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# Approaching Reionization: The Evolution of the Lyman Alpha Forest from Redshifts Four to Six

## 1. Introduction

The epoch of reionization marks a fundamental change in the intergalactic gas in which, as the ionized underdense regions merge and overdense regions become exposed to the combined ionizing flux of all the galaxies and AGN, the gas transits from being predominantly neutral to being predominantly ionized over a relatively short redshift interval (e.g. Razoumov et al. 2001, who find $`\mathrm{\Delta }z0.3`$). As surveys for high $`z`$ objects have proceeded rapidly in the last two years, we are approaching redshifts at which the effects of reionization on the IGM might be expected to be becoming apparent. The current highest redshift object is the $`z=6.56`$ Ly$`\alpha `$ emitter found by Hu et al. (2001) who argue that this object suggests that reionization lies beyond $`z=6.6`$.

Of more interest for studying the details of the intergalactic gas are the extremely luminous quasars being found by the Sloan digital Sky Survey (SDSS) out to a redshift of 6.28 at the present time (e.g. Fan et al. 2001a and references therein). In recent papers, Djorgovski et al. (2001) and Becker et al. (2001) (see also Pentericci et al. 2001 and Fan et al. 2001b) have presented evidence from medium-resolution spectra of the highest redshift SDSS quasars that they claim supports the low redshift edge of reionization at $`z6`$. There are a number of limitations in both analyses, largely stemming from the small redshift baselines in both cases. Djorgovski et al. used high-quality KeckI LRIS and KeckII ESI spectra of the $`z_{\mathrm{em}}=5.75`$ quasar SDSS 1044$``$0125 to suggest that they had seen the onset of the ’trailing edge of the reionization era’ at $`z5.5`$, based on the presence of opacity gaps in their spectrum blueward of Ly$`\alpha `$ emission. Becker et al. presented relatively low signal-to-noise spectra of the four highest redshift SDSS quasars and concluded that there is rapid evolution of the mean absorption at these redshifts, including SDSS 1030+0524 with $`z_{\mathrm{em}}=6.28`$, in which they claimed to see a complete Gunn-Peterson trough at the longest wavelengths observed.

As Becker et al. correctly point out, the appearance of a single Gunn-Peterson trough over a short wavelength interval is not in itself conclusive evidence that the epoch of reionization has been reached since only a small fraction of neutral hydrogen can cause this. The crucial diagnostic of reionization is the evolution of the ionizing flux (cf. Fan et al. 2001b; McDonald & Miralda-Escudé 2001), and for these purposes, a longer redshift baseline is important to deconvolve the effects of the structural thickening of the forest from the ionizing radiation evolution. In this paper we present such a discussion based on ESI spectra of 15 quasars with $`4.42<z_{\mathrm{em}}<5.745`$, all of which have a quality comparable to or better than Djorgovski et al.‘s spectrum of SDSS 1044$``$0125, and all of which have highly optimised sky subtraction, a crucial point at the low transmitted flux levels characteristic of these redshifts. The transmitted flux presents a smooth evolution to a redshift of 6 and the comoving emission rate per unit volume of ionizing photons is constant or only very slightly declining at these redshifts. If extrapolated, is still sufficient to maintain a highly ionized IGM to $`z=6.6`$.

This leaves the longest redshift ($`z=6.05`$) point in SDSS 1030+0524 as the single strong piece of evidence for the epoch of reionization lying at $`z=6.1`$. Cen & McDonald (2001) have used a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-dominated cold dark matter (LCDM) model (which provides a good fit to our present data) to analyze the Ly$`\alpha `$ and Ly$`\beta `$ absorption of this point, concluding that the $`2\sigma `$ upper limit on the ionization rate at this redshift is about half of that which we would deduce from an extrapolation of our lower redshift data. An abrupt drop would be consistent with the Becker et al. and Fan et al. interpretations. However, as we show, the lower redshift data is also consistent with models in which there is substantial dispersion in the ionization parameter, or equivalently the equation of state of the gas, and these models have a significant probablility of including dark points like that of Becker et al. even for a smooth extrpolation of the mean ionization rate. A conclusive determination of the reionization epoch therefore requires a much larger sample of data at the highest redshifts.

## 2. Background

As was first pointed out by Shklovskij (1964), Scheuer (1965) and Gunn & Peterson (1965), a fully neutral intergalactic medium produces an enormous Lyman $`\alpha `$ scattering

$$\tau _{\mathrm{H}\mathrm{I}}=3.4\times 10^5h^1\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_m}{0.35}\right)^{0.5}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2}{0.0325}\right)\left(\frac{1+z}{7}\right)^{1.5}$$
(1)
where, at high redshifts in the currently favored cosmology, the local Hubble constant $`H\mathrm{\Omega }_m^{1/2}(1+z)^{3/2}H_0`$ (e.g. Barkana 2001). Here $`h=H_0/(100\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1)`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ is the local mass density and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$ is the baryon density. Even when the effects of structure are allowed for at these redshifts, the minimum density ’void’ regions with baryon densities $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _b/\rho _b0.1`$ would have optical depths in excess of $`10^4`$. A predominantly neutral IGM would therefore produce a totally black Ly$`\alpha `$ forest region. This is quite unlike the situation seen in the spectra of quasars to $`z=6.2`$ where, as we discuss in detail below, there are still substantial portions of the spectrum in which there is transmitted flux.

In actuality the lower density regions of the IGM will become ionized prior to the point at which the ionized regions merge and the bulk of the mass of the the IGM begins to ionize, which we would consider to be the redshift of reionization (see Miralda-Escudé, Haehnelt & Rees 2000 for a detailed description). The transmission through the underdense ionized regions results in some observable flux. However, even in this limit the radiation damping wings of the neutral hydrogen regions can completely black out the region. A spectrum with portions that are still transmitting in the Lyman $`\alpha `$ forest region can correspond to a period near reionization only if the dark gaps produced by the substantial amounts of neutral hydrogen in the high overdensity regions are sufficiently separated. This in turn means that the dark gaps must contain high column densities of neutral hydrogen and be very wide (cf. Barkana 2001).

A simple toy model serves to illustrate this point. Suppose the baryons are substantially neutral (fraction $`f_N`$) by mass and that all the neutral material is concentrated in a ’picket fence’ with the separation between the regions corresponding to a redshift interval $`\mathrm{\Delta }z`$ or rest-frame wavelength separation $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda =\lambda _\alpha \mathrm{\Delta }z/(1+z)`$. This model neglects the neutral hydrogen opacity contributions from the ionized regions, and so minimizes the ’darkness’ of the spectrum. The column density of each spike in the picket fence is now

$$N(\mathrm{H}\mathrm{I})=\left(\frac{c\rho _c}{H_0m}\right)\mathrm{\Omega }_m^{0.5}(1+z)^{1.5}f_N\mathrm{\Omega }_b\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda }{\lambda _\alpha }$$
(2)
where $`\rho _c`$ is the closure density, $`m`$ the mass per hydrogen atom and $`\lambda _\alpha `$ is the Lyman $`\alpha `$ wavelength. Neutral hydrogen regions have a damped Lyman $`\alpha `$ equivalent width of

$$W_\alpha =23.2\left(\frac{N(\mathrm{H}\mathrm{I})}{10^{21}\mathrm{cm}^2}\right)^{0.5}\mathrm{\AA }23.2N_{21}^{0.5}\mathrm{\AA }$$
(3)
and produce dark regions

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{2.5}=8.3N_{21}^{0.5}\mathrm{\AA }\mathrm{and}\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{1.25}=11.7N_{21}^{0.5}\mathrm{\AA }$$
(4)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{2.5}`$ is the width of the region with $`\tau >2.5`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{1.25}`$ is that at $`\tau =1.25`$. In order to produce regions with $`\tau <2.5`$ in the spectra, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda >\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{1.25}`$, which requires

$$N_{21}^{0.5}>1.2f_N\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_m}{0.35}\right)^{0.5}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2}{0.0325}\right)\left(\frac{h}{0.65}\right)^1\left(\frac{1+z}{7}\right)^{1.5}$$
(5)
or minimum gap lengths at $`\tau =2.5`$ of

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{2.5}>10\mathrm{\AA }f_N\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_m}{0.35}\right)^{0.5}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2}{0.0325}\right)\left(\frac{h}{0.65}\right)^1\left(\frac{1+z}{7}\right)^{1.5}.$$
(6)
This is an extreme lower limit: complexifying the neutral hydrogen structure or including the opacity effect of the ionized gas will only raise $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{2.5}`$. In essence, we must concentrate the neutral hydrogen to produce transmission gaps, and these concentrations will in turn produce very wide dark regions. Thus, a key signature of the approach to reionization is the onset of either a completely black spectrum or of many wide dark regions.

However, distinguishing this from a highly ionized post-reionization intergalactic medium may be extremely difficult. At these redshifts, a uniform ionized IGM would have a Ly$`\alpha `$ optical depth

$$\tau _u=14\mathrm{\Gamma }_{12}^1T_4^{0.75}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_m}{0.35}\right)^{0.5}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2}{0.0325}\right)^2\left(\frac{H_0}{65\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1}\right)^1\left(\frac{1+z}{7}\right)^{4.5}$$
(7)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{12}`$ is the local ionization rate produced by the metagalactic ionizing flux in units of $`10^{12}\mathrm{s}^1`$ and $`T_4`$ is the gas temperature in units of $`10^4`$ K. The corresponding optical depth at Ly$`\beta `$ is a combination of the direct Ly$`\beta `$ absorption and Ly$`\alpha `$ absorption at the redshift

$$1+z_\beta \left(\frac{\lambda _\beta }{\lambda _\alpha }\right)(1+z)$$
(8)
where $`\lambda _\alpha `$ and $`\lambda _\beta `$ are the Ly$`\alpha `$ and Ly$`\beta `$ wavelengths, and is given by

$$\tau _{\beta _u}=0.16\tau _u(z)+\tau _u(z_\beta ).$$
(9)
The two terms in equation (9) are generally comparable, the exact ratio being dependent on the steepness of the evolution of $`\tau _u`$ with $`(1+z)`$. Thus, even in this limit, transmission again will be seen only in the most underdense ’void’ regions of the IGM, with most of the spectrum again being black even at Ly$`\beta `$. (Because of the very steep redshift dependence, this is unlike the situation at lower redshifts, $`z3`$, where even the mean density regions have significant Ly$`\alpha `$ transmission.)

The distribution of the transmission and the mean transmitted flux depend in this high redshift limit on the fraction of the volume occupied by regions of low density (which in turn primarily depends on the details of the cosmological model) and on the normalized ionization rate

$$g\mathrm{\Gamma }_{12}T_4^{0.75}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_m}{0.35}\right)^{0.5}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2}{0.0325}\right)^2\left(\frac{H_0}{65\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1}\right)$$
(10)
which specifies the neutral fraction at $`\mathrm{\Delta }=1`$ (see Mcdonald & Miralda-Escudé 2001). For a specified cosmological model, the mean transmitted flux in the spectrum can be used to obtain $`g`$ and so the evolution of the ionizing flux with redshift (McDonald & Miralda-Escudé 2001; Cen & McDonald 2001). If we ignore the effects of thermal broadening and peculiar motions, and also assume that the gas has an equation of state $`T\mathrm{\Delta }^{\gamma 1}`$, we can generalise equation (7) to obtain the optical depth of the fluctuating medium

$$\tau _\mathrm{\Delta }=14g^1\left(\frac{1+z}{7}\right)^{4.5}\mathrm{\Delta }^\beta $$
(11)
where $`\beta =20.75(\gamma 1)`$ and $`\tau _\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is the optical depth at a point in the spectrum corresponding to a spatial position with normalized density $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ (e.g. Hui & Gnedin 1997). It can be seen immediately from equation (10) that transmission regions with $`\tau <1`$ will correspond to normalized densities of less than or around $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0.27g^{0.5}`$ at $`z=6`$, where for simplicity we have assumed an isothermal equation of state. Because the volume occupied by low density regions drops rapidly with decreasing $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, the mean transmission comes from a sharply peaked region of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. If we adopt (as did Fan et al. 2001b) the form of the volume density distribution function given by Miralda-Escudé, Haehnelt & Rees (2000)

$$P(\mathrm{\Delta })d\mathrm{\Delta }=A\mathrm{\Delta }^b\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{(\mathrm{\Delta }^{2/3}C)^2}{8\delta _0^2/9}\right)d\mathrm{\Delta }$$
(12)
where $`b2.5`$ at high redshift and $`A`$ and $`C`$ are specified by the normalization of $`P`$ and the condition $`\overline{\mathrm{\Delta }}=1`$, then ignoring the normalizing constant $`C`$ term in the low density regime, the mean transmitted flux has the form

$$F=A\mathrm{\Delta }^b\mathrm{exp}\left(\tau _u\mathrm{\Delta }^\beta +\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }^{4/3}}{8\delta _0^2/9}\right)d\mathrm{\Delta }.$$
(13)
The exponent peaks sharply at

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_0=\left(\frac{3}{2\tau _u\beta \delta _0^2}\right)^{\frac{1}{\beta +4/3}}$$
(14)
which, adopting $`\delta _0=7.61(1+z)^1`$ appropriate to the LCDM model of Miralda-Escudé et al. (1996), corresponds to

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_0=0.39g^{0.3}\left(\frac{1+z}{7}\right)^{0.75}$$
(15)
and where we have again used the isothermal equation of state for simplicity. We can now evaluate the integral using the method of steepest descents to give

$$F(z,g)=A\left(\frac{4\pi }{3\beta +4}\right)^{0.5}\delta _0\mathrm{\Delta }_0^{5/3b}\mathrm{exp}\left(\left(\frac{3}{2\beta }+\frac{9}{8}\right)\mathrm{\Delta }_0^{4/3}\delta _0^2\right)$$
(16)
where, for the isothermal $`\beta =2`$, the exponent becomes $`5.56g^{0.4}((1+z)/7)^3`$, so that the effect of the structure is to make the evolution of the effective optical depth $`\mathrm{ln}T`$ with redshift shallower than in the uniform case (e.g. Bi & Davidsen 1996). The dependence on the equation of state is extremely weak. Inclusion of the $`C`$ term changes the integral slightly, but adopting this functional form, we use the analytic equation

$$F(z,g)=4.5g^{0.28}\left(\frac{1+z}{7}\right)^{2.2}\mathrm{exp}\left(4.4g^{0.4}\left(\frac{1+z}{7}\right)^3\right)$$
(17)
which provides an accurate representation (a maximum of 8% deviation from $`g=0.2`$ to $`g=3`$) of the LCDM numerical models of McDonald & Miralda-Escudé (2001), Cen & McDonald (2001) and Cen & McDonald (2002, in preparation) and to the exact integral obtained using equations (11) and (12) over the $`z=46`$ redshift range of interest.

## 3. Observations

A total of 15 high redshift quasars, with $`4.42<z_{\mathrm{em}}<5.745`$, were observed for this program (Table 1) using the Echellette Spectrograph and Imager (ESI; Sheinis et al. 2000) intrument on the KeckII telescope in echellette mode. The resolution in this configuration is comparatively low, $`5300`$ for the $`0.75^{\prime \prime }`$ slit width used, but the red sensitivity of the instrument is high and the wavelength coverage is complete from $`4000\mathrm{\AA }`$ to $`10,000\mathrm{\AA }`$. At the red wavelengths, extremely high precision sky subtraction is required since the sky lines can be more than two orders of magnitude brighter than the quasars. In order to deal with this issue, individual half-hour exposures were made, stepped along the slit, and the median was used to provide the primary sky subtraction. Total exposure times are given in Table 1. The frames were then registered, filtered to remove cosmic rays and artifacts, and then added. At this point a second linear fit to the slit profile in the vicinity of the quasar was used to remove any small residual sky. The observations were made at the parallactic angle and flux calibrated using observations of white dwarf standards scattered through the night. These standards were also used to remove telluric absorption features in the spectra, including the various atmospheric bands. The final extractions of the spectra were made using a weighting provided by the profile of the white dwarf standards. Wavelength calibrations were obtained using third-order fits to CuAr and Xe lamp observations at the begining and end of each night, and the absolute wavelength scale was then obtained by registering these wavelength solutions to the night sky lines. The wavelengths and redshifts are given in the vacuum heliocentric frame.

The quality of the data and the extraction is shown in Figure 1 for the highest redshift QSO in the sample, SDSS 1044$``$0125, which also has one of the lowest S/N in the sample. The total exposure time was 5.75 hours. The spectrum is shown smoothed to $`0.25\mathrm{\AA }`$ and normalized in the region of $`13301370\mathrm{\AA }`$ in the rest frame to a power-law continuum ($`f_\lambda `$) with slope $`1.25`$ (solid line). The dotted lines show continua with slopes $`0.75`$ and $`2`$. For this range of slopes there is a $`\pm 18`$ % range in the normalization at $`1075\mathrm{\AA }`$. We adopt the emission redshift of 5.745 for this quasar, which Goodrich et al. (2001) measured from NIRSPEC spectroscopy of the C IV emission line and associated absorption that they describe as BAL-like. This associated absorption is only very weakly seen in the blue wing of the Si IV line and the Si IV + O IV\] emission gives a consistent solution for the emission redshift. The short vertical bars above the spectrum show the resulting positions of the Ly$`\beta `$+O VI, Ly$`\alpha `$, N V and Si IV + O IV\] emission lines.

The region of primary interest between $`1050\mathrm{\AA }`$ and $`1200\mathrm{\AA }`$ is shown in more detail in Figure 2 for SDSS 1044$``$0125 and for the lower redshift and the more typical S/N spectrum of BRI 1202$``$0725, both of which contain wide saturated regions which can be used to estimate the accuracy of the sky subtraction. The formal statistical noise derived for the spectra is shown underneath the spectrum in each panel. In general, however, systematic residuals associated with strong night sky lines are a larger source of noise, as can be clearly seen in SDSS 1044$``$0125. In the base of the damped Ly$`\alpha `$ line at $`z=4.383`$ in BRI 1202$``$0725 we measure a mean normalized flux of $`0.002`$ while in the dark region at $`z=5.286`$ in SDSS 1044$``$0125 we measure $`0.009`$, suggesting that the sky subtraction leaves about 1% residuals in the faintest quasars and smaller errors in the brightest ones. We take the larger value as our systematic error.

## 4. Transmitted Fluxes and the Evolution of the Ionizing Parameter

The simplest quantity that can be used to characterize the Lyman alpha forest is the mean reduction which it introduces in the continuum. Oke & Korycansky (1982) introduced the $`D_A`$ index, defined as

$$D_A=1\frac{F_\nu }{F_{\nu 0}}$$
(18)
where $`F_\nu `$ is the actual flux and $`F_{\nu 0}`$ is the continuum, and the average is over rest-frame wavelengths from $`1050\mathrm{\AA }`$ to $`1170\mathrm{\AA }`$, which makes this measurement over most of the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest region. We show this quantity in Figure 3 where, to make the most direct comparison with the lower redshift points of Schneider, Schmidt & Gunn (1991) and Kennefick, Djorgovski & de Carvalho (1995), we used a spectral index of 0.9 in extrapolating the continuum, equal to the mean Schneider et al. value. (The choice of continuum can shift the points vertically by offsets of up to 0.2). We have also shown the values measured by Becker et al. (2001) in the three of their four quasars that do not overlap with the present sample. The present data show a smooth connection between the high and low redshifts, indicating the rapid drop in the transmitted flux as we move to the higher redshifts.

The quality of the present spectra justifies a more detailed analysis, and for each quasar transmitted fluxes blueward of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission were then measured in four bins with rest wavelengths of 1150–1175 Å, 1125–1150 Å, 1100–1125 Å and 1075–1100 Å. For SDSS 1044$``$0125, these bins are illustrated as short horizontal bars below the spectrum in Figure 1. For the remainder of the paper we use the $`1.25`$ power law continuum from Figure 1. The continguous wavelength bins used by Becker et al. (2001) in calculating transmitted fluxes for this quasar are also shown in Figure 1 with centers marked by the small squares. It can be seen that the Becker et al. bins extend considerably closer to the quasars’ Ly$`\alpha `$ and Ly$`\beta `$ emission, where the emission line flux might affect the normalization, which is why we adopt the present intervals. Measurements made closer to the quasar redshift might also be more vulnerable to effects associated with the quasar itself, as we discuss further below. Some idea of the possible errors in the transmitted fluxes in the shorter exposure Becker et al. data can be gained from Figure 4, which is a comparison of the transmitted fluxes in 1044$``$0125 given by Becker et al. with the fluxes measured in the Becker et al. bins in the spectrum of Figure 1. At these low fluxes, the statistical errors in the present spectra are tiny, and even the systematic errors from continuum fitting (see Figure 5 caption) are very small. Despite this, there are clearly substantial differences between the Becker et al. points and the present data, which are most probably related to the sky subtraction issue and to the lower S/N of the Becker et al. data. The two highest wavelelength points are a factor of 1.7 lower than the Becker et al. numbers.

The mean transmitted flux in these bins versus redshift is shown in Figure 5 for the entire sample (filled squares). The $`1\sigma `$ statistical error together with the continuum fitting uncertainty is shown as a vertical error bar which is, however, sometimes smaller than the plotting symbol, and the width of the bin is shown by the horizontal line. The continuum fitting errors strongly dominate, particularly at higher transmission. We also show (open squares) the transmitted fluxes measured by Becker et al. in their three quasars that do not overlap with the present sample. The overall sample shows a smooth decline with redshift, albeit with a substantial scatter. A least squares fit to a power law of the form $`F(1+z)^x`$ gives $`x=7.1`$ if we use only the present data (solid line in Figure 5) and $`8.1`$ if we include the Becker et al. data (dashed line).

At a given redshift, the scatter in the transmitted flux represents the variance produced by different sampling of the density distribution function (and possibly the variation in the ionization parameter $`g`$) in the wavelength average over the particular bin. However, some part of this scatter appears to be associated with intrinsic quasar absorption. Two of the quasars, SDSS 1605$``$0112 and SDSS 1044$``$0125, show BALQSO behaviour. SDSS 1605$``$0112 is a clear BALQSO and SDSS 1044$``$0125 has strong associated lines that were described by Goodrich et al. (2001) and can also be seen in Figure 1 in Si IV. We have distinguished the transmitted flux from these quasars in Figure 5, and in both cases, the longest wavelength points appear anomalously low compared with the typical value. It appears probable that this is being caused by Ly$`\alpha `$ opacity associated with the quasar. This type of behaviour is clearly not uncommon, with 2 of the current sample of 15 quasars falling into that category. We do not yet know whether the highest redshift quasars in the Becker et al. sample are of like type, which could result in low transmission in the highest redshift point, and this is clearly an issue that must be checked (but see Pentericci et al. 2001). We have (slightly arbitrarily) excluded SDSS 1605$``$0112 but not SDSS 1044$``$0125, from the sample at this point, but the results are not significantly affected by the inclusion or exclusion of either object.

We next formed the mean transmitted flux averaged over the measured values from the full sample of quasars in the given redshift bin (including the data of Becker et al. (2001) for the three non-overlapping quasars) and also the variance in the points, which we used to determine the uncertainty in the mean. The mean values and errors are summarized in Table 2 and shown as the large filled diamonds in Figure 6, where we have plotted the mean optical depth, $`\overline{\tau }`$, defined as $`\mathrm{ln}(\mathrm{mean}\mathrm{transmitted}\mathrm{flux})`$, versus $`\mathrm{ln}(1+z)`$ so that the power law fits, which are again illustrated, appear as straight lines. We have also shown the individual data points. The evolution of the mean optical depth from $`z=4`$ to $`z=6`$ is well represented by

$$\overline{\tau }=3.5+8.1\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{1+z}{7}\right)$$
(19)
which corresponds to a mean transmission relation of

$$F=0.031\left(\frac{1+z}{7}\right)^{8.1}$$
(20)
We can now use equation(17) to translate the mean transmissions to ionization rates. The mean transmission and the variance of the transmission are compared in Figure 7 with the expected evolution with $`z`$ for an ionization parameter $`g=0.86`$ which produces rough agreement with the data points over the redshift range (solid line). We also show the transmissions expected when $`g`$ is changed by a multiplicative factor of 2 in either direction, which roughly corresponds to the variance, and provides a measure of how much uncertainty would be expected from measuring $`g`$ from a small number of quasars. This can be used to assess the uncertainties in the measurements from the individual Becker et al. (2001) data points at the highest redshifts.

In Figure 8 we show the direct inversion to obtain $`g`$ in each redshift bin (filled points). Here the error bars correspond to the error in the mean transmission. We have also shown $`g`$ determined by McDonald et al. (2000) at lower redshift (open squares) and the values that would be determined from the three individual Ly$`\alpha `$ points in the Becker et al (2001) data at longer redshift (small open diamonds). As was shown in Figure 7, the present data points are consistent with being constant as a function of redshift but the combination with the lower redshift data points shows that the ionization parameter can be quite well represented by a power law of the form

$$g=41(1+z)^{2.2}$$
(21)
which is shown as the solid line in Figure 8. Only the $`z=4`$ data point deviates substantially from this form and this is the most uncertain point because of the continuum extrapolation. In contrast to the results of Cen & McDonald (2001), whose findings were based on a small data sample, we find no significant structure or peaks in the ionization function that might be associated with the period just following reionization. Instead, with the single exception of the highest redshift Becker et al. (2001) point, all the data are consistent with a smooth evolution to $`z=6`$. The possibility that the reionization epoch is at $`z6.1`$ stands or falls, therefore, on this single data point at $`z=6.05`$.

$`g`$ is related to the comoving production rate of ionizing photons, $`\dot{n}_I`$, released to the IGM by the relation

$$\dot{n}_I(1+z)^3=\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{\sigma \mathrm{\Delta }\lambda }$$
(22)
(e.g. McDonald & Miralda-Escudé 2001) where $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$ is the proper distance between absorbers and $`\sigma `$ is the mean cross section for ionization. Madau, Haardt & Rees (1999) give $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda =33\mathrm{Mpc}(1+z)^{4.5}`$ and using this form, setting $`\sigma =2\times 10^{18}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, and adopting the cosmology of section 2 so that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=10^{12}g\mathrm{s}^1`$, we have

$$\dot{n}_I2\times 10^{19}(1+z)^{0.7}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1$$
(23)
so that the comoving production rate of ionizing photons is varying only slowly with redshift. We can integrate equation (23) to find the total comoving number density of ionizing photons produced at redshift $`z`$,

$$n_I(tot)=0.5H_0^1\mathrm{\Omega }_m^{0.5}(1+z)^{1.5}\dot{n}_I5\times 10^2(1+z)^{2.2}\mathrm{cm}^3$$
(24)
which is more than sufficient to ionize the hydrogen density ($`n_{H_0}=2.6\times 10^7\mathrm{cm}^3`$ with the presently adopted parameters) out to the highest observable redshifts, even allowing for the multiplicative factor of several uncertainty in the ratio of $`n_I(tot)`$ to $`n_{H_0}`$ which is present in (21) from the adopted cosmology and the equation of state.

## 5. The Distribution of Transmissions and the Incidence of Dark Gaps

At redshifts $`z>5`$ is it no longer possible to carry out the kind of Voigt profile analysis of the spectrum that has been used extensively at lower redshifts (e.g. Hu et al. 1995; Kirkman & Tytler 1997; Kim et al. 1997). However, subject to the uncertainties in the continuum extrapolation used to normalize the spectrum (primarily important at low optical depths), we can measure alternative quantities to characterise the spectra and compare with models, such as the distribution of the transmissions (e.g. Rauch et al. 1997) or the frequency of gaps (e.g. Croft 1998).

The simplest quantity that can be used to quantify the spectra is the cumulative distribution of transmissions, which primarily depends only on the distribution of the neutral hydrogen density at a particular redshift and contains little information about the velocity structure. We have computed this quantity from the present observations for three redshift intervals \[4.25,4.75\], \[4.95,5.45\] and \[5.45,5.95\]. The first two redshift intervals are chosen to match the LCDM models presented by McDonald & Miralda-Escudé (2001). The observational results are shown as the crosses in Figure 9, where low redshift is at the bottom of the figure and the highest redshift is at the top. We also show the model distributions at $`z=4.5`$ (squares) and $`z=5.2`$ (diamonds) from the LCDM numerical calculations, with ionization parameters chosen to match the observations. (The ionization rates are in reasonable agreement with the values computed in the previous section from the mean transmissions.) This model agrees very well with the data, as was also found by Fan et al. (2001b). We can approximate the numerical models by combining equations (11) and (12) and this result is shown as the solid lines in Figure 9. We have used this to extend the comparison of the model to $`z=5.7`$ where it remains in good agreement with the observations.

Cen & McDonald used this LCDM model to assess the probability of seeing a dark transmission region similar to that in the highest redshift Becker et al. (2001) point. Using the more stringent constraint from Ly$`\beta `$, they found that there was a $`2\sigma `$ probability of seeing such a feature if their $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{12}`$ obeyed the relation $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{12}0.062`$, which corresponds to $`g=0.3`$ in the present notation. This can be compared to the value of $`g=0.6`$ expected at $`z=6.05`$ from equation (19) and might suggest the beginning of a substantial drop in $`g`$, consistent with the Becker et al. (2001) interpretation.

However, one possible problem with the models could lie in the assumption of a constant ionization rate and equation of state (subsumed here in the quantity $`g`$) at a given redshift. Spatially correlated variations in these quantities could be present even at post-reionization epochs and could substantially change the probability of seeing dark gaps. Clearly, if the distribution of the $`g`$ parameter were too broad, it would significantly change the shape of the transmitted fraction shown in Figure 9, but within the uncertainties in the data and the continuum normalization there is considerable latitude for such a possibility. We illustrate this in Figure 10 in which we have again used equations (11) and (12) to construct the cumulative probability of the transmission being below the given value. For redshifts 5.2 and 5.7 we show the data and the cumulative probability with a single ionization parameter $`g`$ chosen to optimize the fit. We then show two models, in one of which half the points in the spectrum have an ionization rate $`0.5g`$ (dashed line) and in the other of which half the points have an ionization rate $`0.25g`$ (dotted line). In each case we have adjusted the ionization range in the remaining half of the points to optimize the fit. At $`z=5.2`$, the dotted line is substantially too high at low transmissions and it is clear that a spread in ionization rate of a factor of 4 would produce too many dark regions in the spectra; however, factors of 2 variation are quite acceptable. By $`z=5.7`$, as the number of dark regions increases, even a factor of 4 variation is not ruled out. If such variations are present then the probability of seeing a dark gap such as that seen by Becker et al. rises substantially, and their result can be understood without invoking reionization (though such variations in the ionization and equation of state, if present, might be related to post-reionization effects).

To proceed further on these lines would require extensive simulations and consideration of the physical processes that might give rise to such variations. An alternative approach is to look at the distribution of dark gaps and the distribution of dark regions in the present data which can, in principle, provide a more sensitive diagnosis of whether there are spatially underionized regions. One simple parameterization is the distribution of the widths of contiguous regions with optical depth greater than or equal to a particular value (Croft 1998). In Figure 2 we show the contiguous regions satisfying the condition $`\tau >2.5`$ over rest-frame wavelength intervals $`>1\mathrm{\AA }`$ in the quasar BR 1202$``$0725 ($`z_{em}=4.61`$) and in SDSS 1044$``$0125 ($`z_{em}=5.74`$). As would be expected from the increasing opacities, the frequency of such gaps increases rapidly with redshift. We have also shown the regions where the same condition holds also at Ly$`\beta `$. Only one region in BR 1202$``$0725 (the DLA at $`z=4.383`$) appears, but even by $`z=5.3`$, wide systems that are dark in both Ly$`\alpha `$ and Ly$`\beta `$ are becoming common. We illustrate the distribution of the gaps in Figure 11 where we show the number of gaps versus the wavelength per unit redshift interval, $`dX\mathrm{\Omega }_m^{0.5}(1+z)^{0.5}dz`$. Below $`z=5`$, the distribution of gaps varies fairly slowly but at $`z>5`$ the number of wide gaps increases rapidly. Again, further analysis requires more detailed simulations.

## 6. Metal Lines

At $`z<4.5`$ the mean metal content of damped Lyman alpha systems (DLAs) varies only slowly (Prochaska, Gawiser & Wolfe 2001) and, while there is a substantial dispersion in metallicity, all systems generally have metals with a minimum metallicity relative to solar of $`2\times 10^3`$. Since we can measure C II lines to column densities of $`10^{13}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ even in spectra with S/N similar to that of SDSS 1044$``$0125, if these metallicites were maintained to higher redshift we should be able to detect metal absorption to high column density neutral regions with $`N(\mathrm{H}\mathrm{I})10^{19}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ and study the kinematic structure and velocity distribution of the gas.

Motivated by this idea, we have taken the list of ’dark gaps’ with rest-frame Ly$`\alpha `$ widths $`>4\mathrm{\AA }`$ from the sample developed in the previous section (Table 3) and searched at each position for associated metal lines. For each system we show in Figure 12 the Ly$`\alpha `$ profile and the corresponding lines of C II ($`1334\mathrm{\AA }`$), C IV ($`1548\mathrm{\AA }`$), Si II ($`1526\mathrm{\AA }`$), and Si IV ($`1393\mathrm{\AA }`$). The longer wavelength member of the C IV doublet at $`1550\mathrm{\AA }`$ can also be seen. At $`z<5`$, all of the gaps chosen in this way correspond to conventional DLAs whose Lyman series profiles can be fitted to the damping wings to obatin $`N(\mathrm{H}\mathrm{I})`$. The accuracy of the measurements is about 0.2 dex and where there are previous measurements of the same system (Prochaska et al. 2001 and references therein) the measured values agree at this level. We summarize these results in Table 3. At higher redshift ($`z>5`$) the line blending makes this type of measurement extremely difficult. For the $`z=5.286`$ system in SDSS 1044$``$0125 we measure an approximate $`\mathrm{log}N(\mathrm{H}\mathrm{I})20.5`$ from Ly$`\alpha `$ and Ly$`\beta `$. The $`z=5.397`$ dark region has unsaturated regions at Ly$`\beta `$ and clearly has a lower column density. For the remaining two $`z>5`$ systems, we give upper limits on the column density based on the Ly$`\alpha `$ and Ly$`\beta `$ widths with $`\tau >2.5`$ using the equations of section (2).

For each region we have also measured the column density of Fe II, usually based on the $`1608\mathrm{\AA }`$ line, and used this to obtain the value of \[Fe/H\]. No metal lines are seen in the three highest redshift systems. These results are also summarized in Table 3.

In Figure 13 we show \[Fe/H\] versus redshift (filled symbols) and we have also shown the lower redshift measurements summarized in Prochaska et al. (2001; open symbols). Three of our measurements overlap with these previous results, only one of which deviates by more than 0.2 dex: the present measurement of the $`z=4.383`$ system in BR 1202$``$0725 is 0.3 dex higher than that of Lu et al. (1996) which was, however, quite uncertain because of limited line coverage. The present measurement should be more accurate. From Figure 13 we can see that at these higher redshifts there is strong evidence that the metallicity is beginning to fall. The median metallicity at $`z<4`$ is $`1.77`$ and only one of the 12 systems above $`z=4`$ has a metallicity higher than this. The median metallicity of the 9 systems with $`4<z<4.5`$ is $`1.94`$ and for the 3 systems with $`z>4.5`$ it is $`2.61`$. If this trend continues to higher redshift, many of the stronger neutral hydrogen systems may not be seen in the metals and the systems that are seen may be somewhat too weak for study of the kinematics. However, even allowing for these low metallicites, which result in weak lines not being seen, Figure 12 shows that these systems are kinematically very simple at the higher redshifts. All of the three metal systems at $`z>4.5`$ are strongly dominated by a single narrow component. In each case we have measured $`b`$-values using the strongest unsaturated line of C II or Si II available, obtaining $`b=19\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ at $`z=4.64357`$, $`b=19\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ at $`z=4.74314`$ in SDSS 1737+5828, and $`b=15\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ at $`z=5.28538`$ in SDSS 1044$``$0125. Taking into account the broad instrumental profile, these $`b`$-values might best be treated as upper limits, but irrespective of this point, it is clear that the high-$`z`$ DLAs are arising in kinematically quiescent regions, with line-of-sight turbulent velocity dispersions of less than $`1014\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

## 7. Conclusions

The primary result of the present paper is that between redshifts 4 and 6 the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest smoothly evolves from its behaviour at lower redshifts. The presence of substantial ’dark gaps’ in the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest region is a natural consequence of the increase in the gas density and the decrease in the amplitude of density fluctuations and there are no signatures which require us to lie in the immediate post-reionization universe at this epoch. Over this redshift range, the data are consistent with a constant ionization while, even comparing with values measured at lower redshifts (e.g. McDonald et al. 2000), the ionization rate at $`z=5`$ is still 40% of that at $`z=3`$. This in turn implies production rates of ionizing photons which, extrapolated, could easily ionize the intergalactic gas to much higher redshifts.

The one possibly compelling piece of evidence for the onset of reionization just beyond $`z=6`$ is the wide very dark region seen at $`z=6.05`$ by Becker et al. (2001) in the spectrum of SDSS 1030+0524. The present data are consistent with the LCDM model used by Cen & McDonald (2001) to show that, at the $`2\sigma `$ confidence level, the ionization rate at this point must have dropped by a factor of 2 from that at a redshift just less than 6. However, the data are also consistent with models in which there is a large variation in the ionization parameter about the mean at any given redshift, and in this case the probablility of seeing such a point becomes high enough to be consistent with the extrapolation from lower redshift. We have also noted that 2 out of the 15 quasars show BAL QSO bahaviour and that this results in a substantial increase in the Ly$`\alpha `$ opacity near the quasar.

Finally, we have measured the metallicity of the gas in the damped Ly$`\alpha `$ systems in the quasars and show that the metallicity in these systems is beginning to drop at $`z=5`$. The kinematic structure of the metal lines shows that, at these redshifts, the neutral hydrogen arises in single rather narrow regions with line-of-sight velocity dispersions of $`1014\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

We would like to thank Patrick McDonald, Renyue Cen, Xiaohui Fan and Bob Becker for supplying tabular versions of data from their papers and/or their numerical models, and Patrick McDonald, Michael Strauss and Julia Kennefick for very useful comments on the text. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under grants AST 96-17216 and AST 00-98480.


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# Deflationary Λ(𝑡) cosmology: observational expressions

## I Introduction

Recent measurements from some type Ia Supernovae (SNe) at intermediate and high redshifts (Perlmutter et al. 1999, Riess et al. 1998) indicate that the bulk of energy in the Universe is repulsive and appears like a “quintessence” component, that is, an unknown form of dark energy (in addition to the ordinary CDM matter) probably of primordial origin (see Turner 2000 for a review). Together with the observations of CMB anisotropies (de Bernardis 2000), such results seem to provide an important piece of information connecting an early inflationary stage with the astronomical observations.

This state of affairs has stimulated the interest for more general models containing an extra component describing this dark energy, and simultaneously accounting for the present accelerated stage of the Universe. However, the absence of a convincing evidence on the nature of the dark component gave origin to an intense debate and mainly to theoretical speculations. A possible list of old and new candidates for “quintessence” now include:

(i) a decaying vacuum energy density, or a time varying $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-term (Özer and Taha 1987, Freese at al. 1987, Chen and Wu 1990, Carvalho et al. 1992, Waga 1993; for reviews see Overduin and Cooperstoock 1998; Sahni and Starobinski 2000)

(ii) the so-called “X-matter”, an extra component simply characterized by an equation of state $`p_x=\omega \rho _x`$, where $`\omega 1`$ (Turner and White 1997, Chiba et al. 1997, Efstathiou 1999, Lima and Alcaniz 2000, Turner 2000, Alcaniz and Lima 2001), which describes, as a particular case, cosmologies with a constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-term ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM models). Generically, the $`\omega `$ parameter may be a function of the redshift (Cooray and Huterer 2000)

(iii) a rolling scalar field (Ratra and Peebles 1988, Caldwell et al. 1998, Wang et al. 2000).

Here we are interested in the first class of models. The basic reason is the widespread belief that the early Universe evolved through a cascade of phase transitions, thereby yielding a vacuum energy density which at present is at least $`118`$ orders of magnitude smaller than in the Planck time (Weinberg 1989). Such a discrepancy between theoretical expectation (from the modern microscopic theory of particles and gravity) and empirical observations constitutes a fundamental problem in the interface uniting astrophysics, particle physics and cosmology, which is often called “the cosmological constant problem” (Weinberg 1989; Jack NG 1992; Dolgov 1997). This puzzle inspired some authors (Lima and Maia 1994, Lima and Trodden 1996) to propose a class of phenomenological deflationary cosmologies driven by a decaying vacuum energy density where the present value, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_o=\mathrm{\Lambda }(t_o)`$, is a remnant of the primordial inflationary stage (from now on the subscript “o” denotes the present day quantities). The basic scenario has an interesting cosmological history that evolves in three stages. Initially, an unstable de Sitter configuration, with no matter and radiation is supported by the largest values of the vacuum energy density. This nonsingular de Sitter state evolves to a quasi-FRW vacuum-radiation-dominated phase, and, subsequently, the Universe changes continuously from vacuum-radiation to the present vacuum-dust dominated phase. The first stage harmonizes the scenario with the cosmological constant problem, while the transition to the second stage solves the horizon and other well-know problems in the same manner as in inflation. Finally, the Universe enters in the present vacuum-dust phase with a negative deceleration parameter as required by the SNe type Ia observations.

In this article, we focus our attention on this class of deflationary decaying vacuum models. The effective time dependent cosmological term is regarded as a second fluid component with energy density, $`\rho _v(t)=\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)/8\pi G`$, which transfers energy continuously to the material component. The main goal is to investigate the basic kinematic tests in the present vacuum-dust dominated phase, or equivalently, how the classical cosmological tests may constrain the physical parameters of such models. The paper is organized as follows: In section 2, we set up the basic equations for deflationary cosmologies driven by a decaying $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)`$-term. In section 3, the expressions for classical cosmological tests are derived and compared with the conventional expressions without the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-term. Section 4 gives the conclusion of the main results, and, in the appendix A, the exact expression yielding the dimensionless radial coordinate as a function of the redshift is deduced.

## II Deflationary $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)`$ Cosmology : Basic Equations

We shall consider a class of spacetimes described by the general FRW line element ($`c=1`$)

$$ds^2=dt^2R^2(t)\left(\frac{dr^2}{1kr^2}+r^2d\theta ^2+r^2sin^2\theta d\varphi ^2\right),$$
(1)
where $`R(t)`$ is the scale factor, $`k=0`$, $`\pm 1`$ is the curvature parameter of the spatial sections, and $`r`$, $`\theta `$ and $`\varphi `$ are dimensionless comoving coordinates. In that background, the Einstein field equations (EFE) with a nonvacuum component plus a cosmological $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)`$-term are:

$$8\pi G\rho +\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)=3\frac{\dot{R}^2}{R^2}+3\frac{k}{R^2},$$
(2)
$$8\pi Gp\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)=2\frac{\ddot{R}}{R}\frac{\dot{R}^2}{R^2}\frac{k}{R^2},$$
(3)
where an overdot means time derivative, $`\rho `$ and $`p`$ are the energy density and pressure, respectively. As usual, we consider that the nonvacuum component obeys the “$`\gamma `$-law” equation of state

$$p=(\gamma 1)\rho ,$$
(4)
where $`\gamma [1,2]`$ specifies if the fluid component is radiation ($`\gamma =\frac{4}{3}`$) or dust ($`\gamma =1`$).

Phenomenologically, we also assume that the effective $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)`$-term is a variable dynamic degree of freedom so that in an expanding universe it relaxes to its present value according with the following ansatz (Lima and Trodden 1996)

$$\rho _v=\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)}{8\pi G}=\beta \rho _T\left(1+\frac{1\beta }{\beta }\frac{H}{H_I}\right),$$
(5)
where $`\rho _v`$ is the vacuum density, $`\rho _T=\rho _v+\rho `$ is the total energy density, $`H=\dot{R}/R`$ is the Hubble parameter, $`H_I^1`$ is the arbitrary time scale characterizing the deflationary period, and $`\beta [0,1]`$ is a dimensioneless parameter of order unity.

It is worth noticing that for $`H=H_I`$, the above definition reduces to $`\rho _v=\rho _T`$ so that we have inflation with no matter-radiation component ($`\rho =0`$). In particular, if $`H_I^1`$ is the order of the Planck time, that is, $`H_I^110^{43}`$s, one may show that such models are in accordance with the cosmological constant problem in the sense that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{Planck}/\mathrm{\Lambda }_o10^{118}`$.

At late times ($`H<<H_I`$), we see from (5) that $`\rho _v\beta \rho _T`$, as required by the recent Supernovae observations. To be more precise, if the deflationary process begins at Planck time, the ratio $`H_0/H_I10^{60}`$ while the remaining terms are of order unity. Indeed, even if deflation begins much later, say at $`10^{35}`$s, or even at $`10^{15}`$s (the respective scales of grand and electroweak unification in the standard model), one obtains $`H_0/H_I10^{52}`$ and $`H_0/H_I10^{32}`$, respectively. This means that to a high degree of accuracy, the scale $`H_I`$ is unimportant during the vacuum-dust dominated phase. Therefore, since in this work we mainly interested in the classical cosmological tests, henceforth we consider only this limiting behavior with the material component described by a pressureless fluid ($`\gamma =1`$).

Let us now consider the evolution of the scale factor. Combining equations (2)-(5) and taking the limit $`H<<H_I`$, it is readily seen that the scale factor during the vacuum-dust phase obeys the slightly modified FRW equation

$$2R\ddot{R}+(13\beta )\dot{R}^2+(13\beta )k=0,$$
(6)
the first integral of which is

$$\dot{R}^2=\frac{A}{R^{13\beta }}k,$$
(7)
where the constant $`A>0`$ in order that $`\rho `$ be positive definite in this phase (see Eq.(2)). By expressing the constant $`A`$ in terms of the present day parameters, it is straightforward to show that the above equation can be rewritten as

$$\left(\frac{\dot{R}}{R_o}\right)^2=H_o^2\left[1\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }\right)+\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }\right)\left(\frac{R_o}{R}\right)^{13\beta }\right].$$
(8)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o\frac{\rho }{\rho _c}|_{t=t_o}`$ is the present value of the matter density parameter. For $`\beta =0`$ the above equation reproduces the standard cold dark matter FRW result (Kolb and Turner 1990). Whereas for $`\beta 0`$, it describes the influence of the decaying vacuum in the present phase.

Following standard lines we also define the deceleration parameter $`q_o=\frac{R\ddot{R}}{\dot{R}^2}|_{t=t_o}`$. Using equations (6) and (7) one may show that

$$q_o=\frac{13\beta }{2}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }\right).$$
(9)
Then, for any value of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o0`$, we see that the deceleration parameter $`q_o`$ with decaying vacuum energy is always smaller than the corresponding one of the FRW model. The critical case ($`\beta =\frac{1}{3},q_o=0`$), describes a “coasting cosmology”. However, instead of being supported by “K-matter” (Kolb 1989), this kind of model is obtained in the present context for a vacuum-dust filled universe, and the corresponding solutions hold regardless of the value of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$. It is also interesting that even negative values of $`q_o`$ are allowed since the constraint $`q_o<0`$ can always be satisfied provided $`\beta >1/3`$. These results are in line with recent measurements of the deceleration parameter $`q_o`$ using Type Ia supernovae (Perlmutter et al. 1999; Riess et al. 1998). Such observations indicate that the universe may be accelerating today, which corresponds dynamically to a negative pressure term in the EFE. For a fixed $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$, this means that the universe with decaying vacuum is older than the corresponding FRW model with the usual deceleration parameter $`q_o0`$. This behavior also reconcile other recent results (Freedman 1998), pointing to a Hubble parameter $`H_o`$ larger than $`50`$ km s-1 Mpc-1.

Now, combining equations (2), (5) and (7) for ($`HH_I`$) one finds that vacuum and the matter energy density can be expressed as

$$\rho _v=\beta \rho _T=\beta \rho _{T0}\left(\frac{R_0}{R}\right)^{3(1\beta )},$$
(10)
$$\rho =(1\beta )\rho _T=(1\beta )\rho _{T0}\left(\frac{R_0}{R}\right)^{3(1\beta )},$$
(11)
where $`\rho _{T0}=3A/8\pi GR_0^{3(1\beta )}`$. In virtue of the decaying vacuum energy, we also see that the explicit dependence of the energy density on the scale factor $`R(t)`$ is slightly modified in comparison with the standard case. As should be expected from Eqs. (6) and (7), some dynamic expressions may be obtained from the standard FRW ones simply by replacing the “index” $`\gamma =1`$ by an effective parameter $`\gamma _{eff}=1\beta `$ (see the above scale laws).

## III Kinematic Tests

The kinematical relation distances must be confronted with the observations in order to put limits on the free parameters of the deflationary class of models presented in the last section. As remarked before, $`H_I`$ cannot be constrained by the classical tests since it is unimportant in the present phase. It is adjusted in order to put the models in accordance to the cosmological constant problem (Lima and Trodden 1996). It thus follows that we have only the pair of free parameters ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_o,\beta `$) satisfying $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{T0}=\mathrm{\Omega }_0/(1\beta )`$, where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{T0}`$ is the present value of the total density parameter.

a) Lookback time-redshift diagram

The lookback time, $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=t_ot(z)`$, is the difference between the age of the universe at the present time ($`z=0`$) and the age of the universe when a particular light ray at redshift $`z`$ was emitted. By integrating (8) such a quantity is easily derived

$$t_ot(z)=H_{o}^{}{}_{}{}^{1}\underset{\frac{1}{1+z}}{\overset{1}{}}\frac{dx}{\sqrt{1\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }\right)+\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }\right)x^{(13\beta )}}},$$
(12)
which generalizes the standard FRW result (Kolb and Turner 1990). The age of the universe is obtained by taking the limit $`z\mathrm{}`$ in the above equation. We find

$$t_o=H_{o}^{}{}_{}{}^{1}_0^1\frac{dx}{\sqrt{1\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }\right)+\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }\right)x^{(13\beta )}}}.$$
(13)
For $`\beta =0`$ the above expressions reduce to the ones of the standard FRW models (Kolb and Turner 1990). Generically, we see that decaying vacuum increases the dimensionless parameter $`H_ot_o`$ while preserving the overall expanding FRW behavior. The lookback time curves as a function of the redshift for some selected values of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$ and $`\beta `$ are displayed in Fig. 1. For completeness, in Fig. 2 we show the age of the Universe (in units of $`H_o`$) as a function of $`q_o`$ for some selected values of $`\beta `$.

b) Luminosity distance-redshift

The luminosity distance of a light source is defined as the ratio of the detected energy flux $`L`$, and the apparent luminosity, i.e., $`d_L^2=\frac{L}{4\pi l}`$. In the homogeneous and isotropic FRW metric (1) it takes the form below (Sandage 1988)

$$d_L=R_or_1(z)(1+z),$$
(14)
where $`r_1(z)`$ is the radial coordinate distance of the object at light emission. Inserting $`r_1(z)`$ derived in the Appendix, it follows that

$$d_L=\frac{(1+z)sin[\delta sin^1(\alpha _1)\delta sin^1(\alpha _2)]}{H_o\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }1\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}}.$$
(15)
where $`\delta =\frac{2}{(13\beta )}`$, $`\alpha _1=(1\frac{1\beta }{\mathrm{\Omega }_o})^{\frac{1}{2}}`$ and $`\alpha _2=\alpha _1(1+z)^{(\frac{13\beta }{2})}`$.

As one may check, expressing $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$ in terms of $`q_o`$ from (9), and taking the limit $`\beta 0`$, the above expression reduces to

$$d_L=\frac{1}{H_oq_o^2}[zq_o+(q_o1)(\sqrt{2q_oz+1}1)],$$
(16)
which is the usual FRW result (Weinberg 1972). Expanding eq.(15) for small $`z`$ gives

$$H_od_L=z+\frac{1}{2}\left[1\frac{13\beta }{2}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }\right)\right]z^2+\mathrm{},$$
(17)
which depends explicitly on the $`\beta `$ parameter. However, replacing $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$ from (9) we recover the usual FRW expansion for small redshifts, which depends only on the effective deceleration parameter $`q_o`$ (Weinberg 1972). This is not a surprising result since expanding $`d_L(z)`$ in terms of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$, the “00” component of Einstein’s equations has implicitly been considered, while the expansion in terms of $`q_o`$ comes only from the form of the FRW line element. The luminosity distance as a function of the redshift for closed and open models with decaying vacuum energy is shown in Figures 3 and 4, respectively. As expected for all kinematic tests, different cosmological models have similar behavior at $`z<<1`$, and the greatest discrimination among them comes from observations at large redshifts. A more quantitive analysis based on the SNe observations will be presented elsewhere.

c) Angular size-redshift

Another important kinematic test is the angular size - redshift relation $`\theta (z)`$. As widely known, the data concerning the angular-size are until nowadays somewhat controversial (see Buchalter et al. 1998 and references therein). Here we are interested in angular diameters of light sources described as rigid rods and not as isophotal diameters. These quantities are naturally different, because in an expanding world the surface brightness varies with the distance (Sandage 1988). The angular size of a light source of proper size $`D`$ (assumed free of evolutionary effects) located at $`r=r_1(z)`$ and observed at $`r=0`$ is

$$\theta =\frac{D(1+z)}{R_or_1(z)}.$$
(18)
Inserting the expression of $`r_1(z)`$ given in the Appendix A it follows that

$$\theta =\frac{DH_o\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }1\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}\left(1+z\right)}{sin\left[\delta sin^1\alpha _1\delta sin^1\alpha _2\right]}.$$
(19)
For small $`z`$ one finds

$$\theta =\frac{DH_o}{z}\left[1+\frac{1}{2}\left(3+\frac{13\beta }{2}(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta })\right)z+\mathrm{}\right].$$
(20)
Hence, decaying vacuum cosmologies as modeled here also requires an angular size decreasing as the inverse of the redshift for small $`z`$. However, for a given value of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$, the second order term is a function only of the $`\beta `$ parameter. In terms of $`q_o`$, inserting (9) into (20) it is readily obtained

$$\theta =\frac{DH_o}{z}[1+\frac{1}{2}(3+q_o)z+\mathrm{}],$$
(21)
which is formally the same FRW result for small redshifts (Sandage 1988). At this limit only the effective deceleration parameter may be constrained from the data, or equivalently, at small redshifts one cannot extract the values of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$ and $`\beta `$ separately. The angular size-redshift diagram for closed and open models and selected values of the $`\beta `$ parameter is displayed in Figures 5 and 6, respectively.

d) Number counts-redshift

The final kinematic test considered here is the galaxy number count per redshift interval. The number of galaxies in a comoving volume is equal to the number density of galaxies (per comoving volume) $`n_g`$, times the comoving volume element $`dV_c`$

$$dN_g(z)=n_gdV_c=\frac{n_gr^2drd\mathrm{\Omega }}{\sqrt{1kr^2}}.$$
(22)
By using $`r_1(z)`$ as derived in appendix, it follows that the general expression for number-counts can be written as

$$\frac{(H_oR_o)^3dN_g}{n_gz^2dzd\mathrm{\Omega }}=\frac{sin^2\delta [sin^1(\alpha _1)sin^1(\alpha _2)]}{(1+z)z^2f(\mathrm{\Omega }_o,\beta ,z)},$$
(23)
where $`f(\mathrm{\Omega }_o,\beta ,z)=\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }1\right)\left[1\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }+\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }(1+z)^{13\beta }\right]^{1/2}`$. For small redshifts

$$\frac{(H_oR_o)^3dN_g}{n_gz^2dzd\mathrm{\Omega }}=12\left[\frac{(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta })(13\beta )}{2}+1\right]z+\mathrm{}.$$
(24)
In Figures 7 and 8 we have displayed the number counts-redshift relations for flat, closed and open Universes for some selected values of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$ and $`\beta `$. It is worth mentioning the tendency of decaying vacuum models to have larger volumes per redshift interval than the standard FRW models with the same $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$. This feature is similar to the one found in “quintessence” and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM cosmologies and could be advantageous if the observational data indicate an excess count of high-redshift objects. The limits on the $`\beta `$ parameter obtained from all kinematic tests are shown in Table 1.

At this point, it is also interesting to compare our results with previous studies of kinematic tests for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)`$ cosmologies. Observable expressions for a large class of flat decaying vacuum models were discussed by Waga (1993). In his paper, the time varying cosmological term was defined by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=\alpha R^2+\beta H^2+\gamma `$, where $`\alpha `$, $`\beta `$ and $`\gamma `$ are arbitrary constants. Although rather different from the deflationary ansatz assumed here, we see that in the limit $`H<<H_I`$, our expression (5) reduces to $`\rho _v\beta \rho _T`$, or equivalently, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\beta (3H^2+3kR^2)`$. Therefore, by considering only the flat case ($`k=0`$) and taking $`\alpha =\gamma =0`$, the late stages of the deflationary cosmologies has exactly the same behavior of the models examined by Waga. Note also that our $`\beta `$ parameter must be identified with $`1/3`$ of that one appearing in his paper. More recently, some aspects involving the angular size, luminosity distance, and SNe type Ia observations in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)`$ models were also investigated by Vishwakarma (2000, 2001). By generalizing earlier papers (Chen and Wu 1990, Carvalho et al. 1992), He considered the interesting ansatz $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=n\mathrm{\Omega }H^2`$, where $`n`$ is a dimensionless constant and $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the density parameter of the fluid component. Although proposed as a new cosmology, if we rewrite this $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)`$ in terms of the total energy density, this decaying law corresponds precisely to the late stages of the deflationary universes for $`\beta =\frac{n}{n+3}`$. A more quantitative analysis accounting for angular sizes, the existence of old high redshifts galaxies, and ages constraints from globular clusters in this framework will be discussed in a forthcoming communication. We also remark that models driven by a gravitational adiabatic matter creation process (Calvão et al. 1992, Lima and Alcaniz 1999, Alcaniz and Lima 1999) present some kinematic expressions, like the dimensionless radial coordinate, which are similar to the ones discussed here for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)`$ cosmologies (see Appendix). In these models, the present day matter creation rate, $`\psi _o=3n_oH_o10^{16}`$ nucleons $`cm^3yr^1`$, is also nearly the same rate transferred from the decaying vacuum to the fluid component. However, these two spacetimes are completely different from a physical viewpoint because the negative creation pressure of the former scenario cannot be interpreted as a genuine decaying vacuum component.

## IV Conclusion

The recent observational evidences for an accelerated state of the present universe, obtained from distant SNe Ia (Perlmutter et al. 1999, Riess et al. 1998) gave a strong support to the search of alternative cosmologies. As demonstrated here, a variable $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-term or a decaying vacuum energy density is also an ingredient accounting for this unexpected observational result. In the present paper we have analyzed all kinematic expressions for flat, closed, and open cosmologies when the decaying vacuum is a fraction of the total energy density. At the later stages of the evolution, the rather slight changes introduced by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)`$, which is quantified by the $`\beta `$ parameter, provides a reasonable fit of several cosmological data. Kinematic tests like luminosity distance, angular diameter and number-counts versus redshift relations constrain perceptively the decaying vacuum (see table 1). For models characterized by the pair ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_o,\beta `$), the age of the universe is always greater than the corresponding FRW model ($`\beta =0`$), and even values bigger than $`H_o^1`$ are allowed for all values of the curvature parameter.

## Appendix A Dimensionless radial coordinate versus redshift relation

Some observable quantities in the standard FRW model are easily determined expressing the radial dimensionless coordinate $`r`$ of a source light as a function of the redshift (Mattig 1958). In this appendix, we derive a similar equation to the decaying vacuum energy scenario discussed in this paper.

Now consider a typical galaxy located at $`(r_1,\theta _1,\varphi _1)`$ emitting radiation to an observer at $`(r=0,\theta _1,\varphi _1)`$. If the waves leave the source at time $`t_1`$ and reach the observer at time $`t_0`$, the null geodesic equation defining the light track yields

$$_{t_0}^{t_1}\frac{dt}{R(t)}=_0^{r_1}\frac{dr}{\sqrt{1kr^2}}=\frac{sin^1\sqrt{k}r_1}{\sqrt{k}}=I.$$
(25)
Since $`t=t(R)`$, changing variable to $`x=\frac{R}{R_o}`$ and using (8), the above result reads

$$I=\frac{1}{R_oH_o}_{\frac{1}{1+z}}^1\frac{dx}{x\sqrt{1\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }\right)+\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }\right)x^{\left(13\beta \right)}}}.$$
(26)
This integral depends on the values of the $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$ and $`\beta `$ parameters. For $`\beta =\frac{1}{3}`$ one finds the same results of the coasting cosmology (Kolb 1989). For $`\beta `$ different of $`\frac{1}{3}`$, we introduce a new auxiliary variable $`y^2=[1(\frac{1\beta }{\mathrm{\Omega }_o})]x^{(13\beta )}`$, in terms of which the above equation becomes

$$\frac{sin^1\sqrt{k}r_1}{\sqrt{k}}=\frac{\delta }{R_oH_o\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }1\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}}_{\alpha _2}^{\alpha _1}\frac{dy}{\sqrt{1y^2}},$$
(27)
where $`\delta =\frac{2}{(13\beta )}`$, $`\alpha _1=[1(\frac{1\beta }{\mathrm{\Omega }_o})]^{\frac{1}{2}}`$, and $`\alpha _2=\alpha _1(1+z)^{\frac{(13\beta )}{2}}`$.

The right hand side of the above integral is the same appearing in (A.1) for $`k=1`$. Hence, replacing in (A.3) the value of $`k`$ given by (2) and (7), it is readily seen that

$$r_1\left(z\right)=\frac{sin\left[\delta sin^1\alpha _1\delta sin^1\alpha _2\right]}{R_oH_o\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_o}{1\beta }1\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}}.$$
(28)
In particular, the limit for a flat universe ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_o=1`$) yields

$$r_1\left(z\right)=\frac{2}{\left(13\beta \right)R_oH_o}\left\{1\left(1+z\right)^{\frac{2}{13\beta }}\right\},$$
(29)
which could have been obtained directly from (A.2).

In terms of the deceleration parameter (A.4) may be rewritten as

$$r_1\left(z\right)=\frac{sin\left[\delta sin^1\alpha _1\delta sin^1\alpha _2\right]}{R_oH_o\left(\frac{2q_o}{13\beta }1\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}},$$
(30)
which in the limit $`\beta 0`$ reduces to the usual FRW result (Weinberg 1972)

$$r_1\left(z\right)=\frac{q_oz+\left(q_o1\right)\left(\sqrt{2q_oz+1}1\right)}{H_oR_oq_o^2\left(1+z\right)}.$$
(31)
Equation (A.4), or equivalently (A.6), plays a key role in the derivation of some astrophysical quantities discussed in this paper.

Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to J. S. Alcaniz for helpful discussions and a critical reading of the manuscript. This work was partially supported by the project Pronex/FINEP (No. 41.96.0908.00), and CNPq (62.0053/01-1-PADCT III/Milenio).


text:
# Low-Temperature Direct Dark Matter Searches

## Low-Temperature Direct Dark Matter Searches

#### Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, Föhringer Ring 6, <br>D-80805 Munich, Germany

### 0.1 Introduction

Much evidence suggests a significant amount of non-baryonic dark matter in the Universe, in the guise of putative Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), such as the supersymmetric neutralino. There are indications such particles may be present in the Milky Way — hence the motivation to detect them directly, rather than products of their annihilation elsewhere. These various issues are discussed in Ref. .

Cryogenics, in fact, played a part in starting the direct dark matter searches. Low temperature super-conducting grains were suggested as neutrino detectors in the early 1980s . It was then pointed out that such devices should also work to detect recoils caused by the elastic scattering of WIMPs . Unfortunately, super-conducting grains turned out to have several practical problems. Indeed the first results from direct searches were obtained by detectors using earlier technologies, first ionization in semi-conductors , then scintillation detectors . Cryogenic detectors, in the guise of calorimeters, have only recently begun to prove their worth for dark matter searches.

Generally speaking, direct dark matter searches are challenging because the expected exponentially decaying recoil energy spectrum yields rather small recoil energies (of the order of keV), and few events above threshold, at most a few per day and per kilogram of detector (Fig. 1).

At first glance therefore, detectors for WIMPs require a high mass, a low background and a low threshold. An additional criterion is to have various target nuclei available to enable cross-checks and to study the two possible types of interaction, spin-dependent and spin-independent (cross section $`A^2`$). The first generation of standard calorimeters excels at the last three of these requirements (Sec. 0.2); hybrid calorimeters circumvent the first requirement (Sec. 0.3).

### 0.2 Standard calorimeters

#### 0.2.1 Thermal phonon detectors

The original super-conducting grains are still being pursued by the ORPHEUS experiment . However, the cryogenic detectors most commonly used now in dark matter searches are calorimeters (also referred to as bolometers in this field). They are comprised of a main crystal (the absorber), in which an incoming particle scatters elastically off a nucleus, thereby releasing phonons which heat the absorber up (Fig. 2). The variation in temperature is read by a thermometer. Because the temperature rises are inversely proportional to the heat capacities involved, and because specific heats of dielectrics decrease with temperature, cryogenic conditions close to 10 mK are required to obtain decent signal-to-noise ratios. Most thermometers are pieces of neutron-transmutation doped germanium (NTDs) with a gradual change in resistance over a broad temperature range.

Experiments using this type of detector are listed in the first parts of Tables 1 and 2. The Milano experiment is primarily a search for $`\beta \beta `$ decays, as were most of the early direct dark matter searches . This explains why the threshold of the experiment has not yet been optimized. Up to twenty 340 g detectors have been run successfully at a time; the fairly low background and the presence of tellurium give this experiment the best spin-independent limits of this first class of detector.

The Franco-Spanish Rare Object Search Employing Bolometers UndergrounD (ROSEBUD) experiment has deployed various small detectors made of sapphire and other materials. These detectors show excellent thresholds, but suffer from an unfortunately high background perhaps linked to the cryogenic equipment. The Tokyo experiment has tested up to 8 LiF units of 21 g each. Despite a high background due to the cosmic rays in the shallow site and to microphonics, the experiment has good spin-dependent limits thanks to the presence of fluoride. Improvements are expected as the experiment moves to the deep Kamioka mine (2700 mwe).

Experimental spectra are then compared with expected WIMP spectra (Fig. 1) to set constraints on WIMP cross-sections and masses (Fig. 3). Published limits are taken here at face value. Though there is convergence towards a standard set of astrophysical assumptions to make these comparisons (most importantly a local WIMP density of $`0.3\text{ GeV.cm}^3`$), some uncertainties remain in the normalization of the spin-dependent limits , and in the statistical methods to use .

#### 0.2.2 Athermal phonon detectors

The thermal phonon signal used in the detectors described so far has the drawback of vanishing quickly as absorber mass is increased. As large absorber masses are of interest for direct detection, it is judicious to collect and read high frequency phonons in the thermometer before they thermalize in the absorber . This yields an amplification of the pulses which is much less sensitive to absorber mass. Thermometers used for this type of device are mainly thin films, for instance using the sharp transition between the super-conducting and normal-conducting states of tungsten (Fig. 2).

The Anglo-German-Italian Cryogenic Rare Event Search with Super-conducting Thermometers (CRESST) has developed and deployed such devices using sapphire absorbers. Up to four crystals of 262 g each have been run in the deep Gran Sasso site, in a sophisticated cryogenic setup designed to minimize radioactive contaminations . These detectors show excellent thresholds (600 eV) and low background (Fig. 1). CRESST is competitive for light WIMPS, and now has the best calorimetric spin-dependent limits thanks to the aluminum in its detectors.

### 0.3 Hybrid calorimeters

Calorimeters can more than make up for their small masses by rejecting background through a second simultaneous measurement. This exploits the fact that WIMPs (as well as the neutron background) are expected to interact in the absorber by creating nuclear recoils, whereas the photon and electron backgrounds create electron recoils.

#### 0.3.1 Phonon-ionization detectors

The most developed technique so far uses calorimeters made out of a semi-conductor. The recoil imparted by a scattered particle releases not only phonons but electron-hole pairs. If the surfaces of the absorber are implanted to make electrodes, a bias voltage can be applied to drift the created charges to the electrodes where they are counted, thereby producing a charge signal in addition to the phonon signal. Figure 4 shows that since electron recoils create electron-hole pairs much more efficiently than nuclear recoils do, this technique should allow rejection of nearly 99.9 % of the electron and photon background while retaining about 90 % of the nuclear recoils (from WIMPs and the neutron background) and maintaining a decent threshold.

Teething problems with misidentified surface events which somewhat limited the discrimination capacities  now appear to have been contained thanks to various electrode implantation schemes and position sensitive techniques. The American Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) has deployed several silicon and germanium devices. In a 1999 run, CDMS obtained 13 nuclear recoils over 10.6 kg.d in three 165 g Ge devices with a 10 keV threshold . This rate would be compatible with the WIMP claimed by the DAMA NaI scintillation experiment . However, CDMS is in a shallow site exposed to the neutron background created by cosmic rays. Based on the number of multiple nuclear recoils observed, and on the number of nuclear recoils previously observed in their silicon detectors, CDMS reckons that most of the 13 events are in fact neutron background, and subtracts some of them. This improves the CDMS limit by a factor $`2`$, and greatly reduces the compatibility with the DAMA result. More recently, the French Expérience pour DEtecter Les WIMPs En Site Souterrain (EDELWEISS) has operated a 320 g Ge device with a 30 keV threshold in a deep site . The 4.53 kg.d of data show not a single nuclear recoil. The ensuing limit rules out the most likely value of the DAMA NaI-1–4 WIMP with a 90 % certainty. Thus hybrid ionization-phonon calorimeters now have the best spin-independent limits of all experiments (Fig. 5). Further results should be forthcoming as CDMS moves to a deep site and EDELWEISS accumulates more data.

#### 0.3.2 Scintillation-phonon detectors

Their excellent results notwithstanding, ionization-phonon detectors are by essence restricted to semi-conducting nuclei, in practice Ge and Si. For a wider choice of targets, the CRESST and ROSEBUD experiments are developing a simultaneous measurement of scintillation and phonons. This is done by having a main calorimeter with an absorber made out of an intrinsic scintillating material. In it, an incoming particle releases not only phonons for the main phonon signal, but also photons, which can escape the main calorimeter. With some form of light collector, these photons can be detected in a secondary calorimeter, giving the light signal. A 6 g proof of principle experiment  demonstrated discrimination properties at least as good as those of ionization-phonon detectors, with no complications arising from surface events. $`\text{CaWO}_4`$, which should have an excellent spin-independent cross section thanks to the tungsten, was used as scintillator, though other materials also showed promise ($`\text{BaF}_2`$, BGO, and $`\text{PbWO}_4`$ where tested; other tungstates and molybdates may function). Efforts are under way to scale the device up while maintaining a low threshold.

### 0.4 Prospects

Hybrid ionization-phonon calorimeters now have the best spin-independent limits. Thanks to their wider choice of targets, scintillation-phonon devices could prove an important complement to them. This is reflected in the ambitious next generation of calorimetric experiments being planned in deep underground sites (Tab. 3).

Apart from CUORICINO — a scaled-up version of the $`\text{Milano }\beta \beta `$ experiment which will use standard calorimeters, and whose assets for dark matter will be an impressive total mass of 42 kg and the presence of tellurium (in general good for spin-independent searches and in particular with an atomic number very similar to that of iodine) — the experiments will all use hybrid calorimetric units of a few hundred grams (ionization-phonon for CDMS II and EDELWEISS II, scintillation-phonon for CRESST II) deployed in arrays of up to 10 kg. These experiments should have the sensitivity to start a thorough exploration of supersymmetric phase space (Fig. 5). Particularly in the spin-independent case, cryogenic detectors now have a window of opportunity, since the earlier techniques of ionization and scintillation which could hardly reject any background require draconian radioactivity levels in order to improve, and other promising background-insensitive techniques such as droplets or two-phase xenon are not yet fully mature .

### Acknowledgments

The author thanks the organizers of the conference for their invitation and a grant. D. Akerib, M. Altmann, G. Chardin, D. Drain, E. García, P. de Marcillac, O. Martineau, K. Miuchi, G. Nollez, S. Pirro, K. Pretzl, F. Pröbst, B. Sadoulet, R. Schnee, S. Scopel, W. Seidel and L. Stodolsky provided helpful information and discussion. This work was funded by European TMR Network for Cryogenic Detectors ERB-FMRX-CT98-0167.