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# Charge Density Wave–Assisted Tunneling Between Hall Edge States

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## Abstract

We study the intra-planar tunneling between quantum Hall samples separated by a quasi one-dimensional barrier, induced through the interaction of edge degrees of freedom with the charge density waves of a Hall crystal defined in a parallel layer. A field theory formulation is set up in terms of bosonic (2+1)-dimensional excitations coupled to (1+1)-dimensional fermions. Parity symmetry is broken at the quantum level by the confinement of soliton-antisoliton pairs near the tunneling region. The usual Peierls argument allows to estimate the critical temperature $`T_c`$, so that for $`T>T_c`$ mass corrections due to longitudinal density fluctuations disappear from the edge spectrum. We compute the gap dependence upon the random global phase of the pinned charge density wave, as well as the effects of a voltage bias applied across the tunneling junction.

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Introduction. The existence of charge density waves (cdws) in quantum Hall systems, initially conjectured to arise in connection with cyclotron resonances and later on with the destruction of the fractional effect in disordered samples , has by now convincing experimental and theoretical ground . However, it has been recently found  that for certain regimes at filling fractions $`\nu >2`$, the spectral properties of charge density fluctuations at low wavenumbers may substantially differ from the usual theoretical expectations, formulated even before the discovery of the integer quantum Hall effect . Gapless longitudinal and transverse modes for these exotic “Hall crystals”  are predicted to be characterized by linear dispersion curves, likely to be rendered massive by the presence of disorder.

Our aim in this paper is to propose and study a double layer system conceived to probe the dynamics of cdws with two-dimensional lattice structure in the quantum Hall effect, under the assumption they are governed by a linear dispersion in the gapless limit. The proposed experimental construction is schematically depicted in fig.1. Two close quantum Hall layers are coupled through the Coulomb interaction. A quantum Hall cdw state is defined in the upper sample (referred to as system I). The lower sample (system II) is an assemblage of two coplanar systems, separated by a tunneling junction of width $`\mathrm{}10^2`$ Å (the magnetic length in usual quantum Hall samples), which is surrounded by two sets of oppositely oriented chiral edge states (“left” and “right” movers) . The essential situation we will focus is the tunneling resonance that occurs when the Fermi level in system II is tuned so that the left and right chiral edge states become strongly coupled via the periodic structure of the cdw state in system I. Such a tunneling resonance is actually attainable due to the fortunate fact that the lattice parameter in the Hall cdw states is also close to $`\mathrm{}`$ .

Before embarking in the main considerations, a disclaimer is in order. It is reasonable to suppose that the experimental search for a Hall crystal should be done in principle with the help of standard approaches, like radio-frequency absortion and transport measurements, performed on single layer structures . However, even if a clear experimental signature of the Hall crystal is found in that way, the investigation of its low-energy spectrum turns out to be a more involved problem. It should be clear that we do not intend to establish here the way to detect a Hall crystal, but just advance a way to probe its properties.

The basic physical conditions necessary for the experiment are completely realistic. Quantum Hall layers separated by distances near $`10^2`$ Å are the subject of actual experimental and theoretical investigations (see the review ), whereas tiny (at the magnetic length scale) and precisely constructed quasi one-dimensional barriers were recently used by Kang et al. to study the tunneling between coplanar quantum Hall samples .

To address (and by no means exhaust) a discussion on the feasibility of the device sketched in fig.1, we find useful to comment on a few experimental aspects, having in mind modern nanostructure technology. Consider initially a Hall crystal which is hypothetically prepared in a very clean (high mobility) quantum well AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs. The Hall crystal is believed to exist for some range of filling factors $`2<\nu =nh/eB<3`$ at moderate Coulomb mixing between Landau Levels . Such a quantum well can be perfectly recreated in a double layer system, where it plays the role of system I. We may take the other quantum well (system II) to be the inversion layer at an adjoining AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs interface. The layers should be constructed within the cleaved edge overgrowth technique , with the potential barrier in system II corresponding to a thin, atomically precise, region of an alloy of Al$`_x^{}`$Ga$`_{1x^{}}`$As/AlAs inserted in the GaAs side before the cleave is made . Usual voltage gates are placed above and below systems I and II, in order to control their electron densities $`n_1`$ and $`n_2`$ in an independent way . It is clear that the determination of optimal values for quantum well and potential barrier thicknesses, the concentration of Si doping, Al fractions $`x`$ and $`x^{}`$, etc., is a matter of detailed quantum well engineering.

An advantage here over typical double layer tunneling experiments is that there is no need to attach separate ohmic contacts to the layers, a task generally accomplished through extra electrostatic gating . The layers can be connected in parallel, since $`\sigma _{xx}=0`$ in the Hall crystal state (of course, any external, in-plane electric field has to be small enough not to depin the cdw). In case there is some residual longitudinal conductivity contribution from the top layer, differential conductance peaks would reveal the presence of tunneling resonances in the bottom layer as well. The experimental pursue of the tunneling resonance can then be carried out in two essentially equivalent ways. Either by variating $`n_2`$ with all the other parameters fixed or, alternatively, by variating the magnetic field at fixed ratios $`n_1/n_2`$, to sweep the filling factors $`2<\nu _1<3`$ and $`2n_2/n_1<\nu _2<3n_2/n_1`$. Tunneling is expected to take place between edge states which belong to the lowest Landau level, even if $`\nu _21`$ .

Definition of the tunneling model. Let us imagine system II as a stripe in the $`(x_1,x_2)`$ plane, with $`|x_1|<L/2`$, where the limit $`L\mathrm{}`$ is eventually performed. The transverse magnetic field is $`\stackrel{}{B}=B\widehat{x}_3`$, and the tunneling interface is given by a triangular potential barrier $`V(x_2)=V_0[2|x_2|/\delta 1]`$, defined for $`|x_2|<\delta /2`$. In our computations the lateral size of the barrier, $`\delta `$, is assumed to be of the order of the magnetic length. A concrete range of values is $`1`$ meV $`<eV_0<350`$ meV for the potential barrier, and $`1.5`$ meV $`<\mathrm{}\omega _c<15`$ meV for the cyclotron energy.

The second quantized hamiltonian, which takes into account the interaction between system II and the cdw state in system I, is written in the Landau gauge as $`H=H_\mathrm{\Phi }+H_{\mathrm{\Phi }\xi }+H_\xi `$, where

$`H_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ $`={\displaystyle d^2\stackrel{}{x}\mathrm{\Phi }^+\{\frac{1}{2m}[(p_1eBx_2)^2+p_2^2]+eV(x_2)\}\mathrm{\Phi }},`$ (1)
$`H_{\mathrm{\Phi }\xi }`$ $`={\displaystyle d^2\stackrel{}{x}d^2\stackrel{}{x}^{}\rho (\stackrel{}{x};\stackrel{}{\xi })\frac{e^2}{ϵ[(\stackrel{}{x}\stackrel{}{x}^{})^2+d^2]^{\frac{1}{2}}}\mathrm{\Phi }^+(\stackrel{}{x}^{})\mathrm{\Phi }(\stackrel{}{x}^{})},`$ (2)
$`H_\xi `$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{u}{2}}{\displaystyle d^2\stackrel{}{x}[(_t\stackrel{}{\xi })^2+c^2(_i\stackrel{}{\xi })^2+\omega _0^2\stackrel{}{\xi }^2]}.`$ (3)
Above, $`\rho (\stackrel{}{x};\stackrel{}{\xi })`$ is the deviation from the mean electron density in the Hall crystal. Density fluctuations around the periodic lattice are described by the distortion field $`\stackrel{}{\xi }(\stackrel{}{x},t)`$. The non-local Coulomb coupling between electrons at the upper and lower samples is modeled through $`H_{\mathrm{\Phi }\xi }`$, where $`d`$ in (3) is the distance between layers.

The harmonic hamiltonian $`H_\xi `$, which governs long wavelength fluctuations of the distortion field, is not written on a first-principles basis, otherwise it would necessarily introduce the coupling of the elementary charge motion to the external magnetic field. Rather, $`H_\xi `$ has to be regarded, in a “Ginzburg-Landau” fashion, as the simplest phenomenological choice devised to satisfy a few basic physical properties: it must be i) a local and isotropic functional of $`\stackrel{}{\xi }(\stackrel{}{x},t)`$, and ii) characterized by the fact that all modes are linearly dispersing in the gapless limit. The role played by the combination of magnetic field, Coulomb interaction and disorder is assumed to be implicit in the definition of coupling constants $`u,c`$ and $`\omega _0`$. In that sense, the gapless limit, $`\omega _00`$, in $`H_\xi `$ holds for absence of disorder in system I. Furthermore, one may estimate the energy density parameter $`uc^2`$ from the Coulomb interaction within the magnetic length scale, that is, $`uc^2e^2/ϵ\mathrm{}^3r_s\mathrm{}\omega _c/\mathrm{}^2`$, where $`r_s6`$, following Murthy’s numerical explorations .

There is some support to conjecture that $`\omega _00`$ should indeed be taken for cdws realized in high mobility samples. From a study of the static competition between elastic, Coulomb and disordering interactions due to impurities, Fukuyama and Lee  established a criterion to predict if there is or not a gap at wavenumber $`q0`$ in the spectrum of general two-dimensional cdws. The Fukuyama-Lee criterion is rephrased as follows: let $`n`$ and $`n_i`$ be the electron and impurity densities, respectively, while the cdw has amplitude $`\rho _0`$ and lattice parameter $`1/\overline{k}`$. An individual impurity is mimicked by the delta-potential $`V(\stackrel{}{r})=V_0\delta ^2(\stackrel{}{r})`$, with $`V_0ed_i`$, where $`d_i`$ is of the order of the screening length. The two-dimensional cdw will have a diverging coherence length (positional order in practice) and gapless excitations if

$$\frac{V_0\rho _0\overline{k}^2\sqrt{n_i}}{\pi en^2}<1.$$
(4)
Considering that $`\rho _0<n1/\mathrm{}^2`$, $`\overline{k}1/\mathrm{}`$ and $`n_i1/d_i\mathrm{}_p`$, where $`\mathrm{}_p`$ is the mean free path (evaluated at zero magnetic field), we securely get (4) if $`d_i/\mathrm{}_p1`$. Since $`d_i`$ is a few angstroms large and $`\mathrm{}_p10\mu `$m for a sample with mobility $`\mu =10^6`$ cm2/Vs, we expect (4) to be satisfied.

With no loss of important details, the cdw state $`\rho (\stackrel{}{x};0)`$ will be taken to be a square lattice with spatial period $`\pi /\sqrt{2}\overline{k}`$ . We may write

$`\rho (\stackrel{}{x};\stackrel{}{\xi })`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\rho _0J\{\mathrm{cos}[2\sqrt{2}\overline{k}\widehat{n}_1(\stackrel{}{x}+\stackrel{}{\xi }+\widehat{x}_2\theta /2\overline{k})]`$ (5)
$`+`$ $`\mathrm{cos}[2\sqrt{2}\overline{k}\widehat{n}_2(\stackrel{}{x}+\stackrel{}{\xi }+\widehat{x}_2\theta /2\overline{k})]\},`$ (6)
where $`J=det[\delta _{\alpha \beta }+_\alpha \xi _\beta ]`$ is the jacobian which guarantees charge conservation, that is, $`d^2\stackrel{}{x}\rho (\stackrel{}{x};\stackrel{}{\xi })=0`$. Crystal axes are given by $`\widehat{n}_1`$ and $`\widehat{n}_2`$. We assume small and smooth distortions (at the magnetic length scale) of the square lattice. The global phase $`\theta `$ in (6) gives finite translations of the pinned cdw along the $`x_2`$ direction. It is not necessary to consider a phase parameter for the perpendicular direction, since the total hamiltonian is invariant under shifts of $`x_1`$. The phase $`\theta `$ is expected to take random values each time the two-dimensional cdw is crystallized, in view of the extreme sensitivity of the pinning process to small perturbations.

The careful reader may have already noticed that we neglected, in (3), the Coulomb interaction between the cdw and the charge depleted region at the barrier in the bottom layer. Actually, due to translation symmetry along the $`x_1`$ axis, the charge depleted region generates a potential $`\stackrel{~}{V}(x_2)`$ in the top layer. Therefore, we should have added, in principle, the correction term

$$\mathrm{\Delta }H=ed^2\stackrel{}{x}\stackrel{~}{V}(x_2)\rho (\stackrel{}{x};\stackrel{}{\xi })$$
(7)
to $`H_{\varphi \xi }`$. However, taking now an homogenous distortion $`\stackrel{}{\xi }`$ and using (6) and (7) with periodic boundary conditions, the integration over $`x_1`$ implies, for general cdw orientations, that $`\mathrm{\Delta }H0`$ in the low wavenumber limit (that is, $`\mathrm{\Delta }H`$ is a boundary term). It is solely in the special case when one of the crystal axes is parallel to the $`x_1`$ direction, as in fig.1, that we may have $`\mathrm{\Delta }H=\mathrm{\Delta }H[\xi _2]0`$, so that the charge depleted region will favour some displacement of the cdw along the $`x_2`$ direction.

For the benefit of a direct exposition, instead of developing computations for arbitrary axes directions $`\widehat{n}_1`$ and $`\widehat{n}_2`$, we will consider fully isotropic cdw fluctuations, with $`\widehat{n}_1=(\widehat{x}_1+\widehat{x}_2)/\sqrt{2}`$ and $`\widehat{n}_2=(\widehat{x}_1\widehat{x}_2)/\sqrt{2}`$, i.e.,

$$\rho (\stackrel{}{x};\stackrel{}{\xi })=\rho _0J\mathrm{cos}[2\overline{k}(x_1+\xi _1)]\mathrm{cos}[2\overline{k}(x_2+\xi _2)+\theta ].$$
(8)
When appropriate, we comment on the modifications introduced by different choices of the crystal axes.

In order to define an expansion for the second quantized fermion operator, we work in the lowest Landau level approximation, taking for the Hilbert space basis the one-particle eigenstates of $`H_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ with $`V_0=0`$. Up to a normalization constant,

$$\mathrm{\Phi }(x_1,x_2)=\underset{n}{}a_n\mathrm{exp}[ik_nx_1\frac{1}{2\mathrm{}^2}(x_2k_n\mathrm{}^2)^2].$$
(9)
Imposing the periodic boundary condition $`\mathrm{\Phi }(x_1,x_2)=\mathrm{\Phi }(x_1+L,x_2)`$, one gets the discrete set of wavenumbers $`k_n=2\pi n/L`$, with $`n`$ integer. The operator $`a_n^+`$ creates a particle which is free to move along the $`x_1`$ direction, but is localized around $`x_2=k_n\mathrm{}^2`$. It is clear from the form of (8), that a tunneling resonance occurs at the Fermi level which crosses the energy band generated by the potential barrier at $`k_n=\pm \overline{k}`$. Our task, thus, is to obtain a theory for the edge degrees of freedom with quantum numbers around these special values of $`k_n`$. The starting point is to rename operators as

$$a_n=(\frac{2\pi }{L})^{\frac{1}{2}}\{\begin{array}{cc}a_R(k+\overline{k})& \text{, if }n<0\hfill \\ & \\ a_L(k\overline{k})& \text{, if }n>0\hfill \end{array}.$$
(10)
The indices $`R`$ and $`L`$ denote chiral components defined in a reference frame co-moving respectively with the $`\overline{k}`$ and $`\overline{k}`$ states (when the barrier electric field is “turned on”). Substituting (8)-(10) in $`H_\mathrm{\Phi }`$ and $`H_{\mathrm{\Phi }\xi }`$, we perform the integrations over $`x_2`$, taking $`\stackrel{}{\xi }(x_1,x_2)\stackrel{}{\xi }(x_1,0)`$ close to the tunneling region. It is also convenient to introduce the Dirac spinor

$$\psi =\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi }}𝑑k\mathrm{exp}(ikx)\left[\begin{array}{c}a_R(k)\\ a_L(k)\end{array}\right],$$
(11)
and the chiral representation of gamma matrices, written in terms of Pauli matrices as $`\gamma ^0=\sigma _1`$, $`\gamma ^1=i\sigma _2`$ and $`\gamma ^5=\sigma _3`$. We find then

$`H`$ $`=H_\xi +{\displaystyle }dx[iv\overline{\psi }\gamma ^1_1\psi `$ (13)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{g}{2}}\mathrm{cos}(2\overline{k}\xi _2+\theta )\overline{\psi }\mathrm{exp}(2i\overline{k}\xi _1\gamma ^5)\psi ],`$
where $`v=eV_0\mathrm{}^2/\delta `$ is the drift velocity near the barrier, and $`g=e^2\pi \rho _0\mathrm{exp}(\overline{k}d)/ϵ\overline{k}`$ parametrizes the Coulomb coupling between layers. Note that $`H_{\mathrm{\Phi }\xi }`$ is mapped into local terms in (13), an approximation related to the smoothness properties of the distortion field.

The above hamiltonian describes the interaction of (1+1)-dimensional Dirac fermions – the edge excitations – with (2+1)-dimensional vector fields – the cdws – along the line $`x_2=0`$. Two-body interaction effects within system II will not be considered, which may be addressed in a luttinger liquid framework, once they are likely to just renormalize the bare (input) parameters of the fermion theory, as the gap (its size and position) and the drift velocity .

As is well-known, disorder is expected to broaden and reduce any tunneling resonance peak. It is not difficult to show disorder may be effectively incorporated in (13) as a random gauge field coupled to the edge states, in a way suitable of analysis via the replica formalism . While leaving a deeper study of disorder for further work, we just point, from previous experiments  that disorder broadenening, if any, is typically of the order of $`1`$ meV, which sets an energy resolution for the observation of many of the results derived here.

Regarding alternative cdw orientations, it is worth noting there will be in general two resonant Fermi levels, which correspond to the two periodic functions in (6). The linearization procedure around the resonances leads now to coupling terms like

$$\underset{p=1}{\overset{2}{}}g_p\overline{\psi }\mathrm{exp}[i2\sqrt{2}\overline{k}\widehat{n}_p(\stackrel{}{\xi }+\widehat{x}_2\theta /2\overline{k})\gamma ^5]\psi .$$
(14)
The “degenerate case”, (13), follows from $`g_1=g_2=g/4`$ with $`\widehat{n}_1=(\widehat{x}_1+\widehat{x}_2)/\sqrt{2}`$ and $`\widehat{n}_2=(\widehat{x}_1\widehat{x}_2)/\sqrt{2}`$. As $`\widehat{n}_1`$ and $`\widehat{n}_2`$ are rotated, one of the coupling constants $`g_1`$ or $`g_2`$ gets comparatively smaller. This is in fact the behaviour related to a more realistic cdw profile, which is peaked in two-dimensional Fourier space at $`2\sqrt{2}\overline{k}\widehat{n}_1`$ and $`2\sqrt{2}\overline{k}\widehat{n}_2`$, but departs from the idealized harmonic form (6). If the rotation angle is large enough, we may discard one of the $`g^{}s`$ in (14), implying physical quantities become independent of $`\theta `$. That is what happens when $`\widehat{n}_1`$ is parallel to the tunneling barrier. Notwithstanding the anisotropic cdw fluctuations which also appear in this situation, tunneling will be due to the interaction of edge states with $`\xi _1`$, whereas any extra-term $`\mathrm{\Delta }H`$ introduced to accommodate the effect of the charge depleted region will have to do with transverse fluctuations of the distortion field. As a consequence, the coupling between the top layer and the charge depleted region does not play a relevant role in the tunneling process.

The rationale in focusing the degenerate case in detail relies on its rich vacuum structure, qualitatively similar (or even more general) than the ones found for diverse cdw orientations.

Vacuum structure of the non-local effective fermion model. Our main interest is to determine the fermion mass – the tunneling gap – which could be experimentally determined from the Fermi level positions of zero-bias differential conductance peaks, for instance. A naive inspection of the hamiltonian (13), “freezing” the bosonic degrees of freedom in some homogenous configuration $`\stackrel{}{\xi }`$, suggests that the fermion mass would be $`m=g|\mathrm{cos}(2\overline{k}\xi _2+\theta )|/2`$, since the constant $`\xi _1`$ can be eliminated by a chiral rotation of the fermion fields. However, this simple argument is completely misleading, since it neglects fluctuations of the distortion field, which are particularly relevant in planar systems.

The central point of our analysis, to be performed in the framework of finite temperature field theory , is the elimination of $`\stackrel{}{\xi }`$ from the partition function by means of a standard projection procedure. The computational strategy is based on the cumulant expansion for the perturbative hamiltonian piece of $`O(g)`$ in (13), in terms of averages over fluctuations of $`\stackrel{}{\xi }`$. We will be able to derive in this way an effective (non-local) (1+1)-dimensional fermion model, which describes the interaction between edge states.

The partition function is written, in a self-evident notation, as

$$Z=D\stackrel{}{\xi }D\overline{\psi }D\psi \mathrm{exp}[S_\xi S_\psi S_{\xi \psi }].$$
(15)
We get, from the second-order cumulant expansion,

$$Z=Z_0D\overline{\psi }D\psi \mathrm{exp}[S_\psi \mathrm{\Delta }S_\psi ],$$
(16)
where

$$\mathrm{\Delta }S_\psi =S_{\xi \psi }_0+\frac{1}{2}[S_{\xi \psi }^2_0S_{\xi \psi }_0^2],$$
(17)
with $`(\mathrm{})_0`$ standing for the statistical average taken with the partition function $`Z_0=D\stackrel{}{\xi }\mathrm{exp}[S_\xi ]`$. We have

$$S_\xi =\frac{u}{2}𝑑\tau d^2\stackrel{}{x}[(_\tau \stackrel{}{\xi })^2+c^2(_i\stackrel{}{\xi })^2+\omega _0^2\stackrel{}{\xi }^2]$$
(18)
and

$$S_{\xi \psi }=\frac{g}{2}𝑑\tau 𝑑x\mathrm{cos}(2\overline{k}\xi _2+\theta )\overline{\psi }\mathrm{exp}(2i\overline{k}\xi _1\gamma ^5)\psi .$$
(19)
The integration over imaginary time is restricted to the interval $`0<\tau <\beta 1/T`$, and periodic and antiperiodic boundary conditions are defined, as usual, for the boson and fermion fields, respectively. The translation invariant bosonic two-point correlation function, evaluated on the line $`x_2=0`$, is $`\xi _i(0,0,0)\xi _j(x,0,\tau )_0=\delta _{ij}G(x,\tau )`$, with

$`G(x,\tau )=`$ (20)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi \beta }}{\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}{\displaystyle 𝑑k\frac{(2uc^2)^1\mathrm{exp}[i(kx+\omega _n\tau )]}{[k^2+(\omega _n^2+\omega _0^2)/c^2]^{\frac{1}{2}}}},`$ (21)
where $`\omega _n=2\pi n/\beta `$ are the Matsubara frequencies. To obtain the statistical averages in (17), it is only necessary to know that

$`\mathrm{sin}[2\overline{k}\xi _i]_0=\mathrm{sin}[2\overline{k}\xi _i]\mathrm{cos}[2\overline{k}\xi _j]_0=0,`$ (22)
$`\mathrm{cos}[2\overline{k}\xi _i]_0=\mathrm{cosh}[2\overline{k}^2G(0)],`$ (23)
$`\mathrm{cos}[2\overline{k}\xi _i(0,0,0)]\mathrm{cos}[2\overline{k}\xi _j(x,0,\tau )]_0=\delta _{ij}\mathrm{exp}[4\overline{k}^2G(0)]`$ (24)
$`\times \mathrm{cosh}[4\overline{k}^2G(x,\tau )]+(1\delta _{ij})\mathrm{cosh}^2[2\overline{k}^2G(0)],`$ (25)
$`\mathrm{sin}[2\overline{k}\xi _i(0,0,0)]\mathrm{sin}[2\overline{k}\xi _j(x,0,\tau )]_0=\delta _{ij}\mathrm{exp}[4\overline{k}^2G(0)]`$ (26)
$`\times \mathrm{sinh}[4\overline{k}^2G(x,\tau )].`$ (27)
The exact results in (27) can be approximated by more convenient expressions, if we note that all of them involve functions of $`\overline{k}^2G(x,\tau )=O(\xi ^2/\mathrm{}^2)1`$. We may take, in practice, the leading order contributions:

$`\mathrm{cos}[2\overline{k}\xi _i]_0\mathrm{cos}[2\overline{k}\xi _i(0,0,0)]\mathrm{cos}[2\overline{k}\xi _j(x,0,\tau )]_01,`$ (28)
$`\mathrm{sin}[2\overline{k}\xi _i(0,0,0)]\mathrm{sin}[2\overline{k}\xi _j(x,0,\tau )]_04\overline{k}^2G(x,\tau ).`$ (29)
A direct computation gives, then,

$`\mathrm{\Delta }S_\psi =`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{ig}{2}}\mathrm{cos}\theta {\displaystyle 𝑑\tau 𝑑x\overline{\psi }\gamma ^5\psi }+{\displaystyle \frac{g^2\overline{k}^2}{2}}{\displaystyle 𝑑\tau 𝑑\tau ^{}𝑑x𝑑x^{}}`$ (32)
$`\times G(xx^{},\tau \tau ^{})[\mathrm{cos}^2\theta (\overline{\psi }\psi )_{x\tau }(\overline{\psi }\psi )_{x^{}\tau ^{}}`$
$`\mathrm{sin}^2\theta (\overline{\psi }\gamma ^5\psi )_{x\tau }(\overline{\psi }\gamma ^5\psi )_{x^{}\tau ^{}}].`$
Therefore, we have to study, from now on, the (1+1)-dimensional fermion theory, with partition function (16) and non-local couplings given in (32). The most natural approach, following an analogy with the problem of BCS superconductivity, is to devise a Hartree-Fock computation of the gap equation. In the present context, we define the non-local order parameters

$`\phi _1(x,\tau )`$ $`={\displaystyle 𝑑\tau ^{}𝑑x^{}G(xx^{},\tau \tau ^{})(\overline{\psi }\psi )_{x^{}\tau ^{}}},`$ (33)
$`\phi _2(x,\tau )`$ $`={\displaystyle 𝑑\tau ^{}𝑑x^{}G(xx^{},\tau \tau ^{})(\overline{\psi }\gamma ^5\psi )_{x^{}\tau ^{}}}.`$ (34)
If the vacuum expectation value of $`\stackrel{}{\phi }\phi _1\widehat{x}_1+\phi _2\widehat{x}_2`$ is non-vanishing, we find, from (32) and (34), the fermion mass

$$m=g[\overline{k}^2\mathrm{cos}^2\theta \phi _1^2+(\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{cos}\theta \overline{k}\mathrm{sin}\theta \phi _2)^2]^{\frac{1}{2}}.$$
(35)
A fundamental aspect of the effective fermion theory obtained after the integration over the distortion fields regards its parity symmetry properties. At the tree-level there is invariance under the discrete mapping $`x_1x_1`$ and $`\psi \gamma ^0\psi `$, which implies that $`\phi _1\phi _1`$. One could then state that $`\phi _1=0`$ is necessarily verified, since discrete symmetries cannot be broken in one spatial dimension. However, such a general theorem strictly holds for local hamiltonians. As we discuss below, the non-local coupling between fermions renders in fact parity symmetry breaking possible when quantum corrections are taken into account.

We may investigate the vacuum phases of the fermion theory by expressing the partition function as a functional integration over configurations of $`\stackrel{}{\phi }`$. The basic difficult in doing so is related to the evaluation of the fermion determinant, which, however, admits a loop-expansion. At the one-loop level  we get the partition function

$$Z=D\stackrel{}{\phi }\mathrm{exp}[S_\phi ],$$
(36)
where

$`S_\phi `$ $`={\displaystyle }d\tau dx\{uc^2{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{2}{}}}\phi _i[_\tau ^2+^2+\omega _0^2/c^2]^{1/2}\phi _i`$ (38)
$`+(\sigma ^2/4\pi v)[\mathrm{ln}(\sigma ^2/\mathrm{\Lambda }^2)1]\}.`$
Above, $`\sigma ^2=g^2[\overline{k}^2\mathrm{cos}^2\theta \phi _1^2+(\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{cos}\theta \overline{k}\mathrm{sin}\theta \phi _2)^2]`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the ultraviolet cutoff, which may be regarded to be of the order of $`eV_0`$. The effective potential is, thus,

$$V_{\text{eff}}(\phi _1,\phi _2)=uc\omega _0\stackrel{}{\phi }^2+\frac{\sigma ^2}{4\pi v}\left[\mathrm{ln}\frac{\sigma ^2}{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}1\right].$$
(39)
It follows from (39) that there are two types of ground states, which we refer to as “type-A” and “type-B”. Type-A ground state breaks parity symmetry and is associated to the fermion mass

$$m=\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{exp}(\frac{\overline{c}\omega _0}{\overline{k}^2g^2\mathrm{cos}^2\theta }),$$
(40)
where $`\overline{c}=2\pi vuc`$. Such a vacuum is realized for a specific pinning parameter $`\theta `$ whenever $`m>g|\mathrm{cos}\theta /2(\mathrm{tan}^2\theta 1)|`$. Vacuum expectation values are

$`\phi _1=\pm [{\displaystyle \frac{m^2}{\overline{k}^2g^2}}\mathrm{sec}^2\theta \phi _2^2\mathrm{cot}^2\theta ]^{\frac{1}{2}},`$ (41)
$`\phi _2={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{tan}\theta }{2\overline{k}(\mathrm{tan}^2\theta 1)}}.`$ (42)
The parity symmetric type-B ground state is given on its turn by $`\phi _1=0`$ with $`\phi _2`$ being obtained from

$$\frac{2\overline{c}\omega _0}{\overline{k}g\mathrm{sin}\theta }\phi _2=\chi \mathrm{ln}\frac{\chi ^2}{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2},$$
(43)
where $`\chi =g(\mathrm{cos}\theta 2\overline{k}\phi _2\mathrm{sin}\theta )/2`$. The fermion gap is $`m=|\chi |`$. With the exception of $`\theta =\pi /2`$ and $`3\pi /2`$, there is no vacuum degeneracy here. Type-B ground state is always the correct choice for some range of pinning phase parameters, and in some situations, as in the weak or strong coupling limits of $`g`$, it holds in fact for any value of $`\theta `$.

To study the quantum stability of type-A vacuum, we employ a variational strategy, where dilute soliton-antisoliton configurations interpolating between the degenerate vacuum states $`\phi _1\pm \phi _0`$, are showed not to disorder the system at low temperatures. A variational soliton of size $`a`$ is constructed in a simple way through the convolution of the step and gaussian functions. Just define

$`\phi _1^s(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\phi _0}{a\sqrt{\pi }}}{\displaystyle 𝑑x^{}\frac{x^{}}{|x^{}|}\mathrm{exp}[\frac{4(xx^{})^2}{a^2}]}`$ (44)
$`=`$ $`\phi _0{\displaystyle \frac{dk}{\pi i}\frac{k\mathrm{exp}(ikxk^2a^2)}{k^2+\eta ^2}}.`$ (45)
where $`\eta 0`$. The antisoliton is, of course, $`\phi _1^{\overline{s}}(x)=\phi _1^s(x)`$. The soliton energy, subtracted by the ground state level, is

$`\mathrm{\Delta }E_s`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2uc^2\phi _0^2}{\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{dk}{k^2}\left[\left(k^2+\frac{\omega _0^2}{c^2}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}\frac{\omega _0}{c}\right]\mathrm{exp}(2k^2a^2)}`$ (46)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑x[V_{\text{eff}}(\phi _1^s,\phi _2)V_{\text{eff}}(\phi _0,\phi _2)]}.`$ (47)
While the second term on the rhs of (47) may be approximated by a linear expression, $`\gamma a`$, with $`\gamma >0`$, the first term diverges for $`a0`$ in the ultraviolet limit and vanishes for $`a\mathrm{}`$, implying there is necessarily a minimum of $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_s`$ at some $`a=\overline{a}`$. Thus, the existence of a soliton state is verified.

Consider now a soliton-antisoliton pair separated by a distance $`x_0\overline{a}`$, which may be written as the superposition $`\phi _1^{s\overline{s}}(x)=\phi _1^s(x)+\phi _1^{\overline{s}}(xx_0)\phi _0`$. Its energy is

$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ $`E_{s\overline{s}}=2\gamma \overline{a}+{\displaystyle \frac{8uc^2\phi _0^2}{\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{dk}{k^2}}`$ (49)
$`\times \mathrm{sin}^2{\displaystyle \frac{kx_0}{2}}\left[\left(k^2+{\displaystyle \frac{\omega _0^2}{c^2}}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\omega _0}{c}}\right]\mathrm{exp}(2k^2\overline{a}^2).`$
Taking $`\omega _0`$ finite, it follows that $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_{s\overline{s}}`$ approaches a constant in the large $`x_0`$ limit. In this case, entropy effects dominate the free energy and type-A vacuum is disordered, that is, $`\phi _1=0`$. However, if $`\omega _00`$ at fixed $`x_0`$, one gets the asymptotic result, $`\mathrm{\Delta }E_{s\overline{s}}\mathrm{ln}(x_0/\overline{a})`$. Energy and entropy fluctuations have similar logarithmic dependences, and a direct application of the Peierls argument  gives the critical temperature $`T_c(\theta )uc^2\phi _0^2`$. With $`r_s=6`$, $`\mathrm{}\omega _c=1.5`$ meV, and assuming $`\phi _00.05\mathrm{}`$, for instance, we find $`T_c0.3`$ K. In the disordered phase above $`T_c`$, similarly to the finite $`\omega _0`$ case, the longitudinal bosonic excitations along the interface do not contribute to the fermion mass renormalization (up to one-loop level).

Observe that for $`\omega _00`$, the soliton energy diverges in the infrared limit, but the soliton-antisoliton energy is finite. The soliton-antisoliton confinement below $`T_c`$ is analogous to the binding of vortices in the Kosterlitz-Thouless model . As a matter of fact, the logarithmic interaction of kinks in a Ising-like model was studied long ago by Anderson, Yuval and Hamann as a way to model the Kondo effect . The renormalization group flows are essentially the same as the ones for the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition.

Finite voltage bias effects. If a small voltage bias $`V_b`$ is applied across the quasi one-dimensional interface, the potential barrier becomes locally modified by the addition of a linear potential, viz.,

$$V(x_2)=V_0[\frac{2|x_2|}{\delta }1]\frac{V_bx_2}{2\delta }.$$
(50)
As a consequence, the chiral fermion components will have different drift velocities (however, the average drift is kept constant). It is necessary to modify the hamiltonian (13) according to

$$\overline{\psi }\gamma ^1_1\psi \overline{\psi }\gamma ^1_1\psi \frac{V_b}{V_0}\overline{\psi }\gamma ^0_1\psi .$$
(51)
Two distinct effects come into play. First, the modification of the fermion dispersion profile leads to a shift of the Fermi level where the tunneling resonance occurs. Let $`E_f`$ be the Fermi level for the tunneling resonance at zero bias. At a finite bias $`V_b`$, a purely geometrical reasoning shows the energy position of the resonance moves up:

$$E_f^{}=E_f+(eV_0E_f)\frac{V_b^2}{V_0^2}.$$
(52)
Second, the one-loop computation may be performed once again, yielding up to $`O(V_b^2)`$ a renormalization of the cutoff $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ which appears in the expression of the effective potential. Taking $`\zeta \mathrm{\Lambda }/\sigma _0`$, where $`\sigma _0`$ denotes the gap evaluated at zero bias, we find $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is replaced by $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}=\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{exp}(\kappa V_b^2/V_0^2)`$, with

$$\kappa =\frac{2}{\pi }(1+\zeta ^2)^{\frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{arctan}[(1+\zeta ^2)^{\frac{1}{2}}]\frac{\zeta }{2}.$$
(53)
In that way, the gap for type-A vacuum is enhanced at finite voltage bias. The same phenomenon happens for type-B vacuum when $`\omega _00`$. In that limit, $`\sigma _0\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ for both types of vacua, so that $`\kappa 0.054`$.

An interesting experiment involving finite bias effects in the clean regime $`\omega _00`$ is as follows. Imagine the double layer system is initially set in type-B ground state (through $`\mathrm{\Lambda }<g`$). The fermion gap is then $`m\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, irrespective of temperature and the pinning parameter $`\theta `$. As the voltage bias $`V_b`$ is increased, the effective cutoff $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ gets enhanced as discussed above, so that at some point the quantum-disordered vacuum of type A arises, characterized by $`\phi _1=0`$ at $`\theta 0`$ and $`\pi `$. Using (35) and (42), we get, at such values of $`\theta `$, the gap $`mg/2`$. Furthermore, since the critical temperature $`T_c(0)=T_c(\pi )\phi _0^2(4\mathrm{\Lambda }^2/g^21)`$ grows with $`V_b`$, a low temperature regime may be eventually attained, where type-A vacuum becomes ordered, and the gap gets back to its original size $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$.

Conclusions. We studied possible vacuum phases which appear in the coplanar tunneling between Hall edge states, as induced through the interaction with cdws in a double layer system. Quantum and thermodynamical critical transitions are found, yielding a rich phenomenological stage that could be explored to probe the dynamics of cdws in the quantum Hall effect. The above results are intimately related to the existence of gapless and linearly dispersing cdw modes. The usual gapless $`q^{3/2}`$ dispersion , for instance, would lead to weakly coupled soliton-antisoliton configurations and to permanently quantum-disordered vacuum states. Further interesting work could be concerned with alternative cdw orderings (stripes), and the tunneling between fractional Hall edge states.

The author thanks D.G. Barci for calling his attention to ref. . This work has been partially supported by CNPq.


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# PROPAGATION OF GAMMA-RAYS IN MASSIVE BINARY CEN X-3: INTERACTION OF CASCADE GAMMA-RAYS WITH THE MASSIVE STAR

## 1 Introduction

Observations of some massive binaries suggest that they may be sources of $`\gamma `$-rays in the GeV and TeV energy range. For example the massive X-ray binary system, Cen X-3, containing a neutron star with a 4.8 s period in a 2.09 day orbit around an O-type supergiant, has been detected above $`100`$ MeV $`\gamma `$-rays by the EGRET detector on the Compton Observatory (Vestrand et al. 1997). There are evidences that observed $`\gamma `$-ray emission at these energies has a form of outbursts and is modulated with a 4.8 s period of the pulsar. Based on the observations in late 80’s, two groups (Brazier et al. 1990, North et al. 1990) reported Cherenkov detection of positive signal at TeV energies from Cen X-3 at an orbital phase of $`0.75`$, which is modulated with a period of the pulsar. This emission has been localized by Raubenheimer & Smit (1997) to a relatively small region between the pulsar orbit and the surface of a massive companion which may be the accretion wake or the limb of the star. More recently the Durham group has detected a persistent flux of $`\gamma `$-rays above 400 GeV on a lower level than previous reports (Chadwick et al. 1998,1999a,b). No evidence of correlation with the pulsar or orbital periods has been found and no evidence of correlation with the X-ray flux has been detected (Chadwick et al. 1999a,b).

The problem arises if such TeV photons injected close to the surface of the massive star (e.g. by the compact object) can escape from the soft radiation field of the massive star in the binary system Cen X-3. The computations of the optical depth for TeV photons in the radiation fields of such type massive stars show that the absorption of TeV photons should be significant (e.g. Protheroe & Stanev 1987, Moskalenko et al. 1993, Bednarek 1997). Recently we have performed Monte Carlo simulations of cascades initiated by $`\gamma `$-ray photons and electrons with different energy and angular distributions, which are injected by the discrete source in the radiation field characteristic for the Cen X-3 system (Bednarek 2000). The spectra of escaping $`\gamma `$-ray photons and their light curves have been obtained and discussed in the context of recent GeV and TeV observations. In this paper we compute the $`\gamma `$-ray power and spectra of photons which fall onto the surface of the massive star in Cen X-3. These photons should excite different $`\gamma `$-ray nuclear lines and also $`e^\pm `$ annihilation line. Their detection by INTEGRAL telescopes should give independent information on high energy processes which seems to occur in Cen X-3 system. The following parameters for the massive binary Cen X-3 are assumed: the radius of the O star $`r_\mathrm{s}=8.6\times 10^{11}`$ cm, its surface temperature $`T_\mathrm{s}=3\times 10^4`$ K, the binary star separation $`a=1.2\times 10^{12}`$ cm (Krzemiński 1974).

## 2 Gamma-rays from ICS cascade

Let us assume that $`\gamma `$-ray photons are injected by the compact object which is on an orbit around the star with the parameters characteristic for Cen X-3 system. These photons may create $`e^\pm `$ pair in collision with the soft star photon (Bednarek 2000). The secondary pairs can next produce ICS $`\gamma `$-rays, initiating in this way the ICS cascade in the massive star radiation which is seen anisotropic in respect to the location of the injection place of the primary photons or electrons.

The propagation of secondary pairs inside the binary system is determined by the strength and the geometry of the magnetic field which in general may be very complicated. We analize the case in which the random component of the magnetic field isotropize secondary cascade $`e^\pm `$ pairs close to the place of their creation before they next scatter soft photon from the massive star. This condition is met if the mean free path for ICS process is longer than the Larmor radius of secondary pairs in the local magnetic field (see discussion and condition for that to occur in Bednarek 1997). We neglect also the synchrotron losses of secondary pairs in respect to their ICS losses on star photons. This can be done for the values of the magnetic field below certain limit (see Eq. 3 in Bednarek 1997). The bremsstrahlung losses of pairs in matter with the star wind densities characteristic for the OB stars are negligible.

In the previous paper (Bednarek 2000), we show the details of the Monte Carlo simulations and concentrate on the photons which escape from the binary system. However significant part of secondary cascade photons should collide with the massive star. The distribution of these photons on the star surface, their spectra and the fraction of photon power which fall onto the surface in respect to the power of all produced cascade photons is investigated in this paper. The considered picture is shown in Fig. 1.

We concentrate on two cases which were already discussed in Bednarek (2000), i.e. the case of isotropic injection of electrons and isotropic injection of photons with a power law spectrum and index -2. Electrons with such distribution can be accelerated at the shock front created in collision of the pulsar wind with the surrounding matter as proposed in the model by Kennel & Coroniti (1984). If the compact object (neutron star) is surrounded by dense cocoon created by matter accreting spherically-symmetric or by the accretion disk, then the $`\gamma `$-ray photons should be injected into the volume of the binary system. Based on our simulations we show in Figs. 2a and b the distribution of secondary photons on the surface of the massive star and the distribution of the $`\gamma `$-ray power of these secondary photons as a function of the cosine angle $`\alpha `$, measured from the direction defined by the centers of the massive star and the compact object. Note that this distribution is axially symmetric (see Fig. 1).

The numbers of secondary photons and their power falling onto the massive star drop strongly with the angle $`\alpha `$. Only a small number of photons is able to fall onto the opposite side of the massive star than the location of the compact object (the source of primary particles initiating the cascade), i.e. at cosine angles less than $`\mathrm{cos}\alpha =0`$. This angular distribution of falling photons is much sharper than the angular distribution of cascade photons escaping from the system. These interesting features are due to the type of the considered cascade process in which the secondary $`e^\pm `$ pairs are isotropized by the random magnetic field. These pairs produce secondary ICS photons moving towards the massive star surface with higher probability. However for secondary photons it is easier to escape from the system on the oposite side of the massive star than collide with the surface of the massive star on the opposite side. There are also differences in distributions of secondary photons on the massive star surface in the case of injection of primary photons and electrons (compare dotted and full histograms in Figs. 2a and b). The distribution of secondary photons from cascades initiated by primary photons shows higher number of secondary photons falling onto the opposite side of the massive star and on the surface of massive star just below the compact object the than in the case of injection of primary electrons. This is due to the fact that primary photons produce first generation of $`e^\pm `$ pairs in quite extended region around the compact object in comparison to the point like injection of primary electrons in the second case. We show also in Figs. 3a and b the spectra of secondary photons falling onto the massive star in both discussed cases for different range of cosine angles $`\alpha `$. As expected, the secondary photons with the highest energies fall mainly onto the massive star for small angles $`\alpha `$. On the opposite side of the massive star fall only secondary photons with relatively low energies.

We estimate also the ratio of power of secondary photons which fall onto the massive star to power of photons which escape from the system. In the case of injection of primary photons this ratio is equal to $`13\%`$ and in the case of injection of primary electrons it is equal to $`40\%`$. In the case of primary electrons, this is much more than expected from simple geometrical considerations (the case of non-cascading photons) which predicts that only $`13\%`$ of photons should fall into the star surface since this part of the sky is shaded by the massive star. In the case of primary photons, the non-cascading photons dominate and the ratios are comparable.

This results show that significant part of the $`\gamma `$-ray power observed from the binary system should be transferred onto the surface of the massive star. These $`\gamma `$-rays can heat the star and partially can be re-emitted in the form of nuclear lines and $`e^\pm `$ annihilation line. Therefore we suggest that the binary systems of the Cen X-3 type can also produce $`\gamma `$-ray lines in the MeV energy range.

To find out what is the relation between this expected $`\gamma `$-ray line emission and the continuous emission, we compare in Figs. 4a,b and c the spectra of photons which fall onto the surface of the massive star at fixed angles $`\alpha `$ with the spectra of secondary cascade photons which escape from the system at these same ranges of angles (see Bednarek 2000). Fig. 4a shows that the line emission should be the strongest when the compact object is in front of the massive star. Similar behaviour is expected for the escaping cascade $`\gamma `$-rays with energies above 100 GeV (ground Cherenkov telescopes). On the contrary, the highest fluxes of escaping cascade photons with energies above 100 MeV (space telescopes) are expected in the direction tangent to the massive star limb (see Fig. 4c). Therefore it is expected that the maximum of the $`\gamma `$-ray line light curve should not correspond to the maximum of the 100 MeV $`\gamma `$-ray continuous emission.

## 3 Conclusion

Assuming that VHE $`\gamma `$-ray photons or electrons are injected inside the binary system Cen X-3, as postulated by observations of this source in the GeV and TeV energy ranges, we consider the cascades initiated by these particles in the radiation field of the massive star in Cen X-3. The spectra of secondary photons, which escape from the system and fall onto the surface of the massive star, are obtained by using the Monte Carlo method. The photons which fall onto the massive star should excite the $`\gamma `$-ray nuclear lines and the $`e^\pm `$ annihilation line. The maximum intensities of $`\gamma `$-ray line emission is expected when the compact object is in front of the massive star. On the contrary, the maximum emission of the 100 MeV emission is expected for direction tangent to the limb of the massive star. Therefore the $`\gamma `$-ray light curves observed at low and high energies should appear different.

Our model predicts that about $`1340\%`$ of $`\gamma `$-ray power escaping from the system can be transferred to the surface of the massive star as a result of cascades in the binary system Cen X-3. The phase averaged $`\gamma `$-ray luminosity above 100 MeV, reported by the EGRET telescope, is $`5\times 10^{36}`$ erg s-1 (Vestrand et al. 1997). Therefore about $`12\times 10^{36}`$ erg s-1 should fall onto the star. The INTEGRAL Spectrometer instrument will have narrow-line sensitivity of a $`5\times 10^6`$ ph cm-2 s-1 at 1 MeV and continuum sensitivity $`1.5\times 10^7`$ ph cm-2 s-1 at 1 MeV (http://astro.estec.esa.nl/SA-general/projects/INTEGRAL). It will be able to detect the 1 MeV $`\gamma `$-ray source emitting the power $`10^{35}`$ erg s-1 at the distance of Cen X-3 system equal to 8 kpc (Krzemiński 1974). Therefore the conversion efficiency of cascade photons into the $`\gamma `$-ray line photons on the surface of the massive star should be $`310\%`$. This value does not seems to be extraordinary. The detailed predictions for possible detection of such lines from Cen X-3 by the INTEGRAL telescopes will be considered in the future.

## Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the grant from the University of Łódź No. 505/703.


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# Canonical curves and varieties of sums of powers of cubic polynomials

## 1. Introduction

In a graded Artinian Gorenstein ring $`A`$ with socle degree $`d`$, multiplication defines (up to scalar) a homogeneous form $`f`$ of degree $`d`$, called the socle degree generator, dual polynomial or apolar polynomial of $`A`$. Codimension $`2`$ linear sections of a canonical curve of genus $`g`$ define Artinian Gorenstein quotients of the homogeneous coordinate ring of the curve. These quotients have socledegree $`3`$ and therefore define (up to scalar) cubic forms in $`g2`$ variables. A dimension count shows that a general cubic form is not obtained this way when $`g8`$. While a general cubic form in $`g2`$ variables cannot be written as a sum of less than $`\frac{1}{6}g(g1)`$ cubes, our main result says that the cubic forms apolar to a general codimension $`2`$ linear section of a general canonical curve of genus $`g11`$ can be written as a sum of $`2g4`$ cubes.

Our methods give results concerning the variety of different powersum presentations. In particular we obtain partial results for genus $`g=9`$ (cf. 3). Results for $`g6`$ are classical, while $`g=7`$ and $`g=8`$ was treated in  and .

Powersum presentations of forms from a more algebraic viewpoint have been studied extensively in .

We work throughout over the complex numbers $`𝐂`$.

### 1.1. Powersum presentations

Let $`f𝐂[x_0,\mathrm{},x_n]`$ be a homogeneous form of degree d, then $`f`$ can be written as a sum of powers of linear forms

$$f=l_1^d+\mathrm{}+l_s^d$$

for $`s`$ sufficiently large. Indeed, if we identify the map $`ll^d`$ with the $`d^{th}`$ Veronese embedding $`𝐏^n𝐏^{N_d}`$, where $`N_d=\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n+d}{n}\right)1`$, this amounts to say that the image spans $`𝐏^{N_d}`$. Fixing $`(d,n)`$, the minimal number $`s`$ of summands needed varies with $`f`$, of course. A simple dimension count shows that

$$s\frac{1}{n+1}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n+d}{n}\right)$$

for a general $`f`$. With a few exceptions equality holds by a result of Alexander and Hirschowitz  combined with Terracini’s Lemma (cf. ) :

###### Theorem 1.1.

(Alexander,Hirschowitz) A general form $`f`$ of degree $`d`$ in $`n+1`$ variables is a sum of $`\frac{1}{n+1}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{n+d}{n}\right)`$ powers of linear forms, unless$`d=2`$, where $`s=n+1`$ instead of $`\frac{n+2}{2}`$, or$`d=4`$ and $`n=2,3,4`$, where $`s=6,10,15`$ instead of $`5,9,14`$ respectively, or$`d=3`$ and $`n=4`$, where $`s=8`$ instead of $`7`$.

Let $`F=Z(f)𝐏^n`$ be the hypersurface defined by $`f`$. For a linear form $`l`$ we denote by $`L`$ the point in $`\stackrel{ˇ}{𝐏}^n`$ of the hyperplane $`Z(l)𝐏^n`$. Then we define, as in , the variety of sums of powers as the closure

$$VSP(F,s)=\overline{\{\{L_1,\mathrm{},L_s\}Hilb_s(\stackrel{ˇ}{𝐏}^n)\lambda _i𝐂:f=\lambda _1l_1^d+\mathrm{}+\lambda _sl_s^d\}}$$

of the set of powersums presenting $`f`$ in the Hilbert scheme (cf. ). Notice that taking $`d^{\mathrm{th}}`$ roots of the $`\lambda _i`$, we can put them into the forms $`l_i`$. We study these varieties of sums of powers using apolarity.

### 1.2. Apolarity

(cf. ). Consider $`R=𝐂[x_0,\mathrm{},x_n]`$ and $`T=𝐂[_0,\mathrm{},_n]`$. $`T`$ acts on $`R`$ by differentiation:

$$^\alpha x^\beta =\alpha !\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\beta }{\alpha }\right)x^{\beta \alpha }$$

if $`\beta \alpha `$ and 0 otherwise. Here $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ are multi-indices, $`\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\beta }{\alpha }\right)=\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\beta _i}{\alpha _i}\right)`$ and so on. One can interchange the role of R and T by defining

$$x^\beta ^\alpha =\beta !\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\beta }{\alpha }\right)^{\alpha \beta }.$$

This action defines a perfect pairing between forms of degree d and homogeneous differential operators of order d. In particular, $`R_1`$ and $`T_1`$ are natural dual vector spaces. Therefore the projective spaces with coordinate ring $`R`$ and $`T`$ respectively are natural dual to each other, we denote them by $`𝐏^n`$ and $`\stackrel{ˇ}{𝐏}^n`$. A point $`a=(a_0,\mathrm{},a_n)\stackrel{ˇ}{𝐏}^n`$ defines a form $`l_a=a_ix_iR_1`$, and for a form $`DT_e`$

$$Dl_a^d=e!\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{d}{e}\right)D(a)l_a^{de},$$

when $`ed`$. In particular

$`()`$
$$Dl_a^d=0D(a)=0$$

if $`ed`$. More generally we say that homogeneous forms $`fR`$ and $`DT`$ are apolar if $`fD=Df=0`$ (According to Salmon (1885)  the term was coined by Reye).

Apolarity allows us to associate an Artinian Gorenstein graded quotient ring of $`T`$ to a form: For $`fR`$ a homogeneous form of degree $`d`$ and $`F=Z(f)𝐏^n`$ define

$$F^{}=f^{}=\{DT|Df=0\}$$

and

$$A^F=T/F^{}.$$

The socledegree of $`A^F`$ is $`d`$, since

$$D^{}(Df)=0D^{}T_1Df=0orDT_d.$$

In particular the socle of $`A^F`$ is 1-dimensional, and $`A^F`$ is Gorenstein. It is called the apolar Artinian Gorenstein ring of $`F`$ . Conversely for a graded Gorenstein ring $`A=T/I`$ with socledegree $`d`$, multiplication in A induces a linear form $`f:\mathrm{Sym}_d(T_1)𝐂`$ which can be identified with a homogeneous polynomial $`fR`$ of degree $`d`$. This proves:

###### Lemma 1.2.

(Macaulay, ) The map $`FA^F`$ is a bijection between hypersurfaces $`F=Z(f)𝐏^n`$ of degree d and graded Artinian Gorenstein quotient rings $`A=T/I`$ of T with socledegree d.

Let $`X𝐏^{n+m+1}`$ be a $`m`$-dimensional arithmetic Gorenstein variety. Let $`S(X)`$ be the homogeneous coordinate ring of $`X`$, and let $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_{m+1}`$ be general linear forms and set $`L=Z(h_1,\mathrm{},h_{m+1})`$. Then by definition $`S(X)/(h_1,\mathrm{},h_{m+1})`$ is Artinian Gorenstein, i.e. by Macaulays result the apolar Artinian Gorenstein ring of a $`(n1)`$-dimensional hypersurface $`F_L`$ of degree $`d`$, the socledegree of the ring. $`L`$ is a linear space of dimension $`n`$ and by apolarity $`F_L=Z(f_L)`$ is a hypersurface in the dual space to $`L`$. We say that $`F_L`$ is apolar to the (empty) linear section $`LX`$. Hence, there is a rational map

$$\alpha _X:𝐆(n+1,m+n+2)>H_{n,d}$$

Where $`H_{n,d}`$ is the space of $`(n1)`$-dimensional hypersurfaces of degree $`d`$ modulo the action of $`PGL(n+1,k)`$.

A canonical curve $`C𝐏^{g(C)1}`$ is arithmetic Gorenstein, i.e. the homogeneous coordinate ring $`S(C)`$ is Gorenstein. Let $`h_1,h_2S(C)`$ be two general linear forms, then the quotient $`S(C)/(h_1,h_2)`$ is Artinian Gorenstein with values of the Hilbert function: $`1,g2,g2,1`$. Its socledegree is therefore $`3`$. Thus we obtain a map

$$\alpha _C:𝐆(g(C)2,g(C))>H_{g(C)3,3}$$

to the space of cubic hypersurfaces of dimension $`g(C)4`$. We shall study the image of this map. In particular we shall study the variety of sums of powers of the cubic hypersurfaces in this image.

### 1.3. Variety of apolar subschemes

Let $`F=Z(f)𝐏^n`$ denote a hypersurface of degree d. We call a subscheme $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\stackrel{ˇ}{𝐏}^n`$ $`\mathrm{𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫}`$ to $`F`$, if the homogeneous ideal $`I_\mathrm{\Gamma }F^{}T`$.

###### Apolarity lemma 1.3.

Let $`l_1,\mathrm{},l_s`$ be linear forms in $`R`$, and let $`L_i\stackrel{ˇ}{𝐏}^n`$ be the corresponding points in the dual space. Then $`f=\lambda _1l_1^d+\mathrm{}+\lambda _sl_s^d`$ for some $`\lambda _i𝐂^{}`$ if and only if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\{L_1,\mathrm{},L_s\}\stackrel{ˇ}{𝐏}^n`$ is apolar to $`F=Z(f)`$.

###### Proof.

Assume $`f=\lambda _1l_1^d+\mathrm{}+\lambda _sl_s^d`$. If $`gI_\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, then $`gl_i^d`$=0 for all $`i`$ by (\*), so by linearity $`gF^{}`$. Therefore $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is apolar to $`F`$.

For the converse, assume that $`I_\mathrm{\Gamma }F^{}`$. Then we have surjective maps between the corresponding homogeneous coordinate rings

$$TA_\mathrm{\Gamma }=T/I_\mathrm{\Gamma }A^F.$$

Consider the dual inclusions of the degree $`d`$ part of these rings:

$$Hom(A_d^F,𝐂)Hom((A_\mathrm{\Gamma })_d,𝐂)Hom(T_d,𝐂).$$

$`DDf`$ generates the first of these spaces, while the second is spanned by the forms $`DDl_i^d`$. Thus $`f`$ lies in the span of the $`l_i^d`$. ∎

This is the crucial lemma in the study of powersum presentations of $`f`$. Furthermore it allows us to define a variety of apolar subschemes to $`f`$, which naturally extends our definition of the variety of sums of powers.

$$VPS(F,s)=\overline{\{\mathrm{\Gamma }Hilb_s(\stackrel{ˇ}{𝐏}^n)I_\mathrm{\Gamma }F^{}\}},$$

where $`Hilb_s(\stackrel{ˇ}{𝐏}^n)`$ is the Hilbert scheme of length $`s`$ subschemes of $`\stackrel{ˇ}{𝐏}^n`$. Clearly $`VSP(F,s)`$ is the closure of the set parametrizing smooth subscemes in $`VPS(F,s)`$. In general they do not coinside.

## 2. Apolar varieties of singular sections

### 2.1. Apolar varieties

Let $`X𝐏^{n+m+1}`$ be a reduced and irreducible $`m`$-dimen-sional nondegenerate variety of degree $`d3`$ and codimension $`n+12`$. Let $`pX`$ be a general smooth point. Let $`C_pX`$ be the cone over $`X`$ with vertex at $`p`$. Since $`p`$ is a smooth point, the degree of the cone $`C_pX`$ is $`d1`$, while the dimension is $`m+1`$. Clearly $`XC_pX`$.

We apply this simple construction to describe powersum presentations of hypersurfaces in the image of the map $`\alpha _X`$ in 1.2. Let again $`X𝐏^{n+m+1}`$ be a $`m`$-dimensional arithmetic Gorenstein variety of degree $`d`$. Fix a general $`n`$-dimensional linear subspace $`L𝐏^{n+m+1}`$, in particular we fix the hypersurface $`F_L`$ in the image of $`\alpha _X`$. Let $`p`$ be a smooth point on $`X`$, then the intersection $`C_pXL`$ is clearly nonempty, and if it is proper it is $`0`$-dimensional of degree $`d1`$. We may assume that this intersection is proper and smooth for a general $`L`$ or general $`p`$, so we get an apolar subscheme of degree $`d1`$ to $`F_L`$, i.e. a point in $`VSP(F_L,d1)`$. We have shown:

###### Proposition 2.1.

Let $`X𝐏^{n+m+1}`$ be a $`m`$-dimensional arithmetic Gorenstein variety of degree $`d`$, and let $`L𝐏^{n+m+1}`$ be a $`n`$-dimensional linear subspace such that $`LX=\mathrm{}`$. Let $`F_L`$ be the associated apolar hypersurface. Then there is a rational map $`X>VSP(F_L,d1)`$ defined by $`pC_pXL`$.

###### Problem 2.2.

When is this map a morphism? When can $`F_L`$ and $`X`$ be recovered from the image of this map?

We may improve slightly on the degree of the apolar subschemes by considering cones on special linear sections of $`X`$.

### 2.2. Tangent hyperplane sections

Let $`X𝐏^{n+m+1}`$ be a reduced and irreducible $`m`$-dimensional nondegenerate variety of degree $`d`$ and codimension $`n+12`$. We assume additionally that $`X`$ satisfies the following condition:

|  | A general tangent hyperplane section of $`X`$ has a double point at |
| --- | --- |
| $`()`$ | the point of tangency, and the projection of the tangent hyperplane |
|  | section from the point of tangency is birational. |

In particular, $`X`$ is not a scroll and $`d4`$. Let $`pX`$ be a general smooth point. Let $`H_p`$ be a general hyperplane tangent to $`X`$ at $`p`$. Since $`H_pX`$ has multiplisity $`2`$ at $`p`$ and the projection of $`H_pX`$ from $`p`$ is birational, the image of the projection is $`(m1)`$-dimensional of degree $`d2`$. Therefore $`H_pX`$ is contained in an $`m`$-dimensional cone $`C_p(H_pX)`$ of degree $`d2`$ with vertex at $`p`$. Similarly, if $`H_p`$ and $`H_p^{}`$ are two general hyperplanes tangent at $`p`$, then the intersection $`H_pH_p^{}X`$ has a singularity at $`p`$ of multiplisity 4, the complete intersection of two singularities of multiplisity $`2`$. In this case we say that the codimension $`2`$ space $`H_pH_p^{}`$ is doubly tangent to $`X`$ at $`p`$. If

| $`()`$ | the projection of $`H_pH_p^{}X`$ from $`p`$ is birational, |
| --- | --- |

then the image $`(m2)`$-dimensional of degree $`4`$ less than the degree of $`X`$. Hence $`H_pH_p^{}X`$ is contained in a $`(m1)`$-dimensional cone $`C_p(H_pH_p^{}X)`$ of degree $`d4`$ with vertex at $`p`$. This proves the

###### Lemma 2.3.

Let $`X𝐏^{n+m+1}`$ be a smooth $`m`$-dimensional nondegenerate variety of degree $`d`$, and assume that $`X`$ satisfies condition $`()`$. Let $`pX`$ be a general smooth point, and let $`H_p`$ be a general hyperplane tangent to $`X`$ at $`p`$. Then the cone $`C_p(H_pX)`$ is an $`m`$-dimensional variety of degree $`d2`$ that contains $`H_pX`$. Assume furthermore that $`X`$ satisfies condition $`()`$, and let $`H_p`$ and $`H_p^{}`$ be two general hyperplanes tangent to $`X`$ at $`p`$. Then the cone $`C_p(H_pH_p^{}X)`$ is a $`(m1)`$-dimensional variety of degree $`d4`$ that contains $`H_pH_p^{}X`$.

As above we apply this lemma to describe powersum presentations of hypersurfaces in the image of the map $`\alpha _X`$ in section 1.2. Let again $`X𝐏^{n+m+1}`$ be a $`m`$-dimensional arithmetic Gorenstein variety of degree $`d`$, with $`m1`$. We assume additionally that $`X`$ satisfies condition $`()`$. Fix a general $`n`$-dimensional linear subspace $`L𝐏^{n+m+1}`$, in particular we fix the hypersurface $`F_L`$ in the image of $`\alpha _X`$. If $`LH_p`$ where $`H_p`$ is a general hyperplane tangent at $`p`$, then according to 2.1 there is a $`(m1)`$-dimensional variety $`YH_pX`$ of degree $`d2`$. The intersection $`YL`$ is clearly nonempty, and if it is proper it is $`0`$-dimensional of degree $`d2`$. We may assume that this intersection is proper for a general $`L`$, so we get a point in $`VSP(F_L,d2)`$. Let $`\stackrel{ˇ}{X}\stackrel{ˇ}{𝐏}^{m+n+1}`$ be the dual variety of $`X`$, i.e. the set of hyperplanes tangent at some point $`pX`$. Then we have set up a rational map

$$\stackrel{ˇ}{X}_LVSP(F_L,d4)$$

where $`\stackrel{ˇ}{X}_L=\{[H]\stackrel{ˇ}{X}_L|HL\}`$. The subvariety $`\stackrel{ˇ}{X}_L`$ has dimension $`m\mathrm{codim}\stackrel{ˇ}{X}`$, which equals $`m1`$ when $`\stackrel{ˇ}{X}`$ is nondegenerate. In particular this is the case when $`X`$ is a curve.

Similarly, assume that $`X`$ satisfies $`()`$, and let $`LH_pH_p^{}`$ where $`H_p`$ and $`H_p^{}`$ are two general hyperplanes tangent at $`p`$. Then, according to 2.1, there is a $`(m1)`$-dimensional variety

$$YH_pH_p^{}X$$

of degree $`d4`$. The intersection $`YL`$ is clearly nonempty, and if it is proper it is $`0`$-dimensional of degree $`d4`$. We may assume that this intersection is proper for a general $`L`$, so we get a point in $`VSP(F_L,d4)`$. Let $`Z_X𝐆(m+n,m+n+2)`$ be the set of codimension $`2`$ subspaces doubly tangent at some point $`pX`$. Then we have set up a rational map

$$𝐆(m+n,m+n+2)Z_L>VSP(F_L,d4)$$

where $`Z_L=\{[V]Z_X|VL\}`$. If the dual variety of $`X`$ is nondegenerate, then the subvariety $`Z_X`$ has dimension $`m+2(n1)`$. The codimension in $`𝐆(m+n,m+n+2)`$ of subspaces that contains $`L`$ is $`2(m+n)2(m1)=2n+2`$ so the expected dimension of $`Z_L`$ is $`m4`$.

Notice that it is essential for the dimension count that $`X`$ is not a cone, i.e. that the dual variety is nondegenerate.

###### Proposition 2.4.

Let $`X𝐏^{n+m+1}`$ be a $`m`$-dimensional arithmetic Gorenstein variety of degree $`d`$, with $`m1`$. Assume that $`X`$ satisfies the condition $`()`$ and has nondegenerate dual variety. Let $`L𝐏^{n+m+1}`$ be a general $`n`$-dimensional linear subspace, and let $`F_L=\alpha _X([L])`$ be the hypersurface apolar to $`LX`$. Then $`VSP(F_L,d2)\mathrm{}`$ and of dimension at least $`m1`$. Assume furthermore that $`m4`$ and that $`X`$ also satisfies condition $`()`$. Then the dimension of $`VSP(F_L,d4)`$ is at least $`m4`$, when $`m4`$ and $`L`$ is contained in at least one codimension $`2`$ linear space doubly tangent to $`X`$.

## 3. Canonical curves and apolar cubic polynomials

For a general cubic $`n`$-fold $`F`$, the result of Alexander and Hirschowitz (1.1) implies that $`VSP(F,k)=\mathrm{}`$, when $`k<\frac{1}{6}(n+4)(n+3)`$. In 1.2 we defined a map $`\alpha _C`$ that associates an apolar cubic $`n`$-fold to an empty codimension two linear section of a canonical curve $`C`$ of genus $`g=n+4`$. The following theorem shows that cubic $`n`$-folds in the image of this map are special with respect to the possible powersum presentations as soon as $`n7`$.

###### Theorem 3.1.

If $`F`$ is a cubic $`n`$-fold apolar to a general codimension two linear section of a general canonical curve of genus $`g=n+4`$, then $`VSP(F,2n+4)\mathrm{}`$.

###### Proof.

This is immediate from 2.4 since a canonical curve has nondegenerate dual variety and satisfies $`()`$. ∎

###### Remark 3.2.

By Hurwitz’ formula, the degree of the dual variety of a canonical curve is $`6g6`$, so $`VSP(F,2n+4)`$ contains at least $`6n+18`$ points. We do not know whether there are more.

For $`n3`$, the general cubic is apolar to a section of a canonical curve. This fact can be used to describe completely the powersum presentations of the cubic form (cf. ).

For $`n=3,4,5`$ the general canonical curve of genus $`g=n+4`$ is a linear section of a homogeneous space of dimension at least $`6`$ (cf. ). For $`n=4,5`$, these homogeneous spaces of dimension $`8`$ (resp. $`6`$) have nondegenerate dual varieties. For a cubic $`4`$-fold $`F`$ apolar to a general canonical curve of genus $`8`$ proposition 2.4 gives us a $`4`$-dimensional component of $`VSP(F,10)`$. It is shown in  that this is in fact all of $`VSP(F,10)`$.

A general canonical curve of genus $`9`$ is a linear section of the symplectic grassmannian $`Sp(3)/U(3)𝐆(3,6)`$. For a cubic $`5`$-fold $`F`$ apolar to a canonical curve of genus $`9`$, which is contained in a codimension two linear section doubly tangent to $`Sp(3)/U(3)`$, proposition 2.4 gives us a $`2`$-dimensional subvariety of $`VSP(F,12)`$. On the other hand, for a general cubic $`5`$-fold $`F`$ it follows from 1.1 that $`VSP(F,12)`$ is finite.

The general canonical curve of genus $`10`$ is not a section of a $`K3`$-surface (cf. ), so only 3.1 applies i.e. $`VSP(F,16)\mathrm{}`$, while already $`VSP(F,15)\mathrm{}`$ for a general cubic $`6`$-fold $`F`$.

Authors’ addresses:

Atanas Iliev

Institute of Mathematics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences,

Acad. G. Bonchev Str., 8,

1113 Sofia, Bulgaria.

e-mail: ailiev@math.bas.bg

Kristian Ranestad

Matematisk Institutt, UiO,

P.B. 1053 Blindern,

N-0316 Oslo, Norway.

e-mail: ranestad@math.uio.no