text:
# Radio Properties of FIRST Radio Sources at 1 mJy

## 1 Introduction

During the last twenty years, attempts to derive models for the description of the space density and evolution of radio sources have mainly taken two tacks: the first approach bases its predictions on the unification paradigm (see e.g. Urry & Padovani 1995), while the second one relies on the evolutionary behaviour of the galaxy hosting the radio source.

Models based on the unification paradigm (Orr & Brown 1982; Padovani & Urry 1992; Maraschi & Rovetti 1994, Wall & Jackson 1997 just to mention a few) stem from the “relativistic jet” model by Blandford & Rees (1978), where non-thermal continuum radiation is emitted by plasma relativisticly moving along the jet axis. As a necessary consequence one has that, as the radio axis gets aligned with the line of sight, the radio source appears as core-dominated, i.e. flat-spectrum beamed radiation dominates the radio emission. In the opposite case of misaligned jet axes, the observed flux mainly comes from the extended isotropically radiating structures (lobes) of the source, giving rise to steep-spectrum radio emission. It follows that the latter objects can be considered as the the “parents” of flat-spectrum sources, their different appearance only depending on the angle between the beaming axis and line of sight. A further division can then be made according to the morphology and/or intrinsic power of the sources: at low radio powers FR I galaxies (Fanaroff & Riley 1974) are assumed to be the parent population of BL Lac objects, while at higher powers Flat and Steep Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQ/SSRQ) are supposed to be the beamed version of FR II galaxies. Note however that this division is somehow fuzzier (e.g. Antonucci 1993; Owen & Ledlow 1994). According to unification-paradigm based models, one therefore has that sources belonging to the same intrinsic population (e.g. FR I and BL Lacs) must display the same evolutionary properties.

A different approach used by a number of authors (Wall, Pearson & Longair 1980; Danese et al. 1987; Dunlop & Peacock 1990; Condon 1984; Rowan-Robinson et al. 1993) - though still dividing radio sources in steep and flat spectrum populations - models their evolution and space density by using descriptions of the epoch-dependent luminosity function. At variance with the previous case, these models do not explicitly assume any physical process for the radio-emission and only focus on the behaviour of the host galaxies.

One of the main limitations affecting these two classes of models (but especially those deriving from the unification paradigm) is due to the fact that they were mainly based on datasets including very powerful sources ($`S_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}1`$ Jy), and their predictions at faint flux densities greatly diverge because of an inadequate definition of the low-power tail of the AGN radio luminosity function. Models belonging to the second class (Danese et al. 1987; Condon 1984; Rowan-Robinson et al. 1993) push their analysis down to much lower flux densities ($`S0.1`$ mJy), and assume the contribution to the radio population at $`S<10`$ mJy to be mainly given by a new class of objects which greatly differ from the radio AGN dominating at higher fluxes. The nature and level of contribution to the total mJy counts of this population is still under debate. For instance Condon (1984) suggests a population of strongly-evolving normal spiral galaxies, while others (Windhorst et al. 1985; Danese et al. 1987) claim the presence of an actively star-forming galaxy population.

This paper presents an analysis of the radio properties for the sample of sources introduced in Magliocchetti et al. (2000, hereafter MA2000). As it will be discussed later on, despite its relative smallness, this sample represents the first attempt to derive spectroscopy directly from objects uniquely identified as radio-emitting sources (i.e. without prior optical identifications). Luminosity functions and luminosity distributions will be derived down to radio-powers $`P_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}10^{20}`$ \[W Hz-1sr-1\], therefore allowing a direct comparison with the models introduced earlier on at such low powers. We will also analyze the space density for the different classes of radio-sources and their relative contribution to the total number counts at flux densities $`1\mathrm{mJy}<S_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}<10`$ mJy.

The layout of this paper is as follows: Section 2 describes the radio, photometric and spectroscopic properties of the dataset used in our analysis, while Section 3 deals with the luminosity evolution of radio sources and presents the results for the luminosity function. Section 4 discusses these findings within the framework of number counts by comparing observations with model predictions. Section 5 summarizes our conclusions. Throughout this work we will assume $`H_0=h_0`$ $``$ 100 km s-1, with $`h_0=0.5`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=1`$ ($`q_0=0.5`$).

## 2 The Radio Sample

The sample used for the following analysis has been derived from the FIRST (Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty centimeters) Survey (Becker, White & Helfand 1995) which includes sources down to $``$ 0.8 mJy. The surface density of objects in the catalogue is $`90`$ per square degree, though this is reduced to $`80`$ per square degree if we combine multi-component sources (e.g. sources presenting lobes and hot-spots; Magliocchetti et al. 1998). The catalogue has been estimated to be 95 per cent complete at 2 mJy and 80 per cent complete at 1 mJy (Becker, White & Helfand 1995).

From this catalogue MA2000 considered 8 regions of approximately 1 deg each in diameter and performed “blind” (i.e. without prior optical identification of the objects) multi-object spectroscopy by placing fibers at the positions of 365 radio sources ($`69`$ per cent of the radio sample; this percentage was mainly due to the geometry of the spectrograph). From these spectra it was possible to measure 46 redshifts, $`13`$ per cent of the targeted objects. APM data have then provided photometric information for most of the sources with measured redshifts. Photometry shows that redshift measurements were obtained for objects brighter than an apparent magnitude of R $`20.5`$ mag, and the sample was estimated to be $``$ 100 per cent complete to R=18.6 mag. This value was derived by considering the sources which had photometric measurements but lacked of spectroscopic ones as a function of their radio fluxes. It turned out that all the objects with R$``$18.6 were endowed with a redshift estimate, independent of the radio flux (Figure 6 in MA2000). The above result implies no radio-bias in the acquisition of the spectra, the only remaining bias being related to the optical properties of the sources.

The objects found with R $`20.5`$ were a mixture of early-type galaxies (i.e. absorption systems presenting at most a weak OII emission line which we will hereafter denote as Early) at relatively high redshifts, $`z0.2`$ (24, $`52`$ per cent of the sample), ’lined’ galaxies (absorption systems presenting strong OII, OIII, H$`\alpha `$, H$`\beta `$ emission lines denoting either ongoing star-formation activity or the presence of an AGN or eventually superposition of both these effects) at intermediate redshifts, $`0.02z0.2`$ (8, $`17`$ per cent), and very local starburst (SB) galaxies with $`z0.05`$ (3, $`6`$ per cent). By using the diagnostic emission line ratios of Rola, Terlevich & Terlevich (1997), we find four of the lined galaxies to show features principally due to star-formation (E+SF), while the remaining four to be mainly dominated by AGN activity (E+AGN). Note that our findings are consistent with the existence of a significant fraction ($`10`$ per cent) of lined objects amongst low power radio galaxies (Hine & Longair 1979). MA2000 also found a number of broad-lined AGN (type I RL), all at $`z0.8`$ (5, $`11`$ per cent of the sample), two narrow-lined AGN (type II RL) (4 per cent), and 4 stars 111As the objects cannot be classified as flat/steep radio sources, in the following we name as type I/II Radio Loud (RL) those objects which are radio–loud (r$`>10`$, see below) with broad/narrow emission lines in the optical spectrum.. Three objects (respectively one type II RL, one early-type galaxy and one starburst galaxy) were subsequently removed from the original sample by requiring $`S_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}`$ 1 mJy. Other seven sources exhibit featureless spectra, showing a continuum emission without the presence of either emission or absorption lines. These unclassified objects, endowed with faint (R$`>18.6`$) optical magnitudes, could be either associated to low-signal-to-noise-spectra early-type galaxies or to low-power BL Lacs. As they do not have redshift determinations, they will only be considered in the last Section when dealing with the number counts. Their effects on the statistical significance of the sample under consideration will instead be discussed in the Conclusions.

All the early-type and lined galaxies present absolute magnitudes distributed about the mean value $`M_\mathrm{R}=23.1`$ with very little scatter ($`0.5`$ at the 2$`\sigma `$ level) independent of redshift, implying that passive radio galaxies are reliable standard candles, as already discussed by e.g. Hine & Longair (1979). The small spread in magnitude allows us to determine a very tight R-$`z`$ relationship for the objects under exam. From this relation MA2000 estimate $``$ 100 per cent completeness for the spectroscopic sample with radio fluxes $`S_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}`$ 1 mJy up to $`z=0.3\pm 0.1`$. Throughout the paper we will therefore adopt $`z=0.3`$ as the maximum redshift for completeness of the sample. This assumption implies that all the early-type and lined galaxies with redshifts within $`z_{\mathrm{lim}}=0.3`$ will be considered in the subsequent analyses, regardless of their optical magnitude. Note that this limit, given the spread in the R-$`z`$ relationship, does not exactly correspond to a magnitude cut at R=$`18.6`$. In fact, we find two sources in the sample (both early-type galaxies) which present $`z<0.3`$ and R$`>18.6`$, even though no objects are detected with R$`18.6`$ and $`z>0.3`$. This spread might then suggest the existence of $`z0.3`$ and R$`18.6`$ sources, possibly corresponding to the unclassified sources we previously referred to, which were not spectroscopically identified in the MA2000 sample. Since the majority of these objects is expected to present redshifts $`>0.2`$ (sources with R$`>18.6`$ and $`z0.1`$ would correspond to a $`8\sigma `$ event with respect to the R-$`z`$ relationship and should consequently be extremely rare), in order to assess the importance of this possible cause of incompleteness, the analysis performed in Section 3 will also consider two different samples, derived from the original one by respectively considering cuts at $`z=0.2`$ and $`z=0.25`$. Results obtained in this way will be then compared with those derived for $`z0.3`$ sources.

Figure 1 shows the distribution of radio fluxes for all the objects in the sample with measured B magnitudes as a function of this latter quantity. The dashed lines indicate different values of the radio-to-optical ratio $`r`$, defined as $`r=S_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}\times 10^{\frac{(B12.5)}{2.5}}`$, where S is the radio flux (in mJy) and B is the apparent magnitude in the blue band. Note that, according to the definition of radio-loudness (see e.g. Urry & Padovani 1995), the three starburst galaxies with $`r<10`$ cannot in principle be considered as radio-loud. Also note that, amongst lined galaxies, sources with spectra principally showing signatures due to star formation (represented by filled triangles in Figure 1) and sources where emission lines mainly originate from AGN activity (empty triangles in Figure 1) occupy different regions in the B-S plane, the former objects presenting radio-to-optical ratios closer to those obtained in the case of starburst galaxies. With some confidence we can then conclude that the radio signal emitted by this first group of sources mainly stems from intense star-formation activity, in close resemblance with the case for starburst galaxies.

Figure 2 shows the distribution of monochromatic radio-power $`P_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}=S_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}D^2(1+z)^{3+\alpha }`$ (in units W Hz-1sr-1) for the different classes of objects introduced earlier on. In the above formula $`D`$ is the angular diameter distance and $`\alpha `$ is the spectral index of the radio emission ($`S(\nu )\nu ^\alpha `$). As we did not have measured values for this latter quantity, we assumed $`\alpha =0.5`$ for type I RL, $`\alpha =0.75`$ for early-type galaxies (with or without emission lines due to AGN activity), $`\alpha =0.7`$ for type II RL and $`\alpha =0.35`$ both for starbursts and E+SF (see e.g. Oort et al. 1987). In the central panel of Figure 2 we grouped together type I and II RL, type I showing higher radio-power; starbursts and E+SF galaxies are also grouped together in the top panel of Figure 2, E+SF sources all appearing for $`P_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}>10^{21}`$ \[W Hz-1sr-1\]. As one can see from the Figure, early-type galaxies with no emission lines follow with good approximation the same distribution in power as those presenting in their spectra emission lines due to AGN activity. Given that their radio-powers are always (apart from one case) $`P_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}<10^{23.5}`$ \[W Hz-1sr-1\], we classify these two sub-populations as FR I galaxies, with the possible exception of the source with $`P_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}10^{24}`$ \[W Hz-1sr-1\]. Note that, as already briefly discussed in the Introduction, the distinction between FR I and FR II galaxies seems to be more complicated and not just determined by the values of their radio power. As Ledlow & Owen (1996) have shown, the FR I/FR II division is also a strong function of the optical luminosity of the host galaxy, optically brighter FR I sources appearing for higher radio powers. Our conclusions for these galaxies to all belong to the same class of FR I is however not affected by the previous statement, as the objects in our sample present $`P<10^{24}`$ \[W Hz-1sr-1\], threshold below which only members of the FR I population are found, independent of their magnitude. From a morphological point of view we find that all the radio images for these objects show point-like structures. Since the angular resolution of the FIRST survey is $`5`$ arcsec, corresponding to a physical scale of $`7`$ kpc at $`z=0.05`$ and $`35`$ kpc at $`z=0.3`$ for the cosmology adopted in the Paper, one can exclude the presence of very extended structures such as those typical of FR II sources. This furtherly supports our conclusion for these objects to belong to the class of FR I galaxies.

As expected, the three starburst galaxies show low radio-powers ($`P_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}<10^{21}`$ \[W Hz-1sr-1\], while type I RL all appear for $`P_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}>10^{25}`$ \[W Hz-1sr-1\].

## 3 Statistical and Evolutionary Properties of the Populations

In principle, in order to directly estimate the evolution of the different radio populations with time, one has to calculate their luminosity functions (LF) in different redshift intervals. Unfortunately though, the sample under consideration does not include enough sources, and therefore we have to apply the Schmidt’s $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}`$ test, where $`V`$ is the comoving volume ‘enclosed’ by an object and $`V_{\mathrm{max}}`$ is the maximum volume within which such an object could have been detected above the radio flux and magnitude limit of the survey. In absence of evolution one has that the quantity $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}`$ is uniformly distributed between 0 and 1, with 0.5 as mean value (Schmidt 1968).

As already stated in Section 2, for the estimate of the quantity $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}`$ we assumed a completeness limit of $`z_{\mathrm{lim}}=0.3`$ in the case of FR I galaxies (i.e. Early and E+AGN sources) with $`S1`$ mJy. Errors for $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}`$ are then calculated as $`\mathrm{\Delta }\left(V/V_{\mathrm{max}}\right)=\left(12N\right)^{1/2}`$ (Schmidt 1968), where $`N`$ is the number of objects belonging to this class. Note that we will not include in our analysis either type I/II RL or starburst galaxies (even though we show their evolutionary trends in Figure 3 which illustrates the monochromatic power at 1.4 GHz as a function of redshift), as their small numbers do not allow any meaningful statistics; furthermore, starburst galaxies do not in principle belong to the population of radio-loud sources (see Section 2).

For the population of FR I galaxies (18 sources with $`z0.3`$) one gets $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}=0.57\pm 0.06`$. Note that this result - even though compatible with the hypothesis of no evolution just above the 1$`\sigma `$ level - seems to disagree with previous findings (see e.g. Urry, Padovani & Stickel, 1991; Padovani & Urry, 1992; Maraschi & Rovetti, 1994; - where the samples were extracted from surveys with much higher flux limits, e.g. the 2 Jy sample (Wall & Peacock 1985) or the 3CR sample (Laing et al. 1984) - and Rowan-Robinson et al., 1993; - where the sample included objects down to $`S_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}0.1`$ mJy (Benn et al. 1993)) for the class of FR I not to evolve with look-back time.

As already anticipated in Section 2, in order to investigate the stability of our results on FR I galaxies with respect to the eventual presence of incompleteness effects in the $`z0.3`$ sample, we repeated the $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}`$ analysis for different redshift cuts. Even though going to lower redshifts automatically reduces the number of sources within the sample and the statistical significance of the measurements, we nevertheless find $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}=0.62\pm 0.07`$ and $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}=0.67\pm 0.10`$ for objects respectively within $`z=0.25`$ and $`z=0.2`$, in good agreement with our previous findings, showing that incompleteness is not a problem in this case. We can therefore confidently conclude that the sample under exam is well suited to examine the evolutionary properties of FR I galaxies. It is also interesting to note that the above numbers seem to furtherly strengthen the results for positive luminosity evolution of the FR I population.

At this point it is worth spending a few lines on the effects of the class of lined galaxies on the analysis performed so far. The choice of making a distinction between galaxies which presented in their spectra lines of mainly stellar origin (E+SF) and those which indicated the presence of an AGN in their core (E+AGN) has been based on the relative strength of emission line ratios (see Section 2). However, it is possible to note that there is indeed a smooth transition between these two classes of objects, not only in the relative strength of the different emission lines, i.e. whether more due to star formation rather than AGN activity, but also in the radio-power, radio-to-optical ratio and redshift distribution (see Figures 1,2,3 and Table 1) of these sources. Also, if one confines the analysis to radio-power and radio-morphology only, all these objects would be identified as FR I galaxies. In principle one cannot therefore exclude all the lined galaxies to be indeed members of the FR I population, relative emission line strengths simply reflecting a passage between more AGN dominated to more star-formation dominated sources within the class of FR I. Note that, in general, it is quite common to find “composite” galaxies containing both a starburst and an AGN (see e.g. Hill et al., 2001). In this case, lined FR I galaxies as a whole would be seen as a “bridge” (also meant in the sense of decreasing look-back times) between AGN-fuelled objects (i.e. those presenting spectra typical of early-type galaxies) and sources where the radio signal is dominated by processes connected with the intense star-formation activity (starbursts).

The issue connected with these “transition” objects is quite delicate as their eventual presence or absence within the class of FR I galaxies can modify the apparent evolutionary properties of this population. In fact, if we consider as FR I all the lined galaxies (i.e. E+AGN and E+SF) and not only those where emission lines seem to mainly stem from AGN activity, the value for $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}`$ decreases to $`0.52\pm 0.06`$, in this case perfectly compatible with no evolution. It follows that one has to devote particular care in treating these sources as they might influence eventual conclusions. We stress that this effect should not depend on the statistical significance of the sample, since lined galaxies are in general expected to make up for $`20`$ per cent of low-to-intermediate redshift radio samples (see e.g. Sadler et al., 1999).

More stable results are instead those separately related to the two sub-populations of Early and E+AGN. For the first class of objects in fact we find $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}=0.60\pm 0.07`$ \- compatible with positive evolution at the 2$`\sigma `$ level -, while $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}=0.35\pm 0.14`$ \- suggesting negative evolution - in the case of E+AGN FR I. Even though the paucity of sources here does not allow any strong statement, it is nevertheless worth noticing that this negative trend also seems to hold if one considers all the lined galaxies together, whatever the origin of the lines is, for which $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}=0.33\pm 0.10`$. In general we find early-type galaxies to show positive luminosity evolution, while lined galaxies tend to evolve in a negative way. The bottom line in this case seems to be that, even though belonging to the same population of FR I, these two classes of E and E+AGN sources show quite different evolutionary behaviours; their combination gives rise to a mildly evolving trend for FR I galaxies as a whole, but this result might hide an internal dichotomy and requires further investigation.

Note that these different (and opposite) evolutionary trends could mirror the behaviours established for the beamed population of BL Lac objects, respectively as lower power ’X-ray selected’ type and higher power ’radio selected’ sources. In this respect, models which postulate the evolutionary connection between positively evolving radio–loud quasars into negatively evolving BL Lacs (Cavaliere & Malquori 1999) should refer to the sub-population associated with E+AGN galaxies only.

While keeping the above warnings in mind, in the following analysis we will rely on the division made amongst lined galaxies introduced in Section 2 when describing the spectroscopic sample. We will then consider as belonging to the FR I population only early-type galaxies plus those lined galaxies where emission lines were mainly of AGN origin (E+AGN). For this sample we have then estimated the degree of evolution and obtained the local radio luminosity function (LF) to be compared with model predictions.
We parameterize the evolution as $`P(z)`$$`=P(0)\mathrm{exp}^{\mathrm{t}(\mathrm{z})/\tau }`$ (pure luminosity evolution PLE), where $`t(z)`$ is the look-back time in units of the Hubble time (defined as $`t(z)=_0^z1/[(1+z)^2(1+\mathrm{\Omega }_0z)^{1/2}]`$) and $`\tau `$ is the time-scale of the evolution in the same units; the best values for $`\tau `$ are found by requiring $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}=0.5\pm \left(\frac{1}{12N}\right)^{1/2}`$, while the local power $`P_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}(0)`$ can be obtained by inverting the expression for luminosity evolution.

According to this approach, one then finds $`\tau =0.17_{0.10}^{+0.50}`$ for FR I galaxies, compatible with positive evolution at the 1$`\sigma `$ level. Note that, by restricting this analysis to the sub-classes of early-type and E+AGN galaxies separately, one would get $`\tau 0.06`$ for the first case and $`\tau 0.05`$ in the second one. The statistical significance of these results is however limited by the small dimensions of both samples together with the limited redshift range ($`0z0.3`$) allowed to consider the effects of any eventual evolution.

The above values for the evolution parameter $`\tau `$ have then been used to derive the local LF by de-evolving at $`z`$=0 the luminosity of each source and by subsequently grouping the sources in bins of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{log}P=0.5`$. The LF has been obtained according to the expression

$`\mathrm{\Phi }(P)={\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}N_i(P,P+\mathrm{\Delta }P)/V_{\mathrm{max}}^i(P),`$ (1)
where $`N_i`$ is the number of objects with luminosities between $`P`$ and $`P+\mathrm{\Delta }P`$, and $`V_{\mathrm{max}}^i(P)`$ is their maximum volume, calculated as in Section 3. The values for the LF have then been corrected by means of the factor $`0.8\times 0.66`$ to take into account the 80 per cent completeness of the FIRST survey at 1 mJy (see Becker et al., 1995) and the percentage of sources with fibres placed on.
Figure 4 shows the resulting LF (lower panel). Following the analysis performed in this Section, FR I galaxies have been furtherly divided into lined (E+AGN) and early-type galaxies in order to show any systematic difference in the LF trend. The result for early-type galaxies is represented by the filled circles in the upper panel of Figure 4 while, due to the paucity of sources, we do not show the LF behaviour in the case of lined FR I.

The dashed lines indicate the predictions of one of the models of Dunlop & Peacock (1990; hereafter DP90), which provides an alternative way of parameterizing pure luminosity evolution and assumes positive luminosity evolution for all steep-spectrum sources, regardless of their power. The particular model among those proposed by DP90 (but also see Rowan-Robinson et al. 1993) considers a luminosity function of the form

$`\mathrm{\Phi }(P,z)=\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{SP}}(P)+\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{ELL}}(P,z),`$ (2)
where

$`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{ELL}}(P,z)=10^{6.91}/\left\{\left[P_{1.4}/P_\mathrm{c}(z)\right]^{0.69}+\left[P_{1.4}/P_\mathrm{c}(z)\right]^{2.17}\right\}`$ (3)
taken at $`z=0`$ gives the local LF for steep spectrum FR I+FR II sources, and $`\mathrm{log}P_\mathrm{c}(z)=26.22+1.26z0.26z^2`$ (given in W-1 Hz-1) is the evolving “break” luminosity. $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{SP}}(P)`$ is the non-evolving LF for the spiral/irregular galaxy population. Since all the sources in the FR I sample appear to have spectra with a continuum typical of early-type galaxies, we neglect this last term in equation (2) and only consider the predictions for the population of ellipticals (i.e. $`\mathrm{\Phi }(P,z)\mathrm{\Phi }_{\mathrm{ELL}}(P,z)`$).
As Figure 4 (filled circles) shows, the agreement between data and model is good both in the case of the whole sample and for early-type galaxies only (where we have multiplied the measured LF by the factor 1/0.78 to account for the percentage of early-type sources amongst FR I galaxies).

In order to test the effects of luminosity evolution on the calculations of the local LF, the upper panel of Figure 4 also presents (in open circles) the results obtained for the sample of early-type FR I galaxies under the assumption of negligible evolution of the population. In this case the data points shift to the right-hand side of the plot, resulting in an overprediction of the number of low-power radio sources found locally (e.g. Toffolatti et al., 1987) and illustrated by the dashed line in Figure 4.

We also note that integration of the DP90 LF in the interval $`10^{23}P10^{25}`$ predicts 4$`\pm 2`$ objects to be found in the observed area and for that luminosity range up to $`z=0.3`$, consistent with our findings for very few detections of higher-power (FR II) sources at low-redshifts.

## 4 Number counts

As a final step we analyze the relative contribution of different populations to the number counts. Figure 5 shows the percentage of source counts for the different classes of objects included in our spectroscopic sample up to $`S_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}=6`$ mJy (note that here we have not included any redshift cut), where the sample looses statistical meaning due to the paucity of sources. It is interesting to note that, for any value of the flux, the sum of FR I galaxies and unclassified objects accounts for $`>90`$ per cent of the radio sources with an optical identification, while starburst galaxies only constitute a small portion of the sample ($`<10`$ per cent for $`S<3`$ mJy and $`z<0.05`$, none beyond these values). Note that – as the procedure for spectra acquisition of the radio sources of this sample was performed without prior photometric identification – in principle MA2000 could have obtained spectroscopic information for sources with strong emission lines (unless heavily obscured) regardless their optical brightness. This implies that the sample is more likely to be biased against FR I galaxies (in general ellipticals with no or weak emission lines) than starbursts, which makes our conclusion on the relative absence of starburst galaxies in the sample even stronger. Similar results on the small contribution of starburst galaxies to the radio population at mJy level were obtained by Gruppioni et al. (1998) and Georgakakis et al. (1999).

At this point it is also compelling to examine the constraints on the evolutionary degree of the FR I population from the source number counts. Under the assumption of a luminosity evolution of the form $`\mathrm{exp}^{t(z)/\tau }`$ (see Section 3), integration of the local LF - expressed in eq.(3) with $`P_c(z)P_c(0)`$ \- over the luminosities $`10^{21}P10^{24}`$ \[W Hz-1sr-1\] typical of the FR I population, leads to a total number of sources between $`0z3`$, on an area of $`8\times \pi \theta ^2`$ (with $`\theta =1^{}`$ \- see MA2000), respectively of 62, 488 and 7205 for $`\tau =10`$ (i.e. no evolution), 0.17 and 0.06. These predictions have to be compared with the value of 656 which is the actual number of objects from the FIRST survey (corrected for the 80 per cent level of completeness of the radio sample at 1 mJy) that have been found in the considered area. Both the values of $`\tau `$ describing no- and strong-evolution seem to be ruled out as they respectively grossly underpredict and overpredict the observed integrated number counts, while a better agreement with the data is obtained for $`\tau =0.17`$.
Note that the two values which have been ruled out by these observational constraints on the integral number counts were those respectively obtained by analyzing the evolutionary properties of the sub-class of early-type galaxies ($`\tau =0.06`$) and of the “enlarged” population of FR I ($`\tau =10`$) \- where in this case sources were considered to belong to the latter class merely on the basis of their radio power and morphology (see Section 3).
On the other hand, $`\tau =0.17`$ well describes the shape of the counts distribution at 1.4 GHz below $``$ 1 Jy (Silva et al., 2001) and - together with a LF of the form described by eq.(3) - can reproduce the number of FR I sources (with $`P10^{21}`$ \[W Hz-1sr-1\] and $`z0.3`$) per redshift interval ($`\mathrm{\Delta }z=0.1`$, see Table 2), found for the sample described in this Paper. We therefore conclude that the same degree of luminosity evolution derived from a $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}`$ analysis of the FR I population is also needed to provide both the correct total number of sources and the shape of the counts for $`S_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}1`$ mJy.

Finally, let us consider the above results in the light of the findings for beamed objects, according to radio-loud unification models, as the present sample extends the source counts to significantly lower fluxes with respect to the $``$ Jy samples used for these analysis so far. In Figure 6 we report the differential number counts for type I RL sources. Our findings are in marginal agreement ($``$ 2.5 $`\sigma `$) with the extrapolation to lower fluxes of beaming models (e.g. Padovani & Urry 1992). Furthermore a cut-off in the counts is observed at flux levels $`<`$ 40 mJy consistently with the above model predictions.

## 5 Conclusions

In this paper we used the set of data described in MA2000 to derive the radio-properties of different classes of radio objects at mJy level. Our main conclusions are as follows:
1) The majority of the sample (between $`70`$ and $`90`$ per cent, where the lower limit is obtained under the assumption of all the unclassified objects to belong to the population of low-power BL Lacs, while the upper limit corresponds to the case for all the unclassified objects to be low signal-to-noise-spectra early-type galaxies), independent of the flux level up to $`S_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}10`$ mJy, is made of FR I galaxies. This class includes sources with optical spectra typical of early-type galaxies, both with and without emission lines arising from AGN activity.
2) Within the completeness limit of the sample, the population of FR I as a whole shows some degree of luminosity evolution (at 1$`\sigma `$ confidence level). This is also found if one lowers the redshift limit for completeness and ensures the stability of the result. The degree of evolution is described by an evolution parameter $`\tau 0.17`$ and can correctly reproduce both the integral and differential source counts for fluxes $`S1`$ mJy.
3) Within the population of FR I, it is found that the sub-class of FR I sources with optical spectra typical of early-type galaxies is positively evolving at the 2$`\sigma `$ confidence level, with $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}0.60`$. An opposite behaviour is instead seen for lined (E+AGN) FR I galaxies, for which $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}0.35`$.
4) Models for the local LF can account for the data both in the case of the whole sample of FR I and for early-type galaxies down to powers $`P_{1.4\mathrm{GHz}}10^{21}`$ \[W Hz-1sr-1\].
5) Results on type I RL appear to be marginally consistent with both the number counts and the low flux cutoff predicted by the extrapolation of Jy level results by beaming models.
6) The contribution of starburst galaxies at such flux limits is still negligible, of the order of less than $`10`$ per cent for $`S<3`$ mJy and $`z<0.05`$, decreasing to zero beyond these values. This is to be expected if one considers the distribution of radio-to-optical ratios for the different mJy to sub-mJy surveys available in literature. A comparative analysis performed by Prandoni et al. (2001), in fact shows the population of star-burst galaxies to dramatically increase for decreasing $`S1`$ mJy radio fluxes and very bright optical magnitudes ($`I17.5`$).

Within this scenario, the population of lined galaxies plays a very important role. A sharp distinction between galaxies with spectra dominated by signatures of AGN activity and those showing features due to star formation has been proved not to be an easy task (see e.g. Rola, Terlevich & Terlevich, 1997). This is mainly caused by the existence of numerous “composite” galaxies containing both an event of intense star-formation and an AGN (Hill et al., 2001). In the sample presented in this work, there seems to be a smooth transition (in terms of radio power, radio-to-optical ratio and even redshift) between lined galaxies of AGN and star-forming origin, so that this class of objects as a whole could be seen as a bridge between AGN-dominated sources and pure starbursts.
One might then envisage a connection with the apparent cosmological trend amongst galaxies. In particular the low activity galactic nuclei, possibly associated with lower efficiency, might be associated with the presence of ongoing star formation giving rise to late-type host galaxies at lower redshifts. On the contrary, higher nuclear powers would plausibly quench the processing of gas into stars at earlier epochs.

Note that different evolutionary properties seem to characterize BL Lacs selected in different bands: X–ray selected lower power objects (whose synchrotron emission peaks at higher frequencies; Giommi & Padovani 1994; Fossati et al. 1998) which are negatively evolving, and more powerful radio selected BL Lac (peaking at lower frequencies) consistent with no or marginally positive evolution (e.g. Urry & Padovani 1995).

The above conclusions (especially those in 2 and 3) obviously strongly rely on the completeness and/or statistical significance of the sample under consideration. As already discussed in Section 2, a possible cause of incompleteness might stem from the existence of R$`>18.6`$ and $`z0.3`$ sources – possibly associated with some of the seven unclassified objects in MA2000 – for which no spectroscopic identification was possible.
Due to the procedure for spectra acquisition performed by MA2000, we can reasonably assume these objects to belong to the class of early-type galaxies, as the presence of emission lines of whatever origin would have allowed redshift measurements for objects much fainter than R=18.6. These early-type galaxies would then most likely exhibit redshifts $`>0.2`$, since they are not expected to differ by more than a factor $`6\sigma `$ from the R-$`z`$ relationship found for passive radio galaxies. This implies all these sources to show values $`V/V_{\mathrm{max}}>0.5`$. It therefore follows that the eventual presence of these objects in our sample would have just strengthened the conclusions for a positive evolution of early-type galaxies, while leaving the findings for a negative evolution of the lined (E+AGN) FRI population unaltered. Furthermore, results obtained for the (mild) evolution of the FR I population are confirmed by a completely independent analysis performed on the effects of evolution on the integral and differential number counts for sources with $`S1`$ mJy. And also, our findings on the radio luminosity function are not only in agreement with model predictions, but also with results from much wider samples (see e.g. Magliocchetti et al., 2001).

While the above discussion assesses the goodness of the sample described in this work, it is nevertheless clear that it only constitutes a small fraction of the observable radio sources. This stresses the need for more and better data – probing intermediate-to-high redshifts – to come from future surveys in order to achieve more precise and quantitative conclusions on extremely important issues for both radio astronomy and cosmology such as the evolution of the FR I population and its connection with different BL Lacs flavour.

Acknowledgments S.J. Maddox is thanked for extremely interesting discussions. The Italian MURST is acknowledged for financial support.


format: text

text:
# Activity From Tidal Disruptions in Galactic Nuclei

## 1 Introduction

A main-sequence star passing within a few Schwarzschild radii of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) of mass $`M_{\mathrm{bh}}<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}2}\times 10^8\mathrm{M}_{}`$ is disrupted by strong tidal forces. Tidal disruption events may therefore offer signatures, in normal (non-active) galaxies, of the presence of a SMBH (e.g. Rees 1990). In recent years, our knowledge of the demographics of SMBHs has improved dramatically, in large part thanks to dynamical studies. There is now strong evidence for a SMBH at the center of our galaxy (Genzel et al. 1997; Ghez et al. 2000) as well as in most galaxies possessing a bulge-component (Magorrian et al. 1998; Gebhardt et al. 2000; Ferrarese & Merritt 2000; Gebhardt et al. 2001; Merritt et al. 2001). This evidence relies on detailed modeling of the stellar dynamics in galactic nuclei, which also provides reliable estimates of the stellar disruption rate (Magorrian & Tremaine 1999; Syer & Ulmer 1999).

Most work on the observational signatures of tidal disruption events has focused on flares (typically in the UV) lasting for a few years and corresponding to the early accretion phase of the stellar debris bound to the SMBH (Rees 1988; Ulmer 1999). Cannizzo, Lee, & Goodman (1990), however, studied the late time accretion of the stellar debris via a geometrically thin accretion disk. These authors found that the disk accretion rate decreases slowly as a power-law in time, which suggests that remnant activity in galactic nuclei may be visible a long time after the last disruption event occurred. Cannizzo et al. (1990) noted that their results could be problematic in galaxies such as M32, since the nucleus should be brighter than is observed (see also Ulmer 1997).

Here, we revisit the problem of the accretion of stellar debris following a tidal disruption event by a supermassive black hole. In §2, we briefly review some of the basic theory concerning stellar disruption events. We then point out that the standard accretion scenario, when combined with the latest disruption rates, implies that the SMBH in our Galactic Center (Sgr A\*) should be brighter than is observed by several orders of magnitude. In §3, we reconsider the accretion scenario, paying particular attention to the structure and properties of the accretion flow during both the early super-Eddington phase and the late sub-Eddington phase. In §4, we conclude with a few possible extensions of this work.

## 2 Basics of Tidal Disruption

### 2.1 Theory

A solar-type star is tidally disrupted if its orbit brings it closer to a SMBH (with $`M_{\mathrm{bh}}<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}2}\times 10^8\mathrm{M}_{}`$) than the tidal radius $`R_\mathrm{T}5M_7^{2/3}R_s`$, where $`M_7=M_{\mathrm{bh}}/10^7M_{}`$ and $`R_s=3\times 10^{12}M_7`$ cm is the Schwarzschild radius of the SMBH (e.g. Hills 1975). Following the disruption, about half of the stellar debris is bound to the SMBH and half is unbound. The bound material is nearly uniformly distributed in binding energy and so is distributed as $`P^{5/3}`$ in orbital period, with a minimum orbital period $`P_{\mathrm{min}}0.7M_7^{1/2}`$ yr (Rees 1988; Evans & Kochanek 1989).

The subsequent evolution of the bound stellar debris is both difficult to predict analytically and to follow numerically (Lacy, Townes & Hollenbach 1982; Rees 1988; Evans & Kochanek 1989; Cannizzo et al. 1990; Kochanek 1994). It is unclear what fraction of the initially bound material remains bound after the second or subsequent periastron passages (violent shocks and significant gas heating being expected from stream-stream collisions). The latest numerical simulations indicate that about $`25\%`$ of the initial stellar mass may remain bound after the second periastron passage (Ayal, Livio & Piran 2000).

Although the process of circularization by stream-stream collisions is complex, one expects circularization to occur on a timescale corresponding to at most a few orbital timescales, $`P_{\mathrm{min}}`$, at pericenter (Ulmer 1999). Given the distribution of binding energy of the bound material, mass returns to pericenter at a rate $`\dot{M}M_7^{1/2}(t/P_{\mathrm{min}})^{5/3}M_{}`$ yr-1 for $`t>P_{\mathrm{min}}`$ (Rees 1988; Phinney 1989). This is larger than the Eddington accretion rate $`0.1M_7M_{}`$ yr-1 for several years and so accretion should initially proceed via a photon trapped radiatively inefficient accretion flow (Rees 1988; Ulmer 1997; see §3). The viscous timescale in such a hot flow is indeed short enough for the material to accrete as fast as it circularizes (unless the viscosity parameter $`\alpha `$ is $`0.1`$; Ulmer 1999).

After a few years, the infall rate drops below the Eddington rate, photons are no longer trapped in the accretion flow, and the gas begins to cool efficiently. Mass returning to pericenter then begins to accrete via a geometrically thin disk, with the accretion rate set by the long viscous time in the thin disk, not the rate at which mass returns to pericenter. Cannizzo et al. (1990) studied the thin disk accretion phase using numerical simulations and analytic self-similar solutions. They assumed that the accretion disk has nearly constant total angular momentum; viscosity can redistribute angular momentum (from material at small radii to material at large radii), but it is assumed that there is no global loss of angular momentum from the system such as would be provided by a jet or an MHD wind. Under these assumptions, Cannizzo et al. found that the accretion rate onto the SMBH decays as a weak power-law in time: $`\dot{M}t^n`$, with $`n1.2`$ for various opacity laws and almost independent of the value of the viscosity parameter $`\alpha `$ in the disk. As the disk mass decreases due to accretion, the mean radius of the disk increases in order to conserve angular momentum (roughly as $`R(t)t^{3/8}`$).

### 2.2 Observational Constraints

Attempts to identify tidal disruption events have mostly focused on detecting the initial “flare” of emission with a timescale of $`P_{\mathrm{min}}`$ years; these are short-lived events with a very low duty-cycle per galaxy of $`10^4`$ (e.g. Rees 1988; Loeb & Ulmer 1997; Ulmer, Paczynski & Goodman 1998; Komossa & Dahlem 2001). Another approach to the problem is to look for the late emission from tidal disruption events, as expected from the study of disk accretion by Cannizzo et al. (1990). In this scenario, the issue is not one of short duration, but rather of the detectability of low-level remnant activity in a galactic nucleus. To address this question quantitatively, we searched the literature for a set of nearby galaxies meeting the following three criteria: (1) estimates of tidal disruption rates based on recent dynamical studies are available (Magorrian & Tremaine 1999; Syer & Ulmer 1999); (2) the estimated SMBH mass is below $`2\times 10^8M_{}`$, the maximum mass allowed for main-sequence stellar disruption; (3) detections of, or useful upper limits on, low-level nuclear activity are available. The three galaxies that met these criteria are our own Galaxy (i.e. Sgr A\*), M31 and M32.

Table 1 summarizes the relevant data for these three galaxies. For the Galactic Center main-sequence disruption rate, we adopt $`10^4`$ yr-1, which is somewhat in excess of the value quoted by Syer & Ulmer (1999). This is because these authors tend to underestimate the rates as compared to Magorrian & Tremaine (1999).111Presumably, this is due to the additional stellar orbits considered by Magorrian & Tremaine in their calculation. For the bolometric luminosities, we conservatively adopt the highest luminosity value available for each nucleus among the various observed spectral bands (when detected).

For thin disk accretion, the luminosity limits in Table 1 can be converted into accretion rate limits for a radiative efficiency $`10\%`$. We find that the accretion rates onto the SMBHs in Sgr A\*, M31, & M32 would be $`10^{16}`$, $`<10^{17}`$ and $`<5\times 10^{16}`$ g s-1, respectively, for radiatively efficient accretion. These accretion rates are very small in the context of tidal disruption theory: for $`\alpha =0.1`$ and an initial $`0.1M_{}`$ disk of tidally disrupted material (see §3), Cannizzo et al.’s (1990) thin disk models predict that the accretion rate onto the SMBH drops below $`10^{19}`$ g s-1 approximately $`4\times 10^4`$ yrs following a tidal disruption event (see their Fig. 3b), while it reaches values $`10^{17}`$ g s-1 only well after $`10^6`$ years. We expect these predictions to be relatively robust given the very weak dependence of $`\dot{M}(t)`$ on viscosity and opacity. Since $`10^6`$ years is much longer than the expected time between two consecutive stellar disruptions, disk accretion of stellar debris as described by Cannizzo et al. (1990) predicts that Sgr A\*, M31, and M32 should be continuously brighter than is presently observed. This is illustrated in Table 1, where we also list, for the three galactic nucei of interest, the luminosity expected in Cannizzo et al.’s thin disk models after a time corresponding to the interval between successive disruption events. Note that our analysis is conservative since we do not consider the emission spectrum expected from thin accretion disks (expected to be prominent in the IR-UV, where the observational limits are generally stronger than our adopted bolometric luminosities).

## 3 Revisions to the Accretion Model for Tidal Disruption Events

One possible resolution of this observational puzzle is the following: for accretion rates below $`1\%`$ of the Eddington accretion rate, i.e., $`<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}10}^3M_7M_{}`$ yr-1, gas can accrete onto a black hole via a hot optically thin low radiative efficiency accretion flow (LRAF) such as an advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF; Rees et al. 1982; Abramowicz et al. 1995; Narayan & Yi 1994; 1995) or its variants, ADIOSs (Blandford & Begelman 1999) and CDAFs (Quataert & Gruzinov 2000; Narayan et al. 2000). Typically, an accretion rate $`\dot{M}10^2\dot{M}_{\mathrm{Edd}}`$ is reached years to decades after a tidal disruption event. If thin disk accretion transitions to LRAF accretion at this time, the accretion luminosity will precipitously drop, either because the radiative efficiency decreases dramatically (ADAFs) or because the accretion rate decreases dramatically (CDAFs/ADIOS), or perhaps both. This scenario may provide an explanation for the absence of late time emission from the accretion of tidally disrupted stars (see also Ulmer 1997).

However, the thin disk $``$ LRAF model requires positing that thin disks spontaneously “evaporate” into LRAFs when $`\dot{M}<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}10}^2\dot{M}_{\mathrm{Edd}}`$ (thin disks remain, after all, a viable mode of accretion even for $`\dot{M}\dot{M}_{\mathrm{edd}}`$). This possibility has been extensively and successfully applied to observations of time-dependent accretion flows in X-ray binaries (e.g., Esin et al. 1997; 1998; 2001), but the “evaporation” process – and hence its dependence on, e.g., black hole mass – is not well understood. It therefore seems worthwhile exploring scenarios in which accretion continues to proceed via a thin disk even for $`\dot{M}\dot{M}_{\mathrm{Edd}}`$.

### 3.1 Early Super-Eddington Phase

The initial accretion phase of tidal disruption events are likely to proceed via a super-Eddington accretion flow in which the radiative efficiency is low because photons are trapped in the accretion flow (see §2.1). Recent work on such LRAFs indicates that much of the mass in the accretion disk may be lost to an outflow. Blandford & Begelman (1999) proposed this based on analytic arguments (see also Narayan & Yi 1994). In addition, numerical simulations of LRAFs have found that the accretion flow structure adjusts so as to transport a significant flux of energy ($`0.01\dot{M}c^2`$) from small to large radii (e.g., Stone, Pringle, & Begelman 1999; Igumenshchev & Abramowicz 1999, 2000); this is the CDAF regime described analytically by Quataert & Gruzinov (2000) and Narayan et al. (2000). Although the fate of this outward energy flux is not specified in either the analytic calculations or the numerical simulations, it seems very likely that this energy drives a strong outflow from the outer edge of the accretion flow (see also Hawley, Balbus & Stone 2001).

The initial super-Eddington phase is important in the context of tidally disrupted stars because it sets the initial conditions for the subsequent thin disk evolution. In particular, rather than having the entire bound stellar debris available to accrete, we expect most of this to be blown away in a strong outflow. Only the material that returns to pericenter at significantly sub-Eddington rates remains bound to the black hole. Assuming that $`0.25\mathrm{M}_{}`$ of debris remains bound to the hole after second periastron passage and that essentially all the mass that would be accreted during the super-Eddington phase is instead lost to infinity, we deduce from §2.1 that the mass of bound material left to accrete at sub-Eddington rates is $`<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0.1}M_7^{3/5}M_{}`$.

### 3.2 Late Sub-Eddington Phase

For the $`0.1M_{}`$ accreted at a sub-Eddington rate, the flow will adopt a thin disk configuration and the solution described by Cannizzo et al. (1990) should initially apply. As the accretion disk spreads and cools down, however, the gas eventually reaches temperatures $`<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}10}^4`$ K for which the disk is subject to the thermal ionization instability caused by hydrogen recombination (Meyer & Meyer-Hofmeister 1981; Lin & Shields 1986; Cannizzo 1992; Siemiginovska, Czerny & Kostyunin 1996). Following Menou & Quataert (2001), we estimate that the effect of the ionization instability should be limited to the outermost regions of tidal debris disks and will not lead to substantial changes in the disk’s global evolution. As the disk spreads somewhat further, however, it may eventually become so cool ($`10002000`$ K) and neutral that MHD turbulence cannot be sustained.

MHD turbulence and gravitational instability are presently the only robust candidates for angular momentum transport in isolated accretion disks (e.g., Balbus & Hawley 1998; Gammie 2001). Since tidal debris disks have very low masses they are probably gravitationally stable. If the outermost regions of a tidal debris disk become passive when MHD turbulence ceases to operate, the disk’s viscous evolution will be strongly modified. Active accretion will proceed only in regions of the disk with $`T_c>\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1000}`$ K, which are confined to smaller and smaller radii as $`\dot{M}`$ decreases with time.

To quantitatively estimate when the disk’s viscous evolution is modified, we note that a disk annulus becomes thermally unstable when the accretion rate locally drops below the value $`\dot{M}_{\mathrm{crit}}\left(R\right)6\times 10^{17}M_7^{0.9}R_{13}^{2.7}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{s}^1`$, where $`R_{13}`$ is the radius of interest in units of $`10^{13}`$ cm (see, e.g., Hameury et al. 1998). After an initial transient phase of duration $`t_0`$ (tens of years, set by the viscous time in the thin disk), the disk accretion rate and the mean radius of the disk evolve roughly as $`\dot{M}t^{1.2}`$ and $`R(t)t^{3/8}`$, respectively (§2.1), so that $`\dot{M}/R^{2.7}t^{2.2}`$. Combining this scaling with the one for the critical rate, $`\dot{M}_{\mathrm{crit}}`$, we find that the disk’s outer regions become subject to the thermal ionization instability at a time

$$t_n=t_0\left[\frac{\dot{M}(t_0)}{6\times 10^{17}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{s}^1}\frac{M_7^{0.9}}{R_{13}^{2.7}(t_0)}\right]^{\frac{1}{2.2}},$$
(1)
where $`\dot{M}(t_0)`$ and $`R_{13}(t_0)`$ are the values of the disk accretion rate and disk outer radius at time $`t_0`$, respectively.

For an initial disk mass of $`M_d0.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$, $`\dot{M}(t_0)M_d/t_0`$, since a reasonable fraction of the disk’s mass is accreted in the initial few viscous times. Moreover, the initial outer radius of the disk is of order the tidal disruption radius, i.e., $`R(t_0)R_T2\times 10^{13}M_7^{1/3}`$ cm. Thus,

$$t_n3\times 10^3\left(\frac{t_0}{10\mathrm{yrs}}\right)^{0.55}\left(\frac{M_d}{0.1M_{}}\right)^{0.45}\left(\frac{R(t_0)}{R_T}\right)^{1.2}\mathrm{years}.$$
(2)
For $`R(t_0)`$ closer to $`10^{14}`$ cm, as suggested by Cannizzo et al.’s simulations (because the disk spreads away from the tidal disruption radius during the transient accretion phase, $`t_0`$), the above estimate for $`t_n`$ is reduced by a factor of $`5`$, to $`<\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}10}^3`$ years. This is smaller than the typical time between tidal disruption events in our Galaxy, M31 and M32, implying that a single power law will not adequately describe the late time evolution of tidal debris disks in galactic nuclei.

Lipunova & Shakura (2000) have shown that thin $`\alpha `$–disks with fixed outer radii evolve according to $`\dot{M}t^{3.3}`$ and $`\dot{M}t^{2.5}`$ for free-free and electron scattering opacity, respectively. The evolution is much faster than a disk which conserves angular momentum ($`\dot{M}t^{1.2}`$) because the disk is not forced to spread to larger radii where the viscous time is longer. In our problem, the radius bounding the active region shrinks with time and so the accretion rate will decrease even more rapidly for $`t>t_n`$.

These results imply that once the outer regions of the disk become cold enough, the accretion rate and accretion luminosity from remnant tidal debris disks will precipitously drop. It is unclear, however, whether this is quantitatively sufficient to account for the observational constraints in §2.1. In particular, assuming the sharp drop in $`\dot{M}(t)`$ happens a time $`t_n`$ after a stellar disruption, the disk accretion rate still has to decrease by 3-4 orders of magnitude from $`\dot{M}(t_n)10^{20}`$ g s-1 to satisfy the limits on bolometric luminosities given in Table 1 (disk accretion being radiatively efficient). Given that the ratio of the time between two consecutive disruption events and $`t_n`$ is as small as $`10`$ for the three galaxies of interest, this implies that a power law evolution of the disk accretion rate steeper than $`t^4`$ is required to just satisfy the observational limits. If one further requires these nuclei to be as dim as currently observed for most of the time between consecutive disruption events, the power law has to be even steeper than this.

## 4 Conclusion

We have reconsidered the accretion of stellar debris following tidal disruption by a supermassive black hole. We argued that a large fraction of the mass initially bound to the black hole will be lost to infinity via an outflow during the early super-Eddington accretion phase. This limits the mass available for late time accretion via a thin disk to $`0.1M_{}`$. We also suggest that, on a timescale of $`10^3`$ years, the thin disk accretion rate will decrease much more quickly than in the standard similarity solution of Cannizzo et al. (1990) – this is because the disk has spread so far from the black hole that its outer regions are cold, mostly neutral, and may be unable to sustain MHD turbulence. Quantitatively, however, it is unclear if these two effects can explain the very low level of activity observed in the nuclei of our Galaxy, M31 and M32.

There are a number of uncertain elements in this evolutionary scenario that require clarification before a firm statement can be made on the level of activity expected after tidal disruptions in galactic nuclei. Perhaps paramount among them is whether thin disks evaporate into low-radiative efficiency accretion flows (LRAFs) once the accretion rate is sufficiently sub-Eddington. For purely thin disk accretion scenarios, a detailed numerical investigation of the evolution of a disk with an actively accreting zone that shrinks with time, as described in §3.2, would be particularly useful. Note that there are also additional effects that could further reduce the level of activity expected, such as significant angular momentum losses to a jet or an MHD wind during the evolution.

## Acknowledgments

Support for this work was provided by NASA through Chandra Fellowship grant PF9-10006 (to KM) and PF9-10008 (to EQ) awarded by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for NASA under contract NAS8-39073. KM thanks the Center for Astrophysical Sciences at Johns Hopkins University for hospitality.


text:
# References

Constraints on radion vev from the beta functions

for $`g_t`$ and $`\lambda `$ in the Randall-Sundrum model

Prasanta Das 111E-mail: pdas@iitk.ac.in  Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology,

Kanpur 208 016, India.

Uma Mahanta 222E-mail:mahanta@mri.ernet.in  Mehta Research Institute,

Chhatnag Road, Jhusi Allahabad-211019, India .

Abstarct

In this paper we determine how the beta function for the top Yukawa coupling to one loop is modified by a light stabilized radion in the Randall-Sundrum model. We then use this beta function together with $`\beta (\lambda )`$ to determine lower bounds on the radion vev $`\varphi `$, for different values of $`\lambda (m_z)`$ and $`m_\varphi `$ by demanding that both $`g_t(\mu )`$ and $`\lambda (\mu )`$ should remain perturbative from $`m_z`$ up to the cut off $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. We find that the lower bounds on $`\varphi `$ that follow from the condition $`\lambda (\mathrm{\Lambda })<\sqrt{4\pi }`$ nearly agree with those that follow from $`g_t(\mathrm{\Lambda })<\sqrt{4\pi }`$. We have also determined the critical value of $`\varphi `$ for different values of $`\lambda (m_z)`$ and $`m_\varphi `$ from the line of fixed points which is given by $`\beta (g_t)=0`$

Introduction

Recently several attractive proposals based on theories of extra dimensions  have been put forward to explain the hierarchy problem of the Standard Model(SM) to explain this hierarchy problem. Among them, the Randall-Sundrum model  is particularly interesting because it considers a five dimensional world based on the following non-factorizable metric

$`ds^2=e^{2kr_c|\theta |}\eta _{\mu \nu }dx^\mu dx^\nu r_{c}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}d\theta ^2`$ (1)
Here $`r_c`$ measures the size of the extra dimension which is an $`S^1/Z_2`$ orbifold. $`x^\mu `$ are the coordinates of the four dimensional space-time. $`\pi \theta \pi `$ is the coordinate of the extra dimension with $`\theta `$ and $`\theta `$ identified. k is a mass parameter of the order of the fundamental five dimensional Planck mass M. Two 3 branes are placed at the orbifold fixed points $`\theta =0`$ (hidden brane) and $`\theta =\pi `$ (visible brane). Randall and Sundrum showed that any field on the visible brane with a fundamental mass parameter $`m_0`$ gets an effective mass

$$m=m_0e^{kr_c\pi }$$

due to the exponential warp factor. Therefore for $`kr_c14`$ the electroweak scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{ew}`$ is generated from the Planck scale $`M_{pl}`$ by the warp factor.

In the Randall-Sundrum model $`r_c`$ is the vacuum expectation value (vev) of a massless scalar field T(x). The modulus was therefore not stabilized by some dynamics. In order to stabilize the modulus Goldberger and Wise  introduced a scalar field $`\chi (x,\theta )`$ in the bulk with interaction potentials localised on the branes. This they showed could generate a potential for $`T(x)`$ and stabilize the modulus at the right value ($`kr_c14`$) needed to explain the hierarchy between $`M_{pl}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{ew}`$ without any excessive fine tuning of the parameters of the model.

In the Randall-Sundrum model the SM fields are assumed to be localized on the visible brane at $`\theta =\pi `$. However the SM action is modified due to the exponential warp factor. Small fluctuations of the modulus field from its vev gives rise to non-trivial couplings of the modulus field with the SM fields. In this paper we shall derive the couplings of a stabilized radion to the top quark lagrangian upto quadratic order in $`\frac{\widehat{\varphi }}{\varphi }`$.Here $`\widehat{\varphi }`$ is a small fluctuation of the radion field from its vev and is given by $`\varphi =fe^{k\pi T(x)}=\varphi +\widehat{\varphi }`$. $`\varphi =fe^{k\pi r_c}`$ is the vev of $`\varphi `$ and f is a mass parameter of the order of M. We then use the radion couplings to the top quark to determine the modification in the beta function for $`g_t`$ to one loop due to a light stabilized radion. Radion phenomenology in the Randall-Sundrum model depends on two unknown parameters, the radion mass $`m_\varphi `$ and its vev $`\varphi `$. Determining bounds on these two parameters is therefore extremely important. Consistency with the collider data  requires that $`\varphi `$ must be of the order $`v`$(higgs vev) or greater. In contrast the radion mass remains relatively unconstrained by the low energy phenomenology. In this paper we shall use the beta functions for $`g_t`$ and $`\lambda `$ in the presence of alight stabilized radion to derive lower bounds on $`\varphi `$ for different values of $`\lambda (m_z)`$ and $`m_\varphi `$ by requiring that the running couplings $`g_t(\mu )`$ and $`\lambda (\mu )`$ should remain perturbative from $`m_z`$ all the way up to the cut off $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. In particular we have determined the lower bound on $`\varphi `$ for the case $`m_h(m_z)=114GeV`$ which corresponds to the present direct bound on $`m_h`$. We find that the lower bounds on $`\varphi `$ that follow from the condition $`g_t(\mathrm{\Lambda })<\sqrt{4\pi }`$ nearly agree withn those that follow from $`\lambda (\mathrm{\Lambda })<\sqrt{4\pi }`$. Finally we have drawn the line of fixed points, which is obtained by setting $`\beta (g_t)=0`$, in the $`\varphi `$ vs $`m_h(m_z)`$ plane for different fixed values of $`m_\varphi `$. We show that these curves could also be used to determine lower(upper) bounds on $`\varphi `$ depending upon whether $`\beta (g_t(m_z))`$ is negative (positive). For the sake of simplicity, in this paper we shall not consider the phenomenological effects of any curvature scalar-higgs mixing operator.

Radion couplings to the top quark in the Randall-Sundrum model

The couplings of the radion to the top quark in the Randall-Sundrum model can be derived from the following action

$`S_1={\displaystyle d^4x\sqrt{g_v}\left[\overline{\psi }\left(i\gamma _ae^{a\mu }D_\mu m\right)\psi \frac{g_t}{\sqrt{2}}H\overline{\psi }\psi \right]}`$ (2)
where $`e^{a\mu }`$ is the contravariant vierbein field for the visible brane. In the presence of radion fluctuation it satifies the normalization condition

$`e^{a\mu }e_a^\nu =g^{\mu \nu }=\left({\displaystyle \frac{\varphi }{f}}\right)^2\eta ^{\mu \nu }=e^{2\pi kT(x)}\eta ^{\mu \nu }`$ (3)
$`D_\mu `$ is the covariant derivative with respect to general coordinate transformation and is given by

$$D_\mu \psi =_\mu \psi +\frac{1}{2}w_\mu ^{ab}\mathrm{\Sigma }_{ab}\psi $$

$`w_\mu ^{ab}`$ being the spin connection. It can be computed from the vierbein fields by using the relation ,

$`w_\mu ^{ab}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}e^{\nu a}(_\mu e_\nu ^b_\nu e_\mu ^b){\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}e^{\nu b}(_\mu e_\nu ^a_\nu e_\mu ^a){\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}e^{\rho a}e^{\sigma b}(_\rho e_{\sigma c}_\sigma e_{\rho c})e_\mu ^c`$ (4)
$`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{ab}`$ is given by the expression $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{ab}=\frac{1}{4}[\gamma _a,\gamma _b]`$. It can be shown that in the presence of radion fluctuations on the visible brane, the spin connection is given by,

$`w_\mu ^{ab}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\varphi }}_\nu \varphi \left[e^{\nu b}e_\mu ^ae^{\nu a}e_\mu ^b\right]`$ (5)
The covariant derivative of the fermion field then becomes

$$D_\mu \psi =_\mu \psi +\frac{1}{4\varphi }^\nu \varphi [\gamma _\mu ,\gamma _\nu ]\psi $$

where the $`\gamma _\mu `$ are independent of space time coordinates. The action that determines the radion couplings to top quark can therefore be written as

$`S_1={\displaystyle d^4x\left(\frac{\varphi }{f}\right)^4\left[\left(\frac{\varphi }{f}\right)^1\overline{\psi }\{i\gamma ^\mu _\mu +\frac{3i}{2\varphi }_\mu \varphi \gamma ^\mu \}\psi m_t\overline{\psi }\psi \frac{g_t}{\sqrt{2}}H\overline{\psi }\psi \right]}`$
$`={\displaystyle d^4x\left[\overline{\stackrel{~}{\psi }}\{i\gamma ^\mu _\mu \stackrel{~}{\psi }+\frac{3i}{2\varphi }_\mu \varphi \gamma ^\mu \stackrel{~}{\psi }\}\left(1+\frac{\widehat{\varphi }}{\varphi }\right)^3\left(\stackrel{~}{m_t}+\frac{g_t}{\sqrt{2}}\stackrel{~}{H}\right)\left(1+\frac{\widehat{\varphi }}{\varphi }\right)^4\overline{\stackrel{~}{\psi }}\stackrel{~}{\psi }\right]}`$
$`={\displaystyle d^4x\left[\overline{\stackrel{~}{\psi }}i\gamma ^\mu _\mu \stackrel{~}{\psi }\stackrel{~}{m_t}\overline{\stackrel{~}{\psi }}\stackrel{~}{\psi }\frac{g_t}{\sqrt{2}}\stackrel{~}{H}\overline{\stackrel{~}{\psi }}\stackrel{~}{\psi }\right]}`$
$`+{\displaystyle d^4x\left[\frac{3i}{\varphi }\overline{\stackrel{~}{\psi }}\gamma ^\mu _\mu \stackrel{~}{\psi }\widehat{\varphi }+\frac{3i}{2\varphi }\overline{\stackrel{~}{\psi }}\gamma ^\mu \stackrel{~}{\psi }_\mu \widehat{\varphi }4\left(\stackrel{~}{m_t}+\frac{g_t}{\sqrt{2}}\stackrel{~}{H}\right)\frac{\widehat{\varphi }}{\varphi }\overline{\stackrel{~}{\psi }}\stackrel{~}{\psi }\right]}`$
$`+{\displaystyle d^4x\left[3\overline{\stackrel{~}{\psi }}i\gamma ^\mu _\mu \stackrel{~}{\psi }\frac{\widehat{\varphi }^2}{\varphi ^2}+\frac{3i}{\varphi ^2}\widehat{\varphi }\overline{\stackrel{~}{\psi }}\gamma ^\mu \stackrel{~}{\psi }_\mu \widehat{\varphi }6\left(\stackrel{~}{m_t}+\frac{g_t}{\sqrt{2}}\stackrel{~}{H}\right)\frac{\widehat{\varphi }^2}{\varphi ^2}\overline{\stackrel{~}{\psi }}\stackrel{~}{\psi }\right]}`$ (6)
Here, $`\psi =\left(\frac{f}{\varphi }\right)^{3/2}\stackrel{~}{\psi }`$, $`H=\left(\frac{f}{\varphi }\right)\stackrel{~}{H}`$ and $`m=\left(\frac{f}{\varphi }\right)\stackrel{~}{m}`$.

In the following we shall assume that all fields and parameters have been properly scaled so as to corresponds to the TeV scale and drop the $`\mathrm{𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑒}`$ sign.

In order to determine the radion contribution to $`\beta (g_t)`$ we also need the radion couplings to the higgs scalar which can be determined from the following action

$`S_2={\displaystyle d^4x\left[\frac{1}{2}_\mu h^\mu h\left(1+\frac{\widehat{\varphi }}{\varphi }\right)^2\frac{\lambda }{4}\left(4h^2v^2+4h^3v+h^4\right)\left(1+\frac{\widehat{\varphi }}{\varphi }\right)^4\right]}`$ (7)
The radion couplings to the K.E. of the higgs boson will contribute only to $`Z_h`$ (wave function renormalization constant of higgs boson) but not to the renormalization of $`H\overline{\psi }\psi `$ vertex.

Radion contribution to the beta function for $`g_t`$

Radion contribution to $`\beta (g_t)`$ arises from two different sources:(a) renormalization of $`H\overline{\psi }\psi `$ vertex due to radion and (b) wave function renormalization constants of top quark and higgs boson due to radion.

Radion contribution to the $`H\overline{\psi }\psi `$ vertex correction arises from the Feynman diagrams shown in Fig. 2.

In order to determine the contribution of these diagrams to $`H\overline{\psi }\psi `$ vertex correction we have to consider only those terms in the loop integral that do not depend on the external momentum. The reason being external momentum will give rise to derivative of external fields and there are no such derivatives in the Yukawa term $`H\overline{\psi }\psi `$. Considering only the external momentum independent terms and retaining only the contributions of such terms thatdiverge with the cut off $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ we get

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_1=\left({\displaystyle \frac{g_t}{\sqrt{2}}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{1}{16\pi ^2\varphi ^2}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{9}{4}}\mathrm{\Lambda }^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}(9m_\varphi ^25m_t^2)ln{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{\mu ^2}}\right]`$ (8)
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_2=\left({\displaystyle \frac{g_t}{\sqrt{2}}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{1}{16\pi ^2\varphi ^2}}\left[16m_h^2ln{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{\mu ^2}}\right]`$ (9)
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_3=6\left({\displaystyle \frac{g_t}{\sqrt{2}}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{1}{16\pi ^2\varphi ^2}}\left[\mathrm{\Lambda }^2m_\varphi ^2ln{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{\mu ^2}}\right]`$ (10)
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_4=12\left({\displaystyle \frac{g_t}{\sqrt{2}}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{1}{16\pi ^2\varphi ^2}}\left[m_h^2ln{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{\mu ^2}}\right]`$ (11)
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_5=\left({\displaystyle \frac{g_t}{\sqrt{2}}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{1}{16\pi ^2\varphi ^2}}\left[12\mathrm{\Lambda }^2+(12m_\varphi ^220m_t^2)ln{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{\mu ^2}}\right]`$ (12)
Here $`\mu `$ is the renormalization mass-scale.

The wave function renormalization constants $`Z_h`$ and $`Z_t`$ of the higgs boson and top quark arise from the Feynman diagrams shown in Fig 3.

By considering the terms proportional to $`p^2`$ of Fig 3a and the terms proportional to $`p\text{/}`$ of Fig 3b it can be shown that

$`Z_h=1+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{32\pi ^2\varphi ^2}}\left[7m_h^2+m_\varphi ^2\right]ln{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{\mu ^2}}`$ (13)
and

$`Z_\varphi =1+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{16\pi ^2\varphi ^2}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{39}{8}}\mathrm{\Lambda }^26m_\varphi ^2ln{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{\mu ^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{13}{4}}m_t^2ln{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{\mu ^2}}\right]`$ (14)
Using the vertex and wave function renormalization constants given above it can be shown that the radion contribution $`g_t^r(\mu )`$ to the renormalized Yukawa coupling is given by,

$`g_t^r(\mu )={\displaystyle \frac{g_t}{16\pi ^2\varphi ^2}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{9}{8}}\mathrm{\Lambda }^22m_\varphi ^2ln{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{\mu ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{31}{2}}m_t^2ln{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{\mu ^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{9}{4}}m_h^2ln{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }^2}{\mu ^2}}\right]`$ (15)
The complete beta function for $`g_t`$ in the presence of radion fluctuations then becomes

$`\beta (g_t(\mu ))=\beta _{SM}(g_t(\mu ))+{\displaystyle \frac{g_t}{16\pi ^2\varphi ^2}}\left[4m_\varphi ^2+{\displaystyle \frac{31}{2}}g_t^2v^2+9\lambda v^2\right]`$ (16)
where

$$\beta _{SM}(g_t(\mu ))=\frac{g_t}{16\pi ^2}\left[\frac{9}{2}g_t^28g_3^2\frac{9}{4}g_2^2\frac{17}{12}g_1^2\right]$$

We would like to note that the radion contribution to $`\beta (g_t)`$ is positive definite. On the contrary in the context of the SM, $`\beta (g_t)`$ is negative from $`m_z`$ all the way up to a cut off $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ in the few tens of TeV. However since the radion contribution to $`\beta (g_t)`$ is positive, in the presence of a light radion $`\beta (g_t)`$ can be positive or negative depending on the values of $`m_\varphi `$, $`m_h`$ and $`\varphi `$. Note that $`\beta (g_t)`$ besides depending on $`g_t`$ also depends on $`\lambda `$ and the three SM gauge couplings $`g_1`$, $`g_2`$ and $`g_3`$. We need to know the beta functions of the later couplings also in order to solve for $`g_t(\mu )`$. It was shown in Ref  that beta function for $`\lambda `$ in the presence of a stabilized radion to one loop is given by

$`\beta (\lambda )=\mu {\displaystyle \frac{d\lambda }{d\mu }}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{8\pi ^2}}[9\lambda ^2+{\displaystyle \frac{402\lambda ^2v^2}{\varphi ^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{144\lambda ^2v^4}{\varphi ^4}}+{\displaystyle \frac{5\lambda m_\varphi ^2}{\varphi ^2}}+\lambda (6g_y^2{\displaystyle \frac{9}{2}}g_2^2{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}g_1^2)]`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8\pi ^2}}[6g_y^4+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{16}}(g_2^4+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(g_2^2+g_1^2)^2)]`$ (17)
The beta functions for $`g_1`$, $`g_2`$ and $`g_3`$ to one loop are given by the same expressions as in the SM. In this paper we shall assume for simplicity that the radion mass $`m_\varphi `$ does not run with $`\mu `$.

Lower bound on $`\varphi `$ from the condition $`g_t(\mathrm{\Lambda })<\sqrt{4\pi }`$

The radion contribution to $`\beta (g_t)`$ being positive and inversely proportional to $`\varphi ^2`$. It is possible that for small enough $`\varphi `$ the running coupling $`g_t(\mu )`$ by starting from its known value $`g_t(m_z)`$ could exceed the perturbative bound $`g_t(\mathrm{\Lambda })<\sqrt{4\pi }`$ at the cut off $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. This characteristic of the RG evolution of $`g_t(\mu )`$ in the presence of a light radion can be used to determine lower bounds on $`\varphi `$ for different fixed values of $`\lambda (m_z)`$ and $`m_\varphi `$. Throughout this paper we shall use the following initial condition on $`g_t`$, $`g_1`$, $`g_2`$ and $`g_3`$ : $`g_t(m_z)=1.001`$, $`g_1(m_z)=0.356`$, $`g_2(m_z)=0.644`$ and $`g_3(m_z)=1.218`$. Since the higgs and radion masses are as yet unknown we shall consider different values of $`\lambda (m_z)`$ and $`m_\varphi `$ in our analysis. Using the beta functions for $`g_t`$, $`\lambda `$, $`g_1`$, $`g_2`$ and $`g_3`$ together with the above initial conditions one can determine the values of $`g_t(\mu )`$ for any value of $`\mu `$ between $`m_z`$ and the cut off $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Here we shall assume that the cut off is related to the radion vev $`\varphi `$ by the usual naive dimensional analysis estimate $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=4\pi \varphi `$. In Fig.4a and 4b we have plotted the values of $`g_t(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ against the radion vev $`\varphi `$ for different values of $`m_h(m_z)`$ and $`m_\varphi `$.

We find that as long as $`\varphi `$ remains greater than some lower bound, $`g_t(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is practically independent of $`\varphi `$ and the curve is almost horizontal. However as the lower bound is approached $`g_t(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ increases very sharply and the curve becomes almost vertical. In fact $`g_t(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ hits the Landau pole at the lower bound of $`\varphi `$. Note that different points on the vertical part of the curve correspond to different ultraviolet boundary conditions on $`g_t`$ but to the same low energy values of $`m_\varphi `$, $`m_h`$ and $`\varphi `$. Table.1 gives the values of the lower bound on $`\varphi `$ for different values of $`m_\varphi `$ and $`m_h(m_z)`$ obtained from the condition $`g_t(\mathrm{\Lambda })<\sqrt{4\pi }`$.

Table.1

| $`m_\varphi (GeV)`$ | $`m_h(m_z)`$ ($`GeV`$) | | | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  | 150 | 200 | 250 | 300 |
| 50 | 405 | 665 | 981 | 1428 |
| 300 | 413 | 675 | 991 | 1438 |

We find from Table.1 that the lower bound on $`\varphi `$ increases with $`m_h(m_z)`$ but is practically independent of $`m_\varphi `$ as long as the radion is light. The reason being the term involving $`m_h^2`$ in $`\delta \beta (g_t)`$ has a larger positive coefficient and is inversely proportional to $`\varphi ^2`$.

Lower bound on $`\varphi `$ from the condition $`\lambda (\mathrm{\Lambda })<\sqrt{4\pi }`$

Lower bounds on $`\varphi `$ can also be determined from the condition that $`\lambda (\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ must be less than the perturbative limit $`\sqrt{4\pi }`$. In Fig.5(a) and 5(b) we have plotted $`\lambda (\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ against $`\varphi `$ for different values of $`m_\varphi `$ and $`m_h(m_z)`$. The $`\lambda (\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ vs $`\varphi `$ curves look very similar to the $`g_t(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ vs $`\varphi `$ curves. As long as $`\varphi `$ is greater than some lower bound, $`\lambda (\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is practically independent of $`\varphi `$. However as the lower bound is approached $`\lambda (\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is increases very sharply and the curves becomes almost vertical. We also find that the rise becomes sharper and sharper with decreasing $`m_h(m_z)`$. Of particular importance is the curve corresponding to $`m_h(m_z)=114GeV`$ which corresponds to the present lower bound on $`m_h`$ from LEPII  This curve is almost vertical. Different points on the curve corresponds to different ultraviolet boundary conditions (UVBC) on $`\lambda (\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ but to the same low energy values of $`m_\varphi `$, $`m_h(\mu )`$ and $`\varphi `$. The fact that the low energy values of $`m_\varphi `$, $`m_h(\mu )`$ and $`\varphi `$ are insensitive to the UVBC on $`\lambda (\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ implies that some kind of infrared fixed point scnerio is in operation here. The lower bound on $`\varphi `$ corresponding to $`m_\varphi (m_z)=114GeV`$ is about $`243GeV`$. Table.2 gives the lower bound on $`\varphi `$ obtained from the condition $`\lambda (\mathrm{\Lambda })<\sqrt{4\pi }`$ for different values of $`m_\varphi `$ and $`m_h(m_z)`$.

Table.2

| $`m_\varphi (GeV)`$ | $`m_h(m_z)`$ ($`GeV`$) | | | | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  | 114 | 150 | 200 | 250 | 300 |
| 50 | 242 | 408 | 689 | 1078 | 1816 |
| 300 | 246 | 416 | 699 | 1090 | 1832 |

Bounds on $`\varphi `$ from the sign of $`\beta (g_t)`$

In the purely SM $`\beta (g_t(m_z))`$ is negative. However in the presence of a light stabilized radion, $`\beta (g_t(m_z))`$ can be positive or negative depending on whether $`\varphi `$ is smaller than or greater than some critical value $`\varphi _{crit}`$. The critical value of $`\varphi _{crit}`$ or more generally the critical line can be determined from the equation $`\beta (g_t(m_z))=0`$. In Fig 6 we have plotted the values of $`\varphi _{crit}`$ obtained by solving the equation $`\beta (g_t(m_z))=0`$ against $`m_h(m_z)`$ for three different values of $`m_\varphi `$. The region above any particular curve corresponds to $`\beta (g_t(m_z))<0`$ and the region below the curve corresponds to $`\beta (g_t(m_z))>0`$. The purely SM ($`\varphi \mathrm{}`$) corresponds to a region that lies very far above $`\varphi \mathrm{}`$ the curve. Fig.6 shows that the value of $`\varphi _{crit}`$ increases both with increasing $`m_h(m_z)`$ and $`m_\varphi `$.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Dr. B. Ananthanarayan for helping us with his code for solving the RG eqns for $`g_t`$ and $`\lambda `$. Uma Mahanta would like to thank the Department of Physics of IIT Kanpur for hospitality and support while this work was in progress.

Figure. 1a.  Feynman rules for one radion coupling to top quark.

Figure. 1b.  Feynman rules for two radion coupling to top quark.

Figure. 1c.  Feynman rules for one and two radion couplings to higgs boson.

Figure. 2.  Feynman diagrams that give rise to radion contribution to $`H\overline{\psi }\psi `$ vertex correction.

Figure. 3a.  Feynman diagrams giving rise to $`Z_h`$.

Figure. 3b.  Feynman diagrams giving rise to $`Z_t`$.

Figure. 4a. Showing the variation of $`g_t(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ against $`\varphi `$ for different initial values of $`m_h(m_z)`$and $`m_\varphi =50GeV`$.

Figure. 4b. The variation of $`g_t(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ against $`\varphi `$ for different initial values of $`m_h(m_z)`$ and $`m_\varphi =300GeV`$.

Figure. 5a. Showing the variation of $`\lambda (\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ against $`\varphi `$ for different initial values of $`m_h(m_z)`$ and $`m_\varphi =50GeV`$.

Figure. 5b. The variation of $`\lambda (\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ against $`\varphi `$ for different initial values of $`m_h(m_z)`$ and $`m_\varphi =300GeV`$.

Figure. 6. Showing the variation of $`\varphi _{crit}`$ against $`m_H(m_z)`$.