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# The Absence of Stars in Compact High-Velocity Clouds

## 1 INTRODUCTION

The nature of the high-velocity clouds (HVCs) of neutral hydrogen has been a source of controversy since their discovery almost 40 years ago and remains so today. It now appears that HVCs do not represent a single phenomenon. Rather, they are an amalgam of several types of objects that were grouped together by the extremely broad observational definition of “HVC”: neutral hydrogen that is moving at velocities inconsistent with simple models of Galactic rotation. Some HVCs, notably the Magellanic Stream, are composed of gas that has been either tidally or ram-pressure stripped out of the Magellanic Clouds. Others are very extended clouds close to the Milky Way (distances of a few to a few tens of kpc), whose origin is not clear, although they appear to be extragalactic. Finally, there is a large population of small clouds (in angular size) whose properties have proven very difficult to determine. These were labeled compact HVCs by Braun & Burton (1999, hereafter BB99) and may represent a relatively homogeneous class of objects. We will concentrate on these HVCs for the remainder of this paper.

One hypothesis that has received attention is that HVCs are clouds of primordial gas in the Local Group (LG), and thus are located at typical distances from the Milky Way (MW) of up to 1 Mpc (Oort, 1966, 1970; Verschuur, 1969; Kerr & Sullivan, 1969). Blitz et al. (1999, hereafter B99) have recently proposed a dynamical model based on this idea that simulates the evolution of the Local Group. The model is able to explain the properties of HVCs as the postulated primordial clouds, left over from the formation of the Local Group and currently falling into the LG barycenter. In addition to reproducing observed results of the spatial distribution and kinematics of HVCs, B99 make observational predictions about HVC internal pressures, metallicities, and H$`\alpha `$ emission, all of which are being actively investigated.

Other potentially viable theories to explain the HVC puzzle include the Galactic Fountain model (Shapiro & Field, 1976; Bregman, 1980) and the Tidal Debris model. According to the Galactic Fountain model, large numbers of supernova explosions in the inner Galaxy expel hot, metal-rich gas from the Milky Way’s disk into the halo. These clouds then cool and fall back towards the Galaxy and are seen as HVCs. In contrast, the Tidal Debris model proposes that all HVCs are remnants of the tidal interaction between the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds.

The best way to settle the question of the origin of HVCs is to measure their distances, since the three models prefer distances that differ by two orders of magnitude. In this paper, we describe our search for stars in HVCs, which if present could be used for photometric distance estimates. Despite the large amount of observational effort at 21-cm that has been devoted to HVCs, there have not yet been any systematic, large-scale searches for stars.

In Section 2, we will discuss the motivations for this work in more detail. Readers who are already familiar with the recent HVC literature may wish to skip ahead. We will describe our search technique and discuss the datasets used in our analysis in Section 3. Section 4 will briefly present the results of our search of the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS) data. In Section 5, we will describe our followup observations. The limits we have placed on the stellar content of HVCs and the implications of our results will be discussed in Section 6, and our conclusions will be presented in Section 7.

## 2 MOTIVATIONS

### 2.1 Recent HVC Results

Recent observations of HVCs have tended to at least roughly agree with the predictions made by B99. The internal pressures of high-velocity clouds, as determined by ultraviolet absorption line studies, are low in the few clouds that have been observed. This finding is consistent with the HVCs being LG objects (Sembach et al., 1999). The metallicities of HVCs (other than the Magellanic Stream material) have been found to be 0.1 – 0.3 times solar, also within the range predicted by B99 (Wakker et al., 1999; Murphy et al., 2000; Richter et al., 2001; Gibson et al., 2001). Some of these measurements are toward the high end of what can be reasonably accommodated by the Blitz et al. model, and if lower metallicity HVCs are not found, this may eventually present a problem for the extragalactic hypothesis. The Galactic Fountain model, though, faces an even bigger challenge, since it predicts solar or higher metallicities for high-velocity gas. It should be noted that all of these metallicity determinations are for nearby HVCs that are part of the large complexes. These complexes are believed to be interacting with the Milky Way, and might have been partially enriched as a result. Therefore, these metallicity measurements do not necessarily apply to the presumably more distant and isolated compact clouds, and in fact, may be regarded as upper limits to the metallicities of compact HVCs. A further caveat to the metallicity determinations is that they rely on comparing optical and UV absorption column densities, which probe gas on scales of $`10^4`$ arcseconds, with H I observations on an angular scale at least four orders of magnitude larger. The effects of this mismatch are not known.

H$`\alpha `$ emission from HVCs has also been observed, but the results of this work are difficult to interpret. A number of researchers have used Fabry-Perot instruments to detect $`20`$ HVCs in H$`\alpha `$, and sometimes also in the nearby N II and S II emission lines (Kutyrev & Reynolds, 1989; Tufte, Reynolds, & Haffner, 1998; Bland-Hawthorn & Maloney, 2001; Weiner, Vogel, & Williams, 2001). By comparing the strength of the emission from these clouds with that from gas at known distances (e.g., nearby complexes or the Magellanic Stream), one can estimate the distances to the HVCs. Bland-Hawthorn & Maloney (2001) and Weiner, Vogel, & Williams (2001) conclude based on their observations that the HVCs they detect are probably nearby, at distances of tens of kpc. However, their method depends critically on the assumption that HVC ionization is caused primarily by photoionization from the Milky Way’s UV field. Although this assumption seems reasonable, it appears to be false for the Magellanic Stream gas (Weiner & Williams, 1996). Furthermore, these calculations do not work well for one object whose distance is known: the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Sculptor is located 80 kpc from the Milky Way, yet it is brighter in H$`\alpha `$ than Complexes A, C, and M, which are all an order of magnitude closer. If the HVC distance estimates are normalized to Sculptor instead of Complexes A and M, significantly larger distances (up to $`200`$ kpc) will be derived. In support of the shorter distance scale, Weiner, Vogel, & Williams (2001) note that none of the HVCs they observe have fluxes close to their detection limit; every object is at least an $`8\sigma `$ detection. They argue that the lack of H$`\alpha `$-faint HVCs implies that HVCs are not very far away. As with the metallicity studies cited above, though, many of these observations have been of the HVC complexes that were already known or suspected to be nearby. Until there has been a comprehensive H$`\alpha `$ survey of the compact HVCs and there is a reliable way to relate HVC H$`\alpha `$ fluxes to distances, these observations will not offer strong confirmation or refutation of any HVC models.

### 2.2 A New Technique

Faced with this confused state of affairs, we decided to take a different approach to the HVC problem. The key objects are the ones whose nature is most uncertain: compact HVCs. Since there does not appear to be a simple way to determine their distances directly with current techniques, we have attempted an indirect method — searching for stellar counterparts to the HVCs. If we could detect such stars, it would be straightforward to obtain accurate photometric distances to them, and thereby conclusively establish the nature of the high-velocity clouds.

Several lines of evidence have recently led to the hypothesis that HVCs are likely to contain stars. First, blind H I surveys of nearby galaxies and groups have found that the low-mass H I clouds they detect are often associated with low-surface brightness (LSB) dwarf galaxies (Banks et al., 1999; Kraan-Korteweg et al., 1999; Pisano & Wilcots, 1999; Rosenberg & Schneider, 2000; Boyce et al., 2001). This suggests that the LG H I clouds might be similarly associated with currently undiscovered dwarf galaxies. Second, H I has now been detected towards half of the LG dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies and all of the dwarf irregular (dIrr) galaxies (Blitz & Robishaw, 2000). In one case, this H I may have been previously classified as an HVC (HVC 561 = Sculptor) by Wakker & van Woerden (1991). The H I around the dSphs appears to be very extended compared to the optical galaxies and is of similar physical size and mass to the HVCs as described by B99. These similarities support the idea that HVCs and H I in dSphs could be related objects.

A further reason to suspect that HVCs might be associated with dwarf galaxies comes from numerical simulations of Cold Dark Matter (CDM) cosmological models. It has become well-known that these simulations produce too much substructure (Klypin et al., 1999; Moore et al., 1999). In simulated Local Groups, the mass concentrations around MW and M31 analogues contain up to a few hundred small dark matter halos. The real LG is comparatively barren, with only $`35`$ known dwarf galaxies. If CDM is correct and these dark matter minihalos exist, they probably would have accreted some gas, and then could subsequently have formed stars (although see Bullock, Kravtsov, & Weinberg (2000) for one explanation of why star formation might be suppressed in such objects). In any case, it has been suggested by several authors that compact HVCs could be these “missing” dark matter halos (e.g., Klypin et al. (1999); Moore et al. (1999)).

Finally, it is almost certain that the census of Local Group galaxies is not yet complete. In the past few years, four new dwarfs have been discovered: And V by Armandroff, Davies, & Jacoby (1998, hereafter A98), And VI by Karachentsev & Karachentseva (1999, hereafter KK99) and Armandroff, Jacoby, & Davies (1999) independently, And VII by KK99, and Cetus by Whiting, Hau, & Irwin (1999). A fifth dSph, Antlia, was first cataloged by Corwin, de Vaucouleurs, & de Vaucouleurs (1985) and Feitzinger & Galinski (1985), and detected in H I by Fouque et al. (1990), who suspected it to be a Local Group member. Followup photometry confirming this conjecture was not acquired until the galaxy was rediscovered by Whiting, Irwin, & Hau (1997) several years later. In addition to these recent discoveries, Mateo (1998) notes that there is an apparent deficit of dwarf galaxies at low Galactic latitudes (relative to a uniform distribution on the sky). On this basis, he postulates up to 15 – 20 LG dwarfs remaining to be discovered at $`b30\mathrm{°}`$.

## 3 SEARCH METHODOLOGY

### 3.1 POSS Image Processing

The machinery for our search is based loosely on the work of A98 for their similar project (a blind survey for dSph companions of M31). Starting from the outline they provided, we developed an algorithm that processes digitized POSS images111The Digitized Sky Survey was produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute under U.S. Government grant NAG W-2166. The images of these surveys are based on photographic data obtained using the Oschin Schmidt Telescope on Palomar Mountain and the UK Schmidt Telescope. The plates were processed into the present compressed digital form with the permission of these institutions. from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) to enhance extended LSB objects of the appropriate angular size to be Local Group dwarf galaxies. We adopt similar steps, but in a different order and with significant changes in implementation from A98. The algorithm is described in detail in the following paragraphs. All of the image processing was done in the IDL environment.

We first attempt to remove the brightest stars from the image. Because these stars have such extensive wings, this task will be incompletely successful, at best. Nevertheless, we can remove enough of the flux that these stars will not dominate the smoothed image, even though they will still be visible. Bright stars are located with a simple count threshold — any pixel with a value of more than 23000 counts was defined to be part of a bright source. This method can succeed because our search largely employed the POSS-II red plates (for $`80`$% of our targets), which tend to have similar sky background levels ($`50006000`$ counts on average) and sensitivities. Having found the brightest stars, we create a circular mask around each one and replace the pixels in the mask with an average of the surrounding pixels.

This process is repeated in order to remove the fainter stars from the image as well. However, because objects other than faint stars can have peak brightnesses as high or higher than those of the stars, we must use a slightly different technique to detect these stars. We pass a small ($`10\mathrm{}`$) median filter over the image, and then subtract the filtered version from the original. Point sources are seriously degraded in flux in the filtered image, and so appear bright in the difference image. Extended sources are only minimally affected by the filtering and therefore are largely removed by subtracting the images. Objects brighter than a threshold value of 1000 counts per pixel in the difference image are likely to be foreground stars. The point sources selected with this criterion are masked out and replaced, as described above.

Now that the image is relatively free of stellar light, we must deal with the other major contaminant, the background. Unfortunately, the digitized POSS plates are not flat, especially near the edges, and these background variations significantly hamper a search for LSB galaxies. In order to detect the small increases in surface brightness over a limited area that are associated with dwarf galaxies, the vignetting of the plates and any other large-scale flaws in them must be removed as accurately as possible. We experimented with two-dimensional polynomial fits to the background, but determined that the most reliable means of subtracting just the background (and leaving objects of interest alone) was simply to employ a very wide median filter. The filter must be large enough not to pick up significant signal from dwarf galaxies, or else this procedure could become counterproductive. The largest of the distant dSphs are $`5`$′ across, so a filter more than 10′ wide will be at least four times as large as any dwarf galaxies it encounters. Empirically, this level of filtering seemed to be safe, so we chose a filter width of 600 pixels, corresponding to $`10.1\mathrm{}`$ on POSS-II and Equatorial Red plates, and $`17\mathrm{}`$ on POSS-I and SERC-J plates. To deal with the 300 pixel border around the image where the median filter was too close to the edge to function, we simply replicate the last line or column that the median filter did produce outward to the edges of the image.

After removing the background, we treat the bright stars again, because they still tend to be the brightest sources left in the image (although not overwhelmingly so). At every location where a bright star was removed earlier, we check to see if the average brightness is still more than half a standard deviation above the median for the image. If so, we cut out a larger mask around these remnants, and again replace it with an average of the surrounding pixels.

Finally, we smooth the image with a dwarf-galaxy-sized filter in order to further dim the remaining stellar light, and thereby enhance the relative contrast between high- and low-surface brightness objects. We use a Gaussian filter here rather than a median filter because the filter size is such that a median filter runs the risk of smoothing away the entire image. According to Davies et al. (1994), to optimally detect LSB objects the filter should be roughly the same size as the object. At the distances we expect for the HVCs — 300 kpc to 1 Mpc — dwarf galaxies have angular sizes between 1′ and 6′. Therefore, we use a 70 pixel ($`=71`$″on POSS-II images and 119″ on POSS-I images) filter. We choose a filter on the small end of the dwarf galaxy size range because 1) most of the detected objects will be at large distances (due to the greater survey volume there), and 2) we do not want to degrade potential dwarf galaxy signals by smoothing over too large a scale. Since we are not using adaptive filtering here, we are not sensitive to LSB sources of all possible angular sizes. Objects which are smaller than $`30`$″ may be missed by our search because of this final filter, and objects larger than $`15`$′ could be removed by our background filter.

The free parameters in this algorithm (order of steps, mask and filter sizes, etc.) were tuned by extensive testing on known dwarf spheroidal galaxies, primarily the 6 eponymous companions of Andromeda. In Figure 1, we compare processed images of two of the lowest surface brightness LG dSphs with the original POSS-II plates. It is clear that the algorithm works well. Even though the dwarfs are barely visible in the unprocessed POSS-II images, they are the brightest objects in the field of view — dominating the 10th magnitude foreground stars — after smoothing.

### 3.2 HVC Catalogs

We used the catalog of compact high-velocity clouds provided by Braun & Burton (1999) as the basis for the first part of our search. They selected HVCs visually from the Leiden/Dwingeloo Survey of Galactic Neutral Hydrogen (Hartmann & Burton, 1997) and from the large HVC catalog compiled by Wakker & van Woerden (1991). BB99 identified a subset of 65 clouds that are both small (less than $`2\mathrm{°}`$ in diameter) and isolated from neighboring emission. They claimed that these objects represent a distinct class of HVCs and are all at Local Group distances. We included 59 of these HVCs that were located outside the zone of avoidance ($`|b|>5\mathrm{°}`$) in our sample. BB99 also presented $`15`$ degree2 H I maps around each of the compact HVCs (see their Figure 1). In many of these moment maps, there are nearby clouds that have comparable intensities. Since it is not entirely clear why these clouds were not included in their catalog, we have chosen 17 of the most prominent of them to use in our analysis as well, for a total of 76 HVCs from BB99.

In addition to these compact HVCs, we also selected targets from the new catalog by Robishaw & Blitz (in preparation, hereafter RB02), a complete sample derived from an automated search of the Leiden/Dwingeloo Survey (LDS). Since this catalog is a work in progress, we were forced to take a fairly simplistic approach to defining HVCs. We first selected all H I detections at velocities less than $`V_{\text{LSR}}=200`$ km s-1 or greater than $`V_{\text{LSR}}=200`$ km s-1. From this list, we grouped the H I detections into clouds by defining as part of a single object all H I within $`3\mathrm{°}`$ in both longitude and latitude, and within 10 km s-1 in velocity of the brightest point (the brightest point was also defined as the central position). We then culled this list to eliminate HVCs that could not be observed easily from Lick Observatory (clouds outside the range $`10\mathrm{°}\delta 65\mathrm{°}`$). This left us with 201 HVCs. It should be noted that, while the final RB02 catalog will be a flux-limited sample down to the sensitivity limit of the LDS, this preliminary version is not. We have certainly missed a number of HVCs by focusing only on the highest velocity clouds. Furthermore, these HVCs are not entirely the compact specimens that we believe are the most distant objects; some of the northernmost Magellanic Stream clouds met the criteria described above, and so have been included. Still, many of these clouds are indeed compact HVCs, and the combination of this list with the catalog of BB99 should include most of the compact HVCs in the northern hemisphere. (Putman et al. (2002) found 179 compact HVCs and 159 slightly more extended clouds in the southern hemisphere in their search of the HIPASS data, and there should be a comparable number in the northern hemisphere.) The positions that we searched are plotted on the sky in Figure 2. Finally, we point out that 12 of the BB99 HVCs and one of the secondary clouds were also in the RB02 catalog (the others were excluded by the velocity and declination restrictions). In these cases, we searched around the central positions given by each catalog, so there was necessarily some overlap. Several of the RB02 HVCs were also separated from each other by less than $`1\mathrm{°}`$. Taking such occurrences into account, our survey covers 264 unique HVCs and approximately 239 degrees2 of sky. We also searched 54 degrees2 in areas that do not contain an HVC, which can be used for a comparison of results.

### 3.3 Sky Survey Images

STScI has made available digitizations of the following sky surveys that are of use to us222Note that this description refers to the time of the beginning of our search (late 1999); at present, the DSS includes almost all of the POSS-II red data, and much of the POSS-II blue data as well.: POSS-I333The National Geographic Society - Palomar Observatory Sky Atlas (POSS-I) was made by the California Institute of Technology with grants from the National Geographic Society. (red plate only) for the northern hemisphere; POSS-II444 The Second Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS-II) was made by the California Institute of Technology with funds from the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Geographic Society, the Sloan Foundation, the Samuel Oschin Foundation, and the Eastman Kodak Corporation. The Oschin Schmidt Telescope is operated by the California Institute of Technology and Palomar Observatory. (red plate only) for approximately 2/3 of the northern sky; SERC-J555The UK Schmidt Telescope was operated by the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, with funding from the UK Science and Engineering Research Council (later the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council), until 1988 June, and thereafter by the Anglo-Australian Observatory. The blue plates of the southern Sky Atlas and its Equatorial Extension (together known as the SERC-J), as well as the Equatorial Red (ER), and the Second Epoch \[red\] Survey (SES) were all taken with the UK Schmidt. plates (blue) for the southern sky; Second Epoch Southern Sky Survey (red) for a small fraction of the southern hemisphere; and Equatorial Red plates for the region around $`\delta =0\mathrm{°}`$. This means that at any position we only have access to images of one color, except for a small band around the equator. Furthermore, many positions are only covered by a single plate (especially at $`\delta 3\mathrm{°}`$) from one of these five surveys, making it difficult to distinguish the numerous plate flaws and background variations from real astronomical objects.

By examining the existing data on HI in known dSph galaxies, we determined that in most cases the centroid of the HI distribution is less than $`30\mathrm{}`$ from the optical galaxy. Of the 10 dSphs found by Blitz & Robishaw (2000) to contain H I gas, 7 meet this criterion, and therefore would have been discovered in our survey if they had not already been known. Extending the search radius to $`1\mathrm{°}`$ would guarantee that we would find virtually all dSphs that are similar to the known ones, but we judged that the $`400\%`$ increase in area to search that this would require was not worth the $`40\%`$ gain in sensitivity. Thus, in our survey for new galaxies, we searched a box $`1\mathrm{°}`$ on a side centered on each HVC in the sample. For the BB99 compact HVCs, we used the POSS-I and SERC-J survey data, because they had the most complete sky coverage. After completing this, a $`30\mathrm{}`$ wide box around each HVC position was re-examined using POSS-II, SESSS, or Equatorial Red plates, as available. This process gave us greater sensitivity in the area near the center of each HVC. By the time we reached the RB02 HVCs, most of the POSS-II data were online, so we performed our search of these objects with only the $`1\mathrm{°}`$ POSS-II images.

The search was carried out by processing our downloaded images with the algorithm described above. We compared the processed frames with the originals, blinking back and forth between them. LSB objects showed up as bright spots on the processed images. Every position where such a bright spot was seen and no obvious stellar or galactic counterpart was visible on the unprocessed image was flagged. After this comparison, each flagged region was examined closely by eye on the unprocessed image, using various stretches to best view the LSB feature. Some of these smudges were clearly related to bright Galactic cirrus, other types of nebulae, plate flaws, ghost images, or the wings of bright stars. Such objects were eliminated from consideration. The remaining objects were compared to any other frames of the field in question (POSS-I, or a neighboring POSS-II plate) that were available from STScI. Objects that were visible on a second plate and appeared morphologically like a dwarf galaxy were immediately labeled candidates. Some objects that were not confirmed on additional plates were also added to the candidate list if no other plate was available for comparison, or if their morphology was particularly convincing.

## 4 POSS SEARCH RESULTS

We surveyed one square degree of sky around each of 264 HVCs. Because some of the HVCs were close together, the total area searched was about 239 degrees2. Our survey revealed 60 low-surface brightness objects, for an overall candidate identification rate of 0.25 per degree2 of sky searched. Of these, 18 were towards the 59 BB99 compact HVCs (0.31 per degree2) in our sample, and 5 were in the direction of the 17 secondary objects (0.29 per degree2). The remaining 37 were found while examining the 188 HVCs from the RB02 catalog (0.20 per degree2). The positions of these LSB dwarf galaxy candidates are given in Table 1. For comparison, we also searched (mostly by accident) 54 square degrees of sky that were not associated with any known high-velocity gas, and found 10 additional LSB features (0.19 per degree2). Without even following up on the candidates, we can see that there is not a large excess of them in the direction of HVCs relative to their abundance in random patches of sky. The somewhat higher smudge detection rates for the BB99 HVCs are not statistically significant.

## 5 OPTICAL FOLLOWUP OBSERVATIONS

### 5.1 Observing Setup

We obtained followup images of each of the candidate dwarf galaxies from Lick Observatory. We observed with the 1m Anna L. Nickel Telescope for 12 nights between 1999 July and 2000 April. Conditions during these nights were generally close to photometric, although there were occasional clouds which our observations avoided. The seeing varied from 1″ to 2.5″. Our primary detector was CCD5, a $`1024\times 1024`$ thinned SITe CCD with $`24\mu `$m pixels ($`5\mathrm{}`$ field of view). However, for two nights during which this instrument was unavailable, we used CCD2, an older $`2048\times 2048`$ L30 464-5 thick phosphor coated CCD with $`15\mu `$m pixels ($`7\mathrm{}`$ field of view).

We also used the 3m Shane Telescope for deeper followup observations. We observed for 5 nights (2000 April 6–7 and 2000 September 28–30) with the Prime Focus Camera. This instrument utilizes a $`2048\times 2048`$ SITe CCD with $`24\mu `$m pixels to provide a $`10\mathrm{}`$ field of view. These nights also ranged from photometric to partly cloudy, with variable seeing, but again, our observations were not significantly affected by the clouds.

With both telescopes, we chose to employ a Spinrad R (R$`_\text{s}`$) filter for most of our observations. We avoided using standard R filters because of the extremely strong Na D lines in the Lick Observatory sky, and we felt that I-band observations would also result in the sky being too bright. The R$`_\text{s}`$ filter is centered at $`6850\text{Å}`$, with a FWHM of approximately $`1500\text{Å}`$ (somewhat redder, more symmetrical, and wider than Cousins R), and was designed specifically to suppress the nearby night sky emission lines. R$`_\text{s}`$ magnitudes tend to be similar to Johnson R magnitudes — within 0.1 mag for $`0.8<VR<1.8`$ (Djorgovski, 1985). On the 1m telescope, we typically observed each object for 1 hour, and on the 3m for 15 to 30 minutes. During the course of each night, we observed standard star fields chosen from the Landolt (1992) catalog to obtain photometric calibrations, as described below.

### 5.2 Data Reduction and Analysis

Most of our data reduction was done in IDL, although we used IRAF666IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA) under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. for some of the photometry. Processing consisted of subtracting off a dark frame (for the 1m images) or an overscan region (for the 3m images), flatfielding with a twilight or dome flat, and flatfielding again with a sky flat if necessary. We removed cosmic rays with the qzap routine. The frames were then shifted and coadded to yield a single image for each object. We obtained 8 to 30 standard star observations per night, which we used to construct a photometric solution of the following form:

$$R_S=m_{\text{instr}}+C+f\times (VI)+g\times (a1),$$
(1)
where $`R_S`$ is the apparent Spinrad R magnitude, $`m_{\text{instr}}`$ is the instrumental magnitude, $`C`$ is the constant offset, $`f`$ is the color coefficient, $`VI`$ is the known or assumed Johnson-Cousins color of the object, $`g`$ is the tabulated Lick mean extinction coefficient777http://www.ucolick.org/ mountain/mthamilton/techdocs/info/lick-mean-extinct.html, and $`a`$ is the airmass. Equation 17 from Djorgovski (1985) was used to convert the Cousins R magnitudes that Landolt (1992) measured for the standard stars into Spinrad R magnitudes. (The diligent reader will note that Djorgovski’s Equation 17 actually gives the transformation between Johnson R and R$`_\text{s}`$. This mismatch between the Johnson and Cousins systems could lead to a systematic error of order 0.1 mag, which is not large enough to affect our results. An equally important systematic effect is that the optical path + detector combination we used is quite different from that which Djorgovski calibrated in 1985.)

We used a local-maximum-finding algorithm to detect stars and galaxies in our images. Artificial star tests demonstrated that this algorithm finds essentially all sources that are detected at the $`10\sigma `$ level or higher. Aperture magnitudes were calculated for each of the detected sources with the DAOPHOT package in IRAF. These magnitudes were converted to R$`_\text{s}`$ using Equation 1, and assuming that $`VI=1.1`$, approximately correct for the most luminous red giants. Since the color coefficient was usually of order 0.1, this estimate can be off by several tenths of a magnitude without having any appreciable effect.

After locating the sources and deriving their magnitudes, we checked the coadded images for overdensities of point sources around the positions of the dwarf galaxy candidates. We traced out a region of interest around each candidate and compared the surface density of sources inside and outside the regions over various magnitude bins. We considered magnitude ranges starting with all the objects brighter than the magnitude limit and fainter than a tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) star at about 100 kpc: $`R_S=16.5`$ (since our survey technique is not sensitive to galaxies closer than this distance). We then decreased the bright limit by one magnitude at a time to create successive bins (see Table 2 for an example). We used Poisson statistics to quantify the uncertainty in the number of stars expected to lie inside the region based on the background surface density. Overdensities of $`3\sigma `$ or higher were considered significant enough to warrant further investigation.

### 5.3 Results

If there were a resolved dwarf galaxy in the field being examined, one would expect to see an overdensity through all of the magnitude ranges. This overdensity would increase in significance as the bright end of the magnitude bins approached the TRGB of the galaxy, reaching a maximum near the bin where the TRGB was closest to the bright edge of a bin. Visually, a dwarf galaxy should also show an obvious clustering of “undetected” faint stars which do not meet our $`10\sigma `$ limit for photometry, since the red giant branch is more populated at lower luminosities. We searched each image for point source overdensities of at least 3$`\sigma `$ in one magnitude bin. Eight of the counterparts met this criterion, with the most significant one having a maximum overdensity of $`11\sigma `$.

As a comparison, we observed the dwarf spheroidals And III and And V. And III has a total luminosity of $`M_V=10.2`$ and a central surface brightness of $`\mu _\text{V}=24.49`$ mag arcsecond-2, and given its distance of 760 kpc and the Galactic extinction ($`A_R=0.15`$ mag), the TRGB should be located at $`R=21.15`$ (Caldwell et al., 1992; Armandroff et al., 1993; Schlegel, Finkbeiner, & Davis, 1998). And V is a significantly fainter galaxy, with $`M_V=9.1`$ and $`\mu _\text{V}=25.01`$ mag arcsecond-2, and is slightly farther away and more extincted (810 kpc, $`A_R=0.33`$ mag), so it should show a red giant branch starting at $`R=21.48`$ (Caldwell, 1999; Armandroff, Davies, & Jacoby, 1998; Schlegel, Finkbeiner, & Davis, 1998). Our results for 3m observations of And III (15 minutes) and And V (21 minutes) are given in Table 2. Based on a comparison between the stellar densities and the background surface density, we detected about 160 stars in And III and 80 in And V. Both galaxies were detected at the $`10.9\sigma `$ level or higher in every magnitude bin, and the highest overdensities ($`15\sigma 20\sigma `$) appear in the bins that begin closest to the TRGB magnitudes, matching our expectations. The decreased overdensities seen in the last bin imply that the observations were affected to some degree by crowding or incompleteness at that magnitude level. We also imaged And V for 20 minutes with the 1m telescope (this exposure was much shorter than any of our observations of dwarf candidates) and detected the galaxy at 4.0$`\sigma `$ in the faintest magnitude bin. This significance level corresponded to 12 stars above the background density over the area of the dwarf galaxy.

Since we detect known dwarf galaxies very easily with typical 3m observations, and weakly with much shorter than average 1m observations, we can be confident that our observations were sufficient to locate any new galaxies similar to the known ones. Because the strongest candidate detections we made are still weaker than And V — one of the least luminous galaxies known — we also know immediately that if there are any dwarf galaxies associated with HVCs, they are fainter than known dwarfs.

We also found that 15 of the dwarf galaxy candidates appeared to contain faint nebular emission in our followup images. We suspect that a number of these are Galactic cirrus clouds. The remaining 37 candidates were not detected in any way during the followup observations, so we are forced to assume that these represent flaws on the Palomar plates which happened to have the appearance of dwarf galaxies.

### 5.4 Comments on Individual Candidates

HVC 104$``$70$``$312: At the location of this candidate, we found a $`5\sigma `$ density enhancement of faint sources, which contains 27 more objects than expected from the background, and peaks in significance around magnitude 19.3. It is higher than $`4.5\sigma `$ in all but the faintest magnitude bin. The sources appear to be clustered around a bright ($`R_S=18.9`$) galaxy near the middle of the region. In our Lick image, it is obvious that most of the sources are within 1′ of this galaxy, rather than occupying the full $`4\mathrm{}\times 2\mathrm{}`$ LSB area identified on the POSS plate. Taking this into account, the overdensity increases in significance to $`9\sigma `$ (21 more objects than expected). Of the sources brighter than $`R_S=20.4`$ (2 magnitudes brighter than the detection limit), 5 out of 9 are classified as galaxies on the basis of their radial profiles (FWHM larger than the point-spread function). For the fainter sources, it rapidly becomes impossible to distinguish stars from galaxies, but at least half of the 16 objects between $`R_S=20.4`$ and $`R_S=21.4`$ appear to be stars. So there may be a group of $`1520`$ faint ($`R_S20.4`$) stars at this position. There are also $`20`$ objects within 1′ of the central galaxy which are visible by eye, but are fainter than our software detection limit. Without further observations, we cannot rule out the possibility that this is an exceedingly dim dwarf galaxy ($`M_V7`$), but we suspect that other alternatives (e.g., galaxy cluster, random grouping of foreground stars) are more likely.

HVC 118$``$58$``$373: Most of the sources associated with this small (11 objects) overdensity appear to be stars. The significance stays almost constant (as does the overabundance by number) down to the $`20.622.6`$ bin, where it reaches a maximum of $`3.5\sigma `$. However, even with the fairly deep limiting magnitude of this image, there is no hint of numerous fainter stars in the region below our formal $`10\sigma `$ detection limit, which should of course be present if this were a dwarf galaxy. With so few objects here the statistics are obviously poor, but we argue that this candidate is probably a chance alignment of foreground stars.

HVC 171$``$54$``$235: The overdensity is highest ($`3.6\sigma `$) in the largest magnitude range and decreases monotonically thereafter. This behavior is not at all what is expected from a dwarf galaxy. Again, there is no sign of “undetected” ($`<10\sigma `$) sources. Since the overabundant objects are bright and are not accompanied by more numerous faint counterparts, this candidate is not a dwarf galaxy.

HVC 237$`+`$50$`+`$078: This candidate has an overdensity of 25 stars, which peaks at a significance level of $`3.1\sigma `$ around magnitude 18. The sources are not very centrally concentrated; rather, many of them are in several small groups of about 6 objects. Of the fraction (about 2/3) that are bright enough to be solidly classified as either stars or galaxies based on their radial profiles, over $`60\%`$ are galaxies. Thus, the overdensity of stars is small, and there is no reason to suspect that this is a dwarf galaxy.

HVC 261$`+`$49$`+`$160: This object was the first distant galaxy cluster that we accidentally discovered. We noticed a highly significant ($`7.8\sigma `$) clustering of “stars” in our Lick 3m image. Comparison of the SERC-J and Equatorial Red plates confirmed that these objects had red colors. However, the fact that the brightest of the stars appeared to have slightly extended radial profiles relative to the point-spread function of the Lick image raised suspicions that they were actually marginally resolved distant galaxies. G. Illingworth and V. Tran acquired an image of the cluster with the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (LRIS) (Oke et al., 1995) on the Keck888The W.M. Keck Observatory is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W.M. Keck Foundation. I telescope which supported this interpretation (see Figure 3), so we obtained spectra of the brighter objects with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope999The Hobby-Eberly Telescope is a joint project of the University of Texas at Austin, Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University, Ludwig-Maximillians-Universitat Munchen, and Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen.. The spectra revealed that the bright central sources in this field were compact elliptical galaxies at $`z=0.35`$. Thus, we conclude that this is a cluster of galaxies. (We should point out that technically this position was not listed in either of the HVC catalogs we used; it was only examined by mistake. However, there is actually high-velocity H I emission at this position in the LDS that was too weak to be included in the RB02 catalog. This cloud is also listed in the compilation of Wakker & van Woerden (1991), so it really is an HVC.)

HVC 143$`+`$65$`+`$285b: This candidate also appeared in a 3m image as a small clustering of slightly extended objects (23 more than would be expected from the background surface density). We did not obtain spectra, but I-band imaging from the 1m telescope confirmed that many of these objects have similar colors. The significance of the clustering reaches a maximum of $`3.9\sigma `$ and begins to fall off around magnitude 19. $`64\%`$ of the bright objects in the region are clearly galaxies, and a 15th magnitude star is also present. These probably combine to explain the source of the LSB emission our algorithm picked up on the POSS plates. We consider this candidate to be a likely galaxy cluster.

HVC 083$``$50$``$325: The morphology of this candidate is extremely suggestive of a dwarf galaxy: an elliptical region about 5′ across with a very strong concentration of faint point sources (Figure 4). This was one of the two objects whose overdensities approached those of And III and And V in significance, peaking at $`10.8\sigma `$. However, a number of the brightest objects are clearly galaxies in our Lick R$`_\text{s}`$ image, and a significant fraction of those appear to be interacting. We also obtained V and I images of this field to aid in classifying the sources in the region of enhanced surface density. Taking into consideration the radial profile, morphology, and color of each source, we classified 62% of the identifiable objects as galaxies. Many of the galaxies were concentrated in color-color space around ($`VI`$, $`RI`$) = (2.0, 1.1) and also near (1.5, 0.7). Furthermore, an Abell cluster (2545) with a photometric redshift of 0.17 (Gal et al., 2000) is located 20′ away from this position, increasing the probability that other clusters are in the vicinity. We feel safe in concluding that this candidate is another cluster of galaxies at moderate redshift.

HVC 107$``$30$``$421: We found a small ($`1\mathrm{}`$), elongated, very faint nebula north of the center of this HVC on the Palomar plates. A deep exposure on the 1m telescope confirmed the reality of the source, but its extremely low surface brightness ($`\mu _\text{R}25.3`$ mag arcsecond-2) made it difficult to classify. A. Bunker, S. Dawson, A. Dey, H. Spinrad, and D. Stern obtained an R-band image for us with Keck/LRIS, which revealed more structure in the object, but definitively did not resolve it into stars (see Figure 5). We remain unsure of the nature of this object, but we believe that it is a Galactic nebula. Because no stars were visible in it in the deep, subarcsecond-seeing image from Keck, we are confident that it is not a Local Group dwarf galaxy.

HVC 114$``$11$``$441: This candidate has an overdensity of $`3.3\sigma `$ (39 sources) over the magnitude range $`16.5R_S22.8`$. The significance decreases almost monotonically in the subsequent bins. The Galactic extinction in this direction is $`A_R=0.65`$ mag (Schlegel, Finkbeiner, & Davis, 1998), which makes it unlikely that a dwarf galaxy would be detected here. Since this object is at low Galactic latitude, the slight clustering of stars is probably located in the foreground.

## 6 DISCUSSION

### 6.1 Expected Red Giant Populations

We were unable to find any mention in the literature of the R-band magnitude of the TRGB. However, we can use theoretical studies of stellar evolution to make a reasonable estimate of its location. Girardi et al. (2000, hereafter G00) and Yi et al. (2001, hereafter Y01) both present stellar models that predict TRGB magnitudes of $`M_R3.4`$, varying only slightly with age and metallicity within the ranges that interest us. For example, in their $`\text{[Fe/H]}=1.7`$ models, Y01 find a maximum shift of 0.086 mag in the TRGB magnitude for stars ranging in age between 4 and 15 Gyr. G00 give the maximum shift as 0.020 mag for the same parameters. Likewise, in changing metallicities at a fixed age (10 Gyr), the TRGB magnitude varies by only 0.144 and 0.068 mag, according to Y01 and G00, respectively (over most of the range covered by known dwarf spheroidals, $`2.3`$ \[Fe/H\] $`1.3`$). Given what is known about the TRGB in V and I (Lee, Freedman, & Madore, 1993), these values seem reasonable, but we can compare them with observations as a further test. One of the few published datasets involving R-band observations of a large, homogeneous population of red giants is the study of the Fornax dSph by Stetson, Hesser, & Smecker-Hane (1998). Using their data, and an assumed distance modulus for Fornax of 20.70 mag (Beauchamp et al., 1995; Saviane, Held, & Bertelli, 2000), we derive a TRGB magnitude of $`M_R=3.3`$. Fornax has a high metallicity for a dSph of \[Fe/H\] $`=1.0`$ (Saviane, Held, & Bertelli, 2000), so we should not be surprised that it has a slightly fainter tip magnitude than the models give. We conclude that $`M_R=3.4`$ is the best guess for the TRGB magnitude in a typical Local Group dwarf spheroidal.

We noted in Section 4.3 that our observations of dSph companions of Andromeda detected $`100`$ stars in each galaxy. Other recent studies of distant Local Group dwarfs have measured similar or larger numbers of stars within one magnitude of the TRGB: $`100`$ such stars in And VI (Armandroff, Jacoby, & Davies, 1999), $`200`$ stars in And VI and $`650`$ stars in And VII (Grebel & Guhathakurta, 1999), 156 stars (including some AGB contamination) in Phoenix (Held, Saviane, & Momany, 1999), and 77 stars in Tucana (Saviane, Held, & Piotto, 1996). Since typical background surface densities in our images are $`8`$ stars arcminute-2 (varying strongly with galactic latitude) and these densities are a factor of a few higher, such objects are easily detected. Their absence in our survey indicates that HVCs do not contain dwarf galaxies with typical parameters ($`M_V\stackrel{<}{}9`$, $`\mu _\text{V}\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}25.0}`$ mag arcsecond-2).

### 6.2 Distance and Surface Brightness Limits

Our followup observations of dwarf galaxy candidates reached $`10\sigma `$ limiting R$`_\text{s}`$ magnitudes between 20.0 and 23.4, with a median value of 22.2. We can convert these limiting magnitudes into a minimum distance at which a dwarf galaxy would have to lie in order to have escaped detection. If we assume that these observations must probe 1 magnitude below the TRGB in order to detect a dwarf galaxy, then the limiting distance is

$$d_{lim}=10^{\frac{m_{lim}+7.4}{5}}\text{pc}.$$
(2)
For the minimum, median, and maximum limiting magnitudes we achieved, this distance corresponds to 302 kpc, 832 kpc, and 1445 kpc, respectively. These distance limits are quite conservative, because we have insisted that stars be detected at $`10\sigma `$ (even though they can be visually identified in images at significantly fainter levels), and objects as bright as the known dSphs can easily be located on images which reach less than a magnitude below the TRGB. Therefore, we can state with confidence that none of the candidate dwarf galaxies are actually dwarfs within 100 – 300 kpc of the Milky Way, and all but two would have to be several times farther away to have been missed.

The depth of the POSS-II portion of our search is more difficult to assess. The Palomar data are not of uniform sensitivity: exposure times vary by up to a factor of two from plate to plate, and on a single plate there is significant vignetting within $`1\mathrm{°}`$ of the edges. Furthermore, different parts of the sky are covered by different photographic surveys. Distant LG galaxies ($`\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}200}`$ kpc) are not resolved and appear in the Palomar data as smudges with higher surface brightnesses than the surrounding areas. Because all of the distant dSphs are visible by eye on the Palomar plates, we know that the POSS sensitivity range goes at least as faint as $`\mu _\text{V}=25.0`$ mag arcsecond-2. Using the stellar evolution models discussed in Section 5.1 again, we estimate that these galaxies should have colors around $`VR=0.5`$. Thus the R-band sensitivity of the Palomar images (since we used the red plates wherever possible) is better than $`\mu _\text{R}=24.5`$ mag arcsecond-2.

A few dwarf spheroidals are known to have surface brightnesses lower than these levels. Some of the Milky Way companions at $`d<100`$ kpc have $`25.3\mu _\text{V}26.2`$ mag arcsecond-2 (i.e. Carina, Draco, Sextans, Ursa Minor, and Sagittarius). Out of these, Carina and Draco are visible by eye in POSS-II images, and the others are detectable via star counts. Since galaxies this close are resolved into individual stars on POSS plates, it is not entirely clear how to consider them with regard to a limiting surface brightness. Nevertheless, all LG galaxies with $`\mu _\text{V}<25.5`$ mag arcsecond-2 are visible, and one of the two galaxies with $`\mu _\text{V}=25.5`$ mag arcsecond-2 can also be seen visually. Thus, the naked-eye sensitivity of the red POSS-II plates is likely to be $`\mu _\text{V}=25.5`$ mag arcsecond-2, or $`\mu _\text{R}=25.0`$ mag arcsecond-2. Our processing routine should improve these values, perhaps by $`0.5`$ magnitudes. So, we estimate that our survey is able to find galaxies down to $`\mu _\text{V}=26.0`$ mag arcsecond-2, or $`\mu _\text{R}=25.5`$ mag arcsecond-2. (It is worth noting that foreground Galactic extinction prevents us from quite reaching these limits; the median AR for HVCs in our sample is 0.18 magnitudes (Schlegel, Finkbeiner, & Davis, 1998).)

### 6.3 Implications

The fact that our survey did not detect *any* new dwarf galaxies toward the $`250`$ HVCs that we examined rules out the hypothesis that HVCs are the gaseous components of normal, but faint, Local Group dwarf galaxies. If these HVCs do contain stars, they must have central surface brightnesses $`\mu _\text{V}\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}26}`$ mag arcsecond-2. They are also likely to have absolute magnitudes $`M_V\stackrel{>}{}9`$, although a very extended stellar counterpart with an extremely low surface brightness could yield a higher total luminosity while still escaping detection. Even though it is conceivable that a few objects could have been missed because of our survey design, on the whole it seems clear that HVCs are starless systems.

Known LG dwarfs do have surface brightnesses as faint as $`\mu _\text{V}=26.2`$ mag arcsecond-2, but only a handful of the very extended MW satellites are in this range (see Figure 6). Surveys of nearby groups and clusters confirm that dwarf spheroidals with $`\mu _\text{V}\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}26}`$ mag arcsecond-2 either do not exist or cannot be detected with current techniques (Caldwell & Bothun, 1987; Impey, Bothun, & Malin, 1988; Bothun, Schombert, & Caldwell, 1989; Bremnes, Binggeli, & Prugniel, 1998; Caldwell et al., 1998; Jerjen, Binggeli, & Freeman, 2000; Karachentsev et al., 2000, 2001). For the distant LG dSphs (Andromeda companions and isolated galaxies), the lowest surface brightness is $`\mu _\text{V}=25.05`$ mag arcsecond-2 for Cetus and Tucana. All of these distant galaxies are visible in the POSS-II data, and are easily detected both by our POSS processing algorithm and our followup imaging campaign. Thus, we are confident that any objects similar to known dwarf spheroidals would have been discovered in our survey if they were present. Lower surface brightness stellar counterparts could be present, but the fact that no such systems (with or without H I components) are known argues against this possibility. We believe that the most likely explanation for our findings is that HVCs simply do not contain stars.

This result does not lead to the anticipated outcome of our survey: a means of discriminating between HVC models. In the Galactic Fountain and Tidal Debris models, stars would not be expected to form in HVCs, in agreement with our finding. However, although the Local Group model certainly allows for stars in HVCs, and we would argue suggests that stellar counterparts are likely, it does not require them. So while a positive result in our search would have strongly supported the Local Group model, the inverse is not necessarily the case. As mentioned earlier, Bullock, Kravtsov, & Weinberg (2000) and others have proposed ideas explaining how small dark matter halos scattered throughout the Local Group could contain some neutral gas without having formed stars. We believe that the absence of stars may be an important clue to the nature of HVCs, but by itself, it does not allow us to solve the puzzle.

### 6.4 Compatibility With Previous Work

There have been no other comprehensive and quantitative searches for evidence of stars in HVCs. Ivezic & Christodoulou (1997) examined IRAS data towards the large HVC complexes in an effort to locate any star formation that might be occurring, but only came up with one possible young star in positional coincidence with high-velocity H I. BB99 searched DSS images in the direction of each of their compact HVCs, but found no clear optical counterparts. And Simon et al. (in preparation) used infrared and millimeter-wave observations to search for a stellar counterpart to Complex H, with null results. Thus, the result of this work is entirely compatible with the data existing in the literature.

## 7 CONCLUSIONS

We have surveyed one degree2 of sky around each of 264 high-velocity clouds in search of new Local Group dwarf galaxies. We processed digital POSS-I and POSS-II images with an algorithm to enhance low-surface brightness features. We then examined the images and found 60 faint smudges that we classified as possible LG dwarfs. Using the 1m and 3m telescopes at Lick Observatory, we imaged each of these candidates to a typical limiting stellar magnitude of $`R_S=22.2`$. Examination of the data revealed several $`3\sigma `$ density enhancements of faint sources in the areas selected from the POSS plates, but none of these appear to be LG dwarf galaxies. Typical faint LG dwarf spheroidal galaxies would have been detected at the $`\stackrel{>}{}\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}10}\sigma `$ level, with $`100`$ stars brighter than the detection limit. Therefore, we conclude that there are no undiscovered normal dwarf galaxies within a 30′ radius of any of these HVCs, provided that the HVCs are located at least 100 kpc from the Milky Way; dwarf galaxies at a smaller distance might be too diffuse to detect in this manner.

There were both observational and theoretical grounds for suspecting that compact HVCs might harbor faint LSB dwarf galaxies. It is well-known that the highly successful Cold Dark Matter theory predicts large numbers of small dark matter halos, which have not yet been detected observationally. Klypin et al. (1999) and others have pointed out that HVCs are numerous enough (and massive enough, in the Local Group picture) to comprise the set of missing halos. From the observational side, Blitz & Robishaw (2000) noted that there are similarities between the H I components of LG dwarfs and the properties of HVCs, if they are located at typical distances from the Milky Way of $`700`$ kpc. Furthermore, blind H I surveys of nearby groups of galaxies often find that the H I clouds they detect are associated with LSB dwarfs.

The implications of our observation that LG H I clouds lack such stellar counterparts are unclear. While this finding does not rule out the Local Group hypothesis for the spatial distribution of the HVCs, it also does not provide any supporting evidence. We are still unable to constrain HVC distances, but we have placed significant limits on their stellar content. Regardless of the location of the HVCs, as long as they are at least 100 kpc away they either lack stars entirely, or they have lower surface brightnesses and luminosities than other systems in the Local Group.

We acknowledge the support of grant AST-9981308. We thank the referee for his or her comments on the paper. In addition, we would like to thank the Lick Observatory staff, particularly Elinor Gates and Tony Misch, for their instruction on the Lick telescopes. JDS also acknowledges the following people for their company and assistance while observing: Alison Coil, Steve Dawson, Wendy Ellis, Doug Finkbeiner, Eric Gawiser, Tim Robishaw, and Tony Wong. We are also grateful to several people for being kind enough to donate some of their own observing time to this project, specifically Andy Bunker, Steve Dawson, Arjun Dey, Elinor Gates, Garth Illingworth, Hy Spinrad, Dan Stern, and Vy Tran. Frank Bash allowed us to use some of his discretionary time on the HET to take spectra of one of our candidates. Doug Finkbeiner and Tim Robishaw were the sources of many helpful ideas about IDL programming. This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France. This research has also 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, and NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services.


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# Subcritical Stein manifolds are split

## 1 Introduction

This note concerns the following little observation.

###### Theorem 1.1.

Every subcritical Stein manifold (domain) is deformation equivalent to a split one.

Let me explain the words in the statement.

Stein. A Stein manifold is a complex manifold $`(W,J)`$ without boundary which admits an exhausting plurisubharmonic function $`\varphi :W`$. Here ”exhausting” means proper and bounded from below, and ”plurisubharmonic” means that $`d(d\varphi J)`$ is a positive $`(1,1)`$ form. A sublevel set $`\varphi ^1(\mathrm{},c]`$ in a Stein manifold is called Stein domain. Note that Stein domains are compact, whereas Stein manifolds are noncompact.

Subcritical. It is well-known that the critical points of a plurisubharmonic Morse function $`\varphi `$ have Morse index $`n`$, where $`n`$ is the complex dimension of $`W`$. The Stein manifold (domain) is called subcritical if it admits an exhausting plurisubharmonic Morse function $`\varphi `$ all of whose critical points have index $`<n`$.

Split. A Stein manifold is called split if it is of the form $`(V\times ,J_0\times i)`$ for some Stein manifold $`(V,J_0)`$. An exhausting plurisubharmonic function is given by $`\varphi =\varphi _0+|z|^2`$, where $`\varphi _0`$ is an exhausting plurisubharmonic function on $`V`$ and $`z`$ is the complex coordinate on $``$. A Stein domain is called split if it is a sublevel set $`\varphi ^1(\mathrm{},c]`$ in a split Stein manifold. Note that split Stein manifolds (domains) are subcritical.

Deformation equivalence. Two Stein structures $`J_0,J_1`$ on the same smooth manifold $`W`$ are called Stein homotopic if there exists a continuous family of Stein structures $`J_t`$ with exhausting plurisubharmonic functions $`\varphi _t`$ such that critical points of $`\varphi _t`$ do not travel to infinity during the homotopy. Two Stein manifolds $`(W,J)`$ and $`(W^{},J^{})`$ are called deformation equivalent if there exists a diffeomorphism $`f:WW^{}`$ such that $`J`$ and $`f^{}J^{}`$ are Stein homotopic on $`W`$.

A Stein manifold $`(W,J,\varphi )`$ carries a canonical symplectic form $`d(d\varphi J)`$. Deformation equivalence implies symplectomorphism , so this is the right notion of equivalence from the symplectic point of view. Subcritical Stein manifolds have recently received some interest because of their particularly simple symplectic properties (,,,). In view of Theorem 1.1, one can always assume them to be split. This will simplify the study of their symplectic properties, e.g. their symplectic field theory invariants .

In the splitting $`W=V\times `$ the homeomorphism type of $`V`$ may not be unique, as the following example shows.

###### Example 1.2.

Let $`W=S^2\times ^4`$ with an almost complex structure $`J`$ of first Chern class $`c_1(J)=2kH^2(W;)`$. By the results in , $`W`$ carries a unique Stein structure in the homotopy class of $`J`$ for which the function $`|x|^2`$ on the $`^4`$-factor is plurisubharmonic. Then for every oriented 2-plane bundle $`VS^2`$ whose Euler class $`eH^2(S^2;)`$ is even and $`e22k`$, there exists a Stein structure $`J_0`$ on $`V`$ such that $`V\times `$ is deformation equivalent to $`W`$.

To see this, consider first $`V=T^{}S^2`$ with its natural Stein structure $`J_0`$. It has Chern class $`c_1(J_0)=0`$ and Euler class (as a bundle over $`S^2`$) $`e=2`$. It is obtained from the 4-ball by attaching a 2-handle along the Legendrian unknot with Thurston-Bennequin number $`\mathrm{tb}=1`$ and rotation number $`r=0`$ (see ). Adding $`l`$ kinks to the knot, the Thurston-Bennequin number becomes $`1l`$, while the rotation number $`r`$ can be made any of the integers $`l,l+2,\mathrm{},l2,l`$. For $`l`$ even, the resulting Stein surface is the oriented 2-plane bundle over $`S^2`$ with Euler class $`e=\mathrm{tb}1=l2`$ and Chern class $`c_1(J_0)=r`$. So for $`e`$ even and $`e2k2`$ we can arrange $`c_1(J_0)=2k`$. By the arguments below, $`V\times `$ is deformation equivalent to $`W`$.

Note that the total spaces of 2-plane bundles over $`S^2`$ of different Euler class are not homeomorphic. This can be seen, e.g., from the inverse limits of the fundamental groups of the complements of compact subsets. So there are infinitely many pairwise non-homeomorphic Stein surfaces $`V`$ such that $`V\times `$ is Stein equivalent to $`(W,J)`$.

One could also ask whether a subcritical Stein manifold is biholomorphic to a split one. Clearly a necessary condition is the existence of a holomorphic embedding of $``$ through every point. For example, bounded open domains in $`^n`$ can never be biholomorphically split. The following question grew out of a discussion with R. Hind.

Is every subcritical Stein manifold which has a holomorphic embedding of $``$ through every point biholomorphic to a split one?

Acknowledgement. The question whether every subcritical Stein manifold is split was brought up by K. Mohnke. This note was written during my stay at the Institute for Advanced Study, which I thank for its hospitality.

## 2 Proof

The proof is based on Eliashberg’s theory of Stein manifolds (,). Recall first some notation from . Let $`(W,J)`$ be a Stein domain of complex dimension $`n`$. A handle attaching triple (HAT) $`(f,\beta ,\gamma )`$ is the data for attaching a handle in the catagory of almost complex manifolds. Here $`f:S^{k1}W`$ is an embedding. It induces injective bundle homomorphisms $`df:TS^{k1}f^{}T(W)`$ and $`Df:TS^{k1}\underset{¯}{}f^{}TW`$ by sending the generator of the trivial bundle $`\underset{¯}{}`$ to an inward pointing vector field transverse to $`W`$. $`\beta `$ is a normal framing for $`f`$ in $`W`$, i.e. a bundle isomorphism $`\beta :S^{k1}\times ^{2nk}\nu _f`$ to the normal bundle $`\nu _f`$ to $`f`$ in $`W`$. $`\gamma :S^{k1}\times ^nf^{}TW`$ is an isomorphism of complex bundles which is homotopic to $`Df\beta `$ as an isomorphism of real bundles. Here $`TS^{k1}\underset{¯}{}^{2nk}`$ is identified with $`S^{k1}\times ^n`$ by viewing $`TS^{k1}\underset{¯}{}`$ as the tangent bundle to the ball $`B^k\times 0\times 0^k\times i^k\times ^{nk}`$.

An isotopy of HATs is an isotopy of embeddings $`f_t`$ covered by homotopies $`\beta _t,\gamma _t`$. Attaching a handle with isotopic HATs yields diffemorphic smooth manifolds with homotopic almost complex structures.

Note that the homotopy group $`\pi _{k1}SO(2nk)`$ acts transitively on the framings $`\beta `$ (considered up to homotopy) by composition. For a HAT $`(f,\beta ,\gamma )`$ and $`g`$ in the kernel of the map $`\pi _{k1}SO(2nk)\pi _{k1}SO(2n)`$, $`(f,\beta g,\gamma )`$ is again a HAT (which leads to a different smooth manifold when attaching the handle).

The maximal complex subspaces of $`W`$ define a contact structure $`\xi `$ on $`W`$. An embedding into $`W`$ is called isotropic if it is tangent to $`\xi `$. An isotropic embedding of the maximal possible dimension, $`n1`$, is called Legendrian. A HAT $`(f,\beta ,\gamma )`$ is called special if $`f`$ is an isotropic embedding, $`\beta =JDf\theta `$ for an injective complex bundle homomorphism $`\theta :S^{k1}\times ^{nk}f^{}TW`$, and $`\gamma =DfJDf\theta `$. It is called stably special if there exists a $`g\mathrm{ker}[\pi _{k1}SO(2nk)\pi _{k1}SO(2n)]`$ such that $`(f,\beta g,\gamma )`$ is special. The main inductional lemma in  states that if $`(W,J)`$ is a Stein domain and $`(f,\beta ,\gamma )`$ a special HAT, then a handle can be attached in such a way that the Stein structure extends over the handle.

Now let $`(V,J_0)`$ be a Stein domain of complex dimension $`n1`$ with plurisubharmonic Morse function $`\varphi _0`$, $`\varphi _0|_Vc`$. Let $`WV\times `$ be the Stein domain $`(\varphi _0+|z|^2)^1(\mathrm{},c]`$, where $`z`$ is the coordinate on $``$. $`W`$ is equipped with the complex structure $`J=J_0\times i`$ and the plurisubharmonic function $`\varphi =\varphi _0+|z|^2`$. Note that $`W`$ has a natural open book structure with trivial monodromy,

$$WV\times B^2V\times S^1.$$

Let $`(f,\beta ,\gamma )`$ be a HAT for $`W`$ of index $`k<n`$.

A HAT $`(f_0,\beta _0,\gamma _0)`$ for $`V`$ naturally induces a HAT $`(\widehat{f}_0,\widehat{\beta }_0,\widehat{\gamma }_0)`$ for $`W`$ with $`\widehat{f}_0=f_0\times 0:S^{k1}V\times 0`$, $`\widehat{\beta }_0=\beta _0\times 1\mathrm{l}_{}`$ and $`\widehat{\gamma }_0=\gamma _0\times 1\mathrm{l}_{}`$.

###### Lemma 2.1.

There exists an embedding $`f_0:S^{k1}V`$ such that $`\widehat{f}_0`$ is isotopic (through embeddings into $`W`$) to $`f`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`\mathrm{\Delta }V`$ be the skeleton, i.e. the union of all descending manifolds of critical points of $`\varphi _0`$ (with respect to some Riemannian metric). Note that the negative gradient flow of $`\varphi _0`$ retracts $`V`$ onto $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$. Since $`\mathrm{\Delta }\times S^1`$ has codimension at least $`n1`$ and $`S^{k1}`$ has dimension $`<n1`$, a small perturbation of $`f:S^{k1}W`$ makes it avoid $`\mathrm{\Delta }\times S^1`$. Then we use the gradient flow of $`\varphi _0`$ to isotop $`f`$ to an embedding into $`V\times B^2`$. Since $`2dimS^{k1}dimV1`$, the latter embedding is isotopic to an embedding into $`V\times 0`$. ∎

###### Lemma 2.2.

There exist a HAT $`(f_0,\beta _0,\gamma _0)`$ on $`V`$ such that the HAT $`(\widehat{f}_0,\widehat{\beta }_0,\widehat{\gamma }_0)`$ is isotopic to $`(f,\beta ,\gamma )`$.

###### Proof.

The previous lemma shows that after an isotopy of HATs, we may assume that $`f=\widehat{f}_0`$. Complete $`f_0`$ to any HAT $`(f_0,\overline{\beta }_0,\overline{\gamma }_0)`$ on $`V`$. This allows us to identify homotopy classes of framings $`\beta _0`$ for $`f_0`$ with $`\pi _{k1}SO(2nk2)`$, and similarly for $`\gamma _0,\beta ,\gamma `$. Now consider the following commutative diagram:

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\beta _0\pi _{k1}SO(2nk2)& \stackrel{\sigma }{}& \pi _{k1}SO(2nk)\beta \\ & & & & \\ \pi _{k1}SO(2n2)& \stackrel{}{}& \pi _{k1}SO(2n)\\ & & & & \\ \gamma _0\pi _{k1}U(n1)& \stackrel{}{}& \pi _{k1}U(n)\gamma .\end{array}$$

Here the map $`\sigma `$ is surjective by Bott periodicity (see , p. 230): $`\pi _iO(l1)\pi _iO(l)`$ is an isomorphism for $`i<l2`$ and surjective for $`il2`$. With $`i=k1`$ and $`l1=2nk2`$, the condition for surjectivity becomes $`k12nk3`$, or $`kn1`$, which is fulfilled by hypothesis. The same argument yields the isomorphisms in the middle row and at the vertical arrow. The isomorphism in the bottom row follows similarly (see ): $`\pi _iU(n1)\pi _iU(n)`$ is surjective for $`i2n2`$ and an isomorphism for $`i<2n2`$.

We see that given $`\beta ,\gamma `$ with the same image in $`\pi _{k1}SO(2n)`$ we find preimages $`\beta _0,\gamma _0`$ under the vertical maps. Since $`\beta _0,\gamma _0`$ have the same image in $`\pi _{k1}SO(2n2)`$, $`(f_0,\beta _0,\gamma _0)`$ is a HAT with the desired properties.

Note that here we make a choice if $`\sigma `$ is not bijective: We may change $`\beta _0`$ by any element in the kernel of $`\sigma `$ and still get a HAT with the desired properties. This freedom will be important later on. ∎

###### Lemma 2.3.

There exist a special HAT $`(f_0,\beta _0,\gamma _0)`$ on $`V`$ such that the HAT $`(\widehat{f}_0,\widehat{\beta }_0,\widehat{\gamma }_0)`$ is isotopic to $`(f,\beta ,\gamma )`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`(f_0,\beta _0,\gamma _0)`$ be a HAT as provided by Lemma 2.2. It is shown in  that $`(f_0,\beta _0,\gamma _0)`$ is isotopic (on $`V`$) to a stably special HAT $`(f_1,\beta _1,\gamma _1)`$. Moreover, for $`n>3`$ or $`k<n1`$, the stably special HAT $`(f_1,\beta _1,\gamma _1)`$ is isotopic to a special one. The same holds for $`n=2`$ by elementary reasons.

It remains to treat the case $`n=3`$ and $`k=2`$. Then the diagram in the proof of Lemma 2.2 becomes

$$\begin{array}{ccc}\beta _1\pi _1SO(2)& \stackrel{\sigma }{}& \pi _1SO(4)\beta \\ & & & & \\ \pi _1SO(4)& \stackrel{}{}& \pi _1SO(6)\\ & & & & \\ \gamma _1\pi _1U(2)& \stackrel{}{}& \pi _1U(3)\gamma .\end{array}$$

The embedding $`f_1`$ is a Legendrian knot in the contact 3-manifold $`V`$. It determines a normal framing $`JDf`$ in $`V`$ which corresponds to an element in $`\pi _1SO(2)`$. The HAT is special iff $`\beta _1=JDf\pi _1SO(2)`$. Adding “kinks” to $`f_1`$ allows us to decrease $`JDf`$ by an arbitrary integer, but by Bennequin’s inequality , we cannot increase it. However, recall that in the proof of Lemma 2.2 we had the freedom of changing $`\beta _0`$ (and hence $`\beta _1`$) by an arbitrary element in $`\mathrm{ker}[\sigma :\pi _1SO(2)\pi _1SO(4)]2`$. So we can make $`\beta _1`$ smaller than $`JDf`$ by subtracting an even integer and then decrease $`JDf`$ by adding kinks to $`f_1`$ until $`JDf=\beta _1`$. The result is a special HAT as desired.

Note that the modification of $`\beta _1`$ changes the diffeomorphism type of the Stein surface we get after attaching the handle. Since we have the freedom of making $`\beta _1`$ more negative and adding more kinks to $`f_1`$, the diffeomorphism type is not uniquely determined (see Example 1.2). ∎

###### Proof of Theorem 1.1.

The main extension lemma in  states that given a special HAT $`(f_0,\beta _0,\gamma _0)`$, a handle can be attached in such a way that the Stein structure extends over the handle. So using Lemma 2.3 and induction, we obtain a Stein manifold $`(V,J_0)`$ and a diffeomorphism $`F:V\times W`$ such that $`F^{}J`$ is homotopic (through almost complex structures) to $`J_0\times i`$. Moreover, by construction, there are exhausting plurisubharmonic functions $`\varphi `$ on $`W`$ and $`\varphi _0`$ on $`V`$ such that $`F^{}\varphi `$ and $`\varphi _0+|z|^2`$ have the same critical points. Now another theorem of Eliashberg  implies that $`J_0\times i`$ and $`f^{}J`$ are Stein homotopic.

The same arguments work for Stein domains. This proves Theorem 1.1. ∎


text:
# Polynomial growth of sumsets in abelian semigroups 11footnote 12000 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 11B13,11B75,11P21,20F65,20M14. Key words and phrases. Sumsets, semigroup growth, Hilbert polynomials, additive number theory. This work was begun while the authors were participants in the Combinatorial Number Theory Workshop, which was organized and supported by the Erdős Center in Budapest, Hungary.

## 1 Introduction

Let $`𝐍_0`$ denote the set of nonnegative integers, and $`𝐍_0^k`$ the set of all $`k`$-tuples of nonnegative integers. Geometrically, $`𝐍_0^k`$ is the set of lattice points in the Euclidean space $`𝐑^k`$ that lie in the nonnegative octant.

If $`A`$ is a finite, nonempty subset of $`𝐍_0`$, then the sumset $`hA`$ is the set of all integers that can be represented as the sum of $`h`$ elements of $`A`$, with repetitions allowed. A classical problem in additive number theory concerns the growth of a finite set of nonnegative integers. For $`h`$ sufficiently large, the structure of the sumset $`hA`$ is completely determined (Nathanson ), and its cardinality $`|hA|`$ is a linear function of $`h`$.

If $`A_1,\mathrm{},A_r`$ are finite, nonempty subsets of $`𝐍_0`$ and if $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_r`$ are positive integers, then $`h_1A_1+\mathrm{}+h_rA_r`$ is the sumset consisting of all integers of the form $`b_1+\mathrm{}+b_r,`$ where $`b_jh_jA_j`$ for $`j=1,\mathrm{},r`$. For $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_r`$ sufficiently large, the structure of this “linear form” has also been completely determined (Han, Kirfel, and Nathanson ), and its cardinality is a linear function of $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_r`$.

If $`A`$ is a finite, nonempty subset of $`𝐍_0^k`$, the geometrical structure of the sumset $`hA`$ is complicated, but the cardinality of $`hA`$ is a polynomial in $`h`$ of degree at most $`k`$ for $`h`$ sufficiently large (Khovanskii ). If the set $`A`$ is not contained in a hyperplane of dimension $`k1`$, then the degree of this polynomial is exactly equal to $`k`$.

The sets $`𝐍_0`$ and $`𝐍_0^k`$ are abelian semigroups, that is, sets with a binary operation, called addition, that is associative and commutative. Let $`S`$ be an arbitrary abelian semigroup. Without loss of generality, we can assume that $`S`$ contains an additive identity $`0`$. If $`A`$ is a finite, nonempty subset of $`S`$ and $`h`$ a positive integer, we again define the sumset $`hA`$ as the set of all sums of $`h`$ elements of $`A`$, with repetitions allowed. Khovanskii  made the remarkable observation that the cardinality of $`hA`$ is a polynomial in $`h`$ for all sufficiently large $`h`$, that is, there exists a polynomial $`p(t)`$ and an integer $`h_0`$ such that $`|hA|=p(h)`$ for $`hh_0`$. Khovanskii proved this result by constructing a finitely generated graded module $`M=_{h=0}^{\mathrm{}}M_h`$ over the polynomial ring $`𝐂[t_1,\mathrm{},t_k]`$, where $`|A|=k`$, with the property that the homogeneous component $`M_h`$ is a vector space over $`𝐂`$ of dimension exactly $`|hA|`$ for all $`h1`$. A theorem of Hilbert asserts that $`dim_𝐂M_h`$ is a polynomial in $`h`$ for all sufficiently large $`h`$, and this gives the result.

If $`A_1,\mathrm{},A_r`$ are finite, nonempty subsets of an abelian semigroup $`S`$, and if $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_r`$ are positive integers, then the “linear form” $`h_1A_1+\mathrm{}+h_rA_r`$ is the sumset consisting of all elements of $`S`$ of the form $`b_1+\mathrm{}+b_r,`$ where $`b_jh_jA_j`$ for $`j=1,\mathrm{},r`$. Using a generalization of Hilbert’s theorem to finitely generated modules graded by the semigroup $`𝐍_0^r`$, Nathanson  proved that there exists a polynomial $`p(t_1,\mathrm{},t_r)`$ such that $`|h_1A_1+\mathrm{}+h_rA_r|=p(h_1,\mathrm{},h_r)`$ for all sufficiently large integers $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_r`$.

The purpose of this note is to give elementary combinatorial proofs of the theorems of Khovanskii and Nathanson that avoid the use of Hilbert polynomials. Our arguments reduce to an easy computation about lattice points in Euclidean space.

## 2 Growth of sumsets

We begin with some geometrical lemmas about lattice points. Let $`x=(x_1,\mathrm{},x_k)`$ and $`y=(y_1,\mathrm{},y_k)`$ be elements of $`𝐍_0^k`$. Define the height of $`x`$ by $`0pt(x)=_{i=1}^nx_i`$. Let

$`\sigma (h)`$ $`=`$ $`\{x𝐍_0^k:0pt(x)=h\}`$
$`=`$ $`\{(x_1,\mathrm{},x_k)𝐍_0^k:x_1+\mathrm{}+x_k=h\}.`$
The set $`\sigma (h)`$ is a finite set of lattice points whose cardinality is the number of ordered partitions of $`h`$ as a sum of $`k`$ nonnegative integers, and so

$$|\sigma (h)|=\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{h+k1}{k1}\right)=\frac{h^{k1}}{(k1)!}+\frac{kh^{k2}}{2(k2)!}+\mathrm{}+1,$$

which is a polynomial in $`h`$ for fixed $`k`$.

We define a partial order on $`𝐍_0^k`$ by

$$xy\text{if }x_iy_i\text{ for all }i=1,\mathrm{},k.$$

In $`𝐍_0^2`$, for example, $`(2,5)(4,6)`$ and $`(4,3)(4,6)`$, but the lattice points $`(2,5)`$ and $`(4,3)`$ are incomparable. Thus, the relation $`xy`$ is a partial order but not a total order. We write $`x<y`$ if $`xy`$ and $`xy`$. If $`xy,`$ then $`x+ty+t`$ for all $`t𝐍_0^k`$.

###### Lemma 1

Let $`W`$ be a finite subset of $`𝐍_0^k`$, and let $`B(h,W)`$ be the set of all lattice points $`x\sigma (h)`$ such that $`xw`$ for all $`wW`$. Then $`|B(h,W)|`$ is a polynomial in $`h`$ for all sufficiently large $`h`$.

Proof. Let $`x=(x_1,\mathrm{},x_k)\sigma (h).`$ Let $`W=\{w_1,\mathrm{},w_m\}`$, where $`w_j=(w_{1,j},w_{2,j},\mathrm{},w_{k,j})𝐍_0^k`$ for $`j=1,\mathrm{},m`$. Then $`xw_j`$ for $`j=1,\mathrm{},m`$ if and only if, for all $`i=1,\mathrm{},k`$, we have $`x_iw_{i,j}`$ for $`j=1,\mathrm{},m`$, that is, $`x_i\mathrm{max}\{w_{i,j}:j=1,\mathrm{},m\}=w_i^{}`$ for $`i=1,\mathrm{},k`$. Define $`w^{}𝐍_0^k`$ by $`w^{}=(w_1^{},\mathrm{},w_k^{})`$. Then

$`B(h,W)`$ $`=`$ $`B(h,\{w^{}\})`$
$`=`$ $`\{x𝐍_0^k:0pt(x)=h\text{ and }xw^{}\}`$
$`=`$ $`\{x𝐍_0^k:0pt(xw^{})=h0pt(w^{})\text{ and }xw^{}0\}`$
$`=`$ $`\{y+w^{}𝐍_0^k:0pt(y)=h0pt(w^{})\text{ and }y0\}`$
$`=`$ $`\{w^{}\}+\sigma (h0pt(w^{})),`$
and so

$$|B(h,W)|=|\sigma (h0pt(w^{}))|=\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{h0pt(w^{})+k1}{k1}\right)$$

for $`h0pt(w^{})`$. This completes the proof.

An ideal in an abelian semigroup is a nonempty set $`I`$ such that if $`xI`$, then $`x+tI`$ for every element $`t`$ in the semigroup. In the partially ordered semigroup $`𝐍_0^k`$, a nonempty set $`I`$ is an ideal if and only if $`xI`$ and $`yx`$ imply $`yI`$. The following result about lattice points and partial orders is known as Dickson’s lemma . We include a proof for completeness.

###### Lemma 2

If $`I`$ is a ideal in the abelian semigroup $`𝐍_0^k`$, then there exists a finite set $`W^{}`$ of lattice points in $`𝐍_0^k`$ such that

$$I=\{x𝐍_0^k:xw\text{ for some }wW^{}\}.$$

Proof. The proof is by induction on the dimension $`k`$. If $`k=1`$, then $`I`$ is a nonempty set of nonnegative integers, hence contains a least integer $`w`$. If $`xw`$, then $`xI`$ since $`I`$ is an ideal, and so $`I=\{x𝐍_0:xw\}`$.

Let $`k2`$, and assume that the result holds for dimension $`k1`$. We shall write the lattice point $`x=(x_1,\mathrm{},x_{k1},x_k)𝐍_0^k`$ in the form $`x=(x^{},x_k)`$, where $`x^{}=(x_1,\mathrm{},x_{k1})𝐍_0^{k1}`$. Define the projection map $`\pi :𝐍_0^k𝐍_0^{k1}`$ by $`\pi (x)=x^{}`$. Let $`I^{}=\pi (I)`$ be the image of the ideal $`I`$, that is,

$$I^{}=\{x^{}𝐍_0^{k1}:\text{ }(x^{},x_k)I\text{ for some }x_k𝐍_0\}.$$

We have $`I^{}\mathrm{}`$ since $`I\mathrm{}`$. Let $`x^{}I^{}`$ and $`y^{}𝐍_0^{k1}`$. Since $`x^{}I^{}`$, there is a nonnegative integer $`x_k`$ such that $`(x^{},x_k)I`$. If $`y^{}x^{}`$, then $`(y^{},x_k)(x^{},x_k)`$ in $`𝐍_0^k`$, and so $`(y^{},x_k)I`$, hence $`y^{}I^{}`$. Thus, $`I^{}`$ is an ideal in $`𝐍_0^{k1}`$. Since the Lemma holds in dimension $`k1`$, there is a finite set $`W^{}I^{}`$ such that $`x^{}I^{}`$ if and only if $`x^{}w^{}`$ for some $`w^{}W^{}`$. Associated to each lattice point $`w^{}W^{}`$ is a nonnegative integer $`x_k(w^{})`$ such that $`(w^{},x_k(w^{}))I`$. Let $`m=\mathrm{max}\{x_k(w^{}):w^{}W^{}\}`$ and $`W_m=\{(w^{},m):w^{}W^{}\}`$. If $`w^{}W^{}`$, then $`(w^{},m)(w^{},x_k(w^{}))`$ and so $`(w^{},m)I`$. Therefore, $`W_mI`$.

For $`\mathrm{}=0,1,\mathrm{},m1`$, we consider the set

$$I_{\mathrm{}}^{}=\{x^{}𝐍_0^{k1}:(x^{},\mathrm{})I\}.$$

If $`I_{\mathrm{}}^{}=\mathrm{}`$, let $`W_{\mathrm{}}=\mathrm{}`$. If $`I_{\mathrm{}}^{}\mathrm{}`$, then $`I_{\mathrm{}}^{}`$ is an ideal in $`𝐍_0^{k1}`$, and there is a finite set $`W_{\mathrm{}}^{}`$ such that $`x^{}I_{\mathrm{}}^{}`$ if and only if $`x^{}w^{}`$ for some $`w^{}W_{\mathrm{}}^{}`$. Let $`W_{\mathrm{}}=\{(w^{},\mathrm{}):w^{}W_{\mathrm{}}^{}\}`$. Then $`W_{\mathrm{}}I`$. We consider the set

$$W^{}=\underset{\mathrm{}=0}{\overset{m}{}}W_{\mathrm{}},$$

which is a finite subset of the ideal $`I`$.

We shall prove that $`xI`$ if and only if $`xw`$ for some $`wW^{}`$. If $`x=(x^{},x_k)I`$ and $`x_km`$, then $`x^{}I^{}`$, hence $`x^{}w^{}`$ for some $`w^{}W^{}`$. It follows that

$$x=(x^{},x_k)(x^{},m)(w^{},m),$$

and $`(w^{},m)W_mW^{}`$.

If $`x=(x^{},\mathrm{})I`$ and $`0\mathrm{}<m`$, then $`x^{}I_{\mathrm{}}^{}`$, and so $`x^{}w^{}`$ for some $`w^{}W_{\mathrm{}}^{}`$. It follows that

$$x=(x^{},\mathrm{})(w^{},\mathrm{}),$$

and $`(w^{},\mathrm{})W_{\mathrm{}}W^{}`$. This completes the proof.

Let $`x=(x_1,\mathrm{},x_k)`$ and $`y=(y_1,\mathrm{},y_k)`$ be lattice points in $`𝐍_0^k`$. We define the lexicographical order $`x_{lex}y`$ on $`𝐍_0^k`$ as follows: $`x_{lex}y`$ if either $`x=y`$ or there exists $`j\{1,2,\mathrm{},k\}`$ such that $`x_i=y_i`$ for $`i=1,\mathrm{},j1`$ and $`x_j<y_j`$. This is a total order, so every finite, nonempty set of lattice points contains a smallest lattice point. For example, $`(2,5)_{lex}(4,3)_{lex}(4,6)`$. If $`x_{lex}y`$, then $`x+t_{lex}y+t`$ for all $`t𝐍_0^k`$. We write $`x<_{lex}y`$ if $`x_{lex}y`$ and $`xy`$

###### Theorem 1

Let $`S`$ be an abelian semigroup, and let $`A`$ be a finite nonempty subset of $`S`$. There exists a polynomial $`p(t)`$ such that $`|hA|=p(h)`$ for all sufficiently large $`h`$.

Proof. Let $`A=\{a_1,\mathrm{},a_k\}`$, where $`|A|=k`$. We define a map $`f:𝐍_0^kS`$ as follows: If $`x=(x_1,\mathrm{},x_k)𝐍_0^k`$, then

$$f(x)=\underset{i=1}{\overset{k}{}}x_ia_i.$$

This is well-defined, since each $`x_i`$ is a nonnegative integer and we can add the semigroup element $`a_i`$ to itself $`x_i`$ times. The map $`f`$ is a homomorphism of semigroups: If $`x,y𝐍_0^k`$, then $`f(x+y)=f(x)+f(y)`$. We consider the set

$$\sigma (h)=\{x𝐍_0^k:0pt(x)=h\}.$$

If $`x\sigma (h)`$, then $`f(x)hA`$ and $`f(\sigma (h))=hA`$. The map $`f`$ is not necessarily one-to-one on the set $`\sigma (h).`$ For any $`shA`$, there can be many lattice points $`x\sigma (h)`$ such that $`f(x)=s`$. However, for each $`shA`$, there is a unique lattice point $`u_h(s)f^1(s)\sigma (h)`$ that is lexicographically smallest, that is, $`u_h(s)_{lex}x`$ for all $`xf^1(s)\sigma (h)`$. Then

$$|hA|=\left|\{u_h(s):shA\}\right|.$$

The lattice point $`x𝐍_0^k`$ will be called useless if, for $`h=0pt(x)`$, we have $`xu_h(s)`$ for all $`shA`$. Equivalently, $`x𝐍_0^k`$ is useless if there exists a lattice point $`u\sigma (0pt(x))`$ such that $`f(u)=f(x)`$ and $`u<_{lex}x.`$ Let $`I`$ be the set of all useless lattice points in $`𝐍_0^k`$.

We shall prove that $`I`$ is an ideal in the semigroup $`𝐍_0^k`$. Let $`xI`$, $`0pt(x)=h`$, and $`t𝐍_0^k`$. Since $`xI`$, there exists a lattice point $`u\sigma (h)`$ such that $`f(u)=f(x)`$ and $`u<_{lex}x.`$ Then

$$f(u+t)=f(u)+f(t)=f(x)+f(t)=f(x+t),$$

$$u+t<_{lex}x+t,$$

and

$$0pt(u+t)=0pt(u)+0pt(t)=0pt(x)+0pt(t)=0pt(x+t),$$

hence

$$u+t\sigma (ht(x+t)).$$

It follows that $`x+t`$ is useless, hence $`x+tI`$ and $`I`$ is an ideal of the semigroup $`𝐍_0^k`$. We call $`I`$ the useless ideal.

By Dickson’s lemma (Lemma 2), there is a finite set $`W^{}`$ of lattice points in $`𝐍_0^k`$ such that $`x𝐍_0^k`$ is useless if and only if $`xw`$ for some $`wW^{}`$. The cardinality of the sumset $`hA`$ is the number of lattice points in $`\sigma (h)`$ that are not in the useless ideal $`I`$. For every subset $`WW^{}`$, we define the set

$$B(h,W)=\{x\sigma (h):xw\text{ for all }wW\}.$$

By the principle of inclusion-exclusion,

$$|hA|=\underset{WW^{}}{}(1)^{|W|}|B(h,W)|.$$

By Lemma 1, for every $`WW^{}`$ there is an integer $`h_0(W)`$ such that $`|B(h,W)|`$ is a polynomial in $`h`$ for $`hh_0(W)`$. Therefore, $`|hA|`$ is a polynomial in $`h`$ for all sufficiently large $`h`$. This completes the proof.

## 3 Growth of linear forms

Let $`k_1,\mathrm{},k_r`$ be positive integers, and let $`k=k_1+\mathrm{}+k_r`$. We shall write the semigroup $`𝐍_0^k`$ in the form

$$𝐍_0^k=𝐍_0^{k_1}\times \mathrm{}\times 𝐍_0^{k_r},$$

and denote the lattice point $`x𝐍_0^k`$ by $`x=(x_1,\mathrm{},x_r)`$, where $`x_j𝐍_0^{k_j}`$ for $`j=1,\mathrm{},r`$. Let $`h_j=0pt(x_j)`$ for $`j=1,\mathrm{},r`$. We define the $`r`$-height of $`x`$ by $`0pt_r(x)=(h_1,\mathrm{},h_r)`$. For any positive integers $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_r`$, we consider the set

$`\sigma (h_1,\mathrm{},h_r)`$ $`=`$ $`\{x𝐍_0^k:0pt_r(x)=(h_1,\mathrm{},h_r)\}`$
$`=`$ $`\{(x_1,\mathrm{},x_r)𝐍_0^k:0pt(x_j)=h_j\text{ for }j=1,\mathrm{},r\}.`$
Then

$$|\sigma (h_1,\mathrm{},h_r)|=\underset{j=1}{\overset{r}{}}|\sigma (h_j)|=\underset{j=1}{\overset{r}{}}\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{h_j+k_j1}{k_j1}\right)$$

is a polynomial in the $`r`$ variables $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_r`$ for fixed integers $`k_1,\mathrm{},k_r`$.

###### Lemma 3

Let $`k_1,\mathrm{},k_r`$ be positive integers, and $`k=k_1+\mathrm{}+k_r`$. Let $`W`$ be a finite subset of $`𝐍_0^k=𝐍_0^{k_1}\times \mathrm{}\times 𝐍_0^{k_r}`$, and let $`B(h_1,\mathrm{},h_r,W)`$ be the set of all lattice points $`x𝐍_0^k`$ such that $`x\sigma (h_1,\mathrm{},h_r)`$ and $`x_jw_j`$ for all $`w=(w_1,\mathrm{},w_j,\mathrm{},w_r)W`$ and $`j=1,\mathrm{},r.`$ Then $`|B(h_1,\mathrm{},h_r,W)|`$ is a polynomial in $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_r`$ for all sufficiently large integers $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_r`$.

Proof. Let $`x=(x_1,\mathrm{},x_r)𝐍_0^k`$. Let $`W_j`$ be the set of all lattice points $`w_j𝐍_0^{k_j}`$ such that there exists a lattice point $`wW`$ of the form $`w=(w_1,\mathrm{},w_j,\mathrm{},w_r)`$. Since $`xw`$ for all $`wW`$ if and only if $`x_jw_j`$ for all $`w_jW_j`$, it follows that the set $`B(h_1,\mathrm{},h_r,W)`$ consists of all lattice points $`x=(x_1,\mathrm{},x_r)𝐍_0^k`$ such that $`x_jB(h_j,W_j)`$ for all $`j=1,\mathrm{},r`$. Therefore,

$$|B(h_1,\mathrm{},h_r,W)|=\underset{j=1}{\overset{r}{}}|B(h_j,W_j)|.$$

It follows from Lemma 1 that $`|B(h_1,\mathrm{},h_r,W)|`$ is a polynomial in the $`r`$ variables $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_r`$ for all sufficiently large integers $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_r`$. This completes the proof.

###### Theorem 2

Let $`S`$ be an abelian semigroup, and let $`A_1,\mathrm{},A_r`$ be finite, nonempty subsets of $`S`$. There exists a polynomial $`p(t_1,\mathrm{},t_r)`$ such that $`|h_1A_1+\mathrm{}+h_rA_r|=p(h_1,\mathrm{},h_r)`$ for all sufficiently large integers $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_r`$.

Proof. For $`j=1,\mathrm{},r`$, let $`|A_j|=k_j`$ and

$$A_j=\{a_{1,j},\mathrm{},a_{k_j,j}\}.$$

Let $`k=k_1+\mathrm{}+k_r.`$ We consider lattice points

$$x=(x_1,\mathrm{},x_r)𝐍_0^k=𝐍_0^{k_1}\times \mathrm{}\times 𝐍_0^{k_r},$$

where

$$x_j=(x_{1,j},\mathrm{},x_{k_j,j})𝐍_0^{k_j}.$$

Define the semigroup homomorphism $`f:𝐍_0^kS`$ as follows: If $`x=(x_1,\mathrm{},x_r)𝐍_0^k`$, then

$$f(x)=\underset{j=1}{\overset{r}{}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{k_j}{}}x_{i,j}a_{i,j}.$$

A lattice point $`x𝐍_0^k`$ will be called $`r`$-useless if there exists a lattice point $`u\sigma (0pt_r(x))`$ such that $`f(u)=f(x)`$ and $`u<_{lex}x.`$ As in the proof of Theorem 1, the set $`I_r`$ of useless lattice points in $`𝐍_0^k`$ is an ideal. By Lemma 2, there is a finite set $`W^{}`$ that generates $`I_r`$ in the sense that $`x𝐍_0^k`$ is $`r`$-useless if and only if $`xw`$ for some $`wW^{}`$.

Let $`(h_1,\mathrm{},h_r)𝐍_0^r`$ and

$`\sigma (h_1,\mathrm{},h_r)`$ $`=`$ $`\{(x_1,\mathrm{},x_r)𝐍_0^k:0pt(x_j)=h_j\text{ for }j=1,\mathrm{},r\}.`$
Then $`f(\sigma (h_1,\mathrm{},h_r))=h_1A_1+\mathrm{}+h_rA_r`$, and $`|h_1A_1+\mathrm{}+h_rA_r|`$ is the number of lattice points in $`\sigma (h_1,\mathrm{},h_r)`$ that are not useless. For every subset $`WW^{}`$, we define the set

$$B(h_1,\mathrm{},h_r,W)=\{x\sigma (h_1,\mathrm{},h_r):xw\text{ for all }wW\text{.}\}$$

By the principle of inclusion-exclusion,

$$|h_1A_1+\mathrm{}+h_rA_r|=\underset{WW^{}}{}(1)^{|W|}|B(h_1,\mathrm{},h_r,W)|.$$

By Lemma 3, for all sufficiently large integers $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_r`$, the function $`|B(h_1,\mathrm{},h_r,W)|`$ is a polynomial in $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_r`$, and so $`|h_1A_1+\mathrm{}+h_rA_r|`$ is a polynomial in $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_r`$. This completes the proof.

Remark. It would be interesting to describe the set of polynomials $`f(t)`$ such that $`f(h)=|hA|`$ for some finite set $`A`$ and sufficiently large $`h`$. Similarly, one can ask for a description of the set of polynomials $`f(t_1,\mathrm{},t_r)`$ such that $`f(h_1,\mathrm{},h_r)=|h_1A_1+\mathrm{}+h_rA_r|`$, where $`A_1,\mathrm{},A_r`$ are finite subsets of a semigroup $`S`$.


text:
# On the topology of algebraic surfaces and reduction modulo p

## 1 Observation

The goal of this note is to make the following simple

Observation: Let $`X`$ and $`Y`$ be simply-connected smooth projective surfaces. Suppose they are isomorphic modulo $`p`$ for some prime $`p2`$ of good reduction. Then $`X`$ and $`Y`$ are homeomorphic by a map preserving the complex orientations.

Here, isomorphic modulo $`p`$ means the following: We can find a common finitely-generated ring of definition $`R`$ for $`X`$ and $`Y`$ (that is, such that $`X`$ and $`Y`$ can both be defined by equations with coefficients in $`R`$), and a prime ideal with residue field $`k`$ of characteristic $`p`$ such that

$$X_R\overline{k}Y_R\overline{k}$$

That is, $`X`$ and $`Y`$ are isomorphic when the coefficients ae regarded as lying in the algebraic closure of $`k`$. ‘Good reduction’ means the two varieties appearing in this isomorphism are smooth over $`\overline{k}`$. For example, they might both be defined over $`𝐙`$, in which case the meaning of everything is clear.

Here is the proof: By Freedman’s theorem (, theorem 1.5) the oriented homeomorphism-type of a simply-connected oriented smooth 4-manifold $`X`$ is determined by the unimodular intersection pairing

$$B:H^2(X,𝐙)H^2(X,𝐙)H^4(X,𝐙)𝐙$$

on the free abelian group $`H^2(X,𝐙)`$. We examine this for algebraic surfaces. By the smooth and proper base-change theorems (, chapters 12-14),

$$B_l:[H^2(X,𝐙)𝐙_l][H^2(X,𝐙)𝐙_l]𝐙_l,$$

the $`𝐙_l`$-linear extension of $`B`$, is determined by $`X`$ mod $`p`$ for any $`lp`$. In particular, the rank and type (even or odd, by taking $`l=2`$) of $`B`$ is determined by reduction mod $`p`$. On the other hand, the signature of $`X`$ is determined by Hirzebruch’s signature theorem (, theorem 8.2.2) to be

$$(c_1^2(X)2c_2(X))/3$$

The numerical invariants in this formula are preserved under specialization. Therefore, we conclude that the rank, type, and signature of $`B`$ are determined by reduction mod $`p`$. This concludes the proof when $`B`$ is indefinite (, chapter 5, theorem 6). But if $`B`$ is definite, Donaldson’s theorem (, theorem 1.3.1) says that

$$B\pm (x_1^2+x_2^2+\mathrm{}x_r^2)$$

where $`r`$ is the rank. But whether or not $`B`$ is definite (as well as the sign) is also determined by the rank and signature, and hence, by the reduction modulo $`p`$. So we are done.

## 2 Comments

Determination of topological invariants of varieties by modulo $`p`$ arithmetic is of course a well-known side-effect of modern arithmetic geometry.

For a smooth and proper variety, the Betti numbers, for example, are determined by the reduction of the variety modulo a (good) prime $`p`$.

More intricate invariants can also be brought in (where we always assume that the variety is smooth and proper and the prime is good):

-The Hodge numbers, for example, are determined by reduction modulo an ordinary prime $`p`$ ( Theorem (0.7)).

-The integral cohomology groups are determined by reduction modulo two primes: this is because two primes are sufficient to determine all $`H^i(X,𝐙_p)`$, and then, $`H^i(X,𝐙)`$ by the universal coefficient theorem.

-For simply-connected varieties, the rational homotopy groups are determined by reduction modulo $`p`$ (, , ).

-For simply-connected varieties, the integral higher homotopy groups are determined by reduction modulo two primes .

But the case of simply-connected surfaces is the only one we know of where something as refined as the homeomorphism-type is actually determined by reduction modulo $`p`$. Our proof is of course a consequence of the very powerful classification theorems for four-manifolds. As such, it appears essentially to be an accident. On the other hand, it would be interesting to seek out other non-trivial examples of such theorems, if only to probe their accidental nature.

We point out also that there are parallel results where topological invariants are preserved by conjugation, that is, hitting the coefficients of some defining equations with an automorphism of the complex numbers. As is obvious from our proof, this would be true, for example, for the homeomorphism type of simply-connected smooth projective surfaces.

One final remark: As is well-known, as a consequence of the Weil conjectures , the Betti numbers of a smooth proper variety are determined just by the zeta-function of its reduction mod $`p`$. So in this very rigid case of simply-connected surfaces, it is natural to ask if the homeomorphism type is determined by the zeta function. However, the simplest possible case of $`𝐏^1\times 𝐏^1`$ and $`𝐏^2`$ blown up at a point provides a counter-example. In fact, this shows that even the rational homotopy type cannot be determined by the zeta function.

Acknowlegments: We are grateful to Igor Dolgachev for interesting conversations that led to the observation of this paper. We thank Jong-il Park for suggesting the last counter-example.

M.K. was supported in part by the National Science Foundation.

M.K.: DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, TUCSON, AZ 85721 and KOREA INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, 207-43 CHEONGRYANGRI-DONG DONGDAEMUN-GU, SEOUL, KOREA, 130-012. EMAIL:kim@math.arizona.edu

D.J.: DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS, POHANG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, POHANG, KYOUNGBUK, KOREA 790-784. EMAIL: joe@euclid.postech.ac.kr