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# The CORALIE survey for southern extra-solar planets VIII.

## 1 Introduction

Since the discovery of the extra-solar planet orbiting 51 Peg (Mayor & Queloz 1995), high-precision radial-velocity measurements proved to be very efficient for detecting very low-mass companions to solar-type stars. In about 6 years, close to 80 planetary candidates with minimum mass $`m_2\mathrm{sin}i<10`$ MJup have been announced including 7 planetary systems and a few sub-Saturnian planets (see e.g. Udry & Mayor 2001; Fischer et al. 2002, for recent reference updates).

Interestingly, brown-dwarf candidates, easier to detect with high-precision Doppler surveys, seem to be more sparse than exoplanets (Mayor et al. 1997), especially in the 10 – 30 MJup interval (Halbwachs et al. 2000b), the so-called brown-dwarf desert. Objects in this domain are very important to understand the brown-dwarf/planet transition. The paradigm behind the distinction between planets and brown dwarfs may rely on different considerations: mass, physics of the interior, formation mechanism, etc. From the “formation” point of view, the brown-dwarf companions belong to the low-mass end of the secondaries formed in binary stars whereas planets form in the protostellar disk. Such distinct origins of planetary and multiple-star systems is clearly emphasized by the two peaks in the observed distribution of minimum masses of secondaries to solar-type stars as shown in Fig. 1 (top), providing an updated111All candidates known on the 15th of November 2001. The masses are from the discovery papers or from CORALIE-ELODIE orbital solutions. A summary table is provided at obswww.unige.ch/$``$naef/who\_discovered\_that\_planet.html version of the diagram. They strongly suggest different formation and evolution histories for the two populations. Below 10 MJup the planetary distribution increases with decreasing mass and is thus not the tail of the stellar binary distribution.

For the objects detected by the radial-velocity technique, only minimum masses are determined because the inclination angles of the orbital planes relative to the line of sight cannot be derived from the spectroscopic data only. The determination of the true masses for most of these objects is expected soon with high-angular resolution astrometric facilities that will become available in the upcoming years (e.g. PRIMA on the VLTI, SIM). It is however already possible to apply a statistical deconvolution to the growing sample of exoplanet candidates (Jorissen, Mayor, & Udry 2001; Zucker & Mazeh 2001). The updated planetary true mass distribution, derived as in Jorissen et al. (2001), is presented in Fig. 1 (bottom). Probably because of the strong observational bias favouring the more massive planets, the distribution looks “bimodal”. A careful treatment of the bias, however, has to be done before being able to convincingly interpret the shape of the distribution. Nevertheless, the bias at the high-mass end of the planetary distribution is vanishing and the observational maximum mass of exoplanets is fairly well determined, around 10-11 MJup where the curve drops to almost zero. If this value is correct then the question of the true masses and nature of the candidates with slightly higher values of $`m_2\mathrm{sin}i`$ is becoming very interesting.

Since the summer of 1998, a large high-precision radial-velocity programme has been carried out with the CORALIE echelle spectrograph on the 1.2-m Euler Swiss telescope at La Silla (Queloz et al. 2000b; Udry et al. 2000a). The CORALIE survey has been very successful, with the detection of a significant fraction of the known exoplanet candidates (Udry & Mayor 2001). Information on the method, technical and instrumental details are given in Baranne et al. (1996). Recent improvements in the reduction software have allowed us to bring the long-term instrumental precision of individual measurements from the previously obtained $``$ 7 m s-1 down to $``$ 2 m s-1 (Queloz et al. 2001b). Asteroseismology measurements of $`\alpha `$ Cen A even show a short-term precision below the 1 m s-1 limit over 1 night (Bouchy & Carrier 2001). The size of the telescope is now the main limitation of the precision actually achieved for most of our sample stars.

The cross-correlation technique used has proven to be very simple, robust and efficient for radial-velocity measurements. However, it is still not optimum in terms of Doppler information extraction from the spectra (Bouchy et al. 2001; Chelli 2000). Recently, Pepe et al. (2002) improved the procedure by introducing a “correct” weighting of the spectral lines involved in the cross correlation. At the same time they also reduced the astroclimatic-induced noise by restricting more severely the zone of the spectra potentially affected by telluric lines. The overall gain corresponds to a virtual increase in the signal-to-noise by a factor of $``$ 1.25 (i.e. a virtual decrease of the photon-noise error by the same factor).

This new procedure for radial-velocity estimation is used for the objects described in this paper. We present 4 new very low-mass companions to solar-type stars, detected with CORALIE, and with minimum masses in the planet–brown dwarf transition domain. With four other objects - HD 114762 (Latham et al. 1989), HD 110833222HD 110833 was shown to be a stellar binary by Halbwachs et al. (2000b) using the HIPPARCOS astrometric data (Mayor et al. 1997), HD 39091 (Hugh et al. 2002) and HD 136118 (Fischer et al. 2002) \- these candidates are the only companions to solar-type stars known to date with minimum masses between $``$ 10 and 20 MJup. They are thus of prime importance for the description of the transition zone between brown dwarfs and planets. The first sections of the paper are dedicated to the description of the stellar properties of the hosts of the the new candidates, then to their orbital characteristics and to a discussion of the possible nature of these objects. Finally, the orbital properties and the characteristics of stars with “massive” planets are examined in comparison with systems harbouring “lighter” planets.

The radial-velocity data for the new candidates will be made available in electronic form at the Centre de Données Stellaires (CDS) in Strasbourg.

## 2 Stellar characteristics of the candidate hosts

The stars hosting the 4 very low-mass candidates presented here were observed by the HIPPARCOS astrometric satellite. Most of the quoted photometric and astrometric parameters are thus taken from the mission output catalogue (ESA 1997). High-precision spectroscopic studies of these stars have also been performed by several authors in the context of examining the metallicity distribution of stars hosting planets in comparison to “single” stars of the solar neighbourhood (Gonzalez et al. 2001; Santos et al. 2001a, b). Observed and inferred stellar parameters from these different sources are summarized in Table 1. In the table, the given masses of primary stars are estimated from evolutionary tracks of the Geneva models with appropriate spectroscopic parameters ($`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, $`L`$, metallicity; Schaller et al. 1992; Schaerer et al. 1993). Age estimates are also provided by those models but usually with very large uncertainties for our type of stars. The projected rotational velocity, $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$, comes from the calibration of the CORALIE cross-correlation functions333The calibration does not account for metallicity effects. For metal-rich stars the rotational broadening is therefore slightly overestimated (CCF) derived in the same way as the calibration of the ELODIE CCF (Queloz et al. 1998).

### 2.1 HD 141937 (HIP 77740)

From the HIPPARCOS parallax ($`29.89\pm 1.08`$ mas) and visual magnitude ($`V`$ = 7.25), we derive for HD 141937 an absolute magnitude $`M_V=4.63`$ in agreement with its given G2V spectral type and color index ($`BV`$ = 0.628). Santos et al. (2001b) performed a high-resolution spectroscopic abundance study for this star and derived precise values for its effective temperature ($`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=5925`$ K), metallicity (\[Fe/H\] $`=`$ 0.11) and gravity ($`\mathrm{log}g=4.62`$), using a standard local thermodynamical equilibrium (LTE) analysis. Using a calibrated bolometric correction $`BC=0.055`$ (Flower 1996) combined with the spectroscopic $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ determination, the star luminosity is found to be $`L=1.17`$ L. A mass $`M=1.1`$ M and a badly constrained age of 2 $`\pm `$ 6 Gyr are then estimated from the Geneva evolutionary models (Schaller et al. 1992).

The dispersion of the HIPPARCOS photometric data ($`\sigma _{Hp}`$ = 0.007 mag) shows no evidence of variation of the star luminosity at the instrument precision. The same conclusion holds from the Geneva photometry observations.

### 2.2 HD 162020 (HIP 87330)

In the HIPPARCOS catalogue HD 162020 is a K2 dwarf with $`V=6.35`$ and $`BV=0.964`$. The catalogue also lists a precise astrometric parallax $`\pi =31.99\pm 1.48`$ mas corresponding to a distance of 31.26 pc from the Sun. The derived absolute magnitude $`M_V=6.63`$ is typical for a K3 dwarf. From high-resolution CORALIE spectra, Santos et al. (2001a) derived the following spectroscopic parameters: $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=4830`$ K, \[Fe/H\] $`=`$ 0.01 and $`\mathrm{log}g=4.76`$ (Table 1). With a calibrated bolometric correction $`BC=0.388`$ (Flower 1996) and the derived effective temperature the star luminosity is found to be $`L=0.25`$ L, also suggesting a K3V spectral type. Solar-metallicity models (Schaller et al. 1992) give then a mass of 0.75 M. They also point towards an old stellar age but with a very large uncertainty, much larger than the age itself (6 $`\pm `$ 18 Gyr). On the other hand, we will see further that the activity level of the star rather suggests a younger age.

The dispersion of the HIPPARCOS photometric data of HD 162020 ($`\sigma _{Hp}`$ = 0.018 mag) is found to be slightly higher than the value expected for a 9th-magnitude star. We will see below that the star shows spectral indications of activity that can explain this feature.

### 2.3 HD 168443 (HIP 89844, GJ 4052)

The stellar characteristics of HD 168443 have been discussed by Marcy et al. (1999) in the paper announcing the detection of the first planet orbiting the star. From the HIPPARCOS photometric data, they have estimated the star to reside $``$ 1.5 mag above the main sequence in the HR diagram ($`M_V=4.03`$), being slightly evolved. They estimate the star to have a G8IV spectral type and a mass of 1.01 M. A recent high-precision spectroscopic study by Gonzalez et al. (2001) completely corroborates that result by deriving reliable values of the effective temperature ($`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=5555`$ K), metallicity (\[Fe/H\] $`=`$ 0.1) and gravity ($`\mathrm{log}g=4.1`$) of the star. Using Flower (1996) calibration for the bolometric correction ($`BC`$ = $`0.125`$), one obtains a luminosity $`L`$ = 2.17 L. The mass derived from the Geneva evolutionary tracks (Schaller et al. 1992) agrees with the estimate of Marcy et al. (1999) and the age is found to be larger than 10 Gyr, suitable for a slightly evolved late G star. These main stellar properties are recalled in Table 1.

The star is found to be photometrically stable in both the HIPPARCOS data ($`\sigma _{Hp}`$ = 0.007 mag) and the Geneva photometry ($`\sigma _V`$ = 0.005 mag).

### 2.4 HD 202206 (HIP 104903)

In the HIPPARCOS catalogue, HD 202206 is given as a G6 dwarf of visual magnitude $`V=8.08`$ and color index $`BV=0.714`$. The measured parallax ($`21.58\pm 1.14`$ mas) leads to an absolute magnitude $`M_V=4.75`$, $``$ 0.4 mag brighter than the expected value for a typical G6 dwarf of solar metallicity. From CORALIE spectra, Santos et al. (2001a) derived an effective temperature $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=5765`$ K, a gravity $`\mathrm{log}g=4.75`$ and a very high metal content \[Fe/H\] $`=`$ 0.37 (Table 1). The very high metallicity of HD 202206 probably accounts for its overluminosity as $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ is also larger than the value expected for a G6 dwarf. From $`BC=0.082`$, we derive $`L=1.07`$ L and the Geneva models (Schaerer et al. 1993) yields a mass of M = 1.15 M and an age of about 5.6 $`\pm `$ 1.2 Gyr.

As for HD 162020, the dispersion of the HIPPARCOS photometric data of HD 202206 ($`\sigma _{Hp}`$ = 0.013 mag) is a bit high for the star magnitude but again some indication of stellar activity is seen in the spectra (see below).

### 2.5 Chromospheric activity

The amplitude of the radial-velocity jitter associated with intrinsic stellar activity may reach a few tens of m s-1, especially for high-rotation stars with large spectral-line asymmetry due to spots (Saar & Donahue 1997). The coherent-spot survival on the stellar surface over several rotational periods may even mimic the radial-velocity variation induced by a planetary companion (Queloz et al. 2001a).

The stellar activity can be associated with the presence of chromospheric emission in the centre of the Ca ii H and K absorption lines. When reported to the photospheric flux, the intensity of this emission provides good quantitative estimators ($`S_{\mathrm{COR}}`$444 The $`S_{\mathrm{COR}}`$ activity index has been calibrated to the Mount-Wilson system index $`S_{\mathrm{MW}}`$ (Vaughan et al. 1978) to compute the $`\mathrm{log}R_{\mathrm{HK}}^{}`$ indicator (Noyes et al. 1984) or $`\mathrm{log}R_{\mathrm{HK}}^{}`$) of the activity level of solar-type stars and thus to the expected level of induced spurious noise on the radial-velocity measurements (Saar et al. 1998; Santos et al. 2000). For the brightest stars in our planet-search sample, such indicators are directly measured on the CORALIE spectra. However, the low brightness of some of the targets does not allow us to derive good indicators555The correction for the diffuse light in the spectrograph is not known precisely enough and for low S/N spectra it represents a significant fraction of the light in the line. It then induces systematic errors in the estimate of the activity indicators (as e.g. for HD 162020 and HD 202206; Santos et al. 2000). In such cases, the available spectra are added to obtain a high signal in the $`\lambda `$ 3968.5 Å Ca ii H absorption line region. The resulting spectrum may contain traces of the Thorium-Argon spectrum used as a radial-velocity reference (Baranne et al. 1996) and is thus not optimal for precise spectroscopic studies in this region but it at least allows for a visual check of the chromospheric emission in the center of the line. Figure 2 shows the corresponding spectral domain for the stars presented in this paper.

Moderate values of the $`\mathrm{log}R_{\mathrm{HK}}^{}`$ chromospheric activity indicator have been derived for HD 141937 ($`4.65`$) and HD 168443($`4.8`$666Our estimate only rests on 1 high-S/N spectrum. Marcy et al. (1999) quote a more reliable value of $`5.08`$ suggesting that HD 168443 is an even more quiet star) (Table 1; see Santos et al. 2000, for details about the technique). Moreover, the corresponding $`\lambda `$ 3968.5 Å Ca ii H absorption lines do not show clear chromospheric emission features (Fig. 2). Radial-velocity jitters are thus not expected to be large for these 2 stars although the effect might be slightly increased for the early G dwarf HD 141937 showing a non-zero projected rotational velocity ($`v\mathrm{sin}i=2.1`$ km s-1).

Although too faint to provide a reliable estimate of $`\mathrm{log}R_{\mathrm{HK}}^{}`$, HD 162020 clearly shows a strong emission feature in the core of the Ca ii H line. The activity-related radial-velocity jitter of a slowly rotating K2 dwarf is however not expected to be large (Santos et al. 2000). It is certainly not responsible for the large radial-velocity variation observed for HD 162020 (3.3 km s-1 peak to peak). As shown by Henry (1999), activity could on the other hand be invoked to explain the dispersion of the HIPPARCOS photometric data. The activity level points towards a young age for the star. However, we will see in Sect. 4.1.1 that the system has probably been synchronized over the lifetime of the star, thus increasing the stellar rotation. As activity is very sensitive to rotation, the activity level could also have been boosted by the synchronization making the star look younger than its real age.

Although noticeable, the activity level of HD 202206 is not very important (Fig. 2) and should not cause any trouble beyond adding some low-level high-frequency spurious noise in the radial-velocity measurements.

Finally, from the $`\mathrm{log}R_{\mathrm{HK}}^{}`$ value (when available), following the calibration by Noyes et al. (1984) we can estimate the rotational period of the star as well as the stellar age using the calibration in Donahue (1993) (also quoted in Henry et al. 1996). The inferred statistical values are given in Table 1. The so-derived ages are compatible with values provided by evolutionary tracks, taking into account the large uncertainties in the age determinations.

## 3 HD 141937 orbital solution

Over 882 days, we obtained 81 CORALIE observations of HD 141937, with a photon-noise uncertainty distribution peaking around 6 m s-1. A fairly large long-term radial-velocity variation was noticed early on, but we had to wait for more than one orbital period to derive good orbital parameters because the star was unfortunately behind the Sun at the time of the maximum and minimum of the radial-velocity curve. The best Keplerian fit to the data yields a precise period $`P=653.2`$ days, an eccentricity $`e=0.41`$ and a semi-amplitude $`K=234.5`$ m s-1 (Table 2). The radial-velocity curve is displayed in Fig. 3 with the residuals around the solution. The mass $`M=1.1`$ M derived for the parent star leads to a planet minimum mass $`m_2\mathrm{sin}i=9.7`$ MJup.

The weighted r.m.s. around the best Keplerian solution ($`\sigma (OC)=8.7`$ m s-1) is large compared to the typical measurement uncertainties ($`\chi _{\mathrm{red}}^2=2.69`$). As no longer-term variation clearly arises from the residuals of the fit (Fig. 3), the reason for the slight extra noise ($`6`$ m s-1) probably lies in the star activity ($`\mathrm{log}R_{HK}^{}=4.65`$) coupled with the observed non-zero stellar rotation ($`v\mathrm{sin}i=2.1`$ km s-1), in agreement with values quoted by Saar et al. (1998) or Santos et al. (2000).

## 4 HD 162020 b: A “Hot Brown Dwarf”

Between the 24th of June 1999 and the 14th of October 2001, 46 CORALIE radial velocities of HD 162020 were gathered. The low brightness of the star limits the photon noise of our measurements to about 8 m s-1 in a typical integration time of 15 minutes, under normal weather conditions. As the observed radial-velocity variation was large, several observations were made under worse meteorological conditions and the distribution of measurement errors shows a right-end tail up to 40 m s-1. The short orbital period and large observed semi-amplitude of the radial-velocity variation allowed us, however, to very rapidly777The discovery was announced on the 4th of May 2000 by an ESO press release (ESO 2000) determine orbital elements and characteristics of the companion. The imprecise subset of measurements limit the quality of the solution (r.m.s. $``$ 13.6 m s-1, $`\chi _{\mathrm{red}}^2=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2.46}`$), and we have derived a new solution with only the 30 CORALIE observations with photon-noise errors below 10 m s-1. This solution yields a short period $`P`$ of $`8.428198\pm 0.000056`$ days with a non-zero eccentricity $`e`$ = $`0.277\pm 0.002`$. Taking 0.75 M as the primary mass (see above), the derived orbital parameters lead to a minimum mass $`m_2\mathrm{sin}i=14.4`$ MJup for the companion. The very short orbital period derived for HD 162020 locates the companion only 0.074 AU from the primary star. At such a small distance from its parent star and following e.g. Guillot et al. (1996), the companion equilibrium temperature at the surface is estimated to be around 650 K. The companion is thus a “hot” superplanet or brown dwarf on a non-circular orbit. The complete set of orbital elements with their uncertainties is given in Table 2 as well as some interesting inferred quantities.

The weighted r.m.s. to the Keplerian fit is 8.1 m s-1 and the reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of the solution is 1.37. The improvement from the preliminary solution including all measurements clearly shows the significant degrading effect of the lower-quality velocities on the derived solution. The residuals around the solution show no significant evidence of a possible long-period additional companion (Fig. 4). Although the star shows clear indication of chromospheric activity, the level of activity-induced extra noise is very small, in agreement with values predicted for slowly rotating K dwarfs (Saar et al. 1998; Santos et al. 2000).

### 4.1 Tidal dissipation in the HD 162020 system

In the same way as close binaries, giant gaseous planets closely orbiting their stars are subject to spin-orbit synchronization and/or orbital circularization associated with tidal dissipation in the star or the planet. The tilted mass distribution induced in the convective envelope of the object by the gravitational attraction of the companion is phase shifted because of dissipation. It then exerts a torque on the companion, leading to an exchange of angular momentum between its spin and the orbital motion, tending to synchronize and circularize the orbit. When the tidally distorted star has a convective envelope, the tidal dissipation may be represented by the viscosity of convective eddies (Zahn 1989).

For binaries with dwarf-star primaries, orbits with periods smaller than $``$ 10 days are circularized (see e.g. Mayor et al. 2001, for a recent review). Much attention has also been paid to this effect for hot Jupiters (Rasio et al. 1996; Marcy et al. 1997; Ford et al. 1999). We will focus here on the case of HD 162020 in which the “planet” is slightly more distant than the one orbiting 51 Peg but also much heavier.

#### 4.1.1 Tidal dissipation in the star and synchronization

Following the treatment of Zahn (1989, 1992) for objects with a convective envelope, in the case of not too high eccentricities, the time scale for synchronization by tidal dissipation in the star through convective viscosity is given by

$$\frac{1}{\tau _{\mathrm{sync}}}=6\frac{\lambda _2}{t_f}q^2\frac{M_{}R_{}^2}{I_{}}\left(\frac{R_{}}{a}\right)^6$$
(1)
where $`q`$$`=`$$`m_{\mathrm{pl}}/M_{}`$ is the planet to star mass ratio, $`R_{}`$ and $`I_{}`$ are the stellar radius and moment of inertia, $`a`$ is the orbital separation, $`t_f`$ is the characteristic time of the physical process responsible for the dissipation (turnover timescale of the eddies) and $`\lambda _2`$ is close to the apsidal constant measuring the response to the external torque imposed by the companion when the star is fully convective and smaller when the star has a finite convective zone. Zahn (1994) has tabulated $`k^2`$$`=`$$`I_{}/(M_{}R_{}^2)`$, $`t_f`$ and $`\lambda _2`$ for the zero-age main sequence. Interpolating in his table, with $`M_{}`$$`=`$$`0.75`$ M, we obtain for HD 162020: $`k^2`$$`=`$ 0.132, $`t_f`$$`=`$ 0.509 yr and $`\lambda _2`$$`=`$ 0.0094. The typical time $`t_f`$ is usually defined as $`t_f`$$`=`$$`(M_{}R_{}^2/L_{})^{1/3}`$ (Zahn 1994). In the case of non-fully convective dwarfs, an estimate of

$$t_f^{}=(M_{env}R_{env}(R_{}R_{env})/3L_{})^{1/3},$$
(2)
where $`M_{env}`$ is the mass of the convective envelope and $`R_{env}`$ the radius at its base, is more appropriate (Rasio et al. 1996). For HD 162020 ($`M_{env}/M_{}0.17`$, Murray et al. 2001, $`R_{env}/R_{}0.7`$), we calculate $`t_f^{}0.13`$ yr. With $`q=0.01834/\mathrm{sin}i`$, we derive

$$\tau _{\mathrm{sync}}(\mathrm{HD}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}162020})1.310^{10}\mathrm{sin}^2i\mathrm{yr}.$$
(3)
Even taking into account our limited knowledge of the viscous dissipative process and the large uncertainty of the stellar age determination, it appears that HD 162020 can be synchronized by the close-orbiting low-mass companion. In such a case, when the two components are close, the synchronized state may be unstable to orbital decay (Hut 1980). Instability occurs when the ratio of spin to orbital angular momentum $`J_{\mathrm{spin}}/J_{\mathrm{orb}}>1/3`$. For HD 162020, $`J_{\mathrm{spin}}/J_{\mathrm{orb}}0.007`$. Hence, the star was brought into synchronicity without reaching tidal instability.

In the case of synchronization, knowing the stellar rotational period and assuming that the orbital and rotation axes coincide888As observed e.g. for HD 209458 (Queloz et al. 2000a). However, it should be pointed out that, in the case of a brown-dwarf companion, this may not be the case, the equatorial velocity $`V_{\mathrm{eq}}`$ may be derived from the star radius and then the orbital plane inclination is obtained from the measured projected rotational velocity. Using a typical value $`R_{}0.75R_{}`$ for a K3 dwarf, we get $`V_{\mathrm{eq}}4.5`$ km s-1 and an indicative $`\mathrm{sin}i0.42`$ ($`v\mathrm{sin}i=1.9`$ km s-1). This leads to $`m_234`$ MJup i.e. a probable brown dwarf for the companion of HD 162020. Of course, the uncertainty on the $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ value is difficult to estimate and probably it does not exclude the companion from having a low stellar mass.

#### 4.1.2 Circularization due to tidal dissipation in the star

The observed significant orbital eccentricity of HD 162020 ($`e=0.277\pm 0.002`$) shows that the circularization induced by tidal dissipation in the stellar convective envelope had no time to proceed over the age of the star. Assuming again standard tidal dissipation theory (e.g. Zahn 1989; Verbunt & Phinney 1995), an explicit expression for the circularization time is given by

$$\frac{1}{\tau _{\mathrm{cir}}}\frac{d\mathrm{ln}e}{dt}=\frac{f}{t_f^{}}\frac{M_{env}}{M_{}}\frac{1}{q(1+q)}\left(\frac{R_{}}{a}\right)^8$$
(4)
leading to

$$\tau _{\mathrm{cir}}(\mathrm{HD}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}162020})4.510^9\frac{\mathrm{sin}i}{f}\mathrm{yr}.$$
(5)
The parameters are the same as above and $`f`$ is obtained by integrating viscous dissipation of tidal energy throughout the convective zone. $`f1`$ as long as $`t_f^{}`$$`<`$$`<`$$`P_{orb}`$ (e.g. Zahn & Bouchet 1989; Verbunt & Phinney 1995; Rasio et al. 1996; Ford et al. 1999) corresponding to the case where the main contribution to the viscosity comes from the largest convective cells. As is clearly explained in Rasio et al. (1996), for $`P_{orb}`$$`<`$$`t_f^{}`$, the largest eddies can no longer contribute to the viscosity because the velocity field they are damping will have changed direction before they can transfer momentum. Only eddies with turnover times smaller than the pumping period ($`P_{orb}/2`$) will contribute and the eddy viscosity is then reduced by a factor $`(2t_f^{}/P_{orb})^\alpha `$. The value of $`\alpha `$ is debated but generally thought to be 1 (Zahn 1992) or 2 (Goldreich & Keeley 1977). So, in general we have

$$f=f^{}\mathrm{min}[1,(\frac{P_{orb}}{2t_f^{}})^\alpha ]$$
(6)
with $`f^{}1`$. Choosing $`\alpha =2`$ (the extreme case), we estimate then for HD 162020 $`f0.015`$ and the circularization time becomes

$$\tau _{\mathrm{cir}}(\mathrm{HD}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}162020})310^{11}\mathrm{sin}i\mathrm{yr}.$$
(7)
Even taking into account the above rough estimate of $`\mathrm{sin}i`$, the tidal dissipation in the convective envelope of HD 162020 is thus not supposed to have circularized the orbit. On the other hand, the derived $`\tau _{\mathrm{cir}}`$ value does not allow for a very small value of the $`\mathrm{sin}i`$.

#### 4.1.3 Tidal dissipation in the planet

Can tides in the low-mass companion have been more efficient than stellar tides in circularizing the orbit, as it is the case for 51 Peg (Rasio et al. 1996)? In this case, the typical circularization time is given by

$$\tau _e=\frac{4}{63}Q\left(\frac{a^3}{GM_{}}\right)^{1/2}q\left(\frac{a}{R_{pl}}\right)^5$$
(8)
(Rasio et al. 1996, and quoted references), where Q is proportional to the tidal pumping period ($`P_{orb}/2`$) and is about $`10^5`$ for Jupiter. Comparing 51 Peg and HD 162020 we can write

$`\begin{array}{cc}\frac{\tau _e^{51\mathrm{Peg}}}{\tau _e^{162020}}\hfill & =\frac{P_{orb}^{51\mathrm{Peg}}}{P_{orb}^{162020}}\left(\frac{a^{51\mathrm{Peg}}}{a^{162020}}\right)^{13/2}\left(\frac{M_{}^{162020}}{M_{}^{51\mathrm{Peg}}}\right)^{3/2}\hfill \\ & \times \frac{m_{pl}^{51\mathrm{Peg}}}{m_{pl}^{162020}}\left(\frac{R_{pl}^{162020}}{R_{pl}^{51\mathrm{Peg}}}\right)^5\mathrm{yr}.\hfill \end{array}`$ (11)
From the value quoted in Rasio et al. (1996) we obtain

$$\tau _e(\mathrm{HD}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}162020})210^{12}\frac{\mathrm{sin}i(162020)}{\mathrm{sin}i(51\mathrm{Peg})}\mathrm{yr}.$$
(12)
The tides in the low-mass companion were thus not able to circularize the orbit over the lifetime of the star which is expected from the observed non-zero value of the orbital eccentricity.

In conclusion, it appears that the companion of HD 162020 is probably a brown dwarf (although a low-mass star cannot be ruled out). The observed eccentricity is so not surprising if the system was formed as for usual binary stars. This system will be a perfect target for future high-angular resolution astrometric facilities. It potentially will provide the true mass of a low-mass brown dwarf.

### 4.2 Photometric transit search

The short orbital period makes HD 162020 a good target for a photometric transit search. The star was intensively followed with the Danish SAT at La Silla in collaboration with our colleagues from Copenhagen, unfortunately without success. This is not a surprise in view of the considerations developed in the previous sections about the probable orbital inclination of the system. The photometric monitoring will be presented in a forthcoming paper (Olsen et al. in prep) with other candidates followed.

## 5 HD 168443: Superplanets in disks?

The inner planet orbiting HD 168443 was detected by Marcy et al. (1999). They had gathered 30 HIRES/Keck radial-velocity measurements over 800 days that allowed them to characterize a 58-d period orbit from which they inferred a 5 MJup companion to the star. These authors also mentioned a significant drift (89.4 m s-1yr-1) of the observed velocities indicating the presence of an additional outer companion in the system, as yet undetected directly. Their careful check for a possible stellar companion to HD 168443, in spectroscopic, adaptive optics and HIPPARCOS astrometric measurements, allowed them to constrain a potential stellar companion to be at a distance between 5 and 30 AU from the primary star and with a mass smaller than 0.5 M. Marcy et al. (1999) also mentioned a clear indication of curvature in the radial-velocity drift that allowed them to postulate that the 2nd companions had to be on an orbit with a period of at least 4 years and be more massive than 15 MJup.

After the announcement of the detection of a planet orbiting HD 168443, the star – part of our planet-search programme in the southern hemisphere – has been followed regularly with CORALIE. We gathered 58 additional observations over 670 days reaching the 2nd extremum of the curve of radial-velocity variation due to the 2nd companion. Combining our own measurements with the 30 published Keck velocities (Marcy et al. 1999) we obtained the complete description of the system for the IAU 202 symposium on Planetary Systems in the Universe where we presented the simultaneously-derived Keplerian solutions for the 2 companions (Udry et al. 2000b). The second companion was found to be on a 1667-day orbit and have a $`m_2\mathrm{sin}i`$ of 15.1 MJup. This early solution is recalled in Table 3.

The star was of course closely followed by Marcy and collaborators as well. Within a few weeks they derived a complete solution with their own data (Marcy et al. 2001) confirming our early result. On our side we also went on gathering 14 additional CORALIE observations in 195 days. In Fig. 5, we present an updated two-Keplerian complete solution of the system derived from the 72 CORALIE velocities and the early 30 Marcy et al. (1999) measurements. The derived parameters are given in Table 3. The quality of the fit is fair ($`\chi _{\mathrm{red}}^2=2.46`$). The increase of the monitoring span since the first proposed solution allowed us and Marcy et al. (2001) to better cover the long-period orbit, estimated now to have a period of $`P=1739`$ days (1770 days for Marcy et al. 2001), slightly longer than the first estimate. Setting the primary mass to 1 M, the minimum masses of the inner and outer companions inferred from our model are now 7.7 and 16.9 MJup, respectively.

### 5.1 Nature of the companion to HD 168443?

The properties of HD 168443, if not due to unlikely orbital-plane inclinations for both companions, set very interesting questions on the nature and possible formation of such systems. Are the companions of HD 168443 superplanets formed in the protoplanetary disk, brown dwarfs or even low-mass stars?

The hierarchical organization of the system does not allow stability criteria to set constraining upper limits for the companions masses. Marcy et al. (2001) have shown that even a triple stellar system can be stable in the case of a coplanar geometry. Different orientations of the two orbital planes favour, however, substellar companions. From the HIPPARCOS astrometric measurements Marcy et al. (2001) also estimate the maximum mass of the outer component to be smaller than $``$ 42 MJup.

If formed outside the disk, the more massive outer companion is close enough to have truncated the disk within the ice limit, preventing thus a giant planet from forming in the outer regions and then moving towards the system center as predicted by the migration scenario. The inner companion has then also to be a brown dwarf. On the other hand, if the two companions are in the disk, they are located well within the ice limit of the young protoplanetary disk. According to the migration scenario both objects had thus to move simultaneously towards the central region of the system. Simulations by Kley (2000) explore this possibility and show that in such a case, the outer object accreates disk material more efficiently. This rises the possibility of creating superplanets in the disk with masses larger than 15 MJup. In such a case, if not very rare, these objects with masses above the high-mass tail of the observed planet-mass distribution (Fig. 1; Jorissen et al. 2001) would represent a new population in the diagram. This seems to be rarely observed. The “final” answer will be given by future precise astrometric measurements that will determine the true masses of the companions.

## 6 HD 202206: Triple system or superplanet in a binary?

The CORALIE observations of HD 202206 started in August 1999. The obvious variation of the radial velocities allowed us to announce the detection of a low-mass companion to the star already after one orbital period, in May 2000 (ESO 2000), at the same time as HD 162020 also described in this paper. When a second maximum of the radial-velocity curve was reached we noticed a slight drift of its value. We have now gathered 95 measurements covering more than 3 orbital periods. A simultaneous fit of a Keplerian model and a linear drift yields a period of 256 days and a large semi-amplitude of 565 m s-1 for the orbital solution (Table 2; Fig. 6). The orbit is fairly eccentric with $`e=0.429`$. Choosing the stellar mass to be 1.15 M (see above), the inferred minimum mass for the secondary is 17.5 MJup.

The quality of the solution is good with a weighted r.m.s. of 9.5 m s-1around the fitted model (to be compared to the typical photon-noise error of 8 m s-1) and a reduced $`\chi ^2`$ value of 2.38.

The slope of the radial-velocity drift is found to be 42.88 m s-1yr-1. The available two older CORAVEL measurements obtained in 1989 and 1991 unfortunately do not allow us to further constrain the longer-period companion.

Contrary to HD 110833 which was detected with a comparable $`m_2\mathrm{sin}i`$ companion (Mayor et al. 1997) and then shown to be in reality a stellar binary (Halbwachs et al. 2000b), the distance of HD 202206 (46.3 pc) prevents the HIPPARCOS astrometric data from constraining the visual orbit. At such a distance the expected displacement on the sky of the star due to the inner companion is only 0.26 mas, supposing $`\mathrm{sin}i=1`$. A factor of 5 on the $`\mathrm{sin}i`$ bringing the companion into the stellar domain would still be insufficient at the HIPPARCOS precision.

If not due to unfavourable orbital inclination, the observed low secondary mass sets the companion close to the limit of the planetary and brown-dwarf domains. The fairly large measured eccentricity does not help us to further constrain the nature of the object as most of the extrasolar “massive” planetary candidates are found on elongated orbits. An often proposed explanation for the planet eccentricities involves the gravitational perturbation of a stellar companion, that can be applied to HD 202206.

A more interesting characteristic of the system is given by the star’s very high metallicity (\[Fe/H\] = 0.37). Santos et al. (2001a) have shown that a large fraction of stars with this level of metal content have giant-planet companions. Once again, precise astrometric measurements will clarify the problem.

## 7 Discussion

Several scenarios may be invoked for the formation of companions to solar-type stars with masses in the planet/brown-dwarf transition domain. On the one hand, the observations of very light free-floating objects in young formation regions (Zapatero Osorio et al. 2000; Lucas & Roche 2000) suggest that the minimum mass of brown dwarfs formed as stars by fragmentation of a protostellar cloud could be very small, at the $``$ 5 MJup level. On the other hand, several processes have been proposed for the formation of massive planets in stellar accretion disks: by gravitational instability of the disk (possibly triggered by the perturbation of an additional stellar companion, Boss 2000, 2001) or by gas accretion of simultaneously migrating planets trapped into resonances (e.g. Kley 2000). The interesting point in the latter scenarios is that a supplementary companion – stellar or planetary – is required or at least is supposed to enhance the process.

### 7.1 The ”companion’s” influence

To check if the potential companion’s influence can be seen in the data, we made an inventory of the known visual companions of the planet-hosting stars. This visual companion census was done through the Simbad-Vizir database (star within 1 arc-minute) and through the recent literature on adaptive-optics programmes searching for faint companions to stars bearing planets (Lloyd et al. 2000; Luhman & Jayawardhana 2002). We also looked for indication of additional radial-velocity drifts in the known planetary orbital solutions, mentioned in the discovery papers or appearing in our CORALIE data. The census is probably far from being exhaustive but nevertheless can bring initial insight into the question. The ratio of the number of stars hosting planets with visual or spectroscopic additional companions to the number of stars without further companions, in 2-MJup smoothing windows, is shown in the lower panel of Fig. 7999In order to decrease the statistical noise, the distributions in Figs. 7 and 8 are shown for all detected exoplanets. It has however been verified that the results do not change qualitatively when considering only the stars in the volume-limited CORALIE planet-search sample (41/78 stars). Unlike what was expected from the above-mentioned scenarios, there is no evidence that additional companions would favour massive-planet formation. There is even a trend for lower-mass planets ($`m_2\mathrm{sin}i\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4}`$ MJup, solid line) to appear more often in “multiple” systems than massive ones ($`m_2\mathrm{sin}i>\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4}`$ MJup, dashed line), by a factor of roughly 2. The statistics become too poor above 9 MJup to be able to draw conclusions about the more massive candidates.

Is this observed difference significant? The upper panel of Fig. 7 presents the cumulative functions of the planetary mass distributions for stars hosting planets a. without further visual or spectroscopic companion (solid line), b. with a visual companion (dotted line), c. with an additional radial-velocity drift (long-dash line) unveiling a second planetary or stellar companion and d. with a visual or a spectroscopic companion (i.e. b or c, short-dash line). From these curves we directly see that the ”spectroscopic” and ”visual” characteristics have the same effect. On the other hand, the curve for the stars without further companions rises less rapidly than the others, showing that ”multiple” systems tend to harbour lighter planets. This result is however not statistically significant. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov probability that curves a and d come from the same underlying population is 0.35. The curves even become indistinguishable if we restrict the sample to periods smaller than 1 year, so avoiding the bias favouring massive planets with long periods for which an additional radial-velocity drift is harder to see than for short-period systems, over the typical span of the current planet-search programmes.

### 7.2 Properties of mass subclasses

It is worth noticing here that, in the lower panel of Fig. 7, the change in the mass regime is around 4 MJup, at the same position as the limit between the two possible modes of the planetary mass distribution in Fig. 1 (lower panel). This suggests that the bimodality of the mass distribution is probably also not statistically significant and is potentially due to the mentioned observational bias. It is however interesting to check if the stars in the two mass subclasses show peculiar characteristics. This is achieved by comparing the distributions and cumulative functions of stellar and orbital properties for the two populations (limit at 4 MJup, Fig. 8).

#### 7.2.1 Metallicity

The metallicity distributions for the two mass subclasses are presented in the left column of Fig. 8. On average, the heavier companions seem to orbit stars slightly less metal rich than lighter planets (middle panel). The difference is however not statistically significant (KS prob = 0.061, lower panel) as already pointed out by Santos et al. (2001a, b). The same result holds when restricting the sample to the CORALIE programme (KS prob = 0.065) and the same trend is also observed for the Lick survey by Fischer et al. (2002) who compare the mean metallicities of two mass classes (limit at 5 MJup). The difference originates mainly from a decrease with increasing metallicities of the distribution of stars with “massive” companions whereas the distribution for stars with lighter planets increases in the same metallicity range. An improvement of the available statistics will shed light on the question.

An interesting feature of the metallicity-mass distribution is the lack of massive planets at very low metallicities (upper left panel), although stars with massive planets are on average more metal poor than stars with light planets, as seen above. Below \[Fe/H\] $``$$``$0.25, only HD 114762 ($`m_2\mathrm{sin}i=11`$ MJup), often considered a brown dwarf (Cochran 1991), has a mass larger than 1.1 MJup ($``$ in the upper left panel of Fig. 8). On the low-metallicity side of the diagram, there even seems to be a limit imposing a minimum metallicity for the star to harbour a planet with a minimum given mass. This corroborates the idea that more “solid” material is needed in the accretion disk to form more massive planets. It also may be interpreted in terms of shorter time scales needed to accrete the planet core in metal rich environments, leaving more time for the planet growth over the lifetime of the disk. Both interpretations support the gas-accretion scenario for the formation of giant planets.

#### 7.2.2 Eccentricity-Period

It has often been pointed out (e.g. Heacox 1999; Mayor & Udry 2000; Udry et al. 2000b; Stepinski & Black 2001, and references therein) that, for periods larger than a few tens of days, the eccentricity distributions of planetary systems and stellar binaries are unexpectedly similar. For shorter periods, evolutionary effects (planet migration, tidal circularization) change the distribution, favouring low- or zero-eccentricity orbits for both populations. The middle column of Fig. 8 shows that this is also true for the two defined subclasses of planetary masses. The distributions presented in the middle panel are very similar except for a prominent peak of “light” planets at small eccentricities. The latter corresponds to short-period, close-in planets, probably circularized through the migration process. They also relate to the accumulation at short periods in the middle panel of the 3rd column in the figure. When restricting the sample to periods longer than 50 days, the mentioned peaks – mainly responsible for the difference observed in the cumulative functions (KS-prob values in the figures)– disappear. Note however that the longer-period part of the distribution is still very much observationally biased.

An important point to note here is that massive planets on short-period orbits are rare – although they are more easily detected than lighter ones. If we consider the companion of HD 162020 ($``$ in the upper right panel) to be a brown dwarf as shown in Sect. 4, the only observed, short-period massive candidate is $`\tau `$ Boo, close to the chosen limit of the considered mass subclasses. While submitting this paper, we learned about a study by Zucker & Mazeh (2002) estimating the statistical significance of this feature.

#### 7.2.3 Concluding remark

We also have searched for differences between other distributions of orbital and stellar-host properties of “light” and “massive” exoplanets, without success. In particular, the primary masses do not correlate at all with the planet masses. The only observed trends are the need for metal-rich stars and the lack of short periods for massive planets. If confirmed with improved statistics, these features may bring constraints for the migration scenario. Possible explanations may invoke the idea that massive planets do not migrate as easily as lighter ones or, on the contrary, that they cannot stop their migration process when reaching the central part of the system, falling into the star. The higher metallicity of stars hosting light planets may support this latter view.

###### Acknowledgements.

It is a pleasure to thank J.-P. Zahn for his useful comments on tidal dissipation theory and the referee for his remarks that helped to improve the paper. We are also grateful to the staff from the Geneva and Haute-Provence Observatories who have built and maintain the new 1.2-m Euler Swiss telescope and the CORALIE echelle spectrograph at La Silla. We thank the Geneva University and the Swiss NSF (FNRS) for their continuous support for this project. Support to N.S. from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Portugal) in the form of scholarships is gratefully acknowledged.


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# The 2𝑚≤𝑟 property of spherically symmetric static spacetimes

## Abstract

We prove that all spherically symmetric static spacetimes which are both regular at $`r=0`$ and satisfying the single energy condition $`\rho +p_r+2p_t0`$ cannot contain any black hole region (equivalently, they must satisfy $`2m/r1`$ everywhere). This result holds even when the spacetime is allowed to contain a finite number of matching hypersurfaces. This theorem generalizes a result by Baumgarte and Rendall when the matter contents of the space-time is a perfect fluid and also complements their results in the general non-isotropic case.

PACS Numbers: 04.20.Cv, 04.40.Dg, 04.40.Nr, 04.90.+e

In a recent paper, Baumgarte and Rendall  have proven that all spherically symmetric static perfect-fluid solutions of the Einstein field equations with a regular centre cannot enter into a black hole region (up to where the pressure vanishes) provided that the energy-density $`\rho `$ is continuous and non-negative and the central isotropic pressure is finite and positive. The method for obtaining their result was the analysis of the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation (we assume $`8\pi G=c=1`$ throughout)

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dp}{dr}}={\displaystyle \frac{\left(\rho +p\right)\left(2m(r)+pr^3\right)}{2r^2\left(12m(r)/r\right)}}`$
where $`\rho `$ and $`p`$ are the energy density and pressure of the perfect fluid and $`m(r)`$ is the so-called mass function defined by

$$m(r)\frac{1}{2}_0^r\rho (v)v^2𝑑v.$$
(1)
Here $`r`$ stands for the usual Schwarzschild area coordinate (see below). Their main result was that, in the region where $`p`$ remains non-negative (which is the interior of the autogravitating fluid), we have

$$\frac{2m}{r}<1,\text{in the region where}p(r)0,$$
(2)
which clearly implies that the spacetime cannot contain any black hole region (there are no trapped 2-spheres). This theorem was a generalization of previous results  which assumed also the existence of a barotropic equation of state $`p=p(\rho )`$ satisfying $`dp/d\rho >0`$.

In the same Ref., the impossibility of entering into a black hole region was also shown in the case that the fluid has anisotropic pressures. In this case, they proved that condition (2) holds up to where the radial pressure vanishes (again the interior of the autogravitating fluid) under the similar assumptions of continuous and non-negative energy density, positive and finite central radial pressure and a $`C^1`$ tangential pressure. The additional condition they assumed of tangential pressure being coincident with the radial pressure at $`r=0`$ is, in fact, a direct consequence of the regularity of the spacetime at $`r=0`$.

The aim of this paper is to present a new theorem on spherically symmetric static spacetimes which is a strict generalization of the theorem by Baumgarte and Rendall in the perfect-fluid case and that largely complements their results in the completely general case. In fact, we shall prove by using very simple arguments that an arbitrary spherically symmetric static spacetime satisfying the single condition

$`\rho +p_r+2p_t0,`$ (3)
(where $`\rho `$, $`p_r`$ and $`p_t`$ are defined below) must necessarily fulfil

$`{\displaystyle \frac{2m}{r}}1r>0.`$
The only differentiability requirements we impose are that the matching conditions are fulfilled everywhere (equivalently, there are no surface layers) and that the spacetime metric is $`C^2`$ between any two consecutive matching hypersurfaces. These requirements do not even imply the continuity of the energy density $`\rho `$, nor the continuity of the tangential pressure $`p_t`$.

In order to prove the theorem, let us choose coordinates $`\{t,R,\theta ,\varphi \}`$ in which the metric takes the form

$`ds^2=F^2(R)dt^2+dR^2+r^2(R)\left(d\theta ^2+\mathrm{sin}^2\theta d\varphi ^2\right),`$ (4)
where $`r(R)`$ is the usual Schwarzschild radius. These coordinates are always well-defined in at least a neighbourhood of $`r=0`$ as long as the spacetime is regular there. The regularity of the spacetime on a centre of symmetry $`R=0`$ (we can fix an additive constant in $`R`$ in order to set $`r(0)=0`$, that is to say, we can choose $`R`$ such that a regular centre of symmetry is at $`R=0`$) is satisfied if and only if the metric functions $`r(R)`$ and $`F(R)`$ have the following asymptotic behaviour

$$r(R0)R\frac{m_0}{3}R^3,F(R0)F_0+F_1R^2,F_0>0$$
(5)
where $`m_0,F_0`$ and $`F_1`$ are constants and $`F_0`$ is strictly positive. These conditions will be assumed from now on. This is one of the main assumptions in our work, as otherwise there is no guarantee that the coordinates of (4) exist.

The energy-momentum tensor of this spacetime can be calculated from its Einstein tensor via the Einstein equations. Using the static velocity vector

$`\stackrel{}{u}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{F}}{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}`$
to decompose the energy-momentum tensor, we find that the energy-density $`\rho `$, radial pressure (or tension) $`p_r`$ and tangential pressure (or tension) $`p_t`$ with respect to $`\stackrel{}{u}`$ are, respectively

$`\rho ={\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^2}}\left(1r_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}2rr^{\prime \prime }\right),p_r={\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^2}}\left(1+r_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}+2rr^{}{\displaystyle \frac{F^{}}{F}}\right),p_t={\displaystyle \frac{F^{\prime \prime }}{F}}+{\displaystyle \frac{F^{}}{F}}{\displaystyle \frac{r^{}}{r}}+{\displaystyle \frac{r^{\prime \prime }}{r}}`$
where the prime denotes derivative with respect to $`R`$.

As is well-known the mass function $`m`$ is invariantly defined for every spherically symmetric spacetime , and in our case is given by the expression

$`2mr\left(1r^2\right),`$ (6)
from where one can immediately obtain the formula (1) previously given. In consequence, we have that, as long as the coordinate system we have chosen is appropriate, the mass function is bounded to satisfy

$`{\displaystyle \frac{2m}{r}}1,`$
the equality holding only at points with $`r^{}=0`$, if any. Therefore the spacetime does not contain closed trapped surfaces (which are the indication of the existence of a black hole region) in the domain where the chosen coordinates are valid. Thus, proving that the spacetime cannot contain a back hole region under the assumption $`\rho +p_r+2p_t0`$ amounts to proving that the coordinates $`\{t,R\}`$ in which the metric (4) is written cover the whole manifold and that this manifold is inextendible.

As is obvious, from expression (4) follows that the coordinates $`\{t,R\}`$ will fail describing the spacetime manifold if and only if the metric function $`F(R)`$ vanishes somewhere (if the function $`F`$ diverges for some $`R`$, this is either a singularity of the spacetime or we have $`r=0`$ as can be easily checked from expression (7) below when considered as a second order linear differential equation for $`F`$). It is also a simple matter of checking that if $`F(R)`$ is everywhere positive then the manifold is inextendible (all causal curves are inextendible). As we explained before, the vanishing of $`r(R)`$ at $`R=0`$ is just the indication that we are at the centre of symmetry of the spacetime. The function $`r(R)`$ may certainly vanish again at some other value of $`R>0`$, but this is either another regular centre of symmetry or a curvature singularity of the spacetime. In both cases, the coordinate system covers the whole manifold and the inequality $`2mr`$ will hold everywhere.

From the above we see that, in order to prove our result, we only have to show that the function $`F(R)`$ cannot vanish anywhere under the assumptions that the matter content satisfies the condition (3) and that there is a regular centre of symmetry $`R=0`$. The main assumption of our theorem, namely the condition (3), reads explicitly

$`{\displaystyle \frac{F^{\prime \prime }}{F}}+2{\displaystyle \frac{F^{}}{F}}{\displaystyle \frac{r^{}}{r}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\rho +p_r+2p_t\right)0.`$ (7)
Consequently, the lefthand side of this relation must be a non-negative function. This condition can be rewritten as

$`\left(F^{}r^2\right)^{}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\rho +p_r+2p_t\right)r^2F.`$ (8)
or, equivalently,

$`F^{}(R)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2r^2}}{\displaystyle _0^R}\left(\rho +p_r+2p_t\right)r^2F𝑑\stackrel{~}{R}.`$ (9)
It is clear that this equation, together with (3) and (5), implies that $`F`$ is positive everywhere. This follows immediately from the fact that $`F(0)=F_0>0`$, so that there is a non-empty interval $`[0,R_1]`$ in which $`F`$ is strictly positive, together with (9) and (3) which imply then that $`F^{}(R)`$ is non-negative in this interval. Therefore, $`F`$ is a non-decreasing function in $`[0,R_1]`$ and thus $`F(R_1)F_0>0`$. Proceeding in this manner (starting now at $`R_1`$) we see that $`F`$ is a non-decreasing function everywhere and in fact we have $`F(R)F_0>0`$ for all possible $`R`$.

Now, this proof implicitly assumes that both functions $`F(R)`$ and $`r(R)`$ are piecewise $`C^2`$ (so that the expressions for $`\rho `$, $`p_r`$ and $`p_t`$ make sense) and that the function $`F`$ is $`C^1`$ everywhere (otherwise we are not allowed to integrate (8) to give simply (9)). Our aim now is to show that this differentiability requirements are fulfilled if the spacetime under consideration contains a finite number of matching hypersurfaces. Let us here emphasize that, by allowing for the existence of those matching hypersurfaces, we are including in our treatment spacetimes representing not only the interior of a star but also its exterior, which can be either empty or filled with some exterior field such as, for example, an electromagnetic field. Notice that in all the previous theorems (e.g. in ) only the region up to the limit surface of the star was considered.

By assuming the absence of surface layers, the junction conditions reduce to the equality of both the first and the second fundamental forms calculated from the two sides of the matching hypersurface (see e.g. ). Let us remark here that, in general, these conditions do not imply the continuity of the first derivatives of the metric coefficients in a prefixed coordinate system (see, for instance, ). Nevertheless, a straightforward calculation shows that, in our case, the junction conditions on the matching hypersurfaces $`R=\overline{R}=\text{const.}`$ reduce simply to

$`F|_{R\overline{R}^+}=F|_{R\overline{R}^{}},r|_{R\overline{R}^+}=r|_{R\overline{R}^{}},`$
$`F^{}|_{R\overline{R}^+}=F^{}|_{R\overline{R}^{}},r^{}|_{R\overline{R}^+}=r^{}|_{R\overline{R}^{}},`$
so that both functions $`F(R)`$ and $`r(R)`$ have continuous derivatives everywhere and the result is established. We may notice by the way that this result means that the coordinate system $`\{t,R,\theta ,\varphi \}`$ of (4) is admissible in the sense of Lichnerowicz . We have thus established the following theorem.

###### Theorem 1

In an arbitrary static and spherically symmetric spacetime which is piecewise $`C^2`$ and satisfies the matching conditions on a finite number of hypersurfaces, if the spacetime is regular at a centre of symmetry and satisfies $`\rho +p_r+2p_t0`$, then $`2mr`$ everywhere.

Let us remark that this result has been proved irrespective of the matter content of the spacetime (provided that the condition $`\rho +p_r+2p_t0`$ holds everywhere). Thus, the energy-momentum tensor can certainly represent a real static fluid, but also more complicated situations in which matter and/or additional fields (typically electromagnetic fields) are present. The case with empty regions is also covered by our treatment.

On the other hand, let us notice that the strict inequality $`2m/r<1`$ holds everywhere except at points where $`r^{}=0`$, as we already remarked after Eq.(6). However, at those points, the expression for $`p_r`$ becomes

$`p_r|_{r^{}=0}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^2}}<0.`$
Thus, the equality $`2m=r`$ is forbidden as long as $`p_r`$ remains positive. In other words, the strict inequality $`2m<r`$ of Ref. is fully recovered because in  this was shown only up to where $`p_r`$ vanishes. It may be interesting to remark that the possible hypersurfaces with $`r^{}=0`$ (or equivalently $`2m=r`$) are completely ordinary timelike hypersurfaces if $`F`$ does not vanish there (and $`F`$ does not vanish if (3) and (5) hold, as we have seen). Therefore, the possible hypersurfaces $`2m=r`$ which appear in our treatment do not have anything to do with horizons or other null hypersurfaces, and the Killing vector $`/t`$ is timelike everywhere if condition (3) holds.

To end this letter, let us briefly comment on the main condition (3) we have assumed in the theorem. This condition is implied by (but is much less restrictive than) the strong energy condition (see, e.g., ). For the spherically symmetric static case we are dealing with, the strong energy condition is equivalent to

$`\rho +p_r0,\rho +p_t0,\rho +p_r+2p_t0.`$
Thus, our condition (3) is just one of the consequences of the strong energy condition.

The present work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia under project No. PB93-1050. M. Mars wishes to thank the Direcció General d’Universitats, Generalitat de Catalunya, for finantial support.


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# The multilevel trigger system of the DIRAC experiment

## 1 Introduction

The DIRAC experiment  at CERN measures the lifetime of atoms consisting of $`\pi ^+`$ and $`\pi ^{}`$ mesons ($`A_{2\pi }`$). This $`A_{2\pi }`$ lifetime is directly related to the difference $`a_0a_2`$ between the $`s`$-wave $`\pi \pi `$ scattering lengths with isotope spin values 0 and 2.

This difference is calculated in the framework of the chiral perturbation theory with high precision but has not been measured experimentally with a corresponding accuracy yet. Theoretical calculations predict the $`A_{2\pi }`$ lifetime to be close to $`310^{15}`$ s.

The experiment is using the 24 GeV proton beam from the PS accelerator at CERN. The DIRAC experimental setup (Fig. 1) is a magnetic spectrometer with detectors arranged in one upstream and two downstream arms. The spectrometer is placed in the secondary beam produced by the primary protons hitting a fixed target. The upstream part, along the secondary beam path before the dipole magnet, contains microstrip gas chambers (MSGC), a scintillating fiber detector (SFD) and a scintillation hodoscope (IH – ionization hodoscope). The downstream arms include drift chambers (DC), scintillation hodoscopes with vertically and horizontally oriented scintillators (VH and HH respectively), gas Cherenkov counters (Ch), preshower detectors (PSh) and finally muon counters (Mu) placed behind iron absorbers.

The $`A_{2\pi }`$ disintegrate into pairs of oppositely charged pions with a very low relative momentum ($`Q`$), typically less than 3 MeV/$`c`$. Such pion pairs have to be efficiently detected for the measurement of the $`A_{2\pi }`$ lifetime.

Targets of different materials and thicknesses are used during data taking. For each target the beam intensity is adjusted to obtain an approximately constant counting rate. The PS delivers the beam in spills of duration 400–500 ms. With a typical proton beam intensity of $`10^{10}`$ p/spill and a $`94\mu `$ thick Ni target, single rates in the upstream detectors are about $`310^6`$ counts/spill whereas in the downstream detectors they are up to $`810^5`$ and $`610^5`$ counts/spill in the positive and negative arms respectively.

The trigger logic should provide a reduction of the event rate to a level acceptable to the data acquisition system. Pion pairs are produced in the target mainly in a free state with a wide distribution over their relative momentum $`Q`$. The on-line event selection rejects events with pion pairs having $`Q_L>30`$MeV/$`c`$ or $`Q_x>3`$MeV/$`c`$ keeping at the same time high efficiency for detection of pairs with $`Q`$ components below these values.

## 2 The trigger system

A multilevel trigger is used in DIRAC. It comprises a simple and fast first level trigger and several higher level trigger processors with different selection criteria for various components of the relative momentum of pion pairs.

Due to the requirements of the data analysis procedure the on-line selection of only real pion pairs originating from a single proton–target interaction is not enough. In addition, a large number of uncorellated, accidental, pion pairs are also necessary. These accidental pairs are used to reconstruct the relative momentum distribution for free (non-atomic) pion pairs without Coulomb interaction in the final state. The measurement of this distribution is indispensable for the correct calculation of the numbers of produced and detected $`A_{2\pi }`$. Therefore, within a preselected coincidence time window, the trigger system should apply very similar selection criteria for real and accidental coincidences. The statistical error of the $`A_{2\pi }`$ lifetime measurement depends on the numbers of both real and accidental detected pairs. The optimal ratio of real to accidental events at the present experimental conditions is achieved with a $`\pm 20`$ ns coincidence time window between the times measured in the left (VH1) and right (VH2) vertical hodoscopes.

The trigger scheme was upgraded since the start of the experiment. In this paper we present two trigger options: one was successfully used during the first year of data taking and another one is being currently used.

The block diagram of the trigger structure is presented in Fig. 2. In the diagram of Fig. 2a the first level trigger T1 in coincidence with the trigger T2 starts digitization of the detector signals in the data acquisition (DAQ) modules (ADC, TDC etc.). At the next level the OR of the trigger processors T3 and the neural network trigger DNA (DIRAC Neural Atomic trigger) selects further events by forcing additional constraints to the relative momentum. The triggers T2 and DNA start with a fast pretrigger (T0). A negative decision of T3 and DNA provokes clearing of all data buffers and the trigger and data acquisition systems return to the READY state. A positive decision of the T3+DNA logic starts the readout process.

In the latest option of the trigger system (Fig. 2b) a powerful drift chamber trigger processor T4 was added and the neural trigger DNA was upgraded to a DNA/RNA version (Revised Neural Atomic trigger) with improved performance. This made it possible to obtain better trigger selectivity and higher efficiency. Hence the T2 and T3 stages were not needed any more.

In addition to the mainstream trigger selection aimed at detecting pionic atoms, there are also several special calibration triggers which can be running in parallel with the main one or used separately for dedicated measurements. They start the DAQ directly, bypassing the selection of higher level triggers. When these triggers are used in parallel with the main one appropriate prescaling factors are implemented to maintain a reasonable total event rate. Any trigger stage higher than T1 can be disabled (set to a transparent mode).

## 3 Trigger 1

The first level trigger (T1)  fulfils the following tasks:

1. Selects events with signals in both detector arms downstream the magnet;
2. Classifies the particle in each arm as a pion or an electron. Protons and kaons are equally included in the “pion” class. Muons could be identified with the use of the muon detector. However this detector is only used for off-line analysis and special dedicated measurements;
3. Arranges the coincidences between the two arms. The coincidence time window defines the ratio between the real and accidental events in the collected data;
4. Applies a coplanarity cut for pion pairs: a difference between the hit slab numbers in the horizontal hodoscopes in the two arms (HH1 and HH2, respectively) should be $`2`$. This criterion determines selection for the $`y`$ component of the pair relative momentum;
5. Selects in parallel events from several physical processes needed for the setup calibration: e+e- pairs, decays $`\mathrm{\Lambda }p+\pi ^{}`$, $`K^\pm `$-decays to three charged pions, $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ pairs without the coplanarity cut.

All T1 modules are ECL line programmable multichannel CAMAC units. Most of them are commercial modules except the dedicated coplanarity processor developed at JINR. To reduce the time jitter of the trigger, meantimer units removing the dependence of timing on hit coordinate are used in all VH and HH channels.

The pion ($`\pi 1,\pi 2`$) and electron (e1,e2) signatures in each of the downstream arms are defined as a coincidence between different detectors:

$$\mathrm{VH1}(2)\mathrm{HH1}(2)\overline{\mathrm{Ch1}(2)}\mathrm{PSh1}(2)=\pi 1(\pi 2)$$

$$\mathrm{VH1}(2)\mathrm{HH1}(2)\mathrm{Ch1}(2)\mathrm{PSh1}(2)=\mathrm{e1}(\mathrm{e2}).$$

Here VH1, VH2 etc. denote the logical OR of all signals from the corresponding detector. The signatures from both arms are combined to produce the final first level trigger. The timing of “$`\pi `$” and “e” signals is defined by the vertical hodoscope of the corresponding arm, as the VH has the best time resolution among all detectors. At the trigger level VH slabs are aligned in time with an accuracy of 1 ns. Further off-line time corrections provide 175 ps resolution for the time difference between the signals in the two arms.

The definitions of the subtriggers are the following.

* The pion pair “atomic” trigger: $`A_{2\pi }=\pi 1\pi 2\mathrm{Copl}`$ 111At the early stage of the experiment the signal of the ionization hodoscope IH participated in coincidences in this and all other T1 subtrigger modes. Later it was excluded due to its high occupancy., where “Copl” is the positive decision of the coplanarity selection processor. The coplanarity processor (15 ns decision time) reduces the trigger rate by a factor of 2.
* The electron pair trigger: $`\mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^{}=\mathrm{e1}\mathrm{e2}`$.
* The pion pair trigger (no coplanarity selection): $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}=\pi 1\pi 2`$.
* The $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-decay trigger $`\mathrm{\Lambda }p+\pi ^{}`$:

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }=(\mathrm{VH1}[17]\mathrm{HH1}\overline{\mathrm{Ch1}}\mathrm{PSh1})(\mathrm{VH2}[1÷16]\mathrm{HH2}\overline{\mathrm{Ch2}}\mathrm{PSh2}).$$

As a matter of fact, this is the same definition as that for the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ trigger but here only vertical hodoscope slab 17 in VH1 and slabs $`1÷16`$ in VH2 out of the total 18 slabs of each arm are used. This reflects the kinematics of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-decay where the proton (in arm 1) and the $`\pi ^{}`$ (in arm 2) hit very different VH slab ranges.
* The $`K`$-decay trigger ($`K^+\pi ^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$, $`K^{}\pi ^{}\pi ^{}\pi ^+`$):

$$\mathrm{K}=\pi 1\pi 2Maj[\mathrm{VH}3]Maj[\mathrm{HH}3]Maj[\mathrm{VH}<5],$$

where $`Maj`$ denotes the majority logic applied to the number of hits in the slabs of both VH or both HH hodoscopes. Thus, from the pions detected in two arms only the events with at least 3 particles in the downstream detectors are selected and at the same time too complicated events with a high multiplicity $`5`$ are rejected. Simultaneous majority selection in the vertical VH and horizontal HH hodoscopes helps to suppress edge-crossing of the adjacent hodoscope slabs by single particles which could imitate the passage of two independent particles in one hodoscope.

For the last two subtriggers ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`K`$) the coincidence time window is reduced by a factor of 2.5 as there is no need to collect accidental events for these categories. It is evident that the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$\- and $`K`$-triggers do not provide detection of clean $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`K`$ events but they enhance their proportions in the final data sample.

The block diagram of the combination of various subtriggers is shown in Fig. 3. All signals pass through the mask register and after prescaling are combined with an OR function. Any subtrigger can be enabled or disabled by proper programming of the mask register. Timing of all subtriggers is the same. Independent prescaling of each subtrigger channel allows one to adjust the relative rates and to keep the ratio of the main and calibration trigger rates at an optimum level. A specific trigger mark is recorded for every event, so the data can be sorted by trigger type at the off-line analysis and on-line monitoring.

The final first level trigger signal T1, as shown in Figs. 2a and 2b, initiates operation of the DAQ modules (gating of ADC, starting of TDC etc.) either directly or after a coincidence with the T2 decision. It also triggers higher level processors. Depending on the decisions of the trigger processors the event data will either be converted and moved to the data collection memories or discarded. During this period generation of a new T1 signal is inhibited.

## 4 Pretrigger T0

Some trigger processors, especially T2 and DNA/RNA, need a fast initial signal to start evaluating an event. An early fast pretrigger (T0) is provided for that purpose. It is a simple coincidence of signals from at least one slab in each of the VH1, VH2, PSh1 and PSh2 detectors, the coincidence time window being the same as for the T1 trigger ($`\pm 20`$ns). To obtain a T0 signal as early as possible the VH signals are taken directly from the discriminator outputs of the upper PMs, i.e. before the meantimers. As a consequence, T0 has a 3 ns jitter which disappears in the final trigger due to further coincidence of various decisions with T1.

## 5 Trigger 2

Trigger 2 (its general ideas are considered, in particular, in ) uses the upstream SFD and IH detectors to select pairs with small distances along the $`x`$ direction ($`\mathrm{\Delta }x`$). This leads to rejection of events with a high component of the relative momentum along $`x`$ ($`Q_x`$). Typical relative momenta of pions from the $`A_{2\pi }`$ breakup correspond to particle distances $`\mathrm{\Delta }x9`$ mm in the upstream detectors.

The T2 trigger includes three independent modes combined by an OR function (Fig. 4): in *Mode 1* and *Mode 2* the data from two IH planes (A and B) are used and in *Mode 3* the information from SFD is evaluated. Only the X-planes of each detector are used.

*Mode 1* selects events with two charged particles hitting the same slab in the plane X-A of IH and the corresponding element in the plane X-B. Selection of double hits is based on charge discrimination with a threshold corresponding to detection of double ionization. An IH scintillator slab is 6 mm wide, therefore a double ionization signal in a plane arises if $`\mathrm{\Delta }x6`$ mm. However the plane X-B is shifted with respect to X-A by half-width of a slab, hence only particle pairs with $`\mathrm{\Delta }x3`$ mm are accepted by *Mode 1*.

To ensure the same selection efficiency for two uncorrelated particles as for pions originating from a $`A_{2\pi }`$ breakup, dedicated integrators have been designed and implemented in all IH channels of the X-planes. The integration is started by T0. The integrator accumulates the input charge during a preset time interval and then compares it with the double ionization threshold.

The outputs of the double ionization threshold discriminators are connected to a trigger logic circuit (TLC) which requires a coincidence between the double ionization signal from a slab in the plane X-A with a signal from the matching slab in X-B. As the slabs in the planes X-A and X-B are staggered, the coincidence in TLC is performed for two possible matching combinations.

In *Mode 2* hits (of any amplitude over the single ionization level) in adjacent slabs of planes A or B of IH are required. This mode accepts the events with $`\mathrm{\Delta }x12`$ mm.

*Mode 3* provides independent selection of events with small $`\mathrm{\Delta }x`$ using the SFD . Signals from the fiber columns (the fiber diameter is 0.5 mm) of the SFD X-plane after peak-sensitive discriminators  are coupled in pairs and come to a SFD trigger logic circuit (TLC). TLC tests if hits with distance $`x`$9 mm are present in the SFD hit pattern. This value of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }x`$ interval has been chosen as it coincides exactly with the range of distances for pions from $`A_{2\pi }`$ dissociation (the distance range in TLC can be varied from 1 to 15 mm). However, the SFD trigger efficiency drops at $`\mathrm{\Delta }x<1`$ mm as the tracks cannot be resolved when two particles hit the same fiber column or a pair of adjacent coupled columns.

Decisions of all 3 modes are combined with an OR function in order to increase the trigger efficiency: *Mode 1* recuperates the events rejected by *Mode 3* due to very small $`\mathrm{\Delta }x`$, *Mode 1* and *Mode 2* compensate inefficiency of the SFD detector itself (which is not negligible) while *Mode 3* recovers the events lost by *Mode 1* and *Mode 2* due to presence of small gaps between the IH scintillators.

The resulting global T2 signal is synchronized with a delayed T0 signal; this decreases the time jitter of T2 decisions down to the 3 ns jitter of T0. In further coincidence with T1 the timing of T1$``$T2 is defined by the T1 signal.

The selection efficiency for low $`Q`$ events of T2 is around 90–95%, and its rejection power is about 1.3–1.4. Both numbers vary slightly according to the beam conditions (beam time structure and background level).

## 6 Trigger 3

Further rejection of high $`Q`$ events is provided by the T3 processor. Its implementation initially considered in  is presented in detail in . T3 makes a fast analysis of hit patterns in the vertical hodoscopes VH1, VH2 and the ionization hodoscope IH.

For pairs with low longitudinal component of the relative momentum ($`Q_L`$) there is a correlation between the hits in VH1 and VH2 (see Fig. 5): for any slab hit in VH1 there is a limited group of slabs in VH2 where the corresponding hit could be found. The algorithm becomes much more selective if the information about the slabs hit in the ionization hodoscope IH is additionally used to define the particle’s X-coordinates before the magnet (obtained from IH hit slab numbers) and consequently indicate the appropriate VH1–VH2 correlation map. T3 applies a $`Q_L30`$MeV/$`c`$ cut in its current configuration.

The input data for T3 are two 18-bit patterns from the meantimers of the VH1 and VH2 hodoscopes and a 16-bit pattern from IH. The IH pattern used is produced by the logic of the double ionization event selection (as in T2). It provides the X-coordinate region(s) where double ionization in one slab or two hits in adjacent slabs are detected (similar to *Mode 1*+*Mode 2* of T2 but requesting double ionization in any of the IH X-planes).

The T3 logic is based on LeCroy Universal Logic Module 2366. The Xilinx FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array technology) chip of this module has been programmed with the corresponding trigger algorithm. The implemented correlation maps of the VH1, VH2 and IH signals were obtained with Monte-Carlo simulation of the DIRAC setup and further tested with real experimental data.

The module configuration is stored in a binary file. Before data taking it is loaded into the Xilinx chip via the CAMAC bus. Files with different configurations may be downloaded to adapt the T3 performance to specific needs. The input signals to T3 are latched by T1 (or T1$``$T2) and 120 ns later the decision of T3 about the event is delivered.

There is also a special “transparent” T3 operation mode. A signal in the dedicated “transparent” input forces T3 to accept the event. This mode is used for calibration triggers ($`e^+e^{}`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ etc.) when there should be no event suppression by T3: these event flags come into the “transparent” input and hence prevent the event from being probably rejected.

The T3 rejection power for typical experimental conditions is around 2.0 with respect to T1. The T3 efficiency for pairs with $`Q_x3`$MeV/$`c`$, $`Q_y3`$ MeV/$`c`$ and $`Q_L30`$MeV/$`c`$ is 97%.

## 7 DNA and RNA neural network triggers

The DNA (DIRAC Neural Atomic) trigger  is a processing system based on a neural network algorithm. The DNA hardware is based on the custom-built version of the neural trigger used initially in the CPLEAR experiment . The flexibility of the implemented algorithm allowed the system to be incorporated in the DIRAC trigger system too.

DNA receives the hit patterns from the vertical hodoscopes VH1, VH2, the X-planes of the ionization hodoscope IH and optionally the preshower detectors PSh1 and PSh2. In contrast to T3, DNA uses a straight-forward IH hit-map (i.e. without double ionization selection by IH logic). The detectors used for that trigger are shown in Fig. 6.

DNA is able to handle the events with up to 2 hits in each vertical hodoscope VH and up to 5 hits in each IH X-plane. If the number of hits exceeds these values in any of these detectors, DNA accepts the event for further off-line evaluation. In case there is only 1 hit in an IH plane, it is assumed that two particles cross the same IH slab.

Each IH plane is used independently in combination with both VHs. Therefore DNA consists of two identical parts. Each DNA part is based on three electronic modules: the interface and decision card , the neural network cards  and the POWER-PC VME master CPU card (Motorola MVME 2302). The subdecisions of the two parts are combined in a logical OR to minimize inefficiency due to gaps between the IH slabs.

The neural network was trained to select particle pairs with low relative momenta: $`Q_x<3`$MeV/$`c`$, $`Q_y<10`$MeV/$`c`$ and $`Q_L<30`$MeV/$`c`$. The events which do not satisfy any of these conditions are considered “bad” and rejected. The training of the system was done initially with Monte-Carlo simulated events and then, before the implementation in the DIRAC trigger system, checked with real experimental data.

The DNA logic starts with T0 and in about 210 ns evaluates an event. Since DNA does not take into account any Cherenkov or horizontal hodoscopes information, an event selected by DNA is only further processed if it is also accepted by the T1 (or T1$``$T2) trigger. The DNA rejection is approximately 2.3 in respect to T1. Its efficiency in the low $`Q`$ region is 94%.

To increase the selection efficiency, the DNA logic at the later stage of the experiment was supplemented with the RNA trigger system. The RNA operation is similar to that of DNA. Instead of the IH data, RNA uses the information from the X-plane of the scintillating fiber detector SFD. Figure 6 shows the related detectors used. Finer granularity upstream the magnet (0.5 mm in SFD in comparison with 6 mm in IH) provides higher trigger efficiency for pion pairs with small opening angles. The RNA decision time is 250 ns.

The OR between DNA and RNA provides a rate rejection of 1.9–2.0, at the same time increasing the efficiency in the low momentum $`Q`$ range to 99%.

## 8 Trigger 4

Trigger 4 is the final trigger stage. It reconstructs straight tracks in the X-projection of the drift chambers and analyses them with respect to relative momentum. T4 starts with a T1 trigger signal.

T4 includes two stages: the track finder and the track analyser. The track finder (an identical processor is used for each arm) receives the numbers of the fired wires from all drift chamber X-planes. Drift time values are not used in the T4 logic. The block diagram of the T4 operation is shown in Fig. 7.

The track finder operation is based on an endpoint algorithm. Drift chamber planes X1 (or X2) and X5 (or X6) are the base planes for the track search (in total there are 6 X-planes in each spectrometer arm). Every pair of the hits in the base planes is considered as end points of a straight line. Each of allowed hit combination is used to select a pattern window for the intermediate planes. A track is assumed to be found if the number of hits within the window exceeds a preset value. The window width and position can be set for every plane independently. The minimum number of hits per track is also variable (a typically used value is 4). A unique number, “track identifier”, which contains the encoded numbers of the fired wires in the base planes, is ascribed to the found track. Parasitic combinations (i.e. repeated track identifiers) are suppressed by the track finder.

If tracks are found in both arms, the track analyser continues the event evaluation. The look-up memory of the track analyser contains all possible combinations of the track identifiers for pion pairs with $`Q_L30`$MeV/$`c`$ and $`Q_x3`$MeV/$`c`$. These “allowed” combinations are obtained with simulation using the precise geometry of the setup. The track analyser receives the track identifiers from both arms and compares them with the content of the look-up memory. If a relevant combination is found, the T4 processor generates a positive decision signal which starts the data transfer to the VME buffer memories. Otherwise, the Clear and Reset signals are applied to the DAQ and trigger systems.

T4 is able to operate in different modes which are defined by several parameters loaded at the start of the data taking run. In the standard mode:

* Presence of the positive decision of the DNA/RNA trigger at the T4 input is mandatory;
* A special “transparent” input is activated. If the signal at this input is present when T4 starts, T4 always generates a positive decision. The calibration trigger marks are sent to this input thus disabling their rejection;
* Timeout for the T4 decision is enabled. If a decision is not reached before the end of the timeout interval, a positive decision is generated unconditionally.

The T4 decision time is not fixed and depends on the complexity of the event. Being in average around 3.5 $`\mu `$s, it varies from less than 1.5 $`\mu `$s for simple events to more than 20 $`\mu `$s for the most complicated ones. To avoid large dead time losses (and due to some restrictions imposed by MSGC Clear process) the timeout interval is set to 10 $`\mu `$s.

The track finder stage provides additional rejection of 10–20% events depending on background conditions. Rejected events are ones without tracks in DC X-planes. The main part of the rate reduction comes from the track analyser. The complete T4 provides a rejection factor of around 5 with respect to the T1 rate or around 2.5 with respect to DNA/RNA. The T4 efficiency in the low $`Q`$ region exceeds 99%.

## 9 Trigger control and operation

The whole trigger system is fully computer controlled: no manual operations are needed in order to modify the trigger conditions. The developed trigger software allows one to vary the electronic logic or the front-end settings. At the beginning of the data taking phase the corresponding parameters of all electronic modules are loaded using the files which define the status of the front-end and trigger electronics in accordance with the selected trigger (thresholds, enabled trigger levels or modes, prescaling factors for different calibration triggers etc.).

The complete trigger system operates in the following way. In the first trigger version, Fig. 2a, a coincidence of the T1 and T2 triggers starts digitization in the FERA  modules (ADC, TDC etc.) and in the drift chamber electronics. The positive T3 and DNA decisions joined in a logical OR trigger the MSGC electronics and allow the readout of the whole event to buffer memories. When an event is rejected, the data in the FERA and DC branches are cleared and no readout takes place; no Clear is applied to MSGC as they were not started yet. The T1$``$T2 signal inhibits generation of a new T1 and T0 until the end of the Clear processes followed by either readout or discarding of the data after a negative decision.

At the typical experimental conditions quoted in Sec. 1 the T1 rate is close to 5000/spill, the rate of accepted events is 1800–2000/spill (the ratio of the rates exceeds the reduction factor 1.9 of T3+DNA due to the dead time of the data acquisition and trigger systems). The calibration $`e^+e^{}`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`K`$ triggers (used with the prescaling factors 7, 3 and 2, respectively) constitute 15% of the accepted event sample. With these rates an overflow of the buffer memories in some readout branches occurs occasionally and the rate capability of the data acquisition system is near the limit when the setup receives several beam bunches close in time. To eliminate these drawbacks a different trigger version, Fig. 2b, is used.

In this revised trigger version the drift chamber processor T4 and the additional neural trigger chain RNA were implemented. The T2 and T3 stages were skipped as they did not add considerably to the rate or dead time reduction anymore.

In Fig. 2b digitization starts with T1. Similarly to the previous scheme, in case of the negative decision of DNA+RNA the data in the FERA and $`DC`$ branches are cleared. The positive DNA+RNA decision starts the MSGC electronics and gives the confirmation to T4 to begin processing.

The negative T4 decision leads to Clear of data in all branches including MSGC. Note that MSGC clearing takes more time than that in any other branch and for this reason MSGCs start later. Therefore dead time losses from the MSGC clear process occur only when T4 rejects an event already accepted by DNA+RNA. All events accepted by T4 are transferred to the VME memories to be read out for further off-line analysis.

At the same T1 rate of 5000/spill the DNA+RNA rate is 2000–2200/spill and the T4 rate of accepted events is around 700/spill. The sum of the calibration triggers is around 20% at the applied prescaling factors 14, 6 and 4 for $`e^+e^{}`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`K`$-triggers, respectively.

The performance of the trigger is illustrated in Figs. 811. In Fig. 8 the acceptance of different triggers as a function of the relative momentum $`Q`$ is presented. The curves for events selected by T1, T1$``$(DNA+RNA), T1$``$T4 and for the complete trigger T1$``$(DNA+RNA)$``$T4 are shown. In Figs. 9 and 10 the efficiencies of triggers are shown with respect to T1 (the ratios of the curves in Fig. 8 to the T1 curve). The efficiency for selecting low $`Q`$ events by the trigger processors is evident.

The efficiencies of triggers as a function of the longitudinal component of the relative momentum, $`Q_L`$, when $`Q_x<3`$MeV/$`c`$ and $`Q_y<3`$MeV/$`c`$ are presented in Fig.9. The T4 efficiency alone with respect to T1 is over 99% in the whole region $`|Q_L|<30`$MeV/$`c`$. Common selection by DNA+RNA and T4 results in the 98% efficiency for $`|Q_L|<22`$MeV/$`c`$ and 95% for $`|Q_L|<30`$MeV/$`c`$.

The complete trigger provides a factor of 1000 in rate reduction with respect to the single counting rates of the downstream detectors keeping a high efficiency in the range of low pair relative momenta.

## 10 Trigger quality control

Improper trigger functioning could lead to losses of events or systematic biases in the collected data which cannot be corrected later at the off-line analysis. For that reason the trigger quality is under permanent control.

The counting rates of different triggers and their submodes at all trigger levels are measured by CAMAC scalers. Their content is read out and recorded at the end of every accelerator spill and is also displayed by the on-line monitoring program. This provides control over the trigger stability.

The trigger efficiency is under control as well. One of the TDC modules (the “trigger register”) is intended for detection of trigger marks. Each decision of every trigger level, its submode type and arrival time per event are recorded. This information is available for the off-line analysis and on-line monitoring.

To test the efficiency of all higher than T1 triggers, their rejection power and acceptance in terms of the relative momentum $`Q`$, data are periodically collected with T1 as the only active trigger. The other triggers perform their analysis and send their trigger marks to the trigger register (T4 decisions, due to its longer processing time, are written in a special “mail box” in the DC buffer memory). A regular off-line express-analysis permits the detection of any deviations in the trigger performance. The results presented in Figs. 811 were obtained just from such data collected with T1 trigger.

To check the operation of the whole trigger system, including the primary T1 and T0 steps, a special minimum bias trigger is sometimes used. Two minimum bias trigger options are available with the simplest logic: IH$``$VH1 or IH$``$VH2, i.e. with only one upstream and one downstream detector involved. The events thus triggered may contain hits in other detectors as well and eventually even other trigger processors may select them. In these cases all the corresponding trigger marks should be generated. Off-line analysis of the data from all the detectors together with the recorded trigger marks makes it possible to test the trigger efficiency at all trigger stages.

One more trigger is arranged for tests of the front-end, trigger and readout electronics. Artificially generated signals are sent to inputs of the front-end electronics of all the detectors (except SFD, MSGC and DC). Relative delays between the generator signals coming to different detector groups are adjusted to be like those from real particles. As a result, all electronic channels in the trigger and readout modules can be tested.

## 11 Conclusions

The trigger system of DIRAC has been operating since 1999. It passed through several upgrade steps and at present provides considerable trigger rate reduction which satisfies the rate capabilities of the data acquisition system and the volume of the buffer memories used. The system proved to be reliable and convenient for the users.

## Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to L.Nemenov for coordination of trigger activity, V.Olshevsky and S.Trusov for readout software support, J.Buytaert and V.Korolev for development of some electronic units and to many members of the DIRAC collaboration for participation in trigger tuning and control during the beam measurements. The work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project 01–02–17756.


text:
# The 𝑠-process in rotating AGB stars

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