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# 𝑆=1 kagomé Ising model with triquadratic interactions, single-ion anisotropy and magnetic field: exact phase diagrams

## Abstract

We consider a $`S=1`$ kagomé Ising model with triquadratic interactions around each triangular face of the kagomé lattice, single-ion anisotropy and an applied magnetic field. A mapping establishes an equivalence between the magnetic canonical partition function of the model and the grand canonical partition function of a kagomé lattice-gas model with localized three-particle interactions. Since exact phase diagrams are known for condensation in the one-parameter lattice-gas model, the mapping directly provides the corresponding exact phase diagrams of the three-parameter $`S=1`$ Ising model. As anisotropy competes with interactions, results include the appearance of confluent singularities effecting changes in the topology of the phase diagrams, phase boundary curves (magnetic field vs temperature) with purely positive or negative slopes as well as intermediate cases showing nonmonotonicity, and coexistence curves (magnetization vs temperature) with varying shapes and orientations, in some instances entrapping a homogeneous phase.

PACS numbers: 05.50+q, 75.10.-b

I. Introduction

The $`S=1`$ Ising model continues to be actively investigated with applications in phase transitions, critical and multicritical phenomena. The special behaviors of the model are largely attributable to the presence of single-ion anisotropy and biquadratic interaction terms in the Hamiltonian. A familiar version is the Blume-Emery-Griffiths (BEG) model having bilinear and biquadratic nearest-neighbor pair interactions and single-ion-type uniaxial anisotropy. The three parameter BEG model reduces to an earlier Blume-Capel model if the biquadratic interactions are neglected. The BEG model has attracted considerable attention since it was originally proposed to describe phase separation and superfluid ordering in He3-He4 mixtures exhibiting tricritical behavior when the anisotropy is sufficiently strong and competes with the interactions. Subsequently, the model has been employed to explore a variety of other phase transition problems. Diverse theoretical approaches have been adopted, but invariably due to severe mathematical difficulties, approximation schemes are used in the calculations.

The free energy (characteristic function) of a lattice-statistical model can be found in principle by evaluating the partition function (“sum over states”), a formidable mathematical task in a highly cooperative system with macroscopically many degrees of freedom. The phase diagrams of the system indicate the locations and other characteristics of the mathematical singularities in the thermodynamic (large lattice) limit of the free energy per site, $`f`$. Approaching the singularities, one examines whether the ordering parameter (appropriate first-order derivatives of $`f`$) vanishes continuously or jumps discontinuously as a function of the temperature. The phase transition is then called continuous or discontinuous, respectively, and is so signified upon the phase diagrams.

In general, the phase diagrams of the $`S=1`$ BEG model are not known exactly. However, neglecting its bilinear interactions, Griffiths has pointed out that the partition function of the remanent two-parameter $`S=1`$ Ising model is equivalent to the partition function of a standard $`S=1/2`$ Ising model in a field, whose exact phase diagrams are well-known in the two-dimensional (d=2) ferromagnetic case. Wu extended the investigations by considering a three-parameter $`S=1`$ Ising model having a magnetic field, single-ion anisotropy and biquadratic interactions, and proceeded to obtain exact phase diagrams of the model for ferromagnetic interactions on planar lattices. In the present paper, a $`S=1`$ kagomé Ising model is taken to have a magnetic field, single-ion anisotropy and triquadratic interactions around each triangular face of the kagomé lattice. A mapping establishes an equivalence between the magnetic canonical partition function of the model and the grand canonical partition function of a kagomé lattice-gas model with localized triplet interactions. Since exact phase diagrams are known for condensation in the one-parameter lattice gas model, the mapping directly provides the corresponding exact phase diagrams of the three-parameter $`S=1`$ Ising model. As anisotropy competes with interactions, special features of the findings include the appearance of confluent singularities effecting changes in the topology of the phase diagrams, phase boundary curves (magnetic field vs temperature) with purely positive or negative slopes as well as intermediate cases showing nonmonotonicity, and coexistence curves (magnetization vs temperature) with varying shapes and orientations, in some instances entrapping a homogeneous phase. To our knowledge, the exact phase diagrams are the first found for any $`S=1`$ planar Ising model with multi-spin interactions.

As added incentive for these studies, it may be instructive to briefly (albeit heuristically) discuss multi-particle cyclic exchange processes. Letting $`𝐒_l`$ be a spin operator localized on a lattice site $`l`$, an isotropic higher-order Heisenberg exchange operator

$$(𝐒_i𝐒_j)(𝐒_j𝐒_k)(𝐒_k𝐒_i)$$
(1)
can be associated with cyclic exchange around the vertex sites $`i`$, $`j`$, $`k`$ of a triangle. Although not having the precise electron spin operator forms (1.1), analogous multi-particle exchange models may be relevant for particles with hard core interactions where direct exchange is hindered at high densities with the inference that the simplest exchange involves three particles in a ring following one another in a circular motion. An analogy can be experienced in an overcrowded bus or elevator where it is easier for a few neighbors to revolve in unison than it is for two neighbors to exchange their positions. Three-particle cyclic exchanges are known to be important, e.g., in quantum solids and liquids like helium. The highly anisotropic or Ising version of (1.1) becomes

$$(S_i^zS_j^z)(S_j^zS_k^z)(S_k^zS_i^z)=(S_i^z)^2(S_j^z)^2(S_k^z)^2,$$
(2)
which is the operator form of the $`S=1`$ triquadratic Ising interactions currently considered. The longitudinal Ising form (1.2) is essentially the purely potential energy part of the Heisenberg form (1.1). Although Ising model descriptions may not be fully realistic, they can contain important vestiges of the underlying complex problem, and offer valuable insights amid these complexities. Exact solutions in the simplified models can illustrate the role of multi-spin interactions in general and can in particular highlight any possible novel effects of the multi-spin interactions that may not be accessible or clearly delineated using, e.g., perturbation theory, closed-form approximations, or finite-size numerical simulations.

The paper is organized as follows. Section II presents the $`S=1`$ kagomé Ising model whose partition function is suitably transformed using idempotent lattice-gas variables. In Section III, the central mapping concepts in the theory are established. Applying the mapping relations, phase boundary curves of the present $`S=1`$ Ising model are determined in Section IV as are the companion coexistence curves in Section V. Section VI contains concluding comments on the theory and results.

II. Model Hamiltonian and partition function

The kagomé lattice (Japanese woven bamboo pattern) is a two-dimensional periodic array of equilateral triangles and regular hexagons (Fig. 1) thus also called the 3-6 lattice. The total numbers of triangles and hexagons are in a 2:1 ratio, with the corner-sharing triangles having dual orientations, say, up- or down-ward pointing. The lattice is regular (all sites equivalent, all bonds equivalent) and may be termed “close packed” since it contains elementary polygons having an odd number of sides, viz., triangles. Note that the kagomé lattice has the same coordination number 4 as the square lattice, the latter being “loose packed”.

Consider the following $`S=1`$ Ising (dimensionless) Hamiltonian defined on the planar kagomé lattice of $`𝒩`$ sites

$$\beta =h\underset{i}{}S_i+D\underset{i}{}S_i^2+Q_3\underset{}{}S_i^2S_j^2S_k^2$$
(3)
where $`S_l=0,\pm 1`$, $`l=1,\mathrm{},𝒩`$ are site-localized spin-$`1`$ Ising variables, the summation $`_i`$ is taken over all lattice sites, $`_{<i,j,k>}`$ is over all triplets of sites belonging to elementary triangles, and $`\beta =1/k_BT`$ with $`k_B`$ being the Boltzmann constant and $`T`$ the absolute temperature. Also, $`h=\beta \stackrel{~}{\mu }h_z`$ is a uniform (dimensionless) magnetic field with $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }`$ being the electronic intrinsic magnetic moment, $`D=\beta 𝒟`$ a single-ion-type uniaxial (dimensionless) anisotropy parameter, and $`Q_3=\beta J_3>0`$ a three-spin (dimensionless) interaction parameter. In (2.1), the “symmetry breaking” impressed field $`h_z`$ is longitudinal (along z-axis) with the transverse $`xy`$ plane taken as the plane of the two-dimensional lattice. The magnetic field $`h_z`$ and the anisotropy field $`𝒟`$ couple to the dipole and quadrupole moments of the spin assembly, respectively. In the paper, the lattice-statistical model (2.1) is termed a S=1 triquadratic Ising model. The primary purpose of the theoretical investigations is to deduce exact phase diagrams of the model by employing transformation and mapping techniques upon its partition function.

The magnetic canonical partition function $`𝒵(h,D,Q_3)`$ of the spin system (2.1) is defined as

$$𝒵(h,D,Q_3)=\underset{\{S_i\}}{}e^\beta $$
(4)
where the summation is taken over all possible values of the set $`\{S_i\}`$ of spin variables. Explicitly entering (2.1), the partition function (2.2) may be written as

$`𝒵(h,D,Q_3)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\{S_i\}}{}}e^{h_iS_i+D_iS_i^2+Q_3_{<i,j,k>}S_i^2S_j^2S_k^2}`$ (5)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\{n_i\}}{}}(2\mathrm{cosh}h)^{_in_i}\times e^{D_in_i+Q_3_{<i,j,k>}n_in_jn_k}`$ (6)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\{n_i\}}{}}e^{[\mathrm{ln}(2\mathrm{cosh}h)+D]_in_i+Q_3_{<i,j,k>}n_in_jn_k}`$ ()
having made repeated use of the partial trace identity

$$\underset{S_i=0,\pm 1}{}e^{hS_i}f(S_i^2)=\underset{n_i=0,1}{}(2\mathrm{cosh}h)^{n_i}f(n_i),$$
(7)
which is readily established by identifying the terms corresponding to $`S_i=\pm 1(0)`$ on the LHS with those corresponding to $`n_i=1(0)`$ on the RHS. The enlistment of idempotent variables $`n_i`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},𝒩`$ in (2.3) will be useful to directly establish a mapping between the partition functions of the $`S=1`$ triquadratic Ising model and a triplet-interaction kagomé lattice gas model whose phase diagrams for condensation are known exactly.

III. Lattice gas representation of $`S=1`$ triquadratic Ising model

Consider a lattice gas of $`N`$ atoms upon the kagomé lattice of $`𝒩`$ sites with the (dimensionless) Hamiltonian

$$\beta _{lg}=K_3\underset{}{}n_in_jn_k,$$
(8)
where $`K_3=\beta ϵ_3`$ with $`ϵ_3>0`$ being the strength parameter of the short-range attractive triplet interaction, the sum is taken over all elementary triangles, and the idempotent site-occupation numbers are defined as

$$n_l=\{\begin{array}{cc}1,\hfill & \text{site }l\text{ occupied}\hfill \\ 0,\hfill & \text{site }l\text{ empty.}\hfill \end{array}$$
(9)
In (3.1), an infinitely-strong (hard core) repulsive pair potential has also been tacitly assumed for atoms on the same site, thereby preventing multiple occupancy of any site as reflected in the occupation numbers.

In the usual context of the grand canonical ensemble, we introduce

$$\mathrm{H}_{lg}\mu N$$
(10)
where $`\mu `$ is the chemical potential with $`N`$ being the conjugate total number of particles

$$N=\underset{i}{}n_i.$$
(11)
Using (3.1), (3.3) and (3.4), the grand canonical partition function $`\mathrm{\Xi }(\mu ,𝒩,T)`$ is given by

$$\mathrm{\Xi }(\mu ,𝒩,T)=\underset{\{n_i\}}{}e^{\beta \mathrm{H}}=\underset{\{n_i\}}{}e^{\beta \mu _in_i+K_3_{}n_in_jn_k}.$$
(12)
Comparing (2.3) and (3.5), we conclude that

$$𝒵(h,D,Q_3)=\mathrm{\Xi }(\mu ,𝒩,T)$$
(13)
provided that

$$\mathrm{ln}(2\mathrm{cosh}h)+D=\beta \mu ,Q_3=K_3.$$
(14)
The phase diagrams of the triplet-interaction kagomé lattice gas (3.1) are known exactly ,more definitely, its liquid-vapor phase boundary (chemical potential or pressure versus temperature),coexistence curve (density versus temperature) and various critical properties. Hence, as shown shortly, the mapping (3.6) affords a convenient method for directly determining the corresponding magnetic phase diagrams of the $`S=1`$ triquadratic Ising model (2.1).

IV. Phase boundaries of the $`S=1`$ triquadratic Ising model

Considering the kagomé lattice gas (3.1) with purely three-particle interactions, its liquid-vapor phase boundary curve is given by

$$\mu /ϵ_3=K_3^1\mathrm{ln}[(e^{K_3}1)^{2/3}1],\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}0}K_{3c}/K_31,$$
(15)
with $`\mu /ϵ_3`$ being a reduced chemical potential and $`K_{3c}/K_3(=T/T_c)`$ a reduced temperature where $`K_{3c}(ϵ_3/k_BT_c)=\mathrm{ln}[(2+\sqrt{3})^3+1]=3.96992\mathrm{}`$. The curvilinear phase boundary begins at zero temperature with $`\mu /ϵ_3=2/3`$ and ends (analytically) at a critical point whose coordinates are $`K_{3c}/K_3=1`$, $`\mu /ϵ_3\mu _c/ϵ_3=0.64469\mathrm{}`$. At zero temperature, the phase boundary curve $`\mu /ϵ_3`$ vs $`T/T_c`$ has a zero slope in accordance with the Clausius-Clapeyron equation and third law of thermodynamics. Otherwise, its slope is positive, which is more discernible at temperatures closely below the critical temperature.

To similarly investigate the $`S=1`$ triquadratic Ising model (2.1), one directly applies the correspondence relation (3.6b) to expression (4.1) thereby yielding

$$\alpha =\frac{x}{Q_{3c}}\mathrm{ln}\left\{\left[(e^{Q_{3c}/x}1)^{2/3}1\right]2\mathrm{cosh}\left(\frac{Q_{3c}\xi }{x}\right)\right\},\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}0}x1,$$
(16)
where

$$\xi h/Q_3(=\stackrel{~}{\mu }h_z/J_3);\alpha D/Q_3(=𝒟/J_3);xQ_{3c}/Q_3(=T/T_c);$$

$$Q_{3c}J_3/k_BT_c=\mathrm{ln}[(2+\sqrt{3})^3+1]=3.96992\mathrm{}.$$
(17)
Regarding notations, the initial parameters $`h,D,Q_3`$ in (2.1) are dimensionless through use of a thermal energy $`k_BT`$ scale. Here, for graphical preferences, the associated parameters $`\xi ,\alpha ,x`$ in (4.2) are reduced using an interaction energy $`J_3`$ scale.

Expression (4.2) is plotted in Figure 2 as a phase boundary surface $`x=x(\xi ,\alpha )`$, beginning at zero temperature $`(x=0)`$ as a wedge-shaped locus and terminating along a critical $`(x=1)`$ curve. The phase boundary surface has a number of unusual characteristics, leading to several novel features in the phase boundaries and coexistence curves. In the following, we will discuss the projections of the surface onto the $`\xi \alpha `$ and $`\xi x`$ planes which will illustrate some of these special features.

In Figure 3, isotherms of (4.2) in the range $`0x1`$ are plotted in $`\xi \alpha `$ space (“field space”). The resulting transition region may be viewed geometrically as the projection of the phase boundary surface (Figure 2) in $`\xi \alpha x`$ space upon the $`\xi \alpha `$ plane. In particular, (4.2) shows, at $`\xi =0`$, that the zero-temperature $`(x=0)`$ isotherm in Figure 3 has its angular apex at $`\alpha _0^{max}=2/3`$ and that the critical $`(x=1)`$ isotherm exhibits a symmetric rounded maximum at $`\alpha _c^{max}=Q_{3c}^1\mathrm{ln}\{2[(e^{Q_{3c}}1)^{2/3}1]\}=0.81929\mathrm{}.`$ Observing Figure 3, it is evident that the model only admits phase transitions for anisotropy sufficiently competing with interactions ($`𝒟(2/3)J_3`$). The existence of surface undulations in Figure 2 leads projectively to the existence of crossing points among isotherms in Figure 3. For instance, the zero temperature $`(x=0)`$ and critical temperature $`(x=1)`$ isotherms intersect one another at $`(\xi _{cross},\alpha _{cross})=(\pm 0.30171\mathrm{},0.96837\mathrm{})`$ as shown in Appendix A. Note that not all isotherms cross at a single point, as shown in Figure 4 by magnifying the boxed region of Figure 3. It is also clear from Figure 3 that for cases $`\alpha _c^{max}<\alpha <\alpha _0^{max}`$, only non-critical transitions exist, while for cases $`\alpha >\alpha _0^{max}`$, the model is devoid of any phase transition.

In practice, a magnetic field parameter $`\xi `$ is experimentally adjustable, contrasting the intrinsic crystal-field anisotropy parameter $`\alpha `$. This makes the projection of Figure 2 onto the $`\xi x`$ plane more relevant from an experimental point of view. As an example, for a given specimen, say $`\alpha =1.5`$, and for $`\xi >0`$, the relation (4.2) shows that the phase transitions only occur within the range $`0.8333\mathrm{}\xi 0.8550\mathrm{}`$, where the lower and upper end points of the interval correspond to the zero and critical temperatures, respectively. Since the interval does not contain vanishing values of $`\xi `$, the associated phase transitions for the specimen are induced by the applied magnetic field $`h_z`$. For this example, the relation (4.2) is plotted in Figure 5, illustrating the phase boundary (solid curve) to be curvilinear with a positive slope at non-zero temperatures. The phase boundary separates two homogeneous phases, viz., the longitudinal upper phase associated with the Ising spins preferably aligning parallel to the applied field $`h_z`$ (along the positive $`z`$-axis) and the transverse lower phase associated with the spins preferably lying in the $`xy`$ plane of the lattice. The phase boundary is the locus of discontinuous transitions from one phase to the other, and the terminating point (solid circle) is a critical point associated with a continuous transition. In Figure 5, the phase boundary is analytic at the critical point. In fact, the present phase boundary curves (magnetic field vs temperature) are analytic at their critical points for all $`\alpha <\alpha _c^{max}`$. As explained shortly, the phase boundary curve for $`\alpha =\alpha _c^{max}`$ possesses a confluent singularity at criticality $`(x=1)`$.

The monotonically increasing behavior of the phase boundary curve in Figure 5, however, is not realized for all values of the single-ion anisotropy parameter $`\alpha `$. Figure 6 shows the monotonically increasing phase boundary curve for $`\alpha 1`$ gradually crossing over to a monotonically decreasing phase boundary curve for $`\alpha >\stackrel{~}{\alpha }.93724`$. In particular, selecting the value $`\alpha _{cross}=0.96837\mathrm{}`$ from within this crossover range, the resulting phase boundary curve in Figure 7 exhibits non-monotonic behavior, viz., a shallow rounded minimum having coordinates ($`x_{min},\xi _{min})=(0.80577\mathrm{},0.30020\mathrm{})`$. This non-monotonic behavior of the phase boundary curves is associated with the region of crossing points in Figure 3 (see Appendix A).

Upon further increasing the values of $`\alpha `$, the corresponding $`\xi `$-coordinates of the critical points (solid circles) descend in value, as shown in Figure 8, until the parameter value $`\alpha =\alpha _c^{max}=0.81929\mathrm{}`$, when the phase boundary curve vanishes as $`A_\xi ϵ^{1/2}`$ (algebraic branch point singularity). Here, $`ϵ(T_cT)/T_c`$ is the fractional deviation of temperature from its critical value and the calculated amplitude $`A_\xi =0.20963\mathrm{}.`$ This singular behavior arises as the critical point ($`\xi >0`$) shown in Figure 8 meets its reflective image critical point ($`\xi <0`$) at a confluence point ($`x,\xi `$)=($`1,0`$), thereby changing the topological nature of the phase diagram. Continuing to increase $`\alpha `$ beyond its $`\alpha _c^{max}`$ value has the effect of further shortening the length of the phase boundary curve (comprising solely non-critical transitions) whose confluent singularity moves toward the origin, carrying the same exponent $`1/2`$ but diminishing amplitude. Finally, as expected, the phase boundary curve no longer exists for $`\alpha >2/3`$.

V. Coexistence curves of the $`S=1`$ triquadratic Ising model

In the previous section, mapping relations were directly employed to facilitate the finding of exact phase boundary curves of the $`S=1`$ triquadratic Ising model. In the present section, the companion coexistence curves of the model are determined via composite differentiation of the same mapping relations (3.6). More particularly, the (dimensionless) magnetization $`m`$ is represented as

$`m<S_i>`$ $`=`$ $`𝒩^1{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{ln}𝒵(h,D,Q_3)}{h}}`$ (18)
$`=`$ $`𝒩^1{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Xi }(\mu ,𝒩,T)}{(\beta \mu )}}{\displaystyle \frac{(\beta \mu )}{h}}`$ (19)
$`=`$ $`<n_i>{\displaystyle \frac{[\mathrm{ln}(2\mathrm{cosh}h)+D]}{h}}`$ (20)
$`=`$ $`\rho \mathrm{tanh}h`$ ()
where $`\rho <n_i>`$ is the average particle number density of the triplet interaction kagomé lattice gas (3.1). In the context of coexistence phase diagrams, the correspondence relationship (5.1) specializes to

$$m_{l,t}^{coex}=\rho _{l,v}^{coex}(\mathrm{tanh}h)^{pbs}$$
(21)
where $`m_{l,t}^{coex}`$ is the longitudinal-transverse coexistence surface in $`m\alpha x`$ space of the $`S=1`$ triquadratic Ising model, $`\rho _{l,v}^{coex}`$ is the liquid-vapor coexistence curve in $`\rho x`$ space of the triplet interaction kagomé lattice gas and $`(\mathrm{tanh}h)^{pbs}`$ is evaluated upon the earlier determined phase boundary surface (pbs) (4.2), the latter yielding

$`(\mathrm{tanh}h)^{pbs}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\sqrt{1\mathrm{cosh}^2h}\right)^{pbs}`$ (22)
$`=`$ $`\left\{14e^{2\alpha \frac{Q_{3c}}{x}}\left[(e^{\frac{Q_{3c}}{x}}1)^{2/3}1\right]^2\right\}^{1/2},\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}0}x1.`$ ()
In the product representation (5.2), the $`\alpha `$-dependence of $`m_{l,t}^{coex}`$ resides solely in the factor $`(\mathrm{tanh}h)^{pbs}`$ as explicitly given in (5.3). For a fixed value of the anisotropy parameter $`\alpha `$, the expression (5.3) evaluates $`(\mathrm{tanh}h)^{pbs}`$ along the associated phase boundary curve (magnetic field vs temperature).

The exact solution for the liquid-vapor coexistence curve ($`\rho _{l,v}^{coex}`$ vs temperature) of the triplet interaction kagomé lattice gas (3.1) is given by

$$\rho _{l,v}^{coex}=1\frac{1}{4}\left[1(e^{K_3}1)^{2/3}\right]\left[1+<\mu _0\mu _1>_{L^{}=0}2<\mu >_S\right],\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}\hspace{0.33em}0}K_{3c}/K_31,$$
(23)
where $`<\mu _0\mu _1>_{L^{}=0}`$, $`<\mu >_S`$ are the nearest-neighbor pair correlation and spontaneous magnetization, respectively, in a standard $`S=\frac{1}{2}`$ honeycomb Ising model ferromagnet with nearest-neighbor pair (dimensionless) interaction parameter $`K^{}>0`$ and (dimensionless) magnetic field $`L^{}`$. It is well known  that a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a phase transition in the $`S=\frac{1}{2}`$ ferromagnetic ($`K^{}>0`$) honeycomb Ising model is the joint condition $`L^{}=0`$ and $`K^{}K_c^{}`$, where the critical value $`K_c^{}=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{ln}(2+\sqrt{3})=0.65847\mathrm{}`$. In (5.4), the exact solutions for $`<\mu _0\mu _1>_{L^{}=0}`$, and $`<\mu >_S`$ are known to be

$$<\mu _0\mu _1>_{L^{}=0}=\frac{2}{3}\left[\mathrm{coth}2K^{}+\gamma K_1(\kappa )\right],$$
(24)
$$\mu _S=\{\begin{array}{cc}(1\kappa ^2)^{1/8},\hfill & 0K_c^{}/K^{}1\text{,}\hfill \\ 0,\hfill & 1<K_c^{}/K^{}\hfill \end{array}$$
(25)
with $`K_1(\kappa )`$ being the complete elliptic integral of the first kind

$$K_1(\kappa )=_0^{\pi /2}(1\kappa ^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta )^{1/2}𝑑\theta ,$$
(26)
and where

$$\kappa ^2=16z^3(1+z^3)(1z)^3(1z^2)^3,$$
(27)
$$\gamma =(1z^4)(z^24z+1)/\pi |1z^2|(1z)^4,$$
(28)
$$z=e^{2K^{}}.$$
(29)
The expression (5.4) for $`\rho _{l,v}^{coex}`$ can be written completely in the natural $`K_3`$-notation of the lattice gas by substituting the interaction parameter relation

$$K^{}=\frac{1}{6}\mathrm{ln}(e^{K_3}1)\text{at}L^{}=0$$
(30)
into (5.5) and (5.6). Also, the earlier stated critical value $`K_{3c}=\mathrm{ln}[(2+\sqrt{3})^3+1]=3.96992\mathrm{}`$ is determined by substituting the known critical value $`K_c^{}=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{ln}(2+\sqrt{3})`$ into (5.7).

The goal of the present section has been attained. Namely, for a given value of the single-ion anisotropy parameter $`\alpha `$, the longitudinal-transverse coexistence curve ($`m_{l,t}^{coex}`$ vs temperature) of the $`S=1`$ triquadratic Ising model is exactly calculable in $`mx`$ space by substituting (5.3-7) into (5.2) and replacing $`K_3`$ whenever appearing by $`Q_3`$ in compliance with the mapping relation (3.6b). The resulting coexistence curves display novel behaviors as illustrated in Figures 9, 10 and 11.

In Figure 9, the longitudinal-transverse coexistence curve is plotted for $`\alpha =1.5`$, exhibiting an asymmetric rounded shape. For increasing temperatures, the transverse (lower) branch $`m_t^{coex}`$ rises more rapidly than the longitudinal (upper) branch $`m_l^{coex}`$ falls, causing asymmetry in the rounded shape of the coexistence curve. The resulting curvilinear diameter of the coexistence region (solid line) increases monotonically, which is more pronounced at temperatures closely below the critical temperature (the diameter of the coexistence region is defined as the arithmetic mean $`\frac{1}{2}(m_l^{coex}+m_t^{coex})`$ of the longitudinal and transverse branches of the coexistence curve or, geometrically, the locus of the midpoints of the vertical “tie-lines” spanning the coexistence region). The coexistence curve in Figure 9 is singular at its critical point (solid circle). This singular behavior originates within the factor $`\rho _{l,v}^{coex}`$ of the product representation (5.2). Specifically, upon inspecting (5.4), the coexistence curve superposes the algebraic branch point ($`ϵ^{1/8}`$) and weak energy-type ($`ϵ\mathrm{ln}ϵ`$) singularities carried by $`<\mu >_S`$ and $`<\mu _0\mu _1>_{L^{}=0}`$, respectively, resulting in an infinite (vertical) slope at its critical point.

Increasing values of the anisotropy parameter $`\alpha `$ alter the shape and orientation of the coexistence curve. Including the previous case $`\alpha =1.5`$, Figures 10 and 11 exhibit coexistence curves and their curvilinear diameters, respectively, for increasing values of $`\alpha `$. To illustrate, $`\alpha =0.87`$ reveals an asymmetric rounded coexistence curve (curve 2 in Figure 10) with a monotonically decreasing curvilinear diameter (curve 2 in Figure 11), and a narrowing of the coexistence region within the temperature interval $`0.5x1`$, where the upper (longitudinal) branch of the coexistence curve falls more rapidly. As argued earlier for Figure 9, the coexistence curve 2 in Figure 10 is singular at its critical point (solid circle) with the leading singularity again being an algebraic branch point ($`ϵ^{1/8}`$).

As $`\alpha `$ ascends in value, the $`m`$-coordinates of the critical points (solid circles) descend in value until vanishing for the value $`\alpha =\alpha _c^{max}=0.81929\mathrm{}`$ (curve 3 in Figures 10 and 11). Here the critical point ($`m>0`$) meets its reflective image critical point ($`m<0`$) at a confluence point $`(x,m)=(1,0)`$, thereby changing the topology of the phase diagram. Note then that the transverse branches of the coexistence curves entrap a homogeneous transverse phase within a tadpole shape region whose positive portion ($`m>0`$) appears in Figure 10. Also, the analytical behavior of the coexistence curve near its confluence point $`(x,m)=(1,0)`$ deserves careful scrutiny since both factors in the product representation (5.2) are singular. Sufficiently close to the confluence point, the factor $`\rho _{l,v}^{coex}=\rho _c+o(ϵ^{1/8})`$ where the critical density $`\rho _c=\frac{1}{3}(\frac{7}{2}\sqrt{3})=0.58931\mathrm{}`$, and using (4.2b), the confluence factor $`(\mathrm{tanh}h)^{pbs}`$ is evaluated along the $`\alpha =\alpha _c^{max}`$ phase boundary curve (pbc) as $`(\mathrm{tanh}h)^{pbs}=(\mathrm{tanh}\frac{Q_{3c}\xi }{x})^{pbc}=Q_{3c}A_\xi ϵ^{1/2}+o(ϵ^{3/2})`$, as discussed in Section IV. Hence, substituting the above expansions into the product representation (5.2), one concludes that, closely approaching its confluence point, the $`\alpha =\alpha _c^{max}`$ coexistence curve vanishes as $`A_mϵ^{1/2}`$ (algebraic branch point singularity) where the amplitude $`A_m=\rho _cQ_{3c}A_\xi =0.49043\mathrm{}`$, substituting known values of the constants.

Continuing to increase $`\alpha `$ beyond its $`\alpha _c^{max}`$ value further shortens the length of both the coexistence curve (Figure 10) and the corresponding curvilinear diameter (Figure 11) whose confluent singularities (open circles) move toward the origin, carrying the same exponent $`1/2`$ and, suggestively from Figure 10, increasing (decreasing) amplitude for the upper (lower) branch of the coexistence curve. Concurrently, the region encasing the homogeneous transverse phase shrinks in size as it shifts toward the origin. Eventually, as anticipated, phase diagrams for the model are nonexistent if $`\alpha >2/3`$.

The following concepts further elucidate the nature of the confluent phase transitions. Since the magnetization order parameter (length of vertical tie-line spanning the coexistence region in Figure 10) vanishes continuously at a confluence point, the phase transition is a continuous type. One can also argue that the confluence point (open circle) is non-critical since it is a non-vertical inflection point of the $`x=x_{confl}`$ isothermal curve in the $`m`$ (magnetization) vs $`\xi `$ (magnetic field) plane. In other words, the initial isothermal magnetic susceptibility remains finite at the confluence point (open circle), contrasting the case of a diverging susceptibility which is a thermodynamic hallmark of a magnetic critical point (solid circle). The “hybrid” singular point (shaded circle) is also associated with a divergent susceptibility as discussed in Appendix B.

In the phase diagrams of Sections IV and V, we have chosen to accentuate the dipolar stimulus $`\xi `$ and the dipolar thermal response $`<S_i>`$, both being readily measurable quantities. Comparatively, the quadrupolar quantities $`\alpha `$ and $`<S_i^2>`$ are not as easily adjustable or accessible experimentally. Theoretically, however, (4.2) directly yields the phase boundary curves $`\alpha `$(anisotropy) vs $`x`$(temperature) for fixed values of $`\xi `$(magnetic field). Simple geometrical inspection of Figure 3 reveals that these quadrupolar phase boundary curves are devoid of confluent singularities and that each curve ends at a critical point. Also, composite differentiation of the mapping relations (3.9) provides the correspondence relationship $`<S_i^2>=\rho `$, leading to a solitary coexistence curve $`S_i^2_{l,t}^{coex}`$ vs $`x`$(temperature), depending only upon the temperature in the transition region of Figure 3.

Lastly, one notes that the single-spin configurational probabilities $`p_+`$, $`p_0`$, $`p_{}`$, in obvious notations, may be represented in terms of the thermal averages $`<S_i>`$, $`<S_i^2>`$ (ordering parameters) as $`p_\pm =\frac{1}{2}(<S_i^2>\pm <S_i>)`$, $`p_0=1<S_i^2>`$. Hence, within the current theoretical framework, these configurational probabilities can be exactly evaluated along the coexistence curves (or across the associated phase boundary curves). Indeed, the resulting configurational probabilities confirm earlier descriptions of the $`S=1`$ spin orientations as preferentially longitudinal (transverse) in the upper (lower) phases of the diagrams.

VI. Concluding Remarks

Exact results in physics are valuable for a variety of reasons. Endeavoring to retain only the most essential ingredients of a physical problem, exact solutions of simple model systems often provide definite guidance and insights on more realistic and invariably more mathematically complex systems. Exact results in tractable models of seemingly different physical systems may alert researchers to significant common features of these systems and actually emphasize concepts of universality. In addition to their own aesthetic appeal, exact results can, of course, serve as standards against which both approximation methods and approximate results may be appraised. Also, the underlying mathematical structures of exactly soluble models in statistical physics are rich in content and have led to important developments in mathematics.

In the present theoretical investigations, a $`S=1`$ kagomé Ising model was taken to have localized triquadratic interactions ($`J_3`$), single-ion anisotropy ($`𝒟`$), and was placed in a uniform magnetic field $`h_z`$. As anisotropy sufficiently competes with interactions ($`𝒟2J_3/3`$), the model admits phase transitions and its phase diagrams were determined using transformation and mapping methods upon its partition function. The mapping techniques significantly simplified the calculations. More particularly, since exact phase diagrams are known for condensation in a one-parameter kagomé lattice gas model with triplet interactions, the mapping directly afforded the corresponding exact magnetic phase diagrams of the three-parameter $`S=1`$ kagomé Ising model. Otherwise, as previously demonstrated  with the aforementioned lattice gas model, the theory would incorporate a symmetric eight-vertex model on the honeycomb lattice in a mediating role and the computations then lengthen considerably.

Special features in the results included the appearance of confluent singularities causing changes in the topology of the phase diagrams, phase boundary curves (magnetic field vs temperature) with purely positive or negative slopes as well as intermediate cases showing nonmonotonicity, and coexistence curves (magnetization vs temperature) with varying shapes and orientations, in some instances entrapping a homogeneous phase. The phase diagrams indicate both discontinuous and continuous transitions, the latter being confluent type (open circles), confluent-critical type (shaded circles), and critical type (solid circles). More explicitly, as a function of the temperature, the magnetization order parameter vanishes with exponent $`1/2`$ at a confluent or confluent-critical singularity, and with exponent $`1/8`$ at a critical singularity. Also, the magnetic susceptibility diverges at the confluent-critical point with an exponent $`\gamma ^{}=3/4`$.

Towards these ends, the phase boundary surface in Figure 2 (temperature as a function of the magnetic and anisotropy fields) was projected upon the field plane in Figure 3 showing the isotherms $`0TT_c`$ in the plane to possess crossing points. Such a region of crossing points for finite fields does not occur in the model having biquadratic interactions studied by Wu . Hence, some features found in the present phase diagrams may be deemed multi-spin interaction effects. As examples, both the purely positive and nonmonotonic slopes of the phase boundary curves in Figures 5-7 are connected with the presence of crossing points in Figure 3 and their originating triquadratic interactions in the model Hamiltonian (2.1). To our knowledge, the exact phase diagrams of the present $`S=1`$ triquadratic Ising model are the first obtained for any $`S=1`$ planar Ising model with multi-spin interactions.

Acknowledgment

The authors are grateful to the referee for valuable comments and suggestions.

Appendix A: Crossing points of the $`x=0`$ isotherm with the $`x=1`$ isotherm in the $`\xi \alpha `$ plane

Consider first the $`\xi >0`$ portion of the transition region in Figure 3. As $`x0`$ ($`T0`$), the leading exponential behaviors in (4.2a) provide the zero temperature isotherm as

$`\alpha \alpha _0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{x}{Q_{3c}}}\mathrm{ln}\left(e^{2Q_{3c}/3x}e^{\xi Q_{3c}/x}\right)`$ (31)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{x}{Q_{3c}}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{2Q_{3c}}{3x}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\xi Q_{3c}}{x}}\right]`$ (32)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}\xi .`$ ()
At criticality, the temperature variable $`x=1`$ $`(T=T_c)`$ and (4.2a) affords the critical isotherm as

$`\alpha =\alpha _c`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{Q_{3c}}}\mathrm{ln}\left(\left[(e^{Q_{3c}}1)^{2/3}1\right]2\mathrm{cosh}(Q_{3c}\xi )\right)`$ (33)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{Q_{3c}}}\mathrm{ln}\left[4(3+2\sqrt{3})\mathrm{cosh}(Q_{3c}\xi )\right],`$ ()
having substituted $`(e^{Q_{3c}}1)^{2/3}1=2(3+2\sqrt{3})`$ via (4.2b). To locate their crossing point, one equates above expressions $`\alpha _0=\alpha _c`$ yielding

$$e^{(\xi _{cross}+2/3)Q_{3c}}=4(3+2\sqrt{3})\mathrm{cosh}(Q_{3c}\xi _{cross})$$

or

$$\xi _{cross}=(2Q_{3c})^1\mathrm{ln}\left[\frac{2(3+2\sqrt{3})}{e^{2Q_{3c}/3}2(3+2\sqrt{3})}\right].$$
(34)
Substituting (4.2b), expression (A.3) gives

$$\xi _{cross}=0.12594\mathrm{}\mathrm{ln}\frac{12.92820\mathrm{}}{1.17806\mathrm{}}=0.30171\mathrm{},$$
(35)
which is substituted into (A.1) yielding

$$\alpha _{cross}=2/3\xi _{cross}=0.96837\mathrm{}.$$
(36)
Similar calculations for the $`\xi <0`$ portion of the transition region in Figure 3 (or by simply recognizing the even symmetry of the $`\xi `$-dependence in (4.2a)) determine the coordinates of the crossing points

$$\xi _{cross}=\pm 0.30171\mathrm{},\alpha _{cross}=0.96837\mathrm{}.$$
(37)
In the vicinity of the crossing points (A.6), countless other crossing points occur among the isotherms as shown in Figure 4.

Appendix B: Divergent susceptibility ($`\gamma ^{}=3/4`$) at the confluent-critical point

The correspondence relation (5.1) is written

$$m=\stackrel{~}{\mu }\rho \mathrm{tanh}h,$$
(38)
re-entering the electronic intrinsic magnetic moment $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }`$. Differentiating (B.1) with respect to the magnetic field provides an additional correspondence relation between thermodynamic response coefficients of the $`S=1`$ triquadratic Ising model and the triplet-interaction kagomé lattice gas model. Attention will ultimately be directed toward the “hybrid” singular points (shaded circles) in Figure 8 and Figure 10.

Specifically, the initial isothermal magnetic susceptibility $`\chi _T`$ of the $`S=1`$ triquadratic Ising model is defined (in appropriate units) by

$`\chi _T\underset{h_z0}{lim}{\displaystyle \frac{m}{h_z}}`$ $`=`$ $`\beta \stackrel{~}{\mu }\underset{h0}{lim}{\displaystyle \frac{m}{h}}`$ (39)
$`=`$ $`\beta \stackrel{~}{\mu }^2\underset{h0}{lim}{\displaystyle \frac{(\rho \mathrm{tanh}h)}{h}}`$ (40)
$`=`$ $`\beta \stackrel{~}{\mu }^2\underset{h0}{lim}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\rho }{(\beta \mu )}}{\displaystyle \frac{(\beta \mu )}{h}}\mathrm{tanh}h+\rho {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{tanh}h}{h}}\right]`$ (41)
$`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }^2\underset{h0}{lim}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\rho }{\mu }}\mathrm{tanh}^2h+\beta \rho /\mathrm{cosh}^2h\right],`$ ()
having used (B.1), the mapping relation (3.6b) and the (dimensionless) field parameter $`h=\beta \stackrel{~}{\mu }h_z`$. In (B.2), all partial derivatives are performed at constant temperature.

The grand canonical partition function of the triplet-interaction kagomé lattice gas model is equivalent (aside from known pre-factors) to the magnetic canonical partition function of a standard $`S=1/2`$ honeycomb Ising model with pair interactions and field . The thermal behaviors of the models exhibit each to have a single critical point with corresponding critical exponents being equal. The exponent equivalence will be used shortly regarding the critical exponent $`\gamma ^{}=7/4`$. The isothermal compressibility $`\kappa _T`$ of the triplet-interaction kagomé lattice gas can be found (in appropriate units) from

$$\kappa _T=\frac{1}{\rho ^2}\left(\frac{\rho }{\mu }\right)_T,$$
(42)
which in turn is substituted into (B.2) yielding

$$\chi _T=\stackrel{~}{\mu }^2\underset{h0}{lim}\left[\rho ^2\kappa _T\mathrm{tanh}^2h+\beta \rho /\mathrm{cosh}^2h\right],$$
(43)
the sought relationship between response coefficients $`\chi _T`$ and $`\kappa _T`$.

Consider, in particular, the singular point (shaded circle) in Figure 10 having a confluence of critical $`(x=1)`$ points for $`\alpha =\alpha _c^{max}`$. As $`x1^{}`$ $`(TT_c^{})`$ along the $`\alpha =\alpha _c^{max}`$ coexistence curve, one argues sufficiently near the singular point that $`\kappa _T\mathrm{}`$ as $`ϵ^{7/4}`$ in (B.4), and recalls that $`\mathrm{tanh}^2h0`$ as $`ϵ`$ along the associated phase boundary curve in Figure 8. Hence the relationship (B.4) directly implies that $`\chi _T\mathrm{}`$ as $`ϵ^{3/4}`$. In effect, the strongly divergent $`(\gamma ^{}=7/4)`$ susceptibility found at criticality in a standard $`S=1/2`$ planar Ising model is weakened $`(\gamma ^{}=3/4)`$ at the confluence of critical points in the $`S=1`$ triquadratic Ising model. Additionally, the relationship (B.4) verifies that $`\chi _T`$ remains finite at the other confluence points (open circles) in Figure 10.


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# New sub-millimeter limits on dust in the 55 Cancri planetary system

## 1 Introduction

Dusty disks that are believed to be the debris of planetary formation have now been imaged at infrared and sub-millimeter wavelengths around several nearby main-sequence stars including $`\beta `$ Pictoris, HR 4796A, Vega, Fomalhaut and $`ϵ`$ Eridani (Smith & Terrile 1984; Holland et al. 1998; Jayawardhana et al. 1998; Greaves et al. 1998). These disks may be young analogs of the Kuiper Belt in our solar system (Jewitt & Luu 2000). The $``$5-Gyr-old (Gonzalez & Vanture 1998; Baliunas et al. 1997) G8V star 55 Cancri (HR 3522; HD 75732), at a distance of 13 pc, has attracted much attention in recent years for having planet(s) as well as a possible dust disk. The only other example reported to date of a planet co-existing with a disk is $`ϵ`$ Eri, which has a well-resolved, prominent disk in the sub-millimeter images (Greaves et al. 1998). However, the presence of a giant planet around $`ϵ`$ Eri (Hatzes et al. 2000) is difficult to establish with radial velocity measurements because of the high level of stellar chromospheric activity and possible face-on orientation of the planet orbit. On the other hand, in the case of 55 Cnc, it is the putative disk that is in dispute.

55 Cnc harbors an inner planet with M sin i = 0.84 MJup in an orbit with a semi-major axis of 0.11 AU (Butler et al. 1997). There is evidence for a second planet at several AU in the form of a residual drift in the radial velocity over the past 10 years (Marcy & Butler 1998; Fischer et al. 2001). It has been noted that 55 Cnc –along with 14 Her, another planet-bearing star– is one of the two most metal-rich stars in the solar neighborhood, with \[Fe/H\]$``$+0.4, perhaps suggesting a causal link between planets and the metallicity of the parent star (Gonzalez & Vanture 1998; Gonzalez, Wallerstein & Saar 1999).

Dominik et al. (1998) first presented evidence for a Vega-like disk around 55 Cnc based on Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) measurements between 25 $`\mu `$m and 180 $`\mu `$m. They detected the stellar photosphere at 25 $`\mu `$m, significant excess emission at 60 $`\mu `$m, and infrared cirrus at 135 and 180 $`\mu `$m. Trilling & Brown (1998) and Trilling, Brown & Rivkin (2000) confirmed the debris disk interpretation of the far-infrared data by reporting a resolved scattered light disk out to a radius of 3.24$`\mathrm{}`$ (40 AU) in ground-based, near-infrared, coronographic images. They estimated the disk position angle as 50 $`\pm `$ 10 degrees, inclination 27$`{}_{11}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+8}`$ degrees and minimum dust mass 0.4 MEarth. Our previous sub-millimeter observations detected 850 $`\mu `$m flux of 2.8$`\pm `$0.5 mJy and 450 $`\mu `$m flux of 7.9$`\pm `$4.2 mJy in the direction of 55 Cnc, which implied a dust mass at least 100 times lower than the Trilling & Brown (1998) estimate. Our mid-infrared observations at 10 $`\mu `$m and 18 $`\mu `$m showed no excess emission above the stellar photospheric level (Jayawardhana et al. 2000). Using the NICMOS near-infrared camera on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Schneider et al. (2001) were not able to confirm the results of Trilling and co-workers down to a flux level that is 10 times lower.

Here we report new, extremely sensitive sub-millimeter observations in the vicinity of 55 Cnc using the Submillimeter Common User Bolometer Array (SCUBA) on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). We find three faint sources of emission, none of which is centered exactly on 55 Cnc. Our results, combined with the NICMOS observations, place strong limits on the amount of dust emission associated with the 55 Cnc planetary system.

## 2 Observations and Results

The 850 $`\mu `$m observations of 55 Cnc presented here were carried out with the SCUBA instrument (Holland et al. 1999) on the JCMT on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The data were obtained over several observing runs in 1999-2000 using the SCUBA photometry mode. In total, there were 31 separate photometric observations at two different pointings in the vicinity of 55 Cnc for a total on-source integration time of 7.1 hours. Zenith atmospheric opacities at 850 $`\mu `$m ranged from 0.10 to 0.35. When coadded together, the maps were noise weighted to account for the range of conditions. Observations of Uranus were used for calibrations. Pointing accuracy was 2$`\mathrm{}`$, which is small compared with the beam size of 15$`\mathrm{}`$ at 850 $`\mu `$m (full-width at half-maximum; FWHM). The data were reduced using the SCUBA User Reduction Facility (Jenness & Lightfoot 1998). The co-added map is shown in Figure 1.

The 850 $`\mu `$m map shows three obvious peaks of emission at the $``$2.5 mJy level. Their fluxes and positions are given in Table 1. The rest of the field is rather flat with an rms noise of about 0.4 mJy. Each of the peaks is 25$`\mathrm{}`$–40$`\mathrm{}`$ (325–500 AU) away from 55 Cnc. There is no emission exactly coincident with the position of 55 Cnc.

We also obtained optical $`R`$-band CCD images at the University of Hawaii 2.2-meter telescope on Mauna Kea on 31 January 2000. An optical coronograph (Kalas & Jewitt 1996) blocked the stellar point-spread-function (PSF) at the focal plane using a hard-edged occulting spot with 6.5$`\mathrm{}`$ diameter. A Lyot stop at a re-imaged pupil plane suppressed diffracted light from the telescope mirrors and support structures. The imaging camera was a TEK 2048$`\times `$2048 CCD with a plate scale of 0.407$`\mathrm{}`$ per pixel and with a circular field of view 5.5$`\mathrm{}`$ in diameter. Thirty-two frames with 20 seconds integration time each were obtained for 55 Cnc. Immediately after these observations we imaged a nearby bright star HR 3521 with the same instrumental configuration. These data serve as a reference for subtracting the 55 Cnc PSF.

After bias-subtraction and flatfielding, we selected 20 frames from the 55 Cnc data that were well-centered behind the occulting spot and that had field star PSF’s with FWHM in the range 1.0$``$1.2$`\mathrm{}`$. These frames were median-combined to produce an image of 55 Cnc with 400 seconds cumulative integration time. The HR 3521 data was for the most part unsuitable for subtracting the 55 Cnc PSF due to poor centering of HR 3521 behind the occulting spot. However, one HR 3521 frame (15 seconds integration) was well-centered and adopted as the PSF reference source. We azimuthally smoothed this PSF by rotating the image in 20 degree increments and median-combining the resulting frames. The azimuthally smoothed PSF was subtracted from the original HR 3521 frame, revealing residual light along a southeast-northwest axis. The residual halo of the self-subtracted PSF is probably due to a combination of instrumental and atmospheric aberrations.

The azimuthally smoothed HR 3521 PSF was registered, scaled and subtracted from 55 Cnc (Fig. 2). The subtracted 55 Cnc PSF also appears to have residual light symmetrically distributed about the occulting spot along a southeast-northwest axis. This axis is perpendicular to the position angle of the disk reported by Trilling & Brown (1998). The residual PSF halo extends from approximately 4$`\mathrm{}`$ to 16$`\mathrm{}`$ radius, decreasing approximately with the fourth power of radius, and with surface brightness in the range 17.5$``$23.0 mag arcsec-2. Trilling & Brown (1998) report an H-band disk surface brightness that falls below 24 mag arcsec-2 beyond 4$`\mathrm{}`$ radius. Our data do not have the sensitivity to detect extended nebulosity fainter than 23.0 mag arcsec-2.

We performed a second PSF subtraction using an azimuthally smoothed version of the 55 Cnc image as described above for HR 3521. This self-subtraction of 55 Cnc also resulted in residual light along a southeast-northwest axis. Because the residual light appears in both the 55 Cnc and HR 3521 self-subtractions, we attribute it purely to instrumental and atmospheric aberrations. The dominant source is most likely a static aberration such as focus error. Finally, as a third PSF subtraction, we selected the best 55 Cnc frame and registered, scaled and subtracted the unsmoothed HR 3521 frame. Though the result contains significantly greater noise than the image in Fig. 2, the residual light does not contain significant azimuthal asymmetry.

Three point sources are detected in the $`R`$-band image within a 40$`\mathrm{}`$ radius surrounding 55 Cnc (Fig. 2). Their positions are indicated by white boxes in Fig. 1 to show their relation to the 850 $`\mu `$m emission. Table 1 lists the magnitudes of the $`R`$-band sources and their offsets in arcseconds from the centroids of 850 $`\mu `$m emission. The two point sources north of 55 Cnc may be optical counterparts of the 850 $`\mu `$m sources. No object was detected in the optical data that corresponds to the position of the sub-millimeter peak south of 55 Cnc. The 3$`\sigma `$ point source sensitivity of the optical data is mR = 22.2 mag, as determined by injecting artificial point sources near the positions of the optically detected sources and the 850 $`\mu `$m peaks.

## 3 Discussion

Our sub-millimeter observations of the field around 55 Cnc reveal three faint sources of emission at the $``$2.5 mJy level. The separation between 55 Cnc and each of the 850 $`\mu `$m peaks is approximately two beam widths and thus unambiguously non-coincident with the star. The spatial association of two of the sub-millimeter peaks with optically detected point sources (Fig. 2) makes it unlikely that the 850 $`\mu `$m peaks are components of an extended dust ring around 55 Cnc.

According to the galaxy counts derived by Blain et al. (1999) from their deep sub-millimeter survey, one would expect 3$`\pm `$1 galaxies brighter than 1 mJy at 850 $`\mu `$m in a patch of the sky with a 40$`\mathrm{}`$ radius. Thus, all of the peaks in our 850 $`\mu `$m map could be background galaxies. In that case, the optical point sources could either be bright compact nuclei of the galaxies or stars whose positional coincidence with the sub-millimter peaks is simply due to chance alignments in the line of sight. Without additional color information or spectra, we are not able to comment further on the nature of these sources.

If the sub-millimeter peaks are due to unrelated sources, which appears likely, then we can place an upper limit of $``$0.4 mJy to the 850 $`\mu `$m emission from within $``$100 AU of 55 Cnc itself. Since the sub-millimeter flux is relatively insensitive to the temperature of dust grains, we can use it to derive a limit on the dust mass associated with 55 Cnc. Following Jura et al. (1995), the dust mass $`M_d`$ is given by

$$M_d=F_\nu R^2\lambda ^2/\left[2kT_{gr}K_{abs}\left(\lambda \right)\right],$$
(1)
if $`R`$ denotes the distance from the sun to 55 Cnc. Assuming a dust absorption coefficient $`K_{abs}(\lambda )`$ between 1.7 and 0.4 cm2 g-1 at 850 $`\mu `$m (Greaves et al. 1998), we obtain an upper limit to the dust mass of 1$``$7$`\times `$10-4 MEarth, assuming a disk temperature range $`T`$= 100-130 K. The lower value of $`K_{abs}(\lambda )`$ is suggested by models of large, icy grains (Pollack et al. 1994), while the higher estimate has been used for previous observations of debris disks (Holland et al. 1998). It is important to point out that sub-millimeter observations are not sensitive to very large grains or planetesimals, which could dominate the total mass while adding little sub-millimeter emission. Therefore, our dust mass estimate is only a lower limit to the total mass, and does not rule out a Kuiper Belt analog around 55 Cnc comprised of larger particles.

HST/NICMOS coronographic observations by Schneider et al. (2001) at 1.1 $`\mu `$m did not detect a dust disk around 55 Cnc down to a flux level 10 times below that reported by Trilling and co-workers. Schneider et al. also searched for and failed to find a suggested flux-excess anisotropy in the ratio of 1.7 : 1 in the circumstellar background along and orthogonal to the plane of the putative disk. They concluded that, if such a disk does exist, its surface brightness in the near-infrared (and thus its dust mass) would have to be an order of magnitude lower than the Trilling et al. estimate.

Our new limit on the dust mass in the 55 Cnc planetary system is a factor of $``$7 lower than that reported by Jayawardhana et al. (2000), which was already a factor of $``$100 below the value reported by Trilling & Brown (1998) based on near-infrared scattered-light observations. We have now established that our previous sub-millimeter “detection” was not exactly coincident with 55 Cnc, but close to one of the peaks (source 1) in Figure 1. The pointing center used by Jayawardhana et al. (2000) was fortuitously close to this source due to a coordinate transcription error. Given the large ISO beam size of 45$`\mathrm{}\times `$45$`\mathrm{}`$ per detector element, it is plausible that the Dominik et al. (1998) ISO detection at 60 $`\mu `$m also originates from one or more of these nearby, likely unrelated sources, and is not due to a dust disk around 55 Cnc.

In light of our results, those of Schneider et al. (2001), and the possibility of an unrelated source accounting for the ISO detection, there is little evidence for a dust disk around 55 Cnc other than the scattered-light coronographic images of Trilling & Brown (1998). The limits on the amount of small dust particles in the 55 Cnc planetary system from sub-millimeter and HST/NICMOS measurements are inconsistent with the Trilling & Brown (1998) estimate by a factor of 10 at best and 700 at worst. As Schneider et al. suggests, the most likely explanation for this significant discrepancy is that the detection reported by Trilling & Brown (1998) is spurious.

## 4 Summary

We have obtained sensitive sub-millimeter observations towards (and around) the 55 Cnc planetary system. We detect three peaks at the 2.5 mJy level in our 850 $`\mu `$m map that are offset from 55 Cnc by 25$``$40$`\mathrm{}`$. Optical coronagraphic observations show three point sources over the same region, with two sources north of 55 Cnc approximately aligned with two 850 $`\mu `$m peaks. These peaks are likely unrelated background sources. Our results, together with the HST/NICMOS observations of Schneider et al. (2001), place stringent limits on the amount of dust in the 55 Cnc system, and are inconsistent with the existence of a circumstellar dust disk as reported by Dominik et al. (1998) and Trilling & Brown (1998).

$`\mathrm{𝐀𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬}:`$ The observations reported here were obtained with the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, which is operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre on behalf of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, and the National Research Council of Canada. We wish to thank the JCMT staff for their outstanding support. Data from the University of Hawaii 2.2-m telescope were obtained during an observing campaign partly supported by a NASA Origins grant to David C. Jewitt. PK was supported by the NSF Center for Adaptive Optics, managed by the University of California, Santa Cruz, under cooperative agreement AST 98-76783.


text:
# A small resolution for triple covers in algebraic geometry

## 1. Introduction

The basic fact regarding a triple cover $`\pi :XY`$, proven in \[M3\], is that any such cover is determined by a rank 2 locally free sheaf $`E`$ on $`Y`$ and a global section $`\sigma `$ of $`S^3(E)^{}\mathrm{\Lambda }^2(E)`$. Furthermore, $`X`$ can be realized as a subvariety of the geometric vector bundle $`𝕍(E)`$ equipped with the natural projection to $`Y`$.

In this article we give a necessary and sufficient criterion for $`X`$ to be realized as a subvariety of a $`^1`$-bundle equipped with its natural projection to $`Y`$: we show that $`X`$ can be so realized if and only if $`\pi `$ has no fat triple ramification (a fat triple ramification point of $`\pi `$ is a point $`xX`$ whose Zariski tangent space in the fibre of $`\pi `$ has dimension 2).

Along the way, we show that to any triple cover $`\pi :XY`$, one can associate a subvariety $`𝔖_X`$ of $`(E^{})`$ defined in terms of the global section $`\sigma `$. This variety $`𝔖_X`$ is equipped with a birational morphism $`\rho _X:𝔖_XX`$, which has a nice geometric interpretation. In fact $`\rho _X`$ is a sort of small resolution: it is the blow-up of a Weil divisor in $`X`$, and its fibre over any fat ramification point of $`\pi `$ is a $`^1`$, but its exceptional set is in general of codimension larger than 1 in $`𝔖_X`$. We construct this resolution first in a local case, and then we show that the construction globalizes. Throughout this article we make extensive use of Miranda’s analyses in \[M3\].

We note that our main result is not new: a more general statement (with a correspondingly more technical proof) can be found as Theorem 1.3 in the beautiful paper \[CE\]. However, it is our hope that our simple geometric description in the case of triple covers can provide some insight into the more general case.

The authors wish to thank Ciro Ciliberto, Alberto Calabri, Flaminio Flamini, Alfio Ragusa, and especially Rick Miranda for their extraordinary efforts during the PRAGMATIC 2001 summer school in Catania. The authors also wish to thank Mike Roth for teaching us about small resolutions, which turned out to be precisely the right objects for describing the results of our research.

## 2. Some examples of small resolutions

Let $`𝔸^5`$ have coordinates $`x,y,z,w,t`$, and let $`^4`$ be its projectivization. Let $`X^4`$ be the hypersurface defined by the equation $`xwyz=0`$. If we restrict our attention to the $`^3^4`$ where $`t=0`$, this same equation defines a smooth quadric $`Q^3`$; thus $`X`$ is just the projective cone over $`Q`$ with vertex $`[0:0:0:0:1]`$.

It is clear that $`X`$ is smooth away from its vertex. If $`ϵ:\stackrel{~}{X}X`$ is the blow-up of the vertex, then it is easy to see that $`\stackrel{~}{X}`$ is a smooth variety, and that the exceptional divisor is isomorphic to $`Q=^1\times ^1`$. We are going to describe a method of resolving the singular point of $`X`$ with a morphism $`\rho :\mathrm{\Gamma }X`$, where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is a smooth variety, but where the exceptional set is a $`^1`$. In particular, the exceptional set is “too small” to be a divisor; thus $`\rho `$ will be an example of a small resolution.

We begin by choosing a line $`L`$ belonging to one of the two rulings of the quadric $`Q`$; for ease in computation, we take $`L`$ to be the line $`x=y=0`$. Clearly $`L`$ is a Weil divisor on $`Q`$. It is easy to check that $`L`$ is also a Cartier divisor: since there is no point on $`Q`$ at which $`x,y,z,w`$ all vanish, the two open sets of $`Q`$ where $`z0`$ and where $`w0`$ cover $`L`$. On the first set $`L`$ is defined by $`x=0`$, and on the second set $`L`$ is defined by $`y=0`$.

Now let $`DX`$ be the cone over $`L`$. Then $`D`$ is a Weil divisor in $`X`$, but it is not Cartier: $`D`$ cannot be defined by only one equation in any open neighborhood of the origin. Our small resolution $`\rho :\mathrm{\Gamma }X`$ is the blow-up of $`X`$ along $`D`$. (Note that once we show that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is not isomorphic to $`X`$, we will have proven indirectly that $`D`$ is not Cartier: the blow-up of a Cartier divisor is always an isomorphism.)

Since $`D`$ can be defined by the two equations $`x=y=0`$ in $`X`$, the blow-up of $`X`$ along $`D`$ can be defined as the (closed) graph of the rational map $`\varphi :X^1`$, where $`\varphi ([x:y:z:w:t])=[x:y]`$. This graph $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is a closed subvariety of the product $`X\times ^1`$, and the morphism $`\rho :\mathrm{\Gamma }X`$ is the restriction of the first projection map. Note that there is an open set of $`X`$ on which the map $`\varphi `$ agrees with the map $`\psi `$ sending $`[x:y:z:w:t]`$ to $`[z:w]`$; that these two maps agree is a consequence of the defining equation for $`X`$. Also note that at any point of $`X`$ other than its vertex $`[0:0:0:0:1]`$, at least one of $`\varphi `$ and $`\psi `$ is defined. This observation enables us to write down the defining equations for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }X\times ^1`$: if $`u,v`$ are coordinates on the $`^1`$ factor, then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is defined by $`uyvx=0`$ and $`uwvz=0`$. It follows that $`\rho `$ is an isomorphism away from the vertex of $`X`$, and the exceptional set over the vertex is $`^1`$. It is also easy to check that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is smooth.

We now present an alternative way of describing the variety $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. We may regard $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ as a subvariety of $`^4\times ^1`$, defined by the three equations $`xwyz=0`$, $`uyvx=0`$, and $`uwvz=0`$. These three equations may be expressed in a single matrix equation:

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=\{[x:y:z:w:t]\times [u:v]^4\times ^1\text{ such that }\left[\begin{array}{cc}x& y\\ z& w\end{array}\right]\left[\begin{array}{c}v\\ u\end{array}\right]=0\}.$$

The first of the three equations is now seen to express the vanishing of a determinant, which is necessary and sufficient for the second and third equations to have a nonzero solution. Note that in this description of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, the morphism $`\rho `$ is the restriction of the natural projection from $`^4\times ^1`$ to $`^4`$.

As a second example, we take $`X^6`$ to be the projective cone over $`^2\times ^1`$, with vertex $`[\stackrel{}{0}:1]`$. By analogy with the previous example, we consider a divisor $`DX`$ which is the cone over one of the $`^1\times ^1`$ “rulings” of $`^2\times ^1`$; for example, we can take $`D`$ to be defined by $`x_0=x_1=0`$. As before, blowing up this divisor gives a small resolution $`\rho :\mathrm{\Gamma }X`$ which is an isomorphism away from the vertex of $`X`$, and whose fibre over the vertex is a $`^1`$. A computation similar to the previous one gives that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ may be realized as a subvariety of $`^6\times ^1`$, using a matrix condition:

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=\{[\stackrel{}{x}:t]\times [u:v]^6\times ^1\text{ such that }\left[\begin{array}{cc}x_0& x_1\\ x_2& x_3\\ x_4& x_5\end{array}\right]\left[\begin{array}{c}v\\ u\end{array}\right]=0\}.$$

This single matrix equation expresses six quadratic conditions: the vanishing of the three $`2\times 2`$ minors, which are the defining equations for $`X^6`$, and the three row equations, which come from the blow-up computation. As before, the morphism $`\rho `$ is just the restriction of the natural projection from $`^6\times ^1`$ to $`^6`$.

Note that by simply eliminating the variable $`t`$ in the above matrix description, we can define $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ as a subvariety of $`𝔸^6\times ^1`$, where $`𝔸^6`$ is the finite ($`t0`$) part of $`^6`$. This construction is the one that will provide us with a sort of universal local picture of our resolution for triple covers.

## 3. The local picture of the resolution

Consider the affine space $`𝔸^4`$ with coordinates $`A,B,C,D`$, and let $`F`$ be the free sheaf of rank 2 on this affine space. Then $`𝕍(F)`$ is nothing more than the affine space $`𝔸^6`$ with coordinates $`A,B,C,D,z,w`$; here $`z,w`$ are global sections that generate $`F`$. Let $`𝔛`$ be the subvariety of $`𝕍(F)`$ defined by the three quadrics

$`z^2`$ $`=`$ $`Az+Bw+2(A^2BD)`$
$`zw`$ $`=`$ $`DzAw+(BCAD)`$
$`w^2`$ $`=`$ $`Cz+Dw+2(D^2AC).`$
By the results in Miranda’s paper \[M3\], we know that the projection of $`𝕍(F)`$ to $`𝔸^4`$ sending $`(A,B,C,D,z,w)`$ to $`(A,B,C,D)`$ restricts to a triple cover $`\mathrm{\Pi }:𝔛𝔸^4`$.

Now, as pointed out in \[M3\], the variety $`𝔛`$ is determinantal: it is the locus in $`𝕍(F)`$ where the matrix

$$\left[\begin{array}{cc}z+A& B\\ C& w+D\\ w2D& z2A\end{array}\right]$$

has rank at most one. By a result in \[M3\], the rank of this matrix is zero if and only if the map $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ has fat triple ramification over the point $`(A,B,C,D)`$; it is clear from the matrix description that this happens only over the point $`(0,0,0,0)`$.

This determinantal representation is familiar: up to a change of coordinates on $`𝔸^6`$, we see that $`𝔛`$ is just the affine cone over $`^2\times ^1`$. Furthermore, we see that the vertex of this cone – its only singular point – is exactly the fat triple point where $`A=B=C=D=z=w=0`$. The temptation to compute its small resolution is overwhelming, and so we define $`\mathrm{\Gamma }𝔛\times ^1`$ to be the subvariety of $`𝕍(F)\times ^1`$ defined by the matrix condition

$$\left[\begin{array}{cc}z+A& B\\ C& w+D\\ w2D& z2A\end{array}\right]\left[\begin{array}{c}v\\ u\end{array}\right]=0.$$

We know from our previous computation that the natural projection $`\rho :\mathrm{\Gamma }𝔛`$ is an isomorphism away from the fat point, and that the fibre over this point is all of $`^1`$. We will refer to the morphism $`\rho :\mathrm{\Gamma }𝔛`$ as the resolution of the triple cover $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$.

We note that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ comes equipped with a morphism $`\varphi `$ to $`𝔸^4\times ^1`$: $`\varphi `$ is just the product of $`\mathrm{\Pi }\rho `$ with the second projection of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ to $`^1`$. We are going to compute the image of $`\varphi `$. To do this, we first note that if $`(A,B,C,D,z,w)\times [u:v]`$ is a point of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, then we can solve for $`z`$ and $`w`$ in terms of the other coordinates, using the first two rows of the matrix:

(1) $`z`$ $`=`$ $`B\left({\displaystyle \frac{u}{v}}\right)A`$
$`w`$ $`=`$ $`C\left({\displaystyle \frac{v}{u}}\right)D.`$
Here we assume that both $`u`$ and $`v`$ are nonzero; in the case that either vanishes, the third row of the matrix can be used instead of one of the first two. Continuing under the assumption that both $`u`$ and $`v`$ are nonzero, we use the third row of the matrix to compute that

$$v\left(C\left(\frac{v}{u}\right)D2D\right)+u\left(B\left(\frac{u}{v}\right)A2A\right)=0,$$

and since $`uv0`$, we conclude that:

(2)
$$Bu^33Au^2v+3Duv^2Cv^3=0.$$

We note that the same equation results from the computations in the cases where $`u=0`$ or $`v=0`$.

Let $`𝔖𝔸^4\times ^1`$ be the subvariety defined by equation (2). Let $`\mathrm{\Pi }^{}:𝔖𝔸^4`$ be the obvious projection; this projection is compatible via $`\varphi `$ with the composite map $`\mathrm{\Pi }\rho :\mathrm{\Gamma }𝔸^4`$. In fact, we have the following result:

###### Proposition 1.

The morphism $`\varphi :\mathrm{\Gamma }𝔖`$ is an isomorphism of varieties over $`𝔸^4`$.

###### Proof.

The fact that $`\mathrm{\Pi }\rho =\mathrm{\Pi }^{}\varphi `$ is clear from the definition of $`\varphi `$, so we only need to show that $`\varphi `$ is an isomorphism. To do this, note that the equations (1) for $`z`$ and $`w`$ in terms of $`A,B,C,D`$ define regular functions on all of $`𝔖`$; this is easily checked using equation (2). From the definition

$$\varphi ((A,B,C,D,z,w)\times [u:v])=(A,B,C,D)\times [u:v],$$

we see that $`\varphi `$ is surjective, and also that the regular functions for $`z`$ and $`w`$ are sufficient to define the inverse morphism. Thus $`\varphi `$ is an isomorphism, as needed. ∎

###### Corollary 1.1.

Away from the point $`(0,0,0,0)𝔸^4`$, the three morphisms $`\mathrm{\Pi }:𝔛𝔸^4`$, $`\mathrm{\Pi }\rho :\mathrm{\Gamma }𝔸^4`$, and $`\mathrm{\Pi }^{}:𝔖𝔸^4`$ are isomorphic triple cover maps.

Now we are in a position to construct a triple cover resolution for any sufficiently local triple cover $`\pi :XY`$. By “sufficiently local” we mean that $`Y`$ is affine, $`E`$ is a free sheaf of rank 2 on $`Y`$, and $`X`$ is the subvariety of $`𝕍(E)`$ defined by the three quadrics

(3) $`z^2`$ $`=`$ $`az+bw+2(a^2bd)`$
$`zw`$ $`=`$ $`dzaw+(bcad)`$
$`w^2`$ $`=`$ $`cz+dw+2(d^2ac);`$
here the coefficients $`a,b,c,d`$ are regular functions on $`Y`$, and $`z,w`$ are global sections that generate $`E`$. It follows from Miranda’s analysis in \[M3\] that this is in fact the local situation for any triple cover.

Given such a sufficiently local triple cover, we define a morphism $`f:Y𝔸^4`$ by the formula $`f(y)=(a(y),b(y),c(y),d(y))`$. This is equivalent to requiring that $`f^{}(A)=a`$, and so on; thus we have the following commutative diagram:

$$\begin{array}{ccc}f^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }& & \mathrm{\Gamma }\\ f^{}\rho & & \rho & & \\ X=f^{}𝔛& & 𝔛\\ \pi & & \mathrm{\Pi }& & \\ Y& \stackrel{f}{}& 𝔸^4\end{array}$$

It is proven in \[M3\] that the fat points of $`X𝕍(E)`$ are precisely the points where $`a=b=c=d=0`$; it follows that the morphism $`f^{}\rho `$ is an isomorphism away from the fat-point ramification locus of $`\pi `$, and has a $`^1`$ fibre over any fat point in $`X`$. We will refer to $`f^{}\rho `$ as the resolution of the triple cover $`\pi `$.

In this way we may view the right-hand side of the above diagram as a sort of universal local picture of our triple cover resolution. The reader with some skill in visualizing three-dimensional commutative diagrams111At least, with more skill than the authors have in drawing them. will see that the isomorphism $`\varphi :\mathrm{\Gamma }𝔖`$ pulls back via $`f`$ to an isomorphism $`f^{}\varphi :f^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }f^{}𝔖`$; here $`f^{}𝔖`$ is the subvariety of $`Y\times ^1`$ defined by the the equation

$$bu^33au^2v+3duv^2cv^3=0.$$

This is in fact a variety over $`Y`$, whose structure morphism $`\pi ^{}:f^{}𝔖Y`$ is none other than $`f^{}\mathrm{\Pi }^{}`$. We can similarly “pull back” our other result:

###### Corollary 1.2.

Let $`BY`$ be the (set-theoretic) image under $`\pi `$ of the fat-point ramification locus in $`X`$. Away from $`B`$, the three morphisms $`\pi :XY`$, $`\pi f^{}\rho :f^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }Y`$, and $`\pi ^{}:f^{}𝔖Y`$ are isomorphic triple cover maps.

Thus we reach the following interesting conclusion:

###### Proposition 2.

Let $`\pi :XY`$ be a sufficiently local triple cover; as before, this means that $`X`$ is defined as a subvariety of a free rank 2 vector bundle on $`Y`$. If $`\pi `$ has no fat-point ramification, then in fact $`X`$ is isomorphic as a triple cover to a subvariety of a (trivial) $`^1`$-bundle over $`Y`$ equipped with the natural projection.

###### Proof.

This is just a restatement of the isomorphism between $`X`$ and $`f^{}𝔖`$ from the previous corollary. ∎

## 4. Geometric description of the resolution

In this section we are going to describe geometrically the isomorphism appearing in the preceding proposition. Along the way, we will also describe the geometric meaning of the $`^1`$-bundle appearing there.

To begin, let $`\pi :XY`$ be any triple cover. For convenience of notation, we set $`F=\pi _{}(𝒪_X)`$. Following \[M3\], we have that $`F=𝒪_YE`$, where $`E`$ is a rank 2 locally free sheaf on $`Y`$. If $`UY`$ is any open set over which $`E`$ is generated freely by two sections $`z,w`$, then over $`U`$ we have that $`X`$ is defined as a subvariety of $`𝕍(E)`$ by the quadrics (3); this makes sense, because local sections of $`E`$ correspond to local coordinates on $`𝕍(E)`$. Over a fixed $`yY`$, the fibre of $`𝕍(E)`$ is an affine plane, and the quadrics (3) cut out one, two, or three points in this plane.

Our idea is to consider the function on $`X`$ that is defined by sending a point in a fibre of $`\pi `$ to the line through the other two points in the fibre; clearly we need to work a bit to understand this idea. For one thing, this definition only makes sense for fibres containing three distinct points of $`X`$. Still, we may hope to define a rational map on $`X`$ whose locus of indeterminacy is contained in the ramification locus of $`\pi `$. The greater difficulty is understanding what the range of this function should be: we need to map to a bundle whose fibre over a fixed point in $`Y`$ is the $`^1`$ of lines in the fibre of $`𝕍(E)`$.

It turns out that we can make this idea work by considering the inclusion $`E𝒪_YE=F`$. This inclusion allows us to identify the fibre of $`𝕍(E)`$ with the “finite part” of the fibre of $`(F)`$, which is a projective plane. The “line at infinity” in the fibre of $`(F)`$ is identified with the fibre of $`(E)`$. (These identifications follow from applying the functors $`\mathrm{𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜}`$ and $`\mathrm{𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣}`$ to the stated inclusion.) As sets, we have that $`(F)=𝕍(E)(E)`$, and so we may view $`X𝕍(E)`$ as a subvariety of $`(F)`$ that does not intersect $`(E)`$.

Now we are in a position to describe our putative rational map on $`X`$. Over a point $`y`$ not in the branch locus of $`\pi `$, the fibre of $`\pi `$ consists of three distinct points $`x_1,x_2,x_3`$. The line through any two of these points, say $`x_2`$ and $`x_3`$, is a line in the fibre of $`(F)`$ over $`y`$. Such a line corresponds to a point $`p_{2,3}`$ in the fibre of $`(F^{})`$ over $`y`$. There is a natural projection $`(F^{})(E^{})`$ which dualizes the inclusion $`(E)(F)`$; over the point $`y`$, this map is the projection whose center is the point corresponding to the line at infinity in the fibre of $`(F)`$ over $`y`$. We have that $`p_{2,3}`$ is never equal to the center of this projection, because $`X`$ does not meet $`(E)`$; thus we can project $`p_{2,3}`$ to a point $`q_{2,3}`$ in the fibre of $`(E^{})`$ over $`y`$. We define a rational map $`\psi :X(E^{})`$ by setting $`\psi (x_1)=q_{2,3}`$, and similarly for $`x_2,x_3`$.

We have the following result:

###### Proposition 3.

If $`\pi :XY`$ is sufficiently local, then the map $`\psi `$ is in fact rational, and its image is contained in $`f^{}𝔖(E^{})=Y\times ^1`$. The restricted map

$$\psi :Xf^{}𝔖$$

is birational, and the isomorphism $`f^{}\varphi :f^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }f^{}𝔖`$ is the resolution of indeterminacy of this birational map.

All of these claims can be checked easily (by the reader!) once we establish the expression for $`\psi `$ in terms of local coordinates on $`X𝕍(E)`$:

###### Lemma 1.

The local expression for $`\psi `$ over a point $`yY`$ is

$`\psi (y\times (z,w))`$ $`=`$ $`y\times [z+a(y):b(y)]`$
$`=`$ $`y\times [c(y):w+d(y)]`$
$`=`$ $`y\times [w2d(y):z2a(y)],`$
where $`z,w`$ are coordinates on the fibre of $`\pi `$ over $`y`$, and $`a,b,c,d`$ are the sections of $`𝒪_Y`$ appearing as coefficients in the equations (3).

Note that the equivalence of the three expressions for $`\psi `$ is a consequence of the equations (3) which define $`X`$ as a subvariety of $`𝕍(E)`$.

###### Proof.

In order to proceed, we need to recall a fact from \[M3\] regarding the sheaf $`E`$: the $`𝒪_Y`$-algebra $`\pi _{}(𝒪_X)`$ is in fact a rank 3 $`𝒪_Y`$-module, and $`E`$ is the rank 2 submodule consisting of sections that have zero trace over $`𝒪_Y`$. This means that if we take local generators $`z,w`$ of $`E`$ as local coordinates on $`𝕍(E)`$, then the vector sum of the points $`(z_i,w_i)`$ in any fibre of $`\pi `$ must be zero.

Now we can prove the lemma. Let $`yY`$ be any point not in the branch locus of $`\pi `$. Then the fibre of $`\pi `$ over $`y`$ consists of three distinct points, which we denote $`(z_1,w_1),(z_2,w_2),(z_3,w_3)`$. The fibre of $`𝕍(E)`$ over $`y`$ is an affine plane with coordinates $`z,w`$; inside this plane, the line containing $`(z_2,w_2)`$ and $`(z_3,w_3)`$ is given by

$$(w_3w_2)z+(z_3z_2)w+(z_2w_3z_3w_2)=0.$$

In local coordinates, then, we have

$$\psi (z_1,w_1)=[(w_3w_2):(z_3z_2)];$$

this is understood to be a point in the fibre of $`(E^{})`$ over $`y`$.

We claim that this expression agrees with the first one given in the statement of the lemma. To see this, we use the equations (3) and the zero trace observation above to compute that

$`\left(z_1+a(y)\right)(z_3z_2)`$ $`=`$ $`z_1z_3z_1z_2+a(y)(z_3z_2)`$
$`=`$ $`z_1z_3z_1z_2+\left(z_3^2z_2^2b(y)(w_3w_2)\right)`$
$`=`$ $`(z_1+z_2+z_3)(z_3z_2)b(y)(w_3w_2)`$
$`=`$ $`0b(y)(w_3w_2).`$
This proves that $`\psi (z_1,z_2)=[z_1+a(y):b(y)]`$ on the open set where $`\pi `$ is unramified and where this expression is defined. Since we only require $`\psi `$ to be a rational map, the lemma is proved. ∎

This result shows that the locus of indeterminacy of $`\psi `$ is precisely the fat-point ramification locus of $`\pi `$, which in general is a proper subset of the ramification locus of $`\pi `$. This is consistent with the fact that reasonable definitions of the rational map $`\psi `$ can be made for double ramification points and for curvilinear triple ramification points; in these cases the Zariski tangent spaces to the ramification points determine lines in the fibres of $`\pi `$. At a fat point, the dimension of the Zariski tangent space in the fibre is equal to 2, so there is no reasonable way to define $`\psi `$ at such a point.

## 5. Globalization

Now we are going to define our resolution for an arbitrary triple cover $`\pi :XY`$. The idea is straightforward: we know from \[M3\] that $`Y`$ is covered by open affine sets $`Y_i`$ for which the restricted triple covers $`\pi :X_iY_i`$ are sufficiently local, and we have already defined the resolution for sufficiently local triple covers. It remains to check that these local definitions patch together compatibly to define a global resolution.

Recall that in defining the universal local resolution $`\rho :\mathrm{\Gamma }𝔛`$, we constructed $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ as a subvariety of $`𝕍(F)\times ^1`$. The unidentified factor of $`^1`$ is an obstruction to globalization: if each sufficiently local resolution variety is defined as a subvariety of $`𝕍(E)_{|Y_i}\times ^1`$, then it is not clear how to interpret the second factor as the restriction of a globally defined object. Fortunately, we have seen how to remedy this: using the isomorphism $`\varphi :\mathrm{\Gamma }𝔖`$, we will take $`𝔖`$ to be our resolution variety instead of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Then we take the resolution variety for a sufficiently local triple cover to be $`𝔖_i=f_i^{}𝔖`$ instead of $`f_i^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. In the previous section we showed that each variety $`𝔖`$ is naturally a subvariety of $`(E^{})_{|Y_i}`$. Thus we may hope to patch together the varieties $`𝔖_i`$ to construct a subvariety $`𝔖_X`$ of $`(E^{})`$.

Now we will invoke a beautiful result of Miranda from \[M3\] to finish our construction. Miranda shows that any triple cover $`\pi :XY`$ is determined by a rank 2 locally free sheaf $`E`$ on $`Y`$ and a global section $`\sigma `$ of $`S^3(E)^{}\mathrm{\Lambda }^2(E)`$. In fact, Miranda shows that if $`a,b,c,d`$ are the coefficients appearing in the quadrics (3) that define $`X_i`$ as a subvariety of $`𝕍(E)_{|Y_i}`$, then the local expression for $`\sigma `$ over $`Y_i`$ is

$$b(z^3)^{}+a(z^2)^{}w^{}dz^{}(w^2)^{}+c(w^3)^{}.$$

Using the natural isomorphism $`S^3(E)^{}S^3(E^{})`$, we get the following local expression for $`\sigma `$:

$$\frac{1}{6}b(z^{})^3+\frac{1}{2}a(z^{})^2w^{}\frac{1}{2}dz^{}(w^{})^2+\frac{1}{6}c(w^{})^3.$$

Up to a constant factor, this is just the cubic defining $`𝔖_i`$ as a subvariety of $`(E^{})_{|Y_i}`$. Since $`\sigma `$ is a global section, we conclude that the varieties $`𝔖_i`$ must patch together to form a variety $`𝔖_X(E^{})`$. It is clear that the structure morphisms patch together compatibly, and so we have the following result:

###### Proposition 4.

Let $`\pi :XY`$ be any triple cover, and let $`E`$ be a rank 2 locally free sheaf on $`Y`$ such that $`X𝕍(E)`$. Then there is a variety $`𝔖_X(E^{})`$ and a birational morphism $`\rho _X:𝔖_XX`$ which is an isomorphism away from the fat-point ramification locus of $`\pi `$, and whose fibre over every fat point is a $`^1`$.

We refer to the morphism $`\rho _X:𝔖_XX`$ as the resolution of the triple cover $`\pi `$. Now we get the following global result:

###### Proposition 5.

Let $`\pi :XY`$ be a triple cover. $`X`$ is isomorphic as a triple cover to a subvariety of a $`^1`$-bundle on $`Y`$ equipped with the natural projection if and only if $`\pi `$ has no fat-point ramification.

###### Proof.

One implication is the global version of Proposition 2; the other implication follows from the fact that the fibre of a subvariety of a $`^1`$-bundle cannot have a two-dimensional Zariski tangent space. ∎