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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Throughout this paper, all rings are commutative and Noetherian, and all modules are finitely generated and unital.

Let $`(R,𝔪)`$ be a local Noetherian ring of dimension $`d`$, and let $`M`$ and $`N`$ be finitely generated $`R`$-modules such that $`M`$ has finite projective dimension and $`M_RN`$ is a module of finite length. Serre  defined the intersection multiplicity of $`M`$ and $`N`$ to be

$$\chi (M,N)=\underset{i=0}{\overset{d}{}}(1)^i\text{length}(\text{Tor}_i^R(M,N))$$

and considered the following properties when $`R`$ is regular.

1. $`dim(M)+dim(N)dim(R)`$.
2. (Nonnegativity) $`\chi (M,N)0`$.
3. (Vanishing) If $`dim(M)+dim(N)<dim(R)`$, then $`\chi (M,N)=0`$.
4. (Positivity) If $`dim(M)+dim(N)=dim(R)`$, then $`\chi (M,N)>0`$.

Serre was able to verify the first statement for any regular local ring and the others in the case when $`R`$ is unramified. Since $`\chi (M,N)`$ has many of the characteristics we desire from an intersection multiplicity (for example, Bézout’s Theorem holds), it was reasonable to suppose that these further properties are satisfied over an arbitrary regular local ring. The results were left unproved for ramified rings.

The vanishing conjecture was proved about ten years ago by Gillet and Soulé  and independently by Roberts  using $`K`$-theoretic methods. Gabber proved the nonnegativity conjecture recently  using a theorem of de Jong . The positivity conjecture remains open in the ramified case. Kurano and Roberts have proved the following using methods introduced by Gabber.

###### Theorem 1.1.

( Theorem 3.2) Assume that $`(R,𝔪)`$ is a regular local ring which either contains a field or is ramified. Also, assume that $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔮`$ are prime ideals in $`R`$ such that $`\sqrt{𝔭+𝔮}=𝔪`$ and $`dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)=dimR`$. If $`\chi (R/𝔭,R/𝔮)>0`$ then

$$𝔭^{(n)}𝔮𝔪^{n+1}\text{ for all }n>0$$
(1)
where $`𝔭^{(n)}`$ denotes the $`n`$th symbolic power of $`𝔭`$.

As a result, they conjectured that (1) should hold for all regular local rings.

###### Conjecture 1.2.

Assume that $`(R,𝔪)`$ is a regular local ring and that $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔮`$ are prime ideals in $`R`$ such that $`\sqrt{𝔭+𝔮}=𝔪`$ and $`dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)=dimR`$. Then $`𝔭^{(n)}𝔮𝔪^{n+1}`$ for all $`n>0`$.

We study Conjecture 1.2, as a verification of this conjecture could introduce new tools to apply to the positivity conjecture.

For any local ring $`(A,𝔫)`$ with finite module $`M`$ let $`e(M)`$ denote the Samuel multiplicity of $`M`$ with respect to the ideal $`𝔫`$. (For the definition of the Hilbert-Samuel multiplicity, see Definition 2.1 below.) It is straightforward to verify that, if $`R`$ is a regular local ring with prime ideal $`𝔭`$ and $`0f𝔭`$, then $`e(R_𝔭/(f))=m`$ if and only if $`f𝔭^{(m)}𝔭^{(m+1)}`$. Thus, Conjecture 1.2 may be rephrased as the following.

Conjecture 1.2 Assume that $`(R,𝔪)`$ is a regular local ring and that $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔮`$ are prime ideals in $`R`$ such that $`\sqrt{𝔭+𝔮}=𝔪`$. If there exists $`0f𝔭𝔮`$ such that $`e(R_𝔭/(f))=e(R/(f))`$, then $`dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)dim(R)1`$.

Conjecture 1.2 motivates the following generalization.

###### Conjecture 1.3.

Assume that $`(R,𝔪)`$ is a local ring with finitely-generated module $`M`$ such that $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ is quasi-unmixed, and $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔮`$ are prime ideals in the support of $`M`$ such that $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified, $`\sqrt{𝔭+𝔮}=𝔪`$ and $`e(M_𝔭)=e(M)`$. Then

$$dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)dim(M).$$

In Examples 6.16.5 we give examples showing the necessity of the assumptions of Conjecture 1.3.

In a previous paper () we considered the case $`M=R`$ and $`R`$ is Cohen-Macaulay. In Conjecture 1.3, if $`dim(M)=dim(R)`$ and $`R`$ is quasi-unmixed, then the Associativity Formula for multiplicities tells us that the condition $`e(M_𝔭)=e(M)`$ is slightly weaker than the condition $`e(R_𝔭)=e(R)`$. The condition $`e(R_𝔭)=e(R)`$ depends on all the minimal primes of $`R`$, while the condition $`e(M_𝔭)=e(M)`$ depends only on the minimal primes of $`R`$ which are in the support of $`M`$. In Example 6.6 we give an example demonstrating this.

The following is the main result of this paper, in which we prove Conjecture 1.3 in the case where $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ contains a field.

Theorem 3.2. Assume that $`(R,𝔪)`$ is a local ring and that $`M`$ is an $`R`$-module such that $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ is quasi-unmixed and contains a field. Let $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔮`$ be prime ideals of $`R`$ in the support of $`M`$ such that $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified, $`\sqrt{𝔭+𝔮}=𝔪`$, and $`e(M_𝔭)=e(M)`$. Then $`dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)dim(M)`$.

Note that, if $`R`$ is assumed to be excellent, then the condition that $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified is automatically satisfied, and $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ is quasi-unmixed if and only if it is equidimensional.

Here we give a sketch of the proof of the main theorem. By passing to the quotient $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$, we may assume that $`R`$ is quasi-unmixed and contains a field, and that $`\text{Supp}(M)=\text{Spec}(R)`$. By using the Associativity Formula for multiplicities (see Section 2), we may replace the module $`M`$ with the ring $`R`$. By passing to the ring $`R[X]_{𝔪R[X]}`$, we may assume that the residue field of $`R`$ is infinite. The fact that $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified allows us to pass to the completion of $`R`$ so that we may assume that $`R`$ is complete and equidimensional and contains an infinite field $`K`$. To prove the complete case, we construct an injection $`R^{}=K[[X_1,\mathrm{},X_r]]R`$ where $`r=dim(R)`$, and we let $`𝔭^{}=𝔭R^{}`$ and $`𝔮^{}=𝔮R^{}`$. To prove the result, it suffices to show that $`𝔭^{}+𝔮^{}`$ is primary to the maximal ideal of $`R^{}`$. This is sufficient because $`R^{}`$ is regular and Serre’s result shows that

$`dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)`$ $`=dim(R^{}/𝔭^{})+dim(R^{}/𝔮^{})`$
$`dim(R^{})=dim(R).`$
To prove that $`𝔭^{}+𝔮^{}`$ is primary to the maximal ideal of $`R^{}`$, it suffices to show that $`𝔭`$ is the unique prime ideal of $`R`$ which contracts to $`𝔭^{}`$ in $`R^{}`$. The desired uniqueness follows from our key lemma, which is essentially a corollary of a standard formula in multiplicity theory.

Lemma 3.1. Assume that $`R`$ is an equidimensional ring containing a regular local ring $`(R^{},𝔪^{})`$ such that the extension $`R^{}R`$ is module finite. Let $`𝔭`$ be a prime ideal of $`R`$ and let $`𝔭^{}=𝔭R^{}`$. Assume that $`e(R_𝔭)=\mathrm{rank}_R^{}(R)`$. Then $`𝔭`$ is the unique prime ideal of $`R`$ contracting to $`𝔭^{}`$ in $`R^{}`$ and $`\kappa (𝔭^{})\kappa (𝔭)`$.

In addition, we use similar methods to prove the following theorem in mixed characteristic.

Theorem 4.1 Assume that $`(R,𝔪)`$ is a local ring and that $`M`$ is an $`R`$-module such that $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ is quasi-unmixed of mixed characteristic $`p`$ and that $`p`$ is part of a system of parameters of $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ which generates a reduction of the maximal ideal of $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$. Let $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔮`$ be prime ideals of $`R`$ in the support of $`M`$ such that $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified, $`\sqrt{𝔭+𝔮}=𝔪`$, and $`e(M_𝔭)=e(M)`$. Then $`dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)dim(M)`$.

As noted above, Serre proved Conjecture 1.3 in the case where $`R`$ is regular and $`M=R`$. Many attempts have been made to generalize Serre’s result to the nonregular situation. It can be shown easily that, if one drops the assumption of regularity on the ring, then one must assume that the objects under investigation have additional properties which would be automatic if the ring were regular. In our conjectures and results, we assume that the module $`M`$ satisfies the property $`e(M_𝔭)=e(M)`$. When the ring is regular and $`M`$ has positive rank, this is automatic because the localization $`R_𝔭`$ is also regular so that $`e(R)=1`$ and $`e(R_𝔭)=1`$, and if $`r=\mathrm{rank}_R(M)`$ then $`r=\mathrm{rank}_{R_𝔭}(M_𝔭)`$ and $`e(M)=re(R)=r=re(R_𝔭)=e(M_𝔭)`$. In a famous conjecture, Peskine and Szpiro focus on the finiteness of projective dimensions over regular local rings.

###### Conjecture 1.4.

() Assume that $`(R,𝔪)`$ is a local ring and $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔮`$ are prime ideals in $`R`$ such that $`𝔭`$ has finite projective dimension and $`\sqrt{𝔭+𝔮}=𝔪`$. Then $`dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)dim(R)`$.

We include this here because it places Conjecture 1.3 in a second context: not only is our conjecture motivated by a consequence of positivity, but also it is a generalization of Serre’s dimension inequality for regular local rings. We note that, in the nonregular situation, Conjectures 1.3 and 1.4 are not comparable: c.f., .

In Section 2 we present definitions and background results. In Section 3 we prove the key lemma and the main theorem. In Section 4 we prove the mixed characteristic result mentioned above. In Section 5 we briefly consider Conjecture 1.2 in light of Theorems 3.2 and 4.1. In Section 6 we present several examples.

## 2 Definitions and Background Results

The Hilbert-Samuel multiplicity shall play a central role in our work. For the sake of clarity we specify which multiplicity we are considering.

###### Definition 2.1.

Assume that $`(R,𝔪)`$ is a local ring and that $`M`$ is an $`R`$-module of dimension $`d`$. Let $`𝔞`$ be an ideal of $`R`$ such that $`\sqrt{𝔞}=𝔪`$. For $`n0`$ the Hilbert function $`H_{𝔞,M}(n)=\mathrm{len}(M/𝔞^{n+1}M)`$ is a polynomial in $`n`$ of degree $`d`$ with rational coefficients. If $`e_d`$ is the leading coefficient of this polynomial then the Hilbert-Samuel multiplicity of $`𝔞`$ on $`M`$ is the positive integer $`e_R(𝔞,M)=d!e_d`$. We will write $`e(𝔞,M)`$ instead of $`e_R(𝔞,M)`$ if doing so causes no confusion. We denote $`e(𝔪,M)`$ by $`e(M)`$.

Recall that the Hilbert-Samuel multiplicity satisfies the following Associativity Formula

$$e(M)=\underset{𝔭}{}\mathrm{len}(M_𝔭)e(R/𝔭)$$

where the sum is taken over all prime ideals $`𝔭`$ of $`R`$ such that $`dim(R/𝔭)=dim(M)`$. Because we need only take the sum over such prime ideals which are also in the support of $`M`$, this sum is finite.

Furthermore, recall the following formula (c.f., Nagata  (23.1)). Assume $`(R^{},𝔪^{})`$ is a local ring contained in a semilocal ring $`(R,𝔪_1,\mathrm{},𝔪_n)`$ such that each $`𝔪_iR^{}=𝔪^{}`$. Assume also that $`R`$ is a finite $`R^{}`$-module. Then

$$e_R^{}(𝔪^{},R)=\underset{i}{}[R/𝔪_i:R^{}/𝔪^{}]e_{R_{𝔪_i}}(𝔪^{}R_{𝔪_i},R_{𝔪_i})$$
(2)
where the sum is taken over all indices $`i`$ such that $`\mathrm{ht}(𝔪_i)=dim(R^{})`$.

The following theorem tells us that, under certain circumstances, the Hilbert-Samuel multiplicity is well-behaved under localizations. We say that a local ring $`R`$ is analytically unramified if its completion has no nonzero nilpotents. We say that a prime ideal $`𝔭`$ in a local ring $`R`$ is analytically unramified if the quotient $`R/𝔭`$ is analytically unramified.

###### Theorem 2.2.

( (40.1)) Let $`𝔭`$ be a prime ideal of a local ring $`R`$. If $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified and if $`\mathrm{ht}(𝔭)+dim(R/𝔭)=dim(R)`$, then $`e(R_𝔭)e(R)`$.

Note that, if $`R`$ is catenary and equidimensional then the condition $`\mathrm{ht}(𝔭)+dim(R/𝔭)=dim(R)`$ is automatically satisfied. (A ring $`R`$ is equidimensional if, for every minimal prime $`𝔯`$ of $`R`$, $`dim(R/𝔯)=dim(R)`$.) Theorem 2.2 gives our motivation for the assumption “$`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified” in Conjecture 1.3. If we do not assume that the Hilbert-Samuel multiplicity is well-behaved with respect to localization, then there is no reason to suspect that the assumption $`e(M_𝔭)=e(M)`$ is meaningful. Example 6.7 is an example of a local domain with prime ideal $`𝔭`$ which is analytically unramified such that $`\mathrm{ht}(𝔭)+dim(R/𝔭)dim(R)`$ and $`e(R_𝔭)>e(R)`$. At this time, we do not know of an example of an equidimensional, catenary local ring $`R`$ with prime ideal $`𝔭`$ which is analytically ramified where either Conjecture 1.3 or the conclusion of Theorem 2.2 fail to hold.

The following result tells us that multiplicities behave well under certain flat extensions.

###### Proposition 2.3.

(Herzog  Lemma 2.3) Assume that $`R\stackrel{~}{R}`$ is a flat local homomorphism of local rings $`(R,𝔪)`$ and $`(\stackrel{~}{R},\stackrel{~}{𝔪})`$ and that $`𝔪\stackrel{~}{R}=\stackrel{~}{𝔪}`$. Then $`e(\stackrel{~}{R})=e(R)`$.

## 3 The Main Theorem

The key lemma for our main theorem is the following. For an integral domain $`A`$ let $`Q(A)`$ denote the field of fractions of $`A`$. For a prime ideal $`𝔭`$ of a ring $`R`$, let $`\kappa (𝔭)=Q(R/𝔭)`$.

###### Lemma 3.1.

Assume that $`R`$ is an equidimensional ring containing a regular local ring $`(R^{},𝔪^{})`$ such that the extension $`R^{}R`$ is module finite. Let $`𝔭`$ be a prime ideal of $`R`$ and let $`𝔭^{}=𝔭R^{}`$. Assume that $`e(R_𝔭)=\mathrm{rank}_R^{}(R)`$. Then $`𝔭`$ is the unique prime ideal of $`R`$ contracting to $`𝔭^{}`$ in $`R^{}`$ and $`\kappa (𝔭^{})\kappa (𝔭)`$.

###### Proof.

The fact that the extension $`R^{}R`$ is module finite and injective implies that $`R`$ is semilocal and dominates $`R^{}`$. Let $`r=\mathrm{rank}_R^{}(R)`$ so that $`r=\mathrm{rank}_{R_𝔭^{}^{}}(R_𝔭^{})=\mathrm{rank}_{R_𝔭^{}^{}}(R_R^{}R_𝔭^{}^{})`$. By eq. (2) and Matsumura  Theorem 14.8,

$$r=re(R_𝔭^{}^{})=e(𝔭^{}R_𝔭^{}^{},R_𝔭^{})=\underset{𝔮}{}[\kappa (𝔮):\kappa (𝔭^{})]e(𝔭^{}R_𝔮,R_𝔮)$$

where the sum is taken over all prime ideals $`𝔮`$ of $`R`$ which contract to $`𝔭^{}`$ and such that $`\mathrm{ht}(𝔮)=\mathrm{ht}(𝔭^{})`$. Because the extension $`R^{}R`$ is finite, $`R^{}`$ is integrally closed and $`R`$ is equidimensional, the going-up and going-down properties hold for the extension. In particular, any prime ideal $`𝔮`$ of $`R`$ which contracts to $`𝔭^{}`$ automatically satisfies the condition $`\mathrm{ht}(𝔮)=\mathrm{ht}(𝔭^{})`$. Our assumption $`e(R_𝔭)=r`$ implies that

$$r=\underset{𝔮}{}[\kappa (𝔮):\kappa (𝔭^{})]e(𝔭^{}R_𝔮,R_𝔮)e(𝔭^{}R_𝔭,R_𝔭)e(R_𝔭)=r$$

where the sum is taken over all prime ideals $`𝔮`$ such that $`𝔮R^{}=𝔭^{}`$. Therefore, we have equality at each step. The only way this can be true is if $`𝔭`$ is the unique such prime and $`[\kappa (𝔭):\kappa (𝔭^{})]=1`$. This is the desired conclusion. ∎

The following is our main theorem. Recall that a local ring is quasi-unmixed (or formally equidimensional) if its completion is equidimensional. This is equivalent to the ring being universally catenary and equidimensional by Ratliff .

###### Theorem 3.2.

Assume that $`(R,𝔪)`$ is a local ring and that $`M`$ is an $`R`$-module such that $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ is quasi-unmixed and contains a field. Let $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔮`$ be prime ideals of $`R`$ in the support of $`M`$ such that $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified, $`\sqrt{𝔭+𝔮}=𝔪`$, and $`e(M_𝔭)=e(M)`$. Then $`dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)dim(M)`$.

As we noted above, if $`R`$ is assumed to be excellent, then the condition that $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified is automatically satisfied, and $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ is quasi-unmixed if and only if it is equidimensional.

###### Proof.

Step 1. By passing to the quotient $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$, we reduce to the case where $`R`$ is quasi-unmixed and contains a field and $`\text{Supp}(M)=\text{Spec}(R)`$. The fact that $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔮`$ are in the support of $`M`$ implies that $`\text{Ann}(M)𝔭𝔮`$. Let $`R^{}=R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ with $`𝔪^{}=𝔪R^{}`$, $`𝔭^{}=𝔭R^{}`$ and $`𝔮^{}=𝔮R^{}`$. Our assumptions imply that $`R^{}`$ is a quasi-unmixed local ring which contains a field, and $`\text{Supp}_R^{}(M)=\text{Spec}(R^{})`$. The ideals $`𝔭^{}`$ and $`𝔮^{}`$ are primes in the support of $`M`$ such that $`𝔭^{}`$ is analytically unramified and $`\sqrt{𝔭^{}+𝔮^{}}=𝔪^{}`$. Also, $`e_R^{}(M)=e_R(M)`$ because the Hilbert polynomials of $`M`$ over $`R`$ and $`R^{}`$ are the same. Similarly, $`e_{R_𝔭^{}^{}}(M_𝔭^{})=e_{R_𝔭}(M_𝔭)`$ so that $`e_{R_𝔭^{}^{}}(M_𝔭^{})=e_R^{}(M)`$. Thus, the case where $`R`$ is quasi-unmixed and contains a field and $`\text{Supp}(M)=\text{Spec}(R)`$ implies that

$$dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)=dim(R^{}/𝔭^{})+dim(R^{}/𝔮^{})dim(M)$$

giving the desired result.

Step 2. We reduce to the case where $`M=R`$. Because we are assuming now that $`\text{Supp}(M)=\text{Spec}(R)`$ and that $`R`$ is quasi-unmixed, the Associativity Formula tells us that

$$\underset{𝔯}{}\mathrm{len}(M_𝔯)e(R/𝔯)=e(M)=e(M_𝔭)=\underset{𝔯𝔭}{}\mathrm{len}(M_𝔯)e(R_𝔭/𝔯_𝔭)$$
(3)
where the first sum is taken over all minimal primes of $`R`$ and the second sum is taken over all minimal primes of $`R`$ which are contained in $`𝔭`$. The fact that each $`R/𝔯`$ is quasi-unmixed and that $`𝔭/𝔯`$ is analytically unramified for all such $`𝔯`$ contained in $`𝔭`$ implies that $`e(R_𝔭/𝔯_𝔭)e(R/𝔯)`$ by Theorem 2.2. Thus, eq. (3) implies that every minimal prime $`𝔯`$ of $`R`$ is contained in $`𝔭`$ and $`e(R_𝔭/𝔯_𝔭)=e(R/𝔯)`$. Thus,

$$e(R)=\underset{𝔯}{}\mathrm{len}(R_𝔯)e(R/𝔯)=\underset{𝔯}{}\mathrm{len}(R_𝔯)e(R_𝔭/𝔯_𝔭)=e(R_𝔭).$$

Of course, $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔮`$ are in the support of $`R`$, so that, if we know the result for $`M=R`$ then

$$dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)dim(R)=dim(M).$$

Step 3. By passing to the ring $`R(X)=R[X]_{𝔪R[X]}`$, we reduce to the case where $`R`$ has infinite residue field. The ring $`R(X)=R[X]_{𝔪R[X]}`$ is quasi-unmixed with infinite residue field $`R/𝔪(X)`$. Because the extension $`RR(X)`$ is flat and local, and $`𝔪`$ extends to the maximal ideal of $`R(X)`$, Proposition 2.3 implies that $`e(R(X))=e(R)`$. For any ideal $`I`$ of $`R`$ let $`I(X)=IR(X)`$. Then $`𝔭(X)`$ and $`𝔮(X)`$ are prime ideals of $`R(X)`$ such that $`\sqrt{𝔭(X)+𝔮(X)}=𝔪(X)`$. By  (36.8), $`𝔭(X)`$ is analytically unramified. The extension $`R_𝔭R(X)_{𝔭(X)}`$ is faithfully flat and $`𝔭_𝔭`$ extends to the maximal ideal of $`R(X)_{𝔭(X)}`$, so that $`e(R(X)_{𝔭(X)})=e(R_𝔭)`$. If we know the result for rings with infinite residue field, then

$`dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)`$ $`=dim(R(X)/𝔭(X))+dim(R(X)/𝔮(X))`$
$`dim(R(X))=dim(R).`$
Step 4. By passing to the completion $`\widehat{R}`$ of $`R`$, we reduce to the case where $`R`$ is complete and equidimensional. Let $`\widehat{𝔭}`$ and $`\widehat{𝔮}`$ be prime ideals of $`\widehat{R}`$ which are minimal over $`𝔭\widehat{R}`$ and $`𝔮\widehat{R}`$, respectively. Then $`dim(\widehat{R}/\widehat{𝔭})=dim(R/𝔭)`$ and similarly for $`\widehat{R}/\widehat{𝔮}`$. The ring $`\widehat{R}`$ is quasi-unmixed. Also,

$$\widehat{𝔪}\sqrt{\widehat{𝔭}+\widehat{𝔮}}\sqrt{𝔭\widehat{R}+𝔮\widehat{R}}=𝔪\widehat{R}=\widehat{𝔪}$$

so that $`\sqrt{\widehat{𝔭}+\widehat{𝔮}}=\widehat{𝔪}`$. The extension $`R\widehat{R}`$ is flat and local and the extension of $`𝔪`$ into $`\widehat{R}`$ is the maximal ideal $`\widehat{𝔪}`$, so that $`e(\widehat{R})=e(R)`$ by Proposition 2.3. The fact that $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified implies that $`𝔭\widehat{R}_{\widehat{𝔭}}=\widehat{𝔭}\widehat{R}_{\widehat{𝔭}}`$, so that $`e(\widehat{R}_{\widehat{𝔭}})=e(R_𝔭)`$. Thus, the complete, equidimensional case implies that

$$dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)=dim(\widehat{R}/\widehat{𝔭})+dim(\widehat{R}/\widehat{𝔮})dim(\widehat{R})=dim(R).$$

Step 5. We prove the case where $`R`$ is complete and equidimensional with infinite residue field, and $`M=R`$. By Bruns and Herzog  Proposition 4.6.8, there exists a system of parameters $`𝐱=x_1,\mathrm{},x_r`$ of $`R`$ which generates a reduction ideal of $`𝔪`$.

Let $`K`$ denote the residue field of $`R`$, which we may assume is contained in $`R`$, as $`R`$ is complete and contains a field. Let $`R^{}`$ denote the power series ring $`K[[X_1,\mathrm{},X_r]]`$. The natural map $`R^{}R`$ given by $`X_ix_i`$ is injective and makes $`R`$ into a finite $`R^{}`$-module. By  Theorem 14.8 and  Lemma 4.6.5

$$\mathrm{rank}_R^{}(R)=\mathrm{rank}_R^{}(R)e(R^{})=e(𝔪^{}R,R)=e((𝐱)R,R)=e(R)=e(R_𝔭).$$

Let $`e=e(R)`$, $`𝔭^{}=𝔭R^{}`$ and $`𝔮^{}=𝔮R^{}`$. The fact that the extension $`R^{}/𝔭^{}R/𝔭`$ is injective and module-finite implies that $`dim(R^{}/𝔭^{})=dim(R/𝔭)`$, and similarly, $`dim(R^{}/𝔮^{})=dim(R/𝔮)`$.

To show that $`dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)dim(R)`$, it suffices to show that $`\sqrt{𝔭^{}+𝔮^{}}=𝔪^{}`$, as Serre’s intersection theorem for regular local rings implies that

$`dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)`$ $`=dim(R^{}/𝔭^{})+dim(R^{}/𝔮^{})`$
$`dim(R^{})=dim(R)`$
as desired.

The fact that $`e(R_𝔭)=e(R)=\mathrm{rank}_R^{}(R)`$ with the previous lemma implies that $`𝔭`$ is the unique prime ideal of $`R`$ contracting to $`𝔭^{}`$ in $`R^{}`$. Let $`𝔰^{}`$ be a prime ideal of $`R^{}`$ containing $`𝔭^{}+𝔮^{}`$. It suffices to show that $`𝔰^{}=𝔪^{}`$. By the going-up property, there is a prime ideal $`𝔰`$ of $`R`$ containing $`𝔮`$ such that $`𝔰R^{}=𝔰^{}`$. By the going-down property, there is a prime ideal $`𝔭_1`$ of $`R`$ contained in $`𝔰`$ such that $`𝔭_1R^{}=𝔭^{}`$. By our uniqueness statement, $`𝔭_1=𝔭`$ so that $`𝔰`$ contains $`𝔭+𝔮`$. Therefore, $`𝔰=𝔪`$ and $`𝔰^{}=𝔰R^{}=𝔪R^{}=𝔪^{}`$, as desired. This completes the proof. ∎

## 4 A Theorem in Mixed Characteristic

The following result in mixed characteristic is slightly more restrictive than Theorem 3.2, but is rather interesting. For brevity, we say that a system of parameters $`x_1,\mathrm{},x_d`$ of a local ring $`(R,𝔪)`$ is a reductive system of parameters if $`(𝐱)R`$ is a reduction of $`𝔪`$. If the residue field of $`R`$ is infinite and the sequence $`y_1,\mathrm{},y_r`$ generates a reduction of $`𝔪`$, then Northcott and Rees  Theorem 4.2 tells us that the ideal $`(𝐲)R`$ is a minimal reduction of $`𝔪`$ if and only if $`r=dim(R)`$. That is, a system of parameters is reductive if and only if it generates a minimal reduction of $`𝔪`$.

###### Theorem 4.1.

Assume that $`(R,𝔪)`$ is a local ring and that $`M`$ is an $`R`$-module such that $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ is quasi-unmixed of mixed characteristic $`p`$ and that $`p`$ is part of a reductive system of parameters of $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$. Let $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔮`$ be prime ideals of $`R`$ in the support of $`M`$ such that $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified, $`\sqrt{𝔭+𝔮}=𝔪`$, and $`e(M_𝔭)=e(M)`$. Then $`dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)dim(M)`$.

Again, we note that if $`R`$ is excellent, then the assumption that $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified is automatically satisfied and that $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ is quasi-unmixed if and only if it is equidimensional.

###### Proof.

We follow the same steps as in the proof of Theorem 3.2. Steps 1–4 are independent of the assumption on the characteristic of the ring. To verify that we may assume that $`R`$ is complete, equidimensional and mixed characteristic $`p`$ with infinite residue field and that $`p`$ is part of a reductive system of parameters of $`R`$, it suffices to show that this final property passes through each of the steps. Steps 1 and 2 are trivial. For Steps 3 and 4, we note that each extensions $`RR(X)`$ and $`R\widehat{R}`$ are flat, local extensions such that the extension of the maximal ideal of $`R`$ into the extension ring is the maximal ideal of the extension ring. It is straightforward to show that, in this situation, a reductive system of parameters $`𝐱`$ of $`R`$ extends to a reductive system of parameters of the extension ring. Therefore we may pass to the completion.

Step 5. Let $`p=x_1,x_2,\mathrm{},x_d`$ be a reductive system of parameters of $`R`$. The fact that $`p`$ is part of a system of parameters for $`R`$ implies that $`p`$ is contained in no minimal prime of $`R`$. In particular, $`R`$ has characteristic 0. The fact that $`R`$ is complete then implies that $`R`$ has a coefficient ring $`(V,pV)`$ which is a complete discrete valuation ring contained in $`R`$. Let $`R^{}=V[[X_2,\mathrm{},X_d]]`$ which is a regular local ring of dimension $`d=dim(R)`$. By the proof of  Theorem 29.4(iii), the map $`R^{}R`$ given by $`X_ix_i`$ is injective and makes $`R`$ into a finite $`R^{}`$-module. The fact that $`x_1,\mathrm{},x_d`$ generate a reduction of $`𝔪`$ implies, as in the proof of Theorem 3.2, that $`\mathrm{rank}_R^{}(R)=e(R)=e(R_𝔭)`$ so that the proof is now identical to that of Theorem 3.2. ∎

In Example 6.8 we show that the construction of Step 5 does not work if the assumption “$`p`$ is part of a reductive system of parameters of $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$” is dropped.

## 5 The Conjecture of Kurano and Roberts

At this point, it seems wise to consider the status of Conjecture 1.2 in light of Theorems 3.2 and 4.1. Conjecture 1.2 holds for regular local rings containing a field by Theorem 3.2. Of course, because the positivity conjecture holds for regular local rings containing a field, this also follows from Theorem 1.1. In the mixed characteristic, unramified case, Theorem 4.1 does not completely resolve this conjecture, but it shows us exactly where to focus our attention.

Assume that $`(R,𝔪)`$ is an unramified regular local ring of mixed characteristic $`p`$ with prime ideals $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔮`$ such that $`\sqrt{𝔭+𝔮}=𝔪`$ and $`dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)=dim(R)`$. We want to show that $`𝔭^{(n)}𝔮𝔪^{n+1}`$. Using standard methods, we may assume that $`R`$ is complete with infinite residue field. (Note that, for the question of Kurano and Roberts, we do not need to assume that $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified to make this reduction.) Suppose that $`f𝔭^{(n)}𝔮`$ and $`f𝔪^{n+1}`$. Using the Associativity Formula, we may assume that $`f`$ is irreducible. Let $`R_1=R/fR`$, $`𝔪_1=𝔪R_1`$, and so on. The data $`R_1,𝔪_1,𝔭_1,𝔮_1,M_1=R_1`$ then gives a counterexample to Conjecture 1.3 where the ring is in fact a complete domain. By Theorems 3.2 and 4.1, we therefore know that $`R_1`$ does not contain a field and the residual characteristic $`p`$ is not part of a reductive system of parameters of $`R_1`$. An appropriate choice of variables then shows that we can write $`R_1`$ in the form

$$R_1=V[[X_1,\mathrm{},X_d]]/(p^n+a_1p^{n1}+\mathrm{}+a_n)$$

where $`V`$ is a complete $`p`$-ring, $`a_i(X_1,\mathrm{},X_d)^i`$ and $`a_n𝔪^{n+1}`$. Therefore, with an appropriate choice of variables for $`R`$, we know that the only form $`f`$ can have is $`f=p^n+a_1p^{n1}+\mathrm{}+a_n`$.

## 6 Examples

The following example demonstrates that, in Conjecture 1.3, the ring $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ must be equidimensional.

###### Example 6.1.

Let $`R=M=k[[X,Y,Z]]/(XY,XZ)=k[[x,y,z]]`$ and let $`𝔭=(x)R`$ and $`𝔮=(y,z)R`$. Then $`R`$ is excellent, $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔮`$ are in the support of $`M`$, $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified, $`e(M_𝔭)=1=e(M)`$, and $`\sqrt{𝔭+𝔮}=𝔪`$. However, $`R`$ is not equidimensional and

$$dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)=3>2=dim(M).$$

The following example demonstrates that, in Conjecture 1.3, the condition $`e(M_𝔭)=e(M)`$ is necessary.

###### Example 6.2.

Let $`R=M=k[[X,Y]]/(XY)=k[[x,y]]`$ and let $`𝔭=(x)R`$ and $`𝔮=(y)R`$. Then $`R`$ is excellent and equidimensional, $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔮`$ are in the support of $`M`$, $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified, and $`\sqrt{𝔭+𝔮}=𝔪`$. However, $`e(M_𝔭)=1<2=e(M)`$ and

$$dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)=2>1=dim(M).$$

The following example demonstrates that, in Conjecture 1.3, the condition $`\sqrt{𝔭+𝔮}=𝔪`$ is necessary.

###### Example 6.3.

Let $`R=M=k[[X]]`$ and let $`𝔭=𝔮=(0)R`$. Then $`R`$ is excellent and equidimensional, $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔮`$ are in the support of $`M`$, $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified, and $`e(M_𝔭)=1=e(M)`$. However, $`\sqrt{𝔭+𝔮}𝔪`$ and

$$dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)=2>1=dim(R).$$

The following example demonstrates that, in Conjecture 1.3, the ideal $`𝔮`$ must be in the support of $`M`$. (Note that the question makes no sense if $`𝔭`$ is not in the support of $`M`$, since then $`e(M_𝔭)=0<e(M)`$.)

###### Example 6.4.

Let

$$R=k[[X,Y,Z,W]]/(XY,YZ,ZW,WX)=k[[x,y,z,w]].$$

Let $`M=R/(x,z)k[[Y,W]]`$. Let $`𝔭=(x,z)`$ or $`𝔭=(x,y,z)`$ so that $`e(M)=e(M_𝔭)=1`$ and $`dim(R/𝔭)1`$. Let $`𝔮=(y,w)`$ so that $`M_𝔮=0`$ and $`dim(R/𝔮)=2`$. Then $`R`$ is excellent, $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ is a domain, $`𝔭\text{Supp}(M)`$, $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified, and $`\sqrt{𝔭+𝔮}=𝔪`$. However, $`𝔮\text{Supp}(M)`$ and

$$dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)3>2=dim(M).$$

The following example demonstrates that, in Conjecture 1.3, the quotient ring $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ must be catenary.

###### Example 6.5.

( Appendix (E.2)) Let $`K`$ be a field and let $`x`$ be an indeterminate. Let $`r`$ be a positive integer and $`z_1,\mathrm{},z_rK[[x]]`$ be power series which are algebraically independent over $`K(x)`$. Write $`z_i=_ja_{ij}x^j`$ and for $`j>0`$ let

$$z_{ij}=\frac{z_i_{k<j}a_{ik}x^k}{x^{j1}}=\underset{kj}{}a_{ik}x^{kj+1}.$$

Let $`m`$ be a positive integer and $`y_1,\mathrm{},y_m`$ be algebraically independent elements (indeterminates) over $`K[x,z_1,\mathrm{},z_r]`$. Let $`R_0=K[x,\{z_{ij}\}]`$ and for $`i=1,\mathrm{},m`$ let $`R_i=R_0[y_1,\mathrm{},y_i]`$.

The ideal $`xR_0`$ is maximal in $`R_0`$, because $`z_{ij}=xz_{ij+1}+a_{ij}xxR_0`$. As Nagata notes, $`(R_0)_{xR_0}`$ is a discrete valuation ring. Let $`𝔪_i=(x,y_1,\mathrm{},y_i)R_i`$ and $`𝔫_i=(x1,z_1,\mathrm{},z_r,y_1,\mathrm{},y_i)R_i`$ for $`i=0,\mathrm{},m`$. The rings $`V_i=(R_i)_{𝔪_i}`$ are regular local rings of dimension $`i+1`$ and the rings $`W_i=(R_i)_{𝔫_i}`$ are regular local rings of dimension $`r+i+1`$. Let $`S_i=R_i(𝔪_i𝔫_i)`$ and let $`A_i=(R_i)_{S_i}`$. The maximal ideals of $`A_i`$ are $`𝔪_iA_i`$ and $`𝔫_iA_i`$, and $`(A_i)_{𝔪_iA_i}=V_i`$ and $`(A_i)_{𝔫_iA_i}=W_i`$. It follows ( Appendix (E1.2)) that each $`A_i`$ is Noetherian and $`A_i/𝔪_iA_i=A_i/𝔫_iA_i=K`$.

Let $`A=A_m`$ and let $`J`$ denote the Jacobson radical of $`A`$. Let $`R=K+J`$ which is a subring of $`A`$. In fact, by  Appendix (E2.1) $`R`$ is a local ring with maximal ideal $`J`$, the residue field of $`R`$ is $`K`$, and $`A`$ is a finite $`R`$-module. We claim that $`R`$ is the desired example.

First, we show that, for every prime ideal $`𝔭`$ of $`R`$, $`e(R_𝔭)=1`$. To show this, it suffices to show the following: (i) $`e(R)=1`$ and (ii) for every nonmaximal prime ideal $`𝔭`$ of $`R`$, there exists a unique prime ideal $`P`$ of $`A`$ such that $`PR=𝔭`$ and that $`R_𝔭=A_P`$. This is sufficient because $`A_P`$ is a regular local ring. For (i) we note that Nagata’s computation shows that

$$e(R)=e((A_m)_{𝔫_mA_m})=e(W_m)=1.$$

For (ii), it suffices to verify the following.

Claim: For every nonzero element $`\lambda `$ of the $`R`$-module $`A/R`$, $`\text{Ann}_R(\lambda )=J`$.

Before we prove the claim , we show how it implies (ii). Let $`𝔭`$ be a non-maximal prime ideal of $`R`$ and let $`P`$ be a prime ideal of $`A`$ contracting to $`𝔭`$ in $`R`$. (Note that the fact that the extension $`RA`$ is integral implies that such a prime $`P`$ always exists and is not maximal.) To verify (ii) it suffices to show that $`(A/R)_𝔭=(A/R)_RR_𝔭=0`$ because then we will have an isomorphism $`R_𝔭A_𝔭`$ so that $`A_𝔭`$ is a local ring; the integrality of the extension $`RA`$ implies that there are no containments between prime ideals contracting to $`𝔭`$ in $`R`$ so there is a unique such prime in $`A`$. Furthermore, it is straightforward to show that $`A_PA_𝔭`$. By the claim, for every nonzero element $`\lambda A/R`$, $`\text{Ann}_R(\lambda )=J`$, and this implies that every such $`\lambda `$ is annihilated by an element $`sJ𝔭`$. If $`\lambda _1,\mathrm{},\lambda _uA/R`$ is a generating set of $`A/R`$ as an $`R`$-module, then $`\lambda _1/1,\mathrm{},\lambda _u/1(A/R)_𝔭`$ is a generating set of $`(A/R)_𝔭`$ over $`R_𝔭`$. The fact that every $`\lambda _i`$ is annihilated by an element $`s_iJ𝔭`$ implies that $`\lambda _i/1=s_i\lambda _i/s_i=0`$ so that $`(A/R)_𝔭=0`$ as desired.

Now, we prove the claim. If $`tAR`$, let $`\overline{t}`$ denote the class of $`t`$ in the quotient $`A/R`$. The fact that $`\overline{t}0`$ implies that $`\text{Ann}_R(\overline{t})J`$. However, $`JtJR`$ which implies that $`J\overline{t}=0`$ so that $`J\text{Ann}(\overline{t})J`$ giving the desired equality.

As an ideal of $`A`$, $`J`$ is generated by the elements $`x(x1),\{y_i\},\{z_j\}`$. As an ideal of $`R`$,

$$J=(x(x1),\{y_i\},\{z_j\},\{xy_i\},\{xz_j\},\{(x1)y_i\},\{(x1)z_j\})R.$$

Let $`P=(x)A`$ and $`Q=(x1)A`$ which are prime ideals in $`A`$, and let $`𝔭=PR`$ and $`𝔮=QR`$. Then

$$𝔭=(x(x1),xy_1,\mathrm{},xy_m,xz_1,\mathrm{},xz_r)R$$

and

$$𝔮=(x(x1),(x1)y_1,\mathrm{},(x1)y_m,(x1)z_1,\mathrm{},(x1)z_r)R$$

so that $`𝔭+𝔮=J`$. The condition $`e(R_𝔭)=e(R)`$ is automatic. Furthermore, $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified, as follows. We have an inclusion of rings $`R/𝔭A/P=A/xA`$ such that the extension is module finite. Also, $`A/xA`$ is a regular local ring and is therefore analytically unramified. The maximal ideal of $`R/𝔭`$ extends to the maximal ideal of $`A/xA`$ so that the completion of $`A/xA`$ contains the completion of $`R/𝔭`$ (c.f., Atiyah and MacDonald  Theorem 10.11 and Corollary 10.3). Therefore, $`\widehat{R/𝔭}`$ is a domain.

Finally,

$$dim(R/𝔭)+dim(R/𝔮)=dim(A/P)+dim(A/Q)=m+(r+m)$$

which is strictly greater than $`dim(R)=r+m+1`$ if we assume that $`m>1`$.

I do not know of an example where $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ is a local, catenary, equidimensional ring which is not universally catenary and where Conjecture 1.3 does not hold.

The following example demonstrates that, for a given ring $`R`$ and module $`M`$, the equality $`e(M_𝔭)=e(M)`$ is weaker than the equality $`e(R_𝔭)=e(R)`$, even when $`R`$ is complete, equidimensional and $`dim(M)=dim(R)`$.

###### Example 6.6.

Let

$$R=k[[X,Y,Z,W]]/(X,Y)(Z,W)=k[[x,y,z,w]].$$

Let $`M=R/(x,y)k[[Z,W]]`$. Then, $`e(R)=2`$ and, for every nonmaximal prime ideal $`𝔭`$ of $`R`$, $`e(R_𝔭)=1`$. However, for every prime $`𝔭`$ in the support of $`M`$, $`e(M_𝔭)=1=e(M)`$.

The following example demonstrates that, if $`𝔭`$ is a prime ideal in a local domain which is analytically unramified and does not satisfy the condition $`\mathrm{ht}(𝔭)+dim(R/𝔭)=dim(R)`$, then the conclusion of Theorem 2.2 does not hold.

###### Example 6.7.

We continue with the notation of Example 6.5. Consider the polynomial $`f=y_m^s+x^t(x1)A_{m1}[y_m]`$ where $`st>1`$. The fact that $`A_{m1}`$ is a regular semilocal domain implies that $`A_{m1}`$ is a unique factorization domain ( (28.8)). The ideal $`x`$ generates a prime ideal in $`A_{m1}`$ and it follows from Eisenstein’s criterion that $`f`$ is irreducible in the polynomial ring $`A_{m1}[y_m]`$. Therefore, $`f`$ generates a prime ideal in $`A_{m1}[y_m]`$. Because $`A_m`$ is a localization of $`A_{m1}[y_m]`$ and $`f`$ is a nonzero nonunit in $`A_m`$, we see that the ideal $`fA_m`$ is prime. Let $`A=A_m/fA_m`$ which is a semilocal domain with maximal ideals $`𝔪_mA`$ and $`𝔫_mA`$.

Let $`J`$ denote the Jacobson radical of $`A`$ and let $`R=K+J`$ which is a subring of $`A`$. As in Example 6.5 $`R`$ is a local ring with maximal ideal $`J`$, the residue field of $`R`$ is $`K`$, and $`A`$ is a finite $`R`$-module. We claim that $`R`$ is the desired example.

First, we verify that $`e(R)=1`$. This is straightforward, as Nagata’s computation shows that

$$e(R)=e((A_m)_{𝔫_mA_m}/(f))=e(W_m/(f)).$$

The fact that $`x1`$ is a minimal generator of the maximal ideal of $`W_m`$ and that $`x`$ is a unit in $`W_m`$ implies that $`f=y_m^s+x^t(x1)`$ is a minimal generator of the maximal ideal of $`W_m`$. Because $`W_m`$ is a regular local ring, it follows that $`e(R)=1`$.

In order to verify that there is a prime ideal $`𝔭`$ of $`R`$ such that $`e(R_𝔭)>1`$, it suffices to verify the following. Claim: If $`𝔭`$ is a non-maximal prime ideal of $`R`$, then there exists a unique prime ideal $`P`$ of $`A`$ contracting to $`𝔭`$ in $`R`$ and $`A_P=R_𝔭`$. The verification of this claim is identical to that in Example 6.5, so we omit it here.

We show how the claim implies the desired result. Let $`P=(x,y_m)A`$. Then $`P`$ is a prime ideal of $`A`$ because $`x`$ is a prime element of $`A_{m1}`$ and therefore the ideal $`(x,y_m)A_m`$ is a prime ideal of $`A_m`$ containing $`f`$. Let $`𝔭=PR`$. Then $`𝔭`$ is not maximal because the extension $`RA`$ is integral and $`P`$ is not maximal. The verification of the fact that $`𝔭`$ is analytically unramified is similar to that in Example 6.5. (By Theorem 2.2 it follows that $`\mathrm{ht}(𝔭)+dim(R/𝔭)dim(R)`$.) As noted, $`R_𝔭A_P`$ and it follows that

$$e(R_𝔭)=e(A_P)=e(V_m/fV_m).$$

The fact that $`x`$ is a minimal generator of the maximal ideal of $`V_m`$ and that $`x1`$ is a unit in $`V_m`$ implies that $`f(𝔪_mV_m)^t(𝔪_mV_m)^{t+1}`$. The fact that $`V_m`$ is a regular local ring implies that $`e(R_𝔭)=t>1`$, as desired.

I do not know of a local, catenary, equidimensional ring which is not universally catenary where this inequality of multiplicities does not hold. A number of examples have been constructed (e.g.,  Appendix (E.2), Heinzer, Rotthaus and Wiegand  Example (4.5), Nishimura  Sections 2,4 and 6) where the hypotheses of Theorem 2.2 do not hold. However, in each example, the conclusion of Theorem 2.2 does hold.

The following example demonstrates that if $`R`$ is a complete domain of mixed characteristic $`p`$ such that $`p`$ is not part of a reductive system of parameters of $`R`$, then there does not exist in general a regular local ring $`R^{}R/\text{Ann}(M)`$ such that the extension is finite and $`e(R)=\mathrm{rank}_R^{}(R)`$. In particular, in Theorem 4.1, if the assumption “$`p`$ is part of a reductive system of parameters of $`R/\text{Ann}(M)`$” is dropped, then the construction of Step 5 of the proof does not work.

###### Example 6.8.

Let $`p`$ be a prime number and $`(V,pV,k)`$ a complete $`p`$-ring. Let $`A=V[[X,Y]]`$, $`f=pX+Y^3`$ and $`R=A/(f)`$. It is straightforward to verify that $`f`$ is irreducible in $`A`$ so that $`R`$ is a complete domain of dimension 2 and mixed characteristic $`p`$. Let $`𝔪`$ and $`𝔫`$ denote the maximal ideals of $`R`$ and $`A`$, respectively.

The element $`p`$ is not part of a reductive system of parameters of $`R`$, as follows. Suppose the contrary. Because $`dim(R)=2`$ there would exist an element $`zR`$ such that $`p,z`$ is a reductive system of parameters of $`R`$. Let $`𝔮=(p,z)R`$. By  Theorem 4.2, $`𝔮`$ is a minimal reduction of $`𝔪`$. By Herrmann, Ikeda and Orbanz  Proposition 10.17, the fact that $`p,z`$ generate a minimal reduction of $`𝔪`$ implies that the initial forms of $`p`$ and $`z`$ in the associated graded ring $`\mathrm{gr}_𝔪(R)`$ form a homogeneous system of parameters for $`\mathrm{gr}_𝔪(R)`$. The fact that $`A`$ is regular and $`R=A/(f)`$ implies that $`\mathrm{gr}_𝔪(R)`$ is the quotient of $`\mathrm{gr}_𝔫(A)`$ by the initial form of $`f`$. More specifically, let $`𝐏,𝐗,𝐘`$ denote the initial forms of $`p,X,Y`$ in $`𝔫/𝔫^2`$, respectively. Then $`𝐏,𝐗,𝐘`$ are indeterminates in $`\mathrm{gr}_𝔫(A)`$ and $`\mathrm{gr}_𝔫(A)`$ is the polynomial ring $`k[𝐏,𝐗,𝐘]`$. Then $`\mathrm{gr}_𝔪(R)`$ is a quotient of $`\mathrm{gr}_𝔫(A)`$:

$$\mathrm{gr}_𝔪(R)=k[𝐏,𝐗,𝐘]/(\mathrm{𝐏𝐗}).$$

The initial form of $`p`$ in $`\mathrm{gr}_𝔪(R)`$ is the image of $`𝐏`$ which is contained in a minimal prime ideal of $`\mathrm{gr}_𝔪(R)`$. Therefore, this initial form can not be part of a homogeneous system of parameters of $`\mathrm{gr}_𝔪(R)`$, giving the desired contradiction.

Now, we show that there does not exist a complete regular local ring $`R^{}`$ contained in $`R`$ such that the extension $`R^{}R`$ is module-finite and $`e(R)=\mathrm{rank}_R^{}(R)`$. This will prove that we have the desired example. Suppose that such a ring $`R^{}`$ existed. Because $`R`$ is a domain of mixed characteristic $`p`$, $`R`$ does not contain a field. Therefore $`R^{}`$ does not contain a field. Because $`R`$ is unramified, $`R^{}`$ is also unramified because otherwise, $`p(𝔪^{})^2𝔪^2`$ which contradicts the fact that $`R`$ is unramified. Therefore, $`R^{}`$ is of the form $`W[[Z]]`$ where $`(W,pW)`$ is a complete $`p`$-ring and $`Z`$ is analytically independent over $`W`$. By assumption, $`e(𝔪,R)=e(R)=\mathrm{rank}_R^{}(R)=e(𝔪^{}R,R)`$. By the theorem of Rees (c.f.,  Theorem 19.5) this implies that $`𝔪^{}R`$ is a reduction of $`𝔪`$. Because $`𝔪^{}R=(p,Z)R`$ we see that this implies that $`p`$ is part of a reductive system of parameters of $`R`$, a contradiction.

We also note that it is straightforward to verify that no change a variables will remedy the noted behavior of this example.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Kazuhiko Kurano for suggesting the present version of Lemma 3.1 which is more general than the previous version. I am also grateful to Dan Katz for many stimulating discussions regarding these conjectures and theorems. Finally, I would like to thank the Department of Mathematics at the University of Kansas at Lawrence for its hospitality during the preparation of this paper.


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# X-ray Spectroscopy and Variability of AGN Detected in the 2 Ms Chandra Deep Field-North Survey

## INTRODUCTION

With the bulk of the $``$ 0.5–10.0 keV background now resolved into discrete point sources (e.g., Mushotzky et al., 2000; Brandt et al., 2001; Rosati et al., 2002), emphasis has shifted toward determining the nature of the faint X-ray population — a clear necessity if we wish to understand the formation and evolution of active galactic nuclei (AGN). X-ray spectroscopy and variability analyses can play a crucial role in constraining the physical processes which occur in these AGN. For instance, the numerous X-ray spectroscopic and variability studies made prior to the launches of Chandra and XMM-Newton have found that (1) AGN X-ray spectra often show signs of complex absorption, reflection, and emission lines in addition to their power-law continuum radiation (e.g., Nandra and Pounds, 1994; Smith and Done, 1996; Lawson and Turner, 1997; Nandra et al., 1997b; Turner et al., 1997; George et al., 2000; Reeves and Turner, 2000), (2) the strengths of these spectral features (especially the reflection and emission components) depend on luminosity (e.g., Iwasawa and Taniguchi, 1993; Nandra et al., 1997c), and (3) a large fraction of AGN demonstrate variability of either continuum emission or absorption (e.g., Nandra et al., 1997a; Turner et al., 1999; Almaini et al., 2000; Grupe et al., 2001; Manners et al., 2002; Risaliti et al., 2002). However, these studies have generally focused on small samples of bright objects ($`>1\times 10^{13}`$ erg cm-2 s-1), which are comprised of either nearby, moderate-luminosity AGN or rare, high-luminosity AGN at large look-back times. The deepest observations performed by Chandra and XMM-Newton now present the opportunity to study AGN $``$ 100 times fainter in similar detail and thus place constraints on moderate-luminosity AGN at earlier epochs. Here we report on the spectral and temporal properties of the AGN in the 2 Ms exposure of the Chandra Deep Field-North (CDF-N), which probes $`2`$–10 times fainter in the 0.5–8.0 keV band than any other Chandra or XMM-Newton survey, and at least 50 and 250 times fainter than any past X-ray instrument in the 0.5–2.0 keV and 2.0–8.0 keV bands, respectively.

## DATA

Our sample was selected to ensure that we have adequate photon statistics for spectral and temporal analyses and is comprised of the 136 extragalactic X-ray sources with more than 200 background-subtracted, 0.5–8.0 keV counts in the 2 Ms CDF-N catalog (out of 503 total; Alexander et al., 2003b); X-ray spectral analyses of a few fainter X-ray sources are presented in Vignali et al. (2002) and Alexander et al. (2003a). With 0.5–8.0 keV fluxes ranging from $`1.4\times 10^{15}`$ to $`2\times 10^{13}`$ erg cm-2 s-1, these sources are characteristic of the population which comprises the bulk of the X-ray background below 10 keV. Seventy-two ($``$ 53%) of the sources in the sample have spectroscopic redshifts (see Figure 1); among these, nearly all have X-ray luminosities consistent with AGN. Based on their spectral slopes and X-ray-to-optical flux ratios (i.e., most have $`I>23`$), the remaining unidentified sources are likely to be optically faint, obscured AGN at $`z1`$–3 (e.g., Alexander et al., 2001; Barger et al., 2001). Thus almost all of the 136 sources appear to be AGN. Since the unidentified sources comprise almost half of the sample and may play an important role in the overall intrinsic column density and luminosity distributions, we have placed the unidentified sources at $`z=1`$ (i.e., the likely lower redshift bound for these sources).

## SPECTRAL ANALYSIS

Details of our spectral analysis procedure are given in Bauer et al. (2003). X-ray spectral fitting was performed using XSPEC (v11.2; Arnaud, 1996). We initially fitted each source with a simple model (hereafter MODEL 1) consisting of fixed Galactic photoelectric absorption ($`N_{\mathrm{H}_{\mathrm{GAL}}}=1.6\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 toward the CDF-N), a varying intrinsic $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ (using the redshift if known), and a power law with varying photon index ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$). Approximately 75% of the sources are acceptably fit by MODEL 1 \[$`P(\chi ^2|\nu )<0.05`$\]. Example spectra of two typical CDF-N AGN are shown in Figure 2. The MODEL 1 fits yield median spectral parameters of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.61`$ and $`N_\mathrm{H}=6.2\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2 for our 136 sources, with large dispersions for both parameters; the overall distributions are shown in Figure 4. Note that the changes in these parameters are much less than their dispersions if we limit ourselves to the sources with redshifts (i.e., $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.67`$ and $`N_\mathrm{H}=1.8\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2) or with $`>`$ 500 counts (i.e., $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.69`$ and $`N_\mathrm{H}=3.2\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2). The $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ distribution has a peak at $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ Galactic, and very few objects ($`<9`$%) have $`N_\mathrm{H}>10^{23}`$ cm-2. The 27 optically identified broad-line AGN (BLAGN) appear to trace the same $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ distribution as the overall sample. The typical photon indices found for the CDF-N AGN are $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }0.2`$–0.3 lower than the canonical intrinsic X-ray spectral slope value of AGN (e.g., $`\mathrm{\Gamma }1.9`$–2.0; Nandra and Pounds, 1994; Brandt et al., 1997; Reeves and Turner, 2000), suggesting the presence of additional spectral complexity (e.g., reflection, complex intrinsic absorption, partial covering). This fact is strengthened somewhat by the systematic residuals (e.g., soft excesses, spectral curvature) seen in several objects.

Detailed modeling of this complexity is underway but is beyond the scope of this paper. As a simple test of how the $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ and $`L_\mathrm{X}`$ distributions could be affected by spectral complexity, we fitted the data with a model identical to MODEL 1, but with the photon index fixed to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=2`$ (i.e., close to the canonical intrinsic slope found locally; hereafter MODEL 2). We find that fewer sources are acceptably fit \[$`P(\chi ^2|\nu )<0.05`$\] with MODEL 2 ($``$ 60%) and many sources have strong systematic residuals; this again suggests that there is spectral complexity. The median intrinsic absorption is $`N_\mathrm{H}=1.5\times 10^{22}`$ cm-2 and the median differences between intrinsic $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ and $`L_\mathrm{X}`$ for MODEL 1 and MODEL 2 are factors of 2.5 and 0.5, respectively (see Figure 4). The decrease in X-ray luminosity found for MODEL 2 is due in part to $`K`$-correction differences from the free versus fixed photon indices; note that the intrinsic X-ray luminosity could increase substantially if reflection and scattering were actually taken into account.

## EMISSION LINES

X-ray background synthesis models and X-ray spectral analyses of nearby sources both suggest that a large fraction of AGN may be Compton thick (e.g., Comastri et al., 1995; Risaliti et al., 1999), with direct emission observable only above rest-frame energies of $``$ 10 keV (if at all). Below this energy, these AGN can only be detected via their faint reflected or scattered emission, typically in the form of extremely flat spectral slopes and large equivalent-width (EW) emission lines (e.g., Maiolino et al., 1998; Matt et al., 2000). We can place constraints on the existence of such objects at faint X-ray fluxes by searching for these features in our sample. For instance, 10 of the 136 AGN ($``$7%) exhibit obvious Fe K$`\alpha `$ emission-line features with EW $`=`$ 0.1–1.3 keV. The emission lines appear to be typically a combination of narrow 6.4, 6.7, and 6.96 keV emission lines, although a few objects exhibit a possible broad wing redward of the 6.4 keV line. Example spectra of two typical CDF-N emission-line AGN are shown in Figure 5. Two of the emission-line sources are potentially Compton-thick AGN with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }<1.0`$ and EW $`=`$ 0.6–0.7 keV. We can place further constraints on the number of reflection-dominated Compton-thick AGN in two ways. First, only 11 of the 136 sources have measured photon indices $`\mathrm{\Gamma }<1.0`$, suggesting that few objects in the sample show the signature of pure reflection that is characteristic of reflection-dominated Compton-thick AGN. Second, by modeling a Gaussian component to the source spectrum ($`E=6.4`$ keV, $`\sigma =0`$ keV), we can place upper limits on the Fe K$`\alpha `$ EWs for the 72 objects with redshifts. The range of Fe K$`\alpha `$ EW upper limits is 0.1–2.9 keV (i.e., consistent with local Seyferts; e.g., Nandra and Pounds, 1994), indicating that many sources may have emission lines which are still individually undetectable with the current data. However, only 8 of the 72 sources ($``$11%) have 90% confidence EW upper limits above 1 keV, and, of these, none has a measured photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }<1.0`$. Given that $``$50% of all known Compton-thick sources have $`\mathrm{\Gamma }<1.0`$ and EW $`>`$ 1 keV (e.g., Maiolino et al., 1998; Bassani et al., 1999), and that large EWs can also arise from anisotropic ionizing radiation or lags between continuum and line variability, the true number of Compton-thick AGN among our sample is likely to be small.

## VARIABILITY

The 20 individual CDF-N observations span $`27`$ months and offer an unprecedented probe of X-ray variability in distant AGN. Using Kolmogorov-Smirnov (single observations, second-to-day timescales) and $`\chi ^2`$ (multiple observations, day-to-year timescales) tests, we find that $``$ 55% and $``$ 60% of the 136 sources are variable at greater than 99% confidence, respectively. These fractions increase significantly when we restrict ourselves to the 61 objects with $`>500`$ counts (i.e., $``$ 80% and $``$ 90%, respectively) or the 27 objects with broad lines (i.e., $``$ 66% and $``$ 92%, respectively). The latter results are most likely a result of better photon statistics alone, suggesting that the vast majority of the CDF-N AGN are variable. We detect maximum and median variability amplitudes in the vignetting-corrected count rate of $``$ 7.8 and $``$ 1.9, respectively, with 3 (15) sources having maximum variability amplitudes larger than 5 (3). The variability properties of these moderate-luminosity AGN are consistent with local studies of Seyfert galaxies (e.g., Nandra et al., 1997a).

## ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of NSF CAREER award AST-9983783 (FEB, CV, DMA, WNB), NASA grant NAS 8-38252 (GPG, PI), NASA GSRP grant NGT5-50247 (AEH), and NSF grant AST-9900703 (DPS). This work would not have been possible without the support of the entire Chandra and ACIS teams.


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# Action principle formulation for motion of extended bodies in General Relativity

## Abstract

We present an action principle formulation for the study of motion of an extended body in General Relativity in the limit of weak gravitational field. This gives the classical equations of motion for multipole moments of arbitrary order coupling to the gravitational field. In particular, a new force due to the octupole moment is obtained. The action also yields the gravitationally induced phase shifts in quantum interference experiments due to the coupling of all multipole moments.

The study of motion of extended bodies possessing multipole moments in the gravitational field has a long history . The starting point was the Einstein - Infeld - Hoffman  derivation of the geodesic equation for a point test particle from the gravitational field equation and the conservation law for stress energy tensor. The test particle approximation breaks down if body’s extension in space is non negligible compared to the radius of curvature of the background field and secondly when the back reaction due to the body on the background field is non ignorable. In this letter, we shall be concerned with the former aspect. This is particularly motivated by the fact that astrophysical bodies like planets and stars are extended and should in a realistic analysis be treated as such. The interaction of covariant generalization of Newtonian multipole moments with the gravitational field will be given by their coupling to Riemann curvature and its derivatives. This would appear as modification to the geodesic equation.

The modification to the geodesic for a spinning body is given by the Mathisson-Papapetrou equation , which may be extended to a particle with intrinsic spin . Subsequent to the treatment of spinning bodies, various authors have obtained the corrections up to the covariant generalization of Newtonian quadrupole moment . A comprehensive study of the problem including comparison of various approaches and results is carried out by Dixon, but, to our knowledge, no one has obtained corrections to geodesic equation arising due to coupling of covariantized higher order Newtonian multipole moments with gravitational field. More importantly a procedure to derive equations of motion of extended bodies, with arbitrary multipole moments, through an action principle has not been obtained during the past 65 years in which the equations of motion in a gravitational field have been studied . In the absence of a general principle to obtain the action made up of terms uniquely attributed to couplings of all multipole moments, such a task is very difficult. This is precisely what we wish to do in the following.

While the action is used in classical physics only as a tool to obtain the equations of motion, the action is directly observable in quantum physics as the phase of the wavefunction. Therefore, the phase shift produced by the coupling of multipole moments with the gravitational field can in principle be measured (action giving an algorithm to calculate various multipole phase shifts). Neutron interferometry provided the first instance where effect of the earth’s gravitational field on the phase of the neutron wavefunction was observed . Interesting gravitational analogs  of the topological Aharanov-Bohm  and Aharanov-Casher  phase shifts have also been proposed.

In this paper we present a formalism which yields in a simple and elegant way the corrections to the geodesic equation up to all multipoles of the extended body. The equations of motion for multipoles simply follow from variation of our action. As a demonstration of our formalism we obtain for the first time corrections to the geodesic equation till the covariant generalization of Newtonian octupole moment. Moreover, our action gives the quantum phase shifts in interferometry due to the coupling of all multiple moments to the gravitational field. Our formulation of action principle for extended body may facilitate and prompt further investigations in the important and emerging area of interface between quantum and gravitational realms. Particularly, the ongoing experiments in atomic , molecular  and Bose-Einstein condensate interferometry  hold promise for experimentally testing the new gravitational phase shifts that will be obtained in the present letter.

We envision an extended rigid body as a thin world tube in spacetime and its thickness is small compared to the scale over which curvature varies. We would further assume that there are no external or internal forces acting on this body apart from the gravitational field in which it is propagating. In the thin world tube we choose a reference world-line ($`z^\mu `$) having 4-velocity $`u^\mu =dz^\mu /ds=(1,0,0,0)`$ and define multipole moments with respect to it on a spacelike hypersurface. The multipole moments of order 2n are defined as

$$t^{\kappa _1\mathrm{}\kappa _n\mu \nu }=\delta x^{\kappa _1}\mathrm{}\delta x^{\kappa _n}\sqrt{g}T^{\mu \nu }w^\alpha 𝑑\mathrm{\Sigma }_\alpha $$
(1)
where $`\delta x^\mu =x^\mu z^\mu `$, $`T^{\mu \nu }`$ is the energy-momentum tensor, and the integration is over the spacelike hypersurface identified by the unit normal vector field $`w^\alpha `$. The above multipole moments are defined in a class of coordinate systems that are related by linear transformations in order that the expression (1) is covariant. But once they are defined this way, $`t^{\kappa _1\mathrm{}\kappa _n\mu \nu }`$ can be transformed to any arbitrary coordinate system as a tensor. All the relativistic equations in the present letter are covariant with respect to the above linear transformations, if not with respect to general coordinate transformations.

Since what we do must be consistent with the Newtonian theory in the appropriate limit, we shall now establish the relation between the covariant multipole moments of order 2n and the covariant generalizations of the anti-symmetric spin tensor $`S^{ij}`$, the symmetric quadrupole moment tensor $`I^{ij}`$ and the symmetric octupole moment tensor $`O^{ijk}`$ in Newtonian gravity. We Write the Newtonian potential energy $`U`$ of the body with mass density $`\rho (x)`$ in terms of the potential $`\varphi (x)`$ expanded in a Taylor series around the central world-line,

$$U=\rho (x)\varphi (x)d^3x=m\varphi (z)+d^i_i\varphi |_z+\frac{1}{2}I^{ij}_i_j\varphi |_z+\frac{1}{6}O^{ijk}_i_j_k\varphi |_z+\mathrm{}$$
(2)
where the mass $`m=\rho (x)d^3x`$, the dipole moment $`d^i=\rho (x)\delta x^id^3x,`$ the quadrupole moment $`I^{ij}=\rho (x)\delta x^i\delta x^jd^3x`$ and the octupole moment $`O^{ijk}=\rho (x)\delta x^i\delta x^j\delta x^kd^3x`$, with $`\delta x^i=x^iz^i`$. In view of eq.(1), we identify $`t^{i00}=d^i,t^{ij00}=I^{ij},t^{ijk00}=O^{ijk}`$. The Spin tensor(orbital angular momentum) in the Newtonian limit is defined as $`S^{ij}=2\rho \delta x^{[i}v^{j]}d^3x`$ where $`v^i=dx^i/dt`$. The Spin tensor then satisfies $`dS^{ij}/dt=2p^{[i}u^{j]}2\rho \delta x^{[i}^{j]}\varphi d^3x`$, where $`u^i=dz^i/dt`$ and the momentum $`p^i=\rho (x)v^id^3x`$. Using Taylor expansion of the potential, and choosing $`z^i`$ to be the center of mass so that $`d^i=0`$, the spin propagation equation up to octupole term becomes

$$\frac{d}{dt}S^{ij}=2p^{[i}u^{j]}2I^{k[i}^{j]}_k\varphi |_zO^{kr[i}^{j]}_k_r\varphi |_z$$
(3)
The covariantization of this spin tensor leads to

$$S^{\mu \nu }=t^{\mu \nu 0}t^{\nu \mu 0}.$$
(4)
In the weak field limit, the metric is $`g_{\mu \nu }=\eta _{\mu \nu }+h_{\mu \nu }`$ with $`h_{\mu \nu }1`$. In the Newtonian limit $`g_{00}=1+2\varphi `$ which implies $`\varphi =h_{00}/2`$. Thus the dipole term in eq.(2) leads to the covariant form $`t^{\mu \alpha \beta }h_{\alpha \beta ,\mu }|_z`$, where $`t^{\mu \alpha \beta }`$ includes the spin tensor. We shall now choose the reference world line to be the center of mass so that $`d^i=0`$. We consider only matter distributions for which

$$t^{\mu \nu \alpha }=S^{\mu (\nu }u^{\alpha )},$$
(5)
where$`S^{\mu \nu }`$ satisfies $`S^{\mu \nu }u_\nu =0`$.

The quadrupole term leads to $`_i_j\varphi |_zI^{ij}=\frac{1}{2}_i_jh_{00}|_zI^{ij}=R_{0i0j}|_zI^{ij}`$. We thus have $`_i_jh_{00}|_zt^{ij00}=2R_{0i0j}|_zI^{ij}`$ which covariantizes to

$$h_{\alpha \beta ,\mu \nu }|_zt^{\mu \nu \alpha \beta }=2R_{\alpha \mu \beta \nu }|_zI^{\mu \nu }u^\alpha u^\beta $$
(6)
where the covariant quadrupole tensor, $`I^{\mu \nu }=I^{\nu \mu }`$. Similarly, the octupole term leads to

$$h_{\alpha \beta ,\mu \nu \sigma }|_zt^{\mu \nu \sigma \alpha \beta }=2R_{\alpha \mu \beta \nu ,\sigma }|_zO^{\mu \nu \sigma }u^\alpha u^\beta $$
(7)
where $`O^{\mu \nu \sigma }`$ is the fully symmetric covariant octupole tensor. Eqs.(5), (6) and (7) are the key relations which would unambiguously provide the connection between covariant multipole moments with their Newtonian analogs.

In the Newtonian approximation the phase shift in quantum mechanical interference due to the gravitational field is

$$\mathrm{\Phi }=\frac{1}{\mathrm{}}U𝑑t=\frac{1}{\mathrm{}}(m\varphi 𝑑t+d^i_i\varphi dt+\frac{1}{2}I^{ij}_i_j\varphi dt+\frac{1}{6}O^{ijk}_i_j_k\varphi dt+\mathrm{})$$
(8)
where $`U`$ is given by the expansion in using eq.(2). The first term of eq.(8) corresponds to the phase shift observed in the COW experiment , and the subsequent dipole and quadrupole terms are corrections to it. The higher order multipole contributions to the phase shift may also be obtained from this expansion. In General Relativity this phase shift is obtained by letting the path ordered operator resulting from the covariant generalization of this Newtonian phase shift act on the initial wavefunction. Using eqs.(2, 5, 6, 7) and noting that in the linear field limit $`\omega ^a{}_{b\beta }{}^{}S_{}^{b}{}_{a}{}^{}=h_{\alpha \beta ,\mu }S^{\alpha \mu }`$, where $`\omega ^a_{b\beta }`$ are Ricci rotation coefficients,this path ordered operator is given by

$$g=𝒫exp\left[\frac{i}{\mathrm{}}(m+\frac{1}{2}\omega ^a{}_{b\beta }{}^{}S_{a}^{}{}_{}{}^{b}u_{}^{\beta }\frac{1}{2}R_{\alpha \mu \beta \nu }I^{\alpha \beta }u^\mu u^\nu \frac{1}{6}R_{\alpha \mu \beta \nu ;\rho }O^{\alpha \beta \rho }u^\mu u^\nu +\mathrm{})𝑑s\right].$$
(9)
In the special case of $`I^{\alpha \beta }`$ and $`O^{ijk}`$ being zero, this result is in agreement with the gravitational phase shift for intrinsic spin .

We shall now obtain this expression in the weak field limit of General Relativity starting from the action principle. Choose a coordinate system such that along the reference world-line $`g_{\mu \nu }=\eta _{\mu \nu }`$. We would here like to recall that the extended body under consideration is rigid and subject to only external gravitational force and no other forces (external or internal). In that case the monopole moment corresponds to the mass ($`m`$) of the body with whole matter concentrated on the reference world-line and ignoring the back reaction on the background gravitational field we write $`m=p_\alpha u^\alpha `$. The higher order multipole moments are defined by considering the metric perturbations as one moves away from the reference world-line $`z^\mu `$. For simplicity we restrict perturbations of the metric to the first order , and later covariantize the equation of motion by changing ordinary derivative to covariant derivative. The action

$$𝒮=\sqrt{g}d^4x=\sqrt{g}|_{g_{\mu \nu }=\eta _{\mu \nu }}d^4x+\left(\sqrt{g}d^4x\sqrt{g}|_{g_{\mu \nu }=\eta _{\mu \nu }}d^4x\right).$$
(10)
The first term is the kinetic energy term, $`\sqrt{g}|_{g_{\mu \nu }=\eta _{\mu \nu }}d^4x=p_\alpha u^\alpha 𝑑s`$. So,

$$𝒮=p_\alpha u^\alpha 𝑑s+\delta g_{\mu \nu }\frac{\delta }{\delta g_{\mu \nu }}(\sqrt{g})d^4x+\mathrm{}=p_\alpha u^\alpha 𝑑s+\frac{1}{2}\delta g_{\mu \nu }\sqrt{g}T^{\mu \nu }d^4x+\mathrm{}$$
(11)
Note $`\delta g_{\mu \nu }=g_{\mu \nu }\eta _{\mu \nu }=h_{\mu \nu }`$ and hence it can be written as $`\delta g_{\mu \nu }=h_{\mu \nu ,\sigma }|_z\delta x^\sigma +\frac{1}{2}h_{\mu \nu ,\sigma \rho }|_z\delta x^\sigma \delta x^\rho +\mathrm{}`$where we have $`h_{\mu \nu }(z)=0`$. In the present weak field limit, we neglect all terms that are quadratic or higher order in metric perturbations. Substituting for $`\delta g_{\mu \nu }`$ in eq.(11) and using eqs.(1,5,6,7), we finally obtain

$$𝒮=p_\alpha u^\alpha 𝑑s+\frac{1}{2}h_{\alpha \beta ,\mu }S^{\mu \alpha }u^\beta 𝑑s\frac{1}{2}R_{\alpha \mu \beta \nu }I^{\alpha \beta }u^\mu u^\nu 𝑑s\frac{1}{6}R_{\alpha \mu \beta \nu ,\rho }O^{\alpha \beta \rho }u^\mu u^\nu 𝑑s$$
(12)
up to octupole (all derivatives are evaluated on $`z^\mu `$). In the linear field limit, since $`h_{\alpha \beta ,\mu }S^{\mu \alpha }=\omega ^a{}_{b\beta }{}^{}S_{a}^{}^b`$, hence the accumulation of infinitesimal phases arising from eq.(12) is the same as what is obtained from the path ordered operator eq.(9) in this limit.

We now obtain the equation of motion by extremizing the action $`(\delta S=0)`$ and requiring that coordinate variations vanish at end points of the path. This leads to the equation of motion

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dp_\sigma }{ds}}`$ $`=`$ $`R_{\sigma \lambda \mu \nu }\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}u^\lambda S^{\mu \nu }+{\displaystyle \frac{d}{ds}}\left(I^{\lambda \mu }u^\nu \right)\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}h_{\nu \sigma ,\mu }{\displaystyle \frac{d}{ds}}S^{\mu \nu }`$ (13)
$`R_{\sigma \lambda \mu \nu ,\rho }u^\mu I^{\nu (\rho }u^{\lambda )}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}R_{\alpha \mu \beta \sigma ,\nu \rho }u^\alpha O^{\mu \rho (\nu }u^{\beta )}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}R_{\alpha \mu \sigma \nu ,\rho }{\displaystyle \frac{d}{ds}}\left(O^{\mu \nu \rho }u^\alpha \right)`$ (14)
In a coordinate system in which $`h_{\alpha \beta ,\mu }=0`$, (14) gives

$`{\displaystyle \frac{Dp_\sigma }{Ds}}`$ $`=`$ $`R_{\sigma \lambda \mu \nu }\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}u^\lambda S^{\mu \nu }+{\displaystyle \frac{D}{Ds}}\left(I^{\lambda \mu }u^\nu \right)\right)u^\mu I^{\nu (\rho }u^{\lambda )}_\rho R_{\sigma \lambda \mu \nu }`$ (15)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}_\nu _\rho R_{\alpha \mu \beta \sigma }u^\alpha O^{\mu \rho (\nu }u^{\beta )}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}_\rho R_{\alpha \mu \sigma \nu }{\displaystyle \frac{D}{Ds}}\left(O^{\mu \nu \rho }u^\alpha \right).`$ (16)
Eq.(16) is generally covariant and thus is valid in every coordinate system. Since the dipole moment couples to Riemann curvature, it is expected that quadrupole should couple to its first derivative and octupole to its second derivative. However there is a coupling of quadrupole with Riemann curvature in the second term and a coupling of octupole with first derivative of Riemann curvature in the last term which suggests that $`p_\alpha `$ should be suitably redefined  as, $`p_\sigma ^{}=p_\sigma R_{\sigma \lambda \mu \nu }I^{\lambda \mu }u^\nu \frac{1}{3}_\rho R_{\sigma \mu \nu \alpha }O^{\mu \nu \rho }u^\alpha `$, which would then yield the expected form

$$\frac{Dp_\sigma ^{}}{Ds}=\frac{1}{2}R_{\sigma \lambda \mu \nu }u^\lambda S^{\mu \nu }+\frac{1}{2}_\sigma R_{\alpha \mu \beta \nu }u^{[\mu }I^{\alpha ][\beta }u^{\nu ]}+\frac{1}{6}_\rho _\sigma R_{\alpha \mu \beta \nu }u^{[\alpha }O^{\mu ]\rho [\nu }u^{\beta ]}.$$
(17)
This is the equation of motion for a body possessing dipole, quadrupole and octupole moments in a gravitational field. The spin propagation equation, eq.(3), can also be covariantly generalized to

$$\frac{D}{Ds}S^{\alpha \beta }=2p^{[\alpha }u^{\beta ]}2R^{[\alpha }{}_{\mu \nu \sigma }{}^{}u_{}^{[\mu }I^{\beta ]][\nu }u^{\sigma ]}R^{[\alpha }{}_{\mu \nu \sigma ;\rho }{}^{}u_{}^{[\mu }O^{\beta ]]\rho [\nu }u^{\sigma ]}$$
(18)
which on the redefinition of momentum vector form $`p_\alpha `$ to $`p_\alpha ^{}`$modifies as follows:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{D}{Ds}}S^{\alpha \beta }`$ $`=`$ $`2p^{[\alpha }u^{\beta ]}+2\left(R^\alpha {}_{\mu \nu \sigma }{}^{}u_{}^{[\beta }I^{\mu ][\nu }u^{\sigma ]}R^\beta {}_{\mu \nu \sigma }{}^{}u_{}^{[\alpha }I^{\mu ][\nu }u^{\sigma ]}\right)`$ (19)
$`2R^{[\alpha }{}_{\mu \nu \sigma }{}^{}u_{}^{[\mu }I^{\beta ]][\nu }u^{\sigma ]}{\displaystyle \frac{5}{3}}R^{[\alpha }{}_{\mu \nu \sigma ;\rho }{}^{}u_{}^{[\mu }O^{\beta ]]\rho [\nu }u^{\sigma ]}.`$ (20)
To simplify the notation we would further define $`J^{\mu \alpha \beta \nu }:=3u^{[\mu }I^{\alpha ][\beta }u^{\nu ]}`$ and $`G^{\mu \alpha \beta \sigma \nu }:=u^{[\mu }O^{\alpha ]\beta [\sigma }u^{\nu ]}`$ and then finally obtain

$$\frac{Dp_\sigma ^{}}{Ds}=\frac{1}{2}R_{\sigma \lambda \mu \nu }u^\lambda S^{\mu \nu }+\frac{1}{6}J^{\mu \alpha \beta \nu }_\sigma R_{\mu \alpha \beta \nu }+\frac{1}{6}_\rho _\sigma R_{\alpha \mu \beta \nu }G^{\alpha \mu \rho \nu \beta }.$$
(21)
$$\frac{D}{Ds}S^{\alpha \beta }=2p^{[\alpha }u^{\beta ]}\frac{4}{3}R^{[\alpha }{}_{\mu \nu \sigma }{}^{}J_{}^{\beta ]\mu \nu \sigma }\frac{5}{3}R^{[\alpha }{}_{\mu \nu \sigma ;\rho }{}^{}G_{}^{\beta ]\mu \rho \nu \sigma }.$$
(22)
Thus we have obtained for the first time the correction to propagation equations till the coupling of covariant generalization of Newtonian octupole moment with the background gravitational field. These equations agree with the earlier results obtained till quadrupole  but the force due to the octupole moment is a new result. Our procedure can be easily generalized easily extended to obtain further corrections from due to all higher multipole moments.

This is a very simple and elegant method of deriving the equation of motion for an extended body incorporating coupling of multipole moments of arbitrary order with the gravitational field. And above all we have found the action for such a body which we have also used to compute the gravitational phase shifts in its quantum wavefunction due to the multipoles. We hope that the new gravitationally induced phase shifts would be measured in future interferometry experiments based on atomic, molecular and Bose-Einstein condensates . Our novel algorithm also yields modifications to the geodesic equation which, with present day high precision astronomical observations yielding multipole moments of planetary or stellar bodies,can be applied to obtain aberrations in their orbits. It would be interesting to relax the other aspect of test body character; i.e. non namely ignorability of back reaction, and then study the motion in full generality.

Acknowledgements: We thank J. Ehlers and C. W. Misner for informative discussions. PS thanks Council for Scientific and Industrial Research for grant number: 2-34/98(ii)E.U-II.


text:
# Spin-pairing instabilities at the coincidence of two Landau levels

(May 30, 2002)

## Abstract

The effect of interactions near the coincidence of two Landau levels with opposite spins at filling factor 1/2 is investigated. By mapping to Composite Fermions it is shown that the fluctuations of the gauge field induces an effective attractive Fermion interaction. This can lead to a spin-singlet ground state that is separated from the excited states by a gap. The magnitude of the gap is evaluated. The results are consistent with the recently observed half-polarized states in the FQHE at a fixed filling factor. It is suggested that similar anomalies exist for other spin configurations in degenerate spin-up and spin-down Landau levels. An experiment for testing the spin-singlet state is proposed.

It is well established that in two dimensions (2D) the interacting electrons in a half-filled Landau level (LL) can be mapped via the Chern-Simons transformation to a weakly interacting Fermi liquid of Composite Fermions (CF) Jain89 ; HLR93 ; Books . This singular gauge transformation is equivalent to attaching two flux quanta to each electron. The CF feel an effective magnetic field that is smaller than the external one. It vanishes, on the average, at half filling. By introducing the CF, one can understand the principal features of the incompressible states in the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) as an integer quantum Hall effect of CFs. The CF also help clarifying the nature and the properties of the compressible phases at other even-denominator filling factors in the first LL HLR93 . The theoretical expectations concerning the transport properties of the latter states have been confirmed in surface-acoustic waves experiments. In transport measurements on anti-dot lattices near half filling, commensurability oscillations of CFs were observed. This strongly suggests that CFs can be viewed as real objects which, in certain situations, behave almost as classical point-like particles willett . This view is strongly supported by the recent report of CF cyclotron resonance k02 .

Via radiative recombination of electrons in the inversion layer of high-electron mobility AlGaAs-heterostructures with holes bound to acceptors in the delta-doping region, the spin polarizations of several FQHE-ground states at fixed filling factors have been measured Kukushkin  as a function of the ratio between Zeeman and the Coulomb energies, $`\xi E_\mathrm{Z}/E_\mathrm{C}`$. Crossovers between FQHE-ground states with different spin polarizations have been detected. Upon varying $`\xi `$, the polarization of the ground state remains constant within large intervals until a certain critical value $`\xi _\mathrm{c}`$ is approached. Then, the system is transferred into a stable, differently polarized ground state. The experimental data have been found to be consistent with the model of non-interacting CFs with spin, and with an effective mass that scales with Coulomb interaction ($`\sqrt{B}`$). The broad plateaus in the spin-polarization are then due to the occupation of a fixed number of spin split LL of the CF (CFLL). The crossovers occur when intersections of CFLLs coincide with the chemical potential.

Most strikingly, the experimentally determined spin polarizations, when extrapolated to zero temperature, show additional plateaus for magnetic flux densities near the centers of the crossovers. The corresponding polarizations are within the experimental uncertainty almost exactly intermediate between those in the neighboring broad plateaus. This indicates additional features beyond the non-interacting CF model and could be signature of a new collective state since one can expect that if two CFLLs are degenerate, residual interactions become very important and cannot be treated perturbatively. In these experiments, the CFLLs with different spins have been tuned to degeneracy via the dependence of the effective mass of the CFs on the magnetic field which was aligned perpendicular to the 2D system.

By measuring via NMR the spin polarization at filling factor $`\nu =2/3`$, a remarkably abrupt transition from a fully polarized state to a state with polarization 3/4 has been found when decreasing $`\xi `$ f01 . This has been associated with a first order quantum phase transition. For $`\nu >2/3`$, strong depolarization has been observed that is associated with two spin flips per additional flux quantum. In these measurements, $`\xi `$ has been tuned via tilting the magnetic field such that the electron system is also subject to an in-plane component of the magnetic field.

The nature of collective states under such conditions has been addressed in several works. For instance, several spin polarization instabilities has been found assuming the tilted field geometry for LLs Giuliani85 ; Yarlagadda91 . Directly related to the above optical measurements, a non-translationally invariant charge-density-wave-state of CFs has been proposed on the basis of restricted Hartree-Fock calculations Murthy00 . From exact diagonalizations of few interacting Fermions, a liquid of non-symmetric excitons has been suggested a01 .

In this paper, it is proposed that a condensate of spin-singlet pairs of CF, could account for some of the anomalies observed near degeneracy. We investigate the coincidence of two LLs with opposite spins using the Chern-Simons gauge transformation and considering the effective interactions induced by the gauge field. The two intersecting LL can then be imagined as two degenerate CF-Fermi seas with opposite spins coupled by interactions. Our main result is that the fluctuations of the gauge field generate an effective interaction between CFs with opposite spins and momenta which is attractive in the limit of small frequency and long wavelengths. This indicates an instability towards a condensate of spin-singlet pairs. The gap between the ground state and the energetically lowest excited state is evaluated by solving the Eliashberg equation, similar to earlier work Khves93 ; Bonesteel93 . We suggest that the half-polarized states of CFs observed in the experiments mentioned above can be understood by generalizing our model to pairing of second-generation CFs. We provide a quantitative estimate of the gap which is found to be roughly consistent with the experimental data. Similar to the previously discussed pairing instability in well-separated double layer QHE-systems Bonesteel96 , the condensate of CFs should show macroscopic quantum effects that could be experimentally addressed.

We consider two half-filled, degenerate LL with opposite spin. Using the Chern-Simons transformation we obtain CFs with spin that form 2D Fermi seas with a Fermi wave number $`k_\mathrm{F}=\sqrt{2\pi \rho }`$ ($`\rho `$ total average electron number density) HLR93 . This system is formally analogous to a double-layer quantum Hall system with $`\nu =1/2`$ in each layer. The layer index is here the spin orientation $`s=`$$`,`$ and the layer separation is zero.

In order to formally extract the effective CF-interaction we consider the Lagrangian density of the two coupled Chern-Simons liquids of charge $`e`$

$$(𝐫,t)=_\mathrm{F}(𝐫,t)+_{\mathrm{CS}}(𝐫,t)+_\mathrm{I}(𝐫,t)$$
(1)
with the kinetic term of the Fermions

$`_\mathrm{F}(𝐫,t)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{s=,}{}}\psi _s^{}(𝐫,t)\{i\mathrm{}_t+ea_0^s(𝐫,t).`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2m}}[i\mathrm{}`$ $`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{e}{c}}(𝐀(𝐫)𝐚^s(𝐫,t))]^2\}\psi _s(𝐫,t),`$ (2)
the gauge term ($`\widehat{𝐳}`$ perpendicular to the 2D plane)

$$_{\mathrm{CS}}(𝐫,t)=\frac{e}{\stackrel{~}{\phi }\varphi _0}\underset{s=,}{}a_0^s(𝐫,t)\widehat{𝐳}\times 𝐚^s(𝐫,t),$$
(3)
and the contribution of the Coulomb interaction

$$_\mathrm{I}(𝐫,t)=\frac{1}{2}\underset{s,s^{}}{}d^2r^{}\rho _s(𝐫,t)V(𝐫𝐫^{})\rho _s^{}(𝐫^{},t).$$
(4)
Here, $`\rho _s(𝐫,t)\psi _s^{}(𝐫,t)\psi _s(𝐫,t)`$ is the density of the Fermions with spin orientation $`s`$, $`𝐀`$ the vector potential of the external magnetic field, $`(a_0^s,𝐚^s)`$ the gauge field for spin orientation $`s`$, and $`V(𝐫)=e^2/ϵr`$ the Coulomb interaction.

The Chern-Simons Lagrangian $`_{\mathrm{CS}}`$ is responsible for the attachment of $`\stackrel{~}{\phi }`$ flux quanta $`\varphi _0hc/e`$ to each Fermion, as can be seen by minimizing the action with respect to the $`a_0^s`$-gauge field. This gives the constraint $`\widehat{𝐳}\times 𝐚^s(𝐫,t)/\stackrel{~}{\phi }\varphi _0=\rho _s(𝐫,t).`$ Here, the flux attachment for the two species of Fermions has been performed independently. We assume $`\stackrel{~}{\phi }=2`$, such that the mean fictitious magnetic field cancels the external one at half filling, $`\nu \rho \varphi _0/2B=1/2`$.

We use the transverse gauge, $`𝐚^s=0`$. Then, the Bosonic variables associated with the gauge field fluctuations are the transverse components of their Fourier transforms, $`a_1^s(𝐪,\omega )\widehat{𝐳}\widehat{𝐪}\times [𝐚^s(𝐪,\omega )𝐚^s(𝐪,\omega )]`$. By introducing the mean gauge field into $`_\mathrm{F}`$ the external field $`𝐀`$ is canceled. From the terms linear in the charge $`e`$ and the momentum $`i\mathrm{}`$, one easily can extract the form of the vertices connecting two Fermions with one gauge field fluctuation operator $`a_\mu ^s(𝐪,\omega )`$ ($`\mu =0,1`$)

$$v_\mu ^s(𝐤,𝐤+𝐪)=\left(\begin{array}{c}e\\ \frac{\mathrm{}e}{mc}\widehat{𝐳}\frac{𝐤\times 𝐪}{|𝐪|}\end{array}\right).$$
(5)
In addition, there is a Fermion-gauge field coupling term quadratic in the fluctuation operators.

In order to derive the effective interaction between the CFs we generalize the diagrammatic Chern-Simons Fermi liquid description of FQHE states to include the spin. First, one inserts the above relation between the charge density and the gauge field into (4) and introduces the gauge field fluctuations such that $`_{\mathrm{CS}}+_\mathrm{I}`$ describes the free gauge field. The effective CF interaction can then be obtained from the coupling terms in $`_\mathrm{F}(𝐫,t)`$ by tracing out the gauge field fluctuations. At imaginary time, one gets for the effective interaction in the Euclidean action

$`V_{\mu \nu }^{s,s^{}}(𝐤,𝐤^{},𝐪;\mathrm{\Omega }_n)=v_\mu ^s(𝐤,𝐤+𝐪)v_\nu ^s^{}(𝐤^{},𝐤^{}𝐪)`$
$`\times [𝒟_{\mu \nu }^+(𝐪,\mathrm{\Omega }_n)+(2\delta _{ss^{}}1)𝒟_{\mu \nu }^{}(𝐪,\mathrm{\Omega }_n)].`$ (6)
This describes scattering of CFs from states with spin $`s`$, $`s^{}`$ and momenta $`\mathrm{}𝐤`$, and $`\mathrm{}𝐤^{}`$ into states with $`\mathrm{}(𝐤+𝐪)`$, $`\mathrm{}(𝐤^{}𝐪)`$ by exchanging a gauge field quantum with momentum $`\mathrm{}𝐪`$ and frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }_n=2\pi nk_\mathrm{B}T/\mathrm{}`$ ($`n`$ integer).

The effective interaction contains the RPA gauge field propagators $`𝒟_{\mu \nu }^\alpha (𝐪,\tau )(1/\mathrm{})𝐓_\tau a_\mu ^\alpha (𝐪,\tau )a_\nu ^\alpha (𝐪,0)`$ ($`𝐓_\tau `$ time ordering operator and $`\alpha =\pm `$) evaluated in terms of the symmetric and antisymmetric combinations of the gauge field fluctuations $`a_\mu ^\alpha =(a_\mu ^{}+\alpha a_\mu ^{})/2`$. In terms of the current-current correlation functions for free Fermions at zero magnetic field, $`\mathrm{\Pi }_\nu ^0\mathrm{\Pi }_{\nu \nu }^0(𝐪,\mathrm{\Omega }_n)`$ one has

$$(𝒟^1)_{\mu \nu }^\alpha (𝐪,\mathrm{\Omega }_n)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{\Pi }_0^0& \frac{ieq}{\varphi _0}\\ \frac{ieq}{\varphi _0}& \frac{q^2V(q)}{\varphi _0^2}\delta _{+,\alpha }\mathrm{\Pi }_1^0\end{array}\right)$$
(7)
It can be shown that the dominant small-momentum small-energy contributions of the above symmetric and antisymmetric propagators correspond to $`\mu =\nu =1`$ Bonesteel96 . For $`\mathrm{\Omega }_nv_\mathrm{F}qv_\mathrm{F}k_\mathrm{F}`$, $`\mathrm{\Pi }_0^0e^2m/\pi \mathrm{}^2`$, $`\mathrm{\Pi }_1^0(e^2q^2/12\pi +2|\mathrm{\Omega }_n|e^2\rho /v_\mathrm{F}q)/mc^2`$, such that

$$𝒟_{11}^\pm (𝐪,\mathrm{\Omega }_n)\frac{q}{\alpha _\pm q^{(51)/2}+\eta |\mathrm{\Omega }_n|}$$
(8)
with the constants $`\eta =2e^2\rho /mc^2v_\mathrm{F}`$, $`\alpha _+=e^2/ϵ\varphi _0^2`$, $`\alpha _{}=4\pi \mathrm{}^2/3m\varphi _0^2`$. For small wave numbers, and frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }_n0`$, the antisymmetric propagator $`𝒟_{11}^{}(𝐪,\mathrm{\Omega }_n)`$ dominates. This does not contain the Coulomb interaction, as pointed out earlier Bonesteel96 . In the Cooper channel, the effective interaction $`V_{11}^{s,s}(𝐤,𝐤,𝐪;\mathrm{\Omega }_n)`$ is attractive for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_n0`$ due to $`D_{11}^{}(𝐪,0)q^2`$ ($`q0`$) and can lead to an instability towards the formation of spin-singlet pairs of CFs in a single QHE layer.

We calculate the quasi-particle energy gap for the Cooper channel in mean field approximation Khves93 ; Bonesteel96  using the Nambu field $`\mathrm{\Phi }_𝐤^{}(\tau )=(c_{}^{}(𝐤,\tau ),c_{}(𝐤,\tau ))`$ where $`c_s(𝐤,\tau ),c_s^{}(𝐤,\tau )`$ are the Fermion annihilation and creation operators, respectively, for spin $`s`$ and momentum $`\mathrm{}𝐤`$ at imaginary time $`\tau `$. The Green function $`𝒢(𝐤,\tau )=(1/\mathrm{})\mathrm{T}_\tau \mathrm{\Phi }_𝐤(\tau )\mathrm{\Phi }_𝐤^{}(0)`$ is a $`2\times 2`$ matrix, $`𝒢_{ij}`$, that is obtained by inverting the Dyson equation

$$𝒢^1(𝐤,\omega _n)=𝒢_0^1(𝐤,\omega _n)\mathrm{\Sigma }(𝐤,\omega _n).$$
(9)
Here, $`𝒢_0(𝐤,\omega _n)=[i\sigma _0\mathrm{}\omega _n\sigma _3(\mathrm{}^2k^2/2m\mu )]^1`$ is the (diagonal) Green function for a free Fermion pair. Here, $`\sigma _0`$ is the unit matrix, $`\sigma _3`$ the Pauli matrix, $`\mu `$ the chemical potential, and $`\omega _n=(2n+1)\pi k_\mathrm{B}T/\mathrm{}`$ a Fermionic frequency. The self-energy $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(𝐤,\omega _n)`$ is a $`2\times 2`$-matrix $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{ij}`$ with the diagonal elements describing the renormalization of the Fermion mass, while the off-diagonal matrix element defines the pair-breaking gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$

$$\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐤,\omega _n)\frac{i\mathrm{}\omega _n\mathrm{\Sigma }_{12}(𝐤,\omega _n)}{i\mathrm{}\omega _n\mathrm{\Sigma }_{11}(𝐤,\omega _n)}.$$
(10)
For the self-energy we use only the Fock term Khves93 ; Nagaosa90 ,

$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{ij}(𝐤,\omega _n)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{k_\mathrm{B}T}{(2\pi )^2}}{\displaystyle \underset{n^{}}{}}{\displaystyle 𝑑𝐪𝒢_{ij}(𝐤𝐪,\omega _n\omega _n^{})}`$ (11)
$`\times [\delta _{ij}V_{11}^{s,s}(𝐤,𝐤,𝐪;\omega _n^{})`$
$`+(\delta _{ij}1)V_{11}^{s,s}(𝐤,𝐤,𝐪;\omega _n^{})]`$
In order to evaluate this explicitly, we assume $`𝐤𝐤_\mathrm{F}`$. Carrying out the necessary integrations, by analytical continuation to real frequencies, $`\omega _ni\omega +\delta `$, using the spectral representation of the Green function, and combining the self-energy equation with the above (10) one obtains an implicit equation for $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\omega )\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐤_\mathrm{F},\omega )`$ in the zero-temperature limit,

$`\mathrm{\Delta }(\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{C}{\omega }}{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}dz\mathrm{\Theta }(\mathrm{}|z|\mathrm{\Delta }(z))`$ (12)
$`\times {\displaystyle \frac{[zK_1(z)\mathrm{\Delta }(\omega )\omega \mathrm{\Delta }(z)K_2(z)]}{[\mathrm{}^2z^2\mathrm{\Delta }^2(z)]^{1/2}}}`$
with the constant $`C=e^2\mathrm{}k_\mathrm{F}/8\pi ^3mc^2`$ ($`E_\mathrm{F}`$ Fermi energy),

$$K_j(z)\mathrm{sgn}(z)[F_\omega ^{}(z)(1)^jF_\omega ^+(z)],$$
(13)
($`j=1,2`$) and

$$F_\omega ^\pm (z)=_{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}d\zeta \frac{\mathrm{sgn}(z)+\mathrm{sgn}(\zeta )}{\zeta +z\omega i\delta }\mathrm{Im}D^\pm (\zeta )$$
(14)
where $`D^\pm =_0^{\mathrm{}}dqD_{11}^\pm (q,i\zeta )`$. By evaluating the integrals one obtains for $`\omega 0`$ to leading order the self-consistency condition

$$1=C^{}x^{1/3}C^+[\mathrm{ln}(\omega _0x/C^+)]^2.$$
(15)
with $`x=E_\mathrm{F}/\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and a cutoff parameter $`\omega _01`$. Apart from the values of the constants, this result is similar to the one obtained for the double-layer system Bonesteel96 . The first term, with the numerical constant $`C^{}=\sqrt{\pi }(2/3)^{4/3}\mathrm{\Gamma }(7/6)/\mathrm{\Gamma }(2/3)1.4`$, describes the contribution due to $`D^{}`$. The second term, with the prefactor $`C^+=(1/2\pi k_\mathrm{F}\mathrm{}_\mathrm{C})(E_\mathrm{F}/E_\mathrm{C})`$, is due to $`D^+`$ and stems from the interaction between particles; $`E_\mathrm{C}`$ is the Coulomb repulsion energy of two particles at distance $`\mathrm{}_\mathrm{C}`$. Independent of the value of $`C^+`$, there is always a solution to this equation. This does not contradict the results of bonesteel99  since we considered here non-screened, long-range Coulomb interaction between the particles. For $`E_\mathrm{F}`$ larger than $`E_\mathrm{C}`$, however, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ becomes vanishingly small.

Equation (15) indicates that in a single QHE layer, when two LLs intersect at the Fermi energy in a perpendicular magnetic field, the system becomes unstable against formation of a spin-singlet state due to attractive coupling of CFs via the gauge field fluctuations. The resulting condensate state is similar to the macroscopic state induced in a superconductor by the electron-phonon coupling.

Let us consider experimental consequences. First, the existence of the spin-singlet condensate state contributes towards understanding the extra-plateaus in the CF spin polarization experiments of Kukushkin . The splitting between CFLLs with spin up and spin down behaves as $`\sqrt{B}`$ for small $`B`$, and is proportional to $`B`$ for large $`B`$. Spin-up and spin-down components of different CFLLs intersect. As an example, we consider $`\nu p/(2p+1)=2/5`$. This corresponds to two filled CFLLs ($`p=2`$). We adjust the Fermi level to the energy where the spin-down Zeeman level of the lowest CFLL becomes degenerate with the spin-up Zeeman level of the first CFLL. For magnetic fields smaller than the one corresponding to the point of degeneracy, $`B_\mathrm{c}`$, only the Zeeman levels of the lowest CFLL are occupied at zero temperature. The spin polarization vanishes, $`\gamma =(\rho _{}\rho _{})/(\rho _{}+\rho _{})=0`$. Magnetic fields above $`B_\mathrm{c}`$ yield $`\gamma =1`$. Exactly at $`B_\mathrm{c}`$, two half-filled CFLLs can be formed when defining the filling factor in terms of the ratio between the number of CF and the number of ”effective” flux quanta crossing the sample. In analogy to the above, one can perform a gauge transformation leading to ”second generation” CFs. The corresponding gauge fluctuations mediate an effective attractive interaction. This leads to the formation of a condensate. From the experiments, one estimates $`k_\mathrm{F}\mathrm{}_\mathrm{C}1`$ and $`E_\mathrm{F}/2\pi E_\mathrm{C}0.01`$, such that $`\mathrm{\Delta }0.3E_\mathrm{F}`$. This value is more or less consistent with the experimental observations concerning the spin flip gap which give values of the order $`0.2`$K and the experimental Fermi energy of 1 K Kukushkin , though this numerical estimate is already somewhat outside the range of validity of the asymptotic condition (15). The existence of the gap at the crossing point implies that in a region of magnetic fields around this point, where the energy difference between the CFLLs is less then $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, the condensate remains stable. The formation of such a state of singlet CF-pairs was then responsible for the formation of a plateau exactly at half the distance between the neighboring plateaus in an interval of magnetic fields near the crossover point.

Second, one can suspect that mechanisms similar to the above can also lead to instabilities at other filling factors. Near degeneracy, non-equal but commensurate fillings of spin-up and spin-down states might yield collective instabilities with intermediate spin polarizations. For instance, consider $`\nu =2/3`$. This corresponds to two (Zeeman-split) CFLLs with $`p=2`$. When changing the magnetic field, the uppermost (spin-down) Zeeman level of the lowest CFLL and the lower (spin-up) Zeeman level of the first CFLL intersect. When the electron density is adjusted to the degeneracy point, the lowest spin-up CFLL is fully occupied, while only half of the states in the degenerated levels are filled. A priori, it is not clear how the Fermions are distributed among these states. For the ground state all possible configurations have to be taken into account. Above we have considered the special case of both levels being half-filled. However, also other configurations can yield stable states. Assume, for instance, that 3/4 of the spin-up level of the first CFLL and 1/4 of the lowest spin-down CFLL are occupied at degeneracy and that this, together with the totally occupied lowest spin-up Zeeman level, would correspond to a stable state via the effective interaction. This would give an average spin polarization of $`\gamma =3/4`$. If such a state was stable in the presence of an in-plane component of the magnetic field, it could account for the recently reported 3/4-state observed in NMR at $`\nu =2/3`$ f01 .

Third, the possibility of generating long-range spin-pairing correlations in a single 2D Hall sample, similar to those discussed previously for QHE double layers fw01 ; s00 , by tuning the density and the magnetic field to induce the above crossing between spin-up and spin-down LL leads to interesting speculations. For instance, consider two QHE systems in the same plane, say at $`\nu =2/5`$, separated by a tunnel junction. By tuning the two densities to the value of the point of degeneracy a ”Josephson current” should flow. Such a current should vanish as soon as one of the two densities was detuned.

In conclusion, we have considered two Landau levels with opposite spins tuned to intersect at filling factor $`1/2`$ at the Fermi level. By applying the Chern-Simons gauge transformation, we have derived an effective attractive CF interaction. This yields an instability towards a spin-singlet condensate. We have discussed several experimental consequences. In order to observe the predicted spin-singlet state, a close-to-zero in-plane component of the magnetic field should be necessary as has been achieved in the spin-polarization experiments done in the region of the FQHE. Our results suggest that different occupations of spin-up and spin-down LLs could account for instabilities at other fractional polarizations and that an in-plane component of the magnetic field could account for an anisotropic spin-singlet condensate.

This work has been supported by the European Union via the TMR and RTN programmes (FMRX-CT98-0180, HPRN-CT2000-00144), by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft within the Schwerpunkt “Quanten-Hall-Effekt”, and by the Italian MURST via PRIN00.