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# ULB-TH/02-13Inflation from a Tachyon Fluid ?

## 1 Introduction

Despite numerous efforts, it seems difficult to reconcile string theory with the highly successfull paradigm of inflation. In this brief note, following Gibbons , we investigate whether some form of Sen’s tachyonic matter  might provide the necessary ingredients for a phase of inflationary expansion in the early universe.

According to Sen , (see also ), a rolling tachyon condensate in either bosonic or supersymmetric string theory can be described by a fluid which in the homogeneous limit has energy density

$$\rho =\frac{V(T)}{\sqrt{1\dot{T}^2}}$$
(1)
and pressure

$$p=V(T)\sqrt{1\dot{T}^2}\rho (T)(1\dot{T}^2)$$
(2)
with $`T`$ the tachyon field and $`V(T)`$ the tachyon potential. These expressions are obtained from the tachyon matter effective lagrangian

$$=V(T)\sqrt{1\dot{T}^2}.$$
(3)
Given the generic properties of $`V(T)`$ for $`T0`$, a most remarkable feature of Sen’s equation of state (2) is that tachyon matter interpolates smoothly between

$$p=\rho w=1$$
(4)
for $`\dot{T}=0`$ and

$$p=0w=0$$
(5)
as $`\dot{T}`$ reaches its limiting value $`\dot{T}=1`$. As already emphasized by Gibbons , if the tachyon condensate starts to roll down the potential with small intial $`\dot{T}`$, a universe dominated by this new form of matter will smoothly evolve from a phase of accelerated expansion to a phase dominated by a non-relativistic fluid. It is tempting to speculate that the latter could contribute to some new form of dark matter. However, the topic of this paper is whether or not the tachyon condensate could be relevant for inflation. (For related speculations, see for instance .)

The shape of the tachyon condensate effective potential depends on the system under consideration. In bosonic string theory for instance, this potential has a maximum $`V=V_0`$ at $`T=0`$, where $`V_0`$ is the tension of some unstable bosonic D-brane, a local minimum with $`V=0`$, generically at $`T+\mathrm{}`$, corresponding to a metastable closed bosonic string vacuum, and a runaway behaviour for negative $`T`$. An exact classical potential (i.e. exact to all orders in $`\alpha ^{}`$, but only tree level in $`g_s`$) encompassing these properties has been computed ,

$$V(T)=V_0\left(1+T/T_0\right)\mathrm{exp}(T/T_0).$$
(6)
Note that the curvature at the top of the potential (6) is $`d^2V/dT^2=V_0/T_0^2`$ . As the tachyon field has dimension $`[T]=E^1`$, if $`\dot{T}1`$, from Eq.(3) we see that it is natural to rescale $`T`$ by $`\sqrt{V_0}T\varphi `$. At $`V=V_0`$, the mass of the canonically normalized $`\varphi `$ is then $`M_\varphi ^2=1/T_0^2`$. In , $`T_0l_s`$ and $`V_0`$ is the tension of a bosonic Dp-brane, $`V_01/g_sl_s^{p+1}`$. We shall see that these values of $`V_0`$ and $`T_0`$ seem marginally incompatible with inflation: the potential is simply too steep. However, the values for $`V_0`$ and $`T_0`$ required to obtain slow-roll inflation are within an order of magnitude of these values.

## 2 Tachyon matter cosmology

As shown by Gibbons, for a Roberston-Walker tachyon matter dominated universe, the Friedman equation takes the standard form

$$H^2=\frac{\kappa ^2}{3}\rho =\frac{\kappa ^2}{3}\frac{V}{\sqrt{1\dot{T}^2}}$$
(7)
with $`\kappa ^2=8\pi G=8\pi /M_{pl}^2`$ and where we have assumed spatial flatness111As tachyon matter turns into a non-relativistic fluid for large $`T`$, a closed Universe will eventually recollapse. We assume flatness for simplicity. Alternatively, the recollapse can be supposed to be in the far future of our model universe. and have chosen to put the cosmological constant to zero. Entropy conservation gives as usual

$$\dot{\rho }=3H(\rho +p)$$
(8)
the latter being equivalent to the equation of motion for the tachyon field $`T`$,

$$\frac{V\ddot{T}}{1\dot{T}^2}+3HV\dot{T}+V^{}=0$$
(9)
where $`V^{}=dV/dT`$. We would like to use these equations to determine the slow-roll conditions for inflation. The first condition to be satisfied is that the expansion is accelerating (see for instance  or )

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\ddot{a}}{a}}H^2+\dot{H}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa ^2}{6}}(\rho +3p)>\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0}`$ (10)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa ^2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{V}{\sqrt{1\dot{T}^2}}}\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}\dot{T}^2\right)>\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0}`$
which requires that222This condition for inflation is in contrast to that obtained for a normal scalar field, $`\dot{\varphi }^2<V(\varphi )`$.

$$\dot{T}^2<\frac{2}{3}.$$
(11)
In order to have a sufficiently long period of inflation, the tachyon field should start rolling with small initial $`\dot{T}`$. To relate the condition (11) to the shape of the potential, we have to calculate the slow-roll conditons. Following a standard procedure , we can express the evolution of the universe as a function of $`T`$ rather than time. Using

$$\dot{H}=\frac{\kappa ^2}{2}\frac{V\dot{T}^2}{\sqrt{1\dot{T}^2}}$$
(12)
and because of the monoticity of $`T`$ with respect to time, we can rewrite this equation as

$$H^{}(T)=\frac{\kappa ^2}{2}\frac{V\dot{T}}{\sqrt{1\dot{T}^2}}$$
(13)
where the prime denotes derivation with respect to $`T`$. Taking the square of the Friedmann equation we get

$$H_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}\frac{9}{4}H^4(T)+\frac{\kappa ^4}{4}V(T)^2=0.$$
(14)
This first order differential equation is the analog for tachyon matter of the Hamilton-Jacobi form of the Friedmann equation with a single inflaton field . It expresses the fact that $`H^{}`$ is negligible as long as

$$H^2\frac{\kappa ^2}{3}V.$$
(15)
Solving (14) for $`H(T)`$, we can then get $`\dot{T}`$ as a function of $`T`$

$$\dot{T}^2=1\left(\frac{\kappa ^2V}{3H^2}\right)^2.$$
(16)
Using the potential (6) one can solve (14) numerically. We have chosen the field $`T=T_i`$ to be slightly displaced from the maximum of the potential with initial $`\dot{T}_i=0`$. We also assume $`T_i>0`$ for obvious reasons. The amount of inflation obtained depends upon the variable $`T/T_0`$ and on a dimensionless parameter $`X_0`$ which characterizes the flatness of the potential close to its peak

$$X_0^2=\kappa ^2T_0^2V_0.$$
(17)
In Figure 1 we plot $`\dot{T}^2`$ for different values of $`X_0`$.

The pertinent feature of this figure is that for increasing $`X_0`$, inflation ends at increasing values of $`T`$. This is equivalent to requiring that as the rolling of the field commences, the $`\ddot{T}`$ term is negligible in the equation of motion for the tachyon field (9), so that

$$3HV\dot{T}V^{}.$$
(18)
Another quantity of interest is the number of e-folds during the inflationary phase,

$$N(T)\mathrm{ln}\frac{a(t_{end})}{a(t)}=_t^{t_{end}}H𝑑t=_T^{T_{end}}\frac{H^2V}{V^{}}𝑑T$$
(19)
This is shown in Figure 2. To successfully use inflation to solve the horizon problem and bring us a suitably flat spectrum of perturbations we require $`N5060`$ e-folds of inflation whilst the field is rolling. As always, there is some uncertainty in the number of e-folds related to the choice of initial conditions. However, if we assume that $`\dot{T}^2`$ is small initially and that $`T/T_0`$ starts at less than about $`0.1`$ then the total number of e-folds becomes insensitive to the exact initial conditions. We choose the value of $`X_0`$ so as to accommodate enough e-folds and the normalization to the COBE spectrum, which we shall describe in the next section. For the time being, we simply note that inflation lasts longer if $`X_0`$ is larger, as shown in Figure 1.

Once inflation is over the expansion of the tachyon-matter dominated universe slows rapidly which precludes the possibility of the modes generated during the slow roll regime being pushed outside our present day horizon.

## 3 Slow-rolling tachyon matter

The numerical analysis shows that inflation requires that $`X_0>\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}3}`$. Once this is satisfied the field $`T`$ evolves in a framework analogous to the slow-roll approximation for scalar fields. In order for the conditions

$$H^2\frac{\kappa ^2}{3}V$$
(20)
and

$$HV\dot{T}V^{}$$
(21)
to hold, the following inequalities must be satisfied:

$$ϵ\frac{V^2}{\kappa ^2V^3}1$$
(22)
and

$$\eta \frac{V^2}{\kappa ^2V^3}\frac{V^{\prime \prime }}{\kappa ^2V^2}1.$$
(23)
These are just the usual definitions of the slow-roll parameters $`ϵ`$ and $`\eta `$. Their form is different from the usual expressions because we are taking derivatives with respect to $`T`$. Near $`V_0`$, for small $`\dot{T}`$, one can use the canonically normalized field $`\varphi =\sqrt{V_0}T`$ which brings (22) and (23) to their usual form . As we assume that the tachyon is rolling from the top of the potential, generically $`ϵ\eta `$ for small $`T/T_0`$, so that the second condition is the most stringent one. Using the potential (6) to be specific, (23) becomes

$$\kappa ^2V_0T_0^2X_0^21$$
(24)
a condition which is consistent with the numerical analysis of the preceding section.

Finally we must estimate the size of the fluctuations and compare this estimate with the magnitude of the density pertubations observed by COBE. Assuming that the slow-roll approximation can be made to hold over a significant range of cosmic scales, the spectral index $`n(k)`$ is taken to be scale independent with

$$n12\eta 1.$$
(25)
We also follow the standard procedure to estimate the density perturbations

$$\left|\frac{\delta \rho }{\rho }\right|\frac{H}{\dot{\varphi }}\delta \varphi \frac{H}{\dot{T}}\delta T$$
(26)
where

$$\sqrt{V_0}\delta T\frac{H}{2\pi }\frac{\kappa }{2\pi }\sqrt{\frac{V_0}{3}}.$$
(27)
We then use the slow roll condition (18) to eliminate $`V^{}`$ leading to the expression

$$\left|\frac{\delta \rho }{\rho }\right|\frac{\kappa ^3V^{5/2}}{3^{3/2}2\pi \sqrt{V_0}V^{}}$$
(28)
and we obtain the expression for the density perturbation during inflation when $`T/T_0`$ is of order one

$$\left|\frac{\delta \rho }{\rho }\right|\frac{1}{3^{3/2}2\pi }\frac{X_0^3}{\sqrt{V_0}T_0^2}$$
(29)
which correponds to roughly 60 efolds before the end of inflation for $`5<X_0<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}7}`$. Since $`\delta \rho /\rho 2\times 10^5`$ we see that

$$\frac{X_0^3}{\sqrt{V_0}T_0^2}\kappa ^3V_0T_06\times 10^4.$$
(30)
In order to calculate the magnitude of our perturbations, we assumed that $`\dot{T}`$ is negligible and that we are close to the peak of the potential so that we can substitute $`T`$ for the canonical scalar field $`\sqrt{V_0}\varphi `$. However, without a full derivation of the perturbations starting with the Lagrangian (3) we cannot say at what point our approximations break down, and what kind of behaviour replaces the normal lore at that point.

## 4 Discussion

We have not mentioned the precise origin of the tachyon field in question, but given the string theory origin of Sen’s equation of state, it is tempting to write the parameters $`V_0`$ and $`T_0`$ in terms of the string length $`l_s`$ and the open string coupling constant $`g_s`$,

$$V_0=\frac{v_0}{g_sl_s^4(2\pi )^3},T_0=\tau _0l_s.$$
(31)
where $`v_0`$ and $`\tau _0`$ are dimensionless parameters such that $`V_0/v_0`$ is the tension of a D3-brane and $`\tau _0l_s`$ is the inverse tachyon mass. The gravitational coupling in 4 dimensions is given in terms of the stringy parameters by

$$\kappa ^28\pi G_N=\pi g_s^2l_s^2\left(\frac{l_s}{R}\right)^6.$$
(32)
Here $`R`$ is the compactification radius of the compact 6 dimensional manifold, taken here to be a 6-torus.333Like in most higher dimensional scenarios, we assume that some unknown mechanism freezes the moduli associated to the extra dimensions. Also, for simplicity we assume that we can neglect the evolution of other fields, like the dilaton. For the $`D=4`$ effective theory to be applicable one usually requires that $`Rl_s`$ since $`R=l_s`$ denotes the self T-dual point where the mass spectrum of KK and winding modes become degenerate . The volume of the compact space therefore must satisfy the inequality $`V>(2\pi R)^6`$.

In order for the gravitational waves at the end of inflation to be compatible with CMB observtions, there is a further condition

$$\frac{H_{end}}{M_{pl}}3.6\times 10^5$$
(33)
which together with the requirement for enough e-folds (24) and the magnitude of the perturbations as given by equation (30) leads to three conditions which can be written as

$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{l_s}{R}}\right)^{12}v_0g_s^3`$ $`<`$ $`1.4\times 10^6\text{(no grav. waves)}`$ (34)
$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{l_s}{R}}\right)^9v_0\tau _0g_s^2`$ $``$ $`2.7\times 10^2\text{(COBE normalization)}`$ (35)
$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{l_s}{R}}\right)^6v_0\tau _0^2g_s`$ $`>`$ $`7.1\times 10^2\text{(inflationary cond.)}`$ (36)
These conditions cannot all be satisfied simultaneously with the values one would choose as a first guess, $`v_0\tau _01`$, for any $`R>l_s`$.444In the first version of this paper we overlooked a factor of $`g_s`$ in the expression of the Planck mass which led us to underestimate strong gravity effects.

For $`Rl_s`$ and insisting on $`v_01`$, (34) gives $`g_s<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}10}^2`$ while (36) imposes $`\tau _0>\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}10}^2`$, corresponding to a rather light tachyon mass $`m_T<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}10}^2/l_s`$. This is phenomenologically the simplest solution, but is at odds with expectations from string theory. (See however .)

If one insists on a tachyon mass $`1/l_s`$, the only alternative without entering the strong coupling regime is to increase the energy density, for instance by increasing the number of branes, in the spirit of  where the potential arises from the combined tachyonic potential of a number of brane/anti-brane systems. The problem here is that in order for each individual brane to act in the way described by Sen’s effective action the typical seperation between branes within the compact directions would have to be larger than $`l_s`$.555If the branes are coincident, there are extra tachyonic degrees of freedom which all together transform either in the adjoint of the gauge group that lives on a stack of non-BPS D-brane or in the bi-fundamental for $`Dp\overline{D}p`$ pairs . A miminal, although ad hoc, setting is to take $`v_0`$ to be equal to the number of string length size volumes within the compact space, i.e.

$$v_0=\left(\frac{2\pi R}{l_s}\right)^6$$
(37)
Then it is possible to fulfill the above requirements with $`g_s2\times 10^2`$, $`R/l_s10`$, corresponding to a very large number of branes ($`10^{11}`$). This initial condition is quite baroque and at first sight rather unattractive. However we take note that such a large number is not foreign to speculations on the dS/CFT correspondence , which suggests that the number of light degrees of freedom of the putative Euclidean CFT dual to the inflationary phase of the universe should be very large $`c10^8`$ .

One last issue we would like to comment on is that of reheating at the end of inflation. In this paper our approach has been rather phenomenological. We took Sen’s equation of state together with a string-theory motivated effective potential. Both ingredients rest on quite severe approximations, but are supposed to capture at least some of the physics of tachyon condensation. Remarkable features are that 1) the minimum of the tachyon potential is at $`T\mathrm{}`$ and that 2) the energy of the brane stays confined to its hyperplane in the form of a pressureless fluid. As far as we understand, the first feature is supposed to be generic. As has been recently emphasized by Kovman and Linde , this is quite worrisome for the purpose of reheating the universe at the end of inflation. They also note that this is potentially a problem for all string-inspired models of inflation based on the annihilation or decay of branes.

From a phenomenological point of view the simplest resolution would be to have a potential that vanishes at finite $`T`$ so that reheating can proceed through oscillations of the tachyon fluid around its minimum. Either way, this raises the issue of the decay of the tachyon fluid. The standard lore in the string-community is that unstable D-branes should ultimately decay into closed string modes. To make this process manifest one should take into account $`g_s`$ corrections to the tachyon effective action, a program which has not been completed yet. We believe that a related issue will be to understand the precise nature of the tachyon fluid at the minimum of the potential. It is expected to be stable only in the limit $`g_s0`$ and should in principle be a good zeroth order approximation to the problem of tachyon matter decay.

An intruiging characteristic of Sen’s effective action is that at the minimum of the potential, the tachyon fluid equations of motions reduced to, in Hamiltonian form and in flat space-time,

$`1`$ $`=`$ $`(\dot{T})^2(_iT)^2`$ (38)
$`\dot{\mathrm{\Pi }}`$ $`=`$ $`_i\left(\mathrm{\Pi }{\displaystyle \frac{_iT}{\dot{T}}}\right)`$ (39)
where $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ is the momentum conjugate to $`\dot{T}`$. These are precisely the equation of motion of a relativistic pressureless fluid of partons of mass unity, with velocity field $`\stackrel{}{v}=T/\dot{T}\stackrel{}{k}/\omega (k)`$ and energy density $`\mathrm{\Pi }(x,t)`$. Solutions of these equations of motions are quite trivial to work out. A time-independent but otherwise arbitrary configuration of the energy-density $`\mathrm{\Pi }(x)`$ corresponds in the parton picture to a bunch of massive partons at rest. However, generic solutions have caustic singularities and the free parton picture has probably a limited range. It makes nevertheless clear why there are no propagating tachyon waves at the minimum of the potential, simply because there are no collective excitations in a pressureless fluid.

In the limit of $`g_s0`$, the tachyon fluid is stable and behaves as some new form of dark matter. The problem with this is that the universe would never become radiation dominated and for tachyon matter to be relevant in cosmology requires some fine-tuning . For finite $`g_s`$ however tachyon matter should be unstable and decay. If we are willing to take the parton picture seriously, it is plausible that their decay could solve the issue of reheating of the universe at the end of tachyon rolling, however, not being string theorists, we have no idea how this question could be addressed. As an illustration we simply parametrize the decay rate as

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }\frac{g_s^n}{l_s}\left(\frac{l_s}{R}\right)^3g_s^{n+1}M_{pl}$$
(40)
The reheat temperature is then (presumably over-) estimated to be

$$T_{RH}\sqrt{M_{pl}\mathrm{\Gamma }}\left(\frac{l_s}{R}\right)^{\frac{3}{2}}g_s^{\frac{n+1}{2}}M_{pl}$$
(41)
which for generic powers of $`n`$ is high enough for most cosmological puposes. Obviously it would be interesting, both for string theory and for phenomenological applications to develop further insights on this issue.

## 5 Conclusions

In this paper we have investigated the possibility of using Sen’s equation of state to see if we can obtain viable cosmological inflation. We have described the conditions which the potential and the tachyon mass must fulfil in order to provide enough e-folds of inflation and density perturbations of the correct magnitude. Our approach has been essentially phenomenological. In particular, the conditions for slow-roll are essentially independent of the precise shape of the potential and whether it vanishes at finite or infinite $`T`$. One attractive feature of Sen’s equation of state is that it give an explicit realization of so-called k-inflation . A related interesting property is that the exit from inflation is automatic for generic string-inspired effective potentials due to the limiting value $`\dot{T}=1`$ for homogeneous configurations. As already emphasized numerous times a straightforward matching with string theory is problematic but perhaps not altogether impossible. An important issue, both for cosmological applications and, we presume, for string theory is to understand the ultimate fate of the tachyon matter at the bottom of the potential.

## Acknowledgements

We thank Laurent Houart, Samuel Leach and Ashoke Sen for useful conversations or comments.


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# First Order Phase Transition and Phase Coexistence in a Spin-Glass Model

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## Abstract

We study the mean-field static solution of the Blume-Emery-Griffiths-Capel model with quenched disorder, an Ising-spin lattice gas with quenched random magnetic interaction. The thermodynamics is worked out in the Full Replica Symmetry Breaking scheme. The model exhibits a high temperature/low density paramagnetic phase. When the temperature is decreased or the density increased, the system undergoes a phase transition to a Full Replica Symmetry Breaking spin-glass phase. The nature of the transition can be either of the second order (like in the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model) or, at temperature below a given critical value (tricritical point), of the first order in the Ehrenfest sense, with a discontinuous jump of the order parameter and a latent heat. In this last case coexistence of phases occurs.

The spin-glass phase (SG) has played and is still playing a central role in the understanding of disordered and complex systems. The analysis of mean-field models revealed different possible scenarios for the SG phase and the transition to it. Most of the work, however, has been concentrated on just two of them. In order of appearance in literature the first scenario is described by a Full Replica Symmetry Breaking (FRSB) solution characterized by a continuous order parameter function P80 , which continuously grows from zero by crossing the transition. The prototype model is the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick (SK) model SK75 , a fully connected Ising-spin with quenched random magnetic interactions. The second scenario, initially introduced by Derrida Derrida , provides a transition with a jump in the order parameter to a SG One Step Replica Symmetry Breaking (1RSB). No discontinuity appear, however, in the thermodynamic functions. Actually, at the transition to the 1RSB SG phase the Edwards-Anderson order parameter can either grow continuously from zero or jump discontinuously to a finite value. The first case includes Potts-glasses with three of four states GroKanSom85 , the spherical $`p`$-spin spin glass model in strong magnetic field CS  and some spherical $`p`$-spin spin glass model with a mixture of $`p=2`$ and $`p>3`$ interactions Nie95 ; CriCuk . The latter case includes, instead, Potts-glasses with more than four states GroKanSom85 , quadrupolar glass models GroKanSom85 ; GolShe85 , $`p`$-spin interaction spin-glass models with $`p>2`$ Derrida ; Gar85 ; KWPRA87  and the spherical $`p`$-spin spin glass model in weak magnetic field CS . The models of this class, often referred to as “discontinuous spin glasses” BCKM , have been widely investigated in the last years because of their relevance for the structural glass transition observed in fragile glasses KWPRA87 ; CHS .

In all cases discussed so far the transition is always continuous in the Ehrenfest sense. To our knowledge, the first case of a spin glass undergoing a genuine first order thermodynamic transition is the so called Ghatak-Sherrington model (GS) GSJPC77 . However, besides the full analysis of the RS solution, the study of the FRSB solution for this model was done only close to the continuous transition (SK-like) down to and including the tricritical point because of its complexity GSJPC77 ; LAJPC82 . We also recall that an exactly solvable model, generalization of the Derrida’s REM Derrida , displaying a first order phase transition to a SG phase with latent head, was introduced by Mottishaw Mot86 . However, at difference with the GS model, the SG phase is 1RSB.

Recently a generalization of the GS model GSJPC77  has been considered in connection with the structural glass transition due to the conjectured existence SNAJPF97  of a “discontinuous”, in the above mentioned sense, transition to a 1RSB SG phase. This possibility has risen new interest in such model and its finite dimensions version has been numerically investigated in a search for evidence of a structural glass transition scenario dCC .

To clarify this issue and its compatibility with previous results on the GS model, we have investigated the whole phase diagram, deep in the SG phase, for the mean field quenched disorder variant of the Blume-Emery-Griffiths-Capel model BEG71  (BEGC), introduced for the $`\lambda `$ transition in mixtures of He3-He4, which includes the GS model.

In literature there exists two different versions of the model. The first one is the direct generalization of the original BEGC model and uses spin-$`1`$ variables $`\sigma _i=1,0,1`$ on each site $`i`$ of a lattice dCNYJPA97 ; SEPJB99 , while the second formulation is a lattice gas ($`n_i=0,1`$) of spin-$`1/2`$ variables ($`S_i=1,1`$) ANSJPF96 ; SNAJPF97 . In both cases the spin variables interact through quenched random couplings. The two formulations are equivalent, at least as far as static properties are concerned. Indeed, by imposing $`\sigma _iS_in_i`$ the two models can be transformed one into the other, apart from a rescaling of the chemical potential/crystal field footnote1 . In this paper we will use the second formulation described by the Hamiltonian (DBEGC) SNAJPF97

$$=\underset{i<j}{}J_{ij}S_iS_jn_in_j\frac{K}{N}\underset{i<j}{}n_in_j\mu \underset{i}{}n_i$$
(1)
representing an Ising spin glass lattice gas coupled to a spin reservoir. The symmetric couplings $`J_{ij}`$ are quenched Gaussian random variables of zero mean and variance $`\overline{J_{ij}^2}=\overline{J_{ji}^2}=J^2/N`$. Here and in the following the overline denotes average with respect to disorder. Limiting cases of the model are the SK model SK75  obtained for $`\mu /J\mathrm{}`$, the site frustrated percolation model CJPIV93  for $`K=1`$ and $`J/\mu \mathrm{}`$, and the GS model for $`K=0`$.

To keep the level of the presentation as general as possible, we shall avoid technical details and report only the main results for the phase diagrams for the three relevant cases of the GS model ($`K=0`$), the frustrated Ising lattice gas ($`K=1`$) and the case of attracting particle-particle interaction ($`K=1`$).

Applying the standard replica method, the FRSB solution in the SG phase is described by the order parameter function P80

$$q(x)=_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}dyP(x,y)m(x,y)^2,$$
(2)
and the density of occupied sites by

$$\rho =_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}𝑑yP(1,y)\frac{\mathrm{cosh}\beta Jy}{e^{\mathrm{\Theta }_1}+\mathrm{cosh}\beta Jy},$$
(3)
where $`\mathrm{\Theta }_1(\beta J)^2[\rho q(1)]/2+\beta (\mu +K\rho )`$ and $`m(x,y)`$ and $`P(x,y)`$ SDJPC84  are solution of

$$\dot{m}(x,y)=\frac{\dot{q}}{2}m^{\prime \prime }(x,y)+\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}(x)m(x,y)m^{}(x,y),$$
(4)
$$\dot{P}(x,y)=\frac{\dot{q}(x)}{2}P^{\prime \prime }(x,y)+\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}(x)\left[P(x,y)m(x,y)\right]^{},$$
(5)
with boundary conditions

$`m(1,y)={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sinh}(\beta y)}{e^{\mathrm{\Theta }_1}+\mathrm{cosh}(\beta y)}},`$ (6)
$`P(0,y)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi q(0)}}}\mathrm{exp}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{y^2}{2q(0)}}\right\}.`$ (7)
The functions $`m(x,y)`$ and $`P(x,y)`$ are, respectively, the local magnetization and local field probability distribution at “time scale” $`x[0,1]`$ SDJPC84 , while $`\mathrm{\Delta }(x)`$ is the Sompolinsky’s anomaly SPRL81 . As usual, the “dot” denotes partial derivative with respect to $`x`$ while the “prime” the one with respect to $`y`$.

All thermodynamic quantities can be written in terms of the above functions. For example, defining $`\stackrel{~}{K}K+\beta J/2`$, the internal energy density $`u`$ and the entropy density $`s`$ read

$$u=\frac{\stackrel{~}{K}}{2}\rho ^2\mu \rho +\frac{\beta J^2}{2}q(1)^2+_0^1𝑑xq(x)\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}(x),$$
(8)
$`s`$ $`=`$ $`\rho \mathrm{\Theta }_1{\displaystyle \frac{(\beta J)^2}{4}}\left[\rho q(1)\right]^2+{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}dyP(1,y)`$ (9)
$`\times \left\{\mathrm{log}\left[2+2e^{\mathrm{\Theta }_1}\mathrm{cosh}(\beta Jy)\right]\beta Jym(1,y)\right\}.`$
We have solved the coupled equations (2)-(5) in the Parisi’s gauge $`\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}=\beta Jx\dot{q}(x)`$ using the pseudo-spectral method introduced in CLP . Analyzing the stability of the RS solution one gets the critical lines

$`1(\beta J\rho )^2=0,`$ (10)
$`1\beta \stackrel{~}{K}(1\rho )\rho =0,`$ (11)
above which the only solution is the paramagnetic (PM) solution $`q(x)0`$ for $`x[0,1]`$, $`\rho =1/[1+e^{\mathrm{\Theta }_1}]`$. This is stable for any value of $`K`$. In the $`T\rho `$ plane, these are, respectively, the straight line and the left branch of the spinodal line shown, in Figs. 1, 6 and 8 (for $`K=1,0,1`$, respectively). The two lines meet at the tricritical point

$`T_c=\rho _c={\displaystyle \frac{3/2+K+\sqrt{K^2K+9/4}}{2K}},`$ (12)
$`\mu _c={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\rho _c[K+\mathrm{log}({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\rho _c}}1.)].`$ (13)
By crossing the critical line (10) above the tricritical point ($`\rho >\rho _c`$, $`T>T_c`$, $`\mu >\mu _c`$ ) the system undergoes a continuous phase transition of the SK-type to a FRSB SG phase, with a non-trivial continuous order parameter function $`q(x)`$ which smoothly grows from zero.

Below the tricritical point the scenario is completely different with a transition from the PM phase to a FRSB SG phase with $`q(x)`$ which discontinuously jumps from zero to a non-trivial (continuous) function. At the critical temperature the entropy is discontinuous, see Fig. 2, and hence a latent heat is involved in the transformation, implying that the transition is of the first order in the Ehrenfest sense. The transition line is determined by the free energy balance between the PM and the SG phase Mot86 , and is shown as a broken line in the phase diagrams. The line (11) where the PM solution becomes unstable, and the equivalent line from the SG side are the spinodal lines. This can be better appreciated in the $`\mu \rho `$ plane. From Fig. 3 we indeed see that the isothermal lines cross the instability lines with zero derivative and hence a diverging compressibility $`\kappa =(1/\rho ^2)\rho /\mu .`$

It can be shown that the first order transition line can be determined in the $`\mu \rho `$ phase diagram from the isothermal and spinodal lines by using a Maxwell construction. In the region between the first order transition line and the spinodal line the pure phase is metastable. Below the spinodal lines (in the $`T\rho `$ plane) no pure phase can exist and the system is in a mixture of PM and SG phase (phase coexistence). Finally, the phase diagram in the $`T\mu `$ plane, for $`K=1`$, is shown in Fig. 4.

By varying $`K`$ the scenario remains qualitatively unchanged. The only effect of a strong repulsive particle-particle interaction is to increase the phase diagram zone where the empty system ($`\rho =0`$) is the only stable solution. In order to find further phases, e.g. an antiquadrupolar phase SNAJPF97 , a generalization of the present analysis to a two component magnetic model KSSPJETP85 , including quenched disorder, has to be carried out CL2 . In Figs. 6-7 we show the phase diagrams for $`K=0`$, the GS model GSJPC77 , and $`K=1`$ the frustrated lattice gas dCC .

In conclusion, we have discussed the complete phase diagram of the DBEGC model in the mean field limit, explicitly solving the FRSB equations in the whole SG phase with the pseudo-spectral method developed in Ref. CLP . Our results rule out the possibility of a 1RSB phase: the SG phase is always of FRSB type. The transition between the PM phase and the SG phase can be either of the SK-type or, below the tricritical temperature, a first order thermodynamic phase transition. In the latter case, like in the gas-liquid transition, a latent heat is involved in the transformation. Moreover, for a certain range of parameters (between the spinodal lines), no pure phase is achievable, not even as a metastable one, and the two phases coexist.

A.C. acknowledges support from the INFM-SMC center.


text:
# Rapidity-Alignment and 𝐩_𝑻 Compensation of Particle Pairs in Hadronic 𝐙^𝟎 Decays

## 1 Introduction

The analysis of correlations between particles produced in hadronic $`Z^0`$decay is an effective tool for studying the fragmentation process. In particular, tests can be made of two basic classes of fragmentation models, ‘string’ and ‘cluster’ types, represented in this study by Jetset 7.3  and Herwig 5.9 , respectively. Distinct differences in predictions from these models occur for certain particle pair correlations. In particular, the orientation in rapidity and in $`p_T`$of particle pairs is expected to be a distinguishing feature between models. Charged particle pairs, adjacent or nearby in rapidity, are predicted to be produced in a different way for the string and cluster models. For $`K^+K^{}`$and $`p\overline{p}`$pairs the string model predicts a definite rank-ordering in rapidity, with respect to the direction from primary quark to antiquark. Rapidity-rank is defined as the position a particle has in the rapidity chain after ordering the particles in an event according to their rapidity values. Rapidity ordering is expected to correspond closely to string-rank ordering (position on the string) as pictured in Figure 1. By contrast, the cluster model produces $`p\overline{p}`$pairs, and $`K^+K^{}`$pairs (partially), via the isotropic decays of clusters. The clusters are rank-ordered; however, their decay products are not necessarily in rank-order. Consequently, one expects differences in the predictions for correlations in rapidity and $`p_T`$from the two models.

Asymmetric orientations of particle pairs in rapidity are expected from string-fragmentation models. In these models, mesons are formed from string elements when breaks occur between virtual flavour-neutral $`q\overline{q}`$pairs. Baryons are considered to be formed when breaks occur between diquark anti-diquark pairs. An asymmetry occurs because each $`q\overline{q}`$loop breaks such that the $`\overline{q}`$is always nearer on the string to the primary quark, and the $`q`$nearer to the primary antiquark. For the diquark anti-diquark case, the converse orientation arises. This process causes $`K^+K^{}`$and $`p\overline{p}`$pairs to assume an asymmetric rapidity orientation, termed here rapidity-alignment, as shown in Figure 1. First indications of ordering along the quark-antiquark axis have been reported by the SLD Collaboration .

The cluster model can be pictured approximately by replacing the hadrons in Figure 1 by clusters which decay isotropically, usually into two hadrons. In this model, the specific cluster mass spectrum and the assumption of isotropic decay will affect particle-pair correlations in rapidity and in transverse momentum. In the following, the string and cluster models, with their different hadronization mechanisms, are compared to the data.

## 2 Data Sample and Event Selection

This analysis is based on data collected with the DELPHI detector  at the CERN LEP collider in 1994 and 1995 at the $`Z^0`$centre-of-mass energy. The charged particle tracking information relies on three cylindrical tracking detectors (Inner Detector, Time Projection Chamber (TPC), and Outer Detector) all operating in a 1.2 T magnetic field.

The selection criteria for charged particles are: momentum above 0.3 GeV/c, polar angle between $`15^{}`$ and $`165^{}`$ and track length above 30 cm. In addition the impact parameters with respect to the interaction point are required to be below 0.5 cm perpendicular to and 2.0 cm along the beam. These impact parameter cuts decrease the number of protons which result from secondary interactions in the detector. Also, protons from $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ decays are largely removed.

Hadronic $`Z^0`$decays are selected by requiring at least three charged particle tracks in each event hemisphere, defined by the ‘thrust’ axis (see next section), and a total energy of all charged particles exceeding 15 GeV. The number of hadronic events is $``$ 2 million.

Charged particle identification is provided by a tagging procedure which combines Cherenkov angle measurement from the RICH detector with ionization energy loss measured in the TPC. Details on the particle identification can be found in reference . In addition, the polar angle for identified particles is restricted to be in the barrel region, between $`47^{}`$ and $`133^{}`$.

## 3 Rapidity-Alignment of $`𝑲^\mathbf{+}𝑲^{\mathbf{}}`$and $`𝒑\overline{𝒑}`$Pairs

In the following, the rapidity-alignment resulting from an asymmetric orientation of $`K^+K^{}`$or $`p\overline{p}`$pairs in rapidity with respect to the primary quark-to-antiquark direction is investigated. The rapidity, $`y`$, is defined as $`\frac{1}{2}ln\left(\left(E+p_L\right)/\left(Ep_L\right)\right)`$, where $`p_L`$ is the component of momentum parallel to the thrust axis, and $`E`$ is the energy calculated using the RICH determined particle mass. The thrust approximates the directions of the primary $`q`$ and $`\overline{q}`$, especially for two-jet events. Specifically, a study is made of the preference for either the positive, or negative, charged member of the pair to be nearer in rapidity to the particle containing the primary quark rather than primary antiquark, see Figure 1.

To study the rapidity-alignment of particle pairs it is necessary to determine the directions of the primary quark and antiquark. Advantage is taken of the fact that a primary $`s\overline{s}`$initiated event will frequently hadronize yielding a high momentum $`K^+`$and $`K^{}`$. An effective tagging of the directions of the primary quark ($`s`$) and the antiquark ($`\overline{s}`$) is achieved by selecting events where the highest momentum particle in each hemisphere, defined by ‘thrust’, is a charged kaon (a $`K^{}`$in one hemisphere, and a $`K^+`$in the other).

The data selected for this study are those tagged events (i.e., where the leading particle in each hemisphere is a kaon) that contain either an additional $`K^+K^{}`$pair (not the tagged pair), or a $`p\overline{p}`$pair. The restriction is made that events have only ‘one $`K^+`$and one $`K^{}`$’ (not including the tagged $`K`$’s), or only ‘one $`p`$and one $`\overline{p}`$ ’ in a given hemisphere. Hemispheres are defined, one for positive $`y`$ and one for negative $`y`$, with respect to the thrust direction. Each hemisphere is considered independently. Essentially no events had additional $`K^+K^{}`$or $`p\overline{p}`$pairs in both hemispheres. For the $`K^+K^{}`$events the combined-probability tag for particle identification is required to be at the ‘standard’ level, see Ref . Because of reduced statistics, the combined-probability tag for $`p\overline{p}`$events was taken at the ‘loose’ level. In each case, these respective levels also apply to the primary quark kaon tags. This selection yields 1250 events for $`K^+K^{}`$, and 835 events for $`p\overline{p}`$.

The same procedure was used on Monte Carlo events from Jetset. Standard DELPHI detector simulation along with charged particle reconstruction and hadronic event selection are applied to the events from Jetset with parameters tuned as in reference . The number of selected Monte Carlo events for $`K^+K^{}`$($`p\overline{p}`$) was found to be 1.02 (1.27) times that of the data, for equal luminosity. The difference in $`p\overline{p}`$between data and Monte Carlo may result from some deficiency in the fragmentation properties of the model.

A study of events from Jetset including detector simulation determined the purity for the $`K^+K^{}`$tagged events with an additional $`K^+K^{}`$or $`p\overline{p}`$pair to be $``$ 45% and $``$ 35%, respectively. The event detection efficiency for events with $`K^+K^{}`$or $`p\overline{p}`$pairs is $``$ 7% and $``$ 12%, respectively, resulting from the requirement to identify four particles (K’s or p’s) in each event. These values are nearly constant over the range of the analysis variable $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{y}`$defined later. The purity is computed from the ratio of Jetset events detected and congruous with a generated event, to the total number of events detected. The efficiency is obtained from the ratio of Jetset events detected to the total number of events generated.

The distributions of primary-quark flavour, for the events that are tagged, are shown in Figure 2 for Jetset and Herwig by the solid and open circles, respectively. A background subtraction of like-sign pairs has been applied to account for uncorrelated kaon or baryon pairs. As seen, the $`s\overline{s}`$contribution is enhanced for both the $`K^+K^{}`$and $`p\overline{p}`$events. It is also possible for $`c\overline{c}`$primary quarks to generate rapidity alignment. This results from the production of $`D^0`$\[$`D^+`$\] mesons from the $`c`$ quark, which strongly favour decays to $`K^{}`$rather than $`K^+`$; the opposite occurs for the $`\overline{c}`$. The $`b\overline{b}`$primary quarks also produce an effect though through a longer chain from $`B`$ meson to $`D`$ meson to kaon.

The operational definition of rapidity-alignment is given as follows. For a $`K^+K^{}`$pair to be in rapidity-rank order, the $`K^+`$of the pair should be nearer in the rapidity chain to the tagged $`K^{}`$. Equivalently, the $`K^{}`$from the pair should be nearer to the tagged $`K^+`$. This is depicted in Figure 1, assuming a correspondence between string-rank and rapidity-rank order. Similarly, for a $`p\overline{p}`$pair the $`p`$of the pair should be nearer in rapidity to the tagged $`K^{}`$; and the $`\overline{p}`$from the pair nearer to the tagged $`K^+`$.

Since particle pairs with small rapidity difference between them have a high probability to have ‘crossed-over’ (reversed rank), this study is performed as a function of the absolute rapidity difference between the two particles of the pair, $`\mathrm{\Delta }y=\left|y^+y^{}\right|`$, where $`y^+`$ ($`y^{}`$) are the rapidities of the positive (negative) members of the pair. Rapidity-rank cross-overs can result from resonance/cluster decays, hard gluon production and $`p_T`$effects.

The rapidity-alignment variable, $`𝒫`$, for $`K^+K^{}`$and for $`p\overline{p}`$pairs is defined as follows,

$$𝒫\left(\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{y}\right)=\left(N_{in}N_{out}\right)/\left(N_{in}+N_{out}\right),$$
$`\left(1\right)`$
where $`N_{in}`$and $`N_{out}`$are defined as the number of particle pairs with their charges in and out of rapidity-rank order, and are implicitly a function of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{y}`$. In Figures 3 and 4, the calculation is given as an integral over $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{y}`$; that is, all pairs with $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{y}`$greater than a given (abscissa) value are plotted. In the absence of rapidity-alignment $`N_{in}`$and $`N_{out}`$should be equal, within statistics, for all $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{y}`$.

The uncorrected values of $`𝒫\left(\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{y}\right)`$for $`K^+K^{}`$and $`p\overline{p}`$pairs are displayed in Figures 3(a) and (b), respectively. The data, shown by the solid circles, for both $`K^+K^{}`$and $`p\overline{p}`$exhibit a definite rapidity-alignment which increases with $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{y}`$. The predictions from Jetset, shown by the open circles, are in good agreement with the data. Herwig predictions incorporating detector simulation with misidentifications were not available for a comparison to the uncorrected values.

A correction has been applied to the values of $`𝒫\left(\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{y}\right)`$for the data to account for particle misidentifications and uncorrelated kaon or baryon pairs. This is achieved by a background subtraction of like-sign kaon or baryon pairs. The like-sign pairs provide a direct measure of the background which would be contained in the $`K^+K^{}`$and $`p\overline{p}`$pairs. Since misidentifications or uncorrelated pairs would not favour a rank ordering, the background represented by one half of the like-sign pairs is subtracted from both in and out of order pairs equally. The corrected values of $`𝒫\left(\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{y}\right)`$for $`K^+K^{}`$and $`p\overline{p}`$pairs are displayed in Figures 4(a) and (b), respectively. The data, shown by the solid circles, now display a stronger rapidity-alignment with values approaching 1.0 for large $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{y}`$. However, larger errors result from the subtraction procedure.

For the study that incorporates corrections for misidentifications, the model predictions from Jetset and Herwig are taken from the generation level with momentum and angle cuts as were applied to the data. For Jetset the predictions are in agreement with those obtained from the detector simulation version which allows for misidentifications. The predictions from the string-model (Jetset) shown by the open circles are in agreement with both the $`K^+K^{}`$and $`p\overline{p}`$data. The cluster-model (Herwig) predictions, shown by open squares, also give agreement with the $`K^+K^{}`$data. However, Herwig predicts no alignment for the $`p\overline{p}`$case. This occurs because baryon anti-baryon pairs are produced jointly from individual isotropically-decaying clusters, see Ref . The ‘detected’ $`p\overline{p}`$pairs cannot be rapidity aligned, whether they originate from the same cluster or from different clusters. It was found that 70% of detected $`p\overline{p}`$pairs come from the same cluster.

The Herwig program is customarily employed in the ‘standard’ mode that does not include the non-perturbative process of splitting gluons into diquark anti-diquark pairs, see Ref . If the gluon-to-diquarks process were allowed, rapidity-aligned $`p\overline{p}`$pairs could be produced. The diquark and anti-diquark would separately adjoin into adjacent clusters which are rank ordered. In this case, a proton produced from the diquark, and an anti-proton produced from the anti-diquark would be rank ordered since they do not originate from the same cluster as in the case of standard Herwig. The rank ordering then allows the pairs to be rapidity-aligned. Herwig has a provision for this process, which is controlled by a scale and a rate parameter. The scale parameter sets the maximum four-quark mass sum, see below; and the rate parameter is a measure of the amplitude for the process. These parameters are normally set to the default values which suppress the non-perturbative process; the default rate parameter for this process is zero.

To attempt to reproduce the data with Herwig, the scale parameter for the gluon-to-diquarks process was set to 1.9, to include light diquarks (below the four (s) threshold). The rate parameter was set to the value 10.0, which produces a sufficient rapidity-alignment. The prediction, for these parameter values, is shown by the open triangles in Figure 4(b). The agreement with the data in this case is satisfactory. This new parameter setting, however, causes the predicted baryon multiplicity to increase, and to be inconsistent with the data. This problem can be mitigated by reducing the value of the a priori weight-parameter, for the splitting of clusters to baryons, to $``$ 0.25, from the tuned value of 0.74, Ref . The a priori hypothesized default value is 1.0.

For completeness, the potential rapidity-alignment of $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$pairs is also examined. In this case, the large pion multiplicity with a string-like alternating charge structure should preclude $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$pairs from having any substantial rapidity-alignment, see Ref . Each $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$combination in a given event is included in the calculation of $`𝒫\left(\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{y}\right)`$. Predominant pion production with normal occurrence of like-sign pion pairs makes background subtraction incongruous in this case. The subtraction technique used for $`K^+K^{}`$and $`p\overline{p}`$pairs to correct for particle misidentifications is not necessary for like-sign pion pairs since misidentifications are not their primary source. For charged pion identification the combined-probability tag is set at the ‘standard’ level. The values of $`𝒫\left(\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{y}\right)`$for the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$data, shown by the solid circles, are included in Figure 4(a). The rapidity-alignment is quite small, as compared to that from $`K^+K^{}`$and $`p\overline{p}`$. The small, but finite, rapidity-alignment indicates an incomplete cancellation of in and out of order $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$pairs expected from a string-like alternating charge structure. The predictions from Jetset and Herwig, shown by the open circles and open squares, respectively, are in qualitative agreement with the data.

## 4 $`𝐩_𝑻`$ Compensation of $`𝝅^\mathbf{+}𝝅^{\mathbf{}}`$, $`𝑲^\mathbf{+}𝑲^{\mathbf{}}`$and $`𝒑\overline{𝒑}`$Pairs

The mechanism of local $`p_T`$conservation (i.e., compensation) can be studied from correlations in $`p_T`$between particles which are adjacent or nearby in rapidity. The azimuthal-angle difference between particles, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$, measured in the $`p_T`$ -plane, where $`p_T`$is transverse to the thrust direction, is the variable used in this analysis. The tagging procedure used for the rapidity-alignment analysis is not employed here.

According to the string and cluster models, $`p_T`$correlations should be stronger for oppositely-charged like-particle pairs. In the case of the string model, this can be understood from examination of Figure 1, where adjacent hadrons share quarks from a single ‘breakup’ vertex. For cluster models, $`p_T`$correlations can also be expected, for example, from the fact that clusters frequently decay into like-particle pairs.

The particle pairs $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$, $`K^+K^{}`$, and $`p\overline{p}`$, determined with the particle identification combined-probability tag at the ‘standard’ level, are used in this study . The requirement is made that the absolute relative difference in $`p_T`$between the two particles, $`\left|p_T^+p_T^{}\right|/.5\left(p_T^++p_T^{}\right)`$, be less than 0.1. In this formula $`p_T`$is treated as a scalar. In addition, the thrust value for the event is required to be greater than 0.95 for the events with $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$and $`K^+K^{}`$pairs, and, because of reduced statistics, greater than 0.9 for the $`p\overline{p}`$case. These stringent conditions provide better definition of $`p_T`$with respect to the initial $`q\overline{q}`$direction, and thus more sensitivity to differences between the string and cluster models. Also, for the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$pairs, the particles are required to be adjacent in rapidity (rapidity-ranks differ by one unit). For the $`K^+K^{}`$pairs, the rapidity-ranks are allowed to differ by two units in order to increase statistics. For the $`p\overline{p}`$pairs, this condition is not applied because of reduced statistics.

The uncorrected distributions of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$are shown in Figures 5(a), (b), and (c) for $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$, $`K^+K^{}`$, and $`p\overline{p}`$pairs, respectively. The data are represented by the solid circles. The string and cluster model predictions, from Jetset and standard Herwig, are shown by the ‘dashed’ and ‘dot-dashed’ lines, respectively. Error bars for Jetset (open circles) and Herwig (open squares) are shown for selected points. The Jetset errors are statistical. Since Herwig did not give good agreement with the data, systematic errors were evaluated by varying the parameters from Herwig according to the fit results of reference . Only the cluster-mass cutoff parameter had a significant effect on the $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$distribution.

In all three cases, the Jetset predictions give significantly better agreement with the data than does Herwig. However, Jetset does not predict quite enough peaking at $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi =0^{}`$ for the $`K^+K^{}`$and $`p\overline{p}`$pairs. It should be mentioned that although Jetset contains $`p_T`$conservation in each string breakup, it does not take into account local $`p_T`$compensation between neighbouring vertices, see Ref .

A clear disagreement occurs for the model Herwig which predicts a stronger peaking of the distribution at $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi =180^{}`$, for all three cases, as compared to the data. This comes about because the clusters decay predominantly into two particles which emerge back-to-back in $`p_T`$, for clusters with small initial $`p_T`$. This ‘limitation’ of the Herwig model design arises from the assumption of isotropically-decaying clusters which is basic to the model.

For comparison to the $`p\overline{p}`$data one might expect better agreement from the Herwig model which incorporates the gluon-to-diquarks process. The prediction, for this case, is shown by the ‘dotted’ line in Figure 5(c), with error bars and open triangles for selected points. As seen there is significant improvement in the Herwig prediction, however it still fails to give an adequate description.

## 5 Conclusions

The rapidity-alignment of $`K^+K^{}`$and $`p\overline{p}`$pairs resulting from their asymmetric orientation in rapidity, with respect to the direction from primary quark to antiquark, is observed. The Jetset string model agrees well with both the $`K^+K^{}`$and $`p\overline{p}`$data. The Herwig cluster model agrees with the $`K^+K^{}`$data; however, agreement for the $`p\overline{p}`$case can be achieved only if the non-perturbative process gluon-to-diquarks is implemented. In this case, the predicted baryon production is greatly increased. Inauspiciously, in order to obtain agreement with the data, it is essential to reduce the a priori weight-parameter (hypothesized value 1.0) for splitting a cluster to form baryons to $`0.25`$.

Particle pair correlations in $`p_T`$are in much better agreement with Jetset than with Herwig. Herwig fails to describe the $`p_T`$correlations for all cases, $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$, $`K^+K^{}`$, and $`p\overline{p}`$because of the mechanism of isotropically-decaying clusters inherent in the model.

### Acknowledgements

We are greatly indebted to our technical collaborators, to the members of the CERN-SL Division for the excellent performance of the LEP collider, and to the funding agencies for their support in building and operating the DELPHI detector.
We acknowledge in particular the support of
Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Traffics, GZ 616.364/2-III/2a/98,
FNRS–FWO, Belgium,
FINEP, CNPq, CAPES, FUJB and FAPERJ, Brazil,
Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade, GA CR 202/99/1362,
Commission of the European Communities (DG XII),
Direction des Sciences de la Mati$`\stackrel{`}{\text{e}}`$re, CEA, France,
Bundesministerium f$`\ddot{\text{u}}`$r Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie, Germany,
General Secretariat for Research and Technology, Greece,
National Science Foundation (NWO) and Foundation for Research on Matter (FOM), The Netherlands,
Norwegian Research Council,
State Committee for Scientific Research, Poland, 2P03B06015, 2P03B1116 and SPUB/P03/178/98,
JNICT–Junta Nacional de Investigação Científica e Tecnol$`\stackrel{´}{\text{o}}`$gica, Portugal,
Vedecka grantova agentura MS SR, Slovakia, Nr. 95/5195/134,
Ministry of Science and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia,
CICYT, Spain, AEN96–1661 and AEN96-1681,
The Swedish Natural Science Research Council,
Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, UK,
Department of Energy, USA, DE–FG02–94ER40817.


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# In-plane anisotropy on the transport properties in the modulated Bi2O2-based conductors Bi-2212 and Bi-Sr-Co-O

## I Introduction

Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (Bi-2212) and Bi2Sr2Co2Ox (BiCo) commonly have a Bi2O2 block layer, in which the lattice is modulated by the excess oxygen. Although these two materials have a similar crystal structure of alternating stacks of the Bi2O2 layer and the CuO2 / CoO2 layer, they show quite different physical properties; Bi-2212 is known as a high-temperature superconductor, while BiCo is known as a thermoelectric material terra1 . High resolution transmission electron microscope studies of the Bi-based superconductors (including Bi-2212) have clarified that they have strongly modulated structure along $`b`$-axis and that modulation periodicity is reported about 4.8$`b`$ for Pb-free Bi-2212 matsui1 . This modulated structure disappears in Pb-doped Bi-2212 matsui2 . BiCo was first thought as having a structure isomorphic to that of Bi-2212. However, it turned out to have a misfit layer structure along the $`b`$ axis, which consists of alternating stacks of the rock-salt Bi2O2 layers and the hexagonal CoO2 layers raveau . The modulation structure also exists in the pure BiCo although its direction is tilted by 45 from $`a`$\- and $`b`$-axes in contrast with Bi-2212. Since the CuO2 and CoO2 layers are responsible for electric conduction, it is interesting how the electric properties are affected by the modulation and the misfit structure. Here, we report on the in-plane anisotropy on the resistivity and thermopower of the two compounds.

## II Experimental

Superconducting compound Bi-2212 with Bi:Sr=2.2:1.8 and thermoelectric material Pb-free and 20% Pb-doped BiCo (Bi1.6Pb0.4Sr2Co2Ox) were used in this study. Single crystals of Bi-2212 and BiCo was grown by a traveling solvent floating zone method. Starting composition of Bi-2212 and BiCo was Bi2.2Sr1.8CaCu2O8+δ and (Bi,Pb)2Sr2Co2Ox respectively. The growth velocity was adopted to be 0.5mm/h, and the growth atmosphere was a mixed gas flow of O2 (20%) and Ar (80%). Structural analysis for BiCo was performed by using 4-axis X-ray diffractmater (MAC Science MXC) and transmission electron microscope (JEOL JEM-100CX). Pb-doped BiCo was found to monoclinic symmetry with lattice parameter of a=4.91$`\AA `$, b=5.22$`\AA `$, c=29.98$`\AA `$, $`\alpha `$ and $`\gamma `$90.0, $`\beta `$92.4. In TEM diffraction patterns, we clearly observed a rock-salt diffraction pattern from the BiO layer and a hexagonal diffraction pattern from the CoO2 layer as was previously reported in ref. yamamoto . The Montgomery method was adopted to measure the in-plane resistivity of Bi-2212 because they show rather small anisotropy between the $`a`$\- and $`b`$-axes. On the other hand, the resistivity of BiCo was measured using a standard four probe method, where the current contacts were carefully mounted on the side surface ($`ac`$\- or $`bc`$-surface) so that current density should be homogeneous everywhere in the sample. The thermopower was measured using a steady-state technique from 4.2 to 300K.

## III Results and discussion

### III.1 Anisotropy in Bi-2212

Figure 1 shows the temperature dependence of the $`a`$\- and $`b`$\- axis resitstivities ($`\rho _a`$ and $`\rho _b`$) for various doping levels. The magnitudes and the slopes $`d\rho `$/$`dT`$ monotonically decrease with increasing oxygen contents $`\delta `$, indicating that the carriers are actually doped with increasing $`\delta `$ watanabe . $`\rho _b`$ is higher than $`\rho _a`$, where $`\rho _b`$ is roughly expressed as a sum of $`\rho _a`$ and a T-independent residual resistivity ($`\rho _0`$) at high temperature. An underdoped sample shows a typical downward deviation from high temperature $`T`$-linear behavior below a characteristic temperature $`T^{}`$, which implies pseudogap formation. In Fig. 2 (a), we show the magnitudes of the deviation from $`T`$-linear extrapolation ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _a`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _b`$) for oxygen content $`\delta `$0.23, and 0.25. As seen in Fig. 2(a), $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _a`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _b`$ deviate each other below the pseudogap temperature $`T^{}`$, indicating that the decrease of $`\rho _b`$ is more rapid than that of $`\rho _a`$. Although $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _a`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _b`$ are anisotropic in the form of resistivity, there is no in-plane anisotropy in the deviation in conductivity ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\sigma `$=$`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho `$/$`\rho ^2`$) as seen in Fig. 2(b).

Figure 3 shows the temperature dependence of the thermopower in various doping levels measured along the $`a`$\- and $`b`$\- axes. The magnitude of the thermopower decreases with increasing $`\delta `$, also indicating that the excess oxygen causes the carrier doping. Typical negative slope at high temperature was observed in all the doping levels. In contrast with the in-plane resistivities, there is no anisotropy in the thermopower within our experimental error of 10%.

These results suggest that the modulation structure along the b-axis works as an anisotropic scattering center above $`T^{}`$, but does not affect the pseudogap value. In principle, thermopower does not attribute to the scattering rate. In YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) case, since the CuO chain also attributes to the electron conduction, there exists large anisotropy in the normal-state resistivity. In superconducting state, angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurement reported a significant ($`50\%`$) difference in the gap magnitude between $`X`$ and $`Y`$ point shen . However, this kind of gap anisotropy has not been reported in ARPES measurement for Bi-2212. In the superconducting state in the Bi-2212, optical conductivity shows an upturn behavior at low frequencies for the $`b`$-axis polarization that is not present in the $`a`$-axis polarization MAQ . This upturn behavior is very simlarly seen in the optical conductivity of Zn doped YBCO tajima . This indicates the presence of low-lying excitations along the $`b`$-axis, perhaps due to an additional scattering caused by the modulation structure. Thus, an anisotropy in the scattering rate exists not only in the normal state but also in the superconducting state.

### III.2 Anisotropy in BiCo

Figure 4 shows the temperature dependence of the resistivities for the $`a`$\- and $`b`$-axis directions. Pb-doped BiCo exhibits lower resistivities than Pb-free BiCo, suggesting that carrier is doped through the substitution of divalent Pb2+ for trivalent Bi3+. As for the Pb-free sample$`,\rho _a`$ and $`\rho _b`$ exhibit metallic behavior near room temperature and insulating behavior below 50K and the in-plane anisotropy is relatively small. On the other hand, the Pb-doped sample shows a significant anisotropy at low temperature; $`\rho _a`$ remains metallic down to 4.2K, whereas $`\rho _b`$ shows an upturn near 50K.

Figure 5 shows the temperature dependence of the $`a`$\- and $`b`$-axis thermopower for the Pb-free and Pb-doped samples. In contrast with Bi-2212, they exhibit a large anisotropy, where the $`b`$-axis thermopower is about two times larger than the $`a`$-axis thermopower around 50K. At room temperature, the $`a`$-axis thermopower is larger than the $`b`$-axis thermopower by about 10$`\mu `$V/K. Temperature independent thermopower at high temperature is often explained in terms of an entropy per site (the Heikes formula) koshibae , which is in principal isotropic. Thus the Heikes formula is unlikely to be applicable to the thermopower of BiCo. The large anisotropy in the Pb-doped sample would come from the misfit structure along the $`b`$-axis. On the other hand, in the case of the resistivities of the Pb-free sample, anisotropy would be averaged by the modulation structure, whose direction is tilted by 45 from the $`a`$\- and $`b`$-axes. It was pointed out that the physical properties of the layered cobalt oxides resemble those of the Ce-based compounds terra2 . The thermopower of CeCu2Ge2 increases with increasing pressure. In the Ce-based compound, pressure shrinks the lattice to increase the hybridization between the Ce 4$`f`$ state and the conduction band. The large thermopower of BiCo would be also attributed to the increase of hybridization, which comes from chemical pressure due to the misfit structure.

## IV Conclusion

In conclusion, we investigated the in-plane anisotropy on the resistivity and thermopower of the Bi-2212 and Bi-Sr-Co-O. We found in Bi-2212 that the modulation structure causes the residual resistivity on $`\rho _b`$ as $`\rho _b`$=$`\rho _a`$+$`\rho _0`$. However, it does not affect the pseudogap formation and the thermopower. In the case of Pure BiCo, the in-plane anisotropy of the resistivity is averaged by the modulation structure, whose direction is tilted by 45 from the $`a`$\- and $`b`$-axes. On the other hand, the misfit structure makes the resistivities and thermopowers of BiCo anisotropic. The large anisotropy of BiCo would be attributed to the chemical pressure due to the misfit structure.


text:
# HIGHER DIMENSIONAL METRICS OF COLLIDING GRAVITATIONAL PLANE WAVES

## I INTRODUCTION

One of the main fields of interest in general relativity is the collision of gravitational plane waves. The structure of the field equations, physical and geometrical interpretations, and various solution-generating techniques have been described in gri . Khan-Penrose kp  and Szekeres szk  have found exact solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations describing the collision of impulsive and shock plane waves with collinear polarizations. Nutku-Halil nh  generalized the Khan-Penrose metric to the case of non-collinear polarizations. Later several authors have studied exact solutions of the Einstein-vacuum and Einstein-Maxwell equations, describing the collision of the gravitational and electromagnetic plane waves. In general relativity, various techniques are known for generating different solutions of vacuum and electrovacuum Einstein field equations krm . In this context recently various new solution-generating techniques have been given for vacuum and electrovacuum cases alx ; alx1 . In the low energy limit of string theory the colliding gravitational plane waves and some exact solutions are given in gur ; gar . Also a formulation of the colliding gravitational plane waves in metric-affine theories is given in gar1 . In connection with string theory colliding gravitational plane waves were studied in das \- Bo .

Recently, motivated by the results obtained in gur1 ; gur2 , we showed that starting from a Ricci flat metric of a four-dimensional geometry admitting two Killing vector fields it is possible to generate a whole class $`2N=2+2n`$-dimensional Ricci flat metrics gur3 . As an explicit example we constructed higher even dimensional metrics of colliding gravitational waves from the corresponding four dimensional vacuum Szekeres metrics.

In this paper we give a full construction of higher even dimensional colliding gravitational plane waves with the combinations of collinear and non-collinear polarized four-dimensional metrics . In particular, we show that there is no higher even dimensional solution for the Nutku-Halil solution. The singularity structure of this higher dimensional solutions is also examined by using the curvature invariant.

## II HIGHER DIMENSIONAL COLLIDING GRAVITATIONAL PLANE WAVE GEOMETRIES

In gur3  we have studied some Ricci flat geometries with an arbitrary signature. We presented a procedure to construct solutions to some higher even dimensional Ricci flat metrics. According to our theorem stated in gur3 , if the metric functions $`𝒰(x^a),h_{oi}(x^a)`$, and $`_i(x^a)`$ , for each $`i=1,2,\mathrm{},n`$, form a solution to the four dimensional vacuum field equations for the metric

$$ds^2=e^_i\eta _{ab}dx^adx^b+e^𝒰(h_{0i})_{ab}dy^ady^b,$$
(1)
where $`\eta _{ab}`$ is the metric of the flat 2-geometry with an arbitrary signature ($`0`$ or $`\pm 2`$), then the metric of the $`2N=2+2n`$ dimensional geometry defined below

$$ds^2=e^M\eta _{ab}dx^adx^b+\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}ϵ_ie^{u_i}(h_{0i})_{ab}dy_i^ady_i^b,$$
(2)
solves the vacuum equations, where $`ϵ_i=\pm 1`$, $`M=\overline{M}+\stackrel{~}{M}`$, $`\stackrel{~}{M}=_{i=1}^n_i`$ . $`\overline{M}`$ solves

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(_\eta ^2\overline{M})\eta _{ab}+(n1)𝒰_{,ab}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}[\overline{M}_{,a}𝒰_{,b}+\overline{M}_{,b}𝒰_{,a}`$
$`\overline{M}_{,d}𝒰_,^d\eta _{ab}]{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle }_{i=1}^n_au_i_bu_i+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}n_a𝒰_b𝒰=0,`$ (3)
and $`𝒰`$ and $`u_i`$ solve the following equations, respectively:

$`_a[\eta ^{ab}e^𝒰_b𝒰]=0,`$ (4)
$`_\eta ^2u_i+\eta ^{ab}𝒰_{,a}u_{i,b}=0.`$ (5)
Here the local coordinates of the ($`2n+2`$) dimensional geometry are given by $`x^\alpha =(x^a,y_1^a,y_2^a,\mathrm{},y_n^a)`$. Given any four-dimensional metric of colliding vacuum gravitational plane wave geometry we have their extensions to higher dimensions for arbitrary $`2N`$ without solving further differential equations. In particular, taking $`u_i=m_i𝒰`$, where $`m_i(i=1,2,\mathrm{},n)`$ are real constants satisfying

$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}m_i=1,\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}(m_i)^2=m^2,$$
(6)
and the signature of flat-space metric with null coordinates is

$$\eta =\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 1\\ 1& 0\end{array}\right),x^1=u,x^2=v,$$

then the solutions to the Eqs. (3) and (4) are found to be

$`e^M`$ $`=`$ $`(f_ug_v)^{n+1}(f+g)^{\frac{m^2+n2}{2}}e^{_{i=1}^n_i},`$ (7)
$`e^𝒰`$ $`=`$ $`f(u)+g(v),`$ (8)
where $`f`$ and $`g`$ are arbitrary functions of their arguments and Eq. (4) is automatically satisfied as a result of Eq. (8). Therefore, the above exact solutions describe the collision of gravitational waves for arbitrary $`n>1`$.

In gur3  we found a family of solutions when the four dimensional metrics are the Szekeres metrics szk  (collinear four dimensional metrics). In the next section we generalize this solution by adding non-collinear metrics to the Szekeres metrics. We also show that, in our formalism, there is no higher dimensional metric constructed by the non-collinear four dimensional metric alone.

## III HIGHER DIMENSIONAL VACUUM SOLUTIONS

We take the following metric as the metric describing a plane wave geometry in $`2N`$ dimensions.

$`ds^2`$ $`=`$ $`2e^Mdudv`$
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{n_a}{}}}(f+g)^{m_j}{\displaystyle \frac{|(1E_j)dx_j+i(1+E_j)dy_j)|^2}{1E_j\overline{E}_j}}`$ (9)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{j=n_a+1}{\overset{n}{}}}(f+g)^{m_j}(e^{V_j}dx_j^2+e^{V_j}dy_j^2),`$
where the complex functions $`E_i`$ (non-collinear case) and the real functions $`V_i`$ (collinear case) satisfy the Ernst and Euler-Poisson-Darboux equations, respectively,

$`(1E_i\overline{E}_i)\left[2(f+g)E_{i,fg}+E_{i,f}+E_{i,g}\right]`$ (10)
$`=`$ $`4(f+g)\overline{E}_iE_{i,f}E_{i,g},i=1,2,\mathrm{},n_a,`$
$$2(f+g)V_{i,fg}=V_{i,f}V_{i,g},i=1,2,\mathrm{},nn_a,$$
(11)
with the following solutions:

$$E_i=e^{i\alpha _i}(\frac{1}{2}f)^{1/2}(\frac{1}{2}+g)^{1/2}+e^{i\beta _i}(\frac{1}{2}+f)^{1/2}(\frac{1}{2}g)^{1/2},$$
(12)
$$V_i=2k_i\mathrm{tanh}^1\left(\frac{\frac{1}{2}f}{\frac{1}{2}+g}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}2\mathrm{}_i\mathrm{tanh}^1\left(\frac{\frac{1}{2}g}{\frac{1}{2}+f}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}},$$
(13)
where $`\alpha _i`$, $`\beta _i`$, $`k_i`$, and $`\mathrm{}_i`$ are arbitrary constants and there is no sum on $`i`$ in Eq. (10). The metric function $`M`$ given in (9) is

$`e^M`$ $`=`$ $`(f_ug_v)^{n+1}(f+g)^{\frac{m^2+n2}{2}}`$ (14)
$`\times e^{_{i=1}^{n_a}_i^{(\text{1})}}e^{_{i=n_a+1}^n_i^{(\text{2})}},`$
where the metric functions $`_i^{(\text{1})}`$ and $`_i^{(\text{2})}`$ are, respectively,

$`e^{_i^{(\text{1})}}={\displaystyle \frac{f_ug_v[\gamma _i^2(f+g)^2+2(\gamma _i^24)(1+4fg)fg+\frac{\gamma _i^2}{4}1]}{(f+g)[(1+4fg)+2\gamma _i(\frac{1}{4}f^2)^{1/2}(\frac{1}{4}g^2)^{1/2}](\frac{1}{4}f^2)^{1/2}(\frac{1}{4}g^2)^{1/2}d_i}},`$ (15)
$`e^{_i^{(\text{2})}}={\displaystyle \frac{c_if_ug_v(f+g)^{\frac{\tau _i}{2}}}{(\frac{1}{2}f)^{k_i^2/2}(\frac{1}{2}g)^{\mathrm{}_i^2/2}(\frac{1}{2}+f)^{\mathrm{}_i^2/2}(\frac{1}{2}+g)^{k_i^2/2}[(\frac{1}{2}f)^{1/2}(\frac{1}{2}g)^{1/2}+(\frac{1}{2}+f)^{1/2}(\frac{1}{2}+g)^{1/2}]^{2k_i\mathrm{}_i}}},`$ (16)
where $`\gamma _i=2\mathrm{cos}(\alpha _i\beta _i)`$, $`\tau _i=k_i^2+\mathrm{}_i^2+2k_i\mathrm{}_i1`$, and $`d_i`$, $`c_i`$ are constants.

The metric function $`e^M`$ must be continuous across the null boundaries. To make it so we define

$$k^2\underset{i=1}{\overset{nn_a}{}}k_i^2,\mathrm{}^2\underset{i=1}{\overset{nn_a}{}}\mathrm{}_i^2,s\underset{i=1}{\overset{nn_a}{}}k_i\mathrm{}_i,$$
(17)
and we assume that the functions $`f`$ and $`g`$ take the form

$$f=\frac{1}{2}(e_1u)^{n_1},g=\frac{1}{2}(e_2v)^{n_2},$$
(18)
where $`e_1,e_2`$, $`n_12,n_22`$ are real constants. Then the metric function $`e^M`$ is continuous across the boundaries if

$$k^2+n_a=2(1\frac{1}{n_1}),\mathrm{}^2+n_a=2(1\frac{1}{n_2})$$
(19)
with

$$1k^2<2,1\mathrm{}^2<2.$$
(20)
Therefore, the metric function $`e^M`$ reads

$$e^M=\frac{(f+g)^{\frac{\sigma }{2}}}{(\frac{1}{2}+f)^{(n_a+\mathrm{}^2)/2}(\frac{1}{2}+g)^{(n_a+k^2)/2}}[(\frac{1}{(\frac{1}{2}f)^{1/2}(\frac{1}{2}g)^{1/2}+(\frac{1}{2}+f)^{1/2}(\frac{1}{2}+g)^{1/2}})^{2s}]e^\mathrm{\Gamma },$$
(21)
where

$$e^\mathrm{\Gamma }=\mathrm{\Pi }_{i=1}^{n_a}\frac{\gamma _i^2(f+g)^22(\gamma _i^24)(1+4fg)fg\frac{\gamma _i^2}{4}+1}{(1+4fg)+2\gamma _i(\frac{1}{4}f^2)^{1/2}(\frac{1}{4}g^2)^{1/2}}$$

and $`\sigma =m^2+nn_a+k^2+\mathrm{}^2+2s3`$. We may set

$$2e_1e_2n_1n_2\mathrm{\Pi }_{i=1}^{nn_a}c_i=\mathrm{\Pi }_{i=1}^{n_a}d_i.$$
(22)
When we consider only the non-collinear case where $`n_a=n`$ and $`k^2=\mathrm{}^2=s=0`$, conditions in Eq. (19) imply $`n_1=n_2`$. Then Eqs. (19) and (20) reduce to

$$n=2(1\frac{1}{n_1}),$$
(23)
where $`n_12`$ and $`n`$ is a positive integer. The only possible solution is $`n=1`$, $`n_1=2`$ which corresponds to the Nutku-Halil solution. Hence if we take all $`E_i`$ as the Nutku-Halil metric functions it is not possible to find an appropriate metric function $`M`$ which is continuous across the null boundaries for $`n>1`$. This is the reason why one has to take the higher dimensional metric as the combinations of collinear and non-collinear polarizations.

### III.1 Singularity structure

We now discuss the nature of the space-time singularity. That is, we study the behavior of the metric function $`M`$ as $`f+g`$ tends to zero. For this purpose, using the result obtained in gur3  for the curvature invariant

$$I=R^{\mu \nu \alpha \beta }R_{\mu \nu \alpha \beta },$$
(24)
as

$$Ie^{2M}\frac{(f_ug_v)^2}{(f+g)^4},$$
(25)
we find

$$I(f_ug_v)^2(f+g)^\mu ,$$
(26)
as $`f+g0`$. Here $`\mu =k^2+\mathrm{}^2+m^2+2s+4n_a+2`$. For the four dimensional case ($`n=1`$) $`n_a=0`$ with $`k=\mathrm{}=s=1`$ and $`m^2=1`$ this corresponds to the singularity structure of the Khan-Penrose solution. $`n_a=1`$, $`k^2=\mathrm{}^2=s=0`$ and $`m^2=1`$ corresponds to the Nutku-Halil solution. It is known that both solutions have the same singularity structures. $`n_a=0`$, with $`k=k_1`$, $`\mathrm{}=\mathrm{}_1`$, and $`m^2=1`$ corresponds to the singularity structure of the Szekeres solution. The singularity structure in the higher dimensional spacetimes can be made weaker or stronger than the four dimensional cases by choosing the constants $`m_i,k_i`$, and $`\mathrm{}_i`$ properly.

## IV conclusion

In this work we gave a higher even dimensional generalization of vacuum colliding gravitational plane waves with the combinations of collinear and non-collinear polarizations. We also discussed the singularity structure of the corresponding spacetimes, and showed that the strength of the singularity depends on arbitrary parameters $`m_i`$. We also showed that it is not possible to construct the higher dimensional metric by non-collinear four dimensional metric functions $`E_i`$ (10) alone. Einstein’s equations and continuity conditions force us to superpose the collinear and non-collinear metric functions.

###### Acknowledgements.

This work is partially supported by the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and by Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA).