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# Study of three-body charmless 𝐵 decays

## I Introduction

During the last few years, a considerable amount of new information on charmless hadronic decays of $`B`$ mesons has been reported, primarily by the CLEO Collaboration. The discoveries of the $`BK\pi `$ and $`B\pi \pi `$ decay modes cleokpi  have provided a real basis for searches for direct CP-violating effects in the $`B`$ meson system.

However, because of large combinatoric backgrounds, studies of charmless $`B`$ decays have concentrated mainly on two-body decay processes. Three-body decays could significantly broaden the study of $`B`$ meson decay mechanisms and provide additional possibilities for direct CP violation searches. In this paper, we report the results of a study of charged $`B`$ meson decays to three charged particle final states $`K\pi \pi `$, $`KK\pi `$, and $`KKK`$, where no assumptions are made about intermediate hadronic resonances. We also present the results of a study of quasi-two-body intermediate states in the $`K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`K^+K^+K^{}`$ final states. The inclusion of charge conjugate states is implicit throughout this work.

The data sample used for this analysis was collected with the Belle detector operating at the KEKB asymmetric energy $`e^+e^{}`$ collider KEKB . It consists of 29.1 fb-1 taken at the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)`$ resonance, corresponding to $`31.3\times 10^6`$ produced $`B\overline{B}`$ pairs, and 2.3 fb-1 taken 40 MeV below the $`B\overline{B}`$ production threshold to perform systematic studies of the $`e^+e^{}q\overline{q}`$ background.

## II The Belle detector

The Belle detector NIM  is a large-solid-angle spectrometer based on a 1.5 T superconducting solenoid magnet. Charged particle tracking is provided by a three layer double-sided silicon vertex detector (SVD) and a 50 layer cylindrical drift chamber (CDC) that surround the interaction region. The charged particle acceptance covers the laboratory polar angle between $`\theta =17^{}`$ and $`150^{}`$, corresponding to about 92% of the full solid angle in the center-of-mass (c.m.) frame. The momentum resolution is determined from cosmic rays and $`e^+e^{}\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ events to be $`\sigma _{p_t}/p_t=(0.300.19p_t)\%`$, where $`p_t`$ is the transverse momentum in GeV/$`c`$.

Charged hadron identification is provided by $`dE/dx`$ measurements in the CDC, an array of 1188 aerogel Čerenkov counters (ACC), and a barrel-like array of 128 time-of-flight scintillation counters (TOF). At large momenta ($`>2.5`$ GeV/$`c`$) only the ACC and $`dE/dx`$ are used for separation of charged pions and kaons since here the TOF provides no additional discrimination.

Electromagnetic showering particles are detected in an array of 8736 CsI(Tl) crystals that is located in the magnetic volume and covers the same solid angle as the charged particle tracking system. The energy resolution for electromagnetic showers is $`\sigma _E/E=(1.30.07/E0.8/E^{1/4})\%`$, where $`E`$ is in GeV. Electron identification in Belle is based on a combination of $`dE/dx`$ measurements in the CDC, the response of the ACC, and the position, shape and total energy deposition (i.e. $`E/p`$) of the shower registered in the calorimeter. The electron identification efficiency is greater than 92% for tracks with $`p_{\mathrm{lab}}>1.0`$ GeV/$`c`$ and the hadron misidentification probability is below 0.3%.

The magnetic field is returned via an iron yoke that is instrumented to detect muons and $`K_L`$ mesons. We use a Monte Carlo simulation to model the response of the detector and determine acceptance GEANT .

## III Event selection

Charged tracks are required to satisfy a set of track quality requirements based on the average hit residual and on the distances of closest approach to the interaction point in the plane perpendicular to the beam and the plane containing the beam and the track. We also require that the transverse track momenta be greater than 0.1 GeV/$`c`$ to reduce the low momentum combinatoric background.

Charged kaon candidate tracks are selected with a set of PID criteria that has about 90% efficiency, a charged pion misidentification probability of about 8%, and a negligible contamination from protons. We also reject tracks that are identified as electrons. Since the muon identification efficiency and fake rate vary significantly with the track momentum, we do not reject muons to avoid additional systematic error.

We reconstruct $`B`$ mesons in three charged track final states with at least one positively identified kaon. The candidate events are identified by their c.m. energy difference, $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=(_iE_i)E_\mathrm{b}`$, and the beam constrained mass, $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}=\sqrt{E_\mathrm{b}^2(_i\stackrel{}{p}_i)^2}`$, where $`E_\mathrm{b}=\sqrt{s}/2`$ is the beam energy in the c.m. frame, and $`\stackrel{}{p}_i`$ and $`E_i`$ are the c.m. three-momenta and energies of the candidate $`B`$ meson decay products. We select events with $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}>5.20`$ GeV/$`c^2`$ and $`|\mathrm{\Delta }E|<0.20`$ GeV, and define a signal region of $`|M_{\mathrm{bc}}M_B|<9`$ MeV/$`c^2`$ and $`|\mathrm{\Delta }E|<0.04`$ GeV and two $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ sideband regions defined as $`0.08`$ GeV $`<\mathrm{\Delta }E<0.05`$ GeV and $`0.05`$ GeV $`<\mathrm{\Delta }E<0.15`$ GeV dEreg . The selection of sideband regions was based on a Monte Carlo study and was done in such a way that the relative fraction of $`B\overline{B}`$ and $`q\overline{q}`$ events match that of the signal region. For the normalization factor between the sideband and signal data samples we use the ratio of areas, namely 0.62.

To evaluate signal and background levels, we require that one of $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ or $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ fall in its signal region and examine the distribution of candidates in the other, fitting to the sum of a signal distribution and an empirical background. The signal shapes in $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distributions are parameterized by a Gaussian and sum of two Gaussians with the same mean, respectively. The width of the $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ distribution is primarily due to the c.m. energy spread and is expected to be the same for each channel; in the fit we fix it at the value $`\sigma _{M_{\mathrm{bc}}}=2.9`$ MeV/$`c^2`$ determined from the $`B^+\overline{D^0}\pi ^+`$, $`\overline{D^0}K^+\pi ^{}`$ events in the same data sample. The $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ shape for the signal is also determined from the $`B^+\overline{D^0}\pi ^+`$ events. For the $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ projection, we parameterize the background with the empirical function $`f(M_{\mathrm{bc}})\sqrt{1x^2}\mathrm{exp}[\xi (1x^2)]`$, where $`x=M_{\mathrm{bc}}/E_\mathrm{b}`$ and $`\xi `$ is a parameter ArgusF . We fix the $`\xi `$ value from a study of data below the $`B\overline{B}`$ production threshold. We represent the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ background shape with a linear function and restrict the fit to the range $`0.1`$ GeV $`<\mathrm{\Delta }E<0.2`$ GeV dEreg .

## IV Background suppression

An important issue for this analysis is the suppression of the large combinatoric background which is dominated by $`e^+e^{}q\overline{q}`$ continuum events. We suppress this background with variables that characterize the event topology.

Since the two $`B`$ mesons produced from $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)`$ decay are nearly at rest in the c.m. frame, the angles of the decay products of the two $`B`$’s are uncorrelated and the events tend to be spherical. In contrast, hadrons from continuum $`q\overline{q}`$ events tend to exhibit a two-jet structure. We use $`\theta _{\mathrm{thr}}`$, which is the angle between the thrust axis of the $`B`$ candidate and that of the rest of the event to discriminate between the two cases. The distribution of $`|\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{thr}}|`$ is strongly peaked near $`|\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{thr}}|=1.0`$ for $`q\overline{q}`$ events and is nearly flat for $`B\overline{B}`$ events. We require $`|\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{thr}}|<0.80`$ for all three-body final states; this eliminates 83% of the continuum background and retains 79% of the signal events.

After imposing the $`\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{thr}}`$ requirement, the remaining $`q\overline{q}`$ and $`B\overline{B}`$ events still have some differences in topology that are exploited for further continuum suppression. We divide the space around the $`B`$ candidate thrust axis into nine polar angle intervals of $`10^{}`$ each; the $`i`$-th interval covers angles from ($`i`$-1)$`\times 10^{}`$ to $`i\times 10^{}`$. We define the momentum flows, $`x_i(i=1,9)`$, into the $`i`$-th interval as a scalar sum of the momenta of all charged tracks and neutral showers directed in that interval. The momentum flows in corresponding forward and backward intervals are combined VCal .

Angular momentum conservation provides some additional discrimination between $`B\overline{B}`$ and continuum $`q\overline{q}`$ events. In $`q\overline{q}`$ production, the direction of the candidate thrust axis with respect to the beam axis in the c.m. frame, $`\theta _T`$, tends to reproduce the $`1+\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _T`$ distribution of the primary quarks. The direction of the $`B`$ candidate thrust axis for $`B\overline{B}`$ events is uniform. The $`B`$ candidate direction with respect to the beam axis, $`\theta _B`$, exhibits a $`\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _B`$ distribution for $`B\overline{B}`$ events and is uniform for $`q\overline{q}`$ events.

A Fisher discriminant Fisher  is formed from 11 variables: the nine momentum flow variables, $`|\mathrm{cos}\theta _T|`$, and $`|\mathrm{cos}\theta _B|`$. The discriminant, $``$, is the linear combination

$$=\underset{i=1}{\overset{11}{}}\alpha _ix_i$$

of the input variables, $`x_i`$, that maximizes the separation between signal and background. The coefficients $`\alpha _i`$ are determined from Monte Carlo simulation using a large set of continuum events and signal events modeled as $`B^+K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$. We use the same set of coefficients $`\alpha _i`$ for all three-body final states. The separation between the mean values of the signal and background distributions is approximately 1.3 times the signal width.

For the $`K\pi \pi `$ and $`KK\pi `$ final states, we impose a requirement on the Fisher discriminant variable $``$ that rejects 90% of the remaining continuum background with about 54% efficiency for the signal. For the $`KKK`$ final state, the continuum background is much smaller and we make a looser requirement that rejects 53% of continuum background with 89% efficiency for the signal.

To determine the dominant sources of background from other decay modes of $`B`$ mesons, we use a large set of Monte Carlo generated $`B\overline{B}`$ events where both $`B`$ mesons decay generically GEANT . Most of the $`B\overline{B}`$ related background is found to originate from $`B^+\overline{D}^0\pi ^+`$, $`B^+J/\psi K^+`$ and $`B^+\psi (2S)K^+`$ decays. To suppress this type of background we apply the requirements on the invariant masses of the two-particle combinations that are described below. The background from $`B`$ semileptonic decays is additionally suppressed by the electron veto requirement. The most significant background to the $`K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ final state from rare $`B`$ decays is found to originate from $`B^+\eta ^{}K^+`$ followed by $`\eta ^{}\pi ^+\pi ^{}\gamma `$. We expect about 3% of these events to satisfy all the selection criteria. We find no significant background to the $`K^+K^+K^{}`$ final state from other known rare decays of $`B`$ mesons.

## V Results of the Analysis

### V.1 $`B^+K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$

For $`B^+K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ decays, we form $`B`$ candidates from three charged tracks where one track is positively identified as a kaon and the other two tracks are consistent with a pion hypothesis. Figure 1 shows the Dalitz plot for selected $`B^+K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ candidates in the $`B`$ signal region. Large contributions from the $`B^+\overline{D}^0\pi ^+`$, $`\overline{D}^0K^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`B^+J/\psi (\psi (2S))K^+`$, $`J/\psi (\psi (2S))\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ are apparent in the Dalitz plot. The $`J/\psi (\psi (2S))`$ modes contribute to this final state due to muon-pion misidentification; the contribution from the $`J/\psi (\psi (2S))e^+e^{}`$ submode is found to be negligible (less than 0.5%) after the electron veto requirement. For further analysis, we exclude $`\overline{D}^0`$ and $`J/\psi (\psi (2S))`$ signals by imposing requirements on the invariant masses of two intermediate particles: $`|M(K^+\pi ^{})M_D|>0.10`$ GeV/$`c^2`$; $`|M(h^+h^{})M_{J/\psi }|>0.07`$ GeV/$`c^2`$; $`|M(h^+h^{})M_{\psi (2S)}|>0.05`$ GeV/$`c^2`$, where $`h^+`$ and $`h^{}`$ are pion candidates. For the $`J/\psi (\psi (2S))`$ rejection, we use the muon mass hypothesis for charged tracks to calculate $`M(h^+h^{})`$. To suppress the background caused by $`\pi /K`$ misidentification, we exclude candidates if the invariant mass of any pair of oppositely charged tracks from the $`B`$ candidate is consistent with the $`DK\pi `$ hypothesis within 15 MeV/$`c^2`$ ($`2.5\sigma `$), independently of the particle identification information ($`D`$ veto). The $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ and $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ distributions for the remaining events are presented in Figs. 2(a) and 2(b), respectively. Here a significant enhancement in the $`B`$ signal region is observed; the result of a fit to the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distribution is presented in Table 1. The expected $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ and $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ background distributions, which are the sum of luminosity-scaled below-threshold data and generic $`B\overline{B}`$ Monte Carlo events, are shown as open histograms in Figs. 2(a) and 2(b); the contributions from the $`B\overline{B}`$ Monte Carlo sample are shown as hatched histograms. There are no three-body charmless decays included in the generic $`B\overline{B}`$ Monte Carlo.

To examine possible intermediate two-body states in the observed $`B^+K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ signal, we analyze the $`K^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ invariant mass spectra shown in Fig. 3. To suppress the feed-across between the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`K^+\pi ^{}`$ states we require the $`K^+\pi ^{}`$ ($`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$) invariant mass to be larger than 2.0 (1.5) GeV/$`c^2`$ when making the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ ($`K^+\pi ^{}`$) projection. The hatched histograms shown in Fig. 3 are the corresponding two-particle invariant mass spectra for the background events in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ sidebands plotted with a weight of 0.62.

The $`K^+\pi ^{}`$ invariant mass spectrum is characterized by a narrow peak around 0.9 GeV/$`c^2`$ which is identified as the $`K^{}(892)^0`$ and a broad enhancement above 1.0 GeV/$`c^2`$ which is subsequently referred to as $`K_X(1400)`$. In the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ invariant mass spectrum two distinct structures in the low mass region are observed. One is slightly below 1.0 GeV/$`c^2`$ and is identified as the $`f_0(980)`$ while the other is between 1.0 GeV/$`c^2`$ and 1.5 GeV/$`c^2`$ and is referred to as $`f_X(1300)`$. Some excess of signal events can be also observed in the $`\rho ^0(770)`$ mass region. The peak around 3.4 GeV/$`c^2`$ is consistent with the process $`B^+\chi _{c0}K^+`$, $`\chi _{c0}\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$, and is the subject of a separate analysis chi\_c0 . In this paper we exclude the $`B^+\chi _{c0}K^+`$ candidates from the analysis of two-body final states by applying the requirement on the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ invariant mass: $`|M(\pi ^+\pi ^{})M_{\chi _{c0}}|>0.05`$ GeV/$`c^2`$.

For further analysis we subdivide the full Dalitz plot area into seven non-overlapping regions as defined in Table 2. Regions from I to V are arranged to contain the major part of the signal from the $`B^+K^{}(892)^0\pi ^+`$, $`B^+K_X(1400)\pi ^+`$, $`B^+\rho ^0(770)K^+`$, $`B^+f_0(980)K^+`$, and $`B^+f_X(1300)K^+`$ final states, respectively. The area in the Dalitz plot where $`K\pi `$ and $`\pi \pi `$ resonances overlap is covered by region VI, and region VII covers the rest of the Dalitz plot. The results of the fits to the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distributions for all seven regions are summarized in Table 2. The procedure used for the extraction of the two-body branching fractions is described in detail in Section VI.

### V.2 $`B^+K^+K^+K^{}`$

For the selection of $`B^+K^+K^+K^{}`$ events, we use combinations of three charged tracks that are positively identified as kaons. The Dalitz plot for selected $`B^+K^+K^+K^{}`$ candidate events in the $`B`$ signal region after the $`D`$ veto is shown in Fig. 4. Since in this case there are two same-charge kaons, we distinguish the $`K^+K^{}`$ combinations with smaller, $`M(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{min}}`$, and larger, $`M(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{max}}`$, invariant masses. We avoid double entries per candidate by forming the Dalitz plot as $`M^2(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{max}}`$ versus $`M^2(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{min}}`$. The signal from the Cabibbo-suppressed $`B^+\overline{D^0}K^+`$, $`\overline{D^0}K^+K^{}`$ decay mode is apparent as a vertical strip in the Dalitz plot. The corresponding Cabibbo-allowed $`B^+\overline{D^0}\pi ^+`$, $`\overline{D^0}K^+K^{}`$ decays can also contribute to this final state as a result of pion-kaon misidentification. We exclude candidates consistent with the $`B^+\overline{D^0}h^+`$ hypothesis from further analysis by imposing the requirement on the $`K^+K^{}`$ invariant mass $`|M(K^+K^{})M_{D^0}|>0.025`$ GeV$`/c^2`$. The $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ and $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ distributions after the exclusion of $`D`$ mesons are presented in Figs. 2(c) and 2(d) respectively. A large peak in the $`B`$ signal region is apparent in both distributions. The result of a fit to the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distribution is presented in Table 1.

The $`K^+K^{}`$ invariant mass spectra for events from the $`B`$ signal region are shown as open histograms in Figs. 5(a)-5(c). The hatched histograms show the corresponding spectra for background events in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ sidebands, plotted with a weight of 0.62. The $`M(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{min}}`$ spectrum, shown in Fig. 5(a), is characterized by a narrow peak at 1.02 GeV/$`c^2`$ corresponding to the $`\varphi (1020)`$ meson and a broad structure around 1.5 GeV/$`c^2`$; this is subsequently referred to as $`f_X(1500)`$. To plot the $`M(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{max}}`$ mass spectrum we subdivide the $`M(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{min}}`$ mass region into two ranges: $`M(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{min}}<1.1`$ GeV/$`c^2`$ and $`M(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{min}}>1.1`$ GeV/$`c^2`$. The $`M(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{max}}`$ mass spectra for these two regions are presented in Fig. 5(b) and Fig. 5(c) respectively. The prominent structure observed in Fig. 5(b) reflects the 100% $`\varphi `$ meson polarization in the $`B^+\varphi K^+`$ decay due to angular momentum conservation. In contrast, the distribution of signal events in Fig. 5(c) is quite uniform after the background is subtracted. For the analysis of two-body final states we exclude events that are consistent with the $`B^+\chi _{c0}K^+`$, $`\chi _{c0}K^+K^{}`$ decay by applying the requirement on the $`K^+K^{}`$ invariant mass: $`|M(K^+K^{})M_{\chi _{c0}}|>0.05`$ GeV/$`c^2`$.

For further analysis we subdivide the full Dalitz plot area into the four non-overlapping regions defined in Table 3. Regions I and II are arranged to contain the major part of the signal from the $`B^+\varphi (1020)K^+`$ and $`B^+f_X(1500)K^+`$ final states, respectively. Regions III and IV cover the remaining part of the Dalitz plot. The results of the fits to the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distributions for all four regions are summarized in Table 3.

### V.3 $`B^+K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^+`$, $`B^+K^+K^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`B^+K^+K^{}\pi ^+`$

In general, we do not expect any signal in the $`B^+K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^+`$ and $`B^+K^+K^+\pi ^{}`$ final states. The Standard Model prediction for the $`B^+K^+K^+\pi ^{}`$ branching fraction is of the order of $`10^{11}`$, and even much smaller for the $`B^+K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^+`$ final state b2ssd . However, these signals could be significantly enhanced in some extensions of the Standard Model nonsm , and, thus, these modes can be used to search for physics beyond the Standard Model.

For the $`K^+K^+\pi ^{}`$ final state, we reject candidates that are consistent with the $`B^+\overline{D^0}K^+`$, $`\overline{D^0}K^+\pi ^{}`$ decay by imposing the requirement on the $`K^+\pi ^{}`$ invariant mass $`|M(K^+\pi ^{})M_{D^0}|>0.10`$ GeV/$`c^2`$. In case of the $`K^+K^{}\pi ^+`$ channel we reject candidates that are consistent with the $`B^+\overline{D^0}\pi ^+`$, $`\overline{D^0}K^+K^{}`$ decay with the requirement $`|M(K^+K^{})M_{D^0}|>0.05`$ GeV/$`c^2`$. We also apply the $`D`$ veto requirement for the three modes. The resulting $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ and $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ distributions for the $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^+`$, $`K^+K^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`K^+K^{}\pi ^+`$ final states are presented in Figs. 2(e)-2(j). Although we do not observe any signal in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distributions, there is an excess of events in the signal region of the $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ distributions for the $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^+`$ and $`K^+K^{}\pi ^+`$ final states. These excesses could be caused by incorrectly reconstructed $`B`$ decays. To subtract this background we subdivide the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ region into ten bins of 40 MeV width and determine the signal yield in each bin from the fit to the corresponding $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ spectrum. The results of the fit, along with the expected contributions from the generic $`B\overline{B}`$ decays and the feed-down due to the particle misidentification from the $`B^+K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`B^+K^+K^+K^{}`$ decay modes, are presented in Fig. 6. The latter two components are shown in Fig. 6 by the dotted and dashed histograms, respectively. The excess of events over the total expected background in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ signal region (two bins around $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=0`$) is considered to be a signal yield. The results are summarized in Table 1. We do not observe a statistically significant signal in any of these three-body modes.

The feed-across between $`K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`K^+K^+K^{}`$ final states is found to be negligible. True $`B^+K^+K^+K^{}`$ events reconstructed as $`K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ contribute mainly to the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E<0.10`$ GeV region that is excluded from the fit. The fraction of true $`K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ events improperly reconstructed as $`K^+K^+K^{}`$ is less than 0.1%.

## VI Branching Fractions

To determine branching fractions, we normalize our results to the observed $`B^+\overline{D}^0\pi ^+`$, $`\overline{D}^0K^+\pi ^{}`$ signal. This removes systematic effects in the particle identification efficiency, charged track reconstruction efficiency and the systematic uncertainty due to the cuts on event shape variables. We calculate the branching fraction for $`B`$ meson decay to a particular final state $`f`$ via the relation

$$(B^+f)=(B^+\overline{D}^0\pi ^+)(\overline{D}^0K^+\pi ^{})\frac{N_f}{N_{D\pi }}\frac{\epsilon _{D\pi }}{\epsilon _f},$$

where $`N_f`$ and $`N_{D\pi }`$ are the numbers of reconstructed events for the final state $`f`$ and that for the reference process, respectively; $`\epsilon _f`$ and $`\epsilon _{D\pi }`$ are the corresponding reconstruction efficiencies. We use the signal yield extracted from the fit to the corresponding $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distribution; we do not use the $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ distribution, because it, in general, suffers more from the $`B\overline{B}`$ background.

The number of signal events for the reference process $`B^+\overline{D}^0\pi ^+`$, $`\overline{D}^0K^+\pi ^{}`$ is found to be $`1349\pm 40`$ for the $`K^+K^+K^{}`$ selection requirements and $`805\pm 32`$ for the requirements used for all other three-body combinations. The corresponding reconstruction efficiencies are $`26.8`$% and $`16.1`$%, respectively. The reconstruction efficiency for each three-body final state is determined from the Monte Carlo simulation of events that are generated with a uniform Dalitz plot distribution. The branching fraction results for $`K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`K^+K^+K^{}`$ final states are presented in Table 1, where the first quoted error is statistical and the second is systematic. The dominant sources of systematic error are listed in Table 4. We estimate the systematic uncertainty due to variations of reconstruction efficiency over the Dalitz plot using two sets of MC data generated with uniform distribution (phase space) and using some model (described below). The uncertainty due to the particle identification is estimated using pure samples of kaons and pions from $`D^0K^+\pi ^{}`$ decays, where the $`D^0`$ flavor is tagged using $`D^+D^0\pi ^+`$ decays. To estimate the uncertainty due to the signal and background shapes parameterization, we fit the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distributions using different functions for the background description (linear, parabolic, exponential plus constant) and varying the parameters of the signal function (sum of two Gaussians with the same mean) within their errors.

Since we do not observe a statistically significant signal in the $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^+`$, $`K^+K^+\pi ^{}`$ or $`K^+K^{}\pi ^+`$ final states, we place the 90% confidence level upper limits on their branching fractions. These limits are given in Table 1. To calculate the upper limits, we follow the PDG recommendation pdgul .

### VI.1 Exclusive two-body branching fractions in the $`K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ final state

In the determination of the branching fractions for exclusive two-body final states, we have to take into account the possibility of interference between wide resonances. This requires some assumptions about the states that are being observed and, as a consequence, introduces some model dependence into the extraction of the exclusive branching fractions. The present level of statistics does not permit unambiguous interpretation of the $`K_X(1400)`$ and $`f_X(1300)`$ states and, thus, it is not possible to use the data to fix all of the input model parameters. For this analysis we assume that the observed $`K_X(1400)`$ and $`f_X(1300)`$ states are $`0^+`$ scalars. While this does not contradict the observed signal, some contributions from vector ($`1^{}`$) and tensor ($`2^+`$) resonances cannot be excluded. The uncertainty related to this assumption is included in the model-dependent error described below. We ascribe to the $`K_X(1400)`$ state the parameters of $`K_0^{}(1430)`$ ($`M`$ = 1412 MeV/$`c^2`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 294 MeV) and to $`f_X(1300)`$ state the parameters of $`f_0(1370)`$ ($`M`$ = 1370 MeV/$`c^2`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 400 MeV) PDG .

For further analysis we make the following assumptions:

* The observed signal in the $`K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ final state can be described by some number of two-body final states. We restrict ourselves to the following set of exclusive two-body final states: $`K^{}(892)^0\pi ^+`$, $`K_X(1400)\pi ^+`$, $`\rho ^0(770)K^+`$, $`f_0(980)K^+`$ and $`f_X(1300)K^+`$. We enumerate these final states as 1 through 5 in the order mentioned above.
* Given this set of two-body final states, we determine the exclusive branching fractions neglecting the effects of interference. The uncertainty due to possible interference between different intermediate states is included in the final result as a model-dependent error.

In order to extract the signal yield for each two-body final state, we perform a simultaneous likelihood fit to the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distributions for the seven regions of the $`K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ Dalitz plot. We express the expected number $`n_j`$ of signal events in the $`j`$-th region of the Dalitz plot as a linear combination

$$n_j=\underset{i=1}{\overset{5}{}}\epsilon _{ij}N_i,$$

where $`N_i`$ is the total number of signal events in the $`i`$-th two-body final state and $`\epsilon _{ij}`$ is the probability for the $`i`$-th final state to contribute to the $`j`$-th region in the Dalitz plot. The $`\epsilon _{ij}`$ matrix is determined from the Monte Carlo simulation and includes the reconstruction efficiency. This procedure takes into account the effect of correlations between different channels in the determination of the statistical errors.

The results of the fit are summarized in Table 5. Combining all the relevant numbers, we calculate the product of branching fractions $`(B^+Rh^+)\times (Rh^+h^{})`$, where $`R`$ denotes the two-body intermediate resonant state. We present three types of errors for the branching fractions: the first error is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third reflects the model-dependent uncertainty. In general, the model-dependent error is due to uncertainties in the effects of interference between different resonant states. We estimate this error by means of a $`B^+K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ Monte Carlo simulation that includes interference effects between all the final states mentioned above. We vary the relative phases of the resonances and determine the signal yield using the procedure described above. The maximal deviations from the central values are used as an estimate of the model dependence of the obtained branching fractions. We find that the model-dependent errors associated with the wide resonances introduce significant uncertainties into the branching fraction determination. In the case of the $`\rho ^0(770)K^+`$ final state, this effect is enhanced by the smallness of the signal itself. Since we do not observe a significant signal in this channel, we report a 90% confidence level upper limit. The statistical significance of the signal, in terms of the number of standard deviations, is calculated as $`\sqrt{2\mathrm{ln}(_0/_{\mathrm{max}})}`$, where $`_{\mathrm{max}}`$ and $`_0`$ denote the maximum likelihood with the nominal signal yield and with the signal yield fixed at zero, respectively.

### VI.2 Exclusive two-body branching fractions in the $`K^+K^+K^{}`$ final state

In the case of the three charged kaon final state, we clearly observe the $`\varphi (1020)`$ meson plus a very broad $`f_X(1500)`$ structure that we currently cannot interpret unambiguously. It could be a complex superposition of several intermediate states and some contribution from the non-resonant $`B^+K^+K^+K^{}`$ decay is also possible. For our study of systematic and model-dependent uncertainties, we construct a simplified model and parameterize the $`f_X(1500)`$ structure as a hypothetical scalar state with $`M=1500`$ MeV/$`c^2`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=700`$ MeV. We find qualitative agreement between the experimental Dalitz plot distribution of the signal events and that obtained from the Monte Carlo simulation with this simple model.

Then we extract the signal yield for the two-body final states: $`B^+\varphi (1020)K^+`$ and the so-called $`B^+f_X(1500)K^+`$, which is, in fact, all of the remaining signal. We follow the same procedure as we used for the $`K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ final state. The signal yields are determined from a simultaneous fit to the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distributions for four separate regions of the $`K^+K^+K^{}`$ Dalitz plot. The results of the fit are summarized in Table 6.

We determine the model-dependent error in the same way as we did for the $`K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ final state. In the case of the $`K^+K^+K^{}`$ final state the model-dependent error is found to be much smaller than in the $`K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ final state. This is mainly due to the small width of the $`\varphi (1020)`$ meson.

## VII Discussion & Conclusion

The high quality of $`\pi /K`$ separation at Belle allows us to measure, for the first time, the branching ratios for the three-body modes $`(B^+K^+\pi ^{}\pi ^+)=(55.6\pm 5.8\pm 7.7)\times 10^6`$ and $`(B^+K^+K^{}K^+)=(35.3\pm 3.7\pm 4.5)\times 10^6`$ without assumptions about particular intermediate mechanisms. CLEO berg96b  and BaBar babar  have previously placed upper limits on the branching fractions of non-resonant three-body decays: $`(B^+K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{})<28\times 10^6`$ (CLEO), $`(B^+K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{})<66\times 10^6`$ (BaBar), $`(B^+K^+K^+K^{})<38\times 10^6`$ (CLEO). A comparison of the applied selection criteria shows that CLEO and BaBar restricted their analyses to the region of invariant mass above 2 GeV/$`c^2`$ for any pair of the particles. This requirement effectively removes most of the low mass resonances that provide the dominant contribution to our observed signal. They assume a uniform distribution of events over the Dalitz plot to obtain the limits quoted above. The upper limits reported here for the $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^+`$, $`K^+K^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`K^+K^{}\pi ^+`$ modes are considerably more restrictive than previous limits from CLEO berg96b  and OPAL OPAL .

Significant signals are observed for the first time in the decay modes $`B^+f_0(980)K^+`$ and $`B^+K^{}(892)^0\pi ^+`$. The measured branching fraction product for the $`f_0(980)K^+`$ final state is $`(B^+f_0(980)K^+)\times (f_0(980)\pi ^+\pi ^{})=(9.6_{2.31.50.8}^{+2.5+1.5+3.4})\times 10^6`$. This is the first observation of a $`B`$ decay to a charmless scalar-pseudoscalar final state. The measured branching fraction product for the $`K^{}(892)^0\pi ^+`$ final state is $`(B^+K^{}(892)^0\pi ^+)\times (K^{}(892)^0K^+\pi ^{})=(12.9_{2.61.44.5}^{+2.8+1.4+2.3})\times 10^6`$. Using the value of $`(K^{}(892)^0K^+\pi ^{})=2/3`$, we translate our measurement into the branching fraction $`(B^+K^{}(892)^0\pi ^+)=(19.4_{3.92.16.8}^{+4.2+2.1+3.5})\times 10^6`$. The significant enhancement in the $`K^+\pi ^{}`$ invariant mass spectrum above the $`K^{}(892)`$ mass agrees with the scalar $`K_0^{}(1430)`$ hypothesis. This is also in agreement with theoretical predictions chernyak  for the $`B^+K_0^{}(1430)\pi ^+`$ branching fraction based on the factorization model. Nevertheless, we cannot exclude some contribution from the tensor $`K_2^{}(1430)`$ state.

The interpretation of the peak with a $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ invariant mass around 1300 MeV/$`c^2`$ in the $`K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ system is less certain. There are two known candidate states: the $`f_2(1270)`$ and $`f_0(1370)`$ PDG . Attributing the peak to the $`f_0(1370)`$, with its rather small coupling to $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ anisov , would lead to an unusually large branching fraction for a charmless $`B`$ decay mode. On the other hand, as recently shown in kim , the factorization model predicts a very small branching fraction for the $`B^+f_2(1270)K^+`$. If our observation is, in fact, due to the $`f_2(1270)`$, this would provide evidence for a significant nonfactorizable contribution.

We cannot identify the broad structure observed in the $`B^+K^+K^+K^{}`$ final state above the $`\varphi (1020)`$ meson. It is hardly compatible with the presence of a single scalar state, either $`f_0(1370)`$ or $`f_0(1500)`$ PDG . We also cannot exclude the presence of a non-resonant contribution or the case of several resonances contributing to the excess in the $`K^+K^{}`$ invariant mass spectrum seen around 1.5 GeV/$`c^2`$.

We find that effects of interference between different two-body intermediate states can have significant influence on the observed two-particle mass spectra and a full amplitude analysis of three-body $`B`$ meson decays is required for a more complete understanding. This will be possible with increased statistics.

## Acknowledgement

We wish to thank the KEKB accelerator group for the excellent operation of the KEKB accelerator. We acknowledge support from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science; the Australian Research Council and the Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources; the Department of Science and Technology of India; the BK21 program of the Ministry of Education of Korea and the CHEP SRC program of the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation; the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research under contract No.2P03B 17017; the Ministry of Science and Technology of Russian Federation; the National Science Council and the Ministry of Education of Taiwan; and the U.S. Department of Energy.


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# Nonmonotonic 𝑑_{𝑥²-𝑦²} Superconducting Order Parameter in Nd2-xCexCuO4

\[

## Abstract

Low energy polarized electronic Raman scattering of the electron doped superconductor Nd2-xCexCuO4 ($`x=0.15`$, $`T_c=22`$ K) has revealed a *nonmonotonic* $`d_{x^2y^2}`$ superconducting order parameter. It has a maximum gap of $`4.4k_BT_c`$ at Fermi surface intersections with antiferromagnetic Brillouin zone (the “*hot spots*”) and a smaller gap of $`3.3k_BT_c`$ at fermionic Brillouin zone boundaries. The gap enhancement in the vicinity of the “*hot spots*” emphasizes role of antiferromagnetic fluctuations and similarity in the origin of superconductivity for electron- and hole-doped cuprates.

\]

Introduction.– Nd2-xCexCuO4 (NCCO) is one of a few electron doped cuprate superconductors . The physical properties of the electron doped cuprates are different from the hole-doped. Structurally, NCCO does not have apical oxygen atoms. It is commonly believed that the charge carriers in NCCO are electrons rather than holes as in other cuprate families . In optimally hole doped cuprates the normal state resistivity increases linearly over a wide range of temperatures while for NCCO the in-plane resistivity is quadratic in temperature with a large residual value . For the electron doped cuprates the superconducting (SC) transition temperature is relatively low and the superconductivity occurs in a narrow doping range . From the early tunneling  and microwave measurements an $`s`$-wave SC order parameter (OP) was suggested  that is in contrast with the $`d`$-wave symmetry established for hole doped compounds. The early Raman measurements were interpreted as evidence for nearly uniformly gapped Fermi surface (FS)  consistent with the $`s`$-wave OP. However, the interpretation of more recent microwave measurements  along with angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) , and phase sensitive scanning SQUID microscope experiments  are consistent with $`d`$-wave OP.

We report polarized low energy electronic Raman scattering studies on NCCO single crystals and show that the data is consistent with a SC OP of the $`d_{x^2y^2}`$ symmetry. However, as distinguished from the simplest commonly assumed SC gap function, $`\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐤)\mathrm{cos}(k_xa)\mathrm{cos}(k_ya)`$, where $`𝐤`$ is a wave vector on the FS and $`a`$ is the $`ab`$-plane lattice constant, the present results require a *nonmonotonic* form of the OP. We find that in contrast with hole doped cuprates for NCCO the positions of the SC gap maxima are located closer to the nodes than to the Brillouin zone (BZ) boundaries. The gap opens up rapidly with departure from the diagonal nodal directions and quickly reaches its maximum value of $`4.4k_BT_c`$ at the intersections of the FS and the antiferromagnetic (AF) BZ. However, the gap value drops to $`3.3k_BT_c`$ at the BZ boundaries. The implications of such *nonmonotonic* OP to the doping dependence of $`T_c`$ are discussed.

Experimental.– The Raman experiments were performed from a natural $`ab`$ surface of a plate-like single crystal grown as described in Ref. . After growth, the crystal was annealed in an oxygen-reduced atmosphere to induce the doping level for optimal $`T_c`$ . SC transition measured by SQUID was about 22 K with a width about 2 K. The sample was mounted in an optical continuous helium flow cryostat. Spectra were taken in a backscattering geometry using linearly polarized excitations of a Kr+ laser from near infrared to violet. An incident laser power less than 2 mW was focused to a 50 $`\mu `$m spot onto the sample surface. The referred temperatures were corrected for laser heating. The spectra were measured at temperatures between 5 and 35 K and were analyzed by a custom triple grating spectrometer. The data were corrected for the spectral response of the spectrometer and for the optical properties of the material at different wavelengths as described in the Ref. .

The polarization directions of the incident ($`\text{e}_i`$) and scattered ($`\text{e}_s`$) photons are indicated by ($`\text{e}_i,\text{e}_s`$) with $`x=[100]`$, $`y=[010]`$, $`x^{}=[110]`$, and $`y^{}=[\overline{1}10]`$. The presented data were taken in ($`xy`$), ($`x^{}y^{}`$), and ($`xx`$) scattering geometries. For tetragonal $`D_{4h}`$ symmetry these geometries correspond to spectra of $`B_{2g}+A_{2g}`$, $`B_{1g}+A_{2g}`$, and $`A_{1g}+B_{1g}`$ representations. In addition, by using geometries with circularly polarized light we checked the intensity of the $`A_{2g}`$ component and found it to be negligibly weak.

Raman scattering symmetries.–

The electronic Raman response function for a given geometry ($`\text{e}_i,\text{e}_s`$) is proportional to the sum over the density of states at the FS weighted by the momentum k dependent form factor . By choosing the scattering geometries one can selectively probe different regions of the FS and obtain information about the k dependence of the SC OP. For the $`B_{1g}`$ channel the Raman spectrum has a form factor of $`d_{x^2y^2}`$ symmetry that vanishes at the $`(0,0)(\pi ,\pi )`$ and the equivalent diagonal lines of the BZ (See Fig. 1). The spectrum intensity in the $`B_{1g}`$ channel integrates mainly from the regions of the FS distant from these diagonals, near intersections of the FS and the BZ boundary (ZB). In contrast, the form factor for $`B_{2g}`$ spectrum has $`d_{xy}`$ symmetry and therefore vanishes along $`(0,0)(0,\pi )`$ and the equivalent lines. The intensity in the $`B_{2g}`$ channel is mainly determined by excitations near $`(\pi /2,\pi /2)`$ and the equivalent points. All regions of momentum space may contribute to the fully symmetric $`A_{1g}`$ channel .

The pair breaking excitations.–

In the Fig. 2 we compare the low energy Raman spectra above and below the SC transition taken with the excitation energy $`\omega _L=1.9`$ eV for three symmetry representations: $`B_{1g}`$, $`B_{2g}`$ and $`A_{1g}`$. Above $`T_c`$ spectra exhibit a flat electronic Raman continuum. In the SC state the low-frequency tail of the Raman continuum changes to reflect the opening of the SC gap: the strength of the low-frequency continuum is reduced and the spectrum acquires the so-called $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$-peak as a result of excitations across the anisotropic gap, $`2\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐤)`$. These peaks correspond to the excitations out of the SC condensate. For different scattering geometries spectra differ in their intensity as well as in the position of the $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$-peaks. The peaks in the $`A_{1g}`$ and $`B_{2g}`$ channels are an order of magnitude stronger than in the $`B_{1g}`$ channel. For $`B_{2g}`$ symmetry the peak is at the highest energy, at about 67 cm-1, followed by the peaks in $`B_{1g}`$ and $`A_{1g}`$ channels at 50 and 40 cm-1 correspondingly.

These results are in sharp contrast to the hole doped cuprates where the most prominent scattering is observed in $`B_{1g}`$ channel for which the $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$-peak is at the highest frequency . For the hole doped cuprates the interpretation of Raman data is consistent with $`d_{x^2y^2}`$ SC OP of the simplest monotonic $`\mathrm{sin}(2\varphi )`$ form shown in the Fig. 1B. The role of orthorhombic distortions and impurities has been discussed in the Refs. .

The earlier low-temperature Raman data from NCCO was measured down to about 25 cm-1 with $`\omega _L=2.6`$ eV . The data exhibited a strong residual scattering intensity. The observed $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$-peak in the $`B_{1g}`$ channel started at a threshold from the low energy side. The authors discuss possible experimental artifacts for the residual intensity and suggest that the observed threshold supports an anisotropic $`s`$-wave gap interpretation (see Fig. 1B). Our data extends to much lower frequencies (Figs. 2-3). The spectra for all scattering channels show a smoothly dropping intensity below the $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$-peak down to the lowest energies measured. Based on our data we exclude the anisotropic $`s`$-wave interpretation since any fully gapped FS would lead to a Raman intensity threshold as it has been observed for classical superconductors . The smooth decrease of the scattering intensity is a signature of the nodes in the OP .

The gap anisotropy.– The observation of the $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$-peak in the $`B_{2g}`$ channel at energies higher than in the $`B_{1g}`$ channel suggests a nonmonotonic OP with maxima in $`\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐤)`$ closer to the $`(0,0)(\pi ,\pi )`$ diagonal than to the BZ boundary. The recent ARPES studies of NCCO exhibit a node in $`\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐤)`$ along this diagonal direction . Our Raman data can be reconciled with the ARPES results by including higher harmonics, like $`\mathrm{sin}(6\varphi )`$, to the monotonic $`\mathrm{sin}(2\varphi )`$ form of the $`d_{x^2y^2}`$ OP. The resulting nonmonotonic form is shown in Fig. 1B. In Fig. 1A we sketch the FS as seen by ARPES . The latter data exhibits regions of suppressed spectral weight at the intersections with the AF BZ boundary, a behavior similar to the destruction of the FS at the “hot spots” in the pseudogap phase seen in hole-doped cuprates . Strong AF fluctuations are believed to be responsible for such “hot spot” behavior .

We assume that the AF interactions are responsible for the SC coupling mechanism and that like in the hole-doped cuprates the SC gap reaches its maximum value in the vicinity of the “hot spots”. For the hole-doped cuprates with a large FS the “hot spots” are close to the BZ boundary. For electron-doped cuprates the position of the “hot spots” sensitively depends on the size of the FS and, hence, on the amount of doping. As it is seen in the ARPES data  for the optimally doped NCCO the “hot spots” are close to the BZ diagonals and therefore in Raman the maximum gap value appears in the $`B_{2g}`$ channel. The peak position at about 67 cm-1 is consistent with the maximum gap value of 3.7 meV observed in tunneling spectroscopy . The $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$-peak in the $`B_{1g}`$ channel reflects the gap magnitude at the BZ boundary (See Fig. 1B). Indeed, the peak position at about $`2\mathrm{\Delta }_{B_{1g}}=50`$ cm-1 corresponds to 3 meV for a single $`\mathrm{\Delta }(𝐤_{ZB})`$ that is consistent with the leading edge gap estimates between 1.5 and 3 meV at the BZ boundary by ARPES . For slightly stronger electron doping the intersection of the AF BZ and the FS disappears. This naturally explains the narrow doping range for superconductivity in the electron-doped cuprates.

The superconducting gap temperature dependence.– In the inset of Fig. 2 we show the temperature development of the $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$-peak position in the $`B_{2g}`$ channel. The SC gap opens up very rapidly with cooling below $`T_c`$ and soon approaches its maximum value $`4.4k_BT_c`$ which is within the margin of the strong coupling limit and is close to the gap value observed for heavily hole overdoped cuprates. Optimally and especially hole underdoped cuprates exhibit much larger gap values .

The resonant Raman excitation profile.– We performed a systematic study of the Raman scattering efficiency as a function of the excitation photon energy. The low frequency response at 8 K in the $`B_{1g}`$ and $`B_{2g}`$ channels for excitations from blue to near IR are shown in Fig. 3.

For the blue excitation ($`\omega _L=2.6`$ eV) our data is consistent with the earlier results of Ref.  showing comparable intensities in both $`B_{1g}`$ and $`B_{2g}`$ channels. The relative intensities change drastically when the excitation energy is decreased below 2.5 eV. While the peak in the $`B_{1g}`$ channel only slightly increases in intensity the peak in the $`B_{2g}`$ channel rapidly increases by an order of magnitude and exhibits a maximum around excitation $`\omega _L=1.9`$ eV.

The resonance profiles of the $`2\mathrm{\Delta }`$-peak for both $`B_{1g}`$ and $`B_{2g}`$ channels are presented in the Fig. 4A and are compared with optical conductivity data  that exhibits a band between 1.7 eV and 2.5 eV. This band has been ascribed to the charge-transfer process between the fully occupied oxygen $`2p`$ band and the upper Hubbard band (UHB)  that has been suggested to be a doubly occupied hybridized oxygen $`2p`$ and copper $`3d`$ state.

In the Fig. 4B we show a schematic diagram for the resonant Raman scattering process in strongly correlated electron doped cuprates. The lower Hubbard band (LHB) and the oxygen band above are fully occupied. Doped electrons shift the Fermi energy to the UHB. Resonant enhancement of the Raman scattering process occurs when the energy of the incoming or scattered photons, or both, are in resonance with the interband transitions. Our results imply that the intermediate state for the Raman process is the same state which is seen near 2.1 eV in the optical conductivity. Moreover, because the observed resonance enhancement for the $`B_{2g}`$ channel is much stronger than for the $`B_{1g}`$ channel we anticipate that the interband transition occurs near $`(\pi /2,\pi /2)`$ point. Angle-resolved valence-band photoemission spectra indeed exhibits a band that is peaked at this point at about 2.6 eV below the Fermi energy . The excitation out of this band to the UHB may originate the 2.1 eV transition in the optical conductivity. A slight down scale in energy reflects the final state interactions.

Summary.– Low energy electronic Raman scattering has been investigated for NCCO single crystals and the role of interband transitions for the resonant Raman coupling has been discussed. The low temperature data for different scattering channels has been found to be consistent with a *nonmonotonic* functional form of the $`d_{x^2y^2}`$ OP. The SC gap opens up rapidly with departure from the nodal directions and reaches its maximum value of $`4.4k_BT_c`$ at the “hot spots” that are located closer to the nodes than to the BZ boundaries where the gap value drops to $`3.3k_BT_c`$. The enhancement of the gap value in the proximity of the “hot spots” emphasizes the role of AF fluctuations for the superconductivity in the electron doped cuprates. Despite the strong differences between the electron- and the hole-doped cuprates, their superconductivity appears to share the same symmetry and a similar origin.

Acknowledgements.– We acknowledge discussions with N.P. Armitage, A. Chubukov, E.J. Singley and T. Takahashi. AK is supported in part by the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes. NRL support is provided by ONR. UM support is provided by NSF contract DMR-9732736. P.F. acknowledges the support from CIAR, NSERC and the Foundation FORCE (Sherbrooke).


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# The VLBA Calibrator Survey - VCS1

## 1 Introduction

Accurate celestial and terrestrial reference frames play an important role in many areas of science. Celestial reference frames have been used historically for navigation (terrestrial and deep–space), time keeping and for studying the dynamics of solar system, Galactic and extragalactic objects. For over three decades, high–accuracy radio interferometry of extragalactic radio sources using the techniques of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) has played a major role in defining these terrestrial and celestial frames (Sovers, Fanselow, & Jacobs, 1998). Precise measurements of orientation, rotation and deformation of the Earth’s surface provides unique information concerning its internal structure, and allows detailed testing of geodynamic theories (e.g. plate tectonics) and studies of the major geophysical fluids (the atmosphere, oceans and groundwater) (Eubanks, 1993).

The International Earth Rotation Service (IERS – http://www.iers.org) was established in 1988 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) to serve the astronomical, geodetic and geophysical communities by providing an International Celestial Reference System (ICRS) and an International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS) to define fundamental inertial frames of reference for celestial and terrestrial positions. The current realizations of the ICRS and ITRS are the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) (Ma et al., 1998) and the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF2000) (Altamimi, Sillard, and Boucher, 2002). Physical connection of these two systems depends on accurate measurement of two celestial angles (the offset in longitude and obliquity of the celestial pole with respect to its position defined by the conventional IAU precession/nutation models – $`\mathrm{\Delta }\psi `$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ`$) and three Earth orientation parameters (EOPs): UT1 (changes in the length of day due to variations in the rotation of the Earth), and the X & Y polar motion offsets.

The ICRF was adopted by the IAU as of January 1998 as the realization of the ICRS, replacing the FK5 (Fricke et al., 1988). It is a kinematic reference frame, based on the positions of distant quasars and active galactic nuclei, rather than a dynamical reference frame such as the FK5 frame (which incorporates the Earth’s motion, the mean equator and the dynamical equinox at some reference epoch). The origin of the ICRF is at the solar system barycenter, and its axes are defined by the directions to a set of extragalactic radio sources measured using VLBI. The ICRF axes are consistent with the J2000 alignment of the FK5 to within the accuracy of the FK5. The orientation of the ICRF is defined by the positions of the 212 defining sources included in the initial ICRF solution (Ma & Feissel, 1997), with an estimated accuracy of 0.25 milliarcseconds (mas). A further 396 sources were included in Ma et al. (1998) as candidate ICRF sources and to improve the catalog density, and subsequently 59 additional candidate sources were presented in ICRF–Extension 1 (ICRF-Ext.1) (IERS, 1999). The data used to define the ICRF included over 2.2 million VLBI observations made between 1979–1995. Significant improvement of the current ICRF will require VLBI monitoring of the mas structure of the current sources, and the addition of new sources to the frame solutions.

Astronomical imaging of weak radio sources using phase–referencing also relies on a dense and accurate grid of bright radio sources. Phase referencing (Beasley & Conway, 1995) involves rapid ($``$minutes) antenna position–switching between an astronomical target source and an adjacent (1–5° separation) calibrator. By interpolating antenna–based phase, delay and rate corrections derived from the calibrator observations to the weak target source, phase coherence can be extended indefinitely, allowing longer integration times and thermal–noise–limited imaging. To first order, unmodeled antenna–based geometric and electronic delays are removed. Second–order errors in this process increase with (a) switching time between observations of the calibrator, which depends on antenna slew rates, source brightness and system sensitivity, and (b) the angular distance to the calibrator (i.e. a breakdown of isoplanicity). Dense calibrator grids are required to minimize these errors. Over the past five years, phase–referencing has allowed imaging of weak radio sources including GRBs (Taylor et al., 1999), radio stars (Beasley & Güdel, 2000) and deep–field radio sources (Garrett et al., 2001). Another advantage of phase referencing is the astrometric registration of multi–epoch observations, such as images of radio supernovae (Bartel et al., 2000), maser complexes (Herrnstein et al., 1999) and the Galactic center (Reid, Readhead, Vermeulen, & Treuhaft, 1999).

In this paper we present the results of a multi–epoch dual–frequency Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) survey – the VLBA Calibrator Survey (VCS1) – of 1811 VLBI sources identified on the basis of high–resolution Very Large Array observations. Some 1332 of these sources have not been previously measured in astrometric mode – their positions are presented here as the VCS1 catalog (see http://www.nrao.edu/vlba/VCS1). Future VLBA calibrator surveys (e.g. VCS2 – Fomalont et al. (2001)) will build on this initial catalog. The goals of the survey were: (a) to increase the surface density of known geodetic–grade calibrators with mas–accurate positions in the northern sky, providing candidate sources for future extensions of the ICRF; (b) to facilitate routine phase–referencing to most regions of the northern and equatorial sky, allowing high–resolution radio imaging of weak scientific targets; and (c) to provide a uniform image database at 2.3 and 8.4 GHz for use in scientific applications, including AGN & gravitational lensing studies, and cosmology. Milliarcsecond–accurate positions in the reference frame of the ICRF and a selection of dual–frequency images of VCS1 sources are presented. In Section 2 we describe the VCS1 sample and the survey observations, and present a selection of survey images. In Sections 3 & 4 we discuss the astrometric analysis of the VCS1 sample, and examine ongoing efforts to use VCS1 for science and to expand it through the Galactic Plane and to higher frequencies.

## 2 Data & Reduction

### 2.1 Observations

The VCS1 observations were carried out in ten 24–hr sessions (epochs) spanning the period August 1994 to August 1997. A description of the VLBA can be found in Napier (1994). VCS1 observations used the VLBA dual–frequency geodetic mode, observing simultaneously at 2.3 & 8.4 GHz. This is enabled by a dichroic mirror permanently positioned over the 2.3 GHz receiver, reflecting the higher frequency radiation towards a deployable reflector leading to the 8.4 GHz receiver. From each receiver four baseband frequency channels (BBCs) were recorded over a large spanned bandwidth (100 MHz at 2.3 GHz, 400 MHz at 8.4 GHz), to provide precise measurements of group delays for astrometric processing. Relevant parameters for the VCS1 epochs are indicated in Table 1. For epochs 1–4 the data recording rate was 64 Mb/s; growth of the VLBA operational capabilities during 1996 allowed 128 Mb/s recording for epochs 6–10. Typical VLBA antenna system temperatures and efficiencies at 2.3 & 8.4 GHz are $``$30–40 K and 50%. During each epoch, typically one or two antennas exhibited poor performance due to local weather conditions.

To allow accurate imaging and position estimation, two or three 60–90 second snapshot observations of each calibrator candidate were made. The VCS1 sample was observed in declination strips, as indicated in Table 1. In each declination strip the observations were sequenced to maximize the number of VLBA antennas on source using customized scheduling software. During each epoch, six or seven periods of 30 mins were used to observe $``$10 geodetic–grade reference sources spanning a wide range of elevations and azimuths to assist in the astrometric processing of the survey. To schedule these reference sources, an elevation–weighted simulated annealing algorithm was developed. For a given date and time, this algorithm identifies sources visible to all VLBA antennas, generates a preferred sample spanning a wide range of antenna elevations and azimuths, giving higher weight to the outlying VLBA stations, i.e. those involving longer baselines which provide the highest astrometric accuracy. After selection, the list of reference sources is ordered in time using a simulated annealing algorithm (Press et al., 1992) to give the minimum antenna slew path through the sources, ignoring azimuth cable unwrapping.

### 2.2 VCS1 Sample Selection

A sample of candidate calibrators was selected from the Jodrell Bank – VLA Astrometric Survey (JVAS) (Patnaik, Browne, Wilkinson, & Wrobel, 1992; Browne, Wilkinson, Patnaik, & Wrobel, 1998; Wilkinson et al., 1998; Wrobel et al., 2002), an astrometric snapshot survey of compact radio sources performed with the NRAO Very Large Array during the period 1990–1993. The primary goal of JVAS was to provide phase calibrators with accurate positions for use in radio astronomy, in particular for the MERLIN array, although the survey has also been used to identify gravitationally–lensed systems, e.g. King et al. (1999). The JVAS sample was originally derived from the NRAO Green Bank 1.4 & 5 GHz surveys (Condon & Broderick, 1985, 1986; Condon, Broderick, & Seielstad, 1989), selecting sources with 5 GHz flux densities greater than 200 milliJansky (mJy), spectral indices $`\alpha `$ greater than -0.5 (S $`\nu ^\alpha `$), and Galactic latitude $`|b|`$ greater than 2.5°. These criteria were adopted to select bright, compact extragalactic radio sources with mas–scale core emission. The JVAS catalog contains 2118 sources in the northern hemisphere; a southern hemisphere extension of $``$1000 sources (0 – -30°) is in preparation (Wrobel et al., 2002). The positional accuracy of JVAS sources varies from 12 to 55 mas (1$`\sigma `$ errors), depending on declination and observing conditions. The celestial frame in which the JVAS positions have been specified is not formally defined, but it appears consistent with the ICRF at the mas level. Systematic offsets due to frame alignment and/or definition are considerably smaller than the observational errors in the individual JVAS positions.

To identify a sample of calibrator candidates suitable for high–resolution applications, we selected sources from the JVAS satisfying two criteria: (a) JVAS structure estimates indicating point–like emission, suggesting compact emission on scales of 10–30 mas; and (b) 8.4 flux density $``$ 200 mJy (150 mJy in epochs 1 & 2), i.e. suitably bright for phase–referencing. An input sample of 1811 JVAS sources was selected and observed during the VCS1 epochs. The positional accuracy of the JVAS catalog is sufficient to provide initial correlation positions for VLBI purposes. We note that the VCS1 sample is a representative but not statistically–complete sample of compact flat–spectrum sources, due to incompleteness in the original JVAS survey (Patnaik, Browne, Wilkinson, & Wrobel, 1992) and possible source variability since the Green Bank and JVAS surveys.

Throughout the survey, a sample of 57 bright geodetic–grade reference sources were observed to provide estimates of epoch–to–epoch and absolute positional accuracy, and to bootstrap atmospheric and instrumental error estimates for the individual epochs. All of these sources are included in the ICRF and ICRF-Ext.1 catalogs (Ma & Feissel, 1997). A total of 387 (out of 667 cataloged) ICRF-Ext.1 sources were observed during this survey, and new position estimates were made using dual–frequency VCS1 observations for 72 ICRF-Ext.1 sources with cataloged position errors greater than 0.5 mas rms. Fig. 1 shows the celestial distribution of the 667 ICRF-Ext.1 sources (top) and the 1332 VCS1 calibrators (bottom).

### 2.3 Calibration & Imaging

Amplitude and initial phase calibration of the survey was done using the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Astronomical Imaging Processing System (AIPS) software. Absolute amplitude calibration is achieved using internal noise calibration sources at the VLBA antennas. After fringe fitting, the amplitude and phase–calibrated data were exported to FITS format for imaging purposes. Automated imaging of the VCS1 sources to enable on–line access was carried out using the Caltech Difmap package. Starting with a point source model, iterations of Clean and self–calibration procedures were carried out until noise–like residuals were encountered, at which point a final naturally–weighted image was produced. A selection of the VCS1 candidate images is shown in Fig. 2. The typical image rms is 2–3 mJy, with a dynamic range of $``$30:1 or better. Of the total 1811 sources observed, approximately 1300 sources (70%) imaged automatically at 8.4 GHz. Additional sources were manually imaged. Calibrator candidates which failed to image generally had too little data, or were strongly resolved on a majority of VLBA baselines, indicating source sizes of greater than 10–20 mas. The images and u–v radius plots for the VCS1 can be accessed online via a graphical search engine (NRAO, 2001).

## 3 Astrometry

Astrometric processing of the VCS1 was performed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center using AIPS and the Calc/Solve software packages. Each epoch and each frequency band (2.3 and 8.4 GHz) was processed independently in AIPS. Electronic phase offsets were applied to the amplitude calibrated visibilities using either measured phase tone phases (epochs 4–10) or using phase offsets determined by fringe fitting a reference scan on a bright source (epochs 1–3). Phase and amplitude variations across the individual BBCs were estimated and corrected using a reference scan on a bright source. Individual baselines were then fringe fitted in AIPS to obtain residual single-band delays, multi–band (bandwidth synthesis) delays, phase delay rates, and fringe phases. These quantities were then combined with the correlator model to obtain total group delays, delay rates, and phases. Finally, the totals were shifted from geocentric quantities to the standard geodetic/astrometric reference–station baseline observables, and were written out in a form suitable for import into the Calc/Solve analysis package. Calc/Solve is a geodetic/astrometric VLBI analysis package, developed and maintained by the GSFC VLBI group and other partners for the international geodetic/astrometric community.

Calc computes theoretical delays and delay rates using astronomical and geophysical models following the IERS 1996 Conventions (McCarthy, 1996), and is used by numerous correlators around the world, including the VLBA, Mark III, Mark IV, JIVE, DRAO and ATNF correlators. Solve performs a least squares fit between the observed and theoretical delays and delay rates, allowing numerous parameters to be adjusted. Ionosphere–corrected linear combinations of the observed 2.3 and 8.4 GHz band group delays were used in the analysis. Initially, Solve analyses were made of each epoch to resolve group delay ambiguities, to eliminate outliers (2–4% of observations), and to estimate preliminary VCS1 source positions. When all epochs were ready, a final Solve analysis was made of all VCS1 epochs simultaneously to estimate: (a) final source positions; (b) positions of all stations except one assumed as a reference; (c) rate of change of UT1; (d) nutation offsets; (e) troposphere path delays and station clock behavior; and (f) east–west and north–south troposphere gradients and their derivatives. Clocks and tropospheres were modeled by linear splines with 60 min intervals, with constraints on their rate of change imposed with reciprocal weights of 50 ps/hr and $`5\mathrm{x}10^{14}`$ s/s, respectively.

In total, 1811 radio sources were observed in the VCS1 campaign. Two known gravitational lenses, 0218+357 and 1830-211, as well as the radio source 0001-121 were excluded from the astrometric solution since the fringing process for different observations apparently chose peaks which corresponded to different source components. To align the VCS1 positions with the reference frame defined by ICRF-Ext.1, the positions of 315 ICRF-Ext.1 reference sources observed were fixed at their catalog values during the astrometric processing. These fixed sources have position error ellipses with semi–major axes of 1.0 mas or less (IERS, 1999).

The positions of 1370 sources with three or more group delays at both 2.3 & 8.4 GHz were estimated from the VCS1 data. An additional 34 sources had fewer than two successful observations at 2.3 GHz but more than two good observations at 8.4 GHz. A supplementary solution using only 8.4 GHz group delays was made including these 34 sources. For 9 sources with fewer than ten dual–frequency delays but considerably more 8.4 GHz delays, the positions from the 8.4 GHz–only solution were also taken as being more reliable. Since VCS1 observations were made during the years of solar minimum, errors due to uncorrected ionospheric delays in the 8.4 GHz data were relatively small. The final VCS1 catalog contains positions of 1289 sources from the dual–frequency solutions, and 43 source positions derived from the 8.4 GHz–only solution.

In Table 2 the survey information for the first 10 sources in the VCS1 catalog is shown, including J2000 and IVS B1950 source names, J2000 positions and position errors, the correlation $`r`$ between the position error estimates in right ascension and declination, the number of observations included (Nobs) and the solution origin (X/S – solution incorporates both 2.3 & 8.4 GHz group delays; X-only – solution incorporates only 8.4 GHz group delays; X+ – solution incorporates only 8.4 GHz group delays: 2.3 GHz group delays were available, but the number of 2.3 GHz group delays was significantly less than the number of 8.4 GHz group delays). The parameter $`r`$ is a measure of the covariances of the right ascension and declination position estimates, with high values of $`|r|`$ ($`0.5`$) generally indicating that the array geometry was not optimal during the observations of this source, leading to poor position estimation. There were 126 sources not detected at either band, or yielding only one measurement of group delay, and were therefore not used in the astrometric solution (these sources are listed in Table 3).

The VCS1 catalog, and a catalog containing improved positions for the 72 ICRF-Ext.1 sources solved for in the VCS1 dual–frequency astrometric analysis (Table 4), are available online at http://www.nrao.edu/vlba/VCS1. Complete versions of Table 2 and Table 4 are also available in the electronic–only version of the journal.

### 3.1 Error Analysis

The observing methodology of the VCS1 was significantly different from that used by traditional geodetic/astrometric VLBI experiments. The major source of errors in geodetic/astrometric experiments is from fluctuations in the troposphere path delays, which are estimated from the observations themselves. In order to separate the troposphere from other parameters in the least–squares solution, the VCS1 observing schedules included observations of sources at both low and high elevation for each station every hour, and to cover the sky as uniformly as possible. Fig. 3 presents the sky coverage for a VLBI antenna (the North Liberty VLBA station) during a typical geodetic/astrometric experiment and during a VCS1 epoch. The VCS1 was observed in declinations strips, leading to significantly less uniform sky coverage. Therefore, one could expect that the VCS1 catalog positions may have some systematic errors due to poorer estimates of troposphere zenith path delay and horizontal troposphere gradients.

In order to investigate the presence of systematic errors of the VCS1 catalog a trial solution was made. The positions of all sources except the 57 reference sources were estimated, including 296 sources that were in both the VCS1 and ICRF-Ext.1 source lists. Vectors of the differences in positions between the trial solution and ICRF-Ext.1 for 272 sources with semi–major error axes less than 2 mas are shown in Fig. 4. No pattern is apparent, suggesting that systematic effects in the VCS1 astrometric analysis are small.

It has been found from analysis of different geodetic results (Ryan et al., 1993), such as baseline lengths, Earth orientation parameters, source positions, etc., that the formal errors of these estimated parameters should be scaled up by the factor of 1.5. Analysis of source positions have indicated that the actual errors generally have a noise floor (Ma et al., 1998). Therefore source positions errors in the ICRF catalog were inflated:

$$\sigma _r=\sqrt{(1.5\sigma _f)^2+a^2}$$
(1)
where $`\sigma _r`$ stands for the reported uncertainties, $`\sigma _f`$ stands for the formal errors and $`a`$ stands for the additive noise term.

For the VCS1 we have adopted a similar error model. We used the differences between the trial solution and the ICRF-Ext.1 catalog and obtained an additive noise term of 0.4 mas for VCS1 source positions derived using ionosphere–free joint dual–frequency group delays, and a noise term of 1.0 mas when 8.4 GHz–only delays were used. This additive term makes $`\chi ^2`$ per degree of freedom of the differences in source positions between the trial solution and ICRF-Ext.1 approximately unity. Reported uncertainties of source positions in the VCS1 catalog were inflated using equation (1) and these values of the additive noise terms.

A histogram of the distribution of the semi–major axes of the inflated error ellipses is presented in Fig. 5. In the VCS1 catalog 53% of sources catalog have errors less than 1 mas and only 8% of sources have errors greater than 10 mas. The median value of the VCS1 position error distribution is $``$0.9 mas while the median error of the ICRF-Ext.1 catalog is 0.5 mas. Typical geodetic/astrometric experiments focus on source samples with simple or known brightness distribution, and have much better sky coverage. The complex effects of undetermined and variable source structure on astrometric positions have been studied recently (Charlot, 1990; Fey & Charlot, 2000) and may be assessed for the VCS1 in the future using the results of automated imaging and follow–up observations. Multi–year phase-referencing observations using compact extragalactic reference sources taken from VCS1, ICRF-Ext.11 or other catalogs may be affected by source evolution and variability at the sub-mas level, and therefore careful monitoring of reference source structure or the use of multiple reference sources is required in high-precision astrometric applications.

## 4 Discussion

The mas–accurate positions for compact bright extragalactic radio sources presented in this survey will enable phase–referencing VLBI imaging of weak astronomical targets over large areas of the northern sky. The combined ICRF-Ext.1 and VCS1 sky density is sufficient to provide a calibrator within 3° of a random location north of -30° declination approximately 75% of the time, and within 5° in 96% of cases. Experiments requiring high astrometric accuracy, or in cases where no suitable cataloged VLBI calibrator can be found within a few degrees, may use weaker continuum sources close to the astronomical target if sufficient data recording bandwidth is available. These weaker continuum sources may be identified from lower–resolution surveys such as the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (Condon et al., 1998). Short and long–term source variability may vary the flux densities of the VCS1 sources by tens of percent in extreme cases, so weaker calibrators should be examined before use in critical applications.

Use of the VCS1 in scientific studies has already commenced. The parent survey to VCS1 – JVAS – has been extensively used to search for gravitationally–lensed systems (Patnaik et al., 1992; King et al., 1999). The existence or absence of gravitational–lens pairs on mas–scales can be used to place limits on the cosmological abundance of supermassive compact objects in the mass range $`10^6`$ to $`10^8`$ M(Wilkinson et al., 2001). Current studies based on samples of $``$300 sources indicate that such objects cannot make up more than 1% of the closure density of the universe. This suggests that a population of supermassive black holes forming soon after the Big Bang does not contribute significantly to the dark matter content of the Universe.

Examination of the VCS1 images to identify compact–symmetric objects (CSOs) has been carried out (Peck & Taylor, 2000), doubling the number of these objects available for follow–up observations, including the detection of neutral hydrogen absorption towards the radio components of some CSOs (Peck et al., 2000), which may indicate the presence of an obscuring atomic torus in the nucleus of these objects. CSOs have also been found to be remarkably stable flux calibrators (Fassnacht & Taylor, 2001), so larger samples will prove valuable for VLA and VLBA flux monitoring experiments, such as measuring time delays in gravitationally lensed sources.

Additional surveys based on the VCS1 to identify sources suitable as geodetic and phase–referencing calibrators at high frequencies (22–90 GHz), and throughout the Galactic Plane, have recently commenced (Fomalont et al., 2001). Proper–motion studies of Galactic objects such as pulsars (Brisken et al., 2000) depend on dense grids of suitable low–frequency calibrators at low Galactic declinations, which VCS1 does not cover. The results of these efforts should further benefit the geodetic and astrometric communities.

At the present time, radio observations are the most accurate way to define the ICRS; however in future optical observations will likely play an important role. The Hipparcos stellar reference frame (Perryman et al., 1997) has been aligned with the ICRF to within 0.6 mas offset and 0.25 mas in rotation at epoch 1991.25 (Kovalevsky et al., 1997), and represents the optical realization of the ICRS. Over the next two decades, new optical interferometers and astrometry missions such as the NASA Space Interferometry Mission (Shao, 1998), the US Naval Observatory Full–Sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer (Horner et al., 2000) and the European Space Agency’s Global Astrometric Interferometer for Astrophysics (Perryman et al., 2001) will achieve microarcsecond positional accuracies, requiring new definitions of the ICRS.

The authors thank the many NRAO, GSFC and USNO staff members who offered advice and assistance during this work. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.. AP is grateful to the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium for partial support during this project.