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# The dark burst 010214 with BeppoSAX: possible variable absorption and jet X–ray emission

## 1 Introduction

The available sample of more than 30 X–ray afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) detected with BeppoSAX (Frontera (2002); Piro (2002)) shows a variety of emission properties that, even if they can be basically accounted for in the context of the fireball model (see, e.g., review by Piran 1999, 2000), shed light on several details of the GRB phenomenon. For example, breaks in the X-ray light curves, inferred by comparing the late afterglow emission with the prompt emission from GRB990510 (Pian et al. (2001)) and GRB010222 (In ’t Zand et al. (2001)), not only confirm the breaks observed in the optical afterglow emission of these GRBs (Stanek et al. 1999, and Harrison et al. 1999, for GRB990510; Masetti et al. 2001a, for GRB010222) but also give support to the fact that the onset of the X–ray afterglows occurs during the tail of the prompt GRB emission (Frontera et al. (2000)). Achromatic breaks in the afterglow emission can be an imprint of a relativistic jet when it slows down and spreads laterally (Sari, Piran & Halpern (1999)), but can also be, e.g., the consequence of a transition of the relativistic fireball to a non-relativistic regime (NR) in a dense circumburst medium (Dai & Lu (1999)). The different relationships expected between the slope of the afterglow light curve and that of the energy spectrum can help to distinguish between the various models and allow to gain information on the circumburst medium properties. In the case of GRB010222, In ’t Zand et al. (2001) and Masetti et al. (2001a) find that the NR effect is more consistent with the data. In this respect, some authors suggest that jet effects could not be the unique reason for such breaks (Wei & Lu (2002)). The continuum energy spectra of the X–ray afterglows are generally well fit with power–laws. However their interpretation is not unique: they can be either due to synchrotron emission, as in the case of GRB970508 (Galama et al. (1998)) or to inverse–Compton emission as in the case of GRB000926 (Harrison et al. (2001)). Only broad band spectra, that cover frequency ranges from the radio to X–rays, can provide the handle on the right model. Detection of inverse-Compton emission is a strong hint for the presence of a dense medium around the GRB location.

X–ray afterglows have been measured in 86% of the localized GRBs (e.g., Frontera 2002, Piro 2002), but only 50% of the GRBs with X–ray afterglows show optical (OTs) and/or radio transients (RTs). The explanation for the non–detection of OTs is not well established. A possible interpretation of such ”dark bursts” in visible light is that they are obscured by dust in their host galaxies (see reviews by Djorgovski 2001 and Pian 2002). This interpretation is likely to be valid when we observe radio transients (RTs) without OTs; in the remaining cases the issue is still open. A possibility is that dark bursts are at very high redshifts ($`z>4.5`$), as first suggested by Fruchter (1999). The shape of the light curve of the X-ray afterglows can provide a hint on the presence of dense star–forming regions around GRBs: a bump followed by a steeper decay in soft X–rays is predicted for bursts that are heavily obscured in the optical (Mészáros & Gruzinov (2000)).

In these respects GRB010214 shows interesting features which we will report and discuss in this paper. As we will see, it showed an X–ray afterglow emission but no positive signal was detected either in the optical or in the radio bands. Thus, it belongs to the class of “dark” bursts.

## 2 Observations and data analysis

GRB010214 was detected on February 14, 2001, at 08:48:11 UT with the BeppoSAX (Boella et al. (1997)) Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor (GRBM, 40–700 keV, Frontera et al. 1997), and the Wide Field Camera No. 2 (WFC, 2–28 keV, Jager et al. 1997). The GRB position was promptly estimated with an error circle of radius 3 (Gandolfi (2001)). The BeppoSAX Narrow Field Instruments (NFI) started observing the GRB error box 6.28 hrs after the burst; the observation lasted 1.91 days, with a net exposure time of 83 ks for the MECS and 23 ks for the LECS. A new uncatalogued X–ray source was detected within the WFC error circle in both MECS and LECS at coordinates $`\alpha _{2000.0}=17^\mathrm{h}40^\mathrm{m}58^\mathrm{s},\delta _{2000.0}=+48\mathrm{°}34\mathrm{}37\mathrm{}`$ with an error radius of 1 (Frontera et al. (2001); Guidorzi et al. (2001)), showing an apparent decaying flux. Optical/IR/radio counterpart observations of the GRB error box did not find any fading source (see Klose et al.2001a, Zhu & Xue 2001, Hudec et al. 2001, Berger & Frail 2001, Antonelli et al. 2001, Uemura et al. 2001, Gorosabel et al. 2001a and 2001b, Masetti et al. 2001b, Rol et al. 2001a, Cowsik 2001, Henden 2001), in spite of some initial IR (Di Paola et al. (2001)) and optical (Rol et al. 2001b ; Klose et al. 2001b ) claim of afterglow candidate. Among the upper limits reported above, the most constraining ones are shown in fig. 8.

Data available from GRBM include two 1 s ratemeters in two energy channels (40–700 keV and $`>`$100 keV), 128 s count spectra (40–700 keV, 225 channels) and high time resolution data (down to 0.5 ms) in the 40–700 keV energy band. WFCs were operated in normal mode with 31 channels in the 2–28 keV energy band and 0.5 ms time resolution (Jager et al. (1997)). The burst direction was offset by 7 with respect to the WFC axis. With this offset, the effective area exposed to the GRB was $``$ 510 cm2 in the 40-700 keV band and 72 cm2 in the 2–28 keV energy band. The background in the WFC and GRBM energy bands was fairly stable during the event. The GRBM background level was estimated by linear interpolation using the 250 s count rate data before and after the burst. The WFC spectra were extracted through the Iterative Removal Of Sources procedure (IROS, e.g. Jager et al. 1997) which implicitly subtracts the contribution of the background and of other point sources in the field of view.

We performed a joint spectral analysis of the LECS and MECS 2+3 data. The source was apparent in the 2–10 keV energy band, but did not show any statistically significant signal in the 0.1–2.0 keV band covered by the LECS. In 2–10 keV the source was apparent up to 72 ks from the GRB onset. In the last part of the source observation, from 72 to 187 ks, the source was no more visible.

The spectral fitting was performed using the XSPEC package v. 11.0.1 (Arnaud (1996)). The elemental abundances are with respect to those by Anders & Ebihara (1982) and the opacities are from Morrison & McCammon (1983). The quoted errors are intended to be at 90% confidence level (cl) for one parameter ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\chi ^2=2.7`$), except when otherwise specified.

## 3 Results

### 3.1 Prompt Emission

The GRBM and WFC light curves in different energy bands are shown in Fig. 1. Above 7 keV, the GRB shows a single pulse, which broadens with decreasing energy. A tail after the peak in the WFC energy band is also apparent. In the lowest energy band (2–7 keV), the main pulse shortens and the tail becomes a secondary peak. The total duration of the burst in the GRBM passband is $``$15 s, while in the low energy X–ray band it is $``$30 s.

The time-averaged 2–700 keV GRB spectrum was derived using the WFC data and the 225 channel GRBM count data. A simple power–law (pl) does not fit ($`\chi ^2/dof=38.5/17`$) the data, which are instead well fit ($`\chi ^2/dof=11.7/16`$) with a photoelectrically absorbed broken power–law (bknpl) with photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_X=0.86_{0.17}^{+0.13}`$ below the break energy $`E_0=67_{15}^{+20}`$ keV and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\gamma =2.4_{0.2}^{+0.3}`$ above $`E_0`$ (see Table 1). The fit with a smoothly broken power–law (bl, Band et al. 1993) does not allow the determination of the high energy photon index. By fixing it to the value derived from the bknpl model, the fit results are reported in Table 1. The $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ is consistent with the Galactic value $`N_\mathrm{H}^\mathrm{G}=2.66\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 along the GRB direction ($`l=75.3^{}`$, $`b=+31.3^{}`$). From the time-averaged GRB spectrum, we derived a GRB 1 s peak flux of $`(7.8\pm 1.3)\times 10^7\text{erg cm}\text{-2}\text{ s}\text{-1}`$ and a 40–700 keV fluence $`S_{40700}=(4.5\pm 0.8)\times 10^6\text{ erg cm}\text{-2}`$. In the 2–28 keV band the fluence is $`S_{228}=(7.3\pm 1.1)\times 10^7\text{ erg cm}\text{-2}`$, with a $`S_{228}/S_{40700}`$ ratio of about 0.16. For comparison with the BATSE GRBs, the 50–300 keV fluence of GRB010214 is $`S_{50300}=(3.3\pm 0.7)\times 10^6\text{ erg cm}\text{-2}`$ with a hardness ratio $`C(100300)/C(50100)=1.2\pm 0.3`$.

The results of the investigation on the spectral evolution of the GRB prompt emission are reported in Table 1 and Fig. 2. The GRB light curve was subdivided in three time intervals A, B and C (see Fig. 1) and the spectrum of each interval derived. The spectrum of the interval A is found to be well fit by a photoelectrically absorbed pl model, with column density $`N_\mathrm{H}=3.0_{2.0}^{+5.1}\times 10^{23}`$ cm-2, significantly in excess of the Galactic $`N_\mathrm{H}^\mathrm{G}`$. Freezing $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ to the Galactic value ($`N_\mathrm{H}^\mathrm{G}`$), the fit is not acceptable ($`\chi ^2/dof=15.8/5`$). An alternative to the pl model is the bknpl model, which fit the data (see Table 1) even assuming a Galactic absorption. However the peak energy $`E_p`$ derived with this model ($`40`$ keV) contradicts the usual hard-to-soft spectral evolution of GRBs. For this reason, we prefer the pl model, which implies an initial $`E_p>700`$ keV.

Unlike the A spectrum, the B spectrum cannot be fit with a pl model with either Galactic ($`\chi ^2/dof=18/9`$) or higher $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ ($`\chi ^2/dof=15.1/8`$). It can be fit with either a bknpl or a bl model with Galactic column density (see Table 1). Finally the C spectrum is mainly constrained by the WFC data, given that we have only upper limits with GRBM. It can be fit by a bknpl model with Galactic absorption. Freezing the low energy photon index to the value (0.81) found from the fit with a pl with an exponential cutoff, the other parameter values are reported in Table 1.

From the visual inspection of the 1 s light curves (Fig. 1) it is apparent that the pulse peak in the higher energy band leads that at lower energies while the pulse width decreases. This property is not new (Fenimore et al. (1995); Norris et al. (1996)). We have evaluated, as a function of energy, both the time lag $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ of the pulse peak with respect to the 100–700 keV peak time and the pulse FWHM by fitting the pulse time profiles shown in Fig. 1 with a Gaussian plus a polynomial. The results are shown in Fig. 3. Both FWHM and $`\mathrm{\Delta }T`$ vs. energy are well fit with a power–law ($`E^\alpha `$). The best fit index $`\alpha _{\mathrm{FWHM}}`$ is either $`0.20\pm 0.10`$ or $`0.28\pm 0.13`$, depending whether the midpoints or the lower bounds of the energy bands are taken into account, respectively, while the best fit power–law index $`\alpha _{\mathrm{\Delta }T}`$ is $`0.55\pm 0.17`$. The width of the main pulse in the energy channel below 7 keV (see Fig. 1) shortens instead of broadening, but a secondary pulse rises. Only the sum of their FWHM, evaluated by rebinning the 2–7 keV light curve at 5 s, is consistent with the power–law slope evaluated at higher energies (see Fig. 3).

### 3.2 Afterglow Emission

The entire observation of 165 ks duration was split into two parts, one of 49.4 ks duration during which the source was visible and fading, and the other of 115.6 ks duration, during which the source was no more visible. The afterglow spectrum of the first part is shown in Fig. 4. Given that below 1 keV the source was detected only marginally, the 2$`\sigma `$ upper limit is shown. The spectrum is well fit with a photoelectrically absorbed power–law with Galactic column density $`N_\mathrm{H}^\mathrm{G}`$ and photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.3_{0.6}^{+0.8}`$. No evidence of spectral evolution with time was noticed. Assuming the best fit spectrum, we derived a 3$`\sigma `$ upper limit of $`9\times 10^{14}\text{erg cm}\text{-2}\text{ s}\text{-1}`$ to the 2–10 keV source flux during the second part of the observation (starting at 72 ks after the main event).

Figure 5 shows the 2–10 keV flux decay from the prompt emission (WFC data) to the afterglow (MECS2+3), where the time origin is the GRB onset. Using a power–law model for the decay law ($`F_Xt^\delta `$), the NFI afterglow measurements are well fit with an index $`\delta =2.1_{0.6}^{+1.0}`$. If we include in the fit the last significant point of the prompt emission, we obtain an index $`\delta =1.27\pm 0.04`$, which however is not consistent with the $`3\sigma `$ upper limit provided by the WFC from 30 s to 300 s after the GRB onset. Limiting the light curve analysis from the last significant WFC data point to the second WFC upper limit, the flux decay is consistent with a power–law with slope $`>1.9`$, which however is not consistent with the late afterglow data points. This would imply the presence of a bump in the time interval from 300 s to $`3\times 10^4`$ s after the GRB onset.

Alternatively, taking as time origin that corresponding to 9 s after the GRB onset, we obtain the decay curve shown in Fig. 6. This time origin corresponds to $``$ 50% of the entire time duration of the GRB, where the afterglow is expected to start (Frontera et al. (2000)).

If we fit all the significant data points with a single power–law (best fit index $`\delta =1.2`$), the WFC upper limits are fulfilled, but the NFI upper limit is not consistent with this best fit curve. This suggests that a break somewhere in the light curve should have occurred. If $`\delta _1`$ and $`\delta _2`$ are the power–law indices before and after the break time $`t_b`$, respectively, an estimate of $`\delta _2`$ is $`2.1_{0.6}^{+1.0}`$; for $`\delta _1`$ we fit the same points but the last significant one, since the break time seems to occur somewhat earlier: it comes out $`\delta _1=0.99_{0.09}^{+0.04}`$, where the shallowest decay allowed ($`0.90`$) has been estimated by connecting the WFC point with the WFC 3$`\sigma `$ upper limit from 30 s to 300 s; this solution fulfills all WFC and NFI upper limits. An estimate of the break time $`t_b`$ has been derived by intersecting the two power–laws with their uncertainties. The result is $`t_b=2.9_{2.4}^{+0.7}\times 10^4`$ s, (see Fig. 6).

Figure 7 shows the Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) of the GRB afterglow. In addition to the NFI measurements at different times, all the most sensitive optical, IR and radio upper limits have been shown. The upper limits have been corrected for the Galactic absorption using the color excess $`E(BV)=0.024`$ along the GRB direction (Schlegel et al. (1998)), which implies an extinction $`A_V=0.07`$ by using the relationship $`R_V=A_V/E(BV)=3.09\pm 0.03`$ by Rieke & Lebofsky (1985). Following Cardelli et al. (1989) the extinction in the other optical colours is: $`A_U=0.13`$, $`A_B=0.10`$, $`A_R=0.06`$, $`A_I=0.05`$, $`A_J=0.02`$, $`A_K=0.01`$. The corrected magnitudes have been converted into flux densities $`F_\nu `$ (erg cm-2 s-1 Hz-1) according to the calibration reported by Fukugita et al. (1995).

## 4 Discussion

From the average spectral hardness, GRB010214 is a classical long GRB. The spectral evolution of the prompt X–ray emission (hard–to–soft) is that typical of GRBs (e.g., Frontera et al. 2000), if, as above discussed, we assume a photoelectrically absorbed pl as the best model for the interval A (see Table 1). Also the power–law dependence of the GRB pulse width on energy above 7 keV is in agreement with similar investigations performed above 10 keV with the BATSE experiment (Fenimore et al. (1995); Norris et al. (1996)). The power–law index of the pulse width behaviour with energy ($`\alpha _{\mathrm{FWHM}}=0.28\pm 0.13`$) appears consistent with the range of values (0.37 to 0.46) found by Fenimore et al. (1995) and Norris et al. (1996) for a sample of bright BATSE bursts. It is however significantly lower than the corresponding power–law indices found by Feroci et al. (2001) for the X–ray richest GRB990704 ($`0.45`$) and by Piro et al. (1998a) for GRB960720 ($`0.46`$). Our result confirms the validity of the working scheme discussed by Norris et al. (1996) that pulses are the basic units in bursts. A peculiarity however emerges below 7 keV: the pulse width shortens while a secondary pulse rises; only the superposition of both pulses gives a FWHM consistent with the extrapolation of the pulse width behaviour at higher energies (see Fig. 3).

A much more peculiar feature of GRB010214 is the possible evidence of variable absorption of the promptly emitted X–ray radiation, from $`N_\mathrm{H}=3.0_{2.0}^{+5.1}\times 10^{23}`$ cm-2 during the first 6 s of the event down to a value consistent with the Galactic absorption ($`N_\mathrm{H}^\mathrm{G}=2.66\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2) along the GRB direction. So far, this feature has been observed only for GRB980329 (Frontera et al. (2000)), GRB990705 (Amati et al. (2000)) and GRB010222 (In ’t Zand et al. (2001)). As discussed by Lazzati & Perna (2002), variable absorption might be the signature around the burst of an overdense cloud of radius $`R<5`$ pc and density $`n>10^3`$ cm-3, similar to star formation globules within molecular clouds (Bok globules). The true $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ at the GRB site could be determined only from the knowledge of the GRB redshift $`z`$. A tentative estimate of $`z`$ could be obtained as follows. Amati et al. (2002), analyzing the redshift-corrected average spectra of a sample of 12 BeppoSAX GRBs with known redshift, found a correlation between low-energy photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_X`$ and redshift $`z`$ and between isotropic gamma–ray energy $`E_{iso}`$ (evaluated in the 1–104 keV band) and peak energy $`E_p^{rest}`$ in the GRB rest frame. Using the average value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_X=0.65_{0.19}^{+0.16}`$ (see Table 1) and inverting the relationship found by Amati et al. (2002) ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_X=2.464(1+z)^{0.78\pm 0.18}`$), we get $`z=4.5_{2.3}^{+11}`$. On the basis of this result, the minimum value of $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ at the GRB site during the time interval A would be about $`1\times 10^{24}`$ cm-2. However, the estimate of $`z`$ and thus of $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ are clearly tentative, since the GRB sample used by Amati et al. to derive their correlation, is still small and should be confirmed by larger GRB samples. The analysis of the afterglow light curve in the 2–10 keV energy band (see Fig. 5 and Fig. 6) has shown that either the afterglow starts close to the origin of the main event with the power–law decay near its end, or the afterglow starts after the peak time of the prompt gamma–ray emission. In the former case a bump in the afterglow light curve, something like that found by Piro et al. (1998b) for GRB970508, is inferred; in the latter case a break in the power–law decay should have occurred with an estimated break time of $`2.9_{2.4}^{+0.7}\times 10^4`$ s since the GRB onset. Similar breaks in the light curve have been found for GRB990510 (Pian et al. (2001)) and GRB010222 (In ’t Zand et al. (2001)). In these cases it could be established that the breaks are achromatic, given their contemporary presence in the optical band.

Assuming a break, within the fireball model scenario, three different interpretations can be given: 1) deceleration of the fireball into a wind environment (Chevalier & Li, 1999, 2000); 2) transition from a relativistic to a Newtonian regime of the outflowing matter (Dai & Lu (1999)); 3) deceleration of relativistic ejecta within a jet into a constant density medium (Sari, Piran & Halpern (1999); Rhoads (1999)). The mechanism 1) appears unlikely. Indeed, according to the wind model by Chevalier & Li (1999, 2000), assuming a density decrease $`\rho (r)r^2`$, where $`r`$ is the distance from the GRB site, when the transition from fast to slow cooling of the expanding fireball takes place, the expected break in the power–law decay index at high frequencies is $`\delta _2\delta _1=1/4`$, which does not match the observed break of $`1.1_{0.6}^{+1.0}`$. The mechanism 2) appears inconsistent with our data. Indeed, if the steepening of the light curve is due to NRP, for a cooling frequency $`\nu _c<\nu _X`$ after the break time, the expected power–law decay index is $`\delta _2=(3p4)/2`$ and the photon index of the pl spectral model is $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=p/2+1`$, where $`p`$ is the pl index of the electron energy distribution. From the estimate of $`\delta _2`$ we get $`p=2.7_{0.4}^{+0.7}`$, that would imply an expected value of photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{exp}=2.4_{0.2}^{+0.3}`$ which is inconsistent with the measured value $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.3_{0.6}^{+0.8}`$. Also in the case $`\nu _c>\nu _X`$, this model is still incompatible with our data. Indeed, the power–law decay indices before and after the break time are $`\delta _1=3(p1)/4`$ and $`\delta _2=(15p21)/10`$, respectively: thus, it is possible to estimate $`p`$ from the measure of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\delta =\delta _2\delta _1=3/4p27/20`$, and it comes out $`p=3.3_{0.8}^{+1.3}`$. Replacing this value in the expressions of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=(p+1)/2`$, $`\delta _1`$ and $`\delta _2`$, the following estimates are obtained, respectively: $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{exp}}=2.15_{0.4}^{+0.65}`$, $`\delta _{1\mathrm{e}\mathrm{x}\mathrm{p}}=1.7_{0.6}^{+1.0}`$ and $`\delta _{2\mathrm{e}\mathrm{x}\mathrm{p}}=2.8_{0.9}^{+1.2}`$. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{exp}}`$ and $`\delta _{2\mathrm{e}\mathrm{x}\mathrm{p}}`$ are only marginally compatible with the corresponding measured values, while $`\delta _{1\mathrm{e}\mathrm{x}\mathrm{p}}`$ is incompatible.

The model 3) accounts for the observed properties of the X–ray afterglow, independently whether $`\nu _c<\nu _X`$ or $`\nu _c>\nu _X`$. Indeed, according to this model, after the break, the expected $`\delta _2=p`$ independently of the cooling frequency position in the spectrum and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=p/2+1`$ if $`\nu _X>\nu _c`$, while $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=p/2+1/2`$, if $`\nu _X<\nu _c`$. From the estimated value of $`\delta _2=2.1_{0.6}^{+1.0}`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{exp}=2.0_{0.3}^{+0.5}`$ or $`=1.5_{0.3}^{+0.5}`$, respectively, which are both consistent with the observed index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.3_{0.6}^{+0.8}`$. With the found value of $`p=2.1_{0.6}^{+1.0}`$, also the expected index of the decay law before the break $`\delta _1`$ ($`=(3p2)/4`$ if $`\nu _X>\nu _c`$, otherwise $`=(3p1)/4`$) is consistent with the observations, independently whether $`\nu _c<\nu _X`$ or $`\nu _c>\nu _X`$.

The assumption of a cooling frequency $`\nu _c`$ below the X-ray band is preferred on the basis of the derived SED (see Fig. 7). Actually, if a high optical extinction is at the origin of the non–detection of the OT (other possible interpretations of the GRB darkness will be considered below), the true SED should rise the optical data points above the X–ray intensities.

Alternatively, if a bump after an initial decay of the X-ray afterglow is assumed (see Fig. 5), the contemporary non–detection of an OT is expected in the case in which the GRB occurs in a dense star–forming region and the afterglow is dominated, minutes to day from the main event, by small–angle scattering off dust grains (Mészáros & Gruzinov (2000)). According to this model, the initial afterglow light curve would be that unscattered, while a steeper decay curve is expected after the bump. We observe a similar picture, but the initial light curve is much steeper ($`\delta >1.9`$) than the mean steepness of the afterglow light curves ($`<\delta >=1.30\pm 0.02`$) (Frontera (2002)). In addition an IR counterpart, expected to be detected from such dark events at several days distance from the main event has not been reported. Thus, even though this model cannot be ruled out, the break hypothesis and its interpretation in terms of a spreading jet model appears more likely.

An open question is the density of the circumburst medium. At the onset of the main event it is likely to be high as confirmed by the initial absorption of the prompt X–ray emission. However the late prompt emission and afterglow spectra are consistent with a Galactic column density. Likely the GRB released energy has almost completely ionized the initially absorbing cloud (Lazzati & Perna (2002)). In this scheme however we would expect to see the optical counterpart, as in the case of GRB980329 (Palazzi et al. (1998)), which also showed an initial high absorption (Frontera et al. (2000)), and even a column density a factor 10 higher than the Galactic one during the afterglow phase (In ’t Zand et al. (1998)). Thus a likely explanation of the GRB010214 darkness could reside in an intrinsic faintness of the related OT and/or the high GRB redshift (centroid value of 4.5) estimated by us. The non-detection of a radio counterpart of GRB010214 might also be related to an intrinsic faintness of the source.

An important question in this respect is whether the non-detection of the OT is due to low sensitivity searches. To solve this issue, we have compared the published optical upper limits of GRB010214 with those of other dark GRBs and with the optical light curves of faint OTs. In Fig. 8 we show the result, adapted from Fig. 3 of the paper by Fynbo et al. (2001). Also shown is the best fit curve, obtained by Lazzati et al. (2002) for a sample of GRBs, which expresses the R magnitude as a function of the detection time. The reported GRB010214 upper limits do not seem to suffer from inadequate sensitivity observations when compared with other bursts.

## 5 Conclusions

GRB010214 is a classical, long burst with detected X–ray afterglow, but dark in the optical and radio band, despite sensitive and prompt searches.

The prompt emission shows the typical hard-to-soft spectral evolution with a possible high column density ($`N_\mathrm{H}=3.0_{2.0}^{+5.1}\times 10^{23}`$ cm-2) in excess of the Galactic one ($`N_\mathrm{H}^\mathrm{G}=2.66\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2) along its direction in the first 6 s. Other three bursts were found to show similar variable absorptions: GRB980329 (Frontera et al. (2000)), GRB990705 (Amati et al. (2000)) and GRB010222 (In ’t Zand et al. (2001)). Using the correlation between low-energy photon index of the prompt emission and redshift found by Amati et al. (2002), we have tentatively estimated the redshift $`z4.5`$ of GRB010214.

The 2–10 keV afterglow light curve suggests the presence of a steepening or a bump before the NFI observation with a break time of $`2.9_{2.4}^{+0.7}\times 10^4`$ s from the GRB onset. The model which appears to better fit the data is a spreading jet in either a typical ISM or in an overdense ionized cloud. The latter environment is more likely, given the initially high $`N_\mathrm{H}`$. In the jet scenario, the power–law index of the electron energy distribution has been derived ($`p=2.1_{0.6}^{+1.0}`$) and it is inside the range of values found for a sample of BeppoSAX GRBs (Frontera et al. (2000)).

###### Acknowledgements.

This research is supported by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and Ministry of University and Scientific Research of Italy (COFIN funds). We wish to thank the Mission Director L. Salotti and the teams of the BeppoSAX Operation Control Center, Science Operation Center and Scientific Data Center for their efficient and enthusiastic support to the GRB alert program.


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# The Radio Structure of High-Energy Peaked BL Lacertae Objects

## 1. Introduction

BL Lacertae Objects are an extreme type of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), whose hallmark is their “featureless” optical spectrum. By definition, any emission lines present must have rest $`W_\lambda 5`$Å; e.g., Stocke et al. (1991). BL Lacs are a member of the blazar class; and like other blazars, they are characterized by their rapid variability, polarized optical and radio emission and their flat-spectrum radio emission. See Urry & Padovani (1995) for an excellent summary of their properties.

Due to their luminous emission at these wavelengths, BL Lacs have been primarily discovered via X-ray and radio surveys; thus, traditionally they have been labeled as radio-selected and X-ray-selected (RBLs and XBLs respectively). In recent years this terminology has given way to a more physically meaningful classification based upon the overall spectral energy distribution (SED) of the object. In “low-energy-peaked” blazars (LBLs), the peak of the synchrotron radiation occurs at radio/IR wavelengths, whereas in “high-energy-peaked” blazars (HBLs) this peak occurs in the UV/X-ray. Historically, optical surveys have not been efficient in discovering BL Lacs (Fleming et al., 1993; Jannuzi, 1990). It is therefore not surprising that, until recently, known BL Lacs have shown a bimodal distribution of logarithmic X-ray to radio flux ratios, log($`f_x/f_r`$) from 1 keV to 5 GHz, with an approximate dividing line defined by log($`f_x/f_r`$$`5.5`$ (Wurtz et al., 1996). For the most part XBLs are HBLs and RBLs are LBLs, although exceptions do exist (e.g., Mkn 501 is an HBL in the 1Jy RBL sample). We choose to use the term HBL when referring to the BL Lacs studied herein because all were chosen with a log($`f_x/f_r`$$`5.5`$ criterion.

New surveys, e.g., the ROSAT-Green Bank (RGB) survey (Laurent-Muehleisen et al., 1999) and the DXRBS survey (Perlman et al., 1998), have found BL Lacs with intermediate log($`f_x/f_r`$) values, indicating a continuum of SEDs in BL Lacs and likely rendering the LBL/HBL terminology obsolete. The detailed properties of these new BL Lac objects with intermediate log($`f_x/f_r`$) values are not yet well-known. So, although LBLs and HBLs have different observed properties (Urry & Padovani, 1995, and references therein), it is not yet known whether LBLs and HBLs are distinct classes of AGN or merely extremes of a continuum of properties for a single class of AGN. We have therefore chosen to include three intermediate objects from the RGB sample in our sample of study.

Most BL Lacs are believed to be low-power radio galaxies whose jet axes are oriented at small angles to the line of sight; and as such their jets are relativistically beamed, e.g., Orr & Browne (1982); Wardle et al. (1984); Urry & Padovani (1995). It has been proposed that HBLs and LBLs are both beamed, low-luminosity FR-I radio galaxies, and that the observed differences between the two classes is a result of orientation. In this unification model, hereafter the “orientation” model, HBLs are believed to be viewed further from the jet axis than LBLs (Jannuzi et al., 1994; Perlman & Stocke, 1994). The comparable X-ray luminosities for HBLs and LBLs require that either the beam pattern or physical jet opening angle for the X-ray emission is larger than than for the radio emission, e.g., Stocke (1989); Urry et al. (1991); Ghisellini et al. (1993); Celotti et al. (1993). Several observed properties are consistent with this hypothesis. Compared to LBLs, HBLs are more numerous, their cores are less radio luminous, and they are less optically variable (Jannuzi et al., 1993). HBLs also emit less compact radio emission (Perlman & Stocke, 1993, 1994; Laurent-Muehleisen et al., 1993), contain larger fractions of starlight in the optical (Morris et al., 1991), and have smaller degrees of optical polarization, often with a preferred optical polarization angle, $`\pm 15\mathrm{°}`$ (Jannuzi et al., 1994). However, several observed properties which should be independent of orientation, e.g., observed evolution, optical emission-line strengths and extended radio powers, do not agree between HBLs and LBLs, indicating that orientation alone is insufficient to explain the observed distinctions between the two classes (Rector & Stocke, 2001). In fact, many LBLs appear to be beamed, high-luminosity FR-IIs; and at least one is a gravitationally lensed object, the “smallest Einstein ring” object 1Jy 0218+357 (O’Dea et al., 1992). The picture seems to be more clear for HBLs, whose properties are very consistent with being beamed FR-Is (Rector et al., 2000). Several observations support this picture, e.g., extended radio luminosity and morphology (Antonucci & Ulvestad, 1985; Perlman & Stocke, 1993), host galaxy luminosity and morphology (Abraham et al., 1991; Wurtz et al., 1996), and comparative space densities and luminosity functions (Padovani & Urry, 1990; Morris et al., 1991).

Alternatively, it has also been suggested that the difference between LBLs and HBLs lies not in orientation, but in the high-energy cutoff in their energy distributions, such that HBLs and LBLs represent a single family of objects with a smooth energy distribution followed by a sharp cutoff. For LBLs this cutoff occurs in the near-IR/optical and for HBLs it is at UV/X-ray or higher energies (Giommi & Padovani, 1994; Padovani & Giommi, 1995; Sambruna et al., 1996). In this model, hereafter the “energy-cutoff” model, HBLs have intrinsically lower radio luminosities than LBLs, and strong selection effects explain why most known BL Lacs are of the HBL variety.

Observational studies of BL Lacs at radio wavelengths have proven to be an effective test of unification models for two reasons. First, the kpc-scale extended radio flux is likely unbeamed, and is therefore indicative of the actual AGN power; and second, the core and parsec-scale extended flux is highly beamed, and is therefore strongly dependent on the orientation and relativistic nature of the jet. If HBLs are seen further off axis than LBLs, radio images will reveal several distinct trends. First, relativistic Doppler boosting and apparent proper motion are strongly sensitive to the orientation angle and bulk Lorentz factor of the jet. Thus, if seen close to their jet axis, LBLs should be more core-dominated, show more instances of superluminal motion and have larger jet to counter-jet brightness ratios. And if HBLs and LBLs share the same parent population, both should have similar jet Lorentz factors. Second, geometrical projection effects will cause jets with intrinsically small bends to appear highly distorted when seen close to the line of sight. Thus, the projected jet position angle (PA) in these highly inclined objects is very sensitive to the jet structure. It is known that LBLs show a wide range of parsec- and kpc-scale jet misalignment angles ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ $`|\mathrm{PA}_{kpc}\mathrm{PA}_{pc}|`$), presumably from a “knotty” or helical jet seen close to the line of sight (Kollgaard et al., 1992; Conway & Murphy, 1993; Appl et al., 1996). If HBLs are seen further off-axis than LBLs, geometrical projection effects will cause the parsec- and kpc-scale projected jet PAs of HBLs to be more aligned than LBLs.

If the “energy-cutoff” model is correct and there is no orientation bias, LBLs and HBLs should show similar parsec- and kpc-scale radio structure, similar distributions of parsec- and kpc-scale jet misalignment, assuming they share the same parent population. But since LBLs are generally more luminous than HBLs (Fossati et al., 1998), their parsec-scale structures may differ intrinsically from HBLs.

In this paper we present deep VLA and first-epoch VLBA observations of a sample of fifteen BL Lacs which span the full range of log($`f_x/f_r`$) seen in HBLs (§2). These maps are used to compare the parsec and kpc-scale structure of these objects. In §3 we discuss the results of these observations, compare them to similar studies of LBLs and discuss their implications for unification models. As these are only the first epoch of observations, proper motions of jet components are not yet available; thus we consider only the alignment and structure of the parsec-scale jets. In §4 we present the conclusions.

## 2. Observation and Reduction

Due to their relative radio faintness, few HBLs have been studied with VLBI techniques. Kollgaard et al. (1996) presented images of four HBLs from the bright HEAO 1 survey (Schwartz et al., 1989), all of which have log($`f_x/f_r`$) values close to the LBL/HBL boundary. Conway et al. (private comm.) completed VLBA observations of eight HBLs from the Einstein Medium Sensitivity Survey (Morris et al., 1991; Rector et al., 2000); however, parsec-scale extended structure was not detected in most of these objects, most likely due to their faintness ($`f_{core}25`$ mJy at 5 GHz).

In order to better determine the parsec-scale structure of HBLs, we completed deep VLA and VLBA observations of a sample of HBLs that covers a factor of $``$30 in log($`f_x/f_r`$). The initial goal was to determine their morphology and core dominance on VLBI scales as well as to measure the projected alignment of their parsec- and kpc-scale radio jets. At the time this project was begun, the availability of phase-reference calibrators for the VLBA was limited, so we chose only targets which were likely bright enough for self-calibration ($`f_{core}50`$ mJy at 4.964 GHz). Since HBLs are for the most part too radio faint to observe a statistically complete sample without phase referencing, we chose a sample that represented the full range of log($`f_x/f_r`$) values observable in HBLs, as shown in Figure 1. Our sample was selected primarily from the Einstein “Slew” Survey (1ES; Perlman et al. (1996)). Objects that are LBL-like (i.e., log($`f_x/f_r`$$`<5.5`$) were discarded. This sample was supplemented with three objects from the RGB BL Lac sample to fill in the log($`f_x/f_r`$) distribution with objects intermediate to LBLs and HBLs. The final sample consists of fifteen HBLs with an even distribution of log($`f_x/f_r`$) ranging from $`3.9`$6 to $`5.66`$, and is compared to the complete 1Jy LBL sample in Figure 1.

A summary of the sample properties is given in Table 1. The columns are:  the object name; \[2-3\] the Right Ascension and Declination in J2000 coordinates;  the log($`f_x/f_r`$) value (Perlman et al., 1996; Laurent-Muehleisen et al., 1999); and  the redshift (Laurent-Muehleisen et al., 1999; Perlman et al., 1999). The redshifts for 1ES 0647+250 and 1ES 1028+511 are marked with a colon because they are tentative.

### 2.1. VLBA Observations

Twelve BL Lacs in our sample were observed with the NRAO111The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is operated by Associated Universities, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) on 17 May 1997. We chose to observe at 4.964 GHz in order to obtain both high resolution and high sensitivity to maximize the probability of detecting and resolving faint VLBI jets in these compact objects. A single 24-hour time allocation was used with the complete VLBA array of 10 x 25m antennas. This allowed approximately twelve 6.5-minute scans per source, which were well-spaced in hour angle for optimal ($`u,v`$) plane coverage. To minimize potential phase and amplitude errors due to poor source positions in the correlator model, high-resolution “snapshots” were completed with the NRAO Very Large Array (VLA) B-array at 3.6cm prior to the VLBA observations to obtain core positions with 0.01″ accuracy. These are the positions given in Table 1. The data were initially calibrated with the AIPS software package in the standard manner. Self-calibration and imaging were then done with the DIFMAP software package (Shepherd, 1997). The resultant maps each have an RMS noise level of $`\sigma 0.1`$ mJy beam-1. The three RGB sources in our sample were observed by Bondi et al. (2001) and Fey & Charlot (2000).

All of the objects except for 1ES 0647+250 and 1ES 1028+511 are clearly resolved; however these two objects do show evidence for very faint extended structure. In all sources 60% to 90% of the VLA core flux, as determined by snapshots in Perlman et al. (1996), was detected on parsec scales. All of the resolved objects show a core-jet morphology, as is typical of LBLs and core-dominated quasars (Pearson & Readhead, 1988). All are core dominated on parsec scales ($`Rf_{core}/f_{ext}1`$). Some sources show a well-collimated jet with discrete components (e.g., 1ES 1741+196 and 1ES 1212+078), whereas others show a diffuse jet with a wide opening angle ($`>60`$°; e.g., 1ES 0806+524 and 1ES 1959+650). A map of 1E 1415+259 is not shown because its extended structure is too faint to be imaged. The peak component flux is of the order of the baseline noise ($``$7 mJy), and baseline phase errors dominate the apparent morphology of the extended structure.

### 2.2. VLA Observations

Eleven BL Lacs in our sample were observed with the VLA on 10 October 1998. We chose to observe with the B-array at 1.425 GHz with a 50MHz bandwidth to maximize sensitivity to extended, steep-spectrum structure while achieving $``$4″ resolution. The B-array was chosen based upon the redshifts of the objects in our sample to avoid over-resolution of the extended structure. Three or four 8-minute scans, each bracketed by a 90–second scan on a primary VLA flux calibrator, were made for each source. Scans were spaced to optimize coverage in the $`(u,v)`$ plane. Objects which were sufficiently resolved in previous efforts (Laurent-Muehleisen et al., 1993; Perlman et al., 1996) were not reobserved here.

Epoch 1995.2 VLA values were used to flux calibrate the maps using multiple observations of 3C 286. Since these sources are highly core dominated, a point source model was assumed to start the self-calibration process. Phase-only self-calibration in decreasing solution time intervals was used for the first four iterations. Amplitude and phase self-calibration were then used until the maximum dynamic range was achieved, usually requiring only one or two more iterations. The AIPS task IMAGR was used to generate the maps and clean components. Robust weighting (ROBUST = 0.5) was used to achieve a smaller beam FWHM with only a 10–12% increase in noise over natural weighting; see Briggs (1995) for an explanation. The core flux densities were measured by fitting the core with a single Gaussian with the synthesized beam’s parameters. The extended flux was determined by measuring the total flux density with a box enclosing the entire source and then subtracting the core flux density. For unresolved sources, conservative upper limits on extended radio flux densities were calculated by assuming that each source has uniformly bright extended emission at the 1$`\sigma `$ detection level over a 3000 kpc2 area surrounding the core.

### 2.3. Summary of Radio Properties

The VLA and VLBA maps are shown in Figures 2 through 20. A summary of the radio properties is given in Table 2. The columns are:  the object name; \[2-3\] the 1.425 GHz VLA core and extended flux densities (mJy);  the VLA jet position angle \[5-6\] the 4.964 GHz VLBA core and extended flux densities (mJy); and  the VLBA jet position angle. The errors in the flux densities are $``$0.1 mJy beam-1 for both the VLA and VLBA maps. The cumulative errors in the extended flux densities depend upon the solid angular extent of the measured flux. Note that, as discussed in §3, measured jet position angles are subjective; and in most objects the jet morphology is more complex than what can be modeled with a single PA value. Thus the discussion of individual sources below should be consulted for each source.

### 2.4. Discussion of Individual Sources

1ES 0033+595: The VLBA map (Figure 2) shows a diffuse jet extending in PA = +65°. It is not clear whether or not the parsec-scale jet is well-collimated. There is some evidence for the jet curving to the north. Thus the measured PAkpc is likely resolution dependent. The VLA image (Figure 3) of this source shows a diffuse halo surrounding the core. Jets are not clearly resolved; however the core is elongated in the PA = $`+62`$° and PA = $`105`$° directions, so the parsec- and kpc-scale jets appear to be well aligned if the parsec-scale jet is assumed to be related with the PA = $`+62`$° extension of the VLA core. HST PC observations of this object shows two unresolved sources of similar brightness separated by 1.58″ (Scarpa et al., 1999), which might have been explained as multiple images of a gravitationally lensed system. However, the VLA astrometric observations presented here do not detect a second radio source, ruling out that possibility.

1ES 0229+200: The VLBA map (Figure 4) shows a jet extending to the south (PA = +170°), with weak evidence for a broad jet opening angle of $``$30°. The VLA image (Figure 5) shows curved jets to the north and south, both of which curve to the west. Measuring the jet PAs from the the inner contours gives PA $`=10`$° and PA = 180°. The VLBA jet appears to be well-aligned with the southern jet ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ = $`10`$°).

1ES 0414+009: The VLBA map (Figure 6) resolves a jet which initially extends to the east-northeast (PA = $`+68`$°) of the core. There is also weak, extended ($``$3-4$`\sigma `$) emission to the southeast of the jet, which suggests either that the jet is collimated and bends to the south $``$10pc from the core, or that the projected jet opening angle is wide ($``$60°). If the jet does indeed bend to the southeast, the misalignment angle could be as large as $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ = $``$60°; however the inner portion of the jet is well-aligned ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ $`=5`$°) to the kpc-scale jet shown in Figure 3 of Laurent-Muehleisen et al. (1993).

1ES 0647+250: The VLBA map (Figure 7) of this source does not show a distinct jet but there is some evidence for a faint, diffuse halo around the core, with weak evidence of elongation of the core to the north at PA = $`10`$°. VLA snapshot observations (Perlman & Stocke, 1993) of this source show a jet extending to the southwest (PA = $`124`$°) as well as a possible extention to the northwest; although the reality of the extended structure is seriously questioned due to the poor quality of this map. A deep VLA map is necessary to better determine the kpc-scale structure of this source. Due to the uncertainty of the VLA and VLBA structure a $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ for this source is not considered in analysis. The redshift of 1ES 0647+250 is tentative and must be confirmed by further optical spectroscopy.

RGB 0656+426: The VLA map of this source (Figure 8) shows a jet-core-jet source embedded in a bright halo, with a jet at PA $`=+40`$° and a colinear counter-jet. The VLBA map of this source (Bondi et al., 2001) resolves a well-collimated jet at PA $`=150`$°, which is well-aligned ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ $`=10`$°) with the counter-jet. The halo morphology on kpc scales suggests this object is seen very close to the jet axis.

1ES 0806+524: The VLBA map (Figure 9) shows a jet to the north with PA = $`+13`$°. Very faint, diffuse extended emission surrounds the jet, suggesting it has a broad opening angle which may be as wide as 70°. A deep VLA map of this source is unresolved; no extended flux is detected at the 0.2 mJy beam-1 level.

1ES 1028+511: This source is unresolved by both the VLBA (this paper) and in a VLA snapshot by Perlman et al. (1996). The VLBA core flux is only $`50`$% of the VLA core flux, indicating either variability or extended flux which is too faint or resolved out on parsec scales. The redshift for this source is tentative, and must be confirmed by further optical spectroscopy.

1ES 1212+078: The VLBA map of this source (Figure 10) shows a well-collimated jet extending to the east (PA = $`+92`$°). The jet is straight as far as 50 parsecs; and it has several discrete components. A deep VLA map of this source (Figure 11) shows an unusual, diffuse halo around the source, with no clear evidence of a jet in any direction. Measuring from the core to the brightest hotspot gives PA = $`+178`$° and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ $`=86`$°, although this is highly speculative. However, a very large $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ does seem likely for this source.

1E 1415+259: This source was detected by the VLBA, but due to its faintness its extended structure cannot be modeled.

RGB 1427+238: The VLA map of this source (Figure 12) shows a compact structure that consists of a core and either a halo or roughly collinear jets extending north PA $`=10`$° and south PA $`=175`$°. The VLBA source is unresolved on the 1.1 mJy beam-1 level (Fey & Charlot, 2000).

1ES 1553+113: The VLBA map (Figure 13) shows a jet extending to the northeast (PA = +48°). Beyond $`20`$ parsecs the jet is very faint and diffuse, thus it is difficult to determine the opening angle or if the jet is bent. No jet continuous from the core is detected in a deep VLA map (Figure 14); however a faint lobe is detected south of the core, with a weak “hot spot” at PA = +160°, giving a large misalignment angle of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ $`=112`$° if we assume the VLBA jet is related to the southern lobe.

1ES 1741+196: The VLBA map of this source (Figure 15) shows a well-collimated jet extending to the east (PA = +86°). The jet is very straight, although it does show evidence for 5° bend to the south, 15–20 parsecs from the core. The VLA snapshot of this source (Perlman et al., 1996) shows a jet which is well-aligned with the parsec-scale jet ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ = 5°).

RGB 1745+398: RGB 1745+398 is the unusual object to the north in the VLA map shown in Figure 16. It has an edge-darkened, FR-I morphology that is highly distorted. One jet appears to emerge from the core at PA = $`28`$° before bending to the west. The other jet emerges from the core at PA $`=+105`$° before bending to the southeast. Both jets show sharp bends, of up to 70°. This object lies close to the center of a moderately massive galaxy cluster (Nilsson et al., 1999); thus its distorted shape may be the result of interaction with either the ICM or the halos of other cluster members. This hypothesis is supported by the presence of another highly distorted radio source to the southwest of RGB 1745+398 in Figure 16, which may also be a cluster member. A VLBA map of RGB 1745+398 (Preeti, private comm.) shows a component emerging due south from the core at PA $`=175`$°. Thus $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ $`=80`$° in this very distorted source.

1ES 1959+650: The VLBA map (Figure 17) shows a broad, diffuse jet to the north (PA $`5`$°). The opening angle of the jet is wide ($``$55°). The core is unresolved in a deep VLA map (Figure 18); however, very faint extended flux is detected to the north (PA $`5`$°) and south (PA $`+175`$°) of the core. Thus the VLBA jet appears to be well aligned with the northern lobe.

1ES 2344+514: The VLBA map (Figure 19) shows a jet extending to the southeast (PA = +145); it appears to be well-collimated for about 10 parsecs before bending 25°to the south and broadening into a cone with a $``$35° opening angle. A deep VLA map (Figure 20) detects emission extending to the east (PA = +105°) in a 50° cone. The $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ for this source is at least 40°.

## 3. Results and Discussion

Previous studies of the VLBI structure of BL Lac objects, nearly all of which were of LBLs, have shown that large misalignment angles are common in these objects (Kollgaard et al., 1992; Appl et al., 1996; Cassaro et al., 2002). This is to be expected in sources that are seen close to the line of sight, as projection effects will magnify the apparent distortion from intrinsic bends and complex structure within these jets.

Measuring the parsec-scale jet PAs in BL Lacs is very difficult for several reasons. Many of these objects show jets which bend within several parsecs from the core; and in many cases the emission where the bending occurs is very faint. Thus the measured PA is very sensitive to the linear resolution and the sensitivity of the observations, which of course depend on the observed wavelength, the distance to the object, the ($`u,v`$) coverage and the overall quality of the observations. The parsec-scale jets seen in Mkn 501 and 1Jy 1147+245 are good examples of this problem (Conway & Wrobel, 1995; Gabuzda et al., 1999; Cassaro et al., 2002). Adding another dimension to the problem, there is evidence that the jet trajectory for some of these objects can change on short timescales; e.g., 1Jy 0735+178 (Gómez et al., 2001).

Like the VLBI maps, the measured jet PAs in the VLA maps are also dependent on sensitivity and resolution; e.g., the measured PAs can differ by as much as 60° based upon the resolution of the maps for 1Jy 0814+425 and 1Jy 2131–021 (Cassaro et al., 2002; Rector & Stocke, 2002). Additionally, the kpc-scale structure of these sources are usually highly distorted, often with a “halo” that surrounds the core with no clear PA. Thus, it is not surprising that we see such a range of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ values, even without considering the enormous difference in physical scales between the VLA and VLBI maps and the physical environments through which a jet propagates from the core to kiloparsec scales.

Despite the uncertainties inherent in such measurements, we have measured parsec- and kpc-scale jet position angles for our HBL sample. We include the four HBLs observed by Kollgaard et al. (1996) into our HBL sample. For comparison, we consider all of the LBLs in the complete 1Jy sample (Stickel et al., 1991) for which high dynamic-range VLA maps exist (Rector & Stocke, 2001, 2002, and references therein) and that have been studied in detail with VLBI techniques (Cassaro et al., 2002; Fey & Charlot, 1997, 2000; Fomalont et al., 2000; Gabuzda et al., 1999, 2000; Gabuzda & Cawthorne, 2000; Kellermann et al., 1998; Ros et al., 2001; Shen et al., 1997, 1998). For consistency, we measure jet position angles from these maps using the methodology described below rather than use published values.

There are only a few cases where the jet PA is unambiguous. Thus the parsec- and kpc-scale jet position angles were measured with the following methodology. For both the VLA and VLBI maps the PA is measured from the core through contiguous jet components that are more than 2–3$`\sigma `$ detections. In some cases the PA on VLBI scales is uncertain because the jet is diffuse with a broad opening angle (e.g., 1ES 0806+524 and 1ES 1959+650). In these cases the PA is measured either down the center of the jet or along the brightest contours within the jet. Also, there are four objects in our HBL sample (1ES 0033+595, 1ES 0414+009, 1ES 1741+196 and 1ES 2344+514) that have bright, well-collimated parsec-scale jets close to the core and show evidence of bending further from the core. However, the emission where the bending may be occuring is faint; and it is not clear whether the jet is actually bending or simply broadening. For this reason the jet PA is measured from the bright jet components near the core. In three of the four objects the kpc-scale structure is well aligned with these measurements; the exception is 1ES 2344+514, for which no measurement of the PApc will align it with the VLA PAkpc. Thus it is possible that the jets in these objects are bending and may not as well aligned as measured.

The better alignment of the parsec-scale jet near the core with the kpc-scale jets in these sources may be the result of collisions with dense clouds of gas near the core. For a powerful jet, such collisions are not effective at deflecting the jet in a coherent manner; however they may result in temporary distortions of the jets on timescales of $`<10^7`$ yr (De Young, 1991; Wang, Witta & Hooda, 2000). Thus, it is possible that the observed VLBI morphologies could be explained by an off-center collision with a dense gas cloud 10–20 parsecs from the core which distorts the observed PA at this distance but doesn’t affect the long-term propagation of the jet to kpc distances.

It is worth noting that Hough et al. (2002) find significant PA differences between inner and outer VLBI jet components in a sample of lobe-dominated quasars, wherein the outer VLBI jet components are better aligned with the kiloparsec-scale jets. This suggests that, in quasars at least, jets may distort or bend close to the core before becoming well-collimated further from the core. The comparison is limited because quasar jets are of much higher power; and due to the much higher redshift of their quasar sample ($`z>1`$), the VLBI maps in Hough et al. (2002) are studying larger physical scales by a factor of $``$10. Also, lobe-dominated quasar jets are seen at large angles to the line of sight, and therefore do not suffer from projection effects to nearly the degree as BL Lac objects.

In all of the resolved VLBI maps jet structure is apparent; however the VLA maps reveal that many of these sources have a “halo” morphology, i.e., extended emission that surrounds the core with no clear jet. For these objects the PA is measured to the brightest “hotspot” within the lobe; and for objects which have two distinct lobes and no clear jet, the PA is measured to the lobe most likely associated with the parsec-scale jet (i.e., to the lobe which minimizes the value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$). Naturally, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ could only be determined for objects which were resolved by both the VLA and with VLBI.

Figure 21 shows the distribution of misalignment angles for the HBLs in our sample and the LBLs in the 1Jy sample. Unfortunately, in only seven of the fifteen HBLs in our sample are jets resolved in both VLA and VLBI images. The parsec- and kpc-scale jets are well-aligned ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ $`10`$°) for five of the seven. In three additional sources a VLA PA value was determined by the brightest hotspot in a lobe. In only one of these cases is the parsec-scale jet well aligned with the hotspot. The remaining six sources are unresolved in one or both maps. To this sample we added the four HBLs in Kollgaard et al. (1996), although for only one could a $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ value be determined. While all four are resolved in VLBI maps, a VLA map of 1ES 1133+704 by Ulvestad & Antonucci (1986) shows a halo morphology with no clear PA; and VLA maps of the other sources reliably resolve only 1ES 1727+503 (Ulvestad & Antonucci, 1986; Laurent-Muehleisen et al., 1993). In the 1Jy LBL sample we were able to determine $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ values for only 18 of 37 objects, with an additional three tentative $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ values. The difficulty in determining $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ values in the 1Jy sample is due to unresolved sources as well as many objects which show halo structures around the core with no resolved jet or hotspots.

Whereas most of the HBLs are well aligned ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ $`20`$°), the LBL sample shows a wide distribution of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ values, evenly distributed from 0° to 150°. The distributions of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ for HBLs and LBLs are different at the 96% level of confidence using a two-sided Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Additionally, all four extreme HBLs (log($`f_x/f_r`$$`>4.5`$) with well-measured misalignment angles are very well aligned. While not conclusive, this suggests that HBLs either have intriniscally straighter jets than LBLs, or that HBLs are seen further off-axis than LBLs, such that projection effects are not as important. Clearly larger and statistically-complete samples are desirable.

We note that the distribution of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ values in the 1Jy LBL sample is consistent with the distribution of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ values seen by Kollgaard et al. (1992). We also note that there is no significant evidence for a bimodal distribution of misalignment angles, with two peaks centered on 0° and 90°, as suggested for BL Lacs by Appl et al. (1996). Thus we argue that the 1Jy LBL sample is consistent with a population of radio galaxies whose jet axes are seen close to the line of sight; and that complex bend geometries such as those proposed by Conway & Murphy (1993) are not necessary to explain the distributions of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ in either of our samples.

If the orientation hypothesis is correct, that is, if HBLs are simply LBLs seen further from the jet axis, there should be a correlation between log($`f_x/f_r`$) and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ because LBLs will appear to be more misaligned due to projection effects. Figure 22 shows the distribution of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ as a function of log($`f_x/f_r`$) for both samples. There is a weak $`2\sigma `$ evidence (90% probability) that $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ and log($`f_x/f_r`$) are linearly anticorrelated when the samples are combined; but this anticorrelation is not seen in the LBL sample alone. No correlation is seen between $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{PA}`$ and $`z`$ for either the full LBL and HBL sample or amongst the LBLs alone.

## 4. Conclusions

We have completed VLA and first-epoch VLBA observations as part of a program to study the parsec-scale radio structure of a sample of fifteen HBLs. All of the resolved objects are core dominated in the VLA and VLBA maps; and they show a core-jet morphology on parsec scales, similar to LBLs and core-dominated quasars. Some sources show a well-collimated, parsec-scale jet with discrete components, whereas others show a diffuse jet with a wide opening angle. Some objects also show evidence for the interaction of their parsec-scale jets with a dense gas environment. Further modeling is warranted.

While LBLs show a wide distribution of parsec- and kpc-scale jet alignment angles, most of the HBLs considered here have well-aligned jets, suggesting either that HBL jets are seen further off-axis than LBL jets, or that HBL jets are intrinsically straighter. Complex bend geometries, such as those proposed by Conway & Murphy (1993), are not necessary to explain the observed distributions of misalignment angles seen in our LBL or HBL samples. There is a hint in our data that extreme HBLs (log($`f_x/f_r`$$`>4.5`$) have intrinsically straight jets that are viewed well off-axis in that all four extreme HBLs in our sample have very small ($`<10`$%) misalignment angles. Observations of other extreme HBLs are needed to test this preliminary result.

While it is now clear that orientation alone cannot be invoked to unify HBLs and LBLs (Rector & Stocke, 2001), selection effects may nonetheless cause LBLs to be seen closer to the jet axis than HBLs. For example, LBLs show optical emission lines which are several orders of magnitude more luminous than HBLs. Thus LBLs may require larger Doppler factors to sufficiently boost the jet continuum relative to the emission lines to remain within the BL Lac spectral criterion (rest $`W_\lambda 5`$Å). Similarly, the bright radio flux limit as well as the flat radio spectrum criterion of the 1Jy sample may also bias LBLs towards more highly beamed objects, whereas the X-ray surveys used to draw our HBL sample do not have any radio-based selection criteria. Thus, LBLs may be systematically more beamed than HBLs even though they may not necessarily share the same parent population.

Research on BL Lac objects at the University of Colorado was supported by NASA grant NAGW-2675. Part of this work is a part of a Ph.D. dissertation submitted to the University of Colorado by T.A.R.


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# First results from an aging test of a prototype RPC for the LHCb Muon System

## 1 Introduction

Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) detectors have been adopted by the LHCb Collaboration to cover a large fraction (about 48%) of the Muon System . The LHCb experiment  covers the forward part of the solid angle and is therefore subject to a very large particle flux. In particular, the particle rates expected in the Muon System are significantly larger than those expected by ATLAS  and CMS experiments . In the regions covered by RPCs, the maximum particle rate is expected to vary between 0.25 and 0.75 kHz/cm2, depending mainly on the polar angle. These large rates are potentially dangerous from the point of view of the RPC aging, which must be carefully studied and evaluated.

The main aging effect for RPCs is produced by the current flowing through the resistive plates; It has been demonstrated, indeed, that the irradiation of bakelite slabs with photons up to an integrated dose of 20 kGy does not produce any degradation in the bakelite properties . The most important parameter to evaluate the aging effects is given therefore by the total charge flow accross the detector during its lifetime . Assuming an average avalanche charge of 30 pC , the total charge integrated by LHCb RPCs over 10 years of operation range from 0.35 C/cm2, in the regions of the Muon System where the particle flux is smaller, to about 1.1 C/cm2 in the high rate regions.

Aging tests performed by the RPC groups of ATLAS and CMS have shown that their detectors can withstand the radiation doses expected in those experiments. However, these tests are based on an integrated charge of at most 0.3 C/cm2  which is four times smaller than the maximum expected in LHCb RPCs.

To cope with the LHCb requirements, an extensive aging programme has been devised, which started in January 2001 and is expected to last, at a first stage, until December 2001, exploiting the large CERN Gamma Irradiation Facility (GIF) , where a 137Cs gamma source of about 655 GBq is available.

## 2 Setup of the aging test

The aging test consists in irradiating for about one year a single gap RPC (irradiated RPC) at the GIF facility. The position closest to the source available for the chamber is at about 1 meter, where the photon flux is, roughly, 1.5 kHz/cm2. Another chamber (reference RPC) is installed just outside the irradiation area. Both chambers share the same gas and high voltage lines so that they are operated in the same conditions. In this way it is possible to disentangle the effects due to variations in the environment parameters, such as temperature, pressure or gas quality, from those due to the irradiation.

The two RPCs prepared for the aging test have resistive plates made of phenolic bakelite with resistivity $`\rho =910^9\mathrm{\Omega }`$ cm. The plates are oiled with linseed oil. The size of both chambers is 50x50 cm2. The readout strips of the irradiated RPC are 3 cm wide and have been cut in two along their length, so that the final strip area is 3x25 cm2. The strips of the reference chamber, instead, are 3 cm wide and 50 cm long. The RPCs are operated with a gas mixture consisting of 95% $`\mathrm{C}_2\mathrm{H}_2\mathrm{F}_4`$, 4% $`\mathrm{iC}_4\mathrm{H}_{10}`$, 1% $`\mathrm{SF}_6`$. To simulate the LHCb conditions and perform the test in a reasonable amount of time, the applied voltage was chosen in such a way to have an average avalanche charge of about 50 pC, that, at the rate quoted above, yields a current density of about 80 nA/cm2. This, with a realistic duty factor of 30%, gives an integrated charge of about 0.8 C/cm2 in one year of irradiation, which corresponds to about 7 LHCb years in the worst background conditions.

All the relevant parameters of the test, temperature, pressure, high voltage and currents drawn by the chambers, are continuously monitored and recorded on a PC. In Figure 1 the current drawn by the irradiated RPC is shown as a function of time (top plot) along with the temperature (middle plot). In the bottom plot the current drawn by the reference RPC is also shown. The latter is reasonably stable and constant over the whole aging test, showing that the chambers have been operated rather smoothly and no large systematic effects are expected to affect the performance of the two RPCs. In Figure 2, the integrated charge as a function of time is shown. The irradiated RPC has accumulated about 0.45 C/cm2 corresponding to about 4 LHCb years in the regions with the highest background rate and to more than 10 LHCb years in the low background regions.

To check the performance of the irradiated chamber at this intermediate aging stage, a beam test was performed, using the muon beam available at the GIF. In the next sections the results of this test will be described.

## 3 Beam test results

The irradiated and the reference RPCs have been carefully tested exploiting the muon beam available at the GIF. The test setup is sketched in Figure 3. The combined use of the gamma source and the beam allows a test of the chamber performance parameters, like efficiency, cluster size and rate capability, under different photon fluxes, ranging from zero (source off) up to a maximum that, in this test setup, was about 1 kHz/cm2. The chambers were operated in the same conditions as in the aging test from the point of view of the gas and high voltage supplies. The chamber efficiency was evaluated by tracking the beam particles with a scintillator hodoscope and with an additional small $`10\times 10`$ cm2 RPC. The photon fluxes were estimated from the chamber counting rates measured during dedicated off-spill gates. The measurements described in the next sections were obtained at three different source attenuation values, namely attenuation 1, 2 and 5 corresponding roughly to 1 kHz/cm2, 0.7 kHz/cm2 and 0.4 kHz/cm2 photon fluxes respectively.

### 3.1 Analysis of currents

The current drawn by the irradiated chamber with the source on, was found to be about a factor of two smaller than that of the reference RPC as can be seen from Figure 4.

This effect can be interpreted within a model introduced in . In this simple model one assumes that under a high particle flux, the RPC working point is determined by an effective voltage $`\mathrm{V}_{\mathrm{gas}}=\mathrm{V}\mathrm{IR}`$ where V is the applied voltage, I is the current drawn by the chamber and R is the resistance of the resistive plates. In this framework, quantities such as the average avalanche charge $`\mathrm{Q}_\gamma `$ or the chamber efficiency $`\epsilon `$ are only functions of the gas properties and of $`\mathrm{V}_{gas}`$. This means that once the correct value of the resistance R has been determined, the functions $`\epsilon (\mathrm{V}_{gas})`$ and $`\mathrm{Q}_\gamma (\mathrm{V}_{gas})`$ must be universal functions independent on the particle flux and on the plate characteristics. This method allows a non destructive estimation of the plate resistivity, that can be monitored on–line during the aging test.

$`\mathrm{Q}_\gamma `$ is measured by normalising the current drawn by the chambers to the rate of converted photons, which can be obtained from the chamber counting rate at the plateau, corrected for the efficiency. The measured counting rates are plotted in Figure 5.

The distributions of $`\mathrm{Q}_\gamma `$ for the two RPCs, at different photon fluxes, are plotted as a function of $`\mathrm{V}_{gas}`$ in Figure 6; they are fairly consistent with a single curve. The resulting values of the plate resistance, for the irradiated and the reference RPCs are $`\mathrm{R}_{\mathrm{irr}}=23.1\mathrm{M}\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and $`\mathrm{R}_{\mathrm{ref}}=6.6\mathrm{M}\mathrm{\Omega }`$ respectively corresponding to equivalent bakelite resistivities $`\rho _{\mathrm{irr}}=1.4\times 10^{11}\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{cm}`$ and $`\rho _{\mathrm{ref}}=4.1\times 10^{10}\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{cm}`$. Compared to the original resistivity value and to the reference chamber, a large increase in the plate resistivity for the irradiated RPC can be observed, which can be ascribed to the radiation effect and that accounts for the current drop mentioned above.

The efficiencies of the two RPCs are plotted as a function of $`\mathrm{V}_{gas}`$ in Figure 7. Again, the curves are consistent with an universal function $`\epsilon (\mathrm{V}_{gas})`$.

### 3.2 Efficiencies and rate capabilities

Because of the stringent requirements imposed by the LHCb muon trigger , the RPCs are required to have an efficiency above 95% up to the maximum expected background rate. In order to test the ability of the irradiated RPC to work within the LHCb operational parameters, the rate capability of the two RPCs has been carefully tested. In Figure 8 the RPC efficiency as a function of the photon flux for three different high voltage values is shown. The efficiency values are normalised to those obtained with the source off. At the nominal applied voltage of 10.2 kV, the efficiency exceeds 95% for both chambers up to a photon flux of about 0.8 kHz/cm2. However, as soon as the high voltage is raised by a few hundreds volts, the RPCs recover their full efficiency up to a flux of more than 1 kHz/cm2. Moreover there is no evidence of a different behaviour between the irradiated and the reference RPC. From this test it is possible to conclude that the RPCs under test can be safely operated, from the aging point of view, at least for 4 LHCb years in the worst expected background conditions.

### 3.3 Dark currents

In the design of RPCs for LHCb, the level of dark currents drawn by the chambers is of concern, especially from the aging point of view. The dark currents will contribute an aging effect that must be kept well below the aging caused by the particle flux. Considering as acceptable an extra-aging of 25%, the dark current density must be kept below 3 nA/cm2, over the experiment lifetime.

To check if these constraints are fulfilled, the behaviour of the dark currents of the chambers under test has been studied. In Figure 9 the dark currents drawn by the two RPCs as a function of the applied voltage, measured at different intermediate times during the aging test are shown. A large increase of the dark current drawn by the irradiated RPC can be clearly observed. The effect of the irradiation amounts to about 2 nA/cm2. This behaviour is still under investigation and no interpretation can be worked out yet. Anyhow, it is worth to stress that the dark current observed in the irradiated chamber is still below the maximum allowed value for the LHCb Muon System.

## 4 Summary and conclusions

The results of an aging test of an RPC prototype for the LHCb muon system have been described. The irradiated prototype has been tested with a muon beam at the GIF after a charge of 0.45 C/cm2 has been integrated, corresponding to about 4 years of LHCb at the highest expected background rate and to more than 10 LHCb years in the lower rate regions of the Muon System. The performance of the irradiated RPC has been compared to that of a reference chamber. As an effect of the irradiation, a large increase of the resistivity of the chamber plates in the irradiated RPC has been observed; a clear increase of the dark current is also observed. The irradiated RPC prototype is still well efficient up to the maximum rate expected in the LHCb muon system and the dark current level is under control.


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# Experimental Violation of Local Realism by Four-photon Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger Entanglement

## Abstract

We report the first experimental violation of local realism in four-photon Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) entanglement. In the experiment, the non-statistical GHZ conflicts between quantum mechanics and local realism are confirmed, within the experimental accuracy, by four specific measurements of polarization correlations between four photons. In addition, our experimental results not only demonstrate a violation of Mermin-Ardehali-Belinskii-Klyshko inequality by $`76`$ standard deviations, but also for the first time provide sufficient evidence to confirm the existence of genuine four-particle entanglement.

Multi-particle entanglement not only plays a crucial role in fundamental tests of quantum mechanics (QM) versus local realism (LR), but is also at the basis of nearly all quantum information protocols such as quantum communication and quantum computation dirk00 . Since the seminal work of Greenberger, Horne, Zeilinger (GHZ) zeilinger89 , the research on multi-particle entanglement has received much attention. In contrast to the case of two-particle entanglement where only statistical correlation predicted by QM is inconsistent with LR, in the case of maximally entangled states of more than two particles (i.e. the so-called GHZ states) a conflict with LR arises even for nonstatistical predictions of QM zeilinger89 . Further, QM can violate the multi-particle Bell-type inequalities imposed by LR by an amount that grows exponentially with the number of entangled particles mermin90a ; ardehali92 ; be93 ; zuk93 , that is, going to higher entangled systems the conflict between QM and LR becomes ever stronger.

In recent years, entanglement of three photons has been realized experimentally dirk99  and used to demonstrate the extreme GHZ contradiction between QM and LR pan00 . Meanwhile, entanglement of three atoms rau00  or four ions sack00  has also been demonstrated, yet in these two cases the quality of the entangled states still needs to be improved significantly in order to be useful for tests of LR and for quantum information processing. Though significant experimental progress has been achieved, all the above experiments suffer from a loophole in confirming genuine multi-particle entanglement see01 . This is due to the fact that the data measured in any of the above $`N`$-particle entanglement experiments can be explained by a hybrid model in which only less than $`N`$ particles are entangled see01 . Using the highly pure four-photon entanglement achieved in a recent experiment pan01 , it is, in principle, possible to exclude such a hybrid model by showing a sufficient violation of Bell-type inequalities. However, due to the very low coincidence rate in the experiment it was not possible to show such a violation. Therefore, the loophole problem still remains unsolved.

In this Letter, we develop a high intensity source of four-photon GHZ entanglement weinfurter03 , by which we report the first four-observer test of GHZ contradiction, and for the first time provide sufficient experimental evidence to confirm the existence of genuine four-particle entanglement, hence closing the possible loophole of a hybrid model.

To demonstrate the four-photon GHZ contradiction, we first generate four-photon entanglement using the technique developed in a previous experiment pan01 . As shown in Fig.1, a pulse of ultraviolet (UV) light passes through a BBO crystal twice to produce two polarization-entangled photon pairs. One photon out of each pair is then steered to a polarization beam splitter (PBS) where the path lengths of each photon have been adjusted such that they arrive simultaneously. After the two photons pass through the PBS, correlations due to four-photon GHZ entanglement,

$$|\mathrm{\Psi }=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(|H_1|V_2|V_3|H_4+|V_1|H_2|H_3|V_4),$$
(1)
can thus be observed, if all four detectors click (see zeilinger97 ). Here $`H`$ ($`V`$) denotes horizontal (vertical) linear polarization.

The observed four-fold coincident rate of the desired component $`HVVH`$ or $`VHHV`$ was about 1.3 per second, which is almost two orders of magnitude brighter than the previous experiment pan01 . The ratio between any of the desired four-fold events $`HVVH`$ and $`VHHV`$ to any of the 14 other nondesired ones is better than $`60:1`$. To confirm the state (1) is indeed in a coherent superposition, we have performed polarization measurements on the four photons in the $`H^{}/V^{}`$ basis, where $`|H^{}=1/\sqrt{2}\left(|H+|V\right)`$ and $`|V^{}=1/\sqrt{2}\left(|H|V\right)`$. In Fig. 2, we compare the count rates of $`H^{}H^{}H^{}H^{}`$ and $`H^{}H^{}H^{}V^{}`$ components as we move the delay mirror. At zero delay, the latter component is suppressed with a visibility of $`0.84\pm 0.03`$, hence confirming the coherent superposition of $`HVVH`$ and $`VHHV`$. The high visibility and high intensity achieved indicates that the source is good enough to demonstrate the GHZ contradiction between QM and LR.

Let us analyze the QM predictions for the four-photon state (1). Since the polarization states of a photon are a realization of a qubit, one can represent $`|H`$ by column vector $`\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ 1\end{array}\right)`$ and $`|V`$ by column vetcor $`\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\ 0\end{array}\right)`$. That is, they can be treated as the two eigenvectors of Pauli operator $`\sigma _x`$ of eigenvalues $`+1`$ and $`1`$ respectively. Adopting the methods of Refs. mermin90 ; pan00 , we consider measurements of linear polarization $`H^{}/V^{}`$, or of circular polarization $`R/L`$, where $`|R=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(|H+i|V\right)`$ and $`|L=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(|Hi|V\right)`$ can be represented as the two eigenstates of Pauli operator $`\sigma _y`$ with eigenvalues $`\pm 1`$. We shall call a measurement of $`H^{}/V^{}`$ linear polarization as a $`\sigma _x`$ measurement and one of $`R/L`$ circular polarization as a $`\sigma _y`$ measurement.

To illustrate the GHZ conflict between QM and LR, we first consider three specific measurements of polarization correlations between four photons:

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _x,& \sigma _x\sigma _y\sigma _x\sigma _y,& \sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _y\sigma _y\end{array}$$
(2)
where, for example, $`\sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _y\sigma _y`$ denotes a joint measurement of linear polarization $`H^{}/V^{}`$ on photons 1 and 2, and circular polarization $`R/L`$ on photons 3 and 4. The three operators in Eq. (2) commute with each other and the state (1) is their common eigenstate with the eigenvalue $`+1`$. Thus, in any of the three measurements, the total number of photons that carry either $`V^{}`$ or $`L`$ polarization (i.e. with eigenvalue $`1`$) must be even. For example, in a $`\sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _y\sigma _y`$ measurement, only polarization combinations $`H^{}H^{}RR`$, $`H^{}H^{}LL`$, $`H^{}V^{}RL`$, $`H^{}V^{}LR`$, $`V^{}H^{}RL`$, $`V^{}H^{}LR`$, $`V^{}V^{}RR`$, and $`V^{}V^{}LL`$ arise. Similar constraints can also be obtained for the other two measurements of (2).

We now analyze what are the implications for LR. Although any specific result obtained in any joint measurement on less than four photons is maximally random, one can still presume that, each photon carries Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) elements of reality EPR  for both $`\sigma _x`$ and $`\sigma _y`$ measurements that determine the specific individual measurement result note1 . This is because in every one of the three measurements, any individual measurement result - both for circular polarization and for linear polarization $`H^{}/V^{}`$ \- can be predicted with certainty for every photon given the corresponding measurement results of the other three pan00 ; mermin90 .

For any photon $`i`$ we call these elements of reality $`X_i`$ with values +1(-1) for $`H^{}(V^{})`$ polarizations and $`Y_i`$ with values +1(-1) for $`R\left(L\right)`$; we thus obtain the relations $`X_1X_2X_3X_4=X_1Y_2X_3Y_4=X_1X_2Y_3Y_4=+1`$, in order to be able to reproduce the quantum predictions on all three measurements in Eq. (2). Furthermore, according to LR, any specific measurement for $`\sigma _x`$ or $`\sigma _y`$ must be independent of whether a $`\sigma _x`$ or $`\sigma _y`$ measurement is performed on the other photons. As $`X_iX_i=+1`$ and $`Y_iY_i=+1`$, we can write $`X_1Y_2Y_3X_4=\left(X_1X_2X_3X_4\right)\left(X_1Y_2X_3Y_4\right)\left(X_1X_2Y_3Y_4\right)`$ and obtain $`X_1Y_2Y_3X_4=+1`$.

Therefore, the existence of the elements of reality implies that, performing a $`\sigma _x\sigma _y\sigma _y\sigma _x`$ measurement on the state (1), one should obtain the product of the eigenvalues with $`+1`$. Thus, from a local realistic point of view the only possible results for a $`\sigma _x\sigma _y\sigma _y\sigma _x`$ measurement are $`H^{}RRH^{}`$, $`H^{}RLV^{}`$, $`H^{}LRV^{}`$, $`H^{}LLH^{}`$, $`V^{}RRV^{}`$, $`V^{}RLH^{}`$, $`V^{}LRH^{},`$ and $`V^{}LLV^{}`$ (as shown in Fig. 3e).

However, according to QM, the state (1) is an eigenstate with eigenvalue -1 for operator $`\sigma _x\sigma _y\sigma _y\sigma _x`$. Thus, QM predicts that the only possible results for a $`\sigma _x\sigma _y\sigma _y\sigma _x`$ measurement are $`H^{}RRV^{}`$, $`H^{}RLH^{}`$, $`H^{}LRH^{}`$, $`H^{}LLV^{}`$, $`V^{}RRH^{}`$, $`V^{}RLV^{}`$, $`V^{}LRV^{}`$, and $`V^{}LLH^{}`$ (as shown in Fig. 3d). Thus we conclude that the predictions by LR is completely opposite to the predictions by QM and vice versa. It is the GHZ contradiction between LR and QM that exhibits a more powerful refutation of the existence of elements of reality than the one provided by Bell’s theorem for two-particle entanglement.

To demonstrate experimentally this conflict between LR and QM, we perform four polarization correlation measurements on the four spatially separated photons. The observed results for the first three measurements are shown in Figs. 3a, 3b, 3c. Each measurement consists of 16 possible outcomes and ideally only eight of them should occur. However, since in reality no experiment can ever be perfect, even the outcomes which should not occur will occur with some small probabilities. Thus, if we are allowed to assume that the spurious events are attributable to the unavoidable experimental errors, then within the experimental accuracy we can conclude that the desired correlations in the three measurements confirm the quantum predictions for our GHZ entanglement.

In Figs. 3d, 3e, 3f , we compare the predictions of QM and LR with the results of the fourth $`\sigma _x\sigma _y\sigma _y\sigma _x`$ measurement. The results show that, within experimental error, the four-fold coincidences predicted by QM occur, and not those predicted by LR. In this sense, we claim that we have experimentally realized the first four-particle test of local realism following the GHZ argument. For the purists, we may note that there is a derivation of the GHZ paradox for situations involving up to $`25\%`$ (data flipping) error rate RYFF , that is for rates much higher than observed in the experiment ($`11\%`$).

The conflict between the quantum predictions for the GHZ states and local realism can also be shown via violation of a suitable Bell inequality. In this case taking account of the errors is straightforward. A number of inequalities for $`N`$-particle GHZ states have been derived mermin90a ; ardehali92 ; be93 ; zuk93 . According to the optimal MABK inequality for four-particle GHZ state ardehali92 , LR imposes a constraint on statistical correlations of polarization measurements on the four-photon system as the following:

$$\left|A\right|2,$$
(3)
where

$`A`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(\sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _y\sigma _y+\sigma _y\sigma _x\sigma _y+\sigma _y\sigma _y\sigma _x)(\sigma _a+\sigma _b)`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(\sigma _y\sigma _y\sigma _y\sigma _x\sigma _y\sigma _x+\sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _y+\sigma _y\sigma _x\sigma _x)(\sigma _a\sigma _b)`$ (4)
and $`\sigma _a=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(\sigma _x+\sigma _y)`$, $`\sigma _b=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(\sigma _x\sigma _y)`$, and they correspond to measurements of two (othogonal) pairs of elliptic polarizations. In Eq. (3), for example, $`\sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _a`$ denotes the expectation value of a $`\sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _a`$ measurement on the four photons. QM predicts a maximal violation of the constraint by a factor of $`2\sqrt{2}`$. For the prefect quantum prediction the visibility of the correlations can be reduced to as little as $`35.4\%`$. Interestingly, a different set of measurements, than those for the GHZ contradiction, are optimal in the case of this inequality. Further, one could note that the inequalities derived in zuk93  require only a visibility of $`32.9\%`$. All this should be contrasted with the visibility consistent with the result of ref. RYFF , concerning the GHZ contradiction, which is $`50\%`$. Therefore in order to get maximal possible disagreement with LR, we performed another set of measurements.

To measure the expectation value of $`A`$, we need to perform sixteen specific measurements such as $`\sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _a,\mathrm{},\sigma _y\sigma _x\sigma _x\sigma _b`$. A $`\sigma _a`$ measurement on photon 4 is obtained if we insert in its path a quarter wave plate (QWP), whose optical axis is set at $`45^{}`$ with respect to the horizontal direction. Then, the two eigenstates of operator $`\sigma _a`$ are converted into linear polarizations which are polarized along the directions of $`22.5^{}`$ and $`67.5^{}`$. In the same way, the two eigenstates of operator $`\sigma _b`$ can be converted into $`67.5^{}`$ and $`22.5^{}`$ linear polarizations. The average visibility observed in the experiment for the state (1) is $`78.4\%`$ and thus greatly exceed the minimum of $`35.4\%`$. Substituting the experimental results into the left-hand side of inequality (3) gives

$$\left|A\right|=4.433\pm 0.032,$$
(5)
which violate the inequality (3) by over $`76`$ standard deviations, hence demonstrating the conflict between QM and LR in four-photon GHZ entanglement.

Furthermore, the high visibilities also confirm the existence of genuine four-photon entanglement in our experiment. To demonstrate a full four-photon entanglement, two sufficient conditions, i.e. the inequality $`\left|A\right|>4`$ and the so-called state preparation fidelity $`F(\rho )>1/2`$, must be satisfied gisin98 ; see01 . Here the state preparation fidelity is defined as

$`F(\rho )`$ $`=\mathrm{\Psi }\left|\rho \right|\mathrm{\Psi }`$
$`={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(HVVH\left|\rho \right|HVVH+VHHV\left|\rho \right|VHHV\right)`$
$`+ReHVVH\left|\rho \right|VHHV`$ (6)
and for any state $`\rho `$, there is a simple identity:

$$\left|A\right|=8\sqrt{2}ReHVVH\left|\rho \right|VHHV.$$
(7)
Not only does the experimental result in Eq. (5) significantly violate the inequality $`\left|A\right|>4`$, together with the observed fractions of the desired components and the nondesired ones in the $`H/V`$ basis it also gives $`F(\rho )=0.840\pm 0.007`$, which is well above the threshold of $`1/2`$. Thus, our experiment for the first time provides unambiguous evidence for a full test of four-particle entanglement, which excludes any hybrid hidden-variable model to explain our experimental data.

In conclusion, we have demonstrated the statistical and nonstatistical conflicts between QM and LR in four-photon GHZ entanglement. However, it is worth noting that, as for all existing photonic tests of LR, we also had to invoke the fair sampling hypothesis due to the very low detection efficiency in our experiment. Possible future experiments could include further study of GHZ correlations over large distances with space-like separated randomly switched measurements weihs . Our work, besides its significance in quantum foundations, could also be applied to investigate the basic elements of quantum computation with linear optics knill  and implement multi-photon quantum secrete sharing zukowski .

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Fundamental Research Program (under Grant No. 2001CB309303). MZ is supported by the UG grant BW-5400-5-0256-3.