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# Q-ball formation in the wake of Hubble-induced radiative corrections

## I Introduction

The presence of flat directions, generally denoted by $`\varphi `$, in the field space along which the classical potential vanishes is quite generic in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) . This has interesting cosmological implications. In particular flat directions which are built on squarks and sleptons, and carry a nonzero $`BL`$, can generate the observed baryon asymmetry in the context of Affleck-Dine baryogenesis mechanism . As a second off-shoot, the formation of $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls  in supersymmetric (SUSY) theories can come from the presence of flat directions carrying a $`U(1)`$ charge . A $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball is a non-topological soliton whose stability is confirmed due to the presence of a non-vanishing charge $`\mathrm{Q}`$ it carries associated with a $`U(1)`$ symmetry .

It has been shown  that homogeneous oscillations of flat directions can be fragmented into $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls if the flat direction potential grows more slowly than $`|\varphi |^2`$, or, equivalently if $`V(\varphi )/|\varphi |^2`$ has a minimum at $`|\varphi |0`$. The numerical simulations also support this idea . This can be understood by noting that flat direction oscillations for such potentials behaves as a fluid with a negative pressure. Therefore, spatial inhomogeneities around the zero-mode condensate along the flat direction, set by inflationary fluctuations , can exponentially grow. When the modes go nonlinear, a lump of $`\mathrm{Q}`$-matter forms with a physical size set by the wavelength of the fastest growing mode. The $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball formation is usually studied in this context when the low-energy SUSY breaking triggers the flat direction oscillations.

However, all the flat directions of the MSSM are subject to modification at scales well above the low-energy SUSY breaking scale. In fact, nonrenormalizable superpotential terms induced by the new physics remove the flatness for large $`|\varphi |`$ . Furthermore, in supergravity (SUGRA) models, SUSY breaking terms by the inflation sector generally induces soft mass terms for scalar fields  (unless forbidden by some symmetry). It is also possible to obtain Hubble-induced gaugino soft mass $`m_{1/2}`$, and Hubble-induced $`A`$-term unless prohibited by an $`R`$-symmetry. This has a very important consequence for Affleck-Dine baryogenesis as we will explain shortly.

Very recently, the running of the flat direction soft masses when the Hubble-induced SUSY breaking is dominant, called the Hubble-induced radiative corrections, has been studied . There, the main focus was on the viability of the Affleck-Dine baryogenesis in the wake of Hubble-induced radiative corrections. The main conclusion was that the $`H_\mathrm{u}L`$ flat direction is the most promising one. A similar case study can be made for the $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball formation in the early Universe, which is the topic of this paper. We show that flat directions made up of squarks and sleptons may undergo early oscillations, as a result of the Hubble-induced radiative corrections. The $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls can be formed during these early oscillations if $`m_{1/2}/m_0`$ is sufficiently large. For smaller values of $`m_{1/2}/m_0`$, $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls are formed when the low-energy SUSY breaking becomes dominant. The main point here is that during early oscillations the soft masses are determined by the Hubble parameter. Therefore, the width of the instability band is redshifted $`H`$ which is quicker than the redshift of the unstable modes $`a^1`$, where $`a`$ being the scale factor of the Universe. If perturbations do not have enough time to grow then $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls are not formed. However, the expansion of the Universe reduces the amplitude of oscillations by the time the low-energy SUSY breaking takes over. This has interesting consequences for the subsequent formation of $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls.

We begin by discussing the dynamics of the flat direction. Then we briefly describe the Hubble-induced radiative corrections to the scalar potential. In the subsequent section we discuss $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball formation and consequences of a phase of early oscillations. Finally, we conclude our paper.

## II The flat direction dynamics

In the early Universe the energy density stored in the inflaton field  is the dominant source of SUSY breaking, and induces a $`(\mathrm{mass})^2H^2`$ for all the MSSM flat directions, where $`H`$ is the expansion rate of the Universe . The effect of such a mass term crucially depends on the size and the sign of the constant of proportionality. For a positive $`(\mathrm{mass})^2H^2`$, SUSY breaking by the inflation sector has no significant consequences. On the other hand, if $`(\mathrm{mass})^2H^2`$, the flat direction is heavy enough to settle down at the bottom of the potential during inflation. A stable scalar field might even act as cold dark matter .

Perhaps, the most interesting case occurs for a $`(\mathrm{mass})^2H^2`$, since it naturally leads to a nonzero vacuum expectation value (VEV) for the flat direction at the onset of its oscillations. This can be realized at the tree-level in simple extensions of minimal supergravity models , and from one-loop corrections to the Kähler potential in no-scale supergravity models . A detailed examination of the scenario with $`(\mathrm{mass})^2H^2`$, including a systematic treatment of nonrenormalizable superpotential terms which lift the flat direction has been performed in Ref. . The SUSY breaking by the inflaton energy density and by the hidden sector result in terms

$``$ $`C_IH^2|\varphi |^2+(a\lambda _nH{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi ^n}{nM^{n3}}}+\mathrm{h}.\mathrm{c}.)+m_{\varphi ,0}^2|\varphi |^2`$ (2)
$`+(A_{\varphi ,0}\lambda _n{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi ^n}{nM^{n3}}}+\mathrm{h}.\mathrm{c}.)`$
in the scalar potential***For our purpose we consider nonrenormalizable superpotential terms $`\lambda _n\mathrm{\Phi }^n/nM^{n3}`$, where $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is the superfield comprising $`\varphi `$ and its fermionic partner, and $`M`$ is the scale of new physics which induces such a term. All of the MSSM flat directions are lifted at $`n9`$ level, if there is no other symmetry except the standard model gauge group .. The first and the third terms are the Hubble-induced and low-energy soft mass terms respectively, while the second and the fourth terms are the Hubble-induced and the low-energy $`A`$ terms respectively. The Hubble-induced soft terms typically dominate the low-energy ones for $`H>m_{3/2}`$, with $`m_{3/2}`$ being the gravitino mass. If $`C_I>0`$, the absolute value of the flat direction during inflation settles at the minimum given by

$$|\varphi |\left(\frac{C_I}{(n1)\lambda _n}H_IM^{n3}\right)^{1/n2},$$
(3)
with $`H_I`$ being the Hubble constant during the inflationary epoch. After the end of inflation, $`\varphi `$ initially continues to track the instantaneous local minimum of the scalar potential, which can be estimated by replacing $`H_I`$ by $`H(t)`$ in Eq. (3). Once $`Hm_{3/2}`$, the low-energy soft SUSY breaking terms take over and $`\varphi `$ starts oscillating. It has recently been noticed that various thermal effects can trigger oscillations at $`Hm_{3/2}`$ . Here we show that it is also possible to obtain a phase of early oscillations from the Hubble-induced radiative corrections to the scalar potential.

## III Hubble-induced radiative corrections

It has been shown in a recent study , that the Hubble-induced radiative corrections can significantly change the shape of the flat direction potential. This is especially important during and right after the end of inflation if the inflationary scale is above the weak scale, and if thermal equilibrium is achieved at sufficiently late times. Otherwise, thermal corrections to the scalar masses  always dominate the radiative corrections. We therefore consider models with a low reheat temperature which can be naturally realized in models where the inflation sector is gravitationally coupled to the matter sector.

All fields which have gauge or Yukawa couplings to the flat direction contribute to the logarithmic running of its $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$. Therefore, one should study the evolution of the flat direction $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ from some higher scale such as $`M_{\mathrm{GUT}}`$ down to low scales in order to determine the location of the true minimum of the potential. The running of low-energy soft breaking masses has been studied in great detail in the context of MSSM phenomenology . The one-loop beta functions for the $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ of the MSSM scalars receive opposite contributions from the scalar and the gaugino loops . If the top Yukawa coupling is the only large one (i.e. as long as $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ is not very large), the beta functions for the $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ of squarks of the first and the second generations, then the sleptons only receive significant contributions from the gaugino loops. A review of these effects can be found in Ref. . Here we only mention the main results for the universal boundary conditions, where at $`M_{\mathrm{GUT}}2\times 10^{16}`$ GeV the soft $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ of all the scalars is $`m_0^2`$, while the gauginos have a common soft mass $`m_{1/2}`$.

For the first and second generations of squarks

$$m^2m_0^2+(57)m_{1/2}^2,$$
(4)
at the weak scale, while for the right-handed and the left-handed sleptons

$$m^2m_0^2+0.1m_{1/2}^2,m^2m_0^2+0.5m_{1/2}^2,$$
(5)
respectively. These results are independent of $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$, while the soft breaking $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ of the third generation of squarks has some dependence on $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$. On the other hand the $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ of $`H_u`$ becomes negative at low scales, e.g.

$$m^2\frac{1}{2}m_0^22m_{1/2}^2,$$
(6)
for the choice of $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =1.65`$ . The important point is that the sum $`m_{H_u}^2+m_L^2`$, which describes the mass of the $`H_uL`$ flat direction, is driven to negative values at the weak scale only for $`m_{1/2}\stackrel{>}{}m_0`$.

Similarly, one could follow the evolution of the soft breaking terms when the Hubble-induced supersymmetry breaking terms are dominantApart from the gauge and the Yukawa interactions of the flat directions there also exist nonrenormalizable interactions coming from nonminimal kinetic terms in the Kähler potential and nonminimal coupling of the flat directions to the gravity. The flat direction $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ receives radiative corrections from all these interactions. However, at scales well below the Planck scale $`2\times 10^{18}`$ GeV, the running from nonrenormalizable interactions are taken over by that from the gauge and the Yukawa interactions. We therefore assume that well below the GUT scale it is sufficient to consider the running due to gauge and Yukawa couplings, while including the running from nonrenormalizable interactions between $`M_{\mathrm{Planck}}`$ and $`M_{\mathrm{GUT}}`$ in the boundary condition for $`C_I`$ at $`M_{\mathrm{GUT}}`$. Roughly speaking, this is equivalent to integrating out the heavier modes above the GUT scale.. However, the boundary conditions are quite different here, since $`m_0^2`$ and $`m_{1/2}`$ are determined by the scale of inflation, and the form of the Kähler potential. They become completely negligible at low scales, and, they have no bearing on present phenomenology, e.g. at present the Hubble parameter is $`H(0)𝒪(10^{33})`$ eV. For more details in this regard we refer the reader to Ref.. Here we draw the main conclusions which play important roles in our subsequent discussion on the formation of $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls.

A typical flat direction $`\varphi `$ is a linear combination $`\varphi =_{i=1}^Na_i\phi _i`$ of the MSSM scalars $`\phi _i`$, implying that $`m_\varphi ^2=_{i=1}^N|a_i|^2m_\phi ^2`$. As mentioned before, for a given $`m_0^2`$, the running of $`m_\varphi ^2`$ crucially depends on $`m_{1/2}`$. A Hubble-induced gaugino mass can be produced from a non-minimal dependence of the gauge superfield kinetic terms on the inflaton field. Generically, the gauge superfield kinetic terms must depend on the field(s) of the hidden, or, secluded sector in order to obtain gaugino masses of roughly the same order, or larger than the scalar masses, as required by phenomenology. Having $`m_{1/2}H`$, thus appears to be quite natural unless an $`R`$-symmetry forbids terms which are linear in the inflaton superfield . The same also holds for the Hubble-induced $`A`$ terms. The $`\mu `$ term is a bit different. Since, it doesn’t break supersymmetry, there is a priori no reason to assume that $`\mu `$ of order $`H`$ will be created. As noticed in Ref., the viability of Affleck-Dine baryogenesis only requires $`\mu (M_{\mathrm{GUT}})\stackrel{<}{}H/4`$.

For $`C_I1`$, only the $`H_uL`$ flat direction acquires a negative $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ at low scales. The flipping in the sign occurs at a scale $`q_c`$, which is above $`𝒪(1)`$ TeV, unless $`m_{1/2}<H`$. However, the exact value of $`q_c`$ also depends on a number of other model parameters, e.g. $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$.

For $`C_I+1`$, the $`H_uL`$ flat direction always has a negative $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ at small scales, but for $`m_{1/2}\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}3}H`$ the $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ flips its sign twice. The slepton masses only receive positive contributions from the electroweak gaugino loops. Therefore, the $`LLE`$ flat direction $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ remains negative down to small scales unless $`m_{1/2}\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}2}H`$, in particular $`q_c\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}10}^9`$ GeV for $`m_{1/2}\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}3}H`$. The squared masses of all the squarks (but the right-handed stop), and with a fair approximation the $`U_3D_iD_j`$ and the $`LQD`$ flat directions, change sign unless $`m_{1/2}\stackrel{<}{}H/3`$. In particular, $`q_c10^{10}(10^{15})`$ GeV, for $`m_{1/2}/H=1(3)`$. This is due to the large positive contribution from gluino loops to the squared squark masses below $`M_{\mathrm{GUT}}`$. The exact value of $`q_c`$ is almost independent of other model parameters in this case, unlike the $`H_uL`$ case for $`C_I1`$. This is simply because the top Yukawa coupling has almost no effect on the flat directions other than $`H_uL`$. This also suggests that the same conclusions essentially hold for flat directions built on sleptons and particularly squarks when $`C_I1`$, which we numerically verified.

The $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ of the flat directions made up of squarks and sleptons increases towards the lower scales and can be written as

$`m^2`$ $``$ $`m_0^2\left(1+K\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{|\varphi |^2}{M_{\mathrm{GUT}}^2}}\right)\right),|\varphi |M_{\mathrm{GUT}},`$ (7)
where $`K`$ is a negative constant approximately given by

$$K\frac{\alpha }{8\pi }\frac{m_{1/2}^2}{m_0^2}.$$
(8)
Here $`\alpha `$ represents the gauge fine structure constant at the GUT scale, and $`m_{1/2}`$, $`m_0^2`$ are the universal gaugino soft mass and scalar soft $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ at the GUT scale, respectively. When the low-energy SUSY breaking is dominant one typically finds, by taking phenomenological constraints at the weak scale into account, $`|K|0.010.1`$ . However, our case at hand is different. In the early Universe the Hubble-induced SUSY breaking determines the ratio $`m_{1/2}^2/m_0^2`$, which can be $`1`$ without affecting the low energy phenomenology. This is an important point, to which we shall come back shortly.

## IV Early $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball formation

### A Cosmological set-up

During inflation all scalar fields, including the flat directions, with a mass $`m<H`$ have quantum fluctuations

$$\delta \varphi \frac{H_I}{2\pi },$$
(9)
which becomes classical when a particular mode leaves the horizon. These fluctuations, upon re-entering the horizon, act as initial seed perturbations which will get amplified when the flat direction starts oscillating after the end of inflation . Note, for our purpose we strictly assume that the Universe remains matter-dominated for a sufficiently long time after the end of inflation. This will be the case for models with a low reheat temperature.

### B The flat direction oscillations

As mentioned earlier, the flat directions built on squarks and/or sleptons receive a positive contribution from the gaugino loops which increases their $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ towards lower scales. For $`|m_0^2|H^2`$, the rate at which $`m_\varphi ^2`$ increases only depends on $`m_{1/2}/H`$. For a large enough $`m_{1/2}/H`$ the flat direction $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ exceeds $`H^2`$ at a large scale $`q_c`$, irrespective of the sign of $`C_I`$ in Eq. (2), leading to early oscillations of the flat direction. In order to examine such a possibility we should compare $`q_c`$ with the instantaneous VEV of the flat direction $`(HM^{n3})^{1/n2}`$, see Eq. (3). We note that as long as $`q_c<(HM^{n3})^{1/n2}`$, the flat direction tracks the instantaneous VEV. Also note that the value of $`q_c`$ is fixed by the ratio $`m_{1/2}/H`$ while the Hubble parameter is constantly decreasing in time. Therefore, an overlap eventually occurs when

$$H_O\frac{q_c^{n2}}{M^{n3}}.$$
(10)
If $`m_{3/2}<H_O<H_I`$, then the flat direction starts early oscillations with an initial amplitude $`q_c`$. Note, that any overlap during inflation has no interesting consequences, because oscillations exponentially die down during inflation. A phase of early oscillations is ensured in gravity-mediated SUSY breaking models if $`H_O>10^3`$ GeV, while for gauge-mediated models $`H_O>10^4`$ GeV can be sufficient, since the mass of the gravitino is generically much smaller in these models.

In order to study the possibility of $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball formation during early oscillations, we briefly recall the analysis of the amplification of the instabilities . Let us consider an oscillating homogeneous background $`\varphi =(Re^{i\theta })/\sqrt{2}`$ with a perturbation $`\delta Re^{(\alpha (t)+ikx)}`$, and $`\delta \theta e^{(\alpha (t)+ikx)}`$. The equations of motion for the perturbations read

$`(\ddot{\alpha }+\dot{\alpha }^2+3H\dot{\alpha }+{\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{a^2}}+V^{\prime \prime }\dot{\theta }^2)\times (\ddot{\alpha }`$ (11)
$`+\dot{\alpha }^2+3H\dot{\alpha }+{\displaystyle \frac{k^2}{a^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{2\dot{R}}{R}}\dot{\alpha })+4\dot{\theta }^2\dot{\alpha }^2=0,`$ (12)
where $`V`$ is the flat direction potential, dot denotes time derivative, and prime denotes derivative with respect to $`R`$. If $`\dot{\theta }^2V^{\prime \prime }>0`$, then there is an instability band within the momentum range $`0<k<k_{\mathrm{max}}`$, where

$$k_{\mathrm{max}}=a\sqrt{\dot{\theta }^2V^{\prime \prime }}.$$
(13)
In the above expression $`k_{\mathrm{max}}`$ can either be a constant, or increasing. In these cases the modes grow. Otherwise, the modes are removed constantly from the instability band due to the momentum redshift.

For quantitative estimates it is sufficient to focus on the case of gravity-mediated models , as this is clearly the situation of interest regarding the Hubble-induced SUSY breaking. We first analyze the situation when $`|K|`$ in Eq. (7) is smaller than one. We have verified numerically that $`|K|<1`$, if $`m_{1/2}<5H`$. The behavior of the potential, which is governed by the running mass of the flat direction, is given by

$`VH^2\left(1+K\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{|\varphi |^2}{q_c^2}}\right)\right)|\varphi |^2,|\varphi |q_c,`$ (14)
where we have taken into account the Hubble-induced corrections to the flat direction. The flat direction $`\varphi `$ starts oscillating about the origin, with an amplitude $`q_c`$, when $`HH_O`$. Upon averaging over oscillations, one obtains an equation of state with a negative pressure

$$p\frac{K}{2}\rho ,$$
(15)
which results in $`k_{\mathrm{max}}2a|K|^{1/2}H`$ . It takes a finite amount of time for a certain mode to become nonlinear. A fairly good estimate of this time scale has been given in Refs. :

$$\mathrm{\Delta }t\frac{10}{|K|}H^1.$$
(16)
This is also a good estimate of the time scale for forming a $`Q`$-ball from the oscillations. For $`|K|<1`$, this time scale exceeds one Hubble time, therefore several oscillations will be needed to form $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls. However, this is not the end of the story, because the flat direction $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ is also redshifted. As a result physical modes within the instability band $`k_{\mathrm{phys}}<|K|^{1/2}H`$ are either outside, or at best marginally inside the horizon. Furthermore, the width of the instability band shrinks more quickly $`a^{3/2}`$, compared to the redshift of momentum modes $`a^1`$ in a matter-dominated Universe. This implies that no subhorizon mode can be made unstable before the low-energy SUSY breaking takes over. Therefore, we shall not be able to form $`Q`$-balls for $`|K|<1`$.

The situation is quite different if $`|K|1`$, which is the case if $`m_{1/2}\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}5}H`$. Now, we cannot use the expression in Eq.(16), which was derived when $`|K|<1`$, reliably. On the other hand, if we continue doing so, the time required for perturbations to become nonlinear is seen to be less than the period of oscillations $`2\pi /m`$. It may sound contradictory to the whole essence of forming $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls from negative pressure behavior of an oscillating condensate. However, in this particular case it is a rapid change in the shape of the potential which is responsible for the growth of the instabilities. This happens due to the strong running of the flat direction $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$. As a consequence, the fragmentation of the zero-mode condensate occurs very rapidly within one oscillation due to nonadiabatic time-variation in $`m_\varphi ^2`$. This we call here an instant $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball formation. This is an interesting possibility, which has not been investigated so far. This phenomena can not happen when the low-energy SUSY breaking terms are dominant, because one typically encounters $`|K|\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}0.1}`$ , based on phenomenological constraints at the weak scale.

Finally, we note that for $`H>m_{3/2}`$, the shape of the potential is slowly varying in time due to the redshift of $`m_0^2`$ by the Hubble expansion. This implies that any $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls which are formed during early oscillations must evolve too. It is conceivable though, that these $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls are eventually stabilized with a size set by the final shape of the potential. Nevertheless, their charge and number density can be quite different if they are formed at early times. A more precise estimate requires a better knowledge of the detailed dynamics of the growth of the perturbations when $`|K|>1`$. This we are lacking at the moment and it goes beyond the scope of the present paper.

## V Late-time formation of small $`Q`$-balls

In this section, we study two consequences when $`|K|<1`$, occurring for $`3Hm_{1/2}5H`$. As mentioned earlier, this can lead to early oscillations, albeit no early formation of $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls.

### A Baryogenesis

The scale $`q_c`$ at which the flat direction $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ becomes $`H^2`$ is mainly determined by the ratio $`m_{1/2}/H`$, note that the dependence is practically exponential. For example, for $`m_{1/2}4H`$, we find $`q_c3.10^{15}`$ GeV for all squarks and sleptons, except the right-handed stop. With such a value for $`m_{1/2}`$, for a typical $`A`$-term; we find $`A_{q_c}𝒪(H)`$, almost independent of its boundary value. This is a consequence of the gaugino loop contribution to the $`A`$-term beta function. Moreover, a relative phase between $`m_{1/2}`$ and $`A(M_{\mathrm{GUT}})`$ implies that the phase of the $`A`$-term also runs along with the VEV. This is interesting since one can obtain a phase mismatch required for the torque, which induces a spiral motion to the flat direction and consequently generates a baryon asymmetry. We have checked that for $`m_{1/2}\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}3}H`$ a good yield of baryon asymmetry with $`n_B/n_\varphi 10^2`$ can be comfortably accommodated. Once the Hubble-induced $`A`$-term is effectively switched-off, the comoving baryon asymmetry becomes frozen. Our conclusion is that baryogenesis during early oscillations only depends on the Hubble-induced SUSY breaking parameters, and it is independent of the low-energy soft mass and $`A`$-term.

### B Damping the amplitude of oscillations

From the onset of oscillations at $`H_O`$, given by Eq. (10), the flat direction simply oscillates until the low-energy SUSY breaking effects take over. The amplitude of the oscillations decreases as $`t^{1/2}`$, while the redshift of the flat direction mass is $`t^1`$. As we have described no $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls are formed during this interval for $`|K|<1`$. The situation rapidly changes once the low-energy SUSY breaking terms take over, because the width of the instability band becomes constant there on. Then there is a chance for the subhorizon modes to grow, and eventually collapse into lumps of $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls. However, the amplitude of flat direction oscillations at that time has decreased to a new value

$$|\varphi |q_c\left(\frac{H_0}{H_O}\right)^{1/2},$$
(17)
due to the redshift during the matter-dominated era, where $`H_0`$ determines the Hubble rate at the time of low energy SUSY breaking scale. By replacing $`H_O`$ from Eq. (10), we obtain

$$|\varphi |q_c\left(\frac{H_0M^{n3}}{q_c^{n2}}\right)^{2/3}.$$
(18)
Now, in order to illustrate the significance of dampening of the amplitude, let us compare it with the amplitude when the oscillations had started at $`HH_0`$. In the latter case the flat direction would have tracked the instantaneous VEV, which at $`HH_0`$ is given by $`\varphi _0(H_0M^{n3})^{1/(n2)}`$. The ratio of the two amplitudes is then given by

$$\frac{|\varphi |}{|\varphi _0|}\left[\frac{(H_0M^{n3})^{1/(n2)}}{q_c}\right]^{(n4)/2}.$$
(19)
Note, that this is less than one if $`q_c>(H_0M^{n3})^{1/(n2)}`$. Therefore, early oscillations in general damp the amplitude of the oscillations at $`H_0`$, leading to the formation of smaller $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls.

This has important consequences for $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball cosmology. Recent detailed analysis by lattice simulations show that almost all of the generated baryon/lepton asymmetry is absorbed into the $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls . This can be problematic if large $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls are formed. In gravity-mediated SUSY breaking models the late decay of large $`\mathrm{B}`$-balls below the freeze-out temperature for the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) annihilation, while generating $`n_B/n_\gamma 𝒪(10^{10})`$, results in LSP overproduction This problem can be alleviated for the wino and Higgsino dark matter . . Note, that the charge of the $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls in gravity-mediated models is proportional to the square of the amplitude; $`\mathrm{Q}|\varphi |^2`$ . Therefore, early oscillations of the flat direction indeed helps reducing the $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball charge. As an example, consider a flat direction which is lifted at the $`n=8`$ superpotential level with $`M=M_{\mathrm{Planck}}`$. Then it turns out that $`m_{1/2}4H`$ will be sufficient to trigger early oscillations, resulting in the formation of $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls which are $`6`$ orders of magnitude smaller. The situation is clearly better for smaller $`n`$ and/or $`M=M_{\mathrm{GUT}}`$, since a smaller $`m_{1/2}/H`$ will also help decreasing the amplitude of the oscillations.

In the gauge-mediated models the SUGRA contribution dominates the flat direction potential at large VEVs, though with a smaller gravitino mass $`m_{3/2}`$. For example, with $`m_{3/2}10^4`$ GeV, the potential reads

$`Vm_{3/2}^2\left(1+K\mathrm{ln}\left({\displaystyle \frac{|\varphi |^2}{M_{\mathrm{GUT}}^2}}\right)\right)|\varphi |^2,`$ (20)
for $`|\varphi |>10^{10}`$ GeV. On the other hand, for $`|\varphi |10^{10}`$ GeV, the gauge-mediated contribution

$$Vm_{\mathrm{SUSY}}^4\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{|\varphi |^2}{m_{\mathrm{SUSY}}^2}\right),|\varphi |m_{\mathrm{SUSY}}.$$
(21)
dominates the potential, with $`m_{\mathrm{SUSY}}𝒪`$(TeV) . In this case $`\mathrm{B}`$-balls with a charge $`B10^{12}`$ act as a stable dark matter candidate in the Universe . However, stable $`\mathrm{B}`$-balls overclose the Universe in almost all the regions of the parameter space, if they ought to yield an acceptable baryon asymmetry .

Our earlier estimates can be repeated to show that the Hubble-induced radiative corrections indeed lead to early oscillations which eventually decrease the charge of the $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls. However, the reduction in the $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball charge now depends on where $`|\varphi |`$ starts, see Eq. (18). If $`|\varphi |10^{10}`$ GeV, the SUGRA corrections dominate and $`Q|\varphi |^2`$, thus our earlier arguments hold even for the gauge-mediated models. On the other hand, for $`|\varphi |<10^{10}`$ GeV, we have $`\mathrm{Q}|\varphi |^4`$ . Therefore, early oscillations reduce the $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball charge even more significantly. As an example, consider a flat direction lifted at the $`n=9`$ superpotential level with $`M=M_{\mathrm{Planck}}`$. Then for $`m_{1/2}4H`$, the early oscillations result in the formation of gravity-mediated type $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls which are $`10^7`$ times smaller§§§The gravity-mediated type $`\mathrm{B}`$-balls are stable in gauge-mediated models, since there are no baryons with a mass less than $`10^4`$ GeV .. For smaller $`n`$, and/or $`M=M_{\mathrm{GUT}}`$, we find $`|\varphi |<10^{10}`$ GeV from Eq.(18), leading to the formation of even smaller $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls.

We conclude that for $`m_{1/2}\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}3}H`$, the flat directions built on squarks and/or sleptons in general undergo early oscillations. Then the amplitude of the oscillations is redshifted by the expansion of the Universe. This results in the formation of smaller $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls in both gravity and gauge-mediated models of SUSY breaking. In Ref.  a gauged $`U(1)_{BL}`$, which is broken at a scale $`v120^{14}`$ GeV, has been invoked to reduce the charge of a $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball. In the gravity-mediated models the $`D`$-term from $`U(1)_{BL}`$ helps forming smaller $`\mathrm{B}`$-balls from the oscillations of the flat directions with a nonzero $`BL`$ at the weak scale. However, as noticed by the authors, this mechanism does not improve the situation for the gauge-mediated models. The scenario mentioned here works well for both gravity- and gauge-mediated models, thus helping the emergence of a successful $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball cosmology.

## VI Conclusion

We have considered possible effects of radiative corrections to the Hubble-induced soft $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ of the flat directions on $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball formation. The key observation is that for a Hubble-induced soft gaugino mass $`m_{1/2}\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}3}H`$, the $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ of all squarks and sleptons exceeds $`H^2`$ at a scale $`q_c\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}10}^{15}`$ GeV, and for $`m_{1/2}\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}4}H`$, it turns out that $`q_cM_{\mathrm{GUT}}`$. Note, that the ratio $`m_{1/2}/H`$ is not constrained by the weak scale physics since the Hubble-induced SUSY breaking has no bearing on present phenomenology. Our conclusion is that all MSSM flat directions start oscillating shortly after the end of inflation, independently from the mechanism of low-energy SUSY breaking mediation. The formation of $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls during early oscillations is different from the standard case. For $`m_{1/2}>5H`$, the logarithmic running of the flat direction $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$ is so strong that its nonadiabatic time-variation may result in the fragmentation of the homogeneous condensate during just one oscillation, dubbed as instant $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball formation. However, $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls which may be formed in this fashion constantly evolve. This is because of the change in the shape of the potential caused by redshift of the flat direction $`(\mathrm{mass})^2`$. It is conceivable that $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls are eventually stabilized with a size set by the final shape of the potential, though with a different charge and number density. A more precise estimate requires quantitative analysis of $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball formation in this regime.

For $`3H\stackrel{<}{}m_{1/2}\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}5}H`$, the early oscillations in general start, but no $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls can be formed due to the continuous shrinking of the instability band caused by the Hubble expansion. The expansion also redshifts the amplitude of the oscillations leading to the formation of considerably smaller $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls at low scales. We noted that for $`m_{1/2}\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}3}H`$, the generated baryon asymmetry is determined by the Hubble-induced $`A`$ term as it is also running, which can provide a phase mismatch required for generating baryogenesis. We presented examples of the flat directions which are lifted by nonrenormalizable superpotential terms of higher order and found a substantial reduction in the charge of the $`\mathrm{Q}`$-balls. Therefore, early oscillations can lead to a successful $`\mathrm{Q}`$-ball cosmology in both gravity and gauge-mediated SUSY breaking models.

## acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to M. Bastero-Gil, D. Chung, M. Drees, and K. Narain for helpful discussions on various aspects of this project. The work of R.A. was supported by “Sonderforschungsbereich 375 für Astro-Teilchenphysik” der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft.


format: text

text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The phase transition from a low temperature phase, where quarks and gluons are confined into hadrons, to a high temperature phase, where a quark-gluon plasma of interacting quasi-particles can appear, is one of the most important features of SU(N) gauge theories at finite temperature. Many present investigations (for a review, see Ref. ) are devoted to clarify the kind of phase transition as a function of the number of light quarks and of their masses and to determine the critical temperature. When the phase transition is second order, it becomes essential to determine its critical indices, since they rule the dependence of macroscopic observables on the temperature in the critical region. Moreover, they allow to identify the universality class of the transition and, consequently, the relevant degrees of freedom near criticality.

Pure SU(N) gauge theories at finite temperature possess all essential features of the deconfinement transition and represent an ideal laboratory to understand mechanisms and to set up methods of investigation, since they can be simulated on a space-time lattice with relatively small effort.

The order parameter of the deconfinement transition in a SU(N) pure gauge theory is the Polyakov loop , defined as

$$P(\stackrel{}{x})\text{Tr}\underset{n_4=1}{\overset{N_t}{}}U_4(\stackrel{}{x},an_4),$$
(1)
where $`U_\mu (x)`$ is the link variable at the site $`x(\stackrel{}{x},t)`$ in the $`\mu `$ direction and $`a`$ is the lattice spacing. Let us consider the transformation $`U_4(\stackrel{}{x},a\overline{n}_4)zU_4(\stackrel{}{x},a\overline{n}_4)`$, where $`z`$ belongs to the center of the gauge group, Z(N), and $`a\overline{n}_4`$ is any fixed (lattice) time coordinate. Under this transformation the lattice action is left invariant, the Polyakov loop $`P(\stackrel{}{x})`$ transforms instead in $`zP(\stackrel{}{x})`$. If the Z(N) symmetry were unbroken, $`P`$ should always vanish; instead, owing to spontaneous symmetry breaking, $`P0`$ above a critical temperature $`T_c`$. The deconfinement transition coincides with the spontaneous breaking of the Z(N) global symmetry.

By integrating out all degrees of freedom of the $`(d+1)`$-dimensional SU(N) gauge theory except the order parameter, it is possible to generate an effective $`d`$-dimensional statistical model for the Polyakov loop, having Z(N) as global symmetry group. According to the Svetitsky-Yaffe conjecture , if the $`(d+1)`$-dimensional gauge theory undergoes a second order phase transition, its critical indices coincide with those of the effective $`d`$-dimensional model, if the latter has also a second order phase transition. Moreover their critical behavior, including finite size scaling, is predicted to coincide and is determined essentially by the Z(N) global symmetry. So, in particular, 3D SU(3) pure gauge theory belongs to the universality class of 2D Z(3) (3-state Potts) model and 4D SU(2) pure gauge theory to that of 3D Z(2) (Ising) model.

A new method has recently been proposed  (see also ) for the computation of the critical indices of a pure gauge theory with second order deconfinement transition. The method, described in detail in the next Section, is based on the finite size behavior of “simple” lattice operators, such as the plaquette, and allows very accurate determinations with small computational effort. It has been already successfully tested for the computation of the critical index $`\nu `$ of the correlation length for the case of 3D SU(3) pure gauge theory . In that case a precise determination of $`\nu `$ was obtained, in perfect agreement with the Svetitsky-Yaffe conjecture and with remarkably improved accuracy with respect to an earlier determination based on the Monte Carlo method . Here, we apply the same method to determine $`\nu `$ for the case of 4D SU(2) pure gauge theory. On the basis of the previous experience , we expect to improve the accuracy with respect to the existing determination , based on Monte Carlo methods, which gave $`\nu _{MC}`$=0.630(9).

## 2 Finite size scaling and the critical index $`\nu `$

111The content of this Section is not original and has been taken to a large extent from Ref. . The reader who is already aware of that work can go directly to the next Section.

To illustrate the method, let us consider the determination of the critical index $`\nu `$ of the correlation length $`\xi `$, defined as

$$\xi |t|^\nu ,t\frac{TT_c}{T_c}.$$

For a general $`d`$-dimensional statistical model a possible way of extracting the value of $`\nu `$ from lattice Monte Carlo simulations is to study the finite size scaling (FSS) behavior of the energy operator: FSS theory predicts that, if $`L`$ is the lattice size, the expectation value of the (lattice) energy operator behaves for large $`L`$ as

$$E_LE_{\mathrm{}}+kL^{\frac{1}{\nu }d},$$
(2)
where $`E_{\mathrm{}}`$ is the expectation value of the energy operator in the thermodynamic limit and $`k`$ is a non-universal constant.

Compared to other methods based on the FSS of fluctuation operators such as susceptibilities or Binder cumulants, the advantage lies in the fact that $`E_L`$ can be computed to high accuracy. The main drawback is that the term containing $`\nu `$ in Eq.(2) is subdominant for $`L\mathrm{}`$ with respect to the bulk contribution $`E_{\mathrm{}}`$. The numerical results of Ref.  have clearly shown that, in the case of gauge theories, the advantages outweigh the drawbacks and the method can give very accurate results.

In order to apply the same method to the $`(d+1)`$-dimensional gauge theory, it is necessary to compute expectation values of operators having the same finite size behavior of the energy in the $`d`$-dimensional statistical model. Let us consider a gauge invariant operator $`\widehat{O}`$ that is invariant also under the global symmetry given by the center of the gauge group, such as any Wilson loop or any correlator of the form

$$P(\stackrel{}{x})P^{}(\stackrel{}{y}),$$
(3)
where $`P(\stackrel{}{x})`$ and $`P(\stackrel{}{y})`$ are Polyakov loops at two different sites $`\stackrel{}{x}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{y}`$ of the $`d`$-dimensional space. It is natural to expect that the operator product expansion (OPE) of any such operator at criticality has the same form as the one of $`E`$:

$$\widehat{O}=c_II+c_ϵϵ+\mathrm{}.$$
(4)
Here $`I`$ and $`ϵ`$ are, respectively, the identity and the scaling energy operator in the statistical model, and the dots represent contributions of operators with higher dimension. Two remarks are in order here. First, the scaling energy operator $`E`$ is not to be confused with the lattice energy operator $`E`$, which is just an example of an operator in the statistical model with OPE given by Eq. (4). Second, the operators appearing in Eq. (4) are, formally, functionals of the order parameter of the $`(d+1)`$-dimensional gauge theory, i.e. of the Polyakov loop. The dynamics of the order parameters at criticality is, however, the same in the $`(d+1)`$-dimensional gauge theory and in the $`d`$-dimensional statistical model, so that such a distinction is practically unessential.

The ansatz of Eq. (4) was introduced and tested in Ref. , and used in Ref. , to obtain some exact results on correlation functions of 3D gauge theories at the deconfinement transition.

In particular, Eq. (4) implies that the FSS behavior of the expectation value $`\widehat{O}`$ will have the form of Eq. (2):

$$\widehat{O}_L\widehat{O}_{\mathrm{}}+cL^{\frac{1}{\nu }d}.$$
(5)
The contributions of the irrelevant operators will be subleading for $`L\mathrm{}`$.

We conclude that the FSS behavior of any such operator can be used to determine the value of $`\nu `$ through Eq. (5). The obvious advantage is that one can use operators, such as the plaquette, whose expectation value can be computed to high accuracy with relatively modest computational effort.

In the next Section, we use the described method in practice, to determine the critical index $`\nu `$ for the 4D SU(2) pure gauge theory.

## 3 Numerical results

The lattice operators we considered are (i) time-like (“electric”) plaquette, (ii) space-like (“magnetic”) plaquette, (iii) the correlator $`P(\stackrel{}{x})P^{}(\stackrel{}{y})`$, with $`\stackrel{}{x}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{y}`$ taken to be nearest neighbors sites in the 3D (spatial) lattice222In SU(2) the Polyakov loop is a real quantity. The dagger in the definition of the Polyakov loop correlator has been kept for the sake of generality.. All these observables possess the required symmetry properties to have an OPE given by Eq. (4), and hence a FSS behavior as in Eq. (5). Moreover they can be computed to high accuracy in Monte Carlo simulations.

Expectation values were computed on lattices with temporal extension $`N_t=2`$ and spatial sizes $`L=N_x=N_y=N_z`$ ranging from $`5`$ to $`26`$. Simulations must be performed at criticality, i.e. at the critical value of the lattice (inverse) coupling constant $`\beta `$ for the given $`N_t`$. We fixed $`\beta `$ at the central value of the determination of Ref. : $`\beta _c(N_t=2)`$=1.8735. The simulation algorithm we adopted was the over-relaxed heat-bath . For each simulation we collected a number of equilibrium configurations ranging from 50K to 4.8M, according to the lattice size, separated each other by a number of iterations of the order of the autocorrelation time. The error analysis was performed by the jackknife method applied to data bins at different levels of blocking.

We report in Table 1 the expectation values we obtained. Because of the asymmetry of the lattice, space-like and time-like plaquettes have obviously different expectation values and must be considered as two different operators. To evaluate $`\nu `$, we performed a single multibranched fit of the three data sets. To avoid cross-correlations we included in the fit only magnetic plaquettes from lattices with odd $`L`$ and electric plaquettes from lattices with even $`L`$. Polyakov loop correlations were measured in separate runs and therefore are not correlated with the plaquette measurements.

The result of the fit is

$$\nu =0.6298(28),\chi ^2/\mathrm{d}.\mathrm{o}.\mathrm{f}.=0.96,$$
(6)
in excellent agreement, as predicted by the Svetitsky-Yaffe conjecture, with the most accurate determination for the 3D Ising model, $`\nu =0.63012(16)`$, obtained in Ref.  by the high-temperature expansion method. According to expectations, the accuracy of our result is improved in comparison to the existing Monte Carlo evaluation, based on the $`\chi ^2`$ analysis of the topological loop susceptibility, which gives $`\nu _{MC}=0.630(9)`$ .

In Figs. 1-3, we plot the expectation values of electric plaquette, magnetic plaquette and Polyakov loop correlator for different values of $`L`$ versus $`L^{1/\nu 3}`$, where $`\nu `$ is (the central value of) our determination.

## 4 Conclusions

In this paper, we have applied a recently proposed method for the evaluation of critical indices of the deconfinement transition in pure gauge theories to the case of 4D SU(2). Our result for the critical index $`\nu `$ of the correlation length confirms the conclusion of the analogous determination for the case of 3D SU(3) by the same method. Namely, the proposed method allows very precise results for critical indices, since it is based on the evaluation of “simple” expectation values, such as that of the plaquette.

The same method can be used to evaluate the critical coupling, which here was taken from the literature: one should perform simulations at different values of $`\beta `$ in the critical region and, for each of them, determine $`\nu `$ by the fit with the finite size scaling law; the critical value of $`\beta `$ can be obtained by comparing the $`\chi ^2`$’s of the different fits.

## Acknowledgments

We are grateful to R. Fiore and P. Provero for many fruitful discussions.


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Measurements of exclusive vector meson (VM) production in $`ep`$ scattering at high energy:

$$e+pe+VM+Y,$$
(1)
have led to considerable recent progress towards an understanding of diffraction in terms of QCD . The reaction is induced by a real or virtual photon and $`Y`$ is either a proton (“elastic” scattering) or a baryonic system of mass $`M_Y`$ which is much lower than the photon–proton centre of mass energy $`W`$ (“proton dissociative” scattering). Particularly sensitive tests of QCD models are provided by the study of the helicity structure of the interaction and its $`t`$ dependence, $`t`$ being the square of the four-momentum transfer from the incident proton to the scattered system $`Y`$. The scope of this paper is to test diffractive dynamics through the extension of helicity amplitude extractions for exclusive $`\rho ^0`$ electroproduction to larger values of $`|t|`$ than has previously been possible.

Three angles are defined to characterise the electroproduction of vector mesons decaying into two charged particles: $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is the angle between the VM production plane (defined as the plane containing the virtual photon and the VM directions) and the electron scattering plane in the ($`\gamma ^{}p`$) centre of mass system, $`\theta ^{}`$ and $`\phi `$ are the polar and the azimuthal angles, respectively, of the positively charged decay particle in the VM rest frame, the quantisation axis being taken as the direction opposite to that of the outgoing $`Y`$ system. In this paper, the distributions of the angles $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and $`\theta ^{}`$ are analysed.

The angular distributions give access to spin density matrix elements, which are bilinear combinations of the helicity amplitudes $`T_{\lambda _{VM}\lambda _\gamma }`$, where $`\lambda _{VM}`$ ($`\lambda _\gamma `$) is the vector meson (virtual photon) helicity . In the case of vector meson electroproduction by unpolarised beams and their subsequent decay into two pseudoscalar particles ($`\rho \pi ^+\pi ^{},\varphi K^+K^{}`$), the $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and $`\theta ^{}`$ distributions, integrated over the other two angles, are related to 5 of the 15 spin density matrix elements $`r_{ij}^k`$ and $`r_{ij}^{kl}`$ through the relations

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma }{\mathrm{d}\mathrm{\Phi }}1+\sqrt{2ϵ(1+ϵ)}\mathrm{cos}\mathrm{\Phi }(r_{00}^5+2r_{11}^5)ϵ\mathrm{cos}2\mathrm{\Phi }(r_{00}^1+2r_{11}^1)$$
(2)
$$\frac{\mathrm{d}\sigma }{\mathrm{d}\mathrm{cos}\theta ^{}}1r_{00}^{04}+(3r_{00}^{04}1)\mathrm{cos}^2\theta ^{},$$
(3)
where $`ϵ`$ is the polarisation parameter, i.e. the ratio of the longitudinal to transverse virtual photon fluxes. For this analysis $`ϵ0.99`$ .

Assuming natural parity exchange to hold ($`T_{\lambda _{VM}\lambda _\gamma }=(1)^{\lambda _{VM}\lambda _\gamma }T_{\lambda _{VM}\lambda _\gamma }`$), these five spin density matrix elements are related to the five independent complex helicity amplitudes by the following relations:

$`r_{00}^{04}`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N}}(|T_{00}|^2+|T_{01}|^2)`$ (4)
$`r_{00}^5`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N}}\mathrm{Re}(T_{00}T_{01}^{})`$
$`r_{11}^5`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N}}(\mathrm{Re}(T_{10}T_{11}^{})\mathrm{Re}(T_{10}T_{11}^{}))`$
$`r_{00}^1`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N}}|T_{01}|^2`$
$`r_{11}^1`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N}}(T_{11}T_{11}^{}+T_{11}T_{11}^{})`$
$`\mathrm{with}`$ $`N=|T_{00}|^2+|T_{11}|^2+|T_{01}|^2+2|T_{10}|^2+|T_{11}|^2.`$
In the case of s-channel helicity conservation (SCHC), $`\lambda _{VM}=\lambda _\gamma `$, only the $`T_{00}`$ and $`T_{11}`$ helicity “non-flip” amplitudes are non-zero, $`r_{00}^5=r_{11}^5=r_{00}^1=r_{11}^1=0`$ and the ratio $`R`$ of the cross sections for longitudinal to transverse photons is given by $`R=1/ϵr_{00}^{04}/(1r_{00}^{04})`$.

In recent years, the spin density matrix elements describing process (1) have been measured for the elastic electroproduction of $`\rho `$ and $`\varphi `$ mesons in the kinematic range $`Q^2>2.5`$ $`\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ and $`|t|<0.5`$ $`\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ , $`Q^2`$ being the negative square of the virtual photon four-momentum. Three main features have emerged from these measurements:

* the dominance of the longitudinal $`T_{00}`$ over the transverse $`T_{11}`$ helicity non-flip amplitudes;
* the presence of a small but significant violation of SCHC, observed through the non-zero value of the $`r_{00}^5`$ matrix element, in which the dominant helicity single flip amplitude describes the transition from a transverse photon to a longitudinal vector meson ($`T_{01}`$);
* values compatible with zero for the other amplitudes describing single ($`T_{10}`$) or double helicity flip ($`T_{11}`$).

These features are in agreement with calculations based on perturbative QCD (pQCD) . In these approaches, vector meson electroproduction is described in the proton rest frame as the convolution of a virtual photon fluctuation into a $`q\overline{q}`$ pair at a long distance from the target, a hard interaction mediated by the exchange of two gluons (each of them must carry sufficiently large transverse momentum to resolve the $`q\overline{q}`$ pair and the proton structure), and the subsequent recombination of the quark pair into a vector meson. For massless quarks, the helicity of the $`q\overline{q}`$ pair is zero, such that the helicity of the virtual photon is transferred into the projection of the orbital angular momentum of the $`q\overline{q}`$ pair onto the $`\gamma ^{}`$ direction. During the interaction, the helicity and the impact parameter of the quark pair are unchanged, but the orbital angular momentum can be modified through the transfer of the transverse momentum carried by the gluons. The helicity of the outgoing vector meson can thus be different from that of the incoming photon. Calculations show that such a helicity flip between the photon and the vector meson requires an asymmetric sharing of the photon longitudinal momentum by the quark and the antiquark .

For $`Q^2`$ above a few $`\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ and $`|t|<Q^2`$, the following features are expected for the (predominantly imaginary) amplitudes:

* a ratio constant with $`t`$ for the helicity conserving amplitudes $`|T_{11}|/|T_{00}|`$;
* a $`\sqrt{|t|}`$ dependence for the ratio of the single helicity flip to the non-flip amplitudes $`|T_{01}|/|T_{00}|`$ and $`|T_{10}|/|T_{00}|`$;
* a dependence linear with $`t`$ for the ratio of the double flip to the non-flip amplitudes $`|T_{11}|/|T_{00}|`$;
* the hierarchy:

$$|T_{00}|>|T_{11}|>|T_{01}|>|T_{10}|>|T_{11}|.$$
(5)

These features are expected to hold for proton dissociative as well as for elastic scattering.

Compared to previous results , the present paper extends considerably the $`t`$ range of the measurement of spin density matrix elements for $`\rho `$ meson diffractive electroproduction

$$e+pe+\rho +Y;\rho \pi ^+\pi ^{},$$
(6)
where the $`\rho `$ mass range is defined by restricting the invariant mass $`M_{\pi \pi }`$ of the decay pions to the interval

$$0.6<M_{\pi \pi }<1.1\mathrm{GeV}.$$
(7)
Elastic and proton dissociative data are combined, and the kinematic domain of the measurement is:

$`2.5<`$ $`Q^2`$ $`<60\mathrm{GeV}^2`$
$`40<`$ $`W`$ $`<120\mathrm{GeV}`$
$`0<`$ $`t^{}`$ $`<3\mathrm{GeV}^2.`$ (8)
The variable $`t^{}=|t||t|_{min}`$ is used for the analysis, where $`|t|_{min}`$ is the minimal value of $`|t|`$ kinematically required for the vector meson and the system $`Y`$ to acquire their effective mass through longitudinal momentum transfer. The $`t^{}`$ variable, which is very well approximated as the square of the transverse momentum of the scattered system $`Y`$, describes the transverse momentum transfer to the target and is thus the relevant dynamical variable. In the elastic case and for moderate $`Q^2`$, $`|t|_{min}`$ is negligible and $`t^{}|t|`$.

The large $`t^{}`$ domain covered by the present data allows for the first time a detailed study of the $`t^{}`$ dependence of the helicity structure of diffractive vector meson electroproduction.

## 2 Experimental procedure

### 2.1 Event selection, kinematic variables and Monte Carlo simulations

The data used for the present analysis were taken with the H1 detector in 1997. The energies of the HERA proton and positron beams111 In the following, the word electron will be used for both electrons and positrons. were 820 GeV and 27.5 GeV, respectively. The integrated luminosity used for the analysis amounts to 6.0 $`\mathrm{pb}^1`$. The relevant parts of the detector, for which more details can be found in , are the central tracking detector, the liquid argon (LAr) and the backward electromagnetic (SPACAL) calorimeters and the forward detectors, which are sensitive to energy flow close to the outgoing proton direction,222 In the H1 convention, the $`z`$ axis is defined by the colliding beams, the forward direction being that of the outgoing proton beam ($`z>0`$) and the backward direction that of the electron beam ($`z<0`$). i.e. the proton remnant tagger (PRT) and the forward muon detector (FMD).

Events corresponding to reaction (6), in the kinematic range defined by relations (8), are selected by requesting the reconstruction of a cluster in the SPACAL calorimeter with energy larger than 17 GeV (the scattered electron candidate) and the reconstruction in the central tracking detector of the trajectories of exactly two charged particles (pion candidates) with opposite charges, transverse momenta larger than 0.1 GeV and polar angles confined within the interval $`20^\mathrm{o}<\theta <160^\mathrm{o}`$. To reduce the background due to diffractive production of $`\varphi `$ mesons, events with $`M_{KK}<1.04\mathrm{GeV}`$ are discarded, where $`M_{KK}`$ is the invariant mass of the two hadron candidates when considered as kaons (no direct hadron identification is performed for this analysis). In order to reduce both QED radiative corrections and background contributions in which there are unreconstructed particles, a cut $`Ep_z>52\mathrm{GeV}`$ is applied. $`Ep_z`$ is the difference of the energies and the longitudinal momenta of the scattered electron (measured in the SPACAL) and the pion candidates (measured in the central tracking detector); it is expected to be close to twice the incident electron beam energy, i.e. 55 GeV, if no other particles have been produced except for the forward going system $`Y`$. To avoid backgrounds due to the diffractive production of systems decaying into two charged and additional neutral particles, all events are rejected in which a cluster, which is not associated with the electron or the two charged pion candidates, is reconstructed with polar angle larger than $`20^\mathrm{o}`$ and energy larger than 400 MeV (300 MeV) in the LAr (SPACAL) calorimeter.

The $`\rho `$ three-momentum is computed as the sum of the two charged pion candidate momenta. The variable $`Q^2`$ is reconstructed using the double angle method :

$$Q^2=\frac{4E_0^2\mathrm{sin}\theta _\rho (1+\mathrm{cos}\theta _e)}{\mathrm{sin}\theta _e+\mathrm{sin}\theta _\rho \mathrm{sin}(\theta _e+\theta _\rho )},$$
(9)
where $`E_0`$ is the energy of the incoming electron and $`\theta _e`$ and $`\theta _\rho `$ are the scattered electron and $`\rho `$ meson polar angles, respectively. The variable $`W`$ is calculated using the Jacquet-Blondel method :

$$W^2=ys\frac{p_{t,\rho }^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}{1y},\mathrm{with}y=\frac{E_\rho p_{z,\rho }}{2E_0},$$
(10)
$`s`$ being the square of the $`ep`$ centre of mass energy and $`E_\rho `$, $`p_{z,\rho }`$ and $`p_{t,\rho }`$ being the energy, the longitudinal and the transverse momentum of the $`\rho `$ meson, respectively. The electron transverse momentum is computed as

$$p_{t,e}=\frac{2E_0E_\rho +p_{z,\rho }}{\mathrm{tan}(\theta _e/2)}.$$
(11)
The variable $`t^{}`$ is then determined from the scattered electron and $`\rho `$ momentum components transverse to the beam direction as

$$t^{}(\stackrel{}{p}_{t,miss})^2=(\stackrel{}{p}_{t,e}+\stackrel{}{p}_{t,\rho })^2.$$
(12)
The selected events are classified in two categories, corresponding to the absence or presence of activity in the forward part of the H1 detector. An event is classified in the “notag” sample when no signal above noise is detected in the PRT and the FMD, and no track and no LAr cluster with energy larger than 400 MeV is reconstructed with polar angle $`\theta <20^\mathrm{o}`$. Conversely, events are classified in the “tag” sample if a signal is observed in either the PRT or the FMD, or if a track or a LAr cluster with energy larger than 400 MeV is reconstructed in the forward part of the H1 detector ($`\theta <20^\mathrm{o}`$).333 In the case of proton dissociative scattering, this corresponds to an excitation mass of the target $`M_Y<\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\; 25}`$GeV. For the tagged events, a pseudorapidity interval of at least 2.2 units444 The pseudorapidity $`\eta `$ of an object with polar angle $`\theta `$ is defined as $`\eta =\mathrm{log}\mathrm{tan}(\theta /2)`$. is required between the most backward track or LAr cluster with $`\theta <20^\mathrm{o}`$ (or the forward edge of the LAr calorimeter in the absence of track or cluster with $`\theta <20^\mathrm{o}`$), and the most forward charged pion candidate. To first approximation, the notag and tag samples could be attributed to the elastic and the proton dissociative processes, respectively. However, elastic events fall in the tag sample when $`|t|`$ is large enough for the scattered proton to hit the beam pipe walls or adjacent material, leading to secondary particles which give a signal in the forward detectors. This effect becomes significant for $`t^{}\stackrel{>}{}0.75`$ $`\mathrm{GeV}^2`$. Conversely, proton dissociative events are classified in the notag sample for small masses, $`M_Y\stackrel{<}{}1.6`$ GeV, or in the case of inefficiencies of the forward detectors.

The uncorrected $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ mass distributions are shown over the extended mass region $`0.3<M_{\pi \pi }<1.3`$ GeV in Fig. 1, separately for the tag and the notag samples, for $`t^{}<0.5\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ and for $`0.5<t^{}<3\mathrm{GeV}^2`$. Clear $`\rho `$ meson signals are visible in all distributions.

Monte Carlo simulations based on the DIFFVM program  including QED radiation  are used to describe the production and decay of $`\rho `$ vector mesons in elastic and proton dissociative scattering, and to correct the data for acceptance, smearing and radiative effects. The simulations include the angular distributions corresponding to the measurements of the present analysis for the $`r_{00}^{04}`$ matrix element ($`\mathrm{cos}\theta ^{}`$ distribution) and the $`r_{00}^5+2r_{11}^5`$ and $`r_{00}^1+2r_{11}^1`$ combinations ($`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ distribution). Other angular distributions and correlations are taken in the SCHC approximation, and the $`\mathrm{cos}\delta `$ parameter, which describes the interference between the longitudinal and transverse amplitudes, is taken from the elastic scattering measurement  in the relevant $`Q^2`$ range. The exponential slope of the $`t`$ distribution is $`b_{el}=7`$ $`\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ for elastic scattering  and $`b_{pd}=1.7`$ $`\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ for proton dissociative scattering, values which describe well the $`t^{}`$ distribution of the present data. The $`t^{}`$-integrated cross section ratio for proton dissociative to elastic scattering is taken as 0.75 in the present $`Q^2`$ range . For proton dissociative scattering, the $`M_Y`$ spectrum is parameterised as $`\mathrm{d}\sigma /\mathrm{d}M_Y^21/M_Y^{2.15}`$ (see ) and corrections are applied for the loss of events with large $`M_Y`$ values when particles of the dissociation system are reconstructed in the detector with polar angles $`\theta >20^\mathrm{o}`$ . All these parameters have been varied in the simulation as a part of the systematic error analysis.

DIFFVM simulations have also been used for $`\omega `$, $`\varphi `$ and $`\rho ^{}`$ background studies (see next section). In all cases, the $`t`$ slopes are chosen to be $`b_{el}=6`$ $`\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ for elastic scattering and $`b_{pd}=2.5`$ $`\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ for proton dissociative scattering. The ratios of the proton dissociative to elastic channels, integrated over $`t^{}`$, are 0.75. In the absence of measurements in electroproduction, the angular distributions for $`\omega `$, $`\varphi `$ (except for $`\varphi K^+K^{}`$ ) and $`\rho ^{}`$ are treated as isotropic.

### 2.2 $`𝝎`$, $`\mathit{\varphi }`$ and $`𝝆^{\mathbf{}}`$ backgrounds

Diffractive electroproduction of $`\omega `$ and $`\varphi `$ mesons can fake $`\rho `$ production through the decay channels

$`\omega \pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0,`$
$`\varphi \pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0,\varphi K_S^0K_L^0,`$ (13)
if the decay photons of the $`\pi ^0`$ or the $`K_L^0`$ meson are not detected. This happens if the deposited energy is associated with the charged pion tracks or does not pass the detection threshold in the detector. The $`p_t`$ imbalance of the event due to the loss of particles can then be interpreted as $`\rho `$ production at large $`t^{}`$, following eq. (12). These background contributions, which are concentrated below the selected $`\rho `$ mass range (7), are estimated using the Monte-Carlo simulations. The ratios of the production cross sections $`\omega `$ / $`\rho `$ and $`\varphi `$ / $`\rho `$ are, for the present $`Q^2`$ range, taken as 0.09  and 0.20 , respectively.

Another background reaction, particularly important for large $`t^{}`$ in the selected mass range (7) is the electroproduction of $`\rho ^{}`$ mesons555The detailed structure  of the states described in the past as the $`\rho ^{}`$(1600) meson is not relevant for the present study. The name $`\rho ^{}`$ is used to imply all vector meson states with mass in the range 1300-1700 MeV. In the simulations, the $`\rho ^{}`$ mass and width are taken as 1450 MeV and 300 MeV, respectively. decaying into two charged pions and two $`\pi ^0`$:

$$\rho ^{}\rho ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0,\rho ^+\pi ^+\pi ^0(+c.c.).$$
(14)
Again, the non-detection of the two $`\pi ^0`$ mesons induces $`p_t`$ imbalance which fakes $`\rho `$ production at large $`t^{}`$. No measurements exist in the relevant $`Q^2`$ range of the $`\rho ^{}\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ to $`\rho `$ cross section ratio. The $`\rho ^{}`$ contribution is thus determined in section 2.3 from the data themselves, using the events with $`0.5<t^{}<3\mathrm{GeV}^2`$.

It is important to recognise that the presence of backgrounds at large $`t^{}`$ values affects differently the tag and the notag samples defined in section 2.1. As mentioned there, genuine production of $`\rho `$ mesons at large $`t^{}`$, either due to proton dissociative or elastic scattering, usually gives a signal in the forward detectors and contributes mainly to the tag sample. In contrast, $`\omega `$, $`\varphi `$ and $`\rho ^{}`$ background events, produced mainly at low $`t^{}`$ but faking high $`t^{}`$ $`\rho `$ production, contribute to either the tag or the notag sample, depending on whether the proton dissociates and on the detector response. The ratio of the $`\rho `$ signal to background at high $`t^{}`$ is thus significantly higher in the tag sample than in the notag sample.

### 2.3 Determination of the $`𝝆^{\mathbf{}}`$ background

In order to determine the $`\rho ^{}`$ background, a new variable, $`\zeta `$, is introduced:

$$\zeta =\frac{\stackrel{}{p}_{t,miss}\stackrel{}{p}_{t,\rho }}{|\stackrel{}{p}_{t,miss}||\stackrel{}{p}_{t,\rho }|}.$$
(15)
For $`\rho ^{}`$ events produced at low $`t^{}`$ and faking high $`t^{}`$ $`\rho `$ production, $`\stackrel{}{p}_{t,miss}`$ is due to the two missing $`\pi ^0`$ mesons and, in the present $`Q^2`$ range, is generally aligned along the ($`\pi ^+,\pi ^{}`$) direction. This gives for the $`\rho ^{}`$ background a $`\zeta `$ distribution peaking around $`+1`$, as shown in Figs. 2a-b; the same effect is found for $`\omega `$ and $`\varphi `$ production with the decay channels (13). In contrast, for genuine high $`t^{}`$ $`\rho `$ production, $`\stackrel{}{p}_{t,miss}`$ is the transverse momentum of the scattered proton or baryonic system, leading to a flatter $`\zeta `$ distribution, with maxima at $`1`$ and $`+1`$. The $`\zeta `$ and the $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ distributions are strongly correlated: positive $`\zeta `$ values correspond to $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ angles close to $`0^\mathrm{o}`$ and $`360^\mathrm{o}`$, whereas for negative $`\zeta `$, central $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ values are selected. This is visible in Figs. 2c-d, which compare background events (for which $`\zeta `$ is mostly positive) to $`\rho `$ events (for which negative $`\zeta `$ values dominate).

An iterative fitting procedure is performed to estimate the $`\rho ^{}`$ background, whilst dealing with this $`\zeta \mathrm{\Phi }`$ correlation. After subtraction of the $`\omega `$ and $`\varphi `$ backgrounds using the Monte Carlo simulations, the selected events in the mass range (7) are divided into four subsamples: tag events and notag events, separately with $`\zeta <0`$ and with $`\zeta >0`$. Each of these four samples contains two contributions, due to genuine $`\rho `$ production and to $`\rho ^{}`$ background. These eight contributions (eight unknowns) are determined through an overconstrained fit, performed using the MINUIT package , to the numbers of events in the four samples (four measurements), under the following six constraints, obtained using the Monte Carlo simulations:

1. two constraints describe the asymmetry of the $`\zeta `$ distribution of $`\rho `$ events (i.e. the ratio of the numbers of events with $`\zeta <0`$ and with $`\zeta >0`$), separately for the tag and for the notag sample (see the open areas in Figs. 2a and b, respectively);
2. similarly, two constraints describe the asymmetry of the $`\zeta `$ distribution for $`\rho ^{}`$ events, separately for the tag and notag samples (hatched areas);
3. the last two constraints, defined separately for $`\zeta <0`$ and for $`\zeta >0`$, are the probabilities for any $`\rho ^{}`$ event (elastic or proton dissociative) to be tagged; the ratio of the proton dissociative to elastic $`\rho ^{}`$ production cross sections is taken as $`0.75`$ in the simulation.

An estimate of the $`\rho ^{}`$ background is thus obtained, and its $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ distribution is computed using the simulation. Relation (2) is then fitted to the $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ distribution in the tag sample, fully corrected for background, acceptance, smearing and radiative effects, to extract values of the spin density matrix element combinations $`r_{00}^5+2r_{11}^5`$ and $`r_{00}^1+2r_{11}^1`$. These values are fed back into the $`\rho `$ simulation, leading to a modification of the simulated $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and hence $`\zeta `$ distributions, which provides new values for the constraints describing the asymmetry of the latter (see item i. above). The fitting procedure is repeated, and the iterative process converges after a few steps to stable background estimates, independent of the starting values of the spin density matrix elements in the $`\rho `$ Monte Carlo simulation.

Fig. 2 presents the $`\zeta `$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ distributions of the selected events with $`0.5<t^{}<3\mathrm{GeV}^2`$, separately for the tag and the notag samples. They are well described by the superposition of the $`\omega `$ and $`\varphi `$ background, the $`\rho ^{}`$ background and the $`\rho `$ contribution, as determined from the iterative fitting procedure. The dominant background is found to be from $`\rho ^{}`$ production and, as expected, the backgrounds are larger in the notag sample and affect mainly the $`\zeta >0`$ region.

This procedure thus provides an estimate of the $`\rho ^{}/\rho `$ cross section ratio for $`0.5<t^{}<3\mathrm{GeV}^2`$. This estimate is extended to $`t^{}<0.5`$ $`\mathrm{GeV}^2`$, under the assumptions quoted in section 2.1 for the $`t`$ slopes and for the proton dissociative to elastic cross section ratio.

The background contributions are shown in Figs. 1a-d. After background subtraction, relativistic Breit-Wigner functions, with the Ross-Stodolsky skewing parameter  left free, are fitted to the fully corrected data, yielding $`\rho `$ mass and width values in excellent agreement with expectations  and good $`\chi ^2`$ values. The data are thus very well described by diffractive $`\rho `$ production with contributions of additional $`\omega `$, $`\varphi `$ and $`\rho ^{}`$ backgrounds. The elastic cross section at low $`t`$ agrees with previous measurements .

### 2.4 Systematic errors

In addition to the effect of varying the number of bins, the systematic uncertainties affecting the measurements described in section 3 are grouped into three classes:

* Uncertainties in the amount and shape of the backgrounds
The amount of $`\omega `$ and $`\varphi `$ backgrounds is varied by $`\pm `$ 50 %. The uncertainty in the amount of $`\rho ^{}`$ background for $`t^{}>0.5\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ is estimated by varying, for the fit procedure, the $`\zeta `$ separation between the samples (at $`0.4`$, $`0.2`$, $`0.2`$ and $`0.4`$ instead of 0). The fractions of background events with $`\zeta <0`$ (see Figs. 2a-b) are also multiplied by 2 and 0.5. For $`t^{}<0.5\mathrm{GeV}^2`$, the $`\rho ^{}/\rho `$ cross section ratio is changed by $`\pm `$ 50 %. The shape of the background in the $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ distribution (section 3.1) is modified by keeping the total amount fixed, but changing the fraction assigned to the two extreme $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ bins by $`\pm `$ 50 % (see Figs. 2c-d). For the $`\mathrm{cos}\theta ^{}`$ distribution (section 3.2), the shape of the background is varied from flat to the same distribution as that of the $`\rho `$ signal. The following model uncertainties in the background simulations are also included: the $`t`$ slopes are varied ($`b_{el}=6\pm 1\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ and $`b_{pd}=2.5\pm 1\mathrm{GeV}^2`$), the proton dissociative to elastic production cross section ratio is changed from 0.75 to 0.5 and to 1.0, and the mass and width of the $`\rho ^{}`$ meson are varied: $`M_\rho ^{}=1450\pm 150`$ MeV and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\rho ^{}=300\pm 150`$ MeV.
* Uncertainties affecting $`\rho `$ production
For the simulation of $`\rho `$ meson production, the $`t`$ slopes ($`b_{el}=7\pm 1\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ and $`b_{pd}=1.7_{0.7}^{+0.8}\mathrm{GeV}^2`$) and the proton dissociative to elastic production cross section ratio (0.75 $`\pm `$ 0.25) are changed, and the cross section dependences on $`Q^2`$ and $`W`$ are varied within limits of the measurements in . Furthermore, the $`M_Y^2`$ spectrum as implemented in DIFFVM is varied from $`1/M_Y^{2.15}`$ to $`1/M_Y^{1.85}`$ and to $`1/M_Y^{2.45}`$.
* Uncertainties in the detector response
The energy threshold for the detection of LAr clusters not associated to tracks is varied between 300 MeV and 500 MeV; the efficiencies of the PRT and FMD are modified within experimental errors; the measurement of the polar angle of the scattered electron is changed by $`\pm 0.5\mathrm{mrad}`$ and the uncertainties in the trigger and the tracker efficiencies are included.

For the measurements in section 3, the dominant systematic error is due to the uncertainty in the shapes of the backgrounds.

## 3 $`𝒕^{\mathbf{}}`$ dependences of spin density matrix elements

### 3.1 $`𝚽`$ distributions and determination of ($`𝒓_{\mathrm{𝟎𝟎}}^\mathrm{𝟓}\mathbf{+}\mathrm{𝟐}𝒓_{\mathrm{𝟏𝟏}}^\mathrm{𝟓}`$) and ($`𝒓_{\mathrm{𝟎𝟎}}^\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{+}\mathrm{𝟐}𝒓_{\mathrm{𝟏𝟏}}^\mathrm{𝟏}`$)

Measurements of the spin density matrix element combinations $`r_{00}^5+2r_{11}^5`$ and $`r_{00}^1+2r_{11}^1`$ are obtained from fits of eq. (2) to the $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ distributions, fully corrected for the presence of backgrounds and for acceptance, smearing and QED radiative effects, in the five $`t^{}`$ bins shown in Fig. 3a. For $`0.5<t^{}<3.0\mathrm{GeV}^2`$, only the tag sample is used, in view of the much larger background in the notag sample (compare Figs. 1c-d). Given the small backgrounds (Figs. 1a-b) and in order to improve the statistical precision of the measurement, the tag and the notag samples are merged for $`t^{}`$ $`<0.5\mathrm{GeV}^2`$. The measurements are given in Table 1 and presented in Figs. 4a and 4b, together with previous measurements for $`t^{}`$ $`<0.5\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ in similar $`W`$ and $`Q^2`$ ranges ($`Q^2>2.5\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ from ref.  and $`Q^2>3.0\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ from ref. ).

Significant helicity non-conservation is observed in Fig. 4a for the combination $`r_{00}^5+2r_{11}^5`$ (SCHC would imply a zero value of the combination). The $`r_{00}^5`$ matrix element is proportional (see relations (4)) to the product of the dominant non-flip amplitude $`T_{00}`$ and the $`T_{01}`$ amplitude, expected to be the largest helicity flip amplitude (see relations (5)). In contrast, the $`r_{11}^5`$ matrix element has a contribution from the product of the non-dominant non-flip amplitude $`T_{11}`$ and the non-dominant single flip amplitude $`T_{10}`$, and a contribution dependent on the double flip amplitude. The strong $`t^{}`$ dependence of the $`r_{00}^5+2r_{11}^5`$ combination is thus attributed mainly to the predicted  $`\sqrt{t^{}}`$ dependence of the ratio of the $`T_{01}`$ to the non-flip amplitudes. Note that the $`t^{}`$ dependence of the $`r_{00}^5+2r_{11}^5`$ combination is not exactly $`\sqrt{t^{}}`$, as expected for the single-flip to the non-flip amplitude ratio, since it also involves the effect of the single and double-flip amplitudes in the denominator $`N`$ of relations (4).

The values for $`r_{00}^1+2r_{11}^1`$ are shown in Fig. 4b. They are significantly different from zero and negative, which implies violation of SCHC. This is the first observation of a significant non-zero value of the $`r_{00}^1+2r_{11}^1`$ spin density matrix element combination. The $`r_{00}^1`$ element, which gives a negative contribution (see relations (4)), is proportional to the square of the single flip amplitude $`T_{01}`$. The $`r_{11}^1`$ element is proportional to the product of the non-dominant non-flip amplitude $`T_{11}`$ and the double flip amplitude. The sign of the combination thus gives information on the relative strength of the $`T_{01}T_{01}^{}`$ and $`T_{11}T_{11}^{}`$ products of amplitudes. It confirms that the $`T_{01}`$ amplitude is significantly larger than the double flip amplitude in the present kinematical domain. The $`t^{}`$ dependence of the $`r_{00}^1+2r_{11}^1`$ combination is expected to be linear, up to effects of the single and double-flip amplitudes in the denominator $`N`$ of relations (4).

### 3.2 $`\mathrm{𝐜𝐨𝐬}𝜽^{\mathbf{}}`$ distributions and determination of $`𝒓_{\mathrm{𝟎𝟎}}^{\mathrm{𝟎𝟒}}`$

The $`r_{00}^{04}`$ spin density matrix element is extracted from the $`\mathrm{cos}\theta ^{}`$ distribution using relation (3). Fig. 3b presents the fully corrected $`\mathrm{cos}\theta ^{}`$ distributions for five bins in $`t^{}`$. The normalisations of the $`\omega `$, $`\varphi `$ and $`\rho ^{}`$ backgrounds are estimated as described above. The shape of the background is determined from the data and found to be flat. This is done by comparing the $`\mathrm{cos}\theta ^{}`$ distributions for the events with $`\zeta <0`$ and $`\zeta >0`$, which differ in the data whereas they are predicted to be similar by the $`\rho `$ Monte Carlo simulation. The difference is attributed to background.

The extracted values of $`r_{00}^{04}`$ are presented in Table 1 and in Fig. 4c, together with previous measurements at low $`t^{}`$ values in the same $`Q^2`$ and $`W`$ range. No significant variation of $`r_{00}^{04}`$ with $`t^{}`$ is observed. This is expected from relation (4) in view of the predicted $`t^{}`$ independence of the ratio $`|T_{11}|/|T_{00}|`$, with small corrections from the other amplitudes. This observation implies that the slopes of the exponentially falling $`t`$ distributions for the transverse and longitudinal $`s`$-channel helicity conserving amplitudes, $`T_{00}`$ and $`T_{11}`$, are very similar.

## 4 QCD description of the measurements

Perturbative QCD calculations for vector meson electroproduction assume the factorisation of the non-perturbative from the perturbative contributions to the amplitudes. Collinear factorisation has been demonstrated for longitudinal photons , but logarithmic singularities are manifest for the transverse photon polarisation when the fraction $`z`$ of the longitudinal momentum carried by the quark approaches 0 or 1. Non-perturbative effects were suggested to damp these singularities , in which case perturbative calculations become problematic. However, as noted in , these contributions cannot be large,666Large non-perturbative contributions to the transverse amplitudes would imply a $`t`$ slope similar to the non-perturbative photoproduction case, $`b_T10`$ $`\mathrm{GeV}^2`$, significantly larger than for the longitudinal cross section ($`b_L6`$ $`\mathrm{GeV}^2`$). This is inconsistent with the very weak $`t`$ dependence of the $`r_{00}^{04}`$ matrix element (section 3.2). and in the models  pQCD is expected to be valid also for the transverse amplitudes.

In the models  all amplitudes are proportional, in the leading $`\mathrm{log}(Q^2)`$ approximation, to the gluon density in the proton (except for non-perturbative contributions in the double-flip amplitude).777For large mass vector mesons and/or large $`Q^2`$, skewed parton distributions should be used. More specifically, in the model of Ivanov and Kirschner , the gluon distribution in the proton $`xG(x,\stackrel{~}{Q}^2)`$ is probed at the hard scale $`\stackrel{~}{Q}^2=z(1z)Q^2Q^2/4`$. Following a suggestion of Martin, Ryskin and Teubner , the scale dependence of the gluon density in the leading log $`\stackrel{~}{Q}^2`$ approximation is parameterised as $`G(x,\stackrel{~}{Q}^2)=G(x,Q_0^2)[\stackrel{~}{Q}^2/Q_0^2]^\gamma `$, where the gluon anomalous dimension $`\gamma `$ is taken as $`Q^2`$ independent. This permits the singularities as $`z0,1`$ to be avoided and factorisation is effectively (but not necessarily exactly) restored for the transverse amplitudes.

The absolute values and the $`Q^2`$ and $`t`$ dependences of the four independent ratios888Under the assumptions of natural parity exchange and of purely imaginary amplitudes. of the amplitudes $`T_{\lambda _{VM}\lambda _\gamma }`$ are predicted by the model  with two independent parameters: the effective gluon anomalous dimension $`\gamma `$, and the effective mass $`m`$ of the incoming $`q\overline{q}`$ pair. These two free parameters are obtained from a fit to the $`t^{}`$ dependence of the 15 measurements of spin density matrix elements in the present analysis.999The amplitude $`T_{11}`$, which contains a non-perturbative part in  and is expected to be very small (see relations (5)), can be set to zero or included as a free parameter in the fit without affecting the results. The fit gives an excellent description of the data: $`\chi ^2/ndf=0.41`$ when the full errors are used and $`\chi ^2/ndf=1.71`$ for statistical errors only. The fitted values of the parameters are $`\gamma =0.60\pm 0.09`$ and $`m=0.58\pm 0.04`$ GeV. The errors are the quadratic combination of the statistical and systematic errors, the latter obtained by repeating the fits with the data shifted by each systematic uncertainty in turn. The dominant error comes from the uncertainty in the background shape. The results of the fit are shown as solid lines in Figs. 4a-c. As can be observed, the 11 low $`t^{}`$ measurements of ref. , which correspond to the same $`Q^2`$ and $`W`$ ranges as the present data, are also very well described; their inclusion in the fit does not change the quantitative results significantly.

According to the parton distributions in PDFLIB , the extracted value of $`\gamma `$ corresponds to the $`Q^2`$ evolution of the gluon density for $`\stackrel{~}{Q}^25.0`$ $`\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ which is much higher than the average $`\stackrel{~}{Q}^2Q^2/41.3`$ $`\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ in the data. The $`\gamma `$ parameter was introduced in the model to restore factorisation which is otherwise broken by end-point effects ($`z0,1`$) in the transverse amplitudes. It does not need to be strictly interpreted as describing the evolution of the gluon distribution in the proton at the specified $`\stackrel{~}{Q}^2`$ . On the other hand, the disagreement may suggest that the model does not apply in the full $`Q^2`$ range of the present data. The parameter $`m=0.58\pm 0.04`$ GeV is slightly below the $`\rho `$ meson mass but belongs to a mass range where the quark pair is highly likely to recombine into a $`\rho `$ meson (cf the parton-hadron duality arguments in ).

## 5 Conclusions

A measurement has been performed of $`\rho `$ meson diffractive electroproduction in the range $`2.5<Q^2<60\mathrm{GeV}^2`$, $`40<W<120\mathrm{GeV}`$ and $`0<t^{}<3\mathrm{GeV}^2`$. The $`r_{00}^{04}`$ spin density matrix element and the combinations $`r_{00}^5+2r_{11}^5`$ and $`r_{00}^1+2r_{11}^1`$ have been measured as functions of $`t^{}`$.

No significant $`t^{}`$ dependence is observed for $`r_{00}^{04}`$. A significant violation of s-channel helicity conservation, increasing with $`t^{}`$, is observed in the $`r_{00}^5+2r_{11}^5`$ combination. It is consistent with a $`\sqrt{t^{}}`$ dependence of the ratio of the amplitude $`T_{01}`$ to the non-flip amplitudes, $`T_{01}`$ being the amplitude for the transition from a transverse photon to a longitudinal $`\rho `$ meson. The $`r_{00}^1+2r_{11}^1`$ combination is different from zero and negative; this is the first observation of a significant non-zero value of this combination. The sign gives information on the relative strength of the $`T_{01}T_{01}^{}`$ and $`T_{11}T_{11}^{}`$ amplitude products. Together with the $`r_{00}^5+2r_{11}^5`$ measurement, it confirms that the $`T_{01}`$ amplitude is relatively large in the present kinematical domain, and significantly larger than the double flip amplitude.

A fit of the pQCD model of Ivanov and Kirschner  to the present 15 measurements of spin density matrix elements gives a good description of the $`t^{}`$ dependence of the data. The value $`\gamma =0.60\pm 0.09`$ is obtained for the effective parameter describing the $`Q^2`$ dependence of the gluon density and $`m=0.58\pm 0.04`$ GeV is extracted for the average effective mass of the incoming $`q\overline{q}`$ pair. Thus the data are broadly compatible with a diffractive mechanism based on the exchange of two gluons, with non-conservation of $`s`$-channel helicity occuring only when the photon longitudinal momentum is shared asymmetrically between the quark and the antiquark .

## Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the HERA machine group whose outstanding efforts have made and continue to make this experiment possible. We thank the engineers and technicians for their work in constructing and now maintaining the H1 detector, our funding agencies for financial support, the DESY technical staff for continual assistance, and the DESY directorate for the hospitality which they extend to the non DESY members of the collaboration. We also thank M. Diehl, D.Yu. Ivanov, I.P. Ivanov and R. Kirschner for helpful contributions.