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# Cepheids as Distance Indicators: Some Current Problems

ABSTRACT. A general review is given of the calibration of the Cepheid distance scale, with particular reference to its use in the determination of $`\mathrm{H}_0`$. Emphasis is placed on the advantage of using a galactic calibration of the Cepheid scale, rather than relying on an adopted distance to the LMC. It is then possible to use LMC data to test for possible metallicity effects on this scale.
Key words: Cepheids, Distance Scales, Magellanic Clouds, $`\mathrm{H}_0`$.

1. Introduction
Cepheid variables are at the present time of key importance for establishing distances within our own Galaxy and to nearby galaxies and as the basis for the determination of cosmological parameters. As is well known, the determination of $`\mathrm{H}_0`$ by groups working with the Hubble Space Telescope (e.g. Saha et al. 1999, Freedman et al. 2001 = F2001) rests on Cepheid observations in relatively nearby galaxies which are then used as calibrators of more general distance indicators (e.g. SNIa, the Tully-Fisher relation, surface brightness fluctuations etc.) It is therefore important that every effort should be made to understand these stars and their luminosities, and particularly to determine where present uncertainties lie.

The requirements of a primary distance indicator are easily stated. They must be bright, so that they can be seen and measured at large distances. They must also be recognizable for what they are. That is, they must not be confused with other types of objects. Their absolute magnitudes must be accurately known. This means that the intrinsic scatter in the absolute magnitudes must be small and that these absolute magnitudes can be accurately calibrated locally. There are two other considerations which are of equal importance to these. Firstly, the reddenings must be measurable. This is a crucial requirement. Secondly if there are effects due, or likely to be due, to differing metallicities or ages between the calibrators and the programme stars, these effects must be known and measurable. In addition to all this, it is highly desirable that the calibration and use of a primary distance indicator should be as free as possible from theoretical derivations or assumptions. Unless we can establish distance scales empirically we have no way of testing theory.

Very few objects, if any, can match the classical Cepheids in fulfilling the requirements just set out. The main reason for this is that they have been extensively studied both locally and in the Magellanic Clouds for many years by a large number of investigators. It can thus be fairly claimed that they are the best understood of all pulsating variables. Other distance indicators will be mentioned below, but it can also be claimed with justification that Cepheids are the best understood of all the distance indicators.

The importance of Cepheids for distance determinations rests of course on the period-luminosity (PL) relation. The existence of this relation is well established, particularly in the Magellanic Clouds. The PL relation has relatively small scatter and the period-luminosity-colour relation seems to have negligible intrinsic scatter. A detailed discussion of some of these issues is given in Feast (1999). Furthermore it will be shown below that a reliable calibration of the Cepheid scale can now be obtained locally.

Whilst therefore we can have some confidence in the Cepheids as indicators of distance we should not be complacent. As will be indicated later there are a number of areas where an improvement of our knowledge of Cepheids is very desirable in order to further strengthen their use as distance indicators.

2. The HST Key Project Procedure
In order to focus the discussion, the present paper is limited to a discussion of factors relevant to the use which is made of Cepheids in the HST programmes for the determination of $`\mathrm{H}_0`$. These depend on V and I photometry. In their “final results” paper (F2001) the HST Key Project workers adopt period-luminosity relations at V and I (PL(V) and PL(I)) of the following forms;

$$M_V=2.760\mathrm{log}P1.458,$$
(1)
and

$$M_I=2.962\mathrm{log}P1.942.$$
(2)
These relations are derived from the observations of LMC Cepheids by Udalski et al. (1999, table 1), assuming the distance modulus of the LMC is 18.50. For a Cepheid in a programme galaxy the observed (intensity weighted) mean V and I are used with these equations to derive apparent moduli. The difference between these is $`\mathrm{E}_{(\mathrm{V}\mathrm{I})}`$ and multiplying this by 2.45 gives $`\mathrm{A}_\mathrm{V}`$ and hence the true modulus.

The large number of Cepheids in the Udalski et al. work on the LMC obviously makes this data-set attractive to use as a basis. It has, however, the drawback that individual reddenings of the Cepheids themselves could not be determined (as can be done from multi-colour photometry). The reddenings were derived by dividing the LMC into a number of areas and estimating mean reddenings from the colours of giant-branch-clump stars. The mean reddening of the Cepheids used by Udalski et al. to derive equations 1 and 2 was $`\mathrm{E}_{(\mathrm{B}\mathrm{V})}=0.147`$ (not 0.10, as implied by F2001, section 3.1). The method used by F2001 only requires the relative reddenings of the LMC and their programme Cepheids. The absolute value of the LMC reddening is not required. However, F2001 have not discussed whether the Udalski et al. reddenings (which are considerably larger than have been used in the past) are consistent with their adopted true modulus of the LMC. It would also be useful in the future to have individual reddenings from multi-colour photometry (see e.g. Caldwell and Coulson 1985) for many more LMC Cepheids than are presently available. This could be used to check whether equations 1 and 2 are affected by a dependence of mean reddening on period which would affect the slope of the relations. In addition relations 1 and 2 depend heavily on short period Cepheids ($`\mathrm{log}\mathrm{P}0.5`$) (see Udalski et al. 1999 figs 2 and 3) with very few at the long period end because of saturation of the detector used by Udalski et al. A derivation of the PL relation based on long period Cepheids would be important since the weighted mean $`\mathrm{log}\mathrm{P}`$ of the F2001 programme Cepheids is 1.42. In addition to this there is some evidence that Cepheid moduli derived from V,I photometry require a metallicity dependent correction. This will be discussed in detail below, where it will be noted that the LMC Cepheids are metal-weak compared with the mean of the HST Key Project sample which has a mean metallicity near solar. Thus if Cepheid absolute magnitudes are based on the LMC, a metallicity dependent uncertainty will enter.

3. A Galactic Calibration of Cepheids
A calibration of Cepheid luminosities and colours based on observations in the general solar neighbourhood seems very desirable. It would avoid basing distance scales on the metal-poor LMC Cepheids. It would also be free of estimates of the LMC distance based on non-Cepheid estimators, most of which are less well understood than Cepheids themselves. However, as discussed below these non-Cepheid LMC estimates can be used together with a Galactic Cepheid calibration, to place some limits on metallicity effects on Cepheid luminosities. Such a Galactic Cepheid calibration is now possible.

Individual reddenings of many Galactic Cepheids have been derived (Caldwell and Coulson 1987) based on the BVI system. These lead to the relation;

$$<V>_o<I>_o=0.297\mathrm{log}P+0.427$$
(3)
(see Feast 1999 where a slightly more exact procedure is given). In this equation angle brackets denote intensity mean values. Using a relation of this kind to obtain reddenings, together with a PL(V) relation is equivalent to the HST Key Project procedure.

The PL(V) relation can be written;

$$M_V=\alpha \mathrm{log}P+\gamma .$$
(4)
Various estimates have been made for the slope $`\alpha `$ of this relation. Caldwell and Laney (1991) derived $`2.63\pm 0.08`$ from SMC Cepheids; The OGLE results for the LMC discussed in the previous section gave $`2.76\pm (0.03)`$. The uncertainty is bracketed since much of the weight is in very short period Cepheids. Caldwell and Laney (1991) derived $`2.81\pm 0.06`$ for the LMC. For Cepheids in the general solar neighbourhood Gieren et al. (1998) obtained $`3.04\pm 0.14`$ from Baade-Wesselink luminosities. There is a slight hint here that there may be a trend of slope with metallicity since this changes in the sequence, SMC, LMC, Galaxy. It would be valuable to study this further, but at present there is no strong evidence of a significant trend of slope with metallicity. In the following we adopt for the Galaxy the result of Caldwell and Laney for the LMC, $`2.81\pm 0.06`$. This is the only result taken from the LMC in the present calibration.

It is of interest to see how the Cepheid distance scale would be affected by a change of slope from the adopted value, $`2.81`$, to the Galactic value of Gieren et al., $`3.04`$. The mean $`\mathrm{log}\mathrm{P}`$ of the Cepheids used in F2001, weighted according to their contributions to the final value of $`\mathrm{H}_0`$, is 1.42. Most of the Cepheids used as calibrators in the discussion below are of shorter period. The weighted mean $`\mathrm{log}\mathrm{P}`$ of the parallax calibrators is 0.8 whilst for the clusters it is 1.1. Changing the PL(V) slope from $`2.81`$ to $`3.04`$ would result in an increase in the parallax scale when applied to the F2001 results of 0.14 mag (a seven percent increase in distance scale) over that actually adopted. Thus if a variation in slope with metallicity in the sense tentatively suggested by the possible SMC/LMC/Galaxy trend is actually confirmed it would result in a decrease in the revised value of $`\mathrm{H}_0`$ discussed in section 7.

A change of slope from the value adopted here (–2.81) to the LMC OGLE value (–2.76), would result in a negligibly small increase in $`\mathrm{H}_0`$.

There are four principal ways of obtaining a value of the PL(V) zero-point $`\gamma `$ for galactic Cepheids (see Feast 2001).

1. A bias free analysis of the Hipparcos parallaxes of Cepheids leads to $`\gamma =1.43\pm 0.12`$ (Feast and Catchpole 1997, Feast 1999). This result and its bias free nature has been confirmed both directly and with Monte Carlo simulations (Pont 1999, Lanoix et al. 1999, Groenewegen and Oudmaijer 2000).

2. Hipparcos proper motions can be combined with radial velocities in a statistical-parallax type solution. This requires a model. The dominant effect in the case of Cepheids is that of differential galactic rotation which is clearly seen in the radial velocities and the proper motions separately. The model therefore is rather firmly based. Using this method Feast, Pont and Whitelock (1998) obtained $`\gamma =1.47\pm 0.13`$.

One can attempt a solution using the solar motion obtained from a combined discussion of solar motion and differential galactic rotation using proper motions and radial velocities. In this way the solar motion has a value which is averaged out over the whole large region covered by the Hipparcos and radial velocity Cepheids and is not confined to a small region near the Sun. The results of Feast and Whitelock (1997) imply a scale which is $`0.04\pm 0.26`$ mag larger than that just given (Feast 2000). However, the uncertainty is too large for this solution to make any significant contribution to a final value.

The above discussion refers to the use of the systematic motions of the Cepheids. Because the velocity dispersion of Cepheids is small, any comparison of radial velocity and proper motion residuals will be sensitive to the treatment of observational scatter and probably also to group motions.

3. Pulsation parallaxes (the Baade-Wesselink method in its various forms) requires a number of assumptions to be made regarding such things as limb darkening, the colour-surface brightness relation etc. Thus whilst the internal consistency of the method is good, the external uncertainty is difficult to estimate. Feast (1999) derived, $`\gamma =1.32\pm 0.04`$(internal) from the discussion of Laney (1998). The angular diameters of a few Cepheids have recently been determined interferometrically (Kervella et al. 2001; Nordgren et al. 2000; Armstrong et al. 2001) and the change in angular diameter of $`\zeta `$ Gem due to pulsation has been detected (Lane et al. 2000). When more measurements along these lines are made it should be possible to refine the pulsation parallax method further.

4. Young open clusters containing Cepheids can be used to derive $`\gamma `$ provided the cluster scale is known. Feast (2001) shows how this scale can be rather firmly based on the well-determined Hipparcos parallax of the Hyades. This leads to $`\gamma =1.43\pm 0.05`$(internal).

Because some of the error estimates are internal only, it is not safe to use these errors to weight the four estimates of $`\gamma `$ given above. A straight mean gives $`1.41`$. The uncertainty in this value is probably somewhat less than 0.10. It should be noted that methods 1 and 2 for determining $`\gamma `$ lead to distance scales which do not depend on the zero-point of the reddening scale adopted, so long as consistent reddenings are applied to both calibrating and programme Cepheids. This is not the case for the other two methods. This is particularly so in the case of the clusters where the main sequence fitting depends sensitively on the adopted reddening in a way which does not cancel out in application to programme Cepheids.

4. Tests for Metallicity Effects. I
It has long been believed from observations of metal-poor Cepheids in the Magellanic Clouds that there is a metallicity effect at least in the (B–V) colours of Cepheids. Laney (quoted by Feast 1991) showed that the BVI colours of SMC Cepheids could not be brought into agreement with those in the LMC unless such an effect was assumed to exist due to the SMC Cepheids being more metal-poor than those in the LMC (a result which is known spectroscopically).

There are at least three effects attributable to metallicity differences which could affect the PL relation at a given wavelength.

1. Laney and Stobie (1986) showed from infrared photometry of galactic and Magellanic Cloud Cepheids that metallicity changes lead to a change in surface temperature at a given pulsation period.

2. There must be some effect (especially at the shorter wavelengths) due to a change of blanketing with metallicity at a given surface temperature.

Both the above have the effect of changing the bolometric corrections applicable at different wavelengths.

3. Although it is generally assumed that the bolometric PL relation is insensitive to metallicity changes, not all theorists agree on this issue.

Laney (1999) showed that the radii of Magellanic Cloud Cepheids as derived from Baade-Wesselink analyses fitted the galactic period-radius relation. Infrared photometry (Laney and Stobie 1986) shows that at a given period the metal-poor Cepheids in the Clouds are slightly hotter than the galactic ones. The evidence thus suggests that the bolometric luminosities of Cepheids of a given period increases with decreasing metallicity. However, the effect is small and within the uncertainties of the measurements.

Evidently in the case of the HST work we require to estimate the effects of metallicity changes on equations 3 and 4 above (or equivalently, equations 1 and 2). There has been some confusion in the literature since the effect on the derived distance moduli due to a metallicity change is found to be in opposite directions for the equations 3 and 4. It is thus essential to discuss the combined effect on these two equations of a change in metallicity.

The most direct empirical test of the effect of metallicity in determining distance moduli from V,I photometry is that carried out by Kennicutt et al. (1998). They observed Cepheids in the galaxy M101 at different distances from the centre. At these different positions they could estimate abundances (\[O/H\]) from HII region observations. Their results lead to a metallicity effect on Cepheid distance modulus determinations of $`0.24\pm 0.16[\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H}]^1`$ in the sense that without the correction the distance of a metal-poor Cepheid would be overestimated. This result suggests that a metallicity effect in the V,I method exists, but the uncertainty is evidently still large. (For a more detailed discussion of metallicity effects, see Feast (1999)).

5. Tests for Metallicity Effects. II. The LMC.
It has often been suggested that the Cepheid distance scale can (and should) be determined by deriving the distance to the LMC in some non-Cepheid way and then using this as the standard. However, quite apart from possible metallicity effects on the Cepheid scale, it must be born in mind that all non-Cepheid distance indicators so far used to estimate the distance of the LMC have their own problems and uncertainties. These problems include the calibration of these other indicators, their possible metallicity dependence, and, their reddenings relative to the Cepheids. Nevertheless, these non-Cepheid indicators can give a useful indication of a probable metallicity effect on Cepheid moduli.

Non-Cepheid moduli of the LMC were discussed by Feast (2001). The following is a slightly updated summary of that discussion which should be consulted for details.

1. RR Lyraes. The absolute magnitudes of RR Lyrae stars can be derived from; parallaxes (Koen and Laney 1998), parallaxes of horizontal branch stars (Gratton 1998), globular clusters with distances derived from sub-dwarf fitting (Carretta et al. 2000), $`\delta `$ Sct parallaxes (McNamara 1997) and statistical parallaxes (Gould and Popowski 1998). These can be combined with the data on LMC field RR Lyraes (Clementini et al. 2000) to obtain an LMC true distance modulus of 18.54.

2. Mira Variables. The infrared (K) period-luminosity relation for Miras can be calibrated using Hipparcos parallaxes (Whitelock and Feast 2000) and also using Miras in globular clusters with cluster distances on the subdwarf scale of Carretta et al. (2000). Using these calibrations with the LMC Mira data (Feast et al. 1989) gives (Feast, Whitelock and Menzies, to be published) an LMC modulus of 18.60.

3. The ring round SN1987A. The best estimate of the LMC modulus from this is probably that of Panagia (1998) which is 18.58.

4. LMC globular clusters. Main-sequence fitting (Johnson et al. 1999) of LMC clusters can be used to derive a modulus of 18.52.

5. The red giant clump. The use of the red giant clump as an LMC distance indicator is complicated by age and metallicity effects and by reddening uncertainties. The best estimate is probably that of Girardi and Salaris (2001) who find a modulus of 18.55.

6. Eclipsing Variables. Although the use of eclipsing variables as distance indicators seems rather straight forward in theory, its application to the LMC requires at present a number of assumptions. The best current estimated of the modulus by this method is probably that of Groenwegen and Salaris (2001) who obtain 18.42.

The real uncertainties of the above estimates are probably about 0.1mag. The first three estimates seem likely to be the most secure and a straight mean of them is 18.57. A straight mean of all six estimates is 18.54. The V,I distance modulus of the LMC using equations 3 and 4 and $`\gamma =1.41`$ is 18.66, uncorrected for metallicity effects. If we adopt a metallicity effect of $`0.2\mathrm{mag}[\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H}]^1`$ and $`[\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H}]_{\mathrm{LMC}}=0.4`$ as is done by F2001 following Kennicutt et al. (1998), we obtain a corrected Cepheid modulus of 18.58. The close agreement of this value with the mean non-Cepheid estimate is no doubt partly fortuitous since the uncertainties in both estimates are probably of order 0.1. However, the results do suggest that a metallicity correction of the approximate amount suggested by Kennicutt et al. is present in V,I estimates.

6. A Cepheid test using NGC4258
A distance to the galaxy NGC4258 has been derived from the motion of $`\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{O}`$ masers in the central region and a simple model (Herrnstein et al. 1999). Newman et al. (2001) have recently published HST V,I observations of Cepheids in this galaxy which can thus also be used to derive a distance. The metallicity adopted by Newman et al. (from HII region measurements by Zaritsky et al. 1994) is slightly below solar ($`[\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H}]=0.05`$). Thus any reasonable metallicity correction to a galactic calibration will be very small. Adopting the galactic calibration given above and a metallicity effect of $`0.20\mathrm{mag}[\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H}]^1`$ one obtains a true distance modulus of $`29.53\pm 0.17`$, where the standard error is taken from the discussion of Newman et al. together with an estimated error of the galactic zero-point of $`0.10`$. In deriving this value we have followed the procedure of Newman et al. and used template-fitted DoPHOT mean magnitudes kindly supplied by Dr Newman. These magnitudes differ slightly from the values given in Table 2 of Newman et al. A metallicity correction of $`0.01`$ mag has been applied. The Cepheid distance is therefore greater than the maser one by $`0.24\pm 0.21`$ mag. This difference is not significant.

7. Key Project Value of $`\mathrm{H}_0`$ based on a Galactic Calibration
F2001 have summarized the HST Cepheid Key Project data together with related HST data by other groups (especially the SNIa group). As indicated in the Introduction they use an adopted LMC modulus as the basis of their analysis. They also introduce a metallicity correction for the first time in their series of papers. They derive a value of $`\mathrm{H}_0=72\pm 8\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$. Using their data and with the same metallicity term ($`0.2\mathrm{mag}[\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H}]^1`$) but with the galactic calibration derived above, one obtains $`\mathrm{H}_0=67\pm 8`$ where the standard error is taken from F2001. These two estimates of $`\mathrm{H}_\mathrm{o}`$ are gratifyingly close. Amongst the reasons for preferring a scale based on the galactic calibration is that it is practically immune to the uncertain metallicity correction. This follows since the mean metallicity of the F2001 Cepheid galaxies, weighted according to their contribution to the final value of $`\mathrm{H}_0`$ is close to solar (\[O/H\] = –0.08). It has been hypothesized that the metallicity correction could be as high as $`0.6\mathrm{mag}[\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H}]^1`$. Whilst it seems unlikely that it could be as large as this, even such a large value will have only a very small effect on $`\mathrm{H}_0`$ derived using the galactic calibration. On the other hand, since $`[\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H}]_{\mathrm{LMC}}=0.4`$, such a large correction coefficient would have a significant effect (a six percent decrease in $`\mathrm{H}_0`$) on a calibration based on an adopted LMC modulus.

It should be made clear that the above discussion is given to illustrate how the galactic calibration affects the conclusions of F2001. There appears still to be considerable differences in the interpretation of the HST data by different groups, unrelated to the adopted basic Cepheid distance scale (see for instance Saha et al. 1999). Full agreement on these matter is required before the value of $`\mathrm{H}_0`$ can be considered properly established.

8. Conclusions
The calibration of the Cepheid zero-point is now quite well established from galactic observations. The present uncertainty is about 0.10 mag. It is obviously desirable to improve this accuracy, though it is not clear that this can be achieved without further astrometry from space (GAIA etc.). It is evident that further work is needed on the PL(V) and PL(V–I) slopes at long periods and it would be very desirable to determine empirically if these slopes depend on metallicity. In doing this it would be essential to derive individual reddenings for the Cepheids from multicolour photometry. It would also be of considerable interest to measure the metallicities of many more galactic Cepheids. In particular it would be useful to know more precisely the spread in metallicities amongst local Cepheids.

Acknowledgements.
I am grateful to Patricia Whitelock and John Menzies for allowing me to refer to work in progress.

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# Indications on neutrino oscillations parameters from initial K2K and current SK data

## I Introduction

The KEK-to-Kamioka (K2K) long baseline neutrino experiment  is designed to explore, with laboratory neutrinos, the mechanism of $`\nu _\mu `$ disappearance indicated by the Super-Kamiokande (SK) , MACRO , and Soudan 2  atmospheric neutrino experiments. Such mechanism appears to be dominated by $`\nu _\mu \nu _\tau `$ oscillations  with mass-mixing parameters $`(m^2,\mathrm{tan}^2\psi )`$ close to $`(3\times 10^3\mathrm{eV}^2,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1})`$. The pathlength $`(L=250\mathrm{km})`$ and typical energies ($`E\mathrm{few}\mathrm{GeV}`$) of K2K $`\nu _\mu `$’s are well suited to study $`\nu _\mu `$ disappearance effects for such parameter values .

The recent data released by the K2K experiment  (44 observed neutrino events vs 63.9 expected) are already inconsistent with the no-oscillation hypothesis at about 97% C.L. , and suggest disappearance of the muon neutrino flavor in the path from KEK to Kamioka. The K2K collaboration is being understandably rather conservative on the oscillation explanation of the data, pending more accurate estimates of the K2K neutrino spectrum and interaction uncertainties by means of the near detector . However, it is tempting to use just the minimum amount of spectrum-integrated data (i.e., the total event rate, for which the error estimate appears to be relatively stable), in order to study the compatibility of K2K and SK data .

In this paper we attempt to investigate such a compatibility issue, by comparing predictions and data in both K2K and SK, within the simplest (two-family) $`\nu _\mu \nu _\tau `$ oscillation framework. We show that the K2K and the SK data are consistent, and that their combination starts to be useful in constraining further the oscillation parameters. In particular, the 99% C.L. range for $`m^2`$ allowed by SK only, $`m^2[1.3,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}5.6}]\times 10^3`$ eV2, is reduced to $`[1.5,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4.8}]\times 10^3`$ eV2 by including K2K data. Finally we show that, by halving the K2K total rate error, the $`m^2`$ range would be ulteriorly reduced to $`[1.8,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4.0}]\times 10^3`$ eV2.

## II Analysis of K2K

Analyses of K2K data have to consider the energy spectrum of parent neutrinos at the far detector $`S(E)`$, i.e., the spectrum of neutrino that have produced a detected interaction at the Kamioka site. Such spectrum is, in general, given by the product of the unoscillated neutrino energy spectrum $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ at the far (SK) detector, times the interaction cross section $`\sigma `$, times the detection efficiency $`\epsilon `$ (all in differential form), integrated over all the final state parameters (simbolically, $`S=\mathrm{\Phi }\sigma \epsilon `$). The spectrum $`S(E)`$ is important since, in the presence of neutrino mass and mixing, the oscillated event rate can be expressed as $`r=𝑑ES(E)P_{\mu \mu }(E)`$ \[to be compared with the unoscillated rate, $`r_0=𝑑ES(E)`$\], where $`P_{\mu \mu }`$ is the $`\nu _\mu `$ survival probability.

At present, there is enough public information on $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ , but not yet on the product $`\sigma \epsilon `$ relevant for the far detector specifications. Therefore, a direct and accurate reconstruction of the spectrum $`S(E)`$ and of its uncertainties is not possible outside the K2K collaboration, at least at present. However, an indirect, approximate reconstruction can be made, by considering that: (a) the neutrino spectrum is practically zero above 5 GeV ; and (b) according to the K2K MonteCarlo (MC) simulation, for the current exposure ($`3.85\times 10^{19}`$ p.o.t.) one has $`r_0=63.9`$ events, while $`r=41.5`$, 27.4, and 23.1 events for $`m^2=3`$, 5, and $`7\times 10^3`$ eV2, respectively, assuming maximal mixing . We have then introduced an empirical functional form for the spectrum, $`S(E)x^\alpha (1x)^\beta `$ with $`x=E/(5\mathrm{GeV})`$, which is found to reproduce well the above MC results for $`(\alpha ,\beta )=(1.50,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3.34})`$. In the following analysis we use such interacted neutrino spectrum, since it gives—by construction—results close to the K2K MC simulation, after integration over $`P_{\mu \mu }(E)`$. A more accurate (and less tentative) parametrization of $`S(E)`$ shall be possible after the experimental specifications and selection cuts (relevant to determine $`\sigma \epsilon `$ and its uncertainties) will be measured and described in detail.

Concerning the uncertainties, the current systematic error on the total rate is estimated to be 10% by the K2K Collaboration . Spectral bins may be affected by larger (and correlated) errors , which, however, do not affect our spectrum-averaged analysis. Therefore, we attach a $`10\%`$ fractional error to the oscillated number of events $`r=r(m^2,\mathrm{tan}^2\psi )`$, while the statistical (Poisson) error $`\sigma _{\mathrm{stat}}=\sqrt{44}`$ is attached to the number of observed events, $`r_{\mathrm{exp}}=44`$. The $`\chi ^2`$ statistics for K2K is then simply given by $`(rr_{\mathrm{exp}})^2/\sigma _{\mathrm{tot}}^2`$, where $`\sigma _{\mathrm{tot}}^2=\sigma _{\mathrm{stat}}^2+(0.1r)^2`$. With such definition, the no oscillation hypothesis ($`r=r_0`$) is disfavored at 97% C.L. ($`\chi ^2=4.7`$ for $`N_{\mathrm{DF}}=1`$), consistently with the current claim of the K2K Collaboration .

Figure 1 shows the number $`r`$ of K2K events for the current exposure ($`3.85\times 10^{19}`$ p.o.t.), as a function of $`m^2`$, for maximal mixing $`(\mathrm{tan}^2\psi =1)`$. The solid curve, corresponding to our calculation of $`r(m^2)`$, starts from $`63.9`$ events in the no-oscillation limit ($`m^20`$), and tends to the asymptotic value of 63.9/2 in the fast oscillation limit ($`m^2\mathrm{}`$), after a few “wiggles” associated to the first oscillation cycles. The curve is very close to the four K2K MC points used to benchmark our calculation. The horizontal gray band represents the $`\pm 1\sigma _{\mathrm{tot}}`$ interval for the total number of observed events in K2K. The allowed band disfavors no oscillations at $`2.2\sigma `$, and the first deep oscillation minimum at $`2.7\sigma `$. It is instead in very good agreement with the oscillated predictions for $`m^2\mathrm{few}\times 10^3`$ eV2, the best fit being reached at $`m^2=2.7\times 10^3`$ eV2. Such a value is very close to the one independently quoted by the SK Collaboration as the current best fit to their atmospheric neutrino data ($`m^2=2.5\times 10^3`$ eV2) , under the same $`\nu _\mu \nu _\tau `$ oscillation hypothesis.***It is also very close to the best fit of upgoing muon data in MACRO, $`m^2=2.4\times 10^3`$ eV2 . Therefore, it makes sense to combine K2K and SK data, as we do in the following section.

## III K2K and SK: combination and and implications

Given the very good agreement between the K2K and SK allowed ranges for $`m^2`$ at maximal mixing, it is interesting to study their compatibility for unconstrained $`2\nu `$ mixing. Concerning the SK atmospheric $`2\nu `$ analysis, we make use of the results recently reported by us in  (for 79.5 kTy SK data), specialized to the simplest scenario of pure $`\nu _\mu \nu _\tau `$ oscillations.Therefore, in this work we use $`N_{\mathrm{DF}}=2`$ to draw iso-$`\mathrm{\Delta }\chi ^2`$ contours, while we used $`N_{\mathrm{DF}}=3`$ for the more general $`3\nu `$ and $`4\nu `$ cases considered in .

Figure 2 shows the regions allowed at 90% and 99% C.L. by SK, K2K, and their combination, in the $`2\nu `$ mass-mixing plane $`(m^2,\mathrm{tan}^2\psi )`$. The upper left panel corresponds to SK atmospheric data only, for which we find two degenerate best-fit points (stars) at $`m^2=3\times 10^3`$ eV2 and at octant-symmetric mixing values, $`(\mathrm{tan}^2\psi )^{\pm 1}=0.76`$, corresponding to slightly nonmaximal oscillation amplitude, $`\mathrm{sin}^22\psi =0.98`$.However, such small deviations from maximal mixing at best fit (also found in ) are not statistically significant at present.

The upper right panel in Fig. 2 shows the fit to K2K only. The locus of best-fit points is a continuous, octant-symmetric curve (not shown) passing through $`(m^2/\mathrm{eV}^2,\mathrm{tan}^2\psi )=(2.7\times 10^3,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1})`$. The K2K constraints in the mass-mixing plane are weaker than those placed by SK, especially on $`\mathrm{tan}^2\psi `$. Therefore, one cannot expect a significant improvement on $`\mathrm{tan}^2\psi `$ limits from the SK+K2K combination. Concerning $`m^2`$, the no-oscillation limit $`m^20`$ is still allowed at 99% C.L., while values around $`m^28.5\times 10^3`$ eV2 are excluded (for large mixing). Such values correspond to the first (deep) oscillation minimum in Fig. 1, which is disfavored by the data at $`2.7\sigma `$, as previously noted. Therefore, in the SK+K2K combination, we expect “high” values of $`m^2`$ to be more disfavored than “low” values.

The lower left panel in Fig. 2 shows the combination of SK and K2K data. The best-fit points are located at the same values of $`\mathrm{tan}^2\psi `$ as for SK alone and, in general, the bounds on $`\mathrm{tan}^2\psi `$ are not significantly modified, as expected. The best-fit value of $`m^2`$ is only slightly lowered ($`m^2=2.9\times 10^3`$ eV2) but, most importantly, the 90% and 99% C.L. ranges of $`m^2`$ are appreciably reduced both from below and (more strongly) from above. Such results show that the K2K experiment is already having a nonnegligible impact in the determination of the neutrino squared mass difference $`m^2`$ relevant for the $`\nu _\mu \nu _\tau `$ channel and for the leading oscillations in (very) long baseline experiments.

The lower right panel in Fig. 2 shows a prospective SK+K2K combination, with the same SK data and K2K data but with K2K total uncertainty hypothetically reduced by a factor of two. The $`m^2`$ range is significantly narrowed, while the $`\mathrm{tan}^2\psi `$ range is still basically unchanged. In summary, the various panels of Fig. 2 demonstrate that K2K data are relevant for the determination of $`m^2`$, rather than of $`\mathrm{tan}^2\psi `$. Therefore, it makes sense to discuss in more detail the results of Fig. 2 in terms of $`m^2`$ only, with $`\mathrm{tan}^2\psi `$ unconstrained.

Figure 3 shows the results of such an exercise, in terms of the function $`\chi ^2(m^2)`$. The 90% and 99% C.L. ranges for $`m^2`$ ($`N_{\mathrm{DF}}=2`$) are explicitly shown for the SK and SK+K2K fits. Numerically, we find that the 99% C.L. range for $`m^2`$ allowed by SK only, $`m^2[1.3,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}5.6}]\times 10^3`$ eV2, is reduced to $`[1.5,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4.8}]\times 10^3`$ eV2 by including K2K data. By halving the uncertainties of the K2K total rate, the $`m^2`$ range would be ulteriorly reduced to $`[1.8,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4.0}]\times 10^3`$ eV2 (99% C.L.).

The reduction of the minimum values of $`m^2`$ in Fig. 3 (at a given C.L.) is relevant for future (very) long baseline experiments. For instance, in the OPERA experiment  downstream the CERN-to-Gran Sasso neutrino beam, the $`\tau `$ appearance rate is approximately proportional to $`(m^2)^2`$ ; therefore, the increase of $`m_{\mathrm{min}}^2`$ from $`1.3\times 10^3`$ eV2 (SK) to $`1.5\times 10^3`$ eV2 (SK+K2K) at 99% C.L. implies an increase of the minimum expected $`\tau `$ event rate by a factor $`1.3`$ (at the same C.L.); the increase would be as high as a factor $`2`$ for the case with halved K2K errors ($`m_{\mathrm{min}}^2=1.8\times 10^3`$ eV2). The reduction of the $`m^2`$ allowed range is also important to refine the energy or baseline optimization in future neutrino factory experiments, where the current $`m^2`$ uncertainty plays an important role (see, e.g.,  and references therein). Finally, the increase of $`m_{\mathrm{min}}^2`$ strengthens the accuracy of approximations based on the hierarchy of squared mass differences, which have long been used in global solar+terrestrial neutrino analyses (see, e.g., ).

A final remark is in order. Our current analysis is based on initial K2K data and on an approximate description of the K2K detector specification. Therefore, it cannot be a substitute of the (joint) official oscillation analysis that will be performed by the K2K (SK+K2K) collaboration(s). However, we think that our results, although necessarily approximate, are sufficiently indicative of the K2K potential in improving our current knowledge of $`\nu _\mu \nu _\tau `$ oscillations.

## IV Summary

We have shown that, within the simplest (two-family) $`\nu _\mu \nu _\tau `$ oscillation scenario, the initial evidence for a $`\nu _\mu `$ flux suppression in K2K is perfectly consistent with the atmospheric $`\nu _\mu `$ flux anomaly. The range of the neutrino squared mass difference indicated by the SK atmospheric $`\nu `$ experiment is reduced by including the K2K data. As a consequence, K2K starts to be important in narrowing the range of predictions for future (very) long baseline experiment.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank T. Hasegawa and T. Maruyama for very useful information about the K2K experiment. E.L. thanks the organizers of the TAUP Conference, where preliminary results of this work were presented, for kind hospitality. This work was supported by the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) and Ministero dell’Istruzione, Università e Ricerca (MIUR) within the “Astroparticle Physics” project.

FIG. 1. Number of events in K2K for the current exposure ($`3.85\times 10^{19}`$ p.o.t.), as a function of $`m^2`$ (at $`\mathrm{tan}^2\psi =1`$). Our calculation (solid curve) is benchmarked by the K2K MC simulation (square markers). The horizontal gray band represents the current K2K data within one standard deviation.

FIG. 2. Separate two-flavor oscillation analyses of SK and K2K, together with their combination (with eventual halving of K2K errors). See the text for details.

FIG. 3. Bounds on $`m^2`$ at 90% and 99% C.L. ($`N_{\mathrm{DF}}=2`$) from the two-flavor $`\chi ^2`$ analysis of the SK and K2K data.


text:
# Constraints on the cosmological relativistic energy density

## I Introduction

Cosmological constraints on the relativistic energy density (RED) of the Universe, particularly the bound derived from the successful prediction of the primordial abundances of D, 4He, and 7Li, provide perhaps the strongest connections between cosmology and particle physics. In this paper we examine constraints on the RED (To be specific, we consider constraints on the energy density of any particle that obeys an equation of state $`P=\rho /3`$.) at various cosmological epochs and discuss how these bounds can be used to limit the mass and lifetime of an unstable big bang relic particle. We review the classic big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) bound and the bound from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy power spectrum. We present a new bound derived from the magnitude-redshift relation of Type Ia supernovae (SNIa), and we update the bound from large scale structure (LSS). Although we will attempt to derive bounds that are independent of additional cosmological parameters, where necessary we will borrow constraints from other techniques in order to further limit the relativistic energy density of the Universe. For example, when needed we adopt the bound $`0.1\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}0.5`$ ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}`$ is the matter density relative to the critical density today, $`\rho _{\mathrm{crit}}3H_0^2/8\pi G`$), consistent with recent measurements of the contemporary matter density from lensing LENS , the rich cluster baryon fraction F\_B , mass-to-light ratio estimates BAHCALL , and the power spectrum of the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest LYA . We also adopt a hard limit on the Hubble parameter ($`hH_0/100`$ kms-1Mpc-1) of $`0.56h0.88`$ in accordance with the $`2\sigma `$ range of the HST Key Project HST .

## II Constraints on Relativistic Energy

### II.1 Nucleosynthesis Constraint

It has long been known that an increase in the RED of the Universe during BBN leads to an overproduction of 4He SSG77  (BBN reviews include BBNREV ). Prior to freeze-out of the weak interactions, the neutron-to-proton ratio $`(n/p)`$ tracks its equilibrium value. As the Universe expands and cools, the weak interactions freeze-out and $`(n/p)`$ freezes in. Freeze-out occurs when the weak interaction rates become comparable to the expansion rate $`H`$, given by $`H^2=8\pi G\rho /3`$, where $`\rho `$ is the mean cosmological energy density. Once deuterium can be synthesized nearly all available neutrons are incorporated into 4He. Increasing the energy density of the Universe during BBN increases the expansion rate, causing the weak interactions to freeze-out at a higher temperature and therefore, at a higher value of $`(n/p)`$. An increased expansion rate also allows less time for free neutron decay. Both effects make more neutrons available for 4He synthesis.

In addition, BBN production of 4He slowly increases with the baryon density or equivalently, the baryon-to-photon ratio, $`\eta n_B/n_\gamma `$. Since BBN production of deuterium is a rapidly decreasing function of $`\eta `$, the baryon density can be deduced from the D/H ratio observed in QSO absorption line systems. Furthermore, because 4He has been produced in stars since BBN, the observed 4He abundance places an upper limit on its primordial abundance. Armed with this upper bound to primordial 4He and an independent measure of $`\eta `$, we can place a bound on the RED during the BBN epoch ($`z10^9`$).

We illustrate the current status of the BBN bound to the RED as follows (see the recent analyses of BBNLIMIT  for details). We adopt a liberal range for the primordial D/H ratio that accommodates recent observations of deuterium in several QSO absorption line systems DOBS : $`1.7510^5\text{(D/H)}5.0`$. We then bound the RED by taking a conservative bound on the 4He mass fraction, $`Y_P0.25`$. This bound is consistent with both the low OSS97  and high IT98  zero-metallicity extrapolations of low-metallicity HII region data (but see ADDY ). We follow convention by expressing limits on relativistic energy in terms of the energy carried by an effective number of light neutrino species, $`N_{\nu ,eff}`$. The RED at some redshift $`z`$, after e+e- annihilation, is related to $`N_{\nu ,eff}`$ by

$$\theta (z)\frac{\rho _\mathrm{R}(z)}{\rho _{\gamma \nu }(z)}=[1+0.135(N_{\nu ,eff}3)],$$
(1)
where we scale the RED by $`\rho _{\gamma \nu }(z)`$ which is the standard model RED carried by photons and three massless neutrino species (with a current CMB temperature of $`2.725`$ K TO1999 , $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{\gamma \nu }\rho _{\gamma \nu }(z=0)/\rho _{\mathrm{crit}}=4.18h^2\times 10^5`$). In Figure 1, we show regions of the $`\eta `$-$`N_{\nu ,eff}`$plane allowed by the observed 4He and D abundances. The data require that $`N_{\nu ,eff}\stackrel{<}{}3.4`$ or, in terms of the RED during nucleosynthesis $`\theta _{\mathrm{BBN}}\theta (z=10^9)`$,

$$\theta _{\mathrm{BBN}}\stackrel{<}{}1.05.$$
(2)
In Figure 2, we show the amount of extra relativistic energy permitted during BBN.

There are two important caveats regarding the BBN RED bound. First, although (2) is a rather stringent bound on the RED, corresponding to an increase of $`5\%`$ over the standard $`\rho _{\gamma \nu }`$, it only applies during the epoch of nucleosynthesis. Relativistic energy injected after BBN is not subject to this bound (in Section III, we discuss a toy model in which relativistic energy is injected into the Universe after the light nuclide abundances have been fixed). Second, the BBN RED bound is flavor dependent in the sense that extra relativistic energy in the form of degenerate electron neutrinos changes the rates of the weak interactions that inter-convert protons and neutrons thereby changing theoretical BBN yields. Introducing an appropriate amount of electron neutrino degeneracy can always compensate for excess relativistic energy present during nucleosynthesis DEGRED ; KSSW , nullifying the BBN RED constraint.

### II.2 CMB Constraint

The CMB anisotropy power spectrum is also sensitive to the RED of the Universe at recombination, primarily through the early Integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect. The erosion of gravitational potentials due to incomplete matter domination at recombination leads to a boost in power, particularly near the first acoustic peak (for a review see CMBREV ). CMB constraints on relativistic energy complement those from BBN in two ways. First, the CMB constraints are flavor independent; the power spectrum measures relativistic energy regardless of its form. Second, the CMB constrains the RED at later epochs so that the CMB can be used to study the injection of relativistic energy after the epoch of nucleosynthesis, for example, by massive neutrino decays.

Wang, Tegmark & Zaldarriaga WTZ01  have compiled a combined CMB data set including the recent results from the BOOMERANG BOOM , MAXIMA MAX  and DASI DASI  experiments. Hannestad HANN01  has performed a likelihood analysis on this combined data set and found, with weak priors on the Hubble and tilt parameters and the baryon density, $`N_{\nu ,eff}19`$ with 95% confidence. In terms of the RED present at recombination, $`\theta _{\mathrm{CMB}}\theta (z1100)`$, this bound is

$$\theta _{\mathrm{CMB}}\stackrel{<}{}3.2$$
(3)
as depicted in Figure 2.

A cautionary note is in order. Although the priors chosen by Hannestad are quite conservative, it must be borne in mind that the bound in (3) does depend upon these priors. For example, by adopting tighter, yet reasonable, prior constraints on $`h`$ and $`\eta `$, Hannestad shrinks the above limit to $`N_{\nu ,eff}17.5`$ at 95% confidence HANN01  (see also HMMMP01 ). Kneller et al.KSSW  have explored the prior dependence of these bounds in detail, showing that the bound on $`N_{\nu ,eff}`$ scales with the upper bound chosen for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}`$ (i.e., interesting CMB bounds on the RED require a prior constraint on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}`$).

### II.3 Constraints from Type Ia Supernovae

Given a distant population of so-called “standard candles”, the magnitude-redshift relation is a powerful way to determine cosmological parameters directly SAND61 . In a standard FRW cosmology, the apparent bolometric magnitude, $`m(z)`$, of a standard candle is related to its absolute bolometric magnitude, $`M`$, and redshift by

$$m(z)=M+5\mathrm{log}(𝒟_L(z,\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M},\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda },\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}))5\mathrm{log}(H_0)+25,$$
(4)
where $`H_0`$ is the Hubble parameter in kms-1Mpc-1. $`𝒟_L`$ is the “Hubble-constant-free” luminosity distance in Mpc, given by

$$𝒟_L=c(1+z)\sqrt{\frac{1}{|\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}|}}\mathrm{\Sigma }\left(\sqrt{|\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}|}_0^z\frac{d\overline{z}}{\sqrt{(1+\overline{z})^2(1+\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}\overline{z})+(1+\overline{z})^2(2+\overline{z})\overline{z}\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}\overline{z}(2+\overline{z})\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }}}\right)$$

where $`c`$ is in kms-1, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}1\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}`$, and

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{\Sigma }(x)& =& \mathrm{sin}(x)\mathrm{if}\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}<0\hfill \\ & =& x\mathrm{if}\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}=0\hfill \\ & =& \mathrm{sinh}(x)\mathrm{if}\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{k}>0.\hfill \end{array}$$

The matter, radiation and cosmological constant energy densities enter $`𝒟_L`$ with different powers of $`z`$, making it possible to utilize observations of standard candles over a range of redshifts to determine the cosmological density parameters (for a review, see GOOB ).

Two groups, the Supernova Cosmology Project SCP  and the High-z Supernova Search Team HZT , have been engaged in a systematic study of the magnitude-redshift relation of high-redshift, type Ia supernovae in an effort to constrain $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. We have re-analyzed the data of Perlmutter et al. SCP  allowing for a non-negligible contribution from $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}`$. For simplicity, we have assumed flatness to be a robust result of CMB measurements JAFFE  and have performed a maximum-likelihood analysis (we take $`e^{\chi ^2/2}`$ subject to the priors $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}0`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}0`$) in order to derive constraints on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}`$and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}`$with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }1\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}`$111Relaxing flatness yields a less restrictive bound on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}`$ but much of the favored region of parameter space would be ruled out by age considerations, CMB measurements, or the aforementioned bounds on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}`$..

In Figure 3, we show the constraints on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}`$ from SNIa. The projection $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}`$ = 0 is consistent with earlier analyses that found $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}0.3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }0.7`$ assuming the RED to be negligible. Allowing for relativistic energy density, we find a degenerate set of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}`$ that are consistent with the SNIa data: the high-matter-content (i.e., 30% matter, 70% cosmological constant) flat Universe and the high-radiation-content (i.e., 20% radiation, 80% cosmological constant) flat Universe are equally good fits. Observe that regardless of whether relativistic energy is allowed or not, the SNIa data require a large cosmological constant ($`0.6\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }\stackrel{<}{}0.9`$).

The 95% confidence contour is approximately fit by the region

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}+0.62\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}0.17\pm 0.08.$$
(5)
It is not surprising that the data pick out this degenerate valley in the $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}`$-$`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}`$ plane because most of the SNIa data are from $`z0.5`$ and our degenerate valley represents the parameters with approximately constant luminosity distance at this redshift. The degeneracy can be further understood with the help of Figures 3 & 4. Dashed and dot-dashed lines in Figure 3 depict contours of constant apparent magnitude at redshifts $`z=0.5`$ and $`z=1.5`$ respectively. As most of the SNIa data lie near $`z0.5`$, the confidence region is nearly parallel to lines of constant mB at $`z=0.5`$. At higher redshifts, lines of constant apparent magnitude have a more shallow slope and are closer together, thus observations of SNIa at $`z>0.5`$ can break the matter-radiation degeneracy.

Figure 4 further illustrates the large lever arm of high-$`z`$ SNIa for cosmological parameter estimation. Notice that the magnitude-redshift relation in a high-matter-content Universe ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}=0`$) is quite similar to that in a high-radiation-content Universe ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}=0.2`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}=0`$) at $`z\stackrel{<}{}0.5`$. At higher redshift, one begins to probe the epoch prior to matter-$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and/or radiation-$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ equality; the cosmological constant becomes increasingly unimportant compared to radiation and/or matter and the two curves begin to diverge. The SCP data only extend to $`z=0.83`$, therefore they cannot be used to scrutinize this earlier phase and they cannot distinguish between a high-matter-content Universe and a high-radiation-content Universe. The proposed Supernova Acceleration Probe (\[http://snap.lbl.gov\]) may have the ability to break this degeneracy by observing many more SNIa at significantly higher redshift.

Marginalizing over $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}`$ by integrating the likelihood, we obtain a bound on the RED at low redshift $`\theta _{\mathrm{SNIa}}\theta (z\stackrel{<}{}0.5)`$,

$$\theta _{\mathrm{SNIa}}\stackrel{<}{}3.4h^2\times 10^3(68\%)\text{ or }4.8h^2\times 10^3(95\%).$$
(6)
In terms of the RED today, the bound is $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}0.14`$ (68%) and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}0.20`$ (95%).

The SNIa constraint on the RED applies during recent epochs, namely, $`z\stackrel{<}{}0.5`$, as can be seen in Figure 2. Of course, in light of other estimates of cosmological parameters, the allowed region in Fig. 3 is not equally probable. Estimates of the contemporary matter density of the Universe favor the region $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}=0.3\pm 0.1`$ and would slightly reduce the SNIa upper bound on the RED. This is illustrated in Figure 3 where we also plot the 95% confidence contour obtained with the additional prior constraint $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}=0.3\pm 0.1`$. This prior constraint on the matter density reduces the 95% bound on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}`$ by about 25%.

Note also that the SNIa bound on the contemporary RED is more stringent than bounds that follow from the requirement that the expansion age of the Universe be at least as large as the ages of the oldest objects in the Universe. In Figure 3, the entire region delineated by SNIa data corresponds to an acceptable age. In particular, a high-radiation-content Universe with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}=0.04`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}=0.20`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.76`$ and a Hubble parameter at the extreme lower limit, $`h=0.56`$, is $`13.8\text{ Gyr}`$ old. Even with $`h=0.72`$, $`t_010.7\text{ Gyr}`$, a value that is not grossly inconsistent with the ages of the oldest stars and globular clusters AGE .

### II.4 Large Scale Structure Constraints

The effect of additional relativistic energy on the growth of large scale structure (LSS) has been studied by numerous authors TSK84 ; ST85 ; LSSSIM ; MPBS ; TW97 . Typically, the introduction of “hot dark matter” was considered a means to suppress power on small scales and thus reconcile an $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}=1`$, Cold Dark Matter (CDM) cosmology with the observed power spectrum derived from galaxy surveys SPECT . Conversely, too much relativistic energy adversely affects the growth of structure and therefore LSS can be used to constrain the RED. In light of mounting evidence, the CDM paradigm has given way to the so-called $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM paradigm with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}0.3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }0.7`$. With this in mind, we revise previous work in order to constrain the relativistic energy content of the Universe using LSS.

The most striking feature of a CDM or $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM type power spectrum is a break in the power law at, roughly speaking, the co-moving horizon scale at matter-radiation equality

$$\lambda _{\mathrm{EQ}}16(\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}h)^1h^1\text{ Mpc}.$$
(7)
This feature arises because the growth of sub-horizon sized perturbations is quelled by the cosmological expansion during radiation domination. Hence, perturbations on scales smaller than $`\lambda _{\mathrm{EQ}}`$ are suppressed by a factor $`(\lambda /\lambda _{\mathrm{EQ}})^2`$ relative to scales that were super-horizon sized at matter radiation equality.

If the RED of the Universe is contained entirely in photons and three light neutrino species, and if the primordial power spectrum is nearly scale-invariant, the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM matter power spectrum can be expressed in terms of only one quantity, the shape parameter $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}h`$ BBKS  (this neglects the effect of baryons, see GBAR ). Several authors have used LSS observations on linear scales to infer acceptable values of the shape parameter SHAPE . One of the more permissive of these determinations is the $`95\%`$ range

$$0.06\mathrm{\Gamma }0.46,$$
(8)
quoted by Efstathiou & Moody EM , which we will use to constrain the RED.

In the presence of excess relativistic energy, the horizon scale at matter-radiation equality is no longer given by (7). Rather,

$$\lambda _{\mathrm{EQ}}16(\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}h)^1\sqrt{\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}/\mathrm{\Omega }_{\gamma \nu }}h^1\text{ Mpc}$$
(9)
and the effective shape parameter is therefore given by LSSSIM

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}h\theta ^{1/2}.$$
(10)
Taking the lower bound $`\mathrm{\Gamma }>0.06`$ we immediately come upon a generic constraint on the mean RED:

$$\theta \left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}h}{0.06}\right)^2.$$
(11)
With our conservative assumptions that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}0.5`$ and $`h0.88`$, the corresponding restriction on the RED during (and prior to) the epoch of matter-radiation equality, $`\theta _{\mathrm{LSS}}\theta (z=z_{\mathrm{EQ}})`$, is

$$\theta _{\mathrm{LSS}}\stackrel{<}{}54$$
(12)
where $`1+z_{\mathrm{EQ}}\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}/\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}`$. The relative weakness of this bound is due to our conservative lower bound on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. Taking the 95% band of Eisenstein & Zaldarriagga SHAPE , $`0.15\mathrm{\Gamma }0.58`$, results in $`\theta _{\mathrm{LSS}}\stackrel{<}{}9`$.

Note that this constraint (12) allows the epoch of matter-radiation equality to be at redshifts as low as $`z_{\mathrm{EQ}}120`$. We can obtain a more stringent bound on the RED by following an argument invoked by Turner, Steigman & Krauss TSK84 , Steigman & Turner ST85  and Turner & White TW97 . Assuming a nearly scale-invariant primordial power spectrum, data from the COBE DMR experiment COBEDMR  indicate that the rms density contrast at horizon crossing is on the order of $`\delta _\mathrm{H}\text{few}\times 10^5`$ DELH . Meanwhile, measurements of the galaxy correlation function reveal nonlinear clustering on scales smaller than a critical scale, $`\lambda _{\mathrm{NL}}5h^1\text{ Mpc}`$ XI\_R . We adopt the conservative constraint that perturbations on scales smaller than $`\lambda _{\mathrm{NL}}`$ must have grown by at least a factor of $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}10^3`$ in order for the rms perturbation on these scales to be nonlinear. In linear perturbation theory, density fluctuations grow as $`\delta (1+z)^1`$ during matter domination and only logarithmically during radiation domination. This implies that the matter dominated epoch must span at least three orders of magnitude in redshift. With $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}0.5`$ this, in turn, imposes the limitation

$$\theta _{\mathrm{LSS}}h^2\stackrel{<}{}12\text{ or }\theta _{\mathrm{LSS}}\stackrel{<}{}38,$$
(13)
where we have taken $`h0.56`$. This constraint is shown in Figure 2 where we summarize the constraints on relativistic energy imposed by BBN, the CMB, LSS and the SNIa magnitude-redshift relation.

## III Constraining Relic Decays

In the preceding section we reported limits on the RED at various epochs. In the absence of electron neutrino degeneracy, the BBN constraint on the RED is, by far, the most stringent; it leaves little room for any non-standard relativistic energy during the BBN epoch. One way to circumvent the BBN constraint is to inject relativistic energy after nucleosynthesis has ended, for instance, by the decay of a particle that was non-relativistic during BBN ($`M1\text{ MeV}`$) into relativistic products. As such, the study of relic particle decays comes part and parcel with constraints on relativistic energy. We examine the simple case of a massive, unstable big bang relic which may be pertinent to physics “beyond the Standard Model” and discuss constraints on the relic’s mass and lifetime that follow from the bounds on the RED in Section II. It is important to note that, aside from the CMB constraint, the assumption that the relic is very massive is not critical. In general, the particle must be non-relativistic at decay in order for its decay product’s energy density to be comparable to or greater than $`\rho _{\gamma \nu }`$.

Consider the decay of a massive relic particle X, with lifetime $`\tau `$, into relativistic products. Had X not decayed, the energy density in these particles today would be

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{X}h^2274M_{keV}Y.$$
(14)
In (14), $`M_{keV}`$ is the mass of the particle in keV and $`Y`$ is the ratio of the number density of the particle to the entropy density ($`Y0.039`$ for a light neutrino, $`Y2\times 10^{10}`$ for a 5 GeV, Dirac neutrino). Given a specific particle physics model in which X is produced in the early Universe, $`Y`$ is fixed (in the absence of subsequent entropy production); however, in order to make the constraints on heavy particle decays as generic as possible, we have chosen to keep $`Y`$ as an explicit, free parameter. Further, we assume that the daughter particles are weakly-interacting (constraints on radiative decays are quite severe RAFFELT ). In all analytic calculations we assume that decays occur simultaneously at $`t=\tau `$. Energy conservation during decay demands that the present energy density in decay products be $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{D}=\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{X}/(1+z_\mathrm{D})`$, where $`z_\mathrm{D}`$ is the redshift at decay (i.e.$`z`$ at $`t=\tau `$). Assuming the Universe to be X-dominated prior to decay,

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{D}h^25.1\times 10^4M_{keV}^{4/3}Y^{4/3}\tau _{yr}^{2/3}$$
(15)
where $`\tau _{yr}`$ is the lifetime of X in years.

### III.1 CMB Constraints on Relic Properties

One constraint on relic properties follows from the requirement that the total energy density in relativistic particles $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{R}=\mathrm{\Omega }_{\gamma \nu }+\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{D}`$, fall under the CMB bound in (3) during the epoch of recombination. If the particle decays prior to recombination the CMB constraint (3), along with the analytic approximation of (15), implies that222The CMB constraint on relativistic energy is strict enough that the assumption of X-domination prior to decay is untenable, making it necessary to integrate the equations governing heavy WIMP decay in a flat, Friedmann cosmology. We have performed the necessary integration and find that the above analytic bound is typically accurate to within 20%.

$$M_{keV}^2Y^2\tau _{yr}\stackrel{<}{}7.5\times 10^2.$$
(16)
For pertinent lifetimes, $`10^3\stackrel{<}{}\tau _{yr}\stackrel{<}{}10^5`$, the excluded region of parameter space is displayed in Figure 5.

Post-recombination X decays modify the CMB power spectrum through the ISW effect and through shifts in the multipole positions of the acoustic peaks due to a change in the angular diameter distance to the surface of last-scattering. It is possible to use this modification of the observed CMB anisotropy power spectrum to constrain post-recombination X decays LDCMB , but these constraints would not be generic because the gravitational dynamics of the relic as well as its decay scheme can contribute to the ISW effect. Such constraints would have to be developed on a case-by-case basis considering the relic mass and relic abundance separately; however, we mention a specific case that evades the CMB bound and contributes a significant RED at the present epoch in section IV. In the following subsection, we show that the growth of LSS can place severe, yet generic, constraints on post-recombination decays.

### III.2 LSS Constraints on Relic Decays

Large scale structure considerations also lead to bounds on decaying relics. Utilizing (15), $`\theta `$ can be expressed as $`\theta 1+12.2M_{keV}^{4/3}Y^{4/3}\tau _{yr}^{2/3}`$. Consequently, the effective shape parameter (10) may be written

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}h[1+12.2M_{keV}^{4/3}Y^{4/3}\tau _{yr}^{2/3}]^{1/2}$$
(17)
from which we conclude that

$$M_{keV}^2Y^2\tau _{yr}188[(\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}h)^2\mathrm{\Gamma }^2]^{3/2}.$$
(18)
Again, taking $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}0.5`$, $`h0.88`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }0.06`$, we deduce that

$$M_{keV}^2Y^2\tau _{yr}\stackrel{<}{}16.$$
(19)
Observe that (19) restricts the combination $`M_{keV}^2Y^2\tau _{yr}`$. As has been underscored by McNally & Peacock and Bharadwaj & Sethi MPBS , the power spectrum will also exhibit a feature on small scales corresponding to the transition between radiation domination and an early matter dominated (domination by X particles) phase. As the co-moving horizon scale during the first epoch of matter-radiation equality is given by

$$\lambda _\mathrm{X}\frac{1}{17.1M_{keV}Y}\text{ Mpc},$$
(20)
this small-scale feature can, in principle, constrain the combination $`M_{keV}Y`$ alone. In practice, however, much of the interesting region of relic parameter space would correspond to nonlinear scales and such a constraint would require a better theoretical handle on nonlinear clustering and bias.

We can strengthen the bound in (19) by requiring that structure grow sufficiently. As Steigman and Turner ST85  have noted, there are two ways in which this can occur. One way was mentioned in Section II.4, namely, that the relic decay early enough so that the most recent epoch of matter domination began at a redshift $`(1+z_{\mathrm{EQ}})10^3`$. The redshift of equality is $`(1+z_{\mathrm{EQ}})\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}/\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{D}`$ and using (14) and (15) we find that this scenario requires

$$M_{keV}^2Y^2\tau _{yr}\stackrel{<}{}0.66$$
(21)
and is relevant for lifetimes in the range $`10^3\stackrel{<}{}\tau _{yr}\stackrel{<}{}10^5`$.

In the presence of a massive unstable relic however, there can be two phases of matter domination, an early X dominated phase and a second matter dominated phase after relic decay. It may be possible for perturbations on scales $`\lambda <\lambda _{\mathrm{NL}}`$ to take advantage of both of these periods of growth and thereby grow by a factor greater than $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$. X domination begins at redshift $`(1+z_\mathrm{X})=\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{X}/\mathrm{\Omega }_{\gamma \nu }`$, followed by decay at redshift $`(1+z_\mathrm{D})=\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{X}/\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{D}`$. Thus the total growth factor for scales smaller than the horizon scale at X domination, $`\lambda _\mathrm{X}`$, is

$$\gamma \frac{(1+z_\mathrm{X})}{(1+z_\mathrm{D})}(1+z_{\mathrm{EQ}})2.4\times 10^4\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}h^2.$$
(22)
With our aforementioned limits on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}`$and $`h`$, these scales grow by a maximum of $`\gamma 9.3\times 10^3`$. Perturbations that enter the horizon after X domination begins, grow by a smaller factor:

$$\gamma (\lambda >\lambda _\mathrm{X})9.3\times 10^3\left(\frac{\lambda _\mathrm{X}}{\lambda }\right)^2.$$
(23)
Compelling $`\gamma (\lambda _{\mathrm{NL}})`$ to be greater than $`\gamma _{\mathrm{min}}`$ forces

$$M_{keV}Y\stackrel{<}{}3.6h\times 10^2\stackrel{<}{}3.2\times 10^2.$$
(24)
Combining (19), (21) and (24), we summarize the LSS constraints on early relic decays as

$`M_{keV}^2Y^2\tau _{yr}\stackrel{<}{}0.66\text{or}`$
$`M_{keV}^2Y^2\tau _{yr}\stackrel{<}{}16\text{and}`$ $`M_{keV}Y\stackrel{<}{}3.2\times 10^2.`$ (25)
The excluded region is shown in Figure 5.

The above constraints (III.2) are pertinent for lifetimes in the range $`10^3\stackrel{<}{}\tau _{yr}\stackrel{<}{}10^6`$ because we assumed that the turnover in the power spectrum is indicative of $`\lambda _{\mathrm{EQ}}`$, the horizon scale at the epoch of matter-radiation equality after X decay. Alternatively, the X particles may have very large lifetimes, $`\tau _{yr}10^6`$, in which case the turnover in the power spectrum would be indicative of $`\lambda _\mathrm{X}`$, the horizon scale at the first epoch of matter-radiation equality, prior to X decay. In this case, the effective shape parameter is simply

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{X}+\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M})h.$$
(26)
If we adopt our limiting case that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}0.1`$ in order to be consistent with various measures of the contemporary matter density, we find that the restriction $`\mathrm{\Gamma }0.46`$ from (8) asserts that

$$M_{keV}Y\stackrel{<}{}1.2\times 10^3.$$
(27)
We illustrate this bound in Figure 5 by the vertical boundary for $`\tau _{yr}\stackrel{>}{}10^7`$. Lastly, because $`(1+z_{\mathrm{EQ}})10^4`$ in this scenario and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{X}`$ is not more than a factor of five larger than our lower bound on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}`$, requiring $`\gamma _{min}\stackrel{>}{}10^3`$ provides only a weak restriction on X lifetimes. It may be more useful to take advantage of the large scale feature that would be present in the power spectrum due to the injection of relativistic energy in order to limit relic properties. We do not explore such bounds as this would require specifying $`M_{keV}`$ and $`Y`$ separately.

### III.3 SNIa Constraint on Relic Decays

With the SNIa bound on relativistic energy from Section II.3, it is now easy to obtain a SNIa bound on the relic decay properties. Using (15) and the 95% upper limit in (6), we have

$$M_{keV}^2Y^2\tau _{yr}\stackrel{<}{}5.3\times 10^3,$$
(28)
where we have once again assumed $`h0.88`$. Notice that this follows from a bound on the contemporary RED and, therefore, is most pertinent to late decays (i.e.$`\tau _{yr}\stackrel{>}{}10^8`$). Again, this constraint is shown in Figure 5 where our bounds on the properties of decaying relics are summarized.

## IV Conclusions

Constraints on the cosmological RED can provide a fundamental probe of particle physics beyond the standard model. In this paper we have discussed constraints on the RED during four distinct epochs arising from BBN, the CMB, LSS and SNIa (see Figure 2). Further, we have shown how these bounds constrain the mass and lifetime of a hypothetical big bang relic (see Figure 5). Somewhat surprisingly, the RED at the current epoch is relatively unconstrained: we have shown that the magnitude-redshift relation for SNIa is consistent with a flat universe comprised of up to 20% relativistic energy. Conventional wisdom suggests that the RED today must be small to allow for sufficient growth of large scale structure and not appreciably alter the CMB anisotropy power spectrum. The LSS bound does, in fact, significantly limit the RED near the epoch of matter-radiation equality. Any RED consistent with subsequent growth of LSS, redshifted to the current epoch, would be quite small. Conversely, a RED that is large yet acceptable with respect to the SNIa bound would clearly inhibit the growth of LSS if it were redshifted to the past. However, a long-lived particle that decays sufficiently late as to avoid the LSS constraint could nevertheless contribute substantially to the RED today. In this case, the relevant constraint would be the aforementioned CMB bound (see Section III.1). Avoiding the CMB constraint requires the X particles to be very long-lived if they are to contribute appreciably to the RED today. Consider a big bang relic with $`M_{keV}Y=1.2\times 10^3`$(a 30 eV neutrino is an example of a particle with the necessary abundance) and a very long lifetime, $`\tau _{yr}=2\times 10^9`$. The decay products of this relic contribute $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{D}h^20.1`$ and its properties are marginally consistent with the growth of LSS . In addition, the decay products are produced sufficiently late so as to contribute an unconstrained ISW perturbation at low multipole moments, peaking around $`\mathrm{}10`$, and to change the angular diameter distance to the last-scattering surface by only $`7\%`$ (see Figures 3 and 4 of Kaplinghat et al.LDCMB ). These effects cannot be ruled out by current CMB data. In Figure 2 we show the evolution of the RED including the decay products of this hypothetical, long-lived big bang relic.

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank Jim Kneller, Savvas Koushiappas, Bob Scherrer, and Gary Steigman for many insightful comments and helpful discussions. We also wish to thank Rich Schugart and Jason Farris who performed some initial SNIa calculations as part of the NSF REU program at OSU. We acknowledge DOE contract DE-FG02-91ER40690 for support.


text:
# Single-photon tunneling

\[

## Abstract

Strong evidence of a single-photon tunneling effect, a direct analog of single-electron tunneling, has been obtained in the measurements of light tunneling through individual subwavelength pinholes in a thick gold film covered with a layer of polydiacetylene. The transmission of some pinholes reached saturation because of the optical nonlinearity of polydiacetylene at a very low light intensity of a few thousands photons per second. This result is explained theoretically in terms of ”photon blockade”, similar to the Coulomb blockade phenomenon observed in single-electron tunneling experiments. The single-photon tunneling effect may find many applications in the emerging fields of quantum communication and information processing.

PACS no.: 78.67.-n, 42.50.-p, 42.65.-k

\]

The emerging fields of quantum communication and information processing require unusual sources of light with strong quantum correlations between single photons, and new types of light detectors that can detect individual photons without destroying them . A few such novel quantum devices have been demonstrated very recently, such as a quantum dot single-photon turnstile device, and a quantum non-demolition photon detector based on strong photon-matter coupling . Operation of such quantum devices is extremely involved, and there is a great need for novel ideas and device concepts in this field. One such idea is the concept of photon blockade in a nonlinear optical cavity , introduced theoretically in close analogy with the well-known phenomenon of Coulomb blockade for quantum-well electrons. The suggested realization of this concept involves a four-level atomic system in a macroscopic optical cavity, which exhibits resonantly enhanced two-photon absorption limited Kerr nonlinearity. The optical transmission of such a cavity is supposed to exhibit photon anti-bunching.

In this paper we suggest and demonstrate experimentally another example of photon blockade, which is based on close analogy between electron and photon tunneling. It is well known that Coulomb blockade leads to the observation of single-electron tunneling in tunnel junctions with an extremely small capacitance, where the charging energy $`e^2/2C`$ of the capacitance $`C`$ is much larger than the thermal energy $`k_BT`$ and the quantum fluctuation energy $`\mathrm{}/\tau `$ with $`\tau =RC`$ (where $`R`$ is the resistance of the tunnel junction) . An example of such a tunnel junction is shown in Fig.1(a), where a nanoparticle with a very small capacitance $`C`$ is placed in the gap between the tip and sample of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). In this case, tunneling of a single electron into the nanoparticle results in noticeable charging of the junction capacitance, so the probability of other tunneling events is drastically reduced. Therefore there is a strong correlation between tunneling events : electrons tunnel one at a time, and steps (”Coulomb staircase”) in the current-voltage characteristic of a tunnel junction are observed.

Let us consider a geometry of an optical single-photon tunneling experiment Fig.1(b) designed to emulate the geometry of a single-electron tunneling experiment in Fig.1(a). Classical realization of light tunneling is based on a glass surface illuminated in the total internal reflection geometry, e.g., using a prism or a semicylinder. In this case, all incident light is reflected and only an evanescent field (exponentially decaying from the surface) exists over a smooth surface. If a tapered glass fiber is placed sufficiently close to the glass-air interface, the evanescent field is transformed into propagating waves in the fiber. Thus, optical tunneling through an air gap (which can be considered as a tunnel barrier) occurs. This geometry is used in scanning tunneling optical microscope (STOM) operation.

To complete our analogy to single-electron tunneling, we will consider a nanometer-scale object in the tunnel gap of a STOM. Let us assume that this object posses nonlinear optical properties and exhibits well defined localized electromagnetic modes. There are quite a few examples of such objects. It may be a silver-coated polymerized diacetylene composite nanoparticle , or a narrow gap between two silver particles filled with nonlinear optical material. Nanometer-size gaps between metal surfaces (such as a tip and a sample of an STM) are known to exhibit pronounced and well-defined localized surface plasmon (LSP) resonances . Excitation of LSP modes may lead to very large local electromagnetic field intensity enhancement  because of the very small volume of these modes. If the frequency of tunneling photons is in resonance with some localized optical mode of our nanometer-scale object in Fig.1(b), tunneling from the sample into the tip of the STOM is facilitated. This happens via excitation of the localized mode. The electric field of the excited localized mode $`E_L`$ induces local changes in the dielectric constant $`ϵ`$ of the nonlinear optical material:

$$ϵ=ϵ^{(1)}+4\pi \chi ^{(3)}E_L^2,$$
(1)
where $`ϵ^{(1)}`$ and $`\chi ^{(3)}`$ are the linear dielectric constant and the third order nonlinear susceptibility, respectively. As a consequence of dielectric constant change, the localized modes may experience a noticeable frequency change, so that the tunneling photons will not be in resonance any more. Thus, photon tunneling will be blocked in a manner similar to the Coulomb blockade effect for electrons in Fig.1(a), until the localized optical mode has radiated and the nonlinear material relaxes into its initial state. Our calculations below show that in some cases even tunneling of a single optical quantum into the localized plasmon mode is enough to cause an effective blockade of the tunneling gap for the next optical quanta.

Unless we are interested in the space-time dynamics of photon tunneling, a formal analogy between electron and photon tunneling can be drawn . In the widely used theory of STM  the tunneling current is proportional to the local density of states (LDOS) of a sample under investigation, $`\rho _s(𝐫,E_F)`$, at the Fermi energy:

$$I\rho _s(𝐫,E_F),$$
(2)
This theory adequately describes the resolution of the microscope, gives the interpretation of the images and explains some influences of the tip. Single-electron tunneling can be realized in systems in which tunneling electrons (ultimately, one electron) significantly modify the energy spectrum of LDOS $`\rho _s(𝐫,E_F)`$ by, for example, influencing the Fermi energy of the sample (the nanoparticle in Fig. 1(a)).

The LDOS for photons (sometimes referred as the photonic mode density) can be defined in the same way as is done for electrons via the electric field dyadic Green function $`𝐆(𝐫,𝐫^{},\omega )`$ of a system under consideration :

$$\rho (𝐫,\mathrm{}\omega )=1/\pi Im𝐆(𝐫,𝐫,\mathrm{}\omega )$$
(3)
which gives the density of states of electromagnetic eigenmodes of energy $`\mathrm{}\omega `$. The physical interpretation of the LDOS in optics is that it is directly related to the square of the modulus of the electric field at a given point in space $`𝐫`$ and at a given photon energy $`\mathrm{}\omega `$, and, therefore, to the electromagnetic field enhancement in the system.

Similar to single-electron tunneling, which is observed in systems in which tunneling electrons significantly modify the energy spectrum of LDOS, tunneling photons can significantly modify the LDOS spectrum of a system exhibiting third-order nonlinear effects through local changes of the dielectric constant. As a consequence of the refractive index change, the polarizability and, therefore, the LDOS of the system are modified. A nonabsorbing electro-optical nonlinearity should be employed to avoid optical losses in a nonlinear material. For a particle made of dielectric material with a low dispersion refractive index, the LDOS has a broad continuous spectrum, thus requiring significant intensities of the incoming light for controlling the particle polarizability. In contrast, small metallic particles exhibit a narrow-band LDOS spectrum in the spectral range where localized surface plasmons are excited. In the maximum of the band, a significant enhancement of the electromagnetic field occurs in the vicinity of the particle in turn enhancing the nonlinear effects. Thus, realization of light controlled photon tunneling can be achieved combining high third-order nonlinear materials with good metals exhibiting a narrow spectrum of LDOS and strong field enhancement effects.

A very strong field enhancement is expected when a metal sphere is placed close to a metal surface so that the electromagnetic near-field interaction modifies significantly the plasma resonance of the sphere resulting in the surface plasmon’s localization at the sphere-surface junction. As the highest field enhancement is expected in this system, in general, for small sphere-surface distances $`d`$, we shall consider the situation $`d<<R`$ that simplifies the LDOS spectrum calculation significantly . This model has been successfully employed for describing the surface enhanced Raman scattering, photon emission from STM, etc. A similar model, considering spherical particles at small separation distance, describes giant enhancement of the electromagnetic field and related optical processes in self-affine structures and fractals . In our case we shall consider a metal sphere placed over a metal surface and a nonlinear material is assumed to fill the sphere-surface gap. The LDOS spectrum of such a system can be calculated analytically in the limit $`d<<R`$ since it formally resembles particle motion in the Coulomb field , and is determined by the following dispersion relation

$$Re(ϵ/ϵ(\omega ))=(m+1/2)(d/2R)^{1/2},m=0,1,2\mathrm{},$$
(4)
where $`ϵ`$ and $`ϵ(\omega )`$ are the dielectric constants of nonlinear material and metal, respectively, $`R`$ is the radius of the sphere, and $`d`$ is the distance between sphere and surface. The quantum number $`m`$ corresponds to different localized surface plasmon modes at the sphere-surface junction. The strongest localization occurs for the lowest, $`m=0`$, mode with a localization length $`L=(2dR)^{1/2}`$ , and the electric field of this localized mode is determined by the potential

$$\varphi (k)=A\frac{exp(kL)}{kϵ},$$
(5)
where A is the normalization constant. Having determined the mode volume of this localized plasmon, the respective electric field in the gap can be calculated and the related electro-optical nonlinearity estimated (Eq. 1) for a given number of tunneling photons . The results of our calculations are shown in Fig. 2. The LDOS in the gap is presented as a function of light wavelength (Fig.2a) for different values of the nonlinear refractive index change caused by excitation of a localized plasmon mode. Fig.2(b) shows the changes in the LDOS at different light intensities (different numbers of plasmon quanta excited in the gap) for the incident light wavelength corresponding to the LSP resonance at low light intensities, as well as for the longer and shorter wavelengths. With an increase of the incident light intensity the LDOS resonance shift leads to significant variations of LDOS at the illumination wavelength. The decrease of the LDOS results in the saturation of transmitted light intensity with an increase of the incident light intensity. Because of very strong field localization, the number of photons required to achieve a ”photon blockade” is very low. If $`\chi ^{(3)}10^{10}`$ esu is assumed, which is on the correct order of magnitude for the $`\chi ^{(3)}`$ observed in poly-3-butoxy-carbonyl-methyl-urethane (3BCMU) and 4BCMU polydiacetylene materials  (these materials hold the record for the largest fast nonresonant optical nonlinearity), there is a fair chance to observe single-photon tunneling, since a single tunneled photon causes the reduction of LDOS at the incident light wavelength by almost a factor of 2. In this scenario, the photon which is close to the resonance of the LDOS spectrum tunnels through a barrier via a localized sphere-surface plasmon. The electric field of this LSP acting on the nonlinear material results in a shift of the LDOS spectrum according to the refractive index change, thus blocking tunneling of subsequent photons. Only when the LSP is radiated and after the nonlinear material is relaxed into its initial state, the LDOS resonance at this wavelength is recovered, and another photon can tunnel. Therefore, the temporal behavior of the tunneling is governed by the time of nonlinear material thermalization and the LSP lifetime.

Our measurements of light tunneling through individual subwavelength pinholes in a thick gold film covered with a layer of polydiacetylene provide strong evidence of single-photon tunneling. Our experimental setup is shown in Fig.3. A thick ($`1\mu m`$ ) gold film had been deposited on the surface of a glass prism. Only a few sparsely separated pinholes were visible in the film under illumination with 632 nm light at an angle larger than the angle of total internal reflection for the glass-air interface. A drop of 3BCMU polydiacetylene solution in chloroform  was deposited onto the gold film surface. After solvent evaporation a thick film of polydiacetylene was left on the surface. A cleaved optical fiber with a core diameter of about $`9\mu m`$ was used to collect 632 nm light transmitted through the individual pinholes. The fiber was positioned above individual pinholes at a distance of a few micrometers using a far-field optical microscope and the shear-force distance control system commonly used in near-field optical setups . The pinholes selected for the measurements had very low optical transmission of a few hundred photons per second. Fig.4 shows the measured dependencies of the transmitted light as a function of the illuminated light intensity for some selected pinholes. The size $`a`$ of these pinholes may be roughly estimated using the Bethe’s expression for the cross section of a subwavelength aperture : $`Aa^2(a/\lambda )^4`$. Using the numerical data from Fig.4(a) we have got an estimate of $`a7`$ nm, which corresponds to a desired range of pinhole sizes. While the dependencies obtained for most pinholes were linear, transmission of some small pinholes exhibited saturation and even staircase-like behavior.

The experimental data has been fitted assuming the intensity dependent LDOS resonances analogous to the model described above. Although the absolute spectral positions of the resonances related to nanopores are somewhat different from the ones given by equation (4), the overall behavior of localized plasmon modes in nanopores is expected to be similar . The fitting curves obtained with one (Fig. 4b) and two (Fig. 4c) intensity dependent local plasmon resonances show good agreement with the experiment. The $`\delta \lambda /\lambda `$ of the resonances obtained from the fit was equal to 0.05 and 0.3 for low and high intensity resonances in Fig. 4c, respectively, and 0.6 for the resonance in Fig. 4b. These values have a similar order of magnitude to those observed in small metal particles . For a two-resonance curve (Fig.4c), the second resonance observed at higher light intensity is presumed to be initially far away from the frequency of the incident light (c.f. Fig. 2a). It becomes significant at higher intensities leading to the staircase-like behavior of the observed transmission.

In conclusion, strong evidence of a single-photon tunneling effect, a direct analog of single-electron tunneling, has been obtained in measurements of light tunneling through individual subwavelength pinholes in a thick gold film covered with a layer of polydiacetylene. Single-photon tunneling effect may find many applications in the emerging fields of quantum communication and information processing.