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# A Star-Forming Galaxy at 𝑧=5.78 in the Chandra Deep Field-South

## 1 Introduction

A key question in modern cosmology is the star formation rate of galaxies in the young Universe. In the past few years, the Lyman break technique (Steidel, Pettini & Hamilton 1995) has proved very successful in identifying star-forming galaxies at $`z=34`$, through their rest-frame UV continuum absorbed by the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest of the intergalactic medium at $`\lambda _{\mathrm{rest}}<1216`$ Å (e.g., Steidel et al. 1996; Steidel et al. 1999). In a recent paper (Stanway, Bunker & McMahon 2003) we have pushed this technique to even earlier epochs, using the latest public data from the ‘Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey’ (GOODS; Dickinson & Giavalisco 2002), taken with the new Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS; Ford et al. 2002) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). By selecting on extreme colours between the F775W $`i^{}`$ and F850LP $`z^{}`$ filters, we identify galaxies in the Chandra Deep Field-South (CDF-S) with $`(i^{}z^{})_{\mathrm{AB}}>1.5`$ which are likely to be at redshifts $`5.6<z<6.5`$. In this Letter we report on our spectroscopic confirmation with Keck/DEIMOS of one of our candidates – object 3 in Stanway, Bunker & McMahon (2003), hereafter called SBM03#3. We show that this $`z_{\mathrm{AB}}^{}=24.7`$ galaxy has Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emission at a redshift of $`z=5.78`$, and does indeed lie within the expected redshift range. This confirms the validity of $`i^{}`$-drop technique of Stanway, Bunker & McMahon (2003).

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

We observed SBM03#3 ($`\alpha _{2000}=03^h32^m\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}25.59}^s`$, $`\delta _{2000}=27^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}55}^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}48.4}^{\prime \prime }`$; Stanway, Bunker & McMahon 2003) on the nights of U.T. 2003 January 8 & 9, using the new Deep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph (DEIMOS; Davis et al. 2002, Phillips et al. 2002) at the Cassegrain focus of the 10-m Keck II Telescope. DEIMOS has 8 MIT/LL $`2k\times 4k`$ CCDs with $`15\mu `$m pixels and an angular pixel scale of 0.1185 arcsec pix-1. We used a slitmask to target various objects in the CDF-S over the $`16.5\times 5`$ arcmin DEIMOS field, as part of an ongoing program to obtain spectra of objects with extreme optical/near-infrared colours (to be reported elsewhere). Each slitlet was 1 arcsec wide, and the slit containing SBM03#3 was at the extreme edge of the field, so although the slit was 100 arcsec long, the target was only 3 arcsec from the slit edge. The observations were obtained using the Gold 1200 line mm-1 grating in first order blazed at $`\lambda _{\mathrm{blaze}}=7500`$ Å, producing a dispersion of $`0.320`$ Å pixel-1. The grating was tilted to sample the wavelength range $`\lambda \lambda _{\mathrm{obs}}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}7100}9700`$ Å, corresponding to a rest-frame wavelength of $`\lambda \lambda _{\mathrm{rest}}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1047}1430`$ Å at the redshift of SBM03#3 ($`z=5.78`$, see Section 3.1). A small region in the middle of the wavelength range $`\lambda \lambda _{\mathrm{obs}}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}8405}8412`$ Å is unobserved as it falls in the gap between two CCDs. We used the OG550 order-blocking filter to remove all light at wavelengths short-ward of 5500 Å, so we should not be affected by second-order light.

The spectral resolution was measured to be $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{\mathrm{FWHM}}^{\mathrm{obs}}1.351.50`$ Å from the sky lines and those of reference arc lamps ($`\mathrm{\Delta }v_{\mathrm{FWHM}}=55\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, a resolving power of $`\lambda /\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda _{\mathrm{FWHM}}=5500`$). As the seeing disk (typically 0.7 arcsec FWHM) was smaller than the slit width of 1.0 arcsec, the true resolution is somewhat better for a source which does not fill the slit.

The observations spanned an airmass range of $`1.41.6`$. The PA of slits on the mask was 6 deg, chosen to be close North–South (0 deg, the parallactic angle) as the field was observed during meridian transit. A total of 20 ksec of on-source integration was obtained, and this was broken into individual exposures each of duration 2400 s to enable more effective cosmic ray rejection. We dithered the telescope 1.5 arcsec along the slit between integrations. The spectrophotometric standard star HZ 44 (Massey et al. 1988; Massey & Gronwall 1990) was observed to determine the sensitivity function. The flux calibration was checked with the spectra of the five alignment stars of known broad-band photometry ($`I1719`$ mag), used to position the CDF-S mask through $`2^{\prime \prime }\times 2^{\prime \prime }`$ alignment boxes.

The data reduction followed standard procedures using IRAF. Each frame first had the bias subtracted, determined from the overscan region appropriate to that CCD. Contemporaneous flat fields were obtained with a halogen lamp immediately after the science exposures, and these internal flats were normalized through division by the extracted lamp spectrum, and corrected for non-uniform illumination of the slit by comparison to twilight sky and dome spectral flat fields. Wavelength calibration was obtained from Ne$`+`$Ar$`+`$Hg$`+`$Kr reference arc lamps, and a cubic fit to the centroids of $`20`$ arc lines for each CCD created a wavelength solution with rms residuals of 0.02 Å. The wavelength calibration was checked with the centroids of prominent sky lines. The spectrum was then rectified (straightening the sky lines), and sky subtraction was performed by a fifth-order polynomial fit to each rectified detector column (parallel to the slit), excluding from the fit those regions occupied by sources.

## 3 Results

### 3.1 The redshift of SMB03#3

The combined 5.5-hours of DEIMOS spectroscopy showed a clear emission line detected at $`20\sigma `$ at the location in the slit corresponding to the expected position of galaxy SBM03#3. The peak of the line emission is at $`\lambda _{\mathrm{obs}}=8245.4\pm 0.9`$ Å, and the integrated flux is within 30 per cent of $`f=2\times 10^{17}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{cm}^1\mathrm{s}^1`$, extracting over 17 pixels (2 arcsec) and measuring between the zero-power points ($`82428260`$ Å). This is actually a lower limit on the line flux because of possible slit losses if the emission line is spatially extended, although this is probably negligible since the galaxy is very compact (Fig. 1). The flux measurement is consistent over both nights. The emission line is not seriously contaminated by residuals from strong OH lines but does straddle a weak complex of sky lines. Fig. 2 shows the combined 2-dimensional long-slit spectrum around this emission line.

Single-line redshifts are often open to question, but the most probable identification of this solo emission line is Lyman-$`\alpha `$$`\lambda `$ 1215.8 Å at $`z=5.7825\pm 0.001`$, given that this galaxy was pre-selected as an $`i^{}`$-drop to have a photometric redshift of $`z6`$. We briefly consider (and rule out) other possible redshift assignations. This line emission is extremely unlikely to be H$`\beta `$$`\lambda `$ 4861.3 Å or \[O III\] $`\lambda \lambda `$ 5006.8,4958.9 Å at $`z0.7`$ as we do not detect the other nearby lines in this complex. If this line emission were \[O II\] $`\lambda \lambda `$ 3726.1,3728.9 Å at $`z=1.212`$, we would expect to resolve comfortably the \[O II\] doublet with our spectral resolution of $`55\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, as demonstrated by Davis et al. (2002) using DEIMOS in the same configuration. The most probable interpretation is that we are seeing Lyman-$`\alpha `$$`\lambda `$ 1215.8 Å at $`z=5.78`$. The only plausible alternative to high-redshift Lyman-$`\alpha `$ is H$`\alpha `$$`\lambda `$ 6562.8 Å at $`z=0.256`$: however, the H$`\alpha `$ interpretation would not produce the large flux decrement observed between the $`z^{}`$-band and $`i^{}`$-band. Hence we conclude that Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emission at $`z=5.78`$, associated with the $`i^{}`$-drop galaxy SBM03#3, is by far the most probable identification of the line (see Stern et al. 2000 for a discussion of one-line redshift determinations for high-$`z`$ galaxies).

### 3.2 Spectral Profile of the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ Emission

The Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line is clearly resolved spectrally at this $`55\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ resolution, with significant velocity structure evident (Fig. 2). There appears to be a weak second peak of emission slightly to the red of the main Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emission, around 8256 Å, and there is more marginal evidence for narrow absorption at the core of the main emission line.

The spectral width of the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line is $`(7.3\pm 0.5)`$ pixels FWHM, excluding second peak at 8256 Å. This is equivalent to a velocity width of $`\mathrm{\Delta }v_{\mathrm{FWHM}}=(260\pm 20)\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ after deconvolution with the instrumental width. The line width is similar to those of other $`z6`$ galaxies (e.g., Rhoads et al. 2003; Kodaira et al. 2003; Lehnert & Bremer 2003). The Lyman-$`\alpha `$ profile is asymmetric, with a pronounced red wing but a sharper decline in flux density on the blue side (Fig. 2). This appears to be a common feature in high-$`z`$ starbursts with Lyman-$`\alpha `$ in emission (e.g., Dey et al. 1998; Lowenthal et al. 1997; Bunker, Moustakas & Davis 2000; Ellis et al. 2001), and is most likely due to an outflow of neutral hydrogen, where we only see the back-scattered Lyman-$`\alpha `$ from the far side of the expanding nebula – only the photons on the red side of the resonant Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emission-line profile can escape, with the blue wing being absorbed by neutral gas (within the galaxy and in the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest). The P Cygni-like profile of Lyman-$`\alpha `$ is consistent with this outflow model. Hence the profile of Lyman-$`\alpha `$ is skewed to the red, so the systemic redshift determined from the peak of the emission may be overestimated. Near-infrared spectroscopy by Pettini et al. (2001) of the rest-frame optical forbidden lines and Balmer lines in $`z3`$ galaxies shows a $`2001100\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ redshifting of the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ relative to the nebular emission lines.

The velocity dispersion of $`\sigma _{\mathrm{LOS}}=(110\pm 10)\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ inferred from the line-width of Lyman-$`\alpha `$ is likely to be a lower limit, as the line profile is truncated. However, the velocity width of Lyman-$`\alpha `$ cannot be reliably used to estimate the galaxy mass as it is unlikely to be representative of the true velocity dispersion, since resonant scattering will broaden the spectral profile of the escaping photons (e.g., Binette et al. 1993).

### 3.3 AGN or Starburst?

Careful inspection of the spectrum did not reveal any lines at other wavelengths in the same spatial location as the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emission. The only other significant line which should fall within our spectral coverage (although close to the gap between the CCDs) is the high-ionization rest-UV doublet N V$`\lambda \lambda `$ 1238.8,1242.8 Å, which is usually prominent in active galactic nuclei (AGN). Our flux limits at 8402 & 8429 Å are $`f<2\times 10^{18}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ ($`3\sigma `$), conservatively assuming the lines are extended and that half the light is lost in gap between the CCDs at $`84058412`$ Å. Our lower limit of $`f(\mathrm{Ly}\alpha )/f(\mathrm{N}\mathrm{V})>10`$ ($`3\sigma `$) compares with the typical line ratios from composite QSO spectra of $`f(\mathrm{Ly}\alpha )/f(\mathrm{N}\mathrm{V})=4.0`$ (Osterbrock 1989). Hence, the non-detection of N V 1240 Å favours the interpretation that the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ arises from the Lyman continuum flux produced by OB stars, rather than the harder UV spectrum of a QSO. The velocity width of Lyman-$`\alpha `$ ($`260\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ FWHM) is also significantly narrower than seen in the broad-line regions of AGN, even after correcting for the self-absorbed blue wing (§ 3.2), again suggesting a starburst rather than an AGN. SBM03#3 is undetected in the Chandra X-ray map of the CDF-S (Giacconi et al. 2002) to $`2\sigma `$ limits of $`5.5\times 10^{17}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ and $`4.5\times 10^{16}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ in the soft (0.5–2 keV) and hard (2–10 keV) X-ray bands respectively. We note that several other Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emitters at high redshift are also undetected in X-rays (Malhota et al. 2003).

### 3.4 Continuum Shape and Lyman-$`\alpha `$ Equivalent Width

We do not have a significant detection of the the continuum in the Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy, but the flux measurement of $`z_{\mathrm{AB}}^{}=24.67\pm 0.03`$ from the HST/ACS F850LP $`z^{}`$-band image –which encompasses the redshifted Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line at its blue end– enables us to determine the equivalent width of this line and the continuum flux density ($`L_\nu =2.7h_{70}^2\times 10^{29}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Hz}^1`$ at $`\lambda _{\mathrm{rest}}1300`$ Å, where we assume $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{M}=0.3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$ throughout). The emission line has a luminosity $`L=(7\pm 2)\times 10^{42}h_{70}^2\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1`$ and accounts for only $`4`$ per cent of the $`z^{}`$-band flux and $`25`$ per cent of the $`i^{}`$-band flux, and once the effect of this line contamination of the broad-band magnitudes is removed, the equivalent width of the line is $`W_{\mathrm{obs}}^{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }=(140\pm 50)`$ Å in the observed frame, assuming that there is negligible continuum flux below 8245 Å (short-ward of $`\lambda _{\mathrm{rest}}1216`$ Å, the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line) due to absorption by the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest.

The rest-frame equivalent width at $`z=5.78`$ is $`W_{\mathrm{rest}}^{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }=(20\pm 7)`$ Å which is within the realm of what is observed in in star forming galaxies. From stellar synthesis models of star-forming regions (e.g., Charlot & Fall 1993), the theoretical Lyman-$`\alpha `$ equivalent width for a young region of active star formation is $`W_{\mathrm{rest}}^{\mathrm{Ly}\alpha }100200`$ Å. However, the observed Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emission from star-forming galaxies is invariably much weaker, typically $`W_{\mathrm{rest}}=530`$ Å (e.g., Steidel et al. 1996; Warren & Møller 1996), or even in absorption. The rest-frame equivalent width for SBM03#3 lies at the upper end of this observed range and is similar to the narrow-band selected galaxies at $`z>5.5`$ (Hu, McMahon & Cowie 1999; Hu et al. 2002; Kodaira et al. 2003).

From the $`z^{}`$-band, the UV continuum implies an unobscured star formation rate of $`33.8h_{70}^2M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ (Stanway, Bunker & McMahon 2003). The star formation rate inferred from the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emission would be $`5`$ times less than this, probably due to selective extinction of this line through resonant scattering. SBM03#3 has the highest UV luminosity (i.e., the largest unobscured star formation rate) of any starburst yet found at $`z>5.5`$.

We obtained 10 ksec of near-infrared imaging with a $`K_\mathrm{s}`$ filter ($`\lambda _{\mathrm{cent}}=2.15\mu `$, equivalent to $`\lambda _{\mathrm{rest}}=3200`$ Å) using the WIRC camera on the Las Campanas 2.5-m du Pont telescope on the night of 2003 February 20 U.T. The seeing was 0.7 arcsec, oversampled by the 0.1 arcsec pixels of the $`1024^2`$ Rockwell HgCdTe array. The galaxy SBM03#3 was undetected, with a $`2\sigma `$ limiting magnitude of $`K_\mathrm{s}>20.6`$ (Vega magnitudes). If the spectrum long-ward of Lyman-$`\alpha `$ is a power law, we can contrain the slope to be $`\alpha <0.4`$ (where $`f_\lambda \lambda ^\alpha `$) from $`(z_{\mathrm{AB}}^{}K_\mathrm{s})<4.1`$ ($`2\sigma `$).

Knowing the redshift and the contamination of the broad-band magnitudes by the line emission, the continuum depression as inferred from the $`(i^{}z^{})_{\mathrm{AB}}=1.60\pm 0.13`$ colour may be used to make a direct estimate of $`D_A`$, the absorption due to intervening cosmological H I clouds at $`z4.85.8`$. Outflowing neutral hydrogen intrinsic to the source may also play a significant role in absorbing the blue-wing of Lyman-$`\alpha `$. Formally, the $`D_A`$ continuum break (Oke & Korycansky 1982) is defined as

$$D_A=\left(1\frac{f_\nu (10501170\mathrm{\AA })_{\mathrm{obs}}}{f_\nu (10501170\mathrm{\AA })_{\mathrm{pred}}}\right)$$
(1)
(e.g., Schneider, Schmidt & Gunn 1991; Madau 1995). The HST/ACS F775W $`i^{}`$-band samples the rest-frame at $`10301220`$ Å, and the measured magnitude is $`i_{\mathrm{AB}}^{}=26.27\pm 0.13`$ (Stanway, Bunker & McMahon 2003). After correcting for the fraction of the $`i^{}`$\- and $`z^{}`$-filters which lie above the redshifted 1216 Å break, we calculate $`D_A=0.95_{0.10}^{+0.05}`$ assuming an intrinsic spectral shape of $`f_\lambda \lambda ^{1.1}`$, the average for the $`z3`$ Lyman break galaxies (Meurer et al. 1997). This is consistent with the values derived from SDSS quasars at similar redshifts by Fan et al. (2001).

### 3.5 The size of SBM03#3

The galaxy SBM03#3 is very compact in the HST images (Fig. 1) – in the highest S/N ACS $`z^{}`$-image it is only marginally resolved with a half-light radius of $`r_{\mathrm{hl}}=0.08`$ arcsec (Stanway, Bunker & McMahon 2003), compared to $`r_{\mathrm{hl}}=0.06`$ arcsec for unsaturated stars in the ACS image. Hence, the half-light radius of the star-forming region at $`z=5.78`$ must be $`r_{\mathrm{hl}}0.5h_{70}^1`$ kpc. This is very compact, and corresponds the the physical size of dwarf spheroidals at lower redshift. SBM03#3 is more compact than typical Lyman-break galaxies at $`z3`$: Lowenthal et al. (1997) find a median $`r_{\mathrm{hl}}=3.5h_{70}^1`$ kpc and a range $`1.7<r_{\mathrm{hl}}<7h_{70}^1`$ kpc. We have also compared the spatial extent of the line emission with a cross-cut of an alignment star in the same slitmask (i.e., identical seeing and airmass): the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line has a very compact spatial extent, unresolved in $`0.7`$ arcsec FWHM seeing, so this seems not to be one of the cases where the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emission line morphology is significantly more extended than the continuum (e.g., Steidel et al. 2000; Bunker, Moustakas & Davis 2000).

## 4 Conclusions

We have obtained deep spectroscopy with Keck/DEIMOS of SBM03#3, an $`i^{}`$-drop in the Chandra Deep Field-South photometrically-selected from HST/ACS images to lie at $`z6`$. We discover a single emission line with peak intensity at 8245 Å, consistent with Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emission form a galaxy at $`z=5.78`$. The spectrally-resolved profile of the emission line is asymmetric (as high-$`z`$ Lyman-$`\alpha `$ tends to be) with a P Cygni-like profile and a sharp cut-off on the blue wing. The line flux is $`2\times 10^{17}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$. The equivalent width inferred from the $`z^{}`$-band photometry from HST/ACS is $`W_{\mathrm{rest}}=20`$ Å , which is within the range seen in high-$`z`$ star-forming galaxies. The galaxy is undetected in X-rays by Chandra, and the velocity width of the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ is comparatively narrow ($`v_{\mathrm{FWHM}}=260\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$) and we do not detect the high-ionization line N V$`\lambda `$ 1240 Å, all of which support the view that this line emission is powered by star formation rather than an AGN. Our spectroscopic redshift for this object confirms the validity of the $`i^{}`$-drop selection technique of Stanway, Bunker & McMahon (2003) to select star-forming galaxies at $`z6`$.

The relatively bright rest-frame UV continuum flux and Lyman-$`\alpha `$ line luminosity of SBM03#3 and the recent WMAP results which indicate the epoch of reionization to lie at $`z>10`$ (Kogut et al. 2003) bodes well for searches for UV luminous star-forming galaxies at $`z>7`$ such as those which will be possible using the narrow-band near-IR imaging system DAZLE (the Dark Ages ‘Z’ Lyman Explorer; McMahon et al. in preparation), HST/WFC3 and NGST.

### Acknowledgements

We are extremely grateful for the help and support we received while observing at Keck, and in particular thank Greg Wirth, Bob Goodrich and Chuck Sorenson. We used Drew Phillips’ extremely useful “dsimulator” software for slitmask design. We have had useful discussions on the reduction of optical slitmask spectroscopy with Daniel Stern, Adam Stanford and Alison Coil. Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. This paper is based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained from the Data Archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. We are grateful to the GOODS team for making their reduced images public. ERS acknowledges a Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) studentship supporting this study.


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# Physics Potential of the SPL Super Beam

## 1 Introduction

The planned Super Proton Linac (SPL) is a 2.2 GeV proton beam of 4 MW power  working with a repetition rate of 75 Hz delivering $`1.510^{14}`$ protons per pulse ($`10^{23}`$ protons on target (pot) in a $`10^7`$ s conventional year). It could be the first stage of a CERN based Neutrino Factory or of a Beta Beam.

Studies of the capabilities of a neutrino beam generated by SPL have been already published in , , in this paper the fluxes and the overall physical performances will be reviewed in the light of the new design of the beam optics, specially optimized for the SuperBeam needs . They are computed for a gigantic water Čerenkov detector, as the proposed UNO detector  (440 kton fiducial) located in the Modane laboratory under the Frejus tunnel at a baseline of 130 km from CERN.

The SPL SuperBeam capabilities would constitute a natural follow-up of the JHF phase I experiment , with excellent sensitivity on $`\theta _{13}`$ (section 3) and good sensitivity on the CP phase $`\delta `$ (section 4). Furthermore the SPL SuperBeam could be used to complement the results of a Neutrino Factory experiment, helping in resolving the ambiguities, as discussed in ; or could be combined with a Beta Beam, as discussed in .

Signal efficiency and backgrounds have already been discussed in , they are computed by using the NUANCE neutrino event generator  and reconstructing the events with standard SuperKamiokande algorithms, with the addition of improved $`\pi ^{}`$ rejection algorithms. They can be summarized as signal efficiency $`ϵ70\%`$ and $`\pi ^{}`$ and $`\mu /e`$ background rejection, normalized to the non oscillated $`\nu _\mu `$charged current interactions, $`f_B^\pi ^{}=4.210^4`$, $`f_B^{\mu /e}=310^3`$.

## 2 Fluxes

Details of the new beam optics can be found in . The use of an horn and a reflector increases by $`40\%`$ the overall $`\nu _\mu `$flux with respect to the former single horn optics, slightly increases the $`\nu _e`$contamination, while the $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$and $`\overline{\nu }_e`$contaminations are reduced by $`30\%`$.

The length of the decay tunnel has been re-optimized having in mind CP searches more than $`\theta _{13}`$ . Table 1 reports details of the beam properties as function of the length of the decay tunnel, including the sensitivity on $`\theta _{13}`$ for a 2200 kton/year exposure. In spite of the fact that the $`\theta _{13}`$ sensitivity is maximum for the lowest length (20 m), a 60 m decay length is preferred because of the lower $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$contamination, that results in a better CP sensitivity.

The neutrino spectra for the $`\pi ^+`$ and $`\pi ^{}`$ focussed beams are displayed in Fig. 1.

## 3 Sensitivity on $`\theta _{13}`$

The $`\theta _{13}`$ sensitivity is computed assuming $`\delta =0`$, solar SMA solution, $`\delta m_{23}^2=2.510^3`$ eV2, $`\theta _{23}=45^{}`$ and 5 years of data taking. These are the standard benchmark assumptions used by similar projects , .

Fig. 2 shows the $`\theta _{13}`$ sensitivity (90% CL) in case of no signal and summarizes the event rate computed for $`\theta _{13}`$ =$`2^{}`$. The experiment would have sensitivity down to $`\theta _{13}=1.2^{}`$ ($`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _{13}=1.7510^3`$)

## 4 CP sensitivity

CP sensitivity is computed assuming a 2 year run with the $`\pi ^+`$ focussed beam and 8 years with the $`\pi ^{}`$ focussed beam. This sharing is motivated by the unfavorable cross section ratio $`\overline{\nu }_e/\nu _e1/6`$ at 300 MeV.

A 10% error on the solar $`\delta m^2`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta `$, as expected from the KamLAND experiment  and a 2% error on the atmospheric $`\delta m^2`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta `$, as expected from the JHF neutrino experiment  are taken into account. Correlations between $`\theta _{13}`$ and $`\delta `$ are fully accounted for, while the sign $`\delta m_{13}^2`$ and the $`\theta _{23}/(\pi /2\theta _{23})`$ ambiguities are not considered. A systematic error of 2% is accounted for the signal efficiency and background normalization, as discussed in .

Solutions for different values of $`\delta `$ and $`\theta _{13}`$ , Fig.3-left, show very small correlations between the two parameters.

Since the sensitivity to CP violation heavily depends on the true value of $`\delta m_{12}^2`$and $`\theta _{13}`$ , we prefer to express the CP sensitivity for a fixed value of $`\delta `$ in the $`\delta m_{12}^2`$, $`\theta _{13}`$ parameter space. The CP sensitivity to separate $`\delta =90^{}`$ from $`\delta =0^{}`$ at the 99%CL as a function of $`\delta m_{12}^2`$and $`\theta _{13}`$ , following the convention of , is plotted in Fig. 3-right.

It is fair to say that SPL SuperBeam CP sensitivity approaches the Neutrino Factory sensitivity in the parameter space that will be explored by the JHF experiment: $`\theta _{13}2.3^{}`$.


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# Beam polarization asymmetries for the 𝑝(𝛾,𝐾⁺)Λ and 𝑝(𝛾,𝐾⁺)Σ⁰ reactions at 𝐸_𝛾=1.5-2.4 GeV

The LEPS collaboration

## Abstract

Beam polarization asymmetries for the $`p(\stackrel{}{\gamma },K^+)\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`p(\stackrel{}{\gamma },K^+)\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$ reactions are measured for the first time for $`E_\gamma =1.52.4`$ GeV and $`0.6<\mathrm{cos}(\theta _{K^+}^{cm})<1.0`$ by using linearly polarized photons at the Laser-Electron-Photon facility at SPring-8 (LEPS). The observed asymmetries are positive and gradually increase with rising photon energy. The data are not consistent with theoretical predictions based on tree-level effective Lagrangian approaches. Including the new results in the development of the models is, therefore, crucial for understanding the reaction mechanism and to test the presence of baryon resonances which are predicted in quark models but are sofar undiscovered.

Strangeness photoproduction is a powerful tool to obtain a deeper insight into baryon resonances. It provides additional information about the baryon resonances to that obtained from $`\pi N`$ scattering and $`\pi `$-production reactions. Of special interest are nucleon resonances that have been predicted in quark models Capstick and Isgur (1986) and for which no experimental evidence has been found via the $`\pi `$-induced or $`\pi `$-production reactions. Some of these resonances, referred to as ‘missing’, could couple strongly to the $`K\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`K\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ channels Capstick and Roberts (1994, 1998). To better understand the problem of ‘missing’ resonances and to see whether predictions of baryon resonances can be tested, it is, therefore, very interesting to study experimentally the $`p(\gamma ,K^+)\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`p(\gamma ,K^+)\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$ reactions.

Measurements of the energy dependence of the total cross section for the $`p(\gamma ,K^+)\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ reaction at SAPHIR/Bonn Tran et al. (1998) resulted in renewed interest because of the presence of a resonance-like structure near $`W=1900`$ MeV. Mart and Bennhold showed that this structure could be explained by introducing a $`D_{13}(1895)`$ resonance Mart and Bennhold (1999) for which a considerable branching into the $`K\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ channel is predicted Capstick and Roberts (1998). Measurements of the cross section at CLAS/JLAB Schumacher et al. (2002) suggest that the resonance-like structure actually consists of several components which manifest themselves at different $`K^+`$-scattering angles.

The theoretical calculations are typically performed in a tree-level effective-Lagrangian approach. Janssen et al. showed, however, that large ambiguities arise from (i) the choice of included resonances, (ii) coupling constants, (iii) form factors and (iv) the treatment of the non-resonant ‘background’ Janssen et al. (2002a, b). Great caution is thus advised in drawing definite conclusions based on the cross-section data only. Alternative theoretical approaches in which, for example, off-shell effects are taken into account Saghai (2001), can also describe the SAPHIR data well without inclusion of ‘missing’ resonances. Moreover, coupled-channels effects are not negligible Chiang et al. (2001). One way to limit the freedoms in the model calculations is to analyze results from all photon-induced channels simultaneously Penner and Mosel (2002).

For the development of the models it is of vital importance to measure additional observables and improve the quality of the cross section data. Results for the recoil-polarization asymmetry in the $`p(\gamma ,K^+)\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ reaction (self analyzing by the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ weak decay) are already available from the SAPHIR data set. Extensive programs to measure cross sections and recoil polarizations are underway at JLAB/CLAS Schumacher et al. (2002) and ESRF/GRAAL Bocquet et al. (2001). Additionally, measurements of the beam polarization asymmetry ($`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$) are great assets to the database because of the high sensitivity to the model parameters and the presence of resonances Mart and Bennhold (1999); Janssen et al. (2002a). This asymmetry is defined through $`(\frac{d\sigma }{d\mathrm{\Omega }})_{pol}=\frac{d\sigma }{d\mathrm{\Omega }}[1+P_\gamma \mathrm{\Sigma }\mathrm{cos}(2\varphi ^{})]`$, where $`(\frac{d\sigma }{d\mathrm{\Omega }})_{pol}`$ is the cross section using a linearly-polarized photon beam, $`\frac{d\sigma }{d\mathrm{\Omega }}`$ is the unpolarized cross section, $`P_\gamma `$ the degree of photon polarization, $`\varphi ^{}`$ the azimuthal angle between the photon polarization plane and the vector normal to the $`K^+`$ reaction plane. Access to this observable is most easily obtained at backward-Compton scattering facilities Bartalini (2002); Nakano et al. (2001) because the photon beam is easily and reliably polarized to a high degree.

In this Letter, we present for the first time measurements of the beam polarization asymmetries of the $`p(\gamma ,K^+)\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`p(\gamma ,K^+)\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$ reactions. These data were taken at the new SPring8/LEPS facility in Japan Nakano et al. (2001). Photons with a maximum energy of 2.4 GeV were produced from backward Compton scattering of 351-nm laser photons off 8-GeV electrons in the SPring-8 storage ring. The photons were tagged by measuring the scattered electron energies with a resolution $`\sigma `$=15 MeV. The degree of polarization of the backscattered photon beam was 95% at 2.4 GeV and 55% at 1.5 GeV. Half of the data was taken with horizontally-polarized photons and the other half with vertically-polarized photons. The direction of the polarization was switched about every 2 hours. The typical photon flux was $`10^6`$/s. A 50-mm thick liquid-hydrogen target was used.

Charged particles were momentum-analyzed by tracing their paths in a magnetic dipole field by means of a silicon-strip vertex detector and one drift chamber positioned upstream from the dipole magnet, and two drift chambers positioned downstream of the dipole magnet. The upstream drift chamber consists of 6 wire planes (3 vertical planes, 2 planes at $`+45^{}`$ and 1 plane at $`45^{}`$) and each of the downstream drift chambers consists of 5 wire planes (2 vertical planes, 2 planes at $`+30^{}`$ and 1 plane at $`30^{}`$). Electron and positron tracks due to pair production were largely removed at the trigger level by means of an aerogel Čerenkov veto counter. The event sample was further cleaned up by removing tracks with a large track-reconstruction error (confidence level $`<2`$%), which were mostly due to decay-in-flight events. The time-of-flight of each track was measured; the start signal was produced by a plastic-scintillator trigger counter placed behind the target cell, and an array of 40 plastic scintillators placed behind the tracking detectors provided the stop signal. The time-of-flight resolution was about 150 ps for a typical path length of 4 m. By combining time-of-flight and momentum, the mass of each track was reconstructed with a resolution ($`\sigma `$) of 30 (105) MeV/$`c^2`$ for a 1 (2) GeV/$`c`$ kaon. A $`3\sigma `$-mass cut was used to select the positively-charged kaons, with the additional condition that $`0.31<\text{mass}<0.74`$ GeV/c2 to ensure that the $`K^+`$ cut does not overlap with the cuts for the $`\pi ^+`$ and proton. At the highest momenta ($`2`$ GeV/c), where the mass resolution was worst, the contamination from the $`\pi ^+`$-particles and protons amounted to 2% (3.5%) and 2.5% (5%) for the $`K^+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ ($`K^+\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$) production, respectively. These numbers were determined by extrapolating the Gaussian-shaped mass distributions of the $`\pi ^+`$’s and protons into the $`K^+`$ region. $`K^+`$-mesons scattered between $`0^{}`$ and $`60^{}`$ degrees in the center-of-mass frame were detected by the LEPS detector Nakano et al. (2001). The track-angle resolution was 2.3 mrad.

Fig. 1 shows the missing-mass spectrum obtained for the $`p(\gamma ,K^+)X`$ reaction. Besides $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1116)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^0(1193)`$, additional peaks due to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1405)`$, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^0(1385)`$ (the two are not resolved) and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(1520)`$ are observed. A small bump below 1 GeV/c2 is due to misidentified $`\pi ^+`$ tracks. The missing-mass resolutions for the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ ($`\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$) were $`\sigma =`$17(16) and 10(9) MeV/c2 at the highest and lowest momenta, respectively. A momentum-dependent $`2\sigma `$ cut was used to select the events in each peak. The contamination of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ ($`\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$) events in the $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$ ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$) peak is less than 0.8% (0.4%). In total, $`7.3\times 10^4`$ $`K^+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`4.9\times 10^4`$ $`K^+\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$ events satisfied all conditions given above.

The beam polarization asymmetries ($`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$) are determined using the relation:

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }P_\gamma \mathrm{cos}(2\varphi )=\frac{kN_v(\varphi )N_h(\varphi )}{kN_v(\varphi )+N_h(\varphi )},$$
(1)
where $`N_v`$ ($`N_h`$) is the number of events detected at angle $`\varphi `$, with a vertically (horizontally) polarized photon beam and $`k`$ is a normalization factor obtained from the integrated photon yield for each polarization mode, corrected for the dead-time of the data-acquisition system and the random tagger-hit rate. The azimuthal angle $`\varphi `$ is measured with respect to the horizontal plane. Note that the detector acceptance is not present in Eq. 1, which is valid because the acceptances for our data taken with a horizontally and vertically-polarized photon beam are very nearly the same. Fig. 2 shows the measured ratio in the r.h.s. of Eq. 1 for the total $`K^+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ (a) and $`K^+\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$ (b) samples. By fitting with a $`C\mathrm{cos}(2\varphi )`$ function and dividing $`C`$ by $`P_\gamma `$, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is obtained. When using the full data sets, the statistical errors are smaller than the systematic ones (see below).

The $`K^+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`K^+\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$ data sets were each divided into 9, 0.1-GeV wide, photon-energy bins ranging from 1.5 to 2.4 GeV. The narrow energy binning is important, since the excitation spectrum may vary rapidly due to the presence of resonances. The chosen bin-size is smaller than or comparable to the widths of the relevant baryon resonances. For each energy bin, the events were further divided according to $`K^+`$ scattering angles; 5 bins in $`\mathrm{cos}(\theta _{K^+}^{cm})`$ from 0.6 to 1.0, each with a width of 0.1, except for the 2 most forward bins which had a width of 0.05. For each sub-sample, the beam polarization asymmetry was determined following the above-described procedure (the reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of the fits with a $`\mathrm{cos}(2\varphi )`$ to the measured asymmetries varied from 0.4 to 2.1). Although the contamination from protons and $`\pi ^+`$’s in the $`K^+`$ sample was small, it gives rise to a non-negligible shift of the measured asymmetry for the $`K^+`$. This was corrected for by determining contamination level from the protons and $`\pi ^+`$’s and their respective asymmetries (determined by selecting $`\pi ^+`$’s and protons in the mass spectra but keeping all other selections described above; for protons the asymmetries are close to 0 and for $`\pi ^+`$’s they are positive, but in general slightly lower than for the $`K^+`$’s). Since the asymmetry of the total sample is the average of the asymmetries for the $`K^+`$ events and the proton and $`\pi ^+`$ contaminations, weighted by their relative contributions in each sample, the asymmetries for the $`K^+`$-sample can be extracted. The correction ranged from $`0.00\pm 0.01`$ for the lowest photon energies to $`+0.03\pm 0.02`$ at the highest photon energies.

The final results are shown in Fig. 3. The observed asymmetries are positive and increase gradually with rising photon energy. The error bars correspond to the combined statistical (ranging from 0.09 at $`E_\gamma =1.5`$ GeV to 0.04 at $`E_\gamma =2.4`$ GeV) and systematic errors ($`0.02`$). The latter arise from (i) the photon-yield normalization errors ($`k`$ in Eq. 1) and the uncertainties in the degree and angle of linear polarization (systematic error: 0.01), (ii) the partial loss of events in a subset of the data due to a trigger problem in case the decay proton from the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }p\pi ^{}`$ or $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^0\mathrm{\Lambda }\gamma `$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }p\pi ^{}`$) hit the trigger counter. The loss is slightly dependent on the polarization direction and the effect on the measured asymmetries was estimated by mimicking the trigger problem in the subset of the data where it did not occur (systematic error (0.01 (0.015) for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ ($`\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$) production), (iii) contamination from events produced at the trigger counter, which is only significant at very forward $`K^+`$ scattering angles ($`\mathrm{cos}(\theta _{K^+}^{cm})>0.95`$); the systematic error is negligible for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ production and 0.01 for $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$ production).

In Fig. 3 the experimental data are compared with the theoretical predictions using the MAID2000 program Mart and Bennhold (1999); Lee et al. (2001); Mart et al. (2000) (dashed lines) and by Janssen et al. Janssen et al. (2002a, b) (solid lines). These calculations are the most up-to-date available and good examples to see model ambiguities and the sensitivity of the beam polarization asymmetry on the model assumptions. Both calculations are obtained on the basis of a tree-level effective Lagrangian model and make use of the cross-section data from SAPHIR to fix the various parameters in the models through a fitting procedure. The same $`s`$-channel resonances are taken into account, including the ‘missing’ $`D_{13}(1895)`$ resonance. With the $`D_{13}(1895)`$ resonance, the calculations reproduce the experimental cross sections better but also give dramatically different predictions for the beam polarization asymmetry, including a change of sign Mart and Bennhold (1999). The difference between the two sets of predictions lies in the treatment of the non-resonant background terms: Janssen et al. introduce hyperon resonances in the $`u`$-channel to counterbalance the strength produced by the Born terms in a physically relevant way. The calculations also differ in the choice for the hadronic form factor.

For the $`K^+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ channel, the calculations in MAID2000 over-predict the beam polarization asymmetries and those by Janssen et al. under-predict the measurements. For the $`K^+\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$ channel, the calculations predict similar absolute values for the beam polarization asymmetries, but with opposite sign. The measurements give positive values, but the magnitude is lower than the values by Janssen et al. The discrepancy between the data and calculations does not necessarily mean that the models have fundamental shortcomings. It could merely indicate that the freedoms are too large and that fitting to cross section data only does not give sufficient boundary conditions. The photon polarization data presented here are great assets to guide the theoretical work.

For $`E_\gamma >2.0`$ GeV the above-mentioned models are no longer applicable. Regge-model calculations Guidal et al. (1997), which reproduce the asymmetry at higher photon energies ($`E_\gamma >5`$ GeV) well, are not applicable for energies below $`2.5`$ GeV since the $`s`$-channel resonances are not taken into account. The new data up to 2.4 GeV provide, therefore, another challenge for future theoretical work.

In short, we present beam polarization asymmetry data for the $`p(\gamma ,K^+)\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`p(\gamma ,K^+)\mathrm{\Sigma }^0`$ reactions for $`1.5<E_\gamma <2.4`$ GeV and $`0.6<\mathrm{cos}(\theta _{K^+}^{cm})<1.0`$. Based on the calculations by Mart and Bennhold Mart and Bennhold (1999), the positive sign measured in case of the former reaction indicates the presence of a missing $`D_{13}`$ resonance. However, in light of the large freedoms in the models, such strong conclusions are premature. Using the new results to constrain the calculations, similar to the case for $`\pi `$ photoproduction at lower energy, will lead to a strongly enhanced understanding of the reaction mechanisms and are pivotal for testing the presence of missing resonances.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors thank the staff at SPring-8 for providing excellent experimental conditions during the long course of the experiment. This research was supported in part by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan, the National Science Council of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the National Science Foundation.


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# Superconducting proximity effect in the presence of strong spin scattering

## Abstract

We report measurements of the four terminal temperature dependent resistance of narrow Au wires implanted with 100 ppm Fe impurities in proximity to superconducting Al films. The wires show an initial decrease in resistance as the temperature is lowered through the superconducting transition of the Al films, but then show an increase in resistance as the temperature is lowered further. In contrast to the case of pure Au wires in contact with a superconducting film, the resistance at the lowest temperatures rises above the normal state resistance. Analysis of the data shows that, in addition to contributions from magnetic scattering and electron-electron interactions, the temperature dependent resistivity shows a substantial contribution from the superconducting proximity effect, which exists even in the presence of strong spin scattering.

The properties of a normal metal in contact with a superconductor are modified by the superconducting correlations induced by the proximity effect. Microscopically, these correlations arise from phase coherent Andreev reflection of electrons in the normal metal at the normal metal/superconductor (NS) interface Andreev64 . In diffusive normal-metal samples whose dimensions are less than or comparable to the electron phase coherence length $`L_\varphi `$, these correlations give rise to a non-monotonic dependence of the resistance as a function of temperature below the transition temperature $`T_c`$ of the superconductor, the so-called reentrance effect. The resistance initially decreases as the temperature is lowered, reaches a minimum at some intermediate temperature $`T_{min}`$, and then *increases* as the temperature is lowered still further.

The temperature $`T_{min}`$ at which the minimum is observed is determined by the Thouless energy $`E_c=\mathrm{}D/L^2`$, where $`D=v_F\mathrm{}/3`$ is the electron diffusion constant, $`v_F`$ the Fermi velocity, $`\mathrm{}`$ the elastic mean free path in the normal metal, and $`L`$ is the length of the normal wire Golubov97 . In the absence of electron-electron interactions, the resistance is expected to approach its normal state value $`R_n`$ at $`T=0`$. In the presence of electron-electron interactions, the resistance can be either less or greater than $`R_n`$, depending on whether the attractions are attractive or repulsive Nazarov96 ; Zhou95 . Experimentally, reentrant behavior has been observed in many experiments on NS and superconductor/semiconductor (N-Sm) structures Charlat96 ; Hartog96 . Theoretically, the presence of long-range electron phase coherence is thought to be critical for the existence of the superconducting proximity effect. The electron phase coherence in the normal metal $`L_\varphi `$ provides an upper cutoff for penetration of superconducting correlations into the normal metal Nazarov96 . Consequently, in systems in which $`L_\varphi `$ is short, the proximity effect is expected to be correspondingly suppressed.

In this paper, we report on measurements of the temperature dependent resistance $`R(T)`$ of Au wires with 100 ppm magnetic Fe impurities in contact with an Al film. The wires are designed in a four-terminal configuration so only the normal metal wire itself (and not the NS interface) is measured. The wires show an initial decrease in resistance as the temperature is lowered through the superconducting transition of the Al films. As the temperature is lowered still further, the resistance of the AuFe wires starts to increase, and finally rises above the normal state resistance at the lowest temperatures. Analysis of the Kondo and electron-electron interaction contributions to the resistivity show that a substantial contribution to $`R(T)`$ is associated with the superconducting proximity effect, in spite of the fact that the presence of the magnetic impurities is expected to drastically attenuate $`L_\varphi `$.

The two AuFe wires discussed in this paper were patterned by multilevel electron beam lithography onto oxidized Si substrates. They form part of a sample designed to investigate the size dependence of the thermopower in the Kondo effect. These results will be discussed in a later publication; here we concentrate on the temperature dependent resistance of the two AuFe wires that were used as thermometers in the experiment. In the first level of lithography, a 51-nm-thick film was deposited by thermal evaporation from a 99.999%-pure Au target. After this, the entire Au film was implanted by Fe ions to a concentration of $``$ 100 ppm. Finally, a 75-nm-thick Al film was deposited as the superconductor. Figure 1(a) shows scanning electron micrograph of one of the AuFe wires. The two wires had lengths of 0.5 $`\mu `$m and 1.0 $`\mu `$m, and a width of 160 nm. Four leads attached to the wires enabled us to perform four-terminal resistance measurements on the normal metal by itself (see the schematic if Fig. 1(b)); a fifth lead was overlaid with a 75 nm thick Al film to induce a proximity effect in the wire. The resistivity of the Au film at $`T=`$1 K was $`\rho _0=`$ 3.52 $`\mu \mathrm{\Omega }`$-cm, and the thermal length $`L_T=\sqrt{\mathrm{}D/k_BT}`$ 0.29 $`\mu `$m at 1 K. The measurements were performed in a dilution refrigerator and all electrical terminals were carefully shielded to minimize unwanted noise effects.

Figures 2(a) and 2(b) show $`R(T)`$ of AuFe wires of length 0.5 $`\mu `$m and 1.0 $`\mu `$m respectively. Both wires show a sharp drop in resistance at approximately 1.2 K, the temperature $`T_c`$ at which the Al films in contact with the wires go through their superconducting transitions. It should be noted again that, due to the four-terminal nature of the measurement, this drop in resistance at $`T_c`$ is associated with the Au wire, and not an inadvertent measurement of the resistance of the Al film. This indicates that the drop in resistance below $`T_c`$ that we observe is indeed associated with the superconducting proximity effect.

Below $`T`$0.8 K, the resistance of both wires increases rapidly, rising above the normal state resistance at lower temperatures. At the lowest temperatures, the resistance eventually decreases, resulting in a small peak at $`T`$60 mK. To discuss the possible origins of this temperature dependence, it is instructive to plot the data for the two wires in terms of changes in the resistivity from the normal state resistivity. These data are shown in Fig. 3. Plotted in this manner, it can be seen that the resistivity changes for the two wires differ substantially only below 0.8 K.

In addition to the proximity effect, three other effects may contribute substantially to the low temperature $`R(T)`$: weak localization (WL), electron-electron interactions (EEI), and scattering by magnetic impurities. In one dimension. the functional form of the WL contribution to the resistivity can be written as altshuler

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _{WL}=\frac{\rho _0^2}{\pi \mathrm{}/e^2}\frac{L_\varphi }{A}$$
(1)
where $`A=8.16\times 10^{11}`$ cm2 is the cross-sectional area of the wires. (Since we are interested here only in estimating in the total size of the contribution, we ignore the effects of spin-orbit scattering.) The temperature dependence of the WL contribution is determined by the temperature dependence of $`L_\varphi `$, which in turn is determined by the temperature dependence of the magnetic scattering time $`\tau _s`$. Although there has been a tremendous amount of interest recently in the role of magnetic scattering in electron coherence lin , for our discussion, we are interested only in an upper bound on the WL localization contribution. We therefore choose $`L_\varphi 1`$ $`\mu `$m as an upper limit over the temperature range of interest, a value is consistent with recent experiments on WL in AuFe wires with concentrations comparable to those in our samples schopfer . Using values for our samples, this gives an upper limit of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho `$ 1 n$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$-cm for the total change in resistivity due to WL below $`T=`$ 0.8 K. This is a small contribution to the total change in resistivity shown in Fig. 3.

The one-dimensional form of the EEI contribution can be written in a form similar to Eq.(1): Altshuler85 ; chandrasekhar

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _{ee}=\alpha \frac{\rho _0^2}{\pi \mathrm{}/e^2}\frac{L_T}{A}$$
(2)
where $`\alpha `$ is a parameter of order unity, which has been found to be approximately 1.5 for Au chandra2 . Again, the total change in resistivity due to electron-electron interactions is only $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho `$ 1 n$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$-cm. Consequently, the contributions to the resistivity due to either WL or EEI effects is negligible in our experiment, and will be ignored in our analysis.

The last contribution of importance is associated with scattering by magnetic impurities. For dilute concentrations of magnetic impurities, where the magnetic interactions between impurities can be ignored, scattering of electrons off the magnetic impurities gives rise to a contribution to the temperature dependent resistance, the so-called Kondo effect. At temperatures far above the characteristic Kondo temperature $`T_K`$ of the specific metal/magnetic-impurity system, the Kondo effect gives rise to a logarithmic contribution to the temperature dependent resistivityKondo :

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _K\rho _K\mathrm{ln}(T/T_K)$$
(3)
where $`\rho _K`$ is a constant for a specific metal/magnetic-impurity system, and has been determined to be 0.11-0.17 n$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$-cm per decade of temperature change per ppm of Fe impurities in a Au host Loram70 . At lower temperatures, in the unitarity limit of the Kondo effect, the resistance due to magnetic scattering is expected to approach a constant value quadratically with the temperature $`T`$ as $`T0`$ nozieres . However, this single impurity limit behavior is frequently masked by the effect of RKKY interactions between the magnetic impurities, which tend to freeze the magnetic impurity spins in random orientations as the temperature is reduced below a characteristic temperature $`T_f`$ daybell . Below $`T_f`$, the resistance of the metal decreases as the magnetic scattering is frozen out.

The $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho (T)`$ curves for both wires in Fig. 3 show behavior that is at first sight consistent with magnetic scattering, i.e., the resistance first increases as the temperature is decreased below $`T0.8`$ K, reaches a maximum at around $`T60`$ mK, and then decreases below this temperature. However, if this temperature dependence is solely due to scattering by magnetic impurities, then, according to Eq. (3), the $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho (T)`$ curves for both wires should be the same, since both wires have the same magnetic impurity concentration; indeed, they are part of the same sample, separated by a distance of less than 5 microns. In fact, the slope of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho (T)`$ for the 1 $`\mu `$m long wire between 0.2 K and 0.8 K is about a factor of 1.65 larger than the corresponding slope for the 0.5 $`\mu `$m long wire, and the slope for even the 0.5 $`\mu `$m long wire is a factor of two larger than expected for scattering by only magnetic impurities.

For a quantitative estimate of the contribution to the resistivity due to the Kondo effect, we choose a value of $`\rho _K`$ in Eq. (3) to match the slope of the resistivity of both Au wires above $`T_c`$, where the contribution from the superconducting proximity effect is absent, obtaining a value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho _K`$ = 0.12 n$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$-cm per decade of temperature change per ppm. This value is in good agreement with previous work on ion-implanted AuFe wires of similar concentration chandra2 . The solid line in Fig. 3 shows the resulting logarithmic contribution due to the Kondo effect using this value of the slope. The contribution due to the Kondo slope is clearly much less than the resistivity change in either wire. Of course, this simple analysis does not capture the reduction in resistivity at very low temperatures, which arises from suppression of magnetic scattering due to the incipient formation of a spin-glass. Theoretical models have been developed that take into account both the Kondo and spin-glass effects larsen ; these models predict that there is a universal function that describes the resistivity for samples of a particular metal/magnetic-impurity system with a specific impurity concentration. However, there is some question as to the applicability of these models to disordered mesoscopic samples neuttiens , and in any case, the presence of the superconducting proximity effect makes a quantitative comparison to this theory difficult. We shall therefore focus on a qualitative discussion of the low temperature resistivity of the wires, attempting to draw some general conclusions about the superconducting proximity effect in the presence of magnetic impurities.

In terms of resistivity, the Kondo and spin-glass contributions due to magnetic scattering should be the same for both wires. Consequently, the difference between the resistivity of the two wires shown in Fig. 3(a) arises primarily from the superconducting proximity effect (we have noted earlier that the WL and EEI contributions are small). In order to emphasize this difference, we show in Fig. 3(b) the data for the two wires of Fig. 3(a), with the logarithmic Kondo contribution represented by the solid line in Fig. 3(a) subtracted. Unfortunately, unlike the WL or EEI contributions, there is no simple analytical expression to determine the contribution of the superconducting proximity effect. Estimating this contribution would require a numerical solution of the Usadel equation for our particular geometry. However, one can qualitatively compare the temperature dependence seen in Fig. 3(b) to the behavior expected for a normal metal wire in contact with a superconductor.

For a wire of length $`L<L_\varphi `$ connected to a superconducting reservoir by a perfectly transparent interface on one end, and a normal-metal reservoir on the other, the overall change in resistance is typically $`0.1R_n`$. This value is reduced as the transparency of the NS interface decreases, although the temperature $`T_{min}`$ at which the minimum in resistance is observed does not change appreciably. $`L_\varphi `$ acts as an upper length scale for the proximity effect; if $`L>L_\varphi `$, the effective length of the wire can be considered to be $`L_\varphi `$. For a constant $`L_\varphi <L`$, this has two consequences in comparison to the case $`L_\varphi >L`$. First, $`T_{min}`$ increases, and second, the overall change in resistance decreases, since now only a fraction $`L_\varphi /L`$ of the wire contributes to the proximity effect. $`L_\varphi `$ in our samples is expected to be shorter in comparison to normal metals with no magnetic impurities, due to the enhanced dephasing introduced by them. The overall change of $`0.5\%`$ of $`R_n`$ at low temperatures observed in our samples is consistent with resistance changes observed in previous experiments on proximity-coupled normal metals, if $`L_\varphi `$ is short, but not negligible.

If $`L_\varphi `$ is less than $`L`$ and itself varies with temperature, the temperature dependence of the proximity effect might be expected to be far more complicated. To our knowledge, this regime has not been discussed in detail theoretically or experimentally black . Experimentally, of course, $`L_\varphi `$ is in general temperature-dependent. In the absence of magnetic impurities, $`L_\varphi `$ is observed to increase as a power law with decreasing $`T`$, eventually saturating at low temperatures in some experiments lin . In the presence of strong magnetic scattering, $`L_\varphi `$ may have a non-monotonic temperature dependence, associated with the peak in spin-flip scattering at $`T_K`$ due to the Kondo effect peters ; cvh ; mohanty ; schopfer . Thus, the temperature dependence of the proximity effect contribution to the resistance may directly reflect the temperature dependence of the mechanisms that contribute to electron decoherence in disordered normal metals, both with and without magnetic impurities. Consequently, although it is tempting to ascribe the increase in resistance above $`R_n`$ that we observe in our samples to the presence of electron-electron interactions as described in the conventional theory of the proximity effect, we believe that a full understanding of the low temperature resistance anomalies requires further theoretical and experimental investigation.

In summary, we have measured the temperature dependent resistance of 100 ppm AuFe wires that are in close contact with a superconducting film. In addition to the contribution due to scattering from magnetic impurities, a significant contribution to the low temperature resistance comes from the superconducting proximity effect, which exists even in the presence of strong spin scattering. The temperature dependence of this latter contribution is unusual, and we believe it arises from the temperature dependence of the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the loss of electron phase coherence in disordered normal metals.

This work was supported by the NSF through DMR-0201530, and by the Korea Research Foundation Grant (KRF-2001-003-D00051), and the US Department of Energy under Contract No. W-31-109-Eng-38.


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# On Halting Process of Quantum Turing Machine

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## Abstract

We prove that there is no algorithm to tell whether an arbitrarily constructed Quantum Turing Machine has same time steps for different branches of computation. We, hence, can not avoid the notion of halting to be probabilistic in Quantum Turing Machine. Our result suggests that halting scheme of Quantum Turing Machine and quantum complexity theory based upon the existing halting scheme sholud be reexamined.

\] In  Myers pointed out that there exists a problem in case different branches of quantum computation on a Quantum Turing Machine (QTM) take different numbers of steps to complete their calculation. That is, observation of halting qubit may spoil the computation since it selects a branch of computation and the quantum interference is destroyed after the selection. Subsequently several papers  on the halting process of QTM were published. In  Ozawa proposed a possible solution by means of quantum nondemolition measurement. He showed that if one considers a restricted class of QTMs such that the halting qubit and data slots are not changed after the branch falls into the halting state, the probability to obtain each outcome by a given time does not depend upon the fact whether one employed the halting protocol or not. However there still remains a problem. Even if one employs the protocol proposed, the notion of halting is still probabilistic. That is, a QTM with an input sometimes halts and sometimes does not halt. If one can not get rid of the possibility of such a probabilistic halting, one can not tell anything certain for one experiment since one can not say whether an event of halting or non-halting occured with probability one or just by accident, say with probability $`10^{40}`$. Bernstein and Vazirani  deals only with QTMs whose branches halt at a same time or none of them halt. If one restrict QTMs to such a class, one does not have the problem anymore. We will show, in the present letter, the restriction is not realistic. That is, we address the following question: for an arbitrarily given QTM and an input, can we tell whether the halting is probabilistic or not? We prove that the answer is negative. It means that there exists no necessary and sufficient condition to prescribe non-probabilistic halting QTMs. Thus our result suggests that the probabilistic halting cannot be avoided and appears naturally.

A QTM  consists of a head, a processor and an infinite two-way tape with data slots and other (working) slots. Thus the total Hilbert space is spanned by a complete orthonormalized system $`\{|x|\xi |q_j\}`$, where $`x`$ is an infinite sequence of the alphabets $`\{B,0,1\}`$ ($`B`$ is called as blank) with the condition that the number of non-blank cells is finite and $`\xi 𝐙`$ represents the head position and $`q_j\{q_0,q_1,\mathrm{},q_N,q_f\}`$ is an internal state. Here $`q_0`$ denotes an initial state and $`q_f`$ a halting state. A QTM is constructed by assigning complex probability amplitudes (components of a unitary matrix) which satisfy local rule condition. That is, only transitions between locally different configurations are allowed. According to , the components are assumed to be computable complex number, since otherwise we can not construct the QTM. In QTM, the halting scheme is slightly different from classical Turing machine due to the reduction of wave packet . For each step, we observe whether the internal state is $`q_f`$ or not, in other words, we perform the meaurement of the operator $`|q_fq_f|`$. When the outcome is $`1`$, we measure the data slots in the tape and recognize the computation result. When the the outcome is $`0`$, we do not observe anything and proceed the computation. All the ever known effective computation shemes  halt with probability one at a certatin time and never halt before then. However for an arbitrarily constructed QTM, the different branches of computation can have different numbers of computation steps in general. In such a case the halting process or the notion of halting itself has the problem as described above. One way to avoid such a difficulty is considering only special type of QTMs and inputs.

We call a pair of a QTM $`Q`$ and its input $`x`$ non-probabilistic halting iff one of the following conditions is satisfied.
i) There exists a $`t_0\{1,2,\mathrm{}\}`$ such that at step $`t_0`$, $`Q`$ under $`x`$ halts with probability one and for $`s<t_0`$ it halts with probability zero.
ii) For all the steps, $`Q`$ under $`x`$ halts with probability zero.
A pair of $`Q`$ and $`x`$ is called probabilistic halting when it is not non-probabilistic. We ask whether there exists an algorithm to judge whether a QTM and an input is probabilistic or not .

To answer the above question, we assuume the existence of such an algorithm, (classical) Turing Machine (TM) $`T_0`$. Then we can show contradiction. TM $`T_0`$ works so as to read input $`Q,x`$ where $`Q`$ is a QTM and $`x\{0,1\}^{}`$ is an input and determine whether $`Q`$ under the input $`x`$ is probabilistic halting or not. For reversible TMs, $`T_1`$ and $`T_2`$, let us define a special type of QTM $`Q(T_1,T_2)`$ which has two branches running $`T_1`$ and $`T_2`$ without interference as follows. The internal state of $`Q(T_1,T_2)`$ consists of a doubly indexed set $`\{(q_{},j),(q_0,j),(q_1,j),\mathrm{},(q_N,j),(q_f,j),(q_f,j)\}`$, where $`j=1,2`$ and $`N`$ is a sufficiently large number. That is, the Hilbert space of the internal states holds tensor product structure, $`𝐂^{N+4}𝐂^2`$. The internal state is initialized with $`|q_{},1`$ and a halting state is $`|q_f,1`$. $`Q(T_1,T_2)`$ with an input $`y`$ (finite string) behaves as follows:
1) change the internal state from initial state $`|q_{},1`$ to $`\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|q_0,1+|q_0,2)`$
2) for the branch with the second qubit of internal state $`|1`$, execute the TM $`T_1`$ under the input $`y`$ and for the branch of $`|2`$, execute $`T_2`$ under the unput $`y`$.
3) If the internal state is $`|q_f,j(j=1,2)`$, change the internal state plus a fixed tape working cell into $`|q_f,1|j`$. (i.e., To satisfy unitarity, the information which branch was lived in is transferred to the tape cell.)

Denote the set of all the QTMs of above type as $`S`$, i.e., $`S:=\{Q(T_1,T_2)|T_1,T_2\text{ are reversible TMs}\}`$. Since $`S`$ is a subset of whole set of QTMs, TM $`T_0`$ could determine whether or not $`Q(T_1,T_2)`$ under the input $`x`$ is probabilistic halting. That is, we can determine that for any given reversible TM $`T_1`$ and $`T_2`$ their computing times for an input $`x`$ are the same or not. Thus we obtain a TM $`T_0^{}`$ which reads input $`T_1,T_2,x`$ to compare their computing times, whose output is ”Yes” if their computing times are same and otherwise ”No”.

By use of $`T_0^{}`$, we can construct the following TM $`T_f`$ with its input $`T_1,x`$ where $`T_1`$ is a reversible TM and $`x`$ is its input.
i) Read $`T_1`$ and $`x`$
ii) Construct a TM $`T_2`$ which never halts under any input
iii) input $`T_1,T_2,x`$ to $`T_0^{}`$
iv) Write the output of iii)

We can see that if the outcome is ”Yes” TM $`T_1`$ under the input $`x`$ does not halt and if the outcome is ”No” TM $`T_1`$ under the input $`x`$ halts. It contradicts the undecidability of halting problem  of classical TM. Thus our assertion was proved.

Here we proved that for an arbitrarily constructed QTM we can not say whether it is probabilistic halting or not. The result will suggest that to consider QTMs with diffierent computation steps for each branches is necessary and the notion of halting in QTM should be reexamined again. For instance it may play an important role to construct a quantum version of algorithmic complexity theory.

T.M. thanks Masanao Ozawa, Fumihiko Yamaguchi and Satoshi Iriyama for helpful discussions.