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# The Logarithmic Slope in Diffractive DIS

## I INTRODUCTION

Recent measurements of the structure functions for the deep inelastic $`ep`$ scattering at HERA has probed the interface between hard and soft physics in the description of strong interactions. While the perturbative QCD DGLAP evolution  describes very well the experimental results at medium $`x`$ and high $`Q^2`$ (respectively, the momentum fraction carried by the partons and the momentum transfer), the description of data at small values of $`x`$ is a particularly rich and complex subject in which the usual approach meets and competes with distinct approaches, some based on QCD, others on Regge theory or essentially ad hoc phenomenological models (For a review see e.g. Ref. ). Basically these approaches describe very well the proton structure function data, which implies a theoretical and experimental challenge: the derivation of a quantity which allows us to disentangle the hard and soft contributions for the dynamics at small $`x`$. Recently, we have proposed the analyzes of the slope of diffractive structure function as a potential observable to explicit the leading dynamics at $`ep`$ diffractive processes . Here we study in detail the predictions for this quantity for three current approaches present in the literature, which describe very well the HERA data. Before to present our results, we discuss the motivation of our work.

About two years ago, the measurement at HERA $`ep`$ collider of the logarithmic slope ($`Q^2`$-slope) of the inclusive structure function $`F_2(x,Q^2)`$ has presented a new challenge for the small $`x`$ regime . Basically, the turn over of the $`Q^2`$-slope was initially considered as an evident signal for the change of the dynamics, namely a transition from the perturbative QCD to the high density regime (e.g., see Ref. ). However, adjustments in the usual parton distribution functions (pdf’s) allow to extend the DGLAP formalism to be valid in lower momentum transfer values  ($`Q^23`$ GeV2 and Bjorken variable $`x<\mathrm{5\hspace{0.17em}.10}^3`$), with a reasonable description of the $`F_2`$ slope data. Furthermore, the HERA results have motivated the proposition of other approaches which consider the interplay between hard and soft physics. Essentially, we can separate these models in two categories: (a) the ones that assume the Regge framework as starting point at small $`x`$ and $`Q^2`$, and consider improvements to describe the large $`Q^2`$ region and, (b) those that assume the validity of pQCD at large $`Q^2`$ and estimate the perturbative corrections present at small $`x`$ and $`Q^2`$. Although at this moment we have distinct models, based on different assumptions, which reasonably describe the HERA data for $`F_2`$ and its slope, there is the expectation that future experimental results for the $`F_2`$ slope would allow to discriminate the correct dynamics at small $`x`$ .

In a similar way as the $`F_2(x,Q^2)`$ case, the logarithmic slope of the diffractive structure function should be studied and its role to disentangle the dynamics (soft and/or hard) needs investigation, since at present there exists enough statistics in the $`F_2^{D(3)}(x_{IP},\beta ,Q^2)`$, the diffractive structure function, experimental measurements to obtain data for this quantity. In the kinematic domain of the present experimental measurements, $`x_{IP}`$ may be interpreted as the fraction of the four-momentum of the proton carried by the diffractive exchange, the Pomeron, if such a picture is invoked. Moreover, $`\beta `$ is the fraction of the four-momentum of the diffractive exchange carried by the parton interacting with the virtual boson. Theoretically, when we look into diffractive dissociation in deep inelastic scattering (DDIS), mainly on $`F_2^D`$, the interplay between hard and soft regimes is more explicit . Basically, the partonic fluctuations of the virtual photon can lead to configurations of different sizes when analyzed in the proton rest frame. The study of the diffractive dissociation of protons has shown that for real photons ($`Q^20`$), where the transverse size of the incoming pair is approximately that of a hadron, the energy dependence is compatible with the expectations based on the soft Pomeron exchange. On the other hand, at large $`Q^2`$ the energy dependence is higher than that of the soft Pomeron, suggesting that pQCD effects may become visible for small incoming quark-antiquark pairs. Therefore, as the $`F_2^D`$ structure function is inclusive to the hard and soft contributions to the dynamics, the analyzes of its logarithmic slope is maybe a better test for the Pomeron physics.

First, we consider a Regge inspired model , where the diffractive production is dominated by the soft (non-perturbative) Pomeron. In this framework, the correspondent diffractive structure function is connected with the inclusive one and a particular expression to the Pomeron flux has been used. In a second step, one takes into account a pQCD approach , where the diffractive process is modelled as the scattering of the photon Fock states ($`q\overline{q}`$ and $`q\overline{q}+`$gluon configurations) with the proton through the color singlet two hard gluon exchange (in the proton rest frame). Moreover, we calculate the $`F_2^D`$-logarithmic slope considering the phenomenological saturation model from Ref.  and perform a comparison with the previous non-saturated approach , pointing out their main differences. We found that these different approaches predict very distinct behaviors for the logarithmic slope, which may shed light into the leading dynamics at $`ep`$ diffractive processes if this quantity is experimentally analyzed.

The paper is organized as follows. In the next section we present the basic formulae and a very brief review of two distinct frameworks for the diffractive structure function: the Capella et al. (Regge framework) approach without $`Q^2`$ evolution, and the Bartels-Wüsthoff model considering its phenomenological parameterization (pQCD-based). Moreover, in this section we derive the expressions for the $`F_2^D`$-logarithmic slope. In the Sec. III the correspondent predictions to the $`F_2^D`$ logarithmic slope from these models are presented and discussed. The saturation phenomena is addressed in Sec. IV, where we show the results for both saturated and non-saturated pQCD approaches. In the last section we draw our conclusions.

## II DIFFRACTIVE DIS AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACHES

### A The Regge inspired model

Considering diffractive (Ingelman-Schlein) factorization , the probe of the virtual photon in DIS provides understanding on the nature of the Pomeron and the partonic structure of that object. A few years ago Capella-Kaidalov-Merino-Tran Thanh Van (CKMT) proposed a model to diffractive DIS based on Regge theory  and the Ingelman-Schlein ansatz. In this case, deep inelastic diffractive scattering proceeds in two steps (the Regge factorization): first a Pomeron is emitted from the proton and then the virtual photon is absorbed by a constituent of the Pomeron, in the same way as the partonic structure of the hadrons.

The Pomeron is considered as a Regge pole with a trajectory $`\alpha _{IP}(t)=\alpha _{IP}(0)+\alpha ^{}t`$ determined from soft processes, in which absorptive corrections (Regge cuts) are taken into account. Explicitly, $`\alpha _{IP}=1.13`$ and $`\alpha _{IP}^{}=0.25GeV^2`$. The diffractive contribution to DIS is written in the factorized form:

$`F_2^D(x,Q^2,x_{IP},t)={\displaystyle \frac{[g_{pp}^{IP}(t)]^2}{16\pi }}x_{IP}^{12\alpha _{IP}(t)}F_{IP}(\beta ,Q^2,t),`$ (1)
where the details about the coefficients appearing in the Pomeron flux can be found in Ref. .

Moreover, $`F_{IP}`$ is determined using Regge factorization and the values of the triple Regge couplings obtained from soft diffraction data. Namely, the Pomeron structure function is extracted from $`F_2^p`$, or more precisely from the combination $`F_2^d=\frac{1}{2}(F_2^p+F_2^n)`$, by replacing the Reggeon-proton couplings by the corresponding triple reggeon couplings (see Ref. ). One of the main points of this model is the dependence on $`Q^2`$ of the Pomeron intercept \[$`F_{IP}\beta ^{\mathrm{\Delta }(Q^2)}`$\]. For low values of virtuality (large cuts), $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is close to the effective value found from analyzes of the hadronic total cross sections ($`\mathrm{\Delta }0.08`$), while for high values of $`Q^2`$ (small cuts), $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ takes the bare Pomeron value, $`\mathrm{\Delta }0.20.25`$.

The comparison of the CKMT model with data is quite satisfactory, mainly when considering a perturbative evolution of the Pomeron structure function. We notice that here one uses the pure CKMT model  rather than including QCD evolution of the initial conditions , which has been considered to improve the model at higher $`Q^2`$. Such procedure ensures that we take just a strict Regge model, namely avoiding contamination by pQCD phenomenology.

Justifying our choice, the CKMT model is a long standing approach describing in a consistent way both inclusive and diffractive deep inelastic based on Regge theory, which is continuously improved considering updated experimental results . In general, Regge inspired approaches focus only the inclusive case, or exclusively diffractive DIS. A subtle question concerning the CKMT approach is the dependence of the Pomeron intercept on the virtuality in the inclusive case. Although the need of this $`Q^2`$-dependence, claimed by Kaidalov for a long time (for a review see ), the smooth interpolation between a soft and a semihard intercept seems to break off the pure reggeonic feature of the model. However, in diffractive deep inelastic the energy dependence (i.e., the Pomeron flux) is driven by a soft Pomeron with a fixed $`\alpha _{IP}=1.13`$, properly corrected by absorptive effects. Indeed, this fact is verified at our previous work , when considering the effective slope $`\mathrm{ln}F_2^D/\mathrm{ln}(1/x_{IP})`$. We notice that here one uses the pure CKMT model  rather than including QCD evolution of the initial conditions , which has been considered to improve the model at higher $`Q^2`$. Such procedure ensures that we take just a Regge model, namely avoiding contamination by pQCD phenomenology.

Considering all properties of the diffractive structure function on the CKMT model, the calculation of the logarithmic slope is straightforward. The expression reads now:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dF_2^D}{d\mathrm{ln}Q^2}}=𝒩x_{IP}^{12\alpha _{IP}(0)}[eA\beta ^{\mathrm{\Delta }(Q^2)}(1\beta )^{n(Q^2)+\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{Q^2+a}}\right)^{1+\mathrm{\Delta }(Q^2)}S_{IP}(Q^2,\beta )+`$ (2)
$`fB\beta ^{1\alpha _R}(1\beta )^{n(Q^2)\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{Q^2+b}}\right)^{\alpha _R}S_R(Q^2,\beta )]`$ $`,`$ (3)
where the overall normalization $`𝒩`$ comes from the integration over $`t`$ of the Pomeron flux, $`n(Q^2)=\frac{3}{2}\left(1+\frac{Q^2}{Q^2+c}\right)`$, $`\alpha _R`$ is the secondary reggeon intercept (CKMT supposes that the only secondary trajectory that contributes is the $`f`$ one). The coefficients and constants are taken from Ref. . Moreover, the factors $`S_{IP,R}(Q^2,\beta )`$ are defined as

$`S_{IP}(Q^2,\beta )`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Delta }(Q^2)\left[{\displaystyle \frac{a}{Q^2+a}}\right]+{\displaystyle \frac{3c}{2}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{(Q^2+c)^2}}\right]\mathrm{ln}(1\beta )+`$ (4)
$`+`$ $`\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}d\mathrm{\Delta }_0\left[{\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{(Q^2+d)^2}}\right]\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{\beta (Q^2+a)}}\right),`$ (5)
$`S_R(Q^2,\beta )`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha _R(0)\left[{\displaystyle \frac{b}{Q^2+b}}\right]+{\displaystyle \frac{3c}{2}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{(Q^2+c)^2}}\right]\mathrm{ln}(1\beta ).`$ (6)
The above expressions have been used in our previous work  to obtain the main features of this model concerning the $`F_2^D`$-logarithmic slope, analyzing the $`x_{IP}`$, $`\beta `$ and $`Q^2`$ spectra under a kinematical constraint which relates the variables $`x`$ and $`Q^2`$. In the next section we will present a brief review of the results from Ref.  and a full analyzes of this quantity when the kinematic constraint is not assumed. Before, however, we present the derivation of the $`F_2^D`$ slope in the pQCD approach.

### B The perturbative QCD approach

Although the diffractive dissociation is mainly connected to soft processes and thus linked with the Regge theory, the pQCD framework has been recently used by some authors to describe quite well the diffractive structure function . The main properties of the pQCD models are very similar. In particular, we consider for our analyzes the Bartels-Wusthoff model and its further parameterization to the measurements . The physical picture is that, in the proton rest frame, diffractive DIS is described by the interaction of the photon Fock states ($`q\overline{q}`$ and $`q\overline{q}g`$ configurations) with the proton through a Pomeron exchange, modeled as a two hard gluon exchange. The corresponding structure function contains the contribution of $`q\overline{q}`$ production to both the longitudinal and the transverse polarization of the incoming photon and of the production of $`q\overline{q}g`$ final states from transverse photons. The basic elements of this approach are the photon light-cone wave function and the non-integrated gluon distribution (or dipole cross section in the dipole formalism). For elementary quark-antiquark final state, the wave functions depend on the helicities of the photon and of the (anti)quark. For the $`q\overline{q}g`$ system one considers a gluon dipole, where the $`q\overline{q}`$ pair forms an effective gluon state associated in color to the emitted gluon and only the transverse photon polarization is important. The interaction with the proton target is modeled by two gluon exchange, where they couple in all possible combinations to the dipole. In a comparison with data, the transverse $`q\overline{q}`$, $`q\overline{q}g`$ production and the longitudinal $`q\overline{q}`$ production dominate in distinct regions in $`\beta `$, namely medium, small and large $`\beta `$ respectively . The $`\beta `$ spectrum and the $`Q^2`$-scaling behavior follow from the evolution of the final state partons, and are derived from the light-cone wave functions of the incoming photon, decoupling from the dynamics inside the Pomeron, while the energy dependence and the normalizations are free parameters.

The calculation of the expression for the $`F_2^D`$-logarithmic slope is straightforward, considering each contribution coming from the different configurations of the photon Fock state. Moreover, this approach allows to obtain parameter free predictions for the logarithmic slope, since all parameters have been obtained in comparison with the H1 and ZEUS data. We justify our choice due to the simple analytic expressions for the diffractive structure function for each Fock state configuration which turn out the analyzes clearest and avoiding cumbersome numeric calculations.

The explicit expressions for the diffractive logarithmic slope are written as

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dF_2^{D(3),q\overline{q}T}(x_{IP},\beta ,Q^2)}{d\mathrm{ln}Q^2}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{n_2^1}{(\mathrm{ln}\frac{Q^2}{Q_0^2}+1)}}F_2^{D(3),q\overline{q}T}(x_{IP},\beta ,Q^2),`$ (7)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{dF_2^{D(3),q\overline{q}G}(x_{IP},\beta ,Q^2)}{d\mathrm{ln}Q^2}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(\mathrm{ln}\frac{Q^2}{Q_0^2}+1)}}\left[n_2^1+{\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{Q^2+Q_0^2}}\right]F_2^{D(3),q\overline{q}G}(x_{IP},\beta ,Q^2),`$ (8)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{dF_2^{D(3),q\overline{q}L}(x_{IP},\beta ,Q^2)}{d\mathrm{ln}Q^2}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{n_4^1}{(\mathrm{ln}\frac{Q^2}{Q_0^2}+1)}}+{\displaystyle \frac{Q^27\beta Q_0^2}{Q^2+7\beta Q_0^2}}\right]F_2^{D(3),q\overline{q}L}(x_{IP},\beta ,Q^2).`$ (9)
The expressions of the distinct contributions to $`F_2^{D(3)}`$ can be found in Ref. , as well as the remaining parameters.

The above expressions describe the $`x_{IP}`$, $`\beta `$ and $`Q^2`$ behavior of the $`F_2^D`$-logarithmic slope in the pQCD model. In next section we present a brief review of the main conclusions from Ref.  and extend our analyzes for the case where a kinematical constraint is not assumed.

## III THE F$`{}_{}{}^{D}{}_{2}{}^{}`$ LOGARITHMIC SLOPE FROM REGGE AND PQCD-BASED APPROACHES

Before we perform the analyzes of the presented models, some comments are in order. In the first extraction of the $`F_2`$ slope data at HERA, the so-called Caldwell plot , the variables $`x`$ and $`Q^2`$ were strongly correlated. For a limited acceptance (in the case of the latest HERA $`F_2`$-slope data) and for a fixed energy, one always has a limited range in $`Q^2`$ at any given $`x`$, with average $`<Q^2>`$ becoming smaller for smaller $`x`$. The latest measurements of the $`F_2`$-slope presents an increase when $`x`$ decreases down to $`10^4`$, and then a turn over appears, with a slope decreasing at lower $`x`$ (or $`Q^2`$) values. This peak is currently interpreted as a transition region from a a perturbative QCD regime to a Regge behavior and the maximum is related to the correlation between the kinematical variables mentioned above.

From the theoretical point of view however, the logarithmic slope depends on two variables ($`x`$ and $`Q^2`$) which are independent and one is not restricted to follow a particular path on the surface representing the $`Q^2`$-slope. However, to perform a comparison with those data, due to low statistics, we should connect $`x`$ and $`Q^2`$ by some analytical dependence $`Q^2=Q^2(x)`$ that lies within a physical region on ($`x,Q^2`$)-plane. This region is bounded by the condition

$`y={\displaystyle \frac{Q^2}{x(sm_p^2)}}1.`$ (10)
For the HERA experiments, the centre of mass energy is $`\sqrt{s}300`$ GeV and this condition writes $`Q^2<9.10^4x`$. An usual procedure is to perform a fit to the ($`x,Q^2`$)-plane satisfying the above condition. In the previous work , one considers the path used by the MRST99 group  in their analyzes of the $`F_2`$-logarithmic slope, $`Q^2=1280x^{0.705}`$ (for H1 slope data). We take this into account because, concerning the $`F_2^D`$-slope, in a first trial study probably we should expect a poor statistics in a similar way as it was for the inclusive case .

In Fig. 1 one shows the quantity $`dF_2^{D(3)}/d\mathrm{ln}(Q^2)`$ (shortly, $`Q^2`$-slope) versus $`x_{IP}`$ at $`\beta `$ typical values, considering the kinematical constraint discussed above. Due to the kinematical constraint we show the results at $`\beta `$=0.04, 0.1, 0.4 and 0.9 starting at $`x_{IP}=10^3`$, meaning virtualities $`Q^2>1`$ GeV2 (in which the pQCD model is valid). We also do not consider the introduction of reggeonic contributions, which are important at low $`\beta `$ (larger $`x_{IP}`$).

We found that the CKMT model (without $`Q^2`$ evolution) provides a transition between positive and negative slope values at $`\beta =0.4`$, when considering the $`x_{IP}`$ dependence. This behavior is consistent since the Pomeron structure function in this model is related to the nucleon structure function $`F_2`$, which presents that feature due to the scaling violation. Moreover, in Ref.  we have verified that the $`\beta `$ dependence, at $`x_{IP}10^3`$, is predominantly flat on the whole kinematic range of $`\beta `$ and it has a turn over in $`\beta =0.1`$ at $`x_{IP}=10^4`$. Since the Pomeron structure function in the CKMT is just the inclusive structure function $`F_2`$, the large value of the slope at small $`\beta `$ (corresponding to the Bjorken $`x`$ in inclusive DIS) was expected, as well as the presence of a similar turnover found in the first measurements of the inclusive structure function slope. Considering the DGLAP evolution , we would expect a $`Q^2`$-slope close to zero at $`\beta =0.65`$ and even negative at $`\beta =0.9`$. An important point is the faster decreasing of CKMT at large $`\beta `$, coming from the logarithmic factors $`S_{IP,R}(Q^2,\beta )`$. Furthermore, the CKMT model predicts a constant $`x_{IP}`$-slope. This fact comes from the choice of the Pomeron flux, which does not present an effective intercept depending on virtuality $`Q^2`$, contrasting with the inclusive case where the intercept smoothly interpolates the soft and semi-hard regions. Further, we return to the analyzes of the CKMT model, disregarding the kinematical constraint, in explicit comparison with the pQCD approach reviewed in the subsection (II B).

Concerning the pQCD model, we have that the slope is predominantly positive in almost all considered $`\beta `$, taking negative values only at $`\beta =0.9`$ for the interval $`x_{IP}<0.0004`$. As shown in Ref. , the slope presents a $`\beta `$ dependent turn over, which is shifted to greater $`x_{IP}`$ values as $`\beta `$ increases. The positive behavior of the slope at low values of $`\beta `$ is associated to the $`q\overline{q}G`$ contribution, while for intermediate $`\beta `$ the $`q\overline{q}T`$ state dominate, producing an almost constant function on $`Q^2`$. The high $`\beta `$ behavior is consistent with the H1 measurements, in the region $`x_{IP}>10^3`$, which prefer a positive slope in $`Q^2`$, corresponding to a large $`q\overline{q}G`$ contribution in this region . Furthermore, we have shown that the $`\beta `$ dependence, at $`x_{IP}10^3`$, is predominantly flat on the whole kinematic range of $`\beta `$ and it has a turn over at $`\beta =0.5`$ and $`x_{IP}=10^4`$. Moreover, this model gives a $`x_{IP}`$-slope dependent on both the virtuality $`Q^2`$ and $`\beta `$. The virtuality dependence is clear from the parametrization on the energy, constructed to interpolate between a softer effective intercept at low $`Q^2`$ up to semihard values at higher virtualities. The hard-like value of the intercept at higher $`\beta `$ is a feature already discussed in Refs. .

Confronting the approaches, we conclude in  that both models predict a positive slope up to $`\beta 0.4`$, with a steeper decreasing in CKMT. The high $`\beta `$ region discriminates the behaviors. The pQCD results provide a positive slope, while CKMT produces negative values. This comes from the fact that the CKMT approach does not include the $`q\overline{q}G`$ contribution, which is dominant in this region (small $`x_{IP}`$ and $`Q^2`$) for the pQCD model. The $`Q^2`$-behavior in the CKMT is determined by the $`F_2`$ scaling violations, including only the $`q\overline{q}_{T,L}`$ contributions.

In Figs. 2-3 we present a new comparison between the models, without imposing a kinematical constraint. In Fig. 2 one shows the $`\beta `$-dependence for typical values of $`x_{IP}`$ and $`Q^2`$, where the momentum transfer is ranging from 1 up to 100 GeV2. The CKMT model predicts a flat behavior on the whole $`\beta `$ range. Particularly, at $`Q^2=1GeV^2`$ there is a strong decreasing of the slope at large $`\beta `$. This is due to the presence of factors $`\mathrm{ln}(1\beta )`$ in the second terms of Eqs. (5-6). For larger $`Q^2`$ values, the logarithm on $`Q^2`$, namely the third term of Eq. (5), compensates the decreasing. At momentum transfer of 100 GeV2, the CKMT predicts a flat behavior of the slope into all $`\beta `$ spectrum. The pQCD model produces an increasing of the slope in both small and large values of $`\beta `$, while presents a flat behavior at the medium one. These increasing on the slope are due to the enhancements in the $`q\overline{q}G`$ (dominant at low $`\beta `$) and $`q\overline{q}L`$ (leading at high $`\beta `$) contributions from the $`Q^2`$-factors appearing in Eq. 5 ($`q\overline{q}G`$ and $`q\overline{q}L`$), respectively. A steep $`Q^2`$-slope decreasing into negative values is also present at the virtuality $`Q^2=1GeV^2`$ for large $`\beta `$, in a similar way to the CKMT model. However, betond the contribution of the (dominant) longitudinallly polarized $`q\overline{q}`$ pair configuration, this region also receives contributions associated to the $`q\overline{q}G`$ configuration, as discussed above.

In Fig. 3 one presents the $`x_{IP}`$ dependence at medium and large $`\beta `$. The low $`\beta `$ region was disregarded in order to avoid to deal with subleading reggeonic contributions, important in this kinematical domain. We observe again a smooth behavior for the pQCD predictions, with a positive slope in almost the whole range (negative values are present at both large $`\beta `$ and $`Q^2=1GeV^2`$, in agreement with the discussion in the previous paragraph). The CKMT model predicts predominantly negative slope values in this kinematical domain, converging to a flat value for larger $`x_{IP}`$. A clear difference between the predictions of the two models is the change of signal of the slope with the $`Q^2`$ evolution at medium $`\beta `$ present in the CKMT prediction. Those behaviors are also consistent with the previous plots using the kinematical constraint.

In summary, the results above should allow to discriminate the behaviors predicted from the different approaches, namely perturbative QCD (hard physics) and non-perturbative (soft) physics. Theoretically, this difference comes from the ansatz for the photon-proton interaction (hard or soft) and also from the relation of the Pomeron structure with the inclusive structure function used in the CKMT model. This relation implies the inclusion at most of the $`q\overline{q}_T`$ and $`q\overline{q}_L`$ configurations in the photon wave function in its estimates. On the other hand, the pQCD model analyzed here also includes the contribution of gluon emission in the photon wave function, which dominates at small $`\beta `$. Therefore, the analyzes of the $`\beta `$ spectrum of the $`F_2^D`$ slope would be important in an experimental studies. Moreover, concerning to the $`x_{IP}`$ spectrum, the signal of the slope at medium values of $`Q^2`$ ($`Q^210`$ GeV2) is a good search of information about the dynamics. In comparison with the experimental measurements of $`F_2^D`$, the results have favored the perturbative QCD framework .

## IV THE DIFFRACTIVE LOGARITHMIC SLOPE AND THE SATURATION PHENOMENA

In this section we take into account the saturation phenomena, considering its implications in the analyzes of the $`F_2^D`$-slope. The concept of saturation in DIS is connected to the transition in the underlying physical picture from high to low photon virtuality $`Q^2`$, which is present in the measurements of the total $`\gamma ^{}p`$-cross section at HERA. From the theoretical point of view, saturation at low momentum fraction $`x`$ occurs in the semi-hard region in which the parton density becomes quite high and the recombination effects tame the growth of the density . As a consequence, the increasing of the total cross section is diminished at small $`x`$.

In perturbative QCD, in the proton rest frame, the $`\gamma ^{}p`$ process is described in terms of the photon splitting into a quark-antiquark pair, far upstream of the nucleon, which then scatters in the proton  \[For a review, see e.g. Ref. \]. In the perturbative regime this reaction is mediated by the one gluon exchange which turns out into a multi-gluon one when the saturation region is approached. A remarkable feature is that the mechanism leading to the photon dissociation and the further scattering has a factorizable form, written in terms of a convolution between a photon wave function and a quark-antiquark cross section . The wave function to be calculated from perturbation theory, or the quark-antiquark cross section, so-called dipole cross section $`\widehat{\sigma }`$, has a strong influence of the non-perturbative contributions and should be modeled. A review on issues concerning the modelling of the dipole cross section can be found in Ref. . Here, we choose the saturation model from Ref. , which reproduces the experimental results at both inclusive and diffractive electroproduction.

Some comments about the saturation model are in order. Although this approach describes in very good agreement both DIS and diffractive dissociation, a more deep understanding of the underlying dynamics is far from clear. Namely, a connection with the gluon distribution function and the mechanism of unitarity control is needed (for a review of the current theoretical effort see, e.g., Ref. ). Moreover, the impact parameter dependence ($`b_t`$) of the process is not taken into account and the connection with DGLAP approach is missing (see criticisms to these points at ).

In that phenomenological approach, the dynamics of saturation is present in the effective dipole cross section, modelled in an eikonal way:

$`\widehat{\sigma }(x,r^2)=\sigma _0\left[\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle \frac{r^2}{4R_0^2(x)}}\right)\right],`$ (11)
where the $`x`$-dependent saturation scale (the saturation radius) is given by

$`R_0(x)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{Q_0}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{x}{x_0}}\right)^{\lambda /2}.`$ (12)
The normalization $`\sigma _0`$ and the parameters $`x_0`$, $`\lambda >0`$ were determined from all inclusive data on $`F_2(x,Q^2)\sigma _T(x,Q^2)`$ with $`x<10^2`$ . The constant $`Q_0`$ sets the dimension. In summary, this phenomenological model consistently interpolates between the saturation regime and the scaling regime of $`\sigma _T(F_2)`$.

In order to calculate the logarithmic slope from the above approach, we should consider the diffractive structure function $`F_2^{D(3)}`$, which is given by

$`F_2^D(x_{IP},\beta ,Q^2)\beta {\displaystyle 𝑑t\frac{k_t^2d^2k_t}{(1\beta )^2}\left|\frac{d^2l_t}{l_t^2}D\mathrm{\Psi }(\alpha ,k_t)(l_t^2,k_0^2;x_{IP})\right|^2},`$ (13)
where $`D\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is a combination of the concerned wave functions, $`l_t`$ is the transverse momentum of the exchanged gluons and $`(l_t^2,k_0^2;x_{IP})`$ defines the Pomeron amplitude (non-integrated gluon distribution). To take saturation into account, in Ref.  the unintegrated gluon distribution $`(x,l_t^2)`$ was calculated from the effective dipole cross section (the notation is the same of Sec. II B ) as

$`\widehat{\sigma }(x,r^2)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{4\pi ^2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{dl_t^2}{l_t^2}\left[\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1}J_0(l_tr)\right]\alpha _s(x,l_t^2)},`$ (14)
with

$`\alpha _s(x,l_t^2)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{3\sigma _0}{4\pi ^2}}R_0^2(x)l_t^2e^{R_0^2(x)l_t^2}.`$ (15)
The corresponding diffractive structure function is constructed summing three terms coming from the diffractive production of a quark-antiquark pair (photon polarized transverse and longitudinally) plus the contribution of the pair with emission of an additional gluon in the final state. The gluon emission is known only in certain approximations: transverse (valid at very large virtualities and finite $`M_X`$) or longitudinal (at large $`M_X`$ and finite virtualities) momenta components strongly ordered. This approach described above reproduces accurately the $`\beta `$ and $`x_{IP}`$ distributions from the H1 and ZEUS data , with a free parameter description . The main characteristic is the use of an universal non-integrated gluon distribution, modelled in a simple way to take into account the saturation phenomena and completely determined from the inclusive experimental data.

Now, having reviewed the main formulae concerning the phenomenological saturation model, we perform numerically the $`F_2^D`$ logarithmic slope, using the same parameters from Ref. . In this section we denote $`Q^2`$-slope as the function $`x_{IP}dF_2^D/d\mathrm{ln}Q^2`$. Since the $`q\overline{q}G`$ configuration dominates at small $`\beta `$, while the $`q\overline{q}_T`$ one dominates at medium $`\beta `$ and the $`q\overline{q}_L`$ is important in the large $`\beta `$ region, the behavior of the slope presents a strong dependence in this variable. In Fig. 4, we show the $`x_{IP}`$ dependence, considering typical $`\beta `$ values and virtualities ranging from 1 up to 100 GeV2. A remarkable fact is the presence of a transition between positive and negative slope signals, instead of a predominantly positive slope as in the non-saturated case. The transition is not present in the pQCD model without saturation due to the assumptions made in the parameterization of the HERA data in the region of large $`Q^2`$ (large $`\beta `$). It is important to emphasize that a transition is verified in the preliminary ZEUS analyzes of diffractive DIS , where the saturation model  is considered to describe the $`Q^2`$ dependence of the diffractive structure function, using as kinematical variables $`M_X`$ and $`W`$ rather than $`\beta `$ and $`x_{IP}`$. Such a procedure is performed due to the similarity of the behavior of $`d\sigma /dM_X`$ and $`\sigma _{tot}(\gamma ^{}p)`$ in the same kinematic range. In that analyzes, the growth of $`x_{IP}F_2^D`$ versus $`Q^2`$ is stopped at $`Q^210`$ $`GeV^2`$ and has a smooth decreasing for larger virtuality values. The transition region corresponds to $`\beta 0.2`$ for $`M_X=5`$ GeV and $`\beta 0.07`$ for $`M_X=11`$ GeV.

In Fig. 5, one shows the $`x_{IP}`$ behavior for both approaches with  and without  saturation, at typical $`\beta `$ values. We analyze in particular the transition region between hard and soft dynamics, settled by the low virtualities $`Q^21.59`$ GeV2. The saturation model produces a transition between positive and negative slope values at low $`\beta =0.04`$, while presents a positive slope for medium and large $`\beta `$. The pQCD approach without saturation, again shows a positive slope for the whole $`Q^2`$ and $`x_{IP}`$ range. Since the diffractive cross section is strongly sensitive to the infrared cutoff, one of the main differences between these models is the assumption related to the small $`Q^2`$ region. In the pQCD models without saturation, an ad hoc cutoff in the transverse momentum is inserted, as well as the energy dependence of the non-integrated gluon distribution. In the saturation model instead, the saturation radius $`R_0(x)`$ gives the infrared cutoff (the saturation momentum scale) and determines the energy dependence. If this scale is large (1-2 GeV2), then the resulting process is not soft and can be completely calculated using pQCD methods. Therefore, the saturation model extends the pQCD approach towards lower $`Q^2`$ values, making this region an important source of information about the dynamics. We conclude that, the difference between the behaviors predicted by these two models for the $`x_{IP}`$ spectrum, mainly in the region of small $`\beta `$ and medium $`Q^2`$, are large, which should allow to discriminate the dynamics in future experimental analyzes.

For completeness we mention that a hybrid approach for the saturation phenomena has been proposed recently mixing the multi-Pomeron exchange and concepts of pQCD, namely considering the configurations in Fock space of the virtual photon . In that work the $`q\overline{q}`$ pair is separated in contributions of large size, described by ”aligned jet” configuration, and contributions of short size driven by perturbative QCD as discussed in the previous sections. The gluon emission contribution is disregarded in this case. The multiple Pomeron exchange is taken into account considering a quasieikonal form for the cross sections written in impact parameter representation. Results for diffractive DIS are obtained since the multiple Pomeron exchanges are related by AGK-cutting rules to shadowing corrections to diffractive production. Such framework produces a good description of available experimental data from photoproduction up to about 10 GeV2. Their conclusions are similar to Ref. , namely the saturation effects at HERA energies are very important in the region of small $`Q^2`$. However, unitarity corrections seem to appear at large $`Q^2`$ in  coming from the large size configuration and the triple Pomeron interaction. A direct comparison between the approaches from the Refs.  and  concerning the resultant $`F_2^D`$-slope is a interesting issue and it will be postpone to a future analyzes.

## V CONCLUSIONS

The study of electroproduction at small $`x`$ has lead to the improvement of our understanding of QCD dynamics in the interface of perturbative and non-perturbative physics. However, many important problems remain unsolved. One of the main open questions is if the transition between large (pQCD) and small (Regge) virtualities is already reached or if a high density (saturation) regime is present. At this moment, there are several approaches, based in very distinct paradigms, which describe the current observables measured in HERA. In this paper we propose and analyze the diffractive logarithmic slope as a potential quantity to explicit the leading dynamics at $`ep`$ diffractive processes. We study in detail the prediction for the logarithmic slope of the diffractive structure function, using three distinct models for diffractive DIS. We choose as a pure Regge approach the CKMT model, which describes with quite good agreement the inclusive and diffractive structure function. The pQCD model used is a parametrization based on the Bartels-Wüsthoff approach, which describes successfully the diffractive DIS and other observables, like jet production. One analyzes was also performed for saturation phenomena, discussing the results from the phenomenological approach by Golec Biernat-Wusthoff, describing its main features and comparison with the pQCD model without saturation. As a summary of our main results, we predict that: (a) the analyzes of the $`\beta `$ spectrum in the region of small values of this variable and the signal of the slope in the $`x_{IP}`$ spectrum at medium $`Q^2`$ values should allow to discriminate between the Regge- and pQCD-based approaches; (b) The analyzes of the $`x_{IP}`$ spectrum of the slope at small values of $`\beta `$ concerning to the $`Q^2`$ behavior should allow to discriminate between the saturated and non-saturated pQCD models.

A possible route to distinguish experimentally between the three models discussed in this paper is the following: (i) First, analyze the signal of the slope at $`\beta `$=0.4 and medium $`Q^2`$ ($`10`$ GeV2). If this signal is negative, then the dynamics of diffractive DIS is Regge based. On the other hand, if the signal is positive, a pQCD approach is necessary to describe the data; (ii) Second, to discriminate between saturated and non-saturated models, we can analyze the $`x_{IP}`$ of the slope at small values of $`\beta `$ and medium $`Q^2`$. While the non-saturated pQCD model predicts a steep growth at small values of $`x_{IP}`$, the saturated model predicts an almost constant behavior. Of course, our results are dependent of the assumptions used in the models considered as input in the analyzes of the diffractive slope. However, we expect that the main point, the fact that this quantity is a potential observable to discriminate between the hard, semihard and soft dynamics, should not be modified by future theoretical improvements of the diffractive DIS.

We expect that our results could motivate the experimental analyzes of the logarithmic slope of the diffractive structure function in next years, since the behavior of this observable may explicit the dynamics in the small $`x`$ regime.

## ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

MBGD acknowledges useful discussions with A. Capella, M. Derrick and E. Ferreiro. VPBG thanks the FAPERGS and CNPq for support. MVTM acknowledges K. Golec-Biernat for useful enlightenments in the saturation model, as well M. Arneodo and P. Newman for comments on H1 and ZEUS data. This work was partially financed by CNPq and PRONEX (Programa de Apoio a Núcleos de Excelência), BRAZIL.


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# An example of the difference between quantum and classical random walks

## Abstract

In this note, we discuss a general definition of quantum random walks on graphs and illustrate with a simple graph the possibility of very different behavior between a classical random walk and its quantum analogue. In this graph, propagation between a particular pair of nodes is exponentially faster in the quantum case. \[MIT-CTP #3093\]

Introduction. Many classical algorithms are based on random walks, so it is natural to ask whether quantum random walks might be useful for quantum computation. A framework for using quantum random walks to solve decision problems was investigated in . There also, an exponential separation was found between the classical and quantum times to propagate through a certain tree.

In this note, we describe a general definition of continuous-time random walks on graphs and give a simpler example of a graph for which the quantum time to propagate between a particular pair of nodes is exponentially shorter than the analogous classical propagation time. We also discuss advantages of the continuous time formulation over discrete versions.

Random walks. A continuous time classical random walk on a graph is a Markov process. A graph is a set of $`v`$ vertices $`\{1,2,\mathrm{},v\}`$ and a set of edges that specifies which pairs of vertices are connected in the graph. A step in a classical random walk on a graph only occurs between two vertices connected by an edge. Let $`\gamma `$ denote the jumping rate. Starting at any vertex, the probability of jumping to any connected vertex in a time $`ϵ`$ is $`\gamma ϵ`$ (in the limit $`ϵ0`$). This random walk can be described by the $`v\times v`$ infinitesimal generator matrix $`M`$ defined by

$$M_{ab}=\{\begin{array}{cc}\gamma \hfill & ab\text{}a\text{ and }b\text{ connected by an edge}\hfill \\ 0\hfill & ab\text{}a\text{ and }b\text{ not connected}\hfill \\ k\gamma \hfill & a=b\text{}k\text{ is the valence of vertex }a\text{.}\hfill \end{array}$$
(1)
If $`p_a(t)`$ denotes the probability of being at vertex $`a`$ at time $`t`$, then

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}p_a(t)}{\mathrm{d}t}=\underset{b}{}M_{ab}p_b(t).$$
(2)
Consider quantum evolution in a $`v`$-dimensional Hilbert space according to a Hamiltonian $`H`$. In a basis $`|1,|2,\mathrm{},|v`$, the Schrödinger equation for $`|\psi (t)`$ can be written

$$i\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}t}a|\psi (t)=\underset{b}{}a|H|bb|\psi (t).$$
(3)
Note the similarity between (2) and (3). Whereas (2) conserves probability in the sense that

$$\underset{a}{}p_a(t)=1,$$
(4)
the Schrödinger equation preserves probability as the sum of the amplitudes squared:

$$\underset{a}{}|a|\psi (t)|^2=1.$$
(5)
In some sense, any evolution in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space can be thought of as a “quantum random walk.” However, the analogy is clearest when $`H`$ has an obvious local structure.

A quantum random walk on a graph is naturally defined in a Hilbert space spanned by basis elements corresponding to the vertices. To respect the structure of the graph, we require that for $`ab`$,

$$a|H|b0\text{iff }\text{a}\text{ and }\text{b}\text{ are connected by an edge.}$$
(6)
This is a very weak requirement, so we can impose more structure on $`H`$. A natural quantum analogue to the classical random walk described above is given by the quantum Hamiltonian with matrix elements

$$a|H|b=M_{ab}.$$
(7)
Note that on a one-dimensional lattice, this results in the Hamiltonian defined by

$$H|j=\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Delta }^2}(|j12|j+|j+1),$$
(8)
which is just a discrete approximation to the operator $`\mathrm{d}^2/\mathrm{d}x^2`$ (where $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\gamma ^{1/2}`$ is the lattice spacing).

The difference between the quantum and classical evolution comes from the $`i`$ which appears in (3) but not in (2). This can result in radically different behavior, as seen in . A simpler example is given next.

An example. Here we define a sequence of graphs $`G_n`$. The number of vertices in $`G_n`$ is $`2^{n+1}+2^n2`$. In Figure 1 we show $`G_4`$. In general, $`G_n`$ consists of two balanced binary trees of depth $`n`$ with the $`2^n`$ $`n`$th-level vertices of the two trees pairwise identified.

For both the classical and quantum random walks, we start at the root of one tree and want the probability as a function of time of being at the other root. In other words, we are interested in how long it takes to propagate from the leftmost vertex to the rightmost vertex as a function of $`n`$.

Consider the classical case first. The vertices of $`G_n`$ can be grouped in columns indexed by $`j\{0,1,\mathrm{},2n\}`$. Column $`0`$ contains the root of the left tree, column $`1`$ contains the two vertices connected to that root, etc. Note that column $`n`$ contains the $`2^n`$ vertices in the middle of the graph and column $`2n`$ is the root at the right.

To analyze the classical walk from the left root to the right root, we need only keep track of the probabilities of being in the columns. In the left tree, for $`0<j<n`$, the probability of stepping from column $`j`$ to column $`j+1`$ is twice as great as the probability of stepping from column $`j`$ to column $`j1`$. However, in the right tree, for $`n<j<2n`$, the probability of stepping from column $`j`$ to column $`j+1`$ is half as great as the probability of stepping from column $`j`$ to column $`j1`$. This means that if you start at the left root, you quickly move to the middle of the graph, but then it takes a time exponential in $`n`$ to reach your destination. More precisely, starting in column $`0`$, the probability of being in column $`2n`$ after any number of steps is less than $`2^n`$. This implies that the probability of reaching column $`2n`$ in a time that is polynomial in $`n`$ must be exponentially small as a function of $`n`$.

We now analyze the quantum walk on $`G_n`$ starting in the state corresponding to the left root and evolving with the Hamiltonian given by (7). With this initial state, the symmetries of $`H`$ keep the evolution in a $`(2n+1)`$-dimensional subspace of the $`(2^{n+1}+2^n2)`$-dimensional Hilbert space. This subspace is spanned by states $`|\mathrm{c}olj`$ (where $`0j2n`$), the uniform superposition over all vertices in column $`j`$, that is,

$$|\mathrm{c}olj=\frac{1}{\sqrt{N_j}}\underset{a\mathrm{c}olumnj}{}|a,$$
(9)
where

$$N_j=\{\begin{array}{cc}2^j\hfill & 0jn\hfill \\ 2^{2nj}\hfill & nj2n.\hfill \end{array}$$
(10)
In this basis, the non-zero matrix elements of $`H`$ are

$`\mathrm{c}olj|H|\mathrm{c}olj\pm 1`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{2}\gamma `$ (11)
$`\mathrm{c}olj|H|\mathrm{c}olj`$ $`=`$ $`\{\begin{array}{cc}2\gamma \hfill & j=0,n,2n\hfill \\ 3\gamma \hfill & \mathrm{o}therwise,\hfill \end{array}`$ (14)
which is depicted in Figure 2 (for $`n=4`$) as a quantum random walk on a line with $`2n+1`$ vertices.

Starting at the leftmost vertex of Figure 2, there is an appreciable probability of being at the rightmost vertex after a time proportional to $`n`$. To see this, first consider quantum propagation on an infinite, translationally invariant line of vertices as depicted in Figure 3. Here it is straightforward to compute the amplitude to go from vertex $`l`$ to vertex $`m`$ in a time $`t`$ (for example, see ):

$$m|e^{iHt}|l=e^{i3\gamma t}i^{ml}J_{ml}(2\sqrt{2}\gamma t),$$
(15)
where $`J_{ml}`$ is a Bessel function of order $`ml`$. This corresponds to propagation with speed $`2\sqrt{2}\gamma `$. More precisely, for any $`ϵ>0`$ and $`|ml|1`$, for $`t<\left(\frac{1}{2\sqrt{2}\gamma }ϵ\right)|ml|`$, the amplitude is exponentially small in $`|ml|`$, whereas there are values of $`t`$ between $`(\frac{1}{2\sqrt{2}\gamma })|ml|`$ and $`(\frac{1}{2\sqrt{2}\gamma }+ϵ)|ml|`$ at which the amplitude is of order $`|ml|^{1/2}`$.

In the limit of large $`n`$, the reduced version of $`G_n`$ is nearly identical to the infinite, translationally invariant line, so it is plausible that propagation on $`G_n`$ will also occur with speed $`2\sqrt{2}\gamma `$. To verify this, we numerically compute the probability $`|\mathrm{c}olj|\psi (t)|^2`$ of being in column $`j`$ at various times $`t`$, where $`|\psi (0)=|\mathrm{c}ol0`$ and we choose $`\gamma =1`$. This is shown in Figure 4 with $`n=500`$ for $`t=100`$, $`250`$, and $`400`$. These plots clearly show a wave packet which propagates with speed $`2\sqrt{2}`$, with the amplitude near the wavefront decreasing like $`t^{1/2}`$. In the first plot, at $`t=100`$, the leading edge of the distribution is at column $`200\sqrt{2}283`$. The packet has not yet encountered the small defect at the center, so it has a relatively simple shape. At $`t=250`$, the wavefront has passed the center, and a small reflection can be seen propagating backward. However, the leading edge is relatively undisturbed, having propagated to column $`500\sqrt{2}707`$. The wavefront continues to propagate with speed $`2\sqrt{2}`$ until it reaches the right root, where the packet is reflected. The last plot, at $`t=400`$, shows the distribution shortly after this first reflection. Even after the reflection, there is still an appreciable probability of being at the right root.

The limiting distribution. In this section, we consider the distribution over the vertices after a long time. We emphasize that although the mixing times (the characteristic times to reach the limiting distribution) may be similar in the classical and quantum cases , this is in no way indicative of similar dynamics, as the limiting distributions may be radically different.

In the classical case, the limiting distribution is defined as

$$\pi _b=\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim}p_b(T),$$
(16)
which is independent of the starting state. It is easy to see that the limiting distribution on $`G_n`$ is uniform over the vertices: this distribution is the unique eigenvector of $`M`$ with eigenvalue $`0`$, so it is the only component that remains after a long time. Thus $`\pi _b=(2^{n+1}+2^n2)^1`$ for each vertex $`b`$, which is exponentially small.

In the quantum case, unitarity prevents the walk from reaching a steady state. However, a sensible definition of the limiting distribution, which depends on the initial state $`|a`$, is given by

$$\chi _b=\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{1}{T}_0^T|b|e^{iHt}|a|^2dt.$$
(17)
This is the distribution resulting from a measurement done after a time chosen uniformly in $`[0,T]`$, in the limit of large $`T`$. By expanding over the energy eigenstates $`|E_r`$, we find

$`\chi _b`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{r,s}{}}b|E_rE_r|aa|E_sE_s|b`$ (19)
$`\times \underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{T}}{\displaystyle _0^T}e^{i(E_rE_s)t}\mathrm{d}t`$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{r}{}}|a|E_r|^2|b|E_r|^2`$ (20)
(note that we have assumed $`E_rE_s`$ for $`rs`$, which is true for $`G_n`$). In particular, consider the case where $`|a=|\mathrm{c}ol0`$ corresponds to the left root and $`|b=|\mathrm{c}ol2n`$ corresponds to the right root. In this case, we may work in the reduced Hilbert space spanned by the columns, so the number of energy eigenstates is $`2n+1`$. By symmetry, $`|\mathrm{c}ol0|E_r|=|\mathrm{c}ol2n|E_r|`$. The Cauchy-Schwartz inequality gives

$$\underset{r}{}|\mathrm{c}ol0|E_r|^4\underset{s}{}1\left(\underset{r}{}|\mathrm{c}ol0|E_r|^2\right)^2=1,$$
(21)
which implies

$$\underset{r}{}|\mathrm{c}ol0|E_r|^4\frac{1}{2n+1}.$$
(22)
Thus in the limiting distribution, the probability of being at the right root, starting at the left root, is

$$\chi _{\mathrm{c}ol2n}\frac{1}{2n+1},$$
(23)
which is much larger than in the classical case.

Discussion. The model of quantum random walks used in this note applies automatically to any graph. In particular, the Hamiltonian is determined by the local structure of the graph and its definition does not require knowledge of any global properties. It is easy to imagine situations where the local structure of a graph is readily accessible, but determining some global property is difficult. For example, a computational problem may involve searching a graph for a node with a certain property whose presence or absence from the graph corresponds to the solution of an NP-complete problem .

The Hamiltonian-based approach to quantum random walks can be contrasted with discrete time models (for example, see ) involving the extra state space of a “quantum coin.” This extra label seems to be necessary in discrete time formulations of quantum random walks (and is provably necessary in the one dimensional case ). However, for general graphs of mixed valence, it is not obvious how to define the discrete time unitary evolution operator without knowledge of global properties of the graph.

Acknowledgements. This work was supported in part by the Department of Energy under cooperative agreement DE-FC02-94ER40818. AMC is supported by the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation.


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Double exchange model  has been widely studied as a model for itinerant ferromagnetism, which is one of the most interesting subject in the field of strong electron correlations. The model was introduced by Zener in 1951 as a canonical model for perovskite manganites , where $`e_\mathrm{g}`$ and $`t_{2\mathrm{g}}`$ electrons of manganese $`3d`$ bands are treated as itinerant electrons and localized spins, respectively. Interactions between these two species of electrons are taken into account through on-site Hund’s couplings which are stronger than electron hopping energies. The model has been investigated extensively for half a century, especially in connection with the colossal magnetoresistance phenomena in manganites.

Although the model is simple in its form, thermodynamic properties have not been well known so far. In general, it is difficult to investigate strongly correlated electron systems, both in analytical and numerical methods. Especially in this model, effects of thermal fluctuations around the critical temperature are quite strong so that perturbational approaches as well as mean-field methods do not work in controlled manners.

Recently, dynamical mean-field methods as well as Monte Carlo (MC) calculations on small lattice clusters are performed . These results are more reliable than simple mean-field theories in the sense that they partially take into account the thermal fluctuations. Nevertheless, the former method completely neglects spatial fluctuations while the latter suffers from finite size errors due to the loss of long wavelength fluctuations.

In order to study thermodynamic properties of the model, especially critical phenomena and their influences to electron conductions, it is necessary to perform calculations which properly take into account fluctuation effects. MC calculation on a large size cluster seems to be a promising method, provided finite-size extrapolation are treated properly.

In this paper, we study an algorithm for a MC calculation of the double exchange model which improves CPU-time consumption significantly. Using this algorithm, calculations for large size systems become easier, which enables us to perform extrapolations to the thermodynamic limit as well as finite-size scalings.

## 2 Monte Carlo algorithm

The double exchange model is defined by

$$(\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\})=t\underset{<i,j>\sigma }{}c_{i\sigma }^{}c_{j\sigma }J_\mathrm{H}\underset{i}{}\stackrel{}{\sigma }_i\stackrel{}{S}_i,$$
(1)
where $`c`$ and $`c^{}`$ represent operators for itinerant electrons while $`\stackrel{}{S}`$ is the localized classical spins. On-site Hund’s coupling $`J_\mathrm{H}`$ gives the interaction energy between itinerant electrons and localized spins. For a given and fixed spin configuration $`\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\}`$, the Hamiltonian is equivalent to a single-body electron system interacting with random magnetic fields. Properties of the system at finite temperatures are obtained through the thermodynamic average over the configuration $`\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\}`$.

Boltzmann weight for a spin configuration $`\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\}`$ is given by

$$P(\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\})=\mathrm{Tr}\mathrm{exp}[\beta ((\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\})\mu N)]=\underset{m}{}\left(1+\mathrm{exp}[\beta (\epsilon _m\mu )]\right),$$
(2)
where Tr represents a grand canonical trace over fermion degrees of freedom. Here, $`\epsilon _m`$ represent eigenvalues for $`(\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\})`$. MC sampling of the spin configuration $`\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\}`$ with the probability density $`P(\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\})`$ gives stochastical estimates for thermodynamical properties of the system. Direct evaluation of eq. (2) requires all the eigenvalues of $`(\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\})`$. To obtain all of them through a full diagonalization of the Hamiltonian matrix, it is necessary to make a calculation of $`O(N_{\mathrm{dim}}^3)`$ where $`N_{\mathrm{dim}}`$ is the Hilbert space dimension of the Hamiltonian.

Alternatively, $`P(\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\})`$ can be obtained using the density of states (DOS) . Equation (2) is rewritten as

$$\mathrm{log}P(\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\})=d\epsilon D(\epsilon )\mathrm{log}\left(1+\mathrm{exp}[\beta (\epsilon \mu )]\right),$$
(3)
where $`D(\epsilon )`$ is the DOS which depends on the spin configuration $`\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\}`$. Equation (3) is calculated efficiently by the moment expansion algorithm . For a given function $`f(\epsilon )`$, we perform a Chebyshev polynomial expansion

$`{\displaystyle d\epsilon D(\epsilon )f(\epsilon )}=\mu _0f_0+2{\displaystyle \underset{n1}{}}\mu _nf_n,`$ (4)
$`f_n={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}\epsilon }{\pi \sqrt{1\epsilon ^2}}T_n(\epsilon )f(\epsilon )},`$ (5)
$`\mu _n=\mathrm{Tr}T_n()={\displaystyle \underset{\nu }{}}\nu |T_n()|\nu ,`$ (6)
where $`T_n`$ is the $`n`$-th Chebyshev polynomial defined by $`T_0(\epsilon )=1`$, $`T_1(\epsilon )=\epsilon `$, and $`T_{m+1}(\epsilon )=2\epsilon T_m(\epsilon )T_{m1}(\epsilon )`$. $`\{|\nu \}`$ is a complete set of kets. We assume here that, in order to ensure the expansion, the Hamiltonian is normalized properly to satisfy $`|\epsilon _m|<1`$. Moments for the DOS $`\mu _n`$ are calculated for each given spin configuration $`\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\}`$, while $`f_n`$ are fixed throughout the MC run.

In practice, eq. (6) is calculated as follows. We define

$$|\nu ;mT_m()|\nu .$$
(7)
Using the recursion formula for the Chebyshev polynomials, we have

$$|\nu ;m=2|\nu ;m1|\nu ;m2.$$
(8)
From the multiplication formula $`T_{m+n}=2T_mT_nT_{mn}`$, moments for the DOS are calculated as

$`\mu _{2m}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\nu }{}}\left(\nu ;m|\nu ;m1\right),`$ (9)
$`\mu _{2m+1}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\nu }{}}\left(\nu ;m|\nu ;m+1\nu ;0|\nu ;1\right).`$ (10)
As we see from above, calculation of $`P(\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\})`$ based on the moment expansion algorithm costs the CPU time of $`O(N_{\mathrm{dim}}^2)`$, i.e. the sparse matrix product $`O(N_{\mathrm{dim}})`$ times the trace over the complete set $`O(N_{\mathrm{dim}})`$, provided the electron hopping is short ranged. Therefore, when the lattice size is large, this algorithm provides us a faster calculation than the algorithm based on matrix diagonalization with $`O(N_{\mathrm{dim}}^3)`$. Moreover, for each $`\nu `$, eqs. (7)-(10) can be calculated independently. Thus this algorithm is optimized for parallel computations. In contrast, the previous algorithm based on diagonalization of matrices is known to be inefficient for parallelizations.

This algorithm is applicable to wide classes of strongly correlated electron systems where itinerant electrons are coupled with thermally fluctuating fields $`\{\varphi _i\}`$. If one considers $`\{\varphi _i\}`$ as a classical field, thermodynamic averages over $`\{\varphi _i\}`$ are calculated by a MC run. $`P(\{\varphi _i\})`$ are calculated by the moment expansion algorithm. It is justified to treat $`\{\varphi _i\}`$ as a classical field at finite temperature, at least near the renormalized classical critical points. It is in general interesting to survey such a region, since the effects of critical fluctuations to the conduction electrons are highly non-trivial.

## 3 Benchmark Results and Comments

Numerical calculations are performed on Aoyama Plus systems , Beowulf-type clusters of commodity personal computers connected by 100Base-Tx Fast Ethernet. Benchmarks are taken on two of the cluster systems, (i) 69 node cluster of dual Pentium II 350MHz with 384MB memory (total 138 processors and 26GB memory) and (ii) 11 node cluster of dual Celeron 533MHz with 256MB memory (total 22 processors and 2.8GB memory). We use MPI for parallel computations. Within a node, shared memory SMP communications based on OpenMP interfaces are used.

In Table 1 we show the benchmark results for a comparison between the full diagonalization algorithm and the moment expansion algorithm. We take 10,000 MC steps which is typically a minimum number necessary for accurate calculations. Calculations based on the full diagonalization algorithm are performed on one node since it is difficult to make an efficient parallel computation. 64 CPUs are used in parallel for the moment expansion algorithm. As a result, we see a large improvement of the computational speed by the moment expansion algorithm. MC calculation on a $`8^3`$ lattice, which has been virtually impossible by the full diagonalization algorithm, now turns out to be within our reach by the moment expansion algorithm. Using the commodity PC clusters with over 100 CPUs, it is practical to perform a MC calculation for a system with $`N_{\mathrm{dim}}10^3`$.

Thus it is now feasible to investigate finite size clusters with systematic series of lattice sizes. Extrapolations to thermodynamic limits as well as finite-size scalings for various thermodynamical properties will be reported elsewhere .

Benchmark results for the parallel calculation efficiency are shown in Fig. 1. Computational speeds are indexed by numbers of moments calculated per second. We show the results for (i) a PentiumII system, (ii) a Celeron system, as well as (iii) SGI2800 for comparison. We see that in either system the computational speed scales almost linearly with the number of nodes $`N_{\mathrm{node}}`$. This indicates that the efficiency of the parallel computation is quite high at Nnode
<102
<subscript𝑁nodesuperscript102N_{\rm node}\mathrel{\mathchoice{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\m@th\displaystyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\m@th\textstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\m@th\scriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}{\lower 2.5pt\vbox{\halign{$\m@th\scriptscriptstyle\hfil#\hfil$\cr<\crcr\sim\crcr}}}}10^{2}. The benchmark result also shows that the program runs equivalently or even faster on commodity personal computer systems compared to the high-performance (and high-cost) parallel computational system.

The moment expansion algorithm is optimized for parallel computations, especially on Beowulf-type commodity systems, in the following sense. (i) The most CPU time consuming part of the MC run is the calculation of $`P(\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\})`$, which is completely parallelized. Data transfer occurs only once for each calculation of $`P(\{\stackrel{}{S}_i\})`$, while the CPU time for it scales as $`O(N_{\mathrm{dim}}^2/N_{\mathrm{node}})`$. Thus, for sufficiently large systems, data transfer time is negligibly small compared to calculation time. High efficiency of the parallel computation is well understood by Amdahl’s law. (ii) In general, MC calculations consume small amount of memory. In the present case with $`N_{\mathrm{dim}}10^3`$, less than 100kB of memory is used for the vectors $`|\nu ;m`$ as well as for the matrix $``$, which do not overflow from the Level2 (L2) cache of commodity CPUs. Computational speed scales almost linearly with CPU clock speed. (iii) Communications among CPUs as well as access to main memories are, in general, the bottlenecks in the usage of the commodity-type clusters. In our algorithm, these two features conceal the disadvantages.

Since the increase of the CPU clock speed for commodity computers is quite large nowadays, it is now getting easier and easier to construct a commodity computer systems which exhibits a high price-performance for the moment expansion calculations.

Let us finally note that the moment expansion algorithm is applicable to many kinds of strongly correlated electron systems. We have obtained a powerful algorithm to investigate thermodynamic properties of various electronic models which have not yet been studied numerically in a systematic way.

## Acknowledgements

The work is supported by the Scientific and Engineering Research Center, Aoyama Gakuin University. MC calculations are performed on Aoyama Plus systems  as well as at the Supercomputor Center, ISSP, University of Tokyo.


text:
# Evidence for Suppression of Superconductivity by Spin Imbalance in Co-Al-Co single electron transistors

## Abstract

Spin imbalance is predicted to lead to suppression of superconductivity. We report phenomena manifesting this effect under spin-polarized quasiparticle currents in ferromagnet-superconductor-ferromagnet single electron transistors. The measured superconducting gap as a function of magnetic field reveals a dramatic decrease when the magnetizations of the two leads are in opposite orientations. The effect of suppression increases with increasing voltage but decreases at elevated temperatures. The possible explanations for these dependences are given. This method may render it applicable to control superconductivity at low temperatures and low fields.

The interplay between superconductivity and magnetism has been a topic of interest for many years. Of particular interest are recent experiments on ferromagnet/superconductor (FM/SC) junctions with high $`T_C`$ in which a decrease of the supercurrent by nonequilibrium spin density was demonstrated. Furthermore, theoretical studies also indicate that spin imbalance in a superconductor can lead to suppression of superconductivity. In a double tunnel junction containing a normal metal or a superconductor sandwiched between two ferromagnets, both injection of polarized current and spin accumulation are possible, and thus provide an ideal test ground for the theory. When the magnetic moments of the two ferromagnetic leads are in opposite orientations (referred to as the antiferromagnetic (AF) alignment), the difference in the number of majority and minority spins in the central electrode brings in a chemical potential difference. In a normal metal, this potential difference is superconductors $`\delta \mu =PeV/2`$, where $`P`$ is the polarization of the ferromagnetic leads and $`V`$ is the voltage across the sample. In a superconductor, this difference gives rise to pair breaking, same as the Zeeman effect does to superconductivity in the paramagnetic limit. In this paper, we report the first direct observation of the superconducting gap suppression using Co/Al/Co (FM/SC/FM) double tunnel junctions. The effect can be turned on and off by manipulating the mutual orientations of the magnetic moment of the two Co leads. We further discuss some relevant time scales, including the spin relaxation time and the tunneling time, which set the criterion for spin accumulation in the superconductor.

The inset of Fig. 1 shows an SEM picture of a measured sample and its biasing circuit. The samples were fabricated by standard electron-beam lithography techniques and by the shadow evaporation method. A thin native $`\mathrm{Al}_2\mathrm{O}_3`$ layer between the Al island and the Co electrodes acted as a tunnel barrier. Aluminum is a good candidate to serve as the superconductor for this purpose, not just for its long spin lifetime allowing the full range of spin effects to be studied, but also for its high quality native $`\mathrm{Al}_2\mathrm{O}_3`$ barrier which was shown to have no spin-flip tunneling processes. Our electron-gun deposited Al islands have a superconducting transition temperature of about 2K. The samples were measured using a dilution refrigerator and the magnetic field was applied along the Co leads, i.e. parallel to the long edge of the Al island. Because of the small thickness ($``$25nm) of the Al island and of the alignment with the magnetic field, the critical magnetic field $`H_C`$ for the Al islands was 21kGs. Experimentally, we found that the coercivity field for the two Co-leads was smaller than 2kGs, well below $`H_C`$, and thus has negligible influence on the superconductivity of the Al island. A necessary condition for the imbalance is that the spin relaxation time ts is longer than the time tt between two successive tunneling events. A rough estimate of $`\tau _t`$ is $`e/I`$, which, as will be shown below, is about 0.1$``$1 ns. This is shorter than the reported spin relaxation time $`\tau _s`$ of about 10ns in Al films, making the spin imbalance possible.

The current-voltage ($`IV`$) characteristics are similar to those for a normal metal-superconductor-normal metal (N/SC/N) double junction structure. Because the tunnel junction is small, the charging energy $`E_C`$ associated with it is large. The current-voltage characteristics measured at low temperatures displayed, in addition to the superconducting gap $`2\mathrm{\Delta }_0/e`$, a pronounced Coulomb gap $`2E_C/e`$. This Coulomb gap can be suppressed to a minimum by tuning the voltage applied on the gate electrode, which is coupled to the central island via a capacitor $`C_g`$. From a plot of the zero field $`IV`$ characteristics as a function of gate voltages (i.e. the “Coulomb Blockade parallelogram”), we estimated a superconducting gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ of about 250 $`\mu e\mathrm{V}`$, and a charging energy $`E_C`$ of 100$``$150 $`\mu e\mathrm{V}`$.

Throughout this study, the samples were symmetrically current-biased with respect to the ground. We applied a parallel magnetic field to decrease the size of the superconducting gap, and monitored this decrease by measuring the voltages. As shown in Fig. 1, when the field was ramped from +25kGs to -25kGs, we found a sharp voltage drop at a field of around -1.5kGs; When the field was reversed and ramped up from -25kGs to around +1.5kGs, then the voltage dropped again, yielding a symmetric $`V(H)`$ pattern with respect to zero field. Because of the current-bias circuitry, the change in the current was less than 1% regardless of the large voltage change. This hysteresis was reproducible, and similar results were found for other samples. This behavior is very similar to the hysteresis seen in tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) of a ferromagnet-insulator-ferromagnet single tunnel junction (see for example Ref. ). By token of this similarity it is reasonable to argue that a field of $`|H|=25`$kGs is sufficiently large to saturate the magnetization of the two leads and to make them parallel to the applied fields, whereas at small fields ($`H=\pm 1.5`$kGs for the sample of Fig. 1) they are in AF alignment. The presence of the two dips in voltage in the AF alignment thus demonstrates the suppression of superconductivity of the Al island, due to spin imbalance.

Figure 1 also shows $`V(H)`$ curves taken at various bias currents. By taking the $`V(H)`$ curves at various bias currents one can recover the $`IV`$ characteristics, as displayed in Fig. 2, for three different cases: (I) When the island is in the superconducting state with no applied magnetic field. (II) When the island is in the normal state and the two leads are in the ferromagnetic alignment. (III) When the island is in the superconducting state and the two leads are in the AF alignment. For the case (I), the obtained $`IV`$ characteristic can be fitted by a simulation  of a N/SC/N single electron transistor at gate voltage $`V_g`$ corresponding to the minimum Coulomb blockade threshold (i.e. $`V_g=e/2C_g`$). From this fitting, one can obtain a good estimate of the sample parameters, including the capacitances and the resistances of the two tunnel junctions and, most importantly, the zero-field superconducting gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ of the Al island. The fitted $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ value is about 260 $`\mu e\mathrm{V}`$, agreeing well with the gap estimate from the plot of “Coulomb Blockade parallelogram”. The fitted junction parameters can then be checked by a fitting to the $`IV`$ characteristics obtained for the case (II), that is, for an all-normal-metal (N/N/N) transistor. The parameters for this particular sample are as follows (with subscripts $`S`$ and $`D`$ stand respectively for source and drain): $`R_S=R_D`$=237kW, $`C_S`$=360aF, $`C_D`$=300aF, $`C_g`$=0.47aF, and $`V_g`$=160mV. A temperature of 250mK is used for this fitting; this is reasonable considering the heating due to eddy current induced by the sweeping field. At a voltage interval, the calculated current for the case (II) is smaller than the measured ones; this may be attributed to tunneling processes that are not included in the simulation. For example, it is known that for $`V_g=e/2C_g`$, there is a knee at $`V=2E_C/e=0.24`$mV, below which sequential tunneling process suppresses the differential conductance by a factor of two. However, in reality this feature may be smeared probably due to Zener tunneling to the upper band.

With the knowledge of the sample parameters one can calculate the $`IV`$ characteristics at $`V_g=e/2C_g`$ for various superconducting gaps $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}`$. Note that in the AF alignment, the effective drain tunneling resistance $`R_{D\mathrm{A}}`$ increases by a factor of $`(1+P^2)/(1P^2)`$. For the case of the Co electrodes the reported $`P`$ value is about 0.4. Taking into account this correction, we plot the calculated curves together with the $`IV`$ curve for the cases (I)$``$(III) in Fig. 2. The cross points between the $`IV`$ curve for the case (III) and the calculated curves for various superconducting gaps $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}`$ in the AF alignment give a relationship between the voltage $`V`$ and the corresponding $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}`$, as depicted in Fig. 3(a). Theoretically the dependence of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}`$ on $`V`$ is determined by combining the $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}(\delta \mu )`$ and $`\delta \mu (eV)`$ functions, and self-consistent calculating the values of $`\delta \mu `$, $`eV`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}`$. The calculated $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}/\mathrm{\Delta }_0(V)`$ curves are shown in Fig. 3(a). While the theory is based on the assumption that majority spins can accumulate in the island, this imbalance of spins is a nonequilibrium process. In view of this, our analysis, which assumes a $`R_{D\mathrm{A}}`$ using a $`P`$ value of the ferromagnetic leads, could be an oversimplified approach. Nevertheless, this analysis should give a quantitative picture of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}/\mathrm{\Delta }_0(V)`$ dependence.

Our analysis (depicted in Fig. 3(a)) with $`P`$=0.4 shows that at $`V<2\mathrm{\Delta }_0/e`$ the ratio $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}/\mathrm{\Delta }_0(V)`$ increases with voltage and a maximum value appears at $`V_{\mathrm{peak}}2.4\mathrm{\Delta }_0/e`$. To see the effect of the $`P`$ value on the $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}/\mathrm{\Delta }_0(V)`$ dependence, we further test a $`P`$ value of 0.6, which corresponds to a higher $`R_{D\mathrm{A}}`$. As shown in Fig. 3(a), because of this increase in resistance, the $`V_{\mathrm{peak}}`$ value shifts toward $`2\mathrm{\Delta }_0/e`$. Furthermore, for both $`P`$ values at $`V`$ below $`V_{\mathrm{peak}}`$ we found suppression of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}`$ to about $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0(V)`$ and a lowering of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}`$ with decreasing $`V`$. This behavior is even pronounced for sample #2. Ideally, at low temperatures and low voltages, absence of quasiparticle tunneling should lead to a $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}/\mathrm{\Delta }_0(V)`$ value close to 1. Various origins can give rise to excess current, which are not taken into account in our simulation. This excess current, in our analysis, can give a lower $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}`$ value than what is expected. One possible source for such excess current is the co-tunneling process. In this process, the excess current increases at voltages close to $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}/e`$, and has stronger influence for $`IV`$ curves with smaller $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}`$ values, and is thus responsible for the decrease of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}/\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ value at lower voltages. On the other hand, for $`V>V_{\mathrm{peak}}`$ , the calculated $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}/\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ value is smaller than the experimental ones. This discrepancy probably arises from a too long energy relaxation time in our small Al island, which can smear the effect of spin imbalance.

We have also measured the $`V(H)`$ curves (as those in Fig. 1) at various temperatures. By using the same analysis technique as above, we traced out separately the $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0(T)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}(T)`$ dependences, and plotted the ratio $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}/\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ as a function of temperature. As shown in Fig. 3(b), for $`T<0.6`$K this ratio increases with temperature. In this temperature range, both the energy relaxation time and the spin relaxation time do not change much with temperature. Our result, shown in Fig. 3b, may be explained by the fast relaxation of domains in the Co leads, as we discuss below.

In the TMR experiments, the two ferromagnetic electrodes are usually made of two different materials with different coercivities. In our case, the AF alignments may be caused by random domain distributions in the two Co leads. The junction area is about 80nm$`\times `$80nm, which is close to the reported domain size of a thin Co wire. Therefore, the measured hysteresis shown in Fig. 1 is simply a sign of magnetization reversal in probably a single domain. The magnetic field was swept at a rate of 2.5kGs/min; this is a crucial condition for the observed strong suppression of the superconducting gap. As shown in Fig. 4(a), a smaller sweep rate results in a smaller suppression effect. This is a signature of a lesser spin imbalance and indicates imperfect AF alignment of the two leads. We note that this sweep rate dependence is completely reproducible, and that similar results were found for several other samples. The fact that the amount of spin imbalance is sweep rate dependent indicates that the magnetization reversal is a nonequilibrium process. All magnetic systems that exhibit hysteresis are expected to relax slowly toward the free energy minimum. Indeed, when the field is swept from +25kGs to -1.5kGs (at which $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}`$ is at a minimum) at a rate of 2.5kG/min and pause, then the value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}`$ decrease with time. Moreover, as shown in Fig. 4(b), the rate of this decrease is higher at higher temperatures. The relaxation time follows a simple Arrhenius dependence on temperature, indicating a thermal activated relaxation of magnetization in individual domains. The activation energy is about 140K. This relaxation can account for the lessening suppression of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{A}`$ at high temperatures.

In conclusion, the superconducting gap of a small Al island, when incorporated in a single electron transistor structure in which the two electrodes were made of Co, was found to be strongly suppressed by polarized quasiparticle injection from the ferromagnetic leads if the two leads were in AF alignment. The effect appears to be caused by pair breaking associated with spin-imbalance in the superconducting island. At elevated temperatures, faster relaxation of magnetization of the two ferromagnetic leads yields a diminution of spin imbalance. This experiment provides a new method of controlling superconductivity.

Fruitful discussions with S. K. Yip, G. Y. Guo, C. S. Chu, Y. S. Wu, J. J. Lin and S. F. Lee are gratefully acknowledged. We have made use of facilities at the National Nano Device Laboratories. This research was partly funded by the Nation Science Council No. 89-2112-M-001-033.