text:
# Transport and cooling of singly-charged noble gas ion beams

## 1 Introduction

Beam handling is nowadays a very active field of research in nuclear physics. In this context, Radio Frequency Quadrupole Cooler-Buncher (RFQCB) devices have shown to play an increasing role to manipulate radioactive beams near low energy facilities . The Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire (LPC) in Caen has developped a RFQCB to cool and guide exotic ions produced near the SPIRAL facility at GANIL . One of the planned experiments will focus on the precise measurement of the $`\beta \nu `$ angular correlation parameter in the $`\beta `$ decay of $`{}_{}{}^{6}He`$ . Such a measurement allows to search for the possible existence of exotic couplings not allowed by the Standard Model . The experiment will be performed inside a transparent Paul trap . Unstable $`{}_{}{}^{6}He^+`$ ions will be confined under high vacuum in a few $`mm^3`$ volume in the center of the trap. Following their $`\beta `$ decay, coincidences between the $`\beta `$ and the recoil ion, $`{}_{}{}^{6}Li`$, will be recorded. The radioactive ions will be provided by the LIRAT  beam line, a low energy radioactive isotope beamline at GANIL. It uses an Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source for ion production after fragmentation reactions . Because of the large temperature and electron density inside an ECR plasma, the ions are heated, and their temperature is in the few $`eV`$ range inducing large emittances, up to 100 $`\pi mm.mrad`$ for ion kinetic energies near 30 $`keV`$. The use of a RFQCB filled with a buffer gas is thus intended to prepare the beam before injection inside the Paul trap in order to allow the trapping by reducing the initial emittance. The principle is to confine radially the ions by means of a radio frequency quadrupole field and to slow down their motion by collisions with the atoms or molecules of the so-called buffer gas. An additional electrostatic longitudinal field drives the ions towards the end of the device where they can be stored in a potential well and extracted as a bunch. They can then be efficiently injected in the Paul trap. We have performed an experiment using stable singly-charged ions produced by the LIMBE low energy beam line at GANIL . After a description of the apparatus, the results concerning the cooling and bunching of $`{}_{}{}^{4}He^+`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{40}Ar^+`$ ions using $`He`$ and $`H_2`$ as buffer gases are presented. They are compared with the outcome of a microscopic transport model.

## 2 The experiment

### 2.1 Experimental set-up

The experimental set-up is displayed in Fig.1. Ion beams come from the left and enter the system passing through a first Faraday Cup, FC1, used for monitoring purposes. Note also the presence of a thermo-ionic source perpendicular to the beam axis which can be used to produce alkaline ions. Data obtained for such ion beams will be discussed elsewhere . Ions are then transported and focussed at the entrance of the RFQCB. This latter is placed on a high voltage platform whose voltage is 100 $`V`$ lower than the extraction voltage of the ECR source. Therefore, incoming ions have kinetic energies close to 100 $`eV`$ with respect to the RFQCB. Typical energies of singly-charged ions delivered by the LIMBE facility are a few $`keV`$ . The RFQCB is described in details elsewhere . Since the mass of the constituents of the buffer gas must be lighter than the one of the ions, two light gases have been used: $`H_2`$ and the most commonly used $`He`$. The reason why $`H_2`$ had to be used in these tests for $`{}_{}{}^{4}He^+`$ ions is due to the strong charge exchange resonant process between $`He`$ atoms and singly-charged $`He^+`$ ions. This is also the reason why the future experiment involving $`{}_{}{}^{6}He`$ ions will use $`H_2`$. Ions are stored at the end of the RFQCB inside the buncher. After a variable time (hereafter called the ”cooling” time, $`t_{cool}`$), ions are ejected by switching the configuration of the electrostatic potential as shown in Fig. 2. After extraction and passage thbrough a pulse-down electrode, the ion kinetic energy is close to 1 $`keV`$. The rest of the line is dedicated to the transport and the diagnostics (FC2) of the cooled beam up to the detection device consisting of a micro-channel plate (MCP).

### 2.2 Operating modes

Measurements have been carried out to observe the cooling and bunching of ions inside the RFQCB while varying the parameters of the device. Measurements were firstly performed with a continuous beam. Faraday cups were then used to measure beam currents at the entrance (FC1) and at the exit (FC2) of the RFQCB thus allowing to estimate the transmission through the device. However, in order to have access to the time dependence of the whole process, the ion beam delivered by LIMBE could be pulsed by applying a bias between two parallel plates located along the beam line with an adjustable duration between 1 and 5 $`ms`$, and a frequency between 10 and 100 $`Hz`$. Therefore, ions were swept away from the beam line when the bias was on and were transported towards the entrance of the RFQCB when the bias was off. Let $`t_0`$, be the instant when the beam passes through the plates. Since the time of flight between the deflecting plates and the entrance of the RFQCB is a constant for a given ion, $`t_0`$ can be safely used as a reference ”start” for the study of the time dependance of the cooling and bunching process. The ”cooling” time, $`t_{cool}`$, could be varied between 0 and 50 $`ms`$ after $`t_0`$. Short values of $`t_{cool}`$ (less than a $`ms`$) allow the study of the diffusion and transport of the incoming ions through the cooler-buncher as discussed in section 3.5 while larger values give access to the lifetime of the ions inside the buncher (see section 3.6).

### 2.3 Brief description of the transport model used for the simulations

A simulation tool has been developped to design the characteristics of the device and to compare with experimental data. It is described in details elsewhere . This is a Monte Carlo code describing at the microscopic level the collisions between the incoming ions and the buffer gas. The kinematics and the rate of the collisions are estimated using interaction potentials as realistic as possible. These latter are ”tested” by comparison of the results of the code with experimental mobilities and diffusivities . The transport of the ions in the electromagnetic environment is considered so that the total transmission process of the ions inside the cooler-buncher can be simulated including the storage inside the buncher.

## 3 Measurements

Since it was not possible to obtain either absolute calibrations of the FC’s or the absolute efficiency of the MCP with sufficient accuracy, we have decided to normalize the experimental data to the results of the simulation. However, the transmissions obtained by measuring currents on the Faraday cups or by counting the ions on the MCP are comparable (within a factor 2) with the transmissions predicted by the Monte Carlo code.

### 3.1 Transmission: influence of the buffer gas pressure

We first address the evolution of the transmission through the RFQCB as a function of the buffer gas pressure. Fig. 3 and 4 show experimental results (black squares) measured in the continuous mode and the results of the calculation (lines) for resp. $`{}_{}{}^{4}He^+`$ in $`H_2`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{40}Ar^+`$ in $`He`$. Both distributions exhibit a maximum around 4-5 $`mTorr`$ for $`{}_{}{}^{4}He^++H_2`$ and 5-6 $`mTorr`$ for $`{}_{}{}^{40}Ar^++He`$. The transmission is low at low pressure because there are not enough collisions between ions and the buffer gas to properly guide the ions towards the exit of the buncher. As the pressure increases, the collision rate increases and hence the transmission. However, for large values of the pressure, the transmission decreases because there are then too many collisions so that ions are lost in the structure near the exit of the device. In other words, the size of the ion cloud is larger than the exit diameter of the apparatus. As far as calculations are concerned, although the maximum value is correctly reproduced, the distribution is much too narrow as compared to experimental data. A possible explanation lies in the fact that a constant homogeneous pressure has been assumed inside the RFQCB for the simulations. In principle, one should take into account a possible gradient of the pressure near the exit (and also the entrance) of the apparatus due to gas flow. This has not yet been implemented in the simulation.

### 3.2 Transmission: influence of the RF parameters

An exploration of the stability region has been undertaken by varying the Mathieu parameter, $`q`$, defined by:

$$q=\frac{4eV_0}{mr_0^2\omega ^2}$$
(1)
where $`e`$ is the charge of the ion, $`V_0`$ the potential applied to the rods of the quadrupole, $`m`$ the ion mass, $`\omega `$ the radio-frequency and $`r_0`$ the radius of the quadrupole. In the case of $`{}_{}{}^{4}He^+`$+$`H_2`$, typical values are $`V_0`$=100 $`V`$ and $`\nu =\omega /2\pi `$ between 1 and 2 $`MHz`$. As shown in Fig. 5, the maximum transmission is obtained (whatever the considered frequency) around $`q`$=0.5. This is in rough agreement with the calculation although this latter predicts a much larger range of optimal transmission starting around $`q`$=0.3-0.4: a fact that is not observed in the experimental data. A possible explanation lies on the distorsion of the RF outputs (which were not fully sinusoidal) for low values of the applied bias, $`V_0`$, corresponding to low values of $`q`$.

### 3.3 Optimized transmissions

In the continuous beam mode, transmissions have been estimated by comparing currents measured on the different FC’s. There are uncertainties concerning these figures because the first FC (FC1) could not be placed close enough to the entrance of the RFQCB so that the flux measured by FC1 may be overestimated with respect to the actual flux entering the apparatus. More, as already mentionned, the FC’s have not been calibrated on absolute values. We therefore estimate the uncertainty in the transmission measurement around a factor 2. A compilation is shown in Table 1. For all systems, a systematic exploration of the influence of the pressure and of the RF parameters has been performed and the numbers quoted in Table 1 correspond to optimal values. One should however note that for technical reasons, the $`q`$ parameter could not be set to its optimum value (around 0.5) for all studied systems. Note also that the transmission for $`{}_{}{}^{40}Ar^+`$ \+ $`H_2`$ is zero because of a strong charge exchange resonant effect due to the similarity of the values of the ionization potentials of these two species: 15.755 and 15.427 $`eV`$ respectively. Apart from that, transmissions between 5 and 10 $`\%`$ have been obtained. No significant differences were observed for $`{}_{}{}^{22}Ne^+`$+$`He`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{22}Ne^+`$+$`H_2`$. As stated above, the measured transmissions are within the expectations of the simulation.

### 3.4 Time-of-flight measurement

We now consider the time-of-flight (ToF) distributions of the extracted bunches. This is achieved by measuring the time of arrival of the ions on the MCP detector with respect to the time associated with the switch in the potential configuration of the buncher as shown in Fig. 2. We first discuss the $`{}_{}{}^{40}Ar^+`$+$`He`$ case in Fig. 6 and 7. In Fig. 6, the evolution of the mean value of the time-of-flight is shown as a function of the pressure for experimental data (black squares) and for simulated data (solid line). As expected, an increase of the ToF is observed as pressure increases. This is understood as the growth of collision rate near the exit of the buncher. In conjunction, the pressure has also an influence on the ToF width. Most of the time distribution width is due to the finite extent of the confined cloud of ions inside the buncher. Indeed, the electrostatic potential has such a structure (see Fig. 2) that ions are located in a region of the order of a few $`mm`$. When the electrostatic barrier is lowered down, those ions which are located close to the exit have a shorter travel inside the buncher and suffer less residual collisions with the gas than those located more inside the buncher. Hence, they have a shorter diffusion time towards the exit and this leads to a spread both in time and space of the bunches. These effects are correctly accounted for by the simulation although the model somehow underestimates the time width. The agreement is not so good when considering the $`{}_{}{}^{4}He^+`$+$`H_2`$ case (Fig. 8 and 9). In particular, the width is there strongly overestimated by the simulation. One should note that the interaction potential for such a system is poorly known. In particular, for this system, it was not possible to confront the results of the model with experimental mobilities and/or diffusivities since these latter are not available. Therefore, the parameters of the potential were taken to be those of $`{}_{}{}^{6}Li^+`$.

### 3.5 Measurement of the ”cooling” time: $`t_{cool}`$

In order to understand in more details the transport properties ot the device, we have performed measurements of the time dependance of the transmission factor. To this end, the beam was pulsed as described previously in section 2.2. A short pulse was injected in the RFQCB and the extracted ions were detected and counted as a function of $`t_{cool}`$. For short values, this is a measure of the time needed for the ions to travel through the device before reaching the buncher. This quantity is mainly governed by the diffusion process of the ions throughout the gas and is therefore an interesting test as far as the validity of the simulations is concerned. Figs 10 and 11 show the results of the comparisons. For very short values of $`t_{cool}`$, ions have no time to reach the end of the device and there is no signal. As soon as typical values are applied of the order of a few hundreds $`\mu s`$, the transmission rapidly increases and then saturates. Here, those ions which have survived their travel across the apparatus have all reached the buncher. A comparison of the results of the simulation with the data shows a rather good agreement although for the $`{}_{}{}^{40}Ar^+`$+$`He`$ system, the saturation value of $`t_{cool}`$ is slightly overestimated. It is worth noting that in order to obtain an experimental ”clean” signal, it was found necessary to empty the cooler before each injection by extracting those ions from the previous injection which remained in the device.

### 3.6 Lifetimes

Extending the time measurement described in the previous section well above the $`ms`$ regime allows to address the question of the lifetime of the ions stored inside the buncher. Measurements of the transmission have been performed up to 90 $`ms`$ as shown in Fig. 12. For each pressure, an exponential fall-off in the time distribution has been observed and measured. A compilation of the results obtained for different combinations of ion-buffer gas is displayed in Fig. 13. The discussion of alkaline ions will be performed elsewhere: they are here only for a matter of comparison. The lifetime $`\tau `$ reads:

$$\tau =\frac{1}{\rho <\sigma _{CT}v_{rel}>}$$
(2)
where $`\rho `$ is the buffer gas density and $`<\sigma _{CT}v_{rel}>`$ is the average product of the charge transfer cross-section and of the relative velocity between the ions and the buffer gas atoms or molecules. One then obtains:

$$\frac{1}{\tau }p<\sigma _{CT}v_{rel}>$$
(3)
The inverse of the lifetime is proportionnal to the buffer gas pressure if the loss of ions is only due to charge exchange reactions. Using Eq. 3, we have access to the product $`<\sigma _{CT}v_{rel}>`$. In the case of $`{}_{}{}^{4}He^++H_2`$, one obtains experimentally: $`\tau p`$ 200 $`ms.mTorr`$ which leads to $`<\sigma _{CT}v_{rel}>`$ 1.4 $`10^{13}cm^3/s`$. This value is in good agreement with the value quoted in . However, one should notice in Fig. 13 that the experimental values of the inverse of the lifetime do not cross the origin when the pressure is zero. We believe that the deviations observed are essentially due to uncertainties in the absolute values of the pressure and also probably to the presence of polluants such as water or $`N_2`$ inside the buncher.

## 4 Conclusions

In this paper, we have shown the results of an experiment aiming at cooling and bunching singly-charged light noble gas ions by means of a RFQCB installed on the beam line LIMBE at the GANIL facility. The following results have been obtained:

* Ions as light as $`{}_{}{}^{4}He^+`$ have been cooled and bunched using $`H_2`$ as buffer gas. The total transmission through the device has been found of the order of 10 $`\%`$.
* The ”cooling” time, that is the time for the incoming ions to reach the bunching section of the device, has been found to be of the order of 300 $`\mu s`$ for $`{}_{}{}^{4}He^++H_2`$ and 800 $`\mu s`$ for $`{}_{}{}^{40}Ar^++He`$. Bunches of cooled $`{}_{}{}^{4}He^+`$ ions have been produced with a time structure width of the order of 50 $`ns`$.
* Lifetime of the ions inside the buncher were measured by observing the fall-off of the transmission as a function of time up to a few tens of $`ms`$. A loss of ions in the case of $`{}_{}{}^{4}He^+`$ has been observed due to charge transfer reactions. The value of the cross-section for charge transfer deduced from the evolution of the lifetime as a function of the buffer gas pressure is in agreement with previous measurements.
* Experimental data are in reasonnable agreement with the results of a microscopic Monte Carlo transport code.

The authors would like to thank warmly the technical staff members of LPC CAEN for help in the preparation of and during the experiment, in particular Ph. Desrues, Y. Merrer and C. Van Damme for the mechanical part of the experiment and J. Brégeault and Ph. Vallerand for the electronics.

Part of the set-up has been funded by the Region Basse-Normandie. This work was achieved and is pursued within the NIPNET Collaboration under contract HPRI-CT-2001-50034.


format: text

text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The search for new physics in high energy cosmic rays has intensified over the last few years  (see  for a review). In fact, several experimental collaborations have provided interesting new data in this direction, even though, at the moment, there is not enough evidence to conclusively assess the presence (or the exclusion) of a Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (or GZK) cutoff  ($`10^{19}`$ eV) on the basis of these sets of data alone.

It is widely expected that the presence of this cutoff in the \- almost structureless - fast falling (in energy) inclusive cosmic ray spectrum is due to the interaction of the primary particles with the cosmic background radiation. The presence of a cutoff implies that the sources should be inside a sphere of approximately $`50`$ Mpc (GZK distance) in radius. Events above the cutoff (also termed Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays or UHECR), which have been repeatedly reported by several experimental collaborations in the last fourty years or so, if they are experimentally confirmed, should therefore point directly to their sources located within this radial GZK distance from our galaxy. Since within this distance there is no homogeneity in the distribution of sources, if we assume a “traditional” or “bottom-up” mechanism of acceleration, such as Fermi acceleration and variants thereof, we should detect clustering in the events. If clustering is not observed then we need to look for alternative (non traditional) explanations, with very interesting consequences.

It has been thought for some time that new physics is involved in the explanation of the UHECR. From a theoretical perspective, the confirmation of the existence of a systematic violation of the cutoff can be considered as a possible signal of new physics.

There are many interesting suggestions as for the nature of these events. One possibility is the well known Z-burst mechanism (see  and refs. therein), based on the idea of a ultra high energy neutrino (UHE) hitting a relic anti-neutrino. The corresponding s-channel amplitude may resonate on the Z gauge boson with a larger cross section. The typical energy of the primary protons generated by this mechanism is around the GZK cutoff and is fine-tuned by a neutrino mass which is in agreement with current estimated values. This suggestion evades the cutoff due to the weakly interacting nature of the primary (a neutrino). We recall that the possibility of a direct interaction of neutrinos scattering off nucleons in the atmosphere is ruled out by the fact that such interaction should take place uniformly in the atmosphere, and it doesn’t.

Other, more radical suggestions call for a modification of fundamental physics . We should mention that several re-analysis of the data by the HiRes  and the AGASA  collaborations also add up to the dispute about the very existence of the cutoff, while other proposals call for dark matter candidates (see  for a summary). There are various suggestions in this last direction and there is enough room, allowed both from cosmological constraints and particle physics constraints, to have viable particle candidates as origin of the UHECR flux without running into some narrow corners of parameter space.

It is expected that the AUGER observatory  in Argentina will be able to provide a definitive answer to this issues, while the construction of a separate (AUGER NORTH) site is also under consideration.

## 2 String Relics

As we have mentioned, one of the possible solution to the problem of the origin of the UHECR events is obtained by assuming that the primary proton spectrum is generated by the decay of long-lived super-heavy states whose mass is in the $`10^{1215}`$ GeV range (see  and refs. therein).

Superstring theory can naturally account for the meta-stable states by a stabilization mechanism due to the breaking of the non-abelian gauge symmetries by Wilson lines. The mechanism  gives rise to states in the string spectrum which carry standard charge under the Standard Model, but fractional charge under an additional $`U(1)_Z^{}`$ gauge group, which can be regarded as a rather generic consequence of string unification.

In this case the GZK cutoff is evaded assuming that these relics are distributed within GZK distance from us. The mass required for the meta-stable state, whose lifetime is between $`10^{17}10^{27}`$ sec, is about $`10^{1213}`$ GeV, while their abundancy ($`5\times 10^{11}`$) is constrained by the observed flux of the UHECR events. We remark that the spectrum of the primary hadrons/leptons generated by the decay can be calculated - in some approximation - using standard renormalization group tools (in the vacuum) , while their energy can be comparable with the GZK energy. On the basis of these results one can reasonably assess that long lived meta-stable particles can be candidates for the origin of UHECR events.

## 3 Descriptions/Modeling

The analysis of the structural properties of the shower after the impact of the primary cosmic ray with the atmosphere is the main objective in the work of the experimental collaborations and relies heavily on the use of complex Monte Carlo programs, such as CORSIKA . Usually, these Monte Carlo have, on the other hand, to rely on the performance of special event generators to simulate the first impact, which use data on inclusive cross sections and partial cross sections at lower energies extrapolated up to very high energies, around the cutoff. Both a diffractive (dominant) and a non-diffractive component are usually included in these models, to which a minijet cross section is also added up. These routines are called up by the main program repeatedly, both for scattering and fragmentation. At a second stage, iterativly, the main code simulates the development of the air shower along the atmosphere, going exhaustively through all the possible channels and tracking down the particles which have been generated at each interaction. The cascade evolves as a fat tree and is computationally very expensive. At the GZK cutoff one soon runs into memory problems and a direct simulation needs therefore special algorithms  to render the analysis possible.

Having said this, we come to illustrate other work in the formation of the fragmenting spectrum in the vacuum which also gives some indication on the multiplicity structure of the various channels open to the fragmenting primary.

These attempts  have been based on the use of standard renormalization group (RG) equations, incorporating at times the resummation of small-x effects, for instance using color coherence in the Modified Leading Logarithmic approximation, in the study of the final spectrum of the heavy particle decaying. We remark that these second attempts usually neglect the role played by the passage of the primaries in the atmosphere in the determination of the final signal on the plane of the detector. In fact, the rearrangement of the spectrum of the final hadrons induced by the mixing of the anomalous dimensions in the RG evolution, as first suggested in , due -for instance- to supersymmetry, gives some indication on the presence of a new component, but should be folded with the ordinary atmospheric simulations in order to produce more reliable results . We simply do not have, at this time, any analysis which is, from this perspective, complete enough to be useful for the experiments and more work is needed in this direction.

In regard to the study of horizontal air showers, much less is known at a quantitative level, compared to air showers induced by primary hadrons, since the interaction of neutrinos with the atmosphere is not included in simulation programs such as CORSIKA. We should mention that the column of air above the detector can act as a large calorimeter, thereby increasing the rate for neutrino interaction considerably. It is important though to remark that horizontal air showers are depleted of the electromagnetic component111We thank J. Knapp for comments on this point and have mostly a muon component which makes the shape of the cascade distinct from the hadron initiated shower. Improvements along these lines will be very important in order to reconstruct these near-horizontal air showers.

## 4 Structural Properties of the shower

In ref.  we have described some of the features of the cascade induced by cosmic rays (protons), performing some large scale simulation of the shower formation both with a fixed and a variable first impact \- at zero zenith - of the primary. The arrival direction is therefore perpendicular to the detector plane and the opening is measured with respect to this vertical axis. Here we intend to describe some of the observables of the shower which may serve as a characterization of its structure.

We start by showing some results obtained using the Monte Carlo air shower generator CORSIKA. The simulations have been performed on a small cluster running $`openmoses`$ for parallelization purposes and we have used the thinning option in the compiled code in order to make our results manageable. Even with these simplifications, the number of possible channels at the GZK energy generate total outputs around 1 Terabyte of memory in size.

Fig. 1 illustrates a simulation of the multiplicites as a function of the various observation levels in the atmosphere. The impact of the primary has been assumed to take place almost at the beginning (113 Km) of the atmosphere and the developement of the multiplicities of the main components (photons, electrons, muons and antiparticles) has been tracked. Unfortunately the statistical fluctuations in this results (not shown in the figure, see ) are rather large and considering the rate at which AUGER will presumably collect UHECR events (30 to 100 per year), we will probably be able to confront the experimental data with simulation of this type only after few years of run ($`4`$).

## 5 Inclusive Multiplicities

While fluctuations in the geometrical opening of the shower can be rather wide, those in the multiplicities are rather reduced . Therefore, the study of the inclusive multiplicities of the various subcomponents of the air shower as a function of the energy or as a function of the height in the atmosphere are particularly interesting and deserve some comments. Distributions such as those in Fig. 2 are a good characterization of the multiplicities of the subcomponents of the shower across the various observation levels in the atmosphere and contain important information useful for its reconstruction.

Fig. 3, instead, shows that simulation models such as CORSIKA, combined with hadronization models - in the first hadronic interaction - such as QGSJET  predict linearly rising multiplicities (with energy, in a log/log plot) for the various components. In regard to this, it a has been shown in  that the total multiplicities do not seem to be affected appreciably by the statistical fluctuations in the formation of the shower, and therefore they can be taken as a robust characterization both of the hadronization model and of the overall developement of the cascade.

Given the robustness of this result, a failure to reproduce experimentally this linear trend can be considered either as a serious fault of the models implemented so far or as a possible signal of new physics.

## 6 Calibrations

An interesting possibility to take into consideration is the production of dark matter as a consequence of the first (primary) impact. This may be the case if supersymmetric channels open up at the large energy scale of the first collision of the primary, with a subsequent production of neutralinos or other weakly interacting dark matter candidates. If the underlying interaction favors channels with large missing energy, then the linear trend shown in Fig. 2 can be affected. Given the fact that new interactions are likely to open up at a higher energy, the experimental calibration (the slopes and intercepts) could be done at a lower energy, say below the cutoff, and deviations from this linear behaviour measured above it. Notice that these measurements are properties of a single shower and as such are not affected by the variations of the flux or of all the other parameters characterizing the inclusive high energy cosmic rays spectrum. Only the particle type of the primary is supposed to be held fixed (a proton, in this case).

One of the issues that need to be addressed is how to characterize the shower in such a way that a reduced measured multiplicity of an event, due to missing energy, is not interpreted as an event of lower energy. To avoid this, we think that one needs a combined study of the geometry of the modified shower and of the lateral distributions. If the missing energy takes place mostly at the beginning of the shower, this might be possible, since the geometry of the upper part of the shower could be affected. The use of fluorescence detectors may be able to reconstruct this anomaly. Instead, for a uniform multiplicity loss along the entire atmosphere the shower of reduced multiplicity is unlikely to be correctly identified as such and will probably be confused for an event of lower energy. However, as the original energy, available at the first impact, degrades due to scattering and fragmentation, there should be a height at which the shower shows an anomaly, since supersymmetric channels are not available any longer.

## 7 Conclusions

Searches for the origin of the UHECR will span probably a decade, but AUGER is already collecting data as the detector tanks are deployed on the site. It will be crucial, in order to confront theory with experiment, to have improved models of the hadronic interaction, which may also include possible extensions of the standard model in the Monte Carlo reconstruction of the topology and multiplicity of the event. We have pointed out that the issue of missing multiplicities could be relevant to identify new physics. Large missing energy events (probably around 20 %) may have a chance to be identified, with important implications.

Acknowledgements

We thank Alon Faraggi for collaborating to this analysis and to J. Knapp for very informative discussions about AUGER while completing this work. We also thank INFN for supporting the building of a small cluster at the Univ. of Lecce dedicated to these studies.


text:
# Giant Planets and Variable Stars in 47 Tucanae - a progress report of a comprehensive ground-based search.

## 1. Introduction

We are searching for planetary transits of main sequence (MS) stars in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae. Motivated by the detection of the transit of HD209458 (Charbonneau et al 2000), and also by the apparent lack of transit detections in the inner, crowded regions of 47Tuc (Gilliland et al 2000), we believe observing the less crowded outer regions of the cluster will help us properly determine the distribution and frequency of short-period giant planets (“Hot Jupiters”) in globular clusters. 47Tuc is an ideal target due to its proximity, observability throughout the night from Siding Spring, distance from the moon, and total mass (number of stars).

Transit observations allow us to determine a number of planetary characteristics, including the orbital period, an estimate of the orbital inclination and a direct measurement of the planet size. For a period of a few hours, a planet of Jupiter’s size will cause a 1-2$`\%`$ dimming in a solar-type MS star. It would be very difficult to see a transit of a more evolved star, since the percentage dimming would be significantly smaller. Recent doppler periodicity observations have shown that 51-Peg-type ’Hot Jupiter’ planets are more prevalent than previously thought, although this method is naturally biased towards detecting such planets. Nevertheless it is believed that they are present around 2-3$`\%`$ of solar mass stars (Cumming et al 1999). With the sheer number of such stars to observe in 47Tuc, our prospects for a successful detection are good, if the frequency of Hot Jupiters in the outer parts of 47Tuc is the same as that in the Solar Neighbourhood.

## 2. Observations and Data Reduction

Using the 40′′ telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, we observed 47 Tuc for 33 nights in Aug/Sept 2001. We obtained a total of 1220 images of the cluster, each of 300s exposure, and used them to produce time-series lightcurves for all visible unsaturated stars of 15$``$V$``$21. This covers a large range of stellar type, encompassing the bottom of the Red Giant Branch (RGB), the Subgiant Branch, the cluster Turn-off and the top of the cluster MS.

We used the Wide Field Imager (WFI) which consists of a 4x2 array of 2048x4096 pixel back-illuminated CCDs, arranged to give a total format of 8Kx8K pixels. The CCDs give a scale of 0.38”/pix, with a field-of-view of 52 on a side. We employed a combined Cousins V+R filter to achieve maximum signal-to-noise (SN). For our main aim of detecting planetary transits, we need a SN ratio of 200 at V=18.

Initial reductions were undertaken with the MSCRED package within IRAF. This included trim and overscan correction, bias correction, flat-field and dark current subtraction. The main photometric analysis was carried out using the Difference Image Analysis (DIA) method described by Alard $`\&`$ Lupton (1999), and modified by Wozniak (2000). This method has been successfully used by OGLEIII for variability searches in globular clusters (eg; Kaluzny et al 1998).

## 3. Comparison to the HST 47Tuc Planet Search

A recent 8-day experiment with the HST, in which 30,000 47Tuc stars (most of which are 3-4 mag below MS turn-off) were studied, found no transits. Around 15-20 planets were expected (Gilliland et al 2000), assuming the number frequency of Hot Jupiters is the same in 47Tuc as in the Solar Neighbourhood. The field observed was very close (0.6) to the globular centre, where the dynamical environment is potentially destructive for proto-planetary disks. Also the target stars were much less massive than the Sun, allowing for easier transit detection. The overall conclusion of this study was that the number of Hot Jupiters in Globular Clusters is at least an order of magnitude less than in the Solar Neighbourhood.

In contrast, our experiment probes 36,000 Main Sequence stars of 17.0$``$V $``$18.5, which are more like the solar-type stars in mass, around which Hot Jupiters are already known. The long time span and large field of view (52x52) allows us to probe a wider range of periods over the whole face of the cluster. This taken together, allows a more even comparison of environments with the Solar Neighbourhood.

## 4. Expected Numbers

Our calculations below assume that the frequency of 47Tuc ’Hot Jupiters’ is the same as that observed in the Solar Neighbourhood. As the geometric probability of a transit is inversely proportional to the planetary semi-major axis, short-period planets are much more likely to be detected. Each planet to which we are sensitive has a $``$7$`\%`$ probability of transiting, and so a large sample of stars is needed for a successful result. We estimate the number of planets expected taking into account:

* Number of appropriate stars: 36000 stars V=17.0 to V=18.5 within 52 area, excluding inner 5 radius.
* Present detection rate of Hot Jupiters by RV techniques in the Solar Neighbourhood (0.7$`\%`$ (Butler et al 2002)).
* The probability that such a planet will transit (about 7$`\%`$).
* Transit duration (2.5 hrs depending on inclination, period and stellar type).
* Effects of stellar metallicity on transit depth and duration.
* Most typical periods (3-5d) of Hot Jupiters, averaged over orbital phase.
* Observing Duty cycle (1/2) $`\&`$ weather conditions ( 80$`\%`$ usable).

With these assumptions, the number of planets we expect to cause detectable transits over the face of 47Tuc with 33 nights of observing is 17.6$`\pm `$4.2. A null result would hence have a high significance.

## 5. Light Curve Analysis 1: Periodogram

As of 5 Aug 2003, a total of 53853 lightcurves for one half the cluster face have been obtained with the DIA method, of which 17191 are within the transit search magnitude range. A Lomb-Scargle Periodogram algorithm was modified to search for periodicities in this data. To date, this method has identified 34 variable stars in the 47Tuc field; 17 are new discoveries, and shall be published when the catalogue is completed (Weldrake et al, 2003, in progress).

## 6. Light Curve Analysis 2: Matched Filter Algorithm

To specifically search for planetary transit signatures, a matched filter algorithm (MFA) has been developed and will be applied to the transit search range lightcurves. This method compares the lightcurves to a model transit within a range of previously defined parameter space for transit depth, duration, period and MJD of the transit start. For a transit-present case, the output $`\chi `$2 is significantly less than that of a no-transit-present case (figure 3).

## 7. Results so far

The variable star catalogue is well underway, with the identification of 34 variables, of which 17 are new discoveries. These variables cover a large range of types, including background SMC RR Lyraes, likely cluster Blue Stragglers, MS eclipsing binaries, 47Tuc pulsating Red Giants, SMC pulsating Red Giants, currently one Galactic Halo RR Lyrae and one likely SMC Blue Straggler.

## 8. Summary

We have presented a current progress report of a project to search for variability in the globular cluster 47Tuc, in particular a search for transiting ’Hot Jupiter’ planets. In contrast to the Gilliland et al HST search, our work allows a more direct comparison of the number density of Hot Jupiters in 47Tuc to the Solar Neighbourhood.

The periodogram analysis is completed for 1/4 of the field of 47Tuc, with the identification of 34 variable stars, 17 of which are new discoveries. The Matched Filter Algorithm is currently being tested and will be used to provide a more sensitive search for planetary transit signatures. The variable star catalogue is well underway, and shall be published in its entirety upon completion.

## References

Alard, C., $`\&`$ Lupton, R.H., 1998, ApJ, 503, 325.

Butler, R.P., Marcy, G.W., Fischer, D.A. et al., 2002, Ed., A.Penny et al., IAU Symp 202, ASP Conf. Ser., in press

Cumming, A., Marcy, G.W., Butler, R.P., 1999, ApJ, 526, 890.

Charbonneau, D., Brown, T.M., Latham, D.W., Mayor, M., 2000, ApJL, 529, L45.

Gilliland, R.L. et al, 2000, ApJL, 545 L47-L51.

Kaluzny, J. et al, 1998, A$`\&`$ASS, 128, 19-28.

Wozniak, P., 2000, Acta Astron, 50, 421.

Weldrake, D.T.F. et al, in progress.


text:
# Some notes about matrices, 2

## 1 Lattices in $`𝐑^n`$

As usual, $`𝐑`$ denotes the real numbers, $`𝐙`$ denotes the integers, and $`𝐑^n`$, $`𝐙^n`$ consist of $`n`$-tuples of real numbers and integers, respectively. Sometimes we might refer to $`𝐙^n`$ as the *standard integer lattice* in $`𝐑^n`$. If we say that $`L`$ is a *lattice* in $`𝐑^n`$, then we mean that there is an invertible linear transformation $`A`$ on $`𝐑^n`$ such that

(1.1)
$$L=A(𝐙^n).$$

If $`L`$ is a lattice in $`𝐑^n`$, then we can form the quotient $`𝐑^n/L`$. That is, two vectors $`x`$, $`y`$ in $`𝐑^n`$ are identified in the quotient if their difference $`xy`$ lies in $`L`$. In particular, we get a canonical quotient mapping

(1.2)
$$\rho :𝐑^n𝐑^n/L$$

which sends a vector $`x`$ in $`𝐑^n`$ to the corresponding element of the quotient.

Now, with respect to ordinary vector addition, $`𝐑^n`$ is an abelian group, and a lattice $`L`$ is a subgroup of $`𝐑^n`$. We can think of the quotient $`𝐑^n/L`$ as a quotient in the sense of group theory. The quotient is an abelian group under addition, and the canonical quotient mapping is a group homomorphism.

We can also look at the quotient $`𝐑^n/L`$ in terms of topology. Namely, it inherits a topology from the one on $`𝐑^n`$ so that the canonical quotient mapping is an open continuous mapping, which means that both images and inverse images of open sets are open sets, and indeed the canonical quotient mapping is a nice covering mapping, so that for every point $`x`$ in $`𝐑^n`$ there is a neighborhood $`U`$ of $`x`$ in $`𝐑^n`$ such that the restriction of $`\rho `$ to $`U`$ is a homeomorphism from $`U`$ onto the open set $`\rho (U)`$ in $`𝐑^n/L`$. For that matter we can think of $`𝐑^n/L`$ as a smooth manifold, with the quotient mapping $`\rho `$ as a smooth mapping which is a local diffeomorphism.

Suppose that $`L_1`$, $`L_2`$ are lattices in $`𝐑^n`$, and let

(1.3)
$$\rho _1:𝐑^n𝐑^n/L_1,\rho _2:𝐑^n𝐑^n/L_2$$

be the corresponding canonical quotient mappings. If $`A`$ is an invertible linear transformation on $`𝐑^n`$ such that

(1.4)
$$A(L_1)=L_2,$$

then we get an induced mapping

(1.5)
$$\widehat{A}:𝐑^n/L_1𝐑^n/L_2.$$

This mapping is a group isomorphism and a homeomorphism, and even a diffeomorphism, which satisfies the obvious compatibility condition with the corresponding canonical quotient mappings $`\rho _1`$, $`\rho _2`$, namely $`\rho _1A=\widehat{A}\rho _2`$.

When $`n=1`$, one can consider the lattice $`2\pi 𝐙`$ consisting of integer multiples of $`2\pi `$, and it is customary to identify $`𝐑/2\pi 𝐙`$ with the unit circle $`𝐓`$ in the complex numbers $`𝐂`$,

(1.6)
$$𝐓=\{z𝐂:|z|=1\},$$

where $`|z|`$ denotes the usual modulus of $`z𝐂`$, $`|z|=(x^2+y^2)^{1/2}`$ when $`z=x+iy`$, $`x,y𝐑`$. More precisely, $`\mathrm{exp}(it)`$ is an explicit version of the canonical quotient mapping from $`𝐑/2\pi 𝐙`$ onto $`𝐓`$ with respect to this identification, which is a local diffeomorphism and a group homomorphism using the group structure of multiplication on $`𝐓`$. In general, we can identify $`𝐑^n/2\pi 𝐙^n`$ with $`𝐓^n`$, the $`n`$-fold Cartesian product of $`𝐓`$, where $`2\pi 𝐙^n`$ denotes the lattice of points whose coordinates are all integer multiples of $`2\pi `$.

Suppose that $`L`$ is a lattice in $`𝐑^n`$. Also let $`A`$ be an invertible linear mapping on $`𝐑^n`$ such that $`A(2\pi 𝐙^n)=L`$. Thus $`\widehat{A}`$ is a group isomorphism and a diffeomorphism from $`𝐑^n/2\pi 𝐙^n𝐓^n`$ onto $`𝐑^n/L`$.

There is a more precise way to look at the quotient of $`𝐑^n`$ by a lattice, which is to say that the quotient space has a kind of local affine structure. That is, there is a local affine structure in which the canonical quotient mapping is considered to be locally affine, and which permits one to say when a curve in the quotient is locally a straight line segment, like an arc on a line, and when it has locally constant speed, etc. If $`L_1`$, $`L_2`$ are lattices in $`𝐑^n`$ and $`A`$ is an invertible linear mapping on $`𝐑^n`$ such that $`A(L_1)=L_2`$, then the induced mapping $`\widehat{A}`$ from $`𝐑^n/L_1`$ onto $`𝐑^n/L_2`$ preserves this local affine structure on the quotient spaces.

There is an even more precise way to look at the quotient $`𝐑^n/L`$ of $`𝐑^n`$ by a lattice $`L`$, which is that it has a local flat geometric structure, induced from the one on $`𝐑^n`$. With respect to this structure one can make local measurements of lengths, volumes, and angles, like the length of a curve, the angle at which two curves meet at a point, or the volume of a nice subset. In technical terms this can be seen as a special case of a *Riemannian metric*.

In particular, one can define the volume of such a quotient $`𝐑^n/L`$, where the volume of $`𝐑^n/𝐙^n`$ is equal to $`1`$, and the volume of $`𝐑^n/2\pi 𝐙^n`$ is equal to $`(2\pi )^n`$. In general, if $`L_1`$, $`L_2`$ are lattices in $`𝐑^n`$ and $`A`$ is an invertible linear transformation on $`𝐑^n`$ such that $`A(L_1)=L_2`$, then the volume of $`𝐑^n/L_2`$ is equal to $`|detA|`$ times the volume of $`𝐑^n/L_1`$, and more generally if $`E`$ is a nice subset of $`𝐑^n/L_1`$, then the volume of $`\widehat{A}(E)`$ in $`𝐑^n/L_2`$ is equal to $`|detA|`$ times the volume of $`A`$ in $`𝐑^n/L_1`$. This is a variant of the fact that on $`𝐑^n`$ a linear transformation $`A`$ distorts volumes by a factor of $`|detA|`$, where $`detA`$ denotes the determinant of $`A`$.

Suppose that $`L_1`$, $`L_2`$ are lattices in $`𝐑^n`$, and that $`T`$ is a linear transformation on $`𝐑^n`$ such that $`T(L_1)=L_2`$. Recall that $`T`$ is an *orthogonal transformation* on $`𝐑^n`$ if $`T`$ is invertible with inverse given by the adjoint, also known as the transpose, of $`T`$, and that this is equivalent to saying that $`T`$ preserves the standard norm of vectors in $`𝐑^n`$, and the standard inner product of vectors in $`𝐑^n`$. In other words, orthogonal transformations on $`𝐑^n`$ are linear mappings which preserve the geometry in $`𝐑^n`$, and for the lattices $`L_1`$, $`L_2`$ and the quotients of $`𝐑^n`$ by them we have that the induced mapping $`\widehat{T}`$ from $`𝐑^n/L_1`$ onto $`𝐑^n/L_2`$ preserves the geometry as well.

In short, quotients of $`𝐑^n`$ by lattices are the same in terms of group structure, topological and even smooth structure, and affine structure, and not in general for more precise geometry. The volume of the quotient space is one basic parameter that one can consider. It is also interesting to look at closed curves in the quotient which are locally flat, their lengths, the angles at which they meet, and so on.

## 2 Lattices in $`𝐂^n`$

As before we write $`𝐂^n`$ for the $`n`$-tuples of real numbers. We can identify $`𝐂^n`$ with $`𝐑^{2n}`$ in the usual manner, so that the real and imaginary parts of the $`n`$ components of an element of $`𝐂^n`$ give rise to the $`2n`$ components of an element of $`𝐑^{2n}`$. By a lattice in $`𝐂^n`$ we mean a lattice in $`𝐑^{2n}`$ which is then identified with $`𝐂^n`$.

Let us write $`𝐙[i]`$ for the *Gaussian integers*, which are complex numbers of the form $`a+ib`$, where $`a`$, $`b`$ are integers. We also write $`(𝐙[i])^n`$ for the lattice in $`𝐂^n`$ consisting of $`n`$-tuples of Gaussian integers. We call this the standard integer lattice in $`𝐂^n`$.

If $`L`$ is a lattice in $`𝐂^n`$, then the quotient $`𝐂^n/L`$ inherits a complex structure from $`𝐂^n`$. If $`L_1`$, $`L_2`$ are lattices in $`𝐂^n`$ and $`A`$ is an invertible complex-linear transformation on $`𝐂^n`$ such that $`A(L_1)=L_2`$, then $`A`$ induces a mapping $`\widehat{A}`$ from $`𝐂^n/L_1`$ to $`𝐂^n/L_2`$ which preserves this complex structure. Thus, although lattices in $`𝐂^n`$ can be defined as images of the standard integer lattice in $`𝐂^n`$ under invertible real linear transformations, complex structures and complex linear transformations play an important role.

Recall that a unitary transformation on $`𝐂^n`$ is an invertible complex-linear transformation whose inverse is given by the adjoint. This is the same as saying that the linear transformation preserves the standard Hermitian inner product on $`𝐂^n`$, and it is also equivalent to saying that the transformation is both complex-linear and an orthogonal transformation with respect to the standard identification of $`𝐂^n`$ with $`𝐑^{2n}`$. This leads to another and more precise relationship between lattices in $`𝐂^n`$ and their quotients, i.e., having a unitary transformation which takes one lattice to another, and which then induces a nice transformation between the corresponding quotients.

## 3 Spaces of lattices

Let us write $`GL(𝐑^n)`$ for the *general linear group* on $`𝐑^n`$, consisting of the invertible linear transformations on $`𝐑^n`$, with composition as the group structure. The *special linear group* $`SL(𝐑^n)`$ is the subgroup of $`GL(𝐑^n)`$ of linear transformations with determinant equal to $`1`$. The *orthogonal group* $`O(𝐑^n)`$ is the subgroup of $`GL(𝐑^n)`$ of orthogonal linear transformations on $`𝐑^n`$, and the *special orthogonal group* $`SO(𝐑^n)`$ consists of orthogonal linear transformations whose determinant is equal to $`1`$.

Consider the quotient space $`O(𝐑^n)\backslash GL(𝐑^n)`$, in which two invertible linear transformations on $`𝐑^n`$ are identified if one can be written as an orthogonal linear transformation times the other. We can identify this quotient space with the space of symmetric linear transformations on $`𝐑^n`$ which are positive definite, through the mapping

(3.1)
$$TT^{}T.$$

In other words, if $`T`$ is an invertible linear transformation on $`𝐑^n`$, then $`T^{}T`$ is a symmetric linear transformation on $`𝐑^n`$ which is positive-definite, $`T_1^{}T_1=T_2^{}T_2`$ for $`T_1,T_2GL(𝐑^n)`$ if and only if $`T_2=RT_1`$ for some orthogonal transformation $`R`$, and every symmetric linear transformation on $`𝐑^n`$ which is positive-definite can be expressed as $`T^{}T`$ for an invertible linear transformation $`T`$.

Similarly, the quotient $`SO(𝐑^n)\backslash SL(𝐑^n)`$ can be identified with the space $`(𝐑^n)`$ of symmetric linear transformations on $`𝐑^n`$ which are positive definite and have determinant equal to $`1`$. Let us also write $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(𝐑^n)`$ for the elements of $`SL(𝐑^n)`$ whose matrices with respect to the standard basis have integer entries. The inverse of a linear transformation in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(𝐑^n)`$ also lies in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(𝐑^n)`$, because Cramer’s rule gives a formula for the matrix of the inverse which shows that it has integer entries when the original matrix has integer entries and determinant equal to $`1`$.

Elements of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }(𝐑^n)`$ can be described as the invertible linear transformations which take $`𝐙^n`$ onto itself. The quotient $`SL(𝐑^n)/\mathrm{\Sigma }(𝐑^n)`$ describes the space of lattices $`L`$ in $`𝐑^n`$ such that the corresponding quotient $`𝐑^n/L`$ has volume equal to $`1`$ and for which there is an extra piece of data concerning orientation, and the double quotient $`SO(𝐑^n)\backslash SL(𝐑^n)/\mathrm{\Sigma }(𝐑^n)`$ deals with these lattices up to equivalence under rotation. Of course there are a lot of variants of these themes, which may involve complex structures in particular.


text:
# Radiative Corrections and the Universality of the Weak Interactions

## Abstract

We review the radiative corrections to superallowed Fermi transitions and neutron $`\beta `$ decay in the Standard Model, and their relevance for the universality of the Weak Interactions.

The study of radiative corrections (R.C.) to $`\mu `$ and $`\beta `$ decays has played an important role in the analysis of weak interactions before and after the emergence of the Standard Model (SM).

In the framework of the local V-A theory that preceded the SM, the R.C. to $`\mu `$ decay are convergent, to first order in $`G_F`$and all orders in $`\alpha `$, after charge and mass renormalization c1 . The corrections to the electron spectrum in $`\mu `$ decay are large and play an important role in verifying that the parameters $`\rho `$ and $`\delta `$ equal $`3/4`$, a major prediction of the V-A theory c2 .

The expression for the $`\mu `$ lifetime is

$$\frac{1}{\tau _\mu }=\frac{G_F^2m_\mu ^5}{192\pi ^3}f\left(\frac{m_e^2}{m_\mu ^2}\right)\left[1+\delta _\mu \right],$$
(1)
where $`f(x)=18x12x^2\text{ln}x+8x^3x^4`$ and $`\delta _\mu `$ is the R.C.. One finds $`\delta _\mu =4.1995\times 10^3+1.5\times 10^6+\mathrm{}`$, where the first and second terms are the $`𝒪(\alpha )`$ and $`𝒪(\alpha ^2)`$ contributions c2 ; c3 . This leads to $`G_F=1.16637(1)\times 10^5/\text{GeV}^2`$.

Instead, the R.C. to $`\beta `$ decay in the V-A theory are logarithmically divergent. For some time it was thought that form factor effects from the strong interactions (S.I.) can give rise to an effective cutoff. However, using current algebra (C.A.) techniques, Bjorken, and Abers, Dicus, Norton, and Quinn c4  studied the short distance behavior of the R.C. to $`\beta `$ decay and reached the conclusion that the S.I. cannot tame their logarithmic divergence!

In the SM with three generations, the interactions of $`W^\pm `$ with fermions are given by

$$(g_0/\sqrt{2})W_\mu \left[\overline{U}\gamma ^\mu a_{}D^{}+\overline{N}^{}\gamma ^\mu a_{}L\right]+\text{h.c.},$$

where $`a_{}=(1\gamma _5)/2`$, $`D^{}=VD`$, $`V`$ is the unitary $`3\times 3`$ CKM matrix, and U, D, N, and L are column vectors representing the up and down quarks, the neutrinos, and the charged leptons. The principle of non-abelian gauge invariance tells us that $`g_0`$ is a universal parameter, independent of the nature of the fermions involved. That fundamental property of $`g_0`$ and the unitarity of $`V`$ may be regarded as the present statement of universality.

Since the SM is renormalizable, it should provide a convergent answer for the R.C. to $`\beta `$ decay! In fact, using a simplified version of the SM, and neglecting the S.I., it was found in 1974 that, to very good approximation, the corrections are the same as in the V-A theory, with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }M_Z`$! c5  During 1974-1978 the Current Algebra Formulation was extended to the real SM, including the effect of the S.I.c6 . This leads to the following expression for pure Fermi $`\beta `$ decay transitions:

$$𝒫d^3p=𝒫^0d^3p\left\{1+\frac{\alpha }{2\pi }\left[3\text{ln}\left(\frac{M_Z}{m_p}\right)+g(E,E_m)+6\overline{Q}\text{ln}\left(\frac{M_Z}{M}\right)+2C+𝒜_{\overline{g}}\right]\right\},$$
(2)
$$𝒫^0d^3p=\frac{G_F^2(V_{ud})^2}{8\pi ^4}|M_F|^2F(Z,E)(E_mE)^2d^3p.$$
(3)
The first two terms between square brackets in Eq. (2) arise from the vector current and are independent of the S.I.. In fact, the proton mass $`m_p`$ cancels in the sum. The function $`g(E,E_m)`$, where $`E`$ is the energy of the electron or positron and $`E_m`$ its end-point energy, describes the R.C. to the spectrum in $`\beta `$ decay in the presence of S.I.. It was first derived using the so-called “$`1/k`$” method c7 .

The third term between the square brackets in Eq. (2) is a short distance contribution to the Fermi amplitude arising from the axial vector current. $`\overline{Q}`$ is the average charge of the fundamental doublet involved in the transition. In the SM this is the $`u`$-$`d`$ doublet and we have $`\overline{Q}=(2/31/3)/2=1/6`$. The $`2C`$ term is a corresponding non-asymptotic part while $`𝒜_{\overline{g}}0.34`$ is a very small asymptotic contribution from QCD.

The R.C. to $`\beta `$ decay are dominated by a large logarithmic term: $`(3\alpha /2\pi )\text{ln}(M_Z/2E_m)`$. As an example, for the superallowed $`{}_{}{}^{14}O`$ Fermi transition $`E_m=2.3\text{MeV}`$, and this correction amounts to $`3.4\%`$. It turns out that such a large correction is phenomenologically crucial to verify the unitarity of the CKM matrix. Early smoking gun for the SM at the level of the quantum corrections?

Contributions of $`𝒪(Z\alpha ^2)`$ and $`𝒪(Z^2\alpha ^3)`$ are denoted by $`\delta _2`$ and $`\delta _3`$. One finds that $`\delta _2`$ varies from $`0.22\%`$ for $`{}_{}{}^{14}O`$ to $`0.50\%`$ for $`{}_{}{}^{54}Co`$, while $`\delta _3`$ is much smaller c8 .

There is also a correction $`\delta _c`$ that reflects the lack of perfect overlap between the wavefunctions of the parent and daughter nuclei due to Coulomb forces and configuration mixing effects in the shell-model wavefunctions. It has been extensively discussed in the literature c9 ; c10 .

Leading logarithms of $`𝒪\left[(\alpha /\pi )\text{ln}(M_Z/m_p)\right]^n`$ $`(n2)`$ have been incorporated by means of a renormalization group analysis c11 .

Putting these various contributions together, and integrating over the positron momentum one obtains

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=\mathrm{\Gamma }^0\left\{1+\frac{\alpha (m_p)}{2\pi }\left[\overline{g}(E_m)+𝒜_{\overline{g}}\right]+\frac{\alpha }{2\pi }\left[\text{ln}\left(\frac{m_p}{M}\right)+2C\right]+\delta _2+\delta _3\right\}$$

$$\times S(m_p,M_Z)(1\delta _c),$$
(4)
where $`S(m_p,M_Z)=1.0225`$ is the short distance contribution and $`\overline{g}(E_m)`$ is the average of $`g(E,E_m)`$ over the positron spectrum. The term $`(\alpha /2\pi )\left[\text{ln}(m_p/M)+2C\right]`$ from the axial vector current is model dependent. In recent discussions the mass $`M`$, that represents the onset of the asymptotic behavior, is allowed to vary in the range $`m_{A1}/2M2m_{A1}`$, with a central value $`M_c=m_{A1}=1.26\text{GeV}`$, the mass of the $`A_1`$ resonance, which has the correct quantum numbers to mediate that contribution c9 ; c12 . Jaus and Rasche proposed to split $`C=C_{Born}+C_{NS}`$, where the first term is identified with the Born approximation calculation of the diagram where the insertions of the axial vector and electromagnetic currents involves the same nucleon, while $`C_{NS}`$ corresponds to the contributions in which the insertions occur in different ones c13 . One obtains $`C_{Born}=0.881\pm 0.030`$.

In order to verify CVC, it is advantageous to factor out the nuclear-dependent part of the R.C.. A simple way of doing this is to factor out the expression in Eq. (4) in the form $`(1+\delta _R)(1+\mathrm{\Delta }_R)(1\delta _c)`$, where

$$1+\delta _R=1+\frac{\alpha (m_p)}{2\pi }\overline{g}(E_m)+\frac{\alpha }{\pi }C_{NS}+\delta _2+\delta _3,$$
(5)
$$1+\mathrm{\Delta }_R=\left\{1+\frac{\alpha }{2\pi }\left[\text{ln}\left(\frac{m_p}{M}\right)+2C_{Born}+𝒜_{\overline{g}}\right]\right\}S(m_p,M_Z).$$
(6)
One can then introduce a radiatively corrected $`t`$ value

$$t=ft(1+\delta _R)(1\delta _c)=K/2G_{}^{}{}_{V}{}^{2},$$
(7)
$$K=2\pi ^3\text{ln}2\mathrm{}^7/m_e^5c^4=8.12027\times 10^7(\mathrm{}c)^6\text{GeV}^4s;$$
(8)
$$G_{}^{}{}_{V}{}^{2}=G_V^2(1+\mathrm{\Delta }_R);G_V=G_FV_{ud}.$$
(9)
The test of CVC consists in checking the constancy of the $`t`$ values. Using then the average $`t`$, one obtains $`G_{}^{}{}_{V}{}^{2}`$. Inserting the calculated $`\mathrm{\Delta }_R`$ one obtains $`G_V^2`$ and therefore $`V_{ud}`$. A recent determination by Towner and Hardy is $`V_{ud}=0.9740\pm 0.0005`$ c9  (nuclear $`\beta `$ decay). It is important to note that the error is mainly theoretical ($`\pm 4\times 10^4`$ from $`\mathrm{\Delta }_R`$, $`\pm 3\times 10^4`$ from $`\delta _c`$).

In the case of neutron $`\beta `$ decay, we avoid nuclear physics complexities, but this is not a pure Fermi transition! However, we can apply C.A. in combination with the $`1/k`$ method c7 . The latter allows the calculation of some important observables in the presence of the S.I. in terms of effective coupling constants $`G_{}^{}{}_{V}{}^{}`$ and $`G_{}^{}{}_{A}{}^{}`$, neglecting small contributions of $`𝒪((\alpha /\pi )(E/M)\text{ln}(M/E),(\alpha /\pi )(q/M))`$, where $`M`$ is a hadronic mass. The observables include the correction to the electron spectrum (given by $`(\alpha /2\pi )g(E,E_m)`$), the longitudinal polarization of electrons, and the electron asymmetry from polarized neutrons.

We use the $`1/k`$ method to express the lifetime and the electron asymmetry in terms of $`G_{}^{}{}_{V}{}^{}`$ and $`G_{}^{}{}_{A}{}^{}`$. The inverse lifetime is proportional to $`G_{}^{}{}_{V}{}^{2}+3G_{}^{}{}_{A}{}^{2}`$. The asymmetry gives us $`G_{}^{}{}_{A}{}^{}/G_{}^{}{}_{V}{}^{}`$. Combining the two observables, we can find $`G_{}^{}{}_{V}{}^{}`$. Using $`G_{}^{}{}_{V}{}^{2}=G_F^2V_{ud}^2(1+\mathrm{\Delta }_R)`$, we extract $`V_{ud}`$.

Employing $`G_{}^{}{}_{A}{}^{}/G_{}^{}{}_{V}{}^{}=1.2690\pm 0.0022`$ and $`\tau _n=885.6\pm 0.8\text{s}`$, a recent analysis by Towner and Hardy c9  gives $`|V_{ud}|=0.9745\pm 0.0016`$ (neutron $`\beta `$ decay), which is consistent with the nuclear result but has considerably larger error. Combining with $`|V_{us}|=0.2196\pm 0.0026`$ and $`|V_{ub}|=0.0036\pm 0.0007`$, recommended by PDG02 c14 , one obtains

$$\underset{i}{}|V_{ui}|^2=0.9969\pm 0.0015\text{(nuclear }\beta \text{ decay }\text{c10}\text{)},$$
(10)
$$\underset{i}{}|V_{ui}|^2=0.9979\pm 0.0033\text{(neutron }\beta \text{ decay }\text{c11}\text{)}.$$
(11)
The first test is short by $`2.1\sigma `$, while the second one is in agreement, but has a larger error. On the other hand, PDG02 averages only over recent asymmetry experiments with polarization $`>90\%`$, leading to $`G_{}^{}{}_{A}{}^{}/G_{}^{}{}_{V}{}^{}=1.2720\pm 0.0018`$ and $`|V_{ud}|=0.9725\pm 0.0013`$ (neutron) c14 , and a $`2.2\sigma `$ shortfall.

Based on a recent high statistics experiment c15 , a preliminary value $`\text{Br}(K^+\pi ^0e^+\nu )=(5.13\pm 0.2\pm 0.08\pm 0.04)\%`$ has been reported, which is higher than the PDG02 entry $`(4.82\pm 0.06)\%`$. If the result is confirmed and the lifetime is not modified, it may lead to a solution of the unitarity deviation. In fact, the central value in the unitarity test would become $`(0.9740)^2+(0.2196)^2\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}5.13}/4.82=1.000002`$! Of course, it would be important to check the experimental status of $`K^0\pi ^{}e^+\nu _e`$, as well as the $`K_{\mu 3}`$ modes.

It is also interesting to remember that the deviation in Eq. (10) can be removed in “manifest” left-right symmetric models c16  by choosing $`2\zeta =0.0031\pm 0.0015`$, where $`\zeta `$ is the mixing angle c9 ; c12 .

The determination of $`V_{us}`$ is derived mainly from $`K_{l3}`$ decays applying R.C. and chiral perturbation theory (ChPT). One considers $`K^+\pi ^0e^+\nu `$, $`K^0\pi ^{}e^+\nu `$, and $`K_{\mu 3}`$ modes. After applying R.C. the experiments determine $`f_+(0)V_{us}`$. To get $`V_{us}`$, we need $`f_+(0)`$. For $`K^0\pi ^{}l^+\nu `$, the non-renormalization theorem tells us that $`f_+(0)`$ differs from 1 by terms of second order in the mass splittings c16b . Expanding $`f_+(0)=1+f_1+f_2+\mathrm{}`$, where $`f_1=𝒪(m_q\text{ln}m_q)`$, $`f_2=𝒪(m_q^2\text{ln}m_q)`$, and $`m_q`$ are generic quark masses, $`f_1`$ was obtained in a model independent manner c17  and lowers $`f_+^{K^0\pi ^{}}(0)`$ to $`0.977`$, while an estimate for $`f_2`$ gives $`f_2=0.016\pm 0.008`$ c18 . Combining the two results, one has $`f_+^{K^0\pi ^{}}(0)=0.961\pm 0.008`$ c18 . For $`K^+\pi ^0l^+\nu `$, there is a complication. One finds $`|\pi ^0>=\mathrm{cos}ϵ|3>+\mathrm{sin}ϵ|8>`$ where $`|\pi ^0>`$ is the physical state and $`ϵ=(\sqrt{3}/4)(m_dm_u)/(m_s\widehat{m})0.01`$. As a consequence, to zeroth order in $`m_q`$, there is a breaking of isospin invariance and $`f_{K^+\pi ^0}(0)/f_{K^0\pi ^{}}(0)=1.0172`$. Including terms of $`𝒪(ϵm_q)`$, the ratio becomes 1.022 c17 ; c18 . Thus, there is an interesting isospin breaking effect that enhances the $`K^+\pi ^0e^+\nu `$ rate by $`4.45\%`$ relative to $`K^0\pi ^{}e^+\nu `$. Using the above results, the experimental data, some of which had been corrected by long distance R.C., and including the short distance R.C., Leutwyler and Roos obtained $`|V_{us}|=0.2196\pm 0.0023`$ c18 , while PDG02 recommends $`|V_{us}|=0.2196\pm 0.0026`$ c14 .

Very recently, the R.C. to $`K_{l3}`$ decays have been studied in the ChPT framework c19 , leading to $`|V_{us}|=0.2201\pm 0.0024`$, very close to the other determinations.

Also very recently Bijnens and Talavera have discussed the evaluation of $`K_{l3}`$ decays to two-loop order in ChPT in the isospin limit c20 . Their expression for $`f_+(0)`$ depends on two unknown constants that can in principle be determined by accurate measurements of the scalar form factor $`f_0(t)=f_+(t)+f_{}(t)t/(M_K^2M_\pi ^2)`$, specifically its slope and curvature.

Bill Marciano tells me that precise lattice calculations of $`f_+(0)`$ are possible. Lattice practitioners should be encouraged to carry out this important calculation!

This work was supported in part by NSF Grant PHY-0245068.


text:
# Non equivalent adsorption sites on the ZGB catalytic reaction model

## I Introduction

The search for models to explain the dynamic behavior of nonequilibrium physical systems which present heterogeneous catalytic reactions are the aim of several works in statistical physics \[1-9\]. The well-known Ziff, Gulari and Barshad model (ZGB model) , used to explain the kinetics of reactions like $`CO+1/2O_2`$$``$$`CO_2`$ and $`2CO+2NO`$ $``$ $`N_2+2CO_2`$ on a catalytic surface, shows some features that are not in agreement with the experiments. For example, this model presents, for the catalytic oxidation of $`CO`$, a continuous phase transition between an active and an O-poisoned states, which is not found experimentally. Several experiments tell us that the production of $`CO_2`$ molecules starts as soon as the $`CO`$ molecules begin to reach the surface . Some attempts were made with the aim to clarify this point . For instance, Hua and Ma  proposed a model where the sites on the catalytic surface are separated in two types: active and not active sites. In their model, the surface reactions follow the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism, although the adsorption of molecules depends on the kind of the chosen site, i.e., if the site to do the adsorption is active or not active. They prepared the lattice surface with a fraction $`f`$ of distributed randomly active sites. After, they considered that the conditions for the adsorption of molecules on the surface are: (a) an $`O_2`$ molecule is adsorbed if at least one of the two vacant adjacent sites, randomly chosen, is an active site; (b) a $`CO`$ molecule is adsorbed with probability $`1`$ if the empty site, randomly chosen too, is an active site; if the chosen site is not active, the adsorption of $`CO`$ occurs with probability $`p`$. They found the phase diagram of their model and showed that the phase transition from the reactive state to the $`CO`$-poisoned one is a continuous transition for small values of $`f`$, and it is a discontinuous phase transition when the value of $`f`$ is large. When they increase the value of $`p`$, the reactive region is narrowed. Besides, they showed that the $`O`$-poisoned phase does not appear for different values of $`f`$.

In this work, we propose a variation of the ZGB model. We aimed to study the influence in the phase diagram of the hipothesis intoduced by Ziff et al. that all sites at the catalytic surface are equally accessible to adsorption for both incident molecules ($`CO`$ or $`O_2`$). In our model, the catalytic surface does not present a site distribution with equal probability for adsorption for both molecules: we proposed that the adsorption of a $`CO`$ molecule only occurs if the chosen empty site has preference for the adsorption of this molecule, and analogous procedure is followed for the adsorption of $`O_2`$ molecule. For this, the lattice presents a fraction $`A_{CO}`$ of sites that prefers adsorb $`CO`$ molecules, a fraction $`A_O`$ of sites that prefers adsorb $`O_2`$ molecules, and a fraction $`A_b`$ of sites that accepts both molecules. This model can be understood as a catalytic surface with deffects, where the affinity to adsorption is site dependent.

The model was studied by Monte Carlo simulations, and we determined the production rate of $`CO_2`$ as a function of $`A_{CO}`$, $`A_O`$ and of the relative adsorption rate of CO molecules, denoted by $`y_{\mathrm{CO}}`$. In this problem, the significant parameter to tell us if the system is in a reactive state is the production rate of $`CO_2`$, $`P_{CO_2}`$, because a nonzero number of empty sites does not guarantee that the system is active - it is necessary to know what kind of molecule the vacant sites at the lattice are available to adsorption. A possible situation to be found is that where we have only one empty site in the lattice, and this site accepts only the adsorption of oxygen: once the $`O_2`$ molecule needs two vacant sites to be adsorbed, this site always will be empty. With the purpose to rich our model, we separate the sites in the lattice in three kinds: a fraction $`A_{CO}`$ of sites that accepts only the adsorption of $`CO`$, a fraction $`A_O`$ of sites that accepts only the adsorption of oxygen, and a fraction $`A_b`$ of sites that accepts the adsorption of both molecules. The ZGB model would be a particular case of our model, in which the fraction $`A_b`$ would be $`1`$. We show that the present model predicts a phase diagram where an absorbing phase by oxygen atoms does not appear when $`A_O=0.0`$ and $`A_{CO}`$ varies from $`0.0`$ to $`0.8`$. In the next Section we present the model, and in Sec. III we present the results obtained for the production rate of $`CO_2`$, the discussion of the results and conclusions.

## II Model and Monte Carlo simulations

The simplest model to describe the surface catalytic reaction is that one presented by Ziff, Gulari and Barshad . In this model, the catalytic surface is represented by a square lattice, and all sites are accessible to molecules of any kind. In this surface, molecules of two species are adsorbed: $`CO`$ and $`O_2`$ molecules. When a $`CO`$ molecule is adsorbed, it occupies only one site in the lattice, while the $`O_2`$ molecule occupies two sites because it dissociates in two oxygen atoms when it is adsorbed. If the adsorbed $`CO`$ has an $`O`$ atom as its nearest-neighbor, $`CO`$ and $`O`$ react forming a $`CO_2`$ molecule. This new molecule leaves immediately the surface, and two sites are set free in the lattice. The whole process follows the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism and the following three steps are considered:

(1) $`\mathrm{CO}(\mathrm{g})+\mathrm{V}\mathrm{CO}(\mathrm{a})`$,

(2) $`\mathrm{O}_2(\mathrm{g})+2\mathrm{V}2\mathrm{O}(\mathrm{a})`$,

(3) $`\mathrm{CO}(\mathrm{a})+\mathrm{O}(\mathrm{a})\mathrm{CO}_2(\mathrm{g})+2\mathrm{V}`$,
where the labels $`a`$ and $`g`$ denote adsorbed and gaseous particles, respectively, and $`\mathrm{V}`$ is a vacant site. The steps (1) and (2) describe the adsorption of the molecules CO and $`\mathrm{O}_2`$ , respectively, and the third step represents the proper reaction between the adsorbed species to form the $`\mathrm{CO}_2`$ molecule. In this model, the vacant sites are free to adsorb both molecules equally. When we take into account that the sites in the lattice are divided into three categories, those steps may be changed:

(1) $`\mathrm{CO}(\mathrm{g})+\mathrm{V}_{\mathrm{CO},\mathrm{b}}\mathrm{CO}(\mathrm{a})`$,

(2) $`\mathrm{O}_2(\mathrm{g})+2\mathrm{V}_{\mathrm{O},\mathrm{b}}2\mathrm{O}(\mathrm{a})`$,

(3) $`\mathrm{CO}(\mathrm{a})+\mathrm{O}(\mathrm{a})\mathrm{CO}_2(\mathrm{g})+\mathrm{V}_{\mathrm{CO},\mathrm{b}}\mathrm{V}_{\mathrm{O},\mathrm{b}}`$,
where the labels $`CO`$ and $`O`$ on $`V`$ indicates if the vacant site $`V`$ is a preferential site for a $`CO`$ or $`O_2`$ adsorption, respectively. The label $`b`$ means no preferential adsorption site. To describe the whole process we need to consider also the relative adsorption rate of $`CO`$ molecules, denoted by $`y_{CO}`$.

The Monte Carlo simulation was performed on a square lattice of linear dimension $`L`$. For a given value of $`L`$, the lattice was prepared taking into account the fractions $`A_{CO}`$, $`A_O`$ and $`A_b`$ of sites that accept the adsorption of the molecules. We have used in all of our simulations periodic boundary conditions. For each value of $`y_{CO}`$, we choose what kind of molecule will be tried to adsorb. If the chosen molecule is $`CO`$, we choose randomly a site $`\sigma `$ where $`CO`$ can be adsorbed: if this site is empty and if it accepts to adsorb this molecule, i.e., this is a vacant site of the type $`V_{CO}`$ or $`V_b`$, the adsorption is performed; if $`\sigma `$ is occupied, the trial ends. If the selected molecule is $`O_2`$, we select randomly two nearest neighbor sites $`\sigma _i`$ and $`\sigma _j`$: if both sites are empty and if they are of types $`V_O`$ or $`V_b`$, the adsorption happens; if one of them is occupied, or one of them is of $`V_{CO}`$ type, the trial finishes. Since the adsorption of $`CO`$ occurs, its four nearest neighbors are analyzed: if one of them is an $`O`$ atom, a $`CO_2`$ molecule is formed, and it leaves immediately the surface. When this happens, two vacant sites are free for a new adsorption. The same occurs when an $`O_2`$ molecule is adsorbed: in this case can be formed one or two $`CO_2`$ molecules, with two or four sites being free in the lattice, respectively. One Monte Carlo step (MCS) equals $`L\times L`$ adsorption trials. After one MCS, we compute the production number of $`CO_2`$. In order to estimate the quantity of interest, we discarded the first $`1000`$ Monte Carlo steps to reach the stationary state, and we have used the next $`6000`$ Monte Carlo steps to calculate the averages.

In our model, the significant parameter to determine if system is in a reactive or in a non reactive state is the $`CO_2`$ yielding, $`P_{CO_2}`$ (in the ZBG model, we can take the fraction of the vacant sites in the lattice). The parameter $`P_{CO_2}`$ is used because, even having a nonzero fraction of vacant sites in the lattice, we can not guarantee the state is active: it is necessary to know for what kind of molecules the vacant sites are available to adsorption. For example, if in the lattice there is only one vacant site and it does not accept $`CO`$ molecules for adsorption, the site will never be occupied. Figure 1 shows some snapshots of a square lattice with $`L=50`$, for $`y_{CO}=0.45`$, $`A_{CO}=A_O=0.3`$ and $`A_b=0.4`$, for the inicial configuration (Fig. 1a), after 100 MCS (Fig. 1b) and after 1000 MCS (Fig. 1.c): we can see that the system always presents a number of vacant sites ($`V_{CO}`$, $`V_O`$ and $`V_b`$) different from zero.

## III Results and Conclusions

In the ZGB model, the phase diagram shows two absorbing phases (poisoned or inert) and one active (or reactive) phase. The transition from the $`O`$-poisoned phase to the reactive one occurs for $`y_{CO}=0.389`$, and this is a continuous phase transition. If the value of $`y_{CO}`$ increases, the system remains in a reactive phase up to $`y_{CO}=0.527`$, when it becomes $`CO`$-poisoned. This second transition is a first-order one, where there is an abrupt change in the number of vacant sites for $`y_{CO}=0.527`$. However, when the lattice sites present different affinities for the adsorption of molecules, the phase diagram changes. If $`A_{CO}`$ or $`A_O`$ are different from zero, the inert phases ($`CO`$ or $`O`$-poisoned phases) disappear. In the sequence, we present some representative diagrams of the simulations, all the results for a square lattice with $`L=50`$.

Figure 2 shows the results for the production rate of $`CO_2`$, $`P_{CO_2}`$, for $`A_{CO}=0.0`$ and $`A_O`$ from $`0.0`$ to $`0.8`$ (we remember that $`A_{CO}+A_O+A_b=1`$). We can see that $`P_{CO_2}`$ decreases drastically when the value of $`A_O`$ increases, becoming almost zero when $`A_O`$ is close to $`0.8`$. The figure shows that the maximum production of $`CO_2`$ occurs at different values of $`y_{CO}`$, and its value decreases when $`y_{CO}`$ increases; also, when $`A_O`$ is increased, this maximum moves in the direction of increasing values of $`y_{CO}`$. In the case present, the $`CO`$-poisoned phase does not occur. Figure 3 exhibits the production rate of $`CO_2`$ as a function of $`y_{CO}`$, for $`A_O=0.0`$ and $`A_{CO}`$ assuming values from $`0.0`$ (ZGB model) to $`0.8`$. This is the most interesting case because it is related to disappearance of the non-physical $`O`$-poisoned phase, which is predicted by the ZGB model. Also, the character of the transition from the reactive phase to the $`CO`$-poisoned one changes: the first-order phase transition becomes a continuous transition when the value of $`A_{CO}`$ is larger than $`0.2`$. Contrary that observed in Figure 2, the maximum of $`P_{CO_2}`$ assumes increasing values when $`y_{CO}`$ also increases. An intermediate case is that shown in Figure 4: it displays $`P_{CO_2}`$ as a function of $`y_{CO}`$, for $`A_O=0.5`$ and $`A_{CO}`$ assuming values in the range $`0.1`$ to $`0.5`$. We can see, in this case, that the system does not present any inert regions, and the maximum production of $`CO_2`$ is almost constant, only changing the value of $`y_{CO}`$, for which the maximum occurs.

In summary, we have shown that with a slight modification of the ZGB model, which includes a non equal probability of adsorption of the species, it is possible to account for the experimental result concerning the absence of $`O`$-poisoned states in the oxidation of $`CO`$. We have found the production rate of $`CO_2`$ as a function of the relative adsorption rate of $`CO`$ molecules for several conditions of the catalytic surface: the probability of adsorption is site dependent and this fact leads to changes in the phase diagram. The most interesting case occurs when there is no lattice site with affinity only to $`O_2`$: the non-physical $`O_2`$ poisoned state, predicted by the ZGB model, disappears in the present model. We stress that the model can be understood taking into account deffects that modify the chemical properties of the lattice sites.

## Acknowledgements

B.C.S. Grandi would like W. Figueiredo for useful discussions. This work was supported by the Brazilian agency CNPq.