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# Gyroscopic motion of superfluid trapped atomic condensates

## 1 Introduction

Superfluidity is one of the most dramatic illustrations of the quantum nature of matter. It is exemplified in its purest form in Bose-Einstein condensation  of cold atomic gases. The quantisation of angular momentum associated with the phase of the quantum fluid has been established through the nucleation of vortices  recently extending to the observation of large vortex lattice structures with grain boundaries . Experiments have also revealed collective irrotational oscillatory flows in the superfluid phase  that revert to thermal flow modes and frequencies above the critical temperature.

One of the fundamental properties of a pure quantum fluid is the coherence of the phase of the wavefunction  where different regions of the condensate are phase-locked in their motion. For example, in the flow of an condensate past an obstacle, the requirement of upstream and downstream continuity in mass transport and phase gradient explains the capacity for superfluid flow , and the transition to dissipation when local phase slip arises. For homogeneous and inhomogeneous condensates, there is conclusive evidence, both theoretical and experimental, that the nucleation of vortices is the primary mechanism responsible for the onset of drag and dissipation in condensate flow . Phase coherence is responsible for the quantisation of circulation (angular momentum) and the capacity of the fluid to conserve its state of rotation unless acted upon by a critical external moment. Consequently, it was predicted  that a Bose-condensed gas could be made to exhibit gyroscopic motion. Very recently this phenomenon has been observed experimentally  and measured for the first time. In analogy with a spinning top, slightly displaced from equilibrium by an impulsive moment, a slight tilt of the axis of rotation (figure 1) produces precessional and nutational motion. In this paper we show that internal flows past the vortex create a Magnus force which results in precession, and that this combined with the inhomogeneity in the condensate gives rise to vortex bending and twisting into helical modes of oscillation.

The quantum gyroscope is also a unique diagnostic tool able to probe condensate flow velocities, acoustic waves, and pressures. The oscillating and twisting motion of a vortex, as we will show, is highly sensitive to density fluctuations and inhomogeneities. In this paper we study the dynamics of a single-quantum vortex lying near the axis of a cylindrically symmetric trap. In our study we have employed four different methods of analysing the motion: (a) the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations (b) the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, (c) hydrodynamic equations, and (d) classical equations. While methods (a) and (c) are essentially linearisations of (b), they are extremely important in identifying the underlying modes of excitation. We study the collective modes of the system and compare with recent hydrodynamic theory. We find that while many features of the gyroscopic motion are described by the hydrodynamic model, the vortex motion is significantly different. Firstly, the frequencies of precessional motion are shifted from the hydrodynamic predictions, secondly the vortex core has a single kink, and thirdly the vortex performs a helical Kelvin wave oscillation of mode $`m=+2`$ not previously seen.

## 2 Formulation of the problem

For a cold weakly-interacting gas, the ground state (condensate mode) dominates the collective dynamics of the system. In experimental realizations one can achieve temperatures such that $`TT_c`$ (typically $`0.1`$ to $`1\mu \mathrm{K}`$) and densities such that the gas is weakly interacting and highly dilute. Under such conditions, the condensate of $`N_01`$ atoms is well described by a mean field, or wavefunction, governed by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, and the quasiparticle excitations are acoustic waves within this field. If the perturbations of the condensate are small, then it is appropriate and convenient to use the linear response approximation, which is equivalent to the Bogoliubov approximation for single-particle excitations in highly-condensed quantised Bose gases at zero temperature.

Consider a dilute system of $`N_0`$ atoms, each of mass $`m_a`$, trapped by an external potential $`V_{\mathrm{ext}}(\mathrm{x}\mathbf{,}\mathrm{t}\mathbf{)}`$ and interacting weakly through the two-body potential $`V(\mathrm{x}\mathbf{,}\mathrm{x}^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}`$. At low temperatures and densities, the atom-atom interaction can be represented perturbatively by the $`s`$-wave pseudopotential: $`V(\mathrm{x}\mathbf{,}\mathrm{x}^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{(}4𝝅\mathbf{}^2\mathrm{a}_\mathrm{s}\mathbf{/}\mathrm{m}_\mathrm{a}\mathbf{)}𝜹^{\mathbf{(}3\mathbf{)}}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{x}\mathbf{}\mathrm{x}^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{)}`$, and $`a_s`$ is the $`s`$-wave scattering length. The dynamics follow from the Hartree variational principle:

$$\delta _{t_1}^{t_2}𝑑td^3\mathrm{x}𝝍^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{[}\mathrm{H}_0\mathbf{+}\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{g}𝝍^{\mathbf{}}𝝍\mathbf{}\mathrm{i}\mathbf{}\mathbf{}_\mathrm{t}\mathbf{]}𝝍\mathbf{=}0$$
(1)
where $`g=(4\pi \mathrm{}^2/m_a)N_0a_s`$, $`H_0=(\mathrm{}^2/2m_a)^2+V_{\mathrm{ext}}\mu `$, and the chemical potential $`\mu `$ plays the role of a Lagrange multiplier. The condensate and its excitations can be described by the linear response ansatz:

$$\psi (\mathrm{x}\mathbf{,}\mathrm{t}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{=}\mathrm{a}_0\mathbf{(}\mathrm{t}\mathbf{)}\mathit{\varphi }\mathbf{(}\mathrm{x}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{+}\underset{\mathrm{j}\mathbf{>}0}{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{\left[}\mathrm{a}_\mathrm{j}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{t}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{u}_\mathrm{j}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{x}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{e}^{\mathbf{}\mathrm{i}𝝎_\mathrm{j}\mathrm{t}}\mathbf{+}\mathrm{a}_\mathrm{j}^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{t}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{v}_\mathrm{j}^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{x}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{e}^{\mathbf{+}\mathrm{i}𝝎_\mathrm{j}\mathrm{t}}\mathbf{\right]}$$
(2)
where $`\varphi `$ represents the highly-occupied condensate; that is, $`|a_0|\sqrt{N}|a_j|`$, $`j>0`$. From the variation $`\delta \varphi ^{}`$, and linear expansion in the small parameters $`a_j,a_j^{}`$ taken as constant, the stationary Gross-Pitaevskii equation and Bogoliubov equations follow:

$$H_0\varphi +g|\varphi |^2\varphi =0$$
(3)
with $`(\varphi ,\varphi )=1`$ and $`d^3\mathrm{x}f(\mathrm{x})^{}g(\mathrm{x})(f,g)`$. The Bogoliubov modes are solutions of the coupled linear equations:

$`(H_0+2g|\varphi |^2)u_j+g\varphi ^2v_j`$ $`=`$ $`+\mathrm{}\omega _ju_j`$ (4)
$`(H_0+2g|\varphi |^2)v_j+g\varphi ^2u_j`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{}\omega _jv_j`$ (5)
Time-reversal symmetry of equations (4,5) is reflected in the fact that every set of solutions $`\{\omega _j,u_j,v_j\}`$ has a corresponding set $`\{\omega _j,v_j^{},u_j^{}\}`$ and the normalisation can be chosen conveniently, such that: $`(u_i,u_j)(v_i,v_j)=\delta _{ij}`$.

### 2.1 Superfluid dynamics

The equivalent fluid motion is expressed through the coupled differential equations for mass and momentum transport . The mass density $`\rho `$ and momentum current density $`𝑱`$ are defined as, $`\rho m_a\psi ^{}\psi `$ and $`J_k(\mathrm{}/2i)(\psi ^{}_k\psi \psi _k\psi ^{})`$, where the index $`k`$ denotes the $`k`$th vector component, and repeated index summation convention is used. The fluid velocity is defined by $`v_kJ_k/\rho `$, or equivalently in terms of the phase, $`\chi `$, of the wavefunction, $`v_k(\mathrm{}/m_a)_k\chi `$. Then mass and momentum conservation are expressed by:

$`_t\rho +_jJ_j=0`$ (6)
$`_tJ_k+_jT_{jk}+\rho _k(V_{\mathrm{ext}}/m_a)=0,`$ (7)
where the momentum flux density tensor is defined;

$$T_{jk}=\rho v_jv_k+\frac{1}{2}\delta _{jk}g(\rho /m_a)^2(\mathrm{}/2m_a)^2\rho _j_k\mathrm{ln}\rho .$$
(8)
Finally, the mass and momentum equations (6,7) combine to give the acoustic equation:

$$_{tt}\rho =_i_jT_{ij}+_i\left[\rho _i(V_{\mathrm{ext}}/m_a)\right]$$
(9)
The pressure is defined as , $`p\frac{1}{2}g(\rho /m_a)^2(\mathrm{}/2m_a)^2\rho ^2\mathrm{ln}\rho `$. The first term represents classical pressure, the second term is the quantum pressure and is discarded in the classical (hydrodynamic) approximation. The static ($`J_k=0`$) equilibrium density in the hydrodynamic limit follows from (7):

$$\rho _0^{(h)}(\mathrm{x})=(m_a/g)\left[\mu V_{\mathrm{ext}}(\mathrm{x},0)\right]$$
(10)
For small flow and density fluctuations about equilibrium, the kinetic energy and quantum pressure terms are small, so that: $`T_{ij}^{(h)}\frac{1}{2}g(\rho /m_a)^2\delta _{ij}`$. Using equation (9) the hydrodynamic acoustic modes given by $`\rho (\mathrm{x},t)=\rho _0^{(h)}(\mathrm{x})+\overline{\rho }^{(h)}(\mathrm{x})e^{i\omega t}`$ satisfy the linear eigenvalue problem:

$$m_a\omega ^2\overline{\rho }^{(h)}=_i\left[\left[\mu V_{\mathrm{ext}}(\mathrm{r},0)\right]_i\overline{\rho }^{(h)}\right]$$
(11)
Finally, the relation of the torque ($`\tau _i`$) by an external moment to the rate of change of angular momentum is given by:

$$\tau _i(t)=_t_\mathrm{\Omega }ϵ_{ijk}x_jJ_k𝑑\mathrm{\Omega }=_\mathrm{\Omega }ϵ_{ijk}x_j\left[_lT_{lk}+\rho _k(V/m_a)\right]𝑑\mathrm{\Omega }$$
(12)
where the fluid occupies the volume $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, and $`ϵ_{ijk}`$ is the Levi-Civita symbol. Since $`T_{ij}=T_{ji}`$ it follows that:

$$\tau _i(t)=_\mathrm{\Omega }ϵ_{ijk}\rho x_j_k(V/m_a)d\mathrm{\Omega }$$
(13)
The conservation of circulation, Kelvin’s theorem, and its quantisation means that within the fluid, only those moments above a critical value can transfer angular momentum associated with vortex creation or destruction. Suppose the trap orientation changes with time, then the ellipsoidal potential can be written as the quadratic form: $`V(t)=\frac{1}{2}a_{ij}(t)x_ix_j`$ where $`a_{ij}=a_{ji}`$. Then the equation for superfluid motion, that is the absence of torque $`\tau _i=0`$, is simply a set of homogeneous linear equations for the quadrupole moments of the condensate:

$$a_{kl}(t)ϵ_{ijk}_\mathrm{\Omega }\rho (\mathrm{x}\mathbf{,}\mathrm{t}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{x}_\mathrm{j}\mathrm{x}_\mathrm{l}d\mathrm{\Omega }\mathbf{=}0$$
(14)
These moments are the key physical parameters for the condensate motion.

## 3 Methods

### 3.1 Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations

Consider the atoms confined by an oblate spheroidal (pancake-shaped) trap: $`V_{\mathrm{ext}}(\mathrm{x},0)=\frac{1}{2}m_a\omega _0^2(r^2+\lambda ^2z^2)`$, where $`r`$ is the radial coordinate and $`z`$ the axial coordinate, with $`\lambda >1`$ the aspect ratio of the trap. For convenience we use scaled dimensionless units for length, time and energy namely: $`(\mathrm{}/2m_a\omega _0)^{\frac{1}{2}},\omega _0^1`$ and $`\mathrm{}\omega _0`$, respectively. We define the interaction strength by the dimensionless parameter $`C8\pi N_0a_s(\mathrm{}/2m_a\omega _0)^{\frac{1}{2}}`$, so that $`C0`$ represents the ideal gas and $`C\mathrm{}`$, describes the hydrodynamic limit. Experiments studying the scissors and gyroscope modes performed by the Oxford group  employ the atom $`\mathrm{Rb}^{87}`$ for which $`a_s110`$ a.u.. So a typical value of $`C`$ corresponding to a trap frequency $`\omega _0=2\pi \times 110\mathrm{Hz}`$ and particle number $`N_05000`$ would be $`C1000`$, while $`\omega _0=2\pi \times 62\mathrm{Hz}`$ with $`N_019000`$ is equivalent to $`C2870`$. In the ideal gas limit, the energy of the state which we label $`(i;n_r,n_\theta ,n_z)`$, has the value:

$$E(i;n_r,n_\theta ,n_z)=2n_r+|n_\theta |+1+(n_z+\frac{1}{2})\lambda $$
(15)
with $`n_\theta =0,\pm 1,\pm 2,\mathrm{}`$ and the radial and axial quantum numbers are: $`n_r,n_z=0,1,\mathrm{}`$. The corresponding excitation frequencies, with respect to a vortex state $`(i;0,\kappa ,0)`$, where $`\kappa =0,\pm 1,\pm 2,\mathrm{}`$, are given by:

$$\omega (i;n_r,n_\theta ,n_z)=2n_r+|n_\theta ||\kappa |+n_z\lambda $$
(16)
For finite $`C`$, the spectrum of excitations must be determined by numerical solution of equations (3,4) and (5). Separating variables gives:

$$\varphi (r,z,\phi )=\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_\kappa (r,z)e^{i\kappa \phi }$$
(17)
so that the condensate with circulation $`\kappa `$ is the solution of the equation:

$$\left(\frac{^2}{r^2}+\frac{1}{r}\frac{}{r}+\frac{^2}{z^2}\frac{\kappa ^2}{r^2}\right)\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_\kappa +\frac{1}{4}(r^2+\lambda ^2z^2)\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_\kappa +C|\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_\kappa |^2\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_\kappa =\mu \stackrel{~}{\varphi }_\kappa $$
(18)
We use $`m=n_\theta \kappa `$ to denote angular momentum with respect to the condensate, that is the helicity of the excitations, and it is convenient to use the labelling $`(h;q_r,m,q_z)`$ appropriate for the hydrodynamic limit ($`C\mathrm{}`$). Thus the quasiparticle amplitudes:

$$u_{n_r,m,n_z}(r,z,\phi )\stackrel{~}{u}_{n_r,n_z}(r,z)e^{i(m+\kappa )\phi }\mathrm{and}v_{n_r,m,n_z}(r,z,\phi )\stackrel{~}{v}_{n_r,n_z}(r,z)e^{i(m\kappa )\phi }$$
(19)
with corresponding angular frequency, $`\omega _{n_r,m,n_z}`$, are solutions of the eigenvalue problem

$`(m+\kappa )\stackrel{~}{u}_{n_r,n_z}(r,z)+C\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_\kappa ^2\stackrel{~}{v}_{n_r,n_z}(r,z)`$ $`=`$ $`\omega _{n_r,m,n_z}\stackrel{~}{u}_{n_r,n_z}(r,z)`$ (20)
$`(m\kappa )\stackrel{~}{v}_{n_r,n_z}(r,z)+C\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_\kappa ^{2}\stackrel{~}{u}_{n_r,n_z}(r,z)`$ $`=`$ $`\omega _{n_r,m,n_z}\stackrel{~}{v}_{n_r,n_z}(r,z)`$ (21)
where

$$(s)\left(\frac{^2}{r^2}+\frac{1}{r}\frac{}{r}+\frac{^2}{z^2}\frac{s^2}{r^2}\right)\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_\kappa +\frac{1}{4}(r^2+\lambda ^2z^2)\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_\kappa +2C|\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_\kappa |^2$$
(22)
In our calculations, these two-dimensional equations are discretised by Lagrange meshes ; the radial coordinate is defined at $`M`$ grid points ($`r_1,r_2,\mathrm{},r_M`$) and the axial coordinate at $`N`$ points ($`z_1,z_2,\mathrm{},z_N`$). Therefore:

$$\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_\kappa (r,z)=\underset{k=1}{\overset{M}{}}\underset{l=1}{\overset{N}{}}\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_\kappa ^{kl}(r_k,z_l)\lambda _k^{1/2}\mu _l^{1/2}f_k(r)g_l(z)$$
(23)
where $`f,g`$ are Lagrangian interpolating functions such that

$`{\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}f_i^{}(r)f_k(r)2\pi r𝑑r\lambda _i\delta _{ik}`$ (24)
$`{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}g_j^{}(z)g_l(z)𝑑z\mu _j\delta _{jl}`$ (25)
The Lagrange functions for the $`r`$-coordinate are chosen to be generalised Laguerre polynomials , scaled to encompass the entire condensate, with typically $`M=50`$ mesh points. Hermite polynomials are used in the $`z`$-direction so that

$$g_l(z)=\underset{l=0}{\overset{N1}{}}\chi _l^{}(z_l)\chi _l(z)$$
(26)
where $`\chi _l(z)=h_N^{\frac{1}{2}}w(z)^{\frac{1}{2}}H_l(z)`$. and $`H_l(z)`$ are the Hermite polynomials associated with weights $`w(z)=e^{z^2}`$ and normalisation factor $`h_N=2^N\pi ^{1/2}N`$. A high degree of accuracy was found with only $`N=30`$ points. The resultant eigenvalue problem was solved using Newton’s method for equation (18) and a standard eigenvalue routine for equations (20,21). Convergence was established by a combination of grid scaling and number of mesh points, so that at least six-figure accuracy was assured for all frequencies (see table 1).

### 3.2  Time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation

The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation, follows from taking arbitrary variation of $`\psi ^{}`$ in (1):

$$\left[H_0+g|\psi |^2i\mathrm{}_t\right]\psi =0$$
(27)
The direct numerical solution of this equation, without linearisation, in combination with spectral analysis can also be used to determine the frequency spectrum  and density fluctuations of the collective excitations. This can be done efficiently and accurately using spectral methods. The ground state of the system is found by evolving equation (27) in imaginary time using the split-step Fast-Fourier transform propagator . A simple arbitrary trial function is used as the initial state. At each time step in the evolution the fluid circulation is imposed by a applying a phase gradient corresponding to $`\kappa =+1`$ until the excited states diffuse from the system and the density and chemical potential stabilise. In practice this normally takes a few trap periods at most. Having found the condensate in this manner, the system is then allowed to evolve in real time under any external perturbations using the same numerical method.

For example a sudden rotation of the trap by a small angle will disturb the steady state flow of the condensate and create a variety of small amplitude excitations. Under these conditions, the linearisation (2) is valid and the mode frequencies and densities correspond those of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations (4,5). It follows that the expectation value of any operator will exhibit beats between the various modes. Since a simple rotation does not induce centre-of-mass (dipole) motion, the lowest-order distortion will arise in the quadrupole moments:

$$Q_{ij}^q(t)\psi ^{}(\mathrm{x},t)x_ix_j\psi (\mathrm{x},t)𝑑\mathrm{x}$$
(28)
where $`\psi (\mathrm{x},t)`$ is the solution of equation (27). The condensate quadrupole moments in the vertical and horizontal planes will give information on the vortex bending and twisting, respectively. We present results for the scaled moments: $`yz(2/N_0)Q_{yz}(t)`$, in figure (3), and $`xy(2/N_0)Q_{xy}(t)`$, in figure (5), and the corresponding power spectral densities:

$$P_{ij}(\omega )\left|_0^Te^{i\omega t}Q_{ij}(t)𝑑t\right|^2$$
(29)
in figures (4) and (6), respectively.

### 3.3  Coherent hydrodynamic states

The hydrostatic spectrum, equation (11), also follows from a simplified version of the the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations  when quantum pressure has been neglected:

$`q^2\left[^2+q^1(^2q)\right]h_j^+\frac{1}{2}\omega _j^2h_j^+=0`$ (30)
$`\left[^2+q^1(^2q)\right](q^2h_j^{})\frac{1}{2}\omega _j^2h_j^{}=0`$ (31)
where $`h_j^\pm =u_j\pm v_j`$, and $`q^2`$ is the vortex-free hydrostatic density given by

$$q^2(x,y,z)=\{\begin{array}{cc}\left[\mu \frac{1}{4}\left(x^2+y^2+\lambda ^2z^2\right)\right]\hfill & \text{if }\mu \frac{1}{4}\left(x^2+y^2+\lambda ^2z^2\right)0\hfill \\ 0\hfill & \text{if }\mu \frac{1}{4}\left(x^2+y^2+\lambda ^2z^2\right)<0\hfill \end{array}$$
(32)
These equations can be solved in closed analytic form using series expansions  to yield expressions for the quasiparticle amplitudes. The scissors mode quadrupole ($`\kappa =0,m=\pm 1`$) for $`\lambda >1`$, with $`\overline{\rho }^{(h)}(\mathrm{x})xz`$, first proposed by Guéry-Odelin and Stringari  and experimentally observed by Maragó et al.  has the frequency:

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_s=\sqrt{1+\lambda ^2}.$$
(33)
Quadrupoles corresponding to $`\kappa =0,m=\pm 2`$ are degenerate with frequency: $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{xy}=\sqrt{2}`$.

The scissors mode, selected by sudden rotation $`\theta _0`$, introduces a perturbation:

$$V^{}m_a\omega _0^2\theta _0(1\lambda ^2)xz$$
(34)
In the absence of a vortex ($`\kappa =0`$), coupling to the degenerate $`m=\pm 1`$ states is equal and opposite, and no helicity arises. If a vortex is present ($`\kappa =1`$), the coupling is asymmetric since the state $`m=+|m|`$ rotates with the condensate flow at frequency $`\omega ^+`$, whereas the mode $`m=|m|`$ is counter-rotating at frequency $`\omega ^{}`$, see figure 1. The frequency difference was calculated analytically using a hydrodynamic model  with the result that

$$\omega ^+\omega ^{}=\frac{2L_z}{m_ar^2+2z^2}=\frac{L_z}{I_{xx}}=\frac{L_z}{I_{yy}}$$
(35)
where $`I_{xx}`$ is the principal inertia moment about a horizontal axis. The result also agrees with the result of Svidzinsky and Fetter  which treats the vortex core as a perturbation of the hydrostatic Thomas-Fermi density. The same result can be found and understood using a classical model of the motion (section 3.4).

To obtain the amplitude of precession and nutation, the populations of the excited modes are required. Since the tilting is small and sudden, we can use diabatic perturbation theory. A small sudden rotation by an angle $`\theta _0`$ about the $`y`$-axis, with generator $`L_y=(2i)^1(L_+L_{})`$, gives rise to the function:

$$\psi _h(t=0)\mathrm{exp}\left[i\mathrm{}^1\theta _0L_y\right]\varphi _h$$
(36)
The amplitudes are found by projection to the modes in the rotated frame of reference. From equation (2):

$$\psi _h(\mathrm{x}\mathbf{,}\mathrm{t}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}𝝁\mathrm{t}}\mathbf{}\sqrt{\mathrm{N}_0}\mathit{\varphi }_\mathrm{h}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{x}\mathbf{,}\mathrm{t}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{+}\underset{\mathrm{j}}{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{\left[}\mathrm{a}_\mathrm{j}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{t}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{u}_\mathrm{j}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{x}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{e}^{\mathbf{}\mathrm{i}𝝎_\mathrm{j}\mathrm{t}}\mathbf{+}\mathrm{a}_\mathrm{j}^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{t}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{v}_\mathrm{j}^{\mathbf{}}\mathbf{(}\mathrm{x}\mathbf{)}\mathrm{e}^{\mathbf{+}\mathrm{i}𝝎_\mathrm{j}\mathrm{t}}\mathbf{\right]}$$

and the coefficients $`a_j(t)`$ will be time-independent. Projection by the hydrodynamic state $`h_j^{}u_jv_j`$ gives the time-independent amplitudes $`a_j`$

$$(h_j^{},h_j^+)a_j(h_j^{},\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{}^1\theta _0(L_+L_{})\right]\varphi _h)$$
(37)
The rotation mixes the initial state with $`m=\pm 1,\pm 2`$, to order $`\theta _0`$, and $`\theta _0^2`$, respectively. We have overlooked the density distortion of the vortex, though included the angular momentum. Since the vortex core distorts the density over a comparatively small volume of the condensate, then to a first approximation the density is the axisymmetric Thomas-Fermi distribution, equation (32). Therefore, as a simple first-order approximation we take

$$\varphi _h=C^{\frac{1}{2}}q(r,z)e^{i\kappa \phi }$$

where $`q^2`$ is given by equation (32). The time-independent equations (30,31) can be used to calculate the quasiparticle functions, and the transition amplitudes, $`a_j`$ given by (37), can be extracted analytically as shown in . In this approximation, the excitation spectrum is the same as the vortex free case, and does not include the degeneracy splitting arising in higher-order perturbation theory . The quadrupole excitations in the vertical and horizontal plane are defined as:

$`Q_{yz}^h(t){\displaystyle \psi _h^{}(\mathrm{x},t)yz\psi _h(\mathrm{x},t)𝑑\mathrm{x}}`$ (38)
$`Q_{xy}^h(t){\displaystyle \psi _h^{}(\mathrm{x},t)xy\psi _h(\mathrm{x},t)𝑑\mathrm{x}}`$ (39)
and can be calculated analytically. The results for this coherent hydrodynamic model are presented in figures 3 and 4.

### 3.4  Classical model

We use the convention of Goldstein  for the Euler angles $`(\varphi ,\theta ,\psi )`$, describing the orientation of a set of rotating axes $`(x^{},y^{},z^{})`$ with respect to a space fixed frame (figure 1). The principal moments of inertia of the vortex-free density, equation (32), are:

$$I_{xx}=\frac{(\lambda ^2+1)}{3\lambda ^2}I_s\mathrm{and}I_{zz}=\frac{2}{3}I_s\mathrm{where}I_s=\frac{3}{7}m_aN_0\left[\frac{15\lambda N_0g}{4\pi m_a\omega _0^2}\right]^{\frac{2}{5}}$$
(40)
In general the Lagrangian density, $`_a`$, is given by :

$$_a(\rho ,\varphi _v,\dot{\rho },\varphi _v,\rho ;\mathrm{x};t)=\varphi _v\dot{\rho }\frac{1}{2}\rho (\varphi _v)^2\rho U\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{8m_a^2\rho }(\rho )^2$$
(41)
where the potential per unit mass is $`U=(V_{\mathrm{ext}}/m_a)+(g\rho /2m_a^2)`$ and $`\mathrm{v}\mathbf{=}\mathbf{}\mathit{\varphi }_\mathrm{v}`$. Discarding the last term gives the classical interacting fluid  with the corresponding Hamiltonian density:

$$_c=\frac{1}{2}\rho \mathrm{v}^2\mathbf{+}\frac{\mathrm{g}𝝆}{2\mathrm{m}_\mathrm{a}^2}\mathbf{+}\frac{1}{2}𝝆𝝎_0^2\mathbf{(}\mathrm{x}^2\mathbf{+}\mathrm{y}^2\mathbf{+}𝝀^2\mathrm{z}^2\mathbf{)}$$
(42)
At equilibrium the condensate has a hydrostatic (vortex-free) density and angular momentum $`N_0\mathrm{}\kappa `$. A small change of orientation of the trap ($`\delta \theta `$) creates density and velocity changes, $`\stackrel{~}{\rho },\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{v}}`$:

$$_t\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{v}}+(g/m_a)\stackrel{~}{\rho }=0,_t\rho +(\rho _0\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{v}})=0$$
(43)
In the body-fixed frame, and for quadrupole ($`xz`$) perturbations only, this leads to an effective potential

$$\delta V(\theta )=\frac{1}{2}\omega _0^2(1+\lambda ^2)\rho _0(x^2+z^2)(\delta \theta )^2$$
(44)
Then the Lagrangian in the space-fixed frame has the form, for small $`\theta `$:

$$L(\theta ,\dot{\phi },\dot{\theta },\dot{\psi },t)=\frac{1}{2}I_{xx}\mathrm{sin}^2\theta \dot{\psi }^2+\frac{1}{2}I_{xx}\dot{\theta }^2+\frac{1}{2}I_{zz}(\dot{\psi }+\dot{\phi }\mathrm{cos}\theta )^2\frac{1}{2}I_{xx}\mathrm{\Omega }_s^2\theta ^2$$
(45)
From this Lagrangian, Hamilton’s equations are

$`\dot{\phi }={\displaystyle \frac{(p_\phi p_\psi \mathrm{cos}\theta )}{I_{xx}\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }}`$ $`\dot{\theta }={\displaystyle \frac{p_\theta }{I_{xx}}}`$ (46)
$`\dot{\psi }={\displaystyle \frac{p_\psi }{I_{zz}}}{\displaystyle \frac{(p_\phi p_\psi \mathrm{cos}\theta )\mathrm{cos}\theta }{I_{xx}\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }}`$ $`\dot{p}_\phi =0`$ (47)
$`\dot{p}_\theta ={\displaystyle \frac{(p_\phi p_\psi \mathrm{cos}\theta )(p_\phi \mathrm{cos}\theta p_\psi )}{I_{xx}\mathrm{sin}^3\theta }}I_{xx}\mathrm{\Omega }_s^2\theta `$ $`\dot{p}_\psi =0`$ (48)
In anticipation of the numerical results, consider possible analytic solutions of the equations for very small angular displacements $`\theta `$. The top is aligned vertically ($`\theta =0`$) and spinning with angular momentum $`J_0`$, thus $`p_\psi =J_0`$ and $`p_\theta =0`$. The possible singularity at $`\theta =0`$ in the equation for $`\dot{\phi }`$ can be avoided if $`p_\phi p_\psi \mathrm{cos}\theta 0`$ as $`\theta 0`$. A steady azimuthal precessional, $`\ddot{\phi }=0`$, independent of $`\theta (t)`$, arises from the case $`p_\psi =p_\phi =J_0`$ in which case, for $`\mathrm{cos}\theta 1\frac{1}{2}\theta ^2`$, we have:

$$\dot{\phi }\frac{J_0}{2I_{xx}}$$

Under the same approximations, and the fact that $`\dot{\theta }=p_\theta /I_{xx}`$:

$$\dot{p}_\theta \left(\frac{J_0^2}{I_{xx}}+I_{xx}\mathrm{\Omega }_s^2\right)\theta \ddot{\theta }=\left(\frac{J_0^2}{I_{xx}^2}+\mathrm{\Omega }_s^2\right)\theta $$

Therefore the vortex motion is described by

$$\theta \theta _0\mathrm{sin}\sqrt{\mathrm{\Omega }_s^2+(J_0/I_{xx})^2}.t\phi \frac{J_0}{2I_{xx}}t$$
(49)
which describes a steady azimuthal precession, frequency $`\omega _p=J_0/2I_{xx}`$, combined with sinusoidal nutation at a frequency slightly higher than the vortex-free scissors oscillation. The precessional motion splits the frequencies. It is equivalent to a steady background rotation of the condensate. In analogy to a Doppler shift, internal flow around the $`z`$-axis associated with the quantum number $`\pm m`$ would be shifted so that $`\omega ^+\omega ^{}2\omega _p=J_0/I_{xx}`$. This splitting, understood in terms of classical precessional motion, is identical to the quantum expression .

Initially the condensate has a pure rotation about the $`z^{}`$-axis so that $`\dot{\psi }=J_0/I_3`$, and the condensate is impulsively tilted by an angle $`\theta _0`$. The Hamilton equations are solved numerically, with the initial conditions, $`t=0`$:

$`\theta =\theta _0`$ $`\phi =0`$ (50)
$`\psi =0`$ $`p_\phi =J_0\mathrm{cos}\theta _0`$
$`p_\theta =0`$ $`p_\psi =J_0`$
The time dependence of the products of inertia is governed by the orientation of the axis of the top and thus will oscillate in time. The transformations between the laboratory and fixed-frame quadrupole gives

$`Q_{xz}^c(t)`$ $`\frac{1}{2}(I_{xx}I_{zz})\mathrm{sin}2\theta \mathrm{cos}\phi `$ (51)
$`Q_{yz}^c(t)`$ $`\frac{1}{2}(I_{xx}I_{zz})\mathrm{sin}2\theta \mathrm{sin}\phi `$ (52)
$`Q_{xy}^c(t)`$ $`\frac{1}{2}(I_{xx}I_{zz})\mathrm{sin}2\phi \mathrm{sin}^2\theta `$ (53)
Since the inertia moments, $`I_{xx}`$ and $`I_{zz}`$, are constant, the time dependence is entirely governed by $`\varphi (t)`$ and $`\theta (t)`$. These functions are determined by numerical integration of equations (48) with initial conditions (3.4). The physical meaning of the quadrupole is clear if one visualises a rigid vortex motion which nutates and precesses. At the instant the vortex is aligned along the $`y=0`$ plane, then $`yz=0`$. This happens twice each precession cycle. During the slow precession, the vortex line nutates rapidly between the 1st and 2nd quadrants of the $`yz`$-plane which leads to a change of sign in $`Q_{xz}`$ each half-cycle of the scissors period. The amplitude of the vertical plane ($`yz`$) quadrupole is more easily observable by experiment  since it is of order $`\theta _0`$ (figure 3). The horizontal plane motion, on the other hand, is proportional to $`\theta _0^2`$ (figure 5).

## 4 Results and Discussion

### 4.1 Excitation modes and spectrum

Our numerical studies focus on a singly-quantised vortex ($`\kappa =1`$) condensate in a pancake shaped trap $`\lambda =\sqrt{7}`$, for detailed theoretical discussion, and $`\lambda =\sqrt{8}2.83`$ for comparison with experiment. The frequencies of the quadrupole moments can be obtained from the excitation spectrum of the normal modes of the system. The spectra obtained for $`\kappa =1`$ and $`0<C<1000`$ are shown in figure 7, and given in table 1. For $`C1000`$ the variation in excitation spectrum is slow and smooth, and tends towards asymptotic limits. Consider $`C=1000`$ with an equivalent chemical potential for the hydrostatic density in the absence of a vortex: $`\mu _{\mathrm{TF}}=(15\lambda C/64\pi )^{\frac{2}{5}}8.2821`$. While this lies well within the region of validity of the hydrodynamic approximation, in the sense that $`\mu \omega _0`$, the trap energy and vortex core inhomogeneity are still significant and one would expect quantal deviations from the hydrodynamic model. Prior to analysing the motion in detail, an example of the density fluctuations produced by our simulations is shown in figure 2. The time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation (27) is solved in imaginary time with $`\kappa =1`$ to generate the initial state of the condensate. The trap is then suddenly tilted by a small angle, $`\theta =10^{}`$, about the $`y`$ axis and the evolution of the condensate follows the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Surfaces of constant density of the condensate are shown in figure 2 in the tilted space-fixed frame of reference. A vertical cut through the surface reveals the vortex core structure over a single trap period. The first image $`t=0`$ is the initial configuration, the subsequent images are taken at regular intervals, $`t=1.3,2.6,3.9,5.2`$ and $`t=6.5`$, respectively, in units of $`\omega _0^1`$. The scissors oscillation of the condensate corresponds to nutation, that is quadrupole oscillation in the vertical plane. This creates flow past the vortex producing a Magnus force which results in precession. However when combined with the inhomogeneity in the condensate, the force gives rise to vortex bending and twisting into helical modes of oscillation. The modes of oscillation can be most clearly identified by spectral resolution of the mass moments. A detailed frequency spectrum of the principal modes for gyroscopic excitation is shown in figure 7 as a function of interaction strength $`C`$.

### 4.2 Vortex precession

Consider firstly the scissors $`yz`$ or $`xz`$ mode of oscillation; the quadrupole moment results are presented in figure 3 and the corresponding frequency spectrum in figure 4. Data obtained using the direct solution of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation are compared with the coherent hydrodynamic calculation, and the classical top results. The parameters $`C=1000`$ and $`\lambda =\sqrt{7}`$ with $`N_0`$ atoms and $`\theta _0=4^{}`$ translate to : $`I_s=(6/7)\mu _{\mathrm{TF}}N_0`$, $`I_{xx}=(16/49)\mu _{\mathrm{TF}}N_0`$ and $`I_{zz}=(4/7)\mu _{TF}N_0`$. Considered as a classical rigid top, the condensate, viewed along the $`x`$-direction will exhibit quadrupole oscillations due to nutation. If the top precesses then this moment vanishes each time the axis nutates along the $`xz`$-plane. Using equation (53), the classical moment $`yz`$ oscillates with a carrier frequency $`\omega _p=(49/32)\mu _{\mathrm{TF}}^10.185\omega _0`$, and carrier amplitude $`yz_{\mathrm{max}}=2(I_{zz}I_{xx})\theta _00.283`$. The classical prediction for the beat period of the $`yz`$ quadrupole, is in fairly good agreement with the unperturbed coherent hydrodynamic results $`\omega _p=\frac{1}{2}(3\sqrt{7})\omega _00.177\omega _0`$ as shown in figure 3. Neither of these results compare well with the more accurate lower-frequency result from the Gross-Pitaevskii equation: $`\omega _p=0.137\omega _0`$. The lower beat (precession) frequency (figure 3) contrasts with higher mode frequencies compared with the hydrodynamic limit, as illustrated in figure 4. In figure 7 it is clear that, for $`C=1000`$, the curves (1) and (2) corresponding to these modes have not reached the asymptotic limit $`C\mathrm{}`$.

Very recently measurements of vortex precession  in a trap were made under the following conditions $`\lambda 2.83`$, $`\omega _0=2\pi \times 62`$ Hz, and $`N_019000\pm 4000`$ atoms. This corresponds to an interaction strength $`C2870\pm 600`$ which is within the hydrodynamic regime but should exhibit quantal effects. The classical precession frequency is $`\omega _p^c=0.120\pm 0.012\omega _0`$ where the error is due to the uncertainty in $`N_0`$. A calculation using the Gross-Pitaevskii equation gives $`\omega _p^{\mathrm{GPE}}0.104\pm 0.08\omega _0`$. As in the case previously discussed ($`\lambda =\sqrt{7}`$, $`C=1000`$) this rate of precession is slightly lower than the classical/hydrodynamic prediction. The equivalent frequencies for the vortex precession are $`f_p^{\mathrm{GPE}}6.5\pm 0.5\mathrm{Hz}`$ and $`f_p^c7.4\pm 0.5`$Hz. Measurements were performed by imaging the vortex line in the horizontal plane and trap tilting along both the $`xz`$ and $`yz`$ planes and were in good agreement. Taking the average of the results gives the experimental estimate $`f^{\mathrm{exp}}=7.8\pm 0.6\mathrm{Hz}`$; a slightly faster rate of precession than the quantal prediction, and more in line with hydrodynamic theory.

While the limitations of zero temperature models, as described in this paper, are well known, the hydrodynamic approximation is generally less accurate than the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Moreover, important effects neglected by this model are the viscous effects of the thermal fluid, as observed . However, these effects would probably reduce $`\omega _p^{\mathrm{GPE}}`$ further and thus increase the gap between experiment and theory. It has been suggested  that two other effects might have a role in explaining the differences. Firstly, the possibility of off-centre precession  and secondly, the influence of additional edges vortices  might have significant effects. While the results of the observations and the theory outlined above are in very good agreement, there is a considerable margin for improving the simulations to study the contribution of these effects and of the influence of thermal damping.

Considering some of the other modes, we note that this scissors excitation of the vortex state weakly populates a low-frequency mode at $`\omega =1.201`$; on figure 4 and labelled line (3), and also marked on figure 7. This is the lowest $`z`$-dipole mode $`(i;0,0,1)/(h;0,1,1)`$. The variation of frequency of the mode is given in table 1 and drawn in figure 7. Checks on the numerical accuracy of the numerical methods were also provided by studying the centre-of-mass modes whose frequencies remains constant as the particle number or interaction strength $`C`$ varies; a consequence of the Kohn theorem , figure 7. We note the labelling of axial excitation modes $`(i;0,2,1)(h;0,+1,1)`$ and $`(i;1,0,1)(h;1,1,1)`$, reflects the quadrupole symmetry in the hydrodynamic regime. Values of the $`(h;0,+1,1)`$ mode frequency are given in table 1, in which the highly accurate Bogoliubov de-Gennes results are compared with results using the time-dependent linear response method . This confirms the accuracy both of the direct time-dependent method and the linear response approximation.

### 4.3 Kelvin modes

Kelvin modes are self-induced helical waves of a vortex line and have a well-established dispersion relation for infinite homogeneous fluids . However, in a trapped condensate, the finite boundaries means these modes are quantised, and the inhomogeneity of the condensate means that the fluid pressure varies along the vortex line. The signature of the Kelvin modes is the distortion of the vortex line and can be detected in the gyroscope motion. The lowest-order and most strongly-coupled modes, $`m=\pm 1`$, are excited by the small angle rotation of the trap. Since the modes $`m=+1`$ and $`m=1`$ are populated in approximately equal weights this leads to a kink in the vortex in the vertical plane. The bending and twisting of the vortex line is more pronounced at the low-density low-pressure edges of the condensate (figure 2). Analysis of the horizontal plane quadrupole moment $`xy`$ shows periodicity but irregularity (figure 5). The two-mode classical theory, equation (53), strongly disagrees with the quantal results shown in figure (5). The amplitude of oscillation is much larger than classically predicted, and is associated with the vortex $`s`$-shape outward bend. However the main feature is the quantal oscillations that indicate twisting, that is bending of the vortex projected onto the $`xy`$ plane. The horizontal-plane spectrum (figure 6) is dominated by two pairs of lines labelled (a,b) and (c,d). Figure 7 and table 1 indicate the frequency variation, with atom number $`C`$, of the helical modes. The lines (c) and (d) are the quadrupole pair $`(h;1,+2,0)`$ and $`(h:1,2,0)`$, respectively. In the hydrodynamic limit with $`\kappa =0`$ they corresponds to the doubly-degenerate $`xy`$-quadrupole with frequency, $`\omega =\sqrt{2}`$.

The correlation of the pair (c) and (d) to the ideal gas states $`(i;1,3,0)`$ and $`(i;1,1,0)`$, is shown in figure 6. The splitting of this quadrupole pair $`\mathrm{\Delta }\omega =0.443\omega _0`$ is a signature of vortex precession, though again it is substantially smaller than the classical prediction $`4\omega _p0.548`$ associated with a rigid vortex crossing the $`x=0`$ and $`y=0`$ planes during precession. The dominance of mode (c) over (d) is apparent (figure 6) and means the vortex has a positive helicity of $`m=+2`$. Indeed, the strong coupling of $`m=2`$ states with vortex motion has been used to measure the angular momentum of the vortex state . The pair of high-frequency lines (a) and (b) also contribute strongly to the spectrum. These are the dipole-like modes $`(h;1,1,0)`$ and $`(h;2,1,0)`$ , degenerate as $`C0`$ with symmetry $`(i;1,2,0)`$ and $`(i;2,0,0)`$. The pair of lines are of approximately equal weighting and therefore cancel helicities. As $`C\mathrm{}`$, these lines converge slowly towards the common limit $`\omega =2.321`$. Finally the spectrum shows two low-intensity lines at $`\omega 0.274`$ and $`\omega 1.892`$. These are not new modes but rather vestiges of the $`yz`$ modes; the low frequency line being the beat frequency corresponding to the splitting of lines (1) and (2) in figure 4, and the higher frequency line, the frequency difference of modes (1) and (3).

## 5 Conclusions

In conclusion, we have studied the gyroscopic dynamics of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate containing a vortex. We modelled the system using a classical top description and numerically by solution of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We also compared our results with the hydrodynamic approximation. The linear-response equations for the system were solved giving the excitation spectra and amplitudes. The superfluid precession and nutation of the vortex were found to display quantum frequency shifts. The precession frequency was calculated and found to be consistent with recent experiments, though a small discrepancy exists. Vortex bending and twisting modes of excitation were observed. We found, in the scissors excitation of the vortex state, that vortex bending in the vertical plane is associated with the $`m=\pm 1`$ modes of oscillation, while the helical oscillation, vortex twisting, is dominated by the $`m=+2`$ Kelvin mode.

We are very grateful to Profs. C. J. Foot (Oxford) and J.-P. Hansen (Bergen) for many helpful discussions and exchanges on this problem. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Bergen Computational Physics Laboratory in the framework of the European Community - Access to Research Infrastructure action of the Improving Human Potential Programme; Dermot McPeake thanks the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland for financial support through the provision of a Postgraduate Studentship. Halvor Møll Nilsen acknowledges support from the Norwegian Research Council.

## References


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# Non-linear Partial Differential Equations in Conformal GeometryResearch of Chang is supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-0070542. Research of Yang is supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-0070526.

## 0 . Introduction

In the study of conformal geometry, the method of elliptic partial differential equations is playing an increasingly significant role. Since the solution of the Yamabe problem, a family of conformally covariant operators (for definition, see section 2) generalizing the conformal Laplacian, and their associated conformal invariants have been introduced. The conformally covariant powers of the Laplacian form a family $`P_{2k}`$ with $`k`$ and $`k\frac{n}{2}`$ if the dimension $`n`$ is even. Each $`P_{2k}`$ has leading order term $`(\mathrm{\Delta })^k`$ and is equal to $`(\mathrm{\Delta })^k`$ if the metric is flat.

The curvature equations associated with these $`P_{2k}`$ operators are of interest in themselves since they exhibit a large group of symmetries. The analysis of these equations is of necessity more complicated, it typically requires the derivation of an optimal Sobolev or Moser-Trudinger inequality that always occur at a critical exponent. A common feature is the presence of blowup or bubbling associated to the noncompactness of the conformal group. A number of techniques have been introduced to study the nature of blowup, resulting in a well developed technique to count the topological degree of such equations.

The curvature invariants (called the Q-curvature) associated to such operators are also of higher order. However, some of the invariants are closely related with the Gauss-Bonnet-Chern integrand in even dimensions, hence of intrinsic interest to geometry. For example, in dimension four, the finiteness of the $`Q`$-curvature integral can be used to conclude finiteness of topology. In addition, the symmetric functions of the Ricci tensor appear in natural fashion as the lowest order terms of these curvature invariants, these equations offer the possibility to analyze the Ricci tensor itself. In particular, in dimension four the sign of the $`Q`$-curvature integral can be used to conclude the sign of the Ricci tensor. Therefore there is ample motivation for the study of such equations.

In the following sections we will survey some of the development in the area that we have been involved. We gratefully acknowledge the collaborators that we were fortunate to be associated with.

## 1 . Prescribing Gaussian curvature on compact surfaces and the Yamabe problem

In this section we will describe some second order elliptic equations which have played important roles in conformal geometry.

On a compact surface $`(M,g)`$ with a Riemannian metric $`g`$, a natural curvature invariant associated with the Laplace operator $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{\Delta }_g`$ is the Gaussian curvature $`K=K_g`$. Under the conformal change of metric $`g_w=e^{2w}g`$, we have

$$\mathrm{\Delta }w+K=K_we^{2w}onM$$
(1.1)
where $`K_w`$ denotes the Gaussian curvature of $`(M,g_w)`$. The classical uniformization theorem to classify compact closed surfaces can be viewed as finding solution of equation (1.1) with $`K_w1`$, $`0`$, or $`1`$ according to the sign of $`K𝑑v_g`$. Recall that the Gauss-Bonnet theorem states

$$_MK_w𝑑v_{g_w}=2\pi \chi (M)$$
(1.2)
where $`\chi (M)`$ is the Euler characteristic of $`M`$, a topological invariant. The variational functional with (1.1) as Euler equation for $`K_w=constant`$ is thus given by

$$J[w]=_M|w|^2𝑑v_g+2_MKw𝑑v_g(_MK𝑑v_g)\mathrm{log}\frac{_M𝑑v_{g_w}}{_M𝑑v_g}.$$
(1.3)
When the surface $`(M,g)`$ is the standard 2-sphere $`S^2`$ with the standard canonical metric, the problem of prescribing Gaussian curvature on $`S^2`$ is commonly known as the Nirenberg problem. For general compact surface $`M`$, Kazdan and Warner () gave a necessary and sufficient condition for the function when $`\chi (M)=0`$ and some necessary condition for the function when $`\chi (M)<\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$. They also pointed out that in the case when $`\chi (M)>0`$, i.e. when $`(M,g)=(S^2,g_c)`$, the standard 2-sphere with the canonical metric $`g=g_c`$, there is an obstruction for the problem:

$$_{S^2}K_wxe^{2w}dv_g=0$$
(1.4)
where $`x`$ is any of the ambient coordinate function. Moser () realized that this implicit integrability condition is satisfied if the conformal factor has antipodal symmetry. He proved for an even function $`f`$, the only necessary condition for (1.1) to be solvable with $`K_w=f`$ is that $`f`$ be positive somewhere. An important tool introduced by Moser is the following inequality () which is a sharp form of an earlier result of Trudinger () for the limiting Sobolev embedding of $`W_0^{1,2}`$ into the Orlicz space $`e^{L^2}`$: Let $`w`$ be a smooth function on the $`2`$-sphere satisfying the normalizing conditions: $`_{S^2}|w|^2𝑑v_g1`$ and $`\overline{w}=0`$ where $`\overline{w}`$ denotes the mean value of $`w`$, then

$$_{S^2}e^{\beta w^2}𝑑v_gC$$
(1.5)
where $`\beta 4\pi `$ and $`C`$ is a fixed constant and $`4\pi `$ is the best constant. If $`w`$ has antipodal symmetry then the inequality holds for $`\beta 8\pi `$.

Moser has also established a similar inequality for functions $`u`$ with compact support on bounded domains in the Euclidean space $`^n`$ with the $`W^{1,n}`$ energy norm $`|u|^n𝑑x`$ finite. Subsequently, Carleson and Chang () found that, contrary to the situation for Sobolev embedding, there is an extremal function realizing the maximum value of the inequality of Moser when the domain is the unit ball in Euclidean space. This fact remains true for simply connected domains in the plane (Flücher ), and for some domains in the n-sphere (Soong ).

Based on the inequality of Moser and subsequent work of Aubin ( and Onofri (), we devised a degree count (, , ) associated to the function $`f`$ and the Mobius group on the $`2`$-sphere, that is motivated by the Kazdan-Warner condition (1.4). This degree actually computes the Leray-Schauder degree of the equation (1.1) as a nonlinear Fredholm equation. In the special case that $`f`$ is a Morse function satisfying the condition $`\mathrm{\Delta }f(x)0`$ at the critical points $`x`$ of $`f`$, this degree can be expressed as:

$$\underset{f(q)=0,\mathrm{\Delta }f(q)<0}{}(1)^{ind(q)}1.$$
(1.6)
The latter degree count is also obtained later by Chang-Liu () and Han ().

There is another interesting geometric interpretation of the functional $`J`$ given by Ray-Singer () and Polyakov (); (see also Okikiolu )

$$J[w]=12\pi \mathrm{log}(\frac{det\mathrm{\Delta }_g}{det\mathrm{\Delta }_{g_w}})$$
(1.7)
for metrics $`g_w`$ with the volume of $`g_w`$ equals the volume of $`g`$; where the determinant of the Laplacian $`det\mathrm{\Delta }_g`$ is defined by Ray-Singer via the “regularized” zeta function. In , (see also Hong ), Onofri established the sharp inequality that on the 2-sphere $`J[w]0`$ and $`J[w]=0`$ precisely for conformal factors $`w`$ of the form $`e^{2w}g_0=T^{}g_0`$ where $`T`$ is a Mobius transformation of the 2-sphere. Later Osgood-Phillips-Sarnak (, ) arrived at the same sharp inequality in their study of heights of the Laplacian. This inequality also plays an important role in their proof of the $`C^{\mathrm{}}`$ compactness of isospectral metrics on compact surfaces.

The formula of Polyakov-Ray-Singer has been generalized to manifolds of dimension greater than two in many different settings; one of which we will discuss in section 2 below. There is also a general study of extremal metrics for $`det\mathrm{\Delta }_g`$ or $`detL_g`$ for metrics $`g`$ in the same conformal class with a fixed volume or for all metrics with a fixed volume(, , , , ). A special case of the remarkable results of Okikiolu () is that among all metrics with the same volume as the standard metric on the 3-sphere, the standard canonical metric is a local maximum for the functional $`det\mathrm{\Delta }_g`$.

More recently, there is an extensive study of a generalization of the equation (1.1) to compact Riemann surfaces. Since Moser’s argument is readily applicable to a compact surface $`(M,g)`$, a lower bound for similarly defined functional $`J`$ on $`(M,g)`$ continues to hold in that situation. The Chern-Simons-Higgs equation in the Abelian case is given by:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }w=\rho e^{2w}(e^{2w}1)+2\pi \underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\delta _{p_i}.$$
(1.8)
A closely related equation is the mean field equation:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }w+\rho (\frac{he^{2w}}{he^{2w}}1)=0,$$
(1.9)
where $`\rho `$ is a real parameter that is allowed to vary.

There is active development on these equations by several group of researchers including (, , , , ).

On manifolds $`(M^n,g)`$ for n greater than two, the conformal Laplacian $`L_g`$ is defined as $`L_g=c_n\mathrm{\Delta }_g+R_g`$ where $`c_n=\frac{4(n1)}{n2}`$, and $`R_g`$ denotes the scalar curvature of the metric $`g`$. An analogue of equation (1.1) is the equation, commonly referred to as the Yamabe equation, which relates the scalar curvature under conformal change of metric to the background metric. In this case, it is convenient to denote the conformal metric as $`\overline{g}=u^{\frac{4}{n2}}g`$ for some positive function $`u`$, then the equation becomes

$$L_gu=\overline{R}u^{\frac{n+2}{n2}}.$$
(1.10)
The famous Yamabe problem to solve (1.10) with $`\overline{R}`$ a constant has been settled by Yamabe (), Trudinger (), Aubin () and Schoen (). The corresponding problem to prescribe scalar curvature has been intensively studied in the past decades by different groups of mathematicians, we will not be able to survey all the results here. We will just mention that the degree theory for existence of solutions on the $`n`$-sphere has been achieved by Bahri-Coron (), Chang-Gursky-Yang () and Schoen-Zhang () for $`n=3`$ and under further constraints on the functions for $`n4`$ by Y. Li () and by C-C. Chen and C.-S. Lin ().

## 2 . Conformally covariant differential operators and the $`Q`$-curvatures

It is well known that in dimension two, under the conformal change of metrics $`g_w=e^{2w}g`$, the associated Laplacians are related by

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_{g_w}=e^{2w}\mathrm{\Delta }_g.$$
(2.1)
Similarly on $`(M^n,g)`$, the conformal Laplacian $`L=\frac{4(n1)}{n2}\mathrm{\Delta }+R`$ transforms under the conformal change of metric $`\overline{g}=u^{\frac{4}{n2}}g`$:

$$L_{\overline{g}}=u^{\frac{n+2}{n2}}L_g(u)$$
(2.2)
In general, we call a metrically defined operator $`A`$ conformally covariant of bidegree $`(a,b)`$, if under the conformal change of metric $`g_\omega =e^{2\omega }g`$, the pair of corresponding operators $`A_\omega `$ and $`A`$ are related by

$$A_\omega (\phi )=e^{b\omega }A(e^{a\omega }\phi )\text{for all}\phi C^{\mathrm{}}(M^n).$$

Note that in this notation, the conformal Laplacian opertor is conformally covariant of bidegree $`(\frac{n2}{2},\frac{n+2}{2})`$.

There are many operators besides the Laplacian $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ on compact surfaces and the conformal Laplacian $`L`$ on general compact manifold of dimension greater than two which have the conformal covariance property. We begin with the fourth order operator on $`4`$-manifolds discovered by Paneitz () in 1983 (see also ):

$$P\phi \mathrm{\Delta }^2\phi +\delta \left(\frac{2}{3}Rg2\text{Ric}\right)d\phi $$

where $`\delta `$ denotes the divergence, $`d`$ the deRham differential and $`Ric`$ the Ricci tensor of the metric. The Paneitz operator $`P`$ (which we will later denote by $`P_4`$) is conformally covariant of bidegree $`(0,4)`$ on 4-manifolds, i.e.

$$P_{g_w}(\phi )=e^{4\omega }P_g(\phi )\text{for all}\phi C^{\mathrm{}}(M^4).$$

More generally, T. Branson () has extended the definition of the fourth order operator to general dimensions $`n2`$; which we call the conformal Paneitz operator:

$$P_4^n=\mathrm{\Delta }^2+\delta \left(a_nRg+b_n\text{Ric}\right)d+\frac{n4}{2}Q_4^n$$
(2.3)
where

$$Q_4^n=c_n|Ric|^2+d_nR^2\frac{1}{2(n1)}\mathrm{\Delta }R,$$
(2.4)
and

$$a_n=\frac{(n2)^2+4}{2(n1)(n2)},b_n=\frac{4}{n2},c_n=\frac{2}{(n2)^2},d_n=\frac{n^34n^2+16n16}{8(n1)^2(n2)^2}.$$

The conformal Paneitz operator is conformally covariant of bidegree $`(\frac{n4}{2},\frac{n+4}{2})`$. As in the case of the second order conformally covariant operators, the fourth order Paneitz operators have associated fourth order curvature invariants $`Q`$: in dimension $`n=4`$ we write the conformal metric $`g_w=e^{2w}g`$; $`Q=Q_g=\frac{1}{2}(Q_4^4)_g`$, then

$$Pw+2Q=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}Q_{g_w}e^{4w}$$
(2.5)
and in dimensions $`n1,2,4`$ we write the conformal metric as $`\overline{g}=u^{\frac{4}{n4}}g`$:

$$P_4^nu=\overline{Q}_4^nu^{\frac{n+4}{n4}}.$$
(2.6)
In dimension $`n=4`$ the $`Q`$-curvature equation is closely connected to the Gauss-Bonnet-Chern formula:

$$4\pi ^2\chi (M^4)=(Q+\frac{1}{8}|W|^2)𝑑v$$
(2.7)
where $`W`$ denotes the Weyl tensor, and the quantity $`|W|^2dv`$ is a pointwise conformal invariant. Therefore the $`Q`$-curvature integral $`Q𝑑v`$ is a conformal invariant. The basic existence theory for the $`Q`$-curvature equation is outlined in :

###### Theorem 2.1.

If $`Q𝑑v<8\pi ^2`$ and the P operator is positive except for constants, then equation (2.5) may be solved with $`Q_{g_w}`$ given by a constant.

It is remarkable that the conditions in this existence theorem are shown by M. Gursky () to be a consequence of the assumptions that $`(M,g)`$ has positive Yamabe invariant111The Yamabe invariant $`Y(M,g)`$ is defined to be $`Y(M,g)inf_w\frac{_MR_{g_w}𝑑v_{g_w}}{vol(g_w)^{\frac{n2}{n}}}`$; where $`n`$ denotes the dimension of M. $`Y(M,g)`$ is confomally invariant and the sign of $`Y(M,g)`$ agrees with that of the first eigenvalue of $`L_g`$., and that $`Q𝑑v>0`$. In fact, he proves that under these conditions $`P`$ is a positive operator and $`Q𝑑v8\pi ^2`$ and that equality can hold only if $`(M,g)`$ is conformally equivalent to the standard 4-sphere. This latter fact may be viewed as the analogue of the positive mass theorem that is the source for the basic compactness result for the $`Q`$-curvature equation as well as the associated fully nonlinear second order equations that we discuss in section 4. Gursky’s argument is based on a more general existence result in which we consider a family of 4-th order equations

$$\gamma _1|W|^2+\gamma _2Q\gamma _3\mathrm{\Delta }R=\overline{k}\text{Vol}^1$$
(2.8)
where $`\overline{k}=(\gamma _1|W|^2+\gamma _2Q)𝑑v`$. These equations typically arise as the Euler equation of the functional determinants. For a conformally covariant operator $`A`$ of bidegree $`(a,b)`$ with $`ba=2`$ Branson and Orsted () gave an explicit computation of the normalized form of $`\mathrm{log}\frac{detA_w}{detA}`$ which may be expressed as:

$$F[w]=\gamma _1I[w]+\gamma _2II[w]+\gamma _3III[w]$$
(2.9)
where $`\gamma _1,\gamma _2,\gamma _3`$ are constants depending only on $`A`$ and

$`I[w]`$ $`=4{\displaystyle |W|^2w𝑑v}\left({\displaystyle |W|^2𝑑v}\right)\mathrm{log}{\displaystyle \frac{e^{4w}𝑑v}{𝑑v}},`$
$`II[w]`$ $`=Pw,w+4{\displaystyle Qw𝑑v}\left({\displaystyle Q𝑑v}\right)\mathrm{log}{\displaystyle \frac{e^{4w}𝑑v}{𝑑v}},`$
$`III[w]`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\left({\displaystyle R_{g_w}^2𝑑v_{g_w}}{\displaystyle R^2𝑑v}\right).`$
In , we gave the general existence result:

###### Theorem 2.2.

If the functional $`F`$ satisfies $`\gamma _2>0,\gamma _3>0`$, and $`\overline{k}<8\gamma _2\pi ^2`$, then $`\underset{wW^{2,2}}{inf}F[w]`$ is attained by some function $`w_d`$ and the metric $`g_d=e^{2w_d}g_0`$ satisfies the equation

$$\gamma _1|W|^2+\gamma _2Q_d\gamma _3\mathrm{}_dR_d=\overline{k}\text{Vol}(g_d)^1.$$
(2.10)
Furthermore, $`g_d`$ is smooth.

This existence result is based on extensions of Moser’s inequality by Adams (, on manifolds ) to operators of higher order. In the special case of $`(M^4,g)`$, the inequality states that for functions in the Sobolev space $`W^{2,2}(M)`$ with $`_M(\mathrm{\Delta }w)^2𝑑v_g1`$, and $`\overline{w}=0`$, we have

$$_Me^{32\pi ^2w^2}𝑑v_gC,$$
(2.11)
for some constant $`C`$. The regularity for minimizing solutions was first given in , and later extended to all solutions by Uhlenbeck and Viaclovsky (). There are several applications of these existence result to the study of conformal structures in dimension $`n=4`$. In section 4 we will discuss the use of such fourth order equation as regularization of the more natural fully nonlinear equation concerned with the Weyl-Schouten tensor. Here we will mention some elegant application by M. Gursky () to characterize a number of extremal conformal structures.

###### Theorem 2.3.

Suppose $`(M,g)`$ is a compact oriented manifold of dimension four with positive Yamabe invariant.

(i) If $`Q_g𝑑v_g=0`$, and if $`M`$ admits a non-zero harmonic 1-form, then $`(M,g)`$ is conformal equivalent to a quotient of the product space $`S^3\times `$. In particular $`(M,g)`$ is locally conformally flat.

(ii) If $`b_2^+>0`$ (i.e. the intersection form has a positive element), then with respect to the decompostion of the Weyl tensor into the self dual and anti-self dual components $`W=W^+W^{}`$,

$$_M|W_g^+|^2𝑑v_g\frac{4\pi ^2}{3}(2\chi +3\tau ),$$
(2.12)
where $`\tau `$ is the signature of $`M`$. Moreover the equality holds if and only if $`g`$ is conformal to a (positive) Kahler-Einstein metric.

In dimensions higher than four, the analogue of the Yamabe equation for the fourth order Paneitz equation is being investigated by a number of authors. In particular, Djadli-Hebey-Ledoux () studied the question of coercivity of the operators $`P`$ as well as the positivity of the solution functions, Djadli-Malchiodi-Ahmedou () have studied the blowup analysis of the Paneitz equation. In dimension three, the fourth order Paneitz equation involves a negative exponent, there is now an existence result () in case the Paneitz operator is positive.

In general dimensions there is an extensive theory of local conformal invariants according to the theory of Fefferman and Graham (). For manifolds of general dimension $`n`$, when $`n`$ is even, the existence of a $`n`$-th order operator $`P_n`$ conformally covariant of bidegree $`(0,n)`$ was verified in . However it is only explicitly known on the standard Euclidean space $`^n`$ and hence on the standard sphere $`S^n`$. For all $`n`$, on $`(S^n,g)`$, there also exists an $`n`$-th order (pseudo) differential operator $`_n`$ which is the pull back via sterographic projection of the operator $`(\mathrm{\Delta })^{n/2}`$ from $`^n`$ with Euclidean metric to $`(S^n,g)`$. $`_n`$ is conformally covariant of bi-degree (0, n), i.e. $`(_n)_w=e^{nw}_n`$. The explicit formulas for $`_n`$ on $`S^n`$ has been computed in Branson () and Beckner ():

$$\{\begin{array}{cc}\text{For}n\text{even}_n\hfill & =_{k=0}^{\frac{n2}{2}}(\mathrm{\Delta }+k(nk1)),\hfill \\ \text{For}n\text{odd}_n\hfill & =\left(\mathrm{\Delta }+\left(\frac{n1}{2}\right)^2\right)^{1/2}_{k=0}^{\frac{n3}{2}}(\mathrm{\Delta }+k(nk1)).\hfill \end{array}$$
(2.13)
Using the method of moving planes, it is shown in  that all solutions of the (pseudo-) differential equation:

$$_nw+(n1)!=(n1)!e^{nw}$$
(2.14)
are given by actions of the conformal group of $`S^n`$. As a consequence, we derive () the sharp version of a Moser-Trudinger inequality for spheres in general dimensions. This inequality is equivalent to Beckner’s inequality ().

$$\mathrm{log}\frac{1}{|S^n|}_{S^n}e^{nw}𝑑v\frac{1}{|S^n|}_{S^n}(nw+\frac{n}{2(n1)!}w_n(w))𝑑v,$$
(2.15)
and equality holds if and only if $`e^{nw}`$ represents the Jacobian of a conformal transformation of $`S^n`$.

In a recent preprint, S. Brendle is able to derive a general existence result for the prescribed $`Q`$-curvature equation under natural conditions:

###### Theorem 2.4.

() For a compact manifold $`(M^{2m},g)`$ satisfying

(i) $`P_{2m}`$ be positive except on constants,

(ii) $`_MQ_g𝑑v_g<C_{2m}`$ where $`C_{2m}`$ represents the value of the corresponding $`Q`$-curvature integral on the standard sphere $`(S^{2m},g_c)`$, the equation $`P_{2m}w+Q=Q_we^{2mw}`$ has a solution with $`Q_w`$ given by a constant.

Brendle’s remarkable argument uses a $`2m`$-th order heat flow method in which again inequality of Adams () (the only available tool) is used.

In another recent development, the $`n`$-th order $`Q`$-curvature integral can be interpreted as a renormalized volume of the conformally compact manifold $`(N^{n+1},h)`$ of which $`(M^n,g)`$ is the conformal infinity. In particular, Graham-Zworski () and Fefferman-Graham () have given in the case $`n`$ is an even integer, a spectral theory interpretation to the $`n`$-th order $`Q`$-curvature integral that is intrinsic to the boundary conformal structure. In the case $`n`$ is odd, such an interpretation is still available, however it may depend on the conformal compactification.

## 3 . Boundary operator, Cohn-Vossen inequality

To develop the analysis of the $`Q`$-curvature equation, it is helpful to consider the associated boundary value problems. In the case of compact surface with boundary $`(N^2,M^1,g)`$ where the metric $`g`$ is defined on $`N^2M^1`$; the Gauss-Bonnet formula becomes

$$2\pi \chi (N)=_NK𝑑v+_Mk𝑑\sigma ,$$
(3.1)
where $`k`$ is the geodesic curvature on $`M`$. Under conformal change of metric $`g_w`$ on $`N`$, the geodesic curvature changes according to the equation

$$\frac{}{n}w+k=k_we^w\text{on M}.$$
(3.2)
Ray-Singer-Polyakov log-determinant formula has been generalized to compact surface with boundary and the extremal metric of the formula has been studied by Osgood-Phillips-Sarnak (). The role played by the Onofri inequality is the classical Milin-Lebedev inequality:

$$\mathrm{log}_{S^1}e^{(w\overline{w})}\frac{d\theta }{2\pi }\frac{1}{4}\left(_Dw(\mathrm{\Delta }w)\frac{dx}{\pi }+\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}_{S^1}w\frac{w}{n}\frac{d\theta }{2\pi }\right),$$
(3.3)
where $`D`$ is the unit disc on $`^2`$ with the flat metric $`dx`$, and $`n`$ is the unit outward normal.

One can generalize above results to four manifold with boundary $`(N^4,M^3,g)`$; with the role played by $`(\mathrm{\Delta },\frac{}{n})`$ replaced by $`(P_4,P_3)`$ and with $`(K,k)`$ replaced by $`(Q,T)`$; where $`P_4`$ is the Paneitz opertor and $`Q`$ the curvature discussed in section 2; and where $`P_3`$ is the boundary operator constructed by Chang-Qing (). The key property of $`P_3`$ is that it is conformally covariant of bidegree $`(0,3)`$, when operating on functions defined on the boundary of compact $`4`$-manifolds; and under conformal change of metric $`\overline{g}=e^{2w}g`$ on $`N^4`$ we have at the boundary $`M^3`$

$$P_3w+T=T_we^{3w}.$$
(3.4)
We refer the reader to  for the precise definitions of $`P_3`$ and $`T`$ and will here only mention that on $`(B^4,S^3,dx)`$, where $`B^4`$ is the unit ball in $`^4`$, we have

$$P_4=(\mathrm{\Delta })^2,P_3=\left(\frac{1}{2}\frac{}{n}\mathrm{\Delta }+\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}\frac{}{n}+\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}\right)\text{and}T=2,$$
(3.5)
where $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}`$ is the intrinsic boundary Laplacian on $`M`$.

In this case the Gauss-Bonnet-Chern formula may be expressed as:

$$4\pi ^2\chi (N)=_N(Q+\frac{1}{8}|W|^2)𝑑v+_M(T+)𝑑\sigma ,$$
(3.6)
where $``$ is a third order boundary curvature invariant that t ransforms by scaling under conformal change of metric. The analogue of the sharp form of the Moser-Trudinger inequality for the pair $`(B^4,S^3,dx)`$ is given by the following analogue of the Milin-Lebedev inequality:

###### Theorem 3.1.

() Suppose $`wC^{\mathrm{}}(\overline{B}^4)`$. Then

$`\mathrm{log}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi ^2}}{\displaystyle _{S^3}}e^{3(w\overline{w})}𝑑\sigma \right\}`$ (3.7)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{3}{16\pi ^2}}\left\{{\displaystyle _{B^4}}w\mathrm{\Delta }^2w𝑑x+{\displaystyle _{S^3}}\left(2wP_3w{\displaystyle \frac{w}{n}}+{\displaystyle \frac{^2w}{n^2}}\right)𝑑\sigma \right\},`$
under the boundary assumptions $`\frac{w}{n}|_{S^3}=e^w1`$ and $`_{S^3}R_w𝑑\sigma _{g_w}=_{S^3}R𝑑\sigma `$ where $`R`$ is the scalar curvature of $`S^3`$. Moreover the equality holds if and only if $`e^{2w}dx`$ on $`B^4`$ is isometric to the standard metric via a conformal transformation of the pair $`(B^4,S^3,dx)`$.

The boundary version (3.6) of the Gauss-Bonnet-Chern formula can be used to give an extension of the well known Cohn-Vossen-Huber formula. Let us recall (, ) that a complete surface $`(N^2,g)`$ with Gauss curvature in $`L^1`$ has a conformal compactification $`\overline{N}=N\{q_1,\mathrm{},q_l\}`$ as a compact Riemann surface and

$$2\pi \chi (N)=_NK𝑑A+\underset{k=1}{\overset{l}{}}\nu _k,$$
(3.8)
where at each end $`q_k`$, take a conformal coordinate disk $`\{|z|<r_0\}`$ with $`q_k`$ at its center, then $`\nu _k`$ represents the following limiting isoperimetric constant:

$$\nu _k=\underset{r0}{lim}\frac{Length(\{|z|=r\})^2}{2Area(\{r<|z|<r_0\})}.$$
(3.9)
This result can be generalized to dimension $`n=4`$ for locally conformally flat metrics. In general dimensions, Schoen-Yau () proved that locally conformally flat metrics in the non-negative Yamabe class has injective development map into the standard spheres as domains whose complement have small Hausdorff dimension (at most $`\frac{n2}{2}`$). It is possible to further constraint the topology as well as the end structure of such manifolds by imposing the natural condition that the $`Q`$-curvature be in $`L^1`$.

###### Theorem 3.2.

(, ) Suppose $`(M^4,g)`$ is a complete conformally flat manifold, satisfying the conditions:
(i) The scalar curvature $`R_g`$ is bounded between two positive constants and $`_gR_g`$ is also bounded;
(ii) The Ricci curvature is bounded below;
(iii) $`_M|Q_g|𝑑v_g<\mathrm{}`$;
then
(a) if $`M`$ is simply connected, it is conformally equivalent to $`S^4\{q_1,\mathrm{},q_l\}`$ and we have

$$4\pi ^2\chi (M)=_MQ_g𝑑v_g+\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}4}\pi ^2l;$$
(3.10)
(b) if $`M`$ is not simply connected, and we assume in addition that its fundamental group is realized as a geometrically finite Kleinian group, then we conclude that $`M`$ has a conformal compactification $`\overline{M}=M\{q_1,\mathrm{},q_l\}`$ and equation (3.10) holds.

This result gives a geometric interpretation to the $`Q`$-curvature integral as measuring an isoperimetric constant. There are two elements in this argument. The first is to view the $`Q`$-curvature integral over sub-level sets of the conformal factors as the second derivative with respect to $`w`$ of the corresponding volume integral. This comparison is made possible by making use of the formula (3.4). A second element is an estimate for conformal metrics $`e^{2w}|dx|^2`$ defined over domains $`\mathrm{\Omega }^4`$ satisfying the conditions of Theorem 3.2 must have a uniform blowup rate near the boundary:

$$e^{w(x)}\frac{1}{d(x,\mathrm{\Omega })}.$$
(3.11)
This result has an appropriate generalization to higher even dimensional situation, in which one has to impose additional curvature bounds to control the lower order terms in the integral. One such an extension is obtained in the thesis of H. Fang ().

It remains an interesting question how to extend this analysis to include the case when the dimension is an odd integer.

## 4 . Fully nonlinear equations in conformal geometry in dimension four

In dimensions greater than two, the natural curvature invariants in conformal geometry are the Weyl tensor $`W`$, and the Weyl-Schouten tensor $`A=Ric\frac{R}{2(n1)}g`$ that occur in the decomposition of the curvature tensor; where $`Ric`$ denotes the Ricci curvature tensor:

$$Rm=W\frac{1}{n2}Ag.$$
(4.1)
Since the Weyl tensor $`W`$ transforms by scaling under conformal change $`g_w=e^{2w}g`$, only the Weyl-Schouten tensor depends on the derivatives of the conformal factor. It is thus natural to consider $`\sigma _k(A_g)`$ the k-th symmetric function of the eigenvalues of the Weyl-Schouten tensor $`A_g`$ as curvature invariants of the conformal metrics. As a differential invariant of the conformal factor $`w`$, $`\sigma _k(A_{g_w})`$ is a fully nonlinear expression involving the Hessian and the gradient of the conformal factor $`w`$. We have abbreviating $`A_w`$ for $`A_{g_w}`$:

$$A_w=(n2)\{^2w+dwdw\frac{|w|^2}{2}\}+A_g.$$
(4.2)
The equation

$$\sigma _k(A_w)=1$$
(4.3)
is a fully nonlinear version of the Yamabe equation. For example, when $`k=1`$, $`\sigma _1(A_g)=\frac{n2}{2(n1)}R_g`$, where $`R_g`$ is the scalar curvature of $`(M,g)`$ and equation (4.3) is the Yamabe equation which we have discussed in section 1. When $`k=2`$, $`\sigma _2(A_g)=\frac{1}{2}(|TraceA_g|^2|A_g|^2)=\frac{n}{8(n1)}R^2\frac{1}{2}|Ric|^2`$. In the case when $`k=n`$, $`\sigma _n(A_g)=determinantofA_g`$, an equation of Monge-Ampere type. To illustrate that (4.3) is a fully non-linear elliptic equation, we have for example when $`n=4`$,

$`\sigma _2(A_{g_w})e^{4w}=`$ $`\sigma _2(A_g)+2((\mathrm{\Delta }w)^2|^2w|^2`$ (4.4)
$`+`$ $`(w,|w|^2)+\mathrm{\Delta }w|w|^2)`$
$`+`$ $`\text{lower order terms},`$
where all derivative are taken with respect to the $`g`$ metric.

For a symmetric $`n\times n`$ matrix $`M`$, we say $`M\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^+`$ in the sense of Garding () if $`\sigma _k(M)>0`$ and $`M`$ may be joined to the identity matrix by a path consisting entirely of matrices $`M_t`$ such that $`\sigma _k(M_t)>0`$. There is a rich literature conerning the equation

$$\sigma _k(^2u)=f,$$
(4.5)
for a positive function $`f`$. In the case when $`M=(^2u)`$ for convex functions $`u`$ defined on the Euclidean domains, regularity theory for equations of $`\sigma _k(M)`$ has been well established for $`M\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^+`$ for Dirichlet boundary value problems by Caffarelli-Nirenberg-Spruck (); for a more general class of fully non-linear elliptic equations not necessarily of divergence form by Krylov (), Evans () and for Monge-Ampere equations by Pogorelov () and by Caffarelli (). The Monge-Ampere equation for prescribing the Gauss-Kronecker curvature for convex hypersurfaces has been studied by Guan-Spruck (). Some of the techniques in these work can be modified to study equation (4.3) on manifolds. However there are features of the equation (4.3) that are distinct from the equation (4.5). For example, the conformal invariance of the equation (4.3) introduces a non-compactness due to the action of the conformal group that is absent for the equation (4.5).

When $`k\frac{n}{2}`$ and the manifold $`(M,g)`$ is locally conformally flat, Viaclovsky () showed that the equation (4.3) is the Euler equation of the variational functional $`\sigma _k(A_{g_w})𝑑v_{g_w}`$. In the exceptional case $`k=n/2`$, the integral $`\sigma _k(A_g)𝑑v_g`$ is a conformal invariant. We say $`g\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^+`$ if the corresponding Weyl-Schouten tensor $`A_g(x)\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^+`$ for every point $`xM`$. For $`k=1`$ the Yamabe equation (1.10) for prescribing scalar curvature is a semilinear one; hence the condition for $`g\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^+`$ is the same as requiring the operator $`L_g=\frac{4(n1)}{n2}\mathrm{\Delta }_g+R_g`$ be a positive operator. The existence of a metric with $`g\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^+`$ implies a sign for the curvature functions (, , ).

###### Proposition 4.1.

On $`(M^n,g)`$,
(i) When $`n=3`$ and $`\sigma _2(A_g)>0`$, then either $`R_g>0`$ and the sectional curvature of g is positive or $`R_g<0`$ and the sectional curvature of g is negative on $`M`$.
(ii) When $`n=4`$ and $`\sigma _2(A_g)>0`$, then either $`R_g>0`$ and $`Ric_g>0`$ on $`M`$ or $`R_g<0`$ and $`Ric_g<0`$ on $`M`$.
(iii) For general $`n`$ and $`A_g\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^+`$ for some $`k\frac{n}{2}`$, then $`Ric_g>0`$.

In dimension 3, one can capture all metrics with constant sectional curvature (i.e. space forms) through the study of $`\sigma _2`$.

###### Theorem 4.2.

() On a compact 3-manifold, for any Riemannian metric $`g`$, denote $`_2[g]=_M\sigma _2(A_g)𝑑v_g`$. Then a metric $`g`$ with $`_2[g]0`$ is critical for the functional $`_2`$ restricted to class of metrics with volume one if and only if $`g`$ has constant sectional curvature.

The criteria for existence of a conformal metric $`g\mathrm{\Gamma }_k^+`$ is not as easy for $`k>1`$ since the equation is a fully nonlinear one. However when $`n=4,k=2`$ the invariance of the integral $`\sigma _2(A_g)𝑑v_g`$ is a reflection of the Chern-Gauss-Bonnet formula

$$8\pi ^2\chi (M)=_M(\sigma _2(A_g)+\frac{1}{4}|W_g|^2)𝑑v_g.$$
(4.6)
In this case it is possible to find a criteria:

###### Theorem 4.3.

()For a closed 4-manifold $`(M,g)`$ satisfying the following conformally invariant conditions:
(i) $`Y(M,g)>\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0},`$ and
(ii) $`\sigma _2(A_g)𝑑v_g>0`$;
then there exists a conformal metric $`g_w\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^+`$.

Remark. In dimension four, the condition $`g\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^+`$ implies that $`R>0`$ and Ricci is positive everywhere. Thus such manifolds have finite fundamental group. In addition, the Chern-Gauss-Bonnet formula and the signature formula shows that this class of 4-manifolds satisfy the same conditions as that of an Einstein manifold with positive scalar curvatures. Thus it is the natural class of 4-manifolds in which to seek an Einstein metric.

The existence result depends on the solution of a family of fourth order equations involving the Paneitz operator (), which we have discussed in section 2. In the following we briefly outline this connection. Recall that in dimension four, the Paneitz operator $`P`$ a fourth order curvature called the Q-curvature:

$$P_gw+2Q_g=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}Q_{g_w}e^{4w}.$$
(4.7)
The relation between $`Q`$ and $`\sigma _2(A)`$ in dimension 4 is given by

$$Q_g=\frac{1}{12}\mathrm{\Delta }R_g+\frac{1}{2}\sigma _2(A_g).$$
(4.8)
In view of the existence results of Theorem 2.1 and Theorem 2.2, it is natural to find a solution of

$$\sigma _2(A_g)=f$$
(4.9)
for some positive function $`f`$. It turns out that it is natural to choose $`f=c|W_g|^2`$ for some constant $`c`$ and to use the continuity method to solve the family of equations

$$()_\delta :\sigma _2(A_g)=\frac{\delta }{4}\mathrm{\Delta }_gR_g2\gamma |W_g|^2$$
(4.10)
where $`\gamma `$ is chosen so that $`\sigma _2(A_g)𝑑v_g=2\gamma |W_g|^2𝑑v_g`$, for $`\delta (0,1]`$ and let $`\delta `$ tend to zero.

Indeed when $`\delta =1`$, solution of (4.10) is a special case of an extremal metric of the log-determinant type functional $`F[w]`$ in Theorem 2.2, where we choose $`\gamma _2=1`$, $`\gamma _3=\frac{1}{24}`$, we then choose $`\gamma =\gamma _1`$ so that $`\overline{k}=0`$. Notice that in this case, the assumption (ii) in the statement of Theorem 4.3 implies that $`\gamma <0`$. When $`\delta =\frac{2}{3}`$, equation (4.10) amounts to solving the equation

$$Q_g=\gamma |W_g|^2,$$
(4.11)
which we can solve by applying Theorem 2.1. Thus the bulk of the analysis consist in obtaining apriori estimates of the solution as $`\delta `$ tends to zero, showing essentially that in the equation the term $`\frac{\delta }{4}\mathrm{\Delta }R`$ is small in the weak sense. The proof ends by first modifying the function $`|W|^2`$ to make it strictly positive and by then applying the Yamabe flow to the metrics $`g_\delta `$ to show that for sufficiently small $`\delta `$ the smoothing provided by the Yamabe flow yields a metric $`g\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^+`$.

The equation (4.3) becomes meaningful for 4-manifolds which admits a metric $`g\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^+`$. In the article (), when the manifold $`(M,g)`$ is not conformally equivalent to $`(S^4,g_c)`$, we provide apriori estimates for solutions of the equation (4.9) where $`f`$ is a given positive smooth function. Then we apply the degree theory for fully non-linear elliptic equation to the following 1-parameter family of equations

$$\sigma _2(A_{g_t})=tf+(1t)$$
(4.12)
to deform the original metric to one with constant $`\sigma _2(A_g)`$.

In terms of geometric application, this circle of ideas may be applied to characterize a number of interesting conformal classes in terms of the the relative size of the conformal invariant $`\sigma _2(A_g)𝑑V_g`$ compared with the Euler number.

###### Theorem 4.4.

() Suppose $`(M,g)`$ is a closed 4-manifold with $`Y(M,g)>\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$.

(I) If $`_M\sigma _2(A_g)𝑑v_g>\frac{1}{4}_M|W_g|^2𝑑v_g`$, then $`M`$ is diffeomorphic to $`(S^4,g_c)`$ or $`(P^4,g_c)`$.

(II) If $`M`$ is not diffeomorphic to $`(S^4,g_c)`$ or $`(P^4,g_c)`$ and $`_M\sigma _2(A_g)𝑑v_g=\frac{1}{4}_M|W_g|^2𝑑v_g`$, then either

(a) $`(M,g)`$ is conformally equivalent to $`(P^2,g_{FS})`$, or

(b) $`(M,g)`$ is conformal equivalent to $`((S^3\times S^1)/\mathrm{\Gamma },g_{prod}).`$

Remark. The theorem above is an $`L^2`$ version of an earlier result of Margerin . The first part of the theorem should be compared to a result of Hamilton (); where he pioneered the method of Ricci flow and established the diffeomorphism of $`M^4`$ to the 4-sphere under the assumption that the curvature operator be positive.

This first part of Theorem 4.4 applies the existence argument to find a conformal metric $`g^{}`$ which satisfies the pointwise inequality

$$\sigma _2(A_g^{})>\frac{1}{4}|W_g^{}|^2.$$
(4.13)
The diffeomorphism assertion follows from Margerin’s () precise convergence result for the Ricci flow: such a metric will evolve under the Ricci flow to one with constant curvature. Therefore such a manifold is diffeomorphic to a quotient of the standard $`4`$-sphere.

For the second part of the assertion, we argue that if such a manifold is not diffeomorphic to the 4-sphere, then the conformal structure realizes the minimum of the quantity $`|W_g|^2𝑑v_g`$, and hence its Bach tensor vanishes. There are two possibilities depending on whether the Euler number is zero or not. In the first case, an earlier result of Gursky () shows the metric is conformal to that of the space $`S^1\times S^3`$. In the second case, we solve the equation

$$\sigma _2(A_g^{})=\frac{1ϵ}{4}|W_g^{}|^2+C_ϵ,$$
(4.14)
where $`C_ϵ`$ is a constant which tend to zero as $`ϵ`$ tend to zero. We then let $`ϵ`$ tends to zero. We obtain in the limit a $`C^{1,1}`$ metric which satisfies the equation on the open set $`\mathrm{\Omega }=\{x|W(x)0\}`$:

$$\sigma _2(A_g^{})=\frac{1}{4}|W_g^{}|^2.$$
(4.15)
Then a Lagrange multiplier computation shows that the curvature tensor of the limit metric agrees with that of the Fubini-Study metric on the open set where $`W0`$. Therefore $`|W_g^{}|`$ is a constant on $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ thus $`W`$ cannot vanish at all. It follows from the Cartan-Kahler theory that the limit metric agrees with the Fubini-Study metric of $`P^2`$ everywhere.

There is a very recent work of A. Li and Y. Li () extending work of () to classify the entire solutions of the equation $`\sigma _k(A_g)=1`$ on $`^n`$ thus providing apriori estimates for this equation in the locally conformally flat case. There is also a very recent work () on the heat flow of this equation, we have () used this flow to derive the sharp version of the Moser-Onofri inequality for the $`\sigma _{\frac{n}{2}}`$ energy for all even dimensional spheres. In general, the geometric implications of the study of $`\sigma _k`$ for manifolds of dimension greater than four remains open.


text:
# Rapidity Dependence of Charged Particle Yields for Au+Au at √𝑠_{𝑁𝑁}=200GeV

## 1 INTRODUCTION

In 2001, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) provided gold beams at the full design energy ($`\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200\mathrm{GeV}`$). The BRAHMS experiment made a unique set of measurements of charged hadrons over a wide range of rapidity ($`y=0`$ to $`y3.5`$). We present here for the first time the rapidity dependence of hadronic yields for the 10% most central events for the reaction Au + Au at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200\mathrm{GeV}`$. The BRAHMS detector system consists of two independent and movable spectrometers (MRS and FS) and a set of detectors for reaction characterization (centrality and interaction point). The ability to rotate the spectrometers added to the use of different magnetic field settings allows the exploration of a large fraction of the full phase-space, as illustrated in Fig. 1 for pions.

For the work reported here, the MRS was operated at 90, 45 and 40 degrees, and the FS at 3, 4, 8 and 12 degrees. More details about the experimental setup can be found in .

## 2 CHARGED PARTICLE SPECTRA

Since the BRAHMS spectrometers subtend a small solid angle, charged particle spectra are constructed by combining several data sets measured at different angles relative to the beam line with various magnetic fields. For each setting, acceptance correction maps $`(p_t`$ or $`m_t,y)`$ are built for each particle specie, by using a Monte-Carlo calculation based on GEANT3, simulating the particle tracking through the BRAHMS detector system. Corrections for detector efficiency, absorption and particle decay are then applied to $`p_t`$ or $`m_t`$ spectra. Figure 2 shows normalized particle spectra for $`\pi ^\pm `$, $`K^\pm `$, $`p`$ and $`\overline{p}`$ at $`y=0`$ (top) and $`y3`$ (bottom).

At mid-rapidity, positive and negative spectra have similar slopes and magnitudes. The inverse slopes increase with the mass of the particles, and for the proton and anti-proton, the spectra reach and exceed the pion yields at $`p_t2\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{c}`$, as was observed at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}=130\mathrm{GeV}`$ . At $`y3`$, yields differ between $`K^+`$ and $`K^{}`$ as well as between $`p`$ and $`\overline{p}`$ although slopes are similar (cf. table 1).

## 3 RAPIDITY DENSITY

Rapidity densities were evaluated by fitting the particle spectra with an exponential function $`exp\left[(m_tm)/T\right]`$ which was then integrated. Statistical errors are between 1% and 4%, whereas systematics errors are estimated to be 15% at mid-rapidity and 20% at the highest rapidity investigated for this analysis. These errors come from various sources. One is the extrapolation of the lower part of the $`p_t`$ spectra. The MRS acceptance covers 65% of the of the total spectrum range for pions, 60% for kaons and 70% for the protons, while the FS acceptance covers around 50% for pions, 30% for kaons and 60% for protons. Another main source is the use of different data sets where background conditions can differ. The results are summarized in table 1 and the rapidity density of charged hadrons is shown in Fig. 3.

The measured densities fall off by $``$ 20% in the range $`|y|1`$. We also note that the density ratios between matter and antimatter are close to unity, as was already observed in . As we go towards higher rapidities, all particle densities show a significant drop except for the protons (yields were not corrected for hyperon decays). While $`\pi ^+`$ and $`\pi ^{}`$ yields decrease evenly, $`K^{}`$ yields drop faster than $`K^+`$ yields. This is illustrated in Fig. 4, which shows the $`K/\pi `$ ratios as a function of $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$.

We note that the $`K^{}/\pi ^{}`$ at midrapidity increases monotonically to 0.18 $`\pm `$ 0.02 (syst) as $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ increases. In contrast, the $`K^+/\pi ^+`$ evolution seems to show a saturation of the positive strangeness from $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}=17\mathrm{GeV}`$ to 200 GeV where it is equal to 0.19 $`\pm `$ 0.02 (syst), which is comparable with the mid-rapidity results from central Pb + Pb reactions at SPS . At this particular energy, no rapidity dependence was observed for $`K^+/\pi ^+`$ but the $`K^{}/\pi ^{}`$ ratio drops to 0.12 $`\pm `$ 0.02 (syst) at $`y3`$. At this rapidity, the ratios are comparable with the results from . This behaviour at the highest RHIC energy appears to be consistent with the rapidity dependence of the proton and antiproton yields detailed in .

## 4 SUMMARY

The particle densities of produced charged hadrons exhibit a significant variation with rapidity, that is consistent with a gaussian distribution with a full width of $``$ 6 units in rapidity for pions. The inverse slopes decrease with increasing rapidity for pions, kaons and protons but differences between particle species still remain at y $``$ 3. This indicates that radial flow is still present at these high rapidities. The strangeness production is also strongly dependent on rapidity. It is shown that $`K^+`$ and $`K^{}`$ are produced in almost equal amounts at mid-rapidity. As $`y3`$ though, we notice that the $`K^{}/\pi ^{}`$ ratio is about 60% of the $`K^+/\pi ^+`$ ratio, which reflects the decreasing importance of the pair production mechanism with increasing rapidity111See  for a discussion about baryon stopping..