text:
# Structural transitions in a classical two-dimensional molecule system

## I INTRODUCTION

Classical charged particles confined in a two-dimensional (2D) layer has been a subject of interest in the last few years. It is well-known that classical 2D electrons form a Wigner crystal. On the other hand, confined charged particles in 2D form 2D-like classical atoms  which can exhibit very different melting and structural phase transitions. Recently these properties were studied for a set of charged particles confined by a parabolic and hard-wall well. They order in a ring structure and a Mendeleev table for these atomic like structures was constructed. An essentially different confinement is the one produced by a Coulomb potential. 2D charges which are confined by this potential also form 2D-like classical atomic structures but they exhibit very different structural transitions as compared to the one confined by parabolic potentials.

In the present paper we extend our previous work for single classical atoms  and vertically coupled atoms  to laterally coupled atoms which form molecular structures. The system we consider here is composed of classical charged point particles interacting through a repulsive Coulomb potential and held together by two remote impurities a distance $`d`$ away from the 2D plane where the charged particles can move. The ground state of the system is calculated by using the Monte Carlo simulation technique and by minimization techniques. We show that the ground state of this 2D-like classical molecule (2DCM) presents structural phase transitions and if the impurities are separated further apart it is broken into two 2D-like classical atoms (2DCA). Spontaneous broken symmetry and evaporation is observed, which depend strongly on the effective impurity charges and the distance between them.

## II THEORETICAL MODEL

Our model consists of a finite number of particles $`N`$, each of them with negative charge $`e=e`$, which move in a 2D plane. Two fixed impurities, each of them with charge $`+Ze`$, are localized a distance $`z_o`$ from the 2D plane and are separated by a distance $`X_P`$ along the $`x`$-axis and are placed inside a medium with dielectric constant $`ϵ`$. All particles interact through a Coulomb potential (see Fig. 1). The energy for such a classical system is given by

$$E=\frac{Ze^2}{ϵ}\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\underset{j=1}{\overset{2}{}}\frac{1}{\stackrel{}{R}_i\stackrel{}{D}_j}+\frac{e^2}{ϵ_o}\underset{j>i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\frac{1}{\stackrel{}{R}_i\stackrel{}{R}_j},$$
(1)
where $`\stackrel{}{R}_i`$ is the position of the $`i^{\mathrm{𝑡ℎ}}`$ negative particle at the $`(X,Y)`$ plane and $`\stackrel{}{D}_j=D_x\stackrel{}{e}_xZ_o\stackrel{}{e}_z`$ ($`D_x=X_p/2`$) is the position of the $`j^{\mathrm{𝑡ℎ}}`$ positive charge, i.e. the impurity. To keep the problem as simple as possible we have neglected in Eq. (1) the effects due to the image charges. Following our previous work  we will vary the dielectric constant $`ϵ`$ through which it is possible to change the effective confinement potential in a continuous way. For convenience, we express the energy in units of $`E_o=e^2/ϵ_oz_0`$ where $`ϵ_o`$ is the dielectric constant of vacuum and all the distances are now in units of $`z_0`$. This reduces Eq. (1) to

$$E^{}=\frac{Z^{}}{ϵ}\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\underset{j=1}{\overset{2}{}}\frac{1}{\stackrel{}{r}_i\stackrel{}{d}_j}+\underset{j>i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\frac{1}{\stackrel{}{r}_i\stackrel{}{r}_j},$$
(2)
where $`E^{}=E/E_0`$, $`Z^{}=Z/ϵ^{}`$, $`x_p=X_p/z_0`$, $`\stackrel{}{d}_j=\stackrel{}{D}_j/z_0`$, $`\stackrel{}{r}_j=\stackrel{}{R}_j/z_0`$, $`ϵ^{}=ϵ/ϵ_o`$. In order to obtain the minimum energy configuration we perform a numerical minimization of Eq. (2) with respect to the $`2N`$ variables (coordinates $`(x,y)`$ of the negative particles).

## III RESULTS

To perform the numerical simulation, we start from a random distribution of negative particles and obtain the minimum energy configuration by using standard minimization techniques. Next we change, e.g. $`x_p`$, slightly and take as the initial configuration the last minimum obtained by our numerical minimization. To have an independent check we also use the Monte Carlo simulation technique starting from several different initial configurations. Different from the results obtained with the 2D classical atom  we found that bounded configurations , i.e., $`r_i<\mathrm{}`$ $``$ $`i`$, can exist if the total effective charge $`Z_T=2Z^{}`$ satisfies the condition $`Z_TN1`$ for $`N>1`$. In fact, we observed that the condition for bounded configurations tends to behave as a single 2-D classical atom, if the distance between the two positive charges goes to zero. To analyze the molecule-atom transition we fix the value of the dielectric constant $`ϵ^{}=1`$, we consider a system of six electrons and put the two positive charges at the points $`(d_x,0,1)`$ and $`(d_x,0,1)`$, each with a charge $`Z=3`$. In Fig. 2 we show the distance $`r_i`$ of the six negative particles to the point $`(x,y,z)=(0,0,0)`$ in the minimum energy configuration as a function of the distance between the positive charges $`x_p=2d_x`$. We clearly observe four distinct regions. In the first region (I), $`x_p`$ is very small and the negative particles are arranged in two equilateral triangles, inside each other (see Fig. 3(a)). The two positive charges (their positions are indicated by the crosses in Fig. 3) are so close to each other that they behave as one central charge. This configuration is very different from the one which was found in the case of a parabolic confinement potential  where one particle would be at (x,y)=(0,0) and the other 5 in a ring around it. At $`x_p=0.0884`$ the system undergoes a small structural transition to region (II)(see Fig. 3(b)) which is of first order. Note that increasing $`x_p`$ from $`x_p=0`$ acts as a symmetry breaking field which breaks the rotational symmetry of the configuration depicted in Fig. 3(a). With increasing $`x_p`$, the ground state configuration changes continuously up to $`x_p=1.0074`$ where it undergoes a structural transition and a new configuration appears in region (III). This transition is characterized by the fact that the particles change their positions abruptly (compare solid (II) and open (III) symbols in Fig. 3(c)). With further increase of $`x_p`$ the system exhibits a new structural transition to region (IV) at $`x_p=1.8792`$ where the configuration clearly exhibits now inversion symmetry with respect to the center of the coordinate system. In region (IV) the negative particles tend to stay in two triangles, each one close to one of the positive charges. Up to this region, the system behaves as a classical molecule. Namely, all distances between the negative particles are related to the positions of both positive charges. Finally, for a value $`x_p3.0`$ we observe more explicitly that the negative particles split in two sets, each one correlated to one positive charge. No structural transition is associated with this behavior but, up to this point, the system behaves as two independent 2D classical atoms. This can be seen by the fact that, up to $`x_p3.0`$ the system exhibits rotational symmetry along the $`z`$-axis for each of the two positive charges. Different from the structural transition from regions (I) up to (IV), the one from 2D classical molecule to 2D classical atom is not characterized by a structural transition, i.e. it is continuous. In order to visualize these stable states, in Fig. 3 we show typical configurations of the system in each region and in Fig. 4 we plot the distance of three negative particles related to each positive charge. As shown in Fig. 4, when $`x_p3.0`$ the system behaves as two independent atoms, with the negative particles in two equilater triangles and the positive charges in the center of each one, with energy $`E_{single}4.899`$. In order to show the order of the structural transitions we calculated the first of the energy as a function of $`x_p`$, by numerically differentiating the energy curve. The results for the first derivative are presented in Fig. 5. As can be seen the first derivative is discontinuous at the structural transitions (I $``$ II, II $``$ III and III $``$ IV). It is continuous throughout the region where the classical 2D molecule transits to two 2D classical atoms.

Different structural transitions are observed if we analyze the behavior of the minimum energy configuration as a function of the dielectric constant ($`ϵ^{}`$). To this, we consider two positive charges (each one with $`Z=3`$) fixed at the points $`(1,0,1)`$ and $`(1,0,1)`$ and six negative particles which are free to move in the xy-plane. For $`ϵ^{}=1`$ we are in region IV of the above. In Fig. 6 we show the distance of those six negative particles to the point $`(x,y,z)=(0,0,0)`$ for the minimum energy configuration as a function of $`ϵ^{}`$. Eleven different regions are observed, of which we plot in Fig. 6 only the first ten of them. In region (I), $`1.0<ϵ^{}<1.054`$, the minimum energy configuration corresponds to the negative particles arranged in two triangles each one close to each positive charge (see Fig. 7(a)). When $`ϵ^{}`$ is increased a structural transition takes place at $`ϵ^{}=1.117`$. Up to this value of $`ϵ^{}`$, region (III), the configuration changes continuously and for $`ϵ^{}1.225`$ one of the negative particles becomes weakly bound and moves to infinity, i.e. it evaporates. After this value, region (IV), the minimum energy configuration changes continuously and again presents a structural transition, at $`ϵ^{}=1.314`$, to a small region (V). This region goes up to $`ϵ^{}=1.325`$, where a new structural transition takes place. Now, in the new region, region (VI), another negative particle starts to become unbound when the value $`ϵ^{}=1.492`$ is reached. The minimum energy configuration is stable in the new region (VII) until the value $`ϵ^{}=1.909`$ and again changes its structure. After this point, again another particle starts to move away, region (VIII), and goes to infinity at $`ϵ^{}=2.112`$. Up to this point, region (IX), only three particles remain bound until $`ϵ^{}=3.000`$. In region(X) $`16.2>ϵ^{}>3.000`$ only two particles remain, with each negative particle sitting almost on top of each of the positive charges in a symmetrical arrangement. Finally, when $`ϵ^{}>16.2`$ only one particle remains bounded. Unexpectedly, this negative particle stays in an asymmetric position, in this case at a distance $`r_i=0.77`$. This fact can be confirmed by taking the minimum of the potential energy. In this case it presents a minimum at $`r_i=0.77`$ and a local maximum at $`r_i=0`$, which corresponds to a symmetrical arrangement. The existence of region (X) shows that a bounded configuration can exist in a region where the condition $`Z_TN1`$ for $`N>1`$ is not satisfied.

## IV CONCLUSIONS

The molecule-atom transition and structural transitions were studied in a 2D model system of negative particles confined by a Coulomb potential of two positive impurity charges. This system presents a large variety of structural transitions as a function of its parameters, the distance between the impurity charges and the dielectric constant. As observed for a 2D like atom the 2D like molecule exhibits highly asymmetric ground state configurations which are related to broken symmetry states. However, the condition $`Z_TN1`$ for the existence of a bounded configuration is only satisfied if the positive particles are very close. Finally, our results show that a finite 2D system confined by a nonlinear potential presents a much larger wealth of structural transitions and new states as compared to the ones confined by parabolic potentials.

###### Acknowledgements.

W. P. Ferreira, G. A. Farias, and H. A. Carmona are supported by the Brazilian Agencies, Fundação Cearense de Amparo à Pesquisa (FUNCAP), Brazilian National Research Council(CNPq) and The Ministry of Planning (FINEP). The work of F. M. Peeters is supported by the Flemish Science Foundation (FWO-Vl), the EU-RTN network on ’Surface electrons on mesoscopic structures’ and INTAS.


format: text

text:
# Phase diagrams of Ising films with competing interactions

## I Introduction

In recent years magnetism in thin films of a few atomic layers has attracted much interest, both theoretically and experimentally . However, studies on the influence of the layer thickness, $`L`$, on spatially modulated magnetic structures seem to be very scarce , albeit the possible lack of compatibility between the film geometry and the modulations in the bulk as well as the effect of the surfaces on the ordering phenomena may lead to interesting features.

In this article, we shall deal with this topic by analysing phase diagrams of the axial next–nearest–neighbour Ising (ANNNI) model  on a simple cubic lattice. Due to its competing interactions, the model displays, in the limit of infinitely many layers, a phase diagram with a plenitude of commensurate phases, including those springing from the multiphase point at zero temperature and those emerging from structure combination branching processes at finite temperatures, as well as incommensurate phases and a Lifshitz point. Many of these aspects have been observed experimentally, in particular in magnets, alloys, polymers, and ferroelectrics, see the reviews  and related recent work .

The intriguing structural complexities are severely affected when the lattice consists of rather few layers perpendicular to the axis of competition. Of course, in the case of periodic boundary conditions for the top and bottom layers, the bulk phases which fit to the film thickness still exist . In the case of free boundary conditions for the surface layers, describing more realistically experimental situations, novel surface–induced features may evolve. The aim of this paper is to identify similarities and typical differences between the phase diagrams in the limit of an infinite lattice and for thin films with free boundaries.

To study the influence of the surfaces in more detail, we also varied the intralayer couplings in the surfaces compared to those in the bulk. In semi–infinite systems, one then encounters the well–known surface critical phenomena with either ordinary or extraordinary and surface phase transitions , depending on the strength of the surface and bulk couplings. Note that critical properties of the surface magnetization at the Lifshitz point in the semi–infinite ANNNI model have been analysed recently, refining results of mean–field theory  by doing Monte Carlo simulations .

In the following, we shall mostly deal with thin films of up to ten layers. For each film thickness, distinct phase diagrams in the (temperature–competition strength)-plane are determined, using mean–field theory, low–temperature expansions, and Monte Carlo simulations. Mean–field theory is found to usually provide reliable guidance to the correct phase diagrams; qualitative shortcomings are observed especially in the case of vanishing surface couplings. Brief accounts of some of our findings for equal surface and bulk couplings have been given before .

The article is organized as follows: first the model and the methods are presented, then the resulting phase diagrams are discussed. The paper is concluded by a summary.

## II Model and methods

We consider the ANNNI model on a simple cubic lattice (setting the lattice constant equal to one) for films of $`L`$ layers, $`L>2`$, with free boundary conditions for the surface layers. Each spin $`S_j`$, at site $`j`$, can take only two values, $`S_j=1`$ (spin ’up’) or $`S_j=1`$ (spin ’down’). The interactions are supposed to be ferromagnetic between neighbouring spins in each layer, $`J_00`$, as well as between neighbouring spins in adjacent layers, $`J_1>0`$, and to be antiferromagnetic, $`J_2<0`$, between axial next–nearest neighbour spins, distinguishing one of the three cubic axes, say, the $`z`$–axis. The strength of the competition between the interactions along the $`z`$–axis is $`\kappa =J_2/J_1`$. The intralayer couplings $`J_0`$ may be different in the (top and bottom) surface layers, denoted by $`J_s`$, compared to those in the bulk layers, $`J_b`$, with the ratio $`r=J_s/J_b`$. For simplicity, we set $`J_b=J_1`$. Changing the interlayer coupling $`J_1`$ relative to the bulk intralayer interaction, $`J_b`$, modifies only quantitatively the phase diagram in the limit $`L\mathrm{}`$ .

The ground state properties of the ANNNI films are readily obtained. We first consider $`J_s>0`$. The spins in all layers are aligned ferromagnetically at $`\kappa <1/2`$. For $`\kappa >1/2`$, and even film thickness $`L`$, the ground state consists of pairs of layers with, say ’up’ spins, denoted as a ’2-band’ , followed by a 2–band of ’down’ spins, being obviously two–fold degenerate by interchanging the $`+`$ and $``$ spins. If $`L`$ is odd, then for $`1>\kappa >1/2`$, the ground state comprises one 3–band and $`(L3)/2`$ 2–bands, being $`(L1)`$–fold degenerate. For $`\kappa >1`$, structures with one 1-band at the surface and 2-bands are stable, with a 4–fold degeneracy. Both for even and odd number of layers $`L`$, the degeneracy $`D_L`$ of the multiphase point at $`\kappa =1/2`$ is given by a Fibonacci sequence $`D_L=D_{L1}+D_{L2}`$, where $`D_2=D_3=2`$, corresponding to all possible combinations of $`k`$bands with $`k>1`$, as discussed before . For $`L`$ odd, at $`\kappa =1`$, $`L+3`$ structures have the same ground state energy. For $`J_s=0`$, the situation at $`\kappa 1`$ is of special interest, $`L`$ being odd. At $`\kappa =1`$, structures with 2-bands followed by an arbitrarily ordered surface layer are degenerate, due to the compensation of the interlayer interactions between the surface spins and those in the adjacent and next–nearest layers. In the case of $`L=3`$ and $`\kappa >1`$, the orientations of the spins in one of the surface layers are random, and completey antiparallel to that random pattern in the other surface; in the center layer, all spins have the same sign.

At non–zero temperatures, the stable phases have been determined using mean–field theory, low–temperature expansions, especially about the special points ($`T=0`$, $`\kappa =1/2`$) and ($`T=0,\kappa =1`$), as well as Monte Carlo techniques.

In mean–field theory, the magnetization per layer, $`m_i`$, $`i=1`$,2,…$`L`$, in thermal equilibrium follows from the standard equations

$`m_i=\mathrm{tanh}((4J_0(i)m_i+J_1(m_{i1}+m_{i+1})`$ (2)
$`+J_2(m_{i2}+m_{i+2}))/k_BT)`$
where $`J_0(i)=J_s`$ for $`i=1,L`$ and $`J_0(i)=J_b`$ for the other layers. Free boundary conditions are implemented by setting $`m_i=0`$ for $`i=1,0,L+1,L+2`$. To obtain the thermally stable magnetization pattern, we solved Eq. (1) iteratively starting from all possible combinations of fully ordered, $`m_i=\pm 1`$, or completely disordered layers, $`m_i=0`$, i.e. from, in principle, $`3^L`$ distinct configurations (the number may be reduced using symmetry considerations). We then determined among the solutions the one with the lowest free energy. Phase boundaries are identified by singularities in the free energy and specific heat. Obviously, a fine scan of the (temperature $`k_BT/J_1`$, competition strength $`\kappa `$)–plane is rather computer–time consuming, and the full analysis of the mean–field theory was done for films of up to $`L=10`$ layers. The ratio $`r=J_s/J_b`$ varied from 0 to 1.5, which would cover, in the limit $`L\mathrm{}`$, both ordinary and surface transitions.

The transition to the paramagnetic phase may be studied for films of larger thickness, $`L`$, by analysing the linearized form of the mean–field theory. From Eq. (1) one obtains a matrix of rank $`L`$, with the eigenvalues determining the phase transition temperature, $`T_c`$, and the eigenvectors describing the critical magnetization pattern. Films of thickness up to $`L=50`$ were considered, especially for competition ratios close to that of the Lifshitz point in the infinite system, i. e. $`\kappa =0.25`$.

The phase diagram close to the special ground states at $`\kappa =1/2`$ and 1 may be investigated by using exact low–temperature expansions . The stable phases are identified by calculating the free energy resulting from spin excitations for all structures being degenerate at the two special points. Indeed, to establish the stable phases springing from the special points for thin films (we studied films with up to ten layers), it usually suffices to do expansions up to first order, involving merely a single spin flip.

Complementary to the low–temperature analysis, Monte Carlo simulations may be applied to study the phase diagrams at higher temperatures. We used both the standard single–flip Metropolis algorithm  and a cluster–flip algorithm  (attention may be drawn to another cluster–flip algorithm to simulate spatially modulated structures in Ising models ). The main aim of our simulations has been to check results of mean–field theory, restricting ourselves to selected cases. Of course, the layers are now finite, consisting of, say, $`M^2`$ spins. Thereby, finite–size effects have to be taken into account (here, attention may be drawn to early Monte Carlo work on the nearest neighbour Ising model on thin films ). Typically $`M`$ was varied from 10 to 100. To identify the structures and boundary lines of the various phases, we computed the energy, the specific heat, the layer magnetizations and corresponding histograms as well as correlation functions between spins in different layers. Each run was performed with about $`10^6`$ Monte Carlo steps per spin, when using the single–spin–flip algorithm. In the cluster–algorithm, in each run usually about $`210^5`$ clusters were generated.

## III Results

For each film thickness $`L`$, distinct phase diagrams are obtained. Before presenting them, we shall outline some general features, as inferred from calculations for films with up to ten layers.

One may distinguish between phases corresponding to ground states and those which are stabilized only at higher temperatures. Especially, the ferromagnetic phase as well as phases consisting of 2–bands augmented, for $`L`$ odd, by one 3–band or one 1–band, evolve from the ground states. A ’$`k`$–band’, at $`T>0`$, means that spins in $`k`$ adjacent layers are oriented predominantly in one direction, preceded and followed by layers where the spins are oriented predominantly in the opposite direction. The 3–band tends to be at or near to the center of the film at low temperatures, when it gains entropy from easy spin flips in the two border layers of the 3–band. The band, however, sticks to one of the surfaces of the film when $`J_s`$ is rather weak so that entropy is gained from energetically easy flips of surface spins, as may be readily seen from low–temperature expansions.

Phases corresponding to ground states with 2–bands and one 3–band at or near the center (or at the surface) of the film may be stabilized only at higher temperatures, due to entropic or symmetrization reasons, while at low temperatures the 3–band sticks to the surface (or center) of the film.

The phases with one 3–band and one 1-band, $`L`$ odd, are separated, for $`J_s>0`$, by the transition line arising from ($`T=0,\kappa =1`$); the line is at low temperatures of first order. If the surface couplings $`J_s`$ are not very strong, the line terminates in a critical point, above which the two phases become indistinguishable. That point moves down to zero temperature as $`J_s`$ vanishes.

Other stable low–temperature phases may spring from the multiphase point ($`T=0,\kappa =1/2`$) for $`L>5`$. In fact, in the limit $`L\mathrm{}`$, a sequence of infinitely many periodic $`32^i`$ phases, $`i=`$0,1,2,…,$`\mathrm{}`$, arises from that point (here and in the following, we are using or adapting the standard notation , setting the sequence of bands in a phase in ’$``$’–brackets). For thin films, the low–temperature expansions indicate the following systematics: If $`L`$ is a multiple of 3, the $`3^{L/3}`$ structures become stable next to the ferromagnetic phase; for $`L=3n+1(=3n+2)`$, $`n>1`$, they are replaced by the $`3^{n1}4`$ ($`3^{n1}5`$) structures. Further phases arising from the multiphase point show up for $`L>7`$, having, for $`L=8`$, two 3–bands and two 2–bands, and two 3–bands and three 2–bands for $`L=10`$. The 3–bands stick to the surfaces of the film, when $`J_s`$ is sufficiently weak, as before. An increasing number of similar phases comprising 2–bands and 3–bands are expected to occur for thicker films. In comparison to the $`32^i`$ phases, arising from the multiphase point in the limit $`L\mathrm{}`$, the sequences of 2–bands and 3–bands are slighty rearranged and modified, reflecting the influence of the surfaces.

The transitions between the phases emerging from the multiphase point are, at low temperatures, of first order. Note that, for films, some, but not all these phases extend up to the transition line to the paramagnetic phase, $`T_c`$.

Novel phases may become stable close to $`T_c`$. As may be obtained readily from the linearized mean–field theory, confirmed by Monte Carlo simulations, the ordered phases directly below this transition line are alternatingly, as $`\kappa `$ increases, symmetric and antisymmetric with respect to the center plane (being obviously a real layer for $`L`$ odd, and a fictitious plane for $`L`$ even), changing thereby the parity. Each change is associated with an abrupt decrease in the average wavelength, as follows from a Fourier analysis of the magnetization pattern, $`m_i`$. For odd $`L`$, the magnetization in the center layer vanishes in the antisymmetric cases, denoted as ’$`1_0`$–band’. There, the interlayer couplings with the neighbouring layers tend to compensate. Such ’partially disordered phases’ are, of course not stable below the ordering temperature of the two–dimensional Ising plane. They do not exist in the limit $`L\mathrm{}`$ .– Of course, as usual, the location of $`T_c`$ is largely overestimated in mean–field theory, as seen from comparison with simulational data.

An interesting feature of the transition line to the paramagnetic phase is the point where the ferromagnetic structure becomes unstable against spatially modulated structures, i.e. the Lifshitz point in the limit $`L\mathrm{}`$. In mean–field theory, for rather thick films of up to 50 layers, the surface magnetization is found to show intriguing crossover effects with an effective critical exponent close to 1 in the vicinity of that point, in agreement with the mean–field analysis on the semi–infinite ANNNI model . In a recent Monte Carlo simulation, the exponent has been shown to be significantly affected by critical fluctuations, acquiring a value of about 0.62 .

Further phases may show up at intermediate temperatures, in particular, the $`54`$ and $`64`$ structues for $`L=9`$ and 10. They are reminiscent of the plenitude of commensurate phases on the ferromagnetic side of the ANNNI model in the thermodynamic limit , and more of them are expected to occur in thicker films. Likewise, wider films are needed to see indications of the systematic branching processes involving structures with 2–bands and 3–bands, as occurs for $`L\mathrm{}`$ .

Note that the magnetization in a given phase may change sign in some layers when varying temperature and/or strength of couplings, keeping the symmetry of the magnetization pattern about the center plane (symmetric, antisymmetric or asymmetric). For instance, for an (anti–)symmetric phase such a reversal of the sign may happen in the magnetization of the surface layers belonging originally to $`k`$bands with $`k>2`$, when $`\kappa `$ is increased, especially for weak surface couplings. In any event, we characterise a phase by the sequence of bands which occurs at lowest temperatures in case of equal surface and bulk couplings, following the unambiguous notation for the infinite lattice .

We shall now discuss results for each film thickness, from $`L=3`$ to $`L=10`$, illustrating the general features in selected cases in more detail.

In films with three layers, $`L=3`$, the ferromagnetic, the $`21`$ and the $`11_01`$ phases show up. As found in simulations, for equal surface $`J_s`$ and bulk $`J_b`$ couplings, the ferromagnetic phase is stable at $`\kappa <1`$, the other two phases occur at $`\kappa >1`$, with the transition between the $`21`$ and the partially disordered phases being of second order, see Fig. 1, and belonging to the universality class of the two–dimensional Ising model. At $`\kappa =1`$, the ferromagnetic and $`21`$ phases coexist, with the transition being of first order. By weakening the surface interactions, $`J_s`$, the ferromagnetic phase extends to larger values of $`\kappa `$, due to the entropic effect in the surface layers. In the limit $`J_s=0`$, the $`21`$ and $`11_01`$ phases are completely suppressed (this aspect is not correctly described in mean–field theory). On the other hand, by enhancing the surface couplings, the $`21`$ and the $`11_01`$ phases are favoured and stabilized already at $`\kappa <1`$, with the transitions to the ferromagnetic phase being always of first order.

For $`L=4`$, the phase diagrams are very simple, with two ordered phases, the symmetric, ferromagnetic and the antisymmetric $`2^2`$ phases being separated by a first order transition line arising from the special point $`(T=0,\kappa =1/2)`$. By weakening $`J_s`$, the range of stability of the symmetric phase is again enlargened. The $`2^2`$ structure is obviously favoured when the surface layers are more ordered, and thence its range of stability expands when $`J_s`$ gets stronger.

Somewhat richer phase diagrams are encountered when $`L=5`$. For $`J_s=J_b`$, one finds, increasing the competition ratio $`\kappa `$, at low temperatures the ferromagnetic, the $`32`$, and the $`2^21`$ phases, with the latter two becoming unstable against the $`21_02`$ and $`131`$ phases at higher temperatures. Phase diagrams, obtained from mean–field theory and Monte Carlo simulations have been depicted before for the case $`J_s=J_b`$ . The transition line between the two asymmetric (with respect to the center plane) $`32`$ and $`2^21`$ phases ends in a critical point above which the phases become essentially indistinguishable. By weakening $`J_s`$, the critical point moves to lower temperatures. Eventually, in the limit of zero surface couplings, there is only one asymmetric phase, with one of the surface magnetizations going to zero on approach to $`(T=0,\kappa =1)`$. The phase diagram, as determined from simulations, is shown in Fig. 2a. Note that the $`131`$ structure, being present close to $`T_c`$ in the mean-field calculations, is squeezed out (as we checked for $`\kappa `$ as large as 15). In turn, the range of stability of the $`21_02`$ phase is underestimated in mean–field theory, similar to the situation for equal surface and bulk couplings . The magnetic disorder in the center layer sets in roughly at the transition temperature of the two–dimensional Ising model, because then the interlayer couplings $`J_1`$ and $`J_2`$ to the axial spins in the two adjacent and two next–nearest layers are largely cancelled. When increasing the surface couplings $`J_s`$, the $`131`$ phase is stabilized, as shown in Fig 2b, in qualitative agreement with mean–field theory. Actually, the magnetization then tends to be close to zero in the second and fourth layers, being rather large with the same sign in the surface layers and with the opposite sign in the center layer.

For $`L=6`$, only three ordered structures exist, the ferromagnetic, the $`3^2`$, and the $`2^3`$ phases. The transitions between them are of first order. By decreasing the surface interactions, the range of stability of the $`3^2`$ phase gets wider, with 1-bands at the surfaces for large competition ratio $`\kappa `$. This range and that of the ferromagnetic phase shrink when enhancing the surface couplings, and the $`2^3`$ structure is favoured. Predictions of mean–field theory were qualitatively confirmed in simulations.

Adding another layer to the film, $`L=7`$, leads to quite different phase diagrams, with possibly seven distinct ordered phases, namely the ferromagnetic, $`43`$, $`31_03`$, $`232`$, $`32^2`$, $`2^31`$, and $`121_021`$ phases, as found in mean–field theory. For $`J_s=J_b`$, the $`232`$ phase extends down to zero temperature at $`1/2<\kappa <1`$, while the $`32^2`$ structure is stabilized only at intermediate temperatures, where the entropic effect of the small surface magnetization plays the crucial role . Examples of phase diagrams for different surface and bulk couplings are depicted in Figs. 3a and 3b, for $`r=J_s/J_b=`$ 0.25 and 1.5, as obtained from mean–field theory. Compared to the case of $`J_s=J_b`$, the enhancement or weakening of the surface couplings may lead to similar trends as for $`L=5`$, but also to novel features. As before, when $`J_s`$= 0, there is no transition line arising from the special point $`(T=0,\kappa =1)`$, i.e. the two asymmetric $`32^2`$ and $`2^31`$ structures transform gradually into each other at non–zero temperatures, with a vanishing magnetization in one of the surface layers on approach to the special point. Indeed, even the transition line to the neighbouring asymmetric $`43`$ phase terminates in a critical point, above which all these asymmetric structures belong to the same phase. Perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, at $`1/2<\kappa <1`$, the $`2^23`$ structure forms the low–temperature phase when $`r<(3+\kappa )/4`$, while for stronger surface couplings the symmetric $`232`$ phase is stable down to zero temperature. In the former case, the symmetric phase is stable next to $`T_c`$, see Fig. 3a. A similar entropy–driven shift of the 3–band from the interior of the film to one of its surfaces occurs at wider films, $`L`$ odd, as well, for sufficiently weak $`J_s`$. The effect follows from the low–temperature analysis, and it is described correctly by mean–field theory.

In the case of $`L=8`$, six ordered phases are observed; the phase diagram as obtained from mean–field theory for equal couplings $`J_s=J_b`$ has been shown before . Apart from the trivial ferromagnetic and $`2^4`$ phases, there is the $`3^22`$ phase, which may, at sufficiently strong surface couplings $`J_s`$, arise from the multiphase point $`(T=0,\kappa =1/2)`$, with the symmetric $`323`$ structure, formed at higher temperatures, remaining stable up to the transition line to the paramagnetic phase, $`T_c`$. The latter phase is stable down to the multiphase point for sufficiently weak surface couplings, where entropy is gained, again, from 3–bands at the surfaces, as follows from low–temperature considerations, in agreement with mean–field calculations. Actually, for small $`J_s`$, the $`323`$ phase persists even for quite large values of the competition ratio $`\kappa `$. Furthermore, the $`53`$ phase may spring from the multiphase point. The antisymmetric $`4^2`$ phase is stable close to $`T_c`$, extending down to lower temperatures with decreasing surface couplings.

In the case of nine layers, the rather complex phase diagrams consist of up to nine ordered phases. Close to $`T_c`$, increasing $`\kappa `$, the alternatingly symmetric and antisymmetric phases are the ferromagnetic, $`41_04`$, $`3^3`$, $`2^21_02^2`$, and $`12321`$ phases. At low temperatures, one may, in addition, encounter, the $`2^41`$ phase as well as, for fairly weak surface couplings, $`r<(3+\kappa )/4`$, the $`32^3`$ phase, and, for stronger couplings, the $`2^232`$ phase at $`1/2<\kappa <1`$, similar to the situation in the case $`L=7`$. Again, this feature follows from the low–temperature analysis, and it is described correctly by mean–field theory, see Fig. 4 (the case $`J_s=J_b`$ has been depicted before ; there, the $`32^3`$ phase is squeezed out). Thence, by lowering the surface couplings, the 3–band eventually sticks at the surface. In fact, the same phenomenon holds for wider odd films as well. The transition line, separating the structures with one 1–band from that with one 3–band and arising from $`(T=0,\kappa =1)`$, terminates again in a critical point for moderate and weak surface couplings. The point moves to zero temperature as $`J_s`$ vanishes. Perhaps most interestingly, mean–field theory suggests that the $`54`$ phase is stable at intermediate temperatures, as shown in Fig. 4. Indeed, its existence has been confirmed in Monte Carlo simulations for equal surface, $`J_s`$, and bulk, $`J_b`$, couplings. The phase shows up below the $`41_04`$ phase which, in turn, becomes stable at about the transition temperature of the two–dimensional Ising model, like the corresponding partially disordered phases for films with an odd number of layers.

Finally, for $`L=10`$, seven distinct ordered phases have been identified and located applying mean–field theory for $`J_s=J_b`$ . Close to the transition to the paramagnetic phase, $`T_c`$, the ferromagnetic, $`5^2`$, $`343`$, $`23^22`$, and $`2^5`$ phases occur. The $`43^2`$ phase springs from the multiphase point $`(T=0,\kappa =1/2)`$. At intermediate temperatures, the $`64`$ phase has been detected in a tiny region of the phase diagram. The phase persists, when varying the surface couplings. For sufficiently small values of $`J_s`$, the $`32^23`$ phase is stabilized, at the cost of the $`23^22`$ phase, near the multiphase point, reflecting again the gain of entropy due to easy excitations of surface spins belonging to 3–bands for structures comprising 3–bands and 2–bands.

## IV Summary

The ANNNI model on thin films has been studied, using mean–field theory, low–temperature analyses, and Monte Carlo techniques. For each film thickness, varying the number of layers from $`L=3`$ to $`L=10`$, distinct phase diagrams have been determined, monitoring surface–induced features by also changing the strength of the couplings in the surface layers.

In the limit of infinite lattices, $`L\mathrm{}`$, the competing interactions of the ANNNI model lead to a phase diagram with a rich variety of spatially modulated magnetic structures. Signatures of some of these features, like the sequence of commensurate phases springing from the multiphase point, are already present in thin films, with the films displaying generic and distinct features as well. In particular: (i) The ordered phases occuring directly below the transition line to the paramagnetic phase are alternatingly, as the ratio $`\kappa =J_2/J_1`$ between the competing interactions of the model increases, symmetric and antisymmetric about the center of the film, leading to partially disordered phases with a paramagnetic center plane for films with an odd number of layers. (ii) The phases springing from the multiphase point may include structures consisting not only of 2–bands and 3–bands, but also with a 4–band or a 5–band. (iii) For $`L`$ odd, there is an additional transition line near $`\kappa =1`$, separating phases with 2–bands augmented by one 3–band or one 1–band.

By modifying the surface couplings, additional interesting phenomena are induced. Indeed, the range of stability of the various phases as well as the type of phase transition may be affected by varying the couplings. Entire transition lines may, in fact, disappear. Perhaps most noticeable, 3–bands may be forced to stick to the surface or move to the interior of the film, thereby possibly forming new phases with a different symmetry.

These findings may encourage experimental work on thin films of magnets or alloys showing complicated spatial orderings in the bulk. On the theoretical side, several extensions of the present study seem to be promising, including the effects of a larger number of layers, modified interactions , and magnetic bulk as well as surface fields, in order to possibly detect additional systematics in the intriguing phase diagrams of the ANNNI model and variants.

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank A. Gödecke for useful discussions.


text:
# In situ epitaxial MgB2 thin films for superconducting electronics

## Abstract

A thin film technology compatible with multilayer device fabrication is critical for exploring the potential of the 39-K superconductor magnesium diboride for superconducting electronics. Using a Hybrid Physical-Chemical Vapor Deposition (HPCVD) process, it is shown that the high Mg vapor pressure necessary to keep the MgB2 phase thermodynamically stable can be achieved for the in situ growth of MgB2 thin films. The films grow epitaxially on (0001) sapphire and (0001) 4H-SiC substrates and show a bulk-like $`T_c`$ of 39 K, a $`J_c`$(4.2K) of $`1.2\times 10^7`$ A/cm2 in zero field, and a $`H_{c2}(0)`$ of 29.2 T in parallel magnetic field. The surface is smooth with a root-mean-square roughness of 2.5 nm for MgB2 films on SiC. This deposition method opens tremendous opportunities for superconducting electronics using MgB2.

The newly-discovered 39-K superconductor magnesium diboride Nagamatsu01  holds great promises for superconducting electronics. However, success in fabricating MgB2 Josephson junctions, the fundamental element of superconducting electronics, has been very limited due to the lack of an adequate thin film technology Mijatovic02 . The main difficulty in depositing MgB2 thin films is that a very high Mg vapor pressure is necessary for the thermodynamic stability of the MgB2 phase at elevated temperatures ZKLiu01 . The films deposited by the current technologies either have reduced $`T_c`$ and poor crystallinity Blank01 ; Christen01 ; Shinde01 ; Grassano01 ; Zeng01 ; Ueda01 ; Jo02 , or require ex situ annealing in Mg vapor WNKang01 ; HYZhai01 ; Eom01 . The surfaces of these films are rough and non-stoichiometric HYZhai01 ; Mijatovic02 ; SYLee02 , undesirable for Josephson junction devices. In this report, we show that epitaxial MgB2 thin films can be deposited in situ by Hybrid Physical-Chemical Vapor Deposition (HPCVD), a novel combination of Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). At a substrate temperature of around 750C, the films grow epitaxially on (0001) sapphire and (0001) 4H-SiC substrates. They show bulk-like $`T_c`$, high critical current density $`J_c`$, and high upper critical field $`H_{c2}`$. The surfaces are smooth. The process is compatible with multilayer device fabrication and easy to scale up. These results mark the removal of a major road block towards a reliable MgB2 Josephson junction technology.

MgB2 has many properties that make it very attractive for superconducting electronics. Unlike cuprate high-temperature superconductors, MgB2 seems to be a phonon-mediated superconductor Budko01  with a relatively long coherence length Finnemore01 . The grain boundaries in MgB2 are not weak links Larbalestier01 ; Finnemore01 . From the device perspective, MgB2 is similar to Nb but with a higher $`T_c`$ and larger energy gaps, even though two energy gaps exist Tsuda01 ; Schmidt02 . This will lead to higher speeds and higher operating temperatures than the Nb-based superconducting digital circuits. Moving the operating temperature from 5 K for Nb to 20 K for MgB2 greatly reduces the cryogenic requirements, thus making superconducting electronics much more competitive.

For the deposition of MgB2 thin films, a thermodynamic analysis predicted a growth window in the pressure-temperature phase diagram in which the MgB2 phase is thermodynamically stable ZKLiu01 . At temperatures necessary for epitaxial growth, the Mg vapor pressure in this growth window is very high for many vacuum deposition techniques. In practice, in situ growth of MgB2 thin films has been demonstrated below 320C where the necessary Mg vapor pressure for phase stability is low Ueda01 ; Jo02 . However, the temperature is too low for epitaxial growth, and the resultant films have lower $`T_c`$ (34 K) and poor crystallinity. An alternative technique employs annealing of Mg-B or Mg-MgB2 mixtures in situ in the growth chamber, at temperatures and duration such that severe Mg loss or MgB2 decomposition does not occur Blank01 ; Christen01 ; Shinde01 ; Grassano01 ; Zeng01 ; Newman02 . Films produced by such techniques also show lower $`T_c`$ (34 K) and poor crystallinity Zeng01 . By annealing B films ex situ in high Mg vapor pressure, temperatures as high as 900C can be used WNKang01 ; HYZhai01 ; Eom01 . The MgB2 films thus produced show bulk $`T_c`$ (39 K) and epitaxy SDBu02 ; WTian02 . Unfortunately, this two-step ex situ annealing process is not desirable for multilayer device fabrication.

Our approach to meet the challenge of generating a high Mg vapor pressure is HPCVD. It is in principle similar to the Physical Vapor Transport (PVT) technique used to grow semiconductor single crystals Kamler00 . In HPCVD, a standard vertical CVD quartz reactor is used and diborane, B2H6, is used as the boron precursor gas. Unlike conventional CVD which utilizes gaseous sources only, HPCVD uses heated bulk Mg (99.95%) as the Mg source. Before the deposition, a single crystal substrate is placed on the top surface of a SiC-coated graphite susceptor and bulk pieces of Mg are placed nearby. The reactor is then purged with purified N2 gas and purified H2 gas. The susceptor, along with the substrate and Mg pieces, are heated by an inductance heater to 730-760C in the H2 ambient. A mixture of 1000 ppm B2H6 in H2 is then introduced into the reactor to initiate growth. The total pressure in the reactor is maintained at 100-700 Torr throughout the process. Due to the relatively high gas pressure and the flow pattern of the carrier gas in the reactor, the vapor from the heated pure Mg results in a high Mg vapor pressure near the substrate. When the B2H6 gas is not flowing through the reactor, there is no film deposition because of the low sticking coefficient of Mg at high temperatures Newman02 . Once the B2H6 gas begins to flow, a MgB2 film starts to grow on the substrate. The deposition rate depends on the flow rate of B2H6 gas. For example, a flow rate of 25 sccm for the 1000 ppm B2H6 mixture results in a deposition rate of about 2-3 Å/s. After growth, the B2H6 gas is switched out of the reactor and the sample is cooled in the H2 carrier gas to room temperature.

Films were deposited on (0001) sapphire and (0001) 4H-SiC substrates. They were characterized for phase and structural information using four-circle x-ray diffraction with CuKα radiation and a graphite monochromator. Fig. 1(A) shows a $`\theta 2\theta `$ scan of a MgB2 film on a (0001) sapphire substrate. Beside the substrate peaks the only peaks observed arise from the (0001) planes of MgB2, indicating that a phase-pure MgB2 film with $`c`$-axis orientation is obtained. The $`c`$ lattice constant is 3.512$`\pm `$0.005 Å, in agreement with the bulk value Budko01 . The full widths at half maximum (FWHM) of the 0002 peak were 0.47 and 1.6 in 2$`\theta `$ and $`\omega `$, respectively. The in-plane orientation was probed with a $`\varphi `$-scan of the 10$`\overline{1}`$1 MgB2 reflection shown in Fig. 1(B). A six-fold symmetry characteristic of a (0001) oriented MgB2 film with in-plane epitaxy is seen. The $`a`$ lattice constant is 3.08$`\pm `$0.02 Å, smaller than the bulk value of 3.14 Å Budko01 . The FWHM of this peak in $`\varphi `$ is $`1.65^{}`$. The plot reveals small peaks at 30$`{}_{}{}^{}\pm n`$ 60 (where $`n`$ is an integer), indicating minimal amounts of 30 rotational twinning. The dominant in-plane epitaxial relationship is that the hexagonal MgB2 lattice is rotated by 30 (i.e. \[10$`\overline{1}`$0\] MgB$`{}_{2}{}^{}[2\overline{1}\overline{1}`$0\] Al2O3) to match the hexagonal lattice of sapphire, which has a lattice constant of 4.765 Å. X-ray diffraction of MgB2 films on (0001) SiC substrates also revealed epitaxial growth with (0001) MgB$`{}_{2}{}^{}`$ (0001) SiC and \[2$`\overline{1}\overline{1}`$0\] MgB$`{}_{2}{}^{}[2\overline{1}\overline{1}`$0\] SiC and without 30 rotational twinning. The lattice parameters obtained are $`c=3.516\pm 0.005`$ Å and $`a=3.09\pm 0.02`$ Å, respectively. Due to the close lattice match between SiC ($`a=3.07`$ Å for 4H-SiC) and MgB2, the hexagonal lattice of MgB2 grows directly on top of the hexagonal lattice of SiC.

The same film described in Fig. 1 was studied by cross-section transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The measurement was performed in a JEOL 4000 EX microscope operated at 400 kV, providing a point-to-point resolution of 0.17 nm. Fig. 2(A) shows a low magnification bright-field TEM image. Fig. 2(B) and (C) are selected-area electron diffraction patterns taken from the film and the substrate with the incident electron beam along the same direction. Fig. 2(D) shows a high-resolution TEM image of the film/substrate interface. The results confirm the epitaxial growth of a $`c`$-axis oriented MgB2 film on the sapphire substrate. The diffraction pattern in Fig. 2(B) is from the \[11$`\overline{2}`$0\] zone axis of MgB2; Fig. 2(C) is from the \[10$`\overline{1}`$0\] zone axis of sapphire. This corroborates the x-ray diffraction results on the in-plane epitaxial relationship between the film and the sapphire substrate. Cross-section and plane-view TEM observations also show that the film consists of strongly faceted columns with different heights, resulting from island growth. These columns have hexagonal shapes with very smooth top surfaces, and they have the same crystallographic orientations. An intermediate layer at the MgB2/Al2O3 interface is seen in the high-resolution image. Fourier-transform studies and nano-sized probe electron diffraction reveal that the image characteristics of this layer result from a superposition of MgO regions with the epitaxially-grown MgB2. This intermediate layer is much thinner and simpler than that in the ex situ annealed epitaxial MgB2 films, where layers of MgAl2O4 and MgO are observed WTian02 .

It should be noted that the x-ray diffraction spectra are free of MgO peaks, which commonly appear in MgB2 thin films grown by other techniques WNKang01 ; Eom01 ; Christen01 ; Blank01 ; Zeng01 . In cross-section TEM, MgO regions are seen only in a very thin layer near the MgB2/Al2O3 interface, which may be the result of oxygen diffusion out of the substrate. We attribute the minimal oxygen contamination in the bulk of the MgB2 films to the reducing ambient resulting from the use of hydrogen as the carrier gas in the process. When the susceptor and bulk Mg are heated to 750C, H2 effectively eliminates the oxide on the Mg surface and suppresses MgO formation during growth.

The superconducting and transport properties of the films were characterized by resistivity measurement using the standard four-point method. Fig. 3(A) shows a resistivity vs. temperature curve for a 2000 Å MgB2 film on a sapphire substrate. The inset shows the details near the superconducting transition, and a zero-resistance $`T_c`$ of 39.3 K is observed. The $`T_c`$ value of 39 K is the same as that in the bulk materials, and has been repeatedly obtained in our MgB2 films on sapphire and SiC substrates. The resistivity of the film is 10.5 $`\mu \mathrm{\Omega }`$cm at 300 K and 2.8 $`\mu \mathrm{\Omega }`$cm before the superconducting transition, giving a residual resistance ratio $`RRR=R`$(300K)/$`R`$(40K) of 3.7. In our films with $`T_c`$ 39 K, we normally find $`RRR`$ values of around 3.

The transport $`J_c`$ for a 2900 Å thick MgB2 films on a sapphire substrate is shown in Fig. 3(B) as a function of temperature and magnetic field. It was measured on a 30-$`\mu `$m wide bridge using a Quantum Design PPMS system with a 9-T superconducting magnet. The zero-field $`J_c`$ is $`1.2\times 10^7`$ A/cm2 at 4.2 K, comparable to the best reported value in ex situ annealed films Eom01 ; HJKim01 . The $`J_c`$ drops under applied magnetic fields. When $`H`$ film the rates at which $`J_c`$ decreases is similar to that in ex situ annealed films with less oxygen contamination Eom01 ; HJKim01 , but faster than in ex situ annealed films with substantial oxygen contamination Eom01 . This is consistent with the suggestion by Eom et al. that oxygen contamination in MgB2 films provides pinning centers Eom01 . Because there is minimal oxygen contamination in our films as shown by the x-ray diffraction and TEM, the vortex pinning is weaker than in oxygen contaminated films. The suppression of $`J_c`$ when $`H`$ film is much slower than for $`H`$ film.

High-quality epitaxial MgB2 thin films are valuable for basic studies of physical properties such as electronic anisotropy Jung01 ; Ferdeghini01 ; Patnaik01 . Fig. 3(C) shows the temperature dependence of the upper critical fields of a MgB2 film on a SiC substrate when the magnetic field is applied perpendicular ($`H_{c2}^{}(T)`$, solid triangles) and parallel ($`H_{c2}^{}(T)`$, open triangles) to the film plane (the (0001) plane). They are determined from the resistive transition by the intersection of a line tangent to the transition midpoint with a linear extrapolation of the normal state resistivity. A clear anisotropy between $`H_{c2}^{}(T)`$ and $`H_{c2}^{}(T)`$ is observed. Because of the upward curvature near $`T_c`$, we calculate d$`H_{c2}/`$d$`T`$ using the lower-temperature part of the data. Using the expression for the dirty-limit type-II superconductors, $`H_{c2}(0)=0.69T_c`$d$`H_{c2}/`$d$`T`$, we find $`H_{c2}^{}(0)`$ and $`H_{c2}^{}(0)`$ to be 29.2 T and 23.2 T, respectively, which yields an anisotropy ratio, $`\eta H_{c2}^{}(0)/H_{c2}^{}(0)`$ of 1.26. Both the $`H_{c2}`$ and $`\eta `$ values are similar to those in ex situ annealed MgB2 films Jung01 .

The excellent epitaxy and superconducting properties of the MgB2 films demonstrate that in situ growth of high-quality epitaxial MgB2 films is possible as long as a sufficiently high Mg vapor pressure is produced. At 750C, this pressure is about 10 mTorr in the thermodynamic growth window ZKLiu01 . The HPCVD technique successfully achieves this value. The results also demonstrate the automatic composition control in the adsorption-controlled growth of films containing volatile species JYTsao93 . During the growth, the Mg:B ratio arriving at the substrate is likely above the 1:2 stoichiometry, but the extra Mg remains in the gas phase and the desired MgB2 phase is always obtained. The deposition rate of MgB2 is determined by the influx of diborane.

The in situ deposited MgB2 films have mirror-like shiny surfaces. We have characterized the film surface by atomic force microscopy (AFM) (Nanoscope III). In Fig. 4, AFM images of MgB2 films on (A) sapphire and (B) SiC substrates are shown. Clearly, films on the two substrates have very different morphologies. The surface of the film on SiC is smoother than that on sapphire substrate. When measured over a large scan area, for example $`10\times 10\mu `$m2, the root-mean-square (RMS) roughness for sapphire and SiC substrates are similar, $``$ 4 nm. However, on a $`1\times 1\mu `$m2 scale, the RMS roughness is $``$ 4 nm for the film on sapphire and $``$ 2.5 nm for the film on SiC. This is much smoother than any MgB2 film surface published so far HYZhai01 ; Ferdeghini01 . The AFM images also show that the majority of the growth columns have dimensions larger than 100 nanometers, which is consistent with the TEM result.

The results presented here demonstrate that HPCVD is a viable film deposition technique for MgB2 superconducting electronics. The epitaxial films produced by HPCVD have excellent superconducting properties and the small roughness of the film is promising for Josephson junctions. Furthermore, the in situ process can be readily scaled up to deposit over large substrate areas and offers the potential for multilayer heterostructure fabrication. As the technique is further refined and the film quality improved, emphasis can shift from MgB2 film deposition to the fabrication of MgB2 Josephson junctions and circuits. Finally, the availability of high-quality epitaxial thin films is anticipated to benefit a variety of fundamental studies of MgB2.

References and Notes

 We gratefully acknowledge Arsen Soukiassian, Srinivasan Raghavan, and Kok-Keong Lew for their help in setting up the HPCVD system. This work is supported in part by ONR under grant Nos. N00014-00-1-0294 (XXX) and N0014-01-1-0006 (JMR), by NSF under grant Nos. DMR-9876266 and DMR-9972973 (QL), DMR-9875405 and DMR-9871177 (XQP), DMR-9983532 (ZKL), and by DOE through grant DE-FG02-97ER45638 (DGS).


text:
# Classical black hole evaporation in Randall-Sundrum infinite braneworld

## I Introduction

Current candidates for the fundamental theory of particle physics such as string theory or M-theory are all defined as a theory in higher dimension. To obtain an appropriate 4-dimensional effective theory starting with such a theory, a certain dimensional reduction is necessary. One well-known scheme of dimensional reduction is the Kaluza-Klein compactification. In this scheme, the size of the extra dimension is supposed to be very small so as not to excite the modes which have momentum in the direction of the extra dimension. This scheme seems to work well as a mechanism to shield the effect of extra dimensions. This Kaluza-Klein scheme, however, is not a unique possible scheme for dimensional reduction. Recently, the braneworld scenario has been attracting a lot of attention as an alternative possibility. The essential feature of the braneworld scenario distinct from the ordinary Kaluza-Klein compactification is that the matter fields of the standard model are supposed to be localized on the brane, while the graviton can propagate in a higher dimensional spacetime which we call “bulk”. Owing to the assumption that the ordinary matter fields are localized on the brane the braneworld models can be consistent with the particle physics experiments even if the length scale of the extra dimension is not extremely small. Then, the gravity is possibly altered at a rather macroscopic length scale, while the experimental constraint on the deviation of the gravitational force from the Newton’s law obtained so far is not severe below sub $`mm`$ scale. Hence, a characteristic length scale can be as large as sub $`mm`$ scale in the braneworld scenario. Therefore future experiments may detect an evidence of the existence of extra dimensions.

In the course of studies on braneworld, a new scenario was proposed by Randall and Sundrum (RS). In their models, the gravity is effectively localized due to the warped compactification even though the extension of the extra dimension is infinite. So far any results significantly distinguishable from the 4D general relativity have not been reported.

In this paper, we first review the current status of the studies on the gravity in this model. In §2 we explain the setup of the RS model with infinite extra dimension. In §3 we review the geometrical approach to the gravity in this model to find the limitation of the analysis without solving the 5D equations of motion. In §4 and §5 we summarize the results for linear perturbations and for non-linear perturbations of this model, respectively. Even in the non-linear regime, 4D general relativity seems to be recovered. However, black hole solutions as a symbol of strong gravity have not been found yet. In §6 we discuss the possibility that there is no static black hole solution in this model, applying the argument of the AdS/CFT correspondence. In §7 we discuss the importance of the conjectured possibility. If the conjecture is true, the existence of long-lived solar mass black holes will give the strongest constraint on the bulk curvature radius. At the same time, we can propose a new method to simulate the evaporation of a 4D black hole due to the Hawking radiation as a 5D process.

## II Warped extra dimension

In the model proposed by Randall and Sundrum, 5D Einstein gravity with negative cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is assumed. The ordinary matter fields are confined on a 4-dimensional object called “brane”. This brane has positive tension $`\sigma `$, and the spacetime has reflection symmetry ($`Z_2`$-symmetry) at the position of the brane, $`y=y_b`$. Here $`y`$ is the coordinate normal to the brane. 5D Einstein equations are

$${}_{}{}^{(5)}G_{ab}^{}=\mathrm{\Lambda }g_{ab}+8\pi G_5S_{ab}\delta (yy_b),$$
(1)
with

$$S_{ab}=\sigma \gamma _{ab}+T_{ab},$$
(2)
where $`T_{ab}`$ is the energy momentum tensor of the matter field localized on the brane,$`\gamma _{ab}`$ is the 4D metric induced on the brane, and $`G_5`$ is the 5D Newton’s constant.

One solution of (1) is 5D anti-de Sitter (AdS) space

$$ds^2=dy^2+e^{2|y|/\mathrm{}}(dt^2+d𝐱^2),$$
(3)
with a single positive tension brane located at $`y=0`$. Here, $`\mathrm{}`$ is the curvature radius of 5-dimensional AdS space. The five dimensional cosmological constant and the brane tension are set to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=6/\mathrm{}^2`$ and $`\sigma =3/(4\pi G_5\mathrm{})`$. It is convenient to introduce conformal coordinates defined by $`z=\text{sign}(y)\mathrm{}(e^{|y|/\mathrm{}}1)`$. In these coordinates the metric is expressed as

$$ds^2=\frac{\mathrm{}}{(|z|+\mathrm{})^2}\left(dz^2+\eta _{\mu \nu }dx^\mu dx^\nu \right),$$
(4)
where $`\eta _{\mu \nu }`$ is the 4D Minkowski metric. The outstanding feature of this model is that the 4D general relativity is seemingly reproduced as an effective theory on the brane in spite of the fact that the extension in the direction of the extra dimension is infinite.

## III geometrical approach

A quick way to see why the 4D general relativity is expected to be realized on the brane will be the geometrical approach introduced by Shiromizu, Maeda and Sasaki. We use the 4+1 decomposition of the 5D Einstein tensor. The components parallel to the brane are decomposed by the Gauss equation as

$`{}_{}{}^{(4)}G_{\mu \nu }^{}`$ $`=`$ $`{}_{}{}^{(5)}G_{\mu \nu }^{}+^{(5)}R_{yy}\gamma _{\mu \nu }+KK_{\mu \nu }K_\mu {}_{}{}^{\rho }K_{\rho \nu }^{}`$ (6)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\gamma _{\mu \nu }\left(K^2K^{\alpha \beta }K_{\alpha \beta }\right)^{(5)}R_{y\mu y\nu },`$
where $`K_{\mu \nu }`$ is the extrinsic curvature tensor of the $`y=`$constant hypersurfaces. Taking account of $`Z_2`$ symmetry at $`y=0`$, the Israel’s junction condition gives

$$K_{\mu \nu }(y=+ϵ)=4\pi G_5\left(S_{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{3}\gamma _{\mu \nu }S\right).$$
(7)
Substituting the above two equations into Eq. (1), we obtain

$`{}_{}{}^{(4)}G_{\mu \nu }^{}=8\pi G_4T_{\mu \nu }+(8\pi G_5)^2\pi _{\mu \nu }E_{\mu \nu },`$ (8)
where the 4D effective Newton’s constant is given by

$`G_4={\displaystyle \frac{4\pi G_5^2\sigma }{3}}={\displaystyle \frac{G_5}{\mathrm{}}},`$ (9)
and $`E_{\mu \nu }`$ is a projected Weyl tensor defined by

$$E_{\mu \nu }=^{(5)}C_{y\mu y\nu }.$$
(10)
$`\pi _{\mu \nu }`$ is a tensor quadratic in $`T_{\mu \nu }`$ whose explicit form is given in Ref. . By construction $`E_{\mu \nu }`$ is traceless. From the 5D conservation law for the localized matter fields, the 4D effective conservation law for the matter fields $`{}_{}{}^{(4)}D_{\nu }^{}T_\mu {}_{}{}^{\nu }=0`$ follows, which also implies

$${}_{}{}^{(4)}D_{\nu }^{}E_\mu {}_{}{}^{\nu }=(8\pi G_5)^2{}_{}{}^{(4)}D_{\nu }^{}\pi _\mu {}_{}{}^{\nu },$$
(11)
owing to the Bianchi identity.

If we can neglect the last two terms in Eq. (8), the dynamics of 4D general relativity is recovered. The order of magnitude of the $`\pi _{\mu \nu }`$ term is easily evaluated to be smaller by the factor of $`T_{\mu \nu }/\sigma `$ than the first term, $`8\pi G_4T_{\mu \nu }`$. Therefore we can neglect the $`\pi _{\mu \nu }`$ term at a low energy. On the other hand, the equation (11) is not sufficient to determine the evolution of $`E_{\mu \nu }`$ in general. The equations that determine $`E_{\mu \nu }`$ are essentially 5 dimensional and are not obtained in the form of a 4D effective theory.

## IV linear perturbation

As we have reviewed in the previous section, we need to solve a 5D equation in order to fully determine the evolution of the metric induced on the brane. Since solving 5D equation in general is not easy, we consider linear perturbations of the RS model. To discuss metric perturbations in the bulk, the RS gauge is convenient. In this gauge, $`y`$-components of metric perturbations are set to be zero; $`h_{ya}=0`$, and also $`h_{\mu \nu }`$ satisfies the transverse and traceless conditions; $`h^\nu {}_{\mu ,\nu }{}^{}=h^\nu {}_{\nu }{}^{}=0`$. The homogeneous equations for bulk metric perturbations become

$`\left[_z^2+V(z)\right]\psi _{\mu \nu }=\eta ^{\rho \sigma }_\rho _\sigma \psi _{\mu \nu },`$ (12)
where $`\psi _{\mu \nu }=\sqrt{|z|+\mathrm{}}h_{\mu \nu }`$ and

$$V(z)=\frac{15}{4(|z|+\mathrm{})^2}3\mathrm{}^1\delta (z).$$
(13)
The solution of Eq. (12) can be found in the form of $`\psi _{\mu \nu }u_m(z)e^{ik_\mu x^\mu }`$. The separation constant $`m^2=k_\mu k^\mu `$ can be understood as the mass of the effective 4D field which corresponds to the mode $`u_m(z)`$. The equation that $`u_m(z)`$ satisfies is $`\left[_z^2+V(z)\right]u_m(z)=m^2u_m(z).`$ The solution of this equation with the $`Z_2`$-symmetry is $`u_m(z)=N_m\sqrt{|z|+\mathrm{}}(J_1(m\mathrm{})Y_2\left(m(|z|+\mathrm{})\right)Y_1(m\mathrm{})J_2\left(m(|z|+\mathrm{})\right)).`$ The normalization $`N_m`$ determined so as to satisfy $`2_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}u_m(z)u_m^{}(z)𝑑z=\delta (mm^{})`$ is given by $`N_m=\sqrt{m/2}/\sqrt{J_1(m\mathrm{})^2+Y_1(m\mathrm{})^2}.`$

The basic feature of these wave functions can be understood without resorting to the explicit form of the solution. Note that the 5D metric given in Eq. (4) satisfies 5D Einstein equations even if we replace the Minkowski metric $`\eta _{\mu \nu }dx^\mu dx^\nu `$ in it with any vacuum solution of 4D Einstein equations. Corresponding to this type of solutions, there is a discrete mass spectrum at $`m=0`$ with the wave function $`h_{\mu \nu }1/z^2`$. We call it zero mode. This zero mode wave function is nodeless. Hence, there is no bound state for $`m^2<0`$. On the other hand, the potential $`V(z)`$ goes to zero at $`|z|\mathrm{}`$. Hence, the mass spectrum is continuous for $`m^2>0`$. The potential $`V(z)`$ has barrier near the brane with the height of $`O(\mathrm{}^2)`$. For the modes with $`0<m\mathrm{}^1`$, the wave function is suppressed near the brane due to this potential barrier. For the modes with $`m\mathrm{}^1`$, their excitation is kinematically suppressed. Therefore the zero mode is the only active degrees of freedom, and it is a massless and spin-2 field in the language of the 4D effective theory. Hence, 4D general relativity is expected to be recovered at least at the linear level.

Linear metric perturbations induced on the brane were first explicitly evaluated in Ref.. The result is summarized as

$`h_{\mu \nu }`$ $`=`$ $`16\pi G_5{\displaystyle d^4x^{}G(x,x^{})\left(T_{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{3}\gamma _{\mu \nu }T\right)}`$ (15)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{8\pi G_5\mathrm{}^1}{3}}\gamma _{\mu \nu }{}_{}{}^{(4)}\mathrm{}_{}^{1}T,`$
where

$`G(x,x^{})={\displaystyle \frac{d^4k}{(2\pi )^4}e^{ik_\mu (x^\mu x^{}{}_{}{}^{\mu })}}`$ (16)
$`\times \left[{\displaystyle \frac{z^2z^{}{}_{}{}^{2}\mathrm{}_{}^{1}}{k^2(\omega +iϵ)^2}}+{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑m{\displaystyle \frac{u_m(y)u_m(y^{})}{m^2+k^2(\omega +iϵ)^2}}\right],`$ (17)
(18)
is the 5D scalar Green function. If we assume static and spherically symmetric configuration for the matter source localized on the brane, the gravitational field outside the matter distribution is evaluated as

$`h_{00}{\displaystyle \frac{2G_4M}{r}}\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{}^2}{3r^2}}\right),`$ (19)
$`h_{ij}{\displaystyle \frac{2G_4M}{r}}\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}^2}{3r^2}}\right).`$ (20)
The correction to 4D general relativity is suppressed by the ratio between the 5D curvature scale $`\mathrm{}`$ and the distance from the center of the star $`r`$. The correction to the gravitational field inside the star also stays small by the factor of $`O(\mathrm{}^2/r_{}^2)`$, where $`r_{}`$ is the typical size of the star. If we neglect the contribution due to massive modes ($`m^2>0`$) in the Green function (18), Eq. (15) exactly reduces to the results for the linearized 4D general relativity.

## V non-linear perturbation

At the linear level, perturbations of the RS model can be expressed as a 4D effective theory with an infinite tower of massive gravitons***There is an alternative way of describing the model as a 4D higher derivative theory.. However, we will notice that the asymptotic behavior of the wave function at large $`z`$ is not very regular. The zero mode wave function behaves as

$$h_{\mu \nu }(\text{zero mode})\frac{1}{z^2}.$$
(21)
An invariant obtained by contracting the Weyl tensor with itself $`C_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }C^{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }`$ behaves as $`z^4`$. Thus, the infinity in the direction of the extra dimension is a curvature singularity. For the massive modes the situation is worse. The wave function behaves as

$$h_{\mu \nu }(\text{massive mode})\frac{1}{\sqrt{z}}.$$
(22)
Hence, the same invariant more severely diverges as $`C_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }C^{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }z^7`$.

However, such a divergence does not indicate the breakdown of the perturbation analysis. The perturbed metric induced by the matter fields on the brane consists of a superposition of various modes. For the static case, the 5D Green function is approximately evaluated in Ref.. The result clearly showed that perturbations at large $`z`$ are regular. Also in the dynamical cases, the asymptotic regularity of perturbations was shown in Ref.. An interesting point which we wish to stress here is that perturbations become regular only after summation over all massless and massive modes.

Non-linear perturbations in this model are more complicated. If we adopt the picture of the 4D effective theory with a tower of massive gravitons, one may think that the higher order perturbations can be treated by taking into account the effective coupling between gravitons with various masses. However, this approach does not work. Let us consider the three point interaction vertex. The effective coupling constant between various massive gravitons will be obtained by expanding the action ($`{}_{}{}^{(5)}R`$) to the third order with respect to the metric perturbation $`h_{ab}`$ and integrating out the dependence on the extra dimension. The quantity to be calculated will take the form

$$d^4x_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑z\sqrt{g}g^{}g^{}g^{}g^{}h_,h_,h_{}.$$
(23)
The asymptotic behavior of respective component is given by $`\sqrt{g}z^5`$ and $`g^{}z^2`$. If we substitute the massive mode wave function, $`h_{}`$ and also $`h_,`$ are $`z^{1/2}`$. Hence, the integrand of (23) behaves as $`z^{3/2}`$, and the $`z`$-integration does not converge. Therefore we cannot define the effective coupling constant in this manner.

Nevertheless, this does not directly imply any catastrophe at least at the classical level. For the static and spherically symmetric configurations in the 4D sense, second order perturbations were calculated to show that the perturbations behave well, and the correction to 4D general relativity is suppressed by the factor of $`O(\mathrm{}^2/r_{}^2)`$. The approximate reproduction of the results for 4D general relativity is also confirmed numerically in Ref., in which the strong gravity regime was also investigated. Hence, one may be able to conclude that the gravity in the RS infinite braneworld is well approximated by 4D general relativity, although non-linear perturbations have not been computed in dynamical cases at all.

## VI Black hole and AdS/CFT correspondence

In the preceding section we have observed that the induced metric on the RS brane mimics the results of 4D general relativity well. This seems to work even in the strong gravity regime. However, no black hole solution which is asymptotically AdS has been found so far.

In Ref., a black string solution given by

$$ds^2=\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{(|z|+\mathrm{})^2}\left[dz^2+q_{\mu \nu }^{(4)}dx^\mu dx^\nu \right],$$
(24)
was discussed. Here $`q_{\mu \nu }^{(4)}dx^\mu dx^\nu `$ is the usual 4D Schwarzshild metric. The induced geometry on the brane at $`z=0`$ is exactly 4D Schwarzshild spacetime. However, the asymptotic value of $`C_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }C^{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }`$ behaves $`z^4r^6`$, where $`r`$ is the Schwarzshild radial coordinate. If we take the $`z\mathrm{}`$ limit for a fixed $`r`$, this curvature invariant diverges. Also, this configuration is unstable. Hence, the black string solution will not be an appropriate candidate for the final state of the gravitational collapse in the RS braneworld. A conjecture raised in Ref.  is that there will be a configuration called “black cigar” for which there is an event horizon localized near the brane.

However, as we have mentioned above, no black hole solution which is asymptotically AdS has not been found so far, although there were several works aiming at finding it. Here we suggest that the brane black hole may not exist, based on the argument of AdS/CFT correspondence. For an introduction to AdS/CFT correspondence, we follow Refs.. Here we consider the RS model without matter fields on the brane. The AdS/CFT correspondence implies the relation

$$S_{RS}=S_{EH}^{(4)}+2W_{CFT},$$
(25)
where $`W_{CFT}`$ is the connected Green function with a high frequency cutoff for certain 4D CFT fields evaluated on the background metric induced on the brane, and

$`S_{EH}^{(4)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}}{16\pi G_5}}{\displaystyle d^4x\sqrt{q}^{(4)}R},`$ (26)
is the ordinary 4D Einstein-Hilbert action for the induced metric on the brane. This formula indicates that the RS infinite braneworld is equivalently described by 4D general relativity coupled to conformal fields. The number of degrees of freedom of the conformal fields is $`O(\mathrm{}^2/G_4)`$, which is supposed to be large.

It is known that the quantum effect by means of 4D CFT corresponds to the classical effect due to the bulk graviton in 5D picture. This fact can be also understood in the following way. Let us consider the energy momentum tensor of the 4D CFT due to the vacuum polarization effect induced by the curved geometry. In this case, the contribution to the energy momentum tensor from each field will be $`O(1/L^4)`$, where $`L`$ is the characteristic length scale of the spacetime curvature. Thus, the vacuum polarization part of the energy momentum tensor $`{}_{}{}^{(4)}T_{\mu \nu }^{(Q)}`$ in total will become $`O(\mathrm{}^2/G_4L^4)`$, where we have taken into account the number of degrees of freedom. Hence, from 4D Einstein equations $`{}_{}{}^{(4)}\mathrm{}h_{\mu \nu }G_4{}_{}{}^{(4)}T_{\mu \nu }^{}`$, the additional metric perturbation caused by this energy momentum tensor $`{}_{}{}^{(4)}T_{\mu \nu }^{(Q)}`$ is estimated as $`h_{\mu \nu }^{(Q)}=O(\mathrm{}^2/L^2)`$. On the other hand, the effective energy momentum tensor induced by the quantum effect in the 5D point of view is also given by the curvature scale of the spacetime. When we discuss in 5D picture, there are two characteristic length scales, $`\mathrm{}`$ and $`L`$. We denote both of them by $`\stackrel{~}{L}`$ without distinguishing them. Then, we will have $`{}_{}{}^{(5)}T_{\mu \nu }^{(Q)}\stackrel{~}{L}^5`$. Then, from 5D Einstein equations, $`{}_{}{}^{(5)}\mathrm{}h_{\mu \nu }G_5{}_{}{}^{(5)}T_{\mu \nu }^{}`$, we will obtain $`h_{\mu \nu }^{(Q)}=O(\stackrel{~}{L}^3G_5)=O(\stackrel{~}{L}^2G_4)`$. Note that the number of degrees of freedom is a few in this case. Since the power of $`G_4`$ does not coincide in the above two expressions for $`h_{\mu \nu }^{(Q)}`$, it is almost impossible to expect that the contribution due to the quantum effect in 5D picture corresponds to that in 4D CFT picture. This mismatch comes from the large number of CFT fields of $`O(\mathrm{}^2/G_4)`$.

The correspondence at the level of linear perturbation was made explicit in Ref.. The leading correction to 4D general relativity starts with $`O(\mathrm{}^2/L^2)`$ in $`h_{\mu \nu }`$, and this leading term was shown to satisfy the correspondence relation. The possible error of the correspondence is higher order in $`\mathrm{}`$.

It is very difficult to verify the correspondence beyond the linear perturbation. However, there is a supporting evidence related to the trace anomaly. Here we follow Ref.. The trace of the effective Einstein equations (8) becomes

$${}_{}{}^{(4)}G=8\pi G_4T+\frac{(8\pi G_4\mathrm{})^2}{4}\left(T_{\mu \nu }T^{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{3}T^2\right),$$
(27)
where the second term on the right hand side comes from the trace of $`\pi _{\mu \nu }`$. On the other hand, the trace part of the energy momentum tensor of CFT is solely determined by the trace anomaly, and hence the trace of the Einstein equation with CFT becomes

$${}_{}{}^{(4)}G=8\pi G_4T+\mathrm{}^2/4\left({}_{}{}^{(4)}G_{\mu \nu }^{}{}_{}{}^{(4)}G_{}^{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{3}{}_{}{}^{(4)}G{}_{}{}^{(4)}G\right).$$
(28)
In the situation that the correction to 4D general relativity is suppressed by the factor of $`O(\mathrm{}^2/L^2)`$, we have $`{}_{}{}^{(4)}G_{\mu \nu }^{}=8\pi G_4T_{\mu \nu }+O(\mathrm{}^2/L^4)`$. Then the difference between (27) and (28) becomes $`O(\mathrm{}^4/L^6)`$. Hence, the AdS/CFT correspondence for the trace part of the Einstein equation holds for the leading correction proportional to $`\mathrm{}^2`$ even in the non-linear perturbation.

Now, let us apply the argument of the AdS/CFT correspondence to the formation of a black hole in the RS braneworld. In 4D CFT picture, a black hole is formed under the presence of a large number of conformal fields. Then, the back reaction due to the Hawking radiation will be much more efficient than in the ordinary 4D theory by the factor of $`\mathrm{}^2/G_4`$. If the AdS/CFT correspondence is valid in this situation, the quantum back reaction due to the Hawking radiation in 4D picture must be described as a classical dynamics in 5D picture. This means that the black hole evaporates as a classical process in 5D picture. This may implies that there is no stationary black hole solution in the 5D RS model. The result obtained in Ref. that the exterior of the dynamically collapsing star cannot be static is also in line with the present conjecture. Of course, when the size of black hole becomes as small as the AdS curvature radius $`\mathrm{}`$, the correspondence may cease to hold.

There is a static black hole solution when a 2-brane in 4 dimensional bulk is considered. One may think this lower dimensional example as an evidence against the conjectured absence of black hole solution in braneworld. This solution was found by Emparan, Horowitz and Myers. The 3-dimensional metric induced on the brane looks similar to the 4-dimensional Schwarzshild black hole;

$$ds^2=\left(1\frac{2\mu \mathrm{}}{r}\right)dt^2+\left(1\frac{2\mu \mathrm{}}{r}\right)^1dr^2+r^2d\phi ^2.$$
(29)
The period of identification in $`\phi `$-direction is not $`2\pi `$ but $`\mathrm{\Delta }\phi {\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{3(2\mu )^{1/3}}}`$, where we assumed that $`\mu 1`$. For this black hole geometry, we have

$$E_{\mu \nu }=\frac{\mu \mathrm{}}{r^3}\text{diag}(1,1,2).$$
(30)
If we apply the AdS/CFT correspondence, the energy momentum tensor of CFT is estimated by $`T_{\mu \nu }^{CFT}(8\pi G_3)^1E_{\mu \nu }`$. To maintain a static configuration under the existence of the Hawking radiation, there should exist thermal bath which supplies the incoming energy flux to balance with the Hawking radiation. However, $`T_{\mu \nu }^{CFT}`$ estimated above decays too fast for large $`r`$ to explain this thermal bath.

However, we do not think that this is a counter example against the conjecture of the classical evaporation of black holes in the RS braneworld. An important difference of this lower dimensional example from the 4D Schwarzshild black hole is that the induced metric is not similar to a solution of 3D vacuum Einstein equation. It will be also worth pointing out that this effective energy momentum tensor (30) can be understood as the Casimir energy of CFT. This spacetime is very compact in the $`\phi `$-direction. The period in this direction is $`r\mathrm{\Delta }\phi r/\mu ^{1/3}`$, and is much shorter than the curvature scale $`L(\mu \mathrm{}/r^3)^{1/2}`$ even at the horizon. Hence, the approximation by a cylinder with a fixed radius $`r/\mu ^{1/3}`$ will work. For such a configuration, the energy momentum tensor for one conformal field is given by $`(\mu /r^3)\text{diag}(1,1,2).`$ The number of CFT species of $`O(\mathrm{}/G_3)`$ consistently explains the correspondence relation.

## VII summary and discussion

In this paper, we reviewed the studies on the gravity in the Randall-Sundrum infinite braneworld. All the computations performed so far suggest that this model recovers the 4D general relativity as an effective theory induced on the brane. However, no black hole solution with the regular asymptotic behavior has been obtained. We discussed the possibility that there is no static black hole solution in this model, applying the argument of the AdS/CFT correspondence.

The first question is whether a brane black hole looks like an ordinary 4D BH or not. If possible black hole solutions are quite different from the ordinary black hole in 4D general relativity, the situation will be very interesting because we may have a chance to probe the extra-dimension by astronomical observations of black holes. If the solutions are similar to the ordinary ones, the next question arises whether the AdS/CFT Correspondence applies for the black hole configuration. The case that the correspondence does not hold in such a strong gravity regime is still interesting because it may be possible to distinguish the model described by 4D CFT picture from the 5D RS model observationally in this case. The remaining possibility that the answer to the above question is ”YES”, i.e., that the correspondence applies even for a black hole configuration, is extremely interesting.

In this case, we can evaluate the mass loss rate due to the Hawking radiation as $`\dot{M}/MN\times (1/G_4^2M^3)\mathrm{}^2/(G_4M)^3`$. Then the evaporation time scale becomes $`\tau =(M/M_{})^3(1mm/\mathrm{})^2\times 1`$ year. The existing black holes in X-ray binaries will give a stronger constraint on the value of $`\mathrm{}`$ than that from the laboratory experiment. The energy lost, say, for the last 10 second of the evaporation will become $`E=(\mathrm{}/1mm)^{2/3}\times 10^{52}`$ erg. The amount of energy can be very large. However, this energy is radiated into CFT (= KK gravitons), which are almost decoupled from the ordinary matter fields. Hence, the direct observation of this energy seems to be difficult.

What does this evaporation look like in 5d picture? Although this is just a speculation, we would like to propose one possible explanation. We assume that blobs of the size $`\mathrm{}^3`$ are continuously created at the dynamical time scale of the BH, $`G_4M`$, with the area of 5D horizon kept constant. The size of the blobs is suggested by the maximum length scale for the instability of black string. Since the area of the main part of the horizon close to the brane will be $`M^2\mathrm{}`$, we have $`\frac{d}{dt}M^2\mathrm{}\mathrm{}^3/G_4M`$. From this estimate, we obtain the same order of magnitude for the mass loss rate as before. If the blobs escape to the 5th direction, this picture will consistently explain the propagation of CFT energy to the spatial infinity in 4D picture.

This correspondence, if it holds, can have an important meaning even in the case that our real universe is not described by the RS braneworld. Since 4D black hole evolution including back reaction due to the Hawking radiation can be described by a 5D classical problem in this case, it may become possible to solve the back reaction problem by using 5D numerical relativity. If we assume spherical symmetry in 4 dimensional sense, we have only to solve a problem with axial symmetry in 5D picture.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank J. Garriga for useful comments and discussions. To complete this work, the discussion during and after the YITP workshop YIYP-W-01-15 on “Braneworld - Dynamics of spacetime boundary” was useful. In particular, the author thanks R. Maartens and N. Kaloper for their useful comments. This work was supported in part by the Monbukagakusho Grant-in-Aid No. 1270154 and by the Yamada Science Foundation.