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# 1 Low-background facility

## 1 Low-background facility

Since our detectors operate at $`15`$ mK, the central part of the CRESST low-background facility at the LNGS is the cryostat. The design of this cryostat had to combine the requirements of low temperatures with those of low background. The first-generation cryostats in this field were conventional dilution refrigerators where some of the materials were screened for radioactivity. However, due to cryogenic requirements some non-radiopure materials, for example stainless steel, cannot be completely avoided. Therefore we chose the design shown in Fig. 1, in which a well separated “cold box” houses the experimental volume at some distance from the dilution refrigerator. The experimental volume can house up to 100 kg of target mass. The cold box is made of low-background copper, with high-purity lead used for the vacuum seals. It is surrounded by shielding consisting of 14 cm of low-background copper and 20 cm of lead. Special consideration was given to the space between the dilution refrigerator and the cold box. The separation was chosen large enough so that the “neck” of the external shielding, together with the internal shields, eliminates any direct line of sight from the outside world into the cold box. The low temperature of the dilution refrigerator is transferred to the cold box by a 1.5 meter long cold finger protected by thermal radiation shields, all of low-background copper. A 20 cm thick lead shield inside a copper can is placed between the mixing chamber and the cold finger, with the low temperature transmitted here by the copper can. This internal shield, combined with another one surrounding the cold finger, serves to block any line of sight for radiation coming from the dilution refrigerator into the experimental volume.

To avoid activation of the copper by cosmic rays we minimized the amount of time that the copper of the shielding and the cold box spent above ground. After electrolytic production the copper was stored in the cellar of a beer brewery near Munich, shielded from cosmic rays by more than 10 m water equivalent. This reduces the hadronic component of the cosmic rays by a factor of about 500. Each piece was only brought out of the brewery cellar for the few days needed for its machining, and then returned to the cellar. The total above-ground exposure of the copper was about 10 weeks.

It is not sufficient to use high-purity materials. Their surfaces must also be kept clean during use, and we have taken care to design our facilities in Gran Sasso to make this possible. The Faraday cage which surrounds the experiment was chosen large enough so that all work on the low-background components of the experiment can be performed inside the cage. The cage is divided into two levels. The lower level is equipped as a clean room with a measured clean room class of 100 to protect the low-background components. The external lead and copper shields are in two closely fitting halves, each supported on a “wagon” on rails, so that the shielding can be opened without handling the individual pieces. The entire shielding is enclosed in a gas-tight Radon box that is flushed with N2 and maintained at a small overpressure. In its retracted position (shown in Fig. 2) the shielding is outside the dilution refrigerator support structure but still inside the clean room and sufficient room is then available to disassemble the cold box.

Entrance to the clean room is through a changing room external to the Faraday cage (not shown in Fig. 2). The upper level of the Faraday cage is outside the clean room and allows access to the top of the cryostat for servicing and to the electronics. To save on floor space in Gran Sasso, the counting room and a laminar-flow work space for handling the detectors is placed on top of the Faraday cage. All of this equipment is inside a building in Hall B.

The original installation used a prototype cold box, not made of radiopure materials. The purpose of the prototype was to test the cryogenic functioning of the design and to provide a well-shielded environment for completing the development of the 262 g detectors. At the end of 1998 the prototype cold box was replaced by a radiopure version of the same design. After machining, the new cold box was cleaned by electropolishing and subsequent rinsing with high-purity water. The pieces were then brought to Gran Sasso in gas-tight transport containers made of PE and flushed with nitrogen.

## 2 Detectors and results of Phase I

### 2.1 Sapphire cryogenic calorimeters

The detectors we have developed  consist of a dielectric crystal in which the particle interaction takes place, and a small superconducting film evaporated onto the surface, serving as a thermometer. The detector is operated within the superconducting-to-normal transition of the thermometer, where a small temperature rise $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ of the thermometer leads to a relatively large rise $`\mathrm{\Delta }R`$ of its resistance. The $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ induced by a particle in the energy range of interest for dark matter is much smaller than the width of the transition, so that there is an approximately linear relation between $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }R`$.

We have found  that the energy deposited by the particle does not thermalize in the sapphire crystal. Instead, to good approximation, the high frequency phonons created by an event spread throughout the crystal and reflect at the surfaces until they are directly absorbed in the superconducting film. Thus the energy resolution is only moderately dependent on the size of the crystal, and scaling up to large detectors is feasible.

The technique can be applied to a variety of materials. The detectors employed in Phase I of the CRESST experiment in Gran Sasso used 262 g sapphire (Al2O3) absorbers and tungsten (W) thermometers operating near 15 mK. The 262 g sapphire detectors were developed by scaling up a 32 g sapphire detector . Due to optimized design, and because of the non-thermalization of the phonons, this scaling-up was achieved without significant loss in sensitivity.

Fig. 3 shows a 262 g sapphire detector mounted in its copper holder. The $`4\times 4\times 4.1`$ cm3 crystal rested thermally insulated on supports attached to the holder. In the original design, these supports were sapphire balls. Some of the supports were fixed and others were on pins loaded with plastic springs.

The detector used for dark matter limits had a W thermometer of size 3 mm $`\times `$ 5 mm. The electrical and thermal connections to the detector are shown in Fig. 5. Thermal contact between the holder and the detector was provided by gold wires of diameter 25 $`\mu `$m bonded to the Cu holder and to a gold contact pad in the middle of the W thermometer. The copper holder was thermally connected via the cold finger to the mixing chamber of the dilution refrigerator, which was stabilized to a temperature of 6 mK. The electrical connection to the detector was made by superconducting Al wires bonded to Al pads on each end of the thermometer and to isolated contact pads on the holder. To avoid radioactive solder joints, the superconducting wires from there to the external readout circuit were screwed to the contact pads. The resistance of the thermometer ($``$0.1 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$) was measured by passing a constant current $`I_0`$ through the readout circuit in which the thermometer was in parallel with a small ($``$0.05 $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$) resistor and the input coil of a dc-SQUID (Fig. 5). A rise in the thermometer resistance was then measured via the current rise through the SQUID input coil.

In a separate circuit, a heater to control the temperature of the detector was provided by a $`5`$ mm long 25 $`\mu `$m diameter gold wire which was bonded to the gold pad in the center of the W thermometer and two very small Al contact pads on the sapphire crystal to either side of the thermometer. External connections to the two small Al pads were used to apply a controlled voltage across this gold wire. To avoid interaction between the heater circuit and the readout circuit, the place where they connect – the bond spot of the gold wire – was made as small as possible and its long axis was perpendicular to the direction of current flow in the thermometer. The thermometer temperature was kept constant between pulses using the baseline of the SQUID output voltage as the temperature indicator and regulating the voltage to the heater under computer control using a proportional integral algorithm. The heater was additionally used to inject short heat pulses for monitoring the long term stability of the energy calibration and for measuring the trigger efficiency close to threshold.

For the data-acquisition system, the output voltage of the SQUID electronics was split into two branches. One was shaped and ac-coupled to a trigger unit and the other passed through an anti-aliasing filter and was dc-coupled to a 16-bit transient recorder. The time base of the transient recorder was chosen to be $`40\mu `$s, which provided about 20 samples in the rise time of the pulse. The record length of 1024 time bins included a “pre-trigger” region of 256 bins, to record the baseline before the event, and a “post-trigger” region which contained the pulse (Fig. 6). The transient recorder data for each triggered event were written to disk for off-line analysis. After each trigger there was a dead time of $`25`$ ms to allow time for the readout and the next pre-trigger region. Pulses arriving in another detector within half of the post-trigger period of the detector which triggered first were also recorded, including the time delay with respect to the first trigger.

### 2.2 Data taken in Gran Sasso

The sensitivity and size of the 262 g detectors meant that they could only be meaningfully tested in a low-background environment. This was first done in our setup in Gran Sasso using the prototype cold box of normal copper. Using active thermal feedback, an energy resolution of 133 eV (FWHM) at 1.5 keV for X-rays was achieved . This active feedback was not used in our dark matter run, and without it the resolution at 1.5 keV is more typically 230-330 eV .

During 1999, a first series of measurements with four 262 g detectors under low-background conditions was performed in the new radiopure cold box. The measured background was much higher than expected. It was time-dependent and not Poissonian, indicating that it was not caused by radioactivity. The origin of this background was investigated in a series of runs and finally identified as the spontaneous formation of microscopic cracks in the sapphire crystal at the points where it was supported by sapphire balls. Due to the extremely small contact area of the balls, an excessive pressure resulted from the force needed to tightly hold the crystal. In the spring of 2000 the balls were replaced by plastic stubs with a larger contact area (3 mm diameter) and the spurious background completely disappeared. The use of these stubs did not lead to a noticeable loss of sensitivity, despite their larger contact area.

To study the background and obtain dark matter limits, several runs were performed in 2000, with the longest one lasting about 3 months. The high reliability, long-term stability and up-time during these runs demonstrated convincingly the suitability of such a system for dark matter searches.

In October 2000 the shaping of the trigger signal was optimized and a lower trigger threshold was obtained. A week of data were taken under these conditions. Due to this lower threshold, the dark matter limits obtained from these data are better than those from the previous longer runs, and it is these data which we discuss further. The data consist of a 10-hour calibration run with an external 57Co source, 138.8 hours of data without source and finally another calibration run. The 138 hour run will be used to set our dark matter limits.

### 2.3 Detector monitoring and calibration

The performance of the detector was monitored by heater pulses injected into the small heater wire bonded to the W thermometer. These are produced by a voltage pulse from a pulser module, with the shape adjusted to create a detector response similar to that caused by a particle interaction. A pulse was sent every 30 s throughout both dark matter and calibration runs. The height of the pulses was varied to cover the whole dynamic range, with more pulses in the low energy region. This method provides a monitor of the stability of the detectors, an extrapolation of the energy calibration over the whole dynamic range, and a measure of their trigger efficiency as a function of deposited energy.

The individual detectors varied in their response, with detector # 8 (numbered by order of fabrication) having a lower threshold and thus giving the best dark matter limits. The trigger efficiency of this detector was measured to be 100 % down to an energy of 580 eV throughout the data used to extract the dark matter limits. The stability of detector # 8 during the dark matter run can be seen in Fig. 7, where the response to heater pulses is shown.

To calibrate the energy scale a 57Co source (122 and 136 keV $`\gamma `$ lines) was inserted inside the shielding via a removable plug, illuminating the cold box from below. Data were taken with this source along with the heater pulses. Comparison of the pulse heights from the source and heater pulses provides an absolute calibration of the heater pulses in terms of equivalent $`\gamma `$ energy. The amplitude of each pulse was determined by fitting it to a template. This avoids the bias of picking the highest point of suitably filtered pulses, which is systematically pulled by noise fluctuations to larger values. The absence of any bias is important for a precise definition of the threshold. It was therefore checked by fitting empty base lines randomly sampled during the whole data taking period. The resulting distribution peaked without any bias at (-0.0019 $`\pm `$ 0.003) keV.

The templates were made by averaging many pulses from the same heater pulse voltage. A separate template was made for each heater energy, and for source pulses around the Compton edge (30-35 keV). To extrapolate the energy calibration over the whole dynamic range, we used the heater pulses and plotted their fitted amplitude versus the injected energy (Fig. 8). These data were fit with a polynomial function to give the detector response as a function of deposited energy.

For the dark matter data, the response function determined above was used to convert each recorded event pulse to energy in each time bin. An optimal filter was then used on this converted pulse to determine the pulse height. This gave a slightly better resolution than a template fit. A comparison to the template fit showed that the optimal filter applied to the linearized pulses does not introduce an energy bias. The resulting spectrum for the dark matter run is shown as the upper histogram in Fig. 9.

The reliability of the energy calibration method to low energy was checked with a dedicated run where a low activity 57Co source was mounted inside the cryostat directly facing the crystals. Besides the 122 and 136 keV $`\gamma `$ emission lines, this source gave a 14.4 keV $`\gamma `$ line and a 6.4 keV Fe X ray line. The source was chosen to be very weak to reduce the chance of contamination so that one week run gave only a small number of counts in the 14.4 and 6.4 keV lines. After applying the standard calibration method of extrapolation from the 122 keV line as described above, the measured energies for the 14.4 and 6.4 keV lines were 15.16$`{}_{0.09}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+0.09}`$ keV and 6.70$`{}_{0.05}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+0.07}`$ keV, respectively, with the fit errors corresponding to 90 % CL. Our calibration procedure puts the 14.4 and the 6.4 keV lines 5.3 % and 5.4% too high. Since it is the lower energies which most affect our dark matter limits, this tendency to shift events up in energy will put our limits on the conservative side.

### 2.4 Energy spectrum from dark matter run

The data used to set dark matter limits were taken during a week in October 2000, with a few short interruptions to re-fill the cryostat with liquid helium. The total run time was 138.8 hours, of which 0.6 hours is dead time following triggers.

To avoid reliance on the detailed behaviour of the trigger efficiency at very low energies a software threshold of 600 eV was used. There were 374 events from the software threshold to 20 keV.

Events in coincidence in two or more detectors cannot be due to WIMP interactions, and so can be discarded. The time difference distribution between events showed a clear coincidence peak with a width of about 0.4 ms and long tails extending to about 2 ms for very low detected energies. The coincidence cut was set at $`\pm `$ 4 ms, removing 73 events. Considering that only two detectors were active in this run and only one out of six faces was facing the other crystal, the coincidence rate of almost 20% is surprisingly high.

The pulse shape of the remaining 301 events was then examined. Some of the events were spurious, induced by mechanical vibration or electronic noise, showing an abnormal pulse shape. Particle interactions can also produce distorted shapes when the energy deposit is high and beyond the detector’s dynamic range. To judge the correctness of the pulse shape, each event was fitted to a template and the r.m.s. deviation calculated. A cut on this deviation was chosen to be conservative and have a retention efficiency of essentially 100 % at all energies for good events. Its efficiency was tested with heater pulses, resulting in only 1 out of 1032 of the 580 eV heater pulses being discarded. A second test with the calibration source gave that only 0.22 % of the events were discarded. After the pulse shape cut 265 events remain. These are shown as the lower histogram in Fig. 9.

The final spectrum for detector # 8 is shown again in Fig. 10. In the energy range from 15 to 25 keV the background is $`(0.73\pm 0.22)`$ counts/kg/keV/day and drops to about 0.3 counts/kg/keV/day at 100 keV.

The spectrum shows a peak at about 5.9 keV with $`(7.0\pm 1.2)`$ counts/day. The position of the peak suggests a contamination with 55Fe in the vicinity of the crystal. 55Fe emits Mn X-rays at 5.9 keV with no $`\gamma `$’s and was indeed used as a source for characterizing the performance of the detectors. The spectra measured with other detectors are very similar with nearly the same count rates in both the peak and the continuous part of the spectrum.

### 2.5 Limits on WIMP dark matter

The analysis for dark matter limits of the two possible WIMP interaction cross sections for our sapphire detectors, i.e. spin–independent $`\sigma _{scalar}^{WN}`$ and spin-dependent $`\sigma _{axial}^{WN}`$ WIMP–nucleon cross sections, searches for the cross section which is just large enough that the amount of WIMP events becomes inconsistent with the measured spectrum at a given confidence level (here 90% CL). No general algorithm for such an analysis has been found in the literature. Therefore we developed two conceptually independent approaches to be described below and checked for consistency of the results.

For calculating the energy spectrum of nuclear recoils from elastic collisions between WIMPs and the nuclei of the detector we use formulas from the extensive reviews  for a truncated Maxwell velocity distribution in an isothermal WIMP–halo model. The parameters which have been used are summarized in table 1. For the spin dependent interaction channel only the 27Al nuclei with a spin of 5/2 and100 % natural isotipic abundance contribute, while for spin independent interaction Al and O nuclei both contribute with a rate proportional to $`A^2`$.

The total WIMP–nucleus scattering cross section $`\sigma (q)`$ at finite momentum transfers $`q`$ is parameterized as $`\sigma (q)=\sigma {}_{0}{}^{}F_{}^{2}(q)`$, where $`\sigma _0`$ is the cross section at zero momentum transfer and F(q) is the form factor which accounts for the loss of coherence at larger momentum transfers. The Helm form factor  with the modifications proposed in  has been selected for both interaction channels. For small nuclei like 27Al the momentum transfer is small for all WIMP masses, and details of the form factor have negligible effect on the resulting exclusion plot. Therefore the selected form factor is adequate for both interaction channels. The energy resolution at the 5.9 keV peak in Fig. 10. is $`\delta E`$ = (572 $`\pm `$ 90) eV (FWHM), whereas the resolution of the Fe Kα peak at 6.4 keV from the internal calibration source is (200 $`\pm `$ 50) eV in agreement with the energy resolution of the heater pulses. At the 122 keV peak of the calibration source the resolution degrades to about 5 keV. To account for the finite energy resolution of the detector the recoil spectrum was convolved with a Gaussian with an energy dependent full width at half maximum of $`\delta E=\sqrt{a^2+b^2E^2}`$. With a=0.52 keV and b=4.1, this gives $`\delta E`$ = 0.57 keV and $`\delta E`$ =5 keV at $`E`$=5.9 keV and $`E`$=122 keV, respectively. We further assumed a quenching factor of 1, i.e. 100% of the nuclear recoil energy is detected in the phonon readout channel. An experimental proof of this plausible assumption does not exist up to now for our sapphire detectors. However, quenching factors close to 1 have been measured with other cryogenic detectors .

The analysis procedure which has been used to obtain the exclusion curves is Fig. 12 and Fig. 13 works as follows: After calculating the shape of the energy spectrum for a given WIMP mass, $`\sigma _0`$ which is the scale factor for the intensity of the WIMP expectation, is determined by a maximum–likelihood comparison of the calculated WIMP spectrum with the measured energy spectrum. The analysis is aiming to find the amount of WIMP events that just too large to be hidden under the measured spectrum. Some energy intervals (typically close to the threshold) are more effective than others for constraining the existence of a WIMP signal in the data. Therefore, it is reasonable to select these energy intervals and use them to give the most stringent exclusion limits on a WIMP signal that can be obtained from the data.

We performed such a search, using a sliding, variable-width energy window with a smallest width of 1.2 keV. A similar method was used in . Since the method tends to pick a ’lucky’ downward fluctuation in the data, especially in a low count rate spectrum, it may have a significant statistical bias. Therefore we have investigated the selection bias with two simple alternative methods.

In the first method we fit the spectrum with an empirical function $`B`$ as shown in Fig. 10 which results in a likelihood of $`=_0`$. Without a WIMP contribution this function just describes the background. When a small WIMP signal $`S`$ is first added, which is everywhere smaller then the fit function, then with a re–definition of the background to $`B\mathrm{`}=BS`$ we can achieve to leave $``$ unchanged. With increasing $`\sigma _0`$ , when $`S`$ starts to exceed the fit function in the first energy bin, this compensation would require a negative background and in this bin the function to compare with the data is then the WIMP signal and $``$ starts to decrease. The cross section excluded at 90% CL is obtained when $`=_0`$ \- 1.282/2 is reached.

The second method starts from the same empirical fit of the data and then uses this fit function as the poissonian mean in a Monte Carlo calculation of a large number of synthetical spectra. These spectra are different statistical realizations of the measurement when the fit function is adequate for describing the data. The same function is then fit to each synthetical data set to probe the statistical variation of the fit curve. Then, from each fitted curve $`\sigma _0`$ is determined such as to make the WIMP signal just large enough to explain the fit curve in one energy bin. The $`\sigma _0`$ which is excluded at 90% CL is then obtained as the cross section for which 90 % of the values determined from all fits are below. Finally, the adequacy of the fit function can be inferred from a comparison of the likelihood from the fit of the data with the likelihoods from the fits of the synthetic data sets. For the curve shown in Fig. 10, 49.1% of the synthetic likelihood values are larger, indicating a perfect choice of the fit function.

The results of these methods are compared in Fig. 11. At low WIMP masses the optimal bin method yields weaker limits. This is connected with the restriction to a 1.2 keV minimal width of the sliding bin which is quite large for very low WIMP masses for which the optimal bin starts at threshold. For WIMP masses above 10 GeV on the other hand the optimal bin is searched in relatively wide region with low statistics which results in a large selection bias. For a WIMP mass from 30 GeV to 1000 GeV for example the region from 22.7 keV to 26.3 keV with no counts inside is selected as the optimal bin. To avoid this bias we have chosen the MC method. The small difference between MC and fitting method still needs further investigation and therefore we consider the results presented here still as preliminary.

In order to compare our results to those of other experiments, we have to normalize the obtained WIMP–nucleus cross sections (for spin-dependent, axial, and spin-independent, scalar, interactions) to WIMP–nucleon cross sections. Following , the normalization for the scalar interaction channel is straight forward and yields the results shown in Fig. 12. The scalar channel is not very favourable for a target with light nuclei like sapphire, containing aluminium and oxygen, due to the crucial $`A^2`$ coherence factor, especially for higher WIMP masses. That will change with the CRESST-II detectors as explained in the next section.

For axial interactions, only 27Al has to be considered, since it has spin $`5/2`$. The spin dependent total cross section at zero momentum transfer in the notation of Ref.  is given by

$$\sigma _0=4G_F^2\mu _A^2C_A,$$
(1)
where the WIMP-target reduced mass $`\mu _A`$ is given by $`\mu _A=m_Am_\chi /(m_A+m_\chi )`$ for WIMP mass $`m_\chi `$ and target nucleus mass $`m_A`$. The spin factor $`C_A`$ is given by

$$C_A=\frac{8}{\pi }[a_pS_p+a_nS_n]^2\frac{J+1}{J}.$$
(2)
where $`a_p`$ and $`a_n`$ are (WIMP-type dependent) effective WIMP-proton und WIMP-neutron couplings and $`S_{p,n}`$ are the expectation values of the proton and neutron spins within the nucleus with total nuclear spin J. The limit $`\sigma _0`$ obtained for the WIMP- 27Al nucleus cross section can be translated into a limit for the WIMP-proton cross section by the conversion

$$\sigma _{WIMPp}=\sigma _0\times \frac{\mu _p^2}{\mu _A^2}\times \left(\frac{C_p}{C_A}\right).$$
(3)
However, this normalization turned out to be nontrivial as the recent discussions in the literature has shown . The ’conventional’ procedure relied on the odd-group model which uniquely determines the spin factor for a given material, see e.g. Tab. 3 in . Furthermore, the normalization conveniently cancelled the WIMP model dependencies coming from particle physics. That can be directly seen from the spin factor in Eq.2, where the $`a_{p,n}`$ parameters contain the particle physics model-dependencies.

For free nucleons the spin factor is

$$C_{p,n}=\frac{8}{\pi }\times \frac{3}{4}\times a_{p,n}^2.$$
(4)
The odd-group model implies that for nuclei with unpaired protons or neutrons either $`S_p`$ or $`S_n`$ is zero in Eq. 2, respectively. Therefore, when normalized to the unpaired nucleon the model dependent $`a_{p,n}`$ factors conveniently cancelled in Eq.3. According to shell model calculation (see  and references therein; for 27Al, see ) strict p- or n-type nuclei do not exist and in general both, $`S_p`$ and $`S_n`$ contribute and can even interfere in Eq. 2.

As proposed in , an experiment should therefore publish results separately for the p-type part and the n-type part for their particular nucleus. However, in order to be able to compare our results to already published limits, we applied the odd-group model spin factor, although the value in  for aluminium is outdated. The more recent spin factor using the numbers from  would result in a factor 1.9 reduction of the whole exclusion curve to lower cross sections, in case one neglects the neutron part for the spin factor as described in . One should be aware, however, that using the odd group model approach any comparison to n-type nuclei like 73Ge becomes very problematic. Such a comparison inevitably involves model-dependencies (see e.g. the discussion in  and their Tab. 4). All limits in Fig. 13 consequently come from p-type nuclei (aluminium, sodium and iodine). As can be seen in Fig. 13, we improve existing limits in the low-mass region.

## 3 Plans for Phase II

### 3.1 Scintillating calorimeters

Passive techniques of background reduction – the deep underground site, efficient shielding against radioactivity of the surrounding rocks, and use of radiopure materials – cannot completely eliminate background from radioactive contaminants inside the detectors and their surroundings. $`\beta `$ and $`\gamma `$ absorption produce electron recoils, whereas WIMP and neutron scattering produce nuclear recoils. Therefore a significant improvement in sensitivity can be achieved if, in addition to the usual passive shielding, the detector can distinguish electron recoils from nuclear recoils and reject them.

It is well known that at room temperatures nuclear recoils in scintillators produce much less scintillation light than electron recoils. Thus the combination of a scintillator, measuring light, and a cryogenic detector, essentially measuring total energy, can discriminate between nuclear and electron recoils by using the ratio of detected light to thermal energy. We have investigated the light output of several scintillators at mK temperatures, concentrating on inorganic intrinsic scintillators since their scintillation efficiency usually increases at lower temperatures. All scintillators so far tested (BGO, BaF2, PbWO4, CaWO4) appear to function adequately at mK temperatures.

For an initial test  of a scintillating calorimeter we chose CaWO4. The test setup consisted of two independent detectors. Each one was of the CRESST type: a tungsten superconducting phase transition thermometer with SQUID readout. The scintillating absorber and phonon detector was a 6 g CaWO4 crystal. The light detector was a sapphire wafer, coated with silicon on one side to enhance light absorption. The CaWO4 crystal was irradiated with the 122 keV and 136 keV photons from a 57Co-Source and simultaneously with the $`\beta `$ spectrum from a 90Sr source, with the two sources contributing about equally to the count rate. In addition an americium-beryllium source provided neutrons. The trigger was given by the phonon detector.

Fig. 14 shows a scatter plot of the pulse heights observed in the light detector versus the pulse height observed in the phonon detector. The pulse height has been converted to energy using the 122 keV photon peak in both detectors. The plot shows two well-separated bands. The lower band is caused by neutron-induced nuclear recoils while the diagonal band is caused by electron recoils induced by $`\gamma `$’s and $`\beta `$’s. Electron and nuclear recoils can be clearly distinguished down to a threshold of about 10keV. From the ratio of pulse height light / pulse height phonons for the two bands, a quenching factor (the ratio of the light output for electrons to that for nuclear recoil) of 7.4 can be inferred. The leakage of electron recoils into the nuclear recoil band determines the effectiveness of the electron recoil rejection. If we use a quality factor as defined in Ref. , a detailed evaluation together with data taken without neutrons, we find a rejection factor of 98 % in the energy range between 10 keV and 20 keV; 99.7 % in the range between 15 keV and 25 keV; and better than 99.9 % above 20 keV.

The simultaneous light and phonon measurement has several advantages over the simultaneous measurement of charge and phonons, which is another method of the same type. In the measurement of charge and phonons electrical contacts always produce a dead layer on the surface, which causes surface events, especially electrons from outside, to leak into the nuclear recoil band. As our measurements with electrons clearly show, this problem does not exist with light detection. Also light collection does not suffer from problems such as space charge build up, field inhomogeneities or phonons produced by drifting the charges. Thus many effects are absent which in charge/phonon measurement can cause leakage of electron recoils into the nuclear recoil band. As a result the background suppression efficiency of the light/phonon detection is excellent. It works equally well for photons and electrons, thus avoiding particle dependent systematic uncertainties in discrimination. Furthermore the large quenching factor of the CaWO4 gives a very effective separation of nuclear recoils from electron recoils.

The possibility of using different scintillators with different target nuclei, which is possible with CRESST technology, gives a powerful handle for understanding and reducing backgrounds. Even the neutron background, always considered to be the ultimate limitation for such systems, could be understood by varying the target nuclei.

For a dark matter search, detector masses of several hundred grams per channel are needed. It is therefore necessary to scale up the 6 g detector used in the above tests without loss of performance. Since the device consists of two CRESST-type detectors, we are confident of being able to produce much larger detectors of similar performance by applying familiar techniques and optimizing the design.

For Phase II of CRESST we plan to install scintillating calorimeters with a total mass of about 10 kg, consisting of 33 modules of 300 g CaWO4 crystals. This assembly will fit easily in the present cold box. However the number of SQUID readout channels has to be upgraded to 66. Additionally we plan to install an external muon veto and a passive neutron shield. These upgrades are being implemented during 2001 as part of our move from Hall B to Hall A of Gran Sasso.

### 3.2 Expected dark matter sensitivity

The presence of the heavy tungsten nuclei make the new detectors particularly sensitive to a spin-independent interaction of WIMPs, for which the cross section profits from a large coherence factor of the order $`A^2`$, where $`A`$ is the number of nucleons. Combined with the strong background rejection, this gives good sensitivity down to low WIMP cross sections. Fig. 15 shows the expected sensitivity of Phase II, based on a background rate of 1 count/(kg keV day), an intrinsic background rejection of 99.7 % above a recoil threshold of 15 keV, and an exposure of 30 kg years. For comparison the measured limits from the Heidelberg-Moscow 76Ge-diode experiment , the DAMA NaI experiment , the CDMS experiment at Stanford , and the projected sensitivity of CDMS at the Soudan mine  are also shown together with the contour for positive evidence  from the DAMA experiment.

In a 10 kg CaWO4 detector, 60 GeV WIMPs with the cross section claimed in Ref.  would give about 46 counts between 15 and 25 keV within one month. A background of 1 count/(kg keV day) suppressed with 99.7 % would leave 9 background counts in the same energy range. Thus a 10 kg CaWO4 detector should allow a test of the reported positive signal with 1 month of measuring time.

This work was supported by the DFG SFB 375 “Particle Astrophysics”, the EU Network “Cryogenic Detectors” (contract ERBFMRXCT980167), BMBF, PPARC, and two EU Marie Curie Fellowships.


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# A Knob for Changing Light Propagation from Subluminal to Superluminal

## Abstract

We show how the application of a coupling field connecting the two lower metastable states of a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-system can produce a variety of new results on the propagation of a weak electromagnetic pulse. In principle the light propagation can be changed from subluminal to superluminal. The negative group index results from the regions of anomalous dispersion and gain in susceptibility.

PACS number(s): 42.50.Gy, 42.25.Bs, 42.25.Kb

A series of experiments have demonstrated both subluminal  and superluminal  propagation of light in a dispersive medium. The key to these successful demonstration lies in one’s ability to control optical properties of a medium by a laser field. Harris et. al.  suggested how the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT)  can be used to obtain group velocities $`v_g`$  much smaller than the velocity of light in vacuum. Early experiments  produced values of group index $`n_g=c/v_g`$ in the range $`10^210^3`$. Hau et. al.  could reduce the group velocity to 17 meter/sec in a Bose condensate. This was followed by an experiment in Rb vapor demonstrating reduction of group velocity to $`90`$ meter/sec  and to 8 meter/sec . These experiments were based on the fact that EIT not only makes absorption zero at the line center but also leads to a dispersion profile  with a sharp derivative near the line center of the absorption line. In a different development Wang et. al.  demonstrated superluminal propagation following the work of Chiao and coworkers \[13-16; see also 17\]. Wang et. al. used basically stimulated Raman effect with the pumping beam replaced by a bichromatic field. This produces two regions of Raman gain with a region in between which has the right anomalous dispersion but with a negligible gain . In this communication we propose a scheme where by changing a knob - an additional coupling field, one can switch the propagation of light from subluminal to superluminal. We basically use the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-system driven by a coherent control field, which has been extensively discussed in connection with subluminal propagation . We apply, in addition, a field (referred to as LL coupling field) on the lower levels of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-system and demonstrate how the application of the lower level coupling field can produce regions in optical response with appropriate dispersion profile. The dispersion can change from normal to anomalous depending on the intensity of the LL coupling field . In addition, under suitable conditions the amplification of the light remains negligibly small.

We consider the scheme shown in the Fig. 1(a). We consider propagation of light pulse whose central frequency $`\omega _1`$ is close to the frequency of the atomic transition $`|1|3`$ . We apply a control field on the optical transition $`|1|2`$. The transition $`|2|3`$ is generally electric dipole forbidden transition. The states $`|2`$ and $`|3`$ are metastable states. We apply a field of frequency $`\omega _3`$ on the transition $`|2|3`$. The nature of this field will depend on the level structure. It could be a microwave field, say, in case of Na or an infrared field in case of 208Pb. Moreover, it could be a dc field if one is considering transparency with Zeeman sublevels. Let $`2G=2\stackrel{}{d}_{12}.\stackrel{}{E}_c/\mathrm{}`$ and $`2\mathrm{\Omega }`$ be the Rabi frequencies of the control field $`\stackrel{}{E}_c`$ and the LL coupling field, respectively. The state $`|1`$ decays to the states $`|3`$ and $`|2`$ at the rates $`2\gamma _1`$ and $`2\gamma _2`$. For simplicity we ignore all collisional effects though these could be easily included. What is relevant for further consideration is the group velocity $`v_g`$ for the pulse applied on the transition $`|1|3`$. The $`v_g`$ is related to the susceptibility $`\chi _{_{13}}(\omega _1)`$ for transition $`|1|3`$

$$v_g=\frac{c}{1+2\pi \chi _{_{13}}^{^{}}(\omega _1)+2\pi \omega _1\frac{\chi _{_{13}}^{^{}}(\omega _1)}{\omega _1}},$$
(1)
where $`\chi _{_{13}}^{^{}}(\omega _1)`$ is the real part of $`\chi _{_{13}}(\omega _1)`$. We assume that we are working under condition such that Im$`[\chi _{_{13}}(\omega _1)]=\chi _{_{13}}^{\prime \prime }(\omega _1)0`$. The susceptibility $`\chi _{_{13}}(\omega _1)`$ will depend strongly on the intensities and the frequencies of the control laser and the LL coupling field. We concentrate on the group velocity though actual pulse profiles could be easily simulated . This susceptibility $`\chi _{_{13}}(\omega _1)`$ is obtained by solving the density matrix equations for the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-system of Fig. 1(a), i.e., by calculating the density matrix element $`\rho _{13}`$ to first order in the applied optical field on the transition $`|1|3`$ but to all orders in the control field and the LL coupling field. By making a unitary transformation from the density matrix $`\rho `$ to $`\sigma `$ via

$$\rho _{12}=\sigma _{12}e^{i\omega _2t};\rho _{13}=\sigma _{13}e^{i(\omega _2+\omega _3)t};\rho _{23}=\sigma _{23}e^{i\omega _3t},$$
(2)
we have the relevant density matrix equations

$`\dot{\sigma }_{11}`$ $`=`$ $`iG\sigma _{21}+ige^{i\mathrm{\Delta }_4t}\sigma _{31}iG^{}\sigma _{12}ig^{}e^{i\mathrm{\Delta }_4t}\sigma _{13}2(\gamma _1+\gamma _2)\sigma _{11},`$ (3)
$`\dot{\sigma }_{22}`$ $`=`$ $`iG^{}\sigma _{12}+i\mathrm{\Omega }\sigma _{32}iG\sigma _{21}i\mathrm{\Omega }^{}\sigma _{23}+2\gamma _2\sigma _{11},`$ (4)
$`\dot{\sigma }_{12}`$ $`=`$ $`[\gamma _1+\gamma _2+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{12}i\mathrm{\Delta }_2]\sigma _{12}+iG\sigma _{22}+ige^{i\mathrm{\Delta }_4t}\sigma _{32}iG\sigma _{11}i\mathrm{\Omega }^{}\sigma _{13},`$ (5)
$`\dot{\sigma }_{13}`$ $`=`$ $`[\gamma _1+\gamma _2+\mathrm{\Gamma }_{13}i(\mathrm{\Delta }_2+\mathrm{\Delta }_3)]\sigma _{13}+iG\sigma _{23}+ige^{i\mathrm{\Delta }_4t}\sigma _{33}ige^{i\mathrm{\Delta }_4t}\sigma _{11}i\mathrm{\Omega }\sigma _{12},`$ (6)
$`\dot{\sigma }_{23}`$ $`=`$ $`(\mathrm{\Gamma }_{23}i\mathrm{\Delta }_3)\sigma _{23}+iG^{}\sigma _{13}+i\mathrm{\Omega }\sigma _{33}ige^{i\mathrm{\Delta }_4t}\sigma _{23}i\mathrm{\Omega }\sigma _{22},`$ (7)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$’s give collisional dephasings, the detunings $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1,\mathrm{\Delta }_2,\mathrm{\Delta }_3,\mathrm{\Delta }_4`$ and the coupling constant$`g`$ are defined by

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_1=\omega _1\omega _{13};\mathrm{\Delta }_2=\omega _2\omega _{12};\mathrm{\Delta }_3=\omega _3\omega _{23};\mathrm{\Delta }_4=\mathrm{\Delta }_1\mathrm{\Delta }_2\mathrm{\Delta }_3;g=\frac{\stackrel{}{d}_{13}.\stackrel{}{E}_p}{\mathrm{}}.$$
(8)
The susceptibility $`\chi _{_{13}}`$ can be obtained by considering the steady state solution of (3) to first order in the field on the transition $`|1|3`$. For this purpose we write

$$\sigma =\sigma ^0+\frac{g}{\gamma }e^{i\mathrm{\Delta }_4t}\sigma ^++\frac{g^{}}{\gamma }e^{i\mathrm{\Delta }_4t}\sigma ^{}+\mathrm{}\mathrm{}$$
(9)
The $`13`$ element of $`\sigma ^+`$ will yield the susceptibility at the frequency $`\omega _1`$ as can be seen by combining Eqs. (2) and (5)

$$\chi _{_{13}}(\omega _1)=\frac{N|d_{13}|^2}{\mathrm{}\gamma }\sigma _{13}^+,$$
(10)
where $`N`$ is the density of atoms. In the above equations we have, for simplicity, set $`\gamma _1=\gamma _2=\gamma `$. The group velocity can be obtained by substituting (6) in (1). In presence of the LL coupling field it is difficult to obtain algebraically simple expressions for $`\chi _{_{13}}`$. However Eqs. (3) can be solved numerically. Doppler broadening can be accounted for by using $`\omega _1\omega _1kv;\omega _2\omega _2kv;`$ and by averaging over the Maxwellian distribution for velocities. The velocity dependence of $`\omega _3`$ is insignificant and hence dropped. The parameter $`\delta =\left(\frac{k_BT\omega _1^2}{Mc^2}\right)^{1/2}`$ is a measure of Doppler width in the Maxwellian distribution $`p(x)\mathrm{exp}(\frac{x^2}{2\delta ^2});x=kv`$. We show a number of numerical results in Figs. 1 and 2. We notice from the Fig. 1(c) how the group index $`n_g`$ defined via $`v_g=c/n_g`$, changes from large positive values to large negative values and back to positive values as the intensity of the LL coupling field is increased. Thus the LL coupling field is like a knob which can be used to change light propagation from subluminal to superluminal. We also present the behavior of the corresponding susceptibility for parameters corresponding to superluminal propagation in the Fig. 1(b). We see that at $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1=0`$, the real part of $`\chi _{_{13}}`$ exhibits anomalous dispersion whereas the imaginary part of $`\chi _{_{13}}`$ is fairly flat and negative and is exactly zero at $`\mathrm{\Delta }_1=0`$. The anomalous dispersion along with negative flat region in the imaginary part of $`\chi _{_{13}}`$ is especially attractive for superluminal propagation . In Fig. 1(d) we show the behavior of a pulse $`(tL/c)=\frac{_0}{2\pi }\mathrm{exp}\left[(tL/c)^2/\tau ^2\right]`$, $`(\omega )=\frac{_0}{\sqrt{\pi \mathrm{\Gamma }^2}}\mathrm{exp}\left[(\omega \omega _0)^2/\mathrm{\Gamma }^2\right]`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\tau =2`$, at the output of a medium under condition that group index is negative. The Fig. 1(d) shows that there is no distortion of the pulse. For comparison we also show the pulse at the output in the absence of the medium. The advancement of the pulse due to medium is seen. The difference in the peak positions is in agreement with negative value of the group index. In Fig. 2 we show the results for the group index with and without Doppler averaging. It is known from the work of Kash et. al. that Doppler broadening was insignificant in the behavior of the pulse propagation through a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-system in presence of a control laser. However the situation changes with the application of the LL coupling field at $`|2|3`$ transition (with a wavelength $`1.3\mu m`$) particularly in the region where group index is negative. In Fig. 2 we also show the results for propagation in a much heavier 208Pb vapor . This was the system used earlier by Kasapi et. al.  to demonstrate subluminal propagation. The application of the LL coupling field can lead to the superluminal propagation. The results in this case are not sensitive to Doppler broadening because the Doppler width parameter $`\delta (25\gamma )`$ is much smaller than the Rabi frequency $`G(=297\gamma )`$ of the pump. We note that the production of superluminal propagation depends very much on the nature of the atomic transitions in the system under study and the choice of a large number of parameters such as the powers of the control and coupling fields. From our numerical results it is clear that we need a large coupling between $`|2`$ and $`|3`$. For a magnetic dipole transition between the states $`|2`$ and $`|3`$ the requirement of power of the LL coupling field is large and, in principle, this can be met by using pulsed fields with a pulse width $`\mu `$ sec. However if $`|2`$ and $`|3`$ are chosen to be Zeeman levels, then the available dc magnetic field can be utilized to change propagation from subluminal to superluminal. Note that for Rb, a Rabi frequency of $`100\gamma `$ implies a magnetic field of the order of $`99.3`$ Gauss. Another possibility would be to consider an effective interaction between $`|2`$ and $`|3`$ via Raman transition using two other laser fields. The choice of the system is quite open and we have essentially shown the “in principle” possibility of light propagation from subluminal to superluminal. Thus in conclusion we have demonstrated how the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ system can produce a variety of new results if we apply an additional LL coupling field. In particular we have demonstrated how the application of the LL coupling can produce regions of anomalous dispersion with gain and how this results in superluminal propagation of a weak pulse of light.
One of us (GSA) thanks Ennio Arimondo and Steve Harris for interesting suggestions and S. Menon acknowledges the NSF support from grant no. PHY-9970490.


text:
# Direct Analysis of Spectra of Type Ib Supernovae

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Supernovae of Type II are those that have obvious hydrogen lines in their optical spectra. Type IIb supernovae have obvious hydrogen lines around the time when they reach their maximum brightness (hereafter just “maximum light”) but later the hydrogen lines become weak or even disappear. Type Ib supernovae do not have obvious hydrogen lines but they do develop conspicuous He I lines after maximum light. Neither hydrogen nor He I lines are conspicuous in the spectra of Type Ic supernovae. Most or all events of these four types — II, IIb, Ib, and Ic — are thought to result from core collapse in massive stars. (Type Ia supernovae, whose spectra lack hydrogen and have a strong absorption feature produced by Si II $`\lambda \lambda 6347,6371`$, are thought to have a fundamentally different origin, as thermonuclear disruptions of accreting or merging white dwarfs.) For a recent review of supernova spectral classification, including its historical development and with illustrations of spectra of each type, see Filippenko (1997).

In this paper we are concerned with optical photospheric–phase spectra of Type Ib supernovae (SNe Ib). Until recently, good photospheric–phase spectra had been published for only two SNe Ib: SN 1983N (Richtler & Sadler 1983; Harkness et al. 1987) and SN 1984L (Harkness et al. 1987). The situation has improved substantially now that Matheson et al. (2001) have published spectra of the SNe Ib that were observed at the Lick Observatory during the 1990s. These newly available spectra, together with some additional previously unpublished spectra that are presented in this paper, motivated us to carry out a comparative study of SN Ib spectra. (Matheson et al. also present spectra of SNe IIb and Ic, the study of which we defer to separate papers.)

Our method is to compare the observed SN Ib spectra with synthetic spectra that we generate with the fast, parameterized, supernova spectrum–synthesis code, SYNOW. We refer to this approach, in which the goal is to extract some constraints on the ejected matter from the observations in an empirical spirit, as “direct” analysis — to distinguish it from the process of making very detailed non–local–thermodynamic–equilibrium (non–LTE) calculations of synthetic spectra based on supernova hydrodynamical models (e.g., Baron et al. 1999). Issues that we can explore by means of our direct analysis include (1) line identifications; (2) the extent to which synthetic spectra calculated on the basis of simple assumptions can or cannot account for observed SN Ib spectra; (3) the degree to which the rather homogeneous appearance of SN Ib spectra, pointed out by Matheson et al. (2001), reflects a genuine physical homogeneity; (4) the velocities at which the He I lines form, compared to the velocity at the photosphere as determined by the Fe II lines; (5) whether hydrogen lines are present and, when they are, the velocities at which they form.

Previous work on the interpretation of photospheric–phase spectra of SNe Ib is briefly summarized in §2. The observed spectra that were selected for this project are discussed in §3 and those that have not been published previously are displayed. The synthetic spectrum calculations are described in §4, and comparisons with observed spectra are presented in §5. The results are summarized and discussed in §6.

## 2 PREVIOUS WORK

The classic early paper on the interpretation of the photospheric–phase spectra of SNe Ib was that of Harkness et al. (1987), who calculated local thermondynamic equilibrium (LTE) synthetic spectra for parameterized model supernovae having power–law density structures and homogeneous chemical compositions, and compared them to observed spectra of SNe 1984L and 1983N. Some observed features that appear in spectra of all supernova types were readily attributed to Ca II and Fe II lines. Most of the remaining conspicuous features were convincingly attributed to lines of He I, even though large ad hoc overpopulations of the highly excited lower levels of the He I lines had to be invoked in order to account for their presence. The explanation for the overpopulations was later shown to be nonthermal excitation and ionization caused by the decay products of radioactive 56Ni and 56Co (Lucy 1991; Swartz et al. 1993).

A feature of special interest in the spectra of SNe 1984L and 1983N was an absorption near 6300 Å that could not be attributed to Fe II, Ca II, or He I lines. \[Harkness et al. (1987) referred to this as “the 6300 Å absorption” and so will we, although its wavelength can be as short as 6200 Å at early times.\] Harkness et al. tentatively attributed this absorption to C II $`\lambda 6580`$, forming in outer high–velocity ($``$14,000 km s-1) layers of the ejected matter. Later, on the basis of LTE synthetic spectra calculated for radially stratified chemical compositions, Wheeler et al. (1994) suggested the absorption to be H$`\alpha `$, forming at $``$13,000 km s-1. The issue of whether hydrogen is present in SNe Ib is very important because of its implications for the nature and appearance of the progenitor stars, but it has been a difficult issue to resolve because C II $`\lambda `$6580, being less than 800 km s-1 to the red of H$`\alpha `$, is usually a plausible alternative identification.

Woosley & Eastman (1997) presented a comparison of a non–LTE synthetic spectrum based on a particular explosion model with a photospheric–phase spectrum of SN 1984L. Overall, the synthetic spectrum accounted rather well for the major features in the observed spectrum. The explosion model did not contain any hydrogen, and in the synthetic spectrum the absorption nearest to the 6300 Å feature was produced by Si II, but as we will see below this cannot be the actual identification of the 6300 Å absorption. This is the only comparison of an non–LTE synthetic spectrum with an observed SN Ib photospheric–phase spectrum to be published so far.

No other SN Ib was well observed until SN 1999dn. Deng et al. (2000) used the same SYNOW code that we use in this paper to make a detailed study of line identifications in three spectra that were obtained at the Beijing Astronomical Observatory at times of about 10 days before, at, and 14 days after maximum light. In addition to Fe II, Ca II, and He I lines, Deng et al. explored the possible role of lines of other ions (C I, O I, C II, \[O II\], Na I, Mg II, Si II, Ca I, and Ni II) in shaping the spectra of SN 1999dn. They attributed the 6300 Å absorption in the latest of their three spectra of SN 1999dn to C II $`\lambda 6580`$, forming at $``$10,000 km s-1, but they suggested that in the earlier two spectra the observed feature was more likely to be H$`\alpha `$, forming at higher velocity.

## 3 DATA

The 11 SNe Ib that were selected for this study are listed in Table 1. An asterisk preceding the recession velocity, $`cz`$, indicates that it is the value given by Matheson et al. (2001) for an H II region near the site of the supernova; otherwise the listed value is that of the parent galaxy, from the Asiago Supernova Catalog (Barbon et al. 1999; updates are available at http://merlino.pd.astro.it/supern/). All observed spectra displayed in this paper are corrected for redshift using the values of $`cz`$ listed in Table 1. An asterisk preceding the date of maximum light in the $`V`$ band, $`t_{max}`$, indicates that only the date of discovery is listed, because the date of maximum light is unknown.

Six of these events — SNe 1991ar, 1997dc, 1998T, 1998dt, 1999di, and 1999dn — were selected from Matheson et al. (2001) because they don’t have obvious hydrogen lines while they do have conspicuous He I lines. \[SN 1991D, which also may be a Type Ib but with fairly weak He I lines, is discussed in a separate paper (S. Benetti et al., in preparation).\] SNe 1998dt, 1999di, and 1999dn are especially useful for our study because on the basis of photometry obtained at the Lick Observatory, Matheson et al. were able to estimate the dates of maximum light in the $`R`$ band, which we will assume to peak at the same time as the $`V`$ band \[as was the case for the Type IIb SN 1996cb (Qiu et al. 1999)\]. The three spectra of SN 1999dn that appeared in Deng et al. (2000) also are included in this study.

The spectra of SN 1983N are from Richter & Sadler (1983) and Harkness et al. (1987), and the adopted date of maximum light, 1983 July 17, (in the IUE FES band, which is roughly like the $`V`$ band) is from an unpublished manuscript that was circulated by N. Panagia et al. in 1984. The spectra of SN 1984L are from Harkness et al. (1987). Tsvetkov (1987) estimated that SN 1984L reached maximum light in the $`B`$ band on 1984 August $`20\pm 4`$ days. We assume that the $`V`$ band peaked two days later (as was the case for SN 1996cb) and adopt August 22 as the date of maximum light in the $`V`$ band.

SN 1954A is a special case because only photographic spectra, obtained by N. U. Mayall at the Lick Observatory and by R. Minkowski at the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories, are available. Microphotometer tracings of the spectra of SN 1954A and many other supernovae observed at the Lick Observatory and the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories between 1937 and 1971 have been digitized and displayed by Casebeer et al. (2000) and Blaylock et al. (2000). In the Asiago Catalog the date of maximum light of SN 1954A in the $`B`$ band is estimated as 1954 April 19, so we will adopt April 21 for the $`V`$ band.

One previously unpublished spectrum of SN 1996N is included in this study. The spectrum, obtained at the Anglo–Australian Telescope on 1996 March 23 (Germany et al. 2000), 11 days after discovery, is shown in Figure 1. The date of maximum light of SN 1996N is unknown. The spectrum appears to be that of a typical SN Ib not long after maximum light.

Six previously unpublished spectra111These spectra are partially based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, Chile, ESO N065.H–0292, and at the Asiago Observatory of SN 2000H (Pastorello et al. 2000; Benetti et al. 2000) also are included. These are shown in Figure 2. The spectra of SN 2000H resemble those of a typical SN Ib except for an unusually deep 6300 Å absorption in the first four spectra, as well as a weak, narrow absorption near 4650 Å in at least the second and third spectra. Benetti et al. attributed these absorptions to H$`\alpha `$ and H$`\beta `$. (The H$`\beta `$ feature will be seen more clearly in subsequent figures.) This identification of hydrogen lines might raise the question of whether SN 2000H should be regarded as a Type IIb, but we do not favor such a classification because even at the earliest observed times the presence of hydrogen lines was not obvious, as evidenced by initial classifications of SN 2000H as a peculiar Type Ia (Garnavich et al. 2000) and a Type Ic (Pastorello et al. 2000). From unpublished ESO photometry of SN 2000H we estimate that the date of maximum light in the $`B`$ band was 2000 February $`9\pm 2`$ days, so we adopt February 11 as the date of maximum light in the $`V`$ band.

## 4 CALCULATIONS

Calculations have been carried out with the fast, parameterized supernova spectrum–synthesis code, SYNOW. Recent applications to Type Ic supernovae and brief descriptions of SYNOW can be found in Millard et al. (1999) and Branch (2001), and technical details of the code are in Fisher (2000). An extensive discussion and illustration of the elements of supernova line formation appears in Jeffery & Branch (1990). The basic assumptions of SYNOW are spherical symmetry; velocity proportional to radius; a sharp photosphere; and line formation by resonant scattering, treated in the Sobolev approximation.

Various fitting parameters are available. The parameter $`T_{bb}`$ is the temperature of the blackbody continuum from the photosphere. The values used in this paper range from 8500 to 3600 K and typically are $``$6500 K around the time of maximum light and $``$5000 K beginning roughly two weeks after maximum. We do not attach much physical significance to these values because (for one thing) the observed spectra have not been corrected for interstellar extinction.

For each ion whose lines are introduced, the optical depth at the photosphere of a “reference line” is a fitting parameter, and the optical depths of the other lines of the ion are calculated assuming Boltzmann excitation at excitation temperature $`T_{exc}`$. In this paper, to reduce the number of free parameters, we simply fix $`T_{exc}`$ at a nominal SN Ib value of 7000 K. The relevant lines of a given ion don’t have widely differing excitation potentials so their relative optical depths don’t depend strongly on $`T_{exc}`$, within the range of temperatures that are relevant here.

The line optical depths are taken to vary with ejection velocity as $`v^n`$. Again for simplicity, in this paper we always use $`n=8`$, except for one illustration of the effects of using $`n=5`$ instead. In the analysis of the SN 1999dn spectra by Deng et al. (2000), the line optical depths were taken to vary as $`e^{v/v_e}`$, with $`v_e=1000`$ km s-1. Since the exponential distribution has an effective power–law index of $`n=v/v_e`$, the distribution used by Deng et al. falls off more steeply than $`n=8`$ for $`v>8000`$ km s-1 and less steeply for $`v<8000`$ km s-1. This leads to some differences in the values of $`v_{phot}`$ and the reference–line optical depths used by Deng et al. and by us to match the same observed spectra.

The maximum velocity of the line–forming region is set high enough so that effectively there is no outer boundary. The default minimum velocity of the line–forming region is the velocity at the photosphere; when an ion is assigned a higher minimum velocity, that ion is said to be detached from the photosphere.

Reasons that SYNOW spectra cannot be expected to provide exact fits to observed spectra are numerous and obvious: the calculations are based on many simplifiying assumptions, including spherical symmetry, and the oscillator strengths (Kurucz 1993) are good but not perfect. In this paper we are not concerned with proposing a line identification for every weak observed feature. We are more interested in establishing the identities of the major features and then concentrating on a comparative analysis — to investigate the degree to which the SNe Ib of our sample are physically similar, and to look for differences.

## 5 COMPARISONS

### 5.1 The Fiducial SN Ib Spectrum: SN1999dn, 17 Days After Maximum

We begin the comparisons of observed and synthetic spectra by concentrating on a “fiducial” SN Ib spectrum — a spectrum of a typical SN Ib that has good signal–to–noise ratio and broad wavelength coverage, and in which most of the major spectral features are well developed. The best available spectrum for this purpose is the Matheson et al. (2001) spectrum of SN 1999dn obtained on 1999 September 17, 17 days after maximum light. In Figure 3, this spectrum is compared with a synthetic spectrum that has $`v_{phot}`$=6000 km s-1 and $`T_{bb}`$=4800 K, and contains lines of Fe II, He I, O I, Ca II, Ti II, and Sc II. Almost all of the features in the observed spectrum can be attributed to these ions. The discrepancies will be discussed as we look at the contribution of each ion to the synthetic spectrum. As always when fitting observed spectra with SYNOW spectra, we are more concerned with discrepancies in the wavelengths of absorption features than with discrepancies in flux; the latter are inevitable given the simplicity of our spectrum calculations.

Figure 4 is like Figure 3 but with nothing but the Fe II lines in the synthetic spectrum. The optical depth of the reference line, $`\lambda `$5018, is 7. The Fe II lines are mainly responsible for the spectral features from about 4300 to 5300 Å, and they have additional effects at shorter wavelengths. At this post–maximum time they may also be responsible for the observed absorptions near 6100 and 6300 Å. (These two features are not strong enough in this particular synthetic spectrum, but a higher value of $`T_{exc}`$ would increase their strengths relative to the reference line.) For this reason we don’t use H$`\alpha `$ or C II $`\lambda `$6580 to account for the weak 6300 Å absorption in this observed spectrum. Around maximum light, however, Fe II lines are not strong enough to account for the 6300 Å absorption that is observed at that time.

In this paper we always determine the value of $`v_{phot}`$ on the basis of the Fe II features in the region from about 4300 to 5300 Å. Figure 5 shows a comparison of two Fe II synthetic spectra that have $`v_{phot}`$= 5000 and 10,000 km s-1. This figure shows that the spectral signature of Fe II in this wavelength range is quite sensitive to $`v_{phot}`$. Our fitting uncertainty in $`v_{phot}`$ is about 1000 km s-1.

The top panel of Figure 6 is like Figure 3 but with only the He I lines in the synthetic spectrum. The He I lines are detached at 8000 km s-1 (recall that $`v_{phot}`$=6000 km s-1), where the optical depth of the reference line, $`\lambda `$5876, is 10. It is likely that two optical He I lines, $`\lambda `$6678 and $`\lambda `$7065, are almost entirely responsible for their corresponding observed features. Two other lines, $`\lambda `$5876 and $`\lambda `$4472, are mainly responsible for their corresponding observed features but they may be blended with the Na I D lines ($`\lambda `$$`\lambda `$5890, 5896) and Mg II $`\lambda `$4481, respectively. In this spectrum He I $`\lambda `$7281 accounts very nicely for an observed feature, but in some other spectra the fit is not so good. The remaining optical He I lines are weaker and in the synthetic spectrum of Figure 3 they are overwhelmed by lines of other ions. In Figures 3 and 6 the blue edge of the synthetic absorption produced by He I $`\lambda `$10830 is not blue enough to account for the sharp drop in the observed spectrum near 9000 Å, but we show how to remedy this below.

In Figure 3 and the top panel of Figure 6 the He I lines are detached at 8000 km s-1 in order to fit the wavelengths of the corresponding observed absorption features. The detachment causes the flat tops of the synthetic He I emission components (which are superimposed on a sloping continuum). The rounded emission peak that is observed near 5900 Å could easily be achieved in the synthetic spectrum by including undetached Na I D lines. To illustrate the necessity of detaching the He I lines, the bottom panel of Figure 6 shows how they appear when they are undetached, i.e., when they are allowed to form down to the photospheric velocity of 6000 km s-1. These synthetic absorptions obviously are insufficently blueshifted.

The top panel of Figure 7 is like Figure 3 but with only the O I lines. The optical depth of the reference line, $`\lambda `$7773, is 1. The $`\lambda `$7773 line accounts for at least most of an observed feature; in some of the other observed spectra this feature may be partly produced by Mg II $`\lambda `$7890. The O I $`\lambda `$9264 line may be responsible for a weak observed feature, while the $`\lambda `$8446 feature usually is overwhelmed by the Ca II infrared triplet in SNe Ib. Whenever we use O I lines in the synthetic spectra of this paper, the optical depth of the reference line is near 1.

The bottom panel of Figure 7 is like Figure 3 but with only the Ca II lines. The optical depth of the reference line, $`\lambda `$3933, is 300. Only the H&K lines ($`\lambda `$3933, 3968) and the infrared triplet ($`\lambda `$$`\lambda `$8542, 8662, 8498) produce observable features, both of which are very strong. The notch in the synthetic spectrum near 8400 Å nicely matches an observed feature. In this synthetic spectrum the Ca II lines are detached to 7000 km s-1 to match the infrared triplet, but in most of our synthetic spectra the Ca II lines are undetached.

The top panel of Figure 8 is like Figure 3 but with only the Ti II lines. The optical depth of the reference line, $`\lambda `$4550, is 1. The Ti II lines are used to help match the broad observed absorption trough between 4100 and 4500 Å. We consider the presence of Ti II lines in the observed spectrum to be probable but not definite. \[We do consider them to be definite in peculiar subluminous SNe Ia such as SN 1991bg (Filippenko et al. 1992) and SN 1999by (Garnavich et al. 2001), and in the Type Ic SN 1994I (Millard et al. 1999)\]. Whenever we use Ti II lines in this paper, the optical depth is near 1. None of our other conclusions would be affected by omitting the Ti II lines.

The bottom panel of Figure 8 is like Figure 3 but with only the Sc II lines. The optical depth of the reference line, $`\lambda `$4247, is 0.5. The Sc II lines are used mainly to get a peak in the synthetic spectrum near 5500 Å. The price to be paid is an overly strong synthetic absorption produced by $`\lambda `$4247. Sc II lines are plausibly present in SNe Ib because they are expected (in LTE) to appear at low temperatures (Hatano et al. 1999) and they appear in SNe II. Harkness et al. (1987) suggested that in SN 1984L the observed emission peak near 5470 Å was caused by the early emergence of blueshifted \[O I\] $`\lambda `$5577 nebular–phase emission, but Swartz et al. (1993) found this to be unlikely for the Type Ic SN 1987M. For a discussion of the possibility of an early emergence of blueshifted \[O I\] $`\lambda `$5577 emission in the Type IIb SN 1996cb, see Qiu et al. (1999) and Deng, Qiu, & Hu (2001). In our view the 5500 Å emission in the fiducial spectrum of SN 1999dn probably, but not definitely, is produced by Sc II lines. Whenever we use them, the optical depth of the reference line is near 1. None of our other conclusions would be affected by omitting the Sc II lines.

Figure 9 is like Figure 3 except that the power–law index $`n`$ has been reduced from 8 to 5 (and the optical depths of the reference lines have been correspondingly reduced to keep the synthetic features from becoming too strong). Now the blue wings of the synthetic absorptions produced by the Ca II infrared triplet, Ca II H&K, and He I $`\lambda `$10830 fit better than in Figure 3, but the synthetic absorptions produced by $`\lambda `$5876 and $`\lambda `$6678 extend too far to the blue. This reflects the fact that in real supernovae, contrary to our assumption, the line optical depths do not all follow the same power law (or any power law). A slower radial decline of the optical depth of $`\lambda `$10830 line, compared to the optical He I lines, is expected on the basis of the nonthermal–excitation calculations of Lucy (1991; his Figure 3) and Swartz et al. (1993; their Figure 11). Note that if the blue edge of the $`\lambda `$10830 absorption really extends to 9000 Å, as it does in the synthetic spectrum of Figure 9, then the line is forming all the way out to 50,000 km s-1.

Matheson et al. (2001) demonstrated that the absorption produced by $`\lambda `$6678 (the lower level of which is 1s2p 1P0) becomes weaker with time relative to the absorptions produced by $`\lambda `$5876 and $`\lambda `$7065 (both 1s2p 3P0); this also is to be expected on the basis of the results of Lucy and of Swartz et al., because the singlet resonance transitions to the ground state become less opaque as the ejecta density decreases through expansion.

As mentioned above, Deng et al. (2000) identified C II lines in their September 14 spectrum of SN 1999dn, obtained only three days before our fiducial spectrum of September 17. The identification of C II $`\lambda `$6580 for the 6300 Å absorption was supported by attributing a weak absorption near 4580 Å to C II $`\lambda `$$`\lambda `$4738, 4745. The reasons that we don’t introduce C II lines for the fiducial spectrum (apart from the fact that the 4580 Å absorption doesn’t appear distinctly in the fiducial spectrum) are that (1) as mentioned above, Fe II lines could be responsible for the 6300 Å absorption, and (2) the absorption near 4580 Å in the Beijing spectrum of September 14 might be produced by He I $`\lambda `$4731 (see the top panel of Figure 6) and/or lines of Sc II (see the bottom panel of Figure 8).

### 5.2 SNe 2000H, 1999di, and 1954A: Hydrogen in SNe Ib

Now we turn to SN 2000H, an event that has conspicuous He I lines but that according to Benetti et al. (2000) also has hydrogen lines. Figure 10 compares the $`+5`$ day spectrum of SN 2000H with a synthetic spectrum that has $`v_{phot}`$=8000 km s-1 and $`T_{bb}`$=6500 K, and contains hydrogen lines in addition to the ions used above for the fiducial spectrum of SN 1999dn. The He I lines are detached at 9000 km s-1, where the optical depth of the reference line is 2. The hydrogen lines are detached at 13,000 km s-1 where the optical depth of the reference line, H$`\alpha `$, is 2.5. With this detachment velocity, H$`\alpha `$ accounts for at least most of the 6300 Å absorption and H$`\beta `$ accounts for the unusual notch in the emission peak near 4650 Å. A closer view of the H$`\beta `$ region is provided in Figure 11. The presence of an absorption that is attributable to H$`\beta `$ provides strong support for the presence of hydrogen in SN 2000H.

Matheson et al. (2001) noted the presence of an unusually deep 6300 Å absorption in SN 1999di, and mentioned that it could be Si II $`\lambda `$6355, C II $`\lambda `$6580, or H$`\alpha `$. Si II can now be rejected because its absorption would be blueshifted by only 2600 km s-1, which is too much lower than than our value of $`v_{phot}`$=6000 km s-1. Figure 12 compares our earliest spectrum of SN 1999di, obtained 21 days after maximum, with the $`+19`$ day spectrum of SN 2000H. The similarity of these two spectra is remarkable (apart from differences at wavelengths longer than 9000 Å where both spectra are noisy). The narrow H$`\beta `$ absorption of SN 2000H also can be seen in SN 1999di. Figure 13 compares the $`+21`$ day spectrum of SN 1999di with a synthetic spectrum that has $`v_{phot}`$=7000 km s-1 and $`T_{bb}`$=4500 K and contains the same ions as Figure 10 for SN 2000H. Hydrogen is detached at 12,000 km s-1. Figure 14 shows a closer view of the H$`\beta `$ region.

Could the 6300 Å absorption in SNe 2000H and 1999di be produced by C II $`\lambda `$6580 rather than H$`\alpha `$? We think not. It would be surprising to see a deep C II $`\lambda `$6580 absorption in SNe Ib, when even in SNe Ic this line never forms a deep absorption and, if present at all, is hard to identify. It also would be surprising that the C II feature would be so detached in SNe Ib. The top panel of Figure 15 is like Figure 13 except that only C II lines, detached at 13,000 km s-1, are used. Although $`\lambda `$6580 can account for the 6300 Å absorption as well as H$`\alpha `$ does, and $`\lambda `$$`\lambda `$7236, 7231 are not a problem because, being more detached than He I, they fall near or within the strong feature produced by He I $`\lambda `$7065, the absorption produced by C II $`\lambda `$$`\lambda `$4738, 4745 is much too strong (at least in LTE at 7000 K).

Could the 6300 Å absorption in SNe 2000H and 1999di be produced by Ne I $`\lambda `$6402 rather than H$`\alpha `$? No, it cannot. The bottom panel of Figure 15 shows that undetached Ne I fails in two ways: (1) the absorption produced by $`\lambda `$6402 is too far to the blue, and (2) even though the synthetic absorption produced by $`\lambda `$6402 has not been made strong enough, other unwanted features already are present.

In view of these difficulties with C II and Ne I, and the apparent presence of H$`\beta `$ in the observed spectra, we consider the identification of hydrogen lines in SNe 2000H and 1999di to be definite.

SN 1954A appears to have been spectroscopically akin to SNe 2000H and 1999di. McLaughlin (1963) and Branch (1972) identified He I lines in photographic spectra of SN 1954A obtained at the Lick Observatory and the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories, respectively. Consequently SN 1954A usually has been regarded to have been a Type Ib supernova, but on occasion doubts has been expressed about the classification because of the low quality of the photographic spectra compared to modern observations. Figure 16 compares microphotometer tracings of the two earliest spectra of SN 1954A (Blaylock et al. 2000), obtained on blue– and red–sensitive emulsions 46 days after maximum light, with the $`+19`$ day spectrum of SN 2000H. Only this one spectrum of SN 1954 was obtained on a red–sensitive emulsion. The SN 1954A spectra are not actually relative flux but merely a measure of the transmission through the photographic plate. Parts of the spectra were overexposed so the features are distorted; in particular, emission peaks tend to be suppressed. The shapes of these spectra also are strongly influenced by the wavelength dependences of the emulsion sensitivities; e.g., neither emulsion is sensitive around 5200 Å and the sensitivity falls off steeply between 6500 and 7000 Å. Nevertheless, some of the absorptions in SN 1954A can be located and they correspond well with the absorptions in SN 2000H, including the two attributed to H$`\alpha `$ and H$`\beta `$. Branch (1972) considered the possibility of H$`\alpha `$ and H$`\beta `$ absorptions in SN 1954A, blueshifted by 10,800 km s-1 in the observer’s frame; the value of $`cz`$ for the parent galaxy is now known to be 291 km s-1, so the hydrogen lines are blueshifted by about 11,000 km s-1 in the supernova frame. Branch also considered the possibility of Ne I lines in SN 1954A. This is perhaps still not ruled out, but given the apparent resemblance of SN 1954A to SNe 2000H, we prefer the hydrogen identification.

In terms of apparent magnitude, SN 1954A was the fourth brightest supernova of the twentieth century, surpassed only by the Type II SN 1987A and the Type Ia SNe 1972E and 1937C (Barbon et al. 1999). SN 1954A occurred in the star–bursting dwarf galaxy NGC 4214, at a distance of only about 4 Mpc (Leitherer et al. 1996), more than 10 times closer than SNe 2000H and 1999di, so it is more amenable to studies of the environment in which it exploded. We note that Van Dyk, Hamuy, & Filippenko (1996) found SN 1954A to be unusual among SNe Ib in that it was not near any visible H II region, and that a deep VLA search for radio emission at the site of SN 1954A carried out by J. Cowan and D. Branch in May, 1986, resulted in a three–sigma upper limit to the flux density at 20 cm of 0.068 mJy (Eck 1998), which corresponds to a monochromatic luminosity of less than one twentieth of Cas A.

### 5.3 Other Selected Comparisons

Figure 17 compares a spectrum of SN 1984L obtained 9 days after maximum with a synthetic spectrum that has $`v_{phot}`$=8000 km s-1 and $`T_{bb}`$= 6500 K, and includes hydrogen lines detached at 15,000 km s-1. The Fe II lines fit very well, and the fit to the other features is satisfactory. Given the presence of H$`\alpha `$ in SNe 2000H, 1999di, and 1954A, we assume that the 6300 Å absorption is produced by H$`\alpha `$. However, because the H$`\alpha `$ optical depth at the detachment velocity is only 0.6, there is no support for this identification from H$`\beta `$ because it is too weak to see. (The oscillator strength of H$`\beta `$ is about one fifth that of H$`\alpha `$.) Figure 18 compares the $`+9`$ day spectrum of SN 1984L with the $`+5`$ day spectrum of SN 2000H. The spectra are similar except that in SN 1984L the 6300 Å absorption is weaker and the 4560 Å absorption is not visible. This shows that while our assumption that the 6300 Å absorption in SN 1984L is produced by H$`\alpha `$ is reasonable, it is not proven. It is conceivable that C II $`\lambda `$6580 or (more plausibly because it wouldn’t need to be detached) Ne I $`\lambda `$6402 could be responsible for the 6300 Å absorption in SN 1984L and other typical SNe Ib, and be overwhelmed by H$`\alpha `$ only in events such as SNe 2000H, 1999di, and 1954A. We proceed on the assumption that at early times the 6300 Å absorption is produced by H$`\alpha `$ in all the SNe Ib of our sample.

As an example of a comparison at a earlier time when $`v_{phot}`$ is higher, Figure 19 compares the earliest spectrum for which good wavelength coverage is available, the Beijing spectrum of SN 1999dn 10 days before maximum, with a synthetic spectrum that has $`v_{phot}`$=14,000 km s-1 and $`T_{bb}`$= 6500 K. Now hydrogen lines are detached at 18,000 km s-1, where the H$`\alpha `$ optical depth is 1.3. The fit is good, except near 6600 Å.

Figure 20 compares a spectrum of SN 1998dt obtained 32 days after maximum with a synthetic spectrum that has $`v_{phot}`$= 9000 km s-1 and $`T_{bb}`$= 5000 K. This comparison is shown because, as will be seen below, although the spectrum has a typical SN Ib appearance the inferred value of $`v_{phot}`$ is unusually high for a SN Ib this long after maximum. The fit to the Fe II features is unusually poor, but this value of $`v_{phot}`$ does give the best fit in the 4300 to 5300 Å region, and a significantly lower value would give a noticeably worse fit. (The narrow H$`\alpha `$ emission from an H II region in the parent galaxy is very close to 6563 Å, which shows that the high required value of $`v_{phot}`$ is not due to the observed spectrum having been inadvertently overcorrected for parent galaxy redshift.)

Now we briefly consider the events of our sample for which the times of maximum light are unknown. The spectrum of SN 1996N indicates that it was discovered not long after maximum. Because we use hydrogen lines in the synthetic spectrum for SN 1996N, the comparison with the observed spectrum is shown in Figure 21. Helium lines are undetached and the optical depth of the reference line is 5; hydrogen lines are detached at 17,000 km s-1 where the optical depth of H$`\alpha `$ is 0.5. Overall, the fit is good.

SNe 1991ar and 1997dc do not appear to be unusual provided that they were discovered well after maximum light. As discussed by Matheson et al. (2001), the spectra of SN 1998T are seriously contaminated by light from the parent galaxy; taking this into consideration, SN 1998T does not appear to be unusual provided that it was discovered about a week after maximum. As far as we can tell, SNe 1991ar, 1997dc, and 1998T were typical SNe Ib, but they were not observed early enough to check on the presence of H$`\alpha `$.

## 6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The most important of the fitting parameters that have been used for the synthetic spectra are collected in Table 2. The spectra are listed in order of time with respect to maximum light so only the supernovae for which we have an estimate of the time of maximum light appear in the table. (The date 0703, for example, refers to July 3.)

For the six SNe Ib for which we have estimates of the time of maximum light, $`v_{phot}`$ is plotted against time in Figure 22. The tightness of the relationship is striking. SN 1998dt at 32 days after maximum seems to stand out; otherwise, the scatter about the mean curve is about what should be expected from our nominal errors of 1000 km s-1 in $`v_{phot}`$ and a few days in the dates of maximum light. For the simple case of constant opacity and a $`v^n`$ density distribution, the velocity at the photosphere would decrease with time as $`v_{phot}t^{2/(n1)}`$. The line in Figure 22, the best power–law fit to the data (excluding SN 1998dt at 32 days), corresponds to $`n=3.6`$. Considering that the opacity is not really constant, that the actual density distribution does not really follow a single power law over a wide velocity range, and that the best power–law index for fitting the spectra is not well constrained, not much significance should be attched to the difference between $`n=3.6`$ and $`n=8`$.

Our adopted values of $`v_{phot}`$ can be used to make rough estimates of the mass and kinetic energy above the photosphere. For spherical symmetry and a $`v^n`$ density distribution, the mass (in $`M_{}`$) and the kinetic energy (in 1051 ergs) above the electron–scattering optical depth $`\tau _{es}`$ are (Millard et al. 1999)

$$M=1.2\times 10^4v_4^2t_d^2\mu _e\frac{n1}{n3}\tau _{es},$$
$`(1)`$
$$E=1.2\times 10^4v_4^4t_d^2\mu _e\frac{n1}{n5}\tau _{es},$$
$`(2)`$
where $`v_4`$ is $`v_{phot}`$ in units of 10,000 km s-1, $`t_d`$ is the time since explosion in days, $`\mu _e`$ is the mean molecular weight per free electron, and the integration is carried out to arbitrarily high velocity. If we assume that maximum light occurs 20 days after explosion, that $`n=8`$, that $`\mu _e=8`$ (e.g., half–ionized helium or singly ionized oxygen), and that $`v_{phot}`$ is at $`\tau _{es}=1`$, then at maximum light $`v_{phot}`$=10,000 km s-1 (Figure 22) gives $`M=0.5M_{}`$ and $`E=0.9\times 10^{51}`$ ergs. At 20 days after maximum, using $`v_{phot}`$=7000 km s-1 and keeping the other parameters the same gives $`M=1.1M_{}`$ and $`E=0.9\times 10^{51}`$ ergs. In reality, of course, the kinetic energy above the 7000 km s-1 photosphere must be greater than that above the 10,000 km s-1 photosphere. If we use $`n=4`$ instead of $`n=8`$ between 7000 and 10,000 km s-1 then we obtain a total of $`M=1.5M_{}`$ and $`E=1.4\times 10^{51}`$ ergs above the 7000 km s-1 photosphere.

Figure 22 provides some constraints on models of SNe Ib. The hydrodynamics must account for the velocity at the photosphere as a function of time, and the ensemble of SN Ib progenitors must be consistent with the tightness of the relationship. The small scatter suggests that the masses and the kinetic energies of the SNe Ib of our sample are similar, and it does not leave much room for the influence on $`v_{phot}`$ of departures from spherical symmetry.

Figure 23 shows the minimum velocities of the He I lines (squares when undetached and diamonds when detached). There appears to be a standard pattern (again with the possible exception of SN 1998dt at 32 days). Before and near the time of maximum the He I lines tend to be undetached. After maximum the lines tend to be detached, but the detachment velocities tend to decrease with time, from about 10,000 to 7000 km s-1. This means that the fraction of helium in this velocity range that is in the lower levels of the optical He I lines is increasing with time faster than $`t^2`$. (The matter density is decreasing as $`t^3`$ by expansion but the Sobolev optical depth also is proportional to $`t`$ because it is inversely proportional to the velocity gradient.) The increasing fraction of helium in the excited levels may be understandable in terms of the decreasing column depth between the nickel core and the helium layers, and the decreasing detachment velocity may mean that the fractional helium abundance is lower at lower velocities. In any case, some helium is present at least down to 7000 km s-1. Our estimate above for the total mass above the 7000 km s-1 photosphere was 1.1 to 1.5 M, which is a rough upper limit on the mass of helium above 7000 km s-1. There could be more helium below 7000 km s-1.

Figure 23 provides more constraints on models of SNe Ib. The radial profile of the helium abundance, together with that of the 56Ni that is responsible for exciting it, should account for the He I velocities and optical depths (Table 2).

Figure 23 also shows the minimum velocities of the hydrogen lines (circles), which always are detached. In the three events for which we are convinced of the hydrogen identifications — SNe 2000H, 1999dn, and 1954A — the minimum hydrogen velocity is between 11,000 and 13,000 km s-1. In the events in which we assume H$`\alpha `$ to be present at early times — SNe 1983N, 1984L, 1999dn, and 1996N (the latter is not shown in Figure 23 because the date of maximum light is unknown) — the detachment velocities tend to decrease with time but they are consistent with similar minimum velocities of the hydrogen. Thus the available evidence is consistent with the proposition that SNe Ib in general have hydrogen down to $`11,00013,000`$ km s-1. \[For comparison, in the Type IIb SN 1993J the characteristic velocity of the ejected hydrogen was about 9000 km s-1 (Patat et al. 1995; Utrobin 1996; Houck & Fransson 1996), and in the Type IIb SN 1996cb it was about 10,000 km s-1 (Deng et al. 2001).\] A challenge for those who study the complicated evolution of massive stars in binary systems (e.g., Podsiadlowski, Joss, & Hsu 1992; Nomoto, Iwamoto, & Suzuki 1995; Wellstein, Langer, & Braun 2001) is to understand why many or perhaps even all stellar explosions that develop strong He I lines should eject at least a small amount of hydrogen.

The hydrogen mass that is required to give an H$`\alpha `$ optical depth of unity depends on the fraction of hydrogen that is in the Balmer level. In LTE, with an electron density of $`10^9`$ cm-3, the Balmer fraction peaks around $`10^9`$ near 6000 K. In this case we estimate that a hydrogen mass on the order of $`10^2M_{}`$ would be required. Non–LTE calculations that take nonthermal excitation into account are needed for a more reliable estimate of the hydrogen mass.

The optical depths of the helium lines, and especially the hydrogen lines, are not very high, even though the corresponding absorption features are distinct and fairly deep. This reflects a simple geometric aspect of supernova line formation: as explained in Jeffery & Branch (1990), absorption features formed by detached lines are deeper than those formed by undetached lines. This point is illustrated in Figure 24, which shows that when hydrogen is detached from the photosphere by a factor of two and H$`\alpha `$ has $`\tau =2`$, its absorption feature is deeper than that of an undetached H$`\alpha `$ that has $`\tau =10`$. The H$`\alpha `$ optical depths in our synthetic spectra for SNe 2000H, 1999di, and 1954A are not high, so if they were only mildly lower these events would look like typical SNe Ib. Similarly, moderately lower He I line optical depths would transform a SN Ib into a SN Ic.

Figure 24 also illustrates how undetached hydrogen lines are more “obvious” than detached lines. First, undetached lines have conspicuous narrow, rounded emission peaks while detached lines have inconspicuous broad, flat peaks. Note also that although the H$`\alpha `$ absorption is deeper in the detached spectrum, the H$`\beta `$ absorption is deeper in the undetached spectrum. This is because in the undetached spectrum the optical depth at the photosphere of H$`\beta `$ is about 2 while in the detached spectrum the optical depth at the detachment velocity is only about 0.4. An optical depth as low as 0.4 can produce only a shallow absorption, even when the line is detached. For these reasons, supernovae that have undetached hydrogen lines have obvious hydrogen lines and are classified as Type II. Supernovae that have detached hydrogen lines are classified as Type Ib because the presence of hydrogen is not immediately obvious, even when the H$`\alpha `$ absorption is as deep as it is in SNe 2000H, 1999di, and 1954A. SNe IIb are those that have undetached hydrogen lines when they are first observed. In some cases, whether an event is classified as Ib or IIb may depend on how early the first spectrum is obtained.

The implication of the previous paragraphs is that the spectroscopic differences between SNe IIb, the SNe Ib that have deep H$`\alpha `$ absorptions, and typical SNe Ib may be caused mainly by mild differences in the hydrogen mass. For a given kinetic energy, the lower the hydrogen mass the higher the minimum velocity of the ejected hydrogen. Similarly, the spectroscopic differences between typical SNe Ic and SNe Ib could be caused mainly by moderate differences in the helium mass. For example, Matheson et al. (2001) found higher blueshifts of the O I $`\lambda `$7773 line in SNe Ic than in SNe Ib. For a given kinetic energy, the lower the helium mass the higher the minimum velocity of the ejected helium, and therefore the higher the velocity of the ejected oxygen. These suggestions are not original to this paper, but they are strengthened by our finding that the H I and He I optical depths in SNe Ib are not very high. These suggestions also are not inconsistent with arguments, based on light curves, for the existence of different physical classes of hydrogen–poor events that cut across the conventional spectroscopic types (e.g., Clocchiatti & Wheeler 1997).

The number of SNe Ib for which good spectral coverage is available is still relatively small. More events should be observed to explore the degree of the spectral homogeneity and to find out whether there is a continuum of hydrogen line strengths. Also needed are detailed non–LTE spectrum calculations for supernova models having radially stratified compositions, — to determine the the hydrogen and helium masses and the distribution of the 56Ni that is required to excite the helium. The possibility that nonthermally excited Ne I can produce spectral features strong enough to be seen needs to be investigated. Detailed non–LTE calculations for parameterized SN Ib models, using the PHOENIX code (e.g., Baron et al. 1999), are underway.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. AST–9986965 and AST–9731450 at Oklahoma and AST–9987438 at Berkeley. A.V.F. is grateful to the Guggenheim Foundation for a Fellowship.