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# Dynamics of the Ly𝛼 and C iv emitting gas in 3C 273

## 1 Introduction

The presence of broad emission lines is a very distinctive feature of quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) and Seyfert 1 galaxies. These lines are emitted by gas located in the vicinity of the central engine photoionized by the strong ionizing continuum radiation. The large width of the emission lines requires velocities well in excess of $`\mathrm{10\hspace{0.17em}000}`$km s-1. Line profile and relative intensity studies provide very imporant clues on the gas velocity distribution and on the physical conditions in the line emitting region (e.g., Sulentic et al. 2000).

A huge amount of information can however be gathered by studying the variability properties of the emission lines. Because line emission is driven by the variable continuum from the central engine, the broad emission lines vary in response to the continuum variations. As different parts of the line emitting region respond with different delays depending on their locations, variability can be used as a tool to map the entire gas phase-space distribution (Blandford & McKee 1982). This provides very important insights on the global dynamics of the system, and much effort has been devoted to the development of analysis methods of emission line light curves (e.g., Dietrich 1995). A very important recent result is the fact that the large emission line widths are to a large extent due to Keplerian motions around supermassive objects, and that this effect provides a way to estimate black hole masses (Peterson & Wandel 1999).

3C 273 (catalog ) is a quite peculiar radio-loud QSO that exhibits, depending on the wavelength domain, the properties of both blazars and Seyfert 1 galaxies (Courvoisier 1998). It has been intensively observed throughout the electromagnetic spectrum for more than 3 decades as part of a large collaboration (Türler et al. 1999), and in particular throughout the mission of the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite, which can observe at wavelengths close to the ionizing continuum, and is particularly well adapted to the study of important emission lines like Ly$`\alpha `$ (for sufficiently redshifted objects) and C iv.

In this paper, we extend a previous study of the ultraviolet and optical continuum emission (Paltani et al. 1998), and focus on the Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv emission line variability based on archival IUE spectra of 3C 273. Previous works on Ly$`\alpha `$ variability in 3C 273 provided conflicting results. While O’Brien et al. (1989) and O’Brien & Harries (1991) detected significant line variability, Ulrich et al. (1993) found no compelling evidence of variability. These studies used only a part of the entire IUE data set; we add here about 5 years of data, which doubles the period of time with dense sampling. With the addition of these new data, Ly$`\alpha `$ variability is now clearly detected, and an analysis of C iv is even possible. Morevover, the sampling is now sufficient to perform detailed analyses of the light curves, which allow us to attempt to constrain the geometry and the velocity field of the emitting gas.

Throughout this paper, the quoted wavelengths are observed wavelengths, while the Doppler velocities and the time lags are expressed in the rest frame of 3C 273, i.e. corrected for a redshift of $`z=0.158`$.

## 2 Data

This paper is based on data from the 3C 273 database hosted by the Geneva Observatory111Web site: http://obswww.unige.ch/3c273/ and presented in Türler et al. (1999). The data that are used here are the IUE short wavelength (SWP) spectra processed with the IUE Newly Extracted Spectra (INES) software (Rodríguez-Pascual et al. 1999). The sample consists of sparse observations from 1978 until 1985, followed by ten years with an observation rate of about once every 2 weeks during two annual observation periods of 3 months, separated by 2 months. Two SWP observations were often performed consecutively to improve photometric accuracy. In total, 256 SWP observations have been performed on 142 different days.

### 2.1 Spectra selection

Since the inclusion of low quality spectra adds noise or even spurious features to the results, we apply strict selection criteria. We first reject the small aperture spectra and those flagged as dubious in Türler et al. (1999), to which must be added the SWP46739LL spectrum, because of absence of guiding during the exposure. Considering only the ranges between 1260 and 1560 Å for Ly$`\alpha `$, and between 1680 and 1980 Å for C iv, we discard spectra clearly contaminated by cosmic rays, those with 10 or more saturated spectral bins at the top of Ly$`\alpha `$, as well as those with a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) below 15 on average.222Although it does not satisfy this criterion, SWP19731LL was not discarded, because it is the only spectrum between mid-1982 and mid-1984. The last two selection criteria are similar to the rejection of over- and under-exposed spectra applied by O’Brien et al. (1989) and O’Brien & Harries (1991). To ensure that differences between Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv are not due to a different sampling, we use an identical set of spectra for both lines.

As in those previous two studies, we correct for the IUE wavelength scale uncertainty by applying small wavelength shifts ($`3`$ Å) to the 186 remaining spectra. Overlooking this point can introduce spurious asymmetric line variability, and can change the line profile in the rms spectrum (see Sect. 2.3). The wavelength correction has been calculated by placing the Gaussian fitted peak of the Ly$`\alpha `$ line at its expected rest wavelength of 1407.7 Å. Finally, after averaging all spectra taken within 12 hours, we end up with a set of 119 good quality SWP spectra of 3C 273.

### 2.2 Line flux extraction

The Ly$`\alpha `$ $`\lambda `$1216 flux (including N v $`\lambda `$1240) is measured relative to a continuum defined by a straight line fitted to the points in two 50 Å continuum bands at 1260–1310 and 1510–1560 Å. We integrate the total line flux for Doppler velocities up to 20 000 km s-1, i.e. from 1314 to 1501 Å. The C iv $`\lambda `$1549 flux was measured similarly, with the continuum bands at 1680–1730 and 1940–1980 Å. To avoid strong contamination by He ii $`\lambda `$1640, we integrate C iv only for velocities up to 10 000 km s-1, i.e. from 1732 to 1851 Å, the observed line center being at $``$ 1791.4 Å. Unfortunately, this wavelength is nearly coincident with an IUE reseau mark. In the three spectra taken before 1980, this mark results in a very clear absorption-like feature, that we correct by interpolating linearly above the affected wavelength bins.

The line flux uncertainty is calculated by taking into account both the flux error in each spectral bin and an estimate of the uncertainty induced by the fit to the continuum. As the resolution of IUE is about 6 Å and the spectral bins are $``$ 1.7 Å wide, the spectral bins are not completely independent. We take this into account by multiplying the uncertainty resulting from the individual flux errors by $`\sqrt{6/1.7}1.9`$. It can be very easily seen that the uncertainty induced by the fit is expressed as $`(\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda /2)\sqrt{\sigma _1^2+\sigma _2^2}`$, where $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda =\lambda _2\lambda _1`$ is the wavelength range of line integration and $`\sigma _1`$, $`\sigma _2`$ are the continuum fit uncertainties at $`\lambda _1`$, $`\lambda _2`$. We also extract a continuum flux averaged over the 1250-1300 Å range. The same provision for non-independent spectral bins is taken to estimate the continuum flux uncertainty.

The average uncertainties obtained with the above method are respectively 2 % for the continuum, and 3.5 % for Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv. However, a *structure function analysis* (e.g., Paltani 1999) gives average uncertainties exceeding the above ones by factors 1.6, 1.2, and 2 respectively. This means that the INES uncertainties are slightly underestimated (which we have confirmed using a single-bin, continuum light curve). We therefore apply these correction factors to our continuum, Ly$`\alpha `$, and C iv light curves. We finally obtain average uncertainties of 3.5 %, 4.5 %, and 7 %, respectively.

### 2.3 Average and rms line profiles

In Fig. 1a we compare the average Ly$`\alpha `$ emission line profile and the root-mean-square (rms) profile. The rms profile is defined as in Wandel et al. (1999). The rms Ly$`\alpha `$ profile is comparably broader than the average profile, which indicates that the wings of this line are much more variable than its core. Another significant difference is an excess in the blue wing variability (around $`5000`$km s-1). The contamination of Ly$`\alpha `$ by the N v $`\lambda `$1240 line in its red wing (around $`+5000`$km s-1) is visible, but relatively small. The C iv rms profile shows similar features, but with a lesser S/N.

### 2.4 Light curves

The light curves of the integrated Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv lines and of the ultraviolet continuum (1250–1300 Å) are shown in Fig. 2 and printed in Table 1 (published in full in the Electronic Version). They can be obtained from the Geneva Observatory web site http://obswww.unige.ch/3c273/. Both lines appear to be clearly variable, as confirmed by the large reduced chi-square values of $`\chi _\nu ^2\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10.3}`$ for Ly$`\alpha `$ and $`\chi _\nu ^2\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4.6}`$ for C iv obtained under the hypothesis that the line flux is constant (118 degrees of freedom).

The peak-to-peak variability of the Ly$`\alpha `$ light curve is $``$ 50% of the mean line flux ($``$ 60% for C iv). This is about three times the value found by Ulrich et al. (1993), whose study could not benefit from the data obtained after July 1992. The relative variability, defined as the ratio of the standard deviation corrected for the average uncertainty to the mean flux (Clavel et al. 1991), is $`0.11`$ for Ly$`\alpha `$, $`0.12`$ for C iv, and $`0.21`$ for the continuum.

Visual comparison between Figs 2a, 2b, and 2c shows that the Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv light curves vary on significantly longer time scales than the continuum, one huge bump lasting at least 4 years dominating the line variability. On short time scales however, the continuum and line light curves are quite similar, as each peak in the line light curves can be found in the continuum.

The average post-1992 line flux is significantly higher than that observed until then. This variability on long time scales could not be observed in previous studies (i.e. O’Brien et al. 1989; O’Brien & Harries 1991; Ulrich et al. 1993), only based on earlier data. As a consequence, this study can explore new facets of (in particular) Ly$`\alpha `$ emission properties.

## 3 Correlation analysis

We perform cross-correlation analyses with our data using two different methods: the interpolated cross-correlation function method (ICCF; Gaskell & Peterson 1987) as implemented by White & Peterson (1994), and the $`z`$-transformed discrete correlation function (ZDCF) (Alexander 1997). The presence of a period with poor sampling (before 1985) can in principle strongly affect the ICCF because of interpolation. We checked however that the effect is negligible in our case by comparing the ICCFs of the full data set with those using only post-1985 data. We therefore keep below the full set of data for consistency with the other analyses presented here.

Fig. 3 shows the correlation between the 1250-1300 Å continuum and the Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv emission lines obtained with the two methods. The agreement is very good, except for a strange dip at a lag of slightly more than 2 years in the ZDCF with Ly$`\alpha `$. The significance of the departure of the correlation point at lag $`2.36`$ yr from the ICCF is however only about 2 $`\sigma `$.

Qualitatively, the correlations exhibit a rapid increase of the correlation for $`\tau >0`$, as expected if the lines are driven by the UV continuum. The peaks are however extremely broad, the correlations returning to zero only at a lag of almost $`4`$ yr. Fig. 3 can be compared to Fig. 9c of Koratkar & Gaskell (1991). Their cross-correlation drops to zero after a bit more than one year, much more rapidly than what we observe. This discrepancy is assuredly the result of the fact that long-time scale variability was absent (or negligible) in the data set they have used. Kaspi et al. (2000), whose data set consists essentially of post-1992 observations, find a closer, but still smaller, value of about $`3`$ yr for H$`\alpha `$, H$`\beta `$, and H$`\gamma `$. It can be noted however that these low-ionization lines are expected to lie farther away from the central engine than Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv.

An interesting difference between the cross-correlations with Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv is that the cross-correlation is markedly lower for lags smaller than 0.5 yr in the case of C iv. In particular, the peak at 0.2 yr visible in the Ly$`\alpha `$ ICCF is completely absent in the C iv ICCF. The correlation at 0 lag is about 0.1 for C iv, compared to more than 0.4 for Ly$`\alpha `$. The other parts of the correlations are very similar in both lines.

If two time series are causally related by a response function (see Sect. 4), the width of the correlation peak is due in part to the response function, and in part to the autocorrelation of the driving time series (technically, the correlation is the convolution of the autocorrelation with the response function). It is therefore important to test whether the broad correlation peaks in Figs 3a and b could be due to the autocorrelation of the ultraviolet continuum. Fig. 3c shows the autocorrelation functions (ACFs) of the continuum, Ly$`\alpha `$, and C iv light curves calculated using the same method as the ICCFs. To get rid of the effect of uncertainties, which makes comparisons between ACFs difficult, we normalized the autocorrelations so that they equal $`1`$ for a very small non-null lag $`\tau =0.04`$ yr. The UV continuum ACF shows a very narrow central peak with a FWHM of about $`0.6`$ yr, dropping to almost $`0`$ at $`\tau 0.75`$ yr. This shows that the correlations are to a large extent dictated by the response function. Fig. 3c also shows the ACFs of the two lines. They exhibit much broader FWHMs of the order of $`3`$ yr. The Ly$`\alpha `$ ACF is a little bit broader than that of C iv, but the significance of this result is questionable.

To gain insight into the dynamics of the line-emitting region, we decompose the Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv emission lines into respectively 5 and 3 parts as defined in Fig. 1. For Ly$`\alpha `$, the line core is defined as the part of the line with absolute velocities smaller than $`2000`$km s-1. The near wing (either red or blue) is defined by absolute velocities between $`2000`$ and $`6000`$km s-1. The far wing (again red or blue) extends from absolute velocities of $`6000`$km s-1 up to $`\mathrm{20\hspace{0.17em}000}`$km s-1 (The choice of $`6000`$km s-1 distributes more or less evenly the contamination by N v in the near and far red wings). Because of S/N limitations, we could not use the same velocity boundaries for C iv. We define the C iv line core as the part of the line with absolute velocities up to $`3000`$km s-1, the rest being respectively the blue and red wings. Table 2 shows the relative variability of the different parts of the Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv lines. In both lines, the blue part varies significantly more than the red one, or that the core.

Fig. 4 shows the ICCFs between the ultraviolet continuum and the five parts of Ly$`\alpha `$ defined above. A very moderate smoothing of the curves at large lag has been applied in this figure for clarity. The major difference is that both the ZDCF and the ICCF for the far red wing decrease much faster than those with the other parts of the line, reaching 0 correlation at a lag close to 2 yr instead of 4. A faster decrease in correlation for the near red wing is also observed, although it is marginal in the ICCF. These results indicate that the Ly$`\alpha `$ blue wing varies on time scales significantly longer than the red wing. Another difference is that the peak at very small lag is only present in the red wing. It must be noted however that this excess of correlation is not at all compelling in the ZDCFs.

The correlations of the ultraviolet continuum with the different parts of the C iv line (Fig. 5) also show a faster drop of correlation in the red wing, although the correlation has a quite peculiar shape. The much smaller correlation at very small lag is here also mostly contained in the red wing of the line.

## 4 Response function analysis

### 4.1 1D and 2D response functions

It is well known that the emission line variations in Seyfert galaxies follow those of the ultraviolet continuum (e.g., Peterson 1998). This is naturally explained in models where gas in the periphery of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) is illuminated by the ultraviolet radiation from the central engine. As the gas responds to the continuum variation with a delay depending on its location, we can write the relationship between the overall emission line flux $`F_\mathrm{L}(t)`$ and the continuum flux $`F_\mathrm{C}(t)`$ in the form of the following convolution (Krolik & Done 1995):

$$F_\mathrm{L}(t)=<F_\mathrm{L}>+_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Psi }(\tau )[F_\mathrm{C}(t\tau )<F_\mathrm{C}>]d\tau ,$$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\tau )`$ is the 1-dimensional response function, depending on $`\tau `$ only, and is mostly defined by the geometry of the line emitting region; and $`<x>`$ denotes the time average of the variable $`x`$. Note that the form of Eq. (1) allows for arbitrary non-linear relationship between $`F_\mathrm{L}(t)`$ and $`F_\mathrm{C}(t\tau )`$, provided it can be locally approximated by a linear relationship for variations of $`F_\mathrm{C}`$ around $`<F_\mathrm{C}>`$.

Solving Eq. (1) for $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\tau )`$ can in principle provide very strong constraints on the BLR geometry. We perform this deconvolution using the regularized linear inversion deconvolution method, first applied to AGN reverberation studies by Krolik & Done (1995), one of the standard methods described by Horne (1999): We first transform the deconvolution into a set of linear equations, which is in general very ill-conditioned. We sample the response function with a higher time resolution for $`\tau 1`$ yr. To avoid completely unstable solutions, a matrix imposing the smoothness of the solution is added to the matrix representing the convolution. Several kinds of smoothing matrices can be chosen. We opt here for the simplest one, which imposes a constant solution on the equation system. By increasing the weight of the smoothing matrix, one can get arbitrarily smooth solutions. On the other hand, setting the weight to $`0`$ removes all smoothing, and the method becomes equivalent to a singular value decomposition. By convention, a weight of $`1`$ means that the trace of the convolution matrix and that of the smoothing matrix are identical. Throughout the paper, we adopt a weight of $`5`$. No additional smoothing is applied. All numerical integrations are made using a simple trapezoidal formula. Technical details on the method can be found in Press et al. (1992).

Eq. (1) gives the relation between the continuum and the total line flux. However, we can alternatively define a response function for each particular velocity $`v`$. This gives the 2-dimensional response function $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\tau ,v)`$, which relates the line and continuum fluxes according to the following equation:

$$F_\mathrm{L}(t,v)=<F_\mathrm{L}(v)>+_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Psi }(\tau ,v)[F_\mathrm{C}(t\tau )<F_\mathrm{C}>]d\tau $$
(2)
2D response functions of BLRs in AGN have been studied theoretically by several authors (e.g., Blandford & McKee 1982; Welsh & Horne 1991; Pérez et al. 1992; O’Brien et al. 1994), but, to our knowledge, only Wanders et al. (1995) (to a limited extent) and Ulrich & Horne (1996) have attempted to derive them from actual observations. In practice, we integrate $`F_\mathrm{L}(t,v)`$ over velocity bins of width 500 km s-1 close to the center of the line and up to 2000 km s-1 in the outer wings, and replace Eq. (2) by a small number of independent equations having the form of Eq. (1). We use the same regularized linear inversion method to solve these equations.

### 4.2 Results

Fig. 6 shows the 1D response functions and the reconstructed Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv light curves resulting from the convolution of the UV continuum with the response function. We choose the smoothing weight so as not to wash out the features in the response that appear robust (i.e. those that are present over a large range of weights, namely roughly from $`1`$ to $`50`$). The reconstructed light curve matches reasonably well the original light curves, although the effect of measurement uncertainties is quite obvious in the case of C iv. We also checked that the stability of the response function is very good when its time sampling is modified, and when a few points are removed from the light curves.

The response functions of both line light curves are mainly characterized by a quite prominent peak at 0 lag which vanishes for $`\tau 0.5`$ yr, followed by evidence of significant response up to $`\tau 4`$ yr. It must be noted that the significance of the structures in the response function, like the bumps and hollows, is difficult to assess and will therefore be left out of our discussion. The C iv response function differs mostly from that of Ly$`\alpha `$ in the ratio between the response at small lags $`\tau 0.5`$ yr and that at longer lags $`\tau 0.5`$ yr. This ratio is about twice lower in C iv than in Ly$`\alpha `$.

Fig. 7 shows the 2D response function of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission line (we did not attempt to calculate the 2D response function for C iv, because of the poorer S/N). The most obvious result is the very broad response up to $`\tau 0.4`$ yr. The bumps of Fig. 6 are clearly visible, and have also markedly narrower extent in velocity, as expected if their widths are due to Keplerian motion around a massive object (i.e., $`vr^{1/2}`$). A third feature in Fig. 7 is a clear excess of response at lag $`\tau 1`$ yr for negative velocities compared to the positive ones.

To assess more quantitatively this latter result, we average $`\mathrm{\Psi }(\tau ,v)`$ over wide ranges of $`\tau `$, and construct the response profiles over these ranges. We define a range corresponding to the central peak ($`\tau 0.5`$ yr) and one extending from $`\tau =1`$ up to $`\tau =4`$ yr. Fig. 8 shows the two line profiles obtained this way.

The short-lag profile in Fig. 8a is very symmetrical. It is well fitted by a Gaussian with a FWHM of $`\mathrm{18\hspace{0.17em}000}`$km s-1. If left as a free parameter, the center of the Gaussian is located at a velocity of $`260`$km s-1, a value not significantly different from zero.

The long-lag profile in Fig. 8b is however quite asymmetrical. Two important features emerge from this profile: First there are large velocities ($`\mathrm{10\hspace{0.17em}000}`$km s-1 or more) contributing to the blue wing of the profile. Second, the red wing drops sharply at velocities of the order of $`1500`$km s-1 already. The peak around $`6000`$km s-1, very close to the location of the N v emission line, is probably not significant. We note that a contamination by N v should rather be observed in the short-lag profile, as N v should follow the continuum with a smaller lag than Ly$`\alpha `$; its absence in Fig. 8a shows that N v is largely negligible. Below $`1500`$km s-1, the profile is quite symmetric.

## 5 Principal component analysis of the Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv profiles

To test further the existence of the two variability modes suggested by the response function analysis, we performed a principal component analysis (PCA; e.g. Kendall & Stuart 1976) independently on the Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv line profiles. Each of the 179 INES bins of the Ly$`\alpha `$ profile between 1260 and 1560 Å and of the C iv profile between 1680 and 1980 Å is extracted as a separate light curve containing 119 measurements. Each of the 119 Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv profiles can be represented as a point in a 179-dimensional space (one axis per wavelength bin). The PCA finds an orthonormal basis in this space in which most of the coordinates of the 119 points are small. As a result, by projecting these points on the new basis vectors, we can represent the observed line profiles by a linear combination of a few characteristic line profiles determined by the PCA. In the PCA method, the new orthonormal basis is determined by the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix of the $`119\times 179`$ matrix representing either the Ly$`\alpha `$ or C iv profiles at different times. More details on the method can be found in Türler & Courvoisier (1998).

As the response function indicates the existence of line-emitting gas responding rather quickly to the continuum, we perform the PCA on the total spectrum between 1260 and 1560 Å for Ly$`\alpha `$ and between 1680 and 1980 Å for C iv without subtracting the continuum. In this way we force the PCA to produce a line profile whose variations match very well those of the continuum. Any remaining line variability will therefore, by construction, have a light curve uncorrelated with the continuum at short lags.

Fig. 9 shows the profiles (i.e. the eigenvectors) of the two main variability modes. The profiles of the first eigenvectors of Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv are both mostly symmetric, broad bumps, with FWHM’s of about $`\mathrm{16\hspace{0.17em}000}`$ and $`\mathrm{14\hspace{0.17em}000}`$km s-1, respectively (the spike in the C iv profile is certainly due to the reseau mark). The profiles of the two second eigenvectors present on the other hand an asymmetry, the red wing falling off quite faster than the blue one. The similarity of the profiles of Fig 9 with those of Fig. 8 obtained using the response function are quite remarkable, considering that the methods used to derive them are fundamentally different. Again, very little contamination by N v is observed in the Ly$`\alpha `$ profiles, except possibly at about $`6000`$km s-1 in Fig. 9b.

For each variability mode, one can define a pseudo-light curve by projecting the individual measurements on the axis (in the 179-dimensional space) defined by the eigenvector. Fig. 10 shows three pseudo-light curves obtained this way for Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv.

As expected, the first eigenvector for Ly$`\alpha `$ produces a pseudo-light curve very similar to that of the ultraviolet continuum (Fig. 2a). The first C iv pseudo-light curve is almost identical to that of Ly$`\alpha `$ and is therefore not shown in Fig. 10. On the other hand, the pseudo-light curves of the second eigenvectors for both Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv are characterized by variations on longer time scales dominated by the large bump between 1992 and 1996.

The remaining 177 eigenvectors found by the PCA have progressively smaller and smaller associated eigenvalues, which are the variances of the pseudo-light curves. This means that their associated variability modes become less and less significant. Most of these minor variability modes are expected to be white noise due to statistical fluctuations. This can be checked using a *structure function* (SF) *analysis* (e.g., Paltani 1999). We find indeed that already the third eigenvector pseudo-light curves have a nearly flat SF, which means that they are most probably dominated by statistical fluctuations.

## 6 Discussion

### 6.1 General properties

In this analysis, we have used difficult techniques, some of them (in particular the 2D response function) pushing the data to their limit. however, the use of three completely different analysis methods provide us with a way to cross-validate our results. In order to avoid overinterpretation of the data, we discuss below the results that are found to be consistent across the different analyses. In general, the very good level of consistency show that we have really been able to gain information hidden in the light curves.

A first result from the cross-correlation analysis of the full lines, and from the 1D response function is that line response on very long time scales up to $`4`$ yr is present in both lines. In the case of C iv, the response after $`\tau 1`$ yr seems even dominant. As noted above, variations on such long time scales have never been observed in previous studies of line variability in 3C 273 (Koratkar & Gaskell 1991; Kaspi et al. 2000). A simplistic, optically thin, geometrically spherical BLR model with a power-law emissivity law results in a well-defined response function: The response function is flat from $`\tau =0`$ until $`\tau =2R_{\mathrm{in}}/c`$, then decreases more or less rapidly depending on the relationship assumed between emissivity and distance, and reaches $`0`$ for $`\tau 2R_{\mathrm{out}}/c`$, $`R_{\mathrm{in}}`$ and $`R_{\mathrm{out}}`$ being respectively the inner and outer radius of the BLR (see, e.g., Fig. 1 in Pérez et al. 1992). Disregarding the bumps and hollows in the response functions (which are of questionable significance), this model requires $`R_{\mathrm{in}}0.1`$ lyr and $`R_{\mathrm{out}}2`$ lyr. The Ly$`\alpha `$ response function requires furthermore a BLR covering factor decreasing with distance with a steep power-law index $`2.53`$ to account for the steep decrease after the initial peak. The power-law index seems however smaller in C iv, as the decrease after the initial peak is less rapid. Such an index change would require, for instance, a stratification of metallicity, distant clouds being more metallic than nearby ones.

In both response functions, the response at $`\tau =0`$ is the absolute maximum. If the line emitting medium were optically thick, emission by clouds located between the ionizing source and the observer would be strongly suppressed, and there would be very little response between $`\tau =0`$ and $`\tau 2R_{\mathrm{in}}/c`$. Thus the response functions indicate that the emitting medium is optically thin. Other evidences of the presence of optically thin emission medium have been pointed out, like variability properties (Shields et al. 1995), or line ratio measurements (Snedden & Gaskell 1999a, b). Further arguments are presented in Sulentic et al. (2000). Note however that Mathews (1982) finds several possible effects making an optically thick cloud radiate more or less isotropically. It is unclear however whether these effects are actually realized.

Analyzing the line profiles, we find both evidence for symmetry at small lags and asymmetry at longer lags. The PCA analysis shows that the Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv light curves in Fig. 2 can be interpreted as being the result of two distinct variability modes: a broad and symmetric component of the line responding quasi-simultaneously to the continuum and an asymmetric component presenting an excess in the blue wing with slower variations dominated by a large bump between 1992 and 1996. While the PCA will always separate a set of $`n`$ light curves into $`n`$ distinct components, the very good match between the profiles obtained with the 2D response function (Fig. 8) and those obtained with the PCA (Fig. 9) gives us strong confidence that the total Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv lines are really formed by a combination of two separate components. The same asymmetry at long lags is also evident in the cross-correlation analysis.

Some asymmetry at small lags in the form of a small excess in the red wing is also observed in the ICCF cross-correlations. However, their absence from ZDCF cross-correlations and from the 2D response function and PCA profiles makes the reality of this effect doubtful.

In the rest of the section, we discuss separately the possible origin of these two components.

### 6.2 Origin of the symmetric component

The symmetric profile is easily explained in terms of non-organized velocity field, in particular Keplerian motions around a central black hole. The existence of such velocity fields in AGN has been shown by Peterson & Wandel (1999). The signature of Keplerian motions in 2D response functions is a symmetric envelope whose width decreases as $`\sqrt{1/\tau }`$ (where $`\tau `$ is the lag). This general behavior is apparent in Fig. 7, where response at lags $`0.5`$ yr occupies a much larger velocity range than that at longer lags. Elliptical (i.e., with a continuous distribution of eccentricities between $`0`$ and $`1`$), rather than circular, trajectories with random inclinations seem to match best our observations, as there is little response at large velocities for very small lags in the latter case (Pérez et al. 1992; Welsh & Horne 1991). A Keplerian disk emission is also often considered as a potential source of emission lines in AGN. The accretion disk of 3C 273 is very probably close to face-on. Superluminal velocities with $`\beta _{\mathrm{app}}5`$ (Abraham et al. 1996) indeed imply that the angle between the jet (thought to be perpendicular to the disk) and the line of sight is at most $`10^{}`$. In such situation, the predicted response function is much flatter than that of a spherical shell (see Fig. 5d in Welsh & Horne 1991), which does not match well the observed response functions.

The theoretical envelopes of a 2D response function for a Keplerian circular velocity field with random inclinations for two different black-hole masses ($`10^8`$ and $`10^9`$ M) are shown on Fig. 7. These envelopes more or less define the observable upper and lower limits to the 2D response function of any cloud ensemble in gravitational equilibrium with random inclinations.333While clouds may in general have velocities up to the escape velocity, only a small fraction of them can be in this situation if the equilibrium condition is to be satisfied. While the 2D response function is too noisy to provide an accurate measurement of the black-hole mass, we note that there is significant response beyond the $`10^8`$-M envelope (in particular at short lags), which is evidence that a $`10^9`$-M black hole might be required. Because of the disk orientation, disk BLR models would require a black hole 25 times more massive than circular or elliptic models, which can probably be ruled out.

### 6.3 Origin of the asymmetric component

The existence of asymmetry requires that the velocity distributions on both sides of the accretion disk differ. Taken at face value, the results of the three different analyses all imply that, under the assumption that the ultraviolet continuum entirely drives the line emission, there is a significant excess of line-emitting gas animated by blue-shifted velocities from 2000 to 10 000 km s-1 and responding with delays of a few years. This corresponds to the prediction for an infall where cloud velocity increases as clouds approach the black hole (see Fig. 2 $`p=0.5`$ from Pérez et al. (1992); as the diagram is for outflowing gas, the symmetric around the $`v=0`$ axis must be considered). Assuming free-fall of clouds stationary at infinite distance, it is possible to observe a given velocity for a given black-hole mass at lags 4 times larger than in the case of a circular velocity field. Therefore, a 10 000 km s-1 velocity can be observed at a lag of 2 yr if the black-hole mass is about $`410^9`$ M, which is slightly higher than the estimate using the symmetric part of the line. It must be noted however that infall should produce an excess of response and very strong variability at short lags for high redshifted velocities, which is not observed. Indeed, Table 2 shows that, on the contrary, the blue wings are much more variable. If the clouds were optically thick, this absence of redshifted line emission could be explained by intra-cloud obscuration masking the emission of the infalling clouds located between us and the continuum source; however, for optically thin clouds, this argument is not valid.

The ratio between short- and long-lag response is about twice as large in Ly$`\alpha `$ compared to C iv. To explain this difference, one would have to assume that the gas in virial motion has lower C iv emissivity compared to the free-falling gas (due, for instance, to a lower metallicity). Although this cannot be excluded, we do not see a natural scenario resulting in such a configuration.

The existence of blue-shifted, high-velocity clouds seems inescapable. However, the fact that they are found at large lags is only required under the assumption that all line emission is driven by the ultraviolet continuum. Paltani et al. (1998) performed a detailed comparison between the ultraviolet and optical continuum properties of 3C 273 using the same IUE data set as here and a very intensive optical campaign covering a large fraction of the IUE campaign. They found that, while presenting strong similarities (all peaks in the ultraviolet are found in the optical light curve), the optical light curve presents long-term variations that are absent in the ultraviolet. They concluded on the basis of spectral and polarimetric arguments that this slowly varying component (called $``$) may be the synchrotron part of the blazar (synchrotron optical flares have been detected on several occasions in 3C 273 (Courvoisier et al. 1988)). The long-term variability properties of the line emission and of the $``$ component are remarkably similar (See Fig. 8 in Paltani et al. 1998).

If we assume that the slowly-varying line emission and the synchrotron radiation have the same origin, we readily find an explanation for the high, blue-shifted velocities: Clouds that pass in the vicinity of the jet may be entrained by it, creating, because of the geometry of 3C 273, an outflow in the direction of the observer (clouds on the other side of the disk, which should be similarly redshifted, may be masked by the disk). Similar entrainment has been directly observed by van Breugel et al. (1985) in 3C 277.3.

Line excitation by the jet is probably not due to its ionizing radiation: The synchrotron component is much weaker than the blue-bump in the ultraviolet domain, and the Compton component emits significantly only at much higher energies. The large amount of infrared radiation emitted by the jet raises however the interesting possibility that it can be an important source of gas heating, and therefore of collisional excitation. This idea has been developed by Ma & Wills (1998), and the authors have found strong evidence that this type of excitation takes place in radio-loud quasars (Ma & Wills 2001). An important feature of this model is that C iv is much more sensitive to collisional excitation than Ly$`\alpha `$, which explains why the slowly varying component is comparatively much stronger in C iv than in Ly$`\alpha `$. The correlation with the ultraviolet continuum at large lag would either be due to a statistical coincidence in the blue-bump and synchrotron light curves, or be the result of an unknown interaction between these two components.

## 7 Summary and conclusion

We have presented a detailed analysis of the Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv emission line properties in 3C 273. Using three different analysis methods, we find completely consistent results, namely that both Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv are correlated with the ultraviolet continuum up to large lags of $`4`$ yr, that part of the lines follows quite closely the continuum variations, and that there is a strong excess of line emission at high, blue-shifted velocities (up to $`\mathrm{10\hspace{0.17em}000}`$km s-1) and large lags (up to 3 yr at least). The most significant difference between Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv is that, in the latter, this asymmetric excess is comparatively much stronger.

The Ly$`\alpha `$ and C iv response function are roughly compatible with a spherically symmetric gas distribution between a minimum distance of $`0.1`$ lyr and a maximum distance of $`2`$ lyr. We find evidence of Keplerian velocity distribution in the 2D response function of Ly$`\alpha `$. It is marginally possible to explain the results using two separate gas components: one with a virial velocity distribution, and one with a motion consistent with a free fall. This requires a black-hole mass of a few $`10^9`$ M. In both lines, we find evidence that the emission medium is optically thin.

We suggest however that a completely different explanation might be preferred: The high, blue-shifted velocities are the result of entrainment of the surrounding gas by the jet, and correspond therefore to outflowing gas. In this picture, the gas is collisionally excited as it is heated by the infrared radiation from the jet. This readily explains the importance of this component in C iv compared to Ly$`\alpha `$.

An unanswered question is the relationship between the Seyfert (i.e., blue-bump) and blazar (emission from the jet) components in 3C 273. The correlation at large lag between the ultraviolet continuum and the blue-shifted line component might just be a statistical fluke, or might be the signature of a disk-jet interaction. 3C 273 proves once again to be a fundamental object for the understanding of the AGN phenomenon.

This work is supported in part (SP) by the Chandra X-ray Center under NASA contract NAS8-39073.


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# Abstract

## Abstract

We describe a new type of magnetic field sensor which is termed an Electro-Mechanical Resonant Sensor (EMRS). The key part of this sensor is a small conductive elastic element with low damping rate and therefore a high Q fundamental mode of frequency $`f_1`$. An AC current is driven through the elastic element which, in the presence of a magnetic field, causes an AC force on the element. When the frequency of the AC current matches the resonant frequency of the element, maximum vibration of the element occurs and this can be measured precisely by optical means.

We have built and tested a model sensor of this type using for the elastic element a length of copper wire of diameter 0.030 mm formed into a loop shape. The wire motion was measured using a light emitting diode photo-transistor assembly. This sensor demonstrated a sensitivity better than $`0.001`$G for an applied magnetic field of $`1`$G and a good selectivity for the magnetic field direction. The sensitivity can be easily improved by a factor of $`10100`$ by more sensitive measurement of the elastic element motion and by having the element in vacuum to reduce the drag force.

## 1 Introduction

There are several types of magnetic field sensors in common use. Included are compass needles, Hall probes, flux-gate magnetometers, and SQUIDs (superconductive quantum interference devices). The compass needle was discovered $`2000`$ years ago by the Chinese. Other types of sensors were developed relatively recently. The field of application of the different sensors clearly depends on the required accuracy, sensitivity, and expense. A compass needle is simple and does not require electric power or circuits but it indicates only the field direction. Hall probes are more sophisticated devices which can measure fields over a large range of field strengths. They are simple to use, but have problems related to baseline drift and high sensitivity to ambient temperature changes, and they tend to have noisy signals. Their typical resolution is $`10^3`$, but with special precautions it can reach $`5\times 10^4`$. Flux-gate magnetometers are versatile and sensitive but require sophisticated signal processing which tends to limit the frequency band of their response. The most advanced type of magnetic field sensors are SQUIDs (super-conductive quantum interference devices). These probes can measure magnetic fields with extremely high precision, but they require liquid nitrogen or liquid helium to operate and sophisticated electronics. That makes this type of probe expensive and limits its range of application.

In this paper we discuss a new type of inexpensive magnetic field sensor which is depicted in Figure 1. The sensor is a highly miniaturized version of the vibrating wire field measuring technique (Temnykh 1997). In §2 we briefly consider the theory and in §3 we give the results of measurements on a model EMR sensor. In §4 we give a summary.

## 2 Theory

Here we briefly consider properties of an elastic loop sketched in Figure 2. Assume that both ends of the loop, $`A`$ and $`B`$, are fixed. A torque $`T`$ applied to the loop will cause it to tilt through an angle $`\alpha `$ around horizontal $`x`$axis, where

$$T=\frac{\pi Sd^4}{16L}\alpha .$$
(1)
where $`S`$ is the shear modulus of the wire, $`d`$ the wire diameter, $`L`$ is the “arm” length indicated in Figure 2 (see for example Brekhovskikh & Goncharov 1993). For copper $`S0.42\times 10^{11}`$Pa, with $`\mathrm{Pa}\mathrm{N}/\mathrm{m}^2`$.

Consider now a DC current $`I`$ flowing through the loop. The Lorentz force between the current in the loop and the vertical magnetic field $`B_y`$ gives a torque about the $`x`$axis approximately

$$T_I=B_yIR^2\left(\pi +\frac{2H}{R}4\right),$$
(2)
where $`H`$ and $`R`$ are defined in Figure 2. In the equilibrium, $`T_I=(\pi Sd^4/16L)\alpha `$, so that

$$\alpha =\frac{16}{\pi }\left(\pi +\frac{2H}{R}4\right)\frac{LR^2}{Sd^4}B_yI_{dc}.$$
(3)
The displacement of the upper point of loop in $`z`$direction is

$$\delta z=\alpha H=\frac{16}{\pi }\left(\pi +\frac{2H}{R}4\right)\frac{LHR^2}{Sd^4}B_yI_{dc}.$$
(4)
For the loop parameters indicated in the caption of Figure 2, and $`B_y=110`$G (used in the tests described below), we obtain

$$\frac{\delta z[\mathrm{mm}]}{I[A]}0.294.$$
(5)
The measured dependence discussed in §3.3 is $`\delta z[\mathrm{mm}]/I[\mathrm{A}]0.35`$. This is consistent with the analytic calculation if account is taken of the approximate equation (2) for the torque.

The lowest frequency of vibration $`f_1`$ of the loop can be estimated as follows. The moment of inertia of the loop about the $`x`$axes is

$$I=\frac{\pi }{4}\left[(\pi \frac{4}{3})R^32HR^2+(\pi 2)H^2R+\frac{2}{3}H^3\right]\rho _{\mathrm{}}d^2.$$
(6)
where $`\rho _{\mathrm{}}`$ is the density of the loop. Thus the equation of motion for the free vibrations of the loop is

$$I\frac{d^2\alpha }{dt^2}=\left(\frac{\pi Sd^4}{16L}\right)\alpha .$$
(7)
The frequency of vibration is thus

$$f_1=\frac{d}{4\pi }\sqrt{\frac{S}{\rho _{\mathrm{}}L}}\left[(\pi \frac{4}{3})R^32HR^2+(\pi 2)H^2R+\frac{2}{3}H^3\right]^{1/2}.$$
(8)
For the loop dimensions shown in Figure 2 and for the copper wire used ($`\rho _{\mathrm{}}=8.9\times 10^3\mathrm{kg}/\mathrm{m}^3`$), equation (8) gives $`f_1280`$Hz. This is consistent with the measured resonance frequency discussed in §3.2, $`f_1259Hz`$.

The full equation of motion for the driven motion of the loop including the low Reynolds number air friction is

$$I\frac{d^2\alpha }{dt^2}=\left(\frac{\pi Sd^4}{16L}\right)\alpha K\frac{d\alpha }{dt}+T_I(t).$$
(9)
Here, $`T_I(t)`$ is given by equation (2) with the current $`I(t)`$ a function of time, and $`K(4\pi \eta /\mathrm{\Lambda })(2H^3/3+2RH^2)`$, where $`\eta 1.8\times 10^5`$ kg/(m s) the dynamic viscosity of air. Also, for a long cylinder, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=1/2\gamma \mathrm{ln}(v_pd/8\nu )`$ (Landau & Lifshitz 1959), with $`\gamma 0.577`$ Euler’s constant, with $`v_p`$ the peak velocity of the top of the loop, and with $`\nu =\eta /\rho _{air}1.5\times 10^5\mathrm{m}^2/\mathrm{s}`$ the kinematic viscosity of air. Equation (9) implies that the quality factor for the vibrations is $`Q=2\pi f_1I/K`$. For the displacement amplitudes discussed in §3.2, the Reynolds numbers $`Re=v_pd/\nu `$ are indeed less than unity, and this formula gives the prediction $`Q297`$ which is larger than the measured value of $`198`$ (§3.2). We believe that this difference is due to the approximations in the theory of the drag coefficient $`K`$.

## 3  EMR Sensor Tests

We built a number of models of EMR sensors. One of these are shown schematically in Figures 1 and 2. The elastic element was fabricated from a $`0.030`$mm diameter copper wire formed into a loop shape diagrammed in Figure 2. The fundamental mode of vibration corresponds to the top of the loop moving in the $`z`$direction in Figure 2. To measure position of the loop we used a “$`\mathrm{\Pi }`$” shaped opto-electronic assembly H21A1 (Newark Electronics) consisting of a light-emitting-diode (LED) on one leg of the assembly and a photo-transistor on other. The light flux detected by photo-transistor is very sensitive to loop position.

In the following we give the characteristics of the EMR sensor components and results of the sensor tests.

### 3.1 Calibration of Loop Position Sensor

The opto-electronic detector was calibrated by the moving the entire loop using a precise micro-screw and measuring the signal from the photo-transistor. The measured dependence is shown in Figure 9.

One can see that in the range $`0.71.1`$mm the signal from photo-transistor is proportional to the loop displacement.

$$\frac{\delta U[\mathrm{mV}]}{\delta z[\mathrm{mm}]}=421$$
(10)
Here, $`\delta z`$ is the change of the loop position, $`\delta U`$ is the change in the detector signal. $`\delta U=1mV`$ corresponds to a current $`\delta I=\delta U/R=0.16\mu A`$ through the external circuit resistor $`R=6.35k\mathrm{\Omega }`$. In subsequent measurements, the loop position was adjusted to be in the middle of the range of linear dependence.

### 3.2 Elastic Element Resonance Response

Important characteristics of EMR probe are the fundamental resonance frequency $`f_1`$ and the quality factor $`Q`$. We measured these parameters by driving an AC current with various frequencies through the element and measuring amplitude of the AC signal from photo-transistor. In Figure 9 the measured amplitude ( RMS of AC voltage) is plotted as a function of frequency $`f`$ of the AC current.

The data was fitted to the resonance formula

$$A=\frac{A_0}{\sqrt{(f^2f_1^2)^2+f^2f_1^2/Q^2}},$$
(11)
where, $`f_1`$ is the resonance frequency, $`Q`$ is the quality factor, and $`A_0`$ is a constant. This expression follows from equation (9). The fit gave: $`f_1=259`$Hz and $`Q=198`$. Note that according to calibration 10 the maximum of $`16`$mV RMS of AC signal seen at resonance on Figure 9 corresponds to $`\pm 0.053`$mm of amplitude of vibration of the top of the loop. This small amplitude indicates that the optical detector was operating in the linear region of Figure 3. In this test the AC current amplitude trough the element was $`170`$mA and the magnetic field was $`0.5`$G.

### 3.3 Elastic Element Static Test

This test was done to measure the static properties of the elastic element. A triangular AC current of low frequency of $`1`$Hz was driven through the element. A $`110`$G vertical magnetic field was imposed at the EMR probe location by a permanent magnet. The Lorentz force between the magnetic field and current flowing through the probe caused the loop displacement.

Figure 9 shows the current through the element, $`I_{el}`$, and photo-transistor signal as a function of time. One can see the triangular wave current with $`1sec`$ period and photo-transistor signal with similar form. In Figure 9 the signal is plotted as function of current. The right-hand vertical scale shows the element displacement, $`z`$, calculated from the signal by using calibration 10. The data indicates a linear dependence of element displacement on current,

$$\frac{\delta z[\mathrm{mm}]}{\delta I[\mathrm{A}]}0.365,$$
(12)
for the magnetic field of $`110`$G.

### 3.4 EMR Sensor Calibration and Comparison with a Hall Probe

In this test a Hall probe was placed very close to the EMR probe. The Hall probe orientation was accurately adjusted so that it sensed only the vertical component of the magnetic field, which is the component which causes the vibration of elastic element in EMR probe. A sinusoidal AC current of peak amplitude $`85`$mA at the resonance frequency $`259`$Hz was driven through the element. The imposed magnetic field was created by a small permanent magnet. The field strength was varied by accurately moving the permanent magnet relative to the fixed probes. Figure 9 shows the field measured by the Hall probe and the signal from the EMR sensor as a function of the test magnet position.

The data shown in Figure 9 was used to calibrate the EMR probe. Figure 9 shows a plot of the EMR probe signal (RMS of AC voltage) versus magnetic field strength measured with Hall probe and fitted it with linear dependence. This fit gives

$$\frac{\delta B[\mathrm{G}]}{\delta U_{AC}[\mathrm{mV}]}0.0518.$$
(13)
That is, a $`1`$mV change of the EMR probe signal indicates a $`52`$mG change of the magnetic field strength.

Note that because the size of the test magnet was much smaller than the distance between probes and the magnet, the dependence of the magnetic field strength on the position $`p`$ can be approximated by

$$B(p)=C_1+\frac{C_2}{(pC_3)^3}.$$
(14)
Here, $`C_1`$ is a parameter which represents either the background field or the $`zero`$ drift for the Hall probe. The parameter $`C_2`$ is proportional to the testing magnet magnetic moment, The parameter $`C_3`$ is set by the location of the probe in coordinate system used to define testing magnet position. The measurements with the Hall and EMR probes were fitted with the theoretical dependence 14 using $`C_1`$, $`C_2`$ and $`C_3`$ as a free parameters. The residual between measured data and theoretical fit for both probes is shown in Figure 9.

For the EMR probe the difference (measurement - fit) was converted into magnetic field strength using equation (13). Note that at each point, the signal from EMR probe was measured several times. Bars shown for the EMR sensor data represent $`1\sigma `$ errors found from a statistical analysis of the measurements.

We can now compare the difference between measurement and theoretical fit for the EMR sensor and that for the Hall probe. For Hall probe RMS the residual between measured data and theoretical fit is $`2.9\times 10^3`$G, which is consists with the probe specifications. For our EMR sensor the residual is $`0.45\times 10^3`$G. That is, the EMR sensor is 6 times better!

## 4 Discussion

In future refinements, an EMR sensor element optimized for sensitivity can be developed. The geometry may be similar to that discussed above but the wire can be of diameter $`d=0.010`$mm and consist of $`10`$ turns around the loop shown in Figures 1 and 2. Scaling of our test results using equations ( 4) and (8) gives a sensitivity $`5\times 10^6`$G, resonance frequency $`25`$Hz, and a peak current amplitude $`9.4`$mA where the current was scaled $`d^2`$. The elastic element can be vacuum encapsulated using nano-fabrication techniques. For vacuum conditions where the mean-free-path is longer than the dimensions of the loop, the friction coefficient $`K`$ in equation (9) is proportional to the gas density or pressure. We estimate that the quality factor of the resonant element can be increased to $`Q10^310^4`$. This increase in $`Q`$ will increase the sensitivity by a factor $`550`$. As a result the EMR sensor can have a sensitivity of $`1\times 10^6`$ to $`10^7`$G. This is a few orders of magnitude more sensitivity than a Hall probe, but of course it is not as sensitive as SQUIDS. Note that the measurement times at the lowest field levels need to be $`110`$min.

thanks: We thank Drs. M.M. Romanova and S. Temnykh for helpful discussions.

## References

Brekhovskikh, L. M., & Goncharov, V. 1993, Mechanics of Continua and Wave Dynamics (Berlin: Springer)

Landau, L.D., & Lifshitz, E.M. 1959, Fluid Mechanics (Pergamon Press: London), p. 68

Newark Electronics 2000, Catalog 118, p. 586.

Temnykh, A. 1997, Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research, 399, 185


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# Collective excitations of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of a 1D optical lattice

## Abstract

We study low-lying collective modes of a horizontally elongated 87Rb condensate produced in a 3D magnetic harmonic trap with the addition of a 1D periodic potential which is provided by a laser standing-wave along the horizontal axis. While the transverse breathing mode results unperturbed, quadrupole and dipole oscillations along the optical lattice are strongly modified. Precise measurements of the collective mode frequencies at different height of the optical barriers provide a stringent test of the theoretical model recently introduced \[M. Krämer et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88 180404 (2002)\].

preprint: APS/123-QED

The measurement of frequencies of collective modes was immediately recognized to be a fundamental and precise tool to investigate the quantum macroscopic behaviour of atomic Bose-Einstein condensates. The observations of low-lying excitations JILA ; MIT ; noi , including the scissor mode Foot , were an important step toward the characterization of these systems. Collective excitations were also studied at finite temperature JILAT ; MITT ; FootT ; dalibard  investigating frequency shifts and damping rates. All the experiments so far reported were performed on Bose-Einstein condensates magnetically trapped in pure harmonic potentials.

More recently, condensates trapped in periodic potentials have attracted much interest demonstrated by the flourishing of both theoretical and experimental papers in this field. BEC trapped in a periodic potential is particularly interesting as a possible system for the investigation of pure quantum effects. Many results have been reported e.g. interference of atomic de Broglie waves tunneling from a vertical array of BECs kasevich1 , observation of squeezed states in a BEC kasevich2 , realization of a linear array of Josephson junctions science  with BECs, observation of Bloch oscillations arimondoPRLbloch  and culminating with the observation of the quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator mott . Recently, the general interest of this field has been extended to a careful study of the loading of BECs in an optical lattice rolston  and to the observation of collapse and revival of the matter wave field of a BEC greiner02 . In this context, the characterization of collective modes of a condensate in the presence of an optical lattice motivated the development of a new theoretical treatment kraemer  based on a generalization of the hydrodynamic equation of superfluids for a weakly interacting Bose gas stringariPRL96 ; dalfovoRMP  to include the effects of the periodic potential. The collective modes of a trapped BEC are predicted to be significantly modified by the presence of an optical lattice. Precise measurements of the low-lying collective frequency would verify the validity of the mass renormalization theory kraemer .

In this Letter we quantitatively investigate the modification of the low-lying excitation spectrum of a harmonically trapped BEC, due to the presence of a 1D optical lattice. In particular we measure the frequencies of the quadrupole and transverse breathing modes as a function of the optical lattice depth. The experimental observations are compared with the predictions of the model reported in kraemer  consisting in a frequency shift of the collective modes characterized by a motion along the lattice axis, whereas the frequency of collective modes involving an atomic flow transverse respect to the periodic potential, is expected to remain unchanged.

The experiment is performed with a $`F=1,m_F=1`$ 87Rb condensate produced in the combined potential obtained superimposing a 1D optical lattice along the axial direction of a Ioffe-Pritchard magnetic trap science ; pedri . The harmonic magnetic trap is characterized by a cylindrical symmetry with axial and radial frequencies respectively $`\nu _z=8.70\pm 0.02`$ Hz and $`\nu _{}=85.7\pm 0.6`$ Hz. The 1D optical periodic potential is provided by retroreflecting along the axial direction a far detuned laser beam. The light is produced by a commercial Ti:Sapphire laser tuned at $`\lambda =757`$ nm. The radial dimension of the laser beam in correspondence of the condensate is $`300`$ $`\mu `$m, large enough, compared to the radial size of the condensate, to neglect the effect of the optical potential on the radial dynamics. The optical potential height $`V_{opt}`$ has been varied in the experiment up to 5.2 $`E_r`$, $`E_r=h^2/2m\lambda ^2`$ being the recoil energy of an atom of mass $`m`$ absorbing one lattice photon. The corresponding photon scattering rate, below 0.04 s-1, is negligible in the time scale of our experiment. In the experiment the lattice depth spans from the weak- to the tight-binding regime in order to investigate the generality of the theoretical predictions in kraemer .

After the condensate has been produced, in order to excite the collective modes, we perturb the magnetic bias field JILA ; MIT ; noi  by applying five cycles of resonant sinusoidal modulation, thus producing a periodical perturbation of the radial frequency of the magnetic trap. We modulate the radial frequency by 10% of its value. A bigger oscillation amplitude would produce a loss of superfluidity caused by entering regions of unstable dynamics instabilita . This procedure excites modes with zero angular momentum along the symmetry axis of the trap. For an elliptical trap, the two lowest energy modes of this type correspond to in-phase oscillations of the width along $`x`$ and $`y`$ and out-of-phase along $`z`$ (quadrupole mode), and an in-phase compressional mode along all directions (breathing mode). In the Thomas-Fermi regime, for small amplitude oscillations and strongly elongated traps, the two modes are characterized respectively by the frequencies $`\sqrt{5/2}\nu _z`$ and $`2\nu _{}`$ stringariPRL96 . In this limit the two frequencies are quite different and the axial and radial excitations are almost decoupled. The axial width performs small amplitude oscillations at $`2\nu _{}`$ superimposed to wider amplitude oscillations at frequency $`\sqrt{5/2}\nu _z`$ (quadrupole mode), and vice versa for the radial width (transverse breathing mode).

After exciting the collective mode, we let the cloud evolve for a variable time $`t`$, then we switch off the combined trap, let the cloud expand for 29 ms and take an absorption image of the expanded cloud along one of the radial directions. In the regime of large optical lattice heights the density profile after the expansion results in an interferogram consisting of a central cloud and two lateral peaks pedri . From the image we extract the radial ($`R_{}`$) and axial ($`R_z`$) radii of the central peak as a function of time $`t`$. In order to compensate the effect of fluctuations in the condensates number of atoms we then plot the aspect ratio $`R_{}/R_z`$ and fit the data to obtain the mode frequency.

Quadrupole Mode. Following kraemer , a trapped BEC in the presence of a 1D optical lattice can still be described by the hydrodynamic equations that take the same form as in the absence of the lattice once defined a renormalized interaction coupling constant and an effective mass $`m^{}`$. The effective mass depends on the tunneling rate between adjacent optical wells thus accounting for the modified inertia of the system along the lattice. In particular, in the linear regime of small amplitude oscillations, the new frequency of the collective modes is simply obtained by replacing the axial magnetic trap frequency $`\nu _z`$ with $`\nu _z\sqrt{m/m^{}}`$. In our experimental configuration, where we have an elongated magnetic trap ($`\nu _z\nu _{}`$), the dipole mode along the periodic potential and the quadrupole mode are both shifted and characterized respectively by the frequencies

$`\nu _D=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{m}{m^{}}}}\nu _z`$ (1)
$`\nu _Q=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{5}{2}}}\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{m}{m^{}}}}\nu _z=\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{5}{2}}}\nu _D`$
To resonantly excite the quadrupole mode we thus need to first measure $`\nu _D`$. The measurement of the dipole mode frequency is done as in science  where we already investigated the dependence of the frequency of the dipole mode in conjunction with current/phase dynamics in an array of Josephson junctions. In particular, we induce dipole oscillations, by suddenly displacing the position of the magnetic field minimum along $`z`$ and observing the center-of-mass motion as a function of time. The quadrupole mode is then excited by modulating the magnetic bias field at a frequency close to $`\sqrt{5/2}\nu _D`$. The procedure to excite the quadrupole mode takes $``$700 ms producing a significant heating of the condensate. The final observed temperature of $`150`$ nK ($`0.9`$ $`T_c`$) is consistent with the heating rate of $`64\pm 7`$ nK/s measured in the absence of the optical lattice. The heating results in a degradation of the interference pattern visibility so that typically only the central peak is observable also for our larger laser intensities.

A typical series of data is represented in Fig. 1 where, in the upper part, we show images of the expanded condensate taken at different times after the excitation procedure and in the lower part we report the measured aspect ratio together with the sinusoidal fit. We repeated the same procedure for various intensities of the laser light creating the optical lattice. Even if the data were taken at finite temperature, we do not observe any significant damping rate in the time scale of our experiment where we follow the oscillation for $`200`$ ms. This is consistent with previous results for the quadrupole mode in pure magnetic traps MITT ; noi .

From Eqs. (1) $`\nu _D`$ and $`\nu _Q`$ are expected to scale in the same way with the optical potential depth.

In Fig. 2 we report the quadrupole mode frequency as a function of the dipole mode frequency varying the optical lattice height up to 4.1 $`E_r`$. Both the dipole and the quadrupole frequency exhibit a strong dependence on the lattice potential (we observed a variation of $`30\%`$) demonstrating the marked effect of the optical lattice on these modes. Furthermore, from a linear fit of the data shown in Fig. 2 we obtain a slope of $`1.57\pm 0.01`$ in very good agreement with the theoretical prediction of $`\sqrt{5/2}=1.58`$. Using Eqs. (1), from our data we can also extract the value of the effective mass $`m^{}`$ as a function of $`V_{opt}`$. The results obtained from both the dipole mode and the quadrupole mode frequencies are reported in Fig. 3, together with the theoretical predictions reported in kraemer  (continuous line). Even if this theoretical curves have been obtained neglecting the mean field interaction and the magnetic confinement, the agreement with our data is very good. In fact, in the regime of $`V_{opt}`$ explored in our experiment, the effect of interactions is negligible nota  as also confirmed by the direct solution of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation (dashed and dotted line in Fig. 3) massignan . It would be interesting to investigate also the regime of higher optical lattice depth where the effective mass grows exponentially. On the other hand, accessing this regime without entering instability regions seems to be very difficult instabilita .

Transverse Breathing Mode. In a different series of experiments we also excite the transverse breathing mode modulating the bias field at a frequency close to 2 $`\nu _{}`$. In this case the excitation procedure takes only $`30`$ ms and no evident heating of the condensate is observed (from the condensed fraction of the cloud we can estimate a temperature $`T<0.8`$ $`T_c`$). We repeat this measurement for different optical lattice depths and the results are summarized in Fig. 4. The experimental data are in agreement with the expected value 2$`\nu _{}`$ and no dependence on the optical potential height is observed. This confirms the prediction that the dynamical behaviour of the condensate along the radial direction (perpendicular to the lattice axis) is not affected by the presence of the optical potential.

In conclusion, we have investigated the quadrupole and transverse breathing modes of a harmonically trapped condensate in the presence of a 1D optical lattice along the axial direction. The frequency of the quadrupole mode, mainly characterized by an axial oscillation of the cloud shape, shows an evident dependence on the lattice height in agreement with the renormalized mass theory. On the contrary, the transverse breathing mode, which in our geometry predominantly occurs perpendicularly to the lattice axis, does not exhibit any dependence on the lattice intensity. Our measurements demonstrate that the transport properties of a trapped BEC in the presence of a periodic potential can be described generalizing the hydrodynamic equations of superfluids for a weakly interacting Bose gas. From the measured frequency of the quadrupole and dipole modes we extracted a value for the effective mass that is in very good agreement with the predictions obtained even neglecting in the calculation the effect of interactions.

We acknowledge S. Stringari, M.Krämer and M. Modugno for fruitful discussions, theoretical contribution and the critical reading of the manuscript. This work has been supported by the EU under Contracts No. HPRI-CT 1999-00111 and No. HPRN-CT-2000-00125, by the MURST through the PRIN 1999 and PRIN 2000 Initiatives and by the INFM Progetto di Ricerca Avanzata “Photon Matter”.


text:
# An introduction to the Generalized Parton Distributions

## 1 Foreword

This presentation is intended to provide a pedagogical introduction to the subject of Generalized Parton Distributions and associated phenomenology. It cannot be exhaustive on the subject, and the reader should consult reviews or papers such as Refs. Vdh99 ; Fil01 ; Goe01 ; Rad01 ; Bel02 , and references therein, for a more rigourous and complete account of the subject. At this conference, M. Vanderhaeghen gave another talk on the subject, with more emphasis on theory and its latest developments Vdh02 .

## 2 Basic concepts

In the last few years, significant theoretical advances were made that allow, using Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and within some conditions, to factorize the amplitude for exclusive electroproduction processes into a hard scattering at the parton level and non-perturbative Generalized Parton Distributions (GPD) - see Fig. 1. From the theoretical point of view, as a particular case of factorization theorems, the introduction of these distributions builds a bridge between fundamental QCD, phenomenology and experimental observables. The processes under consideration are the deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS: $`epep\gamma `$) and the deeply virtual meson production (DVMP: $`epep\rho ,\omega ,\pi \mathrm{}`$). We understand by “deeply virtual” a kinematical regime where the virtuality $`Q^2`$ of the exchanged photon $`\gamma ^{}`$ is large and where the available energy in the $`\gamma ^{}p`$ system is above the resonance region, typically larger than 2 GeV.

The GPDs contain the hitherto most complete description of the internal quark-gluon structure of hadrons. For each of the quark flavours (we will not consider the gluon sector in this talk), there are four of these distributions, $`H`$, $`E`$, $`\stackrel{~}{H}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{E}`$, which depend on three variables: the average longitudinal momentum fraction $`x`$ of the struck parton in the initial and final states, a skewness parameter $`\xi `$ which measures the difference between these two momentum fractions, and the momentum transfer $`t`$ to the target nucleon. The above mentioned factorization theorems Ji97 ; Col97  are applicable for $`|t|/Q^21`$.

The physical content of the GPDs is quite rich: in simple terms, whereas ordinary parton distributions yield, for example, the probability $`|\psi (x)|^2`$ that a quark carries a fraction $`x`$ of the momentum of a fast moving nucleon, the GPDs measure the coherence $`\psi ^{}(x\xi )\psi (x+\xi )`$ between two different (quark) momentum states of the nucleon and in this way quark momentum correlations in the nucleon. In quantum mechanics, one cannot reduce the knowledge of a system formed of a superposition of states (in our case, an infinite number of states described by the variable $`x`$) to the sole probabilities that the system be in a particular state. The interferences between these states, or coherences, or off-diagonal elements, are necessary for a full description of the system.

If one of the momentum fractions ($`x+\xi `$ or $`x\xi `$) is negative, it is interpreted as representative of an antiquark. Meson-like $`q\overline{q}`$ configurations in the nucleon may then be investigated. As mentioned in Sec. 3.2, the GPDs are expected to exhibit a rich structure at $`|x|<\xi `$ which is related in particular to the pion cloud around the nucleon.

Whereas $`x`$ and $`\xi `$ characterize solely the longitudinal momenta of the partons involved, the $`t`$-dependence of the GPDs is related to their transverse momenta. By Fourier transform, it is conceivable to access simultaneously the longitudinal momentum fraction of quarks and their position in the transverse plane Bur00 . This would open the way to a femto-photography of the nucleon Ral01 .

The richness of information contained in the GPDs may be illustrated by several quite remarkable relations, among which

* the forward limit:

$$\underset{t0,\xi 0}{lim}H(x,\xi ,t)=q(x),\text{or}\overline{q}(x)\text{if}x<0$$

and

$$\underset{t0,\xi 0}{lim}\stackrel{~}{H}(x,\xi ,t)=\mathrm{\Delta }q(x),\text{or}\mathrm{\Delta }\overline{q}(x).$$

As expected from the above discussion, the ordinary parton distributions, both unpolarized $`q(x)`$ and polarized $`\mathrm{\Delta }q(x)`$, are but a limiting case of the GPDs. Note that, though the GPDs are defined functions for $`\xi =0`$ or $`t=0`$, these variables take only finite, non-zero values in any experiment. Note also that the functions $`E`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{E}`$ have no connection with the ordinary parton distributions. They are not constrained by deeply inelastic scattering, which corresponds to this forward limit.
* the form factor limit:

$$\xi ,_1^{+1}H(x,\xi ,t)𝑑x=F(t)$$

(4 relations of this type for each quark flavor). After integration over $`x`$, the $`t`$-dependence of the GPDs is given by the nucleon elastic form factors ($`H`$ Dirac, $`E`$ Pauli, $`\stackrel{~}{H}`$ axial vector and $`\stackrel{~}{E}`$ pseudoscalar form factors).
* Ji’s sum rule:

$$\xi ,\underset{t0}{lim}\frac{1}{2}_1^{+1}x(H+E)(x,\xi ,t)𝑑x=J_q,$$

where $`J_q`$ is the total angular momentum, i.e. the sum of intrinsic spin and of orbital angular momentum, carried by the quarks. This sum rule provides a way to understand the origin of the nucleon spin. Indeed, the contribution of the quark intrinsic spin ($`\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Sigma }`$) was measured at CERN/SMC, SLAC and DESY/HERMES. The gluon contribution ($`\mathrm{\Delta }G`$) will be determined at CERN/COMPASS, RHIC/STAR and SLAC. The knowledge of GPDs allows one to isolate the contribution of the quark orbital angular momentum to the total spin of the nucleon: $`\frac{1}{2}=J_q+J_g=(\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Sigma }+L_q)+(\mathrm{\Delta }G+L_g)`$.

The first two relations demonstrate the new unifying frame given by the GPDs: observables as different as elastic form factors and parton distributions are related to each other through these new functions. However, the knowledge of limits, or projections, does not imply a complete knowledge of the GPDs themselves. Models are being developed for a complete representation.

## 3 GPD calculations

We give here a short summary of selected calculations of the GPDs. For a more complete account, see Refs. Goe01 ; Bel02 ; Vdh02 .

### 3.1 Constrained parametrizations

The “double distributions” Rad99  are well suited for the description of the GPDs. They incorporate the GPDs mathematical properties (polynomiality of the Mellin moments) and have a definite physical content. They satisfy positivity bounds, a number of inequalities that GPDs have been shown to obey. Elastic form factors and parton distributions are included as limiting values.

An alternate, “dual” parametrization, based on a partial wave expansion, has recently been proposed Pol02 .

### 3.2 Model calculations

QCD-inspired models are very useful to understand how non-perturbative mechanisms generate various structures in GPDs.

In the simple bag model, GPDs have but a weak dependence on $`\xi `$, and show no structure for $`|x|<\xi `$. A number of calculations in different constituent quark models are being developed.

In contradistinction, in the chiral quark-soliton model, where the quarks interact through a highly non-linear pion field, the GPDs exhibit a rich structure for $`|x|<\xi `$. The same model leads also to a $`t`$-dependence which can be approximated by $`H(x,0,t)x^{at}q(x)`$ and deviates significantly from the early factorized ansatz $`H(x,0,t)F(t)q(x)`$.

In the region $`x>\xi `$, the use of light-cone wave functions for the nucleon allows to write GPDs as overlap integrals. In considering the nucleon as a superposition of Fock states, e.g. $`|p>=|uud>+|uudq\overline{q}>+|uudg>+\mathrm{}`$, the GPDs are useful to understand the role of given states.

### 3.3 Lattice QCD

Moments of ordinary parton distributions are being evaluated using QCD calculations on a lattice. Likewise, GPD moments can be calculated Sch02 .

## 4 Observables

Both DVCS and DVMP processes are sensitive to GPDs of the nucleon, once it is established that the handbag diagram of Fig. 1 dominates in the kinematical regions where measurements are performed. These processes have different merits and sensitivities summarized in Table 1. The sensitivity of specific observables, including polarization observables, has been studied in detail in Refs. Goe01 ; Bel02 .

While $`\xi `$ and $`t`$ are variables fixed by the kinematics of the process under study, $`x`$ enters the amplitude as an integration variable. Therefore, in most cases, observables are expressed in terms of integrals over $`x`$ of GPDs. The only exception is in observables sensitive only to the imaginary part of the handbag amplitude: because of the propagators $`(x\pm \xi +i\epsilon )^1`$ in the diagram of Fig. 1, the GPDs enter then with an argument $`x=\pm \xi `$. This is the case for the DVCS beam spin asymmetries discussed in Sec. 6.

In general, the extraction of GPDs from observables requires a deconvolution and, in principle, an infinite set of data. In practice, this problem has mathematical properties analogous to e.g. tomography Ter01  and may be solved (with associated uncertainties) with a finite set of data. This complete exercise remains to be done with either real or simulated data.

## 5 Finite $`Q^2`$

Most of the discussion so far was based on a high momentum transfer approximation (Bjorken limit). In practice, the measurements of the exclusive processes under study are or will be performed at rather moderate $`Q^2`$, 1 to 6 GeV2. The relevant corrections are listed in this Section.

As is the case for the ordinary parton distributions, the GPD evolution leads to logarithmic corrections ($`\mathrm{ln}Q^2`$): the dependence of the GPDs on a factorization scale $`\mu `$ results from the evolution equation
$`\mu \frac{}{\mu }H(x,\xi ,t;\mu )=𝒦(x,y,\xi ;\alpha _s(\mu ))H(y,\xi ,t;\mu )𝑑y`$,
where $`\alpha _s`$ is the strong coupling constant. The kernel $`𝒦`$ has been calculated at next-to-leading order (NLO).

At order $`𝒪(1/Q)`$ (twist-3), beyond a minimal gauge restoring term, the contribution of a longitudinal exchanged photon $`\gamma _L^{}`$ to DVCS can be expressed in terms of derivatives of (twist-2) GPDs. This is the so-called Wandzura-Wilczek approximation. The exchange of a gluon between the quark in the handbag loop and the nucleon core would give an additional contribution, thought to be very small, in analogy with a similar case in deeply inelastic scattering.

At the next order in $`Q`$, trivial kinematical corrections $`𝒪(t/Q^2,M^2/Q^2)`$, surprisingly enough, are not always considered. There are also dynamical target mass corrections $`𝒪(M^2/Q^2)`$. Finally the transverse momenta of quarks modify the quark propagators in the diagram of Fig. 1: $`(x\pm \xi +i\epsilon )^1(x\pm \xi +k_{}^2/Q^2+i\epsilon )^1`$. Many other twist-4 contributions remain to be evaluated.

The aim of the first generation experiments (see Sec. 6) is then to establish that observables have the anticipated $`Q^2`$ dependence in order to validate the GPD approach at leading twist or to disentangle higher twist contributions.

## 6 Experiments

The difficulty in the experimental study of GPDs is the measurement of exclusive processes, of rather low cross sections, at the highest possible momentum transfer $`Q^2`$. This requires high beam energy and luminosity, as well as large acceptance and high resolution detectors. At present, these studies have been initiated at HERMES (sufficient energy, 27 GeV, but relatively low luminosity) and at Jefferson Lab (beam energy of 4 to 6 GeV, but high product luminosity $`\times `$ acceptance). In the next few years, significant progress could be achieved with a 12 GeV upgrade at JLab/CEBAF 12gev , and using the 200 GeV muon beam at COMPASS dHo00 . A new high luminosity, high duty cycle machine, operating in the 25-50 GeV range, would be ideally suited for these studies Fer02 .

DVCS should be the cleanest process for GPD studies. Through the optical theorem, it is linked to deeply inelastic scattering for which the evolution of the structure functions is well understood down to $`Q^21`$ GeV2. In addition, the $`\gamma \gamma ^{}\pi ^0`$ form factor, whose calculation proceeds through the same type of handbag diagram as in Fig. 1, gives also a good indication that DVCS should scale early. Corrections may then be expected to be understood at rather low $`Q^2`$. As mentioned in Table 1, DVCS is indistinguishable from the known Bethe-Heitler (BH) process where the final photon is emitted by the incident or scattered electron. DVCS dominates over BH only at very high energies (COMPASS, HERA). At beam energies accessible at JLab or HERMES, the large BH process may be turned into an advantage by measuring interferences in spin or charge asymmetries; DVCS could then be accessed at the amplitude level.

The first experimental indications of DVCS at the quark level were published last year Air01 ; Ste01 . DVCS was also observed at HERA hera , in a kinematical region that makes it more sensitive to gluons. The approximate $`\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Phi }`$ dependence of the observed beam spin asymmetry (see Fig. 2) is expected from any process which conserves helicity in the $`\gamma ^{}p\gamma p`$ scattering Die97 . The process described by the (leading order) handbag diagram of Fig. 1 has such a property. The comparison with first calculations Goe01 ; Bel02 ; Fre02  using the GPD formalism is very encouraging. From the experimental point of view, it should be noted that at HERMES, the 800 MeV missing mass resolution in the $`epe\gamma X`$ reaction is not sufficient to select unambiguously the (dominating) $`epep\gamma `$ events, while at JLab/CLAS, the 110 MeV missing mass resolution in the $`epepX`$ reaction causes the $`epep\gamma `$ and $`epep\pi ^0`$ to mix, but a separation was done using a shape analysis of the relevant spectra. First results of beam charge asymmetry measurement in DVCS were also reported from HERMES vdS02 .

Both experiments will soon obtain more statistics. Furthermore, both detection systems will be improved in the next couple years. In particular, at JLab/CLAS, a forward lead-tungstanate calorimeter, covering the photon angles between 3 and 12, is being built, together with a specially designed two-coil solenoid acting as a trap for background Möller electrons Bur01 . A luminosity of $`2\times 10^{34}`$ cm-2s-1 is anticipated with this large acceptance spectrometer. Another DVCS experiment will run in 2003 at JLab/Hall A Ber00 , using one High-Resolution Spectrometer for detection of the scattered electrons, a new lead-fluoride calorimeter for the outgoing photons, and a ring of thick plastic scintillators for the recoil protons Ber00 . Preliminary tests indicate that a luminosity of $`10^{37}`$ cm-2s-1 can be reached, in spite of the rather open geometry and forward disposition of the proton detector.

Because of the necessary additional gluon exchange to create a meson, the asymptotic regime should be reached at higher $`Q^2`$ in DVMP processes. However observables such as asymmetries and ratios (e.g. $`\rho /\omega `$) are expected to scale earlier. As illustrated in Table 1, DVMP, at leading order, is sensitive to different combinations of GPDs as DVCS. Also the different quark content of various mesons gives access to different flavour combinations of these distributions. Since factorization has been proven only for longitudinal photons Col97 , the corresponding contribution must be extracted from the experiment. For vector mesons, this is done via a measurement of the meson polarization through the angular distribution of its decay products ($`\rho \pi ^+\pi ^{}`$, $`\omega \pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^0`$, $`\varphi K^+K^{}`$) and the verifiable application of $`s`$-channel helicity conservation to relate the virtual photon helicity to the one of the emitted vector meson. For pseudoscalar mesons, one has to resort to a Rosenbluth separation to extract $`\sigma _L`$ (this has not been attempted yet in the considered kinematical regime).

The first results of (almost) exclusive electroproduction of $`\rho `$ mesons (longitudinal cross sections) Air00  in a kinematical region where the handbag diagram is expected to dominate are also very suggestive of the validity of the GPD approach. Systematic studies and tests of the predicted $`Q^6`$ scaling of the longitudinal cross sections are underway at JLab/CLAS: data taken at beam energies of 4.2 GeV Had02  and 5.75 GeV Gui99 , up to $`Q^24`$ GeV2, are being analyzed.

The kinematical domain accessible with existing and projected facilities is illustrated in Fig. 3. The high $`Q^2`$ approximate limit for the existing high energy facilities results from count rate limitations due to a lower luminosity and decreasing cross sections as $`Q^2`$ and $`x_B`$ increase.

## 7 Conclusions and outlook

Generalized Parton Distributions have emerged in the past few years as a powerful, attractive and unifying concept for the hadron structure. Their $`Q^2`$ evolution has been worked out to next-to-leading order, and twist-3 (and some twist-4) contributions to deeply virtual and exclusive processes have been calculated. The interpretation and significance of GPDs are under intense study.

The deconvolution problem posed by the extraction of GPDs from experimental observables was barely touched upon, but mathematical methods exist, or are being developed, that address this particular issue.

On the experimental side, we are still at a very early stage. There are indications that the handbag diagram is at work. In the next two or three years, more dedicated and higher statistics experiments will attempt to establish on firm grounds the validity of this theoretical approach; this includes tests of $`Q^2`$-scaling laws and of factorization. Beyond that, systematic measurements of GPDs will be performed in a large kinematical domain at several facilities.