text:
# Oscillation power as a diagnostic tool for stellar turbulent spectra

## 1 Introduction

Instruments aboard the SOHO spacecraft have provided high-quality data of solar oscillations. Comparing theoretical estimates of acoustic power spectra with such high-quality data leads to a better understanding of the excitation processes of p-mode oscillations and provides more details of the characteristics of stellar turbulence. The acoustic power injected into the p modes by turbulent convection has been modelled by several authors (e.g., Goldreich & Keeley 1977; Christensen-Dalsgaard & Frandsen 1983; Balmforth 1992b; Goldreich, Murray & Kumar 1994; Musielak et al. 1994). Balmforth (1992b) and Goldreich, Murray & Kumar (1994) investigated the contributions of the fluctuating entropy to the noise generation rate additional to the contributions of the fluctuating Reynolds stresses but reported different results. Balmforth found the entropy fluctuations to be less important relative to the Reynolds stress contributions. Goldreich, Murray & Kumar (1994, hereafter GMK), however, concluded that the fluctuating entropy contribution is about 3–4 times larger than the Reynolds stress contribution, a result which was also found by the hydrodynamical simulations of Stein & Nordlund (1991).

Here, we adopt the formulation of Samadi et al. (2000), which takes into account contributions both from the Reynolds stresses and from the fluctuations of the entropy. Moreover, the new formulation allows a consistent investigation of the effects of using different forms of the turbulent time spectrum and turbulent energy spectrum. In particular, we study the effects of using various forms of the spatial turbulent energy spectrum and turbulent time spectrum on the acoustic power of radial p-mode oscillations for a model of the Sun and for a model of Procyon A and compare the results with recent observations. Better agreement with the observations is found for calculations in which the turbulent energy spectrum includes contributions from convective elements with spatial scales larger than one mixing length.

## 2 Excitation of stellar p modes by turbulent convection

### 2.1 Acoustic noise generation rate

The acoustic power injected into the oscillations is defined (e.g., GMK) in terms of the damping rate $`\eta `$, the mean-square amplitude $`A^2`$, the mode inertia $`I`$ and oscillation frequency $`\omega _0`$:

$`P=2\eta \mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1}/2A^2I\omega _0^2.`$ (1)
The mean-square amplitude is determined by the balance between the energy gain from the turbulent flow and the energy drain by thermal and mechanical damping processes. It can be derived as (e.g., Balmforth 1992b)

$`\begin{array}{ccc}A^2\eta ^1_0^M𝑑m\rho _0w^4\left(\frac{\xi _r}{r}\right)^2𝒮(\omega _0,m)& \text{with}& 𝒮(\omega _0,m)=_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑k\varphi (k)\chi _k(\omega _0),\end{array}`$ (3)
where $`\xi _r`$ is the radial displacement eigenfunction, $`\rho _0`$ the density, $`k`$ the wavenumber of an eddy, $`w`$ is the vertical rms velocity of the convective elements and $`𝒮`$ is the turbulent source term, describing contributions to the noise generation rate from eddies with different sizes. The integration is performed over the stellar mass $`M`$. The mean-square amplitude is indirect proportional to the damping rate, $`\eta `$, (e.g. Balmforth 1992b) and consequently the noise generation rate (or acoustic power) $`P`$ becomes independent of $`\eta `$. Thus comparing the estimated noise generation rates with observations avoids the additional uncertainties in the modelling of the damping rates (GMK). Both Reynolds stresses and entropy fluctuations contribute to the excitation of p modes, and proper models are needed for their computations. The turbulent source $`𝒮`$, describing the turbulent spectrum, can be separated into a spatial turbulent energy spectrum $`\varphi (k)`$ and in a turbulent time spectrum $`\chi _k(\omega )`$ (Stein 1967). The present formulation differs from the formulation of Balmforth (1992b) and GMK mainly in the way the entropy fluctuations are modelled (for more details see Samadi et al. 2000).

### 2.2 Turbulent ingredients

The correlation time of the turbulent eddies is modelled by the turbulent time spectrum $`\chi _k(\omega )`$; several forms of $`\chi _k(\omega )`$ have been proposed: the commonly used Gaussian spectrum (e.g., Goldreich & Keeley 1977, Balmforth 1992b), the exponential spectrum (Stein 1967; Musielak et al. 1994) and the “Modified Gaussian” spectrum as suggested by Musielak et al. (1994). Similarly, various forms for the spatial energy spectrum $`\varphi (k)`$ have been proposed: the Kolmogorov spectrum (KS), the spectrum suggested by Spiegel (1962) which includes a representation for the nonlinear interaction between turbulent modes (SS), and the “Raised Kolmogorov” spectrum (RKS) proposed by Musielak et al. (1994), which was derived empirically from the solar observations of Muller (1989). Only the RKS spectrum includes a description that takes into account contributions from eddies having smaller wavenumbers than those considered in the KS and SS spectra. These eddies correspond to meso-granulation.

## 3 Solar model and calibration

We considered a solar model computed with the CESAM code (Morel 1997) assuming the model parameters displayed in Fig. 1. The oscillation properties were obtained from the adiabatic FILOU pulsation code of Tran Minh & Leon (1995). We computed models with various time spectra and concluded that the Gaussian time spectrum provides the best agreement between the computed and observed (Libbrecht 1988) acoustic power spectrum. In particular the shape of the acoustic spectrum and the frequency of the maximum value of the acoustic power are closest to the observations for models computed with the Gaussian time spectrum.

Using the observed linewidths of Libbrecht (1988) we computed the mean surface velocities from the power estimates. The results are plotted in Fig. 1 as functions of oscillation frequencies for model computations using the RKS (continuous curve), the KS (dashed curve) and the SS (dot-dashed curve) spectrum. For all three model computations the Gaussian time spectrum was assumed. Amplitudes obtained with the RKS spectrum are closest to the observed values. Moreover, use of the RKS spectrum leads to the smallest frequency shift between the computed and observed maximum value of the velocity amplitudes.

In order to estimate acoustic power spectra for other stars we need to calibrate our formulation, i.e., to scale the free parameters, which are inherent in the formulation of the noise generation rate (for details see Samadi et al. 2000). The noise generation rate is calibrated for all three turbulent spectra in such a way as to predict the same maximum value for the velocity amplitude of $`18\mathrm{cm}\mathrm{s}^1`$ as suggested by the BBSO observations of Libbrecht (1988).

## 4 What can we learn from other stars ?

Using the same programmes with the same input physics as used for the solar model described above, we computed a model for Procyon A. For the model parameters we assumed a mass $`M=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1.46}M_{}`$, an effective temperature $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}6395}`$K, $`\alpha =\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1.785}`$ and the same chemical composition as for the solar model (see Fig. 1). The left panel of Fig. 2 shows the normalized power versus the oscillation frequencies computed with the RKS (continuous curve), the KS (dotted curve) and the SS (dot-dashed curve) spectrum. The results suggest large differences at high frequencies between models computed with the RKS and the KS spectrum. At low frequencies the shape of the noise generation rate (power) is predominantly determined by the modal inertia, whereas at high frequencies the shape of the eigenfunctions becomes more important. This dependence on the eigenfunctions at high frequencies is more pronounced in the model of Procyon than in the solar model. However, only small differences are found between power estimates obtained from computations including only the Reynolds stress contribution and for computations including both Reynolds stress and entropy contributions, assuming the same turbulent spectrum.

In order to compute velocity amplitudes we need estimates of the pulsation damping rates, $`\eta `$. The damping rates for radial oscillations were obtained from a non-adiabatic pulsation programme introduced by Balmforth (1992a). In this programme convection is treated with a time-dependent, nonlocal generalization of the mixing-length formulation (Gough 1976, 1977). Computation details can be found in Balmforth (1992b) and in Houdek et al. (1999). The right panel of Fig. 2 shows the estimated surface velocities computed with the RKS and the KS spectra assuming the computed damping rates $`\eta `$ and the same parameters as suggested by a solar model which has been calibrated to the observations. We observe a large frequency shift of the maximum values of the estimated velocities between models computed with the RKS and the KS spectrum.

In the calculations for the amplitudes we assumed that the effect of using different eigenfunctions for computing the power with the programme of Tran Minh & Leon and for the damping rates with the programme of Balmforth are small compared to the uncertainties inherent in the formulation of estimating the acoustic power. This inconsistency may affect the absolute value of the surface velocity but has no effect on the comparison between velocity estimates obtained with different turbulent spectra.

Observations of Procyon have been carried out by Martic et al. (1999) and Barban et al. (1999). These authors concluded that the maximum velocity is observed around $`\nu 1\mathrm{mHz}`$ with an upper limit of $`V_{\mathrm{max}}<60\mathrm{cm}\mathrm{s}^1`$. The velocity estimates using the RKS spectrum (continuous curve in the right panel of Fig. 2) exhibit a maximum at $`\nu 1\mathrm{mHz}`$, in fair agreement with the observations. However, the predicted surface velocities are too large relative to the observations. It should be noted that some of the uncertainties in the computed amplitudes do stem from the uncertainties in the damping rate estimations, $`\eta `$.

## 5 Conclusion and perspectives

We have presented results of a more general and consistent formulation for estimating the acoustic noise generation rate in solar-type stars. In accordance with GMK, the entropy contribution has been found to be roughly three times larger than the contributions from the Reynolds stresses. However, preliminary results suggest only small differences in the maximum amplitude values in other stars between models computed with the Reynolds stress contribution alone and models computed with both Reynolds stress and entropy contributions, provided the amplitudes in both cases are calibrated first to solar observations for a solar model.

For the solar case we conclude that the “Raised Kolmogorov” spectrum (RKS) and the Gaussian time spectra provide the best agreement with the observations. Computations for a model of Procyon A support this conclusion. For the Procyon model the differences between the RKS and the KS spectra are larger than in the solar case.

Further investigations of the proposed formulation are necessary such as testing it against the results of hydrodynamical simulations. Extending the investigation of the noise generation rate to other stars improves our understanding of stellar turbulence. Moreover, the results of modelling solar-type oscillation properties are of great importance for the selection process of target stars in future space projects such as COROT (COnvection and ROTation), MONS (Measuring Oscillations in Nearby Stars) or MOST (Microvariability & Oscillations of STars).

### Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Y. Lebreton for the computation of models. We thank F. Tran Minh and L. Leon for the use of the FILOU pulsation code, and we are indebted to M.J. Goupil for useful discussions.

## DISCUSSION

DOUGLAS GOUGH : Why does the ‘‘Raised Kolmogorov’’ spectrum lead to larger power estimates at high frequencies ?

REZA SAMADI : The ‘‘Raised Kolmogorov’’ spectrum (RKS) leads to a smaller depth of excitation. The RKS takes into account eddies of smaller wavenumbers than the Kolmogorov spectrum (KS). There is also an excess of power at low wavenumbers. Consequently, for a given wavenumber k the correlation time of an eddy ($`\tau _k`$) is larger with the RKS than with the KS spectrum. The major contribution to mode excitation comes from eddies with $`\tau _k\omega _0<1`$. Thus the region where $`\tau _k\omega _0<1`$ should also be smaller with the RKS than with the KS. Therefore the RKS induces a smaller depth of the excitation region.


format: text

text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The idea of construction of a Dp-brane from infinitely many lower dimensional D$`(p2)`$-branes has been developed in the context of the Matrix theory -. Though this is very interesting idea, it was known that the Dp-brane which is constructed from BPS D$`(p2)`$-branes has charge of the BPS D$`(p2)`$-branes because the lower dimensional brane charges should be conserved. This means that the world-volume of the BPS D$`p`$-brane becomes non-commutative space -. Therefore it is interesting to construct a pure Dp-brane with commutative world-volume from lower dimensional D-branes.

On the other hand, some properties of the system containing tachyon in string theories have been understood -. In particular, the non-BPS branes - and the brane-antibrane systems - have been studied. Furthermore, the exact solitons has been found in the effective non-commutative world-volume theories of unstable D-branes -. This construction can be viewed as a condensation of the tachyon which makes the lower dimensional unstable $`\mathrm{}1`$ D$`(p2)`$-branes disappear. A remaining D$`(p2)`$-brane corresponds to the soliton solution in the non-commutative world-volume theory of the unstable Dp-brane because the infinitely many unstable D$`(p2)`$-branes constitute the unstable Dp-brane. For more details, see the appendix.  Here the solitons represent lower dimensional D-branes. This effective theories can be regarded as the tree level actions of string field theories, then, this solitons can be regarded as the exact solutions of equations of motion of string field theories. Recently, even for the case without non-commutativity, the exact solution has been found in the world-volume of the unstable D-branes using the boundary string filed theory (BSFT) -, which was first formulated by Witten .

Then it is natural to try to construct a BPS D-brane from lower dimensional unstable non-BPS D-branes which have no conserved charges. Although some attempts to do this was made in , the result is not clear, especially for the brane tension, since the BSFT action for the non-BPS brane had not been obtained and the actions used in  are not considered to be exact.

In this paper we construct an exact soliton, which represents a BPS D$`p`$-brane, in the effective world-volume theory of infinitely many non-BPS D$`(p1)`$-branes. This world volume theory is obtained from BSFT and the T-duality. In this paper we call a solution of the equations of motion the soliton although the solution is not localized in the world volume of the non-BPS D$`(p1)`$-branes. This is because the solution is localized in the T-dual picture. Moreover, we can show that the solution remains intact even if we include the terms containing many commutators in the action. These terms should be included into the action when we consider the full string field theory action. Therefore, this soliton can be regarded as an exact soliton in the string field theory, as in the construction of the non-commutative soliton , where it is argued that derivative corrections, which correspond to higher commutator terms in our case, can be ignored.

The world-volume theory of the BPS D$`p`$-brane constructed in this way becomes usual gauge theory on commutative $`𝐑^{p+1}`$. The new commutative coordinate of the world-volume of the BPS D$`p`$-brane appears through the non-commutative $`𝐑^2`$. The extra dimension effectively disappears by the condensation of the tachyons as in the case of a soliton in a D$`9`$-brane, then the non-commutative $`𝐑^2`$ reduces to the commutative $`𝐑^1`$.

We also construct a D$`p`$-brane from non-BPS D$`(pn)`$-branes by the ABS like configuration. It is shown that the RR charges of the solitons are correct ones. The tension of the D$`p`$-brane is shown to coincide with the expected value for $`n=1`$ case. For $`n>1`$, we show that the tension of the soliton computed from a natural action coincides with the expected value.

This paper is organized as follows. In section 2, we briefly review the BSFT action for non-BPS D9-brane and the construction of the soliton in it. In section 3, we construct an exact soliton, which represents a BPS D$`p`$-brane, in a BSFT action of infinitely many non-BPS D$`(p1)`$-branes. We also construct a D$`p`$-brane from non-BPS D$`(pn)`$-branes by the ABS like configuration. We confirm that the D$`p`$-brane has correct RR charges and the tension. In section 4, we construct an exact soliton for brane-antibrane systems. Section 5 is devoted to conclusion. In appendix we summarize the construction of D$`p`$-brane from D$`(p2m)`$-branes.

## 2 Solitons in BSFT action

First we review the BSFT action for non-BPS D-brane and the construction of the soliton in it . The BSFT action for the real tachyon $`T(x)`$ is obtained in  as

$$S=\stackrel{~}{T}_9d^{10}xe^{\frac{T^2}{4}}F\left(\frac{\alpha ^{}}{2}_\mu T^\mu T\right),$$
(2.1)
where

$$F(x)=x\frac{4^x}{2}\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(x)^2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(2x)}$$
(2.2)
and $`\stackrel{~}{T}_p`$ is the tension of the non-BPS D$`p`$-brane. This action is considered to be exact if we set $`T=u_ix_i`$ and other fields to zero. Using

$$F(x)=1+2\mathrm{ln}2x+𝒪(x^2),$$
(2.3)
we can obtain

$$S=\stackrel{~}{T}_9d^{10}xe^{\frac{T^2}{4}}\left(1+\mathrm{ln}2\alpha ^{}_\mu T^\mu T+𝒪((_\mu T^\mu T)^2)\right).$$
(2.4)
Then it was shown in  that the closed string vacuum corresponds to $`T=\mathrm{}`$ and the exact soliton which represents a BPS D8-brane is

$$T=ux_9,$$
(2.5)
with $`u=\mathrm{}`$ from

$$F(x)=\sqrt{\pi x}+\frac{1}{8}\sqrt{\frac{\pi }{x}}+𝒪(\frac{1}{x^{\frac{3}{2}}}).$$
(2.6)
Furthermore, the tension of the BPS D8-brane is finite and coincides with the expected values. The fluctuation around the solution was studied in   and it was explicitly shown that the fluctuation modes live effectively on the $`𝐑^9`$ by the effect of the factor $`e^{T^2/4}e^{ux_9^2/4}`$ which makes the fluctuations along $`x_9`$ confine in the region of a length scale $`1/\sqrt{u}`$. The spectrum, however, is not expected to be exact because some neglected terms in the BSFT action, for example $`e^{T^2/4}(_\mu _\nu T)(_\mu _\nu T)`$, may contribute the fluctuation around the solution.

## 3 Construction of Dp-branes from lower dimensional non-BPS D-(p-2m-1) branes

First we consider the soliton in a field theoretical toy model for the effective world-volume action of $`N`$ non-BPS D-branes. The field theoretical model of a tachyon field $`T(x)`$ and gauge fields $`A_\mu (x)`$ in a D9-brane considered in  is

$$S=\stackrel{~}{T}_9d^{10}xe^{\frac{T^2}{4}}\left(1+c_1\alpha ^{}_\mu T^\mu T+\frac{c_2}{4}(2\pi \alpha ^{}F_{\mu \nu })^2\right),$$
(3.1)
where $`c_i`$ are some numerical constants. Then from the T-dual relation

$$A_\mu \frac{1}{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,$$
(3.2)
it is natural to consider a toy model for $`N`$ non-BPS D$`(1)`$-branesIn this paper we consider the Euclidean space-time for simplicity. which has an action

$$S=\stackrel{~}{T}_1\mathrm{Tr}_{N\times N}\left[e^{\frac{T^2}{4}}I(T,\mathrm{\Phi })\right],$$
(3.3)
where $`T`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu `$ become $`N\times N`$ matrices and

$$I(T,\mathrm{\Phi })=1c_1[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]^2c_2\pi ^2[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ]^2.$$
(3.4)
Here we have done the replacement

$`D_\mu T=_\mu Ti(A_\mu TTA_\mu )`$ $``$ $`i{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]`$
$`F_{\mu \nu }=_\mu A_\nu _\nu A_\mu i[A_\mu ,A_\mu ]`$ $``$ $`i{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\alpha ^{}}}[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ].`$ (3.5)
The equations of motion for this action become

$`0={\displaystyle \frac{S}{T}}`$ $``$ $`I(T,\mathrm{\Phi })Te^{\frac{T^2}{4}}+4c_1[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]e^{\frac{T^2}{4}}]`$
$`0={\displaystyle \frac{S}{\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu }}`$ $``$ $`c_1[T,[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]e^{\frac{T^2}{4}}],`$ (3.6)
where we have omitted the terms containing $`[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ]`$ or $`[T,[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]]`$.

Hereafter we concentrate on the case of a system of infinite number of non-BPS D$`(1)`$-branes, i.e. $`N\mathrm{}`$ limit, and regard the matrix of $`N\times N`$ as a linear operator. Then on the analogy of the solution for the case of non-BPS D9-brane (2.5), we can try to take a configuration

$`T`$ $`=`$ $`2\pi \mu {\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}\widehat{p}`$
$`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}\widehat{x},\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu =0(\mu =1\mathrm{}9),`$ (3.7)
where $`\widehat{x}`$ and $`\widehat{p}`$ are operators which satisfy

$$[\widehat{x},\widehat{p}]=i\alpha ^{}.$$
(3.8)
Note that for this configuration, it is hold that $`[x_{\mu _1},[x_{\mu _1},x_{\mu _1}]]=0`$ for any choice of assigning $`x_{\mu _i}`$ to $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu `$ or $`T`$. Indeed, this configuration becomes a solution for the equations of motion (3.6) provided that $`\mu ^2=1/c_1`$ because $`[\mathrm{\Phi }_0,T]=i\mu `$ and $`\frac{S}{T}T(1c_1\mu ^2)`$. We note that the normalization of the operator $`\widehat{x}`$ was taken such that the $`\widehat{x}`$ can be regarded as the transverse coordinates of the non-BPS D$`(1)`$-branes. We also note that the commutator $`[\widehat{x},\widehat{p}]`$ is taken to depend only on $`\alpha ^{}`$. Actually, a solution for equations of motion for general tachyon potentials was obtained before in , however, as a solution of differential equation. We can easily check that the solution (3.7) solves the differential equation.

The tension of this soliton can be computed as

$$S=\stackrel{~}{T}_1\mathrm{Tr}\left(e^{\frac{\pi ^2\mu ^2\widehat{p}^2}{\alpha ^{}}}(1+1)\right)=2\stackrel{~}{T}_1𝑑x𝑑pp|e^{\frac{\pi ^2\mu ^2p^2}{\alpha ^{}}}|xx|p=\stackrel{~}{T}_1\frac{1}{\mu \sqrt{\pi ^3\alpha ^{}}}𝑑x,$$
(3.9)
where we have used the eigenstates $`|x`$ of operator $`\widehat{x}`$, i.e. $`\widehat{x}|x=x|x`$ with $`x|x^{}=\delta (xx^{})`$ and the eigenstates of $`\widehat{p}`$ with $`p|p^{}=\delta (pp^{})`$ and $`x|p=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi \alpha ^{}}}e^{\frac{ipx}{\alpha ^{}}}`$. Although this soliton is expected to represent a BPS D$`0`$-brane, the tension of this soliton does not coincide with the BPS D0-brane tension $`T_0=\frac{\stackrel{~}{T}_1}{\sqrt{2}}\frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}`$ unless $`\mu =\frac{4}{\sqrt{2\pi }}`$. This is because the action can not be regarded as an exact string field theory action.

Now we consider a solution for a BSFT action, which is derived from the action (2.1) by the T-duality,

$$S=\stackrel{~}{T}_1\mathrm{Tr}_{N\times N}\left[e^{\frac{T^2}{4}}\left\{F\left(\frac{1}{2}[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]^2\right)+G([\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ],[\mathrm{\Phi }_\rho ,T])\right\}\right].$$
(3.10)
This action may be an exact string field theory action for the configuration with

$$[T,[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]]=[\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ,[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]]=[T,[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ]]=[\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ,[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,\mathrm{\Phi }_\rho ]]=0,$$
(3.11)
which correspond to $`D_\mu F_{\nu \rho }=0`$, $`D_\mu D_\nu T=0`$ and $`[T,D_\nu T]=0`$. Here the function $`F`$ was defined by (2.2) and $`G(x,y)`$ is a some function which is expanded around $`x=0`$ as $`G(x,y)=x^2g(y)+𝒪(x^3)`$. Note that any ordering of $`T`$, $`[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ]`$ and $`[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]`$ in (3.10) can be taken to have an exact action for the configuration which satisfies (3.11).

The equations of motion for this action become

$`0={\displaystyle \frac{S}{T}}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}F\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]^2\right)Te^{\frac{T^2}{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]^2F^{}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]^2\right)Te^{\frac{T^2}{4}}`$
$`0={\displaystyle \frac{S}{\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu }}`$ $``$ $`0,`$ (3.12)
where we have omitted the terms containing $`[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ]`$, $`[T,[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]]`$ or $`[\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ,[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]]`$.

Then from (2.6), we can find that the configuration (3.7) is a solution for the equation of motion (3.12) provided that $`\mu \mathrm{}`$. Furthermore, the solution (3.7) is an exact solution of the string field theory. This is because the solution (3.7) satisfies $`[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ]=0`$ and $`[[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T],H(T,\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu )]=0`$, where $`H(x,y)`$ is an arbitrary function of $`x,y`$, then (3.7) with $`\mu \mathrm{}`$ remains a solution for the equations of motion even if we include the terms omitted in the action (3.10), which vanish for the configuration satisfying (3.11).

The tension of the solution is computed as

$$S=\stackrel{~}{T}_1\mathrm{Tr}_{N\times N}\left(e^{\frac{\pi ^2\mu ^2\widehat{p}^2}{\alpha ^{}}}F(\mu ^2/2)\right)=\frac{\stackrel{~}{T}_1}{\sqrt{2}}\frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}𝑑x,$$
(3.13)
where we have used (2.6) and

$$\mathrm{Tr}_{N\times N}\left(e^{\frac{\pi ^2\mu ^2\widehat{p}^2}{\alpha ^{}}}\right)=\frac{1}{2\mu \sqrt{\pi ^3\alpha ^{}}}𝑑x.$$
(3.14)
This indeed coincides with the tension of the D$`(1)`$-brane. The Chern-Simons coupling of the non-BPS branes which is relevant for this case is given by -  as

$$S_{CS}=i\mu ^{}\mathrm{Tr}_{N\times N}\left[\sqrt{\frac{\pi }{2i}}[\mathrm{\Phi }_0,T]C_0e^{\frac{T^2}{4}}\right],$$
(3.15)
where $`\mu ^{}`$ is a constant which can be evaluated as $`\mu ^{}=i^{\frac{3}{2}}\stackrel{~}{T}_1`$ by the computation of the charge of the D$`(p1)`$-brane soliton in non-BPS D$`p`$-brane BSFT action. Hence we verify the charge of the soliton as

$$S_{CS}=i^{\frac{3}{2}}\mu ^{}\sqrt{\frac{\pi }{2}}\frac{1}{2\sqrt{\pi ^3\alpha ^{}}}C_0dx,=\frac{\mu ^{}}{\sqrt{2}}i^{\frac{3}{2}}\frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}C_0dx=T_0C_0,$$
(3.16)
where $`T_p`$ is a tension of a BPS D$`p`$-brane. Note that in this computation we have not taken the limit $`\mu \mathrm{}`$ and the charge does not depend on the value of $`\mu `$ as expected.

Now we consider the fluctuations around the solution. First we expect that the fluctuations around the solution become effectively on the commutative $`𝐑^1`$. This is because the factor

$$e^{\frac{T^2}{4}}e^{\frac{4\pi ^2}{\alpha ^{}}\mu ^2\widehat{p}^2},$$
(3.17)
with $`\mu \mathrm{}`$ would suppress fluctuations along the $`\widehat{p}`$. Note that in the limit $`\mu \mathrm{}`$, $`e^{\frac{4\pi ^2}{\alpha ^{}}\mu ^2p^2}`$ reduces to a delta function $`\delta (p)`$ in the commutative case and we can translate the operators to the functions by the Weyl transformation. Thus this factor coming from the tachyon condensation would effectively make the world volume of the BPS D0-brane, which is constructed as the soliton, extend along $`𝐑^1`$, rather than non-commutative $`𝐑^2`$. We note that in this construction of the D0-brane, the non-commutative $`𝐑^2`$ play a crucial role in order to produce the world volume coordinate from the matrices.

It is not easy, however, to calculate the effective action for the fluctuation modes since the BSFT actions used in this paper do not include the necessary terms to compute these as mentioned in section 2. Here we only restrict the fluctuations as

$`T`$ $`=`$ $`2\pi \mu {\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}\widehat{p}`$
$`\mathrm{\Phi }_0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}\widehat{x},\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu =\delta \mathrm{\Phi }_\mu (\widehat{x})(\mu =1\mathrm{}9),`$ (3.18)
i.e. we only consider the $`\widehat{p}`$ independent fluctuations of the transverse scalars of the D$`0`$-brane. One reason to consider these modes is that the modes are decoupled from the other modes up to quadratic fluctuation. Indeed, the action should contain the field $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu `$ as the commutator $`[\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ,\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ]`$ or $`[T,\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ]`$ and these commutators are already quadratic fluctuation except

$$[T,\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ]2\pi \mu \frac{1}{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}[\widehat{p},\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ]2i\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}_{\widehat{x}}(\delta \mathrm{\Phi }_\mu (\widehat{x})).$$
(3.19)
Then inserting (3.18) and (3.19) into the action (3.10), we obtain a desired result:

$$S=\stackrel{~}{T}_1\mathrm{Tr}_{N\times N}\left[F\left(\frac{\mu ^2}{2}(1+4\pi ^2\alpha ^{}(_{\widehat{x}}\delta \mathrm{\Phi }_\mu (\widehat{x}))^2)\right)\right]=T_0\sqrt{1+4\pi ^2\alpha ^{}(_x\delta \mathrm{\Phi }_\mu (x))^2}𝑑x.$$
(3.20)
Of course, we extend the construction of the higher dimensional D-branes from the infinitely many non-BPS D$`(1)`$-branes to the one from infinitely many non-BPS D$`(2m1)`$-branes. In this case the action for the D$`(2m1)`$-branes includes the gauge fields. Because the analysis is almost same as above discussions, we will consider more nontrivial generalizations.

We also construct an exact solution, which represents $`n`$ BPS D$`0`$-branes:

$`T`$ $`=`$ $`2\pi \mu {\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\widehat{p}& & \\ & & \multicolumn{-1}{c}{}\\ & \mathrm{}& \\ & & \multicolumn{-1}{c}{}\\ & & \widehat{p}\end{array}\right),\mathrm{\Phi }_0={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\widehat{x}& & \\ & & \multicolumn{-1}{c}{}\\ & \mathrm{}& \\ & & \multicolumn{-1}{c}{}\\ & & \widehat{x}\end{array}\right),\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu =\left(\begin{array}{ccc}C_1^\mu \mathrm{𝟏}& & \\ & & \multicolumn{-1}{c}{}\\ & \mathrm{}& \\ & & \multicolumn{-1}{c}{}\\ & & C_n^\mu \mathrm{𝟏}\end{array}\right),`$ (3.30)
where $`\mu =1\mathrm{}9`$. The constants $`C_i^\mu `$ correspond to positions of the $`i`$-th brane. The D0-$`\overline{\text{D0}}`$ brane system is obtained by changing signs of $`\widehat{p}`$ in $`T`$, for example, $`T\left(\begin{array}{cc}\widehat{p}& 0\\ & \\ 0& \widehat{p}\end{array}\right)`$.

On the analogy of the ABS configuration , a configuration for a D$`(m1)`$-brane is expected to be

$`T`$ $`=`$ $`2\pi {\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{m1}{}}}\mu _k\gamma _k\widehat{p}^k,`$
$`\mathrm{\Phi }_i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}\widehat{x}^i(i=0\mathrm{}m1),\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu =0(\mu =m\mathrm{}9),`$ (3.32)
where $`\gamma _i`$ are $`2^{[m/2]}\times 2^{[m/2]}`$ Hermitian gamma matrices which satisfy $`\{\gamma _i,\gamma _j\}=2\delta _{ij}`$ and $`[\widehat{x}^i,\widehat{p}^j]=i\alpha ^{}\delta _{ij}`$. The D-brane charges of this configuration are expected to vanish for $`m=\mathrm{even}`$, i.e. the non-BPS D$`(m1)`$-brane. Indeed, we can see that the RR charges of the soliton coincide with the expected values. The Chern-Simons coupling for the several non-BPS D$`(1)`$-branes was obtained by the BSFT  as,

$$S_{CS}=\stackrel{~}{T}_1i^{\frac{1}{2}}\text{SymTr}\left[e^{2\pi i𝐢_\mathrm{\Phi }𝐢_\mathrm{\Phi }+\sqrt{\frac{\pi }{2i}}[𝐢_\mathrm{\Phi },T]}Ce^{\frac{1}{4}T^2}\right]|_{odd},$$
(3.33)
where the SymTr denotes a symmetric trace with respect to $`[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ],[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]`$ and $`T^2`$ and $`𝐢_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ denotes the interior product by $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$:

$$C=\frac{1}{r!}C_{\nu _1,\nu _2,\mathrm{},\nu _r}dx^{\nu _1}dx^{\nu _2}\mathrm{}dx^{\nu _r}𝐢_\mathrm{\Phi }C=\frac{1}{(r1)!}\mathrm{\Phi }^iC_{i,\nu _2,\mathrm{},\nu _r}dx^{\nu _2}\mathrm{}dx^{\nu _p}.$$
(3.34)
Here $`[]|_{odd}`$ means that we should take the odd forms of the RR-fields $`C`$ only. Thus we can obtain the RR charges of the soliton as

$$C_{CS}=i\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\mu ^{}(i)^{[m/2]}i^{\frac{m}{2}}\left(\frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}\right)^mC^{10m}=T_{m1}C^{10m},$$
(3.35)
for $`m=\mathrm{odd}`$. Here $`\mu ^{}=\stackrel{~}{T}_1i^{\frac{3}{2}}`$ and we have used $`\mathrm{Tr}_\gamma (\gamma _1\mathrm{}\gamma _{2n+1})=2^n(i)^n`$.

It is difficult, however, to show that the configuration is a solution because $`[T,[\mathrm{\Phi }_j,T]]=i2\pi \frac{1}{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}\mu _j_{k=0}^{m1}\mu _k[\gamma _k,\gamma _j]\widehat{p}^k0`$. Instead of showing this, we consider another action, which seem to be natural, and compute the tension using this action. To this end, let us remember that for the configuration $`T=_{k=0}^{m1}\mu _k\gamma _kx^k`$, the BSFT action for $`2^{[m/2]}`$ non-BPS D9-branes becomes

$`S^{}`$ $`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{T}_9\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}^{[m/2]}{\displaystyle d^{10}xe^{\frac{T^2}{4}}\underset{k=0}{\overset{m1}{}}\left\{F\left(\frac{\alpha ^{}}{2}\mu _k^2\right)\right\}}`$ (3.36)
$`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{T}_9\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}^{[m/2]}{\displaystyle d^{10}xe^{\frac{T^2}{4}}\underset{k=0}{\overset{m1}{}}\left(1+(\mathrm{ln}2)\alpha ^{}\mu _k^2+\beta \alpha ^2\mu _k^4+\mathrm{}\right)}`$
$`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{T}_9\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}^{[m/2]}{\displaystyle d^{10}xe^{\frac{T^2}{4}}\left(1+(\mathrm{ln}2)\alpha ^{}\underset{k=0}{\overset{m1}{}}(\mu _k^2)+\beta \alpha ^2\underset{k=0}{\overset{m1}{}}(\mu _k^4)+\alpha ^2\underset{k,l=0,k>l}{\overset{m1}{}}(\mathrm{ln}2)^2\mu _k^2\mu _l^2+\mathrm{}\right)}`$
$`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{T}_9{\displaystyle }d^{10}xe^{\frac{T^2}{4}}\mathrm{Tr}_\gamma [1+(\mathrm{ln}2)\alpha ^{}(D_lT)^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(\mathrm{ln}2)^2\alpha ^2(D_lTD_mT)^2`$
$`+(\beta +{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(\mathrm{ln}2)^2)\alpha ^2(D_lT)^2(D_mT)^2+\mathrm{}],`$
where $`\beta `$ is a numerical constant and we have used $`\mathrm{Tr}_\gamma (\gamma _k\gamma _l\gamma _k\gamma _l)=2(\mathrm{Tr1})(2\delta _{kl}1)`$. Then the BSFT action for the $`N\times 2^{[m/2]}`$ non-BPS D$`(1)`$-branes is expected to be

$`S`$ $`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{T}_1\mathrm{Tr}_\gamma \mathrm{Tr}_{N\times N}[e^{\frac{T^2}{4}}(1(\mathrm{ln}2)[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(\mathrm{ln}2)^2([\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T][\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ,T])^2`$ (3.37)
$`+(\beta +{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(\mathrm{ln}2)^2)[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T]^2[\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ,T]^2+\mathrm{})].`$
Note that this action may be consistent with the action (3.10) with $`N2^{[m/2]}N`$ since (3.37) may coincides with (3.10) for $`[[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,T],[\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ,T]]=0`$. The action (3.37) is evaluated for the soliton as

$$S=\stackrel{~}{T}_12^{[m/2]}\mathrm{Tr}_{N\times N}\left[\underset{k=0}{\overset{m1}{}}e^{\frac{\pi ^2\mu _k^2\widehat{p}_k^2}{\alpha ^{}}}F(\mu _k^2/2)\right]=T_{m1}^{}𝑑x^0\mathrm{}𝑑x^{m1},$$
(3.38)
where

$$T_{m1}^{}=\stackrel{~}{T}_12^{[m/2]m}\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\alpha ^{}}\pi }\right)^m.$$
(3.39)
Therefore we have found that the $`T_{m1}^{}`$ is coincide with the D$`(m1)`$-brane tension $`T_{m1}^{\mathrm{non}\mathrm{BPS}}=(\frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}})^m\stackrel{~}{T}_1`$ for $`m=\mathrm{even}`$, or $`T_{m1}^{\mathrm{BPS}}=(\frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}})^m\frac{\stackrel{~}{T}_1}{\sqrt{2}}`$ for $`m=\mathrm{odd}`$.

Another exact solution corresponding to BPS D$`(2m)`$-brane is an analogue of the usual construction of the non-commutative brane as in :

$`T`$ $`=`$ $`2\pi \mu {\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}\widehat{p},\mathrm{\Phi }_0={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}\widehat{x},`$
$`\mathrm{\Phi }_{2i1}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}\widehat{x}_i,\mathrm{\Phi }_{2i}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}\widehat{p}_i,(i=1\mathrm{}m),`$
$`\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu `$ $`=`$ $`0,(\mu =2m+1\mathrm{}9),`$ (3.40)
where $`\widehat{x}_i`$ and $`\widehat{p}_i`$ are operators which satisfy

$$[\widehat{x}_i,\widehat{p}_j]=i\delta _{ij}\alpha ^{}.$$
(3.41)
As the usual construction of the non-commutative D-branes, this solution represents the BPS D$`(2m)`$-brane with the lower dimensional D-brane charges, or background constant NS-NS $`B`$ field. This can be verified by the computation of the RR charges from the Chern-Simons couplings (3.33). We can also construct the exact soliton corresponding to a non-BPS D$`(2m1)`$-brane with background constant NS-NS $`B`$ field as

$`\mathrm{\Phi }_{2i2}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}\widehat{x}_i,\mathrm{\Phi }_{2i1}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}\widehat{p}_i,(i=1\mathrm{}m),`$
$`\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu `$ $`=`$ $`0,(\mu =2m\mathrm{}9),T=0.`$ (3.42)
In appendix, we will discuss these cases further.

Finally, we comment on the combinations of the above constructions. If we notice that the direct sum of the above configurations is also an exact solution of the equations of motion, we can easily construct the composite system of any number of D$`q`$-branes and D$`(q+m)`$ branes. Therefore it is an advantage of the techniques in this paper that we can easily construct the system of D-branes with different dimensions.

## 4 Brane-antibrane System

For D9-$`\overline{\mathrm{D}}9`$ system, the BSFT action have been obtained   as

$`S^{}`$ $`=`$ $`2T_9{\displaystyle d^{10}xe^{T\overline{T}}F\left(\frac{\alpha ^{}}{2}\mu _1^2\right)F\left(\frac{\alpha ^{}}{2}\mu _2^2\right)}`$ (4.1)
$`=`$ $`2T_9{\displaystyle d^{10}xe^{T\overline{T}}\underset{k=1}{\overset{2}{}}\left(1+(\mathrm{ln}2)\alpha ^{}\mu _k^2+\beta \alpha ^2\mu _k^4+\mathrm{}\right)}`$
$`=`$ $`2T_9{\displaystyle d^{10}xe^{T\overline{T}}\left(1+(\mathrm{ln}2)\alpha ^{}(\mu _1^2+\mu _2^2)+\beta \alpha ^2(\mu _1^4+\mu _2^4)+\alpha ^2(\mathrm{ln}2)^2\mu _1^2\mu _2^2+\mathrm{}\right)}`$
$`=`$ $`2T_9{\displaystyle }d^{10}xe^{T\overline{T}}[1+4(\mathrm{ln}2)\alpha ^{}_lT_l\overline{T}+4(2\beta (\mathrm{ln}2)^2)\alpha ^2(_lT_l\overline{T})^2`$
$`+4(2\beta +(\mathrm{ln}2)^2)\alpha ^2(_lT_m\overline{T})^2+\mathrm{}],`$
for the configuration

$$T=\frac{1}{2}(i\mu _1X_1+\mu _2X_2),A_\mu ^{(i)}=0,i=1,2.$$
(4.2)
Thus the action for $`N`$ D(-1)-$`\overline{\mathrm{D}}(1)`$ pairs is expected to be

$`S`$ $`=`$ $`T_1\mathrm{Tr}_{N\times N}[e^{T\overline{T}}\{1+4(\mathrm{ln}2)\alpha ^{}(\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(1)}TT\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(2)})(\overline{T}\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(1)}\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(2)}\overline{T})`$ (4.3)
$`+4\left(\beta (\mathrm{ln}2)^2\right)\alpha ^2(\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(1)}TT\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(2)})(\overline{T}\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(1)}\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(2)}\overline{T})(\mathrm{\Phi }_m^{(1)}TT\mathrm{\Phi }_m^{(2)})(\overline{T}\mathrm{\Phi }_m^{(1)}\mathrm{\Phi }_m^{(2)}\overline{T})`$
$`+4\left(2\beta +(\mathrm{ln}2)^2\right)\alpha ^2(\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(1)}TT\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(2)})(\overline{T}\mathrm{\Phi }_m^{(1)}\mathrm{\Phi }_m^{(2)}\overline{T})(\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(1)}TT\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(2)})(\overline{T}\mathrm{\Phi }_m^{(1)}\mathrm{\Phi }_m^{(2)}\overline{T})`$
$`\mathrm{}\}+e^{\overline{T}T}\{1+4(\mathrm{ln}2)\alpha ^{}(\overline{T}\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(1)}\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(2)}\overline{T})(\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(1)}TT\mathrm{\Phi }_l^{(2)})+\mathrm{}\}],`$
where we have omitted $`T`$-independent terms and higher commutator terms. For this action we can trace the construction of the higher dimensional D-branes considered in the section 3.

For example, we can construct an exact solution for the infinitely many D(-1)-$`\overline{\mathrm{D}}(1)`$ pairs as

$$T=\frac{\pi }{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}(i\mu _1\widehat{p}_1+\mu _2\widehat{p}_2),\mathrm{\Phi }_0^{(1)}=\mathrm{\Phi }_0^{(2)}=\frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}\widehat{x}_1\mathrm{\Phi }_1^{(1)}=\mathrm{\Phi }_1^{(2)}=\frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}\widehat{x}_2,\text{other fields =0},$$
(4.4)
which corresponds to a BPS D1-brane. A solution which is corresponds to a D$`(m1)`$-brane can be also constructed for $`2^{[m/2]}\times N`$ D(-1)-$`\overline{\mathrm{D}}(1)`$ pairs as

$`T`$ $`=`$ $`i\pi {\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{m1}{}}}\mu _k\mathrm{\Gamma }_k\widehat{p}^k,`$
$`\mathrm{\Phi }_i^{(1)}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Phi }_i^{(2)}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}\widehat{x}^i(i=0\mathrm{}m1),\text{other fields =0},`$ (4.5)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^k`$ denote $`2^{[\frac{m1}{2}]}\times 2^{[\frac{m1}{2}]}`$ Hermitian gamma-matrices in $`m1`$ dimension for $`k=1,\mathrm{},m1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^0=i\mathrm{𝟏}`$. If we define a shift operator $`S`$ such as $`S^{}S=1`$ and $`SS^{}=1P`$, where $`P`$ is a projection operator with $`\text{dim}(\text{Ker}P)=N_0`$, a configuration $`T=\mu S`$ with $`\mu \mathrm{}`$ is an exact solution corresponding to $`N_0`$ D$`(1)`$-branes.<sup>§</sup><sup>§</sup>§ This solution was suggested by S. Sugimoto.

## 5 Conclusions

In this paper we have constructed an exact soliton, which represents a BPS D$`p`$-brane, in the effective world-volume theory of infinitely many non-BPS D$`(p1)`$-branes. We have argued that the world-volume theory of the BPS D$`p`$-brane constructed in this way becomes usual gauge theory on commutative $`𝐑^{p+1}`$. The new commutative coordinate of the world-volume of the BPS D$`p`$-brane is appeared through the non-commutative $`𝐑^2`$. The extra dimension effectively disappears by the condensation of the tachyons as in the case of a soliton in a D$`9`$-brane. We have also constructed a D$`p`$-brane from non-BPS D$`(pn)`$-branes by the ABS like configuration. It has been shown that the RR charges and tensions of the solitons are correct ones.

It is very interesting to study the fluctuations around the exact solitons including the fermion fields to the action as discussed in . In order to consider the fluctuations properly, we probably have to calculate the BSFT action including the higher derivative terms.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank K. Ohmori, T. Takayanagi and T. Uesugi for useful discussions. I would also like to thank T. Asakawa and S. Sugimoto for very stimulating discussions which motivate me to investigate the subject. This work was supported in part by JSPS Research Fellowships for Young Scientists.

## Appendix A D$`p`$-brane from D$`(p2m)`$-branes

First we consider the construction of BPS D$`p`$-brane from infinitely many BPS D$`(p2)`$-branes following -. For simplicity we consider the construction from BPS D$`(1)`$-branes only. The bosonic part of the effective action for the $`N`$ BPS D$`(1)`$-branes may be written as

$$S_N=T_1\mathrm{SymTr}_{N\times N}\left[\sqrt{det\left(g_{\mu \nu }i2\pi [\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ]\right)}\right],$$
(A.1)
where we have omitted the terms which contain two or more commutators and $`T_1`$ is the tension of a BPS D$`(1)`$-brane. It can be easily seen that the equations of motion for this action with the limit $`N\mathrm{}`$ are satisfied by a configuration

$$\mathrm{\Phi }^i=\frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}\widehat{x}^i,(i=1,2,\mathrm{},2m),$$
(A.2)
where

$$[\widehat{x}^j,\widehat{x}^k]=i\theta ^{jk}(j,k=1,2,\mathrm{},2m),$$
(A.3)
Note that there are moduli $`\theta ^{jk}`$. Here we take $`\theta ^{(2j1),\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2}j}=\theta ^{2j,(2j1)}\theta _j`$ and the other components vanish.

Because we expect that the full effective action contains $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu `$ only as a commutator $`[\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu ,\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu ]`$, the omitted terms in (A.1) can be ignored for the configuration (A.2) as far as the equations of motion is concerned. Therefore we find that (A.2) is the exact solution of the full string field theory and corresponds to a D$`(2m1)`$-brane with $`B_{jk}=(\frac{1}{\theta })_{jk}`$ . Here following , we have chosen $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{ij}=B_{ij}`$, where $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{ij}`$ represent some degree of freedom to write the noncommutative action .

The tension of the solution is evaluated as

$`S_N`$ $`=`$ $`T_1{\displaystyle 𝑑x_1𝑑x_2\mathrm{}𝑑x_{2m1}𝑑x_{2m}\sqrt{\underset{i=1}{\overset{m}{}}\left(1+\frac{\theta _i^2}{4\pi ^2\alpha ^2}\right)}\underset{j=1}{\overset{m}{}}\frac{1}{2\pi \theta _j}}`$ (A.4)
$`=`$ $`T_1\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}}\right)^{2m}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{m}{}}}(\sqrt{1+\left({\displaystyle \frac{2\pi \alpha ^{}}{\theta _k}}\right)^2}{\displaystyle }dx_{2k1}{\displaystyle }dx_{2k}.)`$
This coincides with the tension of a D$`(2m1)`$-brane since the world-volume theory of the D$`(2m1)`$-brane with non-vanishing $`B`$ field becomes

$$S_{2m1}=T_{(2m1)}\left(\underset{k=1}{\overset{m}{}}𝑑x_{2k1}𝑑x_{2k}\right)\sqrt{det\left(g_{ij}+2\pi \alpha ^{}B_{ij}\right)},$$
(A.5)
which agrees with (A.4).

If we denote fluctuations around the solution as

$$\mathrm{\Phi }^i=\frac{1}{2\pi \sqrt{\alpha ^{}}}\left(\widehat{x}^i\widehat{A}_j\theta ^{ji}\right),(i=1,\mathrm{},2m),$$
(A.6)
we find

$$[\mathrm{\Phi }^i,\mathrm{\Phi }^j]=i\frac{1}{4\pi ^2\alpha ^{}}\left(\theta ^{ij}\theta ^{ik}\theta ^{lj}\widehat{F}_{kl}\right)=i\frac{1}{4\pi ^2\alpha ^{}}\theta ^{ik}\theta ^{lj}\left(\widehat{F}_{kl}+\mathrm{\Phi }_{kl}\right),$$
(A.7)
where $`\widehat{F}_{kl}=_k\widehat{A}_l_l\widehat{A}_ki[\widehat{A}_k,\widehat{A}_l]`$. We can also show that

$$(i)[\mathrm{\Phi }^{i_1},\mathrm{\Phi }_{i_2}](i)[\mathrm{\Phi }^{i_2},\mathrm{\Phi }_{i_3}]\mathrm{}(i)[\mathrm{\Phi }^{i_{2n1}},\mathrm{\Phi }_{i_{2n}}](i)[\mathrm{\Phi }^{i_{2n}},\mathrm{\Phi }_{i_1}]=\mathrm{Tr}((G^1(F+\mathrm{\Phi }))^{2n}),$$
(A.8)
where $`G_{ij}=(2\pi \alpha ^{})^2(B^2)_{ij}`$ is the open string metric . Using this, we can show that an action for the fluctuations around the solution indeed becomes the non-commutative effective world-volume theory of the D$`(2m1)`$-brane

$$S_N=T_9\frac{g_s}{G_s}\sqrt{det(2\pi \theta ^{ij})}\mathrm{SymTr}_{N\times N}(\sqrt{det(G_{ij}+2\pi \alpha ^{}(\widehat{F}_{ij}+\mathrm{\Phi }_{ij}})),$$
(A.9)
where $`G_s=g_s\sqrt{det(2\pi \alpha ^{}B_{ij})}`$ is the open string coupling constant . Therefore the action (A.1) and (A.9) are the same action with the different backgrounds, which satisfy the equations of motion.

Now we consider the omitted terms in (A.1), which are higher commutator terms. In principle, we can determine these terms from the non-abelian effective world-volume action of D9-branes by a replacement $`2\pi \alpha ^{}F_{ij}i[\mathrm{\Phi }_i,\mathrm{\Phi }_j]`$ and $`(2\pi \alpha ^{})^{\frac{m}{2}+1}D_{i_1}\mathrm{}D_{i_m}(F_{kl})i^{m+1}[\mathrm{\Phi }_{i_1},[\mathrm{},[\mathrm{\Phi }_{i_m},[\mathrm{\Phi }_k,\mathrm{\Phi }_l]]]]`$. From (A.6), we can regard $`i\mathrm{\Phi }_i`$ by $`\sqrt{2\pi \alpha ^{}}\widehat{D}_j=\sqrt{2\pi \alpha ^{}}(\widehat{}_j+i\widehat{A}_j)`$ with the open string metric in the non-commutative gauge theory picture where $`[\widehat{}_j,f(\widehat{x},\widehat{p})]=_jf(\widehat{x},\widehat{p})`$. Therefore we find that the full effective action for the fluctuations around the solution has same form as the non-abelian effective world-volume action of D9-branes, as expected.

The D-brane charges can be also evaluated from the Chern-Simons term

$$S_{CS}=T_1\mathrm{SymTr}_{N\times N}\left(e^{2\pi i𝐢_\mathrm{\Phi }𝐢_\mathrm{\Phi }}C\right),$$
(A.10)
which may be obtained from the Chern-Simons term for BPS D9-brane $`S_{CS}^{D9}=T_9d^{10}xe^{2\pi \alpha ^{}F}C`$. Substituting the solution into (A.10), it is obtained that

$$S_{CS}=T_{2m1}d^{2m}xe^{2\pi \alpha ^{}B}C.$$
(A.11)
Now we consider the construction of non-BPS D$`(2m1)`$-brane from infinitely many non-BPS D$`(1)`$-branes. The action for these was given by (3.10). The solution for this case was given by (3.42) and the above analysis for the BPS case can be applied without essential modifications. In particular, we can see that the noncommutative gauge theory action and the matrix action (3.10) are the same action with the different backgrounds, which satisfy the equations of motion. In   the non-commutative soliton corresponding to $`N_0`$ non-BPS D$`(1)`$ branes was constructed in the noncommutative world-volume theory of D$`(2m1)`$-brane. It can be identified in the action (3.10) as an almost trivial solution

$$T=T_c(1P),\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu =0,$$
(A.12)
where $`T_c=\mathrm{}`$ and $`P`$ is a projector which obeys $`\text{dim}(\text{Ker}(1P))=N_0`$.


text:
# Unusual valence, negative charge-transfer gaps and self-doping in transition-metal compounds11footnote 1This paper is devoted to the memory of Prof. R. Dagys and was originally published in a memorial volume of Lithuanian Journal of Physics (Lietuvos fizikos žurnalas), 37, 65 (1997)

## 1 Introduction

In this paper the specific class of transition metal compounds will be discussed—the systems with the negative charge transfer gap. This article is neither a fully original paper with some concrete new results, nor a review of a certain established field. Rather it is an attempt to formulate a problem to single out a specific class of materials which have much in common and which may have rather unique properties. Thus this paper has in a sense a conceptual character. My aim is to attract attention to the compounds with the negative charge transfer gaps, to discuss some of their properties, to show the connection of this problem to some other phenomena actively discussed nowadays such as insulator–metal transitions, Kondo-insulators or High-$`T_c`$ Superconductivity. The treatment is necessarily rather qualitative, and some of the analogies I use may seem rather far-fetched. But I hope that this treatment may stimulate more active investigation of these compounds, in the course of which some of the ideas put forth below may be either confirmed or refuted.

For me personally, with my purely theoretical background, one of the first expositions to the idea that the local properties of transition metals at the atomic level may be crucial for such phenomena as insulator–metal transitions came from the discussions with R. Dagys. That is why I think that this article, in which these ideas play very important role, can be appropriate for this issue.

## 2 Transition-metal insulators

As is well known, transition metal compounds (for concreteness we shall speak below about oxides) have two main groups of electrons determining their properties. These are the electrons of partially filled $`d`$-shells of TM, and $`p`$-electrons of oxygen . In the standard chemical language we usually speak about certain valence, or oxidation state, of TM, assuming that oxygen ions are O2-. Thus in ionic picture we have TM ions with partially filled $`d`$-shell ($`d^n`$) and oxygen ions with filled $`2p`$-shell (configuration $`p^6`$).

The $`d`$-orbitals have relatively small radius and are rather localized. In this case it is very important to take into account Coulomb interaction of these electrons, in particular $`d`$$`d`$ repulsion on the same site (Hubbard interaction)  $`Un_{di}n_{di}`$, where $`n_{di\sigma }=d_{i\sigma }^+d_{i\sigma }`$, $`d_{i\sigma }^+`$ are the creation operators of $`d`$-electrons on the site $`i`$ with the spin $`\sigma `$ (we ignore for a moment orbital index). Just this interaction, when strong enough, makes typical stoichiometric TM oxides insulators (Mott–Hubbard mechanism).

Another important group of electrons in these compounds are $`p`$-electrons of oxygen. Coulomb interaction of these electrons can in a first approximation be neglected (although sometimes it may be important, especially in cases of large concentration of holes). However one should definitely include the hybridization (covalent mixing) of $`p`$-electrons with $`d`$-electrons of transition metals; this hybridization determines many properties of these materials .

An important parameter is the relative position of TM $`d`$\- and oxygen $`p`$-levels, $`ϵ_d`$ and $`ϵ_p`$, respectively. Thus the simplest generic model describing TM compounds should have the form

$`H`$ $`={\displaystyle }ϵ_dd_{i\sigma }^+d_{i\sigma }+{\displaystyle }ϵ_pp_{j\sigma }^+p_{j\sigma }+{\displaystyle }(t_{pd}d_{i\sigma }^+p_{j\sigma }+\mathrm{h}.\mathrm{c}.)+U{\displaystyle }n_{di}n_{di}.`$ (1)
Sometimes it is also necessary to take into account some extra factors (orbital structure of $`d`$\- and $`p`$-shells, anisotropy of $`p`$$`d`$ hopping, $`p`$$`p`$ and $`p`$$`d`$ interaction, direct $`p`$$`p`$ hopping); however for the illustration the model (1) is sufficient.

The model (1) can describe different situations:

a. If $`p`$$`d`$ mixing (the third term in (1)) is small enough, the system (for one electron per site) is insulating. Depending on the ratio of the parameters $`U`$ and $`ϵ_dϵ_p`$ one may discriminate between two kinds of such insulators . If

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=(ϵ_d+U)ϵ_p>U,$$
(2)
an insulator is of a Mott–Hubbard type: the lowest excited states corresponding to the creation of charged excitations are the transitions of $`d`$-electrons from one TM ion to another, $`d^n+d^nd^{n+1}+d^{n1}`$. To a first approximation then the energy gap for a conductivity will be $`E_g^{(\mathrm{MH})}U`$.

Another situation exists if the oxygen $`p`$-levels are not deep enough. Then the lowest charge excitations correspond to a transfer of an electron from oxygen into TM $`d`$-shell, $`p^6+d^np^5+d^{n+1}`$. These excitations are lower than the Mott–Hubbard ones when $`\mathrm{\Delta }<U`$. With our definition of parameters (1) the gap in this case is $`E_g^{(\mathrm{Ch}.\mathrm{tr}.)}=\mathrm{\Delta }`$. Such materials are called charge-transfer insulators. Corresponding phase diagram is schematically illustrated in fig. 1.

Often one describes these materials using not electron, but hole representation. One can use in this case the same Hamiltonian (1) but taking as a ground state with zero energy the configuration $`d^{n+1}p^6`$ and treating $`d_{(\sigma )}^+p_{j\sigma }^+`$ as hole creation operators, $`ϵ_d`$ and $`ϵ_p`$ as hole energy levels and $`U`$ as $`d`$$`d`$ hole repulsion. Then the configuration $`d^np^6`$ corresponds to one $`d`$-hole with the energy $`ϵ_d`$, $`d^{n1}`$—to two $`d`$-holes with the energy $`ϵ_d+U`$, and $`p^5`$—to a hole on oxygen with the energy $`ϵ_p`$. Mott–Hubbard insulators then have a gap $`E_g=U`$, and charge transfer insulators — $`E_g=ϵ_pϵ_d=\mathrm{\Delta }`$; a borderline between them again corresponds to $`U\mathrm{\Delta }`$.

Most of the transition metal oxides belong to one of these two categories. They are insulators. Partially filled $`d`$-shells determine their magnetic properties; an exchange interaction is mostly due to a hopping via intermediate oxygen (superexchange mechanism) . Details of the resulting magnetic structure depend on the type of $`d`$-orbitals occupied, on the geometrical arrangement of corresponding ions etc.; it follows the so called Goodenough–Kanamori–Anderson rules .

## 3 Negative charge transfer gaps

As it is clear from the previous discussion, there may exist situations when oxygen $`p`$-levels lie high enough in energy, so that the charge-transfer gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ may become very small or even negative. All the properties of corresponding systems could change drastically. One can encounter such a situation in cases when the formal valence state of the transition metal is unusually high. In principle the valence of the TM can vary in wide range, from 2+ up to sometimes 6+. Thus, there exist V oxides from VO (V2+) to V2O5 (V5+); there are Cr compound ranging from Cr2+ (KCrF3) to Cr6+ (CrO3, K2CrO4).

Usually materials at the beginning of the TM series (V, Ti, Cr), at least for ordinary valence, are believed to belong to the insulators of Mott–Hubbard type. With increase of valence they may cross to charge-transfer regime (for higher valence the relevant $`d`$-levels lie deeper). In principle they may also enter a regime with very small $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ (we suspect that CrO2 is such a case).

Heavier TM oxides usually belong to charge-transfer compounds. This is now well established especially by high-energy spectroscopy (XAS, XPS). It is shown e.g. that the holes introduced by hole doping (for instance in Ni1-xLix) are mostly introduced into oxygen $`p`$-states. This fact plays also crucial role in High-$`T_c`$ Superconductors for which the basic structure elements are CuO2-planes .

One may argue that with the increasing valence of heavier TM ions (Fe, Co, Ni, Cu) charge-transfer energy would decrease and may become negative. In this case, instead of having an electronic configuration, corresponding to the formal valence state, e.g. $`d^np^6`$, the system may prefer to have configuration $`d^{n+1}p^5`$. One may say that TM ions “resist” having too high a valence and prefer to retain lower valence (higher occupation of $`d`$-shell) at the expense of creating holes on oxygens.

The resulting situation may be illustrated on a following scheme (fig. 2). In fig. 2 we show the relative position of relevant electronic states in different regimes. The case 2$`a`$) corresponds to a Mott–Hubbard insulator: the chemical potential $`\mu `$ lies between $`d`$-levels with different occupations and the lowest charge-carrying excitations are those across the Mott–Hubbard gap, creating extra electrons and holes in $`d`$-subbands ($`d`$-levels $`ϵ_d`$ and $`ϵ_d+U`$ would become the lower and upper Hubbard bands). The case 2$`b`$) corresponds to a charge-transfer insulator. Here lowest excitations are those across the charge-transfer gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. We have shown here also the split-off states (Zhang–Rice singlets ) which can be created when the hole is introduced into oxygen $`p`$-band (acceptor doping) and which probably play crucial role in High-$`T_c`$ Superconductors.

The “motion” along the line AB in fig. 1 (decrease of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$) corresponds here to the modification of an electronic structure shown in figs. 2$`c`$, 2$`d`$. We may have here the situation strongly resembling the mixed-valent one, where we have partially filled oxygen band overlapping and strongly hybridizing with the correlated $`d`$-states.

The notion of a negative charge-transfer energy (“negative $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$”) was introduced in a most apparent form by Fujimori et al.  during the study of NaCuO2. This material which formally corresponds to Cu3+ ($`d^8`$) was shown to have rather the configuration $`d^\alpha p^\beta `$ with $`\alpha 8.8`$, $`\beta 5.2`$—i.e. close to the configuration Cu$`{}_{}{}^{2+}(d^9)`$O$`{}_{}{}^{}(p^5)`$ (if one takes into account that there are two oxygen per one copper, the average “valence” of oxygen will be changed). There are other materials of the same class: probably to them belong LaCuO3; RNiO3 (R—rare earth); La1-xSrxCoO3; possibly the material with the “colossal” magnetoresistance La1-xCaxMnO3, etc. Properties of these compounds vary widely: NaCuO2 is a diamagnetic insulator ; LaCuO3 is paramagnetic metal (or small gap insulator—there is still some controversy about it, see e.g. ). LaNiO3 is paramagnetic (Pauli) metal, whereas the compounds RNiO3 with $`\mathrm{R}=\mathrm{Pr}`$, Nd, Sm have insulator–metal transitions with the strange magnetic ordering in the insulating phase . LaCoO3 at low temperatures is magnetic insulator with rather unusual magnetic properties; it has gradual insulator–metal transition at high temperatures . However, doping by Sr (which formally produces Co4+) makes this system a ferromagnetic metal . The same is true for La1-xCaxMnO3, see . CrO2, which may also belong to this class , is metallic and is one of the few ferromagnetic TM oxides. Thus we see that the compounds belonging to this class have a wide variety of properties.

## 4 Self-doping

As is clear from figs. 1, 2, the situation with the small or negative $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ should lead to drastic modification of all the properties. In this case the $`p`$-band lies very close or even higher than the initially empty $`d`$-levels so that part of oxygen $`p`$-electrons should go to $`d`$-levels and there should appear holes in $`p`$-band, fig 2$`d`$. One may call this situation self-doping: here holes appear in $`p`$-band not due to externally introduced impurities, but due to a special position of intrinsic energy levels of the system.

Of course there always exists a hybridization between $`p`$-sites of ligands and $`d`$-states of the transition metal ions, so that the resulting bands have mixed character. Thus one should not literally treat the holes as belonging solely to oxygens. Actually the wave function describing the ground state of the system may be schematically written as

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }=\alpha |d+\beta |p$$
(3)
and in case of negative charge-transfer gap the weight of the configuration $`|d^{n1}p^5`$ exceeds that of $`|d^np^6`$, $`|\beta |^2>|\alpha |^2`$. Keeping in mind the $`d`$$`p`$ hybridization, we can nevertheless say that in this case one should start not from the configuration $`|d^np^6`$ corresponding to the formal oxidation state of TM, but rather from the configuration $`|d^{n1}p^5`$ with the holes in $`p`$-band. This extreme limit is of course also an approximation, one should later on take into account the hybridization and interaction of $`p`$-holes with the remaining $`d`$-configurations, but for these compounds this state is definitely a better starting point than the original configuration $`d^np^6`$.

This approach is now rather widely used in theoretical treatments of the High-$`T_c`$ Superconductors, for which the $`d`$$`p`$ model (1) (often called in this field the Emery model) is the usual starting point, see below. However the applicability of this approach and even the necessity to use this model for the description of wider class of TM compounds, especially those with small or negative charge-transfer gap, is not yet widely appreciated, and many phenomena connected with the corresponding physics are not investigated well enough.

The situation with self-doping looks somewhat similar to that in small- or zero-gap semiconductors (grey tin; HgTe) or semimetals (Bi, graphite). However there are also important differences. In contrast to ordinary semimetals, here we have crossing of energy levels of electrons with quite different character: one forming more or less ordinary energy band (oxygen $`p`$-band), and another intrinsically strongly correlated (localized $`d`$-electrons). Consequently electron–electron interactions, both between the $`d`$-electrons and between $`d`$\- and $`p`$-electrons plays here very important role. In this respect the situation here resembles more that in heavy-fermion or mixed-valence compounds, especially those with small gaps (Kondo-insulators , like “gold” SmS, SmB6, CeNiSn etc). Relevant energy scales here, however, are strongly different from the Kondo-systems, especially the $`d`$$`p`$ hybridization is much stronger than in rare earth compounds. This change of energy scale may in principle lead to different physical behaviour, although an analogy of our problem with that in valence-fluctuating rare earth compounds may be very productive.

## 5 Properties of negative charge-transfer gap compounds

The appearance of oxygen holes may lead to several important consequences. These holes are rather mobile: the effective bandwidth of the $`p`$-band (actually, of course, hybridized $`p`$$`d`$ band, which however in this case has largely $`p`$-character) is typically $`0.5\mathrm{eV}`$. Thus one could in principle expect that the material would become a metal.

However this is not at all evident and need not in general be the case. Thus, in the undoped case one would have equal number of $`p`$-holes and of extra electrons on $`d`$-shell. In this situation they may prefer to form excitonic-like bound states, so that the resulting state would still be an insulator (although with a gap of a collective nature). This is probably the case of NaCuO2. This state has much in common with the above mentioned Kondo-insulators —rare-earth compounds with equal number of conduction electrons and localized spins, which also have an energy gap of collective origin .

In NaCuO2 the formation of this insulating ground state is probably facilitated by the crystal structure of this compounds, which consists of one-dimensional CuO2-chains with the CuO4-plaquettes sharing common edge , see fig. 3. However other crystal structures—e.g. perovskite LaCuO3 with three-dimensional network of CuO6-octahedra sharing common corners—may be more favourable for a metallic state  (although it is not really proven, see the discussion in ).

If the resulting ground state would be a metal, it may be rather unusual: it will be a metal of a mixed-valence type, where one of the components—$`d`$-orbitals admixed into a conduction band—is strongly correlated whereas another one—oxygen $`p`$-electrons—may be treated as uncorrelated. What is the nature of the corresponding insulator-metal transition due to closing of the charge-transfer gap, is a completely open problem.

One can have here in principle two possibilities, with even or odd number of electrons per elementary cell. They are illustrated in figs. 4, 5 (cf. fig. 2); for simplicity we speak here about electrons.

In fig. 4 we show possible evolution of spectra when $`d`$-level with even number (e.g. two) $`d`$-electrons moves towards empty conduction band222For oxides this would correspond to a hole representation: empty $`d`$-level approaching full conduction band, see fig. 2.. We see that here we have insulators both for $`ϵ_cϵ_d`$ (for oxides it would mean $`ϵ_p^{\mathrm{ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒}}ϵ_d^{\mathrm{ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒}}`$) and in the opposite limit $`ϵ_dϵ_c`$, where both electrons are in a conduction band. In this case we have good chances to have insulator also in between, which would correspond to a Kondo-insulator (one $`d`$-electron per one electron in a conduction band)—although it is not proven and may in principle depend on the specific details such as crystal structure etc. The situation illustrated in fig. 4 coresponds to a low-spin state. If the initial configuration would correspond to a high-spin state (parallel spins in fig. $`4a)`$) there should occur magnetic–nonmagnetic transition somewhere in between.

Fig. 5 corresponds to an odd number of electrons per unit cell. Here fig. 5$`a`$ (deep $`d`$-level) describes the (magnetic) insulator of a Mott-Hubbard type. However an opposite limit ($`ϵ_dϵ_c`$) would correspond to a metal with all the electrons in a partially filled conduction band and an empty $`d`$-level. Thus we should have somewhere in between (when $`\mathrm{\Delta }=ϵ_cϵ_d`$ changes sign and becomes negative) an insulator–metal transition. There is at present no theory of such transitions, e.g. it is not clear whether they would be I-st or II-nd order, whether magnetic order disappears simultaneously with the insulator–metal transition, etc.

The situation with the negative charge-transfer gap may lead to a specific modification of the local electronic configuration (crystal-level scheme) of the TM ion itself. In particular the configurations which are usually unstable may be stabilized in this case . Let us consider this situation on the specific example of the compounds containing Co$`{}_{}{}^{3+}(d^6)`$, e.g. LaCoO3 . Usually two competing configurations are considered for this case: the high-spin ($`S=2`$) and the low-spin ($`S=0`$) ones, see fig. 6 $`a),b)`$. If we now treat the situation with the negative charge-transfer gap, we should have locally the configuration which is rather $`d^7p^5`$. The ion with the configuration $`d^7`$ should definitely be in the high-spin state with $`S_d=\frac{3}{2}`$, see fig. $`6c)`$. However there will be an oxygen hole nearby which is schematically illustrated in fig. 6$`c)`$. The hybridization of oxygen $`p`$-electrons with the predominantly $`e_g`$-states of the TM is rather strong, and it always decreases the total energy if corresponding mixing is allowed. From fig. 6$`c)`$ it is clear that for that the spin on oxygen should be antiparallel to the spin of the TM (here Co). Thus the total spin of this state will be $`S_{\mathrm{𝑡𝑜𝑡}}=\frac{3}{2}\frac{1}{2}=1`$, i.e. the configuration Co3+O ($`d^7p^5`$) will have neither high-, nor low-spin state, but an intermediate spin $`S=1`$. Recent band-structure calculation using LDA+U method which permits to take into account electron correlations, indeed confirmed that an intermediate spin state may be the ground state of LaCoO3 at certain conditions . This gives an alternative explanation of the intriguing properties of LaCoO3  which were usually interpreted in a framework of the model of the low-spin–high-spin transition.

Another interesting group of problems emerge when we think of the possible magnetic structure of these materials. As is mentioned above, in ordinary cases (Mott–Hubbard or charge-transfer insulators with filled oxygen $`p`$-shells) we can describe magnetic interactions as mostly due to superexchange. The rules which determine magnetic structure (Goodenough–Kanamori–Anderson rules ) are well known and are very successful.

In case of negative charge-transfer energy the situation may be modified drastically. If we have, besides $`d`$-electrons ($`d`$-spins), also holes (spins) on oxygen, then one may expect different exchange mechanisms entering the game. If oxygen holes are delocalized and form bands, there may appear $`d`$$`d`$ interaction of the RKKY-type via $`p`$-band. Or, if a band is sufficiently narrow, double-exchange mechanism  (tendency to form ferromagnetic alignment of localized spins provided by mobile holes) may be efficient; it may produce e.g. ferromagnetic metallic state (this may be the situation in CrO2, La1-xCaxMnO3 and in La1-xSrxCoO3). If, on the other side, oxygen holes could be treated as localized, there should be strong $`p`$$`d`$ exchange interaction which would also give a ferro- (or rather ferri-) magnetic state: the spins of TM ions will be parallel, and antiparallel to the spins of oxygens sitting in between , see fig. 7 333We consider here the crystal structure like that in perovskites or in La2CuO4; in principle the outcome should be sensitive to the detailed crystal structure..

The role of orbital degrees of freedom in negative-$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ systems is also far from trivial. It is known in particular that in case of orbital degeneracy the system becomes unstable (Jahn-Teller effect), and in concentrated case it experiences the cooperative Jahn-Teller transition  (an orbital ordering accompanied by the structural phase transition; this is one of the very few cases of structural transitions for which we know its microscopic origin). What would become of these transitions for negative $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, is not known. The change of the occupation of $`d`$-level may remove the degeneracy, or, vice versa, may make degenerate the system which by formal valence is not degenerate. However, the degeneracy removed from $`d`$-orbitals may still be present (it may be “transferred” to the degeneracy of the corresponding oxygen holes). What will be the outcome is definitely interesting to explore; this may determine many properties of these compounds, both structural and magnetic, and may be crucial, e.g. for the “colossal” magnetoresistance in La1-xCaxMnO3.

There is also an important connection of the situation in negative-$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ compounds and in doped cuprates (High-$`T_c`$ Superconductors). In these latter materials the holes introduced by doping form singlet bound states with Cu2+ spins (Zhang-Rice singlets ) which most probably determine transport and superconducting properties at relatively low doping. In this sense the substances with the formal valence Cu3+ (NaCuO2; LaCuO3) could correspond to a situation where we have these singlets at each site, cf. fig. 3. However the very picture of singlet bound states may turn out to be invalid for very high concentration of them: excessive doping may lead not to a “removal” of spins from our system (which is the case with Zhang-Rice singlets and which is usually described by $`t`$$`J`$ model ) but to adding extra spins (we have all $`d`$-electron spins and we add holes—or spins—on oxygen ). What will be the properties of such systems is not really clear. We thus see that our problem (description of negative-$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ compounds) has much in common with the description of overdoped High-$`T_c`$ Superconductors.

In this connection one more remark is in order. Until now we discussed mostly the stoichiometric compounds with negative charge-transfer gap. However most probably it is just in doped materials that the specific properties of these systems could be most pronounced. Indeed, as we mentioned above, $`p`$$`d`$ hybridization is always present in the TM compounds, and as a result the electronic configuration is never really $`d^np^6`$ but always has admixture of other configurations, such as $`d^{n+1}p^5`$. In that sense the difference between the usual compounds and those with negative CTG may be sometimes more quantitative than qualitative, according to Eq. (2) and to the discussion there. It is true that the theoretical discussion in this case should start from the opposite limit of holes in the $`p`$-band, but the outcome may in some cases look similar to the usual treatment. However, for doped compounds we have more chances to have really different behaviour. The case of High-$`T_c`$ cuprates gives a good example of the new striking phenomena which may be connected with the introduction of holes into oxygen $`p`$-states. One can even speculate: does not the clue to the search of new (high-temperature) superconductors lie in the unusually high valence?

## 6 Conclusion

We see that the TM compounds with the unusually high valence of the TM ions and small or negative charge-transfer gap constitute well-defined special class of compounds, for which we can expect rather wide range of properties.

Experimental studies of these compounds are now under way. However their theoretical understanding is still lacking. The nature of the resulting states is a completely open problem: at the moment we do not know when to expect metallic or insulating behaviour (or the insulator-metal transition), what will be the magnetic properties, etc. There are clear links of this problem to that of heavily doped High-$`T_c`$ Superconductors and to the Kondo-insulators, and one may hope that eventual progress in the description of negative-$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ systems may shed some light on these problems too (and vice versa).

Experimentally there are also a lot of problems to be solved. One has to check whether all the “suspicious” materials mentioned above (LaCuO3; La1-xSrxCoO3; PrNiO3; CrO2; La1-xSrxMnO3) belong to the class of compounds with small or negative charge-transfer gap. Probably the most direct tool for this is high-energy spectroscopy and possibly some local spectroscopic probes (NMR, ESR). Special attention should be paid to the properties of doped compounds of this type. Thus for example it would be very interesting to try to dope, e.g. by Sr or Ba, the quasi-onedimensional compounds NaCuO2 or KCuO2, which definitely have negative charge-transfer gap (“Zhang–Rice singlets at each site”). This would be the counterpart of the High-$`T_c`$ cuprates in which by doping e.g. La2CuO4 we go formally from Cu2+ in the direction of “Cu3+”: here it would correspond to moving in the opposite direction, from “Cu3+” toward Cu2+. What would be the properties of such system would be very interesting to study.

One can raise many other interesting questions and suggest a lot of other experiments to probe the behaviour of these systems. Here I only want to stress once again that the study of this very specific and interesting class of transition metal compounds presents definite interest both from the fundamental point of view and possibly for certain practical applications.

Acknowledgements: I am very grateful to G. A. Sawatzky and D. van der Marel for the useful discussion. This work was supported by the Netherlands Foundation for Fundamental Study of Matter (FOM).

P.S. (December 2000) This small, review-like, paper was written in 1997 and published in the memorial issue of the Lithuanian Journal of Physics 37, 65 (1997) devoted to the memory of my late friend R. Dagys. As this journal is not widely available, I think it worthwhile to put it on the web, although it is already three years old. The development since 1997 has shown that the problems raised in this paper are still important, and the discussion presented in this paper may still be useful. I did not change the main content of the paper; to somewhat update it, below are two more recent references relevant to the problems discussed in this paper.

M. A. Korotin, V. A. Anisimov, D. I. Khomskii and G. A. Sawatzky, Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 4305 (1997)

T. Mizokawa, D. I. Khomskii and G. A. Sawatzky, Phys. Rev. B 61, 11263 (2000)

## Figure Captions

Fig. 1 Schematic phase diagram of the transition metal compounds (by )

Fig. 2 Energy spectrum of $`a)`$ Mott-Hubbard insulator; $`b)`$ charge-transfer insulator with the positive charge-transfer gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$; $`c),d)`$ the system with small and negative charge-transfer gap

Fig. 3 The main motive of the crystal structure of NaCuO2

Fig. 4 Evolution of the energy spectrum with the even (e.g. two) number of electrons per unit cell $`a)`$ Mott-Hubbard insulator (low-spin state); $`b)`$ charge-transfer insulator ($`\mathrm{\Delta }>0`$); $`c)`$ charge-transfer insulator ($`\mathrm{\Delta }0`$); $`d)`$ the system with the negative charge-transfer gap; in this particular case it is also an insulator. $`\mu `$ is the chemical potential

Fig. 5 Evolution of the energy spectrum with the odd number (here one) of electrons per unit cell $`a)`$ Magnetic Mott–Hubbard insulator; $`b)`$ magnetic charge-transfer insulator; $`c)`$ the situation with the small charge-transfer gap, which can be an insulator or a metal; $`d)`$ the situation with large negative charge-transfer gap, which in this particular case should be a metal with empty $`d`$-shell. Other notations are the same as in fig. 4

Fig. 6 Energy levels and electron occupation of the ion with the configuration $`d^6`$ (e.g. Co3+): $`a)`$ high-spin state; $`b)`$ low-spin state; $`c)`$ intermediate-spin state. $`t_{pd}`$ is the transition metal–oxygen hybridization

Fig. 7 Possible origin of the ferromagnetic ordering in case of localized oxygen $`p`$-holes (by )