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# Spin state and phase competition in TbBaCo2O5.5 and the lanthanide series 𝐿𝑛BaCo2O5+δ (0≤𝛿≤1)

A clear physics picture of TbBaCo2O5.5 is revealed on the basis of density functional theory calculations. An antiferromagnetic (AFM) superexchange coupling between the almost high-spin Co3+ ions competes with a ferromagnetic (FM) interaction mediated by both $`p`$-$`d`$ exchange and double exchange, being responsible for the observed AFM-FM transition. And the metal-insulator transition is accompanied by an $`xy`$/$`xz`$ orbital-ordering transition. Moreover, this picture can be generalized to the whole lanthanide series, and it is predicted that a few room-temperature magnetoresistance materials could be found in $`Ln`$Ba1-x$`A_x`$Co2O5+δ ($`Ln`$=Ho,Er,Tm,Yb,Lu; $`A`$=Sr,Ca,Mg).

PACS numbers: 75.50.-y, 71.20.-b, 71.15.Mb

$`Introduction.`$ Materials with an interesting combination of electronic and magnetic properties are of current considerable interest, both from the basic points of view and as to their promising technological utilities. Well known one of this class is the colossal magnetoresistance (MR) manganite $`R_{1x}`$$`A_x`$MnO3 ($`R`$:rare earth; $`A`$:alkaline earth). Its FM metallicity has been long explained in terms of the double exchange (DE) model, where the spin of Mn $`e_g`$ conduction electron is forced to be parallel to the localized $`t_{2g}`$ spin due to strong on-site Hund coupling, and the effective electron hopping of the $`e_g`$ electron is maximum when the neighboring Mn spins are parallel. Recently the DE model was modified by including a strong electron-phonon interaction stemming from the Jahn-Teller (JT) splitting of the Mn3+ ions. And late it was argued4,5 that owing to a considerable amount of O $`2p`$ holes in the charge-transfer6 (CT) oxides, $`p`$-$`d`$ exchange also plays a crucial role in determining the $`T_\mathrm{C}`$ value and transport properties. The MR materials, especially those with a high MR value at room-$`T`$ and low field have potential applications for magnetic memory and actuator devices.

Recently, the perovskite cobaltities of lanthanides $`Ln`$BaCo2O5+δ (0$`\delta `$ 1) drew much attention, because they exhibit a few fascinating phenomena such as a metal-insulator (M-I) transition, an AFM-FM transition, and a giant MR effect near the AFM-FM transition temperature $`T_\mathrm{i}`$. These intricate behaviors are closely related to an interrelation among the spin, charge, and orbital degrees of freedom of the Co ions. In most of the published experimental studies, the abundant electronic and magnetic properties were explained in terms of an intermediate-spin (IS) and/or a low-spin (LS) model for the Co ions. For example, it was suggested9 that upon decreasing $`T`$ to $`T_{\mathrm{MI}}`$$``$340 K, TbBaCo2O5.5 transits from a Co3+ high-spin (HS) metallic phase to an IS and lattice-distorted $`b`$-axis $`3x^2`$$`r^2`$/$`3y^2`$$`r^2`$ orbital-ordered (OO) insulating state. In this OO IS model, the observed FM state lying roughly between 260 and 340 K was ascribed to both the superexchange (SE) FM along the $`b`$-axis and the DE FM along the $`a`$-axis, and the lower-$`T`$ AFM phase was ascribed to the overwhelming SE AFM.

However, it should be argued that such an OO IS state most probably leads to an AFM SE coupling along the $`c`$-axis as in the widely studied LaMnO3. Consequently, the above explanation of the FM state is questionable, and thus the AFM-FM transition is somewhat hard to explain. In addition, there exists an intriguing issue12 on the Co spin state in the isostructural Co2+/Co3+ charge-ordered (CO) systems YBaCo2O513 and HoBaCo2O514. Therefore, the Co spin state and origins of the phase transitions, being fundamental aspects of physics of the fascinating materials $`Ln`$BaCo2O5+δ, call for a further clarification.

In this paper, density functional theory15 (DFT) calculations for TbBaCo2O5.5 are exemplified to study the Co spin state and the phase competitions. The obtained results are distinct from the previous ones stated above, and a few fundamental evidences presented below clearly indicate that the original physics model9 of TbBaCo2O5.5 is invalid. Instead a new physics picture is revealed, and more importantly it can be generalized to the whole lanthanide series and leads to a theoretical prediction.

$`Computational`$ $`details`$. Used in the following calculations are the 450-K paramagnetic (PM) structure and 270-K distorted one of TbBaCo2O5.5 measured by neutron diffraction experiments. Owing to a large difference between the Tb and Ba ionic radii, the O4 basal squares of the alternate Co(1)O6 octahedra and Co(2)O5 pyramids along the $`b`$-axis move towards the smaller-Tb layer, leading to a bent Co-O-Co bond angle along the $`a`$\- and $`b`$-axis.

The full-potential linearly combined atomic-orbital band method, based on the local density approximation15 (LDA) to DFT and on-site Coulomb correlation correction (LDA+$`U`$) to the localized Tb $`4f`$ and Co $`3d`$ states, is adopted in the following scalar relativistic calculations, where no spin-orbital coupling (SOC) is included. Tb $`4f5p5d6s`$, Ba $`5p5d6s`$, Co $`3d4s`$, and O $`2s2p`$ orbitals are treated as valence states. Hartree potential is expanded in terms of lattice harmonics up to $`L`$=6, and an exchange-correlation potential of von Barth-Hedin type is adopted. 125 special $`k`$ points in irreducible Brillouin zone are used.

$`Results`$. In the LDA PM band structure, the partially occupied Tb3+ $`4f`$ bands are very narrow, contributing greatly to the density of states (DOS) at the Fermi level ($`E_F`$), as seen in Fig. 1. This high DOS peak is to be removed by a large Mott-Hubbard splitting. Note that the Co $`3d`$ and O $`2p`$ states consist of the most concerned valence bands ranging from -8 to 3 eV, on which other electronic states have a negligible influence. The Co(1)/Co(2) near-degenerate $`t_{2g}`$ ($`xz`$,$`yz`$,$`xy`$) levels consist of a subgroup of narrow bands located between –1.5 and 0.5 eV, and the $`e_g`$ ($`x^2`$$`y^2`$,$`3z^2`$$`r^2`$) levels lie, respectively, above the corresponding $`t_{2g}`$ ones by $``$1 and 0.7 eV (the latter as in YBaCo2O512) due to a crystal-field (CF) splitting. The broad $`e_g`$ bands ranging from –1 to 3 eV should be responsible for the metallic conductivity of TbBaCo2O5.5 at the high-$`T`$ PM phase.

In the LDA+$`U`$ calculation for the FM distorted structure, two choices of $`U`$= 8 and 10 eV for the Tb $`4f`$ electrons result in only a rigid shift of the $`4f`$ levels and have no influence on the Co $`3d`$ and O $`2p`$ states. The corresponding Tb3+ ($`4f^8`$) spin moments of 5.91 and 5.94 $`\mu _B`$ suggest a full spin polarization. $`U`$=5 eV is used for the Co $`3d`$ electrons, and a variance of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$$`U`$=$`\pm `$1 eV leads to an insignificant change of the calculated results. It can be seen in Fig. 2(a.1-3) that the Co(1)/Co(2) majority-spin $`t_{2g}`$ and $`e_g`$ orbitals become completely occupied and nearly full-filled, respectively, thus giving an almost HS state with an avearged Co spin moment of 3.4 $`\mu _B`$ including a total contribution of $``$0.4 $`\mu _B`$ from the coordinated oxygens. And the $`e_g`$ orbitals couple to the O $`2p`$ ones and form wide conduction bands crossing $`E_F`$. Moreover, the near-degeneracy of the $`t_{2g}`$ orbitals is lifted, and the minority-spin Co(1) $`xy`$ and Co(2) $`xz`$ orbitals are fully occupied, giving rise to an OO of the formal Co3+ (3$`d^6`$) ions. Furthermore, the upper valence bands (lower conduction bands) are mainly of the O $`2p`$ (Co $`3d`$) character, leading to a classification of TbBaCo2O5.5 as a $`p`$-$`d`$ CT oxide.

It should be noted that the above LDA+$`U`$ metallic solution is closely related to both the assumed ideal FM ordering and the itinerant O $`2p`$ orbital character in this CT cobalt oxide which is something like the self-doped metallic ferromagnet CrO2. This result qualitatively accounts for a little abrupt decrease of the resistivity near $`T_\mathrm{i}`$. While the observed insulating-like bahavior of the so-called FM phase9 is probably ascribed to a spin canted structure26 as suggested below. Moreover,the insualting ground state is exactly reproduced by the present AFM LDA+$`U`$ calculation for the distorted structure as seen in Fig. 2b, where the strongly suppressed bandwidths due to the carrier localization are evident. While the almost HS state and the $`xy`$/$`xz`$ OO remain unchanged.

$`Discussions`$. It was theoretically found12 that the pyramidal Co ions see a weak CF and remain in a HS state in YBaCo2O5, and it is therefore not surprising that the pyramidal Co(2) ion almost takes the HS state in TbBaCo2O5.5. Also the octahedral Co(1) ion in TbBaCo2O5.5 almost takes a HS state due to a reduced CF. It has been experimentally revealed9 that strongly in contrast to a regular CoO6 octahedron with a Co-O bond length of $``$1.9 Å , the cobalt and two inequivalent planar oxygens of Co(1)O6 in the 270-K phase move away from the ideal CoO4 middle plane by 0.09, 0.23 and 0.33 Å , respectively. The drastic deformation leads to the reduced CF splitting of $``$ 1 eV, and consequently the HS state becomes energetically favorable. Owing to a nearly complete filling of the majority-spin $`e_g`$ orbitals in the almost HS state, there is no freedom of the $`e_g`$ orbitals for an OO. Instead the lattice distortion lifts the near-degeneracy of the $`t_{2g}`$ orbitals and prefers the $`xy`$/$`xz`$ OO (see discussions in Ref. 23). These fundamental evidences clearly indicate that the original model9 of the $`3x^2`$$`r^2`$/$`3y^2`$$`r^2`$ OO IS state is invalid for TbBaCo2O5.5. Instead it is proposed here that in this CT cobalt oxide, the Co3+ ions almost take a HS state with itinerant $`p`$-$`d`$ hybridized holes of the $`e_g`$ symmetry, and they exhibit the $`xy`$/$`xz`$ OO.

Based on this proposal, a clear physics picture of TbBaCo2O5.5 is presented. A SE interaction (Ref. 24) between the almost HS Co3+ ions gives an AFM coupling. Owing to a significant O $`2p`$ orbital character of the $`p`$-$`d`$ hybridized holes, the itinerant O $`2p`$ holes couple antiferromagnetically to the Co spins and align them ferromagnetically via the $`p`$-$`d`$ exchange. Also the itinerant Co $`e_g`$ holes mediate the FM coupling via DE. In the low-$`T`$ distorted structure of TbBaCo2O5.5, the OO is stabilized, and the $`p`$-$`d`$ holes are strongly localized due to a polaron effect and thus the FM coupling is disfavored, and the AFM SE coupling is overwhelming instead. These effects account for the observed insulating AFM ground state. With increasing $`T`$ below $`T_{\mathrm{MI}}`$340 K, the $`p`$-$`d`$ holes delocalize progressively but the OO survives as shown in Fig. 2a. As a result, a FM coupling becomes pronounced but the AFM coupling is inherent. Thus a spin canted structure26 (rather than the so-called FM state9) appears in a relatively narrow range of $`T`$, which is considered to be the reason for the high resistivity with a little sudden drop near $`T_\mathrm{i}`$. As the $`T`$ increases further, the PM phase appears, the OO collapses, and the itinerant $`p`$-$`d`$ holes result in a metallic behavior.

The present picture should be also applicable to other intermediate lanthanides of this class, in view of a negligible influence of the strongly localized Tb3+ $`4f`$ electrons on the Co and O states as shown above. A relevant experimental evidence is that similar AFM-FM and M-I transitions were observed in the intermediate $`Ln`$BaCo2O5+δ ($`Ln`$=Sm,Eu,Gd,Tb,Dy; $`\delta `$0.5). And in the intermediate lanthanides at $`\delta `$=1, a complete apical-oxygen occupation makes Co ions all octahedrally coordinated and thus to behave like the octahedral Co(1) ions in TbBaCo2O5.5. As a result, they show a great similarity to those at $`\delta `$0.5 in the electronic and magnetic properties.

Moreover, this picture can be generalized to the whole lanthanide series as discussed below, by taking into account variances of both the spin state and the hole behavior, and a possible CO transition.

In the larger lanthanides, $`e.`$$`g.`$, $`Ln`$=La, Pr, and Nd, the decreasing difference between the $`Ln^{3+}`$ and Ba2+ sizes leads to a relaxation of the CoO4 basal square close to the ideal middle plane and therefore a weaker deformation of the Co-O polyhedra. As a result, the CF is enhanced and the Co HS state is disfavored. In particular, an IS state is most probably stabilized in LaBaCo2O6 (as in SrCoO3 and LaSrCo2O6) by a strong $`p`$-$`d`$ hybridization which is responsible for its FM metallicity8 via the $`p`$-$`d`$ exchange and DE mechanisms. In addition, an IS-HS mixing state could appear in PrBaCo2O5+δ and NdBaCo2O5+δ. Thus, the weak magnetization and semiconductive behavior observed in them8 can be reasonably ascribed to the coexisting IS FM metallicity and HS AFM insulating behavior.

In contrast, a larger CoO4 displacement away from the middle plane is expected in the smaller lanthanides, $`e.`$$`g.`$, HoBaCo2O5, as well as YBaCo2O5 (See Refs. 9 and 13 for comparison). Consequently, the CF is strongly reduced, and the Co ions take a HS state and give a strong AFM SE coupling. The $`p`$-$`d`$ holes are localized due to the strongly bent Co-O-Co bonds. Thus, these smaller lanthanides should exhibit a pronounced AFM insulating behavior with high $`T_\mathrm{N}`$ as observed in HoBaCo2O5 ($`T_\mathrm{N}`$340 K)14 and YBaCo2O5 ($`T_\mathrm{N}`$330 K).

Note that a CO transition is more likely realized in the intermediate and smaller lanthanides ($`\delta `$=0,1) with mixed-valence Co ions as observed in HoBaCo2O514 and YBaCo2O513, owing to the bent Co-O-Co bond angles and hence the reduced electron hoppings. This CO transition should be rather responsible for the M-I transition observed in the intermediate $`Ln`$BaCo2O6.

As discussed above, with increasing $`T`$ the intermediate $`Ln`$BaCo2O5+δ ($`\delta `$0.5,=1) transit from an AFM insulator to a PM metal via an intermediate so-called FM state with a little sudden drop of high resistivity near $`T_\mathrm{i}`$. An applied magnetic field will inhibit the AFM ordering of the Co spins but favor the FM coupling (and thus enhance the $`p`$-$`d`$ hole mobility), as was indicated by experiments8 that an external magnetic field lowers the $`T_\mathrm{i}`$ and makes broader the range of $`T`$ for the FM state. As a result, the magnetic field changes the hole mobility in the intermediate lanthanides near the AFM-FM phase boundary more considerably than near the FM-PM or M-I phase boundaries, giving a giant negative MR near the $`T_\mathrm{i}`$ rather than near the $`T_\mathrm{C}`$ or $`T_{\mathrm{MI}}`$. In contrast, the MR effect becomes weaker in the larger lanthanides which behave like a FM (semi)metal, and it disappears even in the smaller ones being almost an AFM insulator.

Since a giant MR effect of the intermediate lanthanides appears near $`T_\mathrm{i}`$, $`e.`$$`g.`$, 260K for TbBaCo2O6, some lanthanides of this class with a higher $`T_\mathrm{i}`$ value could be candidate room-$`T`$ MR materials. In the sense, the smaller lanthanides, although intrinsically insulating, seem preferable through a modulation of the $`p`$-$`d`$ hole behavior. It can be reasonably postulated that a smaller-$`A`$ ($`A`$=Sr,Ca,Mg) substitution for the Ba composition in the smaller lanthanides is a promising choice. Thus, the decreasing difference between the $`Ln`$ and $`A`$ sizes weakens the deformation of the Co-O polyhedra, and it leads to an enhancement of the $`p`$-$`d`$ hole itineracy at the expense of a litter drop of the high $`T_\mathrm{i}`$ value. As a result, a few room-$`T`$ MR materials could be found in $`Ln`$Ba1-x$`A_x`$Co2O5+δ ($`Ln`$=Ho,Er,Tm,Yb,Lu; $`A`$=Sr,Ca,Mg) with a possibly optimized combination of both the $`T_\mathrm{i}`$ value and the $`p`$-$`d`$ hole itineracy. Moreover, such a doping in the intermediate lanthanides could increase their MR values.

$`Conclusion`$. Based on LDA and LDA+$`U`$ calculations for TbBaCo2O5.5, it has been proposed that the Co ions take an almost HS state with itinerant $`p`$-$`d`$ hybridized holes in the intermediate lanthanides $`Ln`$BaCo2O5+δ ($`Ln`$=Sm,Eu,Gd,Tb,Dy; $`\delta `$0.5,=1), and most likely an IS state or an IS-HS mixing one in the larger ones ($`Ln`$=La,Pr,Nd; $`\delta `$0.5,=1) stabilized by a stronger $`p`$-$`d`$ hybridization, and a complete HS state with localized holes in the smaller $`Ln`$BaCo2O5, $`e.`$$`g.`$ HoBaCo2O5. Thus a general physics picture of the lanthanide series has been revealed that a competition between the HS AFM SE coupling and the FM interaction mediated by both $`p`$-$`d`$ exchange and DE due to the itinerant $`p`$-$`d`$ holes, and possible OO and/or CO transitions related to a lattice distortion, are responsible for the FM behavior of the larger lanthanides, and AFM-FM and M-I transitions in the intermediate ones, and the AFM insulating property of the smaller ones. Moreover, it is theoretically predicted that a few room-$`T`$ MR materials could be found in $`Ln`$Ba1-x$`A_x`$Co2O5+δ ($`Ln`$=Ho,Er,Tm,Yb,Lu; $`A`$=Sr,Ca,Mg).

$`Acknowledgments`$. The author thanks A.-m Hu and A. Yaresko for their valuable discussions. This work was cosponsored by Max Planck Society of Germany and National Natural Science Foundation of China.


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# Unified approach to hard diffraction

## 1 Introduction

In the present paper, we focus on three existing different theoretical approaches of hard diffraction, for which we propose a new, unifying, formulation. The first one we will refer to is the “partonic Pomeron” approach. The hard photon is here supposed to probe the parton distributions of the Pomeron Regge pole considered as a hadronic particle. A second approach is the Soft Colour Interaction one , where hard diffraction is described by a two-step process: during a relatively short “interaction time”, the probe initiates a typical hard deep-inelastic interaction. Then, at large times/distances, a soft colour interaction is assumed which will decide of the separation between diffractive and non-diffractive events according to a simple probabilistic rule. A third approach is based on the small $`x_{Bj}`$ regime of perturbative QCD, where the resummation of leading $`\mathrm{log}1/x_{Bj}`$ leads to the “QCD dipole” approach for hard diffraction.

We show that the three aproaches may find a common formulation. Our main results are the following:

1) The “effective” parameters of the partonic Pomeron are determined from leading log perturbative QCD resummation. They are found to depend not only on $`Q^2`$ but also on the ratio $`\eta =\left(Yy\right)/y,`$ where Y (resp. y) are the total (resp. gap) rapidity interval.

2) The “effective” parameters of the hard process before modification by the Soft Colour Interaction are determined. Differences with the original model avoid the “Low’s theorem” paradox.

3) Using S-Matrix properties of triple-Regge contributions, a relation is found between discontinuities of a $`33`$ amplitude and the three approaches to hard diffraction. In particular, a theoretically founded formulation of a (modified) Soft Colour Interaction approach is proposed as a specific double discontinuity the $`33`$ forward amplitude.

## 2 From QCD dipoles to partonic Pomeron

Our starting point is the formula for the structure function (inelastic component) for longitudinal and transverse photon:

$`F_{T,L}^{Diff}(Q^2,Y,y){\displaystyle _{ci\mathrm{}}^{c+i\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\gamma _1}{2i\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{d\gamma _2}{2i\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{d\gamma }{2i\pi }}\delta (1\gamma _1\gamma _2\gamma )`$
$`\times \left({\displaystyle \frac{Q}{Q_0}}\right)^{2\gamma }\mathrm{exp}\left\{y[\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma _1)+\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma _2)]+(Yy)[\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma )]\right\},`$ (1)
where

$$\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma )\frac{\alpha _sN_c}{\pi }\left\{2\psi (1)2\psi (\gamma )2\psi (1\gamma )\right\}\mathrm{\Delta }+\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }^{^{\prime \prime }}}{2}\left(\frac{1}{2}\gamma \right)^2$$
(2)
is the BFKL evolution kernel (used in a gaussian approximation), $`Q_0`$ a non-perturbative scale associated with the proton. After a triple saddle-point approximation (using the gaussian approximation) justified by the large rapidity gap characteristic of diffraction, one may write $`F_{T,L}^{Diff}e^{2y\mathrm{\Delta }}\sigma _{\gamma ^{}P}^{tot},`$ with

$$\sigma _{\gamma ^{}P}^{tot}\sqrt{\frac{2}{1+2\eta }}\mathrm{exp}\left\{(Yy)ϵ_s\right\}\left(\frac{Q}{Q_0}\right)^{2\gamma _𝐬}\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{2\eta }{1+2\eta }\frac{2\mathrm{log}^2\left(\frac{Q}{Q_0}\right)}{\mathrm{\Delta }^{^{\prime \prime }}(Yy)}\right).$$
(3)
Here, the gaussian saddle-points determine both the new “effective dimension” and “effective intercept”:

$$\gamma _𝐬=\frac{\eta }{1+2\eta };ϵ_s=\mathrm{\Delta }+\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }^{^{\prime \prime }}}{8(1+2\eta )}$$
(4)
of a “BFKL-like” expression, depending on the variable $`\eta =\frac{Yy}{y}`$.

$`\sigma _{\gamma ^{}P}^{tot}`$ thus defines an effective “partonic Pomeron” derived from the QCD dipole formalism.

## 3 From dipoles to Soft Colour Interaction

In Soft Color Interactions models, at least in their formally simpler formulations, one expects the following relation between the total structure function and the overall contribution of hard diffraction at fixed value of $`x_{Bj}:`$

$$F_{T,L}^{Diff/tot}_{x_{Bj}}^{x_{gap}}𝑑x_PF_{T,L}^{Diff}=\frac{\mathrm{𝟏}}{𝐍_𝐜^\mathrm{𝟐}}F_{T,L}^{hard/tot}$$
(5)
where $`\mathrm{log}\frac{1}{x_{gap}}`$ is the minimal value retained for the rapidity gap. A priori, $`F_{T,L}^{hard/tot}`$ is supposed not to be modified by the soft color interaction. However a contradiction with “Low’s theorem” has been quoted. Indeed, a fully soft color interaction can be proven to give no effect on physical obervables.

In fact, when inserting the QCD dipole expression (1) in relation (5), one finds

$$F_{L,T}^{hard/tot}\left(\frac{Q}{Q_0}\right)^{2\gamma _{hard}}\frac{\mathrm{exp}\left(Y\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma _{hard})\right)}{\sqrt{2\pi \mathrm{\Delta }^{^{\prime \prime }}Y}},$$
(6)
which is very similar with the BFKL expression, except that

$$\gamma _{BFKL}\frac{1}{2}\left(14\frac{\mathrm{log}\left(\frac{Q}{Q_0}\right)}{\mathrm{\Delta }^{^{\prime \prime }}Y}\right)\gamma _{hard}=cst0.175.$$
(7)
Thus, in some sense, the Soft Color relations are compatible with QCD dipole calculations, but the underlying hard interaction is somewhat different than the assumed mechanism in SCI models. Hence the soft color rearrangement is not simply a “neutralization” of color at long distances which would be forbidden by virtue of “Low’s theorem”. Apart this modification, formula (5) fixes the relative normalization between diffractive and total structure functions. .

## 4 S-Matrix interpretation

Following old results of S-Matrix theory in the Regge domain, and as sketched in the figure , one may consider three types of discontinuities of a $`33`$ amplitude representing hard diffraction. A single discontinuity over the diffractive $`mass^2`$ variable, a double discontinuity taking into account also the analytic discontinuity in the subenergy of one of the incident Pomeron exchanges and a triple discontinuity with the discontinuity including the two Pomeron exchanges.

As qualitatively shown in the figure, one can associate the three discontinuity formulae with, respectively, the partonic Pomeron, Soft Color Interaction and QCD dipole approaches. This is schematically depicted in the “time-dependent” representation of the figure, where the soft incident Pomerons are represented as living during a “long” time, while the partonic (or QCD dipole) process are initiated by hard interactions. In fact, one can prove the identity of these discontinuities, and thus legitimate the connection realized in the previously mentionned calculations.

## Acknowledgments

This work was done in collaboration with H. Navelet.

## References


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# On the power spectrum of magnetization noise

## Abstract

Understanding the power spectrum of the magnetization noise is a long standing problem. While earlier work considered superposition of ’elementary’ jumps, without reference to the underlying physics, recent approaches relate the properties of the noise with the critical dynamics of domain walls. In particular, a new derivation of the power spectrum exponent has been proposed for the random-field Ising model. We apply this approach to experimental data, showing its validity and limitations.

,

After almost a century since its discovery in 1909, the magnetization noise produced by the intermittent motion of domain walls, i.e. the Barkhausen noise, still represents an intriguing scientific challenge from the theoretical point of view. Considering the long-time and vast production of experimental and theoretical papers of the past, it is quite surprising that only recently an exhaustive comprehension of the noise properties has been achieved. The introduction of methods of statistical mechanics, in fact, made possible a reliable description of the intrinsic complexity of magnetization processes. In particular, the power law exhibited by the Barkhausen signal amplitude together with the avalanche size and duration has been explained in terms of an underling critical point. Its true nature is still under debate, as two main different approaches have been proposed: the zero temperature random-field Ising model (RFIM) , where criticality is set by the amount of disorder, and interface model, where a domain wall moves through a disordered medium and criticality is due to the depinning transition of the wall . Exploiting the effects of long range dipolar magnetostatic fields and of domain wall elastic tension on the depinning transition, we have recently shown that two distinct universality classes exist, with different critical exponents and cutoff scaling dependence on the demagnetizing factor due to sample geometry . These results have been confirmed on two polycrystalline and amorphous sets of materials, supporting a domain wall theory for the Barkhausen effect.

Despite these significant results, a proper description of the shape of the power spectrum noise is still not available. Significantly, about 80% of the Barkhausen literature have been devoted to this problem. Earlier approaches considering a description of the power spectrum shape as a superposition of elementary independent events (see for instance ) appeared to be unrelated to any microscopic mechanism, thus not clarifying the true origin of the magnetization process. Even attempts to link the power spectral exponent to the critical exponent of size distribution by a simple scaling relation  appears to be quite unsatisfactory and not confirmed in general by experiments. Experimental noise in fact show a quite complex pattern: the high frequency part often follows a power law with exponents between 1.5 and 2, even if cases have been reported where the power law extension is very limited and a more complex pattern results . The low frequency part displays a marked peak, those position strongly depends on the magnetization rate, and a $`f^\alpha `$ dependence at lower frequencies, with $`0.5<\alpha <1`$. Such a complicated pattern does not actually reveal all the complexity of the underlying dynamics of Barkhausen avalanches. Considering high order moments of the signal, different frequency bands appear to be very strong coupled, so that also high order power spectra display power law dependences . In addition, time asymmetries of third-order voltage correlations are found in amorphous samples, showing as high frequency events precede on average the low frequency ones . All these properties are not currently explained by any of the existing models.

A derivation of the power spectrum exponent from a scaling analysis, at least for some simple models, can help for a better comprehension of the avalanche dynamics. A decisive step in this direction has been performed recently by Kuntz and Sethna , who derived the power spectrum exponent in the zero temperature RFIM, and corrected the earlier theoretical estimations . Most part of their derivation can be applied to different models, and also to the analysis of real data. In this paper, we apply some of their results to various sets of experimental data, confirming the general validity of this approach for simple cases, and showing where it must be improved for a better description of the results.

Let us consider some of the relations of Ref.  that we will use in our analysis. The key scaling relation connects the average avalanche size $`s(T)`$ with its duration $`T`$, that is $`s(T)T^{1/\sigma \nu z}`$ where the exponents $`\sigma `$, $`\nu `$ and $`z`$ are defined in Ref. . When the exponent of the avalanche size distribution $`\tau `$ is less than 2, as usually in experiments , the high frequency tail of power spectrum is calculated to scale with exponent $`1/\sigma \nu z`$. This central result is based on the existence of a couple of scaling relations regarding the avalanche shape. The first one states that the average avalanche shape should scale in a universal way, so that

$$V(T,t)=T^{1/\sigma \nu z1}f_{shape}(t/T)$$
(1)
where $`V`$ is the signal voltage, $`t`$ is the time and $`f_{shape}(t/T)`$ is a universal scaling function, having the approximated shape of an inverted parabola for the RFIM. The second relation analyzes the fluctuations of avalanche sizes considering the probability $`P(V|s)`$ of the occurrence of voltage $`V`$ inside an avalanche of size $`s`$. This probability scales as:

$$P(V|s)=V^1f_{voltage}(Vs^{\sigma \nu z1})$$
(2)
where $`f_{voltage}`$ is another universal scaling function. With relations 1 and 2, the power spectrum exponent is obtained calculating the time-time correlation function in the case of adiabatically increase of the applied field and of a complete separation of avalanches in time, thus avoiding any avalanche correlation. All these considerations will be helpful to understand the experimental results.

We consider two kind of samples, belonging to different universality classes as pointed out in Ref. . An as-cast $`Fe_{64}Co_{21}B_{15}`$ amorphous alloy, measured under moderate tensile stress ($`\sigma 20MPa`$), and an Fe-Si 7.8 wt.% strip (30 cm $`\times `$ 0.5 cm $`\times `$ 60 $`\mu `$m) produced by plan flow casting, having grains of average dimension of 25 $`\mu `$m. The amorphous ribbon follows the universality class where the surface tension of the wall dominates the domain dynamics (short range class), where $`1/\sigma \nu z1.77`$ . Fig. 1 shows the comparison of the power spectrum with the average size distribution $`s(1/T)`$ as a function of the inverse of avalanche durations. The agreement with the theoretical prediction is fairly good over an extended time range: at high avalanche durations (small frequencies), the time correlation between avalanches becomes relevant and the theoretical analysis is no longer valid. The inset of Fig. 1 show the same comparison in the case of the FeSi sample. This material falls in the universality class where long range magnetostatic fields dominates the domain dynamics, giving $`1/\sigma \nu z2`$ . Also in this case, the agreement is fairly good, but for a smaller high frequency range. The precise reason for this fact is not clear, even though a visual inspection of the time signals of both materials can justify this result: in the amorphous alloy, the avalanches are well separated in time (see ), while in the FeSi alloy the separation is much less defined (see ). This is also confirmed by the fact that only in the latter material the critical exponents of size and duration distributions strongly depend on the applied field rate. This means that avalanche correlations, and thus time-time correlations, are significantly different, giving different spectral contributions. The results for the amorphous alloy are confirmed by the scaling of the average avalanche shape $`V(T,t)`$ (fig. 2) and of the probability $`P(V|s)`$ (fig. 3). In both figures the theoretical value $`1/\sigma \nu z1.77`$ is used. Interestingly, the universal scaling function $`f_{shape}`$ of eq. 1 is not an inverted parabola as for the RFIM, but it shows a marked temporal asymmetry. This is compatible with the results of Ref.  concerning high order spectra: the high frequency signal components precede the low frequency ones, so that an avalanche of a given size and duration starts with a fast signal ramp and relaxes at longer times. Interestingly enough, despite this time asymmetry, the predictions of Ref.  are confirmed, suggesting that the scaling properties are more important than the exact shapes of average avalanches. This conclusion strongly contradicts with the basic assumption often reported in the literature , where a distribution of ’elementary’ avalanches with a pre-defined shape (often exponential) is summed up to calculate the power spectrum.

We must add that the avalanches of the FeSi alloy does not show such a nice scaling. In particular, short and long avalanches have markedly different shapes, as the former is approximately an inverted parabola, while the latter show a flat central region. Also the scaling of $`P(V|s)`$ is not perfectly compatible with the theoretical exponent $`1/\sigma \nu z=2`$. All these features could explain the limited agreement between the power spectrum and $`s(T)`$, and surely need a more extensive analysis, taking into account avalanche correlations and the dominant role of demagnetizing fields.

From the analysis of experimental results shown above, one may argue that materials belonging to the short range class also exhibit power spectra scaling as $`1/\sigma \nu z`$. As a matter of fact, the application of larger applied tensile stresses on the amorphous material does not change the universality class , but reveals a more complex behavior. In particular, $`S(1/\omega )`$ and $`s(T)`$ do not longer scale in a similar way at high stresses, even if $`V(T,t)`$ and $`P(V,s)`$ still rescale approximately with $`1/\sigma \nu z=1.77`$. This behavior reflects the change of the avalanche shape as shown in Ref. : the cutoff of avalanche duration decreases while keeping the size distribution invariant. As the scaling range of duration distribution gets shorter, we expect that the longest avalanches, close to the cutoff value, are increasingly more effective in the time-time correlation of the signal, and thus to the power spectra. Their frequency content is not obviously taken into account in the scaling calculations of .

As clearly shown above, many different aspects can enter in the definition of the scaling properties of the Barkhausen signal. As already pointed out , a more complex analysis is required to evaluate in detail the statistics of avalanches. In this respect, the analysis of Ref.  not only gives a new approach to the long standing problem of power spectra shape, but introduces precise statistical tools helpful both to the experimental analysis and to the theoretical description of magnetization processes. Within some limitations to be further investigated, the results described above are fully compatible with our interface models . This is quite surprising, considering that this model considers the motion of a single domain wall with strong simplifications of the fields relevant to the dynamics (especially of magnetostatic fields). In fact, a real material typically shows a complex pattern of multiple domains with no easily predictable field configuration. Here temporal and spatial correlations are important, resulting in a very complex behavior of time-time correlation and thus of power spectra.


text:
# Chandra Observations and the Nature of the Anomalous Arms of NGC 4258 (M 106)

## 1 Introduction

The “anomalous arms” of NGC 4258 were discovered through H$`\alpha `$ imaging by Courtès & Cruvellier (1961). These authors noted their unusual diffuse and amorphous appearance, which contrasts strongly with the knotty structure (from HII regions ionized by hot stars) of normal spiral arms. Later radio imaging by van der Kruit, Oort & Mathewson (1972) showed that the arms are strong radio emitters, and these authors suggested that the arms are somehow powered by ejection from the galactic nucleus. Since these early works, numerous optical (e.g. Burbidge, Burbidge & Prendergast 1963; van der Kruit 1974; Ford et al. 1986; Martin et al. 1989; Dettmar & Koribalski 1990; Rubin & Graham 1990; Cecil, Wilson & Tully 1992, hereafter CWT; Cecil, Morse & Veilleux 1995; Cecil et al. 2000, hereafter C2000) and radio (e.g. van Albada & van der Hulst 1982; Hummel, Krause & Lesch 1989; C2000; Hyman et al. 2001) studies have been made of the anomalous arms.

X-ray emission from the SE anomalous arm was discovered by the Einstein HRI (CWT). NGC 4258 was imaged with both the PSPC (Pietsch et al. 1994) and the HRI (Cecil, Wilson & de Pree 1995, hereafter CWP) aboard ROSAT (see also Vogler & Pietsch 1999). The anomalous arms dominate the HRI image, although more diffusely spread X-ray emission is also detected. The PSPC spectra suggest that the X-ray emission of the anomalous arms has a thermal origin with kT $``$ 0.3 keV. X-ray observations with ASCA and Beppo-Sax have revealed a hard, heavily-absorbed, power-law component which coincides with the galactic nucleus, as well as the extended, softer thermal emission (Makishima et al. 1994; Reynolds, Nowak & Maloney 2000; Fiore et al. 2001).

There is strong evidence that the anomalous arms lie in the disk of NGC 4258 (e.g. van der Kruit 1974; van Albada & van der Hulst 1982; Hummel, Krause & Lesch 1989; Plante et al. 1991; CWT), as follows. (i) the anomalous arms extend exactly to the edge of the HI 21 cm distribution; (ii) gaps in HI 21 cm emission are observed at the positions of the principal anomalous arms; (iii) the mean velocity of ionized gas along the midline of the SE anomalous arm tends to track that of the adjacent disk; iv) if the anomalous arms were out of the plane, one would expect to see a large rotation measure from the arm on the far side of the disk, due to Faraday rotation by magnetised gas in the plane of the disk. This is not the case. Instead, the rotation measure increases in the same way when going inwards along both anomalous arms; (v) in some parts of the arms, the H$`\alpha `$ emission seems to originate from a channel or tunnel between elongated molecular clouds seen strongly in CO emission. These molecular clouds must, of course, lie in the disk; and vi) the densities required for the thermal emission in both optical emission lines and X-rays are much too high for the halo of the galaxy. We shall thus assume that the anomalous arms are in the disk plane of NGC 4258.

Many models, all involving ejection from the nucleus in some form or other, were proposed for the anomalous arms in the 1970s and 1980s (e.g. van der Kruit, Oort & Mathewson 1972; van Albada 1978; Icke 1979; Sofue 1980; Sanders 1982). Models with the arms out of the disk plane (e.g. Sofue 1980; Sanders 1982) may be excluded in view of their conflict with the observational data. More recently, most authors have argued that the arms represent jets emitted into the galactic disk (e.g. Ford et al. 1986; Martin et al. 1989; CWT). Discoveries in the last few years confirm that the nucleus of NGC 4258 is active and emits radio jets. These discoveries include: a) a nuclear accretion disk (seen in water vapor maser emission) of radius $``$ 0.3 pc in Keplerian rotation about a putative black hole of mass 3.9 $`\times `$ 107 M (Miyoshi et al. 1995; Herrnstein et al. 1999); b) elongated radio continuum emission on 0.01 - 3 pc scales that aligns closely with both the rotation axis of the accretion disk and the jet-like radio emission seen on the kpc scale in VLA maps (Herrnstein et al. 1997; C2000); and c) Mach disk and bow shock structures (seen in radio continuum and optical emission lines) that represent the ends of the currently active jets and are located 870 pc S and 1.7 kpc N of the nucleus (C2000).

However, models in which the arms represent jets or plasmoids ejected into the disk have serious problems. First, the radio jets are in a different direction (on the sky) to the inner anomalous arms observed in H$`\alpha `$ and X-rays (Section 3.2). Second, models in which the jets are emitted into the galactic disk have very large energy requirements since much dense interstellar gas must be pushed aside (cf. van Albada & van der Hulst 1982). Third, and most important, it is very hard to see how such jets could be confined to a thin galactic gas disk while propagating to the observed distances of $``$ 8 kpc (4) from the nucleus.

Previous X-ray observations (described above) have limited spectral and spatial resolutions, which have precluded a detailed study of the X-ray emission from the jets. The ROSAT HRI images have a resolution of $``$ 5′′ (FWHM) but virtually no spectral resolution, while the ROSAT PSPC data have worse spatial resolution (25 - 50′′) and limited spectral resolution. The ASCA observations have arc minute spatial resolution and spectral resolution characteristic of CCD detectors ($``$ 100 - 150 eV). The Chandra X-ray Observatory provides sub arc second spatial resolution and thus allows the jets to be investigated at similar resolution to VLA radio and ground-based optical studies. The spectral resolution from direct imaging with the CCDs is similar to that attained with ASCA.

In this paper, we present a first observation of NGC 4258 with Chandra. Although the exposure time is short ($``$ 14.0 ksec), the data allow a detailed comparison between the X-rays and arc second resolution optical and radio images, and a crude investigation of the variation of the X-ray spectrum along the anomalous arms. We also infer the nature of the anomalous arms and show how they are related to the jets seen at radio wavelengths. We assume a distance of 7.2 Mpc (Herrnstein et al. 1999) to NGC 4258, so 1′′ = 35 pc, and adopt a Galactic hydrogen column towards NGC 4258 of NH (Gal) = 1.19 $`\times `$ 1020 cm-2 (Murphy et al. 1996).

Section 2 describes the Chandra observations and their reduction, while Section 3 presents the results of these observations. In Section 4, we show that the anomalous arms represent gas in the galactic disk which has been shocked by the out-of-disk radio jets. Section 5 gives concluding remarks.

## 2 Chandra X-ray Observations and Reduction

NGC 4258 was observed with the Chandra X-ray Observatory on April 17 2000 using the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) spectroscopic array, which provides excellent spatial resolution ($``$ 1′′) with medium spectroscopic resolution ($``$ 130 eV FWHM at 1 keV). The default frame time of 3.2 secs was used. The nucleus was centered 20′′ in the –Y direction from the location of best focus on chip S3. The data were inspected for background flares and times of bad aspect, but none was found. A new level 2 events file was made from the events file supplied by the Chandra Science Center. Response matrix files and ancillary response files were made using calibration data taken with the chip at -120C, the temperature at the time the observations were made. The total useful integration time after all filtering was 14.0 ksec. Data were analysed using version 1.1.5 of the ciao software and version 11.0 of XSPEC.

In the presence of large scale X-ray emission, it is difficult to determine the level of the background. We therefore used a compilation of observations of relatively blank fields, from which discrete sources have been excised. For a particular source extraction region, a corresponding background region is taken from this compilation. The two regions have the same physical location on the S3 chip. The background images and software111Available at http://hea-www.harvard.edu/$``$maxim/axaf/acisbg/ of Maxim Markevitch were used for this procedure. The background is very low with most pixels having zero counts.

## 3 Results of X-ray Observations

### 3.1 The nucleus

The region around the nucleus of NGC 4258 is shown in Fig. 1. Two compact sources, separated by 2$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$5 (87 pc), are apparent. The position (J2000) of the stronger source to the NE is $`\alpha `$ = 12h 18m 57$`\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}`$50, $`\delta `$ = +47 18′ 14$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$2. This position coincides with both the radio continuum nucleus (as measured from the $`\lambda `$20cm 1$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$3 resolution radio continuum map of C2000: $`\alpha _{\mathrm{rc}}`$ = 12h 18m 57$`\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}`$515, $`\delta _{\mathrm{rc}}`$ = +47 18′ 14$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$36 (J2000)) and the nuclear H2O maser source ($`\alpha _\mathrm{m}`$ = 12h 18m 57$`\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}`$510 $`\pm `$ 0$`\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}`$004, $`\delta _\mathrm{m}`$ = +47 18′ 14$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$27 $`\pm `$ 0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$03 (J2000) - Greenhill et al. 1995). The nuclear source exhibits a hard spectrum with a large absorbing column density. Unfortunately, its spectrum is significantly piled-up in the present observation, which prevents us from obtaining reliable spectral parameters; an observation with a shorter frame time is planned to obtain a reliable nuclear spectrum. The spectrum of the weaker source to the SW is well described (reduced $`\chi ^2`$ = 0.91 for 5 degrees of freedom) by an absorbed power law spectrum, with absorbing column NH = (2.0$`{}_{1.1}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+1.2}`$) $`\times `$ 1021 cm-2 and a photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ = 1.49$`{}_{0.37}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+0.50}`$ (the errors are 90% confidence for a single interesting parameter). The observed 0.5 - 4.5 keV flux is 7.0 $`\times `$ 10-14 erg cm-2 s-1 and the absorption-corrected luminosity is 5.1 $`\times `$ 1038 ergs s-1 if it is associated with NGC 4258, as is very likely given its location. The hard spectrum and X-ray luminosity suggest that the object is an X-ray binary. Most of the observed absorption is intrinsic to NGC 4258.

### 3.2 The anomalous arms

Fig. 2 shows a grey scale representation of the Chandra full resolution image of NGC 4258. The anomalous arms are seen as diffuse structures extending to the SE and NW of the nucleus. The diffuse emission is better seen in Fig. 3, in which the Chandra image has been smoothed to a resolution of 2$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$7 FWHM. X-ray emission is seen from the fainter radio-emitting regions (called “plateaux” by van der Kruit, Oort & Mathewson 1972) to the NE of the SE arm and to the SW of the NW arm. Also apparent in the X-ray image is the bifurcation of the NW arm $``$ 1 from the nucleus, with the main arm continuing to the NW and a weaker one extending almost due W.

Fig. 4 shows the relationship between the radio and X-ray structures, both images having a resolution of 2$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$7 FWHM. The correspondence is particularly good in the outer parts of each arm more than 1 (2 kpc) from the nucleus. The SW and S edges of the SE arm and the NE and N edges of the NW arm are sharp in both radio and X-ray emission. An enlargement of the central region is shown in Fig. 5. In the first 7′′ \- 10′′ (250 - 350 pc) of the jet to the north, the X-rays are seen to exhibit a “two-pronged” structure, enveloping the radio jet. This morphology suggests that the X-rays originate in a hot cocoon around the high velocity material responsible for the radio emission. Within 1 (2 kpc) of the nucleus, the brightest X-ray emission is aligned in p.a. $``$ –33/147, in excellent agreement with the p.a. $``$ –30/150 of the H$`\alpha `$ arms, but in contrast to the almost N-S alignment of the radio emission. Taken together with the close alignment between radio and X-ray emission further out, the net effect is that the X-ray arms appear straighter than the radio arms in lower resolution X-ray images (CWP; Vogler & Pietsch 1999). The “N radio hotspot” (marked as “N” in Fig. 5) is located 49$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$9 (1.7 kpc) N (p.a. –5) of the nucleus. C2000 identified this feature as the end of the currently active jet in view of (i) its association with features suggestive of an oblique bow shock and Mach disk in an HST H$`\alpha `$ \+ \[NII\]$`\lambda `$ 6583 image, and (ii) the detailed kinematics of high velocity gas in long slit spectra at this location. Close to the N radio hot spot, there is a compact X-ray source with a sharp “leading” edge (i.e. to the N) and a slower brightness decline on the upstream side (to the S, see Fig. 5). In the full resolution Chandra image, this source is elongated by $``$ 3′′ in a NE - SW direction, much like the the H$`\alpha `$ \+ \[NII\] and radio brightness distributions in the HST and full resolution VLA images, respectively. This morphology is suggestive of thermal X-ray emission from post bow shock or entrained jet gas, and supports the idea that these radio, optical and X-ray features mark the head of the currently active northern jet. A corresponding, but weaker, feature (the “S radio hot spot”, marked “S” in Fig. 5) is found in the radio map 24$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$5 (860 pc) S (p.a. 178) of the nucleus. The S radio hot spot itself is not detected in X-rays, but there is a weak (2 contours in Fig. 5) enhancement of the X-ray emission 3′′ ahead (S) of the radio emission, which might represent gas heated by the bow shock. This X-ray enhancement seems also to be ahead of the bow-like optical line emission (visible at the bottom of Fig. 7), consistent with the latter being post-shock cooled gas. Further along this same direction, a compact X-ray source is found 77′′ (2.7 kpc) S (p.a. 176) of the nucleus (marked as “SX” in Fig. 4). The position (J2000.0) of this source is $`\alpha `$ = 12h 18m 58$`\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}`$02, $`\delta `$ = +47 16′ 57$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$5. No radio source is detected at this location. This X-ray source, the nucleus and the N radio hot spot align to within $``$ 1. It is tempting to speculate that this source may represent another jet - ISM interaction, but there is no evidence, other than the alignment, that this X-ray source is associated with NGC 4258.

Fig. 6 compares the large-scale X-ray and H$`\alpha `$ distributions of NGC 4258. With the exception of a number of point sources, the normal spiral arms are not seen in X-rays. There is an excellent overall correspondence between the X-ray and H$`\alpha `$ emissions of the anomalous arms. In particular, the X-ray and H$`\alpha `$ emissions align within 1′ of the nucleus, where the radio jet follows a different (almost N - S) direction, as already noted.

Fig. 7 is a superposition of X-ray contours on an HST H$`\alpha `$ \+ \[NII\] $`\lambda `$6583 image (from C2000) of the inner regions of NGC 4258. Both images are dominated by the diffuse emission of the anomalous arms. It is noteable that the first 5′′ \- 6′′ (175 - 210 pc) of the “two pronged” X-ray structure to the N of the nucleus (Fig. 5) aligns with two radial H$`\alpha `$ \+ \[NII\] filaments. These filaments form the inner part of what C2000 termed a “nuclear loop” (see Fig. 5 of C2000) - a roughly circular, line-emitting structure open to the north.

We have investigated the variation of the spectrum of the X-ray emission along the anomalous arms. A spectrum was obtained for each of nine regions along the arms. All regions show soft X-rays, but the inner regions exhibit, in addition, a hard X-ray component above 3 keV. Examination of an image in the 3 - 8 keV band shows that the emission is circularly symmetric and centered on the nucleus. We have compared the radial distribution of this emission with that expected from the telescope PSF and found good agreement. It is thus clear that this extended hard emission is not real but results from scattering of nuclear X-rays by the Chandra mirrors. We therefore restricted our spectral modelling to the 0.3 - 2.0 keV band to avoid contamination by this hard component.

Each region was modelled by a single, absorbed mekal plasma with the abundance and absorbing column allowed to vary. This model provides an approximate description of the spectra ($`\chi ^2`$/d.o.f. ranges from $`<1`$ to 1.7). The details of the fits are not believable, but they indicate temperatures kT in the range 0.37 to 0.6 keV with no apparent trend with distance from the nucleus. At the ends of the arms, the required column density is consistent with the Galactic column, but further in there appears to be absorption intrinsic to NGC 4258. An example of the spectra is shown in Fig. 8. This represents a rectangular region centered 64 ′′ SE of the nucleus with long dimension (along the arm) 38′′ and short dimension 26′′. Details of the model are given in the figure caption. A more detailed discussion of the X-ray spectra of the arms is deferred until a longer Chandra integration, to be obtained in cycle 2, has been obtained.

## 4 The Nature of the Anomalous Arms

### 4.1 The radio jets

The N and S radio hot spots, located 1.7 kpc and 870 pc, respectively, from the nucleus align closely with all of: i) the radio jet extending $``$ 700 pc N and $``$ 400 pc S of the nucleus (cf. Fig. 5); ii) the radio continuum features seen with VLBI, which extend 0.01 - 0.07 pc from the center of the maser disk (presumed to be the location of the black hole); and iii) the projection of the rotation axis of the maser disk on the sky. In particular, the N and S hot spots lie in p.a. –5 and 178, respectively, within 6 of the projected inner disk rotation axis of –8/172 reported by Herrnstein et al. (1999). We conclude that the maser disk has not changed its axis significantly over the time the jets have taken to reach the hot spots. Given that the “N radio hot spot” is 1.7 kpc from the nucleus, the corresponding jet material left the nucleus at least 5.1 $`\times `$ 1021/c secs = 5,700 years ago. If the disk is precessing, the above noted alignment then implies a precessional period of $``$ 3 $`\times `$ 105 years. This number was obtained by assuming that any tilt of the inner regions of the disk over the last 5,700 years is $`<`$ 6, i.e. this time is 1/60 of a precessional period.

We now define the direction of the jet in three dimensions. Following the nomenclature of Clarke, Kinney and Pringle (1998; see their Fig. 1), let: $`\varphi `$ be the angle between the jet and our line of sight; $`\delta `$ be the angle between the projection of the jet onto the plane of the sky and the apparent major axis of the galaxy disk (also in the plane of the sky); $`i`$ be the inclination of the galaxy disk; and $`\beta `$ be the angle between the jet and the galaxy disk rotation axis. The angle $`\varphi `$ is presumably equal to the inclination of the maser disk, given as 82 by Herrnstein et al. (1999). The p.a. of the jet on the sky is –5 and the p.a. of the major axis of the galaxy disk is 146 (CWT), so the angle between them $`\delta `$ = 29. The inclination of the galaxy disk is $`i`$ = 64 (e.g. CWT). The angle $`\beta `$ is given by

$$\mathrm{cos}\beta =\mathrm{sin}\delta \mathrm{sin}i\mathrm{sin}\varphi +\mathrm{cos}i\mathrm{cos}\varphi $$
$`(1)`$
so $`\beta `$ = 60, in agreement with C2000. The N jet is tilted slightly towards us and the S jet slightly away. The NE side is the far side of the galaxy disk and the SW side the near, based on both the sense of curvature of the normal spiral arms plus the observed rotation sense of the galaxy, and the pattern of dust obscuration. Thus the N (S) radio jet is on the near (far) side of the galaxy disk (cf. Fig. 9).

The “two-pronged” structure of the X-ray emission enveloping the jet extends $``$ 250 - 350 pc from the nucleus to the N (section 3.2, Fig. 5). After this, the X-ray intensity decreases sharply. A weaker, not obviously “two-pronged”, feature extends a similar distance S. As noted above, we believe these X-rays originate in a hot, shocked cocoon surrounding the jet. This interpretation is consistent with the H$`\alpha `$ \+ \[NII\] filaments (Section 3.2, Fig. 7) associated with the two X-ray prongs to the N of the nucleus. These optical filaments form a “nuclear loop” (C2000), a roughly circular structure open on its N side and suggestive of gas in the jet-heated cocoon that has cooled to a few $`\times `$ 104K. The H$`\alpha `$ \+ \[NII\] emission is brighter on the western than the eastern side of the loop (see Fig. 5 of C2000 and the present Fig. 7) because the western gas is in the galaxy disk and is, presumably, denser.

Given the above-defined geometry of the jets, they are at a height z = 170 pc above the galactic disk when the X-ray emitting cocoons end. We argue that the X-ray emissions of the cocoons end when the jets exit the normal, dense gas disk of NGC 4258. There is only weak X-ray and H$`\alpha `$ emission along the rest of the jets (as far as the radio hot spots) because the jets extend out of the plane of the galaxy disk ($`\beta `$ = 60) and the gas density at these distances (z $``$ 170 pc) from the galactic disk is too low for significant thermal emission.

### 4.2 The inner anomalous arms

It is noteable that the NW extension of the brightest X-rays lies in p.a. –33 and extends NW from the NW prong of the “two-pronged” structure discussed above and visible in Figs 5 and 7. This continuity strongly suggests that the X-ray and H$`\alpha `$ anomalous arms represent gas in the disk of the galaxy that is, in some way, connected with the out-of-plane radio jets.

The out-of-plane jets presumably propagate within a low density gas, as mentioned above. The jets must drive mass motions and shock waves into this gas, and these motions will propagate in all directions. The density out of the galaxy plane is too low for strong X-ray emission, but the high velocity, low density halo gas must collide with the dense gas in the galaxy disk and could heat it to X-ray emitting temperatures. This influence of the out-of-plane, straight jets on the disk will be strongest along the straight line which represents the locus in the galaxy disk to which the jets are closest. This locus is just the projection of the jets onto the galaxy disk from a distant viewpoint along the rotation axis of the galaxy disk. However, from our perspective, the galaxy is highly inclined ($`i`$ = 64) which means that the projection of this locus on the plane of the sky is tilted w.r.t. the projection of the jets on the plane of the sky.

We thus need to derive the angle, $`\alpha `$, between the projection onto the plane of the sky of the locus in the galaxy disk to which the jets are closest and the galaxy disk major axis. This locus is, of course, a straight line as long as the jet is straight and the galactic disk is not warped. In terms of the angles defined earlier:

$$\mathrm{cos}\alpha =\frac{\mathrm{sin}\varphi \mathrm{cos}\delta }{(\mathrm{sin}^2\beta \mathrm{cos}^2i+\mathrm{sin}^2i\mathrm{sin}^2\varphi \mathrm{cos}^2\delta )^{1/2}}$$
$`(2)`$
Substituting the values given earlier gives $`\alpha `$ = 2$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$5. Since the p.a. of the galaxy disk major axis is 146, the predicted p.a. of the projection onto the plane of the sky of the locus in the galaxy disk to which the jet is closest is 148.222The projection onto the plane of the sky of the projection of the jet onto the galaxy disk must lie between the projection of the jet onto the sky and the galaxy major axis. Therefore, in the solution of equation (2), $`\alpha `$ must be positive. This p.a. is in excellent agreement with that of the X-ray/H$`\alpha `$ emission within 2 kpc of the nucleus. We therefore conclude that the straight part of the anomalous arms (within 1 \[2 kpc\] of the nucleus) represents the locus in the galaxy disk to which the jets are closest. As discussed above, the “damage” done by the jets will be greatest along this line and the anomalous arms then represent gas in the disk which has been shocked by mass motions driven by the out-of-plane jets (Fig. 9). The optical emission-line ratios indicate that the gas in the anomalous arms is, indeed, ionized by shocks (e. g. van der Kruit 1974; Dettmar & Koribalski 1990; Cecil, Morse & Veilleux 1995).

The diffuse character of both the X-ray (Fig. 2) and H$`\alpha `$ (Fig. 7) arms supports the above scenario. A true jet within the galactic disk would be expected to contain narrow, bright structures at all wavelengths. In contrast, the blast wave driven into the disk by the out-of-plane jet spreads over a significant width in the disk, producing hot gas in a wide, diffuse linear structure without sharp features.

### 4.3 The outer anomalous arms

The above described situation, in which the arms lie strictly within the disk plane and represent the projection of the straight out-of-plane jets onto the disk, must break down at $`>`$ 1 (2 kpc) from the nucleus, because here the arms are observed to curve in a clockwise sense. As long as the jets are straight and the disk is unwarped, the projection of the jets onto the disk must be a straight line. Two features of the morphologies of the outer arms seen in all wavebands (i.e. radio continuum, X-rays and optical emission lines) are crucial at this point:

(i) the very sharp brightness gradients seen on the outer edges of the arms (i.e. the SW and S sides of the SE arm and the NE and N sides of the NW arm). Images which show these sharp edges well include Figs 4 and 6 of the present paper, Figs 1 and 2 of van Albada & van der Hulst (1982) and Fig. 6a of Hyman et al. (2001). It is noteable that these sharp edges are on the side of the arms which projects closest to the corresponding out-of-plane radio jet.

(ii) the extended, diffuse emissions (“plateaux”) and filaments on the inner sides of the arms (i.e. the NE and N sides of the SE arm and the SW and S sides of the NW arm). Images which show these structures well include the same figures cited for (i), plus the H$`\alpha `$ images shown as Fig. 19 of CWT and Fig. 1a and b of C2000. These extended, diffuse emission regions are on the opposite side of the arms to the corresponding out-of-plane radio jet.

Close to the center of the galaxy, the gas in the galaxy disk is dense and tightly bound gravitationally to the disk plane. Further out, the gas density decreases and the gas is also less tightly bound. We speculate that the process of excitation of the outer anomalous arms is the same as proposed for the inner arms, namely the impact of mass motions driven down from the galactic halo by the radio jet. The sharp edges are then naturally accounted for as shock fronts where the fast moving, light halo gas meets the dense disk gas; as noted above, the sharp edge is on the side of the anomalous arm towards the relevant radio jet (Fig. 9). It may be that the relativistic electrons required for the radio emission of the outer anomalous arms are accelerated at these shock fronts. The arms curve because the impact is now sufficient to begin to drive gas out of the galaxy disk. The extended emission (“plateaux”) and filaments represent gas that has been driven out of the gas disk towards the galaxy halo on the opposite side of the disk to the relevant radio jet (Fig. 9). This gas is shock ionized, as inferred from the optical emission-line ratios.

In this hypothesis, we expect a wide range of gas motions in the regions of diffuse emission; here, the observed Doppler motions should differ from the normal rotational motion of the galaxy at the projected location on the sky. These “anomalous velocities” should be both positive and negative w.r.t. normal rotation, because the gas will be driven out of the disk in a range of directions w.r.t. the disk normal and the galaxy disk is highly inclined. Further, some of the gas could be falling back onto the disk, as envisaged by Rubin & Graham (1990). Such wide ranges of velocity have been observed in the diffuse emission (“plateaux”) in H$`\alpha `$ by van der Kruit (1974) and Rubin and Graham (1990) and in HI 21 cm emission by van Albada and Shane (1975). Rubin and Graham (1990) note that, in their spectrum along p.a. 125, the range of velocities in the SE diffuse emission is larger than that seen in the corresponding emission to the NW. They ascribe the difference to obscuration of the diffuse emission on the NW side of the galaxy by the intervening, near side of the galactic disk, in accord with our model (Fig. 9).

An alternative explanation for the curvature of the outer anomalous arms is that the jet directions were different in the past, so their projections onto the disk would also have been different. A progressive change of the jet axes with time (e.g. through “disk precession”) would lead to curved jets with a curved projection onto the stellar disk. In such a picture, the “plateaux” would represent material in the galactic disk which was shocked by the out-of-plane jets in the past, when the jet directions were different.

## 5 Concluding Remarks

### 5.1 X-ray results

Our Chandra observations have revealed the X-ray structure of the “anomalous arms” of NGC 4258 with the highest resolution to date. The X-rays are found to envelop the inner (first 350 pc) of the northern jet, indicating they originate from a hot, presumably shocked, cocoon. Further out (to $``$ 2 kpc from the nucleus), the straight ridge of the brightest X-rays is rotated by $``$ 30 in a clockwise sense w.r.t. the radio jet. There is a very tight association between the X-ray and H$`\alpha `$ emissions of the anomalous arms. In the outermost regions of detected X-ray emission, where the arms curve in a trailing sense w.r.t. galactic rotation, the X-ray and radio arms also correspond well. The spectrum of the X-rays from the anomalous arms indicates a thermal origin with temperatures in the range 0.37 to 0.6 keV, with no apparent trend with distance from the nucleus.

The currently active radio jets project almost N-S on the sky. Both end at well defined radio hot spots, which are associated with structures seen in H$`\alpha `$ \+ \[NII\] images suggestive of a Mach disk and bow shock (C2000). X-rays are detected from the N radio hot spot; the X-ray morphology reveals a sharp “leading” (i.e. to the N) edge and a slower decline on the “trailing” edge, suggestive of emission from a shock. The S radio hot spot is not detected in X-rays, but weak enhanced X-ray emission is found ahead (S) of the radio peak.

### 5.2 The anomalous arms

The combined radio, H$`\alpha `$ and X-ray images have allowed us to elucidate the nature of the anomalous arms. The radio jets in the inner $``$ kpc align perpendicular to the compact, circumnuclear gas disk which has been imaged in water vapor maser emission. The inclination of this disk is known, so the 3-dimensional orientation of the jet can be deduced. The angle between the jet and the rotation axis of the galaxy disk is then found to be $`\beta `$ = 60.

When the jets initially leave the nucleus, they are surrounded by the dense, normal, gas disk of the inner regions of this SABSbc galaxy. The jets shock this gas producing a hot cocoon which envelops the jets and emits strongly in X-rays and optical emission lines, as noted above (see also Figs 5 and 7). At a height of z = 175 pc from the galactic disk, the jets exit the dense galactic disk and then propagate in a low density medium until they come to the “N radio hot spot” and the “S radio hot spot”, located 1.7 kpc and 870 pc from the nucleus, respectively (Fig. 5). The existence of a compact X-ray source 77′′ (2.7 kpc) S of the nucleus (Fig. 4), aligned to within 1$`^{^{}}`$ with the jet further in, hints that the jets may propagate beyond the hot spots. During this phase, the jets heat, and drive mass motions into, the surrounding gas but little X-ray emission results because of the low density of the gas in the galactic halo.

The jets, propagating supersonically at 30 to the plane of the galaxy, drive mass motions and shocks in all directions. The mass motions propagating towards the plane of the galaxy meet the dense gas disk and heat it to X-ray emitting temperatures (Section 3.2). The greatest “damage” done by the jet will be along its projection onto the galaxy gas disk, as viewed down the disk rotation axis. Since NGC 4258 is substantially inclined ($`i`$ = 64), however, this “line of damage” projects on the sky in a different direction to the jet itself. Because the 3-dimensional geometry is fully known, we can calculate the angle between the jet and the “line of damage” projected onto the sky. This simple calculation shows that the anomalous arms (observed in X-rays and H$`\alpha `$) coincide with the expected “line of damage” to within 2.

The picture that emerges is one of a bi-polar jet inclined at 30 to the galactic gas disk and driving shocks into it. This scenario accounts naturally for the diffuse structure of the arms since the shocks from the jet heat up a wide area of the disk. Preexisting molecular clouds may be too dense to be heated by these shocks, so the inner anomalous arms represent hot, lower density regions between these clouds, as observed (Martin et al. 1989: CWT). The optical line emission represents gas in the galactic disk which has been shock ionized and has then cooled (van der Kruit 1974; Dettmar & Koribalski 1990; Cecil, Morse & Veilleux 1995). For this reason, the X-ray and H$`\alpha `$ distributions agree closely.

In the inner regions ($`<`$ 1 kpc from the nucleus) of the galaxy, the gas density is high and it is tightly bound gravitationally. The blast waves driven into the gas heat it to $``$ 1 keV, but are unable to drive the hot gas out of the disk. In this region, the “line of damage” is a straight line in the disk, so the anomalous arms appear straight on the sky. Further out ($`>`$ 1 kpc from the nucleus), the gas in the disk is of lower density and less tightly bound. The impact of the low density halo gas driven by the jet onto the disk then suffices to drive the disk gas out of the disk plane. Each arm then curves away from the radio jet that powers it. An alternative scenario for the curvature of the anomalous arms would involve changes in the jet directions over time.

In summary, this scenario accounts for:

(i) the diffuse character of the anomalous arms;

(ii) the observation that the optical line ratios indicate ionization by shocks;

(iii) the angle between the radio jet and the anomalous arms;

(iv) the sharp brightness gradients along the outer edges of the arms; these edges are on the side of the arm nearest to the relevant radio jet. The sharp edges represent standing shocks at the interface between the low density halo gas being driven by the jet onto the gas disk and the gas disk itself;

(v) the diffuse gas and filaments (“plateaux”) on the opposite side of the disk to each jet. These structures, seen in optical emission lines, X-rays and radio continuum, are gas which has been pushed out of the disk towards the halo by the impact of the low density high velocity halo gas driven by the jet on the other side of the disk;

(vi) the observed wide range of velocities of the diffuse gas and filaments.

A prediction of this model is the existence of extremely hot, high velocity gas in the two quadrants of the galaxy halo occupied by the radio jets. X-ray absorption spectra of quasars in these quadrants could be used to search for this gas. The unique character of the anomalous arms in NGC 4258 is probably related to the presence of both powerful jets (generally seen only in early-type galaxies) and a dense, galactic gas disk (generally seen only in late-type galaxies). Our scenario could be evaluated quantitatively by a hydrodynamic simulation, which would allow the required parameters (e.g. jet power, halo gas density, disk gas density etc.) to be derived.

This research was supported by NASA through grant NAG 81027 and by the Graduate School of the University of Maryland through a research fellowship to ASW. We are grateful to A. J. Young for advice on the Chandra analysis and to Stephen M. White for a helpful discussion. We also wish to thank the staff of the Chandra Science Center, especially Dan Harris and Shanil Virani, for their help, and the anonymous referee for useful comments.


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# 𝒜ℐ𝒫𝒮 Memo 106 Making Movies from Radio Astronomical Images with AIPS

## 1 Introduction

We have long been interested in presenting sequences of polarization sensitive VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) images as “magnetic movies” to show the evolution of the parsec-scale magnetic field in the jets of blazars. Early VLBI polarization experiments revealed complex magnetic field structure in these sources with dynamic polarization properties on short time scales (e.g. Brown, Roberts & Wardle, 1994) and intra-day variability has been observed in some sources (Gabuzda et al. 1989, 2000a,b). Now, instruments such as the NRAO111The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and the Very Large Array (VLA) are routinely used to rapidly monitor changes in source structure in a variety of radio sources, making movies of these objects possible.

Here we present our method for making total intensity and/or polarization movies from multi-epoch radio observations. We focus especially on the issues specific to polarization sensitive images. This procedure has been implemented in a script in NRAO’s AIPS package, and we have applied it to make some “superluminal magnetic movies” (section 3).

## 2 Methodology

In this section, we discuss our procedures for creating movies from a series of radio images222Throughout our discussion, we refer to the original AIPS files as images and to those files interpolated from the images using our procedure as frames. obtained at differing epochs. We have implemented this procedure into an AIPS script in the form of a RUN file named BAMM (Brandeis AIPS Movie Maker; see section 3). In order to fill in “gaps” in the sequence, we interpolate between adjacent images to create a smooth succession of frames to combine into a movie. We favor interpolating linearly between successive epochs over more sophisticated weighting schemes in which non-adjacent images are factored into the interpolation since linear interpolation is simple and well defined. Also, we caution against applying this method to data undersampled in time as one may be misled by the results (e.g. “strobing” effects).

### 2.1 Making the Movie Frames

The data assumed here are AIPS image files derived from UV data using the same cell sizes and field of view. Calibrated $`I`$, $`Q`$, and $`U`$ images333$`I`$, $`Q`$, and $`U`$ correspond to the Stokes parameters for total intensity and linear polarization; $`Q`$ and $`U`$ images are only necessary for polarization movies. are read into NRAO’s AIPS reduction package and the following procedures are followed.

#### 2.1.1 Total Intensity Movies

1. All the images need to be restored to a common beam size. We restore the CLEAN components of each image onto a blank image with the task RSTOR. In order to avoid false interpretation of moving features due to effects of changing resolution, we use the largest beam amongst the images for all frames.
2. Images are then aligned relative to a common stationary (total intensity) feature, and a common image size (field of view) is chosen. The stationary feature can be, for instance, the (presumed) stationary core of a quasar jet or a bright feature in a maser source. We use the task LGEOM to perform this step.
3. Restored and aligned images are linearly interpolated with the task COMB to output a user specified number of frames at evenly spaced epochs. The number of frames determines the time elapse between the resultant movie frames and the weighting given to adjacent images in the interpolation.

A total intensity movie can now be compiled from these frames (section 2.2).

#### 2.1.2 Polarization Movies

Here, we discuss additional steps necessary for making polarization movies. Proceed with steps 12 from section 2.1.1, this time using all three Stokes ($`I`$, $`Q`$, and $`U`$) images. Stokes $`V`$ (circular polarization) images can be treated identically to $`I`$ images as described in section 2.1.1. After aligning the $`I`$ images, the corresponding $`Q`$ and $`U`$ (and $`V`$) images must be shifted by the same amount.

1. If rotations to the tick-marks that illustrate the orientation of the electric field vectors need to be made444If not, proceed to item 3 using $`Q^{}=Q`$ and $`U^{}=U`$. (e.g. accounting for Faraday rotation by adding a correction angle, $`\theta `$, or changing the tick-marks to show the orientation of the magnetic field vectors555Assuming negligible Faraday rotation, $`\theta =\frac{\pi }{2}`$.), the total polarized intensity ($`p=\sqrt{Q^2+U^2}`$) and electric field vector orientation ($`\chi ^{}=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{arctan}\frac{U}{Q}+\theta `$) images at each epoch are made first from the restored and aligned $`Q`$ and $`U`$ images with the task COMB. This is done in order to avoid the problem of having tick-marks rotating improperly later.
2. The resultant $`p`$ and $`\chi ^{}`$ images are used to make new $`Q`$ and $`U`$ images666While $`Q`$ and $`U`$ have changed in order to rotate the tick-marks, $`p`$ ($`=\sqrt{Q^2+U^2}`$) remains unchanged. (eqns 12) using the task COMB, via:

$$Q^{}=p\mathrm{cos}2\chi ^{},$$
(1)
$$U^{}=p\mathrm{sin}2\chi ^{}.$$
(2)
3. Lastly, the $`I`$, $`Q^{}`$, and $`U^{}`$ images are linearly interpolated separately with the task COMB. These images are then used to make the $`I`$, $`p`$, and fractional polarization ($`m=p/I`$) movie frames. The length of the tick-marks on the $`p`$ frames can be made uniform or proportional to the magnitude of $`m`$ or $`p`$.

Our AIPS script, BAMM, will implement all of these steps (section 3) after the user specifies the epochs of observations and the positions of a stationary feature. The individual movie frames are ready for inspection with standard AIPS tools, or the procedure may be repeated with different parameters if the user is not satisfied with the output.

### 2.2 Compiling the Movies

At this point, the user is satisfied with the quality and duration of the movie frames and wishes to export them into a movie outside of AIPS. The user may proceed in a number of ways. For contour movies, frames can be written out of AIPS in postscript format. It is important that identical contour levels (in mJy/beam) be used for all the frames. The files are then converted to GIF format which can be done with software such as XV, Adobe Photoshop, or ps2gif.

For color movies, the frames can be displayed on the AIPS TV and the images are captured with the task TVCPS or even XV. Also, the frames can be exported to software packages like the Caltech VLBI package or IDL. The same display scale should be used for all the frames. Scripts to implement these steps in AIPS are available upon request. We combine the movie frames (now in a standard graphics file format) into movie clips using Adobe Premiere for export to video tape, animated GIFs, or Quicktime movies. Other formats are supported by Premiere. Also, IDL has been used to compile movies similar to ours (B.G. Piner, personal communication).

## 3 Application: VLBA Polarization Monitoring of 12 Blazars

We have applied our procedure to images of twelve blazars monitored at 15 and 22 GHz with the VLBA in 1996 by the Brandeis Radio Astronomy Group, yielding six epochs of polarization sensitive images separated by about two months each. Details of this monitoring program are discussed by Homan et al. (2001) and references therein. These data are sufficiently well sampled in time that a simple linear interpolation between two adjacent epochs yielded satisfactory results. The movies show clear superluminal motion, and reveal the complexity of the evolution of the magnetic field structure in these sources. These movies have provided a highly visual medium in which to show our work for scientific talks, general lectures, and are on our WWW site.777http://www.astro.brandeis.edu BAMM, instructions, other AIPS macros, and our “Superluminal Magnetic Movies” are available to the public by following the links in our WWW site or by contacting one of the authors (CCC).

## 4 Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Jody Attridge and Roopesh Ojha for useful discussions. This work was supported by NSF grants AST 95-29228 and AST 98-02708. CCC received grants from the following Brandeis programs: Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program, Jerome A. Schiff Undergraduate Fellows Program, Louis, Frances and Jeffrey Sachar Fund, and the Undergraduate Research Program.

## 5 References

Brown, L.F., Roberts, D.H., & Wardle, J.F.C. 1994, ApJ, 437, 108

Gabuzda, D.C., Wardle, J.F.C., & Roberts, D.H. 1989, ApJ, 338, 743

Gabuzda, D.C., Kochenov, P.Y., Cawthorne, T.V., & Kollgaard, R.I. 2000a, MNRAS, 313, 627

Gabuzda, D.C., Kochenov, P.Y., Kollgaard, R.I., & Cawthorne, T.V. 2000b, MNRAS, 315, 229

Homan, D.C., Ojha, R., Wardle, J.F.C., Roberts, D.H., Aller, M.F., Aller, H.D., & Hughes, P.A. 2001, ApJ, 549, 840


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# Nuclear Components in the Bulges of Disk Galaxies

## 1. Introduction

The nuclear density profile of galaxies is a key tracer of galaxy formation processes such as dissipation and merging. Ellipticals may be divided in two groups according to this profile: luminous galaxies with shallow profiles and fainter galaxies with featureless powerlaws (Faber et al. 1997). Here we discuss HST profiles of a representative, well-studied sample of galaxy bulges.

Previous work (Andredakis, Peletier, & Balcells 1995) used ground-based (GB) $`K`$-band imaging from UKIRT. The surface brightness profiles of bulges were found to be well described with a family of exponential power-law profiles given by Sersic’s (1968) law:

$$I(r)=I_e\mathrm{exp}\left\{b_n\left[\left(\frac{r}{r_e}\right)^{1/n}1\right]\right\},$$

with $`b_n1.9992n0.3271`$ (Caon, Capaccioli, & d’Onofrio 1993). $`R_e`$ is the effective radius enclosing half the light, $`I_e`$ is the intensity at $`R_e`$, and $`n`$ is the shape index of the profile. Figure 1a shows examples of Sersic profiles, including the exponential ($`n`$=1) and de Vaucouleurs ($`n`$=4) profiles. Figure 1b shows examples of Sersic fits to two bulge profiles. Andredakis et al. (1995; see also Graham 2001) found that the shape index $`n`$ correlates with the morphological type, or bulge-to-disk ratio: early-types show de Vaucouleurs ($`n4`$) profiles. Late-types show exponential ($`n1`$) profiles.

The goal of this work is to extend the analysis inward toward the galaxy nucleus, using a combination of HST and ground based imaging to obtain surface brightness profiles ranging from $``$20 pc to a few kpc. We perform PSF-convolved Sersic + exponential fits and describe the behaviour of the profiles in the inner few hundred parsec.

We work with 19 galaxies extracted from the Balcells & Peletier (1994) sample of inclined disk galaxies. For these galaxies, we have obtained HST/WFPC2 and HST/NICMOS images. Other analysis of this sample may be found in Peletier & Balcells (1996), Peletier et al. (1999), Falcón-Barroso, Peletier, & Balcells (2001). A downloadable database of GB images and profiles for the complete Balcells & Peletier (1994) sample may be found in Peletier & Balcells (1997).

## 2. Linking HST to Ground-based data

We analyze the HST/NICMOS F160W NIC2 images (19”$`\times `$19”, 0.075 “/pixel) with galphot (Jørgensen, Franx, & Kjærgaard 1992) and extract elliptically-averaged surface brightness profiles. These are converted to $`H`$ band magnitudes. We then use the elliptically-averaged $`K`$-band surface brightness profiles derived from UKIRT/NICMOS3 images (75”$`\times `$75”, 0.291”/pixel) published by Peletier & Balcells (1997), which we transform to $`H`$ band using the relation $`HK=0.111(IK)0.0339`$ (Leitherer et al. 1996) and using $`IK`$ profiles from Peletier & Balcells (1997). We then correct the GB profiles from any residual offset using the range $`3^{\prime \prime }r8^{\prime \prime }`$. The combined HST plus GB profiles are fit with a Sersic bulge plus exponential disk by least-squares minimization.

## 3. Inner light profile excesses

The distribution of shape indices $`n`$ vs morphological type T is shown in Figure 1c. Albeit with poor statistics, we reproduce the well-known result that shape indices $`n`$ reach higher values in early-type galaxies (Andredakis et al. 1995; Graham 2001). Intermediate-type galaxies have $`n12`$, ie. the bulges of these galaxies do not follow the de Vaucouleurs law. These values of $`n`$ are systematically higher than those obtained from the fits to the ground-based data alone.

Why is that? Because the bulge light profiles, when seen with HST spatial resolution, show central light excesses which force the Sersic fit to a higher $`n`$. The fits show deviations in the outer parts. We show the prevalence of excesses with respect to the Sersic profile by plotting residuals with respect to the fits performed over a radial range that excludes the central 0.5” (Fig. 2a). For 58 $`\pm `$ 11% of the sample, we find central light excesses. 21 $`\pm `$ 9% show central depressions. 21% follow the Sersic profile over the entire radial range. The presence of light excess does not correlate with morphological type in the present data set.

We conclude that the Sersic law cannot provide a full description of the surface brightness profiles of bulges from $``$20pc out to a few kpc. Other functional forms are required. We have investigated Nuker profiles (Faber et al. 1997).

## 4. Inner power-law cusps: Nuker slopes

Figure 2b shows the bulge surface brightness profiles for radii $`0.1\mathrm{"}<r<1\mathrm{"}`$. This is the radial range not available to ground-based observations and revealed by the HST/NICMOS imaging. Profiles are well fitted by power laws in this radial range. We measure the power law slope index $`\gamma `$, from the relation $`I(r)r^\gamma `$. Gamma values are given next to each profile. We obtain values that scatter around $`0.4\gamma 1.0`$. Only one in 19 profiles has a flat-profile ”core”, given by a low $`\gamma =0.17`$. The observed range is comparable to that obtained for intermediate luminosity ellipticals and lenticulars by Nuker fits to HST data (Faber et al. 1997). The power-law profiles continue to rise inward at the limit of HST resolution, r=0.1”. The value of $`\gamma `$ does not correlate with morphological type for the present sample. The regions inside 1” are typically very reddened, implying substantial dust obscuration (Peletier et al. 1999). The central stellar surface brightness may therefore rise even more than represented in the present profiles.

## 5. Conclusions

(1) When fitting Sersic laws to HST plus ground-based bulge profiles, the shape indices $`n`$ are higher than those obtained from fits to the GB data alone. The correlation of $`n`$ vs T found for GB data remains valid. (2) The NIR inner surface brightness profiles of bulges show power-law cusps that continue to rise at the limit of the HST resolution, and have slopes comparable to those of moderate luminosity ellipticals ($`0.4\gamma 1.0`$).

## References

Andredakis, Y. C., Peletier, R. F., & Balcells, M. 1995, MNRAS, 275, 874

Balcells, M. & Peletier, R. F. 1994, AJ, 107, 135

Caon, N., Capaccioli, M., D’Onofrio, M., 1993, MNRAS, 265, 1013

Falcón-Barroso, J., Peletier, R. F., Balcells, M. 2001, MNRAS, submitted

Graham, A. W. 2001, AJ, 121, 820

Faber, S. M. et al. 1997, AJ, 114, 1771

Jørgensen, I., Franx, M. & Kjærgaard, P. 1992, A&AS, 95, 489

Leitherer, C. et al. 1996, PASP, 108, 996

Peletier, R. F. & Balcells, M. 1996, AJ, 111, 2238

Peletier, R. F. & Balcells, M. 1997, New Astronomy, 1(4), 349

Peletier, R. F., Balcells, M., Davies, R. L., Andredakis, Y., Vazdekis, A., Burkert, A., & Prada, F. 1999, MNRAS, 310, 703

Sersic, J. L. 1968, Atlas de Galaxias Australes (Córdoba:Observatorio Astronómico)


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# Untitled Document

Figure captions

Fig.1 $`\alpha `$ dependence of several quantities in the RS solution for $`\delta =1`$ and $`T=1`$.
(a) $`q`$ and $`R`$(dotted curve) (b) $`S_{RS}`$ (c) $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_3`$(dotted curve)

Fig.2 $`\alpha `$ dependence of $`q`$ and $`R`$ (dotted curve) in the RS solution for $`\delta =0`$.
(a) $`T=5`$ (b) $`T=0.5`$

Fig.3 $`\alpha `$ dependence of the entropy in the RS solution for $`\delta =0`$. Solid and dashed curves denote $`S_{RS}^I`$ and $`S_{RS}^{II}`$, respectively.
(a) $`T=5`$ (b) $`T=0.5`$

Fig.4 $`\alpha `$ dependence of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_3`$ (dotted curve) in the RS solution for $`\delta =0`$. $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1^I`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_3^I`$ correspond to curves starting from -1 for small $`\alpha `$.
(a) $`T=5`$ (b) $`T=0.5`$

Fig.5 $`T`$ dependence of $`q(\alpha )`$ and $`R(\alpha )`$(dotted curve) in the RS solution for $`T=5`$.
(a) $`\delta =0.3`$ (b) $`\delta =1.5`$

Fig.6 $`\alpha `$ dependence of $`T_c`$ for $`\delta =1`$.

Fig.7 $`\mathrm{ln}\alpha `$ v.s. $`\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_g`$ A line segment with estimated gradient is depicted togehter.

Fig.8 $`\alpha `$ dependence of $`T_c`$ for $`\delta =0`$. Solid curve: 1RSB(I), dashed curve: 1RSB(II).

Fig.9 $`\alpha `$ dependence of Free energy. $`f_{RSB}^I`$(solid curve) and $`f_{RSB}^{II}`$ ( dashed curve)

Fig.10 $`\alpha `$ dependence of $`R`$ and $`\delta R`$ in the minimum-error algorithm for $`\delta =1`$. Dotted curve: $`N=10`$, Dashed curve: $`N=15`$, Solid curve: $`N=17`$.
(a) $`R`$ (b) $`\delta R`$

Fig.11 $`\alpha `$ dependence of several quantites in the minimum-error algorithm for $`\delta =1`$. +: numerical results for $`N=17`$, bars indicate standard deviations, Dashed curve: RS solution, Solid curve: 1RSB solution
(a) $`R`$ (b) $`q`$(RS) and $`q_0`$(1RSB) (c) $`\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_g`$

Fig.12 Asymptotic behavior of $`R`$ in the minimum-error algorithm for $`\delta =1`$. +: numerical results for $`N=15`$, bars indicate standard deviations, Dashed curve: RS solution, Solid curve: 1RSB solution
(a) $`0<\alpha <15`$ (b)$`15<\alpha <50`$ (c)$`50<\alpha <100`$

Fig.13 $`\alpha `$ dependence of $`R`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_g`$ in the Gibbs algorithm for $`\delta =1`$. +: numerical results for $`N=12`$ with $`T=1`$, dashed curve: RS solution with $`T=0`$, dotted curve: RS solution with $`T=1`$, solid curve: 1RSB solution
(a) $`R`$ (b) $`\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_g`$

Fig.14 $`\alpha `$ dependence of $`q`$ and $`q_0`$ in the Gibbs algorithm for $`\delta =1`$. +: numerical results with standard deviations for $`N=12`$, dashed curve $`q`$: RS solution with $`T=0`$, dotted curve $`q`$: RS solution with finite temperature, solid curve $`q_0`$ :1RSB solution
(a) $`T=0.15`$, (b) $`T=0.5`$ (c) $`T=5.0`$

Fig.15 $`T`$ dependence of $`P(q)`$ in the Gibbs algorithm for $`\delta =1`$. Histgram: numerical results for $`N=12`$ and $`p=60`$, solid line: 1RSB solution, dotted line: RS solution.
(a) $`T=0.15`$ (b) $`T=0.5`$ (c) $`T=5.0`$

Fig.16 $`\alpha `$ dependence of several quantites in the minimum-error algorithm for $`\delta =0`$. +: numerical results for $`N=17`$, bars indicate standard deviations, Dashed curve: RS($`T=0`$), solid curve: 1RSB(I), dashed curve: 1RSB(II).
(a) $`R`$ (b) $`q`$(RS) and $`q_0`$(1RSB) (c) $`\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_g`$

Fig.17 Asymptotic behavior of $`R`$ in the minimum-error algorithm for $`\delta =0`$. +: numerical results for $`N=15`$, bars indicate standard deviations, Dashed curve: RS solution, Solid curve: 1RSB solution

Fig.18 $`\alpha `$ dependence of $`R`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_g`$ in the Gibbs algorithm for $`\delta =1`$ and $`T=1.0`$. +: numerical results for $`N=12`$. dashed curve: RS solution with $`T=0`$, dotted curve: RS solution for $`T=1.0`$. solid curve: 1RSB solution
(a) $`R`$ (b) $`\mathrm{\Delta }ϵ_g`$

Fig.19 $`\alpha `$ dependence of $`q`$ and $`q_0`$ in the Gibbs algorithm for $`\delta =0`$. +: numerical results with standard deviations for $`N=12`$, dashed curve: RS solution with $`T=0`$, dotted curve: RS solution with finite temperature, solid curve: 1RSB solution
(a) $`T=0.15`$ (b) $`T=0.5`$ (c) $`T=5.0`$

Fig.20 $`T`$ dependence of $`P(q)`$ in the Gibbs algorithm for $`\delta =0`$. $`T_c0.7`$. Histgram : numerical results for $`N=12`$ and $`p=60`$, solid line: 1RSB solution, dotted line: RS solution.
(a) $`T=0.15`$ (b) $`T=0.5`$ (c) $`T=5.0`$