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# Variable Stars in the Magellanic Clouds: Results from OGLE and SIRIUS

## 1 Introduction

The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds offer us the opportunity to study the stellar evolution. They are close enough to resolve each stellar populations with relatively small telescopes and yet far enough to neglect their depth, so that we can reasonably consider that all stars in them are at the same distance from us.

Many observations have been carried out toward the LMC and SMC, especially for the variable stars to study the relationship between the pulsation period and the luminosity ($`PL`$ relationship). There is a long standing question related to the $`PL`$ relationship, whether it depends on metallicity or not. A controversy still exists between observations and theories (e.g., Alibert et al. 1999 and references therein for Cepheid variables; Wood & Sebo 1996, Glass et al. 1995, Feast, Whitelock & Menzies 2002 for long-period variables). Because the $`PL`$ relationship is of fundamental importance for the determination of the extragalactic distance scale, a homogeneous survey of variable stars in different environments is needed.

Thanks to the gravitational microlensing search projects (OGLE, e.g., Udalski, Kubiak & Szymański 1997; MACHO, e.g., Alcock et al. 2000; EROS, e.g., Afonso et al. 1999; MOA, e.g., Bond et al. 2001), a large number of variable stars have been found in the Magellanic Clouds. Wood et al. (1999) analyzed the data from MACHO survey in the 0.25 square degree area of the LMC bar and showed that the variable red giants form parallel sequences in the period-magnitude plane. Cioni et al. (2001) and Lebzelter, Schultheis & Melchior (2002) confirmed the results of Wood (2000) using data from EROS microlensing survey and AGAPEROS variable star catalog (Melchior, Hughes & Guibert 2000), respectively, both in the 0.25 square degree area of the LMC bar.

In this paper, we study the OGLE variables in the 3 square degrees along the LMC bar (see figure 1 of Ita et al. 2002) and in the 1 square degree area of the central part of the SMC (figure 1). The OGLE variables have been cross-identified with the SIRIUS NIR survey data and their pulsation periods were determined by applying the Phase Dispersion Minimization technique to the OGLE data. We classify the variable stars on the $`PK`$ plane, and discuss the properties of each group. The environmental effect on $`PK`$ relations is discussed by comparing variable stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.

## 2 DATA

### 2.1 IRSF/SIRIUS

We are now conducting a NIR $`JHK`$ monitoring survey toward the Magellanic Clouds using the InfraRed Survey Facility (IRSF) at Sutherland, South African Astronomical Observatory. The IRSF consists of a specially constructed 1.4m alt-azimuth telescope to which is attached a large-format 3-channel infrared camera, SIRIUS (Simultaneous three-colour InfraRed Imager for Unbiased Surveys).The SIRIUS can observe the sky in $`J`$ $`H`$ and $`K_s`$ bands simultaneously and has a field of view of about 7.7 arcmin square with a scale of 0.45 arcsec/pixel. Details of the instrument are found in Nagashima et al. (1999) and Nagayama et al. (2002).

We have been monitoring a total area of 3 square degrees along the LMC bar since December 2000, and a total area of 1 square degree around the SMC center since July 2001. Figure 1 shows the monitoring area in the SMC. Details and some first results of the LMC survey are found in Ita et al. (2002) (hereafter referred to as Paper I). In the present paper we deal with the single-epoch data from the monitoring survey.

#### 2.1.1 Photometry

All data were reduced in the same way using the SIRIUS pipeline (Nakajima, private communication) and a single image comprises 100 dithered 5 sec exposures. Photometry was performed on the dithered images with DoPHOT in the fixed position mode (Schechter, Mateo & Saha 1993). The magnitudes are referred to the Las Campanas Ovservatory (LCO) system ones based on observations of a few dozen stars from Persson et al. (1998). In the system conversion, colour terms have been considered by observing red stars in table 3 of Persson et al. The photometry has a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of about 20 at 16.9, 16.8 and 16.0 mag in $`J`$, $`H`$ and $`K`$, respectively. Typical photometric errors are tabulated in table 1 of Paper I.

#### 2.1.2 Source selection

LMC:
In the three square degree survey area, 1,593,248 sources were detected by DoPHOT. Because of the scan overlaps, there should be many multiple entries of a single source in the original sample. We eliminated such multiple entries based on (1) spatial proximity ($`|\mathrm{\Delta }r|0.5^{\prime \prime }`$) and (2) difference in photometry ($`|\mathrm{\Delta }m_{J,HandK}|0.1`$ mag). It leaves 1,305,983 sources. Further, requiring detections at least two of the three wave bands leaves 789,929 sources.

In Paper I, we used the allowed discrepancy $`|\mathrm{\Delta }r|`$ of $`1.5^{\prime \prime }`$, instead of the present value of $`0.5^{\prime \prime }`$. This was because the celestial coordinates were calculated by referencing the USNO catalog instead of the Guide Star Catalog II (GSC2.2, see section 2.1.3.). We can find substantial number of positional reference stars by using the GSC2.2 catalog, and this greatly improved the accuracy of the positioning.

SMC:
In the one square degree survey area, 257,637 sources were detected by DoPHOT. Multiple entries were eliminated in the same manner as we did in the LMC. It leaves 210,566 sources. Further, requiring detections at least two of the three wave bands leaves 107,376 sources.

#### 2.1.3 SIRIUS data

In table 1 we summarize the number of sources detected in each wave band. Hereafter, we refer these 789,929 and 107,376 sources as the SIRIUS data. Although many stars were detected only in two wave bands, these stars hardly affect the results of this paper. Also, although SIRIUS $`JHK`$ photometries are single-epoch ones, it should not affect the results so much, because the pulsation amplitudes of variable stars are usually small in the infrared (except for Mira variables, but still the results should be statistically fair because of large number of available data).

The SIRIUS data were corrected for the interstellar absorption based on the relations in Koornneef (1982), assuming $`R=`$ 3.2. We adopted ($`A_J`$, $`A_H`$, $`A_K`$) $`=`$ (0.129, 0.084, 0.040) and (0.082, 0.053,0.025), corresponding to the total mean reddenings of $`E_{BV}=`$ 0.137 and 0.087 as derived by Udalski et al. (1999a) for the OGLE’s observing fields in the LMC and SMC, respectively.

#### 2.1.4 Astrometry

Celestial coordinates of the sources detected by the SIRIUS were systematically calculated in the International Celestial Reference System (ICRS) by referencing the Guide Star Catalog II (STScI 2001). The astrometric precision of the SIRIUS data is expected to be the same as that of GSC 2.2 catalog, i.e., better than 0.5′′ in most cases (Tanabé et al. in preparation).

### 2.2 OGLE

Thanks to the microlensing surveys (OGLE, MACHO, EROS, MOA), a large number of variable stars were found as the natural by-products. In particular, the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) project has been monitoring the central parts of the Magellanic Clouds in the $`BVI`$ wave bands and the $`I`$ band time-series data (OGLE-II; Udalski et al. 1997) is now available over the Internet (OGLE homepage; http://sirius.astrouw.edu.pl/ogle/).

#### 2.2.1 Cross-identification of the SIRIUS sources and the OGLE variables

The SIRIUS data and all the stars found by the OGLE survey in the Magellanic Clouds have been cross-identified using a simple positional correlation. In the very strict sense, the OGLE survey does not fully cover the SIRIUS survey area, and some very small areas are not included in the OGLE. However, it never affect any conclusions in this paper.

LMC:
There are 49,008 OGLE variables in the OGLE/SIRIUS overlapped 3 square degree area in the LMC. The identification was made in two steps. First a search radius of $`3^{\prime \prime }`$ was used, finding 35,726 matches. Plotting the offsets between the SIRIUS coordinates and the OGLE coordinates revealed that there are small median astrometric shifts between them; the median differences are -0.80′′ in right ascension (R.A.) and 0.10′′ in declination (DEC). Second, the OGLE coordinates were corrected for these offsets, and a search radius of $`3^{\prime \prime }`$ was used again. We finally found 35,783 matches with an rms error in the difference between SIRIUS and OGLE coordinates 0.68′′ in R.A. and 0.63′′ in DEC, respectively.

SMC:
There are 7,345 OGLE variables in the OGLE/SIRIUS overlapped 1 square degree area in the SMC. The identification was made in the same way as we did in the LMC. First a search radius of $`3^{\prime \prime }`$ was used, finding 6,118 matches. The offsets between the SIRIUS coordinates and the OGLE coordinates are 0.02′′ in R.A. and -0.40′′ in DEC. After correcting the OGLE coordinates for these median offsets, a search radius of $`3^{\prime \prime }`$ was used again. We finally found 6,103 matches with an rms error in the difference between SIRIUS and OGLE coordinates 0.41′′ in R.A. and 0.38′′ in DEC, respectively.

We show the histogram of positional differences of the finally identified stars in Figure 2. It is clear that the positional differences are smaller than $`1^{\prime \prime }`$ for most of the identified stars (29,228 out of 35,783 stars or 81.7% in the LMC, and 5,745 out of 6,103 stars or 94.1% in the SMC).

#### 2.2.2 Period determination

We applied the Phase Dispersion Minimization (PDM) technique to the OGLE data to determine the light variation periods of the cross-identified stars. This technique is described in detail by Stellingwerf (1978) and here we show only the outline of the technique we used.

We represent the observational dataset as $`(x_i,t_i)`$, where $`x`$ is the magnitude, $`t`$ is the observation time and $`i`$ denotes the $`i`$th observation. We assume that there are $`N`$ observations in all ($`i=1,N`$). Let $`V`$ be the variance of the magnitude of the original dataset, given by

$$V=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}(x_i\overline{x})^2/(N1),$$
(1)
where $`\overline{x}`$ is the mean; $`x_i/N`$. First, the $`x_i`$ and $`t_i`$ are folded with a trial period and the full phase space $`[0,1)`$ is divided into an appropriate (user-specified) number of bins (there are $`N_B`$ bins in all, i.e., $`j=1,N_B`$). Second, the variance $`v_j`$ of magnitude of each bin and the mean variance $`\overline{v}`$ of them are calculated, namely,

$$\overline{v}=\underset{j=1}{\overset{N_B}{}}v_j/N_B.$$
(2)
Third, the statistic parameter $`\theta `$, which is defined as

$$\theta =\overline{v}/V,$$
(3)
is calculated for the trial period. These three processes are then repeated for the next trial period (i.e., $`P_{\text{trial, new}}=P_{\text{trial, old}}+\text{resolution}`$; see below). The $`\theta `$ is a measure of the regularity of the light variation or the scatter about the mean light curve, being hopefully near 0 for the very regular light variation with true period and near 1 for the irregular light variation without any distinctive periodicity or for the incorrect period. Hereafter, we call stars with small $`\theta `$ ($``$ 0.55) as “regularly pulsating variables”, and the others ($`>`$ 0.55) as “less regularly pulsating variables”.

We searched the minimum of the $`\theta `$ throughout the trial periods that start from 0.1 and end in 1,000 days. The trial periods were incremented by variable step values (= resolution), which are summarized in table 2. For all of the 35,783 (LMC) and 6,103 (SMC) matched stars, their original light curve, $`\theta `$ spectra and the folded light curve are carefully eye-inspected, and the obvious spurious data points were eliminated. We assigned one pulsation period to each variable star, and the multi-periodic stars (e.g., Bedding et al. 1998) were not analyzed in this paper. It should be noted that the total available baseline of the OGLE-II data is about 1,200 days and we did not try to determine the light variation period for the variables that seem to have the period longer than 1,000 days. Also, we did not try to determine the period for the variables that have too few good data points and that seem to hardly show any periodicity. The OGLE-II survey data has yearly blank phases that could be a problem for variable stars with pulsation period of about a year. However, experimentations showed that these yearly gaps hardly affect the period determination, and it is the virtue of the PDM technique. In very rare cases, the yearly gaps may unfortunately coincide with the timing of the peak luminosities. They can affect the determination of pulsation amplitude, but still, such cases should be very rare. Finally, we determined the light variation periods for 9,681 and 2,927 OGLE variables in the LMC and SMC, respectively.

## 3 Discussion

### 3.1 $`K`$ magnitude distribution

Many low-amplitude variables were newly discovered by the aforementioned optical surveys. The vast majority are at the luminosities below the TRGB. Alves et al. (1998) suggested that they are AGB stars in the early evolutionary phase prior to entering the thermal-pulsing phase of the AGB. In Paper I, we found that the $`K`$ magnitude distribution of the variable red giants in the LMC has two peaks; one is well above the TRGB, consisting genuine AGB variables and the other is just around the TRGB.

In figure 3, we show the $`K`$ magnitude distribution $`N(K)`$ ($`dK=`$ 0.05 mag) of the SIRIUS data. The discontinuity in the $`N(K)`$ is clearly seen around $`K`$ 12.1 (upper panel) and $``$ 12.7 (lower panel), which corresponds to the TRGB of the LMC and SMC, respectively. Figure 4 is the same diagram as the figure 3, but the 9,681 and 2,927 OGLE/SIRIUS variables in the LMC and SMC are shown. It is clear that there is a “pile-up” around the $`K`$-band luminosity of the TRGB in both two galaxies. In Paper I, we concluded that a significant fraction of the constituent variable stars of the second peak could be on the RGB. Of course there may be faint AGB variables, but there is no reason to assume, according to models, that they accumulate at the TRGB.

### 3.2 Period-$`K`$ magnitude diagram

Wood (2000) found that radially pulsating red giants in the LMC form “three” distinctive parallel sequences in the $`PK`$ plane. He characterized the complex variability of the red giants by the pulsation modes, which are an important probe of the internal structure of the stars. Wood et al. (1999) suggested that Mira variables are fundamental mode pulsators, while so-called semi-regular variables can be pulsating in the first, second or even higher overtone mode, by comparison of observations with theoretical models. However, a controversy still exists on the pulsation mode of Mira variables. Diameter measurements of Mira variables in the Milky Way indicates first overtone pulsation (e.g., Haniff, Scholz & Tuthill 1995, Whitelock & Feast 2000), while observations of radial velocity variation favor fundamental mode pulsation for Mira variables (e.g., Bessell, Scholz & Wood 1996).

We show the relationship between the determined pulsation periods and the $`K`$ magnitudes of the cross-identified variables in figure 5. We found that the variable red giants in the SMC form parallel sequences on the $`PK`$ plane, just like those found by Wood (2000) in the LMC. In the LMC $`PK`$ diagram, bunch of variable stars exist in the faint magnitude ($`K`$ 15.0) and very short period ($`\mathrm{log}P0.1`$) region. Considering their location on the $`PK`$ plane, they are likely to be RR Lyrae variables. Compared to the LMC $`PK`$ diagram, the SMC one is a bit scattered. This is probably due to the difference in the intrinsic depth of the two galaxies, because the LMC has a nearly face on orientation (Westerlund 1997), and Groenewegen (2000) obtained the total front-to-back depths of 0.043 mag for the LMC and 0.11 mag for the SMC, respectively.

In figure 6, we again show the $`PK`$ relationship of variable stars in the Magellanic Clouds. In this diagram, we divided variable stars into four types according to their $`JK`$ colours and $`\theta `$ as is shown on the upper-left corner of the figure. The labels of the sequences are named in analogy to the ones found in the LMC by Wood (2000) (except $`C^{}`$, $`F`$ and $`G`$). While Cioni et al. (2001) found no objects on sequence $`A`$ from their EROS/DENIS variables in the LMC, this sequence is clearly seen in both galaxies. This is essentially the same diagram as the one obtained by Wood (2000). However, the sample used here is much larger than those of previous studies, and we can see new features in the figure: (1) the sequences $`A`$ and $`B`$ of Wood (2000) are found to be composed of the upper and lower sequences $`A^+,B^+`$, and $`A^{},B^{}`$; (2) the sequence $`B`$ of Wood (2000) separates into three independent sequences $`B^\pm `$ and $`C^{}`$; (3) radially pulsating red giants form actually “four” parallel sequences ($`A,B,C^{}`$ and $`C`$).

#### 3.2.1 Less regularly pulsating variables

Most of the less regularly pulsating variables reside in the sequences $`A`$ and $`B`$, and show small pulsation amplitudes ($`\mathrm{\Delta }I`$ 0.2 mag, but some of the $`B`$ stars have $`\mathrm{\Delta }I`$ of about 0.4 mag). Although it is not mentioned in Wood (2000), his sequences $`A`$ and $`B`$ are densely populated at fainter magnitudes, and a discernible gap around the TRGB can be seen in his diagram (see his figure 1). This gap also presents in our diagram around the $`K`$-band luminosity of the TRGB ($`K`$ 12.1 in the LMC and $``$ 12.7 in the SMC), which we roughly estimated in section 3.1. Also, in the LMC, a horizontal misalignment of the sequences apparently occurs at the TRGB. One possible explanation for the discontinuity is that neither sequences $`A`$ nor $`B`$ are single sequences, but each of them is composed of two independent sequences. So we subdivided the sequences $`A`$ and $`B`$ into $`A^+,B^+`$ and $`A^{},B^{}`$, where the $`+`$ and $``$ correspond to the luminosity, being brighter than $`K=`$ 12.1 (LMC) or 12.7 (SMC) and fainter than it, respectively.

Since the sequences $`A^+`$ and $`B^+`$ exceed the $`K`$-band luminosity of the TRGB, they consist of intermediate-age population and/or metal-rich old population AGB stars. However, the interpretation of the sequences $`A^{}`$ and $`B^{}`$ is difficult. If the metal-poor and old AGB stars pulsate in the same mode as the more massive stars on the sequences $`A^+`$ or $`B^+`$, they should be located on the sequences $`A^{}`$ or $`B^{}`$ because they do not exceed the TRGB luminosity. The question is whether the sequences $`A^{}`$ and $`B^{}`$ contain RGB pulsators or not. If AGB stars alone make up the $`A^{}`$ and $`B^{}`$ as well as $`A^+`$ and $`B^+`$ sequences, the small gap and the horizontal shift between them needs to be explained. If $`A^{}`$ and $`B^{}`$ stars, at least some of them, are pulsating on the RGB, then the discontinuity between the $``$ and $`+`$ sequences is understood in terms of different evolutionary stages. If we could apply the same period-temperature relation as that for Mira variables (Alvarez & Mennessier 1997) to the $`A^{}`$ and $`A^+`$ stars, the period shift of $`\delta \mathrm{log}P=0.083`$ between the two sequences at the TRGB ($`K=12.1`$, see table 3) corresponds to the temperature difference of $`\delta \mathrm{log}T_{\text{eff}}0.015`$. This is in good agreement with the temperature difference between the AGB and RGB stars with the TRGB luminosity, predicted by the stellar evolutionary model for stars with 1$``$2 M in the LMC (Castellani et al. 2003). Though we prefer the RGB interpretation, it should be noted that a definitive answer has not been obtained.

#### 3.2.2 Regularly pulsating variables

Figure 7 shows the comparison between the observational period-$`K`$ magnitude sequences of pulsating red giants in the LMC and the theoretical models calculated by Wood & Sebo (1996). The location of sequence $`C`$ is consistent with the LMC Mira sequence (Feast et al. 1989). After classifying stars by their regularity of light variation, we discovered a new sequence $`C^{}`$. Most of the stars on sequence $`C^{}`$ are regularly pulsating just like those on $`C`$, but their amplitudes are smaller than those of the $`C`$ stars. We note, however, that the amplitudes of stars on sequence $`C^{}`$ are larger than those of stars on $`B`$. The observed periods, luminosities and period ratio of sequences $`C`$ and $`C^{}`$ agree very well with those of the theoretical fundamental (P0) and first overtone mode (P1) pulsation models (Wood & Sebo 1996). Also, the theory predicts that overtone pulsators have smaller amplitudes than fundamental ones. Therefore, all of the above observational facts and the agreements with the theory could be naturally explained if we consider that the stars of sequences $`C`$ and $`C^{}`$ are Mira variables pulsating in the fundamental and first overtone mode, respectively. However, the pulsation theory cannot reproduce the period ratio of the observed sequences $`A`$ and $`B`$. To explain their pulsation modes, a new theoretical model is needed.

It is interesting that, with only a few exceptions, all of the red giants with red colours ($`JK>1.4`$) reside in the brighter magnitudes of sequences $`C`$ and $`C^{}`$. According to Nikolaev & Weinberg (2000), stars with $`JK>1.4`$ in the LMC are primarily carbon-rich AGB stars, being considered as the descendants of oxygen-rich AGB stars. We subdivided stars on sequences $`C`$ and $`C^{}`$ into two subgroups on the basis of their $`JK`$ colour, being redder than 1.4 and the others. Table 3 (see section 3.3) infers that those two populations may follow the different $`PK`$ relations, and the carbon-rich ($`JK>1.4`$) stars could define a line of somewhat shallower slope with brighter zero point than that of the oxygen-rich stars. Feast et al. (1989) obtained $`PK`$ relations for carbon- and oxygen-rich stars in the LMC. The calculated slopes and zero-points are in good agreement with their results. In figure 8, we plotted colour-magnitude and colour-colour diagram of probable carbon-rich stars on sequence $`C`$ and $`C^{}`$. Interestingly, all of the carbon-rich stars with $`JK`$ colour redder than 2.0 are on the sequence $`C`$, meaning that all of them are pulsating in the fundamental mode. However, it should be emphasized that the obscured oxygen-rich stars such as OH/IR stars could have redder colours. So, it could be dangerous to assume that all of the stars with redder colours are carbon-rich stars. Infrared spectroscopic work would provide the definite conclusion on these issues.

The sequence $`D`$ is thought to be populated by the longer period of a binary system (Wood 2000). However, the explanation of this sequence is not clear yet. The periods of the group $`D`$ stars are very long and more long-term observations are needed for the clear explanation. Wood et al. (1999) suggested that stars on the loose sequence $`E`$ are contact and semi-detached binaries. Interestingly, their distribution seems to extend to the TRGB. Stars on sequences $`F`$ and $`G`$ are very regularly pulsating and have periods ranging from less than 1 day to more than 30 days, suggesting that they are Cepheid variables pulsating in fundamental and first overtone mode, respectively.

### 3.3 Period-$`K`$ magnitude relations

In order to determine the $`PK`$ relations, we defined boundary lines as in figure 9 that divide the variable stars into nine (LMC) and eight (SMC) prominent groups (sequence $`E`$ is excluded). For groups $`C`$, $`C^{}`$ and $`D`$ the slopes of the boundary lines were chosen to be -3.85, which is obtained by Hughes & Wood (1990) for the slope of the $`PK`$ relation for the blend populations of carbon- and oxygen-rich Miras in the LMC. The slope of the right side of group $`B^+`$ was also chosen to be -3.85. For groups $`A^{}`$$`B^{}`$, $`A^+`$$`B^+`$ and $`F`$$`G`$, the slopes of the boundary lines were chosen to be -3.35, -3.45 and -3.36, respectively, after the rough estimation of the slopes of each sequence. The width of the each box was chosen so that each of them contains the most probable body of a sequence and it minimizes the miss-classifications as much as possible.

Because the scattering is rather large due probably to the SMC’s intrinsic front-to-back depth, we did not tried to separate $`C^{}`$ stars from $`B^+`$ ones in the SMC. Also, we did not calculate the $`PK`$ relations of variable red giants in the SMC. The dotted lines in figure 9 are the least square fits of linear relation to each group, and table 3 summarizes the calculated $`PK`$ relations.

#### 3.3.1 Metallicity effects on the period-$`K`$ magnitude relations

Gascoigne (1974) empirically obtained the period-visual magnitude relation for Cepheid variables and found that Cepheids in the metal deficient environment would be fainter than those with the same periods in the metal rich one. Based on this result, the Cepheids in the metal-deficient SMC should be fainter than those in the LMC if compared with the same period. On the other hand, Wood (1990) suggested that if there was a factor of 2 difference in metal abundance between LMC and SMC long period variables (e.g., Miras), the LMC stars were fainter by 0.13 magnitudes in $`K`$ than those in the SMC with the same period. Therefore, Cepheids and long period variables are expected to express completely different reactions to the metal abundance.

One possible way to test this anticipation is to compare the $`PK`$ relations in the LMC and SMC, and it is done in figure 10. The distances to the Magellanic Clouds are still uncertain, and we can only say with confidence that the SMC lies some 0.4-0.6 mag beyond the LMC (Cole, 1998). We adopted the distance moduli to the LMC and SMC as 18.40 (Nelson et al. 2000) and 18.89 (Harries, Hilditch & Howarth 2003), respectively. These distance moduli were obtained by using the eclipsing binary systems in the Magellanic Clouds, and the technique, while not entirely geometrical (reddening estimates are required), is free from the metallicity-induced zero point uncertainties. So, we shifted the $`K`$ magnitudes of the SMC stars by $`0.49`$ magnitude to account for the different distance moduli of the SMC and LMC. The red dots represent the LMC stars and the green dots correspond to the SMC stars.

The figure shows, just as expected, that Cepheids in the SMC are fainter, but red giants in the SMC are brighter than those in the LMC if compared with the same period. Also, it is likely that the slopes of the $`PK`$ relations are almost the same in the two galaxies and only the zero points seem to differ. To estimate the differences quantitatively, we fixed the slopes of the $`PK`$ relations of SMC Cepheids and Miras to the corresponding LMC ones, and calculated the zero points. The fixed-slope solutions yielded the zero points of 19.409$`\pm `$0.018, 16.170$`\pm `$0.006 and 15.659$`\pm `$0.007 mag for sequences $`C`$, $`F`$ and $`G`$ in the SMC, respectively (after shifting their $`K`$ magnitudes by $`0.49`$ mag). Comparing these zero points with those of the LMC Cepheids and Miras, Cepheids in the SMC are fainter by $`0.1`$ mag and Miras in the SMC are brighter by $`0.13`$ mag than the LMC ones with the same period.

## 4 Summary

We cross-identified the OGLE-II survey data and the SIRIUS NIR data in the Magellanic Clouds. Based on the large and homogeneous data111Data of the variable stars will be published in the separate paper., we studied the pulsation properties of variable stars in the Magellanic Clouds. We discovered a new sequence on the period-$`K`$ magnitude plane, and identified it as the one for Mira variables pulsating in the first overtone mode. We also found that the variable red giants in the SMC form parallel sequences in the period-$`K`$ magnitude plane, just like those found by Wood (2000) in the LMC. The period-$`K`$ magnitude relations were derived, especially for both fundamental mode and overtone Cepheids in the Magellanic Clouds. These results are obtained with the greatest numbers of available stars and most deep photometric data in the infrared up to now. Metallicity effects on period-$`K`$ magnitude relations are studied by comparing variable stars in the Magellanic Clouds. The result suggested that Cepheids in the metal-deficient SMC are fainter than the LMC Cepheids, while Miras in the SMC are brighter than the LMC ones if compared with the same period.

## Acknowledgments

The authors thank the referee, Dr. Albert Zijlstra for constructive comments. It is a pleasure to thank Dr. Michael Feast for valuable and helpful comments on the first version of this paper. We also thank Dr. Ian Glass for useful comments. This research is supported in part by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) No. 12640234 and Grant-in-Aids for Scientific on Priority Area (A) No. 12021202 and 13011202 from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan. The IRSF/SIRIUS project was initiated and supported by Nagoya University, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and University of Tokyo in collaboration with South African Astronomical Observatory under a financial support of Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Area (A) No. 10147207 of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan. The Guide Star Catalogue-II is a joint project of the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino. Space Telescope Science Institute is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under contract NAS5-26555. The participation of the Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino is supported by the Italian Council for Research in Astronomy. Additional support is provided by European Southern Observatory, Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility, the International GEMINI project and the European Space Agency Astrophysics Division.


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# The consequences of nuclear electron capture in core collapse supernovae

## Abstract

The most important weak nuclear interaction to the dynamics of stellar core collapse is electron capture, primarily on nuclei with masses larger than 60. In prior simulations of core collapse, electron capture on these nuclei has been treated in a highly parameterized fashion, if not ignored. With realistic treatment of electron capture on heavy nuclei come significant changes in the hydrodynamics of core collapse and bounce. We discuss these as well as the ramifications for the post-bounce evolution in core collapse supernovae.

Core collapse supernovae are among the most energetic events in the universe, emitting $`10^{46}`$ J of energy, mostly in the form of neutrinos. These explosions mark the end of the life of a massive star, the formation of a neutron star or black hole and play a preeminent role in the cosmic origin of the elements. With the formation of an *iron core* in a massive star (containing the maximally-bound iron and neighboring nuclei), thermonuclear energy is no longer available to slow the inexorable contraction that results from a star’s self gravity. Once this cold iron core grows too massive to be supported by the pressure of degenerate electrons, core collapse ensues. In the inner region of the core, this collapse is subsonic and homologous, while the outer regions collapse supersonically. When the inner core exceeds nuclear densities, it stiffens, halting the collapse. Collision of the supersonically infalling outer core with this stiffened inner core produces the *bounce shock*, which initially drives outward the outer layers of the iron core. However, this bounce shock is sapped of energy by the escape of neutrinos and nuclear dissociation and stalls before it can drive off the envelope of the star (see, e.g., Burrows and Lattimer (1985); Thompson et al. (2003)). The intense neutrino flux, which is carrying off the binding energy of the proto-neutron star (PNS), heats matter between the neutrinospheres and the stalled shock. In the *neutrino reheating* paradigm, this heating reenergizes the shock, which drives off the concentric layers of successively lighter elements that lie above the iron core, producing the supernova.

Unfortunately, simulations exploring the neutrino reheating paradigm often fail to produce explosions. The failure of recent spherically symmetric multigroup Boltzmann simulations Rampp and Janka (2000); Mezzacappa et al. (2001); Liebendörfer et al. (2001) to produce explosions has removed incomplete neutrino transport as a potential cause of this failure. Models that break the assumption of spherical symmetry have achieved some success, either by an increase in the neutrino luminosity due to fluid instabilities within the proto-neutron star Wilson and Mayle (1993) or by enhancement of the efficiency of the neutrino heating by large scale convection behind the shock Herant et al. (1994); Burrows et al. (1995); Fryer and Warren (2002). The PNS instabilities are driven by lepton and entropy gradients, while convection behind the shock originates from gradients in entropy that result from the stalling of the shock and grow as the matter is heated from below. However, even with such enhancements, explosions are not guaranteed Janka and Müller (1996); Mezzacappa et al. (1998a); Buras et al. (2003). A third potential cause of the failure to produce explosions in numerical models is incomplete or inaccurate treatment of the wide variety of nuclear and weak interaction physics that is important to the supernova mechanism. Once the supernova shock forms, emission and absorption of electron neutrinos and antineutrinos on the dissociation-liberated free nucleons are the dominant processes. However, during core collapse, electron capture on nuclei plays an important and, as we will demonstrate, dominant role by significantly altering the electron fraction and entropy, thereby determining the strength and location of the initial supernova shock, as well as the entropy and electron fraction profiles throughout the core. As a result, improvements in the treatment of electron capture alter the initial conditions for the entire postbounce evolution of the supernova.

Calculation of the rate of electron capture on heavy nuclei in the collapsing core requires two components: the appropriate electron capture reaction rates and knowledge of the nuclear composition. The inclusion of electron capture within a multigroup neutrino transport simulation adds an additional requirement: information about the spectra of emitted neutrinos. Unlike stellar evolution and supernova nucleosynthesis simulations, wherein the nuclear composition is tracked in detail via a reaction network Woosley (1986); Hix and Thielemann (1999), in simulations of the supernova mechanism, the composition in the iron core is calculated by the equation of state assuming nuclear statistical equilibrium (NSE). Typically, the information on the nuclear composition provided by the equation of state is limited to the mass fractions of free neutrons and protons, $`\alpha `$-particles, and the sum of all heavy nuclei, as well as the identity of an average heavy nucleus, calculated in the liquid drop framework Lattimer and Swesty (1991). In most recent supernova simulations (see, e.g., Liebendörfer et al. (2001); Rampp and Janka (2000); Fryer and Warren (2002)), the treatment introduced by Bruenn Bruenn (1985) is used. This prescription treats electron capture on heavy nuclei through a generic $`0f_{7/2}0f_{5/2}`$ Gamow-Teller resonance (Bethe et al., 1979) in the average heavy nucleus identified by the equation of state. Because this treatment does not include additional Gamow-Teller transitions, forbidden transitions, or thermal unblocking (see Langanke et al. (2003)), electron capture on heavy nuclei ceases when the neutron number of the average nucleus exceeds 40. As a result, electron capture on protons dominates the later phases of collapse.

As a major advance over this simple treatment of nuclear electron capture, we have developed a treatment based on recent shell model electron capture rates from Langanke & Martínez Pinedo (LMP) Langanke and Martínez-Pinedo (2000) for $`45<A65`$ and 80 reaction rates from a hybrid shell model-RPA calculation Langanke et al. (2001a); Langanke et al. (2003) for a sample of nuclei with $`A=66112`$. For the distribution of emitted neutrinos, we use the approximation described by Langanke et al. Langanke et al. (2001b). To calculate the needed abundances of the heavy nuclei, a Saha-like NSE is assumed, including Coulomb corrections to the nuclear binding energy Hix (1995); Bravo and García-Senz (1999), but neglecting the effects of degenerate nucleons El Eid and Hillebrandt (1980). This NSE treatment has been used in prior investigations of electron capture in thermonuclear supernovae Brachwitz et al. (2000). We use the combined set of LMP and hybrid model rates to calculate an average neutrino emissivity per heavy nucleus. The full neutrino emissivity is then the product of this average and the number density of heavy nuclei calculated by the equation of state. With the limited coverage of rates for $`A>65`$, this approach provides the most reasonable estimate of what the total electron capture would be if rates for all nuclei were available. This averaging approach also makes the rate of electron capture consistent with the composition returned by the equation of state, while minimizing the impact of the limitations of our NSE treatment. A more detailed description of our method, including tests of some assumptions made, will be presented in a forthcoming article Hix et al. (2003).

Simulations of the collapse, bounce, and post-bounce evolution of a 15 $`M_{}`$ model Heger et al. (2001) were carried out using the fiducial Bruenn prescription for electron capture on nuclei and our LMP+hybrid treatment with our fully general relativistic, spherically symmetric AGILE-BOLTZTRAN code. In these simulations, it is employed using the equation of state of Lattimer and Swesty Lattimer and Swesty (1991), 6-point Gaussian quadrature to discretize the neutrino angular distributions, and 12 energy groups to discretize the neutrino spectra between 3 to 300 MeV.

Our improved treatment of nuclear electron capture has two competing effects. In lower density regions, where the average nucleus is well below the $`N=40`$ cutoff of electron capture on heavy nuclei, the Bruenn parameterization results in more electron capture than the LMP+hybrid treatment. This is similar to the reduction in the amount of electron capture seen in stellar evolution models Heger et al. (2001) and thermonuclear supernova Brachwitz et al. (2000) models when earlier parameterized rates Fuller et al. (1985) are replaced by shell model calculations. In denser regions, the continuation of electron capture on heavy nuclei alongside electron capture on protons results in more electron capture in the LMP+hybrid case. The results of these competing effects can be seen in the upper pane of Figure 1, which shows the distributions of electron fraction, entropy, density, and velocity throughout the core at bounce (maximum central density).

In addition to the marked reduction $`(10\%)`$ in the electron fraction in the interior of the PNS, the improved treatment of electron capture also results in an $`20\%`$ reduction in the mass of the homologous core, consistent with the analysis that the size of the homologous core is proportional to the square of the mean trapped lepton fraction $`<Y_{l}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}>`$ at core bounce Yahil (1983). At bounce, this change in the homologous core manifests itself as a reduction in the mass interior to the formation of the shock from 0.57 $`M_{}`$ in the fiducial case to 0.48 $`M_{}`$ in the LMP+hybrid case, as is evident in the lower pane of Figure 1. In the LMP+hybrid case there is also an $`15\%`$ reduction in the central density and an $`5\%`$ reduction in the central entropy at bounce, as well as an $`15\%`$ smaller velocity difference across the shock.

If the principle effect of our improvement in the treatment of electron capture on nuclei were to launch a weaker shock with more of the iron core overlying it, this improvement would make a successful explosion more difficult. However, these improvements in nuclear electron capture also alter the behavior of the outer layers which play an important role in the ultimate fate of the shock. The lesser neutronization in the outer layers slows the collapse of these layers, which further diminishes the growth of the electron capture rate by reducing the rate at which the density increases. These changes are clearly apparent in regions above the shocks in Figure 1, for example, reductions of a factor of 5 in density and 40% in velocity are evident in the vicinity of 0.8 $`M_{}`$. Such changes reduce the ram pressure opposing the shock, easing its outward progress. In these spherically symmetric models, these improvements allow the shock in the LMP+hybrid case to reach 168 km, relative to 166 km in the fiducial case, in spite of the greater mass overlying the shock when it was launched and the greater loss of energy to the neutrino burst (see Figure 2).

As mentioned earlier, changes in the electron capture rates also lead to changes in the core fluid gradients that may, in turn, drive fluid instabilities that are potentially important to the supernova mechanism. Within the inner 50 km, the entropy and lepton fraction gradients found in the LMP+hybrid model are considerably different from those found in the fiducial model. Consequently, the more accurate treatment of electron capture may significantly alter the location, extent, and strength of proto-neutron star convection, or other potential fluid instabilities, in the core. This provides an excellent example of the coupling of convective behavior to radiative and nuclear processes and must be further investigated in the context of future multidimensional models.

Figure 2 shows the luminosity and mean energy of the emitted electron neutrinos and antineutrinos between 100 milliseconds before bounce and 100 milliseconds after bounce. Clearly evident in the luminosity is a slight delay (2 ms) in the prominent “breakout” burst caused by the deeper launch of the shock in the LMP+hybrid case. Over the first 50 milliseconds after bounce, the LMP+hybrid model emits $`15\%`$ more energy than the fiducial model, with a slightly lower luminosity at later times. This is largely the result of differences in the mean electron neutrino energy, which is as much as 1 MeV higher over the first 50 milliseconds in the LMP+hybrid case, but lower thereafter. This results from the neutrinospheres in the LMP+hybrid model occurring in deeper, hotter layers for the first 50 milliseconds, but cooler layers at later times.

The differences in the neutrino spectrum during collapse, when electron capture on nuclei dominates, are larger than those described after bounce. For low densities, where capture on nuclei dominates in the Bruenn prescription as well, the approximate reaction Q-value derived from the free neutron and proton chemical potentials dramatically underestimates the Q value, resulting in a much lower mean neutrino energy. As captures on protons begin to compete with captures on nuclei in the Bruenn prescription, the mean neutrino energy grows rapidly because of the higher Q value for capture on protons. It exceeds that found in our LMP+hybrid model by as much as 2 MeV in the 30 milliseconds just before bounce. This latter effect was anticipated by Langanke et al.Langanke et al. (2003), who also demonstrated that nuclear electron capture should dominate that on protons because the much larger number of heavy nuclei more than compensates for the larger capture rate on free protons, at least for the conditions found in models resulting from the Bruenn prescription. These self consistent models unequivocally show that this is correct. At the onset of collapse, there are roughly 1000 heavy nuclei per proton in the inner layers of the core. In our fiducial model this ratio declines rapidly, reaching values less than 100 by the time the central density is $`10^{11}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3`$ and roughly 10 by the time the central density is $`10^{13}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3`$. In the LMP+hybrid model, the reduced electron fraction and entropy keep this ratio near 1000 until the central density exceeds $`10^{12}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3`$, reaching 50 around a central density of $`10^{13}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3`$. As a result, in the regime where $`Y_e`$ experiences the largest changes ($`10^{1113}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3`$), the dominance of heavy nuclei is increased by a factor of 5-30, cementing the dominance of nuclear electron capture.

To implement these simulations, we have made approximations to all three components of the calculation of electron capture in core collapse supernovae. Each of these requires further improvement. Removing the averaging of electron capture rates requires better coverage of electron capture on nuclei in the region $`65<A<120`$, by hybrid and other approximate methods Pruet and Fuller (2003) in the near term, but ultimately by shell model calculations vetted by experimental determinations of Gamow-Teller strength distributions. These reaction rates must cover the full thermodynamic range of interest in supernovae (temperatures of 1-100 $`\mathrm{GK}`$ and densities from $`10^510^{14}\mathrm{g}\mathrm{cm}^3`$) and must also address the need for the emitted neutrino spectra. Detailed tracking of the nuclear composition is also necessary, in a form that retains the consistent transition to nuclear matter afforded by current schemes Lattimer and Swesty (1991) while allowing for accurate calculation of the rate of electron capture on heavy nuclei and, ultimately, for detailed nucleosynthesis.

We have demonstrated that supernova simulations with a modern treatment of electron capture differ significantly from previous models, which employed more parameterized treatments. Though this improved model still fails to produce an explosion in the spherically symmetric case, the differences are quite striking. The initial mass behind the shock when it is launched is reduced by 20%, with significantly $`(10\%)`$ lower central densities, entropies, and electron fractions in this region. Over the first 50 ms after bounce, the neutrino luminosity is boosted by $`15\%`$ with the mean electron neutrino energy increased by $`1`$ MeV. In spite of an initially weaker and deeper shock and larger neutrino energy loss, reduced electron capture in the outer layers slows their collapse, allowing the shock to reach a maximum radius that is slightly larger. Furthermore the lepton and entropy gradients in the core differ significantly. Because these gradients drive PNS convection and other potential instabilities in the core, the location and strength of such instabilities may be significantly different than heretofore thought.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors acknowledge helpful conversations with J. Beacom and H.-T. Janka. The work has been partly supported by NASA under contract NAG5-8405, by the National Science Foundation under contract AST-9877130, by the Department of Energy, through the PECASE and Scientic Discovery through Advanced Computing Programs, by funds from the Joint Institute for Heavy Ion Research and by the Danish Research Council. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725.


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# Revealing a Cool Accretion Disk in the Ultraluminous X-ray Source M81 X-9 (Holmberg IX X-1): Evidence for an Intermediate Mass Black Hole

## 1. Introduction

Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are point-like X-ray sources in nearby galaxies for which the implied luminosity exceeds the Eddington limit ($`L_{Edd.}=1.3\times 10^{38}(M/M_{})\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$) for an isotropically-emitting black hole of $`10M_{}`$ (as per dynamically-constrained Galactic black holes; see McClintock & Remillard 2003). A number of these sources were first identified with Einstein (see, e.g., Fabbiano 1989), but the spatial resolution and sensitivity of Chandra has shown that most ULXs are likely point sources. Short-term and longer-term variability studies have shown that most ULXs must be accreting sources, likely harboring black holes feeding from companion stars in binary systems (for reviews, see Fabbiano & White 2003; Miller & Colbert 2003).

Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs, $`10^{25}M_{}`$) provide an attractive explanation for ULXs. However, this interpretation requires excellent evidence that alternative explanations are unlikely to hold. Viable models for ULXs which only require stellar-mass black holes ($`10M_{}`$) and which may explain at least the lower-luminosity ULX sources include: anisotropic emission due to a funnel-like inner disk geometry (King et al. 2001), strongly beamed emission due to a line of sight coincident with a jet axis (Reynolds 1997; Kording, Falcke, & Markoff 2002), and “slim” disks (Watarai, Mizuno, & Mineshige 2001) and/or radiation pressure-dominated super-Eddington accretion disks (e.g., Begelman 2002).

While some prior analyses of X-ray spectra (e.g., with ASCA) found some evidence for IMBHs, the sensitivity of these observations only statistically required single-component spectral models (see Colbert & Mushotzky 1999, Makishima et al. 2000), which prevented stronger conclusions. The high effective area and sensitivity of XMM-Newton are changing this observational constraint (Miller et al. 2003, Strohmayer & Mushotzky 2003). Similarly, high-quality optical observations of ULXs are now being made (e.g., Pakull & Mirioni 2002) which reveal relatively symmetric nebulae around some sources with spectra indicating the ULX is acting on the local environment. The symmetry of these nebulae may indicate that these ULXs emit isotropically, and that funneling does not hold. Similarly, radio to X-ray flux ratios may be used to constrain relativistic beaming models. Miller et al. (2003) analyzed XMM-Newton/EPIC-MOS spectra of the ULXs NGC 1313 X-1 and X-2. These ULX spectra were the first to statistically require thermal disk and power-law continuum components. Remarkably, the disk temperatures measured in those spectra are 5–10 times lower than those commonly measured in stellar-mass black holes accreting at high rates. Those temperatures, the normalization of the disk components, and the very high luminosities implied suggest that NGC 1313 X-1 and X-2 may harbor IMBHs. This suggestion is strengthened by symmetric optical nebulae around X-1 and X-2 which suggest isotropic emission, and radio observations which likely rule-out relativistic beaming (Miller et al. 2003). XMM-Newton observations of the brightest ULX in M82 reveal quasi-periodic oscillations and even an Fe K$`\alpha `$ emission line; the detection of these disk signatures strongly rules-out beaming and likely also funneling, and also represents strong evidence that the M82 ULX may harbor an IMBH (Strohmayer & Mushotzky 2003).

The ULX M81 X-9 (actually in the dwarf galaxy Holmberg IX, but hereafter referred to as M81 X-9) is an exceptionally bright ($`L_X>10^{40}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$) source which is variable on the timescale of weeks and months, with weak indications for a cool disk component (La Parola et al. 2001). The source position is roughly 2’ from the optical center of Ho IX (Paturel & Petit 2002). In order to better understand the nature of M81 X-9, we analyzed spectra obtained in two short XMM-Newton observations available in the public archive. Herein, we report the results of fits to the XMM-Newton/EPIC-pn spectra of M81 X-9. For comparison, we also analyzed the EPIC-pn spectrum of NGC 1313 X-1 (only the EPIC-MOS spectra were analyzed previously). Fits to these X-ray spectra suggest that both sources may harbor IMBHs. We discuss these results within the context of other recent ULX observations, and prevalent models for ULX accretion flow geometries.

## 2. Observations and Data Reduction

In this work, we consider the time-averaged XMM-Newton/EPIC-pn spectra gathered in two observations of M81 X-9 and a single observation of NGC 1313 X-1. The data sets were obtained through the XMM-Newton public data archive. The EPIC-pn camera has a higher effective area than the EPIC-MOS cameras, and drives the results of any joint spectral analysis. The results of an analysis of the EPIC-MOS spectra of NGC 1313 X-1 and X-2 are reported in Miller et al. (2003). That analysis used the XMM-Newton reduction and analysis suite SAS version 5.3.3, which failed to produce EPIC-pn event lists for the observation of NGC 1313. The reduction and analysis reported in this work used SAS version 5.4.2, which successfully produced an EPIC-pn event list for the NGC 1313 observation. The results of fits to the EPIC-pn spectrum of NGC 1313 X-1 — the stronger IMBH candidate of the two ULXs considered Miller et al. (2003) — are reported in this work.

M81 X-9 (Ho IX X-1) was observed on 10 April 2002 starting at 17:37:52 (UT), and again on 16 April 2002, starting at 17:33:15 (UT). In both cases, the camera was operated in “PrimeFullWindow” mode, with the “thin” optical blocking filter. Application of the standard time filtering resulted in net exposures of 7.8 ksec and 8.5 ksec, respectively. In both cases, events were extracted in a circle within 24” of the source position ($`09^h57^m54^s,69^{}03^{}46^{\prime \prime }`$, La Parola et al. 2001). Due to the proximity of the source to the edge of the CCD and the relatively few bright sources apparent in surrounding region, background counts were extracted in an adjacent circle with a radius of 24”. NGC 1313 was observed by XMM-Newton on 17 October 2000 starting at 03:59:23 (UT). The camera was operated in “PrimeFullWindow” mode with the “medium” optical blocking filter. Application of the standard time filtering resulted in a net exposure of 29.3 ksec. Events were extracted in a circle within 24” of the position reported by Miller et al. (2003). A background spectrum was extracted in an annulus between 24–30”, again centered on the source position.

Each of the spectra were made by applying the selection criteria described in the MPE “cookbook”. Briefly, these selections are as follows: we set “FLAG=0” to reject bad pixels and events too close to chip edges, event patterns 0–4 were allowed (these patterns correspond to “singles” and “doubles”), and the spectral channels were grouped by a factor of 5. The “canned” response files appropriate to the CCD, patterns, and optical blocking filter were used to fit the data. Using the SAS tool “epatplot” and simulating XMM-Newton/EPIC-pn spectra using the HEASARC tool “PIMMS” (based on prior reported fluxes and spectral parameters), we found that the effects of photon pile-up are negligible in the spectra. Prior to fitting, the source and background spectra were rebinned (using “grppha” within LHEASOFT version 5.2) to require at least 15 counts per bin to ensure the validity of $`\chi ^2`$ statistical analysis. Spectral fits were made using XSPEC version 11.2 (Arnaud & Dorman 2000). All spectral fits were made in the 0.3–10.0 keV band. All errors reported in this work are 90% confidence errors, and were evaluated while allowing all spectral model components to vary to take account of dependencies between parameters and components. For all spectral fits, the standard F test was employed to calculate the significance of adding model components.

## 3. Analysis and Results

We considered a number of continuum models commonly applied to Galactic X-ray binary systems, modified by absorption in the interstellar medium using the XSPEC model “phabs”. Although somewhat technical, it is worth noting that fits to XMM-Newton/RGS spectra of bright Galactic X-ray binaries show that “phabs” places the neutral oxygen absorption edge at an energy slightly below that expected for neutral atomic oxygen (0.543 keV). At CCD resolution, this can have the effect of creating a false emission line feature at an energy just above that which “phabs” assumes for the oxygen edge. Although different fixes for this problem are possible, we adopted the following approach (in part because it is easily reproducible). Each spectrum was fit with a model consisting of a simple power-law modified by “phabs”; the edge depth expected for the neutral oxygen edge based on this column and assuming solar abundances was calculated; all continuum models then fit to the spectra were modified by “vphabs” with the abundance of oxygen set to zero, with an additional edge fixed at the calculated depth added at 0.543 keV. Regardless of the continuum model, this absorption model proves to be a better fit to each spectrum in the region of the oxygen edge, and removes the (false) apparent emission line.

The results of all spectral fits are reported in Table 1. The spectra of M81 X-9 are shown in Figures 1, 2, 4, and 5, and the spectrum of NGC 1313 X-1 is shown in Figures 3 and 6. While a simple power-law proves to be the best single-component continuum model in each case, it is only an acceptable model for the latter observation of M81 X-9. The canonical multi-color disk (MCD) blackbody model (Mitsuda et al. 1984) — an approximation to the Shakura & Sunyaev (1973) disk model — is not an acceptable fit to any of the spectra when it is the only continuum component. Similarly, single-component thermal bremsstrahlung models are not an acceptable fit to any of the spectra. Though not listed in Table 1, single-component fits with any diffuse thermal plasma model are not acceptable; this is expected given the lack of emission lines in any spectrum.

Following Miller et al. (2003), we proceeded to consider two-component continuum models: MCD plus power-law, “diskpn” plus power-law, and “MEKAL” plus power-law. While the MCD model is convenient in that 1) it is a common component in published fits to Galactic black hole binary spectra, 2) its temperature and normalization allow scaling from which constraints on the mass of the accretor in ULXs may be estimated, it is an approximation to the Shakura & Sunyaev (1973) disk in that it does not include the zero-torque inner boundary condition. The “diskpn” model is a disk model that includes corrections (based on a pseudo-Newtonian potential) for the temperature behavior near to the black hole (Gierliski et al. 1999). As with the MCD model, the temperature and normalization parameters in this model permit scalings which can be used to constrain the mass of the accretor in ULXs. In addition, the inner disk radius is also a free parameter in the diskpn model ($`R_{in}=6R_g`$ was fixed in all fits, where $`R_g=GM/c^2`$). The “MEKAL” model describes diffuse thermal plasmas; the results of fits with this model are not listed in Table 1 as the density parameter of this model is totally unconstrained (likely, due to the total lack of credible emission lines in the spectra), and because “MEKAL” plus power-law models prove to be significantly worse than disk plus power-law models. This is particularly clear in the case of NGC 1313 X-1: the best-fit “MEKAL” plus power-law model gives $`\chi ^2/\nu =499.0/486`$ (where $`\nu `$ is the number of degrees of freedom); this is significantly worse than fits with a model consisting of an MCD plus power-law components ($`\chi ^2/\nu =459.8/487`$) or diskpn plus power-law components ($`\chi ^2/\nu =461.0/487`$). Finally, it is worth noting that archival observations suggest that NGC 1313 X-1 and M81 X-9 are not diffuse sources, but are constistent with point sources at Chandra resolution (after accounting for pile-up).

Cool disk components are formally statistically required to fit the first spectrum of M81 X-9 (the addition of a disk component is significant at the $`6\sigma `$ level of confidence) and the spectrum of NGC 1313 X-1 (the addition of a disk component is significant at more than the $`8\sigma `$ level of confidence). Figure 2 clearly shows that there is also excess soft emission in the second spectrum of M81 X-9. It was shown previously that soft excesses of this kind are robust against under-abundances in the local absorbing material (Miller et al. 2003a), and that result holds for these spectra as well. When a disk component is included in the model, the parameters of the disk component can be constrained and the addition gives an improvement which is significant at nearly the $`7\sigma `$ level. Remarkably, the disk components in fits to M81 X-9 yield very low temperatures (ranging between $`kT=0.170.29`$ keV, including 90% confidence errors, and considering each of the two models fit to the two observations of M81 X-9). Inner disk temperatures ranging between $`kT=0.210.25`$ keV are measured for the disk component in the spectrum of NGC 1313 X-1. The power-law indices measured are harder than those commonly measured in the “very high state” in stellar-mass Galactic black holes, but softer than those commonly measured in the “low/hard” state.

Estimates for the mass of the black holes in M81 X-9 and NGC 1313 X-1 are given in Table 1, based on three independent methods: 1) scaling the inner disk temperature to values commonly measured in Galactic black holes, 2) direct estimates from the normalization of the disk components, and 3) scaling from the Eddington limit equation.

At the highest mass accretion rates observed in stellar-mass black holes, inner disk temperatures near to or above $`kT=1`$ keV are often observed (for a review, see McClintock & Remillard 2003; for a recent example, see Park et al. 2003). In some cases, however, the inner disk temperatures can be as high as $`kT2`$ keV (for examples and a comparison to ULXs, see Makishima et al. 2000). Using the fact that in blackbody disk models, $`TM^{1/4}`$, it is possible to scale temperature to mass via the relation $`(M_{ULX}/M_{10M_{}})(kT_{10M_{}}/kT_{ULX})^4`$. Assuming that M81 X-9 and NGC 1313 X-1 are accreting at or near to the Eddington limit (the regime in which hot disks are observed in stellar-mass Galactic black holes), this scaling suggests that these ULXs harbor black holes with masses of $`few\times 10^3M_{}`$ (see Table 1). Clearly, this scaling is very sensitive to what temperature is assumed to be typical of stellar-mass Galactic black holes accreting at high rates. Assuming $`kT=0.5`$ keV to be typical gives masses of $`few\times 10^2M_{}`$ for M81 X-1 and NGC 1313 X-1; however, assuming $`kT=1.0`$ keV to be typical for stellar-mass black holes accreting at or near to the Eddington limit has a much stronger observational basis.

The MCD and diskpn normalizations also allow estimates of the black hole masses. In this case, some care is required because it has been noted that the color temperature measured using multi-color disk models may differ from the effective temperature (Shimura & Takahara 1995; Merloni, Fabian, & Ross 2000). Whereas corrections divide-out in scaling the temperature, they must be considered in scaling masses from the disk component normalization. The MCD normalization gives the inner disk extent in kilometers, which can be converted into a black hole mass. Following recent related work (Miller et al. 2003; see also Sobczak et al. 2000 and Makishima et al. 2000), we take $`R_{in,corr}=\eta f^2R_{obs.}`$ for the MCD model (where $`f=1.7`$ is the spectral hardening factor, and $`\eta =0.63`$ is valid for $`i<70^{}`$ and accounts for the difference between the innermost radius and the radius of peak temperature; note also that in all disk normalization scalings we assumed $`i=0`$ and that any higher inclination gives a higher mass). For a Schwarzschild black hole, $`R_{in}=6R_g=8.85\mathrm{km}/M_{}`$ (where $`R_g=GM/c^2`$). Therefore, we can use the MCD model to obtain mass estimates via the relation: $`M_{ULX}=\eta f^2(K/cos[i])^{1/2}\times (d/10\mathrm{kpc})\times (8.85\mathrm{km})^1`$ (where $`K`$ is the MCD normalization, $`i`$ is the inclination, and $`d`$ is the source distance). Assuming distances of $`d=3.4`$ Mpc for Ho IX (Georgiev 1991, Hill et al. 1993) and $`d=3.74`$ Mpc for NGC 1313 (Tully 1998), the MCD component normalization suggests that M81 X-9 and NGC 1313 X-1 may harbor black holes with masses of $`few\times 10^2M_{}`$ (see Table 1). The normalization of the diskpn component explicitly includes the mass and the color correction factor $`f`$. In estimating masses with the diskpn model, $`f=1.7`$ was again assumed, as per the MCD model. The diskpn normalizations measured for M81 X-9 and NGC 1313 X-1 again suggest that these ULXs may harbor black holes with masses of $`few\times 100M_{}`$ (see Table 1).

The mass of the putative black holes powering M81 X-9 and NGC 1313 X-1 can also be estimated by scaling the implied source luminosities to the Eddington limit for isotropically emitting accretion-powered sources ($`L_{Edd.}=1.3\times 10^{38}(M/M_{})\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1/M_{}`$; Frank, King, & Raine 2002). To make this scaling, the unabsorbed 0.3–10.0 keV flux was extrapolated to the 0.05–100.0 keV band, as the latter is more representative of a bolometric luminosity. This scaling again implies that M81 X-9 and NGC 1313 X-1 may harbor black holes with masses of $`few\times 10^2M_{}`$ (see Table 1). It is interesting to note that scaling the ULX inner disk temperatures to $`kT=1.0`$ keV implies masses on the order of $`10^3M_{}`$ while the disk normalizations and overall luminosities imply masses on the order of $`10^2M_{}`$. This may imply that these ULXs are $`10^3M_{}`$ black holes seen at $`L_X0.1\times L_{Edd.}`$.

Finally, we note that while the results obtained here for NGC 1313 X-1 broadly agree with those previously reported in Miller et al. (2003), they do not agree exactly. The differences can be attributed to several factors, including: the more conservative fitting range used in this analysis (0.3–10.0 keV) relative to the prior analysis, the higher effective area, sensitivity, and energy resolution of the EPIC-pn camera (used in this analysis) relative to the EPIC-MOS cameras (used in the prior analysis), and the improved interstellar absorption model used in this analysis. The most important difference is that the disk temperatures measured in this analysis are 0.08 keV higher than in the previous analysis ($`kT=0.23`$ keV versus $`kT=0.15`$ keV), resulting in new mass estimates which are five times lower than prior estimates using inner disk temperatures.

## 4. Discussion

We have investigated the nature of the ULX M81 X-9 (Holmberg IX X-1) by analyzing two XMM-Newton/EPIC-pn spectra of the source. The most important result of this work is that cool thermal continuum emission is unambiguously required for the first time. Optically-thick disk components yield improvements in the fit statistic which are significant at more than the $`6\sigma `$ level of confidence. This represents the clearest evidence for a cool accretion disk in a ULX apart from NGC 1313 X-1 (Miller et al. 2003; see Table 1).

Remarkably, the inner disk temperatures measured ($`kT=0.170.29`$ keV, including 90% confidence errors on two disk models fit to the two observations) are well below those commonly measured in stellar-mass black holes ($`kT1`$ keV, see McClintock & Remillard for a review). Scaling the temperatures measured implies that M81 X-9 may harbor a black hole with a mass on the order of $`10^3M_{}`$, and scaling the disk component normalizations implies masses on the order of $`10^2M_{}`$. It is unclear which scaling method is superior, but both scalings suggest that M81 X-9 may harbor an IMBH. Both scaling methods can be correct if the source harbors a black hole with a mass on the order of $`10^3M_{}`$ which is observed at $`L_X0.1\times L_{Edd.}`$. For comparison, we also report results from an analysis of the EPIC-pn spectrum of NGC 1313 X-1, which may also harbor an IMBH (Miller et al. 2003). The spectra of these sources bear striking similarities (see Table 1).

The long-term and short-term flux variability of M81 X-9 demonstrated clearly by La Parola et al. (2001) establishes that M81 X-9 is an accreting source. While it is natural to ascribe cool thermal emission to an optically-thick accretion disk in accreting systems, given the implications of these cool disks it is especially important to understand why disk emission is the most viable explanation.

Relativistic beaming — which might prevent detection of disk signatures — is not likely at work in M81 X-9. First, radio observations of Ho IX by Bash & Kaufman (1986) find a flux density of at most 1 mJy at 20 cm at the position of the ULX, corresponding to a luminosity of $`2\times 10^{34}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}`$. If the source was active at its present level during that time (as suggested by the long-term behavior reported by La Parola et al. 2001), this radio luminosity gives a radio to X-ray luminosity ratio of $`2\times 10^6`$. This is at odds with a relativistic beaming scenario, as beaming should create flat spectra (see, e.g., Fossati et al. 1998). Second, the peak radio to X-ray flux ratios observed in Galactic X-ray binary systems are always below $`2.3\times 10^5`$ (Fender & Kuulkers 2001; Barth, Ho, & Sargent 2003). The fact that the radio to X-ray flux ratio in M81 X-9 is likely an order of magnitude below the highest ratio seen in Galactic systems suggests that M81 X-9 is not likely to be a stellar-mass black hole with relativistically-beamed emission coincident with our line of sight to the source.

Slightly anisotropic X-ray emission — perhaps due to a funnel-like geometry in the inner disk — might create a very hot inner disk, especially if the source of hard X-ray emission is central (e.g., through Comptonization). Clearly, the spectra we have analyzed rule-out hot disk signatures. Pakull & Mirioni (2002) have reported optical nebulae around a few ULXs, including NGC 1313 X-1 and M81 X-9. The line ratios observed in these nebulae suggest that X-ray photoionization may be important, and hint that some ULXs may act on their local ISM. The symmetry of the nebula around NGC 1313 X-1 suggests that the source emits isotropically. While the nebula imaged around M81 X-9 is better described by an ellipse than a circle, the ratio of the axes is likely less than 2:1, and certainly inconsistent with a ratio of 10:1 (“funneled” scenarios require an anisotropy parameter of approximately 10; see King et al. 2001). Thus, present data suggests that anisotropic emission is not the best explanation for the high flux observed from M81 X-9.

Radiation pressure-dominated accretion disks — which might be able to produce super-Eddington fluxes through small-scale photon bubble instabilities (Begelman 2002) — might be expected to have especially high temperatures (perhaps similar to the “slim” disk solution described by Watarai, Mizuno, & Mineshige 2001). As the spectra of M81 X-9 and NGC 1313 X-1 are inconsistent with hot disk components, it is not likely that such models describe these sources.

Finally, it has recently been suggested that soft thermal emission in the brightest ULXs may be due to an optically-thick, outflowing photosphere originating at $`100R_{Schw.}`$ around a stellar-mass black hole accreting at a super-Eddington rate (e.g., King 2003). This model is inconsistent with the relative importance of hard X-ray emission in sources like M81 X-9 and NGC 1313 X-1. It is also inconsistent with a number of long-established properties observed in stellar-mass Galactic black holes accreting near to, at, or slightly in excess of their isotropic Eddington luminosities. We will briefly consider these issues here.

The mechanical power in a photosphere outflowing at velocity $`v`$ should scale with the luminosity radiated by the photosphere as $`L_{mech.}L_{rad}\times (v/c)`$, and that the photospheric radius is given by $`R_{phot}(c/v)^2\times R_{Schw.}`$ (King 2003). Hard X-ray emission in accreting sources is usually tied to regions deep within the gravitational potential, as this is a convenient energy reservoir. However, the innermost accretion regime would be blocked from view by an optically-thick photosphere. The observed hard component in such a scenario must be generated in shocks above the photosphere, which means that the strength of the hard component must be driven by the outflow: $`L_{hard}L_{mech}`$. Measurements indicate that the hard components in M81 X-9 and NGC 1313 X-1 are 3–4 times stronger than the soft (putatively photospheric) components in each spectrum (see Table 1). Even if we only assume that $`L_{hard}L_{soft}L_{rad}`$, the only way $`L_{mech}L_{rad}\times (v/c)`$ holds is if $`(v/c)1`$, which implies that $`R_{phot}(c/v)^2\times R_{Schw.}1R_{Schw}`$.

Moreover, even at the highest implied accretion rates, a number of spectral and variability properties observed in stellar-mass Galactic black holes would be screened if an optically-thick photosphere developed at $`R_{phot}100R_{Schw.}`$. First, hot ($`kT1`$ keV) thermal spectral components are observed in every source at peak X-ray flux; this emission can only be associated with the inner disk as a radially distant photosphere should be much cooler. Second, QPOs – whether high frequency ($`few\times 100`$ Hz) or low frequency ($`few\times 1`$ Hz) – are almost certainly tied to the disk, and likely represent Keplerian orbital frequencies and/or coordinate resonance frequencies. QPOs are seen over a factor of $`10^3`$ in flux in stellar-mass Galactic black holes but are preferentially seen at high fluxes. Most importantly, QPOs are a higher fraction of the rms noise at high energies – QPOs are intimately tied to hard X-ray emission. It is very unlikely that such periodicities originate in shocks above an optically-thick photosphere. Third, broad, relativistic Fe K$`\alpha `$ emission lines are also observed in stellar-mass Galactic black holes over a factor of $`10^3`$ in flux, but preferentially at the very highest fluxes (e.g., in the very high state). These lines are certainly tied to hard X-ray emission (see, e.g., Zdziarski, Lubinski, & Smith 1999), and have been observed to vary at frequencies as high as 6 Hz (Gilfanov, Churazov, & Revnivtsev 2000). These facts – and their smeared shape (very likely due to the extreme Doppler shifts and gravitational red-shift at the inner disk) – tie broad Fe K$`\alpha `$ emission lines to the innermost accetion flow. The reader is directed to McClintock & Remillard (2003), and references therein, for a discussion of the stellar-mass black hole properties noted here.

It is worth noting that partial covering models for NGC 1313 X-1 and M81 X-9 cannot be ruled-out statistically in the limited energy range considered. Models consisting of a strong absorber ($`N_H10^{23}\mathrm{cm}^2`$) covering 50–70% of a steep power-law source ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }2.7`$) can fit the data as well as our disk plus power-law models. There are several reasons, however, why partial covering is likely an unphysical model for these sources. First, partial covering is only required in Galactic black hole sources during X-ray ”dips” (e.g., 4U 1630$``$472 and GRO J1655$``$40, Kuulkers et al. 1998). When partial covering is actually required to fit the spectra of Galactic black holes and AGN, fits with simple models require very strong neutral Fe K absorption edges: Ueda et al. (1998) find an edge with $`\tau =3.3`$ in GRO J1655$``$40, and Boller et al. (2002) report an edge with $`\tau =1.8`$ in 1H 0707$``$495. In contrast, X-ray dips have never been observed in NGC 1313 X-1 or M81 X-9, and the 95% confidence upper limits on the strength of a neutral Fe K edges in the spectra of NGC 1313 X-1 and M81 X-9 are $`\tau 0.4`$ and $`\tau 0.2`$, respectively. Next, it has been shown that while partial covering models can provide acceptable fits to AGN data below 10 keV, simultaneous high energy spectra strongly reject such models (see, e.g., Reynolds et al. 2004). Finally, the above discussion of photospheric models shows that an alternative geometry wherein partial covering might arise naturally is very unlikely to describe sources like NGC 1313 X-1 and M81 X-9.

Thus, at present, the most viable explanation for the soft thermal excess observed in sources like M81 X-9 and NGC 1313 X-1 is emission from a cool accretion disk around an IMBH. Recent observations of bright ULXs with XMM-Newton and Chandra have revealed cool thermal (likely disk) components in a number of ULXs, including (but not limited to) NGC 1313 X-1 and X-2 (Miller et al. 2003), NGC 5408 X-1 (Kaaret et al. 2003), NGC 4038/4039 X-37 (Miller et al. 2003b), and M74 X-1 (Krauss et al. 2003). The brightest ULX in M82 may or may not have a cool disk; the low energy portion of the spectrum from that ULX has proved difficult to measure due to photon pile-up in CCD spectrometers (with Chandra) and diffuse emission in the crowded field (with XMM-Newton). However, beaming is confidently ruled-out in this source through the observation of QPOs and an Fe K$`\alpha `$ emission line (Strohmayer & Mushotzky 2003), and this source is an excellent IMBH candidate. At most, these observations suggest that sources at the upper-end of the ULX luminosity distribution may harbor IMBHs. Many ULXs at the lower end of the luminosity distribution may be stellar-mass black holes. As observations of ULXs continue to be made (especially, multi-wavelength observations), it is likely that sub-classes of beamed, funneled, and IMBH sources will be distinguished.

If M81 X-9 harbors an IMBH, we can speculate about how such a black hole was made. This speculation is particularly interesting because Ho IX is a dwarf galaxy. Madau & Rees (2001) have proposed IMBHs might have been created by the death of extremely massive, low-metallicity Population III stars. While most IMBHs created in this way may have been dragged to galactic centers by dynamical friction, a fraction might be visible today as ULXs if they have captured a donor star. If M81 X-9 has a mass on the order of $`10^2M_{}`$ and this scenario can hold in the case of dwarf galaxies, M81 X-9 could be a Population III remnant. If M81 X-9 has a mass on the order of $`10^3M_{}`$, it is more likely that it grew through mergers, either in a young cluster (e.g., Ebisuzaki et al. 2001) or in a globular cluster (Miller & Hamilton 2002). Certainly, Miller (1995) notes that the vicinity of M81 X-9 may contain a number of massive, young stars, and may show evidence for a recent supernova history.

J. M. M. acknowledges support from the NSF through its Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship program, and useful discussions with A. Kong and P. Slane. M. C. M. was supported in part by NSF grant AST 00-98436, and by NASA grant NAG 5-13229. This work is based on observations obtained with XMM-Newton, an ESA mission with instruments and contributions directly funded by ESA member states and the US (NASA). This work has made use of the tools and services available through HEASARC online service, which is operated by GSFC for NASA. The authors note for the curious that J. M. Miller (Miller et al. 2003a, 2003b), M. C. Miller (Miller & Hamilton 2002, Miller & Colbert 2003), and B. F. Miller (Miller 1995) are indeed distinct, unrelated people.


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# The orbital period of the dipping, bursting, globular cluster X-ray source XB 1746-371 from Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observations

## 1 Introduction

XB 1746-371 is one of the group of $``$10 low mass X-ray binaries (LMXB) exhibiting X-ray dipping at the orbital period, generally accepted as being due to absorption in the bulge in the outer accretion disc. These sources provide substantially more diagnostics and information on the geometry, size and properties of the X-ray emission regions than non-dipping sources. Firstly, there is strong, complex, spectral evolution in dipping; a successful emission model must be able to realistically fit spectra selected in intensity bands through the dips, as well as the non-dip spectrum. In recent years, all of the dipping sources have been fitted by a model consisting of pointlike blackbody emission from the surface of the neutron star which causes fast variability in dipping, plus Comptonized emission from an extended accretion disc corona (ADC) (Bałucińska-Church et al. 1999, 2000; Church et al. 1997, 1998a, 1998b; Smale, Church & Bałucińska-Church 2001, 2002). Secondly, the technique of dip ingress timing allows measurement of the size of extended emission regions, when overlapped by an absorber of larger angular size. This reveals that the ADC is very large, of radial extent $`r_{\mathrm{ADC}}`$ typically 50,000 km, and that $`r_{\mathrm{ADC}}`$ increases with source luminosity (Church & Bałucińska-Church 2003) such that in the brightest dipping source X 1624-490, $`r_{\mathrm{ADC}}`$ becomes 700,000 km, or 65 per cent of the radius of the accretion disc. Thirdly, long-term monitoring of the light curves of the dipping sources may reveal evolution in the orbital period, or other effects. This is the case in the source XB 1916-053 having an X-ray period of $``$3000 s, 1 per cent shorter than the optical period (Chou, Grindlay & Bloser 2001; Homer et al. 2001). In the case of XBT 0748-676, timing studies have been aided by the observation of almost complete X-ray eclipses (Parmar et al. 1986) by the companion star.

XB 1746-371 is a medium brightness member of the dipping LMXB class in the core of the globular cluster NGC 6441 (Giacconi et al. 1974; Clark et al. 1974; Grindlay et al. 1976; Jernigan & Clark 1979; Hertz & Grindlay 1983). Dipping was discovered by Parmar, Stella & Giommi (1989) in an Exosat observation indicating a period 5.0$`\pm `$0.5 hr. These dips had a depth of only 15 per cent in the band 1 – 10 keV, and X-ray bursts were also detected (Sztajno et al. 1987). Sansom et al. (1993) used Ginga data to find an orbital period of 5.73$`\pm `$0.15 hr. More recently, Jonker et al. (2000) discovered a 1 Hz quasi-periodic oscillation, present during persistent emission and bursts, using RXTE data. An observation with BeppoSAX confirmed that dipping was apparently energy-independent as seen in Exosat (Parmar et al. 1999), as is also the case in another dipping source X 1755-338 (White et al. 1984; Mason, Parmar & White 1985; Church & Bałucińska-Church 1993).

The BeppoSAX data implied an orbital period of $`5.8_{0.9}^{+0.3}`$ hr.

In this paper we derive an orbital period for XB 1746-371 using RXTE observations performed in 2002 January and May, and refine this period using prior RXTE observations made in 1996 October and 1998 June – November. We also re-examine archival data from Exosat and RXTE and show that the new period is consistent with these observations. Our period is inconsistent with the Ginga period, and is closer to the original determination by Parmar et al. (1989). In a further paper, we will present results for spectral evolution during dipping and flaring.

## 2 Observations and analysis

We observed XB 1746-371 with RXTE (Bradt et al. 1993) from 2002, January 16 UT 22:42:35 to January 20 UT 21:45:15 (observation ID 60044-02-01–00; and from May 3 UT 14:22:08 to May 8 UT 16:15:15 (60044-02-02-00). The observations span nearly 4 and 5 days, respectively. Results presented here use data from the Proportional Counter Array (PCA) operating in Standard 2 mode with 16 s time resolution. The PCA consists of five Xe proportional counter units, numbered 0–4, with a combined effective area of about 6500 cm2 (Jahoda et al. 1996). PCUs 0 and 2 were reliably on during most of the observations, and we use these PCUs in the following. The propane layer of PCU0 had failed at the start of epoch 5 (defined as 2000, May 13), however, this does not appreciably affect the light curves presented here. Light curves and spectra were extracted using the standard RXTE analysis software ftools 5.2. Standard screening was applied to select only data with an offset of the telescope pointing axis from the source less than 0.02, and an elevation above the Earth’s limb $`>`$ 10. The source was bright during both observations, with count rates exceeding 40 c s-1 per PCU, and thus the background was calculated using the program pcabackest with the latest version of the “bright” background model for epoch 5 appropriate to the observations released in January, 2002. The energy band used, 2.1 – 16.0 keV, was selected by comparison of the spectra of the source + background and the background. At 16 keV the background was two times smaller than the source + background, and data were not used at energies greater than this, where the spectra were converging due to the increase of background with energy.

## 3 Results

The background subtracted light curves of the 2002 January and May observations are shown in Fig. 1. Both observations reveal dipping with an intensity reduction of 25 per cent. A total of 4 X-ray bursts can be seen, one of which is double. The peak height of the bursts is reduced substantially by the binning which is comparable with the total burst duration. In addition, there are periods of X-ray flaring in which the intensity increases by 30 per cent for several thousand seconds. Inspection of light curves in various sub-bands confirmed that dipping was evident in all energy bands, whereas flaring was only visible above $``$5 keV. Flaring is well-known in the bright Z-track LMXB sources that are approaching the Eddington limit. However, the luminous dipping source X 1624-490 also exhibits strong flaring dominating the light curve above 8 keV, and the spectral evolution suggests marked changes on the neutron star and at the inner disc (Bałucińska-Church et al. 2001). We have also detected similar flaring in the dipping source XB 1254-490 (Smale et al. 2002). In general, X-ray bursting is observed in faint sources, and X-ray flaring in bright sources, so observation of both in the present observation is unusual and presumably reflects the intermediate luminosity of the source. Spectral fitting a non-dip, non-burst, non-flare spectrum gave a 1 – 30 keV luminosity of $`1.36\times 10^{37}`$ erg s-1 for a distance of 9.0 kpc (Christian & Swank 1997). This is indeed intermediate when compared with X 1624-490 (above) with a non-flaring luminosity of $`7\times 10^{37}`$$`1.2\times 10^{38}`$ erg s-1 in BeppoSAX and RXTE observations (Bałucińska-Church et al. 2000, 2001) (for a distance of 15 kpc Christian & Swank 1997), and with typical burst sources such as XB 1323-619 (Barnard et al. 2001) with luminosities of a few $`10^{36}`$ erg s-1.

The orbital period in XB 1746-371 was obtained by a two-stage process. In the first stage, we obtained the power spectrum of the light curve for each observation in the band 2.1 – 3.7 keV. In this band dipping was as strong as in any other band, but flaring was absent, so that spurious peaks in the power spectrum were avoided. The X-ray bursts were also removed from the data to prevent these contaminating the power spectrum. Next, a technique was used to prevent spurious peaks in the power spectrum due to the data gaps caused by Earth occultation and South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) passage. A modified light curve was made in which real data was given an intensity of unity, and zeroes written into the data gaps. From this, a window function of the data gaps was obtained which allowed the cleaned spectrum to be obtained by deconvolution of the uncleaned power spectrum and the window function (Roberts, Lehár & Dreher 1987). This was done using the clean alogorithm of the period program which is part of the starlink packages. The incomplete coverage of individual dips did not justify modelling the dip shape to establish the dip centre more accurately. The data were also detrended, although this had little effect on the results.

In principle, a period determination might be made by fitting both observations simultaneously. However, it can be seen from Fig. 1 that the January observation constrains the orbital period well, as there are two clear dips towards the start of the observation, and a clear dip close to the end, whereas the second observation only has clear dipping at the start, and these data do not constrain the orbital period well. We therefore obtain the orbital period from the first observation, and then confirm that this period predicts dipping at times observed in the second observation (below). The power spectrum of the first observation is presented in Fig. 2.

A strong peak is observed at a frequency ($`f_0`$ in Fig. 2) of $`5.422\times 10^5`$ s-1 corresponding to a period of 5.12 hr. The uncertainty in this value was obtained by the method of Schwarzenberg-Czerny (1991) using the power spectrum linewidth. This is done by measuring the power of the noise in the neighbourhood of the main peak and obtaining the half-width of the line at a depth of the noise power below the peak which is the 1$`\sigma `$ uncertainty. In this case, this gave a half-width in frequency of $`\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}1}\times 10^7`$ Hz . However, this is smaller than the frequency binning in Fig. 2 (optimised in the power spectrum program) which has a half-width of $`3.7\times 10^7`$ Hz and so we use this to give the uncertainty in the period of 5.12$`\pm `$0.035 hr. There is also a peak ($`f_1`$) at a frequency twice $`f_0`$, suggesting that interdipping takes place between the main dips, so that two dips occur in each orbital cycle. The remaining peaks are all small, and most of them are consistent with beating between $`f_0`$ or $`f_1`$ and the frequencies of Earth occultation and SAA passage which are related to the 90-minute orbital period of the satellite. The period obtained from Ginga is indicated by an arrow in Fig. 2, showing that there is no power at this frequency.

Our period determination was then refined by cycle counting techniques using two prior observations of XB 1746-371. Light curves were produced for these observations in the same way as for the data presented above. The first of these, made in 1996 October, was a long observation lasting 600 ks during which clear dipping was observed near the start of the observation at $`t`$ = 4000 s and near the end at $`t`$ = 579840 s. Using the 5.12-hr period we can deduce that 31 cycles elapsed between these dipping episodes, and based on this cycle count, we obtain a period of 5.16 hr. It can be seen that the uncertainty of $`\pm `$0.035 hr accumulates over 31 cycles to 1.09 hr which is 21 per cent of the cycle. Thus, it is unlikely that an error has been made in the cycle count.

A second observation made in 1998 consisted of 4 sub-observations spaced over 6 months. In each of the second and third sub-observations there was one very well-defined dip with a deep sharp minimum (other observed dips were not well-defined). The time separation of these dips was 8317920 s, which for a period of 5.16 hr gives a cycle count of 447.8. The uncertainty in locating dipping due to the time binning of 16 s gives a negligible error in the period. However, from the three observations used to refine the period, we estimate a period error of $``$0.01 hr. Using the implied span of periods between 5.15 and 5.17 hr gives counts of 448.6 and 446.9, respectively, i.e. the count is 448$`\pm `$1. Conversely, counts of 449 and 447 correspond to periods of 5.15 and 5.17 hr. Thus we cannot be certain that there is not an error of one in the count and so obtain from the above timespan and count a period of 5.15(7)$`\pm `$0.01 hr.

Finally, we repeated this procedure using the two observations performed in 2002. The time separation between the lowest intensity point in the last dip in the January observation and the lowest point in the first dip in the May observation was 8923424 s. Using a period of 5.16 hr, this gives a cycle count of 480.37 for this separation. For a cycle count of 480, we obtain a period of 5.16(4) hr. Thus, we derive a consistent value of the period using 3 observations of 5.16$`\pm `$ 0.01 hr.

This value of the period was then tested against several light curves as follows. In Fig. 3, we show the present observations and compare the actual dipping with the predicted dip centers based on a period of 5.16 hr (lower arrows). We also show the dip centers expected from the Ginga period of 5.73 hr (upper arrows). For both periods, the first arrow is aligned with the first dip in each observation. It is clear that the 5.16-hr period gives very good alignment with the dips observed. In the second observation (2002 May), there is a possible dip at $`3.0\times 10^5`$ s which is not well-aligned with an arrow. However, the previous dip is at $`2.7\times 10^5`$ s which is 7.77 hr from the possible dip. Thus it is likely that this is not a real dip but part of a trend of general intensity decrease that can be seen in the latter part of the observation. The 5.16-hr period was also tested against the light curve of the Exosat observation of 1985 September 9, and gave good alignment. Finally, the two additional RXTE observations of 1996 and 1998 used above to refine the period were tested, and good alignment of dipping with the period obtained.

In Figure 4 we present the data from the 2002 January RXTE observation folded on the best-fit period, together with the corresponding folded hardness ratio, where the hardness is defined as the ratio of the count rates in the 9.8 – 16.0 keV and 2.1 – 3.7 keV bands. The dipping is seen clearly in the folded light curve, with some indication of interdipping between the main dips. The folded hardness ratio confirms that dipping is largely energy independent, as was previously known from the Exosat and BeppoSAX observations (Parmar et al. 1989, 1999). Because flaring may persist during dipping, we cannot say whether the small change in hardness in the dip is due to dipping or to flaring.

## 4 Discussion

The long observations that we made with RXTE have allowed us to derive an improved orbital period of 5.16$`\pm `$0.01 hr for XB 1746-371. Comparison with previous orbital period determinations shows that the Exosat value of $`5.0\pm 0.5`$ hr (Parmar et al. 1989) is consistent with our present result, as is the BeppoSAX period of $`5.8_{0.9}^{+0.3}`$ hr (Parmar et al. 1999), but the Ginga value of $`5.73\pm 0.15`$ hr (Sansom et al. 1993) is not. This is also apparent from Fig. 2 where the Ginga value corresponding to a frequency of $`4.84\times 10^5`$ s-1 lies well to the side of the strongest peak. Inspection of Figs. 3 and 4 also shows that the Ginga period is inconsistent with the present data. In the 2002 January observation, the Ginga period fails to align with the dipping at $`10^5`$ s, or at $`3\times 10^5`$ s, although the arrows are coincidentally aligned with dipping in between these times (at $`2\times 10^5`$ s). We note that dipping in the Ginga data was much less pronounced than in the present observations, making the period more difficult to determine.

XB 1746-371 is unusual in displaying energy-independent dipping, as does one other dipping source, X 1755-338 (White et al. 1984; Mason et al. 1985; Church & Bałucińska-Church 1993). In the case of the Exosat observation of XB 1746-371, Parmar et al. (1989) examined possible causes of energy independence, including an ionized absorber. The BeppoSAX observation again revealed energy independence in dipping, and Parmar et al. (1999) ruled out possible causes such as an ionized absorber, very low metallicity (reduced by 130 times from Solar), and also the explanation for X 1755-338 of Church & Bałucińska-Church (1993) in which two spectral components combine to give approximate energy independence. We will investigate the spectral evolution during the dips in the present RXTE data in a further paper.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research has made use of data obtained from the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), provided by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The work was supported in part by the Polish KBN grants PBZ-KBN-054/P03/2001 and KBN-2-P03D-015-25.