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# Phase Transitions in Neutron Stars and Gravitational Wave Emission.

## I Introduction

The first generation of large gravitational interferometric detectors as the French-Italian VIRGO and the American LIGO, should be fully operational within one or two years. The best signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio that can be achieved from these detectors implies the use of matched-filter techniques, that require a priori the knowledge of the signal waveform. Thus, the identification of possible sources having a well defined signal is a relevant problem in the detection strategy.

Neutron stars are certainly one of the most popular potential sources of gravitational waves (GWs), since they can emit by different mechanisms having a well known waveform. Rotating neutron stars may have a time-varying quadrupole moment and hence radiate GWs, by either having a triaxial shape or a misalignment between the symmetry and the spin axes, which produces a precessional motionFerrari and Ruffini (1969); Zimmerman and Szedenits (1979); Shapiro and Teukolsky . Moreover, fast rotating proto-neutron stars may develop different instabilities such as the so-called Chandrasekhar-Friedman-Schutz (CFS) instabilityChandrasekhar (1970); Friedman and Schutz (1978), responsible for the excitation of density waves traveling around the star in the sense opposite to its rotation, or undergo a transition from axi-symmetric to triaxial shapes through the dynamical “bar-mode” instabilityLai and Shapiro (1995). All these mechanisms are potentially able to generate large amounts of energy in the form of GWs.

Nonradial oscillations are also a possible mechanism for neutron stars emit GWs and this possibility was already discussed in the late sixtiesThorne and Campolattaro (1967). One of the difficulties with this mechanism concerns the energy source necessary to excite the oscillations. The elastic energy stored in the crust and released by tectonic activity was recently consideredde Freitas Pacheco (1998), but the maximum available energy is likely to be of the order of 1044-45 erg. Thus, even if all this energy could be converted into nonradial modes, the maximum distance that a signal could be seen by a laser interferometer like VIRGO is only about 3.0 kpcde Freitas Pacheco (1998). This result depends, of course, on the adopted equation of state, which fixes the mode frequencies and damping timescales. A considerable amount of energy would be available if the neutron star undergo a phase transition in the core. For instance, if quark deconfinement occurs, then the star will suffer a micro-collapse since the equation of state of the quark matter is softer than that of the hadronic matter and the new equilibrium configuration will be more compact, having a larger binding energy. The energy difference will partially cover the cost of the phase transition and will partially be used to excite mechanical modes, whose energy will be dissipated by different channels. The physical conditions of matter at densities above the saturation density ($`\rho _0=0.15fm^3`$) is badly known and many first or second order phase transitions have been speculated upon. The possibility of a quark and hadron mixed phase was considered in ref.Glendenning (1992), where the conservation of the electric and the baryonic charges are satisfied not locally but within a volume including many droplets of quarks and of hadrons. This mixed phase does not include local surface and Coulomb energies of quarks and nuclear matter and, as a consequence of these terms, if the interface tension between quark and nuclear matter is too large, the mixed phase is not favored energetically Heiselberg et al. (1993); Heiselberg and Hjorth-Jensen (1999). In this case, the neutron star will then have a core of pure quark matter and a mantle of hadrons surrounding it. In the absence of dynamical models able to follow the evolution of the star during the phase transition, we assume as in ref.Haensel and Prózynski (1982), that the structural rearrangement suffered by a “cold” star occurs on a dynamical timescale, i.e., of the order of milliseconds, shorter than the smooth global stellar readjustment suggested in refs.Glendenning et al. (1997); Glendenning and Weber (2001) and the gradual transition expected to occur in hot proto-neutron starsBaumgarte et al. (1996). Radial modes excited by the micro-collapse do not radiate GWs, but an important coupling with rotation existsChau (1967) and, if the star rotates, the oscillations will be damped not only by dissipation of the mechanical energy into heat but also by the emission of GWs.

In the present work, the detectability of GWs generated by oscillations excited during a phase transition in the core of a neutron star is reviewedSotani et al. (2002). Neutron star properties were computed using a description of the hadronic matter based on the work of Boguta and BodmerBoguta and Bodmer (1977), including the fundamental baryon octet, the isovector meson $`\varrho `$ and lepton degrees of freedom (see references  for details). Hybrid models, including a quark-gluon core, with the same baryonic number as the pure hadron configuration were also computed and the energy difference between both states was used as an estimate of the maximum energy available to either excite mechanical oscillations or to be converted into heat. Then, using the planned sensitivity of present laser interferometers like VIRGO (or LIGO I) and those of the next generation (LIGO II), the maximum volume of space that can be probed by these experiments is calculated, since this indicates the potential detectability of these sources. The plan of this paper is the following: in section 2 the star models are reviewed, in section 3 the gravitational wave emission is discussed and finally, in section 4, conclusions are given.

## II The neutron star model

The present model for the nuclear matter was already discussed by Marranghello et al.Marranghello et al. (2002), who have investigated the effects of a finite temperature in the equation of state. Here, the same description for dense matter is adopted but only models with T=0 will be considered. Moreover, the coupling constants are slightly modified with respect to those considered in that work, in order to allow the maximum mass of the configuration to be compatible with recent results on the binary X-ray system Vela X-1Barziv et al. (2001). For the sake of completeness, we recall here the main points of the model.

The lagrangian density describing the nuclear matter is

$``$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{B}{}}\overline{\psi }_B[(i\gamma _\mu (^\mu g_{\omega B}\omega ^\mu )(M_Bg_{\sigma B}\sigma )]\psi _B`$ (1)
$`{\displaystyle \underset{B}{}}\overline{\psi }_B[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g_{\varrho B}𝝉\mathit{\varrho }^\mu ]\psi _B+{\displaystyle \frac{bM}{3}}\sigma ^3+{\displaystyle \frac{c}{4}}\sigma ^4`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(_\mu \sigma ^\mu \sigma m_\sigma ^2\sigma ^2){\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\omega _{\mu \nu }\omega ^{\mu \nu }+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m_\omega ^2\omega _\mu \omega ^\mu `$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\mathit{\varrho }_{\mu \nu }\mathit{\varrho }^{\mu \nu }+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m_\varrho ^2\mathit{\varrho }_\mu \mathit{\varrho }^\mu `$
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{l}{}}\overline{\psi }_l[i\gamma _\mu ^\mu M_l]\psi _l.`$
This equation represents nuclear matter as composed by a mixture of the fundamental baryon octet (p, n, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}`$, $`\mathrm{\Xi }^{}`$, $`\mathrm{\Xi }^0`$) coupled to three mesons ($`\sigma ,\omega ,\varrho `$) and leptons (for the details see ). The scalar and vector coupling constants, gσ, gω and the coefficients b, c were determined by imposing that the model bulk properties should be able to reproduce the binding energy Eb (= -16.3 MeV), the compression modulus K (= 240 MeV) and the nucleon effective mass $`M^{}=Mg_\sigma \overline{\sigma }`$ (= 732 MeV) at the saturation density $`\rho _0`$ (=0.153 fm-3). Additionally, the isovector coupling constant gϱ is determined from the coefficient for the symmetry energy in nuclear matter, a4 (= 32.5 MeV). We have used the universal hyperon-nucleon coupling ratios $`\chi _i=g_{Hi}/g_i`$, with $`i=\sigma ,\varrho ,\omega `$. The resulting coefficients used in our computations, are given in table 1. Figure 1 shows the equation of state derived from our model and in figure 2 it is shown the energy density profile inside the star for two configurations having gravitational masses equal to 1.2 and 1.6 M respectively.

Hybrid models including a quark-gluon core were also computed. The quark matter was described by the MIT Lagrangiande Grand et al. (1975) and the physical conditions at the deconfinement transition were estimated from the Gibbs criteria, namely, by the equality of the chemical potential and pressure of both phases, under conservation of the baryon number and electrical charge. The physical parameters at the transition point are given in table 2, for a bag constant $`B^{1/4}=180MeV`$ and a strange quark mass ms = 150 MeV. The gravitational mass of the star as a function of the central energy density is shown in figure 3 for the case of a pure hadronic configuration (dashed line), a hybrid star with a quark core (solid line) and, for comparison, a case where a mixed phase exist in the center, compute in the same way as ref. Glendenning (1992).

It should be emphasized that our equation of state is quite steep ($`\frac{dlogP}{dlog\varrho }2.6`$) near saturation and, as a consequence, the deconfinement transition occurs at densities just above the saturation value ($`\rho 1.7\rho _0`$), producing hybrid stars with very extended quark-gluon cores. Here we take the opportunity to reiterate that, from the actual status of theoretical predictions to the EOS, with so many parameters to be adjusted, even in the quark phase and specially in the hadron phase, we believe that only qualitative results can be obtained with some insights on the quantitative results.

The maximum stable mass of a pure hadronic configuration is about M$`{}_{max}{}^{}`$ 2.1 M while for hybrid stars this limit is reduced to 1.73 M. Thus, the present calculations exclude the possibility that Vela X-1 has a quark core. Notice that our models obey the Seidov criteriumSeidov (1971), namely, that the hybrid star will be stable only if the energy jump across the transition surface satisfies the condition

$$\frac{ϵ_q}{ϵ_H}<\frac{3}{2}(1+\frac{P}{ϵ_H})$$
(2)
where P, eq, eH are respectively the pressure, the energy density of quarks and hadrons at the transition point.

One of the goals of this work is the determination of an upper limit for the energy able to excite the different oscillation modes of the star, when a modification in its internal structure occurs. In this sense, the simplest approach is to compute the energy difference between two configurations having the same baryonic number; the first constituted of pure hadrons (H), the second having a core of deconfined matter (HQ), and use such a difference as an indication of the maximum available energy. Table 3 gives the parameters for five models defined by a given baryonic numberWeinberg

$$N=_0^R4\pi r^2\left[1\frac{2Gm(r)}{r^2}\right]^{1/2}\rho _B(r)𝑑r,$$
(3)
or the baryonic mass of the star ($`M_{bar}=NM_B`$); the expected gravitational mass of both configurations (pure hadron and hybrid),

$$M_g=m(R)=_0^R4\pi r^2ϵ(r)𝑑r;$$
(4)
expected radii, masses of the quark-gluon core and the energy difference obtained from the passage of configuration H to HQ, the binding energy.

$$E_g=M_gM_{bar}.$$
(5)
## III The gravitational wave emission

The transition from configuration H to HQ may occur through the formation of a mestastable core, built up by an increasing central density. The increase in the central density may be a consequence of a continuous spin-down or other different mechanisms the star could suffer. This transition releases energy, exciting mainly the radial modes of the starSotani et al. (2002). These modes do not emit GWs, unless when coupled with rotationChau (1967), a situation which will be assumed here.

In order to simplify our analysis, we will consider that most of the mechanical energy is in the fundamental model. In this case, the gravitational strain amplitude can be written as

$$h(t)=h_0e^{(t/\tau _{gw}ı\omega _0t)}$$
(6)
where h0 is the initial amplitude, $`\omega _0`$ is the angular frequency of the mode and $`\tau _{gw}`$ is the corresponding damping timescale. The initial amplitude is related to the total energy Eg dissipated under the form of GWs by the relationde Freitas Pacheco

$$h_0=\frac{4}{\omega _0r}\left[\frac{GE_g}{\tau _{gw}c^3}\right]^{1/2}$$
(7)
where G is the gravitational constant, c is the velocity of light and r is the distance to the source.

Relativistic calculations of radial oscillations of neutron star with a quark core were recently performed by Sahu et al.Sahu et al. . However, the relativistic models computed by those authors do not have a surface of discontinuity where an energy jump occurs. Instead a mixing region was considered, where the charges (electric and baryonic) are conserved globally but not locallyGlendenning (1992). Oscillations of star models including an abrupt transition between the mantle and the core were considered by HaenselHaensel et al. (1989) and MiniuttiMiniutti et al. . However a Newtonian treatment was adopted and the equation of state used in the calculations does not correspond to any specific nuclear interaction model. In spite of these simplifications, these hybrid models suggest that rapid phase transitions, as that resulting from the formation of a pion condensate, proceed at the rate of strong interactions and affect substantially the mode frequencies. However, the situation is quite different for slow phase transitions (the present case), where the mode frequencies are quite similar to those of a one-phase starHaensel et al. (1989). In this case, scaling the results of Haensel et al. (1989), the frequency of the fundamental mode (uncorrected for gravitational redshift) is given approximately by

$$\nu _063.8\left[\frac{(M/M_{})}{R^3}\right]^{1/2}kHz$$
(8)
where the mass is given in solar units and the radius in km.

Once the transition to quark-gluon matter occurs, the weak interaction processes for the quarks u, d and s

$$u+sd+u$$
(9)
and

$$d+uu+s$$
(10)
will take place. Since these reactions are relatively slow, they are not balanced while the oscillations last and thus, they dissipate mechanical energy into heatde Wang and Lu (1984). According to calculations of reference , the dissipation timescale can be estimated by the relation

$$\tau _d0.01\left(\frac{150MeV}{m_s}\right)^4\left(\frac{M_{}}{M_c}\right)s$$
(11)
where $`m_s`$ is the mass of the s-quark in MeV and Mc is the mass of the deconfined core in solar masses. This equation is valid for temperatures in the range $`10^810^9K`$. On the other hand, according to reference Chau (1967) the damping timescale by GW emission is

$$\tau _{gw}=1.8\left(\frac{M_{}}{M}\right)\left(\frac{P_{ms}^4}{R^2}\right)s$$
(12)
where again the stellar mass is in solar units, the radius is in km and the rotation period P is in milliseconds.

In a first approximation, the fraction of the mechanical energy which will be dissipated under the form of GWs is $`f_g=\frac{1}{(1+\tau _{gw}/\tau _d)}`$. Notice that the damping timescale by GW emission depends strongly on the rotation period. Therefore one should expect that slow rotators will dissipate mostly of the mechanical energy into heat. In table 4 is given for each star model the expected frequency of the fundamental mode (corrected for the gravitational redshift) , the critical rotation period (in ms) for having fg = 0.50, the GW damping for this critical period and the quality factor of the oscillation, Q =$`\pi \nu _0\tau _{gw}`$.

After filtering the signal, the expected signal-to-noise ratio is

$$(S/N)^2=4_0^{\mathrm{}}\frac{\stackrel{~}{h}(\nu )}{S_n(\nu )}𝑑\nu $$
(13)
where $`\stackrel{~}{h}(\nu )`$ is the Fourier transform of the signal and S$`{}_{n}{}^{}(\nu )`$ is the noise power spectrum of the detector. Performing the required calculations, the S/N ratio can be written as

$$(S/N)^2=\frac{4}{5}h_0^2\left(\frac{\tau _{gw}}{S_n(\nu _{gw})}\right)\frac{Q^2}{1+4Q^2}$$
(14)
In the equation above, the angle average on the beam factors of the detector were already performedRegimbau .

From eqs.( 4) and (11), once the energy and the S/N ratio are fixed, one can estimate the maximum distance Dmax to the source probed by the detector. In the last two columns of table 4 are given distances Dmax derived for a signal-to-noise ratio S/N = 2.0 and the sensitivity curve of the laser beam interferometers VIRGO and LIGO II. In both cases, it was assumed that neutron stars underwent the transition having a rotation period equal to the critical value.

We emphasize again that our calculations are based on the assumption that the deconfinement transition occurs in a dynamical timescale Haensel and Prózynski (1982). In the scenario developed in ref.Glendenning et al. (1997), a mixed quark-hadron phase appears and the complete deconfinement of the core occurs according to a sequence of quasi-equilibrium states. The star contracts slowly, decreasing its inertia moment and increasing the its angular velocity until the final state be reached in a timescale of the order of $`10^5`$ yr Glendenning et al. (1997). Clearly, in this scenario no gravitational waves will be emitted and this could be a possibility to discriminate both evolutionary paths.

## IV Conclusions

The structure of pure hadronic configurations and that of hybrid stars having a quark core, with the same baryonic number, were computed using a new equation of stateMarranghello et al. (2002). The maximum stable mass for pure hadronic configurations satisfies the requirement of being higher than the mass of Vela X-1 ( M = 1.86$`\pm `$0.16 M), determined recentlyBarziv et al. (2001) from a new study of its orbital motion.

As one should expect, the masses of quark cores increase with the baryon number of the configuration, as well as the difference between the binding energies between hybrid and single phase objects. On the basis of this result and from the point of view of the GW emission, it would be natural to expect that phase transitions occurring in more massive stars would be more easy to detect. In fact, this is not the case because, in the one hand the damping timescale due to the emission of GWs is inversely proportional to the mass and hence massive stars have low oscillation quality factors and, on the other hand the detectors have sensitivities optimized at frequencies around 200 Hz. In comparison with non-radial oscillations (for instance m= $`\mathrm{}`$ = 2 modes), these have comparable frequencies but damping timescales one order of magnitude higher than those resulting from radial modes coupled to rotation. In this case, higher quality factors Q may be obtained but most of the mechanical energy will be dissipated into heat. In order to be an efficient source of GWs by the mechanism here considered, the star must be a fast rotator, i.e., to have rotation periods of the order of few milliseconds. Even in the most favorable case (model 2, corresponding to a baryonic mass equal to 1.32 M), if the rotation period is 4.0 ms, only 1% of the available energy will be emitted as GWs.

Inspection of table 4 indicates that the maximum distance probed by detectors of first generation (VIRGO, LIGO I) is about 6.4 Mpc, well beyond M31, whereas the second generation (LIGO II) will probably see phase transition events at distances two times longer, but certainly not yet attaining the Virgo cluster. The small probed volume and the rapid rotation required for this mechanism be efficient imply in a low event rate, imposing severe limitations on the detectability of such a signal.


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# Bose–Einstein–Young condensates

\[

## Abstract

We demonstrate a possibility to create a new state of ultracold atoms which we call a Bose–Einstein–Young condensate. Atoms are supposed to be in different hyperfine state of the same isotope. The wave function of such a state, although totally symmetric with respect to simultaneous permutation of co-ordinates and spins of any pair of atoms, has more complicated structure than a simple product of totally symmetric co-ordinate and spin parts. Its properties with respect to permutations of only co-ordinates or only spins are characterized by a particular Young diagram, a symbol denoting an irreducible representation of the permutation group.

\]

Creation of binary mixtures of Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) of ensembles of atoms of the same isotope in different hyperfine states  and spinor condensates in optical traps  is one of the remarkable advances in experiments with BECs. The results of these experiments are in good agreement with the existing theories of a multicomponent BEC . Even if one deals with a spinor BEC, where an external magnetic field gives rise to magnetization and, hence, non-trivial spin properties, including condensate fragmentation , the translational motion of atoms at sufficiently low temperature (disregarding small quantum depletion) is essentially the ground state of a trap that can be determined by energy minimization.

However, a question arises, is such a ground state always a final state reached at the end of a process of cooling of atoms. In the present Rapid Communication, we demonstrate that the answer is negative. It is possible to find various states those should appear as final states of a sympathetic cooling process and are not coupled by interatomic interactions to the ground state determined in Refs..

Due to the Bose-Einstein statistics, the wave function of the atoms must be invariant with respect to permutation of both the co-ordinates $`(𝐫_i)`$ and spins $`(\sigma _i)`$ of any pair of atoms. In general case, it can be constructed in different ways, namely,

$`\mathrm{\Psi }(𝐫_1,\mathrm{},𝐫_n;\sigma _1,\mathrm{},\sigma _n)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{s^{\{\lambda \}}}}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{s^{\{\lambda \}}}{}}}\varphi _k^{\{\lambda \}}(𝐫_1,\mathrm{},𝐫_n)`$ (2)
$`\times \chi _k^{\{\lambda \}}(\sigma _1,\mathrm{},\sigma _n).`$
Here $`\{\lambda \}`$ denotes an irreducible representation of the symmetric group of the order $`n`$ (i.e., the group of permutations of $`n`$ objects), $`n`$ is the number of identical atoms in the system, and $`s^{\{\lambda \}}`$ is the dimension of the representation. The theory of symmetric group representations and its applications in physics are described, e.g., in classical textbooks by Wigner  and by Lyubarskii . It is worth to note that theory of symmetric group representation is widely used in theory of atomic spectra  as well as of rotational and vibrational spectra of symmetric polyatomic molecules containing identical nuclei. Here we remind briefly the necessary subjects from the theory of symmetric group representations.

Any irreducible representation of the symmetric group of order $`n`$ is characterized by a partition $`\{\lambda \}=\{\lambda _1,\lambda _2,\mathrm{},\lambda _r\}`$, i.e., representation of the number $`n`$ as a sum of integer positive summands arranged in the non-increasing order:

$$n=\lambda _1+\lambda _2+\mathrm{}+\lambda _r,$$

$$\lambda _1\lambda _2\mathrm{}\lambda _r>0.$$

Graphically the partition $`\{\lambda \}`$ can be represented by a so-called Young diagram consisting of $`n`$ square boxes arranged in rows, the number of boxes in i-th row is equal to $`\lambda _i`$. To get a basis for this representation, one has to associate each co-ordinate or spin variable to one of the boxes. Then it is necessary to apply to a co-ordinate or, respectively, spin wave function a certain symmetrization-antisymmetrization procedure that involves particular permutations of the function arguments, according to their distribution between the boxes, and summation of the obtained terms with the sign of a term depending on a given permutation operator. This procedure is explicitly described in various texbooks, e.g., in Ref.. The number of linearly independent functions obtained in such a way starting from different distribution of variables between the boxes of the Young diagram is the dimension of the representation. It can be calculated using the following formula :

$$s^{\{\lambda \}}=n!\frac{_{i<i^{}}(l_il_i^{})}{_il_i!},$$
(3)
where $`l_i=\lambda _i+ri`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2},\mathrm{},r`$. The sum of squares of dimensions of all the irreducible representations equals to the number of operations in the group:

$$\underset{\{\lambda \}}{}s^{\{\lambda \}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}=n!.$$
(4)
A basis of a given representation can be orthogonalized and normalized (by means of linear transformation) with respect to the usual quantum mechanical definition of the scalar product, implying integration over coordinates and summation over spin variables. Thus we get the two sets of functions $`\varphi _k^{\{\lambda \}}`$ and $`\chi _k^{\{\lambda \}}`$, depending on atomic co-ordinates and spins, respectively. If we denote the operators of permutations of the co-ordinates and spins of the i-th and i-th atoms by $`\widehat{P}(i,i^{})`$ and $`\widehat{Q}(i,i^{})`$, respectively, the transformation law can be written as follows:

$$\widehat{P}(i,i^{})\varphi _k^{\{\lambda \}}=\underset{m}{\overset{s^{\{\lambda \}}}{}}T_{km}(i,i^{})\varphi _m^{\{\lambda \}},$$
(5)
$$\widehat{Q}(i,i^{})\chi _k^{\{\lambda \}}=\underset{m}{\overset{s^{\{\lambda \}}}{}}T_{km}(i,i^{})\chi _m^{\{\lambda \}}.$$
(6)
Note that the same matrix $`T_{km}(i,i^{})`$ appears in Eqs.(5, 6). Since the scalar product of quantum mechanical wave functions is invariant under the permutation operations, and the chosen basis is orthonormal, this matrix is unitary, $`_kT_{km}(i,i^{})T_{km^{}}^{}(i,i^{})=\delta _{mm^{}}`$. Obviously, the functions $`\chi _k^{\{\lambda \}}`$ complex conjugate to $`\chi ^{\{\lambda \}}`$ also form a basis of an irreducible representation (a conjugate representation), and the transformation matrices are $`T_{km}^{}(i,i^{})`$. Hence, the wave function $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ given by Eq.(2) remains unchanged after application of operator $`\widehat{P}(i,i^{})\widehat{Q}(i,i^{})`$ permuting both the co-ordinates and spins of the pair of atoms. Also it is proved in the group theory that there is no way to construct the wave function having the Bose–Einstein symmetry property besides that given by Eq.(2). However, the explicit form for the bosonic wave function in a case of an arbitrary $`\{\lambda \}`$ is extremely lengthy. As an example, we write the formula for three particles, $`\{\lambda \}=\{2,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}\}`$, a, b being the translational motion states and 1, 2 being the spin states:

$`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3\sqrt{2}}}[\psi _a(𝐫_1)\psi _b(𝐫_2)\psi _a(𝐫_2)\psi _b(𝐫_1)]\psi _a(𝐫_3)`$ (12)
$`\times \{\chi _1(\sigma _1)[\chi _1(\sigma _2)\chi _2(\sigma _3)+\chi _1(\sigma _3)\chi _2(\sigma _2)]`$
$`2\chi _2(\sigma _1)\chi _1(\sigma _2)\chi _1(\sigma _3)\}`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3\sqrt{2}}}[\psi _a(𝐫_2)\psi _b(𝐫_3)\psi _a(𝐫_3)\psi _b(𝐫_2)]\psi _a(𝐫_1)`$
$`\times \{\chi _1(\sigma _3)[\chi _1(\sigma _1)\chi _2(\sigma _2)+\chi _1(\sigma _2)\chi _2(\sigma _1)]`$
$`2\chi _2(\sigma _3)\chi _1(\sigma _1)\chi _1(\sigma _2)\}.`$
Consider an atomic ensemble composed of $`N`$ atoms in the state $`|1`$ and $`N`$ atoms in the state $`|2`$. The states $`|1`$ and $`|2`$ can be identified with the states $`|F=1,m_F=1`$ and $`|F=2,m_F=1`$, respectively, of the ground state of the same bosonic isotope, e.g., 23Na or 87Rb. These states have equal magnetic momenta and, hence, experience the same trapping potential. For the sake of simplicity, we assume $`N`$ to be small enough to allow us to use a single-particle classification of translational motion states in the trap. Energy levels are essentially the levels of a single atom in the trap, the interatomic interaction provides only small correction to them. This assumption is not necessary for validity of the subsequent treatment, however, it allows us to present our arguments in the most compact and brief manner. The states of translation motion will be numbered by $`\stackrel{~}{j}`$, $`j=0,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2},\mathrm{}`$, in the non-decreasing order in energy, so that $`\stackrel{~}{0}`$ means the ground state of the trap. The tilde symbol is used to distinguish these states from the spin states $`|1`$ and $`|2`$. We use also notation $`n=2N`$ for the total number of atoms in the trap.

In the standard theory of a multicomponent BEC, even when dealing with the elementary excitations of BEC, the wave function is always assumed to correspond to the simplest possible Young diagram characterizing both the co-ordinate and spin parts. This diagram has only one row consisting of $`n`$ boxes, where $`n`$ is the total number of atoms in the system; the dimension of the corresponding (totally symmetric) irreducible representation of the permutation group is 1, so that usually one writes the wave function as a product of co-ordinate and spin parts,

$`\mathrm{\Psi }(𝐫_1,\mathrm{},𝐫_n;\sigma _1,\mathrm{},\sigma _n)`$ $`=`$ $`\varphi ^{\{n\}}(𝐫_1,\mathrm{},𝐫_n)`$ (14)
$`\times \chi ^{\{n\}}(\sigma _1,\mathrm{},\sigma _n),`$
and the functions in the right-hand-side of this equation are invariant with respect to permutations of only co-ordinates or only spins. Now we show a way leading to creation of complicated states corresponding to the general form of Eq.(2).

Initially, before the cooling process begins, atoms are thermally distributed. Mean occupation number for each translational state is much less than unity, so that we can assume that all the trap states occupied by the atoms are different.

The system of thermal atoms is not in a pure state, but rather is described by a statistical mixture of states characterized by all the possible Young diagrams. The statistical weight of each Young diagram in this mixture is directly proportional to the number of different basis sets of functions those can be associated with the diagram. The basis sets are different in the sense that in any subspace of the total Hilbert space spanned by each basis there are Hilbert vectors not belonging to any of the remaining subspaces spanned by other basis sets. This is rather a subtle point. When we discussed earlier a question of dimensionality of an irreducible representation of the permutation group, we dealt with permutation of only function arguments within a Young diagram and assumed implicitly that each single-particle state $`\stackrel{~}{j}`$ was associated with a fixed box of the diagram. However, to determine a statistical weight of any Young diagram, we have to allow also permutation of state indices within the diagram. As it was assumed before, the probability that a given state of translational motion is occupied by more than 1 atom is negligible before the cooling process starts. And the number of non-trivial ways to assign $`n`$ different state indices to a Young diagram consisting of $`n`$ boxes equals exactly to the number of non-trivial distribution of $`n`$ co-ordinate variables between the boxes of the same diagram, i.e., to $`s^{\{\lambda \}}`$. So that for a given $`\{\lambda \}`$ there are $`s^{\{\lambda \}}`$ ways to construct different $`s^{\{\lambda \}}`$-dimensional basis sets of co-ordinate functions. All this sets together comprise, according to Eq.(4), $`n!`$ functions \[cf. Eq.(4)\].

However, not all of the Young diagrams appear in our problem. The restriction on possible Young diagrams arises from that fact that only two spin states are present in this Bose gas mixture. Only diagrams consisting of two rows, at maximum, can appear, and $`\{\lambda \}=\{2NK,K\}`$, $`K=0,1,2,\mathrm{},N`$. If one tries to construct spin wave function of $`N`$ atoms in the state $`|1`$ and $`N`$ atoms in the state $`|2`$ characterized by a Young diagrams with 3 or more rows, the result will be identically zero . Hence, only Young diagrams with not more than two rows will apply also to functions of co-ordinates in our problem.

There is only one non-trivial way to assign a spin state label (1 or 2) to each box of the diagram, so that spin effects do not increase the statistical weights of diagrams.

Thus, the statistical weight of the Young diagram $`\{2NK,k\}`$ in the initial thermal mixed state of the atomic ensemble is, according to Eq.(3) (see also Ref.), equals to $`s^{\{2Nk,k\}}=C_{2N}^KC_{2N}^{K1}`$, where $`C_n^K=n!/[(nK)!K!]`$ is the binomial coefficient, and $`K=0,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1},\mathrm{},N`$. The maximum of this probability distribution locates very close to $`K=N`$. Calculations show that the average length of the second (shorter) row of the Young diagram will be approximately (for $`N1`$)

$$KN\sqrt{\pi N/2}.$$
(15)
In other words, most probably, an observation will result in finding a state characterized by a Young diagram with two almost equal rows, which is very far from the Young diagram with only one row, and the probability to get the latter diagram tends to zero when $`N`$ increases.

Then consider a cooling process. As it was said before, we assume a sympathetic cooling of our two-component atomic ensemble due to interaction with the reservoir of atoms of a different isotope kept at a sufficiently low temperature.

An interaction operator acting only to atomic co-ordinates or only to atomic spins cannot couple a total wave function of $`n`$ identical bosons characterized by the Young diagram $`\{\lambda \}`$ to a wave function characterized by $`\{\lambda ^{}\}\{\lambda \}`$. Even an interatomic potential depending on an atomic spin orientation cannot cause such a transition during an elastic collision. Only if both the spin and translational motion states of an atom change, a transition between states characterized by different Young diagrams becomes possible. But such a process is, in fact, a spin-flip collision leading to inelastic losses but not facilitating the cooling process. The cooling can be accomplished successfully if the inelastic processes are inefficient on the cooling time scale.

Thus we can see that during the sympathetic cooling process the type of the wave function symmetry with respect to permutations of co-ordinates only is conserved. This means that at the final stage of the cooling process an observer also will find mostly states characterized by Young diagrams with two rows of almost equal length. But the translational motion wave functions corresponding to such diagrams cannot be constructed using only ground state of the trap as a one-particle state appearing $`n`$ times. If one tries to construct a co-ordinate wave function by assigning to every box of a two-row diagram the same state, one will end up with identical zero.

Therefore, the lowest energy state corresponding to the Young diagram $`\{2NK,K\}`$ corresponds to filling of $`2NK`$ boxes in the first row of the diagram with the ground one-particle state of the trap ($`|\stackrel{~}{0}`$) and $`K`$ boxes in the second row of the diagram with the first excited state ($`|\stackrel{~}{1}`$). Thus the total energy is $`2NE_{\stackrel{~}{0}}+K(E_{\stackrel{~}{1}}E_{\stackrel{~}{0}})`$, where $`E_{\stackrel{~}{j}}`$ is the energy of the $`\stackrel{~}{j}`$-th one-particle state. Usual BEC (corresponding to the Young diagram $`\{2N\}`$) would have the energy $`2NE_{\stackrel{~}{0}}`$.

Thus we see that the evaporative cooling process of a random mixture of the same isotope in the hyperfine states $`|1`$ and $`|2`$ with almost 100 % probability results in creation of a new state of degenerate atomic Bose gas, where almost half of atoms are in the first excited state of the trap, and no further cooling can put them into the ground state. We propose to call such a macroscopic quantum object a Bose–Einstein–Young condensate (BEYC).

We would like to stress once again that BEYC can be converted to an ordinary BEC only by processes where both the spin and translation motion of atoms is changed. But spin-flip collisions being the most obvious example of such a process lead to losses and heating of the atomic sample, due to hyperfine energy release. Spin-flip collisions, hence, simply destroy BEYC as well as BEC rather than facilitate transitions between them.

The situation with BEYC and ordinary BEC is similar to that of orth- and parahydrogen molecules. Transition between these molecular states also requires change in the type of a Young diagram ($`\{2\}`$ or $`\{1,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}\}`$) and, hence, requires a rather long time even for room temperature and atmospheric presssure.

The number of atoms in the first excited trap in the BEYC state far exceeds both the quantum and thermal (at experimentally reachable temperatures) condensate depletion. The first excited state is, in fact, the dipole oscillation state. If the number of atoms in each of the two hyperfine states is well defined, the phase of these oscillations is indeterminate. However, it must become well-defined if the BEYC undergoes a continuous measurement of atomic positions, in close analogy with formation of an interference pattern produced by two counterpropagating condensates each of them was initially in the Fock state .

Now we have to say few words on experimental perspectives for a BEYC. First of all, we must answer, why BEYC has not been obtained up to now. In Ref., the evaporative cooling technique was used. However, 87Rb was present in that experiment in the states $`|F=1,m_F=1`$ and $`|F=2,m_F=2`$. Their magnetic momenta differ by a factor 2. Hence, they experience different trapping potentials, and, due to the gravitation, the centers of the potential wells are displaced one from another. The displacement is of such a magnitude that, on the cooling stage, the thermal clouds of atoms in different spin states overlap significantly, but the two BEC do not. In fact, condensation of rubidium atoms takes place in different states for different $`m_F`$’s. In such a situation, it is hard to distinguish between the states characterized by different Young schemes, since all of them have the same energy, $`N_1E_{\stackrel{~}{0},1}+N_2E_{\stackrel{~}{0},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}}`$, where $`N_{m_F}`$ is the number of atoms with the magnetic quantum number $`m_F`$ and $`E_{\stackrel{~}{0},m_F}`$ is the energy of the ground state of these atoms in the corresponding trapping potential influenced by the gravitation. In Ref. an ordinary (single-component) BEC was prepared first. Than a fraction of the atomic ensemble was transferred to another hyperfine state by a two-photon microwave-RF pulse. Although the magnetic momenta of the two states were the same, creation of a BEYC was prevented by that circumstance that the transferred kinetic momentum (corresponding to the hyperfine splitting plus Zeeman shift) was negligible compared to the inverse trap size. Thus the translational state of atoms was not changed, and, hence, the wave function retained its symmetry properties with respect to permutation of only co-ordinates or only spins (i.e., remained a product of totally symmetric co-ordinate and spin parts). In the experiment of Ref., the atoms were prepared initially in the ordinary (single-component) BEC state in a optical trap, and then the atomic spins were allowed to evolve due to interatomic interactions. The BEYC state was not reached there since it had a significantly higher energy than that stored in the BEC. The most obscure case is the case of all-optical formation of a BEC . In this experiment, an evaporative cooling technique was used, and the number of atoms in BEC was more than by order of magnitude smaller that the number of atoms just before the beginning of the cooling process. This case is beyond the scope of the present Rapid Communication and requires straightforward numerical (Monte Carlo) modeling. Only performing such a modeling, it is possible to understand how Young diagrams, in average, change. A scenario, when more than 90 % of atoms are lost during the evaporative cooling process, complicated Young diagrams do not “survive”, and the Young diagram consisting of only one row of boxes prevails on the final stage, looks quite reasonable.

Thus, to observe BEYC one needs to repeat the experiment like that of Ref. (where the atoms in the two different hyperfine states were prepared independently), but with the states $`|F=1,m_F=1`$ and $`|F=2,m_F=2`$ those have equal magnetic momenta. The combined magnetic trapping and gravitational potential will be the same, no spatial separation of condensed atoms in different hyperfine state will occur, and difference of BEYC from ordinary BEC will become apparent. An alternative approach would imply transfer of atoms into another hyperfine state not by a microwave-RF pulse as in Ref. but by a Raman transition in two crossed laser beams. A non-zero angle of crossing will provide a kinetic momentum transfer needed for a translational motion change.

The author thanks the NORDITA for hospitality and support during his visit there and, especially, Prof. C.J. Pethick for stimulating discussions. The author thanks also Prof. D.A. Varshalovich for helpful comments. The financial support from the NWO, grant NWO–047–009.010, the RFBR, grant 02–02–17686, and the Ministry of Education of Russia, grant UR.01.01.040, is acnowledged.


text:
# Fractionally charged extended objects and superselection rules

## I Introduction

Solitons present the possibility of extended objects as stable states within Quantum Field Theory. Although these solutions are obtained from semi-classical arguments in weak coupling limit, their validity as quantal states is justified based on the associated topological conservation laws. A more curious occurrence is that of fermionic zero-energy modes trapped on such solutions. Their presence requires, according to well known argumentsJandR Jrev , an assignment of half-integer fermion number to the solitonic states. In the usual treatment, the back reaction of the fermion zero-modes on the soliton itself is ignored. However, the fractional values of the fermionic charge have interesting consequence for the fate of the soliton if the latter is not strictly stable. The reason for this is that if the configuration were to relax to trivial vacuum in isolation, there is no particle-like state available for carrying the fractional value of the fermionic charge. Dynamical stability of such objects was pointed out in devega , in cosmological context in stern , steandyaj  and more recently in Davis:1997bu Davis:1999wq DavKibetal . Fractional fermion number phenomenon also occurs in condensed matter systems and its wide ranging implications call for a systematic understanding of the phenomenon.

The impossibility of connecting half-integer valued states to integer valued states suggests that a superselection rulewww  Sweinberg  is operative. In a theory with a conserved charge (global or local), a superselection rule operates among sectors of distinct charge values because the conservation of charge is associated with the inobservability of rescaling operation $`\mathrm{\Psi }e^{iQ}\mathrm{\Psi }`$. For the case of the Dirac fermions, the gauge symmetry is broken, however the overall phase corresponding to the fermion number continues to be a symmetry of the effective theory. This permits independent rescaling of the sectors with different values of the fermionic number; thus superselecting bosonic from fermionic sectors. In the case at hand, half-integer values occur, preventing such states from decaying in isolation to the trivial ground state devega  stern .

For the case of majorana fermions where the number operator is not conserved by interactions the validity of such results is far from obvious. However, the occurrence of half-integral values can be shown to be intimately connected to the charge conjugation invariancesudyaj  of the theory. Here we show that in such a case it is possible to assign parities to the lowest energy solitonic sector which are compatible with parity assignment in the vacuum sector. A superselection rule can then be proved for majorana fermions.

In the following we begin with constructing explicit examples of cosmic strings which are metastable and have odd number of zero-modes, for both the cases of Dirac and Majorana masses. The masses in each case are derived from spontaneous symmetry breaking. We then discuss assignment of fermion number to topological objects, including the need for a finite spectrum of negative values for states of trapped majorana fermions. Subsequently we derive the required superselection rule. The paper ends with summary and conclusion.

## II Examples

Here we construct two examples in which the topological objects of a low energy theory are metastable due to the embedding of the low energy symmetry group in a larger symmetry group at higher energy. Examples of this kind were considered in presvil . Borrowing the strategies for bosonic sector from there, we include appropriate fermionic content to ensure the zero-modes.

### A Dirac fermions

Consider first the theory of two scalars $`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}`$ and $`\sigma `$ respectively real triplet and complex doublet under a local $`SU(2)`$. The Lagrangian is taken to be

$`=`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}F^{\mu \nu a}F_{\mu \nu }^a+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}D_\mu \stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}D^\mu \stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}+D_\mu \sigma ^{}D^\mu \sigma `$ (1)
$``$ $`\lambda _1(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}\eta _1^2)^2\lambda _2(\sigma ^{}\sigma \eta _2^2)^2`$
$`+`$ $`\lambda _{12}\eta _1\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}\sigma ^{}\stackrel{}{\tau }\sigma `$
where isovector notation is used and $`\tau `$ are the Pauli matrices. It is assumed that $`\eta _1\eta _2`$ and that the coupling $`\lambda _{12}>0`$ satisfies $`\lambda _{12}\eta _1^2`$ $`\lambda _2\eta _2^2`$

The vacuum expectation value (VEV) $`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Sigma }}=(\mathrm{0\; 0}\eta _1)^T`$ breaks the $`SU(2)`$ to the $`U(1)`$ generated by $`\mathrm{exp}(i\tau ^3\alpha /2)`$. The effective theory of the $`\sigma `$ can be rewritten as the theory of two complex scalar $`\sigma _u`$ and $`\sigma _d`$ for the up and and the down components respectively. The potential of the effective theory favors the minimum

$$\sigma _u=\eta _2,\sigma _d=0$$
(2)
In the effective theory $`\sigma _u`$ enjoys a $`U(1)`$ invariance $`\sigma _ue^{i\alpha }\sigma _u`$ which is broken by the above VEV to $`\{e^{2n\pi i}\}`$, $`n=1,2,\mathrm{}`$. This makes possible vortex solutions with an ansatz in the lowest winding number sector

$$\sigma _u(r,\theta )=\eta _2f(r)e^{i\theta }$$
(3)
The vortex configuration is a local minimum, however it can decay by spontaneous formation of a monopole-antimonopole pair presvil . These monopoles are permitted by the first breaking $`SO(3)SO(2)`$ in the $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ sector. Paraphrasing the discussion of presvil , we have $`SU(2)`$$`U(1)`$. The vortices are stable in the low energy theory because $`\pi _1(U(1)/)`$ is nontrivial. But in the $`SU(2)`$, the $``$ lifts to $`\{e^{4n\pi i\tau ^3/2}\}=I`$ making it possible to unwind the vortex by crossing an energy barrier.

Consider now the introduction of a doublet of fermion species $`\psi _L(N_L,E_L)`$ assumed to be left handed and a singlet right handed species $`N_R`$. The Yukawa coupling of these to the $`\sigma _u`$ is given by $`h\overline{N_R}\sigma ^{}\psi _L`$, which in the vortex sector reads

$$_{\sigma \psi }h\eta _2f(r)(e^{i\theta }\overline{N_R}N_L+h.c.)$$
(4)
The lowest energy bound states resulting from this coupling are characterized by a topological index, Eweinberg  $`n_Ln_R`$ where $`n_L`$ and $`n_R`$ are the zero modes of the left handed and the right handed fermions respectively. This index can be computed using the formula Eweinberg GanLaz

$$=\frac{1}{2\pi i}(\mathrm{ln}\text{det}M)|_{\theta =0}^{2\pi }$$
(5)
where $`M`$ is the position dependent effective mass matrix for the fermions. In the present case this gives rise to a single zero-energy mode for the fermions of species $`N`$. According to well known reasoning JandR  to be recapitulated below, this requires the assignment of either of the values $`\pm 1/2`$ to the fermion number of this configuration. We shall show below that this induces stability of the vortex against spontaneous decay in isolation.

### B Majorana fermions

The example above can be extended to the case where the $`N`$ is a majorana fermion. Being a singlet $`N`$ admits a mass term $`M_M\overline{N_R^C}N_R`$, $`M_M`$ signifying majorana mass. This could also be a spontaneously generated mass due to the presence of a neutral scalar $`\chi `$ with coupling terms $`h_M\overline{N_R^C}N_R\chi +h.c.`$. If this $`\chi `$ acquires a VEV at energies higher than the $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$, the $`N`$ particles possess a majorana mass. Thus fermions that are asymptotically seen as majorana particles can possess odd number of zero mode on the vortex.

Finally we present the case where majorana mass is spontaneously generated at the same scale at which the vortex forms. Consider an $`SU(3)`$ theory (global or local) which is broken to identity by two scalars, $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ an octet acquiring a VEV $`\eta _1\lambda _3`$ ($`\lambda _3`$ here being the third Gell-Mann matrix) and $`\varphi `$, a $`\overline{3}`$, acquiring the VEV $`\varphi ^k=\eta _2\delta ^{k2}`$, with $`\eta _2\eta _1`$. Thus

$$SU(3)\begin{array}{cc}8& \\ & \end{array}U(1)\begin{array}{cc}\overline{3}& \\ & \end{array}I$$
(6)
It can be checked that this pattern of VEVs can be generically obtained from the quartic scalar potential of the above Higgses. The first phase of breaking gives rise to monopoles, while the second gives rise to cosmic strings. The strings however are unstable because the vacuum manifold of the full theory is simply connected.

Now add a multiplet of left-handed fermions belonging to $`\overline{15}`$. Its mass terms arise from the following coupling to the $`\overline{3}`$

$$_{\text{Majorana}}=h_M\overline{\psi ^C}_k^{\{ij\}}\psi _n^{\{lm\}}\varphi ^r(ϵ_{ilr}\delta _j^n\delta _m^k)$$
(7)
The indices symmetric under exchange have been indicated by curly brackets. No mass terms result from the $`8`$ because it cannot provide a singlet from tensor product with $`\overline{15}\overline{15}`$ Slansky:yr . After substituting the $`\varphi `$ VEV a systematic enumeration shows that all but the two components $`\psi _1^{\{22\}}`$ and $`\psi _3^{\{22\}}`$ acquire majorana masses at the second stage of the breaking. Specifically we find the majorana mass matrix to be indeed rank $`13`$. Thus, using either of the results JandRossi  or GanLaz  i.e., eq. (5) we can see that there will be $`13`$ zero modes present in the lowest winding sector of the cosmic string.

## III Assignment of fermion number

We now recapitulate the reasoning behind the assignment of fractional fermion number. We focus on the Majorana fermion case, which is more nettlesome, while the treatment of the Dirac case is standard JandR Jrev . In the prime example in $`3+1`$ dimensions of a single left-handed fermion species coupled to an abelian Higgs model according to

$$_\psi =i\overline{\psi }\gamma ^\mu D_\mu \psi (h\varphi \overline{\psi ^C}\psi +h.c.)$$
(8)
the following result has been obtainedJandRossi . For a vortex oriented along the $`z`$-axis, and in the winding number sector $`n`$, the fermion zero-modes are of the form

$$\psi _0(𝐱)=\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\ 0\end{array}\right)\left[U(r)e^{il\theta }+V^{}(r)e^{i(n1l)\theta }\right]g_l(z+t)$$
(9)
In the presence of the vortex, $`\tau ^3`$ (here representing Lorentz transformations on spinors) acts as the matrix which exchanges solutions of positive frequency with those of negative frequency. It is therefore identified as the “particle conjugation” operator. In the above ansatz, the $`\psi `$ in the zero-frequency sector are charge self-conjugates, $`\tau ^3\psi =\psi `$, and have an associated left moving zero mode along the vortex. The functions satisfying $`\tau ^3\psi =\psi `$ are not normalizable. The situation is reversed when the winding sense of the scalar field is reversed, ie, for $`\sigma _u`$$`e^{in\theta }`$. In the winding number sector $`n`$, regular normalizable solutionsJandRossi  exist for for $`0ln1`$. The lowest energy sector of the vortex is now $`2^n`$-fold degenerate, and each zero-energy mode needs to be interpreted as contributing a value $`\pm 1/2`$ to the total fermion number of the individual statesJandR . This conclusion is difficult to circumvent if the particle spectrum is to reflect the charge conjugation symmetry of the theory sudyaj . The lowest possible value of the induced number in this sector is $`n/2`$. Any general state of the system is built from one of these states by additional integer number of fermions. All the states in the system therefore possess half-integral values for the fermion number if $`n`$ is odd.

One puzzle immediately arises, what is the meaning of negative values for the fermion number operator for Majorana fermions? In the trivial vacuum, particles are identified with anti-particles according to the Majorana condition

$$𝒞\psi 𝒞^{}=\pm \psi $$
(10)
making negative values for the number meaningless. Here $`𝒞`$ is the charge conjugation operator and the choice between $`+`$ and $``$ on the right hand side has to be determined from experiment. We shall first verify that in the zero-mode sector we must indeed assign negative values to the number operator. It is sufficient to treat the case of a single zero-mode, which generalizes easily to any larger number of zero-modes. The number operator possesses the properties

$$[N,\psi ]=\psi \mathrm{and}[N,\psi ^{}]=\psi ^{}$$
(11)
$$𝒞N𝒞^{}=N$$
(12)
Had it been the Dirac case, there should be a minus sign on the right hand side of eq. (12). This is absent due to the Majorana condition. The fermion field operator is now expanded as

$$\psi =c\psi _0+\{\underset{\kappa ,s}{}a_{\kappa ,s}\chi _{\kappa ,s}(x)+\underset{𝐤,s}{}b_{𝐤,s}u_{𝐤,s}(x)+h.c.\}$$
(13)
where the first summation is over all the possible bound states of non-zero frequency with real space-dependence of the form $`e^{\kappa 𝐱_{}}`$ in the transverse space directions $`𝐱_{}`$, and the second summation is over all unbound states, which are asymptotically plane waves. Note that hermitian conjugates of the operators $`a_{\kappa ,s}`$ and $`b_{𝐤,s}`$ are included above in the “$`h.c.`$” but not that of the solitary mode operator $`c`$. Then the Majorana condition (10) requires that we demand

$$𝒞c𝒞^{}=\pm c\mathrm{and}𝒞c^{}𝒞^{}=\pm c^{}$$
(14)
Unlike the Dirac case, the $`c`$ and $`c^{}`$ are not exchanged under charge conjugation. The only non-trivial irreducible realization of this algebra is to require the existence of a doubly degenerate ground state with states $`|`$ and $`|+`$ satisfying

$$c|=|+\mathrm{and}c^{}|+=|$$
(15)
with the simplest choice of phases. Now we find

$`𝒞c𝒞^{}𝒞|`$ $`=𝒞|+`$ (16)
$`\pm c(𝒞|)`$ $`=(𝒞|+)`$ (17)
This relation has the simplest non-trivial solution

$$𝒞|=\eta _C^{}|\mathrm{and}𝒞|+=\eta _C^+|+$$
(18)
where, for the consistency of (15) and (17) $`\eta _C^{}`$ and $`\eta _C^+`$ must satisfy

$$\pm (\eta _C^{})^1\eta _C^+=1$$
(19)
Finally we verify that we indeed get values $`\pm 1/2`$ for $`N`$. The standard fermion number operator

$$N_F=\frac{1}{2}[\psi ^{}\psi \psi \psi ^{}]$$
(20)
acting on these two states gives,

$$\frac{1}{2}(cc^{}c^{}c)|\pm =\pm \frac{1}{2}|\pm $$
(21)
The number operator indeed lifts the degeneracy of the two states. For $`s`$ number of zero modes, the ground state becomes $`2^s`$-fold degenerate, and the fermion number takes values in integer steps ranging from $`s/2`$ to $`+s/2`$. For $`s`$ odd the values are therefore half-integral. Although uncanny, these conclusions accord with some known facts. They can be understood as spontaneous symmetry breaking for fermionsmcwilczek . The negative values of the number thus implied occur only in the zero-energy sector and do not continue indefinitely to $`\mathrm{}`$. Instead of an unfathomable Dirac sea we have a small Majorana pond at the threshold.

## IV Induced stability

As a step towards deriving our superselection rule, we determine the parities of the zero-energy states. Majorana fermions can be assigned a unique parity Sweinberg , either of the values $`\pm i`$. Let us choose $`i`$ to be the parity of the free single fermion states in the trivial vacuum. The fermion spectrum should look the same as trivial vacuum far away from the vortex 111This should be understood to be the clustering property of local field theory being obeyed by the vortex ground state.. In turn the parities of the latter states should be taken to be the same as those of the trivial ground state. Next, any of these asymptotic free fermions is capable of being absorbed by the vortex (see for instance Davis:1999ec ). In the zero energy sector this absorption would cause a transition from $`|1/2`$ to $`|1/2`$ and cause a change in parity by $`i`$. Thus the level carrying fermion number $`+1/2`$ should be assigned a parity $`e^{i\pi /2}`$ relative to the $`1/2`$ state. Symmetry between the two states suggests that we assign parity $`e^{i\pi /4}`$ to the $`N_F=1/2`$ and $`e^{i\pi /4}`$ to the $`N_F=1/2`$ states.

We now show the inappropriateness of superposing states of half-integer valued fermion number and integer valued fermion number www . The operation $`𝒫^4`$, parity transformation performed four times must return the system to the original state, upto a phase. Consider forming the state $`\mathrm{\Psi }_S=`$$`\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|1/2+|1)`$ from states of half-integer and integer value for the fermion number. But

$$𝒫^4\mathrm{\Psi }_S=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|1/2+|1)$$
(22)
Thus this operation identifies a state with another orthogonal to it. Similarly, application of $`𝒫^2`$ which should also leave the physical content of a state unchanged results in yet another linearly independent state, $`\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(i|1/2|1)`$. Thus the space of superposed states collapses to a trivial vector space. The conclusion therefore is that it is not possible to superpose such sectors. In turn there can be no meaningful operator possessing non-trivial matrix elements between the two spaces. This completes our proof of the theorem.

## V Conclusion

Metastable classical lumps, also referred to as embedded defects can be found in several theories. The conditions on the geometry of the vacuum manifold that give rise to such defects were spelt out in presvil . We have studied the related question of fermion zero-energy modes on such objects. It is possible to construct examples of cosmic strings in which the presence of zero-modes signals a fractional fermion number both for Dirac and Majorana masses. It then follows that such a cosmic string cannot decay in isolation because it belongs to a distinct superselected Quantum Mechanical sector. Thus a potentially metastable object can enjoy induced stability due to its bound state with fermions.

Although decay is not permitted in isolation, it certainly becomes possible when more than one such objects come together in appropriate numbers. In the early Universe such objects could have formed depending on the unifying group and its breaking pattern. Their disappearance would be slow because it can only proceed through encounters between objects with complementary fermion numbers adding up to an integer. Another mode of decay is permitted by change in the ground state in the course of a phase transition. When additional Higgs fields acquire a vacuum expectation value, in turn altering the boundary conditions for the Dirac or Majorana equation, the number of induced zero modes may change from being odd to even222Such a possibility, though for topologically stable string can be found for realistic unification models in steandyaj  Davis:1997bu  Davis:1999ec  widyajetal ., thus imparting the loops an integer fermion number. The decay can then proceed at the rates calculated in presvil .

In condensed matter systems the best known example is of charge carriers of charge half the electronic charge in polyacetylene Jackiw:wc  where the underlying solitons have been identified as stable kinks. It would be interesting to find intrinsically metastable objects stabilized by this mechanism.

Finally it is interesting to conjecture about the fate of loops of cosmic strings. The zero modes on closed string loops have not been studied in detail, though dynamical stability due to superconductivity has been identified. If loops carry fractional fermion number and get stabilized by this mechanism that also would present very interesting possibilities for Cosmology.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank thank Sumit Das and P. Ramadevi for their for critical comments on the manuscript.