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# The classification of BL Lacertae objects: the Ca H&K break

## 1 Introduction

BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs) are set apart from other types of active galactic nuclei by their extreme properties, namely, irregular, rapid variability, strong optical and radio polarization, core-dominant radio morphology, and a broad continuum extending from the radio through the $`\gamma `$-rays. These properties are believed to be due to the fact that BL Lacs are low-luminosity radio galaxies (Fanaroff-Riley type I \[FR I\]; Fanaroff & Riley 1974) whose jets are aligned close to the observer’s line of sight (first proposed by Blandford & Rees 1978). At such small viewing angles, relativistic effects cause the jet’s luminosity to appear amplified, and therefore we refer to BL Lacs as “beamed” FR I radio galaxies.

The classification of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) as a BL Lac has been controversial ever since the first surveys which included a sizeable number of these objects, and has somewhat varied over time. Two of the early surveys to select a large number of BL Lacs were the 1 Jy in the radio (Stickel et al. 1991; Rector & Stocke 2001) and the EINSTEIN Medium Sensitivity Survey (EMSS) in the X-ray band (Stocke et al. 1991; Morris et al. 1991). The 1 Jy radio survey used two criteria to classify an object as a BL Lac: a flat radio spectrum ($`\alpha _\mathrm{r}0.5`$, where $`S_\nu \nu ^\alpha `$) and an optical spectrum with emission lines weaker than 5 Å rest-frame equivalent width. This latter criterion was chosen to separate BL Lacs from their more powerful siblings, the flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQ). Other BL Lac properties, such as strong polarization and rapid variability, were not regarded as necessary requirements. Nevertheless, optical polarization studies, available at the time, gave values above 3% for almost all objects (Kühr & Schmidt 1990), and their strong and irregular variability was quantified later by Heidt & Wagner (1996).

The EMSS X-ray survey, on the other hand, did not use any radio information to classify its objects (allowing for the existence of radio-quiet X-ray emitting BL Lacs, which could not be found), but introduced a limit on the Ca H&K break value as an additional criterion. The Ca H&K break, also referred to as “Ca II break” or “contrast”, is a stellar absorption feature typically found in the spectra of elliptical galaxies. Its value in non-active elliptical galaxies is on average $`50\%`$ (Dressler & Shectman 1987). Stocke et al. (1991) chose a limiting value of 25% for the EMSS BL Lacs in order to ensure the presence of a substantial non-thermal jet continuum in addition to the thermal spectrum of the host galaxy. As regards polarization (Stocke et al. 1991; see also Jannuzi et al. 1994) and variability (Heidt & Wagner 1998) data, EMSS BL Lacs were found to have somewhat lower values than the ones typical of 1 Jy BL Lacs. However, similarly to the 1 Jy survey, these two BL Lac properties were not used as part of the classification scheme.

The two defining criteria for a BL Lac used by the EMSS, a diluted Ca H&K break and no or very weak emission lines in the optical spectrum, were revised by Marchã et al. (1996). In order to additionally include in surveys radio sources with a strong host galaxy contribution which might hide weak BL Lacs, these authors proposed to expand the limit on the Ca H&K break up to a value of 40% and accordingly, due to a lower continuum in these objects, the allowed rest frame equivalent width of the strongest emission line up to a value of $``$50 Å. In fact, they suggested a triangular region in the contrast, equivalent width plane (see their Fig. 6) to be used to separate BL Lacs both from radio galaxies and quasars. BL Lacs selected according to these extended criteria were termed “BL Lac candidates”, in order to distinguish them from those fulfilling the classical criteria. Recent surveys, like RGB (Laurent-Muehleisen et al. 1998), DXRBS (Perlman et al. 1998; Landt et al. 2001), the Sedentary Survey (Giommi, Menna & Padovani 1999), and REX (Caccianiga et al. 1999, 2000), employ this revised version of the BL Lac classification.

In this paper, we investigate why BL Lacs have lower Ca H&K break values than low-power radio galaxies. In Section 2, we relate the Ca H&K break value to optical jet power. In Section 3, we expand our studies to the radio and X-ray band. In Section 4, we determine a possible relation between Ca H&K break value and viewing angle. An application of our studies to the two BL Lac subclasses, low- and high-energy peaked BL Lacs, is presented in Section 5. Finally, in Section 6, we discuss our results and present our conclusions. Throughout this paper, we assumed the following cosmological parameters, $`\mathrm{H}_0=50`$ km/s/Mpc and $`\mathrm{q}_0=0`$.

## 2 The Optical BL Lac Continuum

According to current unified schemes for radio-loud AGN, BL Lacs are beamed FR I radio galaxies. Therefore, in their optical spectra we see the amplified non-thermal emission from the jet in addition to thermal emission from the underlying host galaxy, normally a luminous elliptical (e.g., Wurtz, Stocke & Yee 1996). The non-thermal and thermal components have different shapes, and their relative strengths determine the observed BL Lac continuum. The jet component can be locally best described by a single power law of the form $`S_\nu \nu ^{\alpha _\nu }`$ (or equivalently $`S_\lambda \lambda ^{\alpha _\lambda }`$, where $`\alpha _\lambda =2\alpha _\nu `$). The spectrum of the host galaxy, on the other hand, has an approximate black body shape and contains absorption features typical of ellipticals.

For our studies we have simulated possible BL Lac continua. For this purpose, we assumed the jet overlaying the elliptical host galaxy to vary in intensity and optical spectral slope. We used values between 0.2 and 100 for the jet/galaxy ratio (defined at 5500 Å), and assumed for the optical spectral slope the three cases $`\alpha _\nu =0,1,2`$, following the results of Falomo, Scarpa & Bersanelli (1994), and included additionally the extreme case of $`\alpha _\nu =4`$.

Fig. 1 shows the resulting simulated BL Lac spectra representatively for a jet of optical spectral slope $`\alpha _\lambda =\alpha _\nu =1`$. As the jet steadily increases relative to the galaxy, two effects are visible. The shape of the BL Lac continuum resembles more and more a power-law spectrum and the galactic absorption features become weaker. One prominent absorption feature typically seen in the spectra of elliptical galaxies is the Ca H&K break located at $``$ 4000 Å rest frame wavelength. This feature, also referred to as “Ca II break” or “contrast”, is defined as $`C=(f_+f_{})/f_+`$, where $`f_{}`$ and $`f_+`$ are the fluxes in the rest frame wavelength regions $`37503950`$ Å and $`40504250`$ Å respectively. Its value in normal non-active elliptical galaxies is found to be on average $``$ 0.5 (Dressler & Shectman 1987). In BL Lacs, the value of the Ca H&K break is decreased by the non-thermal jet emission. We note that the Ca H&K break value is related to the discontinuity at 4000 Å \[D(4000); Bruzual 1983\] by $`C=11/D(4000)`$, and is measured in spectra plotted as $`f_\nu `$ versus $`\nu `$. However, if measured in spectra plotted as $`f_\lambda `$ versus $`\lambda `$, the relation $`C_\nu =0.14+0.86C_\lambda `$ can be used to convert one to the other.

In order to quantify how the amplified jet emission changes the Ca H&K break value, we measured this feature in each of our simulated spectra. In the case where the jet dominates the object’s spectrum, we set the Ca H&K break value equal to zero (its minimum possible value in our simulations). For every case of $`\alpha _\nu `$, we get that there is a significant ($`P>99.99\%`$) linear anti-correlation between the assumed jet/galaxy ratio and the Ca H&K break value (dotted lines in Fig. 2).

To assess how well this result is reproduced by observations we need information on Ca H&K break value and jet/galaxy ratios for a sizeable sample of BL Lacs. Observational jet/galaxy ratios were obtained from the imaging studies of Urry et al. (2000) which allow the separation of the core flux from that of the host galaxy. These authors used the HST Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC 2) to image in snapshot mode a sample of 132 BL Lacs from different radio and X-ray surveys. Most of their images were taken in the F702W filter (similar to Cousin R filter), but those already observed in F814W during an earlier HST cycle were reobserved in F606W (a filter similar to Johnson V). We derived jet/galaxy ratios at 5500 Å by converting $`R`$ magnitudes to $`V`$ magnitudes. We assumed $`VR=0.3`$ for the core component (Urry et al. 2000), while for the host galaxy magnitudes we used the redshift-dependent $`VR`$ values as tabulated by Urry et al. (2000; see their Table 2). Ca H&K break values for 48 of these sources were derived from the literature and also from our own measurements (see Sect. 3).

For these BL Lacs, we plot in Fig. 2 the jet/galaxy ratio vs. Ca H&K break value. An analysis using the ASURV package (Feigelson & Nelson 1985), that allows us to include upper limits, shows that these two quantities are significantly ($`P>99.99\%`$) anti-correlated, in agreement with our simulations. Furthermore, a partial correlation analysis shows that this correlation is not induced by a common redshift dependence. In Fig. 2 we plot the observed correlation between optical jet/galaxy ratio and Ca H&K break value (solid line) in addition to the correlations obtained from our simulations (dotted lines). A comparison between the two indicates that the scatter in the observed correlation ($`0.6`$) is likely induced by jets of different optical spectral slopes.

We have shown using both simulations and observational data that the Ca H&K break value in BL Lacs anti-correlates with optical jet/galaxy ratio. At this point the question arises if this correlation could possibly mask a correlation between jet emission and Ca H&K break value or between host galaxy emission and Ca H&K break value. Urry et al. (2000) find that the distribution of the absolute magnitudes of BL Lac host galaxies has a relatively small dispersion $`\mathrm{\Delta }M_R=0.6`$ mag. This result is based on detected host galaxies of a very large number of BL Lacs (72 sources) covering the redshift range $`0.024z0.7`$. The relatively small dispersion found by Urry et al. (2000) implies that the luminosity of BL Lac host galaxies can be regarded as roughly constant. Therefore, the observed increase in jet/galaxy ratio (with decreasing Ca H&K break) can be related directly to an increase in jet power. Indeed, for our sample of objects we find that, on one hand, the optical core luminosity (from Urry et al. 2000) is significantly ($`P>99.9\%`$) anti-correlated with the Ca H&K break value (see Fig. 3), and that, on the other hand, no significant ($`P=88\%`$) correlation is present between host galaxy luminosity and Ca H&K break value.

## 3 From a BL Lac to a Radio Galaxy

In the previous section, we have shown that the Ca H&K break value in BL Lacs is decreased due to an increase in optical jet power. Here we want to investigate this further by relating the Ca H&K break value also to the radio and X-ray properties of both BL Lacs and FR I radio galaxies.

We have then collected from the literature and from our own data information on the Ca H&K break value, ROSAT X-ray band ($`0.12.4`$ keV) flux, total radio flux at 1.4 (NVSS) and 5 GHz, and core radio flux. From these we have computed the luminosities, radio core dominance parameter and radio spectral index $`\alpha _\mathrm{r}`$ which are listed in Table 1 (see footnotes to Table 1 for details). We also give in Table 1 the references for the Ca H&K break value, and the radio core and X-ray fluxes. The radio core flux measurements are largely based on observations with the Very Large Array (VLA). The total radio flux at 5 GHz was obtained from the GB6 survey (Gregory et al. 1996), with the following exceptions: for the 1 and 2 Jy objects we used the values given in Stickel et al. (1994) and Wall & Peacock (1985), for the EMSS objects we used the measurements given in Stocke et al. (1991), for Slew objects not detected in the GB6 we used the values given in Perlman et al. (1996b), and for southern DXRBS sources we give the total radio flux at 5 GHz from the PMN survey (Griffith & Wright 1993).

The BL Lacs and FR I radio galaxies were selected from the following surveys: 1 Jy survey (Stickel, Meisenheimer & Kühr 1994), 2 Jy survey (Tadhunter et al. 1993), 200 mJy sample (Marchã et al. 1996), EMSS (Rector, Stocke & Perlman 1999, 2000), Slew survey (Perlman et al. 1996b), RGB (Laurent-Muehleisen et al. 1998), and DXRBS (Perlman et al. 1998; Landt et al. 2001). From these surveys we chose in fact all objects with a rest frame equivalent width of the strongest emission line $`<60`$ Å, an available Ca H&K break value, and both a radio core and X-ray flux measurement. We required available fluxes in both radio and X-ray band in order to avoid comparing two different sets of objects in the luminosity - Ca H&K break plane (see Sect. 3.1). However, while for a particular object it is always possible to obtain an upper limit on its ROSAT X-ray luminosity from the exposure maps of the RASS (Voges et al. 1999), this is not the case for its radio core luminosity and the object will not be included in our sample. The limit on the emission line strength is based on the results of Marchã et al. (1996, see their Fig. 6) and was chosen to exclude flat spectrum radio quasars. An exclusion of objects whose power is typical of FR II radio galaxies can be based on the value of the extended radio emission. Following the results of Owen & Ledlow (1994), we chose a value of $`L_{\mathrm{ext}}=10^{25.6}`$ W/Hz (transformed from 1400 MHz using a radio spectral index $`\alpha _\mathrm{r}=0.8`$) to separate the less luminous FR I radio galaxies from the more luminous FR II radio galaxies. These authors find that basically only FR II radio galaxies have an extended radio emission above this value. The extended radio power was computed as $`L_{\mathrm{ext}}=L_{\mathrm{tot}}L_{\mathrm{rc}}`$, where $`L_{\mathrm{tot}}`$ and $`L_{\mathrm{rc}}`$ are the object’s total and core radio powers at 5 GHz respectively. We note that we assume that our low-power radio galaxies are FR Is, although we do not have any information on their radio morphology. Bondi et al. (2001) have indeed shown that the nuclear properties of the weak-lined radio galaxies in the 200 mJy sample are consistent with those of FR Is, although their radio morphology might not be consistent in all cases with an FR I classification. Our sample comprises 83 objects. However, in Table 1 we additionally list 7 objects that meet the current classification criteria for a BL Lac but have extended radio powers typical of FR II radio galaxies. We will use these sources only for our comparison studies in Sect. 5.2.

We measured the Ca H&K break values for objects from the 1 Jy, 2 Jy, Slew survey, and DXRBS on the reduced and calibrated spectra. For sources from the 200 mJy sample, EMSS, and RGB, we used the Ca H&K break values listed in the literature. We note that we excluded from our study sources with errors on the Ca H&K break value $`>0.2`$. The error on the Ca H&K break listed in Table 1 represents the 1 $`\sigma `$ limit and was computed based on the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) blueward and redward of the feature. The error is on average 0.07 for the sources included in our study. No errors were available for sources from the 200 mJy sample and RGB. Nevertheless, the spectra of the RGB objects are quoted to have a SNR $`>30`$ (Laurent-Muehleisen et al. 1998) and therefore the error on the Ca H&K break value for these sources is expected to be small.

Our sample is highly heterogeneous, being a collection of surveys with different selection bands and flux limits. However, similarly to the studies of Padovani & Giommi (1996), this approach offers us the possibility to maximize the coverage of the parameter space and therefore to look for correlations in a way which would not be possible by considering individual samples separately. This approach is acceptable whenever the parameter values or correlations studied are not strongly influenced by the sample selection.

### 3.1 The radio core and X-ray luminosity

In the optical band, the spectrum of a BL Lac is made up of two components, a thermal (galaxy) and a non-thermal (jet) one. But this is not the case for the radio and X-ray bands, where we observe mainly the jet emission. (Though in the X-ray case extended emission from cluster- or group-scale gas can contribute to the observed luminosity.) Therefore, following our results from Section 2, we expect the radio core and X-ray luminosities to increase as the Ca H&K break decreases. Fig. 4 and 5 show that this is indeed the case. The Ca H&K break value is significantly anti-correlated with both the X-ray ($`P>99.9\%`$) and radio core luminosity ($`P>99.9\%`$). We used the ASURV analysis package (Feigelson & Nelson 1985) in the case of censored data. The correlations remain in both cases very strong ($`P>99.9\%`$) even if objects with Ca H&K break values $`C>0.4`$ are excluded, i.e., objects currently defined as radio galaxies. We also verified by means of a partial correlation analysis that all our significant luminosity - Ca H&K break correlations were not induced by a common redshift dependence. In the case of censored data we used the algorithms developed by Akritas & Siebert (1996). Note additionally that, since we made it a requirement for our sources to have information on both radio core and X-ray luminosity, Fig. 4 and 5 include the same objects (83 sources).

We find a similarly strong ($`P>99.9\%`$) correlation between Ca H&K break value and X-ray luminosity if we consider BL Lacs and radio galaxies from the DXRBS only (21 objects). Note that not all of these sources have a measured radio core luminosity. Additionally, Caccianiga et al. (1999) found a significant correlation between Ca H&K break value and X-ray luminosity for the BL Lacs and radio galaxies from the REX survey, once sources residing in clusters of galaxies were excluded. Since both the DXRBS and REX are homogeneuos flux-limited samples, these results suggest that the luminosity - Ca H&K break correlations present in our sample are unlikely to be caused by selection effects.

### 3.2 Intrinsic luminosity range vs. orientation effects

So far we have shown by using observations in the optical, radio and X-ray band that the decrease in Ca H&K break is due to an increase in the object’s jet power. In the following we want to investigate why BL Lac objects with a low Ca H&K break have more powerful jets than those with a higher Ca H&K break value. There are two possible explanations: 1. the spread in jet luminosities is intrinsic to the BL Lac class, and/or 2. the spread in jet luminosities (and Ca H&K break value) is induced by orientation effects.

Which of these two possibilities causes the Ca H&K break value to correlate with jet luminosity can be best determined by using information in the radio band. In this range, measurements on both core and extended jet luminosities are available. This is important, since the two powers are affected in a different way by orientation, but similarly if the jet luminosity range is intrinsic. Beaming, i.e., a change in viewing angle, is known to cause only an increase in core luminosity, but not to affect extended power, since the latter is believed to be radiated isotropically. A change in intrinsic luminosity, on the other hand, would be apparent as an increase in both core and extended radio power (e.g., Giovannini et al. 1988) with decreasing Ca H&K break value. For the objects in our sample, no significant ($`P46\%`$) correlation is present between Ca H&K break value and extended radio power $`L_{\mathrm{ext}}`$. We note that, though we have limited the extended radio powers of our objects to $`L_{\mathrm{ext}}<10^{25.6}`$ W/Hz, the distributions of both core and extended radio powers have similar dispersions $`\sigma =0.7`$ and 0.8 respectively. Therefore, a priori there is no reason why the Ca H&K break value should correlate with radio core but not with extended radio emission.

On the other hand, if the Ca H&K break value can indeed be related to the object’s viewing angle, it is expected to also correlate with the radio core dominance parameter, thought to be a good indicator of orientation. In Fig. 6 we plot for the objects in our sample the radio core dominance parameter at 5 GHz vs. the Ca H&K break value. The former is defined as $`R=L_{\mathrm{rc}}/L_{\mathrm{ext}}`$. A significant ($`P>99.9\%`$) linear anti-correlation, albeit with a large scatter, is present between the two quantities. The correlation remains very strong even if we eliminate objects with Ca H&K break values $`C>0.4`$.

Wolter et al. (2001) presented a plot similar to our Fig. 6 for BL Lacs and FR I radio galaxies from the REX survey. They obtained for their sample ($`40`$ objects) that Ca H&K break value and radio core dominance parameter (at 5 GHz) are only weakly anti-correlated. However, they noted that their radio galaxies were more core-dominated than classical FR Is. In fact, all their objects had radio core dominance parameters $`\mathrm{log}R0`$. If we include in our analysis only the core-dominated objects, we find that the correlation between Ca H&K break value and radio core dominance parameter also becomes insignificant ($`P=85\%`$).

Fig. 6 shows further that the transition between core- and lobe-dominated objects, i.e., between BL Lacs and FR I radio galaxies, seems to occur rather smoothly as the Ca H&K break value (and therefore the viewing angle) changes, and we find that in the range formerly defined as the BL Lac regime, i.e., $`0C0.25`$, only 11% of the objects are lobe-dominated ($`\mathrm{log}R<0`$), whereas this ratio increases in the Ca H&K break value ranges $`0.25<C0.4`$ and $`C>0.4`$ to 40% and 69% respectively. Therefore, the objects newly included by Marchã et al. (1996) with Ca H&K break values $`0.25<C0.4`$ seem to represent the long-sought population intermediate between the “classical” BL Lacs and the FR I radio galaxies.

Further support for the assumption that the range in Ca H&K break values represents a range in viewing angles can be found by using the results of Zirbel & Baum (1995) and Hardcastle & Worrall (1999). Zirbel & Baum (1995) obtained for a sample of 81 FR I radio galaxies a mean radio core luminosity of $`23.4\pm 1.0`$ W/Hz. This is consistent with the value of $`\mathrm{log}L_{\mathrm{rc}}=23.8\pm 0.3`$ W/Hz that the correlation in Fig. 5 gives for $`C=0.5`$, i.e., for the radio galaxies. Hardcastle & Worrall (1999) could detect in ROSAT pointed observations a core in the X-ray band for 15 of the FR I radio galaxies studied (see their Table 4). For these we obtain a mean ROSAT X-ray core luminosity $`\mathrm{log}L_\mathrm{x}=17.2\pm 0.9`$ W/Hz. This is in good agreement with the value of $`\mathrm{log}L_\mathrm{x}=17.6\pm 0.5`$ W/Hz that the correlation in Fig. 4 gives for $`C=0.5`$. Therefore, our luminosity - Ca H&K break correlations which we obtained including both BL Lacs and FR I radio galaxies seem to reproduce well the average radio and X-ray luminosities of (rather large samples of) FR I radio galaxies.

## 4 The relation between Ca H&K break value and viewing angle

### 4.1 Luminosity ratios and viewing angle

We now want to investigate how the Ca H&K break value might be used to constrain the viewing angle. We have then simulated for the radio and X-ray band the expected luminosity ratio between the BL Lac object and the parent radio galaxy as the viewing angle $`\varphi _{\mathrm{GAL}}`$ changes. We used the formula given in Capetti & Celotti (1999):

$`L_{\mathrm{BL}}/L_{\mathrm{GAL}}=[(1\beta \mathrm{cos}\varphi _{\mathrm{GAL}})/(1\beta \mathrm{cos}\varphi _{\mathrm{BL}})]^{(p+\alpha )}`$,

where $`\beta `$ is the bulk velocity in units of the speed of light, and $`\varphi `$ is the angle between the velocity vector and the line of sight. We chose the case of a continuous jet ($`p=2`$). For the simulations in the radio band we assumed a radio spectral index $`\alpha _\mathrm{r}=0.2`$, corresponding to the mean value for the objects in our sample, while for the X-ray band we chose $`\alpha _\mathrm{x}=1.4`$, following the results of Padovani & Giommi (1996). The simulations were performed assuming the three cases $`\varphi _{\mathrm{BL}}=0^{}`$, $`10^{}`$, and $`20^{}`$, and a changing $`\varphi _{\mathrm{GAL}}`$ up to a maximum value of $`90^{}`$. In our case, the quantity $`\varphi _{\mathrm{BL}}`$ is fixed and represents the angle below which the jet/galaxy ratio is so high that the Ca H&K break value is constant and equal to zero. Only $`\varphi _{\mathrm{GAL}}`$ is assumed to change as the Ca H&K break value increases. For each case of $`\varphi _{\mathrm{BL}}`$ we assumed jet Lorentz factors $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1/\sqrt{1\beta ^2}=2,3`$ and 4. Our results for the radio and X-ray band are shown in Fig. 7, representatively for the case of $`\varphi _{\mathrm{BL}}=10^{}`$ and Lorentz factor $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=3`$.

From the best fits in Fig. 4 and 5 we get a maximum ratio of $`\mathrm{log}L_{\mathrm{BL}}/L_{\mathrm{GAL}}=3.11\pm 0.30`$ and $`1.20\pm 0.20`$ for the X-ray and radio band respectively, where $`L_{\mathrm{BL}}`$ is the luminosity at the Ca H&K break value $`C=0`$ and $`L_{\mathrm{GAL}}`$ the luminosity at $`C=0.5`$. Our simulations show that in all three cases assumed for $`\varphi _{\mathrm{BL}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ it is possible to reproduce these two ratios within their $`2\sigma `$ errors simultaneously, i.e., with the same Lorentz factor and approximately with the same maximum viewing angle. Our results are listed in Table 2. The derived viewing angles represent the angles under which we expect to observe on average an FR I radio galaxy with a Ca H&K break value of $`C=0.5`$. These are not to be confused with maximum viewing angles for FR I radio galaxies, which can be larger, or with the critical viewing angle, i.e., the angle separating BL Lacs from FR I radio galaxies. From Table 2 we see that the case of a starting BL Lac viewing angle $`\varphi _{\mathrm{BL}}=20^{}`$ and a Lorentz factor $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=2`$ is unphysical, since it gives typical viewing angles for radio galaxies above $`90^{}`$. Higher Lorentz factors than the ones simulated here would result in smaller angles for the radio galaxies. Similarly for the case of $`p=3`$, describing a moving, isotropic source.

Our resulting viewing angles and Lorentz factors for FR I radio galaxies agree with values obtained using independent methods, validating our use of the Ca H&K break value as an orientation indicator. Giovannini et al. (2001) constrained the Lorentz factor for parsec-scale jets in both low- and high-power radio galaxies to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=310`$ based on the scatter of their correlation between core and total radio power. Urry & Padovani (1995) obtained from luminosity function studies of BL Lacs and FR I radio galaxies average Lorentz factors of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=37`$ and critical angles $`\varphi _\mathrm{c}=1230^{}`$. The latter transform to average viewing angles for the FR Is in the range $`5863^{}`$ if we use their equation (A12). Chiaberge et al. (2000) derived from the observed differences in core power between BL Lacs and FR Is with similar extended radio powers average Lorentz factors $`\mathrm{\Gamma }5`$, if maximum viewing angles $`\varphi =1/\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and $`60^{}`$ are assumed for BL Lacs and FR Is respectively. Verdoes Kleijn et al. (2002) used the correlation between radio core and H$`\alpha +`$\[NII\] core emission for their sample of FR I radio galaxies and constrained the average Lorentz factors to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }25`$, assuming viewing angles in the range $`\varphi =[30^{},90^{}]`$.

### 4.2 Ca H&K break value and viewing angle

We want now to investigate how the Ca H&K break value can be converted to viewing angle. For this purpose, we determine from the correlations in Fig. 4 and 5 for a range of Ca H&K break values the ratio $`L_{\mathrm{BL}}/L_\mathrm{C}`$ in the X-ray and radio band. We assume $`L_{\mathrm{BL}}`$ to be the luminosity at the Ca H&K break value $`C=0`$, and define $`L_\mathrm{C}`$ as the luminosity at $`C=0.1,0.2,0.3,0.4`$ and 0.5. We then convert the $`L_{\mathrm{BL}}/L_\mathrm{C}`$ ratios observed in the two bands to a viewing angle using our simulations exemplified in Fig. 7. Since each $`L_{\mathrm{BL}}/L_\mathrm{C}`$ ratio pair also corresponds to an individual Ca H&K break value, we obtain in this way a correlation between Ca H&K break and viewing angle. The linear fits to the data points are shown in Fig. 8 for a jet of Lorentz factor $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=2,3`$ and 4, and assuming for $`C=0`$ a starting viewing angle of $`\varphi _{\mathrm{BL}}=10^{}`$.

From Fig. 8, we see that by extending the “classical” Ca H&K break value of 0.25 to 0.4 as proposed by Marchã et al. (1996), BL Lac surveys include sources seen at larger viewing angles, and therefore less beamed. This is supported by the recent results of Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã (2000), who find that BL Lac objects with $`C>0.25`$, the so-called BL Lac candidates, are significantly less polarized at 8.4 GHz than BL Lacs with $`C<0.25`$.

## 5 Low- and high-energy peaked BL Lacs

The BL Lac class is currently divided into two subclasses: low- (LBL) and high-energy peaked BL Lacs (HBL), i.e., objects with a synchrotron emission peak located in the IR/optical and UV/soft X-ray band respectively. This division was introduced by Padovani & Giommi (1995) after it was first discovered that BL Lacs detected in radio (RBL) and X-ray surveys (XBL) had different radio-to-X-ray flux ratios, and that this was due to the fact that their spectral energy distributions (SED) had different shapes (Giommi, Ansari & Micol 1995).

As of today the question of how the two BL Lac subclasses are connected with each other regarding, e.g., their physical properties or evolutionary behaviour, is a matter of fervent debate. A finding that shaped strongly our perception of BL Lacs was made by Maraschi et al. (1986). These authors found that radio- and X-ray-selected blazars differed considerably in their radio luminosities, but had similar X-ray powers. Based on this, they concluded that the X-ray radiation was less beamed than the radio one, and that HBL being radio-weak were objects viewed at larger angles than LBL. However, Sambruna, Maraschi & Urry (1996) later showed that the typical SED of an XBL cannot be obtained from the SED of an RBL simply by changing the viewing angle alone.

If we divide the objects in our sample into LBL (defined by $`\mathrm{log}L_{\mathrm{rc}}/L_\mathrm{x}6`$ \[Padovani & Giommi 1996\]; 18 objects) and HBL (defined by $`\mathrm{log}L_{\mathrm{rc}}/L_\mathrm{x}<6`$; 65 objects), we find similarly to the entire sample that their X-ray and radio core luminosities are strongly anti-correlated with Ca H&K break value (Fig. 9 and 10 respectively). Note that we subdivided all the objects in our sample, i.e., independent of Ca H&K break value. We think that this approach is justified since we are using the radio core instead of the total radio power to define LBL and HBL. The significance level is $`P>99.9\%`$ for all four correlations. This finding allows us, on one hand, to derive typical viewing angles for LBL and HBL, and, on the other hand, to compare the luminosities of the two BL Lac subclasses at different orientations.

### 5.1 Viewing angles

We performed the simulations described in Sect. 4.1 individually for the two BL Lac subclasses.

The LBL and HBL in our sample have mean radio spectral indices $`\alpha _\mathrm{r}=0.1\pm 0.1`$ and $`0.3\pm 0.1`$ respectively, not significantly different ($`P=93.7\%`$) according to a Student’s t-test. Therefore, we assumed for the simulations in the radio band for both LBL and HBL a radio spectral index $`\alpha _\mathrm{r}=0.2`$. On the other hand, the X-ray spectral index is known to be different for the two types of BL Lacs. Therefore, we performed the simulations in the X-ray band independently for LBL and HBL and used, following the results of Padovani & Giommi (1996), $`\alpha _\mathrm{x}=1.1`$ and 1.5 respectively.

From the best fits in Fig. 9 and 10 we get for LBL a maximum ratio of $`\mathrm{log}L_{\mathrm{BL}}/L_{\mathrm{GAL}}=2.70\pm 0.81`$ and $`2.03\pm 0.48`$ for the X-ray and radio band respectively, where $`L_{\mathrm{BL}}`$ is the luminosity at the Ca H&K break value $`C=0`$ and $`L_{\mathrm{GAL}}`$ the luminosity at $`C=0.5`$. For HBL, we obtain from the best fits in Fig. 9 and 10 ratios $`\mathrm{log}L_{\mathrm{BL}}/L_{\mathrm{GAL}}=2.25\pm 0.26`$ and $`1.38\pm 0.22`$ for the X-ray and radio band respectively.

Our simulations show that in all cases assumed for $`\varphi _{\mathrm{BL}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ (see Sect. 4.1) it is possible to reproduce the ratios in the radio and X-ray band for both LBL (Fig. 11) and HBL (Fig. 12) simultaneously, i.e., with the same Lorentz factor and the same maximum viewing angle. The viewing angles that we obtain in this way are similar to the ones listed in Table 2. We note that in the case of LBL we get somewhat higher viewing angles than for HBL. However, this difference is not significant ($`P=77.0\%`$). A significantly larger range in viewing angles would imply that LBL were more beamed than HBL. This becomes clear if one recalls that in our simulations we assumed the same Lorentz factor for LBL and HBL. Alternatively, we could have fixed the range in viewing angles, which would have resulted in larger Lorentz factors for LBL.

### 5.2 Radio and X-ray luminosity differences

Our use of the Ca H&K break value allows us to evaluate and compare for the first time the radio and X-ray luminosities of LBL and HBL at different orientations. In Table 3 we list the X-ray and radio core powers resulting from the correlations in Fig. 9 and 10 for LBL and HBL at small ($`C=0`$) and large ($`C=0.5`$) Ca H&K break values and therefore viewing angles. From this we get that at large viewing angles LBL and HBL have similar radio core and X-ray powers, i.e., they reside in FR I radio galaxies with similar properties (radio core and X-ray luminosities), while at relatively small viewing angles the two BL Lac subclasses differ significantly in their luminosities. In this case we get that LBL are $`10`$ times more luminous in the radio and by a similar factor less luminous in the X-ray band than HBL. We stress that the objects used in this work form an heterogeneous sample of sources from different surveys with widely different flux limits. Therefore, although we believe that these luminosity differences are present, their precise values might depend on the selected objects. In the following we want to expand on the influence of selection effects on the luminosity differences between LBL and HBL.

For this purpose we have also included BL Lacs with extended radio powers more typical of FR II radio galaxies ($`L_{\mathrm{ext}}>10^{25.6}`$ W/Hz). Furthermore, we distinguished between the following three cases: 1. a comparison between HBL (65 objects) and LBL (18 objects), where both have extended radio emissions typical of FR I radio galaxies; 2. a comparison between HBL (65 objects) and LBL (25 objects), where the latter are selected independent of extended radio emission; 3. a comparison between HBL (65 objects) and LBL (7 objects), where the latter have extended radio emissions typical of FR II radio galaxies. The most important difference between these three cases is that we compare HBL and LBL that are first matched and then not matched in extended radio power, i.e., have a similar parent population.

For the three cases, we obtain the following results, illustrated in Table 4:

1. In the first case, where we compare LBL and HBL with similar extended radio powers, we get that they have similar mean radio core luminosities, while HBL have higher mean X-ray luminosities than LBL. In this case, we get that LBL have a significantly lower mean redshift than HBL.

2. In the second case, where we compare LBL and HBL with somewhat different extended radio powers, we get that LBL have higher mean radio core luminosities and lower mean X-ray luminosities than HBL. In this case, LBL and HBL have similar mean redshifts.

3. In the third case, where we compare LBL with high extended radio powers and HBL with low extended radio powers, we get that the two BL Lac subclasses have similar mean X-ray luminosities, while LBL have higher mean radio core luminosities than HBL. In this case, LBL have a significantly higher mean redshift than HBL.

These comparisons show that the resulting luminosity differences between LBL and HBL seem to depend strongly on the samples chosen. In particular, our three cases illustrate that, the more LBL and HBL differ in their extended radio powers, the less they differ in their X-ray powers. We note that these luminosity differences cannot be due only to a redshift effect. If that were the case, in fact, higher-redshift samples would be more luminous in all bands, contrary to what observed.

We can further illustrate these selection effects by using two different samples: the sample of Maraschi et al. (1986) that contains LBL and HBL with similar X-ray powers, and the complete sample of BL Lacs from the DXRBS which is radio-flux limited and therefore contains LBL and HBL with similar radio powers. Nearly half of the objects in the sample used by Maraschi et al. (1986) are strong-lined objects, i.e., radio quasars. Therefore, in order to compare their results with ours we selected from their sample only the BL Lac objects. Similarly to their results for radio- and X-ray-selected blazars, we get that their LBL (17 objects) and HBL (11 objects) have similar mean X-ray powers, but significantly different ($`P>99.9\%`$) mean (total) radio luminosities $`\mathrm{log}L_\mathrm{r}=26.61\pm 0.25`$ and $`24.56\pm 0.08`$ W/Hz respectively. The mean redshifts are $`z=0.35\pm 0.08`$ and $`0.12\pm 0.03`$ for LBL and HBL respectively, different at the 98.8% level. This result is similar to our case 3, indicating that these authors have compared radio-strong LBL with radio-weak HBL.

For the sample of DXRBS BL Lacs, we get that LBL (20 objects) and HBL (12 objects) have similar mean radio powers, but significantly different ($`P=98.7\%`$) mean X-ray powers $`\mathrm{log}L_\mathrm{x}=18.98\pm 0.23`$ and $`20.00\pm 0.32`$ W/Hz respectively. In this case LBL and HBL have similar mean redshifts. This result shows that our first case can be reproduced with a radio-flux limited sample.

Now the question arises: “Which is the best approach to clarify what are the intrinsic luminosity differences between LBL and HBL in a given band?”. We think that this can be answered in a physically meaningful way by comparing LBL and HBL with a similar parent population, i.e., with similar extended radio powers. Ideally, if information on the Ca H&K break value is available, one should also take into account orientation effects by separating sources according to viewing angle.

## 6 Discussion and Conclusions

We have suggested that the Ca H&K break value of BL Lacs and FR I radio galaxies is a direct indicator of viewing angle. We have based this on the strong anti-correlation between Ca H&K break value and optical, radio, X-ray jet luminosity, and radio core dominance parameter. We have excluded the possibility that the observed range in radio jet power is intrinsic and not due to orientation, since we could not find a similarly strong correlation between Ca H&K break value and extended radio emission for our sample of objects.

Stocke et al. (1991) introduced a limit of 25% on the allowed Ca H&K break value for BL Lacs, which was later expanded by Marchã et al. (1996) up to a value of 40%, in connection with the strength of observed emission lines. Our result implies that those BL Lacs with Ca H&K break values $`0.25C0.4`$, termed by Marchã et al. (1996) “BL Lac candidates”, represent in fact the long-sought population of objects with viewing angles intermediate between the “classical” BL Lacs and FR I radio galaxies.

Which limit on the Ca H&K break value should be chosen to separate BL Lacs from FR I radio galaxies? In general, BL Lacs are those objects viewed at angles smaller than a certain critical angle, which has been defined in the literature as the angle for which the radio core dominance parameter is equal to 1 (Urry & Padovani 1995). From the correlation between the radio core dominance parameter and Ca H&K break value illustrated in Fig. 6 we infer that a Ca H&K break value $`0.35`$ would then be appropriate to separate BL Lacs (core-dominated) from radio galaxies (lobe-dominated). We note that this value is very close to $`0.4`$, proposed by Marchã et al. (1996).

We have shown that the Ca H&K break value is a suitable indicator of orientation. So far, only one other such indicator was known: the radio core dominance parameter. However, the determination of this quantity usually requires dedicated radio observations, which are time consuming and not always available. Therefore, our result that we can constrain the viewing angle of a BL Lac or FR I radio galaxy from such a common astrophysical observation as its optical spectrum will be a considerable advantage in our studies of unified schemes.

We have shown for our full sample that radio and X-ray jets of BL Lacs and FR I radio galaxies have similar Lorentz factors and are viewed under similar angles, namely the radio and X-ray Doppler factors are the same (within the errors). This result becomes even more significant if we separate our sample into low- (LBL) and high-energy peaked BL Lacs (HBL).

We have also shown that LBL and HBL have jets with similar Lorentz factors, viewed under similar angles, i.e., their Doppler factors are similar. This result is in agreement with the “different peak energy” scenario (Padovani & Giommi 1995), which claims that the only difference between LBL and HBL is the frequency position of their synchrotron emission peak. However, we note that there is a hint in our data that LBL might be more beamed than HBL, i.e., they might have either larger Lorentz factors or span a larger range in viewing angles. But given that our sample is heterogeneous, this might be induced by selection effects.

Our finding that the Ca H&K break value is directly related to viewing angle has allowed us to compare for the first time the luminosities of the two types of BL Lacs at different orientations. We derive that FR I radio galaxies harbouring LBL and HBL have similar radio core and X-ray luminosities. At small viewing angles, LBL have radio cores $`10`$ times more powerful than HBL ones, while the opposite is true in the X-ray band. These two results combined appear to be at odds with our previous result that LBL and HBL have similar Doppler factors. We attribute this apparent contradiction to small number statistics. Note in fact that HBL-like and LBL-like FR Is also differ in their powers in the same sense as HBL and LBL but their differences are not significant due to the larger errors at $`C0.5`$.

We have also discussed the issue of selection effects on the study of luminosity differences between HBL and LBL, and have shown that the comparison to be meaningful has to be done for samples with similar parent populations, i.e., similar extended radio powers.

To summarize, we have reached the following conclusions:

1. The value of the Ca H&K break in BL Lacs and FR I radio galaxies decreases with increasing jet power.
2. The increase in jet power is caused by a change in viewing angle.
3. BL Lacs with Ca H&K break values $`0.25C0.4`$, termed by Marchã et al. (1996) “BL Lac candidates”, are the long-sought population with viewing angles intermediate between the “classical” BL Lacs and FR I radio galaxies.
4. BL Lacs and FR I radio galaxies have radio and X-ray jets with similar Lorentz factors ($`24`$), and viewed under similar angles, i.e., their jets have similar radio and X-ray Doppler factors.
5. The two types of BL Lacs, LBL and HBL, have jets with similar Lorentz factors, which are viewed under similar angles, i.e., they are affected by beaming in a similar way.
6. LBL and HBL reside in FR I radio galaxies with similar radio core and X-ray powers. However, at small viewing angles, LBL have radio cores $`10`$ times more powerful than HBL ones, while the opposite is true in the X-ray band.

In future work we plan to investigate the emission line properties of BL Lacs in order to understand in what way they are related to their more powerful siblings, the flat spectrum radio quasars. With this we hope to be able to give a more complete picture of what a BL Lac really is.

## Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Eric Perlman, Manfred Stickel, and Clive Tadhunter for providing several spectra in electronic format. H.L. acknowledges financial support from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) and the STScI DDRF grant D0001.82260.


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# Power spectrum of the cosmic infrared background at 60 and 100 𝜇m with IRAS

## 1 Introduction

The Cosmic Far-Infrared Background (CIB) was detected by Puget et al. (1996), exploiting COBE-FIRAS data, and has now been firmly established over a range of wavelengths (e.g. Dwek et al. (1998); Gispert et al. (2000); Hauser & Dwek (2001)). The intensity is quite high with respect to predictions based on evolutionary models of star formation in galaxy populations inferred from optical data. Source counts obtained with SCUBA at 850 $`\mu `$m and ISO at 170 and 15 $`\mu `$m have partly resolved the CIB and shown a strong cosmological evolution. In the future, far-IR and sub-millimeter telescopes from ground and space will perform deep surveys over small areas, aimed at resolving a substantial fraction of the CIB and to shed light on the number density, luminosity and spectral evolution of the infrared galaxy populations. However, investigation of the clustering of these populations requires surveys over much larger areas. One way to tackle the limitation on the number of detected galaxies per field is to search for CIB fluctuations. So far, CIB fluctuations has only been observed at 170 $`\mu `$m in the FIRBACK fields Lagache & Puget (2000) and at 90 and 170 $`\mu `$m in the Lockman hole Matsuhara et al. (2000) surveys. These detections were probably dominated by the Poissonian contribution. By analyzing larger FIRBACK fields, power spectra seem to reveal correlated fluctuations, well above the cirrus contribution Puget & Lagache (2002). These results are currently under further investigation. Above $`170\mu `$m, only SCUBA observations might currently be able to give information on the fluctuations. However, no significant CIB correlations have been detected in the SCUBA maps Peacock et al. (2000). The CIB anisotropies are mainly contributed by moderate to high redshift star-forming galaxies, whose clustering properties and evolutionary histories are currently unknown. Since the clustering strength depends on the bias at the relevant redshift, observing the CIB correlated fluctuations will provide valuable informations on bulge and elliptical formation, as well as potentially QSOs, thereby providing clues on the physical relations between dark matter and starburst galaxies.
In this paper we present the results of a power spectrum analysis of the IRAS 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m emission of 12 regions in the sky with very low interstellar emission. All these regions are characterized by an excess of power at high spatial frequencies with respect to the interstellar emission. We will show that this excess is not of instrumental origin and may be attributed to the CIB. The discovery of the CIB fluctuations at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m could give constraints on the number counts below the IRAS point source detection limit. However, instead of extrapolating the number counts at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m using the level of the fluctuations, which is of limited cosmological interest, we prefer to use the two detections in a more general framework of the modelisation of the IR galaxy evolution that combines all existing number counts, redshift distributions, and observations of the CIB and its fluctuations, in the whole IR and submm range Lagache et al. (2002).
The paper is organized as follow. After a presentation (§ 2) of the data used for this analysis we describe in § 3 the power spectrum at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m of the 12 fields selected. In § 4 we present the method used to separate the Galactic and extra-Galactic contributions to the power spectrum and we discuss our results in § 5.

## 2 Data - the ISSA maps

### 2.1 The IRAS Sky Survey Atlas

The IRAS mission was originally designed to measure point sources but it also provided spectacular images of the Galactic dust diffuse emission. These images, constituted of $`500\times 500`$ pixels with a pixel size of 1.5’ (i.e. the size of the field is $`12.5^{}\times 12.5^{}`$), are gathered in the IRAS Sky Survey Atlas (ISSA). Each ISSA map is the result of the combination of up to three individual maps (named for HCON Hours CONfirmation). The HCON images were constructed from different observations of the same region separated by several months. The angular resolution of the 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m band images are respectively $`1.5^{}\times 4.7^{}`$ and $`3.0^{}\times 5.0^{}`$. To study the power spectrum of the CIB emission at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m, we have worked on 12 ISSA maps with particularly low cirrus emission.

### 2.2 Calibration of the ISSA maps

Special care has been taken to have a consistent diffuse emission calibration through the Atlas. But, as the IRAS mission was designed to provide absolute photometry only for point sources, the ISSA images give only relative photometry and cannot be used to determine the absolute surface brightness for diffuse emission. Based on a comparison with the DIRBE data, it has been shown Wheelock et al. (1993); Schlegel et al. (1998) that, at large scale ($`>`$ a few degrees), the amplitude of the fluctuations are overestimated in the ISSA maps by a factor 1.15 at 60 $`\mu `$m and 1.39 at 100 $`\mu `$m. We have thus applied these factors to our maps prior to the analysis.

There is also an uncertainty on the zero level of the ISSA maps, for which the zodiacal emission has been subtracted Wheelock et al. (1993). This uncertainty is dominated at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m by an imperfect knowledge of the detector offsets and of the zodiacal emission. As we are looking at fluctuations of the signal, a global additive offset has no impact on the power spectrum. On the other hand, an imperfect zodiacal emission correction applied to the ISSA maps will have an impact on the large scale structure of the maps and then on the power spectrum (for low $`k`$ values). To restore appropriately the large scale structure of the selected fields we have compared each ISSA map with the DIRBE data (for which the zodiacal emission correction was better done). The ISSA maps, multiplied by the appropriate gain value (0.87 at 60 $`\mu `$m and 0.72 at 100 $`\mu `$m) were convolved by the DIRBE beam and then subtracted from the DIRBE data. This offset map is then added to the ISSA map. Note that we do not use the Schlegel et al. (1998) IRAS rescaled maps, constructed in a similar manner, for which it is impossible to recover the associated instrumental noise.

### 2.3 Fields with low cirrus emission

In this paper we present a power spectrum analysis of twelve high latitude fields. These fields were selected on the basis of their low cirrus emission (mean brightness $`1`$ MJy/sr at 100 $`\mu `$m) but also on their redundancy; we have selected only fields for which each sky position has been observed at least twice in order to be able to estimate the contribution of the noise to the power spectrum. The typical stripping of the ISSA maps is very efficiently removed from the signal power spectrum by the noise estimate procedure using the difference between observations of the different HCON as will be shown in § 3.3 and Fig. 2.
The 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m ISSA maps of the twelve selected fields, gain and offset corrected, are shown in Figs 6 to 7 and their central coordinates are gathered in Table 1. Five fields are located in the southern hemisphere, most of them in the neighborhood of the Marano field Marano et al. (1988), and seven are spread over the northern hemisphere (ISSA map number 376 contains the Lockman Hole).

## 3 Power spectrum of the 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m sky

### 3.1 Power spectrum computation

For a given image, the power spectrum $`P(k)`$ is the absolute value of the Fourier Transform (we use the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) function of IDL) of the image, averaged over constant values of $`k=\sqrt{k_x^2+k_y^2}`$. To make sure that map boundaries are not contaminating the computed power spectrum, we apodize the image with a cosine function before computing the Fourier Transform. This prevents the introduction of strong discontinuities when the image is periodized in the FFT algorithm (see Appendix A).

The power spectrum of the 100 $`\mu `$m ISSA map of one of our fields is shown in Fig. 1. Since the zodiacal emission has been subtracted in the ISSA maps, there are four main contributions to the power spectrum at these wavelengths: the cirrus emission, point sources, the CIB (resolved and unresolved) and the noise. Therefore, and if the noise and the signal are not correlated, the power spectrum $`P(k)`$ can be expressed in the following manner:

$$P(k)=\gamma (k)\left[P_{\mathrm{dust}}(k)+P_{\mathrm{source}}(k)+P_{\mathrm{cib}}(k)\right]+N(k)$$
(1)
where $`P_{\mathrm{dust}}(k)`$, $`P_{\mathrm{cib}}(k)`$, $`P_{\mathrm{source}}(k)`$ and $`N(k)`$ are respectively the power spectrum of the dust emission, of the CIB, of individually detected point sources and of the noise. The factor $`\gamma (k)`$ represents the instrumental function.

### 3.2 Noise power spectrum

One of the main limitation of the component separation to the power spectrum is the estimate of the noise contribution. For ISSA maps, this contribution can be estimated accurately as they are the combination of up to three HCON maps. Indeed the noise power spectrum of the HCON maps, and therefore of the ISSA map, can be estimated by subtracting two HCON maps of the same region. An example of the difference between two HCON maps for a typical low brightness ISSA map is shown in Fig. 1 (top-right). The characteristic stripping of the IRAS data is seen in this difference map. The distribution of difference values is symmetric (when there is no strong point sources) and well fitted by a sum of two Gaussian functions (see Fig. 1, bottom-right).

As the distribution of the difference values is the sum of two Gaussian functions with an equivalent width $`\sigma _{\mathrm{diff}}`$ and assuming that the noise in the IRAS survey is stationary to a good approximation (as tested below), we can conclude that the noise of an individual HCON can also be characterized by an equivalent width:

$$\sigma _{\mathrm{hcon}}=\frac{\sigma _{\mathrm{diff}}}{\sqrt{2}}.$$
(2)
Furthermore, the noise of the ISSA map, built from $`n`$ HCON maps, is also Gaussian distributed with a width of:

$$\sigma _{\mathrm{issa}}=\frac{\sigma _{\mathrm{hcon}}}{\sqrt{n}}.$$
(3)
Therefore, the noise level of the ISSA map is given by:

$$\sigma _{\mathrm{issa}}=\frac{\sigma _{\mathrm{diff}}}{\sqrt{n}\sqrt{2}}.$$
(4)
For the example given in Fig. 1, the noise level is $`\sigma _{issa}=0.048`$ MJy/sr.

In general three HCON maps were averaged but parts of them may be undefined. Therefore, for each ISSA map we looked at the three corresponding HCON maps and built a mask $`n(x,y)`$ that gives the number of defined values that were averaged at each positions. Then, the noise map of a given ISSA map is estimated by subtracting two HCON maps and divide the result by $`\sqrt{2}\sqrt{n(x,y)}`$.

The power spectra of the ISSA map and of its noise map are shown in Fig. 1(bottom-left). Both power spectra meet at small scales ($`k0.2`$ pixel-1) where the signal is noise dominated. The noise map is characterized by a $`k^{0.8}`$ power spectrum. We have investigated the variations of the statistical properties of the noise on ISSA maps where three complete HCONs exists. By looking at the three possible difference maps built from three HCONs, we found that the shape of the power spectrum of the noise is rather constant with time and that the absolute level of the noise varies by less than 15% from one HCON to the other. This is equally true at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m.

### 3.3 Point spread function

The multiplicative factor $`\gamma (k)`$ in Eq. 1 represents the effective instrumental filter function of the system (telescope, focal plane assembly, sky scanning and map making). For some ISSA maps the instrumental function can be estimated directly from the power spectrum of the map. This is the case for maps where the brightness fluctuations are dominated by the cirrus emission and where the power spectrum is simply:

$$P(k)=\gamma (k)\times P_{\mathrm{dust}}(k).$$
(5)
Following Gautier et al. (1992), the power spectrum of the cirrus dust emission follows a power law ($`P_{\mathrm{dust}}(k)=Ak^\beta `$). This behavior has been confirmed through a detailed study of Hi 21 cm emission by Miville-Deschênes et al. (2002). These studies show that although the power spectrum slope may vary from region to region by $``$20 $`\%`$ there is no systematic break at high spatial frequencies. On the basis of these studies, we thus conclude that the power law representation for the cirrus power spectrum does not introduce any systematic effect.

To estimate $`\gamma (k)`$ directly on the power spectrum of ISSA maps, we have selected 20 relatively bright regions (mean brightness greater than 8 MJy/sr) where the noise and CIB contributions are negligible. To make sure that the fluctuations are dominated by the cirrus emission, point sources were filtered out using a median filtering. An example of the power spectrum of such an ISSA map is shown in Fig. 2. We found that the effective IRAS instrumental filter function in Fourier space is well describe by a Gaussian function both at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m. To determine the width of the instrumental function, the power spectrum of the 20 fields were fitted by the following equation:

$$P(k)=\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{k^2}{2\sigma _k^2}\right)\times Ak^\beta $$
(6)
which represents the cirrus power law multiplied by the Gaussian instrumental function. We have found $`\sigma _k=0.073\pm 0.005`$ at 60 $`\mu `$m and $`\sigma _k=0.065\pm 0.005`$ at 100 $`\mu `$m. In the real space, this corresponds to a Gaussian instrumental function of $`\sigma =1.5\pm 0.1`$ arcmin at 60 $`\mu `$m and $`\sigma =1.7\pm 0.1`$ arcmin at 100 $`\mu `$m. 111 This is compatible with what we found by fitting a Gaussian function on point sources.

The cutoff seen in Fig. 2 at frequencies larger than 0.05 arcmin-1 is where the effect of the instrumental filter function is expected. When the power spectrum is divided by the Gaussian instrumental function (grey line) one sees that this modeling does not stand for scales smaller than 4.5 arcminutes ($`k>0.22`$ arcmin-1). This is due to the effective resolution of the IRAS data. The power spectrum has to be cut at the Nyquist frequency corresponding to the 1.5’ pixel ISSA map. However, the effective resolution of the IRAS data is about 3.8’ and 4.25’ respectively at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m. For that reason, all the power spectrum at frequency above 0.1 arcmin-1, which corresponds to the Nyquist frequency of the effective resolution, has to be taken with cautious.

## 4 Separation of the Galactic and extra-Galactic components

In Figs. 6 to 7 we present the power spectrum of the 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m ISSA maps of our twelve fields (black line). For all these fields, the power spectrum of the noise has been subtracted and the result has been divided by the PSF $`\gamma (k)`$. At large scale, all the power spectra follow a power law typical of cirrus emission Gautier et al. (1992). But at $`k0.01`$ arcmin-1 we notice a break in the spectra and an excess from the cirrus power law at small scales. This power excess is observed for all our fields, at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m.

### 4.1 Contribution of strong point sources

The power excess observed at small scales reveals the presence of a component with a flatter power spectrum, like what would be expected from noise or randomly distributed point sources. On the one hand, at this stage, a noise contribution is unlikely as it has been well estimated and removed accordingly. On the other hand, in fields with such low cirrus emission, several extra-galactic point sources were detected. In each of our fields, between 200 and 300 point sources are listed in the IRAS Point Source Catalog (PSC), the vast majority of them being extra-galactic objects. We remove the contribution of all point sources with flux greater than 1 Jy at 100 $`\mu `$m (and the same sources at 60 $`\mu `$m). The cut at 1 Jy is chosen such that the PSC above this limit will be nearly complete. This gives a well define separation between the sources contributing to the unresolved CIB and the resolved sources. This is necessary for any quantitative use of our results. We choose this cut in flux as low as possible to remove the contribution of the nearby and resolved galaxies that dominate the power spectrum at scales $`k>0.01`$ arcmin-1 (for those galaxies, the spatial distribution is indistinguishable from a Poissonian distribution). Moreover, according to recent simulations, the cut of 1 Jy at 100 $`\mu `$m almost corresponds to the flux where the non-euclidean part appears in the number counts. To remove the contribution of strong point sources ($`I_{100\mu m}1`$ Jy) to the power spectrum, they were filtered out from the ISSA map. For each ISSA map, we have extracted the point sources of the IRAS Point Source Catalog with a flux greater or equal to 1 Jy. Then we have applied a median filtering to the ISSA map to estimate the background level and, at each point source position,we have removed the points in a $`12\times 12`$ window that were more than 4 times the noise level ($`\sigma _{\mathrm{issa}}`$) above the background. Finally, the missing points were replaced by a bilinear interpolation.

The power spectrum of the filtered ISSA maps is the blue line in Figs 6 to 7. A power excess at small scales ($`k>0.02`$ arcmin-1) is still apparent on all power spectra, at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m. This excess is likely to be the signature of the unresolved cosmic far-infrared background. To characterize it, the contribution of the cirrus emission has to be removed.

### 4.2 Contribution of the cirrus emission

As we do not have any independent tracers of the cirrus emission at the IRAS scales for the whole fields, the only way to derive the cirrus contribution is to use the statistical properties of their spatial distribution. Following Gautier et al. (1992) and Miville-Deschênes et al. (2002) the power spectrum of interstellar dust emission is well describe by a power law. To remove this contribution to the power spectrum of the filtered ISSA maps, we have fitted a power law on the large scale part of the power spectrum of the filtered maps. The best compromise between the number of point on which to fit the power law and the contamination from the CIB was to fit on $`k<0.02`$ arcmin-1. The point corresponding to the largest scale was not used for the fitting as it suffers from a large statistical error. The result of the fitting, and its associated uncertainty, are shown for each ISSA map in Figs 6 to 7. The uncertainty on the slope reflects the dispersion of the points around the fit. The red line in these figures is the result of the subtraction of the cirrus power law from the power spectrum of the filtered map (blue line); it is the signature of the CIB.

### 4.3 Contribution of the cosmic far-infrared background

The average of the 12 CIB contributions is shown in Fig. 3 (black lines). The blue lines in this figure indicate the 1$`\sigma `$ uncertainty on the determination, including the PSF and the estimate of the cirrus contribution errors. The 1$`\sigma `$ uncertainty is very close to the rms variations of the 12 averaged values. The dispersion between the fields is thus dominated by the PSF and cirrus contribution errors, we do not see any significant variation from field to field. Moreover, it is important to note that the detected excess at small scales is uncorrelated with the cirrus emission (the excess disappears when the cirrus contribution increases). Therefore, our fields being spread over the sky, the excess at small scale is compatible with isotropic properties. This is an other argument in favor of an extra-galactic origin for the excess.
We can note on Fig. A.2-9 that the power spectrum of the resolved IRAS sources is varying by factor up to 10 from field to field. The CIB (resolved and unresolved) fluctuations are dominated by the brightest sources in ISSA maps. The number of such sources is quite small, leading to a high cosmic variance, and thus large variation from field to field. On the contrary, for the unresolved CIB fluctuations, as sources above 1 Jy (about 300 per field) are removed, the cosmic variance is lower than 6$`\%`$, which is negligible with respect to the 1$`\sigma `$ uncertainty.
The CIB is detected over one decade in scales, from 5 to 50 arcminutes. The power spectrum of the CIB at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m is compatible with a Poissonian distribution at spatial frequencies between 0.025 and 0.2 arcmin$`1`$. The fluctuation level is $`1.6\times 10^3`$ Jy2/sr and $`5.8\times 10^3`$ Jy2/sr at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m respectively.

## 5 Discussion

### 5.1 CIB fluctuations at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m

We have shown here that the power spectrum of high latitude fields at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m is characterized by a break at small scales (near 0.02 arcmin-1). As indicated by Gautier et al. (1992), the power spectrum of the dust emission is usually well described by a power law proportional to $`k^{3\pm 0.2}`$. A more detailed study of the statistical properties of the interstellar cirrus HI 21 cm emission has been carried out by Miville-Deschênes (1999). In this analysis it is shown that there are limited variations of the spectral index of the power law from field to field but, what is most important for the present work, the power spectrum of cirrus emission for scales smaller than $`12.5^{}`$ is always characterized by a single power law with no break. Therefore, it is unlikely that the power excess observed here at small scales is of interstellar origin.

We could also wonder if this break is of instrumental origin. It was shown by Wheelock et al. (1993) that the response of the IRAS detectors are affected by memory effects. This produces variations of the detector response as a function of scale. This effect is more important at small scales (under a few tens of arcminutes) but Wheelock et al. (1993) have shown that the amplitude of the fluctuations at these scales were underestimated. This effect will thus produce a drop of the power spectrum at small scale and cannot explain the power excess observed here.

On the other hand, instrumental noise could produce such an excess in the power spectrum. But, as the IRAS ISSA maps result from redundant individual observations, we were able to estimate the contribution of the noise to the power spectrum. We are aware that our estimate of the noise rely on the fact that the individual HCONs are independant. This is not perfectly true as, in the construction of the HCONs, an offset was added to each scan to minimize the difference between different observations of the same position. Therefore the noise level estimated by subtracting HCONs may be underestimated at the scale of a scan, which is a few degrees. But at this angular scale the signal is completely dominated by the cirrus emission, even in the low brightness regions selected for our analysis. At the scale of a few arcminutes where the CIB is detected, the noise contribution to the power spectrum has been removed accurately.

In fact it appears that most of the power excess can be attributed to the numerous extra-galactic point sources that are present in such a low cirrus emission field. When the strong ($`I_{100\mu m}>1`$ Jy) point sources are removed from the ISSA maps, we recover a power spectrum typical of cirrus emission at low spatial frequencies but with still a power excess at small scales (k$`>0.02`$ arcmin-1) that can be attributed to the unresolved cosmic infrared background. Moreover, the residue has homogeneous properties over the sky, consistent with CIB.

Knox et al. (2001) computed the expected power spectrum of the CIB at several frequencies ($`\nu `$ 1060 GHz), exploiting the far-IR volume emissivity derived from the count models of Guiderdoni et al. (1998) and assuming a bias $`b=3`$, constant with redshift. They concluded that the clustering-induced fluctuations can match those of the CMB at $`\mathrm{}`$300. They also predict a shape of the CIB power spectrum peaking around scales of 1-3 degrees. This broad maximum, if present, is at the limit of our frequency range where the noise is becoming large, making the detection of the clustering very difficult. The power spectra of the CIB at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m are compatible with a Poissonian distribution with levels $`1.6\times 10^3`$ Jy2/sr and $`5.8\times 10^3`$ Jy2/sr respectively.

### 5.2 CIB intensity and anisotropy amplitudes color ratio

The CIB rms fluctuations in the IRAS maps corresponding to the white noise power spectra are:

$$\sigma ^2=P_{\mathrm{cib}}(k)2\pi k𝑑kJy^2/sr^2$$
(7)
giving $`\sigma `$=0.048 MJy/sr and $`\sigma `$=0.09 MJy/sr at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m respectively. As shown by Gispert et al. (2000), the CIB at different wavelengths is dominated by sources at different redshifts, larger wavelengths being dominated by more distant sources. The same applies to the fluctuations: lower frequencies probe higher redshifts (e.g. Knox et al. (2001)) The fluctuations at 60 $`\mu `$m are dominated by nearby bright objects. When we remove these objects, the residual fluctuations are quite low. At 100 $`\mu `$m, the contribution of higher redshift objects is increasing, leading to higher level of residual fluctuations. Therefore, the ratio of the 60 to 100 $`\mu `$m fluctuation is qualitatively consistent with what is expected.

This is illustrated more quantitatively in Fig.4 on the panels showing the redshift distribution of sources contributing to the CIB intensity and the fluctuations Lagache et al. (2002). It is clear from these figures that the z-distribution of the fluctuations is bimodal, with one contribution at redshift lower than 0.25 and the other one centered at redshift around 1. For all sources the ratio of nearby to moderate-redshift source contribution to the fluctuations is equal to 3.8, 1.8 and 1.3 at 60, 100, 170 $`\mu `$m respectively, illustrating that fluctuations at larger wavelengths are dominated by more distant sources. When the brightest sources are removed the ratio of nearby to moderate-redshift contribution becomes equal to 1.7, 1 and 0.74 at 60, 100, 170 $`\mu `$m. In this case, at 100 $`\mu `$m the contribution to the fluctuations of nearby and moderate-redshift sources is the same, becoming lower at higher wavelength. At 60 $`\mu `$m, the fluctuations are still dominated by the nearby objects.

For the three wavelengths, the CIB is mainly due to sources at redshift around 1. A detailed analysis of the CIB fluctuations at 100 and 170 $`\mu `$m (which is beyond the scope of this paper) will give information on the distribution of sources at z$``$1 making the bulk of the CIB. This is particularly true at 170 $`\mu `$m where sources with flux lower than 4$`\sigma `$=135 mJy can be removed Dole et al. (2001), leading fluctuations highly dominated by the moderate-z sources.

We can compute the ratio of CIB fluctuations to intensity ($`R_\lambda =\frac{\sigma _\lambda }{I_\lambda }`$) at 100 $`\mu `$m and compare it with the previous determination at 170 $`\mu `$m. To compute R100 and R170, we use:

* a CIB intensity at 100 $`\mu `$m of 0.5 MJy/sr Renault et al. (2001), leading to R100 = 0.18
* a CIB intensity at 170 $`\mu `$m of 1 MJy/sr Lagache & Dole (2001). For the fluctuations, we assume that a cut of 1 Jy at 60 and 100 $`\mu `$m corresponds to the same cut at 170 $`\mu `$m. We obtain rms fluctuations of 0.12 MJy/sr (corresponding to $``$11000 Jy2/sr, Puget & Lagache (2002)). This gives R170 = 0.12

The ratio R is decreasing between 100 and 170 $`\mu `$m, as expected. At 60 $`\mu `$m, the minimal hypothesis is to consider that R60 is equal to R100=0.18 which gives an upper limit of 0.27 MJy/sr on the CIB intensity. An illustrative logarithmic extrapolation of R out to 60 $`\mu `$m gives R60=0.27 leading to an estimate of the CIB intensity at 60 $`\mu `$m of 0.18 MJy/sr, which is significantly smaller than the previous determination of Finkbeiner et al. (2000) of 0.56 MJy/sr.

### 5.3 Implication for the component separation

This work suggests that the high latitude IRAS maps, in the lowest cirrus regions, cannot be used as a tracer of the interstellar extinction structure as proposed by Schlegel et al. (1998). In fact it should be noted that it is only above an intensity of order of 10 MJy/sr at 100 $`\mu `$m that the CIB fluctuations are lower than the cirrus contribution at the smallest scales (k$``$0.2 arcmin-1).

Present and future CMB observations, above 100 GHz, with high sensitivity bolometers need to remove foreground contributions (cirrus and CIB fluctuations). The CIB spectrum being significantly “colder” than the cirrus spectrum ($`I_{\mathrm{cirrus}}100\mu m/I_{\mathrm{cirrus}}1mm`$ 30; $`I_{\mathrm{CIB}}100\mu m/I_{\mathrm{CIB}}1mm`$ 5), the relative contribution of the CIB will increase with wavelength. It is thus expected that at 1 mm the range in l space dominated by the CIB will be much more extended than sees at 100 $`\mu `$m. This question will be dealt in a forthcoming paper.

## Acknowledgements

The Fond FCAR du Québec provided funds to support this research project.

## Appendix A Power spectrum computation method

The power spectrum of an image $`f(x,y)`$ of Fourier Transform $`\stackrel{~}{f}(k_x,k_y)`$ is computed from the amplitude $`A(k_x,k_y)`$ defined as

$$A(k_x,k_y)=\stackrel{~}{f}(k_x,k_y)\stackrel{~}{f}^{}(k_x,k_y)=|\stackrel{~}{f}(k_x,k_y)|^2.$$
(8)
The power spectrum $`P(k)`$ is the average of $`A(k_x,k_y)`$ on annulus of constant $`k=\sqrt{k_x^2+k_y^2}`$. The amplitude image of a typical ISSA map is shown in Fig 5 (top-right). In this figure, the frequency $`k=0`$ is a the center of the amplitude image. The amplitude decreases with increasing value of $`k`$ but one also notices the presence of a cross that reveals an increase of the fluctuation level in the horizontal and vertical directions. This cross is caused by the Fast Fourier Transform algorithm that makes an “infinite pavement” with the image prior to compute the Fourier Transform. As the ISSA images are not periodic objects, this operation produces discontinuities where the left (top) meets the right (bottom) side of the image. These horizontal and vertical discontinuities are responsible for the cross seen in the amplitude image. The main problem with this cross is that it increases artificially the power when the average over $`k`$ is done. Furthermore, the power increase is not constant as a function of $`k`$ which modify the slope of the spectrum as well as the normalization.

The usual method to get rid of this effect is to apodize the image so that the left (top) and right (bottom) sides of the image have a similar flux level. Another method which do not modify the image but acts on the amplitude image itself is to compute $`P(k)`$ by taking the median value at constant $`k`$. For $``$85% of the ISSA maps we have inspected, these two methods give very similar results. But when the cross is very strong, the power at small scales is still overestimated by the “median” method. Furthermore, at small $`k`$ values, there are less points to average and a large fraction of them are affected by the cross effect; at these frequencies, the median value may not be significant. For all these reasons, we have adopted the “apodization” method.


text:
# Mounding Instability and Incoherernt Surface Kinetics

\[

## Abstract

Mounding instability in a conserved growth from vapor is analysed within the framework of adatom kinetics on the growing surface. The analysis shows that depending on the local structure on the surface, kinetics of adatoms may vary, leading to disjoint regions in the sense of a continuum description. This is manifested particularly under the conditions of instability. Mounds grow on these disjoint regions and their lateral growth is governed by the flux of adatoms hopping across the steps in the downward direction. Asymptotically $`\mathrm{ln}t`$ dependence is expected in 1+1- dimensions. Simulation results confirm the prediction. Growth in 2+1- dimensions is also discussed.

\]

Mounding instability was experimentally observed and proposed by Johnson et. al during growth of GaAs on (001) GaAs substrate.Initially, activation difference (Schwoebel - Ehrlich (SE) barrier ) between adatoms hopping on the plane and the one crossing the step edge was considered responsible . Later it was shown that edge diffusion can also lead to similar effect . One of the issues related to growth of mounds has been the temporal dependence of mound growth. Based on various forms of continuum equations the lateral growth is expected to have a time dependence $`t^s`$ where $`s`$ takes values from 0.0 to 1/4 . Similarly, the width of the interface is predicted to follow the power law $`t^\beta `$ with $`\beta `$ varying from 1/3 onwards . All these predictions are based on the assupmtion that the underlying conserved growth equation describing non equilibrium growth, is valid over the entire substrate. In the following we show that under the conditions of instability and low temperatures, this assumption fails. Consequently the growth of mounds is governed laterally by the adatom kinetics across the mound boundaries. We show this by developing growth equation over a stepped surface in 1+1 dimensions using kinetics of adatoms and steps. This helps establish the correspondence between kinetic processes and terms in the growth equation. We assume that only mechanism of relaxation is by diffusion of adatoms. This allows identification of process and corresponding term uniquely. These assumptions are expected to be valid at low temperature, where evaporation is negligible. Once the kinetic processes leading to various terms in growth equation are identified, presence or absence of such terms in various regions on the surface can be predicted. This allows us to classify different regions on the surface according to the growth equation followed there.

Consider growth on a one dimensional substrate. Fig.1 shows the stepped region under consideration. Growth proceeds through randomly falling adatoms on the surface that relax by diffusing on the stepped terraces. Adatoms with zero nearest neighbors (nn) are mobile while those with more than zero nn will have negligible mobility. Further, desorption and dissociation from the steps is also negligible at low temperature. Under the conserved growth conditions it is possible to write formally the growth equation in the form $`_th(𝐱,t)=𝐣(𝐱,t)+F`$, where, $`F`$ is incident flux, $`h(𝐱,t)`$ is height function and $`𝐣(𝐱,t)`$ is particle current. An uphill current on a tilted substrate indicates instability while downhill indicates stable Edward-Wilkinson (EW) type growth. Let $`l_d`$ be the average length travelled by an adatom before getting attached to another adatom or step. The density of steps can be expressed as $`\frac{|m|}{1+|m|}`$ . Let $`P_A`$ and $`P_B`$ be the relative probabilities for hopping across the sites A and B in Fig. 1. By considering current due to the downward hops and that due to the in-plane hops seperately, one can show that the resultant nonequilibrium current is given by

$$𝐣_s=\frac{\widehat{n}|m|F(P_BP_A)}{2(1+|m|)(l_d^1+|m|a^1)}$$
(1)
Where $`\widehat{n}`$ denotes +ve x direction. Presence of $`l_d^1`$ in the denominator accounts for the nucleation effect on larger terraces. In this expression, local terrace width is $`(l_d^1+a^1|m|)^1`$. However due to the relative velocity between two adjacent terraces, the local terrace width changes. The velocity difference will be proportional to the $`\frac{j(x,t)}{x}`$. Including this dynamical effect, the expression for the current becomes,

$`𝐣(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{n}|m|F(P_BP_A)}{2(1+|m|)(l_c^1+|m|a^1)}}`$ (3)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{n}F}{4}}_x\left({\displaystyle \frac{|m|}{(1+|m|)(l_c^1+|m|a^1)}}\right)^2`$
Next, we argue that every downward hop introduces height-height correlation, hence will give rise to all the stabilizing terms in a growth equation. Under the tilt independent current conditions, the lowest of such terms is $`K\frac{^3h}{x^3}`$. Thus the current on the stepped surface will be,

$`𝐣(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{n}|m|F(P_BP_A)}{2(1+|m|)(l_c^1+|m|a^1)}}`$ (5)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{n}|m|F}{4}}_x\left({\displaystyle \frac{|m|}{(1+|m|)(l_c^1+|m|a^1)}}\right)^2+\widehat{n}k{\displaystyle \frac{^3h}{x^3}}`$
For small slopes, above current generates growth equation in the moving frame with average growth rate,

$`{\displaystyle \frac{h(x,t)}{t}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{F(P_BP_A)l_d}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{^2h}{x^2}}`$ (7)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{Fl_d^2}{4}}{\displaystyle \frac{^2}{x^2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{h}{x}}\right)^2k{\displaystyle \frac{^4h}{x^4}}+\eta (x,t)`$
Where, $`\eta (x,t)`$ is the Gaussian noise in the deposition with the property, $`<\eta (x^{},t^{})\eta (x,t)>=\delta (x^{}x)\delta (t^{}t)`$. For $`P_A=P_B`$, current is tilt free, corresponding equation has the Lai- Das Sarma - Villain  form.

Now consider a top terrace. By definition, only tilt independent terms will contribute. Also since steps are absent the only term that contributes is, $`k\frac{^3h}{x^3}`$ due to the downward hops at the edges. For a base terrace, only in-plane hops are possible, hence none of the above terms contribute. This shows that these regions offer restricted kinetics, thereby changing the growth equation locally. If these regions are smaller than $`l_d`$, they will act only as the regions of discontinuity. Villain  encountered this difference in connection with simulations using Zeno equations. However so far it has been assumed that a given growth equation is valid over the complete substrate and such a distinction is irrelevent under coarsening. Based on above argument we propose that stepped, top and base terraces are distinct regions where different growth equation applies. Thus, in growth from vapor at low temperature, scalability breaks down. However, in simulations and experiments, kinetically rough surfaces are observed. This is possible provided steps develop in base and top regions at a rate comparable with the growth of correlation length defined by the equation over steps, shifting these regions. It may be noted that since downward hops allow addition of material to lower layers, average shifting of top or base region is possible only if downward hops are present. An infinite SE barrier leads to such an immobilization of top and bases. This is the limiting example displaying the effect of three independent regions on growth. If average shift of top or base regions lags behind the correlation growth, mounding instability appears. The lateral growth of the mounds being decided by the lateral shift of base regions. It has been established that stability of the growth can be quantified in terms of tilt dependent current $`j_t`$. For $`j_t>0`$ (uphill), unstable growth while for $`j_t<0`$, stable growth is obtained, where $`j_t`$ is measureable in a simulation by properly adjusting the boundary conditions. Thus, for uphill current, base or top regions lag behind the correlations while for downhill it shifts at least as fast as correlations.

Consider unstable growth in 1+1 dimensions. Fig.2 shows the well developed mounds. Note the deep ridges formed due to high step heights of the steps forming the ridges. The model used for this growth will be described later. It suffices to know that its a growth with finite diffusion of adatoms and finite SE barrier. We estimate the growth rate by appealing to the diffusional kinetics of atoms. The growth proceeds by expansion of a larger mound at the cost of smaller one. Thus the ridge proceeds in one direction. A smaller mound generally poses a smaller angle with respect to the substrate. Thus, relatively longer terraces are present on this mound. The diffusional addition to the ridges is mainly from these terraces, resulting in to the shift of ridge in the direction of smaller mound. Thus, we assume that adatoms are added from the smaller mound, diffusionally. The diffusional rate of displacement is $`dl=D_s^{1/2}t^{1/2}dt`$ on a plane surface in time $`dt`$. However, for a ridge to move laterally, it must be filled at least up to first step height. For sharp ridges as in Fig.2, the step height of ridge may be taken to be $`w`$, the rms height fluctuation (width). Hence, the displacement for a ridge will be $`dl_r=pD_s^{1/2}t^{1/2}aw^1`$. Where, $`p`$ is relative fraction of adatoms crossing the step edge and $`a`$ is lattice constant. For $`wt^{1/2}`$, the growth of mounds is proportional to $`lnt`$.

We verify the $`lnt`$ dependence for a 1+1 dimensional model that mimics the growth at low temperature. In this model, on a one dimensional substrate, adatoms are rained randomly. An atom with one or more nn is incorporated in the crystal. An adatom with zero nn is allowed to hop $`n`$ number of times at the most. If it acquires a nn, then no further hops are allowed. If number of hops are exhausted, it is incorporated at the final site after $`n`$ hops. A parameter $`p`$ is introduced, such that for $`p>0.5`$ hopping across a step in the downward direction is difficult. $`p=1`$ is the case of infinite SE barrier. We have measured $`<h_ih_j>`$ correlations for various values of $`p`$ and used the first zero crossing as the measure of the size of the mound. In Fig. 3, plot of mound size Vs. time on a semi log scale clearly shows that for $`p>0.5`$ i.e. for positive SE barrier, the mounds growth is $`lnt`$. Also shown is the case for $`p=0.5`$. We plot length corresponding to the first maximum in height-height correlations for this case. The curve on semi-log plot is exponential showing a power law dependence. Correlation length $`\xi t^{1/4}`$ in this case. In fact it can be shown  that corresponding equation describes Das Sarma - Tamborenea (DT) model to which the tilt independent growth equation reduces for large slopes. We find that for $`p<0.5`$, asymptotically, EW growth is recovered. Thus, the base and top regions move at least in phase with the $`\xi `$ to provide rough surface. In the present model dissociation from steps is not included so that the detailed balance is not followed. If this is included, and the current is still uphill then $`lnt`$ dependence continues for growth in 1+1- dimension.

Above arguments are true in any dimension. In 2+1- dimensions, mound formation is observed experimentally as well as in simulations. Various predictions are referred in the introduction above regarding the time evolution of the mounds. The $`lnt`$ dependence in 1+1- dimensions is the upper limit for lateral development of the mounds in 2+1- dimensions. This is so because, a given mound is surrounded by four or more mounds. Probability that such a mound happens to be the smallest amongst the surrounding ones including itself is very small. A given mound may be reduced in one direction, but it may increase in other direction owing to a smaller mound there. Thus, instead of consumption, shift of mounds is more likely on a two dimensional substrate. In order to find the time dependence of mound growth in 2+1- dimensions, we have used same model described above, except that the rules apply in two directions on a square lattice. In addition, we have included edge diffusion with no edge barriers. It is observed that edge diffusion suffices to induce uphill current so that even if the diffusion of single adatoms is unbiased, mound formation is observed. In the absence of edge diffusion but with unbiased single adatom diffusion, EW type growth is obtained. Noise reduction techniqueis employed with reduction factor of 5. The growth of mound size is monitored in the same way as for the 1+1- dimensions, using zero crossing for the correlations $`<h_ih_j>`$. Fig.4 shows the plot of mound size as a function of time on semi-log plot. Clearly, after an initial growth like $`lnt`$, the curve tends to saturation, confirming the slower growth rate. By varying parameter $`p`$, a condition close to tilt independent current is obtained. The growth in that case follows, $`t^{1/4}`$ power law. From the arguments leading to Eq.4 , in 2+1- dimensions, we find that asymmetric term will be ineffective if step edge tension is lower so that steps morphology is wavy or fingered. This is so because, the terrace size can be reduced by step movements in the orthogonal directions as well. Thus only $`^4h`$ term contributes, leading to $`\beta =1/4`$ and $`z=4`$ in 2+1- dimensions. Clearly, this observation suggests that in experimental growth, if SE barrier is very small(but nonzero), at low temperature growth rate of mounds can be $`t^{1/4}`$ in the transient region. If the edge tension is high so that steps are straight and less wavy, asymmetric term can contribute with $`\beta `$ and $`z`$, characteristics of a Lai- Das Sarma like equation in the transition region.

In conclusion, we have shown that growth from vapor on surface proceeds via in principle a heterogeneous dynamics. The stepped, base and top regions on the surface allow different growth dynamics. As a result the spatial scalability breaks down. The effect is distinctly observable for unstable growth leading to mound formation. The kinetics across the mounds suggest a $`lnt`$ dependence in 1+1- dimensions which is verifiable in a suitable model. A slower growth is predicted in 2+1- dimensions which is also observed in a model simulation.