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# Many-body effects in nuclear structure

## Abstract

We calculate, for the first time, the state-dependent pairing gap of a finite nucleus (120Sn) diagonalizing the bare nucleon-nucleon potential (Argonne $`v_{14}`$) in a Hartree-Fock basis (with effective $`k`$mass $`m_k`$ 0.7 m), within the framework of the BCS approximation including scattering states up to 800 MeV above the Fermi energy to achieve convergence. The resulting gap accounts for about half of the experimental gap. We find that a consistent description of the low-energy nuclear spectrum requires, aside from the bare nucleon-nucleon interaction, not only the dressing of single-particle motion through the coupling to the nuclear surface, to give the right density of levels close to the Fermi energy (and thus an effective mass $`m^{}m`$), but also the renormalization of collective vibrational modes through vertex and self-energy processes, processes which are also found to play an essential role in the pairing channel, leading to a long range, state dependent component of the pairing interaction. The combined effect of the bare nucleon-nucleon potential and of the induced pairing interaction arising from the exchange of low-lying surface vibrations between nucleons moving in time reversal states close to the Fermi energy accounts for the experimental gap.

In the study of finite many-body systems such as the atomic nucleus with its rich variety of quantal size effects, structural properties, and fluctuations, the central problem has been to identify the appropriate degrees of freedom for describing the phenomena encountered. The complementary concepts referring to the independent motion of the individual nucleons and the collective behaviour of the nucleus as a whole provide the elementary modes of excitation needed to describe the system  . The unifying picture emerging from the interweaving of these degrees of freedom and described in terms of nuclear field theory (NFT) \[2-6\] based on the particle-vibration coupling (for other related approaches, see e.g. \[7-10\]) and tailored upon QED \[11-12\], has been applied to a number of schematic models and realistic situations \[13-21\] and its validity demonstrated. It thus provides a natural framework to assess the role different degrees of freedom play in the nuclear structure.

An important subject presently under intensive study concerns the characterization of an eventual long range component of the pairing interaction in nuclei \[22-24\]. In what follows we use NFT to assess the importance the exchange of vibrations between pairs of nucleons moving in time reversal states have in building up pairing correlations in nuclei, taking also into account self-energy and vertex corrections (i.e. avoiding using approximations which, in condensed matter literature are connected with the so-called Migdal theorem, cf. ref.  and refs. therein).

To this scope, we study the quasiparticle and vibrational spectrum of odd- and even- isotopes of single-closed-shell nuclei, where all the richness of the single-particle and collective degrees of freedom are fully expressed, avoiding the extra complications of static deformations and associated rotations. The spectra of the $`{}_{50}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{A}`$Sn isotopes, in particular those with mass number $`A`$=119,120 and 121, with their abundance of detailed experimental information, provide an excellent laboratory where to test the importance of the residual pairing interaction and its relation to self-energy processes. To be remembered that BCS theory connects the mass enhancement factor $`\lambda `$ associated with the $`\omega `$mass ($`m_\omega =m(1+\lambda )`$, cf, e.g. ) with the pairing gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }2\omega _cexp(1/\lambda )`$, $`\omega _c`$ being the energy associated with a typical vibration (boson) of the system .

In general one fixes the parameters of the effective interaction of nucleons in the nucleus, by requiring mean field theory, as a rule Hartree-Fock or Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory if the system is superfluid, to reproduce the experimental findings: binding energies, mean square radii, etc. This is equivalent to requiring that the solution of the Schrödinger equation describing the bound states of the electron-proton system, interacting through the Coulomb force, reproduces the energy levels of the hydrogen atom. We know that this is not possible, unless the renormalization effects arising from the electron-photon coupling are properly taken into account as prescribed by QED . Similarly, the parameters of the effective nuclear interaction should reproduce the experimental findings only when the particle-vibration coupling is allowed to renormalize, screen and dress the different modes of elementary excitation and the interaction among them in a similar way as, for example, the Lamb shift of the hydrogen atom is accounted for only when the renormalization effects arising from the electron-photon coupling are considered.

The formalism we shall use is based on the Dyson equation . It can describe on equal footing the dressed one-particle state $`\stackrel{~}{a}`$ of an odd nucleon renormalized by the (collective) response of all the other nucleons (Figs. 1(a)-1(d)), the renormalization of the energy $`\mathrm{}\omega _\nu `$ (Figs. 2(a)-2(b)) and of the transition probability $`B(E\lambda )`$ (Figs. 2(c)-2(f)) of the collective vibrations of the even system where the number of nucleons remains constant (correlated particle-hole excitations), and the induced interaction due to the exchange of collective vibrations between pairs of nucleons , moving in time reversal states close to the Fermi energy (Figs. 1(e)-1(g)). We include both self-energy and vertex correction processes, thus satisying Ward identities (cf., e.g., ). Within this framework, the self-consistency existing between the dynamical deformations of the density and of the potential sustained by ”screened” particle-vibrations coupling vertices leads to renormalization effects which make finite (stabilize) the collectivity and the self-interaction of the elementary modes of nuclear excitation, in particular of the low-lying surface vibrational modes, providing an accurate description of many seemingly unrelated experimental findings, in terms of very few (theoretically calculable) parameters, namely: the $`k`$mass $`m_k`$  and the particle vibration coupling vertex $`h(ab\nu )`$, associated to the process in which a quasiparticle changes its state of motion from the unperturbed quasiparticle state $`a`$ to $`b`$, by absorbing or emitting a vibration $`\nu `$ .

The equation describing the renormalization of a quasiparticle $`a`$, due to this variety of couplings is

$`\left[\left(\begin{array}{cc}E_a& 0\\ 0& E_a\end{array}\right)+\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{\Sigma }_{11}(\stackrel{~}{E}_a)& \mathrm{\Sigma }_{12}(\stackrel{~}{E}_a)\\ \mathrm{\Sigma }_{12}(\stackrel{~}{E}_a)& \mathrm{\Sigma }_{22}(\stackrel{~}{E}_a)\end{array}\right)\right]\left(\begin{array}{c}\stackrel{~}{x}_a\\ \stackrel{~}{y}_a\end{array}\right)=`$
$`\stackrel{~}{E}_a\left(\begin{array}{c}\stackrel{~}{x}_a\\ \stackrel{~}{y}_a\end{array}\right),`$ (1)
where $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{ii}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{ij},(ij)`$ are the normal and abnormal self-energies.

Eq. (1)is to be solved iteratively, and simultaneously for all the involved quasiparticle states. At each iteration step, the original quasiparticle states $`a`$ with occupation numbers $`u_a`$ and $`v_a`$, become fragmented over the different eigenstates $`\stackrel{~}{a}`$ with probability $`\stackrel{~}{u}_a^2+\stackrel{~}{v}_a^2`$, while the renormalized occupation factors are obtained from the components of the eigenvectors, $`\stackrel{~}{x}_a`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{y}_a`$, according to the relations $`\stackrel{~}{u}_a=\stackrel{~}{x}_au_a+\stackrel{~}{y}_av_a,\stackrel{~}{v}_a=\stackrel{~}{y}_au_a+\stackrel{~}{x}_av_a.`$ The quantities $`\stackrel{~}{u}_a`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{v}_a`$ are related to the spectroscopic factors measured in one-nucleon stripping and pick-up reactions, respectively. One can also define  a renormalized state-dependent pairing gap, through the relation $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Delta }}_a=2\stackrel{~}{E}_a\stackrel{~}{u}_a\stackrel{~}{v}_a/(\stackrel{~}{u}_a^2+\stackrel{~}{v}_a^2)`$, which in the limit of no fragmentation reduces to the usual BCS expression .

In the calculations reported below, a Skyrme interaction (Sly4 parametrization, with $`m_k0.7m`$), was solely used to determine the properties of the bare single-particle states and the collective vibrations in the particle-hole channel. Both the bare nucleon-nucleon $`v_{14}`$ Argonne potential as well as the exchange of collective vibrations were used in the particle-particle (pairing) channel.

As seen from Fig. 3, Hartree-Fock theory is not able to account for the experimental quasiparticle energies of the low-lying states. Diagonalizing the Argonne $`v_{14}`$ nucleon-nucleon potential in the Hartree-Fock basis, within the framework of the generalized Bogoliubov-Valatin approximation including scattering states up to 800 MeV above the Fermi energy (to achieve convergence) in a spherical box of radius equal to 15 fm, one obtains the state-dependent pairing gap shown in Fig. 4 (labelled $`v_{14})`$. The resulting pairing gap (average value for levels around the Fermi energy) accounts for about half of the empirical pairing gap value ($``$ 1.4 MeV) obtained from the odd-even mass difference . In keeping with this result, the quasiparticle spectrum (cf. Fig. 3), although being slightly closer to the experimental findings than that predicted by Hartree-Fock theory, displays large discrepancies with observations. The situation is rather similar concerning the low-lying quadrupole vibration of 120Sn calculated in the QRPA with standard effective nucleon-nucleon interactions like Gogny or Skyrme forces. While energy is predicted too high, which may not be too important, the B(E2) value is about a factor 3 too small (cf. Table 1), a result which calls for a better theory.

In fact, renormalizing the energy and the transition strength of the $`2^+`$ phonon, following NFT , that is, considering the couplings of the type depicted in Fig. 2 (cf. also ref.  and refs. therein), one obtains an increase of the $`B(E2)`$ transition probability which brings theory essentially in agreement with experiment (cf. Table 1) . The most important processes which renormalize the energy of the phonon are shown in Figs. 2(a) and (b). Other graphs which are also of fourth order in the particle-vibration coupling vertex, but contain intermediate states with more than four quasiparticle states, lead to very small contributions. This is because these terms not only involve larger denominators, but also, due to their higher degree of complexity, give rise to contributions with ”random” signs which tend to cancel each other. This is a consequence of the fact that while cancellation between the contribution associated wih graphs (a) and (b) of Fig. 2 is strong in the particle-hole channel the opposite is true in the particle-particle channel , and that the phonons are calculated in a Bogoliubov-Valatin-quasiparticle basis. In keeping with the above discussion, the most important processes renormalizing the B(E2) transition probability are those shown in Figs. 2(c),(d),(e) and (f).

We have also calculated the static quadrupole moment $`Q`$ of the $`2^+`$ state, including the contributions from the processes shown in Fig. 6.27 of ref. , considering also self-energy effects . The resulting value of $`Q`$ is rather small (8 e fm2), in agreement with the experimental findings ($`10\pm 10`$ e fm2, or –5 $`\pm `$ 10 e fm2  ).

Because in the above calculations we have included only a partial set (although the most important for the physics under discussion) of the NFT graphs needed to provide a completely consistent description of single-particle and collective vibration renormalizations, the mixing of spurious states with the physiscal states has to be contemplated. Although it is difficult to give a precise estimate of the error induced by such undesired couplings, 30% effects have been found in the calculation of the energy of the one-phonon state .

Making use of phonons which account for the experimental findings, the normal and abnormal self-energies were calculated, and Eq.(1) solved. The average value of the resulting state-dependent pairing gap of 120Sn is now close to the value $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{exp}=1.4`$ MeV derived from the odd-even mass difference (cf. Fig. 4) . In Fig. 3 we show the energy of the peaks carrying the largest quasiparticle strength, for the orbitals around the Fermi energy, which provide an overall account of the lowest quasiparticle states measured in the odd systems 119Sn and 121Sn.

One can conclude that mean field theory and bare nucleon-nucleon potentials reproduce neither the experimental transition strengths nor the pairing gaps, let alone the density of quasiparticle states close to the ground state. Dressing the single-particle motion, the correlated particle-hole excitations of mean field and the nucleon-nucleon interaction with collective surface vibrations, brings theory in overall agreeement with experiment. In particular, about half of the pairing gap arises from the long range component of the pairing interaction associated with the exchange of collective vibrations. To further clarify the interdependence of single-particle and collective degrees of freedom, future studies should, for example, concentrate on the role this interdependence has on the nuclear masses. In particular, whether the explicit, simplified, inclusion of ground state correlations and of the induced pairing interaction can reduce the present r.m.s. error of 0.674 MeV with which one of the best presently available Hartree-Fock mass formula  is able to reproduce the experimental findings.


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# On the discrepancy principle

## 1 Introduction.

In this note the convergence of the variational regularization with the regularization parameter chosen by the discrepancy principle is discussed for linear operators. In  and  one finds the references related to the discrepancy principle.

Our assumptions in this Section are:

i) $`A`$ is a linear, bounded, injective operator on a Hilbert space $`H`$, the equation $`A(y)=f`$ has a solution $`y`$, $`A^1`$ is not continuous, so that (1.1) is an ill-posed problem, $`f_\delta f\delta `$, $`f_\delta >\delta `$.

Given $`\{\delta ,f_\delta \}`$, one wants to approximate $`y`$ stably in the sense

$$\underset{\delta 0}{lim}R_\delta f_\delta y=0,$$
$`(1.1)`$
where $`R_\delta `$ is an operator defined on all of $`H`$, a regularizer. Let $`F(u):=Auf_\delta ^2+au^2`$, where $`a>0`$ is a parameter, and let $`u_a`$ be the solution to $`F(u_a)=infF(u)`$. Existence and uniqueness of this variational problem are known: if $`B:=A^{}A`$, then

$$u_a=(B+a)^1A^{}f_\delta ,(B+a)u_a=A^{}f_\delta ,$$
$`(1.2)`$
equation (1.2) is the Euler equation for $`F`$, it has a unique solution $`u_a`$ since $`B0`$ and $`a>0`$, and

$$F(u_a)F(u),Au_af_\delta ^2+au_a^2\delta ^2+ay^2.$$
$`(1.3)`$
Assume $`f_\delta N(A^{})`$, where $`N(A^{})`$ is the null-space of $`A^{}`$. This is done without loss of generality, since $`f_\delta `$ enters under the sign of $`A^{}`$ in (1.2). The discrepancy principle (DP) (introduced by Morozov, see  and ) chooses $`a=a(\delta )`$ as the root of the equation:

$$h(a,\delta ):=Au_af_\delta =C\delta ,C=const1,f_\delta >\delta .$$
$`(1.4)`$
Note that $`N(Q)=N(A^{})`$, where $`Q:=AA^{}0,`$ and

$$||Au_af_\delta ||=||[A(B+a)^1A^{}I]f_\delta ||=||Q(Q+a)^1I]f_\delta ||=a||(Q+a)^1f_\delta ||,$$

where the known formula $`(B+a)^1A^{}=A^{}(Q+a)^1`$ was used.

Thus,

$$h=a(Q+a)^1f_\delta .$$

This implies that, for a fixed pair $`\{f_\delta ,\delta \},`$ the function $`h(a,\delta )`$ in (1.4) is a monotone increasing function of $`a`$ on $`(0,\mathrm{})`$, $`lim_{a0}h(a,\delta )=0`$, where we have used the assumption $`f_\delta N(A^{})`$, and $`h(\mathrm{},\delta )=f_\delta >\delta `$, so that (1.4) has a unique solution $`a=a(\delta )`$, $`lim_{\delta 0}a(\delta )=0`$.

Define $`R_\delta f_\delta :=u_\delta :=u_{a(\delta )}`$, where $`a(\delta )`$ is given by the DP.

Theorem 1.1. If $`A`$ is compact, i) holds, and $`R_\delta f_\delta :=u_\delta `$, then (1.1) holds.

Proof. From (1.4) and (1.3), with $`a=a(\delta )`$ and $`u_a:=u_\delta `$, one gets

$$u_\delta y.$$
$`(1.5)`$
Thus, $`u_\delta u`$ (weak sequential convergence) as $`\delta 0`$, and $`Au_\delta Au`$, because $`A`$ is compact. From (1.3), with $`\delta 0`$ and $`a0`$, it follows that $`Au=f`$. By the injectivity of $`A`$, one gets $`u=y`$, so $`u_\delta y`$ as $`\delta 0`$. To prove that

$$\underset{\delta 0}{lim}u_\delta y=0,$$
$`(1.6)`$
it is sufficient to prove that $`lim_{\delta 0}u_\delta =y`$, and this follows from (1.5) because $`ylim\; inf_{\delta 0}u_\delta lim\; sup_{\delta 0}u_\delta y`$. The first inequality is the lower semicontinuity of the norm in $`H`$, and the last one follows from (1.5). Theorem 1.1 is proved. $`\mathrm{}`$

An alternative proof of (1.6) is based on the inequality

$$u_\delta y^22\mathrm{}(y,yu_\delta ),$$
$`(1.7)`$
which follows from (1.5) easily. Since $`u_\delta y`$ as $`\delta 0`$, (1.7) implies (1.6). $`\mathrm{}`$

## 2 Generalizations.

2.1. One can drop the injectivity of $`A`$ assumption and still get (1.6):

If $`N:=N(A)`$ is the null-space of $`A`$, $`Ay=f`$, and $`yN`$, then $`u_\delta :=u_{a(\delta )}`$, defined in (1.2), has the property $`u_\delta N`$. Indeed, if $`\varphi N`$, then $`(u_\delta ,\varphi )=(f_\delta ,A(B+a)^1\varphi )=(f_\delta ,(Q+a)^1A\varphi )=0`$. Thus $`lim_{\delta 0}u_\delta =uN`$. Since the problem

$$Au=f,uN$$
$`(2.1)`$
has only one solution, it follows that $`u=y`$. We have proved:

Theorem 2.1. If $`N\{0\}`$ and $`y`$ solves (2.1), then (1.6) holds.

2.2. Let us drop both the compactness of $`A`$ and the injectivity of $`A`$ assumptions.

Theorem 2.2. If $`A`$ is a linear bounded operator, and $`y`$ solves (2.1), then (1.6) holds.

Proof. As above, one gets (1.5) with $`u_\delta :=u_{a(\delta )}`$ defined by (1.2). Thus, $`u_\delta u`$ and $`(B+a)u_\delta A^{}f`$ as $`\delta 0`$, and this implies $`Bu=A^{}f`$. Indeed, $`B0`$ is a monotone continuous operator, and therefore it is weakly closed, i.e., $`u_\delta u`$ and $`Bu_\delta g`$ imply $`Bu=g`$. Recall that $`a=a(\delta )0`$ and $`u_\delta `$ is bounded as $`\delta 0`$, so $`lim_{\delta 0}a(\delta )u_\delta =0`$. Since $`f=Ay`$, one has $`B(uy)=0`$, and, since $`N(B)=N(A)`$, one gets $`Au=Ay=f`$. We have already proved that $`uN`$, thus $`u=y`$, and $`u_\delta y`$ as $`\delta 0`$. This and (1.7) imply (1.6). $`\mathrm{}`$

2.3. Let us drop the linearity of $`A`$ assumption and propose an a priori choice of the regularization parameter.

Consider the functional (cf ):

$$F(u):=Auf_\delta +\delta u_1,D(F)=H_1,$$
$`(2.2)`$
where $`D(F)`$ is the domain of $`F`$, the norm $`||||_1`$ is a norm of a Hilbert space $`H_1`$, which is dense in $`H`$, complete, and the imbedding $`i:H_1H`$ is compact. Let

$$m=m(\delta ):=\underset{u}{inf}F(u),$$

and let $`u_\delta `$ be any element such that

$$F(u_\delta )m+\delta .$$
$`(2.3)`$
Theorem 2.3. Assume that $`A`$ is a nonlinear, continuous, injective map, $`A^1`$ is not continuous, $`f=A(y)`$, $`yH_1`$, and (2.3) holds. Then (1.6) holds.

Proof. Let $`F(u_n)m`$. Then for all sufficiently large $`n`$ one has:

$$mA(u_n)f_\delta +\delta u_n_1\delta +\delta y_1:=c_1\delta .$$
$`(2.4)`$
Choose $`u_\delta :=u_n`$ such that (2.3) holds, and let $`\delta 0`$. Since $`u_\delta _1c_1`$, one has $`u_\delta u`$, $`A(u_\delta )A(u)`$, and (2.4) shows that $`A(u)=f`$. By the injectivity of $`A`$, one gets $`u=y`$, so (1.6) holds. $`\mathrm{}`$.

## 3 DP does not yield uniform with respect to $`f`$ convergence.

In this Section the notations of Section 1 are used.

Theorem 3.1 Let $`S_\delta :=\{v:Avf_\delta \delta \}`$, $`u_\delta :=u_{a(\delta )}`$, $`a(\delta )`$ solves (1.4), $`A`$ satisfies assumptions i) of Section 1, and $`N(A^{})=\{0\}`$.

Then there are $`f_\delta `$ such that

$$\underset{\delta 0}{lim}\underset{vS_\delta }{sup}u_\delta vc=const>0.$$
$`(3.1)`$
Proof. Denote $`(B+a)^1A^{}:=T`$, $`B:=A^{}A`$, and $`u_\delta =Tf_\delta `$. Then $`T=\frac{1}{2\sqrt{a}}`$ (see, e.g., ). Thus, there exists a $`p=p_a`$, such that

$$Tp\frac{\delta }{8\sqrt{a}},p=0.5\delta .$$

Let $`R(A)`$ denote the range of $`A`$. Since $`R(A)`$ and $`R(B)`$ are dense in $`H`$, and $`N(A^{})=\{0\}`$, there is a $`z=z_a`$ such that

$$f_\delta AB^bzp\frac{\delta }{8},b=const(0,1)p=0.5\delta .$$
$`(3.2)`$
For any $`v`$, one has:

$$Tf_\delta vTf_\delta TAv+TAvv.$$
$`(3.3)`$
If $`v=B^bz`$, then

$$\underset{\delta 0}{lim}\underset{vS_\delta ,v=B^bz,zM}{sup}TAvv=0,$$
$`(3.4)`$
where $`M>0`$ is an arbitrary large constant, and we have used the following formulas:

$$TAvv=[(B+a)^1BI]B^bz=a(B+a)^1B^bz,$$

$$a(B+a)^1B^b=a\underset{0sB}{sup}\frac{s^b}{s+a}=ca^b,c=b^b(1b)^{1b}.$$

From (3.3) and (3.4) it follows that

$$\underset{\delta 0}{lim}\underset{vS_\delta ,v=B^bz,zM}{sup}Tf_\delta v=0$$
$`(3.5)`$
if and only if

$$\underset{\delta 0}{lim}\underset{vS_\delta ,v=B^bz,zM}{sup}Tf_\delta TAv=0.$$
$`(3.6)`$
Choose $`v=B^bz`$, where $`z:=z_a.`$ Then, using the triangle inequality and (3.2), one gets:

$$f_\delta Avp+\frac{\delta }{8}\delta ,$$
$`(3.7)`$
and

$$Tf_\delta TAv=T(f_\delta Avp)+TpTp\frac{\delta }{8}T\frac{\delta }{\sqrt{a}}(\frac{1}{8}\frac{1}{16})=\frac{\delta }{16\sqrt{a}}.$$
$`(3.8)`$
If one finds $`f_\delta `$ for which equation (1.4) has a root

$$a=c_1\delta ^2[1+o(1)],c_1=const>0,\delta 0,$$
$`(3.9)`$
then $`\frac{\delta }{\sqrt{a}}c=const>0`$, and (3.8) implies that (3.6) fails, so (3.5) fails, and Theorem 3.1 follows.

There are infinitely many such $`f_\delta `$. Let us construct one of them. Assume, for simplicity, that $`A=A^{}`$, so $`B=A^2`$, and (1.4) is:

$$a^2\underset{j=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{g_j}{(\mu _j+a)^2}=C^2\delta ^2,g_j:=|f_{\delta j}|^2,\underset{j=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}g_j<\mathrm{},$$
$`(3.10)`$
where $`\mu _j>0`$ are the eigenvalues of $`A^2`$. Let $`g_j=j^2,\mu _j=j^1`$. Then, as we prove below,

$$\varphi :=\underset{j=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{j^2}{(j^1+a)^2}=a^1[1+O(a)]a0.$$
$`(3.11)`$
If (3.11) holds, then (3.10) yields (3.9), and the argument is completed.

To prove (3.11), define $`\psi :=_1^{\mathrm{}}x^2(x^1+a)^2𝑑x`$, and, setting $`t=x^1`$, one gets

$$\psi =_0^1(t+a)^2𝑑t=a^1[1+O(a)]a0.$$

This and the estimate

$$\varphi (1+a)^2<\psi <\varphi ,$$

yield (3.11). $`\mathrm{}`$

In our construction, $`w:=f_\delta R(A)`$ does not depend on $`\delta `$, and $`f=Av_\delta `$ is chosen for each $`\delta >0`$ in a $`\delta `$neighborhood of $`f_\delta `$ (see (3.7)), so that $`f`$ depends on $`\delta `$. The element $`v_\delta =B^bz_a,a=a(\delta ),`$ cannot converge as $`\delta 0`$: if $`v_\delta v`$ and $`Av_\delta w`$ then, by the continuity of $`A`$, one has $`Av=w`$. This is a contradiction, since $`wR(A)`$. This contradiction proves that $`v_\delta `$ cannot converge. If $`A`$ is compact, then a similar argument proves that $`lim_{\delta 0}v_\delta =\mathrm{}`$.


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# On the relation between the propagators of dual theories

## Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to CNPq and CLAF for the invaluable financial help. A. P. Baêta Scarpelli ackowledges the Department of Physics of UFMG for the kind hospitality.


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# Infrared Photometry of Starless Dense Cores

## 1 Introduction

The first near infrared (NIR, $`\lambda =12.5`$ $`\mu `$m) observations of dark clouds were toward the Ophiuchus dark cloud complex by Grasdelen, Strom, and Strom (1973), who interpreted their observations as revealing the presence of an embedded star cluster. Pioneering studies such as this were hampered by their inability to distinguish between background field stars and embedded pre-main sequence (PMS) stars, as well as by their comparative lack of sensitivity compared with modern IR array based observations. Despite these problems, these initial surveys were able to detect small numbers of PMS objects in dark cloud regions, evaluate the reddening laws, and place lower limits on cloud dust extinctions. Visual extinctions for dark cloud complexes were typically found to be $`10`$ (Elias, 1978a, b; Hyland, 1981). Hyland (1981) reviewed the early work in this field and discussed the use of the $`JH`$ vs. $`HK`$ color-color plot as a powerful technique to discriminate PMS stars from field stars, laying the ground work for modern studies. The advent of NIR imaging brought a new impetus to NIR studies of dark clouds. Extensive surveys of cooler dust clouds, some known regions of low to intermediate mass star formation, have now been performed. These surveys have studied the embedded stellar content, probed the IMF, revealed the presence of brown dwarfs, and probed the mass distribution of molecular clouds (Evans, 1999; Lada, Alves, and Lada, 1999a; Lada, 1998; Wilking, 1997; Lada, 1990). Recent studies by Hillenbrand et al. (1998) have shown that in Taurus-Auriga the $`JH`$ vs. $`HK`$ color-color plot method has an efficiency of 60% in identifying stars with optical signatures of accretion disks, whereas $`HK`$ vs. $`KL`$ color-color plots have an efficiency of 100%. Therefore, while the $`JH`$ vs. $`HK`$ color-color plot method probably cannot be taken as an absolute discriminant against the presence of star-disk systems, it still remains a powerful diagnostic for the presence of star-disk systems in a statistical sense. Also, in spite of these limitations, compared with longer wavelength IR observations, the NIR has numerous inherent practical advantages such as easier wide field coverage and ground based telescope aperture and accessibility with acceptably low sky/telescope background. The resilience of NIR photometry to reddening is also excellent, especially in the $`K_s`$ passband ($`\lambda =22.35`$ $`\mu `$m), where $`A_KA_V/11`$.

Most studies to date have concentrated on wide area, low sensitivity surveys of large star cloud molecular complexes or in some instances individual optically cataloged Bok globules, while fewer systematic surveys of dense molecular cores in the IR have been made. We present here the results of sensitive ($`K_s17.219.8`$) NIR observations of dense cores found in dark clouds. These cores are lacking in associations with optically identified young stellar objects or embedded IRAS sources.

An abundance of evidence now indicates that galactic star formation occurs in cold ($`T=1020`$ K) dense ($`n10^4`$ cm-3) molecular cores either found as components of larger molecular cloud complexes or as isolated dark clouds. Dense cores are identified by surveying these clouds in radio and millimeter spectral lines that trace dense molecular gas such as NH3 and C18O (Myers, Linke, and Benson, 1983; Benson and Myers, 1989). Clear evidence exists that these regions represent a link to the earliest stages of star formation. For instance, dense cores are often found in close proximity to groups of T-Tauri stars. More directly, some dense cores are known to have embedded young stellar objects (YSO’s) or other indicators of embedded young stars. Star formation tracers associated with dense cores include Class 0 and I IRAS sources, HH objects, H2O masers, several types of emission line stars (or other low-mass stars with extreme spectral features and colors), and bipolar gas flows (Beichman et al., 1986; Jijina, Myers, and Adams, 1999). Naturally one is led to conjecture that dense cores represent an early stage of star formation: that of a self gravitating mass, portions of which are collapsing or have recently collapsed to form stars.

If such stars are undergoing gravitational collapse, the spectral signature for a line of modest optical depth ($`\tau 1`$) is that of an apparent blue-shifted profile (Hummer and Rybicki, 1968). Observations of YSO’s and Class 0 IRAS sources (often associated with dense cores) have shown significant excess of blue-shifted spectral profiles indicating a significant population of sources with inward motions (Zhou et al., 1993, 1994; Myers et al., 1995; Gregerson et al., 1997; Mardones et al., 1997). Most YSO’s are, however, also known to be associated with molecular outflows (bipolar flows), confusing the interpretation of spectral line data. Also, some observed inflows may not be truly ”star forming” as most of the stellar mass might have already been accumulated.

The molecular cores selected for study here are a small and special subset of the cores from the lists of Benson and Myers (1989) and Lee, Myers, and Tafalla (2001) and are of special interest as candidates for the very earliest stage of low mass star formation. Specifically, these objects have been selected according to the following criteria:

1) They are free of known associations with optically visible PMS objects, and in fact most optically visible stars in their denser regions (as ascertained from Palomar Observatory Sky Survey Plates).

2) Most are not IRAS sources and have no other indicators of embedded star formation.

3) They have, in some cases, a spectral signature in millimeter wave transitions consistent with cloud gas infall. Five of the cores discussed here (L1689B, L183B, TMC1, TMC2, and L158) are classified as either ”Strong Infall Candidates” or ”Probable Infall Candidates” based a velocity analysis of extensive mapping in the CS(2-1), N2H+(1-0), and C18O(1-0) lines (Lee, Myers, and Tafalla, 2001).

4) They are well studied at other wavelengths, are relatively nearby ($`d450`$pc), and have projected molecular core sizes well matched to the $``$ few arcminute scales of current NIR imaging cameras.

The objectives of our study here will be to:

1) Provide a further sensitive diagnostic of the embedded stellar or brown dwarf content of the dense cores allowing a less ambiguous interpretation of the gas velocity structure (i.e. infall vs. outflow) and clarifying the evolutionary state of these cores.

2) Measure the mass and density of the cores independent of methods based on molecular line observations which rely on numerous assumptions regarding molecule and grain chemistry, excitation physics, and radiative transfer.

3) Provide information on the spatial distribution and organization of the core gas in terms of central concentration and clumpiness.

## 2 Observations and data reduction

The observations were carried out in two observing runs at the 1 m Swope Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, and one on the 60 inch telescope at Palomar Observatory. Infrared cameras utilizing the Rockwell NICMOS3 256 X 256 HgCdTe array were used. The camera used for the 60 inch telescope observations is an Offner reimager- based, all reflective design described in Murphy et al. (1995). The infrared camera used on the 1 m Swope telescope is also an Offner reimager camera, very similar in design to that described by Murphy et al. (1995), differing only in optical details primarily related to the fact that it is deployed on a telescope with a different focal ratio. The field-of-view (FOV) and plate scale of both cameras is nearly the same at 2.6’ X 2.6’ and 0.60” pixel-1, respectively. Table 1 summarizes the observational parameters.

Frames at $`J,H`$, and $`K_s`$ were obtained for all core positions, with typical integration times of several hundred seconds per filter, per core. The core positions (Table 2) were taken from the peaks of NH$`{}_{}{}^{+}{}_{2}{}^{}`$ and NH3 emission line maps, both tracers of dense gas and velocity structure diagnostics. In the cases of L1709A and L1696B (which don’t have published maps), the center of the IR frame is estimated to be approximately 50” east and 70” northeast of the published NH3 positions, respectively, as these positions better define the overall the optical core. The final $`JHK_s`$ images are elongated N-S from the intrinsic 2.6’ X 2.6’ camera fields by $`1040\mathrm{"}`$ as the telescope was dithered N-S a few times per color so that sky frames could be built from the data themselves as is standard with IR imaging. Twilight flats were taken at sunset and sometimes sunrise, and standard stars taken from Persson et al. (1998) were systematically observed throughout the night. Darks were taken for all integration times used, usually at the beginning and end of the night, as well as during the night if time allowed (such as just after a standard star measurement). The seeing ranged from 0.9 - 2.0” (FWHM), depending on the telescope, site, airmass, and night, with typical values being close to 1” for the Las Campanas observations and 1.5” being typical for the poorer Palomar 60 inch site.

The data were reduced using IRAF and a standard set of scripts developed for this purpose at the Carnegie Observatories. All data frames were first linearized. Following this, all dark frames, and frames taken at the same position in the sky were averaged with a sigma clipping algorithm enabled to eliminate cosmic ray hits. Averaged dark frames were then subtracted from all data frames and the resultant dark-subtracted images were flat fielded using normalized twilight flats.

An iterative approach to sky subtraction was used to reduce the data. The point of the iterative operation is to suppress the residual stellar artifacts that would remain on a sky frame after conventional direct medianing, thus improving the accuracy of stellar photometry. Starting with the *dithered image frames* across each core position, i.e. linearized dark-subtracted flattened images, sky subtracted *final mosaics* were created by the following process. A median averaged sky frame was formed from all *dithered image frames*. This now star-free sky frame was further flattened with Sextractor to form a *first order sky* (Bertin and Arnouts, 1996). This *first order sky* was subtracted from each *dithered image frame* to produce *reduced first order dither image frames*. Stars were then identified interactively on each of these *reduced first order dither image frames* and their $`(x,y)`$ positions were logged to a disk file. The second iteration of the mosaic creation process begins by returning to the *dithered image frames* and using the saved $`(x,y)`$ stellar positions to clean them of stars to form *star-free dithered image frames*. This second pass used a script based on the IRAF task imedit. The *star-free dithered image frames* were then medianed to obtain a *final sky* for each core at each color. Finally, the *final sky* was subtracted from the original *dithered image frames*, the resultant images were aligned and shifted using a fiducial reference star and sigma-clipped averaged to form a *final mosaic* at the core position. In a few cases the *final mosaic* was further processed by Sextractor to remove residual curvature.

To measure the magnitudes of the stars, the standards calibration was applied to each final mosaic, and aperture photometry performed by hand on individual stars using an IRAF script based on the IRAF *phot* routine. The brightest stars in a clean area of the frame were generally used to define the PSF for aperture photometry, although in cases where bright stars were not present, the PSF was determined from bright stars on the frames of other sources observed on the same night (at the same color). Aperture corrections to the photometry of each star were estimated individually by graphically superimposing on the growth curve of every star the PSF. By shifting the PSF through a range of allowable fits, as determined by inspection, a range of possible aperture corrections was determined for every star. The errors in the photometry listed in Tables 3-10 are a quadrature combination of this full range, a statistical error due to photon noise on the mosaic, and a sigma determined from the set of all measurements of a standard star for that night. For faint stars, the errors are essentially dominated by the PSF fitting error, and for bright stars by the repeatable accuracy of measuring standard stars (since the bright stars all had well determined PSF’s). The statistical sigmas determined from standards measurements are based on between 9 and 24 independent measurements per night, with an average of 13 measurements per night. These errors represent an absolute and well-determined floor to the photometric errors. For the fainter stars, we feel our error estimates tend to be on the generous side due to the approximate nature of our graphical fit and the fact that we roughly doubled the theoretical true error.

## 3 Results

The data are presented in the form of tables summarizing the photometry, processed images at each color, and $`JH`$ vs. $`HK_s`$ color-color diagrams.

Table 2 list the approximate center positions of the final image mosaics given in Figures 1-4 and their value in J2000.0 coordinates. The positional errors for the 1 m Swope observations ($`\pm 10\mathrm{"}`$ ) are higher due to the poorer pointing accuracy of this telescope, and bearing in mind that optical reference stars in the fields are not available because of the generally star-free nature of the sources.

Tables 3-10 summarizes the photometry for each source. The columns give a running number identifying each star, the $`JHK_s`$ magnitudes, $`JH`$ and $`HK_s`$ colors, and a reddening measure. Five sigma lower limits are estimated for each magnitude and color and are given in the table columns and are summarized in Table 11. To place these detection limits in a practical perspective, the last column Table 11 presents the visual extinction A$`{}_{V}{}^{}(lim)`$ through which a 1 M, solar abundance, $`1X10^6`$ year old star should be detectable, assuming the core distances of Table 2, the reddening law of Koornneef (1983), and M$`{}_{J}{}^{}=2.34`$ (Siess, Dufour, and Forestini, 2000).

In some cases the limiting magnitudes are fainter for redder colors despite the fact that observations at redder colors in the NIR are less sensitive due to higher background for the same integration time. This reversal of the normal state-of-affairs was due to the lack of detectable stars at $`J`$ or $`H`$, meaning that dithered frames could not be stacked together so that integration times at these bluer wavebands were less. Photometry and colors for a particular star are not given if for some reason a reliable value could not be obtained from the data, such as if the star is beyond or at the edge of the mosaic (specifically noted) or for any other reason a PSF fit could not be obtained (denoted by ellipsis in the table entries). The stars in Tables 3-10 are marked in Figures 1-4 on the image mosaic used for their identification, usually the $`K_s`$ mosaic.

The last column of Tables 3-10, the reddening measure $`A_V(K5)`$, is an attempt to provide a relative measure of the core reddening. Calculated here is the optical extinction assuming that the typical background star is K5 main sequence (MS). Following the reddening law of Koornneef (1983), this is taken to be

$$A_V(K5)=15.385E(HK),$$
(1)
where $`E(HK)`$ is the color excess given by

$$E(HK)=(HK)(HK)_{K5}.$$
(2)
Deriving $`(HK)=0.16`$ from Table 3 of Koornneef (1983), we obtain

$$A_V(K5)=15.385[(HK)0.160].$$
(3)
This calculation is also performed for stars that have only $`JH`$ lower limits and in such case would be a meaningful quantity if the star was field type as opposed to being a young star with a luminous disk embedded in the cloud. We note that the seemingly simplistic assumption that the typical background star is a K5 with $`HK=0.16`$ actually introduces a maximum error of only $``$ $`\pm 2.3`$ magnitudes into the extinction estimate given by (3). This is because the intrinsic range of $`HK`$ values for dwarfs and giants for spectral types A0 to M ranges only from 0.0 to 0.3 magnitudes (Koornneef, 1983). A detailed discussion of this issue is given by Alves et al. (1998) and Lada et al. (1994). By way of example, these authors measured extinction free comparison fields for the dark clouds IC5146 and L977 yielding $`HK`$ = 0.13 $`\pm 0.01`$ and $`HK`$ = 0.20 $`\pm 0.13`$, respectively.

Figures 5-12 give $`JH`$ vs. $`HK_s`$ color-color plots for each core. The MS and reddening vectors of Koornneef (1983) are plotted on each diagram. Following Lada and Adams (1992) we have marked the reddened positions of stars projected off the MS at $`A_V`$ 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 (where applicable) with X’s. Lada and Adams (1992) provide a detailed observational and theoretical classification of YSO’s in the $`JH`$ vs. $`HK_s`$ color-color plane. Lower limits (or in a few cases upper limits) on colors are indicated by arrows along the direction of the undetermined color. These are mostly lower limits on $`JH`$. In these plots, and all calculations, we have assumed that $`K_s=K`$ which will introduce a negligible error in our analysis, particularly in light of the other uncertainties in the photometry, reddening law, and intrinsic spectral nature of the detected stars (Persson et al., 1998; Rubio et al., 1998). The individual objects are discussed in detail in the following sections.

### 3.1 L1709A

Of the cores discussed here, L1709A had the most number of stellar objects detected in the IR: Colors or limits are presented for 39 stars in Table 3. Figure 1 displays the $`JHK_s`$ mosaics and identifies the stars.

This core, despite its complete absence of optically identified stars on the digitized Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS), exhibits stars in the infrared and shows an excess of stars with increasing infrared wavelength. The color-color plot Figure 5 indicates that nearly every star with plottable colors has colors consistent with being a reddened field star. The one possible exception is IR11 which is in a region of the color-color plot consistent with it being a classical T-Tauri star (CTTS) just slightly to the right of the reddened MS. We note that even this result is suspect since this data point has large error bars. The reddening measure (Table 3, col. 7) indicates that the L1709A stars range from unreddened to $`A_V(K5)=23.6`$ with $`<A_V(K5)>=12.2`$.

### 3.2 L1582A

L1582A was the second most populous object in terms of the number of stars detected. Colors or limits are presented for 17 stars (Table 4). Figure 1 displays the $`JHK_s`$ mosaics and identifies the stars.

As with L1709A, this core displays numerous visible IR stars increasing in number with wavelength, despite the fact that only two visible stars are detected on the POSS. The color-color plot Figure 6 indicates that all stars with plottable colors but one, IR5, have colors consistent with being field or reddened field stars. IR5 is in the classical T-Tauri star region (CTTS) of the color-color plot consistent with it being a young stellar object (Lada and Adams, 1992). We note that this result is somewhat in doubt since this star is near the edge of the $`K_s`$ frame, probably degrading the quality of the photometry. The reddening measure for L1582A (Table 4, col. 7) varies from A$`{}_{v}{}^{}=1.5`$ to $`27.9`$.

### 3.3 L158

This core is devoid of stars on the POSS, but may be associated with the Class I IRAS source 16445-1352, located approximately 2’ north of the molecular core center position and at the projected northern edge of the core. This IRAS source is $`30\mathrm{"}`$ north of the northern boundary of our IR frame (Lee, Myers, and Tafalla, 2001; Bontemps et al., 1996). Stars are seen in our NIR frame with colors or limits being provided for eight stars in Table 5. Figure 2 displays the $`JHK_s`$ mosaic and identifies the stars.

The six plottable stars on the color-color diagram Figure 7 indicate field or reddened field stars except IR6 which displays colors consistent with it being a CTTS. We note however, that IR6 has very large error bars and is faint. Furthermore the $`HK_s`$ error bar is nearly consistent with it being on the reddened main sequence. The $`JHK_s`$ frames clearly show a greater visibility of stars with increasing wavelength. The reddening measure ranges from $`A_V(K5)=1.0`$ to $`34.3`$ (Table 5, col. 7).

### 3.4 TMC1

In the literature, TMC1 is often considered associated with the Class I IRAS 04381+2540 although we note that this object is 6’ west and 1.8’ north of the molecular core center position and well outside the boundary of our IR observations (Chandler, Barsony, and Moore, 1998). Several stars are detected in our NIR frame, with colors or limits being given for given 11 stars in Table 6. Figure 2 displays the $`JHK_s`$ mosaics and identifies the stars.

The nine plottable stars on the color-color diagram Figure 8 indicate that all stars have colors consistent with being highly reddened field stars although definitive statements cannot be made regarding stars with $`JH`$ lower limits. The three stars found at the rightmost portion of the color-color diagram with $`JH`$ lower limits are either highly reddened field stars, or PMS stars judging from the colors alone. The $`JHK_s`$ images show a greater visibility of stars with wavelength, in fact only two stars had measurable $`J`$ magnitudes. The reddening measures ranged from 12.6 to a remarkable 46.2, the greatest of all 67 extinction values reported in this paper.

### 3.5 L1696B

Colors or limits are presented for 12 stars towards the L1696B core (Table 7). Figure 3 identifies the stars and displays the $`H`$ and $`K_s`$ mosaics (no stars were detected at $`J`$).

Of the six plottable stars on the color-color diagram of Figure 9, two are clearly consistent with being field stars, while four are either very reddened stars or PMS objects judging from their colors alone. As is typical with all the cores, the images show a greater visibility of stars with wavelength. The reddening measures range from 18.4 to 36.0.

### 3.6 L134A

Colors or limits are presented for three stars towards the L134A core (Table 8). Figure 3 identifies the stars and display the $`H`$ and $`K_s`$ mosaics (no stars were detected at $`J`$).

All three stars are plotted on the color-color diagram Figure 10 as points with $`JH`$ lower limits. Technically these are either PMS stars or highly reddened field stars. The reddening measures for these stars are 18.8, 16.5, 24.4.

### 3.7 TMC2

Colors or limits are presented for seven stars (Table 9) towards the TMC2 core. Figure 4 identifies the stars and displays the $`H`$ and $`K_s`$ mosaics (no stars were detected at $`J`$).

Only three of the stars were plottable on the color-color diagram (IR3, IR6, and IR7) and these only with $`JH`$ lower limits making their nature uncertain (Fig. 11). The reddening measures for these stars are 33.9, 23.4, and 26.6 for IR3, IR6, and IR7, respectively.

### 3.8 L183B

Colors or limits are presented for three stars towards the L183B core (Table 10). Figure 4 identifies the stars and displays the $`H`$ and $`K_s`$ mosaics (no stars were detected at $`J`$).

Only one star (IR3) was plottable on the color-color diagram, and although it only has a $`JH`$ lower limit, its colors are consistent with it being a reddened field star (Fig. 12). This core is the closest to being truly free of any associated stars of the sources studied here, displaying no detections at $`J`$ and only one star in the $`H`$ frame. IR3 has a reddening measure of 9.7.

## 4 Discussion

These dense cores, all initially considered to be nearly star-free in the optical and IRAS data, have in fact been shown to have numerous near infrared stellar detections projected near their centers. This result indicates the marginal utility of relying on survey optical plates to identify star-free dust clouds.

The color-color plots of these stars indicate, in the case where all three magnitudes are available, that nearly all have colors consistent with field stars, often highly reddened ones. Three stars discussed above have colors *possibly* consistent with an identification as PMS objects, but the evidence for this is very weak as these stars have, in all cases, arguably underestimated photometric errors. Reobservation of these stars, and if necessary, infrared spectroscopy on a large telescope could clarify this situation. There is no evidence of any substantial embedded stellar population in any of the sources (such as a star cluster).

There are many stars in our fields that are evident only at one or two colors ($`H`$ and $`K_s`$), preventing their classification by use of the $`JH/HK_s`$ diagram. Our data do not allow us to make a definitive judgement as to the nature of these objects, although some useful constraints can be placed on their nature. As is evident from inspection of Figures 1-4, there is a clear tendency for all stars to be anti-correlated positionally with the core centers suggesting that all the detected stars are background stars. If any of the $`H`$ and $`K_s`$ only, or $`K_s`$ only detected stars are core associated they are necessarily very young since statistical estimates of core lifetimes range from 0.3 - 1.6 Myr, and star formation and core dissipation times occur within a few crossing times (Elmegreen, 2000; Lee and Myers, 1999). If the one and two band detected objects are embedded star/disk systems, IRAS observations allow us to put some constraints on their properties. Assuming complete conversion of star/disk system photons into far infrared photons, and integrating the IRAS completeness limits (12 $`\mu `$m, 0.4 Jy), (25 $`\mu `$m, 0.5 Jy), (60 $`\mu `$m, 0.6 Jy), and (100 $`\mu `$m, 1.0 Jy) numerically between 12 and 100 $`\mu `$m, we obtain stellar luminosity detection thresholds of 0.043, 0.084, 0.12, and 0.69 L at 100, 140, 165, and 400 pc, respectively. These IRAS limits, taken from the IRAS explanatory supplement, are determined for galactic latitude $`b>`$ 50° and may underestimate the true completeness limits since our cores are at lower galactic latitutes. The above luminosities convert approximately to stellar masses of 0.08, 0.11, 0.13, and 0.3 M assuming a 1X$`10^6`$ year old star, where the theoretical isochrones of D’Antona and Mazzitelli as presented in Wilking, Greene, and Meyer (1999), and Siess, Dufour, and Forestini (2000) have been used. Consider, for example a core at 100 pc, with a 1X$`10^6`$ year old 0.08 M star which would have an $`H`$ absolute magnitude of $``$ 5.5 (Weintraub et al., 2000). Taking the $`H`$ detection limit for L183B from Table 11, a distance modulus of 5, and the reddening law from Koornneef (1983), indicates that such a star would necessarily suffer 53 magnitudes of visual extinction to evade detection at $`H`$. Such an extinction value, while quite high, is not precluded by our data.

The mean extinction measure as defined above is tabulated for each case in Table 12. To the extent that this measure indicates a reasonable indication of cloud optical extinction one can say that core extinctions range from 10 to about 30 magnitudes with a grand average of 19.4. The largest mean extinction was towards TMC1 (30.3), which also had the most reddened star IR7 with $`A_V(K5)=46.2`$. Deeper and longer integrations on larger telescopes will be necessary to penetrate to the inner regions of these cores in the near infrared. These substantial extinctions clearly underestimate the true core extinctions, since, as is evident from the mosaic images in Figures 1-4, the detected stars strongly avoid the central regions of the cores. Our measured peak extinctions are a factor of $`10`$ higher than that determined by optical star counts of dark cloud regions and a factor of $`24`$ higher than that for the self gravitating, but non-starforming globule B68 recently surveyed to its core in the NIR (Alves, Lada, and Lada, 2001; Cernicharo and Bachiller, 1984). Furthermore, our extinctions tend to be slightly higher than the wide area NIR extinction surveys of IC5146 and L977 (Lada, Alves, and Lada, 1999a). Our extinctions *are* generally comparable to, or less than absolute extinctions values found in starless prestellar cores from submillimeter-wave continuum surveys, consistent with the fact that our values are lower limits (Ward-Thompson, Motte, and Andre, 1999; Visser, Richer, and Chandler, 2001).

The IR data allows us to estimate a lower limit to the core densities for six cores where a clear boundary was defined on $`K_s`$ images by the outermost stars. The area of a polygon formed by these stars was calculated using core distances taken from the literature (summarized in Table 2). The ordered star list forming the polygon boundary for each core is given in Table 13. The geometric core radius $`\sqrt{A}`$ was divided into the core extinction measure from Table 12, and then multiplied by the standard factor of 0.95X1021 cm-2 mag-1 (taking $`A_V=3.1E(BV)`$) to obtain an estimated lower limit on the total density of H2 \+ H (Bohlin, Savage, and Drake, 1978). This method also allows a rough estimate on the core mass lower limit given by n$`{}_{tot}{}^{}A_{}^{3/2}m_{H2}`$, where $`m_{H2}`$ is the mean mass of an H2 molecule in the ISM, taken to be 2.3 times the mass of the hydrogen atom. The results of these calculations are given in Table 13. The densities, masses, and radii are all typical of dense cores in dark clouds. The density lower limit for L1582A is in agreement with the value of 1.6X$`10^4`$ of Jijina, Myers, and Adams (1999) determined from centimeter wave NH3 inversion line data, while our density for L158 is an order of magnitude higher than the Jijina, Myers, and Adams (1999) value. Considering that our densities are lower limits, the L158 result is unlikely to be due to geometric uncertainties, suggesting a possible breakdown of NH3 molecule as a probe of these high densities. Similar effects have been reported for C18O, which is found to be correlated with $`A_V`$ only up to $`A_V10`$ (Kramer et al., 1999).

Given the fact that we do not image all the way through the cores to background stars at $`K_s`$, it is reasonable to consider how likely a very faint low mass T-Tauri star or brown dwarf could, if located near the center of the cores, evade detection. In Table 14 we have calculated the faintest detectable absolute magnitude corresponding to a star or brown dwarf if located at the center of each core. To estimate MJ, this calculation assumes the reddening law of Koornneef (1983), extinctions to the centers of half the values given in Table 12, cloud distances from Table 2, and the detection limits from Table 11. Also given in Table 14 is $`M_{det}`$, an estimate of the mass of a star or brown dwarf corresponding to this $`M_J`$. These masses were taken from the evolutionary calculations given in Weintraub et al. (2000) assuming an upper limit of $``$ 1.6 X $`10^6`$ yr for the star age based on core age estimates taken from Lee and Myers (1999). Considering that the hydrogen burning limit is about 0.08 M, the results of this simple model indicate that in all cases except for L1696B our observations can plausibly rule out the presence of any low mass stars. In the case of L1696B, the model rules out the presence of all but the very faintest low mass stars just above the hydrogen burning limit. In the case of L1709A and L183B, brown dwarfs fainter than 0.01 M should be detectable, corresponding to objects of only 10 Jupiter masses. Our results are consistent with the findings of the recent VLA 3.6 cm survey of Harvey et al. (2002) which failed to detect embedded sources in four of our cores (TMC1, TMC2, L158, and L183) and placed upper limits of $`0.1`$ L(d/140 pc)2 on the luminosities of embedded protostellar objects. We emphasize that our model results are somewhat tentative and will require deeper NIR observations as well as follow-up $`L`$ band photometry to confirm.

The extinction estimates in Table 12 may in some cases underestimate the true core extinctions and that it is possible that a star or brown dwarf could ”hide” on the far side of a core. For instance, Ward-Thompson, Motte, and Andre (1999) show that within a 13 arcsec beam, peak H2 column densities implying extinctions ranging from $`A_V=61`$ to $`A_V=232`$ are found in prestellar dense cores similar to the sample studied here. On the other hand, the chance that an associated star could avoid detection is reduced if the associated star has an age in the middle of the likely range 0.3-1.6 Myr, discussed above, instead of the upper limit on age, 1.6 Myr, we adopted earlier. If the recent conjecture of Elmegreen (2000) is correct, that star formation time occurs in a crossing time, late-type deeply embedded stars would probably be $``$ 105 yr in age otherwise core dissipation should have followed. Although the evolutionary calculations given in Weintraub et al. (2000) cut on at 1 X 106 yr, extrapolating from their Figure 5 (which plots $`M_J`$ vs. age) indicates that for ages $`<`$ 1X106 yr significantly lower mass limits than given in Table 14 for L1709A, L1582A, TMC1, L134A, and L183B are indicated. This is a result of the expected sharply rising intrinsic luminosity of these objects with younger age.

The estimated individual stellar extinctions in Tables 3-10 show considerable scatter, and generally speaking our data are too few to make detailed statements concerning the nature of the clumpiness of the extincting dust. This is natural of course as these sources were selected to be in star-free fields to begin with. For similar reasons it is not possible to make an estimate of cloud density profiles. However it is clear from Tables 3-10 and Figures 1-4 that column density contrasts ranging from $``$ 1.5 - 34 exist in the clouds over scales of $``$ 0.05 pc, comparable to submillimeter continuum results (Ward-Thompson, Motte, and Andre, 1999; Visser, Richer, and Chandler, 2001).

In order to ascertain if such column density variations are random in nature or a result of under sampling a systematic density profile, we can further analyze L1709A and L1582A, the two cores with enough stars to perhaps make statistical arguments plausible and ask if our results are consistent with the study of Lada, Alves, and Lada (1999b) (and references therein). These studies consider $`\sigma _{A_V}A_V`$ correlations, where $`A_V`$ is the mean optical extinction calculated from all stars in a given projected area, and $`\sigma _{A_V}`$ is the standard deviation in $`A_V`$ for all stellar values in that same area. This relationship can be used to distinguish the true nature of the underlying continuous extinction from undersampled data.

In an extensive study of the dark cloud IC 5146 employing $``$ 2000 stars, Lada, Alves, and Lada (1999b) found a linear ($`\sigma _{A_V}`$, $`A_V`$) relationship. This relationship has a slope dependent on spatial filter size. Based on Monte Carlo density models constructed for IC 5146, Lada, Alves, and Lada (1999b) showed that a smoothly decreasing density distribution falling off as $`r^2`$ in a cylindrical cloud could explain the measured $`\sigma _{A_V}A_V`$ relationships. The spatial filter size most relevant to our data is the 90” value since this covers the largest cloud fraction (IC 5146), as opposed to the same linear cloud size (our data sample is taken over the entire cloud). We note that at the distance of L1582A this 90” pixel is nearly the same linear dimension as in the Lada, Alves, and Lada (1999b) study since IC 5146 is at about the same distance (400pc). For this spatial filter, these authors obtained

$$\sigma _{A_V}1.0+0.41A_V.$$
(4)
Here $`\sigma _{A_V}`$ is the mean standard deviation and $`A_V`$ the mean optical extinction inside a 90”extinction map pixel. These authors do not give the error bars or intercepts of their fit for the 90” pixel case, so the intercept has been estimated from their Figure 10 and the intercept and slope errors are assumed similar to their equation 5, i.e. 0.11, and 0.01, respectively. A similar relation, but with a slope of $`0.40\pm 0.02`$ and intercept $`1.93\pm 0.11`$, was obtained by Alves et al. (1998) for a sample of 1628 stars spanning a major fraction of the optically visible extinction towards the dark cloud L977. Applying the both the Lada, Alves, and Lada (1999b) and Alves et al. (1998) results to the $`A_V(K5)`$ values of Table 12 predicts $`\sigma _{A_V}6.06.8`$ for L1709A, and $`\sigma _{A_V}5.66.4`$ for L1582A. We calculate from all values in Tables 3 and 4, $`\sigma _{A_V(K5)}=5.9`$ and $`\sigma _{A_V(K5)}=9.2`$ for L1709A and L1582A, respectively.

Despite the considerable uncertainties in these comparisons, it is unlikely that the $`\sigma _{A_V}`$ values derived from our data are the result of extinction due to either random clumpiness or a uniform smooth density distribution. For instance, if the extinction variation is due to completely random clumps in the line-of-sight, we would expect an approximately Poisson distributed distribution yielding $`\sigma _{A_V(K5)}[<A_V(K5)>+\sigma _{obs}^2]^{1/2}`$. Taking $`<A_V(K5)>`$ values from Table 12 and a liberal estimation of $`\sigma _{obs}=2.3`$ from section 3 above predicts $`\sigma _{A_V(K5)}=4.2`$ and $`\sigma _{A_V(K5)}=4.1`$ for L1709A and L1582A, respectively. On the other hand, if L1709A and L1582A were covered by a uniform veil of extinction with no density variation one would expect $`\sigma _{A_V(K5)}\sigma _{obs}`$, yielding $`\sigma _{A_V(K5)}2.3`$ for L1709A and L1582A, respectively. Both these scenarios predict $`\sigma _{A_V(K5)}`$ values below those measured, particularly in the case of L1582A, tending to rule out these two possibilities.

## 5 Conclusions

We have studied eight dense cores with deep $`JHK_s`$ photometry in the NIR, five of which exhibit extended ”infall asymmetry” in the CS 2-1 millimeter wave transition (Lee, Myers, and Tafalla, 2001). The main result of this study is, that based on the location of the detected stellar objects in the $`JH`$ vs. $`HK_s`$ color-color plane, there is no substantial evidence for an association of the cores with embedded star-disk systems. We note that while our observations are sensitive enough to detect a 1 M, $`1X10^6`$ year old star through $``$ 35 - 50 magnitudes of optical extinction, the data show that we have not fully probed the core centers and a full census of the embedded star-disk system content will require both deeper NIR and longer wavelength IR observations. We note as well that although (as shown by Hillenbrand et al. (1998)) the $`JH`$ vs. $`HK_s`$ color-color plane method is a less than perfect diagnostic of the presence of star-disk systems, it should statistically reveal the presence of such systems if they are within our detection limits unless they are very rare. The cores are found to have mean extinction lower limits of between $`A_V1030`$ with individual positions showing minimum extinctions as high as $`A_V=46`$. The extinctions we measure are only lower limits and probably underestimate the true core extinctions. These extinctions are significantly higher than typical dark clouds or globules such as B68 determined either from optical or NIR surveys, but are consistent with submillimeter continuum surveys of starless cores. An analysis of individual cloud extinctions indicate column density contrasts of $``$ 1.5 - 34 over scales of $`0.05`$ pc. A simple model suggests the cores may lack stellar objects down to at least the hydrogen burning limit in all cases except L1696B. This model result should be regarded as tentative since it is based on a variety of assumptions regarding the true core extinction, star ages, star cloud location, and the completeness of the $`JH`$ vs. $`HK`$ method as a diagnostic of embedded star-disk systems. Using the extinction data we are able to estimate core densities and masses and have found them to be consistent with estimates determined from radio molecular line observations. A statistical analysis of the variation in extinction for L1709A and L1582A as characterized by $`\sigma _{A_V(K5)}`$ is inconsistent with either a random or uniform density structure and may suggest a smoothly varying systematic density distribution.

We thank Chang Won Lee for assistance with the observations. We thank the staffs of Las Campanas and and Palomar observatories for their assistance. We thank Eric Persson for supplying supplying the data reduction scripts and providing invaluable advice on the data reduction process. Phil Myers gratefully acknowledges support from NASA grant NAG5-6266.