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# FRACTAL EVOLUTION OF NORMALIZED FEEDBACK SYSTEMS ON A LATTICE

## 1 Introduction

The study of spatiotemporal patterns in dynamical systems has brought some general insights into the mechanisms of pattern generation and evolution. Applications exist not only for physical or chemical systems exhibiting chaotic behaviour  but also for models of biological networks .

Above all, it has turned out that the systems descriptions via discrete maps help to avoid complications arising from the analysis of integro-differential equations . One important tool for model building is the use of coupled-map lattices, either with global couplings as in , i.e.

$$x(t+1,j)=(1\zeta )f(x(t,j))+\frac{\zeta }{N}\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}f(x(t,i)),j=1,\mathrm{},N,$$
(1)
where $`t`$ denotes a discrete time step, $`j`$ the index of elements of a one-dimensional array and $`\zeta `$ the coupling constant, or with local couplings permitting only nearest-neighbour interaction , i.e.

$$x(t+1,j)=(1\zeta )f(x(t,j))+\frac{\zeta }{2}\{f(x(t,j1))+f(x(t,j+1))\}j=1,\mathrm{},N.$$
(2)
The mapping function $`f(x)`$ is usually chosen as nonlinear function, e.g. $`f(x)=1ax^2`$. Thus the systems dynamics is governed by a diffusing part (tuned by $`\zeta `$) and a nonlinear transformation (tuned by $`a`$).

Another approach consists of the simulation of the systems’ evolutions by cellular automata , where time, space and the values of the state variables (sites) are discrete. As opposed to the coupled-map models, the source of complexity is the large number of degrees of freedom and not a nonlinear map.

In this paper we choose a different approach to complex pattern formation: we first consider the quantum mechanical analogue of Eq. (2), but with a linear mapping function. For the sake of probability conservation, a normalization procedure after each time step has to be introduced, which on one hand represents a source of nonlinearity. On the other hand, it implies a kind of nonlocal information spreading all over the array, similar to the global coupling in (1). This model was introduced as quantum cellular automaton (QCA) some years ago and it was also applied as discretized version of the Schrödinger equation .

In its most elementary form the evolution rule reads as

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(t,j)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{𝒩(t)}}\{\mathrm{\Psi }(t1,j)+i\delta \mathrm{\Psi }(t1,j1)+i\delta ^{}\mathrm{\Psi }(t1,j+1)\},\mathrm{\Psi },\delta 𝒞$$
(3)
with $`\delta `$ as coupling constant and $`𝒩`$ as normalization factor yielding

$$\begin{array}{c}\rho (t,j):=|\mathrm{\Psi }(t,j)|^2,\\ _{j=1}^N\rho (t,j)=1\text{for all}t.\end{array}$$
(4)
The normalized values $`\rho (t,j)`$ can be interpreted as probability densities for the chosen one-dimensional arrays and are used furtheron for presentation of the results. This system has been studied thoroughly . It exhibits the emergence of exactly predictable coherent large-scale patterns. In fact, the effect of the nonlinearity introduced by normalization is not strong enough to prevent an exact long-term prediction of its evolution.

Therefore, to increase the complexity, we provide the system with a memory in which the sites’ values of the last few hundred time steps are stored. If a specific feedback condition applied to each site is fulfilled for any site, the value of that particular site is enhanced. Then the array has to be normalized again. Thus the necessary conservation of probability is guaranteed by confining all possible (continuous) values of the sites within the domain $`[0,1]`$. Consequently, the arising patterns built by a group of nonvanishing sites in the spatiotemporal plane can be compared with each other, both when $`|\delta |<<1`$ and $`|\delta |>>1`$.

In the following, we shall focus on only one specific temporal feedback operation . It will be shown that the complexity of the systems’ behaviours increases considerably due to this second source of nonlinearity. We think that the arising features of self-organization can serve as canditates to understand, at least in principle, some aspects of neural activity, particulary in those domains where quantum theory would be necesssary to model neural interactions .

## 2 Fractal evolution

For the purpose of illustration, but without loss of generality, we choose the parameters of our model as follows. The systems variables for the “undisturbed” one-dimensional QCA (cf. Eq. (3)) are the size $`N`$ (i.e. the number of sites), the initial values of the state variables $`\mathrm{\Psi }(0,j)`$, and the mixing parameter $`\delta =|\delta |e^{i\varphi },\varphi `$. They are chosen as

$$\begin{array}{c}N=120\\ \mathrm{\Psi }(0,40)=0.1,\mathrm{\Psi }(0,60)=0.9,\mathrm{\Psi }(0,100)=0.3\\ \delta \delta _c(1+i)=0.02(1+i).\end{array}$$
(5)
The single feedback operation acts on the time coordinate, such that a kind of memory is introduced into the system. This operation becomes effective after $`t_{mem}`$ time steps. Accordingly, the memory of the system consists of an array of the size $`t_{mem}\times N`$ where the sites’ values are stored and cyclically shifted after each time step to keep the most recent values of the array. After having reached $`t_{mem}`$, at each time step $`t>t_{mem}`$ it is checked whether the normalized absolute value of each site of the array is similar to its value at the time $`tt_{mem}`$. The similarity check is done by asking whether the present value lies within a specific range of the past value. A “relative interval width” $`ϵ`$ is introduced as crucial control parameter of the model:

$$\left|\left|\frac{\mathrm{\Psi }(t,j)}{\mathrm{\Psi }(tt_{mem},j)}\right|1\right|<ϵ\text{for all}j,\text{and}t>t_{mem}$$
(6)
where $`ϵ`$ varies between $`0.0(=0\%)`$ and $`1.0(=100\%)`$.

If the condition (6) is fulfilled, the value of the site under consideration is amplified by setting it to $`A_{amp}>>1`$

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(t,j)_{enhanced}=A_{amp}.$$
(7)
Thereafter, the usual normalization procedure is applied.

Note that this kind of feedback operation simulates a selection process enhancing the values and, consequently, the further evolutions of those sites which fulfill the similarity condition. We expect that because of the simplicity of the basic model and the additional feedback operation some features of simple neuronal systems could be modelled, at least with respect to their principal dynamical structures (cf. ).

The parameters characterizing the feedback operation are chosen as

$$\begin{array}{c}t_{mem}=200\\ ϵ=0.041(=4.1\%)\\ A_{amp}=100.\end{array}$$
(8)
To have some background against which the arising patterns can be easily discerned a threshold value $`L_{low}`$ for the probability densities $`\rho (t,j)`$ is introduced. It both makes it possible to represent the patterns (consisting of sites with $`\rho (t,j)L_{low}`$) in appropriate plots or diagrams and to define a physical lower limit for the operational properties of the system which will be discussed in detail below. We choose

$$L_{low}=10^6.$$
(9)
In Fig. (1), the evolution of $`\rho (t,j)L_{low}`$ from time step $`t=800`$ to $`t=900`$ with the parameter sets of (5), (8), and (9) is displayed as density plot. The range of values of $`\rho `$ between $`L_{low}=10^6`$ and $`10^5`$ is indicated with different box sizes, whereas all values larger than $`10^5`$ are displayed with the maximal box size. Due to the temporal feedback operation the continuous evolution of the QCA as studied in Ref.  gets disturbed after $`t_{mem}`$. The arising fragments, operationally defined by a group of spatially and temporally connected sites whose values are larger than the chosen limit $`L_{low}`$, are rapidly distributed all over the plane, irrespective of the patterns’ locations due to the initial configuration. This feature can be understood in the following way: if a site fulfills the feedback condition, its value is strongly amplified relative to the neighbour’s values. Thus it represents a nucleus for further evolution. After a certain time, another site will fulfill the time loop condition and will be enhanced, whereas the previous evolution will be damped after normalization. This behaviour continues until the damping process due to the appearance of new nuclei leads to an extinction of the evolving pattern which now remains as a fragment in the density plot.

This behaviour indicates a certain correlation between $`ϵ`$ as measure for the probability of generating new nuclei on one hand, and the lifetimes $`\tau `$ of the fragments which depend on the frequency of the appearance of new nuclei on the other. This correlation can be seen from the comparison of Fig. (1) with Fig. (2), where $`ϵ`$ has been enlarged up to $`ϵ=25\%`$. The fragmentation of the evolving patterns has clearly increased, and the mean lifetime of a single pattern has decreased. Therefore, a characterization of this new statistical property of the system by taking the mean lifetime of the patterns $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }=\stackrel{~}{\tau }(ϵ)`$ is justified. Now the important role of a threshold value for $`\rho `$ becomes clear: operationally, $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }`$, being a kind of “order parameter” of the system, has to be constrained by physical limits.

By varying $`ϵ`$ between $`0.12\%`$ and $`90\%`$, the plots were analyzed with regard to the mean lifetimes $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }`$ of the patterns. A “pattern recognition” program was written to count and analyze each bounded fragment up to $`t=5\times 10^4`$ and to calculate $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }`$ (simply as arithmetic mean) and its mean error $`\sigma `$. The latter includes also a systematical error, mainly due to ambiguities in choosing well defined fragments. With the help of parallel visual checks of the plots it was estimated as roughly $`5\%`$ of $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }`$.

The result can be seen in Fig. (3), where the plotted data are shown in a log-log diagram. As a surprising result, the data produce, at least up to $`ϵ35\%`$, a linear function, indicating a kind of effective “fractal dimension” of the patterns independent of the relative interval width $`ϵ`$. The fit was performed with the power-law function

$$\stackrel{~}{\tau }=aϵ^b$$
(10)
where

$$a=2.00\pm 0.03,b=0.675\pm 0.005$$
(11)
with a $`\chi ^2`$ of $`14.9`$ for $`52`$ degrees of freedom.

We want to emphasize the difference in our use of $`b`$ as opposed to the usual measure of a fractal dimension of an object. Usually, the fractal dimension exhibits an “object’s” scale invariant features, whereby the process of its determination does not change the intrinsic properties of the “object”. In our case, the scale invariance of the fragmentation of the evolving patterns is generated by the repeated application of different values of the relative interval width. We call this dynamical fragmentation process a “fractal evolution” of the system. The scale invariant property of the emerging order parameter of the system, characterized by the mean lifetimes of the patterns, will be denoted as “fractal evolution dimension” ($`D_E`$). In analogy to the usual algorithm , one gets the “fractal evolution dimension” $`D_E`$ as

$$D_E=1b=1.675\pm 0.005.$$
(12)
Note also that the fragmentation ceases (i.e. the lifetime of the pattern at the beginning goes to infinity) as $`ϵ`$ goes to zero (i.e. when the precision of the comparison reaches a maximum). This behaviour is plausible, because the probability for the feedback condition getting fulfilled is very small for small values of $`ϵ`$, so that the evolution of the QCA remains nearly undisturbed.

The deviation of the data points in Fig. (3) from the linear function for $`ϵ\stackrel{>}{}35\%`$ can be understood at least qualitatively by looking at the shapes of the relative frequencies for the different lifetimes $`\tau `$ belonging to a specific $`ϵ`$. In Fig. (4), they are displayed for three different values of $`ϵ`$, i.e for $`ϵ=0.9\%,4.1\%,`$ and $`25\%,`$ respectively. Note that with the default parameter values as introduced above no fragments of length $`\tau =1`$ can occur: assuming the enhancement of some site at location $`j`$ and time $`t`$, the value of $`\rho (t,j)`$ will be about 1.0 after normalization, whereas the other sites will be damped by a factor of about $`𝒩A_{amp}^2=10^4`$. Even if, at the next time step, 10 different sites would fulfill the feedback condition and thus become enhanced, the normalization factor would be of the order $`𝒩10\times 10^4`$. Therefore, $`\rho (t+1,j)`$ would indeed be reduced to about $`10^5`$, but it would still remain above the chosen threshold of $`L_{low}=10^6`$. Thus, a minimum length of 2 for each arising fragment is guaranteed.

The distributions are all asymmetric, showing poisson-like “tails” proportional to $`e^\tau `$, but for large $`ϵ`$ the cut-off at the lifetimes’ value of $`\tau =2`$ becomes effective. Thus, no fragments with $`\tau <2`$ can contribute, and the mean value of those lifetimes will be shifted to a higher value.

We also report briefly on the variation of the systems parameters . It turned out that fractal evolution is practically invariant under $`i)`$ variation of the phase of the coupling parameter $`\delta `$ (cf. Eq. (5)), $`ii)`$ the initial values of the state variables, and $`iii)`$ the choice of other time intervals (than from $`t_{mem}`$ to $`t=5\times 10^4`$) for the pattern analysis.

The variation of the remaining variables in (5), (8), and (9) in most cases also yields fractal evolution, but with shifted values of $`a`$ and $`b`$ in (11). Deviations from fractal evolution are observed in cases of “transient states” of the system according to specific values of the parameters. In all cases where such a deviation occurs also the shape of the distribution function for $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }`$ deviates from that described above.

Finally, even the rule (3) itself can be changed in an appropriate way without loosing the property of fractal evolution. For example, one can model a transition to a “semi-classical” system by restriction to real-valued parameters and couplings, i.e.

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(t,j)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{𝒩(t)}}\{\mathrm{\Psi }(t1,j)+\delta [\mathrm{\Psi }(t1,j1)+\mathrm{\Psi }(t1,j+1)]\}$$
(13)
with $`\mathrm{\Psi },\delta `$. Also in this case a fractal evolution can be observed. This is opposed to the effects of the restriction to real values in the undisturbed case , where a “real-valued QCA” always leads to trivial final states.

## 3 Conclusions

An implementation of a specific temporal feedback operation in normalized dynamical systems on a lattice with a linear mapping function provides new and surprisingly rich evolutionary properties. Specifically, the temporal behaviour of QCA evolution with feedback loops selecting and amplifying particular regularities was investigated. We have found that these regularities are independent of the initial point configurations, of the phase of the coupling parameter, and of the choice of the time interval whithin which pattern analysis is performed.

Most importantly, we have found a strict scaling behaviour of the emerging spatiotemporal patterns: on a log-log scale, lifetimes $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }`$ of the patterns’ fragments are a strictly linear function of the relative interval width $`ϵ`$ fed back into the loop comparing the amplitudes at different evolution times. In other words, there exists a “fractal evolution dimension” $`D_E`$ of the patterns whose value is independent of the particular choice of $`ϵ`$. As $`ϵ`$ is the relative interval width, $`D_E`$ is a quantity characterizing all the emerging patterns irrespective of the absolute values of the intervals in the temporal feedback loop. Above all, the observed features are not restricted to one specific model. It can be concluded that discrete, normalized feedback systems with linear mapping functions generally exhibit the property of fractal evolution .

Apart from being a “toy model” to study pattern generation in nonlinear systems, the observed features of our model are of particular interest for possible applications of QCA like modelling processes in the brain as discussed in Ref. . As much of the encoding and decoding of neural signalling is a function of the “lifetimes” of neural firing, we have seen that our model is of interest because the system generating the characteristical “temporal patterns” does not have to operate with a “knife’s edge” precision. On the contrary, our model gives an example of the unimportance of precision in some pattern recognition tasks: It just takes any two values for the average lifetimes $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }`$ at different relative interval widths $`ϵ`$ to determine the “fractal evolution dimension” $`D_E`$ typical for the feedback loop in the QCA, and thus to obtain a measure of $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }`$ under arbitrarily high precision $`ϵ`$ (that is, within physical limits, of course). Such features may be relevant for real-time analog signal processing (as opposed to digital “all-or-nothing” processing with correspondingly high precision requirements) which allows for high effective noise levels and fault tolerances of neural computations .


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# Bulk QCD thermodynamics and sterile neutrino dark matter

## I Introduction

In this paper we show how the temperature and the order (first order or not) of the QCD transition in the early universe is important in determining the relic densities of sterile neutrinos in models where they provide the dark matter. The QCD transition epoch is the regime where the quark and gluon degrees of freedom annihilate, chiral symmetry is broken, and quarks are incorporated into color singlets. For the low chemical potential (i.e., small baryon number or high entropy) characterizing the universe, we expect the QCD epoch to occur at a temperature (energy scale) of order of the pion mass, $`T_{\mathrm{crit}}100\mathrm{MeV}`$. Coincidentally, this is the temperature regime where the dark matter singlet neutrinos are produced by scattering-related processes.

Therefore, an accurate calculation of the density of dark matter candidate sterile neutrinos requires detailed specification of the evolution of the background plasma through the QCD transition. It is conceivable that this relation between the QCD transition and sterile neutrino properties could be exploited to understand the cosmic QCD epoch. This approach is not available, for example, with supersymmetric dark matter candidates which freeze-out of the plasma at temperatures well above the QCD transition. Here, we also review the current best constraints on sterile neutrino dark matter candidates.

The current cosmological paradigm of a spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) universe with critical density components shared between cold dark matter \[(CDM), $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m0.3`$\] and a negative-pressure dark energy ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_X0.7`$), with nearly scale-invariant adiabatic Gaussian perturbations produced by inflation leading to structure formation ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{CDM}`$), is supported by a concordance of observational evidence from the cosmic microwave background, large scale structure, rich galaxy clusters, and high-redshift Type-Ia supernovae cosmo101 . There is much optimism in observational cosmology, but a number of unresolved problems remain. Among them is the very nature of particle dark matter and dark energy.

More astrophysically, there may be a discrepancy between the quantity of substructures on galactic scales predicted in numerical simulations using $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{CDM}`$ initial conditions and that observed in the local group: the “dwarf-galaxy problem” Moore:1999wf ; Ghigna1999 . Another discrepancy exists between the observed flat and low density profiles of dwarf galaxy cores Dalcanton:2000hn ; Bullock2001  relative to those found in $`N`$-body simulations. One solution to the dwarf-galaxy problem is a modification of the primordial power spectrum at sub-galaxy scales by thermal damping of perturbations by warm dark matter (WDM) wdm . Dwarf-galaxy halos in WDM scenarios form through fragmentation of larger structures, and the concentrations of their halos may be reduced AvilaReese2001 . Although these problems may be signaling the presence of WDM, the apparent dwarf-galaxy problem may be the result of dispersion of baryons from halos due to late reionization or supernovae, so that the unobserved dwarf halos are simply dark. These issues could be resolved through refined calculations of star formation in small halos, or through observations of galactic substructure in, for example, gravitational lensing studies dalal .

Sterile neutrinos are a natural candidate for WDM Dodelson:1994je ; Dolgov:2000ew  and CDM Shi:1998km ; Abazajian2001 , and can emerge from models with composite fermions Arkani-Hamed:1998pf , mirror fermions Berezhiani:1995yi  or light axinos Chun:1999cq . Sterile neutrinos with masses of $`1100\mathrm{keV}`$ and small mixings with active neutrinos are produced in a nonequilibrium quantum decoherence process associated with the scattering of active neutrinos: either with the usual simplifying assumption of a small universal lepton number Dodelson:1994je  (of order of the baryon number) or with the more liberal possibility of a large lepton number in neutrinos (several orders of magnitude larger than the baryon number) Shi:1998km . We define the lepton number in a neutrino flavor here as the difference between neutrino and antineutrino number densities normalized by the photon number density, $`n_\gamma `$, at a given epoch: $`L_\alpha (n_{\nu _\alpha }n_{\overline{\nu }_\alpha })/n_\gamma `$.

Constraints on the lepton numbers which reside in the neutrino seas can be made by requiring successful production of the light element abundances in primordial nucleosynthesis while keeping the baryon density compatible with that inferred from observations of the cosmic microwave anisotropies degenerates . Because of the near bi-maximal mixing paradigm emerging for the neutrino mass matrix, more stringent constraints can be placed on the neutrino lepton number since asymmetries in the more poorly constrained mu and tau flavors can be converted to an asymmetry in the more stringently constrained electron neutrinos through synchronized flavor transformation nudegen . However, even the strongest constraint available, on the electron neutrino lepton number, allows $`|L_e|_{1\mathrm{MeV}}0.1`$ at the epoch of nucleosynthesis. Because sterile neutrinos are produced at temperatures much higher than those characterizing big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), and because the lepton number (unlike degeneracy parameter) is not a comoving invariant, we quote values of the lepton number at the epoch where $`T=100\mathrm{GeV}`$. Therefore, the most conservative upper bound on the lepton number at this temperature is weaker by the ratio of the number of statistical degrees of freedom $`g(T)`$ in the plasma, $`g(100\mathrm{GeV})/g(1\mathrm{MeV})`$, or $`|L_e|_{100\mathrm{GeV}}1`$. All lepton-number-driven mechanisms we consider are well within this conservative limit.

Depending on their masses and non-thermal energy distributions, the sterile neutrinos produced in the early universe can be CDM, WDM, or hot dark matter (HDM). The production mechanisms and constraints on these models were studied in Refs. Dolgov:2000ew ; Abazajian2001 . The strongest constraints on the upper bound of the mass of the sterile neutrino derive from x-ray emission from nearby galaxy clusters, viz. the Virgo cluster Abazajian:2001vt , $`m_s5\mathrm{keV}`$ when $`L10^{10}`$. Lower bounds on the mass of the WDM particle can be made by requiring that its free-streaming not excessively damp out the small-scale structure, i.e., behave too much like HDM. Limits of this type come from the observed structure on small scales in the high-redshift Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest Narayanan2000  and by requiring sufficiently early reionization of the universe seen by the Gunn-Peterson effect Barkana:2001gr . A lower bound on the mass can also be derived from the observed phase-space densities of galaxy cores Dalcanton:2000hn . All of these limits require out-of-equilibrium (“standard”) WDM particles with mass $`m0.75\mathrm{keV}`$, or sterile neutrino WDM in models where $`L10^{10}`$ with mass $`m_s2.6\mathrm{keV}`$ Hansen:2001zv . It is exciting that the currently unconstrained mass range $`2.6\mathrm{keV}m_s5\mathrm{keV}`$ (at $`L10^{10}`$) is that favored by WDM solutions to small scale structure formation, and, even more, this mass range for the sterile neutrino dark matter is also eminently detectable via radiative decay Abazajian:2001vt .

## II The Quark-Hadron Transition

The study of the condensed matter physics of QCD remains an active topic, through analysis of the full color $`SU(3)`$ QCD Lagrangian with numerical lattice simulation and analogy with spin systems (for a recent survey see Ref. Satz:2000hm ). The nature of the QCD transition at finite temperature and zero chemical potential $`\mu _q`$ is clear in models containing two massless quarks ($`m_{q_u}=m_{q_d}=0`$, $`m_{q_s}\mathrm{}`$): the transition is second order Pisarski:1984ms . With physically realistic small but nonzero $`m_{q_u}`$ and $`m_{q_d}`$, the second order transition loses its critical behavior and is a smooth crossover Berdnikov:1999ph . In degenerate three-flavor models ($`m_{q_u}=m_{q_d}=m_{q_s}=0`$), it was inferred analytically that the transition is first order Pisarski:1984ms , and this has been supported by lattice studies Brown:1990ev . Therefore, with $`\mu _q0`$ (as is appropriate for the early universe where $`\mu _q/T10^8`$) there exists some critical mass $`m_{q_s}^c`$, below which the transition is first order. The position of this critical point in temperature, $`\mu _q`$, and $`m_{q_s}`$ is still under investigation by lattice simulations and may be probed by relativistic heavy ion collision experiments Berdnikov:1999ph . Lattice calculations indicate $`m_{q_s}^c`$ is well below the inferred physical strange quark mass Brown:1990ev ; Karsch:2001nf , but these results are not conclusive Iwasaki:1996zt . Since production of sterile neutrinos peaks at $`T130\mathrm{MeV}(m_s/3\mathrm{keV})^{1/3}`$, and the QCD transition likely occurs from $`T_{\mathrm{crit}}=100200\mathrm{MeV}`$, the effects of the transition on production are unmistakably important.

Convincing theoretical motivation or experimental detection of the critical end point as yet does not exist, and so whether the QCD transition in the early universe behaves as condensing water (first order) or thickening pudding (smooth crossover) remains to be discovered. We argue below how the dark matter, if sterile neutrinos, can also be used to probe the critical behavior of QCD.

We model the evolution of the universe through a first-order transition as in Refs. Alcock:1987tx ; Fuller:1988ue . The transition from the high-temperature quark-gluon phase to the hadron phase includes the change in the statistical degrees of freedom of the plasma, the release of vacuum energy, and the annihilation of quark-antiquark pairs. Supercooling of the plasma can lead to nucleation of remaining quarks into dense isothermal baryon number fluctuations Witten:1984rs , but this does not affect the analysis here.

A first-order transition evolves through a constant-temperature epoch, with a duration of the order of a Hubble time at that epoch. During this constant temperature, mixed phase regime, volume is swapped from the quark-gluon phase to bubbles of the hadronic phase as the universe expands. In this scenario the fraction of the volume in the quark-gluon phase evolves from $`f_v=1`$ to $`0`$, at which time the transition ends. The two phases differ in entropy density and therefore latent heat is released in the transition. The dynamics of the scale factor, $`a`$, through the transition is given by Kajantie:1986hq ; Fuller:1988ue

$$\frac{\dot{a}}{a}=\chi \left(4f_v+\frac{3}{x1}\right)^{1/2},$$
(1)
where $`xg_q/g_h`$ is the ratio of the number of relativistic degrees of freedom in the quark $`g_q`$ and hadron $`g_h`$ phases (approximately valid during the mixed phase epoch), and the characteristic QCD expansion rate is

$$\chi \left(\frac{8\pi B}{3m_{\mathrm{Pl}}^2}\right)^{1/2}(143\mu \mathrm{s})^1\left(\frac{T_{\mathrm{crit}}}{100\mathrm{MeV}}\right)^2.$$
(2)
Here the vacuum energy is parametrized by an effective “bag constant” $`B`$. Pressure equilibrium between quark and hadron phases is used to find the relation between the vacuum energy and the transition’s critical temperature, $`T_{\mathrm{crit}}`$.

Using the conservation of comoving entropy it can be shown that the fraction of the plasma in the quark-gluon phase at a given time, $`t`$, from the start of the transition at time, $`t_i`$, is Fuller:1988ue

$`f_v`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4(x1)}}\{\mathrm{tan}^2[\mathrm{arctan}\left[(4x1)^{1/2}\right]`$ (3)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{3\chi (t_it)}{2(x1)^{1/2}}}]3\}.`$
These relations are used to calculate the cosmological dynamics for sterile neutrino dark matter production during the first-order transition. The evolution of temperature for a first-order and crossover transition is shown in Fig. 1.

## III Dark Matter Production

Production of sterile neutrino dark matter occurs through decoherence of the active neutrino gas via collisions with the background plasma of weakly interacting particles. We calculate this nonequilibrium production of sterile neutrinos as described in Ref. Abazajian2001 , which we summarize here. This production is described by a semiclassical Boltzmann equation that captures the quantum behavior of the system. The distribution function for sterile neutrinos $`f_s`$ over momenta $`p`$ evolves as

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}f_s(p,t)Hp{\displaystyle \frac{}{p}}f_s(p,t)`$
$`=\mathrm{\Gamma }(\nu _\alpha \nu _s;p,t)\left[f_\alpha (p,t)f_s(p,t)\right].`$ (4)
Here $`f_\alpha `$ is the active neutrino distribution function that is coupled to the sterile, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\nu _\alpha \nu _s;p,t)`$ is the effective rate of production (annihilation) of sterile states and $`H=\dot{a}/a`$.

It is important to note that the scattering kernels $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(\nu _\alpha \nu _s;p,t)`$ for the case of sterile neutrino production are always momentum conserving McKellarBell  so that Eq. (4) is exact. We handle the calculation of this scattering kernel as described in Ref. Abazajian2001 . This includes augmenting the scattering rate as the population of weak scatterers increases at high temperatures.

The behavior of the QCD transition affects dark matter production through the varied evolution of the total energy density, $`\rho _{\mathrm{tot}}`$, of the plasma for different critical behavior. In turn, this modifies the evolution of the expansion rate through the Friedmann equation $`H=\sqrt{8\pi /3}m_{\mathrm{Pl}}^1\rho _{\mathrm{tot}}^{1/2}`$. The dynamics of expansion enters the calculation of dark matter production in two ways: (1) alteration of the time-temperature relationship; (2) the modification of redshifting of relativistic species, including sterile neutrinos.

If the universe underwent a crossover QCD transition (i.e., no phase transition), the effects on sterile neutrino densities stem entirely from the annihilation of quark-antiquark pairs and the resulting disappearance of degrees of freedom in the plasma. The entropy carried in the annihilating species is transferred to the remaining constituents of the plasma. The time-temperature relation in the early universe with evolving numbers of thermalized species is far from a new problem. This is basically the same effect (though more pronounced) on the time-temperature relation as that caused by the annihilation of electron-positron pairs when $`T25\mathrm{keV}`$. A general treatment of the time-temperature relationship including the effects of the population of sterile neutrinos, is given in the Appendix of Ref. Abazajian2001 , whose approach we have incorporated. A crossover transition disturbs production by causing the universe to “linger” for some time at temperatures just below the critical temperature (see Fig. 1). Since the QCD transition temperatures can be at or near the peak rate of dark matter production, the position of the post-critical temperature lingering may enhance the production. A representative case of dark matter production through a crossover transition is shown in Fig. 2.

The temperature is constant in a first-order transition, and the duration of the transition is given by the time required for the quark phase to disappear, Eq. (3). Here, the production with temperature is a step-like function at the critical temperature as a result of the finite time spent at $`T_{\mathrm{crit}}`$ (see Fig. 2). More significant than the production during the transition is the delay of the radiation domination epoch by a first-order transition, so that the time-temperature relation is modified from the standard case, $`tT^2`$. The duration of the first-order transition can be obtained by Eq. (3),

$$\mathrm{\Delta }t=\frac{2(x1)^{1/2}}{3\chi }\left\{\mathrm{arctan}\left[4(x1)^{1/2}\right]\mathrm{arctan}3^{1/2}\right\},$$
(5)
which for typical parameters is approximately $`2\times 10^5\mathrm{s}`$. A first-order transition universe will then spend slightly more time reaching a given temperature. This can be seen in Fig. 1. This delay in the temperature decrease with expansion is a major factor in enhancing dark matter production in a first-order transition universe. That is, the partial equilibration of the sterile neutrinos has more time to operate in the first-order case.

In this way, the different dependence of the scale factor with time gives rise to different redshift histories in different transition scenarios. The expansion also modifies the redshifting of sterile neutrino momenta ($`pa^1`$). In a radiation-dominated environment, and with a crossover transition, $`pt^{1/2}`$. However, during a first-order phase transition the momentum will scale inversely with the scale factor as found by integrating Eq. (1). Handling the redshifting explicitly through these scalings as opposed to using the second term on the left-hand side of Eq. (4) greatly accelerates numerical computation by eliminating the calculation of the momentum derivative of the time-evolving sterile neutrino distribution. In this way, the different dependence of the scale factor with time gives rise to different redshift histories in different transition scenarios.

The final effect of the transition we consider is sterile neutrino dilution by the heating of the thermally coupled species in the plasma relative to the uncoupled dark matter by entropy transfer (latent heat release). Exclusive of all other effects in a crossover transition, this produces a heating of the coupled species relative to the dark matter. With the assumption that the crossover transition is rapid relative to the expansion time, the dilution of the dark matter relative to coupled species is given by comoving entropy conservation as $`x^1=g_h/g_q1/3`$. A crossover transition does not necessarily take place in less than the expansion time scale, as can be seen for the cases we consider in Fig. 1. Therefore, the dilution should be handled by a Boltzmann formulation as is automatically done in our treatment of Eq. (4) and the time-temperature relation. For a crossover transition, dilution is the major factor in determining the different critical density contributions shown in Fig. 3. In a first-order transition, dilution effects are handled in the evolution of the scale factor (1) and time-temperature relation.

We have included all of the above effects in a numerical solution of the production equations (4). Contours of predicted sterile neutrino critical densities of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_sh^2=0.15`$ for three representative lepton number cosmologies and both first-order and crossover QCD transitions are shown in Fig. 4. The shape of the large lepton number cosmology contours can be understood from the resonance condition for a neutrino of momentum $`p`$:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{p}{T}}|_{\mathrm{res}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\delta m^2\mathrm{cos}2\theta }{8\sqrt{2}\zeta (3)G_FL_\alpha T^4/\pi ^2}}`$ (6)
$``$ $`0.3\left({\displaystyle \frac{m_s}{1\mathrm{keV}}}\right)^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{0.01}{L_\alpha }}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{150\mathrm{MeV}}{T}}\right)^4.`$ (7)
The largest disparity between first-order and crossover transitions occurs when the resonance position is in a populated portion of the neutrino momentum distribution (of order $`p/T1`$) at $`T_{\mathrm{crit}}`$. For an $`L=0.01`$ cosmology, the resonance is in the peak of the momentum distribution at $`T_{\mathrm{crit}}`$ for masses $`m_s13\mathrm{keV}`$, the pronounced effects of the nature of the transition for this case can be seen in Fig. 4. Furthermore, for this lepton number, the resonance position falls at very low momenta for $`m_s<1\mathrm{keV}`$ during the peak production. Therefore, production is thermally suppressed, leading to the break seen at $`m_s1\mathrm{keV}`$ for $`L=0.01`$ cosmologies in Fig. 4.

An effect present above the quark-hadron transition is that of quark screening, or many-body neutrino-quark scattering. The mean distance between quarks above the quark-hadron transition at $`T150\mathrm{MeV}`$ is approximately $`l[3\zeta (3)g_q/\pi ^2]^{1/3}T^11\mathrm{fm}`$, and the de Broglie wavelength of a typical neutrino is $`\mathrm{\lambda ̄}\mathrm{}/p0.4\mathrm{fm}`$. Therefore, neutrinos below the average momentum will have $`\mathrm{\lambda ̄}>l`$, and two body single-particle scattering is no longer a complete description. Many-body coherent scattering will tend to cancel the weak charge of quarks and antiquarks, and reduce the effectiveness of decohering interactions of active neutrinos. The effects of many-body scattering are beyond the scope of this work. Though it can be significant in altering scattering rates above the QCD transition, the majority of sterile neutrino dark matter is produced below the QCD transition (as seen in Fig. 2) and the resulting effects of quark screening will be relatively small.

## IV Probing the QCD transition with Dark Matter

In order to predict the sterile neutrino dark matter density one must specify the singlet neutrino rest mass $`m_s`$, vacuum mixing with active neutrinos $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta `$, the initial lepton number $`L`$, and the order of the QCD transition and its critical temperature $`T_{\mathrm{crit}}`$. Since the dark matter density is being determined rather precisely cmbdm , the sterile neutrino production mechanism will constrain the relationship between the sterile neutrino properties and parameters describing the background plasma.

It was shown in Ref. Abazajian:2001vt  that the radiative decay of sterile neutrino dark matter $`\nu _s\nu _\alpha \gamma `$ may be detected with high-sensitivity spectrographs aboard the current Chandra or XMM-Newton x-ray telescopes, or with the proposed large-surface-area and precision spectrograph of the Constellation X mission. As noted earlier, the lack of a significant line in the observation of the Virgo cluster constrains the largest possible mass of a sterile neutrino dark matter candidate produced in the zero-lepton-number case ($`m_s5\mathrm{keV}`$). This constraint comes from the fact that the Virgo cluster is one of the better candidate objects Abazajian:2001vt  and a high-sensitivity spectrum is available boehringer . Observations of this and other clusters and field galaxies with current x-ray observatories can either detect or exclude sterile neutrino dark matter as a dark matter candidate in zero-lepton-number universes.

If sterile neutrinos are the dark matter, detection of radiative decay by a sufficiently sensitive observatory would readily identify $`m_s`$ since the radiative decay produces monoenergetic photons with energy $`E_\gamma =m_s/2`$. Detection of these photons in the x-ray is most likely in long-duration exposures of nearby high surface dark matter mass density objects. The x-ray flux coming from the radiative decay of a sterile neutrino is

$`F`$ $``$ $`5.1\times 10^{18}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1\left({\displaystyle \frac{D}{\mathrm{Mpc}}}\right)^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{M_{\mathrm{DM}}}{10^{11}M_{}}}\right)`$ (8)
$`\times \left({\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{sin}^22\theta }{10^{10}}}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{m_s}{1\mathrm{keV}}}\right)^5.`$
Note that the radiative decay rate of a heavy sterile neutrino is greatly enhanced due to the lack of the Glashow-Iliopoulos-Maiani suppression present in the decay of active neutrinos of the same mass and mixing palwolfenstein .

Since the position of the x-ray line will specify $`m_s`$, the strength of the line determines $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta `$, and therefore the position in Fig. 4. Of the remaining parameters ($`L_\alpha `$, $`T_{crit}`$ and the order of the transition), only a small range will successfully produce the observed critical density and detected radiative decay flux. However, there remains a degeneracy between $`L_\alpha `$ and the order of the transition since both a first-order transition and a slightly larger $`L_\alpha `$ can enhance production at smaller mixing angles (see Fig. 4). However, if one can independently determine either the order of the transition or $`L_\alpha `$, then the observed flux \[Eq. (8)\] will determine the remaining degree of freedom.

## V Conclusions

We have presented the results of the most detailed analysis of sterile neutrino dark matter production yet performed. In doing so, we have explored the implications of an unexpected coincidence: the peak production epoch for sterile neutrino dark matter can be the same as the QCD epoch where the quark and gluon degrees of freedom disappear and give way to color singlets. The effects of the QCD transition on sterile neutrino relic densities are bracketed by simple crossovers (no phase transition) and first-order phase transitions for the reordering of the strongly interacting degrees of freedom from quarks and gluons to hadrons.

We find that the varying alteration in the expansion dynamics in these different models of the QCD transition at high temperature and low chemical potential can give rise to an appreciable range of closure contributions associated with a given singlet sterile neutrino mass, vacuum mixing with active species, and primordial lepton number(s). In particular, first-order phase transition scenarios for the cosmic QCD epoch produce a constant temperature interval with a duration of the order of the Hubble time associated with phase coexistence. This can result in a significant enhancement of sterile neutrino relic densities relative to simple crossover transitions.

Ultimately, we have pointed out here an unexpected connection between strong-interaction scale physics in the early universe on the one hand and low energy scale dark matter relic physics at the present epoch on the other. Whether this connection could someday be exploited to produce insights into the cosmic QCD epoch would, of course, depend on the identification of a significant component of the dark matter as being carried by sterile neutrinos.

An accurate calculation of the sterile neutrino production entails following the evolution of the active neutrino scatterer number densities, sterile neutrino production, and entropy transfer-induced dilution for a range of possible behaviors for the strongly interacting sector. Including these effects, we have presented the most sophisticated calculation of the predictions of sterile neutrino relic densities for a range of possible QCD transition scenarios and lepton number cosmologies.

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank John Beacom, Nicole Bell, Steen Hansen, Rocky Kolb, and Krishna Rajagopal for useful discussions, and, in addition, we thank Rocky Kolb for providing a rapid numerical calculator of the evolution of the number of statistical degrees of freedom in the early universe. This research was supported in part by the DOE and NASA grant NAG 5-10842 at Fermilab and by NSF Grant PHY00-99499 at UCSD.


text:
# The 𝑍→𝑙⁺𝑙⁻ and 𝑊→𝜈_𝑙𝑙⁺ decays in the noncommutative standard model

## 1 Introduction

Leptonic Z-decays are among the most interesting lepton flavor conserving (LFC) and lepton flavor violating (LFV) interactions. The improved experimental measurements at present stimulates the studies of these interactions. With the Giga-Z option of the Tesla project, there is a possibility to increase Z bosons at resonance . The processes $`Zl^{}l^+`$ with $`l=e,\mu ,\tau `$ are among the LFC decays and they exist in the SM, even in the tree level. The experimental predictions for the branching ratios ($`BR`$s) of these decays are

$`BR(Ze^+e^{})`$ $`=`$ $`3.366\pm 0.0081\%,`$
$`BR(Z\mu ^+\mu ^{})`$ $`=`$ $`3.367\pm 0.013\%,`$
$`BR(Z\tau ^+\tau ^{})`$ $`=`$ $`3.360\pm 0.015\%,`$ (1)
and the tree level SM predictions are

$`BR(Ze^+e^{})`$ $`=`$ $`3.331\%,`$
$`BR(Z\mu ^+\mu ^{})`$ $`=`$ $`3.331\%,`$
$`BR(Z\tau ^+\tau ^{})`$ $`=`$ $`3.328\%.`$ (2)
This shows that the tree level contribution of the SM plays the main role within the experimental uncertainities. In the literature, there are various experimental and theoretical studies -. In  a method to determine the weak electric dipole moment was developed. The vector and axial coupling constants, $`v_f`$ and $`a_f`$, in Z-decays have been measured at LEP . In , various additional types of interactions have been performed and a way to measure these contributions in the process $`Z\tau ^{}\tau ^+`$ was described.  is devoted to the possible new physics effects to the process $`Zl^+l^{}`$, in the general two Higgs doublet model.

$`W\nu _ll^+`$ ($`l=e,\mu ,\tau `$) decays exist also in the tree level, in the SM and the experimental predictions for the branching ratios are

$`BR(W\nu _ee^+)`$ $`=`$ $`10.9\pm 0.4\%,`$
$`BR(W\nu _\mu \mu ^+)`$ $`=`$ $`10.2\pm 0.5\%,`$
$`BR(W\nu _\tau \tau ^+)`$ $`=`$ $`11.3\pm 0.8\%,`$ (3)
The main contribution to this decay comes from the SM in the tree level, similar to the process $`Zl^+l^{}`$. There are large number of studies in the literature on this charged process .

In the present work, we study $`Zl^+l^{}`$ and $`W\nu _ll^+`$ decays, with $`l=e,\mu ,\tau `$, in the SM, including the noncommutative (NC) effects. The noncommutativity in the space-time is a possible candidate to describe the physics at very short distances of the order of the Planck length, since the nature of the space-time changes at these distances. In the noncommutative geometry the space-time coordinates are replaced by Hermitian operators $`\widehat{x}_\mu `$ which satisfy the equation

$`[\widehat{x}_\mu ,\widehat{x}_\nu ]=i\theta _{\mu \nu },`$ (4)
where $`\theta _{\mu \nu }`$ is a real and antisymmetric tensor with the dimensions of length-squared. Here $`\theta _{\mu \nu }`$ can be treated as a background field and its components are assumed as constants over cosmological scales.

It is possible to pass to the noncommutative field theory by introducing $``$ product of functions, instead of the ordinary one,

$`(fg)(x)=e^{\frac{i}{2}\theta _{\mu \nu }_\mu ^y_\nu ^z}f(y)g(z)|_{y=z=x}.`$ (5)
The commutation of the Hermitian operators $`\widehat{x}_\mu `$ (see eq. (4)) holds with this new product, namely,

$`[\widehat{x}_\mu ,\widehat{x}_\nu ]_{}=i\theta _{\mu \nu }.`$ (6)
With the re-motivation due to the string theory arguments , various studies on the noncommutative field theory (NCFT) have been done in the literature. However, NCFT have a non-local structure and the Lorentz symmetry is explicitly violated. The violation of the Lorentz symmetry has been handled in  and bounding noncommutative QCD due to the Lorentz violation has been studied in . In this work, it was emphasised that the collider limits were not competitive with low energy tests of Lorentz violation for bounding the scale of space-time noncommutativity. Furthermore, the renormalizability and the unitarity of NC theories have been studied in the series of works , ,  and . The noncommutative quantum electrodynamics (NCQED) has been examined in  and the noncommutativity among extra dimensions for QED has been studied in . Furthermore, the noncommutativity in non-abelian case has been formulated in  and this formulation has been applied to the SM in . Recently, a unique model for strong and electroweak interactions with their unification has been constructed in . In the work , the SM forbidden processes $`Z\gamma \gamma `$ and $`Zgg`$ has been studied by including the NC effects. In , the form factors, appearing in the inclusive $`bsg`$ decay, has been calculated in the NCSM, using the approximate phenomenology and the new operators existing in $`bsg`$ decay due to the NC effects has been obtained in . In the recent work, the possible effects of NC geometry on weak CP violation and the untarity triangles has been examined .

The paper is organized as follows: In Section 2, we present the explicit expressions for the branching ratios of $`Zl^+l^{}`$ and $`W\nu _ll^+`$ in the framework of the NCSM. Section 3 is devoted to discussion and our conclusions.

## 2 The noncommutative effects on the $`Zl^+l^{}`$ and $`W\nu _ll^+`$ decays in the SM

The flavor conserving $`Zl^+l^{}`$, $`l=e,\mu ,\tau `$, decays appear in the tree level in the SM. When the non-commutative effects are switched on there exists a new contribution which is proportional to the a function of the noncommutative parameter $`\theta `$. Our starting point is the effective action

$`S_{Matter,leptons}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle }d^4x({\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}(\overline{L}_L^{(i)}+\overline{L}_L^{(i)1}+\overline{L}_L^{(i)2})i(/D^{SM}+/\mathrm{\Gamma })(L_L^{(i)}+L_L^{(i)1}+L_L^{(i)2})`$ (7)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}(\overline{e}_R^{(i)}+\overline{e}_R^{(i)1}+\overline{e}_R^{(i)2})i(/D^{SM}+/\mathrm{\Gamma })(e_R^{(i)}+e_R^{(i)1}+e_R^{(i)2}))+O(\theta ^3),`$
with

$`D_\mu ^{SM}L_L`$ $`=`$ $`(_\mu ig^{}Y_LA_\mu igB_{\mu a}T_L^a)L_L,`$
$`D_\mu ^{SM}e_R`$ $`=`$ $`(_\mu ig^{}Y_RA_\mu )e_R,`$ (8)
and

$`L_L^{(i)1}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\theta _{\mu \nu }(g^{}Y_LA^\mu +gB_a^\mu T_L^a)^\nu L_L^{(i)}+O(A^2,B^2,AB),`$
$`L_L^{(i)2}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{8}}\theta _{\mu \nu }\theta _{\alpha \beta }(g^{}Y_L^\mu A^\alpha +g^\mu B_a^\alpha T_L^a)^\nu ^\beta L_L^{(i)}+O(A^2,B^2,AB),`$
$`e_R^{(i)1}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\theta _{\mu \nu }(g^{}Y_RA^\mu )^\nu e_R^{(i)}+O(A^2),`$
$`e_R^{(i)2}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i}{8}}\theta _{\mu \nu }\theta _{\alpha \beta }(g^{}Y_R^\mu A^\alpha )^\nu ^\beta e_R^{(i)}+O(A^2),`$ (9)
where $``$ in eq. (7) denotes the Moyal-Weyl star product (see eq. (5)), $`L_L^{(i)}`$ ($`e_R^{(i)}`$) is the left (right) handed lepton doublet of $`i^{th}`$ family, $`Y_L=\frac{1}{2}`$, $`Y_R=1`$ and $`O(A^2,B^2,AB)(O(A^2))`$ is the part of $`L_L^{(i)1,2}`$ ($`e_R^{(i)1,2}`$) which includes the interactions of more than one gauge fields. Here the function $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ has no interest since it contains two gauge field interactions, which do not give any contribution to our processes $`Z(W)l^+l^{}(\nu _ll^+)`$. Furthermore, we do not present the parts of $`L_L^{(i)1,2}`$ and $`e_R^{(i)1,2}`$, $`O(A^2,B^2,AB)`$ and $`O(A^2)`$, which include the interactions of more than one gauge fields (see  and  for details).

Finally, the additional vertex to the $`Zl^+l^{}`$ decay to the second order in $`\theta `$ can be obtained as

$`V_{\mu ,NC}^Z`$ $`=`$ $`((\theta _{\mu \nu }\gamma _\alpha +\theta _{\nu \alpha }\gamma _\mu +\theta _{\alpha \mu }\gamma _\nu )p_Z^\nu p_1^\alpha {\displaystyle \frac{i}{4}}(\theta _{\mu \nu }\gamma _\alpha +\theta _{\nu \alpha }\gamma _\mu +\theta _{\alpha \mu }\gamma _\nu )\theta _{\gamma \sigma }p_Z^\gamma p_Z^\alpha p_1^\sigma p_1^\nu )\times `$ (10)
$`(c_1L+c_2R),`$
where $`c_1=e\frac{2sin^2\theta _W1}{4sin\theta _Wcos\theta _W}`$, $`c_2=e\frac{tan\theta _W}{2}`$, $`L(R)=\frac{1\gamma _5}{2}(\frac{1+\gamma _5}{2})`$ and $`p_Z`$ ($`p_1`$) incoming (ougoing) four momentum of Z boson with polarization vector $`ϵ^\mu `$ (anti-lepton). Notice that the part of the vertex proportional with $`\theta _{\nu \alpha }`$ would be the whole contribution in the case that the NC effects enter into the expressions as an exponential factor $`e^{\frac{i}{2}\theta _{\mu \nu }p_Z^\mu p_1^\nu }`$, which is consistent in approximate phenomenology (see  and references therein).

Now we present the BR of the process $`Zl^+l^{}`$ including the non commutative effects at the least order in $`\theta `$, in the Z boson rest frame:

$`BR={\displaystyle \frac{\alpha _{em}m_Z}{6\mathrm{\Gamma }_Zsin^2\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\theta _W}}\left((14sin^2\theta _W+\mathrm{sin}^4\theta _W){\displaystyle \frac{m_l^2}{m_Z^2}}(1+8sin^2\theta _W16sin^4\theta _W+{\displaystyle \frac{m_Z^4}{16}}f(\theta ))\right),`$ (11)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_Z`$ is the total decay width of Z boson, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_Z=2.490GeV`$, and $`\alpha _{em}=\frac{e^2}{4\pi }`$. As shown in this equation, the NC effects appear as the function of $`\theta `$,

$`f(\theta )=(\stackrel{}{\theta }_T.\widehat{p}_1)^2+(\stackrel{}{\theta }_S.\widehat{p}_1)^2(|\stackrel{}{\theta }_T|^2+|\stackrel{}{\theta }_S|^2)+2\widehat{p}_1.(\stackrel{}{\theta }_T\times \stackrel{}{\theta }_S).`$ (12)
Here we use the definitions $`(\theta _T)_i=\theta _{0i}`$ and $`(\theta _S)_i=\frac{1}{2}ϵ_{ijk}\theta ^{jk}`$, $`i,j,k=1,2,3`$ and $`\stackrel{}{p}_1=\frac{m_Z}{2}\widehat{p}_1`$. $`(\theta _T)_i`$ and $`(\theta _S)_i`$ are responsible for time-space and space-space noncommutativity, respectively. The noncommutative effects enter into expression with lepton mass and their effects are much more suppressed in the case of light leptons. Notice that, the terms of the vertex eq. (10) which is second order in $`\theta `$ do not give any contribution to the $`BR`$ of the decay $`Zl^+l^{}`$, in the $`Z`$ boson rest frame.

The charged $`W\nu _ll^+`$ decays exist with the charged current and they also appear at the tree level in the SM. Similar to the $`Zl^+l^{}`$ decay, the noncommutative effects are controlled by the additional vertex

$`V_{\mu ,NC}^W`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{e}{2\sqrt{2}sin\theta _W}}\times `$ (13)
$`\left((\theta _{\mu \nu }\gamma _\alpha +\theta _{\nu \alpha }\gamma _\mu +\theta _{\alpha \mu }\gamma _\nu )p_W^\nu p_1^\alpha {\displaystyle \frac{i}{4}}(\theta _{\mu \nu }\gamma _\alpha +\theta _{\nu \alpha }\gamma _\mu +\theta _{\alpha \mu }\gamma _\nu )\theta _{\gamma \sigma }p_W^\gamma p_W^\alpha p_1^\sigma p_1^\nu \right)L,`$
where $`p_W`$ ($`p_1`$) incoming (ougoing) four momentum of W boson with polarization vector $`ϵ^\mu `$ (anti-lepton). The BR of the process $`W\nu _ll^{}`$ including the non commutative effects, at the least order in $`\theta `$, in the W boson rest frame reads as:

$`BR={\displaystyle \frac{\alpha _{em}m_W}{384\mathrm{\Gamma }_Wsin^2\theta _W}}((32+{\displaystyle \frac{m_l^2}{m_W^2}}(16m_W^4f(\theta ))),`$ (14)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_W`$ is the total decay width of W boson, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_W=2.060GeV`$. Here the function $`f(\theta )`$ (see eq. (12)) represents the noncommutative effects. The terms of the vertex eq. (13) which is second order in $`\theta `$ give a non-zero contribution to the $`BR`$ of the decay $`W\nu _ll^+`$, in the $`W`$ boson rest frame. This contribution is proportional to $`m_l^2m_W^2(\stackrel{}{\theta }_T.\widehat{p}_1)^2`$. However, it is cancelled by the part, coming from the vertex linear in $`\theta `$.

At this stage we try to parametrize the vectors $`(\theta _T)_i`$ and $`(\theta _S)_i`$ which are responsible for time-space and space-space noncommutativity, respectively. With the assumption that the matrix $`\theta _{\mu \nu }`$ is real and constant, we take

$`\stackrel{}{\theta }_T`$ $`=`$ $`A_1\widehat{p}_1+A_2\widehat{p}_1^T,`$ (15)
$`\stackrel{}{\theta }_S`$ $`=`$ $`B_1\widehat{p}_1+B_2\widehat{p}_1^S,`$
where $`\widehat{p}_1`$ ($`\widehat{p}_1^T`$, $`\widehat{p}_1^S`$) is the unit vector in the direction of (the perpendicular direction to) the incoming lepton three momentum $`\stackrel{}{p}_1`$ (for $`\stackrel{}{\theta }_T`$, $`\stackrel{}{\theta }_S`$), $`A_i,B_i`$ are the corresponding real coefficients. Using this parametrization, $`f(\theta )`$ can written as

$`f(\theta )=2A_2B_2\widehat{p}_1.(\widehat{p}_1^T\times \widehat{p}_1^S)(A_2^2+B_2^2).`$ (16)
and this shows that the transverse components of the vectors $`\widehat{p}_1^T`$ and $`\widehat{p}_1^S`$ to the incoming lepton three momentum $`\stackrel{}{p}_1`$ play the main role for the NC effects. In the case of $`\widehat{p}_1^T\widehat{p}_1^S\widehat{p_1}`$ with $`A_2=B_2`$, the noncommutative effects are switched off. Furthermore, for $`\stackrel{}{\theta }_T\widehat{p}_1`$ ($`\stackrel{}{\theta }_S\widehat{p}_1`$), the coefficient $`A_2=0`$ ($`B_2=0`$) and therefore, only the space-space (space-time) noncommutativity is responsible for the noncommutative effects. This is interesting in the determination of the noncommutative directions with the help of the future sensitive experimental results.

## 3 Discussion

In this section, we analyse the NC effects on the $`BR`$ of the flavor conserving $`Zl^+l^{}`$ and charged $`W\nu l^+`$ decays, in the framework of the SM. The processes underconsideration exist in the tree level in the SM and the theoretical calculation of the BRs obey the experimental results within the measurement errors.

The flavor $`l=e,\mu ,\tau `$ dependence of the part of the $`BR(Zl^+l^{})`$ is extremely weak

$`R_{\mu e}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{BR(Z\mu ^+\mu ^{})}{BR(Ze^+e^{})}}=1.0008\pm 0.005,`$
$`R_{\tau e}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{BR(Z\tau ^+\tau ^{})}{BR(Ze^+e^{})}}=0.998\pm 0.005.`$ (17)
This part, which controls the flavor effects, is proportional to the factor $`\frac{m_l^2}{m_Z^2}`$ and it includes the noncommutative effects. Therefore, it is more informative to study the heavy lepton decays to determine the noncommutativity of the geometry. Notice that we choose the non-commutative parameter $`\theta =|\theta _{\mu \nu }|`$ as at the order of the magnitude of $`10^610^5GeV^2`$.

In Fig. 1, we present the noncommutative parameter $`f(\theta )`$ dependence of ratio $`r_1^Z=\frac{BR_{flavor}}{BR_{tot}}`$ where $`BR_{flavor}`$ is the flavor dependent part of the $`BR`$ and $`BR_{tot}`$ is the total $`BR`$, for the process $`Z\tau ^+\tau ^{}`$. This figure shows that the noncommutative effects are at most at the order of the magnitude of $`0.001\%`$, even for the heavy lepton $`\tau `$ decay. This dependence becomes extremely small, $`10^6\%`$, for $`Z\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ decay (see Fig. 2 ), since the mass of the lepton $`\mu `$ is small and there is a strong suppression factor $`\frac{m_\mu ^2}{m_Z^2}`$ for $`BR_{flavor}`$.

Fig. 3 is devoted to the $`f(\theta )`$ dependence of ratio $`r_3^Z=\frac{BR_{flavor_\theta }}{BR_{flavor}}`$ where $`BR_{flavor_\theta }`$ is the noncommutative-flavor dependent part of the $`BR`$, for the process $`Z\tau ^+\tau ^{}`$. It is observed that the noncommutative effects on the flavor dependent part can reach to $`0.1\%`$.

Now we would like to study the charged $`W\nu _ll^+`$ decay and the noncommutative effects on this process. The $`BR`$ for this process is

$`BR(W\nu _ll^+)=10.74\pm 0.33\%`$ (18)
and the flavor $`l=e,\mu ,\tau `$ dependence of this value is weak. Similar to the $`Zl^+l^{}`$ decay, the part of the BR($`W\nu l^+`$) which controls the flavor effects is proportional to the factor $`\frac{m_l^2}{m_W^2}`$ and the noncommutative effects appear in this part.

In Fig. 4, we present the noncommutative parameter $`f(\theta )`$ dependence of ratio $`r_1^W=\frac{BR_{flavor}}{BR_{tot}}`$ where $`BR_{flavor}`$ is the flavor dependent part of the $`BR`$ and $`BR_{tot}`$ is the total $`BR`$ for the process $`W\nu _\tau \tau ^+`$. It is observed that the noncommutative effects are at most at the order of the magnitude of $`0.001\%`$, for the heavy lepton $`\tau `$ decay.

Fig.5 represents the $`f(\theta )`$ dependence of ratio $`r_3^W=\frac{BR_{flavor_\theta }}{BR_{flavor}}`$ where $`BR_{flavor_\theta }`$ is the noncommutative-flavor dependent part of the $`BR`$ for the process $`W\nu _\tau \tau ^+`$. Here, the noncommutative effects on the flavor dependent part can reach to $`0.1\%`$, similar to the process $`Z\tau ^{}\tau ^+`$.

In conclusion, the NC effects in the decays under consideration are effective in the flavor dependent part of their BRs. With the possible future experiments, which are sensitive to the flavor dependent part of these processes, those effects can be extracted and the noncommutative direction can be determined.

## 4 Acknowledgement

This work was supported by Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA/GEBIP).