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# The Population of Deformed Bands in 48Cr by emission of 8Be from the 32S + 24Mg reaction

## 1 Introduction

Recent studies of particle - $`\gamma `$ coincidences using large $`\gamma `$-ray detector arrays in conjunction with 4$`\pi `$ solid state particle-detector balls have shown that the particle trigger can be a decisive tool in identifying the final nucleus for a detailed nuclear spectroscopy . The enhanced emission of charged particles from the compound nucleus (CN) has also been discussed as a possible trigger for more strongly deformed shapes of the compound nucleus . For lighter CN, in particular for N=Z $`\alpha `$-cluster nuclei, the emission of heavier fragments has been observed, and the process of the emission of 8Be and 12C nuclei is expected to be strongly enhanced if the CN is well deformed . The emission of these “light” fragments (also called intermediate mass fragments) is actually viewed in close relation to asymmetric fission, which may proceed through strongly deformed shapes .

We have started a study of the population of highly deformed bands in $`\alpha `$-cluster nuclei by using binary reaction triggers . We have chosen reactions between light $`\alpha `$-cluster nuclei populating CN in the A=40-56 range, for which very deformed shapes are predicted . In this paper we report results on the emission of 8Be in the 32S + 24Mg reaction, which can be viewed as a binary process, at $`\text{E}_\mathrm{L}(^{32}\text{S})=130\mathrm{MeV}`$, the 56Ni CN being populated at an excitation energy of E = 70 MeV. The 56Ni nucleus is of special interest in the sense that it can be populated by the mass-symmetric reaction 28Si+28Si, which is known to be one of the most favorable nuclear systems for the observation of resonant behavior . Futhermore, the 28Si+28Si scattering has revealed triaxial quasi-molecular states  populated by the conjectured $`J^\pi =38^+`$ resonance . The symmetric and near-symmetric fission processes induced by the 32S + 24Mg reaction have been already studied extensively in the recent past . Previous $`\gamma `$-ray spectroscopy studies of this reaction, using the $`\gamma `$-spectrometer GASP (with an photopeak efficiency $`P_{Ph}=3\%`$) with the light-charged-particle ball ISIS, have furnished detailed information on the structure of 48Cr and other neighbouring nuclei, which were selected by gating on $`\alpha `$-particles and protons . We have used the same original data  to search for $`\gamma `$-coincidences with 8Be. The 8Be nucleus is identified by selecting the corresponding events (as explained in Sect. 2) from the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$E-E matrix shown in Fig. 1.

## 2 Experimental Procedures

The decay of 8Be in its ground state, which is unbound by 0.0919 MeV, gives rise to 2 $`\alpha `$-particles emitted in the laboratory system in a narrow cone of less than 5-7 degrees, which are registered simultaneously in one of the 40 $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$E-E telescopes of the ISIS multidetector array. The telescopes have an angular opening of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta 29\text{degrees}`$, each with an insensitive gap of 6-7 degrees between two single detectors due to the width of the detector frames and cover 64% of $`4\pi `$, whereas for the beam entrance and exit each one detector telescope has been taken out leading to an angular range from $`\theta 16164\text{deg}`$. The 8Be events are thus easily registered as “pile up” events of 2 $`\alpha `$-particles. The Li-isotopes could not be detected due to absorbers ($`12\mu m`$ Al foil) placed in front of the ISIS detectors, which modify also the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$E-E curves of the detected particles. The detection efficiency for $`\alpha `$-particles at the forward rings, which carries almost all of the statistics, is not affected by this absorbers.

The first excited state of 8Be at an excitation energy of 3.04 MeV, having a width of 1.5 MeV, will produce an emission cone of more than 30 degrees. This means that only a small fraction of the $`2\alpha `$-pairs are registered in one ISIS telescope ($`50\%`$). A possibility to select such events is the selection of two $`\alpha `$-particles in two adjacent telescopes, a procedure, which has also been pursued. These events show no difference in the $`\gamma `$-spectrum to the randomly distributed $`\alpha `$-particle triggers, in contrast to those obtained with 8Be-trigger as shown in Fig. 3. However, due to the high fraction of chance coincidences in the case of using two adjacent telescopes (see discussion below), it is necessary to ask e.g. for the sum of the kinetic energies of both registered $`\alpha `$-particles in order to reduce the background of chance coincidences, but the two-dimensional ($`E_{\alpha _1}/E_{\alpha _2}`$) distribution shows no distinct structure for 8Be$`_{0^+}`$ or 8Be$`_{2^+}`$ states, and the energy resolution of the detectors (due to the large opening angle of the single telescopes, resulting in the coverage of a wide range of angles and $`\alpha `$-energies) did not allow to make a selection of 8Be states. Therefore these events of 2 $`\alpha `$-particles in two adjacent detectors were not included in the data analysis. In the later analysis of the $`\gamma `$-spectra triggered with 8Be a 8Be$`_{2^+}`$ contribution can not be excluded, but it is not considered in the compound nucleus calculations in Sect. 4.

An important aspect of the identification of 8Be is the determination of the background of chance coincidences resulting from 2 $`\alpha `$-particles recorded in the same event in one of the N=40 ISIS telescopes in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$E-E branch for 8Be. These 2 $`\alpha `$-particles can either be emitted, (i) from the same event or, (ii) if emitted from two subsequent different events each emitting one $`\alpha `$-particle, they must fall into the rise time of the electronics of the detection system of $`\mathrm{\Delta }t0.1\mu \text{s}`$ (“pile up” events).

The rate of chance coincidences of the latter type can be estimated by the expression $`R_{2\alpha }^{ch}=R_\alpha R_\alpha \mathrm{\Delta }t`$, with $`R_\alpha `$ being the total rate for detection of single $`\alpha `$-particle. From the total ISIS rates $`R_\alpha =488\text{cps}`$ (counts/sec), $`R_{2\alpha }^{ch}=0.024\text{cps}`$ and $`R_{{}_{}{}^{8}Be}=9.95\text{cps}`$ (integrated over all N=40 telescopes) we obtain the small average background value $`R_{2\alpha }^{ch}/R_{{}_{}{}^{8}Be}0.24\%`$, where $`R_{{}_{}{}^{8}Be}`$ was not corrected for the background events included. For the most forward ISIS telescope ring, showing the highest counting rate (96% for the $`2\alpha `$ case), the $`\alpha `$ and 8Be rates and the background percentage can be given as a average value for a single detector by $`R_\alpha =77.9\text{cps}`$, $`R_{{}_{}{}^{8}Be}=1.59\text{cps}`$ and $`R_{2\alpha }^{ch}/R_{{}_{}{}^{8}Be}0.04\%`$, respectively.

The chance coincidence background due to two sequentially emitted $`\alpha `$-particles from the same event hitting the same detector can be estimated from the multiplicity distribution, the solid angle $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, and the efficiency $`\epsilon `$ of the individual telescopes. We choose the experimentally observed $`\alpha \alpha `$ coincidences in two different telescopes as a reference point, which fixes the multiplicity of the events to $`M_\alpha =2`$, with some very small contributions from higher multiplicities. The original average multiplicity is close to $`1.05`$. As a first estimate we assume isotropic emission of both $`\alpha `$-particles in the laboratory frame (thus neglecting e.g. kinematics). The total rate to observe a second $`\alpha `$ in coincidence with the first is given by the half of the total matrix of $`NN`$ combinations minus the diagonal part, which corresponds to the background in the true 8Be events ($`N`$ is the number of telescopes). This part of the matrix has $`N(N1)/2=780`$ elements; the corresponding total number of events measured in the experiment is $`3.010^6`$ ($`2\alpha `$) coincidences in 30.7 hours. The total background consisting of 40 diagonal elements (counters) in the matrix is determined by the ratio 40/780 and must be scaled with the number of all observed $`1.110^6`$ counts for 8Be. We thus obtain a value of 14 % of $`2\alpha `$ coincidences as background, a result, which is independent of the total efficiency to observe one $`\alpha `$-particle. However, due to the kinematically inverted reaction, 32$``$ 24Mg, and due to the low energies in the center of mass system of the $`\alpha `$-emitting nuclei, $`\alpha `$-particle emission is strongly focused into the forward direction by kinematics. Another effect to be considered is the fact that for isotropic emission of the first $`\alpha `$-particle in the c.m. system, the emission of the second $`\alpha `$-particle is expected to be to some degree correlated in the plane of the emission of the first $`\alpha `$-particle. This is reflected in the observation that $`2\alpha `$ coincidences are stronger in telescopes with opposite directions to the beam for the most forward ISIS ring, enhanced by kinematical focusing towards $`\theta _{c.m.}=0^{}`$ and $`180^{}`$. The enhanced counting rates at $`\theta _{c.m.}=0^{}`$ and $`180^{}`$ could not be analyzed quantitatively, because of the beam exit hole in the ISIS ball and due to the low energies of the backwards emitted $`\alpha `$-particles in the laboratory system, which fall below the detection threshold. We observe 96% of the hits within the first ring of ISIS telescopes and 30% of the second $`\alpha `$-particles are detected by ISIS telescopes on the opposite side in the ball within the same ring. From this fact the chance coincidence rate of 2 $`\alpha `$-particles in one detector given above with 14% is estimated to be reduced by a factor of $`2`$. This factor results from the comparison of the theoretically estimated probability within the first ring of 6 detectors with a fixed detector for the first $`\alpha `$, to find the second $`\alpha `$ in the same detector, and the measured value for the probability to find the second $`\alpha `$ in the neighbouring detector. The latter should be very close to the probability to find it in the same detector (which is not directly measurable). The most intense $`\alpha \alpha `$ coincidence rate for a given detector has been found not in the neighboring detector, but in the opposite side (reduction by typically a factor 2). The resulting value of 7% of the chance coincidence contribution of 2 $`\alpha `$-particles in one detector is close to the measured value of finding the second $`\alpha `$ in other neighbouring detectors using the data of all adjacent detectors (i.e. also of the second ring), which is found to be 6%.

In the following we will use the population of $`\gamma `$-ray decay bands in 48Cr (the decay scheme is shown in Fig. 2) selected by coincidences with the multidetector array of Compton suppressed Ge $`\gamma `$-ray detectors, GASP, for a study of the properties of the binary decay channel, 56Ni$``$ 48Cr+8Be. We note that also another binary channel can be selected with the prompt emission of 3 correlated $`\alpha `$-particles from the second $`0_2^+`$ in 12C at $`\text{E}^{}=7.654\text{MeV}`$, which decays by the emission of 3 $`\alpha `$-particles (the $`\gamma `$-ray decay branch is $`8.510^3`$) with a total energy of 0.196 MeV. They are registered in one $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$E-E telescope as a triple pile up (see Fig. 1). $`\gamma `$-ray spectra of 44Ti from this channel have been analyzed as well . The triple chance coincidence rate for 3 $`\alpha `$-particles in the 12C $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$E-E branch is $`0.26\%`$ assuming an isotropic emission of the 3 $`\alpha `$-particles.

The experimental details on the GASP and ISIS detector system can be found in the previous publications .

## 3 Experimental results for $`\gamma `$-ray yields connected to $`\alpha `$-particle and 8Be emission

The main aim of the present study is to test the selectivity of 8Be emission as a trigger for $`\gamma `$-ray spectroscopy.

As a first step we look into particle-$`\gamma `$-coincidence spectra for 2 $`\alpha `$-particles and 8Be. They are shown in Fig. 3. The spectrum is dominated by the $`\gamma `$-transitions of 47V, the spectra are normalized to the same visual height of the 480 keV doublet line (478 keV and 484 keV) of 47V. We observe very conspicuous differences between the two spectra: at first sight we recognise that the relative strength of the three residual nuclei is different: 48Cr is reduced relative to 47V in the case of 8Be. Further 46Ti is enhanced in the case of 8Be, also relative to 47V. The origin of these differences can be found in the difference in the excitation energy carried away by 2 $`\alpha `$-particles as compared to 8Be; actually the compound decay calculations indicate that 8Be leaves the residual nucleus (48Cr) at higher excitation energy, thus partially explaining the enhanced emission of protons from 48Cr towards 47V and 46Ti. In order to test the differences in the population in excitation energy and angular momentum it is useful to have a good knowledge of the decay scheme of the residual nuclei 48Cr, 47V and 46Ti. In the further discussion we will use the known level scheme of 48Cr  which is shown in Fig. 2. Similar analysis has been made for the cases of 47V and 46Ti , which are populated by the additional emission of one or two protons.

For a discussion of the individual decay schemes particle-$`\gamma `$-$`\gamma `$ coincidences have to be projected. For a clear assignment of $`\gamma `$-ray transition energies such spectra are shown in Fig. 4, where we show the $`\gamma `$-decay spectra of 48Cr.

It should be mentioned that due to the long lifetime of the $`4^{}`$-state ($`\tau 4\text{ns}`$) *it is not possible to use $`\gamma `$-gated spectra to extract differences* in the population of the side band for different particle triggers, because within the lifetime the $`\gamma `$-emitting nucleus moves several centimeters and so the Doppler correction fails. For this reason all $`\gamma `$-yields given in the following discussion were extracted using the particle-gated single $`\gamma `$-ray spectra. Another reason to go back to the particle-$`\gamma `$ matrices (projections of these are the spectra in Fig. 3) is that the statistics in $`\gamma `$-$`\gamma `$-yields would be reduced due to the efficiency of GASP by a factor of $`33`$. The integration of the $`\gamma `$-peaks can thus be done with smaller uncertainties. The analysis is done with the same procedure for both types of particle triggers. However, we have used the $`\gamma \gamma `$ coincidences in order to detect cases with energy overlaps in the selection of the $`\gamma `$-transitions.

For the further analysis the decay scheme of 48Cr (Fig. 2) is considered. The ground state band of 48Cr is formed by the coupling of the 4 neutrons and 4 protons in the f7/2-shell, respectively, thus the main transitions observed in the spectrum (Fig. 4) are connected to the ground state band reaching up to spin 16$`\mathrm{}`$, the limit, which can be deduced from the 8 valence particles outside the N=Z=20 core. A backbend occurs at a spin value of 10$`\mathrm{}`$, the calculations of Caurier et al.  give the correct prediction of this behavior as well as a value for the quadrupole moment, which points to the cited deformation. The Nilsson diagram shown in Fig. 8 in Sect. 4, shows that the mixing with the d$`{}_{}{}^{+}{}_{3/2}{}^{}`$ shell is at the origin of the deformed shell and of the rotational character of the yrast levels of 48Cr up to spin 16$`\mathrm{}`$. Inspecting the diagram of Fig. 8 we have also the possibility of obtaining a negative parity band by the excitation of one particle from the $`[202]K=3/2`$ to the $`[312]K=5/2`$ and possibly from the $`[303]K=7/2^{}`$ Nilsson orbit to the $`[440]K=1/2^+`$ orbit of the g9/2 shell for higher deformation. The $`K=4^{}`$ band is expected to have a larger deformation than the ground state band, because of the gain in energy with increasing deformation. The first step in the analysis is the consideration of differences in the population of the higher spins in the ground state band of 48Cr. For this purpose the $`\gamma `$-lines of the ground state band transitions were fitted in the particle-gated single $`\gamma `$-spectra. The fitting procedure in the high statistics spectra can be made identical so that differences observed should be due to differences in the feeding pattern. The comparison of the this obtained $`\gamma `$-yields for the particle trigger on 8Be-particles relative to 2 $`\alpha `$-particles, obtained by normalisation to the lowest transition ($`2^+0^+`$, 752 keV), is shown in Fig. 5. The normalization on the $`2^+0^+`$ transitions is a normalization to the g.s. band: the feeding of the $`2^+`$ state from the $`4^{}`$-state ($`\tau 4\text{ns}`$) of the side band (direct or via the $`4^+`$ state) is suppressed, because the nucleus moves several centimeters during its lifetime, and therefore the Doppler correction causes an additional energy shift which is not taken into account in the determination of the peak area of the $`2^+0^+`$ transition, or these $`\gamma `$’s are not detected due to effective opening angle of the Ge’s. In case of a thick target experiment, where the $`\gamma `$-emitting nucleus is stopped, the relative normalization as used in this work, would not be meaningful, because in that case the $`2^+`$ state is fed by both bands and the effect of an enhancement of the population of the side band would not be seen.

Differences in the yields between the 8Be- and the $`2\alpha `$-particle triggers can be seen for the transitions at 1586 keV, 1875 keV, 1348 keV and 3029 keV. We observe an enhancement of $`25\%30\%`$ for the yields of the case with 1875 keV ($`10^+8^+`$, $`14^+12^+`$; this is a “double” line) and the case with 3028 keV ($`16^+14^+`$) transitions for the 8Be-trigger. They are well separated and undisturbed, the result can be directly interpreted as due to an enhanced population of higher spins in the case of the emission of 8Be from the compound nucleus.

The enhanced $`\gamma `$-yields for the 1586 keV and 1348 keV transitions are influenced by overlapping $`\gamma `$-lines from another nucleus; the main contribution of this disturbance is due to unseparated $`\gamma `$-lines from 46Ti at similar energies (1598 keV, 1345 keV), reflecting the stronger population of 46Ti in the 8Be case (see Fig. 3); only a small contribution is caused by the existence of side band transitions at this energies. The other relative $`\gamma `$-yields shown in Fig. 5 (1106 keV and 1743 keV) between low lying spins in 48Cr differ only by less than 10% for the different particle triggers, i.e. no enhancement appears (as expected) for these cases.

In the second step of the analysis we considered the differences in the population of the side band for the different particle triggers. Fig. 6 shows yields of $`\gamma `$-lines of side band transitions for particle triggers on 8Be relative to those with $`2\alpha `$-particle, again each normalised to the $`2^+0^+`$-transition (752 keV). For the side band the $`5^{}4^{}`$\- (531 keV) and the $`11^{}9^{}`$ transition (2200 keV) were used which are free from contaminant lines. We see an enhancement by a factor of 1.5 and 1.8, respectively, for the particle trigger on 8Be.

We will later relate this effect to a possible larger deformation of the side band. Similar observation of an enhanced population of a side band in a binary decay has been observed in a binary reaction 32S+24Mg populating 28Si ($`K=0_3^+`$-band) .

It should be mentioned that due to energy resolution and statistical reasons not all lines of the investigated bands could be used for the analysis. Further experiments with higher statistics are necessary to establish more cases.

We conclude that after the emission of 8Be the population in excitation energy and angular momentum favors the $`K^\pi =(4^{})`$ side band of 48Cr. The enhanced emission of 8Be into deformed states of the daughter nucleus in statistical compound decay can be related to the differences in phase space in the emission process or to a structural preference for the emission of clusters as it is suggested by cluster model considerations . As a first step we will consider the differences in $`2\alpha `$ and 8Be emission in the framework of the compound statistical decay using the extended Hauser-Feshbach method  described in the next section.

Similar analysis has been made for the neighbouring 47V nucleus, which is reached from 48Cr with high probability by a subsequent proton emission and also here an enhanced population of the deformed side band has been found in the binary case . Since the decay scheme (c.f. ) is more complex than for 48Cr and may not be complete, this case is not so well suited for the present discussion.

At the present stage the statistics is still too poor to examine the detailed population patterns for the 44Ti nucleus as populated by the $`3\alpha `$ state of 12C$`_{0_2^+}`$ from the 44Ti+12C exit channel. Additional experiments are currently underway with GASP and EUROBALL to attack this problem.

## 4 Extended Hauser-Feshbach calculations for CN decay (fusion-evaporation and fusion-fission)

In the following the emission of 8Be from a light CN is considered in the framework of the Extended Hauser-Feshbach Method (EHFM) as developed by Matsuse and collaborators . In this approach the binary decay (i.e. fusion-evaporation of intermediate mass fragments and/or fusion-fission) of the CN is treated in addition to the well known process of fusion-evaporation of light particles (neutrons, protons, $`\alpha `$). The method has been applied to several light-mass systems  in the compound nuclear masses region of A=40-80, and excellent agreement has been achieved with a standard set of parameters. For more details on the calculational procedures and a discussion of the sensitivity to the parameters of the model, we refer to Ref. . However, for a better understanding of the dependence of the heavy fragment emission some parts of the formalism, which determine the decay probability, are also described hereafter. The partial width $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_J`$ for a decay channel with spin $`J`$ is given by the relation

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{J}=\frac{P_\mathrm{J}}{2\pi \rho _\mathrm{J}(\epsilon )},$$
(1)
where $`\rho _J`$ is the level density as obtained by the usual Fermi gas expressions , $`\epsilon `$ the excitation energy in the daughter nucleus and $`P_J`$ the phase space integral for the decay into the daughter nucleus. In the latter the transmission coefficients in the binary channel are of paramount importance, and thus indirectly the deformation of the two fragments, which will determine the Coulomb barrier. The total potential between the two fragments is parametrized as

$$V(L)=V_{\mathrm{Coul}}+\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2\mu _\mathrm{f}R_\mathrm{S}^2}L(L+1)$$
(2)
Here the following definitions are used: $`\mu _\mathrm{f}`$ – reduced mass in the center of mass (cm) system, $`R_\mathrm{S}`$ – the distance between the two fragments, which is defined as consisting of the two radii $`R_\mathrm{L}`$ and $`R_\mathrm{H}`$ and a neck-distance parameter $`d`$ given by

$$R_\mathrm{S}=R_\mathrm{L}+R_\mathrm{H}+d$$
(3)
From a recent systematic study  of a large number of heavy-ion fusion-fission reactions (i.e. 28Si+12, 35Cl+12, 36Ar+12, $`{}_{}{}^{28}Si`$+28Si , 32S+24Mg  and 35Cl+24Mg ) the given initial value of $`d`$ used here to be $`d=3.0\pm 0.5\text{fm}`$, has been found to have the following linear dependence with CN mass : $`d=0.112(A_{CN}24.65)`$. For $`R_\mathrm{L}`$ and $`R_\mathrm{H}`$ the radius parameter $`r_0=1.2\text{fm}`$ is commonly used ($`R_{\mathrm{L},\mathrm{H}}=r_0A_{\mathrm{L},\mathrm{H}}^{1/3}`$) . In order to explain the present data consistently the adopted mass-dependence of the neck-distance parameter d, which is the only adjustable parameter of the EHFM scission point picture, is introduced to simulate the variation of the CN deformation. It has been shown  that the shapes of the saddle- or scission-points, as assumed with the transition-state model and EHFM, respectively, are almost identical. A longer neck, corresponding to a larger deformation, will give a reduced barrier height and thus a larger transmission probability. The deformation of the decaying system will thus enhance the emission of heavy fragments as already suggested by Blann .

The second effect, which will have a significant influence on the phase space integral is the level density $`\rho _J(\epsilon )`$ in the daughter nucleus at spin $`J`$ and excitation energy $`\epsilon `$,

$$\rho _J(\epsilon )=\frac{1}{12}\left(\frac{a\mathrm{}}{2\theta }\right)^{3/2}(2J+1)a\frac{e^{2\sqrt{X}}}{X^2}$$
(4)
$$X=a\left(\epsilon \frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2\theta }J(J+1)\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{pair}}\right)$$
(5)
The important parameters here are the level density parameter $`a`$ and the moment of inertia $`\theta `$, which determines the position of the yrast line of the daughter nucleus. For larger deformations the yrast line bends down, a larger phase space is obtained for the decay. In the initial version of EHFM , the measured ground state binding energies are used to evaluate the excitation energy of the decaying fragment, but an average level density parameter was introduced. However, two sets of parametrizations are available for the level density parameter a used in each step of EHFM. A constant value (a = A/8) was chosen for the preliminary calculations of Ref. . This parameter set may overestimate shell effects. An alternative way to reproduce the strong variation from fragment to fragment is to incorporate shell effects in the level density formulas. In the present work (as well as in Refs. ) shell corrections in the energy-dependent (temperature-dependent) level density parameter a are produced by the difference of the experimental mass and the liquid drop mass for each fragment. In order to introduce the shell effects in the level density parameter $`a`$, we use an improved version  of the empirical formula of Bohr and Mottelson . The formula evaluates the shell structure energy which depends on the nuclear temperature $`T`$ and consequently the level density parameter $`a(T)`$ becomes nuclear temperature dependent. To get the shell structure energy of the ground state, we use (see Refs. , for instance) the measured ground state binding energies and the liquid drop binding energies. This new modelization is currently being developed and will be discussed with the original EHFM parametrization  in more detail in a forthcoming publication .

For the variations in the transmission coefficients in the binary channel we have varied the total distance $`R_\mathrm{S}`$ using the neck size parameter $`d`$, and the radius parameter $`r_0`$. The results are illustrated in Fig. 7. We show actually the relative yield of 8Be to 2 $`\alpha `$-particles, both populating the same final 48Cr nucleus. The dependence on other parameters of the EHFM calculations are also shown: the primary L-value distribution determined by the maximum value of $`L`$, $`L_{\mathrm{cr}}`$, and by its diffuseness $`\mathrm{\Delta }_J`$.

The experimentally determined ratios $`\sigma (^8\text{Be})/\sigma (2\alpha )`$ are shown by the horizontal lines in Fig. 7. The dashed line indicates the experimental value of the ratio for the whole data set, the dashed-dotted line is given by the enhancement factor determined from the $`\gamma `$-ray spectra as described before. It is difficult to compare this value directly with the calculated value, because the experiment does not cover the full $`4\pi `$ range (as described in Sect. 2), which is obtained in the calculation. In order to compare with the experiment we have to discuss the *relative changes* of the calculated ratio induced by the variation of the neck size parameter $`d`$, or by modifications in the angular momentum distribution in the incident channel. The result is shown in Fig. 7a. It can be observed that for the maximum spin values for the formation of the 56Ni CN, $`L_{cr}=3739\mathrm{}`$, adopted from Ref. (consistent with the available measured complete fusion cross sections ), the 8Be emission is not favoured relative to the $`2\alpha `$ emission for more deformed states (at $`d3.8\text{fm}`$). This result has also been observed in the work of Blann and Komoto . Actually 8Be carries more angular momentum and Fig. 7a shows that its emission will be favored at higher angular momenta ($`L_{cr}>40\mathrm{}`$) for larger deformations, as also predicted in Ref. . It is interesting to note that the limiting angular momentum for 56Ni is experimentally found to be close to 42$`\mathrm{}`$  in agreement with the predictions of a modified version of the rotating liquid drop model (LDM), which includes finite-range corrections of the nuclear interaction by means of a Yukawa-plus-exponential attractive potential and diffuse-surface effects .

We consider in addition then a second effect, which is also discussed in Ref. , the increased phase space for the more strongly deformed daughter nuclei, i.e. for a softer yrast line due to a larger moment of inertia. In the present formulation this can be achieved by an increase of the radius parameter $`r_0`$ of the heavy fragment $`R_\mathrm{H}`$. The result for different values of $`r_0`$ is shown in Fig. 7b, again as function of $`d`$, the neck parameter. The figure shows appreciable effects for changes of $`r_0`$. We can read from this graphs also the effect produced by the larger moment of inertia alone by choosing $`R_\mathrm{S}(d,r_0)=const`$. Thus the constant values of $`R_\mathrm{S}`$ for ($`d=3.2\text{fm},r_0=1.20\text{fm}`$), for ($`d=3.02\text{fm},r_0=1.25\text{fm}`$) and for ($`d=2.84\text{fm},r_0=1.30\text{fm}`$) must be considered (they are marked as square symbols in Fig. 7b) and we deduce an enhancement of the $`{}_{}{}^{8}\text{Be}/2\alpha `$ ratio by a factor $`1.7`$ for an increase of $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ by the factor $`1.3/1.21.1`$, which implies that for the present situation an increase of the moment of inertia of 10% of the daughter nucleus is reflected in a noticeable enhancement of the 8Be yield by a factor 1.7. From these calculations we conclude that the changed ratio of the emission of 8Be relative to that of two consecutive $`\alpha `$-particles can be related to an increase of the deformation parameter $`\beta _2`$ of the heavier fragment, for which a discussion is given in the following section.

## 5 Decay scheme and deformed bands in 48Cr

The structure of the 48Cr nucleus is described quite well by the consideration of the half filled f7/2 shell, which allows various nucleon excitations into higher orbitals.

The ground state band is suggested to have a deformation of $`\beta _2=0.28`$  near the ground state and the deformation parameter reaches $`\beta _2=0.1`$, as the band termination at $`I=16^+`$ is approached. This decrease is explained by the fact that because of the relatively small number of nucleons in the 1f7/2 shell, it is not possible to obtain collectivity at high spins. In the case of the negative parity band, collectivity remains stronger also at higher spins due to the mixing with the g9/2 shell. Even though the deformation at low spins is almost equal for the gs-band and the side band, the deformation at higher spins is larger for the side band. This is the crucial point when comparing the feeding into 48Cr, because it occurs not nearby the ground state but at higher spins.

The result of the enhanced $`\gamma `$-ray yields for the 8Be trigger for the side-band with negative parity ($`K=4^{}`$) can be related to higher deformations at high spins for this band. Particle-hole excitations from the d3/2 to the f7/2 orbit and also into the g9/2 orbit of the next shell will be favored for larger deformations and higher spins. With these configurations a band head of $`K=4^{}`$ is obtained. Other side-bands with positive parity can be expected for the 2-particle–2-hole excitations to the 1/2 Nilsson orbital, which gives a band head with $`K=4^+`$, but higher excitation energy than for $`K=4^{}`$. These features can be read qualitatively from the Nilsson diagram in Fig. 8.

## 6 Discussion and conclusions

The experimental observation of an enhanced emission of 8Be into a more deformed side-band in 48Cr has been observed by the use of particle - $`\gamma `$ coincidences using a large $`\gamma `$-ray detector array. Using the *Extended-Hauser-Feshbach Method* (EHFM) it has been shown that cluster emission will be enhanced at high angular momenta for the decay into deformed residual nuclei. The result is related to previous theoretical and experimental studies of cluster emission from compound nuclei. In the work of Blann and Komoto  on cluster emission amplification, actually the case of the compound nucleus 56Ni at an excitation energy of 94 MeV, somewhat higher than ours (70 MeV), has been treated. In their work deformation is introduced at various stages of the decay (mainly at the same places as in the present work), and the emission of clusters up to the mass 12C is considered. They find that the fractional decay probability for $`\alpha `$-particles varies only moderately with the introduction of deformation (at the maximum spin values of $`4045\mathrm{}`$); at these angular momenta an increase of the emission probability for 8Be and 12C by factors $`24`$ is observed if the proper deformation values from LDM are introduced. The comparison of our result with Ref.  has to be seen with the constraint that in the previous work finite-range corrections, which produce for each angular momentum a lowering of the fission barrier due to the attractive forces between surfaces of the two nascent fragments at the saddle point , have not been taken into account. We can state that the present result and their work  are in agreement with the observation that the emission of heavier fragments at higher angular momenta is enhanced from and to deformed configurations. Our calculations have shown that this phenomenon depends on the maximum spin in the primary population, an effect which is also documented in .

The main origin of the enhancement in the population of more deformed shapes after the emission of 8Be and 12C might be linked to structural effects , like specific population of the states close to the yrast line. This feature will be pursued in a future investigation, where the population of large deformations of fragments from a binary process will be searched for in particle - $`\gamma `$ coincidences with EUROBALL  and at higher incident energies.

This work has been started during a sabatical leave of W. von Oertzen at the LNL. He would like to express his gratitude for the hospitality extended to him during this stay.

## References


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# Resonant Andreev reflections in superconductor-carbon-nanotube devices

## Abstract

Resonant Andreev reflection through superconductor-carbon-nanotube devices was investigated theoretically with a focus on the superconducting proximity effect. Consistent with a recent experiment, we find that for high transparency devices on-resonance, the Andreev current is characterized by a large value and a resistance dip; low-transparency off-resonance devices give the opposite result. We also give evidence that the observed low-temperature transport anomaly may be a natural result of Andreev reflection process.

The field of carbon nanotube research has recently entered a new phase with the fabrication of hybrid device structures, in which carbon nanotubes are contacted electrically with other materials. This is a crucial step, as a carbon nanotube-based microelectronics is only possible when finite nanotubes can be efficiently fabricated and coupled to external leads. In this Letter we report a theoretical analysis of a hybrid superconductor-nanotube junction which has been the subject of a recent experimental study. The experimental device consists of a single-wall metallic carbon nanotube (SWNT) bridging two superconducting electrodes. By tuning the transparency of the device, clear signals of Andreev reflections were detected via changes in the sub-gap resistance at a temperature of $`T=4.2`$K, while other transport anomalies were observed at lower $`T`$. To date, there have been many theoretical and experimental studies of normal metal (N)/superconductor (S) interfaces on a mesoscopic scale. However, no such analysis exists for molecular devices. By combining standard nonequilibrium Green’s function techniques (NEGF) with a tight-binding model (TB) for the SWNT, we have analyzed quantum transport properties of SWNT-S junctions. Our results are consistent with the experimental data.

Although the experimental device consisted of two SWNT-S junctions, the data indicates that each of these junctions acts independently. Hence, we focus here on the somewhat simpler problem of a N-SWNT-S system, leaving an analysis of the multiple Andreev reflections of a S-SWNT-S system for the future. Our theory proceeds by combining the NEGF with a standard TB model for the SWNT such that the coupling of the nanotube to the N (left) and S (right) leads are included via their appropriate self-energies. By iterating the equation of motion, standard but tedious algebra shows that there are two contributions to the electric current flowing through the device: i.e., $`I=I_A+I_1`$. The Andreev current $`I_A`$, or sub-gap contribution, is given by $`(\mathrm{}=e=1)`$:

$$I_A=\frac{1}{\pi }𝑑E\left[f_L(EV)f_L(E+V)\right]T_A(E),$$
(1)
where $`f_{L,R}`$ denote the Fermi functions of the left and right leads respectively, $`E`$ the electron energy, and $`V`$ the bias potential. The Andreev reflection probability $`T_A(E)`$ is given by:

$$T_A(E)Tr\left[𝚪_L𝐆_{12}(E)𝚪_L𝐆_{12}^{}(E)\right],$$
(2)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{L,R}`$ are the appropriate line-width functions describing the coupling of the SWNT to the respective leads. Here $`𝐆_{\mathrm{𝟏𝟏}}`$ and $`𝐆_{\mathrm{𝟏𝟐}}`$ are the retarded Green’s functions of the SWNT which include the proper self energies of the leads. These are evaluated by direct matrix inversion. The remaining contribution to the current is given by:

$`I_1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\pi }}{\displaystyle 𝑑E}Tr\left[T_1(E)+T_2(E)+T_3(E)\right]`$ (4)
$`\times \left[f_L(EV)f_R(E)\right]\rho _R(E)`$
where the density of states of the S lead is $`\rho _R(E)=|E|/\sqrt{E^2\mathrm{\Delta }^2}`$ for $`|E|>\mathrm{\Delta }`$, and zero otherwise; and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is the gap energy of the superconductor. Here $`T_1,T_2,T_3`$ are transmission probabilities for different physical processes that are only nonzero when $`|E|\mathrm{\Delta }`$. Hence, these processes describe excitations of the system. In particular, $`T_1=𝚪_L𝐆_{11}𝚪_R𝐆_{11}^{}`$ gives the familiar tunneling current; $`T_2=𝚪_L𝐆_{12}𝚪_R𝐆_{12}^{}`$ denotes the branch crossing process of Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk theory; and $`T_3=(\mathrm{\Delta }/|E|)[𝚪_L𝐆_{11}𝚪_R𝐆_{12}^{}+H.C.]`$ describes the Cooper pair formation (or annihilation) inside the superconducting lead by an incoming electron (or hole). Clearly, at zero temperature when bias voltage $`|V|>\mathrm{\Delta }`$, all the processes will contribute to current; while for $`|V|<\mathrm{\Delta }`$ only the Andreev current $`I_A`$ is nonzero.

In our numerical calculations, we fixed the gap energy at $`\mathrm{\Delta }=1.45`$ meV corresponding to that of Nb leads; the SWNT TB Hamiltonian is taken to be a nearest-neighbor $`\pi `$orbital model with bond potential $`V_{pp\pi }=2.75`$ eV, which is known to give a reasonable description of the electronic and transport properties of carbon nanotubes. We focus metallic nanotubes of finite length $`L`$. The proximity of the nanotube to the superconductor is modeled through the coupling parameters $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{L,R}`$, which are treated as input parameters.

The solid lines of Fig. (1) show Andreev reflection coefficient $`T_A(E)`$ for a metallic (5,5) SWNT device of length $`L=3\times 6+1=19`$, and for a (9,0) zigzag SWNT device of $`L=49`$, with coupling parameter $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_L=\mathrm{\Gamma }_R=5\times 10^3`$a.u. (1 a.u. energy is 13.6eV). It is clear that resonant transmission with $`T_A(E)=2.0`$, i.e., high device transparency, dominates the transport at $`E=0`$. This may be understood as follows. It is well-known, that infinitely-long armchair nanotubes have two states crossing the Fermi level at $`E_F=0`$. On the other hand a finite-length isolated armchair nanotube has a gap between the two eigenstates near $`E_F`$, and this gap is minimized for tube length $`L=3n+1`$ where $`n`$ an integer. Therefore, when coupled to the device electrodes, which also adds a finite width to the levels, these nanotubes have two scattering states at $`E_F`$ giving rise to large transmission with $`T_A=2`$ as shown in Fig.1. The large $`T_A`$ for the zigzag tube is also due to a resonance transmission through the nanotube states at the Fermi level. The two other curves in Fig.1 show results for asymmetric couplings and will be discussed later. Thus, for a N-SWNT-S system, the device transparency is critically determined by quantum resonance phenomenon which is qualitatively different from the case of an infinite SWNT. As expected, high transparency devices have a larger $`T_A`$, since more electrons arriving at the SWNT-S interface increase the magnitude of the Andreev reflection process.

Figs.2 and 3 show the current-voltage characteristics, and the differential resistance $`dV/dI`$ for high- and low-transparency (5,5) SWNT devices, respectively. The I-V curves of Fig.2 are qualitatively consistent with and quantitatively close to the experimental data. It is clear that a higher slope is observed for the I-V curves within the sub-gap range for on-resonance devices (dashed curve). This gives rise to an asymmetric resistance dip near bias voltage $`V=0`$, (see Fig.3a) with the asymmetry due to the finite gate voltage $`V_g`$. This resistance dip is simply a reflection of the high value of $`T_A`$ for on-resonance devices (solid line - Fig.1). The resistance dip has a value close to $`h/(2\times 4e^2)=3.2K\mathrm{\Omega }`$ which is precisely the expected value of Andreev reflection processes in a SWNT-S junction with two transmitting modes. The experimental data for two SWNT-S junctions connected in series actually gives a value close to $`5.7K\mathrm{\Omega }`$, which is not far from the expected value of $`6.4K\mathrm{\Omega }`$. This difference is perhaps due to parallel connection of three SWNTs bridging the superconductor electrodes in the experimental setup. When the device transparency is low, the differential resistance displays a large peak at $`V=0`$, as shown in Fig.3b. This is consistent both with the I-V curve of the low-transparency device shown in Fig. 2 and the experimental data.

So far, the data presented have been for temperatures of $`T=4.2`$K, so that features reflecting smaller energy scales are completely washed out. However, at a lower temperature of $`T=2`$K, the experimental data shows that a narrow peak emerges in the $`dV/dI`$ curves for zero bias, which is superimposed on the Andreev dip. Such anomalous behavior has previously been ascribed to the strong electron-electron interactions characteristic of Luttinger liquids. Surprisingly, our analysis shows that these features emerge naturally at lower temperatures, even within the context of a single-electron theory as presented here. This is shown in Fig.4, which illustrates the emergence of a narrow peak out of the overall Andreev dip as the temperature is lowered.

We can trace this low temperature anomaly to the basic physical process which gives rise to the Andreev current. To demonstrate this, we neglect complications due to the molecular structure of the nanotubes and assume that the resonant Andreev process is mediated by a single state at energy $`E_o<\mathrm{\Delta }`$, i.e. we “shrink” the nanotube to a simple quantum well with a single level. This is qualitatively reasonable because the sub-gap energy scale is set by gap energy $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ which is much smaller than the level spacing of the nanotube we study. Hence, we expect that only the two degenerate levels at the Fermi energy will contribute appreciably to the Andreev current. For this single-level case, the Green’s functions are drastically simplified so that equivalently, familiar scattering matrix theory can be applied. Near the resonance, the transmission amplitude in the normal state assumes the Breit-Wigner form, $`t(E)=i\sqrt{\mathrm{\Gamma }_L\mathrm{\Gamma }_R}/(EE_o+i\mathrm{\Gamma }/2)`$; and the reflection amplitude becomes $`r(E)=1i\mathrm{\Gamma }_R/(EE_o+i\mathrm{\Gamma }/2)`$; where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma }_L+\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$ is the total line width. For these amplitudes, Eq. (2) takes on the Breit-Wigner form:

$$T_A(E)=\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_L^2\mathrm{\Gamma }_R^2}{4\left[E^2E_o^2+\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }\delta \mathrm{\Gamma }}{4}\right]^2+\mathrm{\Gamma }_L^2\mathrm{\Gamma }_R^2+E_o^2\left[\mathrm{\Gamma }^2+\delta \mathrm{\Gamma }^2\right]},$$
(5)
where $`\delta \mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma }_L\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$. This result allows us to draw several conclusions. For simplicity, we set the level at $`E_o=0`$, to obtain

$$T_A(E)=\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_L^2\mathrm{\Gamma }_R^2}{4\left(E^2+\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }\delta \mathrm{\Gamma }}{4}\right)^2+\mathrm{\Gamma }_L^2\mathrm{\Gamma }_R^2}.$$
(6)
These expressions reduce to the result of scattering matrix theory for N-Dot-S systems when we set $`E=E_o=0`$. Eq.(6) indicates that if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_L=\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$ so that $`\delta \mathrm{\Gamma }=0`$, then resonant Andreev reflection occurs at $`E=0`$ with $`T_A(E=0)=1`$. On the other hand, if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_L>\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$ so that $`\delta \mathrm{\Gamma }>0`$, $`T_A`$ takes on a maximum value at $`E=0`$ but this maximum value is less than $`1`$. For nanotubes this situation is shown by the dotted lines of Fig.1. Furthermore, if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_L<\mathrm{\Gamma }_R`$ such that $`\delta \mathrm{\Gamma }<0`$, $`T_A`$ is characterized by two resonant peaks with $`T_A=1`$ at energies $`E_\pm =\pm \sqrt{\mathrm{\Gamma }\delta \mathrm{\Gamma }}/2`$. For nanotubes this behavior is shown by the dashed lines of Fig.1. Hence, due to a split between the electron and hole levels when the nanotube is in contact with a superconducting lead, the Andreev coefficient in the sub-gap region can display different behaviors. When $`T_A(E)`$ displays a double peak, the Andreev current $`I_A`$ shows a resistance anomaly such that a small peak develops inside the overall dip at low temperatures. At higher temperatures such as $`4.2K`$, the anomaly is smeared out, and hence, not observable. One can also confirm that, qualitatively, the above conclusion holds for cases of nonzero gate voltage.

The analysis presented so far has been for (5,5) nanotubes with a length of $`L=19`$ unit cells, and (9,0) zigzag nanotubes with $`L=49`$. However, we expect our results to be general for other metallic nanotubes and lengths. Previous investigations showed that transport through finite armchair nanotubes differ qualitatively from the infinite length limit. In particular, if $`L=3n+1`$ where $`n`$ is an integer, the armchair tube has large conductance due to the crossing of scattering state energy levels at the Fermi energy. Other tube lengths produce much smaller conductance due to a gap between the scattering states. The inset of Fig.2 shows the I-V curve of N-SWNT-S devices with $`L=17`$ and $`L=18`$: these devices have very small currents because their device transparency are drastically diminished by the energy gap between the scattering states of the SWNT. Experimentally, such an energy gap along with conductance oscillations on finite tubes have already been detected with scanning probes.

In summary, we have investigated the sub-gap transport properties of N-SWNT-S systems and our results are consistent with a number of experimental observations. Specifically, the dependence of the Andreev current on the device transparency, the behavior of the differential resistance in the sub-gap region, as well as the observed low-temperature resistance anomaly may all be explained in terms of the proximity of the nanotubes with the superconducting lead. There are, however, still several issues which cannot be studied within the context of our model. First, the experimental data showed a sensitive gate voltage dependence at very low temperatures on the order of $`40`$ mK, where the differential resistance anomaly could be a peak or a dip depending on the value of the gate voltage. This behavior has been considered as likely due to electron-electron interactions. Second, there are experimental and theoretical evidence that nanotubes can have non-Fermi liquid behavior. It will be of great interest to investigate the situation of a non-Fermi liquid model of nanotubes in contact with a superconductor to see if other, finer features emerge. Another important problem is the detailed atomic structural analysis of the nanotube-superconductor interface which, to a large extent, controls the interface transparency. Finally, although we do not expect charge transfer to play a critical role in understanding the Andreev current for SWNT-S interfaces because of the superconducting gap, a more complete investigation of this delicate effect will certainly enhance our understanding of quantum transport for nanoscale devices.

Acknowledgments: We gratefully acknowledge Prof. T.H. Lin and Dr. Q.F. Sun for helpful discussions on the NEGF theory. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from NSERC of Canada and FCAR of Quebec (H.G); RGC grant (HKU 7215/99P) from the Hong Kong SAR (J.W.); ONR N00014-98-1-0597 and NASA NAG8-1479 (C.R.). We also thank the North Carolina Supercomputing Center (NCSC) for significant amounts of computer time.


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# What is wrong with SLASHSLASH: acronym for Second Laser–Amplified Superluminal Hookup ?

## 1 Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the Erwin–Schrödinger–Gesellschaft für Mikrowissenschaften. It was written long time ago in 1989, distributed casually within the community, and even made its way to a class at Yale University. (There the task was to prove it is a hoax.)


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# Constraints on high energy phenomena from low energy nuclear physicsaafootnote aPresented at the XXIst Moriond Workshop Very High Energy Phenomena in the Universe, Jan. 20-27.2001, Les Acrs 1800, France.

A procedure to derive bounds on coupling strengths of exotic particles to nucleons from the neutrino signal of supernovae is outlined. The analysis is based on a model independent calculation for the emissivities for the exotic, detailed simulation for the evolution of the early proto-neutron star as well as a Likelihood analysis. As an example we derive confidence levels for the upper bound of the size of gravity only extra dimensions.

In the aftermath of a core collapse supernova we find a system described by extreme parameters: densities of several times nuclear matter density with simultaneous appearance of temperatures of several tens of MeV. Indeed, the matter is that dense and hot that even particles interacting as weakly as neutrinos—the by far most efficient conventional cooling mechanism—get trapped. Therefore, the cooling of the nascent proto–neutron star (PNS) has to happen on diffusion times scales of tens of seconds. It is this delayed cooling in the standard scenario that makes core collapse supernovae one of the most efficient elementary particle physics labs possible: any additional cooling mechanism will influence the time structure of the neutrino signal as long as its interaction with the medium is not too strong that it gets trapped as well $`^\mathrm{?}`$.

To make this kind of an argument more quantitative several ingredients are in principle necessary: first one needs a reliable method to calculate the primary emission rates of the exotic under discussion in the inner core. The calculated emissivities are then to be fed into a simulation capable of describing the first several tens of seconds of a nascent PNS. The results of these simulations carried out for different coupling strengths of the additional cooling mechanism are the to be compared with the data and analyzed with the appropriate statistical method. This leads then to bounds on the coupling strength of the exotic studied. The chain of arguments is illustrated in figure (1). Also indicated in the diagram there is a possible short–cut, here labeled as Raffelt criterium. This particular criterium $`^\mathrm{?}`$ is one of a group of criteria meant to allow to read a constraint off the emissivities directly. Although useful to get a very rough estimate of the allowed strength of an exotic one should keep in mind that the emission rates of particles in the nuclear medium are strongly temperature and energy dependent. The core temperature in the supernova, however, depends on whether or not there is an additional cooling mechanism present. Thus it is difficult if not impossible to fix a fudicial temperature and density to be used in the criteria that is valid for all kinds of particles (note that the temperature dependence of a particular production process depends on the energy/momentum dependence of the fundamental coupling vertex of the exotic to the medium and thus depends of the properties of the particle studied). Thus, to get a reliable bound, a detailed simulation is required after all.

Let us now go through the structure of the analysis in more detail: the first step is the calculation of the emissivity of the exotic. In our work we follow the method developed in ref. $`^\mathrm{?}`$. It is based on the observation that, if the radiation is soft, the production rate can be expressed in terms of the on–shell nucleon nucleon scattering data directly—the process is dominated by radiation off external legs. Obviously this kinematic requirement is best fulfilled in degenerate nuclear matter as it occurs in the late cooling phase of a PNS. It was shown in ref. $`^\mathrm{?}`$ that our model independent approach leads to rates for neutrino–anti-neutrino bremsstrahlung that are significantly smaller than those used so far. This finding was confirmed recently, as reported in ref. $`^\mathrm{?}`$. The separation of scales is not that clear when we move to the physical conditions present in the first 20 s after the collapse. With temperatures of some tens of MeV and densities of several times nuclear matter density, matter should be expected to be neither degenerate nor non–degenerate. However, the investigations of ref. $`^\mathrm{?}`$ suggest, that the relevant expansion parameter, namely the radiation energy in units of the average nucleon–nucleon energy, still is smaller than one even here. Using this approach emissivities where already calculated for axions $`^\mathrm{?}`$ as well as gravition only extra dimensions (GODs) $`^\mathrm{?}`$. In addition the latter results where used as a basis for bounds derived on the ground of cosmological arguments $`^{\mathrm{?},\mathrm{?}}`$.

Independent of the production mechanism, it is always possible to cast the production rate in the following form

$$\frac{dE}{dt}=a_n\left(\frac{n_B}{n_0}\right)\left(\frac{T}{10\mathrm{MeV}}\right)^{p_n}\chi (X_n,X_p)\mathrm{MeV}/\mathrm{baryon}/\mathrm{s}.$$
(1)
To be concrete, let us concentrate on the production of gravitons in the presence of $`n`$ gravity only extra dimensions (GODs) $`^\mathrm{?}`$. There we find $`p_2=5.42`$ , $`a_2=5.1\times 10^4R_2^2`$, $`p_3=6.5`$, $`a_3=1.4\times 10^{16}R_3^3`$. Here, $`n_B`$ is the baryon number density, $`T`$ is the temperature. The size of the extra dimensions, $`R_n`$, is given in mm. The emissivity depends weakly on the composition of matter through the function $`\chi (X_n,X_p)`$, defined in ref. $`^\mathrm{?}`$.

Once the emissivities are derived we have to quantify their influence on the neutrino signal of SN1987A. The by far cleanest way to do so is to implement the emission rate of eq. (1) in a simulation of the early PNS. For the present study we use the codes described in ref. $`^\mathrm{?}`$. The equilibrium diffusion approximation employed in the numerical code provides a fair description of the total neutrino luminosity and its time structure (c.f. figure (1)) and thus forms a sound basis for the present investigation. However, in order to deduce the anti–neutrino spectrum an additional assumption is needed, namely that the neutrino emission happens from a common neutrino sphere whose temperature is determined by the requirement for the optical depth to take some fixed value. In order to minimize the influence of this assumption on the bound derived we studied a variety of values for the neutrino sphere temperature around the central value. In addition, the mass of the PNS very strongly influences the neutrino luminosity $`^\mathrm{?}`$. Since we only know, that the baryonic mass is bounded in the interval $`1.4M_{}M2.0M_{},`$ we studied the whole mass range.

Having neutrino emission rates at hand we now have to compare to the data and develop a tool that quantifies the agreement. Thus we need to define a Likelihood function. Following ref. $`^\mathrm{?}`$ we use

$$(\{data\}|a_n,M,T_{\overline{\nu }_e},I)=\underset{D}{}\left[\underset{i=1}{\overset{N_D^{\mathrm{tot}}}{}}\frac{dN_D(t_i^D)}{dt}\mathrm{\Delta }t\right]e^{N_D},$$
(2)
where $`N_D`$ is the total number of observed neutrino arrivals, and $`t_1^D,t_2^D,\mathrm{}`$ are the times at which neutrinos actually arrived in the detector $`D`$. $`N_D(t)`$ is the total number of neutrinos that the model with assumptions $`I`$, PNS mass $`M`$, anti-neutrino temperature $`T_{\overline{\nu }_e}`$, and exotic-coupling $`a_n`$ predicts will have arrived in the detector $`D`$ up until the time $`t`$. $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$ can be any interval small enough that the probability of detecting more than one count in any one bin can be taken to be negligible. Ultimately it will be absorbed into an overall normalization constant.

The likelihood function provides us a with quantitative tool to compare models of PNS evolution. Since we treat not only the coupling to extra dimensions, $`a_n`$, but also $`M`$ and $`T_{\overline{\nu }_e}`$, as parameters, the likelihood function is a function in a three-dimensional space. This function has a minimum at a baryonic mass of $`M=1.5M_{}`$, $`a_2=0`$ and $`T_{\overline{\nu }_e}=1.1T_\nu ^o`$. $`T_\nu ^o`$ denotes the “reference anti-neutrino temperature” defined above using the optical-depth prescription. We can now assess all other models by looking at the log of the ratio of their likelihood of a particular model to this “most likely” model:

$$q(a_n,M,T_{\overline{\nu _e}})=\mathrm{log}\left(\frac{(\{data\}|a_n,M,T_{\overline{\nu }_e},I)}{(\{data\}|0,1.5M_{},1.1T_\nu ^o,I)}\right)$$
(3)
The function $`q`$ is then a function in this same three-dimensional space.

For the case of two GODs we discuss first the situation where the extra dimensions have zero radius, and so $`a_2=0`$. Contours of $`q`$ in the resulting two-dimensional $`xM`$ plane are shown in the left panel of the contour plots in Fig. (1). Here the horizontal axis is the temperature normalized to the reference anti-neutrino temperature, $`x=T_{\overline{\nu }_e}/T_\nu ^o`$, which is varied to explore the sensitivity of the results to deviations of the neutrino temperature from that obtained using the optical depth prescription. We see that although $`M=1.5M_{}`$, $`T=1.1T_\nu ^o`$ is indeed a minimum of the function $`q`$ it is a rather shallow minimum: varying the neutron-star mass and the anti-neutrino temperature over the range considered here does not reduce the likelihood greatly. Ultimately this reflects the weakness of the constraint that the SN 1987a data provides for these parameters.

The situation is rather different as we move away from $`a_2=0`$. In the middle panel we display similar likelihood contours in the $`M\mathrm{log}(a_2)`$ plane for the case $`T_{\overline{\nu }_e}=T_\nu ^o`$, while the right panel shows contours in the $`x\mathrm{log}(a_2)`$ plane for the baryonic mass $`M=1.6M_{}`$. These panels show that the likelihood function decreases rapidly for $`a_210^2`$—regardless of the values of the poorly-known parameters $`M`$ and $`T_{\overline{\nu }_e}`$. Such large values of $`a_2`$ are essentially two orders of magnitude less likely than the “most likely” model. This is a contrast to smaller values of $`a_2`$, where the differences in likelihood are comparable to those seen in the $`MT_{\overline{\nu }_e}`$ plane. Thus statements about the most likely value of $`a_2`$ in this smaller-$`a_2`$ regime will be sensitive to the ill-constrained information on these neutron-star parameters. Consequently we will not make any such statements here. However, the two rightmost panels give us confidence in our ability to derive a bound on $`a_2`$—as opposed to a most-likely value—since it is clear that certain values of this coupling can be well-excluded, completely independent of details of the PNS modeling. To actually derive a bound we now integrate (or “marginalize”) over all possible values of $`M`$ and $`T_{\overline{\nu }_e}`$, using appropriate weight functions (for details c.f. ref. $`^\mathrm{?}`$). We find that the possibility that there are two compact extra dimensions with radii larger than 0.66 $`\mu `$m is excluded at the 95% confidence level—as is the possibility that there are three compact extra dimensions larger than 0.8 nm $`^\mathrm{?}`$.

To summarize, in this talk a scheme to deduce bounds with a well defined statistical meaning for the coupling strength of exotic particles to nucleons was presented. The method is quite general and it was demonstrated that the bounds derived do not depend on parameters poorly constrained. However, improvements are possible, and should be studied. For instance, many-body effects are expected to modify the emissivity. We are working on this problem.

Acknowledgements: the results presented are based on a fruitfull and enjoyable collaboration with D. R. Phillips, J. A. Pons, S. Reddy and M. J. Savage—thanks.