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# NGC 1614: A Laboratory for Starburst Evolution 1footnote 11footnote 1Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under NASA contract No. NAS5-26555.

## 1. INTRODUCTION

Numerical simulations of collisions between gas-rich galaxies (e.g., Barnes & Hernquist 1996 and references therein) and even minor mergers between a gas-rich galaxy and a satellite companion (e.g., Mihos & Hernquist 1994) show that these processes are very efficient in transporting large quantities of molecular gas into the galaxy nuclei. As a result of the concentration of gas, a strong burst (or various bursts) of star-formation may occur, and an AGN may be activated, as observed in many infrared luminous and ultraluminous galaxies (LIRGs and ULIRGs). Sanders et al. (1988) suggested that the LIRG and ULIRG galaxies are the initial stage for the appearance of a quasar (see also the review by Sanders & Mirabel 1996). However, recent results from mid-infrared spectroscopy seem to indicate that most LIRGs and many ULIRGs may be powered by star formation (Lutz et al. 1999). These objects therefore allow probing the process of star formation on an extreme scale and intensity.

NGC 1614 (Arp 186) is relatively nearby (distance $`D=64`$Mpc for $`H_0=75`$km s-1 Mpc-1) and has a high infrared luminosity ($`L_{\mathrm{IR}}=3\times 10^{11}`$L, which places this system in the luminous infrared galaxy category). The galaxy shows a spectacular outer structure with tidal tails or plumes (see e.g., Neff et al. 1990 and also Figure 1) suggesting that this morphology is the result of an earlier interaction/merger process with another galaxy. Neff et al. (1990) collected optical, near-infrared and radio observations for this galaxy and found no evidence for the presence of active galactic nucleus (AGN), making it an excellent laboratory for study of a very luminous starburst.

We present HST/NICMOS near infrared observations of NGC 1614, giving unprecedented angular resolution on the galaxy for this spectral region. These new observations are combined with an archival HST/WFPC2 red image, ground-based near infrared spectroscopy, and results from the literature to probe the starburst.

## 2. OBSERVATIONS

### 2.1. HST/NICMOS Observations

HST/NICMOS observations of NGC 1614 were obtained in February 1998 using cameras NIC1 and NIC2. The pixel sizes are 0.043″ pixel-1 and 0.076″ pixel-1 respectively. Table 1 lists details of the observations. Standard data reduction procedures were applied (see Alonso-Herrero et al. 2000a for more details). The flux calibration was performed using the conversion factors based on measurements of the standard star P330-E during the Servicing Mission Observatory Verification (SMOV) program.

The fully-reduced images were rotated to the usual orientation with north up, east to the left. They are shown in Figure 2. In addition, we constructed an infrared color map using the NIC2 F160W and NIC2 F222M images, which is equivalent to a ground-based $`HK`$ color map. In the NIC1 F110M image (highest angular resolution) the nucleus of NGC 1614 appears to be slightly resolved with a FWHM of 0.15″ (or 45 pc for the assumed distance), whereas for the unresolved sources (the stellar clusters discussed in Section 3.2) we measured FWHMs of approximately 0.11″ (or 35 pc).

The continuum subtracted Pa$`\alpha `$ image was produced by a straight subtraction of the flux calibrated NIC2 F187N image (continuum) from the flux calibrated NIC2 F190N image (line+continuum). NICMOS only provides narrow continuum bands to one side of the emission line. For NGC 1614 the continuum image lies to the blue, and therefore if some extinction is present the continuum at the emission line wavelength may be slightly over-subtracted. Table 2 gives the photometry of the H ii regions in the ring of star formation and the brightest ones along the spiral arms.

A continuum subtracted H2 image was produced in a similar manner, using the F212N (continuum) and F215N (line+continuum) filters. Because the H2 line is relatively weak, the image subtraction near the nucleus is not reliable. Artificial images of point sources were generated for both filters and used in experiments to determine where useful information could be obtained. Based on these experiments, we have excluded the data within 0.25″ of the nucleus from further analysis. Figure 3 shows the surface brightness in Pa$`\alpha `$ compared with that in the (1,0) S(1) H2 line at $`\lambda _{\mathrm{rest}}=2.12\mu `$m. We have averaged the data along an artificial slit 0.61″ in width and oriented at position angle 170° selected to avoid the secondary nucleus and the brightest H ii regions in the circumnuclear ring (see below). The H2 extends farther out from the nucleus than does the Pa$`\alpha `$.

Alonso-Herrero et al. (2000a) discuss a NICMOS CO photometric index (defined as $`\mathrm{CO}_{\mathrm{NICMOS}}=\frac{f(\mathrm{F222M})f(\mathrm{F237M})}{f(\mathrm{F222M})}`$, where the fluxes $`f`$(F222M) and $`f`$(F237M) are in Jy). The spatial profile of this index is shown in Figure 4 together with the Pa$`\alpha `$ line emission (upper panel) and the NIC2 F222M ($`K`$-band) brightness profile (lower panel). The errors in the CO index account for the background subtraction uncertainties in both the NIC2 F222M and NIC2 F237M filters. The nominal errors of the Pa$`\alpha `$ and NIC2 F222M profiles are smaller than the size of the symbols.

### 2.2. HST archival data

A Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) image of NGC 1614 was retrieved from the HST data archive. This image was taken through the F606W filter in November 1994. Standard pipeline reduction procedures were applied. Because only a single exposure was taken for this galaxy, the cosmic rays are particularly difficult to remove, especially the extended ones. The image is saturated in the center. We rotated the cleaned image to the usual orientation (see Figure 1).

### 2.3. Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Near-infrared spectra were obtained at Steward Observatory’s 2.3-m Bok Telescope on Kitt Peak using FSpec (Williams et al. 1993) with an orientation $`\mathrm{P}.\mathrm{A}=90\mathrm{°}`$. The data were reduced as described by Engelbracht et al. (1998). The spectra were extracted from a $`2.4\mathrm{}\times 6.0\mathrm{}`$ region centered on the galaxy nucleus and were flux-calibrated using ground-based imaging data. The $`J`$-band spectrum at a resolution of $`800`$ is shown in Figure 5 (upper panel), while spectra in the $`H`$ and $`K`$ bands at a resolution of $`3000`$ are shown in Figure 5 (middle and lower panels respectively). We have used the procedures discussed in Engelbracht et al. (1998) to subtract a stellar continuum, so that accurate measurements can be made of faint lines that might otherwise be affected by stellar absorption features. In Table 3 we present emission line fluxes. Our detections of the (1-0)S(0) and (2-1)S(1) lines of H2 are supported by weak detections of the same lines by Puxley & Brand (1994).

The spectra also allow us to determine the CO index to quantify the depth of the first overtone absorption bands at 2.3$`\mu `$m. Using the method and calibration discussed by Engelbracht et al. (1998), the CO index is 0.23, substantially stronger than for normal old stellar populations found in the nuclei of non-starbursting galaxies. Our determination that the CO absorption is stronger than expected for a ”normal” galaxy nucleus is in agreement with previous work (Ridgway, Wynn-Williams, & Becklin 1994; Puxley & Brand 1994 as discussed by Goldader et al. 1997).

## 3. DISCUSSION

### 3.1. The extinction

Before we interpret the properties of NGC 1614, we need to apply an extinction correction. The extinction to the nucleus of NGC 1614 has been estimated a number of times. Some works (e.g., Neff et al. 1990; Shier, Rieke, Rieke 1996) have found relatively small values for the visual extinction ($`A_V=35`$mag with a foreground screen model) from optical and infrared colors, and infrared emission lines. Puxley & Brand (1994) used optical and near infrared hydrogen recombination lines, and claimed that the extinction to NGC 1614 could not be modeled with a simple foreground screen model. Instead they used a composite model (mixture of dust and gas, and a foreground screen) and inferred a total extinction in the optical of $`A_V11`$mag. Ho, Beck, & Turner (1990) derived a relatively large extinction between Br$`\gamma `$ and Br$`\alpha `$, but their result is subject to significant calibration uncertainties (see also Puxley & Brand 1994).

Using the fluxes of the two \[Fe ii\] emission lines at $`1.257\mu `$m and $`1.644\mu `$m (whose ratio is largely independent of nebular conditions) and the hydrogen recombination lines Pa$`\beta `$ and Br$`\gamma `$ and a foreground dust screen model, we find values of the extinction to the gas in the $`K`$-band of $`A_K=0.400.49`$mag, corresponding to $`A_V4`$mag. A comparison of dust models (from Witt, Thronson, & Capuano 1992) with the simple foreground screen model (c.f., the analysis of NGC 253 by Engelbracht et al. 1998) shows that the correction needed for all the infrared lines (\[Fe ii\]$`1.26\mu `$m, \[Fe ii\]$`1.64\mu `$m, Pa$`\beta `$ and Br$`\gamma `$) and the broad-band colors is similar. Thus a foreground dust screen model (with extinction in the $`K`$-band of $`A_K=0.40.5`$mag) is a good approximation for the near-infrared extinction to the ionized gas. This approximation may not give the correct extinction in the optical, but we do not use any optical data for our study of the star formation properties of this galaxy.

The infrared $`HK`$ color map (Figure 2 and also the close-up in Figure 6) shows that the actual distribution of the extinction is quite patchy. If we assume an intrinsic color $`HK=0.25`$ for the stellar population and the Rieke & Lebofsky (1985) extinction law, we find values of the $`K`$-band extinction to the stars of $`A_K=0.30.4`$mag to the east of the center of NGC 1614, whereas the $`K`$-band extinction to the west is higher, ranging between approximately 0.2 and 1.2 mag. The $`HK`$ color of the nucleus (through a 0.76″-diameter aperture) is 0.41, which would imply a $`K`$-band extinction of $`A_K=0.3`$mag.

Compared with other dusty starbursts, the levels of extinction in NGC 1614 are low. We can determine the near infrared properties of the nucleus of NGC 1614 reasonably accurately by taking an average extinction of $`A_K=0.5`$mag and making a first order correction by assuming a simple foreground screen of dust. This value for the extinction agrees well with foreground screen model of Puxley & Brand (1994), $`A_K=0.43`$mag. They show that an underestimate of the Ly continuum by about 20% may result compared with more sophisticated models. However, from the combination of our slightly higher assumed extinction level and other minor differences, our derived Ly continuum is similar to the value they feel is most accurate. In general, if there are regions of very heavy extinction, or where the extinction is optically thick at the wavelengths of our observations, then we would have underestimated the starburst parameters. Our conclusions about the galaxy would become stronger with this error corrected.

The relatively modest extinction in a face-on starburst is an important advantage for studies of NGC 1614. The foundation for much of this paper is the resulting possibility to determine the starburst properties more reliably than for most other well-studied examples.

### 3.2. Morphology

The NICMOS images provide important new insights to the morphology of the starburst in NGC 1614. Figure 2 presents from the upper left corner and clockwise, the optical WFPC2 F606W image, NIC2 F160W ($`H`$-band), NIC2 F160W - NIC2 F222M ($`HK`$ color map), and continuum subtracted Pa$`\alpha `$ image. The field of view of these images is $`19.2\mathrm{}\times 19.2\mathrm{}`$. Figure 6 presents close-ups of the central regions ($`8\mathrm{}\times 8\mathrm{}2.5\mathrm{kpc}\times 2.5\mathrm{kpc}`$) as in Figure 2.

The nucleus of NGC 1614 is extremely luminous, with an $`H`$-band absolute magnitude measured through a 0.76″-diameter aperture of $`M_H=23`$mag (corrected for extinction). The bright infrared nucleus is surrounded by a number of fainter sources and similar sources lie along the spiral arms. These objects are probably stellar clusters. We measured $`H`$-band luminosities (see Table 4) ranging up to $`M_H=17.2`$mag for the brightest sixteen clusters (excluding those located in the vicinity of the bright nucleus), similar to the cluster luminosities measured in Arp 299 (Alonso-Herrero et al. 2000a) and other luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (Scoville et al. 2000). Neff et al. (1990) noted the presence of a knot some 10″ SW of the nucleus in a $`B`$-band image (figure 2 in their paper), and suggested that it could be interpreted to be fragments of a second galaxy. This knot (tentatively identified with cluster #7, Table 4) is on the edge of our NIC2 F160W image. It is most likely to be another stellar cluster from its observed luminosity.

Ground-based imaging shows the nucleus of the galaxy to be elongated at position angle 39$`\mathrm{°}`$ (e.g., Mazzarella & Boroson 1993). The WFPC2 F606W image resolves the central 2″ of NGC 1614 into two prominent sources at a similar position angle (see Figure 6). The brighter of these sources coincides with the infrared nucleus. The other optical source lies at the position of a secondary peak in the infrared images to the NE of the nucleus, but it is far less prominent in the infrared than in the F606W image. Its $`H`$-band luminosity is about 30 times fainter than the primary nucleus ($`M_H=18.5\pm 0.4`$mag; the error accounts for the uncertainty in the determination of the underlying background because of its proximity to the bright nucleus). The $`H`$-band absolute magnitude of the secondary peak is a magnitude or more brighter than the brightest of the stellar clusters, suggesting that it is the nucleus of an interacting small galaxy. The small extinction toward the secondary nucleus, as indicated by its blue color from optical to infrared, places it in front of the main nucleus and the activity around it (see Figure 6).

The CO band in the primary nucleus is very strong as shown by both our spectroscopy (Section 2.3) and imaging (Figure 4), much stronger than expected for an old stellar population. The most plausible explanation for this behavior is that the light from this nucleus is dominated by red supergiants that are the product of a starburst of age 10 or more million years. As shown in Figure 4, outside the starburst ring the CO index assumes a value appropriate to an old stellar population, presumably that of the underlying galaxy.

The Pa$`\alpha `$ line emission image reveals a nuclear ring of star formation with an approximate diameter of 650 pc. The Pa$`\alpha `$ morphology is remarkably similar to the 6 cm radio map (Neff et al. 1990). Although the two available mid-infrared images (Keto et al. 1992; Miles et al. 1996) do not agree in detail, they do show that the emission in the central part of the galaxy is confined to a 2” diameter region. The image of Miles et al. (1996), which should have higher angular resolution and signal to noise, suggests that the emission arises from the ring seen in Pa$`\alpha `$.

Comparison of small aperture ($``$ 5″ diameter) ground-based photometry (Rieke & Low 1972; Lebofsky & Rieke 1979; Carico et al. 1988) with the IRAS fluxes (in a 45″ by 250″ beam) shows that the infrared emission of the entire galaxy is strongly concentrated into the central region. In fact, if approximate corrections are made from the ground-based to IRAS effective wavelengths and for the wavelength weighting introduced in IRAS to reduce color corrections to the fluxes, more than 80% of the total infrared flux at 12 $`\mu `$m originates in the nucleus, and hence, from the Miles et al. (1996) image, primarily in the circumnuclear ring. At 25$`\mu `$m, making similar corrections to the measurement by Lebofsky & Rieke (1979), we find about 75% of the total flux to originate in the nucleus. Given the relation between far infrared and radio fluxes, we can also estimate the central concentration in the far infrared from radio data. We compare the survey results by Griffith et al. (1995) in a 4.2 arcmin beam at 6cm with the VLA map of the nucleus reported by Neff et al. (1990). We have corrected the flux scale in the latter reference upward by 11%, as they suggest. We find that $``$ 60% of the 6cm flux lies in the nuclear ring. These three estimates are consistent in stating that about 70% of the far infrared luminosity arises from the nuclear region. In the following, we can ascribe most of the far infrared luminosity to the circumnuclear ring of H ii regions.

The integrated far infrared luminosity indicates a star formation rate of 52 M yr-1 from equation(3) of Kennicutt (1998). If 70% of this star formation occurs in the nucleus, we predict a level there of 36 M yr-1. The Pa$`\alpha `$ luminosity in the circumnuclear ring (see Table 2) indicates, after correction for reddening, a star formation rate of $``$ 36 M yr-1 from equation (2) of Kennicutt (1998), in perfect agreement.

The H ii regions in the ring of NGC 1614 are extremely luminous with an equivalent ionizing luminosity an order of magnitude greater than that of 30 Doradus. A similar rich population of bright H ii regions has been found in the luminous starburst in Arp 299 (see Alonso-Herrero et al. 2000a). The H ii regions in the spiral arms are weaker than those in the ring, but still exceedingly luminous. Those listed in Table 2 are all similar in luminosity to 30 Dor (for which log LPaα $`38.8`$erg s-1; Kennicutt, Edgar, & Hodge 1989). 30 Dor is usually considered the prototype super-H ii region. Such objects are very uncommon in normal galaxies (e.g., Kennicutt et al. 1989; Rozas, Beckman, & Knapen 1996). The existence of so many comparable to 30 Dor and even with greater ionizing luminosity appears to be associated with strong starbursts (see Alonso-Herrero et al. 2000a).

Just outside the ring of H ii regions, the $`HK`$ extinction map shows a partial ring of high extinction. This ring is obliterated to the NE due to the overlying secondary nucleus, but otherwise it can be seen for more than 220$`\mathrm{°}`$. It traces the dense interstellar molecular material as discussed in the following section.

The molecular hydrogen appears to extend from the ring of H ii regions into the molecular cloud (see Figure 3). The detection of the (2-1) S(3) line at $`2.0735\mu `$m and the (2-1) S(1) line at $`2.2471\mu `$m (the latter line both in our spectrum and in that of Puxley & Brand 1994) suggests that a significant fraction of the emission is due to fluorescence in low density gas, for which the ratio of these lines to the $`2.12\mu `$m line is $`0.5`$ (e.g. Black & van Dishoek 1987; Sternberg & Dalgarno 1989). The relative H2 line strengths are very similar to those in NGC 253 (Engelbracht et al. 1998), for which we derived that the excitation was probably shared between fluorescence and shocks, with nearly 2/3 of the total near infrared H2 luminosity from the former mechanism. The morphology suggests that at least some of the H2 originates at a shock penetrating into the molecular ring from the H ii ring. Spectra of higher signal to noise and angular resolution will be needed to sort out the excitation conditions for the H2 in more detail.

Figure 7 summarizes the distribution of starlight on a large scale. We have used ellipse fitting to generate surface brightness profiles from the NICMOS $`K`$-band image (Figure 4) and from a ground-based image (Shier et al. 1996). These profiles join smoothly and trace the surface brightness to 20″ radius ($`>6`$kpc). The galaxy is dominated by an exponential disk with a scale length of 6.3″ ($`1.95`$kpc) from a radius of 5″ ($`1.6`$kpc) outward. Within a radius of 3″($`1`$kpc), there is a bright central source fitted well by an r1/4 law with a scale length of 1.14″ or 350 pc. At least in the innermost arcsec this region is dominated by the output of the newly formed stars and not by a traditional bulge of old stars.

Combining the results reported above, NGC 1614 appears to be a textbook example of a propagating starburst that started in the nucleus of a late type, large spiral galaxy, has grown outward to a radius of $``$ 300 pc, and is potentially still growing into a circumnuclear nuclear ring of molecular material just outside this radius (see also discussion in Section 3.4). This picture will be made more quantitative in a following section where we carry out evolutionary synthesis modeling of the starburst. Our data re-emphasize the result of Neff et al. (1990) that the activity in this galaxy is dominated by star formation and not by an AGN – there is no compact nuclear source either in the near or mid infrared, the emission lines are all narrow, and correlations observed in star forming regions such as the ratio of hydrogen recombination lines to far infrared luminosity appear to hold in NGC 1614. An interesting additional result is that the starburst is accompanied by a number of super-H ii regions in the spiral arms of the galaxy. The presence of a secondary nucleus out of the plane of NGC 1614 suggests that all this activity has been triggered by an interaction with a smaller galaxy, which has by now largely been destroyed. There is further evidence for a merger from the tidal tails in the outer structure of NGC 1614 (Figure 1).

### 3.3. Mass

An aperture of diameter 2″ (620 pc at the galaxy distance) includes the starburst and molecular ring. To understand the behavior in these regions, we need to determine the total mass and the mass of various constituents within this aperture. We first estimate the dynamical mass and then show that it is virtually all accounted for by the population of old, pre-starburst stars. The mass budget leaves very little for the starburst and molecular gas, as summarized in Table 5. This budget is strongly incompatible with the standard conversion of CO to gas mass and also challenges starburst models using conventional forms of the initial mass function.

#### 3.3.1 Dynamical mass

Shier et al. (1996) modeled the velocity dispersion measured in the 2.3$`\mu `$m CO band head to derive the dynamical mass for a 1000 pc (3″) diameter region in NGC 1614. They considered three models for the stellar distribution: two bulge models and a disk model. The mass was only weakly dependent on which model was used for its derivation, although the mass in the disk model would be about twice that in the bulge ones if the disk were assumed to be at the inclination we find for the circumnuclear ring. However, since the $`K`$-band surface brightness profile of the inner 2-arcsec radius is well fitted with an $`r^{1/4}`$ law (see Figure 7), here we adopt the highest value for the spherical geometry (bulge) models of Shier et al. (1996), 1.8 $`\times `$ 109 M, and make an approximate correction in proportion to diameter to the 2″ diameter region which is thus indicated to have a mass of 12 $`\pm `$ 4 $`\times `$ 108 M.

An independent estimate of the mass in the central region of NGC 1614 can be obtained using the Br$`\gamma `$ spectroscopy presented in Puxley & Brand (1999), and our knowledge of the morphology and size of the emitting region (a ring). It is expected that the ring is associated with a Lindblad resonance or other similar dynamical feature and is close to round. Puxley & Brand (1999) detected two peaks of line emission separated by $`151`$km s-1. We have obtained the ring rotational velocity by modeling the line profile expected for a rotating ring, convolved with a Gaussian to represent both the instrumental profile (resolution 39 km s-1) and the dispersion within the beam. We find models with dispersions between 38 and 64 km s-1 fit equally well as the double Gaussian used by Puxley & Brand. In all the satisfactory models, the peak rotational velocity is very close to 1.4 times the velocity that would have been deduced just from the separation of the Gaussians fitted by Puxley and Brand. That is, the rotational velocity is 106 km s-1, uncorrected for inclination. The total rotational velocity is determined by de-projecting for an inclination of $`i=51\mathrm{°}`$ (determined from the observed ellipticity and an assumption that the ring is round).

From the $`H`$-band morphology we know that the mass is symmetrically distributed inside the H ii ring, and therefore we can use the virial theorem in its simplest form to convert the rotational velocity to a mass. The conversion depends weakly on the mass distribution. Given the good fit of the r1/4 model to the starlight in the center of the galaxy (see Section 3.2), coupled with the large mass represented by these stars (see next section), we have assumed a spherically symmetric mass distribution. We find that the total mass in a region with diameter 2″ $``$ 620 pc is $`14\times 10^8\mathrm{M}_{}`$. The mass for a spherically symmetric distribution lies midway between the minimum possible value, for a thin disk, and the maximum, for a thin and narrow ring. The total range between these two extremes is a factor of two (i.e., $``$ $`\pm 40\%`$). Both because the situations at the extremes tend to be unstable and because of the observational evidence for a massive stellar spheroid within the ring, the systematic errors in our mass estimate should be much smaller than this range.

For the following we adopt the average of the two measures of $``$ 13 $`\times `$ 108 M as the best estimate of the mass in the starburst region, with an upper limit of 20 $`\times `$ 108 M. Not only is this value based on two independent and consistent determinations, but also our extinction data indicate that the galaxy is optically thin at the wavelengths and in the regions critical for the mass determinations. Thus, the mass should be measured reliability.

#### 3.3.2 Mass in old stars

To estimate the mass in old stars within the star forming region, we used the $`K`$-band fit to the surface brightness profile outside the ring of star formation (see Figure 7). The exponential disk is assumed to account for the old stars present in the galaxy before the strong episode of star formation seen today. The disk fit was extrapolated to the center of the galaxy to estimate the contribution of old stars hidden by the output of the starburst. No extinction correction was applied, since the extinction to the disk is unknown and in any case is likely to be less than the already modest extinction (at $`K`$) to the nucleus. We estimated 1.2 mJy of $`K`$-band light is emitted by the old population within the central 2”. Using the light-to-mass ratio derived for spiral galaxy disks by Thronson & Greenhouse (1988) (corresponding to $`M/L_V1.4`$), we find that the old stars account for $`M_{,\mathrm{old}}12\times 10^8\mathrm{M}_{}`$.

There is substantial evidence that the $`M/L`$ for spiral disks is very similar from galaxy to galaxy and in accordance with the values derived from Thronson & Greenhouse (e.g., Bottema 1993; 1999). In fact, the widely applied Tully-Fisher relation probably depends on the uniformity of $`M/L`$ in spiral disks (Aaronson, Mould, & Huchra 1979). Even if we assume that it is at the extreme low side of the dispersion in the Tully Fisher relation, the mass in the disk of NGC 1614 is unlikely to be more than 30% lower than our estimate. That is, assuming the lower limit $`M/L_V1.1`$, a lower limit to the disk mass in the nuclear region is 9 $`\times 10^8\mathrm{M}_{}`$. Our estimate ignores the mass of any bulge of old stars hidden within the central starburst region, and hence this lower limit is quite conservative.

Comparison of the mass in old stars with the dynamical mass of 13 $`\times `$ 108 M provides a difficult constraint. This problem cannot be relieved significantly by enlarging the region under consideration. For example, within a 3″ diameter region, the flux from the exponential disk model is 1.9 mJy, corresponding to a lower limit on the mass in old stars of 14.5 $`\times `$ $`10^8\mathrm{M}_{}`$, which includes virtually all the dynamical mass within this diameter also.

#### 3.3.3 Mass of ISM from standard CO to H2 conversion

Use of the standard procedure for estimating the mass in the interstellar medium from CO measurements is strongly inconsistent with the mass budget implied by the dynamics and the old stellar population; see Table 5. Scoville et al. (1989) made observations of the nuclear region in the 12CO J=1-0 line. These results have been re-analyzed by Scoville et al. (1991) and Bryant & Scoville (1999); our discussion is based primarily on the last reference. The nuclear CO source is described as being unresolved with a diameter $`<`$ 3″. Most of the material is probably located in the ring of strong extinction revealed in our $`HK`$ images, which is 2″ in diameter. Bryant & Scoville (1999) use a ”standard” conversion of CO emission to total mass (H2 \+ He) of molecular gas of N(H2)/ICO = 2.25 $`\times `$ 1020 cm-2 (K km s-1)-1, corrected by a factor of 1.36 to allow for the mass in helium. They deduce a nuclear molecular mass of 48 $`\times `$ 108 M, nearly four times the total dynamical mass! Further details of the conversion (but with a slightly higher standard factor) can be found in Sanders, Scoville, & Soifer (1991).

The use of the standard conversion factor in intense starbursts has come under question previously. Maloney & Black (1988) suggested that it should substantially overestimate the molecular masses because of the relatively high densities and temperatures of the molecular clouds in these regions. Shier, Rieke, & Rieke (1994) determined the dynamical mass with near infrared spectroscopy of the 2.3$`\mu `$m CO bandhead in the nuclei of a number of luminous starburst galaxies and found that the masses of gas were overestimated by the standard conversion by factors of $`410`$. Solomon et al. (1997) and Downes & Solomon (1998) concluded the standard factor may be high by a factor of five in starbursts, based on a comparison of the dynamical mass and gas mass from far infrared measures. Lisenfeld, Isaak, & Hills (2000) used submillimeter measurements of the emission by cold dust to argue that the CO-deduced mass is typically $`23`$ times higher than would be deduced from the thermal emission. Dunne et al. (2000) point out that such an increase is one of the possible explanations for apparently large values of M$`_{H_2}`$/Md in some strong merging/starburst galaxies. However, agreement has not been reached as illustrated, for example, by the use of the standard factor by Bryant & Scoville (1996, 1999).

#### 3.3.4 Independent estimates of the molecular mass

In NGC 1614, an independent test of the large molecular mass deduced from the standard conversion can be based on the mm-wave CO line profile. Casoli et al. (1991) have published a profile in a 44″ diameter beam that shows the full width at 20% intensity to be $`300`$km s-1. The line profile of Sanders et al. (1991) in a 55″ beam has a full width at 20% intensity of 390 km s-1. Scoville et al. (1989) show that about 30% of the emission in these beams would have been from the central compact source. If the mass of this region were $`5\times 10^9`$M, the line width would be $`400`$km s-1 or greater for this central 30% component, which would be very difficult to reconcile with the lack of strong, broad wings in the observed profile.

We have made another estimate of the amount of molecular gas, based on our discovery of an extinction shadow due to a circumnuclear molecular ring. We use the ratio of 18CO emission to H2 from the study of molecular clouds by Goldsmith, Bergin, & Lis (1997) and the relation between AV and 18CO from Alves, Lada, & Lada (1999) to relate the extinction in this ring to its mass. From our data, we estimate that the shadow of the molecular ring subtends an annulus between radii of 0.5 and 1″ with a typical extinction level of AV $`12`$mag . Because the extinction is only effective in the foreground of the stellar population, we made the assumption that the source is symmetric along the line of sight and therefore doubled the mass estimates derived from the relations cited above. Our value should probably be taken as a lower limit: we would underestimate the extinction if stars are mixed with the obscuring gas (or if some stars lie in front of it, or the obscuration is clumpy). Also, the reddening at $`H`$ and $`K`$ in the thickest parts of the ring is strong enough that optical depth effects might reduce the apparent extinction. Nonetheless, our value of $`12`$ $`\times `$ 108 M is well aligned with the dynamical mass and, in fact, a significantly higher value would create a serious problem in explaining the nuclear properties given the other constituents and their expected contributions to the mass.

An upper limit to the mass of interstellar material can be obtained from the discovery that this material is predominantly distributed in a circumnuclear ring, as shown both by the Pa$`\alpha `$ morphology and the extinction shadow of a ring sector seen in the color maps. Although this ring is currently the site of vigorous star formation as the starburst propagates outward, it must have originally been a semi-stable configuration. The Toomre stability parameter for gas in a plane is

$$Q=\frac{\kappa \sigma }{\pi \mathrm{\Sigma }G}$$
(1)
where $`\kappa `$ is the epicyclic frequency, $`\sigma `$ is the cloud velocity dispersion and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ is the gas surface density. So that the gas remains in a disk and does not fragment into small clumps, $`Q>1`$. Thus, we can derive an upper limit for $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$:

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }<470M_{}\mathrm{pc}^2\left(\frac{v_c}{100\mathrm{k}\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}}\right)\left(\frac{310\mathrm{p}\mathrm{c}}{r}\right)\left(\frac{\gamma }{2}\right)\left(\frac{\sigma }{10\mathrm{k}\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}}\right)$$
(2)
where $`v_c`$ is the circular velocity and $`\gamma =\kappa r/v_c`$. We have used a maximum value of $`\gamma =2`$ for a solid body rotation curve. We assume a velocity dispersion of $`\sigma =20`$km s-1. This value was determined by extrapolating the observed cloud size/line width relation (Falgarone, Puget, & Pérault 1992) to a size of 100 pc and then doubling the width for good measure, to allow for possible extreme conditions in a galaxy nuclear region. Taking $`M_g=2\pi rdr\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ using $`dr=150`$ pc (based on the ring width in the extinction shadow), we find a maximum mass of $`M_g<4\times 10^8M_{}`$. If there is a high dispersion component of material, the actual gas mass could be somewhat higher.

Another lower limit of Mg $`>`$ 2 $`\times `$ 108 M can be computed by assuming the CO emission is optically thin (Bryant & Scoville 1996, equation A4).

#### 3.3.5 Conclusions about the ISM in the nucleus of NGC 1614

Combining these arguments, the molecular mass in the nucleus is most likely $``$ 3 $`\times `$ 108 M, about 25% of the dynamical mass in this region. This mass is about 15 times lower than the $`4.8\times 10^9M_{}`$ in molecular mass deduced from CO and the standard conversion by Bryant and Scoville (1999). Table 5 illustrates how tight the mass budget is. It seems unlikely that the molecular gas can be more than 1/10 the amount estimated from the standard conversion even if the dynamical mass is set to the upper limit of 20 $`\times `$ 108 M and the mass in old stars to its lower limit of 9 $`\times `$ 108 M. In that case, it might be necessary to incorporate a significant change in the starburst initial mass function (see Section 3.5.2). Our results are in agreement with those of Shier et al. (1994), who estimated that the amount of gas in the nucleus of NGC 1614 was a factor of at least nine below the value from the standard conversion.

To accompany their estimate of a huge mass of molecular gas, Scoville et al. (1989) inferred the extinction in the nuclear region of NGC 1614 to be $`A_V>95`$mag. They argued that much of the ”action” in this region would be hidden from optical and even infrared observers unless there happened to be a particularly favorable line of sight. This picture of LIRGs and ULIRGs has gained wide credence, but the observations presented here are a serious caution. Not only do we find far less molecular mass, but more significantly for the ”hidden action” model, we do not find anything approaching the high extinction deduced from the CO observations. An independent indication that the extinction is not hiding any significant action is the close correspondence between the star formation rates deduced from Pa$`\alpha `$ and far infrared luminosities, as discussed in Section 3.2.

### 3.4. The star formation properties

For our analysis of the star formation properties of NGC 1614, we will use the Rieke et al. (1993) evolutionary synthesis starburst models because they include a careful calibration of the CO stellar absorption band strengths against observational data. We have considered Gaussian bursts of 5 Myr duration (FWHM) with the peak of star formation at 5 Myr after the beginning time for the burst. NGC 1614 is a well known Wolf-Rayet (WR) galaxy (Vacca & Conti 1992; Schaerer, Contini, & Pindao 1999). The presence of WR features in star forming galaxies can only be explained with short bursts of star formation with durations of the order of a few million years (Leitherer & Heckman 1995), as used in our fit to the observed properties of the galaxy.

We used a truncated Salpeter IMF222$`\varphi (m)\mathrm{d}mm^{2.35}\mathrm{d}m`$ from 1 to $`80\mathrm{M}_{}`$, and $`\varphi (m)\mathrm{d}mm^1\mathrm{d}m`$ from 0.1 to $`1\mathrm{M}_{}`$. which is virtually identical to IMF8 which Rieke et al. (1993) decided gave the best fit to the properties of M82, and has since been shown to fit other starburst galaxies well (Engelbracht et al. 1996, 1998). In Table 6 we summarize the properties of the central starburst of NGC 1614 that will be fitted with the evolutionary synthesis models.

The infrared luminosity will be taken as a lower limit to the bolometric luminosity of the galaxy. This assumption makes two errors in opposite direction. From the aperture measurements discussed in Section 3.2, up to about one third of the infrared luminosity of the galaxy may be produced outside the nuclear region. On the other hand, a significant amount of optical/UV energy must escape from the starburst before it is absorbed and re-emitted in the infrared, particularly given the patchy and relatively low level of extinction. The number of ionizing photons is from both the \[Ne ii\]$`12.8\mu `$m line flux of Roche et al. (1991), and the HST/NICMOS Pa$`\alpha `$ flux, the latter corrected for an average extinction of $`A_K=0.5`$mag and assuming case B recombination. Our estimate of the number of ionizing photons is in good agreement with the value from Puxley & Brand (1994) derived from measurements that included Br$`\alpha `$, analyzed through detailed modeling of the extinction. It is also consistent with the upper limit established from the 3$`\sigma `$ non-detection of the radio H$`\alpha `$92 hydrogen recombination line (Phookun, Anantharamaiah, & Goss 1998). To allow for the possibility of absorption of ionizing photons by interstellar dust, in the models we take the derived UV flux as a lower limit. The \[Fe ii\] line ratios are similar to those detected in NGC 253 (Engelbracht et al. 1998) and are typical of those in supernova remnants. We estimated the supernova rate (SNr) from the \[Fe ii\]$`1.644\mu `$m luminosity (corrected for extinction) from this work and a new calibration between these two quantities (Alonso-Herrero et al. 2000b, in preparation).

Our best fit to the properties of NGC 1614 with a single burst of star formation is presented in Figure 8 (left panel). In this diagram the output of the model is normalized to the properties of NGC 1614 so the target quantity is unity. The model uses a mass in newly formed stars of $`5.6\times 10^8\mathrm{M}_{}`$ ($`0.4\times M_{\mathrm{dyn}}`$). The derived age is between 5 Myr and 8 Myr after the peak of star formation, or $`711`$Myr measured from the rising half power of the assumed Gaussian star formation rate. This age is consistent with our failure to detect the 1.7$`\mu `$m He line, which suggests (although it is not a strong result given the signal to noise) that there are relatively few stars hotter than 40,000 K (Vanzi et al. 1996). All the observables except the CO index converge at the young age. The observed CO index appears to be too deep for such a young population.

The strong CO of this galaxy is more typical of a stellar population ten million years old or older. The discrepancy with the age of 5 $``$ 8 Myr for the other starburst indicators suggests that this galaxy has experienced a more extended period of star formation than in our single burst. The simplest example would be a double burst. In Figure 8 (right panel) we show the best fit model obtained with two Gaussian bursts (both with FWHM = 5 Myr) separated by 5 Myr. Each burst uses 20% of the dynamical mass. As can be seen from this figure, the fit is excellent. The derived age is $`1011.5\times 10^6`$yr after the peak of star formation of the first burst. A variety of other time dependencies of star formation are also likely to fit the data, but the minimum duration of the episode and the minimum mass required are both well constrained by the double burst model.

This starburst model coincides closely with the morphology of the galaxy. We find that the strong CO is concentrated in the nucleus (Figure 4, upper panel), and the modeling associates this feature with the older part of the starburst. Most of the ionizing flux is produced in the younger part of the starburst, and is physically located in the circumnuclear ring (Figure 6). From the starburst modeling and the diameter of the circumnuclear ring of H ii regions, we can roughly estimate that the speed at which the starburst is propagating outward is $`60`$km s-1.

### 3.5. The Initial Mass Function

#### 3.5.1 Previous estimates of the IMF in starbursts

Rieke et al. (1980) found that evolutionary starburst models using the then-current form for the local IMF (Miller & Scalo 1979) had difficulty fitting the properties of M82 within the available dynamical mass. They suggested that the IMF in the starburst might be biased toward massive stars compared with the proposed local form. Since the low mass stars contribute most of the total mass in the IMF, but have no observable properties in a starburst, reducing their numbers is a plausible way to reconcile the masses. This possibility has been discussed at great length since. Rieke et al. (1993) reconsidered M82, experimenting with a broad variety of forms for the IMF and histories of star formation. They confirmed that the currently proposed forms for the local IMF (e.g., Scalo 1986) were inadequate and proposed their ”IMF8” as a more satisfactory solution, IMF8 provides $`45`$ times more stars in the $`1030\mathrm{M}_{}`$ range than does Scalo (1986) but drops toward higher masses to avoid overproduction of oxygen in very massive stars (Rieke et al. 1993).

In the last few years, modeling of the ultraviolet spectra of starburst galaxies has led to the conclusion that their IMFs have roughly the Salpeter slope at high masses (e.g., González-Delgado et al. 1999). Satyapal et al. (1997) modeled M82 with less complete evolutionary models than used by Rieke et al. (1993). They claimed that they could account for the $`K`$-band luminosity with a Salpeter IMF, avoiding the necessity to suppress formation of low mass stars compared with the local IMF. A problem with their approach is that they did not demonstrate the simultaneous fitting of all the starburst constraints used by Rieke et al. (1993); it is relatively easy to fit a subset of constraints if the rest are ignored. Furthermore, because they assumed a foreground screen extinction model, the $`K`$-band luminosity they fitted is in fact a lower limit to the true luminosity, making their fits less demanding. Nonetheless, their success with a modified Salpeter IMF confirms independently the derivation of IMF8 to fit M82 by Rieke et al. (1993), as we show below.

The critical aspect of a starburst IMF constrained by luminosities and dynamical mass is the proportion of mass it places in the $`1030\mathrm{M}_{}`$ range that dominates the observable aspects of the starburst. Table 7 summarizes this proportion and that of more massive stars for the various forms of the IMF that have been used to fit starbursts. It shows the similarity of IMF8 and the modified Salpeter IMF, which are equivalent in fitting the primary starburst characteristics. However, IMF8 is to be preferred because its factor of two lower portion of very massive stars results in a proportionate reduction in the production of oxygen. Keeping the abundance of oxygen within the observational limits is a difficult constraint in starburst models (Rieke et al. 1993; Wang & Silk 1993). The other forms for the IMF produce significantly fewer 10 $``$ 30 M stars. To first order, the dynamical masses required with them are just in the ratio of the proportions of these stars. Thus, if M82 can be fitted with 2.5 $`\times `$ $`10^8\mathrm{M}_{}`$ in a modified Salpeter IMF, it would require about $`5\times 10^8`$M with a Miller-Scalo IMF, about 70% of the dynamical mass available and unlikely to be an acceptable fit once allowance is made for the mass of other constituents of the nuclear region. For NGC 1614, the Miller-Scalo IMF would take all the dynamical mass and the Scalo (1986) and Basu & Rana (1992) ones would require about twice the dynamical mass, all of which is clearly unacceptable.

Virtually all studies find the local IMF to fall more steeply toward high masses than the Salpeter form. Even Salpeter (1955) continued the simple power law to high masses only for simplicity, but at the same time called attention to an apparent high mass steepening: ”It is not yet clear whether the steeper drop for masses larger than 10 M is a real effect, since in this region masses and bolometric corrections are not known very accurately and the number of such stars near the galactic plane is small.” As with the rest of his work this statement has proven prescient. However, a Salpeter IMF has been shown to be an approximate fit in many situations outside the local neighborhood (e.g., Scalo 1998). It now appears that a better description of the M82 issue might be that the local IMF (or at least our estimates of it) may differ from the IMF we find in most regions of active star formation, including in starbursts like M82.

#### 3.5.2 NGC 1614: a more extreme IMF?

We have emphasized that NGC 1614 is particularly well suited to studying starburst properties, given the relatively modest near infrared extinction and our favorable viewing of it at modest inclination. It has a well determined dynamical mass of 13 $`\times `$ 108 M in the starburst region, as discussed in Section 3.2. However, the constituents in this region appear to sum to a significantly greater mass, $`>`$ 9 $`\times `$ 108 M for the old stars plus $``$ 3 $`\times `$ 108 M for the molecular gas plus 5.5 $`\times `$ 108 M for the starburst using either a Salpeter IMF or IMF8. The total exceeds the dynamical mass by at least 35%. Unless there is substantial contamination of the disk outside the starburst by younger stars, these numbers suggest that the mass in the starburst may be overestimated. A further indication in the same direction is that the starburst plus remaining molecular gas in our nominal estimates account for 65% of the dynamical mass. Theoretical modeling suggests that instabilities will set in and a starburst will appear once the mass of gas reaches $``$ 20% of the total in a galaxy nucleus (Wada & Habe 1992; Bekki 1995). These estimates are somewhat uncertain and may not apply strictly to the conditions in NGC 1614. However, they fall so far below the deduced mass of new stars and residual gas to suggest that the IMF in the NGC 1614 starburst is weighted toward massive stars, even compared with IMF8 or a modified Salpeter function. This behavior should be tested in studies of other extreme starbursts.

### 3.6. The star formation efficiency

The mechanism needed to account for the strong star formation in luminous mergers is a matter of debate. The two main competing models are: (1) cloud-cloud collisions which predict a large population of high mass stars to give rise to the high infrared luminosities (Scoville, Sanders, & Clemens 1986) (2) gravitational instability in nuclear gas disks, as favored by Taniguchi & Ohyama (1998). The former model would predict a Schmidt law333The star formation rate density is a gas density power law, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\mathrm{SFR}}\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\mathrm{gas}}^N`$, Schmidt (1959) with index $`N=2`$, whereas the latter model predicts indices $`N=11.5`$ as found for isolated galaxies and strong starbursts (Kennicutt 1998; Taniguchi & Ohyama 1998).

From the Pa$`\alpha `$ luminosity of NGC 1614 (corrected for extinction) and using the relation between SFR and H$`\alpha `$ luminosity (Kennicutt 1998) we measured a $`\mathrm{SFR}=36\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ in the ring and a SFR surface density of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\mathrm{SFR}}=120\pm 50\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1\mathrm{kpc}^2`$, similar to, although slightly higher than, the earlier estimate by Kennicutt (1998) from the FIR luminosity and somewhat different parameters for the size of the emitting region ($`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\mathrm{SFR}}=65\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1\mathrm{kpc}^2`$). The value of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\mathrm{SFR}}=120\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1\mathrm{kpc}^2`$ that we found for NGC 1614 is of the same magnitude as that of the giant H ii region 30 Doradus (Kennicutt 1998), and the global star formation efficiency for this galaxy approaches 100% over a gas consumption period of $`10^8\mathrm{yr}`$. Based on the standard conversion, Kennicutt (1998) derived $`N=1.4\pm 0.15`$. If the mass in molecular gas is only $``$ 3 $`\times `$ 108 M, with a conversion of CO to H2 mass a factor of $``$ 15 lower than the standard value, one would derive $`N=2`$ or more, as discussed by Kennicutt (1998) (with less gas, higher efficiency is needed). Thus, our results appear to favor the cloud collision explanation for the high rate of star formation.

### 3.7. Comparison with Simulations

Mihos & Hernquist (1994) explored via numerical simulations the merger of a large and a smaller galaxy, similar to our proposal for NGC 1614. From their simulation they predicted that in response to the tidal perturbation of the infalling satellite, the disk galaxy develops strong spiral arms. This non-axisymmetric perturbation causes large quantities of material to be funneled into the central regions, and as a result a strong burst of star formation is triggered lasting for up to 60 Myr. The predicted central starburst is very compact ($`350`$pc in radius) and contains some 85% of the total mass in newly formed stars.

Hernquist & Mihos (1995) carried out further simulations. They showed that the degree of central concentration of gas decreases markedly with the presence of a massive bulge. The relatively low dynamical mass in the central 620 pc of NGC 1614 indicates that it had little bulge prior to the collision, so it would be ideal for a strong central concentration of gas. Hernquist & Mihos (1995) state that the resolution of their calculations is inadequate to determine how the gas behaves once it has sunk into the central few hundred pc. However, from the behavior of NGC 1614, it appears that it must be further concentrated until instability is reached in the bottom of the potential well of the galaxy, leading to the initial stages of massive star formation.

As the starburst ages, supernovae begin to explode and winds develop that expand outward, compressing the remaining molecular gas surrounding the nucleus (e.g., Tenorio-Tagle & Muñoz-Tuñón 1997; Taniguchi, Trentham, & Shioya 1998). Gravitationally unstable shocked layers of interstellar gas may be produced in cloud cloud collisions and by the impact of these winds on incoming clouds. The resulting star formation appears to favor massive stars (Whitworth et al. 1994), possibly accounting for the suggestion of a high abundance of such stars in extreme starbursts. The evidence we find that the starburst in NGC 1614 has expanded from the nucleus to the ring of H ii regions and into the surrounding molecular ring is in agreement with this picture.

## 4. SUMMARY

We have used HST/NICMOS and WFPC2 imaging, ground-based near infrared spectra, and information from the literature to study the luminous infrared galaxy NGC 1614. The modest extinction to its starbursting nucleus, combined with our favorable viewing angle, make this galaxy ideal for probing the properties of its powerful starburst. We show that

* Star formation has propagated outward from the nucleus to a $`300`$pc radius circumnuclear ring of massive H ii regions.
* These circumnuclear H ii regions are an order of magnitude more luminous than 30 Doradus, and H ii regions in the spiral arms are similar in luminosity to 30 Dor. These regions are probably younger versions of the luminous stellar clusters also around the nucleus and in the spiral arms. The presence of so many extremely luminous H ii regions and stellar clusters is similar to the behavior of other luminous starbursts.
* The ring of H ii regions is surrounded by molecular gas. The mass in molecular gas appears to be $`1/15`$ the prediction from the standard 12CO/H2 ratio, with an upper limit of 1/10 the standard ratio. The large levels of extinction predicted previously from the standard ratio are absent in NGC 1614.
* The mass budget for the starburst is very tight, suggesting that the proportion of massive stars is larger than predicted by a Salpeter IMF modified to turn over near 1 M, or by the virtually identical IMF8 found to fit the starburst in M82 (Rieke et al. 1993). Until now, such IMFs have been adequate to fit the properties of all known starbursts.
* The high efficiency needed to convert the available molecular gas density into the observed density of star formation suggests that the starburst is propagating by cloud-cloud interactions and winds.
* The behavior of NGC 1614 is consistent with simulations for the interaction of a modest sized galaxy with a massive, late type spiral.

## Acknowledgments

We thank J. Hinz for a helpful discussion and the anonymous referee for a thorough critique of the first version of this paper. This work was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through grant NAG 5-3042 and by the National Science Foundation Grant AST-9529190.


text:
# Does Pulsar B1757–24 Have a Fallback Disk?

## 1 Introduction

Isolated pulsars are spinning neutron stars whose observed spin rates gradually decrease with time. The age $`\tau `$ of a pulsar is usually assumed to be equal to the timing (or characteristic) age $`\tau _{MDR}`$ derived by assuming pure magnetic dipole spin-down in vacuo, and the age is then given by $`\tau _{MDR}=\mathrm{\Omega }/(2\dot{\mathrm{\Omega }})`$ (e.g. Manchester & Taylor (1977)), where $`\mathrm{\Omega }=2\pi /P`$ and $`\dot{\mathrm{\Omega }}=2\pi \dot{P}/P^2`$ are the angular spin frequency and angular frequency derivative for a pulsar spin period $`P`$ and period derivative $`\dot{P}`$. Under this same assumption of MDR spin-down, the magnetic field strength of the pulsar is given by the formula (Manchester & Taylor (1977))

$$B=3.2\times 10^{19}(P\dot{P})^{1/2}\mathrm{G},$$
(1)
which is often assumed to be equal to the true field strength of the isolated pulsar (e.g. Taylor, Manchester, & Lyne (1993)).

PSR B1757–24 is a $`0.125`$ s radio pulsar which appears to be associated with the supernova remnant G5.4–1.2 (Caswell et al. (1987)). The pulsar is surrounded by a compact radio nebula having a cometary morphology with a tail extending back into the supernova remnant (Frail, Kassim, & Weiler (1994)) – strongly suggesting that the pulsar was formed in the supernova which produced G5.4–1.2 (Manchester et al. (1991)). Given the temporal parameters of PSR B1757–24 ($`P=0.125`$ s and $`\dot{P}=1.28\times 10^{13}`$ s s-1; Taylor, Manchester, & Lyne (1993)), $`\tau _{MDR}=16`$ kyr and $`B=4\times 10^{12}`$ G for the pulsar. Assuming that $`\tau _{MDR}`$ is similar to the pulsar’s its true age, the transverse velocity implied by the pulsar’s displacement from the apparent center of the G5.4–1.2 is greater than $`1500`$ km s-1 (Gaensler & Frail (2000); Frail & Kulkarni (1991)). Observations of PSR B1757–24 taken six years apart, however, failed to detect the expected proper motion from the pulsar, yielding a distance-independent lower limit on the age of PSR B1757–24/G5.4–1.2 of $`39`$ kyr (Gaensler & Frail (2000)). This is more than a factor of two greater than the pulsar’s MDR characteristic age.

The discrepancy between the proper motion age and the MDR characteristic age of PSR B1757–24 suggests that the spin-down of the pulsar is not due purely to MDR but also has significant contributions from other sources of torque. Istomin (1994) considered a model for PSR B1757–24 in which the pulsar was interacting with dense plasma in the shell of G5.4–1.2, causing an increase in the torque at the light cylinder. Here we consider another possible source of extra torque on the neutron star – from a disk of material accreted from ejecta produced in the supernova explosion. These fallback disks may be roughly divided into two categories: “prompt” and “delayed”. Prompt disks may be formed from $`0.0010.1M_{}`$ (Michel (1988); Lin, Woosley, & Bodenheimer (1991)) of ejecta material soon after the initial core collapse in a type II supernova explosion (Woosley & Weaver (1995)). Formation of such prompt disks is probably limited to $`<7`$ days after the core collapse because of heating of the ejecta by 56Ni decays (Chevalier (1989)). Delayed disks may form years after the explosion from ejecta decelerated by radiative cooling (Fryer, Colgate, & Pinto (1999)) or by a strong reverse shock (Truelove & McKee (1999)) caused by the primary supernova blast wave impinging on dense circumstellar material from the pre-supernova stellar wind (Gaensler (1999)). Whether or not a neutron star accretion disk can form shortly after a supernova explosion depends on the opposing forces of the pulsar MDR wind and the pressure of the hot and turbulent environment shortly after the explosion. Since the latter is highly uncertain (Woosley & Weaver (1995)), for the purposes of this Letter we assume that a disk can form around a neutron star under these conditions and explore the implications for PSR B1757–24.

## 2 Spin-down From Accretion Torques

An accretion disk around a magnetized neutron star can exert a spin-down torque on the star if the mass inflow rate is low and the magnetic field is strong. Quantitatively, this condition is met when the Keplerian co-rotation radius $`R_c=1.7\times 10^8P^{2/3}`$ cm is less than the magnetospheric radius $`R_M=4.6\times 10^8B_{12}^{4/7}\dot{m}_{15}^{2/7}`$ cm, where $`\dot{m}=10^{15}\dot{m}_{15}`$ g s-1 is the mass inflow rate onto the magnetosphere and $`B=10^{12}B_{12}`$ G is the strength of the neutron star dipole magnetic field (see e.g Frank, King, & Raine (1992)). Here and elsewhere we assume a neutron star mass and radius of $`M_{}=1.4M_{}`$ and $`R_{}=10`$ km, respectively. When $`R_M>R_c`$, infalling material is stopped at the magnetosphere by a centrifugal barrier which prevents accretion onto the neutron star surface. Instead, the infalling material may be accelerated away in a wind which carries away angular momentum from the magnetosphere and hence the neutron star itself. This “propeller effect” (Illarionov & Sunyaev (1975)) spin-down mechanism has been invoked to explain the behavior of some Galactic accretion–powered x–ray pulsars (Cui (1997); Zhang & Yu (1998)), the spin-evolution of anomalous x–ray pulsars (AXPs: van Paradijs, Taam, & van den Heuvel (1995); Chatterjee, Hernquist, & Narayan (2000)) and soft gamma–ray repeaters (Alpar (2000); Marsden et al. (2000)), and the optical and infrared spectra of some radio pulsars (Perna, Hernquist, & Narayan (2000)).

The pulsar B1757–24 is in the propeller regime ($`R_M>R_C`$) for mass inflow rates of $`\dot{m}<5\times 10^{17}`$ g s-1 and a canonical (Manchester & Taylor (1977); Taylor, Manchester, & Lyne (1993)) neutron star magnetic field of $`10^{12}`$ G. Since the characteristic age for an old ($`>10`$ kyr) pulsar depends only weakly on the initial spin period (Manchester & Taylor (1977)), we neglect the different formation times of the delayed and prompt fallback disks, and assume that the spin-down evolution of the pulsar at all times is determined by the combined torque from both the MDR and the accretion disk. The spin-down rate due to radiation from a rotating magnetic dipole is (Manchester & Taylor (1977))

$$\dot{\mathrm{\Omega }}_M=\frac{2B^2R_{}^6\mathrm{\Omega }^3}{3I_{}c^3},$$
(2)
where $`I_{}=\frac{2}{5}M_{}R_{}^2`$ is the neutron star moment of inertia. The spin-down rate due to the propeller torque vanishes gradually (Chatterjee, Hernquist, & Narayan (2000); Alpar (2000)) as the star approaches spin-equilibrium ($`R_M=R_c`$) at a spin period $`P_{eq}=4.7B_{12}^{6/7}\dot{m}_{15}^{}{}_{}{}^{3/7}`$ s. The spin-down rate due to the propeller torque is simply (Menou et al. (1999))

$$\dot{\mathrm{\Omega }}_A=k\frac{\dot{m}R_M^2\mathrm{\Omega }_{eq}}{I_{}}\left(1\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{\mathrm{\Omega }_{eq}}\right),$$
(3)
where $`k`$ is a positive constant of order unity (Wang & Robertson (1985)) and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{eq}=2\pi /P_{eq}`$. Assuming a constant mass inflow rate and dipole magnetic field, the timing age for a final spin period $`P=2\pi /\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is given by

$$\tau _{comb}=_{\mathrm{\Omega }_0}^\mathrm{\Omega }\frac{d\mathrm{\Omega }}{\dot{\mathrm{\Omega }}_M+\dot{\mathrm{\Omega }}_A},$$
(4)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ is the initial angular frequency. A more realistic expression for the propeller torque would incorporate a time dependent mass inflow rate (Cannizzo, Lee, & Goodman (1990)) in Equation (3), as $`\dot{m}`$ should decrease in time as the disk dissipates. For the model to be correct, however, a disk must still be present around the pulsar, because otherwise the MDR timing age would be greater than the true age. Therefore the $`\dot{m}`$ used here may be thought of as a time-averaged value of the mass inflow rate. In addition, the effect of the propeller flow on the MDR torque (Roberts & Sturrock (1973)) is not taken into account. We plan on incorporating both of these effects in future work.

A contour plot of the pulsar B1757–24 timing age $`\tau _{comb}`$ for various values of the magnetic field strength $`B`$ and mass inflow rate $`\dot{m}`$ is show in Figure 1. The characteristic ages were calculated using Equations (24) and assuming $`P=0.125`$ s, $`P_0=10`$ ms, and $`k=1`$. In this simple model, the allowed values of $`B`$ and $`\dot{m}`$ for pulsar B1757–24 lie on the heavy solid line corresponding to the observed $`P`$ and $`\dot{P}`$. In addition, the shaded regions of parameter space in Figure 1 are excluded by the lower limit on the age (right shaded region: Gaensler & Frail (2000)), and the necessary condition $`R_M>R_c`$ (shaded region in upper left corner). From Figure 1, we find that values of $`2\times 10^{11}<B<1.4\times 10^{12}`$ G, $`7\times 10^{13}<\dot{m}<7\times 10^{17}`$ g s-1, and $`39<\tau _{comb}<60`$ kyr are consistent with the lower limit on the true age of $`39`$ kyr (Gaensler & Frail (2000)) and the present-day spin-down rate of the pulsar.

## 3 Discussion

In the context of this model, the required mass inflow rate for PSR B1757–24 overlaps the range of $`\dot{m}`$ inferred from accretion–powered neutron star systems (Bildsten et al. (1997)). Radio pulsations are not seen from accretion–powered x–ray pulsars in binary systems (Fender et al. (1996)), which implies that the emission mechanism responsible for radio pulsations may be quenched by matter near the polar caps of the pulsar. This is not a problem for the PSR B1757–24 model, however, because in propeller sources most of the matter is ejected before it has a chance to reach the polar cap and quench the radio emission. Radio emission may be suppressed for propeller sources closer to spin equilibrium than PSR B1757–24 (e.g. the AXPs: Chatterjee, Hernquist, & Narayan (2000)), however, because as equilibrium is approached more matter will be allowed to fall onto the neutron star surface. The total mass required to fuel the propeller spin-down over the lifetime (so far) of pulsar B1757–24 would be $`\dot{m}\tau 10^810^3M_{}`$ – a tiny fraction of the total amount of ejecta in a typical Type II supernova explosion (Woosley & Weaver (1995)).

This hypothesis can be tested by multiwavelength observations. In this model, the total emission from the pulsar would be due to the propeller wind, MDR, and thermal emission from the accretion disk. Wang & Robertson (1985) calculated the angle–integrated thermal bremsstrahlung emissivity $`j_B`$ from the heated plasma in a propeller flow. Using their scalings, the x–ray luminosity and temperature are given by $`L_x4\pi R_m^2\delta j_B4.0\times 10^{33}B_{12}^{}{}_{}{}^{1/2}\dot{m}_{15}^{}{}_{}{}^{3/4}`$ erg s-1 and $`kT50\dot{m}_{15}^{}{}_{}{}^{1/2}B_{12}^{}{}_{}{}^{1/3}`$ keV, respectively, where $`\delta `$ is the width of the magnetospheric boundary layer where the plasma is heated by the magnetic field. This assumes spherical symmetry, so the luminosity will probably be $`10^{33}`$ ergs s-1 or less for the case of a disk geometry. If PSR 1757–24 is not a propeller source, we would expect the non-thermal x–ray emission which is characteristic of young rotation–powered pulsars (Seward & Wang (1988)) – e.g. a power law emission spectrum with a photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }2`$ and an x–ray luminosity given by the empirical relation $`L_x(\mathrm{\Omega }\dot{\mathrm{\Omega }})^{1.39}1.2\times 10^{34}`$ erg s-1. At a distance of $`5`$ kpc (Gaensler & Frail (2000)), the flux from the non-thermal, non-propeller emission would be $`4\times 10^{12}`$ ergs cm-2 s-1, which would be easily detectable by XMM or Chandra. The detection of dimmer, thermal x–ray emission instead of the brighter non-thermal emission would be evidence in support of the propeller model.

Cooler disk blackbody emission could also be visible at optical and infrared wavelengths from the accretion disk. The spectrum of propeller disks depend on $`B`$, $`\dot{m}`$, and the disk orientation with respect to the line of sight (e.g. Perna, Hernquist, & Narayan (2000)), but we can place an upper limit on the optical emission from a PSR B1757–24 disk in the following manner. Assuming that the majority of the optical disk emission originates at the innermost disk radii (Perna, Hernquist, & Narayan (2000)), the upper limit on the optical luminosity is $`L_o<GM_{}\dot{m}/R_m0.11\dot{m}_{15}^{}{}_{}{}^{9/7}B_{12}^{}{}_{}{}^{4/7}`$ $`L_{}`$. This estimate ignores heating of the disk by irradiation from the pulsar, which dominates the heating only for pulsar luminosities $`L_x>10^{34}`$ ergs s-1 (Perna, Hernquist, & Narayan (2000)). Assuming $`B_{12}=1`$, $`\dot{m}=1`$, and an apparent visual magnitude of $`26.78`$ for the Sun (Lang (1980)), the apparent magnitude of the disk at $`5`$ kpc (uncorrected for extinction) is $`m_v>20.7`$. The extinction $`A_V`$ can be estimated from the formula $`N_H=1.79\times 10^{21}A_V`$ mag cm-2 (Predehl & Schmitt (1995)), where $`N_H`$ is the $`HI`$ column density along the line of sight. At a distance of $`5`$ kpc, $`N_H10^{22}`$ cm-2 in the Galactic Plane (as can be seen from the AXP spectral data in Perna, Hernquist, & Narayan (2000)), which yields an extinction of $`A_V5.6`$ mag and a lower limit on the disk magnitude of $`m_V>26`$. This is comparable to the estimated magnitudes of propeller disks around AXPs as calculated by Perna et al. (2000).

If PSR B1757–24 is indeed surrounded by an accretion disk, then fossil accretion disks and propeller spin-down may be present, or may have been present at one time, in a significant fraction of isolated pulsars. This would affect the distributions of pulsar ages, magnetic field strengths, and space velocities inferred using the pulsar’s $`P`$ and $`\dot{P}`$ values and the MDR formulae discussed in $`\mathrm{\S }1`$. Magnetic field strengths estimated using Equation (1), for example, would overestimate the true field strengths for both pulsars currently undergoing propeller spin-down and for pulsars which had experienced some propeller spin-down in the past (and whose disks had subsequently dissipated). The effect on the distribution of radio pulsar ages – and hence the distribution of pulsar velocities inferred from their angular positions (e.g. Cordes & Chernoff (1998)) – depends on whether each pulsar is currently undergoing propeller spin-down or not. If a pulsar is currently undergoing propeller spin-down, then the MDR timing age $`\tau _{MDR}`$ is an underestimate of the true age (as exemplified by PSR B1757–24). If a pulsar had a propeller disk which then dissipated, its present–day MDR age would be an overestimate of its true age, since the pulsar had undergone a period of increased spin-down rate (over the MDR spin-down rate) in the past. The latter scenario is probably more prevalent in the observed population of radio pulsars, since radio pulsations may be scattered and quenched in neutron stars with strong propeller flows (e.g. Alpar (2000); Fender et al. (1996)), and therefore one might expect a systematic overestimation of radio pulsar ages due to fossil disks and propeller spin-down. Curiously, such a systematic overestimation of pulsar ages using MDR has been inferred from some pulsar population studies (Cordes & Chernoff (1998)).

## 4 Summary

We have shown that the addition of torques from an accretion disk can explain the discrepancy between the MDR timing age of PSR B1757–24 and its true age. This model can be tested through x–ray and optical observations of this pulsar. The accretion disk model for pulsar B1757–24 leaves open the question of whether or not pulsar B1757–24 is an unusual and rare object or if it instead reflects a generic feature in the evolution of neutron stars. If the former is true, the accretion model removes the need (Gaensler & Frail (2000)) to revise our current understanding of the physics and astrophysics of neutron stars because of this single pulsar. If the latter is true, however, the distributions of pulsar magnetic field strengths, ages, and velocities will have to be reconsidered to take into account the effects of increased spin-down due to accretion disk torques. Observations of young pulsars associated with supernova remnants may hold the key towards resolving this question, because the pulsar ages can be constrained independently of the pulsar temporal parameters.

We thank the referee for helpful comments. This work was performed while one of the authors (DM) held a National Research Council-GSFC Research Associateship. RER acknowledges support by NASA contract NAS5-30720, and REL support from the Astrophysical Theory Program.


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# Stiction, Adhesion Energy and the Casimir Effect in Micromechanical Systems

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## Abstract

We measure the adhesion energy of gold using a micromachined doubly-clamped beam. The stress and stiffness of the beam are characterized by measuring the spectrum of mechanical vibrations and the deflection due to an external force. To determine the adhesion energy we induce stiction between the beam and a nearby surface by capillary forces. Subsequent analysis yields a value $`\gamma =0.06`$ J/m2 that is a factor of approximately six smaller than predicted by idealized theory. This discrepancy may be resolved with revised models that include surface roughness and the effect of adsorbed monolayers intervening between the contacting surfaces in these mesoscopic structures.

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The Casimir effect  is a striking consequence of quantum electrodynamics (for a recent review see ). The dependence of the ground state energy of the electromagnetic field upon boundary conditions gives rise to an observable force between macroscopic bodies. A significant enhancement in the accuracy of measuring the Casimir force has been achieved recently with experiments employing torsion pendulum  and atomic force microscope (AFM) . Casimir effect investigations may open the way for experimental observation of new fundamental forces arising from the hypothetical extra dimensions predicted by modern theories . However to enable such studies it is crucial to improve experimental techniques. The Casimir force, in addition to its fundamental interest, also plays an important role in the fabrication and operation of micro electromechanical systems (MEMS). This technology allows fabrication of variety of on-chip fully integrated sensors and actuators with rapidly growing number of applications. One of the principal causes of malfunctioning in MEMS is stiction, namely collapse of movable elements into nearby surfaces, resulting in their permanent adhesion (for a review see , ). This can occur during fabrication, especially due to capillary forces present during drying of a liquid from the surface of the sample, or during operation. It was argued recently that the Casimir effect is often an important underlying mechanism causing this phenomena .

Here we report our experimental study of surface - surface interactions using micromachined, doubly-clamped Au beams. In particular, we focus upon the extreme manifestation of the Casimir interaction, namely, adhesion between surfaces and the associated energy of this process. The structures we use are designed to allow straightforward and unambiguous interpretation of our results. We use bulk (rather than surface) micromachining, in which the substrate is completely removed beneath the sample. This greatly simplifies the boundary conditions of the electromagnetic field in the vicinity of the sample. Moreover, we avoid using multilayered structures, since their internal stresses generally play an important role and theoretical modeling is thus more difficult. We use metallic rather than semiconductor structure to minimize the possibility of parasitic attractive forces arising from bound surface charge.

After characterizing the mechanical properties of the beam, we induce stiction between the beam and a nearby electrode. The shape of the beam after adhesion and the elastic energy associated with this configuration allow us to determine the attractive surface energy. Similar methods were employed to measure the adhesion energy of stress-free Si , . For such work it is important that mechanical properties such as stress be well characterized to obtain an accurate determination of the elastic energy. We conclude by comparing our results with previous measurements and with theory.

The bulk micromachining process employed for sample fabrication is described in Fig. 1. In the first step chemical vapor deposition is employed to deposit 70 $`nm`$ thick layer of low-stress silicon nitride on the front and back sides of a Si wafer. A square window is then opened in the back side layer using photolithography (Fig. 1(a)). An anisotropic and selective wet etching using KOH forms the structure seen in Fig. 1(b). The gold beam and its adjacent electrodes are patterned on the front side of the resulting 300$`\mu `$m square membrane of silicon nitride (Fig. 1(b)). The nanofabrication steps for this part of the process involve electron beam (e-beam) lithography and thermal evaporation (Fig. 1(c)). The complete beams have length $`l=200`$ $`\mu `$m, width $`a=0.24\mu `$m and thickness $`t=0.25\mu `$m (measured using AFM). In the final step the membrane is removed using electron cyclotron resonance plasma etching with an Ar/NF3 gas mixture bombarding the back side of the sample. This leaves the gold beam suspended (Fig. 1(d)). Figure 1(e) is a micrograph showing a side view of the device.

To characterize the mechanical properties of the beam we employ two methods, namely, measurement of the resonance frequencies of the beam and measurement of the deflection due to an external force. Both methods lead to similar conclusions.

The equation of motion of the beam is given by:

$$\frac{^2y}{x^2}\zeta ^2l^2\frac{^4y}{x^4}=\left(\rho A/T\right)\frac{^2y}{t^2}f/T,$$
(1)
where $`\zeta ^2=EAa^2/12Tl^2,`$ with $`E`$ being Young’s modulus, $`A=at`$ is the area of the beam’s cross section, $`T`$ is the tension, $`\rho `$ is the mass density, and $`f`$ is the density of external force . The clamping of the beam on both sides is taken into account using the boundary conditions $`y\left(\pm l/2\right)=\frac{y}{x}\left(\pm l/2\right)=0`$.

The dimensionless parameter $`\zeta `$ indicates the relative effect of stiffness compared with tension on the dynamics of the beam. As we shall see below, $`\zeta <<1`$ in our case, therefore we expand the resonance frequencies of the system in powers of $`\zeta `$ using perturbation theory. To second order we find:

$$\nu _n=n\nu _0\left[1+2\zeta +\left(4+n^2\pi ^2/2\right)\zeta ^2\right],$$
(2)
where $`\nu _0=\sqrt{T/\rho A}/2l`$. The equally spaced spectrum obtained for the case $`\zeta =0`$ is the same as for a stiffness free beam with boundary conditions $`y\left(\pm l/2\right)=0`$. Note that the terms that make the spectrum unequally spaced are of order $`O\left(\zeta ^2\right).`$

The resonance frequencies are measured in-situ using a commercial scanning electron microscope (SEM). The electron beam is focused on a point near the edge of the gold beam and the output signal from a photomultiplier (serving as a secondary electron detector) is monitored using a spectrum analyzer to detect mechanical displacement (see Fig. 2(a)). Note that this detection scheme is sensitive almost exclusively to motion in the plane of the sample.

Without applying any external excitation we find a pronounced peak near $`\nu _1=176.5kHz`$ associated with thermal excitation of the fundamental mode of the beam (see Fig. 2(b)). The thermal peaks of higher modes are too small to be detected, therefore we induce external excitation by applying an AC voltage to a nearby parallel electrode, separated from the beam by a gap of width $`g=5\mu `$m. We find three higher modes with frequencies $`\nu _2=354.4kHz`$, $`\nu _3=529.8kHz`$, and $`\nu _4=709.7kHz`$. The fact that the obtained spectrum is almost equally spaced indicates that $`\zeta <<1`$. Note, however, that drift in the position of the peaks occurring over time prevents us from making a precise estimation of $`\zeta `$. Based on the uncertainty originated by this drift we place an upper bound of $`\zeta <0.015`$.

Theoretically, the spectral density of displacement noise near the center of the beam ($`x=l/2`$) around the fundamental frequency for the case $`\zeta =0`$ is given by:

$$S_x\left(\omega \right)=\frac{\omega _0k_B\mathrm{\Theta }}{\pi Qm_{\text{eff}}\left[\left(\omega _0^2\omega ^2\right)^2+\left(\omega _0\omega /Q\right)^2\right]},$$
(3)
where $`Q`$ is the quality factor, $`m_{\text{eff}}=\rho Al/2`$ is the effective mass, $`\omega =2\pi \nu `$ is angular frequency, and $`\mathrm{\Theta }`$ is the temperature. Fitting the data in Fig. 2(b) with Eq. (3) yields $`Q=1800`$. The known parameters of the beam allow determination of the scaling factor translating the signal of the spectrum analyzer to actual displacement noise. Using this factor and the signal to noise ratio of the data in Fig. 2(b) we find the sensitivity of our displacement detection scheme to be $`4\times 10^{13}m/\sqrt{Hz}`$. This value can be further enhanced by increasing the current of the electron beam. However, to minimize heating of the device due to electron bombardment we operate at a relatively low current of 100 pA. The energy absorbed by the sample depends on the penetration depth of electrons and on the thickness of the Au layer. For an acceleration voltage of 40 kV we estimate the heating power is of order 100 nW . For thermal conductivity of 300 W/mK and the geometry of our device the temperature increase is $``$1K.

To further establish our findings we study the deflection of the beam due to application of a uniform force. For this we apply D.C. voltage $`V`$ between the beam and the nearby electrode. When the deflection is small compared to the distance between the beam and the electrode the force acting on the beam is approximately uniform. The expected deflection is found from the steady state solution of Eq. (1) with $`f=`$constant:

$$y\left(x\right)=\frac{fl^2}{2T}\left[\frac{1\left(2x/l\right)^2}{4}+\frac{\zeta \left[\mathrm{cosh}\left(x/\zeta l\right)\mathrm{cosh}\left(1/2\zeta \right)\right]}{\mathrm{sinh}\left(1/2\zeta \right)}\right].$$
(4)
Figure 3(a) shows a series of SEM pictures taken with $`V=`$0, 10,…, 70 V. Using image processing we extract the shape of the beam in each picture, namely the experimental value of $`y\left(x\right).`$ Comparing the calculated $`y\left(x\right)`$ with experimental data using a least squared fit, we determine the parameter $`\zeta =0.014\pm 0.007`$, in agreement with the above mentioned estimate of $`\zeta `$.

The value $`\zeta =0.01`$ and the other known parameters allow estimating of Young’s modulus $`E=8\times 10^{10}`$ N/m2. This value shows reasonable agreement with previous measurements of $`E`$ in thin films of evaporated gold using different methods , , .

Figure 3(b) shows the maximum displacement of the beam, namely $`y\left(0\right)`$, as a function of the voltage $`V`$. As expected, we find that this maximum displacement is proportional to $`V^2`$. Using the value of $`T=5.8\times 10^6N`$ found from the spectrum measurements we find that $`f/V^2=4.6\times 10^7`$ N/mV2

To study adhesion in our system we bring the beam and the nearby electrode to contact by introducing a pure liquid to the surface of the sample and employing the resultant capillary forces. During drying a thin layer of liquid is formed between the gold surfaces. The pressure inside the drop is lower than the pressure outside if the wetting angle is smaller than $`\pi /2`$, resulting in a net attractive force between the surfaces. We employ DI water as an adhesive liquid due to its relatively high surface tension ($`0.07`$ N/m at room temperature).

Fig. 4 is a micrograph of the gold beam after drying the DI water from the surface of the sample. The length of the segment that adheres is $`d=67.8\mu m`$. The fact that adhesion between the beam and the nearby electrode persists after drying indicates that the total energy of the adhering system is lower than that of a straight free beam, which is merely metastable.

To estimate the total energy of the system we make two simplifying assumptions: (a) no stiffness, namely $`\zeta =0`$ (the measured value $`\zeta 0.01`$ justifies this approximation) ; (b) no finite range interaction between the surfaces (the error due to this approximation is small due to the rapid decay of the interaction as a function of distance). Using the first assumption we find an expression for the elastic energy of the system

$$U_e=2g^2T/\left(ld\right).$$
(5)
The second assumption implies that the energy due to the surface-surface interaction is given by:

$$U_a=st\gamma ,$$
(6)
where $`\gamma `$ is the energy of adhesion per unit area. The condition that the total energy of the system has a minimum implies:

$$\gamma =2g^2T/t\left(ld\right)^2.$$
(7)
Using the parameters of our sample we find $`\gamma =0.066J/m^2.`$ A similar value of $`0.062J/m^2`$ is obtained from another beam with a gap $`g=3`$ $`\mu `$m.

What is expected theoretically? The Casimir force for small separation is reduced to the so-called non retarded van der Waals force . In this regime the separation between the metallic surfaces is small compared to the characteristic wavelength of their absorption spectra and effects due to finite conductivity are strong. The interaction energy per unit area is given by

$$U=A/12\pi d^2.$$
(8)
For the case of Au it was found that Eq. (8) is a good approximation for $`d<2`$ nm and the Hamaker constant $`A`$ is given by $`A=4.4\times 10^{19}J`$ . This allows estimation of the adhesion energy by $`\gamma =A/12\pi d_0^2`$, where $`d_0`$ is the effective separation at contact. The nearest neighbor approximation for the case of atomically flat surfaces leads to $`d_00.16nm`$, and therfore $`\gamma 0.4J/m^2`$. For the case of metals it was shown that electron exchange interaction (giving rise to the so-called metallic bond) is expected to further enhance $`\gamma `$ . The enhancement factor, however, strongly depends on the twist angle between the contacting lattices. Previous measurements of $`\gamma `$ of metals found values in the range of $`0.44J/m^2`$ .

There are two possible explanation for the factor of six discrepancy between our results and theory. The first is roughness existing on the surfaces in contact. From the measured value of $`\gamma `$, the calculated value of $`A`$, and the relation $`\gamma =A/12\pi d_0^2`$ we find an effective value for the separation between the surfaces within our sample of $`d_00.4nm`$. Note that this distance scale for $`d_0`$ is far smaller than can be resolved using SEM or AFM. Another possible cause for the discrepancy might be surface contamination that can strongly modify the adhesion energy even when this is from absorbed layers only a monolayer thick .

Apart from determining the adhesion energy, a central question is whether we can study the Casimir interaction at finite separation with such stiction experiments. In the immediate vicinity of the region of the beam that is in contact with the electrode, the separation between the beam and electrode is quite small. This gives rise to a strong Casimir interaction in this locale. In principle such attraction can cause additional bending of the beam, thereby allowing determination of the magnitude of the attractive force using Eq. (1) . To explore this possibility we estimate this additional bending assuming the attractive interaction is given by Eq. (8) with $`A=4.4\times 10^{19}J`$. We assume $`\zeta =0`$ and solve Eq. (1) using the other known parameters of the beam. We find that the change in the separation between the beam and the electrode becomes comparable to the unperturbed one only when the separation is $`<1nm`$. Resolving such a small effect is very difficult with a SEM but might be possible by imaging with a transmission electron microscope (TEM), if sample charging is carefully controlled. However, we find that the effect of stiffness on the shape of the beam is much stronger than the effect due to Casimir attraction. We note that observation of Casimir-induced bending may be easier using a stress free material with a low Young’s modulus and employing a modified geometry.

As demonstrated by the present work, MEMS can provide ideal tools for characterizing stress in thin films, as well as for studying adhesion forces. Future experiments with enhanced sensitivity should enable studies of the Casimir force at finite separations.

The authors are grateful to K. Schwab for his assistance in sample fabrication and Y. Buks for image processing of the SEM micrographs. This research was supported by DARPA MTO/MEMS under grant DABT63-98-1-0012. E.B. gratefully acknowledges support from a Rothschild Fellowship, and from an R. A. Millikan Fellowship at Caltech.