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# Better Foreground Segmentation Through Graph Cuts

## Abstract

For many tracking and surveillance applications, background subtraction provides an effective means of segmenting objects moving in front of a static background. Researchers have traditionally used combinations of morphological operations to remove the noise inherent in the background-subtracted result. Such techniques can effectively isolate foreground objects, but tend to lose fidelity around the borders of the segmentation, especially for noisy input. This paper explores the use of a minimum graph cut algorithm to segment the foreground, resulting in qualitatively and quantitiatively cleaner segmentations. Experiments on both artificial and real data show that the graph-based method reduces the error around segmented foreground objects. A MATLAB code implementation is available at http://www.cs.smith.edu/~nhowe/research/code/#fgseg.

## 1 . Introduction

Many computer vision applications require the segmentation of foreground from background as a prelude to further processing. Although difficult in the general case, the task can be greatly simplified if the object or objects of interest in the foreground move across a static background. Such situations arise or can be engineered in a wide variety of applications, including security videos, video-based tracking and motion capture, sports ergonomics, and human-computer interactions via inexpensive workstation-mounted cameras.

All of these applications rely on or would benefit from high-quality foreground segmentation. Unfortunately, existing methods sometimes prove unreliable and error-prone. Furthermore, the results can vary greatly between successive frames of a video. This paper introduces a new way to compute the foreground segmentation that makes fewer errors and can be temporally stabilized from frame to frame.

Traditionally, researchers solve the foreground segmentation problem with static background through a procedure called background subtraction. In this approach, the computer builds a model of the static background, either off-line or updated dynamically after each frame in the video stream, and then compares the next frame with the background model on a per-pixel basis. Pixels that differ sufficiently from the background model may deemed part of the foreground, at least in the ideal case. If the calculation were free of noise, one could simply fix a threshold and declare anything sufficiently different from the background to be part of the foreground.

Unfortunately, a number of confounding factors make perfect background subtraction unattainable. Camera noise (particularly in inexpensive CCD cameras) ensures that even background pixels will not exhibit constant values from frame to frame, but will instead show a distribution around some characteristic value. If the background contains non-static elements (such as vegetation, cloth, or gravel) then the variance in the measurements of background pixels may be quite large. Moving objects in the foreground may cause shadows and reflections to fall on background areas, changing their appearance significantly. The foreground objects may lack sufficient contrast with the background areas they obscure, either through deliberate camouflage or by chance. In consequence, comparison of a pixel in a given frame with the background model for that pixel cannot definitively classify the pixel as either foreground or background without some potential for error.

Errors at a single pixel may be mitigated by aggregating the results over some local neighborhood of pixels. Researchers have traditionally taken this approach to cleaning up the errors in the thresholded image. A combination of morphological operations on the binary thresholded image removes isolated foreground and background pixels, generating a better approximation to the silhouettes of the moving objects in the foreground. Unfortunately, the same approach can obliterate details at the edges of the silhouette.

This work departs from the standard practice by using an algorithm based upon the minimum graph cut to separate the foreground from the background. The algorithm presented herein uses information that would be thrown away by thresholding to construct a graph incorporating all the differences measured between the current frame and the background model. Links in this graph reflect the connectivity of the pixels in the image, allowing each pixel to affect those in its local neighborhood. (Details of the graph construction appear below.) Segmenting the graph using a standard graph-cut algorithm produces a foreground-background segmentation that can correct local errors without introducing larger global distortions. Qualitatively, the results using the new technique look cleaner and more correct; the quantitative tests in Section 4.1 show that the method produces fewer errors than do current practices when compared to human-segmented ground truth.

The remainder of this paper conducts an in-depth look at the old and new methods for foreground segmentation using background subtraction. Section 2 describes the two algorithms that Sections 3 and 4 compare experimentally. Section 5 concludes with a discussion of the numerous ties between this work and other efforts, and some final thoughts.

## 2 . Algorithmic Details

Morphological operations form the basis of the standard approach for cleaning up noise after background subtraction and thresholding. In particular, the morphological techniques commonly applied consist of the two basic operations dilation and erosion applied in various combinations. Dilation expands the foreground of the image, adding a pixel to the foreground if any of its neighbors within a specified neighborhood of radius $`r`$ (called the structuring element) are already part of the foreground. Erosion expands the background, removing a pixel from the foreground if any of its neighbors are background. These two operations may be combined; a dilation followed by an identical erosion is called a closing, and fills in holes in the foreground smaller than the neighborhood diameter. Likewise, an erosion followed by an identical dilation is called an opening, and may be used to eliminate isolated foreground pixels. Such operations are well studied, and more details may be found in reference texts .

Noise in the background-subtracted image tends to make some foreground pixels look like background, and vice versa. A morphological closing followed by an opening addresses these sources of error: the closing fills in the the missing foreground pixels (assuming that enough of their neighbors are correctly identified), and the opening removes extraneous foreground pixels surrounded by background. Care must be taken in choosing the radius for these operations. If the radius is too small, then larger clusters of noisy pixels will remain uncorrected; if too large, then legitimate detail in the foreground silhouette will be lost.

With particularly noisy background-subtracted images, mislabeled background pixels may become so numerous and closely spaced that the initial closing operation fills in the gaps between them. Increasing the threshold $`\tau `$ for the initial foreground-background segmentation prevents this undesirable effect by biasing the initial labeling away from the foreground. In other words, the higher threshold causes more foreground pixels to be classified as background than background pixels as foreground. Performing the initial closing operation corrects for this bias by closing the gaps between the correctly labeled foreground pixels.

### 2.1 . Graph Cuts for Foreground Segmentation

Unlike the morphological approach, the graph-cut algorithm begins by building a graph based upon the image. Each pixel $`p_{ij}`$ in the image generates a corresponding graph vertex $`v_{ij}`$. Two additional vertices form the source and sink, representing the foreground and the background respectively.

Figure 1 illustrates the graph formed for a small $`3\times 3`$ portion of the image plane. A typical vertex in the graph links to exactly six other nodes: the source and the sink, plus the the vertices of its four-connected neighbors. Vertices corresponding to pixels on the edge of the image will have fewer neighbor links, and the source and the sink will each connect to all the pixel vertices. The weights of the links between the pixel vertices and the source $`s`$ and sink $`t`$ derive directly from the difference between the current frame and the background at the corresponding pixel, $`\delta _{ij}`$:

$$w(s,p_{ij})=\delta _{ij}$$
(1)
$$w(p_{ij},t)=2\tau \delta _{ij}$$
(2)
The neighbor links (between pixel vertices) all have identical weights, equal to $`\tau `$ times a second parameter $`\alpha `$ (typically taking on values close to 1.0). The parameter $`\tau `$ in the latter equation plays an analogous role to the threshold in the morphological algorithm, corresponding to the level above which the pixel associates more strongly with the foreground than the background.

The value of $`\alpha `$ controls how strongly neighboring pixels tend to group. If $`\alpha `$ is low, then neighboring pixels bond weakly and the end result will look much like that obtained by simply thesholding the output from the background subtraction. Conversely, high $`\alpha `$ causes pixels to bond strongly with neighboring pixels, and the output will contain larger clusters of homogeneity. Noisy inputs thus tend to require larger values of $`\alpha `$, in order to smooth over the larger clusters of noisy pixels.

Once constructed, standard methods based upon graph flow will find an optimal (minimum cost) cut separating the source from the sink. Andrew Goldberg has kindly made optimized code for this computation available on the web . Each node in the graph will lie on one side or the other of the optimal cut, remaining connected solely to the source or to the sink. The algorithm labels those nodes still connected to the source as foreground, and those connected to the sink as background.

If desired, one may construct a graph to represent several frames of video at once. In this case, a typical pixel vertex connects to six neighbors (four spatial plus two temporal), but otherwise the construction remains the same. Using multiframe graphs can impose consistency of the result from one frame to the next, but trial experiments indicate no benefit in terms of overall accuracy. Therefore, the remainder of this paper focuses on single-frame graphs.

## 3 . Synthetic Results

A preliminary set of experiments measures the performance of the two algorithms on artificial data. Using artificial data allows careful control of experimental conditions. Figure 2a shows the test pattern used, containing gradations in detail from coarse to fine. The right-hand portion of the image contains lines one pixel in width spaced a single pixel apart, and successive portions to the left double the width of both the lines and the gaps. Figures 2b and 2f show two images used as input to the algorithms, formed by taking the ground truth and adding noise. Noise at each pixel is sampled independently from a normal distribution of known variance, to generate an input with known signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Figures 2c-2e and 2g-2i shows the results generated for the two inputes shown in 2b and 2f.

Table 1 gives the error rate on the best performance of each algorithm for a number of different SNR values, including those illustrated in Figure 2. As a baseline, it also gives the performance achieved by simply thesholding the input image. In addition to the error rates, the parameter values used to achieve the result also appear (except for $`\tau `$ on the graph algorithm, which is always 0.5). The values given correspond to the best result for a particular algorithm on a particular input.

The graph cut algorithm performs markedly better on the synthetic data than either the control or the morphological method at all signal-to-noise ratios. The error rate for the morphological techniques is always better than that for the control, except at the highest SNR (where they tie).

Examination of the graphical output in Figure 2 shows that at SNR = 2.0 both trial algorithms do fairly well, but the graph cut result displays cleaner edges and captures more of the fine detail at the highest resolution. The morphological result loses the details of the highest-resolution section at the right of the test image. At the SNR = 0.5, where the outlines of the input test pattern can barely be discerned by human eyes, the graph cut result still looks reasonable for the areas with coarser detail. Both algorithms lose the details in the two sections of highest resolution. Interestingly, increasing $`\alpha `$ in the graph cut algorithm can further improve results on the low-resolution segments, albeit at the expense of further degradation at high and medium resolution.

## 4 . Experiments With Real Images

The main set of experiments explores the performance of the algorithms on video taken under real world conditions. The three video clips used cover a range in quality and subject: from color clips shot both indoors and outdoors with fixed cameras, to a low-quality grayscale video of a ballet dancer with a panning camera and compression artifacts. The former represent relatively easy conditions, while the latter presents a stiffer challenge for background subtraction. Table 2 gives more details on each clip.

Each clip must undergo extensive preprocessing before reaching the stage where the algorithms on trial may be applied. Although some may object to the processing choices made here (particularly the use of static background models), changes in these choices would amount only to a change of the input to both trial algorithms, akin to choosing different videos for the tests. Neither of the approaches under consideration precludes algorithmic improvements to the preprocessing stages, but more complicated preprocessing introduces potentially confounding design decisions. Therefore, for simplicity and replicability, the experiments avoid sophisticated preprocessing where possible. For the first two clips, the experiments eschew the dynamically updated background models used by most current systems (e.g., $`W^4`$ ) in favor of a static background model computed over the entire clip. (A static background model is also comparable to a dynamic model that has been allowed to equilibrate.)

To prepare a video for background subtraction, a background model is built using crudely robust statistical techniques. The model builder takes the pixel color from every fourth frame, and throws out the data above and below a pair of thresholds (say the 25th and the 75th percentiles). From the remaining numbers it estimates the mean and variance of each pixel’s color, assuming a normal distribution. This approach provides effective robustness to occlusions of the background on a small fraction of the video frames. (More complicated pixel modeling based upon mixtures of Gaussians can be used, but again this would only confound the comparison of the two algorithms under trial.)

For the third clip, the camera movement necessitates special treatment. Before building the background model described above, each frame must be registered with a canvas representing the entire background. A least-squares fit based on frame-to-frame optical flow generates an approximate set of initial registrations, expressed as affine transforms. The computer then builds up the canvas frame by frame, using function minimization to find the affine transform yielding the smallest disparities between the new frame and the median values on the existing canvas. The pixel values for the frame then get interpolated onto the canvas, yielding new median values. Figure 3 shows the result of this process.

With the completed model (and registrations, if necessary) in hand, each frame can be compared with the mean background image. The difference at each pixel, normalized by the variance at that pixel, forms the raw data input to the two finishing algorithms. Typically the calculations might be carried out on each of the red, green, and blue (RGB) components of an image, and the differences in each component summed together. However, several modifications to the process provide necessary tolerance to shadows and lighting changes. Making the comparisons in the hue-saturation-value (HSV) color space causes disparities due to shadows to show up primarily in one channel, namely the pixel value ($`V`$). Areas in shadow display lower $`V`$ component values than the unshadowed background, but are similar in the other two components. Therefore, discounting small decreases (less than 5% of the total range) in $`V`$ effectively ensures that shadowed background areas do not falsely appear to belong to the foreground. This method effectively mirrors other recent results , although that work differs superficially by processing images in RGB color space.

A suitable criterion must be chosen for grading the segmentation results. The total fraction of pixels in the image differing from ground truth appears an attractive error measure at first glance, but a closer look reveals flaws in this criterion. Figure 4d shows a segmentation created using morphological techniques with very large structuring element (a disk of radius 10). Although it captures few details of the subject figure’s outline accurately, its error over the whole frame is 1.25%. Figure 4e and 4f show alternate segmentations that look more faithful to the exact outlines of the ground truth. Yet these have higher whole-frame errors of 2.24% and 2.59%, respectively, largely due to noise at the edges of the frame and other areas separate from the main figure.

In order to reward segmentations similar to Figure 4e and 4f, the experiments employ a modified error measure focusing specifically on the moving figure in the clip. The measure first computes the connected components of the segmented foreground and identifies all the components that overlap with ground truth (as identified by a human operator tracing the figure’s outline in Photoshop). Pixels in the selected components that do not overlap with ground truth count as false positives, while ground truth areas identified as background by the segmentation algorithm count as false negatives. Combining the number of false positives and false negatives, then scaling by the number of pixels in the ground truth yields the error measurement for the frame.

### 4.1 . Real Image Results

Table 3 shows the error rates of both the morphological and graph algorithms on the video inputs, after tuning the algorithm parameters for best results. (Interestingly, although larger stucturing elements were tested for the morphological operations, small radius-one disk-shaped elements give the best results on all three clips.) Examining the numbers, one sees that the quality of the video input forms the largest factor determining the error, with far more mistakes for either approach on the Dancer clip. Nevertheless, the graph-based algorithm performs significantly better (in a statistical sense) on every clip tested, according to a paired sample t-test.

Although the numeric differences appear small, their psychological importance can be large, with the numbers unable to tell the entire story. The presence or absence of a body part such as a forearm may alter the error by as little as 0.04 or so, while a one-pixel shift distributed evenly around the entire the segmentation boundary can alter the error by 0.12 or more. To illustrate what the error values cannot, Figures 57 show sequences of frames from each clip, spread evenly across time. (Frames where the subject is entering or exiting the screen are not shown.)

Compared side by side, the graph based result (right column) typically appears “cleaner” than the morphological result, and adheres more faithfully to the contours of the ground truth. The Indoor clip best displays the advantages of the graph algorithm, showing a smoother boundary and less frequent inclusion of background. Although the graph algorithm does better on all three clips, Outdoor is mostly too easy to show up the differences, and Dancer is too hard. The errors evident in the Dancer clip demonstrate that any contrast-based algorithm will fail where the input is deceptive (due to low contrast between foreground and background, heavy shadowing, reflections, noise, etc.). High quality input remains crucial, regardless of the algorithm applied.

## 5 . Related Work and Conclusions

Graph cuts can produce a cleaner foreground segmentation based upon frame-by-frame comparisons with a background model. This result may not surprise those who have been following the use of graph-based methods for other applications. This paper combines advances from several different research threads that have not previously been applied to the specific problem of foreground segmentation. Given the status of foreground segmentation as the precursor to a host of other applications, any advance which can improve the segmentation quality may have wide-ranging effects. The experimental results show that the borrowed techniques produce excellent results, as they have in other fields.

### 5.1 . Previous Work

Although the use of a 2-way cut for foreground segmentation is novel, other kinds of graph-based methods have received considerable attention recently for segmentation applications. In particular, methods based upon the minimum normalized cut (n-cut) have achieved notable success in general segmentation problems . General segmentation (with the goal of subdividing any image into coherent regions without a priori knowledge of its contents) is a much more difficult problem than foreground segmentation with a static background, as explored herein. Not surprisingly therefore, n-cut algorithms for general segmentation differ from this paper’s approach, typically employing a fully-connected graph requiring approximation methods to solve . By contrast, the algorithm described herein uses a graph that represents only local connections among pixels. Because the number of links remains linear in the number of nodes, this local-only graph can be solved easily and exactly. Furthermore, the advantages of the normalized cut over the standard cut do not apply in the local-only case, because the energy of a cut relates only indirectly to the number of nodes on either side.

A more direct connection to the current work may be drawn from research on image correspondance for stereo vision and visual correspondence . Again, the stereopsis problem is more difficult than foreground segmentation, requiring a selection among multiple hypothesized displacements at each pixel. The work mentioned above therefore employs algorithms to approximate a multiway cut on a graph representing the image. The algorithm herein embodies a special case of such a situation, where the existence of only two categories to distinguish (foreground and background) allows the use of an exact 2-way cut solution.

In the processing of the video frames prior to the thresholding step, this work follows current the state of the art. In particular, it builds probability models for the distribution of measured color values at each pixel . It further employs techniques to eliminate interference from shadows; similar measures were recently described elsewhere . The authors of the latter work note that their segmentation process runs in real time, which is a challenge for the new algorithm due to the graph cut step. Theoretical bounds on this step are $`O(n^2\mathrm{log}n)`$, although for some problem classes the actual performance can be quadratic or better . Empirically, it appears that real time processing is still possible at lowered resolution, and this stricture should ease with time as processor speeds increase.

### 5.2 . Final Thoughts

Using graph cuts for foreground segmentation produces cleaner and more accurate results than the currently prevailing approach based upon morphological operations. The graph-based technique appears better at overcoming the effects of noise by aggregating information from a local neighborhood around each pixel, while remaining true to the underlying data. On test using synthetic data, it cut the error rate by at least a third over the current methods for the noisiest input, and by a greater factor for the less noisy cases. On real data, the method significantly reduces error over current methods, although it cannot magically cure problems associated with low quality input data. The one disadvantage of the graph-based method is its speed; empirically it runs more slowly or at lower resolution than the morphological operations.

Given the range of applications that use background subtraction, adoption of the new technique seems likely to provide significant benefits in a number of areas. In addition to current uses for background subtraction, the higher fidelity of the graph-cut method may open up new applications not hitherto feasible because they require highly reliable input. In any case, graph cuts for foreground segmentation deserve a place in the research scientist’s bag of tools.


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# Quantum-magneto oscillations in a supramolecular Mn(II)-[3 × 3] grid

## Abstract

The magnetic grid molecule Mn(II)-\[3 $`\times `$ 3\] has been studied by high-field torque magnetometry at 3He temperatures. At fields above 5 T, the torque vs. field curves exhibit an unprecedented oscillatory behavior. A model is proposed which describes these magneto oscillations well.

Among the known magneto-oscillatory effects, the de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) effect in metals (and the group of effects related to it) is the most prominent example, having had a formative influence on our modern picture of solid state physics Sho84 . The dHvA effect originates from a quantization of closed electron orbits into Landau levels in a magnetic field, so that the density of states at the Fermi energy exhibits a markedly oscillatory evolution as a function of magnetic field. Currently, it finds application in a wide range of materials, e.g. heavy fermion compounds UPT3 , low-dimensional organic metals OrgMet , high-temperature superconductors HiTc , two-dimensional electron gases 2DEG , or in the recently discovered superconductor MgB2 MgB2 .

In this work, we report on a new magneto-oscillatory effect, discovered in the molecular nanomagnet \[Mn9(2POAP-2H)6\](ClO4)6 $``$ 3.57 MeCN $``$ H2O, the so called Mn-\[3 $`\times `$ 3\] grid. Molecular nanomagnets are compounds with many magnetic metal ions linked by organic ligands to form well defined magnetic nanoclusters. They have attracted much interest since they can exhibit fascinating quantum effects at the mesoscopic scale. For instance, quantum tunneling of the magnetization has been observed in the clusters Mn12 or Fe8 Mn12\_Fe8 . We have performed high-field torque magnetometry on the Mn-\[3 $`\times `$ 3\] grids at 3He temperatures and observed striking magneto oscillations in the torque signal. We show that they arise from the interplay between antiferromagnetic interactions within a molecule and Zeeman splitting on the one hand and the magnetic anisotropy on the other hand.

In the Mn-\[3 $`\times `$ 3\] grid molecules, nine spin-5/2 Mn(II) ions occupy the positions of a regular 3 $`\times `$ 3 matrix, held in place by a lattice of organic ligands \[inset of Fig. 1\]. These grids were characterized recently by magnetization and torque measurements and found to exhibit unusual magnetic properties OW\_Mn3x3 . The Mn ions within a molecule experience an antiferromagnetic interaction leading to a total spin $`S=5/2`$ ground state at zero field. At a field of about 7 T, the ground state changes abruptly to a new state, a $`S=7/2`$ level, accompanied by a change of the sign of the magnetic anisotropy. Notably, intermolecular magnetic interactions are at best on the order of few 10 mK. This is evident from the crystal structure (the smallest separation between two molecules in the crystal is $`>`$ 8 Å), but has been checked also experimentally insulator . Accordingly, even at 3He temperatures the magnetism of a macroscopic crystal sample reflects that of a single molecule.

Single crystals of Mn-\[3 $`\times `$ 3\] were prepared as reported Zha00 . They crystallize in the space group $`C_2/c`$. The cation \[Mn9(2POAP-2H)6\]6+ exhibits a slightly distorted $`S_4`$ molecular symmetry, the $`C_2`$ axis is perpendicular to the grid plane. The average distance between the Mn(II) ions is 3.93 Å, the smallest distance between clusters is larger than 8 Å. Consistent with the planar structure, the Mn-\[3 $`\times `$ 3\] grid exhibits a practically uniaxial magnetic behavior, and uniaxial and molecular $`C_2`$ symmetry axes coincide OW\_Mn3x3 . Magnetic torque was measured with a homemade silicon cantilever device OW\_Mn3x3 ; Koc03  inserted into the M10 magnet at the Grenoble High Magnetic Field Laboratory using a 3He evaporation cryostat. Resolution of the sensor was about 10-11 Nm, the weight of the crystals investigated was about 20 $`\mu `$g, nonlinearity was less than 2%, and the accuracy of the in situ alignment of the $`C_2`$ crystal axis with respect to the magnetic field was $`0.3^{}`$. Only raw torque data are shown here. Background signals were, if not noted otherwise, negligible. Temperature was measured with a RuO2 thick film resistor.

Figure 1 presents the field dependence of the torque of a Mn-\[3 $`\times `$ 3\] single crystal at 0.38 K. The magnetic field was applied almost perpendicular to the $`C_2`$ axis of the molecule; the angle $`\phi `$ between magnetic field and plane of the grid was about $`0.5^{}`$. At low fields, the torque rises quickly to reach a maximum at about 2 T. This part of the signal stems from the $`S=5/2`$ ground state and shows the expected behavior Cor00 . At higher fields, however, above about 5 T, the overall torque signal decreases with the superimposition of pronounced oscillations, which fade out with increasing field strength. Such magneto oscillations have not been observed in molecular nanomagnets so far FW\_osc , and their observation is a main result of this work.

An overview of the dependence of the torque curves on the magnetic field orientation is given in Fig. 2(a). The oscillations are clearly visible for angles smaller than about 10. For larger angles, the torque decreases strongly at higher fields and actually crosses the zero line, consistent with the observations in Ref. \[OW\_Mn3x3, \] (the torque measurements reported there did not show the oscillations because they were performed at too high a temperature).

The magnetic properties of molecular metal complexes are generally described by a spin Hamiltonian, which, assuming an idealized structure, for Mn-\[3 $`\times `$ 3\] becomes

$`H`$ $`=`$ $`J_R\left({\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{7}{}}}\text{S}_i\text{S}_{i+1}+\text{S}_8\text{S}_1\right)`$ (3)
$`J_C\left(\text{S}_2+\text{S}_4+\text{S}_6+\text{S}_8\right)\text{S}_9`$
$`+D_R{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{8}{}}}S_{i,z}^2+D_CS_{9,z}^2+g\mu _B\text{S}\text{B}`$
with $`𝐒=_i𝐒_i`$. It consists of the isotropic nearest-neighbor exchange terms, the second order ligand-field terms and the Zeeman terms Dipdip . $`J_R`$ characterizes the couplings of the eight peripheral Mn ions, $`J_C`$ those involving the central Mn ion (spins at ”corners” are numbered 1, 3, 5, 7; those at ”edges” 2, 4, 6, 8; and the central spin 9).

The dimension of the Hilbert space is huge for Mn-\[3 $`\times `$ 3\]. However, recently it has been shown that the field dependent low-temperature properties can be very well described by an effective spin Hamiltonian, in which the spin operators for the corner and edge spins are combined to sublattice spin operators $`𝐒_A`$ and $`𝐒_B`$, respectively, with $`S_A=S_B=4\times 5/2`$ OW\_3x3\_NVT . Physically, this approach works well because the internal spin structure due to the dominant Heisenberg interaction is essentially classical OW\_Cr8 . In this approach, Mn-\[3 $`\times `$ 3\] is described by

$`H_{eff}^{3\times 3}`$ $`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{J}_R\text{S}_A\text{S}_B+\stackrel{~}{D}_R(S_{A,z}^2+S_{B,z}^2)`$ (5)
$`J_C\text{S}_B\text{S}_9+D_CS_{9,z}^2+g\mu _B\text{S}\text{B},`$
with $`\stackrel{~}{J}_R=0.526J_R`$, $`\stackrel{~}{D}_R=0.197D_R`$ OW\_3x3\_NVT . In Ref. \[OW\_Mn3x3, \], $`|J_C||J_R|`$ was suggested. With this parameter regime, however, the experimental results could not be reproduced satisfactorily. We thus tried $`J_C=J_RJ`$, and also set $`D_C=D_RD`$, as suggested by recent inelastic neutron scattering (INS) measurements Mn3x3\_ins . As long as $`J_C`$ and $`J_R`$ are not too different, the calculated properties were found to be only weakly affected. A similar situation holds for $`D_C`$ and $`D_R`$. $`J`$ and $`D`$ were determined such that the position of the first ground state level crossing and the zero-field splitting of the $`S=5/2`$ ground state in the calculated energy spectrum match the experimental values of $``$ 7 T and $``$ 3 K, respectively OW\_Mn3x3 . The result is $`J`$ = -5.0 K and $`D`$ = -0.14 K, in agreement with INS experiments Mn3x3\_ins .

The torque curves calculated with $`H_{eff}^{3\times 3}`$ using the given parameters are presented in Fig. 2(b). Apparently, the model Hamiltonian reproduces the data, and in particular the oscillations, very well levelmix . Their origin shall be discussed in the following in more detail.

For illustration, Fig. 3 shows the calculated energy spectrum as a function of magnetic field for an angle of $`\phi =2.8^{}`$. As magnetic anisotropy is weak, $`|D||J|`$, the total spin $`𝐒`$ is almost conserved. It is convenient to rotate the spin operators such that $`S_z^{}`$ is parallel to the magnetic field B. Levels may then be classified by the eigenvalues of $`𝐒^2`$ and $`S_z^{}`$, $`S`$ and $`M`$, and be written as $`|S,M`$.

At zero field, the dominant isotropic exchange results in a $`S=5/2`$ ground state followed by excited states with $`S`$ = 7/2, 9/2, 11/2, $`\mathrm{}`$. Upon application of a magnetic field, the levels are shifted by the Zeeman energy, $`g\mu _BMB`$, leading to a series of ground state level crossings (LCs) at characteristic fields at which the ground state switches abruptly from $`5/27/2`$, $`7/29/2`$, $`9/211/2`$, and so on (we abbreviated $`|S,S`$ by the value of $`S`$). This is shown for the first two LCs in the inset of Fig. 3. The change of the slope of the ground state from $`5/2g\mu _B`$ to $`7/2g\mu _B`$ and $`9/2g\mu _B`$ is apparent.

The effect of the ligand-field terms is to mix spin levels with $`|\mathrm{\Delta }S|=0,1,2`$ Ben90 ; OW\_MQT\_FW . The $`\mathrm{\Delta }S=0`$ mixing leads to a zero-field splitting of each spin multiplet, which, e.g., is clearly visible in Fig. 3 for the six levels of the $`S=5/2`$ ground state. Importantly, because of $`|\mathrm{\Delta }S|=1`$, the ligand field terms also mix the levels which are involved in a LC. This results in a repulsion of the two states whenever they come close, and the LCs split, as is seen by the energy gaps at the LC fields in Fig. 3 (which are about 0.3 K at the angle of 2.8).

The abrupt changes of the magnetic character of the ground state at the LCs lead to a step-like field dependence of the magnetization and torque. These magnetization and torque steps are frequently observed Sha02 , e.g. in molecular ferric wheels FWs ; Cor99 ; OW\_FWs ; FW\_osc . However, as we will show now, the level mixing at the LCs lead also to peak-like contributions in the torque (but not the magnetization). For the sake of completeness, we mention that mixing of levels with $`|\mathrm{\Delta }S|=2`$ is pronounced only for excited states OW\_MQT\_FW , and is of little relevance here.

Near each LC only two states, $`|S,S`$ and $`|S+1,S1`$, are relevant at low temperatures, and the energy spectrum can be described by a two-level Hamiltonian $`H_{S,S+1}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}ϵ_S& \mathrm{\Delta }/2\\ \mathrm{\Delta }/2& ϵ_{S+1}\end{array}\right)`$. Here, $`ϵ_S(B,\phi )`$ and $`ϵ_{S+1}(B,\phi )`$ describe the field and angle dependence of the two levels excluding level mixing at the LC, but including the effects of the zero-field splitting. The level mixing itself is parameterized by a possibly field and angle dependent $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. Up to first order, the energies $`ϵ_S`$ can be written as $`ϵ_S(B,\phi )=bS+\mathrm{\Delta }_S(\phi )`$ with the reduced field $`b=g\mu _BB`$ Cor99 ; OW\_FWs . $`\mathrm{\Delta }_S(\phi )`$ accounts for the magnetic interaction and the zero-field splitting and thus does not depend on magnetic field. The LC field is given by $`b_c(\phi )=\mathrm{\Delta }_{S+1}\mathrm{\Delta }_S`$. Importantly, in first order the level mixing is also independent of the field: It is determined by the matrix element between the two states and the ligand-field terms in Eq. 3, $`\mathrm{\Delta }=S,S|H_{LF}^{}|S+1,S1`$. Thus $`\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{\Delta }(\phi )`$.

At zero temperature, the magnetic moment is given by $`m=ϵ/B`$, where $`ϵ`$ is the lowest energy as calculated from $`H_{S,S+1}`$. We decompose the magnetic moment into $`m=m_S+\delta m`$. Here, $`m_S`$ is the magnetic moment for fields well below the LC field $`b_c`$ so that $`\delta m`$ describes the changes of $`m`$ at the LC. Similarly, the torque $`\tau =ϵ/\phi `$ is decomposed into $`\tau =\tau _S+\delta \tau `$. In our model, one obtains

$`\delta m(b,\phi )={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[1+(bb_c)G(b,\phi )\right]`$ (6)
$`\delta \tau (b,\phi )=\delta m{\displaystyle \frac{b_c}{\phi }}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}G(b,\phi )\mathrm{\Delta }{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }}{\phi }},`$ (7)
with $`G(b,\phi )=[(b_cb)^2+\mathrm{\Delta }^2]^{1/2}`$. Therefore, as function of magnetic field the magnetic moment exhibits a step at the LC which is broadened by the level mixing (and by temperature if $`T>0`$). In contrast, the torque consists of two contributions. The first term, being proportional to $`\delta m`$, leads to a broadened torque step. These magnetization and torque steps, as mentioned already, are well known FWs ; Cor99 ; OW\_FWs ; Sha02 . The second term, however, whose field dependence is controlled by $`G(b,\phi )`$ only, leads to a peak-like contribution centered at the LC field $`b_c`$. This is apparent by noting that $`G(b,\phi )`$ is basically the square root of the Lorentz function. Importantly, as this peak arises only for nonzero level mixing it is a direct signature of it. It is absent in the magnetic moment since the level mixing $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is markedly angle dependent but virtually field independent.

Thus, the torque curve consists of a series of steps and peaks at each LC field. For Mn-\[3 $`\times `$ 3\], the steps are small and the peaks at each LC field superimpose to produce an oscillatory field dependence. This is clearly seen in Fig. 2(b), which also presents the 2.8 torque curve as it is calculated with the level mixing at the LCs set to zero artificially (i.e., only mixing of levels with $`\mathrm{\Delta }S=0`$ was retained). This curve exhibits only thermally broadened steps at the LC fields, demonstrating the connection of the oscillations with nonzero level mixing.

In view of the simplicity of our model Hamiltonian, the agreement between theoretical and experimental curves is really good, though it is not perfect. Most notably, the experimental peaks are significantly broader and smaller than the theoretical ones. The agreement can be improved by using a larger temperature value in the calculation, $`T_{eff}=T+x`$. We call $`x`$ the Dingle temperature because of the analogy to the practice in dHvA work Sho84 , but emphasize the different underlying physics. The experiment suggests $`x`$ 80 mK. Several intrinsic and extrinsic effects can be envisaged to be responsible for this additional broadening and more detailed investigations are needed.

In conclusion, in the molecular grid Mn-\[3 $`\times `$ 3\] we have observed a new type of quantum-magneto oscillations in the field dependence of the magnetic torque. We have shown that they are associated with level crossings which appear regularly as a function of field due to the combined effect of the magnetic interaction and the Zeeman term. These level crossings are split because of pronounced level mixing induced by the magnetic anisotropy which are accompanied by peak-like signals in the torque producing the spectacular, oscillatory field dependence. This effect should be observable in a number of other molecular magnetic clusters, like e.g. dimers of two different magnetic centers with an antiferromagnetic coupling. The magnetic oscillations demonstrated in this study provide direct access to quantum properties, which will help our understanding of molecular nanomagnets.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank N. Magnani, E. Liviotti and T. Guidi for enlightning discussions. Financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Department of Energy (Grant No. DE-FG02-86ER45271), and through the TMR Program of the European Community is gratefully acknowledged.


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# SIMBA’s view of the ϵ Eri diskBased on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile (71.C-0001)

## 1 Introduction

Circumstellar disks are an ubiquitous product of the formation of stars and planetary systems. In these disks planets are believed to form from planetesimals that in turn are created through coagulation of dust and gas (Beckwith et al. Beckwith (2000)). The final stages of this process remain to be characterised but observations suggest that previous protoplanetary accretion disks turn into debris disks at the end of planet formation.

Photometric measurements with the IRAS satellite (Aumann Aumann (1988)) provided first hints for dust around the $``$800 Myr old star $ϵ$~Eri, a K2V dwarf at 3.22 pc distance to the Sun. From varying sub-mm flux densities in single-beam observations with different beam sizes (Chini et al. Chini90 (1990), Chini et al. Chini91 (1991), Zuckerman & Becklin Zuckerman (1993)), an extended – possibly ring-like – disk structure was assumed. In SCUBA observations at 850 $`\mu `$m Greaves et al. (Greaves (1998)) found the dust emission peaking in a ring-like distribution between 35–75 AU distance from the star. The central cleared region and an asymmetrical substructure in the ring were explained by the influence of orbiting planets. Now a planet with a semi-major half axis of 3.4 AU is known (Hatzes et al. Hatzes (2000)), which for more than a decade was controversial because of the star’s high chromospheric activity. Quillen & Thorndike (Quillen (2002)) explained the ring substructure with a further hypothetical planet at 40 AU distance. CO line observations at the Swedish-ESO Submillimeter Telescope (SEST) concluded that the disk of $ϵ$~Eri is likely devoid of any gas (Liseau Liseau (1999)). With ISO no features from dust were found in mid-IR spectra between 6 and 12 $`\mu `$m, and in maps at 60 and 90 $`\mu `$m no resolved emission was seen (Walker & Heinrichsen Walker (2000)). A partially resolved region in IRAS data, quoted by some authors, was thus not confirmed. Several attempts to reveal the disk (in scattered light) with coronographic imaging at near-IR and optical wavelengths have been tried without success, including HST observations. Recently, Li et al. (Li (2003)) calculated a disk model from the IR to sub-mm spectral energy distribution (SED) of $ϵ$~Eri, but different disk and grain parameters were used than in our simulations. Furthermore, our calculations now also include observations at 1.2 mm. An overview of the fluxes used in this work is given in Table 1.

We present the first observational confirmation of an extended dust disk around $`ϵ`$ Eri found with the Sest IMaging Bolometer Array (SIMBA). With results from numerical simulations for the target’s SED we set constraints on dust properties and discuss whether a continuous disk with an inner radius given by the dust sublimation temperature could be considered alternatively.

## 2 Observation

The observations of $`ϵ`$ Eri were obtained in July 2003 with the 37-channel bolometer array SIMBA at the SEST in La Silla (Chile) using the fast scanning mode at 250 GHz ($`\lambda =1.2`$ mm). Skydips were taken every 2 to 3 hours to correct for the atmospheric zenith opacity, which was between $`\tau _00.23`$ and $`\tau _00.37`$. We followed the SEST pointing model (rms $``$ 2$`\stackrel{}{.}`$5) and checked the telescope pointing regularly. No significant deviation from the pointing model was seen. The flux calibration is based on observations of Uranus. In total, 180 maps of $`ϵ`$ Eri were integrated which correspond to a total on-source time of $``$15 hours.

Data reduction was performed with MOPSI111MOPSI has been developed and is maintained by R. Zylka, IRAM, Grenoble, France and included despiking, baseline fitting, suppression of the correlated sky noise, opacity and gain-elevation correction as well as co-adding the 180 single maps to a final one, which is shown in Fig. 2. The residual root mean square error (rms) amounts to 2.2 mJy$`/`$beam.

Observing at 1.2 mm with the 15 m dish of the SEST results in a nominal beam size of 24′′. This value can slightly vary with the elevation and other authors occasionally report 23′′ or 25′′. In principle, the beam size can be derived from a point source like, e.g., the planet Uranus. Averaging over various telescope positions we obtained a beam width of 24$`\stackrel{}{.}`$2 $`\pm `$ 0$`\stackrel{}{.}`$2. The resolved emission of $ϵ$ Eri can be fitted by an extended, circular Gaussian intensity distribution with a full width half maximum (FWHM) of 36$`\stackrel{}{.}`$4. This fit and its centering is achieved with a routine in MOPSI. Relative to the beam width we resolve the dust emission around $`ϵ`$ Eri consistent with a deconvolved total extent of 27$`\stackrel{}{.}`$4 corresponding to 88 AU. An elliptical shape of the intensity distribution – indicating an inclination of the disk – cannot be excluded, but is not apparent from our measurements. Greaves et al. (Greaves (1998)) reported $`i`$ = 25°. At 1.2 mm, after subtracting a photosphere contribution of 0.9 mJy, the total disk flux amounts to 21.4 mJy with a peak flux of 9.7 mJy/beam and 2.2 mJy/beam noise. As can be seen in Fig. 2 (central panel), the peak of the Gaussian lies 7′′ southwest of the star. This is not necessarily a physical effect, since the accuracy of the centering routine is within 5′′ (corresponding to 2.5 pixel in this figure).

## 3 Numerical simulations

The disk model is derived from the target’s SED with the fluxes shown in Table 1. Since especially the mid-IR fluxes contain a contribution from the stellar continuum, this is treated separately in the simulated SEDs.

We apply a model of an optically thin disk with the simple radial density profile $`n(r)r^1`$ (for the calculation of the dust temperature distribution see Wolf & Hillenbrand Wolf (2003), Eq. 5). The following stellar parameters are used for $`ϵ`$ Eri: $`T_{}=4700`$ K, $`R_{}=0.8R_{}`$ and $`L_{}=0.33L_{}`$ (e.g. Soderblom & Däppen Soderblom (1989)). We select a circular disk with an extension from $`R_{\mathrm{in}}0.025`$ AU (corresponding to the radius given by the dust sublimation temperature) up to the observed $`R_{\mathrm{out}}=88`$ AU. Other choices for the inner disk radius and their consequences are discussed in the next chapter.

Spherical homogeneous dust grains were used with radii $`a`$ according to a size distribution $`n(a)a^{3.5}`$. This describes the equilibrium size distribution resulting from a collisional cascade of dust (Tanaka et al. Tanaka (1996)) and has often been used for the interstellar medium (ISM) and modelling of circumstellar disks. The best approximation to the observed SED is obtained for a minimum grain size $`a_{\mathrm{min}}=8\mu `$m which is displayed in Fig. 1. SEDs for $`a_{\mathrm{min}}=4\mu `$m and $`a_{\mathrm{min}}=16\mu `$m are shown for comparison. We use an upper grain size of 1 mm. The disk mass, given in the next section, refers to this upper size limit, since we have no direct observational hints for cm-sized grains. Simulations are performed with a dust mixture deduced from the ISM: 62.5% silicate grains (according to Draine & Lee Draine (1984) and Weingartner & Draine Weingartner (2001)) mixed with 37.5% graphite. The dust grain density amounts to $`\rho `$(silicate) = 2.7 g cm-3 and $`\rho `$(graphite) = 2.24 g cm-3.

## 4 Discussion

Disk temperature and dust mass:

Submillimeter observations probe the cold dust towards the outer part of the disk. From a fit to the observed fluxes between far-IR and mm-wavelenghts we determine for the cold dust component a temperature of $`50`$ K using $`\beta `$ = 0 and $`\kappa `$(1.2 mm) = 1.7 cm2g-1 (a value often used for Vega-type disks, e.g. Sylvester et al. Sylvester (2001)). With the numerical simulations described above we obtain a dust mass of $`5.2\times 10^9M_{}`$ = $`1.7\times 10^3M_{}`$, which lies about a factor of three under the lower mass limit given in Greaves et al. (Greaves (1998)).

Dust ring or a continuous disk:

We are able to explain the observed SED with a simple disk model, an inner disk radius given by the dust sublimation temperature and a minimum of free parameters, i.e. without further assumptions. However, we do not exclude other disk models. With the limited resolution of the SEST beam only a very sharp ring would have been detectable. Even for SCUBA the reported central cavity is close to the resolution limit. To explain however the mid-IR IRAS fluxes, some amount of hot circumstellar dust must be present at regions relatively close to the star. From modelling the observed SED no statement can be made to which extent the inner disk region may be depopulated of dust. Due to the large parameter space in any dust disk model (disk density profile, dust grain radii, grain size distribution, dust mineralogy, grain shapes, etc.) several solutions may exist to interpret the observed SED. Li et al. (Li (2003)) find their model in good agreement with Greaves et al. (Greaves (1998)) for disk radii $``$ 28 AU, while an additional “zodiacal” dust component would be required to explain the possible emission from the inner parts of the disk. This inner region was not clearly resolved by previous mid- and far-IR satellite cameras, but can be better studied with upcoming SIRTF observations (see Li et al. Li (2003) for a discussion on this). An alternative approach would be interferometric observations with the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer operating at 1.3 mm wavelength with a resolution up to $`1^{\prime \prime }`$.

Influence of noise on the observed disk substructure:

Fig. 2 (left panel) shows our final co-added map of $ϵ$~Eri. The pixel sampling with 2′′ is justified because of SIMBA’s image sampling of 15 ms in azimuthal scan direction. With 80′′/s scanning speed this results in a spatial sampling of 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$2. In right ascension and declination we obtain a similar value due to the large coverage of maps taken at different phase angles. Our final image resembles a disk with a cleared central region and substructures in the ring. However, we can show that these details are most likely caused by remnant noise. The resolved emission of $ϵ$ Eri can be fitted by an extended Gaussian intensity distribution with a FWHM of 36$`\stackrel{}{.}`$4 (central panel). A subtraction of this fit from the final map only results in pure residual noise, while a real central cavity should cause a clear negative peak after subtraction. The occurence of a minimum exactly at the position of the star leaves speculations whether this is a contribution of a real gap. However, this minimum is even less prominent than the noise minima above and below the star’s position. Similarly, the knots in the outer disk part can be explained by noise maxima. To verify this, we simulated a ring-like disk with artificial noise but without intrinsic ring substructures, and obtained a comparable result.

The knots in the SCUBA ring were attributed by some authors to be traps of dust due to orbital resonances of Jovian planets. However, most of these are smaller than the resolution of the SCUBA beam. We speculate that these structures may be explained similar to our observations.

## 5 Conclusions

Since several publications calculate planetary parameters from the knots in the $ϵ$~Eri ring structure, we intended to perform the first confirmation of this disk shape. Our observation with the bolometer array SIMBA operating at 1.2 mm is the first verification of an extended disk around this star. However, these data do not provide clear indications for the previously reported ring substructure. In our case the knots can be explained with remnant noise effects. We are able to model the observed SED with a simple, gap-free disk, but do not rule out the existence of a possible central cavity.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank the SEST staff for their helpful support. SE is supported under Marie-Curie Fellowship contract HDPMD-CT-2000-5.


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# Scalable Trapped Ion Quantum Computation with a Probabilistic Ion-Photon Mapping

## I Introduction

Trapped ions constitute one of the most promising systems for the implementation of a quantum computer . It appears unlikely that this system can be scaled by simply adding ions to a single trap, due to the growing complexity of the vibrational mode spectrum and the inefficiency of laser cooling of the collective motion of a large ion crystal to near the ground state. Instead, ion trap multiplexing can be achieved by either shuttling ions through a multiply-connected trap structure , or coupling remote ions with a common photon-mediated interaction . For the latter approach, it is generally believed that the ions must be enclosed in a high-finesse optical cavity for deterministic quantum gate operation. This “strong coupling” condition means that the coupling rate $`g`$ between the ion and the cavity mode should satisfy the requirement

$$g^2>>\kappa \gamma _s$$
(1)
where $`\kappa `$ is the cavity decay rate and $`\gamma _s`$ is the atomic spontaneous emission rate. Although strong coupling has been achieved for neutral atoms in recent experiments , it remains difficult to do the same with trapped ions, although there are significant experimental efforts and achievements . The experimental challenge is that the required small optical cavity volume can interfere with the ion trap operation through uncontrolled charges on the dielectric mirror coatings, and the ion trap electrodes can likewise interfere with the cavity mode through diffraction.

Alternatively, faithful entanglement can be established between remote atoms or ions in a probabilistic fashion even if the strong coupling condition is not satisfied . Here, the interference of photons emitted by two remotely-located ions is detected, and a positive photon count without “which-path” information as to which ion emitted the photon will project the two ions into an entangled state. For this purpose, strong coupling between the ion and the photon is not essential. Photon loss only affects the success probability of a positive photon count, and the fidelity of the entanglement is not reduced. By repeating this kind of entangling protocol several times, one can ultimately get faithful entanglement between the ions. We call this a probabilistic source of entanglement as the entangling protocol does not succeed in every trial. With this source of entanglement, one can construct probabilistic quantum gate operations. However, probabilistic gates do not in general lead to scalable quantum computing because of the exponential decrease of the success probability as the number of quantum gates increases.

In this paper, we show that remote deterministic quantum gates can be constructed for trapped ions from this source of probabilistic entanglement, when we also allow local deterministic quantum gates between nearby ions. This provides a method to scale up the trapped ion system for large scale quantum computation and communication based on a photon-mediated interaction without requiring strong coupling between the ion and photon.

In this scheme, the quantum register consists of a series of ion pairs (each a logical qubit) that are in different trap regions separated by arbitrary distances. Within each pair, one ion (the logic ion) encodes the quantum information and the second ion (the ancilla) allows the coupling to another ion pair through a probabilistic entanglement protocol. This probabilistic entanglement, combined with conventional local motional gates within each pair, allows for an effective quantum gate between the remote logical qubits. The resulting remote operation is deterministic because the probabilistic entanglement operations can be done off-line, and the failure of an entangling attempt does not destroy the computational quantum state carried by the logical ions.

In Sec. II we will show how to achieve deterministic quantum gates based on the probabilistic entangling operations and how this can seed a scalable trapped ion quantum computation model. We will also show how to use the same setup for implementation of quantum repeaters for achieving scalable long -distance quantum communication. In Sec. III we will compare two probabilistic entangling protocols and discuss the gate speeds and tolerance to noise of each protocol.

## II Scalable quantum computing and networking from probabilistic entangling operations

First, we show how to construct a scalable quantum computation model for trapped ions by a combination of probabilistic remote entangling operations and conventional (motional) local gates. Figure 1 is a schematic of the setup. A series of ion pairs, each in distinct trap regions, are separated by an arbitrary distance. Each qubit is represented by a pair of ions, denoted as $`i`$ and $`i^{}`$ respectively for the logic ion and the ancilla ion. We assume here that the logic ions and the ancilla ions are of different ion species (or isotopes) so that they can be separately addressed for laser manipulation and detection through frequency selection, as has recently been demonstrated in sympathetic cooling experiments . (Of course, they could be the same species ion if one can achieve spatial separate addressing through focused laser beams ). In this way, the two ions of a given pair can be tightly confined in a trap with the ability to operate high-fidelity motional quantum gates between them.

To achieve scalability, we should be able to perform deterministic quantum gates between two arbitrary logic ions in different pairs. For this purpose, we assume that each ancilla ion is connected to a single-photon detector, possibly through an optical fiber. To entangle two ancilla ions, say $`i^{}`$ and $`j^{}`$, we pump both with an appropriate resonant laser beam to excited electronic states. The resulting spontaneously emitted photons from these two ions are directed to single-photon detectors for a Bell-type collective measurement. For particular measurement results, the two ancilla ions $`i^{}`$ and $`j^{}`$ will be projected into a Bell state, which we denote as $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_{i^{}j^{}}=\left(|01+|10\right)/\sqrt{2}`$ (see the next section for description of different types of entangling methods). Each entangling operation succeeds with probability $`p_s`$ (the probability to register the appropriate result), so we need to repeat this operation on average $`1/p_s`$ times for a final successful confirmation of entanglement, with the total preparation time about $`t_c/p_s`$, where $`t_c`$ is the time for each individual entangling operation. We assume the logic and ancilla ions are sufficiently spectrally resolved so that the probabilistic entangling operation on the ancilla ions does not influence the logic ions, even if this entangling operation fails.

With the assistance of final Bell state $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_{i^{}j^{}}`$, we can achieve remote quantum controlled-NOT (CNOT) gates on the logic ions $`i`$ and $`j`$. We assume that quantum CNOT gates can be realized on the local ions $`i,i^{}`$ and $`j,j^{}`$ in the same pairs through conventional means relying on the collective motion of the ions  (note that all the motional gates work even when the two local ions are of different isotopes or species). These CNOT gates are denoted by $`C_{ii^{}}`$ and $`C_{jj^{}}`$, where the subscripts refer to the control and target ions. We can achieve the remote CNOT gate $`C_{ij}`$ on the logic ions $`i,j`$ through a combination of the gates $`C_{ii^{}},`$ $`C_{jj^{}}`$ and the Bell state $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_{i^{}j^{}}`$. This can be seen by considering the following identity

$`C_{ii^{}}C_{jj^{}}\left(|\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij\mathrm{}}|\mathrm{\Phi }_{i^{}j^{}}\right)`$ $`=`$ $`|0+_{i^{}j^{}}C_{ij}\left(|\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij\mathrm{}}\right)+|0_{i^{}j^{}}\sigma _i^zC_{ij}\left(|\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij\mathrm{}}\right)`$ (3)
$`+|1+_{i^{}j^{}}\sigma _j^xC_{ij}\left(|\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij\mathrm{}}\right)+|1_{i^{}j^{}}\left(\sigma _i^z\sigma _j^x\right)C_{ij}\left(|\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij\mathrm{}}\right).`$
where $`|\pm _j^{}=\left(|0_j^{}\pm |1_j^{}\right)/\sqrt{2}`$, and $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_{ij\mathrm{}}`$ denotes the computational state, for which the $`i,j`$ ions may be entangled with other logic ions. The single qubit Pauli operators $`\sigma _i^z`$ and $`\sigma _j^x`$ act on the corresponding ions $`i,j`$. The above identity has been implied previously in different contexts , particularly in the discussion of the communication complexity of quantum CNOT gates. The above identity shows that to perform a remote CNOT gate $`C_{ij}`$ on the logic ions $`i,j`$, we can take the following steps:

* Prepare the ancilla ion $`i^{}`$ and $`j^{}`$ into the EPR state $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_{i^{}j^{}}`$ using a probabilistic entangling protocol. Repeat the protocol until it succeeds.
* Apply the local motional CNOT gates $`C_{ii^{}}`$ and $`C_{jj^{}}`$ on the ions $`i,i^{}`$ and $`j,j^{}`$ within the same pairs.
* Measure the ancilla ion $`i^{}`$ in the basis $`\{|0_i^{},|1_i^{}\}`$ and the ancilla ion $`j^{}`$ in the basis $`\{|+_j^{},|_j^{}\}`$.
* Apply a single bit rotation $`\{I,\sigma _i^z,\sigma _j^x,\sigma _i^z\sigma _j^x\}`$ on ion $`i`$ and/or $`j`$ if we get the measurement results $`\{0+,0,1+,1\}`$, respectively.

The resulting remote quantum CNOT gate $`C_{ij}`$ is deterministic, even though the seeding entangling operations are probabilistic. This is because the probabilistic operation can be repeated off-line until it succeeds. When accompanied by simple local single-bit rotations, this computation model is therefore scalable, with no fundamental limit to the number of ion pairs in different traps. The essential resources are two-ion local motional gates and remote ion-photon probabilistic entangling operations, both of which have been demonstrated .

With the same system, we can also realize scalable quantum networks. The basic problem in quantum networking is to transmit quantum states over large distances by overcoming the limit setting by the photon attenuation length. Typically, if one directly sends a single-photon pulse through an optical channel, the efficiency (the probability that the photon is not absorbed) will degrade exponentially with distance due to photon attenuation. One way to overcome this obstacle is based on quantum repeaters . Implementation of quantum repeaters has been proposed in  based on the use of atomic ensembles for storage of quantum entanglement, and following this scheme some interesting first-step experiments have been recently reported . The quantum repeater can also be realized in the present context with pairs of ions as discussed above. Figure 2 illustrates schematically the implementation of quantum repeaters with the paired-ion setup.

With the probabilistic entangling protocol, we can generate entanglement between two nodes, say $`i`$ and $`k`$, and also $`k^{}`$ and $`j^{}`$, each with a communication distance $`L_0`$ which is smaller or comparable to the photon attenuation length. The success probability for preparation of each segment of entanglement is given by $`p_{sc}=p_sp_c`$, where $`p_s`$ is the inherent success probability of the entangling protocol, and $`p_c=e^{\alpha L_0}`$ is the photon attenuation in the channel. These two segments of entanglement can be connected to generate an entangled state between $`i`$ and $`j^{}`$ through a local collective Bell measurement on the two ions $`k`$ and $`k^{}`$ in the same pair. A combination of a motional CNOT gate and individual ion detections achieves the desired collective measurement. The preparation time for each segment of entanglement is $`T_{sc}=t_c/p_{sc},`$ and the time for establishing entanglement between the next neighboring nodes $`i`$ and $`j`$ (with a distance $`2L_0`$) is simply estimated by $`T_2=2T_{sc}`$ if we sequentially prepare each segment of entanglement. So the time required for establishing entanglement over $`n`$ segments with a total communication distance of $`nL_0`$ is estimated by $`T_n=nT_{sc}=ne^{\alpha L_0}\left(t_c/p_s\right)`$ with the ion-based quantum repeaters. (Here we neglect local motional gate errors and ion detection inefficiency, which are typically small compared with errors from the photon attenuation and the inherent inefficiency of the entangling protocol). This linear scaling of the communication time compares favorably with the exponential scaling law $`T_n=e^{n\alpha L_0}\left(t_c/p_s\right)`$ for the case of direct communication without repeaters.

## III Two types of probabilistic entangling schemes and their corresponding gate speeds

We consider two types of probabilistic entangling protocols , denoted as Type I and Type II. Below, we first introduce the basic ideas of these schemes in the context of the $`{}_{}{}^{111}Cd^+`$ ion . Then, we compare the merits of each scheme, with particular attention paid to gate speed and tolerance to experimental noise.

### A Type I probabilistic entanglement: photon interference

The Type I protocol was first proposed in Ref.  and is illustrated in Fig. 3. A weak pump pulse is applied to the atomic transition $`|0|e`$, which excites the atom to the upper state $`|e`$ with probability of $`p_e<<1`$. Spontaneously emitted light from the de-excitation $`|e|1`$ is collected within a cone angle $`\theta `$ (see Fig. 3). The collected light from the two ions is directed to a beamsplitter (BS) for interference and then detected through two single photon detectors D1 and D2. If one of the detectors registers a photon, the two ions will be projected onto the state $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_1=|01`$ $`+e^{i\phi }|10`$, where the phase $`\phi `$ depends on the difference in path lengths from each ion to the detector. Conditioned on one detector click, there is a probability $`p_e`$ that both ions spontaneously decay to the state $`|1`$ with one of the accompanying photons not registered by the detectors. The inherent infidelity of this scheme is thus given by $`p_e`$.

### B Type II probabilistic entanglement: polarization-spin entanglement

The Type II protocol was first proposed in Ref. . Here, there are three relevant atomic levels $`|0,|1,|a`$ in each of two ions. Figure. 4b shows a configuration of atomic states with an $`F=1`$ ground state hyperfine manifold (e.g., within the $`S_{1/2}`$ ground state of $`{}_{}{}^{111}Cd^+`$). The atoms are initially prepared in state $`|a`$ and then transferred to states $`|0`$ and $`|1`$ with unit probability, emitting photons correspondingly either in H or V polarizations along the direction of collection. The collected photons traverse a polarization beam splitter (PBS) and are then detected with two single-photon detectors. The final state of the two ions will be projected onto $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_2=|01`$ $`|10`$when both detectors each register a photon. The type II protocol can also be multiplexed to directly prepare multi-ion entangled states if the photon collection efficiency is reasonably high .

### C Comparison between type I and type II probabilistic entanglement

For the type I protocol, the entanglement success probability, or the probability of detecting a photon is

$$p_I=p_ep_c\eta _d/2,$$
(4)
where $`\eta _d`$ is the detection efficiency, and $`p_c`$ is the photon collection efficiency, with the form of $`p_c=3\left(1\mathrm{cos}\theta \right)/4`$ for the setup schematically shown in Fig. 3a (in addition to the fraction of the solid angle $`\left(1\mathrm{cos}\theta \right)/2`$, the coefficient $`3/2`$ comes from the space integration of the dipole emission pattern). There is an additional factor of $`1/2`$ in Eq. (2) since only one polarization is measured after the beam splitter. So the average entangling time for this protocol is $`T_I=t_c/p_I`$, where $`t_c`$ is the time for one entangling attempt, which is limited only by the radiative lifetime $`t_e`$ of the upper level $`|e`$, i.e., $`t_c>t_e3`$ $`ns`$.

For the type II protocol, the entanglement success probability, or the probability of registering a single photon from each of the detectors is

$$p_{II}=p_c^2\eta _d^2/8.$$
(5)
The factor of $`8`$ appears from the filtering of the two polarizers and the possibility that two photons go to the same detector. This probability can be improved by factor of $`4`$ if we replace the polarizer by a PBS and add one detector on each side. The corresponding average entangling time is $`T_{II}=t_c/p_{II}`$.

If the above entangling operations are performed on-line, the ancilla ions are entangled during the gate operation, which is itself the slowest step of the procedure. In this case, the gate time is then approximately $`T_I`$ or $`T_{II}`$ for the type I and type II entangling protocols, respectively. The time $`T_{II}`$ is larger than $`T_I`$ if $`p_c\eta _d/4<p_e`$, and vice versa. To ensure a reasonable fidelity, the excitation probability $`p_e`$ is typically about $`1\%`$, and in the first experiment with free-space ions , $`p_c\eta _d10^3`$ from the limited collection solid angle , so $`T_{II}T_I`$. Nevertheless, the collection efficiency $`p_c`$ can be significantly enhanced in future experiments (see the discussion below), and we might ultimately expect that $`T_IT_{II}`$. It is also possible to have $`T_{II}<T_I`$ if one puts the ions into a fairly good cavity even if it is still far from the strong coupling limit.

The entangling operation can also be done off-line. Well before the desired quantum gate operation, the two ancilla ions can be entangled through one of the above probabilistic entangling protocols, and following success this entanglement can be stored for later quantum gate operations. Here, the potentially slow off-line entangling operation is not necessarily a limiting issue for the speed of the subsequent quantum gate operations. The slowest step of the gate is then the detection of the ancilla ions, for which the required time can be estimated by $`T_dt_e/p_c\eta _d`$. With the quantum jump detection method, we need to register several photons when the ion is at the “bright” level, which takes a time of order $`t_e/(p_c\eta _d)`$. For instance, with a moderate efficiency $`p_c\eta _d10^3`$, $`T_d10`$ $`\mu s`$ for the $`{}_{}{}^{111}Cd^+`$ ion.

Now we discuss the tolerance of the type I and type II entanglement protocols to relevant experimental noise. For the type I protocol, the phase $`\phi `$ in the entangled state $`|\mathrm{\Psi }_1`$ is proportional to $`\phi \mathrm{\Delta }k\mathrm{\Delta }x`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }k`$ is the difference between the wave vectors for the pumping and collected light, $`\mathrm{\Delta }x`$ is the position fluctuation of the ion from its equilibrium position. The type I protocol thus requires the atom to be confined within the Lamb-Dicke limit, otherwise the residual ion motion will randomize the phase $`\phi `$ and consequently degrade the entanglement fidelity.

The type II entanglement protocol is much less sensitive to fluctuations in the atomic position. This is because the two polarization components carry the same random phase imposed by the instantaneous position of the atom. For this common-mode cancellation of phase fluctuations, the atom must have an approximately fixed (albeit random) position during the emission process. This implies that if the ion is not confined within the Lamb-Dicke limit, the decay rate $`1/t_e`$ of the upper level $`|e`$ need be significantly larger than the frequency of any component of ion motion, which is typically the case. The type-II protocol also exhibits better interferometric stability  for the same reason that random phases from the two polarization modes cancel each other. Due to its better noise tolerance, the type II protocol seems more attractive than the type I protocol, although the latter could have a higher success probability. An important seeding step for the type-II protocol has been demonstrated in a recent experiment , where entanglement has been directly observed for the first time between a stationary ion spin qubit and a flying photon polarization qubit.

Finally, we consider possibilities for improving the collection efficiency of the photons emitted by the ions. One way is to position the ion in an optical cavity, whereby the effective collection efficiency can be improved by a factor of the cavity finesse compared with the free space case with the same collection solid angle. Even for cavity mirrors with a moderate finesse, the success probability, and thus the gate time, for either protocol above can be significantly improved (particular for the type II protocol, as $`T_{II}`$ scales quadratically with $`p_c`$). Alternatively, the emitted light can be collected by a single-mode optical fiber. This not only filters unwanted spatial modes so that the emission from multiple atoms can be easily mode-matched, but also the collection efficiency could be improved with near-field engineering of the fiber tips. Here, the angular dependence of the emitted photon polarization may cause a reduced amount of entanglement. However, clever linear optical transformations may allow high-fidelity entangled states to be recovered, with some tradeoff in efficiency .

In summary, we have proposed a new method to scale up the ion trap system for large scale quantum computing or networking, based on a probabilistic ion-photon mapping. Remarkably, the photon-mediated interaction does not require strong coupling between the ion and the photon. The protocol can also be highly tolerant of relevant experimental imperfections.


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# Concerning the White Dwarf Cooling Age of M4: A Response to the Paper by De Marchi et al. on ”A Different Interpretation of Recent HST Observations”1

## 1 Introduction

In early 2001, the Hubble Space Telescope obtained the deepest data set ever observed for a globular cluster, an exposure of 123 orbits centered on a field 5$`\mathrm{}`$ from the center of the globular cluster M4. We reported analysis of the lower main sequence of M4 (Richer et al. 2002) and a determination of the white dwarf cooling age of M4 (Hansen et al. 2002). The latter is derived from a $`\chi ^2`$ fit of models to the entire white dwarf luminosity function. The derived age of 12.7$`\pm 0.35`$ ($`1\sigma `$ statistical error only) is consistent with other age determinations for old star clusters, and with the WMAP concordance cosmology age (Spergel et al. 2003).

In a recent contribution, De Marchi, Paresce, Straniero and Moroni (2003) performed a reanalysis of the long exposure data from our HST project GO-8679 (Richer et al. 2002, Hansen et al. 2002) and were unable to reproduce results similar to ours. In particular their photometry failed to reach as faint as ours by almost a full magnitude. This can be seen quite dramatically in Figure 1 where we plot our CMD in the white dwarf region from this data set and that of De Marchi et al. taken from their paper. Continuing, the authors claim that the only possible age constraint for M4 is that the lower limit for the white dwarf cooling age is 9 Gyr, whereas we (Hansen et al. 2002) derive a cooling age of 12.7 Gyr. The analysis of de Marchi et al. raises distressing questions about our competence both in data analysis and in interpretation. As they have already been cited by others in the literature (e.g., Moehler et al. 2003) we believe that it becomes crucial for us to respond.

The conflict raises two questions. First, why do two independent teams approaching the same data set get such different results? Second, what is the correct approach to fitting a measured white dwarf luminosity function?

We answer the first question in this contribution and the second in detail in Hansen et al. (2004, in preparation) and illustrate how the De Marchi et al. analysis fails on both counts.

## 2 Data Reduction and Analysis

The reason De Marchi et al. are unable to reproduce the depth and quality of our CMD is purely one of data treatment. The HST data set under consideration, GO-8679, contains 98 F606W and 148 F814W images each of exposure 1300 sec. A first-epoch set of images taken in F555W and F814W (GO-5461) were obtained by us in 1995 (Richer et al. 1995, 1997) and were not nearly as deep. Some care is required in getting the most out of this large and impressive data set.

In our case, after accounting for dithers, those frames corresponding to a particular epoch and filter were averaged together with pixel rejection—the $`n`$ highest pixels being rejected to eliminate cosmic ray contamination. From the HST WFPC2 Manual the mean number of pixels on a given chip affected by a cosmic ray hit in an 1800 sec exposure is about 20,000. Hence in a stack of $`N\times 1300`$ sec exposures we expect $`0.02257N`$ pixels at a given position to have suffered a hit. Taking the dispersion to be $`\sqrt{0.02257N}`$ and using $`5\sigma `$ rejection we find that in combining the 98 F606W images the highest 7 pixels should be rejected while for the 148 F814W images we should eliminate the highest 9. Our procedure thus used 93% of the available pixels in constructing the mean.

By contrast, De Marchi et al. used image-association stacks produced by the pipeline software developed by the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre and the ESO Space-Telescope Coordinating Facility (Micol & Durand 2002). This pipeline software essentially takes the median of the available pixel values, and is therefore less efficient in a statistical sense than the scheme we employed as described above. According to Zwillinger & Kokoska (2000) the efficiency of the median ranges from 1.000 for $`m=2`$, 0.743 for $`m=3`$, … 0.681 for $`m=20`$, to 0.637 for $`m=\mathrm{}`$. Hence De Marchi et al. effectively used less than 2/3 of the information available in the images.

We requested from the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre the image association stacks that were used by De Marchi et al. and compared them to the combined images resulting from our analysis. After allowing for the change in image scale (we expanded our images by a factor of three in each dimension), the main difference is that images of faint stellar objects appear perceptibly more diffuse in the pipeline generated associations. This has the effect of making the faintest stars difficult to detect in the images De Marchi et al. used, exactly what is seen in Figure 1. We illustrate this by employing the same 2 stars De Marchi et al. used to claim that objects fainter than F814W = 27.0 could not be measured on our first-epoch frames. Recall that all we seek from the first-epoch images is a position so that proper motions can be measured. All the photometry is carried out on the longer-exposure frames. For this reason most of our positional matching comes from the F606W $``$ F555W pair as the first-epoch exposures in F555W are actually quite long—31.5 ksec. Figure 2 displays these two images as we produced them with the stars discussed by De Marchi et al. circled. Clearly the lower of the two is easily visible in both frames while the upper of the two is not seen in the shorter exposure first epoch. There is, however, a simple reason for this - it is in fact not a star at all, as our deep images clearly show it to be extended. This faint galaxy is thus lost in the noisier first-epoch image. Some specific numbers for these two objects are that each is detected at a $`S/N`$ of about 8 on the long exposure F606W image, the upper one is not detected on the shorter F555W frame while the lower is detected at $`S/N`$ of about 5. The lower star has a proper motion completely consistent with cluster membership and its measured magnitudes are F606W = 28.48, F814W = 27.25. It is a cluster white dwarf and as can be seen in Figure 1 we are able to measure stars almost 0.5 magnitudes fainter than this one.

One crucial point is that our experiment matches long exposures in F606W (127.4 ksec) and F814W (192.4 ksec) with much shorter exposures in F555W (31.5 ksec) and F814W (7.2 ksec). The question thus arises as to how we could measure positions in the earlier epoch data for the faintest stars where the $`S/N`$ is obviously poor. For a star at F606W = 29.0 the expected $`S/N`$ (from the HST ETC) in our deep F606W frames is 6.7 while a star at this magnitude on the shorter exposure F555W frames has $`S/N`$ = 2.5. This is just about what we measured on our frames. The reason we can successfully measure positions of such faint objects in the first epoch are twofold.

First, we applied the finding list from the deep frames to the shallower frames. If the background noise in an image is Gaussian, then a $`2.5\sigma `$ positive deviation will occur in about 6 pixels out of every 1000. If, in a $`750\times 750`$ image (neglecting the vignetted areas at the low-x and low-y sides of the WFPC2 CCDs), we were to mark all of the $`2.5\sigma `$ peaks as detected astronomical objects, we would expect more than 3,000 false detections. However, if we consider only the area within 0.5 pixels radius of an object confidently detected in the long second-epoch exposure, we expect a probability $`\pi \times 0.5^2\times \frac{6}{1000}0.005`$ of finding a positive 2.5$`\sigma `$ deviation which is purely the result of random noise in the first-epoch image. That is to say, we expect of order 5 false cross-identifications for every 1000 correct re-detections. Even at $`1.8\sigma `$, presumed re-identifications will be correct 19 times out of 20. For this reason, the knowledge that an actual astronomical object is present somewhere nearby based upon the long-exposure second-epoch images allows us to be confident that most of the claimed re-detections on the short-exposure first epoch images correspond to true re-detections. The first-epoch astrometric positions, then, while poorer than those of the second epoch, are nevertheless good enough to distinguish stars that are moving with the cluster from stars and galaxies that are not. By contrast, De Marchi et al. made no use of this technique and hence the shorter first-epoch frames effectively set their limiting magnitude. We checked the above by rerunning the photometry programs on the WF3 chip using a finding list with star positions generated randomly. This list contained the same number of stars as the original finding list. We then selected the objects whose photometry had converged on all frames. The resulting proper motion displacement diagram and CMD is shown in Figure 3 and compared with the one when the true finding list is used in Figure 4. There are numerous spurious faint matches in Figure 3, but almost all disappear when the match radius of 0.5 pixels is invoked. Those objects that lie outside 0.5 pixels are likely random noise spikes which have no correlated positions between frames. Figures 3 and 4 taken together show that false detections of noise spikes are not a serious source of contamination in our CMDs and that the suggestion to the contrary by De Marchi et al. is incorrect.

Secondly, the proper motions of the M4 stars are actually quite large (about 1 HST pixel with respect to an extragalactic background over the 6 year time baseline (Kalirai et al. 2003)). While the lower $`S/N`$ image would not produce good enough photometry, the $`S/N`$ is sufficient to give the centroid, which is crucial for astrometry. In Figure 5 we illustrate the quality of the proper motion separation between cluster and field from the long and short images. Some of the brightest stars do not exhibit clean separation due to their near saturation. However, what is clear from this diagram is that most of the field objects can be easily eliminated down to very faint magnitudes (F606W = 29.0) by making the generous proper motion cut within a total value of 0.5 pixel ($`8`$ mas/yr) of that of the mean cluster motion over the 6 year baseline of the observations. A disturbing aspect of the De Marchi et al. paper is that nowhere do they illustrate their displacement measurements.

The analysis techniques of De Marchi et al. compounded the effect of their somewhat lower quality images. Their approach uses aperture photometry to measure the stellar magnitudes. We employ point spread function fitting, which clearly has the advantage of just using the pixels with the largest signal—thus reducing the sky contribution—a critical issue when attempting to measure faint stars. The effect of this is obvious even along the brighter portion of the white dwarf cooling sequence where the De Marchi et al. diagram exhibits significantly larger scatter (see Figure 1). Further, as we mentioned above, we use the positional information from the deepest frames in carrying out the photometry on the shorter exposure frames. By contrast De Marchi et al. made no use of this information. This has the effect of allowing the depth of the first-epoch images alone to set their limiting magnitude.

## 3 Other Issues

In a paper currently in press (Hansen et al. 2004) we consider in some detail the host of systematic effects in the white dwarf cooling age determination. In that contribution we will comment in detail on some of the points raised by De Marchi et al. such as distance modulus, reddening and mass function. Here we have only considered reduction and analysis of the data. With regards to this data we offer our stacked images and finding lists to anyone wanting to use them and in Richer et al. 2004 we have published the complete photometry lists.

On one point we agree with De Marchi et al. – the pursuit of globular cluster white dwarfs is an important and interesting scientific goal. However, it is also an extremely expensive project in terms of telescope time, and we have a responsibility to take the time to give the analysis significant thought and effort to come up with the best possible analysis. We would be delighted if we could detect the truncation of the white dwarf luminosity function, and hope to do so in future work, but until such time we reiterate the point that there is abundant age information in the white dwarf luminosity function and it can be modelled.

The authors would like to thank I. King and J. Anderson for reading an early version of this paper and making useful comments. The research of HBR is supported in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. HBR extends his appreciation to the Killam Foundation and the Canada Council for the award of a Canada Council Killam Fellowship. RMR and MS acknowledge support from proposal GO-8679 and BH from a Hubble Fellowship HF-01120.01 both of which were provided by NASA through a grant from the Space Telescope Science Institute which is operated by AURA under NASA contract NAS5-26555. BKG acknowledges the support of the Australian Research Council through its Large Research Grant Program A00105171.