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# Day - Night Effect Predictions for the SNO Detector

preprint:   Ref. SISSA 30/2000/EP March, 2000

Detailed predictions for the day-night (D-N) asymmetry in the energy-integrated one year signals in the SNO detector in the case of the MSW $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ and/or $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transition solutions of the solar neutrino problem are presented. The asymmetries in the charged current (CC) and $`\nu e^{}`$ elastic scattering (ES) event rates are calculated for both MSW solutions; in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transition solution the D-N asymmetry in the neutral current (NC) event rate are derived as well. The asymmetries are calculated for three night samples of events which are produced by the solar neutrinos crossing i) the Earth mantle only (Mantle), ii) the Earth core (Core) and iii) the Earth core and/or the mantle (Night). The effects of the uncertainties i) in the values of the cross-sections of the CC and NC neutrino-induced reactions on deuterium, and ii) in the value of the bulk matter density and/or the chemical composition of the Earth core, on the corresponding D-N asymmetry predictions are analyzed. It is shown, in particular, that that due to the strong enhancement of the transitions of the solar neutrinos crossing the Earth core, at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.01`$ the corresponding one year average D-N asymmetry in the Core sample of CC events in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ solution can be larger by a factor of up to $`8`$ than the asymmetry in the Night sample. In certain subregions of the MSW solution regions at small $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$, the predicted magnitude of the Core D-N asymmetry in the CC sample is very sensitive to the value of the electron fraction number in the Earth core. Iso - (D-N) asymmetry contours in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ plane for the SNO detector are derived in the region $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V\stackrel{_>}{_{}}10^4`$ for the Core and Night samples of the CC, ES and NC events. The dependence of the D-N asymmetries considered on the final state e- threshold energy in the CC and ES reactions is also investigated. Our results show, in particular, that the SNO experiment will be able to probe substantial parts of the SMA and LMA MSW $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ solution regions be performing Night and Core D-N asymmetry measurements.

I. Introduction

In spite of the remarkable progress made in the studies of solar neutrinos the true cause of the solar neutrino deficit observed in the $`ClAr`$, Kamiokande, $`GaGe`$, and Super-Kamiokande experiments  is still not identified. The existing helioseismological data and its interpretation  make very unlikely the possibility of an astrophysical origin of the discrepancy between the solar neutrino observations  and the standard solar model predictions . The hypotheses of vacuum oscillations or MSW transitions of solar neutrinos continue to provide viable solutions of the solar neutrino problem (see, e.g., ).

The current (mean event rate) solar neutrino data admit three types of MSW solutions if the solar $`\nu _e`$ undergo two-neutrino transitions into active neutrinos, $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$: the well-known small mixing angle (SMA) non-adiabatic and large mixing angle (LMA) adiabatic (see, e.g., ) and the so-called “LOW” solution (very recent analyses can be found in, e.g., ). While the SMA and LMA solutions have been shown to be rather stable with respect to variations in the values of the various physical quantities which enter into the calculations (the fluxes of 8B and 7Be neutrinos, nuclear reaction cross-sections, etc.), and of the data utilized in the analyses, the LOW solution is of the “borderline” type: its existence even at 99% C.L. is not stable with respect to relatively small changes in the data and/or in the relevant theoretical predictions (see, e.g.,  and the references quoted therein.). To the three solutions there correspond three distinct regions in the plane of values of the two parameters, $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta `$, characterizing the transitions. One finds  using the standard solar model predictions  for the solar neutrino fluxes (8B, 7Be, $`pp`$, etc.) that at 99% C.L. the SMA MSW solution requires values in the intervals $`4.0\times 10^6\mathrm{eV}^2<\mathrm{\Delta }m^2<10.0\times 10^6\mathrm{eV}^2`$, $`1.3\times 10^3<\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V<1.0\times 10^2`$, the LMA solutions is realized for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ from the region $`7.0\times 10^6\mathrm{eV}^2<\mathrm{\Delta }m^2<2.0\times 10^4\mathrm{eV}^2`$, $`0.50<\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V<1.0`$, and the LOW solution lies approximately in the region $`0.4\times 10^7\mathrm{eV}^2<\mathrm{\Delta }m^2<1.5\times 10^7\mathrm{eV}^2`$, $`0.80<\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V<1.0`$. The SMA and LMA solution regions expand in the direction of smaller values of $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ up to $`0.6\times 10^3`$ and to $`0.3`$, respectively, if one adopts more conservative approach in analyzing the data in terms of the MSW effect and treats the 8B neutrino flux as a free parameter in the analysis (see, e.g., ). This enlargement of the two solution regions is not uniform in $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ (see further). We will use the term “conservative” for the MSW solution regions derived by treating the 8B neutrino flux as a free parameter.

The solar neutrino data can also be explained assuming that the solar neutrinos undergo MSW transitions into sterile neutrino in the Sun: $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ (see, e.g, ). In this case only a SMA solution is compatible with the data. The corresponding solution region obtained (at a given C.L.) using the mean event rate solar neutrino data and the predictions of ref.  for the different solar neutrino flux components practically coincides in magnitude and shape with the SMA $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ solution region, but is shifted by a factor of $`1.2`$ along the $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ axis to smaller values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$. The “conservative” $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transition solution region extends both in the direction of smaller and larger values of $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ down to $`0.7\times 10^3`$ and up to 0.4 .

The results on the spectrum of the final state $`e^{}`$ from the $`\nu e^{}`$ elastic scattering reaction, obtained in the range of the recoil$`e^{}`$ energy $`E_e(520)`$MeV by the Super-Kamiokande collaboration do not allow to rule out definitely any of the solutions of the solar neutrino problem indicated above . The observed rise of the spectrum at $`E_e>12`$MeV can be due to a contribution from the $`hep`$ solar neutrinos , which complicates the interpretation of the data. The spectrum measured below 12 MeV is compatible with an energy-independent suppression of the 8B neutrino flux, or with a mild energy dependence of the suppression.

A unique testable prediction of the MSW solutions of the solar neutrino problem is the day-night (D-N) effect - a difference between the solar neutrino event rates during the day and during the night, caused by the additional transitions of the solar neutrinos taking place at night while the neutrinos cross the Earth on the way to the detector (see, e.g.,  and the references quoted therein). The experimental observation of a non-zero D-N asymmetry

$$A_{DN}^N\frac{R_NR_D}{(R_N+R_D)/2},$$
(1)
where $`R_N`$ and $`R_D`$ are, e.g., the one year averaged event rates in a given detector respectively during the night and the day, would be a very strong evidence in favor (if not a proof) of the MSW solution of the solar neutrino problem (see further).

Extensive predictions for the magnitude of the D-N effect for the Super-Kamiokande detector have been obtained in . High precision calculations of the D-N asymmetry in the one year averaged recoil-e- spectrum and in the energy-integrated event rates were performed for three event samples, Night, Core and Mantle, in . The night fractions of these event samples are due to neutrinos which respectively cross the Earth along any trajectory, cross the Earth core, and cross only the Earth mantle (but not the core), on the way to the detector. The measurement of the D-N asymmetry in the Core sample was found to be of particular importance  because of the strong enhancement of the asymmetry, caused by a constructive interference between the amplitudes of the neutrino transitions in the Earth mantle and in the Earth core . The effect differs from the MSW one . The mantle-core enhancement effect is caused by the existence (for a given neutrino trajectory through the Earth core) of points of resonance-like total neutrino conversion in the corresponding space of neutrino oscillation parameters . The location of these points determines the regions where the relevant probability of transitions in the Earth of the Earth-core-crossing solar neutrinos is large Being a constructive interference effect between the amplitudes of neutrino transitions in the mantle and in the core, this is not just “core enhancement” effect, but rather mantle-core enhancement effect. . At small mixing angles and in the case of $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ transitions the predicted D-N asymmetry in the Core sample of the Super-Kamiokande data was shown  to be much bigger due to the mantle-core enhancement effect The term “neutrino oscillation length resonance” (NOLR) was used in , in particular, to denote the mantle-core enhancement effect in this case. \- by a factor of up to $`6`$, than the asymmetry in the Night sample. The asymmetry in the Mantle sample was found to be smaller than the asymmetry in the Night sample. On the basis of these results it was concluded in  that it can be possible to test a substantial part of the MSW $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ SMA solution region in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ plane by performing selective, i.e., Core D-N asymmetry measurements.

The current Super-Kamiokande data  shows a D-N asymmetry in the Night sample, which is different from zero at 1.9 s.d. level:

$$A_{DN}^N=0.065\pm 0.031(stat.)\pm 0.013(syst.).$$
(2)
These data do not allow to test the SMA solution region: the predicted asymmetry is too small (see, e.g., ). However, the Super-Kamiokande night data is given in 5 bins and 80% of the events in the bin N5 are due to Earth-core-crossing solar neutrinos , while the remaining 20% are produced by neutrinos which cross only the Earth mantle. Since the predicted D-N asymmetry in the Mantle sample is practically negligible in the case of the MSW SMA solution of interest , we have for the D-N asymmetry measured using the night N5 bin data: $`A_{DN}^{N5}0.8A_{DN}^C`$, $`A_{DN}^C`$ being the asymmetry in the Core sample. The data on $`A_{DN}^{N5}`$  permitted to exclude a part of the MSW SMA solution region located in the area $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V(0.0070.01)`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2(0.51.0)\times 10^5\mathrm{eV}^2`$. Let us note that it was possible to probe the indicated MSW SMA solution region only due to the mantle-core enhancement  of the the Core part of the asymmetry $`A_{DN}^{N5}`$. It should be obvious from the above discussion that the measurement of the Core asymmetry $`A_{DN}^C`$, as suggested in , will provide a more effective test of the the MSW SMA solution §§§We were happy to learn  that recently the Super-Kamiokande collaboration has decided to present experimental results on the Core D-N asymmetry as well. than the measurement of $`A_{DN}^{N5}`$.

As was shown in , the mantle-core enhancement is not so effective in the 8B neutrino energy interval $`E(512)`$MeV when the solar neutrino transitions are of the type $`\nu _e\nu _s`$: it does not produce such a dramatic enhancement of the Core D-N asymmetry as in the case of $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ transitions. More generally, the measurements of the D-N effect related observables in the Super-Kamiokande experiment appears at present unlikely to provide an effective test of the MSW $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ (SMA) solution of the solar neutrino problem .

The studies of the D-N effect will be continued by the SNO experiment which is already operational . As is well known, the solar neutrinos can be detected in SNO via the charged current (CC) reaction on deuterium,

$$\nu _e+De^{}+p+p,(CC)$$
(3)
deuterium break up by neutrinos via the neutral current (NC) weak interaction,

$$\nu +D\nu +n+p,(NC)$$
(4)
and via the elastic scattering (ES) on electrons,

$$\nu +e^{}\nu +e^{}.(ES)$$
(5)
In the present article we derive detailed predictions for the D-N asymmetries in the CC, NC and ES event rates for the SNO detector. For the 8B neutrino flux, $`\mathrm{\Phi }(B)`$, which at the Earth surface represents 47.5% of the flux predicted by the standard solar model , $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{SSM}(B)`$, the expected number of events per year due to the CC reaction $`\nu _e+De^{}+p+p`$ in the SNO detector is about  3300 for $`T_{e,th}=5`$ MeV, $`T_{e,th}`$ being the threshold kinetic energy of the final state $`e^{}`$. This is comparable to the event rate in the Super - Kamiokande experiment. The expected event rate  due to the NC reaction $`\nu _l+D\nu _l+n+p`$ for a full standard solar model  8B neutrino flux (and 45% detection efficiency) is approximately (5.5 - 6.0) events per day, while the event rate due to the $`\nu e^{}`$ elastic scattering (ES) reaction is predicted to be $`1.4`$ events per day for $`\mathrm{\Phi }(B)0.47\mathrm{\Phi }_{SSM}(B)`$ and $`T_{e,th}=5`$ MeV. The indicated statistics permits to perform a high precision search for the D-N effect and for the Earth mantle-core enhancement of the effect in the sample of events due to the CC reaction. Therefore the main emphasis of our study will be on the predictions for the magnitude of the D-N effect in the CC sample of events in the SNO detector, although rather detailed results for the expected magnitude of the effect in the ES and NC samples will also be presented. Let us remind the reader that the D-N asymmetry in the NC event rate can be nonzero in the case of the MSW solution of the solar neutrino problem with transitions into sterile neutrino .

Predictions for the D-N effect for the SNO detector were derived in refs.  and recently in . However, our study overlaps little with those performed in .

2. Calculating the D-N Effect for the SNO Detector

2.1. The CC and NC Reaction Cross Section Uncertainties

The high precision calculations of the D-N effect for the SNO detector performed in the present article are based on the methods developed for our studies of the D-N effect for the Super-Kamiokande detector, which are described in detail in . The cross sections of the CC and NC reactions on deuterium were taken from . They were tabulated using the 1996 version of the E. Lisi $`\nu \mathrm{d}`$ FORTRAN library . The cross section of the $`\nu _ee^{}`$ elastic scattering reaction was taken from . We used in our calculations the 8B neutrino spectrum derived in . The probability of survival of the solar $`\nu _e`$ when they travel in the Sun and further to the surface of the Earth, $`\overline{P}_{}(\nu _e\nu _e)`$, was computed on the basis of the analytic expression obtained in  and using the method developed in . In the calculation of $`\overline{P}_{}(\nu _e\nu _e)`$ we have utilized (as in ) the density profile of the Sun and the 8B neutrino production distribution in the Sun, predicted in . These predictions were updated in , but a detailed test study showed  (see also ) that using the results of  instead of those in  leads to a change of the survival probability by less than 1% for any set of values of the parameters $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta `$, relevant for the calculation of the D-N effect. As in , the Earth matter effects were calculated using the Stacey model from 1977  for the Earth density distribution. The latter practically coincides with that predicted by the more recent Earth model . Most of the results are obtained for two sets of values of the electron fraction number in the Earth mantle and the Earth core, $`Y_e(man)`$ and $`Y_e(core)Y_e^c`$, which reflect the chemical composition of the two major Earth structures: the standard ones $`Y_e(man)=0.49`$, $`Y_e^c=0.467`$, and for the possibly conservative upper bound of $`Y_e^c=0.500`$ (see, e.g, ). The latter effectively accounts for the uncertainties both in $`Y_e^c`$ and in the average matter density of the Earth core.

Three different calculations of the cross section of the $`\nu _eD`$ CC reaction are available in the literature . In two of these articles  the cross section of the $`\nu _lD`$ NC reaction was also computed. Extensive numerical study has shown that i) the maximal differences between the various one year averaged D-N asymmetries in the CC event rate, calculated using the three different predictions for the CC cross section, do not exceed 6%, ii) the differences in the range of (1 - 6)% occur only in a set of disconnected regions in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ plane, which are essentially point-like and whose total area is exceedingly small, and iii) these small point-like regions of maximal spread in the D-N asymmetry predictions are generally located outside and sufficiently far from the MSW solution regions of interest (including the “conservative” ones). There is only one case when such a difference occurs on the borderline of an MSW “conservative” solution region: we found a spread in the prediction for D-N asymmetry in the Core sample of events of $`2.5\%`$ in the case of $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ transitions for $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta 0.6`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^23\times 10^5`$ eV2, which is at the border of the LMA “conservative” solution region.

The cross sections of the $`\nu _eD`$ CC reaction calculated in  differ by $``$ (5 - 15)% at the 8B neutrino energies of interest. The question of why the predicted D-N asymmetries in the CC and NC event rates are so insensitive to the choice of the cross section used in the calculations naturally arises. The product of the normalized to one 8B neutrino spectrum, $`𝒮(E)`$, and of the CC reaction cross section, $`\sigma _{CC}(E)`$, which enters into the expression for the CC event rate, can be approximated by a resonance-like function defined by its full width at half maximum, the position of the maximum in $`E`$ and by its value at the maximum. These parameters were calculated for the three different cross sections  and for different values of the threshold kinetic energy of the final state electron, $`T_{e,th}`$. The results are given in Table I. The largest differences between the three results for $`𝒮(E)\sigma _{CC}(E)`$ happen in the fastly decreasing part of the 8B neutrino spectrum ($`E10`$ MeV). As Table I shows, the spread in the values at the maximum is between 3.5% and 10%, while the position of the maximum in $`E`$ and the F.W.H.M. change at most by $`0.8\%`$. Consequently, the differences between the three CC cross sections  lead essentially only to a non-negligible change in the prediction for the overall normalization factor for the total CC event rate, which practically does not affect the D-N asymmetry. The same conclusions can be shown to be valid for the implications of the differences between the two NC cross sections  for the uncertainties in the predicted values of the D-N asymmetries in the NC signal in SNO in the case of MSW $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transition solution of the solar neutrino problem. These results are illustrated in Figs. 1a - 1f, where the difference between the values of the Core (Night) D-N asymmetry calculated utilizing the predictions for the relevant CC and NC reaction cross-sections derived in ref.  and in ref.  are shown as functions of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ in the intervals ($`10^710^4`$) eV2 and ($`10^41.0`$), respectively However, all the plots produced in the framework of this study are at disposition of the interested reader at the site http://www.pv.infn.it/$``$maris/nue/sno/index.html..

This analysis permits one to conclude that even neglecting the electron energy resolution function and the expected statistical and systematical errors in the measurements, the calculation of the D-N asymmetries in the CC and NC event rates in the SNO detector utilizing the different cross sections from  should give the same results within 1% in the MSW “conservative” solution regions. Accordingly, we will present predictions for the D-N asymmetries in the CC and NC signals computed using the cross sections of ref. .

2.2 Comments on the Probability of Solar $`\nu _e`$ Survival

The SNO detector is located at $`\lambda _{\mathrm{SNO}}=46{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}20}_{}^{}`$ North, $`\lambda _{SNO}^{}=81{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}12}_{}^{}`$ West. At the indicated latitude we have: $`T_{res}^C/T_y=0.0396`$, where $`T_{res}^C`$ is the Core residence time, i.e., the total time in one year during which the solar neutrinos cross the Earth core at night on the way to the SNO detector, $`T_y=365.24`$ days. This implies that at the location of the SNO experiment only for $`7.9\%`$ of the one year night time the Sun is behind the Earth core with respect to SNO, to be compared with $`14.85\%`$ for the Super - Kamiokande detector (see, e.g., ). Thus, the statistical error in the measurement of the Core D-N asymmetry with SNO detector will be approximately by a factor of 3.55 bigger than in the measurement of the Night D-N asymmetry. In the case of the Super - Kamiokande detector this factor is 2.66. Let us note also that for the Mantle residence time, $`T_{res}^M`$, i.e., the total time in one year during which the solar neutrinos cross at night the Earth mantle but do not cross the Earth core on the way to the SNO detector, we have $`T_{res}^M/T_y=0.4619`$, and that the Night residence time is $`T_{res}^N=0.5015T_y`$.

As is well-known, one can use the $`\nu _2\nu _e`$ transition probability, $`P_{e2}`$, to account for the Earth matter effects in the solar $`\nu _e`$ survival probability, $`\overline{P}(\nu _e\nu _e)`$, in the case of the MSW solutions of the solar neutrino problem. During the day one has $`\overline{P}(\nu _e\nu _e)=\overline{P}_{}(\nu _e\nu _e)`$, where $`\overline{P}_{}(\nu _e\nu _e)`$ was defined earlier as the probability of survival of the solar $`\nu _e`$ when they travel to the Earth surface without traversing the Earth. A nonzero difference between $`\overline{P}(\nu _e\nu _e)`$ for the Earth-crossing neutrinos and $`\overline{P}_{}(\nu _e\nu _e)`$ produces a nonzero D-N asymmetry. It is possible to have $`\overline{P}(\nu _e\nu _e)\overline{P}_{}(\nu _e\nu _e)0`$ when i) $`\overline{P}_{}(\nu _e\nu _e)0.5`$ and ii) $`P_{e2}`$ differs from its value in vacuum, $`P_{e2}\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _V`$ (for further details see, e.g., ).

We have calculated the one year averaged $`\nu _2\nu _e`$ transition probability for the location of the SNO detector, $`<P_{e2}>`$, using the methods described in . As in , this was done for each of the three different event samples Core, Night and Mantle we are considering, $`<P_{e2}>^{C,N,M}`$. We comment below only on few specific features of the probabilities $`<P_{e2}>^{C,N,M}`$ and of the corresponding solar $`\nu _e`$ survival probabilities at night, $`\overline{P}^{C,N,M}(\nu _e\nu _e)`$.

2.2.1 $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ Transitions

At small mixing angles, $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V<0.01`$, $`<P_{e2}>^C`$ is considerably larger than $`<P_{e2}>^{N,M}`$ in most of the interval of values of $`E_\nu /\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ of interest: the absolute maximum of $`<P_{e2}>^C`$, for instance, exceeds the absolute maxima of $`<P_{e2}>^{N,M}`$ by a factor of $`(45)`$. This is illustrated in Figs. 2a - 2b. The strong resonance-like enhancement of $`<P_{e2}>^C`$ with respect to $`<P_{e2}>^{N,M}`$, seen, in particular, in Figs. 2a - 2b, is The plots of $`<P_{e2}>^{C,N,M}`$ as functions of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2/E`$ at fixed $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V<0.01`$ are very similar to those for the Super-Kamiokande detector, published in ref.  which includes a large set of such plots. due to a constructive interference between the amplitudes of the neutrino transitions in the Earth mantle and in the core . The interference produces points of total neutrino conversion , $`\mathrm{max}(P_{e2})=1`$. For each fixed $`\widehat{h}`$ from the interval $`\widehat{h}=(0^{}30^{})`$, there exists one such point in the region $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.10`$, located in the interval $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V(0.040.08)`$ (see Table 4 in ). At $`\widehat{h}=23^{}`$, for instance, we have $`\mathrm{max}(P_{e2})=1`$ at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V=0.06`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2/E=6.5\times 10^7\mathrm{eV}^2/\mathrm{MeV}`$ \**\**\** The points under discussion change somewhat their position with the change of $`\widehat{h}`$ (see Table 4 in ).. The probability $`P_{e2}`$ is enhanced at each given $`\widehat{h}30^{}`$ in a sufficiently wide region in the neighborhood of the corresponding point of total neutrino conversion, which causes the strong enhancement of $`<P_{e2}>^C`$ under discussion at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V<0.01`$.

For $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V<0.004`$, $`<P_{e2}>^{C,N,M}`$ are nonnegligible in an interval of values of $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ where $`\overline{P}_{}(\nu _e\nu _e)>0.5`$ and the D-N asymmetries (defined as in eq. (1)) for all the three samples of events Core, Night and Mantle, $`A_{DN}^{C,N,M}`$, are negative. For the values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ from the SMA solution region and the neutrino energies of interest, $`E(5.014.4)`$MeV, the core asymmetry $`A_{DN}^C`$ goes through zero in the interval of $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V(0.0040.006)`$. For each given value of $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ from this interval the zero D-N effect line $`\overline{P}_{}(\nu _e\nu _e)=0.5`$ taking place at a specific value of $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$, $`(E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2)_0`$, splits $`<P_{2e}>^C`$ into two parts: the part at $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2>(E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2)_0`$ generates a negative D-N asymmetry, while the part at $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2<(E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2)_0`$ creates a positive D-N asymmetry. When integrating over the neutrino energy the positive and the negative contributions to $`A_{DN}^C`$ tend to mutually cancel. For each given $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V(0.0040.006)`$ there exists a $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ from the SMA solution region for which this cancellation is exact giving $`A_{DN}^C=0`$. In the case of the Night asymmetry, the interval in $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ in which one has $`A_{DN}^N=0`$ for a certain value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ from the SMA solution region is larger: $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V(0.0040.008)`$. For $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V>0.006(0.008)`$ we have $`A_{DN}^C>0`$ ($`A_{DN}^N>0`$).

As in , one can introduce the probability D-N asymmetries,

$$A_P^{C,N,M}=\frac{\overline{P}^{C,N,M}(\nu _e\nu _e)\overline{P}_{}(\nu _e\nu _e)}{0.5(\overline{P}^{C,N,M}(\nu _e\nu _e)+\overline{P}_{}(\nu _e\nu _e))},$$
(6)
which give an indication about the possible magnitude of the corresponding energy-integrated event rate asymmetries. For $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V<0.004`$, $`A_P^{C,N}`$ are essentially negative and we have $`|A_P^C|<3.0\%;4.7\%`$, while $`|A_P^N|<1\%`$. At $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V=0.004`$, $`A_P^C`$ and $`A_P^N`$ as functions of $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ have substantial positive and negative parts and $`4\%<A_P^C<5.0\%`$, $`1.5\%<A_P^N<3.5\%`$. As $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ increases beyond the zero asymmetry region, $`A_P^C`$ increases steadily while the increase of $`A_P^N`$ is rather slow. At $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V=0.008;0.010`$, for instance, $`A_P^C`$ reaches the values of $`26\%;50\%`$ and $`A_P^N<2.7\%;8.0\%`$. This corresponds to an enhancement factors of the Core asymmetry at the maxima of $`9.6;6.3`$. The above results suggests that for values of $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ from the SMA solution region, the Core event rate asymmetry in SNO can be bigger than the Night asymmetry by factors which can exceed the similar factors for the predicted Core and Night asymmetries in the Super-Kamiokande detector: in the latter case the Core asymmetry enhancement factor does not exceed $`6`$ .

It is interesting to note that for $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V(410)\times 10^3`$, $`A_P^{C,N}`$ have relatively large positive values at $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2few\times 10^5\mathrm{MeV}/\mathrm{eV}^2`$. In the same region $`A_P^{C,N}`$ exhibit (as functions of $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$) fast small amplitude oscillations as well. These maxima of $`A_P^{C,N}`$ are responsible for the noticeable “horn” at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V5\times 10^3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^22\times 10^5`$ eV2, shown by the CC and NC D-N asymmetry contour plots in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ and $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transitions, as well as by the ES D-N asymmetry contour plots for $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transitions (see further). The lack of a similar “horn” in the ES D-N asymmetry contour plots in the $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ case is due to the neutral current contribution of $`\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ to the ES event rate. The indicated feature of $`A_P^{C,N}`$ affects the D-N asymmetries of interest only for a set of neutrino parameters which lie outside the regions of the MSW solutions and we are not going to discuss it further.

The mantle-core enhancement of $`A_P^C`$  is much less dramatic in the region of the LMA solution: actually, in this region we typically have $`A_P^C(1.01.25)A_P^N`$, with $`A_P^C`$ exhibiting as a function of $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ rather large amplitude oscillations which are absent in $`A_P^N`$.

2.2.2 $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ Transitions

The Earth mantle-core enhancement of $`P_{e2}`$ at small mixing angles is operative in the case of $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transitions as well . For $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V(0.11.0)\times 10^2`$ the corresponding absolute maximum of the one-year averaged Core probability $`<P_{e2}>^C`$ exceeds the absolute maximum of $`<P_{e2}>^N`$ by a factor of $`4`$. However, at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.01`$, $`<P_{e2}>^C`$ is noticeably smaller in the case of $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transitions of the solar neutrinos than in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ transitions considered above (for illustration see the corresponding plots for the Super-Kamiokande detector in ). For $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V=0.01`$, for instance, the maximal values reached by $`<P_{e2}>^C`$ in the two cases are $`0.1`$ and $`0.3`$, respectively. Similar result was shown  to be valid for $`<P_{e2}>^C`$ calculated for the location of the Super-Kamiokande detector. The explanation of this difference can be found in : it is related to the fact that the total neutrino conversion point at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.25`$, which determines the enhancement under discussion, takes place for the different $`\widehat{h}`$ at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V(0.120.25)`$, which is relatively “far” in $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ from the region of interest (see Table 4 in ). The primary source is, of course, the difference between the neutrino effective potentials in matter in the two cases  (see also, e.g., ).

For $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V(0.0090.010)`$, the probability D-N asymmetries for the Core and Night event samples have (as functions of $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$) substantial negative parts in addition to the positive ones. For most of the indicated values of $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ and the values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ from the MSW $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ solution region and of the neutrino energy of interest, $`E6.44`$ MeV, the energy-integrated D-N asymmetries $`A^C`$ and $`A^N`$ are determined essentially by the negative parts of $`A^C`$ and $`A^N`$ and therefore are negative. The zero asymmetry regions take place for $`A^C`$ and $`A^N`$ roughly at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.009`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.010`$, respectively. At small mixing angles, $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.010`$, the CC asymmetries are relatively small. For $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V=(0.0030.010)`$, for instance, one finds $`3.0\%A_P^C8.0\%`$ and $`0.8\%A_P^N6.0\%`$.

The solar neutrino data strongly disfavors large mixing angle MSW solution in the case of $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transitions. Nevertheless, we would like to note that due to the existence of points of absolute minima of the probability $`P_{e2}`$ for the solar neutrinos crossing the Earth core , $`\mathrm{min}(P_{e2})=0`$, one finds at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta (0.40.5)`$ a large negative Core probability asymmetry, $`\mathrm{min}(A_P^C)70\%`$, at $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2(23)\times 10^6\mathrm{MeV}/\mathrm{eV}^2`$.

2.2.3 On the Latitude Dependence of the Core Asymmetry Enhancement

The comparison of $`<P_{e2}>^C=<P_{e2}>^C(\rho _r)`$ plots at fixed $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.01`$ for the Super - Kamiokande detector , where

$$\rho _r\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }m^2\mathrm{cos}2\theta _V}{\sqrt{2}G_FE}m_N,$$
(7)
$`m_N`$ being the nucleon mass, with those for the SNO detector shows that the main effect on $`<P_{2e}>^C`$ of a moderated increase of the SNO detector latitude is a shift of the position of the dominating absolute maximum of $`<P_{2e}>^C`$ and not a reduction of this maximum. Thus, the magnitude of the mantle-core enhancement for moderate increase of the detector latitude, and therefore the sensitivity of the SNO detector to the D-N effect, is primarily affected by the reduction in the Core residence time and by changes in the position of the $`<P_{e2}>^C`$ dominating maximum along the $`\rho _r`$ axis with respect to the $`\overline{P}_{}(\nu _e\nu _e)=1/2`$ line. This observation suggests that for SNO, ICARUS and other solar neutrino detectors situated at latitudes which are somewhat larger than that of the Super-Kamiokande detector, the sensitivity to the D-N effect may be better than is usually expected.

To understand this result it is helpful to consider the dependence of $`P_{e2}`$ on $`\rho _r`$ and the Nadir angle $`\widehat{h}`$. The behavior of $`<P_{e2}>^C`$ follows from this dependence. At small $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ and for any fixed value of $`\rho _r`$ (or $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$), $`P_{e2}`$ is a decreasing function of $`\widehat{h}`$ for the Earth-core-crossing neutrinos ††††††This is related to the fact that with the increase of $`\widehat{h}`$ the position of the total neutrino conversion point where $`P_{e2}=1`$, which determines the magnitude of the mantle-core enhancement of $`P_{e2}`$ at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.01`$, shifts to larger values of $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta `$ , e.g., from $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta 0.04`$ at $`\widehat{h}=13^{}`$ to $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta 0.08`$ at $`\widehat{h}=30^{}`$ in the $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ case. The indicated shift is caused, in particular, by the decreasing of the neutrino path length through the Earth core and of the average density of the core along the neutrino path when $`\widehat{h}`$ increases.. Since the time averaged $`\widehat{h}`$ for the core-crossing neutrinos increases with the increasing of the detector latitude and given the fact that SNO is at a higher latitude than the Super-Kamiokande detector, a smaller $`<P_{e2}>^C`$ probability is expected for SNO than for the Super-Kamiokande detector, which seems to be in contradiction with the suggestion made above. A more detailed study of the $`\rho _r`$ and $`\widehat{h}`$ dependence of $`P_{e2}`$ at fixed $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.01`$ reveals, however, that in the region of the absolute maximum of $`P_{2e}`$ (at a given $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$) this dependence can be described as a part of a positive saddle with fastly decreasing “shoulders”, but whose main axis (i.e., the “ridge” or minimal gradient line) is curved towards smaller values of $`\rho _r`$ when $`\widehat{h}`$ increases (Fig. 3). Moreover, along its main axis and on a relatively large part of it, the saddle is nearly flat and therefore $`P_{2e}`$ changes very little. The plots of $`P_{2e}`$ versus $`\widehat{h}`$ at fixed $`\rho _r`$ are sections of the saddle at high inclination with respect of the saddle axis, so what they illustrate is the fast decrease of the saddle shoulders. The plots of the $`P_{2e}`$ dependence on $`\rho _r`$ at fixed but different $`\widehat{h}`$ show the shift of the position of the maximum along the $`\rho _r`$axis for changing $`\widehat{h}`$, thus exhibiting the curvature of the saddle axis. The behavior of $`P_{2e}`$ discussed above is illustrated in Fig. 3.

When translating these considerations into total event rate predictions, one obviously has to take into account the effects of the shape of the $`{}_{}{}^{8}B`$ neutrino spectrum and of the integration over the neutrino energy. For $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ in the range of $`(10^310^2)`$, the D-N effect is suppressed by the simultaneous presence of a negative and positive parts of the D-N probability asymmetry in the interval of values of $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ of interest . As already discussed above, one of the important parameters which determine for given $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ the magnitude of the D-N effect is the position of the absolute maximum of $`<P_{2e}>^C`$ along the $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ axis with respect to the zero asymmetry line $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2=(E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2)_0`$ corresponding to $`\overline{P}_{}=1/2`$. The shift towards smaller values of $`\rho _r`$ (or larger values of $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$) of the position of the dominating maximum of $`<P_{2e}>^C`$ as the detector latitude increases makes the crossing of the $`\overline{P}_{}=1/2`$ line by the maximum occur at larger values of $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$. Thus, for a given $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.009`$, the region of negative values of $`A_P^C`$ in $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ increases somewhat with the increase of $`\widehat{h}`$ at the expense of the region where $`A_P^C>0`$. This results in a certain decreasing of the CC total event rate Core D-N asymmetry $`A_{DN}^C`$. Similar effect takes place for the Night asymmetry $`A_{DN}^N`$. The decreasing is roughly the same in magnitude as the one caused by the presence of the NC contribution due to the $`\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ in the Super-Kamiokande solar neutrino signal in the case of the MSW $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ transitions of solar neutrinos. Actually, the ratio $`A_{DN}^C/A_{DN}^N`$ of the discussed asymmetries for SNO is typically bigger, as we shall see, than that for the Super-Kamiokande detector. This analysis shows also that in the case of the MSW SMA $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ solution the enhancement of the Core D-N asymmetry in the CC event rates for detectors located at different latitudes not exceeding, say, the SNO latitude ($`\lambda _{\mathrm{SNO}}=46{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}20}_{}^{}`$ North), is approximately the same in magnitude and that the sensitivity to the Core D-N effect, apart from the systematic error, is limited essentially by the statistics of the corresponding data samples.

3. Predictions for the Energy-Integrated D-N Asymmetries

In this Section we will discuss the predictions we have obtained for the values of the various energy-integrated, one year averaged D-N asymmetries for the SNO detector. The asymmetries are defined as in eq. (2) and in . We consider the following set of D-N asymmetries: i) Night, Core and Mantle asymmetries in the CC signal in SNO, $`A_{DN}^{N,C,M}(CC)=A_{DN}^{N,C,M}(CC;T_{e,th},Y_e^c)`$, in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ and $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transitions of solar neutrinos, ii) Night, Core and Mantle asymmetries in the ES signal in SNO, $`A_{DN}^{N,C,M}(ES)=A_{DN}^{N,C,M}(ES;T_{e,th},Y_e^c)`$, in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ and $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transitions, and iii) Night, Core and Mantle asymmetries in the NC signal in SNO, $`A_{DN}^{N,C,M}(NC)=A_{DN}^{N,C,M}(NC;Y_e^c)`$, in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transitions ‡‡‡‡‡‡Note that with the definition of the D-N asymmetry we use , the one year average energy-integrated D-N asymmetries we consider are zero in the case of massless standard model neutrinos.. The asymmetries $`A_{DN}^{N,C,M}(CC;T_{e,th},Y_e^c)`$ and $`A_{DN}^{N,C,M}(ES;T_{e,th},Y_e^c)`$ have been calculated for two values of $`T_{e,th}`$: 5.0 MeV and 7.5 MeV. Results for all asymmetries for $`Y_e(core)=0.467and0.500`$  are given \**\**\**Predictions for the Night CC asymmetry $`A_{DN}^N(CC;T_{e,th},Y_e^c)`$ for $`T_{e,th}=5`$ and $`T_{e,th}=5.0;7.5`$ MeV for the standard values of $`Y_e(man)`$ and $`Y_e(core)`$ were given respectively in  and . Results for the Night asymmetry in the NC data $`A_{DN}^N(NC)`$ for the standard values of $`Y_e(man)`$ and $`Y_e(core)`$ were obtained also in ..

Our results are presented in Tables II - X and in Figs. 4a - 11b. The tables contain values of the three types of asymmetries and of the ratio of the Core and Night asymmetries, calculated for 36 pairs of values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ distributed evenly in the “conservative” MSW solution regions (older and most recent). Some of these pairs of values, as like those with $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.03`$ in the case of MSW $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ solution in Tables VI - X, have been excluded by the recent Super-Kamiokande data, but we kept them for giving an idea about the magnitude of the asymmetries corresponding to them. In Figs. 4a - 11b contours of constant (D-N) asymmetries in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ plane are shown (iso-(D-N) asymmetry contour plots) together with the “conservative” MSW solution regions from . We did not include in the present work the iso-(D-N) asymmetry contour plots for the different (CC, ES, NC) Mantle asymmetries because the latter are relatively small and thus difficult to observe \*†\*†\*†These plots can be found at the site: http://www.pv.infn.it/$``$maris/nue/sno/index.html.. Below we comment briefly our results for the indicated D-N asymmetries.

3.1. Magnitude of the Asymmetries and their $`Y_e(core)`$ and $`T_{e,th}`$ Dependence

3.1.1. $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ Transitions

A. Asymmetries in the CC Event Sample

The most remarkable feature of the D-N asymmetries under discussion in this case is the relatively large absolute values of the Core CC asymmetry $`A_{DN}^C(CC)`$ in most of the region MSW SMA solution, as well as the strong mantle-core enhancement of $`A_{DN}^C(CC)`$ with respect to the Night and Mantle asymmetries in this region (Tables II and III). Due to the indicated enhancement we typically have $`|A_{DN}^C(CC)|>1\%`$ at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V(0.0010.006)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2(3.08.0)\times 10^6\mathrm{eV}^2`$, while the Night and Mantle asymmetries $`|A_{DN}^{N,M}(CC)|<1\%`$ and are hardly observable. The asymmetry $`A_{DN}^C(CC)`$ is negative and greater than 1% in absolute value for $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V(0.74.0)\times 10^3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ in the interval above, reaching the minimal value of $`(3.2)\%`$ at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.002`$. The ratio $`|A_{DN}^C(CC)/A_{DN}^N(CC)|`$ varies with $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ in the MSW SMA solution region typically in the interval of $`(58)`$. For $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V(0.0080.010)`$, we have $`A_{DN}^C(CC)(12.939.7)\%`$, while $`A_{DN}^N(CC)(1.86.6)\%`$, the ration between the two asymmetries varying in the range of $`(4.37.9)`$. Actually, the CC Night asymmetry $`A_{DN}^N(CC)`$ is hardly observable at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V<0.008`$. The same conclusion is valid for the Mantle asymmetry $`A_{DN}^M(CC)`$ at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V<0.010`$.

The mantle-core enhancement of the CC Core asymmetry is rather modest in the region of the MSW LMA solution, where we typically have $`A_{DN}^N(CC)/A_{DN}^N(CC)(1.01.3)`$. Nevertheless, both asymmetries $`A_{DN}^C(CC)`$ and $`A_{DN}^N(CC)`$ have values exceeding 1% in most of the solution’s region (Tables II and III). More specifically, for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^29.0\times 10^5\mathrm{eV}^2`$, we have $`A_{DN}^N(CC;7.5\mathrm{MeV})2.5\%`$ and $`A_{DN}^C(CC;5.0\mathrm{MeV})5.0\%`$. These predictions suggest that the SNO experiment will be able to probe most of the LMA solution region by measuring the Night and/or Core D-N asymmetries in the CC event sample. The conclusion is robust against the change of $`Y_e(core)`$ in the interval 0.467 - 0.500.

Changing $`Y_e(core)`$ from 0.467 to 0.500 affects little the Night CC asymmetry, but can change noticeably, typically by $`(1030)\%`$, the Core asymmetry in the SMA solution region (see, e.g., cases 13 - 19 in Table II and 12-14 and 16 in Table III). For $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V(0.0040.010)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2(6.510.0)\times 10^6\mathrm{eV}^2`$, the change of $`A_{DN}^C(CC)`$ can be quite dramatic - the asymmetry increases approximately by a factor of $`1.5`$. Thus, for values of $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ from a specific subregion of the MSW SMA solution region the magnitude of the predicted Core asymmetry $`A_{DN}^C(CC)`$ is very sensitive to the value of the electron fraction number $`Y_e(core)`$ and the average matter density of the Earth core. The former is determined by the chemical composition of the core  (see also ). If the MSW SMA solution turned out to be the solution of the solar neutrino problem and the parameters $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta `$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ lied in the region specified above and are known with a sufficiently high precision, the measurement of the CC Core asymmetry can give unique information, e.g., about the chemical composition of the Earth core.

Increasing the value of the threshold kinetic energy of the final state electron $`T_{e,th}`$ in the CC reaction, eq. (3), from 5.0 MeV to 7.5 MeV can have a dramatic effect on the Core asymmetry $`A_{DN}^C(CC)`$ changing it by a factor of $`2`$ (compare cases 11, 18 and 20 in Tables II and III). For the values of $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ for which the Night asymmetry $`A_{DN}^N(CC;5\mathrm{MeV})>1\%`$, the asymmetry for $`T_{e,th}=7.5`$ MeV, $`A_{DN}^N(CC;7.5\mathrm{MeV})`$, can be both larger or smaller than $`A_{DN}^N(CC;5\mathrm{MeV})`$ by at most $`20\%`$. For given $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ from the MSW solution regions there should exist optimal value of $`T_{e,th}5`$ MeV for which $`|A_{DN}^C(CC;T_{e,th})|`$ and/or $`|A_{DN}^N(CC;T_{e,th})|`$ have maximal values.

All the above properties of the Night and Core CC asymmetries under discussion are exhibited clearly in the corresponding iso-(D-N) asymmetry contour plots for $`A_{DN}^N(CC)`$ and $`A_{DN}^C(CC)`$, shown in Figs. 4a-4b and 5a-5b, respectively.

B. ES Event Sample Asymmetries

The D-N asymmetries in the ES sample are typically smaller by a factor of $`2`$ than the asymmetries in the CC sample (compare Tables II, III with IV, V). There are exceptions when $`A_{DN}^{C(N)}(ES)`$ is of the order of or even larger than $`A_{DN}^{C(N)}(CC)`$ but not by factors which can compensate for the much lower statistics expected in the ES sample of SNO. The mantle-core enhancement of the Core asymmetry at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta 0.01`$ is operative in this case as well: one typically has $`|A_{DN}^C(ES)/A_{DN}^N(ES)|(58)`$ (see Tables IV and V).

The above features of the ES sample asymmetries are exhibited in Figs. 6a - 6b and 7a - 7b, representing the iso-(D-N) asymmetry contour plots for $`A_{DN}^N(ES)`$ and $`A_{DN}^C(ES)`$, respectively, derived for $`Y_e(core)=0.467;0.500`$ and for $`T_{e,th}=5\mathrm{MeV}(a)`$ and $`T_{e,th}=7.5\mathrm{MeV}(b)`$.

3.1.2. $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ Transitions

The predicted D-N asymmetries of the same type (Core, Night or Mantle) in the CC, ES and NC event samples do not differ much in magnitude in the case of the MSW $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transition solution of the solar neutrino problem (Tables VI - X). Let us remind the reader that the observation of a D-N asymmetry in the NC sample of events would be a proof that solar neutrinos undergo transitions into sterile neutrinos : this asymmetry is zero in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ transitions. The main contribution to the energy-integrated D-N asymmetries in the three event samples comes, as in the case of the Super-Kamiokande detector , from the “high” energy tail of the 8B neutrino spectrum. This is related to the fact the relevant neutrino effective potential difference in the Earth matter in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transitions is approximately by a factor of 2 smaller than in the case of $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ transitions . Only the Core asymmetries can exceed $`1\%`$ in absolute value at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.01`$ in specific limited subregions of the “conservative” MSW solution region. The Night asymmetries in the “conservative” solution region are for all samples smaller than 1% for $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.01`$. In the subregion where $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V>0.01`$ both the Core and Night asymmetries for the three event samples, $`A_{DN}^{C,N}(CC)`$, $`A_{DN}^{C,N}(ES)`$ and $`A_{DN}^{C,N}(NC)`$, are greater than 1%, the Core asymmetries being larger than the corresponding Night asymmetries by a factor of $`(25)`$.

The above features can be seen in the corresponding iso-(D-N) asymmetry contour plots shown in Figs. 8a - 8b (CC Night asymmetry), 9a - 9c (CC Core asymmetry), 10a - 10b (ES Night and Core asymmetries) and 11a - 11b (NC Night and Core asymmetries).

Let us note finally that in the subregion $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2(4.07.0)\times 10^6\mathrm{eV}^2`$, $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta (0.0090.020)`$, of the “conservative”solution region, the CC Core asymmetry $`A_{DN}^C(CC)`$ exhibits a very strong dependence on the value of $`Y_e(core)`$: the change of $`Y_e(core)`$ from the value of 0.467 to 0.500 leads to an increase of $`A_{DN}^C(CC)`$ by a factor of $`(24)`$ (see cases 26 - 33 in Tables VI and VII). This becomes evident also by comparing Figs. 9a and 9b.

4. Conclusions

In the present article we have derived detailed predictions for the day-night (D-N) asymmetry in the energy-integrated one year signals in the SNO detector in the case of the MSW $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ and/or $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transition solutions of the solar neutrino problem. The asymmetries in the charged current (CC), eq. (3), and $`\nu e^{}`$ elastic scattering (ES), eq. (4), event rates were calculated for both MSW solutions; in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transition solution the D-N asymmetry in the neutral current (NC) event rate, eq. (5), was derived as well. The asymmetries were calculated for the three night samples of events which are produced by the solar neutrinos crossing i) the Earth mantle only (Mantle), ii) the Earth core (Core) and iii) the Earth core and/or the mantle (Night) on the way to the SNO dtector: $`A_{DN}^{C,N,M}(CC)`$, $`A_{DN}^{C,N,M}(ES)`$ and $`A_{DN}^{C,N,M}(NC)`$.

We have studied the effects of the uncertainties in the values of the cross-sections of the CC and NC neutrino-induced reactions on deuterium by comparing the predictions for the asymmetries $`A_{DN}^{C,N,M}(CC)`$ and $`A_{DN}^{C,N,M}(NC)`$, obtained using the CC cross-sections from refs. , and the NC cross-sections from refs. . Our analysis showed that even neglecting the electron energy resolution function and the expected errors in the measurements, the calculation of the D-N asymmetries in the CC and NC event samples in the SNO detector utilizing the different cross-sections from  and , respectively, should give the same results within 1% in the MSW “conservative” solution regions.

As in the case of the same type of D-N asymmetries for the Super-Kamiokande detector , at small mixing angles the Core asymmetries were shown to be considerably larger than the corresponding Night and Mantle asymmetries due to the mantle-core enhancement effect . Due to this enhancement, e.g., the one year average Core CC asymmetry in the case of the SMA MSW $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ solution is bigger than 1% in absolute value, $`|A_{DN}^C(CC)|>1\%`$, in large subregions of the “conservative” solution region which extends in $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ from $`0.7\times 10^3`$ to $`10^2`$ (Figs. 5a - 5b). In contrast, in the same solution region we have $`|A_{DN}^{N(M)}(CC)|<1\%`$ for the Night (Mantle) asymmetry at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V<0.008(0.010)`$ (Figs. 4a - 4b). The asymmetry $`A_{DN}^C(CC)`$ is negative and greater than 1% in absolute value for $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V(0.74.0)\times 10^3`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2(3.08.0)\times 10^6\mathrm{eV}^2`$, reaching the minimal value of $`(3.2)\%`$. The ratio $`|A_{DN}^C(CC)/A_{DN}^N(CC)|`$ varies with $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ in the MSW SMA solution region typically in the interval of $`(58)`$ (Tables II and III). For $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V(0.0080.010)`$, we have in this region $`A_{DN}^C(CC)(12.939.7)\%`$, while $`A_{DN}^N(CC)(1.86.6)\%`$.

In the region of the MSW LMA $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ solution we typically have $`A_{DN}^N(CC)/A_{DN}^N(CC)(1.01.3)`$. Both asymmetries $`A_{DN}^C(CC)`$ and $`A_{DN}^N(CC)`$ have values exceeding 1% in most of the solution region (Tables II, III and Figs. 4a - 5b).

The D-N asymmetries in the ES sample in the case of the MSW $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ solution are in most of the “conservative” solution regions smaller by a factor of $`2`$ than the asymmetries in the CC sample (Tables II, III and IV, V, Figs. 6a - 7b). There are exceptions when $`A_{DN}^{C(N)}(ES)/A_{DN}^{C(N)}(CC)1`$, but the ratio factors involved cannot compensate for the much lower statistics expected in the ES sample of SNO.

The predicted D-N asymmetries of the same type (Core, Night or Mantle) in the CC, ES and NC event samples do not differ much in magnitude in the case of the MSW $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transition solution of the solar neutrino problem (Tables VI - X, Figs. 8a - 11b). Only the Core asymmetries can exceed $`1\%`$ in absolute value at $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V0.01`$ in specific limited subregions of the “conservative” solution region. In the subregion where $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V>0.01`$ both the Core and Night asymmetries for the three event samples, are greater than 1%, the Core asymmetries exceeding the corresponding Night asymmetries by a factor of $`(25)`$.

We have found also that in certain subregions of the MSW solution regions at small $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$, the predicted magnitude of the Core D-N asymmetry in the CC and ES samples is very sensitive to the value of the electron fraction number $`Y_e^c`$ (i.e., to the chemical composition) and to the average matter density of the Earth core: the asymmetry $`A_{DN}^C(CC)`$, for instance, can increase in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ ($`\nu _e\nu _s`$) solution by a factor of $`1.5(24)`$ when $`Y_e^c`$ is changed from the standard value of 0.467  to its possibly conservative upper limit of 0.500  (Tables II, III, VI, VII, Figs. 5a, 5b, 7a, 7b, 9a-9b).

We have studied the dependence of the D-N asymmetries considered on the final state e- threshold energy $`T_{e,th}`$ in the CC and ES reactions. Increasing the value of $`T_{e,th}`$ in the CC and ES reactions from 5.0 MeV to 7.5 MeV can have a dramatic effect on the Core asymmetries $`A_{DN}^C(CC)`$ and $`A_{DN}^C(ES)`$, changing, e.g., $`A_{DN}^C(CC)`$ by a factor of $`2`$ in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ solution (Tables II, III, VI, VII, Figs. 5a, 5b, 9a - 9c).

Our analysis showed also that for the MSW SMA $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ and $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ solutions, the enhancement of the Core D-N asymmetry in the CC event rates for detectors located at different latitudes not exceeding, say, the SNO latitude ($`\lambda _{\mathrm{SNO}}=46{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}20}_{}^{}`$ North), is approximately the same in magnitude. This result suggests that for SNO, ICARUS and other solar neutrino detectors operating at latitudes which are somewhat larger than that of the Super-Kamiokande detector, the sensitivity to the Core D-N effect, apart from the systematic error, is limited essentially by the statistics of the corresponding data samples.

The results of the present study allow us to conclude, in particular, that the SNO experiment has the potential of probing substantial parts of the SMA and LMA MSW $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ solution regions by performing Night and Core D-N asymmetry measurements in the CC event sample. The measurements of the D-N effect related observables with the SNO detector appears unlikely to provide by itself a critical test of the MSW $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ (SMA) solution of the solar neutrino problem. It is expected that such a test will be provided by the comparison of the CC and NC SNO data. Nevertheless, certain subregions of the “conservative” MSW $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ solution region can also be probed through the measurements of the D-N effect, e.g., in the CC and NC event samples.

Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank H. Robertson for clarifying discussions concerning the SNO experiment. The work of (S.T.P.) was supported in part by the EC grant ERBFMRX CT96 0090.

FIGURE CAPTIONS

Figures 1a - 1f. The variation with $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V`$ of the difference between the values of the Core (Night) D-N asymmetry (a) - (c) ((d) - (f)), calculated utilizing the predictions for the relevant CC and NC reaction cross-sections derived in ref.  and in ref. : figures (a), (b), (e) ((c), (f)) show the asymmetry difference in the one year averaged CC (NC) event rate; figures (a), (d) ((b), (c), (e) and (f)) correspond to $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ ($`\nu _e\nu _s`$) transitions. The light-grey spot-like regions in the upper left-hand panels correspond to asymmetry differences exceeding 1%, while the dark-grey areas are the regions of the MSW solutions.

Figures 2a - 2b. The probabilities $`<P_{e2}>^C`$ (solid line), $`<P_{e2}>^N`$ (dashed line) and $`<P_{e2}>^M`$ (dash-dotted line) as functions of $`E/\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ for $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V=0.005(a);0.010(b)`$ in the case of $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ transitions of solar neutrinos.

Figure 3. The dependence of $`P_{e2}`$ on $`\rho _r`$ and the Nadir angle $`\widehat{h}`$ for $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _V=0.01`$ in the case of MSW $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ (upper left cannel) and $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ (upper right cannel) transitions of solar neutrinos. The grey-scales correspond to different values of $`P_{e2}`$, as is indicated in the two vertical columns between the two upper panels. The thin solid lines in both upper panels represent contours of constant $`P_{e2}`$ values: $`P_{e2}=0.01`$, $`0.025`$, $`0.05`$, $`0.1`$, $`0.15`$, $`0.2`$, $`0.25`$, $`0.30`$, $`0.40`$. The dotted and the thick black lines are minimum gradient axes, connecting the points of local maxima of $`P_{e2}`$ in the variable $`\rho _r`$ at fixed $`\widehat{h}`$ (“ridges”), while the dash-dotted lines are minimum gradient axes connecting points of local minima of $`P_{e2}`$ (“valleys”). The solid lines in the lower panels show $`P_{e2}`$ as a function of $`\widehat{h}`$, computed along the “ridge” leading to the absolute maximum of $`P_{e2}`$ at $`\widehat{h}=0^{}`$, while the dashed lines show the dependence of $`P_{e2}`$ on $`\widehat{h}`$ along the $`\rho _r=const.`$ line (dashed lines in the upper panels) starting from the point of the absolute maximum at $`\widehat{h}=0^{}`$.

Figures 4a - 4b, 5a - 5b. Iso - (D-N) asymmetry contour plots for the one year average CC Night (4a,4b), and Core (5a,5b) asymmetries for the SNO detector in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ transitions and $`T_{e,th}=5.0(a);7.5(b)`$ MeV. The solid (dashed) lines correspond to $`Y_e(core)=0.467(0.500)`$. The MSW SMA and LMA “conservative” solution regions from ref.  are also shown.

Figures 6a - 6b, 7a - 7b. Iso - (D-N) asymmetry contour plots for the one year average ES Night (6a,6b), and Core (7a,7b) asymmetries for the SNO detector in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu (\tau )}`$ transitions and $`T_{e,th}=5.0(a);7.5(b)`$ MeV. The solid (dashed) lines correspond to $`Y_e(core)=0.467(0.500)`$. The MSW SMA and LMA “conservative” solution regions  are also shown.

Figures 8a - 8b, 9a - 9c. The same as in figures 4a - 4b and 5a - 5b in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transitions of solar neutrinos. The CC Core asymmetry in figures 9a - 9c correspond to $`T_{e,th}=5.0(a,b);7.5(c)`$ and $`Y_e(core)=0.467(a,c);0.500(b)`$. The MSW $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transition solution regions from ref.  are also shown (the “conservative” solution region is marked with thin dashed lines).

Figures 10a -10b. Iso - (D-N) asymmetry contour plots for the one year average ES Night (a) and Core (b) asymmetries for the SNO detector in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transitions of solar neutrinos for $`T_{e,th}=5.0`$ and $`Y_e(core)=0.467`$. The MSW $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transition solution regions  are also shown (the “conservative” solution region is marked with thin dashed lines).

Figures 11a - 11b. The same as in Fig. 10 for the one year average NC Night (a) and Core (b) asymmetries in the case of the $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ transitions of solar neutrinos. The solid (dashed) lines correspond to $`Y_e(core)=0.467(0.500)`$.


text:
# The Ratio of Total to Selective Extinction Toward Baade’s Window

## 1 Introduction

Paczyński & Stanek (1998) found that the $`VIK`$ colors of clump giants in Baade’s Window were anomalous in the sense that at fixed $`(VK)_0`$, they were redder in $`(VI)_0`$ than clump giants in the solar neighborhood by 0.2 mag. Stutz, Popowski, & Gould (1999) found a similar offset (0.17 mag) for RR Lyrae stars in Baade’s Window compared to those in the solar neighborhood. Popowski (2000) showed that part of these offsets was simply due to errors in the original photometry used by both groups. When he incorporated the revised OGLE photometry of Paczyński et al. (1999), he found that the offset in $`(VI)`$ shrank to $`0.11`$ mag in both cases.

Popowski (2000) then reviewed the various attempts to explain such an offset in terms of a difference between the intrinsic properties of stars in the two populations, an idea advanced by Paczyński (1998) and by Stutz et al. (1999). He argued that such an explanation was not impossible, but unlikely, and that a more plausible explanation is that the ratio of total to selective extinction $`R_{VI}A_V/E(VI)=2.5`$ adopted by both Paczyński & Stanek (1998) and Stutz et al. (1999) from Stanek (1996) was incorrect. Both color anomalies could be solved, he noted, by adopting $`R_{VI}=2.1`$. Popowski (2000) used this re-evaluation to draw various conclusions about the extragalactic distance scale.

In the course of calibrating a $`K`$-band clump-giant distance indicator and applying it to measure the distance modulus of the Baade’s Window bulge field, Alves (2000) measured $`R_{VI}=2.26`$. He did so by comparing the $`VIK`$ colors of his 20-star sample of Baade’s Window clump giants taken from Tiede, Frogel, & Terndrup (1995) with the $`VIK`$ colors of local clump stars.

Here we improve on the Alves (2000) measurement by incorporating a factor $`7`$ more stars into the analysis, i.e., all 138 G0-K4 giants with $`VIK`$ photometry from Tiede et al. (1995). We determine $`R_{VI}`$ by comparing these $`VIK`$ colors to the $`VIK`$ colors of nearby stars as determined by Bessell & Brett (1988). We find,

$$R_{VI}\frac{A_V}{E(VI)}=2.283\pm 0.016.$$
(1)
This reduces the color anomalies to $`0.05`$mag and so qualitatively confirms Popowski’s (2000) explanation of them.

## 2 Measurement of $`R_{VI}`$

To measure $`R_{VI}`$, we assume that the $`VIK`$ colors of giant stars in Baade’s Window as measured by Tiede et al. (1995) are intrinsically the same as those in solar neighborhood as determined by Bessell & Brett (1988). (We will partially test this assumption below.) Bessel & Brett (1988) give $`VIK`$ colors from G0 to M5, that is, over the color range $`1.75(VK)_05.96`$. However, there is considerable evidence that the spectral energy distributions of M giants (at fixed spectral type) differ significantly between Baade’s Window and the solar neighborhood (Frogel & Whitford 1982, 1987; Tiede et al. 1995). This does not necessarily mean that the $`(VI),(VK)`$ color-color relation is different, and in fact we will present evidence below that it is not. However, to be conservative, we restrict consideration to $`(VK)_03.5`$, which eliminates all M giants and K5 giants as well. That is,

$$1.75(VK)_03.50.$$
(2)
We begin with the sample of 509 stars with optical and infrared photometry from the BW4b field of Tiede et al. (1995). Note that the columns headed “$`V_0`$” and “$`(VI)_0`$” in that paper actually give $`V`$ and $`(VI)`$. We recover the original $`K`$ magnitudes by adding $`K=K_{0,\mathrm{Tiede}}+0.14`$, as indicated by Table 1 of Tiede et al. (1995). We then obtain $`(VK)_0`$ using visual extinctions, $`A_V`$, from Stanek’s (1996) extinction map together with the relation,

$$A_K=0.11A_V.$$
(3)
Note that the Stanek (1996) map (available by anonymous ftp at astro.princeton.edu, stanek/Extinction) has been corrected to the zero point found by Gould, Popowski, & Terndrup (1998) and Alcock et al. (1998). These authors made their zero-point determinations by comparing the $`(VK)`$ colors of local K giants and RR Lyrae stars, respectively, with the $`(VK)`$ colors of similar stars in Baade’s Window, making use of the extinction ratio given by equation (3). Hence, for consistency, we use the same ratio here.

Of the original 509 Tiede et al. (1995) stars, 185 lack $`VI`$ photometry. Of the remainder, 86 lack $`A_V`$ measurements because they fall within $`2^{}`$ of NGC 6522 where Stanek (1996) found the $`A_V`$ determinations to be unreliable. A further 96 stars are bluer than the color interval (2), and an additional 4 stars are redder. This leaves a total of 138 stars.

For each of these 138 stars, we use linear interpolation to estimate the $`(VI)_{0,\mathrm{Bessel}}`$ predicted from their measured $`(VK)_0`$ and the Bessell & Brett (1988) $`VIK`$ color-color relation. We then fit the data to a two-parameter model

$$(VI)_{\mathrm{Tiede}}(VI)_{0,\mathrm{Bessell}}=\alpha A_V+\beta [(VK)_02.348],$$
(4)
where the offset 2.348 is chosen to eliminate the correlation between $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$.

We remove outliers as follows. We do the fit using all the data, and determine the “errors” by forcing $`\chi ^2`$ per degree of freedom to unity. We find the largest $`\sigma `$ outlier, eliminate it, and repeat the process. We stop when the largest outlier is less than $`3\sigma `$. This eliminates six outliers. We find,

$$\alpha =0.4380\pm 0.0031,\beta =0.0023\pm 0.0127[1.75(VK)_03.50].$$
(5)
Since $`R_{VI}=\alpha ^1`$, we obtain equation (1). From the fact that $`\beta `$ is consistent with zero at the $`1\sigma `$ level, we conclude that the shift from $`(VI)`$ to $`(VI)_0`$ depends only on $`A_V`$ and not on the color of the star. We therefore set $`\beta =0`$ and show our resulting fit in Figure 1. Note that since $`R_{VI}`$ will in general be a function of color or spectral type, our measurement should be taken as applying to stars at the mean of our sample, $`(VK)_0=2.35`$, i.e., K0 giants. Our value, $`R_{VI}=2.28`$, is in good agreement with the one found by Alves (2000), $`R_{VI}=2.26`$, and the one adopted by Tiede et al. (1995), $`R_{VI}=2.25`$.

Also plotted on Figure 1 are the four stars (open circles) that were excluded from the fit because they were too red. Note that they lie very close to the local $`VIK`$ curve of Bessell & Brett (1988). If we repeat the entire procedure including these four stars, we obtain

$$\alpha =0.4384\pm 0.0033,\beta =0.0073\pm 0.0092[1.75(VK)_05.96].$$
(6)
with four outliers excluded. That is $`R_{VI}=2.281\pm 0.017`$, essentially identical to equation (1). In either case, the slope $`\beta `$ is consistent with zero, indicating that our determination is not a signficant function of spectral type.

This non-dependence on $`(VK)_0`$ color appears to be in strong conflict with Figure 14 of Tiede et al. (1995) which shows a large number of points in the range $`4<(VK)_0<6`$ that lie $`0.3`$ mag below the Bessell & Brett (1988) relation. In fact, all the points with CCD $`VI`$ photometry from Tiede et al. (1995) lie close to the line (as they do in our Fig. 1). The remaining points are from Frogel, Whitford & Rich (1984) and Frogel & Whitford (1987) who obtained their own single-channel infrared data, but relied on the earlier photographic data of Whitford & Blanco (1979) and Arp (1965) for the $`VI`$ photometry. From the small overlap between these older photographic data and the CCD photometry reported in Tiede et al. (1995), we estimate that the earlier photographic photometry may have a zero-point error of $`0.3`$ mag in $`(VI)`$ in the sense of being too blue. If this zero-point error is confirmed by future observations, it would mean that the $`(VI),(VK)`$ color-color relation is the same for Baade’s Window and the solar neighborhood, but not necessarily the correspondance between colors anad spectral type. Nevertheless, to be conservative, we base our results only on the G0–K4 sample.

## 3 Discussion

As with essentially all methods for determining total and selective extinction, our measurement relies on the assumption that the colors of stars in Baade’s Window are the same as those in the solar neighborhood. If the mean $`(VI)_0`$ color at fixed $`(VK)_0`$ differed between the two populations by $`\mathrm{\Delta }(VI)`$, then our estimate of $`\alpha `$ would likewise be in error by $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha =\mathrm{\Delta }(VI)/A_V`$ where $`A_V=1.496`$ is the mean value of $`A_V`$ over our final sample of 132 stars. However, from the fact that $`\beta `$ is consistent with zero (eq. ), such an offset would have to be independent of spectal type from G0 to K4 (and arguably to M5). This seems quite implausible. In addition, approximately the same offset would have to apply to RR Lyrae stars (Stutz et al. 1999). Most probably, the fault lies not in the stars, but in the dust.

Popowski (2000) reexamined the Woźniak & Stanek (1996) method by which Stanek (1996) determined $`R_{VI}=2.5`$. Making use of the original tests done by Woźniak & Stanek (1996), he found that this determination depends in part on an initial assumption about $`R_{VI}`$ so that values as low as $`R_{VI}2.3`$ would be consistent with the data.

Our measurement of $`R_{VI}`$ removes most, but not all, of the anomalous color problems found by Paczyński & Stanek (1998) and by Stutz et al. (1999). In the latter case, Popowski’s (2000) revised offset $`0.11\pm 0.02`$ mag is now reduced to $`0.04\pm 0.02`$, and so is only a $`2\sigma `$ discrepancy. However, for the clump giant anomaly found by Paczyński & Stanek (1998), the formal uncertainty is only $`0.003`$ mag, so statistical fluctuations do not provide a plausible explanation. Nevertheless, the remaining discrepancy is small and may be due to a combination of small offsets between the photometric zero points of the various measurement systems that are used to make the comparison.

Paczyński et al. (1999) used $`R_{VI}^{\mathrm{Stanek}}=2.50`$ from Stanek (1996) to deredden the observed centroid of the clump in their $`VI`$ color-magnitude diagram of Baade’s Window. The zero point of their $`V`$-band extinctions is based on Gould et al. (1998) and Alcock et al. (1998) and is not affected by the present paper. However, the $`I`$-band photometry should be adjusted fainter by $`\mathrm{\Delta }I_0=(1/R_{VI}^{\mathrm{Stanek}}1/R_{VI}^{\mathrm{GSF}})A_V=0.056`$, where $`R_{VI}^{\mathrm{GSF}}=2.283`$ is the value we determine here and $`A_V=1.48`$ is the mean extinction of clump stars measured by Paczyński et al. (1999). This adjustment yields a clump centroid of $`I_{0,\mathrm{RC}}=14.43`$ and $`(VI)_{0,\mathrm{RC}}=1.058`$. The color is only 0.05 mag redward of the centroid of the Hipparcos clump (Paczyński et al. 1999). Inserting the magnitude into Udalski’s (2000) $`I`$-band calibration of the clump standard candle, $`M_I=(0.26\pm 0.02)+(0.13\pm 0.07)([\mathrm{Fe}/\mathrm{H}]+0.25)`$, we obtain a distance modulus to Baade’s Window

$$\mu _{BW}=14.43M_I=14.68\pm 0.04,$$
(7)
where we have adopted \[Fe/H\]$`{}_{BW}{}^{}=0.15\pm 0.10`$. The error bar takes account of all statistical uncertainties, 0.025 mag for $`M_I`$ (Udalski 2000), $`0.02`$ mag for the observed brightness of the Baade’s Window clump (Paczyński et al. 1999), $`0.04\times (1R_{VI})=0.022`$ mag for the zero-point uncertainty of the Stanek (1996) map (Alcock et al. 1998), and $`0.0033\times A_V=0.005`$ mag for the uncertainty in $`R_{VI}`$ (this paper), but does not take account of systematic errors. Equation (7) is in good agreement with Alves’ (2000) determination using the $`K`$-band clump distance indicator, $`\mu _{BW}=14.58\pm 0.11`$.

Acknowledgements: We thank Piotr Popowski for his useful comments on the manuscript and David Alves for pointing out the error in the column headings of Tiede et al. (1995). This work was supported in part by grant AST 97-27520 from the NSF.


text:
# 1 Problem

## 1 Problem

In optics, a reflective grating is a conducting surface with a ripple. For example, consider the surface defined by

$$z=a\mathrm{sin}\frac{2\pi x}{d}.$$
(1)
The typical use of such a grating involves an incident electromagnetic wave with wave vector k in the $`x`$-$`z`$ plane, and interference effects lead to a discrete set of reflected waves also with wave vectors in the $`x`$-$`z`$ plane.

Consider, instead, an incident plane electromagnetic wave with wave vector in the $`y`$-$`z`$ plane and polarization in the $`x`$ direction:

$$𝐄_{\mathrm{in}}=E_0\widehat{𝐱}e^{i(k_yyk_zz\omega t)},$$
(2)
where $`k_y>0`$ and $`k_z>0`$. Show that for small ripples ($`ad`$), this leads to a reflected wave as if $`a=0`$, plus two surface waves that are attenuated exponentially with $`z`$. What is the relation between the grating wavelength $`d`$ and the optical wavelength $`\lambda `$ such that the $`x`$ component of the phase velocity of the surface waves is the speed of light, $`c`$?

In this case, a charged particle moving with $`v_xc`$ could extract energy from the wave, which is the principle of the proposed “grating accelerator” .

## 2 Solution

The interaction between particle beams and diffraction gratings was first considered by Smith and Purcell , who emphasized energy transfer from the particle to free electromagnetic waves. The excitation of surface waves by particles near conducting structures was first discussed by Pierce , which led to the extensive topic of wakefields in particle accelerators. The presence of surface waves in the Smith-Purcell effect was noted by di Francia . A detailed treatment of surface waves near a diffraction grating was given by van den Berg . Here, we construct a solution containing surface waves by starting with only free waves, then adding surface waves to satisfy the boundary condition at the grating surface.

If the (perfectly) conducting surface were flat, the reflected wave would be

$$𝐄_\mathrm{r}=E_0\widehat{𝐱}e^{i(k_yy+k_zz\omega t)}.$$
(3)
However, the sum $`𝐄_{\mathrm{in}}+𝐄_\mathrm{r}`$ does not satisfy the boundary condition that $`𝐄_{\mathrm{total}}`$ must be perpendicular to the wavy surface (1). Indeed,

$$\left[𝐄_{\mathrm{in}}+𝐄_\mathrm{r}\right]_{\mathrm{surface}}=2iE_0\widehat{𝐱}e^{i(k_yy\omega t)}\mathrm{sin}k_zz2iak_zE_0\widehat{𝐱}e^{i(k_yy\omega t)}\mathrm{sin}k_xx,$$
(4)
where the approximation holds for $`ad`$, and we have defined $`k_x=2\pi /d`$.

Hence, we require additional fields near the surface to cancel that given by (4). For $`z0`$, these fields therefore have the form

$$𝐄=ak_zE_0\widehat{𝐱}e^{i(k_yy\omega t)}\left(e^{ik_xx}e^{ik_xx}\right).$$
(5)
This can be decomposed into two waves $`𝐄_\pm `$ given by

$$𝐄_\pm =ak_zE_0\widehat{𝐱}e^{i(\pm k_xx+k_yy\omega t)}.$$
(6)
Away from the surface, we suppose that the $`z`$ dependence of the additional waves can be described by including a factor $`e^{ik_z^{}z}`$. Then, the full form of the additional waves is

$$𝐄_\pm =ak_zE_0\widehat{𝐱}e^{i(\pm k_xx+k_yy+k_z^{}z\omega t)}.$$
(7)
The constant $`k_z^{}`$ is determined on requiring that each of the additional waves satisfy the wave equation,

$$^2𝐄_\pm =\frac{1}{c^2}\frac{^2𝐄_\pm }{t^2}.$$
(8)
This leads to the dispersion relation

$$k_x^2+k_y^2+k_z^{}_{}{}^{}2=\frac{\omega ^2}{c^2}.$$
(9)
The component $`k_y`$ of the incident wave vector can be written in terms of the angle of incidence $`\theta _{\mathrm{in}}`$ and the wavelength $`\lambda `$ as

$$k_y=\frac{2\pi }{\lambda }\mathrm{sin}\theta _{\mathrm{in}}.$$
(10)
Combining (9) and (10), we have

$$k_z^{}=2\pi i\sqrt{\frac{1}{d^2}\left(\frac{\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{in}}}{\lambda }\right)^2}.$$
(11)
For short wavelengths, $`k_z^{}`$ is real and positive, so the reflected wave (3) is accompanied by two additional plane waves with direction cosines $`(k_x,k_y,k_z^{})`$. But for long enough wavelengths, $`k_z^{}`$ is imaginary, and the additional waves are exponentially attenuated in $`z`$.

When surface waves are present, consider the fields along the line $`y=0`$, $`z=\pi /2k_z`$. Here, the incident plus reflected fields vanish (see the first form of (4)), and the surface waves are

$$𝐄_\pm =ak_ze^{\pi \left|k_z^{}\right|/2k_z}E_0\widehat{𝐱}e^{i(\pm k_xx\omega t)}.$$
(12)
The phase velocity of these waves is

$$v_p=\frac{\omega }{k_x}=\frac{d}{\lambda }c.$$
(13)
When $`d=\lambda `$, the phase velocity is $`c`$, and $`k_z^{}=ik_y`$ according to (11). The surface waves are then,

$$𝐄_\pm =\frac{2\pi a\mathrm{cos}\theta _{\mathrm{in}}}{d}e^{(\pi /2)\mathrm{tan}\theta _{\mathrm{in}}}E_0\widehat{𝐱}e^{i(\pm k_xx\omega t)}.$$
(14)
A relativistic charged particle that moves in, say, the $`+x`$ direction remains in phase with the wave $`𝐄_+`$, and can extract energy from that wave for phases near $`\pi `$. On average, the particle’s energy is not affected by the counterpropagating wave $`𝐄_{}`$. In principle, significant particle acceleration can be achieved via this technique. For a small angle of incidence, and with $`a/d=1/2\pi `$, the accelerating field strength is equal to that of the incident wave.