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# ON THE CHANDRA X-RAY SOURCES IN THE GALACTIC CENTER

## 1. INTRODUCTION

Recent Chandra observations of the Galactic center region (e.g., Wang, Gotthelf & Lang 2002, hereinafter WGL02; Muno et al. 2003, hereinafter MM03) have led to a renewed interest in the understanding of compact stellar X-ray sources. Both of these long exposure surveys have revealed a great number of X-ray point sources with luminosities, $`L_x10^{35}`$ ergs s-1 and spectra which can be fit by an absorbed power law.

Although the nature of these low luminosity sources is unknown, several possible interpretations have been proposed. In particular, Muno et al. (2004) suggest that the intermediate polar subclass of magnetic cataclysmic variables may dominate the faint population characterized by luminosities less than $`10^{33}`$ ergs s-1 and a photon power law index ranging between 0 and 1. Among models involving accreting neutron stars (NS), Pfahl, Rappaport & Podsiadlowski (2002, hereinafter PRP02) explored the hypothesis that wind-fed neutron star systems with intermediate and massive main sequence (MS) donors ($`M3\mathrm{M}_{}`$) may account for the majority of sources with $`L_x=10^{33}10^{35}`$ ergs s-1. Furthermore, the contributions from a population of pre-low mass X-ray binaries in which the neutron stars accrete from the wind of low mass MS companions ($`2\mathrm{M}_{}`$) has also been studied by Bleach (2002) and Willems & Kolb (2003). However, it was recently pointed out by Popov (2003) that the neutron stars in this lower mass binary population may not necessarily accrete all the transferred material, implying that only a fraction of these types of systems would be continuous X-ray emitters. Among the non stellar models that have been proposed, Bykov (2003) has suggested that the faint hard sources result from the interaction of fast moving supernova ejecta fragments with the dense interstellar medium of the Galactic center region. These sources, due to their low intrinsic brightness, may only contribute to the deeper MM03 survey.

The aforementioned stellar studies focused on only wind-fed NS systems, however there are a number of RLOF transient systems which, in quiescence, emit at X-ray luminosities very similar to those of the many point sources observed in the Galactic center. Specifically, transients with neutron stars in their quiescent state are observed to have X-ray luminosities in the range of $`10^{32}10^{33}`$ ergs s-1 (see Campana & Stella 2003), while transient systems with black hole (BH) accretors tend to be observed at lower luminosities of $`2\times 10^{31}`$ ergs s-1 (e.g., Tomsick et al. 2003) in their inactive state. Although many of the NS transient systems are characterized by soft spectra in their quiescent state and are difficult to detect from the Galactic center region, some fraction have a power law component extending beyond 2 keV with luminosities in the range of $`10^{31}10^{32}`$ ergs s-1 (see Jonker, Wijnands, & van der Klis 2004). Such systems may have been detected in the deeper survey of MM03. The systems with BH accretors are also known to emit at energies greater than 2 keV and may also contribute to the faint source population at this luminosity level.

X-ray transient systems with large outburst to quiescent flux ratios are known to have either a NS or BH accretor and a predominantly low mass companion (classified as a low mass X-ray binary, LMXB). The outburst phenomenon is generally believed to result from a thermal/viscous instability in an accretion disk surrounding the compact object. Only those systems with mass transfer rates below a critical value (e.g., Dubus et al. 1999; Menou, Perna & Hernquist 2002) can exhibit such transient behavior. In general, the donors of LMXBs are believed to be either low mass MS or giant-like stars. However, observations of ultra-short period LMXBs (with orbital periods less than about 80 minutes), so called ultracompacts, have revealed that, at least, some of them must host very low mass ($`0.010.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$) white dwarf (WD) donors (e.g., Markwardt et al. 2002, Galloway et al. 2002; see also Deloye & Bildsten 2003). In a recent study Belczynski & Taam (2004) showed that the population of LMXBs with low mass WD donors (and thus with very low mass transfer rates leading to transient behavior) may be more significant than previously anticipated. Since the majority of transient sources are expected to be in quiescence due to the very low X-ray duty cycle, we suggest that a fraction of the low luminosity sources observed in the Galactic center region may reflect a population of transient systems in their quiescent state, while the same systems in outburst may contribute to a bright source population.

A binary population synthesis model StarTrack (presented in § 2) is used to determine the number of X-ray binaries (NS or BH accretor, wind-fed or RLOF) in the Galactic center region. The entire mass spectrum of evolved and unevolved donors is considered. In particular, low, intermediate, and high-mass MS stars are investigated to account for the systems considered in previous studies. The results of our studies are described in § 3 and their implications are discussed in the final section.

## 2. MODEL DESCRIPTION

The StarTrack population synthesis code developed originally for the modeling of binaries with two compact objects (Belczynski, Kalogera & Bulik 2002) is used. This code has recently undergone major revisions (Belczynski et al. 2004, in preparation), reflecting the new features associated with the improved treatments of the physical processes important for the formation and evolution of X-ray binary systems. Specifically, the additions and revisions include a detailed treatment of tidal synchronization and circularization, individual treatment of various RLOF mass transfer phases, and a full numerical orbit evolution with angular momentum losses due to magnetic braking (MB), gravitational radiation (GR), mass transfer/loss and tides.

In contrast to population synthesis studies of other groups, we also include the possibility that neutron star formation can occur via an accretion induced collapse (AIC) of a massive ONeMg white dwarf (Belczynski & Taam 2004). Such white dwarfs in binaries form from stars within the mass range of $`712\mathrm{M}_{}`$ (Belczynski & Taam 2004; Tauris & van den Heuvel 2003; see also Nomoto & Hashimoto 1988) which is wider than for the formation of ONeMg cores in single stars ($`810\mathrm{M}_{}`$) due to tidal mass loss (Nomoto & Kondo 1991) and rejuvention (Belczynksi & Taam 2004). The ability to accumulate matter on the white dwarf is enhanced, paradoxically, by the effect of an optically thick wind from the white dwarf surface, which can stabilize the mass transfer in the system at high mass transfer rates (see Kato & Hachisu 1994, Hachisu, Kato, & Nomoto 1999). The accumulation ratio of hydrogen-rich and helium-rich matter is taken from Hachisu, Kato, & Nomoto (1999) and Kato & Hachisu (1999) respectively (see also Ivanova & Taam 2004). For the direct accretion of helium or carbon/oxygen matter onto the ONeMg white dwarfs we make use of the work of Kawai, Saio, & Nomoto (1987) in determining the evolution of the accreting white dwarf. Our population synthesis study of the Galactic center should, therefore, be considered complementary to that of PRP02 who did not consider the AIC process nor RLOF X-ray sources.

The tidal effects have been calibrated using the observations of binary periods and eccentricities in several stellar clusters (Mathieu et al. 1992), recovering the orbital decay rate in high-mass X-ray binaries (Levine, Rappaport & Zojcheski 2000). The StarTrack RLOF calculation involves the detailed calculation of the mass transfer rates based on radius-mass exponents calculated both for the donor stars and their Roche lobes. The results of our calculations have been compared to a set of published RLOF sequences (e.g., Beer & Podsiadlowski 2002) as well as to calculations obtained with an updated stellar evolution code (Ivanova et al. 2003). Our approach to the mass transfer calculations allows for the possibility of (i) conservative versus non-conservative RLOF episodes (ii) thermally driven RLOF versus nuclear/MB/GR losses driven RLOF and (iii) a separation of systems as persistent or transient depending on whether the donor RLOF mass transfer rate lies below the critical rate for instability to develop in the accretion disk (adopted from Dubus et al. 1999 or Menou et al. 2002 for different compositions of transferred material). Persistent X-ray emitters remain at a X-ray luminosity level corresponding to the secular RLOF mass transfer rate. Transient X-ray systems remain at very low luminosities for most of their lifetime, however, they exhibit outbursts with luminosities that can reach the Eddington limit. We account for wind accretion onto compact objects following Hurley, Tout & Pols (2002) with the wind mass loss rates adopted from Hurley, Pols & Tout (2000) extended to include low mass and intermediate mass MS stars utilizing the formulae of Nieuwenhuijzen & de Jager (1990). The wind velocities are assumed to be proportional to the escape velocity from the stellar surface with a normalization proposed by Hurley et al. (2002). For all wind-fed systems, we assume an orbit-averaged accretion rate. The flaring behavior associated with Be stars and the periastron passage enhanced mass accretion onto the NS are not taken into account.

A large sample of single ($`10^6`$) and binary ($`10^6`$) stars in the Galactic center are evolved for 10 Gyrs assuming a constant star formation rate. We choose parameters from the reference model in Belczynski et al. (2002) with a few differences. Specifically, the maximum NS mass is set equal to $`2\mathrm{M}_{}`$, and the most recently inferred natal NS kick distribution (for NSs formed by the core collapse of massive stars) of Arzoumanian, Chernoff & Cordes (2002) is incorporated. For cases in which NS formation occurs via the accretion induced collapse evolutionary channel, no kicks are applied (see Belczynski & Taam 2004). However, we calculate one model in which we allow for the full kicks imparted to NSs formed through AIC, to assess the effect of our no AIC kick assumption. In the primordial progenitor population, the primary masses are selected in the range $`4100\mathrm{M}_{}`$ (with an initial-mass-function slope of -2.7; see Kroupa, Tout & Gilmore 1993), and the secondary masses are selected in the range $`0.08100\mathrm{M}_{}`$ with a flat mass ratio (secondary divided by primary mass) distribution. In the rapid phases of binary evolution, the accretion rate onto the NS and the BH is limited at the maximum Eddington limit with the remaining transferred material lost with a specific orbital angular momentum of the accretor, but allowing for hyper-critical accretion in the common envelope (CE) phases (e.g., Blondin 1986; Chevalier 1989; Brown 1995). In addition to the dynamically unstable RLOF mass transfer events leading to a CE phase, we also allow for evolution into the CE phase in the cases in which the trapping radius of the accretion flow exceeds the Roche lobe radius of the accretor (e.g., King & Begelman 1999; Ivanova et al. 2003). Finally, in comparison with our previous study, we have assumed that all systems that enter a CE phase with the donor in the Hertzsprung gap merge into a single star (Ivanova & Taam 2004; Belczynski & Taam 2004).

The updated version of the code has been tested and used for a study of Galactic ultra compact binaries (Belczynski & Taam 2004), Galactic young black hole populations (Belczynski, Sadowski & Rasio 2004) and used to reproduce the X-ray luminosity function of the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 1569 (Belczynski et al. 2004).

## 3. RESULTS

### 3.1. Source Type and X-ray Luminosity

In our study only accreting binaries with NS and BH primaries, which are brighter than $`L_x=10^{30}`$ ergs s-1 are considered. The secondaries in these X-ray binaries may lose material either through a stellar wind or via RLOF. In the latter case, the donors transfer all the material toward the accretor, whereas for the wind-fed systems only a fraction of the material is captured by the compact object. For every accreting system the bolometric luminosity ($`L_{\mathrm{bol}}`$) is calculated based on the secular average mass accretion rate (Ṁacc) as

$$L_{\mathrm{bol}}=ϵ\frac{GM_{\mathrm{acc}}\dot{M}_{\mathrm{acc}}}{R_{\mathrm{acc}}}$$
(1)
where $`G`$ is gravitational constant, $`M_{\mathrm{acc}}`$ is the mass of the accretor, $`R_{\mathrm{acc}}`$ is the radius of the accretor (10 km for a NS and 3 Schwarzschild radii for a BH), and $`ϵ`$ gives the conversion efficiency of gravitational binding energy to radiation associated with accretion onto a NS (surface accretion $`ϵ=1.0`$) and onto a BH (disk accretion $`ϵ=0.5`$).

To determine the simulated X-ray luminosities of our population synthesis, we note that very little of the transferred material is accreted for transient systems during their inactive state. The spectra of neutron stars during this state consist of a soft blackbody component and a hard power law component with a tendency for a larger contribution from the power law component for sources characterized by lower quiescent luminosities (Jonker et al. 2004, see also Tomsick et al. 2004). The soft component is described by energies of $`0.10.3`$ keV (see Campana & Stella 2003). The theoretical models based on deep crustal heating associated with pycnonuclear reactions (Brown, Bildsten, & Rutledge 1998; Colpi et al. 2001) can provide an understanding of the black body-like nature of the spectrum and the observed emission level ($`10^{32}10^{33}`$ ergs s-1) without necessarily invoking the accretion of matter. However, short term variability during the quiescent state in Aql X-1 (Rutledge et al. 2002) and in Cen X-4 (Campana et al. 2004) has also been observed, suggesting that accretion of matter may be occurring in Aql X-1 and Cen X-4 (Asai et al. 1996, 1998; Campana et al. 1998, 2000; Campana 2004). The accretion rate during this phase is likely to be at a low level since the inferred luminosities above 2 keV are $`10^{31}`$ erg s-1. In contrast to the majority of transient systems in quiescence, the spectral energy distribution of the millisecond accreting X-ray pulsar, SAX J1808.4-3658, is dominated by a hard component with a luminosity of $`5\times 10^{31}`$ ergs s-1. Such a nonthermal component may arise from synchrotron emission in a shock front produced by the interaction of a relativistic pulsar wind with matter from the companion star (Tavani & Arons 1997; Campana et al. 1998). Based on these observational results, we adopt $`10^{31}`$ ergs s-1 as a lower limit for the hard X-ray luminosity, above 2 keV, for transient NS systems in quiescence, recognizing that the average luminosity level can be higher $`10^{32}`$ ergs s-1 (e.g., Rutledge et al. 2001; Rutledge 2002; see Jonker et al. 2004). Due to the lack of a definitive theory for the hard X-ray emission component of transient systems in quiescent, we take a semi empirical approach for the quiescent NS transients and adopt an X-ray luminosity level of $`10^{31}10^{32}`$ ergs s-1 above 2 keV. Furthermore, we assume that the quiescent NS transient X-ray luminosities are evenly distributed in the above range.

The quiescent emission from BH transient systems, on the other hand, is likely related to a low level of mass accretion. In contrast to the NS transient systems, the spectra are typically harder and are not described by a black body. Observations of the 14 black hole transient systems for which the quiescent emission has been obtained reveal luminosities in the range from $`10^{30}10^{33}`$ ergs s-1 with a median luminosity of $`2\times 10^{31}`$ ergs s-1 (see Tomsick et al. 2003). As for the NS transient systems a semi empirical approach is adopted for the BH transient systems. In particular, we assume that most (80%) of the quiescent BH transient X-ray luminosities above 2 keV are evenly distributed in the $`10^{30}10^{32}`$ ergs s-1 range, while the rest (20%) of the systems are slightly brighter: luminosities evenly distributed in the $`10^{32}10^{33}`$ ergs s-1 range (see Fig. 3 of Tomsick et al. 2003).

Transient RLOF systems in outburst are bright X-ray sources, with luminosities corresponding to a fraction ($`\eta _{out}`$) of the critical Eddington luminosity. The long period systems, with orbits that are sufficiently extensive for a large accretion disk to be formed, are usually found to emit at the Eddington luminosity ($`L_{\mathrm{edd}}`$) during outburst, while the outburst luminosities of short period systems are lower by about an order of magnitude. Therefore, we apply an X-ray luminosity correction factor at outburst corresponding to $`\eta _{\mathrm{out}}=0.1`$ and $`\eta _{\mathrm{out}}=1`$ for the short and long period systems respectively. The critical periods, over which the Eddington luminosity is adopted, are taken to be 1 day and 10 hrs for NS and BH transients in outburst respectively (Chen, Shrader & Livio 1997; Garcia et al. 2003; T. Maccarone, private communication).

For the persistent sources (both RLOF and wind-fed111Note that all of the wind-fed systems are modeled here as persistent X-ray sources.) and all transients in the outburst stage, where accretion is the dominant contributor to the observed luminosity, we apply a correction factor, $`\eta _{\mathrm{bol}}`$, to the bolometric luminosity to account for the fraction of energy emitted above 2 keV. For different types of systems one may expect corrections of the order of 0.1-0.5. However, for clarity and comparison with previous studies the same correction is applied to all the sources within the limits $`\eta _{\mathrm{bol}}=0.11.0`$, with $`\eta _{\mathrm{bol}}=0.1`$ chosen as a standard value.

Therefore, we can obtain the simulated X-ray luminosity (\[$`\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1`$\]) from:

$$L_x=\{\begin{array}{cc}10^{31}10^{32}\hfill & \mathrm{all}\mathrm{quiescent}\mathrm{NS}\mathrm{transients}\hfill \\ 10^{30}10^{32}\hfill & 80\%\mathrm{quiescent}\mathrm{BH}\mathrm{transients}\hfill \\ 10^{32}10^{33}\hfill & 20\%\mathrm{quiescent}\mathrm{BH}\mathrm{transients}\hfill \\ \eta _{\mathrm{bol}}\eta _{\mathrm{out}}L_{\mathrm{Edd}}\hfill & \mathrm{outburst}\mathrm{NS}/\mathrm{BH}\mathrm{transients}\hfill \\ \eta _{\mathrm{bol}}L_{\mathrm{bol}}\hfill & \mathrm{persistent}(\mathrm{RLOF}\mathrm{and}\mathrm{Wind}\mathrm{fed})\hfill \end{array}$$
(2)
where $`L_{\mathrm{Edd}}`$ represents the Eddington luminosity.

### 3.2. Standard Model Calculations

The simulated X-ray luminosity distributions of both wind-fed and RLOF-fed systems with NS and BH accretors are illustrated in Figure 1. The RLOF-fed systems dominate the overall X-ray population at luminosities greater than $`L_x=10^{30}`$ ergs s-1 with most of the systems lying within the range of $`L_x10^{31}10^{32}`$ ergs s-1. The majority of these RLOF systems are transient X-ray sources in quiescence formed through the AIC scenario presented in Belczynski & Taam (2004). The number of X-ray systems (435 of RLOF-fed and 56 of wind-fed sources) were calibrated to represent the Galactic center population in the MM03 survey and are also listed in Table 1 (for details see § 3.4).

In Table 1 the relative frequencies for various types of systems categorized by their donor and accretor found in our simulation are listed. As expected from the examination of Figure 1, the RLOF-fed systems dominate ($`88.6`$%) the population. The majority of these systems are NS transient sources in quiescence with typical luminosities of $`L_x10^{31}10^{32}`$ ergs s-1. Most of the RLOF-fed systems have low-mass WD donors with the mass transfer rates of $`10^{11}\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ leading to transient behavior through a long lived ($`1`$ Gyr) phase (for details see Belczynski & Taam 2004). Over half of the systems belong to the ultra-short period LMXB class with orbital periods below 2 hrs (60.7%), while the remaining RLOF-fed binaries (27.9%) are characterized by longer periods extending beyond one month.

A small, but significant fraction of wind-fed systems ($`11.4`$%) are found, mostly with low-mass ($`M3\mathrm{M}_{}`$: 7.9%) and intermediate-mass companions ($`3<M8\mathrm{M}_{}`$: 3.3%). However, there is no statistically significant population of systems found with massive ($`M>8\mathrm{M}_{}`$) companions (HMXBs). Most of the wind-fed systems are NS-MS binaries, however several have an evolved (red giant) donor, and a few have a BH accretor. For the wind-fed systems, most are characterized by eccentric orbits with the most massive donors possibly exhibiting a Be X-ray binary phase, although we do not follow orbit-dependent accretion.

Our X-ray population will remain confined to the Galactic center region since the spatial velocities induced as a result of the mass loss and nascent kick velocities accompanying NS/BH formation are small compared to their mean spatial velocities in this region. In particular, the average velocities acquired are $`60100`$ km s-1 for both the wind-fed and RLOF mass transferring systems. They are significantly smaller than the velocities of $`200`$ km s-1 characteristic of the stellar motions in this region. We point out that the velocities calculated for the RLOF mass transferring systems only refer to a minor subgroup (71 out of 435 systems, see Table 1) that have undergone a core collapse supernova since the majority of these systems are formed via the AIC mechanism with no nascent kick. The low velocities are a direct consequence of the use of the recent NS kick distribution of Arzoumanian et al. (2002).

### 3.3. Parameter study

To determine the sensitivity of the results to the major uncertainties of the binary evolution, we have recalculated several models with different choices of evolutionary parameters. In particular, a model with a reduced efficiency of the CE ejection of $`\alpha \times \lambda =0.1`$ (in the standard model $`\alpha \times \lambda =1`$) was simulated; for details see Belczynski et al. (2002). In this case, the number of NS/BH X-ray binaries (XRBs) in the Galactic center is significantly decreased (109), with the relative number of wind-fed to RLOF-fed systems remaining comparable to the standard model. The sensitivity of the model simulation to the assumed mass ratio distribution was also studied. Specifically, a model in which both masses were drawn independently (as opposed to correlated initial masses for the two binary components via a flat mass ratio distribution in the standard model) was calculated. This led to an increase in the number of systems which enter and merge in the CE phase, decreasing the number of NS/BH XRBs in the Galactic center (296) and lowering the importance of RLOF-fed systems relative to wind-fed systems (245 RLOF-fed systems compared to 51 wind-fed systems). This decrease in the number of XRBs for the above two models provides an indication of the influence of the uncertainties associated with our treatment of the CE evolution phase (for details see Belczynski & Taam 2004).

Since the stellar wind mass loss rates are somewhat uncertain, an additional model with the stellar wind mass loss rates reduced by a factor of 2 for all mass losing stars was calculated. The smaller wind mass loss rates have two opposing tendencies on wind-fed systems. First, there is an obvious decrease of the mass accretion rate, and thus a decrease in the number of wind-fed X-ray systems above certain critical value of $`L_x`$. Second, the systems tend to be tighter, due to the fact that less mass is carried away (Jeans mode of mass loss). Therefore, the fraction of matter lost in the wind that is captured increass, leading to a tendency for an increase in the accretion rate. The latter effect dominates over the former, and there is an overall increase in the number of wind-fed systems (82) as compared to the standard model (56). The number of RLOF-fed systems is not greatly affected (416).

A model in which we use the full natal kicks (Arzoumanian et al. 2002) for NSs formed via AIC as opposed to no AIC kicks in the standard model was also calculated. In this model wind-fed systems are not affected, however a number of RLOF systems progenitors are disrupted at the formation of the NS. Additionally, many of the surviving RLOF systems formed in AIC acquire high ($`>200\mathrm{k}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{s}^1`$) systemic speeds, exceeding the escape velocity from the Galactic center (but still bound to the Galaxy). This follows from the result that the AIC channel occurs, in general, for systems at short orbital periods (where the components orbit about their common center at high velocities), and the systems which survive can acquire a significant additional systemic speed (comparable to the component’s orbital velocity). The total number of NS/BH XRBs decreases to 201, while the relative contribution of wind-fed sources in the X-ray population significantly increases (see Fig. 3) as compared to the standard model.

An additional model, without tidal binary component interactions, was calculated to compare the results to the other studies. In this model, we find the highest number of wind-fed sources (87) in the simulations and a slight decrease of RLOF-fed systems (387) in comparison with our standard model calculation. In the absence of tidal interaction, the orbital expansion associated with transfer of spin angular momentum to the orbit does not take place and the X-ray binary progenitors are generally found in shorter period orbits. For the tightest systems (progenitors of RLOF sources) this leads to more frequent mergers in CE episodes (decreasing the formation rates). On the other hand, the absence of tidal effects leads to tighter orbits for wider systems (the progenitors of wind-fed sources) and, therefore, to brighter systems resulting from higher wind capture rates, increasing their number in the studied sample. In particular, the X-ray luminosities of wind-fed sources can exceed $`L_x10^{34}`$ ergs s-1 for intermediate mass X-ray binaries. In this calculation, similar to the standard model, the number of HMXBs is negligible, as expected for the small sampled volume corresponding to the MM03 survey.

We also relaxed our assumption on the bolometric correction, and recalculated the NS/BH system X-ray luminosities with $`\eta _{\mathrm{bol}}=1.0`$ (no bolometric correction). As expected (see eq. 2), only the brightest sources in RLOF class (either persistent or transients in outburst) are affected, with $`L_x`$ extending to $`10^{38}`$ ergs s-1. Since the wind-fed systems are brighter (by the factor of ten), the number of wind-fed sources increases to 80 as additional systems are brighter than our adopted critical threshold luminosity ($`L_x=10^{30}`$ ergs s-1).

Throughout our study we have allowed for the possibility of accretion induced collapse of a heavy WD to a NS. The specific arguments and new input physics supporting AIC was presented and discussed in detail by Belczynski & Taam (2004). As an indication of its importance, we examine the implications of its neglect on the results of our study. The primary effect is a decrease in the number of NS/BH X-ray sources to 126 (as compared with 491 in standard model, see also Table 1). This decrease results in a significant depletion of RLOF population (71), while wind-fed sources would remain virtually unchanged (55). In this model the majority of RLOF systems are found with long periods (45), but some systems are still found within ultrashort period class (26). As a result, the number of transients and the number of bright sources decrease. The shape of the X-ray luminosity distribution is not significantly altered, although the relative contribution of wind-fed to RLOF-fed sources is increased.

Notwithstanding the models with rather extreme assumptions on accretion induced collapse (full natal kicks applied during NS formation in the AIC process and a model in which AIC is not allowed) the RLOF-fed NS/BH XRBs are found to be more numerous than their wind-fed counterparts by more than a factor of 2. For comparison, the X-ray luminosity distributions for the most extreme model assumptions are shown in Figures 2 and 3. Note the change of vertical scale between different plots. For all of the models most systems are found at low luminosities ($`L_x10^{30}10^{33}`$ ergs s-1), with several bright systems usually found at ($`L_x10^{36}10^{38}`$ ergs s-1). Although the shape of the distribution is very similar, the number of sources and the ratio of wind-fed sources to RLOF sources may change significantly from model to model.

### 3.4. Expected numbers

The total mass contained in stars corresponding to our simulation with $`10^6`$ massive binaries (primary component more massive than $`4M_{}`$) can be estimated based on the three component broken law of Kroupa et al. (1999). By extending our simulation mass range to $`0.08M_{}`$ and including a 50% contribution due to single stars, we estimate the total mass to be $`1.5\times 10^8M_{}`$. As based on the recent mass model by Launhardt, Zylka, & Mezger (2002), this is comparable to the stellar mass in a cylindrical radius of 20 pc and a depth of 440 pc centered on the Galactic center (Muno et al. 2004). We note, however, that the stellar mass would be overestimated by a factor of 5 if the MM03 survey corresponded to a sphere of radius 20 pc. Our results (Table 1, also previous subsections) can also be applied to the WGL02 survey by taking into account that the larger field is about 4 times more massive than modeled in our population synthesis. In our standard simulation it is found that there are $`500`$ and $`2000`$ NS/BH X-ray binaries with luminosities $`L_x>10^{30}`$ ergs s-1 (see Table 1) for the MM03 and WGL02 fields, respectively. However, the majority of the synthetic NS/BH accretion sources are expected to be characterized by low X-ray luminosities ($`L_x10^{31}10^{32}`$ ergs s-1) in the hard X-ray band (see Figure 1, 2 and 3). We note that many of our simulated sources can have a significant soft component with higher luminosities (see discussion in the § 3.1).

The majority ($`500`$) of the Galactic center sources discovered in the WGL02 survey were characterized by $`L_x10^{33}10^{35}`$ ergs s-1 and hard spectra. In our standard model calculation, there are no statistically significant sources in that luminosity range. However, in the model with no bolometric correction applied ($`\eta _{\mathrm{bol}}=1.0`$), 44 sources in that range are found, all of which are wind-fed systems. This simply reflects the fact, that all of the wind-fed systems found at $`L_x10^{32}10^{33}`$ ergs s-1 in the standard model, are shifted to the higher luminosities with $`\eta _{\mathrm{bol}}=1.0`$. In addition, for the models with altered assumptions on AIC (either full AIC kicks or AIC not allowed) the number of wind-fed systems (amounting to the same as for the standard model) dominate over RLOF-fed binaries in this specific luminosity range. Although these systems are promising candidates for the unidentified X-ray population, it is likely that they represent a small fraction ($`20`$%) of the observed sources in WGL02 survey. Our results suggest that other sources, and not the accretion powered NS/BH binaries constitute the majority of point sources in the WGL02 survey.

In the deeper survey of MM03 a faint source population of 2079 point sources, characterized by $`L_x10^{30}10^{33}`$ ergs s-1 was discovered. The spectra of these sources were fit to an absorbed power law with photon index, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. The majority of these sources is described by hard spectra $`\mathrm{\Gamma }<1`$ (1427), with an important subpopulation characterized by softer spectra $`\mathrm{\Gamma }>1`$ (652222numbers from M. Muno, foreground sources excluded; private communication). We note that the majority of our synthetic XRBs have luminosities in a range very similar to these found for point sources in MM03 with a significant number of these systems corresponding to ultrashort period RLOF-fed NS-WD binaries. Due to the very low mass transfer rates in these binaries, the sources are expected to be transient and would most likely be observed during their quiescent state at low luminosities. Muno et al. (2004) suggest that the faint hard source population ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }<1`$) can be consistent with magnetic cataclysmic variable systems. It is suggested that the transient RLOF-fed NS-WD transients in quiescence studied in this paper may contribute to the faint population characterized by softer spectra.

For the bright systems, 15 XRBs are found in our simulated population of the MM03 field. These sources are characterized by luminosities $`10^{36}10^{38}`$ ergs s-1 and are RLOF persistent and RLOF transient systems in outburst. However, only a few bright transients have been observed in the field of the MM03 survey (M.Muno, private communication), suggesting that the simulation leads to an overproduction of such systems (see §4).

For the WGL02 field, our standard model calculation shows $`60`$ X-ray sources brighter than $`10^{36}`$ ergs s-1. Most of these systems in our simulation are persistent X-ray sources. However, only $`20`$ bright sources were observed (WGL02) with most as transient systems in outburst in the Galactic Center. This suggests that the parameters intrinsic to our standard model affecting the bright population require modification. For the alternative models (full AIC kicks, lowered CE efficiency, reduced stellar winds and AIC not allowed) it is found that number of the bright sources is reduced to less than $`20`$. We note that the number of transient sources exceeds the number of persistent sources only for the simulation with reduced stellar winds.

To account for the entire bright Galactic field XRB population we increase the above number by factor of $`100`$, yielding $`6000`$ bright systems (4000 persistent and 2000 transients in outburst). This is an overestimate, since only 150 of these systems are observed. This overproduction of bright systems is common to all our models (including the neglect of AIC) and the other studies of the RLOF X-ray sources in the Galaxy (e.g., Pfahl, Rappaport, & Podsiadlowski 2003) and implies an overproduction of the bright population in the Galactic center as well. We note that the overproduction may not be as great for the faint population since the relative number of faint to bright sources can change from model to model. In particular the number of bright sources decreases by a factor of 5, whereas the number of faint sources is relatively unchanged for a model with reduced stellar winds.

### 3.5. Comparison with other studies

Willems & Kolb (2003) estimated the number of pre-LMXBs with main sequence companions less than about $`2\mathrm{M}_{}`$ in the Galaxy. Their number may be directly rescaled to the smaller expected population in the Galactic center, yielding $`10^210^3`$ sources for the WGL02 survey field (B.Willems, private communication). Since the study of Willems & Kolb (2003) assumes no bolometric correction, we use our model with no bolometric correction for comparison. In this case we expect $`250`$ wind-fed low-mass X-ray binaries (pre-LMXBs), a number which is consistent with the Willems & Kolb (2003) findings. If the bolometric correction was applied, the expected number of pre-LMXBs with luminosities $`10^{30}`$ erg s-1 would decrease by a factor of $`2`$.

A direct comparison with PRP02 is not easily accomplished since the initial input (e.g., IMF, eccentricities) and treatment of the RLOF phases as well as model assumptions (e.g., natal kicks) differ. Despite the model differences, it is found that the numbers of wind-fed systems predicted by PRP02 and in the present study for the WGL02 survey can be comparable (see below). In addition the X-ray luminosity distributions show that the majority of the synthetic wind-fed sources of both studies are characterized by rather low-luminosity $`L_x10^{32}10^{33}`$ ergs s-1 (although we are unclear about the adopted choice for the bolometric correction in PRP02). The primary difference stems from the fact that the wind-fed sources in our study are characterized by low- and intermediate-mass MS companions, while PRP02 accounted only for the wind-fed sources with either intermediate- or high-mass companions.

In the present study the intermediate mass X-ray binaries (IMXBs) greatly dominate over HMXBs, in contrast to that found by PRP02. In fact, PRP02 obtain in their model K2 about equal numbers of HMXBs and IMXBs. This arises from their specific choice of kick scenario, which favors the survival of HMXBs. We prefer to use the observationally derived distribution of kicks (Arzoumanian et al. 2002). With the use of rather standard kick velocity distribution (model K1), the PRP02 calculation results in the dominance of IMXBs over HMXBs (by a factor of about 5-10; as one can infer from the middle panel of their Figure 1). This result is already comparable to the results obtained in the present study. Moreover, there is an additional factor which lowers the number of HMXBs as compared to IMXBs within our population synthesis model. Specifically, PRP02 use a constant escape wind speed independent of mass (or spectral type). However, it is known that this speed depends on a mass of star (e.g. Lamers, Snow & Lindholm 1995). For the mass range used in our study it varies by about an order of magnitude. The capture rate (and thus resulting X-ray luminosity of wind fed system) depends strongly on this velocity. The higher the wind velocity, the smaller the capture rate and the lower the X-ray luminosity. In our simulation the most massive stars have wind speeds as high as 5 times the escape speed (Lamers et al. 1995), while PRP02 considers wind speeds not greater than twice the escape speed. This effect results in a smaller number of bright X-ray binaries with massive companions (HMXBs) as compared to PRP02 study.

For the WGL02 survey field PRP02 obtain a total of 250 and 600 wind-fed neutron star systems with main sequence companions more massive than $`3\mathrm{M}_{}`$ for their kick models K1 and K2. The number of PRP02 systems is reduced due to the detection limit appropriate for WGL02 survey ($`L_x=10^{33}`$ ergs s-1) by a factor of 2.5 for a wind speed equal to the escape velocity or by a factor of 20 for a wind speed equal to twice the escape velocity. This leads to a reduction in the number of systems in the PRP02 K1 model from 250 to 12-100 systems in the WGL02 field.

Since the K1 kick distribution of PRP02 (a single Maxwellian with $`\sigma =300`$ km s$`^_1`$) is comparable to the present study (bimodal distribution with 40% kicks with $`\sigma =90`$ km s-1 and 60% with $`\sigma =500`$ km s-1 \- Arzoumanian et al. 2002), we compare our results with the results from model K1. Our total number of wind-fed sources (standard model) for WGL02 field is 224 (see Table 1; note an increase by factor of 4 for the WGL02 field). In the following we give the different corrections factors in order to compare our results to that obtained by PRP02. First in the model with no bolometric correction (assumed to be the case in PRP02) we expect a greater number of wind-fed sources (320). Of these, only a 44 have luminosities in excess of $`10^{33}`$ ergs s-1. Those systems with MS companions which are more massive than $`3\mathrm{M}_{}`$ amounts to 32. Therefore, we conclude that the overall number of wind fed neutron star systems systems in PRP02 study for model K1 is in approximate agreement with the results obtained in our study for similar model assumptions. However, PRP02 increase the number of WNS by using their alternative kick model (K2), which can reproduce the entire population of X-ray sources in the WGL02 field.

## 4. Discussion

The population of low luminosity X-ray binaries in the Galactic center region has been investigated within the framework of a population synthesis technique. Although it has been found that this population may be more heterogeneous than previously predicted, our results suggest that accreting neutron star systems are not likely to be the major contributor to the faint X-ray source population in the Galactic center.

The RLOF systems investigated in this paper provide an additional low luminosity component. Many of these additional systems are composed of neutron stars with white dwarf companions in ultra-short orbital periods ($`2`$ hrs) in which mass is transferred at rates ranging from $`10^{12}10^{10}\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ as a result of the action of angular momentum losses associated with gravitational radiation. Because the mass transfer rates are low, these systems are expected to exhibit transient quiescent/outburst behavior. For a small duty cycle of $``$ 1% it is expected that most of these sources would be found in their quiescent state with X-ray luminosities in the range of $`10^{30}10^{33}`$ erg sec-1.

The population of hard X-ray sources ($`10^{33}10^{35}`$ erg sec-1) discovered in WGL02 survey was interpreted in the context of wind-fed NS-MS binary systems (PRP02). We find that such systems can be a contributor to the X-ray population in this luminosity range provided that $`\eta _{bol}1`$. However, our results cannot explain the entire population since the predicted number of such systems ($`30`$) is much lower than the number of observed sources ($`100`$).

The deeper MM03 exposure revealed a large population of faint ($`L_x10^{30}10^{33}`$ erg sec-1) point sources. The majority of these sources are characterized by hard spectra, and are too numerous to be explained by wind-fed NS/BH systems and too hard to be explained by RLOF-fed NS/BH systems. Muno et al. 2004 have suggested that the intermediate polar class systems can explain both their spectral properties and their observed number. The nature of the population characterized by softer spectra is unknown, although a number of candidates have been proposed. We have found that the number of RLOF-fed NS/BH transient systems in quiescence could be as high as 400 in comparison to the 652 observed, but this leads to an overproduction of bright LMXBs in the Galaxy. The sensitivity of our results to input parameters have been explored, which can lead to a reduced contribution of RLOF sources and to an overall reduction in the number of synthetic soft NS/BH X-ray sources to a level further below that observed in MM03 survey.

The identification of the faint soft X-ray sources will be essential for confirming their nature. Such studies may be fruitfully carried out in the low extinction regions near the Galactic center where the contribution from the low energy component of their spectra (corresponding to less than 1 keV) may be detectable. At these lower energy ranges, the X-ray luminosities of our proposed candidates could be as high as $`L_x10^{32}10^{33}`$ ergs s-1. The Chandra and HST surveys of Baade’s window have been carried out (Grindlay et al. 2003), and the forthcoming results may have bearing on the importance of this population.

We would like to thank M.Muno, D.Wang, T.Maccarone, B.Willems, P.Podsiadlowski and N.Ivanova for useful discussions on the project and the anonymous referee for the comments which have helped to improve our study. This research was supported in part by the NSF under Grant No. AST-0200876 to RT and by the KBN Grant PBZ-KBN-054/P03/2001 to KB.


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# A view of PKS 2155-304 with XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometers

## 1. Introduction

The observed baryon density at $`z>2`$ (e.g. Rauch, 1998; Weinberg, Miralda-Escude, Hernquist, & Katz, 1997) agrees well with Standard Big-Bang nucleosynthesis predictions, when combined with observed light-element ratios (Burles & Tytler, 1998). At lower redshift, however, less than $`1/3`$ of the baryons observed at $`z>2`$ have been detected so far (Fukugita, Hogan, & Peebles, 1998). According to simulations for the formation of structures in the Universe, most of such baryons would be located, at the present epoch, in low density intergalactic gas, which has been shock-heated to temperatures of $`10^510^7`$ K (i.e. the warm-hot intergalactic medium WHIM, e.g. Hellsten, Gnedin, & Miralda-Escudé, 1998). The most efficient way to detect the presence of WHIM is through resonant absorption lines from highly ionized metals (e.g. Ovi, Ovii, Oviii, Ne ix) imprinted in the far UV (FUV) and soft X-ray spectra of background sources (Aldcroft, Elvis, McDowell, & Fiore, 1994; Mulchaey, Mushotzky, Burstein, & Davis, 1996; Hellsten, Gnedin, & Miralda-Escudé, 1998; Perna & Loeb, 1998; Fang & Canizares, 2000). However, severe instrumental limitations have hampered so far the detection of conspicuous amount of WHIM. The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) allows the OVI doublet ($`\lambda =1031.93`$ and $`\lambda =1037.62`$ Å) to be detected only up to z$`0.2`$. More importantly OVI dominates the relative abundance distribution of O in shock-heated gas in pure collisional ionization equilibrium, only at relatively low temperatures, $`T(15)\times 10^5`$ K, and so it tracks just the low-temperature tail of the WHIM distribution (e.g. Fang & Canizares, 2000). Soft X-rays are far more promising. The strongest resonant transitions from Ovii, Neix (both helium-like ions, and therefore highly stable) and Oviii, all fall in the soft X-ray band. These ions dominate the O and Ne relative abundance distributions of both collisionaly ionized gas, and mixed, photoionized and collisionaly ionized gas, over a broad range of temperatures, between $`T5\times 10^5`$ K and $`T10^7`$ K, where the WHIM distribution peaks (Davé et al., 2001; Fang & Canizares, 2000). The major fraction of the WHIM should then be visible in the X-rays. However, despite the large relative abundances of “X-ray” ions in the WHIM, the current sensitivity and resolution of X-ray spectrometers has allowed so far only the strongest (EW$`10`$ mÅ) of these systems to be detected, and only against spectra of very bright background sources (Nicastro et al. 2002; Mathur, Weimberg & Chen 2003; Fang et al. 2002; Fang, Weimberg & Canizares 2003; with Chandra and Rasmussen, Kahn & Paerels 2003 with XMM-Newton; for a recent review see Paerels & Kahn 2003).

Three out of these six detections have been made against the spectrum of the bright ($`F_{210\mathrm{k}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}}2\times 10^{11}5\times 10^{10}`$ erg cm-2 s-1), nearby (Falomo, Pesce, & Treves, 1993, z=0.116), blazar PKS 2155-304 (Nicastro et al., 2002; Fang et al., 2002). A high quality ($`700`$ counts per resolution element at the relevant wavelengths) Chandra (HRCS/LETG) observation of PKS 2155-304, revealed the existence of Ovii, Oviii and Neix absorption lines at $`z0`$, identified with a WHIM system, pervading our Local Group (Nicastro et al., 2002). Lower quality Chandra (ACIS/LETG) spectra of PKS 2155-304 confirmed the above findings (Fang et al., 2002), and also show a line at 20.02 Å, that Fang et al. (2002) identify as the Oviii WHIM counterpart of a known Ly$`\alpha `$ and Ovi system at $`z0.05`$, where a concentration of galaxies is seen (Maraschi et al., 1988; Shull et al., 1998; Shull, Tumlinson & Giroux, 2003, and references therein). However it is not clear why such a feature is not detected in the higher quality HRCS/LETG spectrum published by Nicastro et al. (2002). Additional data are needed to clarify this issue.

In this paper we present the analysis of the high resolution XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometers (RGS hereinafter) spectra of PKS 2155-304.
The structure of the paper is as follows: in § 2 we report on the RGS data reduction and analysis. The spectral fitting and comparison with previous measurements is given in § 3. The discussion of the detected features is presented in § 4.

## 2. Observations and data reduction

PKS 2155-304 was observed by XMM-Newton in revolution 174 (Nov 19-21, 2000) in two short and two long pointings described in Table 1. XMM-Newton is equipped with three coaligned X-ray telescopes and provides images over a $`30^{}`$ field of view with moderate spectral resolution using the European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC), which consists of two MOS and one PN CCD arrays. High-resolution spectral information is provided by the Reflection Grating Spectrometers (RGS-1 and RGS-2) that deflect half of the beam of two of the three X-ray telescopes. Due to a failure in the read-out electronics of two RGS CCDs (CCD 4 in RGS-2 and CCD 7 in RGS-1) the total effective area is reduced by a factor 2 in the wavelength bands originally covered by these CCDs (10.5–14.0 Å and 20.1–23.9 Å). The observatory also has a coaligned 30 cm optical/UV telescope, i.e. the Optical Monitor (OM). In this paper we concentrate on the RGS spectra of PKS 2155-304 ($`\mathrm{\Delta }E/E`$ from 100 to 500, FWHM, in the energy range 0.33–2.5 keV - 5–38 Å), the first and second order spectra of which are clearly visible in both RGS. EPIC and OM data are discussed in Maraschi et al (2002) and Maraschi et al. (2003, in preparation).

We reprocessed the data using the Science Analysis System (SAS) software version 5.3.0 and the calibration files as of May 31st 2002. Since the wavelength calibration of XMM grating spectra depends strongly on the position of the 0th order, we used the VLBI position as centroid of the 0th order source (Ma et al., 1998). Extraction regions, for source and background, were chosen to be, respectively, within the 95% and outside the 98% of the PSF. Since XMM-RGS observations can be affected by high particle background periods caused by solar activity, we extracted RGS1 and RGS2 background lightcurves from CCD-9, the closest to the optical axis of the telescope and therefore the most affected by background flares. We excluded all the time intervals for which the background count rate was higher than $`10^3`$ count s-1 and report the net exposures in Table 1. Note that the short observation at the end of the run (Obs. Id. 0080940501) is completely affected by background flares and will not be further considered in this paper, which discusses the first three observations only. For each observation and for each RGS unit we extracted first and second order source and the background spectra, for a total of 12 spectra, but since second order spectra have a significantly lower number of photons, we will concentrate on first order only.

## 3. Spectral Fitting

We modeled the continuum of each RGS-1 and RGS-2 observation of PKS 2155-304 in the energy range 0.35 – 2.0 keV using version 11.2.0 of XSPEC. We adopted an absorbed power law model of the form

$$F(E)=F(E_0)E^\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{exp}(\mathrm{\Sigma }_xN(X)\sigma _X)$$

where f($`E_0`$) is a normalization factor at $`E_0=1`$ keV, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the photon index and the photoelectric absorption is characterized by a column density N(X) and an absorption cross section $`\sigma _\mathrm{X}`$ for each element (Morrison & McCammon, 1983). The Galactic hydrogen column density is fixed at $`N_H=1.36\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 (Lockman & Savage, 1995). The best fit slopes and the source fluxes during the observations are reported in Table 2. Errors in the paper represent $`1`$ $`\sigma `$ confidence levels unless stated otherwise. We note a small systematic difference between RGS-1 and RGS-2, with RGS-1 measuring steeper slopes ($`+0.02`$) and ($`3`$%) higher fluxes compared to RGS-2. Table 2 shows that PKS 2155-304 emission steepens when the source gets fainter, a well known behavior for this source (e.g. Zhang et al., 2002).

In order to improve the signal to noise ratio (SNR) we performed a simultaneous fit of the three datasets forcing the slope to be the same in the three observations, but leaving the normalization free to vary. For display purposes we combined all the three first order RGS-1 spectra together and did the same for the RGS-2 (Fig.1).

### 3.1. RGS Instrumental Features

The RGS effective areas (see Fig. 2) are complex in shape, and contain tens of narrow dips due to bad columns or pixels in the CCD detectors. The exact shape of these instrumental features in observed spectra depends on the grating Line Spread Function (LSF), which is particularly broad for reflection-gratings, due to electron scattering of dispersed photons (i.e. $`60`$ mÅ FWHM Pollock, 2003, , Figure 1). Modeling of such narrow instrumental features in the XMM-Newton RGS requires, then, very accurate calibration measurements. Current RGS effective area calibration uncertainties are as accurate as $`510`$% between 7 and 36 Å (den Herder, 2002). As a consequence, residual narrow instrumental features with such relative intensities, are expected in the unfolded RGS spectra (both in absorption and emission). These are indeed observed in both RGS-1 and RGS-2 spectra of PKS 2155-304 (Fig.1) and greatly hamper the detection and proper identification of real physical bound-bound electronic transitions from abundant metals in astrophysical gaseous environments. However, in the wavelength range we are interested in, these problems differently affect the RGS-1 and RGS-2. Particularly, at redshifts between us and PKS 2155-304, all the strong resonant absorption lines from neutral and/or highly ionized O and Ne, fall in wavelength ranges (i.e. 13-14 Å, 18-20 Å, 20-24 Å) where RGS-2 spectra either do not exist (20-24 Å, due to the failure of a CCD chip) or contain strong line-like shaped instrumental features (Fig.1). RGS-1 spectra are, on the other hand, relatively instrumental-feature-free in the relevant oxygen wavelength ranges (Fig.2). In the following, we present our analysis of the RGS-1 spectra of PKS 2155-304, and use the RGS-2 spectra only for comparison.

### 3.2. The combined spectra

We modeled the RGS-1 and RGS-2 continuum of PKS 2155-304 from the summed spectra in the energy range 0.35 – 2.0 keV with the same absorbed power law model described above and the results are reported in Table 2.

Figure 1 shows the best fit to the PKS 2155-304 spectra (binned over two channels) and the residuals. Clearly visible in the residuals of RGS-1 spectrum is the O-edge at $`23`$ Å and the Ovii K$`\alpha `$ at 21.6 Å. The RGS-2 residuals, show instead a pronounced dip around $`30`$ Å and a deviation from a power law below 14 Å. All these features, but the 21.6 Å line, are also present in the calibration spectrum presented in den Herder (2002) RGS calibration report and are due to an imperfect knowledge of the effective area.

To determine the line parameters we prefer the simultaneous fit of the three data sets because we can promptly see false absorptions caused by flickering hot pixels/columns in an observation which appear normal in the other observations, and can remove the problematic data set from the fitting procedure (e.g. Ovii K$`\beta `$, see Table 3).

### 3.3. Lines

To better model the underlying continuum in the proximity of absorption/emission features, we did not adopt the broad band absorbed power law results presented above, but we divided the RGS-1 and RGS-2 spectra into $`23`$ Å wavelength bins and performed a simultaneous fit with a local absorbed power law. In the following sections we will discuss the features with significance $`>2`$ $`\sigma `$.

#### 3.3.1 The shift

To determine the absolute line position in RGS-1 we used the 23.5 Å interstellar Oi 1s$``$2p line (McLaughlin & Kirby, 1998; de Vries et al., 2003, see § 3.3.3). The RGS-1 line position is $`\lambda =23.545\pm 0.016`$ Å. This is shifted by (a) $`+56`$ mÅ with respect to the laboratory value of 23.489 Å measured by Krause (1994), by (b) $`+47`$ mÅ with respect to the position measured in the Chandra LETG spectrum of the low-mass X-ray binary X0614+091 by Paerels et al. (2001) and by (c) $`+36`$ mÅ with respect to the Chandra position along PKS 2155-304 line of sight by (Nicastro et al., 2002). A similar shift ($`+44`$ mÅ) is present in the 23.3 Å molecular oxygen instrumental feature (see § 3.3.2) when compared to the Chandra position by (Nicastro et al., 2002). The systematic rigid redshift of the wavelength scale in the RGS-1 spectrum of PKS 2155-304 is larger than both the calibration uncertainty of 8 mÅ ($`1`$ $`\sigma `$ den Herder et al., 2001) and the intrinsic $`16`$$`1`$ $`\sigma `$ uncertainty in the line centroid measurement. For consistency with the Chandra measurements, we then decided to apply a constant shift of $`35`$ mÅ to all the RGS-1 line positions reported in this paper. The RGS-2 correction factor is more difficult to estimate because the 23.5 Å feature falls on the failed RGS-2 CCD 4.

#### 3.3.2 Instrumental lines

The two lines at 23.07 Å and at 23.35 Å (Fig. 3) are likely to be broadened and shifted instrumental molecular oxygen lines (de Vries et al., 2003). The 23.35 Å line is also present in Chandra spectra, while the 23.07 Å line is a XMM-Newton feature. These lines are also present in the XMM-Newton spectrum Sco X-1 XMM-Newton (de Vries et al., 2003) and they are interpreted as instrumental shifted and broadened 1s$``$2p lines of bound oxygen. Since XMM-Newton detectors do not contain atomic oxygen in their structure, these lines are probably caused by oxides (SiO2, Al2O3 and the hygroscopic MgFe2 den Herder, 2002, see de Vries et al. 2003 for a detailed discussion on these features).

We note that an absorption feature appears in the RGS-1 and in the RGS-2 spectra at 19.5 Å (Fig. 4) with significance of 2.3 and 2.5 $`\sigma `$ respectively and an EW of $`8`$ mÅ ($`0.3`$ eV). The same line is not present in the Chandra spectra of PKS 2155-304 (Nicastro et al., 2002; Fang et al., 2002) but it is visible in the XMM-Newton spectrum of MRK 421 (Cagnoni, 2002) and therefore it is likely to have an instrumental origin.

#### 3.3.3 Lines of astrophysical interest

The lines of astrophysical interest are reported in Table 3. One of the strongest lines in our spectrum is the Ovii K$`\alpha `$ line at 21.6 Å (Figure 5 and Table 3). The Ovii K$`\alpha `$ profile shows two peaks at 21.5 and 21.6 Å. The wavelength separation between the peaks is $`0.085`$ Å, larger than the resolution limit at this wavelength ($`0.066`$ Å de Vries et al., 2003), and corresponds to $`1180`$ km s-1. However we note that the significance of the splitting is statistically low, in the sense that no improvement of the fit with two Gaussian is found. Moreover note that the quoted velocity is more than a factor of three higher than the highest velocities observed by FUSE for the Ovi clouds (e.g. Nicastro et al., 2003; Sembach et al., 2003).

The corresponding Ovii K$`\beta `$, is visible in RGS-1 at $`18.64`$ Å (Fig. 4 left) but it overlaps with an effective area feature in RGS-2 (Fig. 4 right). Since a double-peaked profile is not detected for this line, the double peak appearance of the Ovii K$`\alpha `$ profile could be due to a positive fluctuation within the line, consistently with the arguments given above.

The EW of the Ovii K$`\alpha `$ ($`19.50_{8.17}^{+7.89}`$ mÅ or $`0.517\pm 0.210`$ eV) is consistent with the values presented in Nicastro et al. (2002) ($`0.31_{0.16}^{+0.20}`$ eV) using Chandra and in Rasmussen, Kahn, & Paerels (2003) ($`16.3\pm 3.3`$ mÅ) using a coaddition of XMM-Newton calibration observations for a total of 265 ks. As derived from the curve of growth presented in Fig. 4 of Nicastro et al. (2002), the Ovii K$`\alpha `$ EW is compatible with an unsaturated line. To check if any effective area feature could be present in the positions of the Ovii lines, we extracted the RGS-1 spectra of the Crab nebula and of another BL Lac object: H 1426$`+`$428. No Ovii K$`\alpha `$ is detected in the 46 ks long observation of the BL Lac; but a $`20`$% feature at 18.65 Å is visible. Similarly the Crab spectrum shows a $`10`$% drop in the same region. Therefore the Ovii K$`\beta `$, detected in RGS-1 at $`18.64`$ Å (see Figure 4, left panel), is likely to be affected by the presence of this effective area drop. Since we cannot correct for this effective area feature, the line EW reported in Tab. 3 is to be considered as an upper limit only. The EW ratio of Ovii K$`\alpha `$ and K$`\beta `$ limit is $`>1.29_{0.76}^{+1.46}`$, consistent with Nicastro et al. (2002) value of $`1.41`$, and with the oscillator strength ratio of 4.77.

We do not detect any Oviii Ly$`\alpha `$ at 18.97 Å. Fixing the line width to the value obtained for Ovii K$`\alpha `$, we find a 3 $`\sigma `$ upper limit of 12.61 mÅ for the line EW (Tab. 3). We note however that the 3 $`\sigma `$ upper limit corresponds to a Oviii Ly$`\alpha `$ normalization 11% of the power-law value, comparable to the depth of a nearby (18.92 Å) effective area drop.

At the redshift of the intervening concentration of galaxies ($`z0.005`$) we do not confirm the strong Oviii K$`\alpha `$ present in PKS 2155-304 Chandra spectrum of Fang et al. (2002) but not present in Nicastro et al. (2002) nor in Rasmussen, Kahn, & Paerels (2003). The 20.02 Å line EW in Fang et al. (2002) is $`14_{5.6}^{+7.3}`$ mÅ, comparable to the 21.6 Å Ovii K$`\alpha `$ EW and to the 18.6 Å Ovii K$`\beta `$ in this spectrum. Since we detect the Ovii K$`\alpha `$ (with EW consistent with Fang et al., 2002), the lack of detection of the 20.02 Å feature is unlikely to be the result of insufficient statistics in our continuum. An upper limit can be set on the equivalent width of a putative absorption line at 20.02 Å of 14.0 mÅ, at 3 $`\sigma `$ confidence level, i.e. the value observed by Fang et al. (2002).

It is not possible to determine if any Neix absorption is present because RGS-2 only is active in this wavelength range and it presents a $`21`$% drop in the effective area at $`13.45`$ Å. We detect at 1.4 $`\sigma `$ at $`22.72\pm 0.03`$ Å with EW of $`6`$ mÅ the 22.77 Å line already seen in PKS 2155-304 and also in MRK 421 RGS spectra by de Vries et al. (2003). The best fit parameters to the 23.5 Å interstellar Oi 1s$``$2p line, discussed in § 3.3.1, are reported in Table 3.

## 4. Discussion

At $`z0`$ we confirm the existence of a Ovii K$`\alpha `$ absorption feature, but we do not detect features of higher ionization elements (Oviii, Neix and Nex) seen by Chandra (Nicastro et al., 2002). This lack of detection is likely to be related to the limited number of photons (e.g. $`15300`$ photons between 19.5 and 20.5 Å, i.e. $`100`$ photons per 0.0065 Å resolution element) collected in the XMM-Newton observation, when the source was $`23`$ times fainter than in Nicastro et al. (2002). The Ovii K$`\alpha `$ appears to be unsaturated and the curve of growth presented in (Nicastro et al., 2002) suggests an Ovii column density of $`10^{16}`$ cm-2. If the weak evidence of a double peak in the profile of the Ovii K$`\alpha `$ line is considered real, such shape may indicate that we are starting to detect the different sheets of the local filament.

The $`3`$ $`\sigma `$ upper limit on the Oviii Ly$`\alpha `$ line EW, computed fixing the line FWHM to the Ovii K$`\alpha `$ FWHM value, is $`12.61`$ mÅ, consistent with the value of $`9.0_{2.7}^{+2.6}`$ mÅ found by Rasmussen, Kahn, & Paerels (2003) in the RGS spectrum of PKS 2155-304. Under the assumption of unsaturated lines the EW ratios between different ions of the same element depend on the gas temperature and density. Using the ratio between the upper limit on the EW of O viii Ly$`\alpha `$ to the Ovii K$`\alpha `$ (best fit value $`2`$ $`\sigma `$), we obtain an upper limit on the gas temperature of $`2.53.5\times 10^6`$ K, for a gas density of $`10^6`$\- 1 atom cm-3 (see Fig. 5 in Nicastro et al., 2002). These values are consistent with the temperature range predicted for the WHIM.

It is not possible to discriminate with the present data whether the Ovii features are produced by a WHIM, as proposed by Nicastro et al. (2002) or by radiatively cooling gas within our Galaxy, as proposes by Heckman et al. (2002). In the FUSE spectrum of PKS 2155-304 Nicastro et al. (2002) found two unsaturated Ovi absorption lines: a narrow component (FWHM = $`106\pm 9`$ km s-1) at $`cz=36\pm 6`$ km s-1 with EW = $`(2.1\pm 0.2)\times 10^3`$ eV, probably related to a cloud in the Galactic disk, and a broad component (FWHM = $`158\pm 26`$ km s-1) at $`cz=135\pm 14`$ km s-1 with EW = $`(1.6\pm 0.4)\times 10^3`$ eV possibly associated with a WHIM filament. Using our Ovii K$`\alpha `$ EW and the EW of the Ovi broad component from Nicastro et al. (2002) we derive a temperature range of $`(4.5200)\times 10^5`$ K for a gas density of $`10^6`$ cm-3, which restricts to $`(4.525)\times 10^5`$ K once the upper limit from the Oviii is considered. We note, however, that the Ovii absorption features at local redshift have been found in the spectra of other 4 AGNs (3C 273 Fang, Sembach & Canizares (2003); MRK 421 Nicastro et al. (2001); Cagnoni (2002); NGC 4593 McKernan et al. (2003) and NGC 3783 Kaspi et al. (2002)) and might be associated to the high velocity Ovi lines (sampling a gas at $`T10^510^6`$ K) recently seen in the spectra of bright AGNs by FUSE (Sembach et al., 2003; Nicastro et al., 2003). If this is the case, the “local” Ovii K$`\alpha `$ would indicate the presence of WHIM within the Local Group (Nicastro et al., 2003).

The line at 23.5 Å is the interstellar Oi 1s$``$2p transition (e.g. McLaughlin & Kirby, 1998, and references therein). Assuming a neutral ISM gas, no consistent velocity broadening and unsaturated lines, the comparison of the measured EW with the curve of growth derived using Stolte et al. (1997) cross sections implies $`2\times 10^{16}`$ O atoms cm-2. The H absorbing column density in PKS 2155-304 direction is $`1.36\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 (Lockman & Savage, 1995), which brings to a O/H ratio of $`1.4\times 10^4`$. This value is $`6`$ times smaller than in the Solar system ($`8.5\times 10^4`$ Anders & Grevesse, 1989), but consistent with the ISM elemental abundances in the Magellanic Clouds (e.g. Russell & Dopita, 1990). Assuming that the line EW is enhanced by velocity broadening would further decrease the O/H ratio. If we adopt the theoretical cross-sections of (McLaughlin & Kirby, 1998), as in de Vries et al. (2003, (see their Fig. 3)), we derive $`7\times 10^{16}`$ O atoms cm-2, i.e. a O/H ratio of $`5\times 10^4`$, still $`1.5`$ times lower than the Solar value. We note that de Vries et al. (2003) Oi 1s$``$2p EW in PKS 2155-304 direction, derived from a coaddition of RGS observations for a total of 346 ks, is $`15\pm 3`$ mÅ consistent with our measurement ($`17.57_{5.81}^{+1.21}`$ mÅ) and the line curve of growth presented in the paper takes saturation effects into account, but still there is indication of a subsolar O/H ratio.

We do not confirm the Oviii K$`\alpha `$ line by Fang et al. (2002). Note that the lack of detection of WHIM outside our Local Group is consistent with the expectations of theoretical models. In fact only one Oviii absorption line with EW$`>3`$ mÅ (i.e. detectable by the present X-ray satellites) in the spectrum of a random background source at $`z0.3`$ is predicted (e.g. Hellsten, Gnedin, & Miralda-Escudé, 1998). The non-detection of WHIM up to $`z=0.116`$ therefore does not pose any problem.

Our XMM-Newton PKS 2155-304 spectrum shows a hint ($`1.4`$ $`\sigma `$ detection; EW $`5.56`$ mÅ) of a 22.7 Å feature, seen by de Vries et al. (2003) in the XMM-Newton spectra of PKS 2155-304 and MRK 421, and in the Chandra spectrum of PKS 2155-304. Since they do not find evidence of such line in the XMM-Newton spectra of Sco X-1 and 4U 0614$`+`$091, they exclude a possible instrumental origin of the line and tentatively identify it with Oiv absorption from a local WHIM filament. Higher statistics and other time spaced observations are needed to investigate the reality of the 22.7 Å absorption feature.

This work made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CalTech, under contract with the NASA. I.C. thanks Matteo Guainazzi, Maria Santos-Lleo and the XMM helpdesk for the precious help during the reduction process and Francesco Haardt for useful scientific discussion. I.C. acknowledges a C.N.A.A. fellowship. I.C. is infinitely grateful to Vinay Kashyap for the discussion, suggestions and help in the effective area and response matrix related issues, that brougth to a succesful coaddition of the spectra using the PINTofALE interactive data language software suite (Kashyap & Drake, 2000).


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# Turbulent Structure of the Interstellar Medium

## 1 Equilibrium

The very high Reynolds numbers of the interstellar medium (ISM) ensure that it is turbulent and not laminar. How can we model a turbulent flow that is intrinsically non-steady and chaotic? Most models of the structure of the ISM rely on some notion of equilibrium: (magneto)hydrostatic equilibrium, virial equilibrium, energy equipartition, or at least statistical equilibrium (or stationarity). In this talk I use the structure of the dense ISM as a case study in the problems with these different assumptions. In this case, making such assumptions leads to the conclusion that molecular clouds are gravitationally bound, which may not generally be the case.

## 2 Standard Argument for Gravitationally Bound Clouds

The standard argument assumes that observed clouds are in virial equilibrium ms56 ; m57 ; cfm99 . This was justified by apparent lifetimes estimated at 30 Myr by Blitz & Shu bs80 , which is many times the free-fall time $`\tau _{\mathrm{ff}}`$, and the seeming consistency of virial and actual mass given size-mass and size-linewidth relations. Cloud parameters can then be estimated from the assumption of virial equilibrium, and (magneto)hydrostatic models constructed by detailed balance of gravity against turbulent and magnetic pressure support.

The full Eulerian virial theorem mz92  for a volume of space is a time-dependent equation for the moment of inertia of the mass in the volume

$$(1/2)\ddot{I}=2(_{th}+_{kin}𝒯_{th}𝒯_{kin})++𝒲(1/2)\dot{\mathrm{\Psi }},$$
(1)
where $`_{th}`$, $`_{kin}`$, $``$, and $`𝒲`$ are thermal, kinetic, magnetic and gravitational energy, $`𝒯_{th}`$ and $`𝒯_{kin}`$ are thermal and ram pressure on the surface of the volume, and $`\dot{\mathrm{\Psi }}`$ is the change in flux of the moment of inertia through the region.

This equation is usually simplified by neglecting the time-dependent and surface terms, and assuming clouds with homogeneous density and pressure. Below I will address how well justified these assumptions are, but if they are made, the equation can be recast to give external pressure cfm99

$$P_{ext}=\frac{1}{4\pi }\left(\alpha \frac{GM^2}{R^4}+\beta \frac{\mathrm{\Phi }^2}{R^4}+3\frac{c_s^2M}{R^3}+\frac{\sigma ^2M}{R^3}\right),$$
(2)
where $`M`$, $`R`$, $`\sigma `$, and $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ are the mass, radius, velocity dispersion, and enclosed magnetic flux of a cloud, $`G`$ is the gravitational constant, $`c_s`$ is the sound speed, and $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ are geometrical constants of order unity. If gravity and magnetic pressure are ignored, we recover the generalized Boyle’s law $`P_{ext}V=(c_s^2+\sigma ^2)M`$. If, on the other hand, external, thermal, and magnetic pressure are all ignored, the equilibrium is reduced to a balance between gravity and turbulence:

$$\alpha GM/R=\sigma ^2M_{vir}=\sigma ^2R/(\alpha G),$$
(3)
which gives the usual definition for the “virial mass” $`M_{vir}`$. This is certainly appropriate for isolated stellar clusters, where all the other terms are indeed negligible, but may be rather more problematic for gas clouds embedded in a turbulent flow.

Clouds will rarely or never have exact equality between gravity and internal pressure (thermal, magnetic, and turbulent). McKee cfm99  writes the time-averaged virial theorem in terms of the mean internal pressure $`\overline{P}=P_{ext}𝒲(1/|𝒲|)/3V`$. The total energy of the cloud

$$E=(3V/2)[P_{ext}+𝒲(1/|𝒲|)/3V].$$
(4)
If magnetic fields are unimportant, the cloud is gravitationally bound if $`P_{ext}V<𝒲/3`$, that is if the mean weight in virial equilibrium exceeds the surface pressure.

If we assume the ISM to be in pressure equilibrium, then we can take the ISM pressure to be the external pressure. Boulares & Cox bc90  argue for an ISM pressure, neglecting a uniform cosmic ray component, of $`1.8\times 10^4`$ K cm-3. The gravitational energy of a cloud with radius $`a`$ can be expressed in terms of its observable mean surface density $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ or average hydrogen column density $`\overline{N}_H`$ as cfm99

$$(𝒲/3V)=(3\pi a/20)G\mathrm{\Sigma }(1.39\times 10^5\text{ K cm}^3)(\overline{N}_H/10^{22}\text{ cm}^2).$$
(5)
For the local dust-to-gas ratio, $`\overline{N}_H=10^{22}`$ cm-2 corresponds to a visual extinction of $`A_V=7.5`$ mag. Since molecular clouds typically have $`A_V2`$, $`P_{ext}𝒲/3V`$ and so, under the assumptions given, they are gravitationally bound.

## 3 Validity of Standard Assumptions

Are the assumptions that go into the standard argument still well-supported? Let’s begin with the assumption that molecular clouds live for many free-fall times, and therefore have time to virialize. Blitz & Shu bs80  estimated that cloud lifetimes were around 30 Myr in the Milky Way based on three main arguments: the ages of stars thought to be associated with the clouds; cloud locations downstream from dust lanes thought to be associated with cloud-forming spiral-arm shocks; and the comparison between the total molecular mass and the star-formation rate in the Galaxy. In the last several years, much shorter lifetimes have been proposed by Fukui et al. f99  based on the ages of stellar clusters associated with molecular gas; and by Ballesteros-Paredes et al. bhv99  based on the lack of a population of post-T Tauri stars with ages $`>10`$ Myr closely associated with molecular gas. If molecular cloud lifetimes are only 2–3 $`\tau _{\mathrm{ff}}`$, they may not live long enough to reach virial equilibrium.

Larson l81  found that the size of observed molecular clouds appears to correlate with the linewidth $`R\sigma ^2`$ and with the mean density of the cloud $`R\rho ^1`$. These relations can be interpreted as evidence of virial equilibrium using the definition of $`M_{vir}`$ given in equation (3), by noting that if they hold,

$$M_{vir}R\sigma ^2\rho R^3,$$
(6)
so the virial mass equals the actual mass of the cloud.

Ballesteros-Paredes et al. bvs99  pointed out that this actually only guarantees that kinetic and gravitational energy are equal, but not that full virial equilibrium holds, because of the extra terms neglected in equation (3). Even worse, both Vázquez-Semadeni et al. vbr97  and Ballesteros-Paredes & Mac Low bm02  found that simulated observations of turbulent models appear to reproduce the density-size relationship, but that the actual density distribution did not. Figure 1 demonstrates this.

Is even the energy equipartition argument merely an observational artifact?

On the other hand, the size-linewidth relationship appears in turbulent models 111On a related subject, Brunt & Mac Low bm03  examined the dispersion of velocity centroids in real and simulated observations. They found that density inhomogeneity in hypersonic turbulence cancels projection smoothing, so that observed two-dimensional velocity centroid scaling actually gives the correct three-dimensional result, by lucky coincidence. This is not true in trans- or sub-sonic turbulence. even in the complete absence of self-gravity om02 . This can be understood as a direct consequence of the steep velocity power spectrum expected in turbulence, with index between -5/3 and -2. Larger objects have greater velocity differences, and thus larger velocity dispersion. However, this offers no support for the hypothesis that observed velocity dispersion are primarily due to self-gravity bringing clouds to a simple equilbrium between kinetic and gravitational energy.

In summary, the approximation of virial equilibrium for molecular clouds, especially in its simplest expression of equipartition, may be misleading. Their apparent short lifetimes suggest that the transient surface terms and distortions cannot be averaged away, and may dominate the dynamics of the cloud. Ballesteros-Paredes bvs99  measured the transient terms in turbulent simulations, and indeed found them to be substantial.

## 4 Clouds in Supernova-Driven Turbulence

In order to study the structure of density enhancements in a turbulent flow more carefully, we turn to a numerical model of supernova-driven turbulence a00 ; am02 , done with an adaptive mesh refinement code and including: heating initially balancing cooling using an equilibrium ionization cooling curve; the galactic gravitational potential (but not self-gravity); and supernovae occurring randomly at the galactic rate. In this simulation, large density enhancements form and dissipate due to the turbulent compression and cooling, without the participation of self-gravity. The left side of Figure 2 shows that pressures in some dense regions reach values more than an order of magnitude higher than the average, as observed in molecular clouds.

The pressure probability density function on the right side of the Figure also shows the broad distribution of pressures. The high-density, high-pressure regions are not fully resolved in these models, but they have sizes, shapes, and masses consistent with giant molecular clouds. They must be transient, probably dispersing on an internal crossing time vbk03 , as they cannot be in equilibrium in the absence of self-gravity.

If molecular clouds are generally transient, ram-pressure confined objects, then why do CO luminosity, dust extinction, and other observational measures of cloud mass correlate so well with apparent virial mass (see Walter in these proceedings for example)? As we noted above, a turbulent flow produces a size-linewidth relation $`R\sigma ^2`$. The usual expression for the virial mass, equation (3), can thus be rewritten as $`MR^2`$. Any collection of clouds whose mass is proportional to the square rather than the cube of their typical size will thus appear to be “virialized”. Ram pressure confined objects will usually be sheetlike, rather than spheres, and will thus naturally have $`MR^2`$ rather than $`MR^3`$. The filamentary shapes of observed clouds is also consistent with this idea. Apparent virialization of clouds may actually just be a geometrical effect produced by a compressible turbulent flow.

## 5 Hydrostatic Equilibrium

The assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium between a turbulent pressure and gravity can also be misleading, because ram pressure is not isotropic. Numerical models of self-gravitating, turbulent gas reveal unexpected behavior. In the absence of continuing energy input, turbulence decays quickly m99 , and collapse proceeds without substantial delay kb00 , whether or not fields are present bcp01  (so long as they cannot support magnetostatically).

Even driven turbulence strong enough that the turbulent pressure satisfies the Jeans criterion for stability against gravitational collapse does not completely prevent local collapse khm00 . Adding weak magnetic fields reduces the amount of collapse, but does not prevent it entirely hmk01 , a result that has now been confirmed at resolutions ranging from $`64^3`$ zones to $`512^3`$ zones by Li et al. l04 , as shown in Figure 3. Collapse occurs if the mass in a region exceeds the local Jeans mass $`m_{J,T}v^3\rho ^{1/2}`$. Compressible turbulence produces density enhancements with $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho /\rho v^2/c_s^2`$, so even if a region is globally supported by supersonic turbulence, local regions may still become gravitationally unstable khm00 . These results suggest that most observed cores are dynamically collapsing.

Observations that appear to suggest cores in hydrostatic equilibrium also must be interpreted with great care. More than 50% of the cores that appear in a simulated observation of a numerical model of supersonic, hydrodynamic turbulence without self-gravity can be fit well by a projected Bonnor-Ebert sphere bkv03 , as shown in Figure 4.

Gravity clearly does dominate some regions in molecular clouds. However, gravitational collapse seems to proceed efficiently there, probably leading to more than half the mass forming stars kb01 ; khm00 .

Large-scale gravitational instability forms regions with masses of order the thermal Jeans mass of the diffuse ISM $`M_J>10^7M_{}`$ ko01 ; kos02 . These instabilities do not directly form single molecular clouds, but they may form regions of active star formation in which large molecular clouds form incidentally during gravitational collapse and fragmentation of the larger region.

## 6 Conclusions, or Questions

Are most or all observed clouds out of equilibrium? Are they either ram pressure confined and transient, or gravitationally collapsing on a free-fall time? The observational distinction between these two states may be whether associated star formation is occurring on a scale much longer than or close to the free=fall time. Is apparently bimodal star formation actually a continuum from low to high turbulent support? Finally, do clouds appear to be in virial equilibrium with $`MR\sigma ^2`$ because they are actually sheet-like objects in a turbulent flow with $`MR^2`$ and $`R\sigma ^2`$?

Acknowledgments I thank the organizers for partial support of my attendance. My research is partly supported by NSF grants AST99-85392, and AST03-07793, and NASA grant NAG5-10103. This work has made use of the NASA ADS Abstract Service.

## Index

* gravitational confinement Turbulent Structure of the Interstellar Medium
* hydrostatic Turbulent Structure of the Interstellar Medium
* pressure Turbulent Structure of the Interstellar Medium
* pressure, magnetic Turbulent Structure of the Interstellar Medium
* pressure, turbulent Turbulent Structure of the Interstellar Medium
* turbulence Turbulent Structure of the Interstellar Medium