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# Captain Cook, the Terrestrial Planet Finder and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

## 1. Historical Introduction

This conference takes place in the Whitsunday group of islands discovered on Whitsunday (June 3), 1770, by the English explorer, Capt. James Cook. Surprisingly, the stated goal of Cook’s voyage was astronomical in nature. As described in Richard Hough’s excellent biography (1997) of Capt. Cook, the story has echoes in today’s searches for other worlds. Johannes Kepler and Edmund Halley (1716) predicted that Venus would traverse across the face of the Sun in 1761 and 1769.111Transits occur in pairs separated by roughly a century. The next pair will happen on June 8, 2004, and June 5, 2012. See The Transit of Venus (Sellers , 2001). These astronomers realized that comparing the timing of the transit from multiple locations would yield a measurement of cosmological importance, the Earth-Sun distance or Astronomical Unit (AU), then known to no better than a factor of two (Sellers, 2001; and www.dsellers.demon.co.uk/ venus/ven\_ch4.htm). Just as today’s scientists argued that the Hubble Space Telescope was necessary to determine the Hubble constant, and thus the scale of the Universe, so too did the astronomers of the 18th century argue for an expedition to measure the transit of Venus and thus to determine the scale of the Solar System.

Since the 1761 transit was poorly observed due to bad weather, in 1767 the Royal Society established a committee to “report on places where it would be advisable to make the observations, the methods to be pursued, and the persons best suited to carry out the work” of observing the 1769 transit. After a period of deliberation, the Royal Society, acting much like today’s National Academy of Science, forwarded a proposal to King George III calling for an expedition to Tahiti to observe the transit. The proposal offered a remarkably modern set of arguments (Hough, 1994, p. 44):

* It highlighted the practical applications of the results, noting that transit measurement would “contribute greatly to the improvement of astronomy on which Navigation so much depends.”
* It noted with concern potential international competition: “The French, Spaniards, Danes and Swedes are making the proper dispositions for the Observation thereof…The Empress of Russia has given directions for having the same observed…It would cast dishonor \[on the British nation\] should they neglect to have the correct observations made of this important phenomenon.”
* And finally, the proposal included an estimate of the cost of the expedition, exclusive of launch vehicle, that would prove to be an underestimate by a thoroughly modern factor of $`\pi `$. “The expense would amount to $4,000, exclusive of the expense of the ship. The Royal Society is in no condition to defray the expense.”

King George approved the project. The Royal Navy provided the launch vehicle, the collier Endeavour, and Lieutenant James Cook. The Royal Society provided an observer, Charles Green, and the gentleman-naturalist Joseph Banks, who also contributed more than $10,000 of his funds. On August 26, 1768, Cook set off with 94 passengers and crew and supplies for 18 months including 604 gallons of rum and 4 tons of beer. They arrived in Tahiti one year later, six weeks before the transit, and set up an observatory at “Point Venus.” The observations were successfully made on June 3, 1769. The rest of the voyage was not without event as Cook undertook to fulfill the second (and secret) part of his Admiralty orders, namely to search for the mysterious southern continent. He circumnavigated New Zealand’s North and South Islands and explored the East Coast of Australia from Cape Hicks, past Sydney and Botany Bay up to the Great Barrier Reef. On sailing up the Whitsunday Passage, just a few miles from Hamilton Island where we now sit, Cook noted “This land is diversified by hill and valley, wood and lawn, with a green pleasant experience.” A few days later, however, he ran aground on the reef, which he termed an “Insane Labyrinth”, nearly sinking before limping to shore for a month of repairs.222The underwater dangers of Australian waters can still catch the unwary mariner, as the near-sinking of Her Majesty’s destroyer HMS Nottingham after hitting Wolf Rock off the coast of New South Wales during the week of this conference vividly demonstrated.

Cook returned to England in 1771 with transit data which, when combined with measurements from other sites, led to the determination of the Astronomical Unit to within 3% of the modern value, a major advance in observational cosmology (Sellers 2001).

## 2. Scientific Introduction

Two hundred years after Cook’s voyage, scientists have started to consider the challenge of finding life on planets beyond our own. As summarized in Woolf and Angel (1998) and Beichman et al. (1999, 2000, and 2002), modern technology offers a realistic opportunity to address this ancient question. In March, 2000, the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) project at JPL selected four university-industry teams to examine a broad range of instrument architectures capable of directly detecting radiation from terrestrial planets orbiting nearby stars, characterizing their surfaces and atmospheres, and searching for signs of life. Over the course of two years the four teams, incorporating more than 115 scientists from 50 institutions worked with more than 20 aerospace and engineering firms. In the first year of study, the contractors and the TPF Science Working Group (TPF-SWG) examined over 60 different ideas for planet detection. Four main concepts, including a number of variants, were selected for more detailed study. Of these concepts, two broad architectural classes appear sufficiently realistic to the TPF-SWG, to an independent Technology Review Board, and to the TPF project that further technological development is warranted in support of a new start around 2010. The primary conclusion from the effort of the past two years is that with suitable technology investment, starting now, a mission to detect terrestrial planets around nearby stars could be launched within a decade.

The detection of Earth-like planets will not be easy. The targets are faint and located close to parent stars that are $`>`$1 million (in the infrared) to $`>`$1 billion times (in the visible) brighter than the planets. However, the detection problem is well defined and can be solved using technologies that can be developed within the next decade. We have identified two paths to the TPF goal of finding and characterizing planets around 150 stars out to distances of about 15 pc:

$``$ At visible wavelengths, a large telescope (a 4x10 m elliptical aperture in one design and an 8x8 m square aperture in another) equipped with a selection of advanced optics to reject scattered and diffracted starlight (apodizing pupil masks, coronagraphic stops, and deformable mirrors) offers the prospect of directly detecting reflected light from Earths.

$``$ At mid-IR wavelengths, nulling interferometer designs utilizing from three to five 3$``$4 m telescopes located on either separated spacecraft or a large, 40 m boom can directly detect the thermal radiation emitted by Earths.

The TPF-SWG established that observations in either the optical/near-infrared or thermal infrared wavelength region would provide important information on the physical characteristics of any detected planets, including credible signposts of life. In fact, the two wavelengths provide complementary information so that in the long run, both would be desirable. The choice of wavelength regime for TPF will, in the estimation of the TPF-SWG, be driven by the technological readiness of a particular technique.

## 3. Scientific Goals for The Terrestrial Planet Finder

The TPF Science Working Group (TPF-SWG) established a Design Reference Program to give broad guidelines for defining architectures for TPF. The goals for TPF were set out at the December, 2000, meeting of the TPF-SWG:

Primary Goal for the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF): TPF must detect radiation from any Earth-like planets located in the habitable zones surrounding 150 solar type (spectral types F, G, and K) stars. TPF must: 1) characterize the orbital and physical properties of all detected planets to assess their habitability; and 2) characterize the atmospheres and search for potential biomarkers among the brightest Earth-like candidates.

The Broader Scientific Context: Our understanding of the properties of terrestrial planets will be scientifically most valuable within a broader framework that includes the properties of all planetary system constituents, e.g. both gas giant and terrestrial planets, and debris disks. Some of this information, such as the properties of debris disks and the masses and orbital properties of gas giant planets, will become available with currently planned space or ground-based facilities. However, the spectral characterization of most giant planets will require observations with TPF. TPF’s ability to carry out a program of comparative planetology across a range of planetary masses and orbital locations in a large number of new solar systems is by itself an important scientific motivation for the mission.

Astrophysics with TPF: An observatory with the power to detect an Earth orbiting a nearby star will be able to collect important new data on many targets of general astrophysical interest. Architectural studies should address both the range of problems and the fundamental new insights that would be enabled with a particular design.

## 4. Biomarkers for TPF

Early TPF-SWG discussions made it apparent that observations in either the visible or mid-infrared portions of the spectrum were technically feasible and scientifically important. A sub-committee of the TPF-SWG was established under the leadership of Dave Des Marais to address the wavelength regimes for TPF. The conclusions of their report (Des Marais et al. 2002) can be summarized briefly as follows:

$``$ Photometry and spectroscopy in either the visible or mid-IR region would give compelling information on the physical properties of planets as well as on the presence and composition of an atmosphere.

$``$ The presence of molecular oxygen (O2) or its photolytic by-product ozone (O3) are the most robust indicators of photosynthetic life on a planet. Even though H2O is not a bio-indicator, its presence in liquid form on a planet’s surface is considered essential to life and is thus a good signpost of habitability.

$``$ Species such as H2O, CO, CH4, and O2 may be present in visible-light spectra (0.7 to 1.0 $`\mu `$m minimum and 0.5 to 1.1 $`\mu `$m preferred) of Earth-like planets. An ozone band at 0.3 $`\mu `$m and a general rise in albedo due to Rayleigh scattering are among the few features in the blue-UV part of the spectrum. The lines of these species can be resolved with spectral resolving powers of $`\lambda /\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda 25100`$.

$``$ Species such as H2O, CO2, CH4, and O3 may be present in mid-infrared spectra of Earth-like planets (8.5 to 20 $`\mu `$m minimum and 7 to 25 $`\mu `$m preferred). These lines (except CH4) can be resolved with spectral resolving powers of $`\lambda /\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda 525`$.

$``$ The influence of clouds, surface properties (including the presence of photosynthetic pigments such as chlorophyll), rotation, etc. can have profound effects on the photometric and spectroscopic appearance of planets and must be carefully addressed with theoretical studies in the coming years (e.g. Ford, Seager, and Turner 2001).

In conclusion, the TPF-SWG agreed that either wavelength region would provide important information on the nature of detected planets and that the choice between wavelengths should be driven by technical considerations.

## 5. TPF Architectural Studies

After an initial year during which the four study teams investigated more than 60 designs, the teams plus JPL identified four architectural classes (with a number of variants) worthy of more intensive study. High level descriptions of these architectures are given below; more detailed information is available in the summary of the recent architecture studies (Beichman et al. 2002), the final reports from the teams, and, for the separated spacecraft interferometer, the TPF Book (1999).

### 5.1. Visible Light Coronagraphs

Two groups (Ball and Boeing-SVS) investigated the potential for a visible light coronagraph to satisfy TPF’s goals. While there are differences between the designs, there are major similarities: 1) a large optical surface (4 $`\times `$ 10 m for Ball, 8$`\times `$8 m for Boeing-SVS); 2) a highly precise, lightweight primary mirror equipped with actuators for figure control with surface quality of order 1-5 nm depending on spatial frequency; and 3) a variety of pupil masks (square, Gaussian, or other (Spergel and Kasdin 2001) and/or Lyot stops) to suppress diffracted starlight. In the case of the Ball designs, a key component was a small deformable mirror with $`100\times 100=10^4`$ elements capable of correcting residual mid-spatial frequency errors to $`\lambda /3,000`$ and stable to $`\lambda /10,000`$. In the Ball design, the combination of pupil masks and the deformable mirror reduces the ratio of starlight (scattered or diffracted)to planet light to approximately unity over an angular extent between $`5\lambda /D`$ and $`100\lambda /D`$.

With these features, the Ball systems are able to conduct a survey of 150 stars with images taken at 3 epochs for confirmation and orbital determination in less than half a year. The Boeing-SVS system, as proposed, takes more time to complete such a survey because without a deformable mirror the ratio of starlight to planet light is about 100 times worse than in the Ball design; addition of a deformable mirror would result in comparable performance for the two telescopes. In under a day per star, the Ball system could detect (SNR=5 at spectral resolution $`R=\lambda /\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda 2575`$) various atmospheric tracers, including O2, a critical signpost for the presence of photosynthetic life.

The study teams pointed out that the potential for ancillary science was particularly impressive for the visible systems, since it would be straight-forward to add a complement of traditional astronomical instruments, e.g. UV-optical imagers and spectrographs. Operated on an 8-10 m telescope, such instruments would represent a giant advance over the present UV-optical performance of the Hubble Space Telescope. Of particular interest would be the ability to make diffraction limited images at UV-wavelengths with $`<5`$ milli-arcsec resolution.

Future studies will have to assess whether the specialized requirements of a planet finding, e.g. an off-axis secondary, might compromise the general astrophysics potential of a visible/ultra-violet system. Conversely, NASA will have to weigh whether specialized needs such as high UV throughput requiring special coatings and careful attention to contamination issues might significantly increase the cost of the observatory or compromise its planet-finding performance.

The greatest technical risk for the visible coronagraph is in the development, manufacturing and implementation of a large primary mirror with ultra-low wavefront errors as well as components associated with starlight suppression. The coronagraphs themselves are functionally simple and although the demands for system performance are challenging, none are thought to be insurmountable. However, the problem of fabricating and launching a large (8-10 m) mirror cannot be overemphasized. The TPF Project’s independent Technology Review Board noted that there exists no capability to fabricate such a high precision (3-5 times better than Hubble’s mirror, 5-10 times better than NGST’s mirror), lightweight optical element for ground or space. But even if a 8-10 m system proves to be too difficult to implement on the TPF timetable, a 2-4 m class telescope could demonstrate high dynamic range coronagraphic imaging and carry out an exciting scientific program. Such a system could find Earths only around the closest dozen stars because of its degraded angular resolution, but it could find and characterize Jupiters around many more distant stars. A telescope of this scale might fit into budget of a Discovery mission.

### 5.2.  Nulling Infrared Interferometers

Lockheed Martin and JPL examined two versions of the infrared nulling interferometer: structurally connected and separated spacecraft. The Lockheed Martin study concluded that a structurally connected infrared interferometer with four 3.5 m diameter telescopes on a fixed 40 m baseline comes close to achieving TPF’s goals. The system uses four collinear telescopes arranged as two interleaved Bracewell nulling interferometers to reject star light adequately so that stellar leakage does not compromise the overall system noise. The array would be rotated around the line of sight to the star over a 6-8 hour period. The telescopes can be combined in different pairs to achieve the short and long baselines needed to observe distant or nearby stars. The nulled outputs of the combined pairs are combined again to yield a $`\theta ^4`$ null or an effective $`\theta ^3`$ null with phase chopping.333In a nulling interferomter, the rejection of starlight is proportional to $`\theta ^n`$, where $`\theta (\lambda /B)\varphi `$, with $`B`$ the interferometer baseline and $`\varphi `$ the off-axis angle away from the star. Higher powers of $`n`$ require more complex optical configurations, but yield broader, deeper nulls.

The separated spacecraft version of the nulling interferometer was described in the 1999 TPF report (Beichman et al. 1999; also, see Woolf and Angel 1998). It uses a different arrangement of telescopes to produce a deeper, $`\theta ^6`$, null that can be tuned to resolve most effectively the habitable zone around each target. Because the stellar leakage is reduced in this design, the stability requirements are relaxed relative to the structurally connected interferometer. The $`\theta ^6`$ null is, however, less efficient in its use of baseline, requiring roughly 1.5-2 times longer baselines than the structurally connected system. Providing a 80-100 m baseline leads, in turn, to the likely requirement for a more complex separated spacecraft system. Thus, a near-term study must investigate whether a 40 m system can satisfy TPF’s goals. If not, then NASA should pursue aggressively the development of a separated spacecraft nulling interferometer.

It should be mentioned that the European Space Agency (ESA) has studied a two dimensional, separated spacecraft array of infrared telescopes for its Darwin mission. An industrial study by Alcatel found that this version of a planet-finding mission was technically feasible.

The ancillary science possible with an interferometer is likely to be more specialized than for a 8-10 m visible telescope equipped with general purpose instruments. However, the prospect of a telescope with NGST-like sensitivity, but with 10 $`\times `$ better angular resolution, imaging the cores of protostars, active galaxies, and high redshift quasars is an exciting one.

The largest area of technical risk for the infrared interferometers is not in the performance of the individual components but in the operation of the various elements as a complete system. Most of the required elements are either under development and making good progress, or are reasonable extensions of technology being developed for missions and ground observatories that will be in place well before TPF needs them. However, the system complexity of the separated spacecraft system cannot be overemphasized. Such a system would demand at least one precursor space mission: a formation flying interferometer, such as the Starlight project, to validate the complex control algorithms and beam transport needed for this version of TPF.

## 6. Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)

This conference offers a happy opportunity for researchers pursuing two quite different techniques for finding extraterrestrial life to come together. NASA’s Origins program has focused on a search for planets and primitive life, in part because of political considerations that ended NASA’s involvement in SETI over a decade ago. We are fortunate that dedicated scientists like Jill Tarter and Frank Drake, as well as far-seeing donors such as Paul Allen, have continued to pursue SETI in the context of the vibrant research activities we heard described at this conference. Despite the political barriers between NASA’s programs and SETI, the unity of these efforts can be seen through an examination of the Drake equation

$$N=(StarFormationRate)\times f_{solartypestars}\times f_{planets}\times N_{}$$

$$\times f_{life}\times f_{intelligence}\times f_{communicative}\times Lifetime$$

Twentieth century astronomers determined the first two terms, the star formation rate in the galaxy and the fraction of stars that are of solar type. Present day radial velocity studies combined with future transit experiments (the Kepler mission; Borucki et al. 2001) and astrometric observations (the Space Interferometric Mission, SIM) will determine $`f_{planets}`$, the fraction of stars with planets, and $`N_{}`$, the number of earth-like planets in the habitable zone, both statistically and around our nearest neighboring stars. TPF will characterize the Earth-like planets, habitable or not, and provide the first measurements (or upper limits) of $`f_{life}`$, the fraction of suitable planets that develop life. Thus, within a generation, we will have well established values for the next three terms in the Drake equation.

However, astronomical observations cannot determine the final three terms in the equation: the fraction of planets that develop intelligent life, the fraction of intelligent civilizations that can (or want) to communicate, and the lifetime of a communicative civilization. These terms are the realm of the SETI. However, it is the basic frustration of SETI that we cannot separate these remaining terms without at least one successful contact. This inability to interpret a negative result makes SETI an inherently non-scientific experiment despite its highly technological nature. On the other hand, SETI is an important program of exploration that must be carried out with our best technology and with great scientific rigor in light of the importance of a positive outcome. Despite the interesting papers presented at this conference, useful information on the last terms in the Drake equation will not come from terrestrial analogy. Such attempts remind one of Capt. Cook’s critics who tried to deduce the existence of a grand Southern Continent by analogy with the Northern Hemisphere (Hough 1994, p. 220,306). It took Cook’s explorations to rebut these claims and discover the truth. Similarly, it will take rigorous searches (or serendipitous discovery) to determine whether there is another planet with intelligent life in the Universe.

## 7. Conclusions

NASA, together with its potential international partners, has begun to address the challenge of looking for habitable planets and seeking signs of life beyond the Solar System. Captain Cook’s voyages remind us that we have asked these questions before and, after much hard work, have been rewarded with new continents to explore. As Halley said in his paper predicting the 1761 and 1769 transits of Venus (Halley 1716; quoted in Sellers 2001):

> “We therefore recommend again and again, to the curious investigators of the stars to whom, when our lives are over, these observations are entrusted, that they, mindful of our advice, apply themselves to the undertaking of these observations vigorously. And for them we desire and pray for all good luck, especially that they be not deprived of this coveted spectacle by the unfortunate obscuration of cloudy heavens, and that the immensities of the celestial spheres, compelled to more precise boundaries, may at last yield to their glory and eternal fame.”

Cook’s voyage, in the service of science and exploration, resonates with us today as we use transits of extra-solar planets and other techniques to search for new worlds and for life beyond Earth. That Cook, Banks, and the English society that dispatched them had multiple motivations for making this voyage — some noble, some base — only highlights the similarities with modern exploration where personal ambition, local politics, and practical applications mix with the search for scientific truth. Today’s scientists and policy makers would do well to consider the linkages between science and exploration that future voyages of discovery may enable. The technologies needed to look for other habitable worlds are within our grasp. We need only the will (and the funding) to undertake the search.

## 8. Acknowledgements

The research described in this paper was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This work was supported by the TPF project. The author acknowledges valuable contributions from TPF Science Working Group and the contractor teams, as well as the dedication and hard work of Dan Coulter and Chris Lindensmith at JPL. The hospitality and dedication of the conference organizers and beauty of the conference site were appreciated by all the participants.

## References

Beichman, C.A., Planetary Systems in the Universe, International Astronomical Union. Symposium no. 202. Manchester, England (August 2000).

Borucki, W. J., Koch, D. G., Jenkins, J. M. 2001, BAAS, 199, 115.04.

Des Marais, D., et al. 2002, Astrobiology, in press.

Ford, E. B., Seager, S., Turner, E. L. 2001, Nature, 412,885.

Halley, E. 1716, Philosophical Transactions, XXIX, A new Method of determining the Parallax of the Sun, or his Distance from the Earth, Sec. R. S. NO 348, p.454.

Hough, Richard, Captain James Cook: A Biography, (New York: W. W. Norton), 1997.

Sellers, David, The Transit of Venus, 2001, (London: Magavelda Press).

Spergel, D. and Kasdin, J. 2001, BAAS, 199, 86.03.

Summary Report On Architectural Studies For The Terrestrial Planet Finder, 2002, edited by Beichman, C. A., Coulter, D., Lindensmith, C and Lawson P. JPL Report, 02-11.

The Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF): A NASA Origins Program to Search for Terrestrial Planets, 1999, edited by Beichman, C. A., Woolf, N. J., Lindensmith. C. A., JPL Report 99-3.

Woolf, N. and Angel, J. R. 1998, ARAA, 36, 507.


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# X-ray Emission Diagnostics from the M87 Jet

## 1 Introduction and Observations

The M87 jet is the nearest (16 Mpc, giving a scale of $`1^{\prime \prime }=78`$ pc) and highest surface-brightness jet in the optical, radio and X-rays. As such it makes an excellent prototype for studying jet physics. The jet shows only modest differences in morphology between the optical and radio: in the optical the jet appears knottier and is more concentrated along the centerline (Sparks, Biretta & Macchetto 1996). Baade (1956) showed that its radio-optical emission was synchrotron radiation, on the basis of its high polarization. X-ray emission from the jet of M87 was first cleanly separated from Virgo cluster X-ray emission by Einstein (Biretta, Stern & Harris 1991), but until the launch of Chandra, there was essentially no information on its X-ray morphology.

Deep Chandra observations (Wilson & Yang 2002) of M87 were taken 2000 July 29-30 with ACIS-S. We compare those data to HST observations (Perlman et al. 2001) taken 1998 February and April, which include 7 bands between 0.3-2.05 $`\mu `$m wavelength, and to HST (V band) and radio (15 GHz) polarimetry observations (Perlman et al. 1999), which were obtained in 1995 May and 1994 February respectively. We convolved the HST and VLA images with Gaussians to a common resolution of $`0.5^{\prime \prime }`$ (FWHM) for morphology comparisons; however, we have chosen to leave the polarimetry data at full ($`0.2^{\prime \prime }`$) resolution to bring out relevant details.

We show in Figure 1 the image of the jet in the 0.3-1.5 keV band (where the PSF is smallest in size and varies the least), after maximum-entropy deconvolution using a monochromatic 1 keV PSF. Deconvolution of the Chandra data improved the resolution from $`0.84^{\prime \prime }`$ to $`0.54^{\prime \prime }`$ (FWHM), enabling us to resolve knot HST-1 from the nucleus and better separate other features. Superposed as contours on this are (at left) an HST I-band image of the jet, Gaussian smoothed to $`0.5^{\prime \prime }`$ resolution, and (at right) an unsmoothed HST polarization image ($`0.2^{\prime \prime }`$ resolution). In Figure 2 we show the run of X-ray flux, along with softness ratios SR1= F(0.3-1 keV)/F(1-3 keV) and SR2=F(1-3 keV)/F(3-10 keV) as well as $`\alpha _{ox}`$, the optical-to X-ray spectral index.

A full accounting of our work will appear as Perlman & Wilson (2003). We refer the reader to that paper for details on our data reduction and deconvolution procedures. Here we summarize some of the findings, particularly as respects the issue of particle acceleration.

## 2 Jet Morphology, Spectrum and Polarimetry

The optical and X-ray emission of the jet (Figure 1) track fairly closely in most regions; however, some significant differences are seen. In particular, two bright X-ray hotspots are located where there is no corresponding optical hotspot: in the interknot region between knots D and E, and in the interknot region between knots C and G (both were mentioned in Marshall et al. 2002 and Wilson & Yang 2002). In addition, the X-ray maxima of a two knots (E and F) are located a few tenths of an arcsecond upstream of their optical maxima.

All components are consistent with an X-ray spectral index $`\alpha _x=1.3`$. This has been reported before for other components by Wilson & Yang and Marshall et al.; however, our analysis is the first to isolate knot HST-1 (see also later) as well as an attempt to fit a spectral index map (not shown). There do, however, appear to be variations in the softness ratios (Figure 2), which decrease significantly at distances $`<4^{\prime \prime }`$ from the nucleus. The variations in SR1 are consistent with a gradually increasing column in the innermost 300 pc of the jet. Significant improvements in the spectral fits are obtained with columns $`N(H)=8.7\times 10^{20}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ for the nucleus (previously noted by Wilson & Yang) and $`6.5\times 10^{20}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ for HST-1. The variations in SR2, however, cannot be explained by an increasing column at these moderate $`N(H)`$ values. Rather, they suggest a hardening of the jet spectrum at high energies, but there are too few photons in the hard band to adequately constrain this.

There is considerably more variation in $`\alpha _{ox}`$ than in $`\alpha _x`$. Knot HST-1 has a much harder optical-to-X-ray spectrum than any other knot, with $`\alpha _{ox}=0.9`$. The remainder of the inner jet has $`\alpha _{ox}=1.21.5`$, with steeper spectra at larger distances from the nucleus. In addition to this pattern, one also sees small flattenings at the positions of the X-ray hotspots. The additional flattenings are suggestive of localized particle acceleration at the knot maxima (see §3). The jet’s optical-to-X-ray spectrum becomes even steeper beyond knot A ($`12.4^{\prime \prime }`$ from the nucleus), reaching $`\alpha _{ox}=1.8`$ in knot C. Interestingly, the knot A-B-C complex does knot show significant spectral hardening near the knot maxima.

X-ray flux is strongly anti-correlated with optical polarization (Figure 1), although the details of the relationship differ in the inner and outer jet. In all the knots in the inner jet, the X-ray flux peak is located at a local polarization minimum with $`P<20\%`$, similar to the optical flux-optical polarization anti-correlation noted in Perlman et al. (1999). Immediately upstream from inner jet knot maxima we see increases in polarization and magnetic fields to the jet, while downstream from the knot maxima we see increased polarization but magnetic fields parallel to the jet. In the outer jet, the anti-correlation between X-ray flux and optical polarization is weaker. Knot A’s maximum is located at a local minimum in polarization although unlike the inner jet knots the polarization there is still appreciable (35%) rather than consistent with zero. The peak of knot B is also located in relatively low polarization regions, but there are also polarization minima in the knot A-B-C complex which do not correspond to X-ray maxima. In addition, the X-ray peak of knot C is located in a fairly high polarization region.

## 3 Physical Implications

X-ray synchrotron emitting particles have lifetimes of only a few to tens of years assuming near-equipartition magnetic fields (e.g., Meisenheimer, Röser & Schlötelburg 1996, Heinz & Begelman 1997), meaning that in situ particle acceleration is required to produce the observed X-ray emission extending over a jet 7000 ly long. Can we identify loci of particle acceleration? In Figure 2 one notices an excellent correlation (at least in the inner jet) between the loci of X-ray flux maxima and the loci of flat optical-to-X-ray spectrum regions. Such spectral changes are suggestive of local particle acceleration in the knot maxima. However our modeling shows that to be insufficient to explain the observed X-ray emission.

We fit the radio to optical data with synchrotron spectrum models, and then use the models to predict the X-ray flux and spectral index in each pixel. We have done this using the code of Leahy (1991) and Carilli et al. (1991). Three models were fit: (1) the Jaffe & Perola (1972) model, which assumes no continuous particle injection and but includes pitch-angle reisotropization; (2) the Kardashev (1962) and Pacholczyk (1970) model, which assumes neither particle injection nor pitch-angle scattering; and (3) a continuous injection (CI: Heavens & Meisenheimer 1987) model, under which a power law distribution of electrons is continuously injected. We show in the bottom panel of Figure 2 the ratio $`F_{pred}/F_{obs}`$ at 1 keV for the continuous injection model. The Jaffe & Perola model is not shown because it underpredicts the X-ray flux by orders of magnitude at many places and predicts an exponential decay of the X-ray spectral index (not observed), while the Kardashev-Pacholczyk model is not shown because it consistently underpredicts the X-ray flux by large factors and predicts too steep a spectral index.

Two main patterns can be seen in this plot. In most of the jet (except for knot HST-1), $`F_{pred}/F_{obs}110`$, meaning that particle acceleration occurs within 100-10% of the volume of the jet. There is a gradual increase in $`F_{pred}/F_{obs}`$ as the distance from the nucleus increases. Small increases in $`F_{pred}/F_{obs}`$ occur at knot maxima in the inner jet. This suggests that if particle acceleration occurs within the knot maxima, as suggested by the optical-to-X-ray (this paper) and optical spectra (Perlman et al. 2001) at these points, the loci of particle acceleration must be much smaller than Chandra can resolve.

Knot HST-1 appears to be a special case. It is the only place in the jet where the continuous injection model significantly underpredicts the X-ray flux. The reason for this is unclear. Knot HST-1 is known to be very active, with superluminally moving components (Biretta et al. 1999). Recently, HST-1 has shown blazar-like X-ray ’flaring’ (Harris, these proceedings). It is possible that this variability plays a part in the anomalous $`F_{pred}/F_{obs}`$ seen in HST-1. Alternately, an extra emission component could be present in the jet at higher energies; however, our modeling does not have sufficient angular resolution to test this hypothesis.

Importantly, we do not see large departures in the value of $`F_{pred}/F_{obs}`$ in inter-knot regions. Moreover, the spectral models that do not include particle injection or acceleration still underpredict the X-ray emission at these loci by large factors. Thus even in inter-knot regions we find evidence of continuous particle injection, most likely operating in the sheath of the M87 jet. A similar conclusion was reached by Jester et al. (2001) for 3C 273 on the basis of radio-optical data.

Interestingly, we see different polarization signatures in the regions where our modeling indicates in situ particle acceleration. As shown in Figure 1 and Perlman et al. (1999), the sheath of the M87 jet exhibits high polarization and magnetic fields parallel to the jet, while the knot maxima have either low or no polarization. Thus while the knots appear to be shock-like features (Perlman et al. 1999), where Fermi acceleration may be the dominant process, a different mechanism may operate in the sheath.


text:
# Dark Radiation and Localization of Gravity on the Brane

## 1 Introduction

In the search for extra spatial dimensions the Randall and Sundrum (RS) brane world scenario is particularly interesting for its simplicity and depth . In this model the Universe is a 3-brane boundary of a noncompact $`Z_2`$ symmetric 5-dimensional anti-de Sitter space. The matter fields live only on the brane but gravity inhabits the whole bulk and is localized near the brane by the warp of the infinite fifth dimension.

Since its discovery many studies have been done within the RS scenario (see Ref.  for a recent review and notation). For a brane bound observer  the interaction between the brane and the bulk introduces correction terms to the 4-dimensional Einstein equations, namely, a local high energy embedding term generated by the matter energy-momentum tensor and a non-local term induced by the bulk Weyl tensor. Such equations have an intrincate non-linear dynamics. For example, the exterior vaccum of collapsing matter on the brane is now filled with gravitational modes originated by the bulk Weyl curvature and can no longer be regarded as a static space .

Previous research on the RS scenario has been focused on static or homogeneous dynamical solutions. In this proceedings we report some new results on the dynamics of a spherically symmetric RS brane world vaccum. For a de Sitter brane we present exact dynamical and inhomogeneous solutions, define the conditions to characterize them as singular or globally regular and discuss the localization of gravity to the vicinity of the brane (see Ref.  for more details).

## 2 Brane Vaccum Field Equations

In the Gauss-Codazzi formulation of the RS model , the Einstein vaccum field equations on the brane are given by

$$G_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{\Lambda }g_{\mu \nu }_{\mu \nu },$$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the brane cosmological constant and the tensor $`_{\mu \nu }`$ is the limit on the brane of the projected 5-dimensional Weyl tensor. It is a symmetric and traceless tensor constrained by the following conservation equations

$$_\mu _\nu ^\mu =0.$$
(2)
The projected Weyl tensor $`_{\mu \nu }`$ can be written in the following general form

$$_{\mu \nu }=\left(\frac{\stackrel{~}{\kappa }}{\kappa }\right)^4\left[𝒰\left(u_\mu u_\nu +\frac{1}{3}h_{\mu \nu }\right)+𝒫_{\mu \nu }+𝒬_\mu u_\nu +𝒬_\nu u_\mu \right],$$
(3)
where $`u_\mu `$ such that $`u^\mu u_\mu =1`$ is the 4-velocity field and $`h_{\mu \nu }=g_{\mu \nu }+u_\mu u_\nu `$ is the tensor projecting orthogonaly to $`u_\mu `$. The forms $`𝒰`$, $`𝒫_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`𝒬_\mu `$ represent different aspects of the effects induced on the brane by the 5-dimensional gravitational field. Thus, $`𝒰`$ is an energy density, $`𝒫_{\mu \nu }`$ a stress tensor and $`𝒬_\mu `$ an energy flux.

Since the 5-dimensional metric is not known, in general $`_{\mu \nu }`$ is not completely determined on the brane  and so the effective 4-dimensional theory is not closed. To close it we need simplifying assumptions about the effects of the gravitational field on the brane. For instance we may consider a static and spherically symmetric brane vaccum with $`𝒬_\mu =0`$, $`𝒫_{\mu \nu }0`$ and $`𝒰0`$. This leads to the Reissner-Nordström black hole solution on the brane .

It is also possible to close the system of Einstein equations when considering a dynamical and spherically symmetric brane vaccum with $`𝒬_\mu =0`$, $`𝒰0`$, and $`𝒫_{\mu \nu }0`$. The general, spherically symmetric metric in comoving coordinates $`(t,r,\theta ,\varphi )`$ is given by

$$ds^2=g_{\mu \nu }dx^\mu dx^\nu =e^\sigma dt^2+A^2dr^2+R^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2,$$
(4)
where $`d\mathrm{\Omega }^2=d\theta ^2+\mathrm{sin}^2\theta d\varphi ^2`$, $`\sigma =\sigma (t,r)`$, $`A=A(t,r)`$, $`R=R(t,r)`$ and $`R`$ is the physical spacetime radius. If the traceless stress tensor $`𝒫_{\mu \nu }`$ is isotropic then it will have the general form

$$𝒫_{\mu \nu }=𝒫\left(r_\mu r_\nu \frac{1}{3}h_{\mu \nu }\right),$$
(5)
where $`𝒫=𝒫(t,r)`$ and $`r_\mu `$ is the unit radial vector, given in the above metric by $`r_\mu =(0,A,0,0)`$. Then

$$_\mu ^\nu =\left(\frac{\stackrel{~}{\kappa }}{\kappa }\right)^4\text{diag}(\rho ,p_r,p_T,p_T),$$
(6)
where the energy density and pressures are, respectively, $`\rho =𝒰`$, $`p_r=(1/3)\left(𝒰+2𝒫\right)`$ and $`p_T=(1/3)\left(𝒰𝒫\right)`$. Consequently, the conservation Eq. (2) read

$$2\frac{\dot{A}}{A}\left(\rho +p_r\right)=2\dot{\rho }4\frac{\dot{R}}{R}\left(\rho +p_T\right),$$

$$\sigma ^{}\left(\rho +p_r\right)=2p_{r}^{}{}_{}{}^{}+4\frac{R^{}}{R}(p_Tp_r),$$
(7)
where the dot and the prime denote, respectively, derivatives with respect to $`t`$ and $`r`$. A synchronous solution is permitted with the equation of state $`\rho +p_r=0`$, equivalent to $`𝒫=2𝒰`$ where $`𝒰`$ has the dark radiation form

$$𝒰=\left(\frac{\kappa }{\stackrel{~}{\kappa }}\right)^4\frac{Q}{R^4}.$$
(8)
The constant $`Q`$ is the dark radiation tidal charge. Hence, we get

$$G_{\mu \nu }=\mathrm{\Lambda }g_{\mu \nu }+\frac{Q}{R^4}\left(u_\mu u_\nu 2r_\mu r_\nu +h_{\mu \nu }\right),$$
(9)
an exactly solvable closed system for the unknown functions $`A(t,r)`$ and $`R(t,r)`$ which depends on the free parameters $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`Q`$. Indeed, its solutions are of the LeMaître-Tolman-Bondi type

$$ds^2=dt^2+\frac{R_{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}{1+f}dr^2+R^2d\mathrm{\Omega }^2,$$
(10)
where $`R`$ satisfies

$$\dot{R}^2=\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }}{3}R^2\frac{Q}{R^2}+f.$$
(11)
The function $`f=f(r)>1`$ is interpreted as the energy inside a shell labelled by $`r`$ in the dark radiation vaccum and is fixed by its initial configuration.

## 3 Localization of Gravity near the Brane

As is clear in Eq. (9) the dark radiation dynamics depends on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`Q`$. It is important to point out that these parameters have a direct effect on the localization of gravity in the vicinity of the brane. Indeed, the tidal acceleration away from the brane  is given by

$$\underset{y0\pm }{lim}\stackrel{~}{R}_{ABCD}n^A\stackrel{~}{u}^Bn^C\stackrel{~}{u}^D=\frac{\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^2}{6}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}+\frac{Q}{R^4},$$
(12)
where $`\stackrel{~}{u}_A`$ is the extension off the brane of the 4-velocity field satisfying $`\stackrel{~}{u}^An_A=0`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{u}^A\stackrel{~}{u}_A=1`$. The gravitational field is only bound to the brane if the tidal acceleration points towards the brane. It must then be negative implying that

$$\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}R^4<\frac{6Q}{\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^2}.$$
(13)
As a consequence, gravity is only localized for all $`R`$ if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }<\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c=\stackrel{~}{\kappa }^4\lambda ^2/12`$ and $`Q0`$ or $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ and $`Q<0`$. For $`\mathrm{\Lambda }<\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ and $`Q>0`$ the gravitational field will just remain localized if $`R>R_c`$ where $`R_c^4=3Q/(\mathrm{\Lambda }_c\mathrm{\Lambda })`$. On the other hand for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }>\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ and $`Q<0`$ localization is limitted to the epochs $`R<R_c`$. If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ and $`Q0`$ then gravity is always free to propagate far away into the bulk.

According to recent supernovae measurements (see e.g. Ref. ) $`\mathrm{\Lambda }10^{84}\text{GeV}^2`$. On the other hand $`\stackrel{~}{M}_\text{p}>10^8\text{GeV}`$ and $`M_\text{p}10^{19}\text{GeV}`$ imply $`\lambda >10^8\text{GeV}^4`$  because $`6\kappa ^2=\lambda \stackrel{~}{\kappa }^4`$. Since $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c=\kappa ^2\lambda /2`$ then $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ is bound from below, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c>10^{29}\text{GeV}^2`$. Hence, observations demand $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ to be positive and smaller than the critical value $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$, $`0<\mathrm{\Lambda }<\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$. Note that is means an anti-de Sitter bulk, $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}<0`$. The same conclusion is true if $`M_\text{p}`$ is in the TeV range because $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ increases when $`M_\text{p}`$ decreases.

Since current observations do not yet constrain the sign of $`Q`$  we conclude that for $`0<\mathrm{\Lambda }<\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$ only for $`Q<0`$ gravity is bound to the brane for all $`R`$. If $`Q>0`$ then for $`R<R_c`$ the tidal acceleration is positive and gravity is no longer localized near the brane.

## 4 Inhomogeneous Dynamics for a de Sitter Brane

Assume from now on that $`0<\mathrm{\Lambda }<\mathrm{\Lambda }_c`$. Non-static solutions correspond to $`f0`$. An example is

$$\left|R^2+\frac{3f}{2\mathrm{\Lambda }}\right|=\sqrt{\beta }\mathrm{cosh}\left[\pm 2\sqrt{\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }}{3}}t+\mathrm{cosh}^1\left(\frac{\left|r^2+\frac{3f}{2\mathrm{\Lambda }}\right|}{\sqrt{\beta }}\right)\right],$$
(14)
where $`\beta =(3/\mathrm{\Lambda })[3f^2/(4\mathrm{\Lambda })+Q]`$ and $`+`$ or $``$ correspond respectively to expansion or collapse. If $`Q>0`$ then $`f>1`$ but for $`Q<0`$ the energy function $`f`$ must satisfy in addition $`|f|>2\sqrt{Q\mathrm{\Lambda }/3}`$. Since $`R`$ is a non-factorizable function of $`t`$ and $`r`$ these solutions define new exact and inhomogeneous cosmologies for the spherically symmetric dark radiation de Sitter brane.

## 5 Singularities and Regular Bounces

The dark radiation dynamics defined by Eq. (11) may produce shell focusing singularities at $`R=0`$ or regular bouncing points at some $`R0`$. To see this consider

$$R^2\dot{R}^2=V(R,r)=\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }}{3}R^4+fR^2Q.$$
(15)
If for all $`R0`$ the potential $`V`$ is positive then a shell focusing singularity forms at $`R=R_s=0`$. Alternatively, if there is an epoch $`R=R_{}0`$ for which $`V=0`$ then a regular rebounce point appears at $`R=R_{}`$. For the dark radiation vaccum at most two regular rebounce epochs can be found. Since $`\mathrm{\Lambda }>0`$ there is always a phase of continuous expansion to infinity with ever increasing rate. Depending on $`f(r)`$ other phases may exist. To ilustrate take $`\beta >0`$ and compare the settings $`Q<0,f>1,|f|>2\sqrt{Q\mathrm{\Lambda }/3}`$ and $`Q>0,f>1`$.

If for $`Q<0`$ we have $`f>2\sqrt{Q\mathrm{\Lambda }/3}`$ then $`V>0`$ for all $`R0`$. There are no rebounce points and the dark radiation shells may either expand continuously or collapse to a singularity at $`R_s=0`$. However for $`1<f<2\sqrt{Q\mathrm{\Lambda }/3}`$ (see Fig. 1) we find two rebounce epochs at $`R=R_\pm `$ with $`R_\pm ^2=3f/(2\mathrm{\Lambda })\pm \sqrt{\beta }`$. Since $`V(0,r)=Q>0`$ a singularity also forms at $`R_s=0`$. Between the two rebounce points there is a forbidden zone where $`V`$ is negative. The phase space of allowed dynamics is thus divided in two disconnected regions separated by the forbidden interval $`R_{}<R<R_+`$. For $`0RR_{}`$ the dark radiation shells may expand to a maximum radius $`R=R_{}`$, rebounce and then fall to the singularity. If $`RR_+`$ then there is a collapsing phase to the minimum radius $`R=R_+`$ followed by reversal and subsequent accelerated continuous expansion. The singularity at $`R_s=0`$ does not form and so the solutions are globally regular. Since $`Q<0`$ gravity is bound to the brane for all the values of $`R`$.

If $`Q>0`$ (see Fig. 2) then we find globally regular solutions with a single rebounce epoch at $`R=R_{}`$ where $`R_{}^2=3f/(2\mathrm{\Lambda })+\sqrt{\beta }`$. This is the minimum possible radius for a collapsing dark radiation shell. It then reverses its motion and expands forever. The phase space of allowed dynamics defined by $`V`$ and $`R`$ is limitted to the region $`RR_{}`$. Below $`R_{}`$ we find a forbidden region where $`V`$ is negative. In particular, $`V(0,r)=Q<0`$ implying that the singularity at $`R_s=0`$ does not form and so the solutions are globally regular. Note that if gravity is to be bound to the the brane for $`R>R_{}`$ then $`R_{}>R_c`$. If not then we find a phase transition epoch $`R=R_c`$ such that for $`RR_c`$ the gravitational field is no longer localized near the brane.

## 6 Conclusions

In this work we have reported some new results on the dynamics of a RS brane world dark radiation vaccum. Using an effective 4-dimensional approach we have shown that some simplifying but natural assumptions lead to a closed and solvable system of Einstein field equations on the brane. We have presented a set of exact dynamical and inhomogeneous solutions for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }>0`$ showing they further depend on the dark radiation tidal charge $`Q`$ and on the energy function $`f(r)`$. We have also described the conditions under which a singularity or a regular rebounce point develop inside the dark radiation vaccum and discussed the localization of gravity near the brane. In particular, we have shown that a phase transition to a regime where gravity is not bound to the brane may occur at short distances during the collapse of positive dark energy density on a realistic de Sitter brane. Left for future research is for example an analysis of the dark radiation vaccum dynamics from a 5-dimensional perspective.

## Acknowledgements

We thank the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) for financial support under the contracts POCTI/SFRH/BPD/7182/2001 and POCTI/32694/FIS/2000. We also would like to thank Louis Witten and T.P. Singh for kind and helpful comments.


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# Higgs Physics with a Universal Higgs-Fermion Coupling

## 1 General Introduction

The Standard Model incorporates mass in two different but related ways. Firstly the $`W`$ and $`Z`$ bosons obtain masses by the spontaneous breaking  of the SU(2)$`\times `$U(1) electroweak symmetry. Three of the four components of the complex scalar doublet Higgs field become associated with the weak bosons while the fourth remains as a scalar particle, the Higgs boson. The values of the masses are fixed by electroweak couplings. Secondly the fundamental fermions, quarks and leptons, obtain their masses by Yukawa couplings  to the Higgs field. Each fermion has its own unique Yukawa coupling constant, which is not related to the electroweak couplings in any known way. This means that the values of the fermion masses are unknown and not computable in the Standard Model. Although this is an unsatisfactory situation, it is accepted in the absence of any better idea.

The Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM)  has basically the same two mechanisms. However it incorporates two complex Higgs doublets—one gives masses to the weak isospin +1/2 fermions ($`u`$, $`c`$, $`t`$ quarks and possibly the neutrinos) while the other gives masses to the weak isospin $`1/2`$ fermions ($`d`$, $`s`$, $`b`$ quarks and the charged leptons). In the MSSM there are five unused components of the Higgs fields, after giving masses to the $`W`$ and $`Z`$ bosons, which leaves three neutral Higgs particles and a pair of charged Higgs particles.

The SM and MSSM do not explain the family (generation) structure of the fermion masses. Each fermion has an arbitrary Yukawa coupling, apparently independent of the family it belongs to and whether it is a quark or lepton. New physics is required to explain the family structure and the quark CKM matrix , even in the Standard Model.

This note proposes a modification to the fermion mass generation mechanism which also requires new physics but without specifying what that physics is. Nevertheless it makes concrete predictions for the decay modes of the Higgs particles, some of which can be tested with the current data. The basic philosophy is to separate an intractable problem into an easy part plus an unknown part in the hope that an experimental verification of the easy part will lead others to solve the unknown part.

## 2 The Introduction to this Proposal

We start with the observation that a Higgs-fermion Yukawa coupling (spin 0 to spin 1/2) is a reasonable thing to have but the existence of 9 (or 12) different couplings, simply to fit 9 (or 12) different fermion masses, is not. It would be far simpler and more in the spirit of the rest of particle physics to have just one, universal, Yukawa coupling. At a stroke this would nearly halve the number of undetermined constants in the Standard Model. Of course, this would result in all fermions having the same mass if the Higgs mechanism were the only contribution to the fermion mass. By assuming that there are one or more additional contributions to the fermion mass generation, we can separate the physics of the branching ratios of the Higgs decay modes from the understanding of the fermion mass values. Multiple contributions to the observed mass is already an accepted concept for the proton and neutron and also for electrons in condensed matter.

A second observation is that the LEP I and SLC data  suggest that a Higgs boson exists with a mass of about 80–90 GeV/c2, albeit with large uncertainties. This is partially in conflict with a direct search for the Higgs particle, where a limit of about 114 GeV/c2 has been obtained  at LEP II. However on closer examination, it should be noted that the indirect search result only really depends on the $`Z`$-Higgs couplings of the theory while the direct search result assumes that the Higgs boson decays predominantly to $`b`$ quarks.

The proposal in this note does not alter the $`Z`$-Higgs coupling so the indirect search result is taken as valid. However the direct search result is no longer valid if there is a universal Higgs-fermion coupling constant.

## 3 A Universal Higgs-Fermion Coupling in the Standard Model

With a universal Higgs-fermion coupling, the following decay modes exist for a low mass Higgs:

$`H^0`$ $``$ e+e- $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ $`\tau ^+\tau ^{}`$ $`\nu _e\overline{\nu _e}`$ $`\nu _\mu \overline{\nu _\mu }`$ $`\nu _\tau \overline{\nu _\tau }`$ $`u\overline{u}`$ $`d\overline{d}`$ $`s\overline{s}`$ $`c\overline{c}`$ $`b\overline{b}`$ $`t\overline{t}`$.

In order to compute the branching ratios, we need to give each quark decay mode a weight of three to account for the three colours of quarks and anti-quarks. In addition each decay mode should also be doubled for left- and right-handed spin states. This then raises the question of whether this doubling is valid also for the neutrinos.

A few years ago it would have been reasonable to assume that no neutrino decay modes should exist at all. However the existence of neutrino oscillations  and the proposed see-saw mechanism  of neutrino masses has led to the suggestion that left-handed neutrinos (and right-handed anti-neutrinos) might have masses similar to their charged partners and that right-handed neutrinos (and left-handed anti-neutrinos) might have enormous masses. So it seems reasonable, now, in a model with a universal Higgs-fermion coupling to include neutrino decay modes. The question is whether to incorporate one spin state or two. This is left for experiments to decide.

For an 80 GeV/c2 Higgs boson the top quark decay mode is not possible. This leaves 39 or 42 (approximately) equal decay modes (counting spins and colour states) with each one then having a branching ratio of 2.6% or 2.4%. For example:

BR($`H^0`$ any charged lepton pair) = 5%,

BR($`H^0`$ any $`q\overline{q}`$) = 14.5%

BR($`H^0`$ all $`q\overline{q}`$) = 72%

BR($`H^0`$ all $`\nu \overline{\nu }`$) = 7.2% or 14.4%

The fatal flaw with this scheme is the 5% decay mode to $`e^+e^{}`$. This would imply that electron positron collisions would produce a Higgs boson resonance around a centre-of-mass energy of 80 GeV/c2, which LEP and SLC experiments have definitely not seen.

However there are a few ways to reconcile a universal Higgs-fermion coupling with the Standard Model. One is to assume that the Higgs mass is greater than 200 GeV/c2 in order to avoid conflicts with unseen $`e^+e^{}`$ resonances but this is clearly incompatible with the low mass suggested by the indirect Higgs search data. Another possibility arises when it is remembered that the Higgs boson has $`W`$ and $`Z`$ decay modes as well as fermion/anti-fermion decay modes. In order to compute the correct branching ratios, it is necessary to know the ‘baseline mass’ that the universal Higgs-fermion coupling constant provides. (This is the degenerate mass all fermions have before additional interactions break the degeneracy.)

If the ‘baseline mass’ is very large ($`>M_Z`$), then the fermionic decay modes will dominate over the weak boson decay modes, whatever the Higgs mass. For a ‘baseline mass’ about equal to $`M_Z`$, the weak boson decay modes will take an equal share (per spin state) with each fermion decay mode for a Higgs mass of more than 100 GeV/c2, since off-mass-shell weak boson pair decays start to become significant. Still this does not seriously reduce the $`e^+e^{}`$ decay mode. Only if the ‘baseline mass’ is a lot less than $`M_Z`$ would the weak boson decay modes dominate and squeeze out the fermionic decay modes.

Although the ‘very small baseline mass’ scenario cannot be ruled out a priori, it does seem rather contrived and unconvincing when we might expect that the ‘baseline mass’ should either be close to the weak boson masses, the top quark mass or perhaps the Higgs energy scale of about 250 GeV. Things are quite different for physics beyond today’s Standard Model.

## 4 The Universal Higgs-Fermion Coupling Concept in Two Higgs Doublet Models (2HDM)

In models with two Higgs doublets (2HDM) there are three neutral Higgs bosons and two charged Higgs bosons. These are usually labeled $`h^0`$, $`H^0`$, $`A^0`$, $`H^{}`$ and $`H^+`$. However we will label the first two neutral Higgs particles as $`H_u^0`$ and $`H_d^0`$ to signify the former couples to the upper-level (weak isospin +1/2) fermions while the latter couples to the lower-level (weak isospin $``$1/2) fermions. This is the case for type II 2HDM, of which the MSSM is an example.

To begin with we will ignore any mixing between these two neutral Higgs bosons, that is, the mixing angle $`\alpha =0`$. The fermionic decay modes are:

$`H_u^0`$ $`\nu _e\nu _e`$ $`\nu _\mu \nu _\mu `$ $`\nu _\tau \nu _\tau `$ $`u\overline{u}`$ $`c\overline{c}`$ $`t\overline{t}`$ and

$`H_d^0`$ e+e- $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ $`\tau ^+\tau ^{}`$ $`d\overline{d}`$ $`s\overline{s}`$ $`b\overline{b}`$

As with the Standard Model, each listed quark decay mode comes in three colour states and two spin states; each lepton decay mode comes in two spin states (or maybe only one each for the neutrinos).

In order to be compatible with the indirect search result of around 80 GeV/c2, the lowest mass Higgs boson must then be $`H_u^0`$ to avoid having $`e^+e^{}`$ decay modes. This is the boson that is usually labeled as $`h^0`$ and which implies that $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ (the usual ratio of the Higgs vacuum expectation values) is less than one. There are a number of experimental consequences.

Firstly, for a universal coupling constant, we would expect an 80 GeV/c2 $`H_u^0`$ ($`h^0`$) to have 15 or 18 decay modes, counting spin and colour states separately. Thus

BR($`H_u^0`$ $``$ $`u\overline{u}`$) = BR($`H_u^0`$ $``$ $`c\overline{c}`$) = 40% or 33%

There would thus be a branching ratio of 80% (or maybe 66%) to hadrons and a branching ratio of 20% (or 33%) to invisible states. Since $`u\overline{u}`$ decay modes would be difficult to tag at LEP, only the charm decay modes would be identifiable and then not very easily. They could well have gone unnoticed, especially for a Higgs mass close to that of the $`Z`$ where the dominant background is $`ZZ`$.

The second experimental signature would be the clear resonance in $`e^+e^{}`$ collisions at the mass of the $`H_d^0`$ ($`H^0`$), which has to be greater than 200 GeV/c2, otherwise it would have been seen at LEP II. The $`H_d^0`$ has 24 decay modes counting spin and colour states separately. This implies:

BR($`H_d^0`$ $``$ $`d\overline{d}`$) = BR($`H_d^0`$ $``$ $`s\overline{s}`$) = BR($`H_d^0`$ $``$ $`b\overline{b}`$) = 25% and

BR($`H_d^0`$ $``$ $`e^+e^{}`$) = BR($`H_d^0`$ $``$ $`\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$) = BR($`H_d^0`$ $``$ $`\tau ^+\tau ^{}`$) = 8.3%.

The $`H_d^0`$ would also appear as a resonance if a muon collider were ever built and in proton-proton and proton anti-proton collisions because of the $`Hd\overline{d}`$ coupling. For hadron colliders the charged lepton decay modes of $`H_d^0`$ would be obvious signatures.

These straightforward predictions are again subject to modifications depending on the ‘baseline mass’ of the Higgs mechanism but only if the Higgs mass is more than about 100 GeV/c2. For a ‘baseline mass’ of about the $`Z`$ mass, the above fermionic decay modes would be reduced as there would be $`W/Z`$ decay modes of equal strength. If the ‘baseline mass’ were significantly less than the $`Z`$ mass then the fermionic decay modes would be replaced by $`W`$ and $`Z`$ decay modes.

If there is mixing between $`H_u^0`$ and $`H_d^0`$ then the unwanted $`e^+e^{}`$ decay modes of the lightest neutral Higgs boson could again wreck this model. Although this could be suppressed by choosing different universal Yukawa couplings for each Higgs doublet—and thus different ‘baseline masses’—it would seem that demanding very small or zero Higgs doublet mixing is the only realistic way of reconciling the universal Higgs-fermion coupling idea with an 80 GeV/c2 Higgs boson.

The $`A^0`$ Higgs boson has no weak boson decay modes in a 2HDM of type II. They decay to upper-level (weak isospin $`+1/2`$) fermions proportional to 1/$`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ and to lower-level (weak isospin $`1/2`$) fermions proportional to $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$. Since $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ is less than one here, this would imply that the $`A^0`$ has decay modes similar (but not identical) to the $`H_u^0`$ although it might be able to decay to top quarks if its mass is great enough. Of course, the top decay mode would not dominate as it does in conventional Higgs models.

The charged Higgs bosons would also have universal couplings to the fermions giving rise to decay modes very much like $`W`$ bosons.

## 5 Theoretical Implications

The existence of a Higgs boson with a universal Higgs-fermion coupling would seem to imply the need for a two Higgs doublet model (2HDM) of type II. This could be realised within a supersymmetric theory and its discovery could provide the first evidence for SUSY before any SUSY partner particles are observed.

The explanation for the different fermion masses—the breaking of the mass degeneracy provided by this variant of the Higgs mechanism—clearly requires new physics. (Of course, unless the Yukawa coupling constants are taken as inexplicable fundamental constants, a similar statement is also true in the conventional SM and MSSM.) This paper does not attempt to propose what the new physics would be. However it is possible to outline some of the ingredients and consequences of the new physics. The following discussion assumes a SUSY theory.

Firstly, it seems reasonable to assume that both fermions and their SUSY partners have the same universal Higgs coupling and thus all have the same ‘baseline mass’, perhaps around several hundred GeV/c2. Some new interaction would then act upon the R-parity quantum number and lower the ‘normal’ fermions to a smaller mass and lift the SUSY partner particles to a larger mass. A second stage would presumably cause further shifts (‘splitting’) according to the family (generation) quantum number, of which little is currently known. The final particle masses would presumably appear after additional shifts caused by colour and electroweak interaction effects.

It would be natural that quarks with their colour interactions would have bigger masses than leptons in a given family/generation. Furthermore, charged leptons would be expected to be heavier than neutral leptons because of electric interactions and similarly charged 2/3 quarks would be expected to be heavier than charge 1/3 quarks. That this is not true for up and down could be due to $`Z`$ boson effects overwhelming photon effects, since the so-called 1st generation quarks are shifted by a very large energy amount from the ‘baseline mass’ value.

If the fermions and their SUSY partners do share the same universal coupling then, for Higgs interactions, SUSY is effectively an unbroken symmetry. This implies that any Feynman diagram with a Higgs boson coupling to a fermion loop will have a cancelling diagram with a SUSY partner loop. This cancellation will be exact. The consequence of this is the elimination of all higher order loop corrections to the allowed decay modes and also the removal of all Higgs decay modes to photons and gluons. (This latter effect has profound implications for experimental physics searches for the Higgs.)

Having no Higgs decay modes to photons and gluons removes any possibility for truly massless particles to interact with the Higgs field in the vacuum. This is clearly self-consistent. (Could it be that the Standard Model, and conventional broken SUSY, without this exact cancellation of loops, is not self-consistent?)

## 6 Alternative Variations

This proposal has dealt with a single, universal, Yukawa coupling constant scenario. The conventional view is that there are 9 or 12 such constants. Clearly there is room for any number of Yukawa constants from zero up to 9 or 12.

Zero constants might seem an attractive idea with the Higgs mechanism having no direct part in generating fermion masses. In the Standard Model there might still be an indirect effect via weak boson loops although there might be cancellations in a SUSY model. However the main reason for not developing this idea in this paper is the reasonableness of having a Yukawa coupling. Some explanation for removing it would need to be found.

Two Yukawa couplings is still a possibility in a 2HDM—one constant for each Higgs doublet. Three Yukawa couplings might make sense with one for each family/generation. However it would probably imply a large $`b`$ quark decay mode, incompatible with an 80 GeV/c2 Higgs boson. Four Yukawa constants could give masses for each fermion in a family with other interactions splitting each family. However this idea probably founders because there is no clear repeated pattern of masses seen within the three families.

## 7 Conclusions

The Standard Model and conventional SUSY variants of the Standard Model incorporate multiple Yukawa couplings between Higgs bosons and fermions in order to account for the different fermion masses. This paper proposes that there is only a single, universal Higgs-fermion coupling constant. In order to be compatible with experimental data, this concept appears to require at least a two Higgs doublet model of type II, such as a supersymmetric theory.

If so, the lightest Higgs boson, $`h^0`$, could be (but does not have to be) lighter than the currently accepted limits, possibly as low as 80 GeV/c2. Its visible decay modes would be to up and charm, each of about 33%, or possibly 40% if there are no couplings to right-handed neutrinos. The heavier neutral Higgs boson, $`H^0`$, should be easy to detect in electron positron, muon and hadron colliders and its mass is greater than 200 GeV/c2. The charged lepton pair decay modes with branching ratios of 8.3% should be straightforward, whatever the collider. The $`b\overline{b}`$ decay mode at 25% could be exploited using $`b`$-tagging techniques. There would probably be no decay modes to photons or gluons.

In a sense, this paper has advocated *less* physics, namely only a single Yukawa coupling constant. However it does imply the existence of new physics to explain the breaking of the fermion mass degeneracy. Since even the Standard Model requires new physics to explain the values of the multiple Yukawa constants, that fact ought not to count against this proposal.

## Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following for assistance and encouragement: Kate Fenton, Tony Guénault, Rich Haley, Stephen Haywood, Holly Thomas and Anne Watson.


text:
# Evolution of lithium beyond the solar age: a Li survey of the old open cluster NGC 188 Based on observations collected at the Italian National Telescope Galileo

## 1 Introduction

Observations of light elements in stars are powerful tools to test Big Bang nucleosynthesis, Galactic chemical evolution and stellar interior mixing processes. Lithium has a very low burning temperature ($`2.5\times 10^6\mathrm{K}`$) and it survives only in the outermost layers of a star; therefore, it is a good tracer of mixing mechanisms and stellar interior structure. Observations of Li in clusters of different ages and chemical compositions allow us to put constraints on these processes and to investigate their dependence on age, metallicity and possibly other stellar parameters. Observations of cluster stars carried out during the past 15 years have shown that Li depletion is not a simple function of age and metallicity as predicted by standard models (see e.g. the reviews of Jeffries jef00 (2000) and Pasquini pas00 (2000) and references therein). For example, standard models, which include only convection as a mixing process, predict that little (if any) Li depletion should occur during the main sequence (MS) evolution of solar–type stars, since the convective zone is too shallow to reach the Li burning layer; the comparison of the Li abundance distributions of clusters of different ages (spanning the range from the zero age main sequence -ZAMS- to the solar age) indicates instead that solar–type stars do destroy Li on the MS.

Furthermore, the solar age, solar-metallicity cluster M 67 is characterized by a large dispersion in Li abundances for stars of similar temperatures (Spite et al. spi87 (1987); García López et al. gar88 (1988); Pasquini et al. pas97 (1997); Jones et al. jon99 (1999)); about 60 % of the stars appear Li-rich, with a Li abundance a factor of 2–3 below the 600 Myr old Hyades, while the remaining fraction are Li–poor with a factor of 5–10 lower abundances. This result shows that additional parameters besides mass, age, and metallicity affect Li depletion, and that non-standard mixing processes such as diffusion, mass loss, or rotationally driven mixing, are at work.

The comparison between M 67 and the intermediate age clusters IC~4651, NGC~3680, and NGC~752 (age $`2`$ Gyr) shows instead that stars in the upper envelope of M 67 have similar abundances as the intermediate cluster stars, suggesting that either Li depletion becomes very slow at old ages, at least for a fraction of stars, or that different conditions (e.g., heavy element abundances, initial angular momentum distributions and/or rotational evolutions) in different clusters lead to different Li evolutions (Randich et al. r00 (2000)). We also mention that neither IC 4651 nor NGC 3680 show any scatter in Li, while a scatter might be present among NGC 752 members cooler than 5800 K (Hobbs & Pilachowski hp86 (1986)).

In order to put additional empirical constraints on MS Li depletion, in particular on its timescale and on the development of the dispersion, we carried out a Li survey of the old open cluster NGC 188. This cluster has an estimated age of 6–8 Gyr (see discussion in Sarajedini et al. sara99 (1999), hereafter S99) and is one of the oldest known open clusters. According to S99 it is $`3.0\pm 0.7`$ Gyr older than M 67. The only published data on Li abundances in dwarf stars in this cluster date back to nearly 15 yrs ago and were limited to only a few stars (Hobbs & Pilachowski hp88 (1988)). A more detailed Li study of this cluster is thus warranted. Our paper is organized as follows: in Sect. 2 we describe our sample and the observations; the abundance analysis and the results are summarized in Sects. 3 and 4, while in Sects. 5 and 6 we present a discussion of the results and our conclusions.

## 2 Observations

We selected the target stars from the proper motion study of Dinescu et al. (din96 (1996) –hereafter D96); our sample includes 11 G–type stars with membership probability larger than 90%. The sample stars are listed in Table 1; in the first and second columns the numbering systems of D96 and S99 are used. In the following we will use the numbering system of D96. Three stars are in common with the study of Hobbs & Pilachowski (hp88 (1988)). The observations were carried out in service mode during August 2001 at the Italian National Telescope Galileo (TNG) equipped with the SARG spectrograph (Gratton et al. grat00 (2000)). The Red Grism and the OG570 filter were used, together with the mosaic of two EEV 15 $`\mu `$ pixel CCDs (2048 $`\times `$ 4096); such a combination allowed us to cover the spectral range from $`550`$ to 1011 nm. 2$`\times 2`$ CCD binning was used. Part of the sample stars were observed using a slit width equal to 0.8", corresponding to a nominal resolving power R$`57,000`$, while another fraction was observed with a larger slit (1.6"). In the latter case the seeing was significantly better than the slit width and, therefore, we obtained a resolving power R$`35,000`$ (as measured from the telluric lines), somewhat higher than the nominal one (R$`29,000`$).

The spectra were reduced using MIDAS in the ECHELLE context. We first separated, rotated, and flipped the two CCD; then, we carried out the reduction following the usual steps: namely, bias subtraction, order definition, order extraction, inter-order background subtraction, flat-fielding and wavelength calibration.

All the sample stars have V magnitudes around 15 and all but two of them (no. 1344 and no. 700) were exposed for 2 hrs; exposure times for stars no. 1344 and 700 were slightly shorter (1.5 and 1.75 hrs, respectively). Typical S/N ratios in the lithium region are in the range 20–35. The spectra of four stars in the sample are shown in Fig. 1.

## 3 Abundance analysis

With the exception of star no. 545, B–V and V values for all our sample stars were taken from the UBV CCD photometric study of S99; actually, since in that paper photometry for each star is not listed, we retrieved the values from the WEBDA database111http://obswww.unige.ch/webda/. For star no. 545 we adopted the photographic photometry of D96 (B–V=0.74, V=14.99), since we found significantly discrepant values in S99 (B–V=0.45, V=19.50): D96 photometry is most likely the correct one, based on the spectral features and Li content of this star, which are similar to those of the other observed objects. Moreover, we would have not been able to observe an object much fainter than $`\mathrm{V}15`$. Photometry for the sample stars is listed in Cols. 3 and 4 of Table 1.

Effective temperatures were determined from B–V colors using the calibration of Soderblom et al. (sod93 (1993)). A reddening E(B–V)$`=0.09`$ was used (S99). A surface gravity $`\mathrm{log}g=4.44`$ was assumed for all sample stars, while microturbulence values were computed as $`\xi =3.2\times 10^4(\mathrm{T}_{\mathrm{eff}}6390)1.3(\mathrm{log}\mathrm{g}4.16)+1.7`$ (Boesgaard & Friel bf90 (1990)). We recall that gravity and microturbulence values have very little effects on the determination of Li abundances, while they affect iron abundances. We assumed conservative random errors of 100 K in Teff, 0.3 dex in $`\mathrm{log}g`$, and 0.3 km/s in $`\xi `$.

Li abundances were derived from measured equivalent widths of the Li I $`\lambda 6707.8\mathrm{\AA }`$ blend and by using the curves of growth (COG) of Soderblom et al. (sod93 (1993)). Li abundances were then corrected for NLTE effects using the prescriptions of Carlsson et al. (carl94 (1994)). We mention that at our spectral resolutions and given the slow rotation of the sample stars, we are able to separate the Li feature from the nearby Fe i $`\lambda 6707.44\mathrm{\AA }`$,

Starting from published EWs and colors, we re–analyzed in a consistent way the NGC 188 stars observed by Hobbs & Pilachowski (hp88 (1988)). Photometric data for these stars, which are listed in Table 2 using three numbering systems (D96, San62 –Sandage san62 (1962) and S99), were retrieved from S99. Since we want to compare the $`\mathrm{log}`$ n(Li) vs. Teff distribution of NGC 188 with both the Hyades and M 67, abundances for these two clusters were also re-determined consistently with our sample stars. Namely, for the Hyades, using colors and equivalent widths published by Balachandran (bala95 (1995)), we derived new Teff and Li abundances. Jones et al. (jon99 (1999)) had derived Li abundances for M 67 using the same temperature vs. color calibration and the same COGs we used in the present analysis and thus we just applied NLTE corrections to their published abundances. Errors in Li abundances for our sample stars were determined considering both errors in EWs and uncertainties in effective temperatures. Measured EWs, effective temperatures, and derived Li abundances are listed in the last three columns of Table 1. The same quantities for the sample of Hobbs & Pilachowski are listed in Table 2.

The S/N ratios of our spectra are too low to allow a very accurate determination of the cluster metallicity. In order to have at least a rough estimate of the cluster \[Fe/H\] from our spectra, and in particular to investigate whether or not it is significantly higher/lower than solar, we added the spectra of stars with the same colors and measured the equivalent widths of various Fe i lines in the same echelle order as lithium and in the next (towards the red) order. More specifically, we added the spectra of stars no. 1354, 1403, and 1422 (B–V$`=0.68`$, Teff$`=5928`$ K) and those of stars no. 612 and 700 (B–V$`=0.69`$, Teff$`=5888`$ K). We then measured the EWs of 8-9 Fe i lines, listed in Table 3, in the co-added spectra. Iron abundances were determined using MOOG (Sneden sn73 (1973) –version December 2000) and Kurucz (kur95 (1995)) model atmospheres. Since we wanted to carry out a differential analysis with respect to the Sun, we determined $`\mathrm{log}gf`$ values by an inverse abundance analysis of the solar spectrum (sky at twilight) obtained with SARG during our run, under the condition $`\mathrm{log}ϵ(\mathrm{Fe})_{}=7.52`$; the following solar parameters were assumed: Teff=5770 K, $`\mathrm{log}g=4.44`$, and $`\xi =1.1`$ km/sec.

In Table 3 we list iron abundances for the different lines, together with the mean value for each group of stars. The error includes the standard deviation in the mean from the different lines (which provides an estimate of the random error due to errors in the measured equivalent widths) and the random error due to the uncertainties in stellar parameters. The latter was estimated by varying one parameter at the time and leaving the other two parameters unchanged; the errors due to each parameter were then quadratically added. Uncertainties of $`\pm 100`$ K in Teff, $`\pm 0.3`$ dex in $`\mathrm{log}g`$, and $`\pm 0.3`$ km/s, correspond to 0.07, 0.05, and 0.02 dex in $`\mathrm{log}ϵ`$(Fe). We find the same iron abundance for the two group of stars; the weighted mean is $`\mathrm{log}ϵ(\mathrm{Fe})=7.53\pm 0.08`$, i.e., NGC 188 has solar metallicity. Whereas systematic errors due e.g., to reddening, effective temperature scale, model atmospheres, atomic parameters, etc. are difficult to estimate, we note that our result is in agreement with earlier metallicity estimates based on spectroscopy (of warner stars at the turn–off) or photometry (see discussion in von Hippel & Sarajedini von98 (1998)).

## 4 Results

### 4.1 Li equivalent widths

In Fig. 2 we plot Li EWs as a function of dereddened B$``$V color for our sample stars (triangles) and for the sample of Hobbs & Pilachowski (hp88 (1988) –squares). Filled symbols denote the three stars in common between the two samples. The figure shows a good agreement between the EW vs. color distribution of our sample stars and that from Hobbs & Pilachowski; the EWs of the stars in common are consistent within the errors, although our EWs are somewhat larger than Hobbs & Pilachowski’s. In the following analysis, therefore, we will merge the two samples, using our own Li measurements for the stars in common. The total sample contains 13 stars, 11 stars observed by us plus the two stars from Hobbs & Pilachowski not included in our sample. Figure 2 also evidences a certain amount of star-to-star scatter. However the spread is consistent with the observational errors: the average EW of our 11 measurements and of the two stars from Hobbs & Pilachowski that are not in our sample is 49 mÅ with a standard deviation $`\sigma =13`$ mÅ, that is only slightly larger than the average EW error (8 mÅ). In addition, as we will see in the next section, the spread in EWs translates into a negligible dispersion in Li abundances.

### 4.2 Li abundance vs. Teff

The usual $`\mathrm{log}`$ n(Li) vs. Teff plot is shown in Figs. 3 and 4; in the two figures NGC 188 is compared to the Hyades and M 67, respectively. As we have mentioned in Sect. 3, data for both clusters were retrieved from the literature and analyzed consistently with our sample stars.

The distribution of NGC 188 lies somewhat below the Hyades, but not as much as one would expect given the difference in age (a factor of at least 10). In particular, we note a couple of stars in our sample with abundances similar to those of Hyades stars with the same effective temperature. For the 13 NGC 188 stars we obtain an average Li abundance $`\mathrm{log}`$ n(Li)$`=2.34\pm 0.13`$; for the Hyades in the same temperature range we obtain $`\mathrm{log}`$ n(Li)$`=2.58\pm 0.09`$, implying a difference in Li depletion less than a factor of two.

The comparison with M 67 shows that: a) the $`\mathrm{log}`$ n(Li) vs. Teff distribution for NGC 188 lies on the upper envelope of the pattern of M 67, i.e., 6–8 Gyr old members of NGC 188 are no more Li depleted than the Li-rich stars in the younger M 67; viceversa, several M 67 members are more Li depleted than NGC 188 stars. Whereas this result was already pointed out by Hobbs & Pilachowski (hp88 (1988)), our observations allow us to confirm it based on a much larger sample of stars; b) NGC 188 does not show a star-to-star scatter as large as that observed among M 67 members; whereas the coolest stars in NGC 188 may be characterized by some amount of scatter, the scatter is much smaller than the dispersion of M 67 and most likely due to observational uncertainties. Our NGC 188 sample is much smaller than the M 67 sample and covers a narrower temperature interval; thus, the obvious question arises whether the lack of a significant dispersion is simply due to low number statistics and/or to the restricted temperature (mass) range. In order to address this issue, we carried out a simple statistical test; given the fraction of Li-poor stars in M 67 (we assumed a conservative value of 30 %, although according to Pasquini et al. pas97 (1997) it may be as high as 40 %), and assuming that the same fraction would hold also for NGC 188, we computed the probability of finding 0/13 Li-poor stars in NGC 188. Using a binomial distribution, we found P(0/13)$`9.7\times 10^3`$; this means that we can exclude the possibility of the presence of Li-poor stars (and thus of a scatter) in NGC 188 at almost the 3$`\sigma `$ significance level. Considering a fraction Li-poor stars equal to 40 %, we would get a probability P(0/13)$`1\times 10^3`$ (larger than 3$`\sigma `$). In addition, even considering only stars in the temperature range covered by our NGC 188 sample, a scatter is present among M 67 members, with about 40 % of the stars being Li-poor (see Fig. 4). Thus we can safely exclude that the lack of a scatter in NGC 188 is due to the narrow temperature range.

## 5 Discussion

As a summary of the results presented in the two previous sections we conclude that: 1) G–type stars in NGC 188 are no more Li depleted than Li-rich stars in M 67 and are at most a factor of two more Li depleted than their Hyades counterparts; 2) M 67 remains so far the only cluster showing a clear spread in Li among solar–type stars 222As mentioned in the introduction, NGC 752 might show a spread among stars cooler than the Sun (Hobbs & Pilachowski hp86 (1986)), but this result is based on two cluster members only and must be confirmed with a larger sample.. In other words, the evolution of the upper envelope of the Li vs. Teff distribution past the age of the Hyades, as well as the evolution of the spread from the age of M 67 to that of NGC 188, further challenge our understanding of the Li destruction in solar–type stars.

### 5.1 The upper envelope

As we mentioned in the introduction, Randich et al. (r00 (2000)), on the basis of a comparison of the Hyades, of the intermediate age clusters IC 4651, NGC 3680, and NGC 752, and of the solar age cluster M 67, concluded that the mechanism that drives Li depletion appears to stop in the late phases ($``$ 2 Gyr) of MS evolution, unless different conditions/parameters lead to different Li depletion timescales. In Fig. 5 we plot the average Li abundance as a function of age for stars in the 5750–6050 K temperature range. The Hyades, IC 4651 and NGC 3680, M 67, and NGC 188 are considered in the plot; for M 67 we included only stars lying on the upper envelope ($`\mathrm{log}`$ n(Li) $`2`$). Error bars represent $`1\sigma `$ standard deviations from the average. The figure evidences a plateau in Li abundances for ages older than $`2`$ Gyr and, except for Li–poor stars in M 67, there seems to be no additional evolution of Li abundances beyond 2 Gyr. This result suggests three alternative scenarios: i) the clusters have all the same initial abundance, but solar–type stars have not undergone additional Li depletion beyond $`2`$ Gyr, i.e., if a star has not severely depleted Li at that age, it will not deplete it afterwards (except again for Li–poor stars in M 67) until first dredge-up and dilution occur ; ii) the clusters have all the same initial abundance, but different initial conditions and/or different parameters led to different Li depletion rates, with NGC 188 being characterized by the longest Li depletion timescale. Since on theoretical grounds metallicity, and more in general $`\alpha `$-element abundances, are thought to affect both standard and non-standard mixing processes (e.g., Chaboyer et al. cha95 (1995); Swenson & Faulkner faulk (1992); Piau & Turck-Chièze pt02 (2002)), a difference in chemical composition could be a possible cause for different timescales of Li depletion; iii) the clusters have different initial Li abundances; in particular, the very old cluster NGC 188 might have had, because of its age, a lower Li abundance than the younger clusters. In this case, it must have also undergone considerably less Li depletion than the other clusters to end up with the same average Li abundance.

At present we have no definite clues to discern between these three possibilities; hypothesis i) is the simplest one, but requires a physical mechanism that is not efficient at ages older than about 2 Gyr. None of the Li depletion processes so far proposed has these characteristics. As to the second scenario, we note that no Li depletion – metallicity relation is found for solar-type stars up to the Hyades age (e.g., Jeffries jef00 (2000) and references therein). Furthermore, Pasquini et al. (pas01 (2001)) found \[Fe/H\]$`=0.17\pm 0.11`$ for NGC 3680, while Bragaglia et al. (brag01 (2001)) measured \[Fe/H\]$`=+0.16`$ for IC 4651; the two clusters hence differ in metallicity by a factor of 2, yet they have the same average Li abundance. This suggests that overall metallicity has little effects on Li depletion also at old ages, at least when the rather narrow range of \[Fe/H\] values covered by Pop. i stars is considered. In any case, our analysis confirms that NGC 188 has solar metallicity and solar metallicity has also been reported for M 67 (e.g., Jones et al. jon99 (1999) and discussion therein); thus, even if metallicity would affect Li depletion, it is not plausible that the two clusters had different Li histories due to different overall metallicities. Besides iron, the abundance of $`\alpha `$ elements and in particular of oxygen significantly affects stellar opacities, the depth of convective zone, and in principle mixing (e.g., Swenson & Faulkner faulk (1992); Piau & Turck-Chièze pt02 (2002)). With the exception of the Hyades, a detailed $`\alpha `$ element abundance analysis for the clusters shown in Fig. 5 has so far not been carried out and thus we are not able to investigate whether the flat $`\mathrm{log}`$ n(Li) vs. age distribution after 2 Gyr is the result of different heavy element abundances; given the old age of NGC 188, it is well possible that the relative abundance of metals in this cluster may differ from the solar distribution. However if Li evolution in the four clusters of Fig. 5 older than 1 Gyr is driven by heavy element abundances, it would be surprising that these abundances are precisely tuned to give the same average Li abundance in all clusters. The same argument applies to the third possible scenario; whereas lower initial Li abundance for NGC 188 cannot be excluded (although the inferred solar metallicity of NGC 188 together with the observed Li vs. Fe Galactic enrichment argue against this possibility), this assumption would imply that NGC 188 has also suffered throughout its lifetime a much lower Li depletion than the younger clusters. We concur with Hobbs & Pilachowski (hp88 (1988)) that the possibility that NGC 188 was characterized by a different initial Li abundance seems very unlikely.

As a final remark, we note that the average abundance of the 13 NGC 188 members in our sample is very close to the value of the Li plateau for Pop. ii halo stars with \[Fe/H\] $`1.4`$ and turn-off stars in globular clusters (e.g., Bonifacio et al. bon02 (2002)). This point may be a coincidence and Pop. ii stars on the Spite’s plateau cover a wider range of temperatures; thus, we do not intend to draw any conclusion from it. However, we regard this coincidence as very intriguing and worth of further investigation.

### 5.2 The dispersion

Randich et al. (r00 (2000)) from the lack of dispersion in Li abundances among solar–type stars of the intermediate age clusters IC 4651 and NGC 3680, concluded that the dispersion must have developed after $``$ 2 Gyr; if this is indeed the case, any cluster older than that age should exhibit a dispersion. Our results for NGC 188 suggest instead that M 67 might be a peculiar cluster and that solar–type stars in clusters normally do not develop a dispersion in Li. A larger number of intermediate-age/old clusters is obviously needed, as well as new observations of NGC 752, to investigate whether M 67 is really unique and to put this conclusion on firm basis. We recall however that a spread in Li is also present among old stars in the field (e.g., Duncan dun81 (1981); Pallavicini et al. pal87 (1987); Pasquini et al. pas94 (1994)): in particular, we mention that several field stars as old as the Sun, but with much higher Li content exist. The simultaneous presence of Li-rich and Li-poor stars in M 67 and in the field implies that, depending on a parameter that is neither age nor mass, Li destruction can be either rather slow or very fast. Various hypothesis have been proposed in the literature to explain the star-to-star scatter in M 67; for example, the co-existence of two sub-clusters (e.g. García López et al. gar88 (1988)), a scatter in initial rotation rates (e.g., Jones et al. jon99 (1999)) or, more recently, a scatter in heavy element abundances (e.g., Piau et al. piau03 (2003)).

As discussed by Randich et al. (r00 (2000)), if the dispersion observed in M 67 is due to different initial rotation rates and angular momentum evolutions, the lack of a dispersion in other old clusters and in particular in NGC 188, would imply that solar–type stars in these clusters arrived on the ZAMS with very similar initial rotation rates; this is quite unlikely since a dispersion in initial rotation rates is indeed observed in all the young clusters so far surveyed for rotational periods and/or velocities (e.g., Stauffer et al. stau97 (1997); Barnes bar00 (2000) and references therein). We also mention that, according to current models including mixing driven by angular momentum, a scatter in Li abundances at the age of M 67 would imply a scatter in Be abundances. Randich et al. (R02 (2002)) instead measured the same Be abundances for M 67 stars with a different Li content.

On the other hand, we do not have observational evidences to proof or dis-proof the other two possibilities, i.e., whether the scatter is due to differences in heavy element abundances among M 67 stars or if the cluster results from two different subclusters. We note however that both hypotheses would imply that the population of M 67 is not homogeneous, confirming that M 67 is a peculiar cluster. This would also be in agreement with the fact that a dispersion in Li is observed among field stars, i.e., within a very inhomogeneous sample.

## 6 Conclusions

We have determined Li abundances for 11 G–type stars (with dereddened B–V colors 0.57 $``$ (B$``$V)0$`0.65`$) in the old open cluster NGC 188. Our data, together with the Li abundances of five stars (three in common with us) previously measured by Hobbs & Pilachowski (hp88 (1988)), allow us to extend the investigation of Li depletion in Galactic open clusters to ages 2–4 Gyr older than the Sun. Two are the main results of this study:
a) solar–type stars in NGC 188 have all the same Li abundances ($`\mathrm{log}`$ n(Li)$`=2.34\pm 0.13`$) with virtually no scatter, contrary to what has been observed in M 67; b) solar–type stars in NGC 188 are no more Li depleted than stars in the upper envelope of the Li abundance vs. temperature distribution of M 67. We have also estimated the cluster metallicity finding \[Fe/H\]$`0`$.

The above results represent further challenges to our interpretation of Li depletion in MS solar–type stars. Based on the results for M 67 and field stars, one would have expected to find a significant fraction of Li-poor stars in NGC 188. Finding that 13 out of 13 members of NGC 188 have a Li abundance only slightly below the Hyades confirms that very old stars are not necessarily Li depleted; at the same time, the absence of NGC 188 members as Li depleted as the Sun or as the most depleted stars in M 67, appears intriguing and raises questions about the possibility of using a single open cluster as truly representative of all clusters of the same age and metallicity.

The comparison of NGC 188 with the upper envelope of M 67, with the 2 Gyr clusters, and with the Hyades shows that the average Li abundance is virtually the same for cluster with ages $`2`$ Gyr. Whereas this result can be due to differences in heavy element abundances leading to different Li depletion timescales for different clusters, this possibility appears to be not very likely. We rather believe that the plateau in Li abundances observed for ages older than 2 Gyr supports the idea that, for part of the stars, Li depletion may become ineffective beyond this age. A suitable mixing process with these characteristics must be investigated. The spread among M 67 and in the field shows that part of the stars instead undergo a very dramatic additional Li destruction after 2 Gyr. However M 67 remains so far the only old cluster for which a dispersion among solar–type stars has been confirmed. The reasons for this remain unclear, but we suggest that M 67 might represent an inhomogeneous sample in some respect.

We finally mention that the average Li abundance of NGC 188 is only slightly higher than the Li plateau for Pop. ii stars with \[Fe/H\] $`1.4`$ in the halo and in globular clusters. Although this may be only a coincidence, it indicates the need of determining Li abundances in other old clusters (both open and globular) in order to link together the Li abundance of Pop. ii stars (usually assumed to be equal to the primordial value) with that of Pop. i stars in old open clusters.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank the referee, Dr. F. Spite, for very useful comments on the manuscript.