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# Summary talk of the conference on the sigma resonance ))footnote )Invited talk at the Conference: “Possible Existence of the Light 𝜎 Resonance and its Implications to Hadron Physics”, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto, Japan, 11-14th of June 2000.

## 1 Introduction and historical remarks

This was a great meeting. I believe I never before learned so many new important things in such a short time of only 3 days. The large number of talks, 38, showed that light hadron spectroscopy, especially the light $`\sigma `$ resonance together with confinement and breaking of chiral symmetry, is again an important topic.

The $`\sigma `$ meson was introduced theoretically in connection with the linear sigma model (L$`\sigma `$M) over 40 years ago. Looking back, already in the very first paper of what was to become the Review of Particle Physics of the Particle Data Group there was an entry for a light “$`\sigma `$”, with a first reference to Samios et al.. That $`\sigma `$ was certainly a statistical fluke, claiming a narrow resonance peak of only 50 MeV and a mass of 395 MeV, i.e., certainly not the very ($``$500 MeV) broad $`\sigma `$ we discuss today. The same can be said to all later claims for a narrow sigma in the 500-700 MeV region, and many such candidates for a light and narrow $`\sigma `$ resonances remained in the PDG until 1972, when the much discussed “up-down” ambiguity of the phaseshift near 700 MeV was resolved in favour of the “down” solution. This excluded the possible existence of a narrow $`\sigma `$. However, the possibility that there still could exist a very broad $`\sigma `$ resonance was not really excluded. But at that time most people did not want to believe in such a broad resonance, which could not easily be distinguished from a background without relying strongly on theoretical models.

So the light $`\sigma `$ disappeared from the tables for over 20 years, until the 1996 edition, when Roos and I were able to convince the other members of the meson team (after we had convinced ourselves in our own analysis) that we should introduce an entry for a broad and light $`\sigma `$ resonance. Since then a large number of independent theoretical analyzes have confirmed that this was, in fact, the correct decision. The problem with the $`\sigma `$ is that in order to disentangle the resonance pole (especially from the $`\pi \pi \pi \pi `$ data, where a chiral zero supresses the low energy tail of the $`\sigma `$) one needs elaborate models, which include in addition to unitarity, analyticity and coupled channels also chiral symmetry constraints and preferably an SU3 flavour symmetric framework. Experimentalists who analyze a broad structure like the $`\sigma `$ usually do not employ such elaborate framework.

Also in the 1960’ies and early 1970’ies it was not well known that strong crossed channel effects should generally always be associated with resonance-like behaviour in the s-channel. This obscured the interpretation of the $`\sigma `$ as a broad resonance and it was believed that the sigma “bumps” were just background from strong t-channel exchanges. Later, when the duality of Regge exchanges and resonances (the Veneziano model) became widely accepted, it was well understood that, on the contrary, strong crossed channel effects should always come together with a resonance. Thus although $`\rho `$ etc. exchange can, within a specific model, generate a large $`\pi \pi `$ phase shift, it does not disprove a resonance interpretation, but instead strengthens it (see also Igi). But, before that was accepted, the light sigma had been replaced by a heavier and narrower candidate, which from 1972 to 1996 entered under different names like “$`ϵ`$(1200)” or $`f_0`$(1400).

## 2 The mass and width parameters of the $`\sigma `$ reported at this meeting.

In Fig.1 I have plotted with filled circles the results of 22 different analyses on the $`\sigma `$ pole position, which are included in the 2000 edition of the Review of Particle Physics under the entry $`f_0(4001200)`$ or $`\sigma `$. Most of these find a $`\sigma `$ pole position near 500-i250 MeV. At this meeting we have heard of many preliminary analyzes, which also find $`\sigma `$ resonance parameters in the same region. I have listed these in Table 1 and plotted them with triangles in Fig.1. It was not possible for me to distinguish between Breit-Wigner parameters and pole positions, which of course can differ by several 100 MeV for the same data (see also discussion in Sec. 4). Also it must be noted that many of the triangles in Fig.1 rely on the same raw data and come from preliminary analyzes not yet published.

I also included in Fig. 1 with a star the $`\sigma `$ parameters obtained from the recent E791 experiment at Fermi lab, where 46 per cent of the $`D^+3\pi `$ is $`\sigma \pi `$.

From that same experiment E791 we heard a rumour that they seem to see a light $`\kappa `$ in $`D^+K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^+`$. That would make some of us happy (Harada, Ishida, Oller, Scadron, Takamatsu, Tsuru … ), but I really believe that at this point we must remain a little skeptical, since if the LASS experimental $`K\pi `$ (nearly elastic) S-wave phase is right, it shows only a very smooth behaviour up to the $`K\eta ^{}`$ threshold and passes $`90^{}`$ only at 1350 MeV. This is different from the situation with $`\pi \pi `$ phase shift, where the $`90^{}`$ value is reached at 700-800 MeV, not too far from the $`\sigma `$(500-600). A very large destructively interfering background could of course shift the resonance parameters, from naive expectations, but that is very sensitive to how unitarity+analyticity is imposed. Therefore, it remains as an interesting task for the proponents of a light and broad $`\kappa `$ to show how the very general arguments of Cherry and Pennington, “There is no light kappa”, can be circumvented. I remain with an open mind in this question, although I tend to agree with Cherry and Pennington, because in my analysis I can easily understand why the strange scalar is so much heavier than the others. Possibly I could understand such a light $`\kappa `$ if this is related to the resonance doubling phenomenon, which we discussed with Roos.

I found it remarkable that at this meeting there was not a single talk, which clearly doubted the existence of the $`\sigma `$! Every speaker took the $`\sigma `$ for granted. Was this because noone dared to, in front of this audience, express an opposing view? Or are we witnessing a “bandwagon effect”, where everyone wants to join the club. I would rather guess that we are observing a minor “shift of paradigm”, where more and more people are realizing that with the light $`\sigma `$ many things, from chiral symmetry breaking, constituent quark mass generation, $`\mathrm{\Delta }I=1/2`$ rule to perhaps even confinement, become much easier to understand.

## 3 Personal recollection from the 38 talks

At this meeting we learned and were reminded of many interesting things. The linear sigma model (L$`\sigma `$M) was mentioned by many speakers (M. Ishida, Kunihiro, Scadron, Shabalin, Törnqvist), and we were honored to have Joe Schechter among us, one the originators of the $`U3\times U3`$ L$`\sigma `$M.

Mike Scadron showed how starting from the $`SU2\times SU2`$ L$`\sigma `$M with a quark-meson coupling $`g`$, (for which he finds $`g=2\pi /(N_c)^{\frac{1}{2}}=3.63`$), one obtains $`f_\pi 90`$ MeV, $`m_q325`$ MeV, and the Nambu relation $`m_\sigma =2m_q650`$ MeV. His inputs are (apart from that in the chiral limit $`m_\pi `$ vanishes and that the Goldberger-Treimam relation for quarks $`m_q=f_\pi g`$ holds) self-consistency conditions involving one-loop gap equations. These require a logarithmic cutoff at about 750 MeV. Then calculating further quark loop diagrams he predicts tri- and four-linear couplings between the $`\pi `$’s and $`\sigma `$’s. One important observation in his scheme is that quadratic divergences are softened to logarithmic ones, by noting that with dimensional regularization (or with any conventional reasonable regularization) one finds that the massless tadpole (which naively diverges as $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^2`$), in fact, must vanish. This leaves only one logarithmic cut-off parameter in agreement with Veltman’s condition. This seems to be a simple way to get similar predictions as one gets by bosonizing the NJL model.

About 30 years ago Schechter and Ueda wrote down the $`U3\times U3`$ L$`\sigma `$M for the meson sector involving a scalar and a pseudoscalar nonet. This (renormalizable) theory has only 6 parameters, out of which 5 can be fixed by the pseudoscalar masses and decay constants ($`m_\pi ,m_K,m_\eta ,f_\pi ,f_K`$). The sixth parameter for the OZI rule violating 4-point coupling must be small. One can then predict with no free parameters the tree level scalar masses (See Table 2), which turn out to be not far from the lightest experimental masses, although the two quantities are not exactly the same as we stress in Sec. 4.

The important thing is that the scalar masses are predicted near the lightest experimentally seen scalar masses, and not in the 1500 MeV region where many authors want to put the lightest $`q\overline{q}`$ scalars. Also the $`\sigma `$ is predicted to have a very large width ($`500`$ MeV), which agrees with our present understanding of the data.

Kunihiro recalled the old problem of Gasser and Leutwyler that when comparing the L$`\sigma `$M with the $`L_i`$ parameters of chiral perturbation theory ($`\chi PT`$), they noted by that $`L_6`$ is predicted to be 6 compared to the experimental $`16.5\pm 1.5`$. But this does not necessarily deny the linear realization of chiral symmetry as given in NJL-like models. Shabalin emphasized later, that one should not compare with too naive L$`\sigma `$M’s and that if one includes smooth phenomenological form factors in the vertex functions (instead of sharp cut-offs) good agreement with data is obtained. Such form factors are certainly very physical and can be related to the fact that hadrons are not point-like particles as in naive field-theoretic models, but certainly have a finite size of 0.6-0.7 fm. Anyone who has worked on hadronic widths in e.g. the $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{0}^{}`$ model, or unitarized quark models, like myself, are familiar with such phenomenological form factors. Thus, effective low energy field theories, should be cut-off smoothly through form factors, which certainly change their predictions as one approaches the high energy end of their region of applicability.

Kunihiro also mentioned that the $`\pi N`$ sigma term gets enhancements from the $`\sigma (600)`$ and that one predicts $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\pi N}=\widehat{m}<u\overline{u}+d\overline{d}>=49`$ MeV, which is near the 45 MeV ($`\pm 20`$% ) determined from experiment, without too much $`s\overline{s}`$ components in the nucleon wave function.

The $`\mathrm{\Delta }I=1/2`$ rule in $`K_S\pi \pi `$ was discussed by several speakers (Kiyo, Kunihiro, Sanda, Scadron, Shabalin) and that it gets a very simple explanation once one accepts a $`\sigma `$ near 500 MeV. The final state interaction with the $`\sigma `$ resonance simply enhances the I=0 final state. Kiyo also discussed the $`ϵ^{}/ϵ`$ parameterin K decays and Terasaki discussed the $`\sigma `$ contribution to the $`K_LK_S`$ mass splitting, and both concluded that $`\sigma `$ contributes, but is not enough to explain the data. In a recent paper also other evidence for the $`\sigma `$ resonance in weak interactions were discussed.

We saw new $`\pi ^0\pi ^0`$ phase shift data from KEK Benkei E135 experiment shown by Takamatsu. These showed, what most people had expected, that the old Cason data give too low phase shifts. The new data agree with the main “down-flat” solution of the Krakow group showed by Kaminski. But these data have still to be corrected for $`a_1`$ exchange in the production.

Kaminski also discussed the Roy equations as did T. Sawada and Shabalin. Here we all wait for the new data expected from the DIRAC and KLOE experiments. T. Sawada showed in his analysis of the Roy equations an exciting discrepancy, which may require a new long range Van der Waals interaction in $`\pi \pi `$ interactions! Could this be due to anomalously large 2$`\gamma `$ exchange or massless two-gluon exchange?

S. Sawada and Tamagaki reviewed the old problem of how $`\sigma `$ and $`2\pi `$ exchange is needed in the understanding of nuclear binding and NN interactions. Tamagaki pointed out that maybe experiments with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ hypernuclei might be able to resolve whether $`\sigma `$ or $`2\pi `$ exchange (with intermediate $`\mathrm{\Delta }(1232)`$ or hyperons) is the dominating effect.

S. and M. Ishida reminded us that the Adler zeroes, which suppress $`\pi \pi \pi \pi `$ low energy interactions, because of the chiral cancelation of $`\sigma `$ production and background, are absent in production processes. (Therefore the phenomenological $`\alpha (s)`$ functions used by Au, Morgan and Pennington for production processes, are not smooth, but must cancel the Adler zeroes.) Consequently the $`\sigma `$ stands up more clearly in production processes like central production $`ppp_f(\pi \pi )p_b`$, $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\omega \pi \pi `$, $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}^{}\mathrm{{\rm Y}}\pi \pi `$ etc. We saw some beautiful fits with $`\sigma `$ in many of these processes, which often previously were fitted using a broad background instead of the $`\sigma `$. See the talks by Kamada, Kobayashi, M. Ishida and Tsuru. Also the exciting recent measurement of $`D\sigma \pi 3\pi `$ by the E791 experiment belongs to this cathegory. A prediction of the $`D^+\sigma \pi ^+`$ rate has recently been calculated by Gatto et al. in agreement with this new data.

S. Ishida argued for unconventional relativistic S-wave $`q\overline{q}`$ bound states with $`0^{++}`$ quantum numbers (i.e. not as in the usual quark model), which he and his collaborators call “chiralons” in their “covariant oscillator quark model”. These would appear only at low masses and would include the lightest scalars ($`\sigma `$, $`\kappa ,a_0,f_0`$), one of the iotas and a possible new light $`a_1`$ candidate. This is of course still very speculative, but if this has some truth, it would certainly open up a new approach.

Oller showed many beautiful fits with the $`\sigma `$ obtained by starting using chiral perturbation theory and iterating loops to generate bound states for $`\sigma `$, $`\kappa ,a_0(980)`$ and $`f_0(980)`$. In this way one generates a light $`\sigma `$, although, as in the nonlinear $`\sigma `$ model, the $`\sigma `$ is absent at the tree level. The convergence radius (which naively without loops is at the first threshold) certainly increases considerably this way, and their analysis agrees with all others in that once one imposes chiral symmetry constraints with unitarity, analyticity, flavour symmetry etc. one necessarily finds the light and broad $`\sigma `$ pole. Thus by including a Dyson sum of loop diagrams in the inverse propagators, as Oller and collaborators do, $`\chi PT`$ predicts the $`\sigma `$.

Certainly, also the L$`\sigma `$M must be looked upon as an effective theory, and also has a limited region of validity, extending at most to a little above 1 GeV for the S-wave mass spectrum. It is a very instructive model, which is easy to understand. It includes the scalars and pseudoscalars (and unconfined quarks) from the start (with mesons as CDD poles like $`q\overline{q}`$ states), and provides in principle a formalism of how to include and calculate unitarity, analyticity, flavour, chiral and even crossing symmetry constraints in a well defined framework. It is even a renormalizable theory, although that property is not very essential in practice, since we know it can at most be a reasonable approximation to the true theory at low energy. I used to say “The difficulty of physics is to see its simplicity” and personally I think that if a simple model explains most of what you see, then study that simple model first before you look for more elaborate theories. Therefore I hope that more people would spend some more time in studying the L$`\sigma `$M and its generalizations in more detail. E.g. to my knowledge very few authors have gone beyond the tree level and really calculated, say the pole positions of the scalar nonet in the $`U3\times U3`$ meson model.

K. Igi showed using a framework including crossing symmetry and $`\rho `$ exchange together with untarity and analyticity it is not possible to understand the $`\pi \pi `$ phase shift without the $`\sigma `$ pole. Only half of the rise in the S-wave phase shift could be generated from $`\rho `$ etc. exchanges. This supports M. Roos’ and my analysis and shows that the critical comment by Isgur and Speth can not kill the $`\sigma `$.

Different unitarizations were discussed by many speakers (M. and S. Ishida, Kaminski, Obu, Oller, Schechter, Shabalin, Törnqvist). These include first unitarizing the background and resonance separately and then multiplying the two S-matrices (or adding the two phases in the case of a single channel), N/D or K-matrix unitarization. Now, unitarizing is in principle simple and can be done in many different ways. Its more difficult to have “correct” physical analyticity especially with coupled channels. For the latter dispersion relations usually help a lot to e.g. avoid spurious singularities, which otherwise easily creep into the amplitudes. In spite of the old nature of this subject, I believe we still have quite some work to do, in order to sum approximately the infinite number of loop diagrams, which Nature does in a unique way.

Finally today we heard Hatsuda, Shimizu, Hirenzaki, Ozawa and Iwasaki discuss how to measure the mass and width parameters of $`\sigma `$, $`\omega ,\varphi ,\mathrm{}`$ in a nuclear medium. It certainly is an exciting possibility if we in the future can study if and how the mass and width of the $`\sigma `$ decreases as it is produced inside a nuclear environment. Those are difficult experiments and we must wish them the best of luck. The last five talks by Lim, Takizawa, Nishiyama, Matsuki and Watabe, just before my summary talk, were of rather theoretical nature, and I did not have time nor energy to comment on them.

## 4 Concluding remarks

Finally let me remind you again of the important differences in different mass and width definitions, which appear in the literature. Already in the simple case of one decay channel and one resonance one can define these in different ways. Recall that the inverse propagator is

$$P^1(s)=m_0^2+\mathrm{Re}\mathrm{\Pi }(s)+i\mathrm{Im}\mathrm{\Pi }(s)s$$
(4.1)
Then the following three mass (and width) definitions are different, and for the same data for a broad resonance one can get values 100’s of MeV apart:

1. Lagrangian mass parameters, where one essentially neglects the $`\mathrm{\Pi }(s)`$ or assumes it is a real renormalization constant, which can be included in $`m_0^2`$. The latter then defines the tree level mass.
2. Breit-Wigner or 90 mass, where one looks for the zero in the real expression $`m_0^2+\mathrm{Re}\mathrm{\Pi }(s)s`$, and often also uses an approximation that $`\mathrm{Re}\mathrm{\Pi }(s)`$ is a constant. The BW mass is then defined through that zero, and the width is taken as $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\mathrm{Im}\mathrm{\Pi }(s=m^2)/m`$.
3. Second sheet pole position parameterized as $`mi\mathrm{\Gamma }/2`$. Here one looks for the nearest zero in the complex energy plane (with the unitarity cuts) of the whole expression above. This is of course the best, since only at the pole can one factorize the production and decay. Only this mass is independent of the reaction. The difficulty is that one must have a very good theory.

For example in Table II the theoretical values are as in (i), while the experimental masses are as in (ii) or (iii) above. For the $`\sigma `$ it is especially important to have a good theory, since it is so broad. This means that apart from a “correct” unitarity, analyticity and coupled channel framework one needs constraints from a chiral, flavour and even crossing symmetries. I believe the L$`\sigma `$M is a good starting point, but we need better models.

The $`\sigma `$ meson is perhaps the most important meson in the book. In Swedish and Finnish we have a saying “A loved child has many names” (Ett kärt barn har många namn). The $`\sigma `$ certainly has many names:

* $`f_0(4001200)`$ or $`\sigma `$ (PDG).
* Quantum fluctuation of the chiral order parameter (Hatsuda, Kunihiro).
* Chiralon (S. and M. Ishida).
* $`\pi \pi `$ correlation or bound state (Oller).
* Gluonium-$`q\overline{q}`$ mixed state (Narison).
* 4-quark state (Schechter, R. Jaffe).
* The eye witness of confinement (Gribov, originally for $`f_0(980)`$ and $`a_0(980)`$, since the $`\sigma `$ was then absent in the PDG).
* The sister particle of Yukawa’s pion.
* The Higgs of strong interactions, giving the light constituent quarks most of their mass.

The name $`f_0(4001200)`$ of the PDG looks like a name for a “junk entry”, usually used for a collection of miscellaneous peaks, bumps or resonances seen by various groups, which are questionable and noone understands. Looking at fig.1 I think it should be renamed $`f_0(500)`$ or $`f_0(600)`$.

## Acknowledgements

We thank all the organizers for organizing this exciting meeting on the $`\sigma `$ resonance, which I hope will be the beginning of a new series of meetings. I also thank the organizers for inviting me to give this summary talk. I was afraid this would give a lot of hard work, but in fact, I enjoyed it as it forced me to really try to understand the essential things in every talk. Thus many thanks go to: Teiji Kunihiro, Tetsuo Hatsuda, Tsuneaki Tsuru, Kunio Takamatsu, Chong-Sa Lim, Hajime Shimizu, Makoto Oka, Shin Ishida, Muneyuki Ishida. I also thank A. D. Polosa for commenting on the manuscript.


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# Latest Results of the KARMEN2 Experiment

## 1 THE EXPERIMENT

The KARMEN experiment is performed at the neutron spallation facility ISIS of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Neutrinos are produced by stopping 800 MeV protons in a massive beam stop target, thereby producing pions. The $`\pi ^{}`$ are absorbed by the target nuclei whereas the $`\pi ^+`$ decay at rest (DAR). Muon neutrinos $`\nu _\mu `$ therefore emerge from the decay $`\pi ^+`$$``$ $`\mu ^+`$\+ $`\nu _\mu `$. The low momentum $`\mu ^+`$ are also stopped within the massive target and decay via $`\mu ^+`$ $``$ e+ \+ $`\nu _e`$ \+ $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$. Because of this $`\pi ^+`$-$`\mu ^+`$-decay chain at rest ISIS represents a $`\nu `$-source with identical intensities for $`\nu _\mu `$, $`\nu _e`$ and $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$ emitted isotropically ($`\mathrm{\Phi }_\nu =6.3710^{13}`$$`\nu `$/s per flavor for a proton beam current $`I_p=200`$$`\mu `$A).

There is a minor fraction of $`\pi ^{}`$ decaying in flight (DIF) with the following $`\mu ^{}`$ DAR in the target station which again is suppressed by muon capture of the high $`Z`$ material of the spallation target. This decay chain leads to a very small contamination of $`\overline{\nu }_e/\nu _e<6.210^4`$ , which is further reduced by software cuts.

The energy spectra of the $`\nu `$’s are well defined due to the DAR of both the $`\pi ^+`$ and $`\mu ^+`$ (Figure 1a). The $`\nu _\mu `$’s from $`\pi ^+`$–decay are monoenergetic with E($`\nu _\mu `$)=29.8 MeV, the continuous energy distributions of $`\nu _e`$ and $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$ up to $`52.8`$ MeV can be calculated using the V–A theory. Two parabolic proton pulses of 100 ns base width and a gap of 225 ns are produced with a repetition frequency of 50 Hz. The different lifetimes of pions ($`\tau `$ = 26 ns) and muons ($`\tau `$ = 2.2 $`\mu `$s) allow a clear separation in time of the $`\nu _\mu `$-burst (Figure 1b) from the following $`\nu _e`$’s and $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$’s (Figure 1c). The accelerator’s duty cycle of $`10^5`$ allows effective suppression of cosmic induced background.

The neutrinos are detected in a rectangular tank filled with 56 t of a liquid scintillator . The central scintillation calorimeter is segmented into 512 optically individual modules. The event position is determined by the hit module and the time difference of the PM signals at each end of this module. Gd2O3 coated paper within the module walls provides efficient detection of thermal neutrons due to the very high capture cross section of the Gd ( n,$`\gamma `$ ) reaction ($`\sigma 49000`$ barn) in addition to the p ( n,$`\gamma `$ ) d capture. The KARMEN electronics is synchronized to the ISIS proton pulses to an accuracy of better than $`\pm 2`$ ns, so that the time structure of the neutrinos can be exploited in full detail.

A massive blockhouse of 7000 t of steel in combination with a system of two layers of active veto counters provides shielding against beam correlated spallation neutron background, suppression of the hadronic component of cosmic radiation as well as reduction of the flux of cosmic muons. In 1996 an additional third veto counter system with a total area of 300 m2 was installed within the 3 m thick roof and the 2–3 m thick walls of the iron shielding  (KARMEN2 experimental configuration). By detecting muons which pass through the steel at a distance of less than a meter from the main detector and therefore vetoing the successive energetic neutrons from muon deep inelastic scattering, the main background for the $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$$``$$`\overline{\nu }_e`$ oscillation search could be reduced by a factor of 40 compared to the KARMEN1 setup.

## 2 THE $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$$``$$`\overline{\nu }_e`$ OSCILLATION SEARCH

The signature for the detection of $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ is a spatially correlated delayed coincidence of positrons from p ( $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ , e+ ) n  with energies up to $`E_{e^+}=E_{\overline{\nu }_e}Q=52.81.8=51.0`$ MeV and $`\gamma `$ emission of either of the two neutron capture processes p ( n,$`\gamma `$ ) d with one $`\gamma `$ of $`E(\gamma )=2.2`$ MeV or Gd ( n,$`\gamma `$ ) with 3 $`\gamma `$–quanta on average and a sum energy of $`E(\gamma )=8`$ MeV. The positrons are expected in a time window of several $`\mu `$s after beam–on–target with a 2.2 $`\mu `$s exponential decrease due to the $`\mu ^+`$ decay. The time difference between the e+ and the capture $`\gamma `$ is given by the thermalization, diffusion and capture of neutrons, $`\tau _n110`$$`\mu `$s.

The raw data investigated for this oscillation search were recorded in the measuring period of February 1997 through March 2000 which corresponds to 7160 C protons on target. A positron candidate is accepted only if there is no previous activity in the central detector nor in the two innermost veto counters up to 24 $`\mu `$s. The required cuts in energy and time for the prompt ($`p`$) event are: $`0.6t_p10.6`$$`\mu `$s, $`16.0E_p50.0`$ MeV. The cuts on the delayed expected neutron event are as

follows: $`5.0t_dt_p300`$$`\mu `$s, $`E_d8`$ MeV and a volume of 1.3 m3 for the spatial coincidence. Applying all cuts, the total background expectation amounts to $`12.3\pm 0.6`$ sequences where the individual background sources are events induced by cosmic muons, 12C ( $`\nu _e`$ , e- ) 12Ng.s. sequences, $`\nu `$-induced accidental coincidences and (e+,n) sequences from the intrinsic ISIS $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ contamination.

In Table 1 the individual contributions of the above described background sources are summarized.

The last row shows the expectation of (e+,n) sequences from oscillations assuming maximal mixing and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2100`$eV2/c4. The background components are determined precisely during the normal measurements: The $`\nu `$ induced backgrounds are measured with KARMEN in different energy and delayed time windows, the cosmic background is measured with high statistics in the long pre-beam time window. Only the small $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ contribution of the intrinsic source contamination has to be simulated. In addition, the capability of the KARMEN experiment to identify neutrino induced events is constantly monitored by measuring neutrino–nucleus interactions on 12C via neutral and charged current reactions.

Analysing the data results in 11 sequential events which satisfy all conditions (see Figure 2). This number is in good agreement with the total background expectation. Applying a Bayesian renormalisation of the physically allowed region to the experimental result near a boundary ($`N(osc)0`$, 11 measured events with $`12.3\pm 0.6`$ background events expected), an upper limit of $`N(osc)<6.3`$ at 90% CL can be extracted. An identical procedure had been applied to the initial KARMEN2 data, when the evaluation of a potential oscillation signal was based on a pure counting experiment due to the very small statistics of the background .

However, with more data and spectral information, a much better evaluation method is a maximum likelihood analysis. Such a likelihood analysis to extract a possible $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$$``$$`\overline{\nu }_e`$ signal from these 11 sequences makes use of the precise spectral knowledge of all background sources and a detailed MC description of the oscillation signature in the detector. The likelihood function $`L`$ defined as

$$L=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}f(\stackrel{}{x}_i,\mathrm{\Delta }m^2,\mathrm{sin}^2(2\mathrm{\Theta }))$$

is optimised with respect to the free parameters $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}^2(2\mathrm{\Theta })`$. The probability density function $`f`$ is calculated for each of the $`N`$ event sequences from the parameters $`\stackrel{}{x}=(E_{prompt},E_{delayed},t_{prompt},\mathrm{\Delta }t,\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{}{r})`$ where $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{}{r}`$ denote the delayed spatial coincidence. The analysis results in a best fit value of oscillation events $`N(osc)=0`$ within the physically allowed range of parameters.

As shown in Figure 3, an upper limit of 3.8 and 3.1 oscillation events for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2<1`$eV2/c4 and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2>20`$eV2/c4, respectively, can be extracted at 90% CL based on a complete frequentist approach as suggested by .

The limits at 90% CL and 95% CL can be compared with the number of oscillation events expected from the latest results of the LSND experiment . In Figure 3, the calculated LSND signal strength within the KARMEN detector is shown. For large $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$, even at 95% CL, all of the favored LSND signal range can be excluded by KARMEN2. At lower values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$, a small fraction of the signal strength of LSND cannot be ruled out by KARMEN2. Note that at high $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ the band of expected events and the exclusion curve are almost parallel. With decreasing values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ the expected signal strength becomes smaller. This may be attributed, in part, to the larger source distance for the LSND experiment ($`d_{LSND}30`$ m compared to $`d_{KARMEN}17.7`$ m) but may also reflect a smaller signal strength: If the LSND data evaluation yields an oscillation probability $`P(\overline{\nu }_\mu \overline{\nu }_e)`$ which decreases with smaller values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ –instead of remaining constant– this would have the same effect.

Assuming maximal mixing ($`\mathrm{sin}^2(2\mathrm{\Theta })=1`$), $`2442\pm 269`$ ($`e^+`$,n) sequences from oscillations with large $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ were expected.

Together with the limit of 3.1 events deduced in the unified frequentist approach, this leads to an upper limit on the mixing amplitude of

$$\mathrm{sin}^2(2\mathrm{\Theta })<1.310^3(\text{90\%\hspace{0.17em}CL})$$

for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2100`$eV2/c4. The corrsponding exclusion curve in ($`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$,$`\mathrm{sin}^2(2\mathrm{\Theta })`$) is given in Fig. 4. Also shown are limits from other experiments  as well as the favored regions from LSND based on a complete re-analysis of the entire 1993-98 data set . Again, at high $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$, KARMEN excludes the region favored by LSND. At low $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$, KARMEN leaves some statistical space, but the reactor experiments at Bugey and Chooz add stringent limits from the $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ disappearance search. Any exclusion curve or favored region is a compactification of a complex statistical information, it reflects only a contour of the twodimensional likelihood functions which have nontrivial properties like multiple side maxima and non-parabolic shapes. Therefore, one needs a quantitative statistical analysis of both LSND and KARMEN based on the detailed event-by-event information as demonstrated in  for preliminary data sets to deduce correct statements of compatibility or disagreement in terms of frequentist confidence regions.

Taking the LSND region published first  which corresponds to a stronger $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$$``$$`\overline{\nu }_e`$ signal, there is a much stronger disagreement in the experiments’ outcome: The actual 90% CL KARMEN2 limit excludes the complete parameter range favored by the 1993-95 LSND data.

One way of estimating the sensitivity of an experiment is to determine the average limit on the oscillation parameter simulating a large number of experimental outcomes with the actual level of background events, but no oscillation signal. These samples are subsequently analysed with the same maximum likelihood analysis used for the real data set. The actual KARMEN limit is slightly better than its sensitivity of $`\mathrm{sin}^2(2\mathrm{\Theta })=1.810^3`$ for large $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ and almost identical at lower $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ (see dashed line in Fig. 4). Compared to the earlier results of KARMEN , this corresponds to an improvement of the sensitivity by a factor of $`2.5`$.

KARMEN will continue to take data for the $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$$``$$`\overline{\nu }_e`$ search until the end of April 2001 with an anticipated sensitivity of $`\mathrm{sin}^2(2\mathrm{\Theta })=1.310^3`$ for large $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$. Meanwhile, the upcoming BooNE experiment at Fermilab is under construction. Its sensitivity is expected to improve the final KARMEN sensitivity by another factor of 2  in the appearance mode $`\nu _\mu `$$``$$`\nu _e`$ with different systematics than KARMEN and LSND.

## 3 THE TIME ANOMALY

In the time window of 0.6-10.6 $`\mu `$s after beam-on-target, reactions on 12C, 13C and 56Fe induced by $`\nu _e`$ and $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$ are expected to reflect the 2.2 $`\mu `$s life time of the muons decaying in the target superimposed on a flat, cosmic induced background. However, in the KARMEN1 data there was a bump–like distortion of the spectrum at about 3.1–4.1 $`\mu `$s after beam-on-target first reported in . Taking the total KARMEN1 data set of so-called ’single prong’ events (unaccompanied energy deposits without delayed coincidences) collected from July 1990 through December 1995, $`N_X=89\pm 24`$ events were observed in excess to the neutrino induced events and the cosmic background. Detailed analyses and special measurements did not lead to the identification of potential background sources(e.g. beam correlated neutrons from the spallation source, electronic effects, detector inefficiencies or after-pulses of the ISIS proton synchrotron) as origin of this excess.

Therefore, a working hypothesis of a particle production was considered to get a consistent description of the origin of these events.

The ansatz consisted of a rare non-SM pion decay mode $`\pi ^+`$$``$ $`\mu ^+`$\+ $`X`$ where $`X`$ denotes a massive ($`m_X33.9`$ MeV), neutral, weakly interacting, unstable particle with decay products detectable via electromagnetic interactions. A possible branching ratio as small as $`10^{16}`$ relative to the standard decay $`\pi ^+`$$``$ $`\mu ^+`$\+ $`\nu _\mu `$ could have explained the observed excess without contradiction from other experiments. In this framework, the X particle would be produced in the ISIS target within the pion decay double pulse structure (see Fig. 1a), then slowly moving ($`v_X5`$ m/$`\mu `$s) towards the KARMEN detector at a mean distance of $`d=17.7`$ m. This would result in a specific double pulse structure in time and position within the 3.5 m long scintillation tank. The consistency of this hypothesis was tested by a maximum likelihood analysis of individual event times and locations . The free parameters of the likelihood function were the number $`N_X`$ of $`X`$ particle signatures and their velocity $`v_X`$.

The result of such an analysis of the KARMEN1 data (1990–95), the negative logarithm of the likelihood $`lnL`$ is shown in Figure 5a) as a function of one of the two free parameters, $`v_X`$. A clear minimum at $`v_X=4.89`$ m/$`\mu `$s is evident. The characteristic side maxima result from the double pulse structure of pion decays as underlined by Monte Carlo studies with high statistics (MC in Fig. 5a) of $`X`$ particle signals. Hence, the working hypothesis gave a consistent description of the anomaly in the time spectrum with a signal strength of $`N_X=57\pm 25`$ excess events.

One of the major objectives of KARMEN2 has been the investigation of this hypothesis, taking full advantage of the significantly reduced level of cosmic background. An initial KARMEN2 data sample sufficiently large for a detailed maximum likelihood analysis was collected from February 1997 through February 1999. The corresponding maximum likelihood result $`lnL`$ of these first 2 years is given in Figure 5b) having its minimum at $`v_X=4.96`$ m/$`\mu `$s with a signal strength of $`N_X=17\pm 11`$. Scaling from the KARMEN1 analysis, one would have expected $`N_X^{expected}=22\pm 10`$. Though the minimum of the function $`lnL`$ was not deep enough to form a statistically significant signal by KARMEN2 data alone, the fitted particle velocity and signal strength were in good agreement with the earlier KARMEN1 data, indicating a continuous accumulation of $`X`$ signatures even under modified experimental systematics.

However, an updated analysis of all KARMEN2 data collected so far (February 1997 through March 2000) reveals no distortion of the time spectrum anymore. Despite an increase of pion and consequently neutrino production at the ISIS target by more than 50%, the number of excess events in the time spectrum between 3.1 $`\mu `$s and 4.1 $`\mu `$s after beam-on-target determined by subtraction of a fitted neutrino signal (exponential decrease with $`\tau =2.197`$$`\mu `$s) and constant background is now $`N_X=11\pm 12.4`$. This allows to set an upper limit of $`N_X<30`$ at a 90% confidence level. This has to be compared with an expected excess of $`N_X^{expected}=53\pm 14`$ extrapolated from the KARMEN1 data. In addition to the time spectrum, the twodimensional maximum likelihood analysis shows no significant minimum of the negative logarithmic likelihood function at a velocity near $`v_X=4.96`$ m/$`\mu `$s (see Fig. 5c). Fixing the velocity $`v_X`$ at the above value results in a signal strength of $`N_X=14\pm 12`$ events in contradiction to the value of $`N_X^{expected}=34\pm 15`$ extrapolated from the KARMEN1 likelihood analysis.

To summarize, the time spectrum of the entire KARMEN2 data after 3 years of data taking is in good agreement with the expectation of neutrino induced events with an exponential shape superimposed on a flat cosmic induced background. There is no distortion in the time spectrum nor any unexplained signal in a detailed maximum likelihood analysis as observed for the KARMEN1 data. As there was no change since 1997 in data taking nor in the reduction and evaluation of the data, the new results of the analysis are due to the increased data amount and statistics only. On the other hand, the clear distortion of the KARMEN1 spectrum remains unchanged and unexplained. While analysing the total KARMEN1+2 data set still yields a significant minimum in $`lnL`$ at $`v_X=4.90`$ m/$`\mu `$s, the working hypothesis of $`\pi ^+`$$``$ $`\mu ^+`$\+ $`X`$ has to be rejected on the basis of the incompatibility of the ’signal’ strength seen by KARMEN1 and KARMEN2.

KARMEN will continue to take data for another year, mainly to increase the sensitivity of the oscillation search, but also to monitor the time spectrum of single prong events.


text:
# Active-Sterile Neutrino Transformation and r-Process Nucleosynthesis

## ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was done in collaboration with J. M. Fetter, A. B. Balantekin and G. M. Fuller.


text:
# Controlling adsorbate vibrational lifetimes using superlattices

## I Introduction

The lowest energy vibrational excitations of molecules adsorbed on metal surfaces generally correspond to motion of the molecule as a whole about the adsorption bond, i.e., frustrated translations and rotations. These modes play an important role in thermally activated processes at surfaces, such as catalysis and surface diffusion. It would, therefore, be highly desirable to be able to control the dynamical behavior of these vibrations. We propose a way to dramatically alter the lifetime of low-frequency adsorbate modes by suitably modifying the composition of the substrate.

We recently developed a theory for the relaxation dynamics of adsorbate vibrational modes whose frequency lies within the long-wavelength acoustic part of the substrate phonon spectrum. This frequency range is relevant, for example, for in-plane frustrated translations (FT) of molecules on metal surfaces. We have shown that the relaxation of these modes is governed by resonant coupling to bulk substrate phonons; i.e., the vibrating overlayer radiates its energy into resonant acoustic waves. All other relaxation channels, such as substrate electron-hole pair excitation, are typically sub-dominant. This result suggests that the lifetime of FT and other low-lying adsorbate modes can be significantly altered by changing the substrate phonon spectrum at the resonant frequency.

In this paper we explore the use of superlattices to achieve this goal. For the last two decades, superlattices have received considerable attention by materials researchers because of their unusual and highly tunable properties. Superlattices consist of a periodic alternation of layers of two or more different materials. For simplicity, this paper focuses on superlattices of two materials, $`A`$ and $`B`$. The resulting periodic mass modulation causes frequency gaps to open in the phonon spectrum for modes propagating parallel to the stacking direction, $`\widehat{s}`$. The size and placement of the band gaps are determined by compositional parameters of the superlattice, such as the mass ratio of materials $`A`$ and $`B`$ and the modulation period. The modes expelled from band-gap regions gather near van Hove singularities at the gap edges. Thus, the superlattice mass modulation enhances the bulk phonon spectrum at some frequencies while depleting it at others.

We consider an ordered adsorbate overlayer on the surface of such a superlattice, with the surface normal aligned along $`\widehat{s}`$. A $`\stackrel{}{k}_{}=0`$ FT excitation of the overlayer will only couple to bulk modes propagating parallel to $`\widehat{s}`$. Thus, depending on the superlattice compositional parameters, the FT frequency may fall in a region of either depleted or enhanced phonon density of states (DOS), compared to the pure substrate. In the former case, resonant phonon emission is eliminated as a FT decay channel, because there are no phonon states at the resonant frequency. In the latter case, one might expect enhanced coupling because of the increased phase space. However, before reaching that conclusion, it is necessary to consider the coupling strength to modes in the van Hove singularities. In this work, we examine all of these issues using a model system corresponding to an ordered adsorbate overlayer on a face-centered cubic (fcc) superlattice.

Acoustic waves in superlattice substrates have been investigated previously.  In particular, Camley et al. derived vibrational dispersion relations for both infinite and semi-infinite superlattices in the elastic-continuum limit (i.e., both the solid as a whole and the $`A`$ and $`B`$ layers individually are treated as continuous media). They focused on superlattices with a modulation wavelength of 1000 Å or more. In this paper, we opt for an atomistic approach instead of an elastic-continuum model, because we are interested in superlattices of small enough modulation wavelength that variations by even a single atomic layer cause noticeable changes in the bulk phonon spectrum. Nevertheless, the basic physical picture presented in Ref.  still applies.

Figure 6 of Ref.  is a plot of $`\omega `$ vs. $`k_{}`$ for an infinite superlattice. This plot shows that the mass modulation creates frequency gaps in the bulk vibrational spectrum not only at $`k_{}=0`$, but also at finite $`k_{}`$. Indeed, for any frequency, there will be regions of the $`k_{}`$-plane for which there are no propagating acoustic modes and other regions for which propagating acoustic modes exist. Points on the boundary between these two types of regions are van Hove singularities. This picture is very encouraging, since $`k_{}`$-resolved experimental surface techniques, such as inelastic helium-atom scattering, could then be used to exhibit the whole range of behaviors predicted here for adsorbate vibrations coupled to a superlattice. Camley et al., also present $`\omega `$ vs. $`k_{}`$ for a semi-infinite superlattice (Fig. 8 of Ref. ). They show that a band of surface waves appears in each bulk band-gap region.

## II Model

We use lattice dynamics to study the vibrational coupling between the adsorbate overlayer and the superlattice substrate. In this approach, the atoms are treated as point masses, and each atomic degree of freedom of the system is coupled harmonically to all others. The normal modes of vibration are obtained by solving the generalized eigenvalue problem, $`𝐊x=\omega ^2𝐌x`$, where the eigenvector $`x`$ resides in the 3$`J`$-dimensional configuration space of the $`J`$ atoms, with origin at the equilibrium configuration, the eigenvalue $`\omega ^2`$ is the square of the normal-mode frequency, M is the diagonal 3$`J`$$`\times `$3$`J`$ matrix of atomic masses, and K is the symmetric 3$`J`$$`\times `$3$`J`$ matrix of harmonic force constants. For metals and non-polar semiconductors and insulators, a cutoff can be defined so that only coupling constants above a given magnitude are included. This makes the K matrix sparse.

Our model substrate is an fcc superlattice with the stacking axis and the surface normal both parallel to the  crystallographic axis. Integers $`N_A`$ and $`N_B`$ represent the number of atomic (001) planes of materials $`A`$ and $`B`$, respectively, in each superlattice period ($`N=N_A+N_B`$). The overall thickness of the substrate in our calculations is 250$`N`$. Our model overlayer consists of an ordered array of diatomic molecules forming a $`c`$(2$`\times `$2) pattern (i.e., checkerboard pattern). In-plane periodic boundary conditions are used, making the model system of infinite extent parallel to the surfaces and superlattice interfaces, but restricting our analysis to $`k_{}=0`$ modes.

For simplicity in this exploratory research, we make the approximation that the force constants coupling the substrate atoms are insensitive to the chemical species. Therefore, varying the superlattice composition is achieved simply by altering the mass matrix M. For real systems, the mass modulation accounts for the majority of the effect, with compositionally varying force constants contributing essentially no new physics.

The major conclusions of this research are insensitive to the specific details of the model system. However, we study this particular structural model for two important reasons. First, this structure is often experimentally realized for diatomic adsorbates on fcc-metal (001) substrates. Second, this choice of model allows us to use the force constants we obtained from earlier density-functional theory calculations for the prototypical system of CO on Cu (001). The vibrational frequencies computed in that study are in excellent quantitative agreement with experiment. See Ref.  for numerical values of the force constants, as well as details of how they were computed and comparisons to experiment. For definiteness and ease of comparison to our earlier work, we also choose the masses of CO and Cu for the adsorbate and $`A`$-atom masses, respectively.

Given the model described above, there remain three parameters for specifying the system: the mass ratio $`m_B/m_A`$ of the two superlattice materials and the layer thicknesses, $`N_A`$ and $`N_B`$. Experience shows that the mass ratio needs to be fairly large in order to create sizable phonon band gaps. We have chosen a mass ratio of 3:1 (e.g., Au and Cu have this mass ratio).

The modulation period $`N`$ should be chosen so that the FT frequency is near or within a phonon band gap. If the frequency of resonant phonons in the pure material corresponds to a wavelength spanning about $`M`$ atomic layers, then Bragg theory suggests that a modulation period of $`N=M/2`$ layers will open a band gap at or near the resonant frequency. For the model parameters corresponding to $`c`$(2$`\times `$2)-CO on Cu (001), our base system, this condition gives a modulation wavelength of about $`N=8`$ layers. This value is to be contrasted with the elastic-continuum work of Ref. , which considered a superlattice with 1500 Å modulation wavelength, corresponding to $`N800`$ layers. The resulting lowest band gap was 0.05 cm-1 wide, centered at a frequency of 0.24 cm-1. These values are two orders of magnitude too small for our purposes, and we thus need to consider a superlattice modulation that is two orders of magnitude narrower. The distribution of the $`N=8`$ layers between materials $`A`$ and $`B`$ is left as a variable parameter.

## III Results

Figure 1(a)-(d) shows the low-frequency portion of the vibrational DOS of the coupled adsorbate/substrate system for $`N=8`$ superlattices. The dashed curve in each panel is the DOS projected onto the idealized FT coordinate. Each panel corresponds to a different partitioning of the 8 layers of the superlattice period into $`A`$ and $`B`$ layers. The symbol ($`N_A`$,$`N_B`$) in the figure panels specifies the partitioning. The (8,0) panel (Fig. 1(a)) corresponds to a pure substrate of material $`A`$. For the present choice of masses and force constants, this system is identical to our vibrational spectrum in Refs.  and online. The broad peak centered at 27 cm-1 is the FT resonance, whose natural line width corresponds to a lifetime of 3.0 ps.

As soon as mass modulation is introduced into the substrate, band gaps open in the DOS near the FT frequency, as predicted. In addition there are band gaps at higher frequencies corresponding to higher order Bragg reflections. The band gaps are accompanied by the large spectral enhancement on either side of the gap characteristic of van Hove singularities. Notice that isolated peaks often appear in the band gaps. These peaks are mixtures of the surface states described by Camley et al. in Ref.  with the adsorbate frustrated translation. They are truly $`\delta `$-functions; the width that appears in the figure results from Gaussian smoothing of the spectra.

For the (6,2) superlattice, the van Hove singularity below the band gap coincides in frequency with the FT mode (see Fig. 1(b)). Despite the large density of bulk phonon states at that frequency, the FT mode does not form a broad resonance. Rather, it remains a narrow, $`\delta `$-function-like peak. This suggests that the coupling strength of the FT to bulk modes in this peak is very weak. We explore this issue further in the discussion below.

As the content of the more massive material ($`B`$) in the superlattice increases, the band gap narrows and shifts to lower frequency. These changes reflect the overall contraction of much of the phonon spectrum due to the $`1/\sqrt{M}`$-like dependence of vibrational frequencies. For the (4,4) superlattice, this effect causes the lower edge of the band gap to come below the FT frequency, leaving the adsorbate mode in the gap with no phonons to couple to (see Fig. 1(c)). This feature is now an infinitely narrow $`\delta `$-function. Resonant coupling to substrate phonons, therefore, contributes nothing to FT relaxation, leaving previously marginal processes, such as electron-phonon, multi-phonon, and anharmonic coupling, as the dominant decay channels.

For the (2,6) superlattice, the narrowing and lowering of the gap has caused the upper edge of the gap to come below the FT frequency, leaving the FT mode once again well within the bulk phonon continuum. The coupling to these bulk modes is strong enough to produce a broad FT resonance peak, as in the case of the pure (8,0) substrate.

## IV Discussion

To gain a deeper understanding of the effect of varying superlattice composition on the FT dynamics, we examine, in Fig. 2, the atomic displacement patterns of FT-related normal modes for the (4,4), (6,2), and (8,0) systems. For the (6,2) and (8,0) systems, we display the modes at the center of the FT resonance peak. In each panel, the vertical axis denotes the position of a layer of atoms relative to the surface, and the horizontal axis denotes the relative displacement of each layer away from equilibrium for the given normal mode. For clarity only $``$80 atomic layers of the 2,000-layer substrate are shown.

Figure 2 highlights the characteristic delocalization that occurs when an isolated mode comes into resonance with a continuum of states. The isolated FT mode for the (4,4) system, shown in Fig. 2(a), is exponentially localized at the surface. The side-to-side “wagging” of the CO molecules dominates the displacement pattern, with the amplitude on substrate layers rapidly decaying as a function of penetration distance. In contrast, the resonance modes pictured in Figs. 2(b) and (c) for the (6,2) and (8,0) systems, respectively, are clearly combinations of adsorbate FT motion and substrate phonon motion. These modes exhibit the large amplitude C-O wagging behavior characteristic of frustrated translations. However, an appreciable amplitude of long-wavelength bulk-phonon motion persists throughout the substrate, so that the resonance states are not localized.

Comparing panels (b) and (c) of Fig. 2 shows that the substrate-phonon component of the mode has noticeably smaller amplitude for the (6,2) system than for the (8,0) system, indicating a smaller coupling strength between the adsorbate FT motion and the substrate phonons. We were able to infer the same result in the previous section by comparing both the DOS’s and the FT-projected DOS’s of the (6,2) and (8,0) systems.

To understand the source of this weaker coupling, we investigate the nature of the bulk modes in the enhanced spectral region below the band gap. Figure 3 illustrates the atomic displacement pattern for the first two modes below the band gap for a 2,000-layer, bare (6,2) superlattice substrate. The vertical axis again denotes the position of a layer of atoms relative to the surface, but in this figure, unlike Fig. 2, all substrate layers are shown. These modes have a beat-like pattern, with the comparatively short-wavelength oscillations spanning about 16 (i.e., $`2N`$) atomic layers per cycle and the long-wavelength oscillations exhibiting fixed-end standing-wave character.

The existence of these beat-like modes is tied to the formation of the band gap. For wavelengths around $`2N`$ atomic layers in a period-$`N`$ superlattice, it becomes possible to form linear combinations of homogeneous-substrate modes that have maximal atomic displacement solely in either material-$`A`$ or material-$`B`$ regions of the superlattice. These linear combinations are stabilized by the coherence with the superlattice modulation, and they give rise to a band gap because of the inverse-square-root dependence of the frequency on the mass. The beat patterns form because the linear combinations superpose modes with similar spatial frequencies (i.e., wavelengths). There are many different ways to form linear combinations that are commensurate with the superlattice modulation, each one distinguished by the number of nodes in the resulting envelope waveform. This is the source of the spectral enhancement below and above the band gap.

For the (6,2) system, the adsorbate FT motion is in resonance with these beat-like modes. However, since these modes have very small amplitude at the surface of the superlattice, the coupling between them and the FT mode is very weak. Therefore, despite the large density of bulk modes available for coupling, the resulting resonance peak remains very narrow, and the FT-mode remains long-lived.

To elucidate more fully the effect of the envelope function of the beat-like modes on FT vibrational relaxation, we examine how the width of the FT resonance varies with FT frequency, for a given superlattice substrate. We are able to accomplish this by varying the value of the force constant, $`K_{as}`$, coupling the adsorbates to the substrate, since the FT frequency is a smooth, monotonically increasing function of $`K_{as}`$. Figure 4 displays the computed dependence of the resonance width on the FT frequency for the (6,2) superlattice. As expected, the resonance width is zero for FT frequencies in the superlattice-induced bulk band gap. The weak coupling of the FT to the beat-like modes near the gap edges is seen as a rapid decrease in the resonance width when approaching the band-gap region from either side. Away from the bulk band gap and its adjacent spectrally enhanced regions, the resonance width is a monotonic, more gently increasing function of the FT frequency.

One concern regarding the analysis in this paper is that superlattices with very short modulation periods are required. As a result, the interfaces between the $`A`$ and $`B`$ layers must be sharp on the scale of one or two atomic layers. This sharpness may be difficult to achieve for metallic superlattices due to interfacial diffusion or miscibility. A potential solution to this concern would be to use a semiconductor superlattice for the substrate. These materials can be grown with very sharp interfaces, and therefore may accommodate the short modulation periods that are required for the application described in this paper. In order to restore the chemical environment of the adsorbate-metal interface, one could first deposit several layers of metal (e.g., copper) on the surface of the superlattice, and then form the molecular overlayer on the supported metal film.

## V Conclusions

One of the most important goals in surface science is to be able to control dynamical processes taking place at a surface. We have proposed substrate patterning as a means to control the relaxation dynamics of low-frequency frustrated-translational vibrations of an adsorbate overlayer. This proposal emerges from our recent work demonstrating that the dominant relaxation mechanism for these modes is resonant emission of phonons into the substrate. Specifically, we have considered short-period superlattices as candidate substrates, because the mass modulation of a superlattice causes gaps to open in the phonon density of states. Varying the superlattice composition allows one to control the size and placement of these band gaps, thereby controllably modifying the coupling between the adsorbate overlayer and the substrate. We view the successful experimental demonstration of the behavior predicted here as a stringent test of our theory of resonant adsorbate-substrate coupling. Moreover it would establish substrate patterning as an important tool in surface dynamical research.

## Acknowledgments

Financial support for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMR 97-02514, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Air Force Materiel Command, USAF, under Grant No. F49620-00-1-0170, and the University of Georgia Research Foundation. SPL acknowledges support of the Donors of The Petroleum Research Fund, administered by the American Chemical Society. AMR acknowledges support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.


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# Impurity Bound States and Symmetry of the Superconducting Order Parameter in Sr₂RuO₄

## I Introduction

In recent years, we have experienced a rapid improvement in the quality of $`\mathrm{Sr}_2\mathrm{RuO}_4`$ single crystals. This development has lead to a renewed discussion regarding the symmetry of the underlying superconductiving order parameter. The data from specific heat measurements, NMR results on $`\mathrm{T}_1^1`$, and magnetic penetration depth experiments in very pure single crystals with $`\mathrm{T}_\mathrm{c}1.5\mathrm{K}`$ suggest a linear nodal structure in the superconducting order parameter, similar to the $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{x}^2\mathrm{y}^2}`$-wave superconductors. Hence, the initially proposed fully gapped 2D p-wave superconductivity with $`E_u`$ symmetry appears to be inconsistent with the experimentally observed nodal structure. On the other hand, the spin triplet nature of the superconductivity in $`\mathrm{Sr}_2\mathrm{RuO}_4`$ has clearly been established by muon rotation experiments which probe a spontaneous spin polarization, and by the flat Knight shift seen in NMR.

Motivated by these recent experiments, several spin triplet order parameters with linear nodes have been proposed.  In particular, from a study of the thermal conductivity tensor in a planar magnetic field it has been suggested that the 2D f-wave order parameter with $`\mathrm{B}_{1\mathrm{g}}\times \mathrm{E}_\mathrm{u}`$ symmetry is a likely candidate. Furthermore, recent measurements of the angular dependence of the upper critical field have detected a in-plane anisotropy consistent with a $`\mathrm{B}_{1\mathrm{g}}\times \mathrm{E}_\mathrm{u}`$ component to the order parameter.

The objective of this paper is to calculate the quasi-particle bound state wave function around non-magnetic impurities in unconventional superconductors with the anisotropic order parameters which have been proposed for $`\mathrm{Sr}_2\mathrm{RuO}_4`$. It has recently been observed in a series of STM imaging experiments that a Zn-impurity in the high-$`\mathrm{T}_\mathrm{c}`$ compound Bi2212 gives rise to such a bound state, leading to a distinct four-fold symmetric pattern in the local tunneling conductance around the impurity. From the theoretical side it was shown that this type of bound state wave function can be interpreted in terms of the solutions of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations for $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{x}^2\mathrm{y}^2}`$-wave superconductors.. Here we will perform an analogous analysis for the proposed 2D p-wave and f-wave order parameters.

## II Bound State Wave Functions

### A 2D p-wave superconductors

For the initially proposed fully gapped odd-parity 2D p-wave superconductivity with an order parameter $`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Delta }}(𝐤)=\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{z}\mathrm{exp}(\pm i\varphi )`$ the Bogoliubov - de Gennes equations have already been worked out. In particular, when $`\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐫)=\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{const}.`$, one obtains

$`Eu(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{^2}{2m}}\mu V(𝐫)\right)u(𝐫)+p_F^1\mathrm{\Delta }(i_x_y)v(𝐫),`$ (1)
$`Ev(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{^2}{2m}}\mu V(𝐫)\right)v(𝐫)+p_F^1\mathrm{\Delta }(i_x+_y)u(𝐫),`$ (2)
where $`\mu `$ is the chemical potential, and the impurity potential, centered at the site $`𝐫=0`$, is approximated by $`V(𝐫)=a\delta ^2(𝐫)`$. For simplicity, only the 2D system is considered here.

A simple variational solution of Eqs. (1) and (2) is found to be

$`u(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`A\mathrm{exp}(\gamma r)J_0(p_Fr),`$ (3)
$`v(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`A\alpha \mathrm{exp}(\gamma r)J_1(p_Fr)\mathrm{exp}(i\varphi ),`$ (4)
where $`p_F`$ is the Fermi momentum, $`J_l(z)`$ are Bessel functions of the first kind, and $`A`$ is a global normalization factor. By inserting these variational wave functions $`u(𝐫)`$ and $`v(𝐫)`$ into the Bogoliubov - de Gennes equations, it follows that $`E=(V/2)\pm \sqrt{(KV)^2+\mathrm{\Delta }^2}`$ and $`\alpha =\mathrm{\Delta }/(E+K)1`$, where the kinetic $`K`$ and the potential $`V`$ contributions to the energy are defined by

$`K`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑rr\left[\left(_r\mathrm{exp}(\gamma r)J_l(p_Fr)\right)^2+\left(l\mathrm{exp}(\gamma r)J_l(p_Fr)/r\right)^2\right]}{2m_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑rr\left(\mathrm{exp}(\gamma r)J_l(p_Fr)\right)^2}}\mu {\displaystyle \frac{\gamma ^3}{mp_F}},`$ (5)
$`V`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑rr\mathrm{exp}(2\gamma r)J_0^2(p_Fr)V(𝐫)}{_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑rr\mathrm{exp}(2\gamma r)J_0^2(p_Fr)}}(2\pi \gamma p_F){\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑rr\mathrm{exp}(2\gamma r)J_0^2(p_Fr)V(𝐫).`$ (6)
The squares of the wave functions $`u(𝐫)`$ and $`v(𝐫)`$ can be observed by scanning tunneling microscopy. The tunneling current, $`I(𝐫,V)𝑑EA_S(𝐫,E)A_N(𝐫,E+eV)`$, is a convolution of the local one-particle spectral function of the normal-state tip, $`A_N(𝐫,E)=_k\delta (EE_k)`$, and that of the superconducting sample, $`A_S(𝐫,E)=_k[|u(𝐫)|^2\delta (EE_k)+|v(𝐫)|^2\delta (E+E_k)]`$. The differential tunneling conductance is thus obtained by taking the partial derivative of $`I(𝐫,V)`$ with respect to the applied voltage $`V`$,

$`{\displaystyle \frac{I}{V}}(𝐫,V)\mathrm{sech}^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{eVE_0}{2T}}\right)|u(𝐫)|^2+\mathrm{sech}^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{eV+E_0}{2T}}\right)|v(𝐫)|^2.`$ (7)
At small temperatures, the local tunneling conductance around the impurity site is dominated by $`|u(𝐫)|^2`$ for a fixed binding energy $`E_0`$ and by $`|v(𝐫)|^2`$ for $`E_0`$.

In Fig. 1(a) and (b), we show $`|u(𝐫)|^2`$ and $`|v(𝐫)|^2`$ respectively. The Fermi wave vector $`p_F2.7/a`$ was chosen to be consistent with band structure calculations. The patterns described by the squares of these wave functions are concentric circles without a trace of four-fold symmetry. If the underlying superconducting order parameter is indeed $`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Delta }}(𝐤)=\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{z}\mathrm{exp}(\pm i\varphi )`$ the patterns of the local tunneling current around non-magnetic impurities should thus be featureless along the azimuthal direction in the 2D plane.

### B 2D f-wave superconductors

Let us now consider 2D f-wave superconductors with an order parameter $`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Delta }}(𝐤)=\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{z}\mathrm{cos}(2\varphi )\mathrm{exp}(\pm i\varphi )`$. Following the above procedure, the corresponding Bogoliubov - de Gennes equations are then given by

$`Eu(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{^2}{2m}}\mu V(𝐫)\right)u(𝐫)+p_F^3\mathrm{\Delta }(_x^2_y^2)(i_x_y)v(𝐫),`$ (8)
$`Ev(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{^2}{2m}}\mu V(𝐫)\right)v(𝐫)+p_F^3\mathrm{\Delta }(_x^2_y^2)(i_x+_y)u(𝐫).`$ (9)
Bound state solutions for this case are found to be of the form

$`u(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`A\mathrm{exp}(\gamma r)\left(J_0(p_Fr)+\beta J_4(p_Fr)\mathrm{cos}(4\varphi )\right),`$ (10)
$`v(𝐫)`$ $`=`$ $`A\mathrm{exp}(\gamma r)\left(\alpha J_1(p_Fr)\mathrm{exp}(i\varphi )+\delta J_3(p_Fr)\mathrm{exp}(3i\varphi )\right).`$ (11)
In analogy to Ref. , we obtain

$`E`$ $`=`$ $`KV{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha +\delta ),`$ (12)
$`E\alpha `$ $`=`$ $`K\alpha {\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}\mathrm{\Delta }(1+{\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{\sqrt{2}}}),`$ (13)
$`E\beta `$ $`=`$ $`K\beta {\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha +\delta ),`$ (14)
$`E\delta `$ $`=`$ $`K\delta {\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}\mathrm{\Delta }(1+{\displaystyle \frac{\beta }{\sqrt{2}}}).`$ (15)
From Eqs. (12) - (15) we get $`\alpha =\delta =(VK)/(\sqrt{2}\mathrm{\Delta })`$ and $`\beta =(1V/(KE))/\sqrt{2}`$. For an impurity with a scattering strength in the unitary limit the energy of the bound state is expected to be very small, $`E0`$, and $`V\mathrm{\Delta }`$. This gives $`\beta 1/\sqrt{2}`$. On the other hand, in the Born limit $`E\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and $`V0`$, which gives $`\beta 1/\sqrt{2}`$. In Fig. 2(a) and (b), we plot $`|u(𝐫)|^2`$ and $`|v(𝐫)|^2`$ for $`\beta =1/\sqrt{2}`$, corresponding to weak scattering. In the limit of strong impurity scattering, $`\beta =1/\sqrt{2}`$, the patterns are changed as shown in Fig. 3(a) and (b). It is observed that for 2D f-wave superconductors with $`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Delta }}(𝐤)=\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{z}\mathrm{cos}(2\varphi )\mathrm{exp}(\pm i\varphi )`$, both $`|u(𝐫)|^2`$ and $`|v(𝐫)|^2`$ have a four-fold symmetry. Depending on the impurity scattering strength, they extend either in the directions of the Ru-O bonds or are tilted by an angle of 45 degrees. The STM imaging of impurity bound states can thus provide a clear signature of the order parameter symmetry for the underlying superconductivity.

## III Concluding Remarks

Stimulated by the successful scanning tunneling microscopy imaging of quasi-particle bound state wave functions around Zn-impurities in Bi2212, we have studied the analogous patterns of impurity bound states in $`\mathrm{Sr}_2\mathrm{RuO}_4`$. By applying the appropriate Bogoliubov - de Gennes equations, the characteristic patterns were distinguished for two proposed order parameters: (i) gapped 2D p-wave (or $`E_u`$) superconductors with $`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Delta }}(𝐤)=\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{z}\mathrm{exp}(\pm i\varphi )`$, and (ii) gapless 2D f-wave (or $`\mathrm{B}_{1\mathrm{g}}\times \mathrm{E}_\mathrm{u}`$) superconductors with $`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Delta }}(𝐤)=\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{z}\mathrm{cos}(2\varphi )\mathrm{exp}(\pm i\varphi )`$. While the tunneling conductance patterns of the fully gapped odd-parity 2D p-wave superconductor are featureless along the azimuthal direction, a clear four-fold symmetry in $`|u(𝐫)|^2`$ and $`|v(𝐫)|^2`$ is predicted for the 2D f-wave superconductor.

The experimentally observed in-plane anisotropy of the upper critical field $`H_{c2}`$ in $`\mathrm{Sr}_2\mathrm{RuO}_4`$ is quite small ($`3\%`$). This may indicate that there is a combination of 2D f-wave and p-wave superconductivity in this compound. Furthermore, a possible alternative to the plain 2D p-wave superconductivity considered above would be a 3D $`\mathrm{A}_{1\mathrm{g}}\times \mathrm{E}_\mathrm{u}`$ f-wave order parameter of the form $`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Delta }}(𝐤)=\mathrm{\Delta }\widehat{z}\mathrm{cos}(ck_z)\mathrm{exp}(\pm i\varphi )`$. The in-plane impurity bound state patterns for 2D $`\mathrm{E}_\mathrm{u}`$ and 3D $`\mathrm{A}_{1\mathrm{g}}\times \mathrm{E}_\mathrm{u}`$ are the same, and a directional probe along the $`\widehat{k}_z`$-direction would be needed to distinguish between these two cases.

Our study suggests that the Bogoliubov - de Gennes formalism in the continuum limit is very useful in addressing the shape of impurity induced bound states. The corresponding bound state wave functions $`u(𝐫)`$ and $`v(𝐫)`$ clearly reflect the symmetry of $`\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐫)`$. Therefore the imaging of these wave functions provides unique insight into the underlying symmetry of the order parameter. A similar study of the vortex state is in progress.

We thank Kazushige Machida, Manfred Sigrist, and Hyekyung Won for useful discussions. K. M. acknowledges the hospitality and the support of the Max-Planck Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme at Dresden, and S. H. thanks the Zumberge foundation for financial support.


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# Intermittent behavior of cosmic mass field revealed by QSO’s Ly𝛼 forests

## 1 Introduction

The structures of the cosmic mass field on scales from sub-Mpc to kpc have attracted a lot of attention recently. High resolution N-body simulations show that the core profiles of massive halos of the cold dark matter (CDM) cosmogony are singular (Navarro, Frenk & White 1997, Moore et al. 2000, Jing & Suto 2000), while the halo profiles required by the rotation curves of dwarf galaxies (Flores & Primack 1994, Burkeret 1995) are shallower than the numerical results. The central cusps of dark halos also disagree with soft halo profiles inferred from low surface brightness galaxies (de Blok & McGaugh 1997.) The cores of galaxies and clusters are even found to be consistent with the thermal equilibrium model with an “universal” mass density (Firmani et al. 2000.) In other words, the singular behavior of cosmic clustering has not been detected in the cores of galaxies and clusters.

We can now ask the question: can the singular behavior, if it exists, be revealed by methods other than the mass profile of galaxies and clusters? At the first glance, this goal seems to be not achievable, as singular mass density profiles can only be seen in cores of galaxies and clusters. However, a random mass field $`\rho (x)`$ consisting of rare singular structures randomly scattered in low mass density background typically is intermittent (Zel’dovich et al. 1990.) A basic character of an intermittent field is that the density difference between two neighboring positions, $`|\rho (x+r)\rho (x)|`$, can be “abnormally” large when $`r`$ is very small. That is, the rare events of large density difference $`|\rho (x+r)\rho (x)|`$ on small scales $`r`$ have a higher probability than that for a Gaussian field. Such a singular behavior of a random mass field means that the probability density function (PDF) of the density differences on small scales, $`r`$, has a long tail. Obviously, the effects of long tailed PDF of the density difference are not limited to the singular mass profile. This motivated us to look for the PDF’s long tail and its effects by using samples other than the cores of galaxies and clusters.

The PDF’s long tail have not yet been seriously studied. The most popular statistical measure of large-scale structures – the power spectrum of a mass field, is insensitive to the PDF’s long tail. Furthermore, The density difference, $`|\rho (x+r)\rho (x)|`$, is a quantity localized in space $`x`$ and on scale $`r`$, and so a space-scale decomposition is necessary. Thus using the power spectrum or any statistic that is not based on proper space-scale decomposition, it is not possible to identify the effects of long-tailed PDF of the density difference.

In this Letter, using a discrete wavelet transform (DWT), we look for the long tail effects from a sample of QSO’s Ly$`\alpha `$ forests. It is believed that the distribution of baryonic diffuse matter is almost point-by-point proportional to the underlying dark matter density. Moreover, the absorption optical depth of Ly$`\alpha `$ is linearly dependent on the baryonic density. Therefore, the high resolution data of the transmitted flux of QSO’s absorption would be a good candidate to reveal the long-tailed PDF of cosmic mass field on small scales.

## 2 Method

Let us consider a 1-D random mass density field $`\rho (x)`$ in spatial range $`L`$. With a DWT space-scale decomposition, the local density difference, $`|\rho (x+r)\rho (x)|`$, is represented by the wavelet function coefficients (WFCs) as

$$\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{j,l}=\psi _{j,l},\rho ,$$
(1)
where $`\psi _{j,l}(x)`$ is the orthonormal and complete basis of the discrete wavelet transform, and $`\mathrm{}=\mathrm{}.dx`$ is the inner product (Daubechies, 1992.) We use DAUB4 wavelet (Press et al. 1993, Nielsen 1998) for our analysis through out this Letter. The WFC, $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{j,l}`$, is the density fluctuation on the scale $`L/2^j`$ at the position $`l=0,\mathrm{}2^j1`$, or the mean density difference between nearest neighbors ranging on scale $`L/2^j`$ at $`l`$. If the “fair sample hypothesis” (Peebles 1980) holds, then the $`2^j`$ values of $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{j,l}`$ form an ensemble of the density differences on scale $`j`$, and therefore, the distribution of $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{j,l}`$ is a reasonable estimate of the PDF of the density differences on scale $`j`$ (Fang & Thews 1998.)

The second order statistics $`|\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{j,l}|^2`$ describes the power of the perturbations of the mode $`(j,l)`$. In other words, at a given position $`l`$, the local power spectrum is given by

$$P_{j,l}=\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{j,l}^2.$$
(2)
By averaging $`P_{j,l}`$ over all positions $`l`$, we have

$$P_j=\frac{1}{2^j}\underset{l=0}{\overset{2^j1}{}}|\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{j,l}|^2=\frac{1}{2^j}\underset{l=0}{\overset{2^j1}{}}P_{j,l}.$$
(3)
It has been shown that $`P_j`$ actually is a band-averaged Fourier power spectrum (Pando & Fang 1998; Fang & Feng 2000.)

The Fourier power spectrum lacks phase information, and therefore, $`P_j`$ cannot show the phase-related features of clustering. However, $`P_{j,l}`$ is phase-sensitive. One can search for the phase-related features of the mass field by local DWT power spectrum $`P_{j,l}`$.

We can generalize the definition of local DWT power spectrum, eq.(2) as follows. First we chop $`L`$ into $`2^{j_s}`$ sub-interval, labeled by $`l_s=0,1\mathrm{}(2^{j_s}1)`$. Each sub-interval has a length $`L/2^{j_s}`$. Then, the local DWT power spectrum at sub-interval $`l_s`$ is given by

$$P_{j,\{j_s,l_s\}}=\frac{1}{2^{jj_s}}\underset{l=l_s2^{jj_s}}{\overset{(l_s+1)2^{jj_s}1}{}}|\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{j,l}|^2.$$
(4)
It is the power on scale $`L/2^j`$ localized on $`l_s`$ with size $`L/2^{j_s}`$.

For a Gaussian field, the local power spectrum $`P_{j,l}`$ will not show structures with respect to $`l`$. On the other hand, the singular behavior of a random field is measured by the exponent $`\alpha `$ defined by $`|\rho (x+r)\rho (x)|r^\alpha `$. The larger the $`\alpha `$ is, the smoother the field on small scales is, and vice versa. If the exponent $`\alpha `$ is negative there are an actual singularity of the field. Therefore, the singular behavior can be revealed by the roughness of the local power spectrum on small scales. The WFC local power spectrum can also measure the index $`n`$ of power-law profile $`\rho r^n`$ for individual core.

## 3 Sample and analysis

The sample used for the analysis is the Ly$`\alpha `$ transmitted flux of QSO HS1700+64. This sample has been employed to study the evolution of structure (Bi & Davidsen 1997), the Fourier and DWT power spectra (Feng & Fang 2000.) The recovered power spectrum has been found to be consistent with the CDM model on scales larger than about 0.1 $`h^1`$ Mpc. The data ranges from 3727.012Å to 5523.554Å with a resolution of $`3`$ kms<sup>-1</sup>, for a total of 55882 pixels. In this paper, we use the first 25000 pixels for analysis, which correspond to $`z=`$ 2.07$``$ 2.65, or $`\lambda =`$ 3727.012Å $``$ 4434.266Å. On average, a pixel is about 0.029Å, equivalent to physical size $`5`$ $`h^1`$ kpc at $`z2`$ for a flat universe. We pad 7768 null pixels at the end to utilize a fast wavelet transform algorithm, which requires the data size in powers of 2. It does not affect the analysis, because the wavelet transform is localized. Moreover, we subject DWT directly to pixels without transforming them to physical positions. The relation between pixel number and physical position is not linear, but it does not affect structures on small scales. Thus, we ignore the effect of the non-linear relation in our present analysis.

Most lines in the Ly$`\alpha `$ transmitted flux are due to absorptions by gases in cool and low density regions. The pressure gradients are generally less than gravitational forces. That is, the gas, and hence the transmitted flux, should be good tracer of the dark matter. Nevertheless, small scale structures of the dark matter field may be smoothed out by the velocity dispersion of Ly$`\alpha `$ forest gases. Therefore, to identify the clustering feature, we will statistically compare the real data with its phase-randomized counterpart, which is obtained by taking the inverse transform of the Fourier coefficients of the original data after randomizing their phases uniformly over $`[0,2\pi ]`$ without changing their amplitudes.

### 3.1 The PDFs of WFCs

In Fig. 1, we show the PDFs of the WFCs for $`j=8`$, and 14. Each PDF is normalized to have unit variance. For scale $`j=8`$, the departure from Gaussian distribution is not so significant. Especially, no tail shows in the $`j=8`$ PDF, i.e. no WFCs found to be $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{j,l}3\sigma `$. For j = 14, the PDF of WFCs has $`2^{14}`$ events. Therefore, if the PDF were Gaussian, the number of the events larger than 3$`\sigma `$ would be about 44. However, the data shows 234 events beyond the 3$`\sigma `$ range. Furthermore, a Gaussian PDF predicts that the number of the events larger than 5$`\sigma `$ should be 0.01, while the data shows more than 100 events larger than 5$`\sigma `$. The data extends to beyond 15$`\sigma `$ on both sides. Therefore, the PDF is indeed significantly long-tailed on small scales. In other words, the field is rougher on smaller scales. This indicates that the field may contain singular structures.

The shape of the two PDFs of $`j=8`$ and 14 is very different from each other. That is, the two stochastic variables $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{j,l}`$, $`j=8,14`$ don’t relate to each other as

$$\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{j,l}=2^{\beta (jj^{})}\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{j^{},l},$$
(5)
where $`\beta `$ is a constant. Therefore, the mass field traced by the QSO HS1700+64 is unlikely to be self-similar.

### 3.2 Local power spectrum

In Fig. 2 we plot the local DWT power spectra of the HS1700+64 transmitted flux and its phase-randomized counterpart. We take $`j_s=7`$, i.e. chopping the entire sample into 128 sub-intervals, and, in each sub-interval, calculating the power spectra for $`j=8`$ $``$ 14, which correspond to physical scales $`2^{15j}\times 5`$ $`h^1`$ kpc.

Fig. 2 shows that the $`j=8`$ local power spectrum for real data is not very different from its phase-randomized counterpart. This is consistent with the $`j=8`$ PDF shown in Fig.1. It is closer-to-Gaussian. While the $`j=12`$ $``$ $`14`$ local spectra are very rough, showing remarkably spiky structures, that completely disappear in the phase randomized counterpart. The spiky features mean that a significant part of the power is concentrated in some small areas. This feature is a result of the long tailed PDF of the density difference, i.e., higher probability of “abnormal” density change. The smaller the scale, the more pronounced the spiky features. This, again, points to a singular clustering of cosmic mass field.

It should be emphasized that the spikes in the local power spectrum with high $`j`$ do not always correspond to the peaks in the density distribution (or the absorption lines in the optical spectrum). The WFCs $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{j,l}`$ describe the difference in density between intervals of length $`2^{15j}\times 5`$ $`h^1`$ Mpc. The average of $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{j,l}`$ over $`l`$ generally is zero. The mean power (or variance) at $`j=14`$ is $`P_{14}=1.2\times 10^5`$. Thus, even a single event $`>10\sigma `$ at $`j=14`$ doesn’t always refer to high density, and it can happen in regions other than high density cores. The spikes denote the positions where the density (or the absorption optical depth) undergoes a dramatic change, which is the key indicator of the singular behavior of a random field.

The wavelet functions $`\psi _{j,l}`$ are orthogonal, and therefore, the local power spectrum on scale $`j`$ doesn’t contaminate perturbations on other scales. This is very different from the density distribution smoothed by a window function on scale $`j`$. The peaks identified from the window-function smoothed density field contain all contributions from perturbations on scales $`j^{}j`$. Therefore, the peaks in a smoothed field are actually given by a superposition of perturbations on large and small scales. They may not show singular features, because the PDFs of large scale (or $`j^{}<j`$) perturbations are closer to Gaussian.

We should estimate the possible distortion of the long tail effects caused by velocity dispersion of gases. We calculated the $`j=14`$ local power spectrum with sub-interval $`j_s=14`$, which is plotted in Fig. 3. This local power spectrum has almost the same spiky features identified in the $`j=14,j_s=7`$ spectrum (see, Fig. 2.) That is, most spikes shown by the power localized in sub-interval with size of about 600 $`h^1`$ kpc actually are localized in sub-interval with size only about few 10 $`h^1`$ kpc. This result indicates that the contamination of gas velocity dispersion may not be significant, at least, for prominent spikes. Thus, the spiky structures should mainly come from the underlying mass field.

Intermittency can more clearly be seen in Fig. 3. The mean powers \[eq.(3)\] of the real data (left panel) and randomized counterpart (right panel) of the $`j_s=14`$ and $`j=14`$ local spectrum actually are the same, while the spikes of the real data are higher than the mean power by a factor of few tens even hundreds. That is, in the real sample, most power of the $`j=14`$ perturbations is concentrated in the spikes, and almost no power, i.e. $`P_{j,\{j_s,l_s\}}0`$, in places other than the spikes. This is a typical intermittent distribution.

## 4 Conclusions

With the PDFs of $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_{j,l}`$ and local DWT power spectra, we show that the mass field traced by the QSO HS1700+64 Ly$`\alpha `$ forests is neither Gaussian, nor self-similar, but intermittent. The spiky features shown in the local DWT power spectrum is remarkably pronounced on scales down to about 10 $`h^1`$ kpc. Moreover, the long tail and the spiky features are substantial on smaller scales. This indicates that the cosmic mass field is rougher on smaller scales, consistent with singular clustering.

A big advantage of intermittency is that one can detect singular clustering using the statistical features of entire random density field, not limited to the cores of galaxies and clusters. The information of intermittency extracted from Ly$`\alpha `$ forests would be important to test models of cosmic clustering in terms of their singular behavior.

We thank Dr. D. Tytler for kindly providing the data of the Keck spectrum HS1700+64. PJ would also like to thank Dr. Robert Maier for his help. HZ thanks Dr. David Burstein for helpful discussions.


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# The GZK Bound and Strong Neutrino-Nucleon Interactions above 10¹⁹ eV: a Progress Report

## I The GZK Puzzle

For more than 35 years it has been known extra-galactic proton cosmic rays should not exceed the energy of about $`5\times 10^{19}`$ eV. This is the GZK bound GZK . Year after year, observations have continued to defy this result linsley . Recent observations of showers with reliably determined energies above $`10^{20}`$ eV fliesI  deepen the puzzle.

The GZK bound is as basic as the Big Bang and the Standard Model. The bound is obtained by attenuation of ultra-high energy (UHE) protons on the cosmic microwave background. The threshold of $`5\times 10^{19}`$ eV is kinematic, representing a center of mass energy sufficient for production of electron-positron pairs and nuclear resonances. The cross sections for these reactions and the density of microwave background photons are known. So the attenuation of protons is known, and exponential attenuation will eliminate protons from sources more about 50 Mpc from the Earth. There are not enough sources within 50 Mpc to explain the data, making the origin of the $`GZK`$-violating events very mystifying. Speculative models such as unstable superheavy relic particles and topological defects can create particles of high enough energy, but also require sources within the same limited sphere. A hint of correlations between observed event directions and cosmologically-distant sources Farrar98 , if confirmed, also indicates something very mysterious.

The only elementary particle that could cross the requisite intergalactic distances of about 100 Mpc or more is the neutrino. The only electrically neutral, stable particle that could expain correlations with cosmologically-distant sources is also the neutrino. Flux estimates of $`UHE`$ neutrinos produced by extra-galactic sources and GZK-attenuated nucleons and nuclei vary widely, but suffice to account for the shower rates observed. The neutrino would be a natural candidate for the events, if its interaction cross section were large enough elbert .

The neutrino-nucleon total cross section $`\sigma _{tot}`$ is the crucial issue. In the Standard Model $`\sigma _{tot}`$ is based on small-x QCD evolution and $`W^\pm ,Z`$ exchange physics. Cross sections of order $`10^410^5`$ mb are predicted for the region of $`10^{20}`$ eV primary energy. This is far too small to explain the data: so perhaps new physical processes may be at work.

### I.1 The $`\nu N`$ Cross Section with Massive Spin-2 Exchange

Total cross sections at high energies are dominated by characteristics of the t-channel exchanges. The growth of $`\sigma _{tot}`$ with energy, in turn, is directly correlated with the spin of exchanged particles.

For this reason the GZK-puzzle cannot be explained by considering new spin-1 exchanges. New W- or Z-like massive vector bosons would produce $`\sigma _{tot}`$ growing at the same rate as the standard one, and normalized below it. Indeed any new neutrino physics must not disturb the agreement of laboratory data with 4-Fermi physics in the low energy region. At the same time the $`GZK`$-violating data indicates a cross section growing with energy that must greatly exceed the Standard Model growth by $`10^{20}`$ eV. How is this possible?

The paradox is beautifully resolved with massive spin-2 exchange. The fascinating possibility of massive spin-2 exchange has recently become popular in the context of hidden “extra” dimensionsADD1 . Kaluza-Klein ($`KK`$) excitations of the graviton are believed to act like a tower of massive spin-2 particle exchanges. We calculate the effect using the Feynman rules developed by several groupsHaLyZh . We find neutrino-nucleon cross section values at $`E_\nu =10^{20}`$ eV in the $`1100`$ mb range from mass scales in the $`110`$ TeV range. Interestingly, this range of masses is just that indicated by the extra-dimensions phenomenology, and this range of cross sections is just that indicated by the $`GZK`$-violating data.

What about low energies? With spin-2 exchange, $`d\sigma /dt`$ grows like $`s^2`$ and $`\sigma `$ like $`s^3`$ in the low-energy, perturbative region (with a cutoff on t, then one power of s in the total cross section is replaced by the cutoff, of course). The new contributions to $`\sigma _{tot}`$ are naturally orders of magnitude below the Standard Model component in the entire regime where neutrino cross sections have been measured. Nor is any miracle needed for the neutrino interactions to emerge above ordinary cosmic ray events above $`10^{19}`$ eV. That is because the $`GZK`$ attenuation process must set in, uncovering a spectrum of neutrinos just at the point where protons get attenuated away. Our model of neutrinos and massive spin-2 exchange explain the $`GZK`$-violating events consistent with all known experimental limits, as shown in Fig. 1.

### I.2 Updates and Controversies

This is an exciting area with rapid progress on many applications.

Striking signatures appear in predictions of signals in planned $`Km^3`$-scale cosmic neutrino detectors. The 1 TeV to 10 PeV region will be explored, much like the existing AMANDAamanda  and RICErice  detectors. In this regime the predicted us  ratio of upward to downward neutrino-induced showers differs substantially from the Standard Model, creating a nice diagnostic for new physics.

Horizontal air showers develop over long distances and probe smaller cross sections. Using essentially our enhanced cross section with $`s^1`$ behaviour, but with different parameter choices, the authors of Ref. tos  link horizontal shower studies to extra dimension physics. They show how fundamental scales up to 10 TeV can be probed. Detailed studies of shower characteristics generated by our model for various cross sections are also underwaypankaj . We find that the neutrino-induced and proton-induced showers cannot be distinguished on a shower-by-shower basis. There are exciting prospects for finding signals of new physics in shower angular distributions.

A recent re-calculation within the same Kaluza-Klein $`KK`$ framework kp  includes the “brane recoil” effects advocated bybando . After making several technical points, the authors of Ref. kp  present a cross section that is basically equivalent to our $`s^2`$ growth model. They conclude that the resulting cross section is too small to explain the UHE cosmic ray showers. However they do not consider all the parameter choices allowed by current experimental limits and hence we find their conclusions unsupported.

Acknowledgments: We thank Tom Weiler, Prashanta Das, Faheem Hussain, and Sreerup Raychaudhuri for useful discussions. This work was supported in part by U.S. DOE Grant number DE-FG03-98ER41079 and the Kansas Institute for Theoretical and Computational Science.