}},0,0)$$
(6)
which is the same expression (2.1) of , with their $`\alpha `$’s and $`\beta `$’s defined in terms of $`\omega `$ by

$$\alpha \frac{1}{\sqrt{1\omega ^2}},$$
(7)
$$\beta \frac{\omega }{\sqrt{1\omega ^2}}.$$
(8)
Next, the heat flux vector $`q^\mu `$, satisfying $`q^\mu u_\mu =0`$, is given by

$$q_\mu =Q(\frac{\omega }{\sqrt{1\omega ^2}},\frac{R}{\sqrt{1\omega ^2}},0,0)$$
(9)
which is the same expression (2.3) of , with $`Q^2=q_\mu q^\mu `$.

Then the energy-momentun tensor (3) of the source may be writen as

$$T_{\mu \nu }=(\rho +P_{})u_\mu u_\nu +P_{}g_{\mu \nu }+(P_rP_{})s_\mu s_\nu +q_\mu u_\nu +u_\mu q_\nu $$
(10)
where $`P_r`$ and $`P_{}`$ denote the two principal (anisotropic) stresses, linked to $`p`$ and $`\eta \sigma _{\mu \nu }`$ by relations specified below, and the vector $`s_\mu `$ satisfies conditions

$$s^\mu s_\mu =1;s^\mu u_\mu =0;T_{\mu \nu }s^\mu s^\nu =P_r$$
(11)
Then, Einstein equations read (in relativistic units and omitting the $`8\pi `$ factor)

$$\frac{3\dot{R}^2}{R^2}=\frac{1}{1\omega ^2}[\rho +P_r\omega ^22Q\omega ]$$
(12)
$$\left(\frac{2\ddot{R}}{R}+\frac{\dot{R}^2}{R^2}\right)=\frac{1}{1\omega ^2}[\rho \omega ^2+P_r2Q\omega ]$$
(13)
$$\left(\frac{2\ddot{R}}{R}+\frac{\dot{R}^2}{R^2}\right)=P_{}$$
(14)
$$0=(\rho +P_r)\omega Q(1+\omega ^2)$$
(15)
where dots denote derivative with respect to $`t`$.

Comparing (3) and (10) the following relations follow

$$P_r=p\frac{2\eta }{R^2}\sigma _{11}(1\omega ^2)$$
(16)
$$P_{}=p+\frac{2\eta }{R^2}\sigma _{11}(1\omega ^2)$$
(17)
$$\sigma _{00}=\frac{2}{3}\frac{\omega ^2}{(1\omega ^2)}X=\frac{\omega ^2\sigma _{11}}{R^2}=\frac{2\omega ^2\sigma _{22}}{r^2R^2(1\omega ^2)}=\frac{\omega }{R}\sigma _{01}$$
(18)
where $`X`$ is given by

$$X=\frac{\omega \dot{\omega }\omega ^2\omega ^{}R^1\omega R^1r^1(1\omega ^2)}{(1\omega ^2)^{3/2}}$$
(19)
and prime denotes derivative with respect to $`r`$.

Observe that from (13) and (14), one obtains

$$(\rho +P_{})\omega ^2+(P_rP_{})2Q\omega =0$$
(20)
and using (15) and (20) it follows

$$\frac{(P_rP_{})}{\omega }+Q(1\omega ^2)=0$$
(21)
Thus, if $`P_r=P_{}`$ (which implies by virtue of (16)–(18), $`\eta \sigma _{\mu \nu }=0`$), then $`\omega =1`$, which is obviously inadmissible. Therefore, pure heat conduction (plus a fluid) is not consistent with FRW metric.

After a simple algebra, field equations (12)–(15) may be written as

$$\rho =\frac{3\dot{R}^2}{R^2}+(P_rP_{})$$
(22)
$$P_{}=\left(\frac{2\ddot{R}}{R}+\frac{\dot{R}^2}{R^2}\right)$$
(23)
$$P_r=\left(\frac{2\ddot{R}}{R}+\frac{\dot{R}^2}{R^2}\right)+Q\omega $$
(24)
$$Q\left(1\omega ^2\right)=2\omega \left(\frac{\dot{R}^2}{R^2}\frac{\ddot{R}}{R}\right)$$
(25)
It is worth noticing that (23)–(25) imply that dissipation takes place only if $`\omega 0`$ and $`P_rP_{}`$.

Later it will be convenient to write $`R(t)`$ in the form

$$R(t)=t^n$$
(26)
where in general $`n=n(t)`$. Thus, $`n=2/3`$ reproduces the Einstein-de Sitter model, whereas

$$n=\frac{H_0t}{\mathrm{ln}t}$$
(27)
reproduces the exponential inflationary model with $`Re^{H_0t}`$, $`\rho +p=0`$ and $`p=P_r=P_{}`$.

Using (26), field equations (22)–(25) become

$$\rho =3\left(\dot{n}\mathrm{ln}t\right)^2+6n\dot{n}\frac{\mathrm{ln}t}{t}+\frac{3n^2}{t^2}+(P_rP_{})$$
(28)
$$P_{}=3\left(\dot{n}\mathrm{ln}t\right)^26n\dot{n}\frac{\mathrm{ln}t}{t}\frac{3n^2}{t^2}2\ddot{n}\mathrm{ln}t\frac{4\dot{n}}{t}+\frac{2n}{t^2}$$
(29)
$$P_r=Q\omega 3\left(\dot{n}\mathrm{ln}t\right)^26n\dot{n}\frac{\mathrm{ln}t}{t}\frac{3n^2}{t^2}2\ddot{n}\mathrm{ln}t\frac{4\dot{n}}{t}+\frac{2n}{t^2}$$
(30)
$$Q\left(1\omega ^2\right)=\omega \left(\frac{2n}{t^2}\frac{4\dot{n}}{t}2\ddot{n}\mathrm{ln}t\right)$$
(31)
### 2.2 Transport equations

In order to avoid the important drawbacks of Eckart’s theory, we shall use transport equations derived from the Israel-Stewart approach . However, since these equations are going to be evaluated immediately after the system leaves the perfect fluid (or the quasi-perfect fluid) regime, then the truncated version of the theory leads to the same result as the full theory, and therefore the former will be used here. For the same reason, the shear viscosity contributions result in terms which are negligible in the approximation used here (see below). Therefore we shall deal only with the transport equation for the heat flux, which reads

$$q^\mu +\tau h^{\mu \beta }u^\gamma q_{\beta ;\gamma }=\kappa \left(h^{\mu \beta }T_{,\beta }+Ta^\mu \right)$$
(32)
where as usual, $`h^{\mu \beta }`$ denotes the projector onto the three space orthogonal to $`u^\mu `$, and $`a^\mu `$ denotes the four acceleration.

In terms of $`n`$, the only non vanishing independent component of (32) is the $`r`$-component, which reads

$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{Q}{t^n\left(1\omega ^2\right)^{1/2}}}+\tau \left\{{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{Q}}{t^n\left(1\omega ^2\right)}}{\displaystyle \frac{Q^{}\omega }{t^{2n}\left(1\omega ^2\right)}}\right\}=`$ (33)
$``$ $`\kappa \{{\displaystyle \frac{\omega \dot{T}}{t^n\left(1\omega ^2\right)}}+{\displaystyle \frac{T^{}}{t^{2n}\left(1\omega ^2\right)}}`$
$`+`$ $`T[{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\omega }}{t^n\left(1\omega ^2\right)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\omega \omega ^{}}{t^{2n}\left(1\omega ^2\right)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\omega }{t^n\left(1\omega ^2\right)}}(\dot{n}\mathrm{ln}t+{\displaystyle \frac{n}{t}})]\}`$
where prime denotes derivative with respect to $`r`$ (the $`t`$-component of (32) is just (33) multiplied by $`\omega `$).

## 3 Entering into dissipative regime

As was already mentioned, an essential feature of the dissipative regime, as implied by (25) or (31), is the non comoving nature of observers of the congruence $`u^\mu `$ ($`\omega 0`$). This means that $`\omega `$ may be used as control variable to assess how far (or close) is the system from the perfect fluid regime.

So, let us now assume that for $`t<\stackrel{~}{t}`$, our system is in either the perfect fluid regime or in the quasi-perfect fluid regime. Both of which are characterized as follows:

1. Perfect fluid regime

$$Q=\omega =0$$
(34)
Preferred observers are strictly comoving with the fluid.
2. Quasi-perfect fluid regime

$$Q\omega O(ϵ)$$
(35)
$$\dot{Q}\dot{\omega }\omega ^2Q\omega Q^20$$
(36)
Preferred observers are not strictly comoving with the fluid, but (35) and (36) hold, i.e. within this regime the system always remains “close” to the perfect fluid phase. In both cases, of course, $`r`$ derivatives of $`Q`$ and $`\omega `$, are of the same order of magnitude as these quantities.

Next, let us assume that at $`t=\stackrel{~}{t}`$, the system is allowed to abandon either of regimes (1. or 2.) and enter into a dissipative phase. We shall now find the conditions for these transitions to occur.

Let us start with the case 1. Then, evaluating the transport equation immediately after the system leaves the perfect fluid regime ($`t\stackrel{~}{t}+O(\tau )`$), we obtain that eq.(33) yields

$$\dot{Q}=\frac{\kappa T}{\tau }\dot{\omega }$$
(37)
where (34) and the fact that $`T^{}O(\omega )O(Q)`$, have been used. Observe that immediately after the system leaves the perfect fluid regime

$$P_rP_{}=Q\omega =O(\omega ^2)$$
(38)
therefore the contribution of the shear viscosity at $`t=\stackrel{~}{t}`$ is one order smaller than the pure heat conduction effects, and accordingly will not be considered here.

Next, it will be more convenient to use the “conservation laws” (Bianchi identities)

$$T_{;\nu }^{\mu \nu }=0$$
(39)
instead of field equations.

The $`r`$-component of (39) reads

$`T_{;\nu }^{r\nu }=0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\left(\dot{\rho }+\dot{P}_r\right)\omega }{t^n\left(1\omega ^2\right)}}{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{Q}\left(1+\omega ^2\right)}{t^n\left(1\omega ^2\right)}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\left(\rho +P_r\right)\dot{\omega }\left(1+\omega ^2\right)}{t^n\left(1\omega ^2\right)^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{Q\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4}\omega \dot{\omega }}{t^n\left(1\omega ^2\right)^2}}`$ (40)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{4}{t^n}}\left(\dot{n}\mathrm{ln}t+{\displaystyle \frac{n}{t}}\right)\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\left(\rho +P_r\right)\omega }{1\omega ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{Q\left(1+\omega ^2\right)}{1\omega ^2}}\right]`$
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{t^{2n}}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\left(\rho +P_r\right)2\omega \omega ^{}}{\left(1\omega ^2\right)^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{2Q^{}\omega }{1\omega ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\left(1+\omega ^2\right)2Q\omega ^{}}{\left(1\omega ^2\right)^2}}\right]`$
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{rt^{2n}}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\left(\rho +P_{}\right)\omega ^2}{1\omega ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{Q\omega }{1\omega ^2}}\right]`$
which evaluated immediately after $`\stackrel{~}{t}`$, yields

$$\dot{Q}=\left(\rho +P_r\right)\dot{\omega }$$
(41)
Combining (37) and (41), we finally obtain

$$\dot{\omega }\left(\rho +P_r\right)\left(1\frac{\kappa T}{\tau \left(\rho +P_r\right)}\right)=0.$$
(42)
Observe that in (41) and (42) we may replace $`P_r`$ by $`p`$, since they differ by terms of order $`O(\omega ^2)`$.

Now, since initially ($`t<\stackrel{~}{t}`$) the system was evolving as a perfect fluid ($`\omega =Q=0`$), then a necessary condition for leaving that regime at $`t=\stackrel{~}{t}`$ is

$$\frac{\kappa T}{\tau \left(\rho +p\right)}=1$$
(43)
for otherwise $`\dot{\omega }=0`$, and, as can be easily checked by taking consecutive time derivatives of (33) and (40), all higher time derivatives of $`\omega `$ (and $`Q`$) will also vanish. As mentioned before, eq.(43) defines the critical point.

Let us now consider the case 2. In this case the system (initially) is evolving as a quasi perfect fluid, leaving that regime at $`t=\stackrel{~}{t}`$. Evaluating (33) at $`t<\stackrel{~}{t}`$, we obtain (observe that with the choice of (9), $`Q>0`$ implies that $`q^r`$ points inward)

$$Q=\kappa \left[\frac{T^{}}{t^n}+T\omega \left(\dot{n}\mathrm{ln}t+\frac{n}{t}\right)+\omega \dot{T}\right]$$
(44)
then evaluating the same equation (33) immediately after $`\stackrel{~}{t}`$, and using (44) we get

$$\dot{Q}=\frac{\kappa T}{\tau }\dot{\omega }$$
(45)
as in the previous case (eq.(37)).

Next, evaluating (40) just after $`\stackrel{~}{t}`$ one obtains

$$\frac{\omega \left(\dot{\rho }+\dot{P}_r\right)}{t^n}\frac{\dot{Q}}{t^n}+\frac{\dot{\omega }\left(\rho +P_r\right)}{t^n}+\frac{4}{t^n}\left(\dot{n}\mathrm{ln}t+\frac{n}{t}\right)\left[\left(\rho +P_r\right)\omega Q\right]=0$$
(46)
or, using (28)–(31) and (45)

$$\dot{\omega }\left(\rho +P_r\right)\left[1\frac{\kappa T}{\tau \left(\rho +P_r\right)}\right]=\omega \left(\dot{\rho }+\dot{P}_r\right)$$
(47)
In the case $`n=`$constant, (47) becomes (using (28) and (30) and replacing $`P_r`$ by $`p`$)

$$\dot{\omega }=\frac{2\omega }{\left(1\frac{\kappa T}{\tau \left(\rho +p\right)}\right)t}$$
(48)
Therefore $`\dot{\omega }0`$, and is larger, the closer is the system to the critical point.

## 4 Conclusions

We have assumed in this paper that the zero-curvature FRW metric represents consecutively, first a perfect (or quasi-perfect) fluid solution, and then a dissipative solution of Einstein equations.

Necessary conditions for the transition from one state to another have been found.

If the system is initially evolving as a pure perfect fluid, then transition to the dissipative regime demands that the fluid satisfies the critical point condition. One important question related to this case is what could be the physical reasons for the system to abandon the equilibrium state?. One possible scenario might be the appearance of a dissipative process like particle creation, which as is known, is formally equivalent to the introduction of viscous terms . Another possibility might be the decreasing of opacity of the fluid from very high values, preventing the propagation of null mass particles as photons and neutrinos (trapping), to smaller values allowing for radiative heat conduction and viscosity.A similar situation occurs during the gravitational collapse of stars (see  and references therein) and the Kelvin-Helmholtz phase of neutron stars formation (see  and references therein).

Of course the full implementation of any of these, or any other, scenarios would require a much more elaborated setup than the one presented here. The use of FRW with a single dissipative fluid is obviously very limiting, however as we have seen, it leads to mathematically tractable equations.

In the same order of ideas, observe that if the system is, in the initial phase, inflating exponentially with $`\rho +P_r=0`$, then as it follows from (41) and (45), it will not leave that regime as long as $`\rho +P_r=0`$. This is an obvious consequence from (28)–(31) which implies $`Q=0`$ if $`\rho +P_r=0`$, parenthetically it is worth noticing that the exit from inflation is usually explained in terms of dissipative process like particle production. From the above, it follows that though the obtained results are independent on the equation of state, some specific cases are not allowed since they exclude the possibility of dissipation (e.g. $`\rho +P_r=0`$).

If the system is allowed to evolve initially as a quasi-perfect fluid, then transition to dissipative regime may always occur, without requiring the critical point to be attained, however such transition will be “faster”, the closer is the system to the critical point.

Another important question to ask is if real physical systems may reach the critical point. Indeed, causality and stability requirements obtained from a linear perturbative scheme are violated, close to, but below the critical point (in the absence of viscosity) . On the other hand however, examples of fluids attaining the critical point and exhibiting reasonable physical properties, have been presented elsewhere ,.

The possible solution to this apparent contradiction being the non-validity of the linear scheme used to obtain causality and stability conditions, close to the critical point (see a discussion on this point in ). At any rate, in presence of both, heat conduction and viscosity, the corresponding critical point is beyond causality and stability conditions .

## 5 Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to an anonymous referee for detecting an important flaw in an earlier version of this manuscript. This work was partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education under grant PB96-0250,and PB96-1306.


text:
# Electronic structure of superconducting 𝑀𝑔𝐵₂ and related binary and ternary borides

## Abstract

First principles FLMTO-GGA electronic structure calculations of the new medium-$`T_C`$ superconductor (MTSC) $`MgB_2`$ and related diborides indicate that superconductivity in these compounds is related to the the existence of $`p_{x,y}`$-band holes at the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ point. Based on these calculations, we explain the absence of medium-$`T_C`$ superconductivity for $`BeB_2`$, $`AlB_2`$ $`ScB_2`$ and $`YB_2`$. The simulation of a number of $`MgB_2`$-based ternary systems using a supercell approach demonstrates that (i) the electron doping of $`MgB_2`$ (i.e., $`MgB_{2y}X_y`$ with $`X=Be,C,N,O`$) and the creation of isoelectronic defects in the boron sublattice (nonstoichiometric $`MgB_{y<2}`$) are not favorable for superconductivity, and (ii) a possible way of searching for similar MTSC should be via hole doping of $`MgB_2`$ (i.e., $`Mg_{1x}M_xB_2`$ with $`M=Be,Ca,Li,Na,Cu,Zn`$) or $`CaB_2`$ or via creating layered superstructures of the $`MgB_2`$/$`CaB_2`$ type. A recent report of superconductivity in $`Cu`$ doped $`MgB_2`$ supports this view.

The discovery of superconductivity in magnesium diboride ($`MgB_2`$)  has attracted a great deal of interest in this system. The transition temperature for $`MgB_2`$ ($`T_C39`$ K) exceeds by almost two times the record values of $`T_C`$ for conventional $`B1`$\- and $`A15`$-type intermetallic superconductors (SC) . As distinct from the high-temperature SC, $`MgB_2`$ has an exclusively simple composition and crystal structure .

The finding of a new medium-$`T_C`$ SC (MTSC) raises a number of questions: 1. What is the nature of the superconductivity in $`MgB_2`$? 2. Is $`MgB_2`$ a unique compound of this kind or is it the first representative of a new class of MTSCs? 3. What physical and chemical properties should related MTSC’s possess?

It is worth noting that among boron-containing phases $`MgB_2`$ is not a unique superconductor. A systematic search for superconductivity in a wide range of $`d`$-metal borides (and other metal-like compounds of a transition metals (TM) with light non-metals (carbides and nitrides  )) has been carried out earlier . For instance, it was shown that the superconducting transition temperature for TM diborides ($`MB_2,M=Ti,Zr,Hf,V,Ta,Cr,Mo`$) is below $`0.4`$ K. Only $`NbB_2`$ was found to be a superconductor with a $`T_C`$ of about 0.6 K. A large class of superconducting (with $`T_C`$ of several K) ternary ($`LnRuB_2`$, $`LnRh_4B_4`$) and pseudo-ternary $`(Ln_{1x}Ln_y^{})Rh_4B_4`$ borides is known . In 1994, Cava et al  discovered superconductivity ($`T_C1623`$ K) in a new class of intermetallic borocarbides (IBC), namely layered compounds of the $`LnM_2B_2C`$ type. Numerous theoretical and experimental studies (see review  ) made it possible to place IBC into the class of conventional BCS superconductors. It is significant that bands near the Fermi level of IBC participating in electron-phonon interactions (with a high-frequency $`Ba_{1g}`$ mode) are determined by interatomic $`\sigma `$-bonds in the $`TMB_4`$ tetrahedra. For all the above mentioned borides, the most important role in their superconductivity is played by $`d`$-electron atoms.

The electronic properties of $`MgB_2`$ are of quite a different kind. Earlier band structure calculations of $`MgB_2`$ (by semiempirical LCAO  and first principles full potential linear muffin-tin orbital , FLMTO, methods) showed that the upper filled energy bands of $`MgB_2`$ are formed mainly due to strong $`BB`$ interactions (in honeycomb layers of boron atoms). Analogous conclusions were made recently by other authors , who pointed out that the coexistence of 2D in-plane and 3D interlayer bands is a peculiar feature of $`MgB_2`$. Based on an estimate of phonon frequences and band structure calculations, Kortus et al  explain the superconductivity in $`MgB_2`$ as a result of strong electron-phonon coupling and An and Pickett  attributed it to the behavior of $`p_{x,y}`$-band holes in negatively charged boron planes. All authors  emphasize the most significant role of metallic B states in the appearance of superconductivity. According to the McMillan formula for $`T_C`$ , the most probable $`MgB_2`$-based MTSC should have a high density of states at the Fermi level, $`N(E_F)`$, high averaged electron-ion matrix elements, as well as high phonon frequences, which increase for light elements and depend on $`BB`$ and $`MB`$ bonding.

To examine the possibility of superconductivity in related diborides, we studied the band structure of $`MgB_2`$ in comparison with that of $`CaB_2`$, $`BeB_2`$, $`AlB_2`$, $`ScB_2`$ and $`YB_2`$ which are typical representatives of different groups of $`AlB_2`$-like diborides formed by $`s`$-, $`p`$-, and $`d`$-metals, respectively. This makes it possible to analyze the following effects in: (1) $`MgB_2`$ versus $`CaB_2`$ and $`BeB_2`$, which are isoelectronic and isostructural. The basic changes will be due to structural factors (changes in lattice parameter, a, and interatomic distance, $`c/a`$). (2) $`MgB_2`$ vs. $`AlB_2`$, for which the main differences are expected as a result of changes in the filling of bands with addition of an electron. (3) $`MgB_2`$ vs. $`ScB_2`$ and $`YB_2`$, where alongside changes in the filling of bands, the band structure and interatomic bonding will depend on the M-sublattice ($`s`$\- or $`d`$-metal). (4) $`AlB_2`$ and $`ScB_2`$, $`YB_2`$, which are also isoelectronic and isostructural, and changes will be due to the nature of the $`M`$-sublattice ($`p`$\- or $`d`$-metal).

In addition, using the supercell approach, we have carried out a theoretical search for possible superconductors among some $`MgB_2`$-based ternary systems. For this purpose, we modelled the effect produced on the band structure of $`MgB_2`$ by (1) boron sublattice doping (with $`Be`$, $`C`$, $`N`$, $`O`$ impurities), (2) magnesium sublattice doping (with $`Be`$, $`Ca`$, $`Li`$, $`Na`$, $`Cu`$, $`Zn`$ impurities), and (3) the presence of lattice vacancies in $`Mg`$\- and $`B`$-sublattices.

The above diborides have a hexagonal crystal structure ($`AlB_2`$-type, space group $`P6/mmm`$, $`Z=1`$) with atomic positions $`M`$ (a) $`000`$, $`B`$ (d) $`1/3,2/3,1/2`$ . The lattice is composed of layers of trigonal prisms of $`M`$-atoms in the center of boron atoms, which form planar graphite-like networks. Their band structures were calculated by the FLMTO method within the generalized gradient approximation for the exchange -correlation potential (FLMTO-GGA) . Ternary and nonstoichiometric diborides were simulated with 12-atom supercells ($`2\times 2\times 1`$) and experimental lattice parameters for $`MgB_2`$, $`BeB_2`$, $`AlB_2`$, $`ScB_2`$ and $`YB_2`$ taken from Ref. . For the hypothetical phase of $`CaB_2`$, the lattice constants ($`a=3.205`$ Å, $`c/a=1.24`$) were determined by total energy minimization.

$`MgB_2`$. The band structure and DOS are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The high energy part of the valence band (VB) of $`MgB_2`$, made up predominantly of $`B`$ $`2p`$-states, form two distinct sets of bands of the $`\sigma `$ ($`2p_{x,y}`$)- and $`\pi `$ ($`p_z`$)-types, whose $`k`$ dependence differs considerably. For $`B`$ $`2p_{x,y}`$ the most pronounced dispersion is observed along $`\mathrm{\Gamma }K`$. These bands are of the quasi-two dimensional (2D) type, form a flat zone in the $`k_z`$ direction ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }A`$) and reflect the distribution of $`pp_\sigma `$-states in the $`B`$ layers. These states make a considerable contribution to $`N(E_F)`$, forming metallic properties of the diboride with $`E_F`$ located in the region of bonding states, the conductivity is due to hole carriers.

The $`B`$ $`2p_z`$-like bands are responsible for weaker $`pp_\pi `$-interactions. These 3D-like bands have maximum dispersion along ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }A`$); $`Mg`$ $`s,p`$\- and $`B`$ $`s`$-states are admixed with $`B`$ $`2p`$ bands near the bottom of the VB and in the conduction band. Thus, the peculiarities of the electronic properties of $`MgB_2`$ are associated with metallic $`2p`$-states of $`B`$ atoms located in planar nets, which determine the DOS in the vicinity of $`E_F`$.

The valence charge density (VCD) maps (Fig. 3) demonstrate that the interatomic bonds in the boron graphite-like layers are highly covalent, the Mg-Mg bonds have metallic character and then there are the weak interlayer covalent $`MgB`$ interactions. Estimates of interatomic bonds strengths (with FLMTO calculations using empty $`Mg`$ and $`B`$ sublattices ) also shows the largest contribution to the cohesion energy (Ecoh) from $`BB`$ interactions ($`BB`$ (68%), $`BMg`$ (23%) and $`MgMg`$ (9%)). In view of these results (see also ), let us discuss the possibility of superconducting properties in related diborides.

$`MgB_2`$ versus $`CaB_2`$. The electronic bands of these isoelectronic (electronic concentration per atom, $`n_e=2.67`$) and isostructural compounds turned out to be similar on the whole, see Fig. 1. The differences are due to the increased lattice parameter, $`a`$, and interlayer ($`MB`$) distances determined by M ionic radii ($`r_c=0.74(Mg)`$ and 1.04 Å ($`Ca`$)). The main change is a downward shift of the $`p_z`$-bands as compared to $`p_{x,y}`$-bands, so that the crossing point is located at $`E_F`$ (Fig. 1) and $`N(E_F)`$ increases to the highest value of any material given in Table 1. This may well indicate that a possibly higher Tc may be obtained if $`CaB_2`$ were stabilized. To this end, we also studied the lattice stability of the hypothetical $`CaB_2`$ by calculating the formation energy as a difference in the total energy with reference to the constituent elements in their stable modifications, viz. hcp calcium and rhombohedral boron ($`\alpha B_{12}`$). It was found that the formation energy has a small, but negative value ($`E_{form}=0.12`$ eV/f.u.), which may be indicative of the possibility of real synthesis of $`CaB_2`$. For comparison, $`E_{form}`$ for $`MgB_2`$ was found to be -1.21 eV/f.u..

Let us outline ways to stabilize $`CaB_2`$. It is known for stable diborides that $`c/a`$ does not exceed $`1.165`$ . For the equilibrium state of $`CaB_2`$, we obtained $`c/a=1.24`$. The most obvious way of decreasing the interlayer distance consists in the partial replacement of $`Ca`$ by atoms with smaller radii. To obtain superconductivity in such doped ternary systems, these metals should be either isoelectronic with $`Ca`$ (for example, $`Mg`$, $`Be`$) or hole dopants ($`Li`$, $`Na`$, etc.) $``$ as discussed below. They may also be prepared as layered superstructures, for example, $`\mathrm{}/Ca/B_2/Mg/B_2/\mathrm{}`$.

$`MgB_2`$ versus $`BeB_2`$. Their band structures turned out to be similar, see Fig. 1. The differences are due to a downward shift of $`p_{x,y}`$-bands, so that they are absent above $`E_F`$ at $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. This brings about changes in the Fermi surface topology: cylinders along $`\mathrm{\Gamma }A`$ are transformed into cones. As a result, $`BeB_2`$ is not a MTSC $``$ as supported by the absence of superconductivity in recent experiments .

$`MgB_2`$ versus $`AlB_2`$ . For $`AlB_2`$ ($`n_e=3.00`$), the $`p_{x,y}`$-bands are completely filled and $`AlB_2`$ is not a superconductor. A recent first report  on the electron-doped $`Mg_{1y}Al_yB_2`$, demonstrates that $`T_C`$ decreases smoothly and vanishes at $`y=0.25`$. According to our FLMTO estimates , the interatomic bonding exhibits some changes: the contribution of $`AlAl`$ bonds to the cohesive energy increases by almost two times and the $`MB`$ bonds become covalent (see $`AlB_2`$ VCD maps in Fig. 4 of Ref. ).

$`MgB_2`$ versus $`ScB_2`$ and $`YB_2`$. Quite a number of studies of the electronic properties of these diborides are known to date . We previously  performed FLMTO calculations of all hexagonal diborides of $`3d`$\- ($`Sc,Ti\mathrm{}Fe`$), $`4d`$ ($`Y,Zr\mathrm{}Ru`$), and $`5d`$ ($`La,Hf\mathrm{}Os`$) metals and analyzed variations in their chemical stability and some other properties (e.g., melting temperatures, enthalpies of formation). We found that the evolution of their band structures can be described within a rigid-band model (RBM). For $`M=Ti`$, $`Zr`$, $`Hf`$ ($`n_e=3.0`$), $`E_F`$ falls near the DOS minimum (pseudogap) between the fully occupied bonding bands and unoccupied antibonding bands. In the RBM, $`MgB_2`$ and $`Sc`$, $`Y`$, $`La`$ diborides all have partially unoccupied bonding bands. Comparison of their band structures shows that for $`ScB_2`$, the 2D-$`2p_{x,y}`$ bands are almost filled and the hole concentration is very small (near $`A`$ in Fig. 1). The $`Sc`$ $`d`$-band along $`\mathrm{\Gamma }M`$ is below $`E_F`$ and the large contribution to DOS at $`E_F`$ ($`N(E_F)`$=1.06 states/eV-f.u.) is due to $`Sc`$ $`d`$-states. The covalent $`MB`$ bonding increases considerably and the $`B`$ $`2p_z`$-like bands are shifted downwards at $`K`$. For both $`ScB_2`$ and $`YB_2`$ there is a small hole concentration of $`B`$ $`2p_{x,y}`$ states at $`A`$. Thus, one can expect for these diborides only low temperature superconductivity (for $`ScB_2`$ $`T_C`$ $`1.5`$ K ).

Modeling of new $`MgB_2`$-based ternary borides. In searching for possible superconductors among the $`MgB_2`$-based ternary systems, we simulated the effect produced on the band structure of $`MgB_2`$ by (i) doping the B sublattice with $`C`$, $`N`$, $`O`$ impurities, (ii) doping the Mg sublattice with $`Be`$, $`Ca`$, $`Li`$, $`Na`$, $`Cu`$, $`Zn`$ impurities, and (iii) adding vacancies in the $`Mg`$ and $`B`$sublattices $``$ all of which can be divided into three groups: electron-, hole-dopants and isoelectronic defects.

The above mentioned RBM is widely used to analyze such substitutions. Based on the DOS of $`MgB_2`$ (Fig. 2), this model determines the following effects: hole doping should lead to partial "depopulation" of bonding bands, a shift of $`E_F`$ deep into the VB, and an increase in $`N(E_F)`$. A reverse effect, namely a Fermi level shift to the region of the DOS minimum (pseudogap between bonding and antibonding states), can be expected for electron doping. The role of isoelectronic dopants remains unclear within this model. One can only suppose that in this case the main effects will be associated with lattice deformations, i.e., with the changes in $`a`$ and $`c/a`$. By contrast, our FLMTO calculations for hypothetical ternary and nonstoichiometric borides demonstrate a more complicated picture (see Figs. 2 and 4 and Table 1) and lead us to the following conclusions:

Boron sublattice doping. As $`n_e`$ decreases ($`MgB_2MgB_{1.75}`$), $`E_F`$ is shifted to higher binding energies, but the value of $`N(E_F)`$ becomes smaller due to a partial breakdown of $`BB`$ bonds in the graphite-like B layers and changes in the energy band dispersion near $`E_F`$. For $`MgB_{1.75}C_{0.25}`$, all bonding states are completely filled and $`E_F`$ falls in the pseudogap, hence a decrease in $`N(E_F)`$. A further increase in $`n_e`$ ($`MgB_{1.75}(N,O)_{0.25}`$) results in the occupation of $`2p`$-antibonding states. Thus, we do not see any prospects for obtaining superconductivity in $`MgB_2`$-based ternary compounds by doping the $`B`$-sublattice. The considerable energy cost of breaking the strong $`BB`$ bonds should be emphasized. As reported in , the contribution of $`BB`$ bonds to the cohesive energy of $`MgB_2`$ is 3.43 eV/atom. The corresponding values for $`MgMg`$ and $`MgB`$ bonds are 0.45 and 1.16 eV/atom, respectively. This means that substitutions in the $`Mg`$ sublattice will be energetically more preferable.

Magnesium sublattice doping. As $`n_e`$ decreases in the series $`MgB_2Mg_{0.75}Li(Na)_{0.25}B_2Mg_{0.75}B_2,Mg_{0.5}Li(Na)_{0.5}B_2`$, $`E_F`$ shifts to higher binding energies, but no increase in $`N(E_F)`$ is observed $``$ as predicted within the RBM, see Table 1. Thus, we found that for $`Li`$ and $`Na`$ substitution, $`N(E_F)`$ is almost independent of the hole dopant concentration. This fact is in agreement with the results of An and Pickett . The dependence of the energy of $`\sigma (2p_{x,y})`$-bands (forming cylinders along $`\mathrm{\Gamma }A`$) at $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ relative to $`E_F`$ ($`E^\sigma (\mathrm{\Gamma }E_F)`$) is shown in Fig. 4. This dependence for both the hole and electron doping of $`MgB_2`$ is close to linear. It is seen that hole doping in $`MgB_2`$-based ternary systems serves the peculiarities of band structure of $`MgB_2`$ near the $`E_F`$. Moreover, both $`N(E_F)`$ and $`E^\sigma (\mathrm{\Gamma }E_F)`$ in these systems are practically independent of the hole dopant type, and are determined only by the hole concentration (see the results for $`Mg_{0.75}Li_{0.25}B_2`$ and $`Mg_{0.75}Na_{0.25}B_2`$ or for $`Mg_{0.5}Li_{0.5}B_2`$, $`Mg_{0.5}Na_{0.5}B_2`$ and $`Mg_{0.75}B_2`$ in Table 1 and Fig. 1). For the isoelectronic substitution $`MgB_2Mg_{0.75}Be(Zn)_{0.25}B_2`$, the value of $`N(E_F)`$ decreases but $`p_{x,y}`$-bands move up by 0.1 eV at $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ comparing with $`MgB_2`$, Fig. 4.

Very interestingly, in a recent experiment  $`T_C`$ was found to be increased up to 49 K with nominal 20 % Cu doping of $`MgB_2`$. In our calculation, we found that 25 % Cu substitution for Mg leads to an increase of $`N(E_F)`$ (c.f., Table 1) and here the top of $`p_{x,y}`$-bands at $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ has the same location as for other doped systems with the same hole concentration (c.f., Fig. 4). This adds strong support to the validity of the systemetic results presented here.

We believe that further searches of new MTSC should be made via hole doping of $`MgB_2`$ (or $`BeB_2`$, $`CaB_2`$) or creating layer superstructures of the $`MgB_2/CaB_2`$ type. We are continuing these investigations taking into account the crystal lattice relaxation and calculating the substitution energies for impurities in ternary systems.

We thank V. Antropov, J. Jorgensen and D. Novikov for useful discussions. Work at Northwestern University supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (Grant No. DE-F602-88ER45372).


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The location of the various mixed state phases in the so-called technological phase diagram of high Tc superconductors (HTcS) as well as the behavior of vortices are of major interest for inventing low temperature devices. Precise measurements (Sect. II) performed over broad temperature and magnetic field ranges can be analysed in order to unveil the vortex lattice phases, scattering processes and phase transition lines. The utility of a Corbino geometry is recalled in Sect. III.

Experimental studies of the electric and heat currents in the normal, superconducting and mixed states of HTcS have been made in $`SUPRAS`$  order to lead to fundamental characterizing parameters. Those properties are complementary to the data obtained from equilibrium property based techniques. In fact, the magnetic field imposed on the superconducting sample with an orientation parallel to the electric or temperature gradient generates magneto-transport phenomena, from which one can deduce an excess electrical resistivity, or an excess thermoelectric power or an excess thermal conductivity (Sect. IV). Moreover if the magnetic field has an orientation perpendicular to the electric or temperature gradient (Sect. V), it generates the Hall and the Nernst effect respectively. Different features in these effects allow one to distinguish various dissipation mechanisms, like quasi particle scattering, vortex motion dissipation and superconductivity fluctuations, phase transition lines in the mixed state, and the order parameter symmetry as discussed in published papers by the $`SUPRAS`$ group .

## 2 Experimental techniques and data

In the $`SUPRAS`$ Measurements and Instrumentation Electronics Laboratory ($`MIEL`$) home made devices and experimental set-ups are developed in order to get fine data. In particular we have shown that we can simultaneously measure the electrical resitivity together with the thermoelectric power , the thermoelectric power together with the thermal conductivity  and the thermoelectric power, the thermal conductivity and the thermal diffusivity together in absence or presence of magnetic fields . Confidence in the validity of the data recalled here below have been taken due to such set-ups and various tests like in .

## 3 Corbino geometry

A method, using a Corbino disk sample geometry, is described in refs.  and has been applied to study the resistive tails of sintered $`YBCO`$. When the transport current passes radially from the rim of the disk sample to its center, the two component potential drop signal $`W`$ is detected below Tc. It is assumed to be due to (i) quasiparticles $`W_q`$ and (ii) vortex-core-motion $`W_\varphi `$ related contributions. When the contact pairs for $`W`$ are placed radially, $`W_q(r)`$ and $`W_\varphi (r)`$ are found to follow markedly distinctive functional dependences, providing a unique possibility to deconvolute the relative strengths of both contributions. The results obtained suggest that the mixed state dissipation of high-Tc superconductors is strongly influenced by the quasiparticle excitations, - a point of view not often shared or misrepresented. .

## 4 Longitudinal effects

### 4.1 Temperature averaging

Among our on-going investigations about the mixed state we have been intrigued by the various lines used to dissect the ($`B,T`$) plane. We have shown that a distribution of vortex lattice melting temperatures is rather usual in fact, and should smear quite a bit the theoretical features. In the mixed state part of the technological phase diagram of $`Bi`$-2212 tapes  we have been able to fit $`R(T)`$ data over a wide range of temperature and fields. A related procedure has been followed for discussing the vortex lattice melting and viscosity in $`Y_{0.6}Dy_{0.4}Ba_2Cu_3O_{7x}`$ superconductor studied by electrical resistivity measurements . It has been pointed out that the vortex lattice melting transition should not be confused with the irreversibility line of magnetic studies nor with the percolation temperature line for electrical resistivity.

### 4.2 Activation energy

An unusual stretched exponential $`B`$ $`exp^{(B^{1/4})}`$ behaviour for the excess thermal resistivity in the temperature range near T$`{}_{c}{}^{}/2`$ was obtained by Bougrine et al. ; see also ref. . The former authors have derived the origin of such a theoretical law from a model including bound and free vortices on intragranular and intergranular defects. The exponent (1/4) was shown to be a particular value specific to the ($`B,T`$) regime. In fact characteristic lengths like the mean free path, the penetration depth and the characteristic defect size control the value of the exponent in the streched exponential. In the original paper, the theory was intended to follow the first line of approach proposed for modificatins of the superconducitng state by the normal state below Tc, i.e. a modification of the phonon mean free path. However the paper can be (better) read again considering that the modification is due to the behaviour of electron, or the quasi-particle, mean free path variation instead.

### 4.3 Field dependence of excess quantities

We have also examined whether some information on the order parameter symmetry could be obtained from excess quantities, by removing the temperature dependence. It is known that an $`s`$-wave gap parameter leads to exponential dependence of properties, but $`d`$-waves imply power laws. This is known for the temperature depedence. We have searched for the same effect due to the magnetic field influence, i.e. mainly in the mixed state, plotting the excess quantity

$$\mathrm{\Delta }Q(T,B)=Q(T,B)Q(T,0).$$
(1)
where $`Q`$ is the electrical resitivity $`\rho `$ or the Seebeck coeficient $`S`$ for example. The subsequent analysis makes uses of the temperature integral of $`DeltaQ(T,B)`$, called the area $`A_Q`$, between $`T_1`$ and $`T_2`$, where $`T_1`$ is taken much below the field dependent percolation temperature and $`T_2`$ is taken much above the superconductivity onset temperature. This method has the advantage of somewhat eliminating extrinsic contributions. Next it also reduces the necessity of precisely measured data and high calibration. Finally, it eliminates the temperature and emphasizes the field dependence. We have observed a linear law, i.e. $`log(A_Q)`$ = $`a_Qlog(B)+b_Q`$, and extracted $`a_Q`$. The $`a_Q`$ values can be related to the field dependence appearing in the density of states and the quasi-particle scattering relaxation time dependence appearing in the kinetic definition of transport properties. They depend on whether the order parameter has a $`d`$\- or $`s`$-wave symmetry. A summary of exponents is given in ref. . They markedly indicate simple fractional values related to the fact that the symmetry of the order parmaeter is likely to be of $`d`$-type.

### 4.4 Electrothermal conductivity

We have looked at the electrothermal conductivity, obtained from the ratio of the thermopower to the electrical resistivity $`\rho `$ . The electrothermal conductivity is a very convenient property, because it is, in principle, independent of the vortex viscosity and has nothing to do with vortex motion. It only measures the dissipation of normal quasiparticles, through some $`P_{pq}`$ term, both inside and outside the vortex core. The electrothermal conductivity can be measured in the set-up  in which we measure simultaneously $`\rho `$ and $`S`$ from 20 K to room temperature. It was of interest to observe the effect in the vicinity of the critical temperature and in the mixed state.

Working out the $`s`$-wave and $`d`$-wave theory for $`P_{pq}`$, we have used the resulting theoretical formulae for fitting the experimental data. The parameters coming out from an $`s`$-wave picture are noticably wrong in the order of magnitude. A fit using the $`d`$-wave theoretical formulae lead to very nice fits and very reasonable values of the parameters. I stress that this is to my knowledge the only data showing the type of order parameter symmetry at this time in the vicinity of the critical temperature in HTcS.

### 4.5 Magnetothermal conductivity

The influence of a magnetic field on the thermal conductivity is similar in various high-Tc cuprates: the magneto-thermal conductivity $`\kappa (B)`$ is observed to decrease as the magnetic induction B is increased and this relative decrease is less pronounced when the temperature is raised. The first phenomenological model of the magneto-thermal conductivity of high-Tc superconductors assumed that phonons were moving as Bloch waves in a periodic vortex lattice potential, thus supposing that the vortex lattice is quite regular. It has been noticed that the influence of a magnetic field on the transport properties in a field are quite similar in various high-Tc cuprates and the temperature dependence could be well described by rather considering an electronic origin of the peak observed below $`T_c`$  together with assuming a $`d_{x^2y^2}`$-wave gap parameter and Van Hove singularities in the electronic spectrum , - see previous subsections.

We have compared the field dependence of the electronic contribution $`\kappa _e`$ to the thermal conductivity of a $`d`$-wave superconductor both for $`s`$-wave or $`d`$-wave order parameter symmetry cases \[20-22\]. We have undoubtlessly shown that experimental results on various high-Tc materials can be well described by the $`d`$-wave model though only with a small difference between the deduced physical parameters from the $`s`$-wave case in absence of field. However, the theoretical field dependence of $`\kappa _e`$ at very low temperature has been shown by Houssa et al. to be incompatible with our calculations on the magneto-thermal conductivity of an $`s`$-wave superconductor. The data on $`YBa_2Cu_3O_{7\delta }`$ and $`Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8`$ is much better reproduced with a $`d`$-wave gap parameter .

From several publications discussing data on $`Bi`$-, $`Hg`$-, and $`RE`$\- based superconductors ($`RE`$ = rare earth) taken for thermomagnetic effects, it has been shown that interesting parameter values can be obtained on vortex and quasi particle scatterings in the mixed state of such superconducting ceramics materials .

## 5 Transverse effects

Pekala et al., in several publications , have found that the Nernst voltage is an interesting property to be further studied in order to probe the ($`B,T`$) phase diagram and observe the position and temperature dependence of phase transition field lines (PTFL), like the upper critical field Bc2 line”, the ”melting (m) line”, the ”irreversibility (i) line”, the ”glass (g) transition line”, the ”electrical resistivity percolation (p) line” and several ”structural PTFL” separating regions in which the vortices form a triangular (t) or square (s) lattice. Below the Bc2 PTFL, in the so-called liquid phase, it has been recently predicted that a PTFL exists between the critical fluctuation (f) (Ginzburg-Levanyuk) PTFL and the m-line. The excess thermoelectric power and Nernst effect can serve to obtain characteristic PTFL in the mixed state by looking at the singularities, i.e. break in slopes, in quantities like $`\rho (T)`$, $`S(T)`$, or $`N(T)`$ at fixed $`B`$ values. The number of PTFL is exactly that predicted from previous reviews  plus one from a new theoretical prediction in ref.  in the liquid phase itself. The case of $`Bi`$-based HTcS ceramics has been used for illustration in the oral presentation and will be discussed elsewhere in detail .

## 6 Conclusions

Part of the discussion in these reports has been centered on our $`SUPRAS`$ way to get some information on the order parameter symmetry from transport properties through the analysis of the temperature (integrated or not) excess quantity field dependence in the mixed state.

I stress that bulk measurements of the thermal conductivity and the electrothermal conductivity in a magnetic field give as sure indications of the order parameter symmetry as more microscopic techniques, both at low temperature and )even in the vicinity of the critical temperature. The results can be reviewed mainly from our work on $`Hg`$-, $`Bi`$\- and $`RE`$\- based superconductors with the aim of defining further investigation lines. However much other groups have contributed to such investigations. We quote them in our publications, but they are omitted here for lack of space.

These findings result from $`SUPRAS`$  group role and objectives, set-up as early as 1988. Nowadays the theoretical and experimental amount of data allows us to pursue more technical problems.

Acknowledgments

I greatullly thank R. Nicolsky for inviting me to $`ICMC^{}2000`$ in Rio de Janeiro , and G. Fraga, J. Schaff and P. Pureur for making my stay so easy in Porto Alegre, and Brasil, before and during the meeting. The reported work would not have been possible without the intense activity of the leading members of the $`SUPRAS`$ group, be they rather permanent or long term visitors, whom I thank, i.e. H. Bougrine, P. Clippe, R. Cloots, S. Dorbolo, K. Durczewski, M. Houssa, J. Mucha, S. K. Patapis, M. Pekala, A. Pekalski, A. Rulmont, S. Sergeenkov, Ph. Vanderbemden, H.W. Vanderschueren and N. Vandewalle (in alphabetical order).

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