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# Near-infrared spectroscopy of nearby Seyfert galaxies. I. First resultsBased on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile.

## 1 Introduction

Arguably the most important advance in recent research of active galaxies has been the development of unified models (e.g. Antonucci 1993), where a thick molecular torus surrounds the nucleus. In Seyfert 1 (Sy1) galaxies the nucleus and the Broad Line Region (BLR) are directly visible, while in Seyfert 2 (Sy2) galaxies the torus obscures the nucleus and the BLR and only the Narrow Line Region (NLR) is visible. These models are supported by the detection in many Sy2s of broad lines in polarized emission (e.g. Moran et al. 2000), believed to be light from the BLR reflected into our line-of-sight, and cone-like structures in narrow-band \[O iii\] images (e.g. Mulchaey, Wilson & Tsvetanov 1996) almost invariably aligned with the radio jets.

Searches for the obscuring molecular material associated with the torus have mostly been carried out at millimeter wavelengths (e.g. Maiolino et al. 1997), and consequently they generally give only the total molecular content in the nucleus. Better spatial resolution, and therefore smaller contamination from any circumnuclear star formation, can be achieved by observing in the near-infrared (NIR; e.g. Veilleux, Goodrich & Hill 1997), where in addition to the molecular H2 lines a wealth of other emission and absorption lines are available. However, the NIR spectroscopic studies have mostly been made at moderate spatial resolution ($`>`$1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$5). Only recently have better resolution NIR studies been carried out (e.g. Storchi-Bergmann et al. 1999, Winge et al. 2000), but even these studies have only one slit position angle (PA) along either the radio axis or the major axis of inner isophotes in \[O iii\] images, and thus can not derive the geometry of the molecular emission.

In this paper we present the results of long-slit 1.5–2.5 $`\mu `$m moderate resolution spectroscopy of the first six galaxies in our sample of nearby (500 $`<`$ $`v`$ $`<`$ 1500 km s-1) Seyfert galaxies of both types with an ionization cone and/or jets. The slit was positioned both perpendicular and parallel to the ionization cone or to the jet in order to probe the distribution of the molecular material and thus the geometry of the torus. Additionally, broad-band $`JHK^{}`$-images are available for all the galaxies. These data are used to trace the spatial distribution, dynamics and excitation of molecular and nebular gas, and to determine the mass of hot ($`T>1000`$ K) molecular gas in the central regions.

In forthcoming publications, we shall discuss the implications from the emission line study of all the 14 Seyferts in our sample, and study the stellar populations and star forming histories of the sample, based on the absorption lines, and comparison with non-Seyfert spirals.

This paper is organized as follows: In Section 2 the observations, data reduction and methods used in the analysis are outlined. In Section 3 the galaxies are discussed individually, and in Section 4 we present our preliminary conclusions. Throughout this paper, $`H_0`$ = 75 km s-1 Mpc-1 and $`q_0`$ = 0.5 are assumed.

## 2 Observations, data reduction and methods of analysis

Six nearby active galaxies were observed in January 1999 with the 3.6 m ESO New Technology Telescope (NTT) using the 1024$`\times `$1024 px SOFI camera (Lidman, Cuby & Vanzi 2000)and a pixel scale 0$`\stackrel{}{.}`$29 px-1. The best, average and worst seeing during the observations were 0$`\stackrel{}{.}`$65, $``$1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$0 and 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$35, respectively. In the spectroscopic observations the red grism with resolution $`R=980`$ and slit width 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$0 (0$`\stackrel{}{.}`$6 for NGC 1386) were used. The wavelength range covered is 1.5–2.5 $`\mu `$m and the useful slit length $``$2′. Broad-band $`JHKs`$ images were also obtained, except for NGC 1097, for which we used the image presented in Kotilainen et al. (2000). The properties of the galaxies, redshift, scale, inclination, PA of the major axis, morphology, AGN type, the PAs used, total integration times, slit width and FWHM seeing, are given in Table 1.

The long-slit spectra were taken parallel and perpendicular to the PA of the cone or jet. The integrations were taken in two positions along the slit separated by $``$2′ and the pairs were subtracted from each other. The images were then flatfielded using dome flats. Bad pixels were masked out and any remaining cosmic rays were removed manually. The images were wavelength calibrated using either OH night sky lines or Xe arc lamp calibration frames. The nucleus was traced by fitting a low order polynomial, a strip was extracted, and the strips were averaged to erase the residual continuum and OH lines from the sky. Finally, the images were divided by an atmospheric standard star, flux calibrated and averaged. IRAF111IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which are operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation was used for all stages of the data reduction.

The accurate determination of fluxes and line widths requires a good S/N ratio, and therefore two or more pixels were binned together. However, the sizes given later for the nuclear sources are based on unbinned data. In order to probe the nuclear region as deeply as possible, all the spectra of a given galaxy were combined and the central 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$5 (5 px) spectrum was extracted. As a result of this and the slit width (1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$0 or 0$`\stackrel{}{.}`$6), the effective aperture has a diameter of 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$4 or 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$1. The fluxes and widths of the lines detected in this aperture are given in Table 2. For few lines, especially for \[Ca viii\] in NGC 1386, an outlaying region with no line emission was subtracted to remove the underlaying absorption lines. The quoted errors in the following sections are generally dominated by the continuum fitting, and are 1$`\sigma `$ except 3$`\sigma `$ for upper limits.

### 2.1 Extinction

We have estimated the extinction by comparing the observed integrated colours from the spectra with the colours of normal, unobscured spiral galaxies ($`H`$-$`K`$ = 0.22, Hunt et al. 1997), as the $`H`$-$`K`$ color of S0 or E galaxies resemble the color of spiral galaxies (Fioc & Rocca-Volmerange 1999). We note that the extinction based on continuum colours or the slope of the spectra may not be correct for the line emission. However, no useful line pairs were generally detected. Only in NGC 4945 the Br$`\zeta `$ and Br$`\eta `$ lines are visible in a few regions and the extinction based on them is similar to that derived from the continuum colours of the spectra. The difficulty of detecting other H ii lines arises from the high extinction these galaxies suffer, the intrinsic weakness of the H ii lines and/or the contamination from nearby absorption lines. We have assumed the extinction law $`A_\lambda \lambda ^{1.85}`$ (Landini et al. 1984) and a foreground dust screen. The extinction is given in Table 2 for the central region and in the lowest panel of the spatial profile figures. Our extinction measurements are in fairly good agreement with the previous derivations: e.g. in NGC 4945 Marconi et al. (1996) derived $`A_\mathrm{V}1.1`$ from the continuum colors and $`A_\mathrm{V}>1.3`$ in the Pa$`\alpha `$ ring. The observed colors are also in agreement with previous measurements (e.g. $`H`$-$`K`$ = 0.34 Kotilainen et al. 2000; here 0.37).

In addition to the hydrogen recombination lines, \[Fe ii\] lines can be used to estimate the extinction. A useful line pair in the 1.5-2.5 $`\mu `$m range is 1.5339 and 1.6773 $`\mu `$m, which originate from the same 4D5/2 level. These faint emission lines are detected in NGC 1386, NGC 1566, NGC 3227 and NGC 5128, as marked in the respective figures. However, the lines are generally much broader and more extended than the main 1.64 $`\mu `$m line. For this reason, they have not been used in the analysis. These features are not artificial or telluric as the velocity field derived from them agrees with the general rotation of the galaxies.

### 2.2 H2 molecular gas: excitation and mass estimate

The emission line ratios can be used to probe the excitation mechanisms of the interstellar matter. Sources of line emission can roughly be divided into three classes: cool or warm molecular clouds (H2 lines), warm ionized interstellar gas (H ii lines, \[Fe ii\], He i) and very hot, highly ionized matter near the centre of the galaxies (coronal lines). The main mechanisms for the H2 emission are thermal (collisional) heating and UV pumping (fluorescence). Thermal excitation, either by shocks (e.g. Hollenbach & McKee 1989), by UV radiation in dense ($`n10^4`$ cm-3) clouds (Sternberg & Dalgarno 1989) or by X-rays (e.g. Gredel & Dalgarno 1995), is preferred as the dominant mechanism in most extragalactic sources.

The H2 line ratio 2–1 S(1)/1–0 S(1) is commonly used to distinguish between thermal ($``$0.1–0.2) and UV ($``$0.55) excitation in low density regions. Interpretation of the H2 2–1 S(1)/1–0 S(1) ratio is somewhat hampered, if X-rays play a significant role in the excitation of the molecular gas (Maloney, Hollenbach & Tielens 1996). Qualitative estimation for the importance of X-ray excitation can be derived from the strength of \[Fe ii\]; X-ray excitation predicts \[Fe ii\]/Br$`\gamma `$ up to $``$20, while H ii regions have \[Fe ii\]/Br$`\gamma `$ $`<`$ 2.5 (Alonso-Herrero et al. 1997). The ratio 2–1 S(1)/1–0 S(1) is later used to derive the vibrational excitation temperature $`T_{\mathrm{vib}}`$ ($`T_{\mathrm{vib}}5600/\mathrm{ln}(1.355\times I_{10\mathrm{S}(1)}/I_{21\mathrm{S}(1)})`$ assuming Einstein $`A`$-terms by Turner, Kirby-Docken & Dalgarno 1977), while the rotational temperature is generally derived from the line ratio 1–0 S(0)/1–0 S(2) ($`T_{\mathrm{rot}}1113/\mathrm{ln}(0.323\times I_{10\mathrm{S}(2)}/I_{10\mathrm{S}(0)})`$).

The equation for the mass of the excited molecular hydrogen can be derived assuming $`T`$ = 2000 K, the 1–0 S(1) transition probability $`A_{S(1)}`$ = 3.47 $`\times `$ 10-7 s-1 (Turner et al. 1977) and the population fraction in the $`\nu `$ = 1, $`J`$ = 3 level $`f_{\nu =1,J=3}`$ = 0.0122 (Scoville et al. 1982)

$$m_{\mathrm{H}_2}5.0875\times 10^{13}D^2I_{10S(1)}\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^{0.4277A_{2.2}}$$

where $`m_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$ is the mass of the excited H2 in M, $`D`$ is distance in Mpc, $`I_{10\mathrm{S}(1)}`$ is the observed flux in ergs cm-2 s-1 and $`A_{2.2}`$ is the 2.2 $`\mu `$m extinction. Integrated masses were derived for all PAs (Table 3). Since the effective length of the slit is $``$2′, the slit covers most of the galaxy and the inclination effect is negligible. We have also determined the average surface density and the mass of the excited H2 in the nucleus. As our nuclear aperture is not significantly larger than the seeing, the average surface density can then be used to compare the amount of molecular material between Sy1s and Sy2s.

## 3 Results and discussion

The nuclear 30$`\times `$30″ images of the galaxies are displayed in Fig. 1 and the $`H`$\- and $`K`$-band nuclear spectra in Fig. 2. We were unable to completely remove the telluric features at $`2.0`$ $`\mu `$m and $`2.05`$ $`\mu `$m. These signatures are due to H2O and are not only temporally but also spatially variable so they can not be removed by self-calibration with a distant region in the galaxy.

### 3.1 NGC 1097

NGC 1097 is a nearby (distance = 17 Mpc) SB(s)b galaxy with a strong bar at PA $``$137°. It interacts with a small elliptical companion toward NW. NGC 1097 has an almost circular starburst ring (diameter 1.5-kpc) and a nuclear bar, visible both in the NIR continuum (Fig. 1) and in the 1–0 S(1) line emission (Kotilainen et al. 2000). In the optical, NGC 1097 has four faint straight jets (e.g. Wehrle, Keel & Jones 1997). Originally thought to be a LINER (Phillips et al. 1984), currently NGC 1097 is classified as a Sy1, based on the detection of broad, variable double-peaked H$`\alpha `$ emission (Storchi-Bergmann, Baldwin & Wilson 1993). The radio nucleus of NGC 1097 is compact and weak (Wolstencroft, Tully & Perley 1984). To our knowledge, this is the first $`HK`$-band spectroscopic study of NGC 1097.

The $`H`$\- and $`K`$-band spectra of NGC 1097 at PA 15° are shown in Fig. 3. The nuclear subtracted spectrum shown has been obtained by matching the flux of the $`K`$-band CO lines in the off-nuclear (0$`\stackrel{}{.}`$7-1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$6 from the nucleus) spectra to 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$4 nuclear aperture and subtracting the result from the nuclear spectra. The subtracted spectrum is included here to better show the weak nuclear emission lines, especially in the case of NGC 1386 discussed later. The full discussion and analysis of the subtracted spectra are postponed to forthcoming papers. The only emission lines directly detected in the nucleus are the various H2 lines (Table 2). This agrees with the results of Kotilainen et al. (2000), who detected nuclear 1–0 S(1) but no Br$`\gamma `$ emission in their narrow-band images, suggesting that thermal UV heating is not important. The 1–0 S(1) emission is detected further away from the nucleus parallel to jets than perpendicular to them (see Fig. 4). Parallel to jets it can be followed up to 2–3″ ($``$280 pc in the plane of the galaxy) from the nucleus while perpendicular to them only up to $``$1″ ($``$90 pc) (Table 3), in agreement with the 1–0 S(1) image of Kotilainen et al. (2000). The distances quoted are corrected for inclination taking into account the position angle of the slit unless otherwise stated.

In the $`H`$-band (Fig. 3), \[Fe ii\] can only be detected after subtracting the underlying CO features. The \[Fe ii\] line is narrow (intrinsic FWHM 400 km s-1), although wider than in typical starbursts ($`300`$ km s-1; e.g. Moorwood & Oliva 1988). The 1–0 S(1) line is narrower than \[Fe ii\], with intrinsic FWHM 270 km s-1. No 2–1 S(1) emission is detected, with 2–1 S(1)/1–0 S(1) $`<`$ 0.13 (assuming $`T_{\mathrm{vib}}<2400`$ K) in the central 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$4 aperture, indicating that fluorescent excitation cannot be significant. We conclude that in the nucleus there is no current star formation and the H2 gas is collisionally excited.

The derived parameters, including the density and mass of molecular hydrogen and the spatial extent of different lines in NGC 1097 are given in Table 3. In the nuclear 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$4 aperture, the column density of excited molecular hydrogen is 1.5$`\times `$1017 cm-2 (corresponding to $`M_{\mathrm{H}_2}=25`$ M), assuming $`T`$ = 2000 K. The integrated mass of excited H2 inside the starburst ring is larger parallel to the jets (40 and 50 M) than perpendicular to them ($``$30 M). This suggests that H2 emission is produced by shocks in the jets. However, further away in the galaxy H2 emission was not detected, while the optical jets continue much further. This discrepancy is in agreement with the non-detection of optical emission lines in the jets (Wehrle et al. 1997).

The kinematics of NGC 1097 has been discussed in detail by Storchi-Bergmann, Wilson & Baldwin (1996a), who found the starburst ring to be located between the inner Lindblad resonances. Our NIR velocity fields (Fig. 5) are in good agreement with their H$`\alpha `$ velocity field. There are no significant differences between the kinematics of H2, Br$`\gamma `$ or \[Fe ii\].

### 3.2 NGC 1386

NGC 1386 is a nearby (distance = 11.5 Mpc) SB0+ galaxy in the Fornax cluster with a Sy2 nucleus and dust lanes across the nuclear region (e.g. Malkan, Gorjian & Tam 1998). NGC 1386 has a star forming ring with major axis diameter $``$1.3-kpc (Weaver, Wilson & Baldwin 1991). The nuclear radio core (Nagar et al. 1999) is extended in PA$`170\mathrm{°}`$, which is different from the optical major axis PA ($`25`$°). Weaver et al. (1991) detected an outflow directed along the major axis. Low-resolution ($`R`$ = 250) $`JHK`$-spectra were taken by Winge et al. (2000). The \[O iii\] image of Storchi-Bergmann et al. (1996b) has a separate emission region to N. The slit was aligned to include this region.

The $`H`$\- and $`K`$-band spectra of NGC 1386 along the cone are shown in Fig. 6, while the extent of the lines is displayed in Fig. 7. While Br$`\gamma `$ and \[Fe ii\] are only marginally resolved, the 1–0 S(1) emission is extended parallel to the cone, where the two clearly detected separate regions are discussed in detail below. The H2 emission can be traced $``$4$`\stackrel{}{.}`$5 (440 pc in the plane of the galaxy) towards N and $``$3$`\stackrel{}{.}`$5 (340 pc) towards S. The nuclear 1–0 S(1) core is not resolved parallel to the cone, while in the perpendicular direction it is marginally resolved. There is no extended emission perpendicular to the cone.

Three spatially unresolved coronal lines (\[Si vi\] 1.9635 $`\mu `$m, \[Ca viii\] 2.3213 $`\mu `$m and \[Si vii\] 2.4833 $`\mu `$m) are detected in the nucleus of NGC 1386 (Fig. 6). Strongest of these coronal lines is \[Si vii\] and it is also overall the strongest observed line in the nuclear spectrum. Previously, the \[Ca viii\] coronal line has only been detected in the Sy2s Circinus (Oliva et al. 1994) and NGC 1068 (Marconi et al. 1996), and unlike in them, \[Ca viii\] in NGC 1386 is already clearly visible before the underlying CO features have been subtracted (Fig. 6). There is a red wing in both \[Si vii\] and \[Si vi\], and possibly in \[Ca viii\], after the CO absorption features have been subtracted. The \[Si vi\]/\[Si vii\] ratio in the nucleus is 0.48, compatible either with shocks with relatively little contribution from UV excitation, or with strong UV continuum excitation (Contini & Viegas 2001).

We did not detect 2–1 S(1) nor 1–0 S(0) emission in the nucleus. The upper limit to 2–1 S(1)/1–0 S(1) ratio, $``$ 0.12, is compatible with thermal excitation with $`T_{\mathrm{vib}}2310`$ K. Assuming $`T_{\mathrm{vib}}=2000`$ K, we derive $`N_{\mathrm{H}_2}=3.9\times 10^{17}`$ cm-2 (corresponding to $`M_{\mathrm{H}_2}20`$ M) within the nuclear 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$1 aperture. The 1–0 S(1)/Br$`\gamma `$ ratio is 1.14, strongly suggesting that thermal UV heating is insignificant, as then Br$`\gamma `$ should be much stronger. On the other hand, the \[Fe ii\]/Br$`\gamma `$ ratio is 7.1, suggesting a significant contribution from X-rays to the ionization. Since the Br$`\gamma `$ is broad, the ratios derived above are in fact lower limits. The likely excitation mechanism for nebular gas is therefore X-rays, further supported by the much larger width of \[Fe ii\] (560 km s-1) and Br$`\gamma `$ ($``$800 km s-1) compared to 1–0 S(1) (190 km s-1).

The Br$`\gamma `$ line is broad and asymmetric (Fig. 8), while both 1–0 S(1) and \[Fe ii\] emission are symmetric. Br$`\gamma `$ is broader than the optical lines (e.g. Rossa, Dietrich & Wagner 2000), and is likely to originate from the BLR. There is no corresponding broad component to the \[Fe ii\] line, so the observed \[Fe ii\] emission arises outside the BLR. Br$`\gamma `$ is concentrated in the nucleus, and the strong H$`\alpha `$ peak (Rossa et al.) is not detected in Br$`\gamma `$, demonstrating the reduced effect of extinction in the NIR. There is no detectable emission from the starburst ring, which is not surprising considering its faintness (only a few % of the brightness of the nucleus in H$`\alpha `$; Storchi-Bergmann et al. 1996b). However, the ring is visible in the $`K^{}`$-band (Fig. 1).

The velocity field of NGC 1386 is displayed in Fig. 9. The H2 rotation curve is relatively ordered parallel to the cone, suggesting that circular motions dominate the kinematics.

#### 3.2.1 Two extended regions parallel to the cone

The most interesting features in Fig. 7 are the two extended H2 emission regions parallel to the cone. Region A covers the area 4$`\stackrel{}{.}`$4 – 2$`\stackrel{}{.}`$3 to the north and region B 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$1–3$`\stackrel{}{.}`$2 to the south of the nucleus. Neither of the regions is visible in the broad–band images. Extinction derived from continuum colours is $`A_{2.2}`$ = 0.03 and $`A_{2.2}`$ = 0.09 mag, while that derived from the 1–0 Q(3)/1–0 S(1) ratio is $`A_{2.2}`$ = 0.04 and $`A_{2.2}`$ = 0.20. for regions A and B, respectively. The H2 lines in these two regions are narrower than in the nucleus (Table 4), in contrast to the situation in NGC 4945 (Section 3.5).

Many of the weaker H2 lines not detected in the nucleus are visible in the two regions due to much fainter continuum in these regions than in the nucleus, while the line fluxes are comparable to those in the nucleus. The line widths are only slightly larger than the instrumental resolution ($``$ 22 Å). The 2–1 S(1) line was not detected in either region, setting upper limits of $`T_{\mathrm{vib}}`$ as 2600 K and 2100 K for regions A and B, respectively. Furthermore, the non-detection of Br$`\gamma `$ suggests thermal excitation in shock-heated clouds. The 1–0 S(0)/1–0 S(2) ratio is 0.60 and 0.46 for regions A and B, respectively, and is compatible with $`T_{\mathrm{rot}}`$ 1800 K or 3200 K. For region A, this temperature is in good agreement with the 2–1 S(1)/1–0 S(1) upper limit ($`T_{\mathrm{vib}}<2100`$ K) assuming thermal excitation. For region B, the two derived temperatures agree within errors.

The mass of the excited molecular hydrogen associated with the two regions of 2$`\stackrel{}{.}`$3$`\times `$0$`\stackrel{}{.}`$6 ($``$4350 pc2) area is $``$10 M ($`N_{\mathrm{H}_2}=\mathrm{1.9\hspace{0.17em}10}^{17}`$ cm-2) and $``$30 M (3.8 $`10^{17}`$ cm-2), for regions A and B, respectively. These masses are comparable to the mass within the 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$1 nuclear aperture, $``$20 M.

### 3.3 NGC 1566

NGC 1566 is a nearby (distance = 19 Mpc) barred (PA$``$ 0$`\mathrm{°}`$; Mulchaey, Regan, & Kundu 1997), ringed (diameter 1.7-kpc) SAB(s)bc galaxy in the Dorado group with a Sy1 nucleus. The nucleus in the high resolution \[O iii\] map of Schmitt & Kinney (1996) is almost point-like, with maximum extent of 0$`\stackrel{}{.}`$7 (59 pc). The \[O iii\] map also shows conical extended emission in SE. To our knowledge, no NIR spectroscopy has previously been obtained for NGC 1566. The 1.5–2.5 $`\mu `$m spectrum is displayed in Fig. 10.

Both the line and the continuum emission appear much weaker parallel to the cone than perpendicular to it (Fig. 11). Of the lines detected in NGC 1566 neither \[Fe ii\] nor Br$`\gamma `$ are spatially resolved. The 1–0 S(1) emission is detected up to $``$2″ ($``$200 pc in the plane of the galaxy) from the nucleus parallel to the cone and $``$ 280 pc perpendicular to it. The intrinsic spatial FWHM of the nuclear 1–0 S(1) emission is $``$1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$3 perpendicular to the cone and $``$1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$2 parallel to the cone. The 1–0 S(1) and \[Fe ii\] lines are rather narrow, with intrinsic FWHMs 430 km s-1 and 600 km s-1 in the nuclear 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$4 aperture. The width of the 1-0 S(1) line is roughly constant along the slit, with no detectable difference between the two PAs.

The Br$`\gamma `$ emission line is broad (Fig. 8), with FWHM = 2100 km s-1 in the combined nuclear 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$4 aperture after subtracting the neighbouring absorption lines. It is detected, however, only within the central 1″, with no extended emission. The nuclear \[Fe ii\] line is narrow (FWHM = 600 km s-1), while there appears to be no narrow component to Br$`\gamma `$. Similarly, there is no broad component to the \[Fe ii\] line, which can be explained if extinction $`A_{2.2}`$ $`>`$ 3 mag. However, the lack of the narrow Br$`\gamma `$ component indicates a different excitation mechanism for iron, possibly X-ray excitation outside the BLR. The \[Fe ii\] line is not spatially resolved, in agreement with the X-ray heating models by Krolik & Lepp (1989), which predict heating within the torus on scales of a few pc.

The H2 2–1 S(1) line was not detected in the nucleus of NGC 1566, with 2–1 S(1)/1–0 S(1) $`0.17`$ (corresponding to $`T_{\mathrm{vib}}2700`$ K), significantly less than predicted for UV fluorescence. The 1-0 S(1)/Br$`\gamma `$ ratio is 0.27, suggesting thermal UV heating. The \[Fe ii\]/Br$`\gamma `$ ratio is 0.50, but since Br$`\gamma `$ does not display a narrow component, a starburst contribution to the UV excitation cannot be larger than $``$10%. Therefore, it seems that the dominant mechanism for the excitation of the H2 gas is collisional via shocks. The integrated mass the of excited molecular hydrogen along the direction of the ionization cone is $``$90 M and perpendicular to it $``$110 M. The 1–0 S(1) velocity field (Fig. 9) appears relatively ordered, with increasing velocities with radius, thus suggesting that circular motions dominate the kinematics.

### 3.4 NGC 3227

NGC 3227 is a nearby (distance = 15 Mpc) barred (Mulchaey et al. 1997; PA $`150\mathrm{°}`$) SAB galaxy hosting a Sy1.5 nucleus with a one-sided cone to the N (Schmitt & Kinney 1996). It has been imaged with HST in the 1–0 S(1) and 1–0 S(3) lines by Quillen et al. (1999), although the very strong nuclear emission complicates subtracting the continuum in the centre. Recently, NIR spectroscopy of NGC 3227 has been obtained by Rhee & Larkin (2000; $`R`$ = 550) and Schinnerer, Eckart & Tacconi (2001; $`R`$ = 700-1000). In our new spectra the EW of \[Fe ii\] and 1–0 S(1), and the integrated colours are in good agreement with those derived by Schinnerer et al. On the other hand, Br$`\gamma `$ is much stronger and broader (EW = 8.3 Å; FWHM = 1800 km s-1) in our spectra than in those by Schinnerer et al. (EW = 3.7 Å; FWHM = 650 km s-1).

Schinnerer et al. (2001) reported the detection of two coronal lines, \[Si vi\] and \[Al ix\] 2.043 $`\mu `$m. After subtracting the off-nuclear spectra to reduce the residual telluric lines, we found no evidence for the presence of \[Al ix\] (Fig. 12). The \[Si vi\] line is present, but at a much weaker level than reported by Schinnerer et al. However, this result is hardly conclusive because of the atmospheric signatures.

The Br$`\gamma `$ line is broad in NGC 3227 (Fig. 8), with single component FWHM = $``$1800 km s-1, in agreement with the results by Rhee & Larkin (2000). Unfortunately, outside the nucleus the S/N ratio in our spectra is not sufficiently high to accurately subtract the continuum and determine the line profile, in the presence of neighbouring absorption lines (e.g. 2.1770 $`\mu `$m and 2.1460 $`\mu `$m). Fixing the narrow component at FWHM = 650 km s-1, as derived by Schinnerer et al. (2001), the FWHM of the broad component is 2500 – 3000 km s-1 (Fig. 14), similar to that derived by Rhee & Larkin (2000).

The nuclear Br$`\gamma `$ emission is spatially unresolved (Fig. 13), with no evidence for extended emission. Therefore, no recent star formation has been occurring in the disc of NGC 3227. However, Schinnerer et al. (2001) detected a young (25–50 Myr) star cluster close to the nucleus, which may already have passed the ionizing stage. Alternatively, it may be the origin of the narrow Br$`\gamma `$ component. Neither 1–0 S(1) nor \[Fe ii\] have broad profiles, indicating that Br$`\gamma `$ originates much closer to the central engine than \[Fe ii\]. The \[Fe ii\] line is broader in the direction of the cone than perpendicular to it, and extends predominantly towards N. This effect may be due to line splitting, which is not directly detectable with our spectral resolution. The narrow \[Fe ii\]/narrow Br$`\gamma `$ ratio is $``$7.8, which suggests that the narrow nebular lines are excited by X-rays, as in the case of NGC 1386 or NGC 1566 (see above). Unlike in these galaxies, however, \[Fe ii\] is spatially resolved in NGC 3227.

The nuclear 2–1 S(1)/1–0 S(1) ratio is 0.08, clearly ruling out UV fluorescence as the dominant excitation mechanism. Outside the nucleus, 1–0 S(1)/Br$`\gamma `$ ratio $`1`$, suggesting shocks to be responsible for the excitation of H2. In the nuclear 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$4 aperture, the gas density $`N_{\mathrm{H}_2}=\mathrm{23.4\hspace{0.17em}10}^{17}`$ cm-2, corresponding to gas mass of 280 M, in agreement with the mass 380 M derived by Fernandez et al. (1999) from the peak H2 surface brightness.

Both the 1–0 S(1) emission and, more marginally, the \[Fe ii\] emission are spatially resolved, with no clear difference in the nuclear extent in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the cone. In the 1–0 S(1) image by Quillen et al. (1999) the emission is elongated along PA $``$ 100°. The 1–0 S(1) line is broader parallel to the ionization cone than perpendicular to it, similarly to \[Fe ii\]. This suggests that both the excited H2 and \[Fe ii\] are emitted from the surface of the hollow ionization cone. In Schinnerer et al. (2001), the \[Fe ii\] line was not spatially resolved, but this may be due to their poorer spatial resolution ($``$1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$6).

The velocity field is well-ordered and resembles solid rotation, especially parallel to cone, and \[Fe ii\] appears to have the same dynamics as that of 1–0 S(1). Perpendicular to the cone the curve is noisier and flat.

### 3.5 NGC 4945

NGC 4945 is a nearby SB(s)cd galaxy in the Centaurus group of galaxies, with a dust lane SE of the nucleus. NGC 4945 has strong starburst activity, concentrated in a circumnuclear ring (Marconi et al. 2000) with a projected major axis diameter $``$ 11′′ (210 pc). NGC 4945 also harbours a Sy2 nucleus, based on the detection of a heavily obscured, rapidly variable, strong hard X-ray source above 10 kev (Iwasawa et al. 1993), which is completely obscured below 10 kev. In the following we have adopted a distance of 3.9 Mpc for NGC 4945 (Harris, Poole & Harris 1998). The hollow cone, which may be produced by a superwind (e.g. Heckman, Armus & Miley 1990) from the powerful starburst and not represent an outflow from the nucleus, is well visible in shorter wavelengths ($`\lambda <2\mu `$m), especially NW of the nucleus (Moorwood et al. 1996).

Marconi et al. (2000) presented Pa$`\alpha `$, 1–0 S(1) and \[Fe ii\] images of NGC 4945. Our new data (Figs. 15, 16) are in good agreement with their results. The Pa$`\alpha `$ image of Marconi et al. shows no central peak but is dominated by a star forming ring. In the superwind direction, the two Br$`\gamma `$ maxima separated by $``$2″ (180 pc in the plane of the galaxy) correspond to the SE and NW parts of the ring. The \[Fe ii\] emission in our spectra is also in good agreement with that in Marconi et al. The NW peak at $``$5″ (440 pc) from the nucleus appears as an elongation in their image. The \[Fe ii\] emission can be traced further out toward NW than SE. Another tracer of young stars, He i can be traced $``$6–8″ ($``$230 pc) from the nucleus perpendicular and $``$3″ (260 pc) parallel to the superwind. The 1–0 S(1) map in Marconi et al. shows an elongated (PA$``$ 33°) nuclear emission and extended emission to SW and NW of the nucleus, in agreement with our spectra. Toward SW, the emission rapidly decreases with local peaks at 4″ (130 pc) and 7″ (230 pc) distance, while toward NE the decline is slower.

There are quite large radial changes in the line ratios of the main emission lines relative to 1–0 S(1) (Fig. 17). Notably, the star forming region SW of the nucleus perpendicular to the superwind is clearly visible. There is a reasonable correlation between Br$`\gamma `$ and He i, while the behaviour of \[Fe ii\] emission is different from them. The Br$`\gamma `$/1–0 S(1) ratio is 0.1–0.5 toward NE and NW of the nucleus, suggesting that UV heating is not important. However, toward SE this ratio is $``$1.0 at 2″ (180 pc) distance from the nucleus and toward SW it is $``$1.4 at 5″ (160 pc) distance from the nucleus. These ratios indicate, together with the enhanced He i and \[Fe ii\] emission, that UV emission from young, hot stars is important.

The 2–1 S(1)/1–0 S(1) ratio of $``$0.1–0.2 (Fig. 17) is in good agreement with collisional excitation at $`T_{\mathrm{vib}}=20002500`$ K. The 1–0 Q(1)/1–0 Q(3) ratio in the nucleus is $``$1, and the associated rotational temperature $`T_{\mathrm{rot}}2000`$ K. Adopting $`T`$ = 2000 K, the density of excited H2 in the nucleus $`N_{\mathrm{H}_2}100\times 10^{17}`$ cm-2 (corresponding to $`m`$ $``$ 70 M), much lower than the available mass of warm ($`T=160`$ K) H2 (2.4$`\times `$107 M; Spoon et al. 2000).

The \[Fe ii\]/Br$`\gamma `$ ratio of $`4.5`$ at the nucleus (Fig. 17) is lower than expected for X-ray excitation and can better be explained by shocks and star formation. Perpendicular to the superwind, the He i/Br$`\gamma `$ ratio is roughly constant, with slightly larger ratios ($``$0.4) toward NE than SW. However, $``$1–3″ SW there is a region with significantly lower ratios ($``$0.1–0.2). This may be due to a lower number of high mass stars as a result of a decaying starburst or a truncated IMF in this region. Parallel to the superwind, this ratio is higher, $`0.8`$, both 1″ NW and 0$`\stackrel{}{.}`$5 SE of the nucleus.

Both the 1–0 S(1) and especially the \[Fe ii\] are significantly broader in the direction of the superwind (up to 550 km s-1 and 700–800 km s-1, respectively) than perpendicular to it ($``$ 400 km s-1) at $``$5″ (440 pc) distance from the nucleus. This is in agreement with that observed in H$`\alpha `$ (Heckman et al. 1990). However, \[Fe ii\] and 1–0 S(1) are also broader SE of the nucleus unlike H$`\alpha `$, probably due to lower extinction which in NIR makes it possible to observe the cone surface furthest from us.

The 1–0 S(1) emission has a red wing within a few central arcsec, but it is symmetric further out. On the other hand, SW of the nucleus, the red wing in both Br$`\gamma `$ and \[Fe ii\] is much stronger than the blue wing, while NE of the nucleus the blue wing is stronger. A likely explanation for this behaviour is that the line-of-sight rotational velocity in the nuclear ring is higher than in the underlying galaxy, either intrinsically or as a result of the ring inclination with respect to the galaxy.

Both perpendicular and parallel to the superwind, the velocity field (Fig. 18) of 1–0 S(1) is clearly different from that of \[Fe ii\] and Br$`\gamma `$, suggesting differences in the dynamics and/or excitation mechanism. The kinematics of Br$`\gamma `$ and \[Fe ii\] are better correlated, except toward NE of the nucleus. 1–0 S(1) follows better the stellar rotation as derived from absorption lines than from either Br$`\gamma `$ or \[Fe ii\], but correlation is not perfect. The most intriguing feature is the roughly sinusoidal form of the rotation curve in the direction of the superwind. It is most clearly seen in the various H2 lines, but is also present in Br$`\gamma `$ and He i. Based on the velocity field of \[Fe ii\] and assuming $`i=78\mathrm{°}\pm 2\mathrm{°}`$ and position angle for the line of nodes $`PA=43\mathrm{°}\pm 1\mathrm{°}`$ (Ables et al. 1987), we derive a dynamical mass $`M_{\mathrm{dyn}}=3.2\times 10^8\mathrm{M}_{}`$. This value is slightly less than that derived in the inner $`R100\mathrm{p}\mathrm{c}`$ from millimeter CO observations ($`M_{\mathrm{dyn}}8\times 10^8\mathrm{M}_{}`$; Mauersberger et al. 1996).

### 3.6 NGC 5128

NGC 5128 (Centaurus A) is a well-studied galaxy with prominent dust lanes (e.g. Schreier et al. 1996) and Sy2 nucleus. It has very prominent radio jets which after 5-kpc expand into plumes. The distance of NGC 5128 has been controversial, with estimates ranging from 2.1 Mpc to 8.5 Mpc; in the following, we have adopted the distance of 3.9 Mpc (Harris et al. 1998). Previous NIR spectroscopic studies of NGC 5128 include e.g. Marconi et al. (2001) and Bryant & Hunstead (1999). In addition, it has been the target of NIR Pa$`\alpha `$ (Schreier et al. 1998) and \[Fe ii\] (Marconi et al. 2001) imaging. For a comprehensive review of NGC 5128, see Israel (1998).

The spectra of NGC 5128 at different distances from the nucleus perpendicular to the jet are displayed in Fig. 19. The subtracted nuclear spectrum is almost featureless. There are some notable differences between our spectra and those from the literature. Especially, while the nuclear 1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$4$`\times `$1$`\stackrel{}{.}`$6 \[Fe ii\]/Br$`\gamma `$ ratio observed by Simpson & Meadows (1998) = 1.47, we find this ratio to be 5.1, and after correction for extinction even $``$15, one of the largest ratios ever found.

The most striking feature in the spectra of NGC 5128 is the weakness of the line emission compared to that in NGC 4945 at similar distance. This is partly due to dilution by the bright, red, featureless nuclear continuum. \[Fe ii\] is the strongest line in the nuclear region. However, the only emission line that can be traced out into the galaxy is 1–0 S(1) (Fig. 20), which extends parallel to the jet up to 13$`\stackrel{}{.}`$4 (320 pc in the plane of the galaxy) in NE and 7$`\stackrel{}{.}`$4 (180 pc) in SW, and perpendicular to the jet up to 16″ (690 pc) in NW and 22″ (950 pc) in SE. The nuclear Br$`\gamma `$ emission is not spatially resolved. In the deeper $`K`$-band spectra of Marconi et al. (2001) the nucleus is resolved and detected up to 1″ from the nucleus. Marconi et al. interpreted this as an inclined, $``$40 pc diameter, thin disc of ionized gas. In addition to central component, there are a few star forming regions parallel to the jet visible in our spectra, e.g. at $``$17″ (400 pc) with detected Br$`\gamma `$ and \[Fe ii\] emission. This is in agreement with the Pa$`\alpha `$ and \[Fe ii\] images of Schreier et al (1998) and Marconi et al. (2001), respectively, which display two extended regions straddling the nucleus at PA $``$33°. The \[Fe ii\]-emission of Marconi et al. is mostly unresolved with faint extended emission NW of the nucleus.

No 2–1 S(1) emission was detected in the nucleus, with an upper limit of 2–1 S(1)/1–0 S(1) $`0.08`$ ($`T_{\mathrm{vib}}<`$ 1900 K). Since the 1–0 S(1)/Br$`\gamma `$ ratio is 2.04, the H2 gas is probably excited by shocks. Assuming $`T_{\mathrm{vib}}=2000K`$, the density of H2 is 45.6$`\times 10^{17}`$ cm-2, corresponding to a gas mass of 33.8 M.

Our velocity field for NGC 5128 is displayed in Fig. 9. It is in agreement with Marconi et al. (2001), but unfortunately we lack the necessary resolution or depth to supplement their results.

## 4 Conclusions

We have presented NIR 1.5–2.5 $`\mu `$m long-slit spectra of six Seyfert galaxies with an ionization cone or jets. While statistical analysis will be presented in forthcoming papers using the full sample of 14 Seyferts, some general trends can already be noted. \[Fe ii\] is the strongest and Br$`\gamma `$ the weakest main emission line in the Sy2s NGC 1386, NGC 4945 and NGC 5128. On the other hand, in the Sy1 NGC 1097 1–0 S(1), and in the Sy1 NGC 1566 and the Sy1.5 NGC 3227 Br$`\gamma `$ is the strongest emission line. Br$`\gamma `$ was not detected in the nucleus of NGC 1097. Notably, in NGC 1386 the coronal \[Si vii\] line is even stronger than \[Fe ii\], \[Si vi\] is comparable to \[Fe ii\] and \[Ca viii\] is stronger than Br$`\gamma `$. In addition, \[Si vi\] and \[Si vii\] were also detected in NGC 3227.

Broad nuclear Br$`\gamma `$ line emission was detected in NGC 1386, NGC 1566 and NGC 3227, in which narrow Br$`\gamma `$ component is only visible in NGC 3227. Based on the high \[Fe ii\]/Br$`\gamma `$-ratios it seems probable that \[Fe ii\] is X-ray excited. The \[Fe ii\] emission is spatially resolved only in NGC 3227 and NGC 4945, which also agrees with the theory of X-ray excitation in NLR as the origin for the \[Fe ii\] emission (e.g. Mouri, Kawara & Taniguchi 2000).

The 1–0 S(1) emission is extended in all galaxies, except parallel to the cone in NGC 1386. The extended 1–0 S(1) emission can be detected up to a range of physical scales, from $`200`$ pc in the plane of the galaxy in NGC 1097 to $``$1.4-kpc in NGC 4945. In NGC 1097, NGC 1386 and NGC 4945 separate off-nuclear 1–0 S(1) emission regions are detected. In NGC 1097 and NGC 4945 these regions are associated with the starburst rings, while in NGC 1386 the origin of these regions remains unknown, but are likely to be connected with a nuclear outflow. Since the extended emission declines smoothly with increasing radius, it seems probable that the molecular gas forms a disc surrounding the nucleus. This is further supported by 1–0 S(1) velocity curves, which are generally well-ordered except parallel to the superwind in NGC 4945. A starburst origin seems excluded as extended Br$`\gamma `$ or \[Fe ii\] is only detected in NGC 1097 and NGC 4945. In these galaxies, the extended emission is associated with off-nuclear star forming regions

The overall 1–0 S(1) emission is more extended parallel to the cone/jet than perpendicular to it in NGC 1097, NGC 1386 and NGC 4945, while the opposite is true in NGC 3227, NGC 1566 and NGC 5128, so the total extent of the emission does not depend on the type of the nucleus. The extent of the nuclear core H2 emission is larger perpendicular to the ionization cone/jet than parallel to it in NGC 1097, NGC 1386, NGC 1566, NGC 3227 and NGC 4945, in good agreement with the current unified models and the existence of a molecular torus. In NGC 5128, on the other hand, the extent is larger parallel to the jet than perpendicular to it.

There does not appear to be a clear difference between the gas mass M$`_{H_2}`$ parallel and perpendicular to the ionization cone. In NGC 1566, NGC 3227, and especially in NGC 4945, M$`_{H_2}`$ parallel to the cone is smaller than perpendicular to it. On the other hand, in NGC 5128 the two masses are similar, while in NGC 1097 and NGC 1386 M$`_{H_2}`$ parallel to the cone/jet is larger than perpendicular to it. The highest nuclear gas densities $`N_{\mathrm{H}_2}`$ are found in the Sy2s NGC 4945 and NGC 5128, and the lowest in the Sy1s NGC 1097 and NGC 1566. In the Sy1.5 NGC 3227 the density is intermediate, while in the Sy2 NGC 1386 the density is comparable to that in the Sy1s.

In all galaxies, the dominant excitation mechanism of the nuclear H2 emission appears to be due to shocks. No evidence for significant UV fluorescence was found. The extended H2 emission in NGC 1097, NGC 1386 and NGC 4945 is also best explained by thermal excitation.

## 5 Acknowledgements

This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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# A Zero-Temperature Study of Vortex Mobility in Two-Dimensional Vortex Glass Models

## Abstract

Three different vortex glass models are studied by examining the energy barrier against vortex motion across the system. In the two-dimensional gauge glass this energy barrier is found to increase logarithmically with system size which is interpreted as evidence for a low-temperature phase with zero resistivity. Associated with the large energy barriers is a breaking of ergodicity which explains why the well established results from equilibrium studies could fail. The behavior of the more realistic random pinning model is however different with decreasing energy barriers a no finite critical temperature.

The effect of disorder on the behavior of type-II superconductors in magnetic fields is a subject of enormous interest both theoretically and experimentally. Much discussion has the last few years focused on the possibility of a stable vortex glass phase Fisher et al. (1991a) and some recent papers find evidence from simulations for the existence of such a phase in three dimensions Olson and Young (2000); Kawamura (2000); Vestergren et al. (2001). The necessary ingredients of a vortex glass model is, however, still an open question Huse and Seung (1190); Kawamura (2000) and recent results actually suggest that two of the popular models, the gauge glass Olson and Young (2000) and the random pinning model Vestergren et al. (2001), belong to different universality classes.

In two dimensions, which is the focus of the present Letter, the different vortex glass models are commonly believed to behave similarly. One of these is the gauge glass for which equilibrium Nishimori (1994); Fisher et al. (1991b); Gingras (1992); Kosterlitz and Akino (1998) analyses show no transition. In the present paper we approach this model by examining the low-temperature properties of a vortex hopping dynamics. The possibility we explore is that ergodicity breaking might lead to different conclusions when considering dynamics as compared to equilibrium, and we actually find results that strongly suggest a finite-temperature transition. Interestingly, the behavior of the random pinning model is qualitatively different and this points to rich and unexpected behavior of the vortex glass models even in two dimensions.

Results in statistical physics often rely on an assumption of ergodicity. Only if this assumption is valid it is permissible to draw conclusions regarding the physically relevant time-averages from the ensemble averages Binder and Young (1986). Generally speaking this assumption is expected to be valid for models with a smooth energy landscape, whereas an energy landscape with valleys separated by huge energy barriers, could give rise to a breaking of ergodicity. The concept ergodicity breaking presupposes some kind of dynamics and in the present Letter we examine a vortex hopping dynamics where one vortex moves one lattice constant at a time. This is the kind of dynamics that is typically used for the study of dynamical properties in vortex glass models Hyman et al. (1995); Li (1992); Kim (2000).

The possibility of ergodicity breaking means that the standard arguments for the absence of a phase transition could fail and this applies both to the rigorous analytical argument by Nishimori Nishimori (1994) and the vanishing of the zero-temperature domain wall energy with increasing system size Fisher et al. (1991b); Gingras (1992); Kosterlitz and Akino (1998). The dynamical studies should, however, still be reliable, but they arrive at conflicting conclusions. Whereas some have reported evidence for a zero temperature transition Hyman et al. (1995) others are strongly in favor of a transition at a finite temperature Li (1992); Kim (2000). The different conclusions seem to be due to different judgments regarding the reliability of data at rather low temperatures.

In this Letter we present a novel zero-$`T`$ approach designed to measure the height of the energy barriers in vortex glass models. The quantity in focus is the energy barrier against phase slips (defined more precisely below). Beside probing the possibility of ergodicity breaking this quantity is physically relevant since the resistivity in dynamical simulations is inversely proportional to the time between phase slips. A phase slip energy barrier that diverges as $`L\mathrm{}`$ would suggest both breaking of ergodicity and a vanishing resistivity (= immobile vortices) which in turn implies a superconducting low-temperature phase Kim et al. (1999).

To determine the phase slip energy barrier we start in the ground state and perform an exhaustive search of all relevant local moves, in the vortex representation. Considering the huge phase space of these models this could seem like an impossible task and the only reason why it is at all feasible is that it is sufficient to focus on some relatively few states with rather low energy. Our main result is that the phase slip energy, $`V_L`$, in the gauge glass model grows logarithmically with system size, a finding that we interpret as evidence for the existence of a superconducting low-temperature phase.

The Hamiltonian for the random gauge XY model is

$$H=\underset{ij}{}U\left(\theta _i\theta _jA_{ij}\frac{1}{L}𝐫_{ij}𝚫\right),$$
(1)
where $`\theta _i`$ is the phase at lattice point $`i`$ on a square lattice of size $`L\times L`$ (where $`L`$ is in units of the lattice constant), the sum is over nearest neighbors, and $`A_{ij}`$ is a randomly chosen vector potential in the interval $`[r\pi ,r\pi )`$, where $`r`$ is the disorder strength. The gauge glass model corresponds to the case $`r=1`$. In the above Hamiltonian we also include the twist variable $`𝚫=(\mathrm{\Delta }_x,\mathrm{\Delta }_y)`$ FTBC  to allow for phase slips. The unit vector $`𝐫_{ij}`$ picks $`\mathrm{\Delta }_x`$ or $`\mathrm{\Delta }_y`$ depending on the direction of the link $`ij`$.

The spin interaction is often taken to be a cosines function, but to be able to take advantage of the direct relation to the vortex representation we have instead chosen $`U(\varphi )=J\varphi ^2/2`$. With the frustration given by

$$f_𝐫=\frac{1}{2\pi }\times 𝐀_𝐫,$$

and fluctuating twists FTBC  the vortex Hamiltonian becomes

$$H^\mathrm{v}=\frac{1}{2}\underset{𝐫,𝐫^{}}{}(q_𝐫+f_𝐫)G(𝐫𝐫^{})(q_𝐫^{}+f_𝐫^{})$$
(2)
where the $`q_𝐫`$ are unit charges, the factor $`1/2`$ compensates for the double counting, and $`G(𝐫)`$ is the lattice Green’s function

$$G(𝐫)=\left(\frac{2\pi }{L}\right)^2\underset{𝐤0}{}\frac{e^{i𝐤𝐫}1}{2\mathrm{cos}k_x+2\mathrm{cos}k_y4}.$$

For the discussion of the phase slip energy barrier we start by considering this quantity in the pure 2D XY model. The ground state is trivially given by $`q_𝐫=0`$ for all $`𝐫`$. To consider vortex transport we create a vortex pair with a negative vortex at the origin and a positive at $`(1,0)`$, and then move the positive one to $`(2,0)`$, $`(3,0)`$,…$`(L,0)`$. The twist variable $`\mathrm{\Delta }_y`$ will change proportionally to make the current in the $`y`$-direction vanish. Since $`(L,0)`$ in a system with periodic boundary conditions is the same as the origin we are then back again in the ground state but with the twist variable $`\mathrm{\Delta }_y=2\pi `$. (We use the term phase slip for this kind of process even in the vortex representation.) By these steps we have transported unit vorticity across the system. In this simple case the energy for a configuration with the positive vortex at $`(x,0)`$ is given by the lattice Green’s function, $`G(x,0)`$, and the phase slip energy barrier for the pure 2D XY model is the value of this energy at the largest separation, $`V_L=G(L/2,0)`$.

For the following we note that each elementary move may be described by a position $`𝐫`$ and a unit dipole vector $`𝐩`$:

$$\begin{array}{cccc}\hfill q_𝐫1& & q_𝐫,\hfill & \text{put a }1\text{ vortex at }𝐫,\hfill \\ \hfill q_{𝐫+𝐩}+1& & q_{𝐫+𝐩},\hfill & \text{put a }+1\text{ vortex at }𝐫+𝐩.\hfill \end{array}$$

To keep track of the transport of vorticity we introduce the polarization $`𝐏`$. An elementary move always changes the polarization, $`𝐏+𝐩𝐏`$. The vorticity transport discussed above starts in the ground state and ends in the same configuration but with $`\mathrm{\Delta }P=(L,0)`$. The polarization therefore contains some memory of the steps taken and may be used to examine the phase slip.

For the gauge glass model the sequence of elementary moves that corresponds to the lowest possible energy barrier is in general much more complex than in the pure XY model. To illustrate this point we show in Fig. 1 such a sequence of moves for a certain disorder realization in a $`4\times 4`$ system. In this case six steps are needed to transport vorticity across the system and return back to the ground state. We now describe the method used to find such complex paths.

We first search for the ground state by applying the standard spin quench algorithm Walker and Walstedt (1980) a large number of times. The lowest energy state is taken to be the true ground state when it has been found $`N_{\mathrm{rep}}=10`$ times. No change was found in the results when we instead used $`N_{\mathrm{rep}}=100`$ for a set of $`10^4`$ disorder configurations with $`L=4`$. We then use an algorithm that is analogous to the filling of a (energy) landscape with a liquid rising from a source at the lowest position. At each time step it is the lowest level accessible by the liquid that is invaded. The disorder configurations give rise to different periodic energy landscapes in polarization space, and the liquid is made to rise until there is a connection between these periodic copies. The landscape picture is, however, a great over-simplification. For each value of the polarization there is a large number of possible configurations with different energy. The true picture is therefore more of a plumber’s nightmare with a large network of pipes criss-crossing the polarization space but the intuitive picture still holds. With an algorithm that slowly increases the level one is guaranteed that the first connection found is the lowest possible.

In the computer, the algorithm consists of repeating the following steps:

1. Generate $`4L^2`$ configurations by applying the $`4L^2`$ possible dipole excitations to the current configuration.
2. Calculate the energy of each such configuration and put them in a sorted list, lowest energy first, together with their polarization relative to the ground state.
3. Take the first (lowest energy) configuration from this list to be the new current configuration.
4. If this configuration has already been encountered, but with a different polarization such that $`\mathrm{\Delta }𝐏=(\pm L,0)`$ then we are done. Otherwise, go to step 1.

To make this algorithm work one also needs a list of already used configurations. In step 1 the current configuration is added to that list and in step 4 each configuration is compared to the list. The main output is the phase slip energy barrier which equals the highest energy used in the algorithm. The data below are obtained by averaging the energy barrier from 3000 to $`2\times 10^5`$ disorder configurations. Much as expected, the number of iterations, $`N`$, of the above algorithm grows rapidly with $`L`$, $`N0.5\mathrm{exp}L`$. In our simulations the spin quench algorithm that is used to find the ground state is however more time consuming than the determination of the energy barrier.

Figure 2 shows $`V_L`$ versus $`L`$ for several different values of $`r`$. We first focus on the results for $`r=1`$, the usual gauge glass model, shown by solid diamonds in panel (a). By plotting the data with log scale on the $`x`$ axis it is found that the points with $`L3`$ to an excellent approximation fall on a straight line with a positive slope. We consider this to be strong evidence for an energy barrier that diverges with increasing lattice size and thereby also evidence for the existence of a low-temperature phase with immobile vortices. As shown in the figure the scaling holds down to $`L=3`$. This is the same size as in the examinations of the domain wall energy in the gauge glass Kosterlitz and Akino (1998) and it therefore seems likely that the logarithmic increase in Fig. 2 is the true behavior at large $`L`$. As further support for this belief we note that the logarithmic size-dependence is not a foreign behavior, but is rather built into the model at the outset through the logarithmic length-dependence in the vortex interaction.

For weaker disorder, $`r<1`$, the general feature is the same with $`V_L\mathrm{log}L`$. Considering the change in behavior as $`r`$ decreases we find that $`V_L`$ initially changes very slowly. The values of $`V_L`$ for $`r=0.9`$ and 0.8 (not shown) are almost identical to the ones for $`r=1`$. For an analysis of the data for $`r0.7`$ we fit $`V_L=a(r)+b(r)\mathrm{ln}L`$, shown by solid lines. When $`r`$ is reduced below $`0.8`$, $`a(r)`$ slowly increases but the slope $`b(r)`$ at first remains unchanged, Fig. 2c. The slope actually to a good approximation remains constant down to $`r=0.5`$ where it starts to increase and finally approaches $`b(0)=2\pi `$ of the pure 2D XY model. We believe that the behavior of the slope $`b`$ shown in panel (c) is related to the finding Kosterlitz and Simkin (1997); Maucourt and Grempel (1997) of a phase with quasi long range order (without ergodicity breaking) for $`r<r_c0.37`$. Figure 2c is also very similar to the phase diagram for the same model recently obtained on the basis of Monte Carlo simulations Holme et al. .

Since the gauge glass model is an often used model of a disordered superconductor in an applied magnetic field, the above result would quite surprisingly seem to suggest the existence of a dissipation-free low temperature phase in disordered thin superconducting films. To examine this question in more detail we have also studied the phase slip energy in the random pinning model introduced in Ref. Hyman et al. (1995), which is meant to be a more realistic model of a disordered superconductor in an applied magnetic field. The difference is that the random pinning model has a constant non-zero magnetic field at each plaquette whereas the random gauge XY model instead is a superconductor with random fields that sum up to zero. The Hamiltonian for the random pinning model is

$$H_{\mathrm{rp}}=\frac{1}{2}\underset{𝐫,𝐫^{}}{}(q_𝐫f)G(𝐫𝐫^{})(q_𝐫^{}f)\underset{𝐫}{}v_𝐫q_𝐫^2.$$
(3)
The frustration (magnetic field) is here homogeneous and the disorder is instead included through the pinning potential $`v_𝐫`$. We follow Ref. Hyman et al. (1995) and let $`v_𝐫`$ be a random variable uniformly distributed between $`\pi `$ and $`\pi `$, and restrict the possible values for the vorticity to $`q_𝐫=1,0,1`$.

Figure 3 shows the size dependence of $`V_L`$ for the random pinning model with $`f=1/3`$, $`1/4`$, and $`1/9`$. Due to the requirement that $`fL^2`$ has to be an integer it is only possible to get data for a few lattice sizes for each value of $`f`$. The behavior is here markedly different from what we found in the gauge glass; $`V_L`$ decreases with increasing lattice size and we therefore conclude that the phase slip energy barrier vanishes in the thermodynamic limit. The results are therefore very different from Ref. Hyman et al. (1995) where it was concluded from a scaling analysis of the $`I`$-$`V`$ characteristics that the gauge glass model and the random pinning model do belong to the same universality class. Interestingly, recent simulations strongly suggest that the three-dimensional versions of these two models belong to different universality classes Olson and Young (2000); Vestergren et al. (2001).

We also shortly mention our results for a generalized XY spin glass, which is given by the same Hamiltonian as the gauge glass but with only two possible values for the vector potential, $`A_{ij}=0`$, $`\pi `$. Let $`s`$ denote the fraction of links with $`A_{ij}=\pi `$. Due to the chiral symmetry every ground state has a chiral mirror image $`q_𝐫q_𝐫`$ that is also a ground state. We may therefore define a chiral energy barrier $`V_L^c`$, as the energy barrier that has to be climbed to reach the chirally mirrored ground state.

The phase slip energy $`V_L`$ is shown in Fig. 4a. For $`s0`$ $`V_L`$ is independent of size. For $`s=0.05`$ the data seems to go as $`\mathrm{log}L`$ suggesting a critical $`s_c>0.05`$, but we cannot exclude the possibility that $`V_L`$ saturates and approaches a constant for $`L5`$. The behavior of the chiral energy barrier in Fig. 4b is different, suggesting $`V_L^c\mathrm{log}L`$ for all $`s>0`$ which means that the system at low temperatures and with only local moves is trapped in the part of the configuration space with the given chirality.

To conclude, we have examined the existence of growing energy barriers and thereby a possible breaking of ergodicity in three different 2D vortex glass models. By examining the phase slip energy barrier $`V_L`$ we found different behaviors in these three models. In the gauge glass $`V_L`$ increases logarithmically which we take to suggest the existence of a low-temperature phase with zero resistivity. In the more realistic random pinning model $`V_L`$ instead decreases in accordance with a transition at zero temperature. Yet another behavior is found in the XY spin glass where $`V_L`$ is independent of $`L`$.

We thank B. J. Kim, P. Minnhagen, and S. Teitel for valuable discussions. This work was supported by the Swedish Natural Science Research Council through Contract No. E 5106-1643/1999.


text:
# Cross-Correlation of the Cosmic Microwave Background with Radio Sources: Constraints on an Accelerating Universe

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## Abstract

We present a new limit on the cosmological constant based on the absence of correlations between the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the distribution of distant radio sources. In the cosmological constant-cold dark matter ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM) models currently favored, such correlations should have been produced via the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect, assuming that radio sources trace the local ($`z1`$) matter density. We find no evidence of correlations between the COBE 53Hz microwave map and the NVSS 1.4 GHz radio survey, and obtain an upper limit for the normalized cross-correlation of $`\delta N\delta T/\sqrt{\delta N^2\delta T^2}0.067`$ at the 95% CL. This corresponds to an upper limit on the cosmological constant of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }0.74,`$ which is in marginal agreement with the values suggested by recent measurements of the CMB anisotropy and type-IA supernovae observations, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }0.60.7.`$ If the cosmological model does lie in this range, then the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect should be detectable with upcoming CMB maps and radio surveys.

\]

Recent observations of supernovae light curves  suggest that the expansion of the universe is accelerating rather than decelerating. Combined with evidence from the cosmic microwave background (CMB)  and a number of other observations , this suggests the universe is spatially flat and dominated by a cosmological constant, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Lambda }/3H_0^20.60.7`$, where $`H_0`$ is the Hubble expansion parameter. Such a low value of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is difficult to explain from fundamental grounds, so it is vital that we try to confirm this result by other means.

CMB anisotropies can arise via the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect (ISW) as the photons travel through the time-dependent gravitational potentials of collapsing structures. One consequence of a large cosmological constant is that such time-dependent potentials exist even on very large scales where the collapse is linear, which is not the case for a flat, matter dominated universe. These fluctuations are likely to be small compared to those imprinted at the surface of last scattering (redshifts $`z1000`$) and are difficult to detect directly, however, they can be observed by looking for spatial correlations between the CMB and the nearby matter density. This requires a probe of the matter density out to redshifts of $`z2`$ and suggested candidates include radio galaxies, quasars and the x-ray background.

Other processes can also lead to correlations between the CMB and the local matter density. These include gravitational lensing, scattering from hot electrons (the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect) and photons passing through the time-dependent potentials of non-linear collapsing structures (the Rees-Sciama effect). While the study of these effects can also benefit from cross correlation analyses , the ISW effect is unique in that it occurs on very large scales ($`\theta >1^{}`$) where the fluctuations are simple and linear.

In the first attempt to detect this effect, Boughn, Crittenden, and Turok  cross-correlated the CMB with the hard ($`>`$2 keV) x-ray background, which is thought to arise primarily from active galactic nuclei out to a redshift of $`z4`$. A COBE-DMR CMB map  was cross-correlated with the HEAO1 x-ray map  and no significant correlation between the two maps was found. The interpretation of this result is difficult since there has been no unambiguous measurement of correlations in the x-ray background, so the x-ray bias factor, the extent to which x-rays trace matter, is largely unknown. For a large x-ray bias, $`b_x4`$, the implication is that $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }0.5`$, in conflict with the currently favored $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ cold dark matter ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM) cosmological model; for no biasing, $`b_x=1`$, the limit is much weaker: $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }0.95`$ . The true bias may well be time dependent and will not be known until the structure in the x-ray background is definitively detected.

Here we attempt to detect the ISW effect by cross-correlating the CMB with a deep radio source survey. While the Poisson noise due to the finite number density of radio sources is relatively large, this analysis has the advantage that the clustering properties of the radio sources have been measured and so the bias factor for these sources can be deduced within the context of a particular cosmological model.

The small correlations introduced by the ISW effect can be contaminated by accidental correlations of the locations of radio sources with the relatively large CMB fluctuations that originate at higher redshift. To minimize these accidental correlations, it is necessary to average over many statistically independent regions of the sky. Since the ISW correlations are on angular scales of several degrees, this means using surveys that cover as much of the sky as possible, even if they have more noise than smaller area surveys. Thus, in the radio we use the NVSS radio source survey (82% sky coverage) and for the CMB we use the 4-year COBE 53GHz map (full sky coverage.) The 31 GHz and 90 GHz companion maps both have significantly higher noise, as do the combination maps constructed by the COBE team to minimize Galactic emission. Above a Galactic latitude of $`|b_{gal}|>10^{}`$, the NVSS source counts are essentially all extra-Galactic. Prior to cross-correlating the two data sets, a secant law Galaxy model and a dipole (the largest structure in the 53 GHz map) were fit and removed. The effect of these corrections was minimal.

The NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) is a $`2.5\times 10^3`$ Jansky ($`2.5mJy`$) flux limited survey at a frequency of 1.4 GHz . It is complete for declinations $`\delta >40^{}`$ and contains $`>1.8\times 10^6`$ sources, with a mean source number density of 51.8 per square degree. While the distances of individual sources are largely unknown, typical luminosity function models (e.g.,) indicate they are distributed in the redshift range $`0z2`$ with a peak in the distribution at $`z0.8`$. This distribution, combined with the nearly full-sky coverage, renders the NVSS survey an ideal matter density probe with which to investigate the ISW effect.

The NVSS survey was converted into a map using an equatorial quadrilaterized spherical cube projection , the standard format for the COBE data. Those $`1.3^{}\times 1.3^{}`$ pixels that were only partially contained in the survey region were omitted. In making these maps, we discovered that the surface density of sources varied by $`\pm 5\%`$ within several declinations bands. The more prominent of these bands coincide with discontinuous changes in the rms noise levels in the NVSS survey . To correct for this, random sources were added to or subtracted from each pixel to eliminate the band structure. The resulting map shows no declination dependent structure at level of $`<1\%`$. For comparison, the Poisson noise per pixel is $`11\%`$.

In order to exclude Galactic sources as well as nearby clusters of galaxies, the region within $`\pm 10^{}`$ of the Galactic plane was removed as were 29 regions that contained pixels with source counts greater than $`4\sigma `$ ($`43\%`$) above the average. This procedure cleaned the map of 10 “objects” located more than $`10^{}`$ from the Galactic plane. Among these are the Orion Nebula and the nearby Virgo, Perseus, and Fornax clusters. That the moderately nearby, rich Coma cluster of galaxies was not one of the regions cut indicates to us that this windowing removed only Galactic and nearby extra-galactic sources.

After the cleaning and correction operations, the map was repixelized by combining groups of four pixels into larger $`2.6^{}\times 2.6^{}`$ pixels. The angular resolution of the COBE map is $`7^{}`$ and this coarser pixelization is the standard format provided for the COBE DMR data sets. Each of the larger pixels was assigned a weight $`\mathrm{w}_\mathrm{i}`$ corresponding to the number of subpixels contributing to it and its value was multiplied by $`4/\mathrm{w}_\mathrm{i}`$ to achieve the proper normalization. The radio source auto-correlation function (ACF) was computed according to

$$\omega _{RR}(\theta )=\mathrm{w}_\mathrm{i}(N_i\overline{N})\mathrm{w}_\mathrm{j}(N_j\overline{N})/\mathrm{w}_\mathrm{i}\mathrm{w}_\mathrm{j},$$
(1)
where the sums are over all pairs of pixels with angular separation $`\theta `$, $`\overline{N}`$ is the mean number of sources and $`\mathrm{w}_\mathrm{i}`$ is the pixel weighting factor. The measured ACF is displayed in Figure 1 with error bars that were deduced from Monte Carlo simulations.

The effect of the above mentioned declination band corrections on the ACF was considerable. For $`\theta >0`$ the ACF of the corrected map is $``$ 2–3 times smaller than that of the uncorrected map. This is not unexpected given the prominent band structure in the uncorrected map. To test the sensitivity of the ACF to our corrections, more aggressive band removal was effected by adding (and subtracting) sources at random from even more narrow declinations bands ($`8^{}`$, $`4^{}`$, and $`2^{}`$) in order to force the mean number densities in these bands to be equal. In all such cases, the ACF’s were not significantly different from that of Figure 1. We conclude that our ACF is reasonably robust.

One can determine the radio source bias factor by comparing the measured ACF to the mass density correlation predicted theoretically assuming the COBE normalization and a given cosmological model. The curve in Figure 1 is the prediction of a sample $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM cosmology convolved with window functions for the quad-cubed pixelization. The inferred radio bias parameter depends on the exact cosmology, as is shown in Figure 3, but we find typical values in the range $`b_R=1.31.6.`$ Since we compare on very large angular scales where the fluctuations are linear, the inferred biases are independent of the vagaries of non-linear structure formation.

An essential ingredient in interpreting the auto- and cross-correlations is the source number-redshift distribution, $`dN/dz`$. The distribution used in Figure 1 was derived from a radio source luminosity function (LF) of Dunlop and Peacock (mean-$`z`$ model 1) . This LF is consistent with flux limited number counts of the present NVSS survey as well as with recent, deep redshift surveys . The mean-$`z`$ model 3 of Dunlop and Peacock and the model of Condon  are also reasonably consistent with the data and were also considered. The bias factors deduced from these latter two LFs are within $`15\%`$ of that deduced above, which indicate that the results are not overly sensitive to the details of $`dN/dz`$ or the LF.

We can compare our results to the ACF of the FIRST radio survey, which was determined by Cress et al.  and Magliocchetti et al.  to be $`\omega _{RR}(\theta )12\times 10^3/\theta `$ for $`0.01^{}\theta 4^{}`$ where $`\theta `$ is in degrees. While the FIRST survey is somewhat deeper ($`1mJy`$) than the NVSS survey, the luminosity function is such that the redshift distribution of these sources is nearly identical to that of the NVSS sources . Therefore, one expects the ACFs for these two surveys to be nearly the same. When converted to the the pixelization used in this paper, these results are consistent with that in Figure 1.

The cross-correlation function (CCF) of the radio and CMB maps was computed using

$$\omega _{RT}(\theta )=\mathrm{w}_\mathrm{i}(N_i\overline{N})(T_j\overline{T})/\sigma _j^2/\mathrm{w}_\mathrm{i}/\sigma _\mathrm{j}^2$$
(2)
where $`T_j`$ and $`\sigma _j^2`$ are the temperature and the noise variance of the $`j^{th}`$ pixel in the CMB map, $`\overline{T}`$ is the mean CMB temperature, and the radio variables are defined as before. The COBE instrument noise is significant and the pixels were weighted accordingly in Eq. 2. However, if the pixels are weighted uniformly, the resulting CCF does not change significantly.

While there may be unaccounted for systematics, it seems unlikely that these will be correlated in two such disparate maps. This is born out by the insignificant differences in the cross-correlation functions computed both with and without correcting the NVSS map for the declination band structure and with and without correcting the CMB map for both a secant law Galaxy and a quadrupole moment.

The CCF is plotted in Figure 2 and is consistent with the data sets being uncorrelated. The effect of removing the dipole and secant law Galaxy model from the CMB map was investigated by cross-correlating a set of Monte Carlo simulations in which a small correlated component having the same profile as the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM CCF was added to larger components that match the ACFs of the two maps. The results indicate that the dipole/secant law corrections significantly attenuate the CCF but only for separations, $`\theta 15^{}`$. Therefore, these data were ignored in the subsequent analysis. The error bars in Figure 2 were computed from the Monte Carlo trials and are highly correlated.

The theoretical predictions for the cross correlations are calculated following the formalism of Refs. . In order to simplify comparison to the data, we consider a single family of possible correlation functions having the shape of that in Figure 2 but with variable amplitude. This family closely matches the correlations predicted for the range of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM cosmological models we consider. The 95% CL (1.65 $`\sigma `$) upper limit for the zero lag correlation is $`w_{RT}(0)<0.038`$ while $`w_{RT}(0)<0.048`$ at 98% CL (2.05 $`\sigma `$.)

The cosmological implications of this bound are summarized in Figure 3, where we plot the allowed region in the $`H_0\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ plane, where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ is the fraction of the critical density in both baryons and dark matter. Also shown on the plot are contours of constant radio bias and contours of constant $`\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Omega }_mh`$ ($`hH_0/100kms^1Mpc^1`$), which determines the shape of the matter power spectrum. To first order, the predicted cross-correlation depends only on the value of the cosmological constant, and models with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }>0.7`$ are excluded. However, there is some dependence on the Hubble parameter because the radio auto-correlation includes contributions from smaller scales than generally contribute to the cross-correlation. Thus, models with more small scale power (large $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, $`H_0`$) tend to have smaller biases and predict less cross-correlation than models with lower $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and $`H_0`$.

Our results have thus far assumed a constant linear bias factor, but in principle bias could be time and even scale dependent. Simple models of linear bias evolution  indicate that it is tied to the evolution of the linear growth factor $`D(t)`$ (normalized to be unity today): $`b_01=(b(t)1)D(t).`$ Thus, models that are presently positively biased were even more biased in the past. We do not expect this time evolution to change our results significantly, however. First, it is the levelling off of the growth factor $`D(t)`$ at $`z1`$ that results in the ISW effect. Thus the bias is also relatively constant during this epoch. Second, the effect of bias evolution is the same as changing $`dN/dz`$, and our signal is not very sensitive to such changes. Scale dependent biasing, if arbitrary, makes any predictions for large scale structure problematic. However, assuming the scale dependence is relatively weak, then so long as we are measuring the radio bias on roughly the same scale as the expected correlations, our results should be fairly robust.

The integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect, if detected, would provide an important confirmation of cosmological theory and provide a new mechanism to distinguish between models with a cosmological constant from quintessence dominated or open universes. Of course, if radio sources themselves contribute significantly to the CMB then such a correlation could be explained otherwise. However, current models indicate that this is not the case. From flux limited 1.4 GHz source counts it can be shown that the contribution from these sources is less than 10% of the expected ISW contribution to $`\omega _{RT}(0)`$ and is even less for $`\theta >0`$.

While the upper limit derived here is consistent with the currently favored $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }0.65`$ CDM universe, it is only marginally so. It is worth noting that a similar limit has been derived from the frequency of strong gravitational lensing . Since these observations are so close to being in conflict with the leading cosmological model, it is important to pursue both types of investigations further.

The cross-correlation constraint will be greatly strengthened by NASA’s recently launched Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP), which will provide a full sky map with much lower noise and higher angular resolution than the COBE map. Monte Carlos simulations indicate that the cross-correlation of MAP with the NVSS survey should be able to detect the ISW effect for an $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.6`$ universe at the 95% confidence level. If, in addition, a future radio survey is able to increase the number of sources by a factor of $`>3`$, then the Poisson counting noise will be effectively eliminated and the detection should be at the $`3\sigma `$ level. Finally, if in the future there becomes available a full-sky quasar or distant galaxy redshift survey with several million objects, one will be able to construct the ‘ideal’ redshift distribution function and approach the optimal $`5.5\sigma `$ detection derived by Crittenden and Turok for a $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.6`$ universe . These will constitute crucial tests which the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM universe must pass if it is to remain the favored cosmological model.

We thank Neil Turok for useful discussions and Ed Groth for a variety of analysis programs. RC acknowledges support from a PPARC Advanced Fellowship. This work was supported in part by NASA grant NAG5-9285.