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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

In $`ep`$ collisions at the HERA collider, the production of single top quarks is kinematically possible due to the large centre–of–mass energy, which is well above the top production threshold. In the Standard Model, the dominant process for single top production at HERA is the charged current reaction $`e^+p\overline{\nu }t\overline{b}X`$ ($`e^{}p\nu \overline{t}bX`$). This process has a tiny cross section of less than 1 fb  and thus Standard Model top production is negligible. However, in several extensions of the Standard Model, the top quark is predicted to undergo flavour changing neutral current (FCNC) interactions, which could lead to a sizeable top production cross section. FCNC interactions are present in models which contain an extended Higgs sector , Supersymmetry , dynamical breaking of the electroweak symmetry  or an additional symmetry . An observation of top quarks at HERA would thus be a clear indication of physics beyond the Standard Model.

The H1 Collaboration has reported  the observation of events with energetic isolated electrons and muons together with missing transverse momentum in the positron–proton data collected between 1994 and 2000. The dominant Standard Model source is the production of real $`W`$ bosons. However, some of these events have a hadronic final state with large transverse momentum, which is atypical of $`W`$ production. These outstanding events may indicate a production mechanism involving processes beyond the Standard Model. One such mechanism is the production of top quarks which predominantly decay into a $`b`$ quark and a $`W`$ boson. The lepton and the missing transverse momentum would then be associated with a leptonic decay of the $`W`$ boson ($`W\mathrm{}\nu `$), while the observed high $`P_T`$ hadronic final state would be produced by the fragmentation of the $`b`$ quark.

In this paper we present a search for anomalous single top production using the H1 detector. The analysis uses the data collected between 1994 and 2000 corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $`118.3`$ pb-1. The search covers the leptonic decay channel ($`W\mathrm{}\nu `$) and the hadronic decay channel ($`Wq\overline{q}^{}`$) of the $`W`$ boson that emerges from the top quark decay. Both a cut–based analysis and a multivariate likelihood analysis are performed to select top quark candidates. Another search for single top production at HERA was recently published by the ZEUS Collaboration .

## 2 Phenomenology of FCNC Top Production

A FCNC vertex involving the direct coupling of the top quark to a light quark ($`u`$ or $`c`$) and a gauge boson would lead to single top production, as illustrated in figure 1. The most general effective Lagrangian, proposed in , which describes FCNC top quark interactions involving electroweak bosons is:

$`_{eff}^{FCNC}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{U=u,c}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{ee_U}{2\mathrm{\Lambda }}}\kappa _{tU\gamma }\overline{t}\sigma _{\mu \nu }A^{\mu \nu }U`$ (1)
$`+`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{g}{2\mathrm{cos}\theta _W}}\overline{t}\left[\gamma _\mu (v_{tUZ}a_{tUZ}\gamma ^5)UZ^\mu +{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\mathrm{\Lambda }}}\kappa _{tUZ}\sigma _{\mu \nu }Z^{\mu \nu }U\right]+\text{h.c.},`$
where $`\sigma _{\mu \nu }=(i/2)[\gamma ^\mu ,\gamma ^\nu ]`$, $`\theta _W`$ is the Weinberg angle, $`e`$ and $`g`$ are the couplings to the gauge groups with $`U(1)`$ and $`SU(2)`$ symmetries, respectively, $`e_U`$ is the electric charge of up–type quarks, $`A^\mu `$ and $`Z^\mu `$ are the fields of the photon and the $`Z`$ boson and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the scale up to which the effective theory is assumed to be valid. The tensors $`A^{\mu \nu }`$ and $`Z^{\mu \nu }`$ are the field strength tensors of the photon and $`Z`$ boson fields. By convention $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is set equal to the top mass in the following. Because gauge invariance is required, only magnetic operators allow FCNC couplings of the top quark to a photon and an up–type quark $`U=u,c`$ , denoted by $`\kappa _{tU\gamma }`$, while the non–vanishing $`Z`$ mass allows both the magnetic coupling $`\kappa _{tUZ}`$ and the vector and axial vector couplings to a $`Z`$ boson and an up–type quark, denoted by $`v_{tUZ}`$ and $`a_{tUZ}`$.

In $`ep`$-collisions, due to the large $`Z`$ mass, the contribution of the $`Z`$ boson and the $`\gamma Z`$ interference are highly suppressed. Single top production is thus dominated by the $`t`$–channel exchange of a photon. Therefore $`Z`$–exchange is neglected in this analysis and only the $`\kappa _{tU\gamma }`$ couplings are considered.

In the Standard Model FCNC processes can only arise via higher order corrections and are strongly suppressed. The possibility of anomalous single top production at HERA was first investigated in , where a model was built in which $`\kappa _{tq\gamma }m_q^2`$ and therefore only the $`tc\gamma `$ coupling was relevant. In order to cover a large range of possible underlying theories, the model described by (1) allows both couplings $`\kappa _{tc\gamma }`$ and $`\kappa _{tu\gamma }`$ to be present and independent of each other. The sensitivity of HERA is much larger to the coupling $`\kappa _{tu\gamma }`$ than to $`\kappa _{tc\gamma }`$ since the $`u`$–quark density in the proton is much larger than the $`c`$–quark density at the high Bjorken $`x`$ values needed to produce top quarks. In the analysis presented in this paper only the coupling $`\kappa _{tu\gamma }`$ to the $`u`$–quark is considered.

Compared with the production of top quarks in a $`\gamma `$$`u`$ fusion process, the corresponding charge conjugate anti–top quark production in a $`\gamma `$$`\overline{u}`$ fusion process involving sea quarks is suppressed by a factor of $``$80. It is not considered in this analysis.

The simulation of the anomalous single top signal relies on an event generator (ANOTOP), which uses the leading order (LO) matrix elements of the complete $`e+qe+te+b+We+b+f+\overline{f^{}}`$ process as obtained from the CompHEP  program. The BASES/SPRING  package is used to perform the numerical integration of the amplitudes and to generate events according to the resulting differential cross section. The parton shower approach , which relies on the leading logarithmic DGLAP  evolution equations, is used to simulate QCD corrections in the initial and final states. The MRST LO parton densities are used for the proton . The parton densities are evaluated at the top mass scale. The nominal top mass is set to 175 GeV. A variation of the top mass by $`+5`$ GeV ($`5`$ GeV) induces a cross section variation of $`20\%`$ ($`+25\%`$). The cross section calculation for anomalous single top production has recently been improved by including next–to–leading order (NLO) QCD corrections . The uncertainty related to the choice of the renormalisation and factorisation scales is reduced to about 5%. These NLO QCD corrections increase the cross section by about $`17\%`$ and are taken into account as an overall correction factor to the LO calculation for the results derived in this analysis.

## 3 Standard Model Background Processes

Signatures of single top production are searched for in the leptonic and hadronic decay channels of the $`W`$ boson that emerges from the top quark decay. The relevant final state topology for the leptonic channel is an isolated lepton with high transverse momentum, at least one jet and missing transverse momentum. For the hadronic channel, the signature is three or more jets with high transverse momenta. The Standard Model processes that produce events with similar topologies and thus constitute the background for the present analysis are outlined below. Due to its small cross section, Standard Model top production is not considered in this analysis.

The Standard Model processes that produce background to the leptonic channel were investigated in detail in the context of the isolated electron and muon analyses published by the H1 Collaboration in  and are only briefly described here. The main contribution is the production of $`W`$ bosons with subsequent leptonic decay of the $`W`$. The production of the electroweak vector bosons $`W^\pm `$ is modelled using the EPVEC  generator. The NLO QCD corrections to $`W`$ production  are taken into account by weighting the events as a function of the rapidity and transverse momentum of the $`W`$ boson . Other processes can contribute to the investigated final state through misidentification of photons or hadrons as leptons or through fake missing transverse momentum due to measurement fluctuations. Processes with a genuine lepton but possible fake missing transverse momentum are lepton pair production and neutral current (NC) deep inelastic scattering. The contribution from lepton pair production, dominated by two–photon processes where one of the two produced leptons is not detected, is calculated with the GRAPE  generator. The background contribution from NC deep inelastic scattering is estimated using the RAPGAP  generator. In charged current (CC) deep inelastic scattering, the missing transverse momentum is genuine, but a hadron or a photon from the final state may be falsely identified as a lepton. This background contribution is calculated using the DJANGO  program.

For the hadronic channel the production of multi–jet events in photoproduction and NC deep inelastic scattering are the most important Standard Model backgrounds. The RAPGAP  generator is used to model multi–jet production in NC deep inelastic scattering for virtualities of the exchanged photon $`Q^2>4`$ GeV2 . Multi–jet events with photon virtualities $`Q^2<4`$ GeV2 are generated with the PYTHIA Monte Carlo program . Both generators rely on first order QCD matrix elements and use leading–log parton showers and string fragmentation . Both light and heavy quark flavours are generated. The GRV LO (GRV–G LO) parton densities  in the proton (photon) are used. The production of $`W`$ bosons and their hadronic decay are simulated using the EPVEC generator. This contribution is negligible in the present analysis.

All generated events are passed through the full GEANT  based simulation of the H1 apparatus and are reconstructed using the same program chain as for the data.

## 4 Experimental Conditions

The analysis is based on $`e^\pm p`$ collisions recorded by the H1 experiment between 1994 and 2000. At HERA electrons or positrons with an energy $`E_e`$ of 27.6 GeV collide with protons at an energy of 920 GeV, giving a centre–of–mass energy of $`\sqrt{s}=319`$ GeV. Up to 1997 the proton energy was 820 GeV, giving $`\sqrt{s}=301`$ GeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 37.0 pb-1 in $`e^+p`$ scattering at $`\sqrt{s}=301`$ GeV ($`_{301}=`$ 37.0 pb-1), together with 13.6 pb-1 in $`e^{}p`$ scattering and 67.7 pb-1 in $`e^+p`$ scattering at $`\sqrt{s}=319`$ GeV ($`_{319}=`$ 81.3 pb-1).

A detailed description of the H1 detector can be found in . Only those components essential for this analysis are briefly described here. The right handed Cartesian coordinate system used in the following has its origin at the nominal primary $`ep`$ interaction vertex. The proton direction defines the $`z`$ axis. The polar angle, $`\theta `$, and transverse momenta, $`P_T`$, are defined with respect to this axis. The region $`\theta <90^{}`$ is referred to as the “forward” region. The pseudorapidity is defined as $`\eta =\mathrm{ln}(\mathrm{tan}\frac{\theta }{2})`$.

The inner tracking system contains the central ($`25^{}<\theta <155^{}`$) and forward ($`7^{}<\theta <25^{}`$) drift chambers. It is used to measure the trajectories of charged particles and to determine the position of the interaction vertex. Particle transverse momenta are determined from the curvature of the trajectories in a solenoidal magnetic field of 1.15 Tesla.

Hadronic final state particles as well as electrons and photons are absorbed in the highly segmented liquid argon calorimeter  ($`4^{}<\theta <154^{}`$), which is 5 to 8 hadronic interaction lengths deep depending on the polar angle. It includes an electromagnetic section which is 20 to 30 radiation lengths deep. Electromagnetic shower energies are measured with a precision of $`\sigma (E)/E=12\%/\sqrt{E/\mathrm{GeV}}1\%`$, hadronic shower energies with $`\sigma (E)/E=50\%/\sqrt{E/\mathrm{GeV}}2\%`$, as determined in test beam measurements . In the backward region ($`153^{}<\theta <178^{}`$), the liquid argon calorimeter was complemented by a lead–scintillator backward electromagnetic calorimeter (BEMC) before 1995 and by a lead–scintillating fibre spaghetti calorimeter (SPACAL)  since 1995.

The calorimeter is contained within a superconducting coil and an iron return yoke, instrumented with streamer tubes, which is used as a muon detector and covers the range $`4^{}<\theta <171^{}`$. Tracks of penetrating particles, such as muons, are reconstructed from their hit pattern in the streamer tubes and are detected with an efficiency of above 90%. The instrumented iron also serves as a backing calorimeter to measure the energies of hadrons that are not fully absorbed in the liquid argon calorimeter.

In the forward direction, muons are also detected in the forward muon system, a set of drift chambers covering the range $`3^{}<\theta <17^{}`$. This detector measures the muon track momenta from their curvature in a magnetic field provided by a toroidal iron magnet.

The trigger conditions for interactions leading to high transverse energy in the final state, as expected for top quark production, are mainly based on liquid argon calorimeter signals. Events in the leptonic channel are triggered by their calorimetric missing transverse momentum. The trigger efficiency is 50% (85%) for events with a missing transverse momentum above 12 GeV (25 GeV). Events containing an electron with an energy of at least 10 GeV are triggered via the energy deposition in the electromagnetic calorimeter with an efficiency larger than 95%. Events with muons may also be triggered by a set of triggers based on signals consistent with a minimum ionising particle in the muon system in coincidence with tracks in the inner tracking system. In the hadronic channel, the triggering of events with three or more high $`P_T`$ jets is based on the scalar sum of the transverse energy deposited in the liquid argon calorimeter. For events containing three jets with transverse momenta above 25 GeV, 20 GeV and 15 GeV respectively, the trigger efficiency is close to 100%.

## 5 Search for Single Top Production in the Leptonic Channel

The decay cascade $`tbWb\mathrm{}\nu `$ yields events with a lepton, missing momentum and a jet. The search for top quarks starts with the selection of events containing a high $`P_T`$ lepton and missing transverse momentum. In these events kinematic reconstruction of potential top quark decays is performed yielding a preselected data sample which serves as the basis for the final selection of top quark candidates. To discriminate single top production from Standard Model background processes, observables characteristic of top quark decays are used in a cut–based top selection and later in a multivariate likelihood analysis.

### 5.1 Events with isolated leptons and missing transverse momentum

The search for top quark decays in the leptonic channel is based on the selection of events with high $`P_T`$ leptons and missing transverse momentum described in . Further details on this analysis can be found in . The selection yields a sample of candidates for leptonic $`W`$ boson decays. The following variables are used to characterise the events.

* $`P_T^{\mathrm{}}`$: the transverse momentum of the lepton. Electron transverse momenta are calculated using calorimetric information together with vertex information from the trackers. Muon transverse momenta are measured from the curvature of the charged track detected in the central tracker or in the forward muon detector.
* $`\theta ^{\mathrm{}}`$: the polar angle of the lepton.
* Charge of the lepton: The charge is measured from the track associated with the lepton. It is considered to be determined if the signed curvature of the track is different from zero with a measurement accuracy of better than two standard deviations. For less accurate measurements the lepton charge is labelled as “undefined”.
* $`P_T^{miss}`$: the total missing transverse momentum reconstructed from all observed final state particles.
* $`P_T^X`$: the transverse momentum of the hadronic final state. The hadronic final state, denoted by $`X`$, is reconstructed by combining energy deposits in the calorimeter and charged tracks as described in . It does not include the energy deposited by any identified leptons in the event.

The main selection criteria are the requirement that there be an electron or muon with high transverse momentum $`P_T^{\mathrm{}}>10`$ GeV in the polar angle range $`5^{}<\theta ^{\mathrm{}}<140^{}`$ and large missing transverse momentum $`P_T^{miss}>12`$ GeV as a signature of the undetected neutrino from the $`W`$ decay. The lepton is required to be isolated from neighbouring tracks or jets. The distance $`D_{track}`$ in pseudorapidity-azimuth ($`\eta `$-$`\varphi `$) space of the closest track from the lepton is required to be $`>0.5`$ and that of the nearest jet, $`D_{jet}`$, to be $`>1.0`$. In the muon channel, an additional cut on the transverse momentum of the hadronic final state, $`P_T^X>12`$ GeV, is applied. Further selection criteria are applied to suppress processes where leptons are faked or missing transverse momentum is induced by measurement fluctuations, as discussed in detail in .

In the full $`e^\pm p`$ data sample, $`19`$ events  are selected, compared with a Standard Model prediction of $`14.5\pm 2.0`$, where the latter is dominated by $`W`$ production ($`10.7\pm 1.8`$). One of the $`19`$ events was observed in $`e^{}p`$ collisions.

### 5.2 Kinematic reconstruction of the top quark decay

In order to calculate the kinematics of a top quark decay, a reliable reconstruction of both the $`b`$ quark and the neutrino from the $`W`$ decay is necessary.

Reconstruction of the $`b`$ quark
In most cases the $`b`$ quark manifests itself as a single high $`P_T`$ jet in the detector. However, gluon radiation from the $`b`$ quark can lead to final states with more than one jet. Therefore the $`b`$ quark momentum is reconstructed as the sum of the momenta of all jets found in the event. Jets are identified using an inclusive $`k_T`$ algorithm  with a minimum jet transverse momentum of $`4`$ GeV. The sum of all jets gives a better approximation to the $`b`$ quark momentum than the full hadronic final state $`X`$, since it is less sensitive to particles originating from the proton remnant.

Reconstruction of the neutrino
The transverse momentum vector of the neutrino corresponds to the vector of the total missing transverse momentum: $`\stackrel{}{P}_T^\nu =\stackrel{}{P}_T^{miss}`$. Concerning the longitudinal momentum of the neutrino, two cases are treated separately.

* Tagged events: the scattered beam electron is detected in one of the calorimeters. This is expected to be the case for 30% of single top events. In the electron channel the scattered beam electron is assumed to be the one with the lower transverse momentum, which according to the simulation is the correct choice in 95% of top events. From energy and longitudinal momentum balance we obtain

$$\left(EP_z\right)^\nu =2E_e\left(EP_z\right)^{leptons}\left(EP_z\right)^X.$$
(2)
* Untagged events: the scattered beam electron is lost in the beam pipe and therefore its longitudinal momentum is unknown. In this case a constraint is applied on the invariant mass of the lepton and the neutrino from the $`W`$ decay:

$$M_\mathrm{}\nu =\sqrt{P_{\mathrm{}}^2+P_\nu ^2+2P_{\mathrm{}}P_\nu }\sqrt{2P_{\mathrm{}}P_\nu }=M_W=80.42\text{GeV}\text{[34]},$$
(3)
where $`P_{\mathrm{}}`$ and $`P_\nu `$ denote the four–vectors of the lepton and the neutrino, respectively. The constraint on the $`W`$ mass generally yields two possible solutions for $`\left(EP_z\right)^\nu `$. If two solutions for the neutrino kinematics exist, one solution corresponds to a backward neutrino with $`\theta _{\mathrm{}}<\theta _\nu `$, where $`\theta _\nu `$ is the neutrino polar angle, while the other solution corresponds to a forward neutrino with $`\theta _{\mathrm{}}>\theta _\nu `$. The solution which is most likely according to the model for anomalous top production is chosen. It is found that in top quark decays where the charged lepton is observed at small polar angles ($`\theta _{\mathrm{}}<18^{}`$) the backward neutrino solution is favoured, while for large lepton polar angles ($`\theta _{\mathrm{}}>40^{}`$) the forward neutrino solution is favoured . In the intermediate region of the polar angle neither solution is favoured. Therefore, for $`18^{}<\theta _{\mathrm{}}<40^{}`$, the solution is selected that yields an invariant mass $`M_{\mathrm{}\nu b}`$ of the system consisting of the lepton, neutrino and $`b`$ candidate closest to the nominal top mass of $`m_t=175`$ GeV.

This neutrino reconstruction method is discussed in detail in . It has a reconstruction efficiency of 99% (95%) for simulated top events in the electron (muon) channel. The widths from Gaussian fits of the top reconstructed mass $`M_{\mathrm{}\nu b}`$ distributions obtained for simulated top decays are $`13(18)`$ GeV for the electron (muon) channel.

The kinematics of all $`19`$ isolated lepton events allow the reconstruction of a neutrino according to the above procedure. In figure 2 the invariant mass $`M_{\mathrm{}\nu b}`$ of these events is plotted against the lepton–neutrino transverse mass, defined as:

$$M_T^\mathrm{}\nu =\sqrt{(P_T^{\mathrm{}}+P_T^\nu )^2(\stackrel{}{P}_T^{\mathrm{}}+\stackrel{}{P}_T^\nu )^2},$$

where $`\stackrel{}{P}_T^{\mathrm{}}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{P}_T^\nu `$ are the transverse momentum vectors of the lepton and the neutrino respectively. For each event the measured lepton charge is also indicated. Several events are situated at large masses $`M_{\mathrm{}\nu b}`$ close to the top mass and have transverse masses $`M_T^\mathrm{}\nu `$ compatible with there being a $`W`$ boson in the event.

### 5.3 Selection of top quark decays in the leptonic channel

Top preselection
In addition to the kinematic reconstruction of the top quark decay, the lepton charge is also exploited. The decay chain $`tbW^+b\mathrm{}^+\nu _{\mathrm{}}`$ produces only positively charged leptons. The production of anti–top quarks, which would yield negatively charged leptons, is strongly suppressed, as mentioned in section 2. To reduce the contribution from processes other than FCNC top quark production, negatively charged leptons are therefore rejected. The “top preselection” thus consists of the following three steps:

* selection of isolated lepton events with missing transverse momentum;
* neutrino reconstruction;
* rejection of leptons with negative charge.

The preselected top sample contains $`9`$ electron events and $`6`$ muon events compared with an expectation from Standard Model processes of $`8.40\pm 1.06`$ and $`1.88\pm 0.32`$, respectively. For negative lepton charges, $`4`$ events are found while $`3.48\pm 0.53`$ are expected from Standard Model sources. The event yields, Standard Model predictions and selection efficiencies after each step of the top preselection are summarised in table 1.

Candidates for single top event production are searched for in the preselected top sample. Both the cut–based top selection described below and the multivariate likelihood analysis described in section 7 exploit kinematic observables that are characteristic for top quark decays.

Observables for top quark decays in the leptonic channel
The following three observables are chosen to discriminate single top production from Standard Model $`W`$ production and other Standard Model processes.

1. $`P_T^b`$: the transverse momentum of the $`b`$ candidate.
2. $`M_{\mathrm{}\nu b}`$: the invariant mass of the system consisting of the lepton, neutrino and $`b`$ candidate, which corresponds to the top quark candidate mass.
3. $`\theta _W^{\mathrm{}}`$ : the $`W`$ decay angle – defined as the angle between the charged lepton momentum in the rest frame of the $`W`$ boson and the $`W`$ direction in the rest frame of the top quark.

Distributions of the observables $`P_T^b`$ , $`M_{\mathrm{}\nu b}`$ and $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _W^{\mathrm{}}`$ are shown in figure 3 for the top preselection. Also shown are the signal distributions of simulated top events with an arbitrary normalisation. An excess of events at the highest values of $`P_T^b`$ is visible in both the electron and the muon channels. The masses $`M_{\mathrm{}\nu b}`$ for some of the electron and muon events are compatible with the top quark mass.

Cut–based top selection in the leptonic channel
Starting from the top preselected sample, the cuts that are used to select top candidates are $`P_T^b`$ $`>30`$ GeV and $`M_{\mathrm{}\nu b}`$ $`>140`$ GeV. In this cut–based selection, no restriction is imposed on $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _W^{\mathrm{}}`$ , since it does not yield an efficient separation of single top quark from Standard Model $`W`$ production, while the contribution from other Standard Model processes is already reduced to a negligible level by the $`P_T^b`$ and $`M_{\mathrm{}\nu b}`$ cuts.

In this cut–based analysis, $`3`$ electron events and $`2`$ muon events are selected as top quark candidates in the full $`e^\pm p`$ data sample. Some properties of these events are presented in table 2. The background expectation from Standard Model processes is $`0.65\pm 0.10`$ events for the electron channel and $`0.66\pm 0.12`$ for the muon channel, as summarised in table 1. The efficiency for simulated top events is $`36\%`$ ($`38\%`$) for the electron (muon) channel, taking into account the top decays where the $`W`$ boson decays via $`W\tau e(\mu )`$. Combining both channels, there are $`5`$ top quark candidates in the data for an expectation of $`1.31`$ $`\pm `$ $`0.22`$ from background processes.

The systematic uncertainties on the Standard Model prediction that are relevant for the leptonic channel are described in . They are dominated by the uncertainty of $`15`$% on the NLO cross section calculation for Standard Model $`W`$ production .

## 6 Search for Single Top Production in the Hadronic Channel

A search for single top production is also performed in the hadronic channel. The decay cascade $`tbWbq\overline{q^{}}`$ yields events with at least three jets with high transverse momenta. The main Standard Model background is the QCD production of high $`P_T`$ jets in photoproduction and neutral current deep inelastic scattering. First, a high statistics sample of multi–jet events is compared with simulations of Standard Model multi–jet production to check that the background is well understood. The search for top quarks is then performed in a multi–jet sample restricted to large transverse momenta (“top preselection”). Further details of the analysis can be found in .

### 6.1 Multi–jet events

Since only LO Monte Carlo simulations with leading–log parton showers are used to model QCD multi–jet production, these simulations may give only approximate descriptions of the shape and normalisation of kinematic distributions. Therefore, as a first step, the agreement in shape of the data and the simulations is studied using multi–jet events. The LO background simulations are normalized to the observed number of events in the data, to also account for the higher order QCD effects.

Jets are reconstructed using the inclusive $`k_T`$ algorithm based on calorimetric energy deposits combined with well measured tracks. To ensure a reliable measurement, only jets in the pseudorapidity range $`0.5<\eta ^{jet}<2.5`$ and with transverse momenta $`P_T^{jet}>4`$ GeV are considered. In order to remove electrons which are misidentified as jets, each jet is required to have either an electromagnetic energy fraction of less than 90% or a jet size larger than 0.1, where the jet size is defined to be the energy weighted average distance in the $`\eta `$$`\varphi `$ plane of the particles composing the jet from the jet axis.

Events with at least three jets with $`P_T^{jet1}>25`$ GeV, $`P_T^{jet2}>20`$ GeV and $`P_T^{jet3}>15`$ GeV are used to study the agreement between the data and the simulations. The multi–jet data sample contains 1472 events. In figure 4, distributions of various kinematic quantities are shown for these events and compared with the Standard Model predictions and a simulation of single top production. The transverse momenta of the three highest $`P_T`$ jets, the total hadronic transverse energy ($`E_T^{tot}`$), the di–jet invariant mass closest to the $`W`$ mass ($`M_{2jet}^{Wcomb}`$) and the invariant mass of all jets ($`M_{jets}`$) show good agreement with the Standard Model simulations in shape.

The appropriate overall normalisation factors for the PYTHIA and RAPGAP simulations are determined using two complementary subsamples of the multi–jet events. One subsample contains events where no electron is identified (low $`Q^2`$ sample), where the prediction is dominated by the PYTHIA simulation. The other subsample contains events with an identified electron (high $`Q^2`$ sample), in which case the prediction is dominated by the RAPGAP simulation. A normalisation factor of 1.29 is applied to the event yield predicted by PYTHIA for $`Q^2<4`$ GeV2 and a factor of 1.40 is applied to RAPGAP for $`Q^2>4`$ GeV2.

### 6.2 Selection of top quark decays in the hadronic channel

Top preselection
The search for top quarks in the hadronic channel is performed in a sample which is further restricted to the high transverse momentum region defined by $`P_T^{jet1}>40`$ GeV, $`P_T^{jet2}>30`$ GeV and $`P_T^{jet3}>15`$ GeV. Since top quarks typically deposit a large amount of transverse energy in the detector, a cut on the total hadronic transverse energy of $`E_T^{tot}>110`$ GeV is also applied. In addition, one of the jet pairings must yield an invariant mass between $`65`$ GeV and $`95`$ GeV, corresponding to a window around the nominal $`W`$ mass with a width of twice the mass resolution obtained for hadronic $`W`$ decays. These selection criteria are referred to as the top preselection in the following. In the data $`92`$ events are selected. After application of the normalisation factors, the expectation for Standard Model processes is $`92.4\pm 16.6`$. The good agreement between the data and the prediction in the top preselection indicates that the normalisation factors obtained for the multi–jet sample are also valid at high transverse momenta.

Observables for top quark decays in the hadronic channel
The observables used for the discrimination of the top signal from the QCD background are chosen in analogy to the leptonic channel (section 5.3). The jet among the three highest $`P_T`$ jets that is not used to form the $`W`$ mass is assigned to the $`b`$ quark (“$`b`$ candidate”). A study using simulated top events shows that this hypothesis correctly identifies the $`b`$ quark jet in 70% of the events. The three characteristic observables used are:

1. $`P_T^b`$: the transverse momentum of the $`b`$ candidate;
2. $`M_{jets}`$: the mass of the top quark – reconstructed as the invariant mass of all jets in the event. The width of a Gaussian fit to the mass distribution obtained for simulated top decays is $`14`$ GeV;
3. $`\theta _W^{\overline{q}}`$ : the $`W`$ decay angle – defined as the angle in the $`W`$ rest frame between the lower $`P_T`$ jet of the two jets associated to the $`W`$ decay and the $`W`$ direction in the top quark rest frame. The helicity structure of the decay implies that the lower $`P_T`$ jet corresponds to the $`\overline{q}`$ from the $`W`$ decay in most of the top events.

Distributions of these three observables are shown in figure 5 for the top preselection and are compared with the Standard Model processes and with the simulated top signal. Good agreement between the data and the Standard Model simulations is seen for all three distributions. No sign of an excess compatible with single top production is visible.

Cut–based top selection in the hadronic channel
In the hadronic channel harsher cuts need to be applied than in the leptonic channel to enhance the top signal. To select top quark candidates following the top preselection, the transverse momentum of the $`b`$ candidate has to fulfill $`P_T^b>40`$ GeV and the invariant mass of all jets has to be reconstructed in a window around the top mass given by $`150<M_{jets}<210`$ GeV. In addition, $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _W^{\overline{q}}`$ $`>0.75`$ is required. For this selection the efficiency estimated with simulated top events is $`30\%`$. The number of candidate events selected is $`18`$, compared with $`20.2\pm 3.6`$ events expected from Standard Model processes. In figure 5 the reconstructed mass $`M_{jets}`$ of the selected top quark candidates is shown. The observed data events can be accounted for by Standard Model processes.

The main experimental systematic uncertainties on the expected number of events for the top selection are due to the uncertainty in the absolute hadronic energy calibration of the calorimeter ($`\pm 4\%`$) and the measurement of the polar angles of the jets ($`\pm 20`$ mrad), leading to a total experimental uncertainty of $`11\%`$. Systematic effects due to the uncertainty in the luminosity measurement and the trigger inefficiencies are negligible. The normalisation of the Standard Model simulation is taken from the data and its uncertainty of 10% thus corresponds to the statistical uncertainty on the observed number of data events. An additional uncertainty of 10% accounts for differences between the shapes of the kinematic distributions in the data and the simulations. All uncertainties presented above are added in quadrature. The total systematic uncertainty on the expected number of events in the hadronic channel amounts to $`18\%`$.

## 7 Multivariate Likelihood Analysis

In addition to the cut–based top quark selections presented in sections 5.3 and 6.2, a multivariate analysis is performed as an alternative approach to the search for single top production. The observables used to discriminate the top signal from the Standard Model background are combined to form a single discriminator based on the relative likelihood approach as defined in .

In this framework a set of $`i`$ observables $`V=\{V_i\}`$ with the corresponding densities $`p_i^{signal}`$ and $`p_i^{background}`$, calculated from Monte Carlo samples for the signal and background respectively, are used for each event to calculate a discriminator:

$$𝒟(V)=\frac{𝒫^{signal}}{𝒫^{signal}+𝒫^{background}},\text{ where }𝒫=𝒞(V)\underset{i}{}p_i.$$

Here $`𝒞(V)`$ denotes Gaussian correction factors used to correct for correlations between the variables $`V_i`$ as explained in detail in . The discriminator $`𝒟(V)`$ is an approximation to the likelihood that an event is part of the signal rather than the background.

The variables used in this analysis are $`V=\{P_T^b,M_{\mathrm{}\nu b},\mathrm{cos}\theta _W^{\mathrm{}}\}`$ for the electron and muon channels and $`V=\{P_T^b,M_{jets},\mathrm{cos}\theta _W^{\overline{q}}\}`$ for the hadronic channel. The distributions of the discriminator variables for the signal and background processes according to the simulations and the distributions of the data events are shown in figure 6 for the electron, muon and hadronic channels. By definition, the top signal populates the region close to $`𝒟`$$`=1`$, while the Standard Model background populates the region close to $`𝒟`$$`=0`$. In both the electron and the muon channels, there are two populations in the data: one class of events that are more Standard Model–like and another class of events that are more top–like. The five top candidates selected in the cut–based analysis in section 5.3 correspond to the events with the highest likelihood $`𝒟`$$`>0.7`$. In the hadronic channel the distributions for the data events and for the QCD expectation are in good agreement. All candidates selected by the cut–based analysis in section 6.2 are situated at $`𝒟`$$`>0.35`$, but there is no evidence for any enhancement over the QCD background in this region. A comparison between the likelihood discriminator analysis and the results of the cut–based analyses (sections 5.3 and 6.2) for each channel is presented in table 3 by applying a cut on the discriminator which yields the same signal efficiency as the cut–based selection.

The probabilities for the Standard Model to fluctuate to discriminator distributions at least as unlikely as those observed in the data are evaluated using Monte Carlo experiments, following the approach proposed in . They are 0.3% for the combined electron and muon channels, 40.1% for the hadronic channel and 2.6% for the combination of all channels.

The discriminator distributions are used to quantify the possible top signal contribution in the data using a maximum–likelihood fit. A likelihood function $`L`$ is introduced as the product of Poisson probabilities of observing $`n_k`$ data events in each bin $`k`$ of the discriminator distribution:

$`L={\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{n_{\mathrm{bin}}}{}}}e^{\mu _k}{\displaystyle \frac{\mu _k^{n_k}}{n_k!}},`$ (4)
where $`\mu _k=B_k+S_k`$ is the sum of the signal contribution $`S_k`$ and expected background $`B_k`$ in bin $`k`$. The total top signal normalisation, $`S=_kS_k`$, is fitted as a free parameter, while the normalisation of the background is fixed to the Standard Model prediction. The value of $`S`$ which best matches the data can be obtained by maximising the likelihood function $`L`$, or correspondingly by minimising the negative log–likelihood function $`2\mathrm{ln}L`$. By using the factor $`2`$, the log–likelihood function corresponds to a $`\chi ^2`$ function in the Gaussian limit.

The log–likelihood functions after subtraction of the minimum values are shown in figure 7 as functions of the single top cross section for the combined electron and muon channels, the hadronic channel and the combination of all channels. The conversion of the fitted signal normalisation $`S`$ to a single top cross section at $`\sqrt{s}=319`$ GeV is done for each channel by folding in the corresponding efficiency $`ϵ_{top}`$, the top and $`W`$ branching ratio product $`_{tbW}_{Wff^{}}`$ and taking into account the integrated luminosities $`_{301}`$ and $`_{319}`$:

$$\sigma (\sqrt{s}=319\text{GeV})=\frac{S}{ϵ_{top}_{tbW}_{Wff^{}}}\frac{1}{0.70_{301}+_{319}}.$$
(5)
Here, the factor $`0.70`$ is the ratio of the cross sections at $`\sqrt{s}=301`$ GeV and $`319`$ GeV . The branching ratio for $`tbW`$ is assumed to be $`_{tbW}=100\%`$, in accordance with . The combination of the different channels is performed by adding the log–likelihood functions of the single channels. In order to propagate the systematic uncertainties related to the measurement through the signal fitting procedure, each observable affected by a systematic uncertainty is smeared according to a Gaussian distribution with a width corresponding to the size of the uncertainty. The full analysis is then repeated for a large number of values of each smeared observable. The r.m.s of the resulting distribution of shifts in the fitted cross section is taken as the corresponding systematic uncertainty. The uncertainties on the cross sections are added in quadrature for each error source. In order to include these uncertainties in the log–likelihood function, the function is approximated by a half–parabola on each side of the minimum (Gaussian approximation) and the width of the parabola is increased according to the total systematic uncertainty. As can be seen in figure 7, the impact of the systematic uncertainties is most important for the hadronic channel, while it is negligible compared with the statistical uncertainties in the leptonic channels.

## 8 Cross Sections and Limits

The log–likelihood function for the combination of the electron and muon channels in figure 7 yields a single top cross section of $`0.41_{0.19}^{+0.29}`$ pb at $`\sqrt{s}=319`$ GeV. This cross section is different from zero by more than two standard deviations and reflects the observation of the five top quark candidate events presented in section 5. For the hadronic channel the log–likelihood function in figure 7 yields a single top cross section of $`0.04_{0.23}^{+0.27}`$ pb at $`\sqrt{s}=319`$ GeV. This cross section is consistent with no top signal, in accordance with the results of the cut–based analysis reported in section 6.2. Taking into account the statistical and systematic uncertainties, the results from the hadronic channel and the combined electron and muon channels are compatible at the $`1.1\sigma `$ level. The combination of all three channels yields a single top cross section of $`0.29_{0.14}^{+0.15}`$ pb at $`\sqrt{s}=319`$ GeV. The addition of a contribution from anomalous single top production to the Standard Model background provides a good description of the data. As discussed in section 2, the cross section for anomalous top production at HERA is approximately proportional to the anomalous magnetic coupling squared, $`\sigma (epe+t+X)\kappa _{tu\gamma }^2`$. The value obtained for $`\kappa _{tu\gamma }`$ is $`0.20_{0.06}^{+0.05}`$.

In view of the small number of top candidates an upper limit on the single top production cross section is calculated. It can be directly obtained from the log–likelihood functions presented in figure 7. A one–sided exclusion limit at the 95% confidence level corresponds to an increase of 2.69 units in $`2\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{ln}L`$. The resulting upper bound on the single top cross section at $`\sqrt{s}=319`$ GeV for the combination of all analysed channels is

$$\sigma (epe+t+X,\sqrt{s}=319\mathrm{GeV})<0.55\text{pb}(95\%\text{ CL}).$$

The bound on the top cross section is translated into an upper limit on the anomalous $`tu\gamma `$ coupling of:

$$|\kappa _{tu\gamma }|<0.27(95\%\text{ CL}).$$

The limits obtained separately for the combined electron and muon channels and for the hadronic channel only are given in table 4. As a cross check, other statistical methods have also been used to derive the exclusion limits, for example a Bayesian approach with a flat prior  or likelihood–based approaches . The results are consistent within $`15\%`$.

The present limit on $`\kappa _{tu\gamma }`$ is consistent with the result obtained by the ZEUS collaboration  in the framework of the NLO QCD calculation  for anomalous single top production: $`|\kappa _{tu\gamma }|<0.17`$ (95% CL). The limits on the top quark anomalous couplings obtained by the HERA experiments can be compared with the limits obtained from the search for single top production at LEP  and from the analysis of radiative top decays by the CDF collaboration . Figure 8 represents the current status of the constraints on $`\kappa _{tu\gamma }`$ and $`v_{tuZ}`$. The limit on the anomalous coupling $`\kappa _{tu\gamma }`$ obtained in the present analysis significantly improves the CDF and LEP upper bounds if the vector coupling $`v_{tuZ}`$ is not too large. The error band on the H1 limit represents the uncertainty induced by a variation of the nominal top quark mass of $`m_t=175\text{GeV}`$ by $`\pm 5`$ GeV in the analysis. Other theoretical errors are neglected. The H1 results on single top production are not in contradiction with the limits set by other experiments.

## 9 Summary

A search for single top production is performed using the data sample collected by the H1 experiment between 1994 and 2000, corresponding to a total luminosity of 118.3 pb-1. This search is motivated by the previous observation of events containing an isolated lepton, missing transverse momentum and large hadronic transverse momentum, a topology typical of the semileptonic decay of the top quark.

In a cut–based analysis, $`5`$ events are selected as top quark candidate decays in the leptonic channel. The prediction for Standard Model processes is $`1.31`$ $`\pm `$ $`0.22`$ events. The analysis of multi–jet production at high $`P_T`$, corresponding to a search for single top production in the hadronic channel, shows good agreement with the expectation for Standard Model processes within the uncertainties.

In order to extract the top quark production cross section, a multivariate likelihood analysis is performed in addition to the cut–based analyses. The top signal contribution in each channel is determined in a maximum–likelihood fit to the likelihood discriminator distributions. The results from the hadronic channel do not rule out a single top interpretation of the candidates observed in the electron and muon channels. For the combination of the electron, muon and hadronic channels a cross section for single top production of $`\sigma =0.29_{0.14}^{+0.15}`$ pb at $`\sqrt{s}=319`$ GeV is obtained. This result is not in contradiction with limits obtained by other experiments. The addition of a contribution from a model of anomalous single top production yields a better description of the data than is obtained with the Standard Model alone.

Assuming that the small number of top candidates are the result of a statistical fluctuation, exclusion limits for the single top cross section of $`\sigma <`$ 0.55 pb at $`\sqrt{s}=319`$ GeV and for the anomalous $`tu\gamma `$ coupling of $`|\kappa _{tu\gamma }|<0.27`$ are also derived at the 95 % confidence level. The HERA bounds extend into a region of parameter space so far not covered by experiments at LEP and the TeVatron.

## Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the HERA machine group whose outstanding efforts have made this experiment possible. We thank the engineers and technicians for their work in constructing and maintaining the H1 detector, our funding agencies for financial support, the DESY technical staff for continual assistance, and the DESY directorate for support and for the hospitality which they extend to the non–DESY members of the collaboration. We thank A. S. Belyaev, P. Bock, K.–P. Diener and M. Spira for useful discussions and fruitful collaboration.


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# Results on High 𝑝_𝑇 Particle Production from the PHENIX Experiment at RHIC

## 1 Introduction

The objective of the heavy ion program at the Relativistiv Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory is to create and study a deconfined and thermalized state of strongly interacting matter, the quark-gluon plasma. In a central Au+Au collision at RHIC with a center-of-mass energy per nucleon-nucleon pair of $`\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=200\mathrm{GeV}`$ about 5000 charged particles are produced. The bulk of the particles carry rather low transverse momenta ($`p_T<2\mathrm{GeV}/c`$) with respect to the beam axis. Of particular importance for the study of nucleus-nuclues (A+A) collisions, however, is the small fraction of particles with higher transverse momentum. These particles are expected to be produced in parton-parton interactions with high momentum transfer (hard processes). In proton-proton interactions the scattered partons propagate through the normal QCD vacuum where they finally fragment into the observed, colorless hadrons. In A+A collisions the hard parton-parton scatterings take place in the early stage of the collision, before a possible quark-gluon plasma has formed. The highly-energetic scattered partons traverse the subsequently produced excited nuclear matter. As a consequence, particle production at high transverse momentum is sensitive to properties of the hot and dense matter created in A+A collisions.

## 2 High $`p_T`$ Particle Yields in p+p, d+Au and Au+Au

Neutral pions and charged particles at mid-rapidity were measured with the two central spectrometer arms of the PHENIX experiment. Each arm covers $`|\eta |0.35`$ in pseudorapidity and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi =\pi /2`$ in azimuth. Neutral pions were measured by the PHENIX electromagnetic calorimeters (EMCal) via the $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decay. The EMCal consists of six lead-scintillator and two lead-glass sectors, each located at a radial distance of about 5 m to the interaction region. The lateral segmentation of the EMCal sectors is $`\mathrm{\Delta }\eta \times \mathrm{\Delta }\varphi 0.01\times 0.01`$. The systematic uncertainty of the absolute energy scale of the EMCal is less than 1.5%. The charged particle spectrometer consists of a magnetic field which is axially symmetric around the beam axis and tracking detectors. Charged particle tracks are reconstructed with a drift chamber followed by two layers by multiwire proportional chambers with pad readout. The absolute momentum scale is known to 0.7%.

For hard parton-parton interactions with small cross section a A+A collision can be considered as a incoherent sequence of individual nucleon-nucleon collisions. Thus, in the absence of nuclear effects the yield of particles produced in hard processes is expected to scale with the average number of inelastic nucleon-nucleon collisions $`N_{\mathrm{coll}}`$. This picture of a incoherent superposition of nucleon-nucleon or parton-parton interactions breaks down for processes which yield low-$`p_T`$ particles ($`p_T<12\mathrm{GeV}/c`$). Particle production in this $`p_T`$ range is known to scale approximately with the number of participants $`N_{\mathrm{part}}`$, i.e. with the number of nucleons which underwent at least one inelastic nucleon-nucleon collision. In order to quantify nuclear medium effects on high $`p_T`$ particle production, a nuclear modification factor is defined as

$$R_{\mathrm{AB}}(p_T)=\frac{(1/N_{\mathrm{evt}}^{\mathrm{AB}})d^2N_{\mathrm{AB}}/dp_Td\eta }{T_{\mathrm{AB}}\times d^2\sigma _{\mathrm{pp}}/dp_Td\eta }=\frac{(1/N_{\mathrm{evt}}^{\mathrm{AB}})d^2N_{\mathrm{AB}}/dp_Td\eta }{N_{\mathrm{coll}}\times (1/N_{\mathrm{evt}}^{\mathrm{pp}})d^2N_{\mathrm{pp}}/dp_Td\eta }.$$
(1)
The average nuclear overlap function $`T_{\mathrm{AB}}`$ is determined solely from the geometry of the nuclei A and B and bears resemblance to the integrated luminosity of a particle collider because the average number of nucleon-nucleon collisions per A+B collision is given by $`N_{\mathrm{coll}}=\sigma _{\mathrm{inel}}^{\mathrm{pp}}\times T_{\mathrm{AB}}`$.

The invariant yields of neutral pions in p+p and central Au+Au collisions at $`\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=200\mathrm{GeV}`$ are shown in Figure 1 . The p+p spectrum is scaled by $`N_{\mathrm{coll}}`$. Compared to this reference a striking suppression of neutral pions is observed in central Au+Au collisions. The neutral pion spectrum for central Pb+Pb collisions at $`\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=17.3\mathrm{GeV}`$ is also shown for comparison .

The nuclear modification factors determined from the spectra in Figure 1 are shown in Figure 2. For Pb+Pb at $`\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=17.3\mathrm{GeV}`$ $`R_{\mathrm{AA}}`$ increases with $`p_T`$ and exceeds the $`N_{\mathrm{coll}}`$ scaling expectation for $`p_T>2\mathrm{GeV}/c`$. A similar observation was made in p+A reactions and has been called Cronin-effect. This effect is usually attributed to multiple soft nucleon-nucleon interactions which lead to a transverse momentum component of the parton-parton system before the hard scattering occurs. In view of the data from the CERN SPS the factor $`45`$ neutral pion suppression observed in central Au+Au collisions at RHIC was a dramatic discovery.

Among the various theoretical explanations for the hadron suppression in central Au+Au collisions at RHIC is (i) energy loss of the scattered partons in the medium of high color charge density (mainly gluons) created in central Au+Au collisions , (ii) saturation of gluons at small Bjorken-$`x`$ in the initial state wavefunction of the Au nuclei which leads to fewer hard gluon-gluon scatterings and thus to fewer high $`p_T`$ particles , (iii) final state scattering of high $`p_T`$ hadrons with other hadrons produced in the Au+Au collision . Explanation (i) is consistent with the creation of a quark-gluon plasma whereas (ii) and (iii) explain the observed suppression without assuming a quark-gluon plasma. Explanations like (i) which attribute the high $`p_T`$ hadron suppression in central Au+Au collision to final state effects and models which are based on initial state effects make different predictions for deuteron+gold collisions which were recently studied at RHIC. In a d+Au collision the highly excited matter is not created over a large volume and so high $`p_T`$ particle suppression is not expected in the parton energy loss scenario (i). By contrast, in the framework of the gluon saturation model high $`p_T`$ particle production ought to be suppressed in d+Au as well. The gluon saturation calculation in  predicts $`R_{\mathrm{AB}}0.70.8`$ for central d+Au collisions.

The experimental nuclear modification factors for neutral pions and charged hadrons in minimum bias d+Au collisions ($`N_{\mathrm{coll}}8.5`$) are shown in Figure 3. Neither high $`p_T`$ neutral pion nor charged hadron yields are suppressed with respect to $`N_{\mathrm{coll}}`$ scaling. The measurements therefore disfavor models like the gluon saturation model which are based on initial state effects.

## 3 Conclusions

The suppression of high $`p_T`$ particle production in central Au+Au collisions is one of the most interesting findings at RHIC. Parton energy loss, which is expected to occur in a quark-gluon plasma, is able to explain the measurements. In light of data from the d+Au beamtime at RHIC a competing theory, gluon saturation, appears as an unlikely explanation for the suppression in Au+Au.


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# ce-61: a Tidal Dwarf Galaxy in the Hercules cluster?

## References

Braine J., Duc P.-A., Lisenfeld U., et al. 2001, A&A, 378, 51

Dickey J.M. 1997, AJ, 113, 1939

Iglesias-P ramo J., van Driel W., Duc P.-A. 2003, A&A, 406, 453

van Driel W., O’Neil K., Cayatte V., et al. 2003, A&A, 399, 433


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Neutrino is an attractive tool for astrophysical investigations since interacting weakly they can escape from the source and travel large distances to the Earth without interaction and without deflection by magnetic fields. Nevertheless, due to the same property, large volume neutrino detectors are needed. ANTARES is one of the several on-going projects \[1-6\] on underwater/ice neutrino telescopes. Given the presence of AMANDA at the South Pole, a detector in the Mediterranean will allow to cover the whole sky. The ANTARES Collaboration (Astronomy with a Neutrino Telescope and Abyss environmental RESearch) was formed in 1996 and currently joins about 200 scientists and engineers from France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The project aims to detect atmospheric and extraterrestrial neutrinos with energies above $`E_\nu `$ 10 GeV by means of the detection of the Cherenkov light that is generated in water by charged particles which are produced in $`\nu N`$ interactions. After extensive R&D program the collaboration moved into construction of a detector in the Mediterranean Sea at 2400 m depth, 50 km off-shore of La Seyne sur Mer, near Toulon (4250$`^{^{}}`$ N, 610$`^{^{}}`$ E).

## 2 R&D stage

In 1996-99 an intense R&D program was performed. The deployment and recovery technologies, electronics and mechanical structures were developed and tested with more than 30 deployments of autonomous strings. The environmental properties at the detector site were investigated .

Concerning the optical backgrounds it was found that baseline 1 p.e.-counting rate of $``$60 kHz is measured by a 10$`^{^{\prime \prime }}`$ PMT. The counting rate increases during short bursts up to several MHz due to bioluminiscence. These bursts lead to a dead-time of less than 5% per each PMT. However, the long-term measurements that were performed with the so-called ’prototype string’ in 2003 (see below) showed that these rates and the burst fraction are sometimes essentially higher (Fig. 1). The experimental work to understand the differences between previous results with autonomous mooring lines and the prototype string is in progress. Perhaps, to suppress the high background harder cuts will have to be applied which will slightly increase the energy threshold without altering the detection efficiency of $`>`$100 GeV neutrino events. Light transmission loss for glass containers that house PMTs was found strong in long-term tests for up-looking surfaces. It led to the decision to turn all PMTs downward. Signal loss due to bio-fouling and sedimentation was measured to be 1.6% after 8 months at equator of glass sphere saturating with time. The optical properties of water at the experiment site were measured during several years. The effective attenuation length varies in a range 48 m $`<L_{att}<`$ 61 m while scattering length is $`L_{scatt}>`$ 200 m for blue light ($`\lambda =`$ 466 nm). Only 5% of the photons emitted by an isotropic source located 24 m from PMT are collected out of a 10 ns time window being delayed due to scattering. This allows a good time resolution needed for event reconstruction.

ANTARES R&D program culminated with deployment and 8 month operation of a 350 m length ’demonstrator string’ (November 1999 - July 2000) instrumented with 7 PMTs at a depth of 1100 m, 40 km off the coast of Marseille. The string was controlled and read out via 37 km-long electro-optical cable connected to the shore station. It allowed to test the deployment procedure with a full-scale string, positioning system and collect $``$5$``$104 seven-fold coincidences from atmospheric muons. Relative distances were measured with an accuracy of $``$5 cm and accuracy of absolute positioning was $``$1 m. The angular distribution of atmospheric muons was reproduced and the fraction of multi-muon events was found to be $``$50% which is in agreement with expectation for such a shallow depth as 1100 m.

## 3 ANTARES detector

After this R&D experience, the collaboration moved to the next stage: construction of a 12-string detector  which can be considered as a step toward a 1 km3 detector (Fig. 2). Strings are anchored at the sea floor and held taut by buoys. Each string is instrumented with 75 optical modules (OMs)  containing 10\`\` Hamamatsu R7081-20 PMTs housed in glass spheres. OMs are grouped in triplets at 25 levels separated by 14.5 m. 3 PMTs in each triplet are oriented at 45 to the nadir. Strings are separated from each other by $``$70 m. All the strings are connected to a Junction Box (JB) by means of electro-optical link cables. The JB is connected to the shore station by a 50 km length 48-fiber electro-optical cable. Undersea connections are performed with a manned submarine. PMT signals are processed by Analogue Ring Samplers ASIC which measure the arrival time and charge for 1 p.e.-pulses (99% of the pulses) and perform wave form digitization for larger amplitudes. Digitized data from each OM are sent to shore ($``$1 GB/s/detector). The data flow is reduced down to $``$1 MB/s by means of an on-shore data filter . 100 PC farm is foreseen on shore to process and collect the data. The telescope will be complemented with an instrumentation string for hydrological parameter measurements and for calibration purposes. The deployment of the detector is planned for 2004-2006.

The important milestones that have been achieved by the collaboration are:

* the electro-optical cable connecting detector and shore station was deployed in October 2001;
* the industrial production of 900 OMs started in April 2002;
* since December 2002 the JB is in communication with the shore station;
* in December 2002 and February 2003 the ’prototype instrumentation string’ and the ’prototype detection string’ (equipped with 15 OMs) were successfully deployed  (recovered in May and July, 2003, respectively);
* in March 2003 both strings were connected to JB with the Nautile manned submarine and data taking started.

The aim of the deployment and operation of two prototype strings were to test all the components of the future detectors in their final design. Mechanical problems occurred: 1 fiber for clock signal transmission was found broken and 1 connector leaked. After strings recovery it was found that these problems occurred due to manufacturers who changed design without notification. Solutions have been found for the final detector design and severe quality control will be applied.

The detailed description of ANTARES physics performance can be found in . The angular resolution of the 12-string detector (Fig. 3) is about 0.2 for $`E_\nu `$ 100 TeV where it is limited only by PMT TTS and light scattering and $``$0.5–1 at $`E_\nu `$ 0.1–10 TeV where accuracy is dominated by $`\nu \mu `$ kinematics. Energy resolution (Fig. 4) improves at high energies: dispersion of the $`\mathrm{log}_{10}(E_{rec}/E_t)`$ distribution (where $`E_t`$ is the true energy and $`E_{rec}`$ is the reconstructed energy, respectively) is around $`\sigma `$ 0.5 at $`E_\nu `$ 5 TeV and $`\sigma `$ 0.3 for $`E_\nu `$ 100 TeV. Effective area for muons grows from $`A_{eff}=`$ 0.01 km2 at $`E_\nu =`$ 1 TeV to $`A_{eff}=`$ 0.06 km2 at $`E_\nu =`$ 10 PeV. The sensitivity of the detector to diffuse neutrino fluxes achieved by rejecting the background with an energy cut of $`E_{cut}=`$ 50 GeV allows to reach Waxmann & Bahcall limit  in 3 years. The ANTARES sensitivity for point-like source searches (90% C.L.) assuming $`E^2`$ differential $`\nu `$ flux is in the range 4$`÷`$50$``$10-16 cm-2 s-1 after 1 yr which gives a real hope to detect a signal from the most promising sources (e.g., galactic microquasars ). The ANTARES potential for WIMP searches is high enough to improve existing experimental upper limits on $`\nu `$-induced muon fluxes from neutralino annihilation in the Sun and on relativistic magnetic monopole flux obtained by other detectors by an order of magnitude.

## 4 Conclusions

The construction of the ANTARES detector is underway. It is planned to be fully deployed and start to take data by the end of 2006. Calculations based on the data on environmental conditions at the experiment site and on studied properties of electronic components shows that predicted sensitivity of the detector to diffuse neutrino fluxes, point-like neutrino searches and WIMP searches is better by several orders of magnitude compared to data published by other experimental groups. The deployment of the ANTARES neutrino telescope can be considered as a step toward the deployment of a 1 km3 detector in the Mediterranean Sea.

The ANTARES Collaboration:

J. A. Aguilar1, H. Alleyne2, F. Ameli3, P. Amram4, M. Anghinolfi5, G. Anton6, S. Anvar7, F. E. Ardellier-Desages7, E. Aslanides8, J.-J. Aubert8, M. Battaglieri5, Y. Becherini9, R. Bellotti10, J. Beltramelli7, Y. Benhammou11, A. Bersani5, V. Bertin8, M. Billault8, R. Blaes11, F. Blanc12, J. Boulesteix4, M. C. Bouwhuis13, S. M. Bradbury14, J. Brünner8, R. Bruyn13, F. Bugeon7, F. Burgio15, F. Cafagna10, A. Calzas8, A. Capone3, L. Caponetto15, E. Carmona1, J. Carr8, S. L. Cartwright2, S. Cecchini9, P. Charvis16, M. Circella10, E. M. Clarke2, C. M. M. Colnard13, C. Compére17, P. Coyle8, J. Croquette17, S. Cuneo5, G. Damy17, M. Danilov18, R. van Dantzig13, C. De Marzo10, A. Deschamps16, J.-J. Destelle8, R. De Vita5, B. Dinkelspiler8, J.-F. Drougou19, F. Druillole7, J. Engelen13, S. Favard8, F. Feinstein8, C. Ferdi11, S. Ferry20, D. Festy17, J.-L. Fuda12, J.-M. Gallone20, G. Giacomelli9, P. Goret7, M. Godo6, G. Hallewell8, B. Hartmann6, A. Heijboer13, E. Heine13, Y. Hello16, J. J. Hernández-Rey1, G. Herrouin19, J. Hoessl6, C. Hoffmann20, J. J. Hogenbirk13, M. Jaquet8, F. Jouvenot7, M. de Jong13, T. Karg6, A. Kappes6, S. Karkar8, U. Katz6, P. Keller8, E. Kok13, P. Kooijman13, E. V. Korolkova2, A. Kouchner21,7, W. Kretschmer6, A. H. Kruijer13, V. A. Kudryavtsev2, P. Lagier8, P. Lamare7, J.-C. Languillat7, L. Laubier12, T. Legou8, Y. Le Guen17, H. Le Provost7, A. Le Van Suu8, L. Lo Nigro15, D. Lo Presti15, S. Loucatos7, F. Louis7, V. Lyashuk18, M. Marcelin4, A. Margiotta9, C. Maron16, A. Massol19, R. Masullo3, F. Mazéas17, A. Mazure4, J. E. McMillan2, J.-L. Michel19, E. Migneco22, C. Millot12, A. Milovanovic14, T. Montaruli10, J.-P. Morel17, D. Morgan2, L. Moscoso7, M. Musumeci22, C. Naumann6, V. Niess8, G.-L. Nooren13, C. Olivetto20, N. Palanque-Delabrouille7, R. Papaleo22, P. Payre8, H. Z. Peek13, C. Petta15, P. Piattelli22, J.-P. Pineau20, V. Popa9,23, T. Pradier20, C. Racca20, G. Raia22, N. Randazzo15, D. Real1, B. A. P. van Rens13, F. Réthoré8, G. Riccobene22, M. Ripani5, V. Roca-Blay1, J.-F. Rollin17, A. Romeyer7, M. Romita10, H. J. Rose14, A. Rostovtsev18, G. V. Russo15, Y. Sacquin7, E. Salusti3, S. Saouter7, J.-P. Schuller7,3, I. Sokalski10, N. J. C. Spooner2, M. Spurio9, T. Stolarczyk7, D. Stubert11, F. Sukowski6, O. Suvorova11, M. Taiuti5, L. F. Thompson2, A. Usik18, P. Valdy19, V. Valente3, B. Vallage7, I. Varlamov18, G. Vaudaine1, G. M. Venekamp13, P. Vernin7, J. Virieux16, E. Vladimirsky18, G. de Vries13, R. F. van Wijk13, E. Winstanley2, P. de Witt Huberts13, E. de Wolf13, K. Yearby2, D. Zaborov18, H. Zaccone7, V. Zakharov18, S. Zavatarelli5, J. de D. Zornoza1, J. Zúñiga1

1 \- IFIC, Edificios Investigación de Paterna, CSIC, Universitat de València, Apdo. de Correos 22085, 46071 Valéncia, Spain; 2 \- University of Sheffield, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Hicks Building, Hounsfield Road, Sheffield S3 7RH, United Kingdom; 3 \- Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Università ”La Sapienza” e Sezione INFN, P.le Aldo Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy; 4 \- LAM, CNRS/INSU, Université de Provence Aix-Marseille I, Traverse du Siphon – Les Trois Lucs, BP 8, 13012 Marseille Cedex 12, France; 5 \- Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Università e Sezione INFN, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova, Italy; 6 \- Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Physikalisches Institut, Erwin-Rommel-Str. 1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany; 7 \- DSM/DAPNIA, CEA/Saclay, 91191 Gif Sur Yvette Cedex, France; 8 \- CPPM, CNRS/IN2P3 Université de la Méditerranée Aix-Marseille II, 163 Avenue de Luminy, Case 907, 13288 Marseille Cedex 9, France; 9 \- Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Università e Sezione INFN, Viale Berti Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy; 10 \- Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica e Sezione INFN, Via E. Orabona 4, 70126 Bari, Italy; 11 \- GRPHE, Université de Haute Alsace, 61 Rue Albert Camus, 68093 Mulhouse Cedex, France; 12 \- COM, CNRS/INSU Université de la Méditerranée Aix-Marseille II, Rue de la Batterie des Lions, 13007 Marseille, France; 13 \- NIKHEF, Kruislaan 409, 1009 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands; 14 \- University of Leeds, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom; 15 \- Dipartimento di Fisica ed Astronomia dell’Università e Sezione INFN, 57 Corso Italia, 95129 Catania, Italy; 16 \- UMR GéoScience Azur, Observatoire Ocánologique de Villefranche, BP48, Port de la Darse, 06235 Villefranche-sur-Mer Cedex, France; 17 \- IFREMER (Brest), BP 70, 29280 Plouzané, France; 18 \- ITEP, B. Cheremushkinskaya 25, 117259 Moscow, Russia; 19 \- IFREMER (Toulon/La Seyne Sur Mer), Port Brégaillon, Chemin Jean-Marie Fritz, 83500 La Seyne Sur Mer, France; 20 \- IReS (CNRS/IN2P3), Université Louis Pasteur, BP 28, 67037 Strasbourg Cedex 2, France; 21 \- Université Paris VII, Laboratoire APC, 4 place Jussieu, Tour 33, Rez de chausse 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France; 22 \- INFN – LNS, Via S. Sofia 44, 95123 Catania, Italy; 23 \- ISS, 76900 Bucharest, Romania.

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# Validity of numerical trajectories in the synchronization transition of complex systems

## Abstract

We investigate the relationship between the loss of synchronization and the onset of shadowing breakdown via unstable dimension variability in complex systems. In the neighborhood of the critical transition to strongly non-hyperbolic behavior, the system undergoes on-off intermittency with respect to the synchronization state. There are potentially severe consequences of these facts on the validity of the computer-generated trajectories obtained from dynamical systems whose synchronization manifolds share the same non-hyperbolic properties.

There is a steadfast interest in spatially extended dynamical systems, as coupled map lattices, in which both space and time are discrete variables, due to their various physical and biological applications kaneko . Complete or identical synchronization (CS) occurs when all the coupled maps have the same value for their dynamical variables kurthsbook . Weakly coupled maps are not usually identically synchronized, but as the coupling strength increases they can reach CS. The approach to this state occurs in an intermittent fashion, alternating quiescent states of synchronized behavior with irregular bursts pecora . As the average duration of these quiescent states tends to infinity, we attain a CS state. The onset of the transition from CS to intermittent synchronization indicates that the dynamics of the synchronized state ceases to be hyperbolic through a mechanism called unstable dimension variability (UDV) udv .

A dynamical system whose invariant set (like a chaotic attractor) exhibits UDV fails to have the splitting between stable and unstable manifolds which is consistent with the dynamics. The consequences of UDV are potentially dangerous from the point of view of the reliability of the numerical trajectories one gets from the dynamical system sauer . A computer-generated chaotic trajectory is unavoidably subjected to one-step errors caused by using finite-precision arithmetics, which makes the noisy trajectory to exponentially diverge from the true chaotic orbit it is intended to represent . However, when the dynamical system presents the shadowing property, there exists a true chaotic trajectory which stays uniformly close to the numerical trajectory for a certain time interval shadows . This shadowing trajectory may not be that particular orbit we have been looking for, but for many purposes - as when computing statistical quantities - they can be equally useful kurths .

In this communication, we aim to harness the connection between the intermittent transition from CS and the shadowing breakdown induced by UDV, so as to explain the intermittency features from the statistical properties of the appropriate finite-time Lyapunov exponents. Moreover, if the shadowing breakdown is so severe that we could not find a true chaotic trajectory that stays close to the numerical trajectories we generate, the latter have their validity compromised. As we will see, this will be typically the case in the transitional regime from CS. Previous papers lai99  have dealt with shadowing breakdown via UDV in lattices of maps and oscillators with local coupling. On the other hand, the present work deals with non-locally coupled maps, for which a transition to CS is observed as the effective coupling range is varied, from a global to a local interaction form betax .

We examine a one-dimensional chain of $`N`$ coupled chaotic logistic maps at the outer crisis, $`xf(x)=4x(1x)`$, where $`x_n^{(i)}[0,1]`$ represents the state variable for the site $`i`$ $`(i=1,2,\mathrm{}N)`$ at time $`n`$, with a coupling prescription in which the interaction strength between sites decays in a power-law fashion with the lattice distance sandro

$$x_{n+1}^{(i)}=(1ϵ)f(x_n^{(i)})+\frac{ϵ}{\eta (\alpha )}\underset{j=1}{\overset{N^{}}{}}\frac{f(x_n^{(i+j)})+f(x_n^{(ij)})}{j^\alpha }$$
(1)
where $`0ϵ1`$ and $`\alpha 0`$ are the coupling strength and effective range, respectively, and $`\eta (\alpha )=2_{j=1}^N^{}j^\alpha `$, with $`N^{}=(N1)/2`$, for $`N`$ odd. This coupling prescription allows one to pass continuously from a local Laplacian-type coupling (when $`\alpha \mathrm{}`$), to a global “mean-field” coupling ($`\alpha =0`$). Periodic boundary conditions and random initial conditions are assumed.

A numerical diagnostic of CS is provided by the order parameter

$$z_n=R_n\mathrm{exp}\left(2\pi i\phi _n\right)\frac{1}{N}\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}\mathrm{exp}(2\pi ix_n^{(j)}),$$
(2)
where $`R_n`$ and $`\phi _n`$ are the amplitude and angle, respectively, of a centroid phase vector, for a one-dimensional chain with periodic boundary conditions sandro . A time-averaged amplitude $`\overline{R}`$ is computed over an interval large enough to warrant that the asymptotic state has been achieved by the lattice. A CS state implies $`\overline{R}=1`$, for all the phase vectors gyrate together with the same phase. When the maps are completely non-synchronized, on the other hand, we get a pattern in which the site amplitudes $`x_n^{(j)}`$ are so spatially uncorrelated that they may be considered essentially as random variables, such that $`\overline{R}`$ vanishes.

Figure 1 represents a portion of the coupling parameter plane (strength versus effective range) exhibiting regions for which the coupled maps have (i) synchronized chaotic orbits (CS); (ii) a transitional regime where CS is eventually attained after a transient characterized by intermittent bursts of non-synchronized behavior; and (iii) completely non-synchronized orbits. These regions are bounded by the curves $`ϵ^{}(\alpha )`$ and $`ϵ_c(\alpha )`$. The former correspond to the values of $`ϵ^{}`$ and $`\alpha `$ for which the average order parameter magnitude $`\overline{R}`$ ceases to be equal to the unity. The latter curve was computed by means of the finite-time Lyapunov exponents, as will be explained later on in this communication.

Let us fix the effective range parameter at an intermediate value, say $`\alpha =0.4`$, and decrease the coupling strength $`ϵ`$ from its maximum value, $`1.0`$, to zero. For $`ϵ`$ large enough we have $`\overline{R}=1`$, or a chaotic CS state. When $`ϵ=ϵ_c(0.4)0.69`$ this CS state starts to be interrupted by intermittent bursts of non-synchronized behavior, but eventually the stationary CS state is achieved again. The bursting becomes more frequent as the coupling strength is further decreased and, at $`ϵ=ϵ^{}(0.4)0.57`$, the order parameter vanishes and the lattice becomes completely non-synchronized, never to return to a CS state again. Hence, the interval $`ϵ_c<ϵ<ϵ^{}`$ characterizes a transition region for which the intermittent bursting is a transient phenomenon.

This scenario is robust and present for a wide portion of the coupling parameter plane. As we increase the value of the effective range parameter $`\alpha `$ from zero, it turns out that the interval characterizing a transition region is pushed towards higher values of the coupling strength $`ϵ`$. We can understand this fact since the higher the effective range $`\alpha `$ is, the closer we are to a locally coupled lattice, in which only the nearest neighbors contribute in a significant way, such that it becomes increasingly more difficult to have a stationary CS. We call $`\alpha _c0.940`$ the range parameter value for which the first critical curve reaches the upper limit given by $`ϵ_c(\alpha _c)=1`$. Accordingly, $`\alpha ^{}1.146`$ is the value where the second critical curve is such that $`ϵ^{}(\alpha ^{})=1`$. Hence, for $`\alpha >\alpha ^{}`$, we will not observe a stationary CS state, irrespective of how strong the coupling may be, i.e. the intermittent bursting continues for an arbitrarily long time.

Near the second critical curve in Fig. 1 the average duration of the laminar regions obeys a power-law scaling $`<\tau >(\alpha \alpha ^{})^\gamma `$, when $`\alpha \alpha _{}^{}{}_{}{}^{}`$, and with $`\gamma =1/2`$ within the numerical accuracy. This suggests that the transition to synchronization occurs through a crisis pikowsky . The rationale for this analogy identifies a burst between laminar regions as a chaotic transient resulting from the collision of a chaotic attractor with an unstable periodic orbit. The average chaotic transient length in one-dimensional maps, like the logistic map $`f(x)=ax(1x)`$ at $`a=4`$, obeys an identical scaling and with the same critical exponent crise . This crisis is mediated through an unstable-unstable pair bifurcation at those points at which there is such a collision viana .

Another distinctive feature of the intermittent transition to synchronization is the universal character of the statistical distribution of the laminar regions. In Figure 2 we present a histogram for the number of the laminar regions with respect to their lengths. Two different regimes are highlighted in the insets: for small laminar regions the histogram is well fitted by a power-law $`\tau ^\varpi `$, with $`\varpi 1.5`$; whereas the scaling is exponential $`e^{\kappa \tau }`$ for large intervals, with $`\kappa 10^3`$. The presence of the $`3/2`$-scaling plus the exponential decay shows that the intermittent transition to CS is of the on-off type heagy . We note that, in the neighborhood of the unstable-unstable pair bifurcation which mediates the crisis, a given map of the lattice chain receives random kicks through the coupling with its neighbors. These kicks, in the vicinity of the bifurcation point, are responsible for the observed on-off intermittency. In fact, the existence of two distinct scalings in Fig. 2 with a shoulder indicates the presence of noise in the on-off intermittent scenario, with a crossover time related to the noise level onoff2 .

In the transition region, trajectories off but very near the synchronization manifold experience intermittent bursting, such that numerical diagnostics using an insufficiently large time interval could erroneously point out CS chansong . On the other hand, this intermittent bursting is directly related to the shadowing breakdown of chaotic trajectories in the synchronization manifold of the coupled map lattice $`x_n^1=\mathrm{}=x_n^N`$ pinto . The intermittent transition to CS initiates through an unstable-unstable pair bifurcation occurring on the synchronization manifold. The unstable periodic orbit undergoing this bifurcation, and all its infinite pre-images, increase their unstable dimension by one unit. Since there remains an infinitely large number of periodic orbits that did not undergo this increase, the synchronization manifold fails to be hyperbolic through unstable dimension variability viana .

This violates one of the mathematical requirements for hyperbolicity and shadowing, which is the continuous splitting of stable and unstable invariant subspaces along the attractor udv . If we start off but very near the synchronization manifold, after it has lost hyperbolicity through UDV, the corresponding trajectory approaches unstable orbits with different unstable dimensions. As a result, there are both time intervals for which the trajectory is, on average, approaching the manifold, and other intervals for which it is repelled, also on average. This behavior is quantified by the largest finite-time transversal Lyapunov exponent, $`\lambda _2(n)`$ betax . If it is negative (positive) a trajectory close to the CS state will be attracted (repelled) on average from it. The presence of UDV generates random fluctuations of $`\lambda _2(n)`$ around zero, in such a way that we can study its statistical distribution kostelich .

We get a numerical approximation for the probability distribution of this exponent, denoted as $`P(\lambda _2(n))`$, by considering a large number of trajectories of length $`n`$ from initial conditions randomly chosen in the synchronization manifold. In Figure 3, we show some distributions of time-$`50`$ exponents, obtained for different values of the effective range $`\alpha `$, which here plays the role of a bifurcation parameter. The critical value for the onset of UDV is also the onset of intermittent transition to CS, at $`\alpha =\alpha _c`$, where an unstable-unstable pair bifurcation occurs. Numerically the onset of UDV was estimated through computing the value of $`\alpha `$ for which the fraction of positive finite-time Lyapunov exponents, $`\varphi (n)=_0^{\mathrm{}}P(\lambda _2(n))𝑑\lambda _2`$, becomes non-zero, yielding the points on the curve $`ϵ_c(\alpha )`$ depicted in Figure 1. Hence, for $`\alpha <\alpha _c`$, no shadowing breakdown via UDV is expected, and the chaotic synchronized trajectories obtained through the numerical solution of Eq. (1) are expected to be shadowed over a longer time interval shadows , but which may be enough for practical purposes (e.g., when computing dimensions and entropies).

The shape of the probability distributions in Fig. 3 is Gaussian-like, with different variances $`\sigma ^2`$, according to the value which $`\alpha `$ takes on. The Gaussian nature of $`P(\lambda _2(n))`$ is already expected on general grounds kostelich , and the distribution as a whole drifts toward positive values of $`\lambda _2(n)`$, as $`\alpha `$ increases. When $`\alpha =\alpha ^{}`$ the average $`<\lambda _2(n)>`$ crosses zero and have a maximum UDV (Fig. 4) since, at this point, $`<\lambda _2(n)>`$ equals the infinite-time limit of $`\lambda _2(n)`$, and UDV is more intense as the average of the time-n distribution crosses zero. This means that there are counterbalancing contributions from the negative and positive finite-time exponents, as illustrated by the distribution for $`\alpha =1.14834\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{>}{}\alpha ^{}`$ shown in Fig. 3. The point at which $`<\lambda _2(n)>=0`$ also marks the loss of transversal stability of the synchronization manifold, or a blowout bifurcation ott . Accordingly, the points on the curve $`ϵ^{}(\alpha )`$ (Fig. 1) were also computed by imposing that $`<\lambda _2(n)>=0`$, which furnished the same results as those obtained with help of the order parameter $`\overline{R}`$, thus confirming the relationship between the loss of synchronization and the shadowing breakdown via UDV.

In the vicinity of the point $`\alpha =\alpha ^{}`$ the shadowing times can be very short, and the validity of the computed numerical trajectories is doubtful. There results the time-$`n`$ exponents (with $`n`$ greater than the shadowing time), may suffer from similar shadowability problems, when taking individually, as the chaotic trajectories themselves. However, in terms of the numerical diagnostics of UDV, we are actually interested in statistical properties of the time-$`n`$ exponents, as their averages and variances. The former yields the point where UDV is the most intense, through a blowout instability, whereas the latter can be used to estimate shadowing times sauer . On the other hand, in some physically relevant cases, statistical quantities like these have been found to be meaningful despite unstable dimension variability kurt .

For $`\alpha >\alpha ^{}`$, the relative number of positive time-n exponents increases and we progressively return to a situation where UDV is less pronounced, and better shadowing properties are expected. For example, when $`\alpha =2.5`$, Fig. 3 indicates that almost all time-n exponents are positive. This means that, even though the lattice trajectories are far from being CS, they are nonetheless better shadowed than before. Figure 4 also depicts the variance of the distributions, showing that it is roughly constant until $`\alpha `$ reaches the blowout value $`\alpha ^{}`$, after that the distribution broadens up and the variance increases.

In conclusion, we present numerical evidence that the intermittent transition to complete synchronization in a coupled map lattice is followed by a strong violation of hyperbolicity in the synchronization manifold. This breakdown begins with an unstable-unstable pair bifurcation, through which an unstable periodic orbit and all its pre-images embedded in the synchronization manifold lose transversal stability. This is the typical way in which invariant manifolds lose transversal stability in riddling-blowout bifurcation sequences. As a consequence of having been left with an infinite number of transversely stable orbits, the dimension of the unstable subspace varies from point to point along the synchronization manifold. There are severe consequences from the point of view of the validity of numerical trajectories obtained by computer simulation of high-dimensional extended systems, from which a coupled logistic map lattice has been chosen as a fundamental and representative example. The numerical trajectories may lose their validity, since they are no longer shadowed by true chaotic orbits for a reasonable time. The shadowing properties become worse as we approach the point whereby the synchronization manifold loses transversal stability. The statistical properties of transverse finite-time Lyapunov exponents indicate that both the completely synchronized and completely unsynchronized maps have adequate shadowing properties, and the validity of numerical results within those realms is fairly well established. The shadowing problems occur just at the transitional regime, where laminar regions of chaotic synchronized behavior coexist with irregular bursts of non-synchronized activity. While our discussion was based on a specific coupled map lattice, the general features obtained here are rather typical for complex systems presenting regular and chaotic behavior in space and time. The connection between shadowing breakdown and intermittent transition to complete synchronization identified in this work is a common feature of complex systems.

This work was made possible through partial financial support from the following Brazilian research agencies: FAPESP, CNPq, CAPES, and Fundação Araucária. C.G. was also supported by A. V. Humboldt Foundation.