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# Cataclysmic Variables from SDSS I. The First Results 1footnote 11footnote 1Based on observations obtained with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and with the Apache Point Observatory (APO) 3.5m telescope, which are owned and operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC)

## 1 Introduction

Cataclysmic Variables (CVs) comprise all the close binaries that contain a white dwarf accreting material transferred from a companion, usually a late main-sequence star (see review book by Warner 1995). CVs include novae, dwarf novae and nova-likes, which are distinguished by their amplitudes and timescale for variability. A nova outburst due to a thermonuclear runaway event creates a rise in brightness of 10-20 mag; a dwarf nova undergoes 2-7 mag outbursts from a normal quiescent state on a quasi-periodic timescale ranging from weeks to years (usually attributed to a disk instability); and a nova-like exhibits random variability of several magnitudes likely related to changes in mass transfer causing states of low or high accretion. A large range in orbital period (from just under 80 min to over 2 days, with most being under 2 hrs) and in magnetic field strength of the white dwarf (from $`<`$ 1 MG to 240 MG), results in a wide variety of characteristic behavior and various observational selection effects. While most of the nearly 1000 known or suspected CVs (Downes et al. 2001; D01) are faint at quiescence and have late-type M dwarf secondaries, most of the early discoveries from past surveys were blue, bright objects with dominant accretion disks or outbursts that brought them to high luminosities, thus making them accessible to detection.

Evolutionary models for close binaries (Howell, Rappaport & Politano 1997) predict CVs should reach a period minimum near 80 min in the lifetime of the Galaxy and have very cool, optically unobservable secondaries with very low mass transfer rates. Surveys that have the capability to reach faint magnitudes ($`>`$ 16) should be able to find this population of faint, old systems. By determining the numbers and characteristics of these faint systems, we can constrain evolutionary theories and determine the true distribution of CV types in the Galaxy. We expect these results to be quite different from the bright-end surveys comprised of accretion disk-dominated systems e.g. the Palomar-Green survey (Green et al. 1982).

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS, York et al. 2000) is ideal for finding these faint blue and red objects. The photometry of 104 deg2 of sky in 5 filters to $`>`$20th mag allows a selection of all types of CV systems (blue ones dominated by disks or white dwarfs as well as those that are both blue and red if the accretion disk is negligible and the primary white dwarf and M dwarf secondary are the main sources of light). In addition to the photometry, SDSS spectroscopy allows unambiguous identification of a CV from the strong hydrogen Balmer and helium emission lines that typically signify ongoing accretion. The strength and width of these lines provide clues to the inclination, orbital period and mass accretion rate (Patterson 1984, Warner 1995). We report here the results we have obtained for objects we could clearly identify as CVs during the SDSS commissioning year (data obtained prior to 1 January 2001) and the implications for the total number of CVs that will be found by the completion of the SDSS project.

## 2 Finding CV Candidates

The SDSS imaging data are obtained on a dedicated 2.5m telescope at Apache Point Observatory with a mosaic CCD camera (Gunn et al. 1998) which observes in 5 bands $`u,g,r,i,z`$ (Fukugita et al. 1996; see Lupton, Gunn, & Szalay 1999 for a discussion of the modified magnitude scale). Until the final SDSS photometric system is defined, the preliminary magnitudes are denoted by $`u^{},g^{},r^{},i^{},z^{}`$, with the errors in the calibration estimated to be about 5% at 20th mag. The data are reduced by a photometric pipeline (Lupton et al. 2001) which separates stars from galaxies using their surface brightness distribution and computes several types of magnitude, including the point source magnitudes which we use in this paper. The astrometric accuracy is 0.10 arcsec. Spectra of objects selected from the photometric data are observed for typically 45 min with two fiber-fed CCD spectrographs (on the 2.5m telescope) covering the range of 3900-6200Å (blue beam) and 5800-9200Å (red beam) at a resolving power of $``$1800 (York et al. 2000). The spectra are wavelength and flux-calibrated and atmospheric absorption bands are corrected using sdF stars. The resulting spectra are then classified as stars, galaxies or quasars and redshifts are determined. Of the 640 fibers used in each 3 field, 32 are used for sky measurements, $``$10 for standards and the rest are primarily for galaxies and quasars. Stellar projects typically target about 10 fibers per field with CVs having approximately one of these fibers.

During the commissioning year, a number of photometric selection criteria were attempted in order to maximize the chance of finding new CVs. We first tried the range of colors found by Krisciunas, Margon & Szkody (1998), who used filters close to those of SDSS to observe known CVs of various types. The CVs easily separate from main-sequence stars in $`u^{}g^{}`$, but overlap with quasars (Fan 1999) and white dwarfs. In addition, the large color range possible for redder colors does not allow a unique discriminator. Thus, selecting by the blue colors resulted in spectra that turned out to be primarily quasars and single white dwarfs. When we tried simultaneous blue and red criteria ($`u^{}g^{}<0.45,g^{}r^{}<0.7,r^{}i^{}>0.30`$ and $`i^{}z^{}>0.4`$) to select for CVs without much disk contribution, we were successful in obtaining mostly non-interacting WD+M binaries with a few CVs. These criteria remain for the project color selection; in addition to the CVs found, the WD+M binaries are being used in follow-up studies to search for systems which are close to starting mass transfer (i.e pre-CVs), and to compare magnetic activity levels for single M stars to those in close binaries (Raymond, Szkody & Hawley 2001).

The best success at finding the blue CVs came from using the fact that QSOs are primary targets for spectroscopic fibers (hence more are observed than stars) and some quasars overlap the colors of CVs. Thus, we could search the spectra obtained of quasar candidates for those that turned out to be non-quasars i.e. those having zero-redshift and broad hydrogen Balmer and helium emission lines. Several fibers for extreme blue objects obtained under a serendipity classification also yielded blue CVs.

Because the commissioning year involved changing color selections for all targets, this is not a uniform sample. Nor will the final sample of CVs be complete, as there are not sufficient fibers for stars to target all possible CVs. However, since the QSO, serendipity and CV selection criteria will not undergo further large changes, the results from this past year cover a representative sample of what will be found and represent a lower limit to the actual number of CVs that can be located by combining the SDSS database with follow-up spectroscopic and variability studies. Our results reported here include spectra obtained from fields that cover an effective area of about 600 sq deg. The spectroscopic identification of 22 CVs in this area means that we found about 0.04 per sq deg. Thus, we can expect about 400 new CVs in the entire survey from the spectra alone. Follow-up time-resolved spectra can be used to determine the nature of these objects, as well as to identify pre-CVs from the WD+M binary sample. Wide-field, time-resolved photometry on selected fields will be necessary to identify a complete sample of CVs using the SDSS colors combined with variability information.

## 3 Results

The 22 objects that we identify as CVs are listed in Table 1 along with the date of the SDSS spectrum, and the $`g^{}`$ magnitude and colors (with no correction for reddening). The naming convention is SDSSp Jhhmmss.ss+ddmmss.s, where the coordinate equinox is J2000 and the “p” refers to the preliminary astrometry. Throughout the rest of this paper, we will abbreviate the names to SDSShhmm for convenience. Objects which have data publicly available through the SDSS early data release (Stoughton et al. 2001) are marked. Finding charts from the Palomar Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) will be available from the online CV catalog (D01). The last column of Table 1 gives brief comments which are elaborated in the sections below.

Figure 1 shows the colors of the 22 objects in the SDSS color-color diagrams along with the stellar locus. As noted above, the contributions of the accretion disk and white dwarf generally result in a separation of the CVs from the main sequence, especially in the bluest colors. In this sample, about 90% of the objects were found by QSO and serendipity selection criteria. Two CVs (SDSS0155 and SDSS0813) satisfied the selection criteria of blue+red colors given in Section 2.

Figure 2 shows the SDSS spectra for all systems except for the previously known ones, BH Lyn and SW UMa, which have published spectra available (Hoard & Szkody 1997; Shafter, Szkody & Thorstensen 1986), and SDSS0155 which was saturated in the fixed exposure time for its field. Table 2 lists the equivalent widths and fluxes of the prominent hydrogen Balmer and helium lines. In this table, the object is identified both by its abbreviated SDSS name and the plate-fiber number, where the plate number refers to the catalog number of the SDSS plug plate used to observe each field. Of the 20 objects in Table 2, 13 (65%) have H$`\beta `$ equivalent widths $`>`$20Å, and 10 (50%) have values $`>`$50Å. According to the approximate relation between H$`\beta `$ EW and $`\dot{M}`$ given in Patterson (1984), these numbers indicate we are finding the low accretion rate systems ($`\dot{M}`$ of 10-10 to 10-12M yr-1) i.e. the objects are faint not because they are observed at a large distance, but because they are intrinsically faint due to low mass transfer rates.

For several systems, we conducted follow-up photometric observations using the UW 0.76m telescope in Eastern Washington at Manastash Ridge Observatory (MRO) equipped with a 1024x1024 CCD, and spectroscopic observations with the UW share of the 3.5m telescope in New Mexico at Apache Point Observatory (APO) equipped with a Double Imaging Spectrograph (DIS). The spectrograph was used in high resolution mode (resolution about 3Å) with a 1.5 arcsec slit covering the wavelength regions of 4200-5000Å in the blue and 6300-7300Å in the red. Sporadic spectra on different nights were obtained to look for changes in the spectral lines and intensities that would identify a dwarf nova outburst or the high/low state of a nova-like object. For the brightest systems, time-resolved spectra over several hours were used to determine the orbital period and to measure radial velocities. The orbital period can also be an indicator of accretion rate, as the lowest rates generally exist in disk systems at quiescence that have orbital periods under two hours (Patterson 1984, Warner 1995), although low accretion rates can also occur in systems with longer orbital period when mass transfer sporadically turns off. The dates and modes of follow-up observations are listed in Table 3.

### 3.1 Previously Known Systems

There were 3 previously known CVs for which SDSS spectra were obtained, as their colors matched the selection criteria of quasars or serendipity. Two are relatively well-known systems with published photometry and spectroscopy (SW UMa and BH Lyn) listed in the D01 catalog as well as the Ritter & Kolb (1998) catalog. The third object (listed as Vir4 in the D01 catalog) is a recently discovered eclipsing dwarf nova with an orbital period of 1.75 hrs (Vanmunster, Velthuis & McCormick 2000). Two SDSS spectra of this object at quiescence were obtained (April and May; Table 1) and three APO spectra in May (Table 3). As there are no published spectra of this system, we show its spectrum (SDSS1435) in Figure 1. All the spectra of Vir4 reveal deep central absorption in the Balmer emission lines, which increases up the Balmer series. This feature is typical of high inclination, eclipsing systems (Vogt 1981) and is postulated to be caused by low velocity, cool outer disk material in the line of sight.

### 3.2 High Inclination Systems

Two other systems also reveal the deep central absorption that is likely an indication of high inclination (SDSS1555 and SDSS0151). Confirmation of high inclination from an eclipse awaits time-resolved photometry or spectroscopy with larger aperture telescopes, or observations during an outburst when the system is brighter.

### 3.3 Dwarf Novae

As the SDSS photometry provides a separate epoch of observation from the SDSS spectroscopy, and the Palomar DSS provides an additional observation, there are several instances where the brightness of the system can be verified to be different, signifying either outbursts (in the case of dwarf novae) or high vs low states for nova-like objects. To distinguish these cases requires spectra at the high and low brightness states.

In the case of SDSS1637, the SDSS photometry reveals a bright source ($`g^{}`$=16.6) while the spectra are consistent with a 20th mag object. In addition, the SDSS photometry reveals two close (but separated) stars, the northern object being the bright one, while the DSS shows it fainter than its southern neighbor. This fact is consistent with the northern object being caught at an outburst during the SDSS photometry. Several random followup spectra at APO (Table 3) and other quick-look images during the course of 3 months all found the system at its quiescent state so the outbursts are likely infrequent or of short duration. As the quiescent spectra show none of the high excitation lines of a novalike system, this object is very likely a dwarf nova.

In two instances (SDSS1730 and SDSS2303), the APO spectra revealed objects undergoing a dwarf nova outburst, during which the Balmer emission lines turned into absorption lines when the systems were several magnitudes brighter than quiescence. On 2000 October 2, we obtained a total of 20 time-resolved spectra of SDSS1730 at outburst and two spectra, three nights later, when the system was at quiescence. Figure 3 shows typical outburst spectra and the smoothed mean of the 2 quiescent spectra for the blue and red wavelength regions. At outburst, the overall flux increased by a factor of 20 in the blue and 4 in the red, with noticeable, broad absorption features surrounding the H$`\beta `$ and H$`\gamma `$ emission lines. Figure 4 shows a closeup of the H$`\beta `$ line throughout the orbit. While inspection of the line suggests the possible presence of a narrow component passing from blue (phase 0.48) to red (phase 0.57), careful analysis of the velocity of the peak component did not produce an unambiguous feature which could be associated with the orbital period.

The presence of the underlying absorption features at H$`\beta `$ and H$`\gamma `$ in SDSS1730 made it difficult to obtain radial velocities for these two lines, and a reliable solution was obtained only for the H$`\alpha `$ data. We obtained values for the central peak of the H$`\alpha `$ line by using IRAF’s 222IRAF (Image Reduction and Analysis Facility) is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which are operated by AURA, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the national Science Foundation. fitting routines in splot. As the line shows a fair amount of structure at outburst, the centroid “e” method returned more consistent answers than did Gaussian fitting. An IDL routine, CURVEFIT, was used to fit the radial velocities with a sinusoidal function of the form $`v=\gamma Ksin[2\pi (tt_0)/P]`$, where $`\gamma `$ (systemic velocity), $`K`$ (semi-amplitude), $`P`$ (orbital period) and $`t_0`$ (time of conjunction) were left as free parameters (see Table 4 for the best fit parameters). Figure 5 shows the best fit to the H$`\alpha `$ radial velocity curve. Four spectra showed extreme deviations and were not included in the fitting, and are indicated in Figure 5 as open circles. We studied these spectra for evidence of shifts in the lines and for other potential sources of error, but were unable to detect any cause. Nevertheless, they provided velocities which were clearly inconsistent with the rest of our measurements. The velocities for these 4 spectra shown in Figure 5 are from measurements of the midpoint of the extremes of the H$`\alpha `$ line done by eye. We tested our fitting program while including these spectra, and found that the best fit obtained for the orbital period (117$`\pm `$5 min) was consistent with the fit excluding these points.

Finally, we used the period obtained from the spectra to look for evidence of variability in the photometry of this system obtained at MRO. We folded the differential magnitudes on each of the two longest nights on the orbital period but found no evidence for any significant orbital variability. An average of the two nights’ data produces an upper limit for any such variability of 0.04 magnitudes. The absence of variability, along with the lack of line doubling, suggests that SDSS1730 is a system with a fairly low inclination (Warner 1995).

For SDSS2303, we obtained a total of 9 time-resolved spectra at quiescence on 2000 October 2 and 11 spectra at outburst 3 nights later. Figure 6 shows typical outburst and quiescent spectra for both nights. At outburst, the overall flux increases by a factor of 120 in the blue and 60 in the red with broad absorption features surrounding the H$`\beta `$ and H$`\gamma `$ emission lines.

We obtained the velocities for the H$`\alpha `$ and H$`\beta `$ emission lines by using the IRAF fitting routines, with the Gaussian fitting routine “k” providing the best fit to a velocity curve (lowest residuals). Once again, the CURVEFIT routine was used to fit the radial velocity data with a sinusoidal function. The lines of H$`\alpha `$ and $`H\beta `$ from the quiescent data provided the most consistent solutions with the lowest errors. These solutions are given in Table 4 and the fit to the velocity curve for H$`\alpha `$ is shown in Figure 7. The outburst data resulted in consistent period and velocity curves. Using the best fit period of 100 min, the phases for H$`\beta `$ were computed with the time of the red-to-blue crossing of the emission lines for H$`\alpha `$ as phase zero. The absence of any eclipse during quiscence or outburst suggests that SDSS2303 is a system with a fairly low inclination.

To obtain further information about the disk at quiescence, we computed a doppler tomogram. Doppler tomography (Horne 1991) is a technique that allows imaging of the line-forming regions in a binary system by combining the velocity profile information obtained at all binary phases. To construct our tomogram, we used the Fourier-filtered back-projection program provided by Keith Horne and modified for our computers and plotting needs by Donald Hoard. As we have no fiducial phasing from an eclipse or lines from the secondary, we used the phasing from the red to blue crossing of the H$`\alpha `$ line solution (Table 4) at quiescence. This assumes that the emission lines originate near the white dwarf and that zero phase is inferior conjunction of the secondary. Figure 8 shows the tomograms for H$`\alpha `$ and H$`\beta `$ with a mass ratio of $`q=0.25`$ used to compute the Roche lobe and stream. While a phase resolution of 0.1 is not suitable to determine any detailed disk structure, it can provide information on the disk extent and the stream. The tomograms of SDSS2303 are consistent with a low mass-transfer rate system with minimal disk emission and no evidence for a luminous hot spot near the stream location. There is some evidence for emission regions near the locations of the secondary (Vy=+150, Vx=0) and of the white dwarf (Vy=-150, Vx=0), but better data are required to confirm this.

### 3.4 Nova-likes with Strong HeII

The 3 systems SDSS0155, SDSS0729 and SDSS0747 reveal strong emission in HeII $`\lambda `$4686. While SDSS0729 is very faint and has very narrow lines, indicative of a low mass-transfer rate (possibly a magnetic) system, SDSS0747 shows the bright blue continuum and weak Balmer emission of an old nova with a high accretion rate.

The system SDSS0155 caught our attention for further study as the SDSS photometry and spectra indicated a very bright object, but the Palomar DSS showed a much fainter star. The presence of strong emission at the bright state, combined with the presence of HeII, suggests either an AM Her system with a magnetic white dwarf or a high accretion rate SW Sex star (characteristics of these types of CVs are reviewed by Warner 1995).

Our followup spectroscopy at APO, one month after the SDSS spectrum, showed the system also in its high state. Time-resolved spectra throughout 3 hours showed asymmetries and narrow component structure in the Balmer emission lines. Most important, an eclipse of the Balmer lines was evident (Figure 9). When this occurred, the Balmer and HeI lines went into absorption while HeII remained visible but weaker, and the continuum did not appear to be eclipsed. This is opposite to the behavior typically seen in an eclipsing SW Sex system (e.g. BH Lyn, Hoard & Szkody 1997) where the HeII line (usually originating near the white dwarf) is deeply eclipsed along with the continuum light, while the Balmer emission lines (from the outer disk area) remain largely visible through the eclipse. Unfortunately, rising humidity levels necessitated a dome closure which caused a 70 min gap in the data sequence. The datasets before and after the dome closure cover intervals of 100 min and 60 min respectively.

Despite the gap, the velocities show a large and repetitive variation, allowing the determination of the orbital period to be 87 min. This short period also argues against an interpretation as an SW Sex system since those objects usually have orbital periods between 3-4 hrs. The best fit to the radial velocity curve for HeII is shown in Figure 10 and the solutions are given in Table 4 for that line as well as H$`\beta `$ and H$`\alpha `$. The very large (400 km/s) semi-amplitude of the velocity curves of SDSS0155 compared to the other disk systems in Table 4 is typical of AM Her systems (Warner 1995) and strengthens the case for a magnetic interpretation for SDSS0155.

Using the convention of the red to blue crossing of the HeII line as phase zero, the eclipse of the lines occurs at phase 0.7, which is maximum redshift. The most reasonable explanation for the lack of continuum eclipse is that the eclipse is of a line-forming area in a magnetic CV system. Because the lines are affected through more than one 10 minute exposure, the area must be larger than just a spot on the white dwarf. The emission region may be eclipsed by the secondary or self-eclipsed by the white dwarf. To test the geometry further, we constructed tomograms for the HeII and H$`\beta `$ lines, trying a phasing based on a zero of the red to blue crossing of the HeII line (if its origin were on the white dwarf) and, alternatively, considering zero phase to be the eclipse. Figure 11 shows the results for the phasing of red-blue crossing, which produced tomograms that are consistent with those of AM Her stars (Hoard 1999, Schwope et al. 1999) with the brightest emission zones associated with the magnetic settling region (lower left quadrant) and the ballistic stream as drawn for a mass ratio of 1/3. Unfortunately, the usual prominent areas due to the white dwarf and the irradiated secondary are not apparent and so the actual phasing is ambiguous. Data obtained during a low state should allow the absolute phasing to be determined by using the velocities of spectral lines from both the secondary star and the white dwarf.

### 3.5 Systems Showing the Secondary Star

Inspection of the spectra of Figure 2 shows that there are two systems which have spectral signatures of the secondary. SDSS0813 shows the spectrum of a K5-M0 star (Mg band near 5200Å and TiO at 7100Å), similar to the long period system TT Crt (Szkody et al. 1992). Thus, SDSS0813 is likely to also have a long orbital period. The other system, SDSS0816, also shows evidence for the TiO band at 7100Å. The appearance of these features indicates a relatively low contribution of the accretion disk and hence, a low mass-transfer rate system.

### 3.6 ROSAT, 2MASS and LONEOS Correlations

The newly identified CVs were cross-checked against the X-ray ROSAT All Sky Survey (RASS; Voges et al. 1999, 2000), the infrared Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), and the optical Lowell Observatory Near Earth Object Survey (LONEOS; Rest et. al. 2001).

Besides the previously known bright system that is a known X-ray source (SW UMa; Shafter, Szkody & Thorstensen 1986), 5 of the new CVs are detected in the RASS bandpass of 0.1-2.4 keV. Table 5 lists the X-ray count rates of these 5 sources. The two objects identified as dwarf novae (SDSS1730 and SDSS2303) are both detected, as well as the system with strong HeII that is likely to be magnetic (SDSS0155). As about half the known dwarf novae are detected by the RASS (Verbunt et al. 1997; V97), it is not so surprising that SDSS1730 and SDSS2303 are detected. However, it is unusual that the RASS count rates are identical for these two systems, while their optical fluxes differ by 3 mags. Since V97 found that a higher accretion rate corresponds to a lower X-ray to optical flux ratio, this would argue that the fainter system SDSS2303 has the lower accretion rate (consistent with its shorter orbital period) compared to SDSS1730, and that the lower optical flux is not just due to a greater distance for SDSS2303 than SDSS1730. In addition, it is remarkable that the two dwarf novae are brighter than the likely magnetic system SDSS0155, as V97 and others have found that magnetic systems stand out as the brightest soft X-ray sources among CVs. However, this can be explained if SDSS0155 was in a low state of mass accretion at the time of the RASS observations. We searched the existing X-ray data on the objects in Table 5 for any evidence of time variability and found a result only for SDSS0233. In this case, the long pointing revealed variability of at least a factor of 4 on a time-scale of 500 sec. However, the low statistics and sampling do not allow any conclusion about periodicity.

Table 6 lists the 2MASS detections among the 19 new CVs (the known system SW UMa is also detected). The bright dwarf nova SDSS1730 is among the detections and shows IR colors typical of accretion disks (Szkody 1985). The system showing a K-M dwarf secondary in the SDSS spectrum (SDSS0813) is also detected and has red colors consistent with a K star. SDSS1712 appears to have red colors (also evident in the optical; Table 1) but does not show any spectral features from a late secondary (Figure 2). Thus, this faint object may be at a large distance and/or may have significant reddening.

While the primary targets of the LONEOS project are moving objects, the existing database of a large fraction of the sky imaged in multiple epochs, and calibrated to USNO-A2.0 red magnitudes, provides a good resource for time-variable objects such as CVs. We searched the LONEOS database for our new SDSS CVs and found observations for the objects listed in Table 7 (data on the known system BH Lyn also exist). This table summarizes the range of variability evident along with the number of measurements made and the number of nights on which observations were obtained. Two of the four objects show evidence of large variability (more than one magnitude). The dwarf nova SDSS2303 was near quiescence on 2 of the 6 measurements and at brighter magnitudes on the other 4 observations. Considering that 1 of our 2 APO measurements was also at outburst, the outburst timescale for this dwarf nova is likely to be very short. The other object showing large variablility is the eclipsing, likely magnetic, system SDSS0155. This objects shows one mag variations among observations obtained on a single night (likely due to the eclipse), as well as 3 mag variations in observations separated by months (likely due to high and low states of mass transfer). The LONEOS database can ultimately be matched to the SDSS photometric fields to help identify new CV candidates by their variability.

## 4 Conclusions

The commissioning year of SDSS operation has shown that a wide variety of interesting CVs may be easily identified. Included among these are a few bright systems missed in past surveys as well as members of the fainter population that models predict. This year of partial operation has led to the discovery of 19 new CVs and the recovery of 3 known systems. While the objects fainter than 20th mag at short orbital periods will need their orbital characteristics determined by 8-10m class telescopes, the 15-19th mag ones can be followed-up with 4m class or smaller apertures. Using sporadic and time-resolved data, we have been able to identify two dwarf novae and one interesting, high excitation, eclipsing system that is likely to be a magnetic CV. The fact that the orbital periods of these 3 systems are all short (under 2 hrs), and that more than half of all the CVs found have large H$`\beta `$ equivalent widths, argue that we are finding lower accretion-rate systems compared to previous surveys. These preliminary results show that the SDSS will be highly successful at identifying new CVs of a variety of types, with at least 400 total expected from the completed survey. Most of these should be faint, low accretion-rate systems, which will provide insight into the nature and numbers of the true CV population in our galaxy.

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/. This publication makes use of data products from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, which is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation. The authors are grateful to the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search for making their data available for the CVs on our list.


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# The Distance to Supernova 1998aq in NGC 3982

## 1 Introduction

Corrected for the shape of their light curves, and calibrated via Cepheid distances to their host galaxies, the peak luminosities of Type Ia supernovae (SNe) provide excellent standard candles for studying the extragalactic distance scale. Their extremely high peak luminosities coupled with small intrinsic scatter lead to Type Ia SNe being recognised as perhaps the most powerful of available tools for deriving the Hubble Constant (e.g., Phillips et al. 1999; Riess et al. 1999; Jha et al. 1999; Gibson et al. 2000; Saha et al. 2001; Freedman et al. 2001; Gibson & Stetson 2001; Gibson & Brook 2001).

Cepheid distances to ten Type Ia SN-host galaxies are now available in the literature — NGC 4414 (Turner et al. 1998), NGC 3368 (Tanvir et al. 1999), NGC 2841 (Garnavich et al. 2001), and seven from the Saha et al. (2001, and references therein) Type Ia SN Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Calibration Project (IC 4182, NGC 5253, 4536, 4496A, 4639, 3627, and 4527). Calibrating the corrected peak luminosities of the respective SNe resident in each of these galaxies, and employing the Calán-Tololo and CfA Type Ia SN Hubble Diagrams to derive the Hubble Constant $`H_0`$, yields $`H_0`$=72$`\pm `$2 ($`r`$)$`\pm `$7 ($`s`$) km s-1 Mpc-1 – including both total random ($`r`$) and systematic ($`s`$) uncertainties – e.g. Gibson & Stetson (2001). An eighth galaxy observed as part of the Saha et al. program, NGC 3982, is host to the prototypical Type Ia supernova SN 1998aq. Of all the calibrators discussed to date, SN 1998aq has perhaps the highest quality, in terms of multiwavelength photometric precision and light-curve coverage (see Table 1 of Gibson et al. 2000).

SN 1998aq was discovered on 1998 April 13, by Mark Armstrong (Hurst et al. 1998), as part of the U.K. Nova/Supernova Patrol. The host galaxy, NGC 3982, is a Seyfert-2 SAB(r)b: spiral, and a possible111Its membership has been questioned by some (e.g., Tully et al. 1996). member of the Ursa Major Cluster of galaxies. Armstrong’s discovery took place approximately two weeks before the supernova reached its $`B`$-band maximum. Exquisite multi-colour photometry spanning the rise and fall of the supernova light curve was subsequently collected by at least one team, but at the time of submission of this manuscript the data had not yet been made public. As a result, the incorporation of SN 1998aq into the Type Ia SN calibration zero point is necessarily reserved for a future paper. Until then, we make available to the community our new Cepheid-based distance determination to the host galaxy, NGC 3982.

## 2 Analysis

NGC 3982 was observed with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) at 17 epochs over the 53-day window spanning 2000 March 20 – May 12. Cosmic-ray split 2500 s exposures in F555W (V; 12 epochs) and F814W (I; 5 epochs) were taken. As noted earlier, this galaxy is the eighth to be observed as part of the Saha et al. Type Ia SN Calibration Project (HST PID 8100; Saha et al. 2001, and references therein).

Data processing followed the precepts outlined in Gibson & Stetson (2001, and references therein). Instrumental photometry was provided by ALLFRAME (Stetson 1994), while a version of TRIAL (Stetson 1996) — customized for WFPC2 data and the fitting of Cepheid light curves in the $`V`$ and $`I`$ photometric bands — was used for calibration and variable finding. A slightly refined version of the Stetson (1998) WFPC2 photometric zero points and charge transfer corrections were employed, as was done in Freedman et al. (2001), Gibson & Stetson (2001), and Gibson & Brook (2001). Our quoted systematic error budget includes a $`\pm `$0.07 mag component that allows for the uncertainties associated with our current understanding of the spatial and temporal properties of the WFPC2 charge-transfer inefficiencies.

Candidate variables returned by TRIAL were culled to a final set of 32 high-quality Cepheids. The criteria employed in this selection were as follows:

* modified Welch & Stetson (1993) index $`>`$ 0.60
* variable has data from a minimum of ten frame-pairs
* mean $`V`$-magnitude $`V`$ fainter than 24.4 mag
* mean colour $`0.40<(VI)<1.40`$
* period $`>`$10 days
* semi-amplitude of fundamental harmonic $`>`$0.22 mag
* visual inspection of image
* visual inspection of lightcurve

A selection on the ALLFRAME image-quality index $`\chi `$ was considered, but the stars meeting the above eight criteria were found to be completely normal in their $`\chi `$ values. The properties of the 32 Cepheids passing this selection are listed in Table 1. Epoch-by-epoch photometry for each of the Cepheids, local calibration standards, and accompanying light curves have been made available at our HST Cepheid archive.222See http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/bgibson/H0kp.

Figure 1 shows the apparent $`V`$\- and $`I`$-band period-luminosity (PL) relations for the 32 Cepheids in NGC 3982 (upper and middle panels, respectively). Figure 2 shows the positions of these Cepheids in the calibrated ($`V`$,V–I) colour-magnitude diagam. After Freedman et al. (2001), the apparent moduli of Figure 1, coupled with the assumption of a standard reddening law, Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) absolute distance modulus $`\mu _0`$(LMC)=18.50$`\pm `$0.10 mag, and the new OGLE LMC apparent PL relations (Udalski et al. 1999), yield the distribution of dereddened true moduli $`\mu _0`$ shown in the bottom panel of Figure 1. The unweighted mean true modulus, based upon all 32 Cepheids, is $`<`$$`\mu _0`$$`>`$=31.559$`\pm `$0.081 ($`r`$), where the total random uncertainty ($`r`$) includes components due to photometry, extinction, and dereddened PL fit, added in quadrature (corresponding to $`R_{\mathrm{PL}}`$ in Table 7 of Gibson et al. 2000).333Enforcing a lower period cut of 25 days reduces the Cepheid sample from 32 to 20, the unweighted mean true modulus for which is $`<`$$`\mu _0`$$`>`$=31.626$`\pm `$0.096 ($`r`$), consistent with our favoured result of $`<`$$`\mu _0`$$`>`$=31.559$`\pm `$0.081 ($`r`$). This suggests that PL bias of the magnitude encountered for some galaxies (see § 3.4 of Freedman et al. 2001) does not afflict our NGC 3982 dataset, and so we employ the full set of 32 Cepheids in our quoted final result. It is reassuring that the median of the distribution (31.594) agrees with the mean (31.559).

Our quoted result — $`<`$$`\mu _{}`$$`>`$=31.559$`\pm `$0.081 ($`r`$) — inherently assumes that the Cepheid PL relation is independent of metallicity(i.e., $`\gamma _{\mathrm{VI}}`$=0.0 mag dex-1). If one assumes a metallicity dependence of the form $`\gamma _{\mathrm{VI}}`$=$``$0.2 mag dex-1 (Freedman et al. 2001), though, a measure of the mean metallicity for the WFPC2 Cepheid field is required to determine the true metallicity-corrected distance modulus $`\mu _Z`$. Unfortunately, no H II regions in this field have thus far been observed. Adopting a conservative metallicity range of $`12+\mathrm{log}(\text{O/H})=8.9\pm 0.4`$ (as we did for the analysis of the NGC 4527 dataset — Gibson & Stetson 2001) would increase the inferred mean true modulus by $``$0.08 mag.

The mean reddening inferred from the 32 Cepheids is $`E(\text{V–I})=0.138`$$`\pm `$0.029 mag (internal), of which only $``$0.019 mag is due to foreground Galactic extinction (Schlegel et al. 1998). While it might be tempting to assign a field mean metallicity based upon an assumed intrinsic relationship between $`E(\text{V–I})`$ and 12$`+`$$`\mathrm{log}`$(O/H), unfortunately — as already noted in Gibson & Stetson (2001) — for 0.1$`\mathrm{}<`$$`E(\text{V–I})`$$`\mathrm{}<`$0.3 (a regime which the NGC 3982 Cepheids inhabit), there is no trend seen in the data, with metallicities 8.50$`\mathrm{}<`$12$`+`$$`\mathrm{log}`$(O/H)$`\mathrm{}<`$9.35 equally likely. The true intrinsic extinction in the vicinity of SN 1998aq (as opposed to assuming that the reddening appropriate to the mean Cepheid necessarily applies to SN 1998aq) will only become apparent once the full multi-colour photometry of the supernova becomes available.

While its membership in the Ursa Major Cluster has not been established unequivocally (Tully et al. 1996), it is perhaps telling that an independent Tully-Fisher analysis leads to a mean cluster distance modulus of 31.48 mag (Freedman et al. 2001). This latter value is consistent with our new SN 1998aq distance — 31.559$`\pm `$0.081 ($`r`$) mag.

Without access to calibrated multicolour photometry (or Cepheids), Vinkó et al. (1999) attempted to infer a distance to SN 1998aq using the Riess et al. (1999) ‘snapshot technique’. Because of the lack of data available at the time, deriving an accurate value of the reddening along the line of sight was a near impossibility. This uncertainty in the extinction is responsible for an equal uncertainty in their SN 1998aq distance determination of 30.89$`\pm `$0.56 mag. Vinkó et al. stress that the true modulus is probably greater than their quoted value. Regardless, the original Vinkó et al. value is consistent with our improved result, at the $``$1.2 $`\sigma `$ level.

We have not yet mentioned the systematic error budget. After Gibson & Brook (2001; Table 2) and Freedman et al. (2001), seven sources of systematic uncertainty in the Hubble constant are considered significant, including the LMC zero point, crowding, large scale bulk flows, the metallicity dependence of the Cepheid PL relation, the WFPC2 zero points, Cepheid reddening values, and bias in the PL relation. In determining the distance to an individual galaxy, all these error sources are equally applicable except the possibility of large-scale bulk flows. In quadrature, the remaining systematic error budget ($`s`$) amounts to 0.179 mag. In combination with the already stated total random error budget, our final value for the distance to SN 1998aq in NGC 3982 is

$$<\mu _{}>=31.559\pm 0.081(r)\pm 0.179(s)\mathrm{mag},$$

assuming that a zero slope is the best available estimate for the metallicity dependence of the Cepheid PL relation — i.e., $`d`$=20.5$`\pm `$0.8 ($`r`$)$`\pm `$1.7 ($`s`$) Mpc. If the slope of the metallicity dependence is in fact $``$0.2 mag dex-1, the modulus is increased by $``$0.08 mag for reasonable assumptions about the metallicity of young stars in NGC 3982.

## 3 Summary

A Cepheid-based distance to NGC 3982, host to supernova SN 1998aq, has been derived using the same software pipeline and variable-finding algorithms employed throughout the HST Key Project on the Extragalactic Distance Scale. Ignoring any potential metallicity dependence in the Cepheid period-luminosity relation (expected to be on the order of 4% for NGC 3982), we determine a distance to the supernova (and galaxy) of 20.5$`\pm `$0.8 ($`r`$)$`\pm `$1.7 ($`s`$) Mpc. Our result is consistent with the Tully-Fisher distance to the Ursa Major Cluster (19.8 Mpc), suggesting that NGC 3982 is indeed a cluster member. Still unpublished multi-colour light curve photometry promises to make SN 1998aq one of the most important calibrators for the extragalactic distance scale.

## Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the staff of the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre for providing an excellent service.

Note added in proof:  After submission, a preprint from Saha et al. (2001, ApJ, submitted, astro-ph/0107391) appeared which quotes an NGC 3982 distance modulus of $`\mu _0`$=31.72$`\pm `$0.14, based upon an independent DoPHOT and HSTphot analysis of the data described herein. The distance found by our ALLFRAME$`+`$TRIAL analysis - 31.56$`\pm `$0.08 (r)$`\pm `$0.18 (s) - is tied to the Udalski et al. (1999) LMC PL relations, while the Saha et al. result is based upon those of Madore & Freedman (1991, PASP, 103, 933). As discussed in Freedman et al. (2001) however, the former are to be preferred over the latter. Regardless, if we were to adopt the Madore & Freedman relations, our inferred NGC 3982 distance modulus would become 31.73$`\pm `$0.08 (r)$`\pm `$0.18 (s), indistinguishable from that of Saha et al.

Despite these near-identical true distance moduli, there are differences in the analyses - our apparent $`V`$\- and $`I`$-band moduli are 0.13 mag and 0.07 mag smaller than those of Saha et al. - these differences are ameliorated by the inferred reddening $`E(VI)`$, ours being 0.06 mag lower than that of Saha et al ($`E(VI)`$=0.05 versus 0.11, for the same Madore & Freedman 1981 LMC PL relations).

A detailed comparison of the photometric differences between the two analyses will have to wait until standard star photometry from the Saha et al. group becomes available. It should be noted though that such Cepheid photometry differences are not uncommon (Gibson et al. 2000; Table 3).


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# 𝐹_𝐵 from moving 𝐵 mesons

## 1 Introduction

Matrix elements involving moving $`B`$ and $`D`$ mesons are important for studies of $`BD`$ and $`B\pi `$ decay. It is necessary to understand the systematic errors in lattice QCD that come from the presence of non-zero momenta and the optimal way in which to handle such mesons on the lattice. An easy place to study these effects is in the determination of the $`B`$ meson decay constant, $`f_B`$ .

In the absence of discretisation errors it should be true that

$$<0|A_\mu |B>=f_Bp_\mu .$$
(1)
We use both $`A_0`$ and $`A_k`$ with all current corrections and renormalisation through $`\alpha _s/M_b`$ .

Results shown are for an ensemble of 278 $`12^3\times 24`$ lattices at $`\beta `$ = 5.7. Clover light quarks are used with $`\kappa =\kappa _s`$ and NRQCD heavy quarks are used with masses in lattice units of 2 and 8 ($`m_ba`$ = 4.0). All momenta are considered up to $`(pa)^2`$ of 16 in units of $`(2\pi /L)^2`$, i.e. roughly 4 $`\mathrm{GeV}^2`$ at this lattice spacing.

## 2 Smearing

We generated heavy and light quark propagators with 3 different smearings: a delta function, a narrow Gaussian (width 1) and a broad Gaussian (width 3). We combined these smearings together to make 6 different smearings for the heavy-light meson and analysed the resulting smeared-smeared meson correlators using the constrained curve fitting methods described in . The results are shown in Figure 1, which plots the amplitude of the ground state $`B`$ meson as a function of squared momentum for some of these smearings. It is clear that the optimal smearing for a moving heavy-light meson is one in which the smearing on the heavy quark is a narrow one and the smearing on the light quark is a broad one. This is not surprising if one considers that the heavy quark is carrying almost all of the meson momentum. The overlap as a function of momentum is maximized if the heavy quark has a delta function smearing, but in that case the statistical noise is large because of the well-known problem that an unsmeared heavy quark has a poor signal/noise ratio . At zero momentum this has led to the received wisdom that the heavy quark should have a broad smearing - Figure 1 shows that this is not correct at non-zero momentum.

Figure 2 amplifies this point by showing the rapid plateau and consequent small error on the kinetic energy possible with a good finite-momentum smearing, in contrast to that obtained with a smearing that might have been considered a good one at zero momentum.

## 3 $`f_B`$ from $`A_0`$

We used smearing ‘5’ from the above analysis and the constrained curve fitting methods to determine $`f_B`$ for moving $`B`$ mesons and the temporal axial current. Matrix elements for $`A_0`$ are obtained from a simultaneous fit to all $`A_0^i`$ (i=0,1,2) and $`A_k^i`$ (i=0,1,2,3,4) current correlators at a given momentum. The construction of the continuum $`A_0`$ from $`A_0^{i,latt}`$ is described in .

Figure 3 shows results for the ratio:

$$R(p)=\frac{0|A_0|B(p)/\sqrt{E}}{0|A_0|B(0)/\sqrt{M}}$$
(2)
for $`ma`$=8 using $`\alpha _s(2/a)`$ in the renormalisation. The expected curve $`\sqrt{E/M}`$ is also shown. No disagreement is seen until the highest momentum. At $`ma`$ = 2, larger discrepancies appear .

## 4 $`f_B`$ from $`A_k`$

The matrix elements for the spatial axial current behave rather differently to those for the temporal axial current since they must vanish when there is no component of $`\stackrel{}{p}`$ along the direction of the current. Even the leading order current, $`A_k^0`$ = $`\overline{q}\gamma _5\gamma _kQ`$ then has a matrix element $`𝒪`$$`(p_k/M)`$ with respect to $`A_0^0`$. This is of the same order as the ‘$`1/M`$’ suppressed current contributions from $`A_k^1`$ = $`\overline{q}\gamma _5\gamma _k(\stackrel{}{\gamma }\stackrel{}{D}/2M)Q`$ and $`A_k^3`$ = $`\overline{q}\gamma _5(\stackrel{}{D}/2M)Q`$. $`A_k^1`$ contributes at tree level and $`A_k^3`$ at one-loop to the final result for $`A_k`$. To understand the size of different current contributions it is important to use a power-counting in both the external velocity and in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{QCD}/M`$ .

Figure 4 shows results for the ratio:

$$R_k(p)=\frac{0|A_k|B(p)}{0|A_0|B(p)}$$
(3)
as a function of $`p_k`$ for a range of values of $`\stackrel{}{p}^2`$, for $`ma`$=8. The line shown is $`p_k/E`$ (variation with $`\stackrel{}{p}^2`$ of this line is not significant). Good agreement with the line is found for $`p_ka`$ = 1,2 ($`\times 2\pi /L`$) at all $`\stackrel{}{p}^2`$ but $`p_ka`$ = 3,4 show signs of deviation, presumably from missing current corrections that are higher order in the external velocity.

Figure 4 shows agreement between $`f_B`$ from $`A_0`$ and $`A_k`$ which resolves a long-standing problem. Ref.  found a disagreement of $`𝒪`$(10%) when comparing the tree-level matrix elements for clover fermions. This ignores the contribution of $`A_k^3`$ and does not allow for the clover equivalent of the different renormalisation of $`A_{0,k}^0`$ and $`A_{0,k}^1`$. Both these effects are included here.

## 5 Conclusions

We have demonstrated the usefulness of optimal (i.e. narrow) smearing for heavy quarks in moving heavy-light mesons, and of constrained curve fitting in extracting results out to much higher momenta than have previously been attempted. Good agreement is found for $`f_B`$ at zero and non-zero momentum. For the temporal axial current at large $`ma`$ this holds out to the highest momenta studied. To understand the behaviour of the currents at non-zero momentum it is important to use a power-counting appropriate to moving heavy-light mesons.

Acknowledgements SC, GC, CD and JH are members of the UKQCD collaboration. We are grateful to the following bodies for support of this work: PPARC, DoE, NSF and the EU under HPRN-2000-00145 Hadrons/Lattice QCD.


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# New DA white dwarf evolutionary models and their pulsational properties

## 1 Introduction

Pulsating DA white dwarfs (WD) or ZZ Ceti stars have captured the attention of numerous researchers since the first star (HL Tau 76, Landolt 1968) belonging to this class was reported to exhibit multi-periodic luminosity variations (McGraw 1979). Over the last two decades, various studies have presented strong evidence that pulsating DA WDs represent an evolutionary stage in the cooling history of the majority, if not all, DA WDs. Rapid progress in the study of these pulsating stars has been possible thanks to the development of powerful theoretical tools paralleled by an increasing degree of sophistication in observational techniques. A major step towards the understanding of ZZ Ceti pulsations was given by Dolez & Vauclair (1981) and Winget et al. (1982) who independently demonstrated that models of ZZ Ceti stars have pulsationally unstables $`g`$modes due to the $`\kappa \gamma `$ mechanism. From then on, the asteroseismology of DA WDs has provided invaluable insights on their internal structure and evolution. (Tassoul et al. 1990; Brassard et al. 1991, 1992ab; Gautschy et al. 1996 and Bradley 1996, 1998, 2001 amongst others).

An important aspect of pulsating WDs is related to the trapping properties. Mode trapping in compositionally stratified WDs has been invoked to explain the longstanding fact that all the modes expected from theoretical models are not actually observed in the ZZ Ceti stars (Winget et al. 1981; Brassard et al. 1992a). In this scenario, certain modes are characterized by local wavelengths that are comparable to the thickness of one of the compositional layer, particularly the hydrogen-rich envelope. The importance of trapped modes lies on the fact that they appear to be the most likely to be observed because they require low kinetic energies to reach observable amplitudes. More specifically, the amplitude of the eigenfunctions of modes trapped in the hydrogen envelope is small in the core, which causes such modes to have low oscillation kinetic energy as compared with adjacent modes. This behaviour manifests itself as local minima in kinetic energy versus period diagrams. In particular, trapped modes characterized by periods close to the thermal time-scale of the driving region will reach high enough amplitudes for them to be observed. This picture has been reinforced by non-adiabatic calculations (Dolez & Vauclair 1981; Winget et al. 1982). However, recent evidence seems to cast some doubts on the correlation between observed amplitudes and mode trapping. Indeed, recent seismological studies of ZZ Ceti stars (e.g. Bradley 1998) point to the fact that the observed periods having the largest amplitudes in the power spectrum do not correspond to trapped modes as predicted by the best fitting model.

The pulsation properties depend on the details of the WD modeling. This is particularly true regarding the abundance distribution at the chemical interfaces, mostly at the hydrogen-helium transition. In this connection, most of the existing calculations invoke diffusive equilibrium in the trace element approximation to assess the shape of the hydrogen-helium transition (Tassoul et al. 1990; Brassard et al. 1992ab; Bradley 1996). However, equilibrium conditions may not be achieved at the base of massive hydrogen envelopes, even at the characteristic ages of ZZ Ceti stars (see Iben & MacDonald 1985). In view of these concerns, we have recently carried out new evolutionary calculations for DA WD stars which take fully into account time dependent element diffusion, nuclear burning and the history of the WD progenitor in a self-consistent way. The present letter is aimed at specifically exploring the trapping properties of such models.

## 2 Evolutionary models

The WD models on which the present results are based have been calculated by means of a detailed evolutionary code developed by us at La Plata Observatory. The code has been employed in previous studies on WD evolution (Althaus et al. 2001ab) and it has recently been modified to study the evolutionary stages prior to the WD formation (see Althaus et al. 2001c). The constitutive physics include: up-to-date OPAL radiative opacities for different metallicities, conductive opacities, neutrino emission rates, a detailed equation of state and a complete network of thermonuclear reaction rates for hydrogen and helium burning (see Althaus et al. 2001c). For a proper treatment of the diffusively evolving chemical stratification, gravitational settling and the thermal and chemical diffusion of nuclear species have been considered.

The evolutionary stages prior to the WD formation have been fully taken into account. Specifically, we started our calculations from a 3 M star at the zero-age main sequence and we follow its further evolution all the way from the stage of hydrogen and helium burning in the core up to the tip of the asymptotic giant branch where helium thermal pulses occur. After experiencing 11 thermal pulses, the model is forced to evolve towards its WD configuration by invoking strong mass loss episodes. As a result, a WD remnant of 0.563 M is obtained. The evolution of this remnant is pursued through the stage of planetary nebulae nucleus to the domain of the ZZ Ceti stars on the WD cooling branch. An important aspect of these calculations is related to the evolution of the chemical abundance during the WD cooling. In particular, the shape of the composition transition zones is of the utmost importance regarding the pulsational properties of the ZZ Ceti models. In this respect, diffusion processes cause near discontinuities in the abundance distribution at the start of the cooling branch to be considerably smoothed out by the time the ZZ Ceti domain is reached. This can be appreciated in Fig. 1, which also illustrates the profile of the hydrogen-helium interface resulting from the predictions of diffusive equilibrium in the trace element approximation (thin dotted line). The shape of the innermost carbon and oxygen distribution emerges from the chemical rehomogenization process due to the Rayleigh-Taylor instability occurring at early stages of the WD evolution (see Althaus et al. 2001c and also Salaris et al. 1997)111Before rehomogenization, the shape of the carbon and oxygen profile towards the centre is characterized by an off-centered peak typical of evolutionary calculations in which semi-convection and overshooting are not considered (see Mazzitelli & D’Antona 1986).. Surrounding the carbon-oxygen interior there is a shell rich in both carbon ($``$ 35%) and helium ($``$ 60%), and a overlying layer consisting of nearly pure helium of mass 0.003 M. The presence of carbon in the helium-rich region below the helium buffer stems from the short-lived convective mixing episode that has driven the carbon-rich zone upwards during the peak of the last helium pulse on the asymptotic giant branch. We want to mention that the total helium content within the star once helium shell burning is eventually extinguished amounts to 0.014 M and that the mass of hydrogen that is left at the start of the cooling branch is about $`1.5\times 10^4`$ M, which is reduced to $`7\times 10^5`$ M due to the interplay of residual nuclear burning and element diffusion by the time the ZZ Ceti domain is reached.

## 3 Results

Next, we shall discuss the pulsational properties of a selected WD model at $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}12000`$ K. We should remark that, although the chemical profiles evolve as the WD cools down through the instability strip (see Althaus et al. 2001c), the conclusions of the present paper remain valid for any model belonging to the ZZ Ceti instability strip. We begin by showing in Fig. 2 the square of the Brunt-Väisälä frequency $`N`$ (computed as in Brassard et al. 1991) and the Ledoux term $`B`$ of such a model. The results for the diffusive equilibrium approximation are also plotted as thin lines. Note the smooth shape of $`B`$, which is a direct consequence of the chemical abundance distribution. The contributions from the Ledoux term are characterized by extended tails, and translate into smooth bumps on $`N^2`$.

The characteristic of $`B`$ and $`N^2`$ as predicted by our models is markedly different from those found in previous studies in which the WD evolution is treated in a simplified way, particularly regarding the chemical abundance distribution (e.g. Tassoul et al. 1990; Brassard et al. 1991, 1992ab; Bradley 1996). Clearly, non-equilibrium chemical profiles lead to $`B`$ values with markedly less pronounced peaks as compared with the diffusive equilibrium treatment. Accordingly, the Brunt-Väisälä frequency turns out to be smoother as a result of non-equilibrium diffusion.

For the pulsation analysis we have employed the general Newton-Raphson code described in Córsico & Benvenuto (2001). We have computed g-modes with $`\mathrm{}=1,2`$ and 3 with periods in the range of 50 s $`P_k`$ 1300 s ($`k`$ being the radial order of modes). The upper panels of Figs. 3, 4 and 5 show, respectively, the values of oscillation kinetic energy for modes with $`\mathrm{}=1,2`$ and 3 in terms of computed periods. Lower panels depict the corresponding values for the forward period spacing $`\mathrm{\Delta }P_k`$ ($`P_{k+1}P_k`$). Filled dots depict the results corresponding to our model with non-equilibrium diffusion, whereas empty dots indicate the results predicted by the diffusive equilibrium approximation for the hydrogen-helium interface. In the interests of clarity, the scale for the kinetic energy in the case of diffusive equilibrium is displaced upwards by 1 dex.

For the non-equilibrium diffusion model the quantities plotted (especially the $`E_{\mathrm{kin}}`$ values) exhibit two clearly different trends. Indeed, for $`P_k600`$ s and irrespective of the value of $`\mathrm{}`$, the kinetic energy of adjacent modes is quite similar, which is in contrast with the situation found for lower periods. Interestingly, the $`\mathrm{\Delta }P_k`$ minima are commonly associated with $`E_{\mathrm{kin}}`$ maxima, but that modes with $`E_{\mathrm{kin}}`$ maxima are adjacent to the modes with $`E_{\mathrm{kin}}`$ minima. On the other hand, the period spacing diagrams show appreciable variations of $`\mathrm{\Delta }P_k`$ for $`P_k600`$ s. This is due mostly to the presence of chemical abundance transitions in DA WD models as explained by Brassard et al (1992ab). In contrast, for higher periods the $`\mathrm{\Delta }P_k`$ of the modes tend to a constant, asymptotic value (Tassoul 1980).

The assumption of diffusive equilibrium in the trace element approximation in WD modeling gives rise to a kinetic energy spectrum and period spacing distribution in which the presence of the well known mode trapping phenomenon is clearly visible, as previously reported by numerous investigators (see Brassard et al. 1992b, particularly their figures 20a and 21a for the case of $`M_\mathrm{H}=10^4M_{}`$). The trapped modes correspond to modes with local minima in $`\mathrm{log}(E_{\mathrm{kin}})`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }P_k`$. Here, we find that these trapping properties virtually vanish when account is made of WD models with diffusively evolving stratifications. This is particularly true for large periods, though for low periods trapping is also substantially affected. We attribute the differences found between both treatments to the markedly different shapes of the Ledoux term at the hydrogen-helium interface as predicted by non- and equilibrium diffusion.

From the results presented in this letter we judge that, for high periods, trapping mechanism in massive envelopes of stratified WDs is not an appropriate one to explain the fact that all the modes expected from theoretical models are not observed in ZZ Ceti stars. It is worth mentioning that Gautschy & Althaus (2001) have recently found, on the basis of a consistent diffusion modeling, a weaker trapping effect on the periodicities in DB WDs. Our results give strong theoretical support to recent evidence against the claimed correlation between the observed luminosity variations amplitude and trapping of modes. Finally, to place these assertions on a firmer basis, a non-adiabatic stability analysis of the pulsational properties of non-equilibrium diffusion models is required. A more extensive exploration of the results presented in this letter will be presented in a future work.

###### Acknowledgements.

We warmly acknowledge to our referee, Paul Bradley, for the effort he invested in the revision of our article. His comments and suggestions strongly improved the original version of this work.


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# Bending strain-driven modification of surface reconstructions: Au(111)

## Abstract

Strain can affect the morphology of a crystal surface, and cause modifications of its reconstruction even when weak, as in the case of mechanical bending. We carried out calculations of strain-dependent surface free energy and direct bending simulations demonstrating the change of incommensurate reconstruction in Au(111) under strain, in good agreement with recent data. Time-dependent strain should cause a sliding of the topmost layer over the second, suggesting an interesting case of nanofriction. Bending strain could also be used to fine tune the spacing of selectively absorbed nanoclusters.

PACS numbers: 68.35.Bs, 68.35.Gy, 68.35.Md

Crystal surfaces often break their ideal bulk-like symmetry, even in the absence of adsorbates, to lower their free energy through the so-called reconstructions. Temperature, adsorbate coverage and (in electrolytes) electrochemical potential  cause these reconstructions to evolve, either continuously or through two-dimensional phase transitions. Work on semiconductor surfaces indicated that external strain too can drive changes in surface reconstruction. In this letter we present theory and simulations indicating that reconstruction changes at an incommensurate metal surface like Au(111) can be provoked by application of strain, even with the weak strains attainable by bending a platelet or slab. When compared with very recent data, which appeared while this paper was being reviewed, the quantitative agreement is remarkable. We propose a possible application of this fine effect to selective adsorption of nanostructures on this surface. Because the strain-induced reconstruction changes involve a continuous change of first-layer lateral atom density, time-dependent bending strain will also drive a kind of incommensurate nanofriction.

We introduce in a semi-infinite crystal a uniform strain $`\lambda \epsilon _{\alpha \beta }`$, $`\lambda `$ increasing from 0 to 1. The surface free energy change, equalling the surface work, is obtained through thermodynamic integration:

$`\mathrm{\Delta }(\gamma A)=W_s={\displaystyle _\text{A}}𝑑A{\displaystyle _0^1}\tau _{\alpha \beta }^{\mathrm{surf}}(\lambda )\epsilon _{\alpha \beta }𝑑\lambda `$

where $`\gamma `$ is the surface free energy per unit area, $`A`$ the area, $`\tau _{\alpha \beta }^{\mathrm{surf}}`$ the (strain dependent) surface stress, and $`\alpha `$, $`\beta `$ span the $`(x,y)`$ in-plane coordinates. If the surface free energies (per unit area) of two different reconstructions 1 and 2 satisfy $`\gamma _1^0<\gamma _2^0`$, then in the absence of strain state 1 prevails over 2. However, their respective surface stress tensors generally differ, and free energies will thus vary with different slopes under strain, possibly leading to $`\gamma _1>\gamma _2`$. We are interested in a detectable modification of reconstruction periodicity, particularly if obtainable even with the weak strains provided by mechanical bending.

To explore that, we choose the promising example of Au(111) as our test case. Au(111) displays a well documented $`(L\times \sqrt{3})`$ reconstruction, ($`L22.5`$ in ordinary conditions). It is promising because its long incommensurate period $`L`$ should readily be changeable by a small but detectable amount. The $`(L\times \sqrt{3})`$ pattern, commensurate along $`\mathrm{1\hspace{0.17em}1}\overline{2}`$, is incommensurate in the orthogonal $`1\overline{1}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}`$ direction, where the reconstruction consists of a succession of of hcp and fcc stripes, separated by sharp soliton–like boundaries, due to an extra row of atoms for each period $`L`$ of reconstruction. X-Ray diffraction experiments show as temperature is raised from 300 to 800 K, a *continuous* shift of the periodicity $`L`$ from about 22.5 to 20.9, which confirms the incommensurability. It also indicates a denser and denser surface at higher temperatures, a kind of negative expansion coefficient (probably arising, as in the case of Au$`(100)`$ , to compensate for a large outwards thermal relaxation of the first layer). Here we shall describe how an external strain too can change the periodicity $`L`$ of Au(111).

To describe the initial $`(L\times \sqrt{3})`$ reconstruction we use an empirical many-body classical potential, the glue model, known to describe reasonably well all the gold surfaces. In the glue model, the ground state of Au(111) is properly reconstructed, though with a somewhat shorter $`T=0`$ periodicity $`L=11`$ . The difference between that and the experimental $`L=22.5`$ is a purely numerical discrepancy that can be corrected for, and of no fundamental significance. The long range “herringbone” secondary superstructure also well known on this surface  is much more delicate involving far smaller energies, and will not concern us any further here. All calculations and simulations are conducted for thin crystal slabs where strain is introduced by simulated bending, as in real-life experiments  (although of course our theoretical slabs are far thinner).

Calculations of the surface free energy change under strain start with an $`N`$-layer fcc (111) slab, its two faces $`(L\times \sqrt{3})`$ reconstructed with different periodicities $`L`$ and $`L^{}`$. That is obtained by addition of one extra $`[\mathrm{1\hspace{0.17em}1}\overline{2}]`$ row of surface atoms every $`L`$, followed by relaxation. We carry out molecular dynamics simulations of about 1 ns at 100 K, to obtain by standard methods the average stress tensor $`\sigma _{\alpha \beta }`$. From the same simulation we also extract a layer–resolved stress profile $`\tau _{\alpha \beta }(z_l)`$, defined as the force per unit length acting in layer $`l`$:

$`\tau _{\alpha \beta }(z_l)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{A}}{\displaystyle \underset{il}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{p_{\alpha i}p_{\beta i}}{m_i}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{j}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{U}{r_{ij}}}{\displaystyle \frac{r_{ij,\alpha }r_{ij,\beta }}{r_{ij}}}\right),`$

where $`i`$ runs over the atoms of layer $`l`$, $`j`$ spans all the atoms, and $`U`$ is the potential energy, a function of the interatomic distances (this formula is easily modified for application to a bent slab ). The elastic bending work is done in our case by $`\tau _{yy}`$, $`y[1\overline{1}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}]`$ being the strained direction, orthogonal to the solitons.

The bent slab stress profile obtained for $`L=6`$, $`L^{}=\mathrm{}`$ (at $`T=100K`$) is shown in Fig. 1. The smoothly varying bulk-like stress in the interior of the slab develops at the surface a sharp oscillation, swinging from compressive in the second layer to tensile in the first layer. As shown by comparison of two different slabs with the same curvature but different thicknesses, $`N=16`$, and $`32`$, the surface stress of the thinner slab can be immediately computed by subtracting off the corresponding bulk-like stress of the thicker slab. The bulk stress $`\tau _{yy}^{(\mathrm{bulk})}(z)`$ deviates from the linearity for increasing strain in a way that is very well described by a parabolic fit, the nonlinearity due to anharmonicity. The layer–resolved surface stress is then obtained as $`\tau _{yy}^\mathrm{s}(z_l)=\tau _{yy}(z_l)\tau _{yy}^{(\mathrm{bulk})}(z_l)`$. Repeating calculations for increasing curvature $`k`$ we obtain the curvature-dependent surface stress. This approach, we note, will give free energy differences, fully inclusive of the entropic term. Finally the free energy change as a function of strain is obtained by integrating :

$`W_s={\displaystyle \underset{l\mathrm{layers}}{}}{\displaystyle _0^k}𝑑\kappa \tau _{yy}^\mathrm{s}(z_l){\displaystyle \frac{d\epsilon _{yy}(z_l)}{d\kappa }}`$

Likewise, the total surface stress can be obtained as $`\tau _{\alpha \beta }^{\mathrm{surf}}(k)=_{l\mathrm{layers}}\tau _{\alpha \beta }^\mathrm{s}(k,z_l)`$.

Fig. 2 displays our main result: the strain–induced free energy variation of several different $`(L\times \sqrt{3})`$ reconstructions of Au(111) at $`T=100`$ K. The strain dependence found for free energy is relatively large, of order 2 meV/Å (about 1% of the total surface free energy) for 1% strain. By comparison with the absolute zero-temperature surface energy differences at zero strain, independently calculated (and used in Fig. 2 to fix the unknown relative position of curves, thus neglecting an entropy term, hopefully small at low temperatures) we find that 0.18 meV/A is roughly the surface free energy difference between periodicities $`L`$ and $`L+1`$ for $`L`$ around 20 in Au(111). By interpolating Fig. 2 we find that a change of periodicity from, say, $`L=23`$ to $`L=24`$ can in principle be provoked by a compressive surface strain of order 0.2%. More generally, strain will cause a periodicity drift determined by the lower envelope of all the curves: positive (tensile) strain decreasing $`L`$, negative (compressive) strain increasing it. Eventually for a theoretically very large strain $`L=\mathrm{}`$ would be reached, where the reconstruction itself disappears. That strain, of order $`2\%`$ in Au(111) (see below), might however be too large to be achieved by bending.

Our predictions, based on free energies, find a first confirmation in a computer experiment, consisting of a realistic molecular dynamics simulation, based on introducing a bending strain in the same slab geometry previously used for the surface stress calculation. If we start out with two identically reconstructed surfaces, bending strain should cause $`L`$ to spontaneously increase on the concave face, and decrease on the convex one. The simulation must however overcome a technical problem, connected with particle conservation. A change of reconstruction periodicity $`L`$ implies a change of first–layer lateral surface density, equal to $`(1+1/L)`$ times the density of an unreconstructed layer. The initially flat, defect free reconstructed surface should, under bending, spontaneously expel atoms from the top layer to form islands on the concave face, while opening craters that expose a portion of the layer below on the convex face. Such phenomena are slow, needing times much longer than the typical simulation nanosecond. Because of that, it would seem that molecular dynamics simulation should be abandoned. A practical way out of this problem  is to include a loose grid of steps in the starting configuration, which amounts to simulate a very close vicinal face rather than the original (1 1 1) surface.

Our realization, shown in Fig. 3, comprises four sub-terraces of heights 0, 1, 1, 2, separated by steps, and connected one with another across suitably shifted boundary conditions. No other steps occur at the boundaries, hence the four sub-terraces constitute in reality a single large terrace. The terrace size used is $`88d\times 20\sqrt{3}d`$, with $`d`$ the nearest neighbour distance. With this geometry we can carry out various simulations, bending an initially flat surface and unbending an initially bent surface. In order to speed up kinetics, the temperature is raised well above room temperature, up to about $`T=600K`$.

Representative simulation results are illustrated in Fig. 4, where the continuous drift of reconstruction periodicity for a surface initially reconstructed with $`L`$ around 16 is demonstrated for two different situations, a large compressive surface strain, and zero strain respectively, the former obtained through simulated bending. The periodicity drift from 16 to about 20 and from 16 to about 11 in the two cases is in good agreement with the free energy prediction of Fig. 2 . The inset details the behavior of the phase of the topmost atom layer lattice relative to the bulk-like second layer (modulo $`2\pi `$) as seen on the bent slab at selected instants of time. Data are averaged along the $`[\mathrm{1\hspace{0.17em}1}\overline{2}]`$ direction to reduce the noise due to thermal excitation: averaging explains why the phase jumps around $`2\pi `$ are replaced by a smooth behaviour. We find that the periodicity changes are actuated through the appearance (or disappearance) of solitons, nucleated preferentially at the upper rim of the surface step, where atoms possess the lowest coordination.

Experimentally, attempts to provoke and observe by STM surface reconstruction modifications by bending, have been carried out recently, precisely on Au(111). Because the strains attained are small they were found to affect mostly the secondary structure. An early unpublished report by Huang et al., described strain–induced removal of the wrongly oriented domains of the secondary herringbone structure with strains as small as $`1.3\times 10^5`$, with occasional removal of the whole reconstruction. Newer data of Schaff et al. show that the secondary structure is again removed but the $`(L\times \sqrt{3})`$ reconstruction survives at least up to a maximum compressive strain of $`0.4\%`$. By closer examination of their data we note that under strain, exerted at an angle of $`30^{}`$ with respect to the solitons, there is evidence of a drift of periodicity $`L`$ from about $`23`$ to about $`25`$. We can directly compare that with our calculations. We find that the calculated $`L`$-dependent surface free energy for variable bending is well fitted by a Pokrovskii-Talapov form  $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=a/L+b/L^3`$, where $`a`$ is the cost of solitons and $`b`$ reflects their mutual interaction $`1/L^2`$. Here $`a(\epsilon )=a^{}(\epsilon \epsilon _c)`$ will vanish at a critical strain $`\epsilon _c`$, so that $`L=K(\epsilon \epsilon _c)^{1/2}`$, where $`K=\sqrt{3b/a^{}}`$. Based on our computed surface energies and anisotropic surface s tress tensor, we derived $`K`$ and $`\epsilon _c`$ for arbitrary strain direction, so as to compare the experimental drift with calculated periodicity changes (Fig. 5). The agreement obtained is very encouraging, fully supporting our qualitative expectations, and demonstrating the applicability of the proposed mechanism of surface modification under bending strain.

The strain-induced reconstruction changes described above can lead to potentially interesting consequences and applications. In a surface that is perturbed by a time-dependent strain, there will be as a consequence a sliding nanofriction of the incommensurate reconstructed top layer of Au(111) against the regular second layer. For example, an oscillatory bending would result according to Fig. 4 in a corresponding variation of $`L`$, driving an oscillatory sliding of the first layer onto the second. A pinned state of the top layer will imply a threshold strain magnitude to actuate the sliding. When the sliding occurs, a surface nanofrictional contribution should appear as a part of the mechanical damping of a Au(111) platelet. Among the applications, there could be the possibility to tune through bending strain the spacing between deposited nanoclusters. Recently, deposition of 1-nitronaphtalene (NN) nanoclusters on a stepped Au(111) surface has revealed  that at the low coverage adsorption at the step is favored in the fcc zones of the $`L\times \sqrt{3}`$ reconstruction pattern and unfavored in the hcp zones, and in this way, stripes can be produced. The distance among the stripes could in principle be changed upon bending, with interesting consequences in the field of miniature device fabrication.

This work was supported through contracts INFM PRA NANORUB, and MIUR COFIN. We thank P. Zeppenfeld and O. Schaff for bringing their work to our attention, and for illuminating discussions.