public function normVector($fieldName)
    {
        $fieldNum = $this->getFieldNum($fieldName);

        if ($fieldNum == -1  ||  !($this->_fields[$fieldNum]->isIndexed)) {
            $similarity = Zend_Search_Lucene_Search_Similarity::getDefault();

            return str_repeat(chr($similarity->encodeNorm( $similarity->lengthNorm($fieldName, 0) )),
                              $this->_docCount);
        }

        if (!isset($this->_norms[$fieldNum])) {
            $this->_loadNorm($fieldNum);
        }

        return $this->_norms[$fieldNum];
    }