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# Coordinate System, Temperature and Gravity

## 1 Introduction

Thermodynamical and Chaotic behavior in the presence of strong Gravity were studied a lot during last 30 years (, ,  and ref. there in). In this notes we would like to attract ones attention to small aspect of this advanced matter. All notions and models that are used in Physics have their own applicability conditions. For example the usage of geometric optics approximation, continuum media approximation, free harmonic oscillator etc. are reduced by certain physical factors. To check up the usage conditions one make experiment to compare it’s results with applicability conditions and predictions of the model. Having that in mind we are interested in the problem of possible reduction of usage of Coordinate System ($`CS`$) or Frame - fundamental notion that is in the basement of Physical models and theories. The problem we are going to discuss concern possible reduction of usage of $`CS`$ due to Thermodynamical factors and hence relations between Temperature and Gravity are of high interest.

## 2 Coordinate system usage conditions.

$`CS`$ \- is a mathematical notion, as well as Observer, Frame etc., used to determine $`(t,x,y,z)`$ coordinates and metrics and is the basement for geometrical approach to Gravity and Space-Time description. All physical processes are described in certain $`CS`$ and $`(t,x,y,z)`$ variables are the most fundamental physical values. The applicability (or non applicability) of $`CS`$ for the description of the given physical state is determined by the chance (or no chance) for that particular physical state in real (or imaginary) experiment to provide the measurements of $`(t,x,y,z)`$ by physical equipment. Such measurements in real or imaginary experiment are realized by special unit - Reference System $`(RS)`$. We treat $`RS`$ as a physical equipment, like Meter and Clocks, to measure main physical properties - Time and Distance $`(t,x,y,z)`$. As well $`RS`$ has equipment for transmitting and receiving measured information from and to other $`RS`$.

It is well known that $`(t,x,y,z)`$ coordinates determined by certain $`CS`$ are the only parameters that characterize local geometry of Space-Time. $`CS`$ determine $`(t,x,y,z)`$ free from other physical properties, hence $`RS`$ measuring unit that confirm the usage of given $`CS`$, must to measure $`(t,x,y,z)`$ free from any external physical influence. Experiments prove that one able to reduce and avoid the influence of electromagnetic fields, particles, thermal influence of surrounding media, rain, wind, etc. on the measurements of $`(t,x,y,z)`$. Ability to avoid any external influence on measurements of $`(t,x,y,z)`$ equals applicability of $`CS`$ and physical models based on that notion.

Let’s assume now, that for certain physical state it is actually impossible to avoid or to reduce the influence of surrounding physical factors, temperature in particular, on the measurement units of the $`RS`$. Suppose, that such unmoved Thermal action significantly act on the measurements of $`(t,x,y,z)`$ and information exchange. Imagine, that Temperature $`T`$ of the $`RS`$ units for such physical state, as well as temperature of any other bodies or electromagnetic fields equals $`10^5K`$ and can not be decreased by any means. Suppose, that no screens, coolers or any other physical device or effects exist, that can protect the measuring devices from such temperature or to reduce it value. Then, even if one assume that certain Meter and Clock, as well as receiver/transmitter of information can ever exist at such high temperature, the results of the measurements for such exotic state must depend on the value of the temperature. Then such unmovable non-reduced temperature $`T`$ should be treated as fundamental property of such exotic state, as $`(t,x,y,z)`$. Appearance of additional physical factor - Temperature - at least as fundamental as $`(t,x,y,z)`$ \- in the set of primary observables quit applicability of common $`CS`$ and physical models based on it for the description of that particular physical state. Even if $`(t,x,y,z)`$ do not depend on the value of Temperature directly, one should find new fundamentals to describe physical state with primary observables $`(T,t,x,y,z)`$, where $`T`$ is the min Temperature obtained for given $`CS`$ .

Why it is difficult to describe such exotic physical state with primary measurable values $`(T,t,x,y,z)`$ where temperature $`T`$ define unmovable non reduced temperature of the local area measured by $`RS`$? We will mention only few problems.

* Since Temperature become fundamental property, like Time, than Thermodynamics must be treated as fundamental theory, and it can not be derived from Mechanics or other theories, based on $`CS`$. Statistical ensembles and other notions of Statistical Physics have no usage for this case.
* Most Mechanical notions lose applicability and one not able to use Free Space approximation, Vacuum states, Phase Space, Kinetic description and other common models. $`CS`$ has no use for such states.
* Unmoved Thermal action on the instruments means that all classical measurements have finite accuracy and thus no small Time or Distance scales exist in such physical state.

## 3 Thermal Gravity

Do such states exist? What can be the origin of such unmoved and non reduced temperature and why it might be impossible to protect the instruments from the temperature action?

As usual Thermal properties are associated with Matter and Electromagnetic fields (mainly). Temperature of bodies, temperature of particles, temperature of continuum media, temperature of radiation - are the main sources of Thermal influence. Present experience prove that one able to reduce such Thermal action and to protect $`RS`$ measuring units from such influence.

We suppose that Gravity itself should be origin and source of unmovable Thermal influence for certain physical states. At the same time we remind internal contradiction of our treatment: properties of present physical models are based on the applicability of $`CS`$. We use them to demonstrate possible existence of Thermal properties of Gravity. That violate the use of $`CS`$ and models based on it. So, our reasons show definite internal contradiction of modern physical fundamentals, at least.

The physics of Thermal Gravity component assumed similar the Electromagnetic Thermal fluctuating radiation : hot matter radiate Thermal Electromagnetic field and this Thermal fluctuating field heat matter.

Similar to that  Free Fall Acceleration $`(FFA)`$ induced by any macro body consist of the main averaged part (the main factor) and negligible fluctuating Thermal component that reflect the Thermal state of the particles of the body. Thermal component of $`FFA`$ is neglected due to it’s careless vanishing influence but it is not correct to forget it at all. (We use $`FFA`$ as simplest property of Gravity).

The significant property of this small Thermal constituent of $`FFA`$ is ability by direct action to heat any matter and Electromagnetic field.

Otherwise it will contradict with the Second Law of Thermodynamics . If Thermal $`FFA`$ component induced by Thermal behavior of particles of macro body will produce only regular movement of test particles without any heating, then one will have the way of direct transfer of any value of heat into regular mechanical movement. Such process should decrease the Entropy for sure.

It is lucky chance the coupling $`const`$ of Gravity is much more less than for Electromagnetic interaction. Due to that Thermal component of Gravity is careless and $`RS`$ measurements of $`(t,x,y,z)`$ describe reality with high accuracy. But size of coupling $`const`$ can not forbid existence of that effect.

The most significant is the actual existence of Thermal Gravity component. Let us mention Bondi , who in 1961 pointed out possible existence of gravity fields induced by atoms and even by protons and electrons. But, due to Uncertainty Principle he assumed that it is impossible to measure these values. We suppose, that universal Thermal action of such Gravity fields, and those induced by molecules, is exactly the factor that prevent such precise measurements. One able to measure only Thermal action of such Gravity, induced by warm particles, and not able to measure these values in pure dynamical sense. It seems that such Thermal reduction of Gravity measurements accuracy is much more rough than $`h/2`$ factor and that also should be the trouble on the way as to Quantum Gravity as to Gravity waves detection.

In the ”area” with significant value of Thermal $`FFA`$ component all bodies, fields, equipment of $`RS`$ will be heated up to certain value of Temperature $`T_g`$. That temperature will be unmovable and no physical means exist that can decrees this Temperature due to universal action of Gravity. One able to protect the $`RS`$ units from Thermal electromagnetic influence, but fail to reduce or reflect the action of Thermal $`FFA`$ heating effect. Anything that interact with Gravity will be heated by it’s Thermal component. The Temperature $`T_g`$, induced by such Thermal Gravity component become the fundamental property of the area and must be treated as basic as $`(t,x,y,z)`$ if they can be ever measured. Indeed, Temperature of instruments will reduce accuracy of measurements. On the other hand high Temperature Gravity may thermalize any regular signal and the only information that will be received by external $`RS`$ will be only Thermal. In such area the set $`(T_g,t,x,y,z)`$ should be treated as primary measurable values and that violate usage of $`CS`$.

And what can be said about the High Temperature Gravity areas? Do they exist?

We assume, that High Temperature Gravity should exist and should be measured by $`RS`$ near the Infinite Red Shift surface. Thermal equilibrium conditions  requires $`(g_{_{00}})^{1/2}=const`$. As $`g_{_{00}}`$ vanish to zero at infinite red shift surface (Shwarzshild radius $`r_g=2GM/c^2`$ for mass $`M`$) then $`T_g\mathrm{}`$ if it is positive far from Black Hole. That violate the usage of $`CS`$ (or ”Observer” notion) for certain $`r_{cr}>r_g`$ due to critical value of Temperature $`T_{cr}`$.

The second case of high temperature action of Gravity should exist for the $`RS`$ that moves with near light speed with respect to certain preferred $`RS_p`$. Indeed, if small Temperature of Gravity $`T_g`$ exist than one can chose $`RS_p`$ that measures the lowest value of such Temperature. The Observer in the $`RS`$ that moves with speed $`v`$ with respect to $`RS_p`$ should measure  the Temperature of Gravity $`T=T_g(1b^2)^{1/2}`$, $`b=v/c`$. Thus $`RS`$ will be under critical Thermal action of Gravity if it moves with critical speed $`v_{cr}<c`$ with respect to preferred $`RS_p`$. That means that Thermodynamics have it’s own restrictions for speed $`v<v_cr<c`$ to reach the speed of light value and that reduce applicability for $`CS`$ as well.

Our considerations on possible violation of applicability of $`CS`$ do not touch the usage of most physical phenomena, except Black Holes physics and description of Universe as a whole. Possible existence of self Gravity Temperature violate usage of $`CS`$ above infinite red shift surface and reduce acceptable speed value by certain $`v_{cr}<c`$. That means that Gravity can not be described by models based on $`CS`$ anywhere and Universe evolution models might be restudied. We suppose that one else explanation of observed Microwave Background Radiation can be discussed: this radiation should reflect averaged Temperature of Gravity in our area and it’s Temperature should be treated as Gravity’s Temperature $`T_g=2.7K.`$

Conditions for which one should take into account the Temperature of Gravity and will fail to use $`CS`$ as basement of the theory are more than exotic. For example, to measure $`T_g=1000K`$ it is required $`\mathrm{\Delta }r=rr_g=r_g(T_g/2.7)^2=r_g10^6`$ ; $`\mathrm{\Delta }v=cv=c(T_g/2.7)^2=10^4cm/c`$

We are lucky to live in the cold Gravity area and thus able to use $`CS`$ to describe Physics. If Temperature of Gravity really exist, then Gravity itself should be treated as origin of Thermal properties. For certain exotic cases Thermal and Space-Time variables can not be measured separately. Some new approach to describe such states should be suggested. In any case the relations between Gravity and Temperature and their measurements problem should be studied.

## 4 Conclusions.

A lot of Pro and Contra arguments may be added to the reasons that we briefly presented above to demonstrate possible existence of self Gravity Temperature, corresponding measurements problem and applicability of Coordinate System problem. But the questions: What are actually the applicability conditions of Coordinate System? Can Thermodynamics and Temperature in particular make any difficulties for measurements procedures? Do Gravity have Temperature and how it can be measured? - these and some other questions should be studied to make our understanding of the relations between Thermodynamics and Gravity more precise.


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# Extreme BAL Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

## 1. Introduction

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (York et al. 2000) is using dedicated instruments on a 2.5m telescope (Gunn et al. 1998) to image 104 deg2 of sky to $``$23m in five bands (Fukugita et al. 1996) and obtain spectra of $``$106 galaxies and $``$105 quasars selected primarily as outliers from the stellar locus. Its area, depth, and selection criteria make SDSS effective at finding unusual quasars. The first data release (Stoughton et al. 2001, in prep.). contains $``$4500 spectroscopically confirmed quasars, including $``$200 BALs, a few percent of which have extreme properties of one sort or another. All these extreme BALs are LoBALs, which show absorption from both low- and high-ionization transitions, instead of the more common HiBALs with only high-ionization absorption. Full analysis is underway (Hall et al. 2001, in prep.), but already these objects confirm the existence of a population of extreme BALs, as suspected from previous discoveries of individual extreme BALs (Becker et al. 1997, Djorgovski et al. 2001).

## 2. BAL Quasars With Fe ii* Absorption

The rare LoBAL quasars with absorption from metastable excited states of Fe ii (Fe ii\*) have been dubbed FeLoBALs (Becker et al. 2000; Hazard et al. 1987; Menou et al. 2001). They are valuable because photoionization modelling of them can constrain $`n_e`$ in the BAL clouds (e.g. de Kool et al. 2001). Fig. 1a shows a spectacular example, SDSS 1723+5553, with absorption from over twenty transitions in at least a dozen elements. Fig. 1b compares SDSS 1723+5553 to two lower-$`z`$ FeLoBALs with \[O ii\] emission line redshifts. Both low-$`z`$ objects show Fe ii* absorption blueward of 2414Å and 2632Å from states up to $``$1 eV above ground, but SDSS 1125+0029 also shows absorption near 2500 Å from even more excited levels. In both low-$`z`$ objects, the Mg ii BAL absorption apparently extends 2000 km s-1 redward of the systemic $`z`$.

Some SDSS FeLoBALs show very abrupt drops in flux near Mg ii$`\lambda \lambda `$2796,2803 (e.g. SDSS 0300+0048 in Fig. 2a). SDSS 0300+0048 has associated Mg ii absorption at $`z`$=0.8916, at least 4 narrow Ca ii H&K absorption systems located 2350 to 3900 km s-1 blueward of the Mg ii system, and broad Ca ii absorption extending a further 2000 km s-1 blueward. Broad, near-total Mg ii absorption is associated with the highest-$`z`$ Ca ii system, but broad Fe ii* absorption is associated instead with the strongest Ca ii system, at slightly lower $`z`$. Fig. 2b shows SDSS 1730+5850, which is clearly a higher redshift analogue of SDSS 0300+0048. Our spectrum extends farther into the UV for this $`z`$$``$2 object, and shows a weak recovery at C iii\] $`\lambda `$1908 but essentially zero flux below Al ii$`\lambda `$1670. Quasars such as these at $`z2`$ will obviously be greatly underrepresented in optical surveys.

## 3. BAL Quasars With Fe iii Absorption

Fig. 3 shows SDSS 2215$``$0045, a LoBAL at $`z`$=1.47548 (measured from associated Mg ii absorption, as with SDSS 0300+0048). Its absorption troughs are unusual for a LoBAL: they are very broad, detached, and strongest near the high velocity end rather than at low velocity. By comparison to SDSS 1723+5553 (Fig. 1), we initially identified the strong trough at $`\lambda _{obs}`$$``$4900Å as Cr ii. However, the implied abundance of Cr relative to Mg is implausible, and the expected corresponding Zn ii is missing. We now believe this absorption is due to Fe iii (multiplet UV 48), with additional Fe iii (UV 34) absorption at $`\lambda _{obs}`$$``$4500Å, redward of Al iii. Since Fe ii absorption is weak or absent, the large Fe iii/Fe ii ratio suggests that the BAL clouds in this object have $`T`$$`>`$35000 K, sufficient to collisionally ionize Fe ii to Fe iii. Fe iii absorption is seen in several other SDSS LoBALs (e.g. Fig. 4) and in a few previously known LoBALs, but nowhere as strongly (alone or relative to Fe ii) as in SDSS 2215$``$0045. Note the different spectral slopes blueward & redward of $``$2400Å, indicating reddening which must occur outside the BAL region since dust cannot survive long at $`T`$$`>`$35000 K.

## 4. A LoBAL With Broad H$`\beta `$ Absorption

Fig. 4 shows an optical (Keck) plus NIR (UKIRT) spectrum of SDSS 0437-0045 which reveals a strongly absorbed quasar with $`z`$=2.74389 from \[O iii\]. The absorption extends 2900 km s-1 redward of this $`z`$ (cf. Fig. 2b). Even more remarkable is the probable presence of H$`\beta `$ absorption nearly 104 km s-1 wide and of REW$``$100 Å. H$`\beta `$ absorption in AGN has previously been seen only in NGC 4151 (Anderson & Kraft 1969; Sergeev et al. 1999), but with $``$1000 km s-1 width and $``$3 Å REW. This object is also unusual because the Feiii trough at $``$2070Å has been seen to vary with nearly unprecendented amplitude and speed.

## 5. Heavily Reddened BAL Quasars

SDSS has found evidence for a population of red quasars (Richards et al. 2001), and BALs in general are redder than the typical quasar (Menou et al. 2001), but for the most extreme objects the reddening is unambiguous. Fig. 5 shows SDSS 1456+0114, an extremely reddened LoBAL (and FIRST source) at $`z`$=2.367 (measured from weak C iii\], the only broad line visible). Several other similar objects have been found by SDSS, but with even weaker broad emission. Since reddening does not affect equivalent widths, this may indicate that in these objects the broad line region is even more heavily reddened than the continuum. This would be quite plausible if most of the continuum light in those objects is scattered light, a hypothesis which can easily be tested with polarization data.

## 6. Discussion

‘Well, that was disturbing.’ —Fred Hamann, after this talk at the meeting.

We prefer to view these objects as invigorating. The area and depth of SDSS, plus its simple selection of quasar candidates as outliers from the stellar locus, makes it efficient at finding quasars with unusual properties. Moreover, the discovery of typically several examples of each type of extreme LoBAL quasar presented here means that a population of extreme LoBAL quasars exists and that only now, with SDSS, are we beginning to sample the full range of properties that exist in BAL outflows, and thus around quasars on the whole.

### Acknowledgments.

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is a joint project of The University of Chicago, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, The Johns Hopkins University, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), New Mexico State University, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory, and the University of Washington. Apache Point Observatory, site of the SDSS telescopes, is operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC). Funding for the project has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the SDSS member institutions, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, and the Max Planck Society. The SDSS Web site is http://www.sdss.org/.

## References

Anderson, K., & Kraft, R. 1969, ApJ, 158, 859

Becker, R., Gregg, M., Hook, I., McMahon, R., White, R., & Helfand, D. 1997, ApJ, 479, L93

Becker, R., et al. 2000, ApJ, 538, 72

de Kool, M., et al. 2001, ApJ, 548, 609

Djorgovski, S. G., et al. 2001, to appear in Mining the Sky, eds. A. Bandel et al. (Berlin: Springer-Verlag) (astro-ph/0012489)

Fukugita, M., Ichikawa, T., Gunn, J., Doi, M., Shimasaku, K., & Schneider, D. 1996, AJ, 111, 1748

Gunn, J. E., & The SDSS Collaboration 1998, AJ, 116, 3040

Hazard, C., McMahon, R., Webb, J., and Morton, D. 1987, ApJ, 323, 263

Menou, K., & The SDSS Collaboration 2001, ApJ, in press (astro-ph/0102410)

Richards, G. T., & The SDSS Collaboration 2001, AJ, 121, 2308

Sergeev, S., Pronik, V., Sergeeva, E., & Malkov, Y. 1999, A&A 341, 740

York, D. G., & The SDSS Collaboration 2000, AJ, 120, 1579


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The $`S`$-matrix is the most fundamental tool for analyzing quantum scattering phenomena in various fields of physics, for it provides us with the most complete scattering data . Moreover, it is often of interest to extend the analysis to the semiclassical regime. The first semiclassical formulations of the $`S`$-matrix appeared in the early 70s in the works of Miller  and Marcus  in applications to atomic physics, and some years later extensions to their work were carried out by Heller . Their common approach uses the Feynman propagator in the WKB approximation, thus taking into account classical dynamics together with quantum mechanical interference, where the phases are given by the classical actions. In Ref.  some important further developments on the semiclassical treatment of scattering systems are listed. Quantum and semiclassical calculations of the $`S`$-matrix have become essential for the understanding of transport phenomena in mesoscopic systems . In particular, in the ballistic regime, the conductance is well described by the Landauer-Buttiker formula  $`G=\frac{2e}{\mathrm{}^2}_n_mt_{n,m}^2`$, where $`t_{n,m}`$ are the transmission elements of the $`S`$-matrix. Semiclassical expressions for the transmission amplitudes for collinear leads were obtained by Jalabert, Baranger, and Stone . See also Lin .

One of the aims of studying ballistic motion in mesoscopic systems has been to relate the experimentally observed behavior of transport quantities, in the classical and quantum regimes, to their underlying classical dynamics . This is particularly interesting when the associated classical dynamics can be chaotic; then the purpose is to identify signatures of chaos in the transport . In a very recent example of this kind of work Ketzmerick  showed that the fractal fluctuations of $`G`$ as a function of magnetic field in a chaotic cavity are related to the Poincarè-Birkhoff hierarchical structure of the phase space of the corresponding classical motion. Previously, Jalabert, Baranger, and collaborators performed detailed quantum and semiclassical calculations of conductance in mesoscopic systems that display chaos in the classical regime . An important conclusion from their work is that the behavior of the average conductance can already discern whether the underlying classical dynamics is regular or chaotic. Specially relevant for our purposes here is their finding that the dominant contributions to the average quantum conductance are classical . Thus it is natural to expect that useful information may be obtained by analyzing purely classical quantities, disregarding interference effects completely. Clearly, all the information contained in the phases of the quantum $`S`$-matrix, necessary to calculate e. g., the Wigner-Smith delay time, does not exist in the purely classical description. Nevertheless, as we shall show, important information can be extracted by studying the Scattering Probability Matrix (SPM); its elements are defined by the square modulo of the $`S`$-matrix elements $`S_{n,m}^2`$, which give the transition probability for an incoming mode $`m`$ to scatter into a mode $`n`$. The analysis of quantum and classical SP matrices is clearly relevant also for the study of the wave-ray correspondence of electromagnetic fields propagating in cavities  since, under certain conditions, the wave equations are the same as for the quantum ballistic transport .

In this paper we shall construct the purely classical counterpart of the quantum SPM valid for any 2D waveguide of arbitrary shape. Before doing so, in the next section we briefly review the definition of the $`S`$-matrix in its application to cavities connected to leads. In Sect. III we construct the classical SPM and compare its quantum and classical structures for a model of a mesoscopic ballistic 2D wave-guide that displays generic chaos in the classical limit. We shall show that the good global correspondence between classical and quantum SPM enables us to understand the classical dynamical origin of features of the quantum SPM and to clearly identify the differences produced by the wave nature of the quantum state. In Sect. IV, we make some concluding remarks.

## 2 $`S`$-matrix for waveguides

The $`S`$-matrix relates incoming waves to outgoing waves,

$$V^{out}=\widehat{𝐒}V^{in},$$
(1)
where $`V^{in}`$ and $`V^{out}`$ stand for vectors specifying, respectively, waves coming into and going out of the interaction region. For a system composed of a 2D wave-guide of arbitrary shape connected to two leads, say left (L) and right (R) leads, the solutions in the leads are

$$\mathrm{\Psi }^{L,R}(x,y)=\underset{m=1}{}\left[a_m^{L,R}\mathrm{exp}(ik_m^{L,R}x)+b_m^{L,R}\mathrm{exp}(ik_m^{L,R}x)\right]\varphi _m^{L,R}(y),$$
(2)
where

$$\varphi _m^{L,R}(y)=\sqrt{\frac{2}{d_{L,R}}}\mathrm{sin}\left(\frac{m\pi y}{d_{L,R}}\right)$$
(3)
is the component of the wave function along the $`y`$-axis perpendicular to the direction of propagation ($`x`$-axis); $`d_L`$ stands for the constant width of the left lead which may be different from the width $`d_R`$ of the right lead. For simplicity’s sake we shall use $`d_L=d_R`$ for the rest of the paper. The sum is over all the propagating modes supported by the leads at a given Fermi Energy $`E`$.

With this notation the $`S`$-matrix and the incoming and outgoing waves can be written in the form

$`\widehat{𝐒}=\left(\begin{array}{cc}t\hfill & r^{}\hfill \\ r\hfill & t\hfill \end{array}\right),V^{in}=\left(\begin{array}{c}a^L\hfill \\ b^R\hfill \end{array}\right),V^{out}=\left(\begin{array}{c}a^R\hfill \\ b^L\hfill \end{array}\right).`$ (10)
The symbols $`t`$ ,$`t^{}`$, $`r`$, and $`r^{}`$ in the $`S`$-Matrix are $`M\times M`$ matrices, where $`M`$ is the highest mode (given by the largest $`m`$ beyond which the longitudinal wave vector $`k_m^{L,R}=\sqrt{\frac{2E}{\mathrm{}^2}\frac{m^2\pi ^2}{d_{L,R}^2}}`$ becomes complex). The symbols $`a^{L,R}`$ and $`b^{L,R}`$ stand for the vectors $`a_m^{L,R}`$ and $`b_m^{L,R}`$, $`m=1,2\mathrm{}M`$. The squared modulo element $`t_{n,m}^2`$ ($`t_{n,m}^{}^2`$) gives the probability amplitude for a left (right)-incoming mode $`m`$ to be transmitted to the right (left) lead into the mode $`n`$. Similarly, $`r_{n,m}^2`$ ($`r_{n,m}^{}^2`$) is the probability for a left (right)-incoming mode $`m`$ to be reflected to the left (right) lead into mode $`n`$.

The quantum SPM is simply defined as $`S_{n,m}^2`$; it gives the transition probability for the incoming mode $`m`$ to transmit or reflect into an outgoing mode $`n`$.

## 3 Classical Scattering Probability Matrix (SPM)

.

Since the energy of the system is given by its expression in the leads

$$E=\frac{\mathrm{}^2}{2m_e}\left(k_m^2+\frac{m^2\pi ^2}{d^2}\right),$$
(11)
classically we can associate an angle $`\theta _m`$ between the longitudinal component of the momentum $`k_m`$ and the total momentum $`\sqrt{2m_eE}/\mathrm{}`$. That is,

$`\theta _m=\mathrm{sin}^1\left[{\displaystyle \frac{m\pi \mathrm{}}{d\sqrt{2m_eE}}}\right].`$ (12)
For a finite number $`M`$ of modes there corresponds a range of angles $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta _m\theta _m\theta _{m1}`$ for each mode $`m`$. The classical limit is $`M=\mathrm{}`$.

Consider a classical particle entering, say, from the left side and making an angle $`\theta _i`$, within a range corresponding to a given mode $`m`$. The particle (ray) will generally collide with the walls of the wave-guide a few times before exiting to the left or to the right, making a certain angle $`\theta _f`$, to which we can associate a mode $`n`$ if $`\theta _f\mathrm{\Delta }\theta _n`$. Initial conditions are specified not just by the angle but also by the initial position $`(x,y)`$ along the left lead. In order to account for all possible types of trajectories, we take a large number of initial positions for each incoming angle $`\theta _i`$. By recording the number of particles scattered into the various ranges of $`\theta `$ associated with different outgoing modes $`n`$, we obtain a distribution of outgoing modes for each incoming mode $`m`$. This distribution gives the classical counterpart of the matrix elements $`t_{n,m}^2`$ and $`r_{n,m}^2`$ of the quantum SPM. Similarly, to obtain the classical counterparts of $`t_{n,m}^{}^2`$ and $`r_{n,m}^{}^2`$ we repeat the above process but for particles entering from the right lead. This defines the procedure to construct the classical counterpart of the SPM.

The wave-guide

We now specify a wave-guide model on which to explore the quantum and classical structures of the SPM. We chose the geometry of the wave-guide to be that of a “rippled” billiard, shown in Fig. 1, which is connected to two collinear leads of the same width. We have selected this particular shape for the wave-guide because it is known to display all features of an important class of dynamical systems, namely chaotic billiards that undergo the generic (Hamiltonian) transition to chaos .

Moreover, the finite version, depicted in Fig. 1, which serves as a model of a quantum or electromagnetic waveguide, has been used to study certain transport manifestations of chaos in the classical  as well as quantum  regimes. On the other hand, the infinitely long (i.e., periodic) version of the rippled billiard, introduced first in connection to beam acceleration problems , has been useful also for the understanding of typical features of crystals (e. g., energy band structure, LDOS, etc.) and their quantum-classical correspondence .

Although, as a scattering system the finite version of the rippled channel is the relevant one, it is convenient first to review briefly the motion in the infinitely long rippled billiard, $`L\mathrm{}`$. As usual, to get the dynamical panorama, we look at a Poincarè map of the system. As the Poincarè surface of section we choose, for reasons of symmetry, the bottom boundary $`y=0`$; the Poincarè map is given by the pair of Birkhoff variables $`(x_j,\theta _j)`$, labeling the longitudinal components of the position and angle of the particle right after its $`j^{th}`$ collision with the bottom wall. Since the channel is periodic the Poincarè map is on the cylinder (i.e., $`x`$ is mod. $`1`$). Depending on the geometrical parameters (average width $`\gamma `$ and amplitude $`\nu `$ of the ripple) the dynamics is either regular, mixed, or fully chaotic. Figs. 2a and 2b show, respectively, typical Poincarè sections for a wide ($`\gamma =0.5`$, $`\nu =0.12`$) and a narrow ($`\gamma =0.25`$, $`\nu =0.025`$) channel. In general, for small amplitudes of the ripple ($`\nu <<1`$) wide channels ($`\gamma \stackrel{>}{}1/2`$) give rise to global chaos, whereas narrow channels yield mixed dynamics, as exemplified by Figs. 2a and 2b. For future reference we shall denote the system displaying globally chaotic dynamics ($`\gamma =0.5`$, $`\nu =0.12`$) as the G system and the mixed one ($`\gamma =0.25`$, $`\nu =0.025`$) as the M system.

Since the Poincarè plots of the periodic rippled billiard show topological chaos (i.e., a heteroclinic tangle), it is not surprising that a finite rippled billiard connected to leads shows chaotic scattering, as evidenced by the fractal nature of its scattering functions, such as the dwelling time, reported in . In fact, as is well known , topological chaos is responsible for the fractality of the scattering functions.

## 4 Results

In the following we shall compare the quantum and classical SP matrices for both systems, G and M, and for various lengths of a rippled wave-guide. In all cases we will consider energies that allow for 33 propagating modes.

The G-system

Fig. 3a and Fig. 3b show, respectively, the quantum and classical SPM for the rippled wave-guide whose length equals one period of the ripple ($`L=2\pi `$). The resemblance between the classical and quantum SP matrices is remarkable. Let us consider first the reflection part of the SP matrices, say the left bottom block $`r_{n,m}^2`$. Notice in the classical SPM the high intensity in the neighborhood of the $`(n,m)=(11,11)`$ element and along a hyperbola like curve centered on it. The quantum SPM also shows the same pattern. The same is true for the cone-like shape starting at the $`(n,m)=(11,11)`$ element. More impressive is the similitude of triangular shapes near the top right corner. This global correspondence enables us to predict, based solely on the classical pictures, important quantum transport features. For example the classical SPM predicts that there will be negligible reflection for modes $`m4`$. This is confirmed in Fig. 4, which shows in detail how the incoming modes 2 and 3 do not reflect, whereas the incoming mode number 5 does reflect partially into the outgoing mode number $`24`$, just as predicted classically \[note the high intensity element $`(n,m)=(24,5)`$\]. These figures also show that the modes 2, 3 and 5 transmit predominantly onto the same modes as the incoming ones; this would be just like the classical probabilities except that the quantum one shows, in addition, small transmission to some modes off the diagonal. Detailed analysis of the data shows that the classical SPM also gives transmission off the diagonal but it is not evident because their intensity is weak and almost uniform over all modes. This difference is due to quantum interference effects, which are responsible too for the larger width of the diagonal elements of the transmission parts. As another example, the classical SPM predicts that mode $`11`$, incoming from the left, will reflect and transmit predominantly onto the same channel number, which is confirmed by Fig. 4b.

It is instructive to identify the type of trajectories that form the most salient features of the classical SPM since these are also evident in the quantum SPM. As an illustration, the triangular shape (see Fig. 5) that appears near the top right corner of the $`r_{n,m}^2`$ block results from incoming trajectories colliding only once with the rippled boundary in the neighborhood of $`x=1/2`$; the hyperbola-like curve and also the cone-like shape are formed by trajectories colliding twice with the rippled boundary.

An important aspect of the quantum-classical correspondence which was not expected is the particle-like behavior that results from the interaction with the rippled wave-guide of certain plane waves. As an example, Fig. 6 illustrates this behavior for the incoming waves with mode numbers 24 and 29. Note that a high intensity pattern is formed on the left side of the rippled wave-guide, resembling a ray trace. The angle this pattern makes with the horizontal, labeled $`\alpha `$ in the figure, corresponds precisely with the angle of reflection predicted by the classical SPM. In general we see that when there is a high intensity element in the classical SPM one can expect the wave function to form a ray pattern along the classical trajectory just outside the cavity. This may be regarded as a “short-lived scar”.

In contrast, when the classical SPM shows homogeneous areas of low intensity probabilities, the quantum SPM is expected to show a mottled pattern of medium intensity probabilities. A homogeneous area of low intensity classical probabilities results when incoming particles within a range $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta _m`$ scatter uniformly throughout a much wider range of angles. This effect, the defocusing caused by the rippled boundary, is responsible for the strong sensitive dependence to initial conditions, the main ingredient of chaos. Clearly, the larger the number of periods forming the rippled wave-guide, the stronger this effect should be. Figs. 7a and 7b, showing the quantum and classical SP matrices for the same geometry as just above ($`\gamma =0.5`$, $`\nu =0.12`$) , but six times longer ($`L=12\pi `$), confirms this expectation for the transmission parts. Comparison of the classical SP matrices (Figs. 3b and 7b) shows that, with the exception of a high spot near the transmission element $`(n,m)=(28,28)`$ and a short diagonal contribution $`(n,m)<(5,5)`$, all the distinguishing features of the transmission parts obtained for a one-period-long wave-guide (Fig. 3b) are washed out in the case of the six-period long wave-guide. The remaining high intensity diagonal elements for low modes are due to direct transmission, i.e., to trajectories that transmit without colliding with the upper wall. To get an estimate for the number of incoming modes that transmit predominantly onto the same mode, assume flat boundaries (since the amplitude of the ripple is small compared to the width $`\gamma `$) and consider a bundle of particles injected at $`(x,y)=(0.0,0.5)`$. The particles can transmit directly (no collisions with upper or lower boundary) if their initial angle $`\theta _i`$ is in the interval $`(\theta _c,\theta _c)`$, where $`\theta _ctan^1(2L/d)`$, and $`L`$ is the length of the channel. For the one-period-long wave-guide and six-period-long wave-guide, these angles are, respectively, $`0.46`$ and $`0.083`$ radians. Their ratio is $`0.18`$, which agrees with the ratio between the lengths of the high intensity diagonals in the transmission of Figs 3b and 7b.

We remark that the homogeneous spread of intensities in the transmission part of the classical SPM for $`(n,m)>(5,5)`$, is consistent with the “equal apriori distribution” of the $`S`$-matrix required for the validity of the random $`S`$-matrix theory approach to chaotic cavities . But note that in the reflection parts of the classical SPM the inhomogeneity is especially strong. In fact, while the definite transmission structures of the one-period wave-guide have been somewhat washed out in the six-period wave-guide, classically, the reflection blocks remain practically the same as for the one-period-long wave-guide. This is because the reflection structures are mainly formed by particles reflecting within the first period of the ripple, see Fig. 5. On the other hand, backscattering after the first period of the rippled wave-guide shows up classically as an almost homogeneous spread of intensity throughout the reflection blocks (including the area below the hyperbola-like curve for which there was no reflection for the one-period wave-guide). Thus, while classically the definite pattern produced by the first period of the wave-guide persists, quantum interference of the backscattering from the whole wave-guide starts to destroy the pattern observed in the classical SPM.

Another interesting feature comes from the analysis of the relatively bright spot observed in the transmission part of the classical SPM near the site $`(n,m)=(28,28)`$. A zoom of this spot is shown in Fig. 8a and a typical trajectory belonging to this pattern is shown in Fig. 8c. The distinctive feature of this type of trajectories is that they collide twice with the rippled boundary for each bounce with the flat boundary. These are periodic or quasiperiodic orbits advancing always to the right and form the stability island surrounding the stable period one fixed point shown in Fig. 8b. It is important to remark that this miniscule Poincarè-Birkhoff structure (note the scale of the axis) is not visible in the whole Poincarè map of Fig. 2a, even though its effect is clearly manifested in the classical SPM. Hence, we see that the SPM construction can give complementary information to that obtained by the Poincarè maps because it is an intensity measure. On the other hand, such spot is not present in the quantum SPM because the size of the Poincarè-Birkhoff structure is too small to be resolved quantum-mechanically (there are other spots visible but they do not correspond to the classical one; they originate from constructive interference).

The M-system

Now we examine briefly the classical and quantum SP matrices for the $`M`$ system, Figs. 9a and 9b show these matrices for a one-period-long wave-guide. Again, a quick comparison of these shows that the global features of the quantum SPM can be predicted by the classical SPM. We see that regions of high intensity areas in the quantum SPM correspond roughly to the areas of the classical SPM, albeit fluctuations within them. However, there are some important differences which we shall discuss now. Note that both classical and quantum SP matrices show that reflection occurs only for high modes but the classical reflection occurs only for modes higher or equal to $`m=31`$ while quantum reflection (although weak) exists even for modes as low as $`m=10`$. The mechanism responsible for the reflection of classical particles can be understood by examining the Poincarè map of the infinitely long channel, Fig. 2b, which shows a large resonance island centered at $`x=\frac{1}{4}`$. This resonance is produced by trajectories executing librational motion, bouncing between the two walls in the neighborhood of the widest part of the channel, $`x=\frac{1}{4}`$. It is clear then that particles entering the rippled wave-guide from the left at $`x=0`$ can reflect (after one or several bounces) within the first period of the channel if their trajectories fall within the resonance island. Trajectories falling on the chaotic sea outside the resonance island (hence low transversal mode numbers) can also reflect via the chaotic separatrix but not within the first period of the ripple. The longitudinal momentum of these librational orbits is relatively small (see Fig. 2b), hence their transverse momentum is large. Detailed analysis using equation (5) and data from Fig. 2b shows that indeed the lowest mode that can reflect is $`m=31`$, in agreement with Fig. 9b. In contrast there is a strong quantum reflection for modes as low as $`m=25`$. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle is responsible for this difference, namely, the quantum state cannot resolve the fine classical boundaries defining the resonance island and consequently even smaller values of $`m`$ can “tunnel” into the resonance island to cause partial reflection.

## 5 Concluding Remarks

We have studied quantum scattering properties of typical wave-guides with mixed and global chaos by examining the quantum Scattering Probability Matrix (SPM) and its classical counterpart. We emphasize that the definition of the classical SPM does not include any semiclassical aspects. We showed that the structure of the classical SPM allows us to predict the global structure of the quantum SPM. Since features of the classical SPM can be understood by analysis of the trajectories, it was possible to understand the classical dynamical origin of important features of the quantum SPM. Consequently, the analysis of the classical SPM of a given electron wave-guide system is useful for the understanding of its quantum transport properties, e. g., conductance. Plots of the classical SPM can be examined quickly to determine the influence of the cavity on the various modes. For a given energy, some modes may show ballistic behavior while others may display diffusive transmission, as observed recently in Ref. .

Our analysis of the quantum-classical correspondence of the SPM led us to discover the existence of “short-lived scars”. Specifically, we have seen that the wavefunction forms a ray pattern along the outgoing classical trajectory, for modes corresponding to high-intensity elements of the classical SPM. They are short-lived because after few bounces the ray pattern is destroyed by quantum interference.

Finally, we wish to mention that certain small but relatively high intensity areas in the classical SPM lead us to discover the existence of extremely small Poincarè-Birkhoff structures of the otherwise globally chaotic billiard. Hence, the SPM gives complementary information to that obtained solely by topological tools (e. g., Poincarè maps) since it is an intensity measure.

Acknowledgements: We wish to acknowledge financial support from CONACYT (Mexico) grant No. 26163-E.

FIGURE CAPTIONS

Fig. 1 Geometry of the wave-guide.

Fig. 2 Poincarè surface of section at $`\gamma =0`$ for (a) $`(\gamma ,\nu )=(0.5,0.12)`$ and (b) $`(\gamma ,\nu )=(0.25,0.025)`$.

Fig. 3 (a) Quantum and (b) Classical SPM, $`|S_{n,m}|^2`$, for the one-period wave-guide with $`(\gamma ,\nu )=(0.5,0.12)`$.

Fig. 4 Reflection and transmission probabilities from the classical SPM for (a) the incoming modes 2, 3, 5, and (b) 11. The one-period wave-guide with $`(\gamma ,\nu )=(0.5,0.12)`$ is considered.

Fig. 5 Typical types of trayectories that contribute to the zones marked in the reflection part $`|r_{n,m}|^2`$ of the classical SPM of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 Wave function of the incoming mode (from the left) number (a) 24, and (b) 29. (a) $`\alpha 60^{}`$, and (b) $`\alpha 47^{}`$ are the reflection angles predicted by the classical SPM of Fig. 3.

Fig. 7 (a) Quantum and (b) Classical SPM, $`|S_{n,m}|^2`$, for the six-period wave-guide with $`(\gamma ,\nu )=(0.5,0.12)`$.

Fig. 8 (a) Zoom on the transmission part of the classical SPM arround the site $`(n,m)=(28,28)`$. (b) Phase space generated by the trajectories that produce the structure of (a). (c) Typical orbit belonging to the pattern in (c).

Fig. 9 (a) Quantum and (b) Classical SPM, $`|S_{n,m}|^2`$, for the one-period wave-guide with $`(\gamma ,\nu )=(0.25,0.025)`$.


text:
# ON THE COLUMN DENSITY OF AGN OUTFLOWS: THE CASE OF NGC 5548

## 1 INTRODUCTION

Seyfert galaxies often show absorption features associated with material outflowing from the vicinity of their active nuclei at velocities of several hundred km s-1 (Crenshaw et al. 1999). These features are traditionally observed in UV resonance lines (e.g., C iv $`\lambda \lambda `$1548.20,1550.77, N v $`\lambda \lambda `$1242.80,1238.82, Ly$`\alpha `$), but with the improved X-ray spectral capabilities of the Newton and Chandra satellites, they are also detected in X-ray lines (Kaastra et al. 2000; Kaspi et al. 2000). Reliable measurement of the absorption column densities in these lines are crucial for determining the ionization equilibrium and abundances of the outflows, and the relationship between the UV and the warm X-ray absorbers.

NGC 5548 is one of the most studied Seyfert galaxies, including intensive reverberation campaigns (Netzer & Maoz 1990; Peterson et al. 1991; Korista et al. 1995), line studies (Goad & Koratkar 1998; Korista & Goad 2000), and theoretical modeling (Done & Krolik 1996; Bottorff, Korista & Shlosman 2000; Srianand 2000). The intrinsic absorber in NGC 5548 was studied in the UV using the International Ultraviolet Explorer (Shull & Sachs 1993), the HST Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) (Mathur, Elvis & Wilkes 1999) and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) (Crenshaw & Kraemer 1999), the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer ( FUSE) (Brotherton et al. 2001), and in X-ray with the ASCA (George et al. 1998) and Chandra (Kaastra et al. 2000) Satellites. These high quality observations combined with the relative simplicity of its intrinsic absorption features make NGC 5548 a prime target for understanding the nature of Seyfert outflows.

Our work on quasar outflows, has led us to suspect that the current determination of column densities in Seyfert outflows is highly uncertain. In the last few years our group (Arav 1997; Arav et al. 1999a; Arav et al. 1999b; de Kool et al. 2001; Arav et al. 2001) and others (Barlow 1997, Telfer et al. 1998, Churchill et al. 1999, Ganguly et al. 1999) have shown that in quasar outflows most lines are saturated even when not black. We have also shown that in many cases the shapes of the troughs are almost entirely due to changes in the line of sight covering as a function of velocity, rather than to differences in optical depth (Arav et al. 1999b; de Kool et al. 2001; Arav et al. 2001a; we elaborate on this point below). As a consequence, the column densities inferred from the depths of the troughs are only lower limits. Furthermore, it is virtually impossible to decouple the effects of optical depth from those of covering factor for a single line, thus column density determinations in such cases are not possible.

In order to assess the importance of these effects in Seyfert outflows, we reanalyze HST high-resolution spectra of NGC 5548. Two such data sets exist in the HST archive. 1) GHRS observations including a 14,035 seconds exposure of the C iv intrinsic absorber obtained on 1996 August 24 (spectral resolution of $`20,000`$). These data are further described in Mathur, Elvis & Wilkes (1999). 2) STIS echelle spectrum using the E140M grating (4750 seconds exposure), which covers the C iv, N v and Ly$`\alpha `$ intrinsic absorption features, obtained on 1998 March 11 (full details are found in Crenshaw & Kraemer 1999).

## 2 ANALYSIS

### 2.1 Methodology

In studies of ISM and IGM absorption features we implicitly assume that along our line of sight the absorber covers the emission source completely and uniformly. Usually, in these environments this is an excellent assumption since the geometrical size of the absorption clouds are much larger than the emission sources they cover. This assumption allows us to directly convert the depth of the absorption features to optical depth using $`\tau =\mathrm{ln}(I_r)`$ (where $`I_r`$ is the normalized residual intensity in the absorption trough), and from the optical depth to obtain the column density.

What happens when the complete and uniform covering assumption breaks down? For example let us assume that the absorbing material covers only half of the emission source. In this case even if the optical depth of the absorber is very large (10, 100, 1000…) we would still detect an $`I_r=0.5`$. But this $`I_r`$ would not give us any information about the optical depth. All it can tell us is that half of the light-source’s area is covered. Furthermore, this geometrical covering fraction can be velocity dependent. In general, for cases where the line of sight covering of the light-source is not complete, the depth of the trough at any given point will be a convolution of the real optical depth and the covering fraction at that velocity.

To account for partial covering we rely upon doublet lines that yield two related sets of data from which the optical depth and line-of-sight covering fraction can be solved for simultaneously (Barlow & Sargent 1997; Hamann et al. 1997; Arav et al 1999b). For such analysis to succeed we must use unblended absorption features seen in both components of the doublet, where the features are well resolved spectroscopically and possess high enough signal to noise ratio (s/n). To make full use of these advantages we employ a simple robust physical criterion. At each resolution element we require that the real optical depth of the blue component is exactly twice that of the red component, as dictated by the ratio of their oscillator strengths (as is the case for the C iv $`\lambda \lambda `$1548.20,1550.77 doublet). This is done after normalizing the data and putting the data set for the two transitions on the same velocity scale. The absorption equations are:

$`I_1(v)(1C(v))`$ $`=`$ $`C(v)e^{\tau (v)}`$ (1)
$`I_2(v)(1C(v))`$ $`=`$ $`C(v)e^{2\tau (v)},`$ (2)
where $`v`$ is the velocity of the outflow, $`I_1(v)`$ and $`I_2(v)`$ are the normalized intensities of the red and blue doublet components, respectively, $`C(v)`$ is the effective covering fraction (see Arav et al. 1999b), and $`\tau (v)`$ is the optical depth of the red doublet component. From these two equations we obtain:

$$C(v)=\frac{I_1(v)^22I_1(v)+1}{I_2(v)2I_1(v)+1},\tau (v)=\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{I_1(v)[1C(v)]}{C(v)}\right)=\mathrm{ln}\left(\frac{I_1(v)I_2(v)}{1I_1(v)}\right),$$
(3)
where the right most expression for $`\tau (v)`$ has not appeared in the literature previously. Unlike its predecessor ($`\tau (v)=f[C(v)]`$), the new expression has a clear physical meaning and behavior, with respect to the data.

We note that this type of analysis can be employed to determine the optical depth of ISM and IGM absorbers as well. In these cases we simply obtain $`C(v)1`$ and $`\tau (v)\mathrm{ln}[I_1(v)]`$.

### 2.2 What Emission Components Does the Outflow Cover?

In the spectral vicinity of the intrinsic absorber we find emission from three different sources (see Fig. 1). A continuum emission which underlines the entire AGN spectrum, Broad Emission Lines (BELs) with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of $`6000`$ km s-1 and narrow emission lines (NELs) with a FWHM of up to 1000 km s-1(for C iv $`\lambda `$1549). Before attempting to extract the column density from the absorption troughs it is essential to establish which emission components the intrinsic absorber covers. If we assume that the absorber covers all the emission sources when in fact it only covers the continuum and the BEL, we might greatly underestimate the optical depth and hence the column density in the absorption troughs.

To assess which emission components the outflow is covering, we constructed models for the unabsorbed emission for the C iv, Ly$`\alpha `$ and N v lines (see Fig. 1). Potentially, there is a lot of freedom in such emission models. The centroid redshift of the emission line components can vary between lines and between the NEL and BEL components of the same line, and the considerable amount of absorption makes the NEL model quite subjective (see Mathur, Elvis & Wilkes 1999). In order to minimize the uncertainty we use a simple and restrictive approach while constructing the emission components. We use only Gaussian components, which are all centered on the systemic redshift of the object (z $`=`$ 0.01717 from the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database \[NED\], based on H i observations). To obtain a physically realistic model, each doublet component in C iv and N v is modeled by separate Gaussian components.

The continuum and BELs are tightly constrained by the data. We obtain a very good agreement with the C iv and Ly$`\alpha `$ data by modeling both BELs with two Gaussian components characterized by FWHM of 2500 and 8000 km s-1. Two Gaussian components are the minimum number necessary to fit the data. This modeling also agrees well with Brotherton et al. (1994), who argued that most AGN C iv BEL profiles are well fit by two Gaussian components with FWHM of 2000 km s-1 and 8000 km s-1. For the NELs we chose single-Gaussian models for each component of the doublet, with the least possible emission excess beyond what the data require, similar in concept to the models chosen by Crenshaw & Kraemer (1999). These models are constructed so no substantial emission features lie above the model, which is a necessary condition for the model to be valid. There are two reasons for choosing a NEL model with the least possible emission excess beyond what the data require. First, it is always possible to choose an emission model that is substantially higher than the data and attribute the difference to absorption. This can be done for all the emission components and for any arbitrary wavelength range. However, the greater the excess emission we invoke the less plausible our model becomes since we have to invoke an increasing amount of unnecessary absorption. Second, as we show below, such models put the most stringent test on the question of whether or not the outflow covers the NEL.

The best fit is obtained with a 660 km s-1 FWHM for each C iv component and 430 km s-1 for Ly$`\alpha `$. For N v, the unabsorbed emission model is dominated by the red wing of the Ly$`\alpha `$ BEL. This leaves little room for a wide BEL. Instead we used a small BEL component with a FWHM of 2500 km s-1 coupled with the maximum allowable NEL with a 430 km s-1 FWHM (which is constrained quite tightly by the fit of its red component to the absorption-free data around –1000 km s-1, see Fig. 1). We note that coincidently, Brotherton et al. (2001) modeled the O vi NEL in their FUSE data as either a “wide” NEL with FWHM of 658 km s-1 or a “narrow” NEL with FWHM of 432 km s-1. From the depth of the strongest absorption features associated with the outflow, we deduce that the outflow must fully cover the BEL and continuum regions. The important issue to resolve is whether the outflow also covers the NEL region.

A decisive way to establish whether the NEL region is covered by the outflow is to find a black (i.e., zero flux) absorption feature on top of the NEL. By inspection of figure 1, this is not the case in NGC 5548. Lacking this definitive test we turn to the next strongest test. By choosing NEL models with the least possible emission excess beyond what the data require, any significant deepening of the troughs below these models necessitates significant coverage of the NEL region by the outflow. From figure 1 we infer that, within the level of noise, in all three lines the troughs do not deepen below the NEL model. A similar situation exists in the FUSE data of the O vi $`\lambda \lambda `$1032,1038 in this object (Brotherton et al. 2001). Although these occurrences are not sufficient to prove the no-NEL-coverage picture, they are strongly suggestive that this is indeed the case. If the NEL region is covered by the flow, it is highly probable that the absorption in at least one of these four lines would be deep enough to categorically show that the NEL must be covered. Furthermore, we point out that in all three lines shown in figure 1, the deepest absorption is very close to the inferred NEL flux level. This is quite a remarkable coincidence if the NEL region is covered. However, this coincidence becomes a natural consequence of a picture where an optically thick outflow fully covers the continuum and the BEL regions, but very little of the NEL region. On the basis of these two arguments we conclude that it is most likely that the outflow covers the continuum and the BEL regions but not the NEL region. In § 2.4 we present further observational support for this picture.

Such a scenario is also plausible on physical grounds. Reverberation studies of NGC 5548 indicate a continuum source whose radius is $`\stackrel{<}{}`$1 light day, and a C iv BEL region whose luminosity-weighted radius is $``$30 light days (Clavel et al. 1991; Krolik et al. 1991; Korista et al. 1995; Kaspi & Netzer 1999; Korista & Goad 2000). In contrast, the NEL region is larger than $``$10 light years across (Wilson et al. 1989). The very large difference in sizes comfortably allows for a model where the outflow covers most or all of the relatively small continuum source and BEL region, while not covering the hundred times larger NEL region. BeppoSAX observations of NGC 5548 (Nicastro et al. 2000) suggest that the size of the warm absorber is $``$20 light days. Since it is likely that the UV and X-ray absorbers are connected, these findings lend additional support for the no-NEL-coverage picture.

### 2.3 Optical Depth and Covering Fraction Solutions

Due to their wide spectral coverage, the STIS data discussed above are valuable for trying to determine which emission component is covered by the outflow. However, the s/n of these data is not high enough to obtain clear results with the analysis method described in § 2.1. Luckily, there is another set of high-resolution spectral data of the intrinsic absorber in NGC 5548, with sufficient s/n for the $`\tau (v)/C(v)`$ analysis. These are HST/GHRS data, which show the outflow only in C iv $`\lambda \lambda `$1548.20,1550.77 (Mathur, Elvis & Wilkes 1999; see Fig 2). We concentrate our analysis on the deepest subcomponent of the outflow, which, due to its depth, is less sensitive to the emission model’s uncertainties. This is component number 4 in the Crenshaw & Kraemer (1999) designation. We mark the blue and red subtroughs of this components with “B” and “R” in figure 2.

In figure 3 we show the results of the analysis, which assumes that the NEL is not covered by the flow. The normalized data for this case is given by: $`I_r(\lambda )=(FNEL)/(EMNEL)`$, where $`F`$ is the observed flux, $`NEL`$ is the NEL model and $`EM`$ is the full non-absorbed emission model. In order to derive the optical depth and covering factor functions, we use the same velocity frame for the “B” and “R” subtroughs. This is done by shifting the wavelength of the “R” subtrough to $`\lambda _{\text{shift}}=\lambda \times 1548.20/1550.77`$ and transferring both subtroughs to a velocity presentation using the systemic redshift of the object. Figure 3 shows that the residual intensities in the doublet components do not adhere to the expected 1:2 optical depth ratio (which implies $`I_{\text{blue}}=I_{\text{red}}^2`$), but are much closer to a 1:1 ratio. This has two effects: 1) To restore the 1:2 optical depth ratio the covering fraction has to be very close to the $`I_{\text{blue}}`$ curve, which unequivocally demonstrates that the shape of the trough is determined almost solely by the covering fraction at each velocity. 2) Under these conditions, the optical depth is much higher than the apparent optical depth defined as $`\tau _{ap}=0.5\mathrm{ln}[I_{\text{blue}}]`$ (see eq. 2), which assumes complete coverage. The comparison between the real and apparent optical depth is shown in the bottom panel. We note that the column density determination for this component in both previous analyses of the GHRS data ($`2.9\times 10^{14}`$ cm-2: Crenshaw & Kraemer 1999; $`3.6\times 10^{14}`$ cm-2: Mathur, Elvis & Wilkes 1999) are very similar to the one we extract from the apparent optical depth ($`3\times 10^{14}`$ cm-2). However, the column density inferred from the real optical depth solution is $`12\times 10^{14}`$ cm-2. A similar $`\tau (v)/C(v)`$ analysis of the STIS data yields consistent (albeit noisier) results.

What are the uncertainties in the derived solutions? There are two sources of error in the $`\tau (v)/C(v)`$ analysis 1) data uncertainties due to the finite S/N in each trough. 2) errors in the unabsorbed emission model. In principle, all three error sources (two for the blue and red troughs data and one for the emission model) should be propagated through equation array (3) in order to derive quantitative error estimates. In practice we find that the systematic uncertainties in the NEL model dominate the total error. The smoothed data we use have a minimum S/N=10 at the bottom of the blue trough and generally a S/N$`>20`$ across most of the extent of both troughs. Since the relative difference between the normalized intensities is mostly 20–30% (see Fig. 3), the errors due to S/N are modest. This can also be inferred from the smooth behavior of the $`\tau `$ solution in Fig. 3.

Estimating the uncertainties in the unabsorbed emission model is much more complicated. Variation in the NEL model affect the red and blue troughs in different ways and there is no physical reason to assume that the NEL model must be Gaussian in nature. We experimented with many NEL models that adhere to the “least possible emission excess” principle and are Gaussian in nature. In general these models gave physical solutions under the no-NEL-coverage scenario i.e., $`I_1,I_2>0`$ and $`I_1^2I_2I_1`$. We estimate that the NEL model uncertainties induce a maximum error of 10% in $`\mathrm{\Delta }I/I`$, over most of the trough. This translates to a 20% error in $`\tau `$ and therefore in our deduced column density. However, in the region of high $`\tau `$ (–500 to –470 km s-1) the error can drive the $`\tau `$ solution to infinity (since it can make $`I_2I_1`$). We therefore note that the column density might be significantly higher than the value quoted above. Only significantly improved data will allow us to clarify this issue. For completion we mention that the errors in $`C(v)`$ are very small due to the mathematical properties of the $`C(v)`$ solution (see equation array (3)). Whenever $`I_2`$ is significantly larger than $`I_1^2`$ (but still obeys $`I_2I_1`$), $`C(v)1I_2`$.

We have also solved for the optical depth and covering factor for the case when the NEL is assumed to be covered by the flow. For this case we find that the shape of the trough is still largely determined by variation of the covering factor as a function of velocity, and that the real optical depth is moderately higher than the apparent one. The resultant difference in integrated column density is roughly 50%.

### 2.4 Additional Support for the Moderate Saturation Picture

Recent FUSE observations of NGC 5548 provide an independent indication for saturation in the main absorption trough. These data were taken on June 7 2000 and are described by Brotherton et al. (2001). A direct comparison between the FUSE and STIS observation depends on the assumption that the main trough did not vary significantly between the FUSE and STIS observing epochs (roughly two years). In the case of NGC 5548, this assumption is supported by noting that the main C iv trough shows very little variation between the STIS and GHRS observing epochs, which also span roughly two years (see § 1).

Assuming no significant variability, a comparison between the FUSE observations and the STIS data strongly suggest that the main C iv and O vi troughs are saturated (see Fig. 4). The shape and depth for the main absorption feature is almost identical in both C iv and O vi. Such a coincidence is highly unlikely if the depths of the troughs are due to real optical depth effects. There is no a-priori reason to expect that the optical depth of lines that arise from ions with very different ionization potential and from elements with differing chemical abundances, should be almost identical. However, this situation is naturally explained if the shape of the troughs are determined mainly by variations of the covering fraction as a function of velocity. In this case, the optical depth of the C iv and O vi can be quite different but the resulting trough shapes can be very similar. This independent indication for saturation in the C iv trough supports our no-NEL-coverage picture. In order to have the covering factor dominating the shape and depth of the C iv trough, we require the residual intensities of the blue and the red doublet components to be close numerically. This is the case when the NEL is not cover (see Fig. 3), but is not so if the NEL is covered (as can be inferred from Figs. 1 and 2)

## 3 DISCUSSION

Previously published analyses of the GHRS and STIS data (Mathur, Elvis & Wilkes 1999; Crenshaw & Kraemer 1999) modeled the absorption features as Gaussians, using the software package SPECFIT (Kriss 1994). The possibility of partial covering factor was acknowledged and attempts were made to measure it. However, these analyses neglected two important effects. First, the covering factor can be a strong function of velocity, whereas these studies assumed that it is constant across each absorption component. Second, there is the possibility that the outflow covers the continuum and the BEL, but not the NEL. As our analysis show these two effects are important and have a profound influence on the deduced ionic column densities in the absorption troughs.

The difference between the two approaches stems from a fundamental conceptual issue which is ignored by the Gaussian fitting technique: each absorption feature is not a single cloud, it is an outflow component. This is because the absorption components are more than 100 km s-1 wide (even thousands in quasar outflows). These cannot be single clouds since, for acceptable photoionization equilibria, clouds’ thermal widths are $`<10`$ km s-1. It is reasonable to expect that a cloud will have a single covering factor. However, this is not the situation for an outflow, where the covering factor can be a strong function of velocity. Indeed our analysis of the outflows in QSO 1603+3002 (Arav et al. 2001) and QSO 1044+3656 (de Kool et al. 2001) show precisely this effect. Toy models which illustrate these kinematic/geometric effects are found in Arav (1996) and Arav et al. (1999b). A similar picture arises in global models for the structure of AGN (Elvis 2000; Elvis 2001). Since the absorption components are not single clouds, there is no physical basis for modeling them as such in the form of Gaussians.

In the Seyfert galaxy NGC 5548, as well as for outflows in high luminosity quasars, we have shown that the fundamental quantity of column density can be greatly underestimated if one uses the traditional measuring methods of equivalent width, curve-of-growth and Gaussian modeling. It is rather difficult to modify these techniques to account for the effects we describe here. The main obstacle is the strong dependency of the covering fraction upon velocity. At this point we do not foresee any way to adequately account for velocity-dependent covering fraction in the traditional methods, without fully solving for it as done here.

What are the implications of the results presented here on our understanding of AGN outflows? Almost all our deductions about the outflows starts from the measured column densities. For example, the existing column density measurements in NGC 5548 coupled with photoionization modeling, suggests that the nitrogen to carbon ratio is significantly higher than solar (Srianand 2000). However, if the C iv column density is much higher than previously thought, the nitrogen overabundance may not be needed. Dynamical models of the winds are also strongly affected since the mass and energy fluxes are proportional to the column densities (Arav, Li & Begelman 1994; Proga, Stone & Kallman 2000). One of the most important implications is in regards to the connection between the UV and the warm X-ray absorber. Based on the existing UV column density measurements it appears that in NGC 5548 the two absorbers cannot arise from the same gas, since the X-ray column densities appear to be a hundred times higher (Kaastra et al. 2000) than those extracted in the UV. (We note that reanalysis of the Chandra data using improved calibration, suggest that the equivalent width of the X-ray absorption lines are roughly half of the initial measured values; Nicastro et al. 2001). However, if the UV column densities are strongly underestimated, this situation might change.

Finally, we speculate that the difference of two orders of magnitude between column densities inferred from UV and X-ray observation of intrinsic absorbers might be primarily an illusion. Almost all the intrinsic absorption troughs seen in Seyferts are not black (see Crenshaw et al. 1999). Therefore, their apparent optical depth is $`<3`$. To be detectable in X-ray spectra, troughs must have $`\tau >1`$ (see Kaastra et al. 2000). Usually it is assumed that the depth of a given trough is indicative of its column density. Therefore, for similar oscillator strength, a similarly shaped trough (i.e., residual intensity as a function of velocity) yields roughly a hundred times higher column density in an X-ray line compared to a UV line simply because its wavelength is hundred times smaller (since $`N_{ion}\lambda ^1`$). This remarkable situation will occur every time we will detect the same trough in both UV and X-rays (e.g., Kaastra et al. 2000). If however, the shape of the UV troughs has little to do with real optical depth, then their column densities can be much higher, averting this unlikely coincidence.

## 4 SUMMARY

We have reanalyzed the available HST high-resolution spectra of the intrinsic absorber in NGC 5548; taking into account the kinematic origin of the troughs. For the highly probable scenario where the outflow does not cover the narrow emission line region we find that:

1. The C iv column density associated with the deepest trough is at least four times larger than previously estimated.
2. The shape of this trough is almost entirely due to changes in the line of sight covering as a function of velocity, rather than to differences in optical depth, similar to our findings for troughs in quasar outflows.
3. Our findings suggest that traditional techniques for measuring column densities: equivalent width, curve-of-growth and Gaussian modeling, are of limited value when applied to UV absorption associated with AGN outflows.
4. We speculate that the large differences in column densities inferred from UV and X-ray detection of the same intrinsic absorption trough, may be primarily an illusion, since the depth of the UV trough is a poor indicator of its real optical depth.
5. In addition, for absorption doublets with 1:2 oscillator strength ratio, we introduce a physically intuitive solution for $`\tau (v)`$ under the partial covering formalism.


text:
# Statistical Properties of DLAs and sub-DLAs

## 1. Introduction

Intervening absorption systems in the spectra of quasars provide a unique way to study early epochs and galaxy progenitors. In particular, they are not affected by the “redshift desert” from $`1.3\stackrel{<}{_{}}z\stackrel{<}{_{}}2.5`$ where spectral emission features in normal galaxies do not fall in optical passbands, yet where substantial galaxy formation is taking place. In addition, the absorbers are selected strictly by gas cross-section, regardless of luminosity, star formation rate, or morphology. Quasar absorbers are divided according to their neutral hydrogen column densities: DLAs have N(HI) $`>2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2, Lyman-limit systems have N(HI) $`>1.6\times 10^{17}`$ cm-2 and any system below this threshold is known as the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest. The analysis presented here is based on a sample of quasar absorbers found in the spectra of 66 $`z\stackrel{>}{}4`$ quasars (Peroux et al. 2001b) combined with data from the literature (Storrie-Lombardi & Wolfe 2000).

## 2. Quasar Absorbers Number Density and Column Density Distribution

The absorption lines evolution is usually described with a power law of the form: $`n(z)dz=n_0(1+z)^\gamma dz`$, where $`n(z)`$ is the observed number density of absorbers. For convenience, the $`dz`$ is dropped and the differential number density per unit redshift is expressed as follow: $`n(z)=n_0(1+z)^\gamma `$. The observed number density of absorbers is the product of the space density and physical cross-section of the absorbers which are a function of the geometry of the Universe. For no evolution of the properties of the individual aborbers in a $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$ Universe, this yields $`\gamma =1`$ for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0`$ and $`\gamma =0.5`$ for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=1`$. We found $`\gamma =2.45_{0.65}^{+0.75}`$ indicating evolution at the $`2\sigma `$ level independently of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$. Figure 1 shows the number density of various classes of quasar absorbers.

The column density distribution is determined as follow:

$$f(N,z)dNdX=\frac{n}{\mathrm{\Delta }N_{i=1}^m\mathrm{\Delta }X_i}dNdX$$
(1)
where $`n`$ is the number of quasar absorbers observed in a column density bin $`[N,N+dN]`$ obtained from the observation of $`m`$ quasar spectra with total absorption distance coverage $`_{i=1}^m\mathrm{\Delta }X_i`$. The distance interval, $`dX`$, is used to correct to co-moving coordinates and thus depends on the geometry of the Universe. In a non-zero $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$-Universe:

$$X(z)=_0^z(1+z)^2\left[(1+z)^2(1+z\mathrm{\Omega }_M)z(2+z)\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }\right]^{1/2}𝑑z$$
(2)
The column density distribution was usually fitted by a power law over a large column density range $`N(HI)`$ $`10^{12}10^{21}`$ cm-2. This suggested that all classes of absorbers arise from the same cloud population (Tytler 1987). Assuming randomly distributed spherical isothermal halos, $`f(N,z)`$ was well approximated with a power law of slope $`5/3`$ (Rees 1988). Nevertheless, as the quality of the data increased, deviations from a power law have been observed. In particular Petitjean et al. (1993) observed a change in slope: $`\beta =1.83`$ for $`N(HI)10^{16}`$ and $`\beta =1.32`$ above that threshold (Figure 2).

However, LLS line profiles cannot be used to directly measure their column densities in the range $`10^{17.2}`$ to $`10^{19.0}`$ cm-2 because the curve of growth is degenerate in that interval. In our analysis, we use the expected number of LLS to provide a further constraint on the cumulative number of quasar absorbers and as clear evidence that a simple power law does not fit the observations:

$$LLS_{expected}=\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}_{z_{min}}^{z_{max}}N_o(1+z)^\gamma 𝑑z$$
(3)
where $`z_{min}`$ and $`z_{max}`$ is the redshift path along which quasar absorbers were searched for. We choose to fit the data with a $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-distribution (a power law with an exponential turn-over) which was introduced by Pei $`\&`$ Fall (1995) and Storrie-Lombardi, Irwin & McMahon (1996b):

$$f(N,z)=(f_{}/N_{})(N/N_{})^\beta e^{N/N_{}}$$
(4)
where $`N`$ is the column density, $`N_{}`$ a characteristic column density and $`f_{}`$ a normalising constant. Figure 3 shows the differential column density distribution of quasar absorbers with the $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-distribution fit for various redshift ranges. The redshift evolution indicates that there are less high column density systems at high-redshift than at low redshift, confirming the earlier results from Storrie-Lombardi, McMahon & Irwin (1996a) and Storrie-Lombardi & Wolfe (2000). This suggests that we are observing the epoch of formation of DLAs.

## 3. Cosmological Evolution of Neutral Gas Mass

The mass density of absorbers can be expressed in units of the current critical mass density, $`\rho _{crit}`$, as:

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_{HI+HeII}(z)=\frac{H_o\mu m_H}{c\rho _{crit}}_{N_{min}}^{\mathrm{}}Nf(N,z)𝑑N$$
(5)
where $`\mu `$, the mean molecular weight is $`1.3`$ and $`m_H`$ is the hydrogen mass. The total HI may be estimated as:

$$_{N_{min}}^{\mathrm{}}Nf(N,z)𝑑N=\frac{N_i(HI)}{\mathrm{\Delta }X}$$
(6)
If a power law is used to fit $`f(N,z)`$, up to $`90\%`$ of the neutral gas is in DLAs (Lanzetta, Wolfe & Turnshek 1995), although an artificial cut-off needs to be introduced at the high column density end because of the divergence of the integral. If instead a $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-distribution is fitted to $`f(N,z)`$ this removes the need to artificially truncate the high end column distribution and can be used to probe in more detail the neutral gas fraction as a function of column density and how this changes with redshift. The resulting $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{HI+HeII}`$ is shown in Figure 4.

## 4. Results and Discussion

We find that at z$`>`$3.5 the fraction of mass in DLAs is only 55$`\%`$ and that the remaining fraction of the neutral gas mass lies in systems below this limit, in the so-called “sub-DLAs” with column density $`10^{19}<`$ N(HI) $`<2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 (Peroux et al. 2001a). Our observations in the redshift range 2 to 5 are consistent with no evolution in the total amount of neutral gas. Under simple assumptions of closed box evolution, his could be interpreted as indicating there is little gas consumption due to star formation in DLA systems in this redshift range. Similarly, at z $`>`$ 2, Prochaska, Gawiser & Wolfe (2001) conclude that there is no evolution in the metallicity of DLA systems from column density-weighted Fe abundance measurements in DLAs (see also Savaglio 2000). At low-redshift, recent measurements of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{HI+HeII}`$ by Rao & Turnshek (2000) at $`z\stackrel{<}{}1.65`$ and Churchill (2001) at $`z0.05`$ are difficult to reconcile with 21 cm emission observations at $`z=0`$. Nevertheless, the cosmological evolution of the total neutral gas mass proves to be a powerful way of tracing galaxy formation with redshift: it probes the epoch of assembly of high column density systems from lower column density units.

### Acknowledgments.

CP would like to thank the organising committee for putting together a very enjoyable meeting.

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text:
# Simulations of Gas Flow from a Galactic Disk to the BH-dominated Central Disk

## 1. Introduction

Interstellar gas falls towards the center of a galaxy if torques act on it and remove its angular momentum. On scales larger than several parsecs, gravitational torques from non-axisymmetric mass distribution in stars dominate. They can be caused by external factors (interactions and mergers) or internal ones (bars and other results of disk instabilities). Here, we focus on gas flow in barred galactic potentials: if the bar is strong enough, the $`x_1`$ orbits aligned with it develop cusps at their apocenters, and gas clouds there run onto each other, causing shocks. The shocked gas loses angular momentum to the bar, and a considerable inflow occurs at radii where shocks are present. In a bar with an Inner Lindblad Resonance (ILR), orbiting gas shifts gradually from $`x_1`$ to $`x_2`$ orbits, and eventually settles in a nuclear ring, located approximately at the bar’s ILR, at a radius of order 1 kpc.

Accumulation of gas in the nuclear ring may trigger a nuclear starburst, but Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) require mass accretion to within a few parsecs of the galaxy center. A mechanism of bars within bars has been proposed to drive further inflow, and thus feed the AGN in a manner similar to the inflow on large scales (Shlosman, Frank & Begelman 1989). In its original form, it involved a cascade of nested, independently rotating gaseous bars, with the inner bar forming as a result of dynamical instability in the gaseous nuclear disk. Such instability develops rapidly, and may cause a significant inflow, but one should not expect well-ordered flow morphology there. On the other hand, bars within bars observed in the stellar component of galaxies are likely to be of different nature: even if they form as an effect of gravitational instability, their motion is well-ordered, and their lifetime longer.

Here we present some preliminary results on fundamental modes of gas flow in strong single and double bars, and in weak oval distortions, and we examine how efficient they can be in feeding the nucleus. We give a comprehensive account of this work elsewhere (Maciejewski et al. 2001).

## 2. Numerical code, potential and initial conditions

We used the grid-based Eulerian hydrodynamical code CMHOG, written by James M. Stone at the University of Maryland and adopted to the polar grid in two dimensions, with isothermal equation of state, by Piner et al. (1995). The code implements the piecewise parabolic method (PPM), and the use of square cells gives high resolution at the center: up to 0.4 pc at the radius of 20 pc. Self-gravity of gas is neglected, and the numerical viscosity is very low — the infall to the center is negligible in an axisymmetric potential for timescales considered here.

The grid extends from 20 or 100 pc to 16 kpc in radius, and the gas flow is followed in a potential of Model 2 of a doubly barred galaxy constructed by Maciejewski & Sparke (2000). Azimuthal averaging of the secondary bar gives our potential of a singly-barred galaxy. The semi-major axis of the main bar is 6 kpc with a rotation period of 0.171 Gyr; the corresponding values for the secondary bar are 1.2 kpc and 0.056 Gyr. Gas is initially distributed uniformly over the grid, and forced to rotate around the center with the circular velocity in the azimuthally averaged potential. Then the outer bar of Model 2 is introduced by gradual transfer of mass from the bulge. In runs with double bars, the secondary bar is introduced in the same way, after the flow in the primary bar has stabilized.

## 3. Gas inflow in single and double bar compared

General features of gas flow in a single strong, fast-rotating bar with two ILRs can be seen in Fig.1, with shocks showing up best in the square of velocity divergence in the gas (div$`{}_{}{}^{2}𝐯`$, div v $`<0`$). Gas loses angular momentum in the principal shocks (PS) along the leading sides of the bar and falls towards the center. Inside the ILR (i.e. between the inner and outer ILR) a gaseous nuclear ring (NR) forms, and the inflow stagnates there, with star formation likely. A weak spiral density wave propagates inwards from the nuclear ring, but the rate of gas inflow to the center is very small: less than $`10^4`$ M$`_{}`$/yr.

By extending the concept of multiple gaseous bars proposed by Shlosman et al. (1989) to the stellar bars, it is thought that the secondary bar may force gas deeper into the potential well, if gas flow in the secondary bar is analogous to the one above. To verify this view, Maciejewski & Sparke (2000) constructed a model of a dynamically possible doubly barred galaxy. They started with the potentials of two rigid, independently rotating bars embedded in a disk and halo, and searched for particle distributions that could support the assumed potential. Despite the absence of a conserved Jacobi integral in this system, the orbits are not mostly chaotic. Particle motions appear well-ordered, if one looks not at orbits, but at sets of particles forming closed curves which return to their original position after two bars realign. These sets (called here loops) are equivalent to orbits in a time-independent potential.

In a doubly barred system there are loops that follow the outer bar in its motion, and other ones that follow the inner bar. In the model with resonant coupling (corotation of the small bar matches the outer ILR of the main one) that we consider here, loops supporting the secondary bar in its motion do not extend out to the outer ILR of the main bar, forcing the secondary bar to end well inside its corotation. The requirement of self-consistency puts strict limits on parameters of acceptable double bars, and rules out many hypothetical doubly-barred systems as being far from self-consistent. It is essential to examine gas flows in a dynamically possible model: modeling gas flows in arbitrary potentials of double bars may be misleading, as we do not know if such double bars can exist.

Fig.2 shows that outer regions of gas flow remain unaffected by the introduction of the secondary bar: the principal shock retains its shape and position. The secondary bar affects the central regions most strongly, but no stationary straight dust lanes form there. Rather, the flow organizes into various elliptical and circular rings, with mass accumulating first at the twin peaks at the ends of the secondary bar, and then settling in an inner elliptical ring. Gas inflow to the center remains very small: it averages about $`3\times 10^5`$ M$`_{}`$/yr.

It is easy to understand this modeled flow in terms of the underlying orbital structure. In a double bar gas stays around stable loops, and loops supporting the secondary bar end well inside its corotation. However, straight shocks form only in a bar extending almost to its corotation (i.e. fast bar, Athanassoula 1992). Therefore, what would be a straight shock in a fast bar, here curls and forms a ring instead. Also, no loops corresponding to $`x_2`$ orbits in the secondary bar have been found, thus one should not expect offset shocks. Finally, loops supporting the secondary bar originate from the $`x_2`$ orbits in the main bar — they are rather round, with no cusps, so there is no reason for shocks in the gas flow to develop. Thus, some self-consistent doubly barred galaxies may lack principal shocks and dust lanes, and double bars may not provide an efficient mechanism for fueling gas into the galactic center. Observations support this finding: infrared color maps of Seyfert galaxy centers (Regan & Mulchaey 1999) show no symmetric straight dust lanes unrelated to the main bar, and the only doubly barred galaxy in the sample (NGC 3081) differs from the rest by having a central ring flattened along the secondary bar.

## 4. Feeding the nucleus with a dynamically warm dissipative medium

Regan & Mulchaey (1999) and Martini & Pogge (1999) report an unexpectedly high frequency of nuclear spiral patterns in their samples of Seyfert 2 galaxies. Englmaier & Shlosman (2000) found nuclear spirals in their models for some combinations of the potential and gas sound speed. Their spirals are weak and can be described by a linear wave theory.

We modeled gas flow in the same singly-barred potential as in Fig.1, with the sound speed in gas increased from 5 to 20 km s$`^1`$. Although the principal shock persists, the nuclear ring is replaced by a nuclear spiral (Fig.3), with $`div^2𝐯`$ half that of the principal shock: in this model, gas falls towards the center in a spiral shock. Our potential has an inner ILR, but the shock extends further inwards, reaching the inner grid boundary at the 20 pc radius. The inflow to the center is very large, up to 0.15 M$`_{}`$/yr, which is enough to power a weak AGN, although the evolution after the shock crosses the grid boundary should be interpreted with caution.

## 5. Gas inflow in a weak bar

We investigated how much the strong inflow for high sound speed decreases if we weaken the bar. A new potential was set up, differing from the one above by the quadrupole moment of the bar being 10 times smaller, and the bar’s axial ratio lowered from 2.5 to 1.5. Although no feature similar to the straight principal shocks in a strong bar is present in the flow, a nuclear spiral still forms inside the ILR (Fig.4, left). One should expect a flow like this, since the $`x_1`$ orbits supporting the weak bar in this model are round, with no cusps, and thus do not induce shocks in gas. Inside the ILR, as in the strong bar, gas on $`x_1`$ and $`x_2`$ orbits interacts, giving rise to the spiral structure. The arm-interarm density contrast of the spiral is much lower than in the case of a strong bar, and linear theory is sufficient to describe the gas flow: the spiral pattern does not extend to the galaxy center (Fig.4, center). Adding a central black hole (or mass concentration) removes the inner ILR, and allows the spiral pattern extend to the center (Fig.4, right). Surprisingly, this does not increase the inflow, which is small in both cases — below 0.005 M$`_{}`$/yr.

## 6. Conclusions

We have investigated basic modes of gas flow in the central parts of galaxies by focusing on isothermal, non-selfgravitating fluid in an external potential. Later on, one can add other physical mechanisms (self-gravity, star formation, magnetic fields) which will build on this picture, and avoid confusion often caused by heuristic explanations that include many physical mechanisms in a simplified way.

In the fixed potential of a single bar, various modes of gas flow can develop, some of which are able to sustain the fueling of an AGN. In a mode with low sound speed, a single strong bar with an ILR can be very inefficient in feeding the nucleus. Adding an embedded secondary bar may not increase the inflow, but if the sound speed in the nuclear gas is high, a spiral shock develops in a single strong bar, resulting in an inflow large enough to feed an AGN. The shock in a strong bar corresponds to a nuclear spiral in a weak bar, but gas inflow there is too small to feed an AGN.

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