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# Comment on ”The Cluster Expansion for the Self-Gravitating gas and the Thermodynamic Limit”, by de Vega and Sánchez (astro-ph/0307318)

(September 8, 2003)

In a series of papers, de Vega and Sánchez claimed that the thermodynamic limit of a self-gravitating system can be taken by letting the number of particles, $`N`$, and the volume, $`V`$, tend to infinity keeping the ratio $`N/V^{1/3}`$ constant devega . This limit, which I call diluted following the terminology of the first paper of devega , is different from the usual thermodynamic limit, where the density $`N/V`$ is kept constant. The relevant variable for the diluted limit, which can be found by naive dimensional analysis, is $`\eta =Gm^2N/V^{1/3}T`$.

Recently, I proved rigorously that the diluted limit does not give a well defined thermodynamic limit yo : the relevant thermodynamic potentials are not extensive and the thermodynamic quantities suffer from the same problems as in the usual thermodynamic limit. For instance, the free energy scales with $`N^{5/3}`$. However, in ”The Cluster Expansion for the Self-Gravitating gas and the Thermodynamic Limit” devega2 , de Vega and Sánchez continue arguing that the diluted limit gives extensive thermodynamic potentials and well behaved thermodynamic quantities at sufficiently high temperature, i.e. for $`\eta >\eta _c`$, where $`\eta _c`$ depends on the thermodynamic ensemble as well as on the geometry of the system boundary. To mantain these statements, these authors try to show that ”the statements made in ref. \[reference yo  of the present paper\] have crucial failures which invalidate the conclusions given in ref.”. However, the argument they give is based on a misunderstunding of the proof of nonexistence of the diluted limit given in yo , and is easily refuted, as will be seen in the following.

Let us briefly remenber the proof of nonexistence of the diluted limit given in yo . Consider a system of $`N`$ classical particles, enclosed on a region of linear size $`R`$ (so that $`V=R^3`$) interacting via a gravitational potential conveniently regularized at short distances. In the diluted limit we have $`N\mathrm{}`$, $`R\mathrm{}`$, with $`N/R`$ constant. The variable $`\eta `$ of ref. devega2  is, by definition,

$$\eta =\frac{Gm^2N}{RT},$$
(1)
since $`V=R^3`$ is the volume of the region available for the system. Now, let us consider a region of linear size $`R_0`$, with $`NR_0^3`$, enclosed in the available space of the system. Note that $`R_0R`$. Using a simple sequence of inequalities, it is proven in yo  that

$$𝒵_\mathrm{C}\frac{R_0^{3N}}{N!}\mathrm{exp}[\beta N(N1)\kappa /R_0],$$
(2)
where $`𝒵_\mathrm{C}`$ is the canonical partition function, $`\beta =1/T`$ is the inverse of the temperature, and $`\kappa >0`$ is $`Gm^2`$ times a geometrical number independent of $`R_0`$ if $`R_0`$ is large. The above inequality shows that the free energy grows with $`N`$ at least as $`N^{5/3}`$, and therefore is not extensive.

The authors of devega2  argue that since to derive inequality (2) I have introduced another length $`R_0`$, the relevant variable is $`\eta =Gm^2N/TR_0`$, and, since $`R_0N^{1/3}`$, we have $`\eta \eta _c`$, so that the system is deep in the collapse phase, where the results of devega ; devega2  do not apply.

Obviously, this is wrong. $`R_0`$ is not a characteristic length of the system. It is an auxiliary mathematical length, introduced just to prove that the diluted limit is ill-behaved. It has no physical meaning, and hence it is left unspecified. It can have any value, the only retriction being that it must scale with the number of particles as $`R_0N^{1/3}`$. By definition, the length entering $`\eta `$ in equation (1) of ref. devega2  is the linear size of the spatial region available to the system. Hence, $`\eta =Gm^2/TR`$. Only in such case the integrals over the coordinates that appear in equations (2.9), (2.15), etc., of devega2  can be taken between 0 and 1. Inequality (2) can be written as

$$𝒵_\mathrm{C}\frac{R_0^{3N}}{N!}\mathrm{exp}[\eta (N1)\overline{\kappa }R/R_0],$$
(3)
where $`\overline{\kappa }>0`$ is now a dimensionless purely geometrical number independent of the size of the system. Since $`R/R_0N^{2/3}`$, we see that the free energy scales $`N^{5/3}`$ if $`\eta `$ is kept constant, and therefore is nonextensive.

It is clear that the grand canonical partition function cannot scale as $`\mathrm{exp}[Ng(\eta ,\mu )]`$ if the canonical partition function grows with $`N`$ faster than $`\mathrm{exp}[Nf(\eta )]`$. Hence, the grand canonical ensemble cannot give an extensive thermodynamic potential, either.

Inequalities (2) or (3) are valid whatever the value of the temperature (i.e., of $`\eta `$). Hence, they prove that the gas phase obtained in refs. devega ; devega2  does not exist in the diluted limit. For a finite system, we expect a gas phase at high temperature (small $`\eta `$) and a collapse phase at low temperature (large $`\eta `$), with the two phases separated by a phase transition or crossover at some $`\eta _c`$. As the system size grows, $`\eta _c`$ will decrease towards zero, the gas phase will shrink and the collapse phase will eventually cover the whole phase diagram.

In devega2  it is shown that the diluted limit exists order by order in the cluster expansion (a similar proof was given in yo  for the high temperature expansion). This contradicts the proof of nonexistence of the diluted limit. Since inequalities (2) or (3) are derived rigorously, with no assumption, the high temperature and cluster expansions cannot be valid. The reasons why this kind of expansions fail have been analyzed in yo . Basically, there are two possibilities:

i) The series in $`\eta /N`$ may not converge in the $`N\mathrm{}`$ limit, due to the contribution of high order diagrams that are naively suppressed by powers of $`1/N`$, but which actually may give a significant contribution ought to the short distance divergences (the cut-off behaves as $`a=A/N`$, where $`A`$ is a fixed length, Cf. Eq. (2.8) of the paper). Concerning this point, the statement that appears at the end of the introduction of the paper devega2 , ”one can take the limit $`N\mathrm{}`$ and then $`a0`$” does probably not hold due to the singularities of the integrals that give the coefficients of the cluster expansion. The rigorous limit is, obviously $`N\mathrm{}`$, $`a0`$, with $`Na`$ fixed. The modification of the procedure to take the $`N\mathrm{}`$ limit may be at the core of the failure of the cluster expansion developed in devega2 .

ii) Even if the cluster expansion were convergent, the series could not represent the thermodynamic potential, since it is in contradiction with the rigorous result of yo . In deriving the cluster expansion there is at least one mathematically unjustified exchange of limits that may invalidate the equality between the thermodynamic potential and the cluster series. The cluster expansion (I use the notation of devega2 ),

$$Q_N(\eta )=1+f_{ij}+f_{ij}f_{kl}+\mathrm{},$$
(4)
is rigorous, since the number of terms in the sums is finite for finite $`N`$. To proceed further, the authors of devega2  expand $`f_{ij}`$ in powers of $`\eta /N`$, and exchange the sum and integral. Mathematically, it can be very difficult to analyze the conditions under which this exchange of limits is allowed, but we can get some insight from physical intuition. Inequality (3) suggests that the system is collapsed for large $`N`$ if $`\eta `$ is of order 1 respect to $`1/N`$. This means that the cluster expansion is dominated by the higher order terms (many particles within a cluster). Hence, the canonical (Gibbs) integration measure on configuration space is very concentrated on collapsed configurations. Hence, this measure is very different from the flat measure $`_id^3r_i`$ that correspond to a gas. Keeping only the dominant of the expansion of $`f_{ij}`$ in powers of $`\eta /N`$ means that one is using effectively the flat measure. To recover something similar to the concentrated true measure, one has to sum an infinite number of terms in $`\eta /N`$. In other words, the expansion in $`\eta /N`$ is valid only in the gas phase. Inequality (3) suggests that the gas phase can only take place for $`\eta `$ of the order of $`N^{2/3}`$. Hence, the radius of convergence of the expansion in $`\eta `$ shrinks to zero as $`N\mathrm{}`$.

Similar statements claiming the existence of the diluted thermodynamic limit have been made in devega3  without even mentioning the results of ref. yo .


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# References

Is it possible to compute the Möbius function without factoring?

Craig Alan Feinstein

2712 Willow Glen Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21209
E-mail: cafeinst@msn.com, BS”D

Abstract: It has been well known since Fermat’s Little Theorem was first published that it is possible to determine that a number is composite without determining any of its nontrivial factors. It is natural to ask whether it is also possible to compute the Möbius function of a composite number without determining any of its nontrivial factors. In this note, we argue that this is impossible.

Disclaimer: This article was authored by Craig Alan Feinstein in his private capacity. No official support or endorsement by the U.S. Government is intended or should be inferred.

It has been well known since Fermat’s Little Theorem was first published that it is possible to determine that a number is composite without determining any of its nontrivial factors . It is natural to ask whether it is also possible to compute the Möbius function of a composite number without determining any of its nontrivial factors; the Möbius function $`\mu (n)`$ is defined as $`\mu (1)=1`$, $`\mu (n)=(1)^k`$ if $`n=p_1\mathrm{}p_k`$ where $`p_j`$ is a distinct prime for each $`j=1,\mathrm{},k`$, and $`\mu (n)=0`$ if $`n`$ is divisible by a perfect square . In this note, we argue that this is impossible:

Suppose that $`n`$ is square-free. Then $`\mu (n)`$ is defined as $`(1)^k`$, where $`k`$ is the number of primes in the prime factorization of $`n`$. Then computing this expression requires computing $`k(mod2)`$, and computing $`k(mod2)`$ requires counting the prime factors of $`n`$. (Note that one does not have to count as $`1,2,3,4,5,\mathrm{}`$; one can count as $`1,2,1,2,1,\mathrm{}`$.) Hence, when $`n`$ is square-free, the only way to compute $`\mu (n)`$ is to count the prime factors of $`n`$, which requires determining its prime factors.

Now, suppose that $`n`$ is divisible by a perfect square. First, note that the only way to determine that a number is a perfect square is to find its square root. Then a fortiori, the only way to determine that $`n`$ is divisible by a perfect square is to find the square root of a perfect square that divides $`n`$, which results in a nontrivial factor of $`n`$. Therefore, in order to compute $`\mu (n)`$ when $`n`$ is divisible by a perfect square, it is necessary to determine at least one of the nontrivial factors of $`n`$.

We can conclude that computing the Möbius function of a composite number is at least as difficult as finding a nontrivial factor of a composite number, unlike the problem of determining whether a number is composite.


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# The Nuclear Region of Low Luminosity Flat Radio Spectrum SourcesBased on observations collected at the Multiple Mirror Telescope on Mt. Hopkins.

## 1 Introduction

Low frequency surveys of extragalactic radio sources have observed predominantly extended double-lobed radio-galaxies, which display a steep radio spectrum. Surveys carried out at higher frequencies found a larger number of flat radio spectrum (FRS) sources, i.e. sources displaying hard radio spectra and usually characterized by an unresolved, compact radio-core.

Amongst flat radio spectrum sources, we find BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs). BL Lacs are a class of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) characterized by extreme properties, such as high X-ray and $`\gamma `$-ray luminosities, relatively high optical and radio polarization, and strong and rapid variability at radio, optical and X-ray wavelengths (e.g. Urry & Padovani 1995); these objects usually show weak or non-existent optical emission lines.

BL Lacs, together with Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQs), are called blazars. Blazars exhibit characteristics indicative of relativistic beaming (Padovani & Urry 1990) and seem to cover a wide range of polarization, strength of the emission lines, and position of the synchrotron component in the spectral energy distribution (SED) (Padovani & Urry 2001). An important distinction in terms of the SED was introduced in BL Lacs by Padovani & Giommi (1995); these authors separated the objects emitting most of their synchrotron power at high (UV–to-X-ray) and low (far-IR–to–near-IR) frequencies, introducing the terminology of “high-energy peaked BL Lac” (HBL) and “low-energy peaked BL Lac” (LBL) currently in use. Generally, X-ray selected BL Lacs tend to peak at high energies and display less extreme properties than the radio-selected ones, which peak at low energies. It was suggested (Fossati et al. 1998; Ghisellini et al. 1998) that the spectral properties and the luminosity are anti-correlated, such that high luminosity objects are LBLs and low luminosity objects are HBLs.

In recent years there has been a growing interest in the lower luminosity sources (e.g. Falcke 2001; Rector et al. 1999), as well as in those objects displaying intermediate properties between HBLs and LBLs (Bondi et al. 2001). Such objects are included in the 200 mJy sample of FRS sources defined by Marchã et al. (1996).

Marchã’s et al. sample of low luminosity, core dominated radio sources was selected with the purpose of finding low luminosity BL Lacs and investigating the differences between such objects and other FRS sources. Included in this sample were a number of galaxies which, although radio selected together with BL Lacs and objects displaying a Seyfert-like emission spectrum, and following exactly the same criteria, are optically very different from them. In fact, they do not show any conspicuous signs of activity, the main contribution to their optical spectra being of stellar origin; such objects overlap with the ones dubbed PEGs (for Passive Elliptical Galaxies) described in Antón (2000). These could be objects related to BL Lac phenomena but observed at larger angles to the jet; it is also possible that some of the galaxies are “hidden” BL Lacs, whose nuclear emission is swamped by the host galaxy starlight (Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã 2000).

Among the galaxies displaying such characteristics, we have selected 19 sources for our studies; these objects are listed in Table 1 of a companion paper (Serote Roos & Gonçalves 2003, hereafter Paper I). Our purpose was:

(i) to study the stellar content of LL FRS nuclei and to test stellar population synthesis as a method allowing to reveal any hidden optical emission-line features (these go usually undetected, or are very weak, due to the strong dilution induced by the stellar continuum);

(ii) to investigate the nature of the nuclear emission regions and excitation mechanisms at the origin of the weak emission lines present in the spectra of our objects.

In Paper I, we addressed the first point; we discussed the nuclear stellar populations and host properties of the objects in our sample. In this paper we focus our attention on the nuclear emission-line spectra of LL FRS sources; these spectra are presented in Sect. 2. In Sect. 3 we introduce the line profile fitting method and describe how it has been applied to the data. In Sect. 4 we give some notes on the studied objects. In Sect. 5 we discuss the implications of our findings, and in Sect. 6 we summarize the results and conclusions of this work.

## 2 The emission-line spectra

Even though weak emission lines can be detected in the galaxies belonging to our sample (see Fig. 1 in Paper I), their optical spectra are clearly dominated by the stellar continuum which heavily dilutes the features associated with the active nucleus, thus making it difficult to access their true spectroscopic properties (profile, line width, intensity, etc.). Aware of this problem, we have calculated the stellar contribution to each spectrum and removed it from the data (see Paper I), therefore obtaining a new set of 19 emission-line spectra; these are given in Fig. 1.

We observe emission lines in all of the objects in Fig. 1. Although emission lines are generally associated with the presence of an AGN, line emission is also frequently found in “normal” ellipticals (Goudfrooij 1999) and can be related to phenomena other than an active nucleus, e.g.: photoionization by very hot Wolf-Rayet stars (Warmers), hot O stars, or old post-AGB stars (Terlevich & Melnick 1985; Filippenko & Terlevich 1992; Binette et al. 1994), cooling accretion flows (Heckman 1981; Voit & Donahue 1997), shock heating through cloud collisions induced by accretion, galaxy interactions, mergers or starburst-driven winds (Fosbury et al. 1978; Fosbury & Wall 1979; Dopita & Sutherland 1995, 1996; Alonso-Herrero et al. 2000), etc.

In this study, we favour the AGN hypothesis and interpret the observed weak emission lines as the optical signature of an active nucleus. In support are the AGN-like radio characteristics of our sample, namely a core-dominated emission and a flat radio spectrum, as well as the detection of an X-ray compact core in a few objects. It is intuitive to assume that the same central engine could be at the origin of the observed weak optical emission lines. These lines carry valuable information on the line-emitting regions, ionizing continuum and therefore, on the physical properties of the nuclei. In order to extract these pieces of information from the spectra, a careful modelling of the emission-line features and continuum is required.

## 3 Line profile fitting and analysis

All our emission-line spectra were fitted in terms of Gaussian profiles thanks to a special routine, based on the least squares method, developed by E. J. Zuiderwijk, M.-P. Véron-Cetty and P. Véron. A full description of the method is given in Gonçalves (1999). In the present study, the emission lines H$`\alpha `$, \[N ii\]$`\lambda `$ 6548, 6584, \[S ii\]$`\lambda `$6716, 6731 and \[O i\]$`\lambda `$ 6300, 6363 (or H$`\beta `$ and \[O iii\]$`\lambda `$ 4959, 5007) were fitted by one set of seven (or three) Gaussian components; the width and redshift of each component in a set were taken to be the same, as a result of the lines being formed in the same region; this means that, in addition to the line intensities, the free parameters for each set of lines are one width and one redshift. The intensity ratios of the \[N ii\]$`\lambda `$ 6548, 6584, \[O iii\]$`\lambda `$ 4959, 5007 and \[O i\]$`\lambda `$ 6300, 6363 lines were set to their theoretical values (3.00, 2.96 and 3.11, respectively; Osterbrock 1974).

The emission lines used in our models were selected in function of their applicability in diagnostic diagrams. By plotting specific line ratios in a 2-dimensional diagram, we are able to identify the type of excitation mechanism at work in the galaxy nucleus; in particular, the use of the Baldwin et al. (1981) or Veilleux & Osterbrock (1987) diagnostic diagrams allows to classify the nuclear emission-line regions of most galaxies into one of three categories: nuclear H ii regions or starbursts, Seyfert 2 galaxies and LINERs. Such diagrams make use of conspicuous optical emission lines, such as H$`\alpha `$, H$`\beta `$, \[N ii\]$`\lambda `$6584, \[O iii\]$`\lambda `$5007, \[S ii\]$`\lambda `$6717, 6713, \[O ii\]$`\lambda `$3727 and \[O i\]$`\lambda `$6300.

We have modeled the emission lines as explained above. In a few cases, additional Gaussians were added to fit iron blends, or other weak features present in the spectra; this did not affect the measured intensities of the lines of interest (i.e. the lines used to build the diagnostic diagrams) but contributed to reduce the overall scatter in the fit. Figure 2 shows the best fitting models for six objects in our sample; the parameters resulting from the line profile fitting analysis are given in Table 1.

The line ratios \[O iii\]$`\lambda `$5007/H$`\beta `$, \[N ii\]$`\lambda `$6584/H$`\alpha `$ and \[O i\]$`\lambda `$65300/H$`\alpha `$, used in the Veilleux & Osterbrock (1987) diagnostic diagrams, take full advantage of the physical distinctions between the various types of objects and minimize the effects of reddening correction and calibration errors. We have calculated these line ratios; the obtained values, given in Table 1, were used to build the diagnostic diagrams shown in Fig. 3. The line-ratios seem to be consistent, providing the same result on both diagnostic diagrams. According to these diagrams, 79% (15/19) of the objects harbour a LINER; the remaining nuclei (0035$`+`$227, 0116$`+`$319, 0848$`+`$686 and 1144$`+`$352) display a higher-ionization, Seyfert-like spectrum.

In this study, the mean error in the measurement of the \[N ii\] and \[O iii\] lines intensity is of the order of 13%, in the H$`\beta `$ and \[O i\] lines it goes up to $``$24% and in the H$`\alpha `$ line it is $``$19%. Usually, no error bars are represented in diagnostic diagrams; however, an estimation of the errors can be calculated based on the previously given values, being of the order of 0.10 and 0.13 in the x-axis (log\[N ii\]$`\lambda `$6584/H$`\alpha `$ and log\[O i\]$`\lambda `$65300/H$`\alpha `$, respectively) and 0.11 in the y-axis (log\[O iii\]$`\lambda `$5007/H$`\beta `$) in Fig. 3. The classification is therefore robust.

## 4 Notes on individual objects

0035$`+`$227 is a radio-source detected at 5 GHz (Griffith et al. 1990); it has been studied at higher frequencies by Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã (2000) and more recently at 1.4 GHz (Dennett-Thorpe, private communication). This source has a steep spectral index between 8 and 43 GHz ($`\alpha _{43}^8`$) and a relatively low radio polarization; this suggests that the object is not highly boosted, as we would expect from a BL Lac. Following Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã (2000), this could be a Compact Symmetric Object (CSO). Our spectroscopic analysis points towards a nuclear region with characteristics reminiscent of those of Seyfert 2s; such an optical spectrum is more common amongst double-lobed, FR II radio-galaxies.

0055$`+`$300 is an FR I radio-galaxy with an asymmetric two-sided jet and a prominent core; its optical counterpart is the cD galaxy NGC 315, at $`z=0.017`$. This source has been extensively studied using the VLA and VLBI (e.g. Venturi et al. 1993; Cotton et al. 1999; Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã 2000) and has been detected at X-ray (Worrall & Birkinshaw 2000; Terashima et al. 2002) and infrared wavelengths (Golombek et al. 1988). Spectroscopic observations by Ho et al.(1995) suggest the presence of a LINER with a weak broad H$`\alpha `$ component. We confirm the low ionization nature of this object, but were not able to detect any broad Balmer line; however, such a component cannot be excluded by our data. The detection of a broad component would be in agreement with the other AGN-like characteristics of the object, namely the presence of a radio jet and a compact, unresolved, X-ray core. Although a small-scale cooling flow may be present in NGC 315 (Worrall & Birkinshaw 2000), we interpret the observed low ionization spectrum as the optical signature of a low luminosity AGN.

0116$`+`$319 or 4C 31.04 is a variable radio-source with a double-lobed radio structure; it shows the presence of a complex H i absorption (Conway 1996), which hides one of the mini-lobes and partially covers the other. The core source was identified with a faint component between the two extended lobes; no jet-like structures were observed either side of the core (Giovannini et al. 2001). From the steep $`\alpha _{43}^8`$ value, Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã (2000) suggest that 4C 31.04 is not highly boosted; also its symmetric structure and core-to-total radio power ratio suggest that this source is near the plane of the sky (Giovannini et al. 2001). 4C 31.04 is classified as a low-redshift CSO (Giovannini et al. 2001; Cotton et al. 1995). This object is associated with a galaxy pair (MCG 5$``$4$``$17 and 5$``$4$``$18) at $`z=0.060`$. Spectroscopic observations by Gelderman & Whittle (1994) reveal the presence of H$`\alpha `$, \[N ii\] $`\lambda `$6548, 6584 and \[O i\] $`\lambda `$6300 in emission, although the quality of their spectra does not allow to classify the object easily. Our data seem to indicate the presence of a nuclear emission region with properties similar to those of Seyfert 2 galaxies.

0149$`+`$710 is a core dominated radio galaxy at $`z=0.023`$. It has been observed at 1.4 GHz by Lara et al. (2001); its radio structure shows a strong asymmetry, with a wide jet in the W-NW direction and a fainter component in the opposite direction, probably related to the counter-jet. At 5 GHz, the VLBA image shows a bright core and a collimated jet (Bondi et al. 2001). Thanks to a relatively high optical polarization (3.3%) and a Ca ii break contrast smaller than 0.4, this object has been classified as a BL Lac candidate by Marchã et al. (1996); in addition, it shows a high radio polarization and a flat 8.4–43 GHz radio spectrum. Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã (2000) suggest this could be a “hidden” BL Lac whose non-thermal continuum is being swamped by starlight. Our spectroscopic analysis, carried on the nuclear data after correction for the stellar contribution, reveals a low ionization spectrum typical of LINERs. Detected in the X-rays by ROSAT (Voges et al. 1999), this source is probably a low luminosity AGN observed close to the jet.

0651$`+`$410 is a radio source associated with the elliptical galaxy Zw 204$``$27. It shows a convex radio spectrum, peaking at frequencies above a few GHz; this source is thus a High Frequency Peaker, or HFP (Dallacasa et al. 2000). However, it has been included by Marecki et al. (1999) in their GPS (GHz-Peaked Spectrum) candidate list. This source has a break contrast $``$0.47 and an optical polarization below the 2% level; due to its borderline properties, Marchã et al. (1996) could not classify this object. 0651$`+`$410 could be a weak BL Lac diluted by the starlight of the host galaxy, as well as a flat radio spectrum galaxy with a naturally low break contrast. Spectroscopic observations by Merighi et al. (1991) reveal the presence of H$`\alpha `$, \[N ii\] $`\lambda `$6548, 6584 and \[O i\] $`\lambda `$6300 in emission. Analysis of our nuclear spectrum, corrected for the host galaxy starlight, shows the presence of a LINER.

0729$`+`$562 is a steep $`\alpha _{43}^8`$ radio source displaying evidence of variability at 1.4 GHz (Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã 2000); although a number of BL Lacs and BL Lac candidates show variability at radio wavelengths, this source does not seem to be a BL Lac object and remains intriguing. VLBI observations at 5 GHz (Bondi et al. 2001) show that the radio source is rather collimated and presents a series of bright and relatively compact knots; however, the image does not allow us to decide whether the object is one- or two-sided, nor to identify the core; the best candidate, based on observations at 1.6 GHz, seems to be the southernmost component. 0729$`+`$562 has been identified with a weak-lined galaxy at $`z=0.107`$. Our spectroscopic data suggests the presence of a Low Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Region.

0733$`+`$597 is a compact radio source (Patnaik 1992) identified with an S0 galaxy at $`z=0.040538`$. Observations with the VLBI (Taylor et al. 1994) revealed a core-jet structure with a faint counter-jet to the south; this source has been included in the extragalactic radio-jets catalogue of Liu & Zhang (2002). Following Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã (2000), 0733$`+`$597 would constitute a good beamed object candidate. Analysis of our optical data reveals the presence of a LINER, which is most probably associated with a low luminosity AGN. The detection of this source at X-ray wavelengths with ROSAT (Voges et al. 1999) comes in support of this interpretation.

0848$`+`$686 is a radio source with relatively flat 8.4–43 GHz radio spectrum and high radio polarization ($``$2.5%); its optical polarization is lower than 1%. Our spectroscopic analysis, carried out on the nuclear data after correction for the stellar contribution, reveals the presence of a Seyfert-like nuclear emission region. At the present time, we do not dispose of additional pieces of information supporting the presence of an AGN in this object. X-ray observations could contribute to enlighten the situation and provide confirmation of the AGN nature of this source. With a contrast value of 0.46 (Marchã et al. 1996), this could then be another example of a “hidden” BL Lac whose non-thermal continuum is being swamped by the host galaxy starlight. For Caccianiga et al. (2002), however, this is just another Passive Elliptical Galaxy (PEG).

0902$`+`$468 is a compact radio source identified with a galaxy at $`z=0.0848`$. Its optical polarization value is less than 1.2%, and the radio polarization is inferior to 0.99% (Marchã et al. 1996; Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã 2000). For Caccianiga et al. (2002), this could be a narrow emission-line galaxy; our analysis of the nuclear spectrum, corrected for the stellar contribution, suggests that this object harbours a Low Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Region.

1144$`+`$352 is a low power radio-galaxy showing variable radio polarization at 8 GHz (Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã 2000); also its arcsecond radio core is variable. This object has been identified with the Zwicky galaxy Zw 186.48 and is a known GPS source (Snellen et al. 1995). 1144$`+`$352 was extensively studied by several authors, using different instruments; VLA, MERLIN and VLBI data (Giovannini et al. 1999) show a complex structure over a broad range of physical scales (1 pc – 1 Mpc) and confirm previous suggestions of superluminal motion in this source. At parsec resolution, Giovannini et al. (1999) identified the core source and two-sided jets, very asymmetric in shape and properties; from these observations, they computed a jet orientation with respect to the line-of-sight of 25°; this is in agreement with the source properties, intermediate between an FR I galaxy and a BL Lac object. This source was considered a BL Lac candidate by Marchã et al. (1996); in addition, it was detected at X-ray wavelengths by ROSAT (Brinkman et al. 1995). All these pieces of evidence suggest that this could, indeed, be a “hidden” BL Lac, whose non-thermal continuum is swamped by starlight, or an object with a jet at larger angles to the line-of-sight. Analysis of the optical spectrum of 1144$`+`$352 suggests the presence of a high ionization nuclear emission region reminiscent of those observed in Seyfert nuclei. This is in agreement with the other AGN-like characteristics of the object.

1146$`+`$596 is a compact radio source for Condon & Dressel (1978). VLBI observations at 5 GHz (Wrobel et al. 1985) suggest the presence of three components consistent with an asymmetric core-jet structure; further VLBI imaging of this source provided morphological and spectral evidence leading to different conclusions – namely the presence of twin, parsec-scale jets. The twin-jet kinematics requires that the jets are mildly relativistic and oriented at $`50\mathrm{°}`$ from the line-of-sight (Taylor et al. 1998). 1146$`+`$596 has been included in the extragalactic radio-jets catalogue of Liu & Zhang (2002); the optical counterpart of this source is NGC 3894, a bright galaxy at $`z=`$ 0.01068 classified as an elliptical or an S0 (Nilson 1973). Although its optical continuum is dominated by starlight, this galaxy’s radio and far-infrared continuum suggest the presence of an active nucleus (Condon & Broderick 1988). Spectroscopic observations carried by Kim (1989) show the presence of a dust lane and ionized gas along the galaxy’s major axis; the gas kinematics are rather peculiar, exhibiting non-circular motions. Analysis of our data shows that the nuclear emission-line region has LINER characteristics; such a low ionization spectrum could be associated with a low power AGN.

1241$`+`$735 is a core-jet radio source (Augusto et al. 1998) identified with a bright galaxy at $`z=`$ 0.075. VLBI imaging by Bondi et al. (2001) confirms the compact core and one-sided jet and reveals an unusual radio morphology at larger distances from the core, where the jet starts bending and ends in a compact component. There is no hint of a counter-jet or of any extended emission on the side opposite to the main radio jet. This object shows very high and variable radio polarization and a flat $`\alpha _{43}^8`$ index, which led Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã (2000) to suggest this could be an active nucleus with a jet close to the line-of-sight. Analysis of our spectroscopic data shows the presence of a Low Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Region, which is compatible with the presence of a low power AGN.

1245$`+`$676 is a giant radio-galaxy with FR II type morphology (de Vries et al. 1997); it is also a known GPS source. At 1.4 GHz, its radio emission is core-dominated (Lara et al. 2001). This source has been identified with the galaxy VII Zw 485 at $`z=0.107`$. It displays a high contrast value and little radio polarization (Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã 2000); in consequence, this does not seem to be a good beamed object candidate. Spectroscopic observations published by de Vries et al. (2000) show the presence of H$`\alpha `$, H$`\beta `$, \[N ii\]$`\lambda `$ 6584 and \[S ii\]$`\lambda `$ 6717, 6731 in emission; our data, corrected for the stellar contribution and modelled with a powerful line-deblending method, confirm these detections as well as the detection of \[N ii\]$`\lambda `$ 6548 in emission. However, the poor signal-to-noise ratio of our spectrum does not allow a firm detection of the \[O i\]$`\lambda `$ 6300, 6363 lines; unfortunately, the spectrum published by de Vries et al. was not corrected for the atmospheric absorption, and displays a deep H<sub>2</sub>O absorption at the wavelengths of interest, making it impossible to check for the presence of the \[O i\] emission lines. Our LINER classification, based on one diagnostic diagram alone, is therefore to be checked through the analysis of better quality data. The presence of an AGN in this source needs still to be confirmed.

1558$`+`$595 is a radio source identified with an elliptical galaxy at $`z=0.0602`$. It displays a high contrast value and little radio polarization (Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã 2000); from its steep $`\alpha _{43}^8`$ index, these authors conclude that this is not a highly boosted object and suggest it could be a CSO. VLBA images at 5 GHz show a compact triple-component morphology (Bondi et al. 2001); it is not clear which component is the core. NVSS maps reveal the presence of two slightly resolved radio features, connected by fainter emission, plus another two features to the East, with a two-sided jet visible (Denett-Thorpe, private communication). Spectroscopic observations of this object point towards the presence of a Low Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Region. This is not supported by Caccianiga et al. (2002), who classify 1558$`+`$595 as a simple PEG.

1658$`+`$302 or 4C 30.31, is a radio galaxy with FR I type morphology; it shows a 32 kpc one-sided jet embedded in diffuse emission (Gonzalez-Serrano et al. 1993). Capetti et al. (2000) revealed the presence, in this galaxy, of a faint one-sided optical jet, co-spatial with the radio jet. Images obtained at 1.4 GHz show a small double with a compact point source at some distance (Dennett-Thorpe, private communication). This object’s radio polarization is below the 2% level; the optical polarization value is even lower (Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã 2000; Marchã et al. 1996). 1658$`+`$302 does not seem to constitute a good blazar candidate. Analysis of our spectrum suggests the presence of a LINER.

1703$`+`$223 is a radio source associated with an elliptical galaxy at $`z=0.04977`$. Although its optical polarization level is inferior to 2%, Marchã et al. (1996) have classified this object as a BL Lac candidate based on the contrast value; this has been recalculated by Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã (2000), whom no longer classify 1703$`+`$223 as a beamed object. Observed at 1.4 GHz, this source displays two small compact doubles (Dennett-Thorpe, private communication). Analysis of our spectroscopic data, after correction for the stellar contribution, shows the presence of a Low Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Region.

1755$`+`$626 is a radio source identified with NGC 6521, a galaxy in a cluster. It has a radio polarization value inferior to 2% and a flat high frequency radio spectrum; based on these characteristics, Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã (2000) have suggested this could be a “hidden” BL Lac whose thermal continuum is swamped by starlight. Analysis of our optical spectrum, after correction for the stellar contribution, reveals the presence of a LINER; this could be associated with a low power AGN. The X-ray detection of this source by Zimmermann et al. (2001) supports this hypothesis. 1755$`+`$626 is thus likely to host a beamed active nucleus.

2202$`+`$363 is a compact radio source identified with a galaxy at $`z=0.075`$. Unresolved at 1.6 GHz, this source has been observed with the VLBA at 5 GHz (Bondi et al. 2001) showing a single component, barely resolved, and no indications of extended emission. This object shows variability at 1.4 GHz (Dennett-Thorpe, private communication); its radio polarization level is inferior to 1.26%, the optical polarization being significatively lower (Marchã et al. 1996; Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã 2000). Our spectrum shows the presence of a Low Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Region, which could be related to the presence of a low power AGN.

2320$`+`$203 is a compact radio source identified with a galaxy at $`z=0.039`$. This is another example of an object displaying high radio polarization and a flat $`\alpha _{43}^8`$ index (Dennett-Thorpe & Marchã 2000). Our spectroscopic analysis reveals the presence of a Low onization Nuclear Emission-line Region; this is most probably associated with a low power AGN. Detection of this object at X-rays wavelengths by Brinkmann et al. (1995) comes in support of this hypothesis. 2320$`+`$203 is thus likely to host an active nucleus observed close to the jet.

## 5 Discussion

### 5.1 FRS Sources and Low Luminosity AGN

Although usually displaying high luminosities, FRS sources seem to span a large range in luminosity and even jet power (Falcke et al. 2001). In the past few years there has been a growing interest in the low luminosity end of the distribution, with some studies focusing on low power sources (Paper I; Falcke 2001; Falcke et al. 2001; Marchã et al. 1996; Rector et al. 1999). Some of the above mentioned studies were driven by searches for the true nature of blazars and helped to explore the limitations of the present classification.

In low power sources, the emission coming from the host galaxy (hot gas and starlight) is more prone to dilute the non-stellar spectrum, therefore adding to the difficulty in studying the optical properties of the objects. Fully aware of this fact, we have revisited Marchã et al. data in search of additional information on the nuclear region of LL FRS sources. Our results show that the majority of the studied nuclei have LINER-type spectra. It is interesting to note that these low luminosity sources display the same optical properties as other low luminosity AGN (LL AGN), namely a low ionization spectrum.

Is the LINER emission a signature of a low power AGN, or is it being produced by other phenomena (shocks, photoionization by very hot stars, etc.)? The AGN hypothesis is favored in our objects; in support, are the AGN-like radio characteristics of the sources as well as the detection of an X-ray compact core in a few objects. Some of the nuclei show a relatively high degree of radio and optical polarization (see Table 1 of Paper I), which supports their beamed nature. Although most of the sources do not seem to be highly boosted, they can nevertheless be powered by a low luminosity AGN with a jet at larger angles to the line-of-sight.

Our results show that there is a connection between LL FRS sources and low power AGN; other studies give support to our findings. For instance, Nagar et al. (2000, 2002) and Falcke et al. (2000, 2001) have reported VLA and VLBA observations of a sample of LL AGN selected from the spectroscopic survey of Ho et al. (1995); spectroscopically, most of the objects in this survey are classified as LINERs, with some low luminosity and composite LINER-H ii objects also present (Ho et al. 1997). Their observations have revealed that a large fraction of the studied LINERs have flat spectrum compact radio cores, similar to those found in many AGN; in the brightest cores it was even possible to resolve the radio emission into jet-like structures. These authors sustain that at least 50% of low luminosity AGN in the sample are accretion dominated, with the radio emission presumably coming from the jets and/or an advection-dominated accretion flow. In addition, the brightness temperatures of the radio cores are consistent with the presence of an active nucleus, giving additional support to the AGN-like nature of these LINERs.

Observing the cores of a sample of LL AGN, such as LINERs, these authors found a number of BL Lac-like sources. Our study followed the inverse path: studying a sample of low luminosity FRS sources, known to contain a high fraction of objects with blazar-like properties, we conclude that the large majority display a low ionization spectrum, typical of LINERs.

### 5.2 LINERs and ADAFs

In LL AGN such as LINERs, it has been suggested that radio cores could be due to an advection-dominated accretion flow, or ADAF (Narayan & Yi 1994, 1995a,b; Fabian & Rees 1995); an ADAF occurs for small values of the accretion rate (less than 1% of the Eddington rate).

There are estimations of the BH masses in BL Lacs and radio-loud quasars (e.g. Treves et al. 2002; Falomo et al. 2002; Kotilainen et al. 2002). BL Lac BH masses span a range 5 10<sup>7</sup> – 10<sup>9</sup> $`M_{\mathrm{}}`$ (Falomo et al. 2002; Kotilainen et al. 2002 ); additional results show that the velocity dispersions and BH masses of BL Lac objects are similar to those obtained for low-$`z`$ radio-galaxies, in agreement with the unified schemes for BL Lacs and radio-galaxies; also, the average BH masses in radio-loud quasars are a factor $``$2 greater than those of BL Lacs. The BH masses can be used to derive the Eddington luminosity and this value can be used to calculate the Eddington ratio, provided the total luminosity is known. Treves et al. (2002) estimated the Eddington ratio for the two classes of objects; their values differ by two orders of magnitude in the two classes. This gives support to the hypothesis that the accretion rate changes from largely sub-Eddington in low luminosity, weak-lined sources, to near-Eddington in high luminosity, strong-lined sources.

It has been suggested that the main difference between FR I and FR II radio-galaxies, as well as between LINERs and Seyferts, lies in the accretion rate (for a complete discussion, see the review by Véron-Cetty & Véron 2000); in the former objects, the accretion rate is small (and so is the $`L/L_{\mathrm{Edd}}`$) and thus, an ADAF forms (Baum et al. 1995). There are evidences for the presence of an ADAF in the radio source Sgr A, which has a LINER spectrum (Yuan et al. 2002) and also in the FR I radio-galaxy M 87 (Reynolds et al. 1996). Moreover, LINERs show characteristics which can be accounted for by the presence of an ADAF, like little short-term X-ray variability, or the presence of double-peaked profiles. Better quality data would allow to search for the possible presence of such double-peaked emission lines in the galaxies of our sample.

An advection-dominated accretion flow could be present in most BL Lacs and BL Lac-type objects. Cao (2002) studied a sample of BL Lac objects and found a bi-modal distribution in their H$`\beta `$ luminosity; this author suggests that standard thin disks are associated with sources displaying $`L_{\mathrm{H}\beta }>10^{41}`$ erg s<sup>-1</sup> and BH masses in the range 10$`{}_{}{}^{810}M_{\mathrm{}}^{}`$. In lower luminosity sources, like the ones in our sample, he expects the standard thin disk to evolve into an advection-dominated accretion flow, forming a hot and thick disk. The lower limit to the BH mass of these objects is in the range 1.66–24.5 10$`{}_{}{}^{8}M_{\mathrm{}}^{}`$, in agreement with what is observed in LINERs.

### 5.3 The unifying scheme for BL Lacs and FR Is

Blazars seem to be associated with Fanaroff-Riley type I and II radio-galaxies. According to the unifying scheme, FSRQs and FR II radio-galaxies would be similar objects observed from different angles between the radio jet and the line-of-sight (Barthel 1989), with the former being the beamed version of the latter. In what concerns BL Lacs, there is still some debate on the nature of the parent population; some authors believe it to be the low luminosity, core dominated, FR I galaxies (Urry & Padovani 1995; Urry et al. 1999, 2000; Kollgaard et al. 1992), while others suggest FR IIs may also contribute (Murphy et al. 1993; Cassaro et al. 1999). A transition population between beamed BL Lacs and unbeamed radio-galaxies has not been detected (Rector et al. 1999); yet, a transition population of low luminosity BL Lacs was predicted to exist in abundance in X-ray selected samples, like the one studied by Browne & Marchã (1993).

A hot, radiatively inefficient accretion flow such as an ADAF could contribute to suppress the thermal emission in blazar-like objects, therefore allowing for the non-thermal radiation to dominate over larger angles between the jet and the line-of-sight. As a consequence, it would be possible to observe some of the blazars’ properties without relativistic beaming taking place. Such objects could be linked to a transition population between beamed BL Lacs and unbeamed FR I galaxies. This could be the case for some of the objects in our sample, e.g. 1146$`+`$596 or 1144$`+`$352.

FR I galaxies usually display an optical LINER spectrum (Laing et al. 1994; Gonçalves 1999) unlike FR IIs, which show nuclear spectra of higher ionization (either Seyfert 1- or Seyfert 2-like). PKS 2014$``$55 (Jones & McAdam 1992; Simpson et al. 1996) and S5 2116$`+`$81 (Lara et al. 1999) seem to be the exception, displaying simultaneously a FR I radio morphology and a Seyfert-type spectrum. It would be interesting to follow these objects with a long-term spectroscopic program and check for variability in their spectra; detection of a LINER-type spectrum could be an indication that the object has exhausted the gas near the black hole and will undergo an ADAF phase.

## 6 Summary and Conclusions

In an effort to better understand low luminosity FRS sources, we undertook the spectroscopic study of 19 objects selected from Marchã’s et al. (1996) 200 mJy sample. This sample was expected to contain a high fraction of objects observed at small angles to the jet, like low luminosity BL Lacs and candidate BL Lacs, and includes objects displaying intermediate properties between HBLs and LBLs.

Our study made use of stellar population synthesis as a tool to recover the true spectroscopic characteristics of the nuclei; we then performed a careful analysis of the resulting emission-line spectra. The data were modelled in terms of Gaussian profiles and the measured line ratios were used to identify the excitation mechanisms at work in the nuclear emission-line regions by means of diagnostic diagrams. The results of this analysis show that 79% (15/19) of the objects harbour a Low Ionization Nuclear Emission-line Region, or LINER.

The observed low ionization spectra are interpreted as the optical signature of an active nucleus. Although most of the sources in our sample do not seem to be highly boosted, they can nevertheless be powered by a low power AGN with a jet at larger angles to the line-of-sight. The stellar populations derived in Paper I for these nuclei are in agreement with those usually found in LINERs; also the black hole masses reported for some LL FRS sources are compatible with the presence of a LL AGN, such as a LINER. Our results support a unifying picture involving LL FRS sources and FR I radio-galaxies, which usually display a low ionization optical spectrum. The fact that we observe a LINER-type spectrum in 79% of the nuclei suggests that the majority of the objects presented here could be undergoing an ADAF phase. The remaining sources may still dispose of enough gas around the black hole to fuel an optically thick, geometrically thin, cool accretion disk; as a consequence, we observe a higher-ionization, Seyfert-like spectrum.

Further observations, carried out at higher spectral resolution and better signal-to-noise ratio, would allow us to better constrain the spectroscopic properties of these nuclei and also to check for variations in their line profiles; it would be particularly interesting to pursue such a study on the few objects displaying radio variability. Finally, better quality data would allow us to search for large Balmer line components and double-peaked emission lines, typical of relativistic accretion disks.

Acknowledgements: We thank S. Antón for fruitful discussions and P. Véron for valuable comments. A. C. Gonçalves and M. Serote Roos acknowledge support from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal, under grants no. BPD/9422/02 and BPD/5684/2001.


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# WR 7a: a V Sagittae or a qWR star?Based on observations made at the Pico dos Dias Observatory/LNA

## 1 Introduction

The star WR 7a was observed by Schwartz, Persson & Hamann (1990) \- SPH - as part of a survey to characterize stars previously identified as H$`\alpha `$ emission sources. Pereira et al. (1998) classified it is a WR star of type WN4, with a strong emission of C IV 5801 Å. This line, however, is characteristic of the WC class. WR 7a is situated in an intermediate stage between the WN and the WN/WC stars, a category of WR stars discussed by Conti & Massey (1989). On the basis of the He II Pickering decrement Pereira et al. (1998) suggested that the star has no hydrogen. Those authors determined a colour excess of $`E(BV)`$ between 1.2 and 2.1, derived from diffuse interstellar bands, and used the convolution of the spectrum with a $`V`$ filter profile to measures a $`V`$ magnitude of 15.0. The star was included in the VIIth Catalogue of Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars (van der Hucht, 2001) under the designation WR 7a and we will here adopt this designation instead of the name SPH 2 under which it was previously known.

In a search for new stars of the V Sagittae class (Steiner & Diaz, 1998), we selected WR 7a as a candidate because of the similarity of its spectrum to that of V617 Sgr, in spite of the absence of the O VI lines.

The V Sagittae stars form a group of 4 galactic binaries: V Sge (Herbig et al., 1965; Diaz, 1999), WX Cen (Diaz & Steiner, 1995), V617 Sgr (Steiner et al., 1999; Cieslinski, Dias & Steiner, 1999) and DI Cru (= WR 46) (Marchenko et al., 2000). They are characterized by the presence of strong emission lines of O VI and N V. Moreover, He II 4686 Å is at least two times more intense than H$`\beta `$ \+ He II 4859 Å. The spectra of the V Sagittae stars do not show any indication of the secondary component. The orbital light curves of the members of this class are either low-amplitude sine waves or are asymmetric with higher amplitude, the latter characterized by primary and secondary eclipses with different depths. The orbital periods range from 5 to 12 h. The V Sagittae stars are observationally very similar to the Compact Binary Supersoft Sources (CBSS), which are more abundant in the Magellanic Clouds than in the Galaxy.

The CBSS exhibit very soft X-Ray spectra and high luminosities, and are interpreted as suffering hydrostatic hydrogen nuclear burning on the surface of a white dwarf (van den Heuvel et al., 1992). This burning is due to high mass transfer rates from the secondary stars in consequence of the fact that these systems have secondaries more massive than the primaries (see Kahabka & van den Heuvel (1997), for a review and references therein).

In the following section we describe our photometric and spectroscopic observations of WR 7a and the reductions of the data, while in section 3 we present the results of the analysis. The conclusions of this work are presented in section 4.

## 2 Observations

We made photometric measurements of the star WR 7a with the Boller & Chivens 60-cm telescope of the University of São Paulo and the Zeiss 60-cm telescope, both located at the Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica (LNA), in Itajubá, southeast Brazil. We used the thin, back-illuminated EEV CCD 002-06 chip and a Wright Instruments thermoelectrically cooled camera. The timing was provided by a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. Table 1 contains a journal of the CCD observations. The images were obtained through the Johnson $`V`$ band and were corrected for bias and flatfield, using the standard IRAF111IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which are operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. routines. The star is located in a quite rich field; therefore, we carried out differential PSF (Point Spread Function) photometry of WR 7a and four comparison stars using the LCURVE package, written and kindly provided by M.P. Diaz. It makes use of DAOPHOT routines to treat automatically long time series data.

Spectroscopic measurements of WR 7a were carried out with the Cassegrain spectrograph coupled to the 1.6-m telescope at the LNA. We used a 900 lines per mm dispersion grating, covering the spectrum from 3650 Å to 4950 Å – see Table 1. We used a thin, back-illuminated SITe SI003AB 1024x1024 CCD. Bias and dome flatfield exposures were obtained to correct for the read-out pattern and sensitivity of the CCD. The width of the slit was adjusted to the seeing conditions at the time of observations. We took exposures of calibration lamps after every third exposure of the star, in order to determine the wavelength calibration solution. The image reductions, spectra extractions and wavelength calibrations were executed with IRAF standard routines, and the measurements of the He II 4686 Å radial velocities were done by fitting gaussian functions to the peaks of these emission lines.

## 3 Data analysis and discussion

### 3.1 Analysis of the optical spectrum: the variable O VI lines

The spectrum of WR 7a is very similar to those of V Sagittae stars, except for the absence of O VI emission lines. In particular, the similarity between its spectrum and that of V617 Sgr (Steiner et al., 1999) is remarkable. The properties of the most prominent lines of WR 7a are presented in Table 2. In order to examine in more detail the characteristics of the spectrum we performed a Temporal Variance Spectrum (TVS) analysis. In this analysis we normalize all spectra in such a way that the continuum is equal to 1. The temporal variance is calculated for each wavelength pixel. In our TVS spectra we calculated the square root of the variance as a function of wavelength. For a more detailed discussion of this method see Fullerton, Gies & Bolton (1996). Figure 1 shows the the intensity spectrum and the TVS for WR 7a. Although below the noise level in the intensity spectrum, the O VI 3811/34 Å emission lines are easily visible in the TVS, indicating their high variability. WR 7a displays, therefore, all the spectroscopic features that characterize the V Sagittae stars such as the high He II/H$`\beta `$ ratio and the simultaneous presence of O VI and N V lines.

### 3.2 Searching for periodicities

The light curves of the four observed nights are quite flat, with very little, if any, flickering. V Sagittae stars have, as a rule, significant variability on time-scales of tens of minutes. In addition, the orbital variations are easily recognizable in light curves of V Sagittae stars but not in WR 7a. Thus, from the photometric point of view, WR 7a does not behave like the V Sagittae stars.

We used our radial velocity and photometric data to search for possible periodicities. The Lomb-Scargle periodogram (Scargle, 1982) of the He II 4686 Å radial velocity measurements from our spectra is presented in Figure 2. We also show, in Figure 3, the periodogram of the photometric measurements. The latter was constructed on the basis of data from the two consecutive nights of 2000 May 2 and 3. The data from the other observing nights were non-consecutive and too far apart to be included in the periodogram analysis.

The highest peak seen in the Lomb-Scargle periodogram (Figure 2) of the radial velocity data corresponds to a period of 0.204 d ($`f=4.9`$d-1). The photometric data (Figure 3) yield a slightly different value, 0.227 d ($`f=4.4`$d-1). Given the limited time coverage of our data, the errors involved are quite large. The two periods differ by $`1.7\sigma `$. This means that there is a non-negligible chance that they are actually identical. One-day aliases of these periods can not be ruled out. Period values such as these, or multiple periodicities, are not unusual in systems like WR 7a. The orbital period of the V Sagittae star V617 Sgr, for instance, is 0.208 d (Steiner et al., 1999), while the qWR star HD 45166 (Steiner & Oliveira, in preparation) and the WR star DI Cru (Marchenko et al., 2000; Veen et al., 2002) are systems with multiple periods that probably include the orbital period plus a number of possible periods due to non-radial pulsations. We do not claim that WR 7a is necessarily a binary system. Candidates to non-radial pulsations in the stars HD 45166 and DI Cru are in the range from 0.2 to 0.4 d. Given the experience with these systems, a lot more spectra with higher spectral resolution and higher signal-to-noise ratio are required to clarify the nature of these periods – or, eventually, of this single period – in WR 7a.

The radial velocity and photometric ephemerides are

$$T_{spec}(HJD)=2451577.692(\pm 20)+0.204(\pm 13)\times E$$
(1)
and

$$T_{phot}(HJD)=2452032.600(\pm 23)+0.227(\pm 14)\times E$$
(2)
where zero phase of the radial velocity ephemeris is defined as the crossing from positive to negative values, and $`T_{phot}`$ are timings of minimum brightness. The radial velocity curve of the He II 4686 Å line, folded to the 0.204 d period is shown in Figure 4. It presents sinusoidal variations with an amplitude of about $`K17`$ km s-1. The average light curve folded to the 0.227 d period is shown in Figure 5, and presents a peak-to-peak amplitude of 0.02 mag.

An additional (weak) signal is seen in the photometric periodogram (Figure 3), where one can see power excess at about 60 min ($`f=24`$d-1). Theoretical studies on radial pulsations of Wolf-Rayet stars (Maeder, 1985) indicate oscillation periods in the range of 15 to 60 min. Blecha, Schaller & Maeder (1992) claim to have seen similar oscillations with period of 10 min in WR 40, but their reality has been questioned (Marchenko et al., 1994). Further investigation of this particular issue is certainly desirable.

### 3.3 The Hydrogen content

Pereira et al. (1998) claimed that WR 7a does not present hydrogen emission. They concluded this on the basis of their He II Pickering decrement analysis. A re-analysis of the equivalent widths presented by these authors, however, shows that this conclusion is not correct. We applied a procedure in which we compared theoretical (Osterbrock, 1989) and observed equivalent widths of the He II lines of the Pickering series, normalized to the equivalent width of He II 5411 Å. The result is shown in Figure 6. The oscillatory behavior associated to the presence of hydrogen is clearly noticed.

Another way to investigate the presence/absence of hydrogen in a spectrum with strong helium emission consists in comparing the He II 4859 Å+H$`\beta `$ strength with the geometric mean of the strength of the two adjacent transitions from the Pickering series. This criterion has been widely used, for instance, by Smith, Shara & Moffat (1996) in defining their three-dimensional classification of WN stars. We define the Pickering parameter, $`p`$, such that

$$p=\frac{I(4859\mathrm{\AA }+4861\mathrm{\AA })}{\left(I(4541\mathrm{\AA })\times I(5411\mathrm{\AA })\right)^{1/2}}$$
(3)
For a pure He II spectrum one expects $`p=1`$ (Smith, Shara & Moffat, 1996). Any value of $`p`$ larger than 1 would mean that hydrogen is present in the spectrum. In the case of WR 7a, the measured value is about $`p=1.88`$.

If both hydrogen and helium lines were optically thin, it would be easy to determine the relative abundance between the two species. In this case (Conti, Leap & Perry, 1983),

$$\frac{\mathrm{N}(H^+)}{\mathrm{N}(He^{++})}=p1$$
(4)
and H/He $`0.88`$. The largest uncertainty in this determination comes from the hypothesis that all of the involved lines are optically thin.

For the optically thick case, one gets (see Conti, Leap & Perry (1983))

$$\frac{\mathrm{N}(H^+)}{\mathrm{N}(He^{++})}=p^{3/2}1$$
(5)
and the abundance is H/He $`1.6`$. As the TVS analysis shows some absorption in the He II line, it is probably optically thick at low velocities. At high velocities the wind is usually optically thin. In the present case we have, therefore, a situation that is likely to be intermediate between optically thick (line core) and optically thin (line wings) and the actual abundance is likely to be intermediate between the two values mentioned above.

### 3.4 Do we see a photospheric absorption line? – Comparison with HD 45166

In the spectrum of WR 7a published by Pereira et al. (1998) one can see a weak, but clearly present, absorption line at 4604Å. It is also (albeit barely) visible in our spectrum of poorer signal-to-noise ratio. This is not likely to be a P Cyg absorption because such features are not seen in the Balmer or He II lines.

We have seen a similar feature in the high resolution and high signal-to-noise spectrum of the qWR star HD 45166 (Steiner & Oliveira, in preparation). In that case, we identified this feature as a N V photospheric line of the hot primary, which is a helium main sequence star of about $`3.5M_{\mathrm{}}`$. The IUE spectrum of HD 45166 (Willis & Stickland, 1983) also shows photospheric lines of N V, Fe V, O V among others. This is a clear evidence that, in that star, the wind is optically thin at the continuum, contrary to what is usually the case in WR stars. This is not surprising, given that the mass-loss rate is about 1000 times smaller in HD 45166 than in WR stars. As the mass-loss rate is related to the stellar luminosity, and the latter to its mass (see Lamers & Cassinelli (1999)), and since we identify the N V absorption line of WR 7a as a photospheric feature, we conclude that WR 7a has a mass which is smaller than the mass of a typical WR star. On the other hand, the mass cannot be too small, otherwise its temperature would not be high enough to produce the N V lines or the O VI lines. The emission lines in WR 7a have equivalent widths that are about a factor of two stronger than in HD 45166, after correcting, in the latter case, for the strong contribution of the secondary. This also suggests that the mass-loss rate and the luminosity – and consequently, the mass – is higher than in HD 45166. In conclusion, WR 7a could be interpreted as a helium main sequence object with a mass that is intermediate between HD 45166 ($`3.5M_{\mathrm{}}`$) and typical WR stars ($`10M_{\mathrm{}}`$).

### 3.5 How to classify WR 7a?

The spectral characteristics of WR 7a indicate that it could be classified as a star of the V Sagittae type. It presents all the characteristics that define this class, such as the intensity ratio of He II 4686 Å and H$`\beta `$ as well as the simultaneous presence of N V 4945 Å and O VI 3811/34 Å emission lines. However, the presence of the N V 4604 Å photospheric absorption line and the absence of flickering argue against this classification and point towards the similarities to HD 45166 (Steiner & Oliveira, in preparation), which has been classified as a qWR star (see Willis et al. (1989) and references therein). Although the observational differences between these two groups of stars are quite subtle, they follow very distinct paradigms in terms of their ultimate nature. While V Sagittae stars are interpreted as the galactic counterpart of CBSS and, therefore, accreting white dwarfs with hydrogen burning on their surface (Steiner & Diaz, 1998; van den Heuvel et al., 1992), the qWR paradigm assumes a helium main sequence star (Steiner & Oliveira, in preparation).

In the three-dimensional classification system proposed by Smith, Shara & Moffat (1996) for WN stars, we classify WR 7a as WN4h/CE. This takes into account the degree of ionization (He II to He I line ratio), the presence and abundance of hydrogen, the He II 4686 Å line width and the strength of the C IV 5801/11 Å emission lines.

## 4 Conclusions

The main conclusions of this paper are:

1. The star WR 7a = SPH 2 has a spectrum that resembles that of V Sagittae stars.
2. TVS analysis shows strong variability in the O VI lines. They are below the noise level in the intensity spectrum.
3. Contrary to what is seen in V Sagittae stars, optical photometric monitoring shows very little, if any, flickering.
4. We found evidence of periodic variability. The most likely spectroscopic period is $`P_{spec}=0.204`$ d, with $`K17`$ km s-1. Photometry suggests a period of $`P_{phot}=0.227`$ d, and a peak-to-peak amplitude of 0.02 mag. One-day aliases of these periods can not be ruled out. We do not claim that these periods are distinct, nor that WR 7a is necessarily a binary system.
5. We call attention to similarities with HD 45166 and DI Cru, where multiple periods are present, which may be associated to the binary motion and/or non-radial oscillations.
6. Contrary to what was claimed by Pereira et al. (1998), we show that WR 7a contains hydrogen. We determine the H/He abundance, by number, to be between 0.88 (optically thin approximation) and 1.6 (optically thick approximation).
7. The spectrum of the primary star seems to be detectable as the N V 4604 Å absorption line is visible. If so, it means that the wind is optically thin in the continuum and that WR 7a is likely to be a helium main sequence star.
8. Given the similarity to HD 45166, we suggest that WR 7a may be a qWR (quasi Wolf-Rayet) star. Its WR classification is WN4h/CE.

## 5 Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Albert Bruch for a critical reading of the manuscript.


text:
# Restless Quasar Activity: From BeppoSAX to Chandra and XMM-Newton

## 1 Introduction

Over the last decade ASCA and BeppoSAX have significantly improved our knowledge of the X-ray properties of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs), especially at low redshifts, thanks to their broad-band coverage and relatively large effective areas above 2 keV. Moreover, the unique X-ray coverage above $``$ 10 keV (up to $``$ 100–200 keV) provided by the Phoswich Detector System (PDS) onboard BeppoSAX has allowed proper definition of intrinsic X-ray continuum shapes of local Seyfert galaxies (e.g., ; see also , this Volume) and quasars (e.g., ).

In Section 2 we will briefly recall the most important BeppoSAX results obtained for a peculiar AGN: the luminous, nearby radio-quiet quasar (RQQ) PDS 456.

Although a few X-ray spectral studies of quasars at $`z`$ 2–3 have been carried out with ASCA (e.g., ) and BeppoSAX (e.g., ), the properties of luminous RQQs at higher redshifts ($`z>4`$) were poorly known before the launches of the current generation of X-ray telescopes, Chandra and XMM-Newton. In Section 3 we will discuss the large improvements that have occurred in this field in the last few years.

## 2 One “intriguing” BeppoSAX observation:
Warm and cold absorption in the luminous, nearby RQQ PDS 456

Unfortunately, high-luminosity quasars are usually found at relatively high redshifts, thus appearing rather weak and difficult to study in X-rays before the launches of Chandra and XMM-Newton.

In this context, PDS 456, at $`z=0.184`$ and with $`L_{\mathrm{bol}}`$$``$1047 erg s-1, can be considered an exceptional case, thus allowing an accurate modeling of the X-ray continuum and reprocessing features with both BeppoSAX and ASCA () and, recently, with XMM-Newton (). The X-ray spectrum of PDS 456 is characterized by a prominent ionized Fe K edge \[clearly visible in the data-to-model residuals shown in Fig. 1, panel (a), when a single power-law fit is adopted\]; the edge corresponds to Fe xxiv-xxvi at $``$ 8.8 keV \[see Fig. 1, panel (b)\]. The lack of iron emission lines suggests that the ionized edge is due to matter along the line-of-sight rather than reflection from a highly ionized accretion disk. Indeed, the hard X-ray continuum is due to transmission through a very ionized medium, best fitted by a column density $`N_{\mathrm{H}_{\mathrm{warm}}}4.5\times 10^{24}`$ cm-2, coupled with absorption by cold matter having $`N_{\mathrm{H}_{\mathrm{cold}}}2.7\times 10^{22}`$ cm-2 (; see Fig. 2 for the best-fit spectrum).

The X-ray properties of PDS 456 appear quite different from those of the majority of the local Palomar-Green quasars (e.g., ); its photon index is rather flat ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.41.6`$; see ) and the absorber ionization parameter $`U=\frac{n_{\mathrm{phot}}}{n_\mathrm{e}}`$, defined as the ratio of the ionizing photon density at the surface of the cloud to the electron density of the gas, is extremely high ($``$ 7900; see ). This overall X-ray picture for PDS 456 has been confirmed recently by XMM-Newton, whose spectral resolution has allowed three high-ionization iron K edges () to be distinguished instead of the one observed by BeppoSAX (likely due to the different spectral resolution and effective area). XMM-Newton has also discovered an extreme gas outflow velocity of $``$ 50,000 km s-1 (), thus supporting the idea that the ionized matter is close to the active nucleus of PDS 456. Furthermore, the source showed repeated X-ray flaring episodes, with an X-ray flux doubling time of $``$ 30 ks and a total energy output of the flaring events as high as 1051 erg . This extreme X-ray variability and the presumably high accretion rate make this source more similar to the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxies. High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of such objects can provide further details on the accretion mechanisms responsible for the X-ray emission in high-luminosity objects (e.g., ).

## 3 The realm of the ancient quasars

The last few years evidenced an increasing interest in the study of $`z\stackrel{>}{}4`$ AGNs (mainly quasars), including in the X-ray band. Prior to 2000 there were only six quasars at $`z>4`$ with X-ray detections. The number of X-ray detected quasars at $`z>4`$ doubled when the first systematic X-ray study of these objects was carried out using archival ROSAT data (). Since then, the progress made in this field has been substantial. This has been possible due to the availability of increasing numbers of $`z>4`$ quasars from ground-based optical surveys (e.g., the Sloan Digital Sky Survey – SDSS, , the Digital Palomar Sky Survey – PSS, , and the Automatic Plate Measuring facility survey – APM, ),111See http://www.astro.caltech.edu/$``$george/z4.qsos for a listing of high-redshift quasars. and the excellent capabilities of Chandra and XMM-Newton for detecting faint sources.

To define the basic individual X-ray properties (i.e., X-ray fluxes, luminosities, and optical-to-X-ray spectral indices) of $`z>4`$ quasars, we started a program to observe with Chandra and XMM-Newton both the optically brightest $`z`$ 4–4.6 PSS/APM quasars and the higher redshift, optically fainter SDSS quasars (; see also the recent review by ). Since the pioneering work with ROSAT (), the number of AGNs with X-ray detections has therefore increased significantly to more than 80 (see Fig. 3),222See http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/niel/papers/highz-xray-detected.dat for a regularly updated listing of X-ray detections and sensitive upper limits at $`z>4`$. in the redshift range $`z`$ 4–6.3 (also see ).

Due to the extremely low background in typical Chandra snapshot ($``$ 4–10 ks) observations, it has also been possible to derive average spectral constraints for subsamples of high-redshift quasars using joint spectral fitting with $``$ 120–340 X-ray counts (). At $`z>4`$, optically selected RQQs have a photon index of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ 1.8–2.0, similar to the results found at low and intermediate redshifts (e.g., ). Furthermore, no spectral evolution of the X-ray continuum shape over cosmic time has been found (see  and Fig. 4). At high redshift, this result has been supported recently by direct X-ray spectroscopy of QSO 0000$``$263 at $`z=4.10`$ with XMM-Newton ().


text:
# Re-entrant localization of single particle transport in disordered Andreev wires

## Abstract

We study effects of disorder on the low energy single particle transport in a normal wire surrounded by a superconductor. We show that the heat conductance includes the Andreev diffusion decreasing with increase in the mean free path $`\mathrm{}`$ and the diffusive drift produced by a small particle-hole asymmetry, which increases with increasing $`\mathrm{}`$. The conductance thus has a minimum as a function of $`\mathrm{}`$ which leads to a peculiar re-entrant localization as a function of the mean free path.

Transport phenomena in mesoscopic wires with dimensions much less than the dephasing length have been studied for several decades; their mechanisms are nowadays well understood (see imry ; datta ; been  for review). Depending on the ratio between the wire length $`d`$ and the mean free path of electrons $`\mathrm{}`$ one can separate different transport regimes. The ballistic regime holds for small wire lengths $`d\mathrm{}`$, here the conductance is given by the Sharvin expression, $`G=(e^2/\pi \mathrm{})N`$, where $`N(k_Fa)^2`$ is the number of transverse modes, $`a`$ is the wire radius, $`ad`$, and $`k_F`$ is the Fermi wave vector. For a shorter $`\mathrm{}d`$, transport is diffusion controlled with the ohmic behavior $`G(e^2/\pi \mathrm{})N\mathrm{}/d`$, neglecting the weak-localization interference between scattered electronic waves. With a further decrease in the ratio $`\mathrm{}/d`$, the ohmic dependence breaks down due to the localization effects: the conductance decays exponentially Thouless  when $`\mathrm{}/d<N^1`$.

This textbook picture holds if the transverse confinement of the electronic states inside the wire is caused by an insulating gap in the material surrounding the wire, which results in elastic scattering of electrons at the wire walls with large momentum transfer (normal reflections). In the present Letter we consider another realization of a normal-metal wire conductor where the electronic states are confined by a surrounding superconducting material. The superconducting gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ outside the normal wire suppresses to zero the density of states (DOS) of single-particle excitations for energies $`ϵ<\mathrm{\Delta }`$, thus localizing them in the transverse direction within the wire. These states are essentially determined by the particle-hole Andreev reflections with low momentum transfer at the superconducting/normal-metal (SN) boundaries. If the normal reflection processes at the SN boundaries can be ignored, we refer to such a normal-metal conducting region inside a superconducting environment as to an “Andreev wire”. An Andreev wire can be connected through bulk normal-metal leads to an external measuring circuit. Note that our definition of Andreev wire differs from that used, e.g., in Ref. Reulet  where it was applied for a normal conductor in an insulating environment, connected to superconducting leads. A simple way to create Andreev wires is to introduce vortex lines in a type-II superconductor or to drive a type-I superconductor in an intermediate filamentary state by applying a magnetic field. Andreev wires can be manufactured artificially in the form of normal channels in a superconducting matrix, using modern nano-fabrication techniques employed also for producing a wider class of hybrid SN structures such as Andreev interferometers esteve  and billiards billi . Experimentally, the main distinction between Andreev wires and usual conductors is that the measurements of thermal conductance are more appropriate to probe the single electron transport in Andreev wires because the single-particle part of the charge transport is short-circuited by the supercurrent.

As shown in Ref.MV ; KMV  in the ballistic limit $`\mathrm{}d`$, Andreev processes suppress the single electron transport for all quasiparticle trajectories except for those which have momenta almost parallel to the wire thus avoiding Andreev reflection at the walls. The particles confined due to Andreev reflections do also participate in the transport but through a slow drift along the transverse modes (Andreev states) with the group velocity $`v_g=\mathrm{}^1ϵ_{k_z}/k_zϵ/p_F`$ much smaller than $`v_F`$. This Landauer-type drift contribution is the lower limit of conductance reached as the contribution of freely traversing trajectories decreases with increasing $`d`$. In total, the electronic heat conductance due to these two mechanisms is much smaller than what could be derived from the Wiedemann–Franz law using the Sharvin conductance of a normal conductor: The effective number of conducting modes $`N_{\mathrm{eff}}=\mathrm{}\kappa /T`$ is much smaller than $`(k_Fa)^2`$. The conclusion of the suppression of the single electron transport in clean systems is in a good agreement with experiments on the heat conductivity in type-I and type-II superconductors in the direction of magnetic field vinen ; Suter .

In the present paper we investigate how the low energy transport with $`ϵ\mathrm{\Delta }`$ in an Andreev wire of a radius $`a\xi `$ is affected by a weak disorder introduced by impurity scattering. We consider clean wires $`\mathrm{}a`$ and neglect inelastic processes assuming $`\mathrm{}_ϵ\mathrm{}`$. We start our analysis from a qualitative physical picture elucidating the main results of our work. Let us consider a quasiparticle propagating within the wire along a trajectory that bounces from the normal/superconducting walls at both its ends. Neglecting the slow drift, the distributions of particles and holes are equal at the wall due to the Andreev reflection. Without disorder induced scattering, the distributions remain equal throughout the wire, thus the single-particle transport associated with these trajectories vanishes. With disorder, the distributions of particles and holes deviate from each other by an amount proportional to the probability of scattering, $`a/\mathrm{}`$, accumulated on their way in between the two walls. In the presence of a temperature difference at the ends of the wire, the driving force on the trajectory is proportional to $`(a/d)(T_1T_2)`$ thus the thermal conductance becomes $`\kappa _A=(T/\mathrm{})N_A`$, where the effective number of modes is

$$N_A=A(k_Fa)^2(a^2/\mathrm{}d).$$
(1)
The counter-intuitive behavior of the single-particle conductance $`\kappa _A`$ which increases with decreasing $`\mathrm{}`$ was first predicted by Andreev Andreev64  (see also Bezugly ). The coefficient $`A`$ in (1) appears to be a slow function of $`\mathrm{}`$: $`A\mathrm{ln}(\mathrm{}/a)`$ Andreev64 . For such “Andreev diffusion”, disorder with $`a\mathrm{}d`$ stimulates the single-particle transport as compared to that in the ballistic limit: it opens new single-particle conducting modes blocked by Andreev reflections in the ballistic limit. This differs from the disorder effects in normal-metal/insulator/superconductor systems where disorder opens two-particle tunneling processes for electrical conductance, see been  for review. The conductance $`\kappa _A`$ reaches its maximum when the mean free path decreases down to $`\mathrm{}a`$; it further transforms into $`\kappa _D=(T/\mathrm{})N_D`$ for a dirty wire $`\mathrm{}a`$ whereheat/theory

$$N_D\nu _Fa^2D/d(k_Fa)^2\mathrm{}/d.$$
(2)
Here $`\nu _F`$ is the normal-state DOS at the Fermi level, and $`D=v_F\mathrm{}/3`$ is the diffusion coefficient. For a large mean free path $`\mathrm{}d`$ the conductance $`\kappa _A`$ transforms into the ballistic expression MV  $`\kappa d^2`$.

We find that disorder also modifies the single-particle transport due to the drift along Andreev states with a group velocity $`v_g`$, which results from a small non-quasiclassical particle-hole asymmetry. The characteristic mean free path for the drift appears to be $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{eff}}=v_g\tau `$ which is considerably shorter than the usual mean free path $`\mathrm{}`$. The thermal conductance $`\kappa _L=(T/\mathrm{})N_L`$ associated with the disorder-modified drift is found to be proportional to the mean free path for $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{eff}}d`$

$$N_L\nu _Fa^2D_{\mathrm{eff}}/d(k_Fa)^2\left(v_g/v_F\right)^2(\mathrm{}/d)$$
(3)
where $`D_{\mathrm{eff}}=v_g\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{eff}}=v_g^2\tau `$ is effective diffusion coefficient much smaller than $`D`$ that appears in Eq. (2). This drift saturates at the ballistic Landauer-type expression KMV

$$N_L(k_Fa)^2(v_g/v_F)$$
(4)
for very long $`\mathrm{}`$ when $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{eff}}d`$.

The total heat conductance $`\kappa =(T/\mathrm{})(N_A+N_L)`$ includes the Andreev diffusion decreasing as $`\mathrm{}^1`$ and the diffusive drift that increases with increasing $`\mathrm{}`$.

Equations (1) – (4) are illustrated in Fig. 1 as functions of $`\mathrm{}`$. If $`da(v_F/v_g)`$, the number of modes has a minimum

$$N_{min}(k_Fa)^2\left(a/d\right)\left(v_g/v_F\right)$$

at $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{min}}a(v_F/v_g)`$. According to the criterion of Ref. Thouless , a decrease in the number of modes down to $`N_{\mathrm{min}}1`$ may lead to localization of the transport. Thus, varying the mean free path around $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{min}}`$ we can obtain a peculiar re-entrant localization: for a long enough Andreev wire the quasiparticles may become localized not only in a dirty limit $`\mathrm{}a`$ but also for a quite long $`\mathrm{}a`$ in such a way that the conduction opens again through either the quasiparticle drift for longer $`\mathrm{}`$ or through the Andreev diffusion for shorter $`\mathrm{}`$. This occurs for a wire length $`d>d_c`$ where $`d_ca(k_Fa)^2(v_g/v_F)`$.

Model. – To develop a more quantitative theoretical description we use a quasiclassical approach modified taking account of the trajectory drift along the Andreev wire. The excitation spectrum is Andreev65

$$ϵ_n=\frac{\mathrm{}v_F}{2x_c}\left(n+\frac{1}{2}\right)\sqrt{1\frac{p_z^2}{p_F^2}}.$$
(5)
Here $`p_z=p_F\mathrm{cos}\theta `$ and $`2x_ca`$ is the length of the projection of the trajectory section between two walls onto the plane perpendicular to the wire axis (the $`z`$ axis), see Fig. 2. Due to a $`p_z`$ dependence of the energy, particles perform a slow drift along $`z`$ with a group velocity

$$v_g=\frac{ϵ_n}{p_z}=v_F\frac{ϵ_n}{2E_F}\frac{\mathrm{cos}\theta }{\mathrm{sin}^2\theta }.$$
(6)
The group velocity can also be obtained Shytov  by considering particle and hole trajectories, Fig. 2. The momentum along $`x`$ is $`p_x^\pm =p_{}\pm mϵ/p_{}`$ for particles and holes, where $`p_{}=\sqrt{p_F^2p_z^2}=p_F\mathrm{sin}\theta `$. These trajectories have the direction angles $`\mathrm{tan}\theta _\pm =p_x^\pm /p_z`$ with respect to the $`z`$ axis such that $`\mathrm{sin}\left(\theta _+\theta _{}\right)=(ϵ/ϵ_F)\mathrm{cot}\theta `$. The velocity along the trajectories are

$$v_\pm =m^1\sqrt{(p_x^\pm )^2+p_z^2}=v_F\pm ϵ/p_F.$$
(7)
Consider a particle trajectory (1) in Fig. 2 with the coordinates $`x=s_+\mathrm{sin}\theta _+,z=z_0+s_+\mathrm{cos}\theta _+`$, where $`s_+`$ is the distance along the trajectory. The particle is Andreev reflected at the wall and returns back along the hole trajectory (2) with the coordinates $`x=s_{}\mathrm{sin}\theta _{},z=z_0^{}+s_{}\mathrm{cos}\theta _{}`$. Both $`s_\pm `$ are measured from the wire axis. The intersection with the wall has the coordinates $`x=x_c`$ and $`z=z_0+x_c\mathrm{cot}\theta _+=z_0^{}+x_c\mathrm{cot}\theta _{}`$. The drift velocity defined as $`v_g=v_F\mathrm{sin}\theta (z_0^{}z_0)/2x_c`$ coincides with Eq. (6). This approach is valid for wide wires $`a\xi `$ where the drift $`z_c`$ is much larger than the width $`k_F^1`$ of the wave packet. Since $`z_ca(v_g/v_F)`$, this requires $`(v_g/v_F)(k_Fa)1`$ which is equivalent to the condition $`ϵϵ_0`$, where $`ϵ_0`$ is the lowest level energy in Eq. (5).

Kinetic equations.– For $`ϵϵ_0`$ the DOS in the normal region coincides with the DOS $`\nu _F`$ in the normal state. The Boltzmann kinetic equation is

$$v\frac{n}{s}=\frac{1}{\tau }\left(nn\right).$$
(8)
Here $`\mathrm{}`$ denotes averaging over the momentum directions. For particle and hole distributions

$$f_+(ϵ,𝐩)=n_{𝐩,ϵ},f_{}(ϵ,𝐩)=1n_{𝐩,ϵ},$$

respectively, the Boltzmann equation takes the form

$$\pm v_\pm \frac{f_\pm }{s}=\frac{1}{\tau }\left(f_\pm f_\pm \right).$$
(9)
In both the upper-sign and lower-sign equations, the distance $`s`$ is measured in the direction of $`+𝐩`$.

Since all particles are Andreev reflected as holes, the single-particle current through the wire side walls vanishes. Using $`mv_\pm \mathrm{sin}\theta _\pm =p_x^\pm `$ we put at the walls

$$v_+\mathrm{sin}\theta _+f_+=v_{}\mathrm{sin}\theta _{}f_{}.$$
(10)
The kinetic equation (9) on the trajectory (1) gives

$`f_+(s_+)`$ $`=`$ $`f_+(0)e^{s_+/\mathrm{}_+}`$ (11)
$`+`$ $`\mathrm{}_+^1e^{s_+/\mathrm{}_+}{\displaystyle _0^{s_+}}f_+\left(s_+^{}\right)e^{s_+^{}/\mathrm{}_+}𝑑s_+^{}.`$
The function $`f_+(0)`$ is taken at $`x=0,z=z_0`$. To get the corresponding expression on trajectory (2) one substitutes $`f_+`$, $`s_+`$, $`\mathrm{}_+`$, and $`z_0`$ with $`f_{}`$, $`s_{}`$, $`\mathrm{}_{}`$, and $`z_0^{}`$, respectively. Putting $`s_+=x_c/\mathrm{sin}\theta _+`$ and $`s_{}=x_c/\mathrm{sin}\theta _{}`$ for $`f_+`$ and $`f_{}`$, respectively, we insert the result into the boundary condition Eq. (10). The distributions at the trajectories (3) and (4) for $`s<0`$ are found by replacing $`z_0z_0^{}`$. The boundary condition for them is applied at $`s_+=x_c/\mathrm{sin}\theta _+`$ for $`f_+`$ and at $`s_{}=x_c/\mathrm{sin}\theta _{}`$ for $`f_{}`$.

Assuming that $`f(x,z)`$ depends only on $`z`$,

$$f(s)=f(0)+s\mathrm{cos}\theta \frac{f}{z},$$

the next step is to expand the boundary conditions in small $`v_g/v_F`$ and $`s_c/\mathrm{}`$ for angles $`\theta a/\mathrm{}`$. Neglecting small terms $`f_2/z`$ we obtain at the wire axis $`x=0`$

$$f_2=\frac{v_g}{v_F\mathrm{cos}\theta }f_1\mathrm{cos}\theta \frac{s_c^2}{2\mathrm{}}\frac{f_1}{z},$$
(12)
$$\mathrm{}\frac{v_g}{v_F}\frac{f_1}{z}=\left(f_1f_1\right).$$
(13)
We denote $`s_c=x_c/\mathrm{sin}\theta `$ and introduce

$$f_1=(f_++f_{}),f_2=(f_+f_{})$$
(14)
in accordance with the definitions used in the theory of superconductivity book . The functions $`f_1`$ and $`f_2`$ are nearly constant along the trajectory within the wire. Analysis of Eq. (11) shows that for angles $`\theta a/\mathrm{}`$, the distinction between the usual and the Andreev diffusion disappears, and $`f_2=\mathrm{}\mathrm{cos}\theta (f_1/z)`$ while the counterpart of the first term in Eq. (12) proportional to $`(v_g/v_F)f_1`$ decreases exponentially.

The first term in Eq. (12) describes the drift along the Andreev states with the velocity $`v_g`$. The second term is the Andreev diffusion Andreev64 . Equation (13) introduces an effective mean free path $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{eff}}=(v_g/v_F)\mathrm{}=v_g\tau `$ much shorter than the usual $`\mathrm{}`$. In the ballistic limit of very long $`\mathrm{}`$ such that $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{eff}}d`$, the distribution $`f_1`$ is constant along the wire and

$$f_2=\frac{v_g}{v_F\mathrm{cos}\theta }f_1.$$
(15)
In the most practical limit when $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{eff}}d`$,

$$f_1=f_1v_g\tau \frac{f_1}{z}$$
(16)
and

$$f_2=\left[\frac{v_g^2\mathrm{}}{v_F^2\mathrm{cos}\theta }+\mathrm{cos}\theta \frac{s_c^2}{2\mathrm{}}\right]\frac{f_1}{z}+\frac{v_g}{v_F\mathrm{cos}\theta }f_1.$$
(17)
The first term in brackets describes the disorder-modified drift. Its relative magnitude with respect to the Andreev diffusion (the second term) is of the order of $`(v_g/v_F)^2(\mathrm{}/s_c)^2`$, i.e., much larger than non-quasiclassical corrections of the order $`(ϵ/E_F)^2`$ to the usual diffusion. We neglect those corrections in what follows.

The energy current  has the form book

$$I_{}=\nu _Fv_Fd^2r\frac{d\mathrm{\Omega }_𝐩}{4\pi }_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}\mathrm{cos}\theta ϵf_2dϵ.$$
(18)
For very long mean free path $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{eff}}d`$ the distribution is determined by Eq. (15), and we recover the Landauer formula derived in Ref. KMV

$$I_{}=\nu _Fd^2r\frac{d\mathrm{\Omega }_𝐩}{4\pi }_{\mathrm{}}^+\mathrm{}ϵv_gf_1𝑑ϵ.$$
(19)
With $`f_1=\mathrm{tanh}(ϵ/2T_1)`$ for $`v_g>0`$ and $`f_1=\mathrm{tanh}(ϵ/2T_2)`$ for $`v_g<0`$ we arrive at Eq. (4) for the heat conductance.

Assuming that the group velocity is independent of $`\theta `$ we obtain a qualitative behavior described in introduction. Indeed, for $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{eff}}d`$, the distribution obeys Eq. (17) where the last term does not contribute to the current. The current becomes $`I_{}=\kappa (T_1T_2)`$ with the total thermal conductance $`\kappa =(T/\mathrm{})(N_A+N_L)`$ given by Eqs. (1) and (3). This simplified picture has to be modified, however, due to a rapid divergence of $`v_g`$ at small angles. This leads to a more complicated behavior of the drift contribution to the heat conduction as a function of temperature and of the mean free path characterized by different power laws in different regions of $`\mathrm{}`$ and $`T`$. The detailed analysis of the heat conduction will be published elsewhere. Here we discuss its behavior for a long wire with $`da\sqrt{E_F/T}`$. For relatively short mean free path $`a\mathrm{}a\sqrt{E_F/T}`$, the angular integral of the first term in the brackets in Eq. (17) is cut off by the exponential decay of the drift term for $`\theta a/\mathrm{}`$. Therefore,

$$N_L(k_Fa)^2(T/E_F)^2(\mathrm{}^3/a^2d).$$

This behavior is replaced with $`N_L(k_Fa)^2(T/E_F)(\mathrm{}/d)`$ for $`a\sqrt{E_F/T}\mathrm{}d`$ and further transforms into

$$N_L(k_Fa)^2(T/E_F)L$$

where $`L\mathrm{ln}(\mathrm{}/d)`$ for $`d\mathrm{}d(E_F/T)`$ and $`L\mathrm{ln}(E_F/T)`$ for $`\mathrm{}d(E_F/T)`$. Therefore, the full saturation at the $`\mathrm{}`$-independent Landauer-type drift conduction Eq. (19) occurs when $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{eff}}(T/E_F)\mathrm{}`$ becomes larger than $`d`$. The total conduction reaches its minimum

$$N_{\mathrm{min}}(k_Fa)^2(a/d)\sqrt{T/E_F}$$

at $`\mathrm{}_{\mathrm{min}}a\sqrt{E_F/T}`$. The re-entrant localization is possible for wire lengths longer than $`d_ca(k_Fa)^2\sqrt{T/E_F}`$.

To summarize, we develop a theory of single electron transport and re-entrant localization in clean Andreev wires. Our results could stimulate experimental research of these phenomena in the mixed or intermediate state, as well as in hybrid SN structures.

This work was supported in part by the US DOE Office of Science under contract No. W-31-109-ENG-38, by Russian Foundation for Basic Research, the Program “Quantum Macrophysics” of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian State Fellowship for young doctors of science, and NATO Collaborative Linkage Grant No. PST.CLG.978122. A.S.M. is grateful to the Low Temperature Laboratory at the Helsinki University of Technology for hospitality.