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# A Taylor-Couette Dynamo

## 1 Motivation

Even though astrophysical objects possessing observable magnetic fields are extremely diverse, it is widely accepted that the physical mechanisms supporting the fields are fairly universal and rely on features common to virtually all astrophysical objects (e.g. differential rotation, convective or turbulent motions, etc.). MHD dynamo theory quantifies this idea and states that astrophysical magnetic fields are created by inductive currents driven by motions of electrically conducting plasmas (Moffatt 1978). Until recently, dynamo action was the subject of theoretical or numerical investigations only. The recent demonstration of dynamo action in controlled laboratory experiments (Gailitis et al. 2001; Stieglitz & Muller 2001) has stimulated interest in the study of dynamo action in confined geometries of potential laboratory interest, such as spheres or cylinders. The configuration of an MHD fluid confined between concentric cylinders (Taylor-Couette flow) is particularly relevant. Dynamo action is associated with spiral and sheared flows, which suggests that Taylor-vortex flow is good candidate for dynamo experiments in a simple geometry.

At the same time, Taylor-Couette flow is already a useful benchmark for studying instabilities relevant to astrophysical processes (Balbus & Hawley 1991; Ji et al. 2001; Rüdiger & Zhang 2001), as the flow pattern can model Keplerian motion. In particular we note the works of Dobler et al. (2002) who studied the dynamo mechanism in the presence of an imposed axial flow (resulting in a screw dynamo) and of Laure et al. (2000) who concentrated on the basic Taylor-Couette configuration. The latter performed a kinematic dynamo calculation in this geometry and demonstrated that an imposed Taylor-vortex flow is capable of dynamo action. The combination of shear with simple roll flows has also been modelled by Dudley & James (1989) in spherical geometry. There it was demonstrated that magnetic field generation is sensitive to the nature of the driving flow. Our work differs from the studies of Dudley & James (1989) and Laure et al. (2000) in two important respects: first (kinematic dynamo) we use the velocity fields that are actual solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations to generate a magnetic field, not arbitrary imposed flow fields; secondly (fully self-consistent dynamos) we let these velocity fields evolve alongside the magnetic field, thus solving the full MHD equations.

The aim of this work is two-fold. Firstly we widen the study of Laure et al. (2000) in the parameter space by finding the growth of the magnetic field as a function of the flow patterns. Secondly, and more importantly, we go beyond the limits of (linear) kinematic theory and investigate the fully self-consistent dynamo mechanism (magnetic fields and flow pattern affect each other and saturate nonlinearly).

## 2 Model

We consider an incompressible fluid contained between two coaxial cylinders of inner radius $`R_1`$ and outer radius $`R_2`$ which rotate at prescribed angular velocities $`\mathrm{\Omega }_1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_2`$. The velocity and magnetic fields, $`V(r,\theta ,z,t)`$ and $`B(r,\theta ,z,t)`$ are determined by the MHD equations which we write in dimensionless form as

$$\frac{V}{t}+(V\mathbf{})V=\mathbf{}p+^2V+(\mathbf{}B)B,$$
(1)
$$\frac{B}{t}=\frac{1}{P_m}^2B+\mathbf{}(VB),$$
(2)
$$\mathbf{}B=0,\mathbf{}V=0,$$
(3)
where $`p`$ is the pressure. In writing (1) and (2) we used $`\delta =R_2R_1`$ as unit of length, $`\delta ^2/\nu `$ as unit of time and $`(\mu _0\rho )^{\frac{1}{2}}\nu /\delta `$ as unit of magnetic field, where the kinematic viscosity $`\nu `$, the density $`\rho `$ and the permeability $`\mu _0`$ are constant. The governing dimensionless parameters of the system are the Reynolds numbers $`\text{Re}_1`$, $`\text{Re}_2`$, the radius ratio $`\eta `$, and rotation ratio $`\mu `$,

$$\text{Re}_1=\frac{R_1\mathrm{\Omega }_1\delta }{\nu },\text{Re}_2=\frac{R_2\mathrm{\Omega }_2\delta }{\nu },\eta =\frac{R_1}{R_2},\mu =\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }_2}{\mathrm{\Omega }_1},$$
(4)
together with the magnetic Prandtl number $`P_m`$,

$$P_m=\frac{\nu }{\lambda },$$
(5)
where $`\lambda =1/(\mu _0\sigma )`$ is the magnetic diffusivity and $`\sigma `$ is the electrical conductivity.

We assume no-slip boundary conditions for $`V`$, and electrically insulating boundary conditions for $`B`$. For modes of the form $`B(r,t,z)=B(r)\mathrm{e}^{\mathrm{i}(\alpha z+m\theta )}`$ these conditions are

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \alpha =m=0:& B_\theta =B_z=0;\hfill \\ \hfill \alpha =0,m0:& _\theta B_r=\pm mB_\theta ,B_z=0;\hfill \\ \hfill \alpha 0:& _zB_r=\frac{_r_m}{_m}B_z,\frac{1}{r}_\theta B_z=_zB_\theta ,\hfill \end{array}$$
(6)
where for $`\pm `$ we take $`+`$ at $`R_1`$, $``$ at $`R_2`$. The symbol $`_m(r)`$ indicates the modified Bessel functions, $`I_m(\alpha r)`$ at $`R_1`$ and $`K_m(\alpha r)`$ at $`R_2`$. The axial wavelength of a pair of Taylor-vortices is $`2\pi /\alpha `$.

Our numerical method for timestepping the 3D nonlinear MHD equations is detailed in Willis & Barenghi (2002). The formulation is based on representing $`V`$ and $`B`$ with the toroidal-poloidal decomposition

$$A=\psi _0\widehat{\theta }+\varphi _0\widehat{z}+\mathbf{}(\psi r)+\mathbf{}\mathbf{}(\varphi r),$$
(7)
where $`\psi (r,t,z)`$, $`\varphi (r,t,z)`$ and $`\psi _0(r)`$, $`\varphi _0(r)`$ contain the periodic and non-periodic parts of the field respectively. The potentials are expanded spectrally over Fourier modes in the azimuthal and axial directions and over Chebyshev polynomials in the radial direction.

The governing equations for the magnetic field are the $`r`$-components of the induction equation and its first curl. For the velocity we follow the procedure applied to the magnetic field and take the $`r`$-components of the momentum equation and its first curl. As the pressure has not been eliminated, we also take the divergence to obtain the pressure–Poisson equation. All five governing equations are second order in $`r`$. Time stepping is based on a combination of second order accurate Crank-Nicolson and Adams-Bashforth methods. The code has been tested against published results with and without a magnetic field (Chandrasekhar 1961; Roberts 1964; Marcus 1984; Jones 1985; Barenghi 1991).

## 3 Kinematic dynamo

For prescribed Reynolds number $`\text{Re}_1`$, wavenumber $`\alpha `$, rotation ratio $`\mu `$ and radius ratio $`\eta `$ the Navier-Stokes Eq. (1) is solved in the absence of a magnetic field. We always assume $`\text{Re}_1>\text{Re}_{1c}`$, where $`\text{Re}_{1c}`$ is the critical Reynolds number at which azimuthal Couette flow is unstable to the formation of axisymmetric Taylor vortices (Chandrasekhar 1961). We also assume $`\alpha =3.14`$, which corresponds to almost square cells. The nonlinear Taylor-vortex flow $`V`$ thus obtained is used when solving the induction Eq. (2) for $`B`$, starting from a small magnetic seed field of wavelength $`\alpha _B`$.

Note that $`V`$ being fixed, (2) is linear and has eigenfunction solutions $`B`$ which grow or decay exponentially. If the real part of the growth rate $`\sigma _B`$ is positive then the magnetic field grows (kinematic dynamo action). Following Laure et al. (2000) we assume $`\alpha _B=\frac{1}{2}\alpha `$, the characteristic length for the magnetic field is the length of two *pairs* of Taylor-vortices. In several calculations with $`\alpha _B=\alpha `$ we found the magnetic seed field decayed quickly.

The axisymmetric flow cannot generate an $`m=0`$ magnetic field. In Fig. 1 we see that in narrower gaps the dynamo prefers larger $`m`$. The dynamo is local here in the sense that the characteristic length scale for the magnetic field comply with the scale of the flow. As the Taylor-vortex flow is itself unstable to non-axisymmetric perturbations in narrower gaps (see Jones 1985), we usually consider the case $`\eta =0.5`$ where $`m=1`$ is preferred. The relative stability of Taylor-vortex flow in wider gaps also allows for a clearer interpretation of the affect of the magnetic field in the nonlinear self-consistent solutions presented in Sect. 4.

Figure 2 shows that, not surprisingly, $`\sigma _B`$ falls off sharply when $`P_m<1`$, in which case much larger Reynolds numbers (relative to $`\text{Re}_{1c}`$) are needed for dynamo action. Generally it is easier to generate a magnetic field in media with larger magnetic Prandtl numbers. This is believed to be the case for warm weakly ionised gas, McIvor (1977), Kulsrud & Anderson (1992).

Figure 3 shows growth rates as a function of $`\text{Re}_1`$ with $`\text{Re}_2=0`$, $`\eta =0.5`$ for a few values of $`P_m`$. Driving the flow harder seems to move the flow into a regime which is less favourable for magnetic field generation when the outer cylinder is fixed. Allowing co-rotation, the stability boundary for onset of Taylor-vortex flow tends to the Rayleigh line $`\mu =\eta ^2`$ for large Reynolds numbers. As circular-Couette flow $`\mathrm{\Omega }(r)=a+b/r^2`$ alone is not capable of dynamo action, we must consider flows which are Rayleigh unstable, $`\mu <\eta ^2`$.

Figure 4 shows growth rates as a function of $`\text{Re}_1`$ for different values of $`\mu `$. Again, we normalise the intensity of the drive $`\text{Re}_1`$ by the critical value $`\text{Re}_{1c}`$. It is apparent that magnetic field generation is easier with co-rotating cylinders and $`\mu =\frac{3}{4}\eta ^2`$ is an important case. At this particular $`\mu `$ the amplitude of the azimuthal disturbance $`V_\theta ^{}=V_\theta r\mathrm{\Omega }(r)`$ and $`V_z`$ are similar, seen in Fig. 5.

At a given $`\text{Re}_1/\text{Re}_{1c}(\mu )`$, the components $`V_r`$, $`V_z`$ appear to be very similar in structure and amplitude. However, $`V_\theta `$ changes significantly with $`\mu `$.

Of the rotation ratios considered in Fig. 4, $`\mu =\frac{3}{4}\eta ^2`$ would appear to be most favourable for magnetic field generation. We define $`\text{Re}_1^{}`$ as the critical Reynolds number at which $`\sigma _B=0`$ (marginal state for the onset of dynamo action) for this $`\mu `$. Figure 6 shows how $`\text{Re}_1^{}`$ depends on $`P_m`$. Fitting the last three points for small $`P_m`$ we obtain the slope $`1.1`$. Approximately, $`\text{Re}_1^{}/\text{Re}_{1c}1/P_m`$, for small $`P_m`$. Our interest in this case is linked to the small magnetic Prandtl numbers of laboratory fluids. Defining the magnetic Reynolds number $`\text{Re}_m`$ as

$$\text{Re}_m=\frac{R_1\mathrm{\Omega }_1\delta }{\lambda }=\text{Re}_1P_m$$
(8)
we conclude that the critical magnetic Reynolds number $`\text{Re}_m^{}=\text{Re}_1^{}P_m`$ is approximately constant and $`𝒪(10^2)`$ for suitably chosen $`\eta `$, $`\mu `$. Here $`\mu \frac{3}{4}\eta ^2`$ but the most suitable $`\mu `$ is likely to vary for other $`\eta `$. The $`\text{Re}_m^{}`$ above are also consistent with the results of Laure et al. (2000) who found $`\text{Re}_m^{}=𝒪(10^2)`$ in their calculations with $`\mu =0`$.

## 4 Self-consistent dynamo

In this section Eqs. (1) and (2) are solved simultaneously using as initial conditions the previously prescribed Taylor-vortex flow $`V`$ and the accompanying eigenfunction $`B`$.

Figure 7 shows that after an initial transient the magnetic energy $`E_B`$ saturates to a constant value, indicating dynamo action. At the parameters in Fig. 7 the calculations required 16 Chebyshev modes radially, 16 axial and 12 azimuthal Fourier modes with a timestep of $`10^4\tau `$, where $`\tau `$ is the rotation period of the inner cylinder. The magnetic energy is plotted as a fraction of the energy of the driving circular-Couette flow $`E_{\text{CCF}}`$, the energy source for the dynamo. The energy sink is an increased viscous dissipation in the velocity disturbance in addition to Ohmic dissipation. In these calculations the dynamo is dynamically self consistent ($`V`$ and $`B`$ evolve together).

Figures 8 and 9 show the typical field structure of the initial conditions.

A fixed outer cylinder was taken for visualisation purposes as the surfaces are less self-obscuring. The initial flow pattern $`V`$ has $`m=0`$ symmetry and as $`\text{Re}_1>\text{Re}_{1c}`$ vortex cores are slightly shifted towards the outflow regions. The eigenfunction $`B`$ in Fig. 9 has $`m=1`$ symmetry. The flow pattern, initially axisymmetric is deformed by the action of the Lorentz force $`(\mathbf{}B)B`$ and acquires an $`m=2`$ contribution visible in Fig. 10.

Figure 11 shows the kinetic energy of the velocity disturbance and the magnetic energy of the various azimuthal modes, $`E(m)`$ and $`E_B(m)`$ respectively, for the saturated dynamo of Fig. 7a. The velocity has contributions $`m=0,2,4,\mathrm{}`$ and the magnetic field has $`m=1,3,5,\mathrm{}`$ etc. The perturbation to the magnetic field is difficult to appreciate visually on the dominant $`m=1`$ structure. It remains rather similar to Fig. 9.

## 5 Discussion

By solving the kinematic dynamo problem, we have determined that a Taylor-vortex flow pattern can sustain a growing magnetic field.

Like in the models of Dudley & James (1989) we also find that the dynamo is sensitive to the flow pattern. Further, for flows that are capable dynamo action we see that the growth rate is not a monotonic increasing function of the Reynolds number. This is not seen in Dudley & James (1989), most likely due to the prescribed form for the driving flow patterns.

In the Taylor-vortex flow the best growth rates have been obtained with co-rotation. The relative magnitude of the shear and roll in the flow plays an important part in the success of the dynamo mechanism.

Solving the full MHD equations we have demonstrated the existence of a fully self-consistent nonlinearly saturated dynamo. Hopefully these results will stimulate experimental work on the problem. Future theoretical work will investigate dynamo action in hydrodynamically stable flows and address the nature of the magnetic field structure when the dynamo is driven harder – our dynamo is laminar. Most of the present work is concerned with wider gaps.


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# Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs

## 1 Introduction

The photometric and spectroscopic analyses of Bergeron et al. (1997, 2001) have revealed that the coolest white dwarfs observed in the Galactic disk have effective temperatures in excess of $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}4000`$ K (see, e.g., Fig. 21 of Bergeron et al., 2001). The absence of any cooler white dwarfs can be interpreted as the result of the finite age of the disk, which has been estimated from a determination of the luminosity function at 8 $`\pm `$ 1.5 Gyr (Leggett et al., 1998). This value is also consistent with the location of white dwarfs in a mass versus effective temperature diagram in which theoretical isochrones are overplotted (see Figs. 24 and 25 of Bergeron et al., 2001). Since the Galactic halo is believed to have formed many Gyr earlier than the disk, white dwarfs associated with the halo could be considerably older and thus cooler than those found in the disk. In addition, halo white dwarfs could be easily identified by their peculiar kinematics. This was first recognized by Liebert et al. (1989) who identified 6 white dwarfs in their luminosity function sample that had tangential velocities consistent with a halo population ($`v_{\mathrm{tan}}\stackrel{>}{}250`$ km s-1). Several objects from that small sample are now believed to be too young (they are too warm and massive) to belong to the Galactic halo, however (Fontaine et al., 2001).

More recently, white dwarfs with effective temperatures below 4000 K have been identified in various surveys (Hambly et al., 1999; Harris et al., 1999; Ibata et al., 2000; Harris et al., 2001; Oppenheimer et al., 2001a, b; Ruiz & Bergeron, 2001; Scholz et al., 2002; Farihi et al., 2002), many of which are believed to be associated with the halo population. Even though the model fluxes are successful at reproducing in detail the optical and infrared broadband photometric observations of white dwarfs above 4000 K (Bergeron et al., 1997, 2001), the observed energy distributions of cooler white dwarfs are at odds with the predictions of model atmosphere calculations. For instance, the analysis of LHS 3250 by Harris et al. (1999) has shown that the observed optical and infrared energy distribution could not be reproduced adequately in terms of a pure hydrogen atmosphere, or a mixed hydrogen and helium composition. Similar conclusions were reached by Oppenheimer et al. (2001b). For WD 0346+246 (also analyzed by Oppenheimer et al.), Bergeron (2001) was even forced to introduce an ad hoc source of opacity to reproduce the observed photometry at $`B`$, $`V`$, and $`R`$.

SDSS 1337+00 is another extremely cool white dwarf discovered by Harris et al. (2001) in imaging data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The optical and near-infrared spectrum of this object resemble that of LHS 3250 (see Fig. 3 of Harris et al., 2001). Photometric observations reported by Harris et al. covered only the optical $`BVRI`$ and a lower limit on the infrared $`J`$ magnitude. In this paper, we report new infrared photometric observations at $`J`$ and $`H`$ for SDSS 1337+00, and provide a thorough analysis of this object as well as of LHS 3250, its almost identical twin. Both of these objects exhibit the strong infrared flux deficiency that results from collision-induced absorptions by molecular hydrogen. New calculations of this important source of opacity by Borysow and collaborators has led us to take a fresh look at the atmospheric properties of cool white dwarf atmospheres. In this paper, we thus explore in detail the effects of effective temperature, surface gravity, and atmospheric composition (hydrogen, helium, and heavier elements) on the predicted fluxes, and compare these emergent flux distributions with those of SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250.

## 2 Observations

The optical $`BVRI`$ photometric observations for LHS 3250 and SDSS 1337+00 are taken from Harris et al. (1999) and Harris et al. (2001), respectively. The infrared $`JHK`$ photometry for LHS 3250 is also taken from Harris et al. (1999), while new $`J`$ and $`H`$ photometric observations were secured for SDSS 1337+00 on the nights of 2001 January 9th and 31st (UT) respectively, using the UFTI camera on the UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) on Mauna Kea Hawaii. Total observation time was 72 minutes for $`J`$ and 63 minutes for $`H`$, made up in both cases of 60 second exposures in a repeated 9-position dither pattern. UKIRT Faint Standards were used to calibrate the photometry. The derived magnitudes were $`J=20.38\pm 0.09`$ and $`H=20.71\pm 0.15`$, on the Mauna Kea photometric system.

The energy distributions of SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250 have been converted into broadband fluxes following the prescription of Bergeron et al. (1997). These are shown in the upper two panels of Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs, together with the spectroscopic observations discussed in Harris et al. (2001), and kindly made available to us by H. Harris. It is clear from this comparison, at least in the case of SDSS 1337+00, that a detailed comparison of the observed fluxes with the model fluxes can only be made through broadband photometry. Any attempt to determine atmospheric parameters from spectroscopic data alone should be considered extremely dangerous and will not be attempted in this analysis. For instance, the drop in the infrared flux appears much more severe in the spectrum of SDSS 1337+00 than what is actually measured in photometry. Most likely this is due to the difficulty of determining an accurate instrumental response where throughput is low.

The lower panel of Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs compares the relative energy distributions of SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250 normalized at the $`R`$ bandpass. The resemblance of both objects is remarkable, and they will thus be considered together in the following model atmosphere analysis.

## 3 Model Atmosphere Analysis

Our white dwarf model atmospheres are based on the calculations of Bergeron et al. (1995), with the improvements described in Bergeron et al. (2001), Bergeron (2001), and references therein; the ad hoc pseudo-continuum opacity originating from the Lyman edge, introduced by Bergeron (2001) to account for some missing ultraviolet opacity, is omitted in the present calculations (see discussion in § 4). The models extend down to $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=1500`$ K, and the atmospheric composition may vary from pure hydrogen to pure helium, or any mixed hydrogen and helium compositions. Also, heavier elements can be included in the equation of state to study the indirect effects of traces of metals on the predicted fluxes.

We also make use of the latest collision-induced opacity calculations by Borysow and collaborators. In particular, we include the H2-He calculations described in Jørgensen et al. (2000), as well as the recent H2-H2 opacities of Borysow et al. (2001), which up to now had been included in our models using the approximate formalism of Borysow et al. (1997). These improved calculations have a significant effect on the predicted energy distributions, especially below $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=4000`$ K, as can be appreciated from Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs where we compare theoretical fluxes of our pure hydrogen models at various effective temperatures for the two sets of calculations (see also Rohrmann et al., 2002). The absorption bands near 0.8 and 1.1 µm are much more pronounced than previously estimated, and this will help resolve the ambiguity between our hydrogen- and helium-rich solutions presented below.

Prior to fitting each energy distribution in detail, we explore variations of all atmospheric parameters, as we feel that such a detailed investigation has never been carried out properly in the literature. We then attempt to fit the energy distributions of SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250 with those predicted from our model atmospheres using a nonlinear least-squares method (see Bergeron et al., 1997, for details). Only $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ and the solid angle $`(R/D)^2`$, where $`R`$ is the radius of the star and $`D`$ its distance from Earth, are considered free parameters. The value of $`\mathrm{log}g`$ is either assumed, or for LHS 3250, the distance can be obtained from the trigonometric parallax measurement of $`\pi =33.04\pm 0.50`$ mas (Harris et al., 1999), and the resulting stellar radius $`R`$ converted into mass (and thus $`\mathrm{log}g`$) using evolutionary models. Throughout we rely on the C/O-core cooling sequences described in Bergeron et al. (2001) with thin and thick hydrogen layers, which are based on the calculations of Fontaine et al. (2001). At the low effective temperatures considered here, the thickness of the hydrogen layer does not affect the $`\mathrm{log}g`$ determination, only the cooling age estimates.

### 3.1 Pure Hydrogen Composition

The top panel of Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs compares the relative energy distributions of SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250 normalized to unity at the $`R`$ bandpass with pure hydrogen models at $`\mathrm{log}g=8.0`$ normalized to unity at the maximum flux. This comparison shows that pure hydrogen models fail to match simultaneously the blue and infrared portions of the observed energy distributions. While the overall shape of the infrared flux distribution is qualitatively well reproduced with a model near $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}2500`$ K, the blue portion is predicted much too steep at that temperature. Similarly, the $`B`$ and $`V`$ photometry is better reproduced with the coolest model at 1500 K, but the infrared fluxes are then predicted too low.

The effects of varying the surface gravity are shown in the middle panel of Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs for models at $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=2500`$ K. While the infrared fluxes are very sensitive to variations in $`\mathrm{log}g`$, in particular near the $`I`$ bandpass, the monochromatic fluxes shortward of $`R`$ remain unaffected. Experiments with different effective temperatures (not shown here) indicate that it is never possible to reproduce all broadband photometric observations simultaneously with pure hydrogen models.

Saumon & Jacobson (1999) have studied the non-ideal effects of the equation of state on the atmospheric structure and broadband fluxes of pure hydrogen models (see also Rohrmann et al., 2002). In order to study these effects here, we have included the equation of state of Saumon et al. (1995) in our model calculations. Our results (not shown here) compare well with those shown in Figures 1 ($`\mathrm{log}T`$ vs $`\mathrm{log}P`$) and 3 ($`M_V`$ vs $`VI`$) of Saumon & Jacobson (1999). The effects on the energy distribution of a $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=2500`$ K, $`\mathrm{log}g=8.0`$ model are illustrated in the bottom panel of Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs, and they are shown to be negligible, at least in the sense that the failure of the pure hydrogen models to reproduce the observations in the two upper panels is not due to the neglect of the non-ideal effects in the equation of state.

Our formal fits to the optical and infrared photometry of SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250 are displayed in Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs assuming a value of $`\mathrm{log}g=8.0`$ for both stars. As discussed by Bergeron et al. (1997), when the observed energy distribution varies considerably over the filter bandpasses — which is obviously the case here — the comparison of the model fluxes with the observed fluxes must be performed by converting the model monochromatic fluxes into average fluxes from an integration over the transmission function of the corresponding bandpasses. While both of the monochromatic and average model fluxes are shown in Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs, only the average fluxes are used in the least-square fitting technique described above. The surface gravity for LHS 3250 inferred from the trigonometric parallax measurement is well below 7.0, and our best fit at $`\mathrm{log}g=7.0`$ is shown in Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs as well; the overluminous property of LHS 3250 is discussed further below. The detailed fits shown here confirm the qualitative discussion above. Our pure hydrogen models fail to reproduce the observed energy distribution of these two very cool white dwarfs. In particular, the peaks of the energy distributions are predicted much narrower than observed.

### 3.2 Mixed Hydrogen and Helium Composition

Collision induced absorptions by molecular hydrogen may also result from collisions with neutral helium. Since cool helium-rich white dwarfs tend to have lower opacities and thus higher atmospheric pressures, the infrared flux deficiency appears at higher effective temperatures in helium-rich white dwarfs than in the pure hydrogen models considered above, as can be seen in Figure 9 of Bergeron et al. (2001) which shows pure hydrogen and helium-rich model sequences in the ($`V`$$`I`$, $`V`$$`K`$) two-color diagram.

The two upper panels of Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs compare the relative energy distributions of SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250 with models at $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=3250`$ K, $`\mathrm{log}g=8.0`$, for various atmospheric compositions, from pure hydrogen to pure helium. At that temperature, the maximum infrared absorption is reached at a hydrogen abundance of only $`N(\mathrm{H})/N(\mathrm{He})=10^5`$ (shown in both upper panels); smaller or larger hydrogen abundances yield larger infrared fluxes. A comparison of the results shown in this figure with those of Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs indicates that the helium-rich models, for a comparable infrared depression, tend to have energy peaks that are broader than in pure hydrogen models, in better agreement with the observed energy distributions of both SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250. Still, it is difficult even with helium-rich models to reconcile the optical and infrared energy distributions of these cool white dwarfs, as confirmed by our detailed fits discussed below.

In the bottom panel of Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs we also explore the influence of traces of heavier elements on the emergent fluxes (see also Jørgensen et al., 2000; Bergeron, 2001). Model atmospheres have been calculated by including metals in the equation-of-state only. Metal opacities are not taken into account as the main effect of the presence of heavy elements is to provide free electrons, and to increase the contribution of the He- free-free opacity with respect to Rayleigh scattering, otherwise the dominant source of opacity in pure helium models (see also Provencal et al., 2002). In this particular experiment, we consider only calcium, the most common metal observed in DZ stars. These results indicate that the shape of the energy distribution is quite sensitive to the presence of heavier elements in the atmosphere. If these cool white dwarfs do have extreme helium-rich compositions, as suggested below, the presence of metals could affect significantly the atmospheric parameter determination.

Our formal fits to the photometric observations of SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250 using helium-rich models are shown in Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs, again assuming $`\mathrm{log}g=8.0`$ for both stars. While those fits are somewhat better than those shown in Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs, they are not perfect, and certainly not as convincing as those shown in Bergeron et al. (1997) or Bergeron et al. (2001) for white dwarfs only a few hundreds of degrees warmer. The peaks of the energy distributions are still predicted too sharp, and the flux in the $`R`$ band is always overestimated. Experiments with models including metals have not improved the quality of the fits, and will not be discussed further. Our best fit to LHS 3250 using the trigonometric parallax measurement is also displayed in Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs, and yields a value of $`\mathrm{log}g=7.27`$, or a mass of only 0.23 $`M_{}`$. Such a low-mass would imply in turn that LHS 3250 has a helium core — the product of close binary evolution. However, this interpretation is at odds with the spectroscopic mass distributions of DA and DB stars by Bergeron et al. (1992) and Beauchamp et al. (1996), respectively, and the photometric analysis of cool white dwarfs with trigonometric parallax measurements by Bergeron et al. (2001), which indicate that low mass white dwarfs all have hydrogen-rich atmospheres.

Our best solutions for LHS 3250 with pure hydrogen or mixed hydrogen/helium compositions are contrasted in Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs, and compared with the optical spectrum. While none of our fits reproduce the observations perfectly, the optical spectrum allows us to rule out the pure hydrogen solution since the deep absorption feature near 0.8 µm is clearly not observed. We note that calculations with the earlier collision-induced H2 opacities of Borysow et al. (1997, not shown here) precluded us from reaching such a conclusion because the depth of the molecular bands were not predicted as deep (see Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs). We are now able to conclude with our latest model grid that both SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250 are better explained in terms of extreme helium-rich compositions, despite the fact that our current model atmospheres do not yield perfect fits to the observed photometry.

Another argument in favor of the helium-rich solution is the overluminosity problem for LHS 3250 discussed earlier with the pure hydrogen models. This is best illustrated in Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs where we show the location of LHS 3250 in a $`M_V`$ vs ($`V`$$`I`$) color-magnitude diagram together with pure hydrogen and $`N(\mathrm{H})/N(\mathrm{He})=10^5`$ models at $`\mathrm{log}g=8.0`$. While it is clearly impossible to reconcile the observed luminosity of LHS 3250 with pure hydrogen models, the helium-rich sequence is more consistent with the location of LHS 3250 in this diagram. Lower gravity (larger radii and thus larger luminosity) models would improve the agreement even further, as indicated in Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs where we show the predicted values of $`M_V`$ and ($`V`$$`I`$) obtained from our best solution at $`\mathrm{log}g=7.27`$ shown in the lower panel of Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs.

The overluminosity of LHS 3250 may also suggest that these stars are unresolved degenerate binaries. We have also attempted to fit the observed energy distributions with two white dwarf models, weighted by their respective radius. Despite the large number of free parameters in the possible solutions, the best fits achieved are not better than those shown in Figures Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs or Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs and thus were not considered further.

Finally we show in Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs the location of SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250 in a ($`V`$$`I`$, $`V`$$`H`$) two-color diagram, together with theoretical colors from model atmospheres with various chemical compositions. Also shown are the photometric data from the cool white dwarf sample of Bergeron et al. (1997, 2001), as well as the photometry of WD 0346$`+`$246, the low luminosity white dwarf discovered by Hambly et al. (1997). The variation of helium abundances is illustrated by the sequence at $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=3250`$ K, which performs an excursion from the pure hydrogen to a pure helium composition, reaching minimum values of $`V`$$`I`$ and $`V`$$`H`$ at $`N(\mathrm{H})/N(\mathrm{He})10^5`$. In this diagram, SDSS 1337+00 is consistent with the helium-rich solution while LHS 3250 is marginally consistent with both solutions. The location of the cool white dwarf WD 0346$`+`$246 also suggests a helium-rich composition (see discussion below).

## 4 Discussion

The extreme helium-rich composition inferred in our analysis for both SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250 poses an obvious and challenging problem. Because the outer layers of cool white dwarfs are strongly convective, the hydrogen and helium chemical composition tends to be more or less homogeneous throughout the mixed convection zone. Since below $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}12,000`$ K, the mass of the deep helium convection zone is almost constant at $`M_{\mathrm{He}\mathrm{conv}}10^6M_{}`$ (Tassoul et al., 1990), the small hydrogen abundances of only $`N(\mathrm{H})/N(\mathrm{He})10^510^4`$ derived in our analysis imply a total hydrogen mass of $`5\times 10^{12}`$ $`M_{}`$. If this amount of hydrogen has been accreted from the interstellar medium over a cooling age of roughly 10 Gyr for a 3500 K white dwarf, the implied accretion rate would be only $`10^{22}`$ $`M_{}`$ yr-1, a value that is completely unrealistic. For instance, the theoretical estimates of Wesemael (1979) suggest time-averaged accretion rates of $`10^{17}`$ $`M_{}`$ yr-1. Of course, the extreme helium-rich compositions derived here for SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250 cannot be completely ruled out on the basis of these arguments alone since the problem of the accretion of hydrogen in cool white dwarfs is a long standing one, and no satisfactory explanation has yet been proposed to account for the persistence of helium-rich white dwarfs at low effective temperatures.

We note in this context that WD 0346+246 shown in Figure Model Atmosphere Analysis of Two Very Cool White Dwarfs has been interpreted by Oppenheimer et al. (2001b) as a $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=3750`$ K white dwarf with an extremely small hydrogen abundance of $`\mathrm{log}N(\mathrm{H})/N(\mathrm{He})=6.4`$. A reanalysis of this object by Bergeron (2001) with the improved H2-He collision-induced opacities of Jørgensen et al. (2000) indicates an even lower hydrogen abundance of $`N(\mathrm{H})/N(\mathrm{He})10^9`$. Because this solution was improbable — but not impossible — from accretion considerations, Bergeron (2001) proposed an alternative solution with a higher hydrogen abundance of $`N(\mathrm{H})/N(\mathrm{He})0.8`$, but was also forced to introduce in the model calculations a bound-free opacity from the Lyman edge associated with the so-called dissolved atomic levels of the hydrogen atom, in order to reduce the near-UV flux and match the optical photometric observations. This additional pseudo-continuum opacity has not been included in the present calculations as the UV flux is already predicted too low for SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250.

While it is probably safe to conclude that these cool white dwarfs have helium-rich atmospheres and effective temperatures below 4000 K, it is not yet possible to determine their atmospheric parameters and ages with great precision since the models fail to reproduce the photometric observations in detail. The large parameter space explored in our analysis suggests that the source of this discrepancy lies in the physics included in our model atmospheres, which is either inadequate or incomplete. One avenue of investigation worth considering is non-ideal effects of the equation-of-state at the high atmospheric pressures that characterize helium-rich atmospheres. So far, these effects have only been estimated in pure hydrogen or pure helium atmospheres (Bergeron et al., 1995; Saumon & Jacobson, 1999; Rohrmann et al., 2002, this paper). It has also been demonstrated recently by Iglesias et al. (2002) that the helium free-free opacity and Rayleigh scattering at high densities typical of those encountered here are seriously overestimated. The use of their improved treatment in model atmosphere calculations would most likely increase the flux where the collision-induced opacity is less important, i.e. for wavelengths below 0.7 µm, precisely in the region where we observe the largest discrepancy. This could even solve the overluminosity problem of LHS 3250 altogether as the calculated absolute visual magnitude for helium-rich white dwarfs would be brighter.

All white dwarfs below $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=4000`$ K for which a detailed analysis has been performed have been explained in terms of some mixed hydrogen and helium atmospheric compositions, or even a pure helium composition (Harris et al., 1999; Oppenheimer et al., 2001b; Bergeron, 2001; Farihi et al., 2002). There are still no white dwarfs below $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=4000`$ K that have been successfully and convincingly explained in terms of a pure hydrogen atmospheric composition. This result may not be completely unexpected since helium-atmosphere white dwarfs with their lower opacities have cooling time scales that can be considerably shorter than their hydrogen-atmosphere counterparts (see, e.g., Hansen, 1999; Bergeron et al., 2001). Hence for a given population and at a given mass, the coolest white dwarfs are expected to have helium-dominated atmospheres. For instance, a cool helium-rich white dwarf at $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=3250`$ K (i.e., our temperature estimate for SDSS 1337+00) with an average mass of $`0.7`$ $`M_{}`$ (see Fig. 22 of Bergeron et al., 2001) has a cooling age of only 9.4 Gyr according to our evolutionary models with thin hydrogen layers (see also Fig. 24 of Bergeron et al., 2001); by comparison, a similar object with a thick hydrogen layer would have an age of 11.6 Gyr. This 9.4 Gyr estimate is entirely consistent with the age of the oldest objects in the Galactic disk analyzed by Bergeron et al. (2001), and the so-called ultracool white dwarfs reported in the literature may not be terribly old after all. Although WD 0346$`+`$246 has kinematics supporting halo membership (Hambly et al., 1999), LHS 3250 has a lower tangential velocity consistent with membership of either disk or halo, and SDSS 1337+00 has an even lower velocity inconsistent with halo membership (Harris et al., 2001).

Despite the fact that we do not fully understand the accretion mechanism in cool white dwarfs, helium-atmosphere white dwarfs must eventually accrete “some amount” of hydrogen, at which point they will exhibit a strong infrared flux deficiency, even if the amount of hydrogen is extremely small according to our calculations. SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250 are most likely such objects, and extremely cool hydrogen-atmosphere white dwarfs belonging to the old halo population of the Galaxy are yet to be identified.

We are grateful to H. Harris for providing us with the spectra of SDSS 1337+00 and LHS 3250. This work was supported in part by the NSERC Canada and by the Fund NATEQ (Québec). The $`J`$ and $`H`$ magnitudes for SDSS 1337+00 were obtained through the UKIRT Service Programme. UKIRT, the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope, is operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre on behalf of the U.K. Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council.


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# Uncertainty of the two-loop RG upper bound on the Higgs massIHEP 2002–21

## 1 Introduction

The current experimental data restrict the Higgs mass in the Standard Model (SM) within the range $`114.1`$ GeV$`<M_H<194`$ GeV. The lower bound on $`M_H`$ comes from the absence of the Higgs production signal at LEP II at the 95% CL . The upper bound is derived at the same CL from the fit to the precision electroweak data . On the other hand, the upper bound on the Higgs mass can be obtained from the requirement of the SM perturbative consistency up to a cutoff energy scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ at which the SM might get into the strong coupling regime. The two-loop renormalization group (RG) gives typical upper bounds $`M_H<200`$ GeV at $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=M_{GUT}=10^{14}`$ GeV and $`M_H<180`$ GeV at $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=M_{Pl}=10^{19}`$ GeV (see, e.g., ). Thus both the electroweak precision data and the SM perturbative consistency up to the GUT scale exclude the Higgs mass $`M_H200`$ GeV. This could be interpreted as though the Higgs should be light due to the self-suppression of the strong coupling in the SM. But the question is to what extent the Higgs upper bound from the SM perturbative consistency is reliable?

A clear-cut criterion of the strong coupling in the Higgs sector of the SM exists only in one loop. In this case, the one-loop quartic coupling $`\lambda `$ develops the Landau pole at a finite energy scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. In two loops, the pole is compensated but $`\lambda `$ becomes large, $`\lambda /4\pi ^21`$, nearly at the same energy scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Taken alone, this does not give the unambiguous criterion of the nonperturbative regime any more. In the conventional assumption that the higher loops become comparable with the first and second ones at the same scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, the results of ,  follow (see also  for a review). On the other hand the contributions of the higher loops might be either small, or large but mutually compensated. This would not change drastically the two-loop running of $`\lambda `$ and may relax the conventional upper bound on the Higgs mass.

Presently, the full set of the SM $`\beta `$ functions is known up to the two loops only. This forces one to study the reliability of the self-consistency criterion of the two-loop RG approximation in the SM. This is the purpose of the present paper. The method proposed in the paper relies on the subtracted RG and the analytic properties of the running couplings. It is similar in spirit to methods applied to resolve the Landau singularity problem in QED  and, later, to improve the infrared behaviour of the QCD running coupling $`\alpha _S(\mu ^2)`$ , .

## 2 Subtracted finite-loop RG

Let us consider the system of the SM two-loop RG equations (RGE):

$$\mu ^2\frac{da_i(\mu ^2)}{d\mu ^2}=\beta _i\left(\left\{a_j(\mu ^2)\right\}\right).$$
(1)
Here and in what follows $`a_i(\mu ^2)`$ are the SM running couplings vs. the energy squared scale $`\mu ^2`$, and $`\beta _i`$ are the respective $`\beta `$ functions calculated at the given number of loops. We disregard the mass effects here. Conventionally, the system (1) is integrated numerically along the real axis $`\text{Re}\mu ^2<0`$:

$$a_i(\mu ^2)=a_i(\mu _0^2)+_{\mu _0^2}^{\mu ^2}\frac{d\mu _{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}{\mu _{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}\beta _i\left(\left\{a_j(\mu _{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2})\right\}\right),$$
(2)
where $`\mu _0^2<0`$ is a reference point, $`|\mu _0|M_Z`$. The $`\beta `$ functions can now be defined as the functions of the real negative $`\mu ^2`$:

$$\beta _i(\mu ^2)\beta _i\left(\left\{a_j(\mu ^2)\right\}\right).$$
(3)
Eqs. (1) – (3) preserve their meaning for the complex $`\mu ^2`$ as well. But the numerical solution obtained says nothing about the analytic properties of the running couplings with respect to $`\mu ^2`$. In two loops, despite the absence of the real singularities of the Higgs quartic coupling $`\lambda `$ there could be the complex ones. They influence the strong coupling regime $`\lambda /4\pi ^21`$ at large enough real $`\mu ^2`$. The extension of the two-loop RG analysis onto the complex $`\mu ^2`$ plane allows one to find the position of the singularities implicitly.

To this end, let us continue analytically the $`\beta `$ functions and running couplings onto the complex $`\mu ^2`$ plane with the cut along the real axis $`\text{Re}\mu ^2>0`$ (Fig. 1). The cut is chosen so that $`\pi <\text{Im}\mathrm{ln}(\mu ^2)<\pi `$. All the running couplings are assumed to satisfy the hermiticity condition $`a_i(\mu ^2)=a_i^{}(\mu ^2)`$. Let us first choose the closed contour $`C=C_0C_+\stackrel{~}{C}C_+^{}`$ (Fig. 1) so that $`C`$ encircles the given point $`\mu ^2`$, and all the singularities of the running couplings $`a_i(\mu ^2)`$ reside outside $`C`$. Then $`\beta _i(\mu ^2)`$ satisfy the identity

$$\beta _i(\mu ^2)\frac{1}{2\pi i}_C\frac{\beta _i(s)ds}{s\mu ^2},$$
(4)
where $`\beta _i(s)\beta _i(\{a_j(s)\})`$. Substituting Eq. (4) into Eq. (2) one gets

$$a_i(\mu ^2)=a_i(\mu _0^2)+\frac{1}{2\pi i}_{\mu _0^2}^{\mu ^2}\frac{d\mu _{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}{\mu _{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}_C\frac{\beta _i(s)ds}{s\mu _{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}},$$
(5)
where the integration path between points $`\mu _0^2`$ and $`\mu ^2`$ should lie inside $`C`$. In what follows, the square root $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ of the radius of the outer contour $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$ is referred to as the modification radius.

Now let us spread the outer contour $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$ so that at least a part of the implicit singularities of $`a_i(\mu ^2)`$ gets located inside $`C`$. In general, the identity (5) ceases to be valid. Moreover, the integration of the RGE system (1) from the reference point $`\mu _0^2`$ to the real point $`(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}^2)`$, $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}>\mathrm{\Lambda }_s`$, along the real axis and the upper half of the contour $`C`$ (shown in solid in Fig. 1) does not give the identical results. Remarkably, in the latter case the couplings $`a_i(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}^2)`$ acquire the nonzero complex parts while in the former case they are real by construction. This discrepancy reflects the contribution of the implicit complex singularities. The minimal radius $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s^2`$ of the external contour $`\stackrel{~}{C}`$ at which all these irregularities take place gives the estimate of the upper range of the reliability of the RG in the given loops. The value of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s`$ corresponds to crossing the nearest singularities of $`a_i(\mu ^2)`$. At scales larger than $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s`$, the original finite-loop approximation is definitely unreliable. It is at $`|\mu ^2|\mathrm{\Lambda }_s^2`$, where the contributions of higher loops are needed to improve the analytic properties of the conventional running couplings $`a_i(\mu ^2)`$.

The above procedure suffices to give the clear-cut numerical criterion of the self-consistency of the finite-loop RG. But to visualise, let us modify Eq. (5) and define the new running couplings $`a_i^{(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }})}(\mu ^2)`$ as follows

$$a_i^{(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }})}(\mu ^2)=a_i(\mu _0^2)+_{\mu _0^2}^{\mu ^2}\frac{d\mu _{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}{\mu _{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}\beta _i^{(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }})}(\mu _{}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}),$$
(6)
with the once subtracted $`\beta `$ functions

$$\beta _i^{(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }})}(\mu ^2)\beta _i(\mu _0^2)+\frac{1}{2\pi i}_C𝑑s\beta _i(s)\left(\frac{1}{s\mu ^2}\frac{1}{s\mu _{0}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}}\right).$$
(7)
Here the point $`\mu _0^2`$ is shifted infinitesimally inside $`C`$ and $`\beta _i(s)`$, restricted to contour $`C`$, are obtained by integrating the RGE system (1) along the contour $`C`$ itself. By the very construction, the modified couplings $`a_i^{(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }})}(\mu ^2)`$ exactly coincide with $`a_i(\mu ^2)`$ at $`|\mu |<\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ if the integration contour does not encompass the complex singularities, i.e. $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}<\mathrm{\Lambda }_s`$. Due to hermiticity, the couplings are real at the real negative $`\mu ^2`$. If the complex singularities get inside the contour, the procedure is not uniquely defined. In particular $`a_i^{(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }})}(\mu ^2)`$ cease generally to be hermitian. To improve this, we redefine the integral in Eq. (7) as the contribution of the upper half of the contour $`C`$ minus the contribution of the symmetric lower half of the contour calculated in the similar manner. This does not change the results at $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}<\mathrm{\Lambda }_s`$. So defined $`a_i^{(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }})}(\mu ^2)`$ are regular and hermitian and differ from $`a_i(\mu ^2)`$ by the contribution of singularities and normalization constants. The constants are chosen so that $`\beta _i^{(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }})}(\mu _0^2)\beta _i(\mu _0^2)`$ and hence $`a_i^{(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }})}(\mu ^2)=a_i(\mu ^2)+𝒪((\mu ^2\mu _0^2)^2)`$ in a vicinity of $`\mu _0^2`$ where the finite-loop RG is believed to be reliable. The large difference between the couplings arises as soon as the singular parts of $`a_i(\mu ^2)`$ become large.

## 3 Modification of the SM two-loop couplings

The SM ultraviolet behaviour has been extensively studied by the conventional RG method up to the two loops . An important outcome of this study is the range of the Higgs mass for which the SM remains perturbatively consistent up to the given cutoff scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The consistency can be broken either by the heavy enough Higgs, whose quartic coupling $`\lambda `$ “blows up” at the scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, or by the light Higgs, whose coupling $`\lambda `$ dumps below zero at the scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$.111The upper and the lower bounds on the Higgs mass are also known in the literature as the triviality bound and the vacuum stability bound, respectively. Thus, quite a narrow corridor is retained for the Higgs mass (see, e.g., Fig. 4 of Ref. ). These bounds are of special interest because the Higgs mass remains the last undetermined SM parameter.

In two loops, the Higgs quartic coupling $`\lambda `$, as well as the other SM couplings, develops no singularities prior to the Landau singularity of the $`U(1)_Y`$ gauge coupling at $`\mathrm{\Lambda }0.210^{41}`$ GeV, the latter corresponding to the Higgs mass $`M_H114.1`$ GeV . The situation is obscured by the fact that the SM two-loop RG equations can be solved only numerically. The numerical solution vs. real $`\mu ^2`$ provides no information about the analytic properties of the SM two-loop running couplings.

The method of analytic modification studies the evolution of the running couplings vs. complex $`\mu ^2`$. The variation of the modification radius $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ (Fig. 1) allows one to determine the two-loop singularity scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s`$ without finding the unphysical singularities explicitly. Thus one can judge about the self-consistency of the two-loop RG at the given energy scale $`\mu `$. It is sufficient to calculate the modified couplings $`a_i^{(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }})}(\mu ^2)`$ and compare them to the conventional ones Eq. (2). This enables one to determine the radius $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s`$ at which the singularity is located, making the numerical analysis rather productive. If $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}<\mathrm{\Lambda }_s`$, then the conventional and the modified SM running couplings are identical within the routine accuracy, $`a_i(\mu ^2)a_i^{(\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }})}(\mu ^2)`$, $`|\mu ^2|^{1/2}<\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$. As soon as $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ exceeds $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s`$, the modified couplings depart from the respective conventional ones.

To illustrate, consider the two-loop RG evolution of the SM with the maximally heavy Higgs, $`M_H=200`$ GeV, nearly allowed by the electroweak precision data . Varying the modification radius $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ in the range $`10^{19}\text{GeV}<\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}<10^{42}\text{GeV}`$,222 I.e. well below the Landau singularity of the $`U(1)_Y`$ gauge coupling at $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s510^{50}`$ GeV for this $`M_H`$. we find numerically the scale of the two-loop hidden singularity to be $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s10^{31}\text{GeV}`$. This can be seen from Fig. 2 showing the conventional (RG) and subtracted (SRG) two-loop running of the Higgs quartic coupling $`\lambda `$. Note that $`\lambda `$ gets in fact rather large decrement, of 10% or so, after the integration contour crosses over the implicit singularities. For the lighter Higgs (not shown), $`\lambda `$ stays actually unmodified.333For the 380 GeV Higgs, the modification of the $`t`$, $`b`$, and $`\tau `$ Yukawa couplings (not shown) cancels the unification of the latter ones  above the singularity scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s`$. Fig. 3 shows the conventional and modified two-loop evolution of the SM gauge couplings. In these figures, the modification radius is $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}=10^{42}`$ GeV and $`|\mu _0|`$ is equal to the Higgs VEV, $`v=246.2`$ GeV. The extension of $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ even beyond the position of the Landau singularity results in the relative variation of the modified running couplings at the level of $`10^3`$. The case $`M_H=380`$ GeV corresponds to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s=M_{Pl}=10^{19}`$ GeV. Also shown in Fig. 3 is the evolution of $`\alpha _1(\mu ^2)`$ at $`M_H1.2`$ TeV which corresponds to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s=M_{GUT}=10^{14}`$ GeV.

### The upper Higgs bound

An important conclusion follows hereof. For the 200 GeV Higgs, all the SM couplings demonstrate very close conventional and modified two-loop running up to the two-loop singularity scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s`$. The Higgs mass $`M_H=200`$ GeV spoils the analytic properties of the SM two-loop running couplings only at the scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s10^{31}`$ GeV, i.e. well above the Planck scale. This can imply that to improve the analytic properties of the SM two-loop couplings, the contributions of the third and higher loops are needed only at scales $`\mu >M_{Pl}`$. To break down the perturbativity of the SM prior to the Planck scale $`M_{Pl}=10^{19}`$ GeV the Higgs mass $`M_H>380`$ GeV is required. This lifts up the commonly accepted upper bound on the Higgs mass $`M_H180`$ GeV derived in the conventional manner from the same requirement. Moreover, to guarantee the SM perturbativity up to the GUT scale, $`M_{GUT}=10^{14}`$ GeV, it is not actually necessary to impose any upper bound on $`M_H`$. Thus the Higgs is light probably for reasons other than the absence of the strong coupling in the SM. These reasons might lie beyond the SM. E.g., the Higgs could be the composite pseudo-Goldstone boson having the natural mass $`M_Z`$ .

To resolve the uncertainty of the Higgs upper bound the third and fourth loops in the SM are urgently needed. Two extreme possibilities can be envisaged. First, the higher loops are large and do not compensate each other. In this case, the conservative conventional upper bound $`M_H<180`$ GeV at $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s=M_{Pl}`$ would follow. Second, the higher loops are either small, or large but mutually compensated. In this case, the more liberal modified upper bound is appropriate, and $`M_H`$ up to 380 GeV would be allowed at the same $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s`$. More realistically, an intermediate case may realize so that the upper bound on $`M_H`$ should lie somewhere in between 180 GeV and 380 GeV.

### The lower Higgs bound

The low Higgs masses, $`M_H138.1`$ GeV,444This corresponds to the recalculated result of Ref.  for the central value 174.3 GeV  of the top mass. give rise to the electroweak vacuum instability prior to the Planck scale. However at the vacuum instability scale, the SM running couplings develop no singularities and hence require no subtractions. Thus the analytic modification method taken as it is cannot clarify the electroweak vacuum instability problem.

## 4 Conclusion

The subtracted RG is applied to study the two-loop self-consistency of the SM. It is found that at the Higgs mass $`M_H<380`$ GeV, the two-loop singularity scale is $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s>M_{Pl}`$. This implies that $`M_H<380`$ GeV does not necessarily threaten with the strong coupling prior to the Planck scale. Even allowing $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_s`$ as low as $`M_{GUT}`$, the SM self-consistency may actually impose no upper bound on $`M_H`$. In other words, the light Higgs might be preferred for reasons other than the SM perturbativity, i.e. for reasons beyond the SM. To clarify the issue the third and fourth loops in the SM RG are needed. On the other hand the method cannot resolve the SM vacuum instability problem arising, in two loops, at $`M_H<138.1`$ GeV. Thus, out of the entire experimentally allowed range for the Higgs mass $`114.1\text{GeV}<M_H<194\text{GeV}`$, only the lowest Higgs masses $`114.1\text{GeV}<M_H<138.1\text{GeV}`$ could definitely give rise to the SM inconsistency prior to the Planck scale and would require new physics.

### Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to A. I. Alekseev and V.V. Kabachenko for useful discussions.


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# Is Messier 74 a barred spiral galaxy?

## 1 Introduction

Circumnuclear rings of star formation have been shown to occur in barred spiral galaxies since the early 1980s (e.g. Benedict 1980) and they have been studied in great detail in many galaxies since this pioneering work (e.g. Knapen 1996; Knapen et al. 1999). They are thought to be a result of a funneling of material to the central regions of the galaxies by a bar potential. Indeed, hydrodynamical simulations of galaxies have shown that gaseous material is shocked at the leading edge of a bar and diverted towards the centre of the galaxy (Roberts, Huntley & van Albada 1979). The material can then accumulate at the inner Lindblad resonance (ILR) until it reaches a critical density at which star formation can be induced.

The spiral galaxy, Messier 74 (NGC 628), is classed as a non-barred spiral galaxy (its Hubble classification is SAc - de Vaucouleurs et al. 1991). However, a circumnuclear ring of star formation does exist in the central regions of M74. This has been observed in 12CO $`J=10`$ sub-mm imaging (Wakker & Adler 1995) and 2.3 $`\mu `$m CO absorption spectroscopy (James & Seigar 1999). Is it therefore possible that a bar–like structure exists in the centre of M74, but is shrouded in dust? One way to answer this question is to observe M74 at near-infrared wavelengths. The first demonstration that bars are more common in the near-infrared was performed by Hackwell & Schweizer(1983). Since then, this method has proved successful for uncovering bars in spiral galaxies in many cases (e.g. Seigar & James 1998; Eskridge et al. 2000). In this paper we present I, J and K band images of M74, the longest wavelength images available, in order to uncover a bar in its centre.

This paper is arranged as follows: section 2 describes the observations; section 3 is a discussion of the results presented in this paper; in section 4 we summarise our main results.

## 2 Observations

In order to uncover a bar-like structure in the centre of M74, long wavelength images are needed. Ideally, near-infrared imaging would be the best tool for this kind of study. We have therefore retrieved archived I, J and K band images of M74.

We have made use of the Isaac Newton Group (ING) data archive to retrieve an I band image of M74. The data was observed on the Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope (JKT) on 9th November 1999. Two I band images of 300 seconds each were observed. These images have been flat-fielded (using twilight sky flats) and combined to produce a single image of effective exposure time 600 seconds. We also used the NASA extragalactic database (NED) to retrieve J and K band images of M74. These images were observed at the Calar Alto 2.2m telescope using the MAGIC NICMOS3 instrument. For each waveband, M74 was observed for a total integration of 9 minutes. These images have been flat fielded (using dome flats). The infrared images were originally presented in a paper by Möllenhoff & Heidt (2001).

## 3 Discussion

Figure 1 shows greyscale I, J and K band plots of M74 respectively. Figure 2 shows the equivalent contour plots. While it is not obvious in the greyscale plots, the I band contour plot clearly shows an oval distortion in the contours at a radius of approximately 100 pixels (or 33.0 arcsec for a pixel scale of 0.33 arcsec/pixel) in the y-direction. The ellipticity of this contour is approximately 0.20$`\pm `$0.07. The J band and K band images both show this elliptical contour as well, with ellipticities of 0.16$`\pm `$0.05 and 0.17$`\pm `$0.05 respectively. The position angle of this contour is approximately 45. At a larger radius, of approximately 40–44 arcsec, the J and K band images also show an elliptical contour at a position angle of -55. The ellipticities of this contour are 0.28$`\pm `$0.05 (in the J band image) and 0.33$`\pm `$0.05 (in the K band image). As M74 is a face-on galaxy, the ellipticities calculated here are real and not an inclination effect.

Figure 3 shows a plot of ellipticity of the contours shown in Figure 2 versus minor-axis radius for both the I band images (circles), the J band image (triangles) and the K band image (squares). Table 1 shows the same data. Both Figure 3 and Table 1 show how the ellipticity of the I band contours increases from the centre outwards and then decreases again at larger radii. The J and K band contours continue to increase, but their position angle changes abruptly from approximately 45 to -55 between a radius of 35 and 40 arcsec. This is not seen in the I band, probably due to the increase in dust extinction in this waveband. This suggests that M74 may contain a bar within a bar, i.e. a smaller scale bar which is almost perpendicular to the large scale bar. This is a common feature often seen in high resolution images of barred galaxies with circumnuclear rings of star formation (e.g. Laine et al. 2002).

What we seem to have uncovered here is an oval distortion, rather than a strong bar. Is this oval distortion strong enough to create the circumnuclear star formation ring seen in M74?

It has been shown in simulations of barred galaxies, that the process of funneling gas towards the central regions of galaxies by a bar, eventually leads to the self–destruction of the bar (Friedli & Pfenniger 1991). Bar distortions are useful for driving gas towards an ILR, where the gas will then slowly accumulate. As this process continues, the gas can become gravitationally unstable and fall deeper into the potential well (see the double bar model in Friedli & Martinet 1993). This accumulation of material would eventually trigger a burst of star formation, thus leading to a metal rich, red inner stellar disk. The gas could fall further inwards and create a central mass concentration. If the mass of the central accretion becomes significant an extended ILR can be formed leading to dissolution of the bar (Friedli & Benz 1993; Friedli 1994). When the bar is dissolved signatures of its existence are often seen, e.g. boxy or peanut shaped bulges (e.g. Bureau & Freeman 1999) or a metal rich inner stellar disk, as seen in the Sombrero galaxy (Emsellem 1995; Emsellem et al. 1996). However, these signatures are usually only observed in edge–on galaxies. It is therefore difficult to tell if the oval distortion seen in M74 is part of the progression of the dissolution of a bar.

Weliachew et al. (1988) have suggested that even a weak bar, such as the bars they infer in NGC 6946 and Maffei 2, and the bar observed in M74 here, can affect the radial distribution of the gas. Combes & Gerin (1985) simulated the behaviour of an ensemble of molecular clouds in a barred galaxy, using an N–body barred potential and a collisional scheme for gas clouds. They used different values for the angular velocity of the bar and showed that, when the angular velocity of the bar is slow, spiral structure develops inside the corotation radius. Angular momentum is transferred inwards, and particles are trapped in a central orbit coincident with the ILR. Gaseous material can then accumulate at the ILR, forming a circular ring, if the bar angular velocity, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_p(\mathrm{\Omega }\kappa /2)`$, where $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the material velocity and $`\kappa `$ is the epicyclic frequency. The results of the Combes & Gerin (1985) simulations suggests that circumnuclear rings of star formation can exist, even in the presence of a weak bar potential. Thus, the oval distortion we have observed in M74 here, may be responsible for the circumnuclear star formation activity observed by Wakker & Adler (1995).

## 4 Conclusions

We have presented in this paper, $`I`$, $`J`$ and $`K`$ band images of the spiral galaxy, M74. These images highlight the presence of a weak oval distortion in the central regions of the galaxy. We believe that this oval distortion is responsible for the circumnuclear ring of star formation observed in molecular CO emission (Wakker & Adler) and 2.3 $`\mu `$m CO absorption (James & Seigar 1999). We have also argued that even weak oval distortions can be responsible for such circumnuclear star formation, using the simulations presented by Combes & Gerin (1985).

###### Acknowledgements.

This research is based on data from the ING archive. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The author would like to thank the anonymous referee for comments which greatly improved the content of this paper.