text:
# The Color-Magnitude Relation in Coma: Clues to the Age and Metallicity of Cluster Populations

## 1 INTRODUCTION

The age and star formation history of elliptical galaxies are, of course, key tests to our understanding of galaxy evolution processes. Our early notions that ellipticals are old objects forming their stars at high redshift in a single episode has come into question by HST examination of nearby dwarf galaxies (see review by Grebel 1998). Detailed CMD’s indicate several episodes of star formation in dwarf galaxies, some within a few Gyrs of the present. The detection of Balmer lines (Caldwell et al. 1993) and the high fraction of blue galaxies in distant clusters (Rakos & Schombert 1995) both challenge the monolithic collapse scenario for ellipticals.

Observations of ellipticals from dwarf to giant in a range of environments is the first step in resolving various predictions from hierarchical models of galaxy formation. In recent years, several spectroscopic programs have determined the age and metallicity of Coma and Fornax galaxies through the use of such indices as Mg2 and H$`\beta `$ (Trager et al. 2000, Kuntschner et al. 2001, Terlevich & Forbes 2001, Poggianti et al. 2001). Spectroscopic studies are, of course, superior to determining metallicity values directly from atomic lines. While some comparison to models is required to interpret the spectral age indicators, there are several independent estimators of both age and metallicity.

An alternative approach is our narrow band photometry method, which focuses on the shape of a galaxy’s integrated spectral energy distribution (SED) by way of near-UV and blue colors. This has the advantage of measuring the behavior of the stellar population as it reflects the temperature of the red giant branch and turnoff points, but has the disadvantage of being very model dependent since the red giant branch (RGB) must be broad even in ellipticals and requires some estimation of the luminosity weighted contribution from different metallicity populations (multi-metallicity models). In our most recent paper using the generalized Strömgren filter system (Rakos et al. 2001), the possibility was explored of using various color indices as age and metallicity estimators for ellipticals. The integrated colors of Galactic globular clusters, with known ages and metallicities, were used to demonstrate and calibrate our narrow band system for single generation objects. Multi-metallicity models were derived from the globular cluster (GC) calibration and compared to the colors of dwarf ellipticals in Fornax. While we have been successful at predicting the global characteristics of ellipticals in clusters, such as slope of the color-metallicity relation, with our simple multi-metallicity models, our methods are by no means superior to spectroscopic survey but, in fact, serve as a complement to their programs. In general, spectral investigations are superior in the detailed information they provide, but the goal here is to develop a system that can be used for low brightness objects or distant (i.e. faint) clusters where spectroscopy is very impractical.

In an attempt to confirm and extend the Fornax results, we have carried out photometry of three separate regions of the Abell cluster A1656 (Coma) as a first step in the investigation of the behavior of low luminosity ellipticals and dwarf galaxies in clusters of galaxies with increasing redshift. We have selected Coma because it is the nearest rich cluster (richness class 2) with a dynamically evolved galaxy distribution (Bautz-Morgan type II). Coma is one of the most studied clusters in the sky, and has long been regarded as the prototypical relaxed massive cluster of galaxies. However, recent studies of Coma have suggested that the cluster is the product of a recent and an ongoing cluster-group merger. While the bright galaxies in Coma are well understood, the distribution and history of faint cluster galaxies has not yet been fully investigated. In addition, there has been a renewal of interest in the galaxy luminosity function in rich clusters, in particular at its faint end. It is assumed that low-luminosity galaxies and their evolution almost certainly play an important cosmological role in explaining the large numbers of galaxies counted at faint magnitudes. Interest in the faint end of the luminosity function derives from the fact that low luminosity ellipticals and dwarf galaxies serve as key tests to our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. For example, in hierarchical models, galaxies are constructed from mergers with smaller-mass dwarfs.

The goal of this paper is threefold. First, we will examine the cluster populations for the three regions in Coma around NGC 4889, 4874 and 4839 in terms of the spectrophotometric classifications. Two recent papers (Rakos, Odell & Schombert 1997 and Rakos, Dominis & Steindling 2001) have shown that the ratio of the number of blue to red galaxies in clusters (A2317 and A2218 respectively) has a strong dependence on absolute magnitude, such that blue galaxies dominate at both the bright and faint end of the cluster luminosity function. We will examine if the same effect occurs in Coma, a present-day counterpart to these intermediate redshift clusters. Second, we will investigate the behavior of the color-magnitude (CM) relation for ellipticals. In particular, we will map the CM relation into our metallicity and age calibrations. Lastly, we will examine the radial dependence of age and metallicity for early-type galaxies around the three dominate galaxies to check for environmental influences on the star formation history of cluster galaxies.

## 2 OBSERVATIONS

### 2.1 Data Acquisition and Reduction

The Coma cluster (Abell 1656) is roughly 89 arcmins in radius, with three dominant galaxies (NGC 4889, NGC 4874 and NGC 4839) forming the core of three separate cluster components. The first two of these, only 7 arcmins apart, seem to be the relic central galaxies of previous groups that have recently merged into the current cluster. An additional subcluster, centered on the third galaxy NGC 4839 40 arcmins to the southwest, seems to be falling into the central region (Colles & Dunn, 1996), or has just passed through the main body of the cluster (Burns et al. , 1994), perhaps triggering new star formation (Caldwell & Rose, 1998).

Each section of the Coma cluster was observed with the Kuiper 1.55m Telescope of the Steward Observatory on Mt. Bigelow Arizona. Data was taken with the LPL Focal Reducer and 2K CCD chip (binned to 1K) which yielded 0.65 arc sec/pixel for a field size of 10.8 arcmin. We centered one field on NGC 4889 (April 2-4, 2000) and the other on the central giant NGC 4874 (May 10-11, 2000). Our results are restricted to these central regions and therefore are not necessary typical for the whole cluster. The total April exposure time for the $`uz`$ filter was 11,700s, the $`vz`$ filter 9,600s, the $`bz`$ filter 3,000s and the $`yz`$ filter 3,000s. Each set of exposures was divided in frames of 600s to 1200s to reduce the influence of cosmic rays and irregularities of pixels on the chip. For the May observing run, the total exposure times were 7,200s in each of $`yz`$ and $`bz`$ and 9600s in $`vz`$. Weather conditions restricted the $`uz`$ filter to 2,400 seconds, and therefore it is of lower quality. Calibration was obtained through a number of spectrophotometric standards measured on each night. The region around NGC 4839 was observed with the 4-m Mayall telescope of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory on Kitt Peak Arizona (June 27-28, 2001). The Prime Focus T2KB CCD camera produces a 14 arcmin field with 0.42 arc sec/pixel. The total exposure of 1,800s in each filter consists of three 300s exposures each night.

The reduction procedures have been published in Rakos, Maindl & Schombert (1996) and references therein. The photometric system is based on the theoretical transmission curves of filters (which can be obtained from the authors) and the spectra of spectrophotometric standard stars published in the literature (Massey & Gronwall, 1990; Hamuy et al. 1994). The convolution of the transmission curves and the spectra of the standard stars produces theoretical flux values for color indices of the standard stars corrected for all light losses in the equipment and the specific sensitivity of the CCD camera. For distant clusters, the filters are shifted for the proper redshift of the galaxies. For Coma, the filters were at zero redshift and a small k-correction was made. The comparison with the calculated theoretical fluxes delivers the corrections, which are finally applied to the observed colors of galaxies with the same real filters. The disadvantage of the method is the need for a separate set of real filters for different redshifts of clusters. The main advantages of this observing technique are that the filters are designed to sample spectral regions which are very sensitive to changes in the underlying physical properties and that these filters avoid all strong emission lines, which cause confusion in UBV photometry of active galaxies.

Magnitudes were measured on the co-added images using standard IRAF procedures and are based for brighter objects on metric apertures set at 32 kpc for cosmological parameters of $`H_o=75`$ km s-1 Mpc-1 and the Benchmark cosmology ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_m=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$). For fainter objects the aperture has been adapted to deliver the best possible signal to noise ratio, but always using the same aperture for all four filters. Color indices are formed from the magnitudes: $`uzvz`$, $`bzyz`$, $`vzyz`$, and $`mz`$ \[$`=(vzbz)(bzyz)`$\]. Foreground galactic reddening in the direction of Coma is negligible and was not taken into account. Typical observing errors were 0.03 mag in color at the bright end of the sample and 0.08 mag at the faint end. A total number of 415 objects were detected in all four filters. A majority are rejected as foreground stars or background galaxies based on our photometric criteria. Some faint objects are rejected for insufficient signal in all four passbands for accurate colors.

### 2.2 Cluster Membership

Cluster population statistics must deal with the contamination by stars as well as by foreground and background galaxies. Since our filters are chosen to correspond to the redshift of the cluster, we can use the colors to discriminate cluster membership in a very efficient manner. We calculated synthetic Strömgren colors for a compilation of approximately 150 spectra of nearby galaxies covering all possible morphological types. It has been demonstrated that galaxies observed in their rest frame Strömgren bands are confined to a very limited region of the three-dimensional color space subtended by the four bands (Steindling, Brosch & Rakos 2001). Since real galaxies were used as templates (and not models), we need not worry about different constituents of model galaxies. The efficiency of this rejection mechanism is characterized by the selected maximum deviation ‘sigma’ between any measured color from the same color of the best template galaxy. Note that our filters are narrow enough to obtain data of sufficient spectral resolution for identification and classification purposes, but sufficiently wide so that the cluster’s velocity dispersion does not affect the colors.

Membership for the Coma cluster is straightforward for the bright end since all galaxies down to $`m_{5500}=16.5`$ have measured redshifts. This comprises 53 galaxies of the 139 in the total sample. Another 26 galaxies fainter than 16.5 have measured redshifts from various deeper surveys. For the remaining 60 galaxies, without redshifts, we assign membership based on their colors and morphological appearance (i.e. most of these galaxies are dE or dI systems, diffuse and low in surface brightness). We note that this sample is not complete in either magnitude or area. We have eliminated objects with poor photometry from the sample regardless of apparent magnitude. We are also focused on three fields surrounding NGC 4889, 4874 and 4839 with no attempt made to sample the outer region of the cluster. On the other hand, our sample has high reliability in the sense that each member of the sample has a strong probability of being a cluster member, and its spectrophotometric classification has a high degree of confidence by only using high accuracy data (see next section).

### 2.3 Spectrophotometric Classification

Once cluster membership has been established, the principal moment values can also be used to assign a spectrophotometric classification. This procedure is outlined in Steindling, Brosch & Rakos (2001); however, that project related photometric values with morphological appearance. For our goals, it is beneficial to relate the photometric values to a measure of current star formation rate rather than morphological type. Although we find those photometric classifications will map into morphological ones such that passive, red systems will typically be E/S0 types and star-forming colors will typically be late-type spirals.

To this end, we have divided the first principal component axis (PC1) into four subdivisions; E (passive, red objects), S (star formation rates equivalent to a normal disk galaxy), S- (transition between E and S) and S+ (starburst objects). In addition, we can separate out objects with signatures of non-thermal continuum (AGN) under the categories of A+, A and A- to match their star forming colors. It is important to remember that these classifications are based solely on the principal components as given by the color indices from four filters. While, in general, these spectrophotometric classes map into morphological ones (i.e. E types are ellipticals, S- are S0 and early-type spirals, S are late-type spirals and S+ are irregulars), the system has merit as an independent measurement from morphology based on the color of the dominant stellar population in a galaxy. For Coma, some comparison to morphological types can be made. In all three subclusters, 72 of the galaxies have morphological types in the literature. Of these 72 morphological types, 63 are spectrophotometrically classified as E type. Within the 63 E types, 56 are classed as E/S0 morphologically. The remaining seven are classified as S0/a or Sa. Four S- type galaxies are S0’s, two S galaxies are Sc’s and 3 A types are E or S0’s. Unfortunately, Coma offers a very limited range of morphological types; however, all the E types are early-type systems. The seven Sa galaxies classified as E type are not of concern since we use aperture magnitudes, which will heavily weight the large, red bulge in early-type spirals. Thus, regardless of the shape and appearance of a galaxy, its spectrophotometric classification is based on the luminosity weighted color of the underlying stellar population.

Following the membership procedure, Tables 1, 2 and 3 shows the final selection of 139 cluster members for the NGC 4889 group, NGC 4874 group and NGC 4839 group respectfully. Final selection included all objects with errors less than or equal to 0.08 mag. Tables 1, 2 and 3 list the position of the cluster objects (J2000), the observed colors and magnitudes (apparent and absolute). The derived quantities, described in the text, are \[Fe/H\] and $`\mathrm{\Delta }(bzyz)`$ and the resulting galaxy class. Note that \[Fe/H\] and $`\mathrm{\Delta }(bzyz)`$ are only calculated for E type systems as restricted by our model interpretations.

## 3 DISCUSSION

### 3.1 Characteristics of the Coma Cluster

The Coma cluster is our nearest example of a rich, compact, elliptical-rich system that is indicative of an evolved environment. For this reason, Coma also serves as a calibration for studies of rich distant clusters and comparison of those cluster populations with a present-day population. However, unlike a classic cD cluster with a single dominant elliptical at the bottom of the cluster potential surrounded by a population of lesser cluster members, Coma offers a somewhat more diverse cluster structure. The cluster core is dominated by two equally bright ellipticals NGC 4889 and NGC 4874. Both have separate populations that are visible in galaxy density diagrams (Geller & Beers 1982) and x-ray contours (Henry et al. 1981) centered on the ellipticals. In addition, Coma has a small subcluster to the southwest centered on NGC 4839. These three dynamically separate components contain a majority of the luminous material in Coma.

The central ellipticals for the three subsystems of Coma also present a diverse set of objects. NGC 4889 and NGC 4874 have similar total magnitudes (e.g. luminous mass), but differ in their structure. NGC 4874 is a classic cD galaxies with an extended envelope typical of that class of galaxies (Schombert 1987), whereas NGC 4889 is a D type elliptical which are noted for their diffuse structure but lacking the extended envelope of the cD class. Dynamical studies indicate the origin of the diffuse interior structure in D and cD galaxies is due to past mergers of companion galaxies. The origin of the extended cD envelopes is due to cluster properties, as they relate to the ability for a cluster environment to strip cluster members to develop a cluster-sized envelope of stars that surrounds the central galaxy (Schombert 1988).

The Coma cluster provides a unique situation containing a cD galaxy, and its extended envelope (NGC 4874) paired with a D galaxy and its subpopulation (NGC 4889). In addition, the southwest subgroup of Coma centers on NGC 4839, itself an example of a low luminosity cD galaxy and an example that the extended envelope phenomenon is associated with the local cluster environment rather than the properties of the central dominant galaxy. Together the three subgroups within Coma provide a laboratory to investigate the star formation history of galaxies in a classic cD environment, a merger dominated D system and a small subcluster with evidence of stripping to produce a low luminosity cD system. We begin this investigation an examination of the luminosity function for each of these subclusters.

### 3.2 Luminosity Functions

The luminosity function of the Coma cluster has been well studied by numerous groups over many wavelengths (see Smith et al. 1997 for references). Due to the narrow width of our filter system, our data is not as deep in limiting magnitude as other surveys. However, there are sufficient numbers of galaxies to produce a luminosity function for the populations around each giant elliptical. Those values are shown for each subcluster in the top panel of Figure 1 as log counts (N) versus apparent magnitude ($`m_{5500}`$). The unusual brightness of the first ranked galaxy in each group is obvious in Figure 1. This is a well known phenomenon that supports the idea that first ranked ellipticals in rich clusters owe about half their luminosity to the past mergers of lesser cluster members (Schombert 1987). The luminosity functions of the NGC 4889 and NGC 4874 subclusters have similar shapes, but the NGC 4874 group has the denser concentration of galaxies, again indicating the fact that the potential well is deeper around NGC 4874 compared to NGC 4889. We note that the faint end of the luminosity function for the NGC 4839 group rises more sharply than the NGC 4889 or NGC 4874 groups. This perhaps signals a more advanced evolutionary state for the populations around NGC 4889 and NGC 4874 as dwarf galaxies are cannibalized to create their extended envelopes.

The bottom panel in Figure 1 displays the summed luminosity function for all three subclusters plus a single Schechter-type fit. Despite the limited number of galaxies we have measured, the luminosity function for each population shows the characteristic upturn at $`m_{5500}=17`$ ($`M_{5500}=18`$). Interestingly, most of the steepness at the faint end is due to NGC 4839 group; however, the general trend of a break in the luminosity function at $`M=19`$ follows the results of previous studies (Smith et al. 1997, De Propris et al. 1995, Secker et al. 1997, Thompson & Gregory 1993 and Bernstein et al. 1995). The overall luminosity function can be better fit by two Schechter-type components, the bright end having the conventional $`\alpha =1`$, and the low luminosity galaxies with a steeper $`\alpha =1.7`$, similar to the characteristics of other rich clusters such as Shapley 8 (Metcalfe et al. 1994). Since field surveys have demonstrated a shallow slope for the faint end ($`\alpha =1`$, Ellis et al. 1996), our narrow band luminosity function confirms the richer dwarf population found in dense clusters. Certainly, the population near the bright galaxies in Coma is richer in low luminosity galaxies, as expected from dynamical friction arguments (Schombert 1988).

### 3.3 Butcher-Oemler Effect

The signature test of galaxy evolution in cluster populations is the Butcher-Oemler effect, the fraction of blue to red galaxies as a function of redshift. Being a photometric selection process, our classification scheme makes for an obvious comparison to the Butcher-Oemler fraction. In this context, the population fractions, as defined by our spectrophotometric criteria, are fairly typical of a low-redshift cluster. For the total cluster, we find that 71% of the cluster members are E type (see Table 4), which covers a majority of the galaxies that would be classified as E or S0 morphologically. In comparison, for a rich cluster we expect the ratio E:S0:Sp+Irr would be 20%:40%:40% (Oemler 1992), slightly more spiral-rich than our values. However, we note our measurements are restricted to the central part of the three densest subclusters and we would expect a larger number of E/S0 galaxies in comparison to spirals due to the density-morphology effect. Table 4 presents the population fractions for the three subclusters.

The photometric change in cluster populations is measured by the fraction of blue galaxies, $`f_B`$. The original broadband definition of blue galaxies $`f_B`$ given by Butcher & Oemler (1984), is the ratio of galaxies 0.2 mag bluer than the mean color of the E/S0 sequence (after k-corrections) to the total number of galaxies in the cluster. As discussed in Rakos, Schombert & Kreidl (1991), we have defined the fraction of blue galaxies as the ratio of the number of galaxies bluer than $`bzyz=0.22`$ to the total number of galaxies, effectively the same prescription when accounting for filter central wavelengths as the original Butcher & Oemler definition. The relevant values of $`f_B`$ for each subcluster are found in Table 4 as the number of blue galaxies. The NGC 4889 group has the highest number of blue galaxies (16%) with the NGC 4874 group with the least (2%) and the NGC 4839 group in between (13%). The NGC 4839 data is slightly deeper in limiting magnitude, but selecting brighter cutoff limits does not change the integrated $`f_B`$ values. It is notable that both NGC 4874 and NGC 4839 have cD envelopes providing circumstantial evidence that dynamical environment effects are much stronger in those subclusters than the NGC 4889 group. The total $`f_B`$ value for the dense regions of Coma is 0.10, a fairly standard value for nearby rich clusters (Oemler 1992).

The top panel in Figure 2 displays the cumulative behavior of $`f_B`$ with luminosity for each of the three subclusters and the sum of the sample. As is typical for rich clusters, the top of the luminosity function is completely dominated by red, early-type galaxies (ellipticals and S0’s). As the luminosity drops below $``$18 we find a rise of $`f_B`$ due to the increasing contribution from blue, low-mass galaxies. Figure 2 is the best example of how the interpretation of the blue fraction in clusters is dependent on the completeness of observations with respect to cluster boundaries and the photometric limiting magnitude since the the $`f_B`$ values do not stabilize until $`M_{5500}=15`$. This plateau is reached in each of the various subclusters even though their final $`f_B`$ values vary from 0.14 to 0.02. In distant clusters, this issue becomes even more salient as a contribution is found from a dwarf starburst population (Rakos et al. 2000). In fact, diagrams like Figure 2 are a key tool in the interpretation of the evolution of blue galaxies since blue galaxies from mergers of high mass, gas-rich systems will contribute to the top of the luminosity function (Dressler et al. 1997); whereas a low mass starburst population could influence the $`f_B`$ values for distant clusters than fade and disappear in present-day clusters (Rakos et al. 2000). In this context, Coma displays none of the high luminosity blue galaxies found in intermediate redshift clusters and the low luminosity blue galaxies have colors similar to normal star-forming galaxies, rather than starburst or AGN colors.

Lastly, the bottom panel of Figure 2 displays the run of spectrophotometric classification as a function of absolute luminosity. The distribution is not cumulative, as in the top panel, and each bin contains 20 galaxies. As expected from the low $`f_B`$ values, a majority of the galaxies at high luminosities are E type. The few S types above $``$18 are red (early-type spirals). At fainter magnitudes, the fraction of E types declines and is uniformly offset by the number of S- type of galaxies. This is primarily a metallicity effect, as the lower luminosity E type galaxies have bluer colors due to low metallicities (see next section).

### 3.4 Color-Magnitude Relation

One of the first discovered relationships between the global properties of galaxies and their underlying stellar populations is the color-magnitude (CM) relation (see Bower, Lucey & Ellis 1992 and reference therein). The relationship between redder galaxy color (both local and global) with increasing luminosity is well known from the era of aperture photometers (Sandage & Visvanathan 1978). The observed relationship in luminous ellipticals has largely been interpreted as reflecting a cooler RGB population (redder color) due to increased metallicity with larger galaxy masses. This has, in large part, been confirmed by numerous absorption line studies (Trager et al. 2000) comparing line strengths of features such as Mg2 and Fe with dynamic measures of galaxy mass (i.e. velocity dispersion) and luminosity (a corollary for constant $`M/L`$). However, there is increasing evidence in the last few years that some of the spread in the CM relation is due to age effects or recent star formation, particularly at the low luminosity end (Poggianti et al. 2001).

Most CM relations found in the literature refer to the colors measured by broadband filter systems versus total luminosity; however, Worthey (1994) demonstrated that broadband colors suffer from age/metallicity degeneracy. Thus recent studies have focused on their spectral line equivalents, line strength versus magnitude (Trager et al. 2000). It is usually considered an obvious point that spectral line measurements are superior to colors, either narrow or broadband. However, metallicity maps into the colors of the underlying stellar population through the mean temperature of the RGB, where metal-poor stars being hotter and, therefore, bluer as compared to high metallicity stars. Line strengths directly measure these values (except where varying ratios, such as Mg/Fe, complicate matters), but stellar populations vary according to the total metallicity, $`Z`$. Our narrow band colors form a useful compromise between line studies and broadband colors through a measure of the continuum shape. In addition, spectral lines studies suffer from decreased S/N for fainter objects, (i.e. high redshift or dwarfs) whereas our narrow band system has been applied out to redshifts of 1.

The raw CM diagram, for all three Coma subclusters, is presented in Figure 3 for the metallicity color $`vzyz`$ (top panel), and the continuum color $`bzyz`$ (bottom panel). The colors and magnitudes are based on isophotal apertures, rather than weighted by surface brightness (unless the galaxy is less than 16 kpc in radius in which case a total aperture magnitude is used). In general, Figure 3 contains all the major features for the CM diagram for a diverse collection of galaxy types. A main ridgeline is found on the red side of the diagram that represents the sequence of those galaxies classified both morphologically and photometrically as ellipticals. As noted in our photometry of distant clusters, the CM effect is clearly visible for the $`vzyz`$ color, yet the $`bzyz`$ displays no correlation with luminosity. This is, in part, by design of the $`uvby`$ filter system where, for composite populations, the $`bzyz`$ is more sensitive to contributions from hot stars (upper MS or blue HB populations) than from changes in the RGB. In contrast, the $`vzyz`$ has a longer wavelength baseline and several metallicity features in the $`vz`$ region to increase its sensitivity to metallicity changes.

To determine the CM relation for old, non-starforming galaxies, Figure 3 displays as solid symbols E type galaxies (see §2.3) in Coma and a sample of 47 dE galaxies from Fornax. Fitting to an iterated least-squares regression of color on magnitude produces the solid line in Figure 3 ($`vzyz=0.036\pm 0.005M_{5500}0.046\pm 0.084`$). This fit is indistinguishable in slope from the color-magnitude relation determined from distant clusters (see Rakos et al. 2000) out to redshifts of 0.3 with interesting variations in the zeropoint to be discussed in a later paper. Considering only the E types, the scatter about the fit is greater than the observational error indicating that, even among galaxies without current star formation, there is a range of colors due to complicating factors such as reddening or differing mean stellar age or simply that mass and metallicity do not map, linearly, into the CM relation.

Conversion of the color-magnitude diagram into a metallicity-mass relation requires two steps, one model dependent, the other dynamical. A dynamical measurement is required to convert the luminosity of a galaxy into its mass. Lacking a companion or satellite for total dynamical mass measurements, the standard procedure is to determine a mean $`M/L`$ from rotation or velocity dispersion curves and apply that value to the total luminosity of the galaxy. We lack dynamical information for most of the galaxies in our sample; however, ellipticals have an extremely narrow range in $`M/L`$ and are well correlated with $`L`$ (Bernardi et al. 2002). Thus, for our purposes, we have simply used the luminosity of the galaxies ($`M_{5500}`$) as a measure of mass with the assumption of constant $`M/L`$.

The conversion from $`vzyz`$ color to metallicity (i.e. \[Fe/H\]) requires the use of spectrophotometric models. For a stellar population formed at a unique time and metallicity (a single stellar population (SSP) such as a globular cluster) the link between $`vzyz`$ color and metallicity is straightforward and documented in Rakos et al. (2001). However, the photometry used for our study is the total luminosity for each galaxy and will be the sum of all the various stellar populations with a range of metallicities and, perhaps, ages. This is in contrast to spectroscopy where the signal is weighted by surface brightness dominated by the stars in a galaxy’s core and the assumption that a single stellar population is observed will be close to valid.

In order to correct for the contribution of stars with a range of metallicities, we have applied a very simple multi-metallicity approximation of the underlying stellar population. This method was described in Rakos et al. (2001) and accurately reproduces the spectroscopic measurements of metallicity with the expected colors. In brief, the underlying metallicity distribution is assumed to be Lorenzian in shape, a long tail to low metallicities and a sharp cutoff at high metallicities. A range of total metallicities is constructed by holding the lowest metal population fixed (\[Fe/H\]=$`2.5`$) and sliding the upper cutoff from high to low. The Strömgren colors for each metallicity bin are determined by empirical calibration to globular clusters (\[Fe/H\]$`<1`$) and spectrophotometric SSP models (\[Fe/H\]$`>1`$, Bruzual & Charlot 2002). The resulting metallicity scale is shown as an inset in Figure 3. With this calibration, and a $`M/L`$ ratio of 5 for early-type galaxies, the CM relation maps into mass-metallicity as \[Z/H\] = $`0.362\mathrm{log}(M/M_{\mathrm{}})3.736`$.

In addition to plotting the CM relation for the metallicity color $`vzyz`$, data also exists to test its effect on the continuum color, $`bzyz`$. While the continuum color has very few direct metallicity features to produce line blanketening effects, the $`bzyz`$ index is still sensitive to metallicity changes primarily due to shifts in the color of MS turnoff stars. Assuming that a correlation should exist between absolute luminosity and $`bzyz`$, which is due solely to metallicity, then the Bruzual & Charlot multi-metallicity models, predicts a variation of 0.11 for the same range as the CM relationship for $`vzyz`$. This model prediction is shown as a dotted line in the bottom panel of Figure 3. The data are not in agreement with this prediction despite its excellent fit to the $`vzyz`$ data, although there is a tendency for the scatter to increase blueward for fainter magnitudes. In fact, the $`bzyz`$ index displays no correlation with galaxy luminosity. This is not surprising since our previous work with nearby ellipticals (Schombert et al. 1993) and various distant clusters have all demonstrated no correlation between galaxy luminosity and the $`bzyz`$ index.

There are several effects that can redden $`bzyz`$ while holding $`vzyz`$ relatively unchanged. For example, reddening by dust can produce the effect seen herein; however, it would require $`A_V`$ between one and two to cause the observed deviation and this seems unlikely for normal cluster ellipticals based on their IRAS luminosities. Contributions from red and blue HB stars would reproduce unusual MS turnoff colors, but again there is no expectation for such an effect. The most obvious candidate is an age effect, systematic with galaxy luminosity.

### 3.5 Mean Stellar Age

Another advantage to narrow band continuum colors is that a crude index of age can be assigned with the caveat that the galaxy being studied not have any current, ongoing star formation. As outlined in Rakos et al. (2001), a measure of the mean age of a stellar population can be found by comparing the residual in the $`bzyz`$ color with the expected value based on the mean metallicity as determined by the $`vzyz`$ color. This is based on the fact that the giant branch will be more sensitive to metallicity changes, whereas the turnoff stars are more sensitive to age effects.

An advance indication of the results from the residuals in $`bzyz`$ can been seen in a two-color plot of the Coma E types, Fornax dwarf ellipticals and globular clusters shown in Figure 4. There appears to be a distinct population of ellipticals that share a common region of the two-color diagram with dwarf ellipticals from our Fornax work (Rakos et al. 2001). Also shown in Figure 4 is the 13 Gyr model from Bruzual & Charlot (2002) for a range of metallicity (convolved to our multi-metallicity models). It is clear from this comparison that low luminosity and dwarf ellipticals are too red in $`bzyz`$ for their metallicity, indicating heavy reddening or an older mean stellar population. This confirms the CM relation (or lack thereof) for $`bzyz`$ as low luminosity galaxies being too red for their $`vzyz`$ colors.

The age indicator is the $`\mathrm{\Delta }(bzyz)`$ index, listed in Tables 1, 2 and 3 for the Coma E type galaxies. In our Fornax study, $`\mathrm{\Delta }(bzyz)`$ was determine with respect to a fiducial relationship as given by globular clusters with similar ages. Due to the much higher metallicities found for cluster ellipticals, a comparison to metal-poor globular clusters is problematic as they occupy such different regions of the two-color diagram. As an alternative method, we have calculated the residual $`bzyz`$ color based on the distance in the two-color diagram from the 13 Gyr models of Bruzual & Charlot (2002). These models are an excellent fit to the red edge of the color-magnitude relation (see Figure 3), and so provide a convenient initial guess at the age of elliptical populations. Since the $`\mathrm{\Delta }(bzyz)`$ index is a relative age scheme, the choice of this fiducial zero point will not affect our results.

Figure 5 plots the $`\mathrm{\Delta }(bzyz)`$ value as a function of luminosity for the ellipticals in Coma. Also included in the Figure, for comparison, are the $`\mathrm{\Delta }(bzyz)`$ values for dwarf galaxies from Fornax (Rakos et al. 2001) recalculated to the Bruzual & Charlot models. The solid line is a linear least squares fit to the Coma ellipticals which yields a slope of 0.0038$`\pm `$0.0018 with a correlation coefficient of 0.22. The probability of obtaining this or higher R by chance is 5%.

As can be seen in Figure 5, there is a clear trend for redder $`\mathrm{\Delta }(bzyz)`$ values with lower luminosity for the Coma galaxies. This implies the surprising result that low luminosity ellipticals are older than their higher mass counterparts. As calibrated to globular clusters, a change in 0.25 in $`\mathrm{\Delta }(bzyz)`$ corresponds to a change of 2 Gyrs in mean stellar age. Thus, by a magnitude of $``$16, the mean age of a Coma elliptical is 2 Gyrs older than the brighter ellipticals, assumed to be 13 Gyrs by their match to the Bruzual & Charlot 13 Gyr models. This trend of older age with fainter magnitude also merges nicely into the distribution defined by Fornax dwarf ellipticals which have the reddest $`\mathrm{\Delta }(bzyz)`$ residuals.

Of course, our age indicator is a measure of mean stellar age for the entire stellar population of each galaxy as weighted by luminosity. Thus, bright ellipticals can achieve a younger mean age through various mechanisms. The simplest explanation is, of course, that bright ellipticals have later formation epochs than lower luminosity systems. Various formation scenarios invoke the late formation of massive galaxies (Kauffmann, White & Guiderdoni 1993), but usually by assembling dwarf galaxies into larger systems. If dwarf galaxies have older stellar populations, then they are poor candidates as the progenitors of massive ellipticals under this senario. Another possibility is that dwarf and massive ellipticals have the same formation epoch, but massive ellipticals have a longer phase of initial star formation. This would produce a broad distribution of stellar ages, such that the mean age is effectively younger than dwarf ellipticals whose initial star formation timescale was brief. This also has the attractive attribute that massive ellipticals with a longer period of star formation also produce more metals and a more enriched stellar population resulting in the observed CM relation. Lastly, since the ellipticals studied herein are members of a dynamically evolved cluster, we cannot ignore the effects that mergers will have on the cluster population, particularly the upper end of the luminosity function. One explanation to the decrease in the fraction of blue galaxies for present-day clusters is that these galaxies are removed from the cluster population by mergers. The merger of galaxies with recent star formation and younger stellar populations would lower the mean stellar age as measured by our indices. And this process would preferentially occur more frequently for more massive ellipticals producing the correlation seen in Figure 5.

### 3.6 Environmental Effects on Metallicity and Age

While our sample does not cover a large area within the Coma cluster, we have sampled the three densest regions, those around the three brightest cluster members. This provides an opportunity to examine the run of metallicity and age with distance from the central galaxy in each subcluster. Figure 6 plots the metallicity color, $`vzyz`$, as a function of radial distance from each of the brightest galaxies, NGC 4839, 4874 and 4889. There is a slight trend for decreasing metallicity with distance from the core around NGC 4874. However, much of this correlation is blurred by the large number of low luminosity galaxies nearby to the central galaxy, presumably objects on orbits decaying by dynamical friction. One concern is that the weak trend with metallicity is due to a mass segregation effect, where high mass galaxies with high metallicity occupy the subcluster cores. However, mass segregation is rarely seen in clusters (Dominguez, Muriel & Lambas 2001) and a check on absolute magnitude versus distance displays no evidence of clustering of high luminosity galaxies in the core (other than the fact that the D galaxies sit at the cluster center).

A trend of decreasing metallicity with radius is often found in the hot x-ray gas in which clusters are embedded. For example, Dupke & White (2000) find a factor of two change in the metallicity of the hot gas in Abell 496. Since the x-ray gas in clusters derives from baryonic blowout of ellipticals by galactic winds, the metallicity gradient in the gas is a relic of the metallicity gradient in the galaxy distribution from early epochs. Comparison of the current galaxy gradients versus the x-ray gradient should reveal the amount of dynamical and orbital evolution that has occurred in rich clusters.

The trend between age and cluster radius is shown in the bottom panel of Figure 6, $`\mathrm{\Delta }(bzyz)`$ versus cluster radius. There is no evidence of a radial gradient for our age indicator. This is somewhat surprising since both metallicity and age correlate with luminosity, so we would expect age to follow metallicity with respect to radial gradients. However, the correlation of age with luminosity is much weaker than metallicity and luminosity, so the relic of a cluster age gradient may be lost in the observational noise.

## 4 CONCLUSIONS

We can summarize our results in two parts, pure observational results and interpretation. From the observational side, we have found that the Coma population is, unsurprisingly, rich in early-type galaxies based on their spectrophotometric classification (71%). Morphologically, these systems are predominately ellipticals and S0’s as one would expect in a dense cluster like Coma. We summarize the analysis as the following:

* The fraction of blue galaxies rises slowly with decreasing galaxy luminosity, reflecting the dynamically evolved nature of the Coma system. The blue fraction is lowest in those subclusters (NGC 4874 and NGC 4839) with cD envelopes attached to the primary galaxy. It seems clear that the low blue fractions and the presence of a cD envelope are due to stripping effects, on one hand removing stars for the development of an expanded envelope while, on the other hand, halting star formation by gas stripping and lowering the number of blue, star-forming objects.
* What little blue population is found in Coma is unlike the blue population in distant clusters. It is neither bright, disk galaxies nor faint starburst objects (i.e. there are no bright, blue galaxies in Coma nor are there faint S+ type systems as found in A115 and A2283, Rakos et al. 2000).
* The color-magnitude relation for Coma (plus Fornax dE’s) is extremely well defined for E type systems from $`M_{5500}=23`$ to $``$13, although the scatter is larger than the observation error. Our metallicity color, $`vzyz`$, maps into mean \[Fe/H\] such that the brightest ellipticals have luminosity weighted mean \[Fe/H\] values of +0.3 while a typical low luminosity elliptical ($`M_{5500}=15`$) will have a \[Fe/H\] value of $``$0.8.
* While our metallicity color ($`vzyz`$) displays a strong CM relation, our continuum color ($`bzyz`$) reveals no correlation with luminosity (i.e. stellar mass), although there is a bluer increase in scatter to fainter magnitudes. This is unexpected since $`bzyz`$ should be weakly sensitive to metallicity through changes in the temperature of turnoff stars and suggests a counteracting age effect.
* An age effect is confirmed with our mean age indicator, $`\mathrm{\Delta }(bzyz)`$, which finds a correlation with luminosity such that bright ellipticals are about 2 Gyrs younger than dwarf ellipticals. This is a small and subtle difference, only detectable due to the wide range in luminosity for our combined Coma/Fornax sample. Since spectroscopic studies are restricted to the top of the luminosity function, it is unsurprising that this effect has been missed in previous work. This result is in agreement with the results from Terlevich & Forbes (2001) who also find that young galaxies (high mass) have high metallicities and that old galaxies (low mass) have a broad range of metallicities.

Interpretation of the above observations is problematic. A classic galactic wind model reproduces the CM relation by a simple relationship between the mass of a galaxy and its ability to retain gas by the depth of its gravitational well leading to longer, and more chemically evolved, star formation. Observations of distant clusters strongly support the metallicity interpretation for the CM relation (Kodama & Arimoto 1997). The wind model also predicts a mean age difference since more massive galaxies have a longer episode of star formation, whereas dwarf systems are extinguished quickly producing a relative older mean age. However, for traditional models (Bressan, Chiosi & Fagotto 1994), this age difference is extremely minor and the age effect for $`bzyz`$ remains unresolved by a wind model.

It seems almost inescapable that the cluster environment plays an important role to the stellar populations of cluster ellipticals, especially since the most massive systems have evidence of a history of past mergers. While the number of galaxies with blue populations is very low in present-day clusters, this was not the case in the recent past (i.e. Butcher-Oemler effect). Mergers with gas-rich, star forming galaxies would have a minor effect on the metallicity color, yet would dramatically lower the mean stellar age as estimated by the $`\mathrm{\Delta }(bzyz)`$ index. Thus, later mergers by galaxies such as spirals, with young stellar populations would explain the younger mean age of massive ellipticals, which is in agreement with the discovery of a large number of red merger systems in MS 1054-03 ($`z=0.83`$, van Dokkum et al. 1999). This also provides a cautionary tale for the study of CM relationships in distant clusters. If an intermediate age population is visible in present-day clusters, then at moderate redshifts these same galaxies may not even be on the CM relation. For example, the scenarios developed by Kauffmann (1996) indicate that some ellipticals could enter the red envelope by redshift of 0.4 to 0.5, even though most of the stars formed at redshift greater than 2.

Lastly, our results also favor the so-called hierarchical clustering and merging scenario of galaxy formation (Kauffmann, White & Guiderdoni 1993, Kauffmann & Charlot 1998) where the massive galaxies are assembled from older, lower mass systems. Younger mean age and higher metallicities are achieved by star formation as massive ellipticals consume disk galaxies, and their cold gas, and efficiently turn this material into the bulk of their stellar populations. While the scenario to convert low metallicity, gas-rich systems into present-day red, massive ellipticals seem finely tuned to produce the correct metallicities, the difference between present-day dwarf and giant elliptical ages (about 2 Gyrs, see Figure 5) does match the predictions of the hierarchical models (see Kauffmann & Charlot 1998 Figure 3). However, the data only supports a conclusion that massive systems are younger, whether that is from assembly history or an extended star formation history is unclear. The narrow range of metallicity for high mass galaxies argues for a uniform star formation history in high mass systems. The range in metallicities for younger systems implies a more stochastic process where the weaker gravitational fields are more susceptible to environmental effects such as cluster ram pressure stripping.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors wish to thank NOAO and Steward Observatory for granting telescope time for this project. One of us (K. Rakos) gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Austrian Fonds zur Foerderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung.


format: text

text:
# References

The existence of carbon in cool He white dwarf (WD) atmospheres has been known for a relatively long time. The presence of carbon in these atmospheres is explained by convective dredge up of interior carbon . Pelletier et al. (1986) presented the first detailed calculations of this process and showed that carbon diffuses upwards from the core into the base of the He-rich envelope where it can be dredged up by a surface convection zone. As the temperature of the star decreases, more carbon diffuses upward, and the base of convection zone moves deeper into the star, further enriching the surface layers with carbon . The diffusion time scales of C and O do not differ by large amounts, and are found to be essentially the same for some models  . We expect all non-interacting WDs with $`0.45<M_{wd}/M_{}<1.1`$ to have C/O cores. Since there is oxygen in these cores, there is a priori no reason to prevent the dredge up of oxygen as well as that of carbon. This paper reports new infrared spectroscopic observations of DQ WDs searching for oxygen and describes model atmospheres for these stars.

The WDs chosen for observations were those already known to display the carbon swan bands in their optical spectra and have temperatures between 6000 and 9000K. Our sample is selected from DQs that do not show any abnormalities in their infrared photometry . We have obtained infrared spectroscopy of five WDs at McDonald Observatory in December 2001 using the 2.7m Harlan-Smith Telescope and Rokcam attached to Coolspec. Throughout the observations, a narrow band CO filter (2.273-2.311 $`\mu `$m) was utilized in order to decrease the background noise. Figure 1a presents the observed spectra of our sample of WDs.

Figure 1. a) Observed spectra of DQ WDs b)Effect of CO on pure-He atmosphere models (log g=8, Teff=8000, 7000, 6000K (from top to bottom) with three different C/O compositions).

The atmospheric C/O ratio depends in great part on the C/O ratio at the surface of the WDs’ C/O core. This remains uncertain in as much as the C12($`\alpha `$, $`\gamma `$)16O reaction rate is not well known in the astrophysically important and relevant temperature$``$density domain. Models of C and O diffusion and dredge up in cool He-rich WDs  indicate a maximum photospheric abundance of log $`n(O)/n(He)=`$ -4.0 to -5.3 for different core compositions. The most abundant O-bearing molecule is CO, and it has a strong band head at 2.3$`\mu `$m. Our synthetic spectra calculations for He WDs with different temperatures and different C-O abundances are presented in Fig 1b. The CO abundance is based on a simplified chemical equilibrium calculation that includes CO, C2, C, and O. It appears that CO should be easy to detect for the coolest DQs. This is because at low Teff the ionization of He is decreased, which reduces the background continuum opacity.

Observed spectra of WDs (Fig 1a) show that we might have detected CO in WD2140+207 and WD0435-088. There is also evidence for weak features in the spectra of the other three WDs, but it is impossible to derive the oxygen abundances from these low SNR spectra. Additional follow-up spectroscopy will be obtained in Nov 2002 using the NASA IRTF and Spex.

This work has been supported by NSF grant AST-9876730 and NASA NAG5-9321.


text:
# Deformation and Depinning of Superconducting Vortices from Artificial Defects: A Ginzburg-Landau Study

## I Introduction

One of the most important properties of superconductors is their ability to carry currents without dissipation, allowing them to generate large magnetic fields. Many superconductors allow fields to penetrate in bundles of quantized magnetic flux, with associated whirlpools of current known as vortices. When these vortices are mobile, they spoil the perfect conductivity that make superconductors so useful. The quest to increase the maximum dissipationless current $`J_c`$ that a superconductor may carry has thus fueled intense study of vortex pinning.

In recent years, pinning environments of artificially fabricated nanoscale defect arrays have been developed in hopes of better understanding and improving the pinning properties of superconductors. Some of the earlier contributions have involved macroscopic measurements (e.g. $`J_c`$, magnetization) performed on periodic “antidot” arrays. The antidot regions contain material which is rendered non-superconducting. Pinning behavior may be studied in these periodic systems using various imaging techniques.

Much of the theoretical work on vortex pinning in defect arrays has employed numerical studies to focus on the behavior of large collections of vortices under the influence of a driving force (supercurrent). Molecular dynamics approaches in particular usually employ simplified pinning potentials, in part to make possible simulations of large numbers of vortices, but also because information about pinning potentials at the microscopic level is simply unavailable. A few studies have focused on energy scales for pinning varying numbers of flux quanta to the defects, as well as defect-vortex potentials as derived from the London equation. However, the latter approach does not allow for variation of the Cooper pair density, and in particular cannot correctly treat the vortex core. In the London approach, vortex cores are usually assumed to be rigid in shape, and interactions of vortices with their environments are determined by the core position as well as the distribution of currents. Our results demonstrate that the vortex core in fact deforms dramatically near an artificial defect: when the vortex center is sufficiently close to the defect, a string of suppressed order parameter develops from the vortex position to the pinning center edge, while the currents and magnetic flux spread out over a large area (see Fig. 2 below).

Usually, experimental studies of depinning are conducted in the presence of a net current across the superconducting film. The current exerts a Lorentz force on the flux quantum, dislodging the vortex from the defect for currents exceeding the depinning threshold. We find that, in addition to this, the external current distorts the conservative part of the pinning force for a sufficiently large net current, leading to important changes in the order parameter, supercurrents, and depinning threshold. Specifically, we find for many typical experimental situations that in the presence of a driving current, the core strings associated with specific dots will stretch to reach neighboring dots. At the depinning threshold, the current associated with a vortex unwraps from one pinning site and encircles its neighbor, without the order parameter ever forming a compact core region. Thus, for many experimental situations, interstitial vortices never form when vortices are depinned, as is commonly assumed. The depinning process should instead be understood as one in which the vortex cores are elongated by the driving current, eventually interacting with more than one pinning site at a time and allowing the associated vortex currents to hop from site to site.

## II Methods

Our calculations focus on two dimensional arrays of artificial pinning centers in the form of holes in a bulk superconductor. Our goal is to find the lowest energy state of the system for specified locations of a superconducting vortex; from this we can construct a pinning potential. The appropriate description of the superconducting state is in terms of Ginzburg-Landau theory, which focuses on a complex superconducting order parameter $`\psi (\stackrel{}{r})`$, for which $`\left|\psi \right|^2`$ is proportional to the local density of superconducting electrons. Unlike the London theory, Ginzburg-Landau theory is valid at scales as small as the coherence length, $`\xi `$. Written in terms of dimensionless variables, the Ginzburg-Landau energy functional is

$$E_{GL}=\left[\begin{array}{c}\left|\psi ^{}\left(\stackrel{}{}/i\stackrel{}{A}\right)\psi \right|^2\left|\psi \right|^2\\ +\frac{\kappa ^2}{2}\left|\psi \right|^4+B^2\end{array}\right]d^3x.$$
(1)
In Eq. 1, $`\stackrel{}{A}`$ is the vector potential, and the magnetic field $`\stackrel{}{B}(\stackrel{}{r})=\stackrel{}{}\times \stackrel{}{A}`$. $`\kappa \frac{\lambda }{\xi }`$ is the Ginzburg parameter, the ratio of the magnetic penetration depth $`\lambda `$ and the coherence length. Since the experiments on artificial defect arrays typically involve thin film geometries, we focus on them in our treatment. In considering the thin film limit, it is convenient to integrate by parts and replace the electromagnetic contribution, $`|\stackrel{}{}\times \stackrel{}{A}|^2`$ with the quantity $`\stackrel{}{J}\stackrel{}{A}`$. As the thin film limit is approached, one finds that $`\psi `$, $`\stackrel{}{A}`$, and $`\stackrel{}{J}`$ vary only very slowly in the $`\widehat{z}`$ direction. The integration in the $`\widehat{z}`$ direction is well-approximated by multiplication by $`d`$, the thickness of the film, and we may write

$$E_{GL}=\left[\begin{array}{c}\left|\varphi ^{}\left(\stackrel{}{}/i\stackrel{}{A}\right)\varphi \right|^2\left|\varphi \right|^2\\ +\frac{\lambda _{eff}}{2}\left|\varphi \right|^4+\stackrel{}{j}\stackrel{}{A}\end{array}\right]d^2x.$$
(2)
In Eq. 2, we use the definitions $`\varphi d\psi `$, $`\stackrel{}{j}d\stackrel{}{J}`$, and (following standard convention ) $`\lambda _{eff}\frac{\kappa ^2}{d}`$.

In this work, we report on results obtained for $`\lambda _{eff}=64`$ for defects larger than the coherence length. As is typically the case for thin films, the new length scale $`\lambda _{eff}`$ is considerably larger than $`\lambda `$. In fact, this choice of $`\lambda _{eff}`$ is deep enough into the high $`\lambda _{eff}`$ limit that, apart from scale factors in $`E_{GL}`$ and $`\varphi `$, the results vary little as $`\lambda _{eff}`$ is increased.

To analyze the behavior of the vortex near the pinning center, we employ a mean field approach in which one minimizes $`E_{GL}`$ for a fixed vortex location to find $`\psi `$, $`\stackrel{}{A}`$, and the current $`\stackrel{}{j}`$. Our strategy for calculating $`\psi `$ and $`\stackrel{}{A}`$ self-consistently involves first holding $`\varphi `$ fixed at some initial guess, and minimizing $`E_{GL}`$ with respect to $`\stackrel{}{A}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{B}`$. Next, we fix $`\stackrel{}{A}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{B}`$ and minimize with respect to $`\varphi `$. These steps are iterated until changes in the variables become negligible. In the case of an external current, minor adjustments are needed which will be discussed later. We implement this self-consistent approach numerically by dividing the unit cell into a fine lattice of small unit cells. In this discrete scheme, $`\varphi (\stackrel{}{r})`$ is replaced by $`\varphi _{ij}`$ with $`ij`$ specifying a grid point on a square lattice, while $`\stackrel{}{A}_{ij}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{j}_{ij}`$ are defined on nearest-neighbor links between the grid points. Derivatives in Eq. 1 are replaced by the corresponding finite differences. To model the defect array as accurately as possible, one desires a fine grid; we find that with a $`128\times 128`$ mesh our results are well-converged with respect to the discretization.

To see how one minimizes $`E_{GL}`$ under the constraint of a specified vortex location, it is useful to write the current $`\stackrel{}{j}`$ in terms of the order parameter $`\varphi `$ and the vector potential $`\stackrel{}{A}`$. By minimizing $`E_{GL}`$ with respect to the vector potential and employing a Maxwell equation one has

$`\stackrel{}{j}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[\varphi ^{}\left(\stackrel{}{}_{}/i\stackrel{}{A}\right)\varphi +\varphi \left(\stackrel{}{}_{}/i\stackrel{}{A}\right)\varphi ^{}\right]`$ (3)
$`=`$ $`\left|\psi \right|^2\left(\stackrel{}{}_{}\theta \stackrel{}{A}\right).`$ (4)
In Eq. 3 we have used for the order parameter $`\varphi =\left|\varphi \right|e^{i\theta }`$, and the gradient $`\stackrel{}{}_{}=(_x,_y,0)`$. The familiar fluxoid quantization condition arises from the requirement that the order parameter be single valued, i.e. $`\stackrel{}{}\theta 𝑑\stackrel{}{s}=2\pi n_v`$ with $`n_v`$ an integer. Hence, in terms of $`\stackrel{}{j}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{A}`$,

$`2\pi n_v(ij)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \left(\stackrel{}{J}/\left|\varphi \right|^2\right)𝑑\stackrel{}{s}}+{\displaystyle \stackrel{}{A}𝑑\stackrel{}{s}}`$ (5)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \left(\stackrel{}{j}/\left|\varphi \right|^2\right)𝑑\stackrel{}{s}}+\mathrm{\Phi }_B`$ (6)
In the second part of Eq. 5, $`\mathrm{\Phi }_B`$ is the total magnetic flux passing through the area of the contour, which we conveniently choose to be the small unit cell associated with the grid point $`ij`$, while $`n_v(ij)`$ is the total number of “fluxoid quanta” contained in the contour of integration. It is through $`n_v`$ that the vortex location(s) in the full unit cell of the system may be fixed: $`n_v=0`$ except at the grid points where we wish to place a vortex, for which $`n_v=1`$. As discussed in the Appendix, one can easily calculate $`\mathrm{\Phi }_B`$ and $`\stackrel{}{A}`$ self-consistently in the thin film limit from the current $`\stackrel{}{j}`$. Hence, armed with knowledge of $`|\varphi |`$ and some specified realization of $`n_v(ij)`$, one can solve for $`\stackrel{}{j}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{A}`$ via Eq. 5. Using the expression for the current given in Eq. 3, one obtains $`\stackrel{}{}\theta `$; inserting $`\stackrel{}{}\theta `$ and $`\stackrel{}{A}`$ into Eq. 1 yields an expression depending only on $`\left|\varphi \right|`$ and $`\lambda _{eff}`$ which we minimize with respect to $`\left|\varphi \right|`$ to obtain the order parameter modulus.

Our calculational method is easily generalized to include a supercurrent $`\stackrel{}{j_o}`$ flowing across the system, allowing the effects of a depinning current to be probed. This is accomplished by introducing a constant planar vector potential $`\stackrel{}{a}_o`$. $`\stackrel{}{a}_o`$ causes a shift in the current given by $`\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{}{J}=|\varphi |^2\stackrel{}{a}_o`$.

In the above method, we have been careful to explicitly take into account the thin film geometry typical of experiments on nanoscale defect arrays. However, we note that this approach may easily be modified to handle the bulk case, in which the vortices resemble filaments of magnetic flux instead of pancake structures. We have performed a few such calculations, and find that for antidot systems the results obtained are quite similar to the large $`\lambda _{eff}`$ results we report here. This may be understood in terms of the effective magnetic penetration depth for a thin film, $`\lambda _{eff}=\frac{\lambda ^2}{d}`$, which is typically much larger than the bulk value $`\lambda `$. This means that the energy stored in the magnetic field generated by the supercurrents is quite small, so that the fact that the field varies as one moves out of the plane has little impact on the state of the system. The resulting energy functional is thus nearly identical to the bulk three dimensional case in the large $`\kappa `$ limit, with columnar antidots and vortices.

## III Results

### A Zero Current

At large vortex-defect separations, the core has the usual compact structure with supercurrents localized about it. Fig. 1 presents a perspective plot of $`\left|\varphi \right|`$, as well as a vector plot of the currents. The distances shown are in units of the coherence length, $`\xi `$. Our choice of a unit cell with side spanning 20 coherence lengths and an antidot $`5\xi `$ in size is typical of many of the nanoscale arrays studied experimentally. As the flux quantum nears the defect edge, it eventually reaches a critical distance $`d_c`$ (typically several $`\xi `$, with precise value depending on the dot size and shape), where there is a sudden dramatic change. Fig. 2 illustrates the situation after the transition: the vortex core has developed a string extending from the flux quantum position to the defect edge; simultaneously the current now encircles the vortex-defect pair, and the magnetic flux created by these currents spreads over a larger area. The string is energetically favorable because it allows the formerly dense current of the vortex to spread out (engulfing the defect in the process), thereby reducing the kinetic energy of the state.

When a net supercurrent flows across a superconductor, a Lorentz force is exerted on vortices; if these move in response energy is dissipated. In an artificial defect array, the driving force can be balanced by a pinning force given by the gradient of $`E_{GL}`$ with respect to the vortex position. Thus, one may regard $`E_{GL}`$ as the pinning potential. Fig. 3 shows this as a function of distance from the unit cell edge, which can be seen to have three distinct regions. For large separations, where the vortex core is compact, the pinning potential decreases relatively slowly. As the separation decreases it eventually crosses $`d_c`$ and the core-string structure appears. Hysteresis in the calculations, indicated with arrows, suggests that the transition is first order. However, as will be seen below, a finite current flowing across the unit cell changes the character of the transition, rendering it continuous. Below the transition one observes nearly linear behavior of the pinning potential, suggesting that the string carries an energy proportional to its length. The third region is announced by a discontinuous jump as the vortex is absorbed by the defect, followed by a perfectly flat region inside the defect. This abrupt jump is due to a sudden transformation of the order parameter. Immediately prior to absorption, constant Cooper pair density contours near the flux quantum have a semicircular profile. As the vortex enters the defect, this “semi-vortex” vanishes, removing a finite amount of energy for an infinitesimal change in the vortex position. In later discussion, the $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{ej}`$ shall be used to refer to this jump in energy.

### B Finite Current

When a net current flows across the superconducting film, a Lorentz force is exerted on the current distribution by the external magnetic field. This nonconservative force, given by $`\frac{1}{c}𝚽_𝐨\times 𝐉`$ , acts in opposition to $`\stackrel{}{}E_{GL}`$. In terms of our units, the magnitude of the Lorentz force is $`4\pi j^{^{}}`$, where $`j^{^{}}`$ is the net current magnitude (In CGS units, $`J=\frac{\mathrm{}c^2}{8\pi de\xi ^3}j^{^{}}`$). $`E_{GL}`$ also depends on $`j^{^{}}`$. As will be seen, this dependence is particularly manifest near the depinning threshold.

Figure 4 indicates the evolution of $`E_{GL}`$ as the current is increased. As the two graphs in Fig. 4 reveal, even for currents a reasonable fraction (17% and 33% respectively) of the bulk critical current $`J_c`$, $`E_{GL}`$ is similar to that of the zero-current case, except that the breadth of the linear region increases with drive current. Ultimately, as can be seen in the potential curve corresponding to the larger current, the linear behavior extends to either edge of the unit cell. This suggests there is a range of net current in which the vortex core always exists as a stringlike structure. Another important feature is the fact that the jump in energy when the fluxoid exits the dot (which we call the “ejection barrier” $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{ej}`$) does not appreciably diminish as the drive current $`j^{^{}}`$ is increased. An interesting observation, apparent in Figs. 4, is that the Lorentz force increases with increasing current while the slope of the conservative part of the pinning potential remains nearly constant. Eventually, the Lorentz force exceeds the slope of $`E_{GL}`$ vs. fluxoid position before the jump $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{ej}`$ has been eliminated. This suggests that the ejection of the vortex with increasing drive current will be sudden at low temperatures, i.e., once the flux quantum is able to exit the dot, the string tension will not be sufficiently strong to keep the vortex bound. We will see below that this is indeed the case. At higher temperatures, when $`T>\mathrm{\Delta }_{ej}`$, one expects to see depinning for somewhat lower drive currents.

Depinning occurs when the net current is made large enough to eliminate $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{ej}`$. This occurs suddenly as one increases the current beyond a certain threshold, $`j_{dp}^{^{}}`$. As Figure 5 indicates, the net supercurrent drops abruptly; presumably the remainder of the drive current appears in resistive channels. The fact that the solutions to the Ginzburg-Landau theory have a maximum possible value $`j^{^{}}`$ even for large $`a_o^x`$ is highly analogous to what happens in thin superconducting wires and films . As in those cases, this maximum current should be identified as a critical current; in our case, it is the depinning current $`j_{dp}^{^{}}`$. As illustrated in Figure 6 and Figure 7, the depinning transition is marked by the sudden emergence of a core string. The string, a normal region which blocks supercurrents, accounts for the sudden drop in the supercurrent flow across the unit cell. For the system parameters we have chosen, the depinning current, $`j_{dp}^{^{}}`$ is $`62\%`$ of the bulk critical current $`j_c^{^{}}`$.

Strikingly, currents capable of depinning the vortex do so without forming a flux quantum that has a compact core. In fact, as the vortex moves across the unit cell, its core always has a stringlike structure. As the flux quantum is driven from the pinning defect, a core “string” forms connecting the vortex to the edge of the pinning defect. Even before the flux quantum emerges from the pinning defect, this string is already partly formed. As the vortex traverses the unit cell toward the neighboring defect, the core string lengthens. This continues until the flux quantum reaches the unit cell edge, where the magnetic flux and currents unwrap from the pinning defect and engulf the adjacent defect. Figure 8 and Figure 9 illustrate this transition. Figure 8 displays the order parameter modulus and current patterns just prior to the transition, while Figure 9 portrays the system just after the currents and flux have surrounded the neighboring defect.

We conclude this section by noting that the depinning process found for typical antidot arrays is markedly different than previous expectations, which commonly assume that in depinning the vortex takes a form similar to Figure 1. We expect the latter scenario to hold when the interdot separation is very large compared to the coherence length $`\xi `$. The different forms of depinning might be detectable in voltage noise experiments, which are analogous to shot noise experiments for electrons in conductors. When the vortices are small and compact, it is natural to suppose they will act as particles and, when depinned, yield a broadband noise proportional to the voltage across the system. If one increases the temperature and corresponding coherence length, the string depinning behavior described above must eventually apply. This eliminates short wavelength and presumably high frequency dynamics from the system. We thus expect a suppression of high frequency noise to accompany the transition into string-like depinning.

## IV Experimental implications

Beyond the voltage noise behavior described above, the profile of the pinning potential shown in Fig. 3 suggests a set of measurements one might perform to seek an experimental signature of the unique pinning phenomena discussed above. Past the depinning threshold, core strings moving among the antidots form linear channels which might appear as an anisotropy signal in neutron scattering measurements. Another possible test would involve working at temperatures large compared to $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{ej}`$, but small compared to the energy at the unwrapping transition, as in Fig. 2. In this situation, an AC driving force on the vortices, of magnitude small enough to leave them pinned by the strings (as might be provided in a vibrating reed experiment) would allow the vortices to “rattle around” in the linear part of the pinning well illustrated in Fig. 3 and produce losses, whereas a DC force of equal magnitude would be dissipationless. Upon lowering of the temperature the vortices would be captured by the defects, leading to lossless supercurrents for both AC and DC driving forces. An observation of these effects would yield indirect confirmation of the form of the pinning potential we find. Something like this may recently have been observed.

Finally, a consequence of our results is that the depinning current should increase sharply as $`T`$ is lowered below $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{ej}`$. For $`T>\mathrm{\Delta }_{ej}`$, vortices will be thermally excited above the ejection barrier, and depinning can occur when the slope of $`E_{GL}`$ versus fluxoid position is equal to the Lorentz force. For $`T\mathrm{\Delta }_{ej}`$ the current must be large enough to eliminate the ejection barrier to depin the vortex .

Another interesting possibility is that a unique thermal depinning may occur as the temperature is increased in the regime of linear pinning. The presence of a string suggests that this may carry entropy at finite temperature, much as is the case of polymers. This entropy is proportional to the string length and temperature, and at high enough temperatures may overwhelm the energy per unit length found in our mean-field calculations. In analogy with polymer behavior , this leads to unbounded growth of the string and effective depinning of the vortex. However, it is not clear whether the string remains sufficiently well-defined at the temperatures necessary for proliferation that the polymer analogy remains valid up to the transition. Further research into this possibility is currently underway.

## V Summary

Using Ginzburg-Landau theory, we have given a detailed treatment of the microscopic aspects of pinning phenomena in nanoscale periodic arrays. Strikingly, we see an apparent first order transition involving the creation of a string connecting the vortices to the defect, and an accompanying abrupt transformation of the supercurrent and the magnetic field it generates. The string configuration leads to a region of linear pinning. Absorption of the vortex by the antidot is marked by a jump in the pinning potential, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{ej}`$. Depinning occurs abruptly when the drive current exceeds $`J_{dp}`$. Various aspects of the pinning potential should be observable in experiment.

Acknowledgments– The authors would like to thank L. E. DeLong, S. B. Field, and J. B. Ketterson for useful discussions. This work was supported by NSF Grant No. and DMR-0108451.

## A Calculation of $`\mathrm{\Phi }_B`$

In this Appendix, we outline the calculation of the magnetic flux density in terms of the supercurrents in the thin film. The lattice variables mentioned in this work are discrete approximations of continuum quantities. For the sake of brevity, however, the analysis in this Appendix is given in the continuum limit. The calculation sketched here is largely parallel to an earlier work in the context of the London theory .

We adopt units for which the current $`\stackrel{}{J^{^{}}}`$ satisfies $`\stackrel{}{J^{^{}}}=\stackrel{}{}\times \stackrel{}{B}`$. Taking advantage of the fact that $`\stackrel{}{}\stackrel{}{A}=0`$ in the London gauge, we find that

$$\stackrel{}{J^{^{}}}=^2\stackrel{}{A}$$
(A1)
Fourier transforming Eq. A1 yields

$$\stackrel{}{J_𝐤^{^{}}}=k^2\stackrel{}{A_𝐤}$$
(A2)
Defining $`k_{}^2(k_x^2+k_y^2)`$, we have

$$J_𝐤^{{}_{}{}^{}x,y}=\left(k_z^2+k_{}^2\right)A_𝐤^{x,y}$$
(A3)
To express $`\stackrel{}{J_𝐤^{^{}}}`$ in terms of the two dimensional currents flowing in the plane of the film one uses the fact that $`\stackrel{}{J^{^{}}}`$ is essentially constant in the $`\widehat{z}`$ direction in the thin film limit. Hence, we have

$$J^{{}_{}{}^{}x,y}=\left\{\begin{array}{c}J_{2d}^{{}_{}{}^{}x,y},\frac{d}{2}z\frac{d}{2};\\ 0\text{ elsewhere}\end{array}\right\}$$
(A4)
As the film thickness diminishes to zero, we obtain

$$J^{{}_{}{}^{}x,y}|_{d0}=\delta \left(z\right)j_{2d}^{{}_{}{}^{}x,y}$$
(A5)
Fourier transforms equation A5 yields

$$J_𝐤^{{}_{}{}^{}x,y}=\frac{1}{L_z}j_𝐤_{}^{{}_{}{}^{}x,y}$$
(A6)
In Eq. A6 above, $`𝐤_{}`$ denotes the plane wave vector. We infer from Eqs. A3A6 that

$$A_𝐤^{x,y}=\frac{1}{L_z\left(k_z^2+k_{}^2\right)}j_𝐤_{}^{{}_{}{}^{}x,y}$$
(A7)
To obtain $`A^{x,y}|_{z=0}`$, and $`B^z|_{z=0}`$, an inverse Fourier transformation of Eq. A7 is needed. One finds that

$`A^{x,y}|_{z=0}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle L_xL_y\frac{(2\pi )^3j_𝐤_{}^{{}_{}{}^{}x,y}}{\left(k_z^2+k_{}^2\right)}d^3k}`$ (A8)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{L_xL_y}{2\left(2\pi \right)^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{j_𝐤_{}^{{}_{}{}^{}x,y}}{k_{}}𝑑k_x𝑑k_y}`$ (A9)
To obtain $`B^z|_{z=0}`$, we use the fact that

$$B^z|_{z=0}=\frac{}{y}A_x|_{z=0}+\frac{}{x}A_y|_{z=0}$$
(A10)
In Fourier space, one has

$$B_𝐤_{}^z|_{z=0}=k_yA_𝐤_{}^x|_{z=0}+k_xA_𝐤_{}^y|_{z=0}$$
(A11)
Hence, we find that

$$B^z|_{z=0}=\frac{L_xL_y}{2(2\pi )^2}\frac{\left(k_yj_𝐤_{}^{}_{}{}^{}xk_xj_𝐤_{}^{}_{}{}^{}y\right)}{k_{}}𝑑k_x𝑑k_y.$$
(A12)
To calculate $`\mathrm{\Phi }_B^{ij}`$, the magnetic flux passing through the small unit cell at the point $`ij`$, we integrate $`B^z|_{z=0}`$ over the area of the small square. In the discretization scheme employed in this work, we use the approximation

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_B^{ij}=a^2B_{ij}^z|_{z=0},$$
(A13)
where $`a^2`$ is the area of the small unit cell.


text:
# XMM-Newton observations of two black hole X-ray transients in quiescence

## 1 Introduction

Soft X-ray transients – SXTs (sometimes called X-ray novae) are semi–detached binaries in which the accreting (primary) star is a black hole (BH) or a neutron star, and the mass–losing secondary is usually a late type star. These systems typically brighten in X-rays by as much as 107 in a week and then decay back into quiescence over the course of a year. The maximum outburst luminosities $`L_{\mathrm{max}}`$ seen in SXTs are typically $`(0.21)`$ of the Eddington luminosity $`L_{\mathrm{Edd}}`$. Successive outbursts are usually separated by years to decades of quiescence (see e.g. Tanaka & Shibazaki ts96 (1996); Chen et al. csl97 (1997), for reviews).

Quiescent states of SXTs are very interesting for at least two reasons. First, they provide the strongest evidence now available for the existence of stellar–mass black holes. The detection of the secondary in quiescence allows a determination of the mass function of the binary system, which is an absolute lower limit on the primary mass $`M_1`$. The mass function exceeds 3 M in eight systems; in five others, constraints on the inclination angle of the system and the secondary mass result in values for $`M_1`$ that are in the range 5 – 10 M (Narayan et al. ngm02 (2002)). Thus there are now thirteen SXTs with primary masses that exceed the maximum stable mass of a neutron star ($`\mathrm{}<3`$ M).

The second, more mundane reason why quiescent states are interesting is that quiescence provides a strong test of outburst–cycle models. SXT outburst cycles are well described by the disc instability model (Dubus et al. dhl01 (2001); see Lasota l01 (2001) for a complete review of the disc instability model). In quiescence, the disc is non–steady (a property too often forgotten by too many authors). Its temperature and viscosity are low, and the disc is unable to transport all of the mass supplied by the secondary to the primary; the mass of the disc slowly builds up and the temperature rises finally to the hydrogen ionization temperature. At this moment, the disc becomes thermally and viscously unstable due to strong opacity variations. Propagating heat fronts bring the entire disc into a hot state; in this outburst state, the mass transfer rate is large, and the disc empties until it cannot sustain this regime any longer; it then returns to quiescence.

Even though the disc instability paradigm is widely accepted and its particular realizations are often successful (requiring sometimes additional assumptions, see e.g. Esin et al. elh00 (2000)), the physics of the quiescent state is still rather controversial. As a prime example, the origin of “viscosity” in this state is not really known (see e.g. Gammie & Menou, gm98 (1998); Menou m02 (2002); Lasota l02 (2002)), and according to the simplest version of the disc-instability model (the version originally used to explain dwarf-nova outbursts; Lasota l01 (2001)) the very long SXT recurrence times require unusually low values of the viscosity parameter $`\alpha `$. However, Dubus et al. (dhl01 (2001)) showed that the combined effects of disc irradiation during outbursts (King & Ritter kr98 (1998)) and disc truncation during quiescence (Menou et al. mhln00 (2000)) result quite effortlessly in long recurrence times for standard values of the viscosity parameter, making the disc instability model for SXTs a working and testable hypothesis.

Narayan et al. (nmy96 (1996); see also Lasota et al. lny96 (1996) and Narayan et al. 1997a ) noticed that spectra of quiescent SXTs cannot be produced by geometrically thin, optically thick accretion discs and suggested that the inner flow in such systems forms an advection dominated accretion flow ADAF. In any case, according to the disc instability model a disc extending down to the neutron star surface or the last stable orbit around a black hole, can be in a cold, neutral state everywhere only for vanishingly low accretion rates close to the central object (Lasota l96 (1996)): the maximum accretion rate onto the compact object would be $`4000\left(M_1/\mathrm{M}_{}\right)^{1.77}(r_{\mathrm{in}}/r_\mathrm{s})^{2.65}`$ g s-1, where $`r_\mathrm{s}`$ is the Schwarzschild radius (Hameury et al. hmd98 (1998)), much too low to produce the X-ray luminosity observed in quiescent SXTs. On the other hand the ADAF model reproduces well the observed luminosities, spectra (Narayan et al. 1997a ; Quataert & Narayan qn99 (1999)) and observed delays between the rises to outburst in optical and X-rays (Hameury et al. hlmn97 (1997)).

As first pointed out by Narayan et al. (1997b ), the presence of the radiatively inefficient ADAFs in quiescent SXTs allows one to compare black holes with compact bodies endowed with material surfaces. Because bodies such as neutron stars must re-emit the heat left over in the accretion flow accumulating at their surface they should be brighter than black holes accreting at the same rate since in this case the residual energy is lost forever past the event horizon. X-ray observations of quiescent SXTs showed that this is indeed the case (Narayan et al. 1997b ; Menou et al. 1999b ; Garcia et al. gmn01 (2001)). However, the ADAF origin of X-rays in quiescent SXTs has been questioned by several authors (see e.g. Bildsten & Rutledge br01 (2001); Nayakshin & Svensson, ns01 (2001)). High quality X-ray observations can solve this controversy.

In this paper, we report on XMM-Newton observations of GRO J1655-50 (AO-1 GTO) and GRS 1009-45 (AO-1 GO).We briefly describe previous observations of these transients in section 2; we present our observations in section 3, and we discuss their implications in section 4.

## 2 Earlier observations

Observations of quiescent SXTs prior to XMM-Newton and Chandra have yielded only marginal detections or upper limits, with very poor constraints on the spectral shape. Among the 13 BHSXTs with known orbital periods, A 0620-00 was the only one to be detected by ROSAT (McClintock et al., mhr95 (1995)); ASCA detected GRO J1655-40 (Asai et al. adh98 (1998); Ueda et al. uit98 (1998)) and V404 Cyg (Narayan et al. 1997a ). Finally, among the 5 BHSXTs observed by BeppoSAX (Campana et al. cps01 (2001)), only V404 Cyg has been detected with a 1-10 keV unabsorbed luminosity of $`10^{33}`$ erg s-1.

XMM-Newton and Chandra have already qualitatively changed this situation, as can be clearly seen from Table 1, which gives spectral data for most of the 13 SXTs with known orbital period, and with primary masses exceeding 3 M.

It is now evident that many quiescent SXTs have been detected with luminosities in the range 1031 – 1033 erg s-1, the faintest being those with the shortest orbital periods. It is also clear that SXTs have very hard spectra with values of the power law spectral index that are often less than 2. Or equivalently, their spectra can be fitted by a bremsstrahlung model with temperature larger than 10 keV (Kong et al. kmg02 (2002)).

## 3 XMM-Newton observations and analysis

### 3.1 GRO J1655-40

GRO J1655-40 was observed by XMM-Newton on August 30, 2001 with a 40 ksec exposure time. Due to a strong solar flare, only 19 ks could be used; yet, GRO J1655-40 was clearly detected as one of the brightest field sources, at a position coincident with that of the optical counterpart (within 0.3″), with a total source count rate as determined by the automatic pipeline analysis of 1.09 10-2 $`\pm `$ 1.8 10-3.

SAS version 5.3 was used to calculate the source and background spectra obtained by extracting data from a circle of approximately 20″ radius centered on the nominal source position, and from an annulus with inner and outer radii $``$ 20″ and $``$ 100″respectively. 74, 73 and 260 counts were detected in the 20″ radius circle in the MOS1, MOS2 and PN cameras respectively; 618 (MOS1), 403 (MOS2) and 1225 (PN) counts were detected in the larger area used to determine the background rate. The spectra were analyzed with Xspec v11. Due to the small number of counts, in particular in the MOS cameras, the C-statistics (Cash, c79 (1979)) was used to determine the best fits and errors; channels were grouped in such a way that there were at least 5 counts in each bin. The three cameras, MOS1, MOS2, and PN were used simultaneously to determine the best fit parameters.

Table 2 summarizes our results. A power law is a good fit to the results, yielding column density $`n_\mathrm{H}=1.0_{0.7}^{+1.2}10^{22}`$ cm-2, a power law index $`\alpha =1.54_{0.72}^{+1.02}`$, and normalization $`K`$ = 7.1 10-6, poorly constrained because of the large error in $`\alpha `$. If one uses a hydrogen column density fixed to the value of $`n_\mathrm{H}`$ = 6.7 $`10^{21}`$ cm-2 determined by optical observations (Hynes et al. hhs98 (1998)), one obtains $`\alpha =1.30_{0.42}^{+0.34}`$, and $`K`$ = 4.8$`{}_{1.9}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+2.0}`$ 10-6. All errors given here are 90% confidence limits. Figure 1 shows the EPIC spectrum for all three instruments, as well as the best fit and residuals, in units of 1 sigma. Note that these residuals, although giving a rough estimate of the quality of the fit, cannot be used to determine the goodness-of-fit by computing a $`\chi ^2`$, since the C-stat has been used. Note also that, for the sake of clarity, data in Fig. 1 have been rebinned, so that more data points were used for performing the spectral fitting. Figure 2 gives the 68.3, 90 and 99% confidence contours obtained for the power law index and normalization.

The total absorbed flux is then 3.96$`{}_{0.83}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+0.66}`$ 10-14 erg cm-2 s-1 in the 0.5 - 10 keV range (90% confidence error bars) , corresponding to an unabsorbed flux of 4.81$`{}_{1.00}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+0.80}`$ 10-14 erg cm-2 s-1 and unabsorbed luminosity of 5.9 1031 erg s-1 for a distance of 3.2 kpc.

We also fitted the spectrum with a thermal bremsstrahlung; as expected for a hard spectrum with such a photon index, the fit is good, with a formal best fit value of the temperature $`kT`$ = 110 keV, indeed unphysical, and very poorly constrained; the 90% confidence level lower limit on $`kT`$ is 9 keV, and the 99% confidence level lower limit is 4.1 keV.

A search for variability yielded negative results for significant variations on timescales of hours. Figure 3 shows the source intensity as a function of time, with 2000 s time bins; the data are consistent with a constant source. The data quality is quite poor during the solar flare that occurs after the first 10 ks, and lasts about 25 ks, with shorts lulls.

### 3.2 GRS 1009-45

GRS 1009-45 was observed on May 30, 2002, during a 20 ksec exposure. The source was not detected by the automatic pipeline processing system. Assuming a power law spectrum with photon index 2, and a hydrogen column density $`n_\mathrm{H}`$ = 1.1 1021 cm-2, as given by optical observations (della Valle et al. dbc97 (1997)), and analyzing simultaneously all three cameras together, we can set an upper limit for the 0.5 - 10 keV unabsorbed flux of 3 10-15 erg cm-2 s-1 (95% confidence), corresponding to an upper limit on the luminosity of 8.9 1030 erg s-1 for a distance of 5 kpc. To determine this upper limit, we fixed the photon index and column density in Xspec and calculated the goodness-of-fit for various normalization factors, with the $`\chi ^2`$ statistics (using the C-statistics yields an almost identical upper limit, as expected). The data are compatible with a zero flux (we obtain a goodness-of-fit of 63%); we can set an upper limit on the flux of 3 10-15 erg cm-2 s-1, for which the goodness-of-fit is 0.95, i.e. in only 5 % of the simulated cases did we find a C statistic value worse than the value actually obtained. This upper limit is almost independent of the assumed photon power law index.

## 4 Discussion

It has been suggested (Bildsten & Rutledge br01 (2001)) that X-rays detected from quiescent black-hole SXTs are not produced by accretion, but are instead produced in the secondaries’ hot stellar coronae. There is now growing evidence that this is not the case because the X-ray flux is too large (especially the $`L_X`$ relative to the bolometric luminosity of the secondary) and/or because the spectrum is too hard to be emitted by a stellar corona (Kong et al. kmg02 (2002)). As we shall see, the flaring disc model also faces similar difficulties, whereas the ADAF explanations can still account for the observations.

### 4.1 Spectra

The spectra of all black hole transients appear to be quite hard, GRO J1655-40 being the hardest, and A0620-00 having the steepest power law index; fits using bremsstrahlung models also lead to very high temperatures. This confirms previous findings (Kong et al. kmg02 (2002)) that coronal emission from the secondary is ruled out. Einstein surveys of late type stars have shown that the coronal temperatures of isolated stars do not significantly exceed 1 keV, and reach at most a few keV in the case of giant RS CVn stars (Schmitt scs90 (1990)). (Coronal emission is additionally ruled out by the high X-ray luminosities; see below.)

It is also most unlikely that such spectra could be produced by emission from magnetic loops above the disc (see e.g. Nayakshin & Svensson ns01 (2001)) that would very probably result in spectra similar to those of stellar coronae. Moreover, this model implies that the accretion disc of quiescent dwarf novae should emit a comparable soft X-ray flux; these systems are indeed X-ray bright, with luminosities in the range 1030 \- 1032 erg s-1, but they have deep eclipses indicating that the X-ray emitting region is very close to the white dwarf; the residual X-ray luminosity during eclipses is very low (e.g. of the order of 9 1028 erg s-1 for OY Car, Ramsay et al. rpm01 (2001)).

### 4.2 Luminosities

Figure 4 shows the luminosities of SXTs containing black holes compared to those in which the accreting object is a neutron star. We plot the quiescent luminosity (in erg s-1) as a function of the orbital period of the binary. Here, the data for BH systems have been taken from Table 1; when several measurements were available, we selected Chandra or XMM-Newton values (for GRO J1655-40, the XMM-Newton value given in this paper is used). The NS data are from Narayan et al. (ngm02 (2002)). Our result confirms the well established fact that systems containing black holes are, for a given orbital period, much dimmer than those containing a neutron star (i.e. in which X-ray bursts have been detected), a property predicted by models in which the inner disc is truncated and replaced by an ADAF close to the black hole (Menou et al. 1999b ).

The $`L_\mathrm{X}P_{\mathrm{orb}}`$ plot was proposed by Lasota & Hameury (lh98 (1998)) to assure, when one compares black-hole systems with those containing neutron stars, that both types of systems have comparable accretion rates at the outer limit of the ADAF. Sutaria et al. (skc02 (2002)) pointed out recently that for various reasons one should expect a “greater spread” of $`\dot{M}`$ (the mass-transfer rate) at a given $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}`$. This is obviously true. However, if SXT outbursts are due to a dwarf-nova-type disc instability, then in quiescence the accretion rate at the truncation radius depends only weakly on the mass-transfer rate (e.g. Menou et al. 1999a , Lasota l00 (2000), Dubus et al. dhl01 (2001); but see also Menou m02 (2002) who discusses uncertainties linked to our poor understanding of viscosity in the quiescent state and a possible alternative solution). Indeed, the accretion rate at the transition radius can be written as (Lasota l00 (2000))

$$\dot{M}_{\mathrm{tr}}2.4\times 10^{15}\left(\frac{M}{7M_{}}\right)^{1.77}\left(\frac{R_{\mathrm{tr}}}{10^4R_\mathrm{G}}\right)^{2.65}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{s}^1.$$
(1)
In addition, as discussed in Lasota (l00 (2000)) the prescription for the transition radius proposed by Menou et al. (1999a ), i.e.

$$R_{\mathrm{tr}}=f_tR_{\mathrm{circ}},f_t<0.48,$$
(2)
where the circularization radius $`R_{\mathrm{circ}}`$ can be approximated by (Frank et al. fkr02 (2002))

$$\frac{R_{\mathrm{circ}}}{a}=(1+q)[0.50.227\times \mathrm{log}q]^4,$$
(3)
transforms Eq. (1) into

$$\dot{M}_{\mathrm{ADAF}}1.6\times 10^{18}f_t^{2.65}P_{\mathrm{day}}^{1.77}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{s}^1$$
(4)
where $`\dot{M}_{\mathrm{ADAF}}`$ is the rate at which matter enters the ADAF from the cold quiescent, non-steady disc. This rate is independent of the primary’s mass.

To obtain Eq. (1) one assumes that according to the disc instability model the quiescent disc is non-steady and $`R_{tr}R_{\mathrm{out}}`$, where $`R_{\mathrm{out}}`$ is the outer radius of the geometrically thin accretion disc. The pre-Chandra and pre-XMM-Newton data (for three systems) satisfied a $`L_XP_{\mathrm{orb}}^{1.77}`$ relation (dashed line in Fig. 4), the slope of which suggested that it might result from Eq. (4) (Lasota l00 (2000)).

The new Chandra and XMM-Newton observations show a more complicated picture. First, the quiescent X-ray luminosity of GRO J1655-40 is now an order of magnitude lower than it was when observed by ASCA. In fact the quiescent luminosities of all three systems (A0620-00, GRO J1655-40 and V404 Cyg) used by Lasota (l00 (2000)) to determine the $``$ 1.77 slope of the $`L_\mathrm{X}P_{\mathrm{orb}}`$ relation have been revised significantly (see Table 1 and discussion below). In the case of A0620-00 and V404 Cyg there is little doubt that they are in true quiescence. Among the new sources, XTE J1550-564 was observed between two outbursts (see Kong et al. kmg02 (2002) and references therein) so that this system was very unlikely to be in its true quiescent state during the Chandra observations.

The quiescent luminosity might still be described by Eq. (4) but with $`f_t`$ depending on the system. Such a conclusion is not unexpected since Menou et al. (1999a ) have already noticed that although $`f_t0.25`$ for most systems, V404 Cyg required $`f_t\mathrm{}<0.1`$. The value of $`f_t`$ should be predicted by the model describing the “evaporation” of an accretion disc into an ADAF, but we lack such a model.

### 4.3 Variability

The flux we obtained for GRO J1655-40 is consistent with that found by Chandra (Kong et al. kmg02 (2002)), the difference being of order of 50 % for the unabsorbed flux in the 0.2 - 10 keV range, and can be essentially accounted for by statistical fluctuations; we do not find significant short time scale variability, which means that these sources are relatively stable. However, both XMM-Newton and Chandra flux measurements are one order of magnitude below that of ASCA (Asai et al. adh98 (1998); Ueda et al. uit98 (1998)). This observation, however, was performed a month before the 1996 outburst and roughly 9 months after the previous (August 1995) eruption. Clearly, the system was not in its quiescent state during which it takes more than 30 years (the recurrence time) to refill the disc emptied by the outburst. Matter was then transferred from the secondary at a rate much higher than during the true quiescence (Esin et al. elh00 (2000)).

Short timescale variability has been detected transients during quiescence containing black holes, such as V404 Cyg (Wagner et al. wsh94 (1994); Kong et al. kmg02 (2002)), as well as those containing neutron stars, such as Aql X-1 (Rutledge et al. rbb02 (2002)). Such variability is not a surprise, but cannot be significantly constrained in our data due to the low count rate.

## 5 Conclusions

We have observed and detected GRO J1655-40 during a 40 ksec XMM-Newton observation, with a luminosity of 5.9 1031 erg s-1; GRS 1009-45 was undetected, leading to a relatively small upper limit on luminosity of 8.9 1030 erg s-1 for a distance of 5 kpc. These observations are consistent with the disc instability model if the accretion disc is truncated at a radius of 0.1 - 0.3 times the circularization radius, where the accretion flow forms an ADAF. The spectrum appears to be quite hard, much harder than one would expect from coronal emission from the secondary star or from the accretion disc itself. The quality of the data is however not sufficient to constrain and distinguish between various types of optically thin flows in the vicinity of the black hole.

There is no sign of variability on a time scale of hours, and the flux measured by XMM-Newton from GRO J1655-40 is consistent with the Chandra value (Kong et al. kmg02 (2002)), and about 10 times lower than that which was measured with ASCA by Asai et al. (adh98 (1998)) and Ueda et al. (uit98 (1998)) between two outbursts, indicating that the system was not fully in quiescence at that time, and that the mass transfer rate from the secondary was high.

## Acknowledgments

We are grateful to R. Narayan for discussions and comments on the manuscript. This work was supported in part by a grant from the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales.