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# Tuning the Clock: Uranium and Thorium Chronometers Applied to CS 31082-001

## 1. Introduction

Abundance measurements of long-lived radioactive neutron-capture species found in r-process-enhanced extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars offer the opportunity to determine the age of the progenitor object(s) that contributed these elements into the presently observed stellar material, by comparison with r-process model predictions (Cowan et al. 1999; Meyer & Truran 2000). Such age estimates do not rely on assumptions about Galactic chemical evolution, yet provide constraints on the nature of r-process nucleosynthesis, and limits on the age of the Galaxy and the universe.

So far this method has been applied to Thorium observations in several EMP stars. For the first time, Uranium now has also been detected, in the EMP halo star CS 31082-001 (\[Fe/H\] = –2.9) (Cayrel et al. 2001; also this volume). Instead of one chronometer – the previously used \[Th/X\] abundance ratio (with X representing a reliably observed stable r-process element such as Eu) – there are now three principal chronometer pairs available, \[Th/X\], \[U/X\], and \[U/Th\]. These chronometer pairs can be combined to obtain a more reliable age estimate (see Goriely & Clerbaux 1999). In that way one can also place another constraint on r-process model parameters by demanding consistency of the different inferred ages. R-process model parameters determined in this way for CS 31082-001 could then be used for more reliable age determinations of other stars, even those for which no U can be detected.

## 2. Calculations

We calculated the r-process production of 238U and 232Th using the classical site-independent model (Cowan et al. 1999) assuming (n,$`\gamma `$)-($`\gamma `$,n) equilibrium (waiting-point approximation) and an iron seed. R-process abundances are obtained from a superposition of abundance distributions where weights and timescales obey a power law over the neutron density. Assuming that the abundance pattern in CS 31082-001 resembles a solar r-process pattern (see Fig. 1), the four free parameters of the model are determined by fitting the calculated abundances to the solar system r-process abundances (Arlandini et al. 1999) at the 124$`<`$A$`<`$133 and 189$`<`$A$`<`$199 abundance peaks, as well as at Pb. Because Pb is a product of $`\alpha `$-decay chains like Th and U, it provides an important constraint for the U and Th production estimates (Pb has not yet been detected in CS 31082-001, Hill et al., this volume).

The necessary nuclear physics input for our calculations are masses, $`\beta `$\- decay half-lives, branchings for $`\beta `$-delayed neutron emission, and the rates of fission processes for very neutron-rich nuclei. While we used experimental data where available, the vast majority of the required nuclear information needs to be predicted by theory. For comparison, calculations were performed with two nuclear mass models, the frequently used ETFSI-Q (Pearson, Nayak & Goriely 1996), and the recently developed HFBCS-1 (Tondeur, Goriely & Pearson 2000), which we use here for the first time in a r-process calculation. The $`\beta `$-decay data were the same as in Cowan et al. (1999). It has been emphasized before that the proper treatment of fission processes is crucial for calculating the r-process yields of Thorium and Uranium (e.g., Cowan, Thielemann & Truran 1991; Goriely & Clerbaux 1999). In this work we re-calculated neutron-induced fission, $`\beta `$-delayed fission, and spontaneous fission rates based on the new fission barriers from Mamdouh et al. (1998), using the methods outlined in Kodoma & Takahashi (1975).

Ages were determined based on the predicted abundance ratios \[U/Th\], \[U/X\], and \[Th/X\]. To compensate for the deficiencies in the abundance predictions of stable r-process elements, and to reduce the impact of observational errors in the \[U/X\] and \[Th/X\] ratios, we also fitted both the observed and the simulated elemental abundance pattern to the solar one. Then the ratios \[U\*f/U0\] and \[Th\*f/Th0\] alone can be used for an age determination. (U\* = observed stellar abundance, U0 = predicted abundance, f = normalization factor).

We conducted an extensive investigation of the influence of uncertainties on the age determination. (1) $`\beta `$-decay rates: To obtain a conservative estimate of the possible influence of errors in the $`\beta `$-decay data, we randomly changed the $`\beta `$-decay half lives by factors between 0.2 and 5. Branchings for $`\beta `$-delayed neutron emission were also varied. One hundred calculations were then made to determine the variance of the r-process abundance predictions ($`\mathrm{\Delta }_\beta `$). (2) Model uncertainties: We determined the range of the four r-process model parameters that still result in a reasonable fit of the solar abundance pattern. This parameter range leads to an uncertainty $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{par}}`$ in the predicted abundances. While this error is small for \[U/Th\], it turns out to be unacceptably large for the \[U/X\] and \[Th/X\] ages. However, in this work we constrain the simulation parameters by requiring best possible consistency with the \[U/Th\] age. This constraint leads to the same small $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{par}}`$ for all abundance ratios. (3) Observational errors: These lead to uncertainties in the derived abundance ratios $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{exp}}`$. (4) Mass models: We determined the simulation parameters individually for the two mass models ETFSI-Q and HFBCS-1. Generally there is good agreement in the abundance predictions between the two calculations in the critical 230$`<`$A$`<`$260 mass region. Yet, the pronounced drop in the calculated abundances in the mass region 229$`<`$A$`<`$238 before $`\beta `$-decay occurs 5 mass units earlier for the ETFSI-Q model, resulting in a somewhat lower Th abundance and a higher age estimate. This is probably a consequence of a difference in the prediction of the onset of deformation in the 244Tl region. (5) Fit to abundance pattern: The scaling factor $`f`$ for the \[U\*f/U0\] and \[Th\*f/Th0\] age estimates has an error $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{logfac}}`$, originating from the discrepancies between the calculated and the observed abundance patterns for stable r-process elements (see Fig. 1).

## 3. Results

Fig. 1 shows our calculated r-process elemental abundances. In Tab. 1 we list our resulting age estimates together with the various sources of uncertainties.

The most robustly predicted abundance ratio is \[U/Th\], which represents therefore the most reliable chronometer. Yet, the mass-model dependence is still substantial, yielding ages of 13$`\pm `$4 Gyr (ETFSI-Q) or 8$`\pm `$4 Gyr (HFBCS-1). $`\beta `$ delayed fission leads to significant corrections when adopting the new Mamdouh et al. fission barriers (+0.9 Gyr for the \[U/Th\] age, –0.8 Gyr for the \[U/X\] ages and 4 Gyr (!) for the \[Th/X\] ages). While more theoretical work is needed, this indicates that $`\beta `$ delayed fission should not be neglected. While some of the predicted \[U/X\] and \[Th/X\] ages agree well with \[U/Th\], others show discrepancies. The \[U\*f/U0\] and \[Th\*f/Th0\] ages average over these discrepancies, and at least \[U\*f/U0\] provides a reasonable age estimate as well (\[Th/X\] suffer from large observational uncertainties in the present data). However, we are now in the position to pick the \[U/X\] and \[Th/X\] estimates that agree best with the \[U/Th\] age. These are the ratios based on Gd and Ir abundances (Hill et al., this volume). Our predicted ratios for \[Th/Gd\] and \[Th/Ir\] can therefore be used for improved age estimates of stars where no Uranium can be detected. In principle, other observed \[Th/X\] ratios could be used together with our calculations, if an appropriate correction factor would be applied. Such a correction factor can now be determined by requiring consistency with \[Th/Ir\] and \[Th/Gd\]. However, it will be crucial to verify whether the consistency of the age estimates based on \[U/Th\], \[U/Gd\], and \[U/Ir\], as obtained from our r-process model, holds for a larger sample of EMP stars.

## References

Cowan, J.J., et al. 1999, ApJ, 521, 194

Meyer, B.S. & Truran, J.W. 2000, Phys. Rep. 333, 1

Cayrel, R. et al. 2001, Nature, 409, 691

Goriely, S. & Clerbaux, B. 1999, A&A, 346, 798

Arlandini, C. et al. 1999, ApJ, 525, 886

Pearson, J.M., Nayak, R.C., & Goriely, S. 1996, Phys. Lett. B, 387, 455

Tondeur, F., Goriely, S., & Pearson, J. 2000, Phys. Rev. C, 62, 024308

Cowan, J.J., Thielemann, F.-K. & Truran, J.W. 1991, Phys. Rep. 208, 267

Mamdouh, A. et al. 1998, Nucl. Phys. A, 644, 389

Kodoma, T. & K. Takahashi, K. 1975, Nucl. Phys. A, 239, 489.

### Acknowledgments.

This work was carried out under NSF contracts PHY 0072636 (Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics) and PHY 9528844. J.C. was supported by NSF grant AST-9986974.


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# Backscattering in carbon nanotubes : role of quantum interference effects

## Abstract

The backscattering contribution to the conductivity, irrelevant for metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes, is proved to become much significant for doped semiconducting systems, in agreement with experiments. In the case of multi-walled nanotubes, the intershell coupling is further shown to enhance the contribution of backscattering for ”metallic” double-walled, whereas it remains insignificant for ”metallic/semiconducting” double-walled systems.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) can be either metallic of semiconducting depending on their helicities, i.e. how the graphene sheet is rolled up. For weak uniform disorder, the application of the Fermi golden rule for metallic SWNTs have demonstrated $`\mu m`$ long mean free paths  in agreement with experiments, clearly pointing towards ballistic transport.

Notwithstanding, quantum transport in SWNTs is richer than in the one-dimensional chain, given the implication of additional symmetries of electronic eigenstates associated to the circumferential helicity. This has been widely illustrated through the theoretical study of conduction upon introduction of single defects such as vacancies, impurities or topological defects. In particular, the absence of backscattering was demonstrated for single impurity with long range potential in metallic tubes and stepwise reduction of conductance was inferred from multiple scattering on a few lattice impurities. Resonant electronic scattering by defects was recently confirmed experimentally.

On the other hand, electrostatically or chemically doped semiconducting SWNTs have been reported to behave as diffusive conductors with short mean free paths, several orders of magnitude lower than the ones of reported structurally equivalent metallic SWNTs. In all these experiments, the mean free path ($`l_e`$) is deduced from the measured conductance using $`G(e^2/h)\mathrm{}_e/L_{tube}`$ ($`L_{tube}`$ the length of the SWNT) and values range from $`2nm`$ to about $`30`$nm. Upon doping, the position of the chemical potential (Fermi energy) with respect to the charge neutrality point is shifted downward (hole-doping) or upward (electron-doping) and hence may come closer to a Van-Hove singularity. This may result in a factor $`\sqrt{v^2}`$ much smaller than the typical $`v_F`$ deduced from the metallic SWNTs. Moreover, quantum interference effects (QIE) responsable for localization in 1D-systems need to be clarified in the context of carbon nanotubes. Indeed, on multi-walled carbon nanotubes, Bachtold et al. have reported negative magnetoresistance and Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, consistent with the manifestation of quantum interferences in the weak localization regime. This experiment was interpreted by assuming a current predominantly carried in the outermost shell (taken metallic), and mean free path and coherence lengths were deduced from conventional theory. It is surprising that quantum interferences that have been described for the two-dimensional propagation (with many more conducting channels), still account properly for the behavior of a single metallic nanotube shell, which only presents two conducting channels at the charge neutrality point. In that perspective, the debate of ballistic  against diffusive conduction in MWNTs is a great issue of concern.

All these considerations can be addressed by rewriting the conductance as $`(e^2\sqrt{v^2}\tau _e\delta \sigma )/L_{tube}`$ ($`\tau _e`$ the mean free time of eigenstates given by the Fermi golden rule), and by evaluating properly the contribution of backscattering. This quantum correction ($`\delta \sigma `$) to the Bloch-Boltzmann conductivity ($`\sigma _{BB}`$), is related to the probability of return to the origin of electronic wavepackets, that is connected to the Participation Ratio (PR), an energy dependent quantity which measures the ”spreading” of the electron eigenstates commonly used to address QIE in weak or strong localization regimes. For an eigenstate $`\psi (E)`$ described by its $`N`$ coefficients $`\psi _i(E)`$ in a tight-binding basis set, the PRs read

$$PR(E)=(\underset{i}{\overset{N}{}}\psi _i(E)^2)^2/\underset{i}{\overset{N}{}}\psi _i(E)^4$$

and it can be shown that an average of the probability of return to the origin in real space is equivalent to an average of the inverse PR on the spectral bandwidth. Accordingly, the amplitude of quantum correction to the electronic conductivity can be estimated as

$$\delta \sigma /\sigma _{BB}PR^1(\text{for}N\mathrm{})$$

Eigenstates characterized by a linear scaling in $`N`$ are uniformly extended and associated with a vanishing contribution of QIE, i.e. $`\delta \sigma /\sigma _{BB}0`$. Instead, localized states are related to strong contributions of QIE, i.e. $`\delta \sigma /\sigma _{BB}1`$, whereas scaling laws $`PR(N)=N^\alpha `$, with $`0<\alpha <1`$, indicate the relative strength of QIE.

In this letter we present detailed calculations of the PRs for different tubes, addressing the role of disorder and intertube coupling in the transport properties of nanotubes. We use the standard and reliable one-electron tight binding model including intertube interactions (for MWNTs) fitted to ab-initio calculations. Disorder is included by a random modulation of onsite energies within the range $`[W/2,W/2]`$ ($`W=0.054,0.135,0.98eV`$) that simulate chemical substitutions. The mean free path associated for a given disorder is deduced from $`\mathrm{}_e(\gamma _0/W)^2d_{nt}`$, ($`d_{nt}`$ is the nanotube diameter, $`\gamma _0=2.67eV`$ the hopping between carbon sites).

Effect of disorder in SWNTs.-The density of states (DoS) together with the PRs of several metallic chiral and achiral SWNTs are reported on Fig.1 (results are nearly identical for $`W=0.054eV`$ and $`0.135eV`$). For Fermi energies at the charge neutrality point, $`PR=N`$ for armchair and achiral tubes, whereas $`PR2N/3`$ for zig-zag SWNTs. An energy dependence relation between the position of Van-Hove singularities and the amplitude of PRs is also found. For the Bloch states of zigzag and armchair tubes (the central sub-band of armchairs excepted), there is a degeneracy due to mirror-inversion symmetry. Each value of the wavevector is associated to two Bloch states with the same energy, but with an opposite phase variation along the circumference : $`\psi _n^+=\mathrm{exp}(ik\theta _n/2\pi )`$ and $`\psi _n^{}=\mathrm{exp}(ik\theta _n/2\pi )`$, where $`k>0`$ is a positive integer and $`\theta _n`$ is the polar angle of the site $`n`$ located on a given ring. By a linear combination of $`\psi ^+`$ and $`\psi ^{}`$, a Bloch state with any PR value between $`2N/3`$ and $`N`$ can be constructed. The lowest value is given by the combination $`(\psi ^++\psi ^{})/\sqrt{2}`$, which is a “standing wave” along the circumference : $`\psi _n^++\psi _n^{}=2\mathrm{cos}(k\theta _n/2\pi )`$, leading to $`PR=N(\mathrm{cos}^2(k\theta _n/2\pi ))^2/\mathrm{cos}^4(k\theta _n/2\pi )=2N/3`$. Due to this uncertainty, the PR is thus not a well-defined quantity for degenerate eigenstates. But a small amount of disorder is enough to split degeneracy and the PRs shown in Fig.1 become meaningful. For nondegenerate eigenstates (as found in chiral metallic SWNTs and armchair SWNTs close to Fermi energy), perturbation theory applies, so that the PRs are not much reduced by disorder and remain close to $`N`$. Instead, for degenerate states (zig-zag metallic SWNTs), disorder favors standing waves, i.e. states with a real wavefunction, because the hamiltonian is real and symmetric. Thereby the PRs are close to $`2N/3`$, which explains the general behavior shown in Fig.1. Values much smaller than $`2N/3`$ are attributed to standing waves along the tube axis $`z`$, obtained by mixing $`k_z`$ and $`k_z`$ Bloch states close to the Van-Hove singularities. At the charge neutrality point of the metallic SWNT $`(6,6)`$, the eigenstates are basically insensitive to disorder and follow the linear scaling expected for fully extended states (inset Fig.2). This confirms that the effect of small disorder is purely marginal in metallic SWNTs close to Fermi energy.

On the contrary, a stronger contribution of QIE for doped semiconducting SWNTs is demonstrated by the scaling behavior of PRs as reported on Fig.2 (main frame). The chemical potential of the (7,5) semiconducting tube has been upshifted by assuming a typical dopant concentration of a few percent of carbon sites (within the rigid band approximation). Departure from linear scaling is obtained ($`PR=N^\alpha `$) with an increasing contribution of QIE with disorder strength ($`\alpha 0.98,0.95`$ for $`W=0.054eV`$ and $`0.136eV`$ respectively). For a larger disorder strength ($`W=0.98eV`$), that corresponds to a mean free path $`\mathrm{}_e20nm`$, the saturation of the PR provides an approximate localization length of $`\xi 40nm`$. From the Thouless argument, it is believed that $`\xi 4\times \mathrm{}_e`$ for a metallic shell that provides two conducting channels at the charge neutrality point. Hence, for doped semiconducting tubes, the mixing between quantum channels induced by substitutional disorder, results in an enhanced contribution of QIE, and lower localization lengths. This demonstrates that the conduction mechanism in the outermost shell of a MWNT depends on the position of the chemical potential. To complete this argument, we add the effect of intertube coupling as it promotes charge transfer between shells in MWNTs.

Effect of disorder and intershell coupling in commensurate MWNTs.-The characteristic sensitivity to disorder of QIE in MWNTs is illustrated on Fig.3 for small disorder ($`W=0.054eV`$). For the double-walled ”metallic” armchair tube $`(6,6)\mathrm{@}(11,11)`$, the average PR close to the charge neutrality point is roughly half the value for the isolated armchair tube, for same disorder parameter. According to the previous discussion, the $`\delta \sigma `$ contribution is now not negligible and contribute to a reduction of the conductivity (confirmed by the scaling analysis of PR-not shown here). Such effect is similar in double-walled ”metallic” zig-zag tube, but it is reduced when the outer shell is semiconducting. It can be understood from the fact that, at the charge neutrality point, the states of such MWNTs are mainly weighted in the inner metallic shell, so less sensitive to the delocalization induced by intershell coupling, and less affected by disorder as in metallic SWNTs. Hence, MWNTs consisting of $`2/3`$ of semiconducting shells remain long ballistic conductors at charge neutrality point.

Acknowledgments: Financial support from NAMITECH \[ERBFMRX-CT96-0067(DG12-MITH)\], DGES (PB98-0345), COMELCAN( HPRN-CT-2000-00128), JCyL (VA28/99) and C4 are acknowledged.

Figure captions:

Figure 1: PRs (solid lines) and TDoS (dashed lines) for metallic armchair $`(6,6)`$, zigzag $`(18,0)`$ and chiral $`(9,6)`$ tubes. PRs are normalized to the number $`N`$ of atoms, and have been averaged over a few disorder configurations ($`W=0.054eV`$). TDoS are given in arbitrary units.

Figure 2: Comparison of the scaling of the PRs for metallic (6,6) (inset) and doped semiconducting (7,5) single-walled nanotube (for which the chemical potential lies nearby a Van-Hove singularity, $`E_F/\gamma _00.333`$ upshifted with respect to the charge neutrality point). The dashed lines indicate the linear scaling ($`PR=N`$). Comparison is made for two values of disorder strength $`W=0.054eV`$(open circles) and $`0.136eV`$(filled circles). The third disorder strength $`W=0.98eV`$(filled diamonds) taken for (7,5) at the same Fermi energy leads to $`\mathrm{}_e20nm`$.

Figure 3: PRs for different double-walled tubes : ”metallic” armchair $`(6,6)\mathrm{@}(11,11)`$, zigzag $`(9,0)\mathrm{@}(18,0)`$, and ”metallic/semiconducting” chiral $`(9,6)\mathrm{@}(15,10)`$ nanotubes.


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# Searching for the in-plane Galactic bar and ring in DENIS

## 1 Introduction

De Vaucouleurs (1964, 1970) first suggested, in an attempt to explain observed non-circular gas orbits, that the Galaxy might be barred. Since then, a large body of observational evidence has been accumulated that supports this hypothesis (see Garzón 1999 for a review). Axial asymmetries in the inner Galaxy have been detected in star counts (Nakada et al. 1991; Weinberg 1992; Whitelock et al. 1992; Stanek et al. 1994; Hammersley et al. 1994, 1999, 2000 Wózniak & Stanek 1996; Nikolaev & Weinberg 1997; Unavane & Gilmore 1998; López-Corredoira et al. 1997, 2000) and by surface photometry at different wavelengths (Blitz & Spergel 1991a; Weiland et al. 1994; Dwek et al. 1995; Freudenreich 1998), microlensing (Stanek 1995; Binney et al. 2000) and analysis of internal motions of the gas (Peters 1975; Liszt & Burton 1980; Yuan 1984; Nakai 1992; Gerhard 1996). Various models have been constructed to explain the observed features, many of which include a bar (e.g., Binney et al. 1991; Weiner & Sellwood 1999). The observed non-axisymmetry, however, varies considerably between the various papers, although “bar” is the term normally used. Unfortunately, this terminology is ambiguous and has led to much confusion and controversy, as has been commented on in several papers (Kuijken 1996; Ng 1998; López-Corredoira et al. 1999). This is more than a mere question of words, however. Many authors have classed what is a short fat structure as a bar, when possibly a more appropriate term would be a triaxial bulge. Other authors have found a long thin structure, which, if it exists, would be what is traditionally considered to be a bar, and such a feature is inherently different from a triaxial bulge.

Whilst evidence for the triaxial bulge is now overwhelming and the results are basically consistent, there is still discussion on the presence of the long thin bar. Radio maps show significant non-axisymmetry in the motions of the gas in the inner galaxy. Peters (1975) analysed the HI maps and showed that a bar inclined at about 45 to the Sun–Galactic Centre line would produce the features seen. Nakai (1992) found a similar angle when analysing CO maps, and a rough calculation places the ends of the bar at $`l30^{}`$ and $`l=20^{}`$.

IRAS star counts in the plane have a very asymmetric distribution in longitude (e.g. Garzón 1999), with more stars at positive than at negative longitudes. These asymmetries stretch from about $`l=30^{}`$ to $`30^{}`$ and are far larger than the asymmetries caused by a triaxial bulge, in both extent and magnitude. Weinberg (1992) analysed the IRAS star counts in the plane and proposed that there was an in-plane stellar bar with a position angle of 36 $`\pm 10^{}`$ and half-length of about 5 kpc. Hammersley et al. (1994, hereafter H94) examined data from the Two Micron Galactic Survey (TMGS) and showed that there is a high density of young stars in the plane at $`l=27^{}`$ and $`21^{}`$ that is not seen either towards the bulge or at longitudes greater $`l=27^{}`$. An analysis of the COBE/DIRBE 2.2-$`\mu `$m surface brightness maps showed that the form was consistent with an in-plane bar.

Further evidence for the bar at positive longitudes is presented by Garzón et al. (1997) and López-Corredoira et al. (1999),who made a spectroscopic analysis of the brightest stars in an infrared-selected sample of objects close to the Galactic plane at $`l=27^{}`$ showing a strikingly high fraction of supergiants, characteristic of a strong star formation region. The typical distance to these sources was found to be 6 kpc. It was argued that this result is consistent with this region being the near end of the Galactic bar. Such regions can form due to the concentrations of shocked gas where the stellar bar meets the disc, as is observed at the ends of the bars of face-on external galaxies (Sandage & Bedke 1994). Hammersley et al. (2000, hereafter H00) examined infrared colour–magnitude diagrams in a number of regions in the plane. They show that there is a major cluster of K–M giants at a distance of 5.7 $`\pm `$ 0.5 kpc at $`l=27^{}`$, which is not present at $`l=32^{}`$. This cluster is seen at most longitudes smaller than $`l=27^{}`$ (the exception being regions of extremely high extinction) and the distance from the Sun to the cluster increases with decreasing longitude until about $`l=10^{}`$, where it merges with the bulge. H00 argue that what is being seen at $`l=27^{}`$ is the older component at the near end of a bar with a position angle of 43$`\pm 7^{}`$ and half length about 4 kpc. This would put the far end of the bar near $`l=12^{}`$, and the authors note that there is a peak in the COBE/DIRBE surface brightness maps at this location.

Other authors, however, prefer to explain these extra stars seen in the plane as belonging to a ring or spiral arms. Kent et al. (1991) suggested a model containing a thick ring and disc which did successfully reproduce the surface brightness maps at positive longitudes (their data set was principally for positive longitudes). However, their model is basically symmetrical and so would not reproduce the negative longitudes as seen in COBE/DIRBE. Even making the ring elliptical would not significantly improve the fit. In fact none of the proposed models containing a bulge (including its triaxiality) disc and ring successfully reproduces the star counts or surface brightness maps in the plane between $`l=40^{}`$ and $`40^{}`$. Freudenreich (1998) has significant residuals in the plane between $`l=30^{}`$ and $`30^{}`$ after subtracting the disc and bulge. He prefers to attribute these residuals to patchy star formation trailing from a ring or spiral arm, however the discovery of older stars in H00 rules out patchy star formation; furthermore, the residuals are not “patchy” but almost constant between $`l=30^{}`$ and $`12^{}`$.

Weiner & Sellwood (1999) produced a gravitational model that included a separate bar and bulge, and with this model they fitted the observed features caused by the gas kinematics in the inner regions of Milky Way. Their bulge is axisymmetric and the inclination of the bar is $`35^{}`$. In that paper, the authors claim that their treatment of bulge and bar separately does not imply that both components are different, either photometrically or kinematically. However, although they do not make such a claim, it is evident that the model works much better by introducing these two types of density distributions. Even if they were part of the same structure, the central kiloparsec would be significantly different from the outer regions.

Generally, the observations indicate that size and form of the asymmetry in the star distributions vary with Galactic latitude. Normally, when the low latitudes are excluded (i.e. observing the triaxial bulge) an angle of about 25 is found. When the plane regions are included, however, the angle reaches 45 (Sevenster et al. 1999). The difference in counts between positive and negative longitudes is also larger close to the plane but it can still be detected ten or more degrees from the plane. This arrangement is consistent with a triaxial bulge with an inclination around 20 or less, dominating the off-plane regions, and a thin bar with an inclination around 45, which gives strong asymmetry only in in-plane positions. The change in angle with latitude would be related to the ratio of bulge and bar counts, with each having different position angles.

An important parameter in any barred galaxy is the location of corotation. Corotation is at 1.1 to 1.2 times the length of the bar and the bar cannot extend beyond corotation. However, a triaxial or boxy–peanut bulge will end near the vertical ILR, which is at about $`R_{\mathrm{cr}}/2.2`$ (Friedli 1999). Therefore, both the thin bar and triaxial bulge put corotation at about 4.4 to 5 kpc. This is in agreement with the conclusions of Combes (1996). Galaxies with two, or even three, triaxial structures are known (see Friedli 1996 for a review) and the position angles of the various components can take any value (in fact, they are aligned only in a minority of cases). Hence, it is quite reasonable that a triaxial bulge and in-plane bar have slightly different position angles.

From the above it is clear that the non-axisymmetry in the inner Galaxy is best described by two separate components: a “triaxial bulge” and a “thin bar” and the two should not be confused. The bar is long and thin, and contains both young and older stars, whereas the triaxial bulge is shorter, far fatter and only contains old stars (H94, H00, Garzón et al. 1997, López-Corredoira et al. 2000). This implies that the inner Galaxy when viewed face on would appear similar to M95 (NGC 3351), of revised Hubble type SBb(r)II (Sandage & Tammann 1981) (Figure 1), although the bulge of the Milky Way may be less prominent, or NGC 1433 (Fig. 2), revised Hubble type SBb(s)I–II (Sandage & Tammann 1981), where “r”” denotes “ringed” and “s” denotes that the spiral arms originate either from the ends of the bar or the from the centre, and the roman numerals I and II denote early type and intermediate luminosities. Other authors interpret NGC 1433 in terms of a double-barred galaxy (Friedli 1999) with different assumptions (they assume a elliptical shape for the thin bar instead of a sticklike shape); in any case, we have two different non-axisymmetric structures. Figure 3 shows a graphical representation of the proposed configuration for the inner Galaxy. It includes:

(half-length 3.9 kpc) with the near end at $`l=27^{}`$. Three possible values for the angle between the bar and Sun–Galactic Centre line are shown in Fig. 3: 50, 43 and 36. Such a bar would have star formation regions at its tips.

which is shorter, far thicker (extending to $`|b|1015^{}`$), with a typical angle of about 12 with respect to the Sun–Galactic centre line, and containing only old population stars (except for a small region in the inner bulge, López-Corredoira et al. 2001a).

The aim of this paper is to examine DENIS star counts for evidence of the long, thin bar and/or ring. Both the proposed continuous ring and bar make clear predictions as to the form of the star counts in the inner Galaxy, which can be tested against the data. In this paper, the term “bar” will refer only to the in-plane bar described in H00. When discussing the non-axisymmetry of the bulge, the term “triaxial bulge” will be used. The evidence for asymmetry in in-plane regions is explored in this paper through the analysis of star counts (§3) and extinction (§4).

## 2 DENIS data

The Deep Near-Infrared Survey of the southern sky (DENIS) is a survey the southern hemisphere in three bands: Gunn $`I`$ (0.82 $`\mu `$m), $`J`$ (1.25 $`\mu `$m), $`K_\mathrm{s}`$ (2.15 $`\mu `$m) with limiting magnitudes 18.5, 16.5 and 14.0 and saturation magnitudes 9.5, 8.5 and 6.5, respectively (Epchtein 1998). The ESO 1 m Telescope at La Silla (Chile) was used for the survey. The observations were begun in 1995 December and will be completed by the end of 2001 approximately. Part of these data are already reduced and a small part has already been released at the CDS for public use (Epchtein et al. 1999). A special effort has been made to cover priority regions of high scientific interest, such as the inner Galactic plane and bulge, and it is these data that will be used in this paper. In total, an area of around 170 deg2 within the area $`|l|<35^{}`$, $`|b|<2^{}`$ has been covered. As the positive longitudes were less sampled than the negative longitudes (96 deg2 are available at $`35^{}<l<0^{}`$, $`|b|<1.5^{}`$, while for positive longitudes only half of the area is covered: 47 deg2 are available at $`0^{}<l<35^{}`$, $`|b|<1.5^{}`$) some data from TMGS (Garzón et al. 1993, 1996) were used to complete the counts in those regions without DENIS data, and to calculate the star counts of the section §3. With regard to the extinction shown in §4, the calculations were carried out from DENIS data by Schultheis et al. (private communication).

The images were reduced at the Paris Data Analysis Centre (PDAC) of DENIS, and homogeneous criteria of reduction were applied to the whole special sample of the bulge, which is used here. They were checked and calibrated (Borsenberger 1997; Ruphy et al. 1997) at PDAC. The point source extraction was also carried out at PDAC by fitting PSFs optimized for crowded fields. For the astrometry, the individual DENIS frames were cross-correlated with the PMM catalogue (USNO-A2.0) with a precision of better than one arcsecond.

## 3 Asymmetry in the star counts of the Galactic plane

Star counts provide a powerful tool when searching for asymmetries in the stellar distribution in the inner Galaxy. Other researchers have already used this method (see introduction); however, they have mostly observed regions where the bulge is predominant. While the bulge is observed in off-plane regions up to $`b10`$ degrees and in $`|l|<15`$ degrees, the long, thin bar is visible only in the in-plane regions, $`|b|<2`$ degrees and up to $`|l|=27^{}`$ at positive longitudes, and somewhat less at negative longitudes. It is now well known that the star counts in the bulge are non-axisymmetric (e.g López-Corredoira et al. 2000); however, the larger-scale in-plane asymmetries are less well investigated.

The most appropriate DENIS filter for probing the inner Galaxy near plane is $`K_\mathrm{s}`$, since the effect of extinction is much lower than in the other filters. However, the other filters can be used to provide information about the population of the stars and the extinction.

Although the nominal $`K_\mathrm{s}`$ limiting magnitude of DENIS is around 14.0 (Epchtein 1998); the presence of confusion implies that in the more crowded regions the completeness can be two or three magnitudes brighter, particularly towards the inner bulge (Unavane et al. 1998). For this study, however, only the brighter stars will be used, so confusion is not an issue. Whilst it is often argued that the fainter the star counts the better, this is not necessarily so when observing the inner Galaxy. The ratio of inner Galaxy to local disc stars is more important. At magnitude 13 or 14 there will be more inner Galaxy sources than at magnitudes 8 to 10, but the numbers of local disc sources rises even more rapidly. Garzón et al. (1993) showed that the best contrast when looking at the bulge was at near $`m_\mathrm{K}`$ = +8, and that at fainter magnitudes the contrast became poorer. However, the number of stars detected falls rapidly much brighter than this (few if any bulge sources are brighter than $`m_\mathrm{K}`$ = 6, L00) and the statistical errors become important. For this paper star counts up to $`m_{K_\mathrm{s}}=9`$ will be used, as the inner-Galaxy-to-disc contrast is high, but there are still sufficient sources to provide good statistics.

The star counts down to $`m_{K_\mathrm{s}}`$ = 9.0 are shown in Figure 4. The DENIS star counts show the average of the available counts in a region of width $`\mathrm{\Delta }l=5^{}`$ centred on the position marked. A large bin size was adopted, as this averages out the fluctuation due to the varying extinction and the asymmetries being sorted are distributed over many tens of degrees. To complete the longitude coverage, the star counts from TMGS are used (see Hammersley et al. 1999 for more details on the data). The TMGS data, however, are plotted at the average longitude where the strip crossed the plane. In both cases the areas of sky covered were large so that the Poissonian error is negligible. There is a difference between the standard $`K`$ filter of the TMGS and the DENIS $`K_\mathrm{s}`$; however, Cohen (1997) has shown that the difference between the two for any star is less than 0.03 mag, so the effect on the counts of using one or other should be negligible.

Fig. 4 shows five slices across the plane at $`2^{}>b>1.5^{}`$, $`1^{}>b>0.5^{}`$, $`0.25^{}>b>0.25^{}`$, $`0.5^{}>b>1^{}`$ and $`1.5^{}>b>2^{}`$. Therefore, at the distance of the Galactic Centre (8 kpc) the average heights over the plane are 0 pc, $`\pm 100`$ pc and $`\pm `$ 240 pc. It is noticeable that the cuts furthest from the plane are substantially different from those in the plane. It can further be seen that the counts are more or less symmetrical in latitude. The slight differences that there are can be attributed to the Sun being about 14 pc above the Galactic plane (Hammersley et al. 1995), which would give more counts at negative than at positive latitudes, and differences in the extinction above and below the plane. The small differences that there are between the TMGS and DENIS counts can be attributed to the fact that they are centred on different longitudes and cover different areas of sky.

### 3.1 Off-plane star counts

Before attempting to disentangle the $`b=0^{}`$ slice, it is important to understand the shape of the disc, as this will be an important feature in the plane. The slices at $`|b|=1.75^{}`$ should be very sensitive to the shape of the disc. They are far enough from the plane that the extinction will be low, typically 2 to 3 magnitudes in the visible or 0.2 to 0.3 mag at $`K_\mathrm{s}`$. Furthermore, the lines of sight run sufficiently far above and below the plane that the young components close to the plane will not be a major component in the counts and only inner Galaxy features with scale heights in the hundreds of parsecs should provide a significant contribution.

Fig. 4 shows that the slices for $`|b|=1.75^{}`$ are more or less symmetric in longitude. Initially, the counts rise with decreasing longitude but then for $`30^{}>|l|>12^{}`$ the counts are basically flat before rising steeply for $`|l|<10^{}`$ as the bulge counts become increasingly important. These plateaux are not expected for a purely exponential disc. Fig. 5 shows the counts for $`1.5^{}>b>2^{}`$ and the predicted counts using two simple disc–bulge models. Both models are based on Wainscoat et al. (1992), whose model has been shown to reproduce the TMGS star counts very well (Hammersley et al. 1999). The bulge used is that described in Wainscoat et al. (1992); the fact that the model is axisymmetric whereas the bulge is triaxial is not important for the following discussion. The extinction model used is also as described in Wainscoat et al. (1992). The difference between the two plots is that the figure marked “exponential disc” has an exponential disc that continues into the Galactic Centre, again as in Wainscoat et al. (1992). However, the model marked “truncated exponential” has a stellar density that only rises exponentially inwards down to 3.5 kpc, from which point it falls off linearly such that at the centre it is zero. This approximates to a Freeman type II disc with a central hole and is known as an inner truncated disc.

The model predicts that a purely exponential disc that continues into the centre should rise increasingly steeply with decreasing longitude; however, the measured counts clearly do not do this. The truncated model does, however, reproduce the shape very well. A full discussion of the exact form of the inner disc is beyond the scope of this paper, as data further from the plane are required; however, this result is in agreement with the findings from the analysis of the COBE/DIRBE surface brightness maps (e.g. Freudenreich 1998). Inner truncated discs are very common in barred spirals. Ohta et al. (1990) looked at six early-type spirals and found that all had Freeman type II discs when looking perpendicular to the plane. Baggett et al. (1996) show that barred galaxies are a factor of two, or more, more likely than non-barred Galaxies to have an inner truncated disc. They also note that an increasing number of bars is being found in galaxies previously classified as non-barred, so this percentage is likely to rise.

### 3.2 In-plane star counts

The large-scale asymmetry counts in the plane are very noticeable. Positive longitudes consistently have far more counts than negative longitudes. Furthermore, the shape of the counts is very different at positive and negative longitudes, so the form cannot be explained by simply making the inner Galaxy elliptical. From about $`l=27^{}`$ to the Galactic Centre the counts are flat, whereas between $`l=0^{}`$ and $`l=18^{}`$ they are reduced by a factor 2. This asymmetry is greater in the $`b=0^{}`$ strip than in the $`|b|=0.75^{}`$ strip because the relative contribution of the bar will be larger at $`b=0^{}`$. The disc will contribute about 50% of the counts at $`l=20^{}`$ in the plane but, as is shown in the previous section, the disc is symmetric. Hence, when the disc is subtracted from the in plane counts the asymmetries between positive and negative longitudes in the remaining counts (i.e. those from the inner Galaxy components) become enormous.

The peak due to the bulge at $`l=0^{}`$ is hardly seen at all in the in-plane strip, whereas it is clearly evident in the off-plane counts. This is due in part to the strong extinction within a few hundred pc of the Galactic Centre (GC) which drastically reduces the counts in the plane (Hammersley et al. 1999). Hence, the rapid increase in star density near the GC is masked. However, the $`l=7^{}`$ $`b=0^{}`$ line of sight runs far enough away from the GC not to be affected by the very high extinction near the GC, and here the bulge contributes about 50% of the counts to $`m_K=9`$ (Fig. B2 in Hammersley et al. 1999). At greater absolute longitudes the bulge quickly dies away, providing a negligible contribution for $`|l|>10^{}`$. Therefore, there has to be another component in the plane taking its place at greater absolute longitudes to make the counts almost flat up to $`l=27^{}`$, where it then stops quite suddenly. This component contributes around 50% of the detected sources, so it must be a major feature in the inner Galaxy. This component is principally seen at positive longitudes, extending from the bulge up to $`l=27^{}`$ and somewhat less at negative longitudes. This makes the component extremely asymmetric as seen from the Sun, far more so than the triaxial bulge.

Clearly, one explanation for the asymmetry in the counts would be extinction. This has an important role as a bar would be expected to have dust lanes on its leading edges (Calbet el al. 1996) and will be discussed in Section 4; however, extinction can only reduce the numbers of stars, whereas here there is clearly an extra population in the plane.

In H94, a ring, by itself, is shown not to explain the in-plane features. A ring would be expected to produce a peak in the counts at the positions tangential to the line of sight. If the ring is relatively thin, then away from the tangential points the counts should die away quickly. If the ring is very broad (e.g. as proposed by Kent et al. 1991), then the peak becomes a lot broader. Figure 6 shows some possible forms that the ring counts could produce for an axially symmetric system. If the ring were elliptical then the longitudes of the peaks would no longer be symmetric; however, the shapes of the peaks would remain basically unaltered. Clearly, it is possible that a contrived ring (particularly a patchy ring), coupled with a highly improbable distribution of extinction, could reproduce the form of the in-plane counts. However, as will be shown, this distribution of extinction does not exist and hence the ring by itself cannot explain the in-plane counts.

The other alternative to explain the asymmetry in the star counts is the existence of a bar. The work in H94 and H00 limits the possible orientations of the bar. The predicted bar has the near end at $`l=27^{}`$ at a distance of 5.7 kpc and the far end at $`l=12^{}`$ at a distance of about 11 kpc. We shall limit the discussion to whether the data presented here are consistent with the previous results rather than try to re-determine all the parameters, as the arguments presented would be almost identical.

Whilst simplistically one would expect the near end of the bar to give more counts than the far end, this is not necessarily the case in the plane. Blitz & Spergel (1991b) showed that the far end of the bar can give a higher surface brightness than the near end in the plane; Unavane et al. (1998) and Unavane & Gilmore (1998) predict a similar result for star counts. There are, however, a series of effects that have to be taken into account:

* The number of stars per unit area of sky is dependent on the volume of the bar intersected by the line of sight. This is dependent on the square of the distance to the bar at that position coupled with sec $`\alpha `$, where $`\alpha `$ is the angle between the bar and the line of sight. The regions at negative latitudes are more distant from the Sun than the regions on the positive side of the bar, and the line of sight cuts the bar at a shallower angle, both of which factors increase the counts per unit area at negative longitudes in comparison with positive longitudes.
* For the same apparent magnitude, the limiting absolute magnitude of the sources detected at positive longitudes is fainter than that at negative longitudes. Up to $`m_K`$ = +9, the luminosity functions will be dominated by young stars (roughly $`M_K<7.5`$ for a source at $`l=12^{}`$ and $`M_K<6.0`$ for a source at $`l=+27^{}`$, taking extinction into account). The luminosity function rises steeply over this magnitude range; this means that there will be far more detectable sources per unit volume at positive longitudes than at negative longitudes.
* The scale height of the bar is very important. H94 showed that the scale height for the sources in the spike at $`l=21^{}`$ was around 50 pc. This corresponds to $`b=0.5^{}`$ for the near end of the bar at $`l=27^{}`$ but $`b=0.25^{}`$ for the far end. Therefore, for the $`|b|<0.25^{}`$ counts, the edge of the box is a scale height at $`l=12^{}`$, only half a scale being at $`l=27^{}`$. The effect is to reduce the “far end”/“near end” count ratio. Further from the plane the ratio is decreased even further, such that in the region $`0.5^{}<b<1^{}`$ the far end of the bar will hardly be seen, whereas at the near end it will still be visible. If the scale height were a number of degrees, as in the bulge, then the effect would be small this close to the plane.
* The far end of the bar is at twice the distance of the near end and hence the extinction is likely to be greater. Furthermore, a sticklike bar could have a dust lane on its leading edge, which would further increase the extinction at negative longitudes. This gives further counts for the positive longitudes.

Figure 7 shows the measured and model counts distribution for three latitude ranges. The model contains the truncated disc, but with the bulge and extinction based on Wainscoat et al. (1992). The simplest possible bar distribution in agreement with H00 was then added. The bar used has a thickness of 500 pc, a half-length of 4 kpc and position angle of 43. The distribution was assumed to be constant along the bar but exponential in height above the plane. The magnitude limit means that the sources would have to have absolute magnitudes brighter than $`M_K`$=-6. These sources will be principally young stars and so the scale height will be small. These sources will be the same as those in the spike seen in H94, which have a scale height of about 50 pc. The luminosity function used was the same as for the disc although the density was then normalized to make the total counts match those at $`l=27^{}`$.

Whilst the model is simple, it does reproduce the measured counts fairly well, apart from the region near the GC, where the extinction model used is almost certainly not correct:

* The model predicts the sharp jump in counts near $`l=27^{}`$ in the plane.
* The model predicts nearly constant counts in the plane between $`l=27^{}`$ to about $`l=12^{}`$, at which point there is a drop to the disc level in the counts.
* In the $`1^{}<b<0.5^{}`$ plot, the model predicts that the extra sources are significant at positive longitudes but not at negative longitudes. The point at $`l=10^{}`$, $`b=0.75^{}`$ is more or less at the level of the disc counts, whereas at $`l=10^{}`$ $`b=0^{}`$ there is a significant extra population. This is caused by the small scale height of the bar.

The only major feature not predicted is the peak at $`l=22^{}`$. This will be dealt with later.

Unavane & Gilmore (1998) and Unavane et al. (1998) analysed narrow-band $`L`$ star counts and DENIS data at a few positions in the Galactic plane, near the centre. Contrary to the results presented here, they found higher counts at negative longitude than at positive longitude, and this fits some of the models for the “bar”, although, from the introduction, this could also be classed as the triaxial bulge. By observing only a few regions in the central few degrees, however, they were principally measuring the bulge, which dominates the star counts in the inner plane (L00). This is an old population with a scale height far greater than the 50 pc of the feature seen here, which, as discussed above, would increase the counts at negative longitudes. In this paper, however, we are dealing with a young population extending tens of degrees along the plane from the centre. This is a very different feature, and so our results cannot be compared with those of Unavane & Gilmore (1998) and Unavane et al. (1998).

The above shows that the DENIS + TMGS star counts to $`m_K`$=+9 between $`l=27^{}`$ and $`12^{}`$ do have the characteristic signatures of the young component of a thin bar. The ring by itself, even if made elliptical, cannot give a good fit to the data. Therefore, the bar proposed in H00 correctly predicts the majority of the features seen, without resorting to ad hoc solutions.

## 4 Asymmetry in the extinction of the Galactic plane

Another way of observing possible asymmetries is to examine the distribution of extinction along the plane. The proposed bar would make the stars in the fourth quadrant significantly further away than the bar stars in the first quadrant and, consequently, the extinction of the bar stars would be higher at negative longitudes than at positive longitudes. Moreover, a possible dust lane leading the bar (Calbet et al. 1996) would further increase the extinction at negative longitudes. For the proposed bar the extra extinction would lie between where the dominance of the bulge in the counts ends ($`l8^{}`$) and somewhere near the far tip of the bar ($`l12^{}`$).

The calculation of the extinction is not straightforward and requires a number of assumptions to be made, in particular about the stellar populations. However colour–magnitude diagrams do allow a simple separation of disc dwarfs, disc giants and inner Galaxy giants when there is significant extinction along the line of sight (e.g. H00 or Ruphy et al. 1997). In DENIS, $`JK_\mathrm{s}`$ is more appropriate since the $`I`$ filter does not reach the stars in the inner Galaxy along lines of sight to regions with high extinction. Using this idea, Schultheis et al. (1999) derived a method to obtain an extinction map towards the inner Galactic plane. This used $`J`$ and $`K_\mathrm{s}`$ DENIS bands to isolate the inner Galaxy sources together with the interstellar extinction law ($`A_V`$:$`A_J`$:$`A_{K_\mathrm{s}}`$=1:0.256:0.089) from Glass (1999). Theoretical isochrones (Bertelli et al. 1994) were calculated for the RGB and AGB phase assuming a 10 Gyr population with $`Z=0.02`$ and distance 8 kpc. The $`A_V`$ is then determined from the shift in the colour-magnitude diagram ($`K_\mathrm{s}`$ vs. $`JK_\mathrm{s}`$) of the isochrones. This method was applied in the region $`|l|<8^{}`$ in the paper by Schultheis et al. (1999). Here, the same method will be applied for a wider region, $`|l|<20^{}`$. The results, after smoothing the extinction map, are shown in Figs. 8 and 9.

Asymmetry is clearly observed in the extinction for $`|b|<0.25^{}`$ and for $`0.5^{}<b<1.0^{}`$. In the plane there are on average two or three magnitudes more of extinction at negative longitudes than at positive longitudes. For off-plane regions $`1.5^{}<|b|<2.0^{}`$ the asymmetry in the extinction is not present. Again, a bar is consistent with this result, whereas a ring is not. The extinction calculated here is only approximate as it is impossible to isolate the stars of the inner Galaxy from those in the disc, including the disc beyond the Galactic Centre. However, although the exact interpretation of the value of $`A_V`$ is not immediately obvious, the asymmetry is present and this can only be due to an intrinsic asymmetry in the central distribution of stars and/or dust.

Fig. 9 presents the extinction as a two-dimensional map over the region $`|l|<20^{}`$ and $`|b|<1.5^{}`$. As well as the extra extinction at negative longitudes, there is a clear tilt in the extinction. This tilt follows a path line $`b0.05\times l`$ for $`|l|<8^{}`$, so it runs below the plane at positive longitudes and above the plane at negative longitudes. This is a well-known feature in the CO and HI maps (Liszt & Burton 1980; Sanders et al. 1984). Observing a tilt in the extinction map clearly indicates that this extinction is due to gas and dust in the centre of the Galaxy, where the gas distribution is tilted. Because of the tilt, the asymmetry for $`1.0^{}<|b|<0.5^{}`$ is not seen in Fig. 8 whilst the asymmetry at $`0.5^{}<b<1.0^{}`$ is very high. At positive longitudes, the extinction is around 5 magnitudes less than at negative longitudes, except for a few isolated regions, such as the excess at $`(l=15^{},b=0.5^{})`$, probably associated with a cloud in the molecular ring.

## 5 An analysis of the inner Galactic plane at $`𝒍\mathbf{<}\mathrm{𝟎}^{\mathbf{}}`$

A map of the star counts with $`m_{K_\mathrm{s}}9.0`$ is shown in Fig. 10 (upper) with a binning of $`\mathrm{\Delta }l=2^{}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }b=0.5^{}`$. This binning reduces high frequency fluctuations due to very patchy extinction. Only the negative longitudes are shown because in this region coverage in the DENIS batches is almost complete (96 deg2 are available at negative longitudes, while for positive longitudes only 47 deg2 are available). Furthermore, previous papers have already studied the positive longitudes (e.g. H94; Kent et al. 1991), whereas there is relatively little published on the negative longitudes.

In the star-count map there are peaks in a number of regions ($`l=0^{}`$, $`b=\pm 1.5^{}`$; $`l=5^{}`$, $`b=1^{}`$; $`l=12^{}`$, $`b=0^{}`$; $`l=22^{}`$, $`b=0^{}`$; $`l=30^{}`$, $`b=1^{}`$). Some of these peaks may be due to real features in the star distribution, but others are clearly due to regions of lower extinction than in the surrounding areas. Often, local maxima in the star counts are present where there are local minima in the absorption (Fig. 9). The extreme patchiness of the extinction, particularly when looking towards the inner Galaxy, means that care needs to be taken when interpreting counts in a few small areas, even when working at longer wavelengths, for example the $`L`$ band or 12 $`\mu `$m. The extinction can vary by 5 to 10 magnitudes in the visible over a few degrees, which will change $`A_L`$ by 0.25 to 0.5 magnitudes and hence will have a significant effect on the counts.

One method of distinguishing the peaks caused by areas of lower extinction from real features is to derive star counts corrected for extinction. The measured colour of a source is dependent on its intrinsic colour and the extinction. When looking at a restricted apparent magnitude range the majority of the sources at the same distance will have the same intrinsic colour. Hence when the majority of the sources along a particular line of sight are at the same distance, the extinction to each source—and hence the magnitude that the source would have without extinction—can be calculated as:

$$m_{K_\mathrm{s},\mathrm{corrected}}=m_{K_\mathrm{s}}\frac{A_{K_\mathrm{s}}}{A_JA_{K_\mathrm{s}}}[(JK_\mathrm{s})1.0]$$

if

$$(JK_\mathrm{s})>1.0.$$

and

$$\frac{A_{K_\mathrm{s}}}{A_JA_{K_\mathrm{s}}}=\frac{3}{5}.$$

The correction is calculated from the difference between the measured $`(JK_\mathrm{s})`$ and the expected intrinsic colour of the sources. At the distance of the bulge, $`m_K`$ = +9 means that the sources are early M-giants, and so the intrinsic colour will be about 1.1. The procedure that we have implemented only dereddens sources with $`JK>1.0`$, so that only the highly extinguished sources will be corrected. Furthermore, in order to remove many of the local disc sources and so improve the contrast, all sources with $`(JK_\mathrm{s})<0.5`$ were removed. This means that the inner Galaxy sources will be preferentially corrected, whereas the local disc sources, which are not as reddened, will not be corrected or removed. This approach is roughly consistent with that of Schultheis et al. (1999), except that here each star is individually corrected for extinction before each area is averaged. The star counts corrected for extinction using this method are shown in the lower plot of Figure 10.

This approach is reasonable because of the very high density of sources in the inner Galaxy. In many regions over 50% of the sources at a particular magnitude are from the inner Galaxy and so by improving the ratio the vast majority of the detected sources come from a relatively restricted distance range (8 $`\pm `$ 3 kpc). To have an extinction-corrected apparent $`K`$ magnitude of +9, the sources would need to have an absolute magnitude of between $`4.5`$ and $`6.2`$, which would mean that the typical intrinsic $`JK`$ colour is around 1.0. Even including the more luminous sources, the intrinsic $`JK`$ will typically be at most 1.3. An error of $`0.2`$ magnitudes in the assumed intrinsic colour leads to an error in the extinction-corrected $`K_\mathrm{s}`$ magnitude of about 0.1 magnitudes, which is negligible. Clearly some disc sources will be included and these will end up with incorrect magnitudes. However, this will be a small proportion of the total sources and their distribution is symmetrical and in principle predictable, so at most there will be a loss of contrast for the inner Galaxy features. Hence for the case where the majority of the sources are relatively concentrated in a certain location along the line of sight this is a straightforward method for recovering the form of the underlying star distribution, at least in the infrared.

It should be noted that this method needs to detect the source in both $`J`$ and $`K_\mathrm{s}`$, and so can only remove the effect of extinction up to a certain extinction limit. When the extinction becomes too high, the source will not be detected at $`J`$ and so sources will be lost. The $`J`$ limiting magnitude in DENIS is +16.5 and so the extinction correction limit when making $`K`$ counts to +9 will be about 20 magnitudes in $`V`$. The nuclei of the dense dust clouds, particularly near the Galactic Centre, will have far more extinction than this and in these regions hardly any sources will be detected. In general, these regions are small and so when averaging the counts over a reasonable area the losses will be small. However, the extinction-corrected counts shown here should be examined qualitatively, not quantitatively.

The most noticeable effect of the extinction-corrected counts is that a plot that was very patchy is converted into one with a basically smooth distribution of sources. Most of the local troughs have been “filled in” and the peaks disappear. It should also be noted that, unlike the extinction map, the stellar distribution shows no tilt. This may be important for the study of the causes of disc warps and inner tilts in the galaxies, which may be related (Ostriker & Binney 1989). A force that distorts the gas rather than the stars may indicate an origin related to magnetic fields (Porcel et al. 1997) or accretion of the intergalactic medium (López-Corredoira et al. 2001b). Another possibility is that as the inner disc is truncated there would be few stars in the inner disc to be detected, and so even if there were a tilt it would not be seen.

The results of Fig. 10 suggest that the extinction in Fig. 9 is consistent with that derived by the colour-term correction. Hence, by comparing the different maps the following conclusion about the peaks and valleys in Fig. 10 can be made:

: In the uncorrected counts there was a valley with peaks on either side ($`b=\pm 1.5^{}`$). The maximum source density is expected to be at $`l=0^{}`$, $`b=0^{}`$, but there is too much extinction in this region (over $`A_V20`$ from Fig. 9). When corrected for extinction, the two peaks are substituted for the one at the centre of the Galaxy.

: In the original counts this local maximum in the star counts coincides with a local minimum in extinction (Fig. 9). When the counts are corrected for extinction, counts from the neighbouring regions increase and the peak disappears. This confirms that this peak is caused by a line of sight which does not pass through a major extinction region.

: This is a region of high extinction and a dip in the counts. When corrected for extinction the counts recover, the dip disappears and this region becomes part of the spur extending to about $`l=14^{}`$.

: The absorption map in Fig. 9 shows that the extinction is lower than in the neighbouring areas and hence that there is a peak in the counts at this location. We suspect that the peak of old OH/IR stars at $`l=10^{}`$ described by Sevenster (1999) has something to do with the present peak at $`l=12^{}`$ for young stars. When the counts are correct for extinction the peak at $`l=12^{}`$ is converted into a “spur” in the counts jutting out about 5 degrees from the bulge but only existing very close to the plane. This spur ends at about $`l=14^{}`$. It is in the stellar distribution jutting out from the bulge, and fits precisely the far end of the bar described in H00.

: This region has significantly lower counts than the neighbouring regions before correcting for extinction, which in this region is apparently high. Calbet et al. (1996) also show this to be a region of high extinction from their analysis of the COBE/DIRBE surface brightness maps. After correcting for the extinction, the counts do not recover to the same level as the neighbouring regions. This could be explained if this were a a zone of extremely high extinction ($`A_V>30`$ mag); however, looking in detail at the distribution of the sources, there is no evidence for the dark “shadows” caused by dense molecular clouds, such as those that are seen towards the Galactic Centre, and so this is unlikely. A more realistic solution is that there are in fact few inner Galaxy sources along these lines of sight. In all lines of sight, sources will be detected from the far side of the disc. These are at a great distance and so are highly reddened. For most lines of sight towards the inner Galaxy, the inner Galaxy sources are by far the most numerous, so they dominate in any analysis. However, if these source are not present then the far side of the disc will become more important and make the average extinction higher when determined by the methods used here.

: This maximum extends over a number of degrees in the plane and is still present when the magnitudes are corrected for extinction; hence, this is clearly a real feature in the star distribution and not an artefact caused by patchy extinction in the nearby regions. In H94 this region was proposed to be the far end of the bar. However, this was based on an analysis of the COBE/DIRBE surface brightness maps, which are inherently ambiguous as these offer no information on distance. The data presented in H00 and the new data presented here both show that if there is a bar then the far end is near $`l=12^{}`$. The peak, centred at $`l=22^{}`$, has more or less the form that is expected for the tangential point to a ring or spiral arm. A full discussion on this is given in the following section.

: This peak almost disappears when the extinction correction is carried out, hence it is just an area of lower extinction.

## 6 Discussion

### 6.1 The ring

The ring by itself cannot explain the form of the counts along the Galactic plane. However this does not mean that there cannot be a ring. More than three quarters of known barred galaxies have rings (Buta 1996), so if the Galaxy is barred then there is a high chance that it will have a ring as well. The prominence of the peak at $`l=22^{}`$ indicates that it is caused by an important feature in the inner Galaxy. Its form indicates that it is the tangential point to a ring or spiral arm, and that its location coincides with tangent from the “3 kpc arm” seen in the CO maps. The 3 kpc arm is an unusual radio feature in the plane with a radial velocity of $`53`$ km s-1 at $`l=0^{}`$ rather than approximately zero as for the other arms. Furthermore, the tangential point to the Norma arm is at about $`l=30^{}`$, yet there is no clear evidence for the arm in the counts. The most likely explanation for the peak at $`l=22^{}`$ is that it is the tangential point to a ring, or more probably a pseudo-ring (i.e. the inner arms are very tightly wound around the bar to form what is almost a ring, as in NGC 1433). Sevenster (1999) detected an excess of OH/IR stars at $`l=22^{}`$ and suggested that the 3 kpc arm was the cause. He also concluded that this feature is indeed ringlike.

At $`l=22^{}`$ the radio tangential point and star-count peaks almost coincide, whereas at tangential points at positive longitudes in radio, $`l=24^{}`$, there is actually a strong dip in the counts. The closest peak to $`l=24^{}`$ is at $`l=27^{}`$, hence it is probable that the tangential point to the ring coincides with the end of the bar, which produces the strong peak in the counts seen at the Galactic Centre itself. The reason that the stars and gas are somewhat separated at positive longitudes whilst at negative longitudes they are close together is probably because at positive longitudes the tangential point to the ring almost coincides with the end of the bar. The ring is elliptical and, assuming that the main axis were parallel to the bar, which is not necessarily the case (Sandage & Bedke 1994), the axial ratio of the ring would be 1:0.76 for the stars and some what higher for the gas. This would compare with the mean axial ratio for rings of 0.81 $`\pm `$ 0.06 (Buta 1996). The diameter of the ring would be the same as the bar, hence 8 kpc, again very close to the typical values of 9 kpc found in external Galaxies (Freeman 1996).

### 6.2 Parameters of the bar

Combining the results from this paper and those presented in H00 and H94 the principle parameters of the bar can be determined.

: The near end of the bar is in the first quadrant at $`l=27^{}`$. At this position there is a sudden change in the stellar density and luminosity functions. The far end of the bar is in the third quadrant and is seen as the spur extending from the bulge to $`l=14^{}`$.

Using the above positions and assuming that the bar is rectilinear, centred at the Galactic centre and with a width of 500 pc, this gives a position angle between the bar and the solar Galactic Centre radius vector of around 40 $`\pm 5`$ deg. The error comes from the uncertainty in determining the position of the ends but the result is consistent with the other determinations for the in-plane bar (e.g. H00, or Weinberg 1992).

The distance to the bar varies from $`d=5.7`$ kpc at the closest position ($`l=27^{}`$) to $`d=11.1`$ kpc at the farthest position ($`l=14^{}`$).

The distance from the centre of the Galaxy to the end of the bar is $`0.48R_0`$, or $`3.9`$ kpc (the distance to the Galactic Centre is taken as $`R_0=7.9`$ kpc; L00).

Figure 4 shows that the counts are very asymmetric at $`|b|<0.25^{}`$, somewhat less so at $`0.5^{}<|b|<1.0^{}`$, but symmetric by $`1.5^{}<|b|<2.0^{}`$. At $`|b|<0.25^{}`$ there is an average gradient between $`l=25^{}`$ and $`l=25^{}`$ of $`30`$ (star/deg2)/deg, which drops to $`20`$ (star/deg2)/deg at $`0.5^{}<|b|<1.0^{}`$, but is only $`3`$ (star/deg2)/deg) or less at $`1.5^{}<|b|<2.0^{}`$. The projected vertical FWHM of the bar is therefore around 1 deg for stars with $`M_{K_\mathrm{s}}<6.0`$ (or $`M_{K_\mathrm{s}}<7.5`$ in the farthest positions of the bar). This implies that the scale height of the young stellar population of the bar discussed here is about 50 pc. However, it should be noted that the older component detected in H00 will probably have a significantly larger scale height.

From Figure 4 for $`|b|<0.25^{}`$, there is an excess of $`1500`$ stars/deg2 over the disc at $`l20^{}`$ when compared to $`l30^{}`$, and this excess will be mainly due to the bar stars at that location. The extinction at this position is $`A_V13`$ mag (see Fig. 8), and the distance of the bar stars is $`d6`$ kpc. Therefore, assuming a bar width of $`500`$ pc, the density of bar stars up to $`m_{K_\mathrm{s}}=9.0`$ is $`\rho 3\times 10^4`$ star/pc3, i.e. density of bar stars brighter than $`M_{K_\mathrm{s}}=6.0`$ (mainly late giants, supergiants and a few AGBs). For comparison, the bulge has the same density of stars at about 700 pc from the Galactic Centre in the plane (L00).

## 7 Conclusions

The following features are seen in the plane in the inner regions of the Galaxy ($`|l|<30^{}`$):

* The star counts are very asymmetric with longitude. There is a major excess of star counts at positive with respect to negative longitudes in the Galactic plane ($`|b|<1^{}`$).
* On average, there is more extinction at negative than at positive longitudes in the Galactic plane ($`|b|<1^{}`$).
* Off-plane star counts ($`1.5^{}<|b|<2.0^{}`$) are symmetric in longitude and are nearly constant for $`12^{}<|l|<30^{}`$.
* There is a peak in the stellar distribution near $`l=22^{}`$, $`b=0^{}`$, that is not due to a hole in the extinction.
* There is a spur in the counts near the plane extending from the bulge to $`l14^{}`$.
* There is a tilt of the gas in the inner disc that is not seen in the stellar component of the central Galaxy.

The asymmetry in the in-plane 2.2 $`\mu `$m star counts for $`30^{}>l>30^{}`$ cannot be caused by the bulge, and other solutions such as a ring or bar by themselves, spiral arms, etc., simply do not work. Only a ringed barred spiral with an inner truncated disc will naturally reproduce the features seen.

The parameters determined for the bar and ring make the Milky Way a fairly typical barred galaxy. We agree with Sevenster (1999) that NGC 1433 or M95 is a reasonable approximation of what the Galaxy would look like if viewed face on (Fig. 1, 2) giving a revised Hubble type (Sandage & Tammann 1981) of SBb(s) I–II. The closest part of the bar is in the first quadrant at $`l=27^{}`$ and the tip at negative Galactic latitudes is near $`l=14^{}`$. The bar runs from the bulge to 3.9 kpc and is as luminous as the bulge at about 700 pc from the GC,and contains both young and old stars. The inner disc is truncated, with the truncation starting near the radius of the ring. It is also proposed that the feature at $`l=22^{}`$ is the tangential point to stellar ring. The ring is elliptical and runs through the end of the bar. The spiral arms are probably far weaker than the ring.

Clearly a significant amount of work remains to be done to tie down the parameters with more precision. However, the information now available, particularly from the 2.2 micron star counts, does allow the tentative identification of the Milky Way as an early-type ringed barred Galaxy with a Freeman type II disc.

Acknowledgements: We gratefully acknowledge the anonymous referee for helpful comments. DENIS is the result of a joint effort involving personnel and financial contributions from several Institutes, mostly located in Europe, including the the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). It has been supported financially mainly by the French Institute National des Sciences de l’Univers, CNRS, and French Education Ministry, the European Southern Observatory, the State of Baden-Württemberg, and the European Commission under a network of the Human Capital and Mobility programme. TMGS observations were made at the Carlos Sánchez Telescope, which is operated by the IAC at its Observatorio del Teide on the island of Tenerife.


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# 2-Categories, 4d state-sum models and gerbes11footnote 1Talk presented by the first author at III Encontro Fórum Internacional de Investigadores Portugueses, Faro, April 7-10, 2001.

(April 30, 2001)

In this article we focus on the third word in the title of our talk and on our motivation for getting involved with it.

The simplest state-sum model is the Dijkgraaf-Witten (DW) model . In its most elementary form the DW-model associates to a smooth closed connected finite-dimensional manifold $`M`$ the following number:

$$\mathrm{\#}\text{Hom}\{\pi _1(M),G\},$$

where $`G`$ is a finite group. If we want to understand the differential geometry behind the DW-model we have to give up the finiteness of $`G`$ of course. If $`G`$ is a Lie group, we can ask ourselves what geometric objects correspond to smooth homomorphisms from $`\pi _1(M)`$ to $`G`$ (we will not explain here what we mean by smoothness exactly). The answer is well known: principal $`G`$-bundles with flat connections. We explain this in some more detail. Let $`\left\{U_i\right\}`$ be a covering of $`M`$ by open sets such that all intersections $`U_{i_1\mathrm{}i_p}=U_{i_1}\mathrm{}U_{i_p}`$ are contractible. We present a principal $`G`$-bundle, $`P`$, by its transition functions $`g_{ij}:U_{ij}G`$, which satisfy $`g_{ji}=g_{ij}^1`$ and the cocycle condition

$$g_{ij}g_{jk}g_{ik}^1=1\text{on}U_{ijk}.$$

A connection, $`𝒜`$, in $`P`$ can be defined in terms of local 1-forms, $`A_i`$ on $`U_i`$, with values in the Lie algebra of $`G`$, which satisfy

$$A_jg_{ij}^1A_ig_{ij}=g_{ij}^1dg_{ij}\text{on}U_{ij}.$$

Given a loop $`\mathrm{}`$ in $`M`$ one can define the holonomy, $`(\mathrm{})G`$, of $`𝒜`$ around $`\mathrm{}`$. In general the holonomies around two homotopic loops are different. However, if the two loops are thin homotopic, then the holonomies are equal, as was first remarked by Barrett . There are several ways to define thin homotopy mathematically . For the purpose of this article it suffices to give the intuitive idea:

###### Definition 1

(sketch) Two loops are thin homotopic if there exists a homotopy between them whose image has no area.

All homotopies involved in the standard proof that $`\pi _1(M)`$ is a group are thin as a matter of fact, so we can define the thin fundamental group of $`M`$, denoted $`\pi _1^1(M)`$, by dividing out the set of loops only by thin homotopies. Note that $`\pi _1(M)`$ is a quotient of $`\pi _1^1(M)`$. Thus $`𝒜`$ gives rise to a holonomy homomorphism

$$:\pi _1^1(M)G,$$

which is smooth in a technical sense . Barrett  (see  for a proof of the analogous statement using a different definition of thin homotopy) proved that there is a converse statement:

###### Theorem 2

Given a smooth homomorphism $`:\pi _1^1(M)G`$, there is a principal $`G`$-bundle with connection, unique up to equivalence, whose holonomy homomorphism is equal to $``$.

A connection is flat precisely when the corresponding $``$ factors through the ordinary $`\pi _1(M)`$.

Let us now assume that $`\pi _1(M)=0`$. The next state-sum model that we consider associates to $`M`$ the number

$$\mathrm{\#}\text{Hom}\{\pi _2(M),H\},$$

where $`H`$ is a finite Abelian group. This is a special case of the Yetter model , which involves the homotopy 2-type of $`M`$. The right algebraic framework for the Yetter model is that of 2-categories, which is how the first word in the title of our talk enters the picture. For more information about 2-categories and 4-dimensional state-sum models see the two papers  by the first author and references therein. The question now arises whether we can understand the maps $`\pi _2(M)H`$ in an analogous differential geometric way. Let $`H=U(1)`$. We see immediately that the answer cannot be found in the framework of bundles and connections, because we need some geometric structure that gives rise to holonomy around surfaces rather than loops. It is known (well-known would be an over-statement) that gerbes with gerbe-connections give rise to such holonomies . A gerbe, $`𝒢`$, can be defined by functions on triple intersections, $`h_{ijk}:U_{ijk}U(1)`$, which satisfy $`h_{\sigma (i)\sigma (j)\sigma (k)}=h_{ijk}^{ϵ(\sigma )}`$, for any $`\sigma S_3`$, and the next order cocycle condition:

$$h_{ijk}h_{ijl}^1h_{ikl}h_{jkl}^1=1\text{on}U_{ijkl}.$$

A gerbe-connection, $``$, in $`𝒢`$ can be defined by $`1`$-forms, $`A_{ij}`$ on $`U_{ij}`$, and $`2`$-forms, $`F_i`$ on $`U_i`$, all with values in $`i`$, such that $`A_{ji}=A_{ij}`$ and

$$A_{ij}+A_{jk}A_{ik}=h_{ijk}^1dh_{ijk}\text{on}U_{ijk},$$

$$F_jF_i=dA_{ij}\text{on}U_{ij}.$$

Gerbes were first defined by Giraud . The standard reference nowadays is Brylinski’s book . The properties of gerbes and gerbe-connections are analogous to those of line-bundles; e.g. the curvature of a gerbe-connection, $`\mathrm{\Omega }|_{U_i}=dF_i`$, is a closed integral 3-form, the cohomology class of which classifies the gerbe up to equivalence, and every closed integral 3-form is the curvature of a certain gerbe-connection in a certain gerbe. One can define the gerbe-holonomy , $`(s)`$, of $``$ around any smooth map $`s:S^2M`$, henceforth referred to as a $`2`$-loop. As for ordinary connections one can show  that the gerbe-holonomies around two thin homotopic $`2`$-loops are equal.

###### Definition 3

(sketch) We say that two $`2`$-loops are thin homotopic if there exists a homotopy between them whose image has no volume.

The higher dimensional thin homotopy groups were first defined by Caetano and Picken in , where one can find the technical definition. Thus $``$ gives rise to a smooth gerbe-holonomy homomorphism

$$:\pi _2^2(M)U(1),$$

where $`\pi _2^2(M)`$ is the thin second homotopy group. In  we proved that there is a converse statement:

###### Theorem 4

Assume that $`M`$ is simply-connected. Given a smooth homomorphism $`:\pi _2^2(M)U(1)`$, there exists a gerbe with gerbe-connection, unique up to equivalence, whose holonomy map is equal to $``$.

A gerbe-connection is flat precisely when its holonomy map factors through the ordinary $`\pi _2(M)`$, so we have achieved our goal of understanding the differential geometry of the Yetter model. The proof of Thm. 4 is fairly straightforward. If one does not assume that $`M`$ is simply-connected the analogous statement and its proof involve the less familiar mathematics of Lie (2-)groupoids. We believe that this case is very interesting because it fuses ideas from category theory and geometry into something that can best be called categorical geometry.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Programa Operacional “Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovação” (POCTI) of the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), cofinanced by the European Community fund FEDER. The first author is presently on leave from the Universidade do Algarve and working with a postdoctoral fellowship from FCT at the University of Nottingham (UK).

1. Dep. de Matemática, Univ. do Algarve, Faro, Portugal. Email: mmackaay@ualg.pt.
2. Dep. de Matemática, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisboa, Portugal. Email: rpicken@math.ist.utl.pt.
3. Centro de Matemática Aplicada, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisboa, Portugal.


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# Does the galaxy correlation length increase with the sample depth?

## 1 Introduction

In recent years, the question of whether the Universe becomes homogeneous on large scales or continues to exhibit fractal structure has been much debated, with different analyses of several three-dimensional surveys of galaxies yielding opposite results (Davis, 1997; Pietronero et al., 1997; Guzzo, 1997; Cappi et al., 1998; Scaramella et al., 1998; Joyce et al., 1999; Peebles, 1998; Wu et al., 1999; Martínez, 1999). The standard tool for analysis of clustering in galaxy catalogs is the two–point correlation function $`\xi (r)`$ Peebles (1980), which is found to follow reasonably well a power–law $`\xi (r)=(r_0/r)^\gamma `$ at small separations, $`r<10h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$. The correlation length $`r_0`$ is, therefore, the scale at which the correlation function $`\xi (r)`$ passes through unity. At a distance $`r_0`$ from an arbitrarily chosen galaxy, the number density of galaxies is on average twice the mean. A strong prediction of the fractal interpretation of galaxy clustering is an increase of the correlation length with the radius of the sample $`R_s`$ (Pietronero 1987; Guzzo 1997; Sylos–Labini, Montuori, & Pietronero 1998).

$$r_0=\left(\frac{3\gamma }{6}\right)^{1/\gamma }R_s.$$
(1)
This kind of behavior is clearly observed in fractal point distributions. To illustrate it, we can use the fractal construction devised by Soneira & Peebles (1978). The model is built as follows: Inside a sphere of radius $`R`$, place randomly $`\eta `$ spheres of radius $`R/\lambda `$ ($`\lambda >1`$). Within each of these spheres place again $`\eta `$ spheres of radius $`R/\lambda ^2`$. The process is repeated $`L`$ times and the last $`\eta ^L`$ centers are considered galaxies. A single clump is a simple fractal with a high degree of lacunarity, however Soneira & Peebles (1978) used a superposition of a number of these clumps in order to mimic the galaxy distribution provided by the Lick maps (Seldner et al. 1977). This construction has been recently taken by Peebles (1998) to show the extreme anisotropy of the distribution associated with this kind of fractal.

We have built a model that avoids overlapping of the spheres at each step. The parameters chosen are $`\eta =2,\lambda =2,R=60h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ and $`L=18`$, which provides a dimensionality of $`D_2=1`$. In Figure 1 (upper left panel) we show the Aitoff projection of the model as seen by an observer situated at a point, close to the center of the simulation. The central left panel of Figure 1 shows the function $`g(r)=1+\xi (r)`$ for samples centered at this point and radius ranging from 0.1 to 10 $`h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$. We can see that, as a consequence of the fractal character of this model, $`g(r)`$ is very nearly a power–law. The figure also shows that the amplitude of $`g(r)`$ increases with the depth of the sample. The correlation length, $`r_0`$, (shown in the bottom left panel of Figure 1) increases with sample size as is expected for a fractal (Pietronero 1987). Fractals are intrinsically rather anisotropic patterns, but we can use a superposition of these fractal clumps to increase the large–scale isotropy of the model as Soneira & Peebles did to mimic the Lick catalog. The price we have to pay is to lose fractality at large scales, but since at small scales the fractal imprint of the model remains, the behavior of $`r_0`$ is still the one expected for a fractal as we can see in the right panels of Figure 1. At the upper right panel we show a realization of a superposition of 125 clumps with parameters $`\eta =2`$, $`\lambda =1.76,R=60h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$, and $`L`$ equals values taken from a Gaussian distribution with mean 6 and standard deviation 1. In this case overlapping is allowed. The two panels below show $`g(r)`$ and $`R_0(R_s)`$ for this specific model.

For the galaxy distribution, the increase of $`r_0`$ with the depth of the sample was already noticed in the first redshift survey analyzed so far, the CfA1 catalog (Einasto, Klypin, & Saar 1986). The issue, however, is more complicated because problems such as local inhomogeneities, corrections for Galactic extinction and, most important, luminosity segregation play an important role in the behavior of $`r_0`$ with sample depth (Davis et al. 1988; Martínez et al. 1993; Benoist et al. 1996; Willmer, da Costa, & Pellegrini 1998, Beisbart & Kerscher 2000).

The aim of this Letter is to see whether the correlation length increases with sample depth as expected in the fractal picture. We have studied the best available redshift catalogue for this purpose: the CfA2 survey (Geller & Huchra 1989; Huchra, Vogeley & Geller 1999). This sample is wide enough and deep enough to provide meaningful results. The strategy will be to disentangle the possible volume effect from the segregation of luminosity.

## 2 Description of the samples

We have worked on several volume–limited samples of the CfA2 surveys, constructed in the following way:

*CfA2 north*. First, we have extracted volume–limited samples as in Park et al. (1994). Radial velocities were transformed into comoving coordinate distances by means of Mattig’s formula (for $`\mathrm{\Omega }=1`$):

$$r(z)=\frac{2c}{H_0}\left(1\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+z}}\right),$$
(2)
with $`H_0=100h`$ km s-1 Mpc-1 and $`c=299792.5`$ km s-1. The angular region is $`8^\text{h}\alpha 16^\text{h}`$ (note that in Park et al. (1994) the upper limit was $`17^\text{h}`$) and $`8.5^{}\delta 44.5^{}`$. The names of the volume–limited samples listed in Table 1 are of the form CfAn$`d`$, where $`d`$ is the rounded depth of the sample in $`h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$. We list for each sample the number of galaxies $`N_g`$, the absolute magnitude limit $`M_{\mathrm{}}`$, the depth $`R_{\mathrm{max}}`$, the volume $`V`$, a typical length $`R_s`$ associated with the sample (the cubic root of the volume), and finally the correlation length $`r_0`$ which has been fitted to that sample. Note that $`M_{\mathrm{}}=15.55\mathrm{log}[r(z)(1+z)]25Kz`$, where $`K=3`$ is the appropriate value of the $`K`$–correction for the $`B`$ filter and the term $`+5\mathrm{log}h`$ has been systematically omitted in the values of the magnitudes throughout the paper.

In addition, we have drawn two more subsamples from CfAn101 having the same absolute magnitude limit but different geometry. First, we have extracted the galaxies contained in the maximum parallelepiped completely embedded within the boundaries of CfAn101 (see Figure 2, left panel). The resulting sample, BOXn, has 432 objects and a volume roughly 60% of the parent sample. Then we have calculated the depth that a sample with the same geometry as CfAn101 should reach in order to encompass the same volume as BOXn; this distance turned out to be $`84.79h^1`$ Mpc. A subsample of CfAn101 containing only galaxies up to this distance is called CUTn (see Figure 2, central panel). Note that BOXn, CUTn and the volume–limited sample CfAn85 have all the same volume. In fact, CUTn is just a subsample of CfAn85 containing its brightest galaxies ($`M<19.70`$).

*CfA2 south*. The samples extracted from the CfA2 south survey lie within the angular region $`22.5^\text{h}\alpha 3^\text{h}`$ and $`0^{}\delta 40^{}`$. In most of this region the Galactic extinction is low according to the maps of Burstein and Heiles (1982). Two volume–limited samples have been drawn from the survey, CfAs75 and CfAs59 (see Table 1) and from CfAs75 two subsamples have been extracted following the same procedure as in the north, BOXs and CUTs.

## 3 Results and discussion

For each sample the correlation function $`\xi (r)`$ has been calculated using the Rivolo estimator (Rivolo 1986),

$$\xi (r)=\frac{V}{N^2}\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\frac{n_i(r)}{V_i}1,$$
(3)
where $`n_i(r)`$ is the number of galaxies lying at distance in the interval $`[rdr/2,r+dr/2]`$ from galaxy $`i`$ and $`V_i`$ is the volume of the intersection of a shell with radii $`rdr/2`$ and $`r+dr/2`$, centered at that galaxy, with the sample volume (logarithmic bins were used). Figure 3 (left panel) shows the results for all volume–limited samples extracted from the CfA north survey. We have performed a weighted least–squares fit of $`\xi (r)`$ in redshift space to a power-law $`\xi (r)=(r_0/r)^\gamma `$ within the range $`[310h^1\mathrm{Mpc}]`$, where the fit is reasonably good. This is an important point to bear in mind, since different definitions of the clustering length are normally used in the literature and caution has to be exercised when intercomparing them (Peebles 1989). Poisson errors of the estimates of $`\xi (r)`$ have been used to weight the fit. By this means we have calculated a value of $`r_0`$ for each sample together with an error estimate. The results are reported in Table 1 and, for the volume–limited samples, in the right panel of Figure 3.

The most remarkable result is that the correlation length does not significantly change with the depth of the sample. In any case, the linear increase predicted for a fractal pattern is clearly ruled out. For example, the volume of the sample CfAn101 is about three times the volume of the sample CfAn70, while the correlation length, $`r_0`$, of both samples is comparable. Note that the plateau around $`r_06.7h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ observed in the right panel of Figure 3 includes also samples from the CfA2 south survey. In this case, we can stress that being the volume of the sample CfAs75 about twice the volume of the sample CfAs59, again the corresponding $`r_0`$ values are practically the same. It is interesting to note that when we have selected the largest parallelepiped embedded within CfAn101, i.e. BOXn, the value of the correlation length has increased although the volume has decreased nearly by half. Instead, the opposite behavior has been found in BOXs regarding its parent sample. Clearly the value of $`r_0`$ is more affected by the weight of local inhomogeneities within the sample volume than by the change in the volume itself.

As we have explained, CUTn is a subsample of CfAn85. Both samples lie within the same volume, but CUTn contains only galaxies brighter than the absolute magnitude limit of CfAn101 $`(19.70)`$. The intrinsically brighter subsample, CUTn, exhibits a larger value of the correlation length, $`r_0=7.34\pm 0.78h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$, than the whole sample, CfAn85, for which $`r_0=6.43\pm 0.30h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$. This effect is a fingerprint of the luminosity segregation and it is also observed in the CfA2 south samples, when we compare the value of $`r_0`$ corresponding to the sample CUTs, $`r_0=7.54\pm 0.63h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$, with the value corresponding to the sample CfAs59, $`r_0=6.34\pm 0.28h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$. The dependence of the correlation length on galaxy luminosity found by us is consistent with the results reported by Park et al. (1994), analyzing the amplitude of the power spectrum for the same survey.

Because of the effect of random peculiar motions, the correlation length in real space should be smaller by approximately 1 $`h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ than the correlation length in redshift space (Peebles 1989, Loveday et al. 1995). Values of the redshift space correlation length near 6.5 $`h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ would therefore correspond to values $`5.5h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ in real space (Davis & Peebles 1983).

In sum, we conclude that the correlation length calculated on volume–limited samples extracted from the CfA2 redshift survey is a rather stable quantity. In any case, the linear increase with radius of the sample predicted for a fractal is not observed. Our conclusions are reinforced by the fact that the correlation length in redshift space is still about 6 $`h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ in redshift surveys that go much deeper than CfA2 (though they are sparser or narrower), like the Stromlo-APM, Las Campanas, and ESP redshift surveys (Loveday et al. 1995; Tucker et al. 1997; Guzzo et al. 2000). On still larger scales, Gladders & Yee (2000) have shown that the correlation length for luminous early-type galaxies does not change from $`z=0`$ to $`z=1`$, and Carlberg et al. (2000) find that the correlation amplitude declines slightly with redshift over the range 0.1 to 0.6 in the CNOC2 sample of very luminous galaxies.

We are grateful to J.P. Huchra for providing us with the CfA2 data. We thank S. Paredes and J.J. Nuño for suggestions and very especially V. Trimble for a careful reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología project AYA2000-2045.