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# RX J1856.5-3754: BARE QUARK STAR OR NAKED NEUTRON STAR?

## 1 Introduction

The family of thermally emitting isolated neutron stars (NSs) includes seven peculiar objects serendipitously discovered in ROSAT PSPC pointings (see e.g.  for a review). These sources are characterized by similar properties: a blackbody-like, soft spectrum with $`T_{bb}100`$ eV; low X-ray luminosity, $`L_X10^{30}10^{31}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$; low column density, $`N_H10^{20}\mathrm{cm}^2`$; pulsations in the 5-20 s range (detected in four sources so far). Due to their proximity and to the fact that they are ”truly isolated” (i.e. not associated with a supernova remnant), they are excellent candidates to probe directly the emission from the star surface. On the other hand, since they are dim and extremely soft, until recently high quality spectra were not available. PSPC data only provided evidence that a hard tail is absent in all cases and that a blackbody gives a satisfactory spectral fit. The situation has recently improved for the two brightest and closest objects, RX J1856.5-3754 and RX J0720.4-3125, which have been target of deep observations with Chandra and XMM-Newton (). The hope was to probe directly the neutron star surface composition, by detecting some of the spectral feautures predicted by atmospheric models at different chemical composition and/or magnetic field strenght. Surprisingly/disappointingly, in both sources no spectral features have been detected. In the case of RX J1856.5-3754, the result is particularly robust and striking: a very long ($`500`$ ks) Chandra pointing has shown that the spectrum is better fitted by a simple blackbody than by more sophysticated atmospheric models. Also, upper limits on the pulsed fraction of RX J1856.5-3754 are extremely tight, $`<\text{ }3\%`$ ().111 A few weeks before this meeting, J. Trümper reported at the 34th COSPAR Scientif Assembly an even more stringent limit, $`1\%`$. This result is now published on . The sources is known to exhibit an “optical excess”: accurate photometry of the optical counterpart with combined Very Large Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope data has shown that the UV-optical emission from RX J1856.5-3754 exceeds the Rayleigh-Jeans tail of the X-ray best-fitting blackbody by a factor $`6`$ (). The value of the distance ($`d120140`$ pc; ), used in conjunction with Chandra data, yields a radiation radius of only $`5`$-6 km (), too small for any known NS equation of state.

The small apparent radius and the blackbody X-ray spectrum led to the intriguing suggestion that RX J1856.5-3754 might host a quark star (). The motivation is that the radiation radius is compatible only with equations of state (EOSs) involving strange matter and that bare quark stars, i.e. those not covered by a layer of ordinary matter which act as an atmosphere, would presumably emit a pure blackbody spectrum. While a quark star is a conceivable option, present observations of RX J1856.5-3754 do not necessarily demand this solution. Other more conventional model fits, based on two blackbodies, can account for both the X-ray and optical emission of RX J1856.5-3754, giving at the same time acceptable values for the stellar radius (). In this scenario X-rays originate in a relatively large ($`\theta 20^{}`$) heated polar cap, while the rest of the surface is colder ($`30`$ eV) and produces the optical emission. However, since both regions should be covered with an optically thick atmosphere, the reason why they should produce a featureless spectrum has not been thoroughly understood yet.

In this paper we suggest an alternative possibility. As pointed out by  (see also ) NSs may be left without an atmosphere by the onset of a phase transition that turns the gaseous outer layers into a solid. This happens if the surface temperature drops below a critical value $`T_{crit}`$ which in turn depends on the star magnetic field. The source then appears as a “naked” or “bare” neutron star: we only detect the emission from the solid layers. While it appears difficult even for the coolest isolated NSs to meet the requirements for the onset of a phase transition in light element (H, He) surface layers, this may be the case if the external layers are dominated by heavy elements (such as Fe). The uncertainties on the conditions for Fe condensation are currently quite large, but, depending on the magnetic field, it is possible that the surface temperature of RX J1856.5-3754 falls below the critical value.

If condensation occurs, the emitted spectrum is not necessarily a blackbody: an overall reduction of the surface emissivity and strong absorption features are in fact expected when the photon energy becomes lower than the plasma frequency of the medium. However these absorption features may or may not appear at soft X-ray energies depending on the model parameters. In the following we investigate the emission properties of naked NSs and discuss the relevance of our model in connection with the NS candidate RX J1856.5-3754. For all details we refer to .

After this work has been completed we become aware that similar conclusions have been independently reached by  and have been reported by J. Trümper at the 34th COSPAR Scientif Assembly. These authors attempted a fit to combined UV-optical and X-ray data of RX J1856.5-3754 with a depressed blackbody plus an enhanced Rayleigh-Jeans tail, by miming phenomenologically the situation here described theoretically. Their results for the star radius are close to ours.

## 2 The Model

### 2.1 Bare Neutron Stars

Theoretical research on matter in superstrong fields started over 40 years ago and, although many uncertainties still remain, much progress has been made especially for H and He compositions (see  for a recent review and references therein). At $`BB_0=m_ee^3c/\mathrm{}^32.35\times 10^9`$ G strong magnetic confinement acts on electrons, and atoms attain a cylindrical shape. It is possible for these elongated atoms to form molecular chains by covalent bonding along the field direction. Interactions between the linear chains can then lead to the formation of three-dimensional condensates. The critical temperature below which phase separation between condensed H and vapor occurs is given by

$`T_{crit}^H`$ $``$ $`0.1[194.1B_{12}^{0.37}4.4(\mathrm{ln}B_{12}6.05)^2\mathrm{}\omega _{p,p}`$ (1)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{}}{2}}(\omega _{B,p}^2+\omega _{p,p}^2)^{1/2}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{}\omega _{B,p}]\mathrm{eV},`$
where $`B_{12}=B/(10^{12}\mathrm{G})`$, $`\omega _{B,p}`$ and $`\omega _{p,p}`$ are the proton cyclotron and plasma frequencies. For heavier elements (such as Fe) all estimates are still quite crude. $`T_{crit}`$ is obtained by equating the ion density of the condensed phase near zero pressure to the vapor density, but all available models are approximate near zero pressure. The most recent estimate of $`T_{crit}`$ for Fe phase separation, as given by , is $`T_{crit}^{Fe}27B_{12}^{2/5}\mathrm{eV}`$. The density of the condensate (at zero pressure) is $`\rho _s560Z^{3/5}B_{12}^{6/5}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ (here $`Z`$ denotes the atomic number of the constituent element). This expression should be regarded as accurate to within a factor of a few while Eqs. (1) and especially $`T_{crit}^{Fe}`$ represent typical upper limits for the critical temperature.

In Fig. 1 we have plotted the critical condensation temperatures for H and Fe, as a function of $`B`$, toghether with the coolest, thermally emitting NSs for which an estimate of the magnetic field (as computed from the spin-down formula) is available (see Tab. 1). We have also drawn an horizontal line at the surface temperature of RX J1856.5-3754, for which $`B`$ is unknown. We used as a color temperature the value derived from a blackbody fit in the X-rays, $`T_{bb}`$. The surface temperature $`T_{surf}`$ follows by applying the gravitational red-shift factor.

As we can see from Fig. 1, most sources have $`T_{surf}`$ well in excess of the H critical temperature. Therefore, if surface layers are H-dominated, the presence of a gaseous atmosphere is unescapable. The only exception is RX J1308.6+2127, for which an exceptionally strong field has been reported by . However, this value is probably preliminary and a re-analysis of the timing properties of this source is presently under way (Haberl, as reported at the 34th COSPAR meeting). Similarly, H condensation in RX J1856.5-3754 requires the star to be a magnetar ($`B>\text{ }10^{14}`$ G).

On the other hand, if NSs have not accreted much gas, we might detect thermal emission directly from the iron surface layers. If this is the case, for $`B>\text{ }10^{13}`$ G the outermost layers of RX J1856.5-3754 might be in the form of hot condensed matter and the usual radiative transfer computations do not apply.222The case of RX J0720.4-3125 is less certain, because the source falls only marginally within the region where Fe condensation is possible. The question of the nature of the emitted spectrum then arises.

### 2.2 The Emitted Spectrum

We consider a NS with metallic Fe surface layers and repeat a computation, first carried out by  and based on the evaluation of the surface reflectivity, for the parameter range relevant to cold isolated NSs. At each magnetic co-latitude $`\theta `$ we first compute the total reflectivity $`\rho _\omega (i,\beta ,\theta )`$ of the surface element for incident unpolarized radiation. Here $`i`$ and $`\beta `$ are the co-latitude and the azimuthal angle of the incident wave vector, relative to the surface normal. The absorption coefficient is then $`\alpha _\omega =1\rho _\omega `$, and Kirchhoff’s law is used to derive the emissivity $`j_\omega =\alpha _\omega B_\omega (T)`$, where $`T`$ is the local temperature and $`B_\omega `$ is the blackbody function. The monochromatic flux $`dF_\omega `$ emitted by the surface element is computed by averaging over all incident directions, and further integration over the star surface gives the total flux

$`F_\omega `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _0^\pi }dF_\omega ={\displaystyle _0^\pi }B_\omega (T)\mathrm{sin}\theta d\theta \times `$ (2)
$`{\displaystyle _0^{2\pi }}{\displaystyle _{\pi /2}^{\pi /2}}\alpha _\omega (i,\beta ,\theta )\mathrm{sin}idid\beta .`$
In performing the last step we assumed a dipolar field, $`B=B_p[(4f)\mathrm{cos}^2\theta +f]^{1/2}/2`$, where $`B_p`$ is the polar field strength and $`f1.2`$ accounts for general-relativistic corrections in a Schwarzschild space-time. We computed two sets of models either by taking a constant surface temperature or allowing for a meridional temperature dependence as given by . We also explored the parameter space by varing the electron plasma frequency, $`\omega _p`$, around $`\omega _{p,0}\omega _p(\rho =\rho _s)`$, to account for possible deviations of the surface density from its zero-pressure value $`\rho _s`$ (see e.g. ).

For $`B>\text{ }10^{13}`$ G, features related to the strong absorption around the electron cyclotron frequency fall well outside the X-ray range accessible to the Chandra LETGS and XMM-Newton EPIC-PN, and are of no immediate interest. However, even above this field, we do not expect the spectrum emitted by the solid to be, in general, a blackbody. For $`T<\text{ }100`$ eV, the mean energy of the refracted waves is comparable to (or lower than) the plasma frequency of the solid. Therefore, we encounter modes with very large refractivity (like whistlers in the terrestrial atmosphere), modes which are frozen in the medium, or modes highly damped which just enter the NS crust and disappear within a small penetration depth. All these effects may modify the spectrum through the production of features and edges, which in turn may or may not appear in the X-rays depending on the model parameters.

In particular we found that, for $`B_p35\times 10^{13}`$ G, the spectrum in the soft X-rays, (0.1-2 keV) band, shows negligible departures (within $`<\text{ }10\%`$) from the best-fitting blackbody and exhibits no features whatsoever. We point out that larger deviations are at the lowest energies, and that the agreement with the planckian is better than 2% if we restrict to the interval 0.14-2 keV. Spectra are shown in Fig. 2 for $`B_p=3\times 10^{13}`$ G and $`T_{eff}=75`$ eV, which corresponds to 60 eV once the gravitational red-shift is applied. The constant temperature models have virtually no hardening, while we get $`T_{bb}/T_{eff}\gamma 1.14`$ accounting for a meridional temperature variation. An important point is that, despite being close to planckian in shape, the spectrum is substantially depressed with respect to the blackbody at $`T_{eff}`$, owing to the reduced emissivity of the surface. The total power radiated by the star in the 0.1-2 keV band is $``$ 30-50% with respect to that of a perfect blackbody emitter and decreases with increasing $`\omega _p`$ (Fig. 3).

## 3 The Case of RX J1856.5-3754

### 3.1 The X-ray Emission

It has been recently proposed by a number of authors () that the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) of RX J1856.5-3754 may be explained in terms of a two-temperature surface distribution in a cooling NS. Although these models appear promising, they are all based on the presumption that the emitted spectrum is planckian in shape. A number of mechanisms (magnetic smearing, rotation..) have been suggested in order to suppress the spectral features predicted by atmospheric models, but no conclusive evidence has been provided yet that a nearly blackbody, featureless spectrum can be emitted by an extended atmosphere covering the stellar crust.  discuss in detail the role of rotation, showing that phase-dependent Doppler shifts in a rapidly rotating neutron star ($`P1`$ ms) wash out all features, leaving a nearly planckian spectrum. Although such a short period can not be excluded on the basis of present data, the detected periods of other thermally emitting INSs are in the range $``$ 0.1-10 s, about two orders of magnitude larger. Also, in the picture by  the genuine surface temperature should correspond to the cooler blackbody at $`T15`$ eV. Conventional cooling curves then imply a star’s age of $`10^6`$ yr, which is hardly compatible with a ms period. Furthermore, the energetics of the bow-shock nebula implies $`P=4.6\left(B/10^8\mathrm{G}\right)^{1/2}`$ ms. A ms spin period therefore necessary demands for a very low field star. Such a low field seems hard to reconcile with the limit on the age derived again from the bow shock energetics, $`(B/10^{12}\mathrm{G})(\tau /10^6\mathrm{yr})34`$.

Without a measured period and period derivative, the magnetic field of RX J1856.5-3754 is still a mystery. We found that, for the surface layers of RX J1856.5-3754 to be in the form of condensed Fe, its field should be in excess of $`10^{13}`$ G, and more probably at least 3-5$`\times 10^{13}`$ G (Fig. 1). Although rather high, this field strength is well below the magnetar range and is noticeably shared by another ROSAT isolated NS: RX J0720.4-3125 . When combined with the limit derived from the bow shock energetics, $`(B/10^{12}\mathrm{G})(\tau /10^6\mathrm{yr})34`$, such field demands for a middle-aged NS ($`\tau 10^5`$ yr). The spectrum from a bare NS with a dipolar field in this range is shown in Fig. 2. In the 0.15-2 keV band the spectrum is featureless; deviations from the best-fitting blackbody are $`<\text{ }2\%`$, well within the limits of calibration uncertainties of the Chandra LETGS ($`10\%`$, as reported by ). Our surface emissivity is angle-dependent, and we checked that no pulsations are expected to within 3%, the latest published value ().

For the radiation radius to be representative of the true star radius the emission properties of the surface need to be accounted for and, at least for thermal emission, we can use the spectral hardening $`\gamma `$ to quantify spectral deviations from a pure blackbody. Denoting the fraction of the stellar surface responsible for the observed emission and the ratio of emitted to blackbody power by $`f_A`$ and $`f_E`$, the radiation radius is

$$R_{\mathrm{}}=4.25f_A^{1/2}f_E^{1/2}\gamma ^2d_{100}\left(\frac{T_{bb}}{60\mathrm{eV}}\right)^2\mathrm{km},$$
(3)
where $`d_{100}d/(100\mathrm{pc})`$. The “angular size” of RX J1856.5-3754 reported by  is $`R_{\mathrm{}}/(d/100\mathrm{pc})=4.12\pm 0.68`$ km. If we correct this value by assuming $`d=130`$ pc, emission from the entire surface ($`f_A=1`$) and uniform temperature ($`\gamma =1`$), we get $`7.7\pm 1.3\mathrm{km}<\text{ }R_{\mathrm{}}<\text{ }9.9\pm 1.6`$ km in correspondence to $`1\omega _p/\omega _{p,0}2.8`$ (see Fig. 3). For the same range of plasma frequencies, models with meridional temperature variation give larger radii, between $`9.4\pm 1.5`$ km and $`12\pm 2`$ km. Therefore, even this simple approach can provide $`R_{\mathrm{}}`$ 10-12 km, compatible with (soft) EOSs for $`M1.4M_{}`$ ().

### 3.2 The UV-Optical Excess

The UV-optical flux from RX J1856.5-3754 is enhanced with respect to the extrapolation of the X-ray best-fitting blackbody. All proposed interpretations for the full SED (from optical to X-ray) require two components: either a cold surface plus an hotter cap or a bare quark star plus a thin crust with flux redistribution. Similarly, also our scenario requires the presence of a second component. A natural possibility is that the optical flux emitted from the NS surface is reprocessed in a thin, ionized gas layer on the top of the Fe solid. Hydrogen can be deposited on the surface as the result of very slow accretion ($`10^9`$ g in $`10^5`$ yr). The free-free absorption depth in the optical ($``$ 1-10 eV) is $`10^3`$ times larger than in the X-rays ($`100`$ eV), thus in a range of average densities (around $`10^3\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3`$) the gasoues layer is optically thin in the X-rays and thick to optical photons. The scale-height derived from hydrostatic equilibrium is $`0.11`$ cm, comparable with the scale-height at which electron conduction from the crust keeps the gas almost isothermal at the star surface temperature ($`10^6`$ K). Preliminary calculation of the multiwavelength SED are shown in Fig. 4. Parameters are the same as for the model with $`2.5\omega _{p,0}`$ shown in Fig. 3 and the density at the base of the layer is $`2\times 10^3\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3`$. As expected the low-energy SED follows a Rayleigh-Jeans distribution at the gas (and star) temperature. With increasing energy the optical depth of the layer drops below unity and therefore X-rays emitted by the solid surface emerge unchanged from the layer. However, since the X-ray spectrum emitted by the star surface is depressed with respect to the blackbody at the star temperature, the optical emission appears enhanced. In the model presented here the optical-UV excess over the best-fitting X-ray blackbody is a factor $`3`$-4, somewhat lower than the value $`6`$ reported by . Larger ratios might be obtained with a slightly larger gas temperature and a more thorough investigation is in progress.

## 4 Conclusions

We have shown that the observed X-ray-to-optical spectra of RX J1856.5-3754 can be plausibly explained in terms of the emission from the surface of a “naked” neutron star. The absence of an atmosphere is due to a phase transition to a solid condensate, which can occur on cool ($`<10^6`$ K) neutron stars endowed with strong magnetic fields ($`B>\text{ }10^{13}`$ G) and with metal-dominated outer layers. We have shown that, when $`B10^{13}`$ G, the X-ray spectrum is featureless and planckian in shape. The observed UV-optical enhanced emission can be explained by the presence of a gasoues, thin H shell, where the optical flux is reprocessed.

While we caution that current limitations in our understanding of metallic condensates in strong magnetic fields renders our estimates of the surface reflectivity of bare NSs somewhat uncertain, we have shown that our model for RX J1856.5-3754 predicts a value for the apparent radius of $`R_{\mathrm{}}<\text{ }12`$ km. For a canonical NS of mass $`1.4M_{}`$, such a radius favors soft EOSs.


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# Compactifications of the 𝒩=2^∗ flow

## 1 Introduction

Probably the most intriguing aspect of the gauge theory/string theory duality  (see  for a review) is the fact that it provides a dynamical principle for the nonperturbative definition of string theory in the asymptotically Anti de Sitter spacetime, where there is no notion of an $`S`$-matrix. The best understood example of this duality is for the $`𝒩=4`$ $`SU(N)`$ supersymmetric Yang Mill theory. Given the original correspondence , new examples can be constructed by deforming the gauge theory by relevant operators. By now there is an extensive literature on such, renormalization group (RG) flow deformations . In  it was suggested that the duality can be extended to cases when one deforms the gauge theory space-time. Furthermore, in  it was suggested that gauge theories on nondynamical de Sitter backgrounds might be relevant for understanding string theory in backgrounds with cosmological horizons. Unfortunately it is difficult to use space-time deformations of  for developing a detailed gauge/string theory duality map. The main problem stems from the fact that the examples considered there typically involve gauge theory with not well understood ultraviolet properties. It seems desirable to construct nontrivial examples of such deformations for “simpler” gauge theories in the UV.

Probably the simplest candidate is to consider space-time deformations of the massive $`𝒩=4`$ RG flow. In this paper we discuss how to construct such deformations for the $`𝒩=2^{}`$ RG flow of Pilch and Warner .

We should emphasize that though we concentrate on the flow , the construction presented here can be applied to other RG flows. In particular, in Appendix we construct the $`S^3`$ deformation of the recent non-supersymmetric ($`𝒩=0^{}`$) flow  in five dimensional gauged supergravity. While supergravity flow  is actually singular, our deformation is completely smooth. We also comment on the physical reason for the singularity of this $`𝒩=0^{}`$ flow.

The paper is organized as follows. In the next section we review the Pilch-Warner RG flow in five dimensions, and discuss it’s $`S^3`$ and $`dS_4`$ deformations. In section 3 we discussed the details of the 10d uplift of the deformations. We conclude in section 4.

## 2 $`𝒩=2^{}`$ RG flow and its deformations in five dimensions

### 2.1 The gauge theory story

In the language of four-dimensional $`𝒩=1`$ supersymmetry, the mass deformed $`𝒩=4`$ $`SU(N)`$ Yang-Mills theory ($`𝒩=2^{}`$) in $`R^{3,1}`$ consists of a vector multiplet $`V`$, an adjoint chiral superfield $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ related by $`𝒩=2`$ supersymmetry to the gauge field, and two additional adjoint chiral multiplets $`Q`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{Q}`$ which form the $`𝒩=2`$ hypermultiplet. In addition to the usual gauge-invariant kinetic terms for these fields, the theory has additional interactions and hypermultiplet mass term summarized in the superpotential111The classical Kähler potential is normalized $`(2/g_{YM}^2)Tr[\overline{\mathrm{\Phi }}\mathrm{\Phi }+\overline{Q}Q+\overline{\stackrel{~}{Q}}\stackrel{~}{Q}]`$.

$$W=\frac{2\sqrt{2}}{g_{YM}^2}Tr([Q,\stackrel{~}{Q}]\mathrm{\Phi })+\frac{m}{g_{YM}^2}(TrQ^2+Tr\stackrel{~}{Q}^2).$$
(1)
When $`m=0`$ the gauge theory is superconformal with $`g_{YM}`$ characterizing an exactly marginal deformation. The theory has classical $`3(N1)`$ complex dimensional moduli space. This moduli space is protected by supersymmetry against (non)-perturbative quantum corrections. With $`m0`$, the $`𝒩=4`$ supersymmetry is softly broken to $`𝒩=2`$. This mass deformation lifts $`\{Q,\stackrel{~}{Q}\}`$ hypermultiplet moduli directions, leaving the $`(N1)`$ complex dimensional Coulomb branch of the $`𝒩=2`$ $`SU(N)`$ Yang-Mill theory, parameterized by expectation values of the adjoint scalar

$$\mathrm{\Phi }=\mathrm{diag}(a_1,a_2,\mathrm{},a_N),\underset{i}{}a_i=0,$$
(2)
in the Cartan subalgebra of the gauge group. For generic values of the moduli $`a_i`$ the gauge symmetry is broken to that of the Cartan subalgebra $`U(1)^{N1}`$, up to the permutation of individual $`U(1)`$ factors. Additionally, the superpotential (1) induces the RG flow of the gauge coupling. While from the gauge theory perspective it is straightforward to study this $`𝒩=2^{}`$ gauge theory at any point on the Coulomb branch , the PW supergravity flow  corresponds to a particular Coulomb branch vacuum. More specifically, matching the probe computation in gauge theory and the dual PW supergravity flow it was argued in  that the appropriate Coulomb branch vacuum corresponds to a linear distribution of the vevs (2) as

$$a_i[a_0,a_0],a_0^2=\frac{m^2g_{YM}^2N}{\pi },$$
(3)
with (continuous in the large $`N`$ limit) linear number density

$$\rho (a)=\frac{2}{m^2g_{YM}^2}\sqrt{a_0^2a^2},_{a_0}^{a_0}𝑑a\rho (a)=N.$$
(4)
Unfortunately, the extension of the $`N=2^{}`$ gauge/gravity correspondence of  for vacua other than (4) is not known.

In  the dynamics of the gauge theory on the D3 brane probe in the PW background was studied in details. It was shown in  that the probe has one complex dimensional moduli space, with bulk induced metric precisely equal to the metric on the appropriate one complex dimensional submanifold of the $`SU(N+1)`$ $`𝒩=2^{}`$ Donagi-Witten theory Coulomb branch. This one dimensional submanifold is parameterized by the expectation value $`u`$ of the $`U(1)`$ complex scalar on the Coulomb branch of the theory where $`SU(N+1)U(1)\times SU(N)_{PW}`$, and the PW subscript denotes that the $`SU(N)`$ factor is in the Pilch-Warner vacuum (4). As $`u`$ coincides with any of the $`a_i`$ of the PW vacuum, the moduli space metric diverges, signaling the appearance of the additional massless states. Identical divergence is observed  for the probe D3-brane at the enhancon singularity of the PW background. Away from the singularity locus, $`u=a[a_0,a_0]`$, the gauge theory computation of the probe moduli space metric is 1-loop exact. This is due to the suppression of instanton corrections in the large $`N`$ limit  of $`N=2`$ gauge theories.

Consider now the $`R^{3,1}R\times S^3`$ or $`R^{3,1}dS_4`$ deformations of the $`N=2^{}`$ gauge theory. Both deformations introduce a new scale, let’s call it $`\mu `$, to the model — the $`S^3`$ scale in the former case and the Hubble parameter in the latter. Depending on the ratio $`\frac{\mu }{m}`$ we expect an interesting interplay between the strongly coupled $`N=2^{}`$ IR dynamics and the IR curvature induced cutoff. For one reason, we expect that for the sufficiently high $`\mu `$ the number density distribution $`\rho (a)`$ should be just a $`\delta `$-function at zero. In what follows we present and indication for this phase transition while postponing the detailed analysis for the future.

### 2.2 PW RG flow

The gauge theory RG flow induced by the superpotential (1) corresponds to five dimensional gauged SUGRA flow induced by scalars $`\alpha \mathrm{ln}\rho `$ and $`\chi `$. The effective 5d action is

$$S=𝑑\xi ^5\sqrt{g}\left(\frac{1}{4}R3(\alpha )^2(\chi )^2𝒫\right),$$
(5)
where the potential $`𝒫`$ is222We set the 5d gauged SUGRA coupling to one. This corresponds to setting $`S^5`$ radius $`L=2`$.

$$𝒫=\frac{1}{48}\left(\frac{W}{\alpha }\right)^2+\frac{1}{16}\left(\frac{W}{\chi }\right)^2\frac{1}{3}W^2,$$
(6)
with the superpotential

$$W=\frac{1}{\rho ^2}\frac{1}{2}\rho ^4\mathrm{cosh}(2\chi ).$$
(7)
The PW geometry  has the flow metric

$$ds_5^2=e^{2A}\left(dt^2+d\overline{x}^2\right)+dr^2.$$
(8)
The scalar equations of motion and the Einstein equations can be reduced to the first order equations

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \frac{d\alpha }{dr}& =\frac{1}{12}\frac{W}{\alpha },\hfill \\ \hfill \frac{d\chi }{dr}& =\frac{1}{4}\frac{W}{\chi },\hfill \\ \hfill \frac{dA}{dr}& =\frac{1}{3}W.\hfill \end{array}$$
(9)
#### 2.2.1 Asymptotics of the PW flow

Given the explicit solution of the flow equations (9) in  is it easy to extract the UV/IR asymptotics. In the ultraviolet, $`r+\mathrm{}`$, we find

$$\mathrm{UV}:\rho 1_{},\chi 0_+,A\frac{1}{2}r,$$
(10)
while in the infrared, $`r0`$

$$\mathrm{IR}:\rho 0_+,\chi +\mathrm{},A\frac{8}{3}\chi .$$
(11)
### 2.3 Deformations of the PW flow

Unlike the PW flow, the deformed flows break the supersymmetry and are given by second order equations. From (5) we have Einstein equations

$$\frac{1}{4}R_{\mu \nu }=3_\mu \alpha _\nu \alpha +_\mu \chi _\nu \chi +\frac{1}{3}g_{\mu \nu }𝒫,$$
(12)
plus the scalar equations

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 0& =\frac{6}{\sqrt{g}}_\mu \left(g^{\mu \nu }\sqrt{g}_\mu \alpha \right)\frac{𝒫}{\alpha },\hfill \\ \hfill 0& =\frac{2}{\sqrt{g}}_\mu \left(g^{\mu \nu }\sqrt{g}_\mu \chi \right)\frac{𝒫}{\chi }.\hfill \end{array}$$
(13)
We consider two deformations of the flow metric (8):

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill (a):ds_5^2& =e^{2A}\left(dt^2+e^{2B}dS_3^2\right)+dr^2,\hfill \\ \\ \hfill (b):ds_5^2& =e^{2A}\left(dt^2+\mathrm{cosh}^2tdS_3^2\right)+dr^2.\hfill \end{array}$$
(14)
In the first case from (12),(13) we find

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 0& =\alpha ^{\prime \prime }+\left(4A^{}+3B^{}\right)\alpha ^{}\frac{1}{6}\frac{𝒫}{\alpha },\hfill \\ \hfill 0& =\chi ^{\prime \prime }+\left(4A^{}+3B^{}\right)\chi ^{}\frac{1}{2}\frac{𝒫}{\chi },\hfill \\ \hfill 0& =B^{\prime \prime }+4A^{}B^{}+3\left(B^{}\right)^22e^{2A2B},\hfill \\ & \frac{1}{4}A^{\prime \prime }+\left(A^{}\right)^2+\frac{3}{4}A^{}B^{}=\frac{1}{3}𝒫,\hfill \\ & A^{\prime \prime }\left(A^{}\right)^2\frac{3}{2}A^{}B^{}\frac{3}{4}B^{\prime \prime }\frac{3}{4}\left(B^{}\right)^2=3\left(\alpha ^{}\right)^2+\left(\chi ^{}\right)^2+\frac{1}{3}𝒫,\hfill \end{array}$$
(15)
while in case (b) we find

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 0& =\alpha ^{\prime \prime }+4A^{}\alpha ^{}\frac{1}{6}\frac{𝒫}{\alpha },\hfill \\ \hfill 0& =\chi ^{\prime \prime }+4A^{}\chi ^{}\frac{1}{2}\frac{𝒫}{\chi },\hfill \\ & \frac{1}{4}A^{\prime \prime }+\left(A^{}\right)^2\frac{3}{4}e^{2A}=\frac{1}{3}𝒫,\hfill \\ & A^{\prime \prime }\left(A^{}\right)^2=3\left(\alpha ^{}\right)^2+\left(\chi ^{}\right)^2+\frac{1}{3}𝒫.\hfill \end{array}$$
(16)
It is easy to check that above equations are consistent. Thus for the deformed flows we could use the same scalars as in the PW case.

#### 2.3.1 Asymptotics of the $`S^3`$ deformation

The flow equations are given by (15). The nonsingular in the IR flows are represented by a two parameter $`\{\rho _0>0,\chi _0\}`$ Taylor series expansion333Without loss of generality we set $`A|_{r=0}=0`$. This corresponds to rescaling the time coordinate in (14).

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill e^A& =1+\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\alpha _ir^{2i}\right),\hfill \\ \hfill e^B& =r\left(1+\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}b_ir^{2i}\right),\hfill \\ \hfill \rho & =\rho _0+\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\rho _ir^{2i}\right),\hfill \\ \hfill \chi & =\chi _0+\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\chi _ir^{2i}\right),\hfill \end{array}$$
(17)
with the first terms being

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill a_1& =\frac{1}{24}\rho _0^4+\frac{1}{12}\rho _0^2\mathrm{cosh}(2\chi _0)\frac{1}{96}\rho _0^8\mathrm{sinh}^2(2\chi _0),\hfill \\ \hfill b_1& =\frac{1}{36}\rho _0^4\frac{1}{18}\rho _0^2\mathrm{cosh}(2\chi _0)+\frac{1}{144}\rho _0^8\mathrm{sinh}^2(2\chi _0),\hfill \\ \hfill \rho _1& =\frac{1}{48}\rho _0^3\frac{1}{48}\rho _0^3\mathrm{cosh}(2\chi _0)+\frac{1}{96}\rho _0^9\mathrm{sinh}^2(2\chi _0),\hfill \\ \hfill \chi _1& =\frac{1}{16}\rho _0^2\mathrm{sinh}(2\chi _0)+\frac{1}{128}\rho _0^8\mathrm{sinh}(4\chi _0).\hfill \end{array}$$
(18)
We expect that for an appropriate choice of $`\{\rho _0,\chi _0\}`$ we recover the UV asymptotics (10). It is tempting to identify the 2 dimensionless parameters of the regular in the IR flow with the ratio of $`m/\mu `$ of the gauge theory (the $`\chi _0`$ parameter), and the $`\rho _0`$ parameter as a characteristic of the brane distribution (similar to the enhancon scale $`a_0`$ in (4)) in the IR. Notice, that unlike PW flow, where $`\chi +\mathrm{}`$ in the IR, here it is consistent to choose444We would like to interpret $`\chi _0=0`$ flow as a supergravity dual to the $`𝒩=2^{}`$ flow induced by the $`𝒩=4`$ scalar expectation values. Typically, scalar expectation value does not give rise to an RG flow. Since these scalars are conformal (and thus couple to the $`S^3`$ curvature), given them an expectation value would induce a flow.  $`\chi _0=0`$. In fact $`\chi (r)0`$ is a solution to (15)555 Also, $`\chi (r)0`$ and $`\rho (r)1`$ is a trivial solution corresponding to the global $`AdS_5`$..

The nonsingular flows that asymptote to (10) would have a well defined (finite) mass, being a function of $`\{\rho _0,\chi _0\}`$, characterizing phases of the model666The details of the phase structure will be discussed elsewhere..

#### 2.3.2 Asymptotics of the $`dS_4`$ deformation

The flow equations are given by (16). The nonsingular in the IR flows are represented by a two parameter $`\{\rho _0>0,\chi _0\}`$ Taylor series expansion

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill e^A& =r\left(1+\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}a_ir^{2i}\right),\hfill \\ \hfill \rho & =\rho _0+\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\rho _ir^{2i}\right),\hfill \\ \hfill \chi & =\chi _0+\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\chi _ir^{2i}\right),\hfill \end{array}$$
(19)
with the first terms being

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill a_1& =\frac{1}{72}\rho _0^4+\frac{1}{36}\rho _0^2\mathrm{cosh}(2\chi _0)\frac{1}{288}\rho _0^8\mathrm{sinh}^2(2\chi _0),\hfill \\ \hfill \rho _1& =\frac{1}{60}\rho _0^3\frac{1}{60}\rho _0^3\mathrm{cosh}(2\chi _0)+\frac{1}{120}\rho _0^9\mathrm{sinh}^2(2\chi _0),\hfill \\ \hfill \chi _1& =\frac{1}{20}\rho _0^2\mathrm{sinh}(2\chi _0)+\frac{1}{160}\rho _0^8\mathrm{sinh}(4\chi _0).\hfill \end{array}$$
(20)
As in the case of the $`S^3`$ deformation it is also consistent here to choose $`\chi (r)0`$.

## 3 The ten-dimensional solutions

### 3.1 Type IIB SUGRA equations of motion

We use mostly positive convention for the signature $`(+\mathrm{}+)`$ and $`ϵ_{1\mathrm{}10}=+1`$. The type IIB equations consist of :

$``$ The Einstein equations:

$$R_{MN}=T_{MN}^{(1)}+T_{MN}^{(3)}+T_{MN}^{(5)},$$
(21)
where the energy momentum tensors of the dilaton/axion field, $``$, the three index antisymmetric tensor field, $`F_{(3)}`$, and the self-dual five-index tensor field, $`F_{(5)}`$, are given by

$$T_{MN}^{(1)}=P_MP_N{}_{}{}^{}+P_NP_M{}_{}{}^{},$$
(22)
$$T_{MN}^{(3)}=\frac{1}{8}(G^{PQ}{}_{M}{}^{}G_{PQN}^{}+G^{PQ}{}_{M}{}^{}G_{PQN}^{}\frac{1}{6}g_{MN}G^{PQR}G_{PQR}^{}),$$
(23)
$$T_{MN}^{(5)}=\frac{1}{6}F^{PQRS}{}_{M}{}^{}F_{PQRSN}^{}.$$
(24)
In the unitary gauge $``$ is a complex scalar field and

$$P_M=f^2_M,Q_M=f^2\mathrm{Im}(_M^{}),$$
(25)
with

$$f=\frac{1}{(1^{})^{1/2}},$$
(26)
while the antisymmetric tensor field $`G_{(3)}`$ is given by

$$G_{(3)}=f(F_{(3)}F_{(3)}^{}).$$
(27)
$``$ The Maxwell equations:

$$(^PiQ^P)G_{MNP}=P^PG_{MNP}^{}\frac{2}{3}iF_{MNPQR}G^{PQR}.$$
(28)
$``$ The dilaton equation:

$$(^M2iQ^M)P_M=\frac{1}{24}G^{PQR}G_{PQR}.$$
(29)
$``$ The self-dual equation:

$$F_{(5)}=F_{(5)}.$$
(30)
In addition, $`F_{(3)}`$ and $`F_{(5)}`$ satisfy Bianchi identities which follow from the definition of those field strengths in terms of their potentials:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill F_{(3)}& =dA_{(2)},\hfill \\ \hfill F_{(5)}& =dA_{(4)}\frac{1}{8}\mathrm{Im}(A_{(2)}F_{(3)}^{}).\hfill \end{array}$$
(31)
For the 10d uplift of the RG flows in the 5d gauged SUGRA the metric ansatz and the dilaton is basically determined by group theoretical properties of the $`d=5`$ $`𝒩=8`$ scalars, and thus must be the same for both the deformed and original PW flows. Specifically, we assume  that the 10d Einstein frame metric is

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill ds_{10}^2& =\mathrm{\Omega }^2ds_5^2+4\frac{(cX_1X_2)^{1/4}}{\rho ^3}\left(c^1d\theta ^2+\rho ^6\mathrm{cos}^2\theta \left(\frac{\sigma _1^2}{cX_2}+\frac{\sigma _2^2+\sigma _3^2}{X_1}\right)+\mathrm{sin}^2\theta \frac{d\varphi ^2}{X_2}\right),\hfill \end{array}$$
(32)
where $`ds_5^2`$ is either the original PW flow metric (8) or its deformations (14), $`c\mathrm{cosh}(2\chi )`$. The warp factor is given by

$$\mathrm{\Omega }^2=\frac{(cX_1X_2)^{1/4}}{\rho },$$
(33)
and the two functions $`X_i`$ are defined by

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill X_1(r,\theta )& =\mathrm{cos}^2\theta +\rho (r)^6\mathrm{cosh}(2\chi (r))\mathrm{sin}^2\theta ,\hfill \\ \hfill X_2(r,\theta )& =\mathrm{cosh}(2\chi (r))\mathrm{cos}^2\theta +\rho (r)^6\mathrm{sin}^2\theta .\hfill \end{array}$$
(34)
As usual, $`\sigma _i`$ are the $`SU(2)`$ left-invariant forms normalized so that $`d\sigma _i=2\sigma _j\sigma _k`$. For the dilaton/axion we have

$$f=\frac{1}{2}\left(\left(\frac{cX_1}{X_2}\right)^{1/4}+\left(\frac{cX_1}{X_2}\right)^{1/4}\right),f=\frac{1}{2}\left(\left(\frac{cX_1}{X_2}\right)^{1/4}\left(\frac{cX_1}{X_2}\right)^{1/4}\right)e^{2i\varphi }.$$
(35)
The consistent truncation ansatz does not specify the (3-) 5-form fluxes. As in  we assume the most general ansatz allowed by the global symmetries of the background

$$A_{(2)}=e^{i\varphi }\left(a_1(r,\theta )d\theta \sigma _1+a_2(r,\theta )\sigma _2\sigma _3+a_3(r,\theta )\sigma _1d\varphi +a_4(r,\theta )d\theta d\varphi \right),$$
(36)
where $`a_i(r,\theta )`$ are arbitrary complex functions. For the 5-form flux we assume

$$\begin{array}{cc}& (a):F_5=+,=dt\mathrm{vol}_{S^3}d\omega ,\hfill \\ & (b):F_5=+,=\mathrm{cosh}^3tdt\mathrm{vol}_{S^3}d\omega ,\hfill \end{array}$$
(37)
where $`\omega (r,\theta )`$ is an arbitrary function.

We will do all the computation in the natural orthonormal frame given by

$$\begin{array}{cc}& e^1dt,e^2dr,e^3\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_1,e^4\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_2,e^5\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_3,\hfill \\ & e^6d\theta ,e^7\sigma _1,e^8\sigma _2,e^9\sigma _3,e^{10}d\varphi ,\hfill \end{array}$$
(38)
where $`\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_i`$ are again $`SU(2)`$ left-invariant one forms, such that the round $`S^3`$ metric of unit radius is $`(dS^3)^2=\stackrel{~}{\sigma }_i^2`$.

As in the PW case, examination of the Einstein equations reveals that 2-form potential functions $`a_i`$ have the following properties: $`a_40`$, $`a_1,a_2`$ are pure imaginary, and $`a_3`$ is real.

### 3.2 Lift of $`S^3`$ deformation

Explicitly computing Ricci tensor with above ansatz, we find nonvanishing components $`R_{11},R_{22},R_{33}=R_{44}=R_{55},R_{66},R_{77},R_{88}=R_{99},R_{1010},R_{26}=R_{62}`$. Given the 5d flow equations (15), we find relations

$$\begin{array}{cc}& R_{77}+R_{88}=2R_{11},\hfill \\ & R_{11}+R_{33}=0.\hfill \end{array}$$
(39)
The 3-form energy-momentum tensor has nontrivial components $`T_{11}^{(3)}=T_{33}^{(3)}=T_{44}^{(3)}=T_{55}^{(3)},T_{22}^{(3)},T_{66}^{(3)},T_{77}^{(3)},T_{88}^{(3)}=T_{99}^{(3)},T_{1010}^{(3)},T_{26}^{(3)}=T_{62}^{(3)}`$. The nonvanishing components of the dilaton/axion energy-momentum tensor are $`T_{22}^{(1)},T_{66}^{(1)},T_{1010}^{(1)},T_{26}^{(1)}=T_{62}^{(1)}`$. Finally, the 5-form energy-momentum tensor has nonvanishing components

$$\begin{array}{cc}& T_{11}^{(5)}=T_{33}^{(5)}=T_{44}^{(5)}=T_{55}^{(5)}=T_{77}^{(5)}=T_{88}^{(5)}=T_{99}^{(5)}=T_{1010}^{(5)}=𝒜_1^2+𝒜_2^2,\hfill \\ & T_{22}^{(5)}=T_{66}^{(5)}=𝒜_2^2𝒜_1^2,\hfill \\ & T_{26}^{(5)}=T_{62}^{(5)}=2𝒜_1𝒜_2,\hfill \end{array}$$
(40)
where

$$𝒜_1\frac{\omega }{r},𝒜_2\frac{\omega }{\theta }.$$
(41)
Besides Einstein equations, we have nontrivial 5-form Bianchi identity, dilaton/axion equation (29), and 4 equations from the Maxwell equation (28) for components $`\{MN\}=\{27,67,710,89\}`$.

As in  we find the following consistency checks on the metric and dilaton/axion ansatz777 There is a typo in the second equation in (42) in  (eq.(4.3)).:

$$\begin{array}{cc}& T_{1010}^{(3)}T_{11}^{(3)}=\frac{e^{2i\varphi }}{24}G_{MNP}G^{MNP},\hfill \\ & R_{1010}R_{11}=2|P_{10}|^2e^{2i\varphi }\left(^M2iQ^M\right)P_M.\hfill \end{array}$$
(42)
Next combination is

$$R_{1010}R_{77}2|P_{10}|^2=T_{1010}^{(3)}T_{77}^{(3)}.$$
(43)
As in , we find that (43) (and the linearized solution of all equations in the UV) is satisfied provided888 Note that there is a sign typo for $`a_3`$ in the corresponding equations in , (eq.(4.8)).

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill a_1& =i4\mathrm{tanh}(2\chi )\mathrm{cos}\theta ,\hfill \\ \hfill a_2& =i4\frac{\rho ^6\mathrm{sinh}(2\chi )}{X_1}\mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{cos}^2\theta ,\hfill \\ \hfill a_3& =4\frac{\mathrm{sinh}(2\chi )}{X_2}\mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{cos}^2\theta .\hfill \end{array}$$
(44)
Finally, from the $`\{MN\}=\{11,22\}`$ Einstein equations we find

$$\begin{array}{cc}& \frac{\omega }{\theta }=\frac{3}{2}e^{4A+3B}\left(\mathrm{ln}\rho \right)^{}\mathrm{sin}2\theta ,\hfill \\ & \frac{\omega }{r}=\frac{1}{8}e^{4A+3B}\frac{1}{\rho ^4}\left(\rho ^{12}\mathrm{sinh}^2(2\chi )\mathrm{sin}^2\theta +2\rho ^6\mathrm{cosh}(2\chi )(1+\mathrm{sin}^2\theta )+2\mathrm{cos}^2\theta \right).\hfill \end{array}$$
(45)
We explicitly verified that supplementing the metric and the dilaton/axion ansatz of the previous section with (44), (45), and the 5d flow equations (15), all the equations of 10d type IIB supergravity are satisfied.

### 3.3 Lift of $`dS_4`$ deformation

In this case the analysis are similar to those in the previous section. Thus we present only the results. First, we find the same complex functions $`a_i`$, specifying the 2-form potential (36)

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill a_1& =i4\mathrm{tanh}(2\chi )\mathrm{cos}\theta ,\hfill \\ \hfill a_2& =i4\frac{\rho ^6\mathrm{sinh}(2\chi )}{X_1}\mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{cos}^2\theta ,\hfill \\ \hfill a_3& =4\frac{\mathrm{sinh}(2\chi )}{X_2}\mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{cos}^2\theta .\hfill \end{array}$$
(46)
Second, the $`\omega `$ in the 5-form potential (37) is

$$\begin{array}{cc}& \frac{\omega }{\theta }=\frac{3}{2}e^{4A}\left(\mathrm{ln}\rho \right)^{}\mathrm{sin}2\theta ,\hfill \\ & \frac{\omega }{r}=\frac{1}{8}e^{4A}\frac{1}{\rho ^4}\left(\rho ^{12}\mathrm{sinh}^2(2\chi )\mathrm{sin}^2\theta +2\rho ^6\mathrm{cosh}(2\chi )(1+\mathrm{sin}^2\theta )+2\mathrm{cos}^2\theta \right).\hfill \end{array}$$
(47)
## 4 Conclusion

In this paper we observed that certain 5d gauged supergravity flows on the background $`R^{3,1}\times R_+`$ can be deformed to flows on backgrounds $`S^3\times R\times R_+`$ or $`dS_4\times R_+`$ with the same 5d scalars. If the 10 dimensional lift of the original backgrounds is known, this implies that deformed flows can be uplifted to ten dimensions as well. We explicitly demonstrated this for the $`𝒩=2^{}`$ PW flow, constructing for the first time massive RG flow with asymptotically global $`AdS_5`$ geometry. We hope that study of these backgrounds would help develop gauge/gravity dictionary for gauge theories in curved space-time, including $`dS_4`$ deformations which might be relevant for understanding strings in backgrounds with cosmological horizons .

## Acknowledgments

It is a pleasure to thank Ofer Aharony for very interesting and stimulating discussions. I would like to thank the Weizmann Institute of Science, University of Pennsylvania for hospitality during part of this work. I would also like to thank the Aspen Center for Physics (2001 workshop) for hospitality, where this work started. I would like to thank Nick Evans for the e-mail correspondence concerning potential singularity of RG flow in .

## Appendix

In , Babington, Crooks and Evans (BCE) proposed a supergravity dual to $`𝒩=0^{}`$ gauge theory. This gauge theory is obtained by giving the same mass to all four Weyl fermions in the $`𝒩=4`$ SYM theory. Note that this $`𝒩=4`$ mass term completely breaks the supersymmetry, hence the name for the deformation. In the infrared the $`𝒩=0^{}`$ gauge theory is expected to confine with a mass gap in the spectrum. The mass gap in the gauge theory spectrum in particular would imply that the dual, nonsupersymmetric, supergravity background of  is nonetheless stable. The $`𝒩=0^{}`$ dual supergravity solution is constructed first in 5d gauged supergravity and then was uplifted to the full ten dimensional solution . The authors turned on only the 5d scalar, called $`\lambda `$, dual to the $`SO(4)`$ invariant fermion mass term. They argued, based on the D3 brane probe computation, that the six $`𝒩=4`$ scalars have positive radiatively induced (mass)2, that thus, naively expected999 Note that this is precisely what is happening for the $`𝒩=2^{}`$ flow of : the fermion mass term induces the negative (mass)2 term for scalars causing the D3 branes, originally at the origin, to ’spread’ up in an enhancon configuration (4)., expectation value for these scalars is not induced. In other words turning on $`\lambda `$ alone is consistent, and the confined $`𝒩=0^{}`$ vacuum is at the origin of the $`𝒩=4`$ moduli space.

If this would be the case, the supergravity solution  should have been nonsingular. We believe the solution of  has a naked singularity in the interior . This in particular is reflected in the fact that the dilaton of  is singular in the infrared, $`|\lambda |\mathrm{}`$, for101010For notations see . $`\alpha =\pi /2`$. The technical problem appears to be attributed to the geodesic incompleteness of geometry  for their choice of a radial coordinate, and thus incorrect identification of what is the infrared part of the geometry. From the physics perspective, we suspect that the probe computation in  is not a reliable tool to address the issue of radiatively induced scalar masses, due to the large nonperturbative corrections (fractional instantons) in theories with less then eight supercharges111111This is briefly discussed in .. In a sense solution  is akin to a singular Klebanov-Tseytlin (KT) geometry , where unphysical requirement of unbroken chiral symmetry led to a singularity of the dual supergravity solution. In , we believe this requirement is a zero expectation value for scalars. The analog of the Klebanov-Strassler (KS)  resolution of the KT singularity in the BCE case is likely to be the inclusion of the additional 5d gauged supergravity scalar121212Playing the role similar to $`\rho `$ for the $`𝒩=2^{}`$ PW flow (7). corresponding to $`SO(4)`$ invariant ’distribution’ of D3-branes. We expect the resulting nonsingular geometry will be similar to the polarized-branes solution of Polchinski and Strassler .

While KT solution is unphysical in its original form, it is easy to turn it to a physical one by deforming the theory in such a way that the spontaneously broken chiral symmetry in the IR gets restored. This can done by either considering sufficiently hot thermal state of the gauge theory , or with an $`S^3`$  or $`dS_4`$  deformation of the gauge theory space-time. In the remaining of this section we argue that the prescription  resolves BCE singularity. The latter is a reflection of the expectation that the infrared cutoff due to the $`S^3`$ scale or the Hubble parameter in the $`dS_4`$ deformation would stabilize the $`𝒩=4`$ scalar masses for the $`𝒩=0^{}`$ flow, resulting, as proposed in , in the vacuum at the origin of the $`𝒩=4`$ moduli space. We demonstrate this in the $`S^3`$ deformed 5d gauged supergravity solution of BCE131313There is a nonsingular lift of these deformed 5d solutions..

The 5d solution of BCE comes from the effective action

$$S=𝑑\xi ^5\sqrt{g}\left(\frac{1}{4}R\frac{1}{2}(\lambda )^2𝒫\right),$$
(48)
where the potential $`𝒫`$ is

$$𝒫=\frac{3}{2}\left(1+\mathrm{cosh}^2\lambda \right),$$
(49)
and the flow metric

$$ds_5^2=e^{2A}\left(dt^2+d\overline{x}^2\right)+dr^2.$$
(50)
For the $`R^{3,1}R\times S^3`$ deformation141414The $`R^{3,1}dS_4`$ deformation can be analyzed in a similar fashion. (14), the equations of motion are

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill 0& =\lambda ^{\prime \prime }+\left(4A^{}+3B^{}\right)\lambda ^{}\frac{𝒫}{\lambda },\hfill \\ \hfill 0& =B^{\prime \prime }+4A^{}B^{}+3\left(B^{}\right)^22e^{2A2B},\hfill \\ & \frac{1}{4}A^{\prime \prime }+\left(A^{}\right)^2+\frac{3}{4}A^{}B^{}=\frac{1}{3}𝒫,\hfill \\ & A^{\prime \prime }\left(A^{}\right)^2\frac{3}{2}A^{}B^{}\frac{3}{4}B^{\prime \prime }\frac{3}{4}\left(B^{}\right)^2=\frac{1}{2}\left(\lambda ^{}\right)^2+\frac{1}{3}𝒫.\hfill \end{array}$$
(51)
Though we can’t find an exact analytical solution of (51), we can still argue that the corresponding backgrounds are nonsingular, provided we choose infrared boundary condition $`B|_{r=0}=0`$. In the infrared ($`r0`$) these nonsingular solutions form a one-parameter $`\{\lambda _0\}`$ family of Taylor series expansions151515By rescaling the time coordinate in (14) we can always set $`A|_{r=0}=0`$.

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill e^A& =1+\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\alpha _ir^{2i}\right),\hfill \\ \hfill e^B& =r\left(1+\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}b_ir^{2i}\right),\hfill \\ \hfill \rho & =\lambda _0+\left(\underset{i=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\lambda _ir^{2i}\right),\hfill \end{array}$$
(52)
with the first terms being

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill a_1& =\frac{3}{8}+\frac{1}{8}\mathrm{cosh}(2\lambda _0),\hfill \\ \hfill b_1& =\frac{1}{4}\frac{1}{12}\mathrm{cosh}(2\lambda _0),\hfill \\ \hfill \lambda _1& =\frac{3}{16}\mathrm{sinh}(2\lambda _0).\hfill \end{array}$$
(53)
Here $`\lambda _0=0`$, corresponds to global $`AdS_5`$ solution. Numerical analysis of (51) with boundary condition (52) suggests that for arbitrary value of $`\lambda _0`$, in the ultraviolet ($`r\mathrm{}`$) we obtain UV asymptotics of

$$B1,A\frac{1}{2}r,\lambda e^r.$$
(54)


text:
# Symmetry Induced Heteroclinic Cycles in a 𝐶𝑂₂ Laser

## 1 Introduction

Recent evidence of space-time complexity in lasers suggests the possibility of using them as ”test-benches” for space time chaos theories \[Arecchi et al., 1990,1991,1999\]
\[D’Angelo et al., 1992, Tredicce et al., 1991, Green et al., 1990\]. Most lasers used in applications operate with a single Gaussian transverse mode. However, several laboratory configurations dealt with many transverse modes simultaneously active within the optical cavity. The nonlinear coupling between them gives rise to a complicated dynamics, and there is hope that a careful study of the transition from a situation where only few modes are active to a situation with many active modes will shed light on the mechanisms of transition to space time chaotic states. High accuracy and short times involved in laser phenomena give to lasers a relevant role in the study of such kind of processes. Presently, there is a wide spectrum of experimental features observed in transverse laser patterns waiting for theoretical explanation. These range from configurations in which only a few modes are active to ones in which the interaction among many modes leads to a loss of space and time correlation. An example in the first group appears in a laser system with photorefractive materials \[Arecchi et al., 1990\]. There, the competition between different transverse modes can give rise to periodic or chaotic alternation between them. This phenomenon has been theoretically explained \[Arecchi et al., 1992\] by symmetry arguments pointing to the existence of heteroclinic connections involving the first three transverse modes, with the assumption that a subcritical bifurcation is responsible for the birth of the fundamental Gaussian mode.

In this paper we consider explicitely a laser system in which the transverse modes are all born supercritically. Our main aim is to discuss the possibility for obtaining heteroclinic cycles when three, four or five modes are active in a $`CO_2`$ laser. The paper is organized as follows. In section 2 the existence of heteroclinic connections in dynamical systems with symmetry is reviewed. In section 3, the particular laser system under study is described. The analysis of the mode equations for this system for a perfect symmetry is done in section 4. The conditions that the coefficients of those equations must obey in order to have some kind of heteroclinic connection in a $`CO_2`$ laser system are obtained. The main conclusions and a short discussion on possible experiments are gathered in section 5.

## 2 Symmetry Induced Heteroclinic Cycles

Let $`P_1`$, $`P_2`$,…, $`P_n`$ be fixed points of a system of ODEs. A heteroclinic cycle (HC) is a set of trajectories $`Q_1(t)`$,$`Q_2(t)`$, …, $`Q_n(t)`$ such that

$`\underset{t\mathrm{}}{lim}Q_k`$ $`=`$ $`P_{k+1},`$ (1)
$`\underset{t\mathrm{}}{lim}Q_k`$ $`=`$ $`P_k,`$ (2)
$`P_{n+1}`$ $`=`$ $`P_1.`$ (3)
Such a connection between invariant sets is non generic for systems of ODEs. But if the system has some symmetries, it has been shown that HCs can be structurally stable \[Field, 1980, Melbourne et al., 1989\]. The basic idea is that in the presence of symmetries, there are subspaces invariant under the flow. The role of these flow invariant subspaces in building HCs is determinant. Take, for instance, a particular example relevant for the system discussed in this paper. Let

$$\dot{x}=f(x)$$
(4)
be a three dimensional dynamical system with $`xR^3`$, $`\mathrm{\Pi }_i`$, $`i=1,2,3`$, three invariant planes and $`Q_i(t)`$, $`i=1,2,3`$, three trajectories connecting the invariant planes (see Figure 1). Suppose that the saddle fixed points $`P_i`$, $`i=1,2,3,`$ are the asymptotic limits of the trajectories $`Q_i(t)`$ such as indicated in the relations (1-2). Thus, the unstable set of the fixed point $`P_i`$ is contained in the invariant plane $`\mathrm{\Pi }_i`$ and its stable set is contained in the invariant plane $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{i1}`$. Therefore, we have a heteroclinic connection between the points $`P_i`$, $`i=1,2,3`$, forced, in this case, by the symmetries of the system and the boundedness of the trajectories. Let us assume that the planes are induced by subgroups of the symmetry group of the problem. If the system is perturbed with a term equivariant under the same group, it will have the same invariant planes, and, as saddle-sink connections are structurally stable in $`R^2`$, the cycle will persist. The situation is quite different if the system is perturbed with a non equivariant term. In that case, if the flow invariant planes are destroyed, one can break the heteroclinic cycle and induce the appearance of periodic orbits, giving rise to the phenomenon of periodic alternation, as it has been recently shown, for instance, in a rotating convection system \[Lin & Vivancos, 2002\]. We are interested in the possibility of a periodic alternation among modes with different angular momenta for a $`CO_2`$ laser in a Fabry-Perot cavity. In a perfect setup, the boundary conditions of this system (cylindrical tube) imposes an $`O(2)`$ symmetry. It has been shown that slight imperfections in the system (a non perfect coaxial discharge, slight disalignments of the mirrors, etc.) can break the rotational component of $`O(2)`$, leaving just the $`Z_2`$ component (reflections) \[D’Angelo et al., 1992\]\[López-Ruiz et al., 1993,1994\]. The existence of heteroclinic cycles connecting invariant sets of a $`O(2)`$ equivariant system was studied by Melbourne et al. \[Melbourne et al., 1989\]. Those cycles were found in the truncated normal forms of Hopf-Hopf mode interactions. In the following section the normal form describing the interactions between modes in the $`CO_2`$ laser system is presented and the relationships among the coefficients to have heteroclinic cycles are determined.

## 3 The System

The system under study is a $`CO_2`$ laser in a Fabry-Perot cavity \[Solari & Gilmore, 1990\]. The cavity has a perfectly reflecting plane mirror at one end (z=0) and a curved mirror with partial reflectivity at the other (z=-1). Physically, the effective curvature of this mirror can be modified inserting a passive optical device. As the pumping strength is changed, different modes will be excited. The resulting dynamics can be studied by reducing the Maxwell-Bloch equations to evolution equations for the amplitudes of the active modes. This reduction procedure is made in two steps. First, the electric field, the polarization and the population inversion are expanded in terms of left and right longitudinal modes $`\varphi ^+`$, $`\varphi ^{}`$,

$`E`$ $`=`$ $`(E)e^{iwt}(e^{\chi z}\varphi ^+\mathrm{\Phi }_++e^{\chi z}\varphi ^{}\mathrm{\Phi }_{})(s^2+z^2)^{1/2},`$ (5)
$`P`$ $`=`$ $`i(P)e^{iwt}{\displaystyle [(\varphi ^+)^n\mathrm{\Pi }_n+(\varphi ^{})^n\mathrm{\Pi }_n](s^2+z^2)^{1/2}},`$ (6)
$`D`$ $`=`$ $`(D)(D_0+{\displaystyle [D_n(\varphi ^+)^n+D_n(\varphi ^{})^n]}),`$ (7)
where $`(E),(P),(D)`$ stand for scale factors, $`\chi `$ is the rate of cavity losses, s is a constant that depends on the curvature of the mirrors and $`z`$ indicates the axial direction. Evolution equations for the slowly varying amplitudes in that expansion are derived. They read

$`i{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}\left[\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Phi }_+\\ \mathrm{\Phi }_{}\end{array}\right]`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\begin{array}{cc}H^++i\chi & 0\\ 0& H^{}i\chi \end{array}\right]\left[\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Phi }_+\\ \mathrm{\Phi }_{}\end{array}\right]i\left[\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Pi }_+\\ \mathrm{\Pi }_{}\end{array}\right],`$ (16)
$`\left[\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Pi }_+\\ \mathrm{\Pi }_{}\end{array}\right]`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\begin{array}{cc}D_0& D_2\\ D_2& D_0\end{array}\right]\left[\begin{array}{c}R^+\mathrm{\Phi }_+\\ R^{}\mathrm{\Phi }_{}\end{array}\right],`$ (23)
$`I_2+1/\gamma {\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}\left[\begin{array}{cc}D_0& D_2\\ D_2& D_0\end{array}\right]`$ $`=`$ $`KI_2+\{\left[\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Phi }_+\\ \mathrm{\Phi }_{}\end{array}\right]\left[\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{\Pi }_+^{}& \mathrm{\Pi }_{}^{}\end{array}\right]+`$ (36)
$`+\left[\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Pi }_+\\ \mathrm{\Pi }_{}\end{array}\right]\left[\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{}& \mathrm{\Phi }_{}^{}\end{array}\right]+`$
$`+\left[\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{\Phi }_{}\mathrm{\Pi }_{}^{}+\mathrm{\Phi }_{}^{}\mathrm{\Pi }_{}& 0\\ 0& \mathrm{\Phi }_+\mathrm{\Pi }_+^{}+\mathrm{\Phi }_+^{}\mathrm{\Pi }_+\end{array}\right]\}(s^2+z^2)^1,`$
$`R^+`$ $`=`$ $`(\beta iH^+)^1,`$ (37)
where $`\gamma `$ is the rate of decay of the population inversion, $`\beta `$ is the atomic rate of decay of the atomic polarization, $`K`$ is the pumping profile, $`H^+`$ are 3D differential operators and $`I_2`$ is the 2D identity matrix. The trivial solution of these equations is

$`\mathrm{\Phi }_+`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (38)
$`\mathrm{\Pi }_+`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (39)
$`D_{+2}`$ $`=`$ $`0,`$ (40)
and

$$D_0=K.$$
(41)
For certain values of the parameters, different cavity modes are born from a Hopf bifurcation of this trivial solution. The electric field amplitude can be expanded as a combination of those cavity mode amplitudes:

$$\left[\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{\Phi }_+\\ \mathrm{\Phi }_{}\end{array}\right]=z_\mu \left[\begin{array}{c}a_+^\mu \\ a_{}^\mu \end{array}\right].$$
(42)
Introducing this expansion into the Maxwell-Bloch equations (16-37) one arrives to a set of evolution equations for the cavity mode amplitudes:

$$\dot{z}_\alpha =L_{\alpha \beta }z_\beta +M_{\alpha \mu \nu \beta }z_\mu z_\nu ^{}z_\beta +h.o.t.$$
(43)
The coefficients in these equations can be explicitly computed:

$`L_{\alpha \beta }`$ $`=`$ $`\delta _{\alpha \beta }((\chi +{\displaystyle \frac{K\beta }{\beta ^2+\mathrm{\Omega }_\alpha ^2}})i\mathrm{\Omega }_\alpha (1{\displaystyle \frac{K}{\beta ^2+\mathrm{\Omega }_\alpha ^2}})),`$ (44)
$`M_{\alpha \mu \nu \beta }`$ $`=`$ $`G_{\alpha \mu \nu \beta }D_{\alpha \mu \nu \beta },`$ (45)
$`D_{\alpha \mu \nu \beta }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1+i(\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu \mathrm{\Omega }_\nu )/\gamma }}({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\beta i\mathrm{\Omega }_\mu }}+({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\beta i\mathrm{\Omega }_\nu }})^{})\times `$
$`\times {\displaystyle \frac{1}{\beta i\mathrm{\Omega }_\beta }},`$
$`G_{\alpha \mu \nu \beta }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle }((a_+^\alpha a_+^\mu +a_{}^\alpha a_{}^\mu )(a_+^\nu a_+^\beta +a_{}^\nu a_{}^\beta )+`$
$`+(a_+^\alpha a_+^\mu a_+^\nu a_+^\beta +a_{}^\alpha a_{}^\mu a_{}^\nu a_{}^\beta )){\displaystyle \frac{K}{s^2+z^2}}dv,`$
with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\alpha `$ the slow temporal frequency of the empty cavity modes.
In the following section the relationships between the coefficients of these equations to have a HC are derived.

## 4 Solutions of the Amplitude Equations

Now the conditions for the existence of heteroclinic solutions in the $`CO_2`$ laser system are discussed. If the Gaussian mode interacts with the modes of angular momenta $`\pm 1`$, HCs are not possible. This result is generic for $`O(2)`$ equivariant systems when all modes are born supercritically from the origin. Then one must go one step further considering four modes (of angular momentum $`\pm 1`$, $`\pm 2`$) interacting in the cavity. It is interesting to analyze this case because this is the simplest situation in which heteroclinic cycles can be built generically for $`O(2)`$ equivariant systems. However, due to the specific form of the physical equations we prove that HC are not possible in a $`CO_2`$ laser in this case. The next step is to consider five modes with angular momenta $`0`$, $`\pm 1`$, $`\pm 2`$. The restrictions among the coefficients of the normal form to have a HC are determined. We separate the discussion of each case in separated subsections.

### 4.1 Three Mode Interaction

The equations describing the interaction between the modes with angular momenta $`0`$, $`\pm 1`$ near the Hopf-Hopf bifurcation (the parameter value for which the primary branches in which the modes are born cross each other) are:

$`\dot{z}_1`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _1z_1(A(z_1z_1^{}+2z_2z_2^{})+Dz_0z_0^{})z_1,`$ (48)
$`\dot{z}_2`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _1z_2(A(2z_1z_1^{}+z_2z_2^{})+Dz_0z_0^{})z_2,`$ (49)
$`\dot{z}_0`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _0z_0(E(z_1z_1^{}+z_2z_2^{})+Bz_0z_0^{})z_0.`$ (50)
The coefficients $`A`$, $`B`$, $`E`$, $`D`$ have been explicitly computed in the previous section. Setting $`z_i=\rho _ie^{i\varphi _i}`$, the amplitude equations read

$`\dot{\rho }_1`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _1^r\rho _1(A^r(\rho _1^2+2\rho _2^2)+D^r\rho _0^2)\rho _1,`$ (51)
$`\dot{\rho }_2`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _1^r\rho _2(A^r(2\rho _1^2+\rho _2^2)+D^r\rho _0^2)\rho _2,`$ (52)
$`\dot{\rho }_0`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _0^r\rho _0(E^r(\rho _1^2+\rho _2^2)+B^r\rho _0^2)\rho _0.`$ (53)
The codimension two bifurcation diagram, $`(\lambda _0^r,\lambda _1^r)`$, for these equations can be found in figure 1 in Ref. \[López-Ruiz et al., 1993\]. In that figure, projections into the amplitude subspaces are shown for different regions of the parameter space. Only the real part of the amplitudes must be considered because the dynamics of the phases is trivial. Notice that the dimension of the amplitude space is three, that there are three invariant planes (each defined by $`\rho _i`$=0) and one fixed point in each of the three invariant lines. But heteroclinic connections cannot be established between these fixed points due to the residual symmetry that remains in the plane $`(\rho _1,\rho _2)`$ after projecting in the amplitude space. This symmetry is given by the invariance of the equations (51-53) under the variable change: $`(\rho _0,\rho _1,\rho _2)`$ $``$ $`(\rho _0,\rho _2,\rho _1)`$. If the flow is projected on the plane $`(\rho _1,\rho _2)`$ the dynamics derives towards one of the modes, $`\rho _1`$ or $`\rho _2`$ (or $`\rho _1=\rho _2`$ if these amplitudes were the same at the beginning). In this situation one of theses modes interacts with $`\rho _0`$ and there is no possibility to construct a HC because the origin is a repulsor and there are only two degrees of freedom (fig. 2).

If one assumes a subcritical bifurcation for birth of the fundamental mode ($`\lambda _0^r<0`$ in Eqs. (51-53), this allows to obtain heteroclinic connections between the three transverse modes considered here \[Arecchi et al., 1992\]. Since however we are interested to study the $`CO_2`$ laser, this cannot be assumed; on the contrary, all modes are born supercritically from the origin and thus all $`\lambda `$’s have a positive real part.

### 4.2 Four Mode Interaction

Once excluded the interaction among three modes that bifurcate supercritically we analyse the possibility of a heteroclinic connection among four modes with angular momenta $`\pm 1`$, $`\pm 2`$.

According to Eq. (43), the normal form describing the interaction between four modes of angular momenta $`\pm 1`$, $`\pm 2`$ are

$`\dot{z}_1`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _1z_1(A(z_1z_1^{}+2z_2z_2^{})+B(z_3z_3^{}+z_4z_4^{}))z_1,`$ (54)
$`\dot{z}_2`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _1z_2(A(2z_1z_1^{}+z_2z_2^{})+B(z_3z_3^{}+z_4z_4^{}))z_2,`$ (55)
$`\dot{z}_3`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _2z_3(D(z_3z_3^{}+2z_4z_4^{})+C(z_1z_1^{}+z_2z_2^{}))z_3,`$ (56)
$`\dot{z}_4`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _1z_4(D(2z_3z_3^{}+z_4z_4^{})+C(z_3z_3^{}+z_4z_4^{}))z_4.`$ (57)
The behaviour of this system can be analyzed setting $`z_i=\rho _ie^{i\varphi _i}`$ and writing for the real part of the amplitudes the following equations,

$`\dot{\rho }_1`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _1^r\rho _1(A^r(\rho _1^2+2\rho _2^2)+B^r(\rho _3^2+\rho _4^2))\rho _1,`$ (58)
$`\dot{\rho }_2`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _1^r\rho _2(A^r(2\rho _1^2+\rho _2^2)+B^r(\rho _3^2+\rho _4^2))\rho _2,`$ (59)
$`\dot{\rho }_3`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _2^r\rho _3(C^r(\rho _3^2+2\rho _4^2)+D^r(\rho _1^2+\rho _2^2))\rho _3,`$ (60)
$`\dot{\rho }_4`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _1^r\rho _4(C^r(2\rho _3^2+\rho _4^2)+D^r(\rho _3^2+\rho _4^2))\rho _4.`$ (61)
Let us observe the residual symmetry in the amplitude space: $`(\rho _1,\rho _2,\rho _3,\rho _4)(\rho _2,\rho _1,\rho _4,\rho _3)`$. The same line of reasoning of the preceding subsection can be followed: the symmetry in the plane $`(\rho _1,\rho _2)(\rho _2,\rho _1)`$ reduces the dynamics to one of these modes. But the interaction of this mode with $`(\rho _3,\rho _4)`$ still presents the residual symmetry $`(\rho _i,\rho _3,\rho _4)(\rho _i,\rho _4,\rho _3)`$. Returning to the case of three interacting modes discussed in section 4.1 we also conclude that there is no way to construct a heteroclinic cycle among these modes. Let us remark that symmetry in these equations is crucial in avoiding a heteroclinic connection. Thus the dynamics allows to connect the plane $`(\rho _1,\rho _2)`$ with the plane ($`\rho _3,\rho _4`$), but it dies there without any possibility to return to the first level. Therefore, at least, another mode must be active in order to allow the system to come back to the initial level (in some sense a ’pump’ mode). In this form a heteroclinic cycle could be obtained with a minimun of five modes.

### 4.3 Five Mode Interaction

Thus, we analyse the interaction between modes with angular momenta $`0`$, $`\pm 1`$, $`\pm 2`$ in a system with perfect $`O(2)`$ symmetry. In this case symmetries could induce heteroclinic cycles. The bifurcation equations for this case read as follow:

$`\dot{z}_0`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _0z_0(A(z_1z_1^{}+z_2z_2^{})+B(z_3z_3^{}+z_4z_4^{})+Cz_0z_0^{})z_0,`$ (62)
$`\dot{z}_1`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _1z_1(D(z_1z_1^{}+2z_2z_2^{})+F(z_3z_3^{}+z_4z_4^{})+Ez_0z_0^{})z_1,`$ (63)
$`\dot{z}_2`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _1z_2(D(2z_1z_1^{}+z_2z_2^{})+F(z_3z_3^{}+z_4z_4^{})+Ez_0z_0^{})z_2,`$ (64)
$`\dot{z}_3`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _2z_3(G(z_3z_3^{}+2z_4z_4^{})+I(z_1z_1^{}+z_2z_2^{})+Hz_0z_0^{})z_3,`$ (65)
$`\dot{z}_4`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _2z_3(G(2z_3z_3^{}+z_4z_4^{})+I(z_1z_1^{}+z_2z_2^{})+Hz_0z_0^{})z_4.`$ (66)
A complete study of this set of equations is beyond the scope of this paper. We focus our attention to the possibility of obtaining the situation displayed in figure 3. Let us first find the restrictions in the coefficients to have a connection between the rotating waves (RW) of two interacting modes (Fig. 4):

$`\dot{z}_1`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _1z_1(A_1z_1z_1^{}+A_1^{}z_2z_2^{})z_1,`$ (67)
$`\dot{z}_2`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _2z_2(A_2z_2z_2^{}+A_2^{}z_1z_1^{})z_2.`$ (68)
After projecting in the amplitudes space ($`z_i=\rho _ie^{i\varphi _i}`$) these lead to:

$`\dot{\rho }_1`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _1^r\rho _1A_{1R}\rho _1^3A_{1R}^{}\rho _2^2\rho _1,`$ (69)
$`\dot{\rho }_2`$ $`=`$ $`\lambda _2^r\rho _2A_{2R}\rho _2^3A_{2R}^{}\rho _1^2\rho _2.`$ (70)
To obtain a connection as in Fig. 4 the unstable manifold of $`RW_1(\sqrt{\frac{\lambda _1^r}{A_{1R}}},0)`$ must coincide with the stable manifold of $`RW_2(0,\sqrt{\frac{\lambda _2^r}{A_{2R}}})`$. This is reached by imposing that the eigenvalues of the Jacobian matrix are one positive (in $`RW_1`$) and another negative (in $`RW_2`$). As the flow is bounded and there exist no fixed point in the interior of the plane $`(\rho _1,\rho _2)`$, the unstable manifold of $`RW_1`$ is the stable manifold of $`RW_2`$. The following conditions must hold:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _2^r}{\lambda _1^r}}`$ $`>`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{A_{2R}^{}}{A_{1R}}},`$ (71)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _1^r}{\lambda _2^r}}`$ $`<`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{A_{1R}^{}}{A_{2R}}}.`$ (72)
These considerations are now extended to the five mode interaction in order to find the conditions to have a global heteroclinic connection of the type (Fig. 5):

$`\rho _0plane(\rho _3,\rho _4)plane(\rho _1,\rho _2)\rho _0`$ (73)
These conditions are:

$`\rho _0(\rho _3,\rho _4)`$ $`\{\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \frac{\lambda _2^r}{\lambda _0^r}& >& \frac{H^r}{C^r}\hfill \\ \hfill \frac{\lambda _0^r}{\lambda _2^r}& <& \frac{B^r}{G^r}\hfill \end{array}`$ (76)
$`(\rho _3,\rho _4)(\rho _1,\rho _2)`$ $`\{\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \frac{\lambda _1^r}{\lambda _2^r}& >& \frac{F^r}{G^r}\hfill \\ \hfill \frac{\lambda _2^r}{\lambda _1^r}& <& \frac{I^r}{D^r}\hfill \end{array}`$ (79)
$`(\rho _1,\rho _2)\rho _0`$ $`\{\begin{array}{ccc}\hfill \frac{\lambda _0^r}{\lambda _1^r}& >& \frac{A^r}{D^r}\hfill \\ \hfill \frac{\lambda _1^r}{\lambda _0^r}& <& \frac{E^r}{C^r}\hfill \end{array}`$ (82)
Two different situations can be distinguished. The first one corresponds to $`A^r<0,H^r<0`$ and $`F^r<0`$. In such a case, condition (71) is automatically verified for the three connections and those relationships (76-82) reduce simply to

$`1<{\displaystyle \frac{B^r}{G^r}}{\displaystyle \frac{I^r}{D^r}}{\displaystyle \frac{E^r}{C^r}}.`$ (83)
Let us call this case ”strong” HC among transverse modes. The physical meaning of this case clearly appears looking at Eqs. (62-66). Indeed, selecting $`A^r<0,H^r<0`$ and $`F^r<0`$, any growth of $`\rho _0`$ produces a source term in the equations for ($`\rho _3,\rho _4`$); any growth of ($`\rho _3,\rho _4`$) produces a source term in the ($`\rho _1,\rho _2`$) equations and any growth of ($`\rho _1,\rho _2`$) gives rise to a source term in the $`\rho _0`$ equation. So the cycle can close itself.

Guided by such a suggestion, the values of nonlinear coefficients of Eqs. (62-66) are calculated directly from Maxwell-Bloch equations following the procedure described in Sec. 3, and more explicit in the appendix of Ref. \[López-Ruiz et al., 1994\], with the physical parameters of a $`CO_2`$ laser. Calculations show that any choice of those physical parameters leading to a negative value of $`A_{2R}^{}`$ leads also to a negative value of $`A_{1R}^{}`$. Therefore, the conditions of a ”strong” HC in a $`CO_2`$ laser cannot be fulfilled.

The second possibility will be called ”weak” heteroclinic connection. This corresponds to a positive real part for all nonlinear coefficients of Eqs. (62-66). In such a case, the set of conditions (76-82) written above are equivalent to:

$$MMin_0Min_1Min_2>1,$$
(84)
where

$`Min_0Min({\displaystyle \frac{C^r}{H^r}},{\displaystyle \frac{B^r}{G^r}}),`$ (85)
$`Min_1Min({\displaystyle \frac{G^r}{F^r}},{\displaystyle \frac{I^r}{D^r}}),`$ (86)
$`Min_2Min({\displaystyle \frac{D^r}{A^r}},{\displaystyle \frac{E^r}{C^r}}).`$ (87)
Calculations with realistic parameters under usual conditions in a $`CO_2`$ laser with a perfect $`O(2)`$ symmetry show numerical evidence that $`M`$ has a maximum value equal to $`1`$. Nevertheless, symmetry arguments do not exclude the possibility of finding heteroclinic cycles in modified setups, provided that condition (84) be satisfied.

## 5 Conclusions and discussion

The conditions for the existence of heteroclinic cycles in a $`CO_2`$ laser with a cylindrical symmetry have been obtained. From general symmetry arguments we proved that this kind of cycles are not possible when there are only three or four modes -arising from a supercritical bifurcation- interacting into the cavity.
At least five modes must interact to produce that kind of cycles. In this case the relationships that the coefficients must satisfy for having heteroclinic connections are found. Calculations for $`CO_2`$ laser systems show that those requirements can not be fulfilled under usual conditions.
Some modification in the nonlinear coupling of the Maxwell-Bloch equations is required, such as introducing a nonlinear passive device into the cavity that modifies the nonlinear coefficients.

## 6 Acknowledgements

We would like to thank G.B. Mindlin (Buenos Aires), J.R. Tredicce (Nice) and F.T. Arecchi (Florence) for very useful and fruitful discussions.

Figure Captions

1. Hipotetic sketch of a possible heteroclinic connection {$`Q_1`$,$`Q_2`$,$`Q_3`$} for a 3D-symmetric system of ODEs. Each line $`Q_i(t)`$ connects the fixed points ($`P_i`$, $`P_{i+1}`$) and lies on the correspondent invariant plane $`\mathrm{\Pi }_i`$.

2. 2D-projections of the flow in the amplitude space for the interaction in a $`CO_2`$ laser of modes $`0`$ and $`\pm 1`$.

3. A fifth mode, $`\rho _0`$, connecting the two planes of symmetry, $`(\rho _1,\rho _2)(\rho _3,\rho _4)`$, of equations (58-61) is needed in order to build a heteroclinic connection.

4. A generic heteroclinic connection between the rotating waves of two interacting modes.

5. Heteroclinic connection established with five interacting modes in a $`CO_2`$ laser: $`\rho _0plane(\rho _3,\rho _4)plane(\rho _1,\rho _2)\rho _0`$.


text:
# Anisotropic phonon conduction and lattice distortions in CMR-type bilayer manganite (La1-zPrz)1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 (𝑧=0,0.2,0.4 and 0.6) single crystals

## I INTRODUCTION

Since the discovery of colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) in the hole-doped perovskite manganites Ln1-xDx MnO3 (Ln = trivalent rare earth ; D = divalent alkaline earth Ca,Sr,Ba,Pb) , extensive studies of the field-induced complex physics exhibited by these CMR compounds have been reported. TO00  Though the double exchange(DE) mechanism ZE51  plays a major role in explaining some of the properties, a quantitative model to account for the insulator-metal transition and the CMR effect is yet to be proposed. In the DE model, the carriers are strongly ferromagnetically coupled, due to Hund’s Rule coupling, to the Mn core which also results in the hopping of electrons between the Mn ions. However, it was pointed out that the coupling of carriers to local Jahn-Teller(JT) distortions and to the Mn spins must also be consideredMI95 . Further, several recent experiments seem to support the phase separation modelDA01 . Thermal transport measurements provide additional crucial information on the various scattering mechanisms of thermal carriers such as electrons and phonons and are expected to improve the understanding of some of the phenomena encountered in the manganites. There have been relatively few reports VI97 ; CO97 ; UH98 ; HE99  on thermal transport in cubic manganites. The thermal conductivity of cubic manganites has been discussed on the basis of static and dynamic lattice distortions by several authors. It should be noted that the Ln1-xDx MnO3 cubic perovskite compounds belong to the Ruddlesden-Popper series generally described as (Ln,D)n+1Mn nO3n+1 with $`n=\mathrm{}`$ . For $`n=2`$, one obtains the bilayer Mn perovskite (Ln,D) 3 Mn2O7,in which two MnO2 layers are stacked with (Ln,D)2O2 layers along the $`c`$-axis of the structure. The reduced dimensionality of these compounds has been shown to have interesting consequences on the physical properties. Let us note that the optimally hole doped compound La1.2Sr1.2Mn2O7 ($`x`$=0.4) exhibits a CMR of more than 98% near the paramagnetic insulator (PI) to ferromagnetic metal (FM) transition temperature $`T_c`$ =$``$120K.MO96  The thermal conductivity measurements of the double layer manganite, La1.2Sr1.2Mn2O7 were reported recently indicating an enhanced giant magnetothermal effect due to its layered structures MA00 . For the end member $`x=0`$ LaMnO3 ,which is a cubic compound with JT distortions, it was reported in that the value of $`\kappa `$ measured on a stoichiometric single crystal corresponds to a thermally good conductor , like an ideal phonon gas ZH01 . On the other hand, the end member $`x=1`$ compound , CaMnO3, without JT active Mn sites, shows a higher thermal conduction in comparison with the low $`\kappa `$ data obtained for the hole doped compounds HE99 . Therefore, it is desirable to examine a close relationship existing between the lattice distortion and thermal conductivity in layered manganites.

In this paper, we report a systematic study of thermal conductivity as a function of temperature and magnetic field of single crystals of the compound (La1-zPrz)1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7, for $`z`$(Pr) =0.2,0.4 and 0.6. Keeping the hole doping fixed at $`x=0.4`$ , the chemical pressure effect due to substitution of Pr on La-ion sites enhances anisotropic lattice parameters OG00 ; AP01  and results in a variation of the $`e_g`$-electron character, as reported by Moritomo et al MO97 . The lattice distortion due to Pr-substitution and the anisotropic thermal conductivity in bilayer manganites were discussed on the basis of different relaxation models of local lattice distortions in metal and insulating states proposed by Medarde et al.ME99 . Next, the giant magnetothermal resistivity was scaled as a function of magnetization and discussed on the basis of a systematic variation in $`e_g`$-electron orbital states.

## II EXPERIMENT

Single crystals of (La1-zPrz) 1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 ($`z`$=0,0.2,0.4 and 0.6) were grown from sintered rods of the same nominal composition by the floating-zone method, using a mirror furnace. Crystals could be easily cleaved to yield shiny surfaces. X-ray Laue patterns have indicated the cleaved surface to be along the $`ab`$-plane of the structure and therefore the $`c`$-axis perpendicular to it. An X-ray powder pattern taken on a small part of the cleaved crystal did not indicate the presence of any additional phases. The calculated lattice parameters are listed in previous works OG00 ; AP01 . The Pr-substitution at La ion sites resulted in a small contraction of the $`a`$-axis parameter and an expansion of the $`c`$-axis parameter. Energy-dispersive X-ray analyses of the cleaved surface revealed the compositions of the two samples to be close to those of the respective sintered rods. The dimensions of the crystals used in the experiments reported here were typically 3.4$`\times `$ 2.8mm2 in the $`ab`$-plane and 1.0 mm along the $`c`$-axis.

The end member compound Sr3Mn2O7 was prepared by a powder sintering technique under the annealing condition 1650 C for 12hours first reported by Mizutani et al., MI70  and by Mitchell et al., MI99 . After rapidly cooling it down to room temperatures to prevent decomposition, the polycrystalline sample was post-annealed at 400 C for 24hours to remove its oxygen-deficiency. The dimensions of the cylindrical sintered sample used in the thermal measurement were 4.4mm in diameter and 8mm along the longitudinal direction. The X-ray powder pattern of this sample showed that the sample obtained consists mainly of a single-phase with the 327 crystal structure. The magnetization measurement also revealed that the present sample shows an anti-ferromagnetic transition around $`T_N`$=$``$160K MI99 . The thermal conductivity ,both in the $`ab`$-plane and along the $`c`$-axis of the crystal, was measured by means of the steady-state heat-flow method using a G-M type cryocooler in zero field. Magnetothermal conductivity measurements were carried out at the National Research Institute for Metals and at the High Field Laboratory for Superconducting Materials, Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University. The resistivity in the $`ab`$-plane of the crystal was measured using a conventional four-probe technique. The zero-field-cooled (ZFC) magnetization measurements were made using a SQUID magnetometer both at Iwate University and in Orsay.

## III RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Figures 1 (a) and (b) present the $`ab`$-plane normalized resistivity $`\rho `$ab and the $`ab`$-plane magnetization $`M_{ab}`$ of our samples ($`z=0`$, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6) as a function of temperature. The $`\rho `$ data of the polycrystalline sample Sr3Mn2O7 are also shown in the inset of Fig.1 (a). For the $`z=0`$ crystal, the value of $`\rho `$ab dropped sharply at $``$120 K, close to the insulating to metallic transition ,with decreasing temperature. This temperature was reduced to $``$60K in the sample with $`z=0.4`$. Finally, the $`z=0.6`$ sample showed neither an insulator to metal transition nor a paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition. The temperature variation of the resistivity of the $`x=1`$ sample showed a negative curvature over the whole measured range and the value of $`\rho `$ rapidly increased by more than four orders of magnitude, up to $`2\times 10^6`$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$cm at 20K from $``$100 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$cm at room temperature (RT) , which is in sharp contrast with the typical value of $``$0.1 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$cm at RT for Pr-substituted samples OG00 ; AP01 . Recently , a theoretical band calculation ME02  predicts that the bilayer perovskite Sr3Mn2O7 is an antiferromagnetic insulator with an indirect gap of 0.45 eV , which is qualitatively in good agreement with our magnetization and resistivity data. Moreover, the electronic structure of this compound is expected to be similar to that of the cubic perovskite end member CaMnO3.

The $`ab`$-plane and the $`c`$-axis thermal conductivity of (La1-zPrz) 1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 ($`z`$=0, 0.2 ,0.4 and 0.6) single crystals are shown in Fig.2 as a function of temperature, up to 300K. The arrows denote the PI to FM transition temperature. For comparison, the temperature variation of the end member polycrystalline sample Sr3Mn2O7 is also presented in Fig.2(a). We note, first that a low thermal conductivity was observed over a wide of temperature range for all samples ,in spite of the high-quality of our single-crystals. Second, the temperature dependence of $`\kappa `$ in the $`ab`$-plane exhibited anomalies associated with the PI to FM transition, while no such anomalies were observed for $`\kappa `$ along the $`c`$-axis direction near $`T_C`$ for any of the samples. Above $`T_C`$, the value of $`\kappa _{ab}`$ showed a positive curvature but tended towards a constant value near room temperatures with increasing temperatures. The electron thermal conductivity ,for the $`z=0`$ sample ,is estimated to be at most $``$1 % of the total value, even in the metallic state from the resistivity data based on the Wiedemann-Franz (W-F) law and reproduce, neither the whole anomaly in $`\kappa _{ab}`$, nor the giant thermal effect around $`T_C`$ MA00 . Thus, heat carriers are taken as phonons for all measured samples. Here, the phonon mean free path $`l_{ph}`$ in the insulating state of the $`x=0.4`$ sample is estimated from the specific heat data $`C_{ph}`$, and longitudinal sound velocity $`v_{ph}`$ , using the kinetic expression for the phonon gas $`\kappa =1/3C_{ph}v_{ph}l_{ph}`$. If $`C_{ph}`$(150K)=1.78 J/cm3K VA01  and $`\kappa _{ab}`$(150K)=11.3 mW/cm (present data) for the (La1-zPrz) 1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 single crystal ($`z=0.4`$) and $`v_{ph}`$=4.3$`\times 10^5`$ cm/s BR00  in the $`ab`$-plane for the La 1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 bilayer single crystal , we then obtain $`l_{ph,ab}`$ =4.43 Å at 150K which is comparable with the Mn-O-Mn bond length ($``$4 Å). In a smilar way, the value of $`l_{ph,ab}`$ reaches 4.07 Å at 300K. In our estimation, the value of $`v_{ab}`$ is taken as a constant since the relative variation of the longitudinal velocity is very small from ultrasonic measurements on the bilayer manganites.

Next, the end member compound Sr3Mn2O7 showed a different behavior from the $`ab`$-plane data in the compound (La1-zPrz) 1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7. The value of $`\kappa `$ of the $`x=1`$ sample remained almost a constant down to $``$ 200K, then showed a slight increase upon crossing $`T_N=`$ 160 K and finally dropped rapidly with decreasing temperature. The temperature dependence of $`\kappa `$ of the $`x=1`$ sample reminds us of a typical phonon conduction in insulating materials, except for the magnitude of measured values. The extremely high resistivity of the $`x=1(n=2)`$ sample ( $``$100 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$cm at RT) in sharp contrast with the value of $`\rho _{ab}`$ ($`0.1\mathrm{\Omega }`$cm at RT) for the Pr-substituted $`x=0.4(n=2)`$ samples gives rise to a negligible contribution of small polarons ,which probably results in a typical phonon conduction. In comparison with the thermal data of the polycrystalline sample of Sr3Mn2O7 , low thermal values of single crystal samples are anomalous indicating a strong phonon damping which correlates with dynamical lattice distortions coupled with thermally hopping of localized carriers at Mn-sites (as discussed later).

We discuss the relationship between local lattice distortions and thermal conductivity in bilayer manganites. Figures 3 (a) and (b) show the anisotropic lattice striction and volume striction for the z=0, 0.2 and 0.4 samples, respectively. The anomaly in anisotropic lattice striction reverses sign near z=0.2 but the volume of all samples rapidly shrinks upon crossing $`T_C`$. These findings have been discussed in ref.21 on the basis of different relaxation models of local lattice distortions in metal and insulating states proposed by Maderda et al.ME99 . The authors tried to explain the different behaviors of average and local lattice distortions observed in neutron powder diffraction experiments on La2-2xSr1+2xMn2O7 (0.32$``$x$``$0.4). Based on their explanation, the observed volume shrinkage near $`T_C`$ seems to arise from a strong suppression in the local lattice disorder manifested by Mn3+-O6 and Mn4+-O6 octahedra with the JT distorted and undistorted sites when the system is going towards the metallic state from the insulating state. The MnO bond-length distribution becomes narrower below $`T_C`$ because of a screening effect due to itinerant carriers. Accordingly , the phonon conduction is limited by the local lattice disorder accompanying a polaron hopping in the insulating state. However, in the metallic region , it is expected that the homogenous structure of the local lattice associated with carrier delocalization, causes an upturn in the $`ab`$-plane thermal conductivity, below $`T_C`$ . It should be noted that this conclusion is reached from the lattice striction and thermal data of the same samples, combined with the preceding model. Furthermore, in comparison with the anisotropic Debye-Waller (D-W) factor of Sr3Mn2O7 , the anisotropic D-W data of La2-2xSr1+2xMn2O7 (0.32$``$x$``$0.4) show that, even in the metallic state of the latter, the inhomogeneities in the local lattice structure still remain. This finding is probably related, not only with a small upturn in $`\kappa `$, but also to the low values of $`\kappa `$. On the other hand, the out-of-plane phonon conduction across the MnO double-layers is strongly disturbed from stacking fault-like scattering , of the layered structures. Phonon scattering due to stacking faults dominates thermal conduction along the $`c`$-axis, masks some contribution of the local lattice distortion associated with the insulator to metal transition and results in to the anisotropy of the thermal conductivity.

We discuss next, the normalized magnetothermal conductivity (NMTC) \[$`\kappa _{ab}`$ (H)/$`\kappa _{ab}`$ (0)\] of the Pr-substituted crystals at $`z`$=0.2 , $`z`$=0.4 and $`z`$=0.6 (Fig.4). The field was in the ab-plane and parallel to the direction of the heat current. Our data reveal several interesting features. First, a giant magnetothermal conductivity was observed in association with the occurrence of the CMR effect and the NMTC reached about 30%, up to 8T, for all samples in spite of a lower $`T_C`$. Here, it should be noted that $`\kappa _c(H)`$/ $`\kappa _c(0)`$ is almost negligible in contrast with a rapid enhancement of $`\kappa _{ab}`$ (H)/$`\kappa _{ab}`$ (0), which is consistent with the absence of anomalies observed in $`\kappa _c(T)`$ MA00 . Second, accompanying the field-induced first-order PI to FM transition of the insulating sample, z=0.6 , a clear hysteresis in the magnetothermal conductivity was observed. The remnant NMTC at 4.2K reached nearly the same value of $``$10% ,both in first and second scans, where, after the first scan, the sample was warmed up to high temperatures in order to demagnetize it. The value of NMTC of the $`z=0.6`$ sample exhibited a step-like behavior at 4.2 K, while it showed a smooth rise with increasing temperature. As previously pointed out, electronic contribution from the W-F law estimation using the CMR data reproduces neither an upturn in $`\kappa _{ab}`$ nor a giant thermal effect. Magnetostriction data around $`T_C`$ showed a volume shrinkage upon application of a magnetic field, up to 8T, as well as spontaneous striction ($``$0.1%) upon crossing $`T_C`$ KI98 ; MA02 . The negative magnetovolume effect indicates a suppression in local lattice disorder;the reduction in phonon scattering due to structural disorder leads to a giant magnetothermal effect in the same way as the upturn in $`\kappa `$ below $`T_C`$.

The normalized magnetothermal resistivity \[$`\kappa `$$`{}_{ab}{}^{}(M)`$/$`\kappa `$$`{}_{ab}{}^{}(0)`$\]-1 of our samples is plotted as a function of magnetization at selected temperatures in Fig.5 (a,b,c), where the insets in Figs.5 (a) , 5 (b) and 5 (c)represent $`M_{ab}`$-$`H`$ curves at the corresponding temperatures for the samples with $`z`$=0, 0.2 and 0.6 respectively. It is easily found that the value of the magnetothermal resistivity is scaled with a parabolic function of $`1A(M/M`$s)2 ,as pointed out for cubic manganites , by Cohn et al. CO97 . Here, $`M_s`$ is taken as the value of 3.6$`\mu `$B per Mn-sites. The coefficient $`A`$ depends on the value of $`z`$ and shows a monotonical decrease from 0.4 for $`z`$=0 down to 0.28 for $`z`$=0.6, as shown in Fig5.(d). This finding suggests a suppression of the lattice-spin coupling in thermal CMR due to Pr-substitution and can be explained as follows. The Pr-substitution had a strong effect on the magnetic anisotropies. The low-temperature magnetic anisotropy $`M_{ab}`$/$`M_c`$ in a field of 100mT reduced from $``$10 at $`z`$=0 to nearly 1 at $`z`$=0.2 and 0.4. For $`z`$=0.6, the easy axis of magnetization was along the $`c`$-axis. On the other hand, the lattice parameters vary with Pr-substitution in such a manner that the $`c`$-axis expands but the $`a(b)`$ axis shrinks (see Fig.5 (d)) which results in a change of $`e_g`$-electron character from planar $`3d_{x^2y^2}`$ to linear $`3d_{3z^2r^2}`$. Accordingly, such a variation of the $`e_g`$-electron character accompanies that of magnetic anisotropy, so that Pr-substitution probably suppresses indirectly the lattice-spin coupling in thermal CMR through a variation of spin alignment, strongly coupled with orbital states. In other words, a higher magnetothermal conduction favors the occurrence of the easy axis of magnetization lying in the $`ab`$-plane. It is an interesting feature that a change of $`e_g`$-electron character ,due to Pr-substitution, appears in giant magnetothermal effect involving heat carrying phonons.

Finally, we shall stress that at lower temperatures, far from $`T_C`$, a finite increase of $`\kappa _{ab}`$ ( $``$14% at 8T) for the $`z`$=0.2 crystal was observed. If we accept the above explanation, this finding indicates that phonon scattering due to local lattice disorder ( bond-length fluctuation) remains, even in the metallic state, which is consistent with the anisotropic D-W data of La2-2xSr1+2xMn2O7 (0.32$``$x$``$0.4) in the metallic state. Recently, Maezono et al. MAE02  pointed out that in manganite systems, the dynamic JT effect is more enhanced in the metallic region than in the insulating region because of strong electron correlations. Magnetothermal measurements ,at low temperatures , probe the lattice disorder not only in the insulating region but also in the metallic region as the D-W factor does. Furthermore, it is desirable to clarify the crucial role played by the dynamic local lattice distortion on phonon conduction ,not only in the insulating phase , but also in the metallic phase through magnetothermal measurements on high quality single crystal of the extremely doped bilayer compounds.

In summary, a systematic study of thermal conductivity as a function of temperature and magnetic field of single crystals of the compound (La1-zPrz)1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 for $`z`$(Pr) =0.2,0.4. and 0.6 was performed. The $`ab`$-plane phonon conduction of the Pr-substituted $`x=0.4`$ samples is disturbed by the dynamical lattice distortions associated with polaron hopping on Mn sites. On the other hands, the typical phonon behavior observed for the end member $`x`$=1 sample is probably attributed to a reduction of the inhomogeneities in the local lattice distortions strongly coupled with small polarons. The giant magnetothermal effect has been explained taking into account a systematic variation of the $`e_g`$-electron orbital states due to Pr-substitution.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors would like to thank Dr. H.Ogasawara for his technical support. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan.