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PROTON DECAY, BLACK HOLES, and LARGE EXTRA DIMENSIONS

Fred C. Adams, Gordon L. Kane, and Manasse Mbonye

Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics

Physics Dept., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA

Malcolm J. Perry

DAMTP, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge, CB3 0WA, England

29 December 2000

## Abstract

We consider proton decay in theories that contain large extra dimensions. If virtual black hole states are allowed by the theory, as is generally the case, then proton decay can proceed via virtual black holes. The experimental limits on the proton lifetime place strong constraints on the quantum gravity scale $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}`$ (the effective Planck mass). For most theories, this implies a lower bound of $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}>10^{16}`$ GeV. The corresponding bound on the size of large extra dimensions is $`\mathrm{}<10^{6/n}\times 10^{30}`$ cm, where $`n`$ is the number of such dimensions. Regrettably, for most theories this limit rules out the possibility of observing large extra dimensions at accelerators or in millimeter scale gravity experiments. Conversely, proton decay could be dominated by virtual black holes, providing an experimental probe to study stringy quantum gravity physics.

PACS Numbers: 12.60JV

I. INTRODUCTION

In conventional versions of string theory (M theory), the string energy scale, the Planck mass, and the unification scale are roughly comparable and are relatively close to the standard value of the Planck mass, $`M_{\mathrm{pl}}`$ $`10^{19}`$ GeV. Recently, however, the possibility of a much smaller string scale and large extra dimensions – perhaps large enough to be observable in particle accelerator and gravity experiments – has sparked a great deal of interest \[1–11\]. As is well known, one of the many constraints on such theories with large extra dimensions is the rate of proton decay. The current experimental limit on the proton lifetime depends on the particular decay mode under study , but for the most interesting channels the bound is approximately $`\tau _P>10^{33}`$ yr . In the context of theories with large extra dimensions, the existing theoretical literature includes various papers which present mechanisms to suppress “ordinary” GUT scale proton decay, i.e., decay driven by intermediate bosons that mediate baryon number non-conservation. In this case, one can invent extra symmetries to get rid of those unwanted processes and thereby suppress the proton decay rate below the experimental limit \[4–7\]. In this present paper (see also Refs. ), we address the idea of virtual black holes acting as the intermediate particles as they do in gravitationally induced proton decay \[14–18\]. In particular, we find lower bounds on the quantum gravity scale $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}`$, upper bounds on the size $`\mathrm{}`$ of the extra dimensions, and limits from higher order proton decay processes with $`\mathrm{\Delta }B>1`$.

This topic has some urgency: If the relevant scale for quantum gravity is as low as 1 TeV, for example, then quantum gravity effects could in principle be observed in existing (or upcoming) accelerators, or as deviations from Newtonian gravity. One of the proposed experimental signatures of quantum gravity would be virtual black holes . Unfortunately, the same virtual black holes that could be observed could also drive proton decay at a rapid rate, larger than allowed by existing experimental bounds on the proton lifetime. As a result, gravitationally induced proton decay must be highly suppressed in any theory of quantum gravity that accommodates low energy scales and thereby allows large extra dimensions; possible mechanisms have been suggested to provide such suppression and remain under study . However, in a viable theory such a suppression must allow a way to generate a baryon asymmetry and neutrino masses; these can be linked by $`BL`$ conservation in many theories. So far, that has not been achieved to our knowledge. The burden of proof must be, to a large extent, placed on any comprehensive new approach, so that it demonstrates that it is not inconsistent with these constraints. The arguments of this paper thus suggest interesting constraints on approaches to quantum gravity that allow for virtual black hole states at low energy scales, such as recent approaches invoking millimeter or TeV size dimensions.

For another new approach, the Randall-Sundrum case , the Standard Model (SM) masses appear at about the TeV energy scale while the original mass parameter of the theory can remain near the (old) Planck scale $`M_{\mathrm{pl}}`$. The energy scale for quantum gravity effects and virtual black holes may remain large ($`M_{\mathrm{pl}}`$) and hence this class of theories might evade the bounds of this paper. However, in most versions of Randall-Sundrum ideas where Kaluza-Klein (KK) states are at the TeV scale, and where black hole sizes are determined by the KK masses, our arguments should apply.

II. PROTON DECAY IN 4 DIMENSIONS

Let’s first review the picture of gravitationally induced proton decay using three spatial dimensions and the traditional value of the Planck mass ($`M_{\mathrm{pl}}10^{19}`$ GeV). In any quantum theory, one expects to find vacuum fluctuations associated with the fundamental excitations of the theory. In electrodynamics, for example, electron-positron pairs can form directly out of the vacuum (for a short time). Such processes can be observed indirectly by many quantum phenomena (e.g., in the Casmir effect). In general, however, one must include in the vacuum processes all possible excitations of the theory, e.g., the production of proton-antiproton pairs, or even monopole-antimonopole pairs. These processes are generally highly suppressed relative to the electron-positron amplitudes by virtue of their correspondingly large masses. In gravitation, one therefore expects not only to find virtual gravitons playing a role, but also virtual black holes. Although present uncertainties in quantum gravity theory prevent reliable calculations, even in the context of string theory, we can use a semi-classical calculation as a starting point to study such phenomena.

The standard arguments for virtual black holes lead to the idea that spacetime must be filled with tiny Planck mass black holes with a density of roughly one per Planck volume . These microscopic virtual black holes then live roughly for one Planck time. This picture of the spacetime vacuum is often called the spacetime foam (a generalization of this argument for higher dimensions is sketched in the Appendix). Since black holes and the Standard Model itself are presumed not to conserve baryon number, these virtual black holes contribute to the rate of proton decay through their gravitational interaction. In this setting, a proton is considered to be a hollow sphere of radius $`Rm_P^110^{13}`$ cm that contains three (valence) quarks. Suppose that two of these quarks fall into the same black hole at the same time (the quarks must be pointlike compared to the black hole scale for this argument to hold). Since the black hole will evaporate predominantly into the lightest particles consistent with conservation of charge, energy, and angular momentum, this process effectively converts the quarks into other particles; only rarely will the same quarks come out that originally went into the black hole. The output particles will often be antiquarks and leptons, and hence baryon number conservation is generally violated. In other words, quantum gravity introduces an effective interaction leading to many final states, including processes of the form

$$q+q\overline{q}+\mathrm{},$$
(1)
where the final state can include any number additional particles (gravitons, gluons, photons, neutrinos, etc.) and where the resulting antiquark will generally hadronize (e.g., to $`\pi ^0`$). These interactions can be regarded as four-Fermi interactions whose coupling strength is determined by the Planck mass. Such processes are mediated by black holes and can violate conservation of baryon number. Notice, however, that these processes cannot be mediated by gravitons alone because such interactions conserve both electric charge and baryon number. Notice also that we are implicitly adopting the Hawking picture of black hole evaporation (which is information non-preserving).

The probability of two quarks being within one Planck length ($`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{pl}}10^{33}`$ cm) of each other inside a proton is about $`(m_P/M_{\mathrm{pl}})^310^{57}`$. This value represents the probability per proton crossing time $`\tau m_P^110^{31}`$ yr, if we assume that the particles move at the speed of light. In order for an interaction to take place (such as equation ), a virtual black holes must be present at the same time that the two quarks are sufficiently near each other. Including this effect reduces the overall interaction probability by an additional factor of $`m_P/M_{\mathrm{pl}}`$. Converting these results into a time scale for proton decay \[14–18\], we find an estimated proton lifetime of

$$\tau _Pm_P^1\left(\frac{M_{\mathrm{pl}}}{m_P}\right)^410^{45}\mathrm{yr}.$$
(2)
For comparison, if the proton is unstable through some process operating at the (nonsupersymmetric) unification (GUT) scale $`M_X`$ , the corresponding time scale for proton decay becomes

$$\tau _P10^{30}\mathrm{yr}\left(\frac{M_X}{10^{15}\mathrm{GeV}}\right)^4.$$
(3)
Thus, the proton lifetime expected from virtual black hole processes (equation ) is the same as that for GUT scale processes (equation ) in the limit that the unification scale $`M_X`$ approaches the Planck scale $`M_{\mathrm{pl}}`$ and the coupling becomes of order unity. For completeness, we note that in supersymmetric theories the unification scale can be somewhat higher than in grand unified theories without SUSY; in this case, the proton lifetime can be as long as $`\tau _P`$ = $`10^{33}10^{34}`$ yr, consistent with current experimental limits.

Most versions of string theory contain black hole states with masses comparable to the Planck mass (the quantum gravity or string scale). These black holes play the role of the $`X`$-boson in proton decay, independent of any specific argument about virtual black holes or spacetime foam. Furthermore, we have no reason not to believe the Hawking formula for the entropy of stringy black holes or their temperature; as a result, the density of states formula implicitly used here should be correct in string theory. One remaining controversy is whether or not the black holes genuinely lose information. Most particle physicists say they do not, whereas most relativists say they do. At present, we simply do not know. Notice that if only $`BL`$ is conserved in string theory, then protons will decay with the rate derived here.

One still might be concerned about suppression of the proton decay rate due to violation of global conservation laws or information loss. Because of the t’Hooft anomaly, however, baryon number is not conserved even in the SM, although electric charge and possibly $`BL`$ are. The decay described by equation (1), e.g., conserves these latter quantum numbers. Channels such as this decay, that could conserve global quantum numbers and perhaps even circumvent information loss issues, can dominate . As a result, there is no compelling reason to expect large suppressions of the decay channel.

In equation (1), the virtual black holes mediating the interaction appear to act like local quantum objects and thus one might be concerned that the interaction could be gauged away, much like what is done to remove unwanted interactions involving $`X`$-bosons. Unlike local quantum particles, however, the virtual black holes in quantum gravity processes are solitonic objects – they are less likely to be gauged away because they are extended. In order to suppress proton decay mediated by virtual black holes, one would need to make  baryon number (or an equivalent matter parity) into a local charge via an exact gauged discrete symmetry that is fully respected by the true vacuum of the theory. Even then, proton decay is often only suppressed up to some (possibly quite large) order in the effective operators. Such a suppression requires very special arrangements of chiral fermions or other aspects of the theory. For example, as pointed out by Kakushadze , a $`𝐙_3`$ “Generalized Baryon Parity” cannot accommodate right-handed neutrinos without adding additional matter because of anomaly cancellation constraints. It is not an accident that the neutrino sector affects the efforts to enforce such suppressions; $`B`$ and $`L`$ conservation are related in many models by conservation of $`BL`$. To allow majorana neutrino masses, $`L`$ cannot be conserved. As we argue below, however, because theories with large extra dimensions tend to allow rapid proton decay via virtual black holes, any viable such theory must include a strong suppression mechanism.

Some mechanisms have been suggested  to avoid the proton decay problem in the presence of large extra dimensions. They typically have in common the need for a new scale, one that is not given by scale of quantum gravity and is not determined by conventional (known) scales such as the electroweak or supersymmetry breaking scales. In Ref. , for example, quarks and leptons are embedded in domain walls separated by a new scale of order 50 times the distance (or more) one would expect if the wall parameters were determined by the quantum gravity scale; if the domain wall thickness was specified only by the quantum gravity scale, then virtual black hole states would be large enough to bridge the gap and drive proton decay. If the physical origin of such a new scale can be identified, and a reason why a stable separation of quarks and leptons should occur, that would represent important progress. One additional general constraint on such ideas is the need to generate a baryon asymmetry in the early universe (this issue is not addressed in Ref. ). Currently, quarks and leptons are separated by imposing the counter-intuitive requirement that their Yukawa couplings are of opposite sign, which is possible but, as yet, unmotivated.

Although it is not yet absolutely proven that baryon number cannot be effectively conserved in the presence of black holes, we find it unlikely for two reasons: \[A\] Astrophysical black holes seem to manifestly violate such a conservation law. Imagine compressing a star containing $`N_B10^{57}`$ baryons into a black hole and watching it radiate away. Because the Hawking temperature is low for most of its evaporation time, the black hole radiates primarily into photons, gravitons, and neutrinos; the temperature becomes hot enough to radiate quarks, protons, or other baryonic particles only after the mass shrinks by 20 orders of magnitude. Thus, for baryon number to be conserved, the theory would have to contain extremely unusual objects with small mass and huge baryon number – the baryon number to mass ratio would be 20 orders of magnitude larger than that of the proton. This case may not be explicitly excluded but it is nonetheless extremely unlikely; it requires the introduction of a new factor of $`10^{20}`$, which is ten million times larger than the dimensionless number ($`M_{GUT}/M_{Weak}10^{13}`$) represented by the hierarchy problem. (Notice that the black hole may not actually disappear, just as an electrically charged black hole may not disappear – it remains in a BPS-like configuration; the implications of this possibility remain unclear). \[B\] The observed baryon asymmetry in the universe argues strongly against absolute conservation of baryon number. Unless one posits special initial conditions at the Big Bang, the cosmos had to generate a baryon excess through some process that violates conservation of baryon number.

In string theory, a large number of BPS states are known to be extreme black holes , and presumably many other massive string states are black holes as well. All of these states can mediate decays as in equation (1). Because so few known experimental tests can probe the string nature of quantum gravity theories, we should turn our argument around: Since string theory is likely to allow proton decay via virtual black holes and since the string scale may be as low as the GUT scale, proton decay modes (such as those explored in this paper) may be a very powerful diagnostic of string theories. Furthermore, the gravitationally induced channels of proton decay should be recognizable in experiments from their observed branching ratios. Thus, proton decay could be a valuable way to study strong gravitational interactions. This issue should be studied in greater detail in future work.

III. PROTON DECAY WITH LARGE EXTRA DIMENSIONS

We now consider the process of gravitationally induced proton decay in theories with large extra dimensions. For proton decay driven by non-gravitational means – for intermediate particles other than virtual black holes – it is possible to enforce symmetries on the theory to prevent proton decay at overly fast rates \[4–7\]. In the case of gravity, however, such suppressions are more difficult, particularly when quantum fluctuations are large. Working in worlds with large extra dimensions, Emparan et al.  have argued that black hole evaporation occurs mostly on the brane; this result thus strengthens our approach since final states with particles lighter than a proton are not suppressed.

In a theory with large extra dimensions, two effects modify the picture of proton decay outlined above:

\[A\] The most important modification is that the Planck mass changes. Specifically, the energy scale of virtual black hole processes changes from $`M_{\mathrm{pl}}10^{19}`$ GeV to a lower value which we denote here as $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}`$. Because the new quantum gravity scale $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}`$ is generally lower than both $`M_{\mathrm{pl}}`$ and the GUT scale, this effect acts to reduce the proton lifetime. In particular, the Schwarzschild radius for the virtual black holes is given by $`R_S`$ $``$ $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}^{}{}_{}{}^{1}`$ , which determines the cross section and is much larger than before.

\[B\] If the number of extra large dimensions is $`n>0`$, then the geometry of both the proton and the virtual black holes change. In this context, we let $`dn`$ denote the number of extra dimensions that the quarks can propagate through. In most theories with large extra dimensions, quarks and other SM particles are confined to the usual 4-dimensional world and cannot freely propagate in the extra dimensions; for most cases, we thus have $`d=0`$. In the general case with $`d>0`$, the quarks that make up the proton have more dimensions in which to propagate. With more dimensions, the quarks would be less likely to encounter each other and hence this effect increases the proton lifetime. On the other hand, the black holes must be $`(4+n)`$ dimensional objects and will necessarily live in the additional dimensions. The black hole interaction cross sections remain of order $`R_S^2M_{\mathrm{qg}}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}`$, however, even when interacting with SM particles confined to the usual 4-dimensional spacetime (where we assume strong coupling).

Including the above two modifications in estimating the proton decay rate through virtual black hole processes, we find the proton lifetime

$$\tau _Pm_P^1\left(\frac{M_{\mathrm{qg}}}{m_P}\right)^{4+d}.$$
(4)
The current experimental bound on the proton lifetime  can be written in the form

$$\tau _P>10^{33}\mathrm{yr}m_P^1\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }}{m_P}\right)^4,$$
(5)
where we have defined an energy scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ $`(m_P^510^{33}\mathrm{yr})^{1/4}`$ $`1.4\times 10^{16}`$ GeV. Combining the general expression (4) with the experimental bound (5), we thus obtain a bound on the scale $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}`$ of quantum gravity:

$$M_{\mathrm{qg}}>\left(m_P^d\mathrm{\Lambda }^4\right)^{1/(4+d)}=\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^{64/(4+d)}\mathrm{GeV},$$
(6)
where we have used $`m_P1`$ GeV and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }10^{16}`$ GeV to evaluate the bound in the second equality. This result (when applicable) constrains the possibility of having a low quantum gravity scale that could be observed in present-day or future accelerators. For the most likely case $`d=0`$, where quarks are confined to our 4-dimensional brane, the quantum gravity scale must be comparable to the (usual) GUT scale, i.e., $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}`$ $``$ $`10^{16}`$ GeV. For $`d=12`$, the quantum gravity scale remains quite high. The weakest constraint arises if $`d=7`$, which corresponds to the (unlikely) case in which all of the possible extra dimensions are large and the valence quarks within the proton are allowed to propagate freely through all dimensions; in this case, the limit on the quantum gravity scale is $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}>`$ 700 TeV. This scale remains interesting in terms of modifying the hierarchy problems associated with a high quantum gravity scale ($`M_{\mathrm{pl}}10^{19}`$ GeV), but unfortunately it remains safely out of experimental reach.

We can also find corresponding bounds on the size scales of the extra dimensions. This size scale $`\mathrm{}`$ is determined by

$$\mathrm{}^n=M_{\mathrm{pl}}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}M_{\mathrm{qg}}^{}{}_{}{}^{(2+n)},$$
(7)
where $`n`$ is the number of extra large dimensions (see Ref. \[1–11\]). For the most likely case with $`d=0`$, equation (6) implies the bound

$$\mathrm{}<(M_{\mathrm{pl}}/\mathrm{\Lambda })^{2/n}\mathrm{\Lambda }^1.$$
(8)
As a result, the “large” extra dimensions in such a theory would actually be rather small, $`\mathrm{}<10^{6/n}\times 10^{30}`$ cm. These size scales would be impossible to observe in modified gravity experiments.

Other rare decays mediated by virtual black holes, such as $`\mu e\gamma `$ or neutrino disappearance, may also provide limits on large extra dimensions and low quantum gravity scales. We leave the study of these effects to a future analysis.

Thus far, we have only considered processes which lead to the decay of a single proton, i.e., processes with $`\mathrm{\Delta }B`$ = 1. However, many of the possible suppression mechanisms for proton decay forbid $`\mathrm{\Delta }B`$ = 1 decays, but allow larger $`\mathrm{\Delta }B`$. For example, $`\mathrm{\Delta }B`$ = 2 can appear in neutron-antineutron transitions. We can immediately generalize the expression for the proton lifetime (eqs. ) for the case of $`\mathrm{\Delta }B=N`$ (see Ref. ),

$$\tau _Pm_P^1\alpha ^{2N}\left(\frac{M_{\mathrm{qg}}}{m_P}\right)^{4N}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^{33}\mathrm{yr}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}\hspace{0.17em}10}^{64(N1)}\left(\frac{M_{\mathrm{qg}}}{10^{16}\mathrm{GeV}}\right)^{4N},$$
(9)
where $`\alpha `$ is the coupling constant and where we have taken the likely case of $`d=0`$. For example, if we use the scale $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}`$ = 1 TeV for quantum gravity, the proton lifetime for $`N`$ = 2 is only a few seconds; for $`N`$ = 3, the proton lifetime is only $`\tau _P10^5`$ yr. We note that processes with $`\mathrm{\Delta }B2`$ require the protons to be near each other. Such processes will thus take place in large nuclei (e.g., iron) and in compact stellar objects (e.g., neutron stars) but free protons in interstellar space would not be affected.

We also obtain the corresponding bound on the quantum gravity scale $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}`$,

$$M_{\mathrm{qg}}>m_P(\mathrm{\Lambda }/m_P)^{1/N}10^{16/N}\mathrm{GeV}.$$
(10)
For the case of $`N`$=2, for example, our bound becomes $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}>10^8`$ GeV; for $`N`$=3, the bound becomes $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}>2\times 10^5`$ GeV. Thus, higher order proton decay processes (with $`\mathrm{\Delta }B2`$) also place interesting limits on the quantum gravity scale $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}`$.

IV. SUMMARY

This paper argues that gravitationally induced proton decay – virtual black hole processes that violate baryon number conservation – should be taken seriously as they imply strong constraints on theories of quantum gravity with large extra dimensions. In particular, this analysis suggests that the observed absence of proton decay via virtual black holes puts a lower limit on the quantum gravity scale $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}`$ and a corresponding upper limit on the size $`\mathrm{}`$ of large extra dimensions. In the weakest (and unlikely) case in which quarks propagate in $`n=d=7`$ large extra dimensions, the limit is $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}`$ $`>`$ 700 GeV. This bound rapidly increases to $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}>10^{16}`$ GeV for any number $`n`$ of large extra dimensions, if quarks move only in 3 spatial dimensions ($`d=0`$) as is generally required for theories to retain the usual SM physics \[1–11,25\]. The corresponding bound on the size scale of the extra dimensions is $`\mathrm{}<10^{6/n}\times 10^{30}`$ cm. The bounds for $`\mathrm{\Delta }B>1`$ processes are weaker, but the quantum gravity scale is still highly constrained (eq. ).

Because the required interactions with black holes are very general, this limit is robust and will not be affected by the domination of specific decay channels. It could be modified if quark sizes (perhaps set by the string scale) are larger than the Planck size, but this does not occur in most approaches. Our limit may not apply if the generally accepted picture of spacetime foam – every Planck volume of spacetime typically contains a virtual black hole for a Planck time (see the Appendix) – is not valid, or if virtual black hole states are charged under some conserved (including quantum corrections) discrete gauge symmetry (as discussed earlier). Other possible mechanisms to suppress virtual black hole effects have been suggested  and should be studied further. Any acceptable mechanism should allow an explanation of the cosmic baryon asymmetry and majorana neutrino masses. We feel that this challenge remains a serious issue.

In general, if this limit turns out to be applicable, the quantum gravity scale must be high enough to remove much of the original motivation for large extra dimensions. Unfortunately, this argument would rule out observable effects at colliders and in millimeter-scale gravity experiments; this issue is thus of vital importance and must be dealt with more fully than it has been so far. Even with this new constraint, however, the quantum gravity scale $`M_{\mathrm{qg}}`$ could still be somewhat lower than before ($`M_{\mathrm{qg}}10^{16}`$ GeV $`<`$ $`M_{\mathrm{pl}}10^{19}`$ GeV), which could help alleviate hierarchy problems. Nonetheless, the signatures of virtual black hole processes might be observable in proton decay experiments, which may eventually provide a powerful experimental probe of quantum gravity and string theories.

Acknowledgements

We greatly appreciate conversations with M. Duff, L. Everett, S. Hawking, J. Liu, J. Lykken, and H. Reall; we particularly thank D. Chung for important discussions. We are grateful to N. Arkani-Hamed and G. Dvali for critical comments on an early version of the manuscript. Finally, we thank the Aspen Center for Physics, where some of this work was carried out. This research was supported by a Department of Energy grant and by the Physics Department at the University of Michigan.

APPENDIX:

VIRTUAL BLACK HOLES AND SPACETIME FOAM

In this Appendix, we present a version of the standard argument for virtual black holes filling the vacuum and thereby producing a spacetime foam. In this case, however, we generalize the calculation for higher dimensions. We consider gravity to propagate in $`4+n`$ dimensions, so that $`n`$ is the number of large extra dimensions. Notice that $`n`$ depends on the scale. On sufficiently large spatial scales $`n0`$ and we must recover old (4-dimensional) Einstein gravity; in this context we are interested in small spatial scales where black holes must be $`(4+n)`$-dimensional. Gravity is controlled by the action

$$I[g]=\frac{1}{16\pi G_n}_MR(g)^{1/2}d^{4+n}x\frac{1}{8\pi G_n}_MK(h)^{1/2}d^{3+n}x+C[h],$$
(11)
where $`G_n`$ is the gravitational constant in $`(4+n)`$ dimensions and $`R`$ is the Ricci scalar for the metric $`g_{ab}`$, which is defined on the spacetime $`M`$. The spacetime boundary $`M`$ has the induced metric $`h_{ab}`$. The quantity $`K`$ is the trace of the second fundamental form on the boundary $`M`$ and $`C[h]`$ is a functional of $`h`$ defined so that the action of Minkowski space vanishes. Extremization of this action for fixed metric on the boundary leads to the Einstein equations for $`g_{ab}`$ in $`M`$.

The path integral for gravity is

$$Z𝒟[g]\mathrm{e}^{iI[g]},$$
(12)
where the integral is taken over all metrics $`g`$. Our goal is to investigate how black holes contribute to any amplitude in quantum gravity. We first assume that this integral can be approximated by the usual Euclidean continuation. The action for a single Schwarzschild black hole of mass $`m`$ is then given by

$$I_1\frac{m^{2+n}}{M_{\mathrm{pl}}^{}{}_{}{}^{2+n}},$$
(13)
where $`M_{\mathrm{pl}}`$ is the Planck mass in $`(4+n)`$ dimensions ($`M_{\mathrm{pl}}M_{\mathrm{qg}}`$). This equation should also contain additional geometrical factors, but these are of order unity and convention dependent (depending on how the mass $`m`$ is defined). Ignoring interactions between the black holes, we find the action for a collection of $`N`$ black holes to be

$$I_N\frac{Nm^{2+n}}{M_{\mathrm{pl}}^{}{}_{}{}^{2+n}}.$$
(14)
In the path integral, the black holes are indistinguishable; each is independent of the others and can be positioned anywhere in space. Since $`N`$ is undetermined, we can evaluate $`Z`$ in a box of volume $`V_n`$ (in $`3+n`$ spatial dimensions) to obtain the result

$$Z_0^{\mathrm{}}𝑑m\underset{N=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\mathrm{exp}[4\pi Nm^{2+n}/M_{\mathrm{pl}}^{}{}_{}{}^{2+n}]\frac{1}{N!}\left[\frac{V_n}{\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{pl}}^{}{}_{}{}^{3+n}}\right]^N.$$
(15)
The factor of $`V_n`$ comes from accounting for the black holes being anywhere in the box, and the factor of $`1/N!`$ arises from their indistinguishability.

The combination of these results thus defines a probability distribution for having $`N`$ black holes with mass $`m`$. Elementary calculations yield the corresponding expectation values for the number density $`n_{\mathrm{bh}}`$ of black holes and for the black hole mass $`m_{\mathrm{bh}}`$, i.e.,

$$n_{\mathrm{bh}}\frac{V_n}{\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{pl}}^{}{}_{}{}^{3+n}}\mathrm{and}m_{\mathrm{bh}}M_{\mathrm{pl}},$$
(16)
where $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{pl}}`$ is the Planck length in the $`(4+n)`$-dimensional spacetime. As before in the case of 4 dimensions, we find that spacetime must be filled with tiny Planck mass black holes with a density of roughly one per Planck volume. These microscopic virtual black holes live roughly for one Planck time. In this generalized case, however, the black holes are $`(4+n)`$-dimensional objects and the Planck mass, the Planck volume, and the Planck time are now given by the new (lower) energy scale $`M_{\mathrm{pl}}`$ (where $`M_{\mathrm{pl}}M_{\mathrm{qg}}`$). This picture of the spacetime vacuum is thus a generalization of the spacetime foam for the case of $`(4+n)`$ dimensions.

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# Extragalactic radio sources with hybrid morphology: implications for the Fanaroff–Riley dichotomy

## 1 Introduction

A quarter of a century ago, using the first set of synthesis maps of 3CR radio sources, Fanaroff & Riley (fanaroff (1974)) demonstrated that the morphology of extended double radio sources undergoes a relatively sharp transition across a critical radio luminosity, $`L_R^{}`$, corresponding to $`P_{178\mathrm{M}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}}2\times 10^{25}h_{50}^2`$ W Hz-1 sr-1. Most sources below this luminosity exhibit FR I type structures, which are distinguished by diffuse radio lobes having their brightest regions within the inner half of the radio source. Such edge-dimmed radio sources include: fairly symmetrical twin-jets; fat doubles; Wide Angle Tail; and Narrow Angle Tail (or head–tail) sources. On the other hand, the more powerful FR II type double sources show less bending, and their brightness peaks occur near the outer edges of the two radio lobes, which are often identified as hot-spots. Interestingly, $`L_R^{}`$ was found to lie near the observed break in the radio luminosity function of elliptical galaxies (Meier et al. meier79 (1979)) and also to correspond to a transition in the properties of nuclear optical emission lines (Hine & Longair hine (1979)). More detailed studies based on improved radio maps later established that the radio luminosity separating FR I from FR II sources is actually a rising function of the optical output of the parent elliptical galaxy, $`L_R^{}L_{\mathrm{opt}}^{1.7}`$ (Owen & White owen89 (1989); Ledlow & Owen ledlow (1996)).

The origin of the FR I/FR II dichotomy continues to be a much debated outstanding issue in the astrophysics of extragalactic radio sources (e.g., Scheuer scheuer96 (1996)). Several authors have linked the morphological differences primarily to the transition of an initially supersonic, but relatively weak, jet to a transonic/subsonic flow decelerated substantially though entrainment of thermal plasma within the inner ($``$ 1 kpc) region of the host elliptical galaxy (e.g., De Young deyoung (1993); Bicknell bicknell84 (1984), bicknell94 (1994), bicknell95 (1995); Komissarov 1994; Bowman et al. 1996; Kaiser & Alexander kaiser97 (1997)). In contrast, several others have argued in favor of more fundamental differences existing between the two classes, involving the nature of the central engine (e.g., Baum et al. baum92 (1992); Baum et al. baum95 (1995); Reynolds et al. 1996a ; Meier et al. meier97 (1997), Meier meier99 (1999)), or the possibility of composition of jet plasma being different, with $`e^{}`$$`e^+`$ plasma inferred for FR I sources (Reynolds et al. 1996b ), while $`e^{}`$$`p`$ jets may be preferred for FR II sources (Celotti et al. celotti97 (1997)). In our earlier work we had attributed the FR I/FR II dichotomy primarily to differences in the jet’s power/thrust which, together with the properties of the circumgalactic medium, would determine how soon the advance of the hot-spot becomes subsonic relative to the ambient medium; this would lead to the disruption of the jet’s collimation due to its weakened Mach disk (Gopal-Krishna & Wiita gkw88 (1988); Gopal-Krishna gk91 (1991); also, Blandford blandford96 (1996)). Further evidence for this scheme, which assumes no fundamental differences between either the central engines or the jets of FR I and FR II sources, was presented by Gopal-Krishna et al. (gk96 (1996)), based on a representative set of Weak Headed Quasars. A growing body of VLBI observations also indicates similar jet velocities in FR I and FR II type sources close to the galactic nucleus (e.g., Giovannini et al. giovannini (1995); also Parma et al. parma (1987)).

The goal of this communication is to present a new type of evidence in favor of environmental factors being the primary determinant of the FR dichotomy. In order to do so, it is necessary that we first present perspectives of the observational status (Sect. 2) and theoretical inferences (Sect. 3) bearing on the question of the FR I/FR II dichotomy. We then endeavor to constrain some of the proposed theoretical explanations by introducing a new class of double radio sources, where the two lobes on the opposite sides of the galactic nucleus exhibit clearly different FR morphologies (Sect. 4). Although rare, these HYbrid MOrphology Radio Sources, or HYMORS, provide a valuable probe of the physical origin of the Fanaroff–Riley morphological divide. A brief report on this class was made in Gopal-Krishna & Wiita (gkw00 (2000)). Our main conclusions are summarized in Sect. 5.

## 2 Observational aspects of the FR I/FR II dichotomy

Out of the vast amount of literature now available on this topic, we attempt here to recapitulate some of the prominent distinctions claimed to exist between the two FR classes. It is now well established that: FR II jets on kpc scales are distinctly more asymmetric and better collimated than FR I jets; the magnetic field in a FR II jet remains aligned with the jet along most of its length, while in a FR I jet the magnetic field is predominantly transverse on multi-kpc-scales (e.g. Bridle & Perley bridle84 (1984)). Also, the radio nucleus is more prominent in the FR I sources (e.g. Morganti et al. morganti (1993)); however, the difference vanishes if FR I and FR II sources of the same radio luminosity are considered (Zirbel & Baum zirbel95 (1995)). VLBI measurements of nuclear jets, which often exhibit superluminal motions, strongly suggest that FR II jets are relativistic on parsec scales, and there are now many cases where FR I jets also appear to flow relativistically on such scales (Giovannini et al. giovannini (1995); Bridle bridle96 (1996); Laing laing99 (1999); Biretta et al. biretta (1999); Xu et al. xu (2000)). Doppler boosting can explain the facts that powerful FR II jets appear one-sided while weaker FR I jets exhibit large brightness asymmetries only near their origins, and typically have short, one-sided basal regions (Bridle & Perley bridle84 (1984); Parma et al. parma (1987)). Moreover, the Laing-Garrington (e.g., Garrington et al. garrington (1988)) depolarization asymmetry is exhibited by the lobes of some FR I sources as well as by the FR II sources in which it was discovered (Parma et al. parma (1987); Laing et al. laing99 (1999)). On the other hand, while the evidence for FR II jets retaining their relativistic bulk velocities up to the multi-kpc scale is very strong, with the brighter large scale jet always seen on the same side as the nuclear jet and towards the less depolarized radio lobe (Scheuer scheuer87 (1987); Garrington et al. garrington (1988); Bridle bridle96 (1996)), the diffuse nature of FR I sources, the brightness asymmetries of their jets decreasing with distance from the core, and often, the strong bends seen in FR I jets, imply that much slower flows exist on larger scales (e.g., O’Dea odea (1985); Feretti et al. feretti (1999); Laing et al. laing99 (1999), and references therein).

Soon after their discovery it was noted that FR I sources tend to be associated with dynamically evolved cD or D type galaxies in clusters; in contrast, the hosts of FR II sources at similarly small redshift appear to avoid rich clusters (Longair & Seldner longair (1979); Seldner & Peebles seldner (1978); Prestage & Peacock prestage (1988); Owen & Laing owen (1989); Zirbel zirbel97 (1997)), but more frequently have companion galaxies and/or isophotal distortions which signify recent galaxy mergers (e.g., Heckman et al. heckman86 (1986); Hutchings hutchings (1987); Baum et al. baum92 (1992); Zirbel zirbel97 (1997)). Furthermore, the hosts of FR I’s are found to have an excess in optical size (relative to radio-quiet ellipticals of the same optical magnitude) that correlates with $`L_R`$, while no such correlation is found for FR II’s (Zirbel zirbel97 (1997)). Hill & Lilly (hill (1991)) argued that the environment of FR II sources changes with cosmic epoch, in the sense that by moderately high redshifts ($`z0.5`$), they begin to be found inside rich clusters; also see Zirbel (zirbel97 (1997)). Recent work (McLure & Dunlop mclure (2000); Wold et al. wold (2000)), however, indicates that there may be negligible cosmological evolution of the environment, and that powerful AGN do not really avoid clusters, even at small redshifts. Similarly, the well known statistical trend for the host galaxies of FR II sources to be about 0.5 magnitude fainter than those of FR I sources (Lilly & Prestage lilly (1987); Prestage & Peacock prestage (1988); Smith & Heckman smith (1989); Owen & Laing owen (1989)) has recently been explained as a selection effect arising from a combination of the $`L_{\mathrm{opt}}^2`$ dependence of the radio power at the FR I/FR II transition and the steepness of the radio luminosity function of elliptical galaxies (Scarpa & Urry scarpa (2000)).

Additional differences between the optical properties of the host galaxies of FR I and FR II sources have been noted. Although FR II’s exhibit roughly an order of magnitude stronger optical line emission than do FR I’s of the same radio luminosity, the optical line emission seems to correlate with the host’s optical magnitude only for FR I’s (Baum et al. baum92 (1992); Zirbel & Baum zirbel95 (1995)). The indicated internal origin of the gas in FR I’s would be consistent with the recently inferred origin of dusty material detected in FR I sources, which appears to be generated either within the elliptical host itself, or acquired in close encounters with gas-rich galaxies (in contrast to an origin through violent mergers in the case of FR II’s) (de Koff et al. dekoff (2000)). Further, in contrast to FR II’s, only a weak correlation of optical line emission with $`L_R`$ is found for FR I’s (Baum et al. baum95 (1995)). Spectroscopic observations have indicated that the kinematics of the ionized gas in FR I’s is turbulence dominated, while some ordered bulk rotation is present in the ionized gas associated with FR II hosts, and this rotation axis tends to be aligned with the radio axis (Baum et al. baum92 (1992)). The emission line ratios of these “rotator”-type nebulae found in FR II sources are consistent with photoionization by the nuclear continuum, since the \[O I\] 6300, \[N II\] 6584 and \[S II\] 6717 forbidden lines are very weak relative to H$`\alpha `$. Recent HST images of FR I nuclei reveal a deficiency of the thermal UV emission which is usually attributed to the nuclear accretion disk; this may account for the faintness of nuclear optical line emission (Chiaberge et al. chiaberge99 (1999); also Zirbel & Baum zirbel95 (1995)). Interestingly, Chiaberge et al. (chiaberge00 (2000)) also found a similar situation for some of the FR II sources of modest radio luminosity.

Another notable difference between FR I and FR II hosts pertains to the amount of mid/far-IR (MFIR) emission: for samples matched in radio luminosity, FR II hosts typically have $`4`$ times stronger MFIR emission, perhaps attributable to nuclear starbursts induced by galaxy mergers, which is also consistent with the higher rate of occurrence of optical distortion found for the FR II host galaxies (Heckman et al. heckman94 (1994)).

## 3 Some theoretical considerations related to the morphological dichotomy

### 3.1 Jet deceleration

In light of the evidence for relativistic jet velocities persisting up to multi-kpc scales in FR II sources, coupled with the likelihood that the jets in both FR types start out with bulk relativistic speeds, many theoretical studies have stressed the need for deceleration of the jet flow in FR I sources. Begelman (begelman (1982)) argued that viscous dissipation in jets can balance adiabatic heating and cause a rather rapid deceleration of weaker jets to transonic or subsonic speeds. These jets could remain undisrupted for substantial distances, thereby yielding typical FR I morphologies, provided the external pressure gradient is appropriately steep. De Young (deyoung (1993)) noted that the Owen-Ledlow transition from FR II to FR I at a fixed $`L_R`$ and increasing $`L_{\mathrm{opt}}`$ could correspond to a supersonic (perhaps relativistic) jet being severely decelerated in the inner $`1`$ kpc of the parent galaxy, where more gas is likely to be available for entrainment. Plausibly, enough of such gas could arise from stellar winds, or perhaps from cooling flows onto the cD galaxies which often host FR I sources.

Bicknell (bicknell84 (1984), bicknell94 (1994), bicknell95 (1995)) focused on the idea that turbulent entrainment of cool interstellar medium at the jet boundary could dramatically decelerate a jet. His original work (Bicknell bicknell84 (1984)) assumed non-relativistic FR I jets throughout, and ran into some difficulties (e.g., Laing et al. laing99 (1999)). But the later model (Bicknell bicknell94 (1994), bicknell95 (1995)), which assumed initially relativistic jets which eventually come into pressure balance with the external medium, is quite successful in reproducing many aspects of the observations. Bicknell argued that the instability to Kelvin-Helmholtz modes that would produce jet flaring, and thus an FR I morphology, tended to occur at Mach numbers of $`2`$ or flow velocities of $`0.6`$c. This result was shown to hold for wide ranges of initial relativistic velocities and of initial ratios of cold to relativistic matter in the jet (Bicknell bicknell95 (1995)). By incorporating the known empirical relationships between the optical and X-ray properties of elliptical galaxies, Bicknell’s (bicknell95 (1995)) model could effectively account for the observed slope (and approximate intercept) of the Owen-Ledlow boundary for the FR I/FR II transition in the $`L_R`$$`L_{\mathrm{opt}}`$ plane. Self-similar models for radio source growth by Kaiser & Alexander (kaiser97 (1997)) feature a turbulent shear layer that could disrupt weaker jets, turning them from FR II into FR I type morphologies if the external density gradient was rather shallow. Komissarov (komissarov94 (1994)) and Bowman et al. (bowman (1996)) also considered entrainment as leading to jet deceleration in FR I sources. Bowman et al. (bowman (1996)) argued that FR I plasma was initially hotter and stressed the importance of cool stellar matter directly swept up by the jets. They showed that this could produce substantial deceleration, even if the jets were highly relativistic initially, without causing a precipitous dissipation of the jet’s kinematic power and the ensuing dramatic brightening, which is not observed (see, Scheuer scheuer83 (1983)).

Observational support for the models invoking decelerating FR I jets comes from the anti-correlation found between the apparent brightness ratio and the width ratio of the twin jets in FR I sources, which is readily understood in terms of Doppler boosting of a centrally peaked velocity profile (Laing et al. laing99 (1999), and references therein). A wide variety of the observed characteristics of the radio jets in FR I sources, such as the emission gaps seen near the nucleus (Komissarov komissarov90 (1990)), the asymmetries in apparent emission from the two jets, and their magnetic field patterns, are reasonably explained if the jets in these sources consist of a narrow “spine” of relativistic flow with a predominantly transverse magnetic field, surrounded by a slower moving “sheath” contaminated by entrained material (a shear layer) where the magnetic field is stretched into a predominantly longitudinal configuration (Laing laing93 (1993), laing96 (1996); Laing et al. laing99 (1999)). This picture is in accord with Bicknell’s (bicknell95 (1995)) transonic relativistic jet models which are confined by external pressure at large distances, and where the deceleration usually occurs within $`2`$ kpc of the core.

### 3.2 Jet composition

Total energy and synchrotron radiation constraints led Celotti & Fabian (celotti93 (1993)) to conclude that FR II jets were made of $`e^{}`$$`p`$ plasma, since they argued that $`e^{}`$$`e^+`$ plasma of the required density would yield too much annihilation radiation. On the other hand, Reynolds et al. (1996b ) used similar energetic and radiation constraints to conclude that the jet in the FR I source M87 was likely to be made of $`e^{}`$$`e^+`$ plasma. A similar argument favors an electron–positron jet in the Optically Violently Variable Quasar 3C 279 (Hirotani et al. hirotani (1999)). If all of these arguments are taken at face value, one might infer that the main difference between FR I and FR II sources lies in the composition of the jet plasma, and this would imply the existence of a qualitative difference between their central engines. However, evidence for the presence of pair plasma jets, even in FR II sources, comes from the interpretation of the radio power–linear-size (P–D) diagram in terms of a model for self-similar growth of double radio sources (Kaiser et al. kaiseretal97 (1997)). Furthermore, there are viable alternatives to the annihilation constraint invoked by Celotti & Fabian (celotti93 (1993)) to argue against pair plasmas in FR II jets; for example, the earliest stage of the energy transport could be predominantly via Poynting flux (Reynolds 1999, private communication), in which case the radiating relativistic matter in all jets could indeed be essentially an $`e^{}`$$`e^+`$ plasma.

The “spine/sheath” model (Sect. 3.1) is broadly reminiscent of the two-fluid-type configuration for jets, put forward by Pelletier & Roland (pelletier (1989)). (See also Sol et al. sol (1989).) They suggest that the spine of the jet is relativistic, at least on parsec scales, and is composed of a pair plasma, while the outer sheath is made of $`e^{}`$$`p`$ plasma, and carries the bulk of the energy to the outer lobes.

### 3.3 Galactic mergers

Substantial isophotal distortions are observed in the ellipticals hosting both FR I and FR II sources, strongly implying that galactic encounters/mergers have occurred (Heckman et al. heckman86 (1986); Colina & de Juan colina (1995)). However, the distinctive sharpness of the distortions seen in the FR II hosts (Smith & Heckman smith (1989)), combined with the presence of strong optical emission lines and significantly higher MFIR emission (Heckman et al. heckman94 (1994)) suggests the occurrence of a starburst due to merger of a gas rich spiral with the elliptical host (Smith & Heckman smith (1989); Colina & de Juan colina (1995)). In contrast, elliptical–elliptical mergers have been invoked in the case of FR I galaxies (Colina & de Juan colina (1995)).

Consecutive mergers of galaxies containing central supermassive black holes (SMBHs) could produce multiple SMBH systems. Such triple systems usually become unstable and eject a single black hole in one direction, and the recoil sends the surviving binary black hole system in the opposite direction; this is the core idea of the gravitational slingshot model for radio source production (e.g., Saslaw et al. saslaw (1974)). In this scenario, FR I sources correspond to SMBHs ejected at less than the escape velocity from the merged host galaxy, while FR II sources arise from SMBHs that do escape (Valtonen & Heinämäki valtonen (2000)). Since this picture naturally produces different velocities for SMBHs of different masses, it could both produce HYMORS, and even make actual predictions as to their frequency. Valtonen & Heinämäki (valtonen (2000)) also argue that the slingshot model can roughly account for the dependence of $`L_R^{}`$ on $`L_{\mathrm{opt}}`$, as well as for many other properties of radio galaxies.

### 3.4 Spin of the central engine

Some hydromagnetic process is now widely believed to be responsible for launching relativistic jets from the vicinity of the accretion disk/supermassive black hole combination which is believed to constitute the central engine in all AGN, although the details remain highly contentious (e.g., Scheuer scheuer96 (1996); Wiita wiita (1996)). A possible hint that the angular momentum of the central engine is important in launching powerful FR II jets comes from the rotational kinematics of the (presumably accreted) ionized gas observed in FR II host galaxies (Baum et al. baum92 (1992)). The idea that a merger of two SMBHs belonging to a merged pair of elliptical galaxies could yield a single rapidly spinning SMBH, which propels powerful relativistic jets, was advocated by Wilson & Colbert (wilson (1995)). While the black hole spin may well be an important ingredient for ejection of powerful jets, the existence of HYMORS (Sect. 4) disfavors differences in the SMBH spin as the principle mechanism for the FR dichotomy.

One basic class of scenarios involves variants of the Blandford-Znajek (bz (1977), B-Z) mechanism, which could tap the SMBH’s rotational energy via magnetic field lines threading the SMBH horizon. While extremely efficient in principle, and capable of providing powerful radio jets with minimal optical thermal emission if an ion-supported torus forms in the innermost region (Rees et al. rees (1982)), the viability of this mechanism has recently been questioned on several grounds. Ghosh & Abramowicz (ghosh (1997)) argued that the strength of the magnetic field that could actually thread the SMBH horizon may have been substantially overestimated. Even if the B-Z mechanism works, Livio et al. (livio (1999)) have claimed that the emitted power is dominated by energy output from the inner disk regions, at least for the standard thin accretion disks, and therefore the efficiency is much reduced. This last limitation may be overcome if the accretion disk is actually thick in the inner regions (Armitage & Natarajan armitage (1999)). An additional potential problem for the B-Z mechanism was recently pointed out by Li (li (2000)); he argued that the plasma screw instability must set in and this implies that even if the B-Z mechanism does work locally, any jet it launches would be severely limited in its overall length.

While none of the above critical arguments can be considered to be watertight, they tend to support the alternative basic scenario, which involves hydromagnetic launching of the jets from the accretion disk, rather than from the immediate vicinity of the SMBH (e.g., Blandford blandford94 (1994)). Most of these disk-origin models of jets (e.g. Appl & Camenzind appl (1993); Chiueh et al. chiueh (1991)) can be considered to be variants of the Blandford-Payne (bp (1982)) scheme. However, it should be noted that if the screw-instability argument of Li (li (2000)) turns out to be valid, it probably also applies to disk-launched jets and would cause difficulties for any MHD dominated jet formation process.

One possible approach for producing asymmetric jets by a single central engine was proposed by Wang et al. (wang (1992)). They took a semi-analytical approach to the force-free Grad-Shafronov equation and found solutions in which the bulk of the power was carried by the Poynting flux, while most of the angular momentum in the jet was carried by the magnetic fields emerging from the accretion disk. Wang et al. (wang (1992)) found that substantially more thrust could flow off of one side of the disk than the other if sufficiently large asymmetries could be maintained in the magnetic field within the disk.

The idea that the accretion disk corona can generate two fundamentally different types of jet has been proposed recently (Meier et al. meier97 (1997); Meier meier99 (1999)). Fast (highly relativistic, FR II) jets are ejected when the coronal plasma is unbound by the magnetic field, while slower (transrelativistic, FR I) jets, moving at roughly the disk’s escape velocity, are produced when the corona is inertially bound to the SMBH. The original version of this “magnetic switch” mechanism (Meier et al. meier97 (1997)) could explain how jets of very different speeds arise from otherwise similar sources, but this version fails to explain how these differences can persist over the extended lifetimes of FR I sources (Meier meier99 (1999)). In his revised scenario, Meier (meier99 (1999)) argued that the difference in radio jet power among galaxies of the same mass arises from different speeds of rotation of the magnetic field lines associated with their central engines, which are in turn produced by different spin rates of their SMBHs. (The idea that the SMBH spin was critical had been put forward already by Baum et al. (baum92 (1992), baum95 (1995)) based on observational inferences about the merger of the host galaxy with a high angular momentum, gas-rich, disk galaxy in the case of FR II sources.) The transition occurs at a critical power when the MHD luminosity, $`L_{\mathrm{MHD}}=B_{p0}^2R_0^3\mathrm{\Omega }/2`$, (where $`B_{p0}`$ is the poloidal magnetic field, $`R_0`$ is the size of the magnetic rotator, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ its angular velocity) exceeds a critical luminosity, defined as the liberation of an escape energy in a free-fall time:

$$L_{\mathrm{crit}}=\frac{E_{\mathrm{esc0}}}{\tau _{\mathrm{ff0}}}=4\pi \rho _{c0}R_0^2\left(\frac{GM}{R_0}\right)^{3/2}.$$
(1)
In Meier’s scenario, this magnetic switch luminosity plays the same role in MHD acceleration as does the Eddington luminosity in radiative acceleration. Note that this magnetic switch model relies on extracting substantial power from a portion of the accretion disk extending within the ergosphere, thereby avoiding the problem highlighted by Livio et al. (livio (1999)). This model is capable of yielding a decent match to the Owen-Ledlow variation in the value of $`L_R^{}`$ with $`L_{\mathrm{opt}}`$ in terms of a critical SMBH spin (Meier meier99 (1999)).

The possibility that Advection Dominated Accretion Flows (ADAFs; e.g., Narayan & Yi narayan (1995)), which are inefficient radiators, are present in FR I radio galaxies was first proposed by Reynolds et al. (1996a ). In this picture, which is an intriguing option (e.g., Jackson jacksonc (1999)), standard thin accretion disks, which radiate more efficiently, yield FR II radio sources (Reynolds et al. 1996a ). A good fit to the low-frequency radio and X-ray emission of M87 (Reynolds et al. 1996a ) as well as to that of several quiescent ellipticals (Di Matteo & Fabian dimatteo97 (1997); Mahadevan mahadevan (1997)) could be attained using ADAF models. However, the ADAF models grossly overpredict the high-frequency radio and sub-mm emission from these quiescent galaxies unless: the magnetic fields are very much below equipartition; or there is enough cold material for free-free absorption of the synchrotron absorption to be very important; or powerful winds remove much of the energy, angular momentum and mass from the inner part of the accretion flow (Di Matteo et al. dimatteo99 (1999)).

## 4 HYMORS: a new observational clue to the FR dichotomy

As mentioned in Sect. 1, the remarkable differences between a wide range of characteristics of the FR I and FR II sources, as summarized in Sect. 2, have led several authors to the viewpoint which ties the origin of these differences to the properties of the central engine itself (Sects. 3.2–3.4). It is clearly important to confront this somewhat radical stand with any discriminating observational results available. One possible strategy is to look for double radio sources whose radio structures on the two sides of the nucleus exhibit different Fanaroff-Riley morphologies. Even a few examples of such clearly hybrid morphology double radio sources would call into question models that attribute the FR dichotomy to the properties of the central engine, since in a given double source both radio lobes are presumably caused by a single central engine. On the other hand, such a hybrid morphology may be readily accommodated within a scenario where the ambient media on the two sides of the nucleus have sufficiently dissimilar properties so as to impose different fates upon the two jets emanating from the nucleus.

Following the above reasoning, we have carried out a substantial, though certainly not exhaustive, search of the published literature and have located several cases of HYMORS, which illustrate our point. Below we briefly comment on these individual examples, whose basic properties are summarized in Table 1.

0131$``$367 (NGC 612, $`z`$ = 0.029): This bright SO galaxy with a prominent dust-lane is the host of a prominent double radio source (Ekers et al. ekers (1978)). The hybrid nature of its radio structure is evident from its 5 GHz VLA map which shows a weak core flanked by two radio lobes; the eastern lobe has a bright hotspot near its outer edge (FR II type), whereas the western lobe exhibits a jet-like structure which widens steadily and fades into a diffuse radio plume (FR I) (Fig. 1; Morganti et al. morganti (1993)).

0521$``$364 ($`z`$ = 0.055): This well-known blazar, found to be a source of $`\gamma `$rays above 100 GeV (Thompson et al. thompson (1995)), is another fine example of hybrid radio morphology. It consists of a radio/optical synchrotron jet which does not terminate in a hot spot, and a bright radio hot spot on the counter-jet (SE) side, all embedded in a radio halo (Fig. 2; Keel keel (1986)).

1004+130 (4C+13.41, $`z`$ = 0.240): The hybrid morphological nature of this quasar is apparent from its 5 GHz VLA map made by Fomalont (fomalont (1982); Fig. 3). The radio lobe westward of the bright nuclear core is strongly edge-brightened, typical of FR II sources. In contrast, the eastern lobe is clearly edge-darkened (FR I type), and its structure is dominated by a jet which progressively fades away from the nucleus.

1452$``$517 ($`z`$ = 0.016): A 843 MHz MOST map of this giant radio galaxy was made by Jones (jones86 (1986)); also see Jones & McAdam (jones92 (1992)). Whilst the N lobe is edge-brightened (FR II type), the other lobe is edge-darkened (FR I) (Jones jones86 (1986)). A higher resolution map is needed to ascertain if the elongated radio feature seen in the S lobe is indeed a jet. An alternative possibility in the context of such giants is that the emission peak recessed from the outer edge could be the current working surface of a rejuvenated jet which had already reached a much greater extent but was cut off by the instabilities which are particularly likely to afflict such giant, old, radio sources (e.g., Hooda et al. hooda (1994)).

1726$``$038 (4C$``$03.64): This double source is a good example of a HYMORS. As seen from a recent 4.9 GHz VLA map (Fig. 4; Jackson et al. jackson (1999)), the extremity of the NE lobe is marked by a bright hot spot (FR II type). In contrast, the SW side of the nucleus exhibits a prominent jet which progressively fades away outwards, a standard FR I pattern. Unfortunately, the authors provide no redshift measurement; using the digitized POSS we have attempted to obtain a crude estimate of the redshift. We tentatively identify the source with an elliptical galaxy of approximately 10 arcsec extent. This angular size of the host galaxy suggests a redshift of $`0.05`$, taking the intrinsic diameter to be 10 kpc and a Hubble constant of $`H_0`$ = 75 km s-1 Mpc-1.

2007$`+`$777 ($`z`$ = 0.342): This moderately distant, core dominated BL Lacertae object has been mapped with the VLA at 1.5 GHz by Murphy et al. (murphy (1993)). In this source the eastern side of the nucleus exhibits a prominent hot spot, whereas the western side is marked by a jet which gradually fades into oblivion at about 10 arcsec from the nucleus.

Some high redshift examples of HYMORS can be identified from the quasar sample imaged by Lonsdale et al. (lonsdale (1993)), using the VLA at 5 and 15 GHz. 0038$``$019 (4C $``$02.04; $`z`$ = 1.690) is a good example of hybrid morphology, with a hot-spot in the N lobe and a southward jet without a terminal hot-spot. 1258$`+`$404 (3C 280.1, $`z`$ = 1.659) has a hot-spot on the NW and only a jet to the SE. 1323$`+`$655 (4C 65.15, $`z`$ = 1.618) is another possible HYMORS, with a compact hot-spot to the NE and a bent jet on the SW. The peculiar structures of the first and third of these sources were noted by Lonsdale et al. (lonsdale (1993)).

Among the AGN associated with disk galaxies, a HYMORS-like source has recently been mapped in the Seyfert galaxy, Mrk 3 (UGC 3426). Mrk 3 has an extremely low level of nuclear radio activity and its overall radio size is only $``$ 0.5 kpc (Kukula et al. kukula (1999)). The E jet shows knots close to the nucleus and fades outwards in an FR I pattern, while the W jet terminates in a typical FR II hot spot and lobe.

In addition, 0905$``$353, which was mapped at low-resolution by Jones & McAdam (jones92 (1992)), is another possible HYMORS. We plan to employ the high resolution and sensitivity of the the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope to ascertain if this object indeed has a hybrid morphology.

Although Fanaroff & Riley (fanaroff (1974)) classified radio sources solely in terms of whether the separation of points of peak intensity were less than (FR I) or greater than (FR II) half of the largest size of the source, more subtle classification schemes have since been proposed. Probably the most widely adopted of these separates double sources into categories depending upon: (a) whether the extended emission is best described as plume-like or bridge-like; and (b) whether the lobes possess compact features or not, and if they do, whether the compact emission is dominated by hotspots, weak jets or strong jets (Leahy leahy93 (1993), leahy00 (2000); Laing laing93 (1993)). Since almost all FR II sources would fall into a the category which is dominated by bridges on large scales and hotspots on small scales, this scheme mainly serves to stress the wide range of types commonly clubbed together in the FR I fold, a few of which might be called ‘FR 1.5’ (Leahy leahy00 (2000)).

Other types of structures intermediate between FR I and FR II morphologies have been noted earlier (Zirbel & Baum zirbel95 (1995) and references therein). Owen & Laing (owen89 (1989)) discuss a small group of “Fat Doubles”, with bright outer rings and rounded lobes, which they argue are best considered as FR I/II transitional sources. We would not consider any of these as an example of a HYMORS. In their list of some 334 sources, for which they had good enough maps to classify 212, Zirbel & Baum (zirbel95 (1995)) list only 7 sources as being ‘FR I/II’ (in their paper this means different categorizations had appeared in the literature) and only 3 as being ‘Transitional’. Published maps could be located for 7 of these 10; we would call four of these clearly FR II, one clearly FR I, one (3C 17) as being very confused, perhaps involving a chance superposition of an FR II and an FR I (Morganti et al. morganti (1993)), and only one case (3C 15) that might legitimately be transitional; however, it did not fit our definition of a HYMORS. Nor does PKS 1313$``$33, a source Morganti et al. (morganti (1993)) call transitional. In addition, transitional type sources housing plumes and tails along with well collimated jets and weak hot spots, have been seen in three intermediate power radio galaxies (Capetti et al. capetti (1995)) and in some low luminosity radio sources (Parma et al. parma (1987)); again, none of these are good examples of HYMORS. Thus, while the sobriquets ‘FR 1.5’ and ‘FR I/II’ have appeared occasionally in the literature, their meanings are imprecise, and we consider ourselves justified in introducing the more specific term HYMORS to describe sources with definite FR I morphology on one side and distinct FR II morphology on the other.

## 5 Concluding remarks

Our main objective in this study was to highlight the existence of double radio sources whose structures are characterized by a hybrid morphology in terms of the Fanaroff-Riley classification scheme. Table 1 summarizes the basic radio and optical data for six good examples of such HYMORS (Sect. 4). It is seen that the hybrid radio morphology can be associated with all three major classes of radio powerful AGNs (i.e., galaxies, quasars and BL Lac objects), and with radio sources extending from galactic up to megaparsec dimensions. Although the radio powers of these HYMORS are below or around the critical value for the FR I/FR II transition, this probably is due to the modest redshifts of these sources; their counterparts may well exist at high redshifts ($`z>1`$, Sect. 4). From Figs. 1–4 it may also be noted that in some of the cases the FR I classification of a radio lobe is based on the detection of a radio jet without a terminal hot spot; in the other cases a diffuse radio lobe without a hotspot (FR I type) is found associated with a jet. We note that since the missing hotspot in HYMORS is often on the side with the jet, the morphological asymmetry cannot be explained by postulating even an implausibly strong Doppler boosting of the hotspot radiation.

Because we have examined very heterogeneous samples of radio maps in order to produce our set of HYMORS, it is not possible to give an accurate estimate of their frequency. We examined roughly 1000 radio maps overall to come up with the 6 good examples highlighted above. Among relatively well defined samples, we found: 1 HYMORS out of 181 3CRR galaxies considered by Laing et al. (laingetal (1983)); 1 case among the 150 4C maps presented by Jackson et al. jackson (1999); and 0 cases in the 98 maps of steep spectrum 4C sources considered by Rhee et al. (rhee (1996)). These are consistent with very low rates of less than about $`1\%`$. The higher redshift sample of Lonsdale et al. (lonsdale (1993)), however, yielded 3 HYMORS out of 70 sources.

Although rare, HYMORS can serve as a very useful discriminator between the wide range of theories that have been put forward to explain the origin of the FR dichotomy. The mere existence of HYMORS seems to disfavor the class of models that posit fundamental differences between the central engines, such as spin or jet composition, as being the dominant cause for the two morphological types (Sects. 1, 3). The scheme of Wang et al. (wang (1992)) (Sect. 3.4), where the central engine is argued to be capable of ejecting jets of grossly unequal power, could conceivably be reconciled with the existence of HYMORS. However, even if such an asymmetry could somehow be maintained over most of the source lifetime, there is no significant evidence in our sample of HYMORS for the positively correlated asymmetries in radio luminosities and lobe lengths that this scenario would predict. (If one leaves the standard jet paradigm and considers gravitational slingshot scenarios (e.g., Valtonen & Heinämäki valtonen (2000)), then some HYMORS would be expected, though the predicted lobe length asymmetry cannot be verified using the present small sample.)

Thus, at least in the case of HYMORS, it appears that some type of jet-medium interaction on kiloparsec scales is playing a crucial role in creating the morphological asymmetry about the nucleus. If the asymmetric jet/medium interaction is such that the jet collimation is quite different on the two sides, the side with poorer collimation, and therefore more rapid slowdown, would lose its hotspot sooner. Earlier, environmental asymmetries have been argued to be important for the Compact Steep Spectrum radio sources (Gopal-Krishna & Wiita gkw91 (1991); Saikia et al. saikia (1995); Jeyakumar et al. jeyakumar (2000)). A more extensive search for HYMORS, allowing a reliable statistical estimate of their frequency and structural asymmetries, is likely to provide a deeper insight into the origin of the Fanaroff-Riley morphological dichotomy.

A recent study appears to underscore the dominant role of accretion in the jet formation. Serjeant et al. (serjeant (1998)) show that for steep spectrum quasar cores, radio and optical outputs are strongly correlated; this implies a close link between the formation of jets and accretion onto the SMBH, improving on the similar argument made by Rawlings & Saunders (rawlings (1991); see also Falcke & Biermann falcke (1999)).

Finally, in the context of HYMORS it may be pertinent to quote Lilly & Prestage (lilly (1987)): “It is important to stress that the environment must be influencing not just the outer radio lobes, but also nuclear phenomena, such as the strength of the optical emission lines and the properties of the radio jets.” We surmise that the observed differences between the properties of the host galaxies of FR I and FR II sources engender the dichotomy by creating different environmental conditions to be encountered by the jets, rather than by producing fundamentally different kinds of central engines.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank Drs. E. Fomalont, N. Jackson, P. Jones, W. Keel, R. Morganti, and D. Murphy and their publishers for permission to reproduce their radio maps and for providing electronic versions of the same, when available. PJW appreciates the hospitality at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics where this work was begun and G-K gratefully acknowledges travel support from Georgia State University and the hospitality at Princeton University where this paper was written. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This work was supported in part by NASA grant NAG 5-3098 and Research Program Enhancement funds at GSU.


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# Event-by-event fluctuations of the kaon to pion ratio in central Pb+Pb collisions at 158 GeV per Nucleon

## Abstract

We present the first measurement of fluctuations from event to event in the production of strange particles in collisions of heavy nuclei. The ratio of charged kaons to charged pions is determined for individual central Pb+Pb collisions. After accounting for the fluctuations due to detector resolution and finite number statistics we derive an upper limit on genuine non-statistical fluctuations, perhaps related to a first or second order QCD phase transition. Such fluctuations are shown to be very small.

PACS numbers: 25.75.-q

Quantum Chromodynamics predicts that at sufficiently high energy density strongly interacting matter will undergo a phase transition from hadronic matter to a deconfined state of quarks and gluons, the quark gluon plasma (QGP) . To create and study this state of matter in the laboratory collisions of heavy ions are studied at the CERN SPS which provides lead (208Pb) beams of 158 GeV per nucleon. Recent data suggest that conditions consistent with the creation of a QCD phase transition are indeed reached in central Pb+Pb collisions . Whereas the position of the phase transformation in temperature, energy density and baryon density may thus be located we are lacking information as to the nature and order of that transition. These might be reflected by the presence or absence of fluctuations that are characteristic for a first or second order phase transition. An early theoretical investigation by Kapusta and Mekjian  suggested such fluctuations in the kaon-to-pion total-yield ratio, due to supercooling-reheating fluctuations produced by a predicted large enthalpy difference in the two phases.The $`K/\pi `$ ratio was shown to fluctuate by about 10%, over the domain of conceivable hadronization temperatures, i.e. 140 $`<`$T$`<`$200 MeV . This prediction would be experimentally testable if the $`K/\pi `$ ratio or related quantities could be quantified for individual central collision events .

In a single central Pb+Pb collision at 158 GeV per nucleon about 2400 hadrons are created , permitting a statistically significant determination of momentum space distributions and particle ratios on an event-by-event basis. Using the NA49 large acceptance hadron spectrometer, which detects about $`70\%`$ of all charged particles, we are able to study event-by-event fluctuations of hadronic observables. In a previous publication  we have presented results concerning the fluctuations of the eventwise mean transverse momentum. We showed that these fluctuations are very small in central Pb+Pb collisions, and that the data are consistent with a hadronic gas in thermal equilibrium .

In this letter fluctuations in the eventwise ratio of the number of charged kaons to the number of charged pions ($`[K^++K^{}]/[\pi ^++\pi ^{}]`$) are investigated, yielding information on fluctuations in hadrochemical composition  and on the strangeness-to-entropy ratio . We shall show that, similar to the $`p_T`$ study, the event-by-event fluctuations of the $`K/\pi `$ ratio exhibit no significant large-scale fluctuation signal. We discuss fluctuations predicted in a thermodynamical resonance-gas model, which was previously used in a study of transverse momentum fluctuations , and those expected in various microscopic descriptions of the collision evolution.

A detailed description of the NA49 experiment can be found in . We used a data set of central Pb+Pb collisions that were selected by a trigger on the energy deposited in the NA49 forward calorimeter. The trigger accepted only the 5% most central events, corresponding to an impact parameter range $`b<3.5`$ fm. The event vertex was reconstructed using information from beam position detectors and a fit to the measured particle trajectories. Only events uniquely reconstructed at the known target position were used. In this analysis particles were selected that had at least 30 measured points in one of the two Main Time Projection Chambers (MTPC) outside the magnectic field.

A cut on the extrapolated impact parameter of a particle track at the primary vertex was used to reduce the contribution of non-vertex particles originating from weak decays and secondary interactions. We estimate that about 60 % of such particles are rejected by the vertex cuts. No further acceptance cuts were made, thus maximising the statistical significance of the event-by-event particle ratio measurement.

The particle identification (PID) in this analysis was based on the measured specific energy loss ($`dE/dx`$) in the MTPC using a truncated mean algorithm. Details of the $`dE/dx`$ measurement can be found in  and in particular in . As the event-by-event particle identification depends crucially on the stability of the $`dE/dx`$ measurement with respect to time, event multiplicity and possible backgrounds, only the energy loss of the track in the MTPC was used in this analysis, making use of correction algorithms developed for this detector . In particular we observed a significant multiplicity dependence due to the high charge load on the TPC readout chambers in central Pb+Pb events. The procedure we employed to correct these effects are based on detailed measurements of the electronics response using laser tracks. They perform a channel-by-channel iterative correction of the raw TPC charge measurements taking into account the charge history of sets of neighbouring channels, which are coupled via crosstalk effects through the sense wires of each TPC readout chamber. These corrections improved the average $`dE/dx`$ resolution by about 30% from $`\sigma _{dE/dx/}dE/dx=\text{5-6}\%`$ to the final value of $`3.9\%`$ for central Pb+Pb collisions. More importantly, the multiplicity dependence of the $`dE/dx`$ measurement was reduced by more than 90%, leaving a change of less than $`0.3\%`$ in the multiplicity range used in this analysis.

Within our acceptance window for kaons and pions (shown in Fig. 1) the $`dE/dx`$ resolution translates into an average separation of pions from kaons of about 2.1 sigma and of kaons from protons of about 1.8 sigma. Obviously, given the accepted multiplicity of about 40 kaons per event, it becomes crucial to make maximum use of the available information when constructing an estimator for the event-by-event kaon-to-pion ratio. In particular a simple counting of particles is not possible under these conditions. In our analysis we use a PID method closely related to that proposed in .

Combining the information from all events, the momentum distributions normalized to unity, $`F_m(p)`$, were determined for each particle species ($`m=`$ kaons, pions, protons, electrons). We also evaluated the normalized probability density functions for the truncated mean energy loss, $`f_m(\stackrel{}{p};dE/dx)`$, as a function of particle momentum for each species. The relative yield of different particle species is characterized by parameters $`\mathrm{\Theta }_m`$, such that $`_m\mathrm{\Theta }_m=1`$. These parameters, with the ratio $`\mathrm{\Theta }_K/\mathrm{\Theta }_\pi `$ giving the $`K/\pi `$ ratio of interest here, were determined for every single event by maximizing the likelihood function

$$L=\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}[\underset{m}{}\mathrm{\Theta }_mF_m(p_i)f_m(p_i;(dE/dx)_i)]$$
(1)
using directly the observed momentum $`p_i`$, and specific energy loss $`(dE/dx)_i`$, for each particle $`i`$ in the event. The use of fixed momentum distributions $`F_m(p)`$, implying small changes in the particle momentum distributions from event to event, is justified by the result of our analysis of event-by-event fluctuations in transverse momentum  which were found to be in the range of 1% or smaller. The resulting distribution of event-by-event $`K/\pi `$ ratios is shown in Fig. 2 (points). The shape of the distribution can be understood as the result of three main contributions:

Firstly, due to the finite number of particles produced and observed per event, the ratio of particle multiplicities measured event-by-event will exhibit statistical fluctuations with a width dictated by the individual particle multiplicities.

Secondly, due to non-ideal particle identification these pure number fluctuations will be smeared by the experimental $`dE/dx`$ resolution and the event-by-event fitting procedure outlined above.

Finally, superimposed on the statistical and experimental fluctuations we expect to observe any true non-statistical fluctuations. The characterization of the strength of these non-statistical fluctuations is the goal of this analysis.

In order to isolate the strength of non-statistical fluctuations in the event-by-event $`K/\pi `$ distribution, we need to establish a reference providing us with the size of the contributions from finite number statistics and experimental resolution, but not containing any further correlations between particles. This was achieved using a mixed-event reference sample. The mixed events were constructed by combining particles randomly selected from different real events, reproducing the multiplicity distribution of the real events. Only one track of each event was used in the mixing to exclude any residual correlations. Within our central event sample no further selection on impact parameter was made. By construction, the mixed events on average have the same kaon to pion ratio as the real events, but no internal correlations. Due to the constraint on the overall multiplicity distribution they give an accurate estimate of finite-number fluctuations in the kaon and pion multiplicities. Equally importantly, each track in the mixed events represents an actual $`dE/dx`$ measurement.

The mixed events therefore automatically include all the effects of detector resolution. They are subjected to the same maximum likelihood fit procedure as the real events, allowing a direct comparison with the data. Any deviation of the distribution for the data from the purely statistical mixed-event distribution would indicate the presence of non-statistical fluctuations in the production of kaons and pions. The result of this comparison is shown in Fig. 2, showing the distribution of the $`K/\pi `$ ratio for data (points) and for mixed events (histogram). The small difference between data and statistical reference immediately illustrates that any correlations or anti-correlations in the final multiplicities are small. In particular no significant number of events with unusually small or large strangeness content is present in our data sample.

The observed relative width of the data distribution is $`\sigma _{data}=23.27\%`$. The width of the mixed event distribution is $`\sigma _{mixed}=23.1\%`$. A more detailed analysis of the latter  shows that it is composed of contributions from finite number statistics of $`\sigma =15.9\%`$ and the $`dE/dx`$ resolution plus fitting procedure of $`\sigma =16.7\%`$ which add in quadrature to the observed width. Note that the average eventwise $`K/\pi `$ ratio shown in Fig. 2 does not necessarily correspond to the true ratio in $`4\pi `$ acceptance , since no corrections for efficiency and $`y,p_T`$ acceptance were included in the analysis presented.

To quantify the remaining difference between data and mixed events we define the strength of non-statistical fluctuations as

$$\sigma _{nonstat}=\sqrt{\sigma _{data}^2\sigma _{mixed}^2}$$
(2)
In general, processes leading to a correlated production of one or the other particle species or to a correlation in their multiplicities would result in $`\sigma _{nonstat}>0`$.

For our data set we obtain

$$\sigma _{nonstat}=2.8\%\pm 0.5\%.$$
(3)
The fluctuations observed in the data are very small compared to the scale given by the observed two-fold enhancement of strangeness in nucleus-nucleus collisions relative to nucleon-nucleon collisions . To a very good accuracy we can conclude that the mechanism responsible for the enhancement of strangeness is therefore active in each central Pb+Pb collision.

The observed value of $`\sigma _{nonstat}`$ also allows us to establish a limit on event-by-event fluctuations as a function of the frequency of occurrence of these fluctuations. In establishing this limit at the 90% confidence level we took into account our estimated systematical uncertainties in determining the event-by-event $`K/\pi `$ ratio. As mentioned previously, all systematic uncertainties considered tend to increase the observed value. According to our measurement fluctuations of a relative amplitude of $`\sigma _{nonstat}>4.0\%`$ can be ruled out in case all events of the sample exhibit the fluctuation pattern, whereas fluctuations occurring in $`5\%`$ of the events can only be ruled out for $`\sigma _{nonstat}>15.0\%`$ (still small compared to the strangeness enhancement).

Finally, we would like to compare our measurement to the FRITIOF model of nucleus-nucleus collisions. This microscopic model quantitatively reproduces the correlations observed in nucleon-nucleon collisions and predicts a value of $`\sigma _{nonstat}^{FRITIOF}=9\%`$ for central Pb+Pb collisions. Clearly the fluctuations in the data are much smaller. The disappearance of fluctuations when going to central nucleus-nucleus collisions can be interpreted as evidence for statistical particle production, as opposed to the highly correlated processes observed in nucleon-nucleon collisions.

This observation lends further support to the interpretation of particle ratios in nucleus-nucleus collisions using statistical hadronization models , with the added information that the statistical distribution is actually realized in every individual event and not just on an ensemble basis.

The observed fluctuations can also be compared to the results of an equilibrium hadron gas calculation  which includes correlations induced by many-body decays of resonances into pions and kaons. This calculation predicts non-statistical fluctuations $`\sigma _{nonstat}2\%`$, in good agreement with the data.

In conclusion we have presented the first event-by-event measurement of particle ratios in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. Using particle identification by $`dE/dx`$ in the NA49 TPCs the fluctuations in strangeness production were studied using the ratio of charged kaons to pions. No non-statistical fluctuations are observed and we deduce an upper limit of $`\sigma _{nonstat}<4.0\%`$ for fluctuations occurring in every event at the $`3\sigma `$-level. The fluctuations are therefore very small relative to the two-fold strangeness enhancement, indicating that the dynamical evolution of individual events proceeds in a very similar fashion. As in our previous study of transverse momentum fluctuations in Pb+Pb collisions , we find no evidence of fluctuations that might indicate a strong first-order phase transition or freeze-out near a proposed QCD critical end point.

On the contrary, the fluctuations observed in Pb+Pb collisions are significantly smaller than those expected for an indepedent superposition of nucleon-nucleon collisions. This supports the interpretation of flavor ratios in terms of statistical hadronization models, combined with a smooth transition from a possible partonic state to the final state hadronic particle composition. In fact, the minimal fluctuations expected due to resonance production of the final state hadrons seem to completely exhaust the observed strength of non-statistical fluctuations.

This work was supported by the Director, Office of Energy Research, Division of Nuclear Physics of the Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics of the US Department of Energy (DE-ACO3-76SFOOO98 and DE-FG02-91ER40609), the US National Science Foundation, the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Germany, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research (2 P03B 02615, 01716, and 09916), the Hungarian Scientific Research Foundation (T14920 and T23790), the EC Marie Curie Foundation, and the Polish-German Foundation.