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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

One of the first conceptions of entropy was proposed by C. Shannon in application to the theory of information transmission . Entropy in that context implies the measure of heterogeneity of a set of symbols. In mathematical form it can be written as

$$H=\underset{i}{}p_i\mathrm{log}p_i$$

where $`p_i`$ is probability of appearance of the $`i`$-th symbol. Then the notion of entropy spread in different fields of science: statistical mechanics, probability theory, computer science etc. Many new conceptions of entropy such as metric entropy, thermodynamic, topological, generalized, Kolmogorov-Sinai, structural spectral entropy have been proposed . But all of them pursues the single aim – description of uncertainty in a large set of objects.

One of the main directions in DNA investigations is search and elaboration of methods for robust structural properties of genome texts extraction. What allows to understand general principles of genetic sequences forming and makes reasonable conclusions in the evolution theories . It is not surprising that entropy and information notions find a wide application in DNA investigations . Indeed in some sense DNA is represented as a long sequence of symbols of the alphabet consisting of just four letters. Eventually letter analysis appears to be insufficient to explain DNA properties or structure. The analysis of letter groups or so called words seems more interesting. But due to exponential growth of the number of possible words of length $`n`$, when $`n`$ increases, it is considerably more difficult. As a rule in such investigations some additional suggestions as, for example, about an equidistribution of words , are taken. On the basis of ones the entropy estimation is performed . But in reality neither a word’s distribution nor even a distribution of letters are not equiprobable. It is essential point if we want to gain an information from and about real DNA. Moreover very often in the analysis short parts of a genome or chromosome have been used . Today available data and computer methods allow to investigate complete genomes and chromosomes. (For example the length of human 22 chromosome is 33476902 bp.) What allows to take the maximum likelihood estimation $`p_i=q_i/N`$ (where $`q_i`$ is the number of occurrences of the $`i`$th word in an investigated sample) as enough good approximation for the calculation of the entropy in Shannon’s sense. At least in such respect an investigated object is not replaced by any artificial set.

So we use the metric and topological definitions of entropy for DNA texts heterogeneity estimation. Some remarks about the possibility of a representation of a DNA sequence by a Markov chain for the calculation of the entropy estimate are also given.

## 2 Metric entropy

In Shannon’s definition of entropy given above $`p_i`$ may denote as the probability of a symbol as the probability of a group or a block of symbols. In other words Shannon’s formula can be rewritten as

$$H_n=\underset{i=1}{\overset{a^n}{}}p(C_i)\mathrm{log}p(C_i),$$

where $`C_i`$ is a block of symbols or ’word’ of length $`n`$, $`a`$ – the number of letters in a language and $`a^n`$ – the number of all possible combinations of length $`n`$ of the letters in the language. Obviously $`H_n`$ is non-decreasing function of $`n`$. The ratio $`H_n/n`$ tends to a certain limit when n goes to infinity  and this limit is called the metric entropy

$$H_{met}=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{H_n}{n}.$$

We have studied the dependence of $`h(n)H_n/n`$ for $`n[1,12]`$ for different DNA sequences.

We used the data of the bacteria and yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae complete genomes from GeneBank release No. 114.0  and data of 22 human complete chromosome from Sanger Centre .

As the first criterium of the texts heterogeneity let us consider C plus G content (C+G) of the DNA sequences. It has been obtained that all yeast chromosomes have % C+G close to $`38.42\pm 0.85`$. In the case of 20 complete bacteria genomes C+G content varies from 29% rickettsia prowazekii (rpxx) genome to 65.61% mycobacterium tuberculosis (mtub).

It have been obtained that for different DNA sequences reduction rate of $`h(n)`$ ($`\mathrm{\Delta }h(n)=h(n)h(n+1)`$) differs, moreover $`\mathrm{\Delta }h(n)^{hum}<\mathrm{\Delta }h(n)^{bact}<\mathrm{\Delta }h(n)^{yeast}`$. The values of $`h(n)`$ for yeast different chromosomes are more close each other than those for the bacteria genomes. The chromosome IV of yeast and mtub bacteria genome have minimal difference between $`h(1)`$ and $`h(12)`$. First yeast chromosome and mycoplasma pneumoniae (mpneu) bacteria genome have maximal difference between $`h(1)`$ and $`h(12)`$. Let us notice that the chromosome I is the shortest with maximum % C+G (its length is 230204 bp). The chromosome IV has minimal % C+G and it is the longest (its length is 1531930 bp). The value of $`h(1)`$ is maximal for the chromosome I and minimal for the chromosome IV and vice versa in case of $`h(12)`$. In Fig. 1 one can see $`h(n)`$ for I, IV, VI and XV yeast chromosomes.

The bacteria genomes with greater content C+G, contrary to the case of yeast, have minimal difference between the levels 1 and 12. The bacteria rpxx genome with the smallest value of % C+G (29%) has the smallest $`h(n)`$ up to $`n=5`$. Treponema pallidum (tpal) genome has maximal value of $`h(n)`$ for $`n[2,7]`$ but it does not hold for $`n>7`$. In Fig. 2 the graphs of $`h(n)`$ for different bacteria genomes: (rpxx, ecoli (escherichia coli K-12 MG1655), tpal, mtub, mpneu, mgen (mycoplasma genitalium G37)) are shown.

It was obtained also that genomes/chromosomes having approximately equal values of $`h(1)`$ and % C+G become fairly far from each other when the block’s length increases (see Fig. 3). What points on the genomes have distinct heterogeneity in the ’word’ context for different word’s length and this can not be found from only the letter analysis. It is possible to pick out three such sets from the envisaged sequences. The first one consists of the human 22 chromosome (% C+G 47.8; $`h(1)`$ 1.9986) and the genomes of bacteria: synechocystis PCC6803 (synecho) (% C+G 47.72; $`h(1)`$ 1.9985), archaeoglobus fulgidus (aful) (% C+G 48.58; $`h(1)1.9994`$). Haemophilus influenzae Rd (hinf) bacteria genome (% C+G 38.15; $`h(1)`$ 1.959) and XV (% C+G 38.16; $`h(1)`$ 1.9591) and XIII (%C+G 38.2; $`h(1)`$ 1.9594) yeast chromosomes form the second; the third set is presented by helicobacter pylori 26695 (hpyl) bacteria genome (% C+G 38.87; $`h(1)`$ 1.964), VI (% C+G 38.73; $`h(1)`$ 1.963) and IX (% C+G 38.9; $`h(1)`$ 1.9642) yeast chromosomes. The longer a sequence the slower $`h(n)`$ decreases. In some aspect this observation can has a simple explanation – the more length of a sequence the more chances to meet there different subsequences, in other words here the finite sample effect presents. But one can see that for $`n<6(7)`$ the values of $`h(n)`$ for some shorter sequences are greater than for longer ones. This fact can not be explained just statistically.

## 3 Topological entropy

The topological entropy is defined as

$$k(n)=\frac{\mathrm{log}_2N(n)}{n},$$

where $`N(n)`$ is the number of distinct blocks of length $`n`$ in a sequence under attention . We calculated $`k(n)`$ for $`n12`$.

It has been obtained that for $`n4`$ $`k(n)`$ is maximal and equal $`2`$ for all genomes/chromosomes, i.e. all possible $`n`$-letters’ combinations are present in even from the investigated DNA texts. On the fifth level just the shortest bacteria mgen genome (its length is 580074 bp) has no some words. On the 6 level a half of bacteria genomes and 7 yeast chromosomes have all possible words. (Let us notice they are not the longer.) On the 7 level all bacteria and yeast DNA sequences have no some words. From the 8 level no all words are present even in human 22 chromosome. Though the number of all possible words $`4^8=65536`$ is essentially less of any investigated sample. Further the $`n`$ increases the $`k(n)`$ decreases for all sequences. For yeast chromosomes reduction takes place monotonously according to the length, the shorter a chromosome the faster reduction. As for the bacteria genomes, although here reduction also almost follows to genome length change, it is not precisely (Fig. 4). Thus one can say that $`k(n)`$ strongly correlates with length of a sequence.

Due to check the finite size effect we generated artificial DNA sequences of the same size and with the same nucleotides fractions for human 22 chromosome, mgen \- the shortest bacteria genome, ecoli – the longest (4639221 bp) bacteria genome, mtub and tpal bacteria genomes as well as for the longest (IV) and the shortest (I) yeast chromosomes and compare the results obtained from the artificial and natural sequences.

Due to clarify the picture we have considered the differences of $`k(n)`$ and $`h(n)`$ for artificial and natural sequences: $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n^{top}=k(n)^{art}k(n)^{nat}`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n^{met}=h(n)^{art}h(n)^{nat}`$. Besides we have paid attention to the difference between $`k(n)^{nat}`$ and $`h(n)^{nat}`$ ($`\mathrm{\Delta }_n=k(n)^{nat}h(n)^{nat}`$). As it is easy to see the latter value reflects heterogeneity of elements’ distribution. If only some fraction of all possible elements is realized in an envisaged sequence and all of them are equally probable hence $`k(n)=h(n)`$.

As one can see the differences at beginning increase then achieve maximum value (in the interval  for the first and second cases and  for the third) and drop (Fig. 5, Fig. 6, Fig. 7). Characteristically that maximums of the first and second cases almost coincide, the third is shifted to the left on 1-3 positions. For the latter from envisaged $`n`$ values all differences are very small and close each other (except the human chromosome). This can be related just with the finite sample effect.

## 4 A DNA sequence and Markov processes

One of the first attempts of modelling DNA sequences and obtaining appropriate statistical characteristics based on the application of Markov processes . Under the term Markov process or Markov chain it is usually assumed the stochastic process where a state of a system depends on its previous state. It is so called one step Markov chain (a process with memory equal 1). In general case the memory (dependence) may be greater than 1 but necessarily finite. In the critical review  W. Li showed that a one step Markov chain does not characterize observed correlation functions of DNA sequences. We checked how considerable is supposition of Markovity for $`H_n`$ entropy estimation. It is essential point because for $`n>12`$ natural calculation (requiring $`4^n`$ values of $`p(C_i)`$) of $`H_n`$ becomes fairly difficult. At the same time if a process one can consider as a one step Markov chain, $`p(C_i)`$ can be represented as

$$p(C)=p_{i_1}p_{i_1i_2}p_{i_2i_3}p_{i_3i_4}\mathrm{}p_{i_{n1}i_n},$$

and for $`H_n`$ we have

$$H_n=\underset{i_1}{}\underset{i_2}{}\mathrm{}\underset{i_n}{}p_{i_1}p_{i_1i_2}\mathrm{}p_{i_{n1}i_n}\mathrm{log}[p_{i_1}p_{i_1i_2}\mathrm{}p_{i_{n1}i_n}].$$

Thus for calculation of $`H_n`$ for any $`n`$ we have to know only the transition probability matrix $`\{p_{ij}\}_{i,j=1}^a`$ and the letter distribution $`\{p_i\}_{i=1}^a`$ (in our case $`a=4`$). As it has been revealed the greater $`n`$ the greater divergence of the $`H_n`$ estimates obtained by the means of natural calculation and ones for the Markov process. The differences of this values for bacteria ecoli, mgen, mtub, tpal genomes, human 22 and yeast chromosomes IV and I for different $`n`$ are presented in Table 1.

So approximation DNA by the one step Markov process for $`H_n`$ entropy estimation when $`n>12`$ seems not to be quite correct. At first because of progressive increase of distinctions.

Let us note, for small $`n`$ for the bacteria genomes the differences are equal. For the sequences from distinct species the results differ even for small $`n`$. As one can see here the finite sample effect is also present.

## 5 Conclusion

The effect of finiteness of a sequence seems to be considerable for large $`n`$ in entropy estimation. In average as $`h(n)`$ as $`k(n)`$ reductions correlate with length of a sequence. For $`n`$ of order 11, 12 the differences of $`h(n)`$ and $`k(n)`$ very small (for yeast chromosomes and the bacteria genomes) as well as the distinctions of the natural and artificial sequences. For the human chromosome these distinctions are greater.

Reduction rate of $`h(n)`$ for different organisms differs. In general it is not follow to the length. Although for yeast chromosomes for $`n>8`$ exactly, the longer a sequence the greater $`h(n)`$. For all envisaged DNA sequences maximum of heterogeneity has been revealed in the interval of length $`n=`$. Maximum of distinction between natural and artificial sequences is shifted on 1-3 position from the maximum of heterogeneity to the right as for metric as for topological entropy. This also points on the specificity of natural DNA sequences in the interval $`n=`$.

One step Markov chain is not a good approximation for the metric entropy estimation. It is not the means to obtain a satisfactory estimate of $`H_n`$ when $`n>12`$.

Presented work confirms the fact of existence of the characteristic lengths set revealed by spectral methods . This can be related with the DNA texts segmentation. The work is also in accordance with the block organization principle of nucleic asids, that reflects the block-hierarchical mechanisms of evolution .

Possibly the investigation of a long genome (consisting of many chromosomes) as a single sequence allows to achieve greater accuracy in entropy estimation and reduce the finite sample effect.

FIGURES

Fig. 1 In this figure one can see $`H_n/n`$ versus $`n`$ for I, IV, VI and XV yeast chromosomes.

Fig. 2 In this figure one can see $`H_n/n`$ versus $`n`$ for rpxx, ecoli, tpal, mtub, mpneu, mgen bacteria genomes.

Fig. 3 In this figure one can see $`H_n/n`$ versus $`n`$ for human 22 chromosome, genomes of bacteria: synecho, aful, hinf, hpyl and XV, XIII, VI, IX yeast chromosomes.

Fig. 4 In this figure one can see $`K_n`$ versus $`n`$ for human 22 chromosome, genomes of bacteria: ecoli, mgen, mtub, tpal and IV, I yeast chromosomes.

Fig. 5 In this figure one can see $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n`$ (denoted D), $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n^{met}`$ (denoted Dm) and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n^{top}`$ (denoted Dt) versus $`n`$ for bacteria ecoli, mgen, mtub genomes.

Fig. 6 In this figure one can see $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n`$ (denoted D), $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n^{met}`$ (denoted Dm) and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n^{top}`$ (denoted Dt) versus $`n`$ for yeast chromosomes I and IV.

Fig. 7 In this figure one can see $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n`$ (denoted D), $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n^{met}`$ (denoted Dm) and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_n^{top}`$ (denoted Dt) versus $`n`$ for human 22 chromosome.


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# Quantum Distribution of Gaussian Keys with Squeezed States

## Abstract

A continuous key distribution scheme is proposed that relies on a pair of canonically conjugate quantum variables. It allows two remote parties to share a secret Gaussian key by encoding it into one of the two quadrature components of a single-mode electromagnetic field. The resulting quantum cryptographic information vs disturbance tradeoff is investigated for an individual attack based on the optimal continuous cloning machine. It is shown that the information gained by the eavesdropper then simply equals the information lost by the receiver.

PACS numbers: 03.67.Dd, 03.65.Bz, 42.50.-p, 89.70.+c

Quantum cryptography—or, more precisely, quantum key distribution—is a technique that allows two remote parties to share a secret chain of random bits (a secret key) that can be used for exchanging encrypted information . The security of this process fundamentally relies on the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, or on the fact that any measurement of incompatible variables inevitably affects the state of a quantum system. Any leak of information to an eavesdropper necessarily induces a disturbance of the system, which is, in principle, detectable by the authorized receiver.

In most quantum cryptosystems proposed so far, a single photon (or, in practice, a weak coherent state with an average photon number lower than one) is used to carry each bit of the key. Mathematically, the security is based on the use of a pair of non-commuting observables such as the $`x`$\- and $`z`$-projections of a spin-1/2 particle, $`\sigma _x`$ and $`\sigma _z`$, whose eigenstates are used to encode the key. The sender (Alice) randomly chooses to encode the key using either $`\sigma _z`$ (0 is encoded as $`|`$ and 1 as $`|`$) or $`\sigma _x`$ (0 is encoded as $`2^{1/2}(|+|)`$ and 1 as $`2^{1/2}(||)`$), the choice of the basis being disclosed only after the receiver (Bob) has measured the photon. This guarantees that an eavesdropper (Eve) cannot read the key without corrupting the transmission. Such a procedure, known as BB84 , is at the heart of most of the quantum cryptographic schemes that have been experimentally demonstrated in the past few years, which are based either on the polarization (e. g. ) or the optical phase (e. g. ) of single photons. An alternative scheme, realized experimentally only a year ago , can also be used based on a pair of polarization-entangled photons instead of single photons . It is, however, fundamentally equivalent to BB84 (see ) and it again relies on the algebra of spin-1/2 particles.

Recently, it has been shown that another protocol for quantum key distribution can be devised based on continuous variables, where squeezed coherent light modes are used to carry the key. In these techniques, one exploits a pair of (continuous) canonical variables such as the two quadratures $`X_1`$ and $`X_2`$ of the amplitude of a mode of the electromagnetic field, which behave just as position and momentum. The uncertainty relation $`\mathrm{\Delta }X_1\mathrm{\Delta }X_21/4`$ then implies than Eve cannot read both quadrature components without degrading the state. Even though the experimental preparation of squeezed states is a difficult task, these schemes circumvent a main weakness of the above-mentioned cryptosystems that is the critical dependence of their security on the ability of preparing single-photon states.

In this paper, we propose an alternative squeezed-state quantum cryptographic scheme, which provides a means to distribute a continuous secret key. The goal of our protocol is to have Alice and Bob sharing a continuous key that consists of a random list of Gaussian-distributed variables that cannot be known to Eve. Thus, in this scenario, both the key and the quantum variable that carries it are continuous. This is in contrast with the schemes proposed in Ref. , which appear hybrid as a continuous quantum variable was used to carry a discrete key element (the shared key was made of bits, or, in general, discrete variables). Instead, our approach can be viewed as an all-continuous quantum cryptographic scheme, which is the proper continuous extension of the BB84 scheme. First, from a theoretical perspective, this provides a more satisfying continuous treatment of quantum key distribution. Remarkably, the tradeoff between Eve’s information gain and the disturbance at Bob’s station can be expressed in an unexpectedly simple way (if we restrict ourselves to an individual attack based on the optimal continuous cloning machine): the information gained by Eve on one quadrature is at most equal to the information lost by Bob on the other quadrature. This results in a simple information-theoretic measure of the disturbance, namely the defect of information at Bob’s station. Moreover, this all-continuous scheme avoids a potential attack against the scheme proposed in Ref.  by filling in the gaps between the values used to encode the discrete key values (this will be explained later on).

Let us now detail our protocol. The uncertainty relation implies that it is impossible to measure with full accuracy both quadratures of a single mode, $`X_1`$ and $`X_2`$. Alice exploits this property by encoding the key elements (random Gaussian samples) as a quadrature squeezed state either in $`X_1`$ or in $`X_2`$, in such a way that an eavesdropper ignoring which of these two “bases” is used cannot acquire information without disturbing the state. In basis 1, Alice prepares a squeezed vacuum state such that the fluctuations of $`X_1`$ are squeezed ($`\mathrm{\Delta }X_1^2=\sigma _1^2<1/4`$), and then applies a displacement of $`X_1`$ by an amount equal to the value of the Gaussian key ($`X_1=x`$, where $`x`$ is the encoded key element). The quantity $`\sigma _1^2`$ refers here to the intrinsic variance of $`X_1`$ in the squeezed state; the corresponding squeeze parameter is $`r_1=\mathrm{ln}(2\sigma _1)`$. We denote by $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1^2`$ the variance of this Gaussian key, so the mean value $`X_1`$ is itself distributed as a Gaussian of mean 0 and variance $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1^2`$. Conversely, in basis 2, Alice sends a squeezed state in $`X_2`$ ($`\mathrm{\Delta }X_2^2=\sigma _2^2<1/4`$), whose displacement encodes the Gaussian key ($`X_2=x`$). Again, $`X_2`$ has a Gaussian profile with mean 0 and variance $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2^2`$, while the squeeze parameter in mode 2 is $`r_2=\mathrm{ln}(2\sigma _2)`$. Thus, in both basis, Alice encodes the key into a displaced vacuum squeezed state, the squeezing (by $`r`$) and displacement (by $`x`$) being applied at random on $`X_1`$ or $`X_2`$.

Now, for the cryptographic setup to be secure, we require the statistical distribution of the $`X_1`$ measurement outcomes to be indistinguishable whether basis 1 or 2 is used by Alice. If this condition is fulfilled, Eve cannot obtain any indication on whether she is measuring a type 1 or type 2 squeezed state, whatever the statistics she accumulates. If basis 1 is used, the outcomes of $`X_1`$ measurements (that can be obtained in practice by homodyne detection) are distributed as a Gaussian of variance $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1^2+\sigma _1^2`$ since each squeezed state gives an extra contribution of $`\sigma _1^2`$ to the variance. If, on the contrary, a type 2 squeezed state is measured, then the outcomes of $`X_1`$ measurements exhibit a Gaussian distribution of variance $`1/(16\sigma _2^2)`$ as a result of the uncertainty principle. Thus, we impose the condition

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }_1^2+\sigma _1^2=1/(16\sigma _2^2)$$
(1)
Similarly, the requirement that type 1 and 2 squeezed states are indistinguishable when performing $`X_2`$ measurements implies that $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_2^2+\sigma _2^2=1/(16\sigma _1^2)`$. These two relations can be summarized as

$$1+\mathrm{\Sigma }_1^2/\sigma _1^2=1+\mathrm{\Sigma }_2^2/\sigma _2^2=1/\alpha ^2$$
(2)
where $`\alpha =4\sigma _1\sigma _2=e^{(r_1+r_2)}`$ is a (positive) dimensionless constant which must satisfy $`\alpha 1`$ (or $`\sigma _1\sigma _21/4`$) for Eq. (2) to be consistent. More generally, these two conditions guarantee that the density matrices of the encoded key elements are the same in bases 1 and 2, making them indistinguishable. Thus, choosing the squeeze parameters $`r_1`$ and $`r_2`$ is sufficient to completely characterize the protocol.

Let us now analyze the transmission of the Gaussian key elements in the case where there is no eavesdropper and the transmission is perfect. We first need to recall some standard notions of Shannon theory concerning the treatment of continuous transmission channels. Consider a discrete-time continuous channel which adds a Gaussian noise of variance $`\sigma ^2`$ on each signal. If the input $`x`$ of the channel is a Gaussian signal of variance $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^2`$, the uncertainty on $`x`$ can be measured by the differential Shannon entropy $`h(x)=2^1\mathrm{log}_2(2\pi \mathrm{e}\mathrm{\Sigma }^2)`$ bits. Conditionally on $`x`$, the output $`y`$ is distributed as a Gaussian of variance $`\sigma ^2`$, so that the entropy of $`y`$ conditionally on $`x`$ becomes $`h(y|x)=2^1\mathrm{log}_2(2\pi \mathrm{e}\sigma ^2)`$ bits. Now, the distribution of $`y`$ is given by the convolution of these two Gaussians, i. e., a Gaussian of variance $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^2+\sigma ^2`$. Hence, the output entropy is $`h(y)=2^1\mathrm{log}_2(2\pi \mathrm{e}(\mathrm{\Sigma }^2+\sigma ^2))`$ bits. According to Shannon theory, the information that is processed through this noisy channel can be expressed as the mutual information between $`x`$ and $`y`$ (the amount by which the uncertainty on $`y`$ is reduced by knowing $`x`$):

$$I(\mathrm{bits})=h(y)h(y|x)=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{log}_2\left(1+\gamma \right)$$
(3)
where $`\gamma =\mathrm{\Sigma }^2/\sigma ^2`$ can be viewed as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This is Shannon’s famous formula for the capacity of a Gaussian additive noise channel. Here, the signal variance (or power) is simply $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^2`$, while the noise variance is $`\sigma ^2`$. This capacity measures the number of bits that can be transmitted asymptotically (using block coding) per use of the channel, with an arbitrary high fidelity for a given SNR. It can be shown to be attainable if the signal is Gaussian distributed (which is the case under consideration here).

Coming back to our cryptographic setup, consider the situation (with no eavesdropping) where Bob performs a measurement in the good basis after the latter is publicly announced by Alice. (It is equivalent to the more realistic procedure where Bob measures the key in a random basis, but then discards the bad outcomes after the basis is disclosed by Alice.) The SNR in basis 1 is simply $`\gamma _1=\mathrm{\Sigma }_1^2/\sigma _1^2`$, while it is $`\gamma _2=\mathrm{\Sigma }_2^2/\sigma _2^2`$ in basis 2. Using this notation, Eq. (2) becomes $`1+\gamma _1=1+\gamma _2=1/\alpha ^2`$, so that we must have the same SNR in both basis, $`\gamma =e^{2(r_1+r_2)}1`$. This means that the processed information is also the same in both bases, and can be expressed, using Eq. (3), as

$$I_0(\mathrm{bits})=\mathrm{log}_2(\alpha )=(r_1+r_2)/\mathrm{ln}(2)$$
(4)
Thus, our continuous quantum cryptographic technique can be essentially characterized by a single dimensionless constant $`\alpha `$ (the product of the $`X_1`$ noise of type-1 squeezed states times the $`X_2`$ noise of type-2 squeezed states). It works provided that $`\alpha 1`$, as a finite amount of information is then processed from Alice to Bob. Note that $`I_0`$ (expressed in natural units—nats—rather than in bits) is simply equal to the sum of the squeeze parameters in bases 1 and 2, which reflects that the processed information is zero in the absence of squeezing, and grows linearly with squeezing in bases 1 and 2. For example, if $`\sigma _1^2=\sigma _2^2=1/8`$, i. e., if we have a squeeze factor $`e^r=\sqrt{2}`$ in each basis, then $`\alpha =1/2`$, so we can process one bit on average per use of the channel. This corresponds to $`\gamma =3`$ in both bases. More generally, we see that the processed information in the absence of eavesdropping increases as $`\alpha `$ gets smaller. In some sense, the more we violate a pseudo-uncertainty relation $`\sigma _1\sigma _21/4`$, the larger this information gets. Remember that $`\sigma _1`$ and $`\sigma _2`$ are standard deviations of $`X_1`$ and $`X_2`$ measurements on type 1 and 2 states, respectively. If they referred to $`X_1`$ and $`X_2`$ measurements on a same state, then the above uncertainty relation would apply, and Eq. (2) could not be satisfied (except for the useless case $`\alpha =1`$).

The average photon number contained in each encoded key state clearly increases with the widening of the displacement ($`\mathrm{\Sigma }^2`$) needed to represent Alice’s key values for a given SNR. It also increases as squeezing increases, but then the displacement distribution can be narrowed to achieve a same SNR. Let us determine the relative contribution of these two effects focusing on one basis, and assuming for simplicity that $`\sigma _1=\sigma _2=\sigma `$ so that the same squeezing is applied on both quadratures. In this case, Eq. (2) implies that $`\sigma ^2=\frac{1}{4}e^{2r}`$, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^2=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{sinh}(2r)`$, and $`1+\gamma =e^{4r}`$. For a given encoded key state (with a squeeze parameter $`r`$ and displacement $`x`$, where $`x`$ is the key value Alice wishes to transmit), the mean photon number can be written as $`N=x^2+\mathrm{sinh}^2r`$, where the first term reflects the displacement effect while the second characterizes vacuum squeezing. For a given SNR $`\gamma `$ (or a given squeezing parameter $`r`$), we obtain the average number of photons over all possible values $`x`$ sent by Alice (distributed as a Gaussian of mean 0 and variance $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^2`$), $`N=\mathrm{\Sigma }^2+\mathrm{sinh}^2r`$. Using the relation between $`\gamma `$ and $`r`$, this gives for the average number of photons per key pulse:

$$N=\frac{1\alpha }{2\alpha }=\frac{e^{2r}1}{2}=\frac{(1+\gamma )^{1/2}1}{2}$$
(5)
Equivalently, the processed information can be expressed as a function of the average photon number,

$$I_0(\mathrm{bits})=\mathrm{log}_2(2N+1)$$
(6)
implying that the photon number must increase exponentially with the processed information.

We shall now investigate the tradeoff between the information acquired by Bob and Eve in this continuous cryptographic protocol. First, we should emphasize that, even in the absence of eavesdropping, the key elements received by Bob are not exactly equal to those sent by Alice. This is in contrast with BB84, and is simply due to the fact that the noise due to the intrinsic fluctuations of the squeezed states always adds to the signal, giving rise to a finite SNR. This already holds at Alice’s station, regardless the (possibly tapped) channel. So, an eavesdropper will be visible in this scheme by an enhanced noise variance (or a reduced SNR) at Bob’s station. A protocol that Alice can follow to detect any eavesdropping can be to disclose, on a public channel, the exact values $`x`$ of a random subset of key elements. Then, Bob compares them to the received values $`y`$ and computes the distribution of the differences $`yx`$. For a perfect and untapped channel, it should be a Gaussian of variance $`\sigma ^2`$, so the SNR is unchanged. Otherwise, the SNR decreases by an amount that can be viewed as a measure of the disturbance of the Alice-to-Bob channel. Assume, for example, that Eve uses an individual “intercept-and-resend” attack, measuring each key element in basis 1 or 2, at random, and resending a squeezed state centered on the value of the measured quadrature. The variance at Bob’s station is $`2\sigma ^2`$ (twice the intrinsic variance!) if Eve used the good basis, or $`1/(16\sigma ^2)`$ in the opposite case, so the resulting noise variance is $`\sigma ^2[1+1/(2\alpha ^2)]`$. Thus Bob’s computed SNR is reduced by a factor $`2/(3+\gamma )`$.

Let us now make the assumption that the optimal individual eavesdropping strategy for Eve consists in using the optimal (Gaussian) cloning machine for continuous quantum variables. This is a very sensible conjecture as the phase-covariant qubit cloner is known to be the best individual eavesdropping strategy for BB84 (actually, the universal qubit cloner is optimal for the related six-state quantum cryptographic protocol). We consider an attack where Eve makes two imperfect copies of the key element, and sends one of them to Bob while she keeps the other one. Bob and Eve both wait until Alice reveals the basis she used for encoding the key before measuring the received state in the appropriate basis (again, this is equivalent to Bob measuring in a random basis and then discarding the bad measurements after the basis disclosure). To analyze the information-theoretic balance between Bob and Eve, we use a general class of asymmetric Gaussian cloners defined in Ref.  that result in a different amount of noise on both quadratures and for Bob and Eve. It is proven in Ref.  that the inequality

$$\sigma _{1,B}^2\sigma _{2,E}^21/16$$
(7)
must hold (and is saturated for this class of cloners), where $`\sigma _{1,B}^2`$ and $`\sigma _{2,E}^2`$ are the variances of the errors that affect Bob’s $`X_1`$ measurements and Eve’s $`X_2`$ measurements, respectively. For example, if basis 1 is used, then the outcomes of $`X_1`$ measurements on Bob’s side will be distributed as a Gaussian of variance $`\sigma _1^2+\sigma _{1,B}^2`$ since cloning-induced errors are superimposed on the intrinsic fluctuations of the squeezed states. Similarly, a second no-cloning uncertainty relation holds, connecting Bob’s errors on $`X_2`$ and Eve’s errors on $`X_1`$: $`\sigma _{2,B}^2\sigma _{1,E}^21/16`$. Let us now characterize the cloners that saturate these inequalities by two parameters $`\chi `$ and $`\gamma `$: we rewrite the error variances on Bob’s side as $`\sigma _{1,B}^2=\chi \gamma (\sigma _1^2/\alpha )`$ and $`\sigma _{2,B}^2=\chi \gamma ^1(\sigma _2^2/\alpha )`$, while the errors on Eve’s side are written as $`\sigma _{1,E}^2=\chi ^1\gamma (\sigma _1^2/\alpha )`$ and $`\sigma _{2,E}^2=\chi ^1\gamma ^1(\sigma _1^2/\alpha )`$. Thus, $`\chi `$ characterizes the balance between Bob’s and Eve’s errors as $`\sigma _{1,B}/\sigma _{1,E}=\sigma _{2,B}/\sigma _{2,E}=\chi `$. The limit $`\chi 0`$ corresponds to the case where Bob has a negligible cloning-induced additional error on his measured quadratures, so he gets the entire information $`I_0`$ (Eve does not get any information). The case $`\chi =1`$ represents a symmetric situation where the errors induced by cloning are the same for Bob and Eve. Of course, the limit $`\chi \mathrm{}`$ is the opposite situation where Eve gets most of the information with no error. Similarly, $`\gamma `$ describes the quadrature 1 vs 2 balance, that is, $`\sigma _{1,B}/\sigma _{2,B}=\sigma _{1,E}/\sigma _{2,E}=\gamma (\sigma _1/\sigma _2)`$.

Now, we need to express the information processed from Alice to Bob (or from Alice to Eve) in basis 1 (or basis 2). In basis 1, the variance of Bob’s measurement outcomes is $`\sigma _1^2+\sigma _{1,B}^2=(1+\chi \gamma /\alpha )\sigma _1^2`$, while the distribution of the key elements has a variance $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_1^2`$. Using Shannon’s formula, Eq. (3), and the identity $`1+\mathrm{\Sigma }_1^2/\sigma _1^2=1/\alpha ^2`$, we obtain the information processed from Alice to Bob in basis 1:

$$I_{1,B}=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{log}_2\left(\frac{1+\alpha \chi \gamma }{\alpha ^2+\alpha \chi \gamma }\right)$$
(8)
Similarly, using the variance of Eve’s outcomes in basis 2, $`\sigma _2^2+\sigma _{2,E}^2=[1+1/(\chi \gamma \alpha )]\sigma _2^2`$, an analogous calculation yields for Eve’s information in basis 2

$$I_{2,E}=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{log}_2\left(\frac{1+\alpha /(\chi \gamma )}{\alpha ^2+\alpha /(\chi \gamma )}\right)$$
(9)
Finally, the balance between Bob’s and Eve’s information can be expressed by calculating the sum of equations (8) and (9):

$$I_{1,B}+I_{2,E}=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{log}_2(1/\alpha ^2)=I_0$$
(10)
Remarkably, it appears that the information acquired by Eve on the second quadrature, $`I_{2,E}`$, is exactly counterbalanced by the defect of information at Bob’s side on the first quadrature, $`I_0I_{1,B}`$. Of course, the counterpart of Eq. (10) also holds when interchanging the bases, that is, $`I_{2,B}+I_{1,E}=I_0`$.

Thus, assuming that the use of the continuous cloner is the best possible individual attack against our continuous cryptographic protocol, Bob’s information loss can be viewed as a proper disturbance measure as it simply is an upper bound on the information that might potentially have been gained by an eavesdropper. Consequently, the net amount of key bits that can be generated by this method is bounded by $`I_BI_E=I_02I_E`$. This follows from  where it is proven that the secret key rate of $`A`$ and $`B`$ with respect to $`E`$ is lower bounded by the difference of mutual information $`I(A;B)I(A;E)`$. Even though $`A`$, $`B`$ and $`E`$ here denote continuous variables, we can use this result provided that the generated key and the exchanged reconciliation messages are discrete as required in . Our continuous variables $`A`$, $`B`$ and $`E`$ only appear at the right of the conditional bar in entropy formulas, so they can be approximated by discrete numbers (that is, they can be replaced by an integer such as $`nA`$, approximating the real variable $`A`$). As $`n`$ grows, it will soon be close to the real variable with a precision far beyond what is needed given the noise level. Thus, we conclude that our protocol can only work provided that $`I_E<I_0/2`$, that is, iff $`\chi <1`$. Stated otherwise, the quality of the signals measured by Alice and Bob must be bounded by $`I_B>I_0/2`$, or in terms of signal-to-noise ratios $`\gamma ^{}>\sqrt{1+\gamma }1`$, where $`\gamma ^{}`$ is the SNR measured by Bob. This means that a 1-bit channel ($`\gamma =3`$) may still be used if the noise power is almost tripled ($`\gamma ^{}>1`$). In summary, the procedure we propose here consists in the quantum distribution of a (real) Gaussian key, followed by a discretization procedure so as to apply some (discrete) reconciliation and privacy amplification protocol. Such a strategy avoids a weakness of the squeezed-state cryptosystems as presented in Refs. . There, the key is binary (or belong to a larger finite alphabet), so there are always gaps between the discrete key values. This allows Eve to gain knowledge about the occurrences where she measured the wrong quadrature (without getting the key value). This knowledge alone is sufficient for her to attack this key distribution scheme simply by omitting to resend the corresponding key elements to Bob, thereby faking a small attenuation in the transmission. This limitation does not apply to our scheme since the continuous key values fill in an entire region in the $`(X_1,X_2)`$ phase space.

In conclusion, an all-continuous quantum cryptographic protocol was proposed that is based on single-mode squeezed states of the electromagnetic field. It exploits the uncertainty relation between the conjugate pair of quadrature components $`X_1`$ and $`X_2`$ by encoding a continuous Gaussian-distributed key into either $`X_1`$\- or $`X_2`$-squeezed states, thereby allowing a continuous key distribution between two remote parties. It is shown that the information acquired by an eavesdropper on the key elements encoded in $`X_1`$ is compensated by a reduction (by a same amount) of the key information available on the $`X_2`$ amplitude at the receiver’s station. This information-theoretic tradeoff characterizes the worst-case individual attack based on the cloning machine, so we conclude that the loss of information at the receiver’s end is a good upper bound on the tapped information. A realization of this continuous protocol based on squeezed states would be very challenging, as the generation of squeezed light has been a difficult experimental target for years. Also, it would require synchronized local oscillators at Alice’s and Bob’s stations, in order for them to have a common phase for homodyne detecting the amplitudes $`X_1`$ and $`X_2`$. In addition, probably the main limitation in the implementation of this protocol is related to the loss of squeezing effected by attenuation in the transmission medium. This would dramatically decrease the SNR, and make the protocol less efficient (or insecure). In analogy with what is known for BB84, there probably is a threshold on the squeeze parameter that Alice should reach, below which the protocol would fail. Nevertheless, it should be stressed that the cryptographic protocol proposed here was analyzed using the conjugate pair $`X_1`$ and $`X_2`$, but other complementary variables might be exploited as well. In particular, one could possibly imagine a continuous cryptographic scheme based on the time-frequency complementarity, where ultra-short single-photon pulses, or, alternatively, single-photon pulses that are highly resolved in frequency would be used in order to encode the Gaussian key. Such a scheme might possibly avoid some of the weaknesses of the squeezed state protocol, and be more appropriate for an experimental realization.

We are grateful to Jonathan Dowling, Nicolas Gisin, Serge Massar, and Hugo Zbinden for helpful discussions. G. V. A. acknowledges support from the Banque Nationale de Belgique.


text:
# First UVES observations of beryllium in very metal-poor starsBased on public data released from the UVES Commissioning at the VLT/Kueyen telescope, European Southern Observatory, Paranal, Chile

## 1 Introduction

The rare light elements (Li, Be, and B) are probes of the early universe, Galactic evolution, and stellar structure. Beryllium has a special place in the general scheme of nucleosynthesis, being the lightest stable nuclide not synthesized in the Big Bang. Together with $`{}_{}{}^{6}\mathrm{Li}_{}^{}`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{10}\mathrm{B}_{}^{}`$, it is considered a pure product of cosmic-ray (CR) spallation nucleosynthesis, being generated only by the bombardment of $`{}_{}{}^{13}\mathrm{C}_{}^{}`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{16}\mathrm{O}_{}^{}`$ by protons and $`\alpha `$-particles (Reeves et al. reeves70 (1970); Meneguzzi et al. meneg71 (1971)). This unique origin has made it a particularly useful monitor of time-integrated factors of Galactic evolution such as the product of particle fluxes and abundance of targets, since its production during the Galactic epoch appears to be limited to the interstellar medium (ISM). Recent studies of Be in halo stars (e.g. Molaro et al. pm97 (1997), Boesgaard et al. bk99 (1999)) have suggested that the nucleosynthesis processes responsible for its formation may be more complex than previously supposed; the linearity observed in the trend \[Be/H\] vs. \[Fe/H\]111 \[A/H\]=log(A/H)/log(A/H) cannot be easily reproduced by spallation reactions between $`\alpha `$-particles and protons hitting CNO in the ISM. Hence, the study of the evolution of Be in the Galaxy is an important constraint of Galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) theory. The above–mentioned linearity, in fact, seems to support the idea that Type II supernovae (SN) accelerate freshly synthesized C and O and subsequently fragment into Be and B (Vangioni-Flam et al. vf98 (1998)). New data, especially at low metallicities (below \[Fe/H\] = $``$3.0), are essential to distinguish between different hypotheses, like, for instance, the mass interval of the SN progenitor.

Although this linearity strongly suggests a Galactic origin for Be, some inhomogeneous Big Bang Nucleosynthesis models (IBBN) have shown to be able to produce beryllium abundances as high as log (Be/H) = $``$13.00 (Kajino & Boyd kajino90 (1990); cf Orito et al. orito97 (1997) for a more recent review), i.e. potentially observable in very metal-deficient stars. Such Big Bang component may appear as a constant Be-plateau, independent of metallicity, similar to what is found for lithium (cf Spite & Spite sspite1 (1982)), but beryllium has been analyzed in one star only (BD $``$133442) at \[Fe/H\]$``$3.0 (Boesgaard et al. bk99 (1999)). Thus, this hypothesis has not been fully discarded yet.

Here, we report on our very recent attempt of measuring beryllium in two of the most metal-poor stars ever observed in the spectral region near the atmospheric cut-off, where the Be lines fall (around 3130 Å). These two new measurements will be compared to the current observational picture and we will show that this type of observations and measurements are now well within reach of UVES at VLT.

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

Despite of the fact that the first attempt of measuring beryllium in halo stars dates back to more than fifteen years ago (cf Molaro & Beckman mb84 (1984)), only in the past few years have technological improvements allowed us to obtain high resolution and high signal-to-noise (S/N) ratios to analyze the Be resonance doublet features in the near-UV.

The combination of atmospheric extinction, line crowding, and weakness of the Be ii lines as lower metallicity stars are probed have made spectroscopic observations of beryllium very challenging when efficient near-UV detectors coupled to high-resolution spectrographs were not available. The first remarkable improvement in this respect (compared to the 4m class telescopes and instruments used at the beginning of the first extensive analyses of beryllium in metal-poor stars) is represented by the 10m Keck I telescope equipped with HIRES (Vogt et al. vogt94 (1994)), that permitted the determination of the Be abundances to a much higher accuracy than ever done before. BD $``$133442, the most metal-poor star (\[Fe/H\] = $``$3.0) for which a Be detection has been claimed (Boesgaard et al. bk99 (1999)) is a V=10.3 star, which required 11 hours of integration time with HIRES at Keck I in order to reach a S/N$``$130 at 3130 Å.

The high-resolution Ultraviolet and Visible Echelle Spectrograph, designed and built at the European Southern Observatory, and that has now been mounted at one of the two Nasmyth foci of the second VLT 8m telescope (Kueyen), represents the most recent instrumental achievement related to this specific field of research. The first Commissioning period of UVES took place between September 27 and October 17, 1999, and all the scientific data have now become publicly available to the ESO community. The near-UV spectral region was observed in two very metal-deficient objects, LP 815–43 and CD$``$24°17504 (\[Fe/H\] = $``$3.05 and $``$3.55 respectively, as found in the literature). The log of the observations and the spectra analyzed in this study are summarized in Table 1.

Standard tasks of the Echelle reduction package in IRAF were applied to both sets of spectra. The first step included order definition, subtraction of bias and background between the orders, and flat-fielding. Because of the extreme weakness of the Be lines, we further checked the spectral region of the Be ii resonance doublet in the non-flatfielded spectra, which confirmed the same shape of the lines and eliminated the possibility that spurious effects might had been introduced during the flat-fielding process. Subsequently, the orders were extracted and wavelength calibrated. This calibration achieved an rms deviation for a 2-dimensional 3rd order fit between pixel and wavelength space of 0.0016 Å. The orders were then normalized to a continuum of 1, via a fitting procedure (continuum task) with a spline of the 5th order.

The resolution in the near-UV, as measured from the Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) of the Th lines, is 48 000 and 40 000 (for the 2 sets of LP 815–43 spectra, which were taken with different slit widths), and 40 000 for the CD$``$24°17504 star.

All the spectra were then registered for radial velocity shifts and combined via a weighted sum (weighted by the inverse of the S/N squared of each spectrum). In the case of LP 815–43, because of the above–mentioned difference in spectral resolution (see Table 1), the highest resolution spectrum was degraded to the resolution of the second set of data by convolving it with a Gaussian function, before summing the spectra. Fig. 1 shows the beryllium spectral region in both stars and Fig. 2 shows the Li 6708 Å feature in CD$``$24°17504, at the end of the reduction procedure.

## 3 Stellar Parameters

Neither star has been widely studied in the literature. Ryan et al. (ryan91 (1991), ryan99 (1999)) performed an extensive chemical abundance analysis and derived the following stellar parameters: $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = $`6340\pm 30`$ $`\mathrm{K}`$ (an average value of several colour-temperature calibrations), $`\mathrm{log}g`$ = 4.0 dex (based on the ionization balance of Fe i and Fe ii lines), \[Fe/H\] = $``$3.05 dex (assuming $`\mathrm{log}ϵ`$(Fe) = 7.50), $`\xi `$ = 2.0 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for LP 815–43, and $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = $`6070\pm 20`$ $`\mathrm{K}`$, $`\mathrm{log}g`$ = 4.0 dex (which in this case was assumed), \[Fe/H\] = $``$3.55 dex, $`\xi `$ = 1.5 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for CD$``$24°17504. From the fitting of the H$`\alpha `$ wings, Spite et al. (sspite3 (1996)) determined $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = 6300 $`\mathrm{K}`$ for both objects.

In order to finalize our choice of stellar parameters, we decided to take advantage of the colour information available from Ryan et al. (ryan99 (1999); cf Table 2, this work). We used both Carney (car83 (1983)) and King (king93 (1993)) $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ vs. (b-y) calibrations, and derived respectively $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = 6501.52 $`\mathrm{K}`$ and 6527.34 $`\mathrm{K}`$ in the case of LP 815–43 and $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = 6187.46 $`\mathrm{K}`$ and 6287.31 $`\mathrm{K}`$ for CD$``$24°17504. We note that both stars have recent (unpublished) JHK photometry, to which a direct application of the InfraRed Flux Method (IRFM) provides $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = 6557 $`\mathrm{K}`$ for LP 815–43 and $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = 6373 $`\mathrm{K}`$ for CD$``$24°17504 (Alonso, private communication).

As far as the gravity is concerned, we initially assumed $`\mathrm{log}g`$ = 4.0, as suggested by Ryan and collaborators. From a quick inspection of the position of our targets in the evolutionary diagram c1 vs (b-y) (which gives information on the evolutionary status of the object) compared to the Schuster & Nissen (sn89 (1989)) loci used as reference, we found that gravities lower than 4.0 could be excluded (the stars fall very close to the turn-off, if not still on the main sequence). A cross-check with the isochrones of Bergbusch & Vandenberg (bvdb92 (1992)) and Vandenberg & Bell (vbb85 (1985)) provided consistent information: gravities slightly higher than 4.0 (4.35 and 4.45 respectively) were derived when an age of 14 Gyr (although no difference was detected between 12, 14, and 16 Gyr) and the most metal-poor isochrone (which corresponds to \[Fe/H\] = $``$2.26) are assumed. These gravity values correspond to $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = 6560 K (LP 815–43) and $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = 6300 K (CD$``$24°17504). Because beryllium is strongly dependent on the choice of gravity, we decided to further check $`\mathrm{log}g`$ via the ionization balance. For this purpose, several lines of both titanium and iron in two different ionization stages (neutral and ionized) were selected between 3100 and 3800 Å. Their oscillator strengths were taken from the latest works of Martin et al. (martin88 (1988)) and Fuhr et al. (fuhr88 (1988)), and in the case of neutral iron were further cross–checked with the compilation of Nave et al. (nave94 (1994)). The accuracy given in these compilations (from A to D, i.e. from 10 to 50%) drove the final selection of the subsample of lines that were then used to check the ionization balances (no “D” line was used, and only few “C”). The first run of WIDTH9 (Kurucz kur93 (1993)) was performed assuming $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = 6500 $`\mathrm{K}`$, $`\mathrm{log}g`$ = 4.0, \[Fe/H\] = $``$3.0 for LP 815–43, and $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = 6250 $`\mathrm{K}`$, $`\mathrm{log}g`$ = 4.0, \[Fe/H\] = $``$3.5 for CD$``$24°17504 respectively. First, by requiring no dependence of the abundance on the equivalent width, the microturbulence was constrained to 1$`.75\pm 0.2`$ $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ and $`1.0\pm 0.2`$ $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for LP 815–43 and CD$``$24°17504 respectively. Then, the same code was run for different values of gravity ($`\pm `$ 0.25, $`\pm `$ 0.5) and temperature ($`\pm `$ 250 K). The ionization balance was checked by using (10Fe i, 8Fe ii) and (5Ti i, 13Ti ii) lines for LP 815–43, and (6Fe i, 7 Fe ii) plus (2Ti i, 13Ti ii) for CD$``$24°17504 (cf Table 3, where LP and CD stands for LP 815–43 and CD$``$24°17504 respectively); slightly higher values (4.25 and 4.5) were found confirming what we had derived from the isochrones. These are in good agreement, within the errors, with the values determined by Thevenin & Idiart (thev99 (1999)), who studied non Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (NLTE) corrections for iron abundances, and found $`\mathrm{log}g`$ = 4.39 for both stars.

Considering all the estimates of $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ and $`\mathrm{log}g`$ thus obtained and their quite good agreement, we adopted $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = 6500 K, $`\mathrm{log}g`$ = 4.25, and $`\xi `$ = 1.75 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ in the case of LP 815–43, and $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = 6300 K, $`\mathrm{log}g`$ = 4.5, and $`\xi `$ = 1.0 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ for CD$``$24°17504 as our final stellar parameters.

Metallicities, on the contrary, were taken from the work of Ryan et al. (ryan99 (1999)), but corrected for the different temperature and gravity we adopted. The values thus found, \[Fe/H\] = $``$2.90 and $``$3.32 for LP 815–43 and CD$``$24°17504 respectively, are in very good agreement with the metallicity inferred from our spectrum synthesis analysis (see next section).

By evaluating the uncertainties in the different methods followed to determine the stellar parameters, we find that $`\pm `$100 $`\mathrm{K}`$ in $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, $`\pm `$ 0.25 in $`\mathrm{log}g`$, $`\pm `$0.15 dex in metallicity, and $`\pm `$ 0.2$`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ in the microturbulent velocity are representative of the uncertainty associated to each single parameter.

## 4 Spectrum Synthesis Analysis

Our spectrum synthesis calculations were performed with the Kurucz’ grid of model atmospheres and synthesis codes ATLAS and SYNTHE (Kurucz 1993, officially released on CD-ROMs). The model atmospheres were computed according to the above–mentioned adopted stellar parameters. Solar abundances were taken from the compilation of Anders & Grevesse (ag89 (1989)). We used the line list previously tested by Primas et al. (fp97 (1997)) and the abundance ratios determined by Ryan et al. (ryan91 (1991)) in order to constrain the allowed variations of the elemental abundances that play a role in this part of the spectrum (e.g. titanium, vanadium and chromium).

Several syntheses were run until the best match between computed and observed spectra was achieved. Our best-fit syntheses were obtained with Kurucz’ $`\alpha `$-enhanced (i.e. \[$`\alpha `$/Fe\] = +0.4 dex) model atmospheres, that also include the approximate overshooting. This choice was driven by the need of comparing in a consistent way our results with data available from the literature (e.g. Boesgaard et al. bk99 (1999)). The difference in the beryllium abundances derived by using models computed without the approximate overshooting was found to be negligible (on the order of 0.05 dex). Our best-fit syntheses are shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, with all the relevant lines identified. They were obtained for $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = 6500 K, $`\mathrm{log}g`$ = 4.25, $`\xi `$ = 1.75 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, and \[Fe/H\] = $``$2.95 for LP 815–43, and $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = 6300 K, $`\mathrm{log}g`$ = 4.5, $`\xi `$ = 1.0 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, and \[Fe/H\] = $``$3.3 for CD$``$24°17504. Beryllium abundances equal to \[Be/H\] = $``$13.09 and $``$13.39 were adopted. Once the effect of using higher effective temperatures and gravities (compared to Ryan et al. ryan91 (1991), ryan99 (1999)) on metallicity is considered, the metallicities we determine are in very good agreement with those of Ryan and collaborators.

The main source of uncertainty affecting Be measurements comes from the accuracy with which the surface gravity is known for the stars under investigation and from the uncertainty related to the placement of the continuum. The dependence of Be on gravity is of the order of $`\pm `$ 0.11–0.12 dex for a change in $`\mathrm{log}g`$ of $`\pm `$ 0.25. An uncertainty of the order of 1–2% in the determination of the continuum translates into another $`\pm `$ 0.10dex. Altogether, these sum up to $`\pm `$ 0.15 dex. However, inspection of Fig. 5a tells us that $`\pm `$ 0.15 dex may underestimate the total uncertainty to be associated with our measurements. Therefore, we decided to adopt $`\pm `$ 0.20 dex as our representative error bar.

Non-LTE effects on Be abundances have been discussed by Chmielewski et al. (chm75 (1975)), Kiselman & Carlsson (kis94 (1994)) and Garcìa Lòpez et al. (garcia95 (1995)). Net NLTE corrections for halo dwarfs and other low mass stars are small, thus they were not included in the final estimate of the uncertainties.

The only disagreement which emerged from the spectrum synthesis, common to both stars, concerns the abundance of chromium: the two lines present in this small spectral region cannot be fitted simultaneously (see Fig. 3a and Fig. 4). The solution of such disparity is beyond the scope of this contribution, but probably suggests some uncertainty in the gf-values of these two lines. In the most recent works on transition probabilities, the log(gf) value of the line at 3128.7 Å is given an accuracy of ”D” (50%), and the redder line does not even appear (cf NIST, National Institute of Standards & Technology). As a test, we changed (lowered) the gf-value of the bluer line by different amounts (up to the allowed $`\pm `$50%) and increased the Cr abundance up to 0.3 dex trying to find an optimal match. We were only partially successful in this exercise, having found a very good fit but for LP 815–43 only (see Fig. 3b). Because of the lack of knowledge of the accuracy of the gf-value of the redder Cr ii line (3132.06 Å), no conclusion can be drawn at this point.

## 5 The Beryllium Abundance and Its Implications

When the lines of interest are very weak, as in our case, the abundances inferred from the spectrum syntheses can be usually interpreted as just consistent with the observed data. In order to check the validity of our Be detection, we applied Cayrel’s formula (Cayrel cay88 (1988)), which estimates the minimum equivalent width detectable of a line, given the resolution, pixel size and signal-to-noise ratio of the observed data. In the case of our best spectrum (LP 815–43) and adopting a FWHM = 0.1078 mÅ and S/N = 110 (at 3130 Å), EWmin(1$`\sigma `$) = 0.6 mÅ is found. Unfortunately, even for our best spectrum, it is very difficult to measure the equivalent width of the feature present at 3131.066 Å, that we think to be beryllium. Our attempt gives EW = 1.7 mÅ, thus implying that we may be very close to a 3$`\sigma `$ detection. However, this procedure is not satisfactory.

Following the referee’s suggestion, we also tried to subtract the Gaussian fit of the main features blending with the two Be ii lines, and then to fit the presumed Be ii lines. This should provide a further check on the wavelength of the Be ii lines. The test was indeed successful, and proved that the remaining lines fall exactly at 3130.421 Å and at 3131.066 Å, i.e. at the expected positions. However, we were not completely satisfied with this procedure either because the subtraction of the contribution due to the blending lines is a very delicate task (especially in very metal-poor stars where the Be ii doublet is very weak and the blending features are still quite strong).

A more compelling evidence that we have a detection in LP 815–43 may come from inspecting Fig. 5b. After having checked that the absorptions we attribute to beryllium in LP 815–43 fall at the expected wavelengths, we tried to obtain a better estimate of the importance of the blending features. For this purpose, we ran two more syntheses: both of them were computed taking out all the features blending with the two Be ii lines, but one had our previously determined best-fit Be abundance (dotted line in the figure) and the other had no beryllium (dashed line), i.e. the beryllium abundance was lowered by a factor of 20. In our opinion, this test shows that the blending features do not affect our determination of Be in this star, and that the features we initially attributed to beryllium are indeed the beryllium doublet.

The observed spectrum of CD$``$24°17504 has a lower S/N$``$80, that makes the measurement of the equivalent width even more difficult and highly uncertain. The Be abundance derived for this star from our spectrum synthesis (\[Be/H\] = $``$13.39) should be strictly considered an upper limit only. An observing strategy optimized for beryllium would likely have provided a detection.

Fig. 6 shows our two new Be results (filled circles) compared to the sample analyzed by Boesgaard et al. (bk99 (1999), open circles – Be abundances determined on the King $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ scale), which represents the highest quality Be spectra available at the moment (the abundances were derived from high resolution, high S/N Keck I HIRES spectra). Our two new data points (one detection, one upper limit) suggest that Be keeps decreasing as lower metallicities are probed, which is in support of a Galactic production of beryllium and argues against a primordial (Big Bang) component (although the latter cannot be excluded yet).

The correlation of Be abundances with metallicity in the early Galaxy (Boesgaard et al. bk99 (1999)) and the finding of a B/Be ratio equal to that predicted by spallation (between 10 and 20, e.g. Duncan et al. dkd97 (1997); Garcìa Lòpez et al. gl98 (1998)) have been usually considered a clear evidence for a Galactic (as opposed to primordial) production mechanism. Unfortunately, no B measurement is available for either of our two stars. This, together with the lack of Be determinations in stars below a metallicity of 1/1000 solar has so far prevented us from testing the efficiency of cosmic-ray spallation versus any possible primordial Be synthesis, as predicted by some Big Bang nucleosynthesis models that take into account inhomogeneities during the first few minutes after the Big Bang. The detection of a plateau in the relationship between \[Be/H\] and \[O/H\] (or \[Be/H\] vs \[Fe/H\], although less stringent) has usually been considered a possible evidence for such primordial abundance of Be, although the level of such plateau has remained quite uncertain (recent calculations, e.g. Orito et al. (orito97 (1997)), predict $`\mathrm{log}`$ N(Be/H) + 12 = $``$3.0, thus below the abundances we have been able to detect so far).

However, should a plateau be detected, the interpretation may not be straightforward. Some of the theoretical scenarios recently proposed predict a Be plateau below \[Fe/H\] = $``$3.0 that is not correlated with a primordial production of beryllium. Yoshii et al. (yoshii95 (1995)) suggest that the finding of a Be plateau at low metallicities may derive from accretion phenomena of interstellar matter. These authors analyze how the accretion of metal-enriched interstellar gas onto metal-poor halo stars, while crossing the Galactic plane, may have affected the observed surface abundances of the light elements, beryllium and boron.

According to their scenario, a key parameter that may distinguish between a primordial production of beryllium and the accretion scenario is the B/Be ratio (independent of the accretion rate, but strongly dependent on the baryon density in low- and high-density regions). Determinations of both Be and B in the same stars and in the region of the plateau become then a high priority in order to fully test the accretion scenario. But a similar plateau may also be related to the progenitor mass of the exploding supernova. Vangioni-Flam et al. (vf98 (1998)) proposed two possible different scenarios responsible for Be production. If shock acceleration in the gaseous phase of superbubbles produced by collective SN II explosions is the main mechanism, then only the most massive stars (with initial mass M $``$ 60M) can play a role because of their much shorter lifetimes. Whereas, a much larger mass range (M $``$ 8M) is involved if Be production is due to acceleration of the debris of grains formed in the ejecta of (in this case) SN II. Determining the \[Be/Fe\] ratio in very metal-poor objects is then the key not only to fully test the hypothesis of a possible Big Bang Be production, but also to disentangle between the two other possibilities: in the first case \[Be/Fe\] is predicted to be enhanced at very early times, in the second case is constant. Of course, in order to do that, several new accurate measurements are needed.

## 6 The Lithium Abundance of CD$``$24°17504: An Important Data Point

As summarized in Table 1, CD$``$24°17504 was observed in different instrumental settings, thus a larger spectral coverage is available, including the region around the Li i line at 6708 Å, which appears on both UVES Red settings (Red 580 nm and Red 860 nm). The coadded spectrum of the Li i region has a total S/N ratio of $`270`$. Due to its low metallicity the star plays a crucial role in connection to the possible presence of a dependence of the Li abundance on metallicity in the Spite plateau.

In the combined spectrum, shown in Fig. 2, the EW of the Li line is found to be EW = $`20.57\pm 0.58`$ mÅ, where the error bar was estimated with the Cayrel formula (Cayrel 1988). This value is consistent with the mean value obtained by measurements on the individual spectra ($`20.44\pm 0.56`$). Previous measurements in the literature show a wide scatter between $`15.1\pm 2.3`$ mÅ (Ryan et al. ryan99 (1999)) and $`25.1\pm 4.1`$ mÅ (Spite & Spite sspite2 (1993)). The average of all the available measurements is in good agreement with our measurement. However, if we compare our result to the recent study of lithium by Ryan et al. (ryan99 (1999)), who adopt the value of $`18.1\pm 1.3`$, which is the mean of three measurements, we measure an EW which is larger by 2.5 mÅ, though consistent at 1.7 $`\sigma `$. We computed the Li abundances as described in Bonifacio & Molaro (bm97 (1997)), from ATLAS9 no–overshooting, $`\alpha `$ enhanced models and obtained A(Li) = $`2.13\pm 0.08`$ for $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = 6300 K, and A(Li) = $`2.19\pm 0.08`$ for $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = $`6373\pm 102`$ K. By correcting the latter value (in order to be consistent with the temperature scale used by Bonifacio & Molaro bm97 (1997)) for the NLTE effects, according to Carlsson et al. (carlsson94 (1994)) we obtain A(Li) = 2.20, which is in agreement, within errors, with the plateau level of $`2.238\pm 0.012`$ derived by Bonifacio & Molaro (bm97 (1997)) using the same technique and IRFM temperatures. Thus our measure does not support the decrease of Li abundance for lower metallicities as claimed by Ryan et al. (ryan99 (1999)). Although a full discussion of the slope on the Spite plateau is beyond the scope of the present paper, we note the upwards revision of the EW which implies a Li abundance 0.06 dex higher than the value derived by Ryan et al. (ryan99 (1999)). This slight increase would then bring the data point up again, closer to the average Spite-plateau Li value, weakening their claim for the existence of a slope. By performing ordinary least squares and BCES222Bivariate Correlated Errors and Intrinsic scatter (Akritas & Bershady akri96 (1996)). fits to the Ryan et al. data, increasing their Li abundance for CD$``$24°17504 by 0.06 dex, we find that the slope decreases by $``$ 19% . Therefore the main effect remains the true effective temperature of this star and in general which is the “best” temperature scale for metal–poor stars.

## 7 Concluding Remarks

We have presented the analysis of two new high resolution and high S/N near-UV spectra, obtained during the Commissioning of UVES, with the main purpose of measuring Be. We have detected Be in LP 815–43 (\[Be/H\] = $``$13.09, 99.7% confidence level), whereas an upper limit was found in the case of CD$``$24$`\mathrm{°}`$17504 (\[Be/H\] $``$ 13.39). We have also measured lithium in CD$``$24$`\mathrm{°}`$17504, and found to be A(Li) = 2.20, in good agreement with the Spite-plateau level.

These new observations clearly show the potential of the new ESO VLT high resolution echelle spectrograph UVES, especially in the near-UV spectral range. Its (now measured) efficiency at 3130 Å (where the Be ii doublet falls) is a factor of 3 to 4 higher than the combination of Keck I and HIRES. New accurate measurements in a large sample of targets are foreseen in the near future and will have an important impact on our knowledge of Galactic cosmic-ray spallation.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors would like to thank the whole UVES Team and the Project Scientist Sandro D’Odorico (ESO) for the successful Commissioning of the instrument that offered the astronomical community the great opportunity to work on high quality scientific data. Special thanks go to the members of the UVES Science Team, P. E. Nissen, B. Gustafsson, H. Hensberge, and P. Molaro, for making UVES performances optimized in the ultraviolet domain. Comments and suggestions from an anonymous referee notably improved the manuscript.


text:
# Fast and Flexible CCD Driver System Using Fast DAC and FPGA

## 1 Introduction

Most recent X-ray satellites carry a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera for their focal plane instrument. CCD’s possesses a moderate energy resolution, a high spatial resolution, and a timing resolution. The Solid-state Imaging Spectrometer, SIS, onboard ASCA was the first CCD camera used as a photon counting detector. (Tanaka et al). Following the SIS, many satellites such as HETE2 (Ricker), Chandra (Weisskoph et al.), XMM-Newton (Barr et al.), and MAXI (Matsuoka et al.) now carry a X-ray CCD camera on their focal planes.

MAXI, Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image, has been selected as an early payload of the JEM (Japanese Experiment Module) Exposed Facility on the International Space Station. MAXI will monitor the activities of about 2000-3000 X-ray sources. It consists of two kinds of X-ray detectors: the first, the gas slit camera (GSC) is a one-dimensional position-sensitive proportional counter, and the other, the solid-state slit camera (SSC) is an X-ray CCD array. The CCD used in the SSC is fabricated by Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. (HPK) and is being calibrated both at Osaka University and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA).

Since SSC is the first CCD camera fabricated soley by Japan, we need to specify the functioning of the CCD in detail. In order to optimize the function of the CCD, we need to develop a highly flexible data acquisition system.

## 2 Requirements for New System

In order to optimize the X-ray responsibility of the CCD, we need to develop a highly flexible CCD driver. Our requirements of the CCD driver are:

* to output any kind of clocking pattern
* to dynamically control clocking voltages
* to modify the clocking pattern easily and download it by request
* to have a readout speed $``$ 1MHz
* to output clocking voltages with a range of $`20`$ to $`+20`$ V
* to control voltage levels to within 0.1 V

The clock driver circuit used until now consists of MPXs, DACs (digital-to-analog converters), and analog amplifiers. For example, two DACs are used to generate the low and high voltage level of a clock and an MPX switches each level with a digital signal. This system has been well established but it is not suitable to change the voltage level dynamically.

## 3 New CCD Data Acquisition System

To satisfy all of the requirements listed in section 2, we have developed a new type of CCD driver system as shown in figure 1. We use one fast DAC to generate each clock. This enables us to control each clock with a high flexibility whereas we need a lot of control I/O pins. In the previous system, the voltage level of each DAC is determined before operating the CCD and at least one I/O pin is needed for each clock. On the other hand, our new system requires the number of clocks times 10 pins per DAC even if we use an 8-bit DAC, resulting in roughly orders of magnitude more I/O pins than the previous system. We thus introduced a field programmable gate array (FPGA) to control all DACs.

### 3.1 Design of the DAC board

Because a CCD is operated by DACs directly, the noise characteristics need to be low. We therefore picked up more than five DACs to evaluate the noise characteristics. Among them, TLC 7524 fabricated by Texas Instruments possesses the lowest noise characteristics and we select this device for our new system.

A detailed design around DAC in figure 1 is shown in figure 2. We use a photo-coupler, HCPL$``$2430, to separate an analog and a digital ground. TLC7524 is an 8-bit current-output DAC whose settling time is $``$ 100 ns. The fast settling time enables us to simultaneously control both the clocking timing and the voltage level, which is realized with several DACs and MPXs in the previous driver system. Thus, our new system posses a high flexibility though it is much simpler than the previous system.

### 3.2 Design of the FPGA board

We previously used the VME system to control the DAC boards and had a lot of noise problems mainly due to a switching regulators on a VME power supply unit. We thus abandon using the VME system for this purpose. We designed a general-purpose digital I/O board (DIO board) to simultaneously control several DAC boards. Our DIO board carries a reconfigurable FPGA, 512 Kbyte SRAM device (PD434008ALE-15), a serial interface, a parallel interface with 10 bits, an interface for a liquid crystal to display the status, and eight DAC interfaces. One DAC interface possesses 10 bits in order to control a 10 bit DAC in a future application. Figure 3 shows a photograph of the FPGA board developed in this work. We selected an Altera Flex 10K50 for the FPGA. This FPGA device is a static memory type that can be reconfigured simply with a command and has 189 pins available for the user.

One of the remarkable advantages is the development of Hardware Description Language (HDL). HDLs and synthesis tools can greatly reduce the design time, improving the time-to-market. A description based on HDLs is easier to understand than some schematic for a very large design in FPGA gate format. There are several kinds of HDLs developed for various corporations: AHDL, VHDL, and Verilog-HDL. Among them, we employed VHDL. Throughout the development, we used the MAX+PLUS II and FPGA Express software provided by Altera corporation and Synopsis corporation.

### 3.3 Data Acquiring System

The CCD output signal is processed with a delay line and peak-hold circuits which have been previously developed by our group. The processed signal is shifted to $`\pm `$ 5V and sampled by a 12-bit analog-digital converter (ADC). Digital data are transferred to the VME I/O board () with a flat cable and are sent to the sparcstation through the VME bus.

### 3.4 Sequencer

We have developed a sequencer and relevant software to compile it. We define two sequencers: V-ram and P-ram. The V-ram defines a voltage pattern to drive the CCD with a relatively a short duration. Combining several V-rams, we describe the clocking pattern for readout of whole CCD in P-ram.

#### 3.4.1 V-ram

We develop, typically, two kinds of V-ram: V-ram for readout one pixel and transfer one line. An example of V-ram for one pixel readout in a two phase CCD is shown below. The vertical axis represents the time sequence. P1H and P2H are clocks for the serial register and P1V and P2V are those for the vertical register. RST and HOLD are clocks for reset and ADC. Numbers in V-ram represent the voltage level in units of Volts. Following brackets show that a voltage level is the same as the previous value. In this way, we describe the voltage level and the timing for a voltage change in V-ram.

The V-ram compiler we developed reads the V-ram and creates the DAC patterns for each clock. The HOLD signal is transferred to the ADC board through the parallel interface while others are transferred to the appropriate DAC interace.

In the current system, we use TLC7524 which needs a reference clock. When the reference clock is sent to TLC7524, it latches all data bits and outputs the voltage depending on the data bits. Since the reference clock is difficult to be described in V-ram, the V-ram compiler adds it in the output sequencer code automatically.

```
                   P1H     P2H     RST     P1V     P2V    HOLD
                   -8       6      6       6       6       5
                   [        ]       ]       ]       ]       ]
                   [        ]      -8       ]       ]       ]
                   [        ]      [        ]       ]       ]
                   [        ]      [        ]       ]       ]
                   [        ]      [        ]       ]       ]
                   [        ]      [        ]       ]       ]
                   [        ]      [        ]       ]       ]
                   6       -8      [        ]       ]      0
                    ]      [       [        ]       ]      [
                    ]      [       [        ]       ]      [
                    ]      [       [        ]       ]      [
                    ]      [       [        ]       ]      [
                    ]      [       [        ]       ]      [
                    ]      [       [        ]       ]      [
                    ]      [       [        ]       ]      [

```

#### 3.4.2 P-ram

P-ram is described to define the readout of a whole CCD. To include V-ram files, P-ram uses the filename of V-ram. We have prepared several instruction commands to describe any P-rams easily and concisely as listed in table 1. Combining filenames of V-rams and instruction commands, P-ram can be easily developed by the user. One example of a P-ram is shown below.

```
                  set A = 64
                  set B = 2
                  set xaxis = 1024
                  set yaxis = 1024

                  start:
                   Ψdo yaxis
                        Ψset wait A
                        Ψseq 1 vertical
                        Ψset wait B
                        Ψseq xaxis horizontal
                   Ψend do
                  jmp start

```

This P-ram reads out a CCD with 1024 $`\times `$ 1024 pixels. V-ram of ’vertical’ and ’horizontal’ define the voltage pattern to transfer pixels vertically and horizontally, respectively. The instruction of ’set wait’ is to determine the duration of each level in S-ram.

The P-ram is compiled on a SUN sparcstation (Force, CPU-50GT) and stored in the memory of VME I/O board. After sending a command from the sun, P-ram is downloaded to the DIO board by means of the serial interface and stored in the memory of the DIO board.

### 3.5 Configuration of the Circuit in FPGA

To realize the function of the sequencers, we divided the configuration of the FLEX device into five blocks as shown in figure 4. Each block is constructed by a synchronous state machine. The Serial Interface is the interface to the VME I/O board to download sequencers. After loading sequencers, the Serial Interface sends a trigger signal to the Clock Controller. The state machine of the Clock Controller is shown in figure 5. The Clock Controller is in the idle state until a trigger signal is sent. Once the trigger signal is received, the Clock Controller moves to the memory check state, where the Clock Controller sends the memory address and a trigger signal to the Synthesize Pattern. The Synthesize Pattern sends a trigger signal to the Memory Controller and receives memory data. After repeating three times, the Synthesize Pattern arranges the data into 96 bits and sends it to the Clock Controller. Then, the state moves to fetch where 96 bit data is stored in a register and next moves to decode. In the decode state, the Clock Controller analyzes the bit pattern based on the instruction commands shown in table 1 and sends DAC patterns to the appropriate DAC interface. After sending the DAC patterns, the memory pointer is incremented and Clock Controller waits for the wait parameter (A or B shown in P-ram). In each state, the Clock Controller sends status information to the Display Controller and the Display Controller controls the liquid crystal to display the clocking status.

## 4 Performance

### 4.1 Driver System

In order to demonstrate the performance of our new CCD driver, we produced 5 value clockings as shown in figure 6. This kind of multi-level clocking is efficient to reduce the spurious charge. We thus confirm the high potential and high flexibility for our new system.

Since we use 8 bits DAC for each clock, we can control a voltage level within $``$ 0.1 V. We normaly operate the DAC boards with ranges of $``$15 to $`+`$15V. If we change the resister of R13, R15, and R20 in figure 2, we can output the clock up to $`+`$20V or down to $``$20V.

The readout speed is limited by the number of state machines to read a voltage pattern from S-ram. In our current design, there are 13 steps to fetch a 96 bits voltage pattern, resulting in the maximum clocking speed to be $``$ 300 KHz. We still need to optimize it in order to meet our requirements ($``$ 1 MHz).

### 4.2 Total System

We compared the performance of our new system with the HPK C4880 system, which is an X-ray CCD data acquisition system previously used. We used a CCD chip fabricated by HPK. We cooled the CCD down to $`100^{}`$C and irradiated it with an 55Fe source. For comparison, we set the same readout speed as that of C4880 (50 KHz). We selected the ASCA grade 0 events with a split threshold of 90 eV and fitted the histogram with two Gaussian functions for Mn K$`\alpha `$ and K$`\beta `$. Results are shown in table 2. The readout noise of our new system is $``$ 8e-. We can confirm that our new system function much better than the previous system.

## 5 Summary and Future Developments

We have developed a new type of general-purpose CCD data acquisition system which enables us to drive any kind of CCD with any kind of clocking and voltage patterns. It functions well and demonstrates great flexibility. We found the readout noise of the CCD to be 8 e- rms in our system, which might be contributed to by our readout circuit rather than a CCD chip itself.

We plan to develop the analog electronics to process a CCD output signal to reduce the readout noise. The system currently used is a delay line circuit which has poorer performance than an integrated type circuit for both readout speed and for noise characteristics (especially high frequency regime). Therefore, we will develop an integrated correlated double sampling circuit in the near future.

We also plan to replace the VME I/O board with another FPGA board which has already been constructed by us. On this board, 80M sampling ADC, FLEX 10K and 4Mbyte S-ram are mounted. There are three IEEE 1394 ports each of which has a capability of 400 Mbps connection. Large amount of memory gives us to extract X-ray events before sending raw frame data to the host machine. Since FPGA has a good capability of a parallel processing comparing with DSP or CPU, it enables us to analyze data in real-time. It is also important to develop onboard digital processing software using HDL for future X-ray astronomy missions.

We will calibrate the CCD for the MAXI mission with our system. We need to determine the voltage pattern and the voltage level to optimize the X-ray responsibility.

We wish to thank Prof. H. Tsunemi for his valuable comments on the initial phase of this work. We acknowledge to Mr. C. Baluta for his critical reading of the manuscript. This research is partially supported by ACT-JST Program, Japan Science and Technology Corporation.