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# EUVE Observations of OY Carinae in Superoutburst

## 1 Introduction

Cataclysmic variables (CVs) are a diverse class of semidetached binaries composed typically of a low-mass main-sequence secondary, an accreting white dwarf, and a luminous accretion disk. There are three generalized classes of CVs: novae, novalike variables, and dwarf novae. In dwarf novae, a mass-transfer instability causes the disk to brighten by 3–5 magnitudes in the optical at quasi-periodic intervals of tens to hundreds of days. Based on their light curve morphologies, most dwarf novae are classified as either U Gem systems with “normal” outbursts only, Z Cam systems with “normal” outbursts and prolonged states of intermediate brightness (“standstills”), or SU UMa systems with “normal” and “super” (brighter, longer-duration) outbursts. Nonmagnetic novalike variables behave like dwarf novae “stuck” in outburst. Warner (1995) provides an excellent background on all of the various CV types and subtypes, while Cannizzo (1993) and Osaki (1996) provide recent reviews of the theory of dwarf nova outbursts.

While the white dwarf and accretion disk are the dominant sources of optical through FUV light in dwarf novae, the boundary layer between the disk and the surface of the white dwarf is the dominant source of higher-energy emission. Modulo a correction factor for white dwarf rotation, the boundary layer luminosity $`L_{\mathrm{bl}}=GM_{\mathrm{wd}}\dot{M}_\mathrm{a}/2R_{\mathrm{wd}}4\times 10^{34}(\dot{M}_\mathrm{a}/10^8\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1)\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$, where $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{a}`$ is the accretion rate and $`M_{\mathrm{wd}}`$ and $`R_{\mathrm{wd}}`$ are respectively the mass and radius of the white dwarf. When $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{a}`$ is low (e.g., dwarf novae in quiescence), the boundary layer is optically thin and quite hot (of order the virial temperature $`T_{\mathrm{vir}}=GM_{\mathrm{wd}}m_\mathrm{H}/3kR_{\mathrm{wd}}\mathrm{tens}`$ of keV; Pringle & Savonije 1979; Tylenda 1981; Narayan & Popham 1993); when $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{a}`$ is high (e.g., novalike variables and dwarf novae in outburst), the boundary layer is optically thick and quite cool (of order the blackbody temperature $`T_{\mathrm{bb}}=[GM_{\mathrm{wd}}\dot{M}_\mathrm{a}/8\pi \sigma R_{\mathrm{wd}}^3]^{1/4}100`$ kK; Pringle 1977; Tylenda 1977; Popham & Narayan 1995).

Observationally, the location and extent of the source of the X-rays in nonmagnetic CVs is constrained by (1) the X-ray light curves of eclipsing systems, (2) the variation of apparent emission measure with binary inclination (van Teeseling, Beuermann, & Verbunt, 1996), and (3) the relative strength of the line and continuum spectrum reflected off the white dwarf and accretion disk (e.g., Done & Osborne, 1997). All these constraints imply that all or most of the hard X-rays in low-$`\dot{M}`$ CVs are emitted very close to the white dwarf, but the eclipse observations provide the most direct and unambiguous evidence. In HT Cas ($`i81^{}`$; Wood et al. 1995; Mukai et al. 1997), Z Cha ($`i82^{}`$; van Teeseling 1997), and OY Car ($`i83^{}`$; Pratt et al. 1999a) in quiescence, the X-rays are fully eclipsed for an orbital phase interval comparable to that of the optical eclipse of the white dwarf.

In contrast to the compact source of hard X-rays in low-$`\dot{M}`$ CVs, there is strong evidence for an extended source of soft X-rays in high-$`\dot{M}`$ CVs. EXOSAT and ROSAT light curves of OY Car in superoutburst (Naylor et al., 1988; Pratt et al., 1999b) and ROSAT light curves of the novalike variable UX UMa ($`i71^{}`$; Wood, Naylor, & Marsh 1995) rule out an eclipse by the secondary of a compact source of X-rays centered on the white dwarf. In both cases, it is argued that the boundary layer is obscured from view by the accretion disk at all orbital phases, and that the observed X-rays come from a corona or wind above the disk.

The situation is far more complex in U Gem ($`i70^{}`$). In quiescence, the hard X-rays are partially eclipsed at orbital phase $`\varphi 0.7`$ (Szkody et al., 1996), and during outburst the EUV and soft X-rays are partially eclipsed at orbital phases $`\varphi 0.7`$ and 0.1 (Mason et al., 1988; Long et al., 1996). These dips in the X-ray and EUV light curves are interpreted as partial eclipses of the boundary layer by vertical structure at the edge of the accretion disk ($`r4\times 10^{10}`$ cm) or at the circularization radius of the accretion stream ($`r5\times 10^9`$ cm); in either case, the heights above the orbital plane are distressingly large: $`h0.5r`$, whereas the disk thickness $`Hc_\mathrm{s}/\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{K}r`$. The EUVE spectra of U Gem in outburst supply additional diagnostic information. The phase-averaged spectrum contains emission lines of Ne VI–VIII, Mg VI–VII, and Fe VII–X superposed on a $`T=110`$–140 kK blackbody continuum (Long et al., 1996). The phase-resolved spectra demonstrate that the eclipses affect the continuum more strongly than the lines (most strikingly, the Ne VIII $`\lambda 88.1`$ line is nearly unaffected by the eclipses; see Mauche 1997), implying that the lines are produced in a region of larger extent than that of the continuum, which presumably is formed in the boundary layer.

To gain a better understanding of the extended source of soft X-rays in high-$`\dot{M}`$ CVs, we obtained EUVE observations of the eclipsing SU UMa-type dwarf nova OY Car in superoutburst. The resulting data are superior to those from the previous EXOSAT and ROSAT observations because of the longer time on source, the larger number of eclipses observed, the higher count rate in the detector, and the ability to obtain dispersed EUV spectra. We discuss the EUVE observations in §2, the DS light curve in §3, and the SW spectrum in §4. We find that there is little or no eclipse of the EUV emission region in OY Car in superoutburst (§3), and that the EUV spectrum contains emission lines of intermediate ionization stages of N, O, Ne, Mg, and Fe (§4). The spectrum is not fit well in detail by a model of a collisionally ionized plasma (§5), and although it is fit well by a model wherein radiation from the boundary layer and accretion disk is scattered into the line of sight by OY Car’s accretion disk wind (§6), radiation pressure alone falls an order of magnitude short of driving the wind (§7). We close in §8 with a discussion and summary of our results.

## 2 EUVE Observations

The events leading up to the EUVE observations of OY Car are as follows. On 1997 Mar 25.46 UT M. Mattiazzo posted an alert to VSNET (#802) and the AAVSO that OY Car had gone into outburst. On Mar 25.76 this alert was transmitted to us by J. Mattei, Director of the AAVSO. Less than an hour after being contacted by us (and despite the fact that the EUVE Peer Review was ongoing), EUVE Acting Deputy Director J. Vallerga granted our request for target-of-opportunity observations of OY Car. On Mar 26.13 M. Keane, responding to a request posted by us to VSNET (#804), provided independent confirmation of the outburst in the form of an image of the OY Car field obtained by N. Suntzeff with the 0.9-m telescope at CTIO. In the hours leading up to the start of EUVE observations on Mar 26.96, photometric estimates were provided by M. Mattiazzo, P. Nelson, R. Stubbings, T. Cragg, and J. Herr.

The optical light curve of the 1997 March/April outburst of OY Car, assembled from observations submitted to and obtained from the AAVSO (J. A. Mattei 1997, personal communication) and VSS/RASNZ (F. M. Bateson 1997, personal communication) is shown in Figure 1. Based on its peak brightness ($`V11`$) and duration ($`\mathrm{\Delta }t20`$ days), this event was clearly a superoutburst. According to the records of the AAVSO, the previous and subsequent two outbursts of OY Car took place in 1995 October/November (a superoutburst), 1997 July/August (a normal outburst), and 1998 February (a superoutburst). For Figure 1, we have suppressed observations obtained near, and hence affected by, the eclipse by the secondary of the white dwarf and accretion disk. Specifically, we assume the binary ephemeris of Pratt et al. (1999a) and retain only those observations for which the binary phase was in the range $`\varphi =0.1`$–0.9. The amplitude of the scatter remaining in the light curve is reasonably consistent with that expected for AAVSO and RASNZ data for such a relatively dim source.

EUVE observations of OY Car began on 1997 Mar 26.96 UT, ran for three days ($`\mathrm{JD}2450000=534.457`$–537.636), and resulted in a total of 143 ks of exposure. For a description of the EUVE satellite and instrumentation, refer to Bowyer & Malina (1991), Abbott et al. (1996), and Sirk et al. (1997). It is sufficient to note here that the bandpasses of the deep survey (DS) photometer and short wavelength (SW) spectrometer are defined by a Lexan/Boron filter and extend from $`70`$ to $`180`$ Å. The medium wavelength (MW) spectrometer bandpass is defined by an Aluminum/Carbon filter and extends from $`170`$ to $`370`$ Å, but interstellar absorption extinguishes the flux longward of about 200 Å. These observations were “spiral dithered” to avoid the dead spot near the center of the field of view of the DS instrument, and to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the EUV spectrum by averaging over quantum efficiency variations of the SW detector.

## 3 DS Light Curve

The background-subtracted DS count rate light curve from our observations is shown in Figure 2 and in Figure 1 superposed on the optical light curve. The data are binned into detector “good time intervals” of typically $`1950`$ s, so the error bars are typically smaller than the points. Given that the optical light curve was constant or declining only gradually during the EUVE observation, the relatively rapid decline and subsequent rise of the DS light curve is something of a surprise. The observation is unfortunately too short to know for sure, but the similarity to the Voyager FUV light curve of VW Hyi in superoutburst (Polidan & Holberg, 1987; Pringle et al., 1987) suggests that we are seeing in the EUV the decay of a narrow outburst and the subsequent rise of a long outburst which “add” to produce the superoutburst. This behavior is at least in qualitative agreement with the thermal-tidal instability model of superoutbursts (Osaki, 1996): a normal outburst is triggered by the disk thermal instability (Cannizzo, 1993), which is turn triggers the tidal instability when the disk expands out to the 3:1 eccentric inner Lindblad resonance (Lubow, 1991); the resulting enhanced tidal torques enhance the mass-accretion rate through the disk, rejuvenating the initial outburst. Credence for this interpretation is supplied by the SPH simulations of Murray (1998, Fig. 11), but better (more extensive, multiwavelength) data are required to convincingly test this interpretation.

One of the purposes of the EUVE observation of OY Car was a study of the eclipses (or lack thereof) of the EUV emission region by the secondary, but this is made difficult by the strong commensurability between EUVE’s orbital period (94.6 min) and OY Car’s binary period (90.9 min). The result is that the binary phase advances by only 4% each satellite orbit, and eclipse intervals “come around” only every 1.6 days. The net result is that during three days of observations we recorded only 17 eclipses of the white dwarf. The orbits during which these eclipses occurred are indicated by the circles in Figure 2. During two of these orbits we are both fortunate and lucky to have a detailed record of the optical behavior of the source measured by W. S. G. Walker (1997, personal communication) with a 10-in telescope and a ST6 CCD camera. The EUV and optical light curves during the interval of optical measurements are shown in Figure 3, where the phase is relative to the binary ephemeris of Pratt et al. (1999a) and the grey stripes denote the intervals when the white dwarf is eclipsed by the secondary ($`0.02\varphi +0.02`$). Whereas the optical light curve clearly shows the prominent eclipses of the accretion disk by the secondary, there is no hint of eclipses in the EUV light curve.

To help quantify this statement, we determined the DS count rate light curves for each of the intervals containing an eclipse of the white dwarf. These are shown in the upper panel of Figure 4. To increase the photon statistics and decrease the effect of the flickering apparent in the DS light curves, we calculated the mean DS count rate light curves for the two groups of eight intervals of white dwarf eclipses. Exactly how this is done is somewhat subjective, but proper account has to made of the different count rates during each interval $`i`$ and the different exposure times within each phase bin $`j`$. The former was accounted for by fitting the background-subtracted DS count rate data with a linear function $`f_{ij}=a_i+b_i(\varphi _j\varphi _{0,i})`$, where $`\varphi _{0,i}`$ is the midpoint of interval $`i`$. If $`S_{ij}`$ and $`B_{ij}`$ are the counts from the source and background regions, respectively, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_{ij}`$ are the deadtime and primbsch-corrected exposure times, the mean relative DS count rate light curves are $`(_iS_{ij}0.2_iB_{ij})/(_i\mathrm{\Delta }t_{ij}_if_{ij})`$, where the factor of 0.2 accounts for the relative size of the source and background regions. The resulting two mean relative DS count rate light curves are shown in the lower panels of Figure 4, where we have retained only those phase bins sampled at least five times during the eight intervals of white dwarf eclipses. What one concludes about the depth of the eclipse of the EUV emission region depends sensitively on the assumed width of the eclipse and the assumed shape of the uneclipsed light curve. During the first interval the DS light curve is well behaved and a secure upper limit is 5% at the 90% confidence level. During the second interval the DS light curve is less well behaved, but a reasonable upper limit is 15% at the 90% confidence level. These results significantly strengthen the conclusion based on previous EXOSAT (Naylor et al., 1988) and ROSAT (Pratt et al., 1999b) observations that there is little or no eclipse by the secondary of the EUV emission region of OY Car in superoutburst.

## 4 SW Light Curve and Spectrum

The SW spectrometer provides an independent measurement of the EUV light curve of OY Car, but it is less useful than the DS photometer to study the eclipses because it has approximately one-tenth the effective area and (because the flux is dispersed over many more detector pixels) a higher effective background. The upper panel of Figure 5 shows the background-subtracted SW count rate between 90 and 180 Å, while the lower panel shows the SW hardness ratio, defined as the ratio of the background-subtracted SW counts from 90–125 Å to that from 125–180 Å. As in Figure 2, the data are binned into detector “good time intervals” of typically $`1950`$ s, and the intervals during which eclipses occurred are indicated by the circles. The upper panel demonstrates that the SW light curve is reasonably consistent with the DS light curve within the errors, while the lower panel reveals a mild spectral evolution during the observation. A constant $`r=a`$ fit to the hardness ratio produces $`\chi ^2/\mathrm{dof}=72.8/49=1.49`$ with $`a=0.77\pm 0.03`$, a linear fit $`r=a+bt`$ produces $`\chi ^2/\mathrm{dof}=51.5/48=1.07`$ with $`b=0.12\pm 0.03`$, and a quadratic fit $`r=a+bt+ct^2`$ produces $`\chi ^2/\mathrm{dof}=42.7/47=0.91`$ with $`c=0.10\pm 0.03`$. As measured by the $`F`$ test, each additional degree of freedom decreases $`\chi ^2`$ sufficiently to require the additional parameter with $`>99\%`$ confidence. This establishes a real but weak correlation of the hardness ratio with the SW count rate.

To investigate this spectral evolution further, we constructed a pseudotrailed SW spectrum of OY Car by concatenating individual spectra accumulated during the various SW “good time intervals.” The result is shown in Figure 6, where the upper panel shows the spectra as observed, and the lower panel shows the spectra with the count rate evolution removed (with the individual spectra normalized to an equal number of counts between 90 and 180 Å). With the count rate evolution removed, the spectrum is seen to be quite stable throughout the observation: there are strong emission lines at $`114`$, 123, 131, 136, 138, 144, 150, and 168 Å, plus what appears to be a weak continuum which peaks at $`120`$ Å. The only obvious spectral variations are in the relative normalization of the lines and continuum—the lines being relatively stronger toward the middle of the observation, and the continuum being relatively stronger at beginning and end of the observation. These variations are sufficiently subtle to allow us to assemble a mean spectrum of OY Car from the entire observation.

To accomplish this, we maximized the signal-to-noise ratio by combining data from the SW spectrometer from 90 to 175 Å and data from the MW spectrometer from 170 to 190 Å; the overlap from 170 to 175 Å lends confidence in the emission feature at $`172`$ Å. The resulting mean EUVE spectrum of OY Car is shown in Figure 7, where the SW spectrum is binned to 0.25 Å, the MW spectrum is binned to 0.5 Å (roughly half the FWHM of the spectral resolution of the two spectrometers), and the traces at the bottom of the figure show the associated $`1\sigma `$ error vectors. If it is not immediately obvious, a look through the EUVE Stellar Spectral Atlas (Craig et al., 1997) will convince the reader that the mean EUVE spectrum of OY Car is like that of no other class of objects: it lacks the strong continuum of hot white dwarfs, it lacks the narrow high-excitation emission lines of late-type stars and RS CVn binaries, it doesn’t look like the spectra of polars, intermediate polars, or even other dwarf novae. Instead, the spectrum is dominated by broad ($`\mathrm{FWHM}1`$ Å) emission lines, and the continuum is weak and can be plausibly described as a superposition of numerous weak emission lines.

In an attempt to quantitatively determine the parameters (wavelength, width, and flux) of the various emission features, we fit the mean SW spectrum of OY Car from 94.5 to 173.5 Å with a number of Gaussians. Of order 40 Gaussians were required to “iron out” the residuals, but with 316 data points and of order 120 free parameters, the fits tended to be unstable (minor variations in the initial parameters resulted in major variations in the fit parameters). Instead, reasonable and stable fits were obtained with 44 Gaussians with prescribed widths. In one fit, the Gaussian widths $`\sigma `$ were fixed at a common value, while in another they varied with the central wavelength of the Gaussians as $`\sigma _i=[0.212^2+(\lambda _i\mathrm{\Delta }v/c)^2]^{1/2}`$. The latter choice reproduces the FWHM of the SW spectrometer if $`\mathrm{\Delta }v=0`$ and accounts for the broadening of the lines by Doppler processes. The best fits were obtained with either $`\sigma =0.46`$ Å (hence the intrinsic $`\mathrm{FWHM}=0.96`$ Å) or $`\mathrm{\Delta }v=975\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (hence the intrinsic $`\mathrm{FWHM}=2300\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$). The parameters from the latter more physical fit are listed in Table 1.

By comparing the data in Table 1 to the Kelly (1987); Mewe, Gronenschild, & van den Oord (1985); and Verner, Verner, & Ferland (1996) line lists, one sees that a consistent interpretation of the EUV spectrum of OY Car can be had with lines from intermediate ionization stages of cosmically abundant N, O, Ne, Mg, and Fe. The five brightest lines are identified as follows: 122.9 Å: Ne VI $`2p`$$`3d`$, 143.5 Å: Ne V $`2p^2`$$`2p3d`$, 168.5 Å: Fe VIII $`3p^63d`$$`3p^53d^2`$, 131.3 Å: Fe VIII $`3d`$$`4f`$, and 150.3 Å: O VI $`2s`$$`3p`$. These identifications alone significantly constrain the physical nature of the emitting plasma. If collisionally ionized, its temperature must lie in the range $`\mathrm{log}T(\mathrm{K})5.4`$–5.6. If photoionized, its ionization parameter $`\xi L/nr^2`$ must lie in the range $`\mathrm{log}\xi 0`$–5. Because all of the above strong lines are resonance lines, scattering in a photoionized plasma is the more likely mechanism responsible for the observed spectrum, but a detailed investigation, provided in the next two sections, is required to defend this statement.

## 5 Spectrum of a Collisionally Ionized Plasma

To construct a model spectrum of a collisionally ionized plasma, we used the suite of IDL programs distributed with version 2 of the CHIANTI atomic database (Landi et al., 1999). We assumed the elemental abundances of Allen (1973); the ionization equilibrium curves of Mazzotta et al. (1998); an absorbing column density $`N_\mathrm{H}=1`$$`10\times 10^{19}\mathrm{cm}^2`$; a distance $`d=85`$ pc, consistent with the values derived by Wood et al. (1989) and Bruch et al. (1996); and a temperature $`T=10^5`$$`10^6`$ K, incremented in steps of 0.1 in the log. As shown in Figure 8, a model with $`\mathrm{log}T(\mathrm{K})=5.5`$, $`N_\mathrm{H}=3.4\times 10^{19}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, and an emission measure $`EMn_e^2𝑑V=3.2\times 10^{55}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ does a reasonable job of reproducing the strongest lines of O VI, Ne V, and Ne VI. The strength of the Fe VIII $`\lambda 131.1`$ emission line can be reproduced if the ionization fraction $`\chi `$ of Fe VIII is increased by a factor of approximately two from its value of $`\chi =0.4`$ at $`\mathrm{log}T(\mathrm{K})=5.5`$, but none of Arnaud & Rothenflug (1985), Arnaud & Raymond (1992), or Mazzotta et al. (1998) have Fe VIII peaking above $`\chi =0.5`$, implying that the Fe abundance must be enhanced by a similar factor to reproduce the data. The Fe VIII $`\lambda 168.6`$ emission line is not reproduced by the model because the data for that transition is missing from the CHIANTI database. Similarly, the model is incapable of reproducing the O V $`\lambda \lambda 139.0`$, 135.5, 124.6, or 118.0 emission features because the database is missing lines of O V shortward of 166 Å. A more severe problem is the spectrum of O VI, which is shown shaded in Figure 8: many of the predicted lines are too strong relative to the data. Particularly egregious are the $`\lambda 115.8`$ $`2s`$$`4p`$ resonance line and the $`\lambda 129.8`$ $`2p`$$`4d`$ and $`\lambda 173.0`$ $`2p`$$`3d`$ nonresonance lines. The $`\lambda 173`$ line can be reduced in strength by increasing the absorbing column density, but this makes the problem with the $`\lambda 130`$ line worse. Both the $`\lambda 173/\lambda 150`$ and $`\lambda 130/\lambda 150`$ line ratios can be decreased by increasing the density, but values in excess of $`10^{14}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ are required. Finally, optical depth effects would be expected to decrease the strength of the resonances lines, hence to increase the $`\lambda 173/\lambda 150`$ and $`\lambda 130/\lambda 150`$ line ratios, making the problem worse. Given these problems, it seems unlikely that the EUV spectrum of OY Car is produced by a collisionally ionized plasma.

## 6 Spectrum of Scattering in a Photoionized Plasma

To produce a scattering model of the EUV spectrum of OY Car, we need to specify the EUV spectral energy distribution $`F_\lambda `$; the wind geometry, velocity law $`v(r)`$, and mass-loss rate $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{w}`$; the absorbing column density $`N_\mathrm{H}`$; the source distance $`d`$; and the relevant atomic data. Specifically, in the Sobolev approximation, the scattered intensity is $`F_\lambda (1e^{\tau _\lambda })`$, where the optical depth $`\tau _\lambda =(\pi e^2/m_\mathrm{e}c)nA\chi \lambda _{\mathrm{ij}}f_{\mathrm{ij}}(g_\mathrm{i}/\mathrm{\Sigma }g_\mathrm{i})(dv/dr)^1`$, $`n`$ is the density, $`A`$ are the abundances, $`\chi `$ are the ionization fractions, $`dv/dr`$ is the wind velocity gradient, and $`\lambda _{\mathrm{ij}}`$, $`f_{\mathrm{ij}}`$, and $`g_\mathrm{i}`$ are respectively the wavelengths, oscillator strengths, and statistical weights of the various transitions. We assume that the abundances are as given by Allen (1973), the atomic data are as given by Verner, Verner, & Ferland (1996), and the EUV spectral energy distribution is dominated by that of the boundary layer, which radiates like a blackbody with temperature $`T_{\mathrm{bl}}`$ and luminosity $`L_{\mathrm{bl}}=4\pi R_{\mathrm{wd}}^2f\sigma T_{\mathrm{bl}}^4=4.3\times 10^{34}f(T_{\mathrm{bl}}/10^5\mathrm{K})^4\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$, where $`R_{\mathrm{wd}}=7.8\times 10^8`$ cm is the radius appropriate to a $`0.7\mathrm{M}_{}`$ white dwarf and $`f`$ is the fractional emitting area of the boundary layer.

The observed spectrum can be used to constrain the possible values of $`T_{\mathrm{bl}}`$, $`N_\mathrm{H}`$, and $`f`$: if the boundary layer temperature is too high there is too much flux at the shortest wavelengths; if the absorbing column density is too low there is too much flux at the longest wavelengths; if the area of the boundary layer is too small it will not produce the observed flux. These constraints are shown in the upper panel of Figure 9, where we plot as a function of $`T_{\mathrm{bl}}`$ and $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ the value of $`f`$ required to reproduce the observed flux density. Consider the shape of the $`f=1`$ curve, for which the absorbed blackbody flux distribution “drapes” over the emission lines of the observed spectrum. At low temperatures and absorbing column densities the constraint is set by the peak flux density of the 96 Å emission line; as the temperature increases the constraint switches to the 123 Å emission line; at even higher temperatures the constraint switches to the 168 Å emission line. The dotted curves in Figure 9 show where these transitions take place. Favorable models simultaneously satisfy the 123 and 168 Å constraints, so lie near the upper dotted curve: $`T_{\mathrm{bl}}=80`$–140 kK, $`N_\mathrm{H}1.6`$$`4\times 10^{19}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, and $`f0.01`$–20, hence $`L_{\mathrm{bl}}2`$$`350\times 10^{33}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$. Models in the upper hatched region of the figure are excluded because they exceed the Eddington limit of a $`0.7\mathrm{M}_{}`$ white dwarf.

The next step is to specify the parameters of the wind. Rather than attempt a full three-dimensional model, we settle here for a one-zone model and take fiducial values of the relevant parameters: specifically, the velocity gradient $`dv/dr=3000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1/10^{10}\mathrm{cm}=0.03\mathrm{s}^1`$ and the density $`n=10^{10}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ at a distance $`r=10^{10}\mathrm{cm}`$; the wind mass-loss rate is then $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{w}=4\pi r^2\mu m_\mathrm{H}nv=1.3\times 10^{10}\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$. To match the observed widths of the emission lines, the opacity is distributed as a Gaussian with $`\mathrm{FWHM}=0.96`$ Å and the resulting model is convolved with a $`\mathrm{FWHM}=0.5`$ Å Gaussian to account for the spectral resolution of the SW spectrograph.

To construct a model spectrum within this framework, it is necessary to specify the shape and intensity of the underlying continuum through the parameters $`T_{\mathrm{bl}}`$, $`N_\mathrm{H}`$, and $`f`$, and the optical depths of the lines through the product $`nA\chi (dv/dr)^1`$. Assuming that $`n`$ and $`(dv/dr)^1`$ are as given above, this leaves the three continuum parameters and the set of products $`\chi ^{}A\chi `$ to specify a given model. This set of models can be constrained further by considering only the spectrum of Fe VIII, which has strong and reasonably unblended emission lines at 108, 131, 169, and 185 Å. Unfortunately, it proves impossible to reproduce the flux in all four of these emission lines simultaneously, but it is possible to satisfy the constraints imposed by any combination of three. The locus of points for Model Sequence 1 satisfying the 108, 131, 169 Å emission line fluxes is shown in the upper and lower panels of Figure 9 by the lower of the two bold solid curves, while that for Model Sequence 2 satisfying the 108, 131, 185 Å emission line fluxes is shown by the upper of the two curves. In each case the optical depth in the Fe VIII lines is varied by varying $`\chi ^{}`$(Fe VIII) = \[0.01,0.1,0.3,0.6,1,2,3,6,10\] \[$`\chi ^{}`$(Fe VIII) $`>1`$ if the Fe abundance is greater than solar or if the wind density or velocity gradient are greater than their fiducial values\]. At low optical depths and high temperatures Sequence 1 converges on $`T_{\mathrm{bl}}=127`$ kK and $`N_\mathrm{H}=1.6\times 10^{19}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, while Sequence 2 converges on $`T_{\mathrm{bl}}=104`$ kK and $`N_\mathrm{H}=3.1\times 10^{19}\mathrm{cm}^2`$. The trajectory of both sequences is truncated at high optical depths and low temperatures where the models first fail to provide enough flux to explain the observed strengths of other emission lines (the 123 Å emission line for Sequence 1, the 169 Å emission line for Sequence 2); this happens at $`T_{\mathrm{bl}}100`$ kK and $`N_\mathrm{H}2.3\times 10^{19}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ for Sequence 1, and at $`T_{\mathrm{bl}}90`$ kK and $`N_\mathrm{H}3.5\times 10^{19}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ for Sequence 2.

From among the above model sequences satisfying the Fe VIII line ratios, we present results for five models. Model 1-7a assumes $`T_{\mathrm{bl}}=107`$ kK, $`N_\mathrm{H}=2.1\times 10^{19}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, $`f=0.27`$, and $`\chi ^{}`$(Fe VIII) = 3; all other ionization fractions are set to one. The resulting model spectrum is shown superposed on the data in the upper panel of Figure 10. By construction, the model matches the flux in the Fe VIII 108, 131, and 169 Å emission lines, but it overpredicts or underpredicts the flux in other lines. Many of these deficiencies can be remedied by adjusting the ionization fractions of the various ions, although blending renders the choices somewhat arbitrary. Careful examination of the models reveals that the strongest emission lines are due to Ne, Fe, and O, but lines from Mg, N, Al, Na, and Ar (in decreasing order of importance) also contribute; the only lines from Si are from Si V, and the strongest of its two lines lies at 96.4 Å in a gap between two observed lines. Given these results, we set the concentrations of ions of N, Na, Mg, Al, and Ar to 1 and Si to 0. To minimize the flux of lines at and below 172 Å, we set the concentrations of O IV, Ne IV, and Fe IX–Fe XI to 0. The concentrations of the other ions were adjusted to match the observed emission line strengths (specifically, the strength of the lines marked with asterisks in Fig. 10 were adjusted; the strength of the remaining lines follow according to the strength of the local continuum and their optical depths). Table 2 lists the resulting model parameters of this Model 1-7b and the middle panel of Figure 10 shows the resulting model spectrum. The overall match to the data is reasonably good, although the flux in the O V $`\lambda 172`$ and Fe VIII $`\lambda 185`$ emission lines are overpredicted and there are a few lines (e.g., at 128 and 155 Å) which these models are simply incapable of producing. Similar results are obtained for Model 1-5b, for which $`\chi ^{}`$(Fe VIII) = 1, so it is not shown in Figure 10. The problem with the Fe VIII $`\lambda 185`$ emission line can be fixed by switching to the Model Sequence 2. The parameters of Model 2-5b \[with $`\chi ^{}`$(Fe VIII) = 1\] and Model 2-3b \[with $`\chi ^{}`$(Fe VIII) = 0.3\] are listed in Table 2 and the Model 2-5b spectrum is shown superposed on the data in the lower panel of Figure 10. These models match the flux in the Fe VIII $`\lambda 185`$ emission line, but underpredict the flux in the Fe VIII $`\lambda 169`$ line. Both model sequences overpredict the flux in the O V $`\lambda 172`$ emission feature, whose strength is determined by the pair of O V emission features at 136 and 139 Å.

These results demonstrate that it is possible to reproduce the essential features of the EUV spectrum of OY Car with a simple model wherein radiation from the boundary layer is scattered into the line of sight by the system’s accretion disk wind. Given the success of this model, we supply in Table 1 likely identifications (ions, transitions, wavelengths, and oscillator strengths) of the observed lines from the Verner, Verner, & Ferland (1996) list of atomic data for permitted resonance lines. Table 1 and Figure 10 show that the important ions in these models are N V, O V–O VI, Ne V–Ne VII, Mg IV–Mg VI, Fe VI–Fe VIII, and Fe XXIII. With the exception of the last ion, the ionization potentials of these species lie between 100 and 200 eV. The 1950 eV ionization potential of Fe XXIII renders the identification of the 133 Å emission feature suspect, but such a high-excitation \[$`\mathrm{log}T(\mathrm{K})7.3`$ in collisional ionization equilibrium\] component of the wind cannot be excluded by the spectrum, because the Fe XVIII–Fe XXII lines in the SW bandpass are predicted to be weak.

## 7 Evaluation of the Radiation Force

Although it has been known for over two decades that high-$`\dot{M}`$ CVs have strong winds (Heap et al., 1978; Krautter, 1981; Klare, 1982), it is still uncertain what drives the wind. Radiation pressure in spectral lines is implicated by the similarity of the effective temperatures and P Cygni profiles of high-$`\dot{M}`$ CVs with those of early-type stars, but centripetal acceleration may play a role if the disk is threaded by a large-scale magnetic field (Blandford & Payne, 1982; Cannizzo & Pudritz, 1988). A minimum requirement of any successful model is that it reproduce the observed wind mass-loss rates $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{w}`$ for reasonable mass-accretion rates $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{a}`$ (or, equivalently, luminosities). Both quantities are uncertain at some level, but reasonable values are $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{a}\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\text{ }<\text{ }}{\text{ }\text{ }}10^8\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ ($`L\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\text{ }<\text{ }}{\text{ }\text{ }}20\mathrm{L}_{}`$ for a $`0.7\mathrm{M}_{}`$ white dwarf) and $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{w}\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\text{ }>\text{ }}{\text{ }\text{ }}10^{11}\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ (where the upper limit is due to the uncertain correction for the ionization fractions of such species as C IV; a correction which could easily increase $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{w}`$ by a factor of 10). Significant progress has been made recently in models of radiation-driven disk winds (Pereyra, Kallman, & Blondin, 1997; Proga, Stone, & Drew, 1998; Feldmeir & Shlosman, 1999), but none appear capable of satisfying these criteria. Pereyra, Kallman, & Blondin (1997) obtained $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{w}=2\times 10^{14}\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ for a $`1\mathrm{L}_{}`$ accretion disk; Proga, Stone, & Drew (1998) obtained $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{w}6\times 10^{12}\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ for a $`15\mathrm{L}_{}`$ accretion disk; Feldmeir, Shlosman, & Vitello (1999) obtained $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{w}10^{12}\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ for a $`10\mathrm{L}_{}`$ accretion disk. Drew & Proga (2000) argued that the mass-accretion rates of high-$`\dot{M}`$ CVs must be a higher than is presently understood for radiation pressure alone to drive the observed wind mass-loss rates.

Thanks to the edge-on geometry of OY Car, we can make a reasonably accurate estimate of the radiation force on the wind, which is simply the total luminosity of the lines divided by the speed of light: $`\dot{P}=L/c`$. The uncertainties are the conversion from flux to luminosity and the contribution from lines out of our bandpass, particularly lines between 200 Å and the Lyman limit, which are hidden from us by interstellar absorption. Adding up the flux in the lines listed in Table 1, the observed EUVE spectrum provides a net radiation force of $`\dot{P}4\times 10^{20}`$ dynes, but accounting for absorption by $`\mathrm{log}N_\mathrm{H}(\mathrm{cm}^2)=19.2`$–19.6 increases this to $`\dot{P}2`$$`20\times 10^{21}`$ dynes. To determine the contribution from lines out of our bandpass we need a model of the intrinsic spectral energy distribution of the boundary layer and accretion disk and of the ionization state of the wind. To construct a fiducial model, we assume that the boundary layer radiates like a blackbody with $`T_{\mathrm{bl}}=104`$ kK and $`f=1`$ (hence $`L_{\mathrm{bl}}=5.0\times 10^{34}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1=13\mathrm{L}_{}`$) and that the disk has the standard Shakura-Sunyaev temperature profile and radiates locally like a blackbody with $`L_{\mathrm{disk}}=L_{\mathrm{bl}}`$ (hence $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{a}=1.3\times 10^8\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$). If such a system were viewed face-on, it would have a flux density at 1500 Å of $`f_{1500}=3.3\times 10^{11}(d/85\mathrm{pc})^2\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{\AA }^1`$ and a reasonable absolute visual magnitude of $`M_V=5.0`$ (Warner, 1987). The model spectrum extends from 1 to 7000 Å (the entire range covered by the Verner, Verner, & Ferland 1996 line list), the wavelength bins are set at $`3000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, and all other wind parameters are as given in the previous section (in particular, $`n=10^{10}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ and $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{w}=1.3\times 10^{10}\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1=0.01\dot{M}_\mathrm{a}`$). We computed the wind’s ionization state exposed to the radiation fields of the boundary layer and accretion disk using the atomic physics packages in the current version of the Raymond & Smith (1977) spectral code. In particular, these codes use the Reilman & Manson (1979) photoionization cross sections and low-temperature dielectronic recombination rates from Nussbaumer & Storey (1983). For simplicity, the wind temperature is held fixed at 30 kK; varying this quantity simply shifts the “horizontal” positions of the peaks of the various ionization fractions.

The results of our calculation are shown in Figure 11. The first panel shows the radiation force as a function of ionization parameter for the boundary layer alone (dotted curve) and the boundary layer plus accretion disk (solid curve). More detail is provided for the latter model in subsequent panels. The second panel shows the contribution to the radiation force by the various elements: low-Z elements dominate the radiation force at low ionization parameters; O, Ne, and Ar dominate at intermediate ionization parameters; and Ne, Mg, and Fe dominate at high ionization parameters. The contribution by the various ions of O and Ne as well as the individual contributions of O VI $`\lambda 150`$, Ne V $`\lambda 143`$, and Ne VI $`\lambda 123`$ are shown in the third and fourth panels. That the model is properly normalized is indicated by the observed values of $`\dot{P}`$ for these lines based on the fluxes in Table 1 and the assumption that $`\mathrm{log}N_\mathrm{H}(\mathrm{cm}^2)=19.4\pm 0.2`$. The ionization parameter of the wind is restricted to the range $`\mathrm{log}\xi 0`$–5 by the weakness of O IV and Ne IV at the low end of the range and Ne VII and Fe IX at the high end of the range. To drive the wind to a terminal velocity of $`V_{\mathrm{}}=3000\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, we require $`\dot{P}=\dot{M}_\mathrm{w}V_{\mathrm{}}=2.5\times 10^{24}`$ dynes, which is an order of magnitude larger than the model is capable of producing.

To investigate if other combinations of parameters produce more favorable results, we tested six other models along the trajectories of the model sequences from the previous section. With the assumption that $`L_{\mathrm{bl}}=4\pi R_{\mathrm{wd}}^2f\sigma T_{\mathrm{bl}}^4=L_{\mathrm{disk}}=GM_{\mathrm{wd}}\dot{M}_\mathrm{a}/2R_{\mathrm{wd}}`$ and that the disk has the standard Shakura-Sunyaev temperature profile, the maximum disk temperature is $`T_{\mathrm{max}}=0.49(3f)^{1/4}T_{\mathrm{bl}}`$; requiring that $`T_{\mathrm{max}}T_{\mathrm{bl}}`$ then limits the range of possible models to those with $`f5.8`$. Combined with the previous constraints, such models have EUV spectra which are dominated by the boundary layer and have net luminosities in the range $`L=2.6\times 10^{34}`$$`1.3\times 10^{36}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1=6.8`$$`340\mathrm{L}_{}`$. Wind densities (mass-loss rates) were taken from the results of the detailed model fits of the previous section. The resulting parameters for the six models (plus the above fiducial model) are listed in Table 3 and the results of the wind momentum calculations are shown in Figure 12. Only the models at the extreme ends of the two model sequences have $`\dot{P}/\dot{M}_\mathrm{w}V_{\mathrm{}}`$ above unity, hence are capable of driving the required mass-loss rates. As shown in Table 3, however, these models are unrealistically bright in the UV ($`f_{1500}1\times 10^{10}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{\AA }^1`$) and optical ($`M_V4`$), and so are not likely realistic models of OY Car. Based on these results, we conclude that radiation pressure falls roughly an order of magnitude short of driving the wind of OY Car in superoutburst.

## 8 Discussion and Summary

Because of the longer time on source, the larger number of eclipses observed, and the higher count rate in the detector, the EUVE observations discussed here significantly strengthen previous reports that there is little or no eclipse by the secondary of the EUV emission region of OY Car in superoutburst. The mean EUVE spectrum extends from 70 to 190 Å and contains broad ($`\mathrm{FWHM}1`$ Å) emission lines of N V, O V–O VI, Ne V–Ne VII, Mg IV–Mg VI, Fe VI–Fe VIII, and possibly Fe XXIII. The gross details of the spectrum are reproduced by the spectrum of a collisionally ionized plasma with a temperature $`T320`$ kK, an absorbing column density $`N_\mathrm{H}3.4\times 10^{19}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, and an emission measure $`EM3.2\times 10^{55}\mathrm{cm}^3`$, but such a model fails to reproduce the observed spectrum in detail. Better fits are obtained with a model (similar to that of Seyfert 2 galaxies) wherein radiation from the boundary layer and accretion disk is scattered into the line of sight by the system’s cool ($`T30`$ kK) photoionized accretion disk wind. The likely range of acceptable parameters for the boundary layer are $`T_{\mathrm{bl}}90`$–130 kK and $`N_\mathrm{H}1.6`$$`3.5\times 10^{19}\mathrm{cm}^2`$. This range for the absorbing column density is typical of the interstellar column densities of nearby CVs beyond the Local Bubble (Mauche, Raymond, & Córdova, 1988; Polidan, Mauche, & Wade, 1990; Long et al., 1996), while the range of boundary layer temperatures is significantly less than that of SS Cyg ($`T_{\mathrm{bl}}230`$–350 kK; Mauche, Raymond, & Mattei, 1995) but comparable to that of U Gem ($`T_{\mathrm{bl}}=110`$–140 kK; Long et al., 1996) and VW Hyi ($`T_{\mathrm{bl}}120`$ kK; Mauche, 1996). The corresponding range of the boundary layer luminosity is less clear because it is possible to trade off the intensity of the EUV continuum for the wind optical depth (i.e., the wind mass-loss rate). A lower limit to the fractional emitting area of the boundary layer is $`f0.1`$, and a lower limit to the boundary layer luminosity is $`L_{\mathrm{bl}}1\times 10^{34}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^13\mathrm{L}_{}`$. Adding a “minimal” Shakura-Sunyaev accretion disk<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1The observed values of $`L_{\mathrm{disk}}/L_{\mathrm{bl}}`$ range from $`2`$ for U Gem (Long et al., 1996), $`\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\text{ }>\text{ }}{\text{ }\text{ }}10`$ for SS Cyg (Mauche, Raymond, & Mattei, 1995), and $`20`$ for VW Hyi (Mauche, 1996). with $`L_{\mathrm{disk}}=GM_{\mathrm{wd}}\dot{M}_\mathrm{a}/2R_{\mathrm{wd}}=L_{\mathrm{bl}}=4\pi R_{\mathrm{wd}}^2f\sigma T_{\mathrm{bl}}^4`$ provides further constrains. Requiring that the maximum disk temperature be less than or equal to the boundary layer temperature requires that $`f5.8`$ and $`L_{\mathrm{bl}}6.5\times 10^{35}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1170\mathrm{L}_{}`$. Adding reasonable brightness constraints in the UV \[$`f_{1500}\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\text{ }<\text{ }}{\text{ }\text{ }}1\times 10^{10}(d/85\mathrm{pc})^2\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^2\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{\AA }^1`$\] and optical ($`M_V\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\text{ }>\text{ }}{\text{ }\text{ }}5`$) is equivalent to the requirement that the mass-accretion rate $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{a}\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\text{ }<\text{ }}{\text{ }\text{ }}10^8\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$, consistent with observations of other high-$`\dot{M}`$ CVs, hence $`L_{\mathrm{bl}}\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\text{ }<\text{ }}{\text{ }\text{ }}4\times 10^{34}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^110\mathrm{L}_{}`$. Such models have wind mass-loss rates of $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{w}\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{\text{ }<\text{ }}{\text{ }\text{ }}10^{10}\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^10.01\dot{M}_\mathrm{a}`$ and fall an order of magnitude short of driving the wind by radiation pressure alone. An alternative is that the wind of OY Car is driven by a combination of radiation pressure and magnetic forces (a magnetocentrifugal wind). Such winds have been investigated recently by Proga (2000).

The observations described here could not have been accomplished without the alert provided by M. Mattiazzo and the optical data provided by M. Mattiazzo, N. Suntzeff, M. Keane, P. Nelson, R. Stubbings, T. Cragg, and J. Herr. Rapid response to the outburst was facilitated by J. Mattei, Director of the AAVSO; F. Bateson, Director of the VSS/RASNZ; and VSNET. Members of the AAVSO and RASNZ provided the visual magnitude estimates from which the optical light curve was assembled. Special thanks go to W. Walker for the optical photometry shown in Figure 3. The EUVE target-of-opportunity observations were made possible by the rapid response of EUVE Acting Deputy Director J. Vallerga, EUVE Science Planner B. Roberts, the staff of the EUVE Science Operations Center at CEA, and the Flight Operations Team at Goddard Space Flight Center. K. Dere kindly provided assistance with CHIANTI. The manuscript was improved by the comments and suggestions of the referee, K. Long. C. W. M.’s contribution to this work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract No. W-7405-Eng-48.


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# The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. A Hunt for Caustic Crossings in QSO 2237+0305.*footnote **footnote *Based on observations obtained with the 1.3 m Warsaw Telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

## 1. Introduction

The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment is a long term project focusing on detection and monitoring of microlensing events in crowded fields. During the second phase of the experiment, data are collected with the dedicated 1.3 m Warsaw Telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory (LCO), Chile (Udalski, Kubiak and Szymański 1997). In 1997, OGLE started a monitoring program for two multiply imaged lensed quasars: QSO 2237+0305 and HE 1104-1805. In QSO 2237+0305 (Huchra’s lens) one expects individual quasar images to vary due to microlensing in the bulge of the macrolensing galaxy (Webster et al. 1991, Schneider et al. 1988). Theoretical models predict high magnification events at caustic crossings. The sharpest features in the light curve provide in principle a size measurement of the source, in this case a quasar (e.g. Wambsganss et al. 1990). This letter presents observations made in 1999, previously unpublished except for a web site release. Also we would like to call the attention of astronomical community to the fact that good photometry of QSO 2237+0305 is available practically in real time, and encourage follow up programs.

## 2. Observations

The OGLE monitoring of Huchra’s lens is being carried out with the 1.3 m Warsaw Telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, which is operated by the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The “first generation” camera uses a SITe $`2048\times 2048`$ CCD detector with $`24\mu m`$ pixels resulting in 0.417 arcsec/pixel scale. Images of QSO 2237+0305 are taken in normal mode (still frame) at “medium” readout speed with the gain 7.1 $`e^{}`$/ADU and readout noise of 6.3 $`e^{}`$. For the details of the instrumentation setup, we refer the reader to Udalski, Kubiak and Szymański (1997).

Good seeing is essential for ground based measurements of Huchra’s lens. Therefore, observations are restricted to nights with seeing better than about 1.4 arcsec, preferably with low sky background. The median FWHM of the seeing disk was 1.3 arcsec in the data presented here. In satisfactory weather conditions between late April and mid December, when QSO 2237+0305 is visible from LCO, two 4 minute exposures in the standard V photometric band are taken, shifted by few arc seconds with respect to each other. This can be done typically once or twice per week without a significant slow down of the primary program.

## 3. Online reductions

The method which enabled reliable difference image photometry of QSO 2237+0305 was developed by Alard and Lupton (1998) and further generalized for spatially variable kernels by Alard (1999). By taking the difference of each frame with the reference image (a stack of 20 best frames) one avoids many complications associated with the presence of a barred spiral and the small separations of quasar images. The photometric pipeline consists of a set of stand-by programs for detections of stars, registration of frames with the reference frame, actual subtraction and fitting a 4 PSF model of Huchra’s lens. A detailed description of the implementation can be found in Woźniak et al. (2000). The OGLE II data pipeline automatically detects new frames and performs bias and flat-field corrections (Udalski, Kubiak, & Szymański 1997). Initially reduced frames are passed to image subtraction programs. Within 10 minutes after exposure a new photometric point is e-mailed and can be posted on the OGLE web page. However for practical reasons new data usually appear on the web the next morning.

## 4. Light curve

Photometry of the four components of QSO 2237+0305 is shown in Fig. 1. The light curve of the 18.14 mag comparison star is also included. The star was measured with exactly the same method as quasar images. Wyithe et al. (2000) interpret these observations. Based on their models we may expect a caustic crossing in the near future. In the upcoming 2000 observing season for QSO 2237+0305, the time sampling of our photometry should be comparable to the season of 1999. After September 2000 OGLE will suspend operation for an upgrade. Observations will resume in season of 2001. Machine readable data can be obtained from the OGLE web page at http://www.astrouw.edu.pl/$``$ftp/ogle and its USA mirror http://www.astro.princeton/$``$ogle.)

This work was supported with NSF grant AST–9820314 to Bohdan Paczyński.


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# X-ray Images of Hot Accretion Flows

## 1 Introduction

Imaging X-ray emitting regions around black holes addresses questions related both to black hole physics and to accretion phenomena. Depending on the properties and the extent of the X-ray emission as well as its proximity to the black hole, the X-ray images may have imprinted on them the accretion geometry, its physical properties, and even signatures of the space-time around the black hole. In standard models, the X-ray emission from active galactic nuclei (AGN) is assumed to arise from a hot corona above a geometrically thin accretion disk. Thermal Comptonization of disk blackbody photons in the corona leads to the production of a hard X-ray continuum, some of which is reprocessed by the underlying disk (e.g., Haardt & Maraschi 1991, 1993). From the properties of the hard X-ray continuum and of the reflected component (e.g., Nandra et al. 1997) it is now established that the the majority of X-ray emission from AGN originates from regions close to the black holes, corresponding to $`320R_\mathrm{S}`$, where $`R_\mathrm{S}`$ is the Schwarzschild radius of the black hole.

In recent years is has become apparent that standard thin disk accretion with high radiative efficiency may not be common in nearby galaxies. The centers of most nearby galaxies also harbor supermassive black holes (e.g., Magorrian et al. 1998) but, unlike the more distant AGN, display little or no activity. It has been shown that the nuclei of nearby giant elliptical galaxies, which host the largest black holes known with masses of $`10^810^{10}M_{}`$ (e.g., Magorrian et al. 1998), the center of the Milky Way with its $`2.5\times 10^6M_{}`$ black hole (e.g., Eckart & Genzel 1997), and even some of the galactic black hole sources like A0620 in quiescence are remarkably underluminous for their expected mass accretion rates. The relative quiescence and spectral characteristics of these sources can be explained if the central black holes accrete via low radiative-efficiency accretion flows or ADAFs (Rees et al. 1982; Fabian & Rees 1995; Narayan, Yi, & Mahadevan 1995; Narayan, McClintock, & Yi 1996; Di Matteo et al. 2000; for a review see, e.g., Narayan, Mahadevan & Quataert 1998 and references therein).

In this class of accretion solutions the flows are two-temperature with the electron temperature ranging from $`1\mathrm{MeV}`$ in the inner regions to about 1 keV in the outer regions. At these temperatures, and when the gas is optically thin to electron scattering so that Comptonization is unimportant, most of the cooling occurs via thermal bremsstrahlung emission. In recent work it has been shown that the hard X-ray components observed in elliptical galaxy systems (Allen, Di Matteo & Fabian 2000) are indeed consistent with models of thermal bremsstrahlung emission (Di Matteo et al. 2000). In the same work, it has also been emphasized that bremsstrahlung emission may always be the dominant cooling mechanism because hot accretion flows are likely to drive strong mass loss (e.g. Igumenshchev & Abramowicz 1999; Blandford & Begelman 1999) so that their densities and scattering optical depths always remain low and Comptonization is never important. The same also applies to the case in which convection becomes important in hot flows, as discussed in recent work by Narayan, Igumenshchev & Abramowicz (2000), Quataert & Gruzinov (2000), and Ball, Narayan, & Quataert (2000).

The X-ray emission from the nuclei of nearby giant elliptical galaxies is therefore expected to have significantly different properties than that of AGN, reflecting the physical conditions of hot, extended accretion flows. In this paper we go beyond the spectral calculations carried out in earlier work and provide a set of diagnostics of the bremsstrahlung X-ray emitting region of hot accretion flows. This includes calculating the expected surface brightness profiles relevant for determining the sizes and density profiles of the X-ray emitting regions of these flows. The calculations of these quantities may have a significant impact for explaining the ongoing and upcoming X-ray observations of the cores of galactic nuclei. Conversely, the measurement of these quantities may reveal the relevant mode of accretion and the detailed properties of the accretion flows, improving our understanding of physical processes, such as convection and generation of outflows. Here we discuss the implications of our results for observations with the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the proposed future space-based X-ray interferometer MAXIM.

In §2, we review bremsstrahlung emission from hot flows and introduce the X-ray diagnostics that we study in this paper. In §3, we present the surface brightness profiles and visibility curves for different black hole masses and accretion-flow density profiles. Finally in §4, we discuss the implications of our results for current and possible upcoming X-ray missions.

## 2 Bremsstrahlung Emission from Hot Flows

### 2.1 Advection Dominated Accretion

Optically thin advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs) are examples of hot, magnetic plasmas with low radiative efficiency (Ichimaru 1977; Rees et al. 1982; Narayan & Yi 1994, 1995b; Abramowicz et al. 1995; see Narayan et al. 1998 and Kato, Fukue, & Mineshige 1998 for reviews). The dominant emission mechanisms in low mass-accretion rate ADAFs are optically thin bremsstrahlung from the hot electrons, which remain at high temperatures out to large radii in the flow, and synchrotron radiation in the inner regions. Above the mass accretion rates at which the scattering optical depth approaches unity, inverse Comptonization of soft synchrotron photons also becomes important and a Compton peak emerges at X-ray wavelengths. The spectrum of a hot flow around a supermassive black hole, therefore, is characterized by an overall low luminosity, with a synchrotron peak in the radio wavelengths and an X-ray component coming from bremsstrahlung emission, with possible contribution from the Comptonization of soft synchrotron photons in the hot flow. However at the low mass-accretion rates which we consider here, Comptonization is negligible and the X-ray spectra are entirely dominated by bremsstrahlung emission.

In describing these flows, we use dimensionless quantities for the mass, radius, and accretion rate. The black hole masses are given in units of the solar mass, $`mM/M_{}`$, and the radii in units of the Schwarzschild radius, i.e., $`rR/R_\mathrm{S}`$, where $`R_\mathrm{S}=2GM/c^2`$. We scale the mass accretion rate in units of $`\dot{M}_{\mathrm{Edd}}`$, i.e., $`\dot{m}\dot{M}/\dot{M}_{\mathrm{Edd}},`$ where the Eddington mass accretion rate is $`\dot{M}_{\mathrm{Edd}}L_{\mathrm{Edd}}/\eta _{\mathrm{eff}}c^2`$, and $`\eta _{\mathrm{eff}}`$ is the radiative efficiency taken to be 0.1 for the purposes of this definition.

It has been proposed that mechanisms leading to strong outflows and convection may be common in ADAFs. Outflows have been discussed extensively in the literature (Narayan & Yi 1995a; Igumenshchev & Abramowicz 1999; Blandford & Begelman 1999; Stone, Pringle & Begelman 1999) and have been applied to the spectra of accreting supermassive black holes (Di Matteo et al. 1999, 2000; Quataert & Narayan 1999). Similarly, convective processes are discussed by Igumenshchev, Chen, & Abramowicz (1996), Narayan, Igumenshchev & Abramowicz (2000), and Quataert & Gruzinov (2000). A simple parametrization of the accretion flow density profile in the presence of outflows was put forth by Blandford & Begelman (1999), in which the mass accretion rate is modified radially and is given by $`\dot{m}=\dot{m}_{\mathrm{out}}(r/r_{\mathrm{out}})^p`$, where $`r_{\mathrm{out}}`$ is the radius at which the mass accretion rate $`\dot{m}_{\mathrm{out}}`$ is fixed, and $`0<p<1`$ specifies the strength of the outflow. Other processes such as convection may give rise to similar modifications of the radial density profile of these flows. In particular, convective solutions have the same density profiles as the $`p=1`$ inflow-outflow solutions although the velocity profile of these solutions differ significantly from that of inflow-outflow solutions (e.g., Narayan et al. 2000). In this paper, we use this parametrization to calculate the electron density profiles which scale as $`N_er^{3/2+p}`$. Throughout this paper, we fix the mass accretion rate $`\dot{m}_{\mathrm{out}}`$ at $`10^4`$ at $`r_{\mathrm{out}}=10^5`$ unless otherwise specified. The other parameters of the model describing the microphysics are fixed at some typical values: the viscosity parameter $`\alpha =0.1`$, the ratio of gas pressure to magnetic pressure $`\beta =10`$, and the ratio of viscous electron heating to proton heating $`\delta =10^2`$.

In our numerical calculations, we use the global solutions described in Popham & Gammie (1998) to obtain the run of electron temperature and density with radius, with proper modifications of the continuity equation to take into account the changes to the electron density and temperature for $`p0`$. These solutions are based on those of Narayan, Kato, & Honma (1997) and Chen, Abramowicz, & Lasota (1997) but include general relativistic effects near the black hole. One caveat in our analysis is that these global solutions are obtained for the $`p=0`$ case and this may give rise to errors of order unity for strong outflow cases (see Quataert & Narayan 1999). To make the interpretation of our results more intuitive, we note that the electron temperature is nearly virial and equal to the proton temperature in the outer regions of the flow, but the profile gets flatter at smaller radii ($`r10^3`$) due to synchrotron cooling. This gives rise to the two-temperature character of the flow at small radii. The electrons throughout the flow are assumed to be thermal with the Maxwellian energy distribution $`N_e(\gamma )=N_e\gamma ^2\beta \mathrm{exp}(\gamma /\theta )/\theta K_2(1/\theta )`$, where $`\gamma `$ is the electron Lorentz factor, $`\theta =kT/m_ec^2`$ is the dimensionless electron temperature, and $`K_2`$ is a modified Bessel function.

### 2.2 Bremsstrahlung Emission

The relativistic electron-proton bremsstrahlung emissivity is given by (Stepney & Guilbert 1983)

$$\frac{dE_{\mathrm{ep}}}{dVdtd\nu d\mathrm{\Omega }}j_{\mathrm{ep}}=\frac{hcN_p}{4\pi }_{1+\omega }^{\mathrm{}}\omega \frac{d\sigma }{d\omega }\beta N_e(\gamma )𝑑\gamma $$
(1)
where for the differential cross-section $`d\sigma /d\omega `$ we have used the Bethe-Heitler formula derived in the Born approximation (Jauch & Rohrlich 1959). Here, $`\omega h\nu /m_ec^2`$ is the dimensionless photon energy, $`N_p`$ is the proton number density and $`N_e(\gamma )`$ is the electron density given above. Stepney & Guilbert (1983) provide fitting functions for the electron-electron bremsstrahlung emissivity given by

$$j_{\mathrm{ee}}=N_e^2\sigma _\mathrm{T}\alpha _\mathrm{f}m_ec^3\mathrm{exp}(x)G(x,\theta )/4\pi x$$
(2)
where $`\sigma _\mathrm{T}`$ is the Thomson cross-section, $`\alpha _\mathrm{f}`$ is the fine-structure constant, $`x\omega /\theta `$, and the fitting function $`G(x,\theta )`$ can be found in tabular form in Stepney & Guilbert (1983). Typically, $`j_{\mathrm{ee}}0.1j_{\mathrm{ep}}`$ for the frequencies and temperatures considered here.

To calculate the emerging bremsstrahlung intensities, we use a one-dimensional radiative transfer algorithm as described by Özel, Psaltis, & Narayan (2000). We integrate the equation of radiative transfer along plane-parallel rays of varying impact parameters $`b`$ (perpendicular distances of rays to the central line of sight) through the flow and calculate the emerging intensity (i.e., surface brightness profile) $`I(b)`$. Note that in our radiative transfer calculations we do not take into account general relativistic redshift and light deflection which will be important for centrally peaked profiles $`(p0)`$ and may lead to large errors when most of the emission comes from within a few $`R_S`$ of the event horizon. Our numerical domain extends to an impact parameter of $`10^6R_\mathrm{S}`$, beyond which $`kT_e1`$ keV and bremsstrahlung radiation does not contribute to the X-ray energies. Also note that our treatment assumes spherical symmetry of the density and temperature profile of the electrons which is a reasonable assumption given that all the flows considered here have large scale heights, with $`H/R1`$. For optically thin bremsstrahlung emission in such extended flows, the region around the event horizon, i.e., small radii, have small contribution to the emerging intensity, even at small impact parameters.

### 2.3 X-ray Diagnostics

The X-ray spectra of hot flows around supermassive black holes have been studied extensively in previous work. Here we consider additional powerful diagnostic quantities that are related to the two primary imaging methods: the brightness profiles of accretion flows, which are directly measurable by single-aperture imaging in X-rays, and the Michelson visibility function, which is the curve measured by an interferometer. Note that two of these diagnostic methods, spectral measurements and CCD imaging, are being carried out with increasing resolution by current X-ray telescopes. Using interferometry to study the sizes and profiles of accretion flows is being planned for future X-ray missions.

The brightness profile $`I(b)`$ of a spherically symmetric source is the map of the line-integral of the emissivity as a function impact parameter $`b`$. To define the visibility function, we first introduce the projected brightness profile $`B(x)`$. This is defined as the integral of specific intensity in the direction orthogonal to the interferometer baseline; i.e., the aperture spacing vector $`x`$ (see, e.g., Thompson, Moran, & Swenson 1991) and is given by

$$B(x)I(\sqrt{x^2+y^2})𝑑y.$$
(3)
Thus $`B(x)`$ is effectively a surface-integral of the emissivity. The Michelson visibility function is then

$$V_M(k)\frac{|B(x)\mathrm{exp}(ikx)𝑑x|}{|B(x)𝑑x|}$$
(4)
which is the normalized modulus of the Fourier transform of the projected brightness profile $`B(x)`$. The visibility function thus probes the characteristic length scales of the flow and can be inverted to give the brightness profile of the source. Finally, the luminosity at each photon frequency for optically thin emission is the volume integral of the emissivity and is a measure of the total energy output from the entire flow at that frequency.

Given the above definitions, we point out that, for optically thin bremsstrahlung emission, the brightness profile, the projected brightness profile, and the luminosity are effectively (but not strictly) the three radial moments of bremsstrahlung emissivity $`j`$. Because of this, as well as due to the strong dependence of bremsstrahlung emissivity $`j`$ on electron density ($`jn^2`$), intensity $`I_\nu `$ and projected brigtness profile $`B_\nu `$ are strong indicators of the density profiles of the hot flows.

## 3 Results: Intensity and Visibility

Figure 1 shows the emerging intensity at 1 and 10 keV as a function of impact parameter for a hot accretion flow around a $`10^9M_{}`$ black hole. The solid curves show the intensity profile at 1 keV while the dashed curves correspond to 10 keV. As expected from the dependence of intensity on the density profile, flows with strong winds or convection (p=1) have flat radial intensity profiles extending up to the radii at which the electron temperature drops below 1 and 10 keV, corresponding to $`r10^6`$ and $`r10^5`$ respectively. The profiles steepen significantly as the parameter $`p`$ decreases, with the steepest profile corresponding to the case with no outflows. The 10 keV emission is suppressed overall with respect to the 1 keV emission and cuts off exponentially at $`0.1`$ of the radius of the 1 keV emitting region. This is because the temperature is nearly virial at these radii and order of magnitude difference in temperature corresponds to roughly the same difference in $`r`$. Finally, we note that since the hot flows show self-similar behaviour, the intensity $`\mathrm{𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑒}`$ does not change with changing black hole mass, even though the normalization of the intensity scales with mass.

The extent and size of hot accretion flows show significantly different responses to changing outflow strength. By size, we mean the full-width half maximum (FWHM) of the visibility curve, while by extent we refer to the radius marking the exponential cutoff of emissivity (full-width zero intensity). The full-width zero intensity is very insensitive to $`p`$; irrespective of the steepness of the density profiles, all flows extend out to large radii before the exponential cut-off. However, the steepness of the brightness profiles changes dramatically, with most of the emission arising from within $`6R_S`$ for $`p=0`$ and within $`10^4R_S`$ for $`p=1`$ (Figure 1). Therefore, the corresponding sizes also change by orders of magnitude (see Figure 2).

Figure 2 shows the Michelson visibility curves as a function of angular wavenumber $`k_\theta =1/\theta `$, where $`\theta `$ is the angular size of the X-ray region in arcseconds. The top axis shows the corresponding baseline needed to resolve a scale $`k_\theta `$ at 1 keV. The dashed lines are the visibility functions for a 10 $`M_{}`$ galactic black hole at 3 kpc distance, while the solid curves show the case for a $`10^9M_{}`$ black hole at 18 Mpc (Virgo cluster) distance. Both of these are plotted for different outflow strengths, $`p=0,0.5`$, and 1. Finally, as a specific example, we plot with the dotted line the visibility function for a hot accretion model of M87, with a density profile that best fits the observed spectrum of this source (with $`\dot{m}_{\mathrm{out}}=0.015`$, $`r_{\mathrm{out}}=300`$, $`p=0.45`$, Di Matteo et al. 2000).

The typical observed angular sizes of these flows range from $`0.011`$ arcsec for the case of the supermassive black hole and from $`1100`$ $`\mu `$arcsec for the galactic black hole. This is in accordance with the profiles shown in Figure 1, which shows that the characteristic angular size of the bremsstrahlung emitting region increases significantly in the presence of an outflow. Specifically, for strongly modified density profiles ($`p=1`$), the flow sizes are large, typically corresponding nearly to their whole extent, $`10^6R_\mathrm{S}`$. This is because the intensity profile is flat and therefore the only characteristic scale in the flow is the size of the entire 1 keV emitting region. On the other hand, for intensities that are radially peaked, i.e.,when $`p0.5`$, the power is distributed over a broader range of scales and the characteristic size of the flow is smaller. Specifically, a purely inflow ADAF is extended but still centrally peaked, with a measurable FWHM of only tens

of $`R_\mathrm{S}`$ (for the $`p=0`$ case, $`\mathrm{FWHM}=30`$).

The complementary nature of the two imaging methods, namely imaging which probes directly the intensity profiles, and interferometry which measures the visibility function, is evident in Figures 1 and 2. The extended flows around supermassive black holes with flat profiles have large characteristic angular sizes extending up to 1 arcsec, which may be resolved with direct imaging instruments (see §4 for a discussion of specific instruments). On the other hand, an interferometer with a baseline of $`1m`$ is not sensitive to most of the power on large scales and is thus not suitable to study these flows. Furthermore, since the flat density profile flows are also less luminous, it is advantageous to observe these sources with direct imaging instruments which, unlike an interferometer, allow for a photon-energy integrated signal. The situation, however, is reversed for flows with radially peaked intensity profiles. Here, a good resolution that is necessary to study the characteristic sizes of a few tens of $`R_\mathrm{S}`$ can be achieved only by an interferometer. Therefore, both interferometric and direct imaging studies are needed to study the varying characteristics of hot accretion flows. In §4, we discuss further the resolution requirements for upcoming instruments which would allow the current direct imaging instruments and interferometry to work in this complementary manner.

In Figure 3, we show the change in the visibility function from 1 keV to 10 keV. The characteristic size of the 10 keV emitting region decreases by an order of magnitude for both $`p=1`$ and $`p=0`$. Furthermore, since the 10 keV brightness profile falls off more steeply in radius for $`p<1`$ (Fig.1), the visibility functions are broader.

## 4 Discussion

High resolution X-ray imaging and interferometric studies, which measure directly or indirectly the brightness profiles and thus the sizes and density profiles of accretion flows around black holes, can be powerful probes for studying the relevant mode of accretion and the detailed properties of accretion flows. We have shown that the 1 keV emitting regions of hot accretion flows can be large and extend up to $`10^6R_\mathrm{S}`$ irrespective of the specifics of the density profile, provided that the ADAF itself extends out to this radius (see below for further discussion). However, the brightness profiles and visibility functions are strongly affected by the specific density profile. In particular, the flat density profiles in the presence of strong outflows (p=1) give rise to very flat surface brightness profiles with characteristic sizes of $`10^6R_\mathrm{S}`$. In contrast, the purely inflow advection dominated solutions have centrally peaked profiles with characteristic sizes of only a few tens of $`R_\mathrm{S}`$.

If we are correct in surmising that hot accretion flows may be common in nearby galactic nuclei and that such flows may drive strong outflows (e.g., Quataert & Narayan 1999; Di Matteo et al. 2000) then the above results have strong implications for X-ray observations of these nuclei. An important consequence of our results is that a hot accretion flow with a flat density profile around a $`10^9M_{}`$ black hole at Virgo cluster distances, such as M87, may look like an extended X-ray source rather than a point source when imaged by the $`\mathrm{𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑎}`$ X-ray observatory with its 0.5 arcsec resolution mirrors. At the distance of M87 and for $`m3\times 10^9`$ (Macchetto et al. 1997), 0.5 arcsec corresponds to $`10^5R_\mathrm{S}`$ which is about an order of magnitude smaller than the extent of the regions of these flows emitting soft X-rays (at $`2`$ keV; where most of the photon counts would be at these fluxes). Conversely, the detection of an X-ray point source in elliptical nuclei in Virgo must imply that either the physical sizes of the hot accretion flows are smaller than $`10^5R_\mathrm{S}`$ or that standard thin disk accretion with its associated corona applies. Regarding the former possibility, we stress that in our calculation we have assumed that the hot flows extend to their maximum possible X-ray emitting radius, i.e., $`R10^6R_\mathrm{S}`$. This radius is consistent with the typical accretion radius (the radius at which the black hole gravitational potential dominates that of the galaxy) of elliptical galaxies ($`0.1`$ kpc; Di Matteo et al. 2000) but does not need to coincide with the radius at which the angular momentum dominated accretion flow, i.e. an ADAF, is formed. There may be physical processes such as cooling at large radii that may cause the ADAF flow to start at smaller radii, or there may be transitions to other accretion solutions in the outer regions (see, e.g., Igumenshchev, Abramowicz, & Novikov 1998; Menou et al. 1999). Here, we assumed a direct transition from the hot interstellar medium (ISM) of the elliptical galaxies to an ADAF.

We note also that this hot ISM of the elliptical galaxies, with typical temperature of a few keV, may also contribute significantly to the emission in the soft X-ray band, which would further blend the images and may make the detection of the accretion flow component more difficult. However, in the hard band ($`>5`$ keV), the sources are intrinsically smaller (c.f., Fig. 3), and may look more point-like provided that there are enough photon counts. This would have the additional advantage of having less background from galactic emission. Finally, we stress that Chandra X-ray spectroscopy of the central regions of these galaxies will also complement the information provided by the imaging instruments and will be crucial for determining the presence of ADAFs in these systems. With its 1 MeV temperature, the bremsstrahlung emission from the central regions of a hot accretion flow will be much harder than that of the galaxy ISM and will have a different spectral slope than that expected from a typical AGN with low luminosity.

Variability studies are also important for determining the sizes of accretion flows and are complementary to imaging studies. Rapid variation in the X-ray flux may help constrain the size of the X-ray emitting region. For example, ROSAT HRI observations (at $`E1`$ keV) of the “core” of M87 show $`20\%`$ variability on timescales of $`6`$ months to a year (Harris, Biretta, & Junor 1997). This is not easy to reconcile with a $`p>0.5`$ bremsstrahlung model for the X-ray emission. However, identifying the possible contributions to the variability from jets associated with the accretion flows relies on high resolution imaging studies and therefore the two methods can be used as complementary probes.

Because of the large inferred black hole masses, many of the nearby supermassive black holes have also been considered some of the best targets for observations with the planned X-ray interferometry mission MAXIM. Owing to the short X-ray wavelengths, remarkably high spatial resolutions can be achieved with relatively short baselines with the ultimate aim of imaging of black holes on even horizon scales. (See http://maxim.gsfc.nasa.gov/ for a detailed discussion of the proposed capabilities of MAXIM and Cash et al. 2000). Already for the first stages of such a mission, a target resolution of $`0.1`$ mas has been planned corresponding to a baseline of $`1m`$ at 1 keV. This should probe up to a few tens of $`R_\mathrm{S}`$ for the supermassive black holes in nearby galaxies (Fig 4).

However, if indeed large black holes in nearby galaxies accrete via hot, radiatively inefficient accretion flows, e.g, M87, one important consequence of our results is that characteristic X-ray emission scale would be large and there would be little power on scales corresponding to few tens of $`R_\mathrm{S}`$ or smaller. Therefore baselines of $`1`$ m may not be appropriate to image black holes in the Virgo ellipticals (c.f., §3 and Fig. 2) and a range of smaller baselines would be necessary to study the visibility functions of these extended flows. Thus, to study properties of accretion flows, the minimum baseline of the interferometer is an important consideration. Specifically, for studying the spatial extent of hot accretion flows and the relevance of outflows, it is important to bridge a possible gap in resolution between that of the $`\mathrm{𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑎}`$ X-ray observatory and the minimum resolution of an X-ray interferometer. Alternatively, with a baseline of $`1`$ m, galactic black hole candidates may be better targets to study hot accretion flows (Fig. 2). $`\mathrm{𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑎}`$ observations will be crucial for selecting the appropriate targets for an X-ray interferometry mission and giving us clues on the relevant mode of accretion in the nearby black holes.

We thank Ramesh Narayan for many useful suggestions throughout this work. We also thank Dimitrios Psaltis, Martin White, Irwin Shapiro, and George Rybicki for valuable discussions and comments on the manuscript. T. D. M. acknowledges support for this work provided by NASA through Chandra Postdoctoral Fellowship grant number PF8-10005 awarded by the Chandra Science Center, which is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for NASA under contract NAS8-39073. This work was supported in part by NSF Grant AST 9820686.