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# Discovery of a Cyclotron Resonant Scattering Feature in the RXTE Spectrum of 4U 0352+309 (X Per)

## 1 Introduction

The X-ray source 4U 0352+309 is a persistent, low luminosity pulsar in a binary orbit with the Be star X Persei (X Per). Its $``$837 s pulsation period was discovered with the *UHURU* satellite (White et al., 1976; White, Mason & Sanford, 1977), and is still one of the longest periods of any known accreting pulsar (Bildsten et al., 1997, and references therein). The distance to the system, based on optical observations of the companion X Per, is 0.95$`\pm `$0.20 kpc (Telting et al., 1998). Recently, Delgado-Marti et al. (2000) have determined a complete orbital ephemeris of the system using data from the *Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer* (*RXTE*).

Like many accreting pulsars, the history of the pulse period of 4U 0352+309 shows both episodes of spin-up and spin-down (White et al., 1976; Robba et al., 1996; di Salvo et al., 1998, and references therein). The neutron star experienced a large apparent torque reversal around 1978. 4U 1626$``$67 (Chakrabarty et al., 1997) and GX 1+4 (Makishima et al., 1988) have exhibited similar torque reversals, and in both sources the mean spin-up and spin-down rates were similar in absolute magnitude. Previous to 1978 the spin history of 4U 0352+309 was erratic; however, there was a general trend toward spin-up at a rate of $`\dot{P}_{\mathrm{spin}}/P_{\mathrm{spin}}=1.5\times 10^4`$ yr-1 (Delgado-Marti et al., 2000). Since 1978, although the spin period measurements have been infrequent the star has been spinning down at an average rate of $`\dot{P}_{\mathrm{spin}}/P_{\mathrm{spin}}=1.3\times 10^4`$ yr-1 (Delgado-Marti et al., 2000). Unfortunately there are not enough spin period measurements to distinguish between steady spin down, as might be due to disk accretion, or the erratic torque fluctuations that would be expected from wind accretion.

An unusual aspect of 4U 0352+309 is the source’s X-ray spectrum. Most accreting X-ray pulsar spectra are well described by a standard model: a simple power-law with a photon index of $``$1 that is exponentially cutoff above $``$20 keV (White, Swank & Holt, 1983). 4U 0352+309, on the other hand, does not follow this standard spectral shape and as a result has been fit with a variety of different models. Observations lacking response below $``$2 keV have typically been fit with thin thermal bremsstrahlung emission in the temperature range 7–12 keV (Becker et al., 1979; White et al., 1976, 1982) or thermal bremsstrahlung with a high energy tail (Mushotzky et al., 1997; Frontera et al., 1979; Worrall et al., 1981; White et al., 1982; Frontera et al., 1985). Observations obtained with the *Tenma* (Murakami et al., 1987), *EXOSAT* (Robba & Warwick, 1989), and *Ginga* (Robba et al., 1996) satellites were fit by the standard model for binary X-ray pulsars, but required very low cutoff energies (in the range of 0.6–1.7 keV) that are atypical of most accreting pulsars (White, Swank & Holt, 1983). Furthermore the *Ginga* result, where the data extended to higher energies, showed evidence for a hard tail above $``$15 keV. Recently di Salvo et al. (1998) fit the broad band (0.1–200 keV) *Beppo*SAX X-ray spectrum with a combination of two power-laws. The first, which was important at lower energies, had a simple high-energy cutoff and was identical in form to the standard spectral model for accreting pulsars. The second power-law, which dominated above $``$15 keV, had both high and low-energy cutoffs.

With the broad energy ranges and good spectral resolution of satellites such as the *RXTE* and *Beppo*SAX, several new Cyclotron Resonance Scattering Features (CRSFs) have been discovered in well known accreting pulsars. Two of the most notable recent discoveries are Cen X$``$3 (Santangelo et al., 1998; Heindl & Chakrabarty, 1999) and 4U 1626$``$67 (Orlandini et al., 1998; Heindl & Chakrabarty, 1999). These line-like spectral features are thought to be due to resonant scattering by electrons in Landau orbits in the $``$$`10^{12}`$ G magnetic field of the neutron star. The CRSF centroid energy is given by $`E_\mathrm{c}=11.6B_{12}(1+z)^1`$ keV, where $`z`$ is the gravitational redshift in the scattering region and $`B_{12}`$ is the magnetic field in units of $`10^{12}`$ Gauss. Thus CRSFs give a direct measurement of the average magnetic field in the scattering region near the neutron star surface. Without a CRSF the magnetic dipole moment of the star can only be inferred from measurements of the luminosity (a function of the often uncertain distance) and spin period using accretion torque theory (Ghosh & Lamb, 1979). Even the radio pulsar magnetic fields are estimated, not directly measured, assuming dipole radiation and measuring the period and period derivative (Manchester & Taylor, 1977).

## 2 Observations and Analysis

The observations of 4U 0352+309 studied here were made using the two pointed instruments on the *RXTE*. The Proportional Counter Array (PCA, Jahoda et al., 1996) is a set of five identical Xenon proportional counters (Proportional Counter Units, or PCUs) sensitive in the energy range 2–60 keV. The PCA can, and sometimes does, operate with one or more of the individual PCUs turned off. This is done to extend the lifetime of the instrument, but reduces the effective area during those observations. The High Energy X-ray Timing Experiment (HEXTE, Rothschild et al., 1998) consists of two clusters of 4 NaI(Tl)/CsI(Na) phoswich scintillation detectors (15–250 keV) that rock on and off source, simultaneously measuring both source and background counts. One of the detectors in Cluster B suffered a failed pulse height analyzer early in the mission and no longer provides any spectral information, effectively reducing the area of that cluster by 25%. The PCA and HEXTE fields of view are co-aligned on-source and are collimated to the same 1 full width half maximum (FWHM) region.

We have used data from 40 pointings from the *RXTE* public archive (see Table 1) spanning from 1998 July 1 through 1999 February 27, roughly one binary orbit of the system. This is a subset of the observations used by Delgado-Marti et al. (2000), allowing us to use their orbital ephemeris in our timing analysis. These observations were chosen for their relatively short intervals between pointings (on average 6 days), which minimizes the possibility of long-term spectral variability and yet provides enough data for a suitable detection of the source. See Fig. 1 for the *RXTE*/ASM history of the source, along with the times of the *RXTE* pointings.

For the PCA we used GoodXenon mode data with PCUs 0, 1, and 2 only, as these were the only PCA detectors that were on during all of the observations. The total PCA on-source exposure was 161 ks with 3 PCUs, and the on-source livetime in HEXTE was 54.6 ks per cluster. The average PCA 3–25 keV counting rate was 20.6$`\pm `$0.1 $`\mathrm{cts}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{PCU}^1`$. In HEXTE the counting rate was 1.78$`\pm `$0.06 $`\mathrm{cts}\mathrm{s}^1`$ in Cluster A and 1.30$`\pm `$0.05 $`\mathrm{cts}\mathrm{s}^1`$ in Cluster B. The average 3–100 keV X-ray flux from the source over the course of the observations was 3.9$`\times 10^{10}`$$`\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$. At a distance of 0.95 kpc (Telting et al., 1998) the source luminosity is 4.2$`\times 10^{34}`$$`\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1`$. This is at least two orders of magnitude less than the typical $`10^{36}`$-$`10^{38}`$$`\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1`$ luminosities seen in other persistent accreting pulsars or transient pulsars while in outburst.

The phase averaged PCA and HEXTE spectra were accumulated using version 5.0.1 of the HEASoft tools. Even though the average PCA counting rate was below the 40 $`\mathrm{cts}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{PCU}^1`$ threshold for using the Faint source background model, the large pulse modulation often brought the instantaneous counting well above, at times over 100 $`\mathrm{cts}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{PCU}^1`$. Since we cannot, at this time, phase resolve the background spectra of the PCA, we were forced to use the bright-source SkyVLE model. The Faint source model, which relies partly on average counting rates, significantly over-predicted the background level. In particular, the modeled Faint source background was larger than the measured source plus background for the phase minimum at all energies. The SkyVLE model, on the other hand, predicted a background rate that was less than source plus background for all four phases. These models also gave background subtractions that were consistent with zero at high energies, where 4U 0352+309 was too weak to detect. Therefore we concluded that it was appropriate to use the the SkyVLE models for our PCA background subtraction. Since the HEXTE uses a measured background accumulated in the same way as the source pointings, it did not suffer these problems. The estimated error of the HEXTE background subtraction is a few tenths of a percent (Rothschild et al., 1998), while the source flux of 4U 0352+309 is 1.7% of background.

In order to study the evolution of the spectrum through the pulse, and to aid in the search for CRSFs, we performed pulse phase resolved spectral analysis as well. The spectra of accreting X-ray pulsars can vary considerably with pulse phase (White, Swank & Holt, 1983). This is easily seen in the Folded Light Curves (FLCs) of these sources, where the general trend is toward more complicated pulse shapes at lower energies, and larger pulsed fractions at higher energies. This two dimensional nature can make interpreting spectra averaged over an entire pulse period problematic.

We corrected photon arrival times to both the solar system and the binary system barycenters using the ephemeris of Delgado-Marti et al. (2000) and accumulated spectra using a locally modified version of the *fasebin* phase resolved accumulation FTOOL. The *fasebin* FTOOL produces a two dimensional counts histogram versus both phase and energy, allowing for an analysis of spectra as a function of phase, or folded light curves as a function of energy. Modifications to the *fasebin* FTOOL were made to take the HEXTE deadtime corrections into account properly and to allow for phase resolving the HEXTE background files. Phase resolving the background is important for long period pulsars, where the background level can vary over the course of a single pulse. Given the relatively simple, saw-tooth like pulse shape of 4U 0352+309 and the faintness of the source, we divided the pulse into four phase bins; Peak, Fall, Min, and Rise (See Fig. 2).

The uncertainties in the PCA spectra, with its large collecting area and thus excellent counting statistics, are dominated by the systematic errors in the response matrix and background modeling (Wilms et al., 1999). To estimate the size of the systematic errors in the PCA version 2.43 response matrix, we analyzed observations of the Crab nebula and pulsar as recommended by the PCA team (Jahoda, 2000a). To be able to compare directly to our 4U 0352+309 composite spectrum, we summed 10 Crab observations taken between 1998 July 27 and 1999 February 24, for a total PCA exposure of 8 ks. To fit these data, we used a combination of two power-laws. The first power-law, with a best fit photon index of $`2.21_{0.02}^{+0.03}`$, was to account for the nebular flux. The second, which modeled emission from the pulsar, had a photon index of $`1.9_{0.1}^{+0.7}`$ and a 2–10 keV normalization fixed to be 10% of the first (Jahoda, 2000b; Knight, 1982). We then examined the best fit and increased the size of the systematic errors as a function of energy until we achieved a reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of unity. The second power-law is important in this type of analysis, since ignoring the contribution of the pulsar would have led us to estimate larger systematic errors.

The systematic errors we used were 0.4% in the range 2–12.5 keV, 0.3% in 12.5–20.5 keV, and 2.4% above 20.5 keV. These are slightly smaller than the errors used by other authors (eg. Wilms et al., 1999; Barret et al., 2000), due in part to the dual power-law model used and improvements in the current response matrices (PCARSP V2.43). The effects of increasing the systematic errors reduces the formal significance of the CRSF by improving $`\chi ^2`$, as well as increasing the uncertainties of the fit parameters. However, such an increase does not affect the overall shape of the residual errors, especially the line-like shape in the HEXTE data around 30 keV. The errors of the HEXTE data are dominated by the counting statistics (Rothschild et al., 1998), so systematic errors were not applied.

In our analysis of 4U 0352+309 we truncated the PCA energy range at 25 keV. This was done to minimize the effects of the large systematic errors above 20 keV, while still allowing a significant overlap between the PCA and HEXTE energy ranges. We fit the PCA simultaneously with data from both HEXTE clusters in the range 16–100 keV, with the overall normalization of each HEXTE cluster allowed to vary with respect to the PCA in the fits.

### 2.1 Spectral Variability

One of our major concerns was the validity of summing a large number of short pointings, taken over the course of 8 months, into a single set of spectra. This is especially dangerous when searching for CRSFs, as averaging different power-law slopes could artificially create a dip-like or inflection feature in the spectrum. The pulse profile of 4U 0352+309 is also known to vary from pulse to pulse (Delgado-Marti et al., 2000), and due to the long pulse period there are fewer than 6 pulses in any given 5 ks observation. Furthermore, the X-ray spectra of accretion powered pulsars, especially wind fed systems, can vary dramatically with both time and luminosity (Kreykenbohm et al., 1999). We took great care to ensure that the spectra we analyzed were free from these effects.

Since the separation of 4U 0352+309 and X Per is quite large (2.2 AU, Delgado-Marti et al., 2000), the system is almost certainly wind fed. But because of the modest eccentricity (e=0.11, Delgado-Marti et al., 2000), we did not expect the effects of the stellar wind to vary dramatically with the orbit. Furthermore, the small inferred inclination angle ($`i2330`$, Delgado-Marti et al., 2000) implies that the system is not being viewed through a (possibly variable) stellar or accretion disk. Because of this we did not expect significant variations in the absorption column, and thus in low energy spectral shape, over time. Additionally, although no single observation was long enough to make a significant detection of a CRSF, the longest single pointing suggested that there might indeed be one. Therefore we were motivated to investigate whether we could discuss the average spectrum of 4U 0352+309.

First we tested whether or not the pulse shape converged to an average, repeatable shape. We divided the 40 pointings into 5 contiguous sets of observations, with each segment containing approximately 38 pulses. We then did a two component fit of each of the five 3–25 keV FLCs to the average FLC, allowing for both an additive offset in rate and an overall multiplicative factor. This allowed for possible errors in the background subtraction and tested the repeatability of the overall shape, but was insensitive to changes in pulsed fraction. The fit offsets were small, only 3–4% of the rate in each phase bin. The scatter around the mean FLC gave reduced $`\chi ^2`$s of 1.05, 0.66, 0.59, 0.67, and 0.91 in the 5 data segments. So, as with other accreting pulsars, the pulse shape variations of 4U 0352+309 converge to an average pulse shape that is stable at least over several months.

Next we sought to verify whether the average pulse was similar to previous observations. In particular 4U 0352+309 has shown a peak in hardness at pulse minimum (Robba & Warwick, 1989; Robba et al., 1996; di Salvo et al., 1998). Using the spectra from our phase resolved analysis we generated folded light curves in the 2–4 and 4–11 keV bands and created a hardness ratio through the pulse (Fig. 2). As in previous observations, we see a nearly constant hardness ratio though the peak of the pulse as well as a hard spike at pulse minimum. This consistent behavior suggests that summing a series of short observations would be nearly equivalent to a single long pointing. We also note that the hard spike is very prominent in our data, similar to what was observed with *EXOSAT* (Robba & Warwick, 1989) and *Ginga* (Robba et al., 1996), while the spike was much less pronounced during the *Beppo*SAX observation (di Salvo et al., 1998).

Lastly, we investigated whether or not the spectral shapes in the five data segments were consistent with the average spectral shape. To account for the fact that the 5 intervals had different amounts of time in different parts of the pulse, we used background subtracted spectra that were also resolved into our 4 phase bins (see above), giving a total of 20 spectra to be tested. Then, for the 5 segments in each phase bin, we took the ratio of the 3–25 keV PCA counts to that of the total counts spectrum (also background subtracted) for that phase bin, and calculated the reduced $`\chi ^2`$ assuming a constant ratio. This was done for all 4 phases. See Table 2 for the results of this analysis. We found that the spectral shape in the 5 data segments, at least in the 3–25 keV range, is consistent with being constant. Therefore, due to the stability of the pulse and spectral shapes over the course of our observations, we concluded that summing data from all of the observations would not introduce a significant artifact in a given phase bin or for the phase averaged spectrum.

### 2.2 Spectral Fitting

Identifying CRSFs in the spectrum of accreting pulsars can be problematic, especially when the underlying continuum is unknown. However, in the case of 4U 0352+309 a large feature is clearly visible at $``$50 keV in the counts spectra of the source (Fig. 3), and is especially evident in the falling edge of the pulse peak. This same feature is also visible in a shorter observation ($``$10 ks) made early on in the *RXTE* mission. This feature is not present in counts spectra successfully fit with the standard model of accreting pulsars, but would be expected if there were also resonant cyclotron scattering present in the source. We were therefore motivated to find a simple and physically reasonable continuum spectrum that would describe the data.

In our fits we fixed the neutral hydrogen column to be $`1.5\times 10^{21}`$$`\mathrm{cm}^2`$, based on measurements from satellites with significant response below 1 keV (for example *ROSAT*, Haberl 1994; Mavromatakis 1993, *BBXRT*, Schlegel et al. 1993, *Copernicus*, Mason et al. 1976, and *Beppo*SAX, di Salvo et al. 1998). This is an order of magnitude smaller than measurements made by instruments lacking response below $``$2 keV (e.g. White et al., 1982; Murakami et al., 1987; Robba et al., 1996). It is difficult for these instruments (e.g. *Ginga* and *RXTE*) to measure such a low column. The fitting is also complicated by the fact that there is a change or break in spectrum at $``$2 keV, as revealed by instruments such as *EXOSAT* (Robba & Warwick, 1989) and *BBXRT* (Schlegel et al., 1993). This change can explain why instruments without low energy response systematically measure a column which is larger by an order of magnitude.

Starting with models used historically for 4U 0352+309 (see § 1), we first attempted to fit the *RXTE* data with a thermal bremsstrahlung model both with and without a power-law tail. We found that these models gave poor fits to the data when the absorption column was fixed at 1.5$`\times 10^{21}`$$`\mathrm{cm}^2`$. When the amount of absorption was allowed to vary we achieved acceptable fits, but these required an unreasonably large column ($`13\times 10^{22}`$$`\mathrm{cm}^2`$) and were consistent with previous observations where a thin thermal plasma model has been applied to $`>2`$ keV data. The thermal model also suffers from no iron line ever being detected in this source (with an upper limit on the equivalent width of $``$6 eV, di Salvo et al. 1998). Because of this and the large inferred absorption column we have rejected the bremsstrahlung and bremsstrahlung plus power law tail continuum models.

In the *RXTE* band, the standard model used to describe accreting X-ray pulsars is a power-law that breaks into a power-law times an exponential at a characteristic cutoff energy. Historically this has been realized in the PLCUT form

$$\mathrm{PLCUT}(E)=AE^\mathrm{\Gamma }\times \{\begin{array}{cc}1\hfill & (EE_{\mathrm{cut}})\hfill \\ \mathrm{e}^{(EE_{\mathrm{cut}})/E_{\mathrm{fold}}}\hfill & (E>E_{\mathrm{cut}})\hfill \end{array}$$

where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the photon power-law index, and $`E_{\mathrm{cut}}`$ and $`E_{\mathrm{fold}}`$ are the cutoff and folding energies respectively. Other analytical forms have been used as well, such as the Fermi-Dirac form of the cutoff (FDCO, Tanaka, 1986) and the Negative and Positive power-law Exponential model (NPEX, Mihara, 1995). For a full review of the various phenomenological models see Kreykenbohm et al. (1999). This generic spectral shape can be interpreted as due to Comptonization of soft photons by the hot accreting electrons, with the cutoff and folding energies determined by the temperature of the infalling electrons.

When we applied these models (PLCUT, FDCO, and NPEX) we found that they were inadequate to describe the shape of the spectra. As with *Ginga* (Robba et al., 1996), there appeared to be a power-law tail extending beyond $``$15 keV. Our inferred values of cutoff energy were below 3 keV (and outside the PCA energy range), also consistent with previous results. Moreover, the “tail” at higher energies was still present when we fit the pulse peak minus pulse minimum, confirming that it is pulsed emission from 4U 0352+309 and not a contaminating background source such as an AGN. However, the simple addition of an extra power-law to the model, or even a second PLCUT, still gave unacceptable fits. Specifically these were unable to account for the dip seen at $``$35 keV. This motivated us to try other two component models.

Di Salvo et al. (1998) fit the *Beppo*SAX spectrum of 4U 0352+309 with a dual PLCUT model. The first PLCUT had a cutoff energy of $``$2 keV. The second, which was only important above $``$ 15keV where there was “extra” emission, had a cutoff energy of 66 keV and an exponentially shaped low-energy absorption term with a 44 keV folding energy. The cross over of the two components was at $``$15 keV, and the second component fits the excess “tail” not described by the lower energy component. We applied this model to our observations as well and achieved a reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of 1.25 for 79 degrees of freedom for the phase averaged spectrum. The shape of the spectrum, however, was noticeably different from that obtained by di Salvo et al. (1998). In particular, the high energy photon index we obtained was smaller (although within errors, 1.5$`\pm `$0.6 vs. 2.6$`\pm `$1.1) and the low energy exponential absorption folding energy an order of magnitude less ($`2.7_{2.2}^{+3.3}`$ vs. 44.3$`\pm `$4.5 keV). Furthermore, the *RXTE* fits using this model were improved by the addition of a CRSF at $``$30 keV, giving a reduced $`\chi ^2`$of 0.753 for 76 degrees of freedom. This difference between the spectra obtained with the *Beppo*SAX and the *RXTE* satellites could be real, possibly connected with variations of the source luminosity. The 1–10 keV flux during the *Beppo*SAX observation was 1.7$`\times 10^{10}`$$`\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$ (di Salvo et al., 1998), while the 1.7–10 keV flux in our observation was 2.1$`\times 10^{10}`$$`\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$, or 23% higher. Furthermore, the *RXTE*/ASM source flux in the week spanning the *Beppo*SAX observation was 0.52$`\pm `$0.08 $`\mathrm{cts}\mathrm{s}^1`$, which is below the source average (Fig. 1).

Nelson et al. (1995) suggested that the spectrum of accreting low-luminosity neutron stars ($`L_\mathrm{X}\times 10^{34}`$$`\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1`$) could exhibit a cyclotron *emission* line. This feature is expected to be broad ($`E/\mathrm{\Delta }E24`$), peak at energies below the fundamental cyclotron energy of the magnetic field, and be sharply cutoff above the cyclotron energy. Di Salvo et al. (1998) interpreted the second PLCUT in their spectrum as evidence for this feature. Since the second component in our fits was different from that obtained with the *Beppo*SAX, and quite unlike an emission line, we attempted to test the Nelson et al. (1995) prediction with some slightly different models. We fit the phase averaged spectrum with the standard PLCUT and FDCO forms, plus an additional Gaussian shaped emission line, both with and without a high-energy cutoff. The Gaussian was meant to fit the peak near 50 keV, while the cutoff was used to truncate the high-energy wing of the Gaussian to simulate the predicted steep fall at the cyclotron energy. The folding energy of the cutoff associated with the Gaussian component was allowed to vary, but constrained to be within 0.1–10 keV. We found that the presence of a cutoff didn’t change the fits significantly, and we were unable to achieve any reasonable fits using an emission line model.

We have found a two component model that both best described the data and had a simple physical interpretation. The first component was a $``$1.4 keV black-body, the second a power-law with a photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$$``$1.8 and a broad absorption feature centered at 29 keV. See Table 3 for the best fit parameters and Fig. 4 for the phase averaged spectrum.

As in previous observations of the source we found no evidence of an Fe-K line in the spectrum, with a 90% confidence upper limit on the equivalent width of 13 eV for a Gaussian line centered at 6.4 keV and with a 0.5 keV sigma. This is consistent with the $``$6 eV upper limit of di Salvo et al. (1998). In the phase average fits, the inferred area of the black body was $`5.4\times 10^8`$$`\mathrm{cm}^2`$, consistent with standard values for the magnetic polar cap of a neutron star. The black-body temperature remained constant, to within errors, with pulse phase. We note, however, that the formal errors on the black-body component are small (only 20 eV for the temperature). Factors such as the fixed value for the absorption column and the spectrum below 1 keV, which is not measured with the *RXTE* and was fit with a slightly different shape in the *Beppo*SAX data(di Salvo et al., 1998), affect these results. Therefore the actual errors for both the temperature and area are almost certainly larger. See Fig. 5 for the two model components in the inferred phase average photon spectrum.

The absorption line model used in the fits was a multiplicative exponential of the form $`\mathrm{e}^{\tau (\mathrm{E})}`$, where $`\tau `$ is the optical depth of the absorption as a function of energy. The functional form of $`\tau `$ is given by the Gaussian $`\tau (E)=D_\mathrm{c}\mathrm{e}^{(EE_\mathrm{c})^2/(2\sigma _\mathrm{c}^2)}`$ where $`E_\mathrm{c}`$ is the centroid energy (also called line energy), $`\sigma _\mathrm{c}`$ is the width, and $`D_\mathrm{c}`$ is the optical depth at the CRSF energy. We interpret this feature as a 29 keV CRSF. It was present in all four phases; however, it was only weakly detected during the rise of the pulse. In Fig. 6 we plot the ratio of the data to the best fit model, both before and after the addition of a CRSF to the model. Because there are simply more counts at energies below the centroid energy, the errors are smaller and have a greater effect on the fitting process. When fitting without a CRSF, these smaller errors drive the continuum to fit the low side of the line and under predict the continuum at higher energies. This gives rise to a dip followed by a rise in a ratio plot – a classic signature of a CRSF. These dips are especially evident in the pulse fall and minimum in Fig. 6.

The CRSF does, however, appear near the 33.17 keV K-edge of Iodine, where there is a dramatic change in the response properties in the HEXTE NaI scintillators. In a ratio plot (Fig. 4), the trough of the feature is below 30 keV, and shows a deviation from the model of approximately 20%. There is a similar structure in the HEXTE ratios of power-law fits to the Crab nebula/pulsar using the released matrices. This structure, however, is significantly smaller (less than 1%) and is centered above 30 keV. Additionally, when we take the ratio of the 4U 0352+309 counts spectrum to that of the Crab, we still see a line-like structure. Since the spectrum of 4U 0352+309 is a power-law (with the exception of the CRSF) in the HEXTE band, this ratio is, to first order, free of instrumental effects. Lastly, we fit the data using a set of intermediate response matrices provided by the HEXTE instrument team. The released version of the HEXTE response matrices are derived from these, but have had the diagonal elements adjusted slightly to give a smooth fit to the Crab and account for calibration errors near the K-edge. The intermediate matrices, which are based solely upon modeling of the detectors and calibration data, have residual errors that are $`\pm `$2% in the region of the K-edge. When we fit our 4U 0352+309 spectrum with these unreleased matrices $`\chi ^2`$ becomes worse; however, the line width and energy remain unchanged. Due of this analysis we conclude that the feature is intrinsic to the source, and not due to any instrumental problems or artifacts. We further conclude that the CRSF fit parameters are not significantly affected by the instrumental calibration.

From the pulse peak through minimum the CRSF energy is constant to within errors and is quite broad. The fit parameters are also consistent with the phase averaged spectrum. At pulse minimum a feature can be clearly seen in the pattern of ratios, although the statistics in this phase bin are quite low. The addition of a CRSF is not formally required by the fits, since a reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of 0.96 can be achieved without it. However, the addition of a CRSF at 30$`\pm `$6 keV greatly improves the fits, with an F-test chance probability of $`3.5\times 10^5`$.

The fit CRSF during the pulse rise is quite different than the other phases. Specifically, it appears at a lower energy than in the other three phases (21 instead of $``$29 keV) and with a shallower depth. The CRSF also falls in the region of overlap between the PCA and HEXTE instruments, and due to its width is not completely resolved by either instrument. Because of this the fitted CRSF might be an artifact. We do note, however, that the width of the CRSF is, as a percentage of the centroid value, similar to the other three phases, and the temperature of the soft component and power-law index are consistent with the other pulse phases.

We also conducted a search for a CRSF second harmonic. Multiple harmonics have been detected in sources such as 4U 0115+63 (Heindl et al., 1999; Santangelo et al., 1999) and 4U 1907+09 (Cusumano et al., 1998), and so it is not unreasonable to search for one in this source as well. There appears, however, to be no evidence for a higher harmonic at $``$60 keV. Our statistics in that range are poor and resolving a line would be difficult. Using the phase average spectra we added a CRSF fixed at twice the energy and width of the fundamental. We then increased the depth parameter until the $`\chi ^2`$ changed by 2.7 (for one interesting parameter), and were able to obtain a 90% confidence upper limit of 0.25 on the depth of a second harmonic.

## 3 Discussion

Since the discovery of the first cyclotron resonance scattering feature in the spectrum of Her X-1 (Trümper et al., 1978), there have been only about a dozen firm detections of CRSFs out of the $``$50 known accreting X-ray pulsars (Makishima et al., 1999). With this analysis we have added another, namely 4U 0352+309. The magnetic field at the polar cap implied by a 29 keV CRSF is $`2.5(1+z)\times 10^{12}`$ G (where $`z`$ is the gravitational redshift in the scattering region). Assuming the radius and mass of the neutron star to be 10 km and 1.4 $`M_{}`$ respectively, and that the cyclotron scattering is occurring at the magnetic polar cap, then the magnetic field is $`3.3\times 10^{12}`$ G. This field strength is well within the range of other accreting pulsars as measured by CRSFs, and also near the $`2\times 10^{12}`$ G peak in the distribution of radio pulsar fields (Taylor, Manchester & Lyne, 1993). This implies that there is nothing unusual about the magnetic field strength of 4U 0352+309.

It is often useful to discuss the magnetic dipole moment $`\mu `$ of the neutron star since the magnetic field strength is a strong function of position. For a purely dipolar field, the dipole moment is given by $`\mu =0.5BR^3`$, where $`B`$ is the magnetic field strength at the polar cap and $`R`$ the radius of the neutron star (Shapiro & Teukolsky, 1983; Jackson, 1975). So, for a polar cap field of 3.3$`\times 10^{12}`$ G, the magnetic dipole moment of 4U 0352+309 is 1.7$`\times 10^{30}`$$`\mathrm{G}\mathrm{cm}^3`$.

In our two component continuum, we identify the power-law as the normal accreting pulsar continuum shape in the low accretion rate limit. While the spectrum of most accreting pulsars are exponentially cutoff above a characteristic energy $`E_{\mathrm{cut}}`$ (White, Swank & Holt, 1983), our fits of 4U 0352+309 did not strongly require such a cutoff. When we substituted a PLCUT for the simple power-law in our model (see § 2.2), the cutoff and folding energies were $`E_{\mathrm{cut}}=57_{17}^{+12}`$ and $`E_{\mathrm{fold}}=50_{30}^{+107}`$ respectively, with an F-test chance probability of 6$`\times 10^3`$. This is consistent with the results of di Salvo et al. (1998) when fitting *Beppo*SAX data: $`E_{\mathrm{cut}}=66_{14}^{+28}`$ and $`E_{\mathrm{fold}}=44_{22}^{+54}`$. However, when we used the slightly different FDCO, the cutoff and folding energies were completely unconstrained. Because of the large errors and model dependence, we find there is at most weak evidence for an exponential cutoff in our spectrum of 4U 0352+309.

Assuming that the bulk motion of the electrons is small, as might be the case below an accretion shock (Burnard, Arons & Klein, 1991), then the power-law component could be a Comptonized spectrum due to the electrons in the accretion column. In the case of 4U 0352+309 the low accretion rate would lead to less efficient cooling of the infalling electrons, and therefore a higher electron temperature (Hayakawa, 1985). In this model the exponential cutoff is at the electron temperature (Rybicki & Lightman, 1979), which could explain the high energy ($`60`$ keV) of any roll over in the spectrum: the temperature of the infalling electrons has increased the cutoff energy to beyond our sensitive detection band. Using the the photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and cutoff energy $`E_{\mathrm{cut}}`$, the electron scattering depth $`\tau _{\mathrm{es}}`$ can be estimated (Rybicki & Lightman, 1979). For an index of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.83`$ and a 60 keV cutoff, the optical depth to electron scattering is $`\tau _{\mathrm{es}}1`$.

These hotter electrons can also account for the broad width of the CRSF. It is thought that line widths are due, at least in part, to thermal Doppler broadening by the electrons (Mészáros & Nagel, 1985a, b). Because the motion of the electrons responsible for the scattering is quantized perpendicular to the field lines but free parallel to them, the width of the line should increase as the viewing angle approaches the field direction. Mészáros & Nagel (1985a) predict that the width should go as

$$\mathrm{\Delta }E_{\mathrm{FWHM}}E_\mathrm{c}\left(\frac{8\mathrm{ln}(2)kT_\mathrm{e}}{m_\mathrm{e}c^2}\right)^{1/2}\left|\mathrm{cos}(\theta )\right|$$

where $`T_\mathrm{e}`$ is the electron temperature, $`m_\mathrm{e}c^2`$ is the electron rest mass, and $`\theta `$ is the viewing angle with respect to the field. If we assume that the electron temperature is $`60`$ keV (as indicated by the cutoff energy), then the CRSF width is $`\sigma _\mathrm{c}0.34E_\mathrm{c}\mathrm{cos}(\theta )`$. Delgado-Marti et al. (2000) estimate the inclination angle of the system to be $`i2330^{}`$, so if the magnetic and spin axes are not greatly offset then $`\mathrm{cos}(\theta )0.9`$. Therefore the width of the CRSF, while being quite wide, is roughly consistent with the estimates of the infalling electron temperature and viewing geometry.

The value of $`1.7\times 10^{30}`$$`\mathrm{G}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ for the dipole moment derived from the CRSF is very different from what is estimated from accretion torque theory if the pulsar is spinning in equilibrium with the inner edge of an accretion disk (Ghosh & Lamb, 1979). In the case of 4U 0352+309, with 837 s spin period and 4.2$`\times 10^{34}`$$`\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1`$ luminosity, the implied magnetic dipole moment is $``$4.1$`\times 10^{31}`$$`\mathrm{G}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ (depending on the model used for the magnetospheric radius), or at least 24 times larger than what we measure. Using the observed luminosity and magnetic field strength, accretion torque theory predicts the equilibrium spin period to be in the range 20–50 s. However, instead of spinning up to this period the general trend is currently towards spinning down (although it has been measured only infrequently, di Salvo et al., 1998). One explanation for this is to assume that the star is *not* currently spinning in equilibrium with an accretion disk. Indeed, it is unlikely that a persistent accretion disk is even present in this system. For a disk to form, the radius at which the captured wind material would go into a Keplerian orbit should be larger than the magnetospheric radius (Shapiro & Lightman, 1976; Wang, 1981; Li & van den Heuvel, 1996). For typical wind velocities ($`v600`$ km s-1) and wide binary separations ($`P_{\mathrm{orb}}100`$ days), a disk will be unable to form. Instead the accretion is quasi-spherical beyond the magnetospheric radius, while inside the behavior of matter is governed by the magnetic field. Therefore accretion torque theory does not apply in the case of 4U 0352+309, and there is no discrepancy between the magnetic field strength and pulse period.

## 4 Summary

We have discovered a cyclotron resonant scattering feature at 29 keV in the spectrum of 4U 0352+309. The feature is strongest in the peak and falling edge of the pulsed emission, but also evident in the phase average spectrum. The CRSF energy implies a magnetic field strength at the polar cap of $`3.3\times 10^{12}`$ G. 4U 0352+309 is also the lowest luminosity pulsar in which a CRSF has been observed. We have fit the continuum spectrum with a combination of a black body plus a power-law. Both of the components exist in the on-pulse minus off-pulse spectra, showing that they are indeed coming from the pulsar magnetic polar cap. The inferred area of the soft component is $`5.4\times 10^8`$$`\mathrm{cm}^2`$, consistent with being emission from the magnetic polar cap of the pulsar. The power-law component, although being quantitatively different than other, more luminous accreting X-ray pulsars, is at least qualitatively similar. The main differences are a steeper photon index ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.8`$) and the apparent lack of an exponential cutoff. We find that accretion torque theory does not fit the values of luminosity, spin period, and magnetic field strength, implying that the pulsar is not spinning in equilibrium with an accretion disk.

We would like to thank the referee for his helpful and insightful comments. This work was supported by NASA grant NAS5-30720 and NSF Travel Grant NSF INT-9815741.


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# Non–standard Neutrino Properties Talk given at NOW2000 Workshop, Conca Specchiulla, Otranto (Lecce), Italy, 9–16 September 2000

## 1 INTRODUCTION

The observed suppression in the atmospheric muon neutrino flux and its dependence on the neutrino pathlength  can be very well described by the hypothesis of massive neutrinos and flavour $`\nu _\mu \nu _\tau `$ oscillations. Also the lack of solar electron neutrinos  has been often attributed to ($`\nu _e\nu _X`$) oscillations, with  or without matter effects. A third possible evidence for oscillations, coming from the LSND  results, still needs confirmation by other experiments, and I will not consider it in this talk.

It is of great interest to discuss if other theoretical frameworks may be able to describe (almost) equally well the present data. Such scenarios are generally less popular and therefore have been dubbed as “non-standard” (although I prefer to call them “exotic”). They generally predict a dependence on neutrino energy $`E`$ and pathlegth $`L`$ that is different from that of the oscillation formula, so that it is mandatory to have a large enough range of $`L/E`$ values to be able to really test the models. In the atmospheric neutrino case, this points to the importance of using the much larger energy passing upward–muon data ; for solar neutrinos there is no such possibility, and the discrimination is less easy.

It may be noticed that the larger energy of the neutrinos inducing upward–muon events is also decisive to distinguish $`\nu _\mu `$ oscillations into $`\nu _\tau `$ from oscillations into sterile neutrinos, as suggested in  and actually used by the Super–Kamiokande collaboration . Sterile neutrinos cannot be considered sufficiently non–standard to be discussed in this talk.

## 2 Flavour Oscillations

Some time ago, we  have made a comparison of the prediction of several different models with the Super–Kamiokande (SK) data . A simplified and over–constrained fit was made, in that one common normalization parameter was used for six different type of data: $`\mu `$–like and $`e`$–like events, both sub–GeV and multi–GeV, and upward–going muons, stopping in the detectors and throughgoing. No oscillatory effects were assumed for electron neutrinos, as suggested by the CHOOZ  results, and the $`e`$–like events were used essentially to fix the normalization. Considering the ratio of the observed number of events to the expected (obtained via a MonteCarlo calculation), the no-oscillation hypothesis fails to describe the data, even assuming independent normalization factors for each of the six data sets. In fact, the data show a marked reduction (approximately by a factor 2) in the upgoing multi–GeV $`\mu `$–like (semi–)contained events and in the stopping upgoing muons, whose energies are similar; the downgoing multi–GeV events are unsuppressed; the upgoing passing muons are suppressed by a smaller factor, that increases with the pathlength; the sub–GeV muons are also suppressed, apparently even if downgoing, although less than the upgoing multi–GeV muons. All these results can be well described by the $`\nu _\mu \nu _\tau `$ neutrino oscillations, as it may be seen looking at the solid line in fig.1.

The reason of the great success of the two–flavour oscillation hypothesis in describing the atmospheric neutrino data may be understood by looking at Fig.2, where the distribution in $`\mathrm{log}_{10}(L/E)`$ for the 25 bins of the four sets of $`\mu `$–like data are plotted in the second to fifth panels, and compared to the survival probability given by the oscillation hypothesis

$$P^{osc}\left(\frac{L}{E}\right)=1\mathrm{sin}^2(2\theta )\mathrm{sin}^2\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }m^2L}{4E}\right)$$
(1)
and plotted in the first panel of the figure with the best fit values of the parameters: $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2=\mathrm{3.2\hspace{0.33em}10}^3`$ eV2 and $`\mathrm{sin}^2(2\theta )=1`$.

We note that all the characteristics previously mentioned are indeed reproduced. The weaker angular correlation between incoming neutrino and produced muon in the sub–GeV events explains why even the downgoing muons are suppressed: as shown in the second panel of Fig. 1, a wide range of $`L/E`$ values corresponds to each (muon) angular bin in this case, and therefore every bin has some suppression. This is not true for the multi–GeV events, where the angular correlation is tighter, due to the higher neutrino energy. Finally, the higher energy of the passing upgoing muons justifies their smaller suppression and its angular dependence, in agreement with the $`L/E`$ dependence in eq.(1).

## 3 Exotic Models

Several exotic models have been proposed in the literature. They are not generally able to fit the atmospheric neutrino data, especially if the through– and upward–going muons are included in the data to be fitted .

A possible effect of a violation of the equivalence principle (VEP)  or of a violation of Lorentz invariance  is a new kind of oscillations among neutrinos, in which however the survival probability depends on $`LE`$:

$$P^{grav}\left(LE\right)=1\mathrm{sin}^2(2\theta _G)\mathrm{sin}^2\left(\delta |\varphi |LE\right)$$
(2)
In eq.(2) $`\delta `$ is the difference in the gravitational coupling of the gravity eigenstates, $`\varphi `$ is the gravitational potential and $`\theta _G`$ is the mixing angle that rotates flavor– into gravity–eigenstates. The different dependence on energy and pathlength of the survival probability makes a fit to the data much worse, even if a fit to the contained events alone is not too bad : this may also be visualized considering Fig.3, the analog of Fig.2 in the present case, that clearly shows the difficulty to obtain for the upgoing and passing muons the milder suppression that the data have.

Another model  assumes the existence of flavour changing neutral currents (FCNC) that may affect the neutrinos crossing the earth even if massless. If the non–standard elements of the effective potential are parameterized as $`V_{\mu \tau }=V_{\tau \mu }=\sqrt{2}G_FN_fϵ`$ and $`V_{\tau \tau }V_{\mu \mu }=\sqrt{2}G_FN_fϵ^\mathrm{`}`$, with $`G_F`$ the Fermi constant and $`N_f`$ the number density of the fermions on which the neutrinos forward–scatter ($`d`$–quarks in the calculations discussed), the survival probability in this model is given by

$$\begin{array}{c}P^{FCNC}\left(X_f\right)=\hfill \\ =\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1}\frac{4ϵ^2}{4ϵ^2+ϵ^{}_{}{}^{}2}\mathrm{sin}^2\left[\frac{G_F}{\sqrt{2}}X_f\sqrt{4ϵ^2+ϵ^{}_{}{}^{}2}\right],\hfill \end{array}$$
(3)
it is independent on the neutrino energy $`E`$ and it depends only on the column density of the fermion $`f`$ crossed by the neutrino in its path $`X_f=_0^L𝑑xN_f(x)`$. It may be noted that the column density goes to zero abruptly at $`\theta `$ equal to $`\pi /2`$, contrary to the pathlength which is on the average $`L`$ 500 km for horizontally arriving neutrinos.

In  two apparently good fits to the contained events have been presented. They are however unable to reproduce the upward muon data, as it may be illustrated by Fig.4, where the distribution in the cosine of zenith angle of the data bins is plotted in comparison with the suppression probabilities according to the two best solutions of , plotted in the upper two panels.

Another suggested  exotic model assumes $`\nu _\mu `$ disappearance because of its decay into a lighter neutrino and a majoron. The survival probability in this case is

$$\begin{array}{c}P^{dec}(L/E)=\mathrm{sin}^4\theta +\mathrm{cos}^4\theta e^{\alpha L/E}+\hfill \\ +2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta \mathrm{cos}^2\theta e^{\alpha L/2E}\mathrm{cos}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }m^2L}{2E}\right)\hfill \end{array}$$
(4)
where $`\alpha `$ is the ratio of the decaying neutrino mass and lifetime. The simplest possibility would be pure decay with no mixing, i.e. $`\theta =0`$, to which the dashed line in the upper panel of fig.2 refers. It does not reproduce the data satisfactorily. A better solution requires mixing, and one has two limiting cases of interest: if $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ refers to the initial and the final mass–eigenstates neutrinos in the decay process, then it may be shown that it has to be larger than 0.73 eV2, so that the argument of the cosine in eq.4 is very large and it averages to zero. This case has been discussed in  and shown to describe the (semi)–contained events reasonably well: it fails however to reproduce the upgoing muon data .

To summarize the fits made with the models described up to this point, I have reported the relevant histograms in fig.1 and $`\chi ^2`$ values in Table1.

It may be appropriate to notice that a thorough analysis of the FCNC model compared to the most recent data has appeared in the meantime , reaching conclusions analogous to ours.

## 4 (Still) Successful Exotic Models

The other limiting case among neutrino decay models  assumes a very small $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2\stackrel{<}{_{}}10^4`$ eV2 (indirectly implying the existence of light sterile neutrinos). It is a fairly artificial model, in that it must assume the existence of two neutrino mass eigenstates with rather large ($`20`$ eV) and almost equal masses, one of them unstable and the other stable, or nearly so. At any rate, it provides a fit to the data which is as good as the fit of the flavour oscillation model: for $`1/\alpha =63\mathrm{K}m/GeV`$ and $`\mathrm{cos}^2\theta =0.3`$ in eq.4, one obtains $`\chi ^2`$/(d.o.f.)$`=33.7/32`$. The reason of the success should be clear looking at fig.5: the necessary average on $`L/E`$ implied by the broad energy spectrum of atmospheric neutrinos and by the fact that one only measures energy and angle of the produced muon in Super–Kamiokande makes the two distributions hardly distiguishable.

Another successful exotic model  assumes nonstandard Liouville dynamics , leading to $`\nu `$ decoherence and thus to a damping of oscillations. The survival probability curve for this model is given by the following formula

$$P^{coh}\frac{1}{2}[1+\mathrm{exp}(\rho L/E)]$$
(5)
and the best fit is obtained for $`\rho 7\times 10^3`$ GeV/Km. The resulting line, if plotted in fig.5, is essentially equal to the result of the above discussed decay model , and the fit is therefore equally good.

A further possibility recently discussed  assumes the existence of extra dimensions with (at least one) large radii, and sterile, singlet neutrinos propagating in the bulk (like gravitons), while the particles that we know are confined to “the brane”. Thus there are plenty of sterile states forming Kaluza–Klein towers, to which the muon neutrinos could oscillate. The model is however rather constrained, and in its minimal version it is not possible to include the LSND result  in the fit. Several possible solutions exist, including one in which the muon neutrino oscillate essentially in sterile states and there is almost no $`\tau `$–lepton production. The model parameters are rather strongly bound by limits coming from astrophysics (supernovae) and cosmology (primordial nucleosynthesis): taking these limits at face value, the model is already in trouble .

## 5 Solar Neutrinos

As a consequence of the narrow energy range of solar neutrinos, it is much more difficult to exclude non–standard solutions of the problem in this case. In fact, VEP solutions have been presented, recently also for the long wavelength, just–so oscillations , and they do not seem worse than the flavour oscillation explanation (which is admittedly not as good as in the atmospheric case, anyhow). Also the FCNC model could provide a solution, with somewhat smaller (and therefore more acceptable) values of the parameters $`ϵ`$ and $`ϵ^{}`$ . The idea of sterile neutrinos moving in extra dimensions has been also applied to solar neutrinos  (in fact, before the study of atmospheric neutrinos in this kind of model) and shown to provide a possible solution of the solar neutrino problem.

An older non–standard explanation of the lack of solar neutrinos reaching the earth is based on the existence of transition magnetic moments for the neutrinos (of about $`10^{11}`$ Bohr magnetons) and is due to the so–called resonant spin–flavour precession (RSFP) . Its predictions depend strongly on the shape of the magnetic field distribution inside the sun, largely unknown. The more recent analyses  show that with a suitable distribution and an average magnetic field of $`4÷10`$ Tesla a good description of the experimental data may be obtained, particularly for Majorana neutrinos. The characteristic prediction of this model, namely an anti–correlation between the number of sunspots and the flux of solar neutrinos, is not supported by the Super–Kamiokande results, however a large magnetic field in the interior of the sun could be insensitive to the solar activity. Another possible clear signature would be provided by the observation of events due to electron antineutrinos, that would be produced by the joint effect of RSFP – inside the sun – changing $`\nu _\mathrm{e}`$ into, say, $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$ and normal flavour oscillation – in the travel to the earth – inducing the $`\overline{\nu }_\mu \overline{\nu }_\mathrm{e}`$ transition.

## 6 Conclusion

The data for atmospheric neutrinos, showing the clearest signal of physics beyond the (massless neutrino) standard model, are exceedingly well described by “standard” (namely, due to masses and mixing) oscillations between $`\nu _\mu `$ and, at least predominantly, $`\nu _\tau `$. The same data limit severely the exotic options, leaving only some very peculiar models as still possible solutions. Solar neutrinos, on the contrary, have much less power of discrimination among models.

Very good resolutions are needed to observe the actual oscillations (as opposed to a simple reduction) in the atmospheric case . Even for the running (K2K) or future (MINOS,ICARUS) long–baseline experiments  the request is demanding. Of course, the observation of $`\tau `$ leptons (by OPERA) could also be of much help.

I would like to thank the organizers for a very pleasant workshop.