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# Infrared Space Observatory Spectra of R Coronae Borealis Stars. I. Emission Features in the Interval 3 - 25 micronsBased on observations with ISO, an ESA project with instruments funded by ESA Member States (especially the PI countries: France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) and with the participation of ISAS and NASA.

## 1 Introduction

The rare class of peculiar stars known as the R Coronae Borealis stars (here, R CrBs) possess two very distinctive characteristics: a propensity to fade at unpredictable times by up to about 8 magnitudes, and an F-G supergiant-like atmosphere that is very H-deficient, He-rich, with considerable amounts of carbon. The fading of the visible light is often rapid with deep minima achieved in a few days to a few weeks but the return to maximum light is generally slower occurring over a period of several months. O’Keefe’s (1939) suggestion that a R CrB fades when a cloud of soot forms to obscure the photosphere has stood the test of time but the detailed identification of the dust particles and their mode and site of formation remain open questions.

Infrared photometry and low-resolution spectroscopy of R CrBs at maximum light and in decline have revealed several key features of the dusty circumstellar shells. Discovery of IR-excesses provided confirmation of the hypothesis that dust grains were a major constituent of the circumstellar shells (Stein et al. 1969; Lee & Feast 1969). Subsequent studies showed the dust to be at an equivalent blackbody temperature of 500 - 1000 K and present around almost all R CrB stars (Feast & Glass 1973; Feast et al. 1977; Glass 1978), but not distributed in a spherically homogeneous shell (Forrest, Gillett, & Stein 1972). Later observations including measurements of optical polarization suggested the dust may be ejected in a preferred plane (Stanford et al. 1988; Rao & Raveendran 1993; Clayton et al. 1997). Feast et al. (1977) showed that for RY Sgr, a 38 day pulsating R CrB star, the intensity of the 3.5 $`\mu `$m emission from the warm dust varied with the same period as the visual light showing that the dust was heated by starlight. This variation was shown to continue with no significant decline in mean intensity when the star experienced a deep visual decline. The mean intensity did, however, drop at times when the star remained at maximum light. This extended series of IR observations show that the circumstellar shell is composed of discrete clouds; should a cloud form along the line of sight to the star, a decline is witnessed but the heating of the collection of clouds comprising the circumstellar shell is little affected because only a modest fraction of the stellar surface is blocked from directly heating the shell. IRAS observations revealed, in addition to the warm dust detected from the ground, an extended (‘fossil’) shell of cold (T $`30`$ K) dust (Gillett et al. 1986; Rao & Nandy 1986; Walker 1986).

Attribution of emission and absorption features in spectra of circumstellar shells around C-rich objects has been contested. Two leading proposals vie for identification of emission features: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (here, PAHs), and hydrogenated amorphous carbon (here, HAC). Since R CrBs are H-deficient to different degrees, observation and analysis of their infrared emission features affords an opportunity to investigate the role of hydrogen in formation of the very large molecules or dust grains. Hydrogen deficiency and other circumstances peculiar to R CrB circumstellar shells may promote formation of other species.

With the advent of the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO, Kessler et al. 1996), there came an opportunity to obtain IR spectra of R CrB stars in and beyond the narrow windows open to ground-based observers. In this paper we discuss and interpret spectra of three R CrBs obtained with ISO over the wavelength region 2.5 - 45 $`\mu `$m. At the H-rich end of the range is V854 Cen with a H abundance only a factor of 100 below normal. We contrast V854 Cen with RY Sgr and R CrB, two stars with considerably less H than V854 Cen.

## 2 Observations

### 2.1 The Stars

Two stars were satisfactorily observed under our ISO program: RY Sgr and V854 Cen. Data for R CrB were retrieved from the ISO archive. Details of the observations including the parameters TDT and AOT are summarized in Table 1. At the time of observation, RY Sgr and R CrB were close to maximum light according to the AAVSO light curves. When observed V854 Cen appears to have been recovering from minimum light: the V magnitude according to Lawson et al. (1999) was about 7.7 or 0.5 magnitudes below maximum light.

### 2.2 Spectra - Reduction and Calibration

The spectra were obtained with the Short-Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS, de Graauw et al. 1996) on the ISO spacecraft. Spectra were recorded on separate 1 $`\times `$ 12 detector arrays. The complete spectrum was recorded as 12 different but overlapping spectral bands using different combinations of grating, aperture, and detector array. Our spectra of RY Sgr and V854 Cen were observed at the slowest scanning speed, and, therefore, the highest SWS resolving power of $`R=\lambda /\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda 1000`$. The archived R CrB spectrum had been taken at a higher speed and lower resolving power ($`R400`$).

Standard pipeline processing of the raw SWS data involves three principal steps: subtraction of the dark current, assignment of the wavelength scale, and the determination of the absolute fluxes. Dark current measurements were obtained just prior and after an observation. These were averaged and subtracted from the signal from the source. Wavelengths were calculated from the recorded grating positions and grating constants in the SWS database (Valentijn et al. 1996). Similarly, the raw signals were converted to absolute fluxes (in Janskys) using calibrations in the SWS database. Each of the 12 bands was reduced separately, and then combined to form a composite spectrum.

The output of the pipeline processing was a spectrum with discontinuities across the edges between adjacent bands. Additional reduction procedures were then applied using the interactive software ISAP (Roelfsema et al. 1993). Spectra in the 12 bands were grouped into four larger bands covering the wavelength regions: 2.35 - 4.1 $`\mu `$m, 4.0 - 12.0 $`\mu `$m, 12.0 - 28.0 $`\mu `$m, and 29.0 - 45.2 $`\mu `$m. A spectrum from a single detector was inspected for abrupt jumps in signal level, and excessive noise levels. Detectors so affected were dropped from the sample. A few bad data points were edited out. Following recommendations by Rita Loidl (private communication), we reduced the discontinuities by applying additive corrections relative to the signal from a reference detector within each AOT band selected based on two criteria: (1) it should provide the smallest discontinuity at the band edges, and the slope that is most consistent with other detectors, and (2) choice of the detector should not change the mean flux level. The first band (2.4 - 2.6 $`\mu `$m) was taken as the flux reference. We found that band 7 (7 - 12.0 $`\mu `$m) showed a significant offset between the scanning directions; the ‘down’ scan spectra were always of higher flux than the ‘up’ scan spectra. This is attributed to ‘memory effects’; the ‘down’ scans were rejected. This procedure provided spectra of higher signal to noise ratio than achieved in all of our earlier attempts to eliminate the discontinuities. Final spectra after rebinning to a resolving power of R = 1000 for RY Sgr and V854 Cen and R=400 for R CrB are shown in Figure 1 .

### 2.3 Spectral Energy Distributions

Since the stars are of variable flux in the infrared, we should not expect the ISO fluxes to match exactly published fluxes. V854 Cen was caught by ISO in an unusually bright phase at IR wavelengths: for example, the ISO flux density at 10 $`\mu `$m is 25 Jy while 15 Jy was found by IRAS. IRAS fluxes for RY Sgr are 60 - 70% higher than the ISO fluxes. R CrB was about 40% brighter as observed by ISO than by IRAS. Walker et al. (1996) observed R CrB with ISO when the star was at minimum light or 7 magnitudes below maximum light. The ISOPHOT instrument was used for photometry at 6 bandpasses from 60 $`\mu `$m to 200 $`\mu `$m, and a low resolution spectrum was acquired from 2.5 $`\mu `$m to 5 $`\mu `$m and 5.8 $`\mu `$m to 11.6 $`\mu `$m at a resolving power of about 100. The ISO photometry seems to show that R CrB was a factor of about two brighter at minimum than when measured with IRAS. The 2.5 $`\mu `$m to 11.6 $`\mu `$m spectrum differs in shape but not average flux from ours: the ISOPHOT spectrum shows less flux than the SWS spectrum for wavelengths shorter than about 4 $`\mu `$m and longer than about 8.5 $`\mu `$m with differences largest at the wavelength limits of the ISOPHOT spectrum. Between 4 $`\mu `$m and 8.5 $`\mu `$m, the ISOPHOT spectrum has the higher flux by up to about a factor of two. The ISOPHOT spectrum cannot be well fitted by a blackbody spectrum.

Infrared excesses are conveniently expressed using a fit of a blackbody spectrum after consideration of the photospheric spectrum. This is an adequate artifice here because we are primarily interested in the emission and absorption features. Predicted fluxes from model atmospheres show that the IR photospheric flux is essentially identical to that of a black body at the stellar effective temperature (Asplund et al. 1997a,b). We resolve the observed spectrum into photospheric and circumstellar components; the former does not exceed a 10% contribution at the short wavelength end of the SWS bandpass. Then, we fit the circumstellar spectrum with that of a blackbody. Figure 1 shows the photospheric and circumstellar components with the observed spectra. The blackbody’s contribution is subtracted to show more clearly the emission and absorption features that may be present (see Figure 2, 3, and 4). Over the SWS spectrum, interstellar reddening, slight at B and V, is negligible.

For V854 Cen and RY Sgr, the infrared excess is well fitted by a single blackbody: temperatures of 1040$`\pm `$20 and 820$`\pm `$10 K are obtained for V854 Cen and RY Sgr, respectively. The former temperature is slightly hotter than the 900 K estimated by Lawson & Cottrell (1989) from IRAS measurements, but is equal to the excitation temperature of circumstellar C2 molecules reported by Rao & Lambert (2000). Our temperature for RY Sgr fits the IRAS measurements; Walker (1985) derived a blackbody temperature of 800$`\pm `$50 K from a fit to broad-band measurements out to 60 $`\mu `$m. A range of 600 K to 900 K was found by Feast et al. (1977) from ground-based photometry. To fit the R CrB ISO spectrum requires two blackbody components: one at T=610 $`\pm 60`$ K provides an adequate fit at wavelengths longer than 5 $`\mu `$m, and the contribution from a hotter black body, T = 1390$`\pm `$270 K, is needed to fit the shorter wavelengths. Walker (1985) obtained a temperature of 650$`\pm `$50 K from IRAS broad-band fluxes from 12 to 100 $`\mu `$m. We note that the IRAS observations suggested a similar (T = 680 K) dust temperature (Rao & Nandy 1986). In each case, the blackbody simulation of the SWS spectrum fits the observations to a few per cent with small deviations largely arising from emission features.

Our adoption of a blackbody to represent the infrared fluxes is an artifice enabling us to display more clearly the emission features. Representation of an infrared flux distribution by a blackbody is tantamount to assuming that either the dusty clouds are isothermal and optically thick at all wavelengths or the clouds are optically thin with an absorption coefficient that is quasi-gray in the infrared. An attempt to model the clouds as optically thin was made using laboratory measurements of the non-gray absorption coefficient for amorphous carbon samples from Colangeli et al. (1995 - see also Bussoletti et al. 1987); the measurements for their BE sample were adopted. The inferred dust temperature is slightly lower, and the overall fit to the observed fluxes somewhat inferior to the results for the optically thick case. Presumably, the latter result is, in part, due to the failure of the adopted laboratory measured absorption coefficients to represent the actual circumstellar dust; the laboratory results depend on how the amorphous carbon is prepared. More refined models than either our simple optically thick and thin approximations would presumably provide higher quality fits but our present purpose of investigating the narrow emission features is served adequately by adopting the blackbody fit to the spectrum.

Amorphous carbon particles show increased absorption between about 6 $`\mu `$m and 14 $`\mu `$m (see, for example, Colangeli et al.’s Figure 5, 1995) that appear to account for the broad emission seen from all three R CrB stars. In the optically thick case, one expects these features to appear in absorption on the grounds that the temperatures of dust grains on clouds’ outer edges will decrease towards the surface facing away from the star. Optically thin clouds will show emission bands associated with the increased absorption. Colangeli et al.’s measurements, and the temperatures found from the ‘optically thin’ fit to the infrared fluxes provide a rough fit to the broad emission features.

## 3 Emission and Absorption Features

### 3.1 Unidentified Infrared Emissions

The principal goal of this investigation was to search for spectral features. Such features are seen in the residual or difference spectra (Figures 2, and 3) obtained by subtracting the best-fitting blackbody spectrum from the observed spectrum. Emission features may be classified as ‘broad’ or ‘narrow’. Narrow features are seen only in V854 Cen. Broad features are seen in all three R CrB stars.

V854 Cen. The narrow emission features (Table 2) seen in V854 Cen’s spectrum correspond to some of the famous unidentified infrared features (UIR) seen in emission from many post-AGB stars, planetary nebulae, and H ii regions. The 3.29 $`\mu `$m UIR is certainly present (Figure 2), the 3.4 $`\mu `$m UIR is possibly present, but the UIR at 3.51 $`\mu `$m is not seen above the noise. In the 5-10 $`\mu `$m interval, the UIR at 6.29 $`\mu `$m but not those at 5.6, 6.9, 7.3, 7.7, and 8.6 $`\mu `$m stand out above the noise and/or the smooth profile of the broad feature that extends from 6-9 $`\mu `$m. Three UIRs are seen in the 10-25 $`\mu `$m region (Figure 3): emission is clearly seen at 11.3, and 13.5, and possibly 14.6 $`\mu `$m. The latter two UIRs were discovered in ISO spectra of Red Rectangle (Waters et al. 1998).

The remaining emission features are broad. A feature appears at 3.95 $`\mu `$m but it occurs at the border of two spectral bands. The 6.3 $`\mu `$m UIR feature appears at the short wavelength limit of a broad feature extending to about 9 $`\mu `$m with local peaks at 6.9 $`\mu `$m (possibly the intrusion of the 6.9 $`\mu `$m UIR) and 8.1 $`\mu `$m. Clayton et al. (1995) observed V854 Cen from 8.5 to 8.8 $`\mu `$m at a resolving power of 1000 and found a featureless continuum, an observation consistent with our spectrum. An apparently broad feature at 12.6 $`\mu `$m is bracketed by UIRs at 11.3 $`\mu `$m and 13.5 $`\mu `$m. Inspection of Buss et al.’s (1993) collection of 6 - 13 $`\mu `$m spectra of ‘transition objects’ (i.e., stars evolving from the AGB to the planetary nebula phase) shows a gross similarity between V854 Cen and the C-rich protoplanetary nebula IRAS 22272+5435. The spectrum of V854 Cen is definitely different from those of the planetary nebulae NGC 7027 and CPD -568032.

RY Sgr. Two broad features are present. One extends from about 6 $`\mu `$m to 9 $`\mu `$m, and the second from about 11 $`\mu `$m to 18 $`\mu `$m. There is little evidence of structure within these features. Except for the presence of the 6.3 $`\mu `$m feature in V854 Cen, the appearance of these broad features is similar for V854 Cen and RY Sgr. Clayton et al. (1995) obtained a spectrum of the interval 8.2 to 8.8 $`\mu `$m at a resolution of 1000 and reported that it was featureless, a result consistent with our spectrum. The IRAS LRS spectrum shown by Clayton et al. provides a marginal detection of the 11.5-15 $`\mu `$m feature, and clear evidence for stronger emission extending from the 8 $`\mu `$m limit of the LRS spectrum to 9 $`\mu `$m, which we identify with the 6-9 $`\mu `$m broad emission feature.

R CrB. Again, two broad emissions are present. We confirm the 6 to 9 $`\mu `$m feature found by Buss et al. (1993), and partially recorded on the IRAS LRS 8-22 $`\mu `$m spectrum (Clayton et al. 1995). An emission peak at 6.5 $`\mu `$m in the feature reported by Buss et al. is not confirmed. A second broad feature extends from 11.5 to about 15 $`\mu `$m. Both features commence at the same wavelength in all three stars but span a shorter wavelength interval in R CrB than do the apparently similar features in V854 Cen and RY Sgr.

Absorption near 4.6 $`\mu `$m seen in V854 Cen, and RY Sgr is likely due to the fundamental vibration-rotation absorption lines from circumstellar CO molecules. Absorption at 7.2 $`\mu `$m in RY Sgr appears to be real; the feature is present in each of the scans of this interval.

### 3.2 A Search for C60

Goeres & Sedlmayr (1992) may have been the first to have considered the spherical cage molecule buckminsterfullerene, C60, as a possible constituent of dust clouds around R CrB stars. Their theoretical model predicted low abundances of C60 molecules. This prediction could be circumvented if the carbon-rich gas contained H atoms. Formation of large C-containing molecules is facilitated in the presence of H-containing moleclues such as acetylene (C2H2) and by photoerosion of hydrogenated amorphous carbon. This suggests that V854 Cen’s dust clouds might harbor C60 molecules, even if RY Sgr and R CrB do not. Understanding molecule and dust formation in the outer atmosphere of a R CrB (or any star!) is far from complete. Therefore, a search for these very stable carbon cages is of interest.

Laboratory infrared spectroscopy of free C60 molecules has shown that the strongest of the 46 possible vibrational bands are at 7.0, 8.4, 17.4, and 18.8 $`\mu `$m (Nemes et al. 1994, see also Krätschmer et al. 1990 and Frum et al. 1991). The given wavelengths are laboratory measurements extrapolated to a temperature of 0 K. Positions (and profiles) of these bands will vary with temperature of the gas as more and more levels of the rotational ladder are populated with increasing temperature. Nemes et al. estimate, for example, that the 8.4 $`\mu `$m will show its bandhead at 8.58 $`\mu `$m at 1000 K with a width of 0.1 $`\mu `$m. Possibly, some molecules may be ionized - positively or negatively - in the dust clouds. Infrared spectroscopy of C$`{}_{}{}^{+}{}_{60}{}^{}`$ molecules in a rare gas matrix has provided measurements of vibrational bands of the ion C$`{}_{}{}^{+}{}_{60}{}^{}`$ at 7.1 and 7.5 $`\mu `$m (Fulara, Jakobi, & Maier 1993); expected bands at longer wavelengths were not investigated. The negative ion C$`{}_{}{}^{}{}_{60}{}^{}`$ had strong bands at 7.2 and 8.3 $`\mu `$m. These measurements include a matrix-dependent shift but the bands of the gas phase ions will be close to the measured positions. Temperature dependence of the band positions and widths will occur, as they do for C60, for the free cations and anions.

Clayton et al. (1995) searched unsuccessfully for the C60 8.6 $`\mu `$m band on ground-based R = 1000 spectra of the interval 8.49 $`\mu `$m to 8.82 $`\mu `$m at a S/N ratio of about 100 for R CrB but somewhat lower for V854 Cen and RY Sgr; the wavelength of 8.6 $`\mu `$m is that expected for C60 absorption at 1000 K. We confirm that the feature is not present. (The S/N ratio at 8.5 $`\mu `$m is 60 (V854 Cen), 70 (RY Sgr), and 80 (R CrB).) Our SWS spectra permit a search for the other strong bands. A feature appears near the 7.1 $`\mu `$m band in V854 Cen but this is at the boundary of two SWS bands and, therefore, we doubt that it is a real emission feature. This wavelength is also close to that of bands measured for matrix-isolated C$`{}_{}{}^{+}{}_{60}{}^{}`$ and C$`{}_{}{}^{}{}_{60}{}^{}`$. Other bands of these ions at 7.5 $`\mu `$m for C$`{}_{}{}^{+}{}_{60}{}^{}`$ and 8.3 $`\mu `$m for C$`{}_{}{}^{}{}_{60}{}^{}`$ are not present in our spectra. At longer wavelengths (Figure 3), we do not detect the C60 17.5 and 19.0 $`\mu `$m bands. An apparent emission feature at 19.2 $`\mu `$m is an artefact.

### 3.3 The \[Ne ii\] 12.8 $`\mu `$m Line

Optical spectra of R CrBs in deep declines show a few broad emission lines with base widths of 400 - 600 km s-1. Carriers of permitted broad lines include He i, Na i D, Ca ii, and the C2 molecule. Forbidden broad lines of \[N ii\], \[O ii\] and other atoms and ions have been noted. Detailed reports for V854 Cen (Rao & Lambert 1993) and R CrB (Rao et al. 1999) list and discuss the detected lines. Broad lines, if present, would be resolved on the SWS R = 1000 spectra. Broad lines, which are detectable only after a star has faded by several magnitudes, are not to be confused with sharp ‘chromospheric’ lines, primarily from neutral and singly-ionized metals, seen early in and throughout a decline. Sharp lines would not be resolved on our spectra.

Gas emitting the optical broad forbidden lines should also emit the \[Ne ii\] 12.8 $`\mu `$m line. If the gas is of low electron density, as indicated for V854 Cen by the intensity ratio of the red \[S ii\] lines (Rao & Lambert 1993), the predicted flux of the \[Ne ii\] line is about 0.3% that of the 6584Å \[N ii\] line for equal abundances of the ions N+ and Ne+. Considerations of elemental abundance and rough estimates of the ionization conditions suggest that the predicted flux of the \[Ne ii\] line is several orders of magnitude smaller than the detection limit. Optical \[O i\] and \[C i\] lines observed in spectra of R CrB at minimum light indicate electron densities in excess of the critical densities for \[N ii\] and \[Ne ii\] lines. Then, the fluxes in the \[N ii\] and \[Ne ii\] lines are comparable for equal ionic densities, but, even in this more optimistic case, the flux of the 12.8 $`\mu `$m line is at last a factor of 100 smaller than the detection limit. We conclude that the absence of the 12.8 $`\mu `$m \[Ne ii\] line is consistent with optical detections of forbidden lines.

## 4 Discussion

### 4.1 Hydrogenated Amorphous Carbon Dust

Surely, the most intriguing result from these ISO spectra is the presence of some UIRs in V854 Cen but not in RY Sgr and R CrB. One may suspect this difference is related to the fact that V854 Cen is less H-deficient than the other two stars. Then, those UIRs seen in V854 Cen likely arise from transitions involving H and C bonds in free molecules, large clusters, or grains.

Analyses of the UV extinction by R CrBs suggested that the dust was amorphous carbon (Hecht et al. 1984). Laboratory studies of absorption and emission infrared spectra of aggregates of submicron particles or thin films of partially hydrogenated amorphous carbon have been reported with a view to identifying the UIRs (Borghesi, Bussoletti, & Colangeli 1987; Scott & Duley 1996; Scott, Duley, & Jahani 1997). In many cases, the precise profile of the absorption/emission feature depends on the thermal history of the laboratory sample. Nonetheless, there is a correspondence between the narrow emission features seen in the spectrum of V854 Cen and the laboratory spectra of HAC. This is well illustrated in Figure 4 where the emission spectrum of a thin HAC film at 773 K (Scott et al. 1997) is plotted with our spectrum of V854 Cen. The temperature of 773 K was the highest temperature investigated by Scott et al. A majority of the emission features seen in the laboratory spectrum are identifiable in V854 Cen’s spectrum: absorption at 4.3 $`\mu `$m in V854 Cen presumably masks the emission seen in the laboratory spectrum at a similar wavelength, and the laboratory emissions at 7.1 $`\mu `$m and 12.3 $`\mu `$m are not seen as distinct peaks in the stellar spectrum. Apart from differences in the laboratory and stellar profiles of the 7-9 $`\mu `$m and 11-15 $`\mu `$m bands, there is an obvious difference in the relative strengths of these bands: the ratio of the shorter to the longer wavelength emission is much greater for the stellar than for the laboratory spectrum.

In the laboratory experiments, the intensity of the 3.4 $`\mu `$m feature, characteristic of aliphatic hydrocarbons, decreased as the temperature was raised from 425 K to 775 K and the intensity of the 3.29 $`\mu `$m feature, attributable to aromatic hydrocarbon and seen in V854 Cen, appeared and strengthened. This change was attributed by Scott et al. to the transformation of HAC from a polymer to a protographitic solid. In V854 Cen, the dominant emission is at about 3.3 $`\mu `$m not at 3.4 $`\mu `$m. The 6.2 $`\mu `$m (aromatic C-C ring vibration) and 11.3 $`\mu `$m (aromatic CH-bending mode) are also more intense at the higher temperatures. Emission corresponding to the CH bending modes is also apparent at 12.3 and 13.2 $`\mu `$m in the 773 K laboratory spectra, and in V854 Cen. In short, these and other comparisons of relative intensities suggest that a laboratory spectrum at a temperature higher than 773 K, perhaps at the temperature of 1040 K of the dust shell, would prove to be an even closer match to V854 Cen’s narrow features. UIRs seen in astronomical sources at 7.7 and 8.6 $`\mu `$m are apparently absent from V854 Cen, and were also reported as absent by Borghesi et al. (1987) in their studies of absorption spectra of small HAC grains. The 7.7 $`\mu `$m feature was attributed to a CN-stretch of a NH2 group which owing to a lack of N in the laboratory samples did not appear in laboratory spectra. Nitrogen is not especially abundant in V854 Cen and, therefore, absence of this 7.7 $`\mu `$m UIR is likely understandable.

RY Sgr and R CrB show broad emission features similar to those seen from V854 Cen but the sharp features are exclusive to the latter star. Profiles of the 7-9 $`\mu `$m and 11-15 $`\mu `$m bands differ from star to star. Apart from the sharp features shown by V854 Cen, the spectra of V854 Cen and R CrB are the most similar. The 7-9 $`\mu `$m band appears resolvable into two bands with minimum flux at about 7.4-7.6 $`\mu `$m, and the emission in the longer wavelength band does not extend beyond about 15 $`\mu `$m. By contrast, RY Sgr’s 7-9 $`\mu `$m band does not show the minimum, and emission in the longer wavelength band extends to about 18 $`\mu `$m. These broad emission bands would appear to be a property of dehydrogenated amorphous carbon (see Koike, Hasegawa, & Manabe 1980; Bussoletti et al. 1987; Colangeli et al. 1995).

Hydrogenated amorphous carbon accounts well for V854 Cen’s narrow emission features. Absence of strong features at 7.7 and 8.6 $`\mu `$m that are characteristic of PAHs suggest the free molecules are not abundant in its circumstellar shell. Amorphous carbon formed in a hydrogen containing atmosphere is composed of randomly oriented linked and connected PAH clusters, and, therefore, the spectrum of HAC will resemble that of free PAHs with bands blurred, shifted, and blended by solid state effects. By an extension of this argument, it is not surprising that an overall match to the HAC spectrum is also found from laboratory spectrum of coals such as anthracite and semi-anthracite (Guillois et al. 1996; Papoular et al. 1996). We suppose it more probable that HAC rather than coals form in V854 Cen’s circumstellar shell.

### 4.2 The Energy Budget

It is of interest to investigate the energetics of the dust clouds which we assume are heated solely by absorption of starlight. Circumstellar dust is distributed in clouds around the star. After full recovery from a decline, a star always returns to the same brightness. Therefore, it is plausible to suppose that at these times there is no cloud along the line of sight. Although the detailed comparisons are lacking, available comparisons of observed (corrected for interstellar extinction) and predicted stellar flux distribution about visible wavelengths (see Asplund et al.’s Figure 8 1997a for R CrB) suggest that circumstellar extinction by small particles is not present at maximum light; large particles producing gray extinction cannot be ruled out by this comparison. Gray extinction from a changing cloud of large particles would cause fluctuations in the brightness of a star at maximum light. If large dust particles are made in the cloud responsible for a decline, they cannot persist in the line of sight once spectroscopic manifestations of a decline (i.e., sharp emission lines) have disappeared in the recovery to maximum light.

Given these assumptions, there is a simple inequality that must be satisfied by the integrated infrared emission from the dust ($`f^d`$) and the integrated stellar flux ($`f^{}`$), where $`f`$ denotes flux received at the Earth. The inequality is $`f^d<f^{}`$ and recognizes that (i) the dust clouds may be optically thin, and (ii) the clouds may not subtend 4$`\pi `$ of solid angle at the star. The dust emission, $`f^d`$, is estimated as described above from the measured spectrum after subtraction of a small contribution from the star. Stellar emission, $`f^{}`$, is estimated from published UBVRIJ magnitudes at maximum light with estimates added for the ultraviolet flux from IUE spectra and for flux beyond J.

With the ISO fluxes, we find $`f^d/f^{}0.9`$ for V854 Cen, and 0.4 for R CrB and RY Sgr. The larger ratio for V854 Cen may well result from the fact that we observed the star in the recovery from a deep decline when the infrared fluxes were enhanced due to a contribution from the recently formed dust cloud that caused the decline. This suggestion is consistent with Forrest’s (1974) observations of R CrB showing that the infrared flux increased after mininum light with $`f^d/f^{}`$ increasing from 0.2 to 0.7, by his estimates. Noting too that the IRAS fluxes for RY Sgr were 60 - 70% higher than the ISO fluxes, we suggest $`f^d0.5f^{}`$ for these three stars at maximum light between declines. Near-equality of $`f^d`$ and $`f^{}`$ implies that the ensemble of clouds provides a covering factor approaching 4$`\pi `$, and that a majority of the clouds are optically thick or almost so. Given this result, it seems surprising that the stars are visible! Or to phrase this surprise in another way - are there R CrB stars that have eluded discovery because they are embedded in a very optically thick conglomeration of clouds?

If the dust clouds are optically thin, the mass in amorphous carbon can be estimated readily. If the mean absorption coefficient at 7 $`\mu `$m, the peak of the dust emission, is taken from Colangeli et al. (1995), and the stellar distance derived from the stellar flux at about 1 $`\mu `$m and an assumed stellar radius of 100 solar radii, the dust masses (in solar masses) are 2 $`\times 10^8`$, 4 $`\times 10^8`$, and 3 $`\times 10^8`$ for V854 Cen, R CrB, and RY Sgr, respectively. These are probably underestimates by a modest factor. At minimum light, a R CrB is approximately 7 magnitudes fainter than at maximum light. If the obscuring cloud covers the surface uniformly, an optical depth of about 6 at visual wavelengths exists. Given the approximately inverse wavelength dependence of the dust absorption coefficient, the optical depth of the cloud at 8 $`\mu `$m is about 0.4. This estimate for a fresh cloud is likely an overestimate for the typical cloud in the dust shell.

To build a more complete picture of the clouds, imposition of radiative equilibrium is required. Hartmann & Apruzese (1976) were able to fit Forrest’s (1974) infrared photometry for infrared maximum and minimum (both corresponding to visual maximum) with dust distributed out to 300 to 500 stellar radii. Optical depth at infrared wavelengths for the assumed dust distributions is very small. The dust mass derived of about 5 $`\times 10^7M_{}`$ is larger than our estimate but this is possibly due to differences in the adopted absorption coefficients. A recalculation of model circumstellar shells of HAC grains in radiative equilibrium would be of interest.

## 5 Concluding Remarks

Dust in a cloud is reluctant to betray its identity. Yet, the ISO 3 - 25 $`\mu `$m spectra of the ensemble of dust clouds around the stars V854 Cen, R CrB, and RY Sgr offer a few new clues. Sharp emission features coincident with certain of the UIRs are present only in V854 Cen’s spectrum, and are a fair replica of emission seen in laboratory spectra of hydrogenated amorphous carbon. These associations are consistent with the fact that V854 Cen, although H-poor relative to normal stars, is H-rich by a factor of 1000 with respect to R CrB and RY Sgr. Spectra of all three stars show a double-peaked broad emission feature between 6 $`\mu `$m and 14 $`\mu `$m that corresponds to a feature in the extinction curve of amorphous carbon. In summary, amorphous carbon is a major contributor to the infrared emission from R CrB and, in the case of V854 Cen, the amorphous carbon is hydrogenated.

We are especially grateful to Rita Loidl for advice on how to reduce the SWS spectra. We thank B. Gustafsson and M.Asplund for their interest in this project, and W. Duley for providing the laboratory spectrum illustrated in Figure 4. The ISO Spectral Analysis Package (ISAP) is a joint development by the LWS and SWS Instrument Teams and Data Centers with CESR, IAS, IPAC, MPE, RAL, and SRO as contributing institutions. This research was supported in part by NASA through grants NAG5-3348 and CITJ-961543.


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# Flexible Software Framework for Modal Synthesis

## 1 Introduction

At present, the most successful work done in the area of physical modeling has generally involved waveguide networks. This is partly due to the fact that for a number of synthesis algorithms, waveguide techniques provide a large increase in computational efficiency. However, as computer hardware gets faster and cheaper, it becomes possible to consider other modeling representations without compromising their generality.

Modal synthesis has been named a “missing link” between physical modeling and other, more traditional synthesis techniques, such as additive synthesis. Modal synthesis methods can range from precise representations of a particular vibrating structure to general sound design algorithms with large sets of control parameters, similar in flexibility and scope to additive synthesis and divorced from any specifics of physical models. Synthesis based on modal physical models can produce results theoretically equivalent to those of finite elements synthesis, while allowing to approach modeling from a frequency- and energy-oriented rather than geometry-oriented point of view, thus leading to different kinds of data reduction and different, possibly more intuitive, control parameters. Unfortunately, despite the existence of a few experimental modal systems, such as Modalys, the popularity of modal synthesis is still relatively low compared to other synthesis methods, which can be attributed to high computational costs of a fully realized modal system and a certain lack of numerical data for control parameters.

Following is an overview of a software framework that has been developed to serve as a general-purpose design and control tool for modal synthesis algorithms of arbitrary complexity. This framework implements a number of real time modal synthesis elements and allows the user to control and configure the synthesis algorithms in a wide variety of ways. Most elements are based on a unifying abstraction of state and control variables, resulting in an easily expandable and configurable system. A graphical user interface is provided to facilitate instrument design and control in real time.

While immediately functional as a performance and compositional tool, the framework is also currently used to systematically survey modal systems of varying complexity in order to determine optimal representations for a number of target phenomena111One would like to be able to generate important dynamic properties of sounds using the simplest possible algorithms and topologies. Determining exactly which properties of sounds are important is a problem of psycho-acoustical timbre modeling and is beyond the scope of this paper. For advocacy of fundamental research on sound modeling and its incorporation into synthesis techniques, see .. Among those currently under investigation are time- and phase-dependent response to excitation, saturation effects, one-way and circular energy transfer among modes, regions of stable and chaotic response to control parameters, and custom transient behavior.

## 2 Synthesis Model

### 2.1 General Representation

Modal synthesis is a technique that represents a (virtual) musical instrument as a collection of resonant vibrating structures, each possessing a number of modes of vibration generally associated with particular nominal frequencies. The time development of the model is governed by various (possibly nonlinear) interactions among different modes in a structure and among substructures in an instrument, which can be used to represent the geometry, the physical properties of the material, and the interactions of different parts of a modeled instrument. Each individual mode is usually represented by a damped harmonic oscillator with a particular nominal frequency of vibration, while interactions may be based on such physical properties as resistance to bending, elasticity, etc.

The framework described here attempts to abstract the implementation of all interactions from the specifics of the modal structures. To insure compatibility throughout the model a universal energy-like variable $`E`$ is introduced. Each interaction between a pair of modal structures and/or modes is represented by an energy transfer function ($`ETF`$), which determines the energy flow between its arguments. The particularities of determining the effects of energy influx and mapping the modal state to the corresponding value of $`E`$ are left to the implementation of the modal structures themselves, thus creating a layer of abstraction on which new objects can be easily built.

### 2.2 Modal Structures and Nodes

Every modal structure in the framework is implemented as a polymorphic object, possessing a number of properties, such as its set of control parameters $`P`$, its current state $`S(t)`$, and its particular instantiation of energy-related functions $`E_{state}`$ and $`E_{feed}`$. These properties are exposed to the user for real-time control/observation and/or to functions that determine the interaction among modes and modal structures.

The simplest modal structure is a modal node, which represents exactly one normal mode of vibration. The parameterization of a modal node is $`P=\{m,f_0,d\}`$ where $`m`$ is a scaling parameter analogous to physical mass, $`f_0`$ is a nominal frequency, and $`d`$ is a decay term. Each of these parameters can be varied by the user at control rate. The state $`S`$ of a modal node is comprised of a vector $`\stackrel{}{M}^{N+1}`$ representing mode dynamics (i.e. the displacement and its derivatives up to the highest order $`N`$), and the effective frequency $`f`$ and phase $`\varphi `$. $`\stackrel{}{M}`$ is updated at the audio rate (or faster if oversampling is employed), while $`f`$ and $`\varphi `$ are obtained from $`\stackrel{}{M}`$ via a parametrized function that is readjusted every cycle, reflecting the recent history of the mode’s vibration. For the most typical case of the standard harmonic oscillator, the order $`N`$ is $`2`$, and the highest order derivative is updated according to the time-discretized version of the standard equation of vibration:

$$M_2(t+1)=dM_1(t)\omega _0^2M_0(t),$$
(1)
where $`\omega _0=\frac{2\pi f_0}{srate}`$, while $`M_0`$ and $`M_1`$ are updated by time-step integration of $`M_1`$ and $`M_2`$ respectively, taking into account the impact of $`E_{feed}`$.

### 2.3 Networks of Modal Nodes

More complex structures can be obtained by combining mo-dal nodes into networks. A network contains a set of modal nodes and a number of $`ETF`$s that determine the interactions among them. A particular configuration of the network can be implemented at compile time for efficiency, or deferred to run time, if user design and micro-management are desired. The network exposes its set $`P`$ of “macro” parameters to the user (i.e. $`f_0,m`$, etc.) in addition to the parameters of the individual modal nodes contained in it. Thus, the implementation of the network has to translate the changes in these macro parameters into the corresponding changes in the parameters of the modal nodes. Additionally, in order to interact with other networks and modal nodes, a network must provide a way of calculating its state. Finally, in cases of certain physical models, networks need to provide a parameterization of their states by a variable or a set of variables corresponding to the notion of spatial location222As an example, two networks simulating a bridge and a string may be coupled together at a particular location. Note that since we are treating space as an abstract parameterization, we are not necessarily “limited” to three dimensions; it becomes tempting to construct and listen to vibrating structures in hyper-space.. Typically, spatial parameterization of a modal network requires relatively costly Fourier transform, so in some cases it may be optimal to only provide such parameterization for a particular set of coupling locations.

Several standard network “templates” are included in the framework for quick implementation of models based on typical behaviors of various classes physical objects, such as strings, bars, plates, membranes, and cymbals. New models as well as networks with “unrealistic” customary behavior can be easily incorporated.

### 2.4 ETFs

$`ETF`$s are responsible for all dynamic interactions in the system. Due to polymorphism of the modal structures, one can use the same $`ETF`$s to describe interactions among mo-dal nodes in a network and interactions among networks. $`ETF`$s can generally be viewed as parametrized mappings from sets of states $`S_i(t)`$ to sets of energy values $`E_i`$. Different classes of $`ETF`$s are distinguished, along the lines of the hierarchy of complexity levels described below. Further subdivision is generally required for efficiency - for example, nonlinear functions can be classified by types of nonlinearity. If the synthesis is closely based on physical models, $`ETF`$s acting on complex structures will be dependent on spatial parameters provided by the networks.

In addition to the $`ETF`$s whose domain and range belong to the same types of objects, a special case of an $`ETF`$ that acts on individual modal nodes of a network but derives its values from the macro state of the network is provided for efficient implementation of global constraints on complex modal structures.

### 2.5 Levels of Complexity

While existing modal synthesis systems are usually closely associated with physical models of particular vibrating objects, the framework described here was intended as a more general tool, allowing the user to generate the largest possible range of algorithms that can be implemented using the modal paradigm. In order to organize this space of algorithms, a classification was chosen on the basis of complexity333Here “complexity” is intended to mean the level of sophistication of the interaction among modal objects and $`ETF`$s, although higher complexity in this sense generally does correspond to higher computational complexity.. Following levels are distinguished (in the order of increased complexity):

* linear modal nodes and $`ETF`$s, $`f`$=$`f_0`$ for all modal nodes at all times, $`ETF`$s ignore phase information
* phase-dependent terms are introduced into $`ETF`$s and into excitation response.
* $`f`$ does not necessarily equal $`f_0`$, but linearity of the $`ETF`$s and the equations of vibration is maintained. In practical terms, this means that $`E_{feed}`$ can affect the frequency of vibration.
* nonlinearities are allowed in $`ETF`$s and in the vibration equations for the modes.

Clearly, this is only an approximate classification which can be easily refined further; nevertheless, the author believes it to be a good starting point for investigating the kinds of qualitative phenomena that can or cannot be recreated by restricting the complexity of the algorithms. Such investigation is the current primary focus of our work, and some preliminary results will be reported along with the sound examples444Most of the examples are available on-line at http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~ilia/modal/sound\_examples/..

## 3 Implementation

### 3.1 Synthesis

The framework has been implemented as a set of C++ clas-ses. An integrating shell and a user interface have been provided. Special attention has been given to maximum portability and real-time performance. All the non-time-critical dynamic data structures requiring heavy memory management have been implemented using Standard Template Library, while for time-critical data either static memory allocation or, in rare cases, specialized memory management routines have been employed. The code is undergoing continued profiling in the hope of eliminating any unnecessary platform-specific routines.

A typical approach to modular software synthesis is a signal-flow \[quasi-\]sequential design, where units processing data at audio rate are chained together in a sequence. Unfortunately, this approach is not appropriate for a system with a complicated (potentially circular) topology and close 2-way and n-way integration among the elements. Thus, a specialized scheduling algorithm had to be designed for the framework; its general function is to look through the list of all couplings555This list is a dynamically maintained structure, since new couplings can be created and deleted in real time, compute the $`ETF`$s and update the energy values in a way that simulates parallelism, after which, all modal structures are updated accordingly.

The standard distinction between control rate and audio rate is maintained, with the addition of the energy-coupling rate. The set of controls is subdivided into “playable” controls, such as fundamental frequency or mass values and “system state” controls, such as, for example, the total number of modal nodes. While both sets can be updated in real time, it is assumed that the former corresponds to performance, while the latter — to instrument design; in practical terms this means that the changes to “playable” control parameters have to be continuously integrated into the current state of the system, while altering the “system state” parameters does not necessarily maintain that continuity.

During the development of the framework, various choi-ces had to be made with respect to maintaining a proper balance between precision and computational efficiency of the system. While the mechanisms for higher precision have in many cases been provided, it was generally assumed that due to the experimental and interactive nature of the framework, real-time performance should be given priority as long as the qualitative nature of the results was not being compromised.

### 3.2 User Interface

Considering an appropriate user interface is an important part of designing any real-time interactive application. At the initial stages of the development, there was an effort to provide a front end to the framework via an interpreted programming language, such as Python. However, while having advantages of flexibility and expandability, such interface did not appear adequate for real-time control or data presentation. It has since been superseded by a set of graphical UI tools tailored to various parts of the framework. It is still possible to read and edit most parameters as text, since the interface retrieves and stores its state in simply formatted text files. Expanding the interface with a fully functional interpreter is still being considered, but is not of high priority at this point.

The GUI tools provided with the framework have been written on top of FLTK, which was chosen for its small size and high portability. They include several C++ classes implementing UI elements corresponding to different parameter sets of a modal network and a general purpose integrating shell. The purpose of network-specific classes is to provide the user with quick and easy access to the state and parameterization of the network and the modal nodes it contains. As an example, in order to display and control the $`f_0`$’s of the modal nodes in a modal network $`N`$, one needs to execute the following code:

```
   MD_Network *N;
   MD_FreqWindow *fwnd;
   aNet = new MD_Network("simple_net",16);
   ...
   fwnd = new MD_FreqWindow(N);

```

The last line creates a frequency-slider window attached to the modal network, similar to the example below:

In many cases, the user has several options for data representation; for example the $`f_0`$’s of modal nodes can be represented as ratios of network’s fundamental, deviations from its harmonic partials, or arbitrary frequency values. A system of “snapshots” for control parameters has been implemented, allowing to easily store and recall any of the user’s settings, either for a window or for the entire network/instrument. All snapshots for a particular instrument are stored in human-readable files corresponding to that instrument.

The dynamic allocation of $`ETF`$s is facilitated by a grid window, representing a matrix of pairwise couplings among modal nodes:

Individual cells can also be combined into groups to represent couplings affecting more than two nodes at a time. $`ETF`$s for a particular cell or a group of cells are selected from a menu containing a set of prepared function templates, with individual parameterization of each instance.

## 4 Performance

The framework and the UI have been developed under Linux, along with a parallel port to Win9x. On both platforms, real-time output to soundcard drivers (OSS for Linux and DirectX for Windows) is provided, along with optional output to disk. Partial MIDI control has been implemented, and fully customizable integration of MIDI control surfaces with the GUI is in the works. At the moment it is difficult to give a measure of performance, since a complete modal instrument can include a vast number of structures and $`ETF`$s with varying computational costs. As a token example of performance, an AMD K6-2 350 Mhz machine under Linux was able to run a model of a stretched string with about 80 modal nodes at 44100 Hz audio rate666Due to potential aliasing, this estimate is meaningful only for relatively low fundamentals.

## 5 Summary

A general framework for modal synthesis has been presented. Its main strengths are its flexibility, its abstraction of dynamic interactions from the properties of modal structures, and its real-time design. It can be used, along with the integrating shell and GUI, as a stand-alone real-time sound design and performance tool, or as a code base for further development of modal objects and algorithms. The framework is currently utilized in a survey of a large set of modal algorithms of varying complexity in the hopes of providing new insights into theory and practice of modal synthesis.


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# Coulomb and core/halo corrections to Bose-Einstein 𝑛-particle correlations

## 1 Introduction

One of the most important tasks of high energy heavy-ion studies is to prove the existence of the elusive quark-gluon plasma and to study the properties of this predicted new state of matter. Hanbury-Brown Twiss (HBT) interferometry of identical particles has become an important tool as it can be used to measure the evolving geometry of the interaction region, see refs. for some of the recent reviews of this rapidly expanding field. The quantitative interpretation of the HBT-results depends critically on the understanding of the rôle of the Coulomb interaction between the selected particles. However, Coulomb interactions between three (or more) charged particles are notoriously difficult to handle, as evidenced by the many decades of research in atomic physics aimed at obtaining solutions of the three-body Coulomb scattering problem which are accurate and possess a wide range of applicability.

Starting from a three-body Coulomb wave function which is at least exact for sufficiently large inter-particle separations, we determined the effect of Coulomb final state interactions on the three-particle Bose-Einstein correlation function of similarly charged particles in ref.. We estimated numerically that the familiar Riverside approximation is not precise enough to determine the three-body Coulomb correction factor in the correlation function if the characteristic HBT radius parameter is between 5 and 10 fm, which is the range of interest in high-energy heavy ion physics.

We then generalized the method of Coulomb wave function corrections from three to $`n`$ charged particles in ref.. Here, we re-formulate this work so as to be able to include the possible effects of i) additional strong final state interactions and ii) core-halo model corrections.

## 2 Coulomb and final state interaction effects in $`n`$-particle correlations

The $`n`$-particle Bose-Einstein correlation function is defined as

$$C_n(𝐤_1,\mathrm{},𝐤_n)=\frac{N_n(𝐤_1,\mathrm{},𝐤_n)}{N_1(𝐤_1)\mathrm{}N_1(𝐤_n)},$$
(1)
where $`N_n(𝐤_1,\mathrm{},𝐤_n)`$ is the $`n`$-particle, and $`N_1(𝐤_i)`$ the single-particle inclusive invariant momentum distribution. The three-momentum vector of particle $`i`$ is denoted by $`𝐤_i`$. It is quite remarkable that this complicated object, that carries quantum mechanical information on the phase-space distribution of particle production as well as on possible partial coherence of the source, can be expressed in a relatively simple, straight-forward manner both in the analytically solvable pion-laser model of refs. as well as in the generic boosted-current formalism of Gyulassy and Padula as

$$C_n(𝐤_1,\mathrm{},𝐤_n)=\frac{{\displaystyle \underset{\sigma ^{(n)}}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}G(𝐤_i,𝐤_{\sigma _i})}{_{i=1}^nG(𝐤_i,𝐤_i)},$$
(2)
where $`\sigma ^{(n)}`$ stands for the set of permutations of indices $`(1,2,\mathrm{},n)`$ and $`\sigma _i`$ denotes that element which replaces element $`i`$ in a given permutation from the set of $`\sigma ^{(n)}`$. Regardless of the details of the two different derivations

$$G(𝐤_i,𝐤_j)=a^{}(𝐤_i)a(𝐤_j)$$
(3)
stands for the expectation value of $`a^{}(𝐤_i)a(𝐤_j)`$.

In the relativistic Wigner-function formalism, in the plane wave approximation $`G(𝐤_1,𝐤_2)`$ can be rewritten as

$`G(𝐤_1,𝐤_2)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle d^4xS(x,K_{12})\mathrm{exp}(iq_{12}x)}`$ (4)
$`K_{12}`$ $`=`$ $`0.5(k_1+k_2),q_{12}=k_1k_2,`$ (5)
where a four-vector notation is introduced, $`k_i=(\sqrt{m_i^2+𝐤_i^2},𝐤_i)`$, and $`ab`$ stands for the inner product of four-vectors. Due to the mass-shell constraints $`E_{𝐤_i}=\sqrt{m_i^2+𝐤_i^2}`$, $`G`$ depends only on 6 independent momentum components. In any given frame, the boost-invariant decomposition of Eq. (4) can be rewritten in the following, seemingly not invariant form:

$`G(𝐤_1,𝐤_2)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle d^3𝐱S_{𝐊_{12}}(𝐱)\mathrm{exp}(i𝐪_{12}𝐱)},`$ (6)
$`S_{𝐊_{12}}(𝐱)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑t\mathrm{exp}(i𝜷_{K_{12}}𝐪_{12}t)S(𝐱,t,K_{12})},`$ (7)
$`𝜷_{K_{12}}`$ $`=`$ $`(𝐤_1+𝐤_2)/(E_1+E_2).`$ (8)
If $`n`$ particles are emitted with similar momenta so that their $`n`$-particle Bose-Einstein correlation functions may be non-trivial, Eqs. (2,3) will form the basis for evaluation of the Coulomb and strong final state interaction effects on the observables. On this level, all the correlations are build up from correlations of pairs of particles.

In order to treat the Coulomb corrections to the $`n`$-particle correlation function exactly, knowledge of the $`n`$-body Coulomb scattering wave function is required. We restrict ourselves to the case that the transverse momenta of all $`n`$ particles in the final state in their common center of mass are small enough to make a nonrelativistic approach sensible. Hence the problem consists in finding the solution of the $`n`$-charged particle Schrödinger equation when all $`n`$ particles are in the continuum.

Consider $`n`$ distinguishable particles with masses $`m_i`$ and charges $`e_i,i=1,2,`$ $`\mathrm{}`$, $`n`$. Let $`𝐱_i`$ denote the coordinate (three-)vector of particle $`i`$. Then $`𝐫_{ij}=𝐱_i𝐱_j`$ is the relative coordinate between particles $`i`$ and $`j`$, and $`𝐤_{ij}=(m_j𝐤_im_i𝐤_j)/(m_i+m_j)`$ the canonically conjugate relative momentum.

The $`n`$-particle Schrödinger equation reads as

$`\left\{H_0+{\displaystyle \underset{i<j=1}{\overset{n}{}}}V_{ij}E\right\}\mathrm{\Psi }_{𝐤_1\mathrm{}𝐤_n}^{(+)}(𝐱_1,\mathrm{},𝐱_n)=0,`$ (9)
where

$`E={\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{𝐤_i^2}{2m_i}}>0`$ (10)
is the total kinetic energy for $`n`$ particles in the continuum. $`H_0`$ is the free Hamilton operator and

$`V_{ij}(𝐫_{ij})=V_{ij}^S(𝐫_{ij})+V_{ij}^C(𝐫_{ij})`$ (11)
the interaction between particles $`i`$ and $`j`$, consisting of a short-range strong potential $`V_{ij}^S`$ and the long-range Coulomb interaction, $`V_{ij}^C(𝐫_{ij})=e_ie_j/𝐫_{ij}`$.

Although for $`n=3`$ an exact numerical solution of the Schrödinger equation (9) with $`V_{ij}=V_{ij}^C`$ has been achieved recently for $`E>0`$, because of its complexitiy the resulting wave function can not easily be used for general purposes. In addition, for $`n>3`$ a numerical solution is beyond present means. For a brief discussion of the related difficulties see. This means that for practical purposes analytic, even if only approximate, $`n`$-charged particle wave functions are still needed.

For $`n=3`$ such wave functions are available in the form of the explicit solutions of the Schrödinger equation in all asymptotic regions of the three-particle configuration space. The simplest form, which is also easily generalized to arbitrary particle numbers, applies to the (dominant) asymptotic region conventionally denoted by $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ and characterized by the fact that - roughly speaking - all three inter-particle distances become uniformly large. In the final states of heavy-ion reactions, where a large number of charged particle tracks appear, the mutual, macroscopically large separation of tracks is one of the criteria of a clean measurement. This suggests that in order to study Coulomb effects on $`n`$-body correlation functions, knowledge of the wave function in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0^{(n)}`$, the region in $`n`$-particle configuration space where all interparticle distances become uniformly large, i.e., $`𝐫_{ij}\mathrm{}`$ for all values of $`(ij)`$, may be sufficient.

Hence, an appropriate, approximate $`n`$-particle Coulomb scattering wave function is

$`\mathrm{\Psi }_{𝐤_1,\mathrm{},𝐤_n}^{(+)}(𝐱_1,\mathrm{},𝐱_n){\displaystyle \underset{i<j=1}{\overset{n}{}}}\psi _{𝐤_{ij}}^{C(+)}(𝐫_{ij}).`$ (12)
Here, $`\psi _{𝐤_{ij}}^{C(+)}(𝐫_{ij})`$ is the continuum solution of the two-body Coulomb Schrödinger equation (with a reduced mass of $`\mu _{ij}=m_im_j/(m_i+m_j)`$):

$`\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐫_{ij}}}{2\mu _{ij}}}+V_{ij}^C(𝐫_{ij}){\displaystyle \frac{𝐤_{ij}^2}{2\mu _{ij}}}\right\}\psi _{𝐤_{ij}}^{C(+)}(𝐫_{ij})=0,`$ (13)
describing the relative motion of the two particles $`i`$ and $`j`$ with energy $`𝐤_{ij}^2/2\mu _{ij}`$. The explicit solution is

$`\psi _{𝐤_{ij}}^{C(+)}(𝐫_{ij})`$ $`=`$ $`N_{ij}e^{i𝐤_{ij}𝐫_{ij}}F[i\eta _{ij},1;i(𝐤_{ij}𝐫_{ij}𝐤_{ij}𝐫_{ij})],`$ (14)
with $`N_{ij}=e^{\pi \eta _{ij}/2}\mathrm{\Gamma }(1+i\eta _{ij}),`$ and $`\eta _{ij}=e_ie_j\mu _{ij}/𝐫_{ij}`$ being the Coulomb parameter. $`F[a,b;x]`$ is the confluent hypergeometric function and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(x)`$ the Gamma function. The foundation of Eq. (12) in fundamental scattering theory and its expected range of validity are discussed in ref..

Additional strong final state interactions can be taken into account in a straight-forward manner by substituting in Eq. (12) for the two-particle Coulomb wave functions $`\psi _{𝐤_{ij}}^{C(+)}(𝐫_{ij})`$ the solutions of the Schrödinger equation with the Coulomb plus strong potential,

$`\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_{𝐫_{ij}}}{2\mu _{ij}}}+V_{ij}^C(𝐫_{ij})+V_{ij}^S(𝐫_{ij}){\displaystyle \frac{𝐤_{ij}^2}{2\mu _{ij}}}\right\}\psi _{𝐤_{ij}}^{CS(+)}(𝐫_{ij})=0.`$ (15)
In this way a few dominant, strong interaction induced phase-shifts can be taken into account for the pair under consideration. On the level of the two-particle correlation function, a similar technique has already been applied in ref..

## 3 Application to high-energy heavy-ion and particle collisions

The correlation function measuring the enhanced probability for emission of $`n`$ identical Bose particles is given by Eq. (1). This correlation function is usually, due to meager statistics, only measured as a function of the Lorentz invariant $`Q_n`$, defined by the relation

$$Q_n^2=\underset{i<j=1}{\overset{n}{}}(k_ik_j)^2.$$
(16)
We can now calculate the Coulomb effects on the $`n`$-particle correlation function using

$$K_{Coulomb}(Q_n)=\frac{_{i=1}^nd^3𝐱_𝐢\rho (𝐱_𝐢)\left|\mathrm{\Psi }_{𝐤_1\mathrm{}𝐤_n}^{(+)𝒮}(𝐱_1,\mathrm{},𝐱_n)\right|^2}{_{i=1}^nd^3𝐱_𝐢\rho (𝐱_𝐢)\left|\mathrm{\Psi }_{𝐤_1\mathrm{}𝐤_n}^{(0)𝒮}(𝐱_1,\mathrm{},𝐱_n)\right|^2}.$$
(17)
Here, $`\rho (𝐱_𝐢)`$ is the density distribution of the source for particle $`i`$ (normalized to the total number of particles), taken as a Gaussian distribution of width R in all three spatial directions and $`\mathrm{\Psi }_{𝐤_1\mathrm{}𝐤_n}^{(0)}(𝐱_1,\mathrm{},𝐱_n)_{i<j=1}^ne^{i𝐤_{ij}𝐫_{ij}}`$ is the $`n`$-body wave function without any final state interaction. The superscript $`𝒮`$ indicates appropriate symmetrisation for identical particles. This formulation makes it possible to extract information on the source size $`R`$, and to compare this value with that extracted by means of a generalized $`n`$-particle Gamow approximation via $`K_{Coulomb}^{(G)}(Q_n)=_{i<j=1}^nG_{ij}`$, where $`G_{ij}=N_{ij}^2`$.

Pion $`n`$-tuples were sampled randomly from the NA44 data sample of three pion events produced in S-Pb collisions at CERN. Fig. 1 demonstrates that in case of a characteristic effective source size of 1 fm, the difference between the $`n`$-particle Gamow and the Coulomb wave function corrections are smaller than 10 % for $`n=5`$ particles. However, with increasing number of particles and/or with increasing effective source sizes, this difference increases dramatically. For instance, for 5 particles the naive generalized Gamow method overestimates the Coulomb correction as compared to the much better substantiated Coulomb wave function integration method by a factor of 2.

## 4 Core-halo corrections

The results given in the previous section have to be corrected for the effects that may arise from the existence of a halo of long-lived hadronic resonances. In this case, the effective source function $`\rho (x)`$ has two components, one pertinent to a smaller region corresponding to the core of the interactions and one to a larger region that corresponds to the (unresolvable) halo:

$`\rho (x)`$ $`=`$ $`\rho _c(x)+\rho _h(x)`$ (18)
$`n`$ $`=`$ $`n_c+n_h`$ (19)
$`n_i`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle 𝑑x\rho _i(x)},i=c,h.`$ (20)
The effective intercept parameter of the two-particle Bose-Einstein correlation function reads as

$$\lambda _{}=(n_c/n)^2$$
(21)
if the core fraction is independent of the relative momentum. If the core-halo model is applicable to a given data set, the radius $`R_h`$ of the halo does not matter as long as it is big enough. For instance, it can be a Gaussian with a radius of 20-40 fm; in any case $`R_h>>\mathrm{}/Q_{min}`$, the inverse of the two-particle relative momentum resolution.

## 5 Summary

In this contribution we reviewed the state-of-art method for treating Coulomb corrections to 3- and $`n`$-body correlation functions. For small effective source sizes of about 1 fm, the pairwise product of Gamow factors gives a good approximation for the $`n`$-body Coulomb correction factor. However, for source sizes typical in high energy heavy ion experiments, a more substantiated calculation based on the pairwise product of relative Coulomb wave functions is required in order to remove a possible 100 % systematic error from this correction.

We have also generalized this correction method for the inclusion of strong final state interactions and pointed out that the Coulomb corrections have to be performed self-consistently with the core-halo corrections; in particular the effective intercept parameter of the two-particle Bose-Einstein correlation function has to be taken into account when evaluating the 3- or $`n`$-body Coulomb corrections.

## Acknowledgments

This research has been supported by a Bolyai Fellowship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, by the Hungarian OTKA grants T024094, T026435, T029158, T034269, by the US-Hungarian Joint Fund MAKA 652/1998, by the NWO-OTKA grant N025186 and by the Swedish Research Council.