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# Non-Uniform Free-Free Absorption in the GPS Radio Galaxy 0108+388

## 1. INTRODUCTION

The radio source 0108+388 (RA=$`01^\mathrm{h}11^\mathrm{m}37^\mathrm{s}.32`$, Dec=$`39^{}06^{}28^{\prime \prime }.1`$ (J2000), $`z`$=0.699) is an example of a class of extragalactic radio source referred to as Gigahertz-Peaked Spectrum (or GPS) sources. GPS sources, which are discussed at length in a thorough review by O’Dea (1998), are characterized by large radio luminosities, compact structure, and spectra that turn over at Gigahertz frequencies with steep spectra on either side of the peak (O’Dea, Baum, & Stanghellini 1991; O’Dea 1998). The steep slope at high frequencies is generally accepted to be due to synchrotron losses, but there are two main competing theories for the cause of the low frequency turnover. Either the lower frequency radio emission is absorbed by ionized gas in the line of sight in the host galaxies, with conditions comparable to that of emission-line regions in active galaxies (van Breugel, Heckman, & Miley 1984, Bicknell, Dopita, & O’Dea 1997; Kameno et al. 2000), or the nuclei of these galaxies have exceptionally large magnetic fields, causing synchrotron self-absorption at GHz frequencies (Hodges, Mutel, & Phillips 1984; Mutel, Hodges, & Phillips 1985; O’Dea et al. 1991; Readhead et al. 1996; de Vries, Barthel, & O’Dea 1997; Snellen et al. 2000). Absorption by induced Compton scattering in combination with free-free absorption has also been proposed by Kuncic, Bicknell, & Dopita (1998).

As GPS sources have been studied in more detail since the discovery of a large population of such sources in the 1980’s (Gopal-Krishna, Patnaik, & Steppe 1983, Spoelstra, Patnaik, & Gopal-Krishna 1985), it has become apparent that they constitute a diverse group, with morphological and spectral variances. The object we discuss here, 0108+388, is a canonical case of a morphological group referred to by Wilkinson et al. (1994) as compact symmetric objects (or CSO’s), which have small ($`<`$ 1 kpc) symmetric radio emission structure. Multi-epoch VLBI observations of a number of CSO’s have revealed expansion rates that imply ages of the order of 1000 years (Owsianik, Conway, & Polatidis 1998; Owsianik & Conway 1998; Taylor et al. 2000), supporting the earlier hypothesis that CSO’s are precursors to the young classical double radio galaxies (Phillips & Mutel 1982; Carvalho 1985; Readhead et al. 1996). VLBI observations of 0108+388 by Owsianik et al. (1998) and by Taylor et al. (2000) infer apparent separation speeds of the outer components of 0.197 $`\pm `$ 0.026 $`h^1`$ c and 0.24 $`\pm `$ 0.04 $`h^1`$ c, respectively, from which these authors derive kinematic ages of just 367 $`\pm `$ 48 yr and 310 $`\pm `$ 70 yr, respectively. This is the youngest age yet measured for a radio galaxy. However, with VLA and WSRT observations of 0108+388 Baum et al. (1990) detected extended emission 20 arcsec (78 $`h^1`$ kpc) from the core, casting an apparent contradiction to the young classical double radio galaxy model. Baum et al. propose that either the activity in 0108+388 is recurrent or has recently been smothered by infalling gas.

High resolution imaging of 0108+388 was first undertaken at 5 GHz as part of the PR VLBI survey (Pearson & Readhead 1988) and found to have a simple double structure. Conway et al. (1994) and Taylor, Readhead, & Pearson (1996) made more sensitive and higher resolution images at higher frequencies that revealed a steeply inverted core component connected to both outer components by a faint chain of components. Overall, 0108+388 has an ‘S’ symmetry that is relatively common among CSOs (Readhead et al. 1996).

The spectrum of the total radio emission from the compact structure in 0108+388 was analyzed by Baum et al. (1990). They measured a spectral index below the turnover that was steep and roughly constant, in conflict with the exponential turnover expected from free-free absorption. However, their observed spectrum is the total from several components in the source. An exponential turnover in the free-free absorption case will apply only if the absorbing medium uniformly covers the entire radio source. We report here on a set of VLBA observations designed to study the absorption at each point in the map. We have observed 0108+388 with the VLBA at five frequencies: two above the turnover, two below the turnover, and one at the turnover frequency itself. The maps made with these observations reveal the morphology of the radio emission from 0108+388 and how it is obscured by absorption. We find that the spectra of 0108+388 at all positions in our maps are consistent with free-free absorption. Additionally, our maps reveal that the absorption is non-uniform and is suggestive of an edge-on disk centered on the core. Other evidence for a large amount of thermal gas along the line of sight to the core of 0108+388 has been reported by Carilli et al. (1998), who measured significant absorption by Hi, and by Cawthorne et al. (1993), who find no measurable polarization of the radio emission. The existence of a circumnuclear gas disk, with likely instabilities, could also be the source of intermittent fueling of the central engine and explain the recent onset of activity along with the past activity.

## 2. OBSERVATIONS AND MAPPING

We observed 0108+388 with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA)111The VLBA is operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. at 8.417, 4.983, 2.267, and 1.663 GHz on 1996 June 24 and at 15.359 and 8.415 GHz on 1997 February 03. In the 1996 observations, the source signal was recorded at each station for a total of 100 to 112.5 minutes at each frequency, with an integration time of 2 seconds. In the 1997 observations a total of 330 minutes on source was obtained at both 8.415 and 15.359 GHz. The on-source scans at all frequencies and both epochs were spread across a wide range in hour angle in order to obtain good $`u`$-$`v`$ coverage.

Fringe fitting was performed with AIPS using the small and bright source J0136+478 as a fringe calibrator. In the fringe searches we generally used solution intervals of 3 minutes, moderately large delay and rate windows (100 ns and 40 mHz), and a minimum signal-to-noise ratio of 7. Good solutions were generally found at small and stable delays and rates. We applied a priori amplitude calibration, also with AIPS, using the system temperatures and gains measured by the NRAO staff. We assume that the amplitude calibration is accurate to within 5%. The detected flux densities on the shortest baselines were all greater than 92% of previously reported flux densities from low resolution observations (Baum et al. 1990; O’Dea et al. 1990; UMRAO database).

Editing, modelfitting, and mapping were done using Difmap (Shepherd, Pearson, & Taylor 1994, 1995; Shepherd 1997). Starting with the 1997 15-GHz data, we used an initial model of seven elliptical gaussian components, based on the appearance of the clean map made by Taylor et al. (1996). The model parameters were then allowed to vary to yield a best rms-fit in the $`u`$-$`v`$ plane to the self-calibrated data. We found best-fit models for each data set independently except that we checked for general consistency in the positions of components at all frequencies. The final model for each data set fit the self-calibrated data with an rms difference of around $`1\sigma `$.

We fed the best-fit models as input models for Hybrid CLEAN (Readhead & Wilkinson 1978), which we used to obtain our final image maps. We initially used small CLEAN boxes that barely encompassed the apparent emission in the dirty map. After 100 CLEAN components were selected, with a gain of just 0.05, we increased the sizes of the CLEAN boxes while always staying marginally larger than the area of the apparent flux in the residual map. We excluded apparent spurious features from the CLEAN boxes the first few cycles of self-cal and CLEAN. CLEANing was generally stopped a few clean components before the first negative component. The maps were of sufficiently high quality that all the detected flux on the shortest baselines was collected in the CLEANing by this point. We did not apply amplitude self-calibration until the model agreed with the data with an rms difference less than $`1.5\sigma .`$ The final clean component models fit the data to better than $`1.0\sigma .`$ The noise in the maps range from 0.2 mJy/beam in the 8.4-GHz maps to 0.7 mJy/beam in the low frequency maps, yielding signal-to-noise ratios from 300 to over 1000.

We also made spectral index maps between neighboring frequency bands using the AIPS task COMB. We first edited the data at each frequency, removing the larger $`u`$-$`v`$ spacings from the higher frequency data and the smaller $`u`$-$`v`$ spacings from the lower frequency data, and remapped in Difmap. The maps at the two frequencies were convolved with identical clean beams. In this way, we produced spectral index maps between 1.7 and 2.3 GHz, between 2.3 and 5.0 GHz, between 5.0 and 8.4 GHz from the 1996 June observations, and between 8.4 and 15.4 GHz from the 1997 February observations. Since moderate percentage errors in the observed maps propagate to large errors in the spectral index, we masked the spectral index maps where the signal in either clean map was less than 10$`\sigma `$.

Since the observations were not phase-referenced to a nearby calibrator, no absolute position information is available for each map. Each map, therefore, can be arbitrarily shifted in RA and Dec, and so the correct alignment of the maps is not known a priori. This is a critical issue in making spectral index maps. If the maps are misaligned, extremely large and extremely small spectral indices will be inferred, particularly at the edges of the emission regions. At the higher frequencies (from 5.0 to 15.4 GHz) the relative positions of the component peaks were consistent such that they could be used to determine the alignments of the maps. The resultant spectral index maps were quite reasonable in that they did not show surprisingly large spectral indices at the edges or sides of the features. At the lower frequencies, however, the separations of the centroids of the components varied. For these spectral index maps, we chose alignments that yielded the minimum magnitudes of the extreme spectral indices. Additionally, since the flux-density distribution in the maps appears relatively symmetric, especially in the lower resolution maps, we also checked the alignment of the maps by examining the spectral index map and watching for dipolar distributions of inferred spectral indices. We successfully found relative alignments that minimized the spectral index extremes and that yielded roughly symmetrical spectral indices.

## 3. RESULTS

The CLEAN maps for each observation are shown in Figure 1. As noted by previous investigators of this source (Pearson & Readhead 1988; Conway et al. 1994; Taylor et al. 1996; Owsianik & Conway 1998; Owsianik et al. 1998) the intensity distribution of the source at all frequencies consistently involves two major components. Following the notation of Taylor et al. (1996), we refer to these components as C1 (in the southwest) and C7 (in the northeast). At the higher frequencies (15.4 and 8.4 GHz) we obtained models with a total of seven components, while at the three lower frequencies we could reasonably fit only four components, due to blending of the smaller components.

### 3.1. Spectral Index Maps

The spectral index maps are shown in Figure 2. The uncertainties in the inferred spectral indices, calculated by propagating both uncertainties in amplitude calibration and the map noise, are listed in Table 1.

The spectral index map between the two highest frequencies shows that the two major components have steeply declining spectra, with spectral indices $`\alpha 1.0`$, where $`F_\nu \nu ^\alpha `$. A small region between the two major components, centered on component C3, in the notation of Taylor et al. (1996), has an inverted spectrum with $`\alpha `$ getting as large as +1.8, suggesting that the core of this active galaxy is located here, as previously noted by Taylor et al. (1996).

Between 8.4 and 5.0 GHz, the spectra of the regions containing the major components are generally flatter than between 15.4 and 8.4 GHz, although the spectra get steeper towards the outer edges. At 5.0 GHz the core region has small flux densities, so most of this central region is masked in the spectral index map.

Between 5.0 and 2.3 GHz, the spectral index map shows that the spectra of all but the easternmost and westernmost edges are inverted ($`\alpha >0`$). At the very edges of the eastern and western extremes the spectral indices are still seen to get as low as $``$0.7. The region with inverted spectra appears to run across the map in the north-south direction, but with the steepest parts located in two areas north and south of the core at the edge of the mapped region. The core is not detected at these frequencies due to its low luminosities and steeply inverted spectrum.

Between 2.3 and 1.7 GHz, the spectral index map looks very similar to the 2.3-5.0 GHz spectral index map, except that all the spectral indices across the entire map are larger and the region of inverted spectra encompasses almost the entire source. The two areas of the steepest inverted spectra are more evident and appear even more symmetrical about the core.

### 3.2. Free-free Absorption Model

As clearly shown in Figure 2 the turnover of the composite spectrum of 0108+388 at 5.0 GHz results from the majority of the source, including the two brightest components of the source, turning over at this frequency. This is in conflict with the expectations for synchrotron self-absorption, in which the small regions with the largest magnetic fields and electron densities would turn over at higher frequencies. The nature of the turnover in 0108+388, however, is consistent with the absorption being due to free-free absorption by a foreground screen of ionized gas. Additionally, the peak spectral index between 2.3 and 1.7 GHz, even at the moderately low resolution of the map in Figure 2d, is 3.2 $`\pm `$ 0.5. This is larger than the maximum spectral index allowed by classical self-absorption models, although it can be fit to synchrotron self-absorption with special physical conditions (see, e.g., de Kool & Begelman 1989).

The spectral index maps also suggest the shape and structure of the absorbing gas, which appears to be extended north-south with two density peaks on either side of the center. This is suggestive of an edge-on disk centered on the core of the galaxy. However, the spectral index only measures the ratio of the flux at two frequencies and does not directly indicate the densities of the absorbing gas. To directly map the absorbing gas we made opacity maps, which we discuss in the following section.

### 3.3. Opacity Maps

The creation of opacity maps involves comparison of maps at all the observed frequencies (as described below). For this purpose, all data sets were re-mapped with the same resolution. Two methods were used. First, we simply convolved all clean maps with the same beam as the clean beam at 1.7 GHz. This approach is flawed, in general, because the different frequency observations (with the same array) probe structures of different sizes, and so even with the same clean beam different features are being compared. As a second approach we edited all data sets to have the same minimum and maximum $`u`$-$`v`$ distances; all data sets were flagged to have the same maximum $`u`$-$`v`$ distance as in the 1.7-GHz data set and the same minimum $`u`$-$`v`$ distance as in the 15.4-GHz data. These truncated data sets had aspect ratios of only 9.0 and so this method could result in the maps missing much of the structure, both on large and on small scales. For example, the detected flux densities on the remaining shortest baselines at 2.7 and 1.3 GHz were 87% and 78%, respectively, of those in the full data sets. Interestingly, there were no significant differences in the final maps made with these two methods and the maps looked very much like the 2.3 and 1.7 GHz clean maps in Figure 1. Furthermore the signal to noise ratios in the final maps made from the edited data sets were, in general, higher than in the clean maps from the untruncated data sets, especially at the mid-frequencies; this resulted primarily because the editing removed the data at the extremes in the $`u`$-$`v`$ plane, which corresponds to where the density of data is lowest. The high fidelity of these maps resulted from the simplicity of the structure of this source at these low frequencies. The clean maps made from the truncated data sets are shown in Figure 3.

To infer optical depths we need flux-density maps in the absence of the absorption. We obtain such maps by extrapolating the spectra at the higher frequencies. Since the spectra of the major components between 15.4 and 8.4 GHz are steeply declining with increasing frequency, the absorption at these frequencies is small and so the flux densities at these frequencies provide a close approximation of the unabsorbed emission spectrum. If $`\alpha _{158}(x,y)`$ is the spectral index between 15.4 and 8.4 GHz at some position $`(x,y)`$ in the map, and $`F_{8.4\mathrm{GHz}}(x,y)`$ is the flux density at 8.4 GHz at this position, then the approximate unabsorbed flux density at 2.3 GHz is

$$\mathrm{Unabsorbed}F_{2.3\mathrm{GHz}}(x,y)=F_{8.4\mathrm{GHz}}(x,y)\left[\frac{2.3\mathrm{GHz}}{8.4\mathrm{GHz}}\right]^{\alpha _{158}(x,y)}.$$
$`(1)`$
We then obtain an approximation of the optical depth at 2.3 GHz at each point in the map by

$$\tau (x,y)=\mathrm{ln}(\mathrm{observed}F_\nu (x,y))+\mathrm{ln}(\mathrm{unabsorbed}F_\nu (x,y)).$$
$`(2)`$
However, since the optical depths at 8.4 and 15.4 GHz are not really zero, the extrapolation of the spectrum produces a small error. We improve the inferred optical depths by iterating the procedure; we use the inferred optical depths at 2.3 GHz to infer the optical depths at 8.4 and 15.4 GHz, assuming free-free absorption. We then correct the 8.4 and 15.4 GHz maps for the non-zero optical depths, yielding maps of the unabsorbed flux-densities at these frequencies. We then used these modified maps to recreate the 15.4-8.4 GHz spectral index map and the unabsorbed 1.7 and 2.3 GHz flux density maps, which we used, in turn, to create improved opacity maps.

The opacity maps were made from the maps shown in Figure 3 by using a number of steps of the AIPS task COMB which reproduced the math discussed in the previous paragraph. The low-frequency flux densities (at 5.0, 2.3, and 1.7 GHz) were extrapolated from the 8.4-GHz flux densities of the same epoch (1996 June) while the spectral indices between 15.4 GHz and 8.4 GHz ($`\alpha _{158}(x,y)`$) were calculated using the 8.4-GHz data of the same epoch (1997 February) as the 15.4-GHz data. The resultant opacity maps at 2.3 and 1.7 GHz are shown in Figure 4. The uncertainties in the optical depths are primarily due to the 5% uncertainty in amplitude calibration, which yields a constant uncertainty across each map. The calculated uncertainties due to amplitude calibration errors are listed in Table 2. The opacity maps at 5.0, 2.3, and 1.7 GHz are nearly identical, except that the optical depths are larger at lower frequencies, as expected. The optical depths at 5.0 GHz are small, relative to the uncertainty, and so the 5.0-GHz opacity map is dominated by noise and so is not displayed in Figure 4. The opacity maps are nearly identical in appearance. These maps also indeed show that the maximum absorption occurs at two points north and south of the center and that the optical depth decreases in the direction perpendicular to the line connecting the optical depth peaks.

At each point in the map, we have a measure of the optical depth at three different frequencies, and so we can check whether free-free absorption fits the observed spectra everywhere. The optical depth of free-free absorption, in a simple single-component model, depends on frequency according to

$$\tau _\nu =0.08235\nu ^{2.1}T_e^{1.35}N_e^2𝑑l,$$

where $`\nu <10`$ GHz and is given in GHz, $`N_e`$ is in units of cm-3, and $`L`$ is in pc (Mezger & Henderson 1967). Assuming this model, we can remove the frequency dependence in our opacity maps, and check for consistency between the data at different frequencies, by multiplying the optical depths in the maps of Figure 4 by $`\nu ^{2.1}`$ (using the AIPS task COMB). If each position in these maps has a single free-free absorption component, then the resultant images will display maps of the value $`0.08235T_e^{1.35}N_e^2𝑑l`$. These maps are shown in Figure 5 (again, because of the large uncertainty relative to calculated values we do not display the map at 5.0 GHz). The uncertainties in these values, calculated by propagating through just the amplitude calibration errors, are listed in Table 2 (the total uncertainties actually include errors due to map noise, which are significant only near the edges of the source). The maps in Figure 5 are essentially identical. In Figure 6 we display the difference between the two maps in Figure 5 divided by the total uncertainty, due to both amplitude calibration errors and map noise. The contours displayed in Figure 6 represent difference values of $``$0.5, 0.5, 1, and 2 times the calculated uncertainty. The differences are typically $`1.0\sigma `$ across the map, with a mean of 1.1$`\sigma `$, and get as large as 2.1$`\sigma `$ only near the southwest edge. The rms value in Figure 6, and hence the rms deviation between the maps in Figure 5, is 1.26$`\sigma `$.

As is evident in Figures 4 and 5, the optical depth is not uniform over the map and most likely varies on scales smaller than the resolution of these maps. Therefore, one should not expect the single-component free-free absorption model to perfectly fit the spectra at each point in our moderately low resolution maps. Therefore, a reduced $`\chi ^2`$ value for the agreement between this simple model and our data across our entire map of just 1.26 is striking and strongly supports the premise that free-free absorption is at work. Only a mild level of complexity, such as a variable electron density across our synthesized beam, would be needed to produce a fit with an rms deviation of less than 1$`\sigma `$.

### 3.4. Individual Spectra

As an additional test, one can fit a free-free absorption model to individual spectra. By stacking the maps in Figure 3, with the same alignments that we used to make the opacity maps, we can obtain individual spectra at each location. However, as we discussed in the previous section, one should expect that the optical depth varies on scales below the low resolution of the maps in Figure 3. One should not, therefore, expect the precise fitting of a single-component free-free absorption model to the observed spectra to produce a perfect fit.

In Figure 7, we display the spectra at the locations of the peaks in emission at 5.0 GHz. To correct for any flux variations in the source between our two observation epochs the flux densities at 15.4 GHz in our 1997 observation were multiplied by a scale factor of 0.97, which is the ratio of the 8.4-GHz flux densities in 1996 to that in 1997. The displayed error bars correspond to the total uncertainty in the measured flux densities, due to both the 5% amplitude calibration uncertainty and the rms in the map flux densities.

Overlaid on the observed spectra in Figure 7 are best-fit curves for single-component models of free-free absorption in the foreground of optically thin synchrotron emission sources. The curves in Figure 4 are given by $`F_\nu =F_o(\nu /1.5359\mathrm{GHz})^\alpha \mathrm{exp}(EMT/\nu ^{2.1})`$. Since our goal is to determine the cause of the absorption at low frequencies, we kept $`F_o`$ relatively fixed to ensure that the curve passes through the measured 15.4-GHz flux density. Variation in $`EMT`$, though, causes slight changes in the model 15.4-GHz flux density, so we needed to allow $`F_o`$ to vary a little, as $`EMT`$ varied, to ensure that the flux-density at 15.4 GHz matched the observed value. We, therefore, had two free parameters. The values of these parameters in the best fit curves are listed in Table 3. Although the curves appear by visual inspection to fit the data well, the reduced $`\chi ^2`$ of the fits, listed in Table 3, are quite large. Almost the entire contribution to these large $`\chi ^2`$ values are in the disagreements at 2.3 and 1.7 GHz, where the slopes of the curves are very steep and small adjustments in the model parameters yield large differences in the curve values. However, a slightly more complex model, such as an electron density that varies by a factor of two on scales below the map resolution, yields nearly perfect fits to the data. We, therefore, find that the observed spectra at these two positions are consistent with a reasonable free-free absorption model.

## 4. DISCUSSION

### 4.1. Disk of Ionized Gas

The maps in Figure 5, which show the morphology of the quantity $`0.08235T_e^{1.35}N_e^2𝑑l`$ projected onto the sky plane, show that the absorbing medium is elongated north-south and is concentrated in two spots symmetrical about the core. In Figure 8 we display the 1.7-GHz map from Figure 5 in contours overlaid on a grey-scale plot of the 15.4-GHz clean map from Figure 3. Even with the large clean beam of these maps, the denser regions of the absorbing medium are clearly shown to be located to the sides of the radio emission structure. Such a morphology in optical depth is often symptomatic of a disk centered on the core. If this is indeed a disk, it is roughly perpendicular to the jet axis. One must keep in mind that this medium is probed in our maps only through its absorption of the radio emission from the jet, and so the medium can, and most likely does, extend well beyond the regions indicated in our maps. Additionally, the absorption is caused only by ionized gas and any such disk is most likely to have a large neutral component that is far more extensive. In fact, the observations of Carilli et al. (1998) indicate that a large amount of neutral gas does in fact exist in this galaxy.

In interpreting the morphology of the opacity maps, one must keep in mind that these maps were made with a resolution of 4.4 mas in the North-South direction and 3 mas in the East-West direction. For example, the peaks in optical depth in Figure 4 appear to be located where there is no detectable emission at 15.4 GHz in the high resolution map of Figure 1a. However, since in the process with which we made the opacity maps the input maps were masked where the signal was below 10$`\sigma `$, this doesn’t seem possible. The reason that we appear to detect absorption far from the radio emission structure seen in Figure 1a is because of the low resolution of the opacity maps; the 15.4-GHz map of Figure 3a was used in making the opacity maps, not Figure 1a. If we were able to make opacity maps at the resolution of Figure 1a, we would find the optical depth peaks to occur somewhere at the edges of the 15.4-GHz emission. In the opacity maps of Figure 4, the precision of the position information is given by the width of the clean beam, and so a true location of the optical depth peaks 1 mas away from the apparent location is reasonable. The morphological information in our opacity maps of which we can be sure is that indicated in Figure 8, i.e. that the peaks in the optical depth are offset from the peaks in the radio emission. In order for the optical depth peaks to appear at the edges of our opacity maps, the true optical depth structure must have a similar gradient.

The peaks in optical depth are located about 10 $`\pm `$ 4.4 mas apart. Therefore, if this is indicative of a disk, then the disk appears to have an inner radius of about 5 $`\pm `$ 2.2 mas. With a redshift of 0.699 and a Hubble constant of $`100h`$km s-1 Mpc-1, this corresponds to an inner radius of $``$ 50 $`\pm `$ 20 $`h^1`$ pc.

If we assume an axially symmetric disk of gas with a uniform structure of temperature $`T_e`$, free electron density $`N_e`$, and radius $`R`$, with a hole in the middle of radius $`r`$. The optical depth at each point is

$$\tau _\nu 0.08235\nu ^{2.1}T_e^{1.35}N_e^2L,$$
$`(3)`$
where $`L`$ is the path length through the ionized part of the disk to the radio emission in pc. The values in Figure 5, then, correspond to $`0.08235T_e^{1.35}N_e^2L,`$ which is roughly the emission measure ($`N_e^2L`$) times $`T_e^{1.35}`$ times a constant. For convenience of discussion we refer to the quantity $`[0.08235T_e^{1.35}N_e^2L]`$ as $`EMT^{1.35}`$. When we average the maps in Figure 5 together we find peak values of $`EMT^{1.35}`$ of 10.6 to the north and 10.1 to the south. Reasonable values of $`T_e`$ and $`N_e`$ for the inner ionized region of a gas disk of order 100 pc in radius in a radio galaxy nucleus are $`10^4`$ K and 500 cm-3, respectively, which yield a path length of $`L100`$ pc. We therefore find that entirely reasonable physical parameters fit the observed free-free optical depths.

Comparing our results to the Hi absorption results of Carilli et al. (1998), we have

$$\frac{N_e^2L_e}{N_{\mathrm{H}\mathrm{i}}L_{\mathrm{H}\mathrm{i}}}1.3\times 10^{19}f\frac{T_e^{1.35}}{T_s}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{K}^{0.35},$$

where $`f`$ is the covering factor of the neutral gas and $`T_s`$ is the average spin temperature of the Hydrogen atoms along the line of sight. These results are reasonably consistent, as can be demonstrated by the application of Saha equation with some simplifying assumptions. For argument’s sake, we assume $`T_eT_s=T`$, $`f`$ = 1, and $`L_{\mathrm{H}\mathrm{i}}100L_e`$ (i.e. that the inner 1% of the disk is ionized). Then,

$$\frac{N_e^2}{N_{\mathrm{H}\mathrm{i}}}1.3\times 10^{17}T^{0.35}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{K}^{0.35}.$$

If we further approximate the gas as containing only Hydrogen, then the Saha equation can be written as

$$\frac{N_e^2}{N_{\mathrm{H}\mathrm{i}}}=2.4\times 10^{15}T^{3/2}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{1.58\times 10^5\mathrm{K}}{T}\right)\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{K}^{3/2}.$$

Equating these two expressions yields an average gas temperature of $`2000`$ K.

### 4.2. The Core

The spectrum of the core region is already inverted at the observed frequencies above 5 GHz. The cause for the inverted spectrum of the core, therefore, seems unrelated to the ionized disk of gas. Since the core is the region most likely to have large magnetic fields and large densities of relativistic energies, we suspect that the inverted spectrum of the core is due to synchrotron self-absorption. With the same 15.4-GHz data reported here, Taylor et al. (2000) infer an upper limit to the magnetic field in the core, assuming synchrotron self-absorption, of $`7\times 10^4`$ Gauss.

### 4.3. Probable Cause for Onset of Recent Activity

The suggestion of a dense circumnuclear disk of gas in 0108+388 may provide further insight into some of the unique characteristics of this CSO. We speculate that instabilities in such a disk could result in periodic infall of gas, which will produce renewed apparent activity. This would simultaneously explain the extended emission 20 arcsec (78 $`h^1`$ kpc) to the East detected by Baum et al. (1990) and the young age of the compact structure inferred by Owsianik et al. (1998) and Taylor et al. (2000).

### 4.4. Implications for GPS Sources In General

As the results presented here demonstrate, when a radio source’s flux density is produced by a number of components, absorption on large scales is needed in order for the composite spectrum to have a sharp turnover. Synchrotron self-absorption depends on the internal conditions of the source, and these conditions will vary from one part of the source to another. Such a large-scale absorption is therefore unlikely to be due to this process. On the other hand, we have also found that the core of this particular GPS source is probably synchrotron self-absorbed. Its spectrum is already turned over at the frequency where the free-free absorption becomes significant. The implication for other, and possibly all, GPS sources is that free-free absorption is the likely cause for the high-frequency turnovers of the composite spectrum, but synchrotron self-absorption may still be important on smaller scales; the turnover of a weak core component will not contribute significantly to the integrated flux densities at low frequencies.

## 5. CONCLUSIONS

By extrapolating our high frequency maps, we obtained opacity maps of 0108+388 at two frequencies below the spectral turnover which strongly suggest that free-free absorption, possibly by a disk of ionized gas, is indeed the cause of the spectral turnover, and perhaps in other CSOs with a GHz-peaked spectrum. The spectra all across the map fit free-free absorption well. Reasonable values for temperature (104 K) and electron density (500 cm-3) in a disk of order 100 pc in size fit the observed optical depths.

The spectrum of the core, though, is inverted even at our highest frequencies, probably because of synchrotron self-absorption.

The presence of a dense gas disk in 0108+388, which is also consistent with the large column densities implied by the Hi absorption measurements of Carilli et al. (1998), may be related to the recent onset of activity in this object, as indicated by the age estimates by Owsianik et al. (1998) and Taylor et al. (2000). The accumulated evidence thus strongly supports the conclusions that CSOs in general are intrinsically young objects that evolve into classical kpc-scale radio galaxies, and that the radio galaxy 0108+388, in particular, is the youngest source known.

This research was aided, in part, by funding from the Dudley Observatory. This research has also made use of data from the University of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory which is supported by funds from the University of Michigan. We are also grateful for the friendly assistance of Vivek Dhawan and the staff at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.


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# Elastic and Inelastic Evanescent-Wave Mirrors for Cold Atoms

## I Introduction

The use of evanescent waves (EW) as a tool to manipulate the motion of neutral atoms has been proposed by Cook and Hill . Since then, EW mirrors have become an important tool in atom optics . They have been demonstrated for atomic beams at grazing incidence  and for ultracold atoms at normal incidence . In many experiments the scattering of EW photons was undesirable because it makes the mirror incoherent.

However, an EW mirror is also a promising tool for efficient loading of low-dimensional optical atom traps in the vicinity of the dielectric surface . In these schemes, spontaneous optical transitions play a crucial role in providing dissipation . Since inelastic bouncing may increase the atomic phase-space density, this may open a route towards quantum degenerate gases, which does not use evaporative cooling. Thus one may hope to achieve “atom lasers”  which are open, driven systems out of thermal equilibrium, similar to optical lasers . It is this application of EW mirrors which drives our interest in experimental control of the photon scattering of bouncing atoms.

In a first experiment involving the scattering of evanescent photons we have observed directly for the first time the radiation pressure exerted by evanescent waves on cold atoms . In a second experiment we directly observe clouds of atoms which bounce inelastically by changing their hyperfine ground state.

## II Experimental setup

Our experiments are performed in a vapor cell. Approximately $`10^7`$ atoms of 87Rb are loaded out of the background vapor into a magneto-optical trap (MOT) and are subsequently cooled to 10 $`\mu `$K using polarization gradient cooling (optical molasses). The cold atom cloud is released in the $`F=2`$ ground state. After a free fall of 6.6 mm the atoms reach the horizontal surface of a right-angle BK7 prism (refractive index $`n=1.51`$), see Fig. 1(a).

The EW beam emerges from a single-mode optical fiber, is collimated and directed into the prism through a relay telescope, see Fig. 1(b). The angle of incidence $`\theta `$ is controlled by the vertical displacement $`\mathrm{\Delta }a`$ of the first lens $`L_1`$. The second lens $`L_2`$ images the beam to a fixed spot at the prism surface. A displacement $`\mathrm{\Delta }a`$ changes the angle by $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta =\mathrm{\Delta }a/nf`$. The beam has a minimum waist of $`335\mu `$m at the surface ($`1/e^2`$ intensity radius) and a nearly diffraction limited divergence half-angle of $`<1`$ mrad.

For the EW, an injection-locked single mode laser diode provides up to 28 mW of optical power behind the fiber. It is seeded by an external grating stabilized diode laser, locked to the 87Rb hyperfine transition $`5S_{1/2}(F=2)5P_{3/2}(F^{}=3)`$ of the $`D_2`$ line. The detuning with respect to this transition determines the optical potential for atoms released from the MOT in the $`F=2`$ ground state.

## III Van der Waals surface attraction

The EW field is $`E\left(𝐫\right)\mathrm{exp}(ik_xx)\mathrm{exp}(\kappa z)`$, with $`k_x=k_0n\mathrm{sin}\theta `$ and $`\kappa =k_0\sqrt{n^2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta 1}`$, where $`k_0=2\pi /\lambda _0`$ is the vacuum wave number. The optical dipole potential for a two-level atom can be written as $`𝒰_{\mathrm{dip}}(z)=𝒰_0\mathrm{exp}(2\kappa z)`$. In the limit of large detuning, $`\left|\delta \right|\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, and low saturation, $`s_01`$, the maximum potential at the surface is $`𝒰_0=\mathrm{}\delta s_0`$/2, with a saturation parameter $`s_0(\mathrm{\Gamma }/2\delta )^2TI/I_0`$ . Here $`I`$ is the intensity of the incident beam inside the prism, $`I_0=1.65`$ mW/cm2 is the saturation intensity for rubidium and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=2\pi \times 6.0`$MHz is the natural linewidth. The factor $`T`$ ranges from 5.4 – 6.0 (2.5 – 2.65) for a TM (TE) polarized EW . The detuning of the laser frequency $`\omega _L`$ with respect to the atomic transition frequency $`\omega _0`$ is defined as $`\delta =\omega _L\omega _0`$. Thus a “blue” detuning ($`\delta >0`$) yields an exponential potential barrier for incoming atoms. A classical turning point exists if the barrier height exceeds the kinetic energy $`p_i^2/2M`$ of an incident atom.

In reality, the barrier height is determined not only by the dipole potential. The attractive Van der Waals potential near the surface,

$$𝒰_{\mathrm{vdW}}(z)=\frac{3(n^21)}{16(n^2+1)}\frac{\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Gamma }}{(k_0z)^3}.$$
(1)
lowers the maximum potential and thus decreases the surface area on which atoms can bounce . Gravity can usually be neglected on the length scale of the EW decay length.

We have measured the fraction of bouncing atoms using a weak resonant probe beam, inserted between the MOT position and the surface. Time-of-flight signals were recorded on a photodiode and the integrated absorption signal was measured for both falling and bouncing atoms. The extracted fractions of bouncing atoms are shown in Fig. 2, as a function of the strength of the optical potential $`𝒰_0`$. The logarithmic dependence is a consequence of the gaussian beam profile of the EW. Also shown are two calculations of the bouncing fraction using no adjustable parameters, (i) assuming a purely optical potential (dashed line), and (ii) taking into account also the Van der Waals surface attraction (solid line). The latter clearly yields much better agreement. Similar measurements have previously been performed by Landragin et al. .

## IV Radiation pressure by evanescent waves

The evanescent wavevector $`𝐤=(k_x,0,i\kappa )`$ contains a real (propagating) component along the surface. It has been predicted already by Roosen and Imbert  that therefore an evanescent wave should exert radiation pressure parallel to the surface. A similar scattering force has been observed for micrometer-sized dielectric spheres . The photon scattering rate of a two-level atom in steady state at low saturation is $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}s\mathrm{\Gamma }/2=(\mathrm{\Gamma }/\mathrm{}\delta )𝒰_{\mathrm{dip}}`$ . An atom bouncing on an EW mirror sees a time dependent saturation parameter $`s(t)`$. Assuming that the excited state population follows adiabatically, we can integrate the scattering rate along an atom’s trajectory to get the number of scattered photons, $`N_{\mathrm{scat}}=\mathrm{\Gamma }^{}(t)𝑑t`$. For a purely optical potential this leads to an analytical solution:

$$N_{\mathrm{scat}}=\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }}{\delta }\frac{p_i}{\mathrm{}\kappa }.$$
(2)
Note that $`N_{\mathrm{scat}}`$ is independent of $`𝒰_0`$, as a consequence of the exponential shape of the potential.

We have observed this evanescent-wave radiation pressure directly by imaging the bouncing atom clouds . The fluorescence induced by a 0.5 ms pulse of resonant probe light was imaged onto a digital frame-transfer CCD camera. A repumping beam, tuned to the $`F=1F^{}=2`$ transition of the $`D_1`$ line (795 nm), was used to counteract optical pumping to the $`F=1`$ ground state by the probe.

We measure the trajectories of bouncing atoms by taking a sequence of images with incremental time delays. A typical series with increments of 10 ms is shown in Fig. 3. A new sample was prepared for each shot; each image was averaged over 10 shots. In the lower half of the Figure we see the atom cloud bouncing up slightly sideways.

The horizontal velocity change during the bounce is extracted from a sequence of images. In Fig. 4, we show how this velocity kick depends on the laser detuning $`\delta `$ and on the EW decay length $`\xi 1/\kappa (\theta )`$, by varying the angle $`\theta `$. The velocity kick has been expressed in units of the EW photon recoil, $`p_{rec}=\mathrm{}k_0n\mathrm{sin}\theta `$, with $`\mathrm{}k_0/M=5.88`$ mm/s. In Fig. 4(a), the detuning is varied from 188 – 1400 MHz (31 – 233 $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$). Two sets of data are shown, taken for two different EW decay lengths $`\xi =2.8\mu `$m and $`0.67\mu `$m. We find that $`N_{\mathrm{scat}}\delta ^1`$, as expected. The predictions based on Eq. (2) are indicated in the figure (solid lines).

In Fig. 4(b), the detuning was kept fixed at $`44\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and the angle of incidence varied from 0.9 – 24.0 mrad above the critical angle. This leads to a variation of decay length $`\xi `$ from 2.8 – 0.53 $`\mu `$m. Here also, we find a linear dependence on $`\xi `$. Clearly, a steep optical potential, i.e. a small decay length, causes less radiation pressure than a shallow potential. A linear fit to the data for $`\xi <1\mu `$m, extrapolates to an offset of approximately 3 photon recoils in the limit $`\xi 0`$ \[thin solid line in Fig. 4(b)\]. We attribute this offset to diffusely scattered EW light due to roughness of the prism surface which propagates into the vacuum. Preferential light scattering in the direction of the EW propagation can be explained if the power spectrum of the surface roughness is narrow compared to $`1/\lambda `$ . The effect of surface roughness has previously been observed as a broadening of bouncing atom clouds by the roughness of the dipole potential . In our case, we observe a change in center of mass motion of the clouds due to an increase in the spontaneous scattering force. Such a contribution to the radiation pressure due to surface roughness vanishes in the limit of large detuning $`\delta `$. Thus, we find no significant offset in Fig. 4(a).

We have also verified that there is no significant dependence on the power of the EW, in accordance with Eq. (2). Only a slight increase with EW power is observed, which may again be due to diffusely scattered light. The optical power mainly determines the effective mirror surface and thus the fraction of bouncing atoms. This is also visible in the horizontal width of bouncing clouds.

We find a significant correction due to the excited state manifold $`F^{}=\{0,1,2,3\}`$ of 87Rb. Besides $`F^{}=3`$, also $`F^{}=1,2`$ contribute to the mirror potential, whereas they do not much affect the scattering rate. For an EW detuning of $`44\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, this reduces the number of scattered photons by typically $`9\%`$ compared to a two-level atom, when we average over the contributions from different magnetic sublevels (dashed lines).

## V Inelastic bouncing

If the mirror laser is tuned to an open transition, photon scattering can lead to a spontaneous Raman transition to the other hyperfine ground state. The atom will then leave the surface on a different potential curve from when it approached the surface. Hence, the kinetic energy after the bounce will in general be different from that before the bounce.

We performed experiments where the EW laser was tuned in the blue wing of the $`F=1F^{}=2`$ transition of the $`D_2`$ line of 87Rb, with a detuning $`\delta _1\delta _{\mathrm{GHF}}`$, with $`\delta _{\mathrm{GHF}}=2\pi \times 6.8`$ GHz the ground state hyperfine splitting. Atoms in $`F=2`$ see the EW mirror with a detuning which is larger by a factor of approximately $`\delta _2/\delta _1\delta _{\mathrm{GHF}}/\delta _1`$ and therefore see a much weaker potential. Thus they leave the surface with a reduced kinetic energy. Repeating this procedure leads to so-called “evanescent-wave cooling” .

We observe the inelastically bouncing atoms directly by imaging the absorption of a weak resonant probe pulse onto a digital CCD camera. In Fig. 5 we show a typical image, taken when the slowest atoms have reached their upper turning point. The observed clouds are highly asymmetric, with a dense peak at the lower edge of the cloud and a tail of faster atoms extending upward. The dense peak contains the atoms that made the Raman transition near the turning point, because here they move slowly in a relatively high light intensity. The tail contains faster atoms, which have made the Raman transition while falling down to, or bouncing up from the surface. The density distribution in the vertical direction agrees well with a calculation where the atoms are modeled as point particles moving on an exponential potential curve.

## VI Outlook

The result of the inelastic bouncing experiment shows the preference for making a spontaneous Raman transition near the turning point of the bounce. This is of great importance for our ongoing experiments which are aimed at trapping the cold atoms near the turning point, in a low-dimensional optical trap. Although the present experiment showed a relatively high density at the lowest possible bouncing velocity, it is unlikely that the phase-space density has been increased. It remains to be investigated under what conditions such an increase can be obtained and by how much.

The scattering of evanescent photons is an essential ingredient in our experiment toward loading low-dimensional optical traps. At the same time, once loaded into the trap, we wish the atoms to scatter at a very low rate. In order to meet these conflicting requirements our present experiments are aimed at trapping the atoms in a so-called dark state which no longer interacts with the evanescent wave. This requires the use of circularly polarized evanescent waves. This procedure should lead to an ultracold low-dimensional gas and may ultimately yield an all-optical road to quantum-degeneracy and an atom laser.

## Acknowledgments

We thank E.C. Schilder for help with the experiments. This work is part of the research program of the “Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM)” which is financially supported by the “Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO)”. R.S. has been financially supported by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.


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# The Discovery of a Giant H𝛼 Filament in NGC 7213

## 1 Introduction

NGC 7213 is a face-on Sa (Tully 1988) galaxy located at a distance of 22.0 Mpc ($`H_0=75kms^1Mpc^1`$) (Tully 1988) and hosts an active nucleus. Its nuclear activity was first discovered in follow-up optical spectroscopy of X-ray sources observed by the HEAO-A2 satellite (Phillips 1978) and is in the Piccinotti et al. (1982) sample of X-ray selected active galaxies.

The nucleus of NGC 7213 has been classified as a Seyfert 1 (Phillips 1979, Filippenko and Halpern 1984) based on the broad optical emission lines, strong blue continuum and emission lines from such highly ionized species as Ne<sup>+4</sup>. Its nuclear spectrum also exhibits narrow low ionization emission lines that define the LINER class which may originate from diffuse ionized gas surrounding the nucleus. This extended nuclear emission line region (ENER) has been observed in several spirals (e.g. M81,M31, N1398 etc.) and its ionization may be attributed to shock heating or photo-ionization by the bulge post asymptotic giant branch (PAGB) stars (Heckman 1996; Devereux, Ford, and Jacoby 1997).

The optical continuum image of the galaxy is dominated by an almost featureless bulge and shows no sign of any recent interaction (see Figure 5 of Hameed & Devereux 1999). An unsharp masking of the continuum image shows dust lanes sinuously winding into the central region which are also visible in the photograph of NGC 7213 in the Carnegie Atlas of Galaxies (Sandage and Bedke 1994). The continuum-subtracted H$`\alpha `$ image shows a ring of H II regions surrounding the nucleus that has been studied in detail by Storchi-Bergmann et al. (1996). However, the present paper is motivated by the discovery of a giant H$`\alpha `$ filament located approximately 18.6 kpc (in projection) south of the nucleus. This filament is roughly 19 kpc long, has no counterpart in the optical continuum image and lies well outside the optical diameter of the galaxy (Hameed & Devereux 1999).

An HI map of NGC 7213, obtained as part of an HI survey of nearby Seyfert galaxies (Blank 1999), reveals NGC 7213 to be a highly disturbed system with tidal tails. The H$`\alpha `$ filament is, in fact, a small part of an HI tail located south of the nucleus. Contrary to the optical continuum image, the disturbed HI morphology suggests that NGC 7213 has gone through a merger or an interaction. In this paper we present details of neutral and ionized hydrogen gas morphology of NGC 7213.

## 2 Observations

### 2.1 H$`\alpha `$ Observations

An H$`\alpha `$ image of NGC 7213 was obtained on October 25, 1997, using the Cassegrain-Focus Imager (CFCCD) on the CTIO 1.5m telescope. CFCCD uses a $`2048\times 2048`$ Tektronics chip and has a pixel scale of $`0.43\mathrm{}pixel^1`$ at f/7.5, yielding a field of view of $`14.7\mathrm{}\times 14.7\mathrm{}`$. The galaxy was imaged using the narrow band H$`\alpha `$ \+ \[NII\] filter at 6606Å($`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$ = 75Å) and a narrow band line free continuum filter at 6477Å($`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$=75Å). Three exposures of 900 seconds each were obtained through the line and the continuum filters. Details of the data reduction process and calibration are described in Hameed & Devereux (1999).

### 2.2 HI Observations

NGC 7213 was observed in the 21cm, HI spectral line with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) in its 1.5 D, 750 D, and 750 C configurations on October 9, 1993, and October 2 and 15, 1995, respectively. The shortest and longest baselines used were 31 m and 1454 m respectively which resulted in a synthesized beam size of $`42\mathrm{}\times 52\mathrm{}`$. Further details of the HI observations will be presented in a later paper.

## 3 Results

Figure 1 shows contours of continuum-subtracted H$`\alpha `$ image of NGC 7213 overlayed on grey-scale HI map of the same region. Despite a relatively short integration time (900 sec), the H$`\alpha `$ image reveals remarkable structure in the ionized gas. The giant filament is located $`2.9\mathrm{}`$, or 18.6 kpc south of the nucleus (in projection). In comparison, the diameter ($`D_{25}`$) of the galaxy extends out to only $`2.1\mathrm{}`$ (Tully 1988). The H$`\alpha `$ filament is roughly 19.0 kpc long ($`3.0\mathrm{}`$) and has a total H$`\alpha `$ flux of $`F_{H\alpha }=1.1(\pm 0.2)\times 10^{13}ergs^1cm^2`$, which corresponds to $`L_{H\alpha }=6.4\times 10^{39}ergs^1`$ at our assumed distance of 22 Mpc (Tully 1988). The total H$`\alpha `$ luminosity of NGC 7213 is $`L_{H\alpha }=1.7\times 10^{41}ergs^1`$ (Hameed & Devereux 1999).

NGC 7213 has been observed in H$`\alpha `$ before. Storchi-Bergmann et al. (1996) obtained H$`\alpha `$ imaging and spectroscopy of the circumnuclear H II regions, but the giant filament was located outside of their field of view. The filament is, however, barely visible in the H$`\alpha `$ image of NGC 7213 obtained by Evans et al. (1996).

The grey-scale map in Figure 1 shows the neutral gas morphology and reveals NGC 7213 to be a highly disturbed system. The central region has a high concentration of HI and the giant H$`\alpha `$ filament appears to be a small part of an HI tail located southwest of the nucleus. This HI tail has a peak surface density of $`5.1M_{}pc^2`$. There appears to be a lack of HI emission in a region that is $`40\mathrm{}\times 60\mathrm{}`$ in size lying about $`2\mathrm{}`$ southwest of the nucleus and is not due to HI absorption (For details, see Blank 1999).

Figure 2 shows a close-up of the H$`\alpha `$ filament and the region surrounding it. Overall the filament has a bow-like structure with a discontinuity towards the eastern end. The filament does not have any counterpart in the optical continuum image (Hameed & Devereux 1999). There is some low level diffuse H$`\alpha `$ emission that connects the filament with a ring of H II regions surrounding the nucleus.

Figure 3 reveals the total extent of neutral gas which extends far beyond the optical radius. The azimuthally averaged column density falls to $`1\times 10^{19}cm^2`$ at a radius of about 9 arcminutes (58 kpc), and the azimuthally averaged surface density of HI is $`1M_{}pc^2`$ at a radius of 3.5 arcminutes. The overall HI distribution is clumpy and roughly oval in shape with a position angle of about $`110^{}`$. There is a prominent HI tidal tail in the north-western region of the galaxy. The total HI mass of the NGC 7213 system is $`4.6\times 10^9`$ $`M_{}`$.

The velocity field of NGC 7213 is shown in Figure 4. The velocity field becomes increasingly disordered further away from the center and is likely to be the result of a merger.

## 4 Discussion

What is the source of ionization for the giant filament? It is unlikely that the filament is foreground galactic emission since our H$`\alpha `$ image was obtained with a redshifted H$`\alpha `$ filter and any foreground emission would have been subtracted out. In addition, the H$`\alpha `$ morphology and its correlation with HI strongly suggests a connection with NGC 7213. The lack of clumpy HII regions in the filament also rule out local star formation as the ionization source. Similarly, there is no continuum emission from the filament, ruling out field OB and post-asymptotic Giant Branch stars as a source of ionization.

There are at least two possible mechanisms which might explain the large H$`\alpha `$ filament. One possibility is a starburst-related superwind. Devine & Bally (1999) found a 3 kpc long ionized “cap” located 11 kpc above the plane of M82. Fainter H$`\alpha `$ was also detected between the H$`\alpha `$ cap and M82. Devine and Bally have suggested that the H$`\alpha `$ in the cap traces ambient material that is being shocked by a superwind and/or photoionized by radiation from nuclear starburst. Massive star formation in NGC 7213 is confined to a ring of HII regions surrounding the nucleus and is much weaker than the starburst in M82. Our calculations suggest that it is very unlikely that the filament in NGC 7213, which is much larger than the “cap” in M82(Table 1), is being ionized by the leakage of UV photons from the star forming ring.

A more likely explanation is that the filament is either being photo-ionized by UV photons escaping from the central AGN or shock-ionized by a jet interacting with the surrounding medium. Observations of Seyfert galaxies have identified galactic scale minor outflows in a number of galaxies (e.g. Wilson & Tsvetanov 1994; Colbert et al. . 1996). The presence of broad emission lines (Filippenko & Halpern 1984), along with the detection of X-rays(Piccinotti et al. 1982; Fabbiano, Kim, and Trinchieri 1992) and an unresolved UV point source (Rokaki & Boisson 1999) in the nucleus of NGC 7213, strongly suggest the presence of an AGN. Lyman continuum photons from the central engine may ionize part of the extensive HI which surrounds NGC 7213. Such a situation exists within the type 1 Seyfert galaxy NGC 5252, which hosts a biconical structure of ionized gas that extends up to a distance of 18 kpc from the nucleus and consists of a complex network of filaments(Prieto & Freudling 1996; Tsvetanov et al. 1996; Morse et al. 1998). The largest of these filaments is located about 7 kpc from the nucleus and is approximately 3.6 kpc in length (Table 1).

In the case of NGC 7213, the H$`\alpha `$ luminosity of the nucleus is $`4.7\times 10^{40}ergs^1`$. If the filament in NGC 7213 is photoionized by the nucleus, then, at least, 14$`\%`$ of ionizing photons have to escape from the nucleus to provide the observed H$`\alpha `$ luminosity of the filament: $`6.4\times 10^{39}ergs^1`$. We can obtain a rough estimate as to whether or not the source responsible for H$`\alpha `$ emission in the nucleus has enough energy to ionize the filament. Lets consider a simple case where ionizing photons are leaking isotropically from the nucleus. The flux at the distance of of the filament (18.6 kpc), $`F_{nf}`$, can be calculated by $`F_{nf}=L(H\alpha )_{nuc}/4\pi D^2`$, where $`L(H\alpha )_{nuc}`$ is H$`\alpha `$ luminosity of the nucleus and D is the distance of the filament from the nucleus. Using the above values, we get $`F_{nf}=1.1\times 10^6ergs^1cm^2`$. Assuming the filament to be a 2-dimensional sheet, we can get the luminosity of the filament, $`L_{nf}`$, by multiplying $`F_{nf}`$ by the surface area of the filament, $`165\mathrm{}\times 55\mathrm{}`$ or $`5.9\times 10^{22}cm\times 1.8\times 10^{22}cm`$. This gives $`L_{nf}=1.2\times 10^{39}ergs^1`$ which is about 6 times smaller than the observed luminosity of the filament (Table 1). It should be noted, however, that the H$`\alpha `$ luminosity of the nucleus is not an accurate measure of the ionizing flux, and represents only those ionizing photons that have been absorbed by hydrogen near the nucleus. The covering factor for the broad line region in AGNs is quite uncertain, but some studies (e.g. Peterson 1997) estimate the covering factor to be around 0.1, suggesting that only 10$`\%`$ of the ionizing photons are being absorbed. If this is the case in NGC 7213, then the nucleus can easily provide the photons required to ionize the filament. In addition, our calculations above used the simplest case of isotropic emission. Even a modest beaming of the ionizing photons towards the filament can potentially provide enough energy to ionize the filament.

On the other hand, the radio galaxy PKS 2250-41 provides an example where a giant emission line arc is shock ionized by a radio jet(Tadhunter et al. 1994). It should be noted, however, that the emission line arc in PKS 2250-41 has been observed only in \[OIII\] and no H$`\alpha `$ observations for the galaxy exist in the literature. The arc in PKS 2250-41 is located 37 kpc from the nucleus and has a total length of about 50 kpc (Clark et al. 1997). Such jet interaction induced ionization could be the case in NGC 7213, albeit on a smaller scale. In the study of star forming regions of NGC 7213, Storchi-Bergmann et al. (1996) found velocity dispersions near the nucleus suggesting a collimated outflow or other non-circular motions. Furthermore, Harnett (1987) and Blank (1999), found extended radio emission in low resolution images that might also indicate the presence of a radio jet.

Understanding the kinematics of the ionized gas could help distinguish between these two possibilities. If ionized gas is produced by UV photons escaping from the nucleus, then we might expect the ionized gas to have the same radial velocity as the neutral gas at the same location. On the other hand, if the ionized gas is produced by shocks, its velocity should be significantly different from the neutral gas. In addition, optical spectroscopy can also provide diagnostic line ratios that may determine whether the filament is shock-ionized or photo-ionized. Shock-ionization is expected to produce high ratios of \[NII\](6548+6584$`\AA `$)/H$`\alpha `$ ,\[SII\](6716+6731$`\AA `$)/H$`\alpha `$ , and \[OIII\](5007$`\AA `$)/H$`\alpha `$ relative to photo-ionization (Shull & McKee 1979; Dopita & Sutherland 1995).

The identity of the progenitor galaxy, responsible for the disturbed HI morphology of NGC 7213, is also unclear. There is a nearby elliptical galaxy of unknown redshift located at $`5\mathrm{}`$ north-east of NGC 7213. If that system is a close companion, it is unlikely to be responsible for the disturbed HI morphology. While the anomalous HI arms could be produced by a small galaxy tidally removing HI gas from its larger companion (e.g. the M 51 system), the elliptical companion of NGC 7213 is located in the middle of the northern arm, not at the end of the arm as one would expect, if it was drawing out the HI. It is more likely that NGC 7213 is a merger remnant, as Blank (1999) has identified an inner HI disk counter-rotating with respect to the larger HI disk in NGC 7213. This notion is further supported by the presence of “shells” in an unsharp mask of the Digital Sky Survey image of NGC 7213 (Hibbard, private communication). However, we cannot rule out the presence of another perturber, as there is a bright foreground star to the north-west of NGC 7213 that may be masking any nearby galaxy.

The giant filament in NGC 7213, one of the largest among nearby active galaxies, joins an increasing number of galaxies that have galactic scale ionization features. It is difficult to estimate how common these objects are, as very few studies of Seyfert galaxies exist that have focused on large scale features. In a study of 22 edge-on Seyfert galaxies, Colbert et al. (1996) find $`1/4`$ of galaxies with good evidence for minor axis outflows, but none at scales comparable to NGC 7213 and NGC 5252. Similarly, Baum et al. (1993) found kpc-scale extended features in seven out of ten Seyfert galaxies they studied. A large, wide field, systematic study of nearby Seyfert galaxies will provide information about the importance of these filaments and their relationship to AGNs and their host galaxies.

S.H. would like to thank NOAO for providing travel support to CTIO and Kurt Anderson, John Hibbard, and Charles Hoopes for useful comments on the paper. DLB would like to thank the University of Sydney and the Australian Department of Employment, Education and Training for respectively an overseas postgraduate research scholarship and for an overseas postgraduate research award. DLB also thanks the ATNF for additional funding and for the generous use of its facilities. The authors would also like to thank the referee for useful comments that improved the presentation of the paper.


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# Dehn fillings creating essential spheres and tori

## Abstract.

Let $`M`$ be a simple $`3`$-manifold with a toral boundary component. It is known that if two Dehn fillings on $`M`$ along the boundary produce a reducible manifold and a toroidal manifold, then the distance between the filling slopes is at most three. This paper gives a remarkably short proof of this result.

###### Key words and phrases:

Dehn filling, reducible manifold, toroidal manifold

Let $`M`$ be a simple $`3`$-manifold with a toral boundary component $`_0M`$, that is, it contains no essential sphere, disk, torus or annulus. The slope of an essential, unoriented, simple closed curve on $`_0M`$ is its isotopy class. We assume that $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ are two slopes on $`_0M`$ such that $`M(\alpha )`$ is a reducible manifold and $`M(\beta )`$ contains an essential torus. The goal is to measure the upper bound for $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha ,\beta )`$ (the minimal geometric intersection number of $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$), and Oh \[Oh1\] and Wu \[Wu\] independently gave the optimum upper bound 3 for this case. In the present paper we give another short proof of this result.

###### Theorem 1.

Let $`M`$ be a simple $`3`$-manifold such that $`M(\alpha )`$ is reducible and $`M(\beta )`$ is toroidal. Then $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha ,\beta )3`$.

Assume $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha ,\beta )4`$ for contradiction. Let $`\widehat{Q}`$ be a reducing sphere in $`M(\alpha )`$ which intersects the filling solid torus $`V_\alpha `$ in a family of meridian disks. We choose $`\widehat{Q}`$ so that $`q=|\widehat{Q}V_\alpha |`$ is minimal (over all reducing spheres $`\widehat{Q}`$ in $`M(\alpha )`$). Similarly let $`\widehat{T}`$ be an essential torus in $`M(\beta )`$ meeting in $`t=|\widehat{T}V_\beta |`$ meridian disks, the number of which is minimal over all such tori. Let $`Q=\widehat{Q}M`$ and $`T=\widehat{T}M`$. By an isotopy of $`Q`$, we may assume that $`Q`$ and $`T`$ intersect transversely, and $`QT`$ has the minimal number of components. Then as described in \[Oh1\], we obtain graphs $`G_Q`$ in $`\widehat{Q}`$ and $`G_T`$ in $`\widehat{T}`$. We use the definitions and terminology of \[Oh1, Section2\].

###### Lemma 2.

\[BZ, Lemmas 2.3, 4.1, 4.3\] $`q3`$ and $`t3`$.

###### Lemma 3.

\[GL2, Theorem 2.4\] $`G_T`$ cannot contain Scharlemann cycles on distinct label pairs.

###### Lemma 4.

\[Wu, Lemmas 1.4, 1.8\] $`G_Q`$ cannot have more than $`\frac{t}{2}+2`$ mutually parallel edges connecting parallel vertices. Furthermore, if $`G_Q`$ has $`\frac{t}{2}+2`$ mutually parallel edges connecting parallel vertices, then $`t0(\text{mod}4)`$.

###### Theorem 5.

\[JLOT, Theorem 1.1\] If $`M(\alpha )`$ and $`M(\beta )`$ contain a projective plane and an essential torus respectively, then either $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha ,\beta )2`$ or $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha ,\beta )=3`$ with $`t=2`$.

Now we will prove Theorem 1.

###### Proof.

We distinguish two cases;

Case I) Suppose that there is a vertex $`x`$ of $`G_Q`$ such that more than $`\frac{3}{2}t`$ edges connect $`x`$ to antiparallel vertices.

This implies that there exist more than $`\frac{3}{2}t`$ $`x`$-edges connecting parallel vertices in $`G_T`$. Consider the subgraph of $`G_T`$ consisting all vertices and those all $`x`$-edges of $`G_T`$. An Euler characteristic count gives that it contains more than $`\frac{1}{2}t`$ disk faces whose boundaries are $`x`$-edge cycles of $`G_T`$. By \[HM, Proposition 5.1\], each disk face contains a Scharlemann cycle. By Lemma 3, these all Scharlemann cycles are, say, $`12`$-Scharlemann cycles.

Construct a graph $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ in $`\widehat{T}`$ as follows. Choose a dual vertex in the interior of the face $`G_T`$ bounded by a $`12`$-Scharlemann cycle, and let the vertices of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ be the vertices of $`G_T`$ together with these dual vertices. The edges of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ are defined by joining each dual vertex to the vertices of the corresponding Scharlemann cycle in the obvious way. Let $`s`$ be the number of $`12`$-Scharlemann cycles. Then $`s>\frac{1}{2}t`$. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ has $`t+s`$ vertices and at least $`3s`$ edges because each Scharlemann cycle has order at least 3 by Theorem 5. Note that if $`G_T`$ contains an Scharlemann cycle of length two, then $`M(\alpha )`$ contains a projective plane \[GLi\]. Again an Euler characteristic count guarantees that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ has a disk face $`E`$. But $`E`$ determines a $`1`$-edge cycle bounding a disk face in $`E`$ which, as long as $`q>2`$, contains a Scharlemann cycle. This contradicts the definition of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$.

Case II) As the negation of case I), suppose that each vertex $`x`$ of $`G_Q`$ has at least $`(\mathrm{\Delta }\frac{3}{2})t`$ labels where edges connecting parallel vertices are incident.

Let $`G_Q^+`$be the subgraph of $`G_Q`$ consisting of all vertices and edges connecting parallel vertices of $`G_Q`$. By the assumption, every vertex of $`G_Q^+`$ has valency at least $`(\mathrm{\Delta }\frac{3}{2})t`$. Let $`\overline{G}_Q^+`$ be the reduced graph of $`G_Q^+`$. By Lemma 4, any vertex has valency at least $`3`$ in $`\overline{G}_Q^+`$. So, we can choose an innermost component $`H`$ of $`\overline{G}_Q^+`$, and a block $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ of $`H`$ with at most one cut vertex of $`H`$. Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be the subgraph of $`G_Q^+`$ corresponding to $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$.

Note that there is a disk $`D`$ in $`\widehat{Q}`$ such that $`DG_Q^+=\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. A vertex of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ is a boundary vertex if there is an arc connecting it to $`D`$ whose interior is disjoint from $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$, and an interior vertex otherwise. Remark that $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ has an interior vertex by \[Wu, Lemma 3.2\].

If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ contains a cut vertex of $`H`$, then let $`x`$ be a label such that the cut vertex has an edge attached with label $`x`$ there. Otherwise, let $`x`$ be any label. Then each vertex of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, except a cut vertex, has at least two edges attached with label $`x`$. Thus we can find a great $`x`$-cycle. This implies that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ has a Scharlemann cycle and so $`t`$ is even by \[BZ, Lemma 2.2(1)\].

Let $`v,e`$ and $`f`$ be the numbers of vertices, edges and faces of its reduced graph $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$. Also say $`v_i,v_{}`$ and $`v_c`$ the numbers of interior vertices, boundary vertices and a cut vertex of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$. Hence $`v=v_i+v_{}`$ and $`v_c=0`$ or $`1`$. Since each face of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ is a disk with at least $`3`$ sides, we have $`2e3f+v_{}`$. Combined with $`1=\chi (\mathrm{disk})=ve+f`$, we get $`e3vv_{}3=3v_i+2v_{}3`$.

Suppose that every interior vertex of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ has valency at least $`6`$ and that every boundary vertex except a cut vertex has valency at least $`4`$. Since a cut vertex has valency at least $`2`$, we have $`2e6v_i+4(v_{}v_c)+2v_c`$. These two inequalities give us that $`0v_c3`$, a contradiction.

Hence there are two cases. For the first case, assume that some boundary vertex $`y`$ of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ has valency at most $`3`$. There are at least $`(\mathrm{\Delta }\frac{3}{2})t`$ edges in $`G_Q`$ which are incident to $`y`$ and connect $`y`$ to parallel vertices. By Lemma 4, $`\frac{5}{2}t(\mathrm{\Delta }\frac{3}{2})t3(\frac{t}{2}+2)`$, i.e. $`t6`$ and $`t6`$.

But in the case of $`t=4`$ there are at least $`4`$ mutually parallel edges in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, which implies that $`G_Q`$ contains two S-cycles with disjoint label pairs. Then $`M(\beta )`$ contains a Klein bottle as in the proof of \[GL1, Lemma 3.10\]. (Note that $`M(\beta )`$ is irreducible \[GL2\]. Hence the edges of an $`S`$-cycle cannot lie in a disk on $`\widehat{T}`$.) This contradicts to \[Oh2, Theorem 1.1\].

For the second case, assume that some interior vertex of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ has valency at most $`5`$. Again we have $`4t\mathrm{\Delta }t5(\frac{t}{2}+2)`$. Then we can use the same argument as above. ∎


text:
# Effect of reheating on electroweak baryogenesis

\[

## Abstract

The latent heat released during the expansion of bubbles in the electroweak phase transition reheats the plasma and causes the bubble growth to slow down. This decrease of the bubble wall velocity affects the result of electroweak baryogenesis. Since the efficiency of baryogenesis peaks for a wall velocity $`10^2`$, the resulting baryon asymmetry can either be enhanced or suppressed, depending on the initial value of the wall velocity. We calculate the evolution of the phase transition taking into account the release of latent heat. We find that, although in the SM the baryon production is enhanced by this effect, in the MSSM it causes a suppression to the final baryon asymmetry.

\]

Generating the baryon asymmetry of the universe (BAU) at the electroweak phase transition is a very attractive idea . Although in the minimal Standard Model (SM) it fails to explain the observed baryon abundance, such a proposal can be successful in an extension of the model. It has been shown, for instance, that electroweak baryogenesis is quantitatively possible in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), provided that the Higgs boson and the lightest stop are sufficiently light .

According to the standard mechanism , baryogenesis occurs near the walls of expanding bubbles that form during the phase transition. After a bubble is nucleated and begins to grow, its wall quickly reaches a terminal velocity in the hot plasma . Due to $`CP`$ violating interaction of particles with bubble walls, different densities of left-handed quarks and their antiparticles are built up in front of the walls. This left-handed asymmetry biases the anomalous baryon number violating sphaleron interactions in the symmetric phase. As a consequence, a net baryon asymmetry is generated in front of the walls and immediately caught by them. In the broken symmetry region inside the bubbles sphaleron processes are suppressed, so a subsequent washout of the baryon asymmetry is avoided.

The generated BAU has a strong dependence on the bubble wall velocity. If the latter is too large, the left-handed density perturbation will pass so quickly through a given point in space that sphaleron processes will not have enough time to produce baryons. Thus the resulting BAU will be small. On the other hand, for very small velocities thermal equilibrium will be restored, so the baryon asymmetry will be erased by sphalerons and the BAU will be small again. Consequently, the baryon production has a maximum at an intermediate wall velocity. Comparison of the baryon number violation time scale with the time of passage of the chiral asymmetry  gives a wall velocity $`v_w10^2`$ for maximum baryon asymmetry. Recent numerical calculations confirm that the BAU tends to peak for such a small value of $`v_w`$ .

On the other hand, recent calculations of the friction of the plasma indicate that the wall velocity can be of that order of magnitude . However, these estimates of $`v_w`$ do not take into account the hydrodynamics of the phase transition . For such small velocities the only effect of hydrodynamics is a homogeneous reheating of the plasma during the expansion of bubbles. As $`v_w`$ is much less than the speed of sound in the plasma, the latent heat liberated in the expansion of a bubble is quickly distributed throughout space by a shock front that precedes the propagating wall of the bubble. As a consequence of this uniform reheating the bubble expansion slows down. It was shown by Heckler  that the decrease of $`v_w`$ can dramatically affect the result of electroweak baryogenesis. The importance of reheating can be estimated  by comparing the latent heat $`LT\left(d\left(\mathrm{\Delta }V\right)/dT\right)_{T=T_c}`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }V\left(T\right)`$ is the free energy difference between the symmetric and broken symmetry phases, with the energy needed to bring the plasma back to the critical temperature $`T_c`$ from the temperature $`T_n`$ at which nucleation of bubbles begins, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho =\left(\pi ^2g_{}/30\right)\left(T_c^4T_n^4\right)`$, where $`g_{}107`$ is the number of degrees of freedom of the plasma. In the SM, $`L`$ is at least one order of magnitude less than $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho `$, but in the MSSM the two quantities are of the same order , so the effect of reheating can be important in that case.

In this paper we compute the evolution of the phase transition including this effect in a simple model with a one-Higgs effective potential. Using an analytical approximation for the dependence of the BAU on $`v_w`$, we evaluate the effect of the decrease of the bubble wall velocity on baryogenesis. It is known that in the SM the reheating enhances electroweak baryogenesis . On the contrary, since in the MSSM the wall velocity is initially in the range of maximum BAU, its decrease will cause a suppression to the baryon asymmetry.

We use an effective potential of the form

$$V(\varphi ,T)=D\left(T^2T_0^2\right)\varphi ^2ET\varphi ^3+\frac{\lambda }{4}\varphi ^4,$$
(1)
which possesses a first-order phase transition between the critical temperature $`T_c=T_0/\sqrt{1E^2/\lambda D}`$ and $`T_0`$. When the universe cools below $`T_c100GeV`$, bubbles of the broken symmetry phase begin to nucleate with a probability per unit volume and time $`\mathrm{\Gamma }T^4e^{S_3\left(T\right)/T}`$, where $`S_3\left[\varphi \left(r\right)\right]`$ is a three-dimensional instanton action that coincides with the energy of the nucleated bubble . The configuration $`\varphi \left(r\right)`$ of the bubble is obtained by finding an extremum of $`S_3`$. It can be calculated numerically to obtain the nucleation rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$  and the radius $`r_0`$ and wall width $`l_w`$ of the nucleated bubble  as functions of temperature.

For the terminal velocity of the bubble wall in the plasma we use the formula  (see also )

$$v_w\left(T\right)\frac{20Tl_w\left(T\right)\mathrm{\Delta }V\left(T\right)}{\eta v\left(T\right)^4},$$
(2)
where $`\eta `$ is a dimensionless friction coefficient accounting for the viscosity of the plasma, and $`v\left(T\right)`$ is the minimum of $`V(\varphi ,T)`$. The main effect of the reheating will be to decrease the free energy difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }V\left(T\right)`$  and hence the value of $`v_w`$. The progress of the phase transition is determined by the fraction of space that is still in the symmetric phase ,

$$f\left(t\right)=\mathrm{exp}\left\{\frac{4\pi }{3}_{t_c}^t\mathrm{\Gamma }\left(T^{}\right)r(t^{},t)^3𝑑t^{}\right\},$$
(3)
where $`r(t^{},t)=r_0\left(T^{}\right)+_t^{}^tv_w\left(T^{\prime \prime }\right)𝑑t^{\prime \prime }`$ is the radius at time $`t`$ of a bubble created at $`t^{}`$. The variation of temperature with time is given by

$$\frac{dT}{dt}=\frac{TV^{}\left(T\right)V\left(T\right)}{\left(2\pi ^2g_{}/15\right)T^3}\frac{df}{dt}\left(\frac{8\pi ^3g_{}}{90M_{Pl}^2}\right)^{1/2}T^3,$$
(4)
where $`M_{Pl}=1.22\times 10^{19}GeV`$ is the Plank mass. The first term is the contribution of reheating. It describes the increase of energy density of the plasma due to the release of latent heat during the phase transition. The second term is just $`HT`$; it accounts for the decrease of energy density caused by the expansion of the universe. Before and after the phase transition $`df/dt=0`$, and Eq. (4) gives the well known relation $`t=\xi M_{Pl}/T^2`$, with $`\xi 0.03`$. During the phase transition, the coupled integro-differential equations (3,4) must be solved numerically.

To evaluate the effect of a changing wall velocity on baryogenesis we need to know how the baryon production depends on $`v_w`$. As the bubble wall sweeps through space, it leaves behind a baryon density

$$n_B=\frac{9\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ws}}{v_w}_0^{\mathrm{}}n_L\left(x\right)e^{c\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ws}x/v_w}𝑑x,$$
(5)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ws}20\alpha _w^5T`$  is the weak sphaleron rate, and $`n_L`$ is the net left handed density in front of the wall. The exponential accounts for sphaleron relaxation of the baryon asymmetry for small velocities. The coefficient $`c`$ depends on the squark spectrum and is $`10`$.

The left-handed density can be assumed to be of the form $`n_L\left(x\right)=Ae^{v_wx/D}`$ , where $`D100/T`$ is an effective diffusion constant for the chiral asymmetry . The constant $`A`$ depends on the $`CP`$ violating force at the bubble wall that sources the asymmetry. It is in general proportional to the wall velocity, $`Av_w`$, so integration of Eq. (5) yields

$$n_B=\frac{C}{v_w+c\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ws}D/v_w},$$
(6)
where $`C`$ does not depend on $`v_w`$. This analytic approximation describes qualitatively the dependence of $`n_B`$ on $`v_w`$. It has a peak at $`v_{\text{peak}}\sqrt{c\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ws}D}0.02`$. A calculation of the coefficient $`C`$ is out of the scope of this paper, since we will only be interested in relative values $`n_B\left(v_w\right)/n_B\left(v_0\right)`$. Note that if the initial wall velocity is $`v_0v_{\text{peak}}`$, then a decrease of $`v_w`$ will produce an enhancement of the BAU, since in that case $`n_Bv_w^1`$. On the contrary, for small velocities $`n_Bv_w`$, so a velocity decrease will cause a suppression of the final BAU.

As $`v_w`$ varies during the phase transition, $`n_B\left(v_w\left(t\right)\right)`$ gives only a local baryon density, generated in a volume $`dV\left(t\right)=V_{\text{Total}}\dot{f}\left(t\right)dt`$. The final baryon density is the average over the expansion of bubbles  $`B=\frac{1}{V_{\text{Total}}}n_B\left(t\right)𝑑V`$. According to Eq. (6), this is related to the result obtained with a constant wall velocity $`v_0`$ by $`B=Sn_B\left(v_0\right)`$, where the factor

$$S=\frac{df}{dt}\frac{v_0+v_{\text{peak}}^2/v_0}{v_w\left(t\right)+v_{\text{peak}}^2/v_w\left(t\right)}𝑑t.$$
(7)
gives the enhancement or suppression due to the effect of reheating.

We consider three sets of parameters for the electroweak phase transition. We take as case A the SM with an unrealistically small value of the Higgs mass, which allows for a sufficiently strong first-order phase transition. Therefore, we set the values $`D=0.2`$ and $`E=0.006`$ , and we choose $`\lambda =2E`$ in order to fulfill the condition $`v\left(T_c\right)/T_c1`$, which is required for avoiding the washout of the BAU. For the friction of the plasma in the SM we assume the rough value $`\eta 1`$ .

For the MSSM, the one-Higgs potential (1) can be used as an approximation in the case in which only one Higgs boson is light . In this scenario the parameter $`E`$ can be at most an order of magnitude larger than in the SM. Although this limiting situation is hardly achieved in practice, we can use it to simulate, without departing from reasonable values of the parameters, an extension of the SM that is most favorable for baryogenesis. We thus choose for case B the values $`E=0.06`$ with $`\lambda =2E`$, and $`D1`$. In this case we assume a friction coefficient $`\eta 70`$, in accordance with recent calculations for the MSSM with a light right-handed stop .

As we use it only to compute the dynamics of the phase transition, $`V(\varphi ,T)`$ need not be a real perturbative effective potential. Instead, we can regard the field $`\varphi `$ as an effective order parameter, and use Eq. (1) to model the phase transition dynamics . In that way the parameters $`D`$, $`E`$, and $`\lambda `$ can be chosen so that the free energy $`V`$ has the same thermodynamical properties of the theory we wish to study. The relevant quantities are the latent heat $`L`$ defined above, the surface tension of the bubble wall, $`\sigma \left(d\varphi /dx\right)^2𝑑x|_{T_c}`$, and the correlation length, given by $`\xi ^2^2V/\varphi ^2|_{v\left(T_c\right),T_c}`$. In our model these parameters are given by $`L/T_c^4=8D\left(E/\lambda \right)^2\left(1E^2/\lambda D\right)`$, $`\sigma /T_c^3=2\sqrt{2}E^3/3\lambda ^{5/2}`$, and $`\xi T_c=\sqrt{\lambda /2}/E`$. We thus choose the parameters of case C in accordance with recent non-perturbative lattice simulations of the MSSM in the light right-handed stop scenario, which give $`L/T_c^40.4`$, $`\sigma /T_c^30.01`$, and $`\xi T_c5`$ . This case represents a more physical situation, as it allows electroweak baryogenesis for experimentally viable values of the Higgs mass.

In Fig. 1 we have plotted the evolution of the phase transition for case A.

We have defined a dimensionless temperature $`\alpha =\left(TT_0\right)/\left(T_cT_0\right)`$, and a dimensionless time $`\tau =\left(tt_c\right)/\left(t_0t_c\right)`$, where $`t_0=\xi M_{Pl}/T_0^2`$ is the time at which the universe reaches the temperature $`T_0`$ if reheating is ignored. The result obtained when neglecting the reheating is plotted with dashed lines. In that case the duration of the phase transition is so small that all the parameters that enter the BAU can be approximated by their values at the temperature $`T_n`$ of the onset of nucleation . When the effect of latent heat is included, the plasma heats up after the beginning of nucleation because the expansion of the universe does not remove energy fast enough to compensate the release of latent heat. The bubble wall velocity thus decreases, and the phase transition slows down until an equilibrium temperature is reached, at which all the released latent heat goes into expanding the universe. Finally, the phase transition completes and the temperature decreases again. Due to the reheating the wall velocity approaches $`v_{\text{peak}}`$, so the baryon asymmetry results enhanced. Integration of Eq. (7) gives $`S3`$. As expected, the enhancement is not considerable since, as the latent heat is not very large in this case, $`v_w`$ does not spend a long time near $`v_{\text{peak}}`$.

In case B, in contrast, the latent heat is much larger. The plasma heats up very close to $`T_c`$ and the temperature remains constant for a long period of time (see Fig. 2).

However, the BAU turns out to be suppressed in this case. Since the initial wall velocity is less in the MSSM due to the larger friction of the plasma, the decrease of $`v_w`$ occurs in the region on the left of the peak. Eq. (7) gives a suppression factor $`S0.15`$. Note that the slow growth period, in which $`v_w2\times 10^410^2v_0`$, gives only a contribution $`10^2`$ to $`S`$. The baryon asymmetry is essentially generated in the initial stage in which bubbles fill a 20% of the volume of the universe. There exists an additional suppression with respect to the maximum BAU, since the initial wall velocity $`v_0`$ is a little below $`v_{\text{peak}}`$. The total suppression factor is $`2\left(v_0/v_{\text{peak}}+v_{\text{peak}}/v_0\right)^1S0.1`$.

The results of case C are plotted in Fig. 3. Here the latent heat is smaller than in the previous case, so the final velocity is larger, $`v_w57\times 10^4`$, and the phase transition occurs in a shorter time. As a consequence, the suppression of the baryon asymmetry due to reheating is less severe, $`S0.4`$.

Finally, it is important to notice that in some cases the simplifying approximation (6) may fall short of describing the behavior of $`n_B\left(v_w\right)`$, especially for small $`v_w`$. For such cases, further suppression may arise in a more rigorous calculation. For example, in Ref.  a crossing through zero of $`n_B`$ occurs at $`v_w10^3`$. That happens because the $`CP`$ violating force changes sign near the bubble wall, and so does the chiral asymmetry. This gives an opposing contribution to $`n_B`$, which becomes important for small wall velocities. Hence, in our last two cases baryon number densities of opposite sign would be generated in different regions of the universe. The negative contribution of the slow growth period to Eq. (7) can be roughly estimated by multiplying the ratio $`n_B\left(10^4\right)/n_B\left(10^2\right)`$ by the fraction of space $`\mathrm{\Delta }f`$ that is filled during this stage. According to the results of Ref. , that ratio depends strongly on the bubble wall width and on the gaugino mass parameters. If we take for instance a value $`1/3`$, then in case B, with $`\mathrm{\Delta }f0.8`$, this contribution is of the same order of the previously generated baryon asymmetry. In case C, with $`\mathrm{\Delta }f0.4`$, the suppression factor would decrease a $`30\%`$.

To summarize, we have calculated the decrease of the bubble wall velocity that occurs during the electroweak phase transition as a consequence of reheating, as well as its effect on baryogenesis. In the MSSM this effect tends to suppress the baryon production. For the light stop scenario we have found a suppression factor $`S0.4`$. Although this is not severe, we must stress that $`S`$ can be smaller if the baryon density changes sign for small wall velocities.