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# Kondo-type transport through an interacting quantum dot coupled to ferromagnetic leads

## I Introduction

The discovery of the Kondo effect in a quantum dot (QD) connected to two normal reservoirs has stimulated much experimental and theoretical interests in this many-body phenomenon,Goldhaber  resulting in several novel findings, such as splitting of the Kondo peak under nonequilibrium condition,Schmid  an unususal enhancement of conductance in the cases when an even number of electrons resides in a QD,Sasaki ; Wiel  and double peaks of the differential conductance in coupled double QDs.Oosterkamp ; Jeong  Recently, an increasing attention has been paid, because of its potential application in the megnetoelectronics and quantum computer,Prinz  to the spin-polarized electron tunneling through systems consisting of two ferromagnetic (FM) leads sandwiched by a QD, which features a significant Kondo effect at low temperatures when it connects to normal leads. Generally speaking, the Kondo resonance in the density of states (DOS) at the Fermi energy originates from screening of the dot spin due to the exchange coupling with the conduction electrons. Therefore it is interesting to observe whether the Kondo-correlated state can form when the conduction band is of spin polarization, and if so, what is the difference from the conventional patterns.

In a recent paper, Sergueev et al.Serg  and Zhang et al.Zhang  presented a theoretical analysis of the transport characteristics of such a FM/QD/FM system, using the ansatz proposed by NgNg  and the standard equation-of-motion (EOM) technique for the retarded Green’s function. They found that there is always a sharp single Kondo resonant peak in nonlinear differential conductivity at zero bias, regardless of the polarization orientation of the two leads, parallel (P) or anti-parallel (AP) configurations. On the contrary, Martinek et al.Martinek  reported a markedly different result on similar systems, based also on an EOM technique and an additional assumption to replace the bare level of QD in the resultant self-energy expression with the one self-consistenly determined. They found that for P alignment of the lead magnetizations, the Kondo resonances in the DOS split for spin-up and -down electrons, thus the differential conductance exhibits nonzero-bias maximum and the linear conductance drops to a low value even the polarization being as small as 0.2. Later on, Lü and LiuLu  reported also the similar splitting by applying Ng’s ansatz. Ma et al.Ma  employed the finite-$`U`$ slave-boson mean-field approachKR ; Dong  to investigate the spin-polarized transport of this system and found drastically different behaviors depending on the polarization alignment of the two leads. In view of the ongoing controversy, further analysis on the influence of the spin polarization on the Kondo-correlated state in a QD is desirable, preferably based on more advanced schemes.

In this paper, we employ the non-crossing approximation (NCA) based on the auxiliary boson technique to carry out a detailed analysis of the FM/QD/FM Kondo problem. The NCA is a diagrammatic technique to sum all the non-crossing diagrams in the leading order $`|V|^2/N`$ ($`V`$ is the hopping matrix element between the local electron and conduction electrons, and $`N`$ is the number of spin degeneracy of the local level).Bickers  And it is proved to be an accurate approach for the case of $`N=2`$ (of interest for a QD), even under out-of-equalibrium conditions.Cox ; Wingreen ; Hettler  For a symmetric FM/QD/FM system considered in the present paper, although the individual QD is exactly spin degenerate, the spin-polarized leads can lift this degeneracy in the case of P alignment through the tunneling induced spin-related self-energies. However, if the spin polarization strength $`p`$ of the two leads is small enough, the self-energies are of weak spin-dependence, and as a consequence the NCA should be adequate to treat this systems. Actually, we calculate the equilibrium and nonequilibrium transmissions for the FM/QD/FM system with the polarization strength as low as $`p=0.2`$ for the P configuration. Numerical results show a complete splitting for the equilibrium transmission (DOS) and a nonzero-bias maximum for the voltage-dependent differential conductance, which are in qualitative agreement with those of MartinekMartinek  and LüLu .

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. In section II we describe the model Hamiltonian and give a brief description of applications of the infinite-$`U`$ NCA to the spin-dependent transport in FM/QD/FM systems, as well as a qualitative discussion about its validity. In section III numerical computations and discussions are presented, including the equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium DOS, the linear conductance, and the nonlinear differential conductance, for both the P and the AP polarization configurations. Finally, all the results are summarized in Section IV.

## II Model and Formulation

The system Hamiltonian for a quantum dot with a single spin-degenerate energy level $`ϵ_d`$ ($`N=2`$) connected to two ferromagnetic leads is written as

$`H`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\eta ,k,\sigma }{}}ϵ_{\eta k\sigma }c_{\eta k\sigma }^{}c_{\eta k\sigma }^{}+ϵ_d{\displaystyle \underset{\sigma }{}}c_{d\sigma }^{}c_{d\sigma }^{}`$ (1)
$`+Un_dn_d+{\displaystyle \underset{\eta ,k,\sigma }{}}(V_{\eta \sigma }c_{\eta k\sigma }^{}c_{d\sigma }^{}+\mathrm{H}.\mathrm{c}.),`$ (2)
where $`c_{\eta k\sigma }^{}`$ ($`c_{\eta k\sigma }`$) and $`c_{d\sigma }^{}`$ ($`c_{d\sigma }`$) are the creation (annihilation) operators for electrons with momentum $`k`$ and spin $`\sigma `$ in the lead $`\eta `$ ($`=\mathrm{L},\mathrm{R}`$) and for a spin-$`\sigma `$ electron on the QD, respectively. The third term describes the Coulomb interaction among electrons on the QD, which is assumed to be infinite ($`U\mathrm{}`$) in the present paper, forbidding double occupancy. The fourth term represents the tunneling coupling between the QD and the reservoirs via

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_\sigma ^\eta (\omega )=2\pi \underset{k}{}|V_{\eta \sigma }|^2\delta (\omega ϵ_{\eta k\sigma }),(\eta =\mathrm{L},\mathrm{R}).$$
(3)
In the wide band limit, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\sigma ^\eta `$ is assumed to be constant. For the identical leads and symmetric barriers, of interest in the present investigation, the ferromagnetism of the leads can be accounted for by the polarization-dependent couplings $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{}^L=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{}^R=(1+p)\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{}^L=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{}^R=(1p)\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$ for the P alignment, while $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{}^L=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{}^R=(1+p)\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{}^L=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{}^R=(1p)\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$ for the AP alignment. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$, and $`p`$ ($`0p<1`$) describe the tunneling coupling between the QD and the nonmagnetic leads, and the polarization strength of the leads. Under this approximation, the current $`I`$ through the QD can be expressed in terms of the total transmission $`𝒯(\omega )`$ asMeir

$$I=\frac{e}{\mathrm{}}𝑑\omega [f_L(\omega )f_R(\omega )]𝒯(\omega ),$$
(4)
where

$$𝒯(\omega )=\underset{\sigma }{}\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_\sigma ^L\mathrm{\Gamma }_\sigma ^R}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_\sigma ^L+\mathrm{\Gamma }_\sigma ^R}\rho _\sigma (\omega ),$$
(5)
with $`\rho _\sigma (\omega )=\frac{1}{\pi }\mathrm{Im}G_\sigma ^r(\omega )`$ being the DOS for spin-$`\sigma `$ electrons. $`G_\sigma ^r(\omega )`$ is Fourier transform of the retarded Green’s function,

$$G_\sigma ^r(t)=i\theta (t)c_\sigma (t),c_\sigma ^{}(0).$$
(6)
The main purpose of this work is to calculate the DOS $`\rho _\sigma (\omega )`$ as a function of temperature $`T`$, bare-level energy $`ϵ_d`$ and bias voltage $`V`$ for different polarization configurations and strengths $`p`$, and the associated linear and nonlinear conductance.

According to the infinite-$`U`$ slave-boson approach, the ordinary electron operators on the QD can be decomposed into a boson operator $`b`$ and a pseudo-fermion operator $`f_\sigma `$,

$`c_{d\sigma }(t)`$ $`=`$ $`b^{}(t)f_\sigma (t),`$ (7)
$`c_{d\sigma }^{}(t)`$ $`=`$ $`f_\sigma ^{}(t)b(t),`$ (8)
with a constraint for the auxiliary operators $`b^{}b+_\sigma f_\sigma ^{}f_\sigma ^{}=1`$. In the slave boson representation, the Hamiltonian (2) for the FM/QD/FM systems becomes

$`H`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\eta ,k,\sigma }{}}ϵ_{\eta k\sigma }c_{\eta k\sigma }^{}c_{\eta k\sigma }^{}+ϵ_d{\displaystyle \underset{\sigma }{}}f_\sigma ^{}f_\sigma ^{}`$ (9)
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{\eta ,k,\sigma }{}}(V_{\eta \sigma }c_{\eta k\sigma }^{}b^{}f_\sigma +\mathrm{H}.\mathrm{c}.).`$ (10)
In order to evaluate the DOS $`\rho _\sigma (\omega )`$, Wingreen et al.Wingreen  generalized the NCA to study the nonequilibrium properties of the Anderson model connected with two normal conduction bands, using the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green’s function formalism. It is well-known that the NCA is a self-consistent conserving perturbation expansion for the pseudo-fermion and slave-boson self-energies to first order in the effective coupling $`J=|V|^2`$. At the lowest order in perturbation diagrams the boson self-energy involves the bare fermion propagator while the fermion self-energy involves the bare boson propagator. By replacing these bare propagators with the dressed auxiliary particle propagators in the Feynman diagram, one can obtain a set of coupled integral equations, which self-consistently determine the self-energies of these auxiliary particles. Solving these coupled equations is equivalent to summing up a subset of diagrams to all orders in $`J`$. Furthermore, it can be proved that the NCA includes all diagrams of leading orders in $`1/N`$.Bickers  Therefore, the NCA is expected to be a quantitative approach in the limit of large $`N`$. For a QD connected with normal leads, $`N=2`$, it is already proved to be satisfactory in qualitatively describing the linear and nonlinear Kondo-type transport.Wingreen ; Hettler

Unfortunately, when the level degeneracy is broken, the NCA could produce spurious peaks in the DOS, thus is unreliable for transport investigation. For example, as mentioned by Wingreen,Wingreen  the NCA without vertex corrections produces an additional Kondo peak at the chemical potential in a finite magnetic field due to a false sefl-interaction of each level, whereas other methods find that the Kondo peak splits into two peaks. Similarly, the NCA without vertex corrections seems to be also inappropriate for the FM/QD/FM systems, because spin-related tunneling lifts the level degeneracy in the QD. However, the present situation is somewhat different from magneto-transport. The degeneracy lifting is evident in the presence of a magnetic field, while is dependent on the relative polarization orientation of the two leads and of course the strength of polarization for the FM/QD/FM systems.

When the polarization orientations of the two FM leads is anti-parallel, the self-energies are actually independent of spin and the degeneracy remains as two for the case of the identical leads and symmetric barriers. On the other hand, for the P configuration spin-related tunneling results in the self-energies to be different for spin-up and -down electrons. However, it is natural that the deviation depends on the polarization strength $`p`$. Namely, the NCA could still be reliable for the FM/QD/FM systems with small enough $`p`$. Numerical calculations in the next section show that the conventional Kondo peak in DOS indeed splits into two peaks completely at the polarization $`p=0.2`$ for the P configuration. Even though one can observe an additional peak located at the chemical potential but an order of magnitude smaller than the two real Kondo peaks, these results are in agreement with previous predictions.Martinek  Consequently, this convinces us that the NCA provides an appropriate description for the symmetric FM/QD/FM systems in either the AP alignment with arbitrary polarizations or the P configuration with weak polarizations. Of course, this scheme’s validity being dependent on the polarization $`p`$ should be carefully checked, for example, by the modified NCA including vertex corrections. This, however, entails numerically a much heavier task than the original NCA and is beyond the purpose of the present paper. We leave this examination to a future publication.

We outline the formulation employed in this paper as follows. The interested reader can refer to Ref.Wingreen,  and Ref.Hettler,  for detail. In the slave boson representation, the retarded Green’s functions for the boson and pseudo-fermions are defined as

$`D^r(\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\omega \mathrm{\Pi }^r(\omega )}},`$ (11)
$`G_{f\sigma }^r(\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\omega ϵ_d\mathrm{\Sigma }_{f\sigma }^r(\omega )}},`$ (12)
with the corresponding retarded self-energies $`\mathrm{\Pi }^r(\omega )`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{f\sigma }^r(\omega )`$. Furthermore, the “lesser” Green’s functions for the boson and fermions are related with the “lesser” self-energies $`\mathrm{\Pi }^<(\omega )`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{f\sigma }^<(\omega )`$ as

$`D^<(\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`D^r(\omega )\mathrm{\Pi }^<(\omega )D^a(\omega ),`$ (13)
$`G_{f\sigma }^<(\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`G_{f\sigma }^<(\omega )\mathrm{\Sigma }_{f\sigma }^<(\omega )G_{f\sigma }^a(\omega ).`$ (14)
The self-consistent NCA equations for out-of-equilibrium are

$`\mathrm{\Pi }^r(\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\eta =\mathrm{L},\mathrm{R},\sigma }{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_\sigma ^\eta }{2\pi }}{\displaystyle 𝑑\epsilon f(\epsilon \omega \mu _\eta )G_{f\sigma }^r(\epsilon )},`$ (15)
$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{f\sigma }^r(\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\eta =\mathrm{L},\mathrm{R}}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_\sigma ^\eta }{2\pi }}{\displaystyle 𝑑\epsilon f(\epsilon \omega +\mu _\eta )D^r(\epsilon )},`$ (16)
$`\mathrm{\Pi }^<(\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\eta =\mathrm{L},\mathrm{R},\sigma }{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_\sigma ^\eta }{2\pi }}{\displaystyle 𝑑\epsilon f(\epsilon \omega +\mu _\eta )G_{f\sigma }^<(\epsilon )},`$ (17)
$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{f\sigma }^<(\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\eta =\mathrm{L},\mathrm{R}}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_\sigma ^\eta }{2\pi }}{\displaystyle 𝑑\epsilon f(\epsilon \omega \mu _\eta )D^<(\epsilon )},`$ (18)
where $`f(x)=[\mathrm{exp}(\beta x)+1]^1`$ ($`\beta =1/k_\mathrm{B}T`$) is the Fermi distribution function and $`\mu _\eta `$ is the chemical potential of the $`\eta `$ lead. After solving this set of self-consistent equations, the imaginary part of the retarded local Green’s function, the DOS $`\rho _\sigma (\omega )`$, can be calculated within the NCA as

$`\rho _\sigma (\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{Z}}{\displaystyle }{\displaystyle \frac{d\epsilon }{2\pi }}[D^<(\epsilon )\mathrm{Im}G_{f\sigma }^r(\epsilon +\omega )`$ (19)
$`+`$ $`G_{f\sigma }^<(\epsilon )\mathrm{Im}D^r(\epsilon \omega )],`$ (20)
where

$$Z=𝑑\epsilon [D^<(\epsilon )+\underset{\sigma }{}G_{f\sigma }^<(\epsilon )].$$
(21)
Finally we can use Eqs.(4) and (5) to calculate the current through the QD.

## III Numerical results and discussions

### III.1 Density of State

In this section we present numerical calculations and discussions. First, we deal with the total equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium DOS (transmission) Eq.(5) for the FM/QD/FM systems with a fixed bare-level energy $`ϵ_d=4.0`$ ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$ is used as the energy unit throughout the rest of the paper). It is worth noting that the systems considered here belong to the deep Kondo regime and are appropriate to demonstrate the strong correlated effects.

Fig. 1(a) shows the total DOS in the AP configuration for several different polarizations $`p=0,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.2}`$, and $`0.4`$ as well as various temperatures $`T=0.01,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.02}`$, and $`0.04`$. Clearly, a significant Kondo peak remains at the Fermi energy (which is chosen to be the the energy zero) under the addition of the spin-polarized leads. The contribution of spin-polarized leads is to suppress both the Kondo peak and the single particle excitation peak (see overall shapes of the DOS in the inset of Fig. 1). This suppression is more pronounced with increasing polarization $`p`$. These results are understandable with the aid of the following considerations. Suppose that in the extreme case of two completely spin-polarized leads $`p=1`$, spin-down electrons are completely absent in the left lead, but electrons in the right lead are all spin-up and could provide compensation to screen the dot spin and to guarantee the formation of the Kondo-correlated singlet state. Thus the Kondo peak still exists with a reduced amplitude. Naturally, the cases of weak polarizations $`p<1`$ are more likely to form the Kondo state. Note that increasing temperature can broaden the peak and suppress the Kondo resonance as usual. In addition, effects of the external bias voltage on the out-of-equilibrium DOS are plotted in Fig. 1(b). For convenience, we choose a symmetric voltage drop such that the chemical potential $`\mu _L=\mu _R=eV/2`$ for the left and right leads. As expected, we find a splitting of the Kondo peak with a width nearly equal to the bias voltage applied between the source and drain leads.

In short, the QD connected with two AP magnetized leads develops the same Kondo resonance as the QD with two normal leads, whereas the former is suppressed to some extent depending on the polarization $`p`$. In contrast, the situation is drastically different for the P configuration as shown in Fig. 2, where we plot the total DOS for the polarization $`p=0.2`$ with various temperatures (a) and bias voltages (b). It is clear that the P polarization significantly changes the DOS of the QD in comparison with the case of $`p=0`$. The Kondo resonance splits into two distinct peaks with different amplitudes. One moves from the original location $`\omega =0`$, the Fermi energies of the two leads, to a lower energy position, the other shifts to the opposite direction at the expense of its height. Moreover the magnitudes of both Kondo resonances are largely suppressed by the introduction of spin polarization. We observe that there appears a remnant peak located at the Fermi energy, which is produced by the NCA calculation without vertex corrections as mentioned above. But its amplitude is one order smaller than the two shifted Kondo peaks and can be neglected. As a result, a very steep valley is found between the two peaks with a nearly vanished bottom. Finally we find that increasing temperature can not only smooth and broaden the peaks as usual, but also raise the bottom of the deep valley gradually, which can result in a peculiar temperature dependence of the linear conductance as shown in Fig. 3 (in the next subsection).

Fig. 2(b) depicts effects of changing bias voltage on the total DOS (transmission probability) for the same system as in Fig. 2(a). If we keep the temperature low, $`T=0.01`$, and increase the bias voltage, the two resonances first experience suppression and then each of them splits into two distinct peaks. Each pair of the peaks has a width about equal to the bias voltage. Increasing the temperature would eventually wash out the peak splitting and recover a single but much less pronounced peak in both equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium cases.

### III.2 Linear and Nonlinear Conductance

In Fig. 3 we plot the calculated linear response conductance $`G`$ vs. $`\mathrm{log}T`$ for various polarizations $`p=0,0.1,0.15`$, and $`0.2`$. In the AP configuration (thin line in Fig. 3) the linear conductance $`G_{AP}`$ exhibits the similar overall temperature dependence with those of nonmagnetic leads $`p=0`$, though smaller in magnitude resulted from the suppression of the Kondo resonance as addressed in Fig. 1(a). For the opposite orientation, the conductance $`G_P`$ depends strongly on the polarization strength $`p`$ and exhibits no universal $`T`$ behavior at low temperatures. Increasing $`p`$, $`G_P`$ is largely suppressed first and develops a “hump” as a function of temperature. This peak is due to the fact that the Kondo resonance is shifted away from the Fermi energy as shown in Fig. 2(a). To demonstrate the dramatic change of conductance under different polarization orientations, we plot the tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) defined as $`TMR=(G_PG_{AP})/G_{AP}`$ in the inset of Fig. 3. We find the TMR arrives at a value as large as $`100\%`$ at the lowest temperature calculated in this work and falls rapidly with increasing $`T`$, which can be attributed to the peculiar Kondo resonance in the P configuration. At high temperatures $`G_P`$ approaches the value of nonpolarization $`p=0`$, leading to a saturated and small positive linear TMR.

Fig. 4 shows the linear conductance as a function of bare-level energy $`ϵ_d`$, which can be tuned via the external gate voltage, for nonpolarization $`p=0`$, as well as the P and the AP configurations with $`p=0.2`$. As expected, $`G_{AP}`$ shows the same trend with that of nonpolarization though a smaller amplitude. The peak of $`G_p`$, however, shifts towards the Fermi energy. This means that the linear TMR changes its sign at a certain level energy and has approximatively a symmetric shape around this point. Near the empty orbital regime $`ϵ_d0`$ and near the deep Kondo regime $`ϵ_d4`$, the linear TMR reaches its maximum value as large as $`30\%`$ in the temperature $`T=0.1`$.

Nonlinear differential conductance $`dI/dV`$ is believed to be a very useful and sensitive tool in experiments to detect the formation of the Kondo-correlated state due to its proportionality to $`𝒯(eV)`$ derived from the current formula Eq.(4), assuming that the total transmission $`𝒯(\omega )`$ (nonequilibrium DOS) is unchanged under the external bias voltage $`V`$. So we illustrate in Fig. 5 the calculated $`dI/dV`$ under the P (a) and the AP (b) configurations, as well as the nonlinear TMR (c) at various temperatures. As pointed out above, because electrons with spin-up and spin-down are equally available in the AP configuration, the formation of the Kondo-correlated state should not be affected. As a result, all the curves in Fig. 5(b) exhibit a single zero-bias peak and rapid decrease in peak height with increasing temperature. When the magnetization is rotated to the P alignment, adding bias voltage can greatly enhance $`dI/dV`$ at low temperatures. This is apparently due to the complete splitting of the Kondo peak in the DOS shown in Fig. 2. The nonzero-bias maximum in $`dI/dV`$ is in good agreement with previous EOM calculations,Martinek  except for the reduced width of splitting and the fine shape in the differential conductance. These inconsistences can be attributed to the significant change of the nonequilibrium DOS with increasing bias voltage \[see Fig. 2(b)\]. Furthermore, the nonlinear TMR displays a deep dip in the linear regime and changes its sign at a certain bias voltage. This large change in the TMR vs. bias voltage reflects the different behaviors of the Kondo resonance in the P and the AP configurations.

## IV Summary

We have investigated the low-temperature, nonequilibrium properties of a spin-valve system consisting of a QD connected to two ferromagnetic leads in the Kondo regime. Based on the NCA approach we find markedly different behaviors in the equilibrium DOS when changing the relative orientation of spin polarization. In the AP configuration, we find that a single Kondo peak always appears through the whole range of polarization $`0p1`$, as just in a QD connected to two normal leads. Increasing polarization $`p`$ can slightly suppress the amplitude of the peak. In the P configuration, the Kondo peak descends greatly and splits completely into two peaks even for a weak polarization as low as $`p=0.2`$, leading to a steep valley with nearly a zero bottom. In both configurations the chemical-potential difference (the bias voltage) appears in the DOS via the the splitting of the Kondo peak into two peaks. Thus four peaks can be found in a moderate bias voltage for the P alignment. Of course the amplitudes of these peaks are suppressed by increasing temperature.

Experimentally, we predict, based on the NCA investigation, that the different Kondo effects can be observed in transport through a QD by either linear or nonlinear measurements. For the AP configuration, the calculations exhibit the usual temperature dependence of the linear conductance and a zero-bias maximum in the nonlinear conductance, which are the conventional properties of the Kondo-dominated transport through a QD. For the P configuration, however, we find a “hump” in the temperature-dependent linear conductance and a nonzero-bias maximum in the differential conductance. These peculiar behaviors are associated with the fact that the Kondo peak of the QD is split and shifted away from the Fermi level in the case of the P alignment. Furthermore, we suggest that the TMR is a more effective tool to explore the different features of the Kondo resonance in different configurations.

Finally, we point out again the applicability of the NCA approach to the FM/QD/FM systems. No spin splitting in the case of the AP alignment guarantees that the NCA is a reliable approximation for quantities involving the DOS. For the P configuration our numerical results for the DOS show satisfactory agreement with previous EOM predictions in the case of weak polarization $`p=0.2`$. Thus we believe that the self-consistent second-order perturbation approach provides some qualitative features of the Kondo effect in the DOS as long as the polarizations of the leads are weak enough, which can serve to furnish a deeper understanding of transport properties in FM/QD/FM systems. Advanced NCA studies containing the vertex corrections are required to examine the validity of this approach. Work along this line is in progress.

###### Acknowledgements.

B. Dong and H. L. Cui are supported by the DURINT Program administered by the US Army Research Office. S. Y. Liu and X. L. Lei are supported by the National Science Foundation of China, the Special Funds for Major State Basic Research Project, and the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology.


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# Kondo effect and spin filtering in triangular artificial atoms

## Abstract

We study strongly correlated states in triangular artificial atoms. Symmetry-driven orbital degeneracy of the single particle states can give rise to an $`SU(4)`$ Kondo state with entangled orbital and spin degrees of freedom, and a characteristic phase shift $`\delta =\pi /4`$. Upon application of a Zeeman field, a purely orbital Kondo state is formed with somewhat smaller Kondo temperature and a fully polarized current through the device. The Kondo temperatures are in the measurable range. The triangular atom also provides a tool to systematically study the singlet-triplet transitions observed in recent experiments .

Introduction.— Submicron boxes of electrons known as “quantum dots” or “artificial atoms” have proved a fruitful playground for studying single-particle quantized states, interaction, and spin . The role of orbital degeneracy in the formation of strongly correlated states in artificial atoms has not received the scrutiny it deserves, perhaps because orbital degeneracy is so hard to control experimentally in these systems. Accidental degeneracies may result in spin $`S>1/2`$ states with interesting physical properties , and in artificial atoms with almost degenerate states a singlet-triplet transition may also occur, giving rise to interesting non-monotonic behavior in the temperature dependence of the conductance . However, a typical artificial atom, unlike its namesakes, has no spatial symmetries and hence no orbital degeneracies. Instead, its ladder of orbital states is well-described by random matrix theory  This lack of symmetry seems intrinsic to structures studied by lateral transport through a patterned 2-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), as electrons must enter and exit from leads which break the symmetry of the confinement potential. In contrast, structures studied by vertical transport may have cylindrical symmetry — such artificial atoms exhibit beautiful shell structure , demonstrating that geometry can control a level spectrum. Combining the advantages of vertical structures (controlled level spectrum) and lateral structures (controlled tunneling strength) would be very desirable. Here we show that this goal can be achieved by carefully choosing the shape of a lateral structure.

In a perfectly symmetrical triangular artificial atom (TA) each single particle state can be labeled by its corresponding symmetry representation (see Fig. 1). Generically about half the levels are orbitally degenerate. To see this, let us imagine slightly distorting a perfectly cylindrical box to a triangular shape. Representation theory implies that states with angular momentum $`L_z=\pm 3n`$ split into one-dimensional $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$ representations, while states with $`L_z=\pm (3n+1)`$ or $`L_z=\pm (3n1)`$ remain degenerate, forming two-dimensional $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ representations. As a result, from $`N`$ originally degenerate states about $`2N/3`$ remain twofold degenerate, while the remaining $`N/3`$ levels split into $`2\times N/3`$ non-degenerate levels by the triangular symmetry.

As we discuss below, a singly-occupied $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ state gives rise to an $`SU(N)`$ Kondo state with $`N=4`$, reflecting the fourfold degeneracy of the ground state of the isolated TA (see Fig. 1). In this state orbital and spin fluctuations are entirely entangled. As opposed to the usual Kondo state with phase shift $`\pi /2`$, this $`SU(4)`$ Kondo state is characterized by a phase shift $`\delta =\pi /4`$, and is very similar to states proposed recently for artificial molecules (two coupled artificial atoms) . The unusual phase shift could be detected by integrating the TA into an Aharanov-Bohm geometry , but could also be inferred from more standard transport measurents. Application of a Zeeman field removes the spin degeneracy of the ground state and drives the system to a purely orbital Kondo state, in which the triangular atom acts as a spin filter, transmitting only electrons with spin aligned to the external field.

The major difference between the artificial molecule system of Ref.  and the present triangular arrangement is that in the former case the orbital states of the full system are never truly degenerate because of tunneling between the two sites, while in a perfectly symmetrical TA the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ states are far closer to degeneracy, split only by a small spin-orbit interaction. Furthermore, the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ electronic wave functions on the TA strongly overlap with each other, producing a large Hund’s rule coupling, and hence a triplet ground state for double occupancy of the four-fold degenerate state. Distorting the shape of the TA with an external gate would gradually split the degenerate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ states. Therefore, in this geometry one could systematically study the singlet-triplet transition without applying any external magnetic field .

Model.— First we focus on the charging of a $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ multiplet. At the Hartree-Fock level the isolated TA can be described by:

$`H_{\mathrm{TA}}={\displaystyle \underset{\tau ,\tau ^{},\sigma }{}}d_{\tau \sigma }^{}(E_{\tau \tau ^{}}+\mathrm{\Delta }E\delta _{\tau \tau ^{}})d_{\tau ^{}\sigma }J\stackrel{}{S}^{\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}2}}`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{E_C}{2}}(n_++n_{})^2+{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{~}{E}_C}{2}}(n_+n_{})^2,`$ (1)
where $`d_{\tau \sigma }^{}`$ creates an electron on the TA within the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ multiplet with spin $`\sigma `$ and orbital label $`\tau =\pm `$. The energy shift $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ is proportional to the (symmetrically-applied) gate voltage and controls the charge on the atom, while $`E_{\tau \tau ^{}}`$ accounts for the splitting generated by deviations from perfect triangular symmetry ($`_\tau E_{\tau \tau }=0`$). We denote the total number of electrons in state $`\tau =\pm `$ by $`n_\tau _\sigma d_{\tau \sigma }^{}d_{\tau \sigma }`$, and $`\stackrel{}{S}=\frac{1}{2}_{\tau ,\sigma ,\sigma ^{}}d_{\tau \sigma }^{}\stackrel{}{\sigma }_{\sigma \sigma ^{}}d_{\tau \sigma ^{}}`$ is the total spin of the atom. The terms proportional to $`E_C`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{E}_C`$ are generated by the Hartree interaction, while that proportional to $`J`$ in Eq. 1 is the Hund’s rule coupling, generated by exchange.

We describe the attached leads by

$$H_{\mathrm{leads}}=\underset{\epsilon ,\sigma }{}\underset{j=1}{\overset{3}{}}ϵa_{\epsilon \sigma j}^{}a_{\epsilon \sigma j}$$
(2)
where $`a_{\epsilon \sigma j}^{}`$ creates an electron in lead $`j`$ with energy $`\epsilon `$ and spin $`\sigma `$, and $`\{a_{\epsilon \sigma j}^{},a_{\epsilon ^{}\sigma ^{}j^{}}\}=\delta _{jj^{}}\delta _{\sigma \sigma ^{}}\delta (\epsilon \epsilon ^{})`$.

For a symmetrical TA we may usefully introduce a new conduction electron basis through the unitary transformation, $`a_mU_{mj}a_j`$, with $`U_{mj}=e^{i2\pi mj/3}/\sqrt{3}`$. States with $`\tau m=\pm 1`$ transform as $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$, while $`a_{m=0}`$ transforms as $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$, and cannot hybridize with the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ doublet on the atom. Therefore, in this new basis, for a perfectly symmetrical TA the hybridization between the atom and the leads takes on a particularly simple form:

$$H_{\mathrm{hyb}}=V\underset{\tau ,\sigma }{}(d_{\tau \sigma }^{}\psi _{\tau \sigma }+\mathrm{h}.\mathrm{c}.),$$
(3)
with $`\psi _{\tau \sigma }𝑑\epsilon a_{\epsilon \sigma \tau }`$.

Coulomb blockade peaks.— We are most interested in the case of a four-fold degenerate ground state arising from a singly-occupied $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ level. 111Similar considerations would apply for the case of a single hole on the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ multiplet. Such a state can be identified experimentally by looking at the height, magnetic field, and temperature dependence of the Coulomb blockade peaks. In the regime where the temperature $`T`$ is smaller than the level spacing $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ of the dot, but is still larger than any Kondo temperature or the tunneling rate $`2\pi V^2`$ to the leads, the conductance around the Coulomb blockade peaks will be dominated by sequential tunneling. We use a standard rate equation formalism  to compute the linear conductance of the TD in this regime. For a symmetrical system the currents $`I_j`$ between leads $`j`$ and the atom are related to the voltages $`V_j`$ applied on them by the conductance tensor, $`I_j=_j^{}G_{jj^{}}V_j^{}`$, where $`G_{jj^{}}=\frac{3}{2}G\delta _{jj^{}}G/2`$. A schematic plot of the conductance $`G`$ is shown in Fig. 2. The four peaks associated with the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ state are spaced regularly in gate voltage, and their height turns out to be numerically almost identical: For the first and last peak we find $`G_{1,\mathrm{max}}^{\mathrm{\Gamma }^3}=G_{4,\mathrm{max}}^{\mathrm{\Gamma }^3}=0.9309\frac{2e^2}{h}\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{T}`$, while the second and third have a height $`G_{2,\mathrm{max}}^{\mathrm{\Gamma }^3}=G_{3,\mathrm{max}}^{\mathrm{\Gamma }^3}=0.9019\frac{2e^2}{h}\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{T}`$, with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=2\pi V^2/3\mathrm{}`$ the single particle tunneling rate between the atom and one of the leads. Applying a Zeeman field to the atom (i.e., a field parallel to the underlying 2-dimensional electron gas), shifts the positions of the peaks in the directions indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2 and also somewhat decreases their height. The $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ peaks are further distinguished by the temperature dependence of the conductance between them, since at low temperatures this valley conductance increases for degenerate ground states due to coherent Kondo-type correlations (see Fig. 2) .

The SU(4) Kondo state.— From now on we shall focus on the four-fold degenerate ground state with $`n_++n_{}=1`$, expanded in states $`|\mu |\tau \sigma `$. When coupled to leads, this state exhibits a novel and interesting Kondo effect. We compute the effective interaction between the leads and the atom by integrating out virtual fluctuations to the $`n_++n_{}=0`$ and $`n_++n_{}=2`$ states, giving:

$$H_{\mathrm{int}}=J_{\alpha \beta }^{\mu \nu }|\mu \nu |\psi _\alpha ^{}\psi _\beta ,$$
(4)
where $`\mu `$, $`\nu `$, $`\alpha `$, and $`\beta `$ stand for the possible combinations of orbital and spin indices, $`\alpha ,\mathrm{},\nu \{\sigma ,\tau \}`$. The couplings $`J_{\alpha \beta }^{\mu \nu }`$ are typically of order $`V^2/E_C`$ and their explicit expression is rather complicated. Fortunately, this ’bare’ Hamiltonian simplifies considerably upon scaling — a renormalization group analysis reveals that at small energy scales (temperatures) the TA is simply described by the effective exchange Hamiltonian :

$$H_{\mathrm{eff}}(T0)=\stackrel{~}{J}\underset{\alpha ,\beta =1,..,4}{}|\beta \alpha |\psi _\alpha ^{}\psi _\beta .$$
(5)
For a TA with perfect symmetry, this Hamiltonian produces a strongly correlated Kondo state with SU(4) symmetry and entangled spin and orbital degrees of freedom. At $`T=0`$ temperature, both orbital and spin indices are conserved and the transmitted electrons acquire only a phase shift $`\delta _{m,\sigma }`$. In this Kondo state all four phase shifts equal in zero external field, and following the Friedel sum rule satisfy $`\delta _{m,\sigma }=\pi /4`$ . This unusual phase shift should be measurable experimentally in Aharanov-Bohm arrangements . In case of a finite Zeeman field the phase shifts acqire a spin dependence, but they remain independent of the orbital indices, $`\delta _{m=\pm 1,\sigma }=\delta _\sigma `$, though $`\delta _\sigma `$ are related through the Friedel sum rule as $`\delta _{}+\delta _{}=\pi /2`$.

Knowledge of the phase shifts allows us to compute the linear DC conductance through the TA at $`T=0`$ using the Landauer-Buttiker formalism . In the ground state, the $`m=0`$ combination of the leads is totally decoupled, and therefore $`\delta _0=0`$. We can thus construct the scattering matrix $`S_{mm^{}}^\sigma `$ within the basis $`\{a_{m\sigma }\}`$, and then express the scattering matrix $`S_{ij}^\sigma `$ by just rotating back to the original basis: $`S_{ij}^\sigma =_{m,m^{}}U_{im}^{}S_{mm^{}}^\sigma U_{m^{}j}`$. The conductance matrix can then be expressed through $`S_{ij}^\sigma `$, and for a perfectly symmetrical geometry we find that $`G(T0)=G_Q\frac{4}{9}\mathrm{sin}^2\delta _\sigma `$ where $`G_Q=2e^2/h`$ is the quantum conductance.

For general $`J_{\alpha \beta }^{\mu \nu }`$ the Kondo temperature $`T_K`$ cannot be given in a closed form. If, however, the dominant charge fluctuations are to the $`n_++n_{}=0`$ state, then $`J_{\alpha \beta }^{\mu \nu }J\delta _\beta ^\mu \delta _\alpha ^\nu `$, and in the leading logarithmic approximation $`T_K\mathrm{\Delta }e^{1/4J}`$. Thus $`T_K`$ can be tuned to the experimentally accessible regime by appropriately increasing the lead-TA conductances and making an atom with sufficiently large level spacing. A triangular atom with side 200 nm would be challenging but feasible to fabricate, and should satisfy the level spacing requirement.

It is interesting to study the effect of a Zeeman field, $`H_{\mathrm{TA}}H_{\mathrm{TA}}BS^z`$. Experimentally, this corresponds to a field applied parallel to the surface of a lateral artificial atom . For $`B>T_K`$ spin fluctuations on the atom are suppressed. Orbital fluctuations remain allowed, and in the spin channel parallel to $`B`$ a purely orbital Kondo state is formed. For $`J_{\alpha \beta }^{\mu \nu }J\delta _\beta ^\mu \delta _\alpha ^\nu `$ we find that the orbital Kondo temperature is somewhat suppressed compared to that of the $`SU(4)`$ Kondo state, $`T_K(B\mathrm{})\mathrm{\Delta }e^{1/2J}T_K(B=0)^2/\mathrm{\Delta }`$.

In contrast to the SU(4) Kondo state, this orbital state is characterized by phase shifts $`\delta _{}=\pi /2`$ and $`\delta _{}=0`$. Interestingly, at $`T=0`$ the conductance $`G`$ is approximately field-independent, since $`\delta _{}+\delta _{}=\pi /2`$ as a consequence of the Friedel sum rule. Thus the conductance in this regime should increase with decreasing temperature even for $`T<B`$ and should saturate below $`T_K(B\mathrm{})`$, a clear signature of a purely orbital Kondo state.

The polarization of the transmitted current, on the other hand, $`P=\mathrm{sin}^2\delta _{}\mathrm{sin}^2\delta _{}`$, does depend on $`B`$, and the current becomes almost fully polarized for $`B>T_K`$ at $`T=0`$. Therefore the triangular atom in this regime could be used as a perfectly spin filter with high conductance.

Distorting the shape of the TA, or applying a small magnetic field perpendicular to the surface, splits the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ multiplet. As with application of a parallel field, the SU(4) Kondo is destroyed, replaced by a standard spin-1/2 Kondo state with reduced Kondo temperature. The conductance tensor in this case becomes more complicated, however, and cannot be parametrized as before.

Stability.— Finally, let us comment on the conditions under which the SU(4) and orbital Kondo states can be observed. Clearly, it is experimentally very important to have as perfect triangular symmetry as possible. Departures from symmetry have two major consequences: (a) The couplings $`J_{\alpha \beta }^{\mu \nu }`$ become anisotropic. Fortunately, this has little importance, since the SU(4) state is stable in the renormalization group sense, i.e., these differences can be neglected in the Kondo regime. (b) The $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3`$ multiplet splits. This effect is insignificant until the splitting is larger than $`T_K`$, which can be a substantial fraction of the average level spacing. We therefore believe that these new Kondo states can indeed be experimentally observed in a triangular artificial atoms.

Summary.— In a perfectly triangular artificial atom many of the single particle orbital states are degenerate by symmetry. We have shown that such orbital degeneracy can result in the formation of an $`SU(4)`$ symmetric Kondo state with phase shifts $`\delta =\pi /4`$, or a purely orbital Kondo state in the presence of a strong external parallel magnetic field. The triangular atom acts as a spin polarizer in this regime. We have also suggested using triangular atoms to study systematically the singlet-triplet transition described in Ref.  and apparently observed in Ref. .

Acknowledgments.— We are grateful to B.I. Halperin and W. Hofstetter for stimulating discussions. This research has been supported by NSF Grants Nos. DMR-9985978 and Hungarian Grants No. OTKA F030041, T038162, and N31769.


text:
# Microlensing towards the Magellanic Clouds: Nature of the Lenses and Implications for Dark Matter

## 1 Introduction

Most spiral galaxies are known to have flat rotation curves (e.g. Begeman et al. 1991). In the outer parts of the galaxies in particular, the visible matter falls far short of what is required to explain the flat rotation curves. In our own Galaxy, the rotation curve is observed to be flat up to at least 16 kpc from the center (e.g. Fich et al. 1989). The scenarios proposed to explain the flat rotation curves are either departure from Newtonian dynamics in large scale, or presence of dark matter (for a review see Sanders 1990). In the latter and more conventional scenario, the rotation curves would imply that a significant part of the mass of the galaxies, including our own, resides in the halo in some form of dark matter. The nature of this dark matter has been hypothesized to be in either of the two forms: MACHOs (i.e. massive compact halo objects which is a collective term for ‘Jupiters’, brown dwarfs, red dwarfs, white dwarfs, neutron stars or black holes); or elementary particles such as massive neutrinos, axions or WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles such as photinos etc.). One important distinguishing factor of the MACHOs is that they can have detectable gravitational effects and can cause “gravitational microlensing” of background stars.

Einstein (1936) was the first to point out that a star can act as a gravitational lens for another background star, if the two are sufficiently close to each other in the line of sight. Given the observational capabilities of that time, Einstein had however considered this to be a purely theoretical exercise since there was “no hope of observing such a phenomenon directly”.

Paczyński (1986) worked out the probability of such microlensing events by MACHOs and showed that if the halo of our Galaxy is made up of MACHOs, the probability of finding them is 5 $`\times `$ 10<sup>-7</sup>, independent of their mass distribution. He suggested an experiment to look for such events using the LMC stars. Such an experiment was taken up by 2 groups who reported their first results in 1993 (Alcock et al. 1993; Aubourg et al. 1993). In 6 years’ monitoring of millions of stars towards the Magellanic Clouds, so far about 17 events have been detected towards the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and 2 events towards the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC).

The observed microlensing optical depth as derived from these observations is $`1\times 10^7`$. This is about a factor of 5 lower than what would be expected if the dark matter is entirely made up of MACHOs. To complicate the issue further, the simple microlensing light curves cannot tell us the location of the lenses because of a degeneracy between the distance, mass and the proper motion of the lens. So the lenses can be stars in the Galactic disk (Gould 1994, Evans et al. 2001, Gates and Gyuk, 2001), MACHOs in the Galactic halo (Alcock et al. 2000a), or stars within the LMC itself (Sahu 1994a,b; Evans and Eamonn 2000). As a result, the interpretation of these lensing events, and their locations in particular, have remained uncertain.

## 2 Overview of the Problem

The contribution of known stars to the microlensing optical depth had not been calculated until after the first microlensing events were reported towards the LMC. Such calculations revealed that the microlensing optical depth due to the known stars within the LMC is close to the observed optical depth, particularly in the region of the bar where the microlensing event was detected (Sahu 1994a,b; Wu 1994). This was used to argue that the stars within the Magellanic Clouds must play a significant role as lenses.

Lensing by stars within the Magellanic clouds is now commonly referred to as “self-lensing”. It is known for a long time (e.g. Schneider et al. 1992), and it was re-derived by Gould (1995) that the self-lensing microlensing optical depth can be expressed as a function of the velocity dispersion

$$\tau =2\times sec^2(\theta )v^2/c^2$$
(1)
where $`\theta `$ is the inclination of the disk of the LMC (the best estimated value of which is $`34.7\pm 6\mathrm{deg}`$, van der Marel and Cioni, 2001). Since the velocity dispersion of the stars in the disk of the LMC is about 20 km/s, the above equation would imply that the self-lensing optical depth is about $`2\times 10^8`$, which is too low to explain the observed microlensing events.

However, there are some problems in such an approach. First, eq. (1) can be applied only for a virialized system. The Magellanic Clouds are not relaxed, and far from virialized systems: they are dynamically disturbed, they show tidal-tail structures, and the velocity dispersions are different for low and high-mass objects (for a review, see Westerlund 1997). Second, the lenses are low-mass objects for which the velocity dispersions are unknown. Third, the velocity dispersions in the region of the bar, where most of the events have been found so far, is also unknown.

A cautionary note seems appropriate here. A similar story had repeated towards the Galactic bulge. The velocity dispersion of the Galactic bulge stars would imply a microlensing optical depth which is a factor of at least 3 smaller than the observed optical depth. In the case of the Galactic bulge, the re-discovery of the Galactic bar, with an inclination of 15 to the line of sight helped in solving the puzzle of the discrepancy between the observed and the expected microlensing optical depth (Kiraga and Paczyński, 1994; Paczyński et al. 1995).

In the meantime, several papers have appeared with detailed calculations of the optical depth taking into account the extra effects such as ‘diffusion’ of small-mass objects, which causes the velocity dispersion of less massive objects to be larger (e.g. Salati et al. 1999).

The full range of the calculated optical depth due to the stars within the LMC, as published in the literature so far, is $`1\times 10^8`$ to $`2\times 10^7`$ (e.g. Gyuk et al. 2000, Graff 2001, Salati et al. 1999, Aubourg et al. 1999). The high end of this self-lensing optical depth would imply that all the observed events are caused by stars within the LMC and that the contribution of MACHOs to the dark matter is negligible. The low-end of the self-lensing optical depth would imply that none of the observed events are caused by stars within the Magellanic clouds, and hence the events are caused most likely by MACHOs in the halo. In the extreme case where all the events are caused by MACHOs in the Galactic halo, the implied contribution of MACHOs to dark matter is about 25% (Alcock et al. 2000a, Afonso et al. 2002).

Cleary, it is important to know the exact location and nature of the lenses, which can shed some light on the whether MACHOs can account for the long-sought dark matter in the halo. We obviously need some observational tests to guide us in resolving this puzzle. The rest of the paper mainly deals with such tests and the current status of the results from these tests.

It is worth pointing out here that, in the self-lensing hypothesis, it is implicit that the sources and the lenses reside within the LMC. The sources cannot be considered as background sources since the derivation of the observed microlensing optical depth assumes that all the monitored stars which are within the Magellanic clouds contribute to the microlensing optical depth.

## 3 Observational Tests

The simple microlensing light curve is inadequate to the determine the lens location because of a degeneracy between the distance, the proper motion and the mass of the lens. A typical difficulty is that, in order to determine the lens location, both the mass and the proper motion of the lens are needed. Generally, these quantities can only be estimated statistically, since the lens is not detected directly. As a result, the interpretations of these lensing events, and the lens locations in particular, remain uncertain.

Fortunately, there are several observational tests which can be used to infer the nature of the lenses, including some tests which can be used for direct determinations of their locations. The observational tests that I will discuss here, some of which have already provided clear results, are the following:

(i) Determination of lens location through “caustic-crossing” timescale
(ii) Other direct determinations of lens locations
(iii) Frequency of observed binary-lens events
(iv) Timescales of SMC vs. LMC events
(v) Spatial distribution of the microlensing events

### 3.1 “Caustic-crossing” timescale

Clearly, the best test would be to measure the location of the lens directly. In a few special cases, such a direct determination of the lens location is indeed possible. One such special case is when the lens is a binary, and the source crosses the caustics produced by the binary lens. Since a caustic is essentially a straight line in space, the time taken by the caustic to cross the source provides a direct measure of the proper motion of the lens projected onto the source plane. If the lens is in the halo at a distance of $``$10 kpc, then the expected proper motion of the lens is about 200 km/s which, projected onto the source plane, is about 1000 km/s. So the time for the caustic to cross the source would be of the order of half an hour. If, on the other hand, the lens is within the Magellanic Clouds, the expected proper motion is about 50 km/s, and hence the caustic crossing time is expected to be of the order of 10 hours. Thus, monitoring a caustic crossing provides a powerful method to determine the location of the lens.

#### 3.1.1 MACHO 98-SMC-1

Such an opportunity presented itself after the first binary-lens event, MACHO 98-SMC-1, was discovered by the MACHO collaboration in 1998 (Alcock et al. 1999). After the first caustic crossing was reported, the PLANET collaboration, with its 24-hour access to telescopes around the world, predicted a second caustic crossing and began monitoring this event, with a particular interest in fully sampling the second caustic crossing (Albrow et al. 1999). The time for the caustic to cross the source was found to be 8.5 hours (Fig. 1), which demonstrated that the lens is within the SMC (Fig. 2). The result was further confirmed by the EROS, MACHO and MPS collaborations, who also concluded that the lens is most likely within the SMC (Afonso et al. 1998, 2000, Alcock et al. 1999, Rhie et al. 1999).

#### 3.1.2 MACHO-LMC-9

The second binary-lens event, MACHO-LMC-9, was discovered by the MACHO collaboration towards the LMC, for which the observations are not as dense (Alcock et al. 1997a). The caustic crossing timescale of the event also suggests that the lens is most likely within the LMC (Fig. 3), although the sparse sampling of this event quality has led to some doubt as to whether this is a microlensing event at all (Alcock et al. 2000a,b).

### 3.2 Other determinations of lens locations

#### 3.2.1 MACHO 97-SMC-1

97-SMC-1 is the first microlensing event observed towards the SMC, which has a large timescale of 220 days, in contrast to the average timescale of 40 days as observed for the more than dozen microlensing events towards the LMC (Alcock et al. 1997b).

If the lens is a MACHO in the Galactic halo, the timescale of the event would suggest that the mass of the lens is about 3 M. Clearly, this cannot be a normal star of 3 M since it would be too bright and would be easily detectable. Indeed, a spectrum of the source obtained by Sahu and Sahu (1999) shows the spectrum to be a pure B-type spectrum as expected from a source within the SMC, without any contribution from the lens (Fig. 4). This would suggest that the lens is either a black hole in the Galactic halo, or a small mass object within the SMC.

A black hole in the Galactic halo is an unsatisfactory explanation since that would imply that the MACHOs in the direction of the LMC are predominantly 0.5 solar mass objects and the MACHOs in the direction of the SMC are predominantly 3 solar mass objects. The locations of the LMC and the SMC too close to permit such a mass segregation in these two directions even in the most extreme flattened model of the Galaxy. This leaves us with the only other alternative that the lens must be a small mass object within the SMC.

Furthermore, as explained in the next section, this long timescale of the SMC events is precisely what one would expect if the lenses are within the Magellanic Clouds, which further supports the view that the lens is most likely within the SMC.

#### 3.2.2 MACHO 96-LMC-2

Lens locations have been estimated for another event MACHO 96-LMC-2, where the source is a binary (Alcock et al. 2001a). In this case too, the lens is most likely within the LMC.

Thus there are 4 cases so far, for which we know the locations of the lenses. In all the cases, without exception, the most likely locations of the lenses are within the Magellanic Clouds.

It is worth noting here that the lens location has been recently determined for an event caused by a star in the local Galactic disk (Alcock et al. 2001b). The events caused by nearby lenses are expected to exhibit “parallax” effects which are easier to detect. The fact that only one event has been detected caused by a star in the local Galactic disk is consistent with the expected frequency of nearby stars acting as lenses.

### 3.3 Frequency of observed binary-lens events

For the sake of argument, let us start with the assumption that all the events except the two binary events for which we know that the lenses are within the Magellanic clouds are caused by MACHOs in the halo. This would be quite extra-ordinary since this would mean that the only two events that are caused by the stars within the Magellanic clouds not only happen to be binaries, but they also show caustic crossing structure in their light curves. If one event caused by a star in the Magellanic clouds is observed, the probability that the lens would be a binary is about 50% (assuming 50% of the lenses are in binary systems similar to the stars in the solar neighborhood). Since only 20% of the binary-lens events are expected to show caustic-crossing structures (which is borne out by the observations towards the Galactic bulge as well), the probability that it would show a caustic-crossing structure is 10%. The probability that a second event caused by a Magellanic cloud star would again be a binary and show caustic structure is again 10%. The probability that two successive events caused by Magellanic cloud stars will both be binaries and show caustic crossing structures is thus 1%, and hence extremely unlikely. We can follow the same argument in reverse and ask the following question: if 2 events which show binary characteristics are within the Magellanic clouds, how many of the observed events should be caused by stars within the Magellanic clouds? Since 10% of the events are expected to show binary characteristics, one would expect about 20 events to be caused by stars within the Magellanic clouds. This is more or less the number of events observed, which suggests that most of the lenses must be within the Magellanic clouds.

### 3.4 Timescales of SMC vs. LMC events

The relative timescales of the LMC and the SMC events provide further indications on the locations of the lenses. If the lenses are MACHOs in the Galactic halo, the characteristics of the lenses towards the LMC and the SMC are expected to be the same and hence both the LMC and the SMC events are expected to have similar timescales. On the other hand, if the lenses are within the Magellanic Clouds, the expected timescales of the LMC and the SMC events are expected to be very different. The LMC has a depth of less than 1 kpc in a typical line of sight whereas the SMC as a much larger depth of about 5 kpc along a typical line of sight. So the typical distance between the lens and the source is much smaller in the case of LMC than in the case of the SMC. As a result, the size of the Einstein ring (which scales as the square root of the distance between the source and the lens) is much smaller for the LMC events than than for the SMC events. Since the velocity dispersions of the stars within the LMC and the SMC are similar, the timescales of the SMC events are expected to be much longer than the LMC events, if the lenses are within the Magellanic Clouds.

Two events have been observed towards the SMC so far which have timescales of 75 and 125 days. This would correspond to lens masses of 2 to 3 solar masses if the lenses are in the halo, and about 0.2 to 0.3 solar masses if the lenses are within the Magellanic clouds. For the $``$17 events observed towards the LMC, the timescales are much shorter, which would correspond to lens masses of $``$0.5 solar masses if the lenses are in the halo, and $``$0.2 solar masses if the lenses are within the LMC. This is shown it tabular form in Table 1. If the events are predominantly caused by MACHOs in the halo, one faces the unrealistic consequence that the MACHOs in the direction of the LMC and the SMC are of very different mass. Self-lensing is the only scenario which gives consistent masses for both the LMC and the SMC events. The longer durations of the SMC events are a natural consequence of the self-lensing hypothesis.

### 3.5 Spatial distribution of the events

Finally, the spatial distribution of the events provide some extra insight into the nature of the lenses. As first pointed out by Sahu (1994 a,b), the events should be more concentrated towards the bar of the LMC if the lensing is caused by the stars within the LMC. If the events are caused by MACHOs then the events (for a given number of monitored stars) should be uniformly distributed over the whole of the LMC. Unfortunately, all the analyses by the MACHO group so far have been confined to the region around the bar of the LMC. The EROS group, however, have mostly monitored in the region outside the bar, and have not detected any event. From their non-detection of microlensing events, they derive a microlensing optical depth which is much smaller than the optical depth determined by the MACHO group. This is consistent with the fact that stars within the Magellanic clouds play a dominant role as lenses.

Monitoring some regions far from the bar of the LMC to look for microlensing events would provide a clear test on whether the lensing events are caused by MACHOs or stars within the LMC (e.g. Stubbs, 1999).

## 4 Implications on Dark Matter

The most significant insight into the contribution of dark matter, in my view, comes from a comparative study of the number of observed events towards the LMC and the SMC, and their timescales. So far, 2 microlensing events have been detected towards the SMC with time scales of 75 and 125 days. From these two events, the optical depth towards the SMC has been estimated to be $``$2 $`\times `$ $`10^7`$ which is about the same as the optical depth towards the LMC (Alcock et al. 1999). In terms of optical depth, these two events are equivalent to about 15 events with timescales of $``$40 days (optical depth scales as the square of the timescale). Thus, if the microlensing events are caused by 0.5 solar mass MACHOs as claimed from the LMC observations, about 15 such events should have been detected towards the SMC by now. Furthermore, as discussed earlier, both of the observed SMC events have been shown to be caused by stars within the SMC. Thus no microlensing event caused by a MACHO has been detected towards the SMC, whereas 15 such events should have been detected if the contribution of MACHOs to dark matter is indeed 20% as claimed from the detection of $``$20 microlensing events towards the LMC. This leads us to the inevitable conclusion that the contribution of MACHOs to dark matter is less than 2%, with a strong upper limit of 5%.

## 5 Conclusions

Results from several observational tests are already available which can be used to clearly distinguish between different scenarios for the nature of the lenses. I have argued that the results obtained so far point to the fact that the observed microlensing events towards the Magellanic clouds are caused by the stars within the Magellanic Clouds. Consequently, the contribution of MACHOs to the dark matter is consistent with zero, with a strong upper limit of 5%. However, some estimates suggest that the known stars within the Magellanic Clouds fall short by a factor of a few to explain the observed microlensing events. The contribution to the microlensing optical depth by the known stars is, however, very uncertain, and further work would be needed to resolve this issue.

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text:
# Prescribing Ricci curvature on complexified symmetric spaces

## 1. Riemannian symmetric spaces of non-compact type

Here we recall some facts about the geometry of Riemannian symmetric spaces. The standard reference for this section is .

Let $`G/K`$ be a symmetric space of compact type with $`G`$ acting effectively and $`K`$ connected, and let $`G^{}/K`$ be its dual222 Since $`K`$ is connected and $`K=\mathrm{Ad}_G(K)`$ (Remark 1), there exists a $`G^{}`$ such that $`(G^{},K)`$ is a symmetric pair corresponding to $`(𝔤^{},𝔨)`$.. If $`𝔤`$, $`𝔤^{}`$ and $`𝔨`$ denote the Lie algebras of $`G`$, $`G^{}`$ and $`K`$, then $`𝔤=𝔨𝔭`$, $`𝔤^{}=𝔨i𝔭`$, where $`[𝔨,𝔭]𝔭`$ and $`[𝔭,𝔭]𝔨`$. The restriction of the Killing form to $`i𝔭`$ is positive definite and induces the Riemannian metric of $`G^{}/K`$. Moreover, the Riemannian exponential mapping provides a diffeomorphism between $`𝔭`$ and $`G^{}/K`$. This can be viewed as the map:

(1.1)
$$pe^{ip}K,$$

where $`p𝔭`$ and $`e`$ is the group-theoretic exponential map for $`G^{}`$. Thus we have two $`K`$-invariant Riemannian metrics on $`𝔭^n`$: the Euclidean one given by the Killing form, and the negatively curved one given by the diffeomorphism (1.1).

Let $`𝔞`$ be a maximal abelian subspace of $`𝔭`$ and $`𝔩`$ its centraliser in $`𝔨`$. Let $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ the set of restricted roots and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$ the set of restricted positive roots. For each $`\alpha \mathrm{\Sigma }`$, let $`𝔭_\alpha `$ (resp. $`𝔨_\alpha `$) denote the subspace of $`𝔭`$ (resp. of $`𝔨`$) where each $`(\mathrm{ad}H)^2`$, $`H𝔞`$, acts with eigenvalue $`\alpha (H)^2`$. We have the direct decompositions

(1.2)
$$𝔭=𝔞+\underset{\alpha \mathrm{\Sigma }^+}{}𝔭_\alpha ,𝔨=𝔩+\underset{\alpha \mathrm{\Sigma }^+}{}𝔨_\alpha .$$

Let $`𝔞^+`$ be an open Weyl chamber and let $`𝔭^{}`$ be the union of $`K`$-orbits of points in $`𝔞^+`$. Any $`K`$ orbit in $`𝔭^{}`$ is isomorphic to $`K/L`$ where the Lie algebra of $`L`$ is $`𝔩`$. Moreover, we have the diffeomorphism:

(1.3)
$$𝔞^+\times K/L𝔭^{},(h,k)\mathrm{Ad}(k)h.$$

We now wish to write the two $`K`$-invariant metrics on $`𝔭`$ in coordinates given by this diffeomorphism. Let $`dr_i^2`$ be the Killing metric on $`𝔞^+`$ (the $`r_i`$ can be viewed as $`K`$-invariant functions on $`𝔭^{}`$). For each $`𝔨_\alpha `$, choose a basis $`X_{\alpha ,m}`$ ($`m`$ runs from $`1`$ to twice the multiplicity of $`\alpha `$) of vectors orthonormal for the Killing form and denote by $`\theta _{\alpha ,m}`$ the corresponding basis of invariant $`1`$-forms on $`K/L`$. We have

###### Proposition 1.1.

Let $`g_0`$ be the Euclidean metric on $`𝔭`$, given by the restriction of the Killing form, and let $`g`$ be the negatively curved symmetric metric on $`𝔭`$ given by the diffeomorphism (1.1). Then, under the diffeomorphism (1.3) the metrics $`g_0`$ and $`g`$ can be written in the form

(1.4)
$$\underset{i}{}dr_i^2+\underset{(\alpha ,m)}{}F(\alpha (r))\theta _{(\alpha ,m)}^2,$$

where $`F(z)=z^2`$ for $`g_0`$, and $`F(z)=\mathrm{sinh}^2(z)`$ for $`g`$.

###### Proof.

Since all these metrics are $`K`$-invariant, it is enough to compute them at points of $`𝔞^+`$. Let $`H`$ be such a point and let $`(h,\rho )`$, $`h𝔞`$, $`\rho T_{[1]}K/L`$, be a tangent vector to $`𝔞^+\times K/L`$ at $`(H,[1])`$. The vector $`\rho `$ can be identified with an element of $`𝔨_\alpha 𝔨`$. The corresponding (under (1.3)) tangent vector at $`H𝔭^{}`$ is $`h+[\rho ,H]`$. Computing the Killing form of this vector yields the formula (1.4) with $`F(z)=z^2`$ for $`g_0`$. The formula for $`g`$ follows from a similar computation, using the expression for the differential of the map (1.1) given in , Theorem IV.4.1. ∎

## 2. Monge-Ampère equation on symmetric spaces

Let $`(M,g)`$ be a Riemannian manifold and $`u:M`$ a smooth function. Then the Hessian of $`u`$ is the symmetric $`(0,2)`$-tensor $`Ddu`$ where $`D`$ is the Levi-Civita connection of $`g`$. In local coordinates $`x_i`$, $`Ddu`$ is represented by the matrix

(2.1)
$$H_{ij}=\frac{^2u}{x_ix_j}\underset{k}{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ij}^k\frac{u}{x_k}.$$

We say that the function $`u`$ is $`g`$-convex (resp. strictly $`g`$-convex), if $`Ddu`$ is non-negative (resp. positive) definite. The Monge-Ampère equation on the manifold $`(M,g)`$ is then

(2.2)
$$𝐌_g(u):=(detg)^1detDdu=f$$

where $`f`$ is a given function.

Let $`(G^{}/K,g)`$ be a symmetric space of non-compact type given by a Cartan decomposition $`𝔤^{}=𝔨+i𝔭`$. As in the previous section, we identify $`M=G^{}/K`$ with $`𝔭`$ and denote by $`g_0`$ the (flat) metric given by restricting the Killing form to $`𝔭`$. We have:

###### Theorem 2.1.

Let $`M𝔭`$ be a symmetric space of noncompact type and let $`u`$ be a $`K`$-invariant (smooth) function on $`M`$. Then

* $`u`$ is $`g`$-convex if and only if $`u`$ is $`g_0`$-convex (i.e. convex in the usual sense on $`𝔭`$).
* The following equality of Monge-Ampère operators holds:

$$𝐌_g(u)=F𝐌_{g_0}(u),$$

where $`F:M`$ is a positive $`K`$-invariant smooth function depending only on $`M`$.

We have proved in  a theorem on the existence and regularity of $`K`$-invariant solutions to Monge-Ampère equations on $`^n`$. From this we immediately obtain

###### Corollary 2.2.

Let $`(G^{}/K,g)`$ be an irreducible symmetric space of noncompact type and let $`f`$ be a positive smooth $`K`$-invariant function on $`G^{}/K`$. Then the Monge-Ampère equation (2.2) has a global smooth $`K`$-invariant strictly $`g`$-convex solution. $`\mathrm{}`$

We shall now prove Theorem 2.1. In fact we shall prove it in the following, more general situation. Suppose that we are given a $`K`$-invariant metric on $`𝔭`$ whose pullback under (1.3) can be written as (cf. (1.4)):

(2.3)
$$\underset{i}{}dr_i^2+\underset{(\alpha ,m)}{}F_{(\alpha ,m)}(\alpha (r))\theta _{(\alpha ,m)}^2,$$

where $`F_{(\alpha ,m)}:`$ are smooth functions vanishing at the origin such that $`z^1\frac{dF(\alpha ,m)}{dz}`$ is smooth and positive everywhere. Proposition 1.1 implies that the symmetric metric on $`G^{}/K`$ is of this form. We claim that Theorem 2.1 holds for any metric $`g`$ of the form (2.3).

In order to simplify the notation, let us write $`j`$ for the index $`(\alpha ,m)`$ and $`\alpha _j`$ for $`\alpha `$ if $`j=(\alpha ,m)`$. The metric $`g`$ can be now written as

$$\underset{i}{}dr_i^2+\underset{j}{}F_j(\alpha _j(r))\theta _j^2.$$

We recall the following formula:

$$2Ddu=L_ug,$$

where $`L`$ is the Lie derivative and $`u`$ is the gradient of $`u`$ with respect to the metric $`g`$. On the other hand, for any $`(0,2)`$-tensor $`g`$ and vector fields $`X,Y,Z`$, we have:

$$(L_Xg)(Y,Z)=X.g(Y,Z)g([X,Y],Z)g(Y,[X,Z]).$$

We now compute $`L_ug`$ on $`𝔭^{}`$ with respect to the basis vector fields $`/r_i`$, $`X_j`$, where $`X_j`$ are dual to $`\theta _j`$. Here $`u`$ is a $`K`$-invariant function. The gradient of $`u`$ is just $`\frac{u}{r_i}\frac{}{r_i}`$, in particular it is independent of the functions $`F_j`$. It follows immediately that $`(L_ug)(/r_i,X_j)=0`$ and that the matrix $`(L_ug)(X_j,X_k)`$ is equal to $`u.g(X_j,X_k)`$ and hence it is diagonal with the $`(jj)`$-entry equal to

$$u\left(F_j(\alpha _j(r))\right)=\frac{dF_j}{dz}_{|_{z=\alpha _j(r)}}\alpha _j(_0\overline{u}).$$

Here $`_0\overline{u}=\frac{u}{r_i}\frac{}{r_i}`$ is the gradient of $`u`$ restricted to the Euclidean space $`𝔞=^n`$ in coordinates $`r_i`$, and viewed as a map from $`^n`$ to itself.

Theorem 2.1 with the more general metric (2.3) follows easily with the function $`F`$ given explicitly by

$$F=\frac{\alpha _j(r)}{F_j(\alpha _j(r))}\left(\frac{1}{2}\frac{dF_j}{dz}\right)_{z=\alpha _j(r)}.$$

Observe that the assumptions on the $`F_j`$ guarantee that $`F`$ extends to a smooth positive function on $`𝔭`$.

## 3. Proof of the Main Theorem

Let $`G/K`$ be a locally symmetric space of compact type with $`K`$ connected. There is a canonical isomorphism between $`G^{}/K^{}`$ and $`G\times _K𝔭`$ (i.e. the tangent bundle of $`G/K`$) given by the map:

(3.1)
$$G\times 𝔭G^{}G^{}/K^{},(g,p)ge^{ip}.$$

This isomorphism can be viewed in many ways: as an example of Mostow fibration , as given via Kähler reduction of $`G^{}G\times 𝔤`$ by the group $`K`$ , or as given by the adapted complex structure construction  which provides a canonical diffeomorphism between the tangent bundle of $`G/K`$ and a complexification of $`G/K`$. In any case it provides a fibration

(3.2)
$$\pi :G^{}/K^{}G/K.$$

The fibers of this projection can be identified with $`𝔭`$ via the map (3.1). In particular, the fiber over $`[1]`$ is given by the $`K^{}`$-orbits of elements $`e^{ip},p𝔭`$. We shall relate $`G`$-invariant plurisubharmonic functions on $`G^{}/K^{}`$ to convex functions on this fiber (see  for a different approach to this).

For a function $`w`$ on a complex manifold one defines its Levy form $`Lw`$ to be the Hermitian $`(0,2)`$ tensor given in local coordinates as

(3.3)
$$\frac{^2w}{z_k\overline{z}_l}dz_kd\overline{z}_l.$$

This form does not depend on the choice of local coordinates. We shall compute this form for a $`G`$-invariant function $`w`$ on $`G^{}/K^{}`$. It is enough to compute it at points $`e^{ip}`$, $`p𝔭`$. First of all, we choose local holomorphic coordinates at such a point:

###### Lemma 3.1.

In a neighbourhood of a point $`e^{ip}`$, $`p𝔭`$, complex coordinates are provided by the map $`𝔭^{}G^{}G^{}/K^{}`$, $`(a+ib)e^{a+ib}e^{ip}`$.

###### Proof.

We have to show that $`e^{a+ib}`$ does not belong to the isotropy group $`e^{ip}K^{}e^{ip}`$ or, equivalently, that for $`u𝔭^{}`$, $`\left(\mathrm{ad}e^{ip}\right)u𝔨^{}`$. We have

(3.4)
$$\left(\mathrm{ad}e^{ip}\right)u=e^{\mathrm{ad}(ip)}u=\mathrm{cosh}\left(\mathrm{ad}(ip)\right)u+\mathrm{sinh}\left(\mathrm{ad}(ip)\right)u,$$

where the first term of the sum lies in $`𝔭^{}`$ and the second one in $`𝔨^{}`$. To show that the first term does not vanish recall that $`(\mathrm{ad}(ip))^2`$ has all eigenvalues nonnegative.∎

We now have:

###### Lemma 3.2.

In the complex coordinates $`z=a+ib`$ given by the previous lemma, the Levy form (3.3) of a $`G`$-invariant function $`w`$ satisfies the equation:

(3.5)
$$\left(\frac{^2w}{z_k\overline{z}_l}\right)_{\begin{array}{c}a=0\hfill \\ b=0\hfill \end{array}}=\frac{1}{4}\frac{^2}{b_kb_l}w\left(e^{ib}e^{ip}\right)_{b=0}.$$

###### Proof.

The polar decomposition of $`G^{}`$ implies that $`e^{a+ib}`$ can be uniquely written as $`ge^{iy}`$, where $`gG`$ and $`y𝔤`$. Any $`G`$-invariant function on $`G^{}/K^{}`$ in a neighbourgood of $`e^{ip}`$ is a function of $`y`$ only. On the other hand, as $`e^{2iy}=\left(e^xe^{iy}\right)^{}(e^xe^{iy})=e^{a+ib}e^{a+ib}`$, it follows from the Campbell-Hausdorff formula that $`y=b+[b,a]/2+\text{higher order terms}`$. Hence the matrix of second derivatives in (3.3) at $`e^{ip}`$ (i.e. at $`a=0,b=0`$) is the same as the matrix of second derivatives of

(3.6)
$$(a,b)e^{(ib+\frac{i}{2}[b,a])}e^{ip}$$

at $`a=0,b=0`$. We shall now show that for a $`G`$-invariant function $`w`$ on $`G^{}/K^{}`$, this matrix of second derivatives is equal to the right-hand side of (3.5).

The Campbell-Hausdorff formula implies that up to order $`2`$ in $`a,b`$, we have $`e^{(ib+\frac{i}{2}[b,a])}=e^{ib}e^{\frac{i}{2}[b,a])}`$. Set $`c=[b,a]/2`$, which is a point in $`𝔨`$. We are going to show that modulo terms of order $`2`$ in $`c`$ (hence of order $`4`$ in $`a,b`$), $`e^{ic}e^{ip}`$ is equal to $`e^\rho e^{ip}e^{iq}`$, where $`\rho 𝔤`$ and $`q𝔨`$ are both linearly dependent on $`c`$. We note that this proves the lemma, as

$$e^{ib}e^\rho e^{ip}e^{iq}=e^\rho e^{ib+O(3)}e^{ip}e^{iq}=e^\rho e^{ib+O(3)}e^{ip}$$

in $`G^{}/K^{}`$, where $`O(3)`$ denotes terms of order $`3`$ and higher in $`a,b`$.

We find $`q`$ from the equation $`\mathrm{cosh}\mathrm{ad}(ip)(q)=c`$, which can be solved uniquely as $`\mathrm{cosh}\mathrm{ad}(ip)`$ is symmetric and positive-definite on $`𝔨𝔤`$. We then put $`\rho =i\mathrm{sinh}\mathrm{ad}(ip)(q)`$. We observe that $`\rho 𝔤`$ and $`e^{\rho ic}=e^{ip}e^{iq}e^{ip}`$, thanks to (3.4). Moreover, modulo terms quadratic in $`c`$, $`e^\rho =e^{ic}e^{\rho ic}`$ and, consequently:

$$e^\rho e^{ip}e^{iq}=e^{ic}e^{\rho ic}e^{ip}e^{iq}=e^{ic}\left(e^{ip}e^{iq}e^{ip}\right)e^{ip}e^{iq}=e^{ic}e^{ip},$$

again modulo terms quadratic in $`c`$. This finishes the proof of the lemma.∎

According to this lemma, we have to compute $`\frac{^2}{b_kb_l}w\left(e^{ib}e^{ip}\right)_{b=0}`$. Now, since $`e^{ib}e^{ip}G^{}`$, $`e^{ib}e^{ip}=ke^{iz}`$, where $`z=z(b)𝔭`$ and $`kK`$. As $`w`$ is $`G`$-invariant, $`w\left(e^{ib}e^{ip}\right)=w(e^{iz})`$ and therefore

$$\frac{^2}{b_kb_l}w\left(e^{ib}e^{ip}\right)_{b=0}=\frac{^2}{b_kb_l}w\left(e^{iz(b)}\right)_{b=0}.$$

Thus we compute the matrix of second derivatives of a function defined on $`\mathrm{exp}(i𝔭)`$ in the coordinates given by $`be^{ib}e^{ip}e^{iz(b)}`$. These, however, are the geodesic coordinates at the point $`e^{ip}`$ in the symmetric space $`K\backslash G^{}`$ (being translations of geodesics at $`[1]`$), and hence the matrix of second derivatives in these coordinates is equal to the Riemannian Hessian (2.1) for the symmetric metric on $`K\backslash G^{}`$.
We obtain

###### Theorem 3.3.

Let $`w`$ be a smooth $`G`$-invariant function on $`X=G^{}/K^{}`$ and let $`\overline{w}`$ be its restriction to the fiber $`S=\mathrm{exp}(i𝔭)`$ of (3.2) over $`[1]`$. Let $`g`$ denote the symmetric metric on $`SK\backslash G^{}`$. Then $`w`$ is (strictly) plurisubharmonic if and only if $`\overline{w}`$ is (strictly) $`g`$-convex. Moreover, the following equality holds:

$$\overline{}\mathrm{log}detLw=\overline{}\mathrm{log}\widehat{𝐌_g(\overline{w})},$$

where $`\widehat{u}:X`$ is a $`G`$-invariant function such that $`\overline{\widehat{u}}`$ is a given $`K`$-invariant function $`u`$ on $`S`$. $`\mathrm{}`$

We are now ready to prove Theorem 1. Recall that $`X=G^{}/K^{}`$ is a Stein manifold and so if $`\rho `$ is an exact $`(1,1)`$ form on $`X`$, then $`\rho =i\overline{}h`$ for some function $`h`$. If $`\rho `$ is $`G`$-invariant, then we can assume that $`h`$ is $`G`$-invariant. We can restrict $`h`$ to the fiber $`S`$ defined in the last theorem and thanks to Corollary 2.2 we can find a strictly $`g`$-convex $`K`$-invariant smooth solution $`\overline{u}`$ to the equation (2.2) with $`f=e^h`$, where the metric $`g`$ is the symmetric metric on $`SK\backslash G^{}`$. We can extend this solution via $`G`$-action to a $`G`$-invariant function $`u`$ on $`X`$. Theorem 3.3 implies now that $`u`$ is strictly plurisubharmonic and that the Ricci form of the Kähler metric with potential $`u`$ is $`\rho `$.

Acknowledgement. This work has been supported by an Advanced Research Fellowship from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of Great Britain.


text:
# ON FLAT CONNECTIONS INDUCED OVER COVERING MAPS

## 0 Introduction.

Let $`P,M`$ be connected paracompact smooth manifolds and suppose that $`P(M,G)`$ is a principal fiber bundle, where the Lie group $`G`$ acts smoothly from the left on the total space $`P`$. Given the flat connection $`\omega `$ on $`P(M,G)`$ and a regular covering manifold $`(\widehat{M},q,M)`$ of $`M`$, a flat connection $`\widehat{\omega }`$ is constructed on the bundle $`\widehat{P}(\widehat{M},G)`$, induced over $`\widehat{M}`$. Furthermore, over the universal covering manifold $`\stackrel{~}{M}`$ the induced connection is trivial, i.e., it is (isomorphic to) the flat connection on the product bundle $`\stackrel{~}{P}=G\times \stackrel{~}{M}`$, .

In this work we are looking for all those coverings, where the induced connection is trivial. In this respect, we compute the holomony group of an induced connection in terms of the holomony morphism defined by the given connection and the fundamental group of the covering. To be more precise, in Section 1 we prove the following.

###### Theorem 0.1

Let $`h_\omega :\pi _1(M)G`$ denote the holomony homorphism for the flat connection $`\omega `$ of the principal bundle $`P(M,G)`$ and $`\pi _1(\widehat{M})`$ be the fundamental group of the covering $`(\widehat{M},q,M)`$. Then, for the induced by $`q`$ connection $`\widehat{\omega }`$, we have the formula $`Im(h_{\widehat{\omega }})(h_\omega |\pi _1(\widehat{M}))`$.

###### Corollary 0.2

The induced connection is trivial if and only if $`\pi _1(\widehat{M})Kerh_\omega `$.

In Section 2 we deal with certain coverings inducing non trivial connections and study the corresponding holomony bundles. We prove that if $`Kerh_\omega \pi _1(\widehat{M})`$, all these bundles have the same total space, namely that of $`P(M,G)`$ (cf. 2.2).

## 1 The holomony morphism for the induced bundles.

We first formulate a preparatory result concerning bundles induced over covering projections.

###### Lemma 1.1

Let $`(E,p,B,F)`$ be a (locally trivial) fiber bundle with connected fiber, $`(B_1,f,B)`$ a covering space and $`(E_1,p,B_1,F)`$ denote the bundle induced by $`f`$. Then the induced map $`f_\xi :E_1E`$ is a covering map.

Proof. Using standard notation (see , Chapter 2), we have the following commutative diagram.

$$\begin{array}{ccccc}& & f_\xi & & \\ & E_1& & E& \\ p_1& & & & p\\ & B_1& & B& \\ & & f& & \end{array}$$

Let $`V`$ be an evenly covered neighbourhood in $`B`$ which is trivializable with respect to $`p`$, i.e., $`f^1(V)=V_i`$ and $`p^1(V)F\times V`$, where the union is discrete. In view of the above diagram, we have $`f_\xi ^1(p^1(V))=p_1^1(V_i)=p_1^1(V_i)`$. Therefore, the open set $`W=p^1(V)`$ is the desired evenly covered neighbourhood for $`f_\xi `$.

We now come on our main object of study and fix first some notation. Given the principal bundle $`P(M,G)=(P,p,M,G)`$ and the covering $`(\widehat{M},q,M)`$, it follows from Lemma 1.1 that the total space $`\widehat{P}`$ is a covering space of $`P`$. Denoting by $`\widehat{p}`$ and $`\widehat{q}`$ the corresponding projections, we have the following commutative diagram.

$$\begin{array}{ccccc}& & & \widehat{p}& \\ G& & \widehat{P}& & \widehat{M}\\ & & \widehat{q}& & q\\ G& & P& & M\\ & & & p& \end{array}$$

If $`\omega `$ is a flat connection on $`P(M,G)`$ and $`\widehat{\omega }`$ its lifting on $`\widehat{P}(\widehat{M},G)`$, then $`\widehat{\omega }`$ is also flat and $`\widehat{q}`$ preserves the horizontality defined by these connections. Let $`N(x_o)`$ be the maximal horizontal leaf of $`\omega `$ through a basic point $`x_oP`$ and $`\widehat{x}_o\widehat{q}^1(x_o)`$. Then $`N(\widehat{x}_o)`$ is a covering space of $`N(x_o)`$, the restriction $`p|N(x_o):N(x_o)G/PM`$ is a covering map and $`N(x_o)`$ is the total space for the holomony bundle of $`\omega `$. For further terminology see , ; Chapter 4 and  where proofs of these facts and exact references are given. In the sequel base points, if not necessary, would be ommited.

###### Proposition 1.2

Let $`h_\omega `$ (resp. $`h_{\widehat{\omega }}`$) be the holomony morphism of $`\omega `$ (resp. $`\widehat{\omega }`$). Then, $`h_{\widehat{\omega }}=h_\omega q_\mathrm{\#}`$, where $`q_\mathrm{\#}=q_{\mathrm{\#},x_o}:\pi _1(\widehat{M},\widehat{p}(\widehat{x}_o))\pi _1(M,p(x_o))`$ is the induced by $`q`$ morphism, at the fundamental group level.

Proof. Let $`w`$ be a path in $`\widehat{M}`$ closed at $`\widehat{p}(\widehat{x}_o)`$ and $`r=qw`$. If $`\overline{w}`$ denotes the horizontal lifting of $`w`$ starting at $`\widehat{x}_o`$, then there exists exactly one $`g_wG`$ such that $`\overline{w}(1)=h_{\widehat{\omega }}([w])=g_w\widehat{x}_o`$. Using similar notation, we have $`\overline{r}(1)=h_\omega ([r])=g_rx_o`$. We claim that $`g_r=g_w`$. Indeed, since $`\widehat{q}`$ preserves horizontality, the path $`\widehat{q}\overline{w}`$ is also the horizontal lifting of $`r`$ starting at $`x_o`$. Therefore,

$$\widehat{q}(g_w\widehat{x}_o)=(\widehat{q}\overline{w})(1)=\overline{r}(1)=g_rx_o.$$

Because $`\widehat{q}`$ also preserves the orbit parametrization and the fibration is principal, it follows that $`g_wx_o=g_rx_o`$ and finally $`g_w=g_r`$, as required.

As $`q_\mathrm{\#}`$ is a monomorphism, the proof of the Theorem follows from Prop. 1.2, as well as the Corollary too. The further discription of $`\widehat{P}(\widehat{M},G)`$ is carried out below.

## 2 The holomony bundles for certain induced connections.

We now proceed further and deal with the resulting holomony bundles over certain coverings of $`M`$. Our previous notation is still in force.

###### Proposition 2.1

If for the regular covering $`(\widehat{M},q,M)`$ the relation $`Kerh_\omega `$ $`=\pi _1(\widehat{M})`$ holds, then the flat connections $`\omega `$ and $`\widehat{\omega }`$ have the same total space for their holonomy bundles, i.e., $`N(x_0)N(\widehat{x}_o)`$.

Proof. As $`N(\widehat{x}_o)\widehat{M}`$ and it is a covering space of $`N(x_o)`$, it is enough to prove that they have isomorphic fundamental groups. Let $`z`$ be a horizontal path closed at $`x_o,\widehat{z}`$ its lift with respect to the covering $`(N(\widehat{x}_o),\widehat{q}|N(\widehat{x}_o)`$, $`N(x_o))`$ starting from $`\widehat{x}_o`$ and suppose that $`\widehat{z}(1)\widehat{z}(0)`$. Since $`\widehat{P}(\widehat{M},G)`$ is the product bundle and has trivial holonomy, the path $`\widehat{p}\widehat{z}`$ is not closed in $`\widehat{M}`$, while $`(q\widehat{p})\widehat{z}=pz`$ is closed in $`M`$. Because $`(\widehat{M},q,M)`$ is a covering, it follows that the homotopy class $`[pz]`$ is not contained in $`Kerh_\omega \pi _1(\widehat{M})`$. This in particular implies that the horizontal lift $`\overline{pz}`$ of $`pz`$, with respect to $`p`$, is not closed. As $`z`$ is also horizontal, we have $`\overline{pz}=z`$, which is closed, contradiction. Thus, for every $`[\gamma ]\pi _1(N(x_o),x_o)`$ we have that $`\widehat{\gamma }`$ is a closed path, i.e., $`\pi _1(N(\widehat{x}_o),\widehat{x}_o)\pi _1(N(x_o),x_o)`$.

###### Corollary 2.2

For all coverings $`(\widehat{M},q,M)`$ with $`Kerh_\omega \pi _1(\widehat{M})`$, we have that $`N(\widehat{x}_o)N(x_o)`$.

Proof. These horizontal spaces are covered by that of the bundle induced over the covering corresponding to $`Kerh_\omega `$. At the same time, they cover $`N(x_o)`$. This, in view of the above proved proposition, completes the proof.

###### Proposition 2.3

If we deal with $`\widehat{P}(\widehat{M},G)`$ where $`\pi _1(\widehat{M})=Kerh_\omega `$, we have $`\pi _1(\widehat{P})p_\mathrm{\#}^1(Kerh_\omega )`$.

Proof. Since $`(\widehat{P},\widehat{q},P)`$ is a covering (cf. Lemma 1.1), it is enough to see that $`p_\mathrm{\#}^1(Kerh_\omega )=\widehat{q}_\mathrm{\#}(\pi _1(\widehat{P}))`$. Let $`c`$ be a path of $`P`$ closed at $`x_o`$, such that $`[c]p_\mathrm{\#}^1(Kerh_\omega )`$. As $`[pc]Kerh_\omega `$, the path $`pc`$ is lifted to a closed path $`\widehat{pc}`$ on $`\widehat{M}`$ (note that $`\pi _1(\widehat{M})=Kerh_\omega )`$. Because $`\widehat{P}G(\widehat{x}_o)\times \widehat{M}`$, the path $`\widehat{pc}`$ also gives the lifting of $`c`$ with respect to $`\widehat{p}`$. This implies that the lifting of $`c`$ with respect to $`\widehat{q}`$ is closed, hence $`p_\mathrm{\#}^1(Kerh_\omega )\widehat{q}_\mathrm{\#}(\pi _1(\widehat{P}))`$. As the other inclusion is obvious, the proof is completed.

We finally identify $`N(x_o)`$ in terms of the holonomy morphism and data related to $`P(M,G)`$.

###### Proposition 2.4

Under the above notation $`\pi _1(N(x_o),x_o)p_\mathrm{\#}^1(Kerh_\omega )/`$ $`\pi _1(G(x_o),x_o)`$.

Proof. Let $`\gamma `$ be a path of $`P`$, closed at $`x_o`$, such that $`p_\mathrm{\#}([\gamma ])Kerh_\omega `$. The horizontal lift $`\overline{p\gamma }`$ of this path with respect to $`p`$ is again closed at $`x_o`$ and $`[\overline{p\gamma }]\pi _1(N(x_o),x_o)`$. As $`p|N(x_o)`$ is a covering map, $`\overline{p\gamma }`$ is nullhomotopic if and only if $`[\gamma ]Kerp_{\mathrm{\#},x_o}\pi _1(G(x_o),x_o)`$ (cf. the exact homotopy sequence of the fibration $`GPM`$). Hence the correspondence $`[\gamma ][\overline{p\gamma }]`$ defines a homomorphism of $`p_\mathrm{\#}^1(Kerh_\omega )`$ onto $`\pi _1(N(x_o),x_o)`$, whose kernel is exactly the group $`\pi _1(G(x_o),x_o)`$.

Added in Proof. In a forthcoming work we consider similar problems in the setting of associated fiber bundles and suitable flat connections defined on them.

University of Athens

Department of Mathematics

Panepistimiopolis

GR 157 84, Athens

E-mail address: dlappas@cc.uoa.gr