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# Defect and anisotropic gap induced quasi-one-dimensional modulation of local density of states in YBa2Cu3O7-δ

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## Abstract

Motivated by recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurement that superconducting YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) exhibits a $`d_{x^2y^2}`$+$`s`$-symmetry gap, we show possible quasi-one-dimensional modulations of local density of states in YBCO. These aniostropic gap and defect induced stripe structures are most conspicuous at higher biases and arise due to the nesting effect associated with a Fermi liquid. Observation of these spectra by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) would unify the picture among STM, ARPES, and inelastic neutron scattering for YBCO.

PACS numbers: 74.70.Pq, 74.20.Rp, 74.25.Ld

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After more than one and half decades of the discovery of high-temperature superconductors, there lies still one central question: are these materials behave like a Fermi liquid? Recent scanning tunneling measurements (STM) however have provided a new platform in detecting this critical issue, to which modulations of local density of states (LDOS) are observed in superconducting state of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (BSCCO) . More recently, experimentilists managed to obtain Fourier transform (FT) of these LDOS modulations, which then can be immediately used to test whether the system is Fermi-liquid like.

Analogous to angular resolved photo-emission spectroscopy (ARPES), FT-STM can study electronic properties connected to entire Brillouin zone of the system. When a system behaves as a Fermi liquid, Fermi surface (FS) scattering should be clearly identified in normal state. While in superconducting state, it should also give information on how the symmetry of Cooper pair order parameter develops on the FS. Assuming the effect of defect, experimentally observed STM LDOS modulation can be ascribed to quantum interference arising because quasiparticles are scattered by the defect locally. The occurrence of peaks and their evolution as the bias change in the FT-STM spectra seem to be explained well by Fermi liquid models, whose FS topology is consistent with previous ARPES results. Moreover, the origin of peak moving in FT-STM is very similar to what of the incommensurate peaks observed in inelastic neutron scattering (INS) . Apparently this scenario is in great contrast to the stripe picture , interpreted in the STM data of Howald et al.  and the one-dimensional (1D) INS data of Mook et al. .

Perhaps of technical involvement, the STM data done for YBCO so far have been limited to the CuO chain layers only . It becomes naturally to ask what would be seen by STM on CuO2 plane layers of YBCO . As is well known, due to the coupling to the 1D CuO chains, the CuO2 plane is orthorhombic rather than tetragonal. The perfect $`D_{4h}`$ symmetry is broken which accounts naturally for the additional symmetry mixed in the order parameter of the CuO2 plane. In this regard, it is commonly accepted that there is a subdominant $`s`$-wave component in addition to the dominant $`d_{x^2y^2}`$-wave superconducting gap for CuO2 planes. This view is supported by earlier tunneling data  and verified by recent data of ARPES . The 1D like incommensurate INS peaks  can also be interpreted by this picture associated with a Fermi liquid . When fitted to a simple $`d_{x^2y^2}`$+$`s`$ model, ARPES data reveals that the $`s`$-wave component is about 20 $`\%`$ of $`d`$-wave component .

Here, based on a Fermi liquid model, we investigate the LDOS specific to CuO2 planes of superconducting YBCO. Similar to other theoretical works , we consider the effect of defect, while pay special attention to the gap anisotropy. Our goal is to bring out the most conspicuous features and inspire STM measurements to be performed. Successful observation of our predictions in either real-space or FT LDOS could unambiguously identify (1) the goodness of Fermi-liquid behavior and (2) the $`d_{x^2y^2}+s`$ symmetry of gap for YBCO. Furthermore this could lead to a unified picture among ARPES , INS , and STM on YBCO.

To investigate the LDOS spectra, we start by considering the following Hamiltonian

$`H=H_{\mathrm{BCS}}+H_\mathrm{I},`$ (1)
where the usual BCS part is

$`H_{\mathrm{BCS}}={\displaystyle \underset{𝐤,\sigma }{}}\xi _𝐤c_{𝐤\sigma }^{}c_{𝐤\sigma }+{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤}{}}[\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤c_𝐤^{}c_𝐤^{}+\mathrm{H}.\mathrm{c}.]`$ (2)
and the part associated with the presence of one single extended impurity located at site 0 is

$`H_\mathrm{I}=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{i,j,\sigma }{}}\delta t_{ij}c_{i\sigma }^{}c_{j\sigma }+{\displaystyle \underset{i,j}{}}[\delta \mathrm{\Delta }_{ij}c_i^{}c_j^{}+\mathrm{H}.\mathrm{c}.]`$ (3)
$`+`$ $`V_0\left(c_0^{}c_0+c_0^{}c_0\right).`$ (4)
The parameter $`\delta t`$ corresponds to local deviation of hopping due to impurity , $`\delta \mathrm{\Delta }`$ corresponds to local deviation of pairing gap due to impurity, and $`V_0`$ is spin-independent impurity potential. Any spin-dependent impurity potential ignoring spin-flip will have no effect in the lowest-order approximation. For extensive but weak impurity scattering, we consider local deviations to those terms ($`\delta t_1`$, $`\delta \mathrm{\Delta }_1`$) couple the impurity site and its nearest neighbors and terms ($`\delta t_2`$, $`\delta \mathrm{\Delta }_2`$) couple impurity’s nearest neighbors and next nearest neighbors. Similar kinds of Hamiltonian have been successfully used by Tang and Flatté  to explain the resonant STM spectra for Ni impurities in BSCCO and by Wang and Lee  and Zhang and Ting  to explain the energy-dependent modulation of FT-STM spectra on BSCCO. We shall comment how our results are modified and their experimental relevance when more than one defect are present later.

The local density of states measured by STM is given by

$`D(𝐫,\omega )=`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi }}\mathrm{Im}[G_{11}(𝐫,𝐫,\omega +i0^+)`$ (5)
$``$ $`G_{22}(𝐫,𝐫,\omega i0^+)],`$ (6)
where $`G_{ij}`$ is the element of the 2$`\times `$2 equal-location single-particle Green’s function matrix $`\widehat{G}`$ in Nambu representation. The full $`\widehat{G}`$ can be calculated via the usual Gor’kov-Dyson equation

$`\widehat{G}(𝐫,𝐫,\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`\widehat{G}^0(𝐫,𝐫,\omega )+{\displaystyle \underset{𝐫^{},𝐫^{\prime \prime }}{}}\widehat{G}^0(𝐫,𝐫^{},\omega )\widehat{T}(𝐫^{},𝐫^{\prime \prime },\omega )`$ (7)
$`\times `$ $`\widehat{G}^0(𝐫^{\prime \prime },𝐫,\omega ),`$ (8)
where $`\widehat{G}^0(𝐫_i,𝐫_j)\widehat{G}^0(𝐫_i𝐫_j)`$ correspond to the no-defect ones of $`\widehat{G}(𝐫_i,𝐫_j)`$ and the sums (and the $`T`$-matrix $`\widehat{T}(𝐫^{},𝐫^{\prime \prime },\omega )`$) in Eq. (8) are over the sites associated with $`H_\mathrm{I}`$ in Eq. (4). For weak impurity scattering, we shall calculate $`\widehat{G}`$ in Eq. (8) up to first order of $`\delta t`$’s, $`\delta \mathrm{\Delta }`$’s, and $`V_0`$, i.e., in the Born limit or first order $`T`$-matrix approximation . In our calculation, we use a $`800\times 800`$ square lattice sites and the impurity is located in the center. For simple but reasonable reason, we choose $`2\delta t_1=4\delta t_2=2\delta \mathrm{\Delta }_1=4\delta \mathrm{\Delta }_2=V_0`$ and assume these scales are samll such that the first order T-matrix approximation is valid. It should be emphasized that the weak impurity scattering limit is enough to bring out essential physics. Strong impurity is not expected to give qualitatively new feature away from its neighborhood of interest (see later). For $`\xi _𝐤`$, we use a tight-binding band $`\xi _𝐤=t_1(\mathrm{cos}k_x+\mathrm{cos}k_y)/2+t_2\mathrm{cos}k_x\mathrm{cos}k_y+t_3(\mathrm{cos2}k_x+\mathrm{cos2}k_y)/2+t_4(\mathrm{cos2}k_x\mathrm{cos}k_y+\mathrm{cos}k_x\mathrm{cos2}k_y)/2+t_5\mathrm{cos2}k_x\mathrm{cos2}k_y`$ (lattice constant $`a1`$), with $`t_{15}=0.60,0.16,0.05,0.11,0.05`$ eV respectively for YBCO. The fine structure of the band do not alter the main results reported in this paper. For superconducting gap of YBCO, we assume $`\mathrm{\Delta }_𝐤=\mathrm{\Delta }_d/2(\mathrm{cos}k_x\mathrm{cos}k_y)+\mathrm{\Delta }_s`$ with $`\mathrm{\Delta }_d=36.7\mathrm{meV}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_s/\mathrm{\Delta }_ds=0.2`$. This gives the maximum gaps at antinodes $`(\pi ,0)`$ and $`(0,\pi )`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{max}}^x=44\mathrm{m}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{max}}^y=29.3\mathrm{meV}`$. Thus $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{max}}^x/\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{max}}^y=1.5`$ in accordance with ARPES measurement . In our calculation, we also introduce a finite lifetime broadening $`\gamma =2`$ meV to the quasiparticle Green’s function to smooth our data points by replacing $`\omega +i0^+`$ with $`\omega +i\gamma `$.

Theoretically $`D(𝐪,\omega )`$, the Fourier transform of $`D(𝐫,\omega )`$ is more readily obtained. In Fig. 1, we calculate the bias energy dependent $`D(𝐪,\omega )`$ over the whole first Brillouin zone. Energies have been taken from $`23\mathrm{m}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}`$ to $`23\mathrm{m}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}`$ — a scale less than the maximum gap at antinode $`(0,\pi )`$ of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{max}}^y=29.3`$ meV. All frames are for anisotropy $`s=0.2`$ except (g) and (h) with $`s=0.1`$ and $`0.05`$, which are intended to be compared to (e). The case of small $`s`$ recovers the results of Wang et al.  and Zhang et al.  for a pure $`d_{x^2y^2}`$-wave superconductor. When energy is low \[case (a) and (b)\], only node-to-node scattering is allowed, to which the finite $`𝐪`$ interference is not prominent. The most important interference appears to those zero or small $`𝐪`$ scatterings, which nevertheless exhibit clear feature of anisotropic gap. When energy is high \[case (e) and (f)\], in contrast, finite $`𝐪`$ interference peaks emerge in addition to the strong interference structure centered at $`𝐪=0`$.

Fig. 2 shows the Fermi surface used in our calculation, and contours of $`E_𝐤`$ = 23 meV. At this high energy (about half of the maximum gap at antinode $`(\pi ,0)`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{max}}^x=44`$ meV), the 2-fold symmetry of the gap causes the contour pair approaching ends of the bananas to be more parallel near $`x`$-axis than the pairs near $`y`$-axis. The more parallel pair has better nesting effect locally (intra- or inter-contour) , which then further enhances the joint DOS . In view of Fig. 1(e) or 1(f), conspicuous interference peaks associated with wavevectors $`𝐪_1`$ and $`𝐪_1^{}`$ are clearly identified (see also Fig. 3). While, for example, no similar interference peak associated with $`𝐪_2`$ (see Fig. 2) is seen.

To illustrate how the $`𝐪_1`$ and $`𝐪_1^{}`$ peaks evolve as the change of bias energy, we plot $`D(𝐪,\omega )`$ in Fig. 3, taking $`𝐪`$ along $`𝐪a/\pi =`$ (0,1)-(0,0)-(1,0) at bias energy from -5 to -23 meV (left: from bottom to top), and from $`+`$5 to $`+`$23 meV (right: from bottom to top). Both frames show clear signatures of $`𝐪_1`$ and $`𝐪_1^{}`$ peaks which disperse as the bias energy changes. Their intensity increases as bias energy increases, to which $`𝐪_1`$ disperses convergently to a fixed value near $`\pm 0.25(2\pi /a)\widehat{𝐲}`$, while $`𝐪_1^{}`$ disperses divergently. No peak develops at $`𝐪_2`$ except some plateaus at intermediate energies. The extensive, centered at zone center $`(0,0)`$, quasi-1D like strong interference structure (parallel to $`k_x`$ axis, see Fig. 3 as well as Fig. 1(e)), comprised of $`𝐪_1^{}`$ peaks discussed above, is superposed by the zero and small-$`𝐪`$ scattering connecting two $`𝐤`$ points within the same contour. It is the $`𝐪_1^{}`$ peaks, which is enhanced by local nesting effect, gives rise to the 1D interference structure parallel to $`k_x`$ axis.

One particular interest on $`D(𝐪,\omega )`$ is the two $`𝐪_1`$ peaks which have wavevectors near $`\pm 0.25(2\pi /a)\widehat{𝐲}`$. These two peaks, if by themselves alone, would imply a 1D parallel to $`x`$-axis stripe pattern in the real-space DOS (with a period of roughly $`4a`$) — a pattern similar to the phenomenon predicted by “stripe” model .

To see how these stripes develop in real-space, in Fig. 4 we present the real-space LDOS modulation, taking Fourier transform of $`D(𝐪,\omega )`$. We consider only the $`\omega =23`$ meV and $`s=0.2`$ case \[Fig. 1(e)\] and include the $`s=0`$ case for comparison. For $`s=0.2`$ case, quasi-1D chains of beads of roughly $`4a`$ wide oriented approximately along $`x`$ axis are clearly seen at places away from the impurity site. The occurrence of these Friedel-type oscillating stripes arises because of the strong, centered at $`(0,0)`$, 1D interference structures. The latter also leads to the variation of intensities along $`y`$ axis. In contrast, for the four-fold symmetry $`s=0`$ case, similar 1D stripes also develop at places away from the impurity site. Clearly there exists no cross stripe pattern (checkerboard) anywhere in the $`s=0`$ case, in contradiction to most theoretical predictions . Recently Zhang, Hu, and Yu  considered the Zn or Ni impurity induced modulations of real-space LDOS for a $`d_{x^2y^2}`$-wave superconductor which has a simple continuum band of circular FS. They  reported similar circularly one-dimensional (not cross) patterns.

It should be emphasized that all the experimental $`𝐪`$-space peaks are obtained upon Fourier transforming a single chosen piece of real space, which shows no sign of localized impurities. While in our approach, it is clear that the different $`𝐪`$ peaks are originated from different patches of space surrounding the impurity (see Fig. 4). To relate our calculation ($`s=0`$ case) to the experiments (checkerboard pattern), we need to have dilute impurities, such that the decaying Friedel oscillations emanating from individual impurities overlap crossly at some open spaces, and therefore Fourier transforming this single region gives all the $`𝐪`$ peaks.

A direct consequence of this picture is that when the impurity concentration is too high, the LDOS oscillations will be smoothed out, as the phases of the oscillations are pinned by individual impurities and therefore incoherent. This will be in contrast to the genuine stripe scenario  where the oscillation will be expected to be more prominent since the stripes, fluctuating in smooth real spaces, will now get pinned by the impurities.

The case of multiple impurities for BSCCO is recently considered by Morr et al.  and Zhu et al. . Very recently Anderson and Hedegård  also study the quantum interference between multiple impurities for a $`d_{x^2y^2}`$-wave superconductor, whose pairing state could become $`d_{x^2y^2}+id_{xy}`$ or $`d_{x^2y^2}+is`$-wave at some doping level. Our dilute multi-impurity regime discussed above is fundamentally different from that any one else  has studied. Let the length scale between the impurities be $`d_0`$, and the distance away from the impurities, where we are interested, be $`d`$. Our interesting regime is then $`d_0d20a`$ (see Fig. 4), while the case other people have studied was $`d_0d`$ a few $`a`$.

Finally one does not expect any qualitatively new physics at the use of an unitary impurity, since it is known to affect only the LDOS locally close to the impurities, whereas we are now most interested in the regions away from the impurities. The essential point is that impurity scatters the quasiparticles, no matter in Born or unitary limit.

In summary, motivated by recent ARPES and INS results which are consistent with the picture that YBCO has superconducting gap of $`d_{x^2y^2}`$+$`s`$ symmetry, we predict that quasi-one-dimensional Friedel-type stripes can be induced by defect in superconducting YBCO, observable by STM measurement. This phenomenon is most conspicuous at higher biases and associated with the local nesting effect for a Fermi liquid. Hopefully the predicted modulations in either real or Fourier space can be tested by STM measurement soon.

This work is supported by National Science Council of Taiwan under Grant No. 91-2112-M-003-020.


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# Dimensional reduction from entanglement in Minkowski space

## 1 Introduction

Physics up to energy scales of about one TeV is very well described in terms of quantum field theory which uses, roughly, one quantum mechanical degree of freedom (DOF) for each point in space. This seems to imply that the maximal entropy $`S(V)`$, or the dimensionality of phase space, of a quantum system in a sub-volume $`V`$ is proportional to $`V`$. The Bekenstein entropy bound , that can be applied to any sub-volume $`V`$ in which gravity is not dominant tells us that $`S(V)`$ has to be less than or approximately equal to the boundary area $`A`$ of $`V`$ in Planck units . An interpretation of this, relying on arguments involving physics of black holes, was proposed by ’t Hooft and by Susskind  who suggested that the number of independent quantum DOF contained in a given spatial sub-volume $`V`$ is bounded by the surface area of the region measured in Planck units. The holographic principle (see  for a recent review) postulates an extreme reduction in the complexity of physical systems. It is widely believed that quantum gravity has to be formulated as a holographic theory, and it is implicitly assumed that gravity is somehow responsible for this massive reduction of the number of DOF. This point of view has received strong support from the AdS/CFT duality (see  for a review), which defines quantum gravity non-perturbatively in a certain class of space-times and explicitly exposes only the physical variables admitted by holography.

Another route leading to area dependent entropy originated in evidence of dimensional reduction due to quantum entanglement, mainly from the calculation of the von Neumann entropy of sub-systems. Srednicki  (and previously Bombelli et. al. ) considered the von Neumann entropy of quantum fields in a state defined by taking the vacuum and tracing over the DOF external to a spherical sub-volume of Minkowski space. They discovered that this “entropy of entanglement” was proportional to the boundary area of the sub-volume. It is possible to show that the entropy obtained by tracing over the DOF outside of a sub-volume of any shape is equal to the one obtained by tracing over the DOF inside this sub-volume  but an explicit numerical calculation was needed to show that it is linear in the area for a spherical sub-volume. Following this line of thought, some other geometries were considered, in particular, half of Minkowski space in various dimensionalities (see for example, ). Dimensional reduction in this case seems to be quite different from that in AdS, and its relationship to dimensional reduction due to gravity was never clarified (see however ).

Following a calculation in , we have discovered that in the vacuum state, energy fluctuations of a free massless scalar field in a sub-volume of Minkowski space are proportional to the boundary area of this sub-volume. Energy fluctuations of quantum fields in their vacuum state in the whole of Minkowski space vanish, of course, because the vacuum is an eigenstate of the hamiltonian. But, energy fluctuations in a sub-volume of Minkowski space do not vanish 111 As the sub-volume in question is of the order of the volume of Minkowski space, the energy fluctuations rapidly decrease to zero.. Not only do they not vanish, but they are divergent. Once a high-momentum cutoff is introduced to regularize the divergence, they depend on a positive power of the cutoff. The power is determined by dimensional analysis such that the result has the correct dimensionality. We will discuss the significance of the divergences in detail after presenting a concrete example.

The origin of such energy fluctuations is, in some sense, similar to the origin of entanglement entropy discussed above except that they do not involve tracing over DOF, and are calculated as quantum expectation values in a pure state, rather than as statistical averages over a mixed state. Area scaling is not specific to energy fluctuations of free massless fields. We show that it is valid for correlation functions of a class of operators and persists for interacting field theories. Here, also, the correlation functions diverge, with a power dependence on the UV cutoff. The power being determined by the dimensionality of the operator. In a specific case we show that the area scaling of correlation functions results from a boundary field theory at high temperature.

Let us start with a simple example: energy fluctuations of a free massless quantum field theory in its vacuum state in a sub-volume $`V`$ of Minkowski space. We define the (normal-ordered) energy operator for this sub-volume $`E^V=_V:(\stackrel{}{x}):d^dx`$, where $`:(\stackrel{}{x}):`$ is the normal-ordered zero-zero component of the energy-stress tensor, i.e., the hamiltonian density. For a free massless field theory in $`d`$ spatial dimensions it is possible to express $`E^V`$ in terms of canonical creation and annihilation operators $`a_\stackrel{}{p}^{}`$ and $`a_\stackrel{}{p}`$: $`E^V=\frac{1}{4}\frac{1}{(2\pi )^{2d}}_Vd^dx\frac{d^dp}{\sqrt{p}}\frac{d^dq}{\sqrt{q}}e^{ı(\stackrel{}{p}+\stackrel{}{q})\stackrel{}{x}}`$ $`\left\{2\left(pq\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{q}\right)a_\stackrel{}{p}^{}a_\stackrel{}{q}\left(\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{q}+pq\right)\left(a_\stackrel{}{p}a_\stackrel{}{q}+a_\stackrel{}{p}^{}a_\stackrel{}{q}^{}\right)\right\}.`$ The vacuum expectation value of $`E^V`$ vanishes: $`0|E^V|0=0`$. However, the energy fluctuations do not:

$$0|(E^V)^2|0=\frac{1}{8}\frac{1}{(2\pi )^{2d}}_Vd^dy_1_Vd^dy_2d^dpd^dqe^{ı(\stackrel{}{p}+\stackrel{}{q})(\stackrel{}{y}_1\stackrel{}{y}_2)}\left(\frac{\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{q}}{\sqrt{pq}}+\sqrt{pq}\right)^2.$$
(1)
After performing the integration over the momenta, the integrand is a function of the variable $`|\stackrel{}{y}_1\stackrel{}{y}_2|`$. Rewriting eq.(1) as $`(E^V)^2=\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}F(y)𝒟_V(y)𝑑y,`$ where

$$F(y)=\frac{1}{8}\frac{1}{(2\pi )^{2d}}\left(pq+2\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{q}+\frac{(\stackrel{}{p}\stackrel{}{q})^2}{pq}\right)e^{ı(\stackrel{}{p}+\stackrel{}{q})\stackrel{}{y}}d^dpd^dq,$$

and

$$𝒟_V(y)=_Vd^dy_1_Vd^dy_2\delta ^{(d)}(y|\stackrel{}{y}_1\stackrel{}{y}_2|),$$
(2)
the integral is separated into a geometric factor, $`𝒟_V(y)`$, which depends only on the shape of the sub-volume $`V`$, and another factor $`F(y)`$.

Evaluating $`0|(E^V)^2|0`$ we find, remarkably, that it is proportional to the boundary area $`S(V)`$ of $`V`$ for any volume whose boundary is regular. It is possible to compute the energy fluctuations analytically with an exponential high momentum (UV) cutoff $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$: $`0|(E^V)^2|0=\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{d+1}{2}\right)\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(\frac{d+3}{2}\right)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(2+\frac{d}{2}\right)}\frac{1}{2^{d+4}\pi ^{\frac{d}{2}+1}}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{d+1}S(V)`$. (See  for details.) These fluctuations can also be evaluated numerically using different cutoff schemes . One can prove that the area dependence is a robust result, while the numerical coefficients depend on the details of the cutoff procedure. This area scaling behavior may have been inferred by noting that if we denote the complement of $`V`$ by $`\widehat{V}`$ and that $`S(V)=S(\widehat{V})`$ then $`0|(E^{\widehat{V}})^2|0=0|(E^V)^2|0`$.

The surprising result that energy fluctuations in a sub-volume of Minkowski space are proportional to the boundary area of the sub-volume is not accidental. Rather, it seems to be a general characteristic property of sub-systems. We wish to understand this fact, and examine how general it is, which we do in the rest of the paper.

## 2 Operators in a finite sub-volume and their correlation functions

As a generalization of the above, we wish to examine expectation values of operators of the form $`O_i^VO_j^V`$ defined as follows. Let us consider a finite $`d`$ dimensional space-like domain of volume $`V`$ and linear size $`R`$, which we think of as being part of a $`d=D1`$ dimensional Minkowski space. A quantum field theory is defined in the whole space. Generically, it is an interacting field theory, which comes equipped with a high momentum (UV) cutoff $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, and some regularization procedure. A low momentum (IR) cutoff is implicitly assumed, but we will not discuss any of its detailed properties. The sub-volume is “macroscopic” in the sense that $`R\mathrm{\Lambda }1`$. The boundary of $`V`$ is an “imaginary” boundary, since we do not impose any boundary conditions, or restrictions on the fields on it.

We will be interested in a set of (possibly composite) operators $`O_i`$ which can be expressed as an integral over a density $`𝒪_i`$: $`O_i=d^dx𝒪_i(\stackrel{}{x})`$. For this set we may define the operators $`O_i^V=_Vd^dx𝒪_i(\stackrel{}{x})`$. We will discuss for concreteness the case in which the large space is in the vacuum state $`|0`$. Our results can be easily generalized to states other than the vacuum. We note that the vacuum will not be an eigenstate of $`O_i^V`$.

We have already considered energy fluctuations in a given sub-volume $`V`$. In general, in addition to fluctuations of operators, namely, two point functions of the same operator, we may look at two point functions of different operators. Such correlation functions also scale linearly with the boundary area of the sub-volume $`V`$. To show this, we would like to evaluate the correlation function $`0|O_i^VO_j^V|0=\underset{V}{}d^dy_1\underset{V}{}d^dy_2F_{ij}\left(|\stackrel{}{y}_1\stackrel{}{y}_2|\right)`$. Following , we evaluate all the integrals except for the $`y=|\stackrel{}{y}_1\stackrel{}{y}_2|`$ integral, $`\underset{V}{}d^dy_1\underset{V}{}d^dy_2F_{ij}\left(|\stackrel{}{y}_1\stackrel{}{y}_2|\right)=\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}𝑑y𝒟_V(y)F_{ij}(y)`$.

The geometric factor $`𝒟_V(y)`$ can be evaluated explicitly. By a careful geometric analysis, one can show that $`D_V(y)=G_VVy^{d1}+G_SS(V)y^d+𝒪(y^{d+1})`$, $`G_V`$ and $`G_S`$ being constants, and $`S(V)`$ the surface area of $`V`$ . We will need to use $`𝒟_V(y)y^{d1}`$ for $`y0`$. This property may be shown by considering eq.(2). The limit $`y0`$ is approached when both vectors $`\stackrel{}{y}_1`$ and $`\stackrel{}{y}_2`$ are almost equal. Fixing one of them, say $`\stackrel{}{y}_1`$, at some arbitrary value makes the integral over $`\stackrel{}{y}_2`$ an unrestricted $`d`$-dimensional integral, which in spherical coordinates yields the above result. Defining $`𝒟_V(y)=y^{d1}R^d\stackrel{~}{𝒟}_V\left(\frac{y}{R}\right)`$, which captures the function’s behavior near $`y0`$, and its dimensionality (recall that $`R`$ is the linear scale of $`V`$). We note that for a generic sub-volume $`\stackrel{~}{𝒟}_{V}^{}{}_{}{}^{}(0)0`$. We would like to emphasize that in general $`R^d`$ will be replaced by a volume factor and $`R^{d1}`$ will be replace by the surface area of the boundary as discussed exhaustively in . We will continue the analysis using the expressions $`R^d`$, and $`R^{d1}`$ as the general case is somewhat encumbering.

The short distance/large momentum behavior of correlation functions is determined by the full mass dimensionalities $`\delta _i`$, $`\delta _j`$ (including anomalous dimensions induced by interactions) of the operator densities $`𝒪_i`$ and $`𝒪_j`$. At short distances $`F_{ij}\left(|\stackrel{}{x}|\right)\frac{1}{|\stackrel{}{x}|^{\delta _i+\delta _j}}`$, equivalently for large momentum, $`\stackrel{~}{F}_{ij}\left(|\stackrel{}{q}|\right)|\stackrel{}{q}|^{\delta _i+\delta _jd}`$, where we have defined $`\stackrel{~}{F}_{ij}\left(|\stackrel{}{q}|\right)=d^dxe^{i\stackrel{}{q}\stackrel{}{x}}F_{ij}\left(|\stackrel{}{x}|\right)`$. Here we have used the leading short-distance behavior. In general, $`\stackrel{~}{F}_{ij}\left(|\stackrel{}{q}|\right)`$ will be a function of several powers of $`q`$, which may be fractional or perhaps multiplied by logarithms. We will consider operators whose correlation functions are sharply peaked at short distances, and decay at large distances. The short distance/large momentum behavior of correlation functions is in many cases singular before a UV cutoff is introduced and needs to be regularized. We do this by cutting off the momentum integrals that appear in the expressions for the two-point functions. The significance of these divergences will be discussed in detail later. The details of the regularization procedure and the exact nature of the UV cutoff are not particularly important since our main observation is the area scaling nature of the fluctuations.

So after all is said and done, we need to evaluate the following integral,

$$\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}𝑑y𝒟_V(y)F_{ij}(y)=R^d\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}𝑑yy^{d1}\stackrel{~}{𝒟}_V\left(\frac{y}{R}\right)\frac{d^dq}{\left(2\pi \right)^d}e^{iqy\mathrm{cos}\theta _q}\stackrel{~}{F}_{ij}(|\stackrel{}{q}|),$$
(3)
where $`\theta _q`$ is the angle of the vector $`\stackrel{}{q}`$ with respect to some fixed axis. The last momentum integral is regularized by the UV cutoff of the theory. Without such a cutoff it is divergent in the large momentum region whenever $`\delta _i+\delta _j>0`$. We choose to regulate the integral in eq.(3) by an additional factor that suppresses the high momentum contribution.

Integrals of the form appearing in eq.(3) can be evaluated analytically for $`F(|\stackrel{}{q}|)(q^2)^n`$ with $`n`$ integer and a gaussian momentum, and for $`F(|\stackrel{}{q}|)q^\alpha `$ with $`\alpha `$ rational and an exponential momentum cutoff. We will discuss in some detail the integer case, and quote the results for the other case.

For a Gaussian cutoff eq. (3) with $`F_{ij}(q)q^{2n}`$, reduces to

$$I_n=R^d\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}𝑑yy^{d1}\stackrel{~}{𝒟}_V\left(\frac{y}{R}\right)d^dke^{iky\mathrm{cos}\theta _k\frac{1}{2}k^2/\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}(k^2)^n.$$
(4)
Naively, this integral scales as $`R^d\mathrm{\Lambda }^{2n}`$ (extensively) as the pre-factor might suggest. Now, $`|\stackrel{}{k}|^2`$ may be rewritten as a d-dimensional laplacian in spherical coordinates: $`\frac{1}{y^{d1}}_yy^{d1}_y`$. If we now integrate by parts once, the volume term will vanish. Due to the gaussian, we may approximate $`y0`$, and we are left with

$$I_n=a_VC_dR^{d1}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{2n1},$$
(5)
where $`C_d(1)^n\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}𝑑xx^{d2}\left[\left(\frac{1}{x^{d1}}_xx^{d1}_x\right)^{n1}e^{{\scriptscriptstyle \frac{1}{2}}x^2}\right]`$ is a finite $`d`$\- and $`n`$-dependent remnant of the momentum integral, and $`a_V=(2\pi )^{d/2}\stackrel{~}{𝒟}_V^{}(0)`$. Thus we have shown that $`I_n`$ scales as $`R^{d1}\mathrm{\Lambda }^{2n1}`$. Similarly $`I_\alpha =R^d\underset{0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}𝑑yy^{d1}\stackrel{~}{𝒟}_V\left(\frac{y}{R}\right)d^dke^{i\stackrel{}{k}\stackrel{}{y}k/\mathrm{\Lambda }}k^\alpha \mathrm{\Lambda }^{\alpha 1}R^{d1}`$, where $`\alpha `$ is not necessarily integer.

It is possible to show that the area scaling law $`O_i^VO_j^V\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\delta _i+\delta _j1}R^{d1}`$ is robust to changes in the cutoff procedure. Any cutoff function $`C(k/\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ will give similar results provided that it and all of its derivatives vanish at $`k\mathrm{}`$, and that its integral $`d^dkC(k/\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is finite. It is also possible to show  that if the connected two point function of the operator densities $`F_{ij}(y)^2g_{ij}(y)`$ satisfies $`(i)g_{ij}(y)`$ is short range: at large distances it decays fast enough $`|g^{}(y)|<1/y^{a+1}`$, with $`ad1`$, and $`(ii)g_{ij}(y)`$ is not too singular at short distances: for small $`y`$, $`|g(y)|<1/y^{a+1}`$ with $`a<d2`$, then the connected two point function $`O_i^{V_1}O_j^{V_2}_C`$ is proportional to the area of the common boundary of the two regions $`V_1`$ and $`V_2`$. We would like to emphasize that our results are valid for any function that obeys the above conditions, and not only by correlation functions that have strictly power law dependence on the distance.

The divergence of the correlation functions cannot be renormalized in the standard way by adding local counter terms to the action. This is because the coefficient of the divergence depends on the area, and therefore on the geometry of the imaginary sub-volume in which they are calculated. Additionally, they appear at the level of free field theory which is usually not renormalized. This suggests that the divergence of the correlation functions is related to a physical UV cutoff of the theory given by, say, a Planck scale lattice or some other UV complete theory. If a physical UV completion of the field theory exists, then in the framework of that UV completion the divergences become indeed finite and the cutoff has a physical meaning.

## 3 Lower-dimensional representation of correlation functions

The fact that correlation functions of operators scale as the boundary area of the sub-volume rather than as the volume (as expected), suggests that it might be possible to find a representation of them on the boundary $`V`$ of $`V`$ (and of $`\widehat{V}`$). To show this we shall express $`0|O_i^VO_j^V|0`$ as a double derivative $`0|O_i^VO_j^V|0=\underset{V}{}d^dy_1\underset{V}{}d^dy_2\stackrel{}{}_1\stackrel{}{}_2g_{ij}(|\stackrel{}{x}\stackrel{}{y}|)`$ and use Gauss’ law to express it as a boundary correlation function, $`0|O_i^VO_j^V|0=\underset{V}{}d^{d1}z_1\underset{V}{}d^{d1}z_2\widehat{n}_1\widehat{n}_2g_{ij}(|\stackrel{}{z}_1\stackrel{}{z}_2|)`$. This allows us to define an equivalent correlation function in $`d1`$ dimensions of some operators $`\mathrm{\Theta }_i^V`$ and $`\mathrm{\Theta }_j^V`$

$$0|O_i^VO_j^V|00|\mathrm{\Theta }_i^V\mathrm{\Theta }_j^V|0_{d1}=\alpha _{ij}^d\underset{V}{}d^{d1}z_1\underset{V}{}d^{d1}z_2\widehat{n}_1\widehat{n}_20|\vartheta _i(\stackrel{}{z}_1)\vartheta _j(\stackrel{}{z}_2)|0_{d1}.$$
(6)
Here $`\widehat{n}`$ is a boundary unit normal. For example, in the case that the correlation functions are pure powers $`\frac{c_{ij}^d}{|\stackrel{}{y}_1\stackrel{}{y}_2|^{\delta _i+\delta _j}}`$, then $`\alpha _{ij}^d=\frac{c_{ij}^d}{(\delta _i+\delta _j2)(d\delta _i\delta _j)c_{ij}^{d1}}`$. In the special case $`\delta _i+\delta _j=2`$ the power becomes a logarithm, and for $`\delta _i+\delta _j=d`$ it becomes a delta function, so they need to be handled with special care. Note that $`|\stackrel{}{z}_1\stackrel{}{z}_2|`$, even though evaluated for $`\stackrel{}{z}_1`$ and $`\stackrel{}{z}_2`$ on the boundary, generally expresses distances in the bulk. In the case that the boundary is a plane, $`|\stackrel{}{z}_1\stackrel{}{z}_2|`$ indeed expresses distances on the boundary.

It will be very interesting to determine the consistency conditions under which a boundary representation of integrals of bulk correlation functions can be derived from an effective action, and to determine how symmetries of the sub-volume and of the bulk theory are reflected in the properties of their boundary representations. A covariant formulation, starting from a Lagrangian in $`D=d+1`$ space-time dimensions would be very useful. At this point we would like to present evidence of a special case where the boundary theory is a theory at high-temperature, and leave the answers to the questions above open for future research.

We consider a massless, free scalar field theory and take $`V`$ to be half of Minkowski space (under some assumptions it is possible to generalize this to other geometries.) We first show that the n-point (single field) functions for a (d+1) dimensional free scalar field theory in the vacuum state are equal to n-point functions of a ((d-1)+1) dimensional free scalar field theory at high-temperature,

$$0|e^{J_V\varphi (\stackrel{}{x})d^dx}|0_d=e^{J\sqrt{\alpha _{\varphi \varphi }^d}_V\varphi (\stackrel{}{x})d^{d1}x}_{d1}^{\beta 0}.$$
(7)
We shall show this equality term by term, $`_Vd^dx_1\mathrm{}_Vd^dx_{2n}0|\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_1)\mathrm{}\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_{2n})|0_d=(\alpha _{\varphi \varphi }^d)^n_Vd^{d1}x_1\mathrm{}_Vd^{d1}x_{2n}\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_1)\mathrm{}\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_{2n})_{d1}^{\beta 0}.`$ For an odd number of fields this is trivially satisfied, since both sides vanish. For an even number of free fields in any dimension, $`0|\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_1)\mathrm{}\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_{2n})|0=\underset{\begin{array}{c}\text{all}\\ \text{perm.}\end{array}}{}0|\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_{i_1})\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_{i_2})|0\mathrm{}0|\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_{i_{2n1}})\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_{i_{2n}})|0`$. So to prove eq.(7) we only need to show that

$$_Vd^dx_1_Vd^dx_20|\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_1)\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_2)|0_d=\alpha _{\varphi \varphi }^d_Vd^{d1}x_1_Vd^{d1}x_2\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_1)\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_2)_{d1}^{\beta 0}.$$

The mass dimension of a scalar field in $`d+1`$ dimensions is $`\delta =\frac{d1}{2}`$, so

$`{\displaystyle _V}d^dx_1{\displaystyle _V}d^dx_2\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_1)\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_2)_d`$ $`=\alpha _{\varphi \varphi }^d{\displaystyle _V}d^{d1}x_1_{}{\displaystyle _V}d^{d1}x_2_{}{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{n}_1\widehat{n}_2}{|\stackrel{}{x}_1\stackrel{}{x}_2|^{d3}}}`$
$`=\alpha _{\varphi \varphi }^d{\displaystyle _V}d^{d1}x_1_{}{\displaystyle _V}d^{d1}x_2_{}\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_1)\varphi (\stackrel{}{x}_2)_{d1}^{\beta 0}.`$ (8)
In eq.(8) we have used the fact that a $`D=d+1`$ dimensional field theory in the limit of high temperature is equivalent to a $`D1`$ dimensional field theory at zero temperature, and that $`\widehat{n}_1\widehat{n}_2=1`$ when $`V`$ is half of Minkowski space. Our choice of viewing the power of the integrand as that of a $`(d1)`$ dimensional theory is motivated by the region of integration. One should note that this procedure is quite distinct from the well-known dimensional reduction of a high-temperature quantum field theory. Here we relate a $`d+1`$ dimensional theory to a $`d1`$ dimensional theory, which is equivalent to a $`d`$ dimensional theory at high temperature.

Similarly, such dimensional reduction may also be explicitly shown for other two point functions

$`{\displaystyle \underset{V}{}}d^dx_1{\displaystyle \underset{V}{}}d^dx_20|_1^m\varphi ^n(\stackrel{}{x}_1)_2^m^{}\varphi ^n^{}(\stackrel{}{x}_2)|0_d`$
$`{\displaystyle \underset{V}{}}d^{d1}x_1_{}{\displaystyle \underset{V}{}}d^{d1}x_2_{}_1^{m+n1}\varphi ^n(\stackrel{}{x}_1)_2^{m^{}+n1}\varphi ^n^{}(\stackrel{}{x}_2)_{d1}^{\beta 0},`$
where by $`_1^m_2^m^{}`$, we mean the scalar operator obtained by consecutive operations of $``$; in order for this to be a scalar operator we must have that $`m+m^{}`$ is even. This may also be generalized to the case of single field n-point functions with an arbitrary number of derivatives.

We are able to extend our conclusions to the most general correlation functions in the theory - products of powers of fields and their derivatives, only in the case of a large number $`N`$ of fields (in which case the correlation functions reduce to products of two-point functions.) To see this explicitly and to discuss the large $`N`$ limit we define $`\mathrm{\Phi }(x_i)=\text{diag}(\varphi _1(x_i),\mathrm{},\varphi _N(x_i))`$. In this limit only correlations functions of the form $`_V\mathrm{}_V<\text{Tr}\mathrm{\Phi }(x_1)\mathrm{}\text{Tr}\mathrm{\Phi }(x_n)>d^dx_1\mathrm{}d^dx_n`$ contribute to leading (zero) order in the $`1/N`$ expansion. Thus, to first order in the large $`N`$ limit, all bulk correlation functions have a boundary description.

The fact that the boundary theory seems to be in a high temperature state is reminiscent of the thermal atmosphere near black hole horizons. The local Hawking temperature increases from its asymptotic value as one gets near the horizon. In fact, there were some attempts to explain black hole entropy and its area scaling as originating from the thermal entropy of the near-horizon thermal atmosphere . Another connection with black hole physics is the area dependence of thermodynamic quantities. The fluctuations we have described are quantum. However, if instead of quantum expectation values of operators restricted to $`V`$, we consider fluctuations in the state $`\rho _V=\text{Tr}_{\widehat{V}}|00|`$, we get from $`0|O^V|0=\text{Tr}(\rho _VO^V)`$ that area scaling of quantum fluctuations leads to area dependent thermodynamics .

The nature of the dimensional reduction that we have discussed seems to be more restricted than the holographic correspondence in AdS/CFT: we have presented evidence that a class of operators that can be expressed as an integral over a density in the bulk can be represented by an integral over a density on the boundary. On the other hand the AdS/CFT duality conjectures a correspondence between local operators in the bulk and in the boundary. Since we have not used gravity to establish our correspondence, this raises the possibility that both gravity and quantum mechanics have distinct functionality in holography.

###### Acknowledgments.

Research supported in part by an Israel Science Foundation grant 174/00-2. A.Y. is supported in part by the Kreitman Foundation. We thank G. Veneziano and D. Oaknin for extensive and fruitful discussions and O. Aharony, M. Einhorn, B. Kol, D. Marolf, E. Novak, S. Zhang and M. Srednicki for comments and discussions.


text:
# Nonsingular vacuum cosmologies with a variable cosmological term

## I Introduction

Anything which contributes to the energy density of vacuum $`\rho _{\mathrm{vac}}`$ and satisfies the equation of state $`p=\rho `$ (we adopt $`c=1`$ for simplicity), is associated with the Einstein cosmological term by  (for reviews see )

$$T_\mu ^\nu =\rho _{\mathrm{vac}}\delta _\mu ^\nu =(8\pi G)^1\mathrm{\Lambda }\delta _\mu ^\nu $$
(1)
The cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ must be constant by the conservation equation $`_\nu T_\mu ^\nu =0`$ that follows from the contracted Bianchi identities $`_\nu G_\mu ^\nu =0`$ and the Einstein equations $`G_\mu ^\nu =8\pi GT_\mu ^\nu `$.

Developments in particle and quantum field theories as well as inflationary scenarios and observational cosmology compellingly suggest that the cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ has to be a dynamical quantity.

In inflationary models in which an accelerated expansion due to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is based on generic properties of the de Sitter vacuum (1), independently of where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ comes from , various mechanisms have been proposed relating the cosmological term $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\delta _\mu ^\nu `$ to matter sources (for reviews see ). A huge cosmological constant or vacuum density at the earliest stage of the Universe evolution ($`\rho _{\mathrm{vac}}10^{77}`$ g $``$ cm-3 for the Grand Unification scale $`E_{\mathrm{GUT}}10^{15}`$ GeV) provides an accelerated expansion needed to guarantee the survival of the Universe to its present size and density  as well as to explain its observed homogeneity and isotropy and solve other puzzles of the standard Big Bang cosmology (for a review and a list of puzzles see ). On the other hand, cosmological observations require the present value of the vacuum density to provide a substantial contribution (about 70 per cent) to the total density in the Universe, $`\rho 10^{30}`$ g $``$ cm-3 .

Most of the models for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ dynamics considered in the literature are of “cancelling type” (for reviews see ), involving fields (most frequently scalar fields non-minimally coupled to gravity ) which develop a negative energy density growing with time to ultimately cancel a pre-existing (driving inflation) positive value of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. This approach typically requires the gravitational constant $`G`$ to be time-  or scale-  dependent (the question of confronting $`G`$-variable models with observations is addressed in Ref. ). Models with a dynamical $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-term depending binomially on the scalar field are proposed in the context of scalar-tensor theories with matter described as a perfect fluid with a barotropic equation of state .

Another wide class of models are phenomenological FRW (homogeneous and isotropic) cosmologies with an effective stress-energy tensor (SET) describing both the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-term and non-vacuum matter as perfect fluids (for a review see ). In Ref. , a number of new exact singular FRW solutions are presented for the case $`\mathrm{\Lambda }t^l`$ and $`k=0`$ (spatially flat isotropic models), with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }<0`$ for odd values of $`l`$; several numerical models are built for $`k=1`$ (a closed universe) with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ varying as a function of the scale factor $`a`$, and for the case of an open universe ($`k=1`$) with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ varying as a function of the Hubble parameter $`H`$. The paper  presents a nonsingular isotropic cosmology with a phenomenological ansatz postulating $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ decay from an initial de Sitter state which ideologically resembles the old nonsingular FRW model with the de Sitter vacuum as an initial state .

In Ref. , plane-symmetric Bianchi type I models are considered with a perfect fluid source including dust, radiation and time-dependent $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The evolution starts from an initial singularity followed by a highly anisotropic stage which involves a big negative value of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ at the beginning in the case of the critical density . In Ref. , isotropic but inhomogeneous spherically symmetric cosmologies are considered with a material fluid, a heat flux, a $`Q`$ matter (related to a self-interacting scalar field) and a time-dependent cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$; late-time izotropization depends on the time evolution of an effective adiabatic index for the material fluid .

In this paper we present nonsingular cosmological models with a variable cosmological term described by the second-rank symmetric tensor $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$  in which a constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ associated with vacuum density by (1), becomes a tensor component $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_t^t=(8\pi G)T_t^t`$ associated explicitly with the density component of the perfect fluid SET $`T_\mu ^\nu =(8\pi G)^1\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$  whose vacuum properties follow from its symmetry and whose variability follows from the Bianchi identities . This approach allows us to specify possible types of cosmological models with variable vacuum density consistent with the Bianchi identities.

Let us emphasize that our approach is phenomenological in essence.

In quantum field theory, the symmetry of the vacuum expectation value of the SET $`T_{\mu \nu }`$ does not always coincide with the symmetry of the background space-time, since quantum field theory in curved space-time does not contain a unique specification of the quantum state of a system . Even in Minkowski space-time there are vacuum states (e.g., the well-known Rindler vacuum) which are non-invariant under the full Poincaré group. In the case of de Sitter space the renormalized expectation value of the vacuum SET $`T_{\mu \nu }`$ for a scalar field with an arbitrary mass $`m`$ and curvature coupling $`\xi `$ is proved to have a fixed point attractor behavior at late times  approaching, depending on $`m`$ and $`\xi `$, either the Bunch-Davies de Sitter-invariant vacuum  or, for the massless minimally coupled case ($`m=\xi =0`$), the de Sitter-invariant Allen-Folacci vacuum . The case $`m=\xi =0`$ is peculiar (see, e.g., ), since the de Sitter-invariant two-point function is infrared divergent, and the vacuum states free of this divergence are $`O(4)`$-invariant Fock vacua introduced by Allen . The vacuum energy density in the O(4)-invariant case is not the same (larger) than in the de Sitter-invariant case .

The problems of specifying vacuum states in quantum field theory are beyond the scope of this paper.

We here address the question: what can be the further cosmological evolution for cases when the vacuum density (no matter where it came from) had once contributed to a SET of the form (1).

Phenomenologically, the SET (1) is defined as a vacuum SET due to its maximally symmetric form invariant under any coordinate transformations which makes impossible to single out a preferred comoving reference frame . As a result, an observer moving through a medium with a SET of structure (1) cannot in principle measure his velocity with respect to it, which allows one to classify it as a vacuum .

It is clear that if one wants to make variable a vacuum density defined in this way, one cannot retain the full invariance of the vacuum SET. The invariance can, however, be partial, valid in a certain Lorentzian subspace of the space-time manifold. In this case, the full symmetry is reduced but the invariance is still present for an observer moving along a certain direction in space.

This approach has been proposed in Ref.  (for a review see ), where a spherically symmetric vacuum has been introduced as defined by the algebraic structure of its SET such that

$$T_t^t=T_r^r,T_\theta ^\theta =T_\varphi ^\varphi $$
(2)
We adopt the metric signature $`(+)`$. The energy density is given by $`\rho =T_t^t`$, the radial pressure is $`p_r=T_r^r`$ and the transversal pressure is $`p_{}=T_\theta ^\theta =T_\varphi ^\varphi `$.

The vacuum properties of (2) follow from its invariance under boosts in the radial direction which results in the absence of a preferred comoving reference frame and makes impossible for an observer to measure the radial component of his velocity .

The vacuum tensor of this kind was first introduced as a source term for an exact spherically symmetric solution describing a black hole whose singularity is replaced with a de Sitter vacuum core . Later it was shown that the existence of the class of solutions to the Einstein equations with the source term of the form (2), asymptotically de Sitter at the center, is distinguished by the dominant energy condition and by the requirements of regularity of density and finiteness of the ADM mass . A SET from this class smoothly connects two de Sitter vacua — at the center and at infinity, and corresponds to an extension of the Einstein cosmological term $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\delta _\mu ^\nu `$ to the second-rank symmetric tensor with the algebraic structure (2) ,

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu =8\pi GT_\mu ^\nu $$
(3)
evolving from $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\delta _\mu ^\nu `$ as $`r0`$ to $`\lambda \delta _\mu ^\nu `$ as $`r\mathrm{}`$, with $`\lambda <\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The Bianchi identities result in the conservation equation $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{\nu ;\mu }^\mu =0`$ which gives the $`r`$-dependent equation of state

$$p_r^\mathrm{\Lambda }=\rho ^\mathrm{\Lambda },p_{}^\mathrm{\Lambda }=\rho ^\mathrm{\Lambda }\frac{r}{2}\frac{d\rho ^\mathrm{\Lambda }}{dr}$$
(4)
where $`\rho ^\mathrm{\Lambda }(r)=(8\pi G)^1\mathrm{\Lambda }_t^t`$, $`p_r^\mathrm{\Lambda }=(8\pi G)^1\mathrm{\Lambda }_r^r`$ and $`p_{}^\mathrm{\Lambda }=(8\pi G)^1\mathrm{\Lambda }_\theta ^\theta =(8\pi G)^1\mathrm{\Lambda }_\varphi ^\varphi `$. The global structure of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ geometry contains black and white holes whose singularities are replaced with regular cores, asymptotically de Sitter as $`r0`$. A regular core of a white hole considered in the cosmological coordinates ($`R,\tau `$), models the early stages of an expanding universe dominated by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$; the evolution starts from a nonsingular non-simultaneous de Sitter bang (a bang is defined by $`r(R,\tau )=0`$ ) followed by a Kasner-type stage of anisotropic expansion at which most of the mass is produced .

In this paper we study $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$-dominated cosmologies in a more general cosmological context. Namely, if there is a spatial direction distinguished by the symmetry of the source, we can choose a class of coordinate frames where this direction is parametrized by a certain coordinate $`u`$. Then our choice of the vacuum SET is only restricted by the requirement that it should be invariant under coordinate transformations in the $`(u,t)`$ subspace, or, in other words, under boosts in the distinguished two-dimensional Lorentzian subspace $`𝕄^2(u,t)`$ of the four-dimensional space-time manifold. It is then natural to assume that the two-dimensional subspaces orthogonal to $`𝕄^2`$ are maximally symmetric, i.e., spaces of constant curvature. The latter can be spheres $`𝕊^2`$, planes $`^2`$ or Lobachevsky planes $`𝕃^2`$, attached to each point of $`𝕄^2`$ with a certain scale factor which depends on a point in $`𝕄^2`$, i.e., in general on both coordinates $`u`$ and $`t`$.

The paper is organized as follows. Sec. II presents the basic equations and exact solutions with a variable cosmological term (3) for the cases of spherical, planar and pseudospherical symmetries. Sec. III is devoted to a systematic study of spherically symmetric models. Conclusions are summarized in Sec. IV.

## II $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ dominated geometries

### A Basic relations

We consider 4-spaces with the structure

$$𝕄^4=𝕄^2\times 𝕍^2,𝕍^2=\{\begin{array}{cc}𝕊^2,& K=1;\\ ^2,& K=0;\\ 𝕃^2,& K=1.\end{array}$$
(5)
Here $`𝕄^2`$ is the Lorentzian 2-subspace parametrized by the coordinates ($`u,t`$); $`𝕍^2`$ is a 2-surface with spherical ($`K=1`$), planar ($`K=0`$) or pseudospherical ($`K=1`$) symmetries ($`\varphi `$ and $`\theta `$ in (2) are any coordinates parametrizing $`𝕍^2`$). In the cosmological context, all three symmetries can exist on equal rights. (The index $`K`$ should not be confused with $`k=0,\pm 1`$, the spatial curvature index of the FRW models.)

An arbitrary static metric for the source term (2) and the space-time structure (5) is given by

$$ds^2=A(u)dt^2\frac{du^2}{A(u)}r^2(u)d\mathrm{\Omega }_K^2,$$
(6)
where $`d\mathrm{\Omega }_K^2`$ is the squared linear element on a unit sphere ($`K=1`$), plane ($`K=0`$) or Lobachevsky plane ($`K=1`$).

The choice of the “radial” coordinate $`u`$ such that $`g_{tt}g_{uu}=1`$ is not only one of the widely used coordinate gauges: it is especially convenient when considering Killing horizons which correspond to zeros of the function $`A(u)`$. The reason is that in a close neighborhood of a horizon the coordinate $`u`$ varies (up to a positive constant factor) like manifestly well-behaved Kruskal-like coordinates used for an analytic extension of the metric (6). Therefore one can jointly describe in terms of $`u`$ the metric on both sides of a horizon. In addition, with the same coordinate, horizons correspond to regular points in geodesic equations .

It should be emphasized that the static form chosen for the metric (6) is not a restriction. As soon as we postulate the space-time structure (5) and the SET structure (2), the generalized Birkhoff theorem  guarantees the existence of a coordinate frame where the metric has the form (6). The only restriction is the assumption that, in the space-time domain under consideration, the metric coefficient $`r^2(u,t)`$ is not constant and has a non-null gradient: $`sign(g^{\mu \nu }r_{,\mu }r_{,\nu })=\pm 1`$. If it is $`+1`$, we are dealing with a T (cosmological) region, and $`1`$ corresponds to an R (static) region.

Indeed, according to (6), $`g^{\mu \nu }r_{,\mu }r_{,\nu }=A(dr/du)^2`$. The space-time regions where $`A>0`$ are static, the $`u`$ coordinate being spatial, and are called R regions. In T regions, where $`A<0`$, the coordinates $`u`$ and $`t`$ interchange their roles: $`u`$ becomes timelike and $`t`$ spacelike. In the spherically symmetric case, as is well known, the metric in a T region describes a Kantowski-Sachs (KS) type homogeneous anisotropic cosmological model , representing a special case of T-models , which are, in general, inhomogeneous. A spatial section of a KS model has the structure $`\times 𝕊^2`$, a 3-dimensional cylinder with different time-dependent scale factors in the spherical and longitudinal directions.

In the case of planar symmetry ($`K=0`$), in a T region we obtain anisotropic models with planar spatial sections, i.e., Bianchi type I models, more precisely, their plane-symmetric subset where two of the three scale factors coincide.

In the pseudospherical case ($`K=1`$), spatial sections in a T-region have the structure $`\times 𝕃^2`$, similar to KS models but with spheres replaced by Lobachevsky planes. We will call such models HKS (hyperbolic Kantowski-Sachs) models.

In regions where $`A(u)<0`$, it is convenient to change the notation: $`tx`$ and $`A(u)b^2(u)`$, remembering that $`u`$ is now a temporal coordinate. The metric is then rewritten as

$$ds^2=\frac{1}{b^2(u)}du^2b^2(u)dx^2r^2(u)d\mathrm{\Omega }_k^2,$$
(7)
which describes an anisotropic cosmological model with two time-dependent scale factors $`b(u)`$ and $`r(u)`$ and the lapse function $`1/b^2(u)`$. A transition to synchronous time $`\tau `$ is performed using the integral

$$\tau (u)=\frac{du}{b(u)}.$$
(8)
A horizon $`u=h`$ of order $`n`$ is a zero of the same order of the function $`A(u)`$. For the metric (7), the horizon $`u=h`$ is a coordinate singularity where the metric coefficient $`g_{xx}`$ vanishes, so that coordinate surfaces (e.g., spheres in case $`K=1`$) with the same finite scale factor $`r(h)`$ stick to one another. By Eq. (8), this happens at finite cosmological time $`\tau `$ for a simple (first-order) horizon and in an infinitely remote past or future ($`\tau \pm \mathrm{}`$) for higher-order horizons.

On the other hand, if a T region is located at large $`r`$, the anisotropic cosmology can isotropize at late times $`\tau `$ under the condition $`b(\tau )r(\tau )`$. One can notice that for $`K=\pm 1`$ the isotropization can be only local. Indeed, for $`K=1`$ the spatial topology is cylindrical, and the directions along and across the coordinate spheres are non-equivalent. For $`K=1`$ the spatial topology is flat, but the global geometry is different along and across the Lobachevsky planes.

Two independent components of the Einstein equations and the conservation equation for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ give the dynamical equations

$`2Ar^{\prime \prime }/r=\mathrm{\Lambda }_u^u\mathrm{\Lambda }_t^t`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (9)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^2}}\left(K+Ar^2+A^{}rr^{}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_t^t=8\pi G\rho ,`$ (10)
$`r\rho ^{}+2(\rho +p_{})`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (11)
where the prime denotes $`d/du`$.

Eq. (9) leads to $`r^{\prime \prime }=0`$. Solutions with $`r=\mathrm{const}`$ can be of certain interest, but not in the cosmological context since they cannot describe an expanding universe with isotropization at late times. Let us note that in case $`r=\mathrm{const}`$ the generalized Birkhoff theorem does not work and, in addition to solutions with the metric (6), there exist wave solutions . Here we do not consider such solutions.

Now without loss of generality we can put $`ur`$ and consider the remaining unknowns as functions of $`r`$. We are left with two equations (10) and (11) for three unknowns $`A(r)`$, $`\rho (r)`$, $`p_{}(r)`$. The set of equations becomes determined if we postulate an equation of state connecting $`\rho `$ and $`p_{}`$ or specify the density profile $`\rho (r)`$.

Eq. (10) can be integrated giving

$$A(r)=K\frac{2GM(r)}{r},M(r)=4\pi _d^r\rho (x)x^2𝑑x.$$
(12)
with an arbitrary constant $`d`$. This is a solution in quadratures for any given $`\rho (r)`$, $`p_{}`$ is then determined from (11).

In the particular case of the equation of state $`p_{}=\rho `$, which leads to the usual cosmological constant, $`\lambda =8\pi G\rho =\mathrm{const}`$, the integration (12) gives

$$A(r)=K\frac{2Gm}{r}\frac{1}{3}\lambda r^2$$
(13)
which is the extension of Schwarzschild-de Sitter geometry (described by the Kottler-Trefftz solution ) to the cases $`K=0,1`$; $`m`$ is an integration constant ($`m=0`$ when $`d=0`$). It is interpreted as the mass in case $`K=+1`$, $`\lambda =0`$ (the Schwarzschild solution).

### B De Sitter space-time

This is the maximally symmetric solution to the Einstein equations with the cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }>0`$. It is the special case $`m=0`$ of the solution (6), (13), so that the metric is

$$ds^2=A(r)dt^2\frac{dr^2}{A(r)}r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_k^2,$$
(14)
$`A(r)=KH^2r^2`$, where $`H^1=\sqrt{3/\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ is the curvature radius of this constant-curvature manifold. Different values of $`K`$ correspond to the description of the same space-time in different coordinate frames. Let us briefly discuss the properties of the metric (14) since the textbook descriptions (see, e.g., ) discuss its static, spherically symmetric form (which is the $`K=1`$ case in our notation) and its FRW forms, while we also need the de Sitter metric in KS and HKS forms (7) to specify the asymptotic behavior of our models.

In case $`K=0`$, a static region is absent ($`A<0`$), and the metric (7) transforms into the FRW form

$$ds^2=d\tau ^2\mathrm{e}^{2H\tau }(dx^2+dy^2+dz^2),$$
(15)
The expansion begins at $`\tau \mathrm{}`$, i.e., in the infinitely remote past of cosmological observers.

In the spherically symmetric case, in the nonstatic region $`Hr>1`$ the KS metric for de Sitter space takes the form

$`ds^2`$ $`=`$ $`(H^2r^21)^1dr^2(H^2r^21)dx^2r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_1^2`$ (16)
$`=`$ $`d\tau ^2\mathrm{sinh}^2(H\tau )dx^2H^2\mathrm{cosh}^2(H\tau )d\mathrm{\Omega }_1^2.`$ (17)
The expansion in this model begins at $`\tau =0`$ from a highly anisotropic apparently singular state with $`g_{xx}=0`$ and becomes locally isotropic (as noticed in Sect. IIA) and exponential (with the Hubble constant $`H`$) at large values of $`\tau `$.

In case $`K=1`$, the HKS metric (7) in terms of $`\tau `$ reads

$$ds^2=d\tau ^2\mathrm{cosh}^2(H\tau )dx^2H^2\mathrm{sinh}^2(H\tau )d\mathrm{\Omega }_1^2.$$
(18)
The expansion begins with an anisotropic apparent singularity at $`\tau =0`$, where the Lobachevsky planes are drawn to points. The further expansion, as in other cases, ultimately becomes isotropic and exponential.

Apparent singularities at the start of expansion are in all three cases produced by the choice of coordinate frames since the de Sitter geometry is globally regular and maximally symmetric. All 4-points of the de Sitter manifold (including those which seem to be singular in particular representations of the metric) are equivalent to each other.

Let us note that, comparing the KS and HKS forms of the de Sitter metric with its FRW forms, we see that the topology of spatial sections of the same de Sitter 4-geometry depends on the choice of the coordinate frame. Indeed, the spatial topology is $`^3`$ for an open and $`𝕊^3`$ for a closed FRW model, $`\times 𝕊^2`$ for the KS representation (17) and $`^3`$ for the HKS form.

So far we discussed expanding models with the de Sitter metric. Their contracting counterparts are easily obtained by time reversal ($`\tau \tau `$).

Fig. 1 shows a plot of $`A(r)`$ and the Carter-Penrose global structure diagram for de Sitter space-time. The metrics (17), (18) describe either the contracting region $`T_{}`$ for a contracting Universe ($`\tau _{}`$), or $`T_+`$, for an expanding Universe ($`\tau _+`$). (R regions admit both expansion and contraction.)

### C Cosmologies with a variable cosmological term

Consider now the general case of the solutions (6), (12) with the cosmological term $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ of the algebraic structure (2). The solutions of the class to be considered satisfy the dominant energy condition ($`\rho 0,|p_i|\rho ,i=1,2,3`$), are regular at $`r0`$ and tend to the de Sitter metric with a finite value of the density $`\rho `$ as $`r\mathrm{}`$ . The derivative of the density is $`\rho ^{}=2(\rho +p_{})/r`$ by (11), and $`\rho ^{}<0`$ follows from the dominant energy condition, so that $`\rho (r)=8\pi G\mathrm{\Lambda }_t^t`$ is a monotonically decreasing function of $`r`$. This guarantees the existence of cosmological solutions evolving from a large value of the cosmological constant at small $`r`$ to its small value at large $`r`$.

It can be verified by using the Kretchmann scalar $`^2=R_{iklm}R^{iklm}`$, where $`R_{iklm}`$ is the Riemann curvature tensor, that, for the class of metrics under consideration, regularity at $`r=0`$ is only achieved if $`A(r)`$ behaves at small $`r`$ as $`kA_2r^2+o(r^2)`$, where $`A_2`$ is a non-negative constant. This means that any solution with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$, regular at $`r=0`$, is asymptotically de Sitter at small $`r`$ (with $`A_2=H^2`$ in the above notations) not only in the spherically symmetric case , but also in the cases of planar and pseudospherical symmetries.

According to (14), the spherical model ($`K=1`$) contains a regular R region near $`r=0`$, while the planar and pseudospherical models ($`K=0,1`$) contain regular T regions near $`r=0`$.

On the other hand, Eq. (10) implies that on a horizon, where $`A=0`$,

$$rA^{}=K8\pi G\rho r^2.$$
(19)
For $`K=0,1`$ this means that $`A^{}<0`$ at any horizon, i.e., it must be a simple horizon leading, as $`r`$ increases, from R to T region. Since, as we have seen, regularity at $`r=0`$ requires that the region near $`r=0`$ is a T region (with a de Sitter behavior), we have to conclude that all models considered here with $`K=0`$ and $`K=1`$ have no horizon, comprise T regions only and are purely cosmological. They describe anisotropic evolution between states with large and small values of cosmological constant, but effects connected with the existence of horizons are absent.

In case $`K=0`$ the model is classified as a Bianchi type I model and in case $`K=1`$ as a hyperbolic Kantowski-Sachs model.

Spherically symmetric systems are much more diverse and complicated, and we discuss them in more detail in the next section.

## III Spherically symmetric models

### A One- and two-lambda configurations

In the spherically symmetric case, $`K=1`$, the metric has the form

$$ds^2=A(r)dt^2\frac{dr^2}{A(r)}r^2(d\theta ^2+\mathrm{sin}^2\theta d\varphi ^2).$$
(20)
Requiring regularity at the center $`r=0`$, we put $`d=0`$ in (12), and $`M(r)`$ is, as usual, interpreted as the mass inside a sphere of radius $`r`$. Near the center the solution approaches the de Sitter metric with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=8\pi G\rho (0)`$ . The function $`A(r)`$ is given by

$$A(r)=1\frac{2GM(r)}{r},M(r)=4\pi _0^r\rho (x)x^2𝑑x.$$
(21)
If we require asymptotic flatness, then the monotonically decreasing function $`\rho (r)`$ should vanish as $`r\mathrm{}`$ quicker than $`r^3`$, and the total gravitating mass (ADM mass) $`m=M(\mathrm{})`$ is finite . The de Sitter-Schwarzschild geometry, asymptotically de Sitter as $`r0`$ and asymptotically Schwarzschild as $`r\mathrm{}`$, describes a vacuum nonsigular black hole for masses $`mm_{\mathrm{crit}}`$ where $`m_{\mathrm{crit}}`$ is a critical value, and a particlelike structure without horizons for $`m<m_{\mathrm{crit}}`$ in the Minkowski background  (see Fig. 2).

The global structure of de Sitter-Schwarzschild space-time for $`mm_{\mathrm{crit}}`$ contains an infinite set of vacuum nonsingular black and white holes whose singularities are replaced by regular cores with de Sitter vacuum near $`r=0`$ (see Fig. 3).

The regular core $`R`$ of a white hole $`T_+`$ models a nonsingular start of cosmological evolution which we consider in the next section.

This geometry is easily extended to the case of a nonzero cosmological constant $`\lambda <\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ at infinity . The solution is described by the metric function

$$A(R)=1\frac{2GM(r)}{r}\frac{\lambda }{3}r^2$$
(22)
with $`\rho \rho _{\mathrm{}}=\lambda /(8\pi G)`$ as $`r\mathrm{}`$. For a particular density profile of this kind ,

$$\rho (r)=\rho _0\mathrm{exp}(r^3/r_1^3)+\rho _{\mathrm{}}$$
(23)
(where $`\rho _0,r_1`$ and $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}`$ are constants), $`A(r)`$ is shown in Fig. 4, where $`q=\sqrt{\mathrm{\Lambda }/\lambda }`$ . The cosmological term $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ smoothly connects two de Sitter vacua with different values of the cosmological constant. The geometry describes five types of globally regular configurations with qualitatively different behavior of $`A(r)`$ (see Fig. 4 ).

The global structure of space-time contains in this case cosmological T regions which are asymptotically de Sitter as $`r\mathrm{}`$. The particular structure depends on the number and nature of horizons, which in turn depend on the values of the parameters in (23).

According to Eqs. (10) and (11), the transversal pressure $`p_{}`$ can be expressed in terms of the function $`A(r)`$:

$$8\pi Gp_{}=\frac{1}{2}A^{\prime \prime }+\frac{A^{}}{r}.$$
(24)
At an extremum of $`A(r)`$, $`A^{}=0`$, hence, if $`p_{}>0`$, this extremum is a minimum, and this minimum of $`A`$ is unique in the domain where $`p_{}>0`$ (otherwise there would be a maximum between two minima). Assuming that $`p_{}`$ becomes negative only on distinguished length scales $`l_i`$ related to particular symmetry breakings with a de Sitter-like (false vacuum) behavior involved, we can fix the maximum number of horizons. One scale $`l_1`$ is related to the de Sitter core near the center. If there is no other symmetry breaking scale, we have an asymptotically flat configuration where $`A(r)`$ is positive at both small and large $`r`$ and has only one minimum, hence no more than two zeros (horizons) . If there is a de Sitter asymptotic with small $`\lambda `$, this gives another scale $`l_2`$. Then there can be again only one domain $`p_{}>0`$, but now $`A`$ has different signs at $`r0`$ and $`r\mathrm{}`$, hence the single minimum of $`A`$ leads to at most 3 horizons: an internal horizon $`r_{}`$, a black hole horizon $`r_+`$, and a cosmological horizon $`r_{++}`$.

Let us specify the possible types of cosmological models corresponding to globally regular configurations described by the cosmological term $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$.

All $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$-dominated cosmologies belong to the Lemaître class of anisotropic fluid models. The cosmological expansion starts with a nonsingular non-simultaneous bang which we consider in detail in the next section.

For a certain class of observers in T regions (specified in Sec. IIIC), $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$-dominated cosmologies can also be identified as Kantowski-Sachs models with a regular R region.

In cases 1 and 5 the global structure of space-time is the same as for the de Sitter geometry, but now the dynamics is governed by a variable cosmological term. The difference between the models of types 1 and 5 is related to the particular dynamics. In case 1 the main dynamics occurs in the R region, and in case 5 in the T region.

In cases 2, 3 and 4 in Fig. 4 the global structure is more complex and is depicted in Figs. 5–7 . Particles moving in these geometries from the center to the asymptotically de Sitter T regions have to cross two horizons in cases 2 and 4, three horizons in case 3, and in cases 3 and 4 they have to cross an intermediate T region.

In the case of three horizons the global structure is shown in Fig. 5. (For a static observer in the R region between the black hole horizon $`r_+`$ and the cosmological horizon $`r_{++}`$, it corresponds to a nonsingular cosmological black hole ).

The global structure of space-time for the case when the black hole horizon $`r_+`$ coincides with the internal horizon $`r_{}`$ is shown in Fig. 6.

When the black hole horizon coincides with the cosmological horizon, the global structure is shown in Fig. 7.

It is also possible that $`A(r)`$ has a triple horizon; this gives again the de Sitter space-time structure.

In all these models, the cosmological evolution for a Kantowski-Sachs observer in the T region starts from a horizon, i.e., a null surface with vanishing volume of the spatial section. We therefore call it a null bang. In the case of a double horizon a null bang occurs in the infinite past of an observer. In cases 1 and 5, as well as in the de Sitter case, the evolution starts from a simple horizon and at finite time from the point of view of a Kantowski-Sachs observer.

The cosmological properties of these models are discussed in detail in the next sections.

### B Lemaître cosmologies with a nonsingular, nonsimultaneous bang

To present the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ geometry as a Lemaître-type spherically symmetric model, we connect an expanding reference frame with a certain congruence of radial geodesics and consider this frame as comoving to our cosmological model. The procedure is similar to what Lemaître has done for the Schwarzschild metric . The algebraic structure (2) of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ implies that a reference frame connected with any radial motion will automatically be comoving to our vacuum matter.

A transition to the geodesic coordinates $`(R,\tau )`$, where $`\tau `$ is the proper time along a geodesic and the radial coordinate $`R`$ is the congruence parameter, different for different geodesics, can be described in a general form. A radial timelike geodesic in the metric (20) satisfies the equations

$$\left(\frac{dr}{d\tau }\right)^2=E^2A(r),\frac{dt}{d\tau }=\frac{E}{A(r)},$$
(25)
where the constant $`E`$ is connected with the initial velocity of a particle moving along this particular geodesic at a given value of $`r`$. Relating the reference frame to geodesics with a certain fixed value of $`E`$, we can perform a transition from the coordinates $`(r,t)`$ to the coordinates ($`R,\tau `$) with the following transformation:

$`_\tau r`$ $`=`$ $`\pm \sqrt{E^2A},_Rr=\sqrt{E^2A},`$ (26)
$`_\tau t`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{E}{A}},_Rt=\pm {\displaystyle \frac{E^2A}{AE}},`$ (27)
where the plus and minus signs refer to growing and falling $`r(\tau )`$ (expanding and contracting models), respectively. The resulting metric has the form

$$ds^2=d\tau ^2\frac{E^2A(r)}{E^2}dR^2r^2(R,\tau )d\mathrm{\Omega }_1^2,$$
(28)
where $`r(R,\tau )`$ should be determined from Eqs. (26). For expanding models, since $`_\tau r=_Rr`$, we see that $`r`$ is a function of $`R+\tau `$. (In this construction we have used the freedom of re-parametrization $`R\stackrel{~}{R}(R)`$.)

Such a model for de Sitter-Schwarzschild geometry has been considered in Ref. for radial geodesics with $`E=1`$ in the present notations. According to (25), the condition $`E=1`$ means that the velocity of particles realizing our reference frame is zero at $`r=0`$. As a result, the center $`r=0`$, where the expansion starts, corresponds to the surface $`R+\tau =\mathrm{}`$ in the coordinates $`(R,\tau )`$. Different points of the bang surface $`r(R,\tau )=0`$  (which is time-like in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ geometry) start at different instants of synchronous time $`\tau `$. In the limit $`r0`$ the metric transforms to the de Sitter metric

$$ds^2=d\tau ^2\mathrm{e}^{2H\tau }(dx^2+x^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_1^2)$$
(29)
with $`H=\sqrt{\mathrm{\Lambda }/3}`$ and $`x=H^1\mathrm{e}^{HR}`$ and describes a nonsingular nonsimultaneous de Sitter bang , followed by a Kasner-type anisotropic stage, with contraction in the radial direction and expansion in the tangential direction, at which most of the Universe mass is produced; the metric at the intermediate stage has the form

$$ds^2=d\tau ^2(\tau +R)^{2/3}F(R)dR^2B(\tau +R)^{4/3}d\mathrm{\Omega }_1^2$$
(30)
where $`F(R)`$ is a smooth regular function and $`B`$ is a constant related to the model parameters.

Similar models can be constructed in the general case with one, two or three Killing horizons. In all $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ geometries the regular world line $`r=0`$ is timelike (see Figs. 3, 5), therefore different particles that realize our reference frame leave or cross this world line at different instants of synchronous time $`\tau `$. The start of the expansion is therefore the same in the general case, i.e., a nonsingular nonsimultaneous de Sitter bang at $`r=0`$, occuring at $`R+\tau \mathrm{}`$ for $`E=1`$ and at finite $`R+\tau `$ if $`E>1`$, when the initial velocity of the geodesic reference frame is nonzero. This inflationary stage is followed by a highly anisotropic stage of evolution. Expansion in the tangential direction ($`_\tau r>0`$) is accompanied by contraction in the radial direction ($`_\tau |g_{RR}|<0`$) as long as $`dA/dr>0`$, as is easily seen from (28). At large values of $`R+\tau `$, when the metric achieves another de Sitter asymptotic corresponding to the cosmological constant $`\lambda `$, the model becomes isotropic and is again described by the metric (29), but now with the Hubble parameter $`H=\sqrt{\lambda /3}`$.

### C Kantowski-Sachs cosmologies with a null bang

The asymptotically de Sitter regions of the above two-lambda configurations represent, as any spherically symmetric T regions, KS cosmological models. The metric has the form (7) with the temporal coordinate $`u=r`$ and $`b^2(u)=|A(r)|`$:

$$ds^2=\frac{1}{b^2(r)}dr^2b^2(r)dx^2r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_1^2$$
(31)
The KS evolution at late times corresponds to the de Sitter large $`r`$ asymptotic (17). In all cases the KS evolution starts with a null bang from a horizon. This initial state with a finite value of $`r`$ is, from the viewpoint of comoving observers in the model (31), a highly anisotropic, purely coordinate singularity where the spatial sections, having the topology of a 3-dimensional cylinder, are squeesed along the “longitudinal” direction $`x`$ due to vanishing $`b(r)`$. The 4-geometry is, however, globally regular.

In cases 1, 2, 3 and 5 according to Fig. 4, this initial state occurs at finite proper time $`\tau =𝑑r/b(r)`$. Thus our KS models behave qualitatively as the de Sitter model (see Sec. 2.2), but with quite different prehistories. In case 4, with a double horizon connecting two T regions, the null bang occurs in the remote past, $`\tau \mathrm{}`$. The same is true for the case of a triple horizon.

Let us show that observers who follow other geodesics cross this past horizon at finite instants of their proper times. Indeed, the geodesic equations in any space-time with the metric (6) have the following integral:

$$(dr/d\tau )^2+k_1A+L^2A/r^2=E^2$$
(32)
where $`E`$ and $`L`$ are the constants of motion associated with the particle energy and angular momentum, while $`k_1=1`$ and $`k_1=0`$ for timelike and null geodesics, respectively; the affine parameter $`\tau `$ has the meaning of proper time along the geodesic in case $`k_1=1`$. At a horizon $`r=h`$, $`A(r)`$ vanishes, and in case $`E>0`$ one has $`dr/d\tau 0`$ for all geodesics, whence it follows that $`|\tau |<\mathrm{}`$, irrespective of the order of the horizon. The time lines in the T region which are trajectories of the KS observers, evidently correspond to $`k_1=1`$, $`L=0`$, $`E=0`$, so that for these lines we return to the relation (8), leading to infinite $`\tau `$ at horizons of order two and higher.

Therefore even “slow” observers whose world lines coincide with these time lines receive information from their infinitely remote past, coming with particles and photons which have crossed the horizon.

The reasoning related to Eq. (32) is quite general, and in other KS cosmologies, starting with a null bang, the prehistory is also observable.

One can take as a simple example the Schwarzschild-de Sitter metric (20), (13) with $`K=1`$, $`m>0`$ and $`\lambda >0`$. The metric function $`A(r)=12Gm/r(\lambda /3)r^2`$ is plotted in Fig. 8.

Three cases should be distinguished:

(i) $`3Gm>1/\sqrt{\lambda }`$, no horizon (curve 1). It is a global KS model with a highly anisotropic singularity $`r=0`$ in the past and a de Sitter future asymptotic.

(ii) $`3Gm=1/\sqrt{\lambda }`$, one double horizon $`h=3Gm`$, separating two T regions (curve 2). The region $`r>h`$ is similar to the large $`r`$ region in case 4 of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ geometry: a null bang in the infinitely remote past.

(iii) $`3Gm<1/\sqrt{\lambda }`$, two horizons $`h_1`$ and $`h_2`$ (curve 3). The region $`r<h_1`$ is quite similar to the Schwarzschild black hole interior, while the region $`r>h_2`$ has the same qualitative features as the large $`r`$ region in cases 1, 2, 3 and 5 of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ geometry (Fig. 4), and the null bang takes place at finite proper time.

As before, observers in the KS regions receive signals from the pre-historical inner regions. Thus in Schwarzschild-de Sitter space-time the past anisotropic singularity is visible to all observers.

One more case of interest for comparison (though with a different structure of the SET) is that of a scalar field minimally coupled to gravity, with the Lagrangian

$$L_\phi =g^{\mu \nu }\phi _{,\mu }\phi _{,\nu }2V(\phi ),$$
(33)
where $`V(\phi )`$ is a potential. This field with various potentials is applied to various cosmological and local problems. If $`\phi `$ is constant, the system reduces to vacuum in general relativity with the cosmological constant given by the corresponding value of $`V`$=const. As shown in Ref. , in the case of static, spherically symmetric configurations, a variable scalar field adds nothing to the list of possible global space-time structures with constant $`\phi `$, whatever is the choice of the function $`V(\phi )`$ (not necessarily positive-definite). In particular, there can be no more than two horizons; the only possible double horizon separates two T regions. If there is a black hole horizon (i.e., a horizon $`r=h`$ separating a T region at $`r<h`$ from an R region at $`r>h`$), there is always a singularity at $`r=0`$. The system with any small $`r`$ behaviour has a de Sitter asymptotic at infinity if $`\phi \phi _0`$ such that $`V(\phi _0)>0`$ at large $`r`$.

A common feature with the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ geometry is that scalar field configurations which have a regular center are always asymptotically de Sitter at $`r=0`$, but in the scalar case they can have either no horizon, or one cosmological horizon.

Therefore the above discussion of regular $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ geometries (cases 1 and 5 according to Fig. 4) is applicable to regular scalar field configurations with a cosmological horizon. The discussion of the Schwarzschild-de Sitter geometry is applicable to the class of systems with scalar fields, singular at $`r=0`$.

A qualitative picture similar to cases 1 and 5 according to Fig. 4 is also observed if a single scalar field is replaced with a scalar triplet forming a global monopole configuration : in a certain range of the gravitational field strength parameter, the monopole has a de Sitter core, separated by a cosmological horizon from an outer KS region with a large $`r`$ asymptotic, characterized by a zero or small cosmological constant .

## IV Summary and discussion

Let us briefly summarize our results.

We have presented regular $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ dominated perfect fluid models in which the evolution starts from the de Sitter vacuum $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\delta _\mu ^\nu `$ with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ on the scale of symmetry breaking (which can be a Grand Unification or SUSY scale) and ultimately approaches another de Sitter vacuum $`\lambda \delta _\mu ^\nu `$ with $`\lambda <\mathrm{\Lambda }`$.

These models belong to the Lemaître class of anisotropic fluid models. The cosmological expansion starts from a nonsingular non-simultaneous de Sitter bang, followed by a Kasner type anisotropic stage and approaches isotropic FRW expansion at late times.

Exact solutions giving rise to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ dominated models are presented for three symmetries (spherical, planar and pseudospherical) of spatial 2-surfaces. All planar and pseudospherical regular models are anisotropic T models (without R regions) with isotropization at late times. The planar case is classified as the Bianchi I type and the pseudospherical case can be called the hyperbolic Kantowski-Sachs class.

In the spherically symmetric case the models contain regular R regions and can be identified as Kantowski-Sachs models with regular R regions.

A remarkable feature of these models is that, for a Kantowski-Sachs observer, the evolution starts with a “null bang”, from a null surface which seems singular to comoving observers but which is perfectly regular in the 4-dimensional $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ geometry. Information about the pre-null bang history is available to Kantowski-Sachs observers.

The KS and Lemaître type cosmologies presented here are built on the basis of the same space-times but differ in the choice of reference frames. This is an example of the evident circumstance that the observational properties of space-time in general relativity depend on the observers’ motion, in other words, on the choice of a reference frame. Another, well-known example is the de Sitter metric which, being written in different reference frames, gives rise to all three types of FRW isotropic models. Two anisotropic representations of the de Sitter geometry are given here in Eqs. (17) and (18).

We are currently working on detailed cosmological models consistent with all observational constraints. Our preliminary results testify that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_\mu ^\nu `$ cosmologies are able to provide a smooth decay of vacuum density by more than hundred orders of magnitude during the cosmological evolution.

### Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the Polish Committee for Scientific Research through grant No. 5P03D.007.20 and a grant for UWM.

KB thanks the colleagues from the University of Warmia and Mazury, where part of the work was done, for kind hospitality and acknowledges partial support from the Ministry of Industry, Science and Technologies of Russia.