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# Stellar wind signatures in sdB stars?

## 1. Introduction

Subdwarf B (sdB) stars are core helium burning stars with very thin hydrogen envelopes which all have masses of 0.46-0.50 solar masses and can be identified with models of extreme horizontal Branch (EHB) stars (Heber, 1986).

The atmospheres of sdB stars are typically deficient in helium by more than one order of magnitude, but there is a wide spread from solar He/H to stars with He/H$`<`$10-4. These He abundances are still much too large to be accounted for by diffusion, i.e. by the balance between radiative levitation and gravity (Michaud et al., 1989) which predicts He abundances lower by two orders of magnitudes than the average observed He abundance of He/H$``$10-2 (see Fontaine & Chayer, 1997). Since the diffusion timescale is small (104 yrs) compared to the EHB lifetime (108 yrs), no He should be visible in the radiative atmospheres: the puzzle here is not so much a lack of He but an excess in the sdB atmospheres.

Modelling of metal diffusion in sdB stars is still in its infancy. First attempts have been published by Charpinet et al. (1997) for Fe and Unglaub & Bues (2001) for C, N and O but met the observational constraints with very little success (except for iron).

## 2. Diffusion and mass loss

Stellar winds have frequently been suggested as an explanation. The first realistic calculations have been carried out by Fontaine & Chayer (1997) and Unglaub & Bues (1998, 2001). The observed He abundances can indeed be explained if a mass loss rate of 10-12 to 10-14 Msolar/yr is adopted.

Yet it is not clear whether diffusion models incorporating mass loss can explain the metal abundance anomalies, at the same time as the He abundance.

Mass loss has been detected in sdO stars which are, however, considerably more luminous than sdB stars. HD128220B (Teff=40600K, log g=4.5, Rauch, 1993) for example displays strong, broad, blue shifted N V lines produced in its stellar wind.

Since sdB stars are less luminous we expect the mass loss rates to be lower than in sdO stars and therefore harder to detect. Indeed, up to now there is no observational proof for mass loss and, therefore, the mass loss rate is still a free parameter for diffusion models.

First hints about stellar winds came from the quantitative analysis of optical blue spectra obtained during the survey of Maxted et al. (2001). They derived atmospheric parameters of 40 sdB stars from Balmer (H$`\beta `$ to H9) and He I lines using static NLTE model atmospheres (see Napiwotzki, 1997). The results are reproduced in Figure 1. As can be seen all but five stars fall onto the extreme Horizontal Branch as expected. The five stars above the EHB in Fig. 1 have probably already evolved from the EHB. A comparison of theoretical H$`\alpha `$ line profiles (synthesised for the atmospheric parameters derived from the blue spectra, see Maxted et al., 2001) to the observations revealed perfect matches for all stars except for the four post-EHB stars (see Fig. 2).

By plotting the goodness of fit versus luminosity (Fig. 3) of the stars a clear trend becomes obvious. The quality of the fit deteriorates with increasing luminosity. In the optical spectral range H$`\alpha `$ is the line most sensitive to stellar winds. Line asymmetries are another signature indicative of a stellar wind.

Since mass loss rates of hot stars are expected to increase with luminosity (Pauldrach et al., 1998), we conjecture that the observed deviations of the H$`\alpha `$ lines from the predictions of static NLTE models for the most luminous stars in our sample are caused by stellar winds. The somewhat asymmetric profiles of PG0909+164 and PG1000+408 make these two targets the best candidates.

SdB stars form a fairly homogenous group of stars which evolve to higher luminosities (from 10-3.4 to 10-2 Eddington luminosities, see Fig. 3), into the regime where winds switch on. If we can establish that some sdB stars do have winds, it will provide an important test for models of line-driven winds.

High-quality UV spectra are needed to establish whether these stars really do have stellar winds.

## References

Charpinet S., Fontaine G., Brassard P., Chayer P. et al. 1997, ApJ 483, L23

Dorman B., Rood R.T., O’Connell R.W., 1993, ApJ 419, 594

Fontaine G., Chayer P. 1997, 3rd Conf. on Faint blue stars, Schenectady, L. Davis press, p. 169

Maxted P.F.L., Heber U., Marsh, T.R. North R.C. 2001, MNRAS 326, 1391

Michaud G., Bergeron P. Heber U., Wesemael F. 1989 ApJ 338, 417

Napiwotzki, R. 1997, A&A 322, 256

Pauldrach A., Puls J., Kudritzki R.P., Méndez R.H., Heap S.R. 1988, A&A 207, 123

Rauch T. 1993, A&A 276,171

Unglaub K., Bues I. 1998, A&A 338,75

Unglaub K., Bues I. 2001, A&A


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# Improved Compact Visibility Representation of Planar Graph via Schnyder’s RealizerA preliminary version is [21]. Research supported in part by NSC grant NSC-91-2213-E-001-028.

## 1 Introduction

In a visibility representation of a planar graph $`G`$, the nodes of $`G`$ are represented by non-overlapping horizontal line segments, called node segments, such that the node segments representing any two adjacent nodes of $`G`$ are vertically visible to each other. (See Figure 1.) Computing compact visibility representations of planar graphs is not only fundamental in algorithmic graph theory  but also practically important in VLSI layout design .

Without loss of generality the input $`G`$ can be assumed to be an $`n`$-node plane triangulation. Following the convention of placing the endpoints of node segments on the grid points, one can easily see that any visibility representation of $`G`$ can be made no higher than $`n1`$. Otten and van Wijk  gave the first known algorithm for visibility representations of planar graphs, but no width bound was provided for the output. Rosenstiehl and Tarjan , Tamassia and Tollis , and Nummenmaa  independently proposed $`O(n)`$-time algorithms whose outputs are no wider than $`2n5`$. Kant  improved the required width to at most $`\frac{3n6}{2}`$ by decomposing $`G`$ into its four-connected components and then combining the visibility representations of the four-connected components into a visibility representation of $`G`$. Kant left open the question of whether the upper bound $`\frac{3n6}{2}`$ on the width is also a worst-case lower bound. In the present paper we provide a negative answer to Kant’s question by presenting an algorithm that always produces a visibility representation for $`G`$ whose width is at most $`\frac{22n40}{15}`$.

Our algorithm, just like that of Nummenmaa , is based upon the concept of canonical ordering for plane triangulations. Specifically, our algorithm draws $`G`$ incrementally in a greedy manner according to any given canonical ordering of $`G`$. An arbitrary canonical ordering of $`G`$ may yield a visibility representation with width $`2nO(1)`$. Rosenstiehl and Tarjan  even conjectured that selecting a node ordering to minimize the area of the corresponding visibility representation is NP-hard. We show that the required width can be bounded by $`\frac{22n40}{15}`$ using the best one out of the three canonical orderings obtained from Schnyder’s realizer  for $`G`$. Our algorithm can easily be implemented to run in $`O(n)`$ time, bypassing the complicated subroutines of finding four-connected components and four-block trees  required by the best previously known algorithm of Kant . Also, for the case that $`G`$ has no degree-three (respectively, degree-five) internal node, the output visibility representation of our algorithm is no wider than $`\frac{4n9}{3}`$ (respectively, $`\frac{4n7}{3}`$). Moreover, for the case that $`G`$ is four-connected, the output visibility representation of our algorithm is no wider than $`n1`$, matching the best known result due to Kant and He .

Schnyder’s realizer  for plane triangulation was invented for compact straight-line drawing of plane graph. Researchers  also obtained similar and other graph-drawing results using the concept of canonical ordering for tri-connected plane graph. Nakano  attempted to explain the hidden relation between these two concepts. Recently, Chiang, Lin, and Lu  presented a new algorithmic tool orderly spanning tree that extends the concept of $`st`$-ordering  (respectively, canonical ordering and realizer) for plane graphs unrequired to be biconnected (respectively, triconnected and triangulated). Orderly spanning tree has been successfully applied to obtain improved results in compact graph drawing , succinct graph encoding with query support , and design of compact routing tables . Very recently, Bonichon, Gavoille, and Hanusse  obtained the best known upper bounds on the numbers of distinct labeled and unlabeled planar graphs based on well orderly spanning tree, a special case of orderly spanning tree. As a matter of fact, we first successfully obtained the results of this paper using orderly spanning tree, and then found out that Schnyder’s realizer suffices.

Our analysis requires an equality (see Lemma 3) relating the number of internal nodes in the three trees of a realizer $`R`$ of $`G`$ and the number of faces of $`G`$ intersecting with all three trees of $`R`$. The equality was proved very recently by Bonichon, Saëc, and Mosbah  as a corollary of the so-called Wagner’s Theorem  on Schnyder’s realizers. Their proof requires a careful case analysis for 32 different configurations. As a by-product, we give a much simpler proof for the equality without relying on Wagner’s Theorem on realizers.

The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 gives the preliminaries. Section 3 describes and analyzes our algorithm. Section 4 discusses the tightness of our analysis. Section 5 concludes the paper with an open question.

## 2 Preliminaries

Let $`G`$ be the input $`n`$-node plane triangulation, a planar graph equipped with a fixed planar embedding such that the boundary of each face is a triangle. Clearly, $`G`$ has $`2n5`$ internal faces. Let $`I`$ consist of the internal nodes of $`G`$. Let $`R=(T_1,T_2,T_3)`$ be a realizer of $`G`$, which is obtainable in $`O(n)`$ time . That is, the following properties hold for $`R`$.

* The internal edges of $`G`$ are partitioned into three edge-disjoint trees $`T_1`$, $`T_2`$, and $`T_3`$, each rooted at a distinct external node of $`G`$.
* The neighbors of each node $`v`$ in $`I`$ form six blocks $`U_1`$, $`D_3`$, $`U_2`$, $`D_1`$, $`U_3`$, and $`D_2`$ in counterclockwise order around $`v`$, where $`U_j`$ (respectively, $`D_j`$) consists of the parent (respectively, children) of $`v`$ in $`T_j`$ for each $`j\{1,2,3\}`$.

For each index $`i\{1,2,3\}`$, let $`\mathrm{}_i`$ be the node labeling of $`G`$ obtained from the counterclockwise preordering of the spanning tree $`\overline{T}_i`$ of $`G`$ consisting of $`T_i`$ plus the two external edges of $`G`$ that are incident to the root of $`T_i`$. (Each $`\overline{T}_i`$ is as a matter of fact an orderly spanning tree  of $`G`$.) Let $`\mathrm{}_i(v)`$ be the label of $`v`$ with respect to $`\mathrm{}_i`$. For example, Figure 2 shows a realizer of the plane triangulation shown in Figure 1(a) with labeling $`\mathrm{}_1`$. The counterclockwise preordering of $`\overline{T}_2`$ is $`2,12,10,11,5,9,4,3,6,8,7,1`$; and that of $`\overline{T}_3`$ is $`12,1,7,8,11,10,9,6,3,5,4,2`$.

###### Lemma 1 (see, e.g., )

The following properties hold for each index $`i\{1,2,3\}`$, where $`u_1`$ and $`u_2`$ are the nodes with $`\mathrm{}_i(u_1)=1`$ and $`\mathrm{}_i(u_2)=2`$.

1. The subgraph $`G_k`$ of $`G`$ induced by the nodes $`v`$ with $`1\mathrm{}_i(v)k`$ is biconnected. The boundary of $`G_k`$’s external face is a cycle $`C_k`$ containing $`u_1`$ and $`u_2`$.
2. If $`v`$ is the node with $`\mathrm{}_i(v)=k`$, then $`v`$ is on $`C_k`$; and the neighbors of $`v`$ in $`G_{k1}`$ form an interval with at least two nodes on the path $`C_{k1}\{(u_1,u_2)\}`$.
3. The neighbors of $`v`$ in $`G`$ form the following four blocks in counterclockwise order around $`v`$: $`(`$1$`)`$ the parent of $`v`$ in $`T_i`$, $`(`$2$`)`$ the node set consists of the neighbors $`u`$ in $`GT_i`$ with $`\mathrm{}_i(u)<\mathrm{}_i(v)`$, $`(`$3$`)`$ the children of $`v`$ in $`T_i`$, and $`(`$4$`)`$ the node set consists of the neighbors $`u`$ in $`GT_i`$ with $`\mathrm{}_i(u)>\mathrm{}_i(v)`$.

A labeling $`\mathrm{}`$ of $`G`$ that labels the external nodes by $`1`$, $`2`$, and $`n`$ and satisfies Lemmas 1(1) and 1(2) is a canonical ordering of $`G`$ (e.g., see ). Therefore, $`\mathrm{}_1`$, $`\mathrm{}_2`$, and $`\mathrm{}_3`$ are all canonical orderings of $`G`$.

For each node $`v`$ of $`G`$, let $`\mathrm{deg}(v)`$ denote the degree of $`v`$, i.e., the number of neighbors of $`v`$ in $`G`$. For each index $`i\{1,2,3\}`$, let $`\mathrm{deg}_i^{}(v)`$ (respectively, $`\mathrm{deg}_i^+(v)`$) be the number of neighbors $`u`$ of $`v`$ in $`G`$ with $`\mathrm{}_i(u)<\mathrm{}_i(v)`$ (respectively, $`\mathrm{}_i(u)>\mathrm{}_i(v)`$). Clearly, we have $`\mathrm{deg}(v)=\mathrm{deg}_i^{}(v)+\mathrm{deg}_i^+(v)`$. For each node $`v`$ in $`I`$, let

$`\mathrm{score}_i(v)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{min}\{\mathrm{deg}_i^+(v),\mathrm{deg}_i^{}(v)\};`$
$`\mathrm{score}(v)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{score}_1(v)+\mathrm{score}_2(v)+\mathrm{score}_3(v).`$
For example, if $`\mathrm{}_1`$ is the labeling obtained from the tree $`T_1`$ consisting of the thick edges shown in Figure 2, then we have $`\mathrm{score}_1(v_8)=2`$, $`\mathrm{score}_1(v_9)=1`$, $`\mathrm{score}_1(v_{10})=2`$, and $`\mathrm{score}_1(v_{11})=1`$. Let

$$\mathrm{score}_i=\underset{vI}{}\mathrm{score}_i(v).$$

Let $`[\pi ]`$ be 1 (respectively, 0) if condition $`\pi `$ is true (respectively, false). Let $`L_i`$ consist of the leaves of $`T_i`$. For each node $`vI`$, let

$$\mathrm{int}(v)=\underset{i=1}{\overset{3}{}}[vL_i].$$

Let $`B`$ consist of the internal nodes $`v`$ of $`G`$ with $`\mathrm{int}(v)=2`$ and $`\mathrm{deg}(v)=5`$. We have the following lemma.

###### Lemma 2

For each node $`v`$ in $`I`$, we have $`\mathrm{score}(v)3+2\mathrm{int}(v)[vB]`$.

Proof.  By definition of realizer and Lemma 1(3), it is clear that

$`\mathrm{score}_1(v)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{min}\{|D_3|+2,|D_1|+|D_2|+1\};`$
$`\mathrm{score}_2(v)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{min}\{|D_1|+2,|D_2|+|D_3|+1\};`$
$`\mathrm{score}_3(v)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{min}\{|D_2|+2,|D_1|+|D_3|+1\}.`$
We may assume without loss of generality that $`|D_1||D_2||D_3|0`$. One can verify the lemma by examining the inequality for all possible values $`0`$, $`1`$, and $`2`$ of $`\mathrm{int}(v)`$. For example, if $`vB`$, then we know $`\mathrm{score}(v)=2+2+2=6`$ by $`|D_1|=|D_2|=1`$ and $`|D_3|=0`$. Also, if $`\mathrm{int}(v)=2`$ and $`vB`$, then we have $`\mathrm{score}(v)2+2+3=7`$ by observing $`|D_1|2`$, $`|D_2|1`$ and $`|D_3|=0`$. The other cases can be verified similarly.

An internal face of $`G`$ is cyclic if its boundary intersects with all three trees $`T_1`$, $`T_2`$, and $`T_3`$. An internal face of $`G`$ is acyclic if it is not cyclic. For example, in Figure 2, faces $`(3,5,9)`$ and $`(6,9,8)`$ are cyclic; all the other internal faces are acyclic. Let $`c`$ be the number of cyclic faces of $`G`$. The following lemma was recently proved by Bonichon, Saëc, and Mosbah  in an equivalent form. Our alternative proof is much simpler.

###### Lemma 3 (see )

$`_{vI}\mathrm{int}(v)=n+c4`$.

Proof.  For each index $`i\{1,2,3\}`$, let $`\mathrm{int}_i`$ be the number of internal nodes in $`T_i`$. Clearly, $`_{vI}\mathrm{int}(v)=_{i=1}^3\mathrm{int}_i3`$. For each node $`vI`$, let $`p_i(v)`$ denote the parent of $`v`$ in $`T_i`$. For each $`vL_i`$, one can verify that $`F_i(v)=(v,p_j(v),p_k(v))`$ is an acyclic face of $`G`$, where $`\{i,j,k\}=\{1,2,3\}`$. On the other hand, each acyclic face $`(x,y,z)`$ of $`G`$ has to be an $`F_i(v)`$ for some $`v\{x,y,z\}`$ and $`i\{1,2,3\}`$. By the orientations of the three edges on $`F_i(v)`$, one can see that $`F_i(v)F_j(u)`$ and $`F_i(v)F_k(u)`$ hold for any node $`uL_i`$. By $`|I|=n3`$, we have $`_{i=1}^3|L_i|=2nc5`$. Therefore, $`_{i=1}^3\mathrm{int}_i=3(n2)(2nc5)=n+c1`$.

###### Lemma 4

1. If $`G`$ has no degree-three internal nodes, then $`_{i=1}^3\mathrm{score}_i5n15`$.
2. If $`G`$ has no degree-five internal nodes, then $`_{i=1}^3\mathrm{score}_i5n17`$.
3. If $`G`$ is unrestricted, then $`_{i=1}^3\mathrm{score}_i\frac{23n}{5}16`$.

Proof.  By Lemma 2 we know that if node $`v`$ in $`I`$ has degree more than 3, then $`\mathrm{score}(v)5`$. By $`|I|=n3`$, Statement 1 holds. It follows from Lemmas 2 and 3 that $`_{i=1}^3\mathrm{score}_i=_{vI}\mathrm{score}(v)_{vI}3+2\mathrm{int}(v)[vB]=3(n3)+2(n+c4)|B|`$. Therefore, $`_{i=1}^3\mathrm{score}_i5n+2c|B|17,`$ which implies that (a) Statement 2 holds (by observing that each node of $`B`$ has degree five in $`G`$), and (b) Statement 3 can be proved by ensuring $`|B|2c\frac{2n}{5}1`$ as follows.

Let $`k`$ be the number of connected components in the subgraph $`G[B]`$ of $`G`$ induced by $`B`$. Since each of those $`2n5`$ internal faces of $`G`$ is incident to at most one connected component $`G[B]`$ and each connected component in $`G[B]`$ is incident to at least five faces of $`G`$, we have $`5k2n5`$.

Let $`u_1`$ and $`u_2`$ be two adjacent nodes of $`B`$ such that $`(u_1,u_2)`$ is an incoming edge of $`u_1`$. (That is, $`u_1`$ is the parent of $`u_2`$ in some tree $`T_i`$ of $`R`$.) Let $`(u_3,u_1,u_2)`$ and $`(u_4,u_1,u_2)`$ be the two faces of $`G`$ that contain edge $`(u_1,u_2)`$. One can see that at least one of faces $`(u_1,u_2,u_3)`$ and $`(u_1,u_2,u_4)`$ is cyclic by verifying, with the assistance of Figure 3, that (a) both edges $`(u_1,u_3)`$ and $`(u_1,u_4)`$ have to be outgoing from $`u_1`$; and (b) at least one of edges $`(u_3,u_2)`$ and $`(u_4,u_2)`$ is incoming to $`u_2`$, as illustrated by Figure 4. Let $`F`$ be an arbitrary spanning forest of $`G[B]`$, which clearly has $`|B|k`$ edges. Each cyclic face contains at most two edges of $`F`$ and each edge of $`F`$ is incident to at least one cyclic face. Thus, we have $`|B|k2c`$.

## 3 Our algorithm

Let $`\mathrm{}_i`$ be a given canonical ordering of the input $`n`$-node plane triangulation $`G`$. For each $`k=1,2,\mathrm{},n`$, let $`v_k`$ be the node with $`\mathrm{}_i(v_k)=k`$ and let $`G_k`$ be the subgraph of $`G`$ induced by $`v_1,v_2,\mathrm{},v_k`$. Clearly, $`G_3`$ is a triangle and $`v_1`$, $`v_2`$, and $`v_n`$ are the external nodes of $`G`$. Our algorithm initially produces a visibility representation of $`G_3`$ as shown in Figure 5, and then extends that into a visibility representation of $`G=G_n`$ in $`n3`$ iterations: For each $`k=4,5,\mathrm{},n`$, the $`(k3)`$-rd iteration obtains a visibility representation of $`G_k`$ from that of $`G_{k1}`$ by

1. extending the visibility representation of $`G_{k1}`$ in a greedy manner until the node segment of each neighbor of $`v_k`$ is visible from above, and then
2. placing the shortest possible node segment representing $`v_k`$ from above that yields a visibility representation of $`G_k`$.

For example, if $`G`$ is as shown in Figure 1(a) and $`\mathrm{}_i`$ is as specified by the node labels, then the visibility representations for $`G_3,G_4,\mathrm{},G_{11}`$ are as shown in Figure 5 and the resulting visibility representation of $`G=G_{12}`$ is as shown in Figure 1(b). The correctness of our algorithm follows from the fact that $`\mathrm{}_i`$ is a canonical ordering of $`G`$, which therefore satisfies Lemma 1(1). A naive implementation of our algorithm takes $`O(n^2)`$ time. However, it is not difficult to implement our algorithm to run in $`O(n)`$ time using basic data structures like doubly linked lists to support $`O(1)`$-time operations such as determining whether a node segment is visible from above and inserting a new column of grid points.

###### Theorem 1

Any $`n`$-node plane triangulation $`G`$ with $`n>3`$ has an $`O(n)`$-time obtainable visibility representation whose width is at most

1. $`\frac{4n9}{3}`$, if $`G`$ has no degree-three internal nodes;
2. $`\frac{4n7}{3}`$, if $`G`$ has no degree-five internal nodes; or
3. $`\frac{22n40}{15}`$, if $`G`$ is unrestricted.

Proof.  By Lemma 4 and the fact that a realizer is obtainable in linear time, it suffices to show that the width of the output visibility representation by our algorithm is at most $`3n8_{vI}\mathrm{score}_i(v)`$. For each $`k=4,5,\mathrm{},n`$, consider the iteration that produces the visibility representation of $`G_k`$. Let $`v_j`$ be any neighbor of $`v_k`$ in $`G_k`$. In the first half of the iteration, if the node segment of $`v_j`$ does not contain any grid point that is visible from above, then a new column of grid points is inserted to ensure that the node segment for $`v_j`$ is visible from above; otherwise, the number of grid points on the node segment of $`v_j`$ that are visible from above stays the same. In the second half of the iteration, if $`v_k`$ is the neighbor of $`v_j`$ with the largest index, then the node segment of $`v_j`$ can no longer be visible from above for the remaining iterations of our algorithm; otherwise, the number of grid points on the node segment of $`v_j`$ that are visible from above decreases by exactly one. Moreover, the node segment of $`v_k`$ contains at least $`\mathrm{deg}_i^{}(v_k)`$ grid points that are visible from above in the resulting visibility representation of $`G_k`$. Therefore, in the first half of those $`\mathrm{deg}_i^+(v_k)`$ iterations, one for each neighbor $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ of $`v_k`$ with $`\mathrm{}>k`$, at most $`\mathrm{deg}_i^+(v_k)\mathrm{score}_i(v_k)`$ new columns of grid points are inserted. Note that $`n>3`$ implies $`\mathrm{score}_i(v_3)1`$. It follows that the resulting visibility representation for $`G_n=G`$ has width at most $`2+\left(3+_{k=1}^{n1}\mathrm{deg}_i^+(v_k)\right)\left(2+_{k=4}^{n1}\mathrm{score}_i(v_k)\right)3n8_{vI}\mathrm{score}_i(v)`$.

The following result was first obtained by Kant and He  based upon their linear-time algorithm for obtaining a canonical ordering $`\mathrm{}_i`$ for any $`n`$-node four-connected plane triangulation such that $`\mathrm{deg}_i^+(v)2`$ and $`\mathrm{deg}_i^{}(v)2`$ hold for $`n4`$ out of the $`n3`$ internal nodes $`v`$ of $`G`$. We can alternatively prove the theorem in a much simpler way: According to the proof of Theorem 1, the width of the output visibility representation by our algorithm is at most $`3n8_{vI}\mathrm{score}_i(v)n1`$.

###### Theorem 2 (see )

If $`G`$ is an $`n`$-node four-connected plane triangulation, then there is an $`O(n)`$-time obtainable visibility representation for $`G`$ whose width is at most $`n1`$.

## 4 Near tightness of our analysis

The following lemma shows that our analysis on the required width is almost tight.

###### Lemma 5

For any $`n3`$, there exists an $`n`$-node plane triangulation $`H_n`$ such that any visibility representations of $`H_n`$ obtained by our algorithm with respect to any canonical ordering of $`H_n`$ has width at least $`\frac{4n8}{3}`$.

Proof.  We prove the lemma by induction on $`n`$. Let $`H_3`$ (respectively, $`H_4`$ and $`H_5`$) be a plane triangulation with $`3`$ (respectively, $`4`$ and $`5`$) nodes. Clearly, any visibility representation of $`H_3`$ (respectively, $`H_4`$ and $`H_5`$) has width at least $`2`$ (respectively, $`3`$ and $`4`$), so the lemma holds for $`n=3,4,5`$. For each index $`k3`$, let $`H_{k+3}`$ be the $`(k+3)`$-node plane triangulation obtained from $`H_k`$ by adding three new external nodes and triangulating the faces as shown in Figure 6(a). By Lemma 1(1), if $`\mathrm{}`$ is a canonical ordering of $`H_{k+3}`$, then the ordering $`\mathrm{}^{}`$ with $`\mathrm{}^{}(v)=\mathrm{}(v)2`$ for each node $`v`$ of $`H_k`$ remains a canonical ordering of $`H_k`$. As illustrated in Figure 6(b), it is not difficult to see that the visibility representation for $`H_{k+3}`$ produced by our algorithm with respect to any canonical ordering of $`H_{k+3}`$ is at least 4 units wider than that of $`H_k`$ produced by our algorithm with respect to any canonical ordering of $`H_k`$. Therefore, the lemma is proved.

## 5 Concluding remarks

Whether our upper bound $`\frac{22n}{15}\mathrm{\Theta }(1)`$ on the required width is worst-case optimal remains open.


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# Theory of ac electrokinetic behavior of spheroidal cell suspensions with an intrinsic dispersion

## I Introduction

The polarization of biological cells has a wide range of practical applications like manipulation, trapping or separation of biological cells . Dielectric spectroscopy , dielectrophoresis (DEP)  and electrorotation (ER)  offer a unique capability of monitoring the dielectric properties of dispersions of colloids and biological cells. Under the action of external fields, these particles exhibit rich fluid-dynamic behaviors as well as various dielectric responses. Hence, it is of importance to investigate their frequency-dependent responses to ac electric fields, which yields valuable information on the structural (Maxwell-Wagner) polarization effects. The polarization is characterized by a variety of characteristic frequency-dependent changes known as the dielectric dispersion, whose spectra are helpful to analyze the inhomogeneous systems, including biological cell suspensions and tissues . Many factors exert influences on the effective dielectric behavior of the system such as orientation of dipoles, surface conductance and the cell shape . However, some factors can be dominant at certain ranges of frequencies (for example, the experimental data revealed that the low frequency subdispersions were dependent on the cell shape ).

The DEP is used to describe the motion of the particles caused by the dielectric polarization effects in non-uniform electric field . The DEP force drives the particles towards high intensity (positive DEP) or towards regions of minimal field intensity (negative DEP). Because of the interaction (i.e., DEP force) between the induced dipole and the external electric field, the particles can be levitated in the medium .

The ER behavior is caused by the existence of a phase difference between the field-induced dipole moment and the external rotating field, which results in a torque to cause the particle to rotate. In the dilute limit, the ER of individual cell can be predicted by ignoring the mutual interaction between the cells, and hence may be considered as an isolated particle in rotation .

In this paper, we will apply the spectral representation theory  to investigate the ac electrokinetic behavior including the dielectric dispersion, DEP and ER spectra of biological cell suspensions. The object of the present investigation is threefold. First, it is instructive to consider the effect of the intrinsic dielectric dispersion. Actually, such an intrinsic dielectric dispersion often occurs due to the surface conductivity  or the inhomogeneous structure such as the coated shells of biological cells or colloidal suspensions . Secondly, many cells exist in the form of the nonspherical shape such as the fission yeast cell  and the red blood cell , and hence the effect of cell shape needs to be considered . Thirdly, the volume fractions of the biological cell suspensions are generally not in the dilute limit and can even exceed $`0.1`$ , thus the local field effect due to the average electrostatic interaction between cells must be taken into account . In view of this, the effective dielectric dispersion spectra will be studied based on Maxwell-Garnett type approximation , which involves an exact calculation of the field induced in the host medium by a single ellipsoidal cell and an approximate treatment of its distortion by the electrostatic interaction between different cell suspensions. Moreover, the Clausius-Mossotti factor (CMF), which determines the DEP and ER spectra, will be modified by replacing the dielectric constant of the host medium with the effective one.

Being beyond this work, we noticed an alternative paper , in which the authors considered the electrorotation and levitation of spherical cells or colloidal particles with/without the membrane-covered shells in the dilute limit. However, our investigation can be valid not only for nonspherical cell suspensions without membrane-covered shells, but also for non-dilute limit suspensions. Furthermore, we adopt the spectral representation method , which offers the advantage of the separation of material parameters from the geometric information, to simplify the derivation of the analytical expressions for the characteristic frequencies and dispersion strengths of the effective dielectric permittivity and the CMF, respectively.

## II Formalism

We consider a composite system in which biological cells of dielectric constant $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1`$ with the volume fraction $`p`$ are dispersed in an isotropic host medium with dilectric constant $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2=ϵ_2+\sigma _2/(j2\pi f)`$ with $`j=\sqrt{1}`$, $`f`$ being the frequency of the applied field. $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1`$ is assumed to exhibit an intrinsic dielectric dispersion, i.e.,

$$\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1=ϵ_1+\frac{\mathrm{}ϵ_1}{1+jf/f_1}+\frac{\sigma _1}{j2\pi f},$$
(1)
where $`ϵ_1`$ ($`\sigma _1`$) is the limiting high-frequency (low-frequency) dielectric constant (conductivity), $`\mathrm{}ϵ_1`$ represents the dielectric dispersion strength with a characteristic frequency $`f_1`$. Biological cells are further assumed to be spheroidal in shape. Such an assumption is supported by Bohren et al  who suggested that dielectric dispersion spectra of particles of arbitrary shape can be approximated by these of spheroidal particles.

Then we will adopt the spectral representation to investigate the ac electrokinetic behavior such as the dielectric dispersion, dielectrophoretic and electrorotational spectra of an inhomogeneous system in which spheroidal biological cells are randomly distributed.

### A  Dielectric dispersion spectrum

Generally, for cell suspensions of arbitrary shape, the spectral representation can only be solved numerically. However, for randomly-oriented spheroidal cell suspensions, within the mean-field theory, the effective complex dielectric constant $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_e`$ can be written as

$$\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_e=\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2\frac{1+p\left[b_z(1L_z)+2b_{xy}(1L_{xy})\right]}{1p(b_zL_z+2b_{xy}L_{xy})},$$
(2)
where $`b_k(\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2)/\{3\left[\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2+L_k(\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2)\right]\}`$ $`(k=z,xy)`$ is called the Clausius-Mossotti factor (CMF), and $`L_z`$ \[$`L_{xy}=(1L_z)/2`$\] are the depolarization factors along the $`z`$ ($`x`$ or $`y`$) axis of the spheroids. These depolarization factors depend on the aspect ratio $`qc/a`$ , where $`a`$ ($`=b`$), $`c`$ are the semi-axes of a spheroid along the Cartesian axes. For the prolate-spheroidal cell ($`q>1`$), we have $`0<L_z<1/3`$; while for the oblate-spheroidal one ($`q<1`$), we have $`1/3<L_z<1`$. Actually, once a $`q`$ is given, $`L_z`$ can be obtained uniquely and thus used to indicate the shape of spheroidal particles.

By invoking the spectral representation and introducing the dimensionless parameter $`\stackrel{~}{s}\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2/(\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1)`$, we rewrite Eq.(2) as

$$\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_e=\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2\left(1\frac{W_1}{\stackrel{~}{s}x_1}\frac{W_2}{\stackrel{~}{s}x_2}\right),$$
(3)
where the poles $`x_1`$ and $`x_2`$ are given as

$$x_{1,2}=\frac{1}{12}\left[32p+3L_z\pm \sqrt{(32p+3L_z)^272(1p)L_z(1L_z)}\right],$$
(4)
Correspondingly, the residues $`W_1`$ and $`W_2`$ have

$$W_1=\frac{p(1+3L_z6x_1)}{6(x_2x_1)},W_2=\frac{p(1+3L_z6x_2)}{6(x_1x_2)}.$$
(5)
It is easy to check that $`W_1`$ and $`W_2`$ satisfy the sum rule $`W_1+W_2=p`$.

In order to obtain the analytic expressions for the dielectric dispersion strengths and the characteristic frequencies of the dielectric dispersion spectra, we then introduce two contrast parameters $`s=ϵ_2/(ϵ_2ϵ_1)`$ and $`t=\sigma _2/(\sigma _2\sigma _1)`$, firstly defined by Lei et al , and derive an equality for biological cells possessing an intrinsic dispersion,

$$\frac{1}{\stackrel{~}{s}x}=\frac{1}{sx}+\frac{A(x)}{1+jf/f_{c1}(x)}+\frac{B(x)}{1+jf/f_{c2}(x)},$$
(6)
where

$$f_{c1,c2}(x)=\frac{f_1f_2+f_2f_3+f_3f_1\sqrt{(f_1f_2+f_2f_3+f_3f_1)^24f_1f_2f_3^2}}{2f_3},$$
(7)
and

$$A(x)=\left[\frac{st}{(sx)(tx)}\left(\frac{f_1f_{c1}}{f_1f_{c1}}\right)+\frac{s}{(sx)x}\frac{1}{f_3}\right]\frac{f_1f_2}{f_{c2}(x)f_{c1}(x)},$$
(8)
$$B(x)=\left[\frac{st}{(sx)(tx)}\left(\frac{f_{c2}f_1}{f_1f_{c2}}\right)\frac{s}{(sx)x}\frac{1}{f_3}\right]\frac{f_1f_2}{f_{c2}(x)f_{c1}(x)},$$
(9)
with

$$f_2(x)=\frac{1}{2\pi }\frac{s\sigma _2(tx)}{ϵ_2t(sx)},f_3(x)=\frac{1}{2\pi }\frac{\sigma _2(tx)}{x\mathrm{}ϵ_1t}.$$
(10)
After simple manipulations, we can express Eq.(3) as,

$$\stackrel{~}{ϵ_e}=ϵ_H+\underset{i=1}{\overset{4}{}}\frac{\mathrm{}ϵ_{ei}}{1+j(f/f_{ei})}+\frac{\sigma _L}{j2\pi f}ϵ_e+\frac{\sigma _e}{j2\pi f},$$
(11)
with

$$ϵ_H=ϵ_2\left(1\frac{W_1}{sx_1}\frac{W_2}{sx_2}\right),\sigma _L=\sigma _2\left(1\frac{W_1}{tx_1}\frac{W_2}{tx_2}\right)$$
(12)
and

$`\mathrm{}ϵ_{e1}=W_1A(x_1)\left({\displaystyle \frac{\sigma _2}{2\pi f_{c1}(x_1)}}ϵ_2\right),f_{e1}=f_{c1}(x_1),`$ (13)
$`\mathrm{}ϵ_{e2}=W_1B(x_1)\left({\displaystyle \frac{\sigma _2}{2\pi f_{c2}(x_1)}}ϵ_2\right),f_{e2}=f_{c2}(x_1).`$ (14)
Similarly, $`\mathrm{}ϵ_{ei}`$ and $`f_{ei}`$ for $`i=3,4`$ can be easily got by our replacing $`W_1`$ and $`x_1`$ with $`W_2`$ and $`x_2`$ from above two equations.

Thus, within the spectral representation, for spheroidal suspensions with one intrinsic dispersion, we successfully obtain four characteristic freqencies $`f_{ei}`$ $`(i=1,4)`$ with the dispersion strengths $`\mathrm{}ϵ_{ei}`$ in terms of the geometric parameters ($`L_z`$ and $`p`$) as well as physical parameters ($`s`$, $`t`$, $`\mathrm{}ϵ_1`$, $`\sigma _2`$ and $`ϵ_2`$).

In Fig.1, we numerically calculate four characteristic frequencies and dispersion strengths against $`L_z`$. As is evident from the figure, the characteristic freqencies and the corresponding dispersion strengths are strongly dependent on the shape of cell suspensions and exhibit nonmonotonical behavior with increasing $`L_z`$. For these four characteristic frequencies, two of them are located at frequencies higher than $`10^6Hz`$, while another two are at frequencies lower than $`10^6Hz`$. Such a separation results from the fact that we take into account one intrinsic dispersion in the dielectric cell suspensions. Furthermore, due to the nonspherical shape of cell suspensions, there are two characteristic frequencies in the high-frequency (or low-frequency) region. When the shape is far from spherical (say $`L_z0`$ or $`1`$), the difference between these two frequencies becomes large. Conversely, for spherical inclusions ($`L_z=1/3`$), only two dispersion strengths are nonzero, leading to two-main steps in the dielectric dispersion spectra, as will be shown in the next section.

### B  dielectrophoretic and electrorotational spectra

The spectral form of Eq.(6) also allows us to investigate the dielectrophoretic and electrorotational behavior.

It is known that the time average DEP force $`F(f)`$ and ER torque $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)`$ excerted on the spheroidal cell suspensions with $`z`$-orientation parallel to the electric field are expressed as

$$F(f)=1.5v\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2\mathrm{𝑅𝑒}[b_z(\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1,\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2)]|𝐄_{(rms)}^2|,\mathrm{\Gamma }(f)=3v\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2\mathrm{𝐼𝑚}[b_z(\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1,\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2)]𝐄_0^2,$$
(15)
where $`v`$ is the volume of spheroidal cell, $`𝐄_{(rms)}`$ is the root-mean square magnitude of the imposed ac electric field and $`\mathrm{𝑅𝑒}[\mathrm{}]`$, $`\mathrm{𝐼𝑚}[\mathrm{}]`$ represent the real and imaginary parts of $`b_z`$, which can be written under the spectral representation as

$$b_z(\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1,\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2)=\frac{1}{3}\frac{\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2}{\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2+L_z(\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2)}=\frac{1}{3}\frac{1}{\stackrel{~}{s}L_z}$$
(16)
Eq.(16) is independent of the volume fraction $`p`$ and thus is valid only in the dilute limit . However, for non-dilute volume fractions, we must consider the local field effect due to mutual interaction between the spheroidal cells and modify Eq.(16) as,

$$b_z(\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1,\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2)=\frac{1}{3}\frac{\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_e}{\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_e+L_z(\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_e)}.$$
(17)
Substituting Eq.(2) into (17), we have

$`b_z`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2(p1)\stackrel{~}{s}^2+(1p)(1+L_z)\stackrel{~}{s}(1p)L_z(1L_z)}{6\stackrel{~}{s}^3(3+4p+9L_z6pL_z)\stackrel{~}{s}^2+(p+6L_z3pL_z)\stackrel{~}{s}+3(p1)L_z^2(1L_z)}}`$ (18)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{V_1}{\stackrel{~}{s}s_1}}+{\displaystyle \frac{V_2}{\stackrel{~}{s}s_2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{V_3}{\stackrel{~}{s}s_3}},`$ (19)
where $`s_i`$ $`(i=1,2,3)`$ are three roots of polynomial equations

$$y^3\frac{3+4p+9L_z6pL_z}{6}y^2+\frac{p+6L_z3pL_z}{6}y+\frac{(p1)L_z^2(1L_z)}{2}=0,$$
(20)
while the residues $`V_1`$, $`V_2`$ and $`V_3`$ can be obtained from

$`V_1+V_2+V_3`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}(p1)`$ (21)
$`V_1(s_2+s_3)+V_2(s_3+s_1)+V_3(s_1+s_2)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{6}}(p1)(1+L_z)`$ (22)
$`V_1s_2s_3+V_2s_1s_3+V_3s_1s_2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{6}}(p1)L_z(1L_z).`$ (23)
Note that these residues again satisfy the sum rule $`V_1+V_2+V_3=(1p)/3`$.

Introducing Eq.(6) into Eq.(18) leads to

$$b_z=\underset{i=1}{\overset{3}{}}\left[\frac{V_i}{ss_i}+\frac{V_iA(s_i)}{1+jf/f_{c1}(s_i)}+\frac{V_iB(s_i)}{1+jf/f_{c2}(s_i)}\right].$$
(24)
The normalized DEP force and normalized ER torque can be defined as

$$NDEP=\mathrm{𝑅𝑒}\left[b_z(\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1,\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2)\right]=\underset{i=1}{\overset{3}{}}\left[\frac{V_i}{ss_i}+\frac{V_iA(s_i)}{1+[f/f_{c1}(s_i)]^2}+\frac{V_iB(s_i)}{1+[f/f_{c2}(s_i)]^2}\right],$$
(25)
and

$$NER=\mathrm{𝐼𝑚}\left[b_z(\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1,\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_2)\right]=\underset{i=1}{\overset{3}{}}\left[\frac{V_iA(s_i)f/f_{c1}(s_i)}{1+[f/f_{c1}(s_i)]^2}+\frac{V_iB(s_i)f/f_{c2}(s_i)}{1+[f/f_{c2}(s_i)]^2}\right].$$
(26)
Based upon the spectral representation, the expressions for the dispersion strengths and characteristic frequencies of CMF are also explicitly obtained. Six CMF characteristic frequencies and dispersion strengths against $`L_z`$ are shown in Fig.2.

Again, $`L_z`$ plays an important role in determining the CMF characteristic frequencies and the corresponding strengths. Within our model, six CMF characteristic frequencies are predicted; three of them are located below $`10^6Hz`$ and another three do above $`10^6Hz`$, similar as that observed in Fig.1. Due to this, the DEP (or ER) spectra are maining characterized by two-step rapid changes (or two dominant peaks). For three typical cases, we also find, six CMF strengths are all positive in Fig.2(a); all negative in Fig.2(b) and three strengths are negative and three are positive in Fig.2(c). such behavior will result in co-field or anti-field rotation of the particle for ER spectra. We remark that as both the intrinsic dispersion and local-field effects are considered simutaneously, we predict four characteristic frequecies, characterized by four non-zero dispersion strengths even for $`L_z=1/3`$.

## III Numerical results

We are now in a position to calculate the dielectric dispersion, and DEP and ER spectra based on the model put forward in the previous section.

In Fig.3-5, we investigate the effect of depolarization factor $`L_z`$ on the dielectric response \[denoted by $`ϵ_e/ϵ_0`$ and $`\sigma _e`$ defined in Eq.(11)\], DEP and ER spectra using Eq.(22) and Eq.(23).

The dielectric response mainly exhibits two sub-dispersions characterized by two-step rapid decrease in Fig.3(a), Fig.4(a) and Fig.5(a). It is evident that the influence of $`L_z`$ (the shape) on the effective dielectric constant (or the effective conductivitty) is significant in the low-frequency region where $`f<10^4Hz`$ (or in the high-frequency region where $`f>10^8Hz`$). This is in agreement with previous experimental conclusions that the low-frequency subdispersion for $`ϵ_e`$ depends on the cell shape, whereas the high-frequency is independent of it . The dielectric permittivity for oblate spheroidal particles, say $`L_z=0.95`$, in the low-frequency region can be as four times as the one for spherical inclusions. Thus, by taking into account the shape of cell suspensions, it is possible to reduce some discrepancies between the theoretical and experimental results on the dielectric dispersion spectra .

For DEP force, it exhibits strong sensitivity to the depolarization factor (the shape). When DEP force is positive (the particles will be attracted towards the field-generating electrodes), with increasing $`L_z`$, such an attractive force becomes weak. However, when the DEP force is negative (the particles will be repelled from the electrodes), the larger $`L_z`$, the stronger repulsion will be. Furthermore, we predict one or two shape-dependent crossover frequencies at which there is no net force on the cell particle. The crossover frequency is a monotonically increasing or decreasing function of $`L_z`$, dependent on whether the variation of DEP force around it is negative or positive \[see the inserts in Fig.3(b), Fig.4(b) and Fig.5(a)\]. This is an interesting result. To the best of our knowledge, the dependence of crossover frequency on the spheroidal shape is reported here for the first time.

For ER spectra, they exhibit two ER characteristic frequencies with both positive strengths in Fig.3(b), both negative strengths in Fig.4(b), and negative and positive strengths in Fig.5(b) (This has been observed in experimental electrorotational spectra of the yeast cell ). Positive ER torque means the co-field rotation of the particle. In this case, with increasing $`L_z`$, the ER characteristic frequency for ER will be blue-shifted accompanied with the decrease of the dispersion strengths. However, when the ER torque is negative (the particle exhibits the anti-field rotation), both the ER characteristic frequencies and the strengths decrease concomitantly with $`L_z`$. Moreover, we find that the variation of the geometric parameter $`L_z`$ does not change the polarity of ER peak.

We emphasize to point out that, although we analytically predict four and six characteristic frequencies for dielectric dispersion and ER spectra, these frequencies are mainly located in two regions or some of their dispersion strengths are quite small in comparison with others, resulting in only two effective characteristic frequencies at which the rate of change of the dielectric permittivity (or DEP force), and the rotational torque peak attain their maxima. This can be well understood from Fig.6.

As we have included the dielectric dispersion form in $`\stackrel{~}{ϵ}_1`$, it would be interesting to investigate how the dispersion strength $`\mathrm{}ϵ_1`$ and the intrinsic frequency $`f_1`$ affect the dielectric dispersion and ER spectra.

In Fig.7, we examine the effect of $`\mathrm{}ϵ_1`$ on the dielectric response (the left panel) and ER spectra (the right panel). Clearly, one common feature of all these dielectric spectra is that increasing $`\mathrm{}ϵ_1`$ yields increasing dielectric permittivity in the low-frequency region. As previous models do negelect the intrinsic dispersion effect, the theoretical results in the low-frequency region are less than experimental reports . We think it would be helpful to give the closest fit with experimental data by suitable adjustment of both $`\mathrm{}ϵ_1`$ and $`L_z`$. For ER spectra, when $`\mathrm{}ϵ_1=0`$, only one dominant peak is predicted as expected. For a finite $`\mathrm{}ϵ_1`$, two dominant peaks at low and high characteristic frequencies arise. With increasing $`\mathrm{}ϵ_1`$, the characteristic low frequency shifts towards a long wavelength; while the characteristic high frequency shifts towards a short one, leading to further separation between two characteristic frequencies for larger $`\mathrm{}ϵ_1`$. At the same time, the adjustment of $`\mathrm{}ϵ_1`$ can also change the peak value much or less and even dominate the co-field or anti-field rotation through changing the polarity of the peak (see the upper right column).

In Fig.8, we plot the dielectric dispersion and ER spectra versus the frequency $`f`$ for different $`f_1`$. It is evident that, $`f_1`$ mainly play a role in the characteristic high frequencies for both the effective dielectric dispersion and ER spectra. Generally speaking, the characteristic high frequency increases with increasing $`f_1`$, in accord with the analytical formula from Eq.(7). Interestingly, the increase in $`f_1`$ can also lead to the change of the polarity of the ER peak in the high-frequency region (see the middle right pannel).

In order to take into account the mutual interaction bewtween the suspended particles, we adopt Eq.(17) instead of Eq.(16). When the mutual interaction is taken into account, the ER peak must be reduced, as expected in Fig.9. With further increasing $`p`$, the mutual interaction becomes strong, leading to the serious depression of ER peak and the slight blue-shift (or red-shift) in the characteristic low frequency (or high frequency). These results are also new.

## IV discussion and conclusion

In this work, we have investigated both analytically and numerically the ac electrokinetic behavior, i.e., the dielectric dispersion behavior, the DEP and ER spectra of nonspherical cell suspensions with an intrinsic dispersion based on the spectral representation method. The dependence of the ac electrokinetic behavior on the depolarization factor is studied in detail. We find that an intrinsic dispersion in the dielectric constant of spheroidal cells can lead to four and six dispersion in the effective dielectric constant and the CMF respectively. We also find that both the intrinsic dispersion strength $`\mathrm{}ϵ_1`$ and the characteristic frequency $`f_1`$ can change the polarity of ER torque and thereby causing the co-field or anti-field rotation. Furthermore, by taking into account the local-field effect from the mutual interaction, we examine the ER spectra for various volume fractions, and find that increasing volume fractions can result in the decrease of both the strengths and the difference between two characteristic low and high frequencies indeed. Thus it is possible to obtain good agreement between theoretical predictions and experimental data by the suitable adjustment of both the geometric parameters (for example, the particle shape) and the physical parameters (for example, the dispersion strength and the characteristic frequency of cell suspensions). On the contrary, such a fitting is very useful to obtain the relevant physical information of cell suspensions.

Here a few comments are in order. We obtain four and six characteristic frequencies for the effective dielectric permittivity and CMF. Generally, none of the characteristic frequencies for the dielectric spectra is equal to those of CMF, as the poles $`x_1`$ and $`x_2`$ \[Eq.(4)\] are quite different from the poles $`s_1`$, $`s_2`$ and $`s_3`$ of CMF. In the dilute limit and for spherical inclusions, both Eq.(3) and Eq.(17) yield two characteristic frequencies; the smaller $`p`$, the less differences between these frequencies  are. Numerically, the dielectric dispersion, DEP and ER spectra mainly exhibit two rapid changes or two dominant peaks. Here, we also show a four-step rapid decrease in dielectric dispersion spectra (see Fig.10). However, due to small differences between the CMF frequencies or small strengths of some frequencies in comparison with others, it is difficult to show all six characteristic frequencies in ER spectra clearly. A possible way to achieve this is to consider cell suspensions with large volume fractions while being far from the spherical shape.

We demonstrate theoretically that the shape effect on the effective dielectric constant is significant in the low-frequency region, in accord with experimental conclusions . In previous work, one of the authors have presented a first-principle study of the dielectric dispersion of fission yeast cell suspensions . As the derivation is based on the assumption that cell suspensions are in the dilute limit and do not exhibit an intrinsic dispersion, the predicted two characteristic frequencies are independent of the volume fractions and some discrepancies between the theory and experiment on fission yeast cells still exist. We believe that our present formula can be applied also and the discrepancies between theoretical and experimental results may further be reduced.

For shelled spheroidal particles dispersed in the host medium, we have found one peak in the electrorotation assay, under the assumption that the ratio of shell to the host dielectric constant is real . The theory yields good agreement with the experimental results only in the high-frequency region. In fact, for such kind of three component system, the effective dielectric response $`ϵ_{cs}`$ for the coated shells can be firstly obtained in a self-consistent way  and will exhibit at least one dispersion. The three-component composites can then be equivalent to the solid spheroidal particles with $`ϵ_{cs}`$ including one dispersion term suspended in the host medium. Thus our present model can be safely used, and the co-field rotational peak in the low-frequency rigion may also be predicted. Finally, we should remark that, for nonspherical cells, the intrinsic dispersion may depend on the orientation of a spheroid, which will yield dielectric anisotropy in cell suspensions. In this work, we take into account the geometric anisotropy as well as the dielectric isotropy. The work including both geometric and dielectric anisotropies is in progress and will be reported elsewhere.

## Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the RGC Earmarked Grant under project numbers CUHK 4245/01P. L. G. acknowledges the financial supports of the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No.10204017 and of the Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province under Grant No. BK2002038. K.W.Y. thanks Prof. A. R. Day for his interest in our work and his suggestion to examine the effects of inhomogeneities on the dielectric response of biological cell suspensions.

Fig.1./Gao, Huang, and Yu

Fig.2./Gao, Huang, and Yu

Fig.3./Gao, Huang, and Yu

Fig.4./Gao, Huang, and Yu

Fig.5./Gao, Huang, and Yu

Fig.6./Gao, Huang, and Yu

Fig.7./Gao, Huang, and Yu

Fig.8./Gao, Huang, and Yu

Fig.9./Gao, Huang, and Yu

Fig.10./Gao, Huang, and Yu


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# A 6.3-h superhump in the cataclysmic variable TV Columbae: the longest yet seen

## 1 Introduction

### 1.1 Permanent superhumps

Patterson & Richman (1991) initially suggested the term ‘permanent superhump’ for the subclass of cataclysmic variables (CVs) having quasi-periodicities slightly different from their binary orbital periods. Unlike SU UMa systems (see Warner 1995 for a review of SU UMa systems and CVs in general), which show this behaviour only during superoutbursts, permanent superhump systems show the phenomenon during their normal brightness state. However, their amplitudes are highly variable and are sometimes below the detection limits, so the term ‘permanent superhump’ is somewhat misleading.

Whitehurst & King (1991) suggested that superhumps occur when the accretion disc extends beyond the 3:1 resonance radius. According to Osaki (1996), permanent superhumpers differ from other subclasses of non-magnetic CVs in having relatively short orbital periods and high mass-transfer rates, resulting in accretion discs that are thermally stable but tidally unstable. Retter & Naylor (2000) provided observational support for this idea.

The ‘positive superhump’, a periodicity that is a few per cent larger than the orbital period, is explained as the beat period between the binary motion and the precession of an eccentric accretion disc in the apsidal plane. Periods slightly shorter than the orbital periods have also been seen in several systems. They are known as ‘negative superhumps’, and may be generated by the nodal precession of the accretion disc (Patterson et al. 1993; Patterson 1999). However, there are some theoretical difficulties with this idea (Murray & Armitage 1998; Wood, Montgomery & Simpson 2000; Murray et al. 2002). Superhumps were also associated with the formation of a spiral structure in the accretion disc (Steeghs, Harlaftis & Horne 1997; Baba et al. 2002).

Observations of positive superhumps have shown a roughly linear relationship between the period excess, expressed as a fraction of the binary period, and the binary period itself (Stolz & Schoembs 1984). Negative superhumps seem to obey a similar rule (Patterson 1999).

### 1.2 TV Col

TV Col is a 14th mag CV at a distance of about 370 pc (McArthur et al. 2001). Its light curve shows multiple periodicities that have attracted many observers. Motch (1981) found periodicities of 5.2 h and 4 d from photometry taken over 10 nights. A radial velocity study by Hutchings et al. (1981) confirmed these periods and detected another at 5.5 h, which they identified as the orbital period. They also pointed out that the 4-d period is exactly the beat periodicity between the other two periods. The 5.2-h period was interpreted as the spin period of a magnetic white dwarf, leading to a classification of the object as an intermediate polar (for reviews of intermediate polars, see Patterson 1994; Warner 1996; Hellier 1996). The detection of a 32-m period in x-ray observations (Schrijver et al. 1985; Schrijver, Brinkman & van der Woerd 1987) confirmed the intermediate polar nature of TV Col, but left the 5.2-h period unidentified.

Further observations confirmed the presence of the three periods in the optical regime (Barrett, O’Donoghue & Warner 1988; Hellier, Mason & Mittaz 1991; Hellier 1993; Augusteijn et al. 1994). The orbital period was also detected in the ultraviolet (Bonnet-Bidaud, Motch & Mouchet 1985). It was found that the 5.2-h period is not stable (e.g. Augusteijn et al. 1994), suggesting that it is a superhump period. The fact that it is shorter than the binary period would make it a negative superhump. Barrett et al. (1988), however, discussed other possible models for the system.

### 1.3 The significance of superhumps in TV Col

Superhumps have only been observed in CVs with orbital periods below about 3.7 h. Since the orbital period of TV Col is 5.5 h, the interpretation of its 5.2-h period as a negative superhump would make this system an extreme case. There is known to be a strong correlation in CVs between the orbital period and the mass of the secondary star (Smith & Dhillon 1998), which arises because systems with longer orbital periods have larger separations and thus require more massive secondaries to fill their Roche-lobes. The 5.5-h orbital period of TV Col implies a secondary star of $`0.6M_{}`$ – much more massive than in other superhumping systems. A typical white dwarf in CVs has a mass of $`1.0M_{}`$, which means the mass ratio, $`q=M_{\mathrm{donor}}/M_{\mathrm{compact}}`$, in TV Col could be about 0.6 or even higher. This value significantly exceeds the theoretical limit for superhumps – $`q`$0.33 (Whitehurst 1988; Whitehurst & King 1991; Murray 2000). TV Col thus offers a unique opportunity to test the predictions of the models for precessing accretion discs.

There seems to be a strong connection between positive and negative superhumps. Light curves of many permanent superhumpers show both types of superhumps (Patterson 1999; Arenas et al. 2000; Retter et al. 2002). In addition, period deficits in negative superhumps are about half the period excesses in positive superhumps (Patterson 1999): $`ϵ_{\mathrm{negative}}0.5ϵ_{\mathrm{positive}}`$, where $`ϵ=(P_{\mathrm{superhump}}P_{\mathrm{orbital}})/P_{\mathrm{orbital}}`$.

This prompted us to examine available photometry of TV Col for positive superhumps, which would be predicted to have a period near 6.3 h. We indeed found such evidence (Retter & Hellier 2000; Retter et al. 2001), which is presented here. At the request of a referee, we then obtained new multi-site photometry on TV Col in 2001 January, which confirmed the 6.3-h period.

## 2 Photometric data

### 2.1 Published observations

We have re-analysed existing optical photometry that was presented by Barrett et al. (1988); Hellier et al. (1991); Hellier (1993); Hellier & Buckley (1993) and Augusteijn et al. (1994). This data set contains 77 nights of observations obtained during 1985–1991 over eight separate runs, using the 0.75-m and 1-m telescopes at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) and the Dutch telescope at the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The main properties of these data are summarized in the first eight rows of Table 1.

### 2.2 New observations

In 2001 January 2–15 we obtained optical photometry of TV Col from three locations: Sutherland, South Africa (SA) using the 0.75-m telescope with the UCT CCD photometer; Mt Tarana Observatory, Australia (AU; 0.40-m telescope; ST8 CCD) and Auckland, New Zealand (NZ; 0.25-m telescope; ST6 CCD). No filters were used and typical exposure times were a few tens of seconds. Altogether, more than 150 hours of useful data were collected.

For the SA data, PSF-fitting photometry was carried out using a comparison star $`9^{\prime \prime }`$ NW of TV Col. Aperture photometry yielded similar results, with differences typically less than 0.02 mag. The data from AU and NZ were reduced using aperture photometry, with GSC7059:486 (AU) and GSC7059:754 (NZ) as reference stars. Since different comparison stars were used at the three sites, a linear fit was subtracted from each whole data set before combining them.

Table 2 shows the log of the observations, while Figs. 1 and 2 show the resulting light curve. We see that an outburst of $``$1 mag occurred on 2001 January 7, which lasted between 7.6 and 30 h. These data were excluded from the analysis, and the remainder were divided into two sets: before the outburst (Set 9), and afterwards (Set 10). The properties of these sets are included as the last two rows in Table 1.

## 3 Analysis

### 3.1 General remarks

When searching for a 6-h superhump period in the light curve of a variable star there are several complications. Firstly, CVs tend to have night-to-night secular variations of a few tenths of a magnitude that are not related to the periodicity (e.g., Retter, Leibowitz & Naylor 1999). Therefore, very often the best detrending of the data for periodogram analysis is the subtraction of the nightly means / trends. Removing the mean or trends eliminates noise in the power spectrum from this effect. Obviously, observations shorter than the period might be badly normalized. Secondly, superhump periods are not stable. Thirdly, the mini-outbursts observed in TV Col (Section 2.2 and Fig. 1; Szkody & Mateo 1984; Schwartz et al. 1988; Hellier & Buckley 1993; Augusteijn et al. 1994) pose further difficulties because they can alter the phase of the superhump period (Hellier & Buckley 1993). Therefore, the data are best analyzed in subsets spanning short intervals ($``$2 weeks).

Most subsets shown in Table 1 are not ideal for the search for a 6 h periodicity as the observations were typically shorter than one cycle, had long gaps during the nights, extended over a long interval of time, or had outbursts. The best sets for our purpose are the two new ones (9 and 10) and Set 6, as these all consist of long successive nights. They also have the advantage of having been carried out with CCDs (rather than photometers).

As we have discussed previously, Sets 1–8 contain evidence for a periodicity of 6.3 h, which we interpreted as being a positive superhump (Retter & Hellier 2000; Retter et al. 2001). In the new data, this periodicity is strongly seen in Set 10.

### 3.2 Set 10

In Fig. 3a we present the power spectrum (Scargle 1982) of the data in Set 10. Note that no de-trending method was necessary. In addition to the three known optical periods (5.5 h, 5.2 h and 4 d, marked as f1, f2 and f3) and their 1 d-1 aliases, there is a fourth peak (labelled f4) and its 1 d-1 aliases. This peak is stronger than f1, and is the fourth highest peak in the graph after f2, f3 and a 1 d-1 alias of f2. After fitting and subtracting the three known frequencies (f1, f2 and f3) and detrending by subtracting a linear term from each night, f4 becomes the strongest peak in the residual power spectrum (Fig. 3b).

In Fig. 4 we show the data of Set 10 folded on the 6.3-h period after the three previously known periods (5.2 h, 5.5 h and 4-d) were removed. The peak-to-peak amplitude of the sinusoidal fit to the light curve is $`0.08\pm 0.01`$ mag.

### 3.3 Other subsets

Figure 5 presents power spectra of the five best sets among all ten. Sets 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8 were rejected because either outbursts occurred during the observations (Sets 3 and 8), and the data between outbursts were too scarce; the mean night length was too short (Sets 1, 2 and 8) or there were long gaps during the runs (Sets 1, 3 and 5). The three previously known periods (5.2 h, 5.5 h, 4 d) have been removed, as have the nightly trends. In the residual power spectra of Sets 4, 6 and 7, the highest peak (or a 1 d-1 alias) is compatible with the peak from Set 10. It is absent from Set 9, which is one of the best data sets, but only gives an upper limit of 0.02 mag on the peak-to-peak amplitude of the 6.3-h period in these data. We return to this issue below.

In Sets 4, 6, 7 and 10 the f4-peak lies in the range 3.74–3.84 d-1 ($`0.2639\pm 0.0035`$ d). The large interval originates from many observations covering less than a full cycle of the period (thus being affected by the detrending method used), but might also reflect true long-term changes in the periodicity. Note that superhumps in other systems have shown large changes (e.g., up to more than one per cent in V603 Aql – Patterson et al. 1997).

### 3.4 Tests

To reject the possibility that individual nights may be responsible for the appearance of the period, we calculated power spectra for the data from Sets 6 and 10 while rejecting one night at a time. The suspected period survived this test and was one of the four highest peaks, together with the 5.2-h, 5.5-h and 4-d periods (besides 1 d-1 aliases). In addition, when the data in Set 10 were divided into two independent sets consisting the even nights and odd nights, the 6.3-h period appeared in both sets.

We investigated other possible spurious sources of the candidate period, in a series of tests detailed below. We first assessed whether the period could be an artefact of the window function in combination with the known periods. We then tested whether noise, either uncorrelated or correlated, could be the source of the periodicity. We then considered the possibility that extinction may be responsible for the appearance of the period. Finally, we comment on the fact that the superhump periodicity in TV Col was discovered in published observations and subsequently confirmed by the new data.

#### 3.4.1 The window function

Could the new peak in the power spectrum be an artefact of the window function? To check this we created a noiseless simulation of two of the best sets (6 and 10). A synthetic light curve was built using three sinusoids at the orbital period, the negative superhump period and at the beat period between the two. These sinusoids were given the same amplitudes they have in the data, and sampled according to the window function. There was no evidence for significant power at the proposed period.

#### 3.4.2 Uncorrelated noise

To check whether uncorrelated noise could be responsible for the presence of the candidate period, we added noise to the model light curves of Sets 6 and 10 (previous section). The noise in the original data was defined as the root mean square of the data minus the three periods modelled. We then searched for the highest peak in a small interval (3.72–4.00 d-1) around the candidate period. In 1000 simulations, no peak reached the height of the candidate periodicity. An individual example of a simulation for Set 10 is shown in Fig. 3c. In a further test we mimicked the technique shown in Fig. 3b, by subtracting the previously known periods (5.2 h, 5.5 h, 4 d) from our model light curves, after imposing an error of 0.005 d-1 in the periods. We then checked the height of the highest peak in the resulting power spectrum. In 1000 simulations, no peak reached the level of the candidate periodicity.

#### 3.4.3 Correlated noise

We also tried to assess the probability that correlated noise could be responsible for the candidate periodicity. In the absence of a model for the correlated noise, the best test is to use the repeatability between different data sets. Given that we found a period in Set 10, and assuming that the nearby peak in Set 4 represents the same period, we can ask how likely it is that the strongest period in the other data sets (after the previously known periods had been subtracted) would be consistent with it. The probability of the highest peak in another data set being, by chance, compatible with the candidate period in Set 10 is 0.1. This was calculated from (i) the frequency range for the candidate period on the assumption that the peaks in Set 4 and Set 10 set this range, which implies that the peaks are compatible if they are within 0.1 d-1, and (ii) the range over which it could occur taken as the spacing of the 1 d-1 aliases (1 d-1 is the maximum range over which periods are truly independent). The period discovered in Set 10 was seen in two of the remaining three data sets (besides Set 4). We thus used the binomial distribution to find that the probability of this occurring by chance was only about 2.8 per cent.

#### 3.4.4 Extinction effects

The observations were made in white light, and the differential photometry was performed relative to three comparison stars that are almost certainly redder than TV Col. Since there are very few blue stars available in a typical CV field, this is a standard procedure in CCD photometry of CVs. The colour difference may result in extinction variations with airmass on the data. For a single observing site this could introduce apparent periodicities in the data which should approximately be equal to a fraction of a day, i.e. a period of 12 h, 8 h, 6 h, etc. This might explain the detection of a 6.3 h, although the typical length of the observing runs would more favour a period of 8 or 12 h. However, it is very unlikely that two different data sets would be affected by extinction variations such that the same period is found in both. Furthermore, the observations in data set 10 were in fact obtained at different observing sites, where the source will cross the meridian at very different times, which are far from being equal an integral number of the new period we found.

It is important to realise that variations in the data due to extinction are not intrinsic to the source, i.e. this will distort the light curve and will actually affect the detection of any period that is present in the source. In fact, we do detect the previously known 5.2 and 5.5-h periods at the correct positions in the power spectra, so this effect cannot be strong. As shown in Fig. 3, we detect the 5.2, 5.5 and 6.3-h periods at very similar strengths in data set 10, and it is unclear how one could reject the detection of the 6.3-h period without having to discard the 5.2 and 5.5-h periods as well. Nevertheless, as a final test we fitted and subtracted a sinusoid corresponding to the sidereal day ($`23^h56^m4^s`$) from the SA data and checked the resulting power spectrum. The candidate period survived this test, which confirmed that extinction effects are not responsible for the presence of the 6.3-h period.

#### 3.4.5 Confirmation from new observations

Finally, we note that we have previously argued for a 6.3-h periodicity when we had only the data sets 1–8 (Retter & Hellier 2000; Retter et al. 2001). Its presence has now been confirmed by the new data. Table 3 summarizes all periods detected in the light curve of TV Col.

## 4 Discussion

### 4.1 The new period

The photometric data show a periodicity of 0.2639 d, in addition to the previously known periods. The repeatability of the peak in several independent data sets makes it highly significant, and it is also comforting to note that the new period is generally seen best in the best data sets.

The 6.3-h period has almost exactly the value predicted from the relation of Stolz & Schoembs (1984; updated by Patterson 1999), which is shown in Fig. 6. TV Col has already been classified as a permanent superhump system because its 5.2-h period was interpreted as a negative superhump (Section 1.2). Moreover, the new period and the negative superhump obey the relation between the two types of superhumps mentioned in Section 1.3. Further support for this idea (although not completely independently) comes from the fact that TV Col obeys a recently-proposed relation between the orbital period and the ratio between the positive superhump excess over the negative superhump deficit (Retter et al. 2002). Therefore, the new period is naturally interpreted as a positive superhump.

Our result supports the observational connection between positive and negative superhumps. Since almost every permanent superhump system that has been well studied over a few years shows both types of superhumps, we may speculate that this is the general behaviour among permanent superhump systems. The idea that the two types of superhumps have a similar physical origin, namely a precessing accretion disc, is also supported.

### 4.2 Changes through the outburst

TV Col had a mini-outburst on 2001, January 7 (Section 2.2; Fig. 1). Such outbursts are very common in the light curve of TV Col, but their nature is still unclear (Szkody & Mateo 1984; Schwartz et al. 1988; Angelini & Verbunt 1989; Hellier & Buckley 1993; Augusteijn et al. 1994; Kato 2001a; 2001b).

Examination of the data presented above shows that the 6.3-h period appeared only in the data taken after the 2001 outburst (Set 10). Before the outburst (Set 9) an upper limit of 0.02 mag is found for the peak-to-peak amplitude of this periodicity. It is thus possible that the amplitude was increased by the outburst by at least a factor of four. Alternatively, the outburst triggered the appearance of the positive superhump period. We note that amplitudes of permanent superhumps can significantly vary in a single source and sometimes the superhumps are even not detected (e.g. Patterson et al. 1997). The amplitude of the negative superhump, on the other hand, was slightly lower after the outburst. Table 4 presents the development of the amplitudes of the four periods through the outburst. The data are consistent with there being no change in the amplitudes of the 5.5-h and 4-d periods.

Previous studies around an outburst in 1991 December showed that the phase of the 5.2-h period (the negative superhump) was changed by about 0.4 (Hellier & Buckley 1993). Our 2001 data were similarly checked. First, the ephemeris fitted to the two parts of the data (before and after outburst) suggested a shift of $``$1.4 h (0.27 cycles). To confirm this result, minima of the negative superhump were calculated from the data after the subtraction of the other periods (4 d and 5.5 h from both sets, and 6.3 h only from the latter data). The O$``$C diagram (Fig. 7) clearly shows a shift of $``$1.2 h or 0.24 cycles. The data are consistent with no shift in the phase of the orbital and beat periods. Note that the errors on the 4-d period and its phase are large as less than two cycles of this frequency were observed in each set.

### 4.3 The mass ratio problem

According to theory, superhumps can only appear in binaries with tidally unstable accretion discs. Simulations show that the tidal instability can only occur if the disc radius exceeds a certain value, the 3:1 resonance radius. This implies that eccentric discs (which generate the superhumps) can be present only in CVs with small mass ratios – $`q`$=$`M_{donor}/M_{compact}`$$``$0.33 (Whitehurst 1988; Whitehurst & King 1991; Murray 2000). Hellier (1993) concluded, however, that the mass ratio in TV Col is $`q`$=0.62-0.93 from a spectroscopic analysis of the system, but this depended on an interpretation of the radial velocity variation of the emission lines that may not be correct.

We can estimate the mass ratio in TV Col by a different method. The relation between the orbital period and the superhump period excess (Fig. 6) suggests that there is a connection between the latter and some physical quantity. Indeed, this relation was initially explained by Osaki (1985), who investigated the motion of free particles in the binary potential. He considered the axisymmetric part of the tidal perturbation potential of the secondary star and derived an expression for the precession rate of the eccentric disc based on a nonresonant free particle orbit at the disc edge in the first order. His formula has been commonly used to obtain the binary mass ratio from the superhump period excess (e.g. Retter, Leibowitz & Ofek 1997; Patterson 1998). The superhump period in TV Col is $`15.4\pm 1.5`$ per cent larger than the orbital period. Using equation (15) of Osaki (1996), we find: $`q=0.92\pm 0.12`$ – well above the 0.33 limit suggested by the hydrodynamic simulations, and consistent with the values estimated by Hellier (1993) presented above.

The mass ratio in TV Col might thus be inconsistent with the models. In the following, we discuss a few possible solutions for this dilemma and suggest how the observations of TV Col can be reconciled with the theory.

#### 4.3.1 TV Col may be an extreme system

TV Col has a binary period of 5.5 h. According to the relation between the orbital period and the secondary mass in CVs (Smith & Dhillon 1998), the companion mass is $`M_2=0.57\pm 0.11M_{}`$. If the mass of the primary white dwarf in TV Col is $`M_11M_{}`$ (Ramsay 2000), the mass ratio is around 0.6 – still above the theoretical limit. TV Col can have a mass ratio below the critical value only for the secondary mass at the bottom of the above range and for a very massive white dwarf near the Chandrasekhar mass (1.44$`M_{}`$). The mass ratio is then 0.32. However, for a CV with the limiting theoretical mass ratio of 0.33, a superhump period excess of only about 7 per cent is expected according to Osaki’s equation discussed in the previous section and this is inconsistent with the observational value of TV Col. This fact might indicate that Osaki’s formula cannot be applied to TV Col.

The equation developed by Osaki is based on a dynamical calculation of non-resonant particles. Furthermore, it does not assume that the disc radius exceeds the 3:1 resonance radius. More sophisticated models have been introduced since. Murray (2000) compared the mass ratios reliably measured for three eclipsing SU UMa systems with estimates using the superhump excess in Osaki’s equation and found some inconsistency. He argued that the use of a gaseous disc (rather than isolated test particles) modifies the equations. The eccentricity is excited at the 3:1 resonance and then propagates inwards through the disc. According to his ideas, pressure forces are an important factor in the calculations, yielding mass ratios lower than the previous estimates. Murray also argued that, for systems with mass ratios exceeding 0.25, the dynamical equations cannot be applied. From his simulations (see his fig. 2), and using the observed superhump period excess of TV Col, a mass ratio of about 0.3 can be deduced. For a white dwarf of $`M_1=1M_{}`$, this implies an undermassive secondary with $`M_2=0.3M_{}`$, which would indicate an evolved star close or near the end of hydrogen burning (see discussions in Augusteijn et al. 1996; Beuermann et al. 1998).

Montgomery (2001) and Montgomery et al. (in preparation) developed analytic expressions for both types of superhumps. Montgomery et al. argued that in binaries having superhumps, the ratio between the negative superhump deficit and the positive superhump excess ($`\varphi =ϵ_{}/ϵ_+`$) should be used to estimate the mass ratio, rather than just one of these parameters. Using their equation 9 and the observed $`\varphi `$ parameter in TV Col ($`0.357\pm 0.055`$), we can estimate a mass ratio within the range 0.31-0.56. The lower value is consistent with Murray’s simulations.

The mass ratio in TV Col may thus be about the critical limit of 0.33. A criticism of this solution is that it suggests that it is only a coincidence that TV Col obeys the apparent relation between the superhump period excess and the orbital period (Fig. 6).

#### 4.3.2 Invoking the magnetic field of the white dwarf

Another solution to the problem might come from the suggestion that the strong magnetic field of the white dwarf pushes the particles in the outer accretion disc to larger orbits, allowing a disc size bigger than the normal tidal radius in a non-magnetic system (this was confirmed by Murray, personal communication). In this way tidally unstable discs in systems with mass ratios larger than 0.33 can be obtained. We are, however, not familiar with any model calculations that have been made for this case.

## 5 Summary and conclusions

1. We have found a 6.3-h period in the optical light curve of TV Col in the multi-longitude photometric campaign held in 2001 January. This detection confirms our findings from re-analysis of previously published photometric data. The periodicity is most naturally explained as a positive superhump.
2. In the middle of the 2001 January run a short-lived minor outburst occurred. The new period is seen only in the data following outburst. The outburst also changed the phase of the negative superhump by about a quarter of a cycle, while its amplitude was slightly decreased.
3. Our findings support the classification of TV Col as a permanent superhump system. Its superhump period is the longest known among CVs. TV Col thus offers a unique opportunity to test and reject some of the models, as it extends the superhump regime to periods far beyond the predicted values into a regime where the differences between models become significant. The mass ratio of TV Col might exceed the limit for superhump systems allowed by hydrodynamic simulations.
4. The observational and physical link between positive and negative superhumps is thus strengthened by our result. We might speculate that all permanent superhump systems may have both types of superhumps.
5. Our finding significantly extends the upper limit of orbital periods in positive superhump systems (from 3.7 h to 5.5 h). This range of periods is populated with dwarf novae and nova-like systems. Therefore, we strongly urge observers to search for superhumps in nova-likes and dwarf novae with orbital periods above the period gap and up to at least 5.5 h, to check whether TV Col is unique. If TV Col has certain properties that can explain its extraordinarily long superhump period (e.g. classification as an intermediate polar), then other long-period superhump systems should possess similar features.

## 6 Acknowledgments

This paper uses observations made at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). We thank P. Woudt for his kind assistance as the support astronomer, J. Patterson for utilizing the CBA net and Michele Montgomery for sending us an early version of her paper prior to publication. Two anonymous referees are acknowledged for valuable comments. We also thank D. O’Donoghue for sending some of the data to CH and for using his reduction software. TN was a PPARC advanced fellow when the majority of this work was carried out. AR was supported by PPARC and is currently supported by the Australian Research Council.