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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The notion of parafermions  was introduced in the context of statistical models and conformal field theory . Parafermions generalize the Majorana fermions and have found important applications in many areas of physics. From statistical mechanics point of view, parafermions are related to the exclusion statistics introduced by Haldane . In particular, the $`Z_k`$ parafermion models offer various extensions of the Ising model which corresponds to the $`k=2`$ case .

The category for parafermions (nonlocal operators) is the generalized vertex operator algebra . The $`Z_k`$ parafermion algebra was referred to as $`Z`$-algebra in , and it was proved that the $`Z`$-algebra is identical with the $`A_1^{(1)}`$ parafermions.

The $`Z_k`$ parafermions proposed in  are basically related to the simplest $`A_1^{(1)}`$ algebra. Various extensions have been considered by many researchers. Gepner proposed a parafermion algebra associated with any given untwisted affine Lie algebra $`𝒢^{(1)}`$ , which has been subsequently used in the study of $`D`$-branes. The operator product expansions (OPEs) and the corresponding $`Z`$-algebra of the untwisted parafermions were studied in , and a $`W_3`$-algebra was constructed from the $`SU(3)_k`$ parafermions. In  a $`W_5`$-algebra was constructed by using the $`SU(2)_k`$ parafermions.

More recently, Camino et al extended the $`Z_k`$ parafermion algebra and investigated graded parafermions associated with the $`osp(1|2)^{(1)}`$ Lie superalgebra . The central charge of the graded parafermions algebra is $`c=\frac{3}{2k+3}`$, which implies that for $`k`$ a positive integer, $`c`$ is always negative. Thus the graded parafermion theory is not unitary.

In , we found a new type of nonlocal currents (quasi-particles), which were referred to as twisted parafermions. The nonlocal currents take values in the homogeneous space $`A_2^{(2)}/U(1)`$. To distinguish our theory from the twisted versions of , in this paper we refer our nonlocal currents to as $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermions.

The $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermion system contains a boson-like spin-$`1`$ field and six nonlocal fields with fractional spins $`1\frac{1}{4k}`$ and $`1\frac{1}{k}`$, and leads to a new conformal field theory which is different from the known ones. Let us remark that, while fields with conformal dimensions of $`1\frac{1}{4k}`$ and $`1\frac{1}{k}`$ also appeared in the graded parafermion algebra , our $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermion theory is quite different. In particular, our theory is unitary and has a different central charge.

In this paper, we investigate the theory further. We give a free field representation of the $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermion theory in terms of seven free bosons. We also obtain the free field realization of the highest weight state and screening currents. We discover a new algebraic structure which contains a spin-$`2`$ primary field. This is similar to a $`W`$-algebra structure but now the spin is two.

The layout of the paper is as follows. In section $`2`$, we briefly review the $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermion algebra obtained in , which will be extensively used in this paper. In section $`3`$, we give some results concerning the $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermion Hilbert space. In section $`4`$, we give a free field representation of the $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermion currents, highest weight state and screening currents. We present a new $`W`$-algebra structure in section $`5`$.

## 2 Twisted parafermions: a brief review

The parafermion current algebra proposed in  is related to the twisted affine Lie algebra $`A_2^{(2)}/U(1)`$. This $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermion theory is not an extension of the usual $`Z_k`$ parafermions, but a twisted version of the Gepner construction . To begin with, let $`g`$ be a simple finite-dimensional Lie algebra and $`\sigma `$ be an automorphism of $`g`$ satisfying $`\sigma ^r=1`$ for a positive integer $`r`$, then $`g`$ can be decomposed into the form :

$$g=_{j𝐙/r𝐙}g_j,$$
(2.1)
where $`g_j`$ is the eigenspace of $`\sigma `$ with eigenvalue $`e^{2j\pi i/r}`$, and $`[g_i,g_j]g_{(i+j)modr}`$ , then $`r`$ is called the order of the automorphism. For $`A_2^{(2)}`$ algebra, we have $`g=A_2`$ so that

$$A_2=g_0g_1,$$
(2.2)
where $`g_0`$ is the fixed point subalgebra of $`A_2`$ under the automorphism and $`g_1`$ is the five dimensional representation of $`g_0`$. $`g_0`$ and $`g_1`$ satisfy $`[g_i,g_j]g_{(i+j)mod2}`$. We associate a generating parafermion to a vector in the root lattice $`M`$ mod $`kM_L`$, where $`M_L`$ is the long root lattice and $`k`$ is a constant identified with the level of the corresponding twisted affine algebra. Generating parafermions are defined by projecting out the affine currents corresponding to the Cartan subalgebra . Denote by $`\psi _a`$ the $`A_2^{(2)}`$ generating parafermions with $`a=\stackrel{~}{0},\pm \alpha ,\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha },\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}=\alpha +\stackrel{~}{\alpha }`$, where $`\stackrel{~}{0}^2=\stackrel{~}{0}\alpha =\stackrel{~}{0}\stackrel{~}{\alpha }=\stackrel{~}{0}\stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}=0`$ and $`\alpha ^2=\stackrel{~}{\alpha }^2=\alpha \stackrel{~}{\alpha }=1`$, $`\stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}^2=4`$. Then $`\psi _{\pm \alpha }`$ are currents in $`g_0`$ and $`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}},\psi _{\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha }},\psi _{\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}}`$ are currents in $`g_1`$. Note that $`\stackrel{~}{0}`$ is a ”null” root vector in the sense that both its length and its dot product with all other root vectors are zero. So parafermion currents associated with $`A_2^{(2)}`$ live in either Ramond sector (i.e. the currents in $`g_0`$) or Neveu-Schwarz sector(i.e. the currents in $`g_1`$).

Due to the mutually semilocal property between two parafermions, the radial ordering products are multivalued functions. So we define the radial ordering product of (generating) $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermions (TPFs) as

$`\psi _a(z)\psi _b(w)(zw)^{ab/2k}=\psi _b(w)\psi _a(z)(wz)^{ab/2k},`$ (2.3)
where $`a=\stackrel{~}{0},\pm \alpha ,\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha },\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}`$. From the above definition, we have

$$T_\psi (z)\psi _a(w)=\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_a}{(zw)^2}\psi _a(w)+\frac{1}{zw}\psi _a(w)+\mathrm{}.$$
(2.4)
where $`T_\psi `$ is the energy-momentum tensor of the theory, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_a=1\frac{a^2}{4k}`$ is the conformal dimension of current $`\psi _a`$. It follows that the conformal dimensions of the $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermion currents are $`1(a=\stackrel{~}{0}),\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1}\frac{1}{4k}(a=\pm \alpha ,\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha })`$ and $`1\frac{1}{k}(a=\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha }_2)`$, for a given level $`k`$. The values of the dimensions determine the leading singularity in the OPE of the currents. In fact, we have

$`\psi _a(z)\psi _b(w)`$ $`=`$ $`(zw)^{\mathrm{\Delta }_{a+b}\mathrm{\Delta }_a\mathrm{\Delta }_b}(\epsilon _{a,b}\psi _{a+b}(w)+\mathrm{},),`$ (2.5)
$`\psi _a(z)\psi _a(w)`$ $`=`$ $`(zw)^{2\mathrm{\Delta }_a}I_0(z)+\mathrm{},`$ (2.6)
where $`\epsilon _{a,b}`$ are the constants, $`I_0(z)`$ will be determined below and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_a`$$`\mathrm{\Delta }_b`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{a+b}`$ are the conformal dimensions of $`\psi _a`$$`\psi _b`$ and $`\psi _{a+b}`$, respectively. If $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{a+b}\mathrm{\Delta }_a\mathrm{\Delta }_b0`$, then two operators $`\psi _a`$$`\psi _b`$ commute. The nontrivial OPEs are given by $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{a+b}\mathrm{\Delta }_a\mathrm{\Delta }_b<0`$. For example,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_{\stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}}\mathrm{\Delta }_{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}\mathrm{\Delta }_\alpha =1\frac{1}{k}2\left(1\frac{1}{4k}\right)=1\frac{1}{2k},$$
(2.7)
In the OPE form, this corresponds to

$$\psi _\alpha (z)\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}(w)=\frac{\epsilon _{\alpha ,\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}}{(zw)^{(1+1/2k)}}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}}(w)+\mathrm{},$$
(2.8)
or equivalently,

$$\psi _\alpha (z)\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}(w)(zw)^{1/2k}=\frac{\epsilon _{\alpha ,\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}}{zw}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}}(w)+\mathrm{}.$$
(2.9)
Similarly,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_\alpha \mathrm{\Delta }_\alpha =2\left(1\frac{1}{4k}\right)=2+\frac{1}{2k}.$$
(2.10)
From the dimensional analysis, the conformal dimension of $`I_0(z)`$ on the r.h.s. of the 2nd equation of (2.6) is zero. It follows that $`I_0(z)`$ is a constant, which will be set to 1 in the sequel.

We have seen that $`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}`$ is a spin-$`1`$ current in $`g_1`$ that corresponds to the “null” root vector $`\stackrel{~}{0}`$. Keeping in mind the fact that $`\psi _{\pm \alpha }g_0`$ and $`\psi _{\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha }}g_1`$, we have $`\psi _\alpha \psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}\psi _{\alpha \stackrel{~}{\alpha }}g_1`$$`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}\psi _\alpha \psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }\alpha }g_1`$$`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}\psi _\alpha \psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}+\alpha }g_1`$ and $`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}+\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}g_0`$. From the dimensional analysis and noting that $`(\stackrel{~}{0}+\alpha )^2=1=(\stackrel{~}{0}+\stackrel{~}{\alpha })^2`$ and $`(\alpha \stackrel{~}{\alpha })^2=0=(\stackrel{~}{\alpha }\alpha )^2`$, we have the identifications: $`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}+\alpha }\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}`$$`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}+\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}\psi _\alpha `$$`\psi _{\alpha \stackrel{~}{\alpha }}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}`$ and $`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }\alpha }\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}`$. Thus we have

$`\psi _\alpha (z)\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}(w)(zw)^{1/2k}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon _{\alpha ,\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}}{zw}}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}(w)+\mathrm{},`$
$`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}(z)\psi _\alpha (w)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon _{\stackrel{~}{0},\alpha }}{zw}}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}(w)+\mathrm{},`$
$`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}(z)\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}(w)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon _{\stackrel{~}{0},\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}}{zw}}\psi _\alpha (w)+\mathrm{}.`$
We see that $`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}(z)`$ is a spin-$`1`$ primary field which transforms the fields in the Ramond sector to those in the Neveu-Schwarz sector or vice versa. This is easy to understand from the theory of the $`A_2`$ current algebra .

Summarizing, we may write the OPEs in the general form:

$`\psi _\mu (z)\psi _\nu (w)(zw)^{\mu \nu /2k}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta _{\mu +\nu ,0}}{(zw)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon _{\mu ,\nu }}{zw}}\psi _{\mu +\nu }(w)+\mathrm{},`$
$`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\mu }}(z)\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\nu }}(w)(zw)^{\stackrel{~}{\mu }\stackrel{~}{\nu }/2k}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta _{\stackrel{~}{\mu }+\stackrel{~}{\nu },0}}{(zw)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon _{\stackrel{~}{\mu },\stackrel{~}{\nu }}}{zw}}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\mu }+\stackrel{~}{\nu }}(w)+\mathrm{},`$
$`\psi _\mu (z)\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\nu }}(w)(zw)^{\mu \stackrel{~}{\nu }/2k}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\epsilon _{\mu ,\stackrel{~}{\nu }}}{zw}}\psi _{\mu +\stackrel{~}{\nu }}(w)+\mathrm{},`$ (2.11)
where $`\mu ,\nu =\pm \alpha ,\stackrel{~}{\mu },\stackrel{~}{\nu }=\stackrel{~}{0},\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha },\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha }_2`$; $`\epsilon _{\mu ,\nu },\epsilon _{\stackrel{~}{\mu },\stackrel{~}{\nu }}`$ and $`\epsilon _{\mu ,\stackrel{~}{\nu }}`$ are structure constants. For consistency, $`\epsilon _{a,b}`$ must have the properties: $`\epsilon _{a,b}=\epsilon _{b,a}=\epsilon _{a,b}=\epsilon _{a,a+b}`$ and $`\epsilon _{a,a}=0`$. The following structure constants have been found in :

$$\epsilon _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha },\stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}}=\epsilon _{\alpha ,\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}=\epsilon _{\alpha ,\stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{k}},\epsilon _{\alpha ,\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}=\epsilon _{\stackrel{~}{0},\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}=\sqrt{\frac{3}{2k}},$$
(2.12)
and other constants can be obtained by using the symmetry properties. The above structure constants are compatible with the associativity requirement of the OPEs. This is seen as follows. Let $`A_a`$ and $`B_b`$ be two arbitrary functions of the $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermions with charges $`a`$ and $`b`$, respectively. We write their OPEs as

$$A_a(z)B_b(w)(zw)^{ab/2k}=\underset{n=[h_A+h_B]}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}[A_aB_b]_n(w)(zw)^n,$$
(2.13)
where $`[h_A]`$ stands for the integral part of the dimension of $`A`$. Hence we have $`[A_aB_b]_n(w)=_w𝑑zA_a(z)B_b(w)(zw)^{n1+ab/2k}`$. It is easy to find the following relation between the three-fold radial ordering products

$`\{{\displaystyle _w}du{\displaystyle _w}dzR(A(u)R(B(z)C(w)))`$
$`{\displaystyle _w}𝑑z{\displaystyle _w}𝑑u()^{ab/2k}R(B(z)R(A(u)C(w)))`$
$`{\displaystyle _w}dz{\displaystyle _z}duR(R(A(u)B(z))C(w))\}`$
$`(zw)^{p1+bc/2k}(uw)^{q1+ac/2k}(uz)^{r1+ab/2k}=0,`$ (2.14)
where integers $`p,q,r`$ are in the regions: $`\mathrm{}<p[h_B+h_C],\mathrm{}<q[h_C+h_A],\mathrm{}<r[h_A+h_B]`$; $`a,b,c`$ are parafermionic charges of the fields $`A,B`$ and $`C`$, respectively. Performing the binomial expansions, we obtain the following identity:

$`{\displaystyle \underset{i=p}{\overset{[h_B+h_C]}{}}}C_{r1+ab/2k}^{(ip)}[A[BC]_i]_{Qi}(w)+()^r{\displaystyle \underset{j=q}{\overset{[h_C+h_A]}{}}}C_{r1+ab/2k}^{(jq)}[B[AC]_j]_{Qj}(w)`$
$`={\displaystyle \underset{l=r}{\overset{[h_B+h_A]}{}}}()^{(lr)}C_{q1+ac/2k}^{(lr)}[[AB]_lC]_{Ql}(w),`$ (2.15)
where $`Q=p+q+r1`$. This identity is the twisted Jacobi identity of the parafermion algebra.

Now the structure constants of the currents can be derived from the (2.15). For example, we calculate the OPEs of $`[\psi _a\psi _a]_0`$ with $`\psi _a`$ and $`[\psi _b\psi _b]_0`$. Setting $`Q=p=2,q=1`$ and $`r=0`$ in (2.15), and comparing with (2.4), then we have

$$\underset{a}{}\epsilon _{a,b}\epsilon _{a,a+b}=\frac{6b^2}{k},\underset{a}{}ab=0,\underset{a}{}(ab)^2=12b^2.$$
(2.16)
The structure constants (2.12) satisfy all these equations.

A special case of the parafermion OPEs is

$`\psi _a(z)\psi _a(w)(zw)^{a^2/2k}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(zw)^2}}+\left(2+{\displaystyle \frac{24(1\mathrm{\Delta }_a)}{a^2}}\right)t_a+\mathrm{},`$ (2.17)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(zw)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2(k+3)}{k}}t_a+\mathrm{}`$
where terms $`t_a`$ in the right hand side are fields with conformal dimension $`2`$. From the conformal field theory, they should be related to the energy-momentum tensor. Indeed, if we define,

$$T_\psi (z)=\underset{a}{}t_a$$
(2.18)
then

$$T_\psi (z)T_\psi (w)=\frac{c_\psi /2}{(zw)^4}+\frac{2T_\psi (w)}{(zw)^2}+\frac{T_\psi (w)}{zw}+\mathrm{},$$
(2.19)
where

$$c_\psi =2\underset{a}{}\frac{a^2\mathrm{\Delta }_a}{2a^2+24(1\mathrm{\Delta }_a)}=7\frac{24}{k+3}=\frac{8k}{k+3}1,$$
(2.20)
is the central charge of the $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermion theory.

## 3 $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermion Hilbert space

we now analyze the structure of the Hilbert representation $``$ space of the parafermion theory. For every field in the parafermion theory there are a pair of charges $`(\lambda ,\overline{\lambda })`$, which take values in the weight lattice. We denote such a field by $`\varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}(z,\overline{z})`$ . Let $`_{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}`$ be the subspace of $``$ with the indicated charges. Then $``$ is the direct sum of the form:

$$=_{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}$$
(3.1)
The non-locality $`\gamma `$ of two fields $`\varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}`$ and $`\varphi _{\lambda ^{},\overline{\lambda }^{}}`$ is defined by

$$\gamma (\varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }},\varphi _{\lambda ^{},\overline{\lambda }^{}})=\frac{1}{2k}\left(\lambda \lambda ^{}\overline{\lambda }\overline{\lambda }^{}\right).$$
(3.2)
Note that the parafermionic current $`\psi _b(z)`$ has the left charge $`\lambda =b`$ and the right charge $`\overline{\lambda }=0`$. So for the currents with zero right charges, the exponent is,

$$\gamma (\psi _a,\psi _b)=\frac{ab}{2k},$$
(3.3)
which is exactly the exponent appeared in (2.11). If we rewrite the (2.11) as

$$\psi _a(z)\psi _b(w)(zw)^{ab/2k}\underset{n=2}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}(zw)^n[\psi _a\psi _b]_n,$$
(3.4)
then we have $`\left[\psi _a\psi _b\right]_l=0(l3)`$, $`\left[\psi _a\psi _b\right]_2=\delta _{a+b,0}`$ and $`\left[\psi _a\psi _b\right]_1=\epsilon _{a,b}\psi _{a+b}`$.

The OPE of $`\psi _a`$ with $`\varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}(z,\overline{z})`$ is given by

$$\psi _a(z)\varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}(w,\overline{w})=\underset{m=\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}(zw)^{m1a\lambda /2k}A_m^{a,\lambda }\varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}(w,\overline{w}),$$
(3.5)
where $`m𝐙`$ (Ramond sector) for $`a=\pm \alpha `$ and $`m𝐙+\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{\mathrm{𝟐}}`$ (Neveu-Schwarz sector) for $`a=\stackrel{~}{0},\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha },\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha }_2`$. $`A_m^{a,\lambda }`$ are modes of the nonlocal parafermion field $`\psi _a(z)`$ on $`\varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}`$, and its action on $`\varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}(z)`$ is defined by the integration

$$A_m^{a,\lambda }\varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}(w,\overline{w})=_{c_w}𝑑z(zw)^{m+a\lambda /2k}\psi _a(z)\varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}(w,\overline{w}),$$
(3.6)
where $`c_w`$ is a contour around $`w`$. From the OPEs, we know that the dimension of $`A_m^{a,\lambda }\varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}(w,\overline{w})`$ is

$$\mathrm{\Delta }(A_m^{a,\lambda }\varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }})=hm\frac{a\lambda }{2k}\frac{a^2}{4k},$$
(3.7)
where $`h`$ is the dimension of the parafermionic field $`\varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}(w,\overline{w})`$. We define $`[\psi _a\psi _b]_{n;m}^\lambda `$ by

$$[\psi _a\psi _b]_{n;m}^\lambda \varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}(w,\overline{w})=_{c_w}𝑑z(zw)^{m+n+(a+b)\lambda /2k}[\psi _a\psi _b]_n(z)\varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}(w,\overline{w}),$$
(3.8)
Following the standard procedure in conformal field theory (for the parafermion theory, see ), we multiply the last equation on both sides by $`z^{m+a\lambda /2k}w^{n+b\lambda /2k}`$ and integrate the resulting equation by choosing appropriate contours, to get

$$\underset{l=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}C_{ab/2k}^{(l)}[A_{ml}^{a,b+\lambda }A_{n+l}^{b,\lambda }A_{nl}^{b,a+\lambda }A_{m+l}^{a,\lambda }]=\left(m+\frac{a\lambda }{2k}\right)\delta _{a+b,0}\delta _{m+n,0}+\epsilon _{a,b}A_{m+n}^{a+b,\lambda },$$
(3.9)
where we have chosen the powers of $`z`$ and $`w`$ such that the integrands are single valued, and the binomial coefficients $`C_x^{(l)}`$ are

$$C_x^{(l)}=\frac{()^lx(x1)\mathrm{}(xl+1)}{l!}$$
(3.10)
and $`C_0^{(0)}=C_n^{(0)}=C_1^{(l)}=1,C_p^{(l)}=0`$, for $`l>p>0`$. Similarly, we get

$`{\displaystyle \underset{l=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}C_{1+ab/2k}^{(l)}[A_{ml}^{a,b+\lambda }A_{n+l}^{b,\lambda }+A_{nl}^{b,a+\lambda }A_{m+l}^{a,\lambda }]`$
$`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(m+1+{\displaystyle \frac{a\lambda }{2k}}\right)\left(m+{\displaystyle \frac{a\lambda }{2k}}\right)\delta _{a+b,0}\delta _{m+n,0}`$
$`+\left(m+1+{\displaystyle \frac{a\lambda }{2k}}\right)\epsilon _{a,b}A_{m+n}^{a+b,\lambda },+[\psi _a\psi _b]_{0,m+n}^\lambda .`$
A special case of this identity is

$`{\displaystyle \underset{a}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{l=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}C_{1a^2/2k}^{(l)}[A_{ml}^{a,\lambda a}A_{n+l}^{a,\lambda }+A_{nl}^{a,a+\lambda }A_{m+l}^{a,\lambda }]`$
$`={\displaystyle \underset{a}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(m+1+{\displaystyle \frac{a\lambda }{2k}}\right)\left(m+{\displaystyle \frac{a\lambda }{2k}}\right)\delta _{m+n,0}+{\displaystyle \frac{2(k+3)}{k}}L_{m+n}^\lambda ,`$ (3.11)
where $`L_{m+n}^\lambda `$ represents the action of the energy-momentum tensor $`L_{m+n}`$ on the field $`\varphi _{\lambda ,\overline{\lambda }}`$. Using the above identity, we can show that $`L_m`$ satisfies the Virasoro algebra with central charge $`c_\psi `$. We refer the above identity to as $`A_2^{(2)}`$ $`Z`$-algebra. Generally, we have

$`{\displaystyle \underset{l=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}C_{p1+ab/2k}^{(l)}\left[A_{mlp+q}^{a,\lambda +b}A_{n+l+pq}^{b,\lambda }+(1)^pA_{nlq1}^{b,\lambda +a}A_{m+l+q+1}^{a,\lambda }\right]`$
$`=C_{m+q+1+ab/2k}^{(p+2)}\delta _{a,b}\delta _{m,n}+C_{m+q+1+ab/2k}^{(p+1)}\epsilon _{a,b}A_{m+n}^{a+b,\lambda }`$
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{r=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}C_{m+q+1+ab/2k}^{(pr)}[\psi _a\psi _b]_{r,m+n}^\lambda ,p=2q\mathrm{or}2q+1,`$ (3.12)
The above results will be extensively used in the sequel. Now let $`\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be a state in the Hilbert space $``$, where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ takes value on the weight lattices. The condition for $`\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ to be a highest weight state is defined by

$`A_n^{a,\mathrm{\Lambda }}\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Lambda }=0,\mathrm{for}n>0,\mathrm{or}n=0\mathrm{if}a=\alpha ,\stackrel{~}{\alpha },\stackrel{~}{\alpha }_2,`$ (3.13)
$`L_0\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Lambda }=\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{\Lambda }\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Lambda },`$ (3.14)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the conformal dimension of $`\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, which is found by using the identity (3.11) to be

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=\left[\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }(\mathrm{\Lambda }+4)}{4(k+3)}+\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{12(k+3)}\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{4k}\right].$$
(3.15)
This result agrees with that obtained from the free field calculation given in next section. All other state of $``$ can be obtained from $`\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ by applying $`A_n^{a,\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ with $`n0`$ repeatedly. We define the state

$$\varphi _\lambda ^\mathrm{\Lambda }=\underset{j}{}A_{n_j}^{a_j,\lambda _j}\varphi _\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Lambda },n_j0.$$
(3.16)
It is easy to show

$$[L_m,A_n^{a,\lambda }]=\left[(m+1)(\mathrm{\Delta }_a1)+(n\frac{a\lambda }{2k})\right]A_{mn}^{a,\lambda },$$
(3.17)
from which we find the conformal dimension of the field $`\varphi _\lambda ^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_\lambda ^\mathrm{\Lambda }=\mathrm{\Delta }_\mathrm{\Lambda }+\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{4k}\frac{\lambda ^2}{4k}+\underset{i}{}n_i,$$
(3.18)
where $`\lambda =\mathrm{\Lambda }+_ia_i`$, and $`n_i𝐙`$ if $`a_i=\mu `$, or $`n_i𝐙+\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{\mathrm{𝟐}}`$ if $`a_i=\stackrel{~}{\mu }`$.

In the usual $`Z_k`$ parafermion theory, highest weight state $`\mathrm{\Phi }_l^l`$ exists only if the condition $`lk`$ is satisfied. This is also the unitarity condition of the representation. To obtain the unitarity condition for our theory, we define the hermiticity condition:

$$\left(A_m^{a,\mathrm{\Lambda }}\right)^{}\varphi _{\mathrm{\Lambda }+a}^\mathrm{\Lambda }=A_m^{a,a+\mathrm{\Lambda }}\varphi _{\mathrm{\Lambda }+a}^\mathrm{\Lambda },k^{}=k,$$
(3.19)
If $`v_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a vacuum state, i.e

$$A_n^{a,\mathrm{\Lambda }}v_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0,n>0,$$
(3.20)
thus we have the norm

$`(A_m^{a,\mathrm{\Lambda }}v_\mathrm{\Lambda },A_m^{a,\mathrm{\Lambda }}v_\mathrm{\Lambda })=(v_\mathrm{\Lambda },A_m^{a,a+\mathrm{\Lambda }}A_m^{a,\mathrm{\Lambda }}v_\mathrm{\Lambda })`$
$`=(v_\mathrm{\Lambda },[A_m^{a,a+\mathrm{\Lambda }}A_m^{a,\mathrm{\Lambda }}A_m^{a,a+\mathrm{\Lambda }}A_m^{a,\mathrm{\Lambda }}]v_\mathrm{\Lambda }),`$
$`=(v_\mathrm{\Lambda },\left(m{\displaystyle \frac{a\mathrm{\Lambda }}{2k}}\right)v_\mathrm{\Lambda }).`$ (3.21)
This requires $`a\mathrm{\Lambda }2km`$ for the norm to be positive. Considering that the minimal value $`m`$ can take is $`m=1/2`$ in the Neveu-Schwarz sector and $`m=1`$ in the Ramond sector, we must have $`a\mathrm{\Lambda }k`$ for the representation to be unitary.

In general, the Verma module with highest weight $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and level $`k`$ contains infinite many singular vectors , and thus the representations obtained above are not irreducible. To determine irreducible modules, an BRST analysis  in the Hilbert space is necessary, which we will not discuss here. Nevertheless, we will in the next section give a free field realization of screen currents of the parafermion theory, which is important ingredient in the BRST method.

## 4 Free field representation of the twisted parafermions

It was shown in  that the twisted affine current algebra $`A_2^{(2)}`$ allows the following representation in terms of the twisted parafermionic currents:

$`j^+(z)`$ $`=`$ $`2\sqrt{k}\psi _\alpha (z)e^{\frac{i}{\sqrt{2k}}\varphi _0(z)},j^{}(z)=2\sqrt{k}\psi _\alpha (z)e^{\frac{i}{\sqrt{2k}}\varphi _0(z)},`$
$`j^0(z)`$ $`=`$ $`2\sqrt{2k}i\varphi _0(z),J^+(z)=2\sqrt{k}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}(z)e^{\frac{i}{\sqrt{2k}}\varphi _0(z)},`$
$`J^{}(z)`$ $`=`$ $`2\sqrt{k}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}(z)e^{\frac{i}{\sqrt{2k}}\varphi _0(z)},J^{++}(z)=2\sqrt{k}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}}(z)e^{i\sqrt{\frac{2}{k}}\varphi _0(z)},`$
$`J^{}(z)`$ $`=`$ $`2\sqrt{k}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}}(z)e^{i\sqrt{\frac{2}{k}}\varphi _0(z)},J^0(z)=2\sqrt{6k}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}(z).`$ (4.1)
where $`\varphi _0(z)`$ is an $`U(1)`$ current obeying $`\varphi _0(z)\varphi _0(w)=ln(zw)`$, and has the modes expansion of $`\varphi _0(z)=_{n𝐙}\varphi _nz^{n+1}`$.

On the other hand, we know that the twisted affine current algebra $`A_2^{(2)}`$ allows a free field representation in terms of three $`(\beta ,\gamma )`$ pairs and one $`2`$-component scalar field . So to get a free field representation of the twisted parafermionic currents, one need to projecting out a $`U(1)`$ current, as is seen from (4.1), and regarding the parafermion currents as operators in the space $`A_2^{(2)}/U(1)`$. This implies that seven independent scalar fields are needed to realize the $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermion algebra. So, we introduce seven scalar fields, $`\varphi (z)`$ and $`\xi _j(z)`$, $`\eta _j(z)(j=0,1,2)`$, which satisfy the following relations:

$`\xi _i(z)\xi _j(w)=\delta _{ij}\mathrm{𝑙𝑛}(zw),\eta _i(z)\eta _j(w)=\delta _{ij}\mathrm{𝑙𝑛}(zw),`$
$`\varphi (z)\varphi (w)=\mathrm{𝑙𝑛}(zw).`$
The modes expansions are

$`\chi (z)={\displaystyle \underset{n𝐙}{}}\chi _nz^{n+1},\chi =\xi _0,\eta _0`$
$`\chi (z)={\displaystyle \underset{n𝐙+\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{\mathrm{𝟐}}}{}}\chi _nz^{n+1},\chi =\xi _j,\eta _j(j=1,2)\mathrm{or}\varphi .`$
The conformal dimension of $`\psi _b`$ is $`1\frac{b^2}{4k}`$. So we make the ansatz about the free field representation of the twisted parafermionic currents:

$`\psi _a(z)=f_a(\xi _i(z),\eta _j(z),\varphi (z))e^{\sqrt{\frac{a^2}{2k}}\varphi (z)},`$
$`\psi _a(z)=f_a(\xi _i(z),\eta _j(z),\varphi (z))e^{\sqrt{\frac{a^2}{2k}}\varphi (z)},`$ (4.2)
where $`a=\stackrel{~}{0},\alpha ,\stackrel{~}{\alpha },\stackrel{~}{\alpha }_2`$, the factor $`e^{\pm \sqrt{\frac{a}{2k}}\varphi (z)}`$ will contribute $`\frac{a^2}{4k}`$ to the conformal dimension of $`\psi _{\pm a}(z)`$, and $`f_{\pm a}(\xi _i(z),\eta _j(z),\varphi (z))`$ are operators with conformal dimension one. From dimensional analysis, no term of the form $`e^{\sqrt{\frac{a^2}{2k}}\varphi (z)}`$ will appear in $`f_{\pm a}(\xi _i(z),\eta _j(z),\varphi (z))`$. Recall that the dimensions of $`f_{\pm a}(\xi _i(z),\eta _j(z),\varphi (z))`$ are $`1`$, while the dimensions of $`\xi _i(z)`$, $`\eta _j(z)`$, $`\varphi (z)`$ are zero, so polynomials of $`f_{\pm a}`$ are the functions of $`\xi _i(z),\eta _j(z),\varphi (z)`$. Notice that $`(\xi _i(z)i\eta _i(z))(\xi _j(w)i\eta _j(w))`$ have no contribution to the OPE. We find, after a long and tedious calculation,

$`f_\alpha (z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\sqrt{2}k}}\left[\alpha _0\xi _0(z)2\xi _1(z)+\xi _2(z)+\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[\alpha _0(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`2(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))+(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\},`$
$`f_\alpha (z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\sqrt{2}k}}\{[(4k+1)[\alpha _0(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))+2(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))\varphi (z)]`$
$`+i[\alpha _0\eta _0(z)+2\eta _1(z)\eta _2(z)]]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[\alpha _0(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))+2(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`+3\left[\alpha _0\xi _0(z)+2\xi _1(z)\xi _2(z)\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[(4+\alpha _0)(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`2(1\alpha _0)(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))+3(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`+2\left[2\xi _0(z)\alpha _0\xi _1(z)\xi _2(z)+\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[3(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))(\alpha _0+1)(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`(1\alpha _0)(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`4\left[\xi _0(z)\xi _1(z)+\alpha _0\xi _2(z)2\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[7(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))+(1+3\alpha _0)(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`+(3\alpha _0)(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`+2\sqrt{3}i\alpha _0\left[\xi _0(z)+\xi _1(z)+2\xi _2(z)+\alpha _0\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[2(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))+\alpha _0(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`+(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}\},`$
$`f_{\stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}}(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\sqrt{2}k}}\left[\xi _0(z)+\xi _1(z)\alpha _0\xi _2(z)+2\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))+(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z)).`$
$`\alpha _0(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\},`$
$`f_{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\sqrt{2}k}}\{[2\xi _0(z)\alpha _0\xi _1(z)\xi _2(z)+\varphi (z)]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[2(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))\alpha _0(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`+2\left[\xi _0(z)\xi _1(z)+\alpha _0\xi _2(z)2\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[(1\alpha _0)(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))+3(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`(1+\alpha _0)(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}\},`$
$`f_{\stackrel{~}{0}}(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2k}}\{[\alpha _0\xi _0(z)2\xi _1(z)+\xi _2(z)+\varphi (z)]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[(2+\alpha _0)(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`(2\alpha _0)(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))+2(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`+\left[2\xi _0(z)\alpha _0\xi _1(z)\xi _2(z)+\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[(2+\alpha _0)(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`+(2\alpha _0)(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))2(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`+\left[\xi _0(z)\xi _1(z)+\alpha _0\xi _2(z)2\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times [\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[(12\alpha _0)(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`+5(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))(2+\alpha _0)(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`+\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[5(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))+(1+2\alpha _0)(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`+(2\alpha _0)(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}]`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{i\alpha _0}{\sqrt{3}}}(\xi _0(z)+\xi _1(z)+2\xi _2(z)+\alpha _0\varphi (z))\}.`$
$`f_{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\sqrt{2}k}}\{[(4k+5)[2\alpha _0(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))\alpha _0(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`(\xi _2(z)i\eta _0(z))+\varphi (z)]`$
$`(24\alpha _0)i\eta _0(z)+(12\alpha _0)i\eta _1(z)(5+4\alpha _0)i\eta _2(z)]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[2(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))+\alpha _0(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`+(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`+2\left[\alpha _0\xi _0(z)+2\xi _1(z)\xi _2(z)\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[(1\alpha _0)(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))3(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`+(1+\alpha _0)(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`+3\left[2\xi _0(z)+\alpha _0\xi _1(z)+\xi _2(z)\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[2(1+\alpha _0)(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`+(4\alpha _0)(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))3(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`2\left[\xi _0(z)\xi _1(z)+\alpha _0\xi _2(z)2\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times [\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[(13\alpha _0)(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`+7(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))(3+\alpha _0)(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`+3\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[(5\alpha _0)(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`+(3+2\alpha _0)(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`+(1\alpha _0)(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}]`$
$`+2\sqrt{3}i\alpha _0\left[\xi _0(z)+\xi _1(z)+2\xi _2(z)+\alpha _0\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[\alpha _0(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))+2(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}\},`$
$`f_{\stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}}(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\sqrt{2}k}}\{4[(k+1)[(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$ (4.3)
$`+\alpha _0(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))2\varphi (z)]`$
$`+i[\eta _0(z)\eta _1(z)+\alpha _0\eta _2(z)]]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`+\alpha _0(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`+2\left[\alpha _0\xi _0(z)2\xi _1(z)+\xi _2(z)+\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[(6+\alpha _0)(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`(23\alpha _0)(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))+4(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`2[(2\alpha _0)i\eta _0(z)(6\alpha _0)i\eta _1(z)+(2+4\alpha _0)i\eta _2(z)`$
$`+(4k+2)[2(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))+\alpha _0(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`+(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]4(k+2)\varphi (z)`$
$`3(2\alpha _0)(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`+3(2+\alpha _0)\alpha _0(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[(2\alpha _0)(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`+(2+\alpha _0)(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))]\}`$
$`+2\left[2\xi _0(z)+\alpha _0\xi _1(z)+\xi _2(z)\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[(2+3\alpha _0)(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`+(6\alpha _0)(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))4(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`\left[\xi _0(z)\xi _1(z)+\alpha _0\xi _2(z)2\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times [\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[(14\alpha _0)(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`+9(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))(4+\alpha _0)(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`3\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[9(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))+(1+4\alpha _0)(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`+(4\alpha _0)(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`+6\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[(52\alpha _0)(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`+(5+2\alpha _0)(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))\alpha _0(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}]`$
$`+2\sqrt{3}i\alpha _0\left[\xi _0(z)+\xi _1(z)+2\xi _2(z)+\alpha _0\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times [\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\sqrt{2k}}}[\alpha _0(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))+2(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z)]\}`$
$`\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{2}{\sqrt{2k}}}[2(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))+\alpha _0(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}]\},`$
where $`\alpha _0=\sqrt{2(k+3)}`$. It can be checked that $`\psi _a(z)`$ indeed satisfy all of the OPE relations of our parafermion algebra. By the above representation of the $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermionic currents, we can bosonize the parafermion energy-momentum tensor $`T_\psi `$. The result is

$`T_\psi (z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}:\{(\xi _0(z))^2+(\xi _1(z))^2+(\xi _2(z))^2`$ (4.4)
$`+(\eta _0(z))^2+(\eta _1(z))^2+(\eta _2(z))^2+(\varphi (z))^2\}:`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\sqrt{2k}}}\{(1\alpha _0)(^2\xi _0(z)i^2\eta _0(z))+(1+\alpha _0)(^2\xi _1(z)i^2\eta _1(z))`$
$`+\alpha _0(^2\xi _2(z)i^2\eta _2(z))4^2\varphi (z)\}`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{k(k+3)}}}\left(^2\eta _0(z)+^2\eta _1(z)+^2\eta _2(z)\right).`$
It is easy to check that the central charge of this operator is indeed $`c_\psi `$ given in (2.20).

Using the free field realization of the parafermionic currents, we obtain a free field representation of the highest weight state $`V_j^j(z)`$ of the parafermion algebra:

$`V_j^j(z)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{j}{2\sqrt{k(k+3)}}}\left[\eta _0(z)+\eta _1(z)+2\eta _2(z)\right]\}`$ (4.5)
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{j}{2\sqrt{3k(k+3)}}}\left[\xi _0(z)+\xi _1(z)+2\xi _2(z)\right]{\displaystyle \frac{ij}{\sqrt{6k}}}\varphi (z)\},`$
where $`j`$ is the spin of the highest weight state.

Now we come to the free field realization of screen currents of the parafermion algebra. After a long computation, we find the following two screen operators:

$`S_+(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}\{2[\xi _0(z)+\xi _1(z)\alpha _0\xi _2(z)+2\varphi (z)]`$ (4.6)
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[3(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))+(1+\alpha _0)(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`+(1\alpha _0)(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`+\left[\alpha _0\xi _0(z)+2\xi _1(z)\xi _2(z)\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[\alpha _0(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`2(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))+(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`+\left[2\xi _0(z)\alpha _0\xi _1(z)\xi _2(z)+\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[2(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))\alpha _0(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}\}`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{i}{\sqrt{2k}\alpha _0}}[(\sqrt{3}\xi _0(z)+\eta _0(z))+(\sqrt{3}\xi _1(z)+\eta _1(z))`$
$`+(\sqrt{3}\xi _2(z)+\eta _2(z))]\}\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}(\sqrt{3}\varphi (z)+i\varphi (z))\}`$
and

$`S_{}(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}\{2[\xi _0(z)+\xi _1(z)\alpha _0\xi _2(z)+2\varphi (z)]`$ (4.7)
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[3(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))+(1+\alpha _0)(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`+(1\alpha _0)(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`+\left[\alpha _0\xi _0(z)+2\xi _1(z)\xi _2(z)\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[\alpha _0(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))`$
$`2(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))+(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}`$
$`\left[2\xi _0(z)\alpha _0\xi _1(z)\xi _2(z)+\varphi (z)\right]`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}[2(\xi _0(z)i\eta _0(z))\alpha _0(\xi _1(z)i\eta _1(z))`$
$`(\xi _2(z)i\eta _2(z))]\}\}`$
$`\times \mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{i}{\sqrt{2k}\alpha _0}}[(\sqrt{3}\xi _0(z)\eta _0(z))+(\sqrt{3}\xi _1(z)\eta _1(z))`$
$`+(\sqrt{3}\xi _2(z)\eta _2(z))]\}\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}(\sqrt{3}\varphi (z)i\varphi (z))\}.`$
The OPEs of these two screen currents with the energy-momentum tensor and parafermion currents are given by

$`T_\psi (z)S_\pm (w)=_w\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{zw}}S_\pm (w)\right)+\mathrm{},`$
$`\psi _\alpha (z)S_\pm (w)=\mathrm{},\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}(z)S_\pm (w)=\mathrm{},`$
$`\psi _\alpha (z)S_\pm (w)=_w\left({\displaystyle \frac{2\alpha _0^2}{zw}}\stackrel{~}{S}_\pm (w)\right)+\mathrm{},`$
$`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }_2}(z)S_\pm (w)=\mathrm{},\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}(z)S_\pm (w)=\mathrm{},`$
$`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }}(z)S_\pm (w)=_w\left({\displaystyle \frac{2\alpha _0^2}{zw}}\stackrel{~}{S}_\pm (w)\right)+\mathrm{},`$
$`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }_2}(z)S_\pm (w)=_w\left({\displaystyle \frac{4\alpha _0^2}{zw}}\stackrel{~}{S}_{\pm 2}(w)\right)+\mathrm{},`$ (4.8)
where,

$`\stackrel{~}{S}_\pm (z)=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{\pm i}{\sqrt{2k}\alpha _0}}[(\sqrt{3}\xi _0(z)\pm \eta _0(z))+(\sqrt{3}\xi _1(z)\pm \eta _1(z))`$
$`+(\sqrt{3}\xi _2(z)\pm \eta _2(z))]\}\mathrm{exp}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}(\sqrt{3}\varphi (z)\pm i\varphi (z))\},`$
$`\stackrel{~}{S}_2(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}\left[i(2+\alpha _0)\xi _0(z)i(2\alpha _0)\xi _1(z)+2i\xi _2(z)\right]\stackrel{~}{S}_+(z),`$
$`\stackrel{~}{S}_2(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2k}}}\left[i(2\alpha _0)\xi _0(z)i(2+\alpha _0)\xi _1(z)+2i\varphi (z)\right]\stackrel{~}{S}_{}(z),`$ (4.9)
## 5 Spin-$`2`$ Primary field and novel algebraic structure

In conformal field theory, primary fields are fundamental objects. The descendant fields can be obtained from primary fields.

It is well know that, the energy-momentum stress is not primary field (unless the central charge is zero). The lowest spin of the primary field obtained by the Hamiltonian reduction approach is three . This agrees with the other methods, such as high order Casimir, coset model , free field realization , or the parafermion construction . For more references about $`W`$-algebras see the reviews , and their applications in string and gravity theory see . In the following, we use the $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermionic currents to construct a primary field of spin two. Define the spin-$`2`$ currents:

$$\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)=\frac{k(4k1)}{4(2k+3)(k1)}\underset{a=\pm \alpha ,\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha }}{}[\psi _a\psi _{\stackrel{~}{a}}]_0.$$
(5.1)
The action of $`\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)`$ on $`\psi _b(z)`$ is given by the following OPE:

$`\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)\psi _b(w)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_{\stackrel{~}{b}}}{(zw)^2}}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{b}}(w)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{zw}}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{b}}(w)+\mathrm{},b=\pm \alpha ,\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha },`$
$`\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)\psi _{\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}}(w)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{},\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}(w)=\mathrm{},`$ (5.2)
It should be be understood that $`\stackrel{~}{\stackrel{~}{b}}=b`$ in the first line of (5.2). This OPE fixes the normalization of $`\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)`$. (5.2) suggests that $`\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)`$ behaves similar to a energy-momentum tensor except that it transforms $`\psi _b`$ into $`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{b}}`$ and vice versa. Recall that $`\psi _b`$ and $`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{b}}`$ have the same conformal dimensions. The OPEs of $`\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)`$ with itself and the stress tensor are

$`\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)\stackrel{~}{w}_2(w)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{~}{c}/2}{(zw)^4}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2U(w)}{(zw)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{U(w)}{(zw)}}+\mathrm{}.`$
$`T_\psi (z)\stackrel{~}{w}_2(w)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\stackrel{~}{w}_2(w)}{(zw)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{~}{w}_2(w)}{zw}}+\mathrm{},`$ (5.3)
where,

$$\stackrel{~}{c}=\frac{(4k1)^2}{2(k1)(2k+3)}=\frac{(13c_\psi +5)^2}{24(c_\psi +9)(c_\psi 1)},$$
(5.4)
is the central charge of $`\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)`$, and $`c_\psi `$ is the central charge of the $`A_2^{(2)}`$ parafermionic energy-momentum tensor (2.20), and $`U(z)`$ is a spin two field given by

$`U(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{(k+1)(k+3)(4k1)^2}{4(2k+3)^2(k1)^2}}\left(T_\psi (z){\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{\Omega }_0(z){\displaystyle \frac{k(k+2)}{(k+1)(k+3)}}\mathrm{\Omega }_2(z)\right),`$
$`\mathrm{\Omega }_0(z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}\right]_0(z),\mathrm{\Omega }_2(z)={\displaystyle \frac{k}{k+2}}\left[\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }_2}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{\alpha }_2}\right]_0(z).`$ (5.5)
The OPEs of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0(z)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_2(z)`$ with the parafermion currents are

$`\mathrm{\Omega }_0(z)\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}(w)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(zw)^2}}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}(w)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{zw}}\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}(w)+\mathrm{},`$
$`\mathrm{\Omega }_0(z)\psi _b(w)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4k1}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_b}{(zw)^2}}\psi _b(w)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{zw}}\psi _b(w)+\mathrm{}\right),`$
$`\mathrm{\Omega }_0(z)\psi _{\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}}(w)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{},`$
$`\mathrm{\Omega }_2(z)\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}(w)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{},`$
$`\mathrm{\Omega }_2(z)\psi _b(w)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{k1}{2k(k+2)}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_b}{(zw)^2}}\psi _b(w)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{zw}}\psi _b(w)+\mathrm{}\right),`$
$`\mathrm{\Omega }_2(z)\psi _{\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}}(w)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_{\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha }_2}}{(zw)^2}}\psi _{\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}}(w)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{zw}}\psi _{\pm \stackrel{~}{\alpha _2}}(w)+\mathrm{},`$
From (5.3), we see that the field $`\stackrel{~}{w}_2`$ introduced above is a primary field with conformal spin two. The modes expansion of $`\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)`$ is

$$\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)=\underset{n𝐙+\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{\mathrm{𝟐}}}{}\stackrel{~}{w}_{2,n}z^{n2}.$$
(5.6)
So like the spin-$`1`$ primary field $`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{0}}(z)`$, $`\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)`$ lives in the Neveu-Schwarz sector, and it transforms fields in the Ramond sector into those in the Neveu-Schwarz sector or vice versa. If we regard the spin-2 currents as affine connections, then the energy-momentum tensor is a project connection that transforms fields in one sector, while field $`\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)`$ is a project connection which transforms a field in one sector into a field in a different sector. The mode expansions of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0(z)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_2(z)`$ are

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_0(z)=\underset{n𝐙}{}\mathrm{\Omega }_{0,n}z^{n2},\mathrm{\Omega }_2(z)=\underset{n𝐙}{}\mathrm{\Omega }_{2,n}z^{n2},$$
(5.7)
respectively. So $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0(z)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_2(z)`$ live in the Ramond sector.

From the above, we see that $`\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)`$, $`T(z)`$ do not close to an algebra. It can be checked that the field $`U(z)`$ with itself also cannot form a closed algebra. But if we decompose the field $`U(z)`$ as above, then the algebra generated by $`\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)`$, $`T(z)`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0(z)`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_2(z)`$ is closed, as can be seen from the following additional OPEs,

$`\mathrm{\Omega }_0(z)\mathrm{\Omega }_0(w)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{c_0/2}{(zw)^4}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{\Omega }_0(w)}{(zw)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_0(w)}{(zw)}}+\mathrm{},`$ (5.8)
$`\mathrm{\Omega }_2(z)\mathrm{\Omega }_2(w)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{c_2/2}{(zw)^4}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{\Omega }_2(w)}{(zw)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_2(w)}{(zw)}}+\mathrm{},`$ (5.9)
$`\mathrm{\Omega }_0(z)\mathrm{\Omega }_2(w)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{},`$ (5.10)
$`T_\psi (z)\mathrm{\Omega }_0(w)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{c_0/2}{(zw)^4}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{\Omega }_0(w)}{(zw)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_0(w)}{(zw)}}+\mathrm{},`$ (5.11)
$`T_\psi (z)\mathrm{\Omega }_2(w)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{c_2/2}{(zw)^4}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{\Omega }_2(w)}{(zw)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_2(w)}{(zw)}}+\mathrm{},`$ (5.12)
$`\mathrm{\Omega }_0(z)\stackrel{~}{w}_2(w)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{},`$ (5.13)
$`\mathrm{\Omega }_2(z)\stackrel{~}{w}_2(w)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{k+2}}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{2\stackrel{~}{w}_2(w)}{(zw)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{~}{w}_2(w)}{(zw)}}+\mathrm{}\right\}.`$ (5.14)
where

$$c_0=1,c_2=\frac{2(k1)}{(k+2)}$$
(5.15)
The situation here is similar to that in $`W`$-algebra, where for instance $`W_3(z)`$, $`T(z)`$ are not closed since a spin-$`4`$ field will appear in the OPE of $`W_3(z)`$ with itself. The spin-$`4`$ field is also decomposed into two fields which together with $`T(z)`$ and $`W_3(z)`$ do close to the so-called $`W_3`$ algebra .

Some remarks are in order. To our knowledge, the algebraic structure we found is new. It is similar to a $`W`$-algebra structure, but now all the fields have conformal dimension $`2`$. The primary field $`\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)`$ is a “spin-$`2`$ analog” of $`W`$-currents, and it transforms between fields $`\psi _a`$ (fields in Ramond sector) and $`\psi _{\stackrel{~}{a}}`$ (fields in Neveu-Schwaz sector). In a sense, the primary field $`\stackrel{~}{w}_2(z)`$, together with the other two spin-$`2`$ fields $`\mathrm{\Omega }_1(z)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_2(z)`$, “non-abelianizes” the Virasoro algebra generated by $`T(z)`$. Possible applications of this new algebraic structure are under investigation.

In , A.B. Zamolodchikov considered an algebra having $`N+1`$ spin-2 primary fields with OPEs given by

$$T^i(z)T^j(w)=\frac{c\delta _{i,j}/2}{(zw)^4}+\frac{2\delta _{i,j}\delta _{j,k}T^k(w)}{(zw)^2}+\frac{\delta _{i,j}\delta _{j,k}T^k(w)}{(zw)}+\mathrm{},i,j=0,1,\mathrm{}N,$$
(5.16)
where $`T^0=T`$ is the usual energy-momentum tensor. In this algebra there is only one central charge, and $`T^i`$, $`i=0,1,\mathrm{},N`$, are decoupled so that the algebra is reduced to $`N+1`$ copies of the Virasoro algebra. Our algebra is different. Firstly, in our theory, there are four (independent) different central charges. So our theory is a conformal field theory with multi-centers. Secondly, the four generators in our algebra are coupled to each other and can not be reduced to copies of the Virasoro algebra.

## Acknowledgments

We would like to express our sincere thanks to the anonymous referee for detailed and valuable comments and suggestions which bring the paper to its present form. We also thank the refree for pointing out an early article of A.B. Zamolodchikov , where an algebra with $`N+1`$ decoupled spin-2 primary fields was considered.

This work is financially supported by Australian Research Council. One of the authors (Ding) is also supported partly by the Natural Science Foundation of China and a grant from the AMSS.


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# Phi meson production in relativistic heavy ion collisions

## I introduction

One of the major goals in relativistic heavy ion collisions is to study the properties of hot and dense matter and possibly to create and identify a new form of matter, the quark gluon plasma (QGP). It was suggested  that enhanced strangeness production could serve as an important signal for the deconfined matter. The dominant production of $`s\overline{s}`$ pairs via gluon-gluon interaction may lead to strangeness (chemical and flavor) equilibration times comparable to the lifetime of the plasma and much shorter than that of a thermally equilibrated hadronic fireball. The subsequent hadronization is then expected to result in an enhanced production of strange and multistrange particles and antiparticles. In particular, it has been argued that with the formation of quark-gluon plasma not only the production of phi mesons, which consist of $`s\overline{s}`$, is enhanced but they also retain the information on the conditions of the hot plasma as it is believed that phi mesons interact weakly in the hadronic matter and therefore freeze out quite early from the system .

Using a proton or sulfur projectile at 200 GeV/nucleon and a tungsten or uranium target, phi meson production has been previously studied at CERN/SPS by the NA38 Collaboration  and the HELIOS-3 Collaboration  via the dimuon invariant mass spectra. The double ratio $`(\varphi /(\omega +\rho ^0))_{SU(W)}/(\varphi /(\omega +\rho ^0))_{pW}`$ has been measured and was found to have a value of $`23`$. Various theoretical attempts have been made to understand this enhancement. In particular, an enhancement of phi meson yield may be a signature of the formation of a quark gluon plasma in the collisions . However, this enhancement can also be explained either using hadronic models if one takes into account the reduced phi meson mass in nuclear medium  or via the fragmentation of color ropes that are formed from the initial strings .

Recently, phi meson production has also been measured in central Pb+Pb collisions at $`158A`$ GeV at the CERN/SPS. The NA49 Collaboration  has identified the phi meson via the decay channel $`\varphi K^+K^{}`$, while the NA50 Collaboration  measured it using $`\varphi \mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ decay. It was found that the extracted number of phi meson from dimuon channel exceeds by a factor between two and four from that extracted from the $`K^+K^{}`$ channel. This difference has been attributed to the fact that not all phi mesons can be reconstructed from $`K^+K^{}`$ resulting from their decays due to rescattering of the $`K^+`$ and $`K^{}`$ in the hadronic matter. The suppression factor can be 40-60% based on the RQMD model . This effect has been further studied in a schematic model by including the effect of changing kaon masses in the hadronic medium .

In the present paper, using a multiphase transport (AMPT) model we make a detailed and consistent study of the production of phi mesons reconstructed from the $`K^+K^{}`$ and $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ decay channels. The effects of in-medium mass modification to the phi meson yield and spectra are also studied and are compared with the experimental findings by the NA49 and NA50 Collaborations at the SPS energies. We also present the phi meson yield and spectra at the RHIC energy of $`\sqrt{s}=130A`$ GeV.

This paper is organized as follows. In Section II, we briefly review the AMPT model, discuss the phi meson production and interaction cross sections in hadronic matter as well as the medium effects on kaon and phi meson masses. The identification of phi mesons from both the dimuon and dikaon channels in the transport model is described in Section III. In section IV, we show the results on phi mesons from heavy ion collisions at both SPS and RHIC. Finally, summary and conclusions are given in Section V.

## II The model

### A A Multiphase transport model

To describe the heavy ion collision dynamics, we employ a multiphase transport model (AMPT) that includes both the initial partonic and final hadronic interactions. The AMPT model  is a hybrid model that uses as input the minijet partons from the hard processes and the strings from the soft processes in the HIJING model . The dynamical evolution of partons are then modeled by the ZPC  parton cascade model, while the transition from the partonic matter to the hadronic matter is based on the Lund string fragmentation model . The final-state hadronic scatterings are modeled by the ART model . The AMPT model has been quite successful in describing the measured transverse momenta of pions and kaons, and the rapidity distributions of charge particles  as well as the particle to antiparticle ratios  in heavy ion collisions at both SPS and RHIC. Including melting of initial strings to partons, the model can also account for the observed large elliptic flow  and the measured two-pion correlation function  at RHIC. In the original AMPT model, phi mesons are produced only from initial string fragmentation. In the present work, we extend it to also include phi meson production and interactions in the hadronic matter.

### B phi meson production and interactions

For phi meson production from hadron scatterings in the ART model, we consider both the baryon-baryon interaction channels $`BB\varphi NN`$ and the meson-baryon channels $`(\pi ,\rho )B\varphi B`$, where $`BN,\mathrm{\Delta },N^{}`$. The cross sections for these processes have been evaluated in the one-boson-exchange model  and are used here. We have also included phi meson production from the reaction $`K\mathrm{\Lambda }\varphi N`$ with the cross section taken from Ref.  based on a kaon-exchange model.

Phi meson can be further produced from kaon-antikaon scattering. For a kaon-antikaon pair with invariant mass $`M`$, the total cross section for $`K\overline{K}\varphi `$ is taken to be a Breit-Wigner form

$$\sigma _{K\overline{K}\varphi }(M)=\frac{3\pi }{k^2}\frac{(m_\varphi \mathrm{\Gamma }_\varphi )^2}{(M^2m_\varphi ^2)^2+(m_\varphi \mathrm{\Gamma }_\varphi )^2},$$
(1)
where the phi meson decay width to $`K\overline{K}`$ is given by

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi K\overline{K}}(M)=\frac{g_{\varphi K\overline{K}}^2}{4\pi }\frac{\left(m_\varphi ^24m_K^2\right)^{3/2}}{6m_\varphi ^2},$$
(2)
with the coupling constant $`g_{\varphi K\overline{K}}^2/4\pi 1.69`$ determined from the empirical width of 3.7 MeV, corresponding to $`83\%`$ of the total width, at $`M=m_\varphi `$.

For phi meson interactions with baryons, we include the absorption reactions given by the inverse reactions of phi meson production from meson-baryon interactions given above. The corresponding cross sections are obtained using the detailed balance relations. The cross section for phi meson elastic scattering with a nucleon is taken to be 0.56 mb as extracted from the data on phi-meson photoproduction using the vector meson dominance model . These cross sections are shown in the upper left panel of Fig. 1.

Phi mesons can also be scattered by mesons. Using effective hadronic Lagrangians, where coupling constants were determined from experimental partial decay rates, the total collisional width of $`\varphi `$ due to the reactions $`\varphi \pi KK^{}`$, $`\varphi \rho KK`$, $`\varphi K\varphi K`$ and $`\varphi \varphi KK`$ was found to be less than 35 MeV  (where $`K`$ denotes either a kaon or an antikaon as appropriate). However, recent calculations  based on a Hidden Local Symmetry Lagrangian shows that the collisional rates of $`\varphi `$ with pseudoscalar ($`\pi `$, $`K`$) and vector ($`\rho `$, $`\omega `$, $`K^{}`$, $`\varphi `$) mesons are appreciably large, especially for the $`K^{}`$, resulting in a much smaller mean free path, of about 2.4 fm in a hadronic matter at temperature $`T>170`$ MeV, compared to the typical hadronic system size of $`1015`$ fm created in heavy ion collisions. We have included all these possible interactions, i.e., $`\varphi M(K,K^{})(K,K^{})`$, and $`\varphi (K,K^{})M(K,K^{})`$, where $`M(\pi ,\rho ,\omega )`$ with cross sections determined from the partial collisional widths given in Ref. . Specifically, we take matrix elements $`\overline{||^2}`$ of these reactions to be independent of the center-of-mass energy and extract their values from the collisional widths. The cross sections for these reactions are then given by $`d\sigma /d\mathrm{\Omega }\overline{||^2}k_f/(k_is^2)`$, where $`s`$ is the c.m. energy and $`k_i`$ and $`k_f`$ are, respectively, the initial and final c.m. momenta of the colliding hadrons. The cross sections for the inverse reactions of the above processes are then obtained from the detailed balance relations. In Fig. 1, we show the cross sections for phi-pion and phi-rho scattering (upper right panel), phi-kaon scattering (lower left panel), and phi-$`K^{}`$ scattering (lower right panel). The elastic cross section of phi meson with other mesons can be similarly obtained and is found to be about 2 mb.

### C medium effects

Since the phi meson mass is only 32 MeV above the kaon-antikaon threshold, it is strongly coupled to the kaon and antikaon dynamics, i.e., to the strangeness content of the surrounding medium. A small change in the masses of either the phi meson or kaon thus would appreciably affect the decay width of phi meson.

Studies based on various approaches, such as the relativistic mean-field theory  and the chiral effective Lagrangian , have led to a general consensus that $`K^+`$ feels a rather weak repulsive potential while the $`K^{}`$ feels a relatively stronger attractive potential. With such modifications, the kaon yield and spectra could be successfully explained at SIS energies (1-2$`A`$ GeV)  and even at AGS energy ($`11A`$ GeV) . In the present study, we adopt the kaon and antikaon energies from chiral effective Lagrangian, i.e.,

$$\omega _{K,\overline{K}}=\left[m_K^2+𝐤^2a_K\rho _S+(b_K\rho )^2\right]^{1/2}\pm b_K\rho ,$$
(3)
where $`b_K=3f_\pi ^2/80.333`$ GeV fm3, $`a_K0.22`$ GeV2 fm3 for kaons, and $`a_{\overline{K}}0.45`$ GeV2 fm3 for antikaons. The $`K^+`$ potential, defined by $`U_K=\omega _K\sqrt{m_K^2+𝐤^2}`$ and given by the plus sign in Eq. (3), is then $`+20`$ MeV at normal nuclear density and is consistent with that determined from the impulsive approximation using the empirical kaon-nucleon scattering length . The $`K^{}`$ potential, given by the minus sign in Eq. (3), at normal nuclear density is about $`110`$ MeV and is somewhat less than that extracted from the kaonic atoms . The present set of parameters was found to reproduce well the $`K^+`$ and $`K^{}`$ kinetic energy spectra and the ratio of their yields for heavy ion collisions at the SIS energy .

For the in-medium phi meson mass, the QCD sum rule studies show that it decreases slightly in hot dense matter . Using the result from Ref. , we have

$$\frac{m_\varphi ^{}}{m_\varphi }10.0255\frac{\rho }{\rho _0},$$
(4)
where $`\rho _0`$ is the normal nuclear matter density.

The in-medium decay width of phi meson to kaon-antikaon pair is then given by

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi K\overline{K}}^{}(M)=\frac{g_{\varphi K\overline{K}}^2}{4\pi }\frac{1}{6m_\varphi ^5}[((m_\varphi ^2(m_K^{}+m_{\overline{K}}^{})^2)\left((m_\varphi ^2(m_K^{}m_{\overline{K}}^{})^2)\right]^{3/2}.$$
(5)
Although the phi meson mass decreases in the medium, the larger reduction of the overall kaon-antikaon mass with increasing density results in an increase of phi meson width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi K\overline{K}}^{}`$ in the medium. At density $`\rho =2\rho _0`$, the phi meson in-medium width is about 45 MeV.

## III Reconstruction of phi mesons

Since phi meson is unstable, it can only be detected from its decay product of either the kaon-antikaon pair or the lepton pair. The kaon-antikaon pair decaying from a phi meson is, however, likely to undergo appreciable rescattering in the medium, and this would lead to a reconstructed invariant mass situated outside the original phi meson peak. In fact, the momentum transfer to a kaon suffering one collision with a pion at $`T=150`$ MeV can be estimated to be about 45 MeV which is much larger than the total phi meson width of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\varphi =4.45`$ MeV. Hence phi mesons decaying in the dense medium is difficult to be identified via reconstructed kaon-antikaon pairs. In contrast, dileptons have negligible final-state interactions with the surrounding hadronic medium and therefore escape essentially unscathed during the entire evolution of the system. Dileptons are thus considered to carry useful information about hadron properties in hot and dense hadronic matter , which are expected to be different from those in free space.

### A dileptons

To detect a phi meson from its dimuon decay, we need the decay width for $`\varphi \mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ , which in the medium is

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi \mu ^+\mu ^{}}^{}(M)=C_{\mu ^+\mu ^{}}\frac{m_\varphi ^4}{M^3}\left(1\frac{4m_\mu ^2}{M^2}\right)^{1/2}\left(1+\frac{2m_\mu ^2}{M^2}\right).$$
(6)
The coefficient $`C_{\mu ^+\mu ^{}}\alpha ^2/27(g_{\varphi K\overline{K}}^2/4\pi )=1.634\times 10^6`$ is determined from the measured width at $`M=m_\varphi `$. Since dimuons are emitted continuously during the evolution of the system, the total number of dimuon is given by

$$N_{\mu ^+\mu ^{}}=_0^{t_f}𝑑tN_\varphi (t)\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi \mu ^+\mu ^{}}^{}(M)+N_\varphi (t_f)\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi \mu ^+\mu ^{}}}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_\varphi },$$
(7)
where $`N_\varphi (t)`$ denotes the number of phi meson at time $`t`$. In the above, the first term corresponds to dimuon production before the freeze-out time of $`t_f=35`$ fm/c considered in our calculation, while the second term refers to dimuon emission after freeze-out. The reconstructed phi meson number is obtained by dividing the above expression by the dimuon branching ratio in free-space of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi \mu ^+\mu ^{}}/\mathrm{\Gamma }_\varphi =3.7\times 10^4`$. Since most previous studies  have neglected the phi meson annihilation and production channels via baryons and especially by pseudoscalar and vector mesons, the phi meson lifetime in these studies is thus comparable to the lifetime of the system. Consequently, phi mesons from dimuon channel get significant contributions only after freeze-out.

### B kaons

The number of kaon-antikaon pair stemming from phi meson decay can be similarly expressed as Eq. (7) for dimuon production, i.e.,

$$N_{K\overline{K}}=_0^{t_f}𝑑tN_\varphi (t)\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi K\overline{K}}^{}(M)+N_\varphi (t_f)\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi K\overline{K}}}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_\varphi }.$$
(8)
The phi meson abundance from kaon-antikaon decay is obtained by dividing Eq. (8) by the $`K\overline{K}`$ branching ratio in free-space $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi K\overline{K}}/\mathrm{\Gamma }_\varphi `$. It is evident from Eqs. (7) and (8) that in absence of any medium effect on the masses and decay widths, i.e. for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi K\overline{K}}^{}=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi K\overline{K}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi \mu ^+\mu ^{}}^{}=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi \mu ^+\mu ^{}}`$, the number of reconstructed phi meson from dimuon channel is same as that from the kaon-antikaon channel if all the kaon pairs escape the collision zone unscattered. On the other hand, with large in-medium phi meson width both the production and annihilation of phi meson from $`\varphi K\overline{K}`$ is enhanced. If the production of phi meson dominates over its decay especially at the early dense stage of the collision, the dimuons originating from the phi meson decay will be enhanced. On the other hand, the kaon-antikaon pairs from phi meson decays will be essentially undetected in the phi meson reconstruction as they are expected to be rescattered and experience strong medium modifications of their masses.

## IV results

We have used the extended AMPT model described in the above to study phi meson production in heavy ion collisions at both SPS and RHIC energies.

### A SPS

#### 1 time evolution

The time evolution of phi meson abundance at midrapidity for central Pb+Pb collisions at $`158A`$ GeV in the AMPT model is shown in the upper left panel of Fig. 2. The solid curves are the results from calculations where both kaon and phi meson medium effects are neglected. The minijet partons and predominantly string decays in the HIJING model at the SPS energy produces about 2.6 initial number of phi mesons per event. Since these phi mesons are produced at different times as a result of finite formation time, they appear successively in the ART hadronic transport. Subsequent multiple rescattering in the hadronic medium leads to a peak value of $`N_\varphi 4.0`$ at $`t=3`$ fm/c, which finally decays to $`2.3`$ at an average freeze-out time of $`t_f35`$ fm/c. Because of small decay width of $`\varphi `$ into $`K\overline{K}`$ pair, most of the phi mesons decay outside the fireball (see upper right panel of Fig. 2). In spite of this small width, the production of phi meson from the inverse reaction dominates over the decay due to considerable abundance of kaons from the HIJING model at the early stage of the reaction. At times $`t>15`$ fm/c the process $`\varphi K\overline{K}`$ is seen to approach chemical equilibrium. Note that even at late times at around the freeze-out value there is a substantial phi meson production from the kaon-antikaon channel which has been neglected in the previous study .

Time evolution of the production and absorption rates of phi meson from different channels are shown in the lower panels of Fig. 2. Of all the collisional channels considered for the phi meson, the dominant ones are $`\varphi M(K,K^{})(K,K^{})`$ and $`\varphi K^{}M(K,K^{})`$ ($`M\pi ,\rho ,\omega `$), which are of comparable magnitude. Although the cross section in the former reaction is smaller compared to that of $`\varphi K^{}`$ (see Fig. 1), the larger abundance of pions relative to kaons ($`K^+/\pi ^+=0.12`$ from the HIJING) leads to similar contribution to phi meson production in both these reactions. Moreover, the small abundance of phi meson results in identical production and annihilation rates for $`\varphi M`$ collision (lower left panel), i.e. chemical equilibrium in this reaction is rapidly achieved. In contrast, phi meson production overwhelms its destruction (lower right panel) due to larger abundances of the mesons $`M(=\pi ,\rho ,\omega )`$ relative to $`K`$ and especially $`K^{}`$. In particular, the process $`MK^{}\varphi K^{}`$ with its largest cross section and smaller threshold contributes $`80\%`$ to the total $`\varphi +K^{}`$ formation. This enhanced production at about 3 fm/c is reflected in the rapid increase of the phi meson abundance (upper left panel). The production and annihilation rates for phi mesons in processes involving $`\overline{K}`$ and $`\overline{K}^{}`$, which are not shown in the figure, exhibit similar qualitative features as for those with $`K`$ and $`K^{}`$, but are about a factor of 1.5 smaller reflecting the $`\overline{K}/K`$ ratio of 0.70 at the SPS energy. The phi meson collisional rate as observed here is considerably larger than that predicted in all previous calculations . As the system expands the collisional rate drops and these reactions reach chemical equilibration at $`t=7`$ fm/c. Finally, at a later time phi meson decay becomes more effective than its absorption. It may be noted that the initial dominance of phi meson production and its subsequent absorption as observed in the present transport calculation is different from the findings of Ref. , where $`\varphi `$ mesons embedded in a gas of ($`\pi `$, $`K`$, $`\rho `$, $`\omega `$, $`K^{}`$) at chemical equilibrium, are found to decrease with evolution of the system.

The chemical equilibration of phi mesons via production and annihilation in the hadronic matter can be better seen by switching off the initial phi production from string decays in the HIJING model. As shown by the dash-dotted curve in the upper left panel of Fig. 2, this leads to a suppressed peak in the time evolution of phi meson abundance but does not change much the phi meson number at later times, when compared to that in the case of including the initial phi mesons from string decays.

#### 2 rapidity distribution

The rapidity distribution of phi mesons reconstructed from $`K^+K^{}`$ and $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ channels in central Pb+Pb collision at $`158A`$ GeV is shown in Fig. 3. In absence of any medium effects, the results for phi mesons from the the $`K^+K^{}`$ channel (thin solid curve) are in good agreement with the NA49 experimental data  (solid circles). With free-space decay width of phi meson, the rapidity distribution of all phi mesons from the $`K^+K^{}`$, neglecting their scattering, is identical to that reconstructed from the $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ channel (thin dashed curve). Due to rescattering or absorption of the kaon pairs, $`30\%`$ of all $`\varphi `$ mesons are lost in the reconstruction, of which about $`40\%`$ of the decaying kaons have at least one (anti)kaon that suffer elastic scattering. The maximum depletion of phi mesons from the $`K^+K^{}`$ channel occurs at midrapidity where kaon-antikaon pairs undergo appreciable scattering in the dense hadronic medium. Note that around $`y=0`$, phi meson from dimuon channel is about a factor 1.7 larger than from the kaon-antikaon channel, which is smaller than the factor of 2-4 enhancement observed in the NA50 data .

#### 3 transverse mass spectrum

In Fig. 4, we show the transverse mass spectra at midrapidity for phi meson from kaon-antikaon (solid squares) and dimuon (open squares) channel without medium effects. It is seen that at low $`m_T`$ the phi meson from $`K^+K^{}`$ channel is suppressed due to rescattering. Since the transverse momentum of a particle increases due to increasing number of scattering and due to pressure build-up inside the system, the decayed kaons at the early stages, which are predominantly scattered, thus have low transverse momenta. The transverse mass spectra can be approximately fitted by $`\mathrm{exp}(m_T/T)`$. The inverse slope parameter $`T`$ reported by NA50  from the $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ channel for $`1.7<m_T<3.2`$ GeV/c2 at midrapidity is $`T=227\pm 10`$ MeV, which agrees well with the AMPT model prediction of $`T=228`$ MeV. In contrast, the slope parameter extracted by NA49  from the $`K^+K^{}`$ channel for $`1<m_T<2.2`$ GeV/c2 is $`T=305\pm 15`$ MeV. The depletion of reconstructed $`\varphi `$ at low $`m_T`$ in the AMPT model leads only to a slighter higher slope of $`T=267`$ MeV, and thus is much smaller than the NA49 data. The ratio of the yields at midrapidity, $`R(m_T)=N_{K^+K^{}}(\mathrm{\Gamma }_\varphi /\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi K\overline{K}})/N_{\mu ^+\mu ^{}}(\mathrm{\Gamma }_\varphi /\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi \mu \mu })`$, from Eqs. (8) and (7) corrected by their respective branching ratios, is shown in the inset of Fig. 4. The maximum suppression of $`40\%`$ at low $`m_T`$ in the kaon channel as observed in the AMPT model (squares) is larger than the suppression factor of $`60\%`$ found in the RQMD calculation . This can be traced back to enhanced phi meson production from large collisional scattering among the mesons leading to a peak in the $`\varphi `$ yield at the early stage (see Fig. 2; upper left panel). The dimuons from these phi meson escape the fireball freely while the $`K^+K^{}`$ are rescattered in the dense hadronic medium and do not contribute to the reconstruction of phi mesons.

#### 4 In-medium effect

Modification of phi meson and kaon masses is expected to enhance the production and decay of phi meson in the medium and to lead to a possible further increase of the suppression factor $`R(m_T)`$. The abundance of phi meson as a function of time of the colliding system with in-medium mass modification is shown in the upper left panel of Fig. 2 (dashed curve). The abundance exhibits $`20\%`$ increase at the peak, and it finally merges with the free-space value at large times when medium effects are negligible and chemical equilibrium in all channels sets in. This enhancement can be mainly attributed to the increase in the $`K^+K^{}\varphi `$ production rate due to larger width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi K\overline{K}}^{}`$ in the dense medium, as shown by thick curves in the upper right panel of Fig. 2.

The rapidity distribution of $`\varphi `$ from kaon pairs that have not suffered any collision is shown in Fig. 3 with in-medium masses (thick solid curve), which is found to lie within the error bars of the NA49 data. Since free-space branching ratio is used to determine the phi meson abundance from the kaon channel, it is evident from Eq. (8) that large in-medium width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\varphi K\overline{K}}^{}`$ leads to appreciable production and simultaneous decay of phi meson, resulting in $`dN/dy7.1`$ at $`y0`$ for all these kaon pairs. In contrast, since the branching ratio for $`\varphi \mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ is largely unaltered in the medium, the $`dN/dy`$ of the reconstructed phi mesons at $`y0`$ is 4.5 and thus about 1.9 times larger than that from the kaon channel.

The transverse mass spectra in the kaonic channel with medium effects (solid triangles in Fig. 4) reveals nearly identical slope as for the bare masses. On the other hand, the large number of dimuon production at low $`m_T`$ in the early stage of collisions with in-medium masses leads to a slightly steeper mass spectra with a slope parameter of $`T=220`$ MeV. This is clearly seen in the inset of Fig. 4 (triangles) for the ratio $`R(m_T)`$ where the suppression at low $`m_T`$ is $`33\%`$.

#### 5 discussions

Our results on the phi meson yield reconstructed from kaon and dimuon channels differs at most by about a factor of two in the AMPT model, which corresponds only to the lower bound to the differences found in the NA49 and NA50 data. For a systematic comparison with theory it is instructive to undertake an experiment where both the kaon and muon pairs from phi mesons are determined in the same $`m_T`$ and $`y`$ range. If differences as large as a factor of four corresponding to the upper bound of the NA49 and NA50 data is indeed observed in the same experiment, this may then suggest that other mechanisms, such as formation of color rope  or quark-gluon plasma , are needed for phi meson production. In the QGP scenario, because of copious production of $`s\overline{s}`$ pair, its subsequent hadronization may result in a dramatic increase of phi meson abundance in excess of that produced purely by hadronic rescatterings . The phi meson produced at the initial stage should contribute primarily to the dimuon channel. To mimic the effect of enhanced phi meson production in QGP, we make an ad hoc increase in the phi meson number by a factor of two in the HIJING model. The time evolution of $`N_\varphi `$ is illustrated in Fig. 2 (dotted curve) where the phi meson yield, instead of exhibiting a peak, rapidly decreases to its equilibrium value which corroborates the findings of Ref. . Including also the medium effect, the rapidity distribution from non-scattered kaon is increased by another $`8\%`$, whereas the yield from $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ channel is considerably enhanced (dotted curve in Fig. 3). The resulting suppression factor $`R(m_T)`$ at low $`m_T`$ is $`21\%`$ as is evident from the inset of Fig. 4 (circles).

The importance of initial phi mesons to the dimuon yield is also seen in the scenario of neglecting phi mesons from the initial string decays. In this case, we find that the phi number obtained from the $`K^+K^{}`$ channel is essentially unaffected due to chemical equilibration via the hadronic scatterings, but the phi meson reconstructed from dimuons is, however, significantly suppressed.

### B RHIC

In the AMPT model, heavy ion collisions at RHIC differ from that at SPS mainly in the increasing effect of minijet gluons. However, the initial heavy ion collision dynamics at RHIC remains dominated by soft string fragmentation processes as at SPS. In Fig. 5 (top panel), we present results from the AMPT model for the rapidity distribution of phi mesons reconstructed from $`K^+K^{}`$ and $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ pairs for central Au+Au collisions at the RHIC energy of $`\sqrt{s}=130A`$ GeV. Of the total phi meson yield of 37 per event, about $`24\%`$ of these are lost in the kaonic channel by hadronic rescattering and absorption. Note that in spite of enhanced phi meson production in the early stages of the collision as compared to the SPS energy, its abundance at $`y0`$ is only about a factor of 1.5 large in the dimuon channel. This may be attributed to fewer kaons lost by rescattering at RHIC as they can escape rapidly out of the collision zone unperturbed due to of their large energies. It is seen that phi meson multiplicities reconstructed from $`K^+K^{}`$ pairs at midrapidity in the AMPT model is consistent with the STAR data .

The transverse mass spectra of $`\varphi `$ meson from the two channels are shown in the bottom panel of Fig. 5, and compared with the STAR data  for the $`K^+K^{}`$ channel. Compared to a slope parameter of $`T=379\pm 50`$ MeV in the data, the AMPT model predicts a smaller value of $`T=335`$ MeV in the kaonic channel in the range $`0<m_Tm_\varphi <1`$ GeV. The slope parameter for phi mesons determined from the $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ channel is $`T=297`$ MeV resulting in a suppression factor at low $`m_T`$ of $`R(m_T)=58\%`$. Note that at both SPS and RHIC energy, the slope parameter of phi mesons from $`K^+K^{}`$ decay is smaller compared to the experimental data. We have increased the phi meson elastic cross sections with baryons and mesons to 8.3 mb, which corresponds to the upper bound estimated from phi meson photoproduction data , and find that this increases only slightly the slope parameter. On the other hand, an enhanced flow is expected to be generated by converting the strings produced from soft processes into interacting partons in the high energy density created in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions . Since in the default HIJING model the strings are basically noninteracting, the latter modification was found to reproduce the large elliptic flow observed in Au+Au collisions at $`\sqrt{s}=130A`$ GeV . Results based on this new AMPT model will be reported in the future.

## V summary and conclusions

In summary, we have investigated in a multiphase transport (AMPT) model the production of phi mesons reconstructed from $`K^+K^{}`$ and $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ decays. Considering all possible collisions of $`\varphi `$ with the hadronic medium, we find the phi meson yield from dimuon channel is about a factor of 1.7 higher than the kaon-antikaon channel for central Pb+Pb collisions at the SPS energy. The kaons originating from phi meson decay in the dense hadronic medium are predominantly scattered and absorbed and thus do not contribute to the phi meson yield, whereas all the $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ pair freely escape. Inclusion of in-medium modification of masses of kaons and phi mesons enhances the phi meson width and results in a factor of two increase of the phi meson yield from the dimuon channel compared to the kaon-antikaon channel. However, strikingly different results were found by two experiments: The NA50  measured $`\varphi \mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ and found its yield a factor of 2-4 larger with a smaller slope parameter compared to $`\varphi K^+K^{}`$ measurements by NA49  for central Pb+Pb collisions at $`158A`$ GeV. Such a large enhancement of four at low transverse mass from dimuon over the kaon channel could only be explained in the AMPT model by an ad hoc increase of phi meson number by about three from the initial stage. This may be suggestive of other mechanisms, such as the formation of color ropes or quark-gluon plasma in these collisions. To pin down these differences an experiment measuring phi meson from both dimuon and kaon decays in the same kinematic range is therefore called for. For heavy ion collisions at RHIC energy of $`\sqrt{s}=130A`$ GeV, the AMPT model gives the yield and slope parameter of phi mesons from the $`K^+K^{}`$ channel that are in reasonable agreement with the STAR data. Similar to the results for heavy ion collisions at SPS, the phi meson yield from the dimuon channel is about 1.5 times larger than that from the $`K^+K^{}`$ channel in the absence of additional phi meson production due to the formation of the initial partonic stage. This number is expected to increase significantly if we include such enhanced production of initial phi mesons. Indeed at RHIC, large energy densities are expected to be reached, and a partonic matter with a longer lifetime and occupying a larger volume could be formed. Compared to SPS energy, larger $`s\overline{s}`$ production in the partonic stage and its subsequent hadronization would therefore result in an enhanced phi meson abundance, especially at the early stages. These phi mesons should contribute dominantly in the dimuon channel while most of them will escape detection in the kaonic channel. It is thus of great interest to have experimental data on phi mesons from the dimuon measurement at the RHIC energy.

## VI acknowledgment

This paper is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. PHY-9870038 and PHY-0098805, the Welch Foundation under Grant No. A-1358, and the Texas Advanced Research Program under Grant No. FY99-010366-0081.


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The two dimensional Yang-Mills theory ($`YM_2`$) is a theoretical laboratory for understanding the main theory of particle physics, $`QCD_4`$. In recent years there have been much effort to analyze the different aspects of this theory \[1-8\]. It is well known that $`YM_2`$ is defined by the Lagrangian $`\mathrm{tr}(\frac{1}{4}F^2)`$ on a Riemann surface where $`F`$ is the field strength tensor. This theory have certain properties, such as invariance under area preserving diffeomorphism and lack of any propagating degrees of freedom . In a $`YM_2`$ one starts from a B-F theory in which a Lagrangian of the form $`i\mathrm{tr}(BF)+\mathrm{tr}(B^2)`$ is used. There are, however, the many way to generalized these theories without losing properties. One way is so- called generalized Yang - Mills theory (gYM2’s). These theories are defined by replacing the term $`\mathrm{tr}(B^2)`$ in the YM2 Lagrangian by an arbitrary class function of $`B`$. It is worthy of mention that for gYM2, one can not eliminate the auxiliary field that obtain a Lagrangian for the gauge field. Remarkable that the large gauge group limit of YM2 and gYM2 theories is also interesting. Several aspects of this theory have been studied in \[13 - 19\]. There is another way to generalize YM2 and gYM2 and that is to use a nonlocal action for the auxiliary field, leading to the so - called nonlocal YM2 (nlYM2) and nonlocal gYM2(nlgYM2) theories, respectively . It is remarkable that, the action of nlYM2 and nlgYM2 is no extensive . Several aspects of nlgYM2, such as, wave function, partition function, generating functional, and also large $`N`$ limit of it, have been studied on sphere . The authors of  obtained that $`\varphi ^4`$ model of this theory (nlgYM2) on sphere has third order phase transition. The authors of  have studied the large-$`N`$ limit of YM2 and some features of it on cylinder.

The scheme of this paper is the following. In section 2 we briefly review the large-$`N`$ limit of (nlgYM2)theories for $`U(N)`$ gauge group. In section 3, we study the phase structure of the theory for $`\varphi ^{2k}`$ in all order and $`\varphi ^2+\frac{2\alpha }{3}\varphi ^3`$ models on arbitrary compact manifold with $`g1`$.

## 2 Preliminaries

The partition function of two dimensional nonlocal generalized Yang- Mills theories (nlgYM2) on a compact manifold $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ with genus $`g`$ and area $`A`$ is given by the exact formula  as:

$$Z_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_g}(g,A)=\underset{R}{}d^{22g}\mathrm{exp}\{\omega [A\mathrm{\Lambda }(R)]\},$$
(1)
where $`R`$’s label the irreducible representation of the gauge group, $`d_R`$ is the dimension of the representation $`R`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(R)`$ is

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }(R)=\underset{k=1}{\overset{p}{}}\frac{\alpha _j}{N^{k1}}C_k(R).$$
(2)
Here $`C_k`$ is the k’th Casimir of gauge group, $`\alpha _j`$’s are arbitrary constant. We consider the case that the gauge group is $`U(N)`$. The representation of this gauge group are labelled by $`N`$ integers $`n_i`$ satisfying $`n_in_j(ij)`$ and it is found that

$`d_R`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{1ijN}{}}(1+{\displaystyle \frac{n_in_j}{ji}}),`$ (3)
$`C_k(R)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}}[(n_i+Ni)^k(Ni)^k].`$ (4)
Now we redefine the function $`\omega `$ as:

$$N^2V[A\underset{k=1}{\overset{p}{}}\alpha _k\widehat{C}_k(R)]:=\omega [A\mathrm{\Lambda }(R)],$$
(5)
where

$$\widehat{C}_k(R)=\frac{1}{N^{k+1}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}(n_i+Ni)^k.$$
(6)
In the large $`N`$\- limit, the above summation is replaced by a path integration over the continuous function

$$\varphi (x)=n(x)+x1,$$
(7)
where

$$0x:=\frac{i}{N}1\mathrm{and}n(x):=\frac{n_i}{N}.$$
(8)
The partition function can be rewritten as:

$$Z_{\mathrm{\Sigma }_g}[\varphi (x)]=D\varphi (x)\mathrm{exp}\{N^2S(\varphi )\},$$
(9)
where

$$S(\varphi )=V(A_0^1W[\varphi (x)]dx)+(1g)_0^1dx_0^1dy\mathrm{log}|\varphi (x)\varphi (y)|,$$
(10)
and

$$W(\varphi ):=\underset{k=1}{}(1)^k\alpha _k\varphi ^k.$$
(11)
Introducing the density function as $`u(\varphi ):=\frac{dx(\varphi )}{d\varphi }`$ , it is seen that it satisfies

$$_b^au(z)𝑑z=1,$$
(12)
where $`[b,a]`$ is the interval corresponding to values of $`\varphi (x)`$ and also the condition $`n_in_j`$ demands

$$u(z)1.$$
(13)
As $`N\mathrm{}`$, only the configuration of $`\varphi `$ contributes to the partition function that minimizes $`S`$. To find this representation we put variation of $`S`$ with respect to $`\varphi `$ equal to zero. So one can arrive at

$$h(z)=P_b^a\frac{u(z^{})dz^{}}{zz^{}},$$
(14)
where $`P`$ indicates the principal value of integral and

$$h(z)=\frac{\widehat{A}}{2(1g)}W^{}(z),$$
(15)
and

$`\widehat{A}`$ $`:=`$ $`AV^{}\{A{\displaystyle }_0^1W[\varphi (x)]dx\},`$ (16)
$`=`$ $`AV^{}\{A{\displaystyle }_b^aW(z)u(z)dz\}.`$
The free energy of the theory is defined as

$$F:=S|_{\varphi _{cla.}},$$
(17)
It is seen that

$$F^{}(A)=\frac{\widehat{A}}{A}_b^au(z)W(z)𝑑z.$$
(18)
Using the standard method of solving the integral equation (14), the density function $`u(z)`$ is obtained in terms of the parameters $`a`$ and $`b`$. One can arrive at .

$$u(z)=\frac{\sqrt{(az)(zb)}}{\pi }\underset{n,m,q=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{(2n1)!!(2q1)!!}{2^{n+q}n!q!(n+m+q+1)!}a^nb^nz^mh^{(n+m+q+1)}(0),$$
(19)
and the values of $`a`$ and $`b`$ are determined from (12) and

$$\underset{n,q=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{(2n1)!!(2q1)!!}{2^{n+q}n!q!(n+q)!}a^nb^nh^{(n+q)}(0)=0.$$
(20)
The density function, $`u(z)`$ found from (19), depend on the modified area $`\widehat{A}`$, and therefore $`A`$. As $`A`$ increases, a situation is encountered where $`u`$ exceeds 1. So, the density function $`u(z)`$ violates the condition (13) for $`A`$’s larger than some critical value $`A_c`$. $`A_c`$ is the value of $`A`$ at which the maximum of $`u`$ becomes 1 ($`u_{max}(A_c)=1`$). The region $`A<A_c`$ is called the weak coupling phase (WCP) regime, and the region $`A>A_c`$ is called the strong coupling phase (SCP) regime.

## 3 Phase transition of nlgYM2 on a compact manifold with $`g1`$

### 3.1 $`\varphi ^{2k}(k>1)`$ model.

In this case $`W(\varphi )`$ is an even function of $`\varphi `$, therefore the density function in WCP regime, $`u_w(z)`$, is even, then $`b=a`$. So by rewriting (19), we have

$$u_w(z)=k\eta \sqrt{a^2z^2}\underset{n=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{(2n1)!!}{2^nn!}a_k^{2n}z^{2k2n2},$$
(21)
where $`\eta =\frac{\widehat{A}}{1g}`$ and $`a_k`$ is obtained from (12) as:

$$a_k=[\frac{2^k(k1)!!}{(2k1)!\eta }]^{\frac{1}{2k}}.$$
(22)
Equation (21) has three extremum points at $`z=0`$ and $`z_{1,2}=\pm a_k\sqrt{\zeta _k}`$ , in which $`\zeta _k`$ is independent of $`a_k`$ and is determined from

$$\underset{n=0}{\overset{k2}{}}\frac{(2n1)!!}{2^{n+1}(n+1)}\zeta _k^{(n+1)}=1.$$
(23)
By institute (22) in (21), we have

$$u_w(z)=\eta ^{\frac{1}{2k}}f(k)$$
(24)
where $`f(k)`$ is independent of $`\eta `$($`\widehat{A}`$or $`A`$). The value of $`A_c`$ is obtained from

$$u_w(z_0)=1,$$
(25)
hence $`z_0`$’s are those extremum points, which $`u_w(z)`$ is maximum. One can arrive at

$$A_cV^{}(\frac{\widehat{A_c}}{A_c})=\frac{1g}{f(k)^{\frac{1}{2k}}}.$$
(26)
It is also easy to obtain $`u_w^{\prime \prime }(z_0)`$. Using $`u_w^{}(z_0)=0`$, one can see

$`u_w^{\prime \prime }(z_0)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{k\eta z_0a^{2k3}(2k1)}{\pi \sqrt{a^2z_0^2}}}[{\displaystyle }_{n=0}^{k2}{\displaystyle \frac{(2n1)!!z^{2k2n5}}{2^{n+1}(n+1)!a^{2k2n5}}}(2k1)a^{32k}z_0^{2k3}],`$ (27)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{k\eta a^{2k2}(2k1)}{\pi \sqrt{a^2z_0^2}}}{\displaystyle \underset{n=0}{\overset{k2}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(2n1)!!z_0^{2k2n4}}{2^nn!a^{2k2n4}}}.`$
When $`g>1`$, then $`\eta `$ is negative, so that the $`\varphi ^{2k}`$ model has no phase transition on compact manifold with $`g>1`$. But for the case $`g=0`$ ($`\eta =\widehat{A}`$), (27) is clearly negative and density function in WCP regime, $`u_w(z)`$, has a minimum at $`z=0`$ and two absolute maxima at $`z_{1,2}=\pm a_k\sqrt{\zeta _k}`$. Thus all $`\varphi ^{2k}`$’s models has phase transition only on sphere. For areas slightly more than the critical area, we can write the density function in WCP, $`u_w(z)`$, as:

$$u_w(z)=u_w(z_{1,2})\frac{1}{2}|u_w^{\prime \prime }(z_{1,2})|(zz_{1,2})^2.$$
(28)
In the adjacent of critical point, $`A_c`$, $`u_w(z)1`$, and it is found the point $`z^{}`$ which satisfying $`u_w(z^{})=1`$. Then

$$|z^{}z_{1,2}|=\sqrt{\frac{2}{|u_w^{\prime \prime }(z_{1,2})|}}\xi ,$$
(29)
where by using of (24) $`\xi `$ is

$$\xi =u_w(z_{1,2})1=\widehat{A}^{\frac{1}{2k}}f(k)1.$$
(30)
By the same procedure which used in , we can obtain that the difference of free energy in SCP and WCP regime for nlgYM2 is

$$F_sF_w\xi ^3.$$
(31)
One can expand $`\xi (A)`$ about $`A_c`$ as:

$$\xi (A)=\xi (A_c)+\xi ^{}(A_c)(AA_c)+\mathrm{},$$
(32)
where

$$\xi ^{}(A_c)=\frac{1}{2k}(\frac{d\widehat{A}}{dA})_c\frac{1}{A_cV^{}(\frac{\widehat{A}_c}{A_c})}.$$
(33)
So that, for the case $`(\frac{d\widehat{A}}{dA})_c0`$, $`\xi ^{}(A)`$ is nonzero and $`\xi (A_c)=0`$, then

$$F_sF_w=\beta (AA_c)^3.$$
(34)
Hence $`\beta `$ is a constant which independent of modified area of manifold, $`\widehat{A}`$, ( or $`A`$). Therefore we conclude that the nlgYM2 theories for all order of $`W(\varphi )=\varphi ^{2k}`$ models have third order phase transition only on sphere ($`g=0`$).

### 3.2 $`W(\varphi )=\varphi ^2+\frac{2\alpha }{3}\varphi ^3`$ models

We see that in the some nonlocal generalized case the constraint (13) can be satisfy also for negative $`\eta =\frac{\widehat{A}}{1g}`$ by an appropriate choice of the coupling constant $`\alpha _k`$, which implies the existence of phase transition at higher genera except the torus. Starting from (19) for $`W(\varphi )=\varphi ^2+\frac{2\alpha }{3}\varphi ^3`$ model and obtain

$$u_w(z)=\frac{\eta }{\pi }\{1+\frac{\alpha }{2}(a+b)+\alpha z\}\sqrt{(zb)(az)},$$
(35)
and the value of $`a`$ and $`b`$ are determined from

$`(a+b)(1+{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{2}}(a+b))+{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{4}}(a+b)^2`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (36)
$`\eta (ab)^2(1+\alpha (a+b))`$ $`=`$ $`8.`$ (37)
By solving these equations, we obtain

$`b`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\lambda 1}{2\alpha }}2\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{\eta }}},`$ (38)
$`a`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\lambda 1}{2\alpha }}+2\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{\eta }}},`$ (39)
with

$$\lambda ^3\frac{1}{4}\lambda +\frac{\alpha ^2}{2\eta }=0.$$
(40)
By substitute (38) and (39) in (35), we have

$$u_w(y)=\frac{\eta }{\pi }\{2\lambda +y\}\sqrt{\frac{4\lambda }{\eta }y^2},$$
(41)
where

$$y=z\frac{2\lambda 1}{2\alpha }.$$
(42)
The density function $`u_w(y)`$, (42), has two extremum points as:

$`y_1`$ $`=`$ $`(Q1){\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{2}},`$
$`y_2`$ $`=`$ $`(Q+1){\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{2}},`$ (43)
here $`Q=\sqrt{1+\frac{8}{\lambda \eta }}>1`$. At the negative $`\eta `$ ($`g>1`$), we should take the $`\lambda <0`$ solution which exists for $`\eta <6\sqrt{3}\alpha ^2`$. So from equations (38), (39) and (LABEL:42) we conclude that $`y`$ take the values in interval $`[2\sqrt{\frac{\lambda }{\eta }},2\sqrt{\frac{\lambda }{\eta }}]`$, and the only extremum point which repose in $`[2\sqrt{\frac{\lambda }{\eta }},2\sqrt{\frac{\lambda }{\eta }}]`$ is $`y_1`$. It is clearly seen that $`u_w(y)`$ has an absolute maximum in $`[2\sqrt{\frac{\lambda }{\eta }},2\sqrt{\frac{\lambda }{\eta }}]`$ at $`y_1`$. So that

$$u_w^{\prime \prime }(y_1)<0.$$
(44)
From (42), we have

$$u_w(y_1)=\frac{\lambda \eta }{2\pi }(Q+3)\sqrt{\frac{4\lambda }{\eta }\frac{\lambda ^2}{4}(Q1)^2}.$$
(45)
$`\eta _c`$ and therefore the critical value for modified area of manifold, $`\widehat{A_c}`$,( or $`A_c`$) is determined by $`u_w(y_1)=1`$, and it is found that

$$\frac{\lambda _c\eta _c}{2\pi }(Q_c+3)\sqrt{\frac{4\lambda _c}{\eta _c}\frac{\lambda _c^2}{4}(Q_c1)^2}=1.$$
(46)
By making use of (32), we have

$`\xi ^{}(A_c)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dA}}[u_w(y_1)1]|_{A=A_c},`$ (47)
$`=`$ $`[1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2(1\frac{\lambda _c\eta _c(Q_c1)^2}{16})}}]{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dA}}\mathrm{ln}\widehat{A}|_{A=A_c},`$
where if $`\frac{d\widehat{A}}{dA}0`$, then $`\xi ^{}(A_c)0`$. So by the same procedure in the previous subsection, one can obtain

$$F_sF_w=\gamma \xi ^3.$$
(48)
By substitute (47) in (32) and then in (48), we have

$$F_sF_w=\gamma ^{}(AA_c)^3,$$
(49)
where $`\gamma ^{}`$ is a constant which is independent of $`\widehat{A}`$ and therefore of $`A`$, so the order of transition of this model is 3.

## 4 conclusion

We study $`\varphi ^{2k}`$ and $`\varphi ^2+\frac{2\alpha }{3}\varphi ^3`$ models for nlgYM2 theories, and obtained that all order of $`\varphi ^{2k}`$model has phase transition only on sphere and the order of this transition is three. Also by considering the $`\varphi ^2+\frac{2\alpha }{3}\varphi ^3`$ model of nlgYM2, we found that, this theory has third order phase transition on compact manifold with $`g>1`$ and there is no phase transition on sphere. Note that the whole reasoning is independent of the number of points at them $`u_w`$ attains its absolute maximum. It is clear that similar situation prevails for the cases which $`u_w`$ has many absolute maximum. In this case, one can easily realize the WCP regime as the same technique in Preliminaries section, and then obtain the phase transition of theory in the multi - critical points. Also remark that the critical value $`\eta _c`$ for any particular model is fixed, therefore, increasing $`\widehat{A}`$ the genus increases proportionally in order to keep fixed the critical number of handles per area, $`\eta _c`$. So if we fixed the modified area $`\widehat{A}`$ of the surface, then with the increase of the genus the number of multi - critical points decreases and for $`g>1+\frac{\widehat{A}}{|\eta _c|}`$ there is no phase transition.