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# Isospin dependence of liquid-gas phase transition in hot asymmetric nuclear matter

## Abstract

By using the Furnstahl, Serot and Tang’s model, the effect of density dependence of the effective nucleon-nucleon-$`\rho `$-meson (NN$`\rho `$) coupling on the liquid-gas phase transition in hot asymmetric nuclear matter is investigated. A limit pressure plim has been found. We found that the liquid-gas phase transition cannot take place if $`p>p_{lim}`$. The binodal surface for density dependent NN$`\rho `$ coupling situation is addressed.

It is generally recognized that the liquid-gas (LG) phase transition of one component system is of first order. The chemical potential continues at the phase transition point but its first order derivatives, namely, entropy and volume, are discontinuous. But for a multi-components or multi-conserved charges system, as was pointed out by Műller and Serot , because of the greater dimensionality of the binodal surface, the LG phase transition can be of second order, i.e., the entropy continues but the second order derivatives of chemical potential (for example, capacity) are discontinuous. An asymmetric nuclear matter has two components of proton and neutron, and two conserved charges of baryon number and the third component of isospin, will undergo a continuous second order phase transition.

Obviously, because of charge independence, the basic difference between proton and neutron be isospin. The isospin dependent interactions of nucleon-nucleon-isovector mesons play the key role to address the LG phase transition. As was pointed out by our previous papers , if one employed the isospin independent model, for example, Welacka model  or Zimanyi-Moszkowski model , to investigate asymmetric nuclear matter, a lot of difficulties, e.g. Coulomb instability and negative asymmetric parameter in the vapor phase, will emerge. To overcome these difficulties, the isospin vector $`\rho `$-meson must be introduced. It can be shown that the chemical potentials of proton and neutron may depend on the third component of isospin when NN$`\rho `$ interaction exists. A model without isospin vector $`\rho `$-meson, or even if it has $`\rho `$-meson, but the chemical potentials of the proton or neutron are still independent of the NN$`\rho `$ interaction because the third component I3 of isospin be zero such as in a symmetric nuclear matter, the LG phase transition is still of first order.

In fact, the chemical potentials of proton and neutron not only depend on I3 but also on the effective NN$`\rho `$ coupling gρ. Then the effective coupling gρ is also essential for studying the LG phase transition because the chemical potentials determine the binodal surface directly. In our previous papers , we have shown that the effective couplings depend on the density and temperature in a hot and dense nuclear matter. By using the Thermo Field Dynamics  to calculate the three-lines vertices Feynman diagrams of NN$`\pi `$, NN$`\sigma `$ , NN$`\omega `$ and NN$`\rho `$ interactions, we have found that the effective couplings of gπ, gs, gv and gρ all decrease as the nucleon density increases. In an asymmetric nuclear matter, one can easily prove that the chemical potentials of nucleons have a term which is proportional to g$`{}_{}{}^{2}{}_{\rho }{}^{}`$ and I3. This term has opposite signs for proton and neutron due to their different third component of isospin. Obviously, if gρ depends on density, this term will change and then the chemical potentials of proton and neutron, as well as the binodal surface of LG phase transition will also be changed. The objective of the present paper is to investigate the effect of the density dependence of gρ on LG phase transition. We will prove that if gρ is a decreasing function of density, a limit pressure $`p_{lim}`$ will occur, when $`p>p_{lim}`$, the coexistenced equations have no solution and the LG phase transition cannot be existed. The chemical potential of neutron will become a monotoneous functioin of asymmetry $`\alpha `$ in this case.

To illustrate our result, we employ a model suggested by Furnstahl, Serot and Tang (FST)  recently. This model is an extension of quantum hadrodynamics and has been proven to be successful to explain many experimental properties of both nuclear matter and the finite nuclei in mean field approximation. The Lagrangian density of FST model under mean field approximation is

$`L_{MFT}`$ $`=`$ $`\overline{\mathrm{\Psi }}\left[i\gamma ^\mu _\mu \left(Mg_s\varphi _0\right)g_v\gamma ^0V_0{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}g_\rho \tau _3\gamma ^0b_0\right]\mathrm{\Psi }`$ (3)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m_v^2V_0^2\left(1+\eta {\displaystyle \frac{\varphi _0}{S_0}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4!}}\zeta \left(g_vV_0\right)^4+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m_\rho ^2b_0^2`$
$`H_q\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi _0}{S_0}}\right)^{4/d}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{d}}ln\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi _0}{S_0}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\right]`$
where gs, gv gρ are, respectively, the couplings of light scalar meson $`\sigma `$, vector meson $`\omega `$ and isovector meson $`\rho `$ fields to the nucleon, $`\varphi _0`$, V0, b0 are the expectation values $`\varphi _0<\varphi >`$, $`<V_\mu >\delta _{\mu 0}V_0`$, $`<b_{\mu 3}>\delta _{\mu 0}b_0`$. The scalar fluctuation field $`\varphi `$ is related to $`S`$ by $`S\left(x\right)=S_0\varphi \left(x\right)`$ and $`H_q`$ is given by $`m_s^2=4H_q/\left(d^2S_0^2\right)`$, d the scalar dimension. By using the standard technique of statistical mechanics, we get the thermodynamic potential $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ as

$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ $`=`$ $`V\{H_q[(1{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi _0}{S_0}})^{4/d}({\displaystyle \frac{1}{d}}ln(1{\displaystyle \frac{\varphi _0}{S_0}}){\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}})+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}]`$ (6)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}m_\rho ^2b_0^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(1+\eta {\displaystyle \frac{\varphi _0}{S_0}})m_v^2V_0^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4!}}\zeta \left(g_vV_0\right)^4\}`$
$`2k_BT\left[{\displaystyle \underset{k,\tau }{}}ln\left(1+e^{\beta \left(E^{}\left(k\right)\nu _\tau \right)}\right)+{\displaystyle \underset{k,\tau }{}}ln\left(1+e^{\beta \left(E^{}\left(k\right)+\nu _\tau \right)}\right)\right]`$
where $`\beta =1/k_BT`$ and the quantity $`\nu _i`$ $`\left(i=n,p\right)`$ is related to the usual chemical potential $`\mu _i`$ by the equations

$$\nu _n=\mu _ng_vV_0+\frac{g_\rho ^2\rho _3}{4m_\rho ^2}$$
(7)
$$\nu _p=\mu _pg_vV_0\frac{g_\rho ^2\rho _3}{4m_\rho ^2}$$
(8)
where $`\rho _3=\rho _p\rho _n`$ and the third component of isospin I$`{}_{3}{}^{}=(N_pN_n)/2=V\rho _3/2`$. The third term of the right hand side of Eq(7) and Eq(8) depends on $`\rho _3`$ and g$`{}_{}{}^{2}{}_{\rho }{}^{}`$. They have opposite signs and play the essential role to determine the LG phase transition.

Having obtained the thermodynamic potential, all other thermodynamic quantities, for example, pressure p=$`\mathrm{\Omega }/V`$, can be calculated. The two-phase coexistence equations are

$$\mu _i^L(T,\rho _i^L)=\mu _i^V(T,\rho _i^V)$$
(9)
$$p^L(T,\rho _i^L)=p^V(T,\rho _i^V)$$
(10)
where subscripts of one phase L and V stand for liquid and vapor, respectively. The stability conditions are given by

$$\rho \left(\frac{p}{\rho }\right)_{T,\alpha }=\rho ^2\left(\frac{^2}{\rho ^2}\right)_{T,\alpha }>0$$
(11)
$$\left(\frac{\mu _p}{\alpha }\right)_{T,p}<0\text{ or }\left(\frac{\mu _n}{\alpha }\right)_{T,p}>0$$
(12)
where $``$ is the density of free energy, $`\alpha =\left(\rho _n\rho _p\right)/\rho `$ the asymmetric parameter, and $`\rho =\rho _n+\rho _p`$.

The numerical calculatioins have been done by adopting the parameters set T 1 of FST model ˙The parameters of set T1 are

$`g_s^2`$ $`=`$ $`99.3,g_v^2=154.5,g_\rho ^2=70.2`$ (13)
$`m_s`$ $`=`$ $`509MeV,S_0=90.6MeV`$ (14)
$`\zeta `$ $`=`$ $`0.0402,\eta =0.496,d=2.70`$ (15)
Our results for g$`{}_{\rho }{}^{}=\left(70.2\right)^{1/2}`$=constant are shown in Fig.1 and Fig.2 by solid curves. The Gibbs conditions (9) and (10) for phase equilibrium demand equal pressures and chemical potentials for two phase with different concentrations. The collection of all such pairs $`\alpha _1(T,p)`$ and $`\alpha _2(T,p)`$ form the binodal suface. In Fig.1, the chemical isobar vs. $`\alpha `$ curves at fixed temperature T=10MeV and p=0.100MeV$`\left(fm\right)^3`$ are labeled by A and A’ for neutron and proton respectively. The two desired solutions form the edges of a rectangle and can be found by means of the geometrical construction shown in Fig.1 . The critical curves with T=10MeV and p$`{}_{crit}{}^{}=0.165`$MeV$`\left(fm\right)^3`$ are shown in Fig.1 by B and B’ where the chemical potential curve arrive at a inflection point and the rectangle is degenerate to a line vertical to the $`\alpha `$ axis. The behaviour of the nuclear matter under isothemal compression, or in other words, the section of binodal surface at finite temperature T=10MeV  are shown in Fig.2. The physical behaviour of this processes has been discussed by ref.. Assume that the system is initially prepared with $`\alpha =0.6`$ (gas), during the compression, the two-phase region is encountered at point A, and the liquid phase emerges at point B. The gas phase evolves from A to D, while the liquid phase evolves from B to C. The system leaves the region of instability at point C, while the original gas phase is about to disappear. The critical point (CP), the point of equal concentration (EC) and the maximal asymmetry (MA) are indicated in Fig.2.

Now we are in a position to extend our discussion to the case of gρ density dependence. In fact, the effective masses of nucleons, effective masses or screening masses of mesons, and the effective coupings of NN-mesons are all dependent on density and temperature. We can sum the tadpole diagrams and the exchange diagrams for nucleon, the vacumm polarization diagrams for mesons and the three-lines vertex diagrams for effective couplings to get their density and temperature dependence . But in order to illustrate our result more transparently, instead of the exact calculation of three-lines vertex, we introduce an ansatz

$$g_\rho ^{}=g_\rho \left[1A\rho +B\rho ^2\right]$$
(16)
where A, B are two adjust parameters. The reason for our choice are: at first, the three lines vertex calculations are model dependent, but we hope that our investigation can be more general; secondly adjust the values of A, B can made $`g_\rho ^{}`$ be decreased or increased with density, then we can study the LG phase transition for two different cases. We can imagine that the Eq(16) is an density expansion of effective coupling $`g_\rho ^{}`$ at low density regions.

The results for density dependent $`g_\rho ^{}`$ ansatz Eq(16) are shown in Fig.3, Fig.4 and Fig.5. We see from Fig.3 and Fig.4 that the chemical potential of neutron $`\mu _n`$ increases rapidly with density. It passes through an inflection point and becomes monotoneous when pressure increases. But the shape of $`\mu _p`$ vs. $`\alpha `$ curves change slowly. Then we will get a limit pressure plim, when $`p>p_{lim}`$, the rectangle cannot be found and the coexistenced equations have no solution. The last rectangle in the chemical isobar vs. $`\alpha `$ curves for A=1, B=0, T=10MeV, and plim=0.130MeV$`\left(fm\right)^3`$ is shown in Fig.3 by dashed lines, where $`\alpha _1`$=0.62 and $`\alpha _3`$=0.75 correpond to the maximum and the minimum of $`\mu _n`$ respectively. The pair $`\alpha _1`$=0.62 and $`\alpha _2`$=0.84 form the end of the binodal surface, as shown in Fig.5. The curve for A=1, B=0, T=10  MeV, but p=0.145MeV$`\left(fm\right)^3`$ ($`p>p_{lim}`$) is shown in Fig.4. We see that $`\mu _n`$ becomes monotoneous at this pressure, and no rectangle can be found. The relation between limit pressure and parameters A and B for a fixed temperature T=10 MeV is shown in Table 1. We find from Table 1 when A and B increase, the effective coupling $`g_\rho ^{}`$ decreases and the limit pressure decreases. If A changes its sign to become negative, $`g_\rho ^{}`$ will increase with density, and in this case, instead of $`\mu _n`$ , $`\mu _p`$ becomes monotoneous. The limit pressure is still existed but decrease when A and B decrease.

The section of binodal surface for A=1, B=0, T=10MeV is shown in Fig.5. We see from Fig.5 that the curve will cut off at limit temperature plim clearly. The total asymmetric parameter $`\alpha `$ is divided into four regions, namely, $`[0,\alpha _1]`$, $`[\alpha _1,\alpha _3]`$, $`[\alpha _3,\alpha _2]`$ and $`[\alpha _2,\alpha _{\mathrm{max}}]`$. The physical behaviour of isothermal compression in different regions are different. We find:

(1) If the system is initially prepared with $`0<\alpha <\alpha _1`$, the precess of isothermal compression is similar to that of the case with constant $`g_\rho `$. It begin at gas phase, suffers a second order LG phase transition and ends at liquid phase.

(2) If the initial $`\alpha `$ is located at the region $`\alpha _2<\alpha <\alpha _{max}`$, the system enters and leaves the two-phase region on the same branch, so the system remain in the same gase phase. As was pointed out by Műller and Serot , this retrograde condensation is unique to the binary system and dose not occur in one-component systems.

(3) Suppose that the initial $`\alpha `$ is located at the region $`\alpha _1<\alpha <\alpha _3`$. Since $`\alpha _1`$ and $`\alpha _3`$ correspond to the maximum and minimum of $`\mu _n`$, we find $`\left(\mu _n/\alpha \right)_{T,p}<0`$ in this region and the stability condition Eq.(12) will be destroied. The system begins at gas phase, enters a two-phase region and becomes instable at the limit pressure.

(4) If the initial $`\alpha `$ is located at the region $`\alpha _3<\alpha <\alpha _2`$, the behaviou of the system is similar to that of the case (3), except it will be ended to a stable phase at the limit pressure because the stability condition $`\left(\mu _n/\alpha \right)_{T,p}>0`$ is satisfied.

In summary, we have shown that the density dependence of effective NN$`\rho `$ coupling is important to the LG phase transition. A limit pressure plim has been found for a fixed temperature and the LG phase transition cannot take place in asymmetric nuclear matter provided $`p>p_{lim}`$ . Of course, for a fixed pressure, we can also get a limit temperature. This conclusion is similar to that of the Coulomb instability  of nuclei. The basic difference is that instead of finite nuclei, our conclusion has be found to be suitable for asymmetric nuclear matter. Finally, we would like to emphasize that the isospin is very important for the LG phase transition of asymmetric nuclear matter.

The work was support in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract no. 19975010, and the Foundation of Education Department of China.


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# Circular photogalvanic effect induced by monopolar spin orientation in 𝑝-GaAs/AlGaAs MQW

## Abstract

The circular photogalvanic effect (CPGE) has been observed in (100)-oriented $`p`$-GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells at normal incidence of far-infrared radiation. It is shown that monopolar optical spin orientation of free carriers causes an electric current which reverses its direction upon changing from left to right circularly polarized radiation. CPGE at normal incidence and the occurence of the linear photogalvanic effect indicate a reduced point symmetry of studied multi-layered heterostructures. As proposed, CPGE can be utilized to investigate separately spin polarization of electrons and holes and the symmetry of quantum wells.

Spin polarization and spin relaxation in semiconductors are the subject of intensive studies of spin-polarized electron transport aimed at the development of spinotronic devices like a spin transistor . So far, photo-induced spin polarization has been achieved by interband optical absorption of circularly polarized light with the photogeneration of spin-polarized electrons and holes .

Here we report on the first observation of the circular photogalvanic effect (CPGE) under intersubband transitions in multiple-quantum-well (MQW) structures. Phenomenologically, the effect is a transfer of angular momenta of circularly polarized photons into the directed movement of free carriers, electrons or holes, and therefore depends on the symmetry of the medium. Microscopically, it arises due to optical spin orientation of holes in MQWs and asymmetric spin-dependent scattering of spin-polarized carriers by interface imperfections followed by an appearance of an electric current. The two states of light circular polarization $`\sigma _\pm `$ result in different spin orientations and, thus, in electric photocurrents of opposite directions. The CPGE has been observed on $`p`$-doped (001)-oriented MQWs at normal incidence of the circularly polarized far-infrared (FIR) laser pulses. In contrast to the case of interband optical excitation, under intersubband transitions only one kind of carriers is involved leading to a monopolar spin orientation. The observed effect can be utilized to investigate spin polarization of extrinsic free carriers, and provides a simple method to analyze the reduced point symmetry of the medium under study, here MQWs.

The experiments have been carried out on $`p`$-GaAs/AlGaAs (001)-MOCVD grown quantum well (QW) structures with 400 undoped wells of 20 nm width separated by 10 nm wide doped barriers. Different samples of 5$`\times `$5 mm2 size with hole densities in the QWs varying from $`210^{11}`$ cm-2 to $`210^{12}`$ cm-2 have been investigated. Ohmic contacts to the QWs were formed by depositing Ti and Au with subsequent tempering. Two pairs of point contacts along two perpendicular connecting lines have been prepared, parallel to \[1$`\overline{1}`$0\] and  (see inset Fig. 1). Two additional pairs of ohmic contacts have been formed in the corners of the sample corresponding to the $`100`$ crystallographic directions.

A high power pulsed far-infrared molecular laser pumped by a TEA-CO2 laser has been used as a radiation source delivering 100 ns pulses with the intensity $`I`$ up to 1 MW/cm2. NH3 has been used as a FIR laser medium yielding strong single-line linearly-polarized emissions at wavelengths $`\lambda `$ = 76 $`\mu `$m, 90 $`\mu `$m, and 148 $`\mu `$. The photon energies of the laser lines correspond to transitions between size-quantization subbands of GaAs QWs. The linearly-polarized laser light could be modified to a circularly-polarized radiation by applying crystalline quartz $`\lambda /4`$–plates.

While irradiating the (001) GaAs QWs by normally incident circularly-polarized radiation (see inset in Fig. 1) a fast photocurrent signal, $`U_{12}`$, has been observed in unbiased samples across one contact pair (contacts 1 & 2 in the inset). The signal follows the temporal structure of the laser pulse intensity. The photocurrent changes sign if the circular polarization is switched from $`\sigma _+`$ to $`\sigma _{}`$. Measurements of $`U_{12}`$ as a function of the degree of circular polarization $`P_{circ}=\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\phi `$, where $`\phi `$ is the angle between the optical axis of the $`\lambda /4`$-plate and the plane of polarization of the laser radiation, reveal that the photogalvanic current $`j`$ is proportional to $`P_{circ}`$ (Fig. 1). In case of the linearly-polarized radiation corresponding to $`\phi =0`$ or $`90^{}`$ the signal $`U_{12}`$ vanishes. The magnitude and the sign of the CPGE are practically unchanged with variation of the angle of incidence in the range of -40 to +40. Heating the sample from 4.2 K to 300 K leads to a change of the sign of CPGE but the $`\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}\phi `$ dependence is retained. In bulk GaAs substrate material no CPGE could be detected which gives evidence that the effect occurs in the MQWs.

Using the other pair of contacts (contacts 3 & 4 in the inset in Fig. 2) no photogalvanic signal dependent on the sign of $`P_{circ}`$ could be detected. This is demonstrated in Fig. 2 where the voltage $`U_{34}`$ is plotted as a function of the phase angle $`\phi `$ together with $`U_{12}`$. The signal $`U_{34}`$ is periodic in $`\phi `$ with the period being one half of that of $`U_{12}`$. The value and the sign of $`U_{34}`$ for $`\sigma _+`$ are the same like that for $`\sigma _{}`$ ($`\phi =\pm 45^{}`$). The measurements of the photogalvanic effect along $`100`$ crystallographic directions show a sum of the projections on this direction of the photocurrents induced along \[1$`\overline{1}`$0\] and .

The photogalvanic current under study can be described by the following phenomenological expression

$$j_\lambda =\chi _{\lambda \mu \nu }(E_\mu E_\nu ^{}+E_\nu E_\mu ^{})/2+\gamma _{\lambda \mu }i(𝐄\times 𝐄^{})_\mu ,$$
(1)
where E is the complex amplitude of the electric field of the electromagnetic wave and

$`i(𝐄\times 𝐄^{})=P_{circ}E_0^2{\displaystyle \frac{𝐪}{q}},`$

$`E_0=|𝐄|`$, q is the light wavevector. In a bulk crystal, $`\lambda =x,y,z`$, while in a MQW structure grown along the $`z`$ direction, say $`z[001]`$, the index $`\lambda `$ runs only over the in-plane axes $`x[100],y[010]`$ because the barriers prevent carriers from moving along the $`z`$ axis and, definitely, $`j_z=0`$.

In bulk materials the photogalvanic effects under consideration arise in homogeneous samples under homogeneous excitation due to an asymmetry of the interaction of free carriers with photons, phonons, static defects or other carriers in noncentrosymmetric media . The photocurrent given by the tensor $`𝝌`$ describes the so-called linear photogalvanic effect (LPGE) because it is usually observed under linearly polarized optical excitation. The circular photogalvanic effect (CPGE) described by the pseudotensor $`𝜸`$ can be observed only under circularly polarized optical excitation.

In an ideal (001)-grown MQW structure with the D2d point symmetry or in a MQW structure with nonequivalent left and right interfaces yet retaining their local symmetry C2v, a generation of the circular photocurrent under normal incidence is forbidden because the pseudovector component $`[𝐄\times 𝐄^{}]_z`$ and the vector components $`j_x,j_y`$ transform according to nonequivalent irreducible representations of the group D2d or C2v. Thus in order to explain the experimental data the symmetry of the structure should be reduced to the next possible point group which is $`C_s`$ and contains only two elements: the identity transformation and one mirror reflection, say in the plane (1$`\overline{1}`$0). In this case we obtain under normal incidence

$`j_x^{}`$ $`=`$ $`E_0^2[\gamma P_{circ}+\chi _1(e_x^{}e_y^{}^{}+e_y^{}e_x^{}^{})],`$ (2)
$`j_y^{}`$ $`=`$ $`E_0^2[\chi _2|e_x^{}|^2+\chi _3|e_y^{}|^2],`$ (3)
where e is the polarization unit vector of the light and $`\gamma ,\chi _1,\chi _2`$ and $`\chi _3`$ are linearly independent coefficients which can depend on the light frequency and temperature. Instead of $`x`$ and $`y`$ we use the axes $`x^{}[1\overline{1}0],y^{}[110]`$. It follows then that the circular photocurrent is induced along $`x^{}`$, while the linear photocurrent induced by the light linearly polarized along $`x^{}`$ or $`y^{}`$ flows in the $`y^{}`$ direction. For the light initially polarized along $`x^{}`$ and transmitted through the $`\lambda /4`$ plate we have

$`j_x^{}`$ $`=`$ $`\gamma E_0^2\mathrm{sin}2\phi =\gamma E_0^2P_{circ},`$ (4)
$`j_y^{}`$ $`=`$ $`E_0^2(\chi _++\chi _{}\mathrm{cos}^22\phi )=E_0^2(\chi _2\chi _{}P_{circ}^2),`$ (5)
where $`\chi _\pm =(\chi _2\pm \chi _3)/2`$. The CPGE described by $`\gamma `$ can be related to an electric current in a system of free carriers with nonequilibrium spin-polarization . The possible microscopic mechanism is the spin-dependent scattering of optically oriented holes by asymmetric interface imperfections. The experimentally observed change of sign of the photogalvanic current upon heating the sample from 4.2 K to room temperature may be caused by the change of scattering mechanism from impurity scattering to phonon assisted scattering. Note that, for ideal zinc-blende-based MQW structures grown along the principal axis , the CPGE is also possible but only under oblique incidence of irradiation.

Comparison of Eq. (4) and Figs. 1,2 demonstrates a good agreement between the theory and the experimental data. In order to verify independently the validity of Eq. (2) for $`j_y^{}`$ we excited the sample by linearly-polarized light and measured the voltage $`U_{34}`$ as a function of the angle $`\alpha `$ between the plane of linear polarization and the axis $`x^{}`$. Note, that in this set-up $`\alpha =0`$ is equivalent to $`\phi =n\mathrm{\hspace{0.25em}90}^{}`$ ($`n`$ is integer $`0,\pm 1\mathrm{}`$) in the set-up with the $`\lambda /4`$ plate. Triangles in Fig. 3 present the measured dependence $`U_{34}(\alpha )`$, the solid curve is calculated after $`U_{34}[\chi _+\chi _{}\mathrm{cos}2(\alpha +90^{})]`$ which follows from the second line of equation (2). To obtain the curve in Fig. 3 the same parameters were used as for fitting $`U_{34}`$ in Fig. 2.

The low symmetry Cs required to have nonzero $`\gamma `$ and $`\chi _i`$ ($`i=1,2,3`$) gives an evidence for the in-plane anisotropy showing that in the investigated MQWs (i) the  and \[1$`\overline{1}`$0\] crystallographic directions are different, and (ii) one of the reflection planes, (110) either (1$`\overline{1}`$0), is removed as a symmetry element making the corresponding normal axis to be a polar one. The first conclusion is valid for both the $`C_{2v}`$ and $`C_s`$ point groups; the difference between the  and \[1$`\overline{1}`$0\] axes has been studied by chemical etching  of GaAs (001) surfaces and by an observation of the in-plane anisotropy of the quantum Hall effect  and anisotropic exchange splitting of the excitonic levels (see  and references therein) in periodic heterostructures. Moreover, (001) faces of GaAs show trenches on the atomic level in one of the $`110`$ directions . Obviously these trenches proceed into MQWs forming interface islands, steps etc. and reducing their symmetry. The conclusion (ii) is less obvious. It is worth to stress that, unlike conventional optical and transport phenomena, the CPGE unambiguously chooses between the $`C_{2v}`$ and $`C_s`$ symmetries. At present we can only guess why the available series of MQWs is characterized by the reduced symmetry. Photogalvanic studies of samples supplied from different sources are needed to come to a final conclusion.

To summarize, it is shown that the optical orientation of free carriers can be accompanied by their drift. Absorption of normally incident circularly-polarized FIR radiation in gyrotropic media induces a photocurrent which reverses the direction as the circular polarization is changed from right- to left-hand orientation. These observations reveal the reduced in-plane symmetry of GaAs-based (001)-grown MQWs and can be used as a simple method to detect and characterize asymmetries in heterostructures. The method is effective even at room temperature. The theoretical considerations show that the CPGE can be observed also in an ideal MQW of the symmetry D2d if the incident radiation is obliquely incident. The experiments presented here have been carried out in $`p`$-doped QWs but similar results are expected also for $`n`$-QWs.

Financial support by the DFG and the RFFI are gratefully acknowledged. The authors would like to thank H. v. Philipsborn for helpful discussions.


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# Peltier effect induced longitudinal resistivity of ideal 2D electron(hole) gas in strong magnetic field

## A Appendix

For 2DEG within zero approximation with respect to scattering the force, $`𝐅𝐁`$ results in macroscopic drift of electrons with the drift velocity $`𝐯_{dr}=\frac{c}{eB^2}\left[𝐅\times 𝐁\right].`$ The dissipasionless current and entropy densities are:$`^{\text{[16]}}`$

$`𝐣`$ $`=`$ $`eN𝐯_d={\displaystyle \frac{c}{B^2}}\left[N𝐅\times 𝐁\right],`$ ()
$`𝐣_s`$ $`=`$ $`sN𝐯_d={\displaystyle \frac{c}{eB^2}}\left[S𝐅\times 𝐁\right],`$ (8)
where $`N=\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{\mu }\right)_{T,B}`$ , $`S=\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{T}\right)_{\mu ,B}`$ are 2DEG concentration and entropy densities respectively, $`s=S/N`$ is the entropy per one electron. Then, $`𝐅=\zeta `$ for nonuniform electrochemical potential in x-y plane. The macroscopic current and heat flux density, $`𝐪_h=T𝐣_s=𝐪+𝐣\zeta /e`$, are given

$`𝐣`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{ceN}{B^2}}\left[𝐄\times 𝐁\right]{\displaystyle \frac{cS}{B^2}}\left[𝐓\times 𝐁\right],`$ ()
$`𝐪_h`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{cTS}{B^2}}\left[𝐄\times 𝐁\right]+{\displaystyle \frac{c}{eB^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{T}}T^2{\displaystyle \frac{}{T}}\left[{\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mu }{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{T}}𝑑\mu ^{}\right]\left[𝐓\times 𝐁\right].`$ (9)
Eq.(()A) coincide with Eq.(()Peltier effect induced longitudinal resistivity of ideal 2D electron(hole) gas in strong magnetic field) Note, Eq.(()A) could be generalized as$`^{\text{[15]}}`$

$`𝐣`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{c}{B^2}}\text{rot}((Ne\phi +\mathrm{\Omega })𝐁),`$ ()
$`𝐪_h`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{c}{eB^2}}T\left({\displaystyle \frac{}{T}}\right)_\mu {\displaystyle \underset{\mathrm{}}{\overset{\mu }{}}}\text{rot}((Ne\phi +\mathrm{\Omega })𝐁)𝑑\mu `$ (10)
## B Appendix

We now find out asymptotic equations for 2D thermopower and conductivity $`\sigma _{yx}`$ within low temperature and magnetic field limit $`\nu ^1,\xi <1`$. Using well known Poisson formulae

$$\underset{n_0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\phi (n)=\underset{a}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\phi (n)𝑑n+2\text{Re}\underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\underset{a}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\phi (n)e^{2\pi ikm}𝑑m,$$
(11)
where $`m_01<a<m_0`$, the 2DEG thermodynamic potential $`\mathrm{\Omega }(\mu ,\xi ,\nu )`$ is given

$$\mathrm{\Omega }=n_0\mu \xi ^2\left(F_1(1/\xi )+2\pi ^2\underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{(1)^k\mathrm{cos}(2\pi k\nu )}{r_k\mathrm{sinh}(r_k)}\right).$$
(11)
Here, $`n=\frac{m}{2\pi \mathrm{}^2}\mu `$ is the 2DEG concentration at $`𝐁=0`$ (spin is neglected), $`r_k=2\pi ^2\xi \nu kkT/\mathrm{}\omega _c`$ is the dimensionless parameter. Therefore, $`F_n(y)=\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}x^n(1+\mathrm{exp}(xy))^1𝑑x`$ is the Fermi integral. Finally, 2DEG entropy $`S`$, concentration $`N`$ and are

$`N`$ $`=`$ $`n\xi \left(F_0(1/\xi )+2\pi {\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(1)^k\mathrm{sin}(2\pi k\nu )}{\mathrm{sinh}(r_k)}}\right),`$ ()
$`S`$ $`=`$ $`kn\left({\displaystyle \frac{d}{d\xi }}(F_1(1/\xi )\xi ^2)2\pi ^2\xi {\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}(1)^k\mathrm{\Phi }(r_k)\mathrm{cos}(2\pi k\nu )\right),`$ (12)
where $`\mathrm{\Phi }(z)=\frac{1z\mathrm{coth}(z)}{z\mathrm{sinh}(z)}`$. From Eq.(()B), one could find out $`\alpha =S/eN`$ and $`\sigma _{yx}=Nec/B`$.

###### Acknowledgements.

The author is grateful to Prof. M.I.Dyakonov for criticism.


text:
# Algebraic measures of entanglement

## 1. Rank of a tensor

Let $`H`$ be a complex Hilbert space; the hermitian scalar product will be denoted by $`u|v`$. It is complex linear in $`v`$ and antilinear in $`u`$. A state in a complex $`H`$ is an element of the projective space $`(H)`$. The points of $`(H)`$ can be viewed alternatively as complex lines in $`H`$, or as elements of the unit sphere $`S(H)`$ up to the scaling action of complex numbers $`e^{i\alpha }`$. We will use the mathematical notation for states ($`u`$, $`v`$, etc…) as opposed to kets. The state $`u`$ gives the projection operator $`P_u:HH`$ where $`P_u(v)=u|v`$. $`P_u`$ is an idempotent hermitian operator of rank $`1`$; in this way we realize $`(H)`$ as the orbit of the unitary group comprised of such operators.

In quantum mechanics, the combination of several quantum systems corresponds to the Hilbert space tensor product $`E=H_1\mathrm{}H_k`$ of the relevant Hilbert spaces. A state $`u`$ in $`E`$ is called pure if it is a tensor product $`\varphi _1\varphi _2\mathrm{}\varphi _k`$ of states; otherwise it is called *entangled*. It is easy to characterize pure states in terms of homogeneous quadratic equations for the components of the tensor $`u`$. If we pick orthonormal bases of each $`H_j`$ and write $`u_{a_1\mathrm{}a_k}`$ for the components of $`u`$, we have

###### Proposition 1.1.

The state $`u`$ in $`E=H_1\mathrm{}H_k`$ is pure iff the following “exchange property” is verified: for any $`k`$-tuples $`(a_1,\mathrm{},a_k)`$, $`(b_1,\mathrm{},b_k)`$, $`(c_1,\mathrm{},c_k)`$, $`(d_1,\mathrm{},d_k)`$ such that for each $`j`$, $`(c_j,d_j)`$ is a permutation of $`(a_j,b_j)`$ we have

$$u_{a_1,\mathrm{}a_k}u_{b_1,\mathrm{}b_k}=u_{c_1,\mathrm{},c_k}u_{d_1,\mathrm{}d_k}$$
(1.1)
###### Proof.

Clearly a pure tensor satisfies the exchange property. To prove the converse, we proceed by induction over $`k`$. We pick a basis $`(e_0,\mathrm{},e_m)`$ of $`H_1`$ and write $`u=_ie_iv_i`$ where $`v_iH_2\mathrm{}H_k`$. If $`v_i0`$ for some $`i`$, the exchange property for the case $`a_1=b_1=i`$ implies that $`v_i`$ satisfies the exchange property, so is a pure tensor by the inductive hypothesis. Next, if $`v_i`$ and $`v_j`$ are non-zero, we apply the exchange property to the case where $`a_1=d_1=i`$, $`b_1=c_1=j`$, $`a_l=c_l`$ and $`b_l=d_l`$ for $`l2`$, and conclude that the tensors $`v_i`$ and $`v_j`$ are proportional. It follows that $`u`$ is a pure tensor. ∎

Geometrically, the set of pure states is a closed complex algebraic subvariety of $`(H)`$, isomorphic to the product $`(H_1)\times \mathrm{}\times (H_k)`$, which is known as the Segre product. So its dimension is $`d_1+\mathrm{}+d_kk`$, where $`d_j=dim(H_j)`$. Accordingly, the pure tensors in $`E=H_1\mathrm{}H_k`$ form a closed complex algebraic subvariety of dimension $`d_1+\mathrm{}+d_kk+1`$.

Entangled states occur naturally in classical algorithms for matrix multiplication \[Str1\] \[Str2\]. They are very important in quantum mechanics; cf. e.g. the famous Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen work. Quantum computation lives in the tensor product Hilbert spaces $`(^2)^n`$, and states used in quantum coding and quantum teleportation are typically quite entangled (see e.g. \[C-R-S-S\] \[Go\] \[Ste\]). So it seems important to study how entangled states can be. The following is a classical notion (see \[B-C-S\]).

###### Definition 1.2.

We say a state $`u`$ in $`E=H_1\mathrm{}H_k`$ has rank $`p`$ if we can write

$$u=\underset{j=1}{\overset{p}{}}\lambda _jv_j$$
(1.2)
where each $`v_j`$ is a pure state.

A natural question is to find the highest rank of all states in $`E`$; we can only answer this in very special cases. At least we can give a lower bound:

###### Proposition 1.3.

Let $`H_j`$ be vector spaces of dimension $`d_j`$. Then the highest rank of states in $`E=H_1\mathrm{}H_k`$ is at least equal to the rational number

$$\frac{d_1d_2\mathrm{}d_k}{d_1+d_2+\mathrm{}+d_kk+1}$$
(1.3)
For instance, take $`k=3`$, $`d_1=3`$, $`d_2=4`$, $`d_3=5`$; then the highest rank is at least $`3\times 4\times 5/10=6`$.

In case $`k=2`$, it is easy to describe this degree of entanglement of any state in classical terms:

###### Proposition 1.4.

The degree of entanglement (rank) of a state $`u`$ in $`E=H_1H_2`$ is the rank of the matrix $`u_{ab}`$.

In particular, for $`k=2`$, the degree of entanglement gives a nice stratification of projective space $`(E)`$. Let $`S_p`$ denote the set of states of rank $`p`$. Then $`S_p`$ is a closed algebraic subvariety of $`(E)`$, defined as the vanishing locus of all order $`p+1`$ minors of the matrix $`u_{ab}`$. The singular locus of $`S_p`$ is $`S_{p1}`$. The set $`S_pS_{p1}`$ of states of rank equal to $`p`$ is then a locally closed subvariety.

There is also a nice analytic characterization of pure states $`\varphi `$ in $`H_1H_2`$, in terms of the projection operator $`P_\varphi `$. The partial trace $`\rho :=Tr_1(P_\varphi )`$ is a positive hermitian operator on $`H_2`$ and we have:

###### Proposition 1.5.

We have $`\rho ^2\rho `$ with equality iff $`\varphi `$ is pure.

For the proof see Popescu-Rohrlich \[Po-Ro\]. There is an interesting relation with the algebraic characterization of pure states in Proposition 1.1, which we illustrate for $`^2^2`$, using the basis $`(e_0,e_1)`$ of $`^2`$. Here $`\varphi `$ is given by a matrix $`(\varphi _{ab})`$. The $`(0,0)`$-component of $`\rho \rho ^2`$ is equal to $`|\varphi _{00}\varphi _{11}\varphi _{01}\varphi _{10}|^2`$. Thus the analytic equations characterizing pure states are quartic real polynomials which are squares (in general, sums of squares) of absolute values of the quadratic complex polynomial equations.

For $`k>2`$ the situation is more complicated: it is always true that $`S_pS_{p+1}`$, but we will see in the next section that the set $`S_p`$ is not always closed in $`(E)`$.

Note that for $`k=3`$ the rank of a tensor is closely connected to the notion of rank of a bilinear map \[Str1\] \[Str2\] \[B-C-S\].

## 2.  Tensors in $`(^2)^3`$.

We study here $`E=^2^2^2`$. There is a well-known polynomial function $`D`$ on $`E`$ which is invariant under $`SL(2,)^3`$: this is the hyperdeterminant introduced by Cayley \[Cay\] \[G-K-Z\]. $`D`$ is a homogeneous degree $`4`$ polynomial function on $`E`$ which is $`SL(2,)^3`$-invariant. We pick the standard basis $`e_0,e_1`$ of $`^2`$ and write the components of $`u(^2)^3`$ as $`u_{abc}`$ for $`a,b,c\{0,1\}`$. Then we have:

$$\begin{array}{cc}D(u)=\hfill & u_{000}^2u_{111}^2+u_{001}^2u_{110}^2+u_{010}^2u_{101}^2+u_{011}^2u_{100}^2\hfill \\ & 2(u_{000}u_{001}u_{110}u_{111}+u_{000}u_{010}u_{101}u_{111}+u_{000}u_{011}u_{100}u_{111}\hfill \\ & +u_{001}u_{010}u_{101}u_{110}+u_{001}u_{011}u_{110}u_{100}+u_{010}u_{011}u_{101}u_{100})\hfill \\ & +4(u_{000}u_{011}u_{101}u_{110}+u_{001}u_{010}u_{100}u_{111})\hfill \end{array}$$
(2.1)
The geometric significance of $`D`$ is that $`D(u)=0`$ iff the hyperplane defined by $`u`$ is tangent to the Segre product $`S`$ at some point $`p`$. This means that $`u|v=0`$ for any tangent vector $`v`$ to $`S`$ at $`p`$.

The review \[Cat\] provides interesting comments on the book \[G-K-Z\].

For a tensor $`u`$ in $`E=(^2)^3`$, there are three additional degrees of entanglement $`\delta _1,\delta _2,\delta _3`$ to consider: $`\delta _1`$ is the rank of $`u`$ viewed as an element of $`^2^4`$, when we group the second and third factors $`^2`$. $`\delta _2`$ and $`\delta _3`$ are defined similarly.

We denote by $`Y_j`$ the closed algebraic subvariety of $`(E)`$ comprised of states $`u`$ such that $`\delta _j=1`$, i.e., $`u`$ belongs to $`Y_1`$ iff it is decomposable as a tensor in $`^2^4`$. Note each $`Y_j`$ has dimension $`4`$ and is contained in the hypersurface $`Z`$ of equation $`D=0`$.

The following result is proved (at least implicitly) in \[G-K-Z\]. We include a proof since it uses methods which we will later use for $`(^2)^4`$.

###### Proposition 2.1.

Let $`u`$ be a state in $`E=(^2)^3`$. Then $`u`$ satisfies exactly one the following possibilities:

(1) $`u`$ is a pure state.

(2) $`u`$ is not pure but belongs to $`Y_j`$ for a (unique) $`j=1,2,3`$.

(3) $`u`$ is entangled, and $`D(u)0`$; in that case $`u`$ has rank $`2`$, so it is the sum of two pure tensors

(4) $`D(u)=0`$, but $`u`$ belongs to none of the $`Y_j`$; then $`u`$ has rank $`3`$.

###### Proof.

It is useful to associate to $`u`$ a linear map $`T:^2^2^2`$. If $`T`$ has rank $`1`$ then $`uY_1`$ and we are in case (1). So we may assume $`T`$ has rank $`2`$. We will consider $`T(xe_0+ye_1)`$ as a $`2`$ by $`2`$ matrix. Consider the homogeneous degree $`2`$ polynomial $`P(x,y)=det(T(xe_0+ye_1))`$. There are $`3`$ cases to consider:

(I) there are exactly two points in $`^1`$ where $`P`$ vanishes. Let $`(x_1,y_1),(x_2,y_2)`$ be homogeneous coordinates for these two points. Then we can make a change a basis in the first $`^2`$ so that these $`2`$ points are $`(0,1)`$ and $`(1,0)`$. Then both $`T(e_0)`$ and $`T(e_1)`$ have rank $`1`$; they must both be non-zero, otherwise all $`T(xe_0+ye_1)`$ would have rank $`1`$. After a change of basis in the second and third copies of $`^2`$, we may assume $`T(e_0)=e_0e_0`$ and $`T(e_1)=e_ie_j`$ for suitable $`i,j`$, not both equal to $`0`$. In this case, the tensor $`u`$ is equal to $`e_0e_0e_0+e_1e_ie_j`$, so it has rank equal to $`2`$. By direct computation, we see that $`D(u)0`$ if $`i=j=1`$ (case 4), or $`u`$ belongs to $`Y_2`$ (resp. $`Y_3`$) if $`i=0`$ (resp. $`j=0`$), which belongs to case (2)..

(II) there is only one point $`(x,y)`$ of $`^1`$ at which $`P(x,y)`$ vanishes. We may assume this point is $`(1,0)`$. We can think of $`T`$ as giving a parameterization of a curve in $`^3`$ which is tangent to the quadric surface $`Q`$ consisting of rank $`1`$ matrices. We can change bases in all three copies of $`^2`$ so that $`T(e_0)=e_0e_0`$. As the tangent plane to $`Q`$ at $`e_0e_0`$ is spanned by $`e_0e_1`$ and $`e_1e_0`$, we can change the basis vector $`e_1`$ in the first $`^2`$ so that $`T(xe_0+ye_1)=xe_0e_0+y(\lambda e_0e_1+\mu e_1e_0)`$. Next, as $`\lambda `$ and $`\mu `$ must both be non-zero, we can change bases in the other copies to arrange that $`\lambda =\mu =1`$. Then our tensor $`u`$ is $`u=e_0e_0e_0+e_1e_1e_0+e_1e_0e_1`$, and has rank exactly $`3`$. Indeed it has the property that for any non-zero $`v^2`$, the tensor in $`^2^2`$ obtained by contracting $`u`$ with $`w`$ has rank equal to $`2`$; thus $`u`$ can’t be a sum of two pure tensors. We verify easily that $`D(u)=0`$. Or we can see geometrically that the corresponding point in $`(E)`$ belongs to the dual variety to the Segre product $`S=S_1`$, which means that the hyperplane defined by $`u`$ is tangent to the Segre variety at some point. The relevant point of $`S`$ is $`v=e_0e_1e_1`$: notice that the tangent space to $`S`$ at $`v`$ is spanned by tensors of the type $`\psi e_1e_1,e_0\psi e_1,e_0e_1\psi `$ where $`\psi ^2`$. Since $`u`$ is orthogonal to all these tangent vectors, it is orthogonal to the tangent space of $`S`$ at $`v`$.

(III) the polynomial $`P(x,y)`$ vanishes identically; this means that the linear map $`T(xe_0+ye_1)`$ always has rank $`1`$. This can happen in either of $`2`$ ways:

(a) there is a vector $`\psi ^2`$ and a linear map $`f:^2^2`$ such that $`T(w)=\psi f(w)`$

(b) there is a vector $`\psi ^2`$ and a linear map $`f:^2^2`$ such that $`T(w)=f(w)\psi `$

We need only consider case (a). Then we have $`u=e_0\psi f(e_0)+e_1\psi f(e_1)`$. If $`f(e_0)`$ and $`f(e_1)`$ are linearly dependent, the tensor $`u`$ is pure and we are in case (1). Otherwise, $`u`$ has rank $`2`$ and after changes of bases in the second and third copies of $`^2`$ it takes the form $`u=e_0e_0e_0+e_1e_0e_1`$. Then $`u`$ belongs to $`Y_2`$.

This also leads to normal forms for tensor states in $`(^2)^3`$ up to the action of $`GL(2,)^3`$; these normal forms are given in \[G-K-Z\]. For quantum mechanics one needs to consider the smaller symmetry group of unitary symmetries $`U(2)^3`$. This is the group of local unitary symmetries; we say that two tensor states are *locally equivalent* if they are equivalent under $`U(2)^3`$. One obtains normal expressions up to local equivalence:

###### Proposition 2.2.

A state in $`(^2)^3`$ is locally equivalent to one of the following:

1) a pure state is locally equivalent to $`e_0e_0e_0`$.

2) a state in $`Y_1`$ which is not pure is locally equivalent to

$$e_0[\mathrm{cos}\theta (e_0e_0)+\mathrm{sin}\theta (e_1e_1)]$$
(2.2)
States in $`Y_2`$ or $`Y_3`$ are described similarly.

3) a state of rank 2 which is not in either of the $`Y_j`$ is locally equivalent to

$$\lambda e_0e_0e_0+z(\mathrm{cos}\theta _1e_0+\mathrm{sin}\theta _1e_1)(\mathrm{cos}\theta _2e_0+\mathrm{sin}\theta _2e_1)(\mathrm{cos}\theta _3e_0+\mathrm{sin}\theta _3e_1)$$
(2.3)
where $`\lambda ,\theta _j`$, $`z`$ satisfy the relation $`\lambda ^2+|z|^2+2\lambda \mathrm{}(z)\mathrm{cos}\theta _1\mathrm{cos}\theta _2\mathrm{cos}\theta _3=1`$ (so that the tensor has norm $`1`$). We can assume $`\theta _j(0,\frac{\pi }{2})`$.

4) a state of rank 3 is locally equivalent to

$$\mathrm{cos}\theta _1e_0e_0e_0+\mathrm{sin}\theta _1e_1[\mathrm{cos}\theta _2e_0(\mathrm{cos}\theta _3e_0+\mathrm{sin}\theta _3e_1)+\mathrm{sin}\theta _2e_1e_0]$$
(2.4)
In each case there are only finitely many values of the parameters corresponding a given tensor state.

###### Proof.

The four cases of the statement correspond to the four cases of Proposition 2.1. Case 1) is obvious. Case 2) follows as $`uY_1`$ is locally equivalent to $`e_0v`$ for some $`v^2^2`$; by Schmidt’s theorem $`v`$ is locally equivalent to $`\mathrm{cos}\alpha (e_0e_0)+\mathrm{sin}\alpha (e_1e_1)`$.

In case 3), we have $`u=v_1v_2v_3+w_1w_2w_3`$ where $`v_i`$ and $`w_i`$ are linearly independent for each $`i`$. There is no harm in assuming that the vectors $`v_1,v_2,w_1,w_2`$ have norm $`1`$. By rescaling $`u`$ by a phase and applying a local transformation we can assume $`v_1=v_2=e_0`$ and $`v_3=\lambda e_0`$ for $`\lambda >0`$. We can also arrange that $`w_i=\mathrm{cos}\theta _ie_0+\mathrm{sin}\theta _ie_1`$ for $`i=1,2`$ and $`w_3=z[\mathrm{cos}\theta _3e_0+\mathrm{sin}\theta _3e_1]`$ for some $`z`$. This gives the normal form; note the reduction to $`\theta _j(0,\frac{\pi }{2})`$ is easy to achieve by changing the signs of $`e_0`$ and $`e_1`$ in the $`j`$-th factor $`^2`$.

In case 4), the tensor $`u`$ has the form $`u=v_1v_2v_3+w_1(v_2w_3+w_2v_3)`$ where $`v_i`$ and $`w_i`$ are linearly independent for each $`i`$. There are two types of degrees of freedom in the expression of $`u`$ in this form. First we have the transformation $`u=(v_1+\alpha w_1)v_2v_3+w_1(v_2[w_3\alpha v_3]+w_2v_3)`$. With its help we can arrange that $`w_1v_1`$. Secondly we have $`u=v_1v_2v_3+w_1(v_2[w_3+\beta v_3]+[w_2\beta v_2]v_3)`$. This is used to arrange that $`w_2v_2`$. By rescaling the $`v_i`$, we may assume that $`v_1`$ and $`v_2`$ have norm $`1`$. After applying a local unitary transformation, we obtain $`v_1=v_2=e_0`$ and $`v_3=\lambda e_0`$ for $`\lambda ^{}`$. Then we have $`w_1=\alpha e_1`$ and $`w_2=\beta e_1`$ for suitable $`\alpha ,\beta ^{}`$. Write $`w_3=\mu (\mathrm{cos}\theta e_0+\mathrm{sin}\theta e_1)`$ for $`\mu ^{}`$. Thus we have $`u=\lambda e_0^3+\alpha e_1(\mu e_0[\mathrm{cos}\theta e_0+\mathrm{sin}\theta e_1]+\nu e_1e_0)`$ for some $`\nu `$. Clearly a phase change for $`u`$ will make $`\lambda `$ real, so we can assume $`\lambda `$. We can of course assume $`\alpha =1`$ by changing $`\mu `$ and $`\nu `$ appropriately.

In the rest of the proof we use the notation $`e_i^{(j)}`$ to denote the vector $`e_i`$ in the $`j`$-th copy of $`^2`$. We will next do a simultaneous phase change

$$e_0^{(1)}e^{i\varphi }e_0^{(1)},e_0^{(3)}e^{i\varphi }e_0^{(3)},e_1^{(3)}e^{i\varphi }e_1^{(3)}$$
(2.5)
This operation does not change $`\lambda `$ but rescales $`\mu `$ as well as $`\nu `$; so we can assume $`\mu `$ is real. Finally a phase rescaling of $`e_1^{(2)}`$ will make $`\nu `$ real without changing $`\lambda `$ or $`\mu `$. This way we easily get the normal form.

It is interesting to discuss why $`S_2`$ is not closed in the case of $`(^2)^3`$. There is an easy geometric description of the rank, which is well-known to algebraic geometers. We start with the Segre product $`S=S_1`$, which is a closed algebraic subvariety of $`(E)`$. For a $`(p1)`$-plane $`\mathrm{\Pi }(E)`$, we say that $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ is a $`p`$-secant plane if $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ is spanned by $`p`$ points $`y_1,\mathrm{},y_p`$ of $`\mathrm{\Pi }S`$. For instance, a line is $`2`$-secant if it is a secant line, a $`2`$-plane is $`3`$-secant if it spanned by $`3`$ points of $`\mathrm{\Pi }S`$. Then we have clearly

###### Lemma 2.3.

A point of $`(E)`$ has rank $`p`$ iff it belongs to some $`(p1)`$-plane $`\mathrm{\Pi }(E)`$ which is $`p`$-secant to the Segre product $`S`$. In other words $`S_p`$ is the union of all $`(p1)`$-planes $`\mathrm{\Pi }`$ which are $`p`$-secant.

The point then is that $`S_2`$ need not be closed, because the limit of a sequence of secant lines to $`S`$ need not be a secant line, but could be a tangent line. This is similar to the fact that the border rank of a bilinear map can be lower than its rank \[B-C-L-R\] \[Str2\]. The same phenomenon could occur for higher $`p`$. From algebraic geometry we have the following general fact. In this statement, we use the Zariski topology of $`(E)`$ for which the closed subsets are the subsets defined by homogeneous polynomial equations. The constructible sets are then those obtained from the Zariski closed subsets by finite Boolean operations (finite unions, finite intersections, and complementation). A closed subset $`F`$ is called irreducible if whenever $`F=GH`$ for $`G,H`$ closed, we have $`G=F`$ or $`H=F`$.

Another interesting phenomenon is that a real tensor in $`(^2)^3`$ may have different rank from the same tensor viewed as an element of $`(^2)^3`$. An example is the tensor $`e_0(e_0e_0e_1e_1)+e_1(e_0e_1+e_1e_0)`$, which corresponds to the product law $`^2^2^2`$ on $`^2=`$; this has rank $`3`$ as a real tensor and rank $`2`$ as a complex tensor.

###### Proposition 2.4.

The set $`S_p`$ is a Zariski constructible subset of $`(E)`$. The closure $`\overline{S}_p`$ is irreducible.

###### Proof.

Let $`T_p`$ be the image of an algebraic mapping $`\mathrm{\Phi }:X(E)`$, where $`XS^p\times (E)`$ is the locally closed algebraic subvariety comprised of $`p+1`$-uples $`(x_1,\mathrm{},x_{p+1})`$ where $`x_1,\mathrm{},x_pS`$ are distinct, $`x_{p+1}(E)`$ and $`(x_1,\mathrm{},x_{p+1})`$ belong to some $`(p1)`$-plane, and $`\mathrm{\Phi }(x_1,\mathrm{},x_{p+1})=x_{p+1}`$. It is easy to see that $`X`$ is irreducible; thus standard results in algebraic geometry say that $`T_p`$ is constructible and its closure is irreducible. We have easily $`S_p=_{qp}T_q`$ so that $`S_p`$ is constructible. It is clear that $`\overline{T}_q\overline{T}_p`$ for $`qp`$, so that $`\overline{S}_p=\overline{S}_p`$ is irreducible.

The method of proof of Proposition 2.1 leads naturally to the following notion

###### Definition 2.5.

Let $`F`$ be subspace of $`E=H_1\mathrm{}H_k`$. The rank of $`F`$ is the smallest integer $`p`$ such that there exist $`p`$ pure tensors $`u_1,\mathrm{},u_p`$ such that $`F`$ is contained in the span of $`u_1,\mathrm{},u_p`$.

We then have the following easy but useful result:

###### Lemma 2.6.

\[B-C-S, Prop. 14.44\] Let $`uE=H_1H_2\mathrm{}H_k`$, and let $`T`$ be the corresponding linear map $`T:H_1^{}H_2\mathrm{}H_k`$. Then the rank of the tensor $`u`$ is equal to the rank of the range of $`T`$ as a subspace of $`H_2\mathrm{}H_k`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`p`$ be the rank of $`u`$ and $`q`$ the rank of the range of $`T`$. Thus $`u`$ is a linear combination of pure tensors $`v_1,\mathrm{},v_p`$. Write $`v_j=w_jz_j`$ where $`w_1H_1`$ and $`z_jH_2\mathrm{}H_k`$. Then we have $`T(l)=_jl|w_jz_j`$, so that $`T(l)`$ is a linear combination of the pure tensors $`z_j`$ and $`qp`$. In the other direction, assume that the range of $`T`$ is contained in the linear span of the pure tensors $`\beta _j,1ls`$. Then there are linear forms $`v_j`$ on $`H_1^{}`$ (so $`v_jH_1`$) such that $`T(l)=_{j=1}^sl|v_j\beta _j`$. This means that $`u=_{j=1}^sv_j\beta _j`$ and $`rs`$.

There is a classical example for the rank of a subspace of $`M_2()^2`$. We identify $`M_2()`$ with its dual, so that $`M_2()^2`$ identifies with the space of bilinear functionals $`(A,B)f(A,B)`$ of two matrices $`A,B`$ of size $`2`$. The coefficients of the product $`AB`$ yield four such bilinear functionals, which span a four-dimensional subspace $`E`$ of $`M_2()^2`$. It is a well-known result of Strassen \[Str1\] \[Str2\] that the rank of this subspace is equal to $`7`$ (instead of the value $`8`$ one might naively expect). This is the basis for fast matrix multiplication. From Lemma 2.6 it ensues that the corresponding tensor in $`M_2()M_2()M_2()=M_2()^3`$ has rank equal to $`7`$. It would be nice to have a geometric interpretation of this fact.

We also note an easy consequence of Lemma 2.6

###### Lemma 2.7.

Let $`(e_1,\mathrm{}e_{d_1})`$ be a basis of $`H_1`$, and consider a tensor $`u=_je_jv_jH_1H_2\mathrm{}H_k`$. Then the rank of $`u`$ is at most the sum of the ranks of the $`v_j`$’s.

## 3.  Tensors in $`(^2)^4`$.

Our results for $`E=(^2)^4`$ are less complete than for $`(^2)^3`$. For $`E=(^2)^4`$, an important invariant is the following: for any permutation $`(i,j,k,l)`$ of $`(1,2,3,4)`$, a tensor $`u(^2)^4`$ yields a linear map $`\varphi _{ijkl}:^2^2^2^2`$. We consider the determinant $`\mathrm{\Delta }(ijkl)=det(\varphi _{ijkl})`$. We have the following symmetries: $`\mathrm{\Delta }(ijkl)=\mathrm{\Delta }(jikl)=\mathrm{\Delta }(ijlk)=\mathrm{\Delta }(klij)`$, so up to sign we have essentially $`3`$ determinants. Now in fact we have

###### Lemma 3.1.

$$\mathrm{\Delta }(1234)\mathrm{\Delta }(1324)+\mathrm{\Delta }(1423)=0.$$
(3.1)
###### Proposition 3.2.

Let $`E=(C^2)^4`$. Then the closure of $`S_3`$ in $`(E)`$ is the dimension $`13`$ algebraic variety defined by the equations $`\mathrm{\Delta }(ijkl)=0`$

###### Proof.

The Lie group $`G=GL(2,)`$ acts naturally on $`E`$ and preserves each $`S_p`$. Let $`T`$ be the subspace spanned by $`e_0^4`$, $`e_1^4`$ and $`(e_0+e_1)^4`$.

Clearly the closure of $`S_3`$ is the closure of the $`G`$-saturation $`GT`$. We can compute its dimension as follows. We consider the infinitesimal equation of the Lie algebra $`𝔤=𝔤𝔩(4,)`$ on $`E`$. For $`vT`$, we denote by $`𝔥_v`$ the space of $`\gamma 𝔤`$ such that $`\gamma vT`$. Then we have

$$dim(GT)=dim(G)+dim(S)min_{vS}dim(𝔥_v)1=18min_{vS}dim(𝔥_v)$$
(3.2)
This follows as the right-hand side is the rank of the mapping $`G\times TT(E)`$ at the point $`(1,v)`$.

Now for any $`\delta ,ϵ^{}`$, the tensor $`u=u_{\delta ,ϵ}=e_0^4+\delta e_1^4+ϵ(e_0+e_1)^4`$ belongs to $`T`$. Let $`𝔨_u`$ be the space comprised of the $`\gamma 𝔤`$ such that $`\gamma u`$ is a linear combination of $`e_0^4`$ and $`e_1^4`$. Since $`𝔥_v`$ is the direct sum of $`𝔨_v`$ and of the line spanned by $`(Id,0,0,0)`$, we have $`dim(𝔥_u)=dim(𝔨_u)+1`$. So it suffices to compute $`dim(𝔨_u)`$.

Now for $`\gamma =(\gamma _j)𝔤=𝔤𝔩(2,)^4`$ with $`\gamma _j=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a_j\hfill & b_j\hfill \\ c_j\hfill & d_j\hfill \end{array}\right)`$ we compute:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\gamma u\hfill & =(a_1+a_2+a_3+a_4+ϵ(a_1+a_2+a_3+a_4+b_1+b_2+b_3+b_4))e_0^4\hfill \\ & +(c_4+ϵ(a_1+b_1+a_2+b_2+a_3+b_3+c_4+d_4))e_0^3e_1+\mathrm{permutations}\hfill \\ & +(\delta d_1+ϵ(a_1+b_1+c_2+d_2+c_3+d_3+c_4+d_4))e_0e_1^3+\mathrm{permutations}\hfill \\ & +ϵ(a_1+b_1+c_2+d_2+c_3+d_3+c_4+d_4)e_0^2e_1^2+\mathrm{permutations}\hfill \end{array}$$
(3.3)
So $`\gamma `$ belongs to $`𝔨_v`$ iff the coefficients of $`e_0^3e_1`$, $`e_0^2e_1^2`$, $`e_0e_1^3`$, and the other tensors obtained from these by permutations, all vanish. At first sight this is just a system of linear equations in $`16`$ unknowns, but one can essentially separate them according the four groups of four variables $`(a_j,b_j,c_j,d_j)`$ by introducing the sums $`\lambda =_ja_j,\mu =_jb_j,\nu =_jc_j,\rho =_jd_j`$. One gets the equations:

(1) For each $`j`$, $`ϵ(a_j+b_jd_j)(1+ϵ)c_j=ϵ(\lambda +\mu )`$

(2) For each $`j`$, $`ϵ(a_jc_jd_j)+(\delta +ϵ)b_j=ϵ(\nu +\rho )`$

(3) for each permutation $`(ijkl)`$ of $`(1234)`$ we have $`a_i+b_i+a_j+b_j+c_k+d_k+c_l+d_l=0`$.

(3) easily implies that $`a_j+b_jc_jd_j`$ is independent of $`j`$.

By summing each of the three types of equations over all choices of indices (or of permutations for the third), we get consistency requirements for $`(\lambda ,\mu ,\nu ,\rho )`$; these are easily solved to yield:

$$\mu =\frac{2ϵ}{\delta 2ϵ}\lambda ,\nu =\frac{2\delta ϵ}{\delta 2ϵ}\lambda ,\rho =\frac{\lambda \delta (2ϵ1)}{\delta 2ϵ},$$
(3.4)
Here $`\lambda `$ is a free parameter; once it is chosen we can solve for $`(a_j,b_j,c_j,d_j)`$ and obtain $`\gamma _j=\omega _jId+\varphi _j\xi +\eta `$, where $`\xi =\left(\begin{array}{cc}\delta +ϵ+\delta ϵ\hfill & ϵ\hfill \\ \delta ϵ\hfill & 0\hfill \end{array}\right)`$, $`\eta =\left(\begin{array}{cc}\frac{\delta \lambda }{\delta 2ϵ}\hfill & 0\hfill \\ 0\hfill & 0\hfill \end{array}\right)`$ are matrices independent of $`j`$, and $`\omega _j,\varphi _j`$ are some scalars. The fact that $`a_j+b_jc_jd_j`$ is independent of $`j`$ then implies that $`\varphi _j`$ is too; call this scalar $`\varphi `$. Then we need the $`a_j`$ to sum up to $`\lambda `$, etc… This gives the value $`\frac{\mu }{4ϵ}`$ for $`\varphi `$ and the requirement $`\omega _j=\rho `$.

Counting the free parameters we obtain $`dim(𝔨_u)=4`$. It follows that $`S_3`$ has dimension $`13`$. It is clearly contained in the codimension $`2`$ subvariety defined by the vanishing of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }(ijkl)`$; the latter variety is seen to be irreducible, thus it must equal the closure of $`S_3`$.

###### Theorem 3.3.

The highest rank of a tensor in $`(^2)^4`$ is equal to $`4`$.

###### Proof.

We associate to $`u(^2)^4`$ as before a linear map $`T:^2(^2)^3`$ and compute the rank of its image. If $`T`$ has rank $`1`$ it is clear that $`u`$ has rank $`3`$, so we can assume $`T`$ is injective. We can think of $`\varphi `$ as parameterizing a line $`l`$ in $`((^2)^3)=^7`$. If this line is not contained in the hypersurface $`Z`$, then $`2`$ of its points have rank $`2`$, and it follows using Lemma 2.7 that $`u`$ has rank $`2+2=4`$. Thus we need to focus on the case where $`l`$ is contained in $`Z`$. First of all, there is the case where $`l`$ is contained in $`Y_j`$ for some $`j`$. In that case it is easy to see that $`u`$ is of rank $`4`$. So we can assume that $`l`$ contains a point $`v`$ which belongs to none of the $`Y_j`$; so $`v`$ is $`GL(2,)^3`$-conjugate to $`e_0e_0e_0+e_1e_0e_1+e_1e_1e_0`$. For this choice of vector $`v`$ we can write down the equations on a tensor $`w`$ so that the line thru $`v`$ and $`w`$ is contained in $`Z`$, i.e., $`D(xv+yw)`$ vanishes identically. It is natural to consider $`w`$ as a vector modulo scaling in the quotient space $`(^2)^3/v=^7`$, i.e., as an element of projective space $`^6`$. Look at the equation giving the vanishing of the coefficient of $`x^iy^{4i}`$, as $`i`$ ranges from $`3`$ to $`0`$. The first equation is $`w_{011}=0`$. The second is $`2(w_{111}^2+w_{001}^2+w_{010}^2)(w_{001}+w_{010}+w_{111})^2=0`$; this is a non-degenerate quadratic form in $`3`$ variables. The third equation involves the new variables $`w_{000},w_{101},w_{110}`$ and is linear as a function of these $`3`$ variables. The fourth equation involves also the last variable $`w_{100}`$, and is linear in $`w_{100}`$. The variety of $`w`$ such that $`D(xv+yw)0`$ thus has a dense open set which is obtained by successive fibrations with fibers irreducible algebraic varieties; thus it itself is irreducible and its dimension is equal to $`2`$. Denote by $`Z^0`$ the big $`SL(2,)^3`$-orbit inside $`Z`$, which is the complement of $`Y_1Y_2Y_3`$. Now consider the algebraic variety $`S`$ comprised of pairs $`(p,L)`$ where $`pZ^0`$ and $`L`$ is a line thru $`p`$ which lies entirely inside $`Z`$. This is a locally closed subvariety of the product of $`Z^0`$ with the Grassmann manifold of lines in $`^7`$. Then the projection map $`SZ^0`$ is a fibration, because it is $`SL(2,)^3`$-equivariant and $`Z^0`$ is a single orbit. The dimension of $`S`$ is therefore $`6+2=8`$. What we are really after however is the variety $`V`$ of lines contained in $`Z`$ and meeting $`Z^0`$. There is an obvious map $`SV`$ which is a smooth mapping with one-dimensional fibers. Therefore $`V`$ has dimension $`81=7`$. Now we claim that any line contained in $`Z`$ and not contained in any $`Y_j`$ must meet each $`Y_j`$. For this purpose consider some tensor in $`Y_1`$, say $`v=e_0^3+e_0e_1^2`$, and consider again the set of $`w`$ such that $`D(xv+yw)0`$.

One checks that this forms a subvariety of $`^6`$ of dimension $`3`$. It follows that the set of lines contained in $`Z`$ and meeting $`Y_1`$ in finitely many points has a finite ramified covering which maps to $`Y_1`$ with three-dimensional fiber, therefore it has dimension $`4+3=7`$. Note that the lines completely contained in $`Y_1`$ form a variety of dimension $`5`$. It then follows that any line contained in $`Z`$ must meet each $`Y_j`$.

Thus we can change the basis of the first $`^2`$ so that $`T(e_0)Y_1`$ and $`T(e_1)Y_2`$. Then both these tensors have rank $`2`$, and by Lemma 2.7 $`u`$ itself has rank $`2+2=4`$.

It is easy to see that $`S_2`$ has dimension $`9`$ and satisfies a number of algebraic equations, namely the $`2`$ by $`2`$ minors of the linear maps $`(^2)^2(^2)^2`$ obtained from the tensor (there are essentially $`3`$ such linear maps). It is likely the case that these equations precisely describe the closure of $`S_2`$.