text:
# System Parameters of DW Ursae Majoris1footnote 11footnote 1Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST), obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555, and with the Apache Point Observatory (APO) 3.5m telescope, which is owned and operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC).

## 1 Introduction

Nova-likes (NLs) are a subgroup of cataclysmic variables (CVs) in which a late-type main sequence secondary loses mass onto a white dwarf (WD) primary via Roche lobe overflow. If the WD does not have a strong magnetic field, the transferred matter forms an accretion disk with a bright spot where the stream of matter hits the disk. Unlike the more commonly known dwarf nova type CVs, NLs do not undergo quasi-periodic outbursts. They are instead characterized by a high, steady accretion rate which prohibits the disk instability mechanism responsible for the dwarf nova outbursts. However, some NLs with periods between 3-4 hrs also exhibit low states during which mass transfer from the secondary and/or accretion onto the WD decreases or shuts off completely. The reason for the low states is uncertain; one possibility is that they are related to magnetic activity of the secondary star (see Hessman, G$`\ddot{\mathrm{a}}`$nsicke & Mattei 2000). Supporting this theory is the fact that the orbital period of these systems is very close to the upper edge of the CV period gap between 2-3 hrs. The absence of CVs in this region of the orbital period distribution, is believed to occur as a consequence of a change in the internal structure of the secondary. More specifically, it is thought that at $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}3`$ hrs, the secondary becomes fully convective and magnetic braking ceases to be the main mechanism by which angular momentum is removed from the system. As a result, the secondary loses contact with its Roche lobe and mass transfer ceases. Gravitational radiation takes over as the dominant, but less efficient, angular momentum loss mechanism. At $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}2`$ hrs the orbit has shrunk enough for the secondary to re-establishes contact, and mass transfer resumes. For a thorough review of CVs refer to Warner (1995).

The subject of our paper, DW Ursae Majoris, is an eclipsing CV with a period of $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}=`$ 3.28 hrs and belongs to a subclass of NLs called SW Sextantis stars (Thorstensen et al. 1991). SW Sex systems are grouped together because they exhibit several unusual properties: (a) they are often eclipsing systems with orbital periods of 3-4 hrs; (b) their continuum eclipses are more V-shaped (as opposed to U-shaped) than those of other NLs; (c) their optical emission lines are single-peaked, instead of double-peaked (as expected for high-inclination, disk-formed lines); (d) their Balmer and HeI lines remain largely unobscured during primary eclipse, but display absorption events at the opposite orbital phase; (e) the radial velocity curves derived from their optical emission lines lag substantially behind the phase one expects from the WD on the basis of eclipses. Several models have been put forward to account for the SW Sex stars, and although each is capable of explaining a subset of the SW Sex behavior, none has so far been able to explain all the features listed above (e.g. Knigge et al. 2000 and references therein).

One reason for our poor understanding of the SW Sex phenomenon is the scarcity of reliable system parameters for members of this class. This scarcity is a direct consequence of the defining SW Sex characteristics. More specifically, radial velocity studies of SW Sex stars are of limited value, given the ubiquitous and significant phase lags seen in the radial velocity curves of these systems. Eclipse studies have been similarly unsuccessful, since WD contact points are not evident in the V-shaped eclipse light curves of SW Sex stars (perhaps because the disks are self-occulting; Knigge et al. 2000). Also, the high accretion rates exhibited by these systems during normal states cause the late-type main sequence secondary to be invisible against the glare of the WD and/or accretion disk.

The goal of this paper is to improve on this situation by deriving a set of reliable system parameters for DW UMa. This is possible because a recent Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observation of the system found DW UMa in a deep low state, during which the WD dominated the ultraviolet ($`UV`$) light. This is the second, in a series of papers, describing these observations. The first, Knigge et al. (2000), dealt with the low-state $`UV`$ spectrum. Here we analyze the time-resolved behavior around the eclipse and discuss $`I`$\- and $`K`$-band photometry obtained during the same low state. The remainder of this article is organized as follows: In section 2, we describe the HST and ground-based observations and their reduction. Next, in section 3, we discuss our determination of the contact phases describing the eclipse of the WD by the secondary. In section 4, we use the contact phases an other information to determine the parameters of the binary system and its constituents. Then, in section 5, we calculate estimates for the distance to DW UMa and for the spectral type of the donor star in two different ways: using our $`I`$\- and $`K`$-band photometry and re-fitting the Knigge et al.’s (2000) WD model atmosphere to the low-state $`UV`$ spectrum of DW UMa. Finally, in section 6, we discuss our results and compare the system parameters we have derived to those previously reported for DW UMa.

## 2 Observations

The observations of DW UMa with the HST Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), took place on 1999 January 25 UT and covered just over two complete cycles of DW UMa’s 3.28 hrs orbital period. DW UMa is in HST’s continuous viewing zone (CVZ), so we were able to observe the system almost continuously, with only 3 short ($`6`$ minutes) interruptions between the four separate $`UV`$ exposures. The instrumental set-up consisted of the $`52\mathrm{}\times 0.2\mathrm{}`$ slit, the FUV-MAMA detectors, and the G140L grating. This combination provides a wavelength coverage of $`11501720`$ Å at a resolution of $`1`$ Å (FWHM). TIME-TAG mode was used throughout, so that individual photon arrival times were recorded at a sampling rate of 125 $`\mu `$s.

Near-simultaneous optical photometry obtained from the MDM Observatory on Kitt Peak, Arizona, puts DW UMa at $`V17.6`$ around the time of the HST observations. This indicates that the system was in a deep low state at this time ($`V14.5`$ in the high state). Given that the accretion rate must be severely reduced during a low state, the hot WD primary may be expected to dominate the $`UV`$ light in this state. Indeed, Knigge et al. (2000) have already used the same data set to show that the low-state, out-of-eclipse $`UV`$ spectrum of DW UMa is consistent with that of a hot WD. Our $`UV`$ eclipse observations therefore provide us with an unusual opportunity to determine the WD contact phases (and therefore system parameters) of this eclipsing SW Sex star.

For the purpose of the eclipse analysis, we constructed light curves directly from the four TIMETAG files. These files contain a list of the arrival times and detector positions of all recorded photon events, and are therefore ideally suited for short-timescale variability studies. Since we wanted to exclude geocoronal and other strong lines from our light curves, we first determined an approximate linear dispersion relation to relate pixel numbers in the dispersion direction with physical wavelengths. Light curves were then constructed at 1-s time resolution based on all counts recorded in three continuum windows in the dispersion direction, viz. 1340 – 1380 Å, 1410 – 1520 Å and 1570 – 1720 Å , and in a 0.36 arcseconds window in the spatial direction. Since we are only interested in determining contact phases, the zero-level of the light curves is irrelevant. We therefore did not carry out any background subtraction on our light curves. The background is, in any case, expected to be negligible: our continuum regions are well separated from geocoronal lines, and dark current contributes only about 7 c/s across the entire FUV-MAMA detector, and therefore less than 0.1 c/s in the small region used for extracting the count rate.

Figure 1 shows the resulting $`UV`$ light curve of DW UMa. Several points should be noted: (i) the count rate at mid-eclipse phases is close to zero, confirming that there is no significant background contribution in our light curves; (ii) there are sharp features in each of the eclipses (especially eclipse 3), which are likely due to ingress and egress of the WD; (iii) the light curves exhibit substantial short-timescale, stochastic variability.

In addition to the HST observations, we have obtained some (near-)infrared $`I`$\- and $`K`$-band photometry of DW UMa. The $`I`$-band observations were taken using the MDM 1.3 m telescope on 1999 February 8 and 9 UT, roughly two weeks after the $`UV`$ HST observations. The infrared $`K`$-band data were obtained on 1999 March 28 UT using the Apache Point Observatory (APO) 3.5 m telescope and the GRIMII detector. Near-simultaneous $`B`$-band photometry (also obtained using MDM) showed that DW UMa was still in its low state during all of these observing runs ($`B>17`$). All of the $`I`$\- and $`K`$-band observations were timed to coincide with eclipses of the system. The mid-eclipse magnitudes of DW UMa in these filters were found to be $`I_{\mathrm{kc}}=`$ 18.71 $`\pm `$ 0.14 (on the Kron-Cousins system) and $`K_{\mathrm{ukirt}}=`$ 16.43 $`\pm `$ 0.14 (on the UKIRT system). These values will be used in Section 5 to estimate the spectral type of the donor star and to constrain the distance towards the system via Bailey’s (1981) method.

In order to convert the HJD times to orbital phases, we used the ephemeris

$$T_{\mathrm{mid}\mathrm{eclipse}}=2446229.00696(3)+0.136606499(3)E,$$
(1)
where the numbers in parentheses designate the errors on the last digits. This is an updated version (Smith, Dhillon & Marsh 2002) of the ephemeris presented by Dhillon, Jones & Marsh (1994). In practice, we still found an O-C shift of approximately +0.0062 (73 s) with this new ephemeris. This is consistent with that found by Smith et al. (2002) from a high state of DW UMa observed at a similar epoch to ours. Note that our O-C shift, which has been removed in all of the phase-folded light curves shown below, could include a contribution of a few seconds from the uncertainty in the STIS absolute timing (see Long 2000).

## 3 Method of Measuring the eclipse timings

The phase intervals inside which the WD disappears (ingress) and reappears (egress) from behind the occulting secondary are defined as $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi _{\mathrm{wi}}=\varphi _{\mathrm{w2}}\varphi _{\mathrm{w1}}`$ for ingress, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi _{\mathrm{we}}=\varphi _{\mathrm{w4}}\varphi _{\mathrm{w3}}`$ for egress, where $`\varphi _{\mathrm{w1}}`$, $`\varphi _{\mathrm{w2}}`$, $`\varphi _{\mathrm{w3}}`$ and $`\varphi _{\mathrm{w4}}`$ are the WD contact phases (c.f. Figure 2). The half-flux phases within each of these intervals, $`\varphi _{\mathrm{wi}}`$ and $`\varphi _{\mathrm{we}}`$ respectively, are the phases at which half of the light from the compact object is eclipsed. The full-width at half out-of-eclipse intensity is then defined as $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi =\varphi _{\mathrm{we}}\varphi _{\mathrm{wi}}`$, or, in units of time, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{t}=P_{\mathrm{orb}}\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$.

The WD contact phases were measured using the method described by Wood, Irwin & Pringle (1985). Figure 3 illustrates this procedure carried out on eclipse 3. The light curve is smoothed with a median filter of width 11 s. The amount of filtering chosen is a compromise between the desire to reduce the noise (Poisson plus intrinsic variability) and the need to retain the most rapid changes in the eclipse. The smoothed light curve is differentiated numerically to enhance regions of sharp brightness variations. The derivative light curve is then smoothed by applying a mean filter of width equal to the expected value for the times of ingress and egress of the WD (43 s). The largest negative and positive peaks after application of the mean filter indicate the location of the mid-points of ingress and egress respectively. The width at half-peak intensity of these features gives a rough estimate of their duration. A spline function is fitted to the derivative omitting those points inside the estimated ingress and egress intervals. This last step is carried out to account for the contribution (if any) of the extended and slowly varying eclipse of the disk. The fitted function is then subtracted from the derivative, and the result is smoothed with a median filter of width equal to the median filter used in the first part of the reduction. The contact phases are located by identifying the points where the resultant derivative departs from zero.

The main difficulty in identifying the WD contact phases is the presence of stochastic variability on timescales that are only slightly longer than the duration of WD ingress/egress. Figures 1 and 2 show that this type of variability severely limits our ability to determine WD contact phases for eclipses 1 and 2, in particular. We therefore did not use these two eclipses for measuring the contact points, but only to provide qualitative checks on the contact phases determined from eclipse 3. Figure 2 confirms that the contact phases derived from eclipse 3 are indeed consistent with eclipses 1 and 2. The final value for the duration of the ingress/egress of the WD is $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi _{\mathrm{wd}}=(\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi _{\mathrm{wi}}+\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi _{\mathrm{we}})/2`$. In units of time, this is $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{wd}}=P_{\mathrm{orb}}\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi _{\mathrm{wd}}`$. Our final estimates of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{t}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{t}_{\mathrm{wd}}`$ are listed in the first section of Table 1.

## 4 Binary parameters

The mass ratio, $`q=M_2/M_1`$ ($`M_1`$ and $`M_2`$ are the masses of the WD and secondary, respectively), and inclination, $`i`$, of the system can be constrained by considering the eclipse of a point source by a Roche-lobe-filling secondary. More specifically, the observed eclipse duration ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$) defines a unique relation between $`q`$ and $`i`$. We calculated this relation by using a method similar to Chanan, Middleditch & Nelson (1976). Following their Figure 1, we define a spherical coordinate system centered on the WD, in which the direction vector ($`\theta `$,$`\varphi `$) = (90,0) points towards the centre of the secondary. The main idea is to consider the intersection of the secondary’s Roche lobe and the plane $`\varphi =\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi /2`$. This reduces the problem to finding the minimum value of $`\theta `$ along the curve defined by this intersection. For each $`q`$, this minimum value is then just the inclination $`i`$ that produces an eclipse of width $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$. The method requires the critical value of the Roche potential. This is calculated by using the fact that the net effective force vanishes at the inner Lagrangian point; $`\psi /r=0`$ at $`L_1`$, where $`\psi `$ is the effective potential. The $`q`$ vs $`i`$ relation for our measured $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi `$ is shown in Figure 4.

The mean duration of the ingress and egress features of the eclipse ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi _{\mathrm{wd}}`$), together with the calculated numerical relation $`i=f(q,\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi )`$, can be used to constrain the remaining binary parameters. In practice, we use the full Roche lobe geometry of the secondary to obtain the radius of the spherical compact primary. For each (i, q) pair, our algorithm computes the radius of the WD scaled to the binary separation, $`R_1/a`$, that successfully reproduces the observed value for $`\mathrm{\Delta }\varphi _{\mathrm{wd}}`$. The WD is assumed to be fully visible; this is appropriate here, since there is no evidence for an optically thick disk in the low state.

Kepler’s third law, which defines the binary separation, $`a`$,

$$a=\left(\frac{G}{4\pi ^2}\right)^{1/3}M_1^{1/3}\left(1+q\right)^{1/3}P_{\mathrm{orb}}^{2/3},$$
(2)
is then combined with a theoretical WD mass-radius relation to yield a definite WD mass, $`M_1`$, for each $`q`$. The inset in Figure 5 shows the resulting constraints on the component masses for a wide range of mass ratios.

Finally, we use Eggleton’s (1983) approximation

$$\frac{R_2}{a}=\frac{0.49q^{2/3}}{0.6q^{2/3}+\mathrm{ln}\left(1+q^{1/3}\right)}.$$
(3)
to estimate the volume-averaged radius of the secondary, $`R_2`$.

The theoretical WD mass-radius relation that we use was taken from Panei, Althaus & Benvenuto (2000) and describes hot ($`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=50,000`$ K) CO-core WDs with a relatively massive, non-degenerate hydrogen envelope ($`M_{\mathrm{env}}/M_1=10^5`$). The effective temperature adopted here is close to the value (46,000 K) inferred by Knigge et al. (2000) from a WD model atmosphere fit. For reference, the spectrum analyzed by Knigge et al. (2000) was constructed from the time interval between eclipses 2 and 3, when the count rate was high and relatively stable. We used a slightly higher temperature here, because our analysis indicates a higher surface gravity ($`\mathrm{log}g`$). More specifically, preliminary parameters inferred with a $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=46,000`$ K mass-radius relation yielded WD parameters corresponding to $`\mathrm{log}g8`$. As discusses in more detail in Section 5, we then refit the low-state UV spectrum with this new gravity estimate and obtained a new temperature estimate of $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=50,000`$ K. We note that the systematic errors associated with the presence or absence of a hydrogen envelope and with errors in temperature up to at least 10,000 K are smaller than the random errors resulting from observational uncertainties. Hence, the iteration process does not change the parameter values substantially, but merely improves their internal consistency.

At this stage, we can already place useful constraints on most of the system parameters, which are listed in the second section of Table 1. These constraints are only based on the eclipse geometry and the theoretical WD mass-radius relationship and are therefore particularly robust. If the mass ratio is made to satisfy $`q<1.5`$ (see Figure 5), as required for stable mass-transfer from any main-sequence secondary (Politano 1996; de Kool 1992), the constraints are tightened, as shown in the third section of Table 1.

If we are willing to assume that the secondary star is “typical” for a CV with DW UMa’s orbital period, we can tighten our constraints even further by using Smith & Dhillon’s (1998) mass-period relationship for CV secondaries. The resulting estimate for the mass of DW UMa’s secondary is $`M_2/M_{}=0.3\pm 0.1`$, where the error is based on the rms scatter quoted by Smith & Dhillon (1998) for this relationship. The effect of this $`M_2`$ constraint on $`M_1`$ is shown in Figure 5. The corresponding estimates for all system parameters are listed in the fourth section of Table 1.

## 5 Spectral Type and Distance

Distances for CVs can be estimated via Bailey’s (1981) method. This is based on the fact that the $`K`$-band surface brightness, $`S_\mathrm{K}`$, is only a weak function of spectral type among isolated, late-type, main-sequence stars. The definition of $`S_\mathrm{K}`$ is

$$S_\mathrm{K}=K+55\mathrm{log}d+5\mathrm{log}R_2$$
(4)
where $`K`$ is the star’s $`K`$-band magnitude, $`R_2`$ is its radius (in solar units) and $`d`$ is its distance (in parsecs). The most recent calibration of $`S_\mathrm{K}`$ against $`(VK)`$ color for late-type stars is due to Beuermann (2000)

$$S_\mathrm{K}=2.98+0.264(VK_{\mathrm{cit}}).$$
(5)
In this equation, V is the usual Johnson waveband, and $`K`$ is on the CIT system. Our own $`K`$-band observations are on the UKIRT system, but according to Leggett (1992), $`K_{\mathrm{cit}}=K_{\mathrm{ukirt}}`$. By combining Equations 4 and 5, the distance towards a CV can be determined.

In the case of DW UMa, we have an estimate of the mid-eclipse $`K`$-band magnitude obtained during a low-state, i.e., at a time when any WD and disk contribution should be relatively small. This estimate – $`K_{\mathrm{ukirt}}=16.43\pm 0.14`$ (Section 2) – should therefore be quite close to the true $`K`$-band magnitude of the secondary.

In order to determine, $`S_\mathrm{K}`$, one needs the $`(VK)`$ color of the secondary. In practice, this is difficult to obtain in most CVs, including DW UMa, because the $`V`$-band is usually dominated by the WD and/or the accretion disk of the system, and hence the $`(VK)`$ color must be estimated from its (known/assumed) spectral type. In our case, although we do not have a $`V`$ magnitude for the secondary, we do have an estimate – $`I_{\mathrm{kc}}=18.71\pm 0.14`$ – of the mid-eclipse $`I`$-band magnitude in the low state. We can therefore use the observed $`(IK)`$ color to estimate the spectral type of the secondary and use this to predict its $`(VK)`$ color.

More specifically, we use the spectral-type vs color calibration presented by Bessell (1991). This calibration uses optical colors (BVRI) on the Kron-Cousins system, but infrared colors (JHKL) on Bessell & Brett’s (1988) homogenized system. We therefore used the transformations provided by Bessell & Brett (1988) to transform our $`K_{\mathrm{ukirt}}=K_{\mathrm{cit}}`$ to $`K_{\mathrm{BB}}`$ (on the Bessell & Brett system), although the resulting correction turned out to be insignificant (+0.02). Armed with the $`(I_{\mathrm{kc}}K_{\mathrm{BB}})`$ color of the secondary (Table 2), we then interpolated on Table 2 of Bessell (1991) to estimate the spectral type of the secondary in DW UMa, $`M3.5\pm 1.0`$ (to the nearest half-subtype). This may be compared with the spectral type of $`M4.2\pm 0.8`$ predicted by Smith & Dhillon’s (1998) orbital period-spectral type relation for CV secondaries (the error here corresponds to the rms scatter of the data about their relation). For this spectral type, Bessell (1991) predicts $`(VK)=5.0\pm 0.7`$, which in turn gives $`S_\mathrm{K}=4.3\pm 0.2`$. Here, we have dropped the subscript on $`K`$, since the differences between the various systems are insignificant compared to the uncertainty on the color.

Having determined both $`K`$ and $`S_\mathrm{K}`$, we can now estimate the distance to DW UMa. We use the secondary’s radius derived from the Smith & Dhillon (1998) mass-period relation for CV secondaries and Eggleton’s (1983) approximation for the radius, $`R_2/R_{}=0.34\pm 0.04`$ (Section 4). Solving Equation 4 for $`d`$ finally yields an estimate $`d=930\pm 160`$ pc (Table 2).

By comparison, Knigge et al. (2000) estimated $`d=830\pm 150`$ pc from the normalization of their fit to the low state $`UV`$ spectrum and the radius of the WD inferred from their $`\mathrm{log}g`$. This agrees very well with our own estimate, but this is partly fortuitous since their fit yielded $`\mathrm{log}g=7.60`$, whereas our new parameters suggest $`\mathrm{log}g8`$. We have therefore refit the low state $`UV`$ spectrum with surface gravity fixed at $`\mathrm{log}g=8`$. Visually, this new fit is almost indistinguishable from the fit shown in Knigge et al. (2000), with a reduced Chi-squared of $`\chi _\nu ^2=1.55`$ (up from $`\chi _\nu ^2=1.50`$). The parameters describing this new fit are listed in Table 3. Combining this with our new estimate of $`R_1/R_{}=0.012\pm 0.001`$, we obtain a new value for the distance of $`d=590\pm 100`$ pc. If we adopt this distance estimate and assume that the mid-eclipse $`K`$-band flux is entirely due to the secondary, we can also obtain a new estimate for the spectral type of the donor star. With $`d=590\pm 100`$ pc, $`K_{\mathrm{ukirt}}=K_{\mathrm{cit}}=16.43\pm 0.14`$ and $`R_2/R_{}=0.34\pm 0.04`$, Equations 4 and 5 predict $`(VK)=8.5\pm 1.9`$. For this color, Bessell (1991) predicts $`SpT_2=M7\pm 2.0`$ (to the nearest half-subtype). If not all of the $`K`$-band light is due to the secondary, the spectral type must be even later.

Our two sets of distance and spectral type estimates are only marginally consistent with each other. We therefore briefly consider potential sources of systematic errors in both of the methods we used to obtain them. Most distance estimates based on Bailey’s method are, strictly speaking, lower limits, since the observed $`K`$-band magnitude may contain residual disk and/or WD contributions (Hoard et al. 2002). In our case, the situation is less clear. This is because our value for $`d`$ depends on our spectral type estimate, which in turn is based on the observed $`(IK)`$ color. But contamination by sources other than the secondary will affect the measured $`I`$\- and $`K`$-band magnitudes differently. Indeed, any reasonable contaminating spectrum will be bluer than that of the secondary, in which case the I-band would be more contaminated than the K-band. If so, then our measured $`(IK)`$ color would be too blue, our spectral type too early and our predicted $`(VK)`$ color also too blue. Thus this effect may cause the distance to be over-estimated. It is not clear if our estimate for $`d`$ is affected by these biases, and, if so, which of them dominates.

By contrast, the key assumption in the WD fit is that the observed spectrum is due entirely to a fully visible WD. We first consider the possibility that the observed spectrum actually includes a contribution from another source. If the spectrum of this source is redder than that of the WD, then the true WD spectrum must be (a) bluer and (b) fainter than the observed spectrum. Effect (a) would tend to make our distance estimate too low, because a hotter WD is intrinsically brighter and, for given radius and observed flux, must therefore be further away. Effect (b) would also lead us to underestimate the distance, since the latter scales with observed flux as $`F_{\mathrm{obs}}^{1/2}`$. Similarly, if the contaminating spectrum is bluer than the WD spectrum (which seems unlikely), then effect (a) above is reversed and would compete with effect (b). Finally, if a significant portion of the WD is obscured, the observed spectrum arises from a projected area that is smaller than $`\pi R_1^2`$. For a given observed flux (and hence a fixed fit normalization $`N=4\pi R_1^2/d^2`$), this would imply that our distance estimate is too large.

In principle, we consider the distance estimate based on the WD model fit more direct, and therefore more reliable, than the estimate derived from Bailey’s method. However, the spectral type of the secondary we infer from the former estimate seems suspiciously too late by comparison to other CVs with similar orbital periods (Beuermann et al. 1998). On balance, we therefore expect that the true distance and spectral type will turn out to lie between the values suggested by the two methods.

## 6 Discussion & Conclusions

SW Sex stars display a range of peculiarities that do not seem to fit the standard steady accretion disk model for NLs. There is currently no single agreed-upon explanation for the SW Sex phenomenon. Indeed, no real consensus has been reached about whether SW Sex stars deserve a NL-sub-class label in the first place. Rather, the SW Sex syndrome is so widespread (also seen in X-ray binaries; Hynes et al. 2001) that we must consider the possibility that some important element is missing in our standard picture of the accretion flows. Whatever the nature of the SW Sex stars, they may play an important role in CV evolution: with very few exceptions (e.g., BT Mon with $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}=8`$ hrs; Smith, Dhillon & Marsh 1998), SW Sex stars have orbital periods falling in the 3 – 4 hrs range, just above the period gap.

Reliable system parameters are desperately needed in order to understand the origin of the SW Sex phenomenon. Unfortunately, the very characteristics that distinguish SW Sex stars from other NLs have also prevented us from accurately determining their physical and geometrical parameters. In particular, the phase-shifted radial velocity curves seen in these systems make it very difficult to accurately determine the $`K`$-velocities of the component stars (from which other system parameters could then follow). In addition, the high accretion rates exhibited by the SW Sex stars hamper the detection of the individual components of the system since the accretion disk dominates the emission and may even be self-occulting (Knigge et al. 2000). These latter effects are greatly reduced during the sporadic low states displayed by at least some of the SW Sex stars.

In the case of DW UMa, radial velocity studies have been carried out based on both high-state (Shafter, Hessman & Zhang 1988) and low-state (Dhillon at al. 1994; also see Rutten & Dhillon 1994) observations. However, as emphasized by both sets of authors, neither study has provided reliable results. In the former study, significant ($`55^{}75^{}`$) phase lags were seen in all the radial velocity curves from which $`K_1`$ was estimated; in the latter study, the radial velocity curve was based on emission lines that clearly arise on the irradiated front face of the secondary (Rutten & Dhillon 1994), and may therefore provide only a lower limit for $`K_2`$.

Our HST low state $`UV`$ observations of DW UMa have provided a rare opportunity to accurately determine the system parameters of an SW Sex star from the eclipses of its WD. This has been possible because the accretion disk contribution is dramatically reduced, revealing the sharp ingress and egress features that mark the WD eclipse. Therefore, we have been able to avoid many of the difficulties associated with radial velocity studies. However, potential sources of systematic errors remain and include (1) our assumption that the WD is entirely unobscured, (2) the application of the mass-period relation for CV secondaries, and (3) the application of the theoretical mass-radius relation for isolated WDs.

As it turns out, the system parameters listed in Table 1 agree reasonably well with the constraints inferred by Shafter et al. (1988) and Dhillon et al. (1994) from radial velocity analyses. However, as argued above, we consider our new estimates to be considerably more reliable, particularly the ones labelled “fundamental” in Table 1. Our estimate of the WD mass ($`M_1/M_{}0.77`$) is considerably higher than that obtained by Knigge et al. (2000) from their model atmosphere fit to the low state HST $`UV`$ spectrum ($`M_1/M_{}0.5`$). Their estimate was based on the surface gravity inferred from the spectral fit and essentially the same mass-radius relation used here but for a WD with $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}=46,000`$ K (Panei et al. 2000). Given the systematic uncertainties inherent in spectroscopic $`\mathrm{log}g`$ estimates, we consider our new set of constraints on the WD parameters more reliable.

Both of our distance estimates, $`d=930\pm 160`$ pc (from Bailey’s method) and $`d=590\pm 100`$ pc (from the WD model fit), indicate that DW UMa is quite far away. For comparison, Marsh & Dhillon (1997) estimated $`d\stackrel{>}{}850`$ \[$`450`$\] pc if the secondary is an $`M4`$ $`[M5]`$ star, based on the absence of clear secondary signatures in their low-state $`I`$-band spectroscopy. We note, however, that even though our estimate of $`I18.7`$ for the secondary star is fainter than the (out-of-eclipse) $`I`$-band magnitude they actually observed ($`I18`$), it is brighter than the limit of $`I>19.5`$ ($`<25\%`$) they suggest for the secondary’s contribution to their spectrum. If the mid-eclipse $`I`$-band flux in our date is due to the secondary, the latter should have contributed roughly half of the $`I`$-band flux in their spectrum.

We conclude this paper by reiterating the need for accurate system parameters for the SW Sex stars. Given that most SW Sex stars are high-inclination systems, it is natural to try and exploit this in the way we have done here. However, eclipse analyses based on WD ingress and egress features are usually impossible, since the light from these systems is usually dominated by their (possibly self-occulting) accretion disks. In the case of DW UMa, we have succeeded only because the system was caught in a deep low state. This raises the obvious question whether other SW Sex systems may also exhibit such low states. This would obviously be interesting for its own sake, but would also open a new avenue of attack for determining their system parameters.

A partial answer to this question is already available: of the 14 objects listed as SW Sex stars in the Göttingen Online CV Catalog<sup>5</sup><sup>5</sup>5http://www.cvcat.org, 5 (including DW UMa) are already classified as VY Scl stars (i.e., nova-like variables that exhibit occasional low states). We therefore advocate a long-term photometric monitoring program of SW Sex stars. This would tell us whether all SW Sex stars are also VY Scl stars and permit us to exploit the low states when they occur.

We are grateful to Leandro Althaus for providing his WD mass-radius relations in electronic form. Support for this work was provided by NASA through grant GO-7362 from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. R.I. Hynes acknowledges support from grant F/00-180/A from the Leverhulme Trust. We would like to thank T. R. Marsh for providing a code for the full Roche lobe geometry analysis. We also wish to thank the referee, J.Thorstensen, for his insightful comments and suggestions.


format: text

text:
# A 20 Thousand Solar Mass Black Hole in the Stellar Cluster G11footnote 11footnote 1Based on observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.

## 1 Introduction

The questions of how the nuclei of galaxies form and why they contain massive black holes (BHs) remain unsolved. However, the recent discovery of a tight correlation between central black hole (BH) mass and bulge velocity dispersion (hereafter the $`M_{}\sigma `$ relation; Gebhardt et al. 2000b; Ferrarese & Merritt 2000) does shed some light on the evolutionary history of massive BHs and their host galaxies. Many theories (e.g., Silk & Rees 1998; Haehnelt & Kauffmann 2000; Ostriker 2000; Adams, Graff, & Richstone 2001) predict such a correlation, and the exact details (i.e., slope and normalization) can discriminate among the various models. Presently, however, the data are inadequate to do this. One difficulty is that the galaxies studied so far have limited coverage in parameter space. There are not enough observations at the low-dispersion end, and yet this region provides the tightest constraints on determining both the slope and offset. The main reason for this lack of low-dispersion systems is that there are few that the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) can reasonably observe.

Due to their high central densities and proximity, globular clusters provide an alternative to studying galaxies to explore the low mass end. Furthermore, there is evidence that at least some globular clusters may be nuclei of accreted galaxies (Freeman 1993, Ferguson et al. 2002), and thus may contain central black holes if all galaxies contain them (Magorrian et al. 1998). The clusters G1 (Mayall II) in M31 and M15 are excellent objects for these studies. They both have high central densities and short central relaxation times ($`10^7`$ years for M15 and $`10^8`$ for G1). Gebhardt et al. (2000c), van der Marel et al. (2002) and Gerssen et al. (2002) present results for M15 showing that it likely contains a central BH of a few thousand solar masses. If large (nonstellar) BHs exist in these stellar clusters, which have low escape velocities and apparently lack dark halos, they will pose a severe challenge to nearly every theory for the formation of massive BHs.

The cluster G1 lies 40 kpc from the nucleus of M31, projected approximately on its major axis. It is the most luminous stellar cluster in the Local Group and has a higher central surface brightness than any Galactic globular cluster. Djorgovski et al. (1997) report a velocity dispersion of 25 km s-1 from ground-based spectroscopy, and Meylan et al. (2001) derive a total mass of $`(717)\times 10^6M_{}`$, with the uncertainty due to their lacking a velocity dispersion profile. To place G1 among Galactic globular clusters, we note that the compilation of Trager, Djorgovski, & King (1995) gives no cluster with central surface brightness $`<14.5`$ $`V`$ mag arcsec-2, fully one magnitude fainter than G1 (Rich et al. 1996). NGC 5139 ($`\omega `$ Cen) is about as massive and luminous as G1, but its central surface brightness is 16.8 $`\mathrm{mag}\mathrm{arcsec}^2`$. The highest measured velocity dispersion for any Galactic globular cluster is 18 km s-1, for NGC 6441 and NGC 6388 (Pryor & Meylan 1993). It is interesting to note that both G1 (Meylan et al. 2001; Ferguson et al. 2002) and $`\omega `$ Cen (Freeman 1993) are possibly nuclei of accreted galaxies.

The high luminosity and remarkable central surface brightness of G1 led us to propose to obtain STIS spectroscopy of its nucleus (GO-9099; PI: Rich). This Letter reports the discovery of a $`2.0\times 10^4M_{}`$ BH in G1. Analysis of central population gradients and detailed ground-based spectra will be reported in a future paper (Rich et al. 2003).

## 2 Data

### 2.1 STIS Observations

We observed G1 using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) with the G750M grating and the 0.1″$`\times `$52″ slit on 2001 November 1 UT. The position angle of the slit was 95°; since the major axis of the cluster is at 120° (Meylan et al. 2001), the slit ran along an angle 25° up from the major axis. The spectra cover 8276–8843 Å with 0.554 Å (19 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$) per pixel and a resolution of FWHM = 1.06 Å or 37 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. The total integration time was 7.06 hr, divided into 20 exposures over two visits. We dithered along the slit to aid in the removal of cosmic rays and hot pixels. The dithering ranged between $`\pm `$1″, with non-integer steps. These large dithers allow us to make a hot pixel map directly from the data; this step is important because the hot pixels change during every orbit, and, to ensure the best quality map, it is ideal to use a hot-pixel map made from the data. The procedure for making this map involves iterations whereby we make an initial two-dimensional galaxy image that we subtract from the individual images, which then are used to make a new hot-pixel map. Five iterations are adequate to produce an accurate map. Pinkney et al. (2002) describe this procedure in more detail.

We use contemporaneous flat images taken during each orbit to correct for the pixel-to-pixel gain variation and fringing at these red wavelengths. The flat images are stable over many months and provide flat-field correction to better than a percent.

### 2.2 Kinematics

We are able to obtain kinematics out to $`\pm `$1$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$1. The modeling described below utilizes the velocity profile directly. However, for comparison with other work, Figure 1 plots the first two moments of a Gauss-Hermite polynomial expansion. The estimate of the velocity profiles relies on a non-parametric penalized maximum-likelihood technique, which is described in Gebhardt etal (2000a) and Pinkney et al. (2002). For the modeling, we use a symmetrized version of the kinematics (solid lines in Fig. 1), which increases the signal-to-noise for the estimate of the velocity profile. Sampling noise in the dispersion estimate—which can hamper measurements in Galactic clusters (Dubath et al. 1997)—is not significant for G1. The central STIS pixel (0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$05$`\times `$0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$1) contains about $`10^4M_{}`$ in stars projected into it, or 3000 $`L_{}`$. If only giant stars contributed light, which provides the extreme situation, the central pixel would contain 30–100 stars, which is adequate to overcome sampling noise.

### 2.3 Photometry

We use the images as described in Rich et al. (1996). The surface brightness profile at large radii ($`r>`$0$`\stackrel{}{\mathrm{.}}`$3) is well measured using either the data from Rich et al. or Meylan et al. (2001). However, in the central regions of G1, many of the exposure where saturated, and we have to rely on the shorter exposures from Rich et al. (1996). These exposures consist of two 40 s exposures in both the F555W and F814W filter. In both of these, the center is well below the saturation limit. Unfortunately, these images where not dithered and so we cannot reconstruct higher spatially sampled data directly. We do not use deconvolved images for this analysis. Deconvolution techniques accurately recover the intrinsic surface brightness profile (Lauer et al. 1998), but the lumpiness of the G1 image, due to bright giant stars, may add significant noise to the deconvolution. Such artifacts can be understood using simulations, but for this initial analysis we rely on the observed images only using the profile from Meylan et al. Since the deconvolution will tend to make the observed profile steeper, models using a deconvolved profile will likely not change the best-fit BH mass but will make the uncertainties smaller. Thus, we conservatively use the observed profile.

We deproject the surface brightness profile to obtain the luminosity density using a direct inversion of the Abel integral (Gebhardt et al. 1996). We assume a minor-to-major axis ratio of 0.75 that is constant as a function of radius. This spheroidal distribution adequately represents the configuration of G1 as measured by Meylan et al. (2001). Changes in the assumed flattening have little effect on the results below.

## 3 Models

The models are similar to those presented in Gebhardt et al. (2002). They are axisymmetric, orbit-based models and so do not rely on a specified form for the distribution function. Thus, for an axisymmetric system, these models provide the most general solution. The models require an input potential, in which we run a set of stellar orbits covering the available phase space. We find a non-negative set of orbital weights that best matches both the photometry and kinematics to provide an overall $`\chi ^2`$ fit. We vary the central black hole mass and re-fit.

The orbit-based models store the kinematic and photometric results in both spatial and velocity bins. For G1, we use 12 radial, 4 angular, and 13 velocity bins. The data consist of the seven different STIS positions along a position angle 25° up from the major axis and one ground-based observation centered on the cluster. The point-spread function for both HST and ground-based observations are included directly into the models. The program matches the luminosity density everywhere throughout the cluster to better than 0.5%. The quality of the fit is determined from the match to the velocity profiles. The data points consist of $`7\times 13`$ STIS velocity bins plus the one ground-based dispersion, making 92 total points. However, many of these points are correlated since the smoothing used for the velocity profile extraction tends to correlate adjacent bins. The reduction in the number of independent parameters is hard to estimate but is generally around a factor of 2–4 (Gebhardt et al. 2002).

Figure 2 plots a two-dimensional map of the different models and the corresponding contours for $`\chi ^2`$. The smallest value of $`\chi ^2`$ is 17; given the 92 parameters, the reduction of the independent parameters is about a factor of 5, higher than typical, which we attribute to the small radial extent of the data. The two independent parameters in the models are the BH mass and the stellar mass-to-light ratio ($`M/L`$). The best-fit BH mass is $`2.0(+1.4,0.8)\times 10^4M_{}`$ with $`M/L_V`$ = 2.6. Figure 3 shows the one-dimensional plot of $`\chi ^2`$ versus BH mass. The difference in $`\chi ^2`$ between the zero BH mass model and the best fit is 3.0, implying a significance above 90% for the BH detection.

## 4 Results

Our best-fit model has a BH mass of $`2.0\times 10^4M_{}`$. We can place this measurement on the $`M_{}\sigma `$ relation (Gebhardt et al. 2000b; Ferrarese & Merritt 2000) using the ground-based measurement of $`\sigma =25.1\pm 1.7`$ $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. Figure 4 plots the $`M_{}\sigma `$ correlation for nearby galaxies using the compilation and the linear relation given in Tremaine et al. (2002). G1 lies in excellent agreement with the extrapolation of the linear fit to the local galaxies.

## 5 Discussion and Conclusions

G1 has traditionally been called a globular cluster. However, Meylan et al. (2001) offer the hypothesis that it is a nucleus of an accreted small galaxy, similar to NGC 205. Furthermore, Ferguson et al. (2002) report the discovery of a disrupted galaxy near G1, speculating that the two may have been part of the same system. A similar origin for $`\omega `$ Cen has been proposed by Freeman (1993). Evidence in favor of this interpretation for both clusters include their large spread in metallicity and their exceptionally large velocity dispersions relative to most globular clusters. If G1 is the nucleus of an accreted galaxy, and if all bulge systems have BHs in their centers (Magorrian et al. 1998), then, to the extent that a massive, bound cluster can be viewed as a “mini-bulge,” it is no surprise that G1 has a BH as well. Combined with the results for M15, it may be that every dense stellar system hosts a central BH.

There are significant consequences for these small systems having central BHs. First, it provides a direct link between stellar clusters and galaxies. Galaxy correlation studies that include globular clusters (Burstein et al. 1997, Geha et al. 2002) show that they typically lie near to, but slightly offset from, the correlations for the nearby galaxies. However, the large scatter prevents a definitive comparison. The tightness of the $`M_{}\sigma `$ relation allows us to explore their connection in better detail. The current results show that there is little difference between the smallest and largest dense stellar systems.

Second, the existence of large (nonstellar) BHs in these small systems constrains BH formation models. The low escape velocity of M15 and G1 ($`<`$100 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$) makes it difficult to grow a BH slowly over time. Growing black holes from adiabatic accretion of gas is difficult since globular clusters have a hard time holding onto any gas (namely that from mass loss in evolved stars) due to their low escape velocities. If BHs are grown from accretion of stars and stellar remnants, the cluster must be able overcome the large recoil velocities due to two-body interaction near the center. A possible solution to this dilemma is to have a large initial seed mass for the BH that cannot subsequently get ejected from two-body interactions. Miller & Hamilton (2002) and Portegies Zwart & McMillan (2002) discuss a mechanism in which massive BHs can exist in globular clusters.

Third, one of the more important aspects of theories for the formation of supermassive BHs in galaxies is that each has to start with a seed BH. There are multiple explanations as to where these seeds come from; whether they are primordial, created during the formation of the galaxy, or formed in subsequent evolution is unknown. If small stellar clusters contain BHs, due to their ages, they are a natural candidate for the formation sites of seed BHs. A stellar cluster that formed before the host protogalaxy collapsed could have easily donated its BH to the galaxy center. All of the theoretical models require only a modest-sized BH to act as a seed, around $`1\times 10^4M_{}`$ or less.

As an interesting counterexample, the galaxy M33 appears not to have a BH. Gebhardt et al. (2001) measure an upper limit of $`1500M_{}`$. The main difference between M33 and other galaxies with detected BHs is that M33 does not have a a clear bulge component. However, M33 does have a compact nucleus, whose stellar density is as high as those in globular clusters. Thus, if any dense cluster has a BH then it is puzzling that M33’s nucleus has none. There are no obvious reasons for this difference. However, M33’s nucleus has a very different age than G1; the former contains a significant population of stars younger than a few Gyr (e.g., O’Connell 1983), whereas the latter is older than 10 Gyr (Meylan et al. 2001). It is possible that either conditions to make a massive BH were better in the past (i.e., different initial mass function) or that M33’s nucleus has not had enough time to create one. In any event, we need more data on a larger set of nuclei and clusters in order to explore this issue.

The model that we use for G1 assumes a constant stellar mass-to-light ratio. The relaxation time for G1 near the center is short and we expect heavy remnants there. By not including them, we overestimate the BH mass. We estimate the effect by extrapolation of the Fokker-Plank simulations of Dull et al. (1997) for M15. They find that $`1000M_{}`$ of remnants is in the central regions of that cluster (see discussion in Gerssen et al. 2002). G1 is $``$5 times more massive than M15, implying that it has 5 times more remnants given the same initial mass function. However, the relaxation times are significantly longer in G1 (about a factor of ten), suggesting that the presence of heavy remnants is even less of a problem. Furthermore, Gerssen et al. include models which incorporate the appropriate mass-to-light variation and find that the required black hole mass increases slightly. The reason is that even though the remnants increase the mass-to-light ratio at the smallest radius, the giant star cause it to drop towards the center since they are centrally-concentrated. This drop in mass-to-light balances the increase from the heavy remnants, thereby causing litle effect on the BH mass.

A possible concern comes from comparing the HST/STIS dispersions with that measured from the ground using different setups and analysis. Therefore, we also ran models in which we use only the HST data. We find essentially the same BH mass, but the confidence band decreases slightly. The difference in $`\chi ^2`$ between the no-BH mass model and the best fit changes from 3.0 to 2.5. We find no reason to suspect that either dispersion measurement is biased and use both in the dynamical models.

The dynamical constraints for G1 can be improved with more extensive ground-based kinematic observations (i.e., multiple position angles). In addition to G1 and M15, there are a significant number of globular clusters that can be exploited for these studies. Moreover, ground-based observations should have sufficient spatial resolution to measure a central BH. The most important challenge, however, lies in understanding the contribution of heavy remnants. As explained above, the impact of heavy remnants on G1 should not be severe because of its long relaxation time, but more quantitative estimates of this effect using evolutionary models would be highly desirable. Based on experiments done so far in Gerssen et al. (2002), it appears that the BH mass estimates in M15 and G1 are unbiased.

K. G. would like to thank Tod Lauer, Douglas Richstone, Christos Siopis, John Kormendy and Paul Shapiro for many useful discussions. We acknowledge grants under HST-GO-09099 awarded by the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of the Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., for NASA under contract NAS 5-26555.


text:
# Results on Identified Hadrons from the PHENIX Experiment at RHIC

## 1 INTRODUCTION

The physics motivation of the ultra-relativistic heavy-ion program at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) is to study nuclear matter at extremely high temperature and energy density with the hope to reach a new form of matter called the quark gluon plasma (QGP). Among the various probes of the QGP state, hadrons carry important information about the collision dynamics along with the spatial and temporal evolution of the system from the early stage of the collisions to the final state interactions.

For studies of hadron physics at RHIC, the PHENIX experiment  demonstrates good capability for particle identification (PID) for both charged hadrons ($`\pi ^\pm `$, $`K^\pm `$, $`p`$, $`\overline{p}`$, $`d`$ and $`\overline{d}`$) and neutral pions over a broad momentum range. The charged hadrons can be identified with time-of-flight measurements in two different detectors: (1) a high resolution Time-of-Flight wall (TOF) and, (2) an electro-magnetic calorimeter (EMC), in conjunction with the tracking system in the PHENIX central arm spectrometers and the beam counter, which provides the start timing and the event vertex determination. The tracking system in the central arm consists of drift chambers (DC), three layers of pad chambers (PC), and time expansion chambers (TEC). The PHENIX central arms cover $`|\eta |<0.35`$ in pseudo-rapidity, and cover $`\pi /4`$ with the TOF and $`3\pi /4`$ by EMC in azimuth. The $`\pi /K`$ and $`K/p`$ separation can be achieved up to 2 and 4 GeV/$`c`$ in $`p_T`$, respectively, using the TOF detector, which has a 120 ps timing resolution. The EMC offers a larger azimuthal coverage for PID, but suffers from a timing resolution of only 500 ps. Neutral pions are identified with the EMC via the $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decay channel up to 10 GeV/$`c`$ in $`p_T`$ using the full statistics taken during Run II at RHIC in Au+Au collisions .

## 2 IDENTIFIED SINGLE PARTICLE SPECTRA

We have measured the transverse momentum distributions for $`\pi ^\pm `$, $`K^\pm `$, $`p`$ and $`\overline{p}`$ at mid-rapidity in Au+Au collisions at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 200 GeV over a broad momentum range over various centrality selections. To identify the charged particles, the high resolution TOF counter is used in this analysis. We use about 4 million minimum bias events. The data are classified into 11 centrality bins expressed in percent of the total inelastic cross section. The spectra for each particle species are corrected for geometrical acceptance, decay in flight, multiple scattering, and tracking efficiency using a single particle Monte Carlo simulation. A multiplicity-dependent track reconstruction efficiency is also determined and applied by embedding simulated tracks into real events.

The upper two panels in Figure 1 show the $`p_T`$ distributions for identified hadrons in the most central events (0–5%) in 200 GeV Au+Au collisions for positive (left) and negative (right) particles. The lower two panels show the most peripheral events (60–91.4%). In each panel, the data are presented up to 1.8 GeV/$`c`$ for charged pions and kaons, and 3.8 GeV/$`c`$ for $`p`$ and $`\overline{p}`$. In the low $`p_T`$ region of the most central events, the data indicate that the inverse slope increases with the particle mass. Also, the shape of the $`p`$ and $`\overline{p}`$ spectra have a shoulder-arm shape while the pion spectra have a concave shape. On the other hand, in the most peripheral events, the spectra are almost parallel to each other. This mass dependence of the slopes and shapes of the spectra for protons in the central events can be explained by a radial flow picture. At around 2.0 GeV/$`c`$ in central events, the proton yield becomes comparable to the pion yield. A similar behavior is also seen for negatively charged particles.

In order to quantify the observed mass dependence of the slopes, the mean transverse momenta $`p_T`$ are extracted for 11 centrality selections and for each particle species. The $`p_T`$ spectra are extrapolated to below and above the measured range using a power law function for pions, an $`m_T`$ exponential function for kaons, and a Boltzmann function for $`p`$ and $`\overline{p}`$. In Figure 2, the centrality dependence of $`p_T`$ for identified charged hadrons are shown together with the 130 GeV data points . In both the 200 GeV and 130 GeV data, $`p_T`$ for all particle species increases from the most peripheral to the most central events and also increases with particle mass. The dependence of $`p_T`$ on particle mass suggests the existence of a collective hydrodynamical expansion. The dependence on the number of participant nucleons ($`N_{part}`$) calculated using a Glauber model  may be due to an increasing radial expansion from peripheral to central events.

Using these $`p_T`$ distributions, one can characterize the collision system with a small set of hydrodynamic quantities based on the expanding source model : transverse flow velocity ($`\beta _T`$) and freeze-out temperature ($`T_{fo}`$). By using this model, which assumes boost invariance and a linear velocity profile, a simultaneous fit has been performed for the measured spectra in 200 GeV Au+Au in eleven different centrality selections . For the 0–5% central events, an expansion flow velocity on the surface, $`\beta _T`$, of 0.7 $`\pm `$ 0.2 (syst.) and a common freeze-out temperature, $`T_{fo}`$, of 110 $`\pm `$ 23 (syst.) MeV is extracted. The fit results of all particles within each event centrality are shown in Figure 3. The top panel is for $`T_{fo}`$ and the bottom panel is for $`\beta _T`$, both plotted as a function of $`N_{part}`$. Within the systematic uncertainties, the expansion parameters $`T_{fo}`$ and $`\beta _T`$ decrease and increase, respectively, with the number of participants, saturating at mid-centrality.

## 3 TWO-PARTICLE HBT CORRELATIONS

Another way to extract information about the particle emitting source created in relativistic heavy ion collisions is with two-particle HBT correlations. The HBT measurement is sensitive to the space-time evolution and duration time of the system at the freeze-out stage. Using the large data sample of pion pairs collected in Run II, we extend our HBT measurements up to 1.2 GeV/$`c`$ in the transverse momentum of the pairs ($`k_T`$) for pions . In this analysis the Bertsch-Pratt parameterization is employed in a longitudinal co-moving system (LCMS), where the three-dimensional Gaussian radius parameters are $`R_{side}`$, $`R_{out}`$ and $`R_{long}`$. These radius parameters are studied as a function of $`k_T`$ and centrality. We use 50 million minimum bias events with charged pions identified using the time-of-flight measurement in the EMC. A full Coulomb correction is applied assuming a Gaussian source and no pairs coming from resonance decays.

As shown in reference , we have observed a clear $`k_T`$ dependence for all Bertsch-Pratt radius parameters for pions in 200 GeV Au+Au collisions. This $`k_T`$ dependence of the radius parameters can be explained by a space-momentum correlation effect due to the expansion of the system . For the study of the duration time of the system, the ratio $`R_{out}/R_{side}`$ can be used. In Figure 4, the ratio $`R_{out}/R_{side}`$ as a function of $`k_T`$ (left) and $`N_{part}`$ for pion pairs is shown. The ratio does not change as a function of both $`k_T`$ and centrality within the experimental uncertainties. In contrast to the success of the hydrodynamic model for $`p_T`$ distributions in Section 2 of this paper, the HBT radii from the hydrodynamic calculation agree only qualitatively with the data with significant quantitative discrepancies . At this time, no $`\chi ^2`$ minimum could be found for the simultaneous hydrodynamic fit of the particle spectra and the $`k_T`$ dependence of HBT radius parameters for pions .

## 4 DEUTERON AND ANTI-DEUTERON SPECTRUM

Deuteron and anti-deuteron measurements provide complementary information to the HBT measurements because the coalescence coefficient $`B_2`$  is considered to be proportional to the inverse of the volume of the system, and the dynamical evolution of the system can be studied with the $`p_T`$ dependence of $`B_2`$, similar to two-particle HBT measurements.

Figure 6 shows the $`p_T`$ distributions of $`d`$ (squares) and $`\overline{d}`$ (triangles) for minimum bias events in 200 GeV Au+Au collisions, identified with the high resolution TOF detector. The fitted lines using an $`m_T`$ exponential function are also shown. We obtain an effective temperature of 515 $`\pm `$ 26 (stat.) MeV for deuterons and 488 $`\pm `$ 26 (stat.) MeV for $`\overline{d}`$. Figure 6 shows the transverse momentum dependence of $`B_2`$ for deuterons (square) and anti-deuterons (triangle) at mid-rapidity. $`B_2`$ increases linearly with $`p_T`$ up to 3.5 GeV/$`c`$. The $`p_T`$ dependence of $`B_2`$ is consistent with the expanding source picture. A similar behavior has been observed in the HBT radius parameters for pions .

## 5 PARTICLE RATIOS

Particle ratios provide us with information about the chemical properties of the collision system. In Figure 7, the particle ratios of $`\pi ^{}/\pi ^+`$ (left) and $`K^{}/K^+`$ (right) are shown as a function of $`p_T`$ for central (0–5%) and peripheral (60–91.4%) Au+Au and proton-proton collisions at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 200 GeV. A similar plot for the $`\overline{p}/p`$ ratio is shown in Figure 8 . Regardless of the particle species, centrality, or collision system, the particle ratios are almost flat as a function of $`p_T`$ within the systematic errors and measured $`p_T`$ range, with the exception of the $`\overline{p}/p`$ ratio for peripheral events, which seems to decrease in the high $`p_T`$ region. The integrated ratios over the measured $`p_T`$ range in the most central events in 200 GeV Au+Au collisions are: 1.02 $`\pm `$ 0.02 (stat.) $`\pm `$ 0.1 (sys.) for $`\pi ^{}/\pi ^+`$, 0.92 $`\pm `$ 0.03 (stat.) $`\pm `$ 0.1 (sys.) for $`K^{}/K^+`$, and 0.70 $`\pm `$ 0.04 (stat.) $`\pm `$ 0.1 (sys.) for $`\overline{p}/p`$. Based on a simple statistical thermal model , a baryon chemical potential, $`\mu _B`$, of $``$ 30 MeV for 200 GeV Au+Au central collisions is estimated from the $`K^{}/K^+`$ and $`\overline{p}/p`$ ratios.

Particle composition at high $`p_T`$ is also interesting in order to understand baryon production and transport, system evolution, and the interplay between soft processes and jet quenching in hard processes. In Figure 9, the $`p/\pi `$ and $`\overline{p}/\pi `$ ratios are shown. For the denominator of the ratio $`p/\pi `$ and $`\overline{p}/\pi `$, we use two independent measurements with different subsystems: (1) $`p_T`$ spectra for $`\pi ^\pm `$ up to 2 GeV/$`c`$ identified using the TOF, 2) neutral pions results from 1 GeV/$`c`$ to 3.8 GeV/$`c`$ measured using the EMC. Both the $`p/\pi `$ and $`\overline{p}/\pi `$ ratios have a clear centrality dependence. The data shows that these ratios in central collisions reach unity at a $`p_T`$ of 2$``$3 GeV/$`c`$, while they saturate at around $`p_T`$ of 0.3 – 0.4 in peripheral collisions. This observed behavior in central events may be attributed to the composition of two effects including a larger flow effect for protons (and $`\overline{p}`$) compared to pions, and a pion suppression effect at high $`p_T`$ .

## 6 ELLIPTIC FLOW FOR IDENTIFIED HADRONS

In non-central collisions, the initial overlap region of two nuclei is elliptically deformed in the transverse plane, resulting in anisotropic pressure gradients. These cause a more rapid expansion into the reaction plane than perpendicular to it, resulting in an anisotropy of the final $`p_T`$ distributions called elliptic flow . Since the event anisotropy is considered to be developed at the early stage of collisions, the study of elliptic flow provides a good tool to investigate the possible formation of a QGP state.

Elliptic flow is quantified by the second harmonic coefficient ($`v_2`$) of a Fourier expansion in the azimuthal distributions of the measured spectrum with respect to the reaction plane. We have measured the $`v_2`$ parameter for identified particles with respect to the reaction plane, which is defined in the beam counters ($`|\eta |=34`$) in 200 GeV Au+Au collisions. The details of the analysis method and results are shown in . Figure 10 shows the $`p_T`$ dependence of the $`v_2`$ parameter for identified particles with respect to the reaction plane for minimum bias events. The solid circles are for protons and $`\overline{p}`$, and the open triangles are for the combined results for pions and kaons. The left panel shows negatively charged particles and the right panel shows positively charged particles. The solid lines are the results of a hydrodynamic calculation including a first order phase transition with a freeze-out temperature of 120 MeV . The data shows that at lower $`p_T`$ ($`<`$ 2 GeV/$`c`$), the light mesons have a larger $`v_2`$ parameter compared to protons and $`\overline{p}`$. The model calculation agrees very well with the data for all particles in this $`p_T`$ range. However, the data seems to deviate from the hydrodynamic calculations above 2 GeV/$`c`$ for mesons and baryons. In addition, the model cannot reproduce the opposite mass dependence of the $`v_2`$ parameter, which is observed above 2 GeV/$`c`$.

## 7 SUMMARY

We present results on identified hadrons in Au+Au collisions at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 200 GeV at mid-rapidity over different centrality selections from the PHENIX experiment. The transverse momentum distributions for $`\pi ^\pm `$, $`K^\pm `$, $`p`$, $`\overline{p}`$, $`d`$, and $`\overline{d}`$ are measured and we observe a mass dependence of the slopes and shapes of the identified charged spectra in central events. However, they are almost parallel to each other in the most peripheral events. Also, the mean transverse momentum for all particle species increases from peripheral to central events, and with particle mass. In two-particle HBT correlations for pions, there is a clear $`k_T`$ dependence of all radius parameters. These results on the single particle spectra and two-particle HBT correlations are qualitatively consistent with a hydrodynamic collective expanding source picture, although there are quantitative discrepancies between the model and the HBT results. To characterize the collision system created in Au+Au collisions at RHIC energy, the flow velocity and freeze-out temperature have been extracted within the framework of a hydrodynamic expanding source model.

We also present results on the particle ratios $`\pi ^{}/\pi ^+`$, $`K^{}/K^+`$, and $`\overline{p}/p`$ as a function of $`p_T`$ for different centralities in Au+Au and proton-proton collisions. It is found that the ratios are almost constant regardless of particle species, centrality, and collision system. The ratios $`p/\pi `$ and $`\overline{p}/\pi `$ up to 3.8 GeV/$`c`$ are also measured by using the combined results for charged and neutral pions. In central collisions, the ratio reaches unity at a $`p_T`$ of 2$``$ 3 GeV/$`c`$ and saturates at a $`p_T`$ around 0.3 – 0.4 GeV/$`c`$ in peripheral collisions.

Finally, we present elliptic flow measurements with respect to the reaction plane for identified particles. The data show that at low $`p_T`$ ($`<`$ 2 GeV/$`c`$) the light mesons have a larger $`v_2`$ parameter compared to protons and $`\overline{p}`$. The hydrodynamic model calculation agrees very well with the data for all particles up to 2 GeV/$`c`$. However, the data seems to deviate from the hydrodynamic model above 2 GeV/$`c`$ for both mesons and baryons. The model cannot reproduce the opposite mass dependence of the $`v_2`$ parameter above 2 GeV/$`c`$.