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# Sub-mm observations and modelling of Vega type stars

## 1 Introduction

In 1983, the IRAS satellite detected a large infrared excess from Vega ($`\alpha `$ Lyr) during a routine calibration observation (Aumann et al. 1984). Soon, a similar excess was detected from three more stars ($`\beta `$ Pic, Fomalhaut and $`ϵ`$ Eri). The excess could only be explained by a shell or ring of dust, heated to between 50 and 125 K by the central star. Quite by accident, IRAS had uncovered the first examples of solid material orbiting a normal main sequence star other that our own Sun.

The four stars mentioned above have become the prototypes for the ‘Vega excess’ phenomenon (Backman & Paresce 1993; Lagrange, Backman & Artymowicz 2000). A systematic study of the IRAS all-sky survey shows that around 15 per cent of all main-sequence stars have an IR excess due to circumstellar dust (Dominik & The Hjhvega Consortium 1997; Fajardo-Acosta et al. 1999). Coronographic and sub-mm imaging has shown the dust is typically in a ring or disk geometry (Smith & Terrile 1984; Holland et al. 1998) and that these systems have much in common with our own solar system, i.e. solid material in stable coplanar orbits distributed within a region roughly the size of the Kuiper belt.

Though the Vega phenomenon is common, the poor resolution of current far-IR and sub-mm instruments means that few Vega excess stars are close enough to be resolved. For the cases where the disks are resolved, detailed analysis using realistic models for the optical properties and size distribution of the dust can be performed. This type of work has been attempted for $`\beta `$ Pic (Li & Greenberg 1998a), HR4796 (Augereau et al. 1999b; Li & Lunine 2003a) and Fomalhaut (Wyatt & Dent 2002). These models use the observed spatial distribution of dust, and fit the SED by varying the dust composition and size distribution. However, as these objects have been analysed on a case-by-case basis, different models and assumptions are used, which makes it somewhat difficult to make direct comparisons. In addition, there are so few resolved targets that it is impossible to look for statistical trends between disk size, age, stellar mass, etc. However, there are many unresolved targets with good SED information, and new instruments such as SIRTF and SOFIA will produce many more such objects. A method which could retrieve the physical parameters of a disk from just its SED would be invaluable. To accomplish this, the detailed properties of the dust grains in Vega excess disks must be fully understood.

We have tried to tackle these problems in two ways. Firstly, we have made sub-mm photometric observations of Vega excess stars, to help constrain their SEDs. Secondly, we have attempted to model all known Vega excess stars with sub-mm data, using a consistent model with realistic dust grains. This allows us to directly compare the results of modelling for resolved targets, and use the knowledge of dust grain size and composition gained to estimate the disk size for the unresolved targets.

## 2 Observations

Sub-mm observations were made using the SCUBA bolometer array on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. The observations were made as part of several different observing programmes, and hence data was obtained in different observing modes. In addition, we have reduced unpublished archive observations of suspected Vega-excess stars to enlarge our sample. The observations are summarised in Table 1.

SCUBA can be used in two ways, either for photometry or for mapping. The distinction arises because the bolometers are spaced too widely to fully sample the image at the focal plane. Therefore in mapping mode, the moving secondary mirror is used to add slight offsets to the telescope pointing, and hence fill in the gaps in the map. Whilst this is ideal for extended sources, for an observation of an unresolved object a lot of time is spent where no bolometer can see the source. To prevent wasting observation time in this way photometry mode can be used, which does not attempt to make a fully sampled map. In this mode, the central bolometer is always on source, and hence the observation will be more sensitive. The disadvantage is that a fully sampled map is not produced, so if the object is resolved the measured flux will underestimate the true flux. This mode should therefore only be used if the target is known to be point-like. Although a full jiggle map is not used in this mode, a small 9-point map is used to prevent small pointing errors from affecting the measurement.

For some of the observations an extended photometry mode was used, which used a 9-point map with a spacing of 5 arcsec between each point, instead of the normal 2 arcsec spacing. The aim of this was to ensure that the true flux was measured even if the source was marginally resolved, whilst retaining most of the sensitivity advantage of photometry mode. Also, some data was taken using a 12-point pattern, with four points at the centre and eight points arranged around the central position, at a distance of 7 arcsec. Data from these extended photometry modes were reduced in exactly the same way as the conventional photometry.

## 3 Data reduction

### 3.1 Photometry data

Photometry data were reduced using the surf package. After combining the positive and negative beams, the data were flat-fielded and corrected for atmospheric extinction, estimated using a polynomial fit to the CSO 225 GHz opacity monitor and the relations in Archibald, Wagg & Jenness (2000). Residual sky emission was estimated using bolometers well separated from the source, and this signal was subtracted from the data. The sky bolometers were those in rings 2 and 3 (30 bolometers in total), and their median was taken as the average sky signal. The signal from the central bolometer was then despiked using a 4 sigma cut.

Calibration sources were observed and reduced in exactly the same way as the targets. If a planet was used as a calibrator, the fluxes package was used to estimate the flux and a correction was made for the loss of flux because the object was resolved. For the observations taken with the extended photometry mode, all of the calibration sources were point-like (i.e. secondary calibrators, not planets). Thus the final photometry is derived under the assumption that the emission is point-like and centred on the star. If a target is extended (i.e. marginally resolved) or is offset from the position of the star, then observations in photometry mode will underestimate the true flux, by an amount shown in Table 3. As expected, the extended photometry modes are less affected than the conventional photometry mode.

### 3.2 Maps

Map data was reduced using custom data reduction software written in IDL. This system is similar to that developed to reduce data for the 8-mJy extragalactic survey (Scott et al. 2002). This method is preferred over the surf software because the residual sky emission is removed more effectively (a plane is fitted to the residual emission, rather than a constant), and the ‘zero footprint’ rebinning method produces a map where each pixel is an independent measurement, which makes subsequent analysis much simpler. Source flux was measured by fitting an elliptical Gaussian to the source. To ensure that the software was reliable, surf was used to reduce several sources, and the results from the two reduction systems were compared to ensure that any differences were well within the errors.

Calibration was done by calculating the flux conversion factor from the peak flux of a Gaussian fit to calibration sources. Using the peak signal rather than the integrated signal means that the measurement is sensitive to changes in the beam shape (Dunne & Eales 2001), but this approach was necessary as most of the calibration sources were secondary calibrators, and only the peak signal is well determined for these sources.

## 4 Results

The results of the sub-mm observations are shown in Table 4. For objects with multiple observations, the flux given is the weighted mean of all the data. Of the 15 objects observed, 7 were not detected, 4 were detected at 850 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ and 450 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$, and 4 were detected at 850 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ only.

Most of the objects have not been observed in the sub-mm before, but for objects with existing observations, the new data were checked for consistency with the old results. HD34282 and HD35187 have both been observed with UKT14 (Sylvester et al. 1996): HD34282 had a flux of $`1.3\pm 0.3`$ Jy at 400 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ and $`0.409\pm 0.027`$ Jy at 800 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$, HD35187 had a flux of $`0.115\pm 0.022`$ Jy at 800 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$. The discrepancy between these fluxes and the new data is small (2 sigma), however similar discrepancies have been found in other comparisons of UKT14 and SCUBA data (e.g. Sylvester et al. 2001). This may be due to calibration errors in the original data.

For the purposes of this paper, the extended photometry observations have been reduced in exactly the same way as conventional photometry, so the result of the data reduction is just the total flux. However, the data also contains some spatial information, and more complicated reduction will give some indication of the size of the disk as well as its flux. This will be tackled in subsequent paper (Wyatt et al., in preparation).

One of the advantages of SCUBA observations is that they can confirm the IRAS excess is associated with the star, and not simply a background source (i.e. a galaxy or galactic cirrus). Contamination by background sources is a significant problem, and follow up observations are important to confirm that the IRAS associations are real. Certainly, not all IRAS associations are real, as demonstrated by observations of 55 Cnc (Jayawardhana et al. 2002) and HD155826 (Lisse et al. 2002). SCUBA is a useful tool for confirming associations because it gives source positions which are significantly more accurate than those from IRAS. IRAS detections have a typical positional uncertainty of about 16 arcsec in the cross-scan direction and 3 arcsec in the in-scan direction (Beichman et al. 1988). In map mode, SCUBA positional uncertainties are about 2 arcsec for bright sources, limited only by the pointing accuracy of the dish. In photometry mode, the positional accuracy is determined by the size of the beam (FWHM of 14 arcsec) so these observations are less useful for this purpose. From our sample, one object was rejected on the basis of it’s sub-mm position: HD123160 was a strong SCUBA detection, but the source seemed to be offset from the stellar position by about 10 arcsec. In addition, this star is now thought to be a distant class III giant (Kalas et al. 2002), and there is evidence of several galaxies in the optical DSS survey image. This indicates that the IRAS source is probably a background galaxy.

SCUBA is also sensitive to background galaxies, and so there is a possibility that a background galaxy could fall into the beam of the observations and cause a spurious detection. The chances of this happening depend on the limiting flux of the observations (as there are many more faint galaxies than bright ones) and the size of the beam. The extended photometry mode is therefore more susceptible to this problem, as it is sensitive to sources over $`2`$ times more area than conventional photometry. The tentative detection of HD38393 has the highest probability of being due to a background galaxy, as the source is extremely faint and the observations were taken in extended photometry mode. This possibility is discussed further in Section 6.8.

The mass of the disks was estimated from the 850 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ flux, using a dust temperature determined from the peak of the dust emission SED, and this is shown in Table 4. We set the mass absorption coefficient $`\kappa =1.7`$ cm2 g-1 at 850 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ for consistency with previous work (e.g. Zuckerman & Becklin 1993; Holland et al. 1998; Sylvester et al. 2001). Detailed discussion of the value of $`\kappa `$ can be found in Pollack et al. (1994). It is important to note that this mass estimate cannot measure the mass held in grains larger than about 1 mm. This is a key point, as in a collisional cascade (see Section 5.3), the total mass of the disk is dominated by the contribution from large bodies, which contribute little to the 850 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ emission. Our mass estimate only reflects the amount of mass held in small dust grains, and even then is model dependent. The dust masses of the new targets are comparable with those measured in previous studies, ranging from 0.04 lunar masses (HD38393) to 33 lunar masses (HD141569) for the Vega excess stars, and hundreds of lunar masses or more for the pre-main-sequence stars (HD34700, HD35187 and HD34282).

## 5 SED modelling

Our key objective is to determine the size of a Vega excess disk from just its SED. Because models have many free parameters, we have tried to constrain as much as possible using our understanding of the physical processes taking place in the disks, in particular by setting the size distribution from theoretical arguments.

The model used here is a modified version of the model developed to fit the SED and sub-mm image of Fomalhaut (Wyatt & Dent 2002), and a more detailed description can be found there. The model is based on a collisional cascade, where small dust grains are continuously created by collisions between larger bodies. The only significant difference between the model used here and that used in Wyatt & Dent (2002) is that we use a simpler assumption about the spatial distribution of the dust (see Section 5.4 for details).

For this model to be accurate, the disk must be optically thin to radiation from the central star. If this is not the case, then the inner parts of the disk will shadow the outer parts from starlight, and a radiative transfer code would be needed to properly model the system. We have therefore excluded all the objects where $`L_{\mathrm{dust}}/L_{\mathrm{star}}>0.01`$. This ensures that disks are optically thin, as long as the opening angle is more than $`2^{}`$. Measured opening angles are generally larger than this, e.g. $`7^{}`$ for $`\beta `$ Pic (Heap et al. 2000). HD34282, HD34700, and HD35187 all have $`L_{\mathrm{dust}}/L_{\mathrm{star}}>0.1`$, so these objects have not been included in our analysis.

### 5.1 Photometric data

Mid and far IR photometry data is taken from the IRAS faint source catalogue (Moshir et al. 1990). Where available, this is supplemented by ground based mid-IR data from the literature. Also, published ISO photometry has been added to help constrain the far-IR part of the SEDs (in particular data from Habing et al. 2001).

### 5.2 Dust grain properties

Our model of the dust grains is based on the assumption that the grains in protoplanetary disks are aggregates of interstellar dust grains, with an additional ice component frozen into them as they grow. This type of model was originally developed to simulate cometary grains (Greenberg 1982, 1998), but it has also been successfully applied to the dust grains in accretion disks (Pollack et al. 1994), and to the debris disks of $`\beta `$ Pic (Li & Greenberg 1998a), HR4796 (Augereau et al. 1999b; Li & Lunine 2003a), HD141569 (Li & Lunine 2003b) and HD207129 (Jourdain de Muizon et al. 1999).

For the composition of the interstellar grains, we use the core-mantle model developed in Li & Greenberg (1997), which successfully fits the observed interstellar extinction and polarisation. This model has a silicate core surrounded by a UV-processed organic refractory mantle. We force the silicate/organic-refractory volume ratio to be 1:2, as inferred for cometary grains (Greenberg 1998). The grains are assumed to be porous, with the porosity being a free parameter of the model. For dust grains cooler than $`120`$ K, the gaps due to porosity may be filled with either vacuum, water ice or a mixture of the two; for dust grains warmer than $`120`$ K most ices would sublime, so the gaps must be filled with vacuum. The free parameters in the dust composition model are therefore the porosity $`p`$ of the grains and the ice fraction $`q_{\mathrm{ice}}`$, with the constraint that for warm grains the ice fraction must be zero.

Optical constants for the materials are taken from Li & Greenberg (1997, 1998a). The optical constants for the composite dust grain material are then calculated using Maxwell-Garnet effective medium theory. Then, the absorption efficiencies for the dust grains are calculated using Mie theory, Rayleigh-Gans theory, or geometric optics, depending on the size of the dust grain. Details of Maxwell-Garnet effective medium theory, and the methods used to calculate absorption efficiencies are discussed in Bohren & Huffman (1983).

### 5.3 Size distribution

The size distribution that results from an infinite collisional cascade is (Dohnanyi 1969):

$$n(D)D^{23q}$$
(1)
where $`n(D)dD`$ is the number of planetesimals of size between $`D`$ and $`D+dD`$, and $`q=11/6`$. However, this distribution will only hold for large dust grains, as radiation pressure will blow out small grains (e.g. $`<1`$ $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$) very rapidly, and Poynting-Robertson drag will cause intermediate sized grains (e.g. $`<10`$ $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$) to spiral inwards toward the star. Which of these two effects is dominant depends on the optical depth of the dust disk, but for all but the most tenuous disks the collisional timescale is shorter than the PR timescale, so PR drag can be safely ignored (Wyatt et al. 1999). Given this, we assume that the above size distribution holds down to the radiation blowout limit, when $`\beta >0.5`$ (where $`\beta =F_{\mathrm{rad}}/F_{\mathrm{grav}}`$), at which point there is a sharp cutoff.

### 5.4 Spatial distribution

For the spatial distribution of the dust grains, we assume a infinitely thin, flat ring, with the ring’s radius $`R`$ as a free parameter. This approach is motivated by the sub-mm images of Fomalhaut and $`ϵ`$ Eri, which both show a narrow, well defined ring of emitting material. This spatial distribution is different from that used in Wyatt & Dent (2002), as here no attempt is made to account for the eccentricities of the dust grains, which broadens the ring by about 50 AU. The advantage of the simpler model is that it reduces the number of free parameters, but should still give a reasonable estimate of the overall extent of the disk. The Fomalhaut results from the two versions of the model are almost identical (see Section 6.1), which gives us confidence that this simplification will not affect our conclusions.

### 5.5 Stellar parameters

Accurate stellar parameters are needed for several reasons. Firstly, the photospheric flux must be estimated in each band, so that the excess flux due to dust can be determined. This is particularly important in the IRAS 12 and 25 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ bands, where the photosphere can be the dominant source of flux. Secondly, the temperature of the dust depends on the luminosity of the star, and on the shape of the star’s spectrum in the region where most power is emitted (i.e. UV—optical—near-IR). The luminosity and stellar spectrum also determine the magnitude of the radiation forces which act on the dust grains. Finally, an estimate of the mass of the star is needed to calculate the gravitational forces.

To determine the stellar parameters, we first obtained the spectral type of each star from simbad. This was used to estimate the star’s effective temperature, using the calibration provided in Gray & Corbally (1994). We then extracted a Kurucz model atmosphere with this effective temperature, assuming solar metallicity and surface gravity $`\mathrm{log}(g)=4.3`$ appropriate for dwarf stars. The model atmosphere was then normalised to fit the K band magnitude. K band was preferred over optical photometry because it is less susceptible to the effects of reddening. The luminosity of the star was then calculated by integrating the normalised model atmosphere. Finally, the mass of the star was estimated using the observed spectral type and the table provided by Lang (1992, page 132).

### 5.6 Modelling method

A model SED is specified by the grain composition (porosity $`p`$, ice fraction $`q_{\mathrm{ice}}`$), radius of the dust ring ($`R`$), and the total dust luminosity. In the cases where the size of the dust ring is known, the ring radius is fixed to the observed size; for the unresolved objects the ring radius is left as a free parameter. The approach we take is to choose a dust composition, and then find the best fit to the data by varying the remaining free parameters.

The emission spectrum of an individual dust grain depends on its temperature and on the emission efficiency as a function of wavelength. The SED of a disk is simply the combined emission of all the dust grains. For a given dust composition model, the absorption efficiency is calculated as a function of grain size. Given this, the temperature of the dust grains as a function of grain size and distance from the star can be determined. Then, the total flux as a function of wavelength is found by integrating over all grain sizes, weighting with the size distribution given in Equation 1.

The model spectrum is then converted into an SED that can be directly compared to the observed points to obtain a $`\chi ^2`$ value. To do this, the spectral response of each filter-instrument combination is multiplied by the model spectrum, to estimate the broad-band flux that would be recovered from a real observation of the model spectrum. This step is particularly important for the IRAS data points, which have a very wide band-pass. By converting the model spectrum into broad-band fluxes, we avoid having to make colour-correction to the original data, which would otherwise require detailed knowledge of the true spectrum of the source. However, when showing the result of the fit, a colour-correction must be applied so that the data points can be plotted in real units. For this purpose, the best fitting model is used to estimate the colour correction for each point. If the best model is more than 3 sigma away from a data point, then no colour-correction is applied to that point, as the model is not likely to give a good estimate of the true colour-correction.

For some objects it is impossible to fit all the data points simultaneously, because there is dust at a range of distances from the star. In these cases, only the long wavelength points are fitted, in order to obtain an estimate of the overall extent of the ring.

## 6 Modelling results

### 6.1 Fomalhaut

The size of Fomalhaut’s dust disk is known from the sub-mm images made with SCUBA (Holland et al. 2003). Because the ring is inclined and the images have low resolution the size of the ring cannot be measured directly from the images, but the best estimate of the true size is 150 AU (Wyatt & Dent 2002). The SED data for Fomalhaut comes from IRAS, SCUBA and also ISO. The ISO fluxes are from Walker et al. (in preparation), and are listed in Wyatt & Dent (2002).

Our modelling (Figure 1) shows a good fit for solid dust grains (i.e. $`p=0.0`$), but rules out porous grains as this would make the dust hotter than is observed. The $`p=0.5`$, $`q_{\mathrm{ice}}=1.0`$ model is also ruled out, as it fails to fit the mid-IR part of the SED.

The reduced $`\chi ^2`$ for the best fitting model is 4.2, which indicates that the model is not consistent with the data. However, by far the dominant contribution to $`\chi ^2`$ comes from the ISO data, which show considerable scatter from any smooth model. The ISO filters all have broad band passes ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda /\lambda 0.5`$), so the apparent scatter in the ISO points is unlikely to be due to structure in the spectrum. A more likely explanation is that uncertainties on the ISO points have been underestimated, and this would explain the high reduced $`\chi ^2`$.

Fomalhaut has already been modelled in detail by Wyatt & Dent (2002), and the results here are almost identical to those results. As the modelling here uses the same data and dust grain model, it is hardly surprising that we recover the same results. However, this does confirm that the simpler spatial distribution used here does not significantly affect the results of the modelling.

### 6.2 HR4796

HR4796 is resolved in both mid-IR images of dust emission (Jayawardhana et al. 1998; Koerner et al. 1998) and scattered light images in the near-IR (Schneider et al. 1999). The best estimate of the size of the ring comes from mid-IR images, which suggest that the radius is 70 AU. The star is younger than most of the other stars in the sample, with a age of $`8\pm 2`$ Myr (Stauffer et al. 1995).

The modelling results show that solid dust grains are unable to fit the observed SED and disk size (Figure 2). However, using a porosity of $`p=0.5`$ provides a good fit to the SED. The icy model ($`p=0.5`$, $`q_{\mathrm{ice}}=1.0`$) is a worse fit than the solid grain model, so can be rejected. Around 10 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$, there is an additional excess which cannot be accounted for by any model. This is likely to be produced by a hot dust component close to the star. Data in this part of the spectrum have therefore been excluded from the fit, and do not contribute to the total $`\chi ^2`$ quoted in Table 5.

Detailed modelling of this object has been done previously by Augereau et al. (1999b), and our results here are in good agreement with this work. Augereau et al. made a much more thorough exploration of parameter space, but their overall conclusion was that two dust populations are required: a cool component at 70 AU, and a hotter component at about 10 AU. Their best fitting model for the cool dust has amorphous grains with a porosity of $`p=0.6`$ and an ice fraction ice $`q_{\mathrm{ice}}=0.03`$. In their analysis, the ring’s diameter was constrained to be 70 AU, but the grain porosity, ice fraction and the width of the dust ring were all left as free parameters. As for Fomalhaut, our results confirm that the simpler model used here is able to produce similar results to a more detailed model.

Modelling of HR4796 has also been done by Li & Lunine (2003a), and they were able to fit the entire SED without having a hot dust component, in contrast to the results of Augereau et al. (1999b) and the results presented here. This discrepancy is probably because Li and Lunine’s model contains a large number of grains which are much smaller than the blowout diameter, and these small grains produce a hot component in the SED even though they are distant from the central star.

### 6.3 $`ϵ`$ Eri

$`ϵ`$ Eri is a particularly interesting object, as it is the only cool star (K2V) with a resolved dust disk, all other resolved disks being around A stars. SCUBA images of $`ϵ`$ Eri show a distinct ring, which is approximately face on and has a radius of 60 AU (Greaves et al. 1998).

In modelling $`ϵ`$ Eri’s dust disk, a problem arises due to the low luminosity of the star. Our model for the dust size distribution assumes that radiation pressure will remove the smallest dust grains. However, in the case of $`ϵ`$ Eri the radiation pressure is not sufficient to blow dust grains out of the system when porous dust grains are used (Figure 3). In this situation, it is not clear what limits the size of the smallest dust grains. As a first step, we made the ad-hoc assumption that when porous grains were used, the small size cutoff is set at the grain size where $`\beta `$ is greatest, i.e. where the radiation force is most significant compared to the gravitational force. Modelling using this assumption produced a very interesting result: all of the models predict too much flux in the mid-IR, and too little in the sub-mm (Figure 4). This means that our models have too many small (and therefore hot) dust grains. This is an unexpected result, as there is no obvious mechanism for removing the small grains. By varying the minimum size cutoff explicitly, an excellent fit is possible if the cutoff size is set to 3.5 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ and the $`p=0`$ model is used, as shown in Figure 5. It is also possible to obtain a good fit using porous grains, but only if the minimum size cutoff is set to around 300 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ (Figure 6). This model does not predict the observed excess at 25 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$, but this flux could come from an additional hot component close to the star. Modifying the slope of the size distribution can improve the fit (Figure 7), but cannot make the model consistent with the data.

Solid dust grains with a size of 3.5 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ have a $`\beta `$ of about 0.15, much less than is needed to remove the grains by radiation pressure. It therefore seems that the disk around $`ϵ`$ Eri contains few grains smaller than about 3 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$, and radiation pressure from the star cannot explain this deficiency. Possible causes for this discrepancy are discussed in Section 7.

Recently, detailed modelling of $`ϵ`$ Eri has been presented by Li, Lunine & Bendo (2003) who modelled the SED and SCUBA image using a porous dust model ($`p=0.9`$, $`q_{\mathrm{ice}}=0.0`$), and were able to get an excellent fit. With this in mind, our results seem somewhat surprising, as they favour solid rather than porous grains, and fail to produce an acceptable fit at all unless grains with diameter smaller than 3.5 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ are excluded. The discrepancy arises because of several differences in the assumptions made within the two models. The most important difference is that Li et al. (2003) set a maximum grain size cutoff at a diameter of 2 cm, whereas in our modelling the maximum grain size is set to be 10 m. If the collisional cascade model is true, then the real size distribution will extend up to very large bodies (i.e. kilometre scale and bigger), but the limit of 10 m is chosen because bodies of this size and larger make a negligible contribution to the sub-mm flux (i.e. the longest wavelength data included in our fits), and so can be safely excluded from the model. This is not true of 2 cm bodies, as grains of around this size can make a very significant contribution the the flux at 850 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$. Similarly, Li et al. (2003) set an a priori limit on the minimum grain diameter at 2 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$; our finding that we must remove grains smaller than 3.5 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ is therefore in reasonable agreement with this (the remaining discrepancy is due to the fact that Li et al. (2003) allow the slope of the size distribution to be a free parameter, whereas in the models where we modified $`D_{\mathrm{min}}`$, $`q`$ was fixed to be $`11/6`$). Finally, Li et al. (2003) have a different spatial dust distribution, with a peak at 55 AU and FWHM of 30 AU, compared with the infinitely thin ring at 60 AU used in our model. The broad spatial distribution has not been considered here as it would make our SED fit worse. Because Li et al. (2003) set tight limits on the size distribution, the dust SED becomes quite sharply peaked, and a broad spatial distribution is needed to make the dust SED wide enough to fit all the points. Conversely, in our model the broad size distribution means that the model SED is already too wide, so a broad spatial distribution would only make things worse. Given the low signal to noise of the SCUBA image, a direct measurement of the width of the dust ring is not possible.

Dent et al. (2000) also modeled the $`ϵ`$ Eri data, and were able to fit the SED using a modified blackbody. The fitted parameters indicated that the disk must contain large grains ($`30`$ $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$), but this type of modelling does not constrain the composition or porosity of the dust grains.

### 6.4 Vega

The original estimate for the size of Vega was made by Aumann et al. (1984), who analysed special pointed observations made with IRAS after the discovery of a far-IR excess. The estimated diameter was 23 arcsec at 60 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ (corresponding to a radius of 90 AU). Subsequently, this data was reanalysed, giving a larger diameter of $`35\pm 5`$ arcsec (135 AU) (van der Bliek, Prusti & Waters 1994, and references therein). This discrepancy is attributed to the fact the Aumann et al. did not account for the photospheric emission at 60 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$, and hence underestimated the extent of the excess emission. However, sub-mm observations made with SCUBA on the JCMT indicate a diameter of $`24\pm 3`$ arcsec (Holland et al. 1998), similar to the original estimate from the IRAS data. At millimetre wavelengths, aperture synthesis imaging has been done using the Plateau de Bure interferometer (Wilner et al. 2002) and Owens Valley Radio Observatory (Koerner, Sargent & Ostroff 2001). Both of these observations suggested that the Vega disk is very clumpy, and found bright clumps at a distance of 9 arcsec (Plateau de Bure) and 12 arcsec (Owens Valley) from the central star. This could indicate a disk radius as small as 70 AU.

Given these observations, it is not obvious what the true size of the disk is, and so we were unable to fix this parameter in our model fits. Instead, we fitted different grain models with disk size as a free parameter. With this approach we find that all of the dust grain models fit equally well (Figure 8), but predict very different disk sizes. The porous grain models both have a fitted radius much larger than any of the observations, with the $`p=0.5`$, $`q_{\mathrm{ice}}=0.0`$ model suggesting a radius of $`191\pm 16`$ AU, and the $`p=0.9`$, $`q_{\mathrm{ice}}=0.0`$ model giving $`237\pm 21`$ AU. These models can therefore be rejected. However, the solid grain model ($`p=0.0`$) gives a radius of $`120\pm 13`$ AU, and the icy $`p=0.5`$, $`q_{\mathrm{ice}}=1.0`$ model gives $`92\pm 8`$ AU, both of which are compatible with the observations. Without more detailed analysis of the structure observed in the disk, it is impossible to distinguish between these two options.

There is a small additional excess at 25 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ ($`2`$ Jy), which none of the models account for. This could either be due to an additional warm dust component similar to that found for HR4796, or because the spatial distribution is broad, with dust at a range of distances from the star.

### 6.5 $`\beta `$ Pic

$`\beta `$ Pic is the most extensively studied Vega excess star, with observations in scattered light, mid-IR, far-IR, sub-mm. The system is not a ring, but a disk with dust at a variety of distances from the star. The system has been modelled in detail by Li & Greenberg (1998a), and our simpler model is not adequate to deal with the extended spatial structure of the disk. However, we have included $`\beta `$ Pic here in order to show the consequences when our model is applied to objects where the dust is not contained within a ring. The ring morphology is one of the key assumptions of our model, so it is extremely important that we can determine whether or not this is true for unresolved objects.

To fit the SED, we used the same approach taken for Vega, i.e. we left the ring radius as a free parameter, and fitted each dust composition to the SED. The modelling shows that it is not possible to fit the observed SED with any single model regardless of what dust composition is chosen (Figure 9). This is a helpful result, in that it shows that we are able to distinguish between a disk and a ring morphology purely from the SED. However, this modelling reveals little else about the composition and size distribution of dust grains in $`\beta `$ Pic.

### 6.6 HD141569

HD141569 has a resolved circumstellar disk, first directly detected in near-IR scattered light images (Augereau et al. 1999a; Weinberger et al. 1999), and subsequently resolved in mid-IR thermal emission (Fisher et al. 2000; Mouillet et al. 2001; Marsh et al. 2002). Most recently, the disk has been observed with the ACS coronagraph (Clampin et al. 2002), revealing that the structure observed in the disk is probably caused by a tidal interaction with a bound binary system at a projected distance of around 1000 AU. The age of the system has been estimated to be $`5\pm 3`$ Myr (Weinberger et al. 2000), making it one of the youngest stars in our sample. However, despite its youth the disk appears to be in a collisional cascade, as modelling shows that it contains small dust grains which must leave the system on a very short timescale (Fisher et al. 2000).

The mid-IR imaging shows that the overall size of the disk is around 100 AU, but the emission is produced at a range of distances from the star from 20 AU outwards (Marsh et al. 2002). This is also apparent from our SED modelling, as no model can simultaneously fit all the data (Figure 10). When only the long wavelength points are fitted (i.e. only the cooler, outer parts of the disk), the fitted radius is about 50 AU if solid ($`p=0`$) or icy ($`p=0.5`$, $`q_{\mathrm{ice}}=1.0`$) grains are used, but 114 AU for porous grains ($`p=0.9`$, $`q_{\mathrm{ice}}=0.0`$). This indicates that the thermal emission is probably produced by porous grains, in agreement with the modelling done by Li & Lunine (2003b).

### 6.7 HD109085

HD109085 is clearly detected in the sub-mm, indicating that the IRAS association is real. However, no model can simultaneously fit all of the data (Figure 11). This indicates that there must be dust at a variety of distances from the star, as is the case for $`\beta `$ Pic and HD141569. For our fitted model, the IRAS 12 and 25 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ points have not been included, so the fitted radius reflects the size of the coolest parts of the disk, i.e. the disk’s overall extent. This gives a result of 180 AU, which at a distance of 18.2 pc gives an angular radius of 9.9 arcsec. This is more extended than the SCUBA beam, so our flux estimate is probably smaller that the true flux by a factor of $`2`$ (Table 3). Given the size and brightness of the disk, it should be possible to fully map HD109085 with SCUBA, and such observations are currently being performed (Wyatt et al. in preparation).

### 6.8 HD38393

HD38393 is extremely faint in the sub-mm, and is only detected at the 2.4 sigma level. The modelling produces a good fit to the SED (Figure 12), but with a disk radius of $`200\pm 50`$ AU for solid dust grains. At the distance of HD38393 (9.0 pc), this corresponds to a radius of 22 arcsec. This would place most of the flux outside the SCUBA beam (even though the extended photometry mode was used), implying that the true flux at 850 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ is much higher than the measured flux. In fact, if this radius is correct we would only detect emission if the source is edge on. Revising our estimate of the 850 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ flux results in a still larger fitted radius (because a higher sub-mm flux indicates a cooler disk), and so does not resolve this problem. Nor does choosing a different dust composition, as porous grains tend to be warmer than solid grains, and so also increase the estimated disk size.

Given the low significance of the detection, it is possible that the 850 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ detection is either spurious, or caused by a background galaxy. Using source counts of galaxies detected in blank fields (e.g. Figure 11 in Scott et al. 2002), we find there is a 6 per cent probability that a 2.4 mJy background source will fall into the beam of SCUBA in extended photometry mode (which is sensitive over a 300 arcsec2 area). Habing et al. (2001) also concluded that their 170 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ detection is likely to be due to a background galaxy, given the low flux and the galaxy number counts at that wavelength. However, an alternative explanation is that the estimate of the disk size is wrong: the difficulty fitting the SED of $`ϵ`$ Eri may indicate that our model is generally unreliable for cool stars, and hence the true size of the disk could be smaller than 200 AU. This would mean that the disk is deficient in small grains compared with our model.

### 6.9 $`\sigma `$ Boo

Excess sub-mm emission from $`\sigma `$ Boo was detected at the 3.6 sigma level, with a flux of 6.7 mJy. However, the best fitting model gives a disk radius of $`320\pm 90`$ AU, which corresponds to an angular radius of 20 arcsec, implying that most of the 850 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ flux would be outside the SCUBA beam even in extended photometry mode. In addition, the best fitting model predicts a much lower 850 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ flux than the observed value. As is the case for HD38393, there is no model which is consistent with both the SED and the spatial constraints given by the SCUBA beam size. The problem is unlikely to be caused by errors in the far-IR data: the IRAS and ISO results are entirely consistent, and the ISO 170 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ observation has a beam radius of about 45 arcsec, so all the flux would be detected with ISO, even if the disk really is very large.

Habing et al. (2001) considered the possibility that their ISO detection at 60 and 170 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ was due to a background galaxy. They concluded that the excess was probably real, but could not rule out contamination by a background source. A background galaxy with a flux of 6.7 mJy is unlikely to fall into the SCUBA beam by chance alone (1 per cent probability), but as $`\sigma `$ Boo was selected on the basis of a far-IR excess, contamination by a background source becomes more likely. The alternative explanation is that $`\sigma `$ Boo is deficient in small grains, which would reconcile the modelling results with the SCUBA beam size.

### 6.10 HD48682

HD48682 is a quoted as visual binary in the Washington double star catalogue with a separation of 34 arcsec. However the two stars cannot be physically associated due to their differing proper motions, and it appears that HD48682B is in fact a background object. Given that the separation of the two components is similar to the IRAS beam size, it is not obvious whether the photosphere of the secondary will contribute to the IRAS fluxes or not. The IRAS beam is different at each wavelength, as the diffraction limit is much smaller at 12 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ than it is at 100 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$. This means that the secondary photosphere may only contribute to the measured fluxes at longer wavelengths. In addition, it is very difficult to estimate the brightness of the secondary at IRAS wavelengths, because the star is most likely an M star and only optical photometry is available. A small uncertainty in the effective temperature therefore causes a large error in the estimated mid-IR flux. A K band image would resolve this problem, but unfortunately the secondary star is saturated on 2MASS images, so a dedicated observation would be required. Aumann & Probst (1991) made ground based observations of HD48682 at 10 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$, and concluded that the 12 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ excess comes from $`>6`$ arcsec from the primary and is consistent with the flux from the secondary, but that the secondary photosphere cannot account for the large 60 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ excess. Our detection with SCUBA confirms that the 60 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ IRAS excess is associated with the primary and not the secondary, but the source of the 12 and 25 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ excess is not clear.

Figure 14 shows the SED of HD48682, and the best fit model. The modelling has been done in two ways, with and without the secondary included in the photosphere subtraction (assuming a spectral type M0). At 12 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$, the IRAS flux is more than the photosphere of the primary, which could either be due to circumprimary emission at $`>6`$ arcsec, or flux from the secondary. At 25 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$, the IRAS flux is more than the combined flux from primary and secondary, indicating that there is definitely emission by dust at this wavelength. There is a large excess at 60 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$, and the secondary photosphere could only make a small contribution even if it is within the beam. The modelling results are better if the secondary is included in the photosphere subtraction (reduced $`\chi ^2=3.1`$, verses 7.0 if the secondary is not included). If the secondary is not included in the subtraction, the estimated radius is $`71\pm 15`$ AU, whereas if the secondary is included, the estimated radius is $`110\pm 21`$ AU. If the larger value is true, the projected radius would be 6.7 arcsec, so the disk could be marginally resolved with SCUBA mapping. The shape of the fitted model indicates that there would be only a small excess at 18 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$, so resolved ground based imaging would be difficult.

### 6.11 HD207129

HD207129 is not detected in our reduction of archived SCUBA measurements, but because there are ISO measurements at 170 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ a model fit is possible, and the SCUBA upper limit also helps to constrain this fit. The SED and model fit are shown in Figure 15. The fitted size of the disk is $`260\pm 50`$ AU, which corresponds to an angular radius of 17 arcsec. Since this is larger than the SCUBA beam a significant fraction of the flux would not have bean detected, and the quoted upper limit on the 850 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$ flux may actually be lower than the true flux. HD207129 was observed in both photometry mode and map mode, and the quoted upper limit of $`<0.018`$ Jy is based on both sets of measurements. If just the mapping data is used, then an integrated flux over a 20 arcsec radius aperture can be calculated. This method gives a flux $`<0.05`$ Jy (3 sigma).

## 7 Discussion

The most striking result of our modelling is that there is a large diversity in dust grain compositions between different disks. A simple explanation for this result is that dust grain composition may vary with age. The modelling of HD141569 and HR4796 (age 5 and 8 Myr respectively) indicates high porosity grains ($`p=0.9`$), as does the previous modelling of $`\beta `$ Pic (age 20 Myr) done by Li & Greenberg (1998a). However, solid grains are indicated for Fomalhaut and Vega (ages 150 and 350 Myr). It may be that the older stars have less porous grains because the collisional cascade has reprocessed the initially fluffy grains into a more solid form. An alternative explanation is that the change in porosity is due to the effects of stellar radiation on the dust, as suggested to explain the differences between the porosity of long and short period comets (Mukai & Fechtig 1983; Li & Greenberg 1998b). Clearly, a larger sample of resolved disks is required to confirm this trend.

The failure of our basic model to fit the SED of $`ϵ`$ Eri is extremely interesting, and it’s important to determine what is causing the poor fit. There are essentially two possibilities: either there is an unknown physical effect which is modifying the size distribution in the particular case of $`ϵ`$ Eri, or else the size distribution model we have assumed is intrinsically wrong.

$`ϵ`$ Eri is known to have a planet (Hatzes et al. 2000), with a semi-major axis of 3.4 AU and a mass of around 2 Jupiter masses (assuming an inclination of $`25^{}`$ as measured by Greaves et al., 1998). This planet in unlikely to affect the dust size distribution at 60 AU, because of its small orbital radius. However, a planet with a large semi-major axis has been inferred from the existence of clumps within the dust disk (Quillen & Thorndike 2002). If this planet is real, then dynamical effects are clearly very important in shaping the disk, and this would undoubtedly affect the size distribution of the dust (Wyatt 2003, submitted).

The alternative explanation is that the discrepancy is not due to an external influence, but that a more accurate treatment of the dust grain size distribution in a collisional cascade is needed to account for the SED. More detailed size distribution models allow the grain strength to vary with grain size, and account for the the effects of removing small grains on the overall size distribution (Campo Bagatin et al. 1994; Durda & Dermott 1997). For $`\beta `$ Pic, extensive numerical models of this type have been produced, both for the inner disk (Thébault, Augereau & Beust, submitted) and for the outer disk (Krivov, Mann & Krivova 2000). Both of these studies show significant deviation from the theoretical size distribution used in this paper. This suggests that a more rigorous treatment of the collisional cascade in $`ϵ`$ Eri would also give a significantly different size distribution. However, it is not obvious that this would produce a better fit to the SED (i.e. that the new size distribution would have few grains smaller than 3 $`\mu \mathrm{m}`$). In fact, according to Campo Bagatin et al. (1994) we should expect an enhancement of grains just above the blowout radius as they are less likely to be destroyed by collisions, which would make the problem worse. Conversely, the modelling of $`\beta `$ Pic’s outer disk by Krivov et al. (2000) suggests a reduction in the number of grains just above the blowout limit, because they are destroyed by small, fast moving grains as they are ejected from the system by radiation pressure. However, as the stellar luminosity is much lower for $`ϵ`$ Eri, this mechanism is likely to be less important. Only detailed modelling specific to $`ϵ`$ Eri’s dust disk can answer this question.

The new sub-mm data significantly expands the sample of true Vega excess stars detected at this wavelength. Regardless of the dust properties, we are able to distinguish between a disk morphology and a ring morphology. Out of the five new objects, only HD109085 is disk like, indicating that this type is less common than the ring like structure observed around Fomalhaut and $`ϵ`$ Eri.

One of the main aims of this work was to determine the size of an unresolved disk from just its SED. However, the modelling of resolved targets has shown that this may not be possible. The large diversity in dust properties for the resolved disks mean that we cannot make a reliable assumption as to the composition of the grains in an unresolved disk. In addition, the poor fit to $`ϵ`$ Eri’s SED shows that the model may not in general contain all of the physics necessary to account for the observations. Our estimates of the disk size are based on assumption that the dust grains are solid (as for Fomalhaut), but if the grain properties are different, then the size estimates will be incorrect.

Future progress in this field depends on spatially resolving disks, as this allows a direct measure of disk size and thus measurements of the dust composition. Our results indicate that there are probably a few more targets that can be resolved using SCUBA, given sufficient integration time. Also, ground based mid-IR observations also have the ability to resolve some disks. However, large numbers of resolved disks may have to wait until SIRTF and SOFIA become available.

## 8 Conclusion

We have presented new observations and modelling of Vega excess disks with sub-mm data. Our observations expand the sample of Vega excess stars detected in the sub-mm from 5 to 10, with a further 4 objects which were not detected but have useful upper limits. We have fitted the observed SEDs with models based on realistic dust grain composition and size distribution. We find that dust grain composition varies significantly between different objects, with younger disks having more porous grains. For $`ϵ`$ Eri, our model fails to fit the data unless there are less small grains in the system than expected from a collisional cascade. This discrepancy may be due to an inadequacy in our model of the size distribution, or the result of an external influence such as a planet. For the unresolved targets, disk size is estimated assuming solid dust grains, but given the observed diversity in dust composition and the problems fitting $`ϵ`$ Eri, these size estimates may not be reliable.

The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope is operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre on behalf of the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. We wish to thank the staff at the JCMT for enabling these observations, and an anonymous referee for their helpful and positive comments.


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# Teleportation of the U-NOT Gate and Quantum Cloning: a Computational Network and Experimental Realization

## Abstract

We present a computational circuit which realizes contextually the Tele-UNOT gate and the universal optimal quantum cloning machine (UOQCM). We report the experimental realization of the probabilistic UOQCM with polarization encoded qubits. This is achieved by combining on a symmetric beam-splitter the input qubit with an ancilla in a fully mixed state .

Quantum information is encoded in qubits, the quantum analogue of the classical bits. Transformations of these systems follow the laws of quantum mechanics. This fundamental requirement implies theoretical limitations as far as the ”cloning” and/or ”spin-flipping” processes of qubits are concerned. For instance, it has been shown that an arbitrary unknown qubit cannot be perfectly cloned: $`|\mathrm{\Psi }|\mathrm{\Psi }|\mathrm{\Psi }`$, a consequence of the so-called “no cloning theorem” , . Another ”impossible” device is the quantum NOT gate, the transformation that maps any qubit into the orthogonal one $`|\mathrm{\Psi }|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}`$ . In the last years a great deal of theoretical investigation has been devoted to finding the best approximations allowed by quantum mechanics to these two processes and to establish for them the corresponding ”optimal” values of the ”fidelity” $`F<1`$. This problem has been solved in the general case . In particular, it was found that a one-to-two universal optimal quantum cloning machine (UOQCM), i.e. able to clone one qubit into two qubits ($`12`$), can be realized with a fidelity $`F_{CLON}=\frac{5}{6}`$. The ”flipping” of the input injected qubit, which realizes a $`(11)`$ Universal-NOT gate (U-NOT), can be implemented with a fidelity $`F_{NOT}=\frac{2}{3}`$ . On the other hand, a peculiar and fundamental resource available in the field of quantum information is quantum state teleportation (QST) protocol by which an unknown input qubit $`|\varphi _S=\alpha |0_S+\beta |1_S`$is destroyed at a sending place (Alice: $`𝒜`$) while its perfect replica appears at a remote place (Bob: $``$) via dual quantum and classical channels . Here we present a linear scheme that establishes a connection between these three quantum operations.

Previously the phenomena of quantum teleportation, quantum cloning and UNOT gate have been analyzed and experimentally implemented using different approaches. The quantum teleportation has been realized using a linear interaction to couple the qubit $`S`$ to be teleported with an $`EPR`$ pair . Furthermore it has been proposed to implement the optimal quantum cloning machine by a nonlinear quantum optical ”amplification” method, i.e. by associating the cloning effect with the QED ”stimulated emission” process . This proposal was quickly followed by some successful experimental demonstrations . It has been argued by  that when the cloning process is realized in a subspace $`H`$ of a larger nonseparable Hilbert space $`HK`$ which is acted upon by a physical apparatus, the same apparatus performs contextually in the space $`K`$ the ”flipping” of the input injected qubit, then realizing a U-NOT gate . As an example, a UOQCM can be realized on one output mode of a non-degenerate ”quantum-injected” optical parametric amplifier (QIOPA), while the U-NOT transformation is realized on the other mode .

Very recently a novel and quite unexpected relation between the QST, UOQCM and U-NOT gate processes has been presented . Indeed it has been shown that it is possible to implement the $`12`$ universal optimal quantum cloning machine and $`11`$ universal NOT gate by slightly modifying the protocol of quantum state teleportation. Let us now briefly outline this protocol. Alice possesses the starting qubit $`|\varphi _S`$, and, in analogy to the QST, there is a second partner, Bob, who shares with her the entangled ”singlet” state $`|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{AB}=2^{\frac{1}{2}}\left(|0_A|1_B|1_A|0_B\right)`$. By means of a projective measurement and of classical communication, Alice obtains two qubits $`S`$, $`A`$ that are the optimal quantum clones of the starting qubit $`|\varphi _S`$, while Bob receives its optimal flipped state. Let us present in more details the procedure. Alice performs a dichotomic projective measurement on the systems $`S`$ and $`A`$ able to identify $`|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{SA}`$ and its complementary space. With a probability $`p=\frac{1}{4}`$ the state $`|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{SA}`$ is detected by $`A`$ and the qubit $`|\varphi `$ is teleported to Bob. With probability $`p=\frac{3}{4}`$, the qubits $`S`$ and $`A`$ are projected in the subspace spanned by $`\{|\mathrm{\Psi }^+_{SA},|\mathrm{\Phi }^{}_{SA},|\mathrm{\Phi }^+_{SA}\}`$ which is the symmetric space of $`A`$ and $`S.`$ The output state is obtained by projecting the initial overall state $`|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{AB}|\varphi _S`$ onto the subspace orthogonal to $`|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{SA}\mathrm{\Psi }^{}|_{SA}𝕀_B`$, i.e. by applying the projector:

$$P_{SAB}=(𝕀_{SA}|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{SA}\mathrm{\Psi }^{}|_{SA})𝕀_B$$
(1)
The reduced density matrices for the qubits $`S,A`$ and $`B`$ are then :

$`\rho _S`$ $``$ $`Tr_A\rho _{SA}={\displaystyle \frac{5}{6}}|\varphi \varphi \left|+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{6}}\right|\varphi ^{}\varphi ^{}|=\rho _ATr_S\rho _{SA}`$ (2)
$`\rho _B`$ $``$ $`Tr_{SA}|\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}|={\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}|\varphi ^{}\varphi ^{}\left|+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\right|\varphi \varphi |`$ (3)
by which the ”optimal” values for the fidelities of the two ”forbidden” processes $`F_{CLON}=\frac{5}{6}`$ and $`F_{UNOT}=\frac{2}{3}`$ are achieved for the qubits on the Alice and Bob sites respectively. Bob identifies whether the U-NOT gate is realized at his site by reading the information (1 bit) received by Alice on the classical channel. For example, such bit can assume the value $`1`$ if Alice identifies the Bell state $`|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{SA}`$ and $`0`$ if not. At the end of the protocol the universal NOT gate applied to the input qubit has been teleported at Bob’s site and hence this process has been called $`TeleUNOT`$ gate. Recently Gottesman and Chuang have proposed to exploit the teleportation protocol to transfer quantum gates in order to relax several experimental constraints to achieve fault-tolerant processing . Indeed the linear optics quantum computation exploits gate teleportation in order to transform a probabilistic computation into a near-deterministic one .

The projector $`P_{SAB}`$ in Eq.(1) leads to the realization of the $`UOQCM`$ and $`TeleUNOT`$ gate, as said. Here we present, in analogy with the quantum circuit associated with quantum teleportation, a quantum circuit that achieves this purpose: the projection is obtained combining Hadamard gates, $`CNOT`$ gates, a Toffoli gate, and the projective measurement in the computational basis.

The box ”EPR preparation” prepares the singlet state while the ”Quantum Machine” box achieves the projection into the symmetric subspace. The readout of the ancilla qubit $`\stackrel{~}{a}`$, initially in the state $`|0_{\stackrel{~}{a}}`$, ensures that the projection into the symmetric space has been obtained. Let us now analyze in more details the logic of the quantum circuit. After the EPR preparation, the state of the overall system is

$$|\varphi _S|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{AB}|0_{\stackrel{~}{a}}=\frac{1}{2}\left[\begin{array}{c}|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{SA}|\varphi _B|\mathrm{\Psi }^+_{SA}\left(\sigma _Z|\varphi _B\right)\\ +|\mathrm{\Phi }^{}_{SA}\left(\sigma _X|\varphi _B\right)+|\mathrm{\Phi }^+_{SA}\left(\sigma _Z\sigma _X|\varphi _B\right)\end{array}\right]|0_{\stackrel{~}{a}}$$
(4)
The box labelled (1) transforms the state $`|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{SA}`$ into $`|1_S|1_A,`$ while the other three Bell states $`\{|\mathrm{\Psi }^+_{SA},|\mathrm{\Phi }^{}_{SA},|\mathrm{\Phi }^+_{SA}\}`$ are respectively transformed into $`\{|0_S|1_A,|1_S|0_A,|0_S|0_A\}.`$ By means of a Toffoli gate, the state $`|1_S|1_A`$ induces the flipping of the state of the qubit $`\stackrel{~}{a}`$ from $`|0_{\stackrel{~}{a}}`$ to $`|1_{\stackrel{~}{a}},`$ whereas the other states leave the qubit $`\stackrel{~}{a}`$ unaltered. Then we get the following state

$$\frac{1}{2}\left[\begin{array}{c}|1_S|1_A|\varphi _B|1_{\stackrel{~}{a}}|0_S|1_A\left(\sigma _Z|\varphi _B\right)|0_{\stackrel{~}{a}}\\ +|1_S|0_A\left(\sigma _X|\varphi _B\right)|0_{\stackrel{~}{a}}+|0_S|0_A\left(\sigma _Z\sigma _X|\varphi _B\right)|0_{\stackrel{~}{a}}\end{array}\right]$$
(5)
Finally the action of the box labelled (2) restores the initial states of the qubits $`S`$ and $`A`$ leading to:

$$|\mathrm{\Sigma }_{SAB\stackrel{~}{a}}=\frac{1}{2}\left[\begin{array}{c}|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{SA}|\varphi _B|1_{\stackrel{~}{a}}|\mathrm{\Psi }^+_{SA}\left(\sigma _Z|\varphi _B\right)|0_{\stackrel{~}{a}}\\ +|\mathrm{\Phi }^{}_{SA}\left(\sigma _X|\varphi _B\right)|0_{\stackrel{~}{a}}+|\mathrm{\Phi }^+_{SA}\left(\sigma _Z\sigma _X|\varphi _B\right)|0_{\stackrel{~}{a}}\end{array}\right]$$
(6)
If the projective measurement on the ancilla qubit $`\stackrel{~}{a}`$ gives as result $`1`$ the qubits $`A`$ and $`S`$ end up in the state $`|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{SA}`$ while the qubit $`B`$ is in the state $`|\varphi ,`$ which has then been teleported from $`𝒜`$ to $`.`$ On the contrary, if we obtain the result $`0`$ the overall state becomes

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }^+_{SA}\left(\sigma _Z|\varphi _B\right)+|\mathrm{\Phi }^{}_{SA}\left(\sigma _X|\varphi _B\right)|0_{\stackrel{~}{a}}+|\mathrm{\Phi }^+_{SA}\left(\sigma _Z\sigma _X|\varphi _B\right)$$
(7)
that is equal to the state obtained applying the projector $`P_{SAB}`$ (1) to $`|\varphi _S|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{AB}`$. The result of the ancilla measurement is communicated to Bob and we realize the optimal quantum cloning machine and the $`TeleUNOT`$ gate of the input qubit $`|\varphi `$.

Note that the presence of the entangled state $`|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{AB}`$is not strictly necessary for the implementation of the solely quantum cloning process. Instead of sharing an EPR pair with Bob, Alice needs a qubit $`A`$ prepared in a fully mixed state $`\rho _A=\frac{𝕀_A}{2}.`$ Of course in this case only the Alice’s apparatus is relevant and the U-NOT process is absent. In a previous experiment  we have reported the realization of the $`TeleUNOT`$ gate by adopting an entangled state. Here we want to demonstrate experimentally that the entanglement is not required for the implementation of quantum cloning.

The qubits $`S`$ and $`A`$ have been codified in the polarization states of two single photons. In this case $`P_{SAB}`$ can be experimentally achieved with an Ou-Mandel interferometer $`BS_A`$ . We exploit the Bose mode coalescence (enhancement) BMC associated to the projection into the symmetric subspace $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{sym}.`$ Indeed the symmetry of the projected subspace by BMC is implied by the intrinsic Bose symmetry of the 2 photons Fock state realized at the output of $`BS_A`$.

The qubit to be cloned is: $`|\varphi _S`$ $`=\alpha |H_S+\beta |V_S`$ where $`|H`$ and $`|V`$ respectively correspond to the horizontal and vertical linear polarizations of a single photon injected in one input mode $`S`$ of a $`50:50`$beamsplitter $`BS_A`$. A fully mixed state $`\rho _A`$ is simultaneously injected on the other input mode $`A`$ of $`BS_A`$ where the two input modes are linearly superimposed. Consider the overall output state which is realized on the two output modes $`1`$and $`2`$ of $`BS_A`$. It can be expressed as a linear combination of the Bell states $`\{|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{SA},|\mathrm{\Psi }^+_{SA},|\mathrm{\Phi }^{}_{SA},|\mathrm{\Phi }^+_{SA}\}`$. As it is well known, the realization of the singlet $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_{SA}^{}`$ is unambiguously identified by the detection of a single photon on each one of the two output modes of $`BS_A`$ while the realization of the set of the other three Bell states corresponds to the emission of photon pairs on either one of the output modes . Hence the detection of two photons over either the mode $`1`$ or $`2`$, a Bose-mode-occupation enhancement, implies the projection by $`P_{SA}=\left(𝕀_{SA}|\mathrm{\Psi }_{SA}^{}\mathrm{\Psi }_{SA}^{}|\right)`$ of the input state into the space orthogonal to $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_{SA}^{}`$.

In the present experiment, a pair of non entangled photons with wavelength $`\lambda =532nm`$ and with a coherence-time $`\tau _{coh}=80fs`$, were generated by a spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) process in a Type I BBO crystal in the initial polarization product state $`|H_S|H_A`$. The two photons were then injected on the two input modes $`S`$ and $`A`$ of $`BS_A`$. The input qubit $`|\varphi _S`$, associated with mode $`S`$ was polarization encoded by means of a waveplate (wp) $`WP_S`$. The transformation used to map the state $`|H_A`$ into $`\rho _A=\frac{𝕀_A}{2}`$ was achieved by stochastically rotating a $`\lambda /2`$ waveplate inserted on the mode $`A`$ during the experiment. In this way the statistical evolution of $`|H_A`$ into two orthogonal states with equal probability was achieved. The photons $`S`$ and $`A`$ were injected in the two input arms of $`BS_A`$ with a mutual delay $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$ micrometrically adjustable by a translation stage with position settings $`Z=2\mathrm{\Delta }tc`$. The setting value $`Z=0`$ was assumed to correspond to the full overlapping of the photon pulses injected into $`BS_A`$, i.e. to the maximum photon interference.

For the sake of simplicity, we only analyzed the measurements performed on the $`BS_A`$ output mode $`1`$: Fig.2. The polarization state on this mode was analyzed by the combination of the wp $`WP_C`$ and of the polarization beam splitter $`PBS_C`$. For each input polarization state $`|\varphi _S`$, $`WP_C`$ was set in order to make $`PBS_C`$ to transmit $`|\varphi _S`$ and reflect $`|\varphi ^{}_S`$. The ”cloned” state $`|\varphi \varphi _S`$ could be detected on mode $`1`$ by a two-photon counter, realized in our case by first separating the two photons by a $`50:50`$ beam splitter $`BS_C`$ and then detecting the coincidence $`[D_{A1},D_{A2}]`$ between the output detectors $`D_{A1}`$ and $`D_{A2}`$: Fig.2. Any coincidence between detectors $`D_B`$ and $`D_{A2}`$ corresponded to the realization of the state $`|\varphi \varphi ^{}_S`$. First consider the cloning machine switched off, by setting: $`\mathrm{\Delta }t>\tau _{coh}`$ i.e. by making $`S`$ and $`A`$ not interfering on $`BS_A`$. In this case, since the states $`|\varphi \varphi _S`$ and $`|\varphi \varphi ^{}_S`$ were realized with the same probability on mode $`1`$, the rate of coincidences detected by $`[D_{A1},D_{A2}]`$ and $`[D_{A2},D_B]`$were expected to be equal. By turning on the cloning machine, i.e. by setting $`\mathrm{\Delta }t<<\tau _{coh}`$, on mode $`1`$ the output density matrix $`\rho _{SA}`$ was realized implying an enhancement by a factor $`R=2`$ of the counting rate by $`[D_{A1},D_{A2}]`$ and no rate enhancement by $`[D_{A2},D_B]`$. The measurement of $`R`$ was carried out by coincidence measurements involving simultaneously $`[D_{A1},D_{A2}]`$ and $`[D_{A2},D_B]`$. The experimental data are reported in Fig. 3 for three different input states $`|\varphi _S=|H`$, $`2^{\frac{1}{2}}(|H+|V)`$, $`2^{\frac{1}{2}}(|H+i|V)`$. There circle and square markers refer respectively to the $`[D_{A1},D_{A2}]`$ and $`[D_{A2},D_B]`$ coincidences versus the position setting $`Z.`$ We may check that the cloning process only affects the $`|\varphi \varphi _S`$ component, as expected and $`R`$is determined as the ratio between the peak values (cloning machine switched on) and the basis values (cloning machine switched off). The corresponding experimental values of the cloning fidelity $`F=\frac{2R+1}{2R+2}`$ are: $`F_H=0.827\pm 0.002`$;$`F_{H+V}=0.825\pm 0.002`$; $`F_{H+iV}=0.826\pm 0.002`$. These ones are in good agreement with the optimal value $`F_{th}=5/60.833`$ which corresponds to the limit value of the amplification ratio $`R=2.`$ We note that, while our experiment did not adopt an ancilla qubit, the measurement of the number of photons over the output modes allowed us to identify whether the projection on the symmetric space $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{sym}`$ had been obtained.

In conclusion we presented how it is possible to implement the $`12`$ universal optimal quantum cloning machine and $`11`$ Tele-Universal NOT gate by means of a quantum network that can be implemented for all kind of qubits. We report the highest experimental fidelity attained so far for the $`12`$ UOQCM adopting single photon polarization encoded qubits. Furthermore the simplicity of our setup renders this eavesdropping technique practically available for optimal attack to cryptographic communications .

This work has been supported by the FET European Network on Quantum Information and Communication (Contract IST-2000-29681: ATESIT), by Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia (PRA ”CLON”) and by Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca (COFIN 2002).

Figure Captions

Figure.1. Realization of $`UOQCM`$ and $`TeleUNOT`$ gate by means of quantum circuits. The preparation box contains the circuit that generates the state $`|\mathrm{\Psi }^{}_{AB}`$ while the ”quantum machine” box represents the apparatus performing the projective measurement over the antisymmetric and symmetric $`\left(\mathrm{\Pi }_{sym}\right)`$ subspaces of the two qubits $`A`$ and $`S`$. The Toffoli gate can be realized by means of single qubit gates and $`CNOT`$ gates.

Figure.2. Experimental setup for the optical implementation of the UOQCM by a modified Teleportation protocol.

Figure3. Experimental result of the universal cloning process for different input qubits corresponding to the encoded polarizations: $`|H`$, $`2^{1/2}\left(|H+|V\right)`$ and $`2^{1/2}\left(|H+i|V\right)`$.


text:
# Detection possibility of the pair-annihilation neutrinos from the neutrino-cooled pre-supernova star

## 1 Introduction

The detection of solar neutrinos by the R. Davis’s chlorine detector and supernova 1987A neutrinos by the Kamiokande water Cherenkov observatory are milestones of modern science, Nobel Prize honored in 2002. Currently built and operating neutrino detectors are larger, much more efficient and are able to detect all neutrino species in a wide range of energy. There are already proposed new experiments with next-generation megaton-scale detectors, like Hyper-Kamiokande  and UNO .

Solar neutrinos were detected with sub-kiloton detectors, because of relatively small distance to the Sun and continuous emission. Supernova neutrinos carry enormous energy of 1053 ergs released in gravitational collapse of the stellar core. This makes their detection possible from quite large distances, but such events are rare. We consider here the feasibility of detection of another giant astrophysical sources of neutrinos, namely massive (M$`>`$8M) stars at late stages of their evolution. Such stars, during C, Ne, O and Si burning phases, emit neutrinos copiously and are referred to as neutrino-cooled stars (, Sect. 10) or pre-supernova stars . The structure of such evolutionary advanced stars is different from main sequence stars like the Sun. The most important differences relevant to the neutrino detection possibility are summarized in Table 1.

The solar neutrino luminosity is $`7.810^{31}`$ erg/s . The maximum neutrino luminosity during Si burning exceeds $`310^{45}`$ erg/s () – a value larger by a factor of $`3.8510^{13}`$. The neutrino energy flux at Earth from such a star and from the Sun are equal for a star $`\sqrt{3.8510^{13}}=6.210^6`$AU, i.e. 30 pc away. This indicates that neutrino-cooled stars could be detected at astronomical distances. Actually, because of a different spectrum (cf. Fig. 2) and the presence of anti-neutrinos (cf. Table 3), we are able to detect them from kiloparsec distances.

Massive (neutrino-cooled) stars are believed to end as core-collapse supernovae. SN 1987A confirmed this theory. This close connection may be used to estimate chance of neutrino-cooled stage observation. If some of massive stars die other way, rate of neutrino-cooled events may be higher than of SNe, but it is reasonable to use estimates made for supernovae. At least three different methods exist there: historical records & remnants counts , extragalactic observations  and population synthesis (i.e. simulated stellar evolution of the Galaxy) methods . Only first method gives local rate directly: time between events less than 5kpc away is estimated to be 175 years . Two other methods give rate for entire Galaxy. Extragalactic counts give 40…200 years  of average time interval between supernova explosions. Population Synthesis give 10 years . To compare local rates we may use Galaxy model of e.g Bahcall&Soneira . For the solar neighbourhood we found 0.5%, 10% and 50% of disc stars closer than 1kpc, 5kpc and 10kpc respectively. Assuming that the Sun is not in privileged position close to e.g. giant star forming region, we get time between supernovae closer than 5kpc from 100 (Population Synthesis) to 400…2000 (extragalactic counts) years. Apparent disagreement between these two methods is usually explained by a large number of unobserved events. Clouds of interstellar gas and dust obscuring optical detection are obviously transparent for neutrinos, so we may conclude that neutrino-cooled events closer than 5kpc may be observed even more frequent than one per century. Close candidates for such a detection apparently do exist, with Betelgeuse ($`\beta `$ Ori) being the most popular example . In Sect. 5 we combine rates discussed above with our results to estimate a chance of successful detection.

As an example we consider a 20 M star model with properties reported in Table 1 of Ref. , with explicite given total neutrino luminosities of various stages of nuclear burning. As our scope here is to study the feasibility of neutrino detection, not to find state-of-art details of emission111 Detailed picture of late stages of nuclear burning is still a subject of active research as there are unanswered questions about e.g. hydrodynamical nature of nuclear burning . Neutrinos itself are still enigmatic objects and e.g. the role of spin-flip interactions and the influence of right-handed neutrinos  is investigated. , we assume that the entire neutrino flux is resulting from $`\mathrm{e}^+\mathrm{e}^{}`$ annihilation. The values from Table 2 of the temperature, density and the electron chemical potential at the stellar center are assumed to approximate conditions in the stellar core. For simplicity we treat neutrino propagation without oscillation, however the effect of neutrino oscillations may change significantly the number of observed events in a given experiment . To calculate the relevant neutrino cross sections the standard Weinberg-Salam theory  is used.

In Sect. 2 we calculate the neutrino spectrum with the use of Monte Carlo method, in Sect. 3 we briefly present neutrino-induced reactions and outline of selected detectors. Sect. 4 contains the expected neutrino signal from a star located at a distance of 1 kpc. In Sect. 5 astrophysical implications of the pre-supernova neutrino detection are discussed.

## 2 The spectrum of pair-annihilation neutrinos

Neutrinos produced by thermal processes are the most important part of the neutrino flux balancing the nuclear energy generation in the central region of massive (M$`>`$8M) stars at late phases of nuclear burning, i.e. from carbon burning up to silicon burning. For simplicity, we have assumed that the entire neutrino flux is produced by pair annihilation.222 Inspection of Fig. 3, 4, 8, 9, 12, and 13 from Itoh et. al.  together with the values of electron fraction, $`Y_e=0.5`$, central temperature, $`T_c`$, and density, $`\rho _c`$, from Table 2 shows that the annihilation neutrinos are dominant. Actually, so-called photoneutrinos and neutrinos from plasmon decay (cf. , Fig. 1) may contribute to the total neutrino flux , depending on physical conditions. This assumption is valid up to the silicon burning. After this phase the amount of neutrinos produced by weak nuclear reactions (beta decays, electron capture) increases, and finally dominates the neutrino flux .

Pair annihilation neutrinos are produced in the reaction (, p. 171)

$$e^++e^{}\nu _x+\overline{\nu }_x$$
(1)
A high temperature (T$`>10^9`$K) is required to produce enough $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs. Usually, in the local thermodynamical equilibrium, these pairs annihilate back into photons, but sometimes the reaction (1) occurs. Neutrinos produced by the reaction (1) escape freely from the central region of a star. In reaction eq. (1) the fluxes of neutrinos and anti-neutrino are the same.

We calculate the spectrum of neutrinos produced in reaction (1) with the Monte Carlo method of Ref. . Both, electrons and positrons are described by Fermi-Dirac (FD) distributions. Conditions in the central region of the 20 M star which define FD distribution parameters are summarized in Table 2.

In the simulation we pick up electron and positron four-momenta from FD distributions, transform to the center-of-mass frame, distribute neutrino momentum directions randomly, and convert neutrinos energy back to the rest frame. Every single event is binned and counted as $`|M|^2`$, where our annihilation matrix is proportional to:

$`|M|^2`$ $`(C_AC_V)^2(p_e^{}q_{\nu _x})(p_{e^+}q_{\overline{\nu }_x})`$ $`+`$
$`(C_A+C_V)^2(p_{e^+}q_{\nu _x})(p_e^{}q_{\overline{\nu }_x})`$ $`+`$
$`m_{e}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}(C_{V}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}C_{A}^{}{}_{}{}^{2})q_{\nu _x}q_{\overline{\nu }_x}`$
Here $`p`$ and $`q`$ are four-momenta, $`m_e`$ is the electron mass and:

$$C_V=\frac{1}{2}\pm 2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W,C_A=\frac{1}{2},$$
(3)
where $`\theta _W`$ is the Weinberg angle and $`\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W=0.2224`$. The ‘$`+`$’ sign refers to electron neutrinos, while the ‘$``$’ sign is for $`\mu `$ and $`\tau `$ neutrinos. The relative number of events from two simulation runs (one for the ‘$`+`$’ sign, the other one for the ‘$``$’sign) has been used to determine the $`\nu _{\mu ,\tau }/\nu _e`$ ratio.

The resulting anti-neutrino spectrum is presented in Fig. 1. We have used this spectrum together with the neutrino luminosity from Table 2 and the flavor fractions given in Table 3 to find the detector response.

## 3 Neutrino reactions and cross-sections in modern neutrino detectors

### 3.1 Brief description of selected experiments

Super-Kamiokande  and SNO  are the largest present supernova neutrino detectors. Super-Kamiokande contains about 32,000 tons of water in the inner volume. The SNO detector consists of 1,000 tons of ultra-pure heavy water and about 1,700 tons of light water. Both the light and heavy water form active detector volumes for supernova neutrino detections, providing proton and deuteron targets for neutrino interactions.

Because of low, due to large distance, neutrino flux from candidate stars undergoing advanced stages of nuclear burning, very large detectors are needed in order to detect the signal. Fortunately, there are proposals of two next generation water Cherenkov detectors for proton decay searches, UNO  and Hyper-Kamiokande , with 440,000 and 540,000 tons of water in fiducial volumes, respectively. We consider here also two detectors employing liquid scintillator (LS) that will be capable of detecting supernova neutrinos. These are KamLAND , already operating, and Borexino , to be operating soon. The low energy threshold for recoil electrons and the scintillation light are their most important advantages over water Cherenkov detectors.

#### 3.1.1 Water Cherenkov detectors

Water Cherenkov detectors have good efficiency of detection of recoil electrons with energy above a rather high threshold (about 5 MeV). Recoil electrons are produced mainly in NC/CC interactions between neutrinos and electrons. However, almost all interesting events will be produced in CC interactions between electron anti-neutrinos and protons (inverse $`\beta `$ decay). The neutrino/anti-neutrino spectrum is closely related to the electron/positron spectrum. Pair-annihilation neutrinos from considered last stages of pre-supernova star cannot be detected because of their low energy. We want, however, to point out that despite this high energy threshold problem, we may detect the signal from capture of neutrons produced in inverse $`\beta `$ decay, if some neutron absorbent material will be added to the pure water. The salt phase of the SNO experiment proves that this is feasible. SNO detects 36Cl de-excition via an 8.6 MeV total energy gamma-ray cascade which is distinguishable from CC (single energetic particle Cherenkov) events by angular isotropy measures.

The remaining flavors, $`\nu _\mu `$, $`\nu _\tau `$, $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$ and $`\overline{\nu }_\tau `$, interact only by neutral-currents, i.e. only elastically scatter off electrons.

#### 3.1.2 Liquid scintillator detectors

The primary goal of the Kamioka Liquid scintillator Anti-Neutrino Detector (KamLAND) experiment is a search for the oscillation of $`\overline{\nu }_e`$’s emitted from distant power reactors . The inverse $`\beta `$ decay reaction is utilized to detect $`\overline{\nu }_e`$’s with energies above 1.8 MeV in 1,000 tons of liquid scintillator (LS). The detection of the $`e^+`$ and the 2.2 MeV gamma-ray from neutron capture on proton in delayed coincidence is a powerful tool for reducing background.

The Borexino experiment main physics goal is the detection of the 0.86 MeV $`\nu _e`$’s from electron-capture decay of 7Be in the Sun . The central volume of the detector contains 300 tons of liquid scintillator. Neutrinos from the last stages of nuclear burning will interact in the LS via electron scattering and the inverse $`\beta `$-decay.

### 3.2 Reactions & Cross-sections

#### 3.2.1  The $`\overline{\nu }_e+pe^++n`$ reaction

Neutrino-proton scattering (often referred to as quasi-elastic neutrino-proton scattering) is historically called inverse beta decay. The structure of nucleon in neutrino-proton scattering at MeV energies is not important, because the momentum transfer between the two nucleons is small. We may approximate the vector and axial-vector form factors with two constants: $`F_V(0)=g_V=1`$ and $`F_A(0)=g_A=1.27`$. The value of $`g_A/g_V`$ is determined from the measured lifetime of the neutron.

Electron antineutrino quasi-elastic scattering on proton turns a proton into a neutron and produces positron of $`E_{e^+}=E_\nu \mathrm{\Delta }`$ energy (at zeroth order in $`1/M`$), where $`\mathrm{\Delta }=M_nM_p`$ is the mass difference between the proton and neutron. The momentum of produced positron is $`p_{e^+}=\sqrt{E_{e^+}^2m_e^2}`$.

The standard expression for the total cross section is,

$`\sigma _{tot}=\sigma _0(g_V^2+3g_A^2)E_{e^+}p_{e^+}=0.0952\left({\displaystyle \frac{E_{e^+}p_{e^+}}{1\mathrm{MeV}^2}}\right)\times 10^{42}\mathrm{cm}^2.`$ (4)
The constant $`\sigma _0`$ includes the energy-independent inner radiative corrections  :

$`\sigma _0={\displaystyle \frac{G_F^2cos^2\theta _C}{\pi }}(1+\mathrm{\Delta }_{inner}^R),`$ (5)
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{inner}^R0.024`$, and the Cabbibo angle $`cos\theta _C=0.974`$.

The inverse neutron $`\beta `$-decay, $`\overline{\nu }_e+pe^++n`$, is the reaction giving the largest yield for the detection of pre-supernova neutrinos. The large cross section, low energy threshold, delayed coincidence between positron’s annihilation and neutron capture signals, abudance of target protons makes this reaction the most promising.

We calculate the signal, which is the number of produced neutrons from this reaction in all the considered experiments.

#### 3.2.2 Neutrino-Electron Scattering

Neutrino-electron scattering produces recoil electrons with kinetic energy from zero up to the kinematic maximum. The laboratory differential cross section for the $`\nu _xe^{}`$ scattering is of the form:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d\sigma }{dT_e^{}}}={\displaystyle \frac{2G_F^2m_e}{\pi }}\left[c_L^2+c_R^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{E_\nu T_e^{}}{E_\nu }}\right)^2c_Lc_R{\displaystyle \frac{m_e}{E_\nu }}{\displaystyle \frac{T_e^{}}{E_\nu }}\right]`$ (6)
where $`T_e^{}=E_e^{}m_e`$ is the recoil electron kinetic energy.

In our rate calculation we approximate by integrating eq. (6) over all electron recoil energies. The total cross section is

$`\sigma ={\displaystyle _0^{T_{max}^{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\sigma }{dT_e^{}}}𝑑T_e^{}={\displaystyle \frac{2G_F^2m_eE_\nu }{\pi }}\left[c_L^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}c_R^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}c_Lc_R{\displaystyle \frac{m_e}{E_\nu }}\right]`$ (7)
where $`c_L,c_R`$ coefficients depend on the neutrino species considered (Table 4). Total scattering cross section is calculated without radiative corrections.

The elastically-scattered electrons will have kinetic energies of a few MeV. These relativistic electrons will be difficult to detect in any Cherenkov detector, because of high energy threshold. However, the next-generation liquid-scintillator Borexino detector will have low target threshold of approximately 0.25 MeV, mainly due to progress in radiopurity research . It is possible that KamLAND experiment will improve radiopurity to detect low energy recoil electrons in future, so we calculate signal from elastic processes in both detectors.

#### 3.2.3 Interactions with heavy water

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) employs inelastic neutrino-deuteron scattering to study the solar neutrino flux. The total $`{}_{}{}^{8}B`$ solar neutrino flux is determined from observation of the following reactions :

$`\nu _e+dp+p+e^{}`$ $`(CC),`$
$`\nu _x+dp+n+\nu _x`$ $`(NC),`$
$`\nu _x+e^{}\nu _x+e^{}`$ $`(ES),`$
where $`x=e,\mu `$ or $`\tau `$. The pre-supernova anti-neutrinos of all flavors can interact with deuterons and electrons through the following additional reactions :

$`\overline{\nu }_e+dn+n+e^+`$ $`(inverse\beta ),`$
$`\overline{\nu }_x+dp+n+\overline{\nu }_x`$ $`(NC),`$
$`\overline{\nu }_x+e^{}\overline{\nu }_x+e^{}`$ $`(ES).`$
By observing the charged-current interactions (CC and $`inverse\beta decay`$) only electron neutrino (anti-neutrino) flux is measured. The NC reaction of any flavour neutrino on deuteron breaks up the deteron and produces a proton and a neutron. The NC cross-section is the same for all neutrino flavours, thus one can determine the total flux of all active neutrino and anti-neutrino flavors above an energy threshold of 2.2 MeV. The cross sections for $`\nu `$-d reactions are of primary importance in the analysis of SNO data, it is motivation for theoretical calculations employing nuclear physics and effective field thory. We use in our paper the cross section values for the deuteron break-up interactions from the tables provided by Kubodera and Nozawa . In all cases of anti-neutrino reactions with light or heavy water only the neutron is detected in the final state. The ES reaction produces low energy recoil electron mainly below energy threshold, so we do not consider further this reaction.

#### 3.2.4 Averaged cross section

The spectrum-averaged cross section is

$`\overline{\sigma }_\alpha ={\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}\sigma (E)\lambda _\alpha (E)𝑑E`$ (8)
where $`\lambda _\alpha (E)`$ is the $`normalized`$ spectrum for neutrinos produced by the pair-annihilation in pre-supernova star at C, Ne, O and Si burning phase ($`\alpha `$ = C, Ne, O & Si). The integration over the spectrum of incoming neutrino energies, E, was performed numerically and the results are shown in Table 5. We use the total cross sections $`\sigma (E)`$ for the most important interactions in considered detectors as described in previous sections.

## 4 The event rate and the background signal in selected detectors

The number of incoming particles interacting (per day) with the target is equal to the product of the spectrum averaged cross section $`\overline{\sigma }_\alpha `$, the number $`N`$ of target atoms or electrons, the total intensity of the flux per day $`\varphi _\alpha `$, and the fraction $`f`$ of total flux that is interacting with a given target. The reaction rate $`r`$ per day is written as:

$`r[day^1]=f\overline{\sigma }_\alpha [cm^2]N\varphi _\alpha [cm^2day^1].`$ (9)
For anti-neutrinos from silicon burning stage in 1kt water Cherenkov detector we have : $`\overline{\sigma }_{Si}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}6.8}10^{44}[cm^2],N=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}6.69}10^{31},\varphi _{Si}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}7.6}10^{11}[cm^2day^1]`$ and, from Table 3, $`f=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.363}`$.

The number of target particles is easy to calculate if the mass and the chemical composition of material in the fiducial volume are known. We obtain the total flux per day from the pre-supernova star 1 kpc away by dividing the luminosity $`L_\nu `$ (Table 2) by the average neutrino energy (Table 3) and the surface area of a R=1 kpc radius sphere. The spectrum of the total neutrino flux from the silicon burning stage is compared with that for solar neutrinos in Fig. 2. The fraction of total flux that interact, $`f`$, depends on the burning stage and the type of interactions in the detector. All these expected properties are shown in Table 6. Here the most important is the final result of our calculation which is the event rate per day.

The equation (9) gives for the silicon burning neutrinos 1.27 neutrons/day/kiloton of water for a star 1 kpc away. Event rates for large detectors are summarized in Table 6. Super-Kamiokande is the best currently working detector for a such an observation, with 41 events per day, but needs a modification for making neutron detection possible. The same modification would be required in the light water volume of the SNO detector, allowing it to detect 2.2 events/day.

To make detection of pre-supernova anti-neutrinos feasible we propose to supplement the existing and future water Cherenkov detectors with some addition of NaCl or GdCl3 (see the proposition made by J.F. Beacom and M.R. Vagins GADZOOKS! ) to the water. Neutrons produced in inverse $`\beta `$ decay are captured by Gd or Cl nuclei producing high energy (above 8 MeV) gamma cascades. The addition of neutron absorbers is very important, because in a pure light water neutrons are captured by protons and produce not detectable 2.2 MeV gamma cascades, e.g. energy threshold in SK is about 5 MeV. This modification has been proved to work in the salt phase of solar neutrino detection in the SNO detector. The addition of NaCl to the kiloton of heavy water increased the neutron capture efficiency and the associated Cherenkov light . Neutron capture efficiency is different in every experiment and has to be calibrated with neutron source, as e.g. 252Cf in SNO.

Background neutron events are disturbing pre-supernova neutrino detection, and thus should be carefully studied in every detector before the addition of the neutron absorber. The average rate of background neutron production from activity in the D2O region is 0.72 neutrons per day in the SNO detector . These background events are produced mainly by deuteron photodisintegration (not relevant for a light water detectors) and due to the external-source neutrons. The background of neutrons in spallation products from energetic muons can be suppressed by a veto following the muon . Long-lived muon induced isotopes, which decay by the production of a neutron and a beta (e.g. $`{}_{}{}^{8}He`$, $`{}_{}{}^{9}Li`$ and $`{}_{}{}^{11}Li`$), can simulate the $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ coincidence signature. Thus, the study of muon induced spallation products in the neutron absorber nuclei is important. Other major sources of the neutron background are : ($`\alpha `$,$`n`$) interactions, fission of radioactive impurities, interactions of atmospheric and fission anti-neutrinos (both natural and from reactors) with protons. The neutrino flux from nuclear power plants depends strongly on location of nearby ones, and this factor has to be included in projects of future pre-supernova detectors.

## 5 Importance of pre-supernova neutrinos detection

Our results for $`20M_{}`$ pre-supernova star show that neutrinos (particularly $`\overline{\nu }_e`$) from last stages of nuclear burning in such a star are possible to detect. Future detectors (UNO, Hyper-Kamiokande) will be able to cover significant fraction of the Galaxy. However, when we take into account relatively low, from typical experiment lifetime point of view, local core-collapse SN rate, of 1 per $``$100 yrs or less (Table I of ,  for overview, see however ), only projects of long standing, namely nucleon decay and neutrino observatories, have chance to be operating during such an event. At present it is difficult to reliably estimate probability of successful neutrino-cooled start detection because of (1) uncertainties of local supernova rate, (2) unexplored yet variety of massive stars and their models, (3) unknown details of detection technique, especially neutron background level. Making optimistic assumption of 10 events/day detectable and clearly distinguishable from background, we get (using Galaxy model  and Si burning event rate for 20 M star from Table 6) 1.7% Galaxy coverage (i.e. up to 2 kpc from Earth) for Super Kamiokande. Next generation detectors UNO and Hyper Kamiokande cover significant fraction 30% (7.5 kpc) and 37% (8.2 kpc) of Galaxy disk stars, respectively. The highest Galaxy supernova rate estimate of 1 per 10 years  gives (under above assumptions) successful detection probability of 3% (SK), 60% (UNO) and 75% (HyperK) during 20 years of uninterrupted observation.

Benefits given by the detection of the pre-supernova neutrino signal can be divided into two sets: (1) those related to possible prediction of subsequent supernova event and (2) insight into processes related to deep interior of massive stars prior to its death.

### 5.1 Supernova prediction?

Supernova event is an unpredictable phenomenon. Astronomers await nearby supernova for 400 years. Therefore, many of them speculate on the likely next Galaxy event. The list of candidates includes Betelgeuse, Mira Ceti, Antares, Ras Algheti, $`\gamma ^2`$ Vel, Sher25 and Eta Carinae. Unfortunately, the surface of these stars is unaffected by (possibly) dramatic nuclear and hydrodynamical processes deep inside. This is effect of $`\tau 10000`$ years timescale of hydrogen envelope . No electromagnetic observation at any wavelength and resolution can help. Only neutrinos carry informations on the current state of the stellar core. That’s why only neutrinos could warn us before the supernova event. The case of SN1987A  unexpectedly revealed this fact. The silicon-burning neutrinos, although carry only about 1% energy compared to the main supernova neutrino burst, are possible to detect, as we showed in previous sections (cf. Table 6). The information about an incoming supernova is transmitted around 2 days333 For a 20 M star. This time strongly depends on the stellar mass (cf. , Table I), and is in the range 0.7 - 18 days.  earlier. The early warning would provide an additional time which may be crucial for preparation of all available observational techniques, including gravitational radiation detectors, and would allow us to be ready for the main neutrino burst from collapse and protoneutron star cooling.

In a very favorable case of a close star, much less than 1 kpc away444 A 20 M pre-SN star at Betelgeuse distance (Betelgeuse is actually a 15 M red giant at a distance of 185 pc) which just entered the oxygen burning stage would produce in HyperK 45 neutrons/day during 6 months before its explosion.  with operating megaton-scale neutrino observatory modified by addition of appropriate neutron absorber, we could expect detection of oxygen- and neon-burning neutrinos a few months before the explosion. The detection, however, would be more difficult than silicon-burning neutrinos, mainly due to lower luminosities Lν (Table 2), lower average energies $`\mathrm{E}_\nu `$ (Fig. 1) and smaller cross-sections (Table 5).

Let’s note, that the above speculations are no longer valid if the neutrino detection is offline. Realtime (on-line) data analysis is strongly preferred from this point of view.

### 5.2 Astrophysical importance of Si burning neutrinos

The aim of our work is to show the feasibility of pair-annihilation neutrinos detection. We did not discuss the calculations of the neutrino luminosities, but actually the silicon burning is very complicated and ”potentially numerically unstable stage” (, sec. IV A-4) of stellar modeling, mainly due to similar timescales of nuclear burning and convection. The behaviour of spherically symmetric models employing the mixing-length convection appears to be completely different from 2D hydrodynamic models (, Epilogue). Thus any observational data, even few detected events may be very important to constrain theoretical models. In a favorable situation of a close star with new-generation observatories we should be able to constrain the time-dependence of the neutrino flux and of the spectrum.

The Si-burning neutrino emission precedes a subsequent explosion event independently of the actual stellar death scenario. The SN1987A confirmed standard supernova mechanism . However, it is believed that at least some of the massive stars die in other ways. The most recent research is concentrated on GRB-SN connection , their relation to failed supernovae  and the core rotation . It is not yet understood why some massive stars become supernovae, hypernovae or even GRBs. The detection of pre-supernova Si-burning neutrinos together with the following observations of optical, neutrino and gravitational signals from the supernova and the identification of the progenitor would establish the relation of pre-supernova conditions and the explosion dynamics. Let’s note, that in case of the supernova shrouded in interstellar clouds, Si burning neutrinos carry exclusive information on the progenitor.

### 5.3 Discussion

This article shows that detection of pre-supernova star neutrinos is a feasible new goal for neutrino astronomy. Our simplified analysis may be extended to stars of different masses. The constant neutrino flux can be replaced with more realistic time-dependent flux generated by stellar evolution codes. The simple spectrum of pair-annihilation neutrinos can be augmented with detailed plasma- and weak-nuclear-neutrinos spectra. These refinements could change the results somewhat, not affecting our predictions as to the detection feasibility considerably. Clearly, the most important circumstance is the distance to the next Galactic supernova. It is also, however, the most indeterminable one. Therefore, if we want to get results, we have to maximize our observation range. Detectors like Hyper-Kamiokande, UNO, or even better should be operating at the “time zero”.

## 6 Acknowledgments

We thank K. Grotowski and M. Wojcik for helpful discussions and advice. This work was partially supported by the research grant from the Institute of Physics of Jagiellonian University, and through KBN grants 2 P03B 110 24 and PBZ-KBN-054/P03/02.