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# An Atlas of H𝛼 and R Images and Radial Profiles of 63 Bright Virgo Cluster Spiral Galaxies

## 1 Introduction

How has the environment affected the star formation properties of spiral galaxies in clusters? Previous measurements of the global star formation rates at H$`\alpha `$, UV, and far-infrared wavelengths of cluster spirals show that some cluster spirals have reduced global star formation (Kennicutt 1983, Bicay & Giovanelli 1987, Kodaira et al. 1990, Moss & Whittle 1993), others have similar global star formation rates (Kennicutt, Bothun, & Schommer 1984, Gavazzi et al. 1991, Donas et al. 1990), and some have enhanced star formation rates (Moss & Whittle 1993, Bennett & Moss 1998) with respect to field counterparts.

Studies of the spatial distributions of star formation have been more limited and have usually concentrated on field spiral samples (e.g., Hodge & Kennicutt 1983; Ryder & Dopita 1993; Phillips 1993; González Delgado et al. 1997; Hameed & Devereux 1999). Based on these studies, star formation tends to be distributed over much of the optical disk, often concentrated along spiral arms and in rings. To date there has been little comparison of high resolution spatial distributions of star formation for large samples of cluster and field galaxies. Such comparisons could help reveal where in the disk star formation has been reduced or enhanced in cluster galaxies, leading to strong constraints on the environmental mechanisms which transform cluster galaxies.

The R and H$`\alpha `$ images presented in this paper are part of an extensive study of the spatial distributions of massive star formation in nearly 100 Virgo Cluster and isolated spiral and lenticular galaxies. The main goal of the work is to better understand the relative distributions of star formation in cluster and isolated spirals and to probe the role of the environment in the star formation properties of cluster spirals.

The sample presented in this paper is drawn from the nearby Virgo Cluster of galaxies. The Virgo Cluster is an excellent laboratory for studies of star formation histories since it is near enough that galaxy morphology can be examined in detail. It has also been surveyed at many different wavelengths, including aperture H$`\alpha `$ (Kennicutt 1983), HI (Warmels 1988, Cayatte et al. 1990, Hoffman et al. 1989), CO (Kenney & Young 1989), near-IR (Boselli et al. 1997), radio continuum (Kotanyi 1980) and X-ray (Boehringer et al. 1994). The structure and membership of the cluster are well-studied (Binggeli, Sandage, & Tammann 1985; Binggeli, Tammann, & Sandage 1987; Binggeli, Popescu, & Tammann 1993; Yasuda, Fukugita, & Okamura 1997; Gavazzi et al. 1999, Schindler, Binggeli, & Boehringer 1999). Because the cluster has not yet relaxed, there is a enhanced likelihood of detecting ongoing environmental alteration.

This paper presents continuum-subtracted H$`\alpha `$+\[N II\] and broadband R images of 63 bright spiral galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. R and H$`\alpha `$ profiles are derived from surface photometry of the images. Isophotal radii, disk scalelengths, integrated fluxes, and concentration parameters are measured from the radial profiles. Total H$`\alpha `$ fluxes derived from 50 of the images presented here have already been published in Young et al. (1996), although the calibration has been adjusted in this paper.

This study marks the first presentation of H$`\alpha `$ spatial distributions for a large and highly complete sample of Virgo Cluster spirals. (Previous results based on H$`\alpha `$ images and surface brightnesses for several Virgo Cluster spirals are found in Kennicutt 1989) In addition, this study presents R surface photometry, which has been relatively rare for Virgo Cluster spirals. (Some R surface photometry is available for several galaxies within large surveys, e.g., de Jong & van der Kruit 1994). In fact, even total R magnitudes have previously been published for only about half of this sample (Pierce & Tully 1988; Schroeder & Visvanathan 1996).

This paper is part of a series. Images and radial profiles of 30 isolated spiral galaxies are presented in Koopmann & Kenney (2001a). Concentration parameters derived from the R radial profiles and H$`\alpha `$ fluxes normalized by the R fluxes are used in Koopmann & Kenney (1998) to show that the Hubble classification scheme is inadequate in describing the morphology of at least 25% of Virgo Cluster spirals. The radial distributions of R and H$`\alpha `$ light of the Virgo Cluster and isolated galaxies are analyzed and compared in Koopmann & Kenney (2001b).

The selection of the Virgo cluster galaxies is described in Section 2. Sections 3 and 4 describe the observations and reduction procedures. The images and derived radial profiles are presented in Section 5. Surface photometry procedures are outlined in Section 6.

## 2 Sample Selection

### 2.1 Structure of the Virgo Cluster

Studies of the substructure of the Virgo Cluster (including Tully & Shaya 1984; Pierce & Tully 1988; Binggeli et al. 1987, 1993; Yasuda et al. 1997; and Gavazzi et al. 1999, Schindler et al. 1999) agree that the Virgo Cluster is made up of several associated clouds or groups of galaxies, with two main components: cluster A, associated with M87, and cluster B, associated with M49 (although Gavazzi et al. 1999 place M49 closer than cluster B, based on Tully-Fisher distances). Within subcluster A is a smaller core of mostly spheroidal galaxies. Even this core is not in dynamical equilibrium (Binggeli et al. 1987, 1993), indicating the dynamical youth of the cluster. The rest of the cluster has a filamentary structure, some of which is extended at least partially along the line of sight. One filament is the Southern Extension region of the cluster, which is a cloud of galaxies located adjacent to and at about the same distance as the central components (Binggeli et al. 1993). Three clouds of galaxies, the W (de Vaucouleurs 1961), W’, and M (Ftaclas et al. 1984) clouds, are projected on the cluster; studies consistently place these clouds in the near-background at about two times the distance of the cluster.

Membership information from the Virgo Cluster Catalog (Binggeli et al. 1985; hereafter BST) was considered in the selection of sample galaxies. Figure 1 shows a map of the locations of sample galaxies, with the projected regions of different clouds indicated. Sample galaxies are located throughout the cluster, with a range of 1-10 projected distance from M87. Possible members of the W, W’, and M clouds were avoided; however the data of Binggeli et al. (1993) suggest that 4 galaxies in our sample may be located in these clouds (NGC 4189, NGC 4303, NGC 4527, and NGC 4536). Several galaxies may be members of the Southern Extension (including NGC 4457 and NGC 4586). Eight galaxies which lie outside of the limited survey region of BST were also observed (NGC 4064, NGC 4561, NGC 4643, NGC 4651, NGC 4710, NGC 4713, NGC 4772, NGC 4808); Tully-Fisher distance estimates for many of these galaxies indicate a distance consistent with the Virgo Cluster (Kenney 1987, Rubin et al. 1999).

We assume a distance of 16 Mpc for the Virgo Cluster (Jacoby et al. 1992; Yasuda et al. 1997; Kelson et al. 2000). Most of our analyses were designed to be distance-independent, since we will compare to a sample of isolated galaxies of different distances. Hence the possibility of a significant depth of the Virgo Cluster will not influence most of our conclusions.

### 2.2 Properties of Sample Galaxies

The Virgo Cluster sample galaxies range in type from S0-Sm. The galaxies were chosen to have B$`{}_{}{}^{0}{}_{T}{}^{}`$ brighter than 13.5 (corresponding to MB of -17.5 at an assumed distance of 16 Mpc) and inclinations mostly $`<`$ 75. Seven of the 63 galaxies have higher inclination; some of these were observed in the same field of view as target galaxies. Observations of 50 of the galaxies were obtained as part of a study of star formation rates and efficiencies in 120 spiral galaxies (Young et al. 1996). This study had as selection criteria IRAS flux cutoffs of S60 $`>`$ 5 Jy or S100 $`>`$ 10 Jy. Thirteen additional galaxies, mostly of cataloged Hubble type S0-Sa, were observed as part of the current study and were not constrained by the IRAS flux criteria.

The properties of the galaxies observed are listed in Table 1. Due to the uncertain nature of some Virgo cluster morphological classifications, Table 1 provides Hubble types from two major classifiers. Classifications were taken from the Revised Shapley-Ames Catalog of Bright Galaxies (Sandage & Tamann 1987, hereafter RSA), BST, and the Third Reference Catalog of Bright Galaxies (deVaucouleurs et al. 1991; hereafter RC3). Note that several galaxies have mixed classifications like Sc/Sa and that there are disagreements between the two major classifiers for a number of galaxies. The important issue of morphological classification is addressed further in Koopmann & Kenney (1998, 2001b).

55 out of 63 galaxies are located within the region of the Virgo Cluster surveyed by BST. The completeness values for 46 galaxies within the BST limits with B$`{}_{}{}^{0}{}_{T}{}^{}`$ $`<`$ 13 and inclination $`<`$ 75 are presented in Table 2 for different Hubble types. For simplicity, Hubble types were taken at face value from BST and include all peculiar types. Three galaxies with Sc/Sa or Sc/S0 classifications were counted as Sc galaxies. (We describe the morphologies of these galaxies and analyze their properties separately in other papers in this series.) Seven of the sample galaxies within the BST limits have inclinations $``$ 75 and 2 Sc galaxies have B$`{}_{}{}^{0}{}_{T}{}^{}`$ between 13 and 13.5. Except for one Sa galaxy, the Virgo sample within the BST survey region is complete to B$`{}_{}{}^{0}{}_{T}{}^{}`$ $`<`$ 12 for types Sa-Sm.

## 3 Observations

Observations of sample galaxies were obtained at the KPNO (#1) 0.9-m, the CTIO 0.9-m, and the 3.5-m WIYN telescopes between March 1987 and February 1997. All observations were calibrated under photometric conditions. Exposure times ranged from 3-15 min in an R filter (nearly Mould or standard Harris/Kron-Cousins R), and 1-2 hrs in an H$`\alpha `$ filter of width 60-80 Å, centered either near 6563 Å or near 6600 Å (for galaxies with v $`>`$ 1000 km/s).

The observations of the Virgo sample galaxies were made through several different red filters. Between 1992 and 1997, images were obtained using a standard Harris (Kron-Cousins) R filter ($`\lambda `$ = 6425 Å, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$ = 1500 Å). Images obtained earlier were observed in either a nearly-Mould R filter ($`\lambda `$ = 6470 Å, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$ = 1110 Å) or, for 12% of the sample, a narrow red filter ($`\lambda `$ = 7024 Å, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$ = 380 Å). Filter curves are shown in Figure 2.

In order to compare these observations to an isolated comparison sample, observations in nearly Mould R were transformed to Harris R (see Section 4.2.1), using observations of Landolt standard stars in both filters. Galaxies observed in the narrow red filter were reobserved in Harris R in February 1997 at WIYN and the CTIO 0.9-m telescopes.

An observing log for the galaxies is presented in Table 3. Galaxies are listed in order of NGC/IC number, with two to three lines describing the R and H$`\alpha `$ observations.

A number of CCD chips were used over the course of the observations. Details of the chips are listed in Tables 3 and 4. Characteristics of the filters used in the observations are given in Table 5. The fields-of-view of the observations were large enough to image each galaxy to at least an isophotal radius of 24 mag arcsec-2 and, in most cases, sufficient blank sky to accurately estimate the sky background of the chip. R observations of several of the larger Virgo galaxies obtained in the late 1980’s were repeated with larger format CCD’s in the 1990’s to obtain a larger field-of-view.

Observations of the spectrophotometric standard stars from the lists of Massey et al. (1988) and Hamuy et al. (1992) were made for the calibration to absolute flux. Most observations obtained between 1992 and 1997 included exposures of Landolt standards (1992a) to derive the extinction coefficient.

## 4 Reduction Procedures

### 4.1 Processing

All images were bias-subtracted and flat-fielded using 5-10 dome-flats and/or twilight sky flats. For images taken at the CTIO 0.9-m, illumination corrections derived from twilight sky flats applied to the dome-flattened images significantly improved the flatness of the R sky background (from $``$ 2-3% to $`<`$1%). Standard IRAF (Tody 1993) tasks were used for the processing steps.

For some galaxies, 2-3 exposures were obtained. The images were registered and aligned using the centroids of bright stars, and averaged using the combine task in IRAF, with cosmic ray rejection based on the noise parameters of the CCD. In the case of seeing differences, images were convolved with a Gaussian function to the worst seeing before combining. For these images and single exposure images, the bclean task in the software package FIGARO and the imedit task in IRAF were used to remove cosmic rays.

### 4.2 Absolute Flux Calibration

Extinction coefficients were derived from exposures of Landolt standards where possible. Otherwise the standard extinction curve at KPNO or CTIO was used. Most of the R and all the H$`\alpha `$ images were flux calibrated based on spectrophotometric standard stars (Massey et al. 1988, Hamuy et al. 1992).

For most of the observations, the filter response curve was convolved with the spectrum of the standard to compute the expected flux within the filter. This approach is especially important for flux calibration of images in the Harris R filter. The H$`\alpha `$ calibrations prior to 1992 were made by approximating the total flux expected in the filter by integrating the magnitude of the standard at the central wavelength of the filter over the filter band width. This approximation has an accuracy on the order of 1-2% for the narrow-band H$`\alpha `$ filter, well below the error contributed from other sources. This approximation is not appropriate for the broadband R filters, particularly the Harris R filter, due to its complex transmission curve.

#### 4.2.1 Reducing to a Standard System: R

Because we wish to compare R profiles, fluxes, and size scales within the Virgo sample and to the comparison isolated sample (Koopmann & Kenney 2001a), standardization to the Harris R system is necessary. Galaxies observed in nearly Mould R were transformed to Harris R. Because no transformation equation was available in the literature, one was derived through observations of a series of Landolt (1992a) standard stars in both filters. The transformation was well described by a simple multiplicative factor, with no color dependence:

$$\frac{\mathrm{F}_\mathrm{R}}{\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{mR}}}=1.35\pm 0.05$$

where FR is the flux in R and FnmR is the flux in the nearly Mould R filter. However, the scatter in the multiplicative factor introduces an additional 4% error in the R fluxes of galaxies observed in the nearly Mould R filter.

All quantities derived from the R photometry presented in this and succeeding papers are calibrated to the Harris R system. R flux values can be converted to R magnitudes using a zero point of 13.945, which was derived from comparison of spectrophotometric standard star absolute fluxes and magnitudes listed by Landolt (1992b). This relationship was also used to flux calibrate two R images for which spectrophotometric standards were not available.

There are few previous measurements of R surface photometry for Virgo Cluster galaxies. Total R magnitudes are presented by Pierce and Tully (1988) for 22 galaxies in our sample, and by Schroeder & Visvanathan(1996) for 33 galaxies in our sample. We find a correlation between the total R magnitudes and our isophotal (to 24 R mag arcsec-2) magnitudes for both sets of data, as shown in Figure 3. The Pierce & Tully magnitudes are 0.25 magnitude higher in the median than our isophotal magnitudes, with a 5% uncertainty in the slope of a linear correlation. The Schroeder & Visvanathan magnitudes are 0.11 magnitude higher in the median, with a 3% uncertainty in the slope of a linear correlation.

#### 4.2.2 Reducing to a Standard System: H$`\alpha `$

The H$`\alpha `$ images are calibrated to absolute flux units. No correction was made for contamination by the 2 \[N II\] lines ($`\lambda `$ $`\lambda `$=6548.1, 6583.8 Å), which also lie within the filter bandpass. This assumption is based on the work of Kennicutt & Kent (1983) and Kennicutt (1992), who evaluate the relative \[N II\] contribution to the flux in H II regions. They find a median \[N II\]/H$`\alpha `$ of 0.53, with a scatter that is significantly smaller than the scatter in overall H$`\alpha `$ emission strengths in spiral galaxies. Hereafter we will abbreviate H$`\alpha `$+\[N II\] as H$`\alpha `$.

H$`\alpha `$ observations prior to 1992 were originally calibrated using the Barnes and Hayes (1984) Standard Star Manual. The fluxes based on this system appear in Young et al. (1996). In this paper, we adjust the calibration to the standard star measurements of Massey et al. (1988) for consistency between different observations and our isolated sample (11-20% lower in flux depending on standard and filter).

The measured H$`\alpha `$ fluxes are well correlated with those measured by Kennicutt & Kent (1983) for 23 galaxies in common, as shown in Figure 4. The solid line shows a one-to-one correlation. There is a considerable scatter, with some individual galaxies deviant by $`>`$ 30%. However, most galaxies agree within 30% and the mean difference for the whole sample is close to 0. The differences for individual galaxies are most likely due to uncertainties in the continuum subtraction background sky levels, as discussed in Sections 4.3 and 4.4.

### 4.3 Sky Background Subtraction

The most important source of error in the broadband radial profiles of the outer disks of galaxies is the uncertainty in the sky background. It is therefore critical to obtain as flat a sky background as possible and carefully measure the uncertainty in the sky level. The standard deviation in the background and the uncertainty in the overall sky level were determined by measuring 4-6 blank regions of the sky, and by examining line and column plots, which were especially useful in detecting large scale gradients. Standard deviations and uncertainties in the overall sky level are listed in Table 3 in units of $`10^{18}`$ erg cm-2 s-1 (a zeropoint of 13.945 may be used to convert the R values to magnitudes).

Occasionally a planar gradient remained in the sky background after processing, particularly in images obtained during bright time. Where necessary, and where adequate blank sky was available, a planar surface was fit (using imsurfit in iraf) to the sky background and subtracted from the image to improve sky flatness. Where higher order gradients remained, usually due to improper flat fields or scattered light, the effect was incorporated into the sky background error.

The uncertainty in the R sky is typically 0.5-2%, except for cases in which the galaxy fills much of the CCD frame. The sky background error tends to be higher in the narrow-band H$`\alpha `$, ranging from 1-6%.

### 4.4 H$`\alpha `$ Continuum Subtraction

Waller (1990) describes the use of broadband filters to continuum subtract narrow-line observations. We follow his procedure.

Before continuum subtraction, the R and H$`\alpha `$ images were background subtracted, aligned, and convolved to the same FWHM. The R image was scaled to the H$`\alpha `$ image based on aperture photometry of 5-15 foreground stars. This scale factor often needs adjustment, especially since the foreground field stars and the galaxy may be different in color. Adjustments were made iteratively until a satisfactory subtraction was obtained over the majority of the galaxy disk. Uncertainties in the scale factor and therefore in the estimate of the continuum level are 2-5%. Although these numbers appear small, they can result in a much higher uncertainty in the measured H$`\alpha `$ flux or surface brightness, since the continuum overwhelms the H$`\alpha `$ emission (see Section 6.3.) An additional source of uncertainty is the assumption of a constant scale factor across the galaxy, especially if there are significant color changes caused by changes in stellar populations across the disk. Assumption of a constant scale factor for the central regions and the disk is particularly problematic (see Rand 1996). Often central regions have negative residuals when the disk is well fit. Examples in this sample include NGC 4569, which has a very blue nucleus (see also Keel 1996), NGC 4694, and NGC 4527.

Ideally, foreground unsaturated stars should disappear if the images have been carefully registered and the seeing matched. However, the point spread functions are often non-Gaussian and different in the R and H$`\alpha `$ filters due to a number of factors, including the difference in the thicknesses of the R and H$`\alpha `$ filters, slight collimation errors, slight guiding errors, and differences in the focus between the two frames. Therefore, residuals often remain on the brighter stars due to imperfect continuum subtraction. (In some cases, there are systematic patterns in the stellar residuals which can be used as a diagnostic for the accuracy of the telescope collimation.) The relative fluxes of the star in the R image and the residuals in the H$`\alpha `$ continuum subtracted image (summing the absolute value of counts) are usually on the order of 1-2%. Residuals near the galaxy were removed using the pixel replacement routines in the IRAF task imedit .

Examination of the stellar residual pattern for images taken during the February 1995 run at KPNO 0.9-m telescope revealed a slight mismatch between the pixel scales of the R and H$`\alpha `$ images. The IRAF tasks geomap and geotran were used to rescale the images to the same pixel scale before continuum subtraction.

The use of a broadband R filter as a substitute for an off-line narrowband filter allows significant observing time savings, making a survey of this size practical. However, there is a trade-off in accuracy (see Pogge 1992) for two reasons. Broadband and interference filters often differ in thickness and response to light, so can cause differing point-spread functions and even small plate scale differences, as noted above. In addition, the larger bandwidth of the R filter means that the derived value of the continuum is less certain and may be subject to color effects across the filter. Even small uncertainties in the continuum level are important, since they cause large uncertainties in the H$`\alpha `$ flux, especially in regions of weak or diffuse emission. To estimate the extent of error due to the use of a broadband filter rather than a narrowband filter, we compared 2 H$`\alpha `$ continuum subtracted images of the galaxy NGC 4102, kindly provided to us by Shardha Jogee. These images were taken during our February 1995 run. In one, the continuum was derived from an image taken with a narrowband H$`\alpha `$ offline filter ($`\lambda `$ = 6653 Å, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$ = 68 Å) and in the other, from a Harris R image. Stellar residuals are present in both continuum-subtracted images and differ by 2-3% in the total flux (summing the absolute value of residual counts). The total H$`\alpha `$ flux of the galaxy is the same to within 3%. The radial profiles in H$`\alpha `$ have the same shape and no systematic dependence on the continuum-subtracting filter. Aperture photometry of low H$`\alpha `$ surface brightness areas in the galaxy results in a 5-10% difference between the images, with the offline filter producing lower fluxes. A significant part of these differences can be attributed to uncertainties in the sky level and scale factor in each image. Based on these tests, we conclude that the R filter does a reasonable job at continuum subtracting H$`\alpha `$, with error contributions smaller than the other sources of uncertainty, with the probable exception of galaxies with very weak H$`\alpha `$ emission.

In summary, systematic errors typically cause a 20-30% uncertainty in total H$`\alpha `$ fluxes and surface brightnesses.

### 4.5 Stellar Masks

Before surface photometry can be performed on an R image, the stars must be removed or masked. DAOPHOT (Stetson 1987) was used to find stars across the image. Rather than removing the stars (which involves an iterative determination of the point spread function across the chip and does not ever fully remove stars), we chose in most cases to make a pixel mask image. In the first pass, sources found within the area of the galaxy disk were excluded from the mask, since HII regions are also detected by DAOPHOT. Stars superposed on the disk and stars missed by DAOPHOT were masked by hand using IRAF centering and the badpiximage routine. Members of galaxy pairs were masked in a similar manner before surface photometry was derived. Mask images were also necessary for the H$`\alpha `$ image in the case of galaxy pairs or severe stellar residuals from stars which were saturated in the R image.

## 5 The Images

R and H$`\alpha `$ images and surface photometry are presented for each galaxy in Figure 5. Galaxies are ordered according to NGC/IC number, with morphological information indicated on the plots. Derived photometric scalelengths are indicated in the surface photometry plots, as described in the figure caption.

## 6 Surface Photometry

Deriving a radial profile of a galaxy consisted of several steps: determination of center, the axial ratio (ratio of minor to major axis lengths) and position angle, careful measurement of sky background error, and the surface photometry. In this section, we discuss the derivation of the radial profiles, quantities derived from the profiles, and the errors.

### 6.1 Determining Centers, Axial Ratios, and Position Angles

The center of the galaxy was determined from the R image using centroiding via the center task in IRAF. Several of the galaxies (NGC 4299, NGC 4419, NGC 4424) had no obvious central peak or had a central region contaminated by bright HII regions. In these cases, the center was determined from inner isophotes or midpoints between peaks.

Radial profiles were derived by assuming fixed values of the axial ratio and position angle, which were determined by examination of the outer isophotes. Starting values of axial ratio and position angle were determined by eye from the outer isophotes of the galaxy and/or literature inclination values (e.g., RC3, Warmels 1988). For several galaxies, including 2 of low inclination, axial ratios and/or position angles determined from HI maps (Warmels 1988) were used. For other galaxies, the axial ratios and position angles were adjusted as necessary to give a good fit to the outer isophotes.

The conversion of axial ratios to inclination angles is not well-determined (e.g. Peletier &Willner 1991). The standard conversion is $`cos^2i=(q^2q_0^2)/(1q_0^2)`$, where i is the inclination, q is the axial ratio, and q0 is the intrinsic axial ratio (Hubble 1926). The intrinsic axial ratio is often assumed to be 0.2 (Holmberg 1958) but it may vary with type (e.g. Bottinelli et al. 1983). The uncertainty in the conversion to inclination is most serious for galaxies of high inclination and so is not a major source of error for this study, since most sample galaxies have inclinations less than 75. For example, the difference in inclination calculated by assuming an intrinsic axial ratio of 0 versus 0.2 is 3 at 70. (In Section 6.3, we show the uncertainty in the radial surface brightness profiles is minor for a 5 error in the inclination.)

Adopted axial ratios and position angles are listed in columns (2) and (3) of Table 6. The inclination calcalated using the standard conversion with intrinsic axial ratio of 0.2 is given in parentheses after the axial ratio. The random uncertainties in the estimation of the inclination and position angle from the outer isophotes are typically 2-3 , except in the indicated cases. Galaxies which have derived inclination and position angle significantly different from literature values are noted in the table. The H$`\alpha `$ profile was measured using the same center, inclination, and position angle as for the R image.

In most cases, R profiles of the galaxies were also derived by allowing the position angle, axial ratio, and center to vary with radius. This approach is useful in studying the variation in the position angle of bars, rings, and the intrinsic variation in the position angle or axial ratio, which might indicate a recent dynamical disturbance. Position angle and/or axial ratio differences with radius are present in several galaxies in our sample. However, elliptical annuli which are allowed to vary with radius are influenced by spiral structure and are prone to errors in low surface brightness regions. In addition, the intention of this study is not to study galaxy structure in detail, but to obtain a general profile for each galaxy, which will allow us to compare the profiles and derived quantities such as concentration. For our purposes, the differences between profiles derived using fixed elliptical annuli and those using varying elliptical annuli are mostly small. A typical example is shown in Figure 6.

### 6.2 Derivation of Profiles

With the center, axial ratio, position angle, and sky background uncertainties determined (as described in Section 4.3), radial profiles were derived using a surface photometry program written within the Interactive Data Language environment, hereafter SPHOT. SPHOT allows determination of realistic errors, input of a bad pixel mask image, a correction for masked pixels to derive total flux, and simultaneous measurements of isophotal radii, concentration parameters, and integrated fluxes.

The center, axial ratio, position angle, and sky level uncertainty are read into SPHOT . If there is a mask image, the input image is first multiplied by the mask. Surface photometry is begun at a radius equal to one-half of the FWHM. The minimum annulus width is equal to the FWHM, and the width increases by 10% of the FWHM for each annulus, so that larger annuli are used in the outer regions where the S/N is smaller. The program calculates the surface brightness based on the unmasked pixels whose centers fall within a given annulus. The area of the annulus is calculated using the semimajor and semiminor axes of the annulus and the flux is calculated by multiplying the surface brightness by this area. This compensates for the flux from fractional and masked pixels within the annulus.

The R radial profiles were calculated out to a radius where the error in the surface brightness exceeded the signal. The errors in radial profiles are discussed in the next section.

The outermost radius of visible HII regions was determined in advance from inspection of the images, and the H$`\alpha `$ profile was halted just outside this radius. In some cases, especially for galaxies with faint outer disk star formation or galaxies with scattered background light or poor flat fields, this radius was beyond the point in the profile where sky uncertainty errors overwhelmed the azimuthally averaged signal. In the plots of radial profiles in Figure 5, we indicate this radius, but plot the H$`\alpha `$ radial profile to the outermost HII region to emphasize the extent of star formation.

All profiles were corrected to face-on assuming complete transparency in the disk, i.e., the correction 2.5log(a/b) was applied. The assumption of complete transparency is oversimplified, especially at inner radii, but since correction factors for internal extinction are poorly known, no corrections were made. (See Giovanelli et al. 1994 for more discussion.)

The inclination corrected radial profiles of individual galaxies are plotted with the images of the galaxies in Figure 5.

### 6.3 Errors in the Radial Profiles

There are several sources of errors in the calculation of the surface brightness at each radius. Processing errors contribute a relatively small percentage of the total error, and the readnoise of the chips is low. Random error is the dominant source of error in the inner regions of the surface brightness profiles and an important source of error in the integrated flux measurements. It is traced by the standard deviation in the background (e.g., Newberry 1991), which was determined using fitsky or imstat in IRAF. In the outer parts of the profiles, large numbers of pixels are averaged to give the surface brightness, so the random error is small. In the ideal case of an accurately determined sky, the total error would be due only to the random error and would be equal to the standard deviation of the mean. However, the systematic error in determining the sky brightness overwhelms the small random error in the outer regions. It is therefore critical to obtain as flat a background as possible for deep surface photometry. The total error in the profiles was calculated by adding in quadrature the contributions from the random error and the sky uncertainty (Section 4.3).

Not included in the error calculation for individual galaxies are errors in the absolute flux calibration ($``$ 5%) and errors in the continuum subtraction. Figure 7 shows typical errors in the H$`\alpha `$ radial profile due to 2% and 5% errors in the continuum level. This Figure illustrates the sensitivity of H$`\alpha `$ surface brightness to even small uncertainties in the continuum scale factor.

The radial profile is sensitive to errors in the inclination. Inclination errors are largest for highly inclined galaxies and galaxies with strong spiral arms. For most galaxies in this sample, the inclination is uncertain to less than 3, as determined from the outer isophotes. The typical variation in the radial profile due to an error of 5 in inclination is shown for a high inclination (70) galaxy, NGC 4419, and a low inclination (26) galaxy, NGC 4394 in Figure 8. The uncertainty in the radial profile is small even in the case of the high inclination galaxy.

### 6.4 Derived Quantities

#### 6.4.1 Isophotal Radii and Integrated Flux Measurements

A quantity useful as a galaxy size indicator is an outer isophotal radius measured in a broadband filter. R isophotal radii at 24 and, if possible, at 25 mag arcsec-2, were determined by interpolation of the radial profiles. 90% of the galaxies have measured radii at the 25 mag arcsec-2 isophote. Table 6 lists the isophotal radii in units of arcsecs in columns (4) and (6) and the corresponding total R fluxes within the isophotal radius in columns (5) and (7).

Total H$`\alpha `$ fluxes were measured in three different ways. Total fluxes to the radius of the outermost HII region were measured through a polygonal aperture, defined by the extent of H$`\alpha `$ emission, using the polyphot task in IRAF. This result can be compared to the total flux measured within the outermost elliptical annulus, measured within the surface photometry program. Because the sensitivity varied between images, we also measured an integrated flux within the radius, rHα17, at which the surface brightness falls to 17x10-18 erg cm-2 s-1, a sensitivity level met by all the images. The three measures of the H$`\alpha `$ flux are comparable. The total flux determined by surface photometry and aperture photometry are the same within a few percent. The total flux is on the average 10% higher than the flux within rHα17, but with a scatter (standard deviation) among galaxies of about 16%. This is similar to the isolated sample, which has total fluxes about 20% higher than the flux within rHα17, with a 20% scatter. Two Virgo galaxies with low surface brightness, NGC 4643 and 4698, had total fluxes 3 and 9 times, respectively, higher than the flux to rHα17. Finally, the H$`\alpha `$ flux within 0.3r24 and H$`\alpha `$ concentration (Section 6.4.4) were measured. Table 7 presents quantities derived from the H$`\alpha `$ surface photometry.

#### 6.4.2 Disk Scalelengths

An isophotal radius is one type of radial normalizer. Another radial normalizer which suffers less from intrinsic surface brightness variations between galaxies is the exponential disk scalelength. The derivation of disk scalelengths is less subject to sky background problems and small frame size than derivation of isophotal radii, since the whole radial range of the light profile is used. However, the measurement of a disk scalelength is more complicated than that of a simple isophotal radius, because it is usually derived by non-linear fitting of an exponential function to the radial profile. Fitting bulge and disk models to radial profiles is a tricky task, subject to the form of the models chosen, uncertainties due to the projection of a three-dimensional distribution into the sky, seeing corrections, contamination of the profiles by star forming regions, bars, rings, dust (e.g., Giovanelli et al. 1994, 1995), and uncertainties in the background values. The greatest uncertainties are in fitting a proper bulge, especially given the discussion over exponential vs. deVaucouleurs laws (see Kormendy 1992, Courteau et al. 1996, de Jong 1996a). In order to derive a disk scalelength, we fit traditional r$`^{\frac{1}{4}}`$ bulge and exponential disk models to the profiles, using the IRAF/STSDAS non-linear fitting task, nfit1d . We warn that extreme care must be used in applying this task, since it is very sensitive to complexities in the radial profile. The task attempts to compensate for deviations from a pure bulge + disk profile by overestimating the contribution of the bulge and/or by overemphasizing the inner disk fit compared to the outer disk fit. We report only the disk scalelength because of the 4 parameters that varied in the bulge-disk decompositions, we find that this parameter is the most stable. (This was also noted by de Jong 1996b, who find that rd is more stable than the central disk surface brightness.) Even so, different authors often derive different scalelengths, so we attempted to test the full range of possible disk scalelengths by fitting different radial ranges with different assumptions for the central component. Among isolated galaxies (Koopmann & Kenney 2001a) and most of the Virgo Cluster sample, the disk scalelength typically varies by 10-15% for the different fits. The central disk surface brightnesses are more dependent on the assumed form of the central component. The disk scalelength and estimate of uncertainty in arcseconds appear in columns (10) and (11) of Table 7. Disk scalelengths could not be fit to two Virgo Cluster galaxies (NGC 4383, NGC 4586). The Virgo sample has a higher proportion of complex profiles: 20% (11/53) of Virgo Cluster galaxies have derived disk scalelengths which are uncertain by $`>`$ 20%, compared to 0% (0/27) of the isolated sample galaxies (Koopmann & Kenney 2001a).

If the surface brightness of disks were self-similar and all disks were exponential with measurable scalelengths, r24 would be perfectly correlated with rd. We find that the correlation between these two quantities is good, with a measured ratio of r24/rd of 3.23$`\pm `$0.72 for the Virgo Cluster, compared to 3.16 $`\pm `$ 0.56 for the sample of isolated galaxies (Koopmann & Kenney 2001a). These values are similar to that found by Giovanelli et al. (1995).

Given the systematic effects of differing surface brightnesses on isophotal radii and the difficulties of model fitting and unknown extinction values on disk scalelength, it is not obvious which radial normalizer is a better indicator of galaxy/disk size. We compared results based on both normalizers, but found that our main conclusions are independent of the normalizer. Because more galaxies could be included in the analysis and because of the more uncertain nature of disk scalelength fitting, we chose to normalize by r24.

#### 6.4.3 R Concentration Parameter

Because of the subjectivity of the Hubble classification and the difficulty in deriving model-independent bulge-to-disk (B/D) ratios (section 6.4.2), we also measured a central R light concentration index.

Central light concentration parameters are objective tracers of the radial light distribution of a galaxy (e.g., Morgan 1958; deVaucouleurs 1977; Okamura et 1984; Kent 1985; Abraham et al. 1994, Koopmann & Kenney 1998). Concentration parameters are correlated to B/D or bulge-to-total light ratio (deVaucouleurs 1977; Okamura et 1984; Kent 1985; Eder 1990, but see Naim et al. 1997) and Hubble type (Abraham et al. 1994) of spiral galaxies, although they may be be less sensitive in differentiating Sa, S0, and E galaxies (Abraham et al. 1994, Smail et al. 1997, van den Bergh 1997) and they are somewhat dependent on a galaxy’s surface brightness (e.g., Abraham et al. 1994). Unlike B/D, concentration parameters are independent of models assumed for galaxy components.

We define a central R light concentration parameter similar to Abraham et al. (1994):

$$\mathrm{C30}=\frac{\mathrm{F}_\mathrm{R}(0.3\mathrm{r}_{24})}{\mathrm{F}_\mathrm{R}(\mathrm{r}_{24})}$$

where FR(r24) is the flux in R measured within the r24 isophote and FR(0.3r24) is the flux within the 0.3r24 isophote. The C30 values are computed directly from the surface photometry. We find no correlations between C30 and total R magnitude within r24, inclination of the galaxy, or angular distance from M87. There is a mild dependence on surface brightness, which causes higher surface brightness galaxies to have a higher C30.

C30 can be approximately translated to B/D using the following mean \[C30,B/D\] pairs: \[0.3,0.1\], \[0.4,0.3\], \[0.5,0.8\], \[0.6,1.0\]. These numbers are meant to only suggest a rough scale for C30, particularly since the scatter of these numbers is at least $`\pm `$0.1, due to uncertainties in the determination of both C30 and B/D. The correlation between central light concentration and Hubble type is discussed in Koopmann & Kenney (1998, 2001b).

#### 6.4.4 H$`\alpha `$ Concentration Parameter

In order to compare the concentrations of R and H$`\alpha `$ light, we measure a central H$`\alpha `$ light concentration analogous to C30:

$$\mathrm{CH}\alpha =\frac{\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{H}\alpha }(0.3\mathrm{r}_{24})}{\mathrm{F}_{\mathrm{H}\alpha }},$$

where F is the total H$`\alpha `$ flux and F(0.3r24) is the flux within the 0.3r24 isophote. This quantity is listed in Column 7 of Table 7. A CH$`\alpha `$ of 1 thus indicates that all of the H$`\alpha `$ emission is located within 0.3r24.

To compare the relative distributions of R and H$`\alpha `$ light, we normalize CH$`\alpha `$ by C30: $`\frac{CH\alpha }{C30}`$. For example, this quantity is larger than 1 when the H$`\alpha `$ emission is more concentrated than the R light. This quantity is listed in Column 8 of Table 7. H$`\alpha `$ concentrations are compared for the two samples in Koopmann & Kenney (2001b).

## 7 Discussion

Further quantitative analyses of the spatial distributions of massive star formation in Virgo Cluster and isolated spirals are provided in Koopmann & Kenney (1998, 2001a, 2001b). Here we comment briefly on the unusual H$`\alpha `$ morphology of several spirals in the Virgo Cluster sample.

It is evident from our H$`\alpha `$ images (Figure 5) that there is a population of galaxies in the Virgo cluster with active star formation in the circumnuclear regions, but no other disk star formation. NGC 4064, NGC 4351, NGC 4405, NGC 4424, NGC 4522, NGC 4580, and IC3392 are examples of this class. Koopmann & Kenney (2001b) quantitatively define this class as low to intermediate light concentration galaxies which have star formation rates which are similar to isolated spirals in the circumnuclear regions, but which have no star formation in the outer 60-70% of the optical disk. We call these galaxies St (spirals with severely truncated star-forming disks), since they do not fit the standard Hubble classification criteria (see Koopmann & Kenney 1998).

St galaxies are extreme examples of what van den Bergh et al. (1990) call ’Virgo-type’ galaxies, galaxies with ’with fuzzy outer regions which exhibit active star formation in their central bulges (disks?)’. The definition of this class was rather broad, including NGC 4351, NGC 4424, and IC 3392, but also galaxies such as NGC 4212, NGC 4689, and NGC 4527, which have more extended star formation in the outer disk (see Figure 5). The more general ’Virgo-type’ morphology is due to the truncation of the star-forming disk in cluster galaxies, which is the primary cause of the reduction in star formation rates (Kennicutt 1983) in Virgo Cluster galaxies (Koopmann & Kenney 2001b).

The extreme truncation of St star-forming disks, coupled with the active inner star formation is an indication that these galaxies have had interesting evolutionary histories. NGC 4424 shows evidence of a recent merger event (Kenney et al. 1996). NGC 4522 is currently being stripped by the intracluster medium (Kenney & Koopmann 1999). Others among the St class may be remnants of past intracluster medium stripping events.

The funding for this research was provided by NSF grant AST-9322779. We are grateful to Con Deliyannis for his help in obtaining observations of standard stars for the derivation of the transformation equation and Sydney Barnes, Y.-C. Kim, Raj Jain, and Charles Bailyn for obtaining several of the images in this paper during service observing runs. We thank R. Pogge for excellent advice on obtaining the best continuum subtractions and R. Kennicutt for advice and encouragement. Comments from an anonymous referee led to several improvements in the final draft. This work was substantially aided by observing support from the Kitt Peak and Cerro Tololo staff. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The authors and maintainers of the IRAF and STSDAS software packages and instruction manuals are also gratefully acknowledged.


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# Production of ordered silicon nanocrystals by low-energy ion sputtering

Published in Applied Physics Letters 78, 3316-3318 (2001)

## Abstract

We report on the production of ordered assemblies of silicon nanostructures by means of irradiation of a Si(100) substrate with 1.2 keV Ar+ ions at normal incidence. Atomic Force and High-Resolution Transmission Electron microscopies show that the silicon structures are crystalline, display homogeneous height, and spontaneously arrange into short-range hexagonal ordering. Under prolonged irradiation (up to 16 hours) all dot characteristics remain largely unchanged and a small corrugation develops at long wavelengths. We interpret the formation of the dots as a result of an instability due to the sputtering yield dependence on the local surface curvature.

The production of semiconductor nanostructures has attracted the interest of many research groups because of the important applications in optoelectronic and quantum devices.1  Many of the interesting materials properties depend on the size, shape and regularity of the nanometric substructure. In particular, efficient light emission from silicon is achieved when the nanostructures are smaller than the bulk exciton.2 ; 3  Silicon nanostructures are very important for the development of new types of microelectronic, electrooptical, electrochemical, electromechanical, sensing and silicon laser devices.3 ; 4 ; 5  Techniques such as Si ion implantation, e-beam writing, scanning probe litography, pulsed laser deposition, laser annealing, low pressure chemical vapor deposition and thermal evaporation have been used to fabricate silicon nanostructures.3 ; 6  However, it is not evident that any of these techniques can be used to simultaneously control purity, uniformity and crystallinity of the nanostructures and to produce these efficiently in a large scale. Thus, new processes of fabrication of silicon nanocrystals are being investigated.4 ; 7  In this sense both the ease and reproducibility of the process involved are key factors for its eventual practical use. One very promising candidate is irradiation of a monocrystalline semiconductor surface by low energy ions. This technique has already proved its capability for the production of self-organized quantum dots on GaSb,8  and InP surfaces, 9  with promising photoluminescence properties.8  However, although the production of ripple structures on silicon surfaces has been reported,10  to our knowledge, no report exists on the application of this irradiation technique to produce nanocrystalline dots on silicon surfaces.

In this letter we report on the production and morphological characterization of nanocrystalline silicon dots on Si (100) surfaces by 1.2 keV Ar+ ion bombardment. We have produced these nanostructures over a wide temporal range spanning from two minutes up to 16 hours. These experiments have allowed us to confirm the morphological stability of the features produced, as well as to observe the development of a long wavelength corrugation. As a result we interpret the physical mechanism determining the surface morphology to be an instability due to the local surface curvature dependence of the sputtering yield.11 ; 12

The samples were processed in a high vacuum chamber with a base pressure of $`2\times 10^7`$ mbar. Si (100) wafers were placed on the sampleholder and irradiated with an Ar+ beam from a 3 cm Kauffman ion gun. Argon ions, accelerated at 1.2 keV, impinged normally on the silicon surface with an effective ion current density of 0.24 mA/cm2. The irradiation time was varied between 1 minute and 16 hours. The bombarded samples were studied by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM). AFM measurements were performed in air in tapping mode, using silicon cantilevers (10 nm radius). Specimens suitable for HRTEM were prepared by standard procedures and examined using a Philips CM200 FEG analytical microscope operating at 200 kV.

Fig. 1 shows AFM images of samples bombarded for 6 minutes \[panel (a)\] and 960 minutes \[panel (b)\]. Silicon dots, $`6\pm 1`$ nm high and 40-50 nm of diameter are clearly seen. The AFM images suggest two effects: first, the nearest neighbor distance between dots tends to be a time independent constant; second, the nanostructures self-organize into short-range hexagonal symmetry, even after 16 hours of sputtering. These two facts, which imply a constant dot surface density of $`3.5\times 10^{10}`$ dots/cm2, are confirmed in panels (c), (d) of Fig. 1, where the two-dimensional autocorrelations of the AFM images show short-range hexagonal ordering with a nearest dot distance of $`55`$ nm. As seen in Fig. 1 (b), after 960 minutes of irradiation, the dot structure is clear but the surface also displays a long wavelength corrugation, $`500`$ nm wide and $`6`$ nm high.

An important issue concerning the potential application of these dot structures is their crystallinity.4 ; 5  A cross-sectional multi-beam TEM image of a 10 minutes sputtered sample along the $`110`$ direction is shown in Fig. 2. The formation of uniformly distributed nanostructures with lenticular shape covered by an amorphous layer $`2`$ nm thick is observed. The inset of Fig. 2 shows a high-resolution image of one of the nanostructures on the main panel. {111} lattice fringes are visible, showing the crystallinity of the nanostructures and a low number of defects. The height of the nanocrystals, that is excluding the amorphous layer, is in the range 6-7.5 nm, its width being in the range 40-60 nm. These figures are in agreement with those obtained by AFM provided that tip convolution effects are considered. The silicon dots shape and size induced by ion sputtering are different from those observed for GaSb,8  which are $`30\times 30`$ nm conical dots. We note that for the GaSb system a preferential sputtering of the Sb atoms was observed, which is not the case for our system. This fact could be related to the different dot morphologies observed for both cases.

In order to obtain a better insight into the mechanism of dot formation for silicon we have prepared samples for times ranging from 1 minute up to 16 hours. The samples were systematically analyzed by AFM. The morphological data were quantitatively analyzed within the framework of the dynamic scaling theory.13 ; 14  An important magnitude is the root mean square roughness of the surface, $`\sigma `$. The dynamic scaling theory predicts that a typical lateral length scale $`\xi `$ of the system grows as $`\xi t^{1/z}`$, where $`t`$ is the sputtering time and $`1/z`$ is a coarsening exponent. As a consequence, when probing the surface over a distance $`L>t^{1/z}`$, the roughness grows as $`\sigma t^\beta `$, whereas for $`t^{1/z}>L`$ the roughness saturates to $`\sigma L^\alpha `$. Thus, the exponents $`\alpha `$ and $`z`$ describe the interface evolution. The ratio $`\beta \alpha /z`$ can be obtained directly by plotting the time evolution of the roughness $`\sigma `$, as measured by AFM; moreover, $`\alpha `$ can be obtained from the analysis of the power spectral density (PSD) of the surface morphology measured by AFM, since the PSD behaves, for a two-dimensional rough surface,14  as PSD$`(k)1/k^{2\alpha +2}`$, with $`k=1/L`$. Fig. 3 is a logarithmic plot of the PSD of the surface morphology measured for 1, 2, 6, 20, 60, 240, and 960 minutes of sputtering.

The large peak in the PSDs corresponds to the average distance between nearest neighbor dots. We observe that this wavelength increases with time from $`35`$ nm for 2 minutes until it reaches a value in the 52-60 nm range for times longer than 6 minutes. For sputtering times longer than 20 minutes the PSD displays for small $`k`$ values an exponent value $`\alpha =0.8\pm 0.1`$. For each time there is a minimum wavelength $`k_c`$ below which the PSD crosses over to a different behavior. We obtain that $`k_c`$ decreases as $`k_ct^{0.2}`$. Hence, length scales larger than the nearest dot distance and smaller than $`1/k_c`$ display scale invariant behavior with exponents $`\alpha 0.8`$ and $`1/z0.2`$. This corresponds to the development of a long wavelength corrugated structure, which appears after 20 minutes of sputtering and coarsens with time, see Fig. 1 (b).

Finally, the inset of Fig. 3 shows the change of $`\sigma `$ with the the sputtering time. The roughness increases sharply during the very first stages of the sputtering process, but rapidly attains a constant value $`2`$ nm. This extremely small roughness is obtained even after a 50 micron thick layer of the silicon wafer has been etched away by the Ar+ ions. We have found that for long sputtering times the main morphological difference is the development of the long wavelength corrugation. However, the PSD curves (Fig. 3) indicate that the main contribution to the total surface roughness $`\sigma `$ is due to the dot nanostructures, rather than to the long wavelength corrugation.

The observed behavior is in qualitative agreement with the picture of the sputtering process based on the interplay between roughening induced by ion sputtering and smoothening due to surface diffusion.11 ; 12 ; 15 ; 16  The instability due to the local surface curvature dependence of the sputtering yield 11  produces at short times a regular array of dots (with defects induced by shot noise in the ion beam 12 ) and a rapid increase of the roughness. A similar qualitative behavior has been reported for the GaSb and InP dots.8 ; 9  At longer times, there are nonlinear effects 12  inducing drastically slower growth for the roughness 15 ; 16  as well as scaling behavior at length scales larger than the nearest dot distance, of the type encountered for the long wavelength corrugation \[Fig. 1 (b)\]. In Ref. 16, , the production of either dots or holes by ion-sputtering has been predicted to depend on the ion penetration depth and the shape of the collision cascade. Our experimental results agree quite well with the overall scenario thus predicted for the case of a positive nonlinearity. It will be interesting to test 17  further predictions 16  on morphology behavior as a function of temperature and ion energy.

In summary, we have shown that crystalline dots ($`7`$ nm high and $`50`$ nm wide) are produced on a Si(100) surface by low energy Ar+ ion bombardment at normal incidence. The silicon nanocrystals arrange themselves into hexagonal short-range ordering from 2 minutes up to 960 minutes of sputtering. The main effect of prolonged sputtering is the development of a long wavelength corrugation displaying scaling properties, which does not largely contribute to the total surface roughness. The experimental observations as well as the dynamic scaling analysis of the AFM images are consistent with the formation of the dots as a result of an instability due to the curvature dependence of the sputtering yield.

This work has been partially supported by DGES (Spain) grants MAT1999-0830-C03-01, MAT2000-0375-C02-02, and BFM2000-0006.


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# Can the 33 s pulsations observed from AE Aquarii be explained in terms of accretion onto the white dwarf surface ?

## 1 Introduction

AE Aquarii is a non-eclipsing close binary system with an orbital period $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}9.88`$ hr and orbital eccentricity $`e0.02`$. It is situated at the distance of $`(100\pm 30)`$ pc. The normal component (secondary) is a K3-K5 main sequence red dwarf. The primary is a magnetized white dwarf rotating with a period of 33 s. The inclination angle of the system is limited to $`50^\mathrm{°}<i<70^\mathrm{°}`$ and the mass ratio is $`q=M_2/M_1=0.77\pm 0.03`$ (for references see Table 1 in Ikhsanov i00 (2000)).

AE Aqr emits detectable radiation in almost all parts of the spectrum. It was observed as a powerful non-thermal flaring source in the radio (Bastian et al. bdch88 (1988)) and gamma-rays (Bowden et al. bbch92 (1992); Meintjes et al. mjr94 (1994)). The optical, UV and X-ray radiation of the system is predominantly thermal and is coming from at least three different sources. The visual light is dominated (up to 95%) by the secondary (Bruch bru91 (1991); Welsh et al. welsh95 (1995)). The contribution of the primary is observed mainly in the form of 33 s (and 16.5 s) coherent oscillations detectable in the optical, UV and X-rays (Patterson p79 (1979); Patterson et al. pbchr80 (1980)). Study of the optical-UV spectrum and profiles of the pulsations (Eracleous et al. erac94 (1994)) has shown that the pulsing radiation is coming from two hot ($`T26000`$ K) spots with a projected area of $`\mathrm{4\hspace{0.17em}10}^{16}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, which are situated on the white dwarf surface. Placing these spots at the magnetic pole regions of the primary, Eracleous et al. (erac94 (1994)) have estimated the value of the angle between the rotational and magnetic axes of the white dwarf to be $`75^\mathrm{°}\beta 77^\mathrm{°}`$. The remaining light comes from a highly variable extended source which manifests itself in the blue/UV continuum, the optical/UV broad single-peaked emission lines and the non-pulsing X-ray component. This source is spread around the magnetosphere of the primary and is associated with the mass-exchange process in the system (for a detailed system description see Eracleous & Horne eh96 (1996) and Ikhsanov i00 (2000)).

On the grounds of the properties observed in the optical, AE Aqr was classified as a nova-like star belonging to the DQ Herculis subclass of magnetic cataclysmic variables. Following this notion, it has been suggested that the primary is a magnetized accretion-powered white dwarf undergoing disk accretion (Patterson p79 (1979)). Correspondingly, the flaring activity of the system was interpreted in terms of a variable mass accretion rate onto the primary surface (van Paradijs et al. pka89 (1989)).

However extensive investigations of the system over the last five years have clearly shown that AE Aqr does not fit this model. First, studies of the 33 s pulsations in the optical/UV (Eracleous et al. erac94 (1994)) and X-rays (Reinsch et al. rbht95 (1995); Clayton & Osborne co95 (1995); Choi et al. cda99 (1999)) have shown no correlation between their amplitudes and the flaring of the system. This allowed Eracleous et al. (erac94 (1994)) to conclude that flares are not related to the process of depositing material onto the primary surface. Second, analysis of the H$`\alpha `$ Doppler tomogram of AE Aqr has shown no evidence of a developed Keplerian accretion disk in the system. Instead, it has shown that the material inflowing through the L1 point into the Roche lobe of the primary is then streaming out from the system with an average velocity $`300\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (Wynn et al. wkh97 (1997); Welsh et al. whg98 (1998)). Finally, de Jager et al. (jmor94 (1994)) have reported the mean spindown rate of the white dwarf $`\dot{P}_\mathrm{s}=5.64\times 10^{14}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{s}^1`$ which implies the spindown power of $`L_{\mathrm{sd}}=I\mathrm{\Omega }\dot{\mathrm{\Omega }}10^{34}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$. $`L_{\mathrm{sd}}`$ exceeds the observed UV and X-ray luminosities of the system by a factor of 120 and its bolometric luminosity by a factor of more than five111Hereafter the distance to AE Aqr is adopted to be 100 pc. This indicates that the spindown power dominates the energy budget of the system and raises the question of the nature of the spindown torque, which would appear to be much larger than any inferred accretion torque.

Four alternative answers to this question and, correspondingly, four alternative theoretical models of the system are currently under discussion: (i) the magnetic propeller model (Wynn et al. wkh97 (1997)), (ii) the spin-powered white dwarf pulsar model (Ikhsanov i98 (1998)), (iii) the gravitational wave emitter model (Choi & Yi cy00 (2000)) and (iv) the differentially rotating white dwarf model (Geroyannis g01 (2001)). Though these models essentially differ from each other in many aspects they have an important common point. Namely, the mass-exchange picture in AE Aqr is interpreted in terms of the propeller action by the white dwarf. This implies that the magnetic field of the white dwarf is strong enough for the magnetospheric radius,

$$R_\mathrm{m}=\eta \left(\frac{\mu ^2}{\dot{M}\sqrt{2GM_1}}\right)^{2/7},$$
(1)
to be larger than its corotational radius,

$$R_{\mathrm{cor}}=\mathrm{1.4\hspace{0.17em}10}^9M_{0.8}^{1/3}P_{33}^{2/3}\mathrm{cm}.$$
(2)
Here $`\mu `$, $`M_{0.8}=M_1/0.8M_{\mathrm{}}`$ and $`P_{33}=P_\mathrm{s}/33`$ s are the magnetic dipole moment, the mass and the spin period of the white dwarf, respectively. $`\dot{M}`$ is the mass accretion rate onto the primary magnetosphere and $`0.5\eta 1`$ is the parameter which accounts for the geometry of the accretion flow. Under these conditions the white dwarf is in the centrifugal inhibition regime and is able to eject the material out of the system due to the propeller action.

One of the important questions, which remains to be explained within this approach, is the origin of the hot spots on the white dwarf surface. According to the canonical propeller model (e.g. Davies et al. dfp79 (1979)) no accretion occurs onto the surface of a star in the state of propeller. This indicates that the direct accretion onto the surface of the white dwarf in AE Aqr cannot be responsible for the origin of the hot polar caps and hence an alternative mechanism should be invoked. Following this conclusion, it has been suggested that the polar caps are heated due to dissipation of the magnetic or/and rotational energy of the primary. In particular, due to the dissipation of Alfvén waves (Wynn et al. wkh97 (1997)) or/and due to the impact of the backflowing relativistic particles accelerated in the magnetosphere of the white dwarf (Ikhsanov i98 (1998)).

A different possibility to interpret the hot polar caps phenomenon has been discussed by Kuijpers et al. (kfa97 (1997)), Meintjes & de Jager (mdj00 (2000)) and Choi & Yi (cy00 (2000)). These authors pointed out that the mass accretion rate onto the white dwarf surface required to explain the observed luminosity of the pulsing component is $`\dot{M}_\mathrm{a}10^{14}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{s}^1`$. This is essentially smaller than the mass loss rate of the secondary ($`\dot{M}10^{16}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{s}^1`$) derived from the observations of the Balmer continuum and the optical/UV emission lines (see e.g. Eracleous & Horne eh96 (1996)). On this basis they have envisaged a situation in which the major fraction of the plasma inflowing into the Roche lobe of the primary within the orbital plane (so called low-altitude accretion flow) is ejected from the system due to the propeller action, while a small amount of material, which reaches the primary magnetosphere at the bases of the corotational cylinder (so called high-altitude accretion flow)222According to Patterson (p79 (1979)) and Eracleous et al. (erac94 (1994)) the rotational axis of the white dwarf in AE Aqr is almost perpendicular to the orbital plane, is able to penetrate through the magnetospheric boundary and reach the white dwarf surface. The theoretical analysis of this situation (which has not been performed so far) is the subject of the present paper. I discuss the possible origin of the high-altitude accretion flow (Sect. 2), the efficiency of plasma penetration into the primary magnetosphere through the bases of the corotational cylinder (Sect. 3) and the trajectory of the plasma inside the white dwarf magnetosphere (Sect. 4). My basic conclusion is that the assumption about the accretion nature of the 33 s pulsing component in AE Aqr has no sufficient theoretical grounds and thus, the investigation of alternative mechanisms of the polar caps heating seems to be more fruitful (Sect. 5).

## 2 The origin of high-altitude accretion flow

In the general case the mass-exchange in a close binary system can be realized due to the stream-fed and/or the wind-fed mass transfer mechanisms. As shown by Ikhsanov (i97 (1997)) the mass capture rate by the primary from the stellar wind of the normal companion in AE Aqr is limited to $`\dot{M}_{\mathrm{wa}}\mathrm{3.3\hspace{0.17em}10}^{12}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{s}^1`$. This value is significantly smaller than that required to explain the observed UV/X-ray luminosity of the pulsing component in terms of accretion onto the primary surface. That is why the wind-fed mass transfer mechanism cannot be responsible for the powerful high-altitude accretion flow in AE Aqr.

The effective cross-section of the stream flowing into the Roche lobe of the primary through the L1 point can be limited by the cross-section of the throat at this point, which in the case of AE Aqr is (Ikhsanov i97 (1997))

$$Q=\frac{2\pi c_\mathrm{s}^2a^3}{kG(M_1+M_2)}1.85\times 10^{19}\left(\frac{T}{10^4\mathrm{K}}\right)\mathrm{cm}^2.$$
(3)
Here $`c_\mathrm{s}`$ and $`T`$ are the sound speed and the plasma temperature at the L1 point, $`a`$ is the orbital separation, $`M_1`$ and $`M_2`$ are the masses of the primary and the secondary, respectively, and $`k`$ is a dimensionless constant depending on the mass ratio of the components (for discussion see Meyer & Meyer-Hofmeister mmh83 (1983)). This allows to evaluate the effective radius of the stream at the L1 point333Here I would like to note that the plasma density across the stream at the L1 point is $`n_\mathrm{s}\mathrm{exp}\{(r/r_{\mathrm{s0}})^2\}`$. as $`r_\mathrm{s}=\sqrt{Q\pi ^1}\mathrm{2.4\hspace{0.17em}10}^9`$ cm.

The stream inside the Roche lobe of the primary follows the ballistic trajectory toward the white dwarf until it interacts with the star magnetic field. The maximum possible expansion of the stream during this part of its trajectory is

$$\mathrm{\Delta }rt_{\mathrm{ff}}c_\mathrm{s}\mathrm{2\hspace{0.17em}10}^9R_{11}^{3/2}M_{0.8}^{1/2}T_4^{1/2}\mathrm{cm},$$
(4)
where $`t_{\mathrm{ff}}=R^{3/2}/\sqrt{2GM_1}`$ is the free-fall time, $`R_{11}`$ is the distance from the white dwarf to the L1 point expressed in units of $`10^{11}`$ cm and $`T_4=T/10^4`$ K. Hence the altitudes at which the stream flows into the white dwarf magnetosphere can be estimated as

$$\kappa \mathrm{arcsin}\left(\frac{r_\mathrm{s}+\mathrm{\Delta }r}{R_{\mathrm{L1}}}\right)3^\mathrm{°},$$
(5)
i.e. the material inflowing through the L1 point reaches the white dwarf magnetosphere in a narrow band around the rotational equator of the primary.

The situation could be different if the secondary in AE Aqr essentially overflows its Roche lobe. This assumption, however, contradicts the results of the investigation of gradual variations of optical brightness in the quiescent state (van Paradijs et al. pka89 (1989)). Furthermore, in this case, the mass transfer rate in the system would be essentially higher than that currently estimated (see Introduction).

An additional possibility to explain the origin of the high-altitude accretion flow is to assume that the temperature of the material surrounding the stream at the L1 point is about of $`10^7`$ K. In this case the value of $`\mathrm{\Delta }r`$ proves to be comparable to the magnetospheric radius of the white dwarf and, hence, the spherically symmetrical accretion flow onto the primary magnetosphere can be expected. In principle this assumption could be accepted if the mechanism of plasma heating at the L1 point is explained.

## 3 The efficiency of plasma entry into the magnetosphere of the white dwarf

As shown by Arons & Lea (al76 (1976)) the mass accretion rate onto the surface of a magnetized compact star is limited by the rate of plasma penetration into the star magnetosphere. The latter depends on the shape of the magnetospheric boundary, the geometry of the accretion flow and the physical parameters of plasma over the boundary. Correspondingly, three modes of plasma penetration into the star magnetic field can be realized: the interchange instabilities, the diffusion, and the reconnection of the magnetic field lines (for discussion see Elsner & Lamb el84 (1984)).

Choi & Yi (cy00 (2000)) have distinguished two components of the accretion flow beyond the white dwarf magnetosphere: (i) the accretion stream (the low-altitude component) and (ii) the almost spherically symmetrical accretion flow (the high-altitude component). As shown by Wynn et al. (wkh97 (1997)) the stream interacts with the magnetic field of the white dwarf in a local region at low altitudes ($`\kappa 3\mathrm{°}`$) mainly at the closest approach to the primary ($`r_{\mathrm{ms}}10^{10}`$ cm). The influence of the stream on the large scale field of the white dwarf at higher altitudes (i.e. $`\kappa 3^\mathrm{°}`$) is small and the dipole approximation for the field of the primary in these regions can be used.

The interaction between the spherically symmetrical accretion flow and the dipole magnetic field of a compact star in the state of propeller has been investigated by Davies et al. (dfp79 (1979)) and Davies & Pringle (dp81 (1981)). They have shown that the magnetosphere of the primary in this case is closed444The shape of the magnetosphere is similar to that derived by Arons & Lea (al76 (1976)) and the magnetospheric radius can be evaluated as

$$r_\mathrm{c}R_\mathrm{m}=\mathrm{1.8\hspace{0.17em}10}^{10}\mu _{32}^{4/7}\dot{M}_{15}^{2/7}M_{0.8}^{1/7}\mathrm{cm},$$
(6)
where $`\mu _{32}=\mu /10^{32}\mathrm{G}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ and $`\dot{M}_{15}`$ is the mass accretion rate of the high-altitude component onto the magnetospheric boundary expressed in units of $`10^{15}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

Under the condition $`r_\mathrm{c}>R_{\mathrm{cor}}`$, that is just the case of the white dwarf in AE Aqr, the state of the primary is classified as supersonic propeller (the linear velocity of the magnetospheric boundary, $`v_\phi =2\pi r_\mathrm{c}/P_\mathrm{s}`$, exceeds the sound speed in the accretion flow, which is limited by the free-fall velocity, $`V_{\mathrm{ff}}=\sqrt{2GM_1/r_\mathrm{c}}`$). In this situation the magnetosphere of the star is surrounded by a turbulent atmosphere in which the plasma temperature is of the order of the free-fall temperature $`T_{\mathrm{ff}}=GMm_\mathrm{p}/kr_\mathrm{c}`$ (where $`m_\mathrm{p}`$ and $`k`$ are the proton mass and the Boltzmann constant, respectively).

As shown by Davies & Pringle (dp81 (1981)) the rate of plasma penetration through the magnetic field of a compact star, which is in the state of the supersonic propeller, is almost negligible. In the region with $`r_\mathrm{c}\mathrm{cos}\kappa >R_{\mathrm{cor}}`$ (which in our case corresponds to the magnetic latitudes $`\kappa 85^\mathrm{°}`$) the centrifugal force dominates the gravitational force at the magnetospheric boundary. That is why the plasma entering the magnetosphere in this region is unable to flow along the field lines to the primary surface but is pushed back by the fast rotating magnetosphere. In the region $`r_\mathrm{c}\mathrm{cos}\kappa R_{\mathrm{cor}}`$ (which corresponds to $`85^\mathrm{°}\kappa 90^\mathrm{°}`$) the centrifugal force is not effective. However, the effective penetration of plasma into the magnetosphere does not occur since the temperature of the plasma over the boundary is $`T(r_\mathrm{c})T_{\mathrm{ff}}`$ and hence, the magnetospheric boundary is stable with respect to interchange instabilities (see Arons & Lea al76 (1976); Elsner & Lamb el77 (1977)). In this situation the efficiency of plasma penetration into the magnetic field of the primary (due to the magnetic field lines reconnection and/or diffusion) is smaller than 1% (see Ikhsanov i01 (2001) and references therein). Furthermore, the area of the bases of the corotational cylinder in the considered case constitutes about 10% of the total magnetospheric area. That is why the rate of plasma penetration into the white dwarf magnetosphere is at least three orders of magnitude smaller than the initial mass accretion rate in the high-altitude accretion flow. This, however, is too small to explain the luminosity of the 33 s pulsing component.

## 4 Accretion flow inside the primary magnetosphere

The last item I briefly address in this section is the plasma flow inside the white dwarf magnetosphere. It is well known that the accreting plasma penetrates the magnetosphere across the filed lines forming the magnetopause, which is situated at the boundary and has the thickness $`\delta _\mathrm{m}R_\mathrm{m}`$ (see e.g. Arons & Lea al76 (1976), Ghosh & Lamb gl79 (1979) and Elsner & Lamb el84 (1984)). Plasma penetrating the magnetosphere flows along the field lines within a relatively narrow channel towards the star surface. Following this way it can reach the star surface if all parts of the channel are situated inside the corotational cylinder (otherwise it will be pushed out from the magnetosphere by the centrifugal force). This condition is always satisfied if the magnetospheric radius of the star is smaller than the corotational radius, i.e. if the star is in the accretor state. But if the star is in the propeller state the realization of this condition is not obvious. The answer depends on whether a magnetic line, which is situated inside the corotational cylinder and connects the star surface with the bases of the corotational cylinder, exists in the magnetosphere.

To investigate this problem I use the dipole approximation for the magnetic field of the primary555This approximation is valid in the region $`R_{\mathrm{wd}}<r<r_\mathrm{c}`$ (see Arons & Lea al76 (1976)).. A magnetic line of force in this case has the equation

$$r=r_\mathrm{e}\mathrm{cos}^2\lambda ,$$
(7)
where $`\lambda `$ is the magnetic latitude and $`r_\mathrm{e}`$ is the distance from the line origin to the point of its intersection with the plane of the magnetic equator666In the azimuthal direction the equation of the magnetic line of force is $`\phi =`$ const.. I denote the angle between the magnetic and rotational axes of the primary by $`\beta `$ and the angle between $`B`$ and the radius vector by $`\alpha `$. The latter can be expressed, according to Alfvén & Fälthammar (af63 (1963)), as

$$\mathrm{sin}\alpha =\frac{\mathrm{cos}\lambda }{\sqrt{1+3\mathrm{sin}^2\lambda }}.$$
(8)
A situation in which at least one line of force is situated inside the corotational cylinder and connects the star surface with the magnetospheric boundary is shown in Fig. 1. This line has a point of contact with the surface of the corotational cylinder in which the vector $`B`$ is parallel to the rotational axis of the star, $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$. As it is seen from the figure the following conditions are satisfied in this case

$$\beta =\left(\frac{\pi }{2}\lambda \right)+\alpha ,$$
(9)
$$\frac{R_{\mathrm{cor}}}{r_\mathrm{e}\mathrm{cos}^2\lambda }=\mathrm{sin}\alpha .$$
(10)
The value $`r_\mathrm{e}`$ for this line can be evaluated taking into account that it reaches the magnetospheric boundary at $`\lambda =(\pi /2\beta )`$. Hence,

$$r_\mathrm{e}=\frac{r_\mathrm{m}(\lambda )}{\mathrm{cos}^2(\pi /2\beta )},$$
(11)
where $`r_\mathrm{m}(\lambda )`$ is the distance from the white dwarf to the base of the corotational cylinder. According to Arons & Lea (al76 (1976)) in the case of spherically symmetric accretion, $`r_\mathrm{m}(\lambda )`$ can be approximated as

$$\frac{r_\mathrm{m}}{r_\mathrm{c}}\{\begin{array}{cc}(\mathrm{cos}\lambda )^{0.2639},\hfill & \mathrm{for}\lambda \lambda _0,\\ & \\ 0.51+0.63\left(1\frac{2\lambda }{\pi }\right)^{2/3},\hfill & \mathrm{for}\lambda >\lambda _0,\end{array}$$
(12)
where $`\lambda _080^\mathrm{°}`$.

Combining Eqs. (712) I find that plasma accretion onto the primary surface in the considered case could be realized if the following condition is satisfied

$$\frac{\mathrm{tan}\lambda \mathrm{sin}\lambda }{\sqrt{1+3\mathrm{sin}^2\lambda }}\frac{r_\mathrm{c}}{9R_{\mathrm{cor}}}(\mathrm{cos}\lambda )^{0.2639}0.$$
(13)
Solving this inequality for $`\lambda `$ and putting the result to Eqs. (8) and (9) I find that the accretion process onto the surface of the white dwarf in AE Aqr could be realized777The corotational radius and the equatorial magnetospheric radius of the white dwarf are taken as $`R_{\mathrm{cor}}=\mathrm{1.5\hspace{0.17em}10}^9`$ cm and $`r_\mathrm{c}=\mathrm{1.8\hspace{0.17em}10}^{10}`$ cm, respectively (see above) if $`\beta 38^\mathrm{°}`$. At the same time, the value of $`\beta `$ evaluated by Eracleous et al. (erac94 (1994)) from the investigation of the pulse profiles of the 33 s oscillations is $`75^\mathrm{°}\beta 77^\mathrm{°}`$. This indicates that the assumption about the direct accretion of plasma onto the surface of the white dwarf in AE Aqr contradicts the results of optical/UV observations of the system and thus cannot be accepted.

## 5 Conclusions

One can conclude that the assumption about the direct plasma accretion onto the surface of the white dwarf in AE Aqr cannot be accepted. The theoretical grounds of this conclusion are the following. First, the origin of the high-altitude accretion flow, which moves directly to the bases of the corotational cylinder of the white dwarf with the rate $`>10^{13}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{s}^1`$, in the particular case of AE Aqr, is rather unclear. Second, even if we assume that this accretion flow exists, the efficiency of its penetration into the white dwarf magnetosphere is smaller than 0.1%. Finally, for the established value of the angle between the rotational and magnetic axes of the white dwarf in AE Aqr, the material penetrating the magnetosphere through the bases of the corotational cylinder could never reach the star surface flowing along the magnetic field lines.

From the observational point of view the assumption about the accretion onto the surface of the white dwarf in AE Aqr also faces a number of serious problems. In particular, the temperature of the plasma in the polar caps of the white dwarf in AE Aqr ($`T26000`$ K) derived by Eracleous et al. (erac94 (1994)) is significantly smaller than the surface temperature in the magnetic pole regions of accreting white dwarfs (typically $`T10^8`$ K, Eracleous et al. ehp91 (1991)). Furthermore, the X-ray spectrum of AE Aqr is soft and essentially differs from the hard X-ray spectra of all intermediate polars as well as from those of almost all accretion powered close binaries (Clayton & Osborne co95 (1995)). On the other hand, due to the power law spectrum with $`\alpha 2`$ and the ratio of the X-ray luminosity to the spindown luminosity $`L_\mathrm{x}/L_{\mathrm{sd}}10^3`$, the X-ray emission of AE Aqr is rather similar to the X-rays detected from spin-powered pulsars (Becker & Trümper bt97 (1997)). This resemblance indicates that the energy release in the magnetosphere of the white dwarf in AE Aqr and the magnetospheres of spin-powered pulsars may have a common nature and, if so, the assumption about the accretion onto the white dwarf surface proves not to be necessary.

###### Acknowledgements.

I would like to thank the referee, Prof. Antonio Bianchini, for careful reading the manuscript and suggested improvements. I acknowledge the support of the Follow-up program of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.