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# Prospects and Problems of Tachyon Matter Cosmology

## I Introduction

There are many faces of superstring/brane cosmology which come from different corners of M/String theories. In particular, people search for potential candidates to explain early universe inflation, present day dark energy and dark matter in the universe. One of the string theory constructions, tachyon on D-branes, has been recently proposed for cosmological applications by Sen . A relatively simple formulation of the unstable D-brane tachyon dynamics in terms of effective field theory stimulates one to investigate its role in cosmology .

The rolling tachyon in the string theory may be described in terms of effective field theory for the tachyon condensate $`T`$, which in the flat spacetime has a Lagrangian density

$$=V(T)\sqrt{1+_\mu T^\mu T}.$$
(1)
The tachyon potential $`V(T)`$ has a positive maximum at $`T=0`$ and a minimum at $`T_0`$, with $`V(T_0)=0`$. We consider two models, with finite value of $`T_0`$ and with minimum at infinity, as illustrated in Figure 1. In both cases one encounters interesting possibilities for cosmological applications.

In the case of finite $`T_0`$, we consider quadratic expansion around the minimum of the potential $`V(T)\frac{1}{2}m^2(TT_0)^2`$. As we will show, in this case the tachyon matter has negative pressure and may be considered a candidate for quintessence.

In the case when $`T_0\mathrm{}`$, we use exponential asymptotic of the potential $`V(T)=V_0e^{T/T_0}`$ derived from the string theory calculations  (exact form of the potential from Ref.  is $`V=(1+\frac{T}{T_0})e^{T/T_0}`$; our qualitative results for late time asymptotics of $`T(t)`$ do not depend on the pre-exponential factor). Dimensional parameters of the potential are related to the fundamental length scale, $`T_0l_s`$, and $`V_0`$ is the brane tension. As it was demonstrated by Sen , the tachyon matter is pressureless for the potential with the ground state at infinity. In this case tachyon matter may be considered a cold dark matter candidate .

It is noteworthy that the models of type (1) already were studied in cosmology on the phenomenological ground. For certain choices of potentials $`V`$ and non-minimal kinetic terms one can get kinematically driven inflation, “$`k`$-inflation” . In particular, a toy model with the potential $`V(T)1/T^2`$ with ground state at infinity may give rise to the power law inflation of the universe . However, it remains to be seen how this potential can be motivated by the string theory of tachyon. The model with $`V\text{const}`$ is reduced to the so-called “Chaplygin gas” where the matter equation of state is $`p=\text{const}/\epsilon `$. Such matter was suggested as a candidate for the present dark energy .

In this paper, we investigate cosmology with tachyon matter with the string theory motivated potentials of Figure 1. In Section II, we write down the equations for the tachyon matter coupled to gravity. We focus on self-consistent formulation of the isotropic Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmology supported by the tachyon matter. It is described by coupled equations for the time-dependent background tachyon field $`T(t)`$ and the scale factor of the universe $`a(t)`$.

One of the lessons of the scalar field theory in cosmology is the possibility of the fast growth of inhomogeneous scalar field fluctuations, as it was found in different situations. Instability of scalar field fluctuations are typical for preheating after inflation due to the parametric resonance , or tachyonic preheating after hybrid inflation  (which so far has only remote relation with string theory tachyon). Fluctuations can be unstable in axion cosmology due to the parametric resonance . Therefore, we address the problem of stability of linear fluctuations of the rolling tachyon matter.

Consistent investigation of tachyon cosmology, in principle, should be started with the tachyon rolling from the top of its potential, which has negative curvature. In this case the setting of the problem is similar to what we met in tachyonic preheating after hybrid inflation . In these cases we expect fast decay of the scalar field into long-wavelength inhomogeneities. Here we assume that somehow homogeneous tachyon rolls towards the minimum of its potential as universe expands, and consider tachyon fluctuations at the latest stages of its evolution.

In Section III, we develop a formalism for treating small fluctuations of the tachyon field $`\delta T(t,\stackrel{}{x})`$. It is possible to extend theory of tachyon matter fluctuations by including scalar metric fluctuations. This allows us to address the issue of gravitational instability in tachyon cosmology. Applying this analysis for specific tachyon potentials, we will see that instability of tachyon fluctuations is essential for the whole story of tachyon cosmology.

In Section IV, we consider background cosmological solutions for the tachyon potential with the ground state at finite value $`T_0`$. We find that tachyon field is oscillating around the minimum of its potential, while its equation of state (averaged over oscillations) is $`p=\frac{1}{3}\epsilon `$. Then in Section V, we check the stability of tachyon fluctuations around this background solutions, and find that they are exponentially unstable due to the parametric resonance.

In Section VI, we repeat the analysis for the model where tachyon potential is exponential $`V(T)e^{T/T_0}`$ and its ground state is at $`T\mathrm{}`$. In this case, background cosmological solution corresponds to the pressureless tachyon with energy density $`\epsilon 1/a^3`$. In Section VII, we consider small inhomogeneous tachyon and metric fluctuations, and find gravitational instability of fluctuations around the background solution. Specifically, we find that for the pressureless rolling tachyon linear approximation for fluctuations becomes insufficient very early. We argue that the rolling tachyon dark matter scenario may have difficulties in explaining gravitational clustering and the large scale velocity flows.

## II Cosmology with Rolling Tachyon Matter

Rolling tachyon is associated with unstable D-branes, and self-consistent inclusion of gravity may require higher-dimensional Einstein equations with branes. Still, in the low energy limit, one expects that the brane gravity is reduced to the four dimensional Einstein theory .

In this section, we consider tachyon matter coupled with Einstein gravity in four dimensions. Tachyon matter is described by the phenomenological Lagrangian density (1), where derivatives are covariantly generalized with respect to the metric $`g_{\mu \nu }`$, $`_\mu _\mu `$. We use the metric with signature $`(,+,+,+)`$. The model is given by the action

$$S=d^4x\sqrt{g}\left(\frac{R}{16\pi G}V(T)\sqrt{1+_\mu T^\mu T}\right).$$
(2)
The Einstein equations which follow from (2) are

$$R_{\mu \nu }\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu }R=8\pi G\left(\frac{V}{\sqrt{1+_\alpha T^\alpha T}}_\mu T_\nu Tg_{\mu \nu }V\sqrt{1+_\alpha T^\alpha T}\right),$$
(3)
and the field equation for the tachyon is

$$_\mu ^\mu T\frac{_\mu _\nu T}{1+_\alpha T^\alpha T}^\mu T^\nu T\frac{V_{,T}}{V}=0.$$
(4)
Let us apply these equations for the isotropic and homogeneous FRW cosmological model

$$ds^2=dt^2+a^2(t)d\stackrel{}{x}^2,$$
(5)
where $`a(t)`$ is the scale factor of the spatially flat ($`K=0`$) universe. For this geometry, the energy-momentum tensor of tachyon matter in the right-hand side of the equation (3) is reduced to a diagonal form $`T_\nu ^\mu =\text{diag}(\epsilon ,p,p,p)`$, where the energy density $`\epsilon `$ is positive

$$\epsilon =\frac{V(T)}{\sqrt{1\dot{T}^2}},$$
(6)
and the pressure $`p`$ is negative or zero

$$p=V(T)\sqrt{1\dot{T}^2}.$$
(7)
Equation for the evolution of the scale factor follows from (3)

$$\frac{\dot{a}^2}{a^2}=\frac{8\pi G}{3}\frac{V(T)}{\sqrt{1\dot{T}^2}}.$$
(8)
Equation for the time-dependent rolling tachyon in an expanding universe follows from (4)

$$\frac{\ddot{T}}{1\dot{T}^2}+3\frac{\dot{a}}{a}\dot{T}+\frac{V_{,T}}{V}=0.$$
(9)
Note that the tachyon potential enters the field equation in a combination $`(\mathrm{ln}V)_{,T}`$.

In the following sections we consider background solutions of equations (8) and (9) for two models of the tachyon potentials $`V(T)`$ from Figure 1.

## III Fluctuations in Rolling Tachyon

The issue of stability of small scalar fluctuations is often essential in scalar field cosmology. In this section, we provide a formalism for treating linear inhomogeneous fluctuations in the tachyon field. Let us consider small inhomogeneous perturbation of the tachyon field $`\delta T(t,\stackrel{}{x})`$ around time-dependent background solution $`T(t)`$ of equation (9)

$$T(t,\stackrel{}{x})=T(t)+\delta T(t,\stackrel{}{x}).$$
(10)
As we will see, for one of our examples of tachyon potentials $`V(T)`$, instability of tachyon fluctuations grows and becomes non-linear very quickly. Therefore first we write down the equation for fluctuations $`\delta T(t,\stackrel{}{x})`$ ignoring expansion of the universe and ignoring coupling of tachyon fluctuations with the metric fluctuations.

Linearizing the field equation (4) (without Hubble friction term) with respect to small fluctuations $`\delta T`$ and performing Fourier decomposition $`\delta T(t,\stackrel{}{x})=d^3kT_k(t)e^{i\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{x}}`$ of the linear fluctuations, we obtain evolution equation for the time-dependent Fourier amplitudes $`T_k(t)`$

$$\frac{\ddot{T}_k}{1\dot{T}^2}+\frac{2\dot{T}\ddot{T}}{(1\dot{T}^2)^2}\dot{T}_k+\left[k^2+(\mathrm{log}V)_{,TT}\right]T_k=0.$$
(11)
Next we consider tachyon fluctuations coupled with metric perturbations in an expanding universe. Small scalar metric perturbations around expanding isotropic cosmology can be written in terms of Newtonian gravitational potential $`\mathrm{\Phi }(t,\stackrel{}{x})`$ as

$$ds^2=\left(1+2\mathrm{\Phi }\right)dt^2\left(12\mathrm{\Phi }\right)a^2\left(t\right)d\stackrel{}{x}^2.$$
(12)
Now we have to linearize the Einstein equations (3) and the field equation (4) with respect to small fluctuations $`\delta T`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$.

Fortunately, the formalism for cosmological scalar fluctuations for the class of models which includes the theory (2) was developed in Ref.  (in connection with “$`k`$-inflation”). This is exactly what we need to pursue the investigation of small cosmological fluctuations with tachyon matter. Using results of , from (3) and (4) we obtain two coupled equations for the time-dependent Fourier amplitudes $`T_k(t)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_k(t)`$,

$$\left(\frac{T_k}{\dot{T}}\right)^.=\left(1\frac{1}{4\pi G}\frac{k^2}{a^2}\frac{(1\dot{T}^2)^{3/2}}{V\dot{T}^2}\right)\mathrm{\Phi }_k,$$
(13)
and

$$\frac{\left(a\mathrm{\Phi }_k\right)^.}{a}=4\pi G\frac{V\dot{T}^2}{(1\dot{T}^2)^{1/2}}\frac{T_k}{\dot{T}}.$$
(14)
Introducing Mukhanov’s variable $`v_k`$, which is related to the potential $`\mathrm{\Phi }_k`$ as

$$\frac{v_k}{z}=\frac{5\epsilon +3p}{3\left(\epsilon +p\right)}\mathrm{\Phi }_k+\frac{2}{3}\frac{\epsilon }{\epsilon +p}\frac{\dot{\mathrm{\Phi }_k}}{H},$$
(15)
where energy density $`\epsilon `$ and pressure $`p`$ are given by equations (6) and (7), $`H=\frac{\dot{a}}{a}`$, and

$$z=\frac{\sqrt{3}a\dot{T}}{(1\dot{T}^2)^{1/2}},$$
(16)
equations (13) and (14) can be reduced to a single second order equation for $`v_k`$

$$v_k^{\prime \prime }+\left((1\dot{T}^2)k^2\frac{z^{\prime \prime }}{z}\right)v_k=0,$$
(17)
where prime () stands for derivative with respect to the conformal time $`d\eta =dt/a(t)`$. We will use this equation for analysis of coupled tachyon and metric fluctuations in an expanding universe for the tachyon potential $`V(T)e^{T/T_0}`$.

## IV Negative-Pressure Tachyon Matter

In this section, we consider the model with the potential $`V(T)`$ with its ground state at the finite value $`T_0`$, as it is sketched in the left panel of Figure 1. Let us assume that tachyon is rolling towards the minimum of the potential $`T_0`$. We will approximate the shape of the tachyon potential around the minimum by a quadratic form $`V(T)\frac{1}{2}m^2(TT_0)^2`$. Despite quadratic form of the potential, tachyon motion around $`T_0`$ is not harmonic, since $`\mathrm{ln}V`$ but not $`V`$ is involved in the tachyon equation of motion. For the same reason parameter $`m`$ drops out of the field equation (9). It is convenient to use tachyon field in units of $`T_0`$ and time $`t`$ also in units of $`T_0`$. Parameter $`m`$, however, is involved in the energy density of tachyon $`\epsilon \frac{m^2}{t^2}`$. The choice of $`ml_s^1M_p`$ may bring the value of $`\epsilon `$ to the required density of dark energy.

Numerical solution of the equations (9) and (8) reveals that tachyon very quickly, within time interval of several $`T_0`$, begins to oscillate around the minimum of the potential, as shown in the left panel of Figure 2. The amplitude of the oscillations is decreasing with time due to the Hubble friction term in the equation (9). The envelope curve (dashed line) in the left panel of Figure (2) shows the amplitude decreasing as $`1/t`$. As we will see below, this time-dependence of the amplitude exactly corresponds to the (time-averaged) equation of state $`\epsilon /p`$ which will be found for the tachyon matter in this model. Also, note that the period of oscillations is decreasing with time. Tachyon oscillations in this model are not only non-harmonic, but also non-periodic.

The instant value of the ratio of energy density (6) and pressure (7), $`\frac{p}{\epsilon }=\dot{T}^21`$, is oscillating with time, as shown in the right panel of Figure 2. Although the amplitude of oscillations $`T`$ is decreasing with time, the amplitude of $`\dot{T}`$ is not changing with time as it is clear from the Figure 2.

The period of oscillations is very small ($`T_0`$), so that only the average equation of state is important for cosmological evolution. To find it, we average $`\dot{T}^21`$ over several consecutive oscillations. The average value of $`\frac{p}{\epsilon }`$, shown as the horizontal line at the right panel of Figure 2, is independent of time and equal to

$$\frac{p}{\epsilon }=\frac{1}{3}.$$
(18)
For this type of the equation of state, average value of the energy density dilutes as $`\epsilon a^2`$ with the expansion of the universe. The amplitude of the tachyon oscillations is then decreasing as $`1/t`$, which is compatible with numerical results. From (8) we find that the scale factor on average is $`a(t)t`$. Note that equation of state similar to (18) takes place for a network of cosmic strings.

Equation of state (18) for the quadratic tachyon potential can be easily derived analytically. Indeed, assuming that tachyon is oscillating much faster than the universe expands, we can treat energy density $`\epsilon `$ as adiabatic invariant, and write $`\dot{T}^2=1\frac{V^2(T)}{\epsilon ^2}`$, where $`\epsilon `$ is constant over several consecutive oscillations. Then the average value of $`\dot{T}^2`$ for quadratic potential is

$$\dot{T}^2=\frac{\dot{T}^2𝑑t}{𝑑t}=\frac{(1V^2(T)/\epsilon ^2)^{1/2}𝑑T}{(1V^2(T)/\epsilon ^2)^{1/2}𝑑T}=\frac{2}{3},$$
(19)
and so $`\frac{p}{\epsilon }=\dot{T}^21=\frac{1}{3}`$. If shape of the potential around the minimum is not quadratic, but a power-law $`V(TT_0)^n`$, the average equation of state is $`\frac{p}{\epsilon }=\frac{1}{n+1}`$.

Although tachyon matter in the model has negative pressure, apparently it is short of explaining present acceleration of the universe. Combination of cosmological observations of CMB fluctuations, large scale structure clustering and high redshift supernovae constrains the equation of state to be lower than $`\frac{p}{\epsilon }<0.6`$ .

As we will see in the next section, background tachyon dynamics in this model is unstable under small spatial fluctuations, and homogeneous tachyon oscillations will decay. It will be interesting to find what will be the final configuration of tachyon matter in this model and what may be its potential application to cosmology.

## V Fluctuations in Tachyon Matter with Negative Pressure

It is expected that in realistic cosmological scenario tachyon field has small, quantum or classical, inhomogeneous fluctuations. In this section, we check the stability of tachyon fluctuations around the background solution discussed in the previous section. For the moment, let us ignore the expansion of the universe. Then we only have to solve equation (11) to find behaviour of fluctuations. Although formally some of the coefficients in equation (11) are singular when the background field $`T(t)`$ crosses zero in the case of quadratic potential, it is possible to switch to regular variables and overcome this technical inconvenience. Numerical solution of the fluctuation equation (for example for $`k=10`$ in units of $`T_0`$) is shown in Figure 3.

General theory of linear equations with periodic coefficients predicts the presence of stability and instability bands of momenta $`k`$. For unstable modes, the amplitude is increasing exponentially as $`T_k(t)e^{\mu _kt}`$. For the value of $`k`$ in Figure 3 the amplitude of fluctuations is increasing with time exponentially fast, by an order of magnitude in one background oscillation, say $`T_k(t)`$ increases by a factor of $`10^{10}`$ in ten oscillations! The physical reason is amplification due to the parametric resonance. This can be clearly seen if one rewrites equation (11) in the form of the oscillator-like equation, where the effective frequency is oscillating with time. This effect can be described by the theory of broad parametric resonance .

Since period of oscillation ($`T_0`$) is tiny compared to the cosmological time, and fluctuations become significant within several background oscillations, one can ignore expansion of the universe in this analysis. Thus we conclude that in the model with quadratic potential small tachyon fluctuations are exponentially unstable and background tachyon condensate decays into inhomogeneous configuration.

Decay of background tachyon condensate into inhomogeneous fluctuations does not necessarily mean that the universe becomes inhomogeneous. The tachyon fluid remains homogeneous as a whole, but not as the coherent condensate. Therefore it remains to be seen, based on the fully nonlinear analysis, what will be equation of state of the non-condensate tachyon fluid.

## VI Pressureless Tachyon Matter

In this section, we consider the model with the potential $`V(T)=V_0e^{T/T_0}`$, with its ground state at infinity, as sketched in the right panel of Figure 1. Again, we can use dimensionless tachyon $`T`$ in units of $`T_0`$ and dimensionless time $`t`$ in the same units $`T_0`$. Background cosmological solutions of the equations (9) and (8) for this case very quickly (several $`T_0`$) enters the regime where tachyon is rolling very fast, and $`\dot{T}`$ approaches unity exponentially quickly

$$T(t)=t+\frac{1}{4}a^6e^{2t},\dot{T}^2=1a^6e^{2t},$$
(20)
where $`a(t)`$ is the scale factor. The formula (20) applies, in particular, for radiation dominated stage where $`a(t)=\sqrt{t}`$ and tachyon does not contribute to gravity, and for $`a(t)=t^{2/3}`$ where tachyon gravitationally dominates. Without expansion of the universe, solution (20) corresponds to that of Sen .

In the above regime, tachyon potential is decreasing exponentially fast $`V(T)e^{t/T_0}`$. Remarkably, as it was discovered by Sen , the energy density of tachyon matter is non-zero, while its pressure vanishes. In an expanding universe from (6), (7), (20) we have

$$\epsilon =\frac{V_0e^{t/T_0}}{a^3e^{t/T_0}}\frac{V_0}{a^3},$$
(21)
while pressure vanishes

$$p=V_0e^{t/T_0}a^3e^{t/T_0}a^3e^{2t/T_0}0.$$
(22)
In dimensional units one can estimate $`\epsilon M_p^2/t^2`$. In other words, rolling tachyon matter in an expanding universe is pressureless, its energy density dilutes as $`\epsilon a^3`$, and its density may be tuned to the level of dark matter density of the universe. This makes tachyon matter with exponential potential a cosmological dark matter candidate.

## VII Cosmological Fluctuations for Pressureless Tachyon

The crucial property of the cosmological dark matter without pressure is the growth of cosmological fluctuations, which form a developed large scale structure. The large scale structure of the universe is ranging from non-linear clustered halos of galaxies and clusters of galaxies, quasi-linear structures at scales of supercluster and voids, and linear fluctuations at very large scales. It is essential that at quasi-linear and non-linear stages dark matter is displaced from the homogeneous distribution due to the flows generated by the fluctuations of gravitational potential, and gravitationally bound halos have high velocity dispersions.

In this section, we investigate the clustering properties of the pressureless tachyon matter. We assume rolling tachyon matter domination and expansion rate of the universe is $`a(t)t^{2/3}`$.

We begin with linear analysis of cosmological fluctuations, using formalism of Section III. For a moment, consider the case without expansion of the universe and without coupling to gravitational perturbations. From equation (11) for exponential potential it follows that the fluctuations are not growing, $`T_k=\text{const}`$.

Now let us consider tachyon fluctuations including expansion of the universe and coupling to gravitational potential $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$. Substituting the background solution (20) for the pressureless tachyon matter into equations (17), one can see that the coefficient in the front of $`k^2`$ (which plays the role of the sound speed for the tachyon matter) vanishes exponentially fast. This means that the growth of linear tachyon fluctuations is scale free, similar to that of the standard cold dark matter scenario. Then the solution of (17) is $`v_k=z`$, and the left-hand side of equation (15) is constant. From this we immediately get the time evolution of fluctuations $`\mathrm{\Phi }_k`$ and $`T_k`$

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_k(t)=\text{const},T_k(t)=\mathrm{\Phi }_kt.$$
(23)
Linear metric fluctuations are constant, similar to that in the cold dark matter scenario. However, the fluctuations in the tachyon field are growing, $`\dot{T}_k=1`$, in contrast to the simplified analysis above, where we neglected coupling to the metric fluctuations and expansion of the universe. The growth of tachyon fluctuations $`T_kt`$ cannot be obtained without these ingredients. Thus, tachyon fluctuations are unstable due to the effects of gravitational instability in an expanding universe.

However, the linear approximation for rolling tachyon/gravity system works only during very short time interval (of order of tens of $`T_0`$). Indeed, let us inspect the energy density of tachyon matter in the model with exponential potential, not assuming it is homogeneous

$$\epsilon =\frac{V_0e^{T/T_0}}{\sqrt{1\dot{T}^2+(_\stackrel{}{x}T)^2}}.$$
(24)
For fluctuations $`\delta T`$ we have $`\delta T\mathrm{\Phi }(\stackrel{}{x})t`$, where $`\mathrm{\Phi }(\stackrel{}{x})`$ describes initial spatial profile of the fluctuations. The full tachyon field including fluctuations is $`T(t,\stackrel{}{x})=(t+\frac{1}{4}a^6e^{2t})+\mathrm{\Phi }(\stackrel{}{x})t`$. The numerator of expression (24) vanishes as $`e^t`$, while the denominator evolves as $`a^6e^{2t}2\mathrm{\Phi }+(_\stackrel{}{x}\mathrm{\Phi })^2t^2`$. The linear approximation works during very short time interval while $`\left(_\stackrel{}{x}\mathrm{\Phi }\right)^2e^{2t}`$. When this inequality breaks, linear analysis becomes insufficient. For cosmological fluctuations $`\mathrm{\Phi }10^5`$, linear theory is valid during time interval of order of $`10T_0`$. Recall that for the standard particle dark matter scenario linear stage lasts during significant fraction of cosmological expansion.

One can try to use non-linear ansatz for the inhomogeneities of $`T(t,\stackrel{}{x})`$. Non-vanishing energy density (24) for rolling tachyon with numerator $`Ve^t`$ is achievable if denominator is also vanishing as $`e^t`$. Denominator $`\sqrt{1\dot{T}^2+(_\stackrel{}{x}T)^2}`$ is not going to vanish unless we admit that $`(_\stackrel{}{x}T)^2`$ decreases faster than $`e^{2t}`$. One of the working ansatz for inhomogeneous tachyon field is

$$T(t,\stackrel{}{x})=t+f(\stackrel{}{x},t)e^{2t},$$
(25)
where $`f(\stackrel{}{x},t)`$ weakly depends on $`t`$. This solution gives energy density (24) which is only spatially dependent. Solution for inhomogeneous tachyon was considered by Sen .

Now we will argue that fast rolling tachyon condensate with vanishing $`p`$ and nonzero $`\epsilon `$ lacks nonvanishing gradients $`_\stackrel{}{x}T`$ which correspond to cosmic velocity, or displacement of tachyon matter. Indeed, energy-momentum tensor of tachyon condensate may be written in the hydrodynamic form

$$T_{\mu \nu }=(\epsilon +p)u_\mu u_\nu +pg_{\mu \nu },$$
(26)
where corresponding fluid velocity is

$$u_\mu =\frac{_\mu T}{(_\alpha T^\alpha T)^{1/2}},$$
(27)
energy density is given by (24) and pressure is $`p=V(T)\sqrt{1+_\alpha T^\alpha T}`$.

Substituting here the solution (25), we find $`u_\stackrel{}{x}e^{2t}`$. Thus, rolling tachyon condensate does not behave like a media of non-interacting particles. This is in contrast with the standard pressureless media of cold dark matter particles where large scale velocities and displacements of particles from their initial positions are growing with time.

## VIII Summary

We considered cosmological solutions of rolling tachyon condensate $`T`$ for two models of tachyon potential $`V(T)`$. There are different levels at which one can theoreticize about $`T(t)`$ in expanding universe. Systematic approach suggests for us to begin with theory of tachyon field rolling down from the top of its potential. The curvature of the potential at the origin is negative, and we expect tachyonic instability of long wavelength fluctuations, similar to spinodal instability in usual field theory . Thus there is an issue of initial conditions for rolling tachyon cosmology.

Suppose (by choice of initial conditions where $`T`$ is displaced from the origin) tachyon evolves towards its ground state as homogeneous condensate. We considered the model with minimum at finite $`T_0`$ and with quadratic approximation of $`V(T)`$ around the minimum. Then the background tachyon oscillates around the minimum with frequency of order of $`1/T_0`$, and its (averaged over several oscillations) equation of state is $`\frac{p}{\epsilon }=\frac{1}{3}`$. However, we found from perturbation theory that tachyon fluctuations are exponentially unstable due to the tachyon self-interaction with background oscillations. It means that in this model homogeneous tachyon condensate decays. To answer the question what will be the resulting tachyon configuration, one has to go to the next level beyond the perturbation theory and to consider fully nonlinear problem of evolution of non-condensate tachyon fluid.

We also consider homogeneous tachyon rolling towards its ground state in the model with $`V(T)e^{T/T_0}`$, including expansion of the universe. In this model, the background tachyon condensate has vanishing pressure and finite energy density diluting as $`\epsilon 1/a^3`$. Considering linear perturbations of tachyon field coupled with small metric perturbations, we found gravitational instability of tachyon field, $`\delta Tt`$. However, linear theory very soon (tens of $`T_0`$) becomes irrelevant. We argue that non-vanishing energy density of tachyon condensate is incompatible with large scale tachyon flows. Again, to make more certain conclusion about tachyon cosmology in this model, one has to use non-linear analysis to follow further evolution of inhomogeneities.

## Acknowledgements

We are grateful to D. Bond and A. Linde for useful comments. We thank NATO Linkage Grant 975389 for support. A.F. was supported by NSERC, L.K. was supported by NSERC and CIAR. The work of A.S. in Russia was partially supported by RFBR, grants No 02-02-16817 and 00-15-96699, and by the RAS Research Program “Astronomy”. A.S. thanks CITA for hospitality during his visit.


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# 1 Appendix 1

## 1 Appendix 1

Let us take into account that $`v=0`$ for the RS solution. So $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ does not depend on $`z`$, and the internal integrals in (6 – 9) can be taken directly. Let us denote:

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Psi }^{}}{\mathrm{\Psi }}|_{t=t_c,x=x_0,p=p_0,v=0}=\alpha ,$$

$$W=\alpha ^2+\alpha 2,$$

$$\mathrm{}=𝑑y^G\mathrm{}.$$

In these notations

$$A_{xx}=1+\frac{t^2}{2}W,$$

$$A_{px}=\frac{t^2}{2}W\alpha ,$$

$$A_{pp}=1+t^2W(W+2\alpha ^2),$$

$$A_{vx}=(m1)A_{px},$$

$$A_{pv}=(m1)A_{pp},$$

$$A_{vv}=(m1)[A_{pp}2mD],$$

$$D=t^2W\alpha ^2,$$

$$A_{pp}2D=1+t^2W^2,$$

At the bifurcation point $`t_c=\frac{1}{1,367}`$, $`x^{}=0,581`$, $`p^{}=1,449`$ and we have for the RS solution

$$W=1,132,$$

$$W\alpha =0,6035,$$

$$W\alpha ^2=0,997,$$

$$W\alpha ^3=1,232,$$

$$W\alpha ^4=1,981.$$

The coefficients $`B_x,B_p,B_v`$ contain the third and $`B_m`$ – the fourth derivatives of $`A`$ at the point $`t_c`$, and their numerical values are obtained from the RS solution. With their help we get:

$$G_1=t+t^5W[(x^{}(t_c)2)(2\alpha ^3+3\alpha ^23\alpha 2)+$$

$$+p^{}(t_c)(10\alpha ^4+18\alpha ^3+15\alpha ^2+19\alpha 6)]=0,4,$$

$$G_2=4W[4\alpha ^4+8\alpha ^33\alpha ^27\alpha 2]=11,8,$$

$$G_3=4W[10\alpha ^420\alpha ^3+12\alpha ^2+22\alpha +10]=4.$$

## 2 Appendix 2

$$\begin{array}{c}4\mathrm{\Delta }F_2=p_0^2m[2P_1+4mQ_14(m1)Q_36m^2R_1+8m(m1)R_32(m1)^2R_7]+\hfill \\ +w_1^2(m1)[2P_0+4Q_4(m2)+R_5(m2)(m3)R_6m(m1)]+\hfill \\ +p_0w_14m(m1)[2Q_2+mR_2(m2)R_4].\hfill \end{array}$$
(38)
Here the coefficients $`P`$, $`Q`$, $`R`$ are for 1RSB solution and are as follows:

$$P_1=22t^2[44x+pp^2],$$

$$Q_1=2t^2[2pp^2t_{111}],$$

$$Q_2=2t^2[2pp(p+v)t_{21}],$$

$$Q_3=2t^2[2(p+v)p^2t_{21}],$$

$$R_1=2t^2[r_{1111}p^2],$$

$$R_2=2t^2[r_{211}p(p+v)],$$

$$R_3=2t^2[r_{211}p^2],$$

$$R_4=2t^2[r_{31}p(p+v)],$$

$$R_6=2t^2[r_{22}(p+v)^2],$$

$$R_7=2t^2[r_{22}p^2],$$

where

$$t_{111}=𝑑y^G\left[\frac{𝑑z^G\mathrm{\Psi }^{m1}\mathrm{\Psi }^{}}{𝑑z^G\mathrm{\Psi }^m}\right]^3,$$
(39)
$$t_{21}=𝑑y^G\frac{𝑑z^G\mathrm{\Psi }^{m1}\mathrm{\Psi }^{}𝑑z^G\mathrm{\Psi }^{m2}\left(\mathrm{\Psi }^{}\right)^2}{\left[𝑑z^G\mathrm{\Psi }^m\right]^2},$$
(40)
$$r_{1111}=𝑑y^G\left[\frac{𝑑z^G\mathrm{\Psi }^{m1}\mathrm{\Psi }^{}}{𝑑z^G\mathrm{\Psi }^m}\right]^4,$$
(41)
$$r_{31}=𝑑y^G\frac{𝑑z^G\mathrm{\Psi }^{m1}\mathrm{\Psi }^{}𝑑z^G\mathrm{\Psi }^{m3}\left(\mathrm{\Psi }^{}\right)^3}{\left[𝑑z^G\mathrm{\Psi }^m\right]^2},$$
(42)
$$r_{22}=𝑑y^G\left[\frac{𝑑z^G\mathrm{\Psi }^{m2}\left(\mathrm{\Psi }^{}\right)^2}{𝑑z^G\mathrm{\Psi }^m}\right]^2.$$
(43)


text:
# The Effect of Stochastic Noise on Quantum State Transfer

## I Introduction

The ability to transfer a quantum state from one system to another will be a useful tool in the future of quantum information, both for quantum communication and for building large quantum computers from smaller components. Various schemes have been proposed for transferring quantum states Cirac et al. (1997); Pellizzari (1997); van Enk et al. (1997b, a, 1999); Virjen and Yablonovitch (2000); Duan et al. (2001), some of which are based on teleportation and entanglement purification. Others are more direct, having a quantum channel (typically an optical fiber) connecting the two systems, and classical control pulses applied to each system ensure that emission from the first system and absorption by the second are perfect.

Over long distances, it appears that protocols based on teleportation and purification are necessarily more efficient than direct schemes Duan et al. (2001), but over short distances (e.g. for interconnects between quantum components), the more direct method, first proposed by Cirac et al. Cirac et al. (1997), may be practical, and is probably easier to implement since it does not require quantum measurement. The scheme by Cirac et alCirac et al. (1997) implements quantum state transfer from one atom located inside an optical cavity to another atom in a separate but connected cavity, mediated by Raman transitions via an atomic state (outside the computational basis) as well as cavity and external photons, and is controlled by laser pulses incident on each atom. The transfer is therefore subject to amplitude and phase errors in the control pulses.

The idea Cirac et al. (1997) is also applicable to single-electron spin based systems in semiconductors, with additional uses such as spin measurement Imamoḡlu et al. (1999); Imamoḡlu (2000), and as a controllable source of decoherence for initial state preparation. The intermediate state required for spin-flip Raman transitions between single electron spin states is a state known as a trion Imamoḡlu et al. (1999); Imamoḡlu (2000). This state is a bound state of two electrons and a single hole, and couples to the single electron spin states via $`x`$\- and $`y`$-polarised light. Physically, this corresponds to the optical excitation of an exciton which may form a bound state with the electron, very much akin to an H<sup>-</sup> complex. Trion states have been observed experimentally in GaAs Shields et al. (1995, 2001), and are relatively long lived, and so the scheme has the potential to be realised in semiconductor systems.

In this paper we present an analysis of the effect of two possible types of stochastic error in control pulses, and consider a method for reducing the sensitivity of the pulse to such errors. Our results show that it is possible to design pulse shapes that reduce the sensitivity of the transfer process to certain sources of errors in the pulse. We give a short account of the applicability of this scheme to a semiconductor device.

In section II we briefly review the proposal for quantum state transfer given by Cirac et al. (1997) and give a new analytic form for a laser control pulse shape that implements quantum state transfer. In section III we formulate a master equation for the transfer subject to stochastic errors in the control pulse, and use the master equation to compute the sensitivity of the transfer process to such errors. In section IV we present a procedure to optimise the pulse shape to reduce the sensitivity of the transfer to control pulse errors. We then finish with some conclusions.

## II Quantum State Transfer

### II.1 Review of proposal

In Cirac et al.’s proposal for quantum state transfer, Cirac et al. (1997), two 3-level systems (atoms, in the original proposal) are located inside separate optical cavities, as illustrated in Fig. 1, with the left atom starting in an arbitrary superposition of its lower levels, $`|\psi =c_g|g+c_e|e`$, and the right atom in the state $`|g`$. The objective of quantum state transfer is then to transfer the state $`|\psi `$ from atom 1 to atom 2 by applying suitable laser pulses to each atom. This may be expressed as

$$|\psi _1|g_2|0_1|0_2|g_1|\psi _2|0_1|0_2,$$
(1)
where the subscripts indicate the atom/cavity system. The term $`|0_j`$ is cavity $`j`$’s photon state in the number basis, and is the vacuum state at the start and end of the process.

In the case that the detuning between the laser frequency and the atomic transition from $`|g`$ to $`|e`$, $`\omega _L\omega _0`$, is larger than all other frequencies in the problem, one can write a Hamiltonian for each atom-cavity system, labeled $`j=1,2`$, from which the upper level $`|r`$ is adiabatically eliminated,

$$\widehat{H}_j(t)/\mathrm{}=\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_j(t)^2}{4(\omega _L\omega _0)}|e_{jj}e|ig_j(t)(e^{i\varphi _j(t)}|e_{jj}g|\widehat{a}_j\mathrm{H}.\mathrm{c}).$$
(2)
Here, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_j(t)=2𝝁_{er}𝜺E_j(t)/\mathrm{}`$ is the classical Rabi frequency of the atom-laser system and $`g(t)=g\mathrm{\Omega }(t)/(\omega _L\omega _0)`$ is the effective coupling strength between state $`|g`$ and $`|e`$, and is proportional to $`E_j(t)`$, the amplitude of the laser electric field, which we will use to control the transfer. We have also made the following definitions: $`\widehat{a}_j`$ is cavity $`j`$’s photon creation operator, $`g`$ is the cavity-atom coupling strength, $`𝝁_{er}`$ is the dipole matrix element between $`|e`$ and $`|r`$, $`𝜺`$ is the laser polarisation, and $`\varphi _j(t)`$ is the phase of the laser. In deriving this equation, there is an assumption that the laser frequency is detuned from the cavity mode , $`\omega _c`$, nearest the transition, by an amount $`\omega _l\omega _c=g^2/(\omega _L\omega _0)`$, which is the ac-Stark shift of the state $`|g_j`$ in the electric field of the laser.

Following the original proposal by Cirac et al. Cirac et al. (1997), the transfer is made to be unidirectional and is constrained by the requirement that the photodetector, indicated in Fig. 1, never registers a photon. The entire system is then an open quantum system, and is described equivalently by a quantum master equation, or a quantum trajectory punctuated by quantum jumps Gardiner and Zoller (2000). Since it will become important for the later development of this paper, we summarise now some important points from Cirac et al., who adopt the quantum trajectories approach to the problem. The non-Hermitian effective Hamiltonian that describes the evolution of the open system in between jumps is $`\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{eff}}=\widehat{H}_1+\widehat{H}_2i\kappa (\widehat{a}_1^{}\widehat{a}_1+\widehat{a}_2^{}\widehat{a}_2+2\widehat{a}_2^{}\widehat{a}_1)`$, where $`\kappa `$ is the cavity leakage rate and the jump operator is $`\widehat{c}=\widehat{a}_1+\widehat{a}_2`$. In the language of quantum trajectories, the system state vector evolves under the Schrödinger equation with the effective Hamiltonian $`H_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. This Hamiltonian does not increase the total excitation number of the system, so we write the state vector as

$$|\psi (t)=c_g|gg|00+c_e\left\{\alpha _1(t)e^{i\varphi _1(t)}|eg|00+\alpha _2(t)e^{i\varphi _2(t)}|ge|00+|gg\left(\frac{\beta _s(t)}{\sqrt{2}}(|01+|10)+\frac{\beta _a(t)}{\sqrt{2}}(|01|10)\right)\right\}.$$
(3)
The initial conditions and final configuration (for a successful transfer) are

$$\alpha _1(\mathrm{})=1,\varphi _1(\mathrm{})=0\text{ and }\alpha _2(+\mathrm{})=1,\varphi _2(+\mathrm{})=0.$$
(4)
we refer to the condition at $`t=+\mathrm{}`$ as the zero-jump condition, which holds as long as as $`\widehat{c}|\psi (t)=0`$ for all $`t`$, and this requires that

$$\beta _s(t)=0.$$
(5)
If we choose the phase of the laser to vary with time according to $`\dot{\varphi }_j(t)=\mathrm{\Omega }_j(t)^2/(4(\omega _L\omega _0))`$ then all $`\varphi _j`$ dependence factorises out of the Schrödinger, resulting in the linearly independent evolution equations

$`\dot{\alpha }_1(t)`$ $`=`$ $`g_1(t)\beta _a(t)/\sqrt{2},`$ (6a)
$`\dot{\alpha }_2(t)`$ $`=`$ $`g_2(t)\beta _a(t)/\sqrt{2},`$ (6b)
$`\dot{\beta }_s(t)`$ $`=`$ $`g_1(t)\alpha _1(t)/\sqrt{2}+g_2(t)\alpha _2(t)/\sqrt{2}+\kappa \beta _a(t).`$ (6c)
Finally, the normalisation condition for the state vector requires that

$$|\alpha _1(t)|^2+|\alpha _2(t)|^2+|\beta _s(t)|^2+|\beta _a(t)|^2=1.$$
(7)
We could also write an evolution equation for $`\beta _a`$, however this is the same equation as obtained by differentiating Eq. (7) with respect to time, and then substituting Eqs. (6a) and (6b), so is not linearly independent.

There are thus only five independent equations, Eqs. (5) through (7), but six unknowns, $`\alpha _1,\alpha _2,\beta _s,\beta _a,g_1`$ and $`g_2`$, and so there is no unique solution that satisfies the requirements of quantum state transfer. There is a notable symmetry in the evolution equations and the initial and final states which is that if the cavity labels $`j=1,2`$ are exchanged and time is reversed, i.e. $`12`$ and $`tt`$, then they are recovered, so long as $`g_2(t)=g_1(t)`$, which is referred to as the symmetric pulse condition. Under this condition, Cirac et alCirac et al. (1997) present a method for generating pulse shapes that satisfy the requirements of quantum state transfer. This procedure is as follows:

1. Select $`g_1(t)`$ for $`t0`$.
2. Solve Eq. (6a) and a reduced form of Eq. (6c): $`\dot{\beta }_a(t)=g_1(t)\beta _a(t)/\sqrt{2}\kappa g_1(t)\alpha _1(t)`$, subject to the initial conditions $`\alpha _1(0)=\kappa /\sqrt{2(g_1(0)^2+\kappa ^2)}`$ and $`\beta _a(0)=\sqrt{12\alpha _1(0)}`$.
3. Define $`g_1(t)=(\sqrt{2}\kappa \beta _a(|t|)+g_1(|t|)\alpha _1(|t|))/\alpha _2(|t|)`$ for $`t<0`$.

Then $`g_1(t)`$ is defined at all times, and as long as $`g_1(+\mathrm{})>0`$, this pulse shape will satisfy the requirements of quantum state transfer. Cirac et alCirac et al. (1997) present a particular solution to the equations, which they show accomplishes the transfer successfully.

We make the point that if $`g_1(t)0`$ as $`t+\mathrm{}`$ the method doesn’t guarantee a successful transfer pulse shape, but it does allow us to evaluate the success of a transfer based only on knowledge of $`g_1(t)`$ for $`t0`$, subject to the presumption that $`g_1(t):t<0`$ is determined from $`g_1(t):t0`$, according to the above procedure.

### II.2 Alternate solution method

Using Eqs. (6a) and (6b) to replace $`g_1(t)`$ and $`g_2(t)`$ in Eq. (6c), along with the zero jump condition, Eq. (5), as well as the normalisation condition Eq. (7) results in the following reduced non-linear equation for $`\alpha _1(t)`$ and $`\alpha _2(t)`$,

$$\frac{d}{dt}\left(\frac{\alpha _1(t)^2\alpha _2(t)^2}{2}\right)+\kappa (1\alpha _1(t)^2\alpha _2(t)^2)=0.$$
(8)
Thus, another approach to finding a suitable pulse shape is to invent another equation depending on $`\alpha _1(t)`$ and $`\alpha _2(t)`$ (i.e. $`f(\alpha _1(t),\alpha _2(t))=0`$) consistent with Eqs. (4) and (7) and then solve this equation and Eq. (8) to find $`\alpha _1(t)`$ and $`\alpha _2(t)`$, from which we can calculate the other functions.

We can motivate an example of this method by making $`g_1(t)=g_2(t)`$, so that pulses on each atom are the same. We then divide Eq. (6a) by Eq. (6b), to find $`\dot{\alpha }_1(t)=\dot{\alpha }_2(t)`$, and taking account of the initial condition, Eq. (4), we find that $`\alpha _1(t)+\alpha _2(t)=1`$, which is of the form $`f(\alpha _1(t),\alpha _2(t))=0`$, and is consistent with Eqs. (4) and (7). Thus we can use this as a second equation, along with Eq. (8) to solve for $`\alpha _1(t)`$ and $`\alpha _2(t)`$. By substituting for $`\alpha _2(t)`$ in Eq. (8), we find that $`\alpha _1(t)`$ satisfies

$$\dot{\alpha }_1(t)+2\kappa (\alpha _1(t)\alpha _1(t)^2)=0.$$
(9)
There are two solutions to this equation, $`\alpha _1(t)=(1\pm e^{2\kappa t})^1`$, however one is unphysical since it diverges at $`t=0`$ (violating the normalisation condition). The physical solution is $`\alpha _1(t)=(1\mathrm{tanh}(\kappa t))/2`$, and from this we can determine all the other quantities to be

$`\alpha _2(t)`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha _1(t)=(1+\mathrm{tanh}(\kappa t))/2,`$ (10a)
$`\beta _a(t)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{sech}(\kappa t))/\sqrt{2},`$ (10b)
$`g_1(t)`$ $`=`$ $`g_2(t)=\kappa \mathrm{sech}(\kappa t).`$ (10c)
Notably, this solution has the property that $`g_1(t)0`$ as $`t\mathrm{}`$, and it also satisfies the symmetric pulse condition, $`g_2(t)=g_1(t)`$, so is a member of the class of solutions generated by the method of Cirac et alCirac et al. (1997). We now have two solutions out of an infinite range of possible ones (i.e. the solution presented in Cirac et al. (1997), and the one above), which we will compare in later sections.

## III Stochastic Noise in Laser Pulse

Having presented an alternate pulse shape to accomplish quantum state transfer, we now use the two solutions, that in Cirac et alCirac et al. (1997) and in this paper, as test cases for evaluating the effect of stochastic noise in the laser pulses on the fidelity of the transfer. We reformulate the problem in terms of a quantum master equation, as opposed to that of quantum trajectories van Enk et al. (1997b, a); Cirac et al. (1997), since we will eventually take averages over an ensemble of noise realisations, which must be done with respect to the density matrix rather than the state vector.

### III.1 Master Equation

Since the process of information transfer is one-way, we adopt the cascaded quantum system approach, described in the text by Gardiner and Zoller Gardiner and Zoller (2000), to derive a master equation. The quantum master equation for the cascaded system here is given by

$$\dot{\rho }=\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}[\widehat{H}_1(t)+\widehat{H}_2(t),\rho ]+\kappa \{\rho \},$$
(11a)
$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \{\rho \}=& 2\widehat{a}_1\rho \widehat{a}_1^{}\widehat{a}_1\widehat{a}_1^{}\rho \rho \widehat{a}_1\widehat{a}_1^{}\hfill \\ & +2\widehat{a}_2\rho \widehat{a}_2^{}\widehat{a}_2\widehat{a}_2^{}\rho \rho \widehat{a}_2\widehat{a}_2^{}\hfill \\ & 2\{[\widehat{a}_2^{},\widehat{a}_1\rho ]+[\rho \widehat{a}_1^{},\widehat{a}_2]\},\hfill \end{array}$$
(11b)
where $`\rho `$ is the system density matrix. Subsequently, we leave out explicit time dependence notation from the Hamiltonians, $`H_1`$ and $`H_2`$, unless required for clarity. In lieu of writing out all 25 coupled, first-order differential equations arising from the master equation, we give a schematic representation of the coupling between elements of the density matrix in Fig. 3, where arrows indicate the direction of the coupling.

From this schematic representation we can see how the equations ensure that information does flow unidirectionally from the left cavity to the right. The initial condition for this master equation is simply

$$\rho (\mathrm{})=(|\psi _1|g_2|00)({}_{1}{}^{}\psi |_2g|00|).$$
(12)
For future reference, if a matrix representation of an operator is given, it will be expressed with respect to the basis $`=\{|g0g0,|e0g0,|g1g0,|g0e0,|g0g1\}`$, where the state vector notation represents the state of the left atom, left photon number, right atom and right photon number in order. The solutions we are interested in will be those for which quantum state transfer has been successfully implemented, so

$$\rho (+\mathrm{})=(|g_1|\psi _2|00)({}_{1}{}^{}g|_2\psi |00|).$$
(13)
We will use the notation $`\rho _0(t)`$ to indicate any solution to the noiseless master equation, Eq. (11a), which satisfies both Eqs. (12) and (13). For an arbitrary time $`t`$, $`\rho _0(t)`$ will depend on the pulse shape, nevertheless all permissible solutions will agree at $`t=\pm \mathrm{}`$. Of course, for those pulses that do satisfy the requirement of quantum state transfer, the master equation will give the same result as solving the quantum trajectory equations, Eq. (6).

### III.2 Adding Stochastic Noise

We add the effect of stochastic noise in the pulse shapes to the dynamics of the problem, and so we follow a similar development to that presented in recent work Budini (2001); Wellard and Hollenberg (2001). We assume that for each realisation of a transfer attempt, the actual classical laser pulse, $`\stackrel{~}{g}_j(t)`$, applied to atom $`j`$ is perturbed from the desired shape according to $`\stackrel{~}{g}_j(t)=g_j(t)+\xi _j(t)\mathrm{\Delta }g_j(t)`$, where $`\xi _j(t)`$ is a stochastic function of time, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }g_j(t)`$ is some function which will depend on the origin of the stochastic error (i.e. noise), and is considered to be small. For instance, if the noise is associated with fluctuations in the amplitude of the pulse, then $`\mathrm{\Delta }g_j(t)=g_j(t)`$, so that $`\stackrel{~}{g}_j(t)=(1+\xi _j(t))g_j(t)`$, and if it is associated with errors in timing between the pulses applied to the two cavities then $`\mathrm{\Delta }g_j(t)=\dot{g_j}(t)`$, both of which we consider later. This modifies the atom-cavity Hamiltonian from that with an ideal pulse, which to first order in $`\xi _j(t)`$ is

$$\widehat{H}_j(t)\widehat{H}_j(t)+\xi _j(t)\widehat{h}_j(\mathrm{\Delta }g_j(t)).$$
(14)
The operator $`\widehat{h}_j`$ is Hermitian and depends on $`\mathrm{\Delta }g_j(t)`$.

With the modified Hamiltonian given in Eq. (14), the master equation reads

$$\dot{\rho }=\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}[\widehat{H}_1+\xi _1(t)\widehat{h}_1(t)+\widehat{H}_2+\xi _2(t)\widehat{h}_2(t),\rho ]+\kappa \{\rho \},$$
(15)
which we formally integrate on both sides to find $`\rho (t)`$ and substitute back into the right-hand side (RHS) of the equation, to generate the second order term in the Dyson series. We then take averages over an ensemble of noise realisations, and assuming the one-time correlation terms have zero mean, i.e. $`\xi _j(t)=0,`$ we arrive at the result

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \dot{\rho }(t)=& i/\mathrm{}[H_1+H_2,\rho (t)]+\kappa \{\rho (t)\}\hfill \\ & +(i/\mathrm{})^2([\widehat{h}_1,_{\mathrm{}}^tdt^{}[\xi _1(t)\xi _1(t^{})\widehat{h}_1(t^{}),\rho (t^{})]]+[\widehat{h}_2,_{\mathrm{}}^tdt^{}[\xi _2(t)\xi _2(t^{})\widehat{h}_2(t^{}),\rho (t^{})]]\hfill \\ & +[\widehat{h}_1,_{\mathrm{}}^tdt^{}[\xi _1(t)\xi _2(t^{})\widehat{h}_2(t^{}),\rho (t^{})]]+[\widehat{h}_2,_{\mathrm{}}^tdt^{}[\xi _2(t)\xi _1(t^{})\widehat{h}_1(t^{}),\rho (t^{})]]).\hfill \end{array}$$
(16)
We write the averaged solution to the noisy master equation, Eq. (16), as a correction to $`\rho _0(t)`$, the density matrix in the absence of noise,

$$\rho (t)=\rho _0(t)+ϵ_1\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _1(t)+ϵ_2\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _2(t),$$
(17)
where $`ϵ_j`$ is a measure of the (small) variance of the noise on laser pulse $`j`$, and will appear as a coefficient in the two-time correlation function $`\xi _j(t)\xi _j(t^{})`$. In the case that the stochastic terms on each pulse are uncorrelated with one another, $`\xi _1(t)\xi _2(t^{})=0`$, which we will hereafter assume, we can substitute Eq. (17) into Eq. (16) and use Eq. (11a) to derive two independent master equations for the first order (in $`ϵ_j`$) correction terms $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _1(t)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _2(t)`$,

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \dot{\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _j}=& i/\mathrm{}[\widehat{H}_1+\widehat{H}_2,\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _j]+\kappa \{\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _j\}\hfill \\ & +(i/\mathrm{})^2[\widehat{h}_j,_{\mathrm{}}^t𝑑t^{}[\frac{\xi _j(t)\xi _j(t^{})}{ϵ_j}\widehat{h}_j(t^{}),\rho _0(t^{})]].\hfill \end{array}$$
(18)
The quantity $`ϵ_j\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _j(t)`$ is therefore interpreted as a correction to the noiseless density matrix due to stochastic errors in pulse $`j`$. We note that the homogeneous part of the above equation is the same as the original noiseless master equation, Eq. (11a), but it now has an inhomogeneous driving term that depends on the solution to the noiseless equation, $`\rho _0(t)`$. We are interested in errors in the density matrix associated with stochastic errors in the pulse shape, so we assume that the initial state of the density matrix can be prepared exactly, i.e $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _j(\mathrm{})=0`$. The solution to equation Eq. (11a) as $`t\mathrm{}`$ is determined by Eq. (13), but the solution to Eq. (18) is not constrained and may depend on both $`g_j(t)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }g_j(t)`$.

In numerical investigations of the error, we assume that the initial state of the left atom is $`|\psi =|e`$, so that the only non-zero matrix element is $`e0g0|\rho _0(\mathrm{})|e0g0=1`$. This assumption is not restrictive, since as may be seen from the form of the coupling of the evolution equations in Fig. 3, the only initial condition that influences the matrix elements $`\rho _{i,j}(t),i,j2`$ is that on the element $`\rho _{2,2}(\mathrm{})=e0g0|\rho _0(\mathrm{})|e0g0=1`$, and by the linearity of the equations we obtain the solution (up to a scaling factor) for any non-zero initial condition.

At the end of a noisless transfer, the only non-zero element will be $`g0e0|\rho _0(+\mathrm{})|g0e0=1`$, but at that time the correction to the density matrix may be non-zero, and the corresponding element $`\eta _j(t)=g0e0|\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _j(t)|g0e0`$ (which depends on $`\mathrm{\Delta }g_j(t)`$) we call the noise sensitivity. This is motivated by Eq. (17), since errors in pulse $`j`$ will perturb the final result away from unity

$$g0e0|\rho (+\mathrm{})|g0e0=1+ϵ_j\eta _j(+\mathrm{}).$$
(19)
We can conclude from this that $`\eta _j(+\mathrm{})0`$, since $`ϵ_j0`$ and $`\mathrm{tr}(\rho )=1`$. The relation above makes evident the fact that the stochastic (classical) noise is a source of decoherence for the transfer, since the probability of finding the system in the state $`g0e0|\rho (+\mathrm{})|g0e0`$ is less than unity.

### III.3 White Amplitude Error

We first apply the above result to the case where the stochastic errors arrive from unwanted fluctuations in the amplitude of the pulse, as mentioned earlier. In principle this could arise from intrinsic laser amplitude noise, although this is typically negligibly small. More likely sources of error are in the details of the pulse shaping and might arise from phase and amplitude errors of the modes selected to generate the pulse. In any case, we do not consider these issues here, but instead assume that the error has the property that $`\mathrm{\Delta }g_j(t)=g_j(t)`$, so that

$$\stackrel{~}{g}_j(t)=(1+\xi _j(t))g_j(t).$$
(20)
We will also assume that the stochastic terms are $`\delta `$-correlated,

$$\xi _j(t)\xi _j(t^{})=ϵ_j\delta (tt^{}).$$
(21)
With these assumptions the master equation for the corrections to the density matrix reduce to

$$\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _j}=\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}[\widehat{H}_1+\widehat{H}_2,\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _j]+\{\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _j\}\frac{1}{2\mathrm{}^2}[\widehat{h}_j,[\widehat{h}_j,\rho _0]],$$
(22)
where the factor of $`1/2`$ in front of the double commutator arises from integrating only half of the Dirac-$`\delta `$ function, and Eq. (22) is of Lindblad form.

We have solved the equations numerically (using the numerical differential equation solver provided with Mathematica 4.0) for two different pulse shapes, one given in this paper, Eqs. (10), and the other taken from the proposal for quantum state transfer by Cirac et alCirac et al. (1997). The results for the noise sensitivities are plotted in Fig. 4. For each pulse shape the noise sensitivities $`\eta _1(t)`$ and $`\eta _2(t)`$ appear to converge to the same value as $`t\mathrm{}`$, however they do differ by a small but definite amount between pulses shapes, being $`1`$ (to the numerical precision of the equation solver) and approximately $`1.17`$.

### III.4 White Timing Error

Using the same methods, we can consider the effect of timing errors between the pulses applied to the cavities. In this case it makes sense to define only one noise sensitivity, $`\eta `$, since we may assume that the pulse on the first atom defines the origin of time, and thus it will be errors in the timing of the second pulse relative to the first that will contribute to state transfer errors.

For timing errors, the noisy pulse shape is given by

$`\stackrel{~}{g}_2(t)`$ $`=`$ $`g_2(t+\xi (t)),`$ (23)
$``$ $`g_2(t)+\xi (t)g_2^{}(t),`$
where the second line follows by expanding to first order in the quantity $`\xi (t)`$. It may be seen from this form that $`\mathrm{\Delta }g_2(t)=g_2^{}(t)`$, and for the pusposes of illustration, we will again take the errors to be $`\delta `$-correlated, $`\xi (t)\xi (t^{})=ϵ\delta (tt^{})`$.

The result of the numerical solutions for the corrections to the density matrix are shown in Fig. 5. In this case the pulse shape presented in this paper is very slightly more susceptible to timing errors than the pulse shape given by Cirac et al. Cirac et al. (1997).

## IV Optimising against noise

From the two examples presented above, we can see that different pulse shapes are more or less sensitive to errors in their generation, depending on the nature of the error. We will now examine how this variation may be used to optimise the pulse shape against sources of error.

The utility of this is in recognising that stochastic noise in control signals contributes to decoherence, which has been noted previously Wellard and Hollenberg (2001). Whilst in that work, the decoherence attributable to stochastic noise was found to be much less than that due to other effects (environment), the calculation was based on a nominally constant control signal with stochastic noise superposed. The situation we consider here, though in a different system, is slightly more general in that the Hamiltonian is explicitly time dependent. Thus the errors in the control pulse will not be simply the intrinsic (e.g. thermal) noise associated with the power source, but also dynamic errors associate with signal generation, e.g. due to digitisation of a nominally continuous pulse, or errors in timing.

### IV.1 Optimisation Strategy

In principle, the problem of optimising the pulse shape against noise may be understood in terms of constrained optimisation. We wish to choose a pulse shape that minimises the noise sensitivity, $`\eta _j(+\mathrm{})`$, subject to the constraint that it satisfies the condition of pulse transfer, i.e. $`\alpha _2(+\mathrm{})=1`$. Conceptually, this would provide us with another equation to supplement Eqs. (6) which then makes the number of equations and unknowns equal, thereby specifying the pulse shape uniquely. In practise, we could formulate this problem in terms of Lagrange multipliers Bressoud (1991), and derive the following constrained optimisation equations

$`{\displaystyle \frac{𝒟\eta _j(+\mathrm{})}{𝒟g_1(\tau )}}+\lambda {\displaystyle \frac{𝒟\alpha _2(+\mathrm{})}{𝒟g_1(\tau )}}`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (24)
$`\alpha _2(+\mathrm{})=1,`$ (25)
where the operator $`𝒟/𝒟g_1(\tau )`$ represent the functional derivative with respect to the function $`g_1(\tau )`$, and $`\lambda `$ is an unknown Lagrange multiplier. We have introduced two more equations, and one more unknown, to bring the total number of each to seven. Since we have chosen $`g_2(\tau )=g_1(\tau )`$ we do not consider functional derivatives with respect to $`g_2(t)`$. Although we don’t prove it formally, we find that $`\eta _1(+\mathrm{})=\eta _2(+\mathrm{})`$ in all numerical calulations we have performed, so we only consider variational derivatives with respect to $`\eta _1(+\mathrm{})`$.

In fact, computing either of the above functional derivatives requires the solution of a set of differential equations that are of essentially the same form as Eq. (11a), since they are formulated by taking variational derivatives of the master equation with respect to $`g_1(\tau )`$, which must then be integrated. Since we do not have an analytic solution to the master equations for an arbitrary pulse shape, it is difficult to see how practically to make use of these equations, except for very small scale discretisations.

Another approach is to use numerical substitution. Here, we discretise the pulse shape, defining $`g_j=g_1(t_j)`$ for several discrete times $`t_j=t_0,\mathrm{},t_{n1}`$ (setting $`g_n=0`$), then interpolating between points. We allow all but $`g_0`$ to be variational parameters, and $`g_0`$ is chosen depending on $`g_1,\mathrm{},g_{n1}`$ to satisfy the constraint, $`\alpha _2(+\mathrm{})=1`$, which is the numerical equivalent of a substitution for $`g_0`$ in terms of all other variational parameters. We then have $`n1`$ variational parameters, $`g_1,\mathrm{},g_{n1}`$, available for unconstrained optimisation of $`\eta _1(+\mathrm{})`$, for which we may use an unconstrained optimisation scheme. In the details of this method, the discretisation points are chosen to be in the domain $`t0`$, and $`g_0`$ is determined from $`g_1,\mathrm{},g_{n1}`$ by use of the method outlined by Cirac et alCirac et al. (1997) (and at the end of section II.1 in this paper) which determines the efficacy of a given pulse shape in terms of its form for $`t0`$.

### IV.2 Numerical Results

A number of numerical optimisations are performed according to the numerical substitution scheme outlined above. In one set of optimisations, three points are allowed vary, and one of them, at $`t=0`$, is used to satisfy the condition for pulse transfer. The locations of the other two points are equally spaced between $`t=0`$ and a fourth location, $`t=T`$, where the function is zero, i.e. the two intermediate points are located at $`t=T/3`$ and $`t=2T/3`$. These intermediate points are varied to optimise the pulse shape. The pulse shapes that result from the three-point optimisation process are presented as the lighter traces in Fig. 6 for five different values of $`\kappa T=2,4,6,8`$ and 10.

In the other set of optimisations, six points are allowed to vary, again with the one at $`t=0`$ being used to satisfy the condition for successful pulse transfer. The remaining five points are also equally spaced between $`t=0`$ and $`t=T`$, for the same values of $`T`$ as above, and the optimal pulse shapes for the six-point optimisations are shown as the darker traces in Fig. 6.

Figure 6 demonstrates that the various pulses shown in Fig. 6 do each implement quantum state transfer successfully, since $`|\alpha _2(t)|^21`$ as $`t\mathrm{}`$ for all pulses. The figure also shows that as the width of the pulse becomes broader, proportional to $`T`$, the transfer process takes longer, so the slope of $`|\alpha _2(t)|^2`$ becomes shallower.

Figure 6 shows the noise sensitivity, $`\eta _1(t)`$, for each of the pulses in Fig. 6. Naturally, the value of $`\eta _1(+\mathrm{})`$ gets closer to zero (i.e. better) as the number of optimisation points is increased, and it also gets better as the width of the pulse increases. It may be compared with Fig. 4 which shows the noise sensitivity for the two analytic solutions discussed earlier and the optimisation process has clearly produced pulses that are significantly less sensitive to noise in the laser pulses than either of the analytic solutions discussed earlier in this paper. The best pulse shape computed in the optimisations performed here is that with $`T=10`$, and has the limit $`\eta _10.58`$ as $`t\mathrm{}`$. It appears that the optimisation procedure selects solutions with lower amplitudes, and this occurs because the form of noise we have assumed in this set of examples is proportional to the amplitude of the control pulse, thus lowering the amplitude tends to lower the effect of the noise.

Figure 6 shows that the photon wave-packet transmitted between the cavities, which is proportional to $`\beta _a(t)`$, becomes broader. It may be seen from Eqs. (7) and (8) that $`_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}|\beta _a(t)|^2𝑑t=1`$, and the numerical solutions satisfy this to around one part in $`10^5`$.

Figure 6 plots the limiting value of $`\eta _1`$ versus $`T`$, the time after which $`g_1`$ is zero, for the three-point (light) and six-point (dark) optimisations. The solid curves are fitted using a function of the form $`a+\frac{b}{c+T}`$, where $`a,b`$ and $`c`$ are fitting parameters. In both cases, the surprisingly close fit has $`a=0.5`$ to better than one part in $`10^3`$, suggesting that the ultimate limit to the optimisation process is an infinitely wide pulse with $`\eta _1(+\mathrm{})=0.5`$. This indicates that the effect of the noise cannot be removed by allowing the pulse duration to become infinitely long.

## V Discussion

The results presented in Fig. 6 above show that there is a clear possibility of selecting pulse shapes that are more or less sensitive to fluctuations therein. Figures 4 and 5 show that pulses which perform better with respect to one source of error may perform worse with respect to another, so in a realistic implementation of the optimisations presented here, detailed knowledge of the sources of stochastic error in the pulses would be required.

The reduction in transfer error from an optimised pulse is moderate in the case of white amplitude noise considered here, reducing the error in the transfer by a factor of a little over two compared to the original pulse shape presented by Cirac et alCirac et al. (1997). Though this is not a very large improvement, regardless of the shape chosen, pulse shaping will be needed to implement quantum state transfer, and so it is prudent to select the pulse with lowest noise sensitivity.

The order of magnitude of transfer errors produced by the pulse are set by the magnitude of $`ϵ_j`$, which is essentially the relative variance of the pulse fluctuations, integrated over time. As mentioned earlier, for white amplitude noise, one candidate that could produce this is intrinsic amplitude fluctuations in the laser. For a cw laser, this can almost immediately be ruled out as a legitimate error source, since the relative RMS amplitude lasers in e.g. a diode laser are of order $`10^6`$ Ohtsu (1992), so the variance is $`ϵ_j10^{12}`$, which is completely negligible.

A more likely source of error may be due to either the pulse generator or the pulse shaper. Whilst the original proposal for quantum state transfer was based on atomic states, we have had in mind the application of this scheme to electron spin states confined to quantum dots, with the dots contained within a linear microcavity, in a similar scheme to that illustrated by Benson et alBenson et al. (2000) and suggested by Imamoḡlu et alImamoḡlu et al. (1999); Imamoḡlu (2000). For a cavity of length 1 $`\mu `$m, the free spectral range is around $`10^{14}`$ Hz, and if we imagine one of the Bragg mirrors has transmissivity of $`10^3`$, then the cavity loss rate is around $`\kappa 10^{11}\mathrm{sec}^1`$. This is an optimistic but not unreasonable estimate for the transmissivity, e.g. Lidzey et alLidzey et al. (1998) report a microcavity $`Q`$-factor of 125 (based on a cavity linewidth of $`20`$ meV and a mode frequency of 2.88 eV) for a $`\lambda /2`$ cavity, which corresponds to a mirror transmissivity of $`T_{\mathrm{mir}}=0.025`$ Mandel and Wolf (1995), and good quality cavity linewidths may be as low as 0.5 meV Yamamoto and Imamoḡlu (1999), corresponding to $`T_{\mathrm{mir}}=5\times 10^4`$.

Since $`1/\kappa `$ sets the time scale of the control pulse (see e.g. Fig. 6), the typical width of the pulse is $`10`$ ps. Weiner Weiner (2000) gives a relation for the shortest temporal feature that one may generate as $`\delta t=T/\eta `$ where $`T`$ is the largest temporal window, and $`\eta `$ is a measure of the potential complexity of the pulse. Typical values are quoted as $`T=26.4`$ ps, which is the same order of magnitude as $`1/\kappa `$, and $`\eta =264`$, so $`\delta t10^{13}`$ s. Thus, if we assert that fluctuations at time scales less than $`\delta t`$ are uncontrolled, then an upper estimate on relative amplitude fluctuations might be $`\delta gg^{}(t)\delta t`$, which means that uncontrolled relative amplitude fluctuations from the pulse shaper could be as large as $`1/\eta 0.01`$, which is certainly not negligible.

We note in passing that the time scale of 10 ps is roughly coincident with the characteristic time required for an electron in a travelling quantum dot generated by a surface acoustic wave (SAW) (velocity $`3000`$ m s<sup>-1</sup>), to traverese a distance of 1 $`\mu `$m, which is the typical dimension of a SAW wavelength Barnes et al. (2000), as well as a typical minimum spot size for an optical CW laser at its focal point. Therefore, if a microcavity were constructed at the end of the SAW based quantum computer proposed in Barnes et al. (2000), then a CW laser focused at the center of the microcavity with a cross-sectional intensity profile shaped such that an electron passing through the microcavity experiences a time varying electric field which implements quantum state transfer (e.g Eq. (10c)), then the quantum state transfer scheme discussed in this paper could be used for both an interconnect between several SAW quantum processors and for electron-spin measurement (detection of a photon out of the cavity corresponds to a definite spin state of the electron).

This paper has been fundamentally concerned with time dependent Hamiltonians, which are, conceptually, generally applicable to schemes for implementation of quantum computation. We therefore suppose that in many quantum gates implemented with time dependent control pulses, there could be some advantage in shaping the control pulses to be minimally sensitive to errors, so the ideas discussed in this paper may well be generalisable to other quantum information applications.

## VI Summary

We have analyzed the effect of stochastic noise on a control pulse that implements quantum state transfer between two atoms or quantum dots. We have found an alternate analytic solution for laser pulses that implement quantum state transfer, and using the two analytic solutions we have available, we found that although different control pulses are capable of implementing quantum state transfer, they may have different sensitivities to noise, depending both on their shape and the source of the noise. We then provided a method for calculating pulse shapes with lower noise sensitivities thereby optimising the pulse shape. This method was demonstrated to produce more optimal control pulses for the case of noise that is proportional to the control pulse amplitude with a white spectrum. A number of successively better pulse shapes were presented, and extrapolating the improvement in the noise sensitivity to its limit (i.e. for infinitely wide pulses) strongly suggests that the influence of this particular form of noise cannot be cancelled completely.

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank G. Milburn for a very helpful discussion, S. Barrett, A. Moroz, A. Shields, R. Phillips, P. Littlewood and P. Haynes for fruitful conversations regarding implementation of the ideas presented. TMS acknowledges support from the Hackett Studentship and UK ORS Awards Scheme. CHWB thanks the EPSRC for financial support.


text:
# A possible contribution to CMB anisotropies at high ℓ from primordial voids

## 1 Introduction

One of the primary goals of modern cosmology is to gain an understanding of the formation and evolution of structure in the universe. Analyses of redshift surveys such as the 2-degree field galaxy redshift survey (2dFGRS, Peacock et al. 2001) suggest that there are large volumes of relatively empty space, or $`voids`$, in the distribution of galaxies. It seems that the universe is made up of a network of voids with most galaxies tending to be found in two dimensional sheets or filaments that surround these under-dense regions.

In the hierarchical model of structure formation, gravitational clustering is responsible for emptying voids of mass and galaxies (Peebles 1989). Simulations of the standard cold dark matter (CDM) model predict significant clumps of matter within voids that are capable of developing into observable bound objects (Dekel & Silk 1986; Hoffman et al. 1992). Peebles gives an in–depth discussion of the contradictions of this prediction with observation (Peebles 2001). He argues that the inability of the CDM models to produce the observed voids constitutes a true crisis for these models. Additionally, recently announced deep field observations from the Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) (Mason et al. 2002) show excess power on small angular scales, $`\mathrm{}>2000`$, in the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

It may be possible to explain the observations by postulating the presence of a void network originating from primordial bubbles of true vacuum that nucleated during inflation (La 1991; Liddle & Wands 1991; Turner et al. 1992; Occhionero & Amendola 1994; Amendola et al. 1996). In this scenario, the first bubbles to nucleate are stretched by the remaining inflation to cosmological scales. The largest voids may have had insufficient time to thermalize before decoupling and may persist to the present day. If voids exist at recombination they will leave an imprint on the cosmic microwave background. On the other hand, if they formed much later, their effect on the CMB will be negligible and will not be observed with the current generation of experiments.

The effects from primordial voids on the CMB have been investigated by a number of authors (Thompson & Vishniac 1987; Sato 1985; Martínez-González et al. 1990; Martínez-González & Sanz 1990; Liddle & Wands 1992; Panek 1992; Arnau et al. 1993; Mészáros 1994; Fullana et al. 1996; Mészáros & Molnár 1996; Shi et al. 1996; Baccigalupi et al. 1997; Amendola et al. 1998; Baccigalupi et al. 1998). The most complete investigation was carried out by Sakai et al. (1999) who modeled the effect for a distribution of equally sized voids.

In this Paper, we use a simple inflationary bubble model to show that if the voids that we see in galaxy surveys today existed at the epoch of decoupling, they would contribute significant additional power to the CMB angular power spectrum between $`2000<\mathrm{}<3000`$. Unlike previous analyses, we develop a general method that allows the creation of maps and enables us to consider an arbitrary distribution of void sizes. We model a power law distribution of void sizes as predicted by inflation (La 1991) and also take into account the finite thickness of the last scattering surface which suppresses part of the contribution from small voids.

## 2 Void networks in theory and observation

### 2.1 Predictions of the inflationary bubble model

In the extended inflationary model (La & Steinhardt 1989; see Kolb 1991 for a review), true vacuum bubbles nucleate during inflation in first order phase-transitions. This model predicts a distribution of bubble sizes greater than a given radius $`r`$ of the form,

$$N_B(>r)r^\alpha .$$
(1)
Typically, extended inflation is implemented within the framework of a Jordan-Brans-Dicke theory (Brans & Dicke 1961). In this case, the exponent $`\alpha `$ is directly related to the gravitational coupling $`\omega `$ of the scalar field that drives inflation,

$$\alpha =3+\frac{4}{\omega +1/2}.$$
(2)
Values of $`\omega >3500`$ are required by solar system experiments (Will 2001), although models have been proposed that either suppress or hide the present value of $`\omega `$ (La et al. 1989, Holman et al. 1990). The main driving force behind these models is that a low $`\alpha `$ can lead to large effects on the CMB if arbitrarily large voids are allowed (see Liddle & Wands 1991 for a review). The normalization of the bubble size distribution also depends on $`\omega `$ as well as on the energy scale of inflation.

Once formed, the bubbles will expand and form a shock wave on their boundary with the surrounding matter. After inflation ends, matter will start to flow relativistically back into the freshly created underdensities. However, cold dark matter only travels minimally into the void, since it becomes non-relativistic early on (Liddle & Wands 1992). Gravitational collapse of CDM will begin as normal at equality, further emptying any persisting voids. We expect baryonic matter to be pushed much further into the void as it is tightly coupled to relativistic photons until the epoch of decoupling when it will begin to gravitationally collapse back onto the CDM.

### 2.2 Void detections in redshift surveys

A number of different void finder algorithms have been developed to detect voids in redshift surveys (Kauffman & Fairall 1991; Kauffman & Melott 1992; Ryden 1995; Ryden & Melott 1996; El-Ad & Piran 1997; Aikio & Mähönen 1998). So far, such algorithms have been used to search for voids in the first slice of the Center for Astrophysics (CfA) redshift survey (Slezak et al. 1993), the Southern Sky Redshift Survey (SSRS) (Pellegrini et al. 1989, El-Ad et al. 1996), the Infra-Red Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) 1.2 Jy survey (El-Ad et al. 1997), the Las Campanas Redshift Survey (LCRS) (Müller et al. 2000), the Updated Zwicky Catalogue (UZC) (Hoyle & Vogeley 2002) and the Point Source Catalogue redshift (PSCz) survey (Plionis & Basilakos 2001, Hoyle & Vogeley 2002). These investigations indicate that 30-50% of the fractional volume of the universe is in the form of voids of underdensity $`\delta \rho /\rho <0.9`$, in line with the inflationary model predictions. These voids range in radius from $`r_{\mathrm{min}}`$ = 10 $`h^1`$ Mpc to $`r_{\mathrm{max}}`$ = 20-30 $`h^1`$ Mpc.

## 3 The phenomenological void network model

We model the voids seen today as spherical underdensities of $`\delta \rho /\rho =1`$. Each void is bounded by a thin wall containing the matter that is swept up during the void expansion. This forms a compensated void. We take the background universe to be an Einstein–de Sitter (EdS) cosmology, which is a good approximation since the majority of the effect on the CMB comes from voids on or close to the last scattering surface (LSS) and the universe tends towards an EdS cosmology at early times. Maeda & Sato (1983) and Bertschinger (1985) use conservation of momentum and energy respectively to show that these compensated voids will increase in radius $`r_v`$ between the onset of the gravitational collapse of matter at equality and the present day such that,

$$r_v(\eta )\eta ^\beta ,$$
(3)
with $`\beta 0.39`$ and where $`\eta `$ is conformal time.

In this Paper, we consider a phenomenological primordial void model that is based on the predictions of extended inflation with parameters chosen to be in agreement with current redshift survey observations; a full analysis of a larger family of models will be presented in a subsequent paper. Motivated by the inflationary scenario, we assume a power-law distribution of void sizes in the universe today, as given in equation (1). We further assume that the mechanism creating the voids imposes an upper cut-off on the size distribution. A possible mechanism for this cut-off could be that the tunneling probability of inflationary bubbles is modulated through the coupling to another field. We can therefore go to the limit of large $`\omega `$, leading to a spectrum of void sizes with $`\alpha =3`$. Apart from avoiding problems with well–established local measurements of gravity, this assumption allows us to match the observed upper limit on void sizes from the galaxy redshift surveys.

The minimal present void size is chosen to agree with redshift surveys, $`r_{\mathrm{min}}=10h^1`$ Mpc. For the maximal radius, we choose the average value that is found, $`r_{\mathrm{max}}=25h^1`$ Mpc. This scale can be strongly constrained by CMB data – if the maximal size were much larger, the voids would add too much additional power (given the observed value of $`F_v`$) at the wrong scales ($`\mathrm{}<2000`$). On the other hand, smaller voids would not be able to produce any significant contribution to the CMB power spectrum. The exponent of the size distribution $`\alpha `$ is weakly constrained by both theory and observations. Varying $`\alpha `$ changes the position of the peak and the overall power. This can partially adjust the influence of the other parameters (see figure 3).

We normalize the distribution by choosing the total number of voids so as to fill the required fraction of the universe today, $`F_v`$. Redshift surveys point to $`F_v0.4`$, ie. 40% of the volume of the universe is in underdense regions. The positions of the voids are then assigned randomly, making sure that they do not overlap. In order to speed up this process, we consider only a $`10^{}`$ cone. This limits our analysis to $`\mathrm{}>100`$, which is satisfactory for our purpose since the main contribution from voids is on much smaller scales.

## 4 Stepping through the void network

### 4.1 Voids between us and the LSS

We ray trace photon paths from us to the LSS for the 10 cone in steps of 1’. Each void in the present day distribution that is intersected by the photon path is evolved back in time according to (3) to determine whether the photon encounters the void. If a photon intersects a void between us and the LSS, we compute the Rees–Sciama (1968) effect due to the deviation in the redshift of the photon as it passes through the expanding void and the lensing effect due to the deviation in its path. Thompson & Vishniac (1987) applied double local Lorentz transformations at each void boundary to obtain the redshift deviation (the RS effect) and the scattering angle of a photon (the lensing effect),

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{RS}}\frac{\delta T}{T}|_{\mathrm{RS}}=(H_2R_2)^3\mathrm{cos}\theta _2\left(3\beta \frac{2}{3}\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _2\right),$$
(4)
$$\delta \alpha \theta _1+\theta _1^{}+\theta _2^{}\theta _2=(H_2R_2)^2\mathrm{sin}(2\theta _2),$$
(5)
where $`H`$ is the Hubble parameter, $`Rar_v`$ is the proper length of the void radius, $`\beta `$ is given by (3) and the angles $`\theta _1`$, $`\theta _1^{}`$, $`\theta _2^{}`$ and $`\theta _2`$ are defined by reference to figure 1.

This treatment agrees with the complementary approach of using the potential approximation for the under-density (Martínez-González et al. 1990). The potential approximation is defined in the EdS background making certain assumptions for which one of the Einstein equations reduces to the Poisson equation,

$$\frac{1}{a^2}^2\psi =4\pi G\overline{\rho }\delta ,$$
(6)
where $`\overline{\rho }`$ is the background density and $`\delta =\delta \rho /\overline{\rho }`$ is the density fluctuation field. For a spherical void with a thin shell, $`\rho (\eta ,𝐱)`$ is explicitly written as,

$$\begin{array}{c}\rho (\eta ,r)=\overline{\rho }(\eta )\theta (rr_v(\eta ))+\rho _{\mathrm{in}}(\eta ,r)\theta (r_v(\eta )r)\\ +\sigma (\eta )\delta _{\mathrm{Dirac}}(rr_v(\eta )),\end{array}$$
(7)
where $`\theta `$ is the Heaviside function, $`\delta _{\mathrm{Dirac}}`$ is the Dirac delta function, $`\rho _{\mathrm{in}}`$ is the energy density inside the void, and $`\sigma `$ is the surface energy density of the shell. Using this model of a void and assuming $`\rho _{\mathrm{in}}`$ to be homogeneous, (6) is easily integrated to give,

$`\psi ={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}H^2a^2\left(r^2r_v^2\right)\delta ,\mathrm{for}r<r_v,`$ (8)
$`\psi =0,\mathrm{for}r>r_v.`$ (9)
The non-linear growth of the void causes the potential inside it to grow with respect to the EdS background. This gives rise to the RS effect given by,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{RS}}=2_{\mathrm{LSS}}^0𝑑𝐱\psi .$$
(10)
The integration of (10) for a void between us at the LSS results in equation (4), that is the Thompson–Vishniac result.

### 4.2 Voids on the LSS

If a photon intersects a void on the LSS, we use the potential approximation to calculate the Sachs–Wolfe (1967) effect due to the photon originating from within the underdensity. For an empty void ($`\delta =1`$) that satisfies the potential approximation (8), the SW effect is given by (Sakai et al. 1999),

$$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{SW}}\frac{\delta T}{T}|_{\mathrm{SW}}=\frac{1}{12}H^2a^2\left(r_v^2r^2\right)|_{\mathrm{LSS}}\\ =\frac{1}{12}H^2a^2\left(r_v^2\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _2X^2\right),\end{array}$$
(11)
where $`X`$ is defined as the distance between the centre of the void and the LSS. Equation (11) takes a maximal value at $`r=0`$ corresponding to the case where a photon originates at the void centre.

We take into account the finite thickness of the LSS, which suppresses the SW effect for small voids, by averaging the contribution from a number of photons originating from a LSS of mean redshift 1100 and standard deviation in redshift 80. We also calculate the partial RS effect (PRS) that arises due to the expansion of the void on the LSS as the photon leaves it. Using the potential approximation and integrating (10) we obtain,

$$\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{PRS}}\frac{\delta T}{T}|_{\mathrm{PRS}}=2(3+\frac{\left(r_2^2r_{\mathrm{LSS}}^2\right)+\eta _2\left(\eta _24\eta _{\mathrm{LSS}}\right)}{\eta _{\mathrm{LSS}}^2}\\ +2\mathrm{log}\left(\frac{\eta _2}{\eta _{\mathrm{LSS}}}\right)2\frac{r_2\left(\eta _2\eta _{\mathrm{LSS}}\right)^2\mathrm{cos}\theta _2}{\eta _{\mathrm{LSS}}^2\eta _i}),\end{array}$$
(12)
where $`r_{\mathrm{LSS}}`$ and $`r_2`$ are the size of the void at $`\eta _{\mathrm{LSS}}`$ and at the time the photon leaves the void ($`\eta _2`$) respectively and the angle $`\theta _2`$ is defined by reference to figure 1.

Once the photon has reached the last scattering surface, we know the variation of its temperature as well as its position on the LSS and can create a temperature map (figure 2). We then use a flat sky approximation to obtain the $`C_{\mathrm{}}`$ spectrum of the anisotropies (White et al. 1999; da Silva 2002) (see figure 3). This figure is the main result of this Paper and shows that a void model motivated by theory and observations can provide substantial power on scales beyond $`\mathrm{}=2000`$.

We point out that primordial void parameters are still poorly constrained by both observation and theory. The bottom panel of figure 3 shows a few further example models. For a power-law size distribution (as motivated by the inflationary scenario), large voids become rarer as $`\alpha `$ is increased. Therefore, since void analyses of redshift surveys only sample a fraction of the volume of the universe, there may exist voids of larger $`r_{\mathrm{max}}`$ than currently observed. Models with high $`r_{\mathrm{max}}`$ tend to predict too much power on scales $`\mathrm{}1000`$. However, if we take inflationary models with $`\alpha >6`$, as motivated by eg. Occhionero & Amendola (1994), then the peak moves to larger $`\mathrm{}`$ and the total power drops. The filling fraction mainly adjusts the overall power.

## 5 Conclusions

The cosmic microwave background is an excellent tool for probing the distribution of matter from last scattering until today. In the case of voids, the strongest signal stems from objects at very high redshifts, especially from those already present at decoupling. We discuss in this Paper the imprint of a power law distribution of primordial, spherical and compensated voids, which could for example be generated by a phase transition during inflation.

We show that the signature of such a distribution of voids, that is compatible with redshift survey observations, contributes additional power on small angular scales. At the same time, this scenario solves the void–crisis of the CDM model. Experiments such as the CBI are able to directly probe small angular scales and constrain void parameters. We will present a constraints analysis of a wide range of void models in a future paper. In this in–depth analysis, we will also investigate the non-Gaussian signal of void models that are compatible with CMB observations as well as any effect of acoustic waves that primordial voids may propagate to the sound horizon (Baccigalupi & Perrotta 1998, Corasaniti et al. 2001).

Other sources are also expected to contribute at high $`\mathrm{}`$. Probably the strongest of these is the thermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (SZ) effect. Since the thermal SZ effect is strongly frequency–dependent, experiments which work at about 30 GHz (like CBI) will see a stronger signal than those working at higher frequencies (Aghanim et al. 2002). Hence a multi-frequency approach should be able to easily disentangle the contribution of voids from the SZ effect. Unfortunately, it seems to be difficult at present to predict the precise level of the SZ contribution, since different groups are reporting different results (see eg. Springel et al. 2000 for a compilation). Future multi-frequency, high-resolution and high signal-to-noise maps should be able to significantly constrain the contribution of primordial voids to the high $`\mathrm{}`$ CMB power spectrum. Additionally, deep galaxy redshift surveys and measurements of the distribution of matter in the Ly-$`\alpha `$ forest will able to directly explore the presence of voids in the baryonic matter distribution at low redshifts.

## Acknowledgments

It is a pleasure to thank Andrew Liddle for many interesting and crucial discussions. We also thank Antonio da Silva for helpful conversations and acknowledge the use of his angular power spectrum extraction algorithm. LMG is also grateful to Charles Lineweaver and the University of New South Wales, where some of this work was carried out, for their hospitality. LMG acknowledges support from PPARC. MK acknowledges support from the Swiss National Science Foundation.