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# MadEvent: Automatic event generation with MadGraphhttp://madgraph.physics.uiuc.edu

## 1 Introduction

The high energy and luminosity of the present and future colliders, from the Tevatron to the Large Hadron Collider to the proposed 500 GeV Linear Collider, will offer the widest range of physics opportunities for the exploration of the high-energy frontier. Among the highest priorities is understanding not only the nature of the electroweak symmetry breaking but also the mechanism through which the electroweak scale stabilizes. Simple and very robust arguments indicate that this scale should be less than one TeV, very much in the reach of the above mentioned colliders. At this energy, multijet final states in association with leptons or missing energy constitutes the most interesting data samples. The quest for the Higgs boson(s) and/or for supersymmetric particles will rely on our ability to predict and understand the standard-model processes which are the backgrounds to these searches. In general, not only pure QCD interactions lead to multijet configurations, but also the production of vector bosons or top quarks that subsequently decay into quarks yield similar signatures with many particles in the final state.

Although straightforward in principle, the evaluation of the cross sections and especially the generation of unweighted events for such processes is not a trivial task. First of all, the number of subprocesses contributing to a process can be fairly large. For instance, for $`W+4`$-jet production in $`pp`$ collisions there are $`498`$ distinct parton-parton subprocesses. Clearly, it is desirable to automate not only the identification of these subprocesses, but also their integration and event generation.

Unfortunately, the complexity of each subprocess also grows quickly with the number of particles in the final state. If the amplitudes involve identical particles then the growth is factorial. A typical example, amply discussed in the literature , is the computation of $`n`$-gluon amplitudes where already for a relatively small number of gluons produced, say $`n6`$, clever reorganizations of the perturbative expansion have to be employed to reduce the factorial growth to a more manageable exponential one .

The second step is the integration of the squared amplitude over the phase space, which is necessarily performed using Monte Carlo techniques. This task involves solving several issues. In the first place, the amplitude results in a very complicated function of the momenta which displays sharp peaks in many region of the phase space. In order to achieve an efficient numerical integration, one needs to identify the position of these peaks and to map them onto several different sets of variables, which are usually referred to as “channels”. In principle, both tasks are not trivial. Fortunately, a standard Feynman diagram expansion provides the necessary information on the structure (position and shape) of the peaks in the matrix elements. In general, the main source of variation of the amplitude in a given region of the phase space can be associated with one (or more) of the propagators in one (or more) diagrams becoming large. Typically, this happens either when collinear-divergent limits are approached or when virtual massive particles, with a small width, are close to their mass-shell.

At present, the available codes for the automated generation of phase space are based on identifying singularities in Feynman diagrams . As we will show in the following, we use a similar approach for generating the phase-space mappings. However, our method differs from the previous ones in that we propose to exploit the information gathered from the Feynman diagrams to reorganize and simplify the way we perform the integration over the various channels.

In this paper we present a new multi-channel integration method, which we will call Single-Diagram-Enhanced, and its implementation in the new multi-purpose event generator MadEvent which is powered by a new version of MadGraph . Given a user process, MadGraph automatically generates the amplitudes for all the relevant subprocesses and produces the mappings for the integration over the phase space. This process-dependent information is passed to MadEvent, and a stand-alone code is produced that allows the user to calculate cross sections and to obtain unweighted events. Once the events have been generated (and all the necessary information stored111 In addition to the usual kinematic quantities, such as masses and momenta, the spin, the color connection, and the flavour of each of the final-state partons may be needed for each event. This information is stored in the “Les Houches” format .) they may be passed to any shower Monte Carlo program (such as HERWIG  or PYTHIA ) where partons are perturbatevely evolved through the emission of QCD radiation, and eventually turned into physical states (hadronization).

This paper is organized as follows. In the next section we present our method for mapping the phase space and integrating the squared amplitude. In Section 3, we provide some examples of the results that can be obtained with MadEvent. The conclusions and a brief discussion of the outlook are addressed in the last section.

## 2 Single-Diagram-Enhanced multi-channel integration

In this section we present our approach for integrating a generic squared amplitude over the phase space of the final-state particles. We first review the usual multi-channel integration method, following closely Ref. , since this serves to establish the notation and allows us to point out the issues relevant to the subsequent discussion.

Let us consider $`f(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})`$ the function to be integrated over the set of phase-space variables $`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }}`$. Given $`N`$ the number of particles in the final state, $`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }}`$ is of dimension $`d=3N4`$. In order to account for the complex structure of $`f`$ several mappings of the Monte Carlo variables $`\stackrel{}{x}[0,1]^d`$ are introduced and each of them generates a different probability density, $`g_i(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }}),i=1,\mathrm{},n`$, where $`n`$ is the total number of channels.222Each probability density $`g_i(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})`$ is related to the mapping through $`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }}=G_i^1(\stackrel{}{x})`$, where $`G_i(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})`$ is the primitive of $`g_i(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})`$. The optimization of the relative importance of the different channels is achieved by introducing a set of weights $`\alpha _i,_{i=1}^n\alpha _i=1,\alpha _i0`$, and defining a total probability density $`g(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})=_{i=1}^n\alpha _ig_i(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})`$, which combines the weights of each channel and is still correctly normalized. The weight of a phase space point $`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }}`$ can be written as $`w(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})=f(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})/g(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})`$ and the result of the Monte Carlo integration and its variance are:

$`I`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }}g(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})w(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})}={\displaystyle 𝑑\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }}f(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})},`$ (1)
$`V(\alpha )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }}g(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})w(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})^2}={\displaystyle 𝑑\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }}\frac{f(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})^2}{g(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})}}.`$ (2)
As made explicit in the notation, the result of the integration does not depend on the choice of the $`\alpha _i`$ (which can even differ iteration by iteration), while the variance does. The aim of the multi-channel approach is to find the best set of $`\alpha _i`$ which minimizes the variance $`V`$. Several strategies can be followed . Here, we just comment on a few important aspects of this approach.

In the first place we note that for each point in the phase space, independently from the actual channel chosen, the determination of $`g(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})`$ implies the computation of the contributions from all channels. As long as the number of channels is not very large and/or the computational burden for calculating $`g(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})`$ is much smaller than that for $`f(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})`$, this might not be a serious problem. However, in general, this procedure is inefficient. During the integration, the relative weight of each channel changes due to the optimization of the $`\alpha _i`$. In particular, even if some of the channels become less and less important compared to others, the time spent to calculate their contributions remains the same. Another point of weakness is that, even if the evolution of each of the $`\alpha _i`$ can be chosen to be independent from the others, in practice the $`\alpha _i`$ are correlated. Predicting the behavior and/or the stability of an integration with a large number of channels is very difficult and jeopardizes the robustness of the solution.333This aspect can in practice hamper the possibility of using many channels if the mapping $`g_i`$ are obtained by a stratified Monte Carlo method.

We argue that there is a natural way to overcome the above limitations and to calculate the integral of a squared amplitude over the phase space in an efficient way. The idea is very simple and is based on the following observation. Assume that the function to be integrated could be written in terms of a basis of $`n`$ functions $`f_i`$ such that:

$`f={\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}f_i\mathrm{with}f_i0,i,`$ (3)
and such that the peak structure of each $`f_i`$ can be efficiently mapped by a single channel $`g_i`$. Then, the integration of $`f`$ reduces to:

$`I`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }}f(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})}={\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}{\displaystyle 𝑑\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }}g_i(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})\frac{f_i(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})}{g_i(\stackrel{}{\mathrm{\Phi }})}}={\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}I_i,`$ (4)
i.e., to a sum of $`n`$ independent integrations. For a generic integration problem, the identification of such a basis might be too difficult and the above method be simply not viable. However, in the case at hand, a natural decomposition arises from the physical content of the process. We propose to use the following basis:

$`f_i={\displaystyle \frac{|A_i|^2}{_i|A_i|^2}}|A_{\mathrm{tot}}|^2,`$ (5)
where $`A_i`$ is the amplitude corresponding to a single Feynman diagram and $`A_{\mathrm{tot}}=_iA_i`$ is the total amplitude. It is clear that each $`f_i`$ in Eq. (5) satisfies the conditions (3) and form a “complete” basis.444 Eq. (5) is analogous to the procedure suggested by Odagiri  to extract the leading color behaviour of QCD amplitudes. More importantly, the peak structure of each $`f_i`$ is the same as of the single squared amplitude $`|A_i|^2`$. Finding the suitable mapping $`g_i`$ is therefore straightforward, since it can be derived from the propagator structure of the corresponding Feynman diagram. We will refer to the above algorithm as Single-Diagram-Enhanced multi-channel integration.

Decomposing the integration of the amplitude into $`n`$ independent integrations has immediate advantages. First, in contrast to the standard multi-channel integration, the evaluation of the weight in one channel does not require the computation of the others. This entails that, from the statistics point of view, in the Single-Diagram-Enhanced integration method the complexity of the computation does not increase with the number of channels.

Second, the Single-Diagram-Enhanced integration is parallel in nature. Integrations in each channel can be performed by using different resources and the results combined only at the very end. Considering the latest developments in this field, such as the availability of PC farms at low cost, we reckon this as an alluring property of this approach.

A third useful aspect of our method is that, given a target accuracy of the integration, it is trivial to reweight the channels so that those whose contributions to the total result is small (large) are evaluated with a smaller (greater) number of Monte Carlo points. One simply introduces the analogues of the $`\alpha _i`$ as in a standard multi-channel method, defining them as $`\alpha _i=I_i/I`$. This realizes in practice the desirable property that the computational time spent on a single channel should be proportional to its relevance to the final result.

Another interesting property of the decomposition (5) is its intrinsic modularity. The number of the diagrams to be included in the decomposition is completely arbitrary and dictated only by convenience. In general, the number of channels will be less than the number of Feynman diagrams. The first important example is when $`k`$ identical particles are present in the final state and $`n`$ can be easily reduced by a factor $`k!`$. Another case is when some diagrams do not display any peaked behavior and are dropped from Eq. (5). Alternately, some diagrams can be efficiently grouped together if the form of the resulting $`g_i`$ is predicted by general arguments, such as radiation coherence.

## 3 MadEvent at work: some examples

In this section, we present some results for processes relevant at hadron colliders, which have been obtained with MadEvent. The purpose is to show the versatility and the potential of our approach and also to provide benchmark cross sections for the user. Detailed information on how to use the MadGraph/MadEvent package together with a web interface for generating the code for a given process is available at http://madgraph.physics.uiuc.edu. In order to facilitate the comparison with other available codes we have chosen a very simple set of cuts and conventions, which are summarized in Table 1. In particular, the cuts in transverse energy and $`\mathrm{\Delta }R`$ are left quite loose so that regions of the phase space where the matrix elements peak are not left out and the efficiency of our integration technique can be fully tested. 555In fact, at the LHC such cuts are not sufficient to ensure a good behaviour of the perturbative series for some of the cross sections shown, as it is apparent by comparing the processes with $`n`$ jets with the corresponding ones with $`(n+1)`$ jets.

In Table 2 we present the cross sections involving the production one or more vector bosons in association with jets, both at the Tevatron and LHC. Apart from the interest they might have on their own, these processes contribute to some of the most important backgrounds for top-quark studies ($`W+`$jets, $`Wb\overline{b}+`$jets), for the Higgs searches ($`W^+W^{}`$+jets, $`Wb\overline{b}+`$jets, $`ZZ+`$jets) and for SUSY particles searches ($`Z+`$jets, with $`Z\nu \overline{\nu }`$). In the single vector boson production, final states are leptons and so that the vector bosons are not contrained to be on-shell. This entails, for instance, that cross sections involving a $`Z`$ boson, correctly include the diagrams where $`\gamma ^{}\mathrm{}^+\mathrm{}^{}`$ and their interference with $`Z^{}\mathrm{}^+\mathrm{}^{}`$.

For simplicity, in the case of double vector boson production, we present the results where the vector bosons are produced on shell and are not decayed. Nonetheless, we stress that MadEvent correctly handles also the decays, where non-trivial phase-space mappings have to be introduced. An example is provided by $`W^+W^{}`$ production where contributions from diagrams where $`\gamma ^{}/ZW^+W^{}\mathrm{}^+\mathrm{}^{}\nu \overline{\nu }`$ appear, which demand particular care. In this case, there are different regions in the phase space which can give large contributions, coming from the $`Z`$ and one of the $`W`$’s, or both $`W`$’s being on shell. We have ensured that the procedure used for the mapping of the phase space automatically accounts for all the possibilities, so that no approximation is introduced.

When possible, we have compared our results with the ones obtained by running available codes (such as VECBOS , Wbbgen  and MCFM ) and found good agreement. We plan to conduct a detailed set of comparisons with the recently released Alpgen  in the future.

Table 3 contains the cross sections for the production one or more heavy-quark pairs in association with jets, both at the Tevatron and LHC. In the case of $`t\overline{t}b\overline{b}`$ production we also give the cross sections at order $`\alpha _{\mathrm{em}}^2\alpha _S^2`$. These last ones constitute the irreducible backgrounds in the search of the Higgs when it is produced in association with a top-quark pair. Also, the cross section for two bottom-quark pairs in association with jets are listed. In the case of two bottom-quark pairs we have also performed a detailed comparison with the results of Ref.  and found good agreement.

In Table 4 cross sections are given for the production of an Higgs boson in association with a top-quark pair, with jets (“$`W`$-boson fusion”) and in association with a $`W`$ boson, both at the Tevatron and LHC.

## 4 Conclusions and Outlook

In this paper we have introduced a new integration method, called Single-Diagram-Enhanced multi-channel integration, and its implementation in the multi-purpose event generator MadEvent.

We have discussed how the problem of integrating over the phase space amplitudes that involve a rather large number of particles in the final state can be reduced to the integration of amplitudes associated to single Feynman diagrams. The latter are much simpler tasks and can be tackled by many of the techniques already present in the literature. Our method best applies to the automated computation of cross sections (and, more importantly, to the generation of unweighted events) for processes where many different parton subprocess contribute, such as vector boson production in association with jets at hadron colliders and many others.

We have presented some applications of MadEvent, a multi-purpose event generator based on the above ideas, to studies relevant at the present and forthcoming colliders. All the necessary steps to generate a set of unweighted events are performed automatically. The user only inputs the process and the desired integrated luminosity or the total number of unweighted events.

Although in principle there is no limitation to the number of particles that can be considered in the final state, in practice this still depends on the complexity of the process itself and on the total number of Feynman diagrams involved. Currently, the package is limited to ten thousands diagrams per subprocess. So, for example, $`W`$+5 jets is feasible but close to the present limit.

Several improvements that will extend the ability of MadGraph to deal with a larger number of QCD partons are under study. One necessary step is the “factorization” of the amplitude in order to reduce the complexity of the calculation from a factorial growth to an exponential one, as already achieved for non-QCD amplitudes in Refs.  and extended to the QCD amplitudes in Refs. . In the latter case, a reorganization of the color structure is also needed and the sum over the colors of the external QCD partons can be efficiently performed by a Monte Carlo integration. Work in this direction is in progress .

## Acknowledgments

We thank Scott Willenbrock and Michelangelo Mangano for useful discussions. We are also grateful to Henry Frisch, Bruce Knuteson for their encouragement and Uli Baur and John Campbell for their help in testing the package.


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# Shot noise and transport in small quantum cavities with large openings

(August 2002)

## Abstract

We present a dynamical analysis of the transport through small quantum cavities with large openings. The systematic suppression of shot noise is used to distinguish direct, deterministic from indirect, indeterministic transport processes. The analysis is based on quantum mechanical calculations of $`S`$ matrices and their poles for quantum billiards with convex boundaries of different shape and two open channels in each of the two attached leads. Direct processes are supported when special states couple strongly to the leads, and can result in deterministic transport as signified by a striking system-specific suppression of shot noise.

Transport through quantum devices is one of the topical subjects in mesoscopic physics. Diagrammatic perturbation theory and random-matrix theory (RMT) predict that the conductance varies from sample to sample by a universal small amount, if details of the quantum device and its coupling to the electronic reservoirs are not important diag ; bljab  (for reviews see Refs. ben ; alh ). These universal conductance fluctuations have been observed experimentally for disordered quantum wires webb  and quantum dots marcus . RMT assumes that the dwell time $`\tau _{\mathrm{dwell}}`$ of electrons in the system is large enough to wash out all system-specific details, and supposes that the conductance is determined by a random coupling of the scattering states to the leads. Recent studies clearly demonstrate that the conductance of small quantum dots with very large openings, which violate the RMT conditions, indeed only can be fully understood on the basis of their specific properties Ak ; zo . This is the deep quantum mechanical regime, in which the Heisenberg time $`\tau _\mathrm{H}=\mathrm{}/\mathrm{\Delta }`$ becomes a relevant time scale for the internal dynamics, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is the mean resonance spacing. Under these conditions the coupling between specific states of the cavity and the channel wave functions depends sensitively and non-universally on the position of the attached leads 1 ; 2 . For instance, an appropriate attachment of the leads to the Bunimovich stadium billiard, a paradigm for quantum chaotic systems, gives rise to a family of short-lived whispering gallery modes (WGM) related to the shortest classical paths connecting both leads. These special states have small lifetimes $`\tau _{\mathrm{dwell}}\tau _\mathrm{H}`$ and correspond to broad overlapping resonances, which influence the transport over a large range of energies. As a consequence, the conductance of the quantum cavity significantly exceeds the prediction of RMT 2 .

It is well established that shot noise (the zero-frequency current-current correlations caused by the discreteness of electric charge) provides valuable complementary information not contained in the conductance (for a review see Ref. 3 ). It was found that correlations due to Fermi statistics suppress the shot-noise power $`P`$ by a factor $`=P/P_0`$ below the maximal value $`P_0=2eG_0V`$ of incoherent transport, with $`e`$ the unit of charge, $`G_0`$ the series conductance of the two point contacts, and $`V`$ the applied voltage. The universal predictions for the shot-noise suppression factor are $`=1/3`$ for noninteracting electrons in diffusive wires 4 ; 44  and $`=1/4`$ for quantum dots 5 ; 55 , respectively.

Classically, the zero-temperature shot noise vanishes because of the deterministic nature of classical transport. Based on the semiclassical approach to quantum transport in classically chaotic systems, it was predicted that the shot noise indeed can be reduced below $`=1/4`$ if the Ehrenfest time $`\tau _E`$ (the mean time for wave packets to dissolve) is larger than $`\tau _{\mathrm{dwell}}`$ Ag . Recently, this prediction has been verified experimentally by using chaotic cavities, where the time that electrons dwell inside can be tuned Ob . The analogue suppression in soft chaotic systems has been considered in Ref. 7 .

In the present paper we investigate the shot noise in the deep quantum mechanical regime, which is opposite to the semiclassical limit of Refs. Ag ; Ob ; 7 . We find that the bands of broad resonances (formed by appropriate attachment of the leads) support direct, deterministic transport channels with dwell times $`\tau _{\mathrm{dwell}}`$ less than the wave-packet dispersion time $`\tau _E`$. This is signified by a striking suppression of the shot noise, even when the corresponding classical dynamics in the quantum cavity is chaotic. On the other hand, resonances with large dwell times are indeterministic and contribute to the shot noise as predicted by RMT.

In order to study the role of special states for the transport in small quantum systems with large openings, we consider cavities with convex boundaries and two attached leads, where each lead supports $`N=2`$ propagating modes. We analyze two stadium billiards of Bunimovich type \[length of the linear segment $`L=3\pi /(\pi +1)`$ and radius $`R=L`$\] with different positions of the leads \[Bun1 and Bun2, see Fig. 1(d,f)\], and also consider a semicircle $`(R=3)`$ with an internal scatterer \[SIS, see Fig. 1(b)\]. The Bunimovich stadium is a prototype of chaotic motion, while the SIS is most suitable for the propagation of the WGM 1 .

The poles of the $`S`$ matrix are obtained by the method of exterior complex scaling Mois  in combination with the finite element method (for details see Ref. Per ). The $`S`$ matrix itself is calculated in small energy steps by directly solving the Schrödinger equation in a discretized space, according to the method suggested in Ref. Ando . The poles of the $`S`$ matrix obtained by the numerical calculation are shown in the left panels of Fig. 1. The plots demonstrate the formation of bands of overlapping resonances denoted by A and B for the SIS and the Bun1 billiard, while no evident band is formed in the Bun2 billiard. Another band B1 of resonances can be identified for the SIS, but these resonances do not overlap.

The bands of overlapping resonances in the SIS and in the Bun1 billiard are the result of resonance trapping Rot , a phenomenon in which few states accumulate the major part of the total sum of the widths $`_R\mathrm{\Gamma }_R(E)`$ (which is fixed by a sum rule; for quantum billiards see Refs. 1 ; 2 ). The states from band A and B are related to the first and second transverse excitation of the propagating modes in the leads, respectively. The resonance wave function $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_R(x,y)|^2`$ displays a strong localization along the convex boundary, which is a characteristic feature of the WGM 2 . In the SIS, these trajectories almost exclusively correspond to one bounce at the convex boundary, while for the Bun1 billiard, there is also a small contribution of trajectories with two bounces. In the SIS the WGM accumulate $`R=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{WGM}/_i\mathrm{\Gamma }_i>98\%`$ of the total sum of widths $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_i`$ of all states, while in the Bun1 billiard they accumulate a fraction $`R=93\%`$ of the total sum. For these direct processes one can suppose that the Ehrenfest time $`\tau _E`$ is larger than the dwell time $`\tau _{\mathrm{dwell}}`$, and this will be demonstrated, indeed, by our dynamical analysis.

The bands of WGM are inhibited in the Bun2 billiard \[Fig. 1(e,f)\] by destructive interference, since the coupling matrix elements of the WGM with the channel wave functions have different phases for different leads. As we will demonstrate, the resonances in the Bun2 comply with an Ehrenfest time $`\tau _E<\tau _{\mathrm{dwell}}`$, corresponding to indeterministic processes. This is also the case for the long-living resonances in the SIS and Bun1 billiards.

The suppression factor $`=(2/N)\mathrm{tr}[T(1T)]`$ is determined by the eigenvalues (transmission probabilities) of the matrix $`T=t^{}t`$, where $`t`$ is the transmission matrix 6 ; 44 . The closer the transmission probabilities are to the classical values $`0`$ or $`1`$ of completely deterministic dynamics, the smaller is the shot noise. To get a thorough insight into the interplay of deterministic and indeterministic dynamics, we employ the procedure recently developed in Ref. 7 . The major element of this procedure is the purposeful replacement of system-specific dynamics with dwell times $`\tau _{\mathrm{dwell}}\tau _{\mathrm{av}}`$ by indeterministic processes. In the first step, the system-specific details are eliminated by averaging the scattering matrix $`S`$ over an energy range $`[E_0E_{\mathrm{av}}/2,E_0+E_{\mathrm{av}}/2]`$ of width $`E_{\mathrm{av}}=\mathrm{}/\tau _{\mathrm{av}}`$,

$$\overline{S}(E_{\mathrm{av}};E_0)=\frac{1}{E_{\mathrm{av}}}_{E_0E_{\mathrm{av}}/2}^{E_0+E_{\mathrm{av}}/2}S(E)𝑑E.$$
(1)
Indeterministic processes then are introduced by coupling the system to an auxiliary indeterministic system, with a scattering matrix $`S_0`$ taken from the appropriate circular ensemble of RMT. The composed system with scattering matrix

$$S^{}(E_{\mathrm{av}};E_0;S_0)=\overline{S}(E_{\mathrm{av}};E_0)+𝒯^{}(1S_0)^1S_0𝒯$$
(2)
is a member of the Poisson kernel of RMT Pos ; bro ; bar . The matrix $`S^{}`$ must be unitary, which determines the coupling matrices $`𝒯`$, $`𝒯^{}`$ and $``$. We numerically calculate the mean suppression factor $`(E_{\mathrm{av}})`$ for fixed values of $`E_{\mathrm{av}}`$ by first averaging over the random matrix $`S_0`$ within each Poisson kernel, and then averaging over $`E_0`$ within a range $`(E_0^{\mathrm{min}},E_0^{\mathrm{max}})`$.

The result for the suppression factor $`(E_{\mathrm{av}})`$ in the three billiards is shown in Fig. 2. Here $`E_0^{\mathrm{min}}=40`$ and $`E_0^{\mathrm{max}}=90`$ are fixed to the values where the second and the third propagating mode opens in each lead, respectively. The value $`(E_{\mathrm{av}}=0)`$ is the shot-noise suppression factor of the billiards themselves, without any modification of their dynamics. The shot noise in the billiard Bun2 corresponds well to the universal prediction $`=1/4`$ of RMT, from which we conclude that $`\tau _{\mathrm{dwell}}\tau _E`$ and that the dynamics is indeterministic. For the other two billiards, the suppression factor is significantly reduced below the universal value. We now argue that this can be attributed to the WGM, which support deterministic transport.

The modes that lead to shot-noise reduction can be identified from the dependence of $`(E_{\mathrm{av}})`$ on $`E_{\mathrm{av}}`$, which indicates the sensitivity to replacement of system-specific processes by indeterministic ones. For the billiards SIS and Bun1, the function $``$ increases monotonically with increasing contribution of the random dynamics (increasing $`E_{\mathrm{av}}`$) and eventually approaches the universal prediction of RMT. However, the slope of $`(E_{\mathrm{av}})`$ for small $`E_{\mathrm{av}}`$ almost vanishes. Hence, without any consequences for the shot noise the long-living resonances (trapped by the WGM) can be replaced by (and hence are equivalent to) indeterministic processes. On the other hand, the suppression factor rises significantly when the energy averaging window $`E_{\mathrm{av}}`$ becomes of the order of the width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$ of the WGM modes in each of the two billiards (cf. Fig. 1), which hence support deterministic transport.

The position of the attachment of the leads plays a decisive role, since it determines the character of the system-specific broad resonances. In the Bun2 billiard, the suppression factor $``$ is almost independent of $`E_{\mathrm{av}}`$ and hence completely insensitive to the replacement of system-specific properties by indeterministic dynamics. Even the short-living resonances no longer correspond to deterministic classical transport. The remarkable difference in the behavior of the suppression factor $``$ for the Bun1 and Bun2 billiards arises from the different position of the leads attached to the same quantum system, which results in the formation of direct, deterministic transport channels in the first case, while no such channels are formed in the second case.

Both in the SIS and in the Bun1 billiard, two bands A, B of broad resonances have been identified. We now analyze these bands in more detail for the SIS. Figure 3 displays the result for the suppression factor for three different values of $`E_0^{\mathrm{min}}`$, while $`E_0^{\mathrm{max}}=90`$ remains fixed to the value where the third propagating mode opens in the leads. In this way we focus on the contribution of the WGM from different parts of the bands. The lowest and the highest suppression factor $``$ are obtained if we only consider WGM with energies $`E_RE_0^{\mathrm{min}}=65`$ and $`E_RE_0^{\mathrm{min}}=53`$, respectively \[see Fig. 1(a) and the inset in Fig. 3\]. The difference between the largest and the smallest values is small, since the dynamics is mainly determined by the states of the band A, which are strongly localized along the convex boundary and all have similar width. The widths of the states from the family B depend almost linearly on their energy, and become small when one approaches the threshold $`E_R=40`$ of the second propagating mode in the leads. For $`E_0^{\mathrm{min}}=40`$ the resonances of type B with smallest width are included into the averaging interval, and the slope of the suppression factor $`(E_{\mathrm{av}})`$ for very small values of $`E_{\mathrm{av}}`$ increases noticeably. This shows that even the longest-living resonances in family B support system-specific direct, deterministic processes.

Summarizing, we analyzed the transport through small quantum cavities with large openings, deep in the quantum regime. We observed an essential suppression of the shot noise when the transport is dominated by system-specific broad resonances that support direct processes well described by deterministic classical dynamics. These deterministic transport channels can exist even if the closed system manifests typical properties of chaotic dynamics, and their formation sensitively depends on the precise position of the leads.

We gratefully acknowledge discussions with Konstantin Pichugin.


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# Relativity and Magnetism in Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt Alloys

## 1 Introduction

The magnetic properties of alloys of $`3d`$ transition metals Fe, Co and Ni with the nearly magnetic $`4d`$ Pd and $`5d`$ Pt show a wide range of behavior . The variation in the magnetic properties of these alloys, as one goes from Fe-Pd(Pt) to Co-Pd(Pt) and then to Ni-Pd(Pt), can be attributed to the change in the number of valence electrons of one of the constituent atoms namely the $`3d`$ atoms. However, the change in the magnetic properties of these alloys, as one replaces Pd by Pt, is not obvious because both Pd and Pt have the same number of valence electrons. As an example, we show in Fig. 1 the experimentally determined average magnetic moments and the local magnetic moments of Ni, Pd and Pt in Ni-Pd  and Ni-Pt  alloys. From experiment  it is found that the addition of Pd to bulk Ni increases the magnetic moment of Ni (reaching a maximum at about 90% Pd), whereas the addition of Pt to bulk Ni decreases the magnetic moment of Ni.

Earlier work  on the magnetic properties of Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys used parametrized local environment models to describe the magnetism in Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys. The local environment models incorporated the changes induced due to the chemical environment as well as the magnetic environment. Recent work , based on the local spin density functional method, have simply calculated the magnetic properties of Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys without trying to understand the electronic mechanism responsible for the differences in their magnetic properties. The present study is, therefore, intended to improve our understanding of the reasons that lead to differences in the magnetic properties of Pd-based alloys and Pt-based alloys. In particular, using Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys as examples, we explain the reasons for the differences in their magnetic properties.

The differences in the magnetic properties of Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys are dictated by the electronic structure of $`4d`$ Pd and $`5d`$ Pt atoms and their subsequent hybridization with Ni atoms. Since relativity is more important for heavier elements, the differences in the electronic structure of Pd and Pt atoms are mainly due to relativity. Thus it is possible that the magnetism in Ni-Pt alloys is of relativistic origin which, in turn, may explain its anomalous behavior vis-á-vis Ni-Pd alloys.

## 2 Computational Details

In this paper we examine the effects of relativity, by including the so-called mass-velocity and Darwin terms, on the electronic structure of ordered Ni-Pd (L12 Ni3Pd, L10 NiPd and L12 NiPd3) and Ni-Pt (L12 Ni3Pt, L10 NiPt and L12 NiPt3) alloys. The electronic structure of Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys are obtained by carrying out spin-polarized, charge self-consistent calculations using the linear muffin-tin orbital (LMTO) method in the atomic-sphere approximation (ASA) , including the combined correction terms . The calculations are carried out with the non relativistic Schrödinger equation as well as with the scalar-relativistic Dirac equation. In our calculations, the ratio of the Ni-atomic sphere radii, $`R_{Ni}`$, and the average Wigner-Seitz (WS) radii $`R_{WS}`$, in Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys are chosen to make the respective atomic spheres charge neutral. We find that the charge neutrality is obtained for $`R_{Ni}/R_{WS}`$ = 0.98 (0.97), 0.97 (0.95) and 0.96 (0.93) for Ni3Pd (Ni3Pt), NiPd (NiPt) and NiPd3 (NiPt3) alloys, respectively. The k-space integrations are carried out with sufficient number of k points in the irreducible wedge of the corresponding Brillouin zone to ensure the convergence of the magnetic moment . The results, described below, correspond to the calculated equilibrium volume in each case.

## 3 Results and Discussion

The most significant of our results are shown in Fig. 2, where we show the average as well as the local magnetic moments at the Ni and Pd (Pt) sites of Ni-Pd (Pt) alloys calculated non relativistically, Fig. 2(a)-(c), and scalar-relativistically, Fig. 2(d)-(f), as a function of Pd (Pt) concentration. The average magnetic moment calculated non relativistically, Fig. 2(a), for both Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys are very similar, and they decrease as a function of Pd or Pt concentration, respectively. The magnetic moment at the Ni site, as shown in Fig. 2(b), increases substantially with increase in Pd or Pt concentration. The magnetic moment at the Pd or Pt site, Fig. 2(c), does not vary by much and is relatively small. Thus Figs. 2(a)-(c) clearly show that if we use the non relativistic Hamiltonian to describe the electronic structure then both Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys display similar magnetic behavior. However, as shown in Figs. 2(d)-(f), the calculated average as well as local magnetic moments are quite different for Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys if we use the scalar-relativistic Hamiltonian to describe their electronic structure. In particular, we find from Fig. 2(e) that the magnetic moment at the Ni site in Ni-Pd alloys increases with Pd concentration, whereas it decreases with increasing Pt concentration in Ni-Pt alloys. As a function of concentration the change in the local magnetic moment at the Pd or Pt site, shown in Fig. 2(f), is small. Thus a comparison of our non relativistic and scalar- relativistic results clearly shows that the differences in the magnetic properties of Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys are, to a large extent, determined by relativity. We next compare our calculated magnetic moments of Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys with the calculations of others and the experimental values.

The calculated magnetic moment of fcc Ni, which changes from 0.59 $`\mu _B`$ to 0.62 $`\mu _B`$ with the inclusion of relativistic terms, compares very well with the experimental value of 0.616 $`\mu _B`$ and the non relativistic calculation of Ref. . Note that our calculation ignores the orbital contribution to the magnetic moment of Ni which is expected to be around 0.05 $`\mu _B`$. The average magnetic moments, calculated scalar-relativistically, for Ni3Pd, NiPd and NiPd3 are 0.58 $`\mu _B`$, 0.50 $`\mu _B`$ and 0.37 $`\mu _B`$ respectively. Since we find that the substitutional disorder does not change the magnetic moment of Ni-Pd alloys at 25%, 50% and 75% concentrations of Pd by much , our calculated values can be compared with the experimental values , 0.59 $`\mu _B`$, 0.51 $`\mu _B`$ and 0.46 $`\mu _B`$, obtained for disordered Ni-Pd alloys at 25%, 50% and 71% concentrations of Pd respectively. The calculated local moments at the Ni (Pd) site in Ni-Pd alloys is somewhat smaller (larger) than the experimentally determined values, which can be due to uncertainty involved in site-decomposing the average magnetic moment. For Ni3Pt the scalar-relativistic calculations show the average magnetic moment to be 0.50 $`\mu _B`$ with the local magnetic moments at the Ni and Pt sites being 0.58 $`\mu _B`$ and 0.27 $`\mu _B`$ respectively. The corresponding experimental values  are 0.43 $`\mu _B`$ (average), 0.49 $`\mu _B`$ (Ni) and 0.25 $`\mu _B`$ (Pt) respectively. The results of Refs. on Ni3Pt are based on self- consistent local spin density approximation using the LMTO method but the value of the local magnetic moment of Ni given in the two references are different.

To further understand the electronic mechanism responsible for the differences in the magnetic properties of Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys, we examine (i) the spin-polarized densities of states (DOS) of Ni, (ii) the separation between majority and minority spin $`d`$-band centers  of Ni, $`\mathrm{\Delta }C_{dd}^{Ni}`$, and (iii) the separation between $`s`$\- and $`d`$\- band centers of Pd and Pt, $`\mathrm{\Delta }C_{sd}^{Pd/Pt}`$ in Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys.

### 3.1 Spin-Polarised Densities of States

In Fig. 3 we show the spin-polarized DOS at the Ni site in fcc Ni, L12 NiPd3 and L12 NiPt3 calculated with the non relativistic and the scalar-relativistic Hamiltonian. As expected, the relativistic effects on the DOS of the elemental Ni, shown in Fig. 3(a), are very small. Since relativity is more important for Pd than for Ni, its effect on the DOS at the Ni site in NiPd3 is more pronounced than in fcc Ni as shown in Fig. 3(b). We find that in NiPd3 the inclusion of relativity leads to a decrease in the magnetic moment at the Ni site by 0.03 $`\mu _B`$. However, in the case of NiPt3, as shown in Fig. 3(c), the effect on the magnetic moment is an order of magnitude larger than for NiPd3. The relativity reduces the magnetic moment at the Ni site in NiPt3 by 0.24 $`\mu _B`$, i.e., from 0.79 $`\mu _B`$ to 0.55 $`\mu _B`$. Once again the change in the magnetic moment at the Pt site is negligible in comparison.

### 3.2 Separation Between Majority and Minority Spin $`d`$-band Centers

A more quantitative explanation for the changes in the magnetic moments due to relativity can be obtained by examining the separation between majority spin and minority spin $`d`$-band centers of Ni ($`\mathrm{\Delta }C_{dd}^{Ni}`$) in Ni-Pd, shown in Fig. 4(a), and Ni-Pt, shown in Fig. 4(b), alloys. As can be seen from Fig. 4(a), the exchange-induced splitting of the $`d`$-band increases with the addition of Pd in Ni-Pd alloys for calculations done with or without relativity. The increased splitting leads to an increase in the local magnetic moment at the Ni site, as observed experimentally. It is interesting to note that the inclusion of relativity produces no net change in the exchange-induced splitting at the Ni site in equiatomic NiPd. On the other hand, in Ni-Pt alloys we find that relativity substantially reduces the exchange-induced splitting at the Ni site leading to a decrease in the local magnetic moment of Ni. For example, in Ni3Pt the separation between $`d`$-band centers reduces from 51 mRy to 44 mRy and the corresponding reduction in the local magnetic moment is from 0.68 $`\mu _B`$ to 0.58 $`\mu _B`$, in agreement with experiment. With increasing Pt concentration the relativistic effects become more dominant which further reduces the splitting, as is the case for NiPt3.

### 3.3 Separation Between $`s`$ and $`d`$ Band Centers

It is clear that the differences in the magnetic properties of Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys are brought about by relativity through its effect on Pd and Pt atoms. To see how relativity affects the electronic structure of Pd and Pt atoms, we show in Figs. 4(c)-(d) the separation between the majority spin $`s`$\- and $`d`$-band centers of Pd and Pt atoms as a function of concentration. We know that the most dominant effect of relativity is to lower the $`s`$ potential. The lowering of $`s`$ potential causes (i) the $`s`$-wavefunction to contract leading to a contraction of the lattice , and (ii) increased $`s`$-$`d`$ hybridization which results in electron transfer from $`d`$ to $`s`$ . We see from Figs. 4(c) and 4(d) that the change in $`s`$-$`d`$ separation is almost an order of magnitude more in Pt than in Pd. For example, the $`s`$-$`d`$ separation for Pd in NiPd3 changes from +66 mRy to -15 mRy, whereas for Pt in Ni3Pt it changes from +74 mRy to -206 mRy. Thus the contraction of the $`s`$ wavefunction of Pt and the subsequent $`s`$-$`d`$ hybridization must be responsible for reducing the local magnetic moment at the Ni site.

The effects of the contraction of $`s`$ wavefunction in Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys can be clearly seen in Figs. 5(a)-(b), where we show the equilibrium lattice constants calculated non relativistically and scalar-relativistically for these alloys. We find that the change in the lattice constant due to relativity is much more for Ni-Pt alloys than for Ni-Pd alloys. For example, in NiPt3 relativity reduces the lattice constant by around 0.3 a.u., whereas the corresponding change in NiPd3 is only about 0.1 a.u.. Such a drastic reduction in the lattice constant due to relativity effectively put the Ni sublattice under strain in Ni-Pt alloys which, in turn, reduces the magnetic moment at the Ni site. To see how relativity-induced strain in Ni sublattice leads to a reduction in the local magnetic moment in Ni-Pt alloys, we have used the radii of the charge-neutral Ni atomic spheres (R$`Ni`$) in these alloys as the average Wigner-Seitz radii (RWS) to calculate, self-consistently, the electronic structure of fcc Ni. The corresponding results, in terms of the separation between majority and minority $`d`$-band centers in fcc Ni, ($`\mathrm{\Delta }C_{dd}^{Ni(Bulk)}`$), are shown in Figs. 5(c)-(d). As shown in Fig. 5(c), the relativistic terms have a very small effect on the exchange splitting in Ni-Pd alloys. However, in Ni-Pt alloys the exchange splitting is reduced with increasing Pt concentration, as can be seen from Fig. 5(d). The reduced exchange splitting leads to diminished local magnetic moment at the Ni site in Ni-Pt alloys, consistent with Fig. 4(b) and the experiments.

We like to point out that the present study can be further improved by including (i) the full-potential instead of spherically symmetric potential used in the ASA, and (ii) the spin-orbit terms. Also, as Ni and Pd form a ferromagnetic fcc solid solution throughout the concentration range while Ni and Pt form a ferromagnetic fcc solid solution for Pt concentration below 0.6, an approach based on the study of disordered alloys can lead to a more accurate description of the magnetic properties of these alloys. Thus one can use the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker coherent-potential approximation in the ASA (KKR-ASA CPA)  to describe the electronic structure of disordered Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys. However, for a reliable description of the magnetic properties of disordered Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys, the overlap errors associated with the ASA must be corrected  which is not possible in the present implementation of the KKR-ASA CPA method . We emphasize that the improvements outlined above are unlikely to change the main results of the present study because of the robustness of the relativistic effects.

## 4 Conclusions

In conclusion, we have shown that the differences in the magnetic properties of Ni-Pd and Ni-Pt alloys arise due to relativity. In particular, relativity ensures that the local magnetic moment of Ni increases with addition of Pd in Ni-Pd while it decreases with addition of Pt in Ni-Pt, consistent with experiment. We also find that the decrease in the local magnetic moment of Ni in Ni-Pt alloys is facilitated by relativity through lowering of the $`s`$ potential of Pt, which leads to a contraction of the $`s`$ wavefunction and an increase in $`s`$-$`d`$ hybridization.


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# High Velocity Clouds and the Local Group

## 1. Introduction

High Velocity Clouds (HVCs) are HI clouds at velocities incompatible with a simple model of Galactic rotation.

Most HI clouds are the tracers of the galactic discs for both the Galaxy and the extra-galaxies. The reason why HVCs are interesting is that they do not belong to the majority of the HI clouds in the Milky Way and therefore their nature and origins need to be understood.

The well-known proposed HVCs’ possible origins usually fall into two categories: (a) The Local Group Formation – the remnants of galaxy group formation, (b) Galactic Fountain – the material injected from the galactic disc ”after” the disc was formed. HVCs’ distances are the most important key parameters to understand their possible origins.

Blitz et al.(1999) argued that HVCs should be extragalactic because it is difficult to understand why HVCs would not be metal rich or how the vertical velocities could be so high in the Galactic Fountain context. Incidently, their simulation, which seems to produce the observed HVCs’ distribution on the sky, suggested the mean HVC distance is about 1 Mpc.

On the other hand, Zwann $`\&`$ Briggs(2000) reported the result different form the hypothesis in Blitz et al. (1999). In a blind HI 21-cm survey of extragalactic group, they failed to locate any extragalactic counterparts of the Local Group HVCs.

## 2. The Simulations and Results

In order to solve this contradiction, we use N-body simulations to model the HVCs under the gravitational influence from the Milky Way and M31. We explore different initial conditions to check if the simulations can give constraints on the average distance of HVCs.

Different from what was tried in Blitz et al. (1999), we hope to link the observed quantities of each HVC to the simulational results even more closely. That is, we wish to reproduce the observed distributions as perfect as we can. In order to have an excellent guess for initial conditions, we plan to do the backward integration from the current positions and velocities of HVCs implied by the observational data.

The observational data in Wakker $`\&`$ van Woerden (1991) provides us the present Galactic longitude ($`l`$), Galactic latitude ($`b`$) and line-of-sight velocity ($`v_{\mathrm{los}}`$) of each HVC but there is no information about the tangential velocity $`v_t`$ and Galactic-centre distance $`R`$ since they are more difficult to be determined. Therefore, we need to assign both the current values of $`v_t`$ and $`R`$ to each HVC is our simulations. The tangential velocity $`v_t`$ is always determined by a random number between 0 and 20 km/s and its direction on the tangential plane was chosen randomly.

Because the distances to HVCs are the most important quantities to be understood, we thus focus on this and plan to explore different range of Galactic-centre distance R: (a) The Model of Galactic Origins (0$`<R<`$ 50 kpc); (b) The Model of Extragalactic Origins (560 $`<R<`$ 760 kpc); (c) The Mixed Model (0$`<R<`$ 960 kpc); (d) The Model of HVC Complexes, where many HVCs’ $`R`$ are assumed to be within the possible distance-intervals of known HVC Complexes studied in van Woerden et al. (1999), Wakker (2001), Wakker et al. (1998), Ryan et al. (1997), Tamanaha (1996), and also Wakker & van Woerden (1991).

We then do the backward integrations to get the initial conditions for the usual forward integrations. Both were performed for 11 Gyrs.

Figure 1-2 are our simulational results. Figure 1 is the $`lb`$ plot and Figure 2 is the $`lv_{\mathrm{los}}`$ plot.

We found that most HVCs arrive the observed positions on the sky by the end of simulations. We also reproduce the observational HVC distribution on $`lv_{\mathrm{los}}`$ plane. Thus, general features of the observed HVC distribution on the sky and $`lv_{\mathrm{los}}`$ plane were reproduced though there are some deviations.

## 3. Conclusions

We found that most HVCs’ observational distribution on the sky ($`lb`$ plane) and also $`lv_{\mathrm{los}}`$ plane can be produced for all our different models, including both Galactic origin and extragalactic origin models. Therefore, we conclude that fitting the observed HVCs distributions by a dynamical calculation cannot provide any constraints on the average distance of HVCs.

The mechanisms to produce HVCs of Galactic origins can be the galactic fountain model, stream of satellite galaxies (as the possible stream from Sagittarius dwarf galaxy in Figure 6 of Jiang & Binney 2000) and also remnants of galaxy group formation.

On the other hand, the mechanisms to produce HVCs of extragalactic origins can be only remnants of galaxy group formation unless these HVCs are all close to M31 and made by the mechanisms of Galactic origin but within M31.

It is easy to see that there will be no constraint on the distance at all if HVCs are the remnants of galaxy group formation and thus this suggestion seems to be able to explain the origins of most HVCs. Especially, if these HVCs have low-metallicity, other models of Galactic origins would be less attractive. Therefore, although one should keep in mind that it is always a correct concept that HVCs are multiple origins, the “remnants of galaxy group formation” is probably a good term to describe most HVCs when one has to make a choice.

However, Zwaan & Briggs (2000) make a point that there should not be so many HVCs in the intergalactic space as predicted by Blitz et al. (1999) and give the picture of “remnants of galaxy group formation” a difficult time.

Therefore, in order to resolve the contradiction between Blitz et al. (1999) and Zwaan & Briggs (2000), we propose that HVCs are “remnants of galactic disc formation” and reduce the possible average distances of HVCs to be about or less than a few hundred kpc.

This conclusion implied from our simulations completely agrees with recent observational results by Tufte et al. (2002), in which they observed $`H_\alpha `$ lines of HVCs which are candidates for being at larger than average distance and found these clouds are in the Galactic halo and not distributed throughout the Local Group.

## Acknowledgment

Ing-Guey Jiang wishes to acknowledge the hospitality of Doug Lin during his visit at UC Santa Cruz in 2000, where he listened Leo Blitz’s talk and began to figure out this project. This work is supported in part by the National Science Council, Taiwan, under Grants NSC 90-2112-M-008-052.

## References

Blitz, L., Spergel, D.N., Teuben, P.J., Hartmann, D., & Burton, W.B. 1999, ApJ, 514,818

Jiang, I.-G., Binney, J. 2000, MNRAS, 314, 468

Ryans, R. S. I., Sembach, K. R., Davies, R. D. 1997, MNRAS, 289, 83

Tamanaha, C. M. 1996, ApJS, 104, 81

Tufte, S. L. et al. 2002, astro-ph/0206198

van Woerden, H., Peletier, R. F., Schwarz, U. J., Wakker, B. P., & Kalberla, P. M. W. 1999, Nature, 400, 138

Wakker, B. P., van Woerden, H. 1991, A&A, 250, 509

Wakker, B. P., van Woerden, H., de Boer, K. S., Kalberla, P. 1998, ApJ, 493, 762

Wakker, B. P. 2001, ApJS, 136, 463

Zwaan, M. A., Briggs, F. H. 2000, ApJ, 530, L61


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# Study of charmless 𝐵 decays to three-kaon final states

## I Introduction

Studies of three-body $`B`$ decays can significantly broaden the understanding of $`B`$ meson decay mechanisms and provide additional possibilities for CP violation searches. Analysis of the $`K\pi \pi `$ and $`KK\pi `$ final states is presented in Refs. bc226 ; b2khh . In this paper we report results on the study of charmless $`B`$ meson decays to three-kaon final states. The analysis is based on a 78.7 fb<sup>-1</sup> data sample, which contains 85.0 million $`B\overline{B}`$ pairs, collected with the Belle detector operating at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $`e^+e^{}`$ (3.5 on 8 GeV) collider KEKB  with a center-of-mass energy at the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)`$ resonance. All results reported here are preliminary.

## II The Belle detector

The Belle detector Belle  is a large-solid-angle magnetic spectrometer that consists of a three-layer silicon vertex detector (SVD), a 50-layer central drift chamber (CDC) for charged particle tracking and specific ionization measurement ($`dE/dx`$), an array of aerogel threshold Čerenkov counters (ACC), time-of-flight scintillation counters (TOF), and an array of 8736 CsI(Tl) crystals for electromagnetic calorimetry (ECL) located inside a superconducting solenoid coil that provides a 1.5 T magnetic field. An iron flux return located outside the coil is instrumented to detect $`K_L`$ mesons and to identify muons (KLM). Electron identification is based on a combination of CDC $`dE/dx`$ measurements, the response of the ACC, and the position, shape and energy deposition of the associated ECL shower.

Charged hadron identification is accomplished by combining the responses of the ACC and the TOF with $`dE/dx`$ measurements in the CDC into a single value using the likelihood method:

$$(h)=^{ACC}(h)\times ^{TOF}(h)\times ^{CDC}(h),$$

where $`h`$ stands for the hadron type ($`p`$, $`K`$, $`\pi `$). Charged tracks are identified as protons, pions or kaons by imposing requirements on the likelihood ratios (PID):

$$\mathrm{PID}(p)=\frac{(p)}{(p)+(K)};\mathrm{PID}(K)=\frac{(K)}{(K)+(\pi )};\mathrm{PID}(\pi )=\frac{(\pi )}{(K)+(\pi )}=1\mathrm{PID}(K)$$

At large momenta ($`>`$2.5 GeV/$`c`$) only the ACC and $`dE/dx`$ are used since the TOF provides no significant separation of kaons and pions. We use a GEANT based Monte Carlo (MC) simulation to model the response of the detector and determine acceptance sim .

## III Event selection

The selection criteria are similar to those used in the analysis of $`B`$ decays to the $`K\pi \pi `$ and $`KK\pi `$ final states bc226 . Charged tracks are selected with 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 combinatorial background. For charged kaon identification we impose a requirement on PID($`K`$), which has 86% efficiency and a 7% fake rate from misidentified pions. Charged tracks that are positively identified as electrons or protons are excluded. Since the muon identification efficiency and fake rate vary significantly with the track momentum, we do not veto muons to avoid additional systematic errors.

Neutral kaons are reconstructed via the decay chain $`K^0(\overline{K}^0)K_S\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$. The invariant mass of the two pions is required to be in the range $`|M(\pi ^+\pi ^{})M_{K^0}|<12`$ MeV/$`c^2`$. The displacement of the $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ vertex from the interaction point (IP) in the transverse ($`r`$-$`\varphi `$) plane is required to be greater than 0.1 cm and less than 20 cm. The direction of the combined pion pair momentum in the $`r`$-$`\varphi `$ plane is required to be within 0.2 rad of the direction from the IP to the displaced vertex.

We reconstruct $`B`$ mesons in the $`K^+K^+K^{}`$, $`K_SK^+K^{}`$, $`K_SK_SK^+`$ and $`K_SK_SK_S`$ three-body final states. The inclusion of the charge conjugate mode is implied throughout this report. The candidate events are identified by their center-of-mass (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. In the first stage, we select events with $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}>5.20`$ GeV/$`c^2`$ and $`0.30<\mathrm{\Delta }E<0.50`$ GeV, which is a larger range than that used in our previous report b2khh . This allows for more detailed studies of the background. For subsequent analysis, we also define a signal region of $`|M_{\mathrm{bc}}M_B|<9`$ MeV/$`c^2`$ and $`|\mathrm{\Delta }E|<0.04`$ GeV and a $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ sideband region defined as $`0.05`$ GeV $`<|\mathrm{\Delta }E|<0.15`$ GeV.

To determine the signal yield, we use events with $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$ in the signal region and fit the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distribution to the sum of a signal distribution and an empirical background. The $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ signal shape is parameterized by the sum of two Gaussian functions with the same mean. The widths and the relative fractions of the two Gaussians are determined from a MC simulation. We find that the signal MC simulation gives, in general, a narrower $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ width than data. To correct for this, we introduce a scale factor that is determined from the comparison of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ widths for $`B^+\overline{D}^0\pi ^+`$ events in MC and experimental data; this correction is about 10%. The background from $`q\overline{q}`$ continuum events is represented by a linear function. The $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ shape of the $`B\overline{B}`$ background is determined from MC simulation, as described below.

## IV Background suppression

To suppress the combinatorial background from $`e^+e^{}q\overline{q}`$ continuum events, we use a set of variables that characterize the event topology. We require $`|\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{thr}}|<0.80`$, where $`\theta _{\mathrm{thr}}`$ is the angle between the thrust axis of the $`B`$ candidate and that of the rest of the event; the distribution of $`|\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{thr}}|`$ is peaked near 1.0 for $`q\overline{q}`$ and is nearly flat for $`B\overline{B}`$ events. We also use a Fisher discriminant fisher , $``$, formed from nine variables of a “Virtual Calorimeter” vcal , the angle between the candidate thrust axis and beam axis, and the angle between the $`B`$ candidate direction and beam axis. We make a requirement on $``$ that rejects 53% of the remaining $`q\overline{q}`$ background while retaining 89% of the signal.

We also consider backgrounds that come from other $`B`$ decays. We conventionally subdivide this background into two types. One type is the so called “generic” $`B\overline{B}`$ background that originates from the dominant $`bc`$ tree transition. The description of these decays is taken from an updated version of the CLEO group event generator sim . We find that the dominant background from this source is due to $`BDh`$ decays, where $`h`$ stands for a charged pion or kaon. To suppress this background, we reject events where any two-particle invariant mass is consistent within 15 MeV (2.5$`\sigma `$) with $`D^0K^+K^{}`$, $`D^0K^{}\pi ^+`$ or $`D^+\overline{K}^0\pi ^+`$. We also reject events with a $`K^+K^{}`$ invariant mass that is consistent with $`\chi _{c0}K^+K^{}`$ ($`|M(K^+K^{})M_{\chi _{c0}}|<50`$ MeV). The other potential source of background is rare charmless $`B`$ decays that proceed via $`bs(d)`$ penguins or $`bu`$ tree transitions. Since these final states are not included in the main generator decay table, they are generated separately. We studied a large set of potentially dangerous two-, three-, and four-body final states. We do not find any rare charmless $`B`$ decay mode that produces a significant background to the three-kaon final states.

## V Results of the analysis

The $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distributions for all three-kaon final states are shown in Fig. 1, where data (points with errors) are shown along with the background expectation (hatched histograms). To extract the three-body signal yields we fit the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distributions. The results of the fits are summarized in Table 1. The statistical significance of the $`B^0K_SK_SK_S`$ signal, in terms of the number of standard deviations is 4.3$`\sigma `$. It 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. The significance of the signal in all other three-kaon final states exceeds 10$`\sigma `$. For convenience, some of the results obtained in Ref. bc226  are also given in Table 1.

To determine branching fractions, we normalize our results to the observed $`B^+\overline{D}^0\pi ^+`$, $`\overline{D}^0K^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`B^0D^{}\pi ^+`$, $`D^{}K^0\pi ^{}`$ signals. This reduces the systematic errors associated with the particle identification efficiency, charged track reconstruction efficiency, and the event shape variables requirements. We calculate the branching fraction for $`B`$ meson decay to a particular final state $`f`$ via the relation

$$(Bf)=\frac{N_f}{N_{D\pi }}\frac{\epsilon _{D\pi }}{\epsilon _f}\times (BD\pi )(DK\pi ),$$

where $`N_f`$ and $`N_{D\pi }`$ are the numbers of reconstructed signal events for the final state $`f`$ and that for the $`D\pi `$ reference process, and $`\epsilon _f`$ and $`\epsilon _{D\pi }`$ are the corresponding reconstruction efficiencies determined from MC. We use the recently updated results on $`B^+\overline{D}^0\pi ^+`$ and $`B^0D^{}\pi ^+`$ branching fractions from the CLEO Collaboration b2dpi\_cleo . The $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ distributions for the reference processes $`B^+\overline{D}^0\pi ^+`$, $`\overline{D}^0K^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`B^0D^{}\pi ^+`$, $`D^{}K^0\pi ^{}`$ are shown in Fig. 2. The results of the fits are summarized in Table 1.

The results of the three-kaon branching fraction measurements are presented in Table 1. To determine the reconstruction efficiencies for $`K^+K^+K^{}`$ and $`K^0K^+K^{}`$ final states, we use a simple model b2khh  that takes into account the non-uniform distribution of signal events over the Dalitz plot. The three-body signal in this model is parameterized by a $`\varphi K`$ intermediate state and a $`f_XK`$ state, where $`f_X`$ is a hypothetical wide scalar state. For the $`K_SK_SK^+`$ and $`K_SK_SK_S`$ final states, the reconstruction efficiencies are determined from MC simulated events that are generated with a uniform (phase space) distribution over the Dalitz plot. The dominant sources of systematic error are listed in Table 2. We estimate the systematic uncertainty due to variations of reconstruction efficiency over the Dalitz plot by varying the relative fractions of quasi-two-body states. The uncertainty in the reconstruction efficiencies due to the limited MC statistics is also included in systematic error. 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. The systematic error due to uncertainty in the $`K_S`$ reconstruction efficiency is estimated from the study of $`D^+D^0\pi ^+`$, $`D^0K_S\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ decays. We estimate the uncertainty due to the signal shape parameterization by varying the parameters of the fitting function within their errors.

The BaBar Collaboration has recently presented results on charmless three-body $`B`$ decays babar-hhh . The reported value, $`(B^+K^+K^+K^{})=(34.7\pm 2.0\pm 1.8)\times 10^6`$, is in agreement with the result presented here and our previously published measurement b2khh .

To examine possible quasi-two-body intermediate states in the observed $`BKKK`$ signals, we analyze the two-kaon invariant mass spectra. The Dalitz plot for $`B^+K^+K^+K^{}`$ candidate events in the $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$-$`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ signal region is shown in Fig. 4. Since there are two same-charge kaons in this case, 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 by forming the Dalitz plot as $`M^2(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{max}}`$ versus $`M^2(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{min}}`$.

The $`K^+K^{}`$ invariant mass spectra for events from the $`B`$ signal region are shown as open histograms in Figs. 4(a)-4(c). The hatched histograms show the corresponding spectra for background events in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ sidebands, normalized to the estimated number of background events from the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ fit. The $`M(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{min}}`$ spectrum, shown in Fig. 4(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/$`c^2`$ that is consistent with a scalar state. In contrast to the $`B^+K^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ three-body decay bc226 , we also observe a strong “non-resonant” enhancement in the $`K^+K^+K^{}`$ final state that extends over the full $`M(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{min}}`$ mass range in Fig. 4(a). 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 1.1 GeV/$`c^2`$ $`<M(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{min}}<2.0`$ GeV/$`c^2`$. The $`M(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{max}}`$ mass spectra for these two regions are shown separately in Fig. 4(b) and Fig. 4(c), respectively. The prominent two-peak structure apparent in Fig. 4(b) is due to the 100% $`\varphi `$ meson polarization in the $`B^+\varphi K^+`$ decay, which results from angular momentum conservation.

The Dalitz plot for $`B^0K_SK^+K^{}`$ candidate events in the $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$-$`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ signal region is shown in Fig. 6. The $`KK`$ invariant mass spectra for these events are shown as open histograms in Fig. 6, and the hatched histograms show the corresponding spectra for background events in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ sidebands. The structure observed in the $`K^+K^{}`$ mass spectrum is very similar to that observed in $`M(K^+K^{})_{\mathrm{min}}`$ spectrum for the $`K^+K^+K^{}`$ final state (see Fig. 4): a prominent peak that corresponds to the $`\varphi `$ meson and a broad enhancement in the higher $`K^+K^{}`$ mass region.

The numbers of reconstructed $`B^+K_SK_SK^+`$ and $`B^0K_SK_SK_S`$ signal events are significantly smaller because of the additional suppression due to the $`K^0K_S\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ branching fraction. A Dalitz plot for the $`B^+K_SK_SK^+`$ candidate events in the $`M_{\mathrm{bc}}`$-$`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ signal region is shown in Fig. 7, along with two-kaon invariant mass spectra. It is apparent in Fig. 7 that the $`K_SK_S`$ invariant mass spectrum is quite similar to the $`K^+K^{}`$ mass spectrum observed in the $`K_SK^+K^{}`$ final state. Except for the absence of the $`\varphi `$ meson, which cannot decay to $`K_SK_S`$, we observe a similar broad structure in the higher $`K_SK_S`$ mass region. The low mass region of the $`K_SK^+`$ mass spectrum shown in Fig. 7(b) agrees with background and exhibits no prominent structures.

## VI Discussion & Conclusion

Charmless $`B`$ meson decays have attracted a considerable amount of attention in recent years, primarily because they provide a possible way to extract weak phases. An important check of the Standard Model would be provided by measurements of the same CP-violating parameter in different weak interaction processes. A good example is the comparison of the measurement of the coefficient of the CP violating $`\mathrm{sin}(\mathrm{\Delta }m_dt)`$ term in the time dependent analysis of neutral $`B`$ meson decays. In $`B^0(c\overline{c})K^0`$ decays (where $`(c\overline{c})`$ denotes a charmonium state) this coefficient is $`\mathrm{sin}(2\varphi _1)`$. Precise measurements of $`\mathrm{sin}(2\varphi _1)`$ (also known as $`\mathrm{sin}(2\beta )`$) have recently been reported by the Belle and BaBar experiments CP\_phi1 . The best known candidates for $`bs`$ penguin dominated processes where this quantity can be measured independently are $`B^0\varphi K^0`$ and $`B^0\eta ^{}K^0`$ decays. However, these modes have small branching fractions of order $`10^610^5`$ (including secondary branching fractions). Thus, very large numbers of $`B`$ mesons are required to perform these measurements. This is especially true for the $`\varphi K^0`$ final state. The large signal observed in the three-body $`B^0K_SK^+K^{}`$ decay mode, where the $`\varphi K_S`$ two-body intermediate state gives a relatively small contribution, would significantly increase statistics if these events could be used. There are two possible complications: (1) Whilst the $`\varphi K_S`$ state has fixed CP, the CP-parity of the three-body $`K_SK^+K^{}`$ final state is not fixed. If the fractions of CP-even and CP-odd components are comparable, the $`K_SK^+K^{}`$ state will not be useful for a CP violation measurement; (2) Possible $`bu`$ tree contributions may introduce an additional weak phase in the $`B^0K_SK^+K^{}`$ amplitude and cloud the interpretation of any observed CP violation. The $`bu`$ contribution in $`B^0\varphi K_S`$ is expected to be negligible (since $`\varphi `$ is a pure $`s\overline{s}`$ state), but this is not necessarily the case for the three-body $`K_SK^+K^{}`$ final state. Here we discuss the possibility of the use of the three-body $`B^0K_SK^+K^{}`$ decay mode for CP measurements.

The decays of $`B`$ mesons to three-body $`Khh`$ final states can be described by $`bu`$ tree-level spectator and $`bs(d)g`$ one-loop penguin diagrams. Although $`bu`$ $`W`$-exchange and annihilation diagrams can also contribute to these final states, they are expected to be much smaller and we neglect them in the following discussion.

$`B`$ meson decays to final states with odd numbers of kaons ($`s`$-quarks) are expected to proceed dominantly via the $`bsg`$ penguin transition since, for these cases, the $`bu`$ tree contribution has an additional CKM suppression. In contrast, decays with two final state kaons proceed via the $`bu`$ tree transition with no $`bsg`$ penguin contribution. This allows us to estimate the $`bu`$ tree contribution to final states with three kaons via the analysis of $`KK\pi `$ final states. It is also important to note that the $`bsg`$ penguin transition is an isospin conserving process, while the $`bu`$ tree and $`bdg`$ penguin transitions are isospin violating.

This is illustrated for $`B^+K^+K^+K^{}`$ decay in Fig. 8. The diagram that corresponds to the main $`bs`$ penguin contribution is shown in Fig. 8(a). The $`bu`$ tree contribution, Fig. 8(b), has an additional Cabibbo suppression due to the $`W^+\overline{s}u`$ vertex. The corresponding diagram without Cabibbo suppression ($`W^+\overline{d}u`$) is shown in Fig. 8(d) and expected to be the dominant contributor to the $`K^+K^{}\pi ^+`$ final state. A quantitative estimate of the size of the $`bu`$ tree amplitude is provided by the ratio

$$F\frac{|𝒜_{bu}^{KKK}|^2}{|𝒜_{\mathrm{total}}^{KKK}|^2}\frac{(B^+K^+K^{}\pi ^+)}{(B^+K^+K^+K^{})}\times \left(\frac{f_K}{f_\pi }\right)^2\times \mathrm{tan}^2\theta _C,$$

where $`𝒜_{\mathrm{total}}^{KKK}`$ is the total amplitude for the $`B^+K^+K^+K^{}`$ decay and $`𝒜_{bu}^{KKK}`$ is its $`bu`$ tree contribution. The $`(f_K/f_\pi )^2`$ factor, where $`f_\pi =131`$ MeV and $`f_K=160`$ MeV are pion and kaon decay constants, respectively, takes into account the corrections for SU(3) breaking effects in the factorization approximation, and $`\theta _C`$ is the Cabibbo angle ($`\mathrm{sin}\theta _C=0.2205\pm 0.0018`$PDG . Using the results for $`B^+K^+K^{}\pi ^+`$ and $`B^+K^+K^+K^{}`$ branching fractions from Table 1, we obtain $`F=0.022\pm 0.005`$. Similarly, for $`B^0`$ decays to $`K_SK^+K^{}`$ and $`K_SK^+\pi ^{}`$ final states, respectively, we find $`F=0.023\pm 0.013(<0.037)`$, where the second number is obtained using the upper limit for the $`B^0K_SK^+\pi ^{}`$ branching fraction. The small value of $`F`$ indicates that we can neglect the $`bu`$ tree contribution to the $`BKKK`$ rates and perform an isospin analysis of the three-kaon final states. From an isospin decomposition of $`B`$ mesons wave functions we obtain the following relations between three-kaon branching fractions,

$$(B^0K^0K^+K^{})=(B^+K^+K^+K^{})\times \frac{\tau _{B^0}}{\tau _{B^+}};$$
(1)
$$(B^0K^0K^+K^{})=(B^+K^+K^0\overline{K}^0)\times \frac{\tau _{B^0}}{\tau _{B^+}},$$
(2)
where the factor $`\tau _{B^0}/\tau _{B^+}`$ takes into account the difference in total widths of charged and neutral $`B`$ mesons. We use the first relation, Eq. 1, as a check of our assumption that the isospin violating contribution is small, and calculate the ratio

$$R\frac{(B^0K^0K^+K^{})}{(B^+K^+K^+K^{})}\times \frac{\tau _{B^+}}{\tau _{B^0}}=\frac{N_{K_SK^+K^{}}}{N_{K^+K^+K^{}}}\times \frac{\epsilon _{K^+K^+K^{}}}{\epsilon _{K^0K^+K^{}}}\times \frac{\tau _{B^+}}{\tau _{B^0}}=0.95\pm 0.11\pm 0.06,$$

where we use signal yields ($`N`$) and reconstruction efficiencies ($`\epsilon `$) from Table 1 instead of branching fractions to reduce the systematic error, and $`\tau _{B^+}/\tau _{B^0}=1.091\pm 0.023\pm 0.014`$ Blife . The calculated value agrees with unity within its statistical error.

Let us now consider the second isospin relation, Eq. 2, in more detail. The $`B^+K^+K^0\overline{K}^0`$ decay results in three different observable states: $`K^+K_SK_S`$, $`K^+K_LK_L`$ and $`K^+K_SK_L`$. The relative fractions of these states depends on the relative fractions of states with even and odd orbital momenta in the $`K^0\overline{K}^0`$ system. Bose statistics requires that the $`K^0\overline{K}^0`$ wave function be symmetric (and, therefore, CP even), independently of the relative orbital momentum, $`l`$, of the neutral kaons. As a result, a $`K^0\overline{K}^0`$ system with even orbital momenta can only decay to $`K_SK_S`$ or $`K_LK_L`$ final states (with equal fractions), while a $`K^0\overline{K}^0`$ system with odd orbital momenta can only decay to the $`K_SK_L`$ final state. Thus, the $`K^+K^0\overline{K}^0`$ wave function can be written in the following form

$$|K^+K^0\overline{K}^0>=\alpha \frac{|K^+K_SK_S>+|K^+K_LK_L>}{\sqrt{2}}+\beta |K^+K_SK_L>,$$
(3)
where $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ are unknown coefficients constrained by $`\alpha ^2+\beta ^2=1`$.

In this experiment, we observe only the $`K^+K_SK_S`$ component of the $`K^+K^0\overline{K}^0`$ final state. Measuring the $`B^+K^+K^+K^{}`$ and $`B^+K^+K_SK_S`$ branching fractions and using the isospin relation, Eq. 2, with the wave function decomposition, Eq. 3, we can determine the parameter $`\alpha ^2`$,

$$\alpha ^2=2\frac{(B^+K^+K_SK_S)}{(B^0K^0K^+K^{})}\times \frac{\tau _{B^0}}{\tau _{B^+}}=2\frac{N_{K^+K_SK_S}}{N_{K_SK^+K^{}}}\times \frac{\epsilon _{K^0K^+K^{}}}{\epsilon _{K^+K_SK_S}}\times \frac{\tau _{B^0}}{\tau _{B^+}}.$$
(4)
Here, the parameter $`\alpha ^2`$ characterizes the fraction of states with even orbital momenta in the $`K^0\overline{K^0}`$ system in the three-body $`K^+K^0\overline{K^0}`$ final state. At the same time, due to isospin symmetry, $`\alpha ^2`$ also gives the fraction of states with even orbital momenta in the $`K^+K^{}`$ system of the three-body $`K^0K^+K^{}`$ final state. Since the total angular momentum of the $`K^0K^+K^{}`$ system is zero, the orbital momentum of the $`K^+K^{}`$ pair relative to the remaining neutral kaon, $`l^{}`$, is equal to $`l`$. Thus, the CP-parity of the $`K_SK^+K^{}`$ three-body system is $`(1)^l`$, and $`\alpha ^2`$ also gives the fraction of CP-even component of the three-body $`K_SK^+K^{}`$ final state. Using the information from Table 1, we obtain: $`\alpha ^2=0.86\pm 0.15\pm 0.05`$. Note that the $`K_SK^+K^{}`$ three-body final state includes the $`\varphi K_S`$ state which is CP-odd. We remove $`B^0\varphi K_S`$ events by requiring $`|M(K^+K^{})M_\varphi |>15`$ MeV; the number of remaining $`K_SK^+K^{}`$ events is $`123\pm 14`$. The value of the $`\alpha ^2`$ for remaining events is: $`\alpha _{\mathrm{non}\varphi }^2=1.04\pm 0.19\pm 0.06`$. Assuming isospin symmetry, we can also use the $`B^+K^+K^+K^{}`$ final state instead of $`B^0K^0K^+K^{}`$ to determine $`\alpha ^2`$. In this case Eq. 4 becomes

$$\alpha ^2=2\frac{(B^+K^+K_SK_S)}{(B^+K^+K^+K^{})}=2\frac{N_{K^+K_SK_S}}{N_{K^+K^+K^{}}}\times \frac{\epsilon _{K^+K^+K^{}}}{\epsilon _{K^+K_SK_S}},$$
(5)
which gives $`\alpha ^2=0.82\pm 0.12\pm 0.06`$ and $`\alpha _{\mathrm{non}\varphi }^2=0.97\pm 0.15\pm 0.07`$. The two ways of computing $`\alpha ^2`$ and $`\alpha _{\mathrm{non}\varphi }^2`$ are in good agreement. This is evidence for the dominance of the CP-even component in the three-body non-$`\varphi `$ $`K_SK^+K^{}`$ final state.

In conclusion, we have measured branching fractions for charmless $`B`$ mesons decays to the three-kaon $`K^+K^+K^{}`$, $`K_SK^+K^{}`$, $`K_SK_SK^+`$, and $`K_SK_SK_S`$ final states. The isospin analysis of the three-kaon final states presented here implies several conclusions that should be carefully examined further. The three-body $`K_SK^+K^{}`$ final state may be a good candidate for a CP violation measurement in $`bs`$ penguin transitions. In this case a significant increase (by a factor of about four) in the statistics as compared to the $`B^0\varphi (K^+K^{})K_S`$ final state, which is a well known mode for the measurement of CP violation in $`bs`$ penguin dominated decays, is possible.

## Acknowledgments

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 National Science Foundation of China under contract No. 10175071; 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 the Russian Federation; the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia; the National Science Council and the Ministry of Education of Taiwan; and the U.S. Department of Energy.


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# A solution to the transition phase in classical novae

## 1. Introduction

The optical light curve of a classical nova is typically characterized by a smooth decline. Certain novae show, however, a DQ Her-like deep minimum in the light curve while others have slow oscillations, during the so called ‘transition phase’ (Fig. 1). The minimum is understood by the formation of a dust envelope around the binary system. It is still not known, however, what causes the oscillations during the transition phase (Warner 1995) and why only a small fraction (about 15%) of the nova population has the transition phase.

The models offered so far to the oscillations during the transition phase (Bode & Evans 1989; Leibowitz 1993; Warner 1995) are:

* Oscillations of the common envelope that surrounds the binary system after the nova outburst.
* Dwarf-nova outbursts.
* Formation of dust blobs that move in and out of line of sight to the nova.
* Oscillations in the wind (see also Shaviv, these proceedings).
* Stellar oscillations of the hot white dwarf.

The first model can be rejected very easily as the common envelope phase (‘fireball’) lasts less than 1-2 days (Hauschildt, personal communication), so it is much shorter than the typical time scale of the transition phase. The second idea is almost certainly wrong as the accretion discs in post-novae are thermally stable (e.g. Retter & Naylor 2000), so they cannot have dwarf-nova outbursts for at least many decades following the nova eruption.

Retter, Liller, & Gerradd (2000a) suggested another solution for this problem and we show here that it can be combined with two of the models listed above. The observations of Nova LZ Mus 1998, which had oscillations during the transition phase revealed a few periodicities in its optical light curve. Retter et al. thus classified LZ Mus as an IP candidate. IPs are cataclysmic variables in which the primary white dwarf has a moderate magnetic field and thus spins around its axis with a period shorter than the orbital period. Hernandz & Sala (this volume) detected X-ray emission from LZ Mus three years after its outburst despite its extremely large distance. This fact is consistent with the IP classification.

Retter et al. further proposed a possible connection between the transition phase and IPs and predicted that novae that have a transition phase should be IPs. About 10% of the cataclysmic variable population are IPs, which is consistent with the rarity ($``$15%) of the transition phase in novae. We note that these numbers represent lower limits as not all systems have been well studied. The correct ratios may be as high as $``$30%. Recent observations of three young novae seem to support our idea.

## 2. The early presence of the disc in young novae

It was believed that the accretion disc is destroyed by the nova event and that it takes only a few decades for the disc to re-establish. In my Ph.D. thesis I studied this claim. Contrary to the common belief we found very strong evidence in at least two cases for the presence of the accretion disc only a few months after the nova outburst (Retter, Leibowitz, & Ofek 1997; Retter, Leibowitz, & Kovo-Kariti 1998). We note that the time-scales of the transition phase are similar to the time-scales of the appearance of the accretion disc in post-novae. It is still unknown whether the disc can survive the nova explosion. The various bright sources, which contribute to the optical light curve of post-novae, may, however, overcast the light from the disc and complicate the observations. We may have found now the solution to this question. This work suggests that the accretion disc is destroyed by the nova outburst only in IPs and that discs in other subclasses of CVs survive the nova event.

## 3. Observations and Analysis

Recent observations of three young novae seem to support the suggested connection between the transition phase and IPs. The optical light curve of Nova V1494 Aql 1999#2 showed transition phase oscillations with a quasi-period of $``$7 days (Kiss & Thomson 2000). A period of 3.2 h (presumably the orbital period) was discovered in its optical light curve (Retter et al. 2000b). Krautter et al. (2001) and Drake et al. (2002, in preparations) detected a 2523-s periodicity in two X-ray runs using Chandra. The short period can be interpreted as the spin period of the binary system and the nova can thus be classified as an IP. We note, however, the suggestion of an alternative model to the variation – stellar oscillations of the white dwarf (Krautter et al., these proceedings).

On the other hand, Nova V382 Vel 1999 had a smooth decline in the optical (Liller & Jones 2000) and X-ray observations did not reveal any short-term periodicity (Orio et al. 2001). So, it is unlikely that it is an IP.

In addition, Nova V1039 Cen 2001 had oscillations during the transition phase as well (http://vsnet.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/vsnet/etc/drawobs.cgi?text=CENnova2001). Preliminary analysis of 6 nights of optical photometry using small telescopes + CCDs shows several peaks in its power spectrum (Fig. 2). They can be explained within the IP model, so this nova could also be an IP, consistent with our prediction.

Additional possible support for our idea might come from the detection of oscillations in an X-ray source, which is located near the nucleus of M31. Osborne et al. (2001) proposed that the $``$865-sec periodicity represent the spin period of a magnetic white dwarf. The high X-ray luminosity and the transient nature of the object led them to propose that this is a recent novae. King, Osborne, & Schenker (2002), however, argued against this suggestion.

## 4. Discussion

There seems to be a strong connection between the transition phase in classical novae and IPs. Two famous cases are Nova GK Per 1901 (oscillations) and Nova DQ Her 1934 (minimum), which are well-known IPs. Another possible example is Nova V603 Aql 1918 (oscillations), which was suggested several times as an IP candidate (e.g. Schwarzenberg-Czerny, Udalski & Monier 1992) and whose X-ray light curve show strong variations (Mukai et al., this volume). We note, however, that there has been a long argument whether this nova is indeed an IP (e.g. Mukai et al., these proceedings).

We suggest that this link is connected with the presence of the accretion disc in post-novae. In IPs, the magnetic field truncates the inner part of the disc, making it less massive than in non-magnetic systems (this is, by the way, the reason why IPs do not have dwarf-nova outbursts or only have short and weak outbursts). The nova outburst can, therefore, disrupt the disc in IPs. Its re-establishment and the subsequent interaction with the magnetosphere of the primary white dwarf is a violent process that forms strong winds at the inner part of the disc. The winds block the radiation from the hot white dwarf and the dust is not destroyed. The accretion disc oscillates until finally reaching stability at the end of the transition phase. In non-magnetic systems the disc is barely disturbed and becomes stable much faster and in polars (AM Her systems) there is no accretion disc at all. In both groups there is no transition phase since dust cannot be formed.

The long-term oscillations during the transition phase could be explained if the inner accretion disc lies very close to the co-rotation radius, so the disc and the magnetic field would rotate (almost) together at that point. The relative rotational timescale (the beat period) could be very long – of the order weeks, as observed in the transition phase.

If the winds are very strong, as might be the case in DQ Her (perhaps since its spin period is very short) this leads to the formation of more dust and to a minimum in the light curve. IPs with longer spin periods should show oscillations. Naturally, our model has a strong dependence on the inclination angle.

Further X-ray and optical observations of novae that have a transition phase should confirm or refute our suggestion.

### Acknowledgments.

We thank Graham Wynn for a very useful discussion on the cause of the long-term oscillations and Marina Orio for pointing to us Osborne et al.’s work. AR is supported by an ARC grant.

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Bode, M.F., & Evans, A. 1989, *Classical Novae*, Alden Press, Oxford

King, A.R., Osborne, J.P., & Schenker, K. 2002, *MNRAS*, 329, 43

Kiss, L.L., & Thomson, J.R. 2000, *A&A*, 355, L9

Krautter, J. et al. 2001, *AGAb*, 18, 5

Leibowitz, E.M. 1993, *ApJ*, 411, L29

Liller, W., & Jones, A.F. 2000, *IBVS*, 5004, 1

Orio, M. et al. 2001, *MNRAS*, 326, L13

Osborne, J.P. et al. 2001, *A&A*, 378, 800

Retter, A., & Naylor, T. 2000, *MNRAS*, 319, 510

Retter, A., Leibowitz, E.M., & Ofek, E.O. 1997, *MNRAS*, 286, 745

Retter, A., Leibowitz, E.M., & Kovo-Kariti, O. 1998, *MNRAS*, 293, 145

Retter, A., Liller, W., & Gerradd, G. 2000a, in ”Cataclysmic Variables: a 60th Birthday Symposium in Honour of Brian Warner”, eds. Charles, P., King, A., O’Donoghue, D., Elsevier Science, *New Astronomy Review*, 40/1-2, p65

Retter, A., Cook, L., Novák, R., Saxton, J.M., Jensen, L.T., Korčaková, D., & Janík, J. 2000b, *IAUC*, 7537

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Warner, B. 1995, *Cataclysmic Variable Stars*, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge


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# SU(2) Lattice Gauge Theory at Nonzero Chemical Potential and Temperature.

## 1 Introduction

Since $`SU(3)`$ QCD cannot be simulated or studied analytically at moderate chemical potentials, theorists have turned to simpler models. One of the more interesting is the color $`SU(2)`$ version of QCD , , . In this model diquarks do not carry color, so their condensation does not break color symmetry dynamically. The critical chemical potential is one-half the mass of the lightest meson, the pion, because quarks and anti-quarks reside in equivalent representations of the $`SU(2)`$ color group. Chiral Lagrangians can be used to study the diquark condensation transition in this model because the critical chemical potential vanishes in the chiral limit, and the model has a Goldstone realization of the spontaneously broken quark-number symmetry . The problem has also been studied within a Random Matrix Model at non-zero $`\mu `$ and $`T`$ . Lattice simulations of the model are also possible because the fermion determinant is real and non-negative for all chemical potentials.

Preliminary lattice simulations of the $`SU(2)`$ model with four species of quarks, simulation data and an Effective Lagrangian analysis of aspects of the $`T`$-$`\mu `$ phase diagram were recently published . Very early work on this model at finite $`T`$ and $`\mu `$ was performed by . A simulation study of the spectroscopy of the light bosonic modes will be presented elsewhere . This work is based on .

In our exploratory study , we found a line of transitions surrounding a phase with a diquark condensate. Along this line there is a tricritical point, labeled $`2`$ in Fig. 1, where the transition switches from being second order to first order. We will present evidence for metastability along the line at high $`\mu `$. The tricritical point $`2`$, has a natural explanation in the context of chiral Lagrangians . Following the formalism of  we argued that trilinear couplings among the low lying boson fields of the Lagrangian become more significant as $`\mu `$ and $`T`$ increase and they can cause the transition to become first order at a $`\mu `$ value in the vicinity of the results found in the simulation. A tricritical point is also found in Chiral Perturbation Theory .

The conjectured phase diagram of Fig. 1 also has a critical point labeled $`1`$ which connects the line of first order transitions to the dashed line of crossover phenomena extending to the $`\mu =0`$ axis where we expect a finite T chiral crossover between conventional hadronic matter and the quark-gluon plasma. For sufficiently light quarks in the four flavor SU(2) model, the $`\mu =0`$ transition is known to be first order both from theoretical arguments  and simulations . For quark mass $`m=0.05`$ we find that the transition is smoothed out to a crossover. If the critical point 1 would be absent, a not unlikely possibility, the crossover line would intersect the curve separating the diquark condensation phase from the normal phase.

## 2 Simulation Results and Analysis

Consider the simulation results for the $`N_f=4`$ theory on $`16^4`$ lattices. We simulated the $`SU(2)`$ model at a relatively weak coupling $`\beta =1.85`$, within the theory’s apparent scaling window, in order to make contact with the theory’s continuum limit. The quark mass was $`m=0.05`$, as in , and a series of simulations were performed at diquark source strength $`\lambda =0.0025`$, $`0.005`$, and $`0.01`$ so that our results could be extrapolated to vanishing diquark source, $`\lambda =0`$.

In Fig. 2 we show the diquark condensate ($`\chi ^T\tau _2\chi `$), linearly extrapolated to $`\lambda =0`$, plotted against the chemical potential $`\mu `$.

We see evidence to a quark-number violating second order phase transition in this figure. The dashed line is a power law fit from $`\mu =0.30`$ to $`0.35`$ which predicts the critical chemical potential of $`\mu _c=0.2860(2)`$. The power law fit is good, its confidence level is $`48`$ percent, and its critical index is $`\beta _{mag}=0.54(3)`$ which is consistent with the mean field result $`\beta _{mag}=1/2`$, predicted by chiral perturbation theory ,  including one loop corrections as well as simulations of 2-color QCD in the strong coupling limit .

## 3 Runs at finite temperature

Now consider $`12^3\times 6`$ simulations. Past $`8^3\times 4`$ simulations and Effective Lagrangian analyses predicted that there is a line of first order transitions at high $`\mu `$ and high $`T`$ .

Our best evidence for a first order transition comes from the time evolution of the observables at $`\beta =1.87`$ and $`\mu 0.40`$ which show signs of metastability. For example, in the figure 3 we show the time evolution of the diquark condensate and display several tunnelings between a state having a condensate near $`0.15`$ and another with a condensate near $`0.40`$.

## 4 Conclusions

We are currently calculating the model’s pseudo-Goldstone boson mass spectrum and instanton content. We hope that these measurements will add more insight into this model’s curious phase transitions.