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# Solar Cycle Variation of the Solar Internal Rotation: Helioseismic Inversion and Dynamo Modelling

## 1. Introduction

The migrating bands of faster and slower rotation of the solar surface were first discovered by Howard and LaBonte (1980). By analyzing helioseismic data which are now provided by the space (SOHO MDI) and ground-based (GONG) projects, Howe et al (2000) and Antia and Basu (2000) have found that these “torsional oscillations” penetrate quite deep into the solar interior, to at least 8 percent of solar radius.

The mechanism responsible for producing the 11-yr solar torsional oscillations is thought to be the non-linear interaction between the magnetic field and the solar differential rotation. Comparing the spatial and temporal structure of the torsional oscillations predicted by the theoretical modelling with helioseismic measurements would allow the calibration of the theoretical models of the solar dynamo, leading finally to better understanding of the basic mechanisms of solar magnetic activity.

In this contribution, we address the predictions of a two-dimensional axisymmetric mean-field dynamo model in a spherical shell, in which the only nonlinearity is the action of the azimuthal component of the Lorentz force of the dynamo-generated magnetic field on the solar angular velocity (Covas et al 2000). The torsional oscillations produced in this model are compared with the results of helioseismic inversion of the SOHO MDI data, now available over almost half of the 11-yr solar activity cycle.

Helioseismic measurements are based on analyzing the rotational splittings of the solar p-mode frequencies. These have different sensitivities to the rotation at different depths and latitudes, which can distort the actual rotation profiles when they are inverted from the data of finite accuracy. We address this problem by using artificial inversions.

## 2. Torsional oscillations predicted by dynamo modelling

We consider the variations in the solar internal rotation, which are induced directly by the Lorentz force in the numerical simulations based on the axisymmetric non-linear mean-field dynamo model described in (Covas et al 2000).

The variations of the angular velocity with time, taken from the adopted dynamo model (see Tavakol et al., in preparation, for details), are shown in Fig. 1. The results are represented in a form suitable for the direct comparison with seismic measurements (see Fig. 2 below). The variations are measured relative to the solar minimum, and plotted after 1, 2, 3 and 4 years of increasing solar activity. The torsional oscillations penetrate to bottom of the convection zone, and have their largest amplitudes near its base. At lower latitudes, an accelerating “zonal flow” is clearly seen, which propagates towards the equator.

## 3. Helioseismic inversion

The solar data, represented by the rotational splitting coefficients inferred from the SOHO MDI measurements, and the inversion technique which we use are described in Shou (1999), Vorontsov et al. (2001), Strakhov and Vorontsov (2001).

The results of the inversion are shown in Fig. 2. The consecutive 72d data sets (Schou 1999) were averaged into one-year data sets to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. The inversion has not been applied directly to the splitting coefficients, but to their variation relative to the first year of measurements, to reduce the effects of systematic errors.

Before comparing these results with model predictions, we note a specific feature of the adaptive regularization technique (Strakhov and Vorontsov 2001) which was used in the inversion. The regularization properties of the inversion are such that the response of the solution to the random errors in the input data (the noisy component of the solution) is nearly uniform over all the approximation domain (the meridional plane). If a particular feature in the rotation profile is well below the level of detectability (determined by data errors), it will not be seen in the solution at all; and if its amplitude is close to this level, it will appear in the solution with somewhat reduced amplitude.

## 4. Artificial inversion

To address the question of how the torsional oscillations predicted by the model would be “seen” in the seismic data, an artificial inversion was performed, with using the 2-D rotational profile represented by the right-hand panel of Fig. 1. The synthetic rotational splitting coefficients were calculated for this particular rotation, random errors were added, and then the result was inverted in exactly the same manner as for the real solar data.

The results are shown in Fig. 3, for inversions with different magnitudes of the added noise – those corresponding to the reported observational errors, ten times smaller, and with no errors (the error-free inversion indicates the inherent spatial resolution of the inversion technique).

The noise-free inversion works well: the only noticeable inaccuracy, near the pole, is due to the use of a truncated polynomial approximation in $`\mathrm{cos}^2(\theta )`$. With solar noise errors reduced by a factor 10, we are still able to infer the variations reasonably well, apart from their detailed behaviour near the base of the convection zone. In the inversion with solar errors, we can only see the variations in the upper half of the convection zone; the most interesting features near its base are completely buried below the noise level.

## 5. Discussion

When comparing the torsional oscillations predicted by the theoretical modelling with helioseismic data, we observe some general features which are in common, as well as significant differences.

Both the model and the observations show that all the convection zone, down to its base, is involved in the oscillations. Preliminary experiments suggest that this feature remains even when density stratification is included. The “zonal flows” propagate towards the equator at lower latitudes and towards the pole at higher latitudes, and the model flows show the correct phasing with solar activity.

The observed low-latitude zonal flow, however, is much more localized in depth, compared with model prediction, and closer to the surface. The high-latitude accelerating flow is much stronger than in the model, has a larger latitudinal extent, and is situated at somewhat lower latitudes.

The differences are hardly surprising; indeed, in this very first comparison we made no attempts to tune the model parameters to fit the observations, as our interest was in the effect of noise on the inversions of a known data set. These differences are also related to the inherent uncertainties in, and simplified nature of, the dynamo model: for example uniform density is assumed.

With the current accuracy of the seismic data, we are not able to resolve the well-structured variations near the base of the convection zone, predicted by the dynamo model. We deduce that such structures, if present in the ‘real’ Sun, also would not be reliably detected by current techniques. We believe that the accuracy of the seismic measurements will improve significantly in the near future – due to improved accuracy in the measurement of the rotational splittings in the solar data when using the more sophisticated techniques which are being developed, and also from use of the data from ground-based observations, together with better coverage of the solar cycle.

Even with the accuracy which is now available, the seismic measurements of the torsional oscillations provide new and valuable constraints on the physical modelling of the solar dynamo. We believe that we have also shown that dynamo models can have an input into the interpretation of the seismic data.

### Acknowledgments.

The Solar Oscillations Investigation (SOI) involving MDI is supported by NASA grant NAG5-8878 to Stanford University. SOHO is a mission of international cooperation between ESA and NASA. This work was supported in part by the UK PPARC under grants PPA/G/S/1997/00309 and PPA/G/O/1998/00576. DM acknowledges the hospitality of the Astronomy Unit, QM.

## References

Antia, H. M., & Basu, S. 2000, ApJ, 541, 442

Covas, E., Tavacol, R., Moss, D., & Tworkowski, A. 2000, A&A, 360, L21

Howard, R., & LaBonte, B. J. 1980, ApJ, 239, L33

Howe, R., Christensen-Dalsgaard, J., Hill, F., Komm, R.W., Larsen, R. M., Schou, J., Thompson, M. J., & Toomre, J. 2000, ApJ, 533, L163

Schou, J. 1999, ApJ, 523, L181

Strakhov, V. N., & Vorontsov, S.V. 2001, in Helio- And Asteroseismology at the Dawn of the Millenium, ed. A. Wilson, ESA SP-464, p.539

Vorontsov, S. V., Christensen-Dalsgaard, J., Schou, J., Strakhov, V.N., & Thompson, M.J. 2001, in Helio- And Asteroseismology at the Dawn of the Millenium, ed. A. Wilson, ESA SP-464, p.559


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# 1 Representative plots for the category Services; top: nonparametric density estimates for the subsamples: 1987, 1 person, income 40-70 (diamonds) and 1986, 2 persons, income 100-150 (+); bottom: lognormal probability plots for the same subsamples

Empirical Regularities in Distributions of Individual
Consumption Expenditure
Martin Hohnisch, Sabine Pittnauer and Manisha Chakrabarty
Economic Theory II, University of Bonn, D-53113 Bonn, Germany
We empirically investigate distributions of individual consumption expenditure for four commodity categories conditional on fixed income levels. The data stems from the Family Expenditure Survey carried out annually in the United Kingdom. We use graphical techniques to test for normality and lognormality of these distributions. While mainstream economic theory does not predict any structure for these distributions, we find that in at least three commodity categories individual consumption expenditure conditional on a fixed income level is lognormally distributed.
Keywords: General Equilibrium Theory, econophysics, economic heterogenity, lognormal distribution, consumption.

I. Introduction
Probabilistic concepts have been fundamental to economic theories of financial markets for almost a century  and these markets have received much attention from the econophysics community in recent years . With a few exceptions (see ), this has not been the case for other markets, e.g. commodity111Following economic terminology, we use the word commodity for goods and services. markets although they might deserve broader attention from econophysicists and be a fruitful application area for methods of computational statistical physics as well.

The prevailing economic framework for describing markets for commodities is General Equilibrium Theory . With its main results established about fifty years ago, it continues to be a fundamental paradigm in economic thought. Its starting point is a set $`𝒜`$ of agents and a space of individual consumption plans $`R_+^L`$. Each agent $`a𝒜`$ chooses a vector $`qR_+^L`$ (with coordinate $`q_i`$ denoting the quantity of commodity $`i`$ she wants to consume) as the maximal element with respect to an order relation over $`R_+^L`$, called her preference or taste, subject to the restriction that it must be affordable to her at the prevailing price system $`pR_+^L`$ (with $`p_i`$ denoting the price for commodity $`i`$). Choices of firms regarding supply of commodities are modelled in a similar manner. The main success of General Equilibrium Theory has been to prove the existence of a price system $`p^{}`$ equilibrating aggregate demand and supply on the market for each commodity given any specification of preferences and income on the set $`𝒜`$ under very mild assumptions on the set $`𝒫`$ of admissible individual preferences. Thus it has established a rigorous framework for understanding how a decentralized economic system where individuals and firms decide in a seemingly uncoordinated fashion about their individual demands and supplies can become self-coordinated by the price system. However, General Equilibrium Theory is an intrinsically static concept in many respects and therefore not capable of explaining some important issues. One major point is that it does not derive endogenously the shape and the dynamics of the distribution of agents’ characteristics, like preference, expectations and income. Because the space of admissible distributions of characteristics is not restricted in the model, General Equilibrium Theory has too little structure to produce empirically testable predictions on market outcomes  222The problem lies in the fact, that a distribution of preferences cannot be observed empirically because to do so we would need to know consumers’ consumption decisions for a large set of price systems $`pR_+^L`$ (While relative prices do change over time, so do preferences; as a result, a ceteris paribus condition cannot be secured). On the other hand, the distribution of income is observable and substantial progress has been achieved in General Equilibrium Theory by taking it into account . However, this approach relies on ad-hoc assumptions on the distribution of preferences the validity of which cannot be tested within the prevailing theoretical framework.. Already in $`1974`$, a Markov Random Field model with a finite subset of $`𝒫`$ as state space has been presented  from which, leaving aside some technical difficulties, distributions of preferences can be derived. Unfortunately, this approach received little attention in the mainstream economics community despite the contention from social sciences that interaction between consumers is likely to be an important factor determining consumption decisions. As a result, to our knowledge no attempts have been made to derive empirically testable predictions from probabilistic models of preference dynamics. In this paper, we document empirical regularities in the distributions of individual cross-section consumption expenditure which might suggest that heterogenity of individual consumption expenditure for certain groups of commodities is indeed governed by a common stochastic mechanism.
II. Data and methodology
Our expenditure data is provided by the Family Expenditure Survey carried out annually since 1957 in the United Kingdom. The survey is based on a representative sample of about 7000 households which amounts to $`0.05\%`$ of all households in the United Kindom. A household comprises one person living alone or a group of people living at the same address. Each household contributes information about its total income and its total expenditure for goods and services in a time period of two weeks. Related types of goods and services are grouped into nine categories and expenditures are aggregated within each category. Information about expenditures is obtained partly by records kept by individual members, partly by interview in case of periodic expenditures. Details of income are obtained by interview. The periods for the record book and interviews are spread evenly over the year. Additionally, household characteristics like the number of household members, the age of the household head etc. are recorded. We confine our analysis to the categories Services, Fuel (comprising fuel, light and power), Food (comprising food and nonalcoholic beverages) and Travel (comprising transport and vehicles). For each of these categories, we investigate the distribution of expenditure within an annual sample. It is obvious that income is an important determinant of expenditure. However, we want to exclude the effect of income heterogenity 333The shape and the origin of the income distribution constitute an extremely interesting research topic, but it is important to stress that regularities present in the distribution of income are not related to the regularities we aim at in this paper. to focus solely on heterogenity of tastes. Therefore we aim at estimating the distribution of consumption expenditure for a fixed value of income rather than in the whole sample. Clearly, we have to base our estimation on subsamples consisting of observations from narrow income intervals. Narrowing down these intervals is limited by the need to have a sufficient number of points in a subsample. Furthermore we include in one subsample only observations from households with a common number of persons, because consumption patterns presumably vary with the size of households. We choose from each annual sample four subsamples with a width of about $`0.3\%`$ of the total income spectrum. Within each interval we estimated the income distribution using nonparametric techniques. Income tends to be spread evenly within these intervals with no notable regularities. To eliminate the effects of remaining income variance we corrected individual observations based on the slope of the Engel curve which regresses the dependence of consumption on income. With this slope being in most cases in the range between -0.1 and 0.3, we found that this procedure has negligible effect on the results except for some smoothing. Income and consumption expenditure do not correlate in any of the corrected subsample datasets. In summary, the stratification procedure resulted in 37 subsamples comprising 22 subsamples with one-person households and 15 with two-person households with the number of observations in each subsample between 300 and 700. In a first step, we used nonparametric density estimation techniques to get qualitative information on the shape of the density functions. In a second step, we used probability plotting  to investigate the functional type of the distributions. In probability plotting, the values of the empirical distribution function are transformed in such a way that they will follow a straight line if plotted against the observed realizations of the random variable $`x`$ (within sampling error) if the hypothesized distribution is the true underlying distribution. Assume the true distribution is $`F`$ with mean $`\mu `$ and variance $`\sigma ^2`$. We write

$$F(x)=G(\frac{x\mu }{\sigma })=G(z)$$
(1)
If we plot $`z=G^1(F(x))=\frac{x\mu }{\sigma }`$ against $`x`$, the resulting plot will be a straight line. Probability plotting displays $`z_i=G^1(F_n(x_{(i)}))`$ on $`x_{(i)}`$ with the empirical distribution function

$$F_n(x_{(i)})=\frac{i0.5}{n}$$
(2)
and the ordered observations $`x_{(1)}\mathrm{}x_{(n)}`$. If the hypothesized distribution is normal,  recommends that $`F_n(x)`$ be transformed by

$$z=\mathrm{sign}(F_n(x)0,5)(1,238t(1+0,0262t))$$
(3)
with

$$t=\{\mathrm{ln}[4F_n(x)(1F_n(x))]\}^{1/2}$$
(4)
and plotted against $`x`$. If the hypothesized distribution is lognormal,  recommends that the same transformation be applied on $`F_n(x)`$ and $`z`$ to be plotted against $`\mathrm{ln}x`$.
III. Results
Nonparametric estimates show that for each category and in all subsamples the distribution of consumption expenditure is unimodal. The estimated density function oscillates in the tails due to limited sample size. The magnitude of these oscillations is similar as in nonparametric density estimates of Monte-Carlo generated samples from lognormal distributions presented in the literature . For the good categories Services, Fuel and Travel, the nonparametric density estimates indicate that the distributions of expenditure are skewed to the right (see top of Figures 1, 2, 3 for representative plots). In the category Food, the estimated distributions appear to be slightly skewed to the right. With these preliminary findings, we tested the data of each subsample and for each category for normality and lognormality using probability plotting. In the categories Services, Fuel and Travel, the values obtained by formulae (3) and (4) follow a straight line in lognormal probability plots within sampling error indicating lognormality of the distributions (see bottom of Figures 1, 2, 3 for representative plots). In a few plots there are outliers present in the upper and lower ends of the distribution which appear to result from contamination. Based on , where Monte-Carlo generated samples from mixtures of two lognormal distributions are displayed in probability plotting, we concluded that the weight of a possible contaminant distribution is less than 0.2. For the category Food, it is difficult to distinguish between normality and lognormality from probability plotting. In normal probability plotting, we obtain in most subsamples a slightly concave curve indicating that the distribution is skewed to the right  while obtaining a straight line in the remaining cases indicating normality. In the former instance, the sample points follow a slightly convex curve in lognormal probability plotting indicating a deviation from lognormality towards normality .

IV. Discussion
We see two potential explanations for the regularities found in this paper. First, the distributions might originate simply from fluctuations inherent in the process by which the data is obtained. The reported individual expenditures within a given category involve adding amounts from many instances of trading for goods and services of many types and brands. However, the fact that in at least three good categories we find lognormal distributions makes it unlikely that the regularities are attributable solely to random fluctuations. By the Central Limit Theorem a lognormal distribution of an observable would originate from a multiplicative process involving stochastically independent fluctuation on each stage, but we do not see how a multiplicative process could be involved in the process by which our data is obtained. Therefore we suggest that the observed regularities have a second - and deeper - origin in a stochastic process governing the heterogenity of individual tastes 444In economic theory, heterogenity of tastes would be formalised as a distribution on an infinite dimensional space of functions representing preferences, as outlined in the introduction. However, the notion of preferences is a hypothetical concept and one might well doubt their existence if this concept does not provide testable predictions.. Lognormal distributions are ubiquitous in natural sciences where their origin is some structure of the underlying system. The question of whether the regularities in consumption data have some deeper origin lying in the structure of socioeconomic systems is presumably worth exploring.
The authors thank J. Arns for extracting the data from the Family Expenditure Survey. We are indebted to W. Hildenbrand and D. Stauffer for many insightful discussions. S.P. gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Graduiertenförderung, University of Bonn.


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# Anisotropic, Fermi-Surface-Induced Variation in 𝑇_𝑐 in 𝑀𝑔𝐵₂ Alloys

## Abstract

Using coherent-potential to describe disorder, Gaspari-Gyorffy approach to evaluate electron-phonon coupling, and Allen-Dynes equation to calculate $`T_c`$, we show that in $`Mg_{1x}M_xB_2`$ ($`MAl,Li`$ or $`Zn`$) alloys (i) the way $`T_c`$ changes depends on the location of the added/modified k-resolved states on the Fermi surface and (ii) the variation of $`T_c`$ as a function of concentration is dictated by the $`B`$ $`p`$ DOS. In addition, using full-potential calculations for $`MgMB_4`$, we show that (i) at $`x=0.5`$ a superstructure can form in $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2`$ but not in $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ or $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$, and (ii) $`B`$ layer shifts towards the impurity layer, more for $`Al`$ than for $`Li`$ or $`Zn`$.

Since the discovery of superconductivity in $`MgB_2`$  the experimental  and theoretical  efforts have greatly improved our understanding of the nature of interaction responsible for superconductivity (SC) in $`MgB_2.`$ It has become clear that almost all facets of the phonon-mediated electron-electron interaction have a dramatic influence over the superconducting behavior of $`MgB_2.`$ For example, the electron-phonon matrix elements change considerably as one moves away from the cylindrical Fermi sheets along $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ to $`A`$ , anharmonic effects  have to be included in the dynamical matrix , and finally k-dependent fully anisotropic Eliashberg equations have to be solved  for a complete and accurate description of the superconducting properties of $`MgB_2.`$ Such a strong dependence of the superconducting properties of $`MgB_2`$ on different aspects of the interaction has opened up the possibility of dramatically modifying its superconducting behavior by changing the interaction in various ways and thereby learning more about the interaction itself. Alloying $`MgB_2`$ with various elements and then studying their SC properties offers such an opportunity.

There have been several studies of changes in the SC properties of $`MgB_2`$ upon substitutions of various elements such as $`Be,Li,C,Al,Na,Zn,Zr,`$$`Fe,Co,Ni,`$ and others . The main effects of alloying are seen to be (i) a decrease in transition temperature, $`T_c`$, with increasing concentration of the alloying elements although the rate at which the $`T_c`$ changes depends on the element being substituted, (ii) a slight increase in the $`T_c`$ in case of $`Zn`$  substitution while for $`Si`$ and $`Li`$ the $`T_c`$ remains essentially the same, (iii) persistence of superconductivity up to $`x0.7`$ in $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2`$ , (iv) a change in crystal structure and the formation of a superstructure at $`x=0.5`$ in $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2`$ , and (v) a change in the lattice parameters $`a`$ and $`c.`$

In an effort to understand the changes in the electronic structure and the superconducting properties of $`MgB_2`$ alloys, we have carried out ab initio  studies of $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2,`$ $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ and $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ alloys. We have used Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker coherent-potential approximation  in the atomic-sphere approximation (KKR-ASA CPA) method for taking into account the effects of disorder, Gaspari-Gyorffy formalism  for calculating the electron-phonon coupling constant $`\lambda `$, and Allen-Dynes equation  for calculating $`T_c`$ in $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2,`$ $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ and $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ alloys as a function of $`Al,Li`$ and $`Zn`$ concentrations, respectively. We have analyzed our results in terms of the changes in the spectral function  along $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ to $`A`$ evaluated at the Fermi energy, $`E_F`$, and the total density of states (DOS), in particular the changes in the $`B`$ $`p`$ contribution to the total DOS, as a function of concentration $`x`$.

For examining the possibility of superstructure formation at $`x=0.5,`$ we have used ABINIT code , based on psuedopotentials and plane waves to optimize the cell parameters $`a`$ and $`c`$ as well as relax the cell-internal atomic positions of $`MgAlB_4,`$ $`MgLiB_4`$ and $`MgZnB_4`$ in $`P6/mmm`$ structures. We have used these atomic positions to carry out a total energy comparison using KKR-ASA CPA between the ordered and the substitutionally disordered $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2,`$$`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ and $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ alloys at $`x=0.5`$. Such an approach allows us to check the possibility of formation of a layered or a mixed superstructure at $`x=0.5`$ in these alloys. Before we describe our results, we outline some of the computational details.

The charge self-consistent electronic structure of $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2,`$ $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ and $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ alloys as a function of $`x`$ has been calculated using the KKR-ASA CPA method. We have used the CPA rather than a rigid-band model because CPA has been found to reliably describe the effects of disorder in metallic alloys . We parametrized the exchange-correlation potential as suggested by Perdew-Wang  within the generalized gradient approximation. The Brillouin zone (BZ) integration was carried out using $`1215`$ $`k`$ points in the irreducible part of the BZ. For DOS and spectral function calculations, we added a small imaginary component of $`1`$ $`mRy`$ and $`2`$ $`mRy`$, respectively, to the energy and used $`4900`$ k-points in the irreducible part of the BZ. The lattice constants for $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2,`$ $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ and $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ alloys as a function of $`x`$ were taken from experiments . The Wigner- Seitz radii for $`Mg`$, $`Al`$ and $`Zn`$ were slightly larger than that of $`B`$. The sphere overlap which is crucial in ASA, was less than $`10`$% and the maximum $`l`$ used was $`l_{max}`$ = $`3`$.

The electron-phonon coupling constant $`\lambda `$ was calculated using Gaspari-Gyorffy  formalism with the charge self-consistent potentials of $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2,`$ $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ and $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ obtained with the KKR-ASA CPA method. Subsequently, the variation of $`T_c`$ as a function of $`Al`$, $`Li`$ and $`Zn`$ concentrations was calculated using Allen-Dynes equation . The average values of phonon frequencies $`\omega _{ln}`$ for $`MgB_2`$ and $`AlB_2`$ were taken from Refs.  respectively. For intermediate concentrations, we took $`\omega _{ln}`$ to be the concentration-weighted average of $`MgB_2`$ and $`AlB_2`$. For $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ and $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ we used the same value of $`\omega _{ln}`$ as that for $`MgB_2`$.

The structural relaxation of $`MgALB_4,`$ $`MgLiB_4`$ and $`MgZnB_4`$ was carried out by the molecular dynamics program ABINIT with Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno minimization technique  using Troullier-Martins psuedopotentials , 512 Monkhorst-Pack  k-points and Teter parameterization  for exchange-correlation. The kinetic energy cutoff for the plane waves was 110 Ry.

Based on our calculations, described below, we find that in $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2,`$ $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ and $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ alloys (i) the way $`T_c`$ changes depends on the location of the added/modified k-resolved states on the Fermi surface, (ii) the variation of $`T_c`$ as a function of concentration is dictated by the $`Bp`$ contribution to the total DOS, (iii) at $`x=0.5`$ a superstructure can form in $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2`$ but not in $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ or $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$, and (iv) $`B`$ layer shifts towards the impurity layer, more for $`Al`$ than for $`Li`$ or $`Zn.`$

The main results of our calculations are shown in Fig. 1, where we have plotted the variation in $`T_c`$ of $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2,`$ $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ and $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ alloys as a function of concentration $`x`$. The calculations were carried out as described earlier with the same value of $`\mu ^{}=0.09`$ for all the concentrations. The $`T_c`$ for $`MgB_2`$ is equal to $`30.8K,`$ which is consistent with the results of other works  with similar approximations. The corresponding $`\lambda `$ is equal to $`0.69.`$ For $`0<x0.3`$, the $`T_c`$ increases slightly for $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ and $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$, while it decreases substantially for $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2,`$ as is found experimentally . Note that for $`x=0.1,`$ our calculation shows $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ to have a $`T_c`$ higher than that of $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ by about $`7K`$ . In Fig.1 (right panel) we have shown the variation in $`T_c`$ in $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2`$ alloys as a function of concentration for $`0x1.`$ As a function of $`Al`$ concentration, the $`T_c`$ decrease rapidly from $`30K`$ at $`x=0.05`$ to about $`15K`$ at $`x=0.1.`$ The $`T_c`$ decreases slowly between $`x=0.4`$ and $`x=0.5.`$ At $`x=0.7`$ the $`T_c`$ vanishes and remains essentially zero thereafter. The calculated variation in $`T_c`$, as shown in Fig. 1, is in very good qualitative agreement with the experiments .

In order to understand the variation of $`T_c`$ in $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2,`$ $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ and $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ alloys as a function of concentration $`x`$, we have analyzed our results in terms of the spectral functions, the contribution of Boron $`p`$-electrons to the total DOS and the total DOS. In Fig. 2(a)-(c), we show the spectral functions along $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ to $`A`$ direction evaluated at $`E_F`$ in $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2,`$ $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ and $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ alloys for $`x=0.1`$ (Fig. 2(a)), $`x=0.3`$ (Fig.2(b)), and $`x=0.61.0`$ (Fig. 2(c)). From Figs. 2(a)-(b) it is clear that the substitution of $`Al`$ in $`MgB_2`$ leads to creation of more new states along $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ to $`A`$ direction than the substitution of $`Zn`$ or $`Li.`$ Since the hole-like cylindrical Fermi sheet along $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ to $`A`$ contributes much more to the electron-phonon coupling , the creation of new electron states along$`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ to $`A`$ direction weakens considerably the overall coupling constant $`\lambda ,`$ which, in turn, reduces the $`T_c`$ more in $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2`$ than in either $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ or $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$. Thus, in our opinion, the way $`T_c`$ changes in $`MgB_2`$ upon alloying depends dramatically on the location of the added/modified k-resolved states on the Fermi surface.

Having explained the differences in behavior of $`MgB_2`$ upon alloying with $`Al,`$ $`Li`$ and $`Zn,`$ we now try to understand the changes in their properties as a function of concentration $`x.`$ In Fig. 3(a)-(b) we have shown the total DOS at $`E_F`$ (Fig. 3(a)) and the $`Bp`$ contribution to the total DOS at $`E_F`$ (Fig. 3(b)) in $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2,`$ $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ and $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ alloys as a function of concentration $`x.`$ We find that as a function of concentration, the variation in $`T_c`$, as shown in Fig.1, follows closely the behavior of the total DOS at $`E_F`$ and in particular the variation in $`Bp`$ contribution to the total DOS at $`E_F`$. It is also not surprising to see that the vanishing of superconductivity in $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2`$ at $`x0.7`$ coincides with a very small $`Bp`$ contribution to the total DOS.

In Fig. 4(a)-(c) we show the total DOS of $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2`$, $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ and $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ alloys, respectively, at $`x=0.1.`$ In the same plot we also show the total DOS of $`MgB_2`$ obtained using the same approach. The overall downward (upward) movement of the total DOS in $`Mg_{0.9}Al_{0.1}B_2`$ ($`Mg_{0.9}Li_{0.1}B_2`$) with respect to that of $`MgB_2`$ is due to the addition (removal) of electrons. In Fig. 4(c), the peak in the total DOS at around $`0.53Ry`$ below $`E_F`$ is due to the $`3d`$ states of $`Zn.`$

Finally, we discuss the possibility of superstructure formation at $`x=0.5`$. In Table I we show the optimized cell parameters as well as the cell-internal relaxations for $`MgAlB_4,`$ $`MgLiB_4`$ and $`MgZnB_4`$ calculated using the ABINIT program. We find that the Boron layer shifts significantly more towards $`Al`$ layer in $`MgAlB_4`$ than towards either $`Li`$ or $`Zn`$ layer in $`MgLiB_4`$ or $`MgZnB_4`$, respectively. The shift of $`B`$ layer by $`0.24a.u.`$ towards $`Al`$ layer in $`MgAlB_4`$ compares well with the corresponding shift obtained in Ref. . However, the shift of $`B`$ layer towards $`Li`$ and $`Zn`$ layers in $`MgLiB_4`$ and $`MgZnB_4`$ respectively implies that it is not simply due to the extra positive charge on the impurity layer, as suggested in Ref.  in the case of $`MgAlB_4.`$ In Table I we have also listed the calculated ordering energy, $`E_{ord},`$ which is the difference between the total energies of the ordered $`MgAlB_4`$, $`MgLiB_4`$ and $`MgZnB_4`$ and the corresponding disordered $`Mg_{0.5}Al_{0.5}B_2,`$ $`Mg_{0.5}Li_{0.5}B_2`$ and $`Mg_{0.5}Zn_{0.5}B_2`$ alloys, obtained using KKR-ASA CPA method. It clearly shows the possibility of formation of a superstructure in $`Mg_{0.5}Al_{0.5}B_2`$ because the fully-relaxed $`MgAlB_4`$ is lower in energy by $`12mRy/atom`$ in comparison to the disordered $`Mg_{0.5}Al_{0.5}B_2.`$ However, within the limitations of our approach, we find that $`Mg_{0.5}Li_{0.5}B_2`$ and $`Mg_{0.5}Zn_{0.5}B_2`$ are unlikely to form superstructures since $`E_{ord}`$ is positive in these two cases. Our results also show that a structure made up of layers consisting of a random mixing of $`Mg`$ and $`Al`$ atoms and described by CPA, is higher in energy than a structure made up of alternate layers of $`Mg`$ and $`Al`$ atoms .

In conclusion, we have shown that in $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2,`$ $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ and $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$ alloys (i) the way $`T_c`$ changes depends on the location of the added/modified k-resolved states on the Fermi surface, (ii) the variation of $`T_c`$ as a function of concentration is dictated by the $`Bp`$ contribution to the total DOS at $`E_F`$, (iii) at $`x=0.5`$ a superstructure can form in $`Mg_{1x}Al_xB_2`$ but not in $`Mg_{1x}Li_xB_2`$ or $`Mg_{1x}Zn_xB_2`$, and (iv) $`B`$ layer shifts towards the impurity layer, more for $`Al`$ than for $`Li`$ or $`Zn.`$


text:
# Prospects for unification under 4-dimensional optics

## 1 Introduction

Relativity and quantum mechanics seem to be inconsistent theories nonetheless because the geometries used are entirely different. While relativity is set in Riemannian geometry, with signature $`(,+,+,+)`$, quantum mechanics employs Euclidean geometry with signature $`(+,+,+,+)`$. Several approaches have been proposed to circumvent the problem; Kitada  proposed an orthogonalized space of dimension 10, obtained by multiplication of the relativistic Riemannian space by the Euclidean phase space of quantum mechanics, complemented with the local time concept. It is well known, though, that superstring theory provides today the most promising prospects for unification, making use of 11-dimension space .

The author has shown that relativistic problems can conveniently be expressed in Euclidean space where proper time, rather than time, is used as 0th coordinate . He has also shown that inertial mass can be associated to a guided wave on that space, whereas gravity appears as an evanescent field due to that same guided wave ; this theory has been baptized as 4-dimensional optics, henceforth designated by 4DO. Thus there is scope for the construction of a unified theory which does not suffer from the inconsistency referred above and 4DO appears as a likely candidate.

The present paper aims to show that not only quantum mechanics and general relativity but also particle physics, as is presently explained by the standard model, have a good prospect of being none but particular aspects of the unified 4DO theory established on very simple principles. Not all the consequences of the theory can be derived in this work nor does the author have the knowledge to draw from the principles he proposes all the implications. Those that he can, though, are important enough to give him the courage to sustain that 4DO holds a great potential for being the next comprehensive theory in physics.

In his previous work the author chose to present 4DO as an alternative to general relativity, which could also accommodate quantization. In this paper the starting point is more fundamental, as the author just assumes that in a given space there is but one harmonic field submitted to a wave equation whose solutions are guided modes corresponding to the elementary particles, these generating evanescent fields which are responsible for particle interactions.

As stated previously, 4DO space is characterized by the 3 physical space coordinates, $`x`$, $`y`$ and $`z`$, complemented by coordinate 0, which is clearly defined in Ref.  and is frequently associated with the letter $`\tau `$; this coordinate is designated by the name proper time, for reasons that have already been explained . 4DO space characterization is completed by the statement that it is an Euclidean space with signature $`(+,+,+,+)`$.

This work will make use of three extra dimensions of a localized nature. The local characteristic of these extra dimensions justifies that the theory maintains its initial name of 4-dimensional optics, for most of what is perceived by observers can be set in 4-dimensional space. The new dimensions are sometimes associated with a rigid body’s Euler angles and will be designated by the greek letters $`\iota `$, $`\kappa `$ and $`\lambda `$.

4DO uses non-dimensional units, due to the frequent appearance of coordinates in exponents and the inconvenience of constants being present in most equations. Non-dimensional units are obtained dividing length, time and mass by the normalizing factors $`\sqrt{G\mathrm{}/c^3}`$, $`\sqrt{G\mathrm{}/c^5}`$ and $`\sqrt{\mathrm{}c/G}`$, respectively, while electric charge is normalized by the proton’s charge. The speed of light in vacuum is $`c`$, $`G`$ is the gravitational constant and $`\mathrm{}`$ is Planck’s constant divided by $`2\pi `$. In non-dimensional units all entities are expressed by pure numbers, which in itself raises interesting philosophical questions worthy of discussion in a different sort of paper.

## 2 Founding principles

The unified 4DO theory is based on the assumption that all elementary particles are manifestations of self-guided modes of a Universal field called the Higgs field with a Universal frequency designated by Higgs frequency. For a stationary particle it is believed that the Higgs field generates a standing wave pattern laid along the $`\tau `$ axis and more generally, for non-stationary particles, the standing wave pattern is laid along the particle’s worldline. The basis for the previous assumption was established in Ref.  for the derivation of mass and gravity and is here extended to the generation of elementary particles themselves.

In a similar way to which gravity results from the evanescent field of guided waves , it is believed that all the fundamental interactions in nature must be the observable effects of evanescent fields. Whether self-guided or guided by external fields, all guided waves generate evanescent fields which are believed to explain all the four fundamental interactions.

In the above cited work the author associated an elementary particle’s field $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ to the Lagrangian density

$$=\frac{n^{\alpha \beta }_\alpha \mathrm{\Psi }_\beta \mathrm{\Psi }}{\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }^{}}\mathrm{\Psi }^2,$$
(1)
from which one could derive the Euler-Lagrange equation

$$_\alpha \left(\frac{n^{\alpha \beta }}{\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }^{}}_\beta \mathrm{\Psi }\right)=_\alpha ^\alpha \mathrm{\Psi }=\mathrm{\Psi }.$$
(2)
In Cartesian coordinates $`n^{\alpha \beta }`$ is the metric field factor, which is complemented by the inertial factor $`\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }^{}`$. It will be shown that when dealing with gravity the inertial factor becomes the inertial mass, while electric charge is the inertial factor associated with electric field.

The assumption that the elementary particles result from self-guided modes of the Higgs field suggests that one should use an equation based on Eq. (2) without the external field component

$$\delta ^{\alpha \beta }_\alpha \left(\frac{_\beta \mathrm{\Psi }}{\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }^{}}\right)=\mathrm{\Psi },$$
(3)
valid in Cartesian coordinates. Nevertheless, the use of Euler angles as coordinates imposes adaptations to the equation above, which will be discussed further along. One important simplification arises from the consideration of stationary particles, for these have a worldline coincident with the $`\tau `$ axis. According to the theory developed in Ref.  the frequency along the worldline equals the particle’s inertial mass $`m`$, whereby it is legitimate to postulate a $`\tau `$ dependence of the type $`\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{j}m\tau }`$, with $`\mathrm{j}=\sqrt{1}`$.

## 3 Guided modes and elementary particles

4DO theory is, in many respects, the natural extrapolation of 3-dimensional optical fibers’ waveguide theory into 4-dimensions. Several references will be made to this theory and the reader is referred to textbooks such as Refs.  for details. Ii will also be useful to associate elementary particles to rigid bodies, namely for the understanding of coordinates and degrees of freedom; several textbooks are available for reference but see for instance Ref. .

In optical waveguide theory one usually solves the Helmoltz equation which is written in Cartesian coordinates as

$$\delta ^{ij}_{ij}\mathrm{\Psi }=k^2n^2\mathrm{\Psi };$$
(4)
here $`k`$ is the wave number, $`n`$ is the refractive index and the indices take values between 1 and 3. Waveguiding arises when $`n`$ is a function of the coordinates with certain characteristics, namely when it is a radially decreasing function of some given axis. Comparing with Eq. (3), it is clear that waveguiding can occur without the intervention of a refractive index because the field amplitude $`\mathrm{\Psi }\mathrm{\Psi }^{}`$ is inside the first derivative. In other respects, though, self-guiding is not very different from waveguiding by means of a refractive index and is not specific to 4-dimensional space.

The extra dimension in 4DO introduces waveguiding possibilities that one does not encounter in optical waveguides; the situation is similar to the rotations of a rigid body compared to those of a disc. In the latter case the rotation axis is always normal to the disc and can be made to coincide with the $`z`$ axis of cylindrical coordinates, while with a rigid body rotation can happen about any of the 3 principal axes and is always orthogonal to the $`\tau `$ axis of 4-dimensional space for stationary bodies. Transporting the discussion to the waveguide situation, one is allowed to make the axis of a cylindrical optical waveguide coincident with the $`z`$ axis, so that the angular dependence of the field can be expressed by the azimuth angle of cylindrical coordinates. In a 4-dimensional waveguide one makes the waveguide axis coincide with the $`\tau `$ axis but needs 3 angles to describe fully the angular dependence of $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$; these are the Euler angles $`\iota `$, $`\kappa `$ and $`\lambda `$. In order to use Euler angles as coordinates one has to consider a 4-dimensional frame whose 3 spatial axes would coincide with the particle’s principal axes, if the particle were associated to a rigid body.

Not unlike their 3-dimensional counterparts, 4-dimensional waveguides exhibit modes because the waves must interfere constructively after a ”full rotation”, although one must be careful about the meaning of this expression in 4-dimensional space. Similar also to optical fibers, 4-dimensional waveguides can loose and gain modes when they are bent. This process has already been shown to explain the exchange of gravitons between orbiting bodies  and it will be shown later to explain decaying of excited atoms through photon emission. In both these cases one is dealing with wave guidance by fields rather than self-guidance but there is no reason for a similar process not to occur with self-guided modes. One has to consider that an elementary particle is associated with a waveguide whose axis lays along its worldline, so that all acceleration suffered by the particle is translated into bending of the associated waveguide and consequent mode loss. This justifies that only first order modes can be considered stable because higher order modes will decay naturally into the lower order ones.

This paragraph looks at the possible first order mode solutions of Eq. (3) in order to show that indeed they match qualitatively all the elementary particles that make the standard model .

The electron corresponds to a spherically symmetrical mode obtained by simultaneous rotation about the 3 principal axes. One can consider the variable $`\sigma =2(\iota +\kappa +\lambda )/3`$ as an independent variable with period $`2\pi `$ and write

$$\mathrm{\Psi }=f(r)\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{j}(\pm \sigma +m\tau )}.$$
(5)
The equation establishes that the guided mode must have a proper time frequency equal to the electron’s mass, here designated by $`m`$. After one full rotation of the angular variable $`\sigma `$ the function $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is replicated, ensuring that this is the lowest order mode. The plus and minus signs on the exponent denote rotation in the two possible directions and can be assigned to the electron and positron, respectively. The electric charge is associated with the mode number and thus, if there are higher order modes, even short-lived ones, they must be associated with particles having an electric charge multiple of the electron’s.

The heavier members of the family, the muon and the tau, must be described also as first order modes; it is believed that $`f(r)`$ holds the key to understanding the different families of particles. It is likely that there are different solutions corresponding to the same Higgs wave orbiting around a core at different distances from the center, the larger the distance the bigger the particle’s mass.

In some respects quarks are simpler particles than electron and its family members because they are associated with rotations about one or two axes. Starting with the down quark, it is associated with a rotation about a single axis and is described by the equation

$$\mathrm{\Psi }=f(r)\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{j}(\pm \iota +m\tau )},$$
(6)
where it has been assumed that rotation was about the axis associated with Euler angle $`\iota `$ and $`m`$ is the down quark’s mass.

This equation is very similar to the electron’s (5) but hides some important differences. Notice that the total charge of the down quark can be seen as $`1/3`$ the electron’s isotropic charge but with a preferred orientation along one of the principal axes. This preferred orientation is assigned to the quark’s color and the three axes are naturally associated with the three quark colors. As with the electron, one of the rotation directions is related to the quark and the other to the anti-quark.

The up quark is similar to the down quark in every respect, except that simultaneous rotation around two axes must be considered. Naturally the electric charge has now an absolute value of $`2/3`$, with both signs possible. In this case the plus sign is associated with the quark and the minus sign with the anti-quark. Notice that this fact gives color an equivalent interpretation as for the negative charge in the case of rotation around one single axis.

The modes associated with the neutrinos don’t have correspondents in optical fibers. They are purely transverse modes which can only exist in waveguides of infinite longitudinal length or waveguides that are closed on themselves. The waveguides associated with elementary particles are either infinite in length or closed, depending on the Universe being open or closed, and allow the establishment of these modes. Neutrinos can not be associated with a worldline in the same sense as massive particles because for the latter the worldline coincides with the wavefront normal in the center of the waveguide. As a consequence neutrinos fail the basic equation of 4DO $`(\mathrm{d}t)^2=n_{\alpha \beta }\mathrm{d}x^\alpha \mathrm{d}x^\beta `$ . The equation defining the neutrino is quite simply

$$\mathrm{\Psi }=f(r).$$
(7)
Just as with electrons, for quarks and neutrinos the different solutions for $`f(r)`$ should explain at least three families of particles.

Solving the differential equations is a very difficult task and the author does not have, for the moment, any solutions to propose for any of the fundamental particles. The neutrino equation is probably the easiest one to write due to the fact that the field depends only on $`r`$. Start by noting that Eq. (3) can be simplified whenever $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is real

$$\delta ^{\alpha \beta }_{\alpha \beta }\left(\frac{1}{\mathrm{\Psi }}\right)=\mathrm{\Psi }.$$
(8)
The first member of the equation is a 4-dimensional Laplacian of the inverse of $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$. Replacing $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ by Eq. (7) and evaluating the Laplacian in spherical coordinates one gets the neutrino differential equation

$$_{rr}f+\frac{2_rf}{r}\frac{2\left(_rf\right)^2}{f}=f^3,$$
(9)
which is a non-linear equation unknown to the author.

The electron and quark equations are separable and will eventually fall into the same radial equation, which will explain why all the particle families have the same 3 or more levels, corresponding to different solutions of this equation.

Carrier particles (bosons) are generated in a totally different manner and their discussion must be postponed until later in this work.

## 4 Evanescent fields and particle interaction

All guided waves generate evanescent fields outside the waveguide. This is known for optical waveguides and must also be true in 4 dimensions, be it for potential generated waveguides or for self-guided waves. This argument was used in Ref.  to derive the gravitational field as the evanescent field associated with the $`\tau `$ component of the wave vector. Apart from neutrinos, which don’t generate an associated evanescent field, all particles must generate a gravitational field, which must be complemented by an evanescent field associated with isotropic rotation. Quarks will also generate a field associated with non-isotropic rotation.

The argument for gravitational field derivation is reproduced here. In Ref.  It was argued that the radially symmetric component of the evanescent field $`\psi `$ due to a stationary particle of mass $`m`$ must exhibit a frequency $`m`$ along the $`\tau `$ direction so that $`_\tau \psi =\mathrm{j}m\psi `$. The field must verify the equation

$$v^2\delta ^{ij}_{ij}\psi =_{\tau \tau }\psi ,$$
(10)
where the indices take values between 1 and 3 and the letter $`v`$ designates a generalized propagation speed of wavefronts defined generally as the derivative $`\mathrm{d}s/\mathrm{d}\tau `$, with $`\mathrm{d}s`$ the arc length of the wavefront normal in flat Euclidean space.

Naturally the resulting field must have spherical symmetry, which implies that the wave equation will have a more manageable form in spherical coordinates. Furthermore, because $`\psi `$ is a function of $`r`$ and $`\tau `$ alone, it is possible to express $`v`$ as

$$v=\frac{_\tau \psi }{_r\psi }.$$
(11)
The operator $`\delta ^{ij}_{ij}`$ is a Laplacian; considering spherical symmetry one can make the replacement $`\delta ^{ij}_{ij}=_{rr}+2_r/r`$. Re-writing Eq. (10) in spherical coordinates and inserting Eq. (11) one gets upon simplification

$$\psi \left(_{rr}\psi +2\frac{_r\psi }{r}\right)=\left(_r\psi \right)^2,$$
(12)
which has the general solution

$$\psi =C_1\mathrm{e}^{(C_2/r\pm \mathrm{j}m\tau )}.$$
(13)
So far no comments were made about the nature of the field $`\psi `$ but this question must be addressed in order to understand its relation to gravity. It is postulated that $`\psi `$ is the local coordinate scale factor, by which it is meant that space is corrugated with the Compton frequency on the particle’s worldline and that this corrugation is extended to infinity on the form of an evanescent field. There must be a transition from the field on the worldline to the evanescent field but so far there are no means to choose among the many possibilities. In any case a particle will always act as a 4-dimensional waveguide for the field $`\psi `$, which will allow the extrapolation of many effects known in their 3-dimensional counterparts.

The field $`\psi `$ defines the local scale factor or alternatively it defines how the geodesic arc length should be measured; accordingly one makes the assignment $`g_{\alpha \beta }=\psi \psi ^{}\delta _{\alpha \beta }`$ for the metric around the particle. In the absence of mass it is expected that the scale factor will be unity and so constant $`C_1`$ in the equation above can be made unity; constant $`C_2`$ must become zero for zero mass. The actual value for constant $`C_2`$ is easy to establish resorting to compatibility with Newton mechanics; if this path is taken constant $`C_2`$ can be made equal to the mass, in a similar way to what was used in Refs. . This argument will be used in the present work and an independent derivation of this constant’s value will be deferred until there is better understanding of the waveguiding process. Consequently the gravitational field due to a stationary elementary particle will be written as

$$\psi =\mathrm{e}^{(m/r\pm \mathrm{j}m\tau )}.$$
(14)
A similar argument holds for the field associated with isotropic charge, except that the field is now a function of $`r`$ and $`\sigma `$. One has to replace $`_\tau \psi `$ by $`_\sigma \psi `$ and assume a $`\sigma `$ dependence such that $`_\sigma \psi =\mathrm{j}q\psi `$, where $`q`$ represents the particle’s electric charge. The end result is obviously an evanescent field given by

$$\psi =\mathrm{e}^{(q/r\pm \mathrm{j}q\sigma )}.$$
(15)
Although the fields resulting from Eqs. (14) and (15) have similar expressions, they have quite different effects on the space around the particle, due to the fact that gravity depends on $`\tau `$ and the electric field depends on $`\sigma `$. This aspect will be discussed further along.

One has to consider finally the evanescent field originated by non-isotropic rotation, for instance that associated to a down quark. The rotation takes place around an axis which one can consider aligned with the $`x`$ axis for the sake of the argument. Under these circumstances the $`x`$ axis becomes an axis of symmetry and on this axis the field must depend only on one of the Euler angles, $`\iota `$ for instance, and the value of the $`x`$ coordinate. Re-writing Eq. (10) with the appropriate modifications

$$v^2\delta ^{ij}_{ij}\psi =_{\iota \iota }\psi ,$$
(16)
with $`_\iota \psi =\mathrm{j}\psi `$.

On the $`x`$ axis, for the reasons stated above, $`v`$ can be replaced by

$$v=\frac{_\iota \psi }{_x\psi },$$
(17)
which can be introduced in Eq. (16). In Cartesian coordinates it is

$$\psi _{xx}\psi =\left(_x\psi \right)^2.$$
(18)
Solving the equation one gets the particular solution

$$\psi =\mathrm{e}^{j(x\pm \iota )}.$$
(19)
The field associated with Eq. (19) is not truly evanescent because it increases with distance and an evanescent field should tend to zero. This fact explains the non-existence of isolated quarks . In reality even the gravitational and electric fields are not truly evanescent, as they tend asymptotically to oscillatory fields of unit amplitude. This is seen as a feature that ensures compatibility with the uncertainty principle and fills vacuum with the extreme richness of the gravitational and electric field remnants from all the particles in the Universe. It is also a reversal of the zero point field argument  because mass and electric charge are the sources of the vacuum field and not the reverse.

## 5 Evanescent fields and worldlines

The way in which exponential gravitational fields are actually compatible with Newtonian mechanics has already been explained , as was the duality between wave description of movement under gravity and geodesics in 4DO. The approach used in that paper was less general than is used here because geodesics were the point of departure and waves were inferred. In Ref.  the author introduced electromagnetism in the movement metric of 4DO without resorting to the Euler angles and this is now seen to be an improper way of facing the problem. In this paragraph it will be shown that movement under gravitational or electric fields can easily be derived from the evanescent fields described above. Magnetic fields will not be treated here as they have already been shown to result naturally from electric fields when the source charges are moving . Movement under color charge fields will only be discussed in general terms.

When dealing with particles’ worldlines it is considered that the metric is affected by the amplitude of the local field. So, if a stationary particle with mass $`M`$ is the field source, using Eq. (14), one sets

$$n_{\alpha \beta }=\mathrm{e}^{2M/r}\delta _{\alpha \beta }.$$
(20)
For the moment consider a general gravitational field given by $`n_{\alpha \beta }=n^2\delta _{\alpha \beta }`$. Suppose the particle under the gravitational field’s influence is an electron; the argument is easier to established for an elementary particle but can be extended to massive bodies as has been discussed . Until the field equations have been solved there is no way of knowing what $`f(r)`$ in Eq. (5) looks like but assume that $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ can be replaced by a plane wave of amplitude $`m`$, the electron’s mass. Eq. (2) becomes

$$\delta ^{\alpha \beta }_\alpha \left(\frac{_\beta \mathrm{\Psi }}{n^2}\right)=m^2\mathrm{\Psi }.$$
(21)
From this equation one derives first of all

$$\delta ^{\alpha \beta }_\alpha \left(\frac{1}{n^2}\right)_\beta \mathrm{\Psi }+\frac{\delta ^{\alpha \beta }_{\alpha \beta }\mathrm{\Psi }}{n^2}=m^2\mathrm{\Psi }.$$
(22)
The first term of the equation is orthogonal to $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$, in the sense that $`_\beta \mathrm{\Psi }`$ is something multiplied by $`\mathrm{j}\mathrm{\Psi }`$. This term precludes the use of a plane wave as solution to the equation unless, as a limiting case, $`n`$ is constant. If $`n`$ is a slowly varying function, though, one can neglect the first term and try a solution described by the function $`\mathrm{\Psi }=m\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{j}p_\alpha x^\alpha )`$, where $`p_\alpha `$ is the wave vector. Eq. (22) becomes

$$\frac{1}{m^2n^2}\delta ^{\alpha \beta }p_\alpha p_\beta =1.$$
(23)
The equation above is the geodesic equation of the space whose metric is $`g_{\alpha \beta }=m^2n^2\delta _{\alpha \beta }`$ and can also be written

$$m^2n^2\delta _{\alpha \beta }\dot{x}^\alpha \dot{x}^\beta =1,$$
(24)
where the ”dot” is used to represent derivatives with respect to arc length, this being the same as time length in 4DO. The geodesic and movement Lagrangian is made equal to $`1/2`$ and $`p_\alpha =m^2n^2\delta _{\alpha \beta }\dot{x}^\beta `$ is the conjugate momentum.

From the Lagrangian it is easy to derive the Euler-Lagrange movement equations:

$$\dot{p}_\alpha =m^2n_\alpha n\delta _{\mu \nu }\dot{x}^\mu \dot{x}^\nu .$$
(25)
Considering (24), $`m^2n\delta _{\mu \nu }\dot{x}^\mu \dot{x}^\nu `$ can be replaced by $`1/n`$; making the replacement

$$\dot{p}_\alpha =_\alpha \left(\mathrm{log}n\right).$$
(26)
Usually $`n`$ will not depend on $`\tau `$, with the consequence that $`p_0=m^2n^2\dot{x}^0`$ is a constant of the movement.

Consider now the field due to a particle of mass $`M`$, given by Eq. (20), insert into Eq. (26) and re-write in spherical coordinates to get the 4 differential equations of orbital motion. Making $`\theta =\pi /2`$ it is:

* $`\mathrm{e}^{2M/r}\dot{\tau }=\gamma `$, constant, $``$ speed limited by the speed of light;
* $`\mathrm{e}^{2M/r}r^2\dot{\phi }=J`$, constant, $``$ perihelium advance in closed orbits;
* $`\dot{p}_r={\displaystyle \frac{M}{r^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{m^2\mathrm{e}^{2M/r}J^2}{r^3}}`$, $``$ compatibility with Newton mechanics.

The situation is not very different in the case of an electric field, where one has to consider a field metric of the type $`n_{\alpha \beta }=\delta _{\alpha \beta }`$ when the two indices are not simultaneously zero and $`n_{00}=n^2`$. In particular, the field originated by a point charge $`Q`$ results in $`n=\mathrm{exp}(Q/r)`$; inserting into Eq. (2) one gets

$$\frac{_{00}\mathrm{\Psi }}{n^2}+\delta ^{ij}_{ij}\mathrm{\Psi }=m^2\mathrm{\Psi },$$
(27)
with $`i,j=1`$ to $`3`$.

Inserting $`_\alpha \mathrm{\Psi }=\mathrm{j}p_\alpha \mathrm{\Psi }`$

$$\frac{\left(p_0\right)^2}{m^2n^2}+\frac{\delta _{ij}p_ip_j}{m^2}=1,$$
(28)
which is a geodesic equation of the space and can equivalently be written

$$m^2n^2\left(\dot{x}^0\right)^2+\delta _{ij}\dot{x}^i\dot{x}^j=1.$$
(29)
Proceeding as above one can set the Lagrangian equal to $`1/2`$.

If $`n`$ is a function of the spatial coordinates only, $`p_0=m^2n^2\dot{x}^0`$ is constant; for the other components one gets

$$\dot{p}_i=m^2n_in\left(\dot{x}^0\right)^2=p_0_i\left(\mathrm{log}n\right).$$
(30)
This equation represents movement under an electric field if $`p_0`$ equals the electric charge of the moving particle. Notice that the equation above is not entirely coincident with the equation used in Ref.  for a similar situation, where the approach was different and now considered incorrect.

When gravitational and electric fields are considered simultaneously one has to associate to the moving particle a field with two components: gravitational and electric. Each of two components verifies Eqs. (21) and (27) respectively. The field to be considered is then a two-component vector field and the appropriate wave equation is a vector wave equation. The two component vector field is an artifact to represent the ”real” twisted field through the decomposition into ”longitudinal” and ”torsional” components.

Quark interaction needs special attention and will not be discussed here. Suffice it to say that either a quark and an anti-quark or three quarks of different color must be associated in order to cancel most or all the color filed and create a ”stable” particle. The association does not imply annihilation, on the contrary, the associated quarks orbit around each other greatly contributing with this orbital motion to the total mass. Consideration of color charge implies that the total number of vector field components is increased from two to four, because isotropic rotation can be associated with simultaneous influence on the three charge field components.

## 6 Interactions and carrier particles

The interaction between two particles can be understood as coupling between the fields in two waveguides through their respective evanescent fields. This process generates the force of gravity, electric force and also color force without the need to appeal to force carriers. One can postulate virtual carriers such as gravitons, photons and gluons, respectively, but this is a wave process that does not require such mechanism. For massive bodies with a large number of internal modes that are allowed to move in response to mutual interactions the worldlines of their centers of mass become bent and so do their respective waveguides, allowing effective mode exchange between them. This phenomenon happens very dramatically in atom excitation and decay but it happens also, in a less dramatic form, with the very closely spaced modes of planet orbits .

A different situation happens with carrier particles that exist on their own, of which one knows for sure there are photons and assumes there can also be gluons and gravitons. One must start by defining carrier particles in some way that is consistent with observations and with the theory developed above. Carrier particles are not expected to result from guided modes of the Higgs field and are expected to have zero momentum along the $`\tau `$ direction. Using photons as the only available example to test with observations, it is clear that their worldlines must exist in 3-dimensional space  and so their momentum is characterized by $`p_0=0`$. If this condition is inserted in Eq. (2) one gets exactly the same equation, with indices varying between 1 and 3.

Just as in the 4-dimensional case, the equation will generate self-guided modes which will exist completely in 3-dimensional space. These modes don’t have the richness of their 4-dimensional counterparts and are very similar to ordinary optical fibers. The field that undergoes self-guidance is the electric field in the case of photons and the gravitational field in the case of gravitons. Presumably gluons can be explained similarly if the analysis is extended to the color field. Without the constraint of a Universal field, carrier particles can be generated with any longitudinal frequency, unlike massive particles which are restricted to the modes supported by the Higgs field.

## 7 Conclusions

A Universal wave equation is shown to provide self-guidance to the postulated Higgs field in 4DO. 4-dimensional waveguides result with modes that can explain all the elementary particles such as are understood today. Although solutions to the differential equations that result could not be found, the rationale that is presented supports the argument towards this being a plausible model.

Waveguiding originates evanescent fields in 4-dimensions such as they do in 3-dimensional optical fibers; these are shown to be responsible for gravitational and electric fields and it is argued that a similar effect can explain color fields. Forces result from coupling between waveguides of different particles by intermediate evanescent fields. The equivalence between wave description and worldlines is explored for the cases of gravity and electric field, justifying the introduction of a vector field concept to describe elementary particles.

Carrier particles are then dealt with by setting the $`\tau `$ component of moment equal to zero. The wave equation becomes 3-dimensional and self-guidance then explains the appearance of photons and gravitons. Gluons are not discussed, although it is expected that they can be explained similarly.


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# Do Type Ia Supernovae prove Λ > 0 ?

## 1 Introduction

The claim that the measured brightnesses of Type Ia supernovae at redshifts 0.1 - 1.0 imply $`\mathrm{\Lambda }>0`$ (Schmidt et al 1998, Garnavich et al 1998, Riess et al 1998, Perlmutter et al 1999, Fillipenko and Riess 2000, Riess et al 2001, Turner and Riess 2001) has had a dramatic effect on cosmology. The model with $`\lambda _o`$ = 0.7, where $`\lambda _o=\mathrm{\Lambda }/3H_o^2`$, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ = 0.3 has become a concensus model, believed to be consistent with most evidence from large-scale stucture and CMB fluctuations.

In this paper I test the strength of the evidence that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }>0`$ and show that there are inconsistencies in the way the supernovae data have been analyzed. When these are removed, the strength of the evidence for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }>0`$ is much diminished.

To set the scene, Fig 1 shows $`B_{max}`$ versus log (cz) for 117 Type Ia supernovae since 1956 from the Barbon et al (1998) catalogue (excluding those labelled ’\*’ which are discovery magnitudes only), together with published supernovae from the high z programmes, corrected for Galactic and internal extinction, but not for decay-time effects, together with predicted curves from an $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$ = 1 model. At first sight there is not an enormous difference between the high z and low z supernovae, except that the latter seem to show a larger scatter. Fig 2 shows the same excluding less reliable data (flagged ’:’, in the Barbon et al catalogue, or objects with pg magnitudes only (Leibundgut et al (1991)), correcting for peculiar velocity effects (see section 3), using the Phillips et al (1999) internal extinction correction (see section 2) where available, and deleting two objects for which the dust correction is $`>`$ 1.4 mag. The scatter for the low z supernovae appears to have been reduced. Finally Fig 3 shows the supernovae actually used by Perlmutter et al (1999). Now the scatter in the low z supernovae is not much different from the high z supernovae and a difference in absolute magnitude between low z and high z supernovae, relative to an $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$ = 1 model, can be perceived. However comparison with Fig 2 suggests that the low z supernovae used may be an abnormally luminous subset of all supernovae. We will return to this point in section 4.

Excellent recent reviews of Type Ia supernovae, which fully discuss whether they can be thought of as a homogenous population, have been given by Branch (1998), Hildebrand and Niemeyer (2000) and Leibundgut (2000, 2001). In this paper I shall assume that they form a single population and that their absolute magnitude at maximum light depends, at most, on a small number of parameters. I do not, for example, consider the possibility of evolution, discussed by Drell et al (2000).

Absolute magnitudes are quoted for $`H_o`$ = 100 throughout.

## 2 Internal Extinction

One of the most surprising claims of the high z supernovae teams is that internal extinction in the high z supernovae is small or even negligible (Perlmutter et al 1999, Riess et al 2000). While some nearby Type Ia supernovae take place in elliptical galaxies, where internal extinction in the host galaxy may indeed be negligible, the majority take place in spiral galaxies, where internal extinction can not be neglected. Moreover as we look back towards z = 1, we know from the CFRS survey that there is a marked increase in the fraction of star-forming systems (Lilly et al 1996), and we would expect the average host galaxy extinction to be, if anything, higher than in low z supernovae.

On average, the extinction along the line of sight to a (non edge-on) spiral galaxy can be represented by de Vaucouleurs’s prescription (de Vaucouleurs et al 1976):

$`A_{int}`$ = 0.17 + $`\alpha (T)lg_{10}(a/b)`$, for T $`>`$ -4, = 0 for T = -4, -5,

where T is the de Vaucouleurs galaxy type, a, b are the major and minor diameters of the galaxy, and $`\alpha `$(T) = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8 for T = -3, -2, -1, 0, 1-8, respectively. I assume $`lg_{10}(a/b)`$ = 0.2 where this not known.

The extinction to a particularly supernova can be expected to show marked deviations from this average value, since the dust distributions in galactic discs are very patchy. Because of the cirrus-like distribution of interstellar dust clouds, lines-of-sight to some stars will have much lower extinctions than this average value. The presence of dense molecular clouds in the galaxy means that other lines-of-sight can have very much higher extinctions. Phillips et al (1999) have analyzed the extinction to 62 Type Ia supernovae, using both the colours at maximum light and the colours at very late time, 30-90 days after maximum. Their extinction corrections do resolve a number of cases of anomalously faint Type Ia supernovae (eg 1995E, 1996Z, 1996ai). The agreement of their internal extinction values with those given by the de Vaucouleurs prescription is not brilliant in detail (see Table 1), but as expected give broadly the same median values (median $`A_{int}`$ for Phillips et al sample: 0.29, median de Vaucouleurs correction for same sample: 0.33). These median values are broadly consistent with the Monte Carlo simulations of Hatano et al (1998). Figure 4 shows the correlation between $`A_{int}`$ and the (B-V) colour at maximum light, corrected for Galactic extinction, with different symbols for Phillips et al (1999) estimates and those derived from the de Vaucouleurs prescription. The distribution is consistent with an intrinsic (unreddened) colour range of (B-V) = -0.1 to 0.1, combined with the usual $`A_{int}`$ = 4.14 (B-V) relation.

Riess et al (1998) have given estimates of the total extinction ($`A_{int}+4.14E(BV)_{Gal}`$ for their sample of low supernova derived both via the MLCS method and via a set of templates (their Table 10). We can compare the template estimates directly with those of Phillips et al (1999) for the same galaxies (Fig 5). The Riess et al values are lower on average by 0.22 magnitudes, which implies that the set of templates (and the training set for the MLCS method) have not been completely dereddened. The large scatter in this diagram perhaps indicates the difficulty of estimating the host galaxy extinction for supernovae. If this average underestimate of 0.22 mag. is added to the Riess et al estimates of $`A_{int}`$ for high-z supernovae, the average value of $`A_{int}`$ for these is almost identical to that for low z supernovae. Thus the claim that high z supernovae have lower extinction than low z supernovae seems to be based on a systematic underestimate of extinction in the high z galaxies.

Perlmutter et al (1999) estimate that host galaxy extinction is on average small both in local and high z supernovae, and neglect it in most of their solutions. Parodi et al (2000) neglect internal extinction completely, preferring to cut out the redder objects (B-V$`>`$0.1) from their samples. This will not change the relative absolute magnitudes between low and high z (or between supernovae with Cepheid calibration and the others) provided the two samples end up with the same mean extinction. This, however, might be difficult to guarantee. I have preferred to correct the low z supernovae as described above, and then correct the Perlmutter et al data by an average host galaxy extinction of 0.33 mag.

Ellis and Sullivan (2001) have carried out HST imaging and Keck spectroscopy on host galaxies for supernova used by Perlmutter et al (1999) and find that the Hubble diagram for supernovae in later type galaxies shows more scatter than those hosted by E$`/`$S0 galaxies, presumably due to the effects of host galaxy extinction.

## 3 Correction for peculiar velocity effects

For nearby supernovae it is important to correct for the peculiar velocity of the host galaxy. Hamuy et al (1995) tackle this be setting a minimum recession velocity of 2500 $`km/s`$ for their local sample. However since peculiar velocities can easily be in excess of 500 $`km/s`$ this is probably not sufficient for an accurate result. Here I have used the model for the local (z $`<`$ 0.1) velocity field developed to analyze the CMB dipole, using data from the IRAS PSCz redshift survey (Rowan-Robinson et al 2000). I estimate the velocity error in estimates from this model to be 100 + 0.2 x V $`km/s`$ for V $`<`$ 15000 $`km/s`$, 400 $`km/s`$ for V $`>`$ 15000 $`km/s`$. These errors are incorporated into the subsequent analysis (points are weighted by error<sup>-2</sup>). The code for this peculiar velocity model is available at http://astro.ic.ac.uk/$``$mrr.

Tables 1 and 2 gives data for the Type Ia supernovae used in the present study. The columns are as follows: (1) supernova name, (2) host galaxy recession velocity, (3) same, corrected for peculiar velocity, (4) blue magnitude at maximum light $`B_{max}`$, (5) $`E(BV)_{Gal}`$, from Schlegel et al (1998), (6) $`A_{int}`$ from de Vaucouleurs et al (1976) presciption, (7) $`A_{int}`$ from Phillips et al (1999), (8) absolute magnitude $`M_B`$ ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$ = 1 universe), (9) distance modulus, assuming $`M_B`$ = -19.47 (Gibson et al 2000), (10) $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$, (11) $`(BV)_o`$. Sources of $`B_{max}`$, in order of preference: Hamuy et al (1996)/Perlmutter et al (1999)/Riess et al (1998, Barbon et al (1999). Sources of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$, in order of preference: Phillips et al (1999), Saha et al (1999), Riess et al (1998), Parodi et al (2001). Sources of $`(BV)_o`$: Hamuy et al (1996), Saha et al (1999), Parodi et al (2001), Leibundgut et al (1991).

## 4 Absolute magnitude-decay time relation

Once we have corrected for the effects of internal extinction, we can test whether the absolute magnitude of supernovae at maximum light depends on decay time, or some other parameter like the colour at maximum light $`(BV)_o`$, as proposed by Tripp and Branch (1999), and Parodi et al (2000).

Phillips (1993) proposed that there is a strong dependence of absolute magnitude at maximum light and the decay-time, characterized by the blue magnitude change during the 15 days after maximum, $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$. Specifically he found $`dM_B/d\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ = 2.70. Riess et al (1995) showed that the dispersion in the sn Ia Hubble diagram was significantly reduced by applying this correction. Tammann and Sandage (1995) used supernovae in galaxies for which distance estimates were available to set a strong limit on the slope of the $`M_B\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ relation ($`<`$ 0.88). Hamuy et al (1996) used a new sample of well-studied supernovae to derive a B-band slope of 0.784 $`\pm `$ 0.18 for the $`M_B\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ relation, consistent with the Tammann and Sandage limit, and much lower than the original claim of Phillips (1993). Riess et al (1996) have discussed a related method of analyzing this correlation, the MLCS method.

However there is a further consideration here. It is really only valid to carry out this analysis on supernovae which have been detected prior to maximum light. The process used hitherto by all workers in this field of extrapolating to maximum light assuming an $`M_B\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$, or equivalently MLCS, relation is assuming that all extrapolated objects adhere to the mean line of the relation, thus underestimating the scatter in the relation. This is a process which artificially improves the apparent signal-to-noise of the final Hubble relation or $`\mathrm{\Lambda }>0`$ signal. Hamuy et al (1995) do make some allowance for this in assigning a larger uncertainty (and hence lower weight) to supernova first observed after maximum.

Fig 6 shows a plot of the absolute magnitude at maximum light, $`M_B`$, corrected by 0.784 $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$, versus $`(BV)_o`$, the colour at maximum light corrected for the effects of extinction, using the Phillips et al (1999) estimates of extinction. No clear correlation remains between these corrected quantities. Thus correction for the $`M_B\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ relation removes most of the correlation between $`M_B`$ and $`(BV)_o`$.

Fig 7 shows the relations between $`M_B`$, corrected for extinction, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }M_{15}`$, for objects detected at least 1 day prior to maximum light. The best fit linear relation is shown, which has slope 0.99 $`\pm `$0.38, consistent with values reported by Hamuy et al (1995), 0.85 $`\pm `$0.13, and by Hamuy et al (1996), 0.78 $`\pm `$ 0.18. However the significance of the relation is reduced, because of the smaller number of data points, and is now only 2.6 $`\sigma `$. The rms deviation from this mean relation is 0.44 mag, much larger than is generally claimed for this relation. For example, Riess et al (1996) claim that the residual sigma after correction for the $`M_B\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ relation is 0.12 mag.

The spurious reduction in scatter generated by extrapolating supernovae first observed after maximum can be seen in Fig 8, which shows the same relation for supernovae first observed after maximum. The same effect can in fact be seen in the top panel of Fig 4 in Parodi et al (2000). The marked difference between Fig 7 and 8 suggests that supernovae first observed after maximum should be excluded from the analysis.

Perlmutter et al (1999) have applied a different version of the $`M_B\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ method, which they call the ’stretch’ method, to high z supernovae. This method appears to give a significantly lower correction to $`M_B`$ as a function of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ (Leibundgut 2000). Figure 9 shows the Perlmutter et al ’stretch’ correction to the absolute magnitude, as a function of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$, for 18 low z supernovae (note that they omit the two supernovae with $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ = 1.69 from their solution). The slope is 0.275 $`\pm `$0.04, only one third of the Hamuy et al (1996) value. The method has been further discussed by Efstathiou et al (1999) and Goldhaber et al (2001), but no explanation for the lower slope is given.

## 5 Testing for positive $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$

With the criteria established above (i) that a full and consistent correction must be made for extinction, (ii) that if the the $`M_B\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ relation is used it should only be applied to supernovae detected before maximum light, we can now reexamine the Hubble diagram for supernovae. I consider several different samples:

(1) all well-observed supernovae, with no correction for the $`M_B\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ relation. Supernovae with only pg magnitudes are excluded, as also are supernovae first observed after maximum. The de Vaucouleurs extinction correction is used for supernovae not studied by Phillips et al (1999). Supernovae with $`A_{int}>`$ 1.4 are excluded.

(2) all well-observed supernovae for which in addition $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ is known, with correction for the $`M_B\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ relation, using the 0.784 slope of Hamuy et al (1966).

(3) as (2), but with internal extinction set to zero, as advocated by Perlmutter et al (1999).

(4) as (2), but using the Perlmutter ’stretch’ correction (or 0.275 $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ where stretch correction not available).

(5) as (2) but using the quadratic $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ correction of Phillips et al (1999).

It was not possible to independently check the effect of applying the MLCS method for correcting for decay-time correlations because the set of training vectors published by Riess et al (1996) is not the one actually being used in the high z supernova analysis (Riess et al 1998).

The mean absolute magnitudes for low z ( z $`<`$ 0.1) and high z supernovae, in an Einstein de Sitter model are tabulated for the different samples in Table 3. Without the correction for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$, the significance of the difference in absolute magnitude for 53 low and 52 high redshift supernovae is only 2.8 $`\sigma `$, hardly sufficient to justify the current wide acceptance of positive $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The significance increases to 3.5 $`\sigma `$ if only the 26 supernovae observed since 1990 are used.

Including the $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ correction, the significance increases to 4.0 $`\sigma `$ (3.9 $`\sigma `$ if we use the Perlmutter correction, 4.6 $`\sigma `$ if we use the quadratic $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ correction of Phillips et al 1999, which is the form used by Riess et al 1998). Could this increase in significance be due to some bias in the local supernova sample for which $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ has been measured ? The mean absolute magnitude at maximum light, corrected for extinction but not for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$, for all 53 ’good’ low z supernovae is -18.54. The mean for those for which $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ has been measured is -18.64, 0.1 magnitudes brighter. In fact the difference in the mean between those for which $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ has been measured and those for which it has not been measured is 0.23 mag., almost the size of the whole signal on which the claim for positive $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is based. However there is no difference in mean absolute magnitude between the mean absolute magnitude for the 10 local Calan Tololo supernovae used by by the high-z supernova teams and the 16 other local supernovae studied since 1990, so there is no evidence that the Calan Tololo sample is biased. An alternative explanation of the fainter mean absolute magnitudes seen in the pre-1990 data is a systematic error in the photographic photometry used.

There is another factor which may contribute to the apparent faintness of high z supernovae. Current models of the star formation history of the universe, which show a strong peak in the star formation rate at z = 1-2, imply that the mean dust optical depth in galaxies would be expected to increase with redshift out to z =1.5-2 (Calzetti and Heckman 1999, Pei et al 1999). Line 6 of Table 3 shows the effect of adopting Calzetti and Heckman’s model 3 for the evolution of $`A_{int}(z)`$, a model which agrees well with models for infrared and submillimetre sourcounts and backgrounds (eg Rowan-Robinson 2001a) and direct evidence from oberved estimates of the star formation history (Rowan-Robinson 2001b). This correction, which increases the average $`A_{int}`$ for the high z supernovae by 0.15 mag., is sufficient to reduce the significance of the magnitude difference between high and low z supernovae, in an Einstein de Sitter model, to 3.0 and 1.5 $`\sigma `$ for cases with and without correction for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$.

## 6 Hubble diagram at high redshift

Rowan-Robinson (2001c) has reviewed distance estimates and the Hubble constant. In addition to Type Ia supernovae, S-Z clusters and gravitational lens time-delay methods also give distance estimates at z $`>`$ 0.1. Figure 10 shows a compilation of all these high z estimates. I have also included the HDF supernova (1997ff) at the redshift 1.7, proposed by Riess et al (2001) although Rowan-Robinson (2001b) finds a photometric redshift z = 1.4 for the parent galaxy. The assumed B band magnitude at maximum light is 25.5 (Fig 7 of Riess et al) and the mean absolute magnitude for Type Ia supernovae is assumed to be -19.47 (Gibson et al 2000). The model with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$ = 1 is a good overall fit to these data and the HDF supernova lies right on the $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$ = 1 mean line. A least squares fit to these data, with an assumed $`H_o`$ of 63 $`km/s/Mpc`$ (Rowan-Robinson 2001c) and the spatial curvature parameter k = 0, yields $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o=0.81\pm 0.12`$, where the error in the distance modulus has been taken to be 0.35 mag. for all points.

## 7 Discussion and conclusions

(1) I have reanalyzed the evidence that high-z supernovae support a universe with positive $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$.

(2) Both high-z supernova teams appear to have underestimated host galaxy extinction.

(3) The evidence for an $`M_B\mathrm{\Delta }m_{15}`$ relation is weaker than previously stated (only 2.6 $`\sigma `$) if analysis is restricted to supernovae observed before maximum. The rms deviation about the mean relation is significantly larger than previously claimed.

(4) After consistent corrections for extinction are applied the significance of the difference in absolute magnitude between high and low z supernovae, in an Einstein de Sitter ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$ = 1) universe, is 2.8-4.6 $`\sigma `$, depending whether (and how) the $`M_B\mathrm{\Delta }M_{15}`$ correction is applied, so such a model can not really be rejected conclusively by the present data.

(5) The Hubble diagram based on all high redshift estimates supports an Einstein de Sitter universe. The HDF-N supernova favours such a universe also, contrary to the published claims of Riess et al (2001).

(6) The community may have been too hasty in its acceptance of a positive $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ universe, for which no physical motivation exists, and needs to reconsider the astrophysical implications of the more natural Einstein de Sitter, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$ =1, model. For the supernova method, the need is to continue study of low z supernovae to improve understanding of extinction and of the absolute magnitude decay-time relation, and to consider shifting towards infrared wavelengths, as advocated by Meikle (2000), in order to reduce the effects of extinction.

Of course the arguments presented here do not prove that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ = 0. The combination of the evidence from CMB fluctuations for a spatially flat universe with a variety of large-scale structure arguments for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o`$ = 0.3-0.5 may still make positive $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ models worth pursuing. However it would seem to be premature to abandon consideration of other alternatives.

## 8 Acknowledgements

I thank Peter Meikle, Adam Riess, Steve Warren, Martin Haehnelt, Bruno Leibundgut, David Branch, Eddie Baron, Richard Ellis and an anonymous referee for helpful comments or discussions, and Mark Phillips and Bernhard Parodi for supplying machine-readable versions of their data.


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# Search for Leptoquarks

## 1 Introduction

In many extensions of the Standard Model (SM) new particles are predicted which carry both lepton and baryon number - leptoquarks (LQ). LQs might have masses as low as the electroweak scale. Therefore they have been directly searched for in high energy collider experiments. In the BRW model  LQs are assumed to respect $`SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)`$ symmetry. Several isospin multiplets can be constructed with fermion number $`F=\pm 2`$ or $`F=0`$ depending on their couplings to matter and antimatter, and with spin 0 (scalar) or spin 1 (vector).

The coupling between LQs and fermions is given by the Yukawa coupling $`\lambda `$. In the most general model couplings of LQs to different fermion generations can mix and therefore would lead to FCNC and LFV processes. In low energy experiments the existence of LQs can be indirectly tested by interpreting results in the four-fermion contact interaction model. Constraints are obtained from the proton lifetime, rare decays (e.g. neutrinoless double beta decay), atomic parity violation and search for FCNC processes. LQs are not allowed to have diquark couplings and have to be chiral particles, i.e. $`\lambda _L\lambda _R0`$. The ratio of LQ mass over Yukawa coupling $`m_{LQ}/\lambda `$ has to be above about 1 TeV in general and above 1-100 TeV for flavor changing couplings.

Recent experiments on the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon $`\mathrm{\Delta }a_\mu `$ 111Recent calculations of $`\mathrm{\Delta }a_\mu `$ discovered a sign error in the pseudoscalar pole contribution, which reduces the deviation . and on the atomic parity violation in Cs  which showed slight deviations from the SM expectation have been interpreted in the framework of new LQs by . These deviations would be in agreement with the expectation from LQs of mass about 1 and 1-2 TeV, respectively.

## 2 Direct Searches

In the following the status of experimental searches for first or second generation LQs at high energy colliders is summarized. Flavor-changing processes induced by LQs are not discussed here (for a more general overview on flavor-changing processes see )

### 2.1 Tevatron

At the Tevatron collider protons and antiprotons are collided at a center of mass energy of 1.8 TeV. LQs of all generations would be dominantly pair-produced independent of the Yukawa couplings. Limits obtained by a search for a first-generation vector LQ performed at the D0 experiment  are shown in Fig. 1. LQs with a branching ratio $`\text{BR}(LQeq,\nu q)=1/2`$ were considered in the BRW model by combining the searches for the resulting $`eejj`$, $`e\nu jj`$ and $`\nu \nu jj`$ channels. The results were compared with different assumptions on the LQ-LQ gauge couplings: Yang Mills, minimal vector, minimal cross section couplings. Depending on the model 95% CL limits have been set in the range 230-340 GeV. In a recent publication similar limits were obtained from a search for the $`\nu \nu jj`$ channel alone assuming $`\text{BR}(LQ\nu q)=1`$ .

The results of a search for pair production of a first-generation scalar LQ is summarized in Fig. 2. LQs are here interpreted in a more general model with arbitrary branching ratios into $`eq`$ and $`\nu q`$. For branching ratios with a dominant decay into $`eejj`$ masses below about 225 GeV, for branching ratios with a dominant decay into $`\nu \nu jj`$ masses below about 95-100 GeV are excluded.

Searches for second generation vector LQs yielded due to the cleaner signature of muons in the final state higher mass limits. Depending on the branching ratio into muon and neutrino masses above about 270-320 GeV were excluded.

### 2.2 LEP

In $`e^+e^{}`$ collisions LQs can be tested in both pair production and single production. In pair production the sensitivity is limited to half the center of mass energy $`m_{LQ}<\sqrt{s}/2`$. Therefore mass exclusion limits obtained at LEP II  of the order of 100 GeV are not competitive with those obtained by Tevatron. In single production LQs can be created up to the full center of mass energy. LQs are mainly photo-produced and the cross section depends quadratically on the Yukawa coupling $`\lambda `$. Searches have been performed  for several types of LQs in different decay channels. Limits on $`\lambda `$ of the order 0.1-1 were obtained in the mass range 100-189 GeV for scalar and vector LQs.

### 2.3 HERA

At the electron(positron)-proton collider HERA LQs can be resonantly produced in $`e^\pm q`$ interactions up to the center of mass energy of $`\sqrt{s}=318\text{GeV}`$ for not too small values of $`\lambda `$. The main background is due to genuine neutral current (NC) and charged current (CC) deep inelastic scattering processes. Different types of LQs can in principle be tested by switching the lepton beam charge and by studying the decay distributions of LQs. The latter has been exploited to discriminate against SM background and to enhance sensitivity. The distribution of reconstructed invariant masses as measured by the H1 experiment is shown in Fig. 3. Optimization cuts have been applied to enhance the sensitivity for scalar LQs.

An excess found earlier at masses of about 200 GeV in the data taken from 1994-1997 by the H1 and ZEUS collaborations  was not confirmed by the most recent data. The slight excess at 200 GeV in Fig. 3 is still a remaining effect of the early HERA excess.

Similar results obtained by the ZEUS collaboration from data taken in $`e^+p`$ scattering have been interpreted in the BRW model. Limits are shown in Fig. 4 considering different types of $`F=0`$ scalar LQs. For LQ masses above 200 GeV Yukawa couplings of the order 0.01 can be excluded almost up to the center of mass energy. For Yukawa couplings of electromagnetic strength $`\lambda =e0.3`$ scalar LQs up to about 290-300 GeV are excluded.

The exclusion limit obtained by the H1 experiment in a more general model with an arbitrary branching ratio into electron and neutrino of a $`F=2`$ scalar LQ is shown in Fig. 5. Due to the combination of the NC and CC channels the limits, which are shown for three different assumptions on $`\lambda `$, are almost independent of the branching ratio.

## 3 Contact Interaction

In the framework of four-fermion contact interactions additional LQ couplings can be studied at different colliders by testing the $`\mathrm{}\mathrm{}qq`$ vertex at high scales (e.g. $`Q^2`$). By adding to the SM Lagrangian an extra term with positive or negative interference $`\epsilon =\pm 1`$ for the contact interaction deviations from the SM can be interpreted as function of $`M/\lambda `$ 222 often the convention $`\mathrm{\Lambda }/g`$ is used with $`M`$ being the mass scale.

The H1 and ZEUS experiments at HERA have fitted various LQ hypotheses to the NC data taken at HERA I. Lower limits at 95% CL on $`M/\lambda `$ for two specific LQs are shown in Fig. 6. Typical limits for different types of LQs obtained at HERA are in the range $`0.51.3`$ TeV .

Similarly, different kinds of contact interactions were fitted to the two-fermion final state cross sections at LEP II. The resulting 95% CL limits as obtained by the OPAL collaboration  for different chiral couplings are shown in Fig. 7. The limits are given here as lower limit on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }/g`$ with $`g=\sqrt{4\pi }`$ for both constructive and destructive interference with the SM processes. The limits on $`q\overline{q}`$ final states can also be interpreted in LQ models resulting in mass limits similar to those obtained at HERA.

## 4 Summary

The current status of first-generation LQ searches is summarized in Fig. 8 for two specific scalar LQ examples. The plot shows excluded regions as function of the LQ mass and its coupling as obtained by direct and indirect searches performed at Tevatron, HERA and LEP. Tevatron searches are independent of the Yukawa coupling while HERA searches have a higher mass reach for not too small Yukawa couplings. LQs at very high masses above 300 GeV are only constrained from indirect searches performed at HERA and LEP.

## 5 Outlook

Both HERA and Tevatron were upgraded in order to produce more luminosity. In the next years before LHC and TESLA come to operation an exciting competition between HERA and Tevatron in scalar LQ searches up to 300 GeV is expected. In case of a discovery HERA has the possibility by using different beam charges and by exploiting the newly available longitudinally polarized $`e^\pm `$ beam to determine the LQ type. For not too small Yukawa couplings LQs may be tested with higher sensitivity in indirect searches at the TeV scale. This region will be directly probed by LHC were resonances up to about 1.5 TeV can be found . The successor of LEP, TESLA, will be able to probe LQs up to about 350 GeV. In case of a discovery TESLA will have the possibility to determine precisely the LQ type, its mass and its couplings .