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# Event Indexing Systems for Efficient Selection and Analysis of HERA Data

## 1 Introduction

Large High Energy Physics (HEP) detectors typically have many hundreds of thousands of readout channels and record very large data samples. The task of storing and managing these data is a challenge which requires sophisticated data management techniques. Initially the data provided by the on-line data aquisition system of the detector must be recorded at typical rates of several megabytes per second. Subsequently fast access to the entirety of the data must be provided for reconstruction and analysis.

Various techniques have been employed by different experiments to meet these requirements. Typically the data are stored in sequential format on magnetic tapes inside a robotic tape storage and access system containing thousands of tape cartridges. The tapes are mounted on a tape drive automatically without human intervention, both for reading and writing the data. Currently, typical tape robots provide storage space for up to several hundred terabytes of data. The data accumulated by the ZEUS experiment at the HERA $`ep`$ collider  over eight years of operation amount to approximately 35 terabytes. In addition, approximately 40 terabytes of simulation data have been accumulated.

Tape storage systems of the type described above work efficiently when a large fraction of the data to be retrieved is stored on a single tape. This is typically the case for targeted simulation data, but is generally not the case for real event sets when the subset of events required for a particular analysis may be very sparse. When only a small fraction of the events are required and these are spread out over a number of entire tapes, these systems become inefficient. The inefficiency originates both from access to the tapes, typically limited by mechanical constraints in the tape robotics systems, and from access to data on individual tapes, limited by the sequential nature of the data format. The sequential format requires large amounts of data to be read from the tape into the memory of an analyzing computer system in order to extract the desired information.

Various approaches have been used to address this problem. A standard solution involves splitting the data at an early stage into many data samples, often overlapping, according to the foreseen needs of different physics analyses. The split samples are then stored on magnetic tapes or on disks. In either case the data can be analysed efficiently if a high proportion of the events stored in a given sample are required for a particular analysis. However, this method has two disadvantages. Firstly, the data samples from selections for different physics interests will be overlapping, requiring more total storage space than the original sample. Secondly, the criteria used to split the data must be defined at an early stage when the understanding of the data may still be rudimentary. As a result, the splitting may have to be repeated several times as the understanding of the data advances.

The limitations of this method can be avoided if the data are stored using a database management system with appropriate indexing and query facilities. However, conventional database management systems such as the relational database ORACLE have not yet been able to cope with the typical data recording and analysis requirements of large HEP experiments. In particular, in these systems the time needed to retrieve a single event from the global event sample may exceed the computing time needed to analyse the event by orders of magnitude.

In this paper we describe a system which overcomes the limitations described above. The system is built on top of a standard datastore consisting of sequential datafiles stored on magnetic disks or tapes, and uses a commercial object-oriented database management system to provide the missing index and query facilities. The system was designed and implemented for the ZEUS experiment but it could be adapted for use at other large high energy physics experiments in operation or under construction.

## 2 The Data Recording and Analysis Environment of the ZEUS Experiment

ZEUS is a general-purpose experiment at DESY studying electron-proton collisions at high energies in the HERA electron-proton collider. The experiment was designed and built and is being operated by an international collaboration of 50 institutions and more than 400 physicists. The experimental program is broad and ranges from studies on parton dynamics in the nucleon to searches for new exotic phenomena.

The ZEUS experiment has approximately 300000 electronic channels and operates with the beam crossing time of the HERA collider of $`96\mathrm{ns}`$. For every inverse nanobarn ($`1\mathrm{n}\mathrm{b}^1`$) of integrated luminosity delivered, ZEUS records of the order of 1000 $`ep`$ collision events. At the design luminosity of HERA of $`1.5\times 10^2\mathrm{nb}^1\mathrm{s}^1`$ this corresponds to a data rate of 15 collision events per second. Between 1992 and 1999, 130 million events were collected. With a data size of approximately 100 kilobytes per event before reconstruction, 13 terabytes of raw data have been written during that period.

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the storage model for ZEUS data. The data are stored as sequential files on magnetic tape cartridges in a tape robotic system. The internal data format is defined by the ADAMO data system . ADAMO uses an Entity-Relationship data model with simple indexing and does not have query facilities.

The data are reconstructed within a few days after they are recorded. The delay is required in order to generate calibration constants for the reconstruction program. The reconstruction program writes two sets of sequential ADAMO files. The first set, known as RDST (Reconstructed Data Summary Tape), contains the complete raw data information and the result from reconstruction. The second set, known as MDST (Mini Data Summary Tape), is a version of the RDST which is optimized for physics data analysis where the raw data information is removed. While the data in RDST format occupy about 150 kilobytes per event, the data in MDST format are reduced to 25 kilobytes per event. In total, the RDST and MDST data samples occupy 20 terabytes on magnetic tape cartridges.

Data access for physics analysis is provided through the ZEUS tape file system (TPFS) . TPFS defines a location-independent name space for all data files. When a named data set is requested by an analysis program, TPFS looks for the corresponding file in a data storage pool consisting of magnetic disks. If the file is not found, TPFS copies the file from the tape store to the disk pool and makes it available for reading by the requesting analysis program. TPFS removes files from the disk pool which have not been used in the last few days, while files which are required frequently are kept permanently on disk. In particular, all MDST data are permanently available. For the data taken from 1992 through 1999 the disk pool size is 3 terabytes.

Figure 2 shows the configuration of the computer system used for analysis of the ZEUS data. The magnetic disks are connected to a central computer that acts as a fileserver. Many different computer systems used for running analysis programs communicate with the fileserver via high-throughput network connections (100MBit Ethernet, GigaBit Ethernet and HIPPI). The tape robot system is connected using similar network connections.

## 3 Event Directories

In order to remedy the limitations of sequential access to the event data, a system was developed for ZEUS in which single events in the event store are accessed directly using a system of event directories. An event directory is an index containing for each event 128 logical event flags as well as the collider run number444A run is a datataking period with identical trigger conditions. One run typically lasts a few hours and contains up to 300,000 events., the event number, and the location of the event in the sequential event store. The event flags are determined once during reconstruction and indicate whether the topology of the event matches each one of a wide range of physics conditions.

The event directory system uses the capability of the ADAMO system to index records in a sequential data file. This index is implemented using a key table. Figure 3 shows the structure of the ADAMO key table. In addition to name and type of record, and run and event number, the table permits storage of four more 32-bit quantities. These are used in the event directory system to encode the 128 event flags.

Figure 4 depicts schematically how event directories are used to access events. The event directory information is stored run-by-run and event-by-event in tables. The tables can be queried from an analysis job. For example a user might request all events where certain conditions on the event flags are fulfilled. The event directory system searches through the event directory tables and for every requested entry it locates the event file, positions the file pointer at the proper offset and reads and decodes the event record. Then control is given to the analysis code to perform whatever data analysis the user wants to perform.

For convenience, event directory files are stored in a human readable format. An excerpt from an event directory file is given in Appendix B.

The event directory system was developed for the ZEUS experiment and has been in operation since 1994, working reliably and efficiently. The CPU time overhead required to read ZEUS events through the event directory system is small compared to the event reading time, and much smaller than with the sequential method of reading events.

## 4 The Tag Database

While event directories work very efficiently, the event selection power is limited to boolean combinations of precalculated event flags. Furthermore, it is only possible to test those selection conditions which were considered when the event flags were calculated. Also, if quantities on which the selection condition were based have changed – e. g. due to recalibration – the selection may be invalid. This happens quite frequently since analysis methods and detector understanding are evolving quickly. The event flags must be recalculated after every change in the selection procedure. For large data samples this amounts to a major effort that can be afforded only a few times per year.

The number of recalculations can be reduced if more information is stored with each event in the event directory. This information would then be updated when for instance calibration has changed. As more information is stored, the event selection becomes more flexible. For instance, rather than setting a flag when a vertex is found, the reconstructed position of the vertex can be stored instead. In this case, with appropriate database technology, one can select not only those events that have a vertex but also those with a vertex within certain bounds.

Such a system is known as a tag database in order to stress its database character and its indexing capabilities and thus distinguish it from the simpler event directories.

The storage requirement for a tag database which stores 200 32-bit quantities for each event in a data sample of 100 million events is 80 gigabytes. In order to be efficient such a system requires advanced database management technology. In particular, the CPU time overhead to retrieve one event from the system must be kept small compared to the time needed to read the sequential event information.

The need for a tag database within the ZEUS experiment became apparent in 1996 when it was recognized that data analysis would have to become much more efficient in order to cope with the ever growing data samples of the experiment. A project was initiated to design and build a tag database with the following goals:

* Provide at least the functionality of the event directory system with equal or greater efficiency.
* Substantially improve the selection capabilities compared to those available with the event directory system.
* Allow for growth. The database technology should not limit future growth of the system. In particular, the system was required to be capable of handling event samples of several terabytes in size and to be capable of storing not only the tag information but also the entire data of the experiment, which may be required in the future.
* Provide an implementation backwards-compatible with the existing system and require only minimal changes to the physics analysis codes.
* Ensure that in addition to serving as an event index, the tag database be usable standalone as a compact data sample.
* Allow simple maintenance of the system. In particular, it was required to be able to partially update the database quickly when needed.

## 5 Implementation of the ZEUS Tag Database

The ZEUS tag database was implemented using the Objectivity/DB database management system. This commercial software product of Objectivity Inc.  is an object-oriented database management system based on the concept of database federations. Objectivity/DB can handle databases up to a limit of 10000 petabytes.

A number of other HEP experiments are currently using or planning to use Objectivity/DB for their event storage. An example is the BaBar experiment at SLAC  which was the first HEP experiment to choose this product. Other examples are the future experiments at the CERN LHC, for which the RD45 project at CERN  had studied databases with sizes of up to several terabytes in order to establish that Objectivity/DB could be used for storing the event data of the LHC experiments. These experiments expect to record data samples of several petabytes, about two orders of magnitude larger than the volume expected for the ZEUS event data.

The code for the ZEUS tag database system is written in C++. This was the natural choice given the selection of an object-oriented database management system. Since most ZEUS code is written in FORTRAN, it was necessary to provide an interface layer in order to make the system usable by all physicists in the experiment with minimal modifications to their analysis codes. This layer mimics the existing FORTRAN interface layer between the analysis codes and the data storage.

Figure 5 shows the data model of the tag database at different levels of detail. Figure 5(a) shows event and MDST objects. An event object contains run and event numbers as well as a variable-length array of more than 200 event variables with information on kinematics, identified particles, calorimetry, tracking and jets, as well as the selection bits used in event directories. An overview of the stored variables is given in Appendix A.

All events of a given run are stored in one container of Objectivity/DB. Several of these containers are grouped together into one database of the federation. The size of these databases is kept small ( around 200 MB ) for convenience of data management. This is illustrated in Figure 5(b). Finally, as shown in Figure 5(c), all these databases make up the federated database. Figure 5(c) also shows how additional event data could be stored in the system. This part could be implemented in the future if needed.

## 6 Performance

The overhead in computing time generated by an event indexing system such as either the event directory system or the tag database must be held small in comparison to the time needed to read and analyse events from the sequential event store. Both the event directory system and the tag database were designed with this consideration in mind and their performance is being monitored regularly.

Table 1 shows measurements of the CPU time overhead from the event directory system. These times were measured on a Silicon Graphics Challenge XL computer  with R10000 processors running at 194 MHz.

10000 events were read in four different ways.

In the first measurement (labelled “Sequential Read” in Table 1), all events were read sequentially from the event store without using the event directory system. About $`20\mathrm{ms}`$ of CPU time were required to read one event. In the second case (“Event Directory, No Selection”), events were accessed using the event directory system without applying any selection. The time required was slightly smaller than when the data were accessed without using the event directories. This is due to the fact that in addition to the event data the sequential event store contains test and calibration information which in the first measurement was read and ignored. The event directory system skips unused non-event data without ever reading it. In the third measurement (“Event Directory, Selection 1 out of 2”), a selection was applied which picked approximately one out of every two events. No significant overhead was observed in this case. Only when a stronger selection is applied does the event directory overhead become considerable. This can be seen in the fourth measurement (“Event Directory, Selection 1 out of 20”), where a selection was applied which selected approximately one out of every twenty events. The overhead here compared to the previous measurement was 70 seconds. Since 200,000 events had to be scanned to select 10,000 events, this corresponds to a CPU time of $`0.3\mathrm{ms}`$ per scanned event.

The performance of the tag database is illustrated in Figures 6(a) and (b).

Figure 6(a) shows the rate of events processed by the tag database as a function of the number of variables used in the query. A maximum number of 6 variables was used for the measurement since this is a typical number of variables used for data analyses. For an empty query a rate of 5000 events per second is reached. For non-empty queries the rate decreases only weakly with increasing the number of variables in the query, remaining above 3500 events per second, i.e. $`0.28\mathrm{ms}`$ per event. This shows that the performance of the tag database is similar to that of the event directory system, even though much more information is stored in the database. Figure 6(b) shows the rate of events processed as a function of the total number of events contained in the tag database. In this case a query involving two variables was used. No dependence of the rate on the size of the database is observed. These two observations confirm that the tag database has a CPU time overhead which is even smaller than that of the event directory method. Thus the tag database exceeds the required performance.

The gain in analysis efficiency achieved using either event directories or the tag database is illustrated in Table 2.

The first row shows the CPU time required to read 25,000 events. About $`20\mathrm{ms}`$ are needed to read one event from the sequential event store. The second and third rows show the times required to select the 11,000 events that contain at least one electron candidate from a total sample of 25,000 events using either event directories or the tag database. The CPU requirement is almost the same in both cases. It corresponds again to about $`20\mathrm{ms}`$ per event. The fourth and fifth rows give the time required to select the 2,750 events with transverse energy greater than $`30\mathrm{GeV}`$ from a total of 45,000 events. The result from using event directories is shown in the fourth row. In this case the total time corresponds to the time required to read all 45,000 events from the sequential event store since the event directories have no precalculated flags for the query $`E_T>30\mathrm{GeV}`$. The fifth row shows the result when using the tag database. In this case the tag database is almost an order of magnitude faster. This is possible since the tag database stores the value of the transverse energy for each event. Hence the time used is governed by the time needed to read in the selected events only. This illustrates the power of the tag database.

## 7 Summary

The offline data storage environment of the ZEUS experiment uses a sequential event store together with two different indexing systems, an event directory system and a tag database. Both systems were developed after the experiment had started taking data. They improve the efficiency of accessing events and hence the efficiency with which data analyses can be performed.

The event directories and the tag database have different selection capabilities. Event directories are limited to selections based on combinations of a set of 128 event flags which are calculated once during reconstruction of the data. The tag database extends the selection capabilities substantially. Selection based on the values of over 200 floating point variables and a large number of flags can be performed. Furthermore the tag database can also be used independently of the sequential event store as a compact standalone data sample. The tag database could readily be extended to contain more variables, even to include the complete event information.

The event directories are implemented using the same technology as for the sequential event store, namely the ADAMO data system. The tag database uses the commercial object-oriented database management system “Objectivity/DB”.

It has been demonstrated that the CPU time overhead introduced by either system is small – at the level of 1% of the total CPU time required to read complete events. A substantial reduction in the CPU time required to select events has been achieved. Using event directories, savings of the order of a factor 2 to 3 have been achieved, while for the tag database savings as large as a factor 20 are observed. Thus, the use of the tag database has dramatically improved the efficiency of data analysis within the ZEUS collaboration.

## Appendix A List of Physics Analysis Quantities stored inside the ZEUS Tag Database

The following list describes the physics quantities that are stored inside the ZEUS tag database. These quantities can be used to selected complete events from the event store. They can also be used directly as a very compact data sample.

1. Run and Event Number (2 integer variables),
2. Flags:

* First Level Trigger Flags (64 1-Bit quantities),
    * Second Level Trigger Flags (192 1-Bit quantities),
    * Third Level Trigger Flags(352 1-Bit quantities),
    * Offline Event Selection Flags (128 1-Bit quantities; same as Event Directory flags),
    * Miscellaneous Flags (64 1-Bit quantities),
3. First Candidate for Deep Inelastically Scattered Electron, Algorithm A:

* Calorimeter Energy and Position measurements (13 floating point variables),
    * Position measurements from other detector components (11 floating point variables),
4. Second Candidate for Deep Inelastically Scattered Electron, Algorithm A (5 floating point variables),
5. First Candidate for Deep Inelastically Scattered Electron, Algorithm B:

* Calorimeter Energy and Position measurements (13 floating point variables),
    * Position measurements from other detector components (11 floating point variables),
6. Second Candidate for Deep Inelastically Scattered Electron, Algorithm B (5 floating point variables),
7. Estimators for Event Kinematics:

* Using electron from algorithm A (7 floating point variables),
    * Using electron from algorithm B (7 floating point variables),
8. Global Calorimeter Variables:

* Total energy, transverse energy, missing transverse energy (26 floating point variables),
    * Energy in different calorimeter parts. (3 floating point variables),
    * Hadronic four vectors with 2 different methods (8 floating point variables),
9. Tracking Quantities:

* Number of Primary and Secondary Tracks, Vertex Positions (10 floating point variables),
    * Transverse energy from tracking (5 floating point variables),
10. Luminosity Measurement Information (6 floating point variables),
11. Information from the Muon System (7 floating point variables),
12. Identified Muons (6 floating point variables),
13. Leading Proton Measurement (7 floating point variables),
14. Beampipe Calorimeter Measurement (7 floating point variables),
15. Forward Neutron Measurement (5 floating point variables),
16. Low Angle Tagging Devices (7 floating point variables),
17. Jet Measurement from 4 Different Jet Finders (28 floating point variables),
18. Charmed Mesons, $`D^{}`$, $`D0`$, $`D_S`$ (15 floating point variables).

## Appendix B Example of a ZEUS Event Directory File

```
TABLE 10

[...]

 /* ZEDFILEX (ID, Name(4), Options) */
 1, ’MDST2.D000331.T224552.R035762A.cz’, ’’ , ’’ , ’’ ,
    ’MEDIUM=COMP,DRIVER=FZ,FILFOR=EXCH,SFGET’;
 END TABLE

 TABLE 11
 /* ZEDMETAX (ID, Name, OFF) */
 1, ’HSYOUT’     ,   137;
 2, ’HEAD’       , 62751;
 3, ’MDSTDFL00V0’, 63757;
 END TABLE

 TABLE 12
 /* ZEDIRX (ID, GAFTyp, Nr1, Nr2, TStam11, TStam12, TStam21, TStam22, OFF) */
    1, ’EVTF’, 35762,   16, X’00000468’, X’0000060’, X’00000000’, X’000000’, 62751;
    2, ’EVTF’, 35762,   17, X’00000068’, X’0000040’, X’00000000’, X’000000’, 90011;
    3, ’EVTF’, 35762,   20, X’20000460’, X’0002020’, X’12000000’, X’040000’, 102480;
    4, ’EVTF’, 35762,   21, X’00000028’, X’0000040’, X’00000000’, X’000000’, 131195;
    5, ’EVTF’, 35762,   22, X’20008A60’, X’0102000’, X’00000000’, X’000000’, 142054;
    6, ’EVTF’, 35762,   23, X’00000068’, X’0000040’, X’00000000’, X’000000’, 151840;

[...]

}

```


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# Study of the effective transverse momentum of partons in the proton using prompt photons in photoproduction at HERA DESY 01-043 Mar. 2001

## 1 Introduction

The study of hard final-state photons in high-energy collisions is a powerful tool for the investigation of parton dynamics and hadron structure. Photons of this kind (‘prompt photons’) can emerge as a primary product of hard parton-scattering processes without the hadronisation by which outgoing quarks and gluons form observed jets. In this way, they provide information about the underlying parton processes that is relatively free from hadronisation uncertainties.

In a recent analysis , ZEUS presented inclusive measurements of prompt photon cross sections in photoproduction at HERA. The present paper describes a further study of such processes in which a hadron jet is also measured. The presence of the jet allows the underlying QCD process in the $`\gamma p`$ interaction to be identified more clearly, thus assisting the study of its dynamics. This work is motivated by the observation in a number of previous experiments , summarised in recent reviews , that the inclusive production of prompt photons with low transverse energy in hadron-proton and hadron-nucleus reactions is unexpectedly large. One possible explanation is that the partons in the proton may effectively have a considerably higher mean intrinsic transverse momentum, $`<k_T>`$, than the traditionally assumed value of a few hundred MeV. Measurements by CDF  are consistent with a $`<k_T>`$ of 3.5 GeV, while in measurements at lower energies by E706 , a value of 1.2 GeV is suggested. Recently published results from D0  are consistent with those of CDF.

The quantity $`<k_T>`$ has been measured directly from the kinematics of lepton or photon pairs that emerge from a hard interaction, but may also be measured indirectly by making use of a theoretical framework given by a next-to-leading-order (NLO) QCD calculation or a leading-order Monte Carlo generator such as PYTHIA. The magnitude of $`<k_T>`$ has been taken to reflect the confinement of quarks and the known size of the proton, with the assumption that these non-perturbative effects may be combined in a straightforward way with a perturbative calculation of the parton scattering. However, it has more recently been argued that when partons undergo hard scattering, the presence of additional initial-state gluon radiation beyond NLO in QCD can increase their effective $`<k_T>`$ value and that this may be a major contribution to the effects observed . Within PYTHIA, both of these contributions are allowed for: there is an ‘intrinsic’ component together with a parton-shower component, and their combination is referred to here as the effective value of $`<k_T>`$.

In part of the measured pseudorapidity range, the ZEUS inclusive prompt photon cross sections  were found to be higher than predicted. However, Monte Carlo studies have indicated that increasing $`<k_T>`$ in the proton or photon is unable to account for this discrepancy. At the same time, the shape of the distribution in transverse energy, $`E_T`$, can be well described by NLO theory, and the overall normalisation, although slightly higher than predicted, is insensitive to variations of $`<k_T>`$ given the current experimental statistical accuracy. The aim of the present measurement is, therefore, to determine by a more direct kinematic method whether the partons in the proton possess high values of $`<k_T>`$ in interactions with a high-energy photon. This is facilitated by the use of event samples in which the ‘direct photoproduction’ process dominates , i.e. in which the entire incoming photon interacts with a quark in the proton, thereby avoiding any additional contributions to $`<k_T>`$ from the resolved photon. At leading order in photoproduction, the Compton process $`\gamma q\gamma q`$ is the only direct prompt photon process.

## 2 Apparatus and Method

The data were taken with the ZEUS detector at HERA, using an integrated $`e^+p`$ luminosity of $`38.6\pm 0.6`$ pb-1. The energies of the incoming positron and proton were, respectively, $`E_e=27.5`$ GeV and $`E_p=820`$ GeV. The apparatus and the details of the analysis method are described in detail elsewhere . Of particular relevance here are the compensating uranium-scintillator calorimeter  and the central tracking detector (CTD) . The calorimeter provides almost hermetic coverage and has a relative energy resolution, as measured in test beams, of $`0.35/\sqrt{E}`$ for hadronic deposits and $`0.18/\sqrt{E}`$ for electromagnetic deposits, where $`E`$ is in GeV. The CTD operates in a magnetic field of $`1.43\text{T}`$ provided by a thin superconducting solenoid. The transverse momentum resolution in the central rapidity region is $`\sigma (p_T)/p_T=0.0058p_T0.00650.0014/p_T`$ ($`p_T`$ in GeV).

Photons used in the present analysis were measured in the electromagnetic section of the barrel region of the calorimeter, which covers the polar angular range111 The ZEUS coordinate system is a right-handed Cartesian system, with the $`Z`$ axis pointing in the proton beam direction, referred to as the ‘forward direction’, and the $`X`$ axis pointing left towards the centre of HERA. The coordinate origin is at the nominal interaction point. The laboratory pseudorapidity, $`\eta `$, is defined as $`\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{tan}(\theta /2)`$, where the polar angle, $`\theta `$, is measured with respect to the proton beam direction. All kinematical calculations take into account the position of the event vertex. $`36.7^{}<\theta <129.1^{}`$. The electromagnetic cells have a projective geometry as viewed from the interaction point. Each is 23.3 cm long in the azimuthal direction, representing 1/32 of the full 360, and has a width of 4.9 cm along the beam direction at its inner face, at a radius 123.2 cm from the beam line. The hadronic section consists of non-projective cells, each of which covers four electromagnetic cells. The azimuthal position of a single-particle impact point within a cell is measured from the ratio of the signals read out by photomultiplier tubes at each end, giving a measurement with a resolution of $`\pm 2.5`$ cm. The photons were distinguished from neutral mesons ($`\pi ^0,\eta ^0`$) by means of variables derived from the clusters of calorimeter cells identified as electromagnetic signals, using the same method as employed in previous ZEUS analyses . The most important variable is the fraction of the cluster energy found in the cell with most energy, $`f_{max}`$, which peaks near unity for signals from single photons. After applying a cut to remove candidates with a large cluster width, the events in any given bin of a plotted physical quantity were divided into two classes with, respectively, high and low values of $`f_{max}`$. Information from simulated single high-energy photons, $`\pi ^0`$ mesons and $`\eta ^0`$ mesons was then used to perform a statistical subtraction of the background from the photon signal.

To reduce the backgrounds and the contribution from high-energy photons radiated from outgoing quarks, an isolation criterion was applied. Within a cone of unit radius in pseudorapidity and azimuth $`(\eta ,\varphi )`$ surrounding an outgoing photon candidate, the integrated transverse energy in the detector, excluding that of the photon candidate, was required not to exceed 10% of that of the photon candidate itself. Both calorimeter cells and tracks were taken into account in evaluating this condition. In addition, no photon candidate was permitted to have a track pointing within 0.3 radians of it. Given the excellent performance of the ZEUS CTD, this effectively assured that no electrons were misidentified as photons.

The trigger for the prompt photon events required an electromagnetic energy cluster in the barrel section of the calorimeter, together with further calorimeter requirements on the total energy of the event. The offline cuts were at an adequate margin above the trigger level. In the offline analysis, use was made of energy-flow objects which combine information from calorimeter cells and measured tracks . For each event, the energy of the incoming virtual photon was estimated using the quantity $`y_{\mathrm{JB}}`$ = $`(Ep_Z)/2E_e`$, where the sum is over all energy-flow objects in the event, each of which is treated as if due to a massless particle with energy $`E`$ and longitudinal momentum component $`p_Z`$. After correcting for the effects of energy losses, limits of $`0.20<y_{\mathrm{JB}}<0.70`$ were applied, approximately corresponding to a centre-of-mass $`\gamma p`$ energy range $`134<W<251`$ GeV. The lower limit removed proton beam-gas events, and the upper limit removed deep inelastic scattering events.

Events with a scattered beam positron identified in the calorimeter were rejected. The virtuality of the incoming photon was in this way limited to values below $`1`$ GeV2 with a median of $`10^3`$ GeV2. Jets were reconstructed, using energy-flow objects, by means of the Lorentz-invariant $`k_T`$-clustering algorithm KTCLUS  in the inclusive mode . The standard settings were used. Corrections to the measured photon and jet energies were evaluated through the use of Monte Carlo event samples and were typically +5% to +10 % for both the photon and the jet. After correction, photons were required to have $`E_T^\gamma >5`$ GeV and $`0.7<\eta ^\gamma <0.9`$, while jets were required to have transverse energy $`E_T^{\mathrm{jet}}>5`$ GeV, with pseudorapidity in the range $`1.5<\eta ^{\mathrm{jet}}<1.8`$. These kinematic cuts confined both photons and jets to well-measured regions. The momentum components of the objects comprising the jet were summed to obtain the total jet-momentum vector. If more than one jet was found within the above kinematic limits, the jet with highest $`E_T`$ was taken. After the above cuts and the cut on cluster width, the number of events with a prompt photon candidate and a jet was 1507, of which approximately half were background.

The fraction of the incoming photon energy that takes part in the QCD subprocess was estimated by evaluating $`x_\gamma ^{\mathrm{meas}}`$, defined as

$$x_\gamma ^{\mathrm{meas}}=\frac{1}{2E_ey_{\mathrm{JB}}}\underset{\gamma ,\mathrm{jet}}{}(Ep_Z),$$

where the sum is over the high-energy photon and the contents of the jet. The $`x_\gamma ^{\mathrm{meas}}`$ distribution peaks at values close to unity for direct photoproduction events, in which the whole photon takes part in the hard subprocess. It takes smaller values for resolved events, where the photon acts as a source of partons, one of which takes part in the hard subprocess.

## 3 Results

Figure 1(a) shows the distribution of $`x_\gamma ^{\mathrm{meas}}`$ after the subtraction of background due to $`\pi ^0`$ and $`\eta ^0`$ mesons. The errors shown are statistical only; systematic errors are dominated by uncertainties on the parameters of the background subtraction and on the calorimeter energy scale, and are typically $`\pm 7`$%. It is evident that both direct and resolved processes are present. The histograms show predictions from the PYTHIA 6.129 Monte Carlo , after the events have been passed through a full GEANT-based simulation  of the ZEUS detector. Default settings of PYTHIA 6.129 were used, together with the parton density functions MRSA  for the proton and GRV  for the photon. Approximately four times as many Monte Carlo events as data were generated. The PYTHIA distribution includes events from direct and resolved prompt photon photoproduction at lowest order in QCD, together with radiative dijet events in which an outgoing quark from a hard QCD scatter radiates a high-energy photon that satisfies the present experimental selections. Figure 1(b) shows the pseudorapidity distribution of the photons, the presence of a jet being required. The agreement with PYTHIA in both distributions is qualitatively satisfactory, although the predictions lie below the data, particularly at negative $`\eta ^\gamma `$ values. This was also observed in the ZEUS inclusive prompt photon measurements .

Figure 2 shows distributions of kinematic quantities of the prompt photon + jet system, for events selected with $`x_\gamma ^{\mathrm{meas}}>0.9`$. These events are predominantly from direct photoproduction processes; the restriction to high $`x_\gamma ^{\mathrm{meas}}`$ also suppresses events with additional jets. Since the value of $`<k_T>`$ affects primarily the shapes of the distributions, these are area-normalised. As illustrated in Fig. 2(a), the plotted quantities describe the momentum imbalance of the photon-jet system projected on to the transverse plane. These quantities are the momentum component of the photon perpendicular to the jet direction, $`p_{}`$; the momentum imbalance along the direction opposite to that of the jet, $`p_{}`$; and the azimuthal acollinearity between the photon and the jet, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$. In plotting $`p_{}`$, the condition $`(p_T^{\mathrm{jet}}+p_T^\gamma )>12.5`$ GeV was applied to remove an enhancement around zero due to the many events where the photon and jet transverse energies both lie just above their respective lower cuts. The quantity $`p_T^{\mathrm{jet}}`$ is not the Snowmass $`E_T^{\mathrm{jet}}`$, defined as the scalar sum of the $`E_T`$ values of the individual particles in the jet, but is the transverse component of the vector sum of the momenta of the particles in the jet. The quantity $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$ is strongly correlated with $`p_{}`$ but has less sensitivity to the measured photon and jet energies.

To evaluate the systematic effects, the parameters of the background subtraction and the calorimeter energy scale were varied within their uncertainties. For $`p_{}<1`$ GeV and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi >170^{}`$, the effects were typically 1-2% after normalisation of the distributions. Since there is some disagreement with theory at low $`\eta ^\gamma `$, the photon rapidity range was also reduced at each end by 0.2. To observe the effects of including a greater proportion of resolved events, the cut on $`x_\gamma ^{\mathrm{meas}}`$ was reduced to 0.85. As further checks, the mode of jet reconstruction was varied by (a) changing the jet-recombination scheme between the $`p_T`$ and $`E`$ modes , (b) using a cone jet algorithm , and (c) increasing the jet-radius parameter in the KTCLUS algorithm by a factor 1.25. The latter has sensitivity to the possible jet-broadening effects of hard final-state gluon radiation. The results in each case were consistent with the main method at the level of the statistical uncertainties. The largest systematic uncertainties come from the variations on the $`x_\gamma ^{\mathrm{meas}}`$ and $`\eta ^\gamma `$ cuts. The effects of the incoming photon virtuality can be neglected in the present analysis. A relaxation of the lower cut on $`y_{\mathrm{JB}}`$ did not significantly affect the result.

The data are compared to different predictions from PYTHIA, which include the small contributions from radiative and resolved events with $`x_\gamma ^{\mathrm{meas}}>0.9`$. All the Monte Carlo results used here are based on samples selected with the same detector-level cuts as the data. Within PYTHIA it is possible to vary the ‘intrinsic’ smearing on the transverse momentum of the partons in an incoming hadron; this smearing is imposed in addition to the effects of parton showering, and results are shown for three values of its two-dimensional Gaussian width, $`k_0`$, as applied within the proton. The corresponding mean absolute value of the intrinsic transverse parton momentum in the proton, $`<k_T^{\mathrm{intr}}>`$, is then given by $`<k_T^{\mathrm{intr}}>=\sqrt{\pi /4}k_0`$ . In PYTHIA 6.129, the default value222In later versions of PYTHIA, this default value has been increased to approximately 1 GeV. of $`k_0`$ for partons in the proton and in the resolved photon is 0.44 GeV. The photon $`k_0`$ was fixed at this value. The sensitivity of the present measurement to the photon $`k_0`$ is small since the selected events are predominantly from direct processes. From the figures it is seen that the $`p_{}`$ distribution lacks discriminating power, which prevents the use of the overall transverse momentum, $`Q_T`$, of the photon - jet system to measure $`<k_T>`$, since this depends substantially on $`p_{}`$. It is evident that proton $`k_0`$ values of $``$ 3 GeV or $``$ 0.44 GeV are disfavoured by the distributions in $`p_{}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$.

Normalised cross sections for $`p_{}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$ are presented in Fig. 3. The data have been corrected to the hadron level, applying the same kinematic cuts as for the corrected detector-level quantities, namely: $`E_T^\gamma >5`$ GeV, $`0.7<\eta ^\gamma <0.9`$, $`E_T^{\mathrm{jet}}>5`$ GeV, $`1.5<\eta ^{\mathrm{jet}}<1.8`$, $`134<W<251`$ GeV, and $`x_\gamma ^{\mathrm{meas}}>0.9`$. The PYTHIA prediction corresponding to a fitted value of $`k_0`$ (see below) describes the data well. The systematic uncertainties are similar to those on the corresponding distributions of Fig. 2 and are small compared to the statistical uncertainties. Uncertainties in the calorimeter energy scale largely cancel in the normalised distributions. Within PYTHIA, the r.m.s. width in $`\varphi `$ between the directions of the outgoing parton and the reconstructed jet was found to be $`\pm 6.4^{}`$, considerably less than the corresponding value of $`\pm 12.9^{}`$ between the jet and the reverse of the photon direction.

Further PYTHIA Monte Carlo samples were generated using proton $`k_0`$ values of 1.0 GeV and 2.0 GeV, in addition to those shown in Fig. 2. A $`\chi ^2`$ minimisation was performed to determine the optimal value of $`k_0`$ using the $`p_{}`$ data and the five PYTHIA simulations at the detector level. The resulting fitted $`<k_T^{\mathrm{intr}}>`$ value is $`1.25\pm 0.41_{0.28}^{+0.15}`$ GeV, where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. A fit to the $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$ data, which is highly correlated with $`p_{}`$, gave a similar result with a larger statistical uncertainty. The value of $`<k_T^{\mathrm{intr}}>`$ does not include the parton-shower contribution to $`<k_T>`$, which was found to be approximately 1.4 GeV from a PYTHIA sample with $`k_0`$ = 0. Within the framework of direct photoproduction in PYTHIA, the contributions to $`p_{}`$ at the parton level from the intrinsic component and from the parton shower may be combined to allow a total value of $`<k_T>`$ to be evaluated assuming that the overall distribution is Gaussian333Assuming Gaussian distributions, the relationship $`<k_T>=\sqrt{\pi /2}<p_{}^{\mathrm{rms}}>`$ holds. By varying $`k_0`$ in PYTHIA and noting the resulting distributions of $`<p_{}^{\mathrm{rms}}>`$, $`<k_T>`$ and $`<k_T^{\mathrm{intr}}>`$ at the parton level, for events passing the experimental cuts at the detector level, the relationship $`<k_T>^2=1.92\text{ GeV}^2+0.61<k_T^{\mathrm{intr}}>^2`$ was obtained.. The total $`<k_T>`$ value corresponding to the fitted value of $`<k_T^{\mathrm{intr}}>`$ was evaluated in this way to be

$$<k_T>=1.69\pm 0.18_{0.20}^{+0.18}\text{ GeV}.$$

The systematic error includes a contribution from the model-dependence of the result, as estimated from a calculation using HERWIG 6.1 . HERWIG uses a parton-showering model which differs from that used in PYTHIA; in particular, it does not have the sharp lower cut-off in the shower evolution below which PYTHIA relies upon a suitable value of its phenomenological $`k_0`$ parameter . It was found that the data were already well described by HERWIG with its $`k_0`$ at the default value of zero, so that the fitting method used above could not be repeated. The use of the default version of HERWIG gave a $`<k_T>`$ value 10% higher than the PYTHIA result; this was added to the systematic error as a contribution of $`\pm `$ 10%.

Both PYTHIA and HERWIG model the effects of final-state gluon radiation. As a further check, a sample of PYTHIA events was prepared with the final-state radiation turned off. The results were not significantly different from those using the standard version.

The value of $`<k_T>`$ determined here represents the mean absolute value of the parton transverse momentum in the proton, taking into account all the partonic effects modelled in direct photoproduction within PYTHIA. It may be compared with values of $`<k_T>`$ obtained previously by other methods, such as by the direct measurement of outgoing lepton or photon pairs.

Figure 4 shows the ZEUS result in comparison with mean $`<k_T>`$ values from other experiments , plotted as a function of the hadronic centre-of-mass energy, $`W`$, of the incoming particles, namely the photon and proton in the present case. At low $`W`$, the data come mainly from the production of muon pairs by the Drell-Yan mechanism in fixed-target interactions, while the production of photon pairs has been studied at high $`W`$ using the ISR  and Tevatron colliders. The ZEUS result bridges a gap between the low- and high-energy measurements. For a uniform presentation, the mean transverse momentum, $`<Q_T>`$, frequently quoted in the production of photon and muon pairs by pairs of incoming hadrons has, where necessary, been converted to a $`<k_T>`$ value for a single hadron by dividing by $`\sqrt{2}`$. It should be noted that while the measurement of final-state dimuon and photon pairs provides a direct determination of parton $`<k_T>`$, the other measurements require a physical model. Although different experimental methods have been employed, a clear trend for $`<k_T>`$ to rise with increasing $`W`$ is evident, as discussed most recently by Laenen et al. . The ZEUS result is fully consistent with this trend.

## 4 Conclusions

Photoproduction events containing a prompt photon balanced by a recoil jet have been studied using the ZEUS detector at HERA. Events in the $`\gamma p`$ centre-of-mass energy range $`134<W<251`$ GeV were selected containing a photon with $`E_T^\gamma >5`$ GeV and $`0.7<\eta ^\gamma <0.9`$ and a jet with $`E_T^{\mathrm{jet}}>5`$ GeV and $`1.5<\eta ^{\mathrm{jet}}<1.8`$. The kinematic properties of the photon-jet system were used to investigate the effective transverse momentum of the quarks in the proton, within the framework of the PYTHIA 6.129 Monte Carlo. A fit to the data gave a $`<k_T>`$ value of $`1.69\pm 0.18_{0.20}^{+0.18}`$ GeV. This result is consistent with the trend, observed in a number of experiments at different energies, that the effective parton $`<k_T>`$ rises with the energy of the interacting hadronic system.

## Acknowledgements

As always, it is a pleasure to thank the DESY directorate and staff for their support and encouragement. The outstanding efforts of the HERA machine group are likewise gratefully acknowledged, as are the many technical contributions from members of the ZEUS institutions who are not listed as authors. We thank M. Begel, M. Seymour and T. Sjöstrand for helpful correspondence.


text:
# What is the real nature of HD 108 ? Based on observations collected at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence (France).

## 1 Introduction

HD 108 has stimulated a lot of controversy over the past 75 years. One of the first detailed studies of its spectrum was presented by Andrillat et al. (and (1973)), who also reviewed the line profile changes (from P Cygni to pure emission/absorption lines). Some years later, using the radial velocities of the He ii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4200, 4542 absorption lines, Hutchings (hut1 (1975)) derived an orbital period of 4.612 days, but this result was not confirmed by Vreux & Conti (vr (1979)). Vreux & Conti (vr (1979)) suggested that the radial velocity variations were rather due to wind variability and though they pointed out the possibility of a 1.02 day period, they concluded that the variability of HD 108 was most probably not periodic. On the basis of Hutchings’s work, Bekenstein (bek (1976)) suggested that HD 108 had undergone a type II supernova without breakup of the binary. Combining radial velocity data from earlier studies with their own measurements, Aslanov & Barannikov (asl (1989)) argued in favor of a 5.7937 days period, again attributed to binarity. But the debate about the real nature of HD 108 was not settled. More recently, Underhill (und2 (1994)) found no periodic variation of the radial velocities, thus rejecting the binary hypothesis. She suggested instead that HD 108 was a single star surrounded by a disc and displaying jets that were almost perpendicular to the line of sight. According to Underhill (und2 (1994)), this particular geometry accounts for the peculiar line profile morphology and could explain the spectral variations seen in HD 108. Using V-band polarimetric observations, Fox & Hines (fox (1998)) did not find any evidence of a binary nature of HD 108, but their results did not allow them to choose between large-scale jets or small-scale blobs as the structures triggering the variability. On the contrary, Barannikov (bar (1999)) combining his own recent radial velocity measurements with all older ones, claimed the existence of a longer period of 1627.6 days and concluded again that the star is indeed a binary.
Other properties of HD 108 are also intriguing : its UV spectrum suggests a low mass-loss rate (Hutchings & van Heteren hut2 (1981)), incompatible with the one derived from its optical and IR (Ferrari-Toniolo et al. fer (1981)) spectrum. Moreover, some authors marked HD 108 as a runaway star, though they did not agree on the exact value of its peculiar velocity.

In this paper, we will analyse CCD spectra collected over fifteen years. The observations are presented in Section 2, and we investigate the main spectral characteristics of HD 108 in Section 3. In Section 4, we will discuss the short- and long-term variations of the radial velocities and search for a periodic behaviour of HD 108. In the next sections, we analyse the variability of the equivalent widths and the line profiles. Finally, we examine the photometric data and the proper motion of HD 108 before we conclude in Section 8.

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

An extensive spectroscopic survey of HD 108 was conducted from 1986 to 2000 with the Carelec and the Aurélie spectrographs, fed respectively by the 1.93 m and 1.52 m telescopes of the Observatoire de Haute-Provence. For Carelec, the detector used was a thin back illuminated RCA CCD with 323$`\times `$512 pixels of 30$`\mu `$m squared. For Aurélie, it was a TH7832 linear array with a pixel size of 13$`\mu `$m until 1999. In 2000, this detector was replaced by a 2048$`\times `$1024 CCD EEV 42-20#3, whose pixel size is 13.5$`\mu `$m squared. The exact wavelength ranges and mean S/N are given in Table 1, together with the dispersion. All the data were reduced in the standard way using the IHAP and MIDAS softwares developed at ESO. The spectra were normalized by fitting splines through carefully chosen continuum windows. Some older photographic plates taken in 1971-72, 1974 and 1976 at OHP were also used to study the line profile variability.

## 3 The spectrum of HD 108

The spectrum of HD 108 is quite peculiar, showing a great number of emission lines. The blue part of the spectrum is dominated by the presence of strong N iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4634-41 and He ii $`\lambda `$ 4686 emission lines (see Fig. 1). As for many Of stars (Underhill et al. und1 (1989)), these lines stand on top of a broad emission bump between 4600 and 4700Å. In addition, Si iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4552, 4568, 4574 and various O ii emission lines, as well as the unidentified Of emissions situated near $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4485, 4504 are also present. All Balmer lines except H$`\alpha `$ appear as P Cygni profiles during most of our observing runs, but their morphology changes with time (see Section 6). On the contrary, some lines always appear in absorption, for example Si iv $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4088, 4116 and He ii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4200, 4542. Some interstellar features can also be seen in Fig 1: besides the Ca ii H and K lines, there are diffuse interstellar bands (DIB’s) around 4428, 4726 and 4763 Å, as well as a CH line at 4300 Å.
The H$`\alpha `$ and He i $`\lambda \lambda `$ 6678, 7065 emissions dominate the red part of the spectrum. In our 1989 near-IR spectrum, the Paschen lines of Hydrogen appear in emission, as well as He i $`\lambda `$ 10830 which is very intense. He ii $`\lambda `$ 10124 is also present, but in absorption.

### 3.1 Spectral type

HD 108 has been classified successively as O6 fqk111The ‘f’ tag stands for N iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4634, 4641 and He ii $`\lambda `$ 4686 present in emission, the ‘q’ is for the presence of P Cygni profiles and ‘k’ for the presence of Ca lines which are of interstellar nature. (Plaskett & Pearce pla (1931)), O8 fp (Morgan et al. mor (1955)), O7 If (Conti & Alschuler contal (1971)), O6:f?pe (Walborn wal (1972)) and finally O7 IIIfpe (Underhill und2 (1994)).
Applying Conti & Alschuler’s (contal (1971)) criterion to our data, the spectral type varies between O4 (Aug. 1987) and O7.5 (Sept. 2000). A similar type of variations has already been reported by Beals (bea (1950)), who found for HD 108 an O6 type in 1938 and O7 in 1945. A closer inspection of this situation indicates that the He ii $`\lambda `$ 4542 line profile is quite constant while the spectral type variations are due to the varying shape of the He i $`\lambda `$ 4471 line which sometimes appears with a P Cygni profile (see Sections 5 & 6), revealing that this line is not completely of photospheric origin. This casts doubt on the possibility to apply the Conti & Alschuler criterion to this star.
For the luminosity class, we use the criterion based on the value of $`\mathrm{log}(W^{\prime \prime })=\mathrm{log}\frac{EW(\mathrm{Si}\mathrm{IV}\lambda \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4088})}{EW(\mathrm{He}\mathrm{I}\lambda \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4143})}`$. The equivalent widths (EWs) of these two absorption lines show no strong variations, and result in a supergiant classification, regardless of the year of observation. Even though it is possible that He i $`\lambda `$ 4143 could also be contaminated by a variable emission component, this effect should be small with regard to the stability of our result. Using polarimetric data, Fox & Hines (fox (1998)) also favored a supergiant classification. The presence of a strong He i $`\lambda `$ 10830 emission is also consistent with a supergiant classification, although this emission is also observed in Oe-type objects (Vreux & Andrillat vr1 (1979)).
The presence of N iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4634-41 and He ii $`\lambda `$ 4686 in emission justifies an ‘f’ tag. Moreover, a ‘p’ tag can be added because of the presence of many emission lines, more numerous than those commonly found in Of spectra. Finally, the emission in H i Balmer lines results in the addition of an ‘e’ tag. Choosing the latest spectra, i.e. the least affected by possible emission in He i, we can derive a probable O7.5 Ifpe type for HD 108. If the He i $`\lambda `$ 4471 absorption continues to strengthen over the next years (see Sections 5 & 6), it is possible that we will finally recover an O8 type as found by Morgan et al. (mor (1955)).

## 4 Is HD 108 a spectroscopic binary?

Using the rest wavelengths listed in Table 3, we determined the radial velocities by fitting gaussians to the bottom (top) end of the absorption (emission) lines. The radial velocities (RVs) of the He ii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4200, 4542 lines are summarized in Table 2, together with the RVs of the N iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4634,4641 and He ii $`\lambda `$ 4686 emission lines. We have used the generalized spectrogram technique of Heck et al. (HMM (1985), hereafter HMM) and the trial method of Lafler & Kinman (LK (1965)) to search for periodicities in the He ii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4200, 4542 RV time series. For the HMM method, we evaluate a rough estimate of the significance level (SL) by $`SL=e^{\frac{P}{\sigma ^2}}`$ where P is the periodogram amplitude and $`\sigma `$ the rms dispersion of the data. We will consider that a period is significant if its SL is less than 0.01.

### 4.1 Short-term variability

Over all those years of intense study of HD 108, only a few authors really addressed the issue of short-term variability of this star, even if most of the periods found were rather short. For instance, Vreux & Conti (vr (1979)) obtained two spectra per night during two consecutive days of their observing run. However, to analyse completely the short-term variability, more spectra taken on numerous consecutive days are needed. To investigate this problem, we collected at least two spectra per night during the 7 days of the August 1987 run and during the 6 days of the November 1998 run. The 1987 data cover the He ii $`\lambda `$ 4200 line, while the 1998 data cover the He ii $`\lambda `$ 4542 line. These data enable us to search for short-term variations of the spectra, and also to check the short periods (a few days) given in the literature. Because of the poorer spectral resolution (1.7 Å) of the 1987 data, the RVs show a large scatter in 1987 compared to the 1998 measurements that were obtained with a resolution of 0.2Å (see Figs. 2 and 3).
We tried to search for a periodicity in the He ii RVs measured on the two sets of data (20 spectra in 7 days + 15 spectra in 6 days), but we did not find any significant short period. Moreover, those data do not confirm the periods given in the literature. In Figures 2 and 3, our data are folded respectively with Hutchings’period (4.6117 d, Hutchings hut1 (1975)) and the 5.7937 days period of Aslanov & Barannikov (asl (1989)). Both periods can clearly be ruled out. Due to the severe aliasing of our time series, the 1.02 day period taken from Vreux & Conti (vr (1979)) cannot be sampled over an entire cycle with our data. Though the scatter of the folded data (20 km s-1 for $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$0.1 in 1987 and 10 km s-1 for $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$0.3 in 1998) argues against this last period, it cannot be totally excluded. Meanwhile, we emphasize that no short period, typically from 1 to 5 days, does appear in our data.
We have also applied the period research techniques to the He ii EWs determined in those two runs. Again, no significant period appears. With the 1998 high-resolution data, we also searched for short-term variations in the line profiles: neither He i $`\lambda `$ 4471 nor He ii $`\lambda `$ 4542 seem to change during the whole duration of our run. Short term variations of typically 1 to 5 days - if they exist - are thus only of very small amplitude.

### 4.2 Long-term behaviour

Since we do not detect any short-term variability in the He ii RVs, we can average the He ii absorption RVs for each observing run: we have plotted those means in Fig. 4, and we have combined these values with all published RVs in Fig. 5. We caution that the oldest data are rather uncertain, and that they should only be used for a qualitative analysis.
The He ii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4200, 4542 lines are most probably formed in the deeper (photospheric) layers of the stellar atmosphere and can thus give rather unpolluted information about the star’s actual motion. Other absorption lines (Mg ii $`\lambda `$ 4481, Si iv $`\lambda `$ 4631 and all N iii lines between 4510 and 4534 Å) and some emission lines (the unidentified Of emissions $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4486, 4504 ; Si iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4552, 4568 ; N iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4634, 4341 ; He ii $`\lambda `$ 4686 and O ii $`\lambda `$ 4705) display the same behaviour as the He ii absorption lines. The RVs of some of these lines are shown in Fig. 4. On the other hand, the RVs of the main absorption components of H$`\beta `$, H$`\gamma `$ and He i $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4388, 4471, 4713 become less and less negative over all the years of our observing campaign. This is linked to the long-term line profile variations discussed in Section 6.
The continuous trend of the absorption lines towards more negative RVs since 1922-1923, as reported by Underhill222The errors quoted in Table 3 of Underhill (und2 (1994)) are not the standard deviations of the data, contrary to what we used in Fig 4 or 6, but the standard deviations of the means: those two values differ by a factor $`\sqrt{N}`$. This explains the rather low value of the $`\sigma `$ in her Table. (und2 (1994)), does not appear in our data. On the contrary, in 1994 and in 1996, the RV of He ii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4200, 4542 is about the same as in 1922. The absence of a clear very long term trend is best seen in Fig. 5.
Underhill (und2 (1994)) also mentionned that the RVs of the absorption and emission lines show different behaviours. But in our data, He ii absorptions and He ii, O ii, Si iv and N iii emissions display quite similar behaviours (as can be seen on Fig. 4 and on Fig. 1 of Barannikov bar (1999)). However, the ‘abrupt’ shift of the RVs towards more negative values in 1991, seen by Underhill (und2 (1994)) does appear in our data as well as in those of Barannikov (bar (1999)). If intrinsic to a single star, this behaviour could indicate an episodic change of the velocity structure in the inner regions of the expanding atmosphere.
Using our data set only, a period of about 4600 days appears in the Fourier periodogram. However, with $`SL=0.89`$, this detection is not significant. Moreover, this period completely disappears when we include the RVs determined by Plaskett (plask (1924)), Hutchings (hut1 (1975)), Vreux & Conti (vr (1979)), Underhill (und2 (1994)) and Barannikov (bar (1999)). Considering the whole data set, no significant period becomes visible, the minimum $`SL`$ reaching $`0.93`$.
According to Barannikov (bar (1999)), the He ii RVs should follow a period of 1627.6 d. But when we fold our data according to this period, it clearly appears that it is ruled out by our data (see Fig. 6). Barannikov used low-resolution333The dispersion was 44 Å/mm-1. photographic spectra, which are prone to errors (there are differences up to 70 km s-1 between two consecutive nights for a 1627.6 days period with an amplitude K of only 10.5 km s-1!): this might explain the important scatter seen in his orbital solution. We note that the minimum in Barannikov’s radial velocity curve occurred in 1991, i.e. at the same epoch as we observe the RV shift discussed hereabove. However, our data do not suggest that this phenomenon is periodic.

## 5 Equivalent Widths

Aslanov & Barannikov (asl (1989)) claim that the equivalent width variability of emission lines is of stochastic nature, while the one associated with absorption lines exhibits a period twice the one derived from their radial velocities. More recently, Underhill (und2 (1994)) found no periodicity in the variability of the EWs.
In our data, two different categories of lines emerge: most of the lines appear rather constant but several others have clearly variable EWs. In the first category, Si iv $`\lambda `$ 4088, He ii $`\lambda `$ 4200, 4542 and He i $`\lambda `$ 4143 exhibit maximum EW variations below $`20`$% and the scatter is quite low (see Table 4). Other lines fall also into this category, e.g. the O ii and C ii emission lines, the unidentified Of emissions and the N iii absorptions. In agreement with Underhill (und2 (1994)), we do not find any significant periodicity when considering the variability of the EWs of the He ii absorption lines.
Turning now to the lines showing variable EWs, we will focus here on the behaviour of those lines for which we have the best coverage with our data sets. The Si iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4552, 4568 and C iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4647-50 emissions seem to decrease gradually during the whole duration of our observing campaign. The EWs are reduced by a factor 2 between 1987 and 2000. The He i $`\lambda `$ 4713 line also presents EW variations, up to 50% from the mean. But the most impressive changes occur in H$`\gamma `$, He i $`\lambda `$ 4471 and H$`\beta `$. Their total equivalent widths (absorption + emission) increase gradually (see Table 5). In Fig. 7, one can clearly see this continuous trend to higher EWs, as the emission component weakens and finally disappears (see Section 6).
This separation of the lines in 2 categories, the rather constant ones (e.g. He ii emission and absorptions) and the clearly variable ones (e.g. Si iii and the most variable He i and H i lines), points most probably towards different formation regions for each category.

## 6 Line Profile Variability

As summarized for example in Andrillat et al. (and (1973)), many line profiles of the spectrum of HD 108 vary over the years, with some of them changing spectacularly from P Cygni profiles to pure absorption or emission lines. This is especially the case for the Balmer Hydrogen lines and some He i lines ($`\lambda \lambda `$ 4388, 4471, 4713). In our data, He i $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4388, 4713 appeared only once, in 1987, with a P Cygni profile while these lines display pure absorptions since then.
To better quantify the line variability, we used the temporal variance spectrum (TVS), as defined by Fullerton et al. (ful (1996)). This TVS analysis, when applied on the common spectral range of the data collected in 1987 and from 1996 to 2000, yields interesting results (see Table 4): in addition to the He i and H i lines, the absorption lines of N iii (from 4510Å to 4534Å) and of He ii $`\lambda `$ 4542, as well as the emission lines of N iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4634-41, He ii $`\lambda `$ 4686, Si iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4552, 4568 and C iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4647-50, do all vary, though with a smaller amplitude. On the contrary, other emission lines (e.g. O ii and the unidentified $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4486, 4504) were stable during the whole observing campaign.
To compare the variations of the different lines, we have used the local pattern cross-correlation technique discussed by Vreux et al. (vr2 (1992)) and by Gosset et al. (gos (1994)). But before that, we have convolved the 1998 and 2000 data until they reach the same resolution as the 1996, 1997 and 1999 spectra. Only then, we have cross-correlated the variation pattern of some unblended lines (e.g. He i $`\lambda `$ 4471, He ii $`\lambda `$ 4686) with the whole spectra. Using the He ii $`\lambda `$ 4686 emission line as a reference, a strong correlation appears between the deformation pattern of He ii $`\lambda `$ 4686 and the ones of the N iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4634, 4641 lines. On the contrary, the He i $`\lambda `$ 4471 pattern seems rather related to the variation of the N iii absorptions between 4510 and 4534Å, He ii $`\lambda `$ 4542, C iii $`\lambda `$ 4647-50, He i $`\lambda `$ 4713 and H$`\beta `$. The behaviour of the N iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4634-41 lines suggests therefore that these lines form in the same physical region as the He ii $`\lambda `$ 4686 emission, while the clearly distinct variations of the He i and Balmer emissions point towards a different origin and/or emission mechanism for the latter lines. The variability pattern of He ii $`\lambda `$ 4686 and N iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4634-41 between 1996 and 2000 reveals an enhancement of the core of the line while the red wing is progressively depleted.
These N iii profile variations probably point towards a wind contribution to the emission. In this context, it is worth recalling that once that a velocity gradient exists, the fluorescence mechanism, suggested by Swings (Swings (1948)) to account for the occurrence of the N iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4634-41 emission lines in the spectra of Of stars, can become extremely effective (Mihalas Mihalas (1973)).

The most impressive variability is unquestionably displayed by H$`\alpha `$, H$`\beta `$, H$`\gamma `$ and He i $`\lambda `$ 4471, as already quoted in Section 5. The long-term line profile variability of these lines is presented in Table 6 and Fig. 9: the changes are clearly outstanding. We do not have a lot of information about H$`\alpha `$, but the line is clearly variable. Our 1997 H$`\alpha `$ data yield a normalized peak intensity of 1.8, whereas in 1990 (Underhill und2 (1994)), it reached a value of 2.5. A similar behaviour was observed by Beals (bea (1950)): in 1938, the normalized intensity of H$`\alpha `$ was over 2, but it was only 1.3 in 1945. The H$`\alpha `$ line thus roughly behaves in the same way as H$`\beta `$, H$`\gamma `$ and He i $`\lambda `$ 4471. Other Balmer lines (e.g. H$`\delta `$, H$`ϵ`$) and He i lines (e.g. 4388, 4713) also display a similar behaviour, but we will now focus on the H$`\gamma `$, He i $`\lambda `$ 4471 and H$`\beta `$ lines, for which we have the most extensive data set.
These three lines displayed a P Cygni profile at the beginning of our observations in 1987. Then the emission component progressively weakened until the lines appeared completely in absorption. The first line that went into absorption is He i $`\lambda `$ 4471, followed by H$`\gamma `$ and finally H$`\beta `$. After this change, the depth of the He i absorption lines continued to increase gradually, as can be seen in Figs. 7 and 9. Since the change into absorption occurred only recently, we have no information yet about the behaviour of the H$`\gamma `$ and H$`\beta `$ lines after the emission has disappeared.
Interestingly, a similar transition was observed some 56 years ago (see Table 6): all three lines were seen as pure absorptions in 1944 and also in 2000. In 1934, He i $`\lambda `$ 4471 was already described as an absorption, while H$`\gamma `$ and H$`\beta `$ were still displaying P Cygni profiles. Then, H$`\gamma `$, followed very soon by H$`\beta `$, went into absorption. Finally, in 1954, a weak emission reappeared in H$`\beta `$. Therefore, the long term line profile variations of HD 108 seem to be recurrent with a timescale of about 56 years.
However, the interpretation of the Balmer line profile variations is complicated by the fact that these lines are blended with He ii Pickering lines. Following the same procedure as in Lamers & Leitherer (lam (1993)), we attempted to restore the H i line profiles by subtracting a fake He ii line obtained by interpolation (H$`\gamma `$) and extrapolation (H$`\beta `$) from the unblended He ii $`\lambda `$ 4200 and $`\lambda `$ 4542 lines. The reconstructed profiles are striking: the hydrogen lines no longer appear as P Cygni profiles, but as rather sharp and symmetrical emissions superimposed on broader absorptions (see the lower panels of Fig. 9). This emission fades with time, and finally nearly disappears in H$`\gamma `$ in 1999. The RVs of the ‘restored’ H$`\beta `$ and H$`\gamma `$ emission peaks become more negative during the last two years.
We have also tried to remove the photospheric He i absorption to recover the stellar wind line profile using two slightly different approaches. First, we assume that the emission has completely disappeared in the spectra observed in 2000, and use this profile for the He i photospheric contribution. Second, we evaluate the photospheric absorption by fitting a gaussian profile to the blue wing of the $`\lambda `$ 4471 line, assuming it is not contaminated by emission. In this latter case, we set the RV of the photospheric He i component to be equal to the observed RV of the He ii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4200, 4542 lines. The resulting pure emission profiles are displayed in Fig. 9. We caution however that the reconstruction of the He i $`\lambda `$ 4471 wind profile is far more uncertain than the restoration of Balmer lines.
The rather narrow Balmer emission profiles without evidence for an associated P Cygni wind absorption are probably difficult to explain in a spherically symmetric model for the wind of HD 108. In fact, the width of the lines indicates that they must be formed over a small range in radial velocity and hence the radial extent of the line forming region in the expanding wind should be rather small. Under such circumstances, a spherically symmetric wind would most probably result in a pronounced P Cygni absorption component that is not observed.
On the other hand, the different behaviour of the He ii $`\lambda `$ 4686 and N iii emission lines on the one side and the He i and Balmer lines on the other side, clearly indicates that there must be at least two distinct regions in the atmosphere of HD 108 where emission lines are formed.

## 7 Discussion

The spectrum of HD 108 looks pretty much like that of the extreme O8 Iaf star HD 151804 (Crowther & Bohannan crow (1997)), but exhibits additional emission lines (C ii, O ii,…) and presents spectacular H i and He i line variations.
Underhill (und2 (1994)) found similarities between the spectrum of HD 108 and the spectra of Ofpe/WN9 stars (Bohannan & Walborn boh (1989)) and those of B\[e\] stars. Comparing with more recent data (e.g. Nota et al. nota (1996)), we notice some marked differences between the spectrum of HD 108 and spectra of Ofpe/WNL stars. For example, the He ii and N iii absorptions are stronger in the spectrum of HD 108. Also, the H$`\alpha `$ emission of HD 108 is sharper and the He i lines can evolve into pure absorptions, not only weaker P Cygni.
HD 108 was also discussed in connection to the Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) stars. However, until now, HD 108 has not presented spectacular spectral type variations. The He ii $`\lambda `$ 4542 line is only slightly variable and the apparent changes in spectral type discussed in Sect. 3.1 rather reflect the variations of the wind emission in He i $`\lambda `$ 4471. Finally, unlike most LBVs or LBV candidates, no nebular emission was detected around HD 108, even if the star has been suggested in the past to be the exciting star of a faint nebula (see Higgs & Ramana hig (1968)). But, in a more recent work Lozinskaia (loc (1982)) excludes the presence of a nebula around HD 108.

Andrillat et al. (and2 (1982)) presented some characteristics of Oe stars. In their sample of stars, H$`\alpha `$, He i $`\lambda `$ 6678 and H i Paschen lines are often present in emission. These emissions are variable, on time scales of several years. They can completely disappear or even become absorption lines. HD 108 presents similar characteristics of varying He i and H i lines, and its near IR spectrum is also similar to those of Oe stars. HD 108 does not display the Fe ii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 7515, 7712 and O i $`\lambda `$ 7772 lines seen by Andrillat et al. (and2 (1982)) in most Oe spectra, but these lines are also missing in the spectra of some confirmed Oe/Be stars, as for instance in X Persei.
Moreover, Divan et al. (div (1983)) showed that Oe and Be stars are brighter and redder when the emissions in the Balmer continuum and in H$`\alpha `$ are stronger. Unfortunately, there are few photometric studies of HD 108. Its V magnitude was measured by Plaskett & Pearce (pla (1931)), Hiltner & Johnson (hilt (1956)), Blanco et al. (bla (1968)) and Leitherer & Wolf (lei (1984)) who all found V=7.40 and by Bouigue et al. (bou (1961)), who found V=7.35. The B-V color index is about 0.18 for all articles, except the last one (B-V = 0.14). However, HD 108 was sometimes attributed a variable character: in the New Catalogue of Possible Variable Stars (NVS), its V magnitude varies from 7.35 to 7.48. Chilardi et al. (chi (1948)) reported magnitude variations up to 0.4 mag, and more recently, Barannikov (bar (1999)) showed that there was an abrupt change in the light curve in 1996 and 1997, when He i $`\lambda `$ 4471 went into absorption, followed quite soon by H$`\gamma `$. At that time, the star became suddenly fainter and bluer (in $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$(V-R)). In addition, the Hipparcos satellite has measured a mean Hp magnitude of 7.412$`\pm `$0.012 mag with a maximum of 7.39 and a minimum of 7.43 (Hipparcos main catalogue, ESA 1997). The small amplitude of the light curve argues against HD 108 being a dormant LBV, but it could be compatible with an Oe/Be behaviour.

HD 108 seems thus to share several characteristics of Oe or Be-type stars. However, the spectrum of HD 108 displays rather sharp emissions without any indication of a double-peaked morphology that could be attributed to an equatorial disc or flattened wind. Therefore, if HD 108 has indeed an equatorial disc, it should be seen under a rather low inclination. In fact, spectropolarimetric observations (Harries Harries (2000)) do not exclude the possibility of a disc, provided it would be seen face-on.
Moreover, as mentioned in the introduction, several conflicting determinations of the mass-loss rate of HD 108 can be found in the literature. From the unsaturated resonance lines seen in the IUE spectrum of HD 108, Hutchings & von Rudloff (HvR (1980)) and Howarth & Prinja (HP (1989)) inferred rather low values of $`2\times 10^7`$ and $`3\times 10^6`$ M yr-1 respectively. Using the H$`\alpha `$ line flux, Peppel (Pep (1984)) and Leitherer (Leit (1988)) obtained $`\dot{\mathrm{M}}10^5`$ M yr-1. Finally, the largest mass-loss rates ($`5\times 10^5`$ M yr-1 comparable to those of Wolf-Rayet stars) were derived from the infrared excess (Ferrari-Toniolo et al. fer (1981)). The various values listed here refer to observations obtained at the same epoch (between 1978 and 1982) thus ruling out any long-term trend as the origin of the discrepancies. These different determinations of $`\dot{\mathrm{M}}`$ could provide further support for a scenario based on a disc seen face-on. In fact, the UV resonance lines are sensitive to the absorption along the line of sight, whereas the IR continuum probes the emission from the extended disc.

As already quoted in the first section, HD 108 has been sometimes classified as a runaway: Bekenstein & Bowers (bekbow (1974)) found a peculiar velocity $`v_p`$ $`>`$ 98 km s-1 while Underhill (und2 (1994)) gives $`v_p=43`$ km s-1. The Hipparcos satellite has measured the proper motion of HD 108 and found $`\mu _{\alpha cos(\delta )}=(5.39\pm 0.66)\times 10^3`$ arcsec yr-1 and $`\mu _\delta =(0.93\pm 0.54)\times 10^3`$ arcsec yr-1. Using the method described by Moffat et al. (mof (1998) and erratum in moferr (1999)), we calculate :
$`(\mu _l)_{pec}=(3.14\pm 1.01)\times 10^3`$ arcsec yr-1
$`(\mu _b)_{pec}=(0.47\pm 0.56)\times 10^3`$ arcsec yr-1
yielding $`(v_t)_{pec}=37.8\pm 16.5`$ km s-1, assuming a distance from the Sun equal to 2.51 kpc (Gies gies (1987)) and a 30% uncertainty in the distance.
Moffat et al. (mof (1998)) define a runaway as a star with $`(v_t)_{pec}>42+\sigma _{(v_t)_{pec}}`$. This criterion does not allow us to attribute a definite runaway status to HD 108.

## 8 Conclusions

Using a 30 years long campaign of spectroscopic observations, we have analysed the strange behaviour of HD 108. The analysis of our RV time series failed to reveal a significant period and our data rule out the periods claimed in previous studies (e.g. Hutchings hut1 (1975), Barannikov bar (1999)). However, HD 108 presents some outstanding long-term variations: He i and H i lines changed recently from P Cygni profiles to apparently pure absorption lines. A similar situation was observed about 56 years ago. The line profile variations are thus very probably recurrent. We tried to remove the underlying photospheric absorption to better understand some of the variations. The restored Balmer and He i lines consist of rather narrow emission lines overlying a broad (photospheric) absorption line and reveal no evidence for a P Cygni type absorption. The other emission lines either display lower amplitude variations (N iii $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4634-41, He ii $`\lambda `$ 4686,…) or are only marginally variable (e.g. the O ii emissions, the unidentified $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4486, 4504 emissions,…). These various emissions have thus most probably different origins. Several different hypotheses on the wind structure and the nature of HD 108 can be considered:

1. The emission lines in the spectrum of HD 108 could be formed in jets as suggested by Underhill (und2 (1994)). The long-term variations could be due to a strong occultation of the jets by the stellar body. Such an occultation might result from a precession of the jets. In our data, the absorption continues to strengthen after the emission apparently vanished (e.g. He i $`\lambda `$ 4713) whereas the EWs should reach a limiting value during the eclipse. One possibility could be that in 2000 we are still in a pre-eclipse phase. However several details remain to be addressed. Where do the rather constant emissions (e.g. He ii $`\lambda `$ 4686) originate? What triggers the precession of the jets? Moreover, the narrow emission lines indicate that these jets must be seen almost perpendicular to the line of sight and it seems difficult to imagine a geometric configuration that could explain the secular variations without exhibiting a simultaneous modulation of the emission on the (much shorter) time scale of the stellar rotation period.
2. The star could be surrounded by a disc which undergoes density oscillations (see e.g. the models by Okazaki oka (1991)). The emission lines would be attenuated when these oscillations are eclipsed by the star, provided that the inclination is sufficient. However, the narrow emission lines without any evidence of a double-peaked profile and the spectropolarimetric observations of Harries (2000) suggest that such a disc should be seen face-on. Therefore it seems difficult to explain the observed variations with this model.
3. Alternatively, the wind of HD 108 could be confined by a strong enough magnetic field into a high density cooling disc in the plane of the magnetic equator (see Babel & Montmerle Babel (1997)). The emission lines would be formed in this cooling disc. If, for some reason, the strength of the magnetic field changes as a function of time, we expect the density in the disc and hence the emission strength to vary. Again, we would have to explain why there is a dichotomy in the behaviour of the emission lines and what would be the mechanism causing the modulation of the magnetic field strength.
4. HD 108 might be a binary system harboring a compact object which is revolving in a highly eccentric orbit around an Oe star which is surrounded by a disc seen face-on. Near periastron passage, the X-rays emitted by the accreting compact object (neutron star or black hole) could drastically alter the ionization in the circumstellar enveloppe. The X-rays could completely ionize hydrogen and He i, and the emission in those lines would thus disappear. As long as the compact companion is far enough from the Oe star, the He ii $`\lambda `$ 4686 formation zone should not be affected too much. If the compact object follows a highly eccentric orbit, the spectral lines should not be affected during most part of the orbit. As some older data are missing (especially from 1955 to 1968), we cannot check what was the morphology of the lines at this epoch. On the other hand, the enhanced interaction around periastron should generate an enhanced X-ray emission. In this context it is worth mentioning that HD 108 was detected as a fairly bright source in the ROSAT All Sky Survey (RASS). In fact, Rutledge et al. (Rut (2000)) quote a ROSAT-PSPC count rate of $`0.0614\pm 0.0124`$ cts s-1 for HD 108. Assuming that the X-ray emission is produced in an optically thin thermal plasma with $`kT=0.5`$ keV and accounting for an interstellar neutral hydrogen column density of $`3.4\times 10^{21}`$ cm-2 (Diplas & Savage DS (1994)), we derive an unabsorbed flux of $`2.3\times 10^{12}`$ erg cm-2 s-1 in the energy range 0.1 – 2.0 keV444This flux is in very good agreement with the 0.032 cts s-1 EINSTEIN-IPC count rate quoted by Chlebowski et al. (Chle (1989)).. Again assuming a distance of 2.51 kpc (Gies gies (1987)), we derive an X-ray luminosity of $`L_x=1.7\times 10^{33}`$ erg s-1 corresponding roughly to $`\mathrm{log}L_x/L_{\mathrm{bol}}6.0`$. The ratio between the X-ray and bolometric luminosities in 1990 (i.e. at the time of the RASS) was therefore about six times larger than expected from the ‘canonical’ relation proposed by Berghöfer et al. (berg (1997)). Observations of HD 108 with the XMM-Newton satellite might allow to confirm the compact companion hypothesis since they will be obtained when the stars would be close to periastron passage.
If this compact companion model applies, then the system should certainly have undergone a supernova. Since the runaway status is not established, another confirmation of this scenario could come from the detection of a supernova remnant (SNR) in the vicinity of the star. No such SNR has been detected so far. In the ambient circumstellar medium ionized by the O-star, the SNR signature would be very difficult to see. Another possibility for a null detection could be that this remnant has already evaporated. Maeder & Meynet (maed (1994)) predict lifetimes between $`2.6\times 10^6`$ and $`4.4\times 10^6`$ yrs for stars of spectral type O3 to O6, whereas a typical O7.5 star stays $`4.6\times 10^6`$ yrs on the main sequence555Assuming that the typical initial masses of O3, O6 and O7.5 stars are respectively 85, 30 and 20 M.. Since a SNR takes typically $`5\times 10^4`$ yrs to evaporate, the compact companion hypothesis cannot be ruled out on the grounds of the lack of a detected SNR.

As the behaviour of HD 108 seems recurrent, and could reproduce after about 56 years, this star certainly deserves a long-term spectroscopic monitoring. The H i and He i lines could either reach a steady state or continue their evolution towards stronger absorptions, before they gradually recover a P Cygni profile. Photometric observations of this star should also be useful to assess the amplitude of the possible magnitude variations of HD 108, which might be in correlation with its line profile variability. Moreover, multiwavelength studies should be undertaken, in order to confirm possible variations of the mass-loss rate or the compact companion hypothesis. Only then, will we finally be able to answer the question about the real nature of HD 108.

###### Acknowledgements.

We would like to thank Dr. J. Manfroid for his help in collecting additional spectra in 2000 and Drs. E. Gosset and T.J. Harries for discussion. We thank the referee Dr. O. Stahl for a careful reading of the manuscript and for his valuable suggestions. JMV and GR would like to thank the staff of the Observatoire de Haute-Provence for their technical support during the various observing runs. We are greatly indebted to the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (Belgium) for multiple assistance including the financial support for the rent of the OHP telescope in 1999 and 2000 through contract 1.5.051.00 “Crédit aux Chercheurs” FNRS. The travels to OHP for the observing runs were supported by the Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche de la Communauté Française. This research is also supported in part by contract P4/05 “Pôle d’Attraction Interuniversitaire” (SSTC-Belgium) and through the PRODEX XMM-OM and Integral Projects. The SIMBAD database has been consulted for the bibliography.