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# The Effect of the Hall Term on the Nonlinear Evolution of the Magnetorotational Instability: II. Saturation Level and Critical Magnetic Reynolds Number

## 1 INTRODUCTION

The nonlinear regime of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) (Balbus & Hawley 1991) can strongly affect the structure and evolution of accretion disks. In ideal MHD, the MRI initiates and sustains MHD turbulence in which angular momentum is transported outward by Maxwell (magnetic) stress. Thus, the MRI is thought to be the most promising source of anomalous viscosity in disks. In weakly ionized disks, however, the coupling between the gas and magnetic field may be so poor that nonideal MHD effects must be considered.

When nonthermal processes (such as irradiation by cosmic rays or high energy photons) dominate the ionization rate in the disk, the abundance of charged particles decreases as the number density of the neutral gas $`n_n`$ increases. At high densities ($`n_n10^{18}`$ cm-3), ohmic dissipation dominates the evolution of the MRI (Jin 1996; Fleming, Stone, & Hawley 2000; Sano & Inutsuka 2001). At low densities ($`n_n10^{13}`$ cm-3), ambipolar diffusion dominates (Blaes & Balbus 1994; Hawley & Stone 1998). However, at intermediate densities, the ions are decoupled from the magnetic field and can drift relative to the electrons (which remain frozen-in to the field). Thus, in this regime Hall currents can significantly alter the MHD of the plasma, and the Hall term dominates the other nonideal MHD effects. Detailed calculations reveal that the Hall term could be important in dwarf nova disks in quiescence, and in protoplanetary disks around young stellar objects (Sano & Stone 2002, hereafter Paper I).

The properties of the MRI are strongly affected by the Hall term (Wardle 1999; Balbus & Terquem 2001). In Hall MHD the critical wavenumber and maximum growth rate of the MRI both depend on the direction of the magnetic field with respect to the angular frequency vector $`𝛀`$. The Hall term can increase the maximum growth rate when the disk is threaded by a uniform vertical field in the same direction as $`𝛀`$, whereas the MRI can be completely suppressed if the field is oppositely directed to $`𝛀`$.

In Paper I, the effect of the Hall term on the nonlinear evolution of the MRI was investigated using axisymmetric numerical MHD simulations. These calculations included ohmic dissipation as well as the Hall effect, because at some densities both processes may be important. In two dimensions (2D), depending on the relative amplitude of the Hall and ohmic dissipation terms in the induction equation, the MRI evolves into either a two-channel flow without saturation, or MHD turbulence that eventually dies away.

In this paper, we continue our study of the Hall effect on the the MRI using fully three-dimensional (3D) numerical MHD simulations. Previous studies have shown that only in 3D is sustained MHD turbulence generated by the MRI (e.g., Hawley, Gammie, & Balbus 1995). Moreover, the effect of nonaxisymmetric modes on the saturation amplitude and resulting stress can only be explored in 3D. Previous 3D simulations including only ohmic dissipation have shown that there exists a critical value for the magnetic Reynolds number $`Re_{M,\mathrm{crit}}`$ for significant turbulence and stress to be generated in the saturated state (Fleming et al. 2000; Sano & Inutsuka 2001). Moreover, this critical value depends on the field geometry in the disk (Fleming et al. 2000). The value of $`Re_{M,\mathrm{crit}}`$ has important implications for the structure and evolution of accretion disks (Gammie 1996; Glassgold, Najita, & Igea 1997; Sano et al. 2000). For example, the possibility of layered accretion and the size of the putative dead zone in protoplanetary disks depends on the critical value $`Re_{M,\mathrm{crit}}`$ (Fleming & Stone 2002). In addition to studying the properties of the nonlinear regime of the MRI in 3D Hall MHD, an important goal of this paper is to investigate whether the inclusion of the Hall term significantly modifies the value of $`Re_{M,\mathrm{crit}}`$.

In a weakly ionized plasma, the induction equation should include terms which represent three non-ideal MHD effects: the Hall effect, ohmic dissipation, and ambipolar diffusion. The importance of these terms relative to the inductive term is determined mainly by the magnitude of the neutral density, the ionization fraction, and the field strength. In paper I, we calculated the ratios of these terms to the inductive term by solving the ionization equilibrium equations in both dwarf nova and protoplanetary disks. At the typical density of a dwarf nova disk ($`n_n10^{18}`$ cm-3), the ambipolar diffusion term is much smaller than the inductive term, while the Hall and ohmic dissipation terms are equally important and of order the inductive term. These two terms are also important in the inner, dense regions of protoplanetary disks. Thus, to study the MRI in these systems, we solve the induction equation including the Hall and ohmic dissipation terms, but neglecting the ambipolar diffusion term.

Several definitions of the magnetic Reynolds number are possible; in this paper we define $`Re_Mv_\mathrm{A}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }`$, where $`v_\mathrm{A}`$ is the Alfvén speed, $`\eta `$ is the magnetic diffusivity, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the angular frequency. This definition uses the wavelength of the fastest growing mode of the MRI as the typical length scale, i.e. $`L=v_\mathrm{A}/\mathrm{\Omega }`$, and therefore directly captures the effect of resistivity on the linear dispersion relation (Jin 1996; Sano & Miyama 1999), as well as the local properties of the saturated state (Paper I). Note, however, that with this definition $`Re_M`$ depends on the magnetic field strength. Moreover, it is different from the magnetic Reynolds number $`Re_M^{}=c_s^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }`$ used in Fleming et al. (2000) by a factor $`v_\mathrm{A}^2/c_s^2`$, where $`c_s`$ is the sound speed.

The plan of this paper is as follows. In §2, the numerical method and initial conditions used in the calculations are described. The results from simulations using an initially uniform vertical field are discussed in §3, from simulations using an initially vertical field with zero-net flux in §4, and from simulations using an initially uniform toroidal field in §5. The criteria for significant angular momentum transport, and the application of the results to protoplanetary disks, are discussed in §6, and our results are summarized in §7.

## 2 NUMERICAL METHOD

We adopt the local shearing box approximation (Hawley et al. 1995) for our calculations. The MHD equations are written in a local Cartesian frame of reference ($`x`$, $`y`$, $`z`$) corotating with the disk at angular frequency $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, where $`x`$ is oriented in the radial direction, $`y`$ is in the azimuthal direction, and $`z`$ is in the vertical direction. Vertical gravity is ignored in this analysis, since our computational domain represents a region much smaller than the thickness of the disk. The gas is assumed to be partially ionized, and composed of ions, electrons, and neutrals. Charge neutrality is assumed, so that $`n_i=n_e`$, where $`n_i`$ and $`n_e`$ are the number density of ions and electrons, respectively. The equations we solve are then

$$\frac{\rho }{t}+𝒗\rho =\rho 𝒗,$$
(1)
$$\frac{𝒗}{t}+𝒗𝒗=\frac{P}{\rho }+\frac{𝑱\times 𝑩}{c\rho }2𝛀\times 𝒗+2q\mathrm{\Omega }^2x\widehat{𝒙},$$
(2)
$$\frac{ϵ}{t}+𝒗ϵ=\frac{P𝒗}{\rho }+\frac{4\pi \eta 𝑱^2}{c^2\rho },$$
(3)
$$\frac{𝑩}{t}=\times \left(𝒗\times 𝑩\frac{4\pi \eta 𝑱}{c}\frac{𝑱\times 𝑩}{en_e}\right),$$
(4)
where $`𝒗`$ is the neutral velocity, $`ϵ`$ is the specific internal energy,

$$𝑱=\frac{c}{4\pi }\left(\times 𝑩\right)$$
(5)
is the current density, and $`c`$ is the speed of light. The equation of motion (eq. ) includes the Coriolis force, $`2𝛀\times 𝒗`$, and the tidal expansion of the effective potential, $`2q\mathrm{\Omega }^2x`$, with $`q=3/2`$ for a Keplerian disk. The pressure is given by $`P=(\gamma 1)\rho ϵ`$ with $`\gamma =5/3`$. The last two terms in the induction equation (4) represent ohmic dissipation and the Hall effect, respectively, where $`\eta `$ is the magnetic diffusivity and $`e`$ the elementary electric charge.

These equations are solved using a finite-difference code (Sano, Inutsuka, & Miyama 1999). The hydrodynamics module of our scheme is based on the second order Godunov scheme (van Leer 1979) using a nonlinear Riemann solver modified to account for the effect of tangential magnetic fields. The evolution of magnetic fields is calculated with the constrained transport (CT) method (Evans & Hawley 1988), which guarantees the divergence free condition, $`𝑩=0`$, is satisfied throughout the calculation. Each term of the electromotive force in the induction equation (4) is solved by an operator split solution procedure (see Paper I).

The initial physical quantities are assumed to be spatially uniform ($`\rho =\rho _0`$ and $`P=P_0`$) except for the Keplerian shear flow $`v_{y0}=q\mathrm{\Omega }x`$. The initial magnetic field is very weak for all models, so that radial force balance in the initial state is between Coriolis and tidal forces. Three initial magnetic field configurations are considered in this paper; a uniform vertical field $`B_z=B_0`$, a zero-net flux vertical field $`B_z(x)=B_0\mathrm{sin}(2\pi x/L_x)`$, where $`L_x`$ is the size of the computational domain in the radial direction, and a uniform toroidal field $`B_y=B_0`$.

The calculations are performed in a local volume bounded by $`x=\pm H/2`$, $`y=\pm 2H`$, and $`z=\pm H/2`$, where $`H(2/\gamma )^{1/2}c_{s0}/\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the scale height of the disk and $`c_{s0}`$ is the initial sound speed. Most of the runs use a standard grid resolution of $`32\times 128\times 32`$ uniform zones. In the azimuthal and vertical directions, periodic boundary conditions are used. For the radial boundary, a sheared periodic boundary condition (Hawley & Balbus 1992) is adopted. The magnetic flux within the shearing box must be conserved unless a net flux of radial field exists (Hawley et al. 1995). However, we have found that numerical errors in the net flux of the vertical and azimuthal fields are non-negligible (more than 10 % in 10 orbits) when the EMF in the ghost zones at the radial boundary are constructed from applying the sheared periodic boundary condition to the magnetic field and velocity. Instead, if we apply the the sheared periodic boundary condition to the azimuthal component of the EMF, the error in the vertical flux is reduced to $`0.1`$ %.

We choose the normalizations $`\rho _0=1`$, $`H=1`$, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }=10^3`$. Then the sound speed and gas pressure are initially $`2c_{s0}^2/\gamma =10^6`$ and $`P_0=5\times 10^7`$, respectively. Initial perturbations are introduced as spatially uncorrelated pressure and velocity fluctuations. These fluctuations have a zero mean value with a maximum amplitude of $`|\delta P|/P_0=10^2`$ and $`|\delta 𝒗|/c_{s0}=10^2`$.

Our calculations are characterized by three dimensionless parameters. The first is the ratio of the gas to initial magnetic pressure,

$$\beta _0=\frac{8\pi P_0}{B_0^2}=\frac{2c_{s0}^2}{\gamma v_{A0}^2},$$
(6)
where $`v_{A0}=B_0/(4\pi \rho _0)^{1/2}`$ is the initial Alfvén speed. This parameter measures the initial field strength. The second is the magnetic Reynolds number, which is defined as

$$Re_{M0}=\frac{v_{A0}^2}{\eta \mathrm{\Omega }}.$$
(7)
We assume the magnetic diffusivity $`\eta `$ is constant in our calculations. This parameter measures the importance of ohmic dissipation. Finally, the third parameter is

$$X_0=\frac{cB_0\mathrm{\Omega }}{2\pi en_{e0}v_{A0}^2},$$
(8)
where $`n_{e0}`$ is the initial number density of electrons. We assume the electron abundance is constant throughout our calculations, thus $`n_e=n_{e0}\rho /\rho _0`$. The value of $`X_0`$ measures the importance of the Hall term; note that the sign of $`X_0`$ depends on the direction of the magnetic field.

## 3 SIMULATIONS WITH A UNIFORM VERTICAL FIELD

Simulations that begin with a uniform vertical field are listed in Tables 13. The critical wavelength $`\lambda _{\mathrm{crit}}`$ and the maximum growth rate $`\sigma _{\mathrm{max}}`$ are obtained from the dispersion relation derived by Balbus & Terquem (2001) for axisymmetric perturbations. Disturbances with a wavelength longer than $`\lambda _{\mathrm{crit}}`$ are unstable to the MRI. The critical wavelength is of the order of $`2\pi v_\mathrm{A}/\mathrm{\Omega }`$ in most cases when ohmic dissipation is inefficient ($`Re_{M0}>1`$). However, when the Hall parameter is just below zero ($`4<X_0<0`$), $`\lambda _{\mathrm{crit}}0`$ and small-scale perturbations become unstable to the MRI. Ohmic dissipation, on the other hand, can stabilize small-scale perturbations, and thus make $`\lambda _{\mathrm{crit}}`$ longer and $`\sigma _{\mathrm{max}}`$ smaller when $`Re_{M0}<1`$. In 2D, when $`X_0<0`$ or $`Re_{M0}<1`$ saturation of the instability occurs, whereas exponential growth of a two-channel flow without saturation persists for other models (Paper I). In 3D without the Hall term, the nonlinear evolution of the MRI is characterized by recurrent appearance of two-channel flow (Fleming et al. 2000; Sano & Inutsuka 2001). We now examine how this evolution is changed by the inclusion of the Hall effect.

In addition to model parameters, Tables 13 contain several fundamental quantities that are referred to in the following discussion. Hereafter, the single brackets $`f`$ imply a volume average of quantity $`f`$, whereas double brackets $`f`$ denotes a time and volume average. If not otherwise stated, the time average is taken over the last 10 orbits of the calculation for the models in this section.

### 3.1 The Fiducial Models

We describe three models in detail: models Z2 ($`X_0=2`$), Z3 ($`X_0=0`$), and Z4 ($`X_0=2`$). These fiducial models have the same initial field strength and magnetic Reynolds number, $`\beta _0=3200`$ and $`Re_{M0}=100`$. The only difference between the non-zero $`X_0`$ models (Z2 and Z4), is the direction of the vertical field. Ohmic dissipation is so weak in these models that the evolution is dominated by the Hall effect.

Figure 1 shows the time evolution of the volume-averaged magnetic energy $`B^2/8\pi /P_0`$ for these models, where time is measured in orbits $`t_{\mathrm{rot}}=2\pi /\mathrm{\Omega }`$. During the linear phase of the MRI, magnetic energy is amplified exponentially. As expected from the linear analysis, the $`X_0=2`$ model has a larger growth rate than the $`X_0=2`$ run initially. In the nonlinear regime, MHD turbulence is sustained in all three models. The saturated magnetic energy shows large fluctuations whose amplitude depends on the size of the Hall parameter: as $`X_0`$ decreases, the amplitude of the variability becomes smaller. The saturation level of the magnetic energy is higher in the positive $`X_0`$ model than in the negative $`X_0`$ model.

The efficiency of angular momentum transport is given by the turbulent stress,

$$w_{xy}=\frac{B_xB_y}{4\pi }+\rho v_x\delta v_y,$$
(9)
where the first and second terms are the Maxwell stress ($`w_MB_xB_y/4\pi `$) and Reynolds stress ($`w_R\rho v_x\delta v_y`$), respectively. The total stress $`w_{xy}`$ is related to the $`\alpha `$ parameter of Shakura & Sunyaev (1973) by $`\alpha =w_{xy}/P_0`$. Figure 2 shows the time evolution of the Maxwell stress normalized by the initial pressure $`P_0`$ for the fiducial models. The time-averaged Maxwell and Reynolds stresses are listed in Table 1. In MHD turbulence generated by the MRI, the Maxwell stress is a few times larger than the Reynolds stress. Large time variability can be seen in the evolution of the stress, with the amplitude of fluctuations in the $`X_0=2`$ run about $`\mathrm{\Delta }w_M/P_00.4`$, which is much larger than the time-averaged value of the stress $`w_M/P_0=0.16`$. In the model with negative $`X_0`$, on the other hand, the variation is much smaller throughout the evolution.

The spike-shaped variations in the magnetic energy and stress correspond to the recurrent appearance and breakup of the two-channel flow. These same variations could be seen in the 3D simulations of the MRI without the Hall effect studied by Sano & Inutsuka (2001). Figure 3 shows images of the magnetic energy distribution in the $`X_0=2`$ run (Z2) at 18, 21, and 25 orbits. The velocity field is also shown by arrows. The top and bottom panel are chosen at times near the peak of spikes in the magnetic energy, whereas the middle panel is near a minimum. The large-scale structure of the flow in the top and bottom panels clearly shows the axisymmetric two-channel flow. The spatial dispersion in the magnetic pressure is very high during these phases; at 18 orbits $`\delta P_{\mathrm{mag}}^2^{1/2}/P_{\mathrm{mag}}=1.5`$. The magnetic pressure is comparable to the gas pressure ($`P_{\mathrm{mag}}/P=0.65`$), and the gas pressure and density have large spatial dispersions ($`\delta P^2^{1/2}/P=0.52`$ and $`\delta \rho ^2^{1/2}/\rho =0.38`$).

The axisymmetric channel flow is unstable to nonaxisymmetric modes of the parasitic instability (Goodman & Xu 1994). After the breakup of the channel flow, organized large-scale structure disappears and the disk is occupied by disorganized MHD turbulence (Fig. 3, middle panel). The magnetic energy at this phase is an order of magnitude smaller than at the peak of the spikes, so that $`P/P_{\mathrm{mag}}=15`$ at 21 orbits. The magnetic pressure is still spatially highly fluctuating, $`\delta P_{\mathrm{mag}}^2^{1/2}/P_{\mathrm{mag}}=1.1`$, but this fluctuation is small relative to the gas pressure, $`\delta P_{\mathrm{mag}}^2^{1/2}/P=0.075`$. Since the density fluctuation decreases as the fluctuation in the magnetic pressure relative to the gas pressure $`\delta P_{\mathrm{mag}}^2^{1/2}/P`$ decreases (Turner, Stone, & Sano 2002), the spatial dispersion in the gas pressure and density is small at this phase; $`\delta P^2^{1/2}/P=0.14`$ and $`\delta \rho ^2^{1/2}/\rho =0.085`$.

The snapshots of the magnetic energy in the negative $`X_0`$ model (Z4) is shown in Figure 4. In contrast to the $`X_0=2`$ run (Z2) shown in Figure 3, this model has little time variability. To allow direct comparison, the contour levels are the same in both figures. The magnetic energy is typically comparable to or smaller than that during low energy phase of the $`X_0=2`$ run. The emergence of the channel flow cannot be seen, and disorganized MHD turbulence is sustained throughout the evolution. Because the critical wavenumber $`k_{\mathrm{crit}}\mathrm{}`$ in this case, small-scale disturbances are noticeable in all directions. The gas pressure is always much larger than the magnetic pressure and the ratio of their time average is $`P/P_{\mathrm{mag}}=32`$. The spatial dispersion in the magnetic energy is very large, $`\delta P_{\mathrm{mag}}^2^{1/2}/P_{\mathrm{mag}}=1.5`$, but the gas pressure and density are almost uniformly distributed, $`\delta P^2^{1/2}/P=0.093`$ and $`\delta \rho ^2^{1/2}/\rho =0.054`$. These quantities are quite similar to those during the low magnetic energy phases of the $`X_0=2`$ run.

To compare the characteristics of MHD turbulence in the fiducial models, Table 4 lists a number of time- and volume-averaged quantities. Although the magnetic and kinetic energy in the positive $`X_0`$ run are about 4 times larger than those in the negative $`X_0`$ run, interestingly the turbulence of three fiducial runs has many similarities. For example, the magnetic and perturbed kinetic energy are almost equal for all the models, with the ratio $`\rho \delta v^2/2/B^2/8\pi 0.4`$. Because of the shear motion, the azimuthal component of the magnetic field is amplified most efficiently. Each component of the magnetic field energy has a similar ratio for all cases, $`B_x^2:B_y^2:B_z^23:20:1`$. The perturbed kinetic energy is slightly anisotropic, $`\rho v_x^2:\rho \delta v_y^2:\rho v_z^23:2:1`$.

The model parameters, $`\beta _0`$, $`Re_{M0}`$, and $`X_0`$, are defined by the initial state, but they are variable in time. The time-averaged values of these parameters in the fiducial models are listed in Table 4. The magnetic pressure is smaller than the gas pressure even in the nonlinear stage, so that the time- and volume-averaged plasma beta $`\beta P/(B^2/8\pi )`$ is of the order of 100. However, the gas pressure is increasing linearly throughout the evolution due to the dissipation of magnetic field. Then, the plasma beta $`\beta `$ must be increasing in time unless some cooling processes are included. When the magnetic field is amplified, the magnetic Reynolds number becomes larger than the initial value. The time-averaged value is $`Re_Mv_\mathrm{A}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }>10^4`$ for the fiducial models, so that the ohmic dissipation at the nonlinear stage is less efficient. We define the effective Hall parameter in the nonlinear regime as

$$X_{\mathrm{eff}}\frac{cB_z\mathrm{\Omega }}{2\pi en_ev_\mathrm{A}^2}=\frac{2c\rho B_z\mathrm{\Omega }}{en_eB^2}.$$
(10)
Because the Hall parameter is inversely proportional to the field strength, the volume-averaged value $`|X_{\mathrm{eff}}|`$ decreases as the field is amplified. The time-averaged value is $`X_{\mathrm{eff}}=0.003`$ and $`0.03`$ for the $`X_0=2`$ and $`2`$ run, respectively. Therefore, the effect of the Hall term may be reduced in the nonlinear regime for these cases.

### 3.2 Saturation Level

In this subsection, we explore in more detail the influence of the model parameters on the time- and volume-averaged stress in the saturated state. Time-averaged Maxwell and Reynolds stress are listed in Table 13 for all models. As shown by the fiducial models, the stress exhibits large time variability in the turbulent state. For all the models, the time averaging is taken over the last 10 orbits of the calculation, which is longer than the typical timescale of variations in the stress. The time-averaged quantities taken over the last 40 orbits of the fiducial models (Z2 and Z4) are similar to the 10 orbit averages, and the difference in the Maxwell and Reynolds stress is less than 10 %. The time-averaged magnetic Reynolds number defined by the vertical magnetic field $`v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }`$ is also listed in the tables. The meaning of $`v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }`$ is discussed later in §6.1.

#### 3.2.1 Effect of Initial Field Strength

First we study the effect of the initial field strength. Figure 5 depicts the saturated Maxwell stress as a function of the Hall parameter $`X_0`$ for various models with different $`\beta _0`$. All the models shown in this figure has the same magnetic Reynolds number $`Re_{M0}=1`$. For any $`\beta _0`$, the saturation levels in the positive $`X_0`$ runs are higher than those in the negative $`X_0`$ runs. The ratio of the stress between the $`X_0=\pm 2`$ runs is 28, 4.1, and 2.6 for $`\beta _0=800`$, 3200, and 12800, respectively. All models with $`X_00`$ show large time variability due to the nonlinear growth of the channel flow, while no growth of the two-channel flow can be seen in all models with $`X_0<0`$. If we compare models with the same $`X_0`$, larger $`\beta _0`$ models have a lower saturation level, which means that the magnetic energy and stress increase as the initial field strength increases, as in the ideal MHD cases (Hawley et al. 1995).

Since the linear growth rate of the MRI is higher for $`X_0>0`$ (Balbus & Terquem 2000; Paper I), this may account for the higher saturation level in this case. In addition, the evolution of the MRI shows the recurrent growth of the channel flow when the Hall parameter is $`X_01`$. Since the channel flow can amplify the magnetic field more efficiently than disorganized MHD turbulence, this could also be a reason for the larger saturation level in the positive $`X_0`$ runs. This result may also be understood in terms of the linear properties of the MRI: If $`X_00`$, the critical wavelength is proportional to the field strength $`\lambda _{\mathrm{crit}}v_\mathrm{A}/\mathrm{\Omega }`$, so that $`\lambda _{\mathrm{crit}}`$ increases as the magnetic energy is amplified, leading to the emergence of large-scale channel flows. When the Hall parameter is negative, on the other hand, the critical wavenumber for the MRI is infinity, so that small-scale perturbations are unstable. The MRI continuously excites small-scale disturbances in this case, and these small fluctuations impede the nonlinear growth of the two-channel flow.

#### 3.2.2 Effect of Magnetic Reynolds Number

When the magnetic Reynolds number is very small, ohmic dissipation can dramatically reduce the linear growth rate (Jin 1996) and the nonlinear saturation level of the MRI (Sano & Inutsuka 2001). The dependence of the saturated stress on the magnetic Reynolds number is illustrated in Figure 6, which shows the time-averaged stress for the models with $`Re_{M0}=100`$, 1, and 0.1. The same field strength is used for all the models in this figure ($`\beta _0=3200`$). We find that the positive $`X_0`$ runs always have a larger stress than the negative $`X_0`$ runs. The differences are by a factor of 4 – 6 in the $`Re_{M0}=100`$ and 1 runs. For very resistive models with $`Re_{M0}=0.1`$, the ratio of the stress between the $`X_0=4`$ and $`2`$ runs is about 100. However the stress is of the order of $`10^5`$$`10^4`$, and this is more than 2 orders of magnitude smaller than the less resistive cases ($`Re_{M0}1`$). This suggests that strong dissipation can weaken the turbulence even when the Hall term is included.

#### 3.2.3 Effect of Resolution and Box Size

Table 2 lists the model parameters and saturation levels for high resolution runs designed to study the effect of numerical resolution. Except for the grid resolution, the model parameters of Z2H and Z4H are the same as those of the non-zero $`X_0`$ fiducial models Z2 and Z4. The high resolution models are followed only to 10 orbits, so that the time average is taken over the last 5 orbits. In the standard resolution models (Z2 and Z4), the time-averaged stress over every 5 orbits after 10 orbits has up to 70 % difference compared to the average through the last 40 orbits. It may be that the time-averaged stress in the high resolution models has uncertainty of the similar size. We find that most of the nonlinear features shown by the fiducial models are independent of the grid resolution. The magnetic energy and stress in the $`X_0=2`$ run (Z2H) is larger than those in the $`X_0=2`$ run (Z4H) by a factor of about 4. The saturation levels in models Z2H and Z4H are close to those in the standard resolution cases. The positive $`X_0`$ run shows the nonlinear growth of the channel flow, and the negative $`X_0`$ run evolves into disorganized MHD turbulence with many small-scale fluctuations.

Table 3 lists the models computed with a larger computational box than the fiducial models, namely $`2H\times 8H\times 2H`$. The grid resolution is $`64\times 256\times 64`$, so that the grid spacing is the same as the standard models listed in Table 1. The other parameters of models Z2L and Z4L are the same as the fiducial models Z2 and Z4. As in the standard box size cases, the magnetic energy and stress in the positive $`X_0`$ run (Z2L) is larger than those in the negative $`X_0`$ run (Z4L) throughout the evolution. The frequency of spike-shaped variations in the stress is reduced with a larger box size, and thus disorganized MHD turbulence lasts most of the time. The stress in the large box model with $`X_0=2`$ (Z2L) is comparable to that in the standard model Z2, but the $`X_0=2`$ model (Z4L) is twice as large as the standard model Z4. Although the saturation level for models with a uniform vertical field may be proportional to the box size for ideal MHD simulations (Hawley et al. 1995), our sample of simulations is too small to confirm this dependence in this study.

### 3.3 Characteristics of Saturated MHD Turbulence

It is of interest to study the properties of the MHD turbulence driven by the MRI in Hall MHD. Figure 7a and 7b show the Fourier power spectra of the magnetic energy along the $`k_x`$, $`k_y`$, and $`k_z`$ axes at 25 orbits for the fiducial models Z2 ($`X_0=2`$) and Z4 ($`X_0=2`$), respectively. The spectra are averaged over 10 snapshots within 0.1 orbits. In the $`X_0=2`$ run, the large-scale channel flow is growing at that time. Thus, smaller wavenumbers have larger power, especially in $`k_z`$, and the power at the inertial range declines as $`k^4`$, similar to the ideal MHD case (Hawley et al. 1995). For the $`X_0=2`$ run (Fig. 7b), the amplitude of the power is smaller than the $`X_0=2`$ run, although the shape of the spectra is quite similar to the positive $`X_0`$ run. The slope of the power is slightly gentler in the $`X_0=2`$ run, probably because modes with larger $`k`$ are unstable to the MRI in this case. The power spectra at low magnetic energy phase of the $`X=2`$ run (which is dominated by disorganized MHD turbulence) are similar to those of the negative $`X_0`$ model.

When ohmic dissipation is inefficient $`Re_{M0}>1`$, the MHD turbulence generated by the MRI appears to have the characteristic properties. For example, the Maxwell stress is always proportional to the magnetic pressure,

$$w_M=(0.455\pm 0.023)P_{\mathrm{mag}},$$
(11)
where the average and the standard deviation are taken from the 17 models with $`Re_{M0}1`$ listed in Table 1. Note that this average includes models both with and without the Hall effect. The deviation of this ratio is extremely small, and this is independent on $`X_0`$. The relation given by equation (11) is the same as in the ideal MHD cases (Hawley et al. 1995). For the models with $`Re_{M0}1`$, the ratios between each component of the magnetic and perturbed kinetic energy ($`B_x^2:B_y^2:B_z^2`$ and $`\rho v_x^2:\rho \delta v_y^2:\rho v_z^2`$) take quite similar values to the fiducial models. These ratios have also no correlation with $`X_0`$. The average ratio of the Maxwell and Reynolds stress is

$$w_M=(4.49\pm 1.66)w_R.$$
(12)
The ratio $`w_M/w_R`$ is slightly dependent of $`X_0`$, and the average is $`5.77`$ and $`3.03`$ for the $`X_0=2`$ and $`2`$ runs, respectively.

When $`Re_{M0}<1`$, the turbulence in the nonlinear regime is weakened by ohmic dissipation. In this case, the power spectra of the turbulence is quite different compared to the $`Re_{M0}1`$ runs. Figure 8 shows the power spectrum for model Z13 with $`\beta _0=3200`$, $`Re_{M0}=0.1`$, and $`X_0=0`$. The saturation level of the Maxwell stress is very low for this model ($`w_M/P_0=3.1\times 10^4`$). Other models with $`Re_{M0}=0.1`$ including the Hall term (models Z11, Z12, and Z14) show little difference in the energy spectra compared to the $`X_0=0`$ run. The typical diffusion scale defined as $`k_{\mathrm{diff}}\eta /v_{\mathrm{A0}}`$, as well as the critical wavenumber for the MRI, $`k_{\mathrm{crit}}`$, is shown on the plot of the power spectra of the magnetic energy (Fig. 8, left panel). The diffusion length is close to the critical wavelength in this case. For scales smaller than the diffusion length, fluctuations in the magnetic field dissipate faster than the Alfvén timescale. Therefore, the spectrum shows a very steep decline and the slope is proportional to $`k^8`$ in the dissipation regime $`kk_{\mathrm{diff}}`$. The right panel of Figure 8 shows the power spectra of the perturbed kinetic energy, which also is a steeply decreasing function of $`k`$.

We find that the energy distribution of the turbulence in the $`Re_{M0}=0.1`$ runs is also quite different from that in the less resistive models. In Table 4, time- and volume-averaged quantities for the $`Re_{M0}=0.1`$ runs (Z12, Z13, and Z14) are listed. The saturated level of the magnetic energy is much lower than the $`Re_{M0}=100`$ runs. The magnetic field is amplified by the MRI during the linear phase, but dies away due to the ohmic dissipation, so that in the nonlinear regime the magnetic energy returns to its initial value. Because the net flux through the computational volume is conserved, the magnetic energy can never completely die away. The energy in the perturbed velocity is larger than in the magnetic field, $`\rho \delta v^2/2B^2/8\pi `$, and the Reynolds stress is a few times larger than the Maxwell stress for the $`Re_{M0}=0.1`$ models. The large kinetic energy is a remnant of the linear growth of the MRI. Although the perturbed magnetic field generated by the growth of the MRI is efficiently dissipated in these models by the large resistivity, the perturbed kinetic energy remains large due to the small viscosity. Therefore, if the disk is linearly unstable and the magnetic Reynolds number is small ($`Re_{M0}<1`$), the Reynolds stress could dominate the Maxwell stress but the efficiency of angular momentum transport is very small ($`\alpha 10^5`$$`10^3`$).

### 3.4 Critical Magnetic Reynolds Number

In this subsection, we consider the critical value of the magnetic Reynolds number for significant angular momentum transport in accretion disks with uniform vertical fields (as shown by previous studies, this critical value depends on the initial field geometry, Fleming et al. 2000). The dependence of the saturation level on the magnetic Reynolds number $`Re_{M0}`$ is shown by Figure 9. Open circles and triangles denotes the results without the Hall term ($`X_0=0`$) for the model with $`\beta _0=3200`$ and 12800, respectively. When $`Re_{M0}1`$, the saturation level is of the order of 0.01 and almost independent of the magnetic Reynolds number. As shown by Figure 5, the stress is larger when the initial field is stronger. If the magnetic Reynolds number is less than unity, on the other hand, the saturation level is reduced by a large factor. For the $`Re_{M0}=0.1`$ runs, the stress is about $`10^4`$ for both cases. Thus, the criterion for significant turbulence is $`Re_{M0}1`$ independent of the field strength. Note that the critical value of the magnetic diffusivity $`\eta `$ depends on the field strength, because the magnetic Reynolds number is a function of the Alfvén speed ($`\eta _{\mathrm{crit}}=v_{A0}^2/\mathrm{\Omega }Re_{M0,\mathrm{crit}}v_{A0}^2/\mathrm{\Omega }`$).

Next the effect of the Hall term on the critical magnetic Reynolds number is considered. Filled circles and triangles show the saturated stress in the models with non-zero Hall parameter $`X_0=4`$ and $`2`$, respectively. Although the stress in the $`X_0=4`$ runs is always several times larger than that in the $`X_0=2`$ runs, the dependence on the magnetic Reynolds number is the same as in the models without the Hall term. That is, the saturation level is almost independent of $`Re_{M0}`$ when $`Re_{M0}1`$, but drops significantly as the magnetic Reynolds number decreases if $`Re_{M0}<1`$.

In 2D simulations, all the models with $`Re_{M0}<1`$ undergo rapid decay of the magnetic energy both with and without the Hall term (Paper I). Thus, the dependence of the saturation level on the ohmic dissipation and the Hall effect is consistent with the 2D results. When $`Re_{M0}1`$, the magnetic Reynolds number $`v_\mathrm{A}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }`$ at the nonlinear stage is larger than the initial value, because the magnetic field is amplified by the MRI. If $`Re_{M0}<1`$, the magnetic energy is unchanged by the instability, and thus $`v_\mathrm{A}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }`$ remains less than unity. Therefore, the critical value $`v_\mathrm{A}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }1`$ is valid even in the nonlinear regime for uniform $`B_z`$ models.

## 4 SIMULATIONS WITH A ZERO-NET FLUX VERTICAL FIELD

We next consider simulations that begin with a zero-net flux vertical field, that is $`B_z(x)=B_0\mathrm{sin}(2\pi x/L_x)`$ where $`B_0`$ is a positive constant. For this case, the Hall parameter is given by $`X(x)=X_0/\mathrm{sin}(2\pi x/L_x)`$, where $`X_0=2c\rho _0\mathrm{\Omega }/en_{e0}B_0`$. Thus, the region $`x<0`$ has positive $`X`$ while the region $`x>0`$ has negative $`X`$, and the minimum of the absolute value $`|X(x)|`$ is $`X_0`$. Table 5 lists the models computed with a zero-net flux $`B_z`$. The initial plasma beta $`\beta _0`$, the critical wavelength $`\lambda _{\mathrm{crit}}`$, and the maximum growth rate $`\sigma _{\mathrm{max}}`$ in this table are given for $`B_z=B_0`$ and $`X=X_0`$. The saturation level of the Maxwell and Reynolds stresses and the magnetic Reynolds number are also listed in the table. No data in the columns for the saturation level means that it is less than $`10^8`$. The time average is taken over the last 20 orbits for all models in this section.

Figure 10 shows the time evolution of the magnetic stress for models S1 ($`X_0=0`$), S2 ($`X_0=2`$), and S3 ($`X_0=4`$). All the other parameters for these models are identical ($`\beta _0=3200`$ and $`Re_{M0}=100`$). Because the magnetic Reynolds number for these models is very large, the Hall effect dominates the evolution of the MRI. The stress in the $`X_0=4`$ run has large amplitude time variations and a higher saturation level than that in the $`X_0=0`$ run. Thus, the Hall effect enhances the saturation level of the stress, as in the uniform $`B_z`$ cases. The difference in the time average $`w_M`$ is a factor of 3 between the $`X_0=0`$ and 4 runs. This saturation level is an order of magnitude lower than the uniform $`B_z`$ models with the same $`\beta _0`$ and $`Re_{M0}`$.

During the linear phase, the MRI grows most rapidly in the half region with positive $`X`$, because most of the region with $`X<0`$ is linearly stable for the MRI or has a smaller growth rate (see Paper I). The amplified magnetic field gradually affects the structure of the other ($`X<0`$) half region, and after several orbits the entire region becomes turbulent. Figure 11 shows images of the magnetic energy during the turbulent phase for model S3 ($`X_0=4`$) at 35, 40, 45, and 50 orbits. The magnetic field vectors in $`x`$-$`z`$ plane are also shown by arrows. A large time variation in the stress occurs near 35 orbits (see Fig. 10), however from figure 11 no channel flow is evident at this time. Instead disorganized MHD turbulence is sustained throughout the evolution. The amplitude of time variation in the stress is slightly smaller compared with uniform $`B_z`$ cases. At the turbulent phase, the initial distribution of the vertical field disappears completely, and the positive and negative $`X`$ regions are randomly distributed. The effective Hall parameter at the nonlinear stage is very small and negative for this case, $`X_{\mathrm{eff}}=0.018`$. At 50 orbits, the spatial dispersion is large in the magnetic pressure ($`\delta P_{\mathrm{mag}}^2^{1/2}/P_{\mathrm{mag}}=1.0`$) but small in the density and gas pressure ($`\delta P^2^{1/2}/P=0.12`$ and $`\delta \rho ^2^{1/2}/\rho =0.069`$). These numbers are similar to the uniform $`B_z`$ cases during phases of low magnetic energy.

Since there is no net-flux for this field configuration, the magnetic field within the shearing box can completely die away. In fact, the magnetic energy during the nonlinear regime is decreasing in time for models with small $`Re_{M0}`$. Figure 12 shows the time evolution of the magnetic energy for models with $`Re_{M0}=1`$. Ohmic dissipation affects the linear characters of the MRI in these cases. When the Hall parameter is small, models S8 ($`X_0=0`$) and S9 ($`X_0=2`$), the magnetic energy is amplified by the MRI during the linear phase, but this amplified field is not sustained. After a few tens of orbits, the magnetic energy and stress decrease due to ohmic dissipation until the end of the calculation. In the $`X_0=4`$ run (S10), however, the amplified magnetic energy is sustained for at least 50 orbits even with $`Re_{M0}=1`$. The time evolution of run S10 is quite similar to the less resistive models shown in Figure 10. The saturation level of the Maxwell stress in model S10 is $`w_M/P_0=0.033`$ and this is comparable to those in models S3 ($`Re_{M0}=100`$) and S6 ($`Re_{M0}=10`$). This enhancement is caused by a faster linear growth rate for the MRI at larger $`X_0`$ (Paper I). Once the field is amplified, the efficiency of the Hall term and ohmic dissipation is reduced, and thus turbulence can be sustained.

Table 6 lists the time- and volume-averaged quantities for the models with $`Re_{M0}=100`$ (S1 and S3) and $`Re_{M0}=1`$ (S8 and S10). Models S1 and S8 do not include the Hall effect ($`X_0=0`$), whereas models S3 and S10 have $`X_0=4`$. The properties of the turbulence in the $`X_0=4`$ runs (S3 and S10) are nearly identical. The saturation level of the magnetic energy is $`B^2/8\pi /P_00.1`$, which is 3 times larger than the perturbed kinetic energy. The ratio of the Maxwell and Reynolds stress is $`w_M/w_R4`$. The ratio of each component of the magnetic energy in the turbulence is $`B_x^2:B_y^2:B_z^22:18:1`$, and this is quite similar to that in the uniform $`B_z`$ models. Since the magnetic Reynolds number in the nonlinear regime $`Re_M`$ is large, ohmic dissipation is ineffective. Moreover, the Hall effect may also be unimportant in the nonlinear regime, because the effective Hall parameter is small $`X_{\mathrm{eff}}0.02`$. The saturated quantities in model S1 are also close to the $`X_0=4`$ runs. For these three models, the saturated level of $`\alpha `$ is of the order of 0.01.

The turbulence in model S8, on the other hand, is strongly affected by ohmic dissipation. The stress $`\alpha =7.8\times 10^6`$ at 50 orbits is much smaller than the other runs, and is decreasing in time. The properties of the turbulence, such as $`B_x^2/B_z^2`$, are also very different from the other runs. The magnetic Reynolds number in the nonlinear regime is still small $`Re_M=1.2`$, which means the ohmic dissipation is important throughout the evolution of this model.

### 4.1 Critical Magnetic Reynolds Number

Here we estimate the critical value of the magnetic Reynolds number $`Re_{M0,\mathrm{crit}}`$ for zero-net flux $`B_z`$ models. Figure 13 shows the saturation level of the Maxwell stress for the models without the Hall term ($`X_0=0`$). Three different cases with $`\beta _0=800`$, 3200, and 12800 are shown in this figure. When $`Re_{M0}=100`$, the stress for all the models is more than $`0.01`$, so that angular momentum transport is efficient. If the magnetic Reynolds number is below a critical value, the stress drops dramatically. For the $`\beta _0=3200`$ runs, the stress is $`w_M/P_0=0.018`$ and $`2.0\times 10^5`$ at $`Re_{M0}=10`$ and 3, respectively. Thus the stress decreases about 3 orders of magnitude with a small difference in $`Re_{M0}`$.

The critical value is $`Re_{M0,\mathrm{crit}}10`$ for $`\beta _0=3200`$, but this value is found to depend on the initial field strength. The condition for $`w_M/P_0>0.01`$, for example, is $`Re_{M0}30`$, 10, and 3 for $`\beta _0=800`$, 3200, and 12800, respectively. When $`Re_{M0}Re_{M0,\mathrm{crit}}`$, the saturation level of the Maxwell stress is nearly independent of $`\beta _0`$ (Hawley, Gammie, & Balbus 1996) and this is different from the uniform $`B_z`$ case. In order to initiate the turbulence, the MRI must grow faster than the dissipation rate of the initial field. Thus, the critical value for the instability should be given by

$$\frac{v_{\mathrm{A0}}L}{\eta }=Re_{M0}\sqrt{\beta _0}\left(\frac{L}{L_x}\right)const.,$$
(13)
(where $`L`$ is the length over which the initial field varies) so that the critical value of $`Re_{M0}`$ is proportional to $`\beta _0^{1/2}L^1`$. This idea is roughly consistent with the results shown in Figure 13. If $`L`$ decreases, the critical value should increase. If fact, when we use a field distribution $`B_z(x)=B_0\mathrm{sin}(6\pi x/L_x)`$ (i.e., $`L=L_x/3`$), the criterion becomes $`Re_{M0}>30`$ for $`\beta _0=3200`$. This suggests that if the zero-net flux magnetic field has small-scale structure initially, then the ohmic dissipation can suppress the initiation of the MRI with a small magnetic diffusivity $`\eta `$.

Next we examine the effect of the Hall term on the critical magnetic Reynolds number. Figure 14 shows the saturated magnetic energy as a function of the initial magnetic Reynolds number $`Re_{M0}`$. For comparison, the magnetic Reynolds number $`Re_{M0}^{}`$ used in Fleming et al. (2000) is also shown in the figure. The initial field strength for all the models in this figure is $`\beta _0=3200`$. Open circles denotes the models without the Hall term. For $`X_0=0`$, as discussed above, the saturation level is almost constant for $`Re_{M0}10`$, but decreases as the magnetic Reynolds number decreases if $`Re_{M0}<10`$. When $`Re_{M0}=0.3`$, the magnetic energy does not show any increase during the evolution, and almost dies out: $`B^2/8\pi /P_010^{12}`$ at the end of the calculation. The critical value for significant turbulence, $`B^2/8\pi /P_0>0.01`$, is $`Re_{M,\mathrm{crit}}10`$. This value corresponds to $`Re_{M0,\mathrm{crit}}^{}3\times 10^4`$, which is consistent with the results of Fleming et al. (2000).

For the $`X_0=2`$ runs depicted by filled triangles, the effect of the Hall term is not large; the critical magnetic Reynolds number is still $`Re_{M0,\mathrm{crit}}10`$. However, if the size of the Hall term increases, we find that $`Re_{M,\mathrm{crit}}`$ shifts to smaller values. The $`X_0=4`$ runs are shown by filled circles in this figure. The saturation level in the $`Re_{M0}=1`$ run is increased to $`B^2/8\pi /P_0=0.088`$. But the $`Re_{M0}=0.3`$ run shows no growth of the MRI. Thus, the critical value for $`B^2/8\pi /P_0>0.01`$ becomes $`Re_{M0,\mathrm{crit}}1`$, which is an order of magnitude smaller than the case without the Hall term.

The Hall parameter $`X_0`$ can take a large range of values when $`Re_{M0}`$ is small, because the maximum value is $`X_0100/Re_{M0}`$ in the Hall regime (Paper I). The negative $`X`$ region ($`x>0`$) is linearly stable when $`X_0>4`$, however this is potentially offset by the larger linear growth rate in the regions with a large positive Hall parameter. We have calculated models with $`X_0=100`$ (filled squares in Fig. 14) and 1000 (cross). For $`Re_{M0}=0.3`$, the saturation level is enhanced by many orders of magnitude when $`X_0=100`$, but the stress is still very small $`w_M/P_0=7.0\times 10^5`$ compared with the less resistive models ($`Re_{M0}10`$). For more resistive models ($`Re_{M0}=0.1`$), the MRI does not operate even with Hall parameters as large as $`X_0=100`$ and 1000. Note that in the model with $`Re_{M0}=0.1`$ and $`X_0=1000`$ (S16), the critical wavelength is longer than the scale height of the disk, meaning such large values of $`X_0`$ cannot result in enhanced transport in real disks. Therefore, the change in the critical magnetic Reynolds number due to the Hall term is at most an order of magnitude for zero-net flux vertical fields.

## 5 SIMULATIONS WITH A UNIFORM TOROIDAL FIELD

Lastly we investigate the evolution of the MRI starting with a uniform toroidal field, $`B_y=B_0`$. Table 7 lists the models calculated with this field geometry. Axisymmetric perturbations are stable if the field is purely toroidal. Since no linear dispersion relation has been obtained for the MRI for nonaxisymmetric perturbations including nonideal MHD effects, the characteristic length of the MRI defined as $`\lambda _{\mathrm{MRI}}2\pi v_{\mathrm{A0}}/\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is listed in the table instead of $`\lambda _{\mathrm{crit}}`$ and $`\sigma _{\mathrm{max}}`$. The length $`\lambda _{\mathrm{MRI}}`$ corresponds to the wavelength in the azimuthal direction of the most unstable mode. The table gives the saturation level of the Maxwell stress $`w_M/P_0`$, the Reynolds stress $`w_R/P_0`$, and the magnetic Reynolds number $`v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }`$, if they are more than $`10^8`$. In some cases the uniform $`B_y`$ models must be evolved for very long times to reach a saturated nonlinear regime. Time averages are taken over the last 40 orbits for all the models in this section.

We still use the Hall parameter $`X_0`$ defined by equation (8) as a model parameter. Balbus & Terquem (2001) examined the Hall effect on the nonaxisymmetric behavior of linear perturbations. The critical wavenumber for the MRI becomes longer or shorter depending on the sign and size of the Hall parameter. The effective Hall parameter, $`Ha`$, for nonaxisymmetric disturbances with a wavenumber $`𝒌`$ is given by

$$Ha\frac{c(𝒌𝑩)(𝒌𝛀)}{2\pi en_{e0}\mathrm{\Omega }^2}=X_0\left(\frac{k_yv_{\mathrm{A0}}}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\right)\left(\frac{k_zv_{\mathrm{A0}}}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\right).$$
(14)
Thus, the parameter $`Ha`$ depends on the wavenumber of each mode. We begin the simulations with small random perturbations, so that modes with every allowed $`𝒌`$ are included initially. We expect the most unstable mode to dominate the linear phase of the MRI. In the ideal MHD limit for a uniform $`B_y`$, the most unstable mode has a characteristic wavenumber $`k_yv_{\mathrm{A0}}/\mathrm{\Omega }`$ in the azimuthal direction, but no scale in the vertical direction $`k_z\mathrm{}`$ (Balbus & Hawley 1991). In the numerical calculations, the grid resolution constrains the minimum length in the vertical direction, which is typically $`k_zv_{\mathrm{A0}}/\mathrm{\Omega }10`$. Because the parameter $`Ha`$ is larger than $`X_0`$ by the factor $`k_zv_{\mathrm{A0}}/\mathrm{\Omega }`$, we expect the Hall term will have an effect even with small $`X_0`$.

Figure 15 shows the time evolution of the Maxwell stress for the models with $`X_0=0`$, 0.2, and 0.4, which are models Y2, Y3, and Y4, respectively. All the models have the same field strength and the same magnetic Reynolds number, $`\beta _0=100`$ and $`Re_{M0}=100`$. The evolution is dominated by the Hall effect because ohmic dissipation is inefficient ($`Re_{M0}=1001`$). We find the timescale to reach saturation is very sensitive to the Hall parameter. Without the Hall term ($`X_0=0`$) it requires 15 orbits, but in the $`X_0=0.4`$ run the turbulent state begins at about 8 orbits. Thus, as discussed above, the linear phase of the nonaxisymmetric MRI is affected by even small $`X_0`$.

Despite the sensitivity of the linear growth rates to $`X_0`$, the properties of the saturated turbulence are almost independent of $`X_0`$. The saturation level with $`X_0=0.4`$ is slightly higher than $`X_0=0`$. The amplitude of time variability is much smaller than those in uniform vertical field cases, and the frequency is higher (see Fig. 2). Figure 16 illustrates the evolution of the magnetic energy in model Y4 ($`\beta _0=100`$, $`Re_{M0}=100`$, and $`X_0=0.4`$) taken along a slice of constant $`y`$. The contours show the azimuthal component of the magnetic energy with logarithmic spacing, and the velocity field is shown by arrows. The growth of disturbances starts from modes with large $`𝒌`$, typically $`k_xk_z5`$ for this case (Fig. 16, top-left panel). At about 10 orbits the MRI saturates, and MHD turbulence persists until the end of the simulation at 100 orbits. No growth of the two-channel flow is evident. Small-scale growth of the MRI occurs everywhere and this makes small amplitude and frequent time variations. At 20 orbits, the spatial dispersion in the magnetic pressure ($`\delta P_{\mathrm{mag}}^2^{1/2}/P_{\mathrm{mag}}=1.3`$) is larger than those in the density and gas pressure ($`\delta P^2^{1/2}/P=0.15`$ and $`\delta \rho ^2^{1/2}/\rho =0.094`$). These numbers are almost constant throughout the evolution and similar to the zero-net flux $`B_z`$ cases.

Ohmic dissipation is found to make a large difference in the saturation level of the magnetic energy and stress in these pure azimuthal field runs, as it did for models with other field configurations. Because the most unstable mode for nonaxisymmetric perturbation has a larger $`k_z`$ than the axisymmetric mode on a vertical field, the effect of ohmic dissipation is expected to be important for smaller $`\eta `$, or a larger $`Re_{M0}`$. Figure 17 shows the time evolution of the poloidal component of the magnetic energy $`(B_x^2+B_z^2)/8\pi `$ for models with different magnetic Reynolds number $`Re_{M0}`$. The magnetic field strength and the Hall parameter are $`\beta _0=100`$ and $`X_0=0.4`$ for all the models in this figure. The initial magnetic field is purely toroidal $`B_y^2/8\pi /P_0=0.01`$. Initially, the poloidal field is generated by small perturbations from the toroidal field, and thus much smaller than the azimuthal component $`(B_x^2+B_z^2)/8\pi /P_010^7`$.

When $`Re_{M0}30`$ the magnetic energy is amplified by the MRI in the linear phase, with the linear growth starting earlier with larger $`Re_{M0}`$. The saturation level of the poloidal field energy is comparable to the initial toroidal field energy. The toroidal field is also amplified by an order of magnitude, and it dominates the other components. The $`Re_{M0}=100`$ and 30 runs evolve to the same saturation level, and the Maxwell stress $`w_M/P_0`$ is of the order of 0.01. When $`Re_{M0}=10`$, the amplified magnetic energy is sustained, but the saturation level of the poloidal field energy $`(B_x^2+B_z^2)/8\pi /P_0`$ is 3 orders of magnitude smaller. The toroidal field is not amplified at all, so that the total magnetic energy is unchanged from its initial value. If the magnetic Reynolds number is less than 3, the initial perturbations are decaying until the end of the calculation.

The time- and volume-averaged properties of the turbulence driven by the MRI in the azimuthal field runs are listed in Table 8. Models Y2 ($`X_0=0`$) and Y4 ($`X_0=0.4`$) show little effect from ohmic dissipation ($`Re_{M0}=100`$). The more resistive ($`Re_{M0}=10`$) models Y8 ($`X_0=0`$) and Y10 ($`X_0=0.4`$) are also listed in the table. Quantities in models with the same $`Re_{M0}`$ are similar, which suggests that the nonlinear effect of the Hall term is small for uniform $`B_y`$ models. In fact, the effective Hall parameter is small $`X_{\mathrm{eff}}=0.011`$ and $`0.0012`$ for models Y4 and Y10. For the $`Re_{M0}=100`$ runs, the turbulence is significant and the stress $`\alpha `$ is larger than 0.01. The magnetic energy distribution $`B_x^2:B_y^2:B_z^23:22:1`$ and the perturbed kinetic energy distribution $`\rho v_x^2:\rho \delta v_y^2:\rho v_z^22:2:1`$ are similar to those in active turbulence of the other initial field geometries. For the $`Re_{M0}=10`$ runs, the poloidal field energy is much smaller than the toroidal field energy and the ratio is $`B_y^2/B_z^23\times 10^3`$. The kinetic energy is comparable to the poloidal field energy. The stress $`\alpha `$ is about $`10^5`$ so that the angular momentum transport is inefficient for these models.

### 5.1 Critical Magnetic Reynolds Number

Here we consider the critical magnetic Reynolds number for a disk with a toroidal field. Figure 18 shows the saturation level of the Maxwell stress as a function of the initial magnetic Reynolds number $`Re_{M0}`$. All the models in this figure are without the Hall term, only the effect of ohmic dissipation is included. The results with different field strength $`\beta _0=100`$, 400, and 1600 are shown. The critical magnetic Reynolds number for significant stress (e.g., $`w_M/P_0>0.01`$) is $`Re_{M0,\mathrm{crit}}30`$, and this is independent of the initial field strength $`\beta _0`$. The saturation level is also independent of $`\beta _0`$, and typically $`w_M/P_00.04`$. For ideal MHD, the saturation level is close to this value (Hawley et al. 1995).

If $`Re_{M0}`$ is less than 30, the evolution of the disk is quite different. Ohmic dissipation suppresses the MRI, and the stress in the nonlinear regime is very small and of the order of $`10^6`$$`10^5`$. The timescale to reach the saturation depends on both the initial field strength and the magnetic Reynolds number. When $`Re_{M0}=30`$, for example, the saturation occurs at 25 orbits for the $`\beta _0=100`$ run (Y5) but it takes more than 200 orbits for the $`\beta _0=1600`$ run (Y24).

Next we consider the effect of the Hall term on the critical magnetic Reynolds number. Figure 19 shows the saturation level of the poloidal magnetic energy $`(B_x^2+B_z^2)/8\pi /P_0`$ for models including the Hall effect. The initial field strength is the same ($`\beta _0=100`$) for all the models. Open circles depict the saturation level in models without the Hall term. When $`Re_{M0}30`$, the saturation level is independent of $`Re_{M0}`$, and the poloidal field energy is of the order of 0.01. If $`Re_{M0}<30`$, the turbulence in the nonlinear regime is reduced by ohmic dissipation, and the saturation level drops dramatically. Filled triangles and circles denote the $`X_0=0.2`$ and 0.4 runs, respectively. We find that the critical magnetic Reynolds number is not affected by the size of the Hall parameter. Even for very large $`X_0`$ cases ($`X_0=10`$ and 100), the behavior at $`Re_{M0}10`$ is unchanged. Therefore, the critical value for uniform $`B_y`$ models is $`Re_{M0,\mathrm{crit}}30`$ for any $`\beta _0`$ and $`X_0`$. This is an order of magnitude larger than for uniform $`B_z`$ models. For comparison, the magnetic Reynolds number $`Re_{M0}^{}`$ used in Fleming et al. (2000) is also shown in this figure. The critical value for $`Re_{M0}^{}`$ is about $`3\times 10^3`$, however this value should depend on the initial field strength.

## 6 DISCUSSION

### 6.1 Critical Magnetic Reynolds Number at the Nonlinear Stage

The critical magnetic Reynolds number discussed in sections 3.4, 4.1, and 5.1 is defined using the magnetic field strength in the initial state. However, the initial magnetic field in accretion disks is highly uncertain, and only the field strength in the nonlinear, saturated state of the instability may be observable. We find that the magnetic Reynolds number defined using the time- and volume-averaged vertical magnetic field strength in the nonlinear regime, that is $`v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }`$, characterizes the saturation amplitude of the MRI very well. Tables 13, 5, and 7 list $`v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }`$ for all models calculated in this paper. Figure 20 shows the saturation level of the stress $`\alpha =w_{xy}/P_0`$ as a function of $`v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }`$ for all the models. Circles, triangles, and squares denote models started with a uniform vertical, zero-net flux vertical, and a uniform toroidal field, respectively. Filled marks denote models that include the Hall term.

The dependence of $`\alpha `$ on the magnetic Reynolds number is clearly evident. A stress larger than 0.01 requires $`v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }>1`$. The solid arrows denote the saturation levels obtained for ideal MHD ($`v_\mathrm{A}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{}`$), where the upper and lower arrows ($`\alpha =0.29`$ and 0.044) are the average of uniform $`B_z`$ runs and uniform $`B_y`$ runs, respectively, taken from Hawley et al. (1995). The saturation level when $`v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }>1`$ is almost the same as the ideal MHD cases, and thus the stress is nearly independent of the magnetic Reynolds number in this regime. However, when $`v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }<1`$, the stress decreases as the magnetic Reynolds number decreases. If turbulence cannot be sustained by the MRI, the magnetic energy and stress both decrease in time. In some models with $`v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }<1`$, the magnetic energy is decaying at the end of the calculation, and the system is evolving toward the direction $`w_{xy}v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }`$ shown by dashed arrow in the figure.

From Figure 20, the saturation level of the stress is approximately given by

$$\alpha \alpha _{\mathrm{MRI}}\mathrm{min}(1,\frac{v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2}{\eta \mathrm{\Omega }}),$$
(15)
where $`\alpha _{\mathrm{MRI}}`$ is the stress in the ideal MHD limit ($`v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }1`$). For a vertical field with zero-net flux or a purely toroidal field, the dispersion in the saturation level is quite small: from Tables 6 and 8 the averages of the stress are nearly the same $`\alpha _{\mathrm{MRI}}=0.0395\pm 0.0120`$ and $`0.0372\pm 0.0106`$ for these runs. On the other hand, when the disk has net-flux of $`B_z`$, the saturation levels are less uniform because they depend on the vertical field strength, the vertical box size (Hawley et al. 1995), and the Hall parameter. The stress is $`\alpha _{\mathrm{MRI}}0.011`$, and can be larger than zero-net vertical flux models. The stress obtained in Fleming et al. (2000) is shown by crosses in this figure; our results are consistent with this earlier work.

Figure 20 shows that the vertical field is a key quantity for predicting the saturation amplitude of the MRI. Nonaxisymmetric modes of the MRI are unstable when azimuthal field is present, but because these modes have a large wavenumber in the vertical direction, they are suppressed by a smaller resistivity than axisymmetric modes. Therefore the suppression of the axisymmetric instability, which depends on the vertical field strength, determines the critical magnetic Reynolds number. This is true so long as the azimuthal field gives an Alfvén speed that is subthermal $`v_{\mathrm{A}y}<c_s`$ (Blaes & Balbus 1994), which is always true in our calculations. Thus, the effect of nonideal MHD on the saturation amplitude of the MRI is well characterized by a magnetic Reynolds number defined as $`v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }`$, with a value larger than unity required for turbulence and significant transport.

The critical value $`v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }1`$ is independent of the initial field strength and geometry, and also the Hall parameter. The toroidal component of the magnetic energy is dominant, and an order of magnitude larger than the vertical component in the turbulence driven by the MRI. The ratio $`B^2/B_z^230`$ when $`v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }>1`$. Thus the critical value can be written as $`v_\mathrm{A}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }30`$. If the magnetic Reynolds number $`v_\mathrm{A}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }`$ is larger than about 30, that means the MRI would be operating in the disk.

### 6.2 Limit on the Parameter Range of Numerical Simulations

The constraint on the time step in the numerical algorithm used here (see Paper I) is inversely proportional to the initial Hall parameter and the field strength. Thus, when the saturation level of the magnetic field is high, and when the Hall parameter is large, this constraint is very severe. Thus, we have computed only a few models with large $`X_0`$ and large $`Re_{M0}`$.

In paper I, we estimated the ratio of the Hall parameter to the magnetic Reynolds number in a weakly ionized gas composed by ions, electrons, and neutrals. When the Hall effect is dominant, the Hall parameter takes on values $`Re_{M0}^1X_0100Re_{M0}^1`$. We have computed models with small $`Re_{M0}(0.1)`$ and with the maximum value of $`X_0(1000)`$ which show inefficient angular momentum transport in this case. Thus, we conclude that increasing the Hall parameter $`X_0`$ within the allowed range of values will not change the lower limit of the critical $`Re_{M0}`$. In fact, with large $`X_0`$ (model S16) the critical wavelength of the MRI is larger than the scale height of the disk, so that growth of the MRI cannot be expected for such a situation.

For the $`Re_{M0}>1`$ runs, we examined the effect of a Hall parameter that is of the order of unity, the maximum value allowed when $`Re_{M0}100`$. However, if $`1Re_{M0}10`$, the Hall parameter $`X_0`$ can take any value between 10 – 100. We have found in this work that a larger Hall parameter enhances the saturation level of the stress, especially in the case of a uniform $`B_z`$. But note that even without the Hall effect, significant turbulence is sustained and the stress $`\alpha `$ is more than 0.01 in this regime. Thus, other effects (such as stronger vertical fields) could be as important as the Hall effect for enhancing the stress.

### 6.3 Application to Protoplanetary Disks

At the low temperatures expected in protoplanetary disks, thermal ionization is inefficient, except for the innermost regions within about $`r0.1`$ AU of the central star. The dominant ionization sources in this case are nonthermal processes, such as X-rays, cosmic rays, and radioactive elements. By definition, protoplanetary disks contain dust grains that eventually will agglomerate into planetesimals. Because recombination process on the surface of grains can be important, the number density and size distribution of dust grains has a large effect on the ionization fraction of the gas. Unfortunately, there are many uncertainties regarding dust grains in protoplanetary disks, and the characteristics of the grains vary in time due to evolutionary effects. For example, grains may grow in size through mutual collisions, while the abundance of grains may decrease due to sedimentation toward the midplane. Thus, the effect of dust grains on the ionization state of the gas could be reduced in disks in the late stages of evolution. Therefore, it is important to investigate the ionization state of the disk in situations both with and without dust grains.

Assuming there are no dust grains in the disk, the distribution of the Hall parameter and the magnetic Reynolds number were calculated at the midplane of some disk models in Paper I. Inside $`r_H80`$ AU, the Hall parameter is $`|X|>1`$ and the Hall effect is the dominant nonideal MHD effect when the field strength is $`c_s/v_\mathrm{A}=10`$ in the disk. Ohmic dissipation is more efficient in higher density (inner) regions. The magnetic Reynolds number is less than unity at $`r<r_O6`$ AU. The critical radius $`r_O`$ depends on the field strength in the disk, e.g., $`r_O2`$ AU and $`r_H12`$ AU for $`c_s/v_\mathrm{A}=1`$. In the outer disk $`r>r_H`$, both the Hall effect and ohmic dissipation are unimportant, and thus the disk is unstable to the MRI.

According to the results of the nonlinear simulations presented in this paper, angular momentum transport is inefficient ($`\alpha 0.01`$) when $`Re_{M0}1`$ for any initial field strength $`\beta _0`$ and for any size of the Hall parameter $`X_0`$. Therefore, at the region 0.1 AU $`r6`$ AU, the MRI is suppressed by ohmic dissipation and this region probably forms a “dead zone” (Gammie 1996). The critical magnetic Reynolds number $`Re_{M0,\mathrm{crit}}`$ for the onset of active turbulence is 1 – 30 depending on the strength and geometry of the magnetic field. However, because $`Re_M`$ is a steeply decreasing function of $`r`$, the corresponding uncertainty in the critical radius $`r_O`$ is at most a factor of 3 (see Fig. 2 in Paper I).

In the region $`r_O<r<r_H`$, the Hall parameter is larger than unity, and thus the Hall term can affect the evolution of the MRI. Moreover ohmic dissipation is too small to suppress the MRI. Although the nonlinear behavior of the MRI depends on the field geometry, the MRI will operate for most of the cases in this region. If there is no net flux in the vertical field (zero-net flux $`B_z`$ or uniform $`B_y`$ models), MHD turbulence is initiated by the MRI and sustained for the values of $`Re_{M0}`$ and $`X_0`$ in this region. Although this region is unstable even without the Hall term, the stress could be enhanced due to the Hall effect. If the disk is threaded by a uniform vertical field oriented in the opposite direction to the angular velocity vector $`𝛀`$, i.e., $`X_01`$, the linear growth of the MRI is suppressed by the Hall effect, forming a “dead zone” with no angular momentum transport via magnetic stress. Since suppression of the MRI requires the Hall parameter is $`X_0<4`$ everywhere, this may be difficult in actual accretion disks. If the vertical field is oriented in the same sense as $`𝛀`$, even in only a small part of the disk, the MRI can grow from this region. The unstable region could spread wider and eventually fill the entire region, as demonstrated in the zero-net flux $`B_z`$ simulations.

In summary, we expect the outer regions of protoplanetary disks $`r>r_O`$ to be unstable to the MRI, with angular momentum transported effectively by Maxwell stress. Inside of $`r_O`$ is a dead zone unless the temperature is $`T10^3`$ K. The critical radius $`r_O`$ is a few AU and this is determined mainly by the ohmic dissipation. The typical size of protoplanetary disks is about 100 AU. Most of the disk is unstable if dust grains are not present due to settling, or are too large to affect the ionization fraction. The critical radius $`r_O`$, which determines where the disk is unstable to the MRI and therefore turbulent, depends strongly on the size distribution and abundance of dust grains (Sano et al. 2000). The extent to which grains are mixed vertically through the disk in turn depends strongly on whether the gas is turbulent. Hence the evolution of gas and dust grains must be solved simultaneously in order to make a consistent scenario of grain settling, growth, and ultimately planet formation.

## 7 SUMMARY

The Hall effect on the nonlinear evolution of the MRI has been investigated using local 3D nonideal MHD simulations. Various models with different field strengths $`\beta _0`$, magnetic Reynolds number $`Re_{M0}=v_{\mathrm{A0}}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }`$, and Hall parameter $`X_0`$ have been computed. Our findings are summarized as follows.

1. For uniform $`B_z`$ models, a positive (negative) $`X_0`$ enhances (suppresses) the nonlinear turbulence in the disk generated by the MRI. When $`X_00`$, the nonlinear evolution shows recurrent appearances of the channel flow, and the saturated Maxwell stress is larger than that in the negative $`X_0`$ case. The saturation level of the magnetic energy and stress decreases dramatically when $`Re_{M0}<Re_{M0,\mathrm{crit}}1`$. This critical value is independent of both the field strength and the size of the Hall term.
2. For zero-net flux $`B_z`$ models, disorganized MHD turbulence is sustained in the nonlinear regime without the growth of the channel flow. The critical magnetic Reynolds number $`Re_{M0,\mathrm{crit}}`$ for the initial state depends on the initial field strength $`\beta _0`$ and the Hall parameter $`X_0`$, and is in the range of 1 – 30 for our models. The Hall effect can reduce the critical value $`Re_{M0,\mathrm{crit}}`$, however the difference is at most an order of magnitude.
3. For uniform $`B_y`$ models, the effect of the Hall term can be seen only during the linear growth phase of the instability. Disorganized turbulence lasts more than hundred orbits when the initial magnetic Reynolds number is $`Re_{M0}30`$, and this critical value is independent of both the field strength and the size of the Hall term. The characteristics of the saturated turbulence are quite similar to those in the zero-net flux $`B_z`$ models.
4. The condition for turbulence and significant transport in the nonlinear regime is found to be given by $`v_{\mathrm{A}z}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }1`$ (or $`v_\mathrm{A}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }30`$), where $`v_{\mathrm{A}z}`$ is the Alfvén speed computed from only the vertical field component in the nonlinear regime. This is independent of the strength and geometry of the initial magnetic field and the Hall parameter. If the magnetic field strength in a disk is estimated observationally and the magnetic Reynolds number $`v_\mathrm{A}^2/\eta \mathrm{\Omega }`$ is larger than about 30, this would imply the MRI is operating in the disk.

We have applied the results of our simulations to the dynamics of protoplanetary disks. We conclude the stability of such disks is determined mainly by the distribution of the magnetic Reynolds number. The Hall effect makes little change in the critical value of $`Re_M`$. The size of the dead zone where the MRI may be suppressed by ohmic dissipation is sensitive to the characteristics of dust grains in the disk. When small dust grains are well-mixed vertically in the disk, the dead zone extends to a few tens of AU from the central star. However, the dead zone is considerably smaller if small grains are not present.

Computations were carried out on VPP300/16R and VPP5000 at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and VPP700 at the Subaru Telescope, NAOJ. This work is supported by a grant from the NASA OSS program.


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# Spatially resolved STIS spectra of the gravitationally lensed BAL quasar APM08279+5255: the nature of component C and evidence for microlensing

## 1 Introduction

The $`z=3.911`$ broad absorption line (BAL) quasar APM08279+5255 was identified serendipitously within a survey of carbon stars in the Galactic halo (Irwin et al. 1998). The optical emission is coincident with a $`1`$Jy IRAS source at 100$`\mu `$m and was also found to be a significant submillimetre source, with a flux of 75mJy at 850$`\mu `$m (Lewis et al. 1998); the inferred bolometric luminosity is $`5\times 10^{15}L_{}`$, making APM08279+5255 one of the most luminous sources known. The discovery images revealed that APM08279+5255 is not a single point-like source, rather it is extended (Irwin et al. 1998). Adaptive optics with the CFHT clearly displayed APM08279+5255’s compound nature, revealing a pair of point-like images separated by 0.4 arcsec (Ledoux et al. 1998). Further observations, using NICMOS on the Hubble Space Telescope (Ibata et al. 1999) and the Keck telescope (Egami et al. 2000), uncovered a fainter third image between the brighter two, the colours of which suggest that it represents a third image of the quasar.

Paradoxically, this conclusion is somewhat problematic. Although one of the fundamental predictions of gravitational lens theory is that there should always be an odd number of lensed images (e.g. Burke 1981), in practice all lensed QSOs known to date exhibit an even number of images. Narasimha, Subramanian, & Citre (1986) have shown that this is in fact expected if the lensing galaxies have very small core radii; the core ‘captures’ one of the images and strongly demagnifies it. The fact that APM 08279+5255 apparently defies this trend is reflected in the mass models for the lens which require unphysically large cores to explain the brightness of image C, if the latter is indeed an image of the QSO (Ibata et al. 1999; Egami et al. 2000; Munoz et al. 2001). This led Ibata et al. (1999) to also propose an alternative model where component C is actually the lensing galaxy responsible for the observed configuration; this model possesses more ‘typical’ galaxy parameters. Recent observations of the nuclear CO(1-0) emission in APM08279+5255 reveals a complex morphology which suggests that the lens in this system is a highly flattened system, such as an edge-on spiral galaxy (Lewis et al. 2002). With this model, component C is an image of the quasar and the ternary configuration of the quasar source lying in the vicinity of a ‘naked cusp’ (e.g. Bartelmann & Loeb 1998).

The situation is complicated by the presence of two very strong MgII systems at z=1.062 and 1.181. A detailed study of the corresponding absorption spectrum shows that these systems are damped with a very high HI column density ($`>10^{21}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, Petitjean et al. 2000). The objects associated with these two systems could both contribute to the lensing of the quasar.

Given the extreme apparent properties of APM08279+5255, an accurate lens model is essential for the determination of its true intrinsic properties. This paper presents new spatially resolved spectra of the various components in this lensing system, with the goal of determining the nature of component C. Section 2 presents a description of the observing and data reduction, reviewing the nature of component C in Section 3. This section also discusses the implications of this study. Finally, the conclusions are presented in Section 4.

## 2 Observations and Reduction

### 2.1 Observations

The aim of the observing program was to obtain a spatially resolved, high resolution spectrum of the $`z=3.911`$ BAL quasar, APM 08279+5255. While being triply imaged, the image separations in this system are small, ranging from 0.15 arcsecs to a maximum of 0.38 arcsecs. Ground-based observations of this bright source have revealed a rich absorption spectrum caused by both intervening material and the complex QSO environment (Ellison et al. 1999a,b; Srianand & Petitjean 2000; Petitjean et al. 2000).

The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on-board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was employed in this endeavor. The principal aim was to probe the numerous intervening systems on sub-kpc scales, to investigate the structure of intervening galaxy halos and metal line systems on scales of $``$ 0.2 – 1.6 kpc h<sup>-1</sup>, as well as their kinematics and spatial extents. A further goal was to obtain multiple sightlines through the complex BAL flow on parsec scales, yielding information on ionization, kinematics and metal enrichment; these will be the topics of forthcoming articles. Here we present an initial investigation of the spectra in the individual lensed images, with the goal of establishing the nature of image C.

The STIS G750M grating was used in five different (primary) wavelength settings so as to achieve complete coverage from $`6000`$ – 8600 Å (see Table 1). Acquisition was achieved using the brightest component A. The 52 $`\times `$ 0.2 arcsec slit was then oriented along the major axis between the two brightest components (A and B) and then offset perpendicularly by 0.02 arcseconds to achieve improved centring on the faint component C. The STIS spatial pixel scale is 0.051 arcsecs/pixel, with a typical dispersion of 0.56Å/pixel. In addition to the standard calibrations (including spectra of the He-Ar arc lamp for wavelength calibration), extra flat field images were obtained for the three reddest settings in order to correct for significant fringing at these wavelengths. Multiple exposures were obtained for each setting, subsequent exposures stepped along the slit by 1 arcsecond.

Due to a combination of narrow scheduling windows and backlog from previous cycles, only a subset of the orbits has so far been completed, see Table 1. While we defer a comprehensive analysis of the absorption spectra until the full data set has been acquired, there is sufficient information in the first wavelength setting, at $`\lambda _{\mathrm{central}}=6252`$ Å (first line of Table 1) to confirm the nature of component C. The data considered in this paper consist of five individual spectroscopic exposures; each exposure was offset by 20 pixels (one arcsecond) relative to the previous one, so as to maintain optimal spatial resolution and minimise the effects of CCD and camera artifacts.

### 2.2 Data Reduction

The extraction of the individual spectra is slightly complicated by the fact that the spectra are not completely separated, especially components A and C, even with the superb resolution afforded by STIS. The extraction was performed in a straightforward, but non-standard way, which we now detail. The adopted procedure is similar to that undertaken for the complex gravitational lens Q2237+0305 by Lewis et al. (1998).

The first step we took was to trace the spectrum of of component A (the brightest QSO component) with a straight line fit; this gives the spatial offset between the spectral images to $`0.02`$ pixels. After correcting for the slope of the spectrum on the image, we obtain the distribution of flux in the spatial direction, integrated over the wavelength range, $`5965`$Å to $`6534`$Å(Figure 1). To aid the visual interpretation of this diagram, we have overlaid a three component Gaussian fit. The three quasar components are clearly distinguished in this single spectroscopic exposure; also evident is the peculiar asymmetric profile (seen as an excess over the Gaussian fit to the left side of components A and B).

We constructed a model point-spread function using an archival spectrum of the star 51 Peg (HST root name O6IH50050) taken in approximately the same wavelength range, only a day prior to the observations described here. By fitting this PSF to the data in Figure 1, we are able to define suitable extraction bands for each one of the components. These bands are listed in Table 2, with positions relative to the centre of component A. Estimates of the cross-contamination from the other quasar components and the fraction of the flux missed are also given in the table (assuming the model PSF derived from the 51 Peg observation). The worst case is clearly image C, where the extracted spectrum has a total of $`10`$% contamination from components A and B, and is missing $`30`$% of the flux.

He-Ar arc-lamp spectra were also extracted from the arc-lamp spectral image from identical regions as the object spectra. These arc-lamp spectra were used to wavelength calibrate the observed QSO spectra which were then rebinned onto the interval $`\lambda =5965`$Å to $`\lambda =6534`$Å with linear wavelength steps. Finally, the five spectral observations of the three QSO images were combined using a median-combining algorithm. Figure 2 displays the three spectra obtained in this manner.

## 3 Discussion

### 3.1 The nature of component C

A cursory examination of the individual spectra of the three images presented in Figure 2 clearly reveals that each is of the quasar source, and, therefore, image C represents a third image of the quasar and is not the lensing galaxy. This confirms earlier interpretations of the available photometric data (Ibata et al. 1999; Egami et al. 2000; Munoz et al. 2001).

### 3.2 Spectral differences

A more detailed examination of the three spectra in Figure 2, however, also reveals that they are not identical. Even accounting for the strong Mg II doublet lines near 6100 Å (at $`z_{\mathrm{abs}}=1.181`$), probably due to the presence of the lensing galaxy, and for the Ly$`\alpha `$ and N V BAL features below $`6040`$ Å, it is evident that the equivalent width of the Ly$`\alpha `$+N V emission line blend near 6050 Å is different in each of the three images. Relative to the continuum, the emission lines are strongest in image C and weakest in B.

These differences are summarised in Table 3 (where we have corrected for the missing flux in the spectrum extraction procedure). For the continuum level we adopted the mean observed flux in the wavelength interval 6250–6350 Å which, at $`z_{\mathrm{em}}=3.911`$, corresponds to rest wavelengths 1273–1293 Å; this is a region free of prominent emission lines and provides a good measure of the QSO continuum (Francis et al. 1991). The peak emission line flux was measured between 6040 Å and 6060 Å (1230–1234 Å in the rest frame of APM 08279+5255) after subtracting the underlying continuum. It can be seen from Table 3 that the contrast of image C relative to A and B is more pronounced in the continuum than in the emission lines; when viewed in the emission line light, images B and C are of comparable brightness.

Such spectral differences are a natural consequence of differential microlensing effects, with the small continuum emitting source being more severely influenced by the action of microlensing than the larger line emitting region (e.g. Saust 1994). In fact, it is generally thought that the scale of the broad emission line region is sufficient for it to be immune from significant microlensing influences (Nemiroff 1988; Schneider & Wambsganss 1990), and hence it reflects the magnification due to the macrolens. While unresolved photometric monitoring of APM08279+5255 reveals that this system has exhibited pronounced variability over several tenths of a magnitude (Lewis, Robb & Ibata 1999; see also the continuing monitoring program at the Wise Observatory at http://wise-obs.tau.ac.il/$``$eran/LM/), the spectroscopic evidence presented here points to the variation being potentially due to gravitational microlensing.

Hence, we conclude that the macrolensing magnifications of images B & C, based on the emission lines, are comparable, and it is these that should be used in gravitational lens modeling of this system, rather than the continuum flux. We note that a similar conclusion was reached by Lewis et al (2002) who, based on extended CO emission in this system, demonstrated that the likely lens is a highly flattened object, such as an edge-on spiral. While their model predicted that these images should be $`75\%`$ the brightness of image A, they do concede that currently there are not enough constraints to uniquely tie-down a model. The magnifications presented in this paper, therefore, will aid in the modeling of this unique ternary gravitational lens system. It is important to note, however, that dust in the lensing galaxy may result in extinction of some of the quasars flux, especially image C which may be viewed through the disk of a spiral system, and the values presented in Table 3 may not truly reflect the magnifications of the macromodel. While dust can extinct the quasar images, it cannot be responsible for the differing line-to-continuum ratios observed in the STIS spectra, and hence the conclusion of gravitational microlensing in this system is robust.

It is also interesting to note that, compared to the emission line flux, while the continuum in image B appears to be enhanced, the continuum in image C appears to be depressed. Such a situation occurs during a microlensing demagnification and is seen dramatically in image D of the quadruple lens Q2237+0305 (Lewis et al. 1998). With such a delineation in microlensing effects, an estimate of the size of the emission regions can be made. Regions significantly smaller than the gravitational microlensing scale-length, the Einstein radius, (i.e. the continuum emitting region) can be significantly influenced during microlensing, while regions significantly larger (e.g. the broad emission line region) are not. The source plane Einstein radius, $`\eta `$, is given by

$$\eta =\sqrt{\frac{4GM}{c^2}\frac{D_{os}D_{ls}}{D_{ol}}}$$
(1)
where $`D_{ij}`$ are the angular diameter distances between an observer (o), lens (l) and source (s). For APM08279+5255, $`\eta 0.01\sqrt{M/M_{}}h_{50}^{\frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{pc}`$ for an $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o=1`$ cosmology, where $`M`$ is the typical microlensing mass. Of course, confirmation of the gravitational lens nature of these spectral features, and hence the applicability of this delineation scale-length, requires further time resolved spectroscopy. While spatially resolved spectroscopy, as presented in this paper, would be ideal, variability in the equivalent widths of the emission lines should be apparent in unresolved ground-based spectra.

### 3.3 Where is the lensing galaxy?

The spectra were examined for a signature of the lensing galaxy. The models of Ibata et al. (1999), Egami et al. (2000) and Munoz et al. (2001) all place the lensing galaxy in the close vicinity of the quasar images, although to account for the relative image brightnesses, this lensing galaxy possesses an implausibly large core. Using a flattened potential and explaining the relative image brightnesses as due to the influence of a ‘naked cusp’, Lewis et al. (2002) find that the lens galaxy is offset by $`0.5`$ arcsec from the quasar images.

The data were examined for evidence of the lensing galaxy. Unfortunately, it was found that it is not possible to place any stringent constraints on the lensing galaxy from these observations. The reason for this is that the PSF model we employed does not give an accurate representation of our observations (the spatial profile of the 51 Peg spectra is not as strongly asymmetric as the profile shown in Figure 1), and it was not possible to subtract off the bright quasar images to better than $`2\%`$ using that model PSF. By considering the residual luminosity in dark troughs in a Keck HIRES spectrum of this system (Ellison et al. 1999a,b), Ibata et al. (1999) showed that the lensing galaxy must be at least seven magnitudes fainter than image A, so the present constraint contributes no additional useful information.

## 4 Conclusions

In this paper we have presented spatially resolved spectra of the gravitationally lensed BAL quasar APM08279+5255 obtained with STIS on the HST. They clearly show that each of the three point-like sources are images of the background quasar, confirming that APM08279+5255 represent the first truly odd-image lens system.

An examination of the spectra reveals significant differences in the equivalent widths of the Ly$`\alpha +`$N V emission feature between the images. Such differences are naturally explained by the differential magnification influence of gravitational microlensing, which affects the small continuum source but not the larger broad emission line region of the QSO. While further spectroscopic monitoring is necessary to confirm this microlensing hypothesis, unresolved ground-based observations should be adequate for this purpose (as they will still show variations in the equivalent widths of the emission lines).

Finally, the spectra where examined for evidence of the lensing galaxy. While the HST resolution allowed us to extract the spectra of individual quasar images, uncertainties in the point spread function of the instrument limited the accuracy of the subtraction to $`2`$%. Available imaging and spectroscopy data show that the lensing galaxy must be significantly fainter than 2% of the QSO images, so that we cannot detect it in the present set of observations.