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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The top quark is the heaviest fundamental particle discovered so far. Its interactions are still relatively unexplored and their experimental investigation may lead to exciting new discoveries. To mention only a few examples: due to its large mass, it is not excluded that the top quark decays into yet unobserved particles like charged Higgs bosons or supersymmetric particles – or, if these particles are heavier than the top quark, they may mediate top quark decay, leading also to new decay modes and/or branching ratios that differ from the Standard Model (SM) predictions (for overviews, see, e.g., refs. ). Specifically, the V$``$A structure of the top quark decay vertex is modified in many extensions of the Standard Model . In the production of top quarks, the resonant production of heavy spin-0-particles could lead to interesting signatures . Its large mass makes the top quark also a good probe of the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism. In this context it will be important to check whether the Yukawa coupling of the top quark is as predicted by the Standard Model. Finally, the question whether the discrete symmetry CP is violated in top quark production and decay has been the subject of numerous investigations (cf. ref.  for a review). The foreseen large data samples at the upgraded Tevatron ($`10^310^4t\overline{t}/`$year) and at the LHC ($`10^7t\overline{t}/`$year) will tell us more about these issues in the near future. Of help in this context will be another special feature of the top quark, namely that the spin properties of top quark pairs are predictable by perturbation theory. This is due to its large decay width, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_t^{\mathrm{SM}}1.5`$ GeV $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\mathrm{QCD}}`$, which serves as a cut-off for hadronization effects. In particular, the top quark decays so fast that the information about its polarization is not diluted by hadronization but transferred to the decay products. Thus observables related to the spins of the $`t`$ and $`\overline{t}`$ quarks can be constructed and used reliably for the detailed study of the dynamics of top quark production and decay . Apart from searching for non-standard effects, the study of the $`t`$ and $`\overline{t}`$ spin properties is interesting even within the framework of the SM: They probe the ‘quasi-free’ nature of the top quark, thus allowing us to study properties of a ‘bare’ quark. Further, a measurement of spin correlations would provide a lower bound on $`|V_{tb}|`$ without assuming the existence of three quark generations .

Here we confine ourselves to top quark pair production and decay at hadron colliders and investigate the top quark polarization and spin correlation phenomena that are induced by the strong interaction dynamics. We discuss predictions for the normal polarisation of the top quarks and $`t\overline{t}`$ spin correlations at next-to-leading order (NLO) in the QCD coupling $`\alpha _s`$.

## 2 Theoretical framework

Needless to say, for a correct interpretation of upcoming and future data on top quark production and decay at the Tevatron and the LHC, precise theoretical predictions within the SM are needed. We consider here the following reactions:

$$h_1h_2t\overline{t}+X\{\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{}^+\mathrm{}^{}\hfill & +& X\\ \mathrm{}^+j_{\overline{t}}\hfill & +& X\\ \mathrm{}^{}j_t\hfill & +& X\\ j_tj_{\overline{t}}\hfill & +& X\end{array},$$
(1)
where $`h_{1,2}=p,\overline{p}`$; $`\mathrm{}=e,\mu ,\tau `$, and $`j_t(j_{\overline{t}})`$ denotes jets originating from hadronic $`t`$ ($`\overline{t}`$) decays. Experimental analysis of the above processes requires predictions of the fully differential cross sections. The calculation of these cross sections at next-to-leading order QCD simplifies enormously in the leading pole approximation (LPA), which amounts to expanding the full amplitudes for the reactions listed in eq. (1) around the complex poles of the top quark propagators. Only the leading pole terms are kept in this expansion, i.e., one neglects terms of order $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_t/m_t1\%`$. Within the LPA, the radiative corrections can be classified into factorizable and non-factorizable contributions. Here we consider only the factorizable corrections; for the non-factorizable contributions see ref. . Further we apply the on-shell aproximation for the top quark propagators:

$`\underset{\mathrm{\Gamma }/m0}{lim}|{\displaystyle \frac{1}{k^2m^2+im\mathrm{\Gamma }}}|^2{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{m\mathrm{\Gamma }}}\delta (k^2m^2).`$ (2)
The necessary ingredients at NLO QCD within this approximation are the differential cross sections for the following parton processes

$`q\overline{q}t\overline{t},ggt\overline{t}`$ $`\text{(to order }\alpha _s^3\text{)},`$ (3)
$`q\overline{q}t\overline{t}g,ggt\overline{t}g`$ $`\text{(to order }\alpha _s^3\text{)},`$ (4)
$`gq(\overline{q})t\overline{t}q(\overline{q})`$ $`\text{(to order }\alpha _s^3\text{)},`$ (5)
$`tb\mathrm{}\nu ,bq\overline{q}^{}`$ (to order $`\alpha _s`$), (6)
where we have to keep the full information on the $`t`$ and $`\overline{t}`$ spins.

## 3 Spin density matrix

The fully differential cross section $`d\sigma _{\mathrm{fact}.}`$ for the production and subsequent decay of top quark pairs at the parton level can be written in terms of a spin density matrix $`R`$ and decay density matrices $`\rho ,\overline{\rho }`$:

$$d\sigma _{\mathrm{fact}.}=\mathrm{Tr}_{t,\overline{t}\mathrm{spins}}\left(R\rho \overline{\rho }\right).$$
(7)
The unnormalized spin density matrix is explicitly given by the following expression ($`i=q\overline{q},gg,\mathrm{}`$):

$`R_{\alpha \beta ,\alpha ^{}\beta ^{}}={\displaystyle t(k_t,\alpha )\overline{t}(k_{\overline{t}},\beta )X|𝒯|it(k_t,\alpha ^{})\overline{t}(k_{\overline{t}},\beta ^{})X|𝒯|i^{}},`$ (8)
where the sum runs over all unobserved degrees of freedom. The decomposition of the spin density matrix with respect to the $`t`$ and $`\overline{t}`$ spin spaces reads:

$$R=A\mathbb{1}\mathrm{𝟙}+𝐁^+\sigma \mathrm{𝟙}+\mathrm{𝟙}\sigma 𝐁^{}+C_{ij}\sigma ^i\sigma ^j.$$
(9)
The polarization of the top quark (antiquark) is encoded in $`𝐁^\pm `$, e.g.

$$𝐏_t2𝐒_t=\frac{𝐁^+}{A}=\frac{\mathrm{Tr}\left[R\sigma \mathrm{𝟙}\right]}{\mathrm{Tr}\left[R\right]},$$
(10)
where $`𝐒_t`$ denotes the top quark spin operator. The matrix $`C`$ encodes the spin correlations of the top quark and antiquark:

$$4S_{t,i}S_{\overline{t},j}=\frac{\mathrm{Tr}\left[R\sigma _i\sigma _j\right]}{\mathrm{Tr}\left[R\right]}=\frac{C_{ij}}{A}.$$
(11)
### 3.1 Normal polarization

If only strong interactions are taken into account then the polarization of $`t`$ and $`\overline{t}`$ in $`pp,p\overline{p}t\overline{t}X`$ can only be normal to the event plane due to parity invariance of QCD. Normal polarization requires absorptive parts in the scattering amplitude, i.e. one-loop diagrams with discontinuities. For the two initial states $`i=q\overline{q},gg`$,

$$𝐏_t^i=𝐏_{\overline{t}}^i=b_3^i(y,\widehat{s})\widehat{𝐧},$$
(12)
where $`\widehat{𝐧}`$ is the unit vector normal to the event plane and $`y=\mathrm{cos}\theta `$ with $`\theta `$ denoting the scattering angle of the top quark in the parton center-of-mass frame. The normal polarization at the parton level is a percent effect . Several observables to study this effect were proposed and studied in ref. . At the Tevatron, and probably even at the LHC, the normal polarization of the top quark induced by QCD will be very difficult to observe. This means that it provides a sensitive probe of non-standard strong rescattering effects in hadronic top quark pair production.

### 3.2 Spin correlations at leading order

The correlation between two observables $`O_1,O_2`$ is defined as

$$\mathrm{corr}(O_1,O_2)=\frac{O_1O_2O_1O_2}{\delta O_1\delta O_2},$$
(13)
with $`\delta O_i=\sqrt{O_i^2O_i^2}`$. Assuming parity invariance we have for hadronic production of top quark pairs at leading order (i.e., no absorptive parts):

$$S_t^i=S_{\overline{t}}^j=0$$
(14)
and therefore

$$\mathrm{corr}(S_t^i,S_{\overline{t}}^j)=4S_t^iS_{\overline{t}}^j=\frac{C_{ij}}{A}.$$
(15)
For the process $`q\overline{q}t\overline{t}`$, the spin correlation matrix at LO is quite simple:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{C_{ij}^{q\overline{q}}}{A^{q\overline{q}}}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\delta _{ij}+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{2\beta ^2(1y^2)}}\left[\left(\widehat{d}_i\widehat{d}_j{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\delta _{ij}\right)+\beta ^2(1y^2)\left(\widehat{d}_i^{}\widehat{d}_j^{}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\delta _{ij}\right)\right]`$ (16)
with

$$\widehat{𝐝}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+(\gamma ^21)y^2}}\left[\gamma y\widehat{𝐤}_t+\sqrt{1y^2}\widehat{𝐤}_t^{}\right],$$
(17)
where $`\beta =(14m_t^2/s)^{1/2},\gamma =(1\beta ^2)^{1/2}`$, and $`\widehat{𝐤}_t`$ denotes the direction of the top quark. Further, $`𝐤^{}=\widehat{𝐩}_qy\widehat{𝐤}`$ and $`𝐝^{}=\widehat{𝐩}_q(\widehat{𝐩}_q\widehat{𝐝})\widehat{𝐝}`$, where $`\widehat{𝐩}_q`$ denotes the quark direction.

For $`q\overline{q}t\overline{t}`$ the direction $`\widehat{𝐝}`$ is the optimal spin basis at leading order QCD, because at LO:

$$\frac{\widehat{d}_iC_{ij}^{q\overline{q}}\widehat{d}_j}{A^{q\overline{q}}}=1.$$
(18)
For any $`\beta `$ and $`y`$, the $`t\overline{t}`$ spins are 100% correlated w.r.t. to this basis . Following the nomenclature of ref.  we shall call this basis the off-diagonal basis in the following. For the Tevatron, where this choice of spin axis is useful there is an equally efficient but simpler possibility. At threshold, the top quark pair is in a $`{}_{}{}^{3}S_{1}^{}`$ state and we have

$$\widehat{𝐝}\stackrel{\beta 0}{}\widehat{𝐩}_q.$$
(19)
This suggests that at the Tevatron the direction $`\widehat{𝐩}`$ of, say, the proton beam is an equally good choice of spin axis.

At high energies, helicity is conserved and we have

$$\widehat{𝐝}\stackrel{\beta 1}{}\widehat{𝐤}_t.$$
(20)
For the process $`ggt\overline{t}`$, no optimal spin basis exists. The LO expression for the spin correlation matrix is quite lengthy, and we therefore discuss only the limiting cases. At threshold, the top quark pair is in a $`{}_{}{}^{1}S_{0}^{}`$ state and

$$\frac{C_{ij}^{gg}}{A^{gg}}\stackrel{\beta 0}{}\delta _{ij}.$$
(21)
At high energies, we have

$`{\displaystyle \frac{C_{ij}^{gg}}{A^{gg}}}\stackrel{\beta 1}{}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\delta _{ij}+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{1+y^2}}\left[\left(\widehat{k}_{t,i}\widehat{k}_{t,j}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\delta _{ij}\right)+(1y^2)\left(\widehat{k}_{t,i}^{}\widehat{k}_{t,j}^{}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\delta _{ij}\right)\right],`$ (22)
and helicity conservation is reflected by

$$\frac{\widehat{k}_{t,i}C_{ij}^{gg}\widehat{k}_{t,j}}{A^{gg}}\stackrel{\beta 1}{}1.$$
(23)
## 4 Observing spin correlations

The $`t\overline{t}`$ spin correlations show up in certain angular distributions/correlations of the top decay products, e.g. for the dileptonic decay channel $`t\mathrm{}^+\nu b,\overline{t}\mathrm{}^{}\overline{\nu }\overline{b}`$ the following distribution is sensitive to the correlations:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sigma }}{\displaystyle \frac{d^2\sigma (h_1h_2t\overline{t}X\mathrm{}^+\mathrm{}^{}X)}{d\mathrm{cos}\theta _+\mathrm{cos}\theta _{}}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}(1+B_1\mathrm{cos}\theta _++B_2\mathrm{cos}\theta _{}C\mathrm{cos}\theta _+\mathrm{cos}\theta _{}).`$ (24)
In eq. (24), $`\theta _+,\theta _{}`$ are the angles of $`\mathrm{}^\pm `$ in the $`t`$ ($`\overline{t}`$) rest frame with respect to arbitrary spin quantization axes $`\widehat{𝐚},\widehat{𝐛}`$, e.g.:

$`\begin{array}{cc}\widehat{𝐚}=\widehat{𝐛}=\widehat{𝐤}_t\hfill & (\mathrm{helicity}\mathrm{basis}),\hfill \\ \widehat{𝐚}=\widehat{𝐛}=\widehat{𝐩}\hfill & (\mathrm{beam}\mathrm{basis}),\hfill \\ \widehat{𝐚}=\widehat{𝐛}=\widehat{𝐝}\hfill & (\text{off-diagonal  basis}).\hfill \end{array}`$ (28)
The coefficient $`C`$ reflects the strength of the $`t\overline{t}`$ spin correlations for the chosen quantization axes, $`1C+1`$ . Further we have $`B_1^{\mathrm{QCD}}=B_2^{\mathrm{QCD}}=0`$ if $`\widehat{𝐚},\widehat{𝐛}`$ are chosen to be in the production plane due to P invariance of QCD.

## 5 Spin correlations at NLO

Within the LPA, the coefficient $`C`$ of eq. (24) factorizes:

$$C=\kappa _+\kappa _{}D$$
(29)
with the $`t\overline{t}`$ double spin asymmetry

$$D=\frac{\sigma ()+\sigma ()\sigma ()\sigma ()}{\sigma ()+\sigma ()+\sigma ()+\sigma ()}.$$
(30)
In eq. (30), $`\sigma ()`$ denotes the hadron cross section for top quark pairs with $`t(\overline{t})`$ spin parallel to the chosen spin quantization axis $`\widehat{𝐚}(\widehat{𝐛})`$ etc. The numbers $`\kappa _\pm `$ are the spin analysing powers of charged leptons in decays $`t(\overline{t})b(\overline{b})\mathrm{}^\pm \nu (\overline{\nu })`$. The decay distribution reads

$$\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Gamma }}\frac{d\mathrm{\Gamma }}{d\mathrm{cos}\vartheta _\pm }=\frac{1}{2}(1+\pm \kappa _\pm \mathrm{cos}\vartheta _\pm ),$$
(31)
where $`\vartheta _\pm `$ are the angles of $`\mathrm{}^\pm `$ w.r.t. the $`t`$ ($`\overline{t})`$ spin.

### 5.1 Spin analysing power of top quark decay products

If the $`t`$ or $`\overline{t}`$ quark decays hadronically, one can use other decay products as spin analysers. One defines in analogy to eq. (31) for $`tbW^+b\mathrm{}^+\nu `$ or $`bq\overline{q}^{}`$:

$$\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Gamma }}\frac{d\mathrm{\Gamma }}{d\mathrm{cos}\vartheta }=\frac{1}{2}\left(1+\kappa _f\mathrm{cos}\vartheta \right).$$
(32)
The leading order results for $`\kappa _f`$ are given in Table 1.

In order to compute the spin correlation coefficient $`C`$ in NLO in $`\alpha _s`$, we need the QCD corrections to the spin analysing power $`\kappa _f`$. For leptonic decays, the corrections are tiny

$$\kappa _+=\kappa _{}=10.015\alpha _s,$$
(33)
implying that the charged lepton is a perfect analyser of top quark spin. However, since only about 5% of the decays of $`t\overline{t}`$ are purely leptonic (e,$`\mu `$), it is also important to compute the QCD corrections for hadronic decays $`tbq\overline{q}^{}`$. The results are  (using $`\alpha _s(m_t)=0.108`$):

$`\kappa _{\overline{d}}`$ $`=`$ $`10.57\alpha _s=0.94,`$ (34)
$`\kappa _b`$ $`=`$ $`0.41\times (10.34\alpha _s)=0.39,`$ (35)
$`\kappa _j`$ $`=`$ $`+0.51\times (10.65\alpha _s)=+0.47,`$ (36)
where $`\kappa _j`$ is the analysing power of least energetic non-$`b`$-quark jet. One observes that the $`\overline{d},\overline{s}`$-jets have the highest analysing power, but the reconstruction of their direction is very difficult due to the low efficiency of charm tagging. A better choice is to use the $`b`$-jet or the least energetic non-$`b`$-quark jet. The NLO results for $`C`$ in the single lepton channel are less sensitive due to the factor $`\kappa _{j,b}`$, but this loss in sensitivity is overcompensated by higher statistics, since one has about 30% $`(e+\mu )+X`$ single lepton $`t\overline{t}`$ decays. (Nonleptonic top quark decays at order $`\alpha _s`$ were also analyzed in ref. .)

### 5.2 Double spin asymmetries at NLO at the parton level

The spin dependent cross sections that enter the double spin asymmetry (30) are calculated as a convolution which reads schematically:

$$\sigma ()=\mathrm{PDF}^{}\mathrm{s}\widehat{\sigma }(),\mathrm{}$$
(37)
We renormalize the top mass in the on-shell scheme, and $`\alpha _s`$ in the modified minimal subtraction ($`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$) scheme. Factorization is performed in the $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$ scheme, and we set $`\mu _F=\mu _R=\mu `$. The results at NLO QCD for the $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$ subtracted parton cross sections $`q\overline{q}t\overline{t}(g)`$, $`ggt\overline{t}(g)`$, and $`q(\overline{q})gt\overline{t}q(\overline{q})`$ with $`t\overline{t}`$ spins summed over was computed already more than 10 years ago . It can be written as follows:

$`\widehat{\sigma }(\widehat{s},m_t^2)`$ $`=`$ $`\widehat{\sigma }()+\widehat{\sigma }()+\widehat{\sigma }()+\widehat{\sigma }()`$ (38)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha _s^2}{m_t^2}}\left\{f^{(0)}(\eta )+4\pi \alpha _s\left[f^{(1)}(\eta )+\stackrel{~}{f}^{(1)}(\eta )\mathrm{ln}(\mu ^2/m_t^2)\right]\right\},`$
where $`\eta =\widehat{s}/(4m_t^2)1`$. In our calculation of the spin-dependent cross sections refs.  we obtain these cross sections as special cases and we find perfect agreement with the results of refs. . An analogous decomposition can be defined for the numerator of the double spin asymmetry:

$`\widehat{\sigma }\widehat{D}`$ $`=`$ $`\widehat{\sigma }()+\widehat{\sigma }()\widehat{\sigma }()\widehat{\sigma }()`$ (39)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha _s^2}{m_t^2}}\left\{g^{(0)}(\eta )+4\pi \alpha _s\left[g^{(1)}(\eta )+\stackrel{~}{g}^{(1)}(\eta )\mathrm{ln}(\mu ^2/m_t^2)\right]\right\}.`$
The following figures display our results for the functions $`g^{(0)},g^{(1)}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{g}^{(1)}`$ calculated for several spin quantization axes. In eq. (39) the coupling $`\alpha _s`$ denotes the six-flavour coupling $`\alpha _s^{f=6}`$. Fig. 1 shows our results for the helicity basis. In Figs. 2 and 3 corresponding results for the beam basis and the off-diagonal basis are displayed.

It is natural to express the above partonic cross sections in terms of the $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$ coupling $`\alpha _s^{f=6}`$ in $`f=6`$ flavour QCD. However, for the evaluation of hadronic observables, e.g. eq. (37), the parameter change $`\alpha _s^{f=6}\alpha _s^{f=5}`$ using the standard $`\overline{\mathrm{MS}}`$ relation

$$\alpha _s^{f=6}(\mu _R)=\alpha _s^{f=5}(\mu _R)\left[1\frac{1}{3\pi }\alpha _s^{f=5}(\mu _R)\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{m_t}{\mu _R}\right)+𝒪(\alpha _s^2)\right]$$
(40)
is necessary, in order to make contact with the physics and formalism incorporated in the PDF libraries. The evolution of $`\alpha _s^{f=5}`$ is determined by the beta function with $`n_f^{\mathrm{light}}=5`$ flavours.

### 5.3 NLO results for differential decay distributions

We now turn to the coefficient $`C`$ in the double angular distribution (24). For definiteness we discuss the spin correlation $`C`$ only for the dilepton channels. These results were obtained in ref. . The numbers in Table 2 are obtained for $`\mu _F=\mu _R=m_t=`$175 GeV and using the PDF’s CTEQ5L (LO) and CTEQ5M (NLO) .

At the Tevatron, the dilepton spin correlations are large in the beam and the off-diagonal basis. Thus one sees there is practically no difference between these two choices as far as the sensitivity to QCD-induced spin correlations is concerned; yet the beam basis may be simpler to implement in the analysis of experimental data. The QCD corrections are about $`10`$%. At the LHC, the beam and off-diagonal bases are bad choices (due to the dominance of $`ggt\overline{t}`$). Here the helicity basis is a good choice, and the QCD corrections are small. The inclusion of the QCD corrections reduces the dependence of the $`t\overline{t}`$ cross section on the renormalization and factorization scales significantly. The same is true for the product $`\sigma C`$, as can be seen from Fig. 4.

Table 3 shows the dependence of the NLO results for $`C`$ on the scale $`\mu `$ (upper part) and on the choice of the PDFs (lower part). At the Tevatron the spread of results for different PDFs is larger than the scale uncertainty: The results for $`C`$ using the CTEQ5 and MRST98 distributions agree up to a few percent, but the difference between GRV98 and MRST98 at the Tevatron is about $`10\%`$. The main reason for this strong dependence on the PDFs is that the contributions from the $`gg`$ and the $`q\overline{q}`$ initial state enter with a different sign. This offers the interesting possibility to constrain the PDFs by measuring $`t\overline{t}`$ spin correlations.

In all results above we used $`m_t=175`$ GeV. A variation of $`m_t`$ from $`170`$ to $`180`$ GeV changes the results for the Tevatron, again for $`\mu =m_t`$ and PDFs of ref.  as follows: $`C_{\mathrm{hel}.}`$ varies from $`0.378`$ to $`0.397`$, $`C_{\mathrm{beam}}`$ from $`0.790`$ to $`0.817`$, and $`C_{\mathrm{off}.}`$ from $`0.797`$ to $`0.822`$. For the LHC, $`C_{\mathrm{hel}.}`$ changes by less than a percent.

The results above have been obtained without imposing any kinematic cuts. Standard cuts on the top quark transverse momentum and rapidity only have a small effect on $`C`$: For the Tevatron, demanding $`|𝐤_{t,\overline{t}}^T|>15`$ GeV and $`|r_{t,\overline{t}}|<2`$ leads to the following results: $`C_{\mathrm{hel}.}=0.386,C_{\mathrm{beam}}=0.815,C_{\mathrm{off}.}=0.823`$. For the LHC, when imposing the cuts $`|𝐤_{t,\overline{t}}^T|>20`$ GeV and $`|r_{t,\overline{t}}|<3`$, we find $`C_{\mathrm{hel}.}=0.295`$.

A tool for simulating these spin correlations at leading order in the QCD coupling exists . Apart from the double differential distribution (24) there are also other distributions which are sensitive to spin correlations . Finally let us mention that there has been a first measurement of spin correlations in the off-diagonal basis by the D0 collaboration . It is based on six dilepton events from Run I. They find

$$C_{\mathrm{off}.}>0.25\mathrm{@}68\%\mathrm{confidence}\mathrm{level}$$
(41)
This demonstrates that top quark spin correlations can be studied already at the Tevatron. It is expected that the correlations can be established at the $`2\sigma `$ level using Run II data.

## 6 Conclusions

QCD-induced spin correlations of top quark pairs produced at hadron colliders are large effects. They can be studied at the Tevatron and LHC. For the Tevatron the QCD corrections to the leading order predictions are sizeable but under control. The degree of correlation depends on the choice of the spin quantization axis. We have shown that using, at the Tevatron, the direction of one of the hadron beams as spin quantization axis is as efficient as the off-diagonal axis which has received much attention in the literature. Spin correlations are suited to study in detail the interactions of top quarks. As we have pointed out they should, in particular, be a useful tool for constraining PDFs. Taking the PDFs, once they have been determined with sufficient precision, as input, spin correlations will be an important tool for the search for new effects in top quark pair production. Future work on the theory side will include the implementation of the NLO matrix elements in an event generator, a study of non-factorizable corrections, and the resummation of Sudakov-type large logarithms for the spin-dependent cross sections.

## Acknowledgments

A.B. would like to thank the organizers of the Epiphany conference for their hospitality.


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# References

April 2003

deSitter brane universe induced by phantom and quantum effects

Shin’ichi NOJIRI111nojiri@cc.nda.ac.jp and Sergei D. ODINTSOV222 odintsov@mail.tomsknet.ru Also at ICREA and IEEC, Barcelona, Spain

Department of Applied Physics
National Defence Academy, Hashirimizu Yokosuka 239-8686, JAPAN

$`\mathrm{}`$ Lab. for Fundamental Studies, Tomsk State Pedagogical University, 634041 Tomsk, RUSSIA

ABSTRACT

Five-dimensional braneworld cosmology with deSitter (inflationary) brane universe induced by classical and quantum matter is discussed. It is shown that negative energy phantom field with quantum CFT supports the creation of deSitter universe. On the same time, pure phantom or dust with quantum effects, or Chaplygin gas with quantum effects may naturally lead to the occurence of Anti-deSitter brane universe but not deSitter one. It is also interesting that unlike to four-dimensional gravity, for phantom with (or without) quantum contribution the standard cosmological energy conditions may be effectively satisfied.

PACS: 98.80.Hw,04.50.+h,11.10.Kk,11.10.Wx

1. The interpretation of recent astrophysical data  indicate to the acceleration of the scale factor of the observable universe. It looks quite possible now that not only the early universe passed the inflationary stage, but also observable universe is (or enters) in deSitter phase. The origin of deSitter universe could be caused by the dark energy. There are recent speculations considering negative energy (phantom) theories which produce the accelerating scale factor. Unfortunately, such phantom theories break the standard cosmological energy conditions. However, the combination of phantom matter with quantum effects may improve the situation with energy conditions (see, for instance, ).

From another side, the dark energy naturally appears in the braneworld cosmology (see  and references therein). It is sometimes easier to achieve brane FRW-cosmology with accelerating scale factor even without brane matter. Then it is quite interesting to consider braneworld cosmology with phantom brane matter and quantum brane CFT in order to check the possibility for deSitter universe occurence. The present Letter is devoted to the study of above question. It is shown that 4d brane deSitter occurs for combination of brane matter as phantom and quantum CFT or phantom, quantum CFT and dust. Moreover, in such a case NEC and WEC may be effectively satisfied. For pure phantom brane matter (unlike to four-dimensional case) there is no deSitter solution (only Anti-deSitter one) but all energy conditions are satisfied. For combination of matter as Chaplygin gas and quantum CFT there occurs only brane Anti-deSitter universe.

2. Let the 3-brane is embedded into the 5d bulk space as in ref.. Let $`g_{\mu \nu }`$ be the metric tensor of the bulk space and $`n_\mu `$ be the unit vector normal to the 3-brane. Then the metric $`q_{\mu \nu }`$ induced on the brane has the following form:

$$q_{\mu \nu }=g_{\mu \nu }n_\mu n_\nu .$$
(1)
The initial gravitational action is

$`S`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle d^5x\sqrt{g}\left\{\frac{1}{\kappa _5^2}R^{(5)}2\mathrm{\Lambda }+\mathrm{}\right\}}`$ (2)
$`+{\displaystyle \sqrt{q}\left(2\lambda +\mathrm{matter}\mathrm{Lagrangian}\mathrm{density}\right)}.`$
Here $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the bulk cosmological constant, $`\lambda `$ is the tension of the brane. In the following, the 5d quantities are denoted by the suffix $`{}_{}{}^{(}5)`$ and 4d ones by $`{}_{}{}^{(}4)`$. In (2), $`\mathrm{}`$ expresses the matter contribution. The bulk Einstein equation is given by

$$\frac{1}{\kappa _5^2}\left(R_{\mu \nu }^{(5)}\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu }R^{(5)}\right)=T_{\mu \nu }$$
(3)
If one chooses the metric near the brane as:

$$ds^2=d\chi ^2+q_{\mu \nu }dx^\mu dx^\nu ,$$
(4)
the energy-momentum tensor $`T_{\mu \nu }`$ has the following form:

$$T_{\mu \nu }=T_{\mu \nu }^{\mathrm{bulk}\mathrm{matter}}\mathrm{\Lambda }g_{\mu \nu }+\delta (\chi )\left(\lambda q_{\mu \nu }+\tau _{\mu \nu }\right).$$
(5)
Here $`T_{\mu \nu }^{\mathrm{bulk}\mathrm{matter}}`$ is the energy-momentum tensor of the bulk matter and $`\tau _{\mu \nu }`$ expresses the contribution due to brane matter. Without the bulk matter ($`T_{\mu \nu }^{\mathrm{bulk}\mathrm{matter}}=0`$), following the procedure in , the bulk Einstein equation can be mapped into the equation on the brane:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\kappa _5^2}}\left(R_{\mu \nu }^{(4)}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}q_{\mu \nu }R^{(4)}\right)`$
$`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\mathrm{\Lambda }+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda ^2}{6}}\right)q_{\mu \nu }+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda }{6}}\tau _{\mu \nu }+\kappa _5^2\pi _{\mu \nu }{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\kappa _5^2}}E_{\mu \nu }.`$ (6)
Here $`\pi _{\mu \nu }`$ is given by

$$\pi _{\mu \nu }=\frac{1}{4}\tau _{\mu \alpha }\tau _\nu ^\alpha +\frac{1}{12}\tau \tau _{\mu \nu }+\frac{1}{8}q_{\mu \nu }\tau _{\alpha \beta }\tau ^{\alpha \beta }\frac{1}{24}q_{\mu \nu }\tau ^2.$$
(7)
On the other hand, $`E_{\mu \nu }`$ is defined by the bulk Weyl tensor $`C_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }^{(5)}`$:

$$E_{\mu \nu }=C_{\alpha \beta \gamma \delta }^{(5)}n^\alpha n^\gamma q_\mu ^\beta q_\nu ^\delta .$$
(8)
Note that one may identify the effective 4d gravitational constant $`\kappa _4`$ and 4d cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_4`$ with

$$\frac{1}{\kappa _4^2}=\frac{6}{\lambda \kappa _5^4},\mathrm{\Lambda }_4=\frac{\kappa _5^2}{2}\left(\mathrm{\Lambda }+\frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda ^2}{6}\right).$$
(9)
As one of the matter fields on the brane, we may consider the phantom field $`C`$, whose energy-momentum tensor has the following form:

$$\tau _{C\mu \nu }=_\mu C_\nu C\frac{1}{2}g_{\mu \nu }g^{\alpha \beta }_\alpha C_\beta C.$$
(10)
This scalar field has negative energy density and its solution in 4d deSitter space is

$$C=at+b,$$
(11)
where a,b are some arbitrary constants. With above phantom the negative energy density $`\rho _C`$ and the negative pressure $`p_C`$ is given by

$$\rho _C=p_C=\frac{a^2}{2}$$
(12)
It was argued in  that phantom behaves as some effective QFT in deSitter space.

The space is assumed to be 5d AdS space, where

$$R_{\mu \nu \rho \sigma }^{(5)}=\frac{1}{l^2}\left(g_{\mu \rho }g_{\nu \sigma }g_{\mu \sigma }g_{\nu \rho }\right).$$
(13)
Here $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=\frac{6}{\kappa _5^2l^2}`$. Then $`C_{\alpha \beta \gamma \delta }^{(5)}n^\alpha n^\gamma q_\mu ^\beta q_\nu ^\delta =0`$. We also assume the brane is the 4d deSitter space, whose metric is taken in the following form:

$$ds^2=dt^2+L^2\mathrm{cosh}^2\frac{t}{L}d\mathrm{\Omega }_3^2.$$
(14)
Here $`d\mathrm{\Omega }_3^2`$ is the metric of the 3d sphere with unit radius. Then $`(t,t)`$-component of (S0.Ex2) has the following form:

$`0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{3}{\kappa _5^2L^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{6}{\kappa _5^2l^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda ^2}{6}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda }{6}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{a^2}{2}}+\rho _m\right)`$ (15)
$`+\kappa _5^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{a^4}{48}}{\displaystyle \frac{a^2\rho _m}{12}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _m^2}{12}}\right),`$
and $`(i.j)`$-component corresponding to the 3d sphere part is:

$`0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{3}{\kappa _5^2L^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{6}{\kappa _5^2l^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda ^2}{6}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda }{6}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{a^2}{2}}+p_m\right)`$ (16)
$`+\kappa _5^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{a^4}{16}}{\displaystyle \frac{a^2\rho _m}{6}}{\displaystyle \frac{a^2p_m}{12}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _m^2}{12}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _mp_m}{6}}\right).`$
Here $`\rho _m`$ and $`p_m`$ express the (classical or quantum) contribution from the matter on the brane besides the phantom contribution. The bulk cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }=\frac{6}{\kappa _5^2l^2}.$$
(17)
By combining (15) and (17), one gets

$`0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda }{6}}\left(a^2+\rho _m+p_m\right)`$ (18)
$`+\kappa _5^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{a^4}{12}}{\displaystyle \frac{a^2\rho _m}{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{a^2p_m}{12}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _m^2}{6}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _mp_m}{6}}\right),`$
$`0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{6}{\kappa _5^2L^2}}+\left({\displaystyle \frac{6}{\kappa _5^2l^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda ^2}{6}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda }{6}}\left(\rho _mp_m\right)`$ (19)
$`+\kappa _5^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{a^4}{24}}+{\displaystyle \frac{a^2\rho _m}{12}}+{\displaystyle \frac{a^2p_m}{12}}{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _m^2}{12}}{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _mp_m}{6}}\right).`$
First we consider the case that there are no matter fields besides the phantom $`C`$ on the brane, that is, $`\rho _m=p_m=0`$. Then Eq.(18) gives $`a^2=0`$, or $`a^2=2\lambda `$. For the latter case, Eq.(19) gives $`0=\frac{1}{L^2}+\frac{1}{l^2}`$. Then there might be anti-deSitter solution where $`L^2=l^2<0`$ but there is no inflationary brane solution (compare with ).

As a next step, we may include the quantum effects from the conformal brane matter. As usually, the simplest way to do so is to consider the conformal anomaly:

$$\tau ^A=b\left(F^{(4)}+\frac{2}{3}\mathrm{}R^{(4)}\right)+b^{}G^{(4)}+b^{\prime \prime }\mathrm{}R^{(4)},$$
(20)
where $`F^{(4)}`$ is the square of 4d Weyl tensor, $`G^{(4)}`$ is Gauss-Bonnet invariant. In general, with $`N`$ scalar, $`N_{1/2}`$ spinor, $`N_1`$ vector fields, $`N_2`$ ($`=0`$ or $`1`$) gravitons and $`N_{\mathrm{HD}}`$ higher derivative conformal scalars, $`b`$, $`b^{}`$ and $`b^{\prime \prime }`$ are given by

$`b={\displaystyle \frac{N+6N_{1/2}+12N_1+611N_28N_{\mathrm{HD}}}{120(4\pi )^2}}`$
$`b^{}={\displaystyle \frac{N+11N_{1/2}+62N_1+1411N_228N_{\mathrm{HD}}}{360(4\pi )^2}},b^{\prime \prime }=0.`$ (21)
Note that $`b^{}`$ is negative for the usual matter ($`N_{\mathrm{HD}}=0`$).

For inflationary brane (14), one gets

$$\rho _A=p_A=\frac{6b^{}}{L^4}.$$
(22)
Then Eqs.(18) and (19) are:

$`0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2a^2\lambda }{6}}+\kappa _5^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{a^4}{12}}+{\displaystyle \frac{b^{}a^2}{L^4}}\right),`$ (23)
$`0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{6}{\kappa _5^2L^2}}+\left({\displaystyle \frac{6}{\kappa _5^2l^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda ^2}{6}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{2\kappa _5^2\lambda b^{}}{L^4}}`$ (24)
$`+\kappa _5^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{a^4}{24}}+{\displaystyle \frac{3b^2}{L^8}}\right).`$
Especially when there is no phantom field ($`a=0`$) and $`\lambda =\frac{6}{l\kappa _5^2}`$, Eq.(23) is trivial and Eq.(24) has the following form:

$$\left(\frac{1}{l}\frac{\kappa _5^2b^{}}{L^4}\right)^2=\frac{1}{L^2}\left(1+\frac{L^2}{l^2}\right)\text{or}\pm \frac{1}{L}\sqrt{1+\frac{L^2}{l^2}}\frac{1}{l}=\frac{\kappa _5^2b^{}}{L^4},$$
(25)
which (plus sign) reproduces the result (see also, ). In other words, we demonstrated that for the particular choice of the boundary terms, our equation describes the quantum creation of deSitter (inflationary) brane which glues two AdS spaces. Such inflationary brane-world scenario is sometimes called Brane New World .

When $`a^20`$, Eq.(23) gives

$$a^2=\frac{12b^{}}{L^4}+2\lambda .$$
(26)
Since usually $`b^{}<0`$, if $`\lambda >0`$, it does not conflict with $`\lambda =\frac{6}{l\kappa _5^2}`$. Substituting (26) into (24), one gets

$$0=\frac{6}{\kappa _5^2l^2}\frac{6}{\kappa _5^2L^2}\frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda b^{}}{L^4}\frac{3\kappa _5^2b^2}{L^8}.$$
(27)
Generally Eq.(27) has non-trivial solution when $`\lambda `$ is large enough. If we define a new variable $`y`$ by $`y=\frac{1}{\lambda L^4}`$, Eq.(27) can be rewritten as

$$0=\lambda ^2\kappa _5^2\left\{3b_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}\left(y+\frac{1}{6b^{}}\right)+\frac{1}{12}\right\}\frac{6}{\kappa _5^2l^2}\frac{6}{\kappa _5^2}\sqrt{\lambda y}.$$
(28)
Then in the limit that $`\lambda `$ is large, one has a deSitter solution

$$\frac{1}{L^2}=0,\text{or}\frac{1}{L^2}=\lambda y=\frac{\lambda }{3b^{}}>0.$$
(29)
Thus, we demonstrated that braneworld which contains phantom and quantum CFT on the brane admits deSitter brane solution gluing two AdS bulks. It is interesting that in pure 4d space the same type of matter also leads to occurence of inflationary universe  in easier way.

As a next case, we consider the situation that the matter on the brane is dust

$$\rho _d=\frac{\alpha }{L^3},p_d=0.$$
(30)
If also the phantom field $`C`$ presents on the brane, Eqs.(18) and (19) are:

$`0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2a^2\lambda }{6}}\left(a^2+{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{L^2}}\right)+\kappa _5^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{a^4}{12}}{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha a^2}{L^3}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha ^2}{L^6}}\right),`$ (31)
$`0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{6}{\kappa _5^2L^2}}+\left({\displaystyle \frac{6}{\kappa _5^2l^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda ^2\alpha }{6L^3}}\right)+\kappa _5^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{a^4}{24}}+{\displaystyle \frac{a^2\alpha }{12L^3}}{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha ^2}{12L^6}}\right).`$ (32)
Eq.(31) can be solved as

$$\frac{\alpha }{L^3}=\frac{1}{2}\left\{\left(\frac{\lambda }{6}a^2\right)\pm \sqrt{\frac{2a^4}{3}+\frac{\lambda a^2}{3}+\frac{\lambda ^2}{36}}\right\}.$$
(33)
Then $`+`$-sign in (33) always gives a non-trivial solution if $`\lambda >0`$. If $`0<\lambda <\frac{a^2}{2}`$, the $``$-sign in (33) is also a solution.

We may consider the combination of the dust and the quantum effect coming from the conformal anomaly (22), where

$$\rho _m=\frac{\alpha }{L^3}\frac{6b^{}}{L^4},p_m=\frac{6b^{}}{L^4}.$$
(34)
Without phantom field ($`a=0`$), Eqs.(18) and (19) are:

$`0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\alpha }{6L^3}}\left(\lambda +{\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{L^3}}{\displaystyle \frac{6b^{}}{L^4}}\right),`$ (35)
$`0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{6}{\kappa _5^2L^2}}+\left({\displaystyle \frac{6}{\kappa _5^2l^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda ^2}{6}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda }{6}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{L^3}}{\displaystyle \frac{12b^{}}{L^4}}\right)`$ (36)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2}{12}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{L^3}}{\displaystyle \frac{6b^{}}{L^4}}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{\alpha }{L^3}}+{\displaystyle \frac{6b^{}}{L^4}}\right).`$
Then in order that Eq.(35) has non-trivial solution, one gets

$$\frac{6b^{}}{L^4}=\lambda +\frac{\alpha }{L^3}.$$
(37)
By substituting (37) into (36), we obtain

$$\frac{6}{\kappa _5^2L^2}=\frac{6}{\kappa _5^2l^2}\frac{\lambda ^2\kappa _5^2}{12}.$$
(38)
Since the right-hand-side of (38) is negative, there is no deSitter solution, where $`L^2>0`$ although there might be an anti-deSitter solution, where $`L^2<0`$. Thus, in such situation brane deSitter space does not occur.

3. There are several standard types of the energy conditions which are usually assumed to be fulfilled in cosmology:

* Null Energy Condition (NEC): $`\rho +p0`$.
* Weak Energy Condition (WEC): $`\rho 0`$ and $`\rho +p0`$.
* Strong Energy Condition (SEC): $`\rho +3p0`$ and $`\rho +p0`$.
* Dominant Energy Condition (DEC): $`\rho 0`$ and $`\rho \pm p0`$.

They are violated in four-dimensional space for pure phantom field. Nevertheless, when phantom field is considered in combination with quantum CFT some of the energy conditions survive in 4d deSitter universe. Let us check what happens with them in our braneworld.

Eqs.(15) and (16) give the effective energy density $`\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}`$ and the effective pressure $`p_{\mathrm{eff}}`$

$$\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{a^2}{2}+\rho _m+\frac{6}{\lambda }\left(\frac{a^4}{48}\frac{a^2\rho _m}{12}+\frac{\rho _m^2}{12}\right),$$
(39)
and $`(i.j)`$-component corresponding to the 3d sphere part has the following form:

$$p_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{a^2}{2}+p_m+\frac{6}{\lambda }\left(\frac{a^4}{16}\frac{a^2\rho _m}{6}\frac{a^2p_m}{12}+\frac{\rho _m^2}{12}+\frac{\rho _mp_m}{6}\right).$$
(40)
If there is no non-trivial matter besides the phantom field, one obtains

$$\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}=p_{\mathrm{eff}}=\frac{a^2}{2}+\frac{a^4}{4\lambda }=\frac{a^2\left(a^22\lambda \right)}{4}.$$
(41)
Then if $`a^2>2\lambda `$, all the energy conditions are effectively satisfied even for pure phantom field. This is an interesting feature of phantom braneworld, as phantom leads to breaking of all energy conditions in usual 4d deSitter space. On the other hand, without the phantom field

$$\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}=\rho _m\left(1+\frac{\rho _m}{2\lambda }\right),p_{\mathrm{eff}}=p_m+\frac{1}{\lambda }\left(\frac{\rho ^2}{2}+\rho _mp_m\right).$$
(42)
Then if $`0>\lambda >\frac{\rho }{2}`$, $`\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}<0`$ even if $`\rho _m=0`$. Therefore WEC and DEC are effectively violated. Furthermore since

$$\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}+p_{\mathrm{eff}}=\left(\rho _m+p_m\right)\left(1+\frac{\rho _m}{\lambda }\right),$$
(43)
if $`0>\lambda >\rho _m`$, which is the condition weaker than (43), all the energy conditions are effectively violated even if $`\rho _m+p_m0`$ and $`\rho >0`$. This is known property of deSitter braneworld. If we consider the contribution from phantom field and the conformal anomaly, Eqs.(39) and (40) are

$`\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{a^2}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{6b^{}}{L^4}}\right)\left\{1+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\lambda }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{a^2}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{6b^{}}{L^4}}\right)\right\},`$
$`p_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{a^2}{2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{6b^{}}{L^4}}+{\displaystyle \frac{6}{\lambda }}\left({\displaystyle \frac{a^4}{16}}+{\displaystyle \frac{b^{}a^2}{2L^4}}3b_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}\right).`$ (44)
Then

$$\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}+p_{\mathrm{eff}}=a^2\left\{1+\frac{1}{2\lambda }\left(a^2+\frac{12b^{}}{L^4}\right)\right\}$$
(45)
When $`\lambda >0`$, if $`a^2<\frac{12b^{}}{L^4}`$ or $`a^2>\frac{12b^{}}{L^4}+4\lambda `$, we have $`\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}>0`$ and if $`a^2>\frac{12b^{}}{L^4}2\lambda `$, we have $`\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}+p_{\mathrm{eff}}>0`$. On the other hand, when $`\lambda <0`$, if $`\frac{12b^{}}{L^4}>a^2>\frac{12b^{}}{L^4}+4\lambda `$, we have $`\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}>0`$ and if $`a^2<\frac{12b^{}}{L^4}2\lambda `$, we have $`\rho _{\mathrm{eff}}+p_{\mathrm{eff}}>0`$. Then, for example, NEC is effectively satisfied if

$`a^2{\displaystyle \frac{12b^{}}{L^4}}2\lambda `$ $`(\lambda >0)`$ (46)
$`a^2{\displaystyle \frac{12b^{}}{L^4}}2\lambda `$ $`(\lambda <0),`$
and WEC is effectively satisfied if

$`{\displaystyle \frac{12b^{}}{L^4}}2\lambda a^2{\displaystyle \frac{12b^{}}{L^4}}\text{or}a^2{\displaystyle \frac{12b^{}}{L^4}}+4\lambda `$ $`(\lambda >0)`$ (47)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{12b^{}}{L^4}}>a^2>{\displaystyle \frac{12b^{}}{L^4}}+4\lambda `$ $`(\lambda <0).`$
Thus, in the presence of phantom and quantum CFT it is easier to fulfill the standard energy conditions in the braneworld.

4. As a matter, one may consider Chaplygin gas, which satisfies

$$p_{Ch}=\frac{A}{\rho _{Ch}},$$
(48)
where $`A`$ is a positive constant. For simplicity, we consider $`a=0`$ case, that is, the case without phantom. Then Eqs.(18) and (19) have the following form:

$`0`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\rho +\lambda \right)\left(\rho ^2A\right),`$ (49)
$`0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{6}{\kappa _5^2L^2}}+\left({\displaystyle \frac{6}{\kappa _5^2l^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda ^2}{6}}\right)`$ (50)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda }{6}}\left(\rho _{Ch}+{\displaystyle \frac{A}{\rho _{Ch}}}\right)+\kappa _5^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{\rho _{Ch}^2}{12}}+{\displaystyle \frac{A}{6}}\right).`$
The solutions of (49) are easily obtained by

$$\rho _{Ch}=\pm \sqrt{A},\rho _{Ch}=\lambda .$$
(51)
By substituting the former solution $`\rho =\pm \sqrt{A}`$ into (50), one obtains

$$\frac{6}{\kappa _5^2L^2}=\frac{\kappa _5^2}{12}\left\{\left(\sqrt{A}2\lambda \right)^22\lambda ^2\frac{72}{\kappa _5^4l^2}\right\}.$$
(52)
Therefore in order that $`L`$ is real, we obtain the following condition

$$\sqrt{A}<\pm 2\lambda \sqrt{2\lambda ^2+\frac{72}{\kappa _5^4l^2}}\text{or}\sqrt{A}>\pm 2\lambda +\sqrt{2\lambda ^2+\frac{72}{\kappa _5^4l^2}}.$$
(53)
On the other hand, choosing the latter solution $`\rho =\lambda `$ in (51) and substituting it into (50), one gets

$$\frac{6}{\kappa _5^2L^2}=\frac{6}{\kappa _5^2l^2}\frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda ^2}{12}.$$
(54)
Since the right-hand-side of (54) is negative, there is no real solution for $`L`$.

We may add the contribution due to the conformal anomaly (22) to (48):

$$\rho _m=\rho _{Ch}\frac{6b^{}}{L^4},p_m=\frac{A}{\rho _{Ch}}+\frac{6b^{}}{L^4}.$$
(55)
Then instead of (49) and (50), one obtains

$`0`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\rho +\lambda {\displaystyle \frac{6b^{}}{L^4}}\right)\left(\rho ^2A\right),`$ (56)
$`0`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{6}{\kappa _5^2L^2}}+\left({\displaystyle \frac{6}{\kappa _5^2l^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda ^2}{6}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda }{6}}\left(\rho _{Ch}+{\displaystyle \frac{A}{\rho _{Ch}}}{\displaystyle \frac{12b^{}}{L^4}}\right)`$ (57)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\kappa _5^2}{12}}\left(\rho _{Ch}{\displaystyle \frac{6b^{}}{L^4}}\right)\left(\rho _{Ch}{\displaystyle \frac{2A}{\rho _{Ch}}}+{\displaystyle \frac{6b^{}}{L^4}}\right).`$
The solution of (56) is:

$$\rho _{Ch}=\pm \sqrt{A},\rho _{Ch}=\lambda +\frac{6b^{}}{L^4}.$$
(58)
Substituting the former solution $`\rho =\pm \sqrt{A}`$ into (50), we get

$$\frac{6}{\kappa _5^2L^2}=\frac{\kappa _5^2}{12}\left\{\left(\sqrt{A}\left(2\lambda \frac{6b^{}}{L^4}\right)\right)^22\lambda ^2\frac{72}{\kappa _5^4l^2}\right\}.$$
(59)
It is difficult to solve (59) with respect to $`L^2`$ but in order to get real $`L`$, the following condition should be satisfied:

$`\sqrt{A}`$ $`<`$ $`\pm \left(2\lambda {\displaystyle \frac{6b^{}}{L^4}}\right)\sqrt{2\lambda ^2+{\displaystyle \frac{72}{\kappa _5^4l^2}}}`$
$`\text{or}\sqrt{A}`$ $`>`$ $`\pm \left(2\lambda {\displaystyle \frac{6b^{}}{L^4}}\right)+\sqrt{2\lambda ^2+{\displaystyle \frac{72}{\kappa _5^4l^2}}}.`$ (60)
Substituting the latter solution $`\rho =\lambda +\frac{6b^{}}{L^4}`$ (58) into (57), one gets

$$\frac{6}{\kappa _5^2L^2}=\frac{6}{\kappa _5^2l^2}\frac{\kappa _5^2\lambda ^2}{12}.$$
(61)
Since the right-hand-side of (61) is negative, there is no real solution for $`L`$. Then there might be an anti-deSitter solution, where $`L^2<0`$ but there is no deSitter solution, where $`L^2>0`$.

To conclude, the combination of Chaplygin gas with quantum CFT ( unlike to phantom with quantum CFT) does not support the occurence of deSitter brane in AdS bulk. On the same time, the combination of brane quantum CFT and phantom may lead to the inducing of 4d deSitter universe. It would be interesting to develop such inflationary braneworld scenario in more detail.

Acknowledgments The work by S.N. is supported in part by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan under the grant n. 13135208.


text:
# Permutation Groups and Normal Subgroups

## 1 . Introduction

For a satisfactory understanding of finite groups it is important to study simple groups and characteristically simple groups, and how to fit them together to form arbitrary finite groups. This paper discusses an analogous programme for studying finite permutation groups. By considering various descending subgroup chains of finite permutation groups we define in §2 sequences of ‘basic’ permutation groups that play the role for finite permutation groups that composition factors or chief factors play for abstract finite groups. Primitive groups have been the traditional choice for basic permutation groups, but for some combinatorial applications larger families of basic groups, such as quasiprimitive groups, are needed (see §3).

Application of a theorem first stated independently in 1979 by M. E. O’Nan and L. L. Scott  has proved to be the most useful modern method for identifying the possible structures of finite primitive groups, and is now used routinely for their analysis. Analogues of this theorem are available for the alternative families of basic permutation groups. These theorems have become standard tools for studying finite combinatorial structures such as vertex-transitive graphs and examples are given in §3 of successful analyses for distance transitive graphs and $`s`$-arc-transitive graphs. Some characteristic properties of basic permutation groups, including these structure theorems are discussed in §4.

Studying the symmetry of a family of finite algebraic or combinatorial systems often leads to problems about groups of automorphisms acting as basic permutation groups on points or vertices. In particular determining the full automorphism group of such a system sometimes requires a knowledge of the permutation groups containing a given basic permutation group, and for this it is important to understand the lattice of basic permutation groups on a given set. The fundamental problem here is that of classifying all inclusions of one basic permutation group in another, and integral to its solution is a proper understanding of the factorisations of simple and characteristically simple groups. In §3 and §4 we outline the current status of our knowledge about such inclusions and their use.

The precision of our current knowledge of basic permutation groups depends heavily on the classification of the finite simple groups. Some problems about basic permutation groups translate directly to questions about simple groups, and answering them leads to new results about simple groups. Several of these results and their connections with basic groups are discussed in the final section §5.

In summary, this approach to analysing finite permutation groups involves an interplay between combinatorics, group actions, and the theory of finite simple groups. One measure of its success is its effectiveness in combinatorial applications.

## 2 . Defining basic permutation groups

Let $`G`$ be a subgroup of the symmetric group $`\mathrm{Sym}(\mathrm{\Omega })`$ of all permutations of a finite set $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Since an intransitive permutation group is contained in the direct product of its transitive constituents, it is natural when studying permutation groups to focus first on the transitive ones. Thus we will assume that $`G`$ is transitive on $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. Choose a point $`\alpha \mathrm{\Omega }`$ and let $`G_\alpha `$ denote the subgroup of $`G`$ of permutations that fix $`\alpha `$, that is, the stabiliser of $`\alpha `$. Let $`\mathrm{𝖲𝗎𝖻}(G,G_\alpha )`$ denote the lattice of subgroups of $`G`$ containing $`G_\alpha `$. The concepts introduced below are independent of the choice of $`\alpha `$ because of the transitivity of $`G`$. We shall introduce three types of basic permutation groups, relative to $`_1:=\mathrm{𝖲𝗎𝖻}(G,G_\alpha )`$ and two other types of lattices $`_2`$ and $`_3`$, where we regard each $`_i`$ as a function that can be evaluated on any finite transitive group $`G`$ and stabiliser $`G_\alpha `$.

For $`G_\alpha HG`$, the $`H`$-orbit containing $`\alpha `$ is $`\alpha ^H=\{\alpha ^h|hH\}`$. If $`G_\alpha H<KG`$, then the $`K`$-images of $`\alpha ^H`$ form the parts of a $`K`$-invariant partition $`𝒫(K,H)`$ of $`\alpha ^K`$, and $`K`$ induces a transitive permutation group $`\mathrm{𝖢𝗈𝗆𝗉}(K,H)`$ on $`𝒫(K,H)`$ called a *component* of $`G`$. In particular the component $`\mathrm{𝖢𝗈𝗆𝗉}(G,G_\alpha )`$ permutes $`𝒫(G,G_\alpha )=\{\{\beta \}|\beta \mathrm{\Omega }\}`$ in the same way that $`G`$ permutes $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, and we may identify $`G`$ with $`\mathrm{𝖢𝗈𝗆𝗉}(G,G_\alpha )`$.

For a lattice $``$ of subgroups of $`G`$ containing $`G_\alpha `$, we say that $`K`$ *covers $`H`$ in $``$* if $`K,H`$, $`H<K`$, and there are no intermediate subgroups lying in $``$. The *basic components of $`G`$ relative to $``$* are then defined as all the components $`\mathrm{𝖢𝗈𝗆𝗉}(K,H)`$ for which $`K`$ covers $`H`$ in $``$. Each maximal chain $`G_\alpha =G_0<G_1<\mathrm{}<G_r=G`$ in $``$ determines a sequence of basic components relative to $``$, namely $`\mathrm{𝖢𝗈𝗆𝗉}(G_1,G_0),\mathrm{},\mathrm{𝖢𝗈𝗆𝗉}(G_r,G_{r1})`$, and $`G`$ can be embedded in the iterated wreath product of these groups. In this way the permutation groups occurring as basic components relative to $``$, for some finite transitive group, may be considered as ‘building blocks’ for finite permutation groups. We refer to such groups as basic permutation groups relative to $``$.

A transitive permutation group $`G`$ on $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is *primitive* if $`G_\alpha `$ is a maximal subgroup of $`G`$, that is, if $`\mathrm{𝖲𝗎𝖻}(G,G_\alpha )=\{G,G_\alpha \}`$. The basic components of $`G`$ relative to $`_1=\mathrm{𝖲𝗎𝖻}(G,G_\alpha )`$ are precisely those of its components that are primitive.

The basic groups of the second type are the quasiprimitive groups. A transitive permutation group $`G`$ on $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is *quasiprimitive* if each nontrivial normal subgroup of $`G`$ is transitive on $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. The corresponding sublattice is the set $`_2`$ of all subgroups $`H\mathrm{𝖲𝗎𝖻}(G,G_\alpha )`$ such that there is a sequence $`H_0=HH_1\mathrm{}H_r=G`$ with each subgroup of the form $`H_i=G_\alpha N_i`$ where for $`i<r`$, $`N_i`$ is a normal subgroup of $`H_{i+1}`$, and $`N_r=G`$. The basic components of $`G`$ relative to $`_2`$ are precisely those of its components that are quasiprimitive.

Basic groups of the third type are *innately transitive*, namely transitive permutation groups that have at least one transitive minimal normal subgroup. The corresponding sublattice will be $`_3`$. A subgroup $`N`$ of $`G`$ is *subnormal* in $`G`$ if there is a sequence $`N_0=NN_1\mathrm{}N_r=G`$ such that, for $`i<r`$, $`N_i`$ is a normal subgroup of $`N_{i+1}`$. The lattice $`_3`$ consists of all subgroups of the form $`G_\alpha N`$, where $`N`$ is subnormal in $`G`$ and normalised by $`G_\alpha `$. All the basic components of $`G`$ relative to $`_3`$ are innately transitive. Note that each primitive group is quasiprimitive and each quasiprimitive group is innately transitive. Proofs of the assertions about $`_2`$ and $`_3`$ and their components may be found in .

## 3 . The role of basic groups in graph theory

For many group theoretic and combinatorial applications finite primitive permutation groups are the appropriate basic permutation groups, since many problems concerning finite permutation groups can be reduced to the case of primitive groups. However such reductions are sometimes not possible when studying point-transitive automorphism groups of finite combinatorial structures because the components of the given point-transitive group have no interpretation as point-transitive automorphism groups of structures within the family under investigation. The principal motivation for studying some of these alternative basic groups came from graph theory, notably the study of $`s`$-arc transitive graphs ($`s2`$).

A finite graph $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=(\mathrm{\Omega },E)`$ consists of a finite set $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ of points, called vertices, and a subset $`E`$ of unordered pairs from $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ called edges. For $`s1`$, an *$`s`$-arc* of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is a vertex sequence $`(\alpha _0,\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _s)`$ such that each $`\{\alpha _i,\alpha _{i+1}\}`$ is an edge and $`\alpha _{i1}\alpha _{i+1}`$ for all $`i`$. We usually call a 1-arc simply an arc. Automorphisms of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ are permutations of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ that leave $`E`$ invariant, and a subgroup $`G`$ of the automorphism group $`\mathrm{Aut}(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ is *$`s`$-arc-transitive* if $`G`$ is transitive on the $`s`$-arcs of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is connected and is regular of *valency* $`k>0`$ so that each vertex is in $`k`$ edges, then an $`s`$-arc-transitive subgroup $`G\mathrm{Aut}(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ is in particular transitive on $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and also, if $`s2`$, on $`(s1)`$-arcs. It is natural to ask which of the components of this transitive permutation group $`G`$ on $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ act as $`s`$-arc-transitive automorphism groups of graphs related to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$.

For $`G_\alpha HG`$, there is a naturally defined quotient graph $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$ with vertex set the partition of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ formed by the $`G`$-images of the set $`\alpha ^H`$, where two such $`G`$-images are adjacent in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$ if at least one vertex in the first is adjacent to at least one vertex of the second. If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is connected and $`G`$ is arc-transitive, then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$ is connected and $`G`$ induces an arc-transitive automorphism group of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$, namely the component $`\mathrm{𝖢𝗈𝗆𝗉}(G,H)`$. If $`H`$ is a maximal subgroup of $`G`$, then $`\mathrm{𝖢𝗈𝗆𝗉}(G,H)`$ is both vertex-primitive and arc-transitive on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$. This observation enables many questions about arc-transitive graphs to be reduced to the vertex-primitive case.

Perhaps the most striking example is provided by the family of finite distance transitive graphs. The *distance* between two vertices is the minimum number of edges in a path joining them, and $`G`$ is *distance transive* on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ if for each $`i`$, $`G`$ is transitive on the set of ordered pairs of vertices at distance $`i`$. In particular if $`G`$ is distance transitive on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is connected and regular, of valency $`k`$ say. If $`k=2`$ then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is a cycle and all cycles are distance transitive, so suppose that $`k3`$. If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$ has more than two vertices, then $`\mathrm{𝖢𝗈𝗆𝗉}(G,H)`$ is distance transitive on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$, while if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$ has only two vertices then $`H`$ is distance transitive on a smaller graph $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$, namely $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$ has $`\alpha ^H`$ as vertex set with two vertices adjacent if and only if they are at distance 2 in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ (see for example ). Passing to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$ or $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$ respectively and repeating this process, we reduce to a vertex-primitive distance transitive graph. The programme of classifying the finite vertex-primitive distance transitive graphs is approaching completion, and surveys of progress up to the mid 1990’s can be found in . The initial result that suggested a classification might be possible is the following. Here a group $`G`$ is *almost simple* if $`TG\mathrm{Aut}(T)`$ for some nonabelian simple group $`T`$, and a permutation group $`G`$ has *affine type* if $`G`$ has an elementary abelian regular normal subgroup.

###### Theorem 3.1

 If $`G`$ is vertex-primitive and distance transitive on a finite graph $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, then either $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is known explicitly, or $`G`$ is almost simple, or $`G`$ has affine type.

In general, if $`G`$ is $`s`$-arc-transitive on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ with $`s2`$, then none of the components $`\mathrm{𝖢𝗈𝗆𝗉}(G,H)`$ with $`G_\alpha <H<G`$ is $`s`$-arc-transitive on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$, so there is no hope that the problem of classifying finite $`s`$-arc-transitive graphs, or even giving a useful description of their structure, can be reduced to the case of vertex-primitive $`s`$-arc-transitive graphs. However the class of $`s`$-arc transitive graphs behaves nicely with respect to *normal quotients*, that is, quotients $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$ where $`H=G_\alpha N`$ for some normal subgroup $`N`$ of $`G`$. For such quotients, the vertex set of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$ is the set of $`N`$-orbits, $`G`$ acts $`s`$-arc-transitively on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$, and if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$ has more than two vertices then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is a cover of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$ in the sense that, for two $`N`$-orbits adjacent in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$, each vertex in one $`N`$-orbit is adjacent in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ to exactly one vertex in the other $`N`$-orbit. We say that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is a *normal cover* of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$. If in addition $`N`$ is a maximal intransitive normal subgroup of $`G`$ with more than two orbits, then $`G`$ is both vertex-quasiprimitive and $`s`$-arc-transitive on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$, see . If some quotient $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$ has two vertices then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is bipartite, and such graphs require a specialised analysis that parallels the one described here. On the other hand if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is not bipartite then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is a normal cover of at least one $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$ on which the $`G`$-action is both vertex-quasiprimitive and $`s`$-arc-transitive. The wish to understand quasiprimitive $`s`$-arc transitive graphs led to the development of a theory for finite quasiprimitive permutation groups similar to the theory of finite primitive groups. Applying this theory led to a result similar to Theorem 3.1, featuring two additional types of quasiprimitive groups, called *twisted wreath type* and *product action type*. Descriptions of these types may be found in  and .

###### Theorem 3.2

 If $`G`$ is vertex-quasiprimitive and $`s`$-arc-transitive on a finite graph $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ with $`s2`$, then $`G`$ is almost simple, or of affine, twisted wreath or product action type.

Examples exist for each of the four quasiprimitive types, and moreover this division of vertex-quasiprimitive $`s`$-arc transitive graphs into four types has resulted in a better understanding of these graphs, and in some cases complete classifications. For example all examples with $`G`$ of affine type, or with $`TG\mathrm{Aut}(T)`$ and $`T=\mathrm{PSL}_2(q),\mathrm{Sz}(q)`$ or $`\mathrm{Ree}(q)`$ have been classified, in each case yielding new $`s`$-arc transitive graphs, see . Also using Theorem 3.2 to study the normal quotients of an $`s`$-arc transitive graph has led to some interesting restrictions on the number of vertices.

###### Theorem 3.3

 Suppose that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is a finite $`s`$-arc-transitive graph with $`s4`$. Then the number of vertices is even and not a power of $`2`$.

The concept of a normal quotient has proved useful for analysing many families of edge-transitive graphs, even those for which a given edge-transitive group is not vertex-transitive. For example it provides a framework for a systematic study of locally $`s`$-arc-transitive graphs in which quasiprimitive actions are of central importance, see .

We have described how to form primitive arc-transitive quotients of arc-transitive graphs, and quasiprimitive $`s`$-arc-transitive normal quotients of non-bipartite $`s`$-arc-transitive graphs. However recognising these quotients is not always easy without knowing their full automorphism groups. To identify the automorphism group of a graph, given a primitive or quasiprimitive subgroup $`G`$ of automorphisms, it is important to know the permutation groups of the vertex set that contain $`G`$, that is the over-groups of $`G`$. In the case of finite primitive arc-transitive and edge-transitive graphs, knowledge of the lattice of primitive permutation groups on the vertex set together with detailed knowledge of finite simple groups led to the following result. The *socle* of a finite group $`G`$, denoted $`\mathrm{soc}(G)`$, is the product of its minimal normal subgroups.

###### Theorem 3.4

 Let $`G`$ be a primitive arc- or edge-transitive group of automorphisms of a finite connected graph $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Then either $`G`$ and $`\mathrm{Aut}(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ have the same socle, or $`G<H\mathrm{Aut}(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ where $`\mathrm{soc}(G)\mathrm{soc}(H)`$ and $`G,H`$ are explicitly listed.

In the case of graphs $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ for which a quasiprimitive subgroup $`G`$ of $`\mathrm{Aut}(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ is given, it is possible that $`\mathrm{Aut}(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ may not be quasiprimitive. However, even in this case a good knowledge of the quasiprimitive over-groups of a quasiprimitive group is helpful, for if $`N`$ is a maximal intransitive normal subgroup of $`\mathrm{Aut}(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ then both $`G`$ and $`\mathrm{Aut}(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ induce quasiprimitive automorphism groups of the normal quotient $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_H`$, where $`H=\mathrm{Aut}(\mathrm{\Gamma })_\alpha N`$, and the action of $`G`$ is faithful. This approach was used, for example, in classifying the $`2`$-arc transitive graphs admitting $`\mathrm{Sz}(q)`$ or $`\mathrm{Ree}(q)`$ mentioned above, and also in analysing the automorphism groups of Cayley graphs of simple groups in .

Innately transitive groups, identified in § 2 as a third possibility for basic groups, have not received much attention until recently. They arise naturally when investigating the full automorphism groups of graphs. One example is given in  for locally-primitive graphs $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ admitting an almost simple vertex-quasiprimitive subgroup $`G`$ of automorphisms. It is shown that either $`\mathrm{Aut}(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ is innately transitive, or $`G`$ is of Lie type in characteristic $`p`$ and $`\mathrm{Aut}(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ has a minimal normal $`p`$-subgroup involving a known $`G`$-module.

## 4 . Characteristics of basic permutation groups

Finite primitive permutation groups have attracted the attention of mathematicians for more than a hundred years. In particular, one of the central problems of 19th century Group Theory was to find an upper bound, much smaller than $`n!`$, for the order of a primitive group on a set of size $`n`$, other than the symmetric group $`S_n`$ and the alternating group $`A_n`$. It is now known that the largest such groups occur for $`n`$ of the form $`c(c1)/2`$ and are $`S_c`$ and $`A_c`$ acting on the unordered pairs from a set of size $`c`$. The proofs of this and other results in this section depend on the finite simple group classification.

If $`G`$ is a quasiprimitive permutation group on $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, $`\alpha \mathrm{\Omega }`$, and $`H`$ is a maximal subgroup of $`G`$ containing $`G_\alpha `$, then the primitive component $`\mathrm{𝖢𝗈𝗆𝗉}(G,H)`$ is isomorphic to $`G`$ since the kernel of this action is an intransitive normal subgroup of $`G`$ and hence is trivial. Because of this we may often deduce information about quasiprimitive groups from their primitive components, and indeed it was found in  that finite quasiprimitive groups possess many characteristics similar to those of finite primitive groups. This is true also of innately transitive groups. We state just one example, concerning the orders of permutation groups acting on a set of size $`n`$, that is, of *degree* $`n`$.

###### Theorem 4.1

 There is a constant $`c`$ and an explicitly defined family $``$ of finite permutation groups such that, if $`G`$ is a primitive, quasiprimitive, or innately transitive permutation group of degree $`n`$, then either $`G`$, or $`|G|<n^{c\mathrm{log}n}`$.

The O’Nan-Scott Theorem partitions the finite primitive permutation groups into several disjoint types according to the structure or action of their minimal normal subgroups. It highlights the role of simple groups and their representations in analysing and using primitive groups. One of its first successful applications was the analysis of distance transitive graphs in Theorem 3.1. Other early applications include a proof  of the Sims Conjecture, and a classification result  for maximal subgroups of $`A_n`$ and $`S_n`$, both of which are stated below.

###### Theorem 4.2

 There is a function $`f`$ such that if $`G`$ is primitive on a finite set $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, and for $`\alpha \mathrm{\Omega }`$, $`G_\alpha `$ has an orbit of length $`d`$ in $`\mathrm{\Omega }\{\alpha \}`$, then $`|G_\alpha |f(d)`$.

###### Theorem 4.3

 Let $`G=A_n`$ or $`S_n`$ with $`M`$ a maximal subgroup. Then either $`M`$ belongs to an explicit list or $`M`$ is almost simple and primitive. Moreover if $`H<G`$ and $`H`$ is almost simple and primitive but not maximal, then $`(H,n)`$ is known.

This is a rather curious way to state a classification result. However it seems almost inconceivable that the finite almost simple primitive groups will ever be listed explicitly. Instead  gives an explicit list of triples $`(H,M,n)`$, where $`H`$ is primitive of degree $`n`$ with a nonabelian simple normal subgroup $`T`$ not normalised by $`M`$, and $`H<M<HA_n`$. This result suggested the possibility of describing the lattice of all primitive permutation groups on a given set, for it gave a description of the over-groups of the almost simple primitive groups. Such a description was achieved in  using a general construction for primitive groups called a *blow-up* construction introduced by Kovacs . The analysis leading to Theorem 3.4 was based on this theorem.

###### Theorem 4.4

 All inclusions $`G<H<S_n`$ with $`G`$ primitive are either explicitly described, or are described in terms of a blow-up of an explicitly listed inclusion $`G_1<H_1<S_{n_1}`$ with $`n`$ a proper power of $`n_1`$.

Analogues of the O’Nan-Scott Theorem for finite quasiprimitive and innately transitive groups have been proved in  and enable similar analyses to be undertaken for problems involving these classes of groups. For example, the quasiprimitive version formed the basis for Theorems 3.2 and 3.3. It seems to be the most useful version for dealing with families of vertex-transitive or locally-transitive graphs. A description of the lattice of quasiprimitive subgroups of $`S_n`$ was given in  and was used, for example, in analysing Cayley graphs of finite simple groups in .

###### Theorem 4.5

 Suppose that $`G<H<S_n`$ with $`G`$ quasiprimitive and imprimitive, and $`H`$ quasiprimitive but $`HA_n`$. Then either $`G`$ and $`H`$ have equal socles and the same O’Nan-Scott types, or the possibilities for the O’Nan-Scott types of $`G,H`$ are restricted and are known explicitly.

In the latter case, for most pairs of O’Nan-Scott types, explicit constructions are given for these inclusions. Not all the types of primitive groups identified by the O’Nan-Scott Theorem occur for every degree $`n`$. Let us call permutation groups of degree $`n`$ other than $`A_n`$ and $`S_n`$ nontrivial. A systematic study by Cameron, Neumann and Teague  of the integers $`n`$ for which there exists a nontrivial primitive group of degree $`n`$ showed that the set of such integers has density zero in the natural numbers. Recently it was shown in  that a similar result holds for the degrees of nontrivial quasiprimitive and innately transitive permutation groups. Note that $`2.2<_{d=1}^{\mathrm{}}\frac{1}{d\varphi (d)}<2.23`$.

###### Theorem 4.6

 For a positive real number $`x`$, the proportion of integers $`nx`$ for which there exists a nontrivial primitive, quasiprimitive, or innately transitive permutation group of degree $`n`$ is at most $`(1+o(1))c/\mathrm{log}x`$, where $`c=2`$ in the case of primitive groups, or $`c=1+_{d=1}^{\mathrm{}}\frac{1}{d\varphi (d)}`$ for the other cases.

## 5 . Simple groups and basic permutation groups

Many of the results about basic permutation groups mentioned above rely on specific knowledge about finite simple groups. Sometimes this knowledge was already available in the simple group literature. However investigations of basic permutation groups often raised interesting new questions about simple groups. Answering these questions became an integral part of the study of basic groups, and the answers enriched our understanding of finite simple groups. In this final section we review a few of these new simple group results. Handling the primitive almost simple classical groups was the most difficult part of proving Theorem 4.3, and the following theorem of Aschbacher formed the basis for their analysis.

###### Theorem 5.1

 Let $`G`$ be a subgroup of a finite almost simple classical group $`X`$ such that $`G`$ does not contain $`\mathrm{soc}(X)`$, and let $`V`$ denote the natural vector space associated with $`X`$. Then either $`G`$ lies in one of eight explicitly defined families of subgroups, or $`G`$ is almost simple, absolutely irreducible on $`V`$ and the (projective) representation of $`\mathrm{soc}(G)`$ on $`V`$ cannot be realised over a proper subfield.

A detailed study of classical groups based on Theorem 5.1 led to Theorem 5.2, a classification of the maximal factorisations of the almost simple groups. This classification was fundamental to the proofs of Theorems 3.4 and 4.3, and has been used in diverse applications, for example see .

###### Theorem 5.2

 Let $`G`$ be a finite almost simple group and suppose that $`G=AB`$, where $`A,B`$ are both maximal in $`G`$ subject to not containing $`\mathrm{soc}(G)`$. Then $`G,A,B`$ are explicitly listed.

For a finite group $`G`$, let $`\pi (G)`$ denote the set of prime divisors of $`|G|`$. For many simple groups $`G`$ there are small subsets of $`\pi (G)`$ that do not occur in the order of any proper subgroup, and it is possible to describe some of these precisely as follows.

###### Theorem 5.3

\[21, Theorem 4, Corollaries 5 and 6\] Let $`G`$ be an almost simple group with socle $`T`$, and let $`M`$ be a subgroup of $`G`$ not containing $`T`$.

1. If $`G=T`$ then for an explicitly defined subset $`\mathrm{\Pi }\pi (T)`$ with $`|\mathrm{\Pi }|3`$, if $`\mathrm{\Pi }\pi (M)`$ then $`T,M`$ are known explicitly, and in most cases $`\pi (T)=\pi (M)`$.
2. If $`\pi (T)\pi (M)`$ then $`T,M`$ are known explicitly.

Theorem 5.3 was used in  to classify all innately transitive groups having no fixed-point-free elements of prime order, settling the polycirculant graph conjecture for such groups. Another application of Theorems 5.2 and 5.3 is the following factorisation theorem that was used in the proof of Theorem 4.5. It implies in particular that, if $`G`$ is quasiprimitive of degree $`n`$ with nonabelian and non-simple socle, then $`S_n`$ and possibly $`A_n`$ are the only almost simple over-groups of $`G`$.

###### Theorem 5.4

\[26, Theorem 1.4\] Let $`T,S`$ be finite nonabelian simple groups such that $`T`$ has proper subgroups $`A,B`$ with $`T=AB`$ and $`A=S^{\mathrm{}}`$ for some $`\mathrm{}2`$. Then $`T=A_n`$, $`B=A_{n1}`$, where $`n=|T:B|`$, and $`A`$ is a transitive group of degree $`n`$.

Finally we note that Theorem 4.6 is based on the following result about indices of subgroups of finite simple groups.

###### Theorem 5.5

 For a positive real number $`x`$, the proportion of integers $`nx`$ of the form $`n=|T:M|`$, where $`T`$ is a nonabelian simple group and $`M`$ is either a maximal subgroup or a proper subgroup, and $`(T,M)(A_n,A_{n1})`$, is at most $`(1+o(1))c/\mathrm{log}x`$, where $`c=1`$ or $`c=_{d=1}^{\mathrm{}}\frac{1}{d\varphi (d)}`$ respectively.

We have presented a framework for studying finite permutation groups by identifying and analysing their basic components. The impetus for extending the theory beyond primitive groups came from the need for an appropriate theory of basic permutation groups for combinatorial applications. Developing this theory required the answers to specific questions about simple groups, and the power of the theory is largely due to its use of the finite simple group classification.


text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Branes and their different configurations are known to play important roles in the unified formulation of nonperturbative string/M theory \[1-4\]. Brane configurations that contain tachyonic model are unstable and will decay. The decay models vary depending on the unstable brane configurations. In a series of papers, Sen had made several conjectures on tachyon condensation  which have drawn attention to various non-BPS D-brane configurations in string theory \[6-10\]. According to the conjectures the potential height of the tachyon potential exactly cancels the tension of the original unstable D-brane and, at the stable true vacuum, the original D-brane disappears and the kink-type tachyon condensed states correspond to lower-dimensional D-branes.

One of the interesting D-brane configurations is a pair of D-branes intersecting at an angle \[11-14\]. Such a scenario of intersecting branes is known to be possible to construct models similar to the standard model  and may provide a simple mechanism for inflation in the early universe .

In this paper we will investigate the mechanism of recombination of intersection D-branes. Within the framework of the effective tachyon field theory \[6-10\] we describe how a pair of D-branes intersecting at an angle shall recombine.

In the section II we briefly review the effective one-tachyon Lagrangian. In the section III we use the effective two-tachyon Lagrangian , in which the tachyon is described as a two-by-two matrix field, to study the diagonal fluctuation in the background of the kink solutions. The kink solutions in here are regarded as tachyon condensations of the non-BPS brane in higher dimension. As the tachyon condensated state represents a lower-dimensional BPS-brane, it is a stable configuration. Therefore the diagonal fluctuation in the background of the kink solutions will have no tachyonic mode. Then, as the main contain of this paper, we study the off-diagonal fluctuation in the background of the kink solutions. in this case as the D-branes (i.e. kinks) intersecting at an angle is unstable the off-diagonal fluctuation will have tachyonic mode. After diagonalizing the tachyonic matrix field we see that the eigenfunction can describe the new recombined branes. In the section IV we extend our method to discuss the general behavior of the recombination of intersection D-branes which possessing arbitrary function forms. We also present the physical reasons behind the mathematical process of diagonalizing the tachyonic matrix field.

Note that in a recent paper Hashimoto and Nagaoka  had investigated the recombination of intersecting D-branes by using the super Yang-Mills theory which are low energy effective theories of D-branes. The Yang-Mills field therein represents the dynamics field on the branes while the Higgs fields represent the locations of the D-branes. Our investigations are within the framework of tachyon field theory, thus the dynamics field on the branes are these fluctuating in the background of kink solution and the locations of the D-branes are at the zeros of tachyon field (see the next section).

## 2 Tachyon Effective Field Theory of One Brane System

The two derivative truncation of boundary string field theory which embody the tachyon dynamics is described by the Lagrangian \[6-10\]

$$L_{D_p}=\tau _p\left(\frac{1}{2}^\mu T_\mu T+1\right)e^{T^2/4}.$$
$`(2.1)`$
where $`\tau _p`$ is the tension of the unstable $`D_p`$ brane. The associated field equation is

$$4_\mu ^2T+T(2_\mu T^\mu T)=0.$$
$`(2.2)`$
There are some interesting solutions in the above field equation:

(1) $`T=0`$: This is an unstable vacuum which corresponds to the original $`D_p`$ brane. Its energy density is exactly equal to the $`D_p`$ brane tension.

(2) $`T=\pm \mathrm{}`$: This is the stable vacuum which is thought of as the ”closed string vacuum” with vanishing energy.

(3) $`T=\sqrt{2}x`$: This is a stable one soliton solution which represents a kink solution with center at $`x=0`$. This kink solution has tension $`\tau _{p1}=2\sqrt{2\pi }\tau _p`$ which is reasonably close to the actual value of $`\tau _{p1}=\sqrt{2}\pi \tau _p`$. The mass square for the fluctuation modes about this soliton has the equal spacing and the mass tower starts from a massless state. There has no tachyonic mode and we can therefore identify this solution as a lower-dimensional stable BPS brane \[3-6\].

(4) $`T=ax\pm by`$, if $`a^2+b^2=1`$: As can be seen from (2.1) that the energy density of this kink solution is maximum along the trajectory $`ax\pm by=0`$. Therefore this solution represents an another stable one soliton solution which represents a kink solution with center located at $`ax\pm by=0`$. In fact, this kink solution may be regarded as the solution 3 while in a new coordinate. The intersection angle $`\theta `$ between the x-axis and this kink solution is

$$\theta =tan^1(\pm b/a).$$
$`(2.3)`$
It is a difficult work to find another kink solution from the field equation (2.2). However, it shall be noticed that the Lagrangian (2.1) is a truncated effective one in which the higher-derivative terms have been neglected. Therefore, to make sense the finding kink solution we see that the solution can not be curved to much. The solutions 3 and 4 are surely satisfy the criteria. The fluctuation from such a kink solution is the same as the solution 3 and will be investigated in section 3.1. It will be seen that there is no tachyonic mode as the kink-type condensation is a lower dimensional stable BPS brane.

## 3 Tachyon Effective Field Theory of Two Branes System

In order to describe two branes system the tachyon field needs to be generalized to a two-by-two matrix \[8-10\]. In this paper we use the following Lagrangian of the tachyon effective field

$$L=\tau _pTr\left[\frac{1}{2}^\mu Te^{T^2/8}_\mu Te^{T^2/8}+e^{T^2/4}\right].$$
$`(3.1)`$
This Lagrangian has been derived from the string theory by Kutasov, Marino and Moore . Minahan  had also used this Lagrangian to investigate the property of stretched strings in tachyon condensation models.

For the two-branes system the tachyonic matrix field can be expressed as

$$T=\left(\begin{array}{cc}T_++t_+& f\\ f& T_{}+t_{}\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}T_0+\mathrm{}T_0+t_0+\mathrm{}t_0& f\\ f& T_0\mathrm{}T_0+t_0\mathrm{}t_0\end{array}\right).$$
$`(3.2)`$
When $`T_0=ax`$, $`\mathrm{}T=by`$ with $`a^2+b^2=2`$ then the diagonal parts, $`T_\pm ax\pm by`$ represent kinks (i.e., a stable BPS branes after tachyon condensation from a higher dimensional unstable Non-PBS branes) with the centers located at $`ax\pm by=0`$. The another diagonal fields $`t_\pm (x,y)t_0\pm \mathrm{}t_0`$ describe the fluctuations on the kink solutions $`T_\pm `$. The off-diagonal fields are $`f(x,y)`$ which represent the lowest energy excitation of the strings stretched between a BPS brane (i.e., a kink located at $`ax+by=0`$) and BPS brane (i.e., a kink located at $`axby=0`$).

### 3.1 Diagonal Fluctuation of Two Branes System

Let us first neglect the off-diagonal part in the tachyon field matrix (3.2) and investigate the fluctuations of the diagonal fields $`t_\pm (x,y)`$. In this case we can represent the tachyon field as

$$T=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\stackrel{~}{T}_0+\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{T}_0& 0\\ 0& \stackrel{~}{T}_0\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{T}_0\end{array}\right)=\stackrel{~}{T}_0+\sigma _3\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{T}_0,$$
$`(3.3)`$
in which we define $`\stackrel{~}{T}_0=T_0+t_0`$, $`\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{T}_0=\mathrm{}T_0+\mathrm{}t_0`$. $`\sigma _3`$ is a Pauli matrix. Then from the simple relations $`[1,\sigma _3]=0`$, $`\sigma _3^2=1`$ and $`e^{a\sigma _3}=cosh(a)+\sigma _3sinh(a)`$ we can find that

$$e^{T^2/8}=e^{\left(\stackrel{~}{T}_0^2+\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{T}_0^2\right)/8}\left[cosh\left(\stackrel{~}{T}_0\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{T}_0/4\right)\sigma _3sinh\left(\stackrel{~}{T}_0\mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{T}_0/4\right)\right],$$
$`(3.4a)`$
$$_\mu T=_\mu \stackrel{~}{T}_0+\sigma _3_\mu \mathrm{}\stackrel{~}{T}_0.$$
$`(3.4b)`$
Substituting above relations into (3.1) the Lagrangian expanded to the second order of the fluctuation fields $`t_\pm `$ can be found. The associated field equations are

$$4_\mu ^2T_\pm +T_\pm (2_\mu T_\pm ^\mu T_\pm )=0,$$
$`(3.5)`$
which is just the equation (3.2) and have the solutions $`T_\pm ax\pm by`$, which represent kinks with the centers located at $`ax\pm by=0`$, if $`a^2+b^2=2`$. For such a system of intersecting branes the fluctuation field $`t_\pm `$ will satisfy the field equation

$$2\left(\frac{^2t_\pm }{x^2}+\frac{^2t_\pm }{y^2}\right)(ax\pm by)\left(a\frac{t_\pm }{x}\pm b\frac{t_\pm }{y}\right)=m^2t_\pm ,$$
$`(3.6)`$
The mode function and mass square of the above equation are

$$f_n(x,y)=(n!)^{1/2}2^{n/2}\left(\frac{a^2}{4\pi }\right)^{1/4}H_n(ax\pm by),$$
$`(3.7)`$
$$m^2=\frac{1}{4}n,n0.$$
$`(3.8)`$
The above solution describes a simple harmonic oscillation and the mass tower starts from a massless state, thus there has no tachyonic mode in there. These solutions are just the solution 3 or 4 in the section 2. This is a trivial phenomena as neglecting the off-diagonal interaction the two branes become independent.

### 3.2 Off-diagonal Fluctuation of Two Branes System

Let us now neglect the diagonal fluctuation field $`t_\pm `$ part in the tachyon field matrix (3.2) and investigate the fluctuations of the off-diagonal fields $`f(x,y)`$. In this case we can represent the tachyon field as

$$T=\left(\begin{array}{cc}T_+& f\\ f& T_{}\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}T_0+\mathrm{}T_0& f\\ f& T_0\mathrm{}T_0\end{array}\right)=T_0+\sigma _3\mathrm{}T_0+\sigma _xf.$$
$`(3.9)`$
Then, using the formula

$$e^{x\sigma _x+z\sigma _z}=cosh(\sqrt{x^2+z^2})+\frac{x\sigma _x+z\sigma _z}{\sqrt{x^2+z^2}}sinh(\sqrt{x^2+z^2}),$$
$`(3.10)`$
the Lagrangian (3.1) expanding to the second order in the off-diagonal tachyon field can be found. When $`T_\pm =ax\pm bz`$, which represent intersecting kinks with the centers located at $`ax\pm by=0`$, if $`a^2+b^2=2`$, then the field $`f(x,y)`$, which represents the lowest string mode connecting the intersecting kinks, will satisfy the equation

$$\left(\frac{^2f}{x^2}+\frac{^2f}{y^2}\right)\frac{1}{2}\left(a^2x\frac{f}{x}+b^2y\frac{f}{y}\right)\frac{1}{4}(a^2b^22)f=m^2f,$$
$`(3.11)`$
The mode solution and mass square of the above equation are

$$f_{k,n}(x,y)=\varphi _k(x)\varphi _n(y),$$
$`(3.12)`$
$$\varphi _k(x)(k!)^{1/2}2^{k/2}\left(\frac{a^2}{4\pi }\right)^{1/4}H_k(ax),$$

$$\varphi _n(y)(n!)^{1/2}2^{n/2}\left(\frac{b^2}{4\pi }\right)^{1/4}H_n(by),$$

$$m^2=\frac{1}{2}(a^2k+b^2(n1)),k,n0.$$
$`(3.13)`$
The above solutions describes simple harmonic oscillations and the mass tower starts from a negative state with $`m^2=\frac{b^2}{2}`$ which corresponds to the mode of $`k=n=0`$. Therefore there has tachyonic mode in the intersection D-branes when the interaction therein is turned on. The existence of the tachyonic mode signs the instability of the intersection D-branes. The tachyonic mode in here does not depend on the space coordinate. This property was first found in .

Note that the worldsheet spectrum of the string connecting the intersecting D-branes has a tachyonic state whose mass squared is $`m^2=|b|`$ for small $`b`$ . This contradicts our results. In fact, our tachyonic field system would not be changed if $`b`$ is replaced by $`b`$. Thus, as it seems difficult to obtain a spectrum proportional to $`|b|`$ in solving the tachyonic field equation, the spectrum proportional to $`b^2`$ seem to be a general result if one try to study the problem from the tachyonic field model. We conjecture that such a discrepancy may be a general property in a tachyon effective field theory even if the higher-derivative terms were included 111After the paper was released to the arXiv Hashimoto and Nagaoka  informed us that they had also known such a discrepancy..

It was argued that \[11-14\] a pair of intersection D-branes will recombine. To describe the new recombined state we will consider the following tachyonic matrix field

$$T_{initial}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}T_+& f_{0,0}\\ f_{0,0}& T_{}\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}ax+by& \sqrt{\frac{ab}{4}}\\ \sqrt{\frac{ab}{4}}& axby\end{array}\right),$$
$`(3.14)`$
in which $`f_{0,0}`$ is the tachyonic mode. Then, after diagonalizing the above two-by-two tachyonic matrix field we see that the eigenfunctions describe the new recombined branes are

$$T_{new}=ax\pm \sqrt{b^2y^2+\frac{ab}{4\pi }}.$$
$`(3.15)`$
The geometry of the recombination is shown in figure 1.

Fig.1. Recombination of intersecting branes. The original pair of branes are intersecting at (0,0). After the recombination the new branes, which do not intersect to each other, will cross x-axis near the positions $`(\sqrt{\frac{ab}{4\pi }},0)`$ and ($`\sqrt{\frac{ab}{4\pi }},0)`$ respectively.

Note that Hashimoto and Nagaoka  investigated the recombination of Intersecting D-branes by using the super Yang-Mills theory which are low energy effective theories of D-branes. In their approach the Higgs fields therein represent the locations of the D-branes. They diagonalize the matrix, which is constructed from the original Higgs fields and the associated small fluctuation, to find the new eigenfunctions which, they claim to be able to represent the new locations of the combined branes. Our approach, on the other hand, use the effective tachyon field theory. We regard the branes as the kink-type tachyon condensed states and use the effective two-tachyon Lagrangian to study the off-diagonal fluctuation therein. We describe the new eigenfunctions as the configurations of the recombined branes. Our method give an alternative view to see the recombination of intersecting branes. In the next section we will use our prescription to discuss the general behavior of the recombination of intersection D-branes which possessing arbitrary function forms. We also present the physical reasons behind the mathematical process of diagonalizing the tachyonic matrix field.

## 4 General property of a Pair of Intersecting Branes

Consider the more general case in which the lower-dimensional stable BPS D-brane solutions are described be the tachyon fields $`T_\pm (x,y)`$. Due to the potential form $`e^{T^2/8}`$ in (3.1) the branes is located near the position $`T_\pm (x,y)0`$. If the branes are intersecting then we can choose a new coordinate such that near the intersecting position the branes recombination can also be described as Figure 1. Therefore the mechanism of the recombination near the intersecting position shall be just that described in section 3. The other parts of the brane far away from the intersecting position does not be changed significantly as can be seen from the following argument.

For intersecting branes described by the tachyon fields $`T_\pm (x,y)`$ there will have a tachyonic mode in the off-diagonal fluctuation $`f_0(x,y)`$, which signs the instability of the intersecting D-branes. The generally tachyonic matrix field can be expressed as

$$T_{initial}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}T_+(x,y)& f_0(x,y)\\ f_0(x,y)& T_{}(x,y)\end{array}\right).$$
$`(4.1)`$
in which $`f_0(x,y)`$ is a small fluctuation of the tachyonic mode. Now, after diagonalizing the above two-by-two tachyonic matrix field we see that the eigenfunctions describe the new recombined branes are

$$T_{new}=\frac{1}{2}\left(T_++T_{}\pm \sqrt{(T_+T_{})^2+f_0^2}\right).$$
$`(4.2)`$
We see that $`T_{new}0`$ at the initial intersection positions in which $`T_+(x,y)=T_{}(x,y)=0`$. Thus the intersecting branes shall be recombined. The positions satisfy the relations $`T_\pm (x,y)=0,T_{}(x,y)0`$ represent a brane described by tachyon field $`T_{}(x,y)`$ while excluding the intersecting positions. In this case we see that, as the fluctuation field is small, $`T_{new}T_{}(x,y)`$. Thus the recombined brane far away from the intersecting positions is approximately described by the original tachyon field $`T_{}(x,y)`$. We can therefore conclude that the parts of the brane far away from the intersecting position does not be changed significantly.

We finally present the physical reasons behind the mathematical process of diagonalizing the tachyonic matrix field.

(1) Initially we prepare a pair of intersecting D-branes with kink fields $`T_{}`$. After turning on the interaction between the intersecting D-branes there will appear tachyonic mode fluctuation $`f_0`$ which signs the instability of the system. The tachyonic matrix field $`T_{initial}`$ with diagonal part $`T_{}`$ and off-diagonal part $`f_0`$ was used to represent the initially unstable state.

(2) To stabilize the system the unstable intersecting D-branes, which is represented by $`T_{initial}`$, shall be recombined into two separated D-branes which would never intersect to each other anymore, because any intersecting D-branes will possess tachyonic mode fluctuation and is thus still unstable. This means that the kink fields $`T_{}`$ shall combine with tachyon field $`f`$ and condense into two separated D-branes. In this case we can therefore use a diagonalized new tachyonic matrix field $`T_{new}`$ to represent the new stable state.

(3) Now, from the energy conservation we know that the system described by the tachyonic matrix fields $`T_{initial}`$ and $`T_{new}`$ shall have the same energy. Therefore, denoting the Hamiltonian as H, we have a relation

$$TrH(T_{initial})=TrH(T_{new}),$$
$`(4.3)`$
(Note that as the initial and new systems are both described by the same Lagrangian $`L`$ (3.1) they shall have the same Hamiltonian form $`H`$ too.)

(4) One can then try to find a matrix $`S`$ to diagonalize the $`T_{initial}`$,

$$T_{new}=ST_{initial}S^1,$$
$`(4.4)`$
and substitute (4.4) into (4.3) to check whether the relation (4.3) was satisfied. If it was satisfied then the new recombined brane is possible to be represented by the new matrix tachyon field $`T_{new}`$. Note that any theory has many states which have the same energy so the checking that the energies are identical could not sure that the states are the same. Therefore the above argument is just only one of the supporting evidences.

In short, if the matrix field $`T_{initial}`$, which represents initially unstable intersecting D-branes, and its diagonalized matrix field $`T_{new}`$, which represents two separated stable D-branes, have the same energy then the matrix field $`T_{new}`$ may be able to represent the new recombined D-branes.

It shall be noted that as there is the term $`_\mu T`$ in $`H`$ it is not easy to perform such a checking work. However, when the fluctuation field is small then the checking work becomes more easy, as the matrix $`S`$ is a unit matrix plus a matrix with small elements. Our checking has found that the relation (4.3) is consistent with (4.4) and we thus claim that $`T_{new}`$ can really represent the new recombined D-branes.

## 5 Conclusion

In this paper we investigate the mechanism of recombination of intersection D-branes within the framework of the effective tachyon field theory. We use the effective two-tachyon matrix field Lagrangian to study the off-diagonal fluctuation in the background of the kink solutions. We regard the kink solutions as the tachyon condensations of the non-BPS brane in higher dimension. In the background of the intersecting D-branes the off-diagonal fluctuations have tachyonic mode. After diagonalizing the tachyon matrix field we see that the eigenfunction can describe the new recombined branes. We generalize our method to discuss the general behavior of the recombination of intersection D-branes which possessing arbitrary function form. We also present in detail the physical reasons behind the mathematical process of diagonalizing the tachyonic matrix field. It is hoped the our prescription can be extended to discuss other unstable brane configurations such as the brane ending on branes, brane system with different dimensions, etc. We will investigate these problems in the later studying.

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