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# Hall effect in the cuprates: the role of forward scattering on impurities

## Abstract

We solve the Boltzmann equation for electrons moving in a two-dimensional plane of square symmetry in the presence of a transverse magnetic field $`B`$. We assume that there are two sources of scattering: a large momentum-independent scattering on a collective mode of the electron system, and a smaller momentum-dependent forward scattering on impurities. We show that the effect of impurities on the longitudinal and Hall conductivities is of the same order of magnitude.

Very recently, an interesting proposal has been advanced with the aim of explaining the anomalous magnetotransport data  in the cuprates. Namely, it has been suggested that the marginal Fermi liquid theory (MFL) which correctly predicts the temperature dependence of the resistivity of the optimally doped cuprates, $`\rho T`$, can be modified by taking into account the scattering on impurities away from the CuO2 planes. It has been argued previously that such impurity scattering should be of very special type, allowing the electron to change its momentum by only a small fraction of the Fermi momentum. This peculiar type of scattering was argued in Ref.  to lead to corrections to the Hall conductivity of the pure MFL system, $`\sigma _HT^2`$, which are in agreement with the experimentally observed scaling $`\sigma _HT^3`$. In this Report we explore this idea in more detail. In particular, we ask whether within such modified MFL approach, both the resistivity and the Hall conductivity data can be explained on equal footing.

Let us first introduce the model under study. We consider electrons moving in a two-dimensional plane of square symmetry. We assume that the Fermi sea is a simply connected region in $`𝐤`$ space whose boundary (the Fermi line) has a length $`2\pi k_F`$. We shall numerate the points on the Fermi line by a dimensionless length $`\phi `$ defined by $`d\phi =dk/k_F`$, where $`dk`$ is an element of the Fermi line. We set $`\phi =0`$ along the $`x`$ axis of the plane (which is assumed to coincide with one of the crystallographic axes of the plane).

Within standard transport theory, we want to study the transport properties of the electron gas in an applied electric field $`𝐄`$ parallel to the plane and a magnetic field $`𝐁`$ perpendicular to the plane. Because of the square symmetry of the problem, the linear response coefficients do not depend on the direction of $`𝐄`$ and we take it to be parallel to the $`x`$ axis of the plane. Let the local (in $`𝐤`$-space) departure of the distribution function of the electrons, $`f_𝐤`$, from the equilibrium distribution, $`f_𝐤^0`$, be $`f_𝐤=f_𝐤^0(eE/k_F)g_𝐤f_𝐤^0/\epsilon _𝐤`$, where $`\epsilon _𝐤`$ is the quasiparticle energy.

Let us introduce the local Fermi energy $`\epsilon _F(𝐤)=v_𝐤K_𝐤`$, where $`v_𝐤`$ is the local Fermi velocity and $`K_𝐤`$ is the local radius of curvature of the Fermi line. Then for temperatures $`T\mathrm{min}[\epsilon _F(𝐤)]`$ the Boltzmann equation for quasielastic scattering on bosonic excitations and impurities reads

$$\mathrm{cos}\psi (\phi )+\beta g^{}(\phi )=\frac{d\phi ^{}}{2\pi }A(\phi ,\phi ^{})\left[g(\phi )g(\phi ^{})\right],$$
(1)
where $`A(\phi ,\phi ^{})`$ describes the scattering of the electrons between the points $`\phi `$ and $`\phi ^{}`$ of the Fermi surface and $`\beta =eB/\mathrm{}k_F^2`$ is a dimensionless magnetic field. $`\psi (\phi )`$ is the angle between the normal to the Fermi line in the point $`\phi `$ and the $`x`$ direction, $`\mathrm{cos}\psi =𝐄𝐯_𝐤/Ev_𝐤`$. Note that Eq. (1) is valid for a general shape of the Fermi surface with a non-constant density of states (and, thus, a non-constant $`v_𝐤`$) along the Fermi line. The information about $`v_𝐤`$ is contained in the dimensionless scattering function $`A(\phi ,\phi ^{})`$.

In Ref. , the following scattering function has been proposed to describe the magnetotransport in the cuprates:

$$A(\phi ,\phi ^{})=\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+A_2(\frac{\phi +\phi ^{}}{2},\phi ^{}\phi ),$$

where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$ describes the scattering of the electrons on a hypothesized MFL mode. Since this scattering is supposed to be momentum-independent, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$ is a weak function of $`\phi ,\phi ^{}`$, which we model by a constant. The physical (dimensionful) electron lifetime $`\tau _𝐤`$ is related to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$ via $`\tau _𝐤^1=v_𝐤k_F\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$. Within the MFL phenomenology, it is assumed that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1`$ exhibits an anomalous scaling with temperature, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1T`$.

The new ingredient introduced in Ref.  is the scattering on impurities which is described by the function $`A_2(\phi ,\theta )`$. The authors of Ref.  argue rather convincingly that this type of scattering is effective only for $`\theta <\theta _c`$, i.e., the scattering is in the forward direction.

Since $`\theta _c(k_Fd)^1`$ where $`d`$ is the characteristic distance of the impurities from the CuO2 plane, the actual numerical value of $`\theta _c`$ may be not too small. Therefore, in what follows we shall consider two limiting cases: $`\theta _c1`$ and $`\theta _c2\pi `$. We show that in both limits the impurity contribution leads to effects of the same order of magnitude, when expressed in terms of the impurity transport lifetime.

Forward scattering on impurities. In this case $`\theta _c1`$ and, as shown in Ref. , it is useful to define a (dimensionless) transport scattering rate

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_2(\phi )=\frac{d\theta }{2\pi }A_2(\phi ,\theta )(1\mathrm{cos}\theta ).$$

Note that the scattering rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2(\phi )`$ is not assumed to be constant. Rather, the authors of Ref.  suggest that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2(\phi )`$ should be large along the Cu-O-Cu bonds and small along the $`(\pm \pi ,\pm \pi )`$ directions, in order to make the single particle lifetime compatible with the lifetime anisotropy deduced from the ARPES experiments on the cuprates.

Making use of the scattering rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2(\phi )`$, the Boltzmann equation (1) simplifies to

$$\mathrm{cos}\psi +\beta g^{}=\mathrm{\Gamma }_1g\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_2g^{}\right)^{},$$
(2)
where the primes denote derivatives with respect to $`\phi `$. In Eq. (2), scattering on MFL fluctuations is treated in the relaxation-time approximation, whereas scattering on impurities is described within the recently developed scheme for forward scattering.

We assume that $`\beta 1`$ and we expand $`g`$ in powers of $`\beta `$ to first order in $`\beta `$, $`g=g_0+g_1`$, where $`g_n\beta ^n`$. We assume furthermore that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$ for $`T>100`$ K and we calculate $`g_0`$ and $`g_1`$ to the lowest nontrivial order in $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$, where $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1=\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^1`$. These assumptions are checked at the end of the calculation, when we compare our results to the experimental data on the cuprates. With the above simplifications, we find

$`g_0`$ $`=`$ $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1\left[h+\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_2h^{}\right)^{}\right],`$ (3)
$`g_1`$ $`=`$ $`\beta \stackrel{~}{\tau }_1^2\left[h^{}+\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_2h^{}\right)^{\prime \prime }+\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_2h^{\prime \prime }\right)^{}\right],`$ (4)
where we have introduced an auxiliary function $`h(\phi )=\mathrm{cos}\psi `$. In agreement with Ref. , a term proportional to the second derivative of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$ appears in Eq. (4).

Following Ref. , we calculate the longitudinal and Hall conductivities, respectively, as follows:

$`\sigma `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2e^2}{h}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\phi }{2\pi }g_0(\phi )\mathrm{cos}\psi (\phi )},`$ (5)
$`\sigma _H`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2e^2}{h}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\phi }{2\pi }g_1(\phi )\mathrm{sin}\psi (\phi )}.`$ (6)
In taking the integrals, we repeatedly make use of the trigonometric relations $`\mathrm{cos}^2\psi =(1+\mathrm{cos}2\psi )/2`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}^2\psi =(1\mathrm{cos}2\psi )/2`$ and of the identity

$$\frac{d\phi }{2\pi }\mathrm{cos}2\psi F(\phi )=\frac{d\phi }{2\pi }\mathrm{sin}2\psi F(\phi )=0,$$

which holds for any function $`F(\phi )`$ compatible with square symmetry. In fact, under the transformation $`\phi \phi +\pi /2`$, $`F(\phi )`$ does not change, whereas $`\psi (\phi +\pi /2)=\psi (\phi )+\pi /2`$ and hence $`\mathrm{cos}2\psi `$ and $`\mathrm{sin}2\psi `$ change sign.

Integrating per parts so as to remove the derivatives of the function $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$ and making use of the above identities, we find the resistivity $`\rho =\sigma ^1`$ and the Hall angle $`\mathrm{\Theta }_H=\sigma _H/\sigma `$,

$`\rho `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{h}{e^2}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1}}+{\displaystyle \frac{d\phi }{2\pi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_2(\phi )(\psi ^{})^2}\right],`$ (7)
$`\mathrm{\Theta }_H`$ $`=`$ $`\beta \stackrel{~}{\tau }_1\left[1+\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1{\displaystyle \frac{d\phi }{2\pi }\mathrm{\Gamma }_2(\phi )(\psi ^{})^2(12\psi ^{})}\right].`$ (8)
The factors $`\psi ^{}`$ are determined by the shape of the Fermi line. For a circular Fermi line, $`\psi ^{}=1`$. For non-circular Fermi lines, $`\psi ^{}`$ oscillates around 1, being smaller (larger) in the flat (curved) parts of the Fermi line.

s-wave scattering on impurities. If $`\theta _c2\pi `$, electrons can scatter on an impurity to all directions. In this so-called s-wave scattering case the scattering function $`A_2[(\phi +\phi ^{})/2,\phi ^{}\phi ]`$ becomes a function of the incoming momentum only, i.e. $`A_2\mathrm{\Gamma }_2(\phi )`$ and the standard relaxation-time approximation applies both to MFL scattering and to impurity scattering. Thus the Boltzmann equation simplifies to

$$\mathrm{cos}\psi +\beta g^{}=\left[\mathrm{\Gamma }_1+\mathrm{\Gamma }_2(\phi )\right]g.$$
(9)
Note the difference of this equation with respect to Eq. (2).

Assuming again that $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$ and calculating $`g_0`$ and $`g_1`$ to the lowest nontrivial order in $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$, we find results identical to Eqs. (7,8), with the only change that we should write $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2(\phi )`$ instead of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2(\phi )(\psi ^{})^2`$. Thus, if $`\psi ^{}1`$ (which is the case in the cuprates ), the impurity effects are virtually the same in both limiting cases (provided they are expressed in terms of the transport scattering rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$).

In a previous paper we have shown that magnetotransport is completely different in systems with dominant forward and s-wave scattering. Thus our present result might come as a surprise. However, there is nothing mysterious about it. In the model of Ref. , the dominant scattering is on the MFL mode. This scattering is of s-wave type and as such is well describable by the relaxation-time approximation. The impurity scattering is only a small perturbation which can not manifest itself too differently in the limiting cases of forward and s-wave scattering. In some sense, this is similar to the analysis of impurity scattering at low temperatures in nearly antiferromagnetic systems. In that case, impurities are the s-wave scatterer and antiferromagnetic fluctuations are the anomalous scatterer. If the s-wave scattering dominates (which happens typically at low temperatures), then it is not necessary to search for full solutions of the Boltzmann equation as would be the case in a clean system,  and the temperature dependence of the transport coefficients can be determined making use of the relaxation-time approximation.

Anisotropic $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1`$. Let us consider briefly the effect of a possible anisotropy of $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1`$. After all, within MFL theory one requires that it is the physical lifetime, $`\tau _𝐤`$, which is isotropic and thus, if the Fermi velocity is not constant around the Fermi line, then $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_{1𝐤}=\tau _𝐤v_𝐤k_F`$ should be anisotropic as well. For a non-constant $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1`$, the longitudinal and Hall conductivities read, again to leading non-trivial order in $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$,

$`\sigma `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{e^2}{h}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\phi }{2\pi }\left[\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1\mathrm{\Gamma }_2𝒯_1\right]},`$ (10)
$`\sigma _H`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{e^2}{h}}\beta {\displaystyle \frac{d\phi }{2\pi }\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1\left[\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1\psi ^{}2\mathrm{\Gamma }_2𝒯_2\right]}.`$ (11)
For forward impurity scattering we find $`𝒯_1=\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1^2(\psi ^{})^2+(\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1^{})^2`$ and $`𝒯_2=\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1^2(\psi ^{})^3+\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1^{}\psi ^{\prime \prime }+2(\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1^{})^2\psi ^{}\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1^{\prime \prime }\psi ^{}`$, whereas for s-wave scattering on impurities $`𝒯_1=\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1^2`$ and $`𝒯_2=\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1^2\psi ^{}`$.

Discussion. Let us apply the above results to the cuprates. Taking $`k_F0.74`$ Å-1 we find $`\mathrm{}k_F^2/e3.6\times 10^4`$ T, confirming our assumption that $`\beta 1`$ for laboratory fields. In what follows, we shall assume the simplest nontrivial angular variations of the quantities $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1(\phi )`$, $`\psi (\phi )`$, and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2(\phi )`$. The dimensionless MFL lifetime is assumed to vary along the Fermi line according to $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1(\phi )=\tau _0(1\delta \mathrm{cos}4\phi )`$ with $`0<\delta <0.1`$, taking into account the slightly smaller Fermi velocity along the Cu-O-Cu bonds. The shape of the Fermi line is modelled by $`\psi (\phi )=\phi ϵ\mathrm{sin}4\phi `$ with $`0<ϵ<0.25`$, in accordance with a flat Fermi line at $`\phi =0`$ and equivalent directions. Finally, we take $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2(\phi )=\mathrm{\Gamma }_0\mathrm{cos}^22\phi `$, as required by the recent ARPES experiments. Within MFL theory it is assumed that $`\tau _0T^1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_0`$ is temperature-independent. Inserting the above expressions into Eqs.(10,11), we obtain

$`\rho `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{h}{e^2}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\tau _0}}+\mathrm{\Gamma }_0f_1\right],`$ (12)
$`\theta _H`$ $`=`$ $`\tau _0\beta \left[1+4\delta ϵ+\tau _0\mathrm{\Gamma }_0\left(f_1(1+4\delta ϵ)+f_2\right)\right].`$ (13)
For forward scattering on impurities we find, to linear order in $`\delta `$,

$`f_1(ϵ,\delta )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(14ϵ+8ϵ^2){\displaystyle \frac{\delta }{2}}(18ϵ+12ϵ^2),`$
$`f_2(ϵ,\delta )`$ $`=`$ $`(16ϵ+24ϵ^224ϵ^3)`$
$`+2\delta (544ϵ+36ϵ^248ϵ^3).`$
For s-wave impurity scattering we obtain (again to linear order in $`\delta `$) $`f_1(ϵ,\delta )=(1\delta )/2`$ and $`f_2(ϵ,\delta )=(12ϵ)+\delta (312ϵ)/2`$.

Turning to the resistivity data, experiment requires that at $`T100`$ K, $`\tau _0\mathrm{\Gamma }_0f_11/9`$, since the ratio of the resistivity at 100 K to its 0 K extrapolated value is $`10`$. Note that since $`f_11/2`$, this justifies a posteriori our assumption $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1\mathrm{\Gamma }_21`$ already at $`T=100`$ K. At higher temperatures, $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_1\mathrm{\Gamma }_2`$ becomes even smaller.

As regards the Hall angle, the impurity contribution should dominate at $`T>100`$ K, if the mechanism proposed in Ref. has to apply. This requires $`\tau _0\mathrm{\Gamma }_0[f_1(1+4\delta ϵ)+f_2]1+4\delta ϵ`$, or, taking into account the estimate of $`\tau _0\mathrm{\Gamma }_0f_1`$ (at $`T=100`$ K) from the resistivity data, $`f_28f_1(1+4\delta ϵ)`$. This is, however, impossible for $`0<\delta <0.1`$ and $`0<ϵ<0.25`$, as can be readily seen both for forward and s-wave impurity scattering.

Conclusions. Within standard transport theory we have shown that additional impurity scattering on top of a dominant isotropic scattering on a collective mode does indeed lead to corrections to the Hall number, as predicted in Ref. . However, the effect is sufficiently large only for impurity scattering comparable to the inelastic scattering, in which case also the impurity contribution to the resistivity becomes comparable to the inelastic (MFL) contribution. Thus the resistivity and the Hall number observed experimentally in the cuprates can not be explained simultaneously within the picture advanced in Ref. .

Acknowledgement. I thank Professor T. M. Rice and the Institut für theoretische Physik, ETH Zürich, for their hospitality. This work was partially supported by the Slovak Grant Agency VEGA under Grant No. 1/6178/99.


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# H𝛼 Imaging with Hubble Space Telescope-NICMOS of an Elusive Damped Ly𝛼 Cloud at 𝑧 = 0.6 1footnote 11footnote 1 Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under NASA contract NAS5-26555

## 1 Introduction

QSO absorption lines provide a powerful approach to studying the history of galaxies. The nature of damped Ly$`\alpha `$ absorbers (DLAs) towards background QSOs has been an ongoing debate for more than a decade. Wolfe et al. (1986, 1995) proposed that DLAs are large progenitors of today’s massive spiral disks. Evidence in support of this interpretation includes the measurement of absorption line velocity profiles that are consistent with those expected from lines of sight intercepting rotating, thick gaseous disks (Prochaska & Wolfe, 1997). However, recent theoretical simulations of galaxy formation showed that a large range in structures (e.g. halo gas clouds) and morphologies, rather than a single uniform type of galaxy, can give rise to DLAs (e.g. (Katz et al., 1996; Haehnelt et al., 1998; McDonald & Miralda-Escudé, 1999)). In this case, they could be low surface brightness (LSB), gas rich, dwarf galaxies as proposed by Tyson (1988) and more recently by Jimenez et al. (1999).

DLAs make up the largest reservoir of neutral hydrogen (Hi) at high redshift (Wolfe et al., 1986; Lanzetta et al., 1991; Rao & Turnshek, 2000). There are hundreds of DLAs, defined as absorbers with atomic hydrogen column densities $`N(\text{H}\text{i})`$ greater than $`2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2, known up to redshifts $`z4`$. From the redshift distribution of the measured column densities of the damped systems, the evolution of neutral gas density ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_{DLA}(z)`$) can be measured (Lanzetta et al., 1991, 1995; Wolfe et al., 1995; Storrie-Lombardi et al., 1996; Rao & Turnshek, 2000). The analysis of the variation of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{DLA}(z)`$ with redshift can provide another measurement of the evolution of the star formation rate in the Universe (Pei & Fall, 1995). Rao & Turnshek (2000) find little evolution in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{DLA}(z)`$ from $`z=4`$ to $`z=1`$. Over this interval we might have expected a decrease in $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{DLA}`$ as the gas is converted into stars in order to maintain the observed constant star formation rate (Steidel et al., 1999). This led Rao & Turnshek (2000) to conclude that DLAs and the galaxies that dominate the star formation density are different populations.

Furthermore, it is difficult to reconcile the low metallicities of high-redshift DLAs (typically 1/10 of solar at $`z2.5`$, Pettini et al. (1997)) with the higher metallicities of stars in galaxies today: no chemical evolution is seen in DLAs from $`z=3.5`$ to $`z=0.3`$ (Pettini et al., 1999), which indicates that DLAs do not necessarily trace the population responsible for the bulk of star formation. Finally, high resolution Keck spectra of three QSOs by Pettini et al. (2000) indicate that DLAs ($`z<1.0`$) have heterogeneous chemical properties.

Another approach to understanding DLAs is to compare them with current local Hi surveys (Rao & Briggs, 1993; Zwaan et al., 1999; Rosenberg et al., 2000), which sample neutral gas clouds and galaxies perhaps analogous to distant DLAs (of course, high redshift and low redshift DLAs may be produced by very different galaxy populations). Current results (Zwaan et al., 1999; Rao & Turnshek, 2000) indicate that local Hi samples contain a much smaller fraction of high column densities ($`N_{\text{H}\text{i}}>10^{21}`$ cm -2) than both low and high redshift DLAs. These results imply strong evolution at the highest column densities. However, estimates of the local column density distribution rely on many caveats, such as the true nature of the debated local Hi mass function. Beam-smearing in these Hi surveys may also lead to underestimates of the local number of high column density systems, particularly if such regions are physically small.

Prior to 1993, most observations of DLAs were restricted to high redshift systems ($`z>1.8`$) since the Ly$`\alpha `$ line is in the rest–frame UV. Previous attempts to detect emission from DLAs have concentrated on Ly$`\alpha `$ (e.g., Lowenthal et al. (1995); see Roche, Lowenthal & Woodgate (2000) for a summary), which is expected to be a signature of a star-forming region, although its emission may be suppressed by dust extinction. Of at least ten DLAs at $`z2`$ searched for Ly$`\alpha `$ emission, only a very few show confirmed detections (Djorgovski et al., 1996; Fynbo, Burud & Møller, 2000). Ground based surveys (photometric and spectroscopic) for H$`\alpha `$ emission around $`z>2`$ DLAs have also been mostly unsuccessful (Bunker et al., 1999; Teplitz, Malkan & McLean, 1998), except in some cases (Bechtold et al., 1998; Mannucci et al., 1998).

Only recently, with the advent of rest-UV spectroscopy from Hubble Space Telescope (HST), have data on intermediate redshift $`0.3<z<1.8`$ DLA systems become available (Le Brun et al., 1997; Boissé et al., 1998). These DLAs display a wide range of morphologies and surface brightnesses. Using NICMOS-NIC2, Kulkarni et al. (2000) reported a possible H$`\alpha `$ detection of a $`z_{abs}=1.89`$ DLA towards LBQS 1210+1731 and Pettini et al. (2000) detected an edge-on low luminosity $`L1/6L^{}`$ galaxy 10 kpc away from the QSO 0058+019 ($`z_{abs}=0.612`$) using WFPC2. In addition, ground based observations such as WIYN images of three low redshift DLAs ($`z<0.3`$) show dwarf and/or low surface brightness hosts, with confirmed redshifts (Rao & Turnshek, 1998; Lane et al., 1998).

In contrast, the larger class of Mgii absorbers with $`3\times 10^{17}N(\text{H}\text{i})2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 (Lyman limit systems) are almost always associated with fairly luminous ($`L_K>0.05L_K^{}`$) galaxies, i.e. within $`35h^1`$ kpc (Steidel et al., 1995). It was once thought that these different classes of absorbers sample different cross sectional regions of broadly the same galaxies (Steidel et al., 1993), with the DLAs associated with the inner, denser regions. This is only partially true. Dwarf and LSB galaxies apparently can produce DLA absorption at low impact parameters; however, they do not contribute a significant cross–section for Lyman limit absorption.

These issues motivate the current attempts to image DLAs at low impact parameter and, at the same time, might explain why most previous attempts have failed to reveal gas-rich spirals.

In this paper, we present an HST study of an intermediate redshift DLA ($`z_{abs}=0.656`$) along the line-of-sight towards QSO 3C336 ($`z`$=0.927) that has, so far, eluded detection entirely despite extensive ground-based searches (Steidel et al., 1997). This QSO line-of-sight is one of the richest known for $`z<1`$ absorption line studies, with $`6`$ metal line systems in the interval $`0.317<z<0.892`$. For that reason this quasar field was the target of both a very deep $`24000`$ s HST–WFPC2 image and a $`2160`$ s Keck/NIRC image (Steidel et al., 1997). Five galaxies associated with the metal line systems were identified in the WFPC2 image and their redshifts confirmed spectroscopically using the Keck/LRIS (Steidel et al., 1997). The only unidentified absorber is a DLA at $`z=0.656`$ with $`N(\text{H}\text{i})=2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 and $`[Fe/H]=1.2`$. There is no galaxy detected with $`L>0.05L_K^{}`$ near the QSO line-of-sight and as close as 0.5″($`2h^1`$ kpc). Two unlikely candidate galaxies exist at large impact parameters from the QSO. The first is a relatively faint, $`M_K=21.43`$ ($`m_K=20.77`$), late type spiral located 14.3″ ($`65h^1`$ kpc) NE of the QSO. Taking into account the estimated disk inclination and the position angle, Steidel et al. (1997) estimated it would require a disk extent of at least $`120h^1`$ kpc to intercept the QSO line–of–sight. The second candidate is a galaxy without a confirmed redshift. If one assumes this galaxy is at the redshift of the DLA, it would have an impact parameter of $`41h^1`$ kpc and $`L_B=0.04L_B^{}`$ (similar to that of the SMC).

This raises the question of whether DLA absorption can arise in dense Hi regions far from the centers of galaxies, perhaps in regions that have little or no current star formation, as seen locally in mergers (Hibbard & Yun, 1999) and as pointed out by Rao & Turnshek (2000). Alternatively, a separate absorbing galaxy could be situated beneath the QSO on the plane of the sky.

The goal of this project was to detect any H$`\alpha `$ emission as close as $`0.05`$″($`0.24h^1`$ kpc) of the QSO to test further the alternate hypothesis. H$`\alpha `$ at the redshift of this DLA matches one narrow–band filter of the HST-NICMOS camera 1 and, therefore, enables us to put strong constraints on the SFR of the absorber. We can already say there is no $`L^{}`$ spiral galaxy close to the line-of-sight, for Steidel et al. (1997) did not find anything brighter than $`0.05L_K^{}`$. On the other hand, one might expect a dwarf or LSB galaxy with significant star formation such as found by Le Brun et al. (1997) and Rao & Turnshek (2000) for other DLAs.

In the next section, we describe the observations and the reduction of the data. The results are given in section 3, and we compare them with previous studies in section 4. Our conclusions are presented in section 5. Throughout this paper, we adopt $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$, and $`H_0=100h`$ km s-1 Mpc-1; thus 1″ at $`z=0.656`$ corresponds to $`4.85h^1`$ kpc.

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

### 2.1 Observations

The observations were carried out with the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) using Camera 1 (NIC1) with Camera 2 (NIC2) in Attached Parallel mode on 1997 October 3. NIC1 (0.043″ pix-1) was chosen to enable us to over-sample the point spread function (PSF) (FWHM $`2`$ pix or 0.09″) and hence to resolve emission as close as possible to the QSO. The exposure times were 2.8hr (5 orbits) and 0.7hr for the filters F108N and F110M respectively (details are listed in Table 1). The pixel size is 0.043″ which at the redshift of the DLA corresponds to a physical size of $`0.21h^1`$ kpc pixel-1.

For NIC1, we used the narrow–band (NB) F108N filter ($`\lambda _c=1.081\mu `$m; $`\text{FWHM}=0.0094\mu `$m) and the broad–band (BB) F110M filter ($`\lambda _c=1.101\mu `$m; FWHM$`=0.19\mu `$m). F108N was chosen to match the wavelength of H$`\alpha `$ at the redshift of the DLA ($`z=0.656`$) and the BB filter was chosen to subtract continuum emission. For NIC2, the filter F160W ($`\lambda _c=1.596\mu `$m; FWHM$`=0.400\mu `$m) was chosen but unfortunately, the field turned out to be in an especially empty region of the WFPC2 field (Steidel et al., 1997). The NIC2 images will not be discussed further here.

A reference star (GSC2044.810 from the STScI Guide Star Catalog) to measure the PSF was chosen within 100″ of QSO 3C336. GSC2044.810 has colors $`JH0.6`$ and $`HK0.6`$, which are similar to that of a typical QSO at $`z1`$, i.e. $`BV`$=1.05 and $`VJ`$=1.68 (Hyland & Allen, 1982). The star ($`V`$=12.59) is $`5.5`$mag brighter than the QSO, which allowed us to shorten exposure times.

Five dithered images of both the QSO and the reference star were taken in both NB and BB filters in order to improve the sampling of the PSF and to avoid any systematic noise from the detector. Each exposure was taken in the MULTIACCUM mode, which allows 25 non-destructive readouts over the entire dynamic range for each pixel. This allows improved cosmic ray rejection. Exposures were chosen to be short enough to avoid detector saturation.

### 2.2 Data reduction

The images of the QSO and the reference star were reduced, shifted and coadded with the Nicred222see http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/castles/Nicred for more information. package (McLeod, 1997). The zeroth read was subtracted from each raw image to remove any pedestal level, and dark subtraction was performed using the pipeline dark files provided by STScI. The photon arrival rate in each pixel was computed by fitting a straight line to the MULTIACCUM readouts. Cosmic rays were rejected by searching for a jump between successive readouts so that full information for each pixel is recovered. The images were then flat-fielded with the pipeline flat files provided by STScI. A sky frame was constructed from the dithered observations and subtracted from the images. Each image was magnified by a factor of 2 after masking the residual cosmic rays and bad pixels. Finally, the dithered images were registered and coadded – with a weight proportional to the inverse noise in a reference region close to the QSO image– to produce the final image (hereafter ”high SNR” images). The final result improved the SNR by a factor of $`8`$ compared to images reduced by the STScI pipeline calnica process. The FWHM of the PSF is 4.17 pixels (in the magnified images), which corresponds to 0.090″.

In order to perform absolute photometry on the QSO flux, i.e. to use the multiplying factors (PHOTFLAM) provided by STScI and to convert counts to flux units, we reduced the data using the dark and flat files listed as the Reference Files (used in the calibration of the P330E and G191-B2B 7691 data) prescribed by the NICMOS handbook v.3.0 (hereafter ”calibrated” images). To check for any correlation noise produced by the magnification process, we reduced the data without magnifying the pixels (hereafter ”small calibrated” images) with the same dark and flat files and we confirmed our noise figures (measured around the QSO) in the calibrated images. In the NB QSO field, the SNR was $`125`$ and $`15`$, respectively for the high SNR, and calnica images. In the small calibrated and calibrated images, the SNR was $`95`$. We used the high SNR images for PSF subtraction, while the noise properties were measured in the calibrated images. The calibrated image is shown in Figure 1.

### 2.3 Photometry and noise properties.

The total fluxes were obtained by measuring the curve of growth for each of the calibrated QSO images. We converted the fluxes measured within 0.5″ radius aperture to nominal infinite aperture fluxes by multiplying them by 1.15 as prescribed by STScI 333see http://www.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/nicmos/ under documents and handbook. See also Figures 4.6 to 4.10 from the NICMOS Instrument Handbook v3.0 Chapter 4..

In the NB calibrated image, the noise beyond the PSF is constant within a 2″–radius circle (from 10 to 50 pixels) around the QSO. Beyond a radius of 2″, the noise increases due to the poorer first quadrant of the NICMOS detector.

Our 3-$`\sigma `$ detection limit for a point source is given by the 3-$`\sigma `$ rms per resel (a resel or resolution element is a 0.09″ diameter aperture, corresponding to the FWHM of the PSF) measured in the quadrant of the image that includes the QSO. For the NB image, our 3-$`\sigma `$ detection limit is: $`F_\lambda =3.78\times 10^{19}`$ erg s-1 cm-2 Å-1($`m_{AB}=23.48`$, where $`m_{AB}=2.5\times \mathrm{log}(F_\nu )48.6`$), or a flux of $`F_{\text{H}\alpha }=3.70\times 10^{17}`$ erg s-1 cm-2. For the BB image, our 3-$`\sigma `$ detection limit is: $`F_\lambda =2.9\times 10^{20}`$ erg s-1 cm-2 Å-1($`m_{AB}=26.22`$), or a flux of $`F_{BB}=5.82\times 10^{17}`$ erg s-1 cm-2.

Our 3-$`\sigma `$ detection limits for an extended source are given by the 3-$`\sigma `$ rms per pixel scaled by the square root of the number of pixels in a 1″ by 1″ square. The resulting limits are $`4.70\times 10^{18}`$ erg s-1 cm-2 Å-1($`m_{AB}=20.75`$) in the NB image and $`3.60\times 10^{19}`$ erg s-1 cm-2 Å-1($`m_{AB}=23.49`$) in the BB image. These correspond to surface brightnesses of $`4.60\times 10^{16}`$ erg s-1 cm-2 arcsec-2 for the NB image and $`7.17\times 10^{16}`$ erg s-1 cm-2 arcsec-2 for the BB image.

The total flux densities of the QSO in the NB and the BB are $`(4.55\pm 0.18)\times 10^{17}`$ erg s-1 cm-2 Å-1($`m_{AB}=18.3`$) and $`(5.09\pm 0.17)\times 10^{17}`$ erg s-1 cm-2 Å-1($`m_{AB}=18.1`$), respectively. These results are summarized in Table 2.

### 2.4 Profile subtraction

In order to reveal any faint object with small impact parameter, we subtracted the QSO PSF in the following ways:

To search for faint emission both close to the QSO line of sight and throughout the 11″ field, we first subtracted the BB QSO image (scaled to the peak value) from the NB QSO image. The central part, shown on Figure 2 (a), has faint residuals (negative and positive peaks well below $`3\sigma `$) near the QSO position. The total residual flux measured in a resel centered on the QSO is about $`1.5\sigma `$ above the mean or 0.7% of the (unsubtracted) NB QSO flux in the same aperture.

To assess how much of those residuals might be due to differences in PSF between the F108N and F110M filters and how much to real H$`\alpha `$ flux from a dwarf galaxy exactly superposed on the QSO position, we used the same procedure (i.e. shifting & centering) to subtract the BB PSF from the NB PSF of the reference star (GSC2044.810). We find residuals with a similar pattern (see Figure 2 (b)). There is clearly a peak near the center with a depression above and below (in the $`y`$-direction). The stellar PSF residual pattern on larger scales is not seen in the QSO PSF subtracted image, since the SNR is more than ten times lower. The central peak pixel in the residuals is about 1.5% the flux of the stellar PSF peak, while the magnitude of the deepest depression is about -5% of the stellar PSF peak. The total residual flux measured in a resel centered on the position of the star is 0.7% of the NB stellar PSF flux in the same aperture, consistent with the QSO residuals. Therefore, we conclude the residuals are likely due to PSF differences between the two filters.

Because the stellar NB - BB method described above produced such significant residuals, we then tried subtracting a stellar PSF (scaled to the peak) directly from the QSO high SNR image. This was performed for both the NB and BB filters. We used both a theoretical PSF generated by the software Tiny Tim (Krist et al. (1997)444 The program and informations are available online at http://www.stsci.edu/software/tinytim  ; adapted by Richard Hook for NICMOS) and the reference star (GSC2044.810) PSF. Unfortunately, the reference star turns out to be double, i.e. after the subtraction, a PSF-like hole was seen in both NB and BB images offset by 0.17″ from the central PSF (see Figure 3 (a)). We corrected for this by subtracting the primary component of the star PSF from the secondary component, and then subtracted the result from the QSO PSF. The final result shows very little residual (see Figure 3 (b)). However, when using the theoretical PSF instead, the result tends to leave a ring-like structure. For this reason, we adopted the stellar PSF as the best approximation of the true PSF. The final PSF subtracted NB image is shown in Figure 3 (b) after a gaussian smoothing of 1.5 pixels.

Finally, in the NB PSF subtracted image, we looked for faint emission throughout the 11″ field both by eye and using the algorithm SExtractor (Bertin & Arnouts, 1996) with a 3-$`\sigma `$ threshold (with a minimum of 16 pixels above threshold, i.e. the keyword MINAREA in SExtractor). Three candidates were found. Every candidate was followed up by examining individual images and it turned out that all candidates were artifacts left over from the reduction process, e.g. cosmic ray residuals smeared out over several pixels by the magnification process.

## 3 Results and Discussion

To summarize, we looked for emission objects near the QSO and throughout the field in the following way: (i) We subtracted the BB image from the NB image. Apart from residuals due to PSF differences between the two filters, no emission was detected; (ii) We subtracted the star PSF from the QSO PSF in both NB and BB images. No emission was detected; (iii) We searched by eye for any faint emission throughout the 11″ field in both the NB PSF subtracted and the ’NB minus BB’ images; (iv) In the NB PSF subtracted image, we also used the algorithm SExtractor (Bertin & Arnouts, 1996) to look for faint emission. All three candidates were cosmic rays residuals smeared out over several pixels. Therefore, we conclude that no emission objects were detected in either the NB PSF subtracted, or in the ’NB minus NB’ image.

We can use the lack of detection in the BB image to constrain the presence of luminous galaxies. The BB 3-$`\sigma `$ detection limit for a point source is $`m_{AB}=26.22`$, which corresponds to a continuum luminosity of $`L_R=5.02\times 10^{40}h^2`$ erg s-1 in the rest frame $`R`$–band or $`L_R=7.23\times 10^7h^2`$ L.

In addition, our lack of detection in the NB constrains directly the SFR. For the NB filter, our 3-$`\sigma `$ detection limit for a point source (i.e. unresolved) corresponds to an H$`\alpha `$ luminosity of $`3.20\times 10^{40}h^2`$ erg s-1 at the redshift of the DLA. The 3-$`\sigma `$ detection limit for an extended source corresponds to an H$`\alpha `$ luminosity of $`3.98\times 10^{41}h^2`$ erg s-1arcsec-2 at the redshift of the DLA (see Table 2). Using the Kennicutt (1983) conversion factor for a constant SFR and a modified Salpeter–like IMF with variable slope, i.e. $`SFR=L_{\text{H}\alpha }/1.12\times 10^{41}`$ erg s-1, we derive a SFR of $`<0.28h^2`$M yr-1 for an unresolved source or $`<0.15`$ M yr-1 kpc-2 for an extended source. Assuming the absorber is a disk of radius 2 kpc (i.e. $`9`$ times the resolution element; see discussion below), this gives a SFR of $`<1.87`$ M yr-1.

More recently, the calibration of Kennicutt (1998) yields a similar conversion factor $`SFR=L_{\text{H}\alpha }/1.26\times 10^{41}`$ erg s-1. Our upper limit is a conservative one given that the actual SNR in the magnified images used in the subtraction process is higher than the calibrated images and that the conversion factor is the smallest of current estimates. The SFR estimate is also dependent on the IMF. Using a Salpeter IMF with a higher mass cutoff (125 M), Alonso-Herrero et al. (1996) found $`SFR=L_{\text{H}\alpha }/3.1\times 10^{41}`$ erg s-1, which is about 3 times larger than the Kennicutt (1983) result. This would decrease our upper limit by a factor of three, i.e. a $`SFR<0.6`$ M yr-1 for a 2 kpc-radius disk.

This estimate depends strongly on the assumed size of the object. However, from Steidel et al. (1997), there can not be any $`L>0.05L^{}`$ galaxy (typically 10 kpc in size) as close as 0.5″($`2h^1`$ kpc). In other words, anything larger than 4 kpc (in diameter) would have been seen in both Steidel et al. (1997) and in our images. A 2 kpc-radius object is consistent with the size of the DLA candidate ($`z=1.89`$) of Kulkarni et al. (2000). Similarly, Le Brun et al. (1997; see section 4) detect compact objects with sizes of $`1`$$`3`$ kpc along DLA lines-of-sight. On the other hand, if the absorbing object is smaller, it could have a higher SFR. This would require that it be smaller than 1 resel or $`0.5`$ kpc, and that it be exactly aligned with the line of sight of the QSO.

## 4 Comparison with previous studies

We first discuss our result in the context of previous surveys of DLAs, and then compare our SFR limits to four types of galaxy seen in the local universe.

From HST imaging of the fields of seven quasars with DLAs at $`0.395<z<1.78`$, Le Brun et al. (1997) were able to resolve galaxy–like objects at small impact parameters for six of their QSO lines-of-sight with $`0.395<z<1.1`$. However, the hosts of these DLAs displayed a broad range of morphologies and surface brightnesses: three of the six detections are spirals, two are compact, LSB galaxies, and two others have compact morphologies. Recently, Pettini et al. (2000) reported the detection of an edge-on low luminosity $`M_B=19.1`$ or $`L1/6L^{}`$ galaxy 10 kpc away from the QSO 0058+019 using HST–WFPC2. Using NICMOS-NIC2 Kulkarni et al. (2000) reported a possible detection of an H$`\alpha `$ emission feature, $`2`$$`3`$ $`h_{70}^1`$ kpc in size, $`0.25`$″ from a $`z=1.89`$ DLA. They suggest that a faint, compact, somewhat clumpy object, rather than a thick, spiral disk, is responsible for this DLA. The implied 3-$`\sigma `$ upper limit on the SFR is 4$`h_{70}^2`$M yr-1, which applies unless dust obscuration is important. Note that we used the same conversion factor ($`L_{\text{H}\alpha }/SFR`$) as Kulkarni et al. (2000).

The ground-based spectroscopic survey of Bunker et al. (1999), which searched for redshifted H$`\alpha `$ emission in 11″x2.5″ regions around 6 quasars with $`z>2`$ DLAs, reached a 3-$`\sigma `$ detection limit of 6–18 M yr-1 and failed to detect any redshifted H$`\alpha `$ emission. Some ground-based narrow-band photometric surveys (e.g., Teplitz, Malkan & McLean 1998) for H$`\alpha `$ emission from DLAs have also failed to detect any emission line objects in the DLA fields, although Teplitz, Malkan & McLean (1998) found H$`\alpha `$ emitters in the fields of some weaker non-DLA metal line systems. However, other narrow-band searches for H$`\alpha `$ emission have revealed multiple objects in the DLA fields separated by more than several to tens of arcseconds from the QSO (Bechtold et al. (1998); Mannucci et al. (1998)). These surveys, which had 3-$`\sigma `$ detection limits of $`5`$$`10`$ M yr-1, found these H$`\alpha `$ emitting objects to have a wide range of SFRs, $`6`$$`90`$ M yr-1. Kulkarni et al. (2000) suggested the relatively large separations of these emission line objects from the quasar indicate that they are not the DLA absorbers themselves, but star-forming regions in a group or cluster also containing the DLA. None of these ground-based surveys has been able to probe the regions very close ($`<2\mathrm{}`$ or $`11.7`$ kpc at $`z=2`$) to the quasar line-of-sight to rule out large spiral disks at high redshift with confidence.

The nature of the DLA towards 3C336 can be addressed by comparing directly our SFR upper limit to various types of galaxy in the local universe. (i) LSB galaxies have Hi surface densities of $`5`$ M pc-2 or $`N_{\text{H}\text{i}}6.5\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 (van der Hulst et al., 1993), well above the DLA cutoff of $`2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 but below the value of $`10^{21}`$ cm-2 usually quoted as the threshold for star formation. The mean star formation rates, derived from the H$`\alpha `$ luminosities, in LSBs are typically $`0.1`$ M yr-1 (van den Hoek et al., 2000). (ii) Blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDG): From CFHT observations, Petrosian et al. (1997) reported a SFR of $`0.3`$$`0.5`$ M yr-1 kpc-2 for the two main H$`\alpha `$ emitting regions of the local ($`D=10`$ Mpc) BCDG, IZW 18; (iii) Typical spiral galaxies: The typical SFR for a spiral galaxy is $`10`$ M yr-1 (van den Hoek et al., 2000), spread over at least several kpc; (iv) Starbursts can have a much larger SFR, e.g. Arp 220 is forming stars at a rate of $`240`$M yr-1, derived from Ly$`\alpha `$ (Anantharamaiah et al., 2000). The SFR in the DLA at $`z=0.656`$ toward 3C336 is far less extreme than in a starburst or a typical spiral, and somewhat less extreme than a BCDG. However, it is consistent with that of an LSB galaxy and it could be even lower, i.e. zero.

Another example of a region of neutral hydrogen that exceeds the DLA threshold, but does not have significant star formation, has been found through 21-cm observations of the giant Hi cloud 1225+0146 (Giovanelli & Haynes, 1989); these data show that neutral gas structures with little or no star formation do exist. This suggests that factors beyond a simple column density threshold govern the formation of stars. This giant Hi cloud is 200 kpc along its major axis and has two peaks of Hi emission, with $`N(\text{H}\text{i})=2\times 10^{20}`$ and $`1\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2, separated by 100 kpc. In a deep optical search, only a faint $`M_B=15.5`$ dwarf irregular, 5 kpc in extent, was discovered, corresponding to the largest peak in emission (McMahon et al., 1990). Furthermore, no galaxy has been detected near the $`10^{20}`$ cm-2 peak, which is almost enough neutral hydrogen to produce a DLA.

The absorption line properties of the DLA towards 3C336 corroborate the observed low SFR. This DLA is unusual in that it is a “Civ–deficient” Mgii absorber — rest frame equivalent width $`W(\text{C}\text{iv})0.5`$Å (Steidel et al., 1997)—, i.e. $`W(\text{C}\text{iv})`$ is less than half the typical value for DLAs. Churchill et al. (1999) found a correlation between the strength of Civ absorption and the kinematic spread of the Mgii profile in high resolution absorption profiles, with the exception of several Civ–deficient absorbers. They hypothesize that there is a relationship between the strength of Civ absorption (which is generally consistent with arising in a corona similar to that around the Milky Way disk) and the level of star formation activity in the disk. The kinematic spread of the Mgii profile is also thought to be related to star forming processes that either eject or are triggered by high velocity Mgii clouds. In this scenario, the Civ deficient absorbers would be characterized by a lower than average star formation rate, and in fact a few of them do have red colors (Churchill et al., 2000), rather than the blue colors of actively star-forming systems. This is consistent with the fact that the 3C336 DLA has both a small $`W(\text{C}\text{iv})`$ and a strong limit on the star formation rate in its vicinity.

There is at least some theoretical reason to expect low SFRs from DLAs. Mo, Mao & White (1999) hypothesize that — at least at $`z3`$ — Lyman break galaxies (LBGs), which are selected partly by their strong star formation, and DLAs could be disjoint populations: If LBGs are the central galaxies of massive dark halos at $`z3`$, then they should be small objects with substantial star formation but low angular momentum, while DLAs should be biased towards objects with large angular momentum. In the hierarchical structure formation models of Maller et al. (2000), meanwhile, DLAs arise from the combined effects of massive central galaxies and a number of smaller satellite galaxies in virialized halos, rather than only the central galaxies, so predicted SFRs associated with DLAs are low. Another interesting result from Maller et al.’s models is that the impact parameter distribution has a longer tail at $`z1`$ (up to 150 kpc) than at redshift $`z3`$, which could then reconcile the observed galaxy 120 kpc away from the line-of-sight of 3C336 and the $`z=0.656`$ absorber.

## 5 Summary and Conclusions

We can summarize previous observational results on DLAs as follows: (i) DLAs show little evolution of $`\mathrm{\Omega }(z)`$ from $`z=4`$ to $`z=1`$ (Rao & Turnshek, 2000); (ii) DLAs show little metallicity evolution (Pettini et al., 1999) from $`z=3`$ to $`z=0.3`$; (iii) $`z<1`$ DLAs have heterogenous chemical properties (Pettini et al., 2000); (iv) DLAs have various morphologies (Le Brun et al., 1997; Kulkarni et al., 2000; Rao & Turnshek, 2000) (although it is possible that at least some DLAs are large disks like the galaxies found by Le Brun et al. (1997) and Pettini et al. (2000)). These results are inconsistent with the standard, DLA/Hi disk paradigm(Wolfe et al., 1995) for they indicate that DLAs (1) do not participate in the overall chemical enrichment of the universe and hence do not trace star formation; and (2) are not characteristic of a particular type of galaxy. Rather they are merely characteristic of a particular type of region: namely one with a large neutral column density (e.g. Khersonsky & Turnshek (1996)). It is quite reasonable, following the results of Rao & Turnshek (2000), to assume that this applies to higher redshift DLAs as well.

Nearly all space-based observations of low redshift DLAs have revealed star formation in some sort of galaxy. The $`z=0.656`$ system toward 3C336 is an exception. Our lack of detection of any source with SFR greater than 0.28$`h^2`$ M yr-1, or $`0.15`$ M yr-1 kpc-2, demonstrates that DLAs with very little star formation can exist.

As evidence mounts against the standard, DLA/Hi disk scenario, we must address the question: “What is a DLA?”. Possibilities not yet ruled out include knots of Hi hundreds of kpc away from the main galaxy as seen locally (Hibbard & Yun, 1999); small compact dwarfs or LSBs; or photo-dissociation regions that may produce much of the Hi currently observed in galaxy disks (Smith et al., 2000). In some cases, both a cold (hundreds of K) and a warm (thousands of K) neutral medium are found along the line of sight through a DLA, based upon analysis of 21–cm emission profiles (Lane, Briggs, & Smette, 2000), while in others the warm phase dominates.

Our limits on H$`\alpha `$ emission from the DLA towards 3C336 set the tightest constraints yet on star formation in a compact absorber at intermediate redshift, and probe closer to the QSO line-of-sight than any previous study. Our non-detection adds to the mounting evidence that low redshift DLAs are made of galaxies of diverse morphologies, luminosities and surface brightnesses rather than a uniform population of luminous disk galaxies.

Support for this work was provided by NASA through grant number GO-07449.01-96A from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under NASA contract NAS5-26555. MAB acknowledges support from NASA LTSA contract NAG5-6032.


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# Geometric monodromy and the hyperbolic disc11footnote 1Subject classification: Symplectic geometry. MSC: 53C15, 57R55.

## 1 Introduction

A Lefschetz fibration of a smooth four-manifold $`X`$ comprises a map $`f:X𝕊^2`$ with finitely many critical points, all in distinct fibres, at each of which $`f`$ takes the form $`(z_1,z_2)z_1z_2`$ with respect to local complex co-ordinates. These co-ordinates (in both $`X`$ and the base sphere) are obliged to respect global orientations. Away from the critical values of the map $`f`$ we have a locally trivial fibre bundle with fibre a smooth surface of some genus $`g`$; at the finitely many critical values the fibre has a single positive node. The vanishing cycles of a Lefschetz fibration are simple closed curves in a fixed fibre which shrink to the nodal points of the critical fibres; they are uniquely defined to isotopy given a choice of paths in $`𝕊^2`$ from the fixed base-point to the points of the critical set $`\{\mathrm{Crit}\}`$. The monodromy homomorphism $`\rho :\pi _1(𝕊^2\backslash \{\mathrm{Crit}\})\mathrm{\Gamma }_g`$ takes the simple closed curve about one critical point to the positive Dehn twist about the corresponding vanishing cycle.

It follows, by an easy adaptation of an argument due to Thurston (e.g. , ), that the four-manifold $`X`$ is symplectic with $`f`$ giving rise to a distinguished deformation class of symplectic form, with respect to which all the fibres are symplectic submanifolds away from their singular points. A resurgence of interest in manifolds with this particular structure follows a remarkable theorem of Donaldson : any symplectic four-manifold admits such a topological structure after finitely many symplectic blow-ups, and with the fibres being symplectic submanifolds. More particularly, Donaldson proves that certain “pencils” of sections of a line bundle with first Chern class represented by a large multiple of the symplectic form (perturbed and scaled to be an integral cohomology class) give rise to families of symplectic submanifolds all of which intersect transversely pairwise at finitely many base-points. The picture is familiar from pencils of divisors in Kähler surfaces, and as in that situation one obtains a Lefschetz fibration on blowing up these base-points. This material, and more, may be found in  or  for instance.

It follows that the symplectic Lefschetz fibrations provided by Donaldson’s existence theorem have some additional structure: a number of sections of the map $`f`$ each of which has image a symplectic sphere of square $`(1)`$. The first result of this paper indicates the constraint that this imposes on the rest of the topology of the fibration. Recall that given two Lefschetz fibrations $`X,Y`$ with fibres of the same genus, one may form their *fibre sum*; topologically we remove neighbourhoods of smooth fibres in each and glue the resulting (trivial) surface bundles over circles by any fibre-preserving diffeomorphism $`\varphi `$. Denote the result $`X\mathrm{}_\varphi Y`$. Symplectically we may perform the same operation (perhaps after a suitable scale change to make the distinguished smooth fibres have the same symplectic area). The fibre summation is said to be non-trivial provided that each of the original fibrations has a non-zero number of critical fibres (equivalently, provided the final four-manifold does not have Euler characteristic equal to that of either of the constituent pieces).

(1.1) Theorem:  If $`f:X𝕊^2`$ contains a section of square $`(1)`$ then it cannot be decomposed as any non-trivial fibre sum.

Gang Tian asked if simply connected Lefschetz fibrations are necessarily fibre sums of holomorphic fibrations. Rather special examples due to the author (presented later) showed this to be false in general. These examples relied on deep facts on symplectic manifolds arising from Seiberg-Witten theory. Independently, Stipsicz  proved the above theorem also using Seiberg-Witten techniques, and in particular the fact that a symplectic four-manifold with $`b_+>1`$ cannot contain a symplectic sphere of non-negative square. By contrast, the proof of (1) that we shall present in the third section is both self-contained and elementary. Note in any case that Donaldson’s existence result for pencils and (1) imply a negative answer to Tian’s question:

(1.2) Corollary:  There are infinitely many simply connected symplectic Lefschetz fibrations which are not fibre sums of holomorphic fibrations.

Our method provides a nice characterisation of the self-intersection of a section of a Lefschetz fibration in terms of a certain rotation number at infinity, where the monodromy is lifted to the universal cover of a fibre (2).

Sections correspond to invariant zero-dimensional homology classes of a certain type. Here “invariant” means “invariant with respect to the monodromy diffeomorphisms which encode the topology of the fibration”. One can also ask about invariant one-dimensional homology or homotopy classes. The monodromy homomorphism

$$\rho :\pi _1(𝕊^2\backslash \{\mathrm{Crit}\})\mathrm{\Gamma }_g$$

has image the mapping class group $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_g`$ of the generic smooth fibre. Composing with the natural map $`\pi :\mathrm{\Gamma }_gSp_{2g}()`$ from the mapping class group to the symplectic group, we obtain the cohomological monodromy which describes the action of the monodromy maps on the symplectic vector space $`(H^1(\mathrm{Fibre}),)`$, where the symplectic form is given by the cup-product. It is an easy fact that there is an identity $`H^1(X)=H^1(F)^\rho `$ between the first cohomology of the total space of the fibration and the invariant classes

$$H^1(F)^\rho =\{aH^1(F,)|f^{}(a)=af\mathrm{Image}(\rho )\}.$$

In particular, if $`b_1(X)>0`$ then $`\pi \rho `$ has a trivial subrepresentation. Related properties of this cohomological monodromy encode some of the fundamental properties of Kähler as opposed to symplectic four-manifolds: the Hard Lefschetz theorem states that if $`X`$ is Kähler then this invariant subspace is a symplectic subspace, in particular of even dimension.

The invariant cohomology is however at first glance quite insensitive - it can be defined from the data of the homology classes and not the isotopy classes of the vanishing cycles. One might expect to obtain refinements of results such as the Hard Lefschetz theorem by passing from invariant homology to invariant homotopy classes. Our second result, which first appeared in the author’s D.Phil thesis  and answers a question due to Ludmil Katzarkov, is in that sense a disappointment:

(1.3) Theorem:  Let $`f:X𝕊^2`$ be any symplectic Lefschetz fibration; write $`F`$ for a fixed smooth fibre and $`\rho `$ for the monodromy representation as above. Then there is no finite set of disjointly embedded simple closed curves $`\{C_1,\mathrm{},C_r\}F`$ whose union is preserved to isotopy by $`\rho `$. In particular, no free isotopy class of embedded curve is invariant under the monodromy.

By way of consolation, we find that the vanishing cycles of any Lefschetz fibration must fill the fibre $`F`$ (their complement is a bunch of discs)222Apparently this result was classically known to Thurston and others, but I have been unable to trace a written account.. If the vanishing cycles did not fill, then by inserting a large genus surface with two boundary components in place of an annular neighbourhood of a curve disjoint from the vanishing cycles, one could build a Lefschetz fibration with arbitrarily large fibre genus and fixed number of critical fibres. Thus one can deduce the “one curve” case of (1) from any genus-dependent bound on the minimal length of positive relations in mapping class groups; however, such bounds have been established only using gauge theory.

Two well-known finiteness theorems in the geometry of holomorphic fibrations are the Arakelov-Parsin theorem and Manin’s theorem (for a treatment from our perspective see for instance ). The first has the particular consequence that there are only finitely many holomorphic Lefschetz fibrations with fixed fibre genus and fixed set of critical values; the second says that any non-trivial holomorphic fibration admits at most finitely many holomorphic sections. The first of these results is false in the symplectic setting; there are infinitely many homeomorphism types of symplectic manifold which admit Lefschetz fibrations by fixed genus curves with a fixed number of critical values (which can be placed at any given set of points in the sphere). Such examples are given in  and this phenomenon is discussed in more detail in . An analogue of Manin’s theorem, however, can be deduced from (1).

(1.4) Corollary:  Let $`f:X𝕊^2`$ be a Lefschetz fibration. Then only finitely many homotopy classes in $`X`$ contain smooth sections of $`f`$.

Note that this is false even for holomorphic fibre bundles over bases of higher genus: for instance, the trivial fibration $`𝕋^4𝕋^2`$ admits infinitely many distinct homotopy classes of smooth section. (It is also false in general at the level of homology; there may be infinitely many homology classes with algebraic intersection number one with the fibre.) Similarly, one can contrast with the infinite families of symplectic representatives for certain reducible homology classes - multiples of a fibre of a Lefschetz fibration - given in . Any section of a Lefschetz fibration can be made a symplectic submanifold if we perturb the symplectic form by a deformation equivalence, and our proof shall imply that the symplectic isotopy class of a section is determined by its homotopy class.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Ludmil Katzarkov and Gang Tian for motivating questions and to Steve Kherchoff and Andras Stipsicz for valuable conversations. Paul Seidel kindly identified some errors in an earlier draft of the paper.

## 2 Shearing the hyperbolic disc

Our approach to (1) will be to analyse the action of the monodromy determining a Lefschetz fibration on the universal cover of a fixed smooth fibre333Recall that we always assume that the fibre genus is at least two.. From elementary covering space theory we know that any homeomorphism of a topological space lifts to a homeomorphism of the universal cover. The lift is unique if we make the covering map a map of pointed spaces by introducing base-points. For a homeomorphism $`\varphi `$ of a space $`X`$ we shall write $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }`$ for any choice of lift to the universal cover. The uniformisation theorem allows us to view the two-dimensional fibre as a quotient of the hyperbolic disc $`D`$ with its Poincaré metric by a discrete subgroup of the isometry group of $`D`$. Crucial to us will be the circle at infinity $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ which naturally compactifies $`D`$. Most of the material of the following section is standard and can be found in work of Nielsen ; see also the accounts of Thurston’s work in  and . For completeness we review the necessary ideas. Fix a covering projection $`D\stackrel{\pi }{}\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ and an identification of $`\pi _1(\mathrm{\Sigma }_g)G`$ with a discrete subgroup $`G<\mathrm{Isom}(D)`$. Write $`e`$ for the identity element of $`G`$.

The Poincaré metric on the unit disc is entirely specified by declaring that its isometry group consists of the Möbius transformations of the complex plane which preserve $`D`$. With respect to this metric, geodesics in $`D`$ are given by arcs of circles which are orthogonal to the boundary $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$. A pair of distinct points on $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ determines a unique geodesic in $`D`$ and hence geodesic $`\gamma :(\mathrm{},\mathrm{})\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ which may or may not close. Any choice of lift of a simple closed curve in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ gives a curve in $`D`$ meeting the boundary at two points which is bounded isotopic to the geodesic corresponding to this boundary pair. Since the group $`G`$ acts on $`D`$ preserving geodesics, it follows that the action extends to an action on $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ by orientation-preserving homeomorphisms. For any $`uG\backslash e`$, the induced map $`u_{}:𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ has two fixed points, one attracting and one repelling; under iterations, all points on the circle save for the repelling fixed point are compressed near the attracting fixed point. (Such a homeomorphism of the disc and/or circle is called a *hyperbolic* map.) The geodesic determined by the two fixed points projects to a closed curve in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ which is the unique geodesic in the free homotopy class associated to $`uG`$. As we vary over $`uG`$ the fixed points vary over a dense set of $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$. Note importantly that the hyperbolic covering transformation has *no fixed points* in the interior of the disc $`D`$. The following is our principal tool.

(2.1) Proposition:

* Let $`\tau :\mathrm{\Sigma }_g\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ be any homeomorphism of the surface. Then each lift of $`\tau `$ to $`D`$ induces an orientation-preserving homeomorphism of $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$, and the set of homeomorphisms one obtains in this way depends only on the isotopy class of $`\tau `$ in the mapping class group.
* The lifts of a Dehn twist about $`C\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ to $`D`$ fall into two families: those which fix some point inside the interior of $`D`$, which then fix a component of the complement in $`D`$ of a neighbourhood of the locus $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_C`$ of all lifts of $`C`$, and those which fix no point of $`\mathrm{Int}(D)`$. The members of the first family are permuted by the conjugation action of $`G`$ on the set of lifts.
* Let $`\delta :\mathrm{\Sigma }_g\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ be a positive Dehn twist about some curve $`C\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$. Then any lift $`\stackrel{~}{\delta }`$ of $`\delta `$ to $`D`$ which has a fixed point in the interior of $`D`$ fixes a countable number of points of $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ and moves all other points in the same sense (clockwise in the convention in which holomorphic Lefschetz fibrations have positive Dehn twist monodromies).

Proof: The homeomorphism induces an automorphism of $`G`$ via $`g\tau g\tau ^1`$ (which still covers the identity). Using this we can induce an automorphism of the end-points of the geodesics corresponding to elements of $`G`$; since these form a dense subset of the circle we therefore have a homeomorphism of $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$. It is easy to check that this preserves the cyclic ordering of the circle and is orientation-preserving. If we change $`\tau `$ by isotopy we will not change the isotopy class of the image of any curve under $`\tau `$; since there is a unique geodesic in each isotopy class of simple closed curve, and it is the action on these geodesics which determines the action on $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$, the independence of the extension under isotopies follows.

We give an explicit description of the lifts which fix a region in the proof of the third part of the lemma; it is clear that these are permuted by the conjugation action of $`G`$. Now suppose a lift $`\stackrel{~}{\delta }`$ fixes some point of $`\mathrm{Int}(D)`$. This lies inside some region of $`D\backslash \mathrm{\Lambda }_C`$ \- it cannot lie inside $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_C`$ since the Dehn twist itself does not preserve any point of the curve $`C`$ (on which it acts by the antipodal map). For this particular region there is a unique lift $`\stackrel{~}{\delta }_0`$ of the twist which fixes the open set given by the intersection of the region and the exterior of a neighbourhood of the boundary lifts of $`C`$. The product $`(\stackrel{~}{\delta })^1\stackrel{~}{\delta }_0`$ now covers the identity on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ and is hence a deck transformation; but it also fixes a point of the interior of $`D`$, by construction, which means that it must be the trivial deck transformation $`eG`$. It follows that a lift of the Dehn twist fixing some interior point necessarily co-incides with the lift fixing the region containing the point.

The homeomorphism $`\tau _C`$ given by twisting about $`C`$ is supported inside an annular neighbourhood $`A`$ of $`C`$; standard covering space theory implies that it can be lifted to be the identity in a single component $`K`$ of the universal cover of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }\backslash A`$. Fix a base-point $`P`$ inside the region $`K`$. Given the definition of the action of a mapping class on the circle at infinity, we may understand the effect of the Dehn twist about a curve $`C`$ as follows. Choose a point $`p`$ on $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$; visualise $`p`$ as lying at twelve o’clock. This point, together with the base-point $`P`$, determines a quasigeodesic $`L:[0,\mathrm{})D`$ and a quasigeodesic $`l`$ in the surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ which may intersect $`C`$, perhaps infinitely often. The effect of the Dehn twist $`l\tau _C(l)`$ is to insert a copy of $`C`$ at each of these intersection points. Start at the image of $`P`$ in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ and consider moving along the new curve $`\tau _C(l)`$; then upstairs we start at $`P`$ and move along $`L`$ until we meet some lift of $`C`$, then we turn right and move along this lift of $`C`$ until we meet the adjacent lift of $`l`$, then we turn left and move in the initial direction along this new parallel lift of $`l`$ until we meet the next intersection point with a lift of $`C`$, turn right and so forth (draw a picture!). This process eventually meanders into $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$, by definition giving rise to the image of $`p`$ under the homeomorphism of $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ induced by this particular lift of the Dehn twist about $`C`$. Suppose for contradiction this image point $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_C(p)`$ lies to the left of $`p`$ (as viewed from inside the disc, i.e. anticlockwise along the circle from $`p`$). Then after some finite number of intersections with $`C`$ and zig-zags in the above procedure, the extension of the lift of $`l`$ on which we are travelling also has end-point anticlockwise from $`p`$. Suppose for simplicity that this happens in fact after just one zig-zag, that is that $`C`$ and $`l`$ meet only once in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$. Then we have a geodesic triangle inside $`D`$ comprising the arc of $`C`$ and the two arcs of lifts of $`l`$, which by our assumptions must meet at some third point. But now two of the angles of our triangle (at the intersection points of the arc of $`C`$ and of lifts of $`l`$) sum to $`\pi `$; this is impossible in hyperbolic trigonometry.

For a larger number of zig-zags one can complete by induction, the crucial point being that the intersection angles of lifts of $`C`$ and of $`l`$ are always equal in the disc. It follows that all points that are moved at all are indeed moved in one particular sense, determined by the positivity of the Dehn twist homeomorphism downstairs. Moreover it follows that some points of the circle are moved by the lift $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_C`$, coming from closed geodesics which do intersect $`C`$.

Finally, to see that countably many points are fixed, consider again the fixed lift $`K`$ in $`D`$ of the complement $`\mathrm{\Sigma }\backslash A`$. The boundary of this complement downstairs lifts to give pairs of curves with equal endpoints which are endpoints of lifts of the geodesic in the free homotopy class of $`C`$. There are countably many of these in the boundary of $`K`$ (of course the endpoints of all the lifts of $`C`$ give a dense subset of $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ but this is not true if we restrict to those at the boundary of the one region). Now the homeomorphism $`\tau _C`$ given by twisting about $`C`$ is the identity inside $`K`$ and hence preserves (setwise!) each of the boundary curves of $`K`$. It follows that the induced map on $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ has a countable set of fixed points. $`\mathrm{}`$

(2.2) Remark:  Note that it is *not* true that every lift of a Dehn twist has this nice behaviour at the circle at infinity. For if we compose a lift with an interior fixed point with some large power of a fixed hyperbolic deck transformation, the compression of $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ near the attracting fixed point of the hyperbolic will destroy the clockwise shear. (This example was pointed out to me by Paul Seidel.) Fortuitously the applications we have in mind necessitate choosing lifts of Dehn twists which *do* have interior fixed points.

So far the non-uniqueness of lifts presents a problem for applications. If we suppose that our fibration has a section, however, this problem is entirely removed. Recall that if we fix a base-point $`\stackrel{~}{p}`$ in $`D`$ covering a base-point $`p`$ in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ any homeomorphism $`\tau `$ of the base has a distinguished lift $`\stackrel{~}{\tau }_{(p)}`$ to $`D`$. If the homeomorphism fixes $`p`$ then the lift fixes the distinguished point $`\stackrel{~}{p}`$ (but in general induces a non-trivial permutation of the other lifts of $`p`$). A section of a Lefschetz fibration precisely amounts to a point $`p\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ fixed by each of the Dehn twist monodromies $`\delta _i`$. In fact more is true; the point is then fixed by the isotopy from the product homeomorphism $`\delta _i`$ to the identity. If we lift each of the Dehn twists in turn, we induce a sequence of homeomorphisms of the circle whose product must be the identity. For the final isotopy does not have any effect on $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ by the last part of (2), and so the product of the lifts $`\stackrel{~}{\delta _i}`$ acting on $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ must be the same as the lift of the identity, which is the result of that isotopy downstairs in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$. But the whole process has fixed the point $`\stackrel{~}{p}`$ and only the identity deck transformation fixes a point of $`D`$. Thus the final homeomorphism on $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ co-incides with the extension to $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ of the lift of the identity of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$, which is clearly trivial. However, by lifting the various Dehn twist homeomorphisms in turn we have collected another piece of information; a winding number, telling us how often we have spun the circle. (This winding number can be viewed as a translation number if we lift now to the universal cover $``$ of the circle $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ but the meaning should be clear without this additional layer of notation.)

(2.3) Lemma:  The sequence of homeomorphisms $`\stackrel{~}{\delta _i}`$ rotates the circle clockwise by $`2\pi k`$, where the positive integer $`k=ss`$ is given by the negative of the self-intersection of the section $`s`$ of the Lefschetz fibration defined by the point $`p`$.

Proof: Fix a small disc centred on $`\stackrel{~}{p}`$. Since $`\stackrel{~}{p}`$ is fixed by all the homeomorphisms of the disc $`\stackrel{~}{\delta _i}`$ and the final isotopy, this disc is mapped eventually to another topological disc enclosing $`\stackrel{~}{p}`$. It follows that the boundary of a small disc around $`\stackrel{~}{p}`$ is to homotopy rotated a certain number of times by the product of the homeomorphisms; if we now take two points $`\stackrel{~}{p},\stackrel{~}{q}`$ which are nearby lifts of close points $`p,q`$ in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ then under the sequence of homeomorphisms the point $`\stackrel{~}{q}`$ will move around $`\stackrel{~}{p}`$ a number $`m`$ times. This number is precisely the number of intersection points of the sections defined by $`p,q`$ respectively, which is just the self-intersection $`|ss|`$. On the other hand, by considering a radial projection along geodesic arcs, since the homeomorphisms of the disc preserve the cyclic ordering on $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ we see that this number is the same as the rotation number at the boundary of the disc. In more formal language, there is a short exact sequence

$$0\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,1}\mathrm{\Gamma }_g^10$$

where the middle term is the mapping class group for a surface with one boundary circle and the right hand term the mapping class group for a punctured surface. The copy of $``$ is generated by the Dehn twist about the puncture; our Dehn twist monodromies naturally lift from $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_g^1`$ to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,1}`$ but their product may differ from the identity in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,1}`$ by some integer in the kernel of the natural map $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,1}\mathrm{\Gamma }_g^1`$, and this is the self-intersection of our section. There is another short exact sequence

$$1\mathrm{Homeo}^{\mathrm{}}()\mathrm{Homeo}(𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1)1$$

where all homeomorphisms are orientation-preserving and the middle group denotes the homeomorphisms of the real line $`f`$ for which $`f(x)+2\pi =f(x+2\pi )`$. The copy of $``$ is generated by translations. Then the statement of the lemma amounts to saying that the first short exact sequence is induced from the second under the representation $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_g^1\mathrm{Homeo}(𝕊^1)`$.

Being explicit again, note from the description with $`p,q`$ that the sign of the self-intersection of any section is determined by the sense of the rotations on $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$. It follows that the sign of the self-intersection of the section is always the same for any Lefschetz fibration determined by positive Dehn twists; but we know of many fibrations containing sections of negative square, from blowing up base-points. $`\mathrm{}`$

## 3 Irreducible Lefschetz fibrations

Since one can always introduce critical fibres in Lefschetz fibrations by blowing up points, it is standard to assume that all Lefschetz fibrations have no spherical components in fibres. The genus zero fibrations are then Hirzebruch surfaces whilst the genus one fibrations are elliptic surfaces . All the fibrations are holomorphic, and moreover all are given by fibre summing certain “irreducible” building blocks by identity diffeomorphisms. This prompted the following question:

(3.1) Question: \[Gang Tian\] Is every simply-connected Lefschetz fibration a fibre sum of holomorphic Lefschetz fibrations?

From the known restrictions on the minimal length of mapping class group words, one can find examples showing that the assumption of simple connectivity is necessary . Our next example shows that it is not sufficient:

(3.2) Proposition: Any pencil of curves of genus $`g>5`$ on a symplectic non-Kähler $`K3`$ surface gives rise to a Lefschetz fibration which is not a Kähler sum.

There are many - gauge-theory based - constructions of such fake $`K3`$ surfaces ; the Lefschetz pencils, and hence fibrations on blowing up base-points, are provided by Donaldson’s existence result. The fibres of the pencil may have arbitrarily large genus by scaling the symplectic form and computing with the adjunction formula.

Proof: Let $`Z^{}^1`$ be the fibration constructed from our fake $`K3`$ surface. Note that $`\sigma +e`$ \- the sum of signature and Euler characteristic - is invariant under blowing up and down. If we write, for contradiction, that $`Z^{}=W_1\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Fibre}}W_2`$ is a fibre sum (of non-trivial Lefschetz fibrations, that is fibrations with non-zero number of singular fibres), then by some easy computations we have

$$\sigma (Z^{})=\sigma (W_1)+\sigma (W_2);e(Z^{})=e(W_1)+e(W_2)2e(F)$$
$`(3.3)`$
where $`F`$ denotes a smooth fibre. It follows, in obvious notation, that

$$(\sigma _1+e_1)+(\sigma _2+e_2)=8+2e(F)<0$$
$`(3.4)`$
and hence for $`W_1`$ say we have $`\sigma _1+e_1<0`$. But this forces, by the classification of complex surfaces, the manifold $`W_1`$ to be the blow-up of an irrational ruled manifold $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_h\stackrel{~}{\times }𝕊^2`$ for some $`h`$. Since $`\pi _1(W_1)`$ is $`\pi _1(\mathrm{\Sigma }_h)`$ and also a quotient of $`\pi _1(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g(F)})`$ by vanishing cycles we see $`hg(F)`$. Indeed if $`h=g(F)`$ then all the vanishing cycles for $`W_1`$ are nullhomotopic and it is a trivial piece in the decomposition, a contradiction. Hence $`h<g(F)`$.

We claim that in fact $`2hg(F)`$. To see this, take a basis for the homology of the irrational ruled manifold comprising a section $`[s]`$ and fibre $`[f]`$ (the latter is canonically defined, the former only up to twisting $`[s][s\pm nf]`$). By the adjunction formula, note that any complex curve representing any section of the fibration $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_h\stackrel{~}{\times }𝕊^2\mathrm{\Sigma }_h`$ has genus $`g_{[s\pm nf]}=h`$. Since $`g(F)>h`$ we must have $`F=a[s]+b[f]`$ with $`a1`$, and hence $`a2`$ since the symplectic form is positive on $`F`$. Finally, McDuff  has shown that for a symplectic form $`\omega =P.D(a[s]+b[f])`$ on an irrational ruled manifold $`W`$ with fibre $`𝕊`$ we have

$$\omega ^2(W)>\omega (𝕊)^2a^2[s]^2+2ab>a^2.$$

Applying adjunction to $`F=a[s]+b[f]`$ shows that

$$2g(F)2=aK_W[s]2b+a^2[s]^2+2ab=a(2h2)+(a1)(a[s]^2+2b);$$

combining this with McDuff’s result and $`a2`$ gives $`g(F)2h`$ as claimed.

Now $`\sigma _1+e_1`$ (invariant under blow-ups) is equal to $`2e(\mathrm{\Sigma }_h)`$ whilst $`2e(\mathrm{\Sigma }_h)2e(F)>8`$ from the original stipulation that $`g(F)>5`$. It therefore follows from ($`(3.4)`$) that $`\sigma _2+e_2<0`$ and hence that $`W_2`$ is also a blow-up of an irrational ruled manifold. From here the readers should be able to find their own conclusion to the proof; the combined restriction of having both pieces of a decomposition (blow-ups of) irrational ruled manifolds is too considerable. $`\mathrm{}`$

The details of the proof are surprisingly technical. In fact there is a much more elementary obstruction at work. The Lefschetz fibrations produced by Donaldson’s construction are *never* fibre summations. This was first proven by Stipsicz  using Seiberg-Witten theory, and in particular the fact that a symplectic manifold with $`b_+>1`$ cannot contain a symplectic sphere of positive square. The above example (historically the first) can be seen as a particular realisation of those kinds of method. In fact the general case follows easily from our remarks on the hyperbolic disc above. The proof will recover, as an addendum, the fact that symplectic spheres which arise as *sections* of Lefschetz fibrations can never have positive square.

(3.5) Proposition:

* No Lefschetz fibration can contain a section of positive square.
* If a Lefschetz fibration contains a section of square zero, it is a trivial product $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g\times 𝕊^2`$.
* If there is a section of square $`1`$ then the fibration cannot split as a non-trivial fibre sum.

Proof: The first two statements are immediate from the last remarks in the proof of (2). Suppose then for contradiction that the Lefschetz fibration $`X^1`$ contains a section of square $`(1)`$ and splits as a non-trivial fibre sum $`X=W\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{Fibre}}W^{}`$. Choose a positive relation

$$\delta _1\mathrm{}\delta _r\gamma _1\mathrm{}\gamma _s=1$$

for $`X`$ which is a factorised product of relations for the constituent pieces $`W,W^{}`$. Fix a covering projection $`\pi :D\mathrm{Fibre}`$ as above and a point $`\stackrel{~}{p}`$ in $`D`$ which projects to the intersection of the section with the distinguished fibre. We have a canonical sequence of lifts of monodromies $`\stackrel{~}{\delta _i},\stackrel{~}{\gamma _j}`$ whose product induces the single full rotation of $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ by $`2\pi `$. On the other hand, once we have lifted the first $`r`$ monodromies, we have lifted a word which is the identity, and hence we must induce a hyperbolic covering transformation on $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ by the arguments as above. Thus the sequence of lifts serves to factorise the $`2\pi `$-rotation of $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ as a product of two hyperbolic automorphisms, each of which is a factorised product of clockwise shears.

But this is impossible, from our description of these hyperbolic elements. The first hyperbolic element has two fixed points. Therefore under the factorisation into twists, these points have either made at least one rotation of the circle or they have been fixed throughout. In the former case, points on one side of the repelling fixed point must have moved by more than one full rotation of the circle, since the cyclic ordering is preserved after each twist. But then since the total translation is increasing, composing with the twists arising from $`W^{}`$ cannot yield a total translation of one $`2\pi `$ rotation. So suppose that the two fixed points have been fixed throughout all the Dehn twist lifts for $`W`$. They must then be moved by one rotation by the lifts for $`W^{}`$. However, by the same argument, the two fixed points for $`W^{}`$ are now fixed by all these latter rotations, and so the fixed points for $`W`$ cannot pass them in order to move around the boundary of the disc. $`\mathrm{}`$

We should make one point clear: it is not the case that all sections of a given fibration must have the same square. Kähler genus two fibrations with no reducible fibres were classified by Chakiris (cf. ). From that classification, it follows that the fibre sum (always by the identity diffeomorphism) of four copies of the fibration associated to the genus two pencil on $`K3`$ is isomorphic to the fibre sum of six copies of the fibration on the rational manifold $`(𝕊^2\times 𝕊^2)\mathrm{}12\overline{}^2`$; they each have full monodromy group and $`120`$ singular fibres. On the other hand, in these decompositions the holomorphic fibration is shown off with sections of square $`4`$ and $`6`$ respectively. There is no analogue of this phenomenon for elliptic fibrations, where the adjunction formula fixes the square of any section.

## 4 Invariant homology is not homotopic

The most classical way to detect that a symplectic manifold is not Kähler is to show that the first Betti number is odd. Recall that the first homology of a Lefschetz fibration comprises the homology classes in the fibre which are invariant under the monodromy action: the representation of $`\pi _1(𝕊^2\backslash \{\mathrm{Crit}\})`$ on $`H_1(\mathrm{Fibre})`$ has a trivial subrepresentation $`H_1(X)`$. It has become clear that treating the vanishing cycles up to isotopy and not just homology gives access to additional information on the underlying manifold. This was one motivation for the following

(4.1) Question: \[Ludmil Katzarkov\] Can there be a simple closed curve in a fibre of a Lefschetz fibration which is invariant (up to isotopy) under all the monodromy diffeomorphisms of the fibration?

Katzarkov *et al*  gave a negative answer, based on Hodge theory, for Kähler fibrations arising from pencils of high degree on surfaces with vanishing first Betti number. The methods of the previous section make short work of the more general case.

(4.2) Proposition: There is no finite set of simple closed curves with embedded union which is preserved to isotopy by the monodromy of any Lefschetz fibration.

Proof: We treat the case of a single curve first. Suppose $`C\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ is such a curve. Fix a lift of $`C`$ to the disc extended to the boundary $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ giving two distinguished points $`a,b𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$. Since all the monodromy diffeomorphisms fix $`C`$ and in particular all the $`\delta _i`$ fix $`C`$, we can choose lifts of each $`\delta _i`$ in turn which fix *the whole lift* $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$. To see this, note that we can always lift a homeomorphism to be the identity in one lift of the complement of its support, and here we choose all these lifts to contain $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$. It follows that under the various monodromies upstairs, $`a,b`$ are always fixed. However, the product of these monodromies must be a deck transformation on $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$. This is impossible; the two fixed points $`a,b`$ must be the fixed points of the hyperbolic, but because all the Dehn twists have moved points in a single sense, we see that in small arcs either side of say $`a`$ the points of $`𝕊_{\mathrm{}}^1`$ are all moved clockwise. This is impossible if $`a`$ is either an attracting or repelling fixed point.

To see that we cannot permute a collection of simple closed curves $`\gamma _1,\mathrm{},\gamma _q`$ we use induction, with the above being the base step. Fix a distinguished curve $`\gamma _1`$; by the above there must be some vanishing cycle $`\psi `$ which has non-trivial geometric intersection number with $`\gamma _1`$. Consider the curves $`\gamma _1^{(n)}`$ given by applying the $`n`$-th power of the Dehn twist about $`\psi `$ to $`\gamma _1`$. Eventually we must have some identity $`\gamma _1^{(n)}=\gamma _1`$ for some $`n`$. But then the group generated by the Dehn twists about $`\gamma _1,\psi `$ has a relation: the twist about $`\gamma _1`$ and the $`n`$-th power of the twist about $`\psi `$ commute. It is known however that the group generated by the Dehn twists about two curves with non-trivial geometric intersection number is free of rank two if the intersection number is greater than one and the braid group on three strings if the number is precisely one. No relation of the given form can exist in either of these cases. $`\mathrm{}`$

We can put a different interpretation on this last result. For a simple closed curve to be invariant under the Dehn twists about each vanishing cycle it would have to be disjoint from all of these; conversely, anything disjoint would certainly be invariant.

(4.3) Corollary:  For any Lefschetz fibration, the vanishing cycles fill up the fibre; their complement is a bunch of discs.

It follows that the pattern of vanishing cycles on the fibre $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ amounts (in a generic and transverse picture) to a certain four-valent graph on the surface which is the one-skeleton of a cell decomposition. One can show that one half the number of faces in this decomposition gives an upper bound on the number of distinct homotopy classes of section of the fibration, but in general the bounds one gets this way are not remotely sharp. More curious is the following observation. So far the particular hyperbolic structures on surfaces that we have considered have been irrelevant and certainly not canonical. However, Kherchoff showed in  that the geodesic length function is convex along earthquake paths. It followed that for any collection of simple closed curves which fills a surface, there is a distinguished element of Teichmüller space $`T_g`$ on which the total length of the geodesic representatives of these curves is minimised. Counting repeated isotopy classes of vanishing cycle with multiplicity, this total length defines a value $`l(V)`$ for any collection of vanishing cycles defining a Lefschetz fibration. Such collections are indexed by a braid group $`\mathrm{Br}_n`$ as explained in .

(4.4) Definition:  Let $`f:X𝕊^2`$ be a genus $`g`$ Lefschetz fibration defined by a family of positive relations $`I(\mathrm{Br}_n)`$ indexed by a suitable braid group. The *length* $`l(X,f)`$ is the minimum $`\mathrm{min}\{l(V_\iota ):\iota I(\mathrm{Br}_n)\}`$ and is an invariant of the Lefschetz fibration.

Such invariants are unlikely to have subtle geometric content, since they do not depend on the *order* of the Dehn twist monodromies, and only on the supporting curves. Nonetheless it would be interesting to understand precisely what if anything they do capture. For instance, the length may plausibly be related to the minimal possible value of the total number of geometric intersections of the vanishing cycles, as we vary over the braid group. This latter invariant is related to Floer theory, and the sum of the ranks of the Floer homologies over all pairs of distinct vanishing cycles in the fibre.

## 5 Finitely many sections

Manin’s theorem  asserts that a non-isotrivial holomorphic fibration has only finitely many holomorphic sections. We have the following analogue for Lefschetz fibrations:

(5.1) Theorem:  Let $`f:X𝕊^2`$ be a symplectic Lefschetz fibration. Then $`f`$ admits only finitely many homotopy classes of geometric section.

Proof: Any section can be trivialised over a large disc in the base, containing the critical values, and viewed as a point $`p`$ in a fixed fibre $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ which is invariant under all the monodromy maps. That is, $`p`$ is disjoint from the support of all the Dehn twist monodromies. The product of these is isotopic to the identity; under the isotopy, which determines how to close the fibration over the disc to one over the sphere, $`p`$ moves through some loop $`u\pi _1(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$. There is a section through $`p`$ iff this loop is nullhomotopic in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$.

It follows that if we perturb $`p`$ inside a component $`D`$ of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }\backslash \{C_i\}`$, where the $`C_i`$ are the vanishing cycles of the fibration transported to lie in the fixed fibre, then the loop $`u`$ associated to $`p`$ is unchanged. From this it is easy to see that if there is a section through $`p`$ its homotopy class is independent of the choice of $`p`$ in $`D`$. So the number of homotopy classes of section is bounded above by the number of cells in the cell decomposition of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ defined by the vanishing cycles, and is in particular finite. $`\mathrm{}`$

One can improve the actual bound on the number of homotopy classes of sections, but the results seem a long way from being sharp in examples. If one is given a component $`D`$ for which there is a section of the fibration, it is in principle mechanical to determine which other regions of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }\backslash \{C_i\}`$ admit sections. For taking a path between points in the two regions, and the image of the path under all the monodromy twists, we have a loop in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ which should be trivial in $`\pi _1(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$. Such a relation amongst the vanishing cycles is equivalent to the existence of a suitable closed polygon in the hyperbolic disc. Note finally that the *existence* question for sections of Lefschetz fibrations remains open.