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# Bright Lyman Break Galaxy Candidates in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey First Data Release

## 1 INTRODUCTION

One of the most important recent developments in observational cosmology is the discovery of a large population of star-forming galaxies at $`z3`$ (e.g., Steidel et al. 1996; Lowenthal et al. 1997). These so-called Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) can be identified by their characteristic colors in deep imaging surveys. Spectroscopic surveys of LBGs have transformed our understanding of the history of cosmic star formation (e.g., Madau et al. 1996; Steidel et al. 1999) and of galaxy clustering in the early universe (e.g., Adelberger et al. 2003). At $`R_{\mathrm{AB}}24.5`$, the surface density of LBGs is $`1`$ arcmin-2, and the luminosity function is well described by a Schechter (1976) function with a characteristic luminosity corresponding to an RAB apparent magnitude $`m_{}=24.54`$ at $`z3`$ (Adelberger & Steidel 2000).

Most known LBGs have been discovered in deep images covering small areas of the sky. The survey by Steidel et al. (2003), for example, contains more than 2000 spectroscopically confirmed galaxies, but the 17 fields in the study cover only $``$ 0.38 deg2. The brightest galaxies in this survey have $`R_{\mathrm{AB}}23`$. The only substantially brighter object known, MS 1512-cB58 with $`R_{\mathrm{AB}}20.4`$, was discovered serendipitously by Yee et al. (1996) as part of the CNOC-1 redshift survey, and is now understood to be magnified by a factor $`30`$ as a result of gravitational lensing by a foreground galaxy cluster (Seitz et al., 1998). Detailed studies of the stellar populations and interstellar gas properties of LBGs rest either on this single object (e.g., Teplitz et al. 2000; Pettini et al. 2000) or on composite spectra constructed from many individual galaxies (Shapley et al., 2003). The limited area of existing LBG surveys also means that the very bright end of the LBG luminosity function is unconstrained.

The imaging survey of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS, York et al. 2000) complements existing LBG imaging surveys by covering a much wider area to a brighter limiting magnitude. Furthermore, because the SDSS quasar selection algorithm (Richards et al., 2002) identifies unresolved sources with non-stellar colors, rather than just objects with expected quasar colors, it also selects the most luminous LBGs as quasar candidates and targets them for spectroscopy. In a search for quasars with anomalously low C IV emission, Bentz & Osmer (2003) found one example of an apparently luminous, $`z2.5`$ starburst candidate that had been classified as a quasar by the SDSS spectroscopic pipeline in the Early Data Release (EDR, Stoughton et al. 2002) Quasar Catalog (Schneider et al., 2002). In this Letter, we describe a detailed search through the SDSS First Data Release (DR1, Abazajian et al. 2003) and the discovery of five additional objects with similar properties. These objects have intriguing properties that necessitate a variety of additional observations, and, if confirmed as starbursts, they would provide the first constraints on the space density of extremely luminous (in rest-frame UV) star-forming galaxies at high redshifts.

## 2 SPECTRAL ANALYSIS

As described by Schneider et al. (2003), the SDSS DR1 Quasar Catalog covers $``$ 1360 $`\mathrm{deg}^2`$ of the sky and contains 16,713 objects with rest-frame absolute magnitudes $`M_i<22`$ (for $`hH_0/100\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1=0.7`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$, and a power law (frequency) continuum index of $`\alpha _Q=0.5`$), at least one emission line with a FWHM larger than 1000 km s-1, and reliable redshifts. For this investigation, we searched the SDSS DR1 Quasar Catalog for high-$`z`$ starburst galaxies that might have been classified as quasars, limiting the catalog to $`z>2.3`$ in order to probe the high-$`z`$ regime of traditional LBG surveys. Color cuts were then applied to the 1658 objects satisfying the redshift cut. Although the filter systems are different, those objects with optical colors satisfying

$$gr1.2,uggr+1$$
(1)
are analogous to the objects that would be detected by the LBG color criteria of Shapley et al. (2003). A total of 591 objects met the color criteria, and they were all visually inspected for absorption line features similar to those in the LBG composite spectrum of Shapley et al. (2003), and for the absence of characteristic quasar emission lines from highly ionized species. Six objects (including the original object discovered in the EDR by Bentz & Osmer 2003) displayed these spectral signatures of a starburst galaxy. Table 1 lists the six candidate objects and their properties. Figure 1 shows the individual spectra of the six candidates taken with the 2.5$``$m SDSS telescope alongside the composite spectrum of 811 galaxies obtained with the 10$``$m Keck telescope by Shapley et al. (2003).

The six candidates are red relative to normal quasars, but because they have non-stellar colors and are unresolved at the resolution of SDSS imaging, they meet the SDSS selection criteria for high-redshift quasar candidates (Richards et al., 2002) and were targeted for spectroscopy. We checked the SDSS DR1 spectral database to confirm that there were no objects classified as galaxies with $`z>2.3`$ and no high-$`z`$ quasar candidates satisfying our selection criteria that might have been rejected from the Quasar Catalog because they failed to pass the 1000 km s-1 emission line cut.

Table 1 lists the redshifts and broad-band photometric properties of the six candidates, taken from the SDSS DR1 Quasar Catalog (Schneider et al., 2003). All six objects are 4-5 magnitudes brighter than an $`L_{}`$ LBG, and 2-3 magnitudes brighter than the brightest LBG detected by Steidel et al. (2003).

## 3 LENSED LBGS, ULTRALUMINOUS LBGS, OR BAL QUASARS?

From the absence of emission lines of highly ionized species, such as N V and C IV, it is obvious that these objects are not normal AGN. But are they normal LBGs that have been amplified by gravitational lensing, extremely luminous LBGs, or unusual broad absorption line (BAL) quasars?

The objects were found by searching for absorption and Ly$`\alpha `$ features similar to those of the LBG composite, so by definition they share many spectral similarities. There is strong evidence in most of the candidates for absorption from Si II $`\lambda `$1260, C II $`\lambda `$1334, Si IV $`\lambda \lambda `$ 1393,1402, C IV $`\lambda \lambda `$1548, 1550, and Al III $`\lambda \lambda `$1854, 1862. In a few of the candidates, there is even noticeable absorption from O I $`\lambda `$1302, Si II $`\lambda `$1304, Si II $`\lambda `$1526, Fe II $`\lambda `$1608, and Al II $`\lambda `$1670. The precedent of MS 1512-cB58 suggests that the high apparent brightness of these objects could be a consequence of lensing. We inspected the SDSS images of the six candidates for evidence of multiple images or possible foreground galaxies or clusters, but all of the systems are consistent with lone, unresolved point sources with unexceptional foreground environments. We also counted the numbers of objects classified as extended in the DR1 imaging catalog within a 5′ radius of five of the six objects,111We were not able to carry out the counts for J1553+0056 because of a difficulty with the database. and similarly for control fields offset by $`1\mathrm{°}4\mathrm{°}`$. The counts did not show any statistically significant excess of extended sources around the candidates, except possibly for SDSS J1444+0134. The SDSS data are not sufficient to rule out sub-arcsecond image splitting or the presence of foreground systems at likely lens redshifts of $`z1`$.

At present, the main evidence against the lensing hypothesis comes from the differences between the LBG composite spectrum and the spectra of the galaxy candidates. The candidates are redder than most LBGs, and most of their absorption features are broader, as are their Ly$`\alpha `$ profiles.222The FWHMs of the Ly$`\alpha `$ emission lines range from $`11003000`$ km s-1. SDSS J1340+6344 and SDSS J1432-0001 have fairly symmetric Ly$`\alpha `$ profiles, while the LBG composite has a P-Cygni type asymmetry suggestive of outflows. While we would not expect such differences if these were normal LBGs, they might arise if the objects have extremely high star formation rates (SFRs). If we assume that lensing and AGN contributions are unimportant, we can follow the standard practice of estimating SFRs from the continuum luminosity at $`\lambda `$1500 Å, which is produced mainly by young O and B stars. We estimate the rest-frame $`\lambda `$1500 Å flux directly from the calibrated spectra and convert to luminosity assuming a cosmological model with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$, and $`h=0.7`$. Assuming a Salpeter IMF with mass limits of 0.1 to 100 M and a 108 yr old continuous star formation model, Kennicutt (1998) derives the relation

$$\mathrm{SFR}\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1=1.4\times 10^{28}\mathrm{L}_\nu (\lambda 1500)$$
(2)
between the star formation rate and the luminosity density $`L_\nu `$ (in ergs s-1 Hz-1) at $`\lambda =1500`$Å. The implied SFRs are tabulated in Table 2, along with the measured flux in the observed frame at $`\lambda `$1500 Å $`\times (1+z)`$. As expected for objects as bright as these, the SFRs are very high, ranging from $``$ 300 M yr-1 to over 1000 M yr-1.

The values in Table 2 assume no dust extinction and are therefore lower limits to the “true” SFRs, at least if the assumed IMF is correct. Lyman break galaxies in typical spectroscopic surveys have similarly estimated SFRs in the range $`50100h_{70}^2\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ after correction for an average factor of $``$ 7 attenuation by dust (Shapley et al., 2003). As previously mentioned, our candidates are redder than the LBGs in the Steidel et al. (2003) survey, which suggests that their extinction corrections should be larger, pushing the corrected SFRs to thousands of M$`{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{yr}_{}^{1}`$. The stellar winds and interstellar turbulence associated with such extreme SFRs could account for the relatively broad absorption features and the strength of high excitation absorption seen in some of our candidates.

The brightest sub-mm galaxies are inferred to have comparable or, in some cases, even higher SFRs at these redshifts (see, e.g., Chapman et al. 2003), but in these objects most of the energy from massive young stars is absorbed and re-radiated by dust. The SCUBA source in N2 850.4 (Smail et al., 2003), with an estimated SFR $`300`$ M yr-1, has an optical spectrum reminiscent of those in Figure 1, though our objects do not show P-Cygni profiles. High-redshift galaxies with such SFRs should appear in the SDSS if they have moderate UV extinction, and our candidates could plausibly represent a later evolutionary stage of luminous sub-mm galaxies, with young stellar populations that have burned through enough of their dusty envelopes to become visible in the rest-frame UV.

Finally, there is the possibility that these luminous objects are powered by black hole accretion rather than star formation, and that they represent a very unusual class of BAL quasars. In favor of this interpretation, two of the spectra show evidence for broad C III\] emission, and some have very broad absorption lines, up to $`7600`$ km s-1. The strengths of the absorption features from highly ionized species are also much stronger than the low ionization absorption features. However, the candidates do not show typical BAL profiles, and we are not aware of any analogs of these objects among previously discovered BALs. There is significant variation among the spectra in Figure 1, and the relative importance of star formation and AGN activity could be different from object to object.

## 4 THE BRIGHT END OF THE LBG LUMINOSITY FUNCTION

If we assume that the ultraluminous LBG interpretation is correct, and that we can therefore ignore lensing amplification and AGN contributions, then we can constrain the bright end of the rest-frame UV luminosity function of high-redshift galaxies. Our estimate here is necessarily crude, (1) because we have only six objects, and (2) because assessing completeness as a function of luminosity and redshift would require detailed simulation of the SDSS quasar target selection algorithm. We make the conservative assumption that the selection efficiency is unity in the redshift range $`2.3<z<2.8`$ over the 1360 deg2 area of DR1, for objects above the $`i=20.2`$ apparent magnitude limit of the quasar catalog. Our objects lie within a 1-magnitude bin, with median redshift $`z=2.55`$ and median absolute magnitude $`M_{\mathrm{UV}}25.4`$.333We calculate the absolute magnitude from the $`i`$-band apparent magnitude, so it corresponds to rest-frame wavelength 7600Å/$`(1+z)2100`$Å. We estimate $`\mathrm{\Phi }(M)=_{j=1}^61/V_{a,j}=2.52\times 10^9h^3\mathrm{Mpc}^3\mathrm{mag}^1`$, where $`V_{a,j}`$ is the comoving accessible volume for galaxy $`j`$, which we take to run from $`z=2.3`$ to the smaller of $`z=2.8`$ and $`z_{\mathrm{max}}`$, the redshift at which the galaxy’s apparent magnitude would hit the $`i=20.2`$ limit. The $`z=2.8`$ upper limit is based on the maximum redshift of our candidates, and while the selection function may continue beyond this redshift, it is likely to decline as Ly$`\alpha `$ moves past the peak of the $`g`$-filter. If we assumed instead that each galaxy could be seen all the way to $`z_{\mathrm{max}}`$, then our density estimate would drop by 20%.

Figure 2 shows this estimate in the context of the LBG luminosity function estimated by Adelberger & Steidel (2000) from a combination of ground-based data and the Hubble Deep Field. Circles show the Adelberger & Steidel (2000) data points, with no correction for dust extinction, and the solid line shows their Schechter function fit. The open triangle shows our above estimate at $`z=2.55`$, with an error bar that corresponds to the Poisson error on six objects. We plot our point at the median apparent magnitude $`r20.3`$, ignoring the difference between the Sloan $`r`$-band and Adelberger & Steidel’s $`R`$-band. Our assumption of unit selection efficiency is probably too generous, so the most likely value for the space density is above the data point. Since the Adelberger & Steidel (2000) data are given in terms of apparent magnitude and their galaxies have a median $`z3`$, we also plot a filled triangle that shows the effect of moving our galaxies from $`z=2.55`$ to $`z=3`$, using a $`K`$-correction based on the median spectral slope of $`\alpha =2.16`$, with $`f_\nu \nu ^\alpha `$, derived by fitting the $`griz`$ magnitudes.

Our estimate of the luminosity function at $`r20.3`$ is above the Schechter function extrapolation from fainter magnitudes. However, there is no reason to expect that the high-redshift, rest-frame UV luminosity function should be described by a Schechter function over such a wide range in luminosity, especially given the importance of recent star formation history and the geometry of extinction in determining a galaxy’s luminosity at $`\lambda 1500`$Å. A power law connecting our data point (offset to $`z=3`$) to the brightest data point from Adelberger & Steidel (2000) has a slope of $`R_{\mathrm{AB}}^{1.93}`$ (or $`L^{2.93}`$).

A variety of follow-up observations could help to determine the nature of these remarkable objects. High-resolution imaging to search for image splitting and deeper imaging to search for foreground structures could test the lensing hypothesis. Better optical spectra would allow better measurements of absorption profiles and tighter constraints on broad emission lines, and they might reveal high-excitation photospheric lines that would be the signature of starburst activity. Near-IR spectroscopy, sub-mm imaging, and X-ray measurements could better quantify the importance of dust extinction and AGN activity. If these objects are confirmed as extreme LBGs, they demonstrate that the stupendous starbursts so often veiled by thick layers of dust can sometimes emerge to show their true colors.

We would like to thank Patrick Hall, Ian Smail, Charles Steidel, and an anonymous referee for helpful comments and conversations. Misty Bentz is supported by a Graduate Fellowship of The Ohio State University. The discovery of $`z=2.5`$ galaxies by a 2.5-m telescope is a tribute to the power of a large area, multi-color imaging survey, to the efficiency of the SDSS spectrographs and spectroscopic pipeline, and to the utility of the SDSS Archive. The SDSS Web Site, http://www.sdss.org , lists the Participating Institutions and the project’s other sources of funding, which include the Sloan Foundation, the NSF, NASA, DOE, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, and the Max Planck Society.


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# The final two redshifts for radio sources from the equatorial BRL sample

## 1 Introduction

The role of radio sources in astrophysical and cosmological studies is wide and varied (e.g. see McCarthy 1993 for a review), and the utility of spectroscopically complete samples of radio sources cannot be understated. By far the best studied sample of radio sources is the revised 3CR sample , which is a spectroscopically complete sample of the brightest 173 radio sources in the northern sky, selected at 178 MHz ($`S_{178\mathrm{M}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}}>10.9`$ Jy). The inaccessibility of this sample to large southern hemisphere telescope facilities prompted Best et al. (1999; hereafter BRL99) to define a roughly equivalent sample of equatorial radio sources from the Molonglo Reference Catalogue (MRC; Large et al. 1981), according to the criteria $`S_{408\mathrm{M}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}}5`$ Jy, $`30^{}\delta +10^{}`$, $`|b|10^{}`$. The reader is referred to BRL99 for a complete description of the sample and its properties.

This equatorial radio source sample, hereafter referred to as BRL, consists of 178 objects. BRL99 compiled or measured redshifts for 174 of these, and Best et al. \[2000a\] determined a further three, leaving just the radio source MRC1059$``$010 without measured redshift. Subsequently the redshift of MRC0320+053, obtained by BRL99 from the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED), has also been called into question . In this paper, a new host galaxy identification is obtained for MRC1059$``$010, based on near–infrared imaging observations, and spectroscopic redshifts are provided for both MRC1059$``$010 and MRC0320+053. In addition, redshifts are presented for two further radio sources from samples with high spectroscopic completeness.

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

### 2.1 Infrared imaging observations

MRC1059$``$010 was observed on the night of 22nd April 2002 with the United Kingdom InfraRed Telescope (UKIRT) using the UKIRT Fast Track Imager (UFTI). UFTI is a 1024 by 1024 pixel array with a plate scale of 0.091 arcsec per pixel. A total of 18 minutes of data were taken in the K–band, corresponding to two cycles of a 9–point dither pattern with 15 arcsecond offsets, with a 60 second exposure at each position. The data were reduced using standard techniques within the iraf noao reduction software (see e.g. Best et al. 2003 for details). The combined K–band image is shown with the contours of the radio emission overlaid in Figure 1. Regular observations of standard stars throughout the night showed that conditions were photometric, with a K–band zero-point magnitude of $`22.33\pm 0.02`$.

### 2.2 VLT spectroscopic observations

Spectroscopic observations of MRC1059$``$010 were obtained during morning twilight of the night of 28th February 2003, using the FORS1 instrument of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). The observations were made using the 300V+10 grating, which provides a spatial scale of 0.2 arcsec, a spectral resolution of 12Å through a 1-arcsec slit, and a useful wavelength coverage of about 3600 to 8000Å. Two 1200 second spectra were obtained; see Table 1 for details.

During this same observing run, observations of two further radio sources without spectroscopic redshifts were also carried out at times when the primary targets were not accessible (see Table 1). These sources are PKS0742+10, one of the few remaining sources without redshifts in the 2.7 GHz all sky radio source sample of Wall & Peacock , and PKS1336+003, drawn from the Parkes Selected Region sample \[1989b\].

The data were reduced using standard packages within iraf. The different exposures were combined and one-dimensional spectra were extracted from an angular extent of 2.0 arcsec. These were then wavelength calibrated using observations of HeNeAr arc lamps. After correction for the airmass, flux calibration was achieved using observations of the spectrophotometric standard stars Hiltner 600, GD108 and Feige 56.

### 2.3 NTT spectroscopic observations

The radio source MRC0320+053 (RA: 03 20 41.54, Dec: 05 23 34.6; B1950) was observed using EMMI on the New Technology Telescope (NTT), during evening twilight on the night of 3 March 2003. The observations were made through a 1.5-arcsecond slit using Grism number 4, which provided a useful wavelength range of about 6000 to 9500Å at a spectral resolution of $`15`$Å. The CCD was binned 2 by 2 on readout, giving a spatial scale of 0.33 arcsec per binned pixel. Three five-minute exposures were obtained, but the first two of these had a significantly higher background level.

Data reduction followed the same procedure as for the VLT observations except that, because of the varying background level, to obtain maximum signal–to–noise the three individual frames were given weights proportional to the inverse of their background counts in the image combination procedure. The one–dimensional spectrum was extracted from an angular extent of 3.3 arcsec along the slit and the star LTT3218 was used for flux calibration.

## 3 Results

### 3.1 The BRL sample

Two possible host galaxies for MRC1059$``$010 are clearly identified on the new K–band image (Figure 1), the more westerly of these being more likely host galaxy based upon its location. The position (RA: 10 59 30.33, Dec: $``$01 00 07.2; B1950) of this galaxy is offset by over an arcsecond from that determined by BRL99 based upon a tentative 4$`\sigma `$ detection of an $`R24`$ galaxy. No K–band counterpart to that $`R`$–band object is seen, suggesting that it was simply a noise peak. The VLT spectroscopic slit was aligned to include both of the potential K–band host galaxies, and 4 strong emission lines were detected towards the favoured western candidate (see Figure 2), identifying this galaxy as the radio source host and placing the radio source at redshift $`z=1.55`$. Details of the emission line properties are provided in Table 1; both the line luminosities and the emission line ratios are typical of distant radio galaxies (cf Best et al. 2000b). The K–band magnitude of this galaxy is $`K=18.9\pm 0.3`$ as measured through a 3-arcsec diameter aperture; this is nearly a magnitude fainter than a typical powerful radio source at this redshift , which partially explains the difficulty in obtaining an optical identification. The host galaxy also has $`RK\mathrm{}>5`$, making it one of the reddest powerful radio galaxies at those redshifts (cf Dunlop et al. 1989).

The redshift of MRC0320+053 has also been securely determined through the detection of strong $`H\alpha `$ and NII emission lines with confirming \[SII\] (Figure 3). The new redshift of $`z=0.1785`$ is considerably lower than the value of $`z=0.575`$ which had erroneously appeared in NED, and is more in line with that estimated by de Vries et al.  from the K-band magnitude. To derive the emission line properties the \[NII\] and H$`\alpha `$ emission lines were deblended by fixing the relative wavelengths and forcing the width of each line to be the same, but allowing the redshift of the system and the relative line intensities to vary; despite the apparent closeness, the 7600Å atmospheric absorption feature does not significantly influence this fit. The intensity ratio of the two \[NII\] lines ought to be 3; this value was not fixed in the fitting procedure, but the best-fit is consistent with this, giving confidence in the results. The \[SII\] doublet was similarly deblended, and the measured line ratio is consistent with gas in the low density limit, $`n_e\mathrm{}<100`$cm-3 . This radio galaxy has a \[NII\]/H$`\alpha `$ ratio in excess of 10, which corresponds to a remarkably high ionisation, well above that of typical AGN . This may be related to the fact that this is a compact radio source, smaller than 0.2 arcsec, with the emission lines arising from very close to the active nucleus.

### 3.2 Parkes Radio Sources

The extracted spectra of the two Parkes radio sources are shown in Figure 4, and details of their emission line properties are provided in Table 1. Emission lines are detected for both objects, confirming their optical identifications. PKS0742+10 shows a strong absorption feature within its Ly-$`\alpha `$ emission; this is reminiscent of the results of van Ojik et al. , who found neutral hydrogren absorption features to be almost ubiquitous in small ($`\mathrm{}<50`$ kpc) high redshift radio sources. PKS0742+10 has a radio size of only a few milliarcsec , fitting this trend.

The absorption feature was modelled using a Gaussian emission line together with a Voigt absorption profile, each convolved with the spectral resolution of the observations (see inset in Figure 4). The absorption profile is centred at 4412.6Å, corresponding to a 150 km s -1 redshift compared to the mean velocity determined from the other emission lines. If it is assumed that this absorption is optically thin then the neutral hydrogen column density can be calculated from the equivalent width of the absorption, giving $`\mathrm{N}(\mathrm{HI})=(4\pm 1)\times 10^{15}`$cm-2, with a velocity width of $`b=30\pm 10`$ km s-1. This column density will be a lower limit if the absorber is optically thick: as discussed by Dopita & Sutherland , in the optically thick regime the column density cannot be reliably estimated from low spectral resolution observations unless the absorption is strong enough to be damped, which is not the case here. This has been well demonstrated by the results of Jarvis et al. , who took high spectral resolution observations of the radio galaxy 0200+015 and found remarkably different absorption column densities to those found by van Ojik et al.  for the same source at much lower resolution (two absorbers with $`4\times 10^{14}`$cm-2 column density instead of one with $`10^{19}`$cm-2).

### 3.3 Concluding remarks

By obtaining the final optical identification and the final two spectroscopic identifications of sources from the BRL sample, a fully spectroscopically complete catalogue of radio sources has been constructed at equatorial declinations, complementing the northern 3CR sample. This is currently the only complete sample of powerful radio sources which is accessible to southern hemisphere telescopes, making it a unique and powerful resource in radio source astrophysics.

Although the Parkes Selected Regions still only have about 50% spectroscopic completeness, a search through NED reveals that the Wall & Peacock 2.7 GHz sample has now reached a spectroscopic completeness of 224 out of 233 sources. The nine remaining sources without redshifts are PKS0008–42, PKS0316+16, PKS0407–65, PKS1308–22, PKS1600+33, PKS1740–51, PKS2008–06, PKS2032–35 and PKS2150–52.

## Acknowledgements

PNB would like to thank the Royal Society for financial support through its University Research Fellowship scheme. MHB and RED are grateful for the support of PPARC research studentships. The authors thank Omar Almaini for carrying out the observations of MRC0320+053. The United Kingdom Infrared Telescope is operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre on behalf of the U.K. Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. The spectroscopic observations were carried out using the ESO Very Large Telescope at the Paranal observatory under Program-ID Number 071.A-0622(A), and the ESO New Technology Telescope at the La Silla observatory under Program-ID Number 70.B-0747 . This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with NASA. The authors thank the referee for his/her efficiency in reviewing the manuscript.


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# Geometric features of the mixing of passive scalars at high Schmidt numbers

## Abstract

The mixing of passive scalars of decreasing diffusivity, advected in each case by the same three-dimensional Navier-Stokes turbulence, is studied. The mixing becomes more isotropic with decreasing diffusivity. The local flow in the vicinity of steepest negative and positive scalar gradients are in general different, and its behavior is studied for various values of the scalar diffusivity. Mixing approaches monofractal properties with diminishing diffusivity. We consider these results in the context of possible singularities of scalar dissipation.

PACS: 47.27.Eq, 47.53.+n, 47.27.Gs

Turbulent mixing of dyes or macromolecular substances can be understood by analyzing how these scalar substances are advected and diffused in a fluid medium. For small concentrations, the admixture, or scalar, is passive, or has no dynamic feedback on the flow—which is therefore determined independent of the scalar. Often, the scalar diffusivity is small compared with the viscosity of the fluid, so that their ratio, the so-called Schmidt number, $`Sc=\nu /\kappa `$, is large. Our interest here lies in the advection and diffusion of passive scalars for large values of $`Sc`$. In particular, we wish to understand the recent result from numerical simulations that turbulent mixing becomes more isotropic when $`Sc`$ is increased . This approach to isotropic state is evident from the fact that deviations from it, as quantified by odd moments of the scalar derivative along a mean scalar gradient, $`_{}\theta `$, decrease as $`Sc`$ increases from 1 to 64 for a fixed Reynolds number of the flow .

We illustrate the issue on hand in Fig. 1, momentarily leaving aside the details of how the data were obtained. The figure shows the probability density function (PDF) of $`_{}\theta `$ for four different values of $`Sc`$ keeping the Reynolds number fixed. It is clear from the figure that the distribution is quite asymmetric for $`Sc=1`$ but approaches symmetry as $`Sc`$ increases. This can be seen more quantitatively in the insets. The left inset shows the quantity $`\pi (z)=[p(z)p(z)]/[p(z)+p(z)]`$, where $`z=_{}\theta /(_{}\theta )^2^{1/2}`$ is the normalized scalar gradient component: smaller values of this quantity indicate smaller asymmetries. The right inset shows that a global measure of asymmetry $`A`$, defined by

$`A={\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}z^3p(z)\text{d}z/{\displaystyle _{\mathrm{}}^{\mathrm{}}}|z|^3p(z)\text{d}z,`$ (1)
also decreases with increasing $`Sc`$. It is easily shown  that the asymmetry in the PDF of the scalar gradient is a measure of the anisotropy of the small-scale scalar (or mixing), so its reduction with $`Sc`$ is to be regarded as a direct indication that mixing becomes isotropic.

The reason for the asymmetry of the PDF for $`Sc=O(1)`$ has long been known to be the presence of ramp-cliff structures in the signature of the scalar field  whenever there is a mean gradient in the scalar alone or in both scalar and velocity. This conclusion has been reinforced by recent numerical studies . For the present orientation of mean gradients, the exponential tail on the right of Fig. 1 arises directly from cliffs in the scalar signatures, the cliffs being related to the fronts of the scalar gradient distribution in three-dimensional space.

Analytical approaches to understanding the features shown in Fig. 1 are difficult. Significant progress has been made for the so-called Kraichnan model of passive scalars  in which the advecting velocity field is assumed to be Gaussian and to vary infinitely rapidly in time; for a review see . For two-dimensional and isotropically forced high-$`Sc`$ turbulence it was possible to calculate the PDF of the scalar dissipation rate and thus predict the scaling in the tails of the PDF of scalar gradient fields . This Lagrangian approach was based on a sufficient separation of pumping and diffusion time scales which is established at large $`Sc`$. However, even for the synthetic Kraichnan velocity field, a systematic study of anisotropy with $`Sc`$ has not been made (though some beginnings have occurred with respect to the $`Sc`$-dependence in Refs. ). Another approach , which follows Batchelor’s original model  of quasistatic straining motion, provides upper bounds for scalar derivative moments as functions of $`Sc`$. However, the problem still contains numerous open questions. For instance, it is unclear as to what changes occur in and around the ramp-cliff structures as $`Sc\mathrm{}`$. This Letter quantifies some of these changes via numerical simulation of turbulent mixing for a range of Schmidt numbers. We will particularly consider level sets of the steep gradients and relate them to the local structure of the advecting flow. The multifractal approach is known to sample efficiently the “singular” structures at small scales . Therefore, we will study the scalar dissipation field in high-$`Sc`$ cases and discuss the formation of potential singularities.

Our numerical results were obtained in a homogeneously sheared flow  with $`u_x=Cy`$, where $`C`$ is a constant, at a Taylor-microscale Reynolds number $`R_\lambda `$ of 87 in which the scalar field of constant mean gradient was allowed to evolve according to the advection-diffusion equation. The Schmidt number was varied from 1 to 64. The pseudospectral simulations were done with resolutions of $`512\times 257\times 512`$ grid points for a box of size $`2\pi :\pi :2\pi `$. We ensure that the scalar fluctuations are properly resolved by requiring that $`k_{max}\eta _B1.3`$ with $`k_{max}=\sqrt{2}N_{max}/3`$, where $`N_{max}=512`$; the Batchelor scale $`\eta _B\eta /\sqrt{Sc}`$ and the Kolmogorov scale $`\eta (\nu ^3/ϵ)^{1/4}`$. The scalar gradient $`𝐆=𝐞_y/\pi `$ for all runs.

To shed some light on Fig. 1, we show in Fig. 2 three slices of the scalar field at the same moment of evolution, each slice corresponding to a different value of $`Sc`$. It is clear that the large structure, and the front associated with it, do not change with $`Sc`$ but internal striations of finer scale accompany larger $`Sc`$. These striations increase the relative population of negative gradients. This is what was observed in Fig. 1: the right side, corresponding to positive gradients associated with fronts, remains effectively unchanged, whereas the left side, associated with negative gradients, shows higher probability as $`Sc`$ increases, thus rendering the PDFs increasingly symmetric.

The origin of the additional striations for larger $`Sc`$ can be understood by writing down the evolution equation for the derivative field, $`_i\theta `$, where $`\theta `$ is the scalar fluctuation. This equation is

$`\left[_t+𝐮\kappa ^2\right]_i\theta +_i𝐮\theta =_i𝐮𝐆,`$ (2)
where index $`i`$ is kept fixed. Compared to the advection-diffusion equation for $`\theta `$, the additional stretching term due to the scalar gradient appears. This term (the last on the left hand side) is the cause for the amplification of the scalar gradient due to local straining motion.

The authors of Refs.  related the formation of fronts to a straining motion for which the direction of compression points into one of the scalar gradients. Several questions arise: How robust is this result for increasing $`Sc`$? What type of flow causes the steepest negative scalar gradients, and their increase with increasing $`Sc`$, while the positive gradients remain nearly unaffected? To answer these questions, we have performed an eigenvalue analysis of the local velocity gradients in the vicinity of the largest scalar gradients. The starting point is the characteristic cubic polynomial of the velocity gradient matrix

$`\lambda ^3+p\lambda +q=0,`$ (3)
with

$`p=\left[{\displaystyle \frac{(u_x,u_y)}{(x,y)}}+{\displaystyle \frac{(u_x,u_z)}{(x,z)}}+{\displaystyle \frac{(u_y,u_z)}{(y,z)}}\right]`$ (4)
and $`q=(u_x,u_y,u_z)/(x,y,z)`$. This equation results from $`\text{det}(u_i/x_j\lambda \delta _{ij})=0`$. The solutions can be divided into two classes. (i) For $`\mathrm{\Delta }27q^2+4p^3>0`$, one gets a conjugate complex pair of eigenvalues corresponding to an inward or outward swirl, and one real eigenvalue corresponding to the compression or expansion in the third principal direction. (ii) For $`\mathrm{\Delta }<0`$, all three eigenvalues are real corresponding to pure strain. For every $`Sc`$, an interval in the far tails of the scalar gradient PDF was used. Figure 3 shows, as functions of $`Sc`$, the fractions of eigenvalues that were found to be purely real or complex conjugate; panel (a) corresponds to negative tails of the PDF and (b) to positive tails. For positive gradients, i.e. for the cliffs, local straining becomes somewhat more dominant with growing $`Sc`$, while, for the negative tails, the swirling and straining motion contribute in almost equal parts for large $`Sc`$. This is consistent with the view that the cliffs are associated with the front stagnation point of a moving fluid parcel, where the velocity field is predominantly straining, while the negative slopes come from the wake region behind such parcels where the fluid motion is both vortical and straining.

Consider now the set $`F`$ of all scalar concentration gradients that exceed a certain high threshold value. From Fig. 1, we expect the differences between the negative and positive gradients to diminish as $`Sc`$ increases. The box counting dimension $`D_0`$ of $`F`$, embedded in the three-dimensional space, is defined as the scaling exponent of $`N_\delta (F)=N_0\delta ^{D_0}`$ where $`N_\delta (F)`$ is the number of cubes of size $`\delta `$ that are needed to cover $`F`$ . The results are shown in Fig. 4. While, for $`Sc=16`$, the prefactor $`N_0`$ is significantly different for the two signs of the threshold, it is about the same for the two cases for the largest $`Sc`$, demonstrating that the preference for positive gradients—corresponding to the fronts—decreases, and that both signs of the gradient appear with increasingly equal probability.

While keeping Sc fixed and varying the threshold we observe a decrease of the magnitude of $`D_0`$ for increasing threshold (see lower left inset of Fig. 4). The sets are thinned out and their spatial support shrinks to lines, i.e. $`D_01`$. With increasing threshold, the differences in $`D_0`$ for level sets with opposite signs increase, which indicates that the remnants of asymmetry for even the most symmetric case come essentially from the far tails.

By choosing a range of level sets in the far tails of the PDF, $`|_{}\theta /G|>30\pi `$ for $`Sc=16`$, 32 and 64, we observe that the box counting dimension decreases weakly in magnitude for both signs of gradients (see upper right inset of Fig. 4). Based on geometric measure theory , or just on the constancy of scalar flux , it was conjectured that the Hausdorff dimension (which is always bounded from above by the box counting dimension) of scalar level sets for $`Sc\mathrm{}`$ become space-filling. A gradient level set, which stands for the change from one level of the scalar to another, can only have spatial support between those of the two levels. If all level sets are space-filling, the gradient level sets should show a decreasing dimension with increasing $`Sc`$. This result does not seem to apply for the present instance because we are considering here level sets for all gradients exceeding some prescribed (though large) threshold.

The dependence of the box-dimension on the threshold (lower left inset of Fig. 4) is a clear evidence that the scalar derivative is a multifractal. For operational purposes, it is more convenient to consider the scalar dissipation field, $`ϵ_\theta (𝐱,t)=\kappa _{j=1}^3(_j\theta )^2`$. We define the measure

$`\mu _r^{(i)}={\displaystyle \frac{X_r^{(i)}}{X_L}}={\displaystyle \frac{_{V_r^{(i)}}ϵ_\theta (𝐱+𝐱_i,t)\text{d}^3𝐱}{_Vϵ_\theta (𝐱,t)\text{d}^3𝐱}}`$ (5)
where $`V_r^{(i)}`$ is the $`i`$th cube with length $`r`$. The spectrum of generalized dimensions , $`D_q(q)`$, obeys the following scaling relation

$`{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}\left(\mu _r^{(i)}\right)^qr^{(q1)D_q}.`$ (6)
In Fig. 5 the results of the multifractal analysis are shown for $`Sc=8`$ and $`Sc=64`$. The scaling range is indicated by the dashed lines; though it is small, it exceeds the Batchelor range and allows the exponents to be determined with reasonable confidence. Note that for the largest $`Sc`$ of 64, we have $`\eta /\eta _B=8`$, i.e. less than a decade. The inset shows that the $`D_q`$-spectrum gets flatter for increasing $`Sc`$. We have added data points from the dye mixing experiments  corresponding to a Schmidt number of about 1900.

The fact that the spectrum of generalized dimensions gets flatter with increasing $`Sc`$ means that in the limit of very large $`Sc`$ the scalar dissipation rate becomes a monofractal, i.e. $`D_q=D_0`$ for all $`q`$. The physical picture is as follows: large “singular” spikes of the scalar dissipation rate fill out the whole space more and more, so that the “quiet” regions in-between become less prevalent. The degree of spatial and temporal intermittency decreases, which is just the property to which the spectrum is sensitive. We can quantify this result also by fitting a bimodal multifractal cascade model to the data . For $`Sc=8`$ we obtain $`p=0.86`$, for $`Sc=64`$ a value of $`p=0.81`$, decreasing to 0.58 for the experimental data at $`Sc=1900`$. The model would yield a monofractal dissipation field for equidistributed energy flux, i.e. $`p=0.5`$.

We thank G. L. Eyink and P.K. Yeung for useful discussions. The computations were carried out on the IBM Blue Horizon at the San Diego Supercomputer Center within the NPACI program of the US National Science Foundation. KRS was supported by NSF grant CTS-0121007.