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# Observations of the pulsating subdwarf B star Feige 48: Constraints on evolution and companions.

## 1 Introduction

To date, over 30 pulsating subdwarf B (EC 14026 or sdBV) stars have been identified, with pulsation periods ranging from 68 to 528 seconds and with amplitudes generally less than 50 millimagnitudes (mmag). For recent reviews of this class of stars, see Kilkenny (2001), and Reed, Kawaler & Kleinman (2000), for observational properties; Charpinet, Fontaine & Brassard (2001 and references therein) describe in detail some important aspects of pulsation theory in sdB stars. Most sdBV stars show periods at the short end of the range, and probably represent stars close to the Zero Age Horizontal Branch (ZAHB). PG 1605+072 is the longest period, and lowest gravity, sdBV star, with Feige 48 being an intermediate object. In general, the longer-period sdBV stars represent more highly evolved objects.

Feige 48 was identified as a “faint blue star” as part of the Feige survey (Feige, 1958). It was re-categorized as an sdB star when it was observed as part of the Palomar-Green survey (Green, Schmidt, & Liebert, 1984). Koen et al. (1998; hereafter K98) identified five pulsation periods in Feige 48 in six observing runs from 1997 May to 1998 February. The periods detected by K98 range from 342 to 379 seconds with the largest amplitude being 6.4 mmag. Amplitude variability led K98 to conclude that mode beating was probably present implying that other unresolved modes were present in their data. This provided the motivation for our follow-up observations. Heber, Reid, & Werner (2000; hereafter HRW) obtained a high resolution (0.09Å) spectrum of Feige 48, from which they determined log $`g`$=5.50$`\pm `$0.05 and Teff=29500$`\pm `$300 K. This places Feige 48 among the coolest sdBV stars known with a surface gravity intermediate between PG 1605+072 and the rest of the class.

Here we report on our multi-year campaign of high-speed photometry of Feige 48. In Section 2, we outline our observations. Section 3 describes the time series analysis and period identifications. We report on a stellar model fit to Feige 48 in Section 4. The phase stability of pulsations is described in Section 5, where we use this stability to place interesting limits on any possible planetary companion. Section 6 gives our conclusions and outlines future observations for Feige 48.

## 2 High Speed Photometry

We began observing Feige 48 in 1998 November, with our most recent observations acquired in 2002 May. Table 1 provides a complete list of our observations (including K98’s observations). We acquired most of the data using 3 channel photoelectric photometers as described in Kleinman, Nather, & Phillips (1996). At Fick Observatory, we used a 2 channel photometer of similar design. The Fick data typically have an $``$30 minute gap during the night, as the telescope mount requires the photometer to be disconnected when the telescope exchanges sides on the pier. Because this instrument is a 2 channel photometer, the data were occasionally interrupted to measure the sky background. All photometers used Hamamatsu R647 photomultiplier tubes. Data acquired at Calar Alto and SARA were obtained using CCDs with 5 second exposures on a 30 and 15 second duty cycle, respectively. As both the target and comparison star were in the same CCD field, differential photometry removed extinction and sky variation. However, since extinction is wavelength–dependent, colour differences between the stars produced small non-linear trends in the data. We remove these trends by dividing by a low (2 - 4) order polynomial fit to the single–night data. Bad points in the CCD data were removed by hand. No filters were used during any of the photoelectric observations to maximize the photon count rate, whereas the CCD observations used filters to approximate the passband of the Hamamatsu phototubes (Kanaan et al. 2000).

As Table 1 indicates, we have obtained a total of $``$380 hours of time series photometry on Feige 48. The data span from 1998 January to 2002 May (the two runs in 1997 were too short and too temporally separated to be useful for this analysis).

## 3 The Pulsation Spectrum of Feige 48

We follow the standard procedure for determining pulsation frequencies from time series photometry obtained using the Whole Earth Telescope (see, for example, O’Brien et al. 1998). In short, we identify the principal pulsation frequencies with a Fourier transform of light curves of individual nights. We then combine data from several contiguous nights to refine the frequencies. Once the main frequencies are found, we then do a nonlinear least squares fit for the frequencies, amplitudes, and phases of all identified peaks, along with their uncertainties.

To work around monthly and annual gaps between observing runs, we begin our analysis of the data in separate, relatively contiguous subgroups. The dates and data hours obtained for the subgroups are given in Table 2, the temporal spectra and window functions for the groups are plotted in Fig. 1. All groups were analysed independently, without using periods detected in other groups. This independent group reductions decrease the likelihood of selecting a daily alias over a real pulsation. Only in our Group X data, do we detect a mode ($`f`$2) inconsistent with the other group reductions. As such, we presume that our periods for $`f1f5`$ are not aliases, with the exception of $`f`$2 in Group X, which is a daily alias away from the real period. Frequencies determined for the better data sets are in Table 3 with the corresponding temporal spectra of the best groups (Groups III, V, and IX) and the prewhitened residuals in Fig. 2. Though some signal remains in the Fourier transform after prewhitening within these groups, we cannot distinguish any remaining pulsation frequencies from noise.

From our best solution for the Group III data, temporally adjacent groups were added one at a time and frequencies and amplitudes were fit again until a satisfactory fit was determined for all the data. Though there is still a chance that some modes may be off by an annual or monthly alias, the periods, frequencies and amplitudes in Table 4 represent our best solution. Also indicated by Table 3 are three pulsation periods that appear only within the span of a single group. However, the amplitudes are sufficiently low that some possibility exists that they could be due to noise and or aliasing. As such, we will not include them in our analysis, but we mention them as they are possibly stochastically excited modes within an otherwise stable pulsation spectrum. Note also that an error corresponding to an annual (or even monthly) alias produces only a small change in the period or frequency, and so will not affect the modeling for asteroseismic analysis. Such a mistake, however, would be fatal to the period stability analysis.

Feige 48 shows five distinct and consistent pulsation modes. Four of the stable modes cluster with periods near 350 seconds and a single mode lies at 378.5 seconds. The three shortest period modes also have the highest amplitudes – over three times higher than the two longer period modes.

Our initial interest in follow-up observations of Feige 48 was amplitude variability observed by K98. Our hope was to detect unresolved pulsations that could be responsible for the apparent amplitude variability they reported. However, it appears that the pulsations are resolved, and each has a variable amplitude of at least 30 %. The amplitudes determined for each of our groups for the three high amplitude modes are shown in Figure 3. All 3 amplitudes show change, though only $`f3`$ has a dramatic degree of variability.

## 4 Analysis of the pulsation spectrum of Feige 48

### 4.1 Frequency splittings in Feige 48

For most sdBV stars, sufficient data do not exist to resolve the complete pulsation structure. For stars with resolved temporal spectra (Kilkenny 2001) there are typically too many modes to be accounted for by current pulsation theory unless high $`\mathrm{}`$ values are included (where, by high $`\mathrm{}`$, we mean $`\mathrm{}3`$). Though higher $`\mathrm{}`$ modes could be present, such modes suffer from severe cancellation effects across the unresolved stellar disk. In any case, identification of rotationally split multiplets ($`\mathrm{}=1`$ triplets or $`\mathrm{}=2`$ quintuplets of nearly equally spaced modes, for example) could aid in accounting for the many modes seen. Unfortunately, previous studies have been limited by a lack of equally spaced (in frequency or period) pulsations as a constraint on the observed $`\mathrm{}`$ values (with the exception of PG 1605+072; Kawaler 1999).

Even though Feige 48 has a relatively simple pulsation spectrum, understanding why this star pulsates with these frequencies still presents a problem. The tight cluster of four modes with periods spanning a range of less than 10 seconds is impossible to accommodate with purely radial pulsation modes in sdB models. Even appealing to nonradial pulsations, the closeness of these periods means that rotation (or other departures from spherical symmetry) must play a role. The reason is that if all are $`m`$=0 modes, standard evolutionary models of sdB stars at the same $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ and $`\mathrm{log}g`$ as Feige 48 do not have dense enough frequency spectra to account for these 4 modes, even if one appeals to modes of higher degree than $`\mathrm{}=3`$.

However, Feige 48 may provide important clues in its observed pulsation spectrum. The frequency difference between $`f3`$ and $`f4`$ (26.2 $`\mu `$Hz) is very close to the difference between $`f4`$ and $`f5`$ (29.1 $`\mu `$Hz). Though not exact, this splitting is highly suggestive that $`f3`$, $`f4`$, and $`f5`$ are a rotationally split mode, and probably $`\mathrm{}=1`$. We note that the frequency splitting is not precisely equal (26 versus 29 $`\mu `$Hz). First order pulsation theory (if applicable here) says that the splitting should be precisely equal – though observations of rotational splitting in white dwarf stars show asymmetries such as this (i.e. in PG 2131+066, Kawaler et al. 1995 or GD358, Winget et al. 1994). Such asymetries can be caused by many higher-order processes including rotation and magnetic fields However this mainly observational paper is not the medium for such a discussion, so we will ignore the small departures from symmetry.

Another possible clue is that the spacing between $`f2`$ and $`f3`$ is 13.2 $`\mu `$Hz, which is almost exactly half the frequency spacing between $`f3`$ and $`f4`$. Thus we could interpret the observed frequencies as follows: the $`f3`$, $`f4`$, $`f5`$ set make an $`\mathrm{}=1`$ triplet, meaning the model needs to fit $`f4`$ with an $`\mathrm{}=1`$, and $`f3`$ and $`f5`$ reveal the rotation rate. Or, $`f2`$, $`f3`$, and $`f4`$ are three components of an $`\mathrm{}=2`$ quintuplet with a spacing of $`13.2`$ $`\mu `$Hz. In this case the $`m=0`$ component could either be $`f3`$ itself or $`f3+13.2`$ $`\mu `$Hz (with a period of 349.1 seconds).

### 4.2 Comparison with standard evolutionary models

Though we by no means have a complete grid of models and cannot quantify the uniqueness of our results, we can see if either of the above possibilities is consistent with expectations from standard evolutionary models of sdB stars. We take the approach of Kawaler (1999); create several series of evolutionary models that pass through the spectroscopic errorbox of $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ and $`\mathrm{log}g`$, being sure to sample several regions. From these grids, we search for periods near those observed, creating a list of models and pulsation periods. From within this list, we further constrain the match using the required value of $`\mathrm{}`$ and $`m`$ for each possible interpretation of the splittings noted above. For the best model series, we create models with smaller evolutionary steps, finding the one with the best fit to the periods.

With 5 frequencies available, there are multiple ways to match observations with model frequencies depending on the assumed values of $`\mathrm{}`$, and $`m`$ for each mode. The most obvious assumption to make is that modes $`f3`$, $`f4`$, and $`f5`$ form a rotationally split triplet with $`\mathrm{}`$=1, $`m`$=-1,0,+1. This choice has no “missing members” of the multiplet. With this assumption, the model that fits the spectroscopic data must show an $`\mathrm{}=1`$ mode at $`f4`$, and modes at $`f1`$ and $`f2`$. Other choices for this triplet which *do* require that some components of the multiplet are unobserved are $`\mathrm{}`$=2, with $`\mathrm{\Delta }m=2`$ ($`m`$=-2,0,+2) or $`\mathrm{\Delta }m=1`$ (e.g. $`m`$=-2,-1,0 or $`m`$=-1,0,+1). Similarly, the interpretation of $`f2`$, $`f3`$, and $`f4`$ being components of an $`\mathrm{}=2`$ multiplet, as described above, is viable.

Without choosing a priori one of these interpretations, we examined evolutionary models within our preliminary grid as described below. We generated full evolutionary stellar models using a version of the ISUEVO stellar evolution program (Dehner 1996; Dehner & Kawaler 1995; Kawaler 1999) that incorporates semiconvection in the core helium–burning phase. Our initial grid of evolutionary tracks and models spans the observed range of Teff and $`\mathrm{log}g`$ for sdB stars with a core mass of 0.47M and solar metallicity. We computed evolutionary tracks for models with hydrogen envelope masses ranging from 0 to 0.00550 M. From this initial grid, we focused on model series whose evolutionary tracks pass within 1$`\sigma `$ of the spectroscopically determined values of Teff and $`\mathrm{log}g`$ (HRW). For these models, we then calculated their pulsation periods to see which (if any) had radial or nonradial pulsation periods near those observed, for any possible choice of $`\mathrm{}`$ and identification of the $`m=0`$ component of a rotationally split multiplet. For the sequence that most closely matched the observed periods, we iteratively produced models with smaller differences in H shell masses and smaller evolutionary time-steps.

We did find a model that matched the spectroscopic constraints, and, with an ad hoc rotational splitting of 27.73$`\mu `$Hz (the average of the observed splittings), could explain four of the five observed frequencies. The closest model fit came from a model in the evolutionary track shown in Fig. 4. This model does an excellent job in explaining $`f2`$ through $`f5`$ and requires the identification of $`f3`$, $`f4`$, and $`f5`$ as a rotationally split $`\mathrm{}=1`$ triplet. The model is fairly evolved (as we suspected) and has nearly exhausted its core helium, with only 0.74% (by mass) of the core composed of helium. Table 5 shows a comparison between the observed periods and best-fitting model periods, and the observed spectroscopic properties and the model parameters. This model fits all but the lowest frequency to a precision of better than 0.2 s. The model temperature agrees to within 150 K, and log $`g`$ agrees to within 0.02 dex of the measured values; these are well within the $`1\sigma `$ uncertainties quoted by HRW.

Despite the perception that there are many degrees of freedom, this procedure produced only 1 model series that fit the observations: i.e. no models had appropriate $`\mathrm{}`$=2 or $`\mathrm{}`$=1, $`n`$=2 periods. Of course, as we do not have model grids covering all parameter space, it is possible another model, with perhaps a different core mass or metalicity may fit better or with altogether different $`\mathrm{}`$ identifications. This procedure also failed to produce a model that could explain all 5 observed frequencies in terms of normal modes and rotational splitting. Though the model does produce an $`\mathrm{}`$=3, $`m`$=0 mode at 374 s period, which is near the observed 378 s mode, we currently find no evidence to suggest that Feige 48 has $`\mathrm{}>2`$. As such, we must confess that our model does not reproduce this period without appealing to high $`\mathrm{}`$. Without further evidence (such as other observed members of the multiplet) for invoking high $`\mathrm{}`$ modes, we are forced to leave $`f1`$ as unmatched by our model. Additionally, any $`\mathrm{}`$=2 matches fitted less observed periods. Since we do not have a complete sample of models and this is really just an illustrative example, we are not alarmed. However, it could also indicate that our current models do not include enough physics to be accurate.

The pulsation results for the closest-fitting modes in our best-fitting model series are shown in Fig. 4. Even a small change in log $`g`$ (as an indication of age) of 0.005 dex changes the calculated periods by more than 3 seconds, worsening the fit to the observations. Likewise, a change in the envelope layer thickness quickly destroys the fit by moving the evolutionary track’s path away from the spectroscopic error box. As the right panel of Fig. 4 shows, within this period space, model periods are relatively uncrowded. Overtones are separated by $``$100 s for $`\mathrm{}`$=0 and 1 modes, and $``$50 seconds for $`\mathrm{}`$=2 modes. Overtones for $`\mathrm{}`$=2 do appear in the top right and lower left of the figure.

### 4.3 Testing the mode identifications

A test of our (or any) model is the measured constraint on rotational velocity. The observed average rotational splitting of 27.7$`\mu `$Hz imposed on our $`\mathrm{}=1`$ model identification implies a rotation period of 0.42 days (10 hours). With a radius of 0.20 R, this model has an equatorial rotation velocity of 24 km s-1. To match the constraints of HRW ($`v\mathrm{sin}i5kms^1`$) requires $`i12^{}`$. If we use the less restrictive value determined by HRW for only the unblended spectral lines in Feige 48 of $`v\mathrm{sin}i10kms^1`$, our inclination limit increases to $`i25^{}`$.

The identification of an $`\mathrm{}=1`$ triplet and a radial mode suggest an observation that can be used to test the model. As in white dwarfs (Kepler et al. 2000), time series spectroscopy (particularly in the ultraviolet) should present an effective means of discerning between low and high order ($`\mathrm{}`$) nonradial pulsations. Though it is still in its infancy for sdBV stars (O’Toole et al. 2002; Woolf et al. 2002), *if* the 378 s period is $`\mathrm{}`$=3, it should be obvious in UV spectroscopy (perhaps less so in the optical) where it should have a significantly higher amplitude than at optical wavelengths. The same is true for our identification of the $`\mathrm{}`$=1 triplet. If any member of our identified triplet really has a different $`\mathrm{}`$ value, the wavelength dependence of its amplitude will be different. Such a test should be obtained as an independent confirmation of our $`\mathrm{}=1`$ determination. While this test can be applied to any sdBV star, Feige 48 has comparatively long pulsation periods (exceeded only by PG 1605+072) and its rather simple temporal spectrum (only 5 periods compared to 55 for PG 1605+072) make it an ideal candidate for time series spectroscopic study.

## 5 Stability of the pulsation periods

As a star evolves, the pulsation properties evolve in response. In the case of the subdwarf B stars, evolutionary models indicate that they reside on or near the ZAHB for approximately $`10^8`$ years. Upon exhausting their core helium supply, they leave the HB, their $`\mathrm{log}g`$ goes down, and pulsation periods lengthen. The time scale for evolutionary pulsation period changes (Ṗ/P) after leaving the HB is about 10 times faster than while on the HB.

If Feige 48 has a comparatively small log $`g`$ because it is a mature HB star that has left the ZAHB, we expect Feige 48 to have an evolutionary Ṗ smaller than PG 1605+072, yet larger than for shorter period pulsators. Since PG 1605+072 does not appear to have pulsations stable enough for an analysis of secular period change caused by evolution (Reed 2001), Feige 48 is the best candidate to examine the $`e`$-folding time for structural changes caused by its core evolution. As a guide, the model described in Section 4 has a Ṗ=$`1.71410^5`$ s yr-1. With $``$3 years of usable data, the phase of a 350 s period should change by $``$14 seconds in that time. This is close to our limit of detection.

To examine long-term phase change, we followed methods outlined in Winget et al. (1985) and Costa & Kepler (2000). First, we obtain a best-fitting least squares fit to all of the periodicities present over the entire span of the observations (Table 4). We then fix the frequencies at these best-fitting values, and recompute the pulsation phases (again via least squares) for each group in Table 2 (note that Groups III and V were divided into two subgroups each because of the long length of the runs). This computed phase represents the observed time of maximum ($`O`$) for that group, which differs from the computed time ($`C`$) from the fit to all data. The resulting $`OC`$ diagram is shown in Fig. 5 for the three highest amplitude modes (with the pulsation period indicated in each panel). The phase zero point is that defined in K98 as JD=2450571.50.

Fig. 5 shows that the phases are stable throughout most of our observations. Until the Group X data were collected, we believed the Group I data suffered a timing error (proposed in K98). However, it now seems apparent the pulsation modes were only stable over a limited timespan (from Group II through IX). As a check, we analyzed various subgroups of Group X data and reproduced the same phase result. Such a problem is observed in other sdBV stars over a much shorter timescale (Reed 2001). Though we are disappointed in the apparent lack of phase stability, we still have an approximately three year span of phase-stable observations. We therefore used the phase-stable data to place upper limits on the magnitude of Ṗ/P. The combined $`OC`$ data of the three highest amplitude modes were weighted and fitted using least squares and give Ṗ/P=$`4.9\pm 5.3\times 10^{16}s^1`$. The data are therefore consistent with zero period change and provide a $`1\sigma `$ lower limit on an evolutionary timescale of $`3.1\times 10^7`$ years. Of course evolution is not the only thing that can drive period changes (see for example Paparó et al. 1998). However, evolutionary models predict that sdBV periods should change in a predictable way (increasing just off the ZAHB, then decreasing after core helium exhaustion, and finally increasing again during shell helium fusion). By measuring Ṗ for several sdBV stars at different stages, we should be able to determine if evolution (as predicted) is driving the period changes.

### 5.1 $`OC`$ variations from reflex orbital motion - planets around Feige 48?

With the phase-stable portion of the data, we can also place useful limits on companions to Feige 48. Orbital reflex motion would create a periodic shift in the pulsation’s arrival time, which would be observed in pulsation phase. Thus any companion must create a periodic phase change within our $`OC`$ uncertainties over a scale of days to years111We assume we could detect an orbital period up to twice our observed time base.. To place limits on companions, we calculated companion mass as a function of binary period and semimajor axis by fitting sine curves (for circular orbits) within our 1, 2, and 3$`\sigma `$ $`OC`$ limits. To assure an upper limit (M$`\mathrm{sin}i`$) on reflex motion, we use the “noise” in the FT of our $`OC`$ as a 1$`\sigma `$ lower limit: This results in a minimum phase shift of 5 seconds for binary periods under 20 days and 4 seconds for longer periods. Fig. 6 graphically presents our sensitivity to orbital companions. The top line represents the 3$`\sigma `$ limit for $`i=12^o`$ (our model constraint). In the short period case (periods under 30 days), the constraint is the limit imposed by the phase errors of individual runs within the data; in the long period case it is the flatness of the $`(OC)`$ diagram (including the errors of combined runs) over the phase stable region of our observations. The drop at 30 days corresponds to the change from $`OC`$ values determined for single runs to group data sets.

Feige 48 is a horizontal branch star that has lost considerable mass between the red giant branch and its current evolutionary state. Any companion separated by more than $``$1 AU is far enough away that common–envelope evolution (or vaporisation) has been avoided. In addition, the orbital separation will have roughly doubled as Feige 48 lost approximately half its mass during the red giant phase. This should produce two cases for binaries: Close stellar companions with original separations $`1`$AU will produce a short period binary (which have periods on order of weeks or less) after a common envelope phase. Companions distant enough to avoid a common envelope phase (or vaporisation) will have orbital periods on the order of a year or more. The two panels of Fig. 6 reflect this duality (though it does cover all periods between 2 days and 5 years).

The left panel of Fig. 6 indicates our limits on stellar companions. Our 1$`\sigma `$ limit is less than 0.1M$`{}_{}{}^{}\mathrm{sin}i`$ for a binary period of 3 days. The right panel shows our limits on sub–stellar companions. Our “average” 3$`\sigma `$ limit for $`i=12^o`$ is $`12`$Mψ, while our best 1$`\sigma `$ limit would detect Jupiter at a period of 2.5 years. Our data are currently sensitive to the extra solar “warm Jupiter” type planets being detected222A complete list of extra solar planets is maintained at http://www.obspm.fr/encycl/catalog.html. at a distance of 0.6 - 3.0 AU. Planets with orbital separations less than $``$1 AU would not have survived the red giant phase. Our data do not rule out a companion in an extremely short period binary or at low inclination.

## 6 Conclusions

From our multi-season photometry of Feige 48, we have consistently detected five pulsation periods. Of these five, three ($`f`$1, $`f`$3 and $`f`$4) are consistent with K98. One frequency ($`f`$5) differs by a daily alias, while K98’s fifth frequency (2874 $`\mu `$Hz) is not detected in our data. In data sets V and IX, we also detect new pulsation frequencies at 2890 and 2843 $`\mu `$Hz respectively, indicating that there may be some stochastically excited pulsations in Feige 48. This is consistent with pulsation behavior seen in another sdBV star, PG 1605+072 (Reed 2001).

Our attempted model fit follows the strategy that has been successfully applied to other classes of pulsating stars, but has rarely worked for sdBV stars; namely using observed frequency splittings to impose $`\mathrm{}`$ constraints on models. Using standard evolutionary models, our preliminary model grid includes a model that is able to explain all but the lowest frequency stable pulsations. Most exciting is the fact that such standard models fail to explain all five frequencies. Thus, despite its relative simplicity and the richness of the parameters available, the failure of this model suggests that standard stellar evolution theory does not fully explain the evolution of sdB stars and or the nature of pulsations within them. We have something new to learn.

Our modeling example shows that Feige 48 should also serve as an interesting test for other methods of mode identification. Though optical multicolour photometry was not useful for identifying pulsation modes in KPD2109+4401(Koen 1998), we expect that UV multicolour photometry as developed by Robinson, et al. (1995), will be useful to determine *if* high–order $`\mathrm{}`$ modes are present in sdBV stars (as indicated by Brassard et al. 2001 and Billères et al. 2000). The argument for high–order $`\mathrm{}`$ values is particularly interesting in light of the frequencies detected in Group V’s data. If the lowest frequency mode is disregarded, the remaining modes have frequency spacings of 13.3, 26.4, 12.8, and 16.3 $`\mu `$Hz respectively. If these were all parts of a single, rotationally split mode, it would require $`\mathrm{}3`$. Such an $`\mathrm{}`$ value should be apparent in UV multicolour photometry (see, for example, Kepler et al 2000). As such, we look forward to the analysis of HST data obtained by Heber (2002). Should Heber’s (2002) HST data agree with our $`\mathrm{}`$=1 interpretation, Feige 48 would make an excellent star to calibrate other mode identification methods in sdBV stars such as optical time-series spectroscopy (O’Toole et al 2002; Woolf et al 2002).

The results of our $`OC`$ analysis are consistent with a non-binary nature for the star within the data limits. It also indicates that using the $`OC`$ diagram to detect planets around evolved stars is possible, though in this case we did not detect any. We plan to continue to monitor Feige 48 over the next several years to tighten the constraints on planetary companions.

Our limit on a stellar companion also addresses the origin of sdB stars. Binary evolution is a candidate for producing sdB stars, either through common-envelope evolution (Sandquist, Taam & Burkert 2000; Green, Liebert & Saffer 2000) or via Roche-lobe overflow near the tip of the red giant branch (Green, Liebert & Saffer 2000). Though observations indicate that a great many sdB stars *are* in binaries (Reed & Steining 2003; Green, Liebert & Saffer 2000; Han et al 2002), either the evolutionary sequence that produces sdB stars is independent of binary evolution (D’Cruz et al 1996), is bimodal, or has several paths that can result in the production of an sdB star (perhaps including the merger of two low mass white dwarfs as described by Iben & Tutukov 1986). For the case of Feige 48, it would appear that it is either in a short period binary (whose orbital period is commensurate with the $``$10 hour rotation period predicted with our model), in a long period binary with an orbital period substantially longer than our data (which would rule out Roche-lobe overflow, so the companion would have no effect on the evolution of the pre-sdB star), in a binary with an extremely low inclination or a single star.

## 7 acknowledgments

M.D. Reed was partially funded by NSF grant AST9876655 and by the NASA Astrophysics Theory Program through grant NAG-58352 and would like to thank the McDonald Observatory TAC for generous time allocation. S. Dreizler, S.L. Schuh and J.L. Deetjen (Visiting Astronomers at the German-Spanish Astronomical Centre, Calar Alto, operated by the Max-Planck-Institut for Astronomy, Heidelberg, jointly with the Spanish National Commission for Astronomy) acknowledge travel grant DR 281/10-1 from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. P. Moskalik is supported in part by Polish KBN grant 5 P03D 012 020. A. Ulla acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Tecnology under grant AYA2000-1691. The IAC80 0.8m telescope is operated in the Spanish Observatorio del Teide (Tenerife) by the Instituto de Astrof?sica de Canarias.


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# MSSM Higgses as the source of reheating and all matter

## Abstract

We consider the possibility that the dark energy responsible for inflation is deposited into extra dimensions outside of our observable universe. Reheating and all matter can then be obtained from the MSSM flat direction condensate involving the Higgses $`H_u`$ and $`H_d`$, which acquires large amplitude by virtue of quantum fluctuations during inflation. The reheat temperature is $`T_{RH}10^9`$ GeV so that there is no gravitino problem. We find a spectral index $`n_s1`$ with a very weak dependence on the Higgs potential.

The large dark energy of the early inflationary universe provides us with three things: superluminal stretching of space; quantum fluctuations of scalar fields which may seed density perturbations; and, once the dark energy decays, the origin of all matter. Although, conventionally one relates the spectrum of density perturbations to the properties of the inflaton potential responsible for the early dark energy, recently it has been realized that this is not a necessary condition for a successful inflationary scenario. In curvaton models the dark energy induces quantum fluctuations in a field whose energy density during inflation is negligible small but which may later become dominant Sloth ; Lyth ; Others ; Enqvist1 ; Enqvist2 ; Lyth1 . When the curvaton decays, its isocurvature perturbations will be converted to the usual adiabatic perturbations of the decay products, which thus should ultimately contain also Standard Model (SM) degrees of freedom. In fact, the logical separation between the field responsible for density perturbations and the geometrical stretching of space was already apparent in pre-Big Bang models (for a review, see Lidsey ).

The curvaton scenario also points towards the possibility that the inflaton decay products do not necessarily need to give rise to SM particles. This is an issue that relates to the yet unanswered question of ”how does the inflaton field couple to SM degrees of freedom?”. Indeed, it has been suggested that the inflaton might not couple to the observable sector at all but could within the curvaton framework decay into hidden degrees of freedom Enqvist1 ; Enqvist2 . In such a case the curvaton field could be found among the flat directions of the MSSM (for a review, see Enqvist02 ). These are described in terms of order parameters, which are combinations of squarks, sleptons and Higgses, which in the limit of exact supersymmetry (SUSY) have a vanishing potential. The MSSM flat directions have all been classified in gherghetta96 . Flatness is lifted by SUSY breaking and by non-renormalizable terms dine96 ; gherghetta96 , but during inflation the MSSM flat directions can be effectively massless111This requires the absence of a Hubble-induced mass term $`H`$. and be subject to quantum fluctuations with a spectrum identical to the usual inflaton field. The MSSM curvaton, when it eventually decay, would be a natural explanation for the origin of ordinary matter.

Note that even if the inflaton field did not decay into SM particles, it must decay into something. As a consequence, one would argue that there must be some inflaton-induced reheating with some resulting background energy, thermal or non-thermal, that contributes to the dynamics of the curvaton evolution. Indeed, this is the usual picture addressed in a number of papers Sloth ; Lyth ; Others ; Enqvist1 ; Enqvist2 ; Lyth1 . However, with the advent of the extra dimensions of brane world and string motivated cosmologies Quevedo , there arises a new possibility: inflationary dark energy might simply disappear into the bulk.

In the present paper we will consider a scenario in which we live on a brane (or a stack of branes) where the stretching of space (of our brane) and the induction of quantum fluctuations of massless fields is sourced by some dynamics in the bulk. We further assume that once the effective dark energy decays, only an insignificant part of the initial energy density will be deposited on our brane. We will show that the required adiabatic density perturbations can then be obtained from the simplest flat directions involving the MSSM Higgses only. It is obvious that in this case the decay of the curvaton field gives rise to the quarks and leptons, together with CDM in the form of lightest supersymmetric particles (LSPs).

We do not have a concrete model for brane induced inflation. Many attempts for such a model have been presented in the literature, but all of them have some problems Tye ; Burgess ; Mazumdar ; Rabadan ; Shiu ; Horace ; Kallosh ; Brandenberger ; Kachru . One starting point is the fact that superstring theories admit both stable BPS Dp-branes polchi  and unstable non-BPS branes sen1 . Inflation could then be induced by virtue of attraction between a brane-anti-brane pair. A pair of brane-anti-brane naturally breaks supersymmetry which gives rise to a Coulomb-like interaction if the branes are far apart Burgess . Inflation ends when brane-anti-brane separation becomes of the order of string scale, whence the tachyonic instability ends the inflationary epoch. Reheating due to tachyonic instability primarily reheats the bulk gravitons. The problems and virtues associated with such a set-up has recently been discussed in Kachru , but the process of reheating remains unclear. If the size of the bulk is sufficiently large then the entire energy of brane-anti-brane annihilation or a decay of an unstable brane could be absorbed in the bulk in the form of gravitons Maldacena . They might still appear to us as a non-thermal background, but if the volume of the bulk is large enough, there could be a suppression effect. If the bulk geometry is warped, the released energy could possibly be deposited on some other, far-away brane.

Inflation may also occur due to stack of coincident non-BPS Dp branes Mazumdar , which are unstable due to the presence of world volume tachyons. In this picture the tachyon rolls down and reheats the bulk degrees of freedom. Inflation can also occur if the two branes are at an angle, whence the pair of branes could be just Dp. Inflation again ends when there is a tachyon appearing at a critical angle. Reheating in this scenario is quite different Rabadan ; Horace : either the branes combine to form a single brane or produce a minimal energy configuration with a conserved charge. The difference in energy between initial and final configuration goes into reheating the bulk degrees of freedom.

A scenario for inflation involving a gas of D-branes embedded in higher dimensions has also been presented Brandenberger . Inflation takes place because of the heaviest branes in the spectrum dominate the energy density, which has an equation of state with a negative pressure. Inflation ends in this picture when correlation length set by the branes become equal to the Hubble radius. Reheating in this model occurs primarily due to the decay of a brane into the bulk. It seems that at least within this class of models, it is possible to deposit the effective dark energy as seen by the observer on our brane into the bulk. Another example might be brane world inflation known as steep inflation steep , which has inefficient reheating, or brane embedded in infinite extra dimensions. In the latter case the emitted gravitons from the brane can be lost for ever in the bulk dvali . Yet another interesting scenario could be if the inflaton is only charged under some bulk degrees of freedom, and the bulk is infinitely large, then the energy density of the inflaton decay products can be red-shifted away from the brane Lorenzana .

Although no fully consistent stingy inflationary and reheating model exists, let us nevertheless assume that after the end of inflation, unlike within the standard picture of scalar inflation, our brane could remain essentially devoid of entropy. While inflation lasts, the effective dark energy triggers field fluctuations along the (MSSM) flat directions. In general they cannot be excited simultaneously; rather, once a condensate forms in one particular direction, the rest are no longer flat. Hence a typical situation is where one flat direction is chosen randomly within a single horizon volume which inflates and becomes the observable universe.

The crucial requirement for an MSSM flat direction to act as a curvaton is that it does not receive a Hubble-induced mass term during inflation. This is known to hold true at least in D-term inflation binetruy96  and generically in theories with ‘Heisenberg symmetry’ gaillard95 . In the latter case a one-loop contribution eventually gives a Hubble-induced mass correction to the flat directions (other than stops) of order $`10^1H`$ gaillard95 , where $`H`$ is the Hubble rate during inflation. There might be other possibilities, too. Let us here just assume that no Hubble mass term is induced during inflation and that the energy scale of the inflaton is $`V_IH^2M_p^2`$, where $`M_p2.4\times 10^{18}`$ GeV. After inflation we assume that the energy density goes into exciting the degrees of freedom residing in the bulk.

The flatness of the potential will be lifted by supersymmetry breaking and by non-renormalizable terms of the form $`W=\lambda \mathrm{\Phi }^n/nM^{n3}`$, where $`M`$ is a cutoff scale and $`n4`$ is the dimensionality of the non-renormalizable operator; for each flat direction, there exists a set of allowed non renormalizable operators (see Enqvist02 ). In general, the flat direction potential can be written as

$$V(\varphi )=\frac{1}{2}m_\varphi ^2\varphi ^2+\frac{\lambda ^2\varphi ^{2(n1)}}{2^{n1}M^{2(n3)}},$$
(1)
where $`\mathrm{\Phi }=\varphi e^{i\theta }/\sqrt{2}`$ and the first term comes from supersymmetry breaking so that $`m_\varphi `$ TeV.

Let us now focus on the simplest MSSM flat direction

$$H_u=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{c}0\hfill \\ \varphi \hfill \end{array}\right),H_d=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\begin{array}{c}\varphi \hfill \\ 0\hfill \end{array}\right).$$
(2)
We consider only large amplitudes so that we can ignore the $`\mu `$-term and the Higgs mass terms. Then the effective potential for the $`H_uH_d`$ flat direction can be written as

$$V(\varphi )=\lambda ^2\frac{|\mathrm{\Phi }|^6}{M_p^2},$$
(3)
where we parameterize the expectation value of the flat direction as $`\mathrm{\Phi }(=\varphi e^{i\theta }/\sqrt{2})`$. Here $`\lambda `$ is a constant of $`O(1)`$ which we set to unity for simplicity.

During inflation, when the cosmological scales leave the horizon, the curvature of the potential should be small enough for the fluctuation not to be damped Lyth1 . The amplitude of the fluctuation should also be of the correct order of magnitude. Hence we require that

$$V^{\prime \prime }(\varphi _{})=\beta ^2H_{}^2,\frac{H_{}}{\varphi _{}}=\delta ,$$
(4)
where star denotes the value evaluated at the horizon crossing, and $`\beta 1`$ and the perturbation $`\delta 10^5`$. Thus we obtain

$$\varphi _{}\beta \delta M_p,H_{}\beta \delta ^2M_p.$$
(5)
Therefore we find the scale of inflationary dark energy to be $`V_I^{1/4}(H_{}M_p)^{1/2}\beta ^{1/2}\delta M_p`$.

According to our assumption, after inflation there is no energy density on our brane except for the condensate along the $`H_uH_d`$ flat direction. Once inflation is over, the condensate starts to oscillate and eventually decays. The maximum temperature which can be achieved after the decay is $`T_{max}[V(\varphi _{})]^{1/4}`$. Notice that it is much smaller than the scale of inflation. $`T_{max}`$ corresponds to an instantaneous decay of the flat direction into a thermal bath of MSSM particles. We will show below that this indeed is the case.

The Higgs flat direction couples respectively to MSSM fermions and bosons as $`f\varphi \psi \psi `$ and $`f^2\varphi ^2\chi ^2`$, where $`f`$ represents gauge or Yukawa coupling constant. After inflation the amplitude of the flat direction is very large so one expects both fermionic and bosonic preheating preheating . Preheating in the context of MSSM flat direction has been discussed in postmapr . The $`q`$-parameter in this case is given by

$$q\frac{f^2\varphi _{}^2}{\omega ^2}f^2\left(\frac{M_p}{\varphi _{}}\right)^21,$$
(6)
where $`\omega =\sqrt{V^{\prime \prime }(\varphi _{})}`$. Typically, the momentum which the produced particle carries is $`k_{res}\omega q^{1/4}`$. Since the occupation numbers of fermion and boson are $`n_k^{(f)}1`$ and $`n_k^{(b)}1/f^2`$, respectively, the energy density may be estimated as

$`\rho _f`$ $``$ $`n_k^{(f)}\omega ^4qf^2\omega ^2\varphi ^2f^2\rho _\varphi ,`$
$`\rho _b`$ $``$ $`n_k^{(b)}\omega ^4q\omega ^2\varphi ^2\rho _\varphi .`$ (7)
Back reaction terminates the resonant particle production when the energy density of the produced particle becomes of the order of the energy density of the oscillating condensate. Notice that there is less decrease of the energy density due to cosmic expansion during preheating in this case, because the Hubble parameter is much smaller than the curvature of the potential for the flat direction: $`H\omega (\varphi _{}/M_p)\omega `$.

Once MSSM fermions and bosons are produced, the energy density of (non thermal) radiation evolves as $`\rho _{rad}=\rho _f+\rho _ba^4`$, while the residual oscillation of the flat direction decreases as $`\rho _\varphi a^{9/2}`$, where $`a(t)`$ is the scale factor of the universe. After the mass term in the effective potential of the flat direction dominates, the latter changes its evolution to $`\rho _\varphi a^3`$. The equality of the energy densities occurs when $`\varphi =\varphi _{eq}(\beta \delta )^1m`$, and if the decay of the flat direction takes place before this time, the contribution to the total radiation density is subdominant. This happens if

$$f\sqrt{8\pi }\left(\frac{\varphi _{eq}}{M_p}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}\sqrt{8\pi }(\beta \delta )^{\frac{1}{2}}\left(\frac{m}{M_p}\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}.$$
(8)
For $`\beta =0.1`$ and $`\delta =10^5`$, the right hand side reads $`10^4`$. Since the Higgs has couplings much larger than $`10^4`$ (e.g. gauge couplings), the $`H_uH_d`$ flat direction decays well before the equality time. Hence the amount of radiation is totally determined by the preheating era. Notice that the radiation produced through preheating has non thermal distribution and will take a very long time to thermalize. Nevertheless, the evolution of the total radiation energy density is not affected by this.

Let us now estimate the reheat temperature. Since the maximum temperature is $`T_{max}[V(\varphi _{})]^{1/4}`$, we may write

$$T_{RH}T_{max}10^9\left(\frac{\beta }{0.1}\right)^{\frac{3}{2}}\left(\frac{\delta }{10^5}\right)^{\frac{3}{2}}\mathrm{GeV},$$
(9)
although depending on the thermalization process, the true reheat temperature could be much lower than $`10^9`$ GeV. For a generic $`n=6`$ ($`n=7`$) direction the maximum reheat temperature would be $`10^{13}(10^{14})`$ GeV, so that the avoidance of the gravitino problem Ellis  is not automatic in general. However in the particular case of the $`H_uH_d`$ direction there is no gravitino problem.

Regarding the density perturbations, the amplitude of the fluctuation created during inflation will be imprinted on radiation. The spectral index of microwave temperature perturbations can then be evaluated as LyWa

$$n_s1=2\frac{\dot{H_{}}}{H_{}^2}+\frac{2}{3}\frac{V^{\prime \prime }(\varphi _{})}{H_{}^2}.$$
(10)
In our set-up, the change of the Hubble parameter is negligible. Hence we find $`n_s10.007`$ for $`\beta =0.1`$, which gives a very flat spectrum consistent with recent WMAP observation of $`n_s=0.99\pm 0.04`$ Spergel .

One should note that the $`H_uH_d`$ direction has a vanishing baryon and lepton number. Hence there is no baryonic nor leptonic isocurvature problem McDonald . There is no Affleck-Dine baryogenesis, either, but since the reheat temperature $`𝒪(1)`$ TeV, baryons could be produced by sphaleron processes at the electroweak phase transition.

In conclusion, we have pointed out that in theories with extra dimensions there may exist the possibility that the effective dark energy which drives inflation could be deposited outside of our observable brane. As a consequence, reheating and all matter could originate simply from a MSSM flat direction involving the Higgses, which gets excited during inflation. Moreover, as we showed, the reheat temperature is low enough to avoid the gravitino problem.

It is interesting to note that the spectral index Eq. (10) depends – albeit very weakly – on the Higgs potential and hence on the properties of Higgs particles that could, at least in principle, be determined in the laboratory. Such connections between the properties of elementary particles and temperature fluctuations of the microwave sky would naturally be highly desirable. It remains to be seen whether inflationary models based on string theory can allow for the depositing of the dark energy outside of our brane as required in the present framework.

K.E. is supported partly by the Academy of Finland grant no. 75065, and A.M. is a CITA-National fellow and acknowledges Cliff Burgess, Jim Cline, Guy Moore, Horace Stoica, Mahbub Majumdar and Abdel Lorenzana for helpful discussion.


text:
# The visible matter – dark matter coupling

## 1. Introduction

The relation between the distribution of light and the shape of rotation curves has been at the centre of the discussion on the interpretation of rotation curves and on the presence and the amount of dark matter in spiral galaxies. Burstein and Rubin (1985) discussed the systematic properties of rotation curves and concluded that for a given morphological type the shapes of rotation curves vary systematically with luminosity; these shapes are, however, similar for different morphologies and therefore the form of the gravitational potential is not correlated with the form of the light distribution or the morphological type. This was used as an argument in favour of the presence of dark matter also in the inner regions of galaxies.

In contrast to this conclusion, the success of the maximum disk hypothesis in the analysis of rotation curves (Kalnajs 1983, Van Albada and Sancisi 1986, Kent 1986, 1987, Broeils 1992, Palunas and Williams 2000) implies that within the optical disk either the mass of dark matter is small or that its distribution is very closely coupled to the distribution of luminous matter. The maximum disk analysis was carried out on observations of predominantly high surface brightness (HSB) systems. Recent work on low luminosity and low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies has shown that for the inner parts it is possible to obtain maximum disk fits as good as for the more luminous systems (Verheijen 1997, Swaters 1999). The main problem with the maximum disk in these systems is caused by the required large M/L ratios which would seem to argue in favour of DM being dominant everywhere.

Persic and Salucci (1991) and Persic, Salucci and Stel (1996) have discussed the relation between luminosity and rotation curves and have emphasized the strong dependence on luminosity for both the shape and the amplitude of the rotation curve. They have come to the conclusion, based on a large galaxy sample, that the observed curves have a universal shape, dependent only on total luminosity. However, Verheijen (1997) finds that roughly one third of the observed HI rotation curves from his Ursa Major sample of galaxies deviate noticeably from the ”universal rotation curve” shape.

A new interest in the question of the shape of rotation curves and of the mass distribution in the central parts of spirals has recently been originated by the debate on the presence of cusps as predicted by the Cold Dark Matter simulations on structure formation (Navarro, Frenk and White 1997). Naturally the low luminosity and LSB galaxies, believed to be DM dominated, are taken as the best and most suitable for the test and their central rotation curves are thoroughly investigated. It is clear that if baryons dominate the mass distribution in the central regions of galaxies this would affect the whole discussion on CDM cusps and the comparison with the rotation curves; however, this could also reveal something about the distribution of DM. The problem is then to properly understand how cores are formed. If, on the other hand, DM dominates everywhere and closely follows the distribution of the light, then the question is why some dark halos are centrally peaked like the stars while others are not (again mimicking the light).

## 2. The low luminosity and low surface brightness systems

Are the low luminosity and LSB galaxies really dark matter dominated everywhere, also within their optical radii? This is not necessarily the case. The rotation curve of the stellar disk calculated from the fotometry can be scaled up to match the observed curve in the inner parts, usually within a few kiloparsec, and the quality of this maximum disk fit is not inferior to that obtained for the HSB galaxies (Swaters, 1999). However, the required value for the mass/luminosity ratio is high, up to about 15 in the R-band, and this is the main reason for believing that the low luminosity and LSB galaxies are DM dominated. It is remarkable, however, that in the inner parts the curve from the maximum disk solution matches the observed curve.

This suggestion of a tight link between DM and stellar component in the central parts of these low luminosity and LSB systems is strongly reinforced by the following observation: every time there is a feature in the radial light distribution the rotation curve shows a corresponding feature. For instance, to a central concentration of light corresponds an excess of rotational velocity. Conversely, to a feature (steep gradient, bump) in the rotation curve always corresponds an excess in the luminosity profile. This has been often pointed out for the HSBs (e.g. Van Albada and Sancisi 1986, Palunas and Williams 2000), but it is clear now that it also holds for the LSBs. To my knowledge there is no exception to this rule. Fig. 1 shows the luminosity profile (Swaters 1999) and the rotation curve (Zwaan, Van der Hulst and Bosma 2003) of the LSB galaxy NGC 3657 (UGC 6406). This galaxy is dominated by a very bright central concentration. The rotation curve shows a steep rise and a peak inside 50 arcsec (5 kpc) instead of the slow rise characteristic of LSB systems. This feature in the rotation curve corresponds to the strong central concentration in the luminosity profile. Maximum disk fits give M/L values (R-band) between 2.9 and 4.2 for the central concentration and between 13.8 and 14.7 for the outer disk (Zwaan et al. 2003). A very similar case is that of NGC 5963 (UGC 9906) as shown by the comparison of the photometry (Swaters 1999) and the rotation curve (Zwaan et al. 2003). At still lower luminosities, a good example is that of NGC 5585 where the luminosity profile shows the presence of a small central concentration of light and the optical rotation curve (Blais-Ouellette et al. 1999) reveals a corresponding bump.

In the past there have been cases of measured rotation curves differing considerably from those predicted by the light profile, but the discrepancies have turned out to be apparent only, and have been traced to a problem with the light profile or with the rotation curve. This is well illustrated by the case of the late-type, edge-on spiral NGC 5907. Its observed rotation curve rises rapidly near the centre, whereas the rotation curve predicted from the light profile (Van der Kruit and Searle 1981) rises much less steeply (see figure 7 in Sancisi and Van Albada 1987). This seemed to indicate a clear need for an additional component, in the central parts, of matter unrelated to the light. Van Albada and Sancisi (1986) suggested that the discrepancy might be caused by a problem in the light profile and that the ”missing material” might well be the luminous material obscured by the dust. Several years later, this was proved to be right by Barnaby and Thronson (1994) who used H-band surface photometry and successfully modelled the observed rotation curve in the inner parts of NGC 5907.

The relation between the rotation curve shape and the central concentration of light has been investigated quantitatively by Swaters (1999) and more recently by Swaters and Sancisi (2003) for a large sample of spiral galaxies including late-type dwarfs and LSBs. A clear relation is found between the central concentration of light measured from the luminosity profiles and the steepness in the rise of the rotation curve in the inner parts. Similarly, Verheijen (1997) has found a correlation between the shapes of the rotation curves and the compactness of the luminous disk: for galaxies of the same luminosity a more compact distribution corresponds to a steeper rise in the rotation curve. This is in contrast with Burstein and Rubin’s (1985) conclusions mentioned above. At any rate, in order to confirm and to investigate further the tight link between light distribution and rotation it is important to observe a larger sample of low luminosity and LSB systems with a central light concentration.

## 3. The high luminosity systems

In high surface brightness systems the maximum disk model adopted for the decomposition of rotation curves provides good fits to the rotation curves in the bright inner parts of the disks (see references in section 1). The very luminous galaxies provide a very interesting case for the comparison of the distribution of light and DM. This is illustrated in the paper by Noordermeer et al. (this volume). Casertano and Van Gorkom (1991), Persic and Salucci (1991) and Broeils (1992) pointed out that galaxies with high luminosity (and sometimes very compact) disks have declining rotation curves in their outer parts. Fig. 2 shows the results for the luminous spiral galaxy NGC 5055 recently obtained by Battaglia et al. (2003). The plot shows the observed HI rotation curve and the standard decomposition with maximum disk model (derived from the F-band photometric profile shown in the top panel) and isothermal halo. The rotation curve has the steep rise characteristic of very luminous HSBs and shows a bump in the inner regions, around 2 kpc. The bump is present on both galaxy sides (receding and approaching) and completely symmetrical. The photometric profile shows a bump at the same radius and indeed the maximum disk rotation curve calculated from it reproduces the bump in the observed rotation curve perfectly. This remarkable correspondence between the distribution of light and the rotation is very representative for what is found in many galaxies.

In the outer parts, around the Holmberg radius R(Ho), the rotation curve of NGC 5055 declines by about 25 km/s and remains flat out to the last measured point at 40 kpc. The decomposition of the rotation curve shows that the maximum disk model (with isothermal or NFW profile) reproduces the shape of the rotation curve also in the outer parts. Solutions with NFW profile and a disk below maximum are not satisfactory. With a isothermal halo, instead, it is possible to obtain acceptable fits also with sub-maximal disks and to set a firm lower limit to the mass/luminosity ratio of the stellar disk. The derived ”minimum” disk is rather massive: it contributes about 63 percent of the maximum rotational velocity and has M/L=0.8 (F-band). Similar results have been obtained by Bottema and Verheijen (2002) for NGC 3992 and by Noordermeer et al. (paper in this volume) for a number of luminous early-type galaxies.

It is interesting to note that these ”minimum” disks are close to the ”Bottema” or similar sub-maximal disks which are obtained from the measurements of stellar velocity dispersion (Bottema 1993, Kregel 2003). These contribute on average about 60 percent of the observed maximum rotational velocity (as compared to the about 90 percent of the maximum disks). Clearly, although not maximal, they still are rather massive.

## 4. Main points

1. There is a striking correspondence between the shape of the rotation curves and the shape of the radial distribution of luminosity in spiral galaxies. In the central parts, for objects of the same luminosity, a more compact distribution of light gives rise to a steeper rotation curve. Over the inner bright part of the optical disk the maximum disk hypothesis provides satisfactory fits to the rotation curves. In other words, the correspondence between rotation curve and distribution of light is close and detailed. There is a simple rule -to an excess of light corresponds an excess of rotation and vice versa- which seems to apply to all spiral galaxies including the late-type dwarfs and the low surface brightness objects. I do not know of any counterexample. Clearly, this needs to be verified with measurements of rotation curves, in particular of dwarf galaxies and LSBs with central light concentrations.

2. A special case of such remarkable correspondence between light distribution and shape of the rotation curve is that of the high luminosity, early-type galaxies. In the outer parts of these systems, beyond their bright optical disk, the rotation curve declines somewhat and remains flat further out to the last measured point. This behaviour strongly suggests that the disk potential dominates in the inner parts and the DM halo in the outer parts. These cases are important because they permit to set firm lower limits to the disk mass. The values derived for the M/L ratios indicate that the ’minimum” disk is rather heavy and the stellar component is indeed important over the optically bright part of the galaxy.

3. The rule suggested here can be seen perhaps as a Tully-Fisher kind of relation, between the distributions of light and the run of rotational velocities. Whilst the T-F is a relation between global properties -total luminosity and amplitude of the rotation curve-, this is a point-to-point relation between luminosity and rotational velocity over the galaxy.

4. The unavoidable conclusion from the observed correspondence between the shapes of the rotation curves and those of the luminosity profiles is that the gravitational potential is strongly correlated with the distribution of luminous matter: either the luminous mass dominates or there is a close coupling between luminous and dark matter.

5. Clearly these results bear on the debate on cusps in the mass profiles of the central regions of disk galaxies as predicted by CDM simulations. The amazing fact is that when the rotation curve indicates a concentration of mass -a cusp-, such a cusp shows up in the light. Then the following questions arise: if the baryons indeed dominate in the central regions of all spirals, LSBs included, how can the CDM profiles be compared with the observations? If, on the other hand, the baryons do not dominate but trace the DM distribution, why, in systems of comparable luminosity, are some DM halos cuspy (following the visible matter) and others (also following the visible matter) are not?

### Acknowledgments.

I thank Filippo Fraternali, Luca Ciotti and Rob Swaters for stimulating discussions and helpful comments on the manuscript and Giuseppina Battaglia for providing the figure for NGC 5055.

## References

Barnaby, B. and Thronson, H. A., Jr. 1994, AJ, 107, 1717

Battaglia, G., Fraternali, F., Oosterloo, T. and Sancisi, R. 2003, in preparation

Blais-Ouellette, S., Carignan, C. and Amram, P., and Cote’, S. 1999, AJ, 118, 2123

Bottema, R. 1993, Astron. Astrophys., 275, 16

Bottema, R. and Verheijen, M. A. W. 2002, Astron. Astrophys., 388, 793

Broeils, A. H. 1992, PhD thesis, University of Groningen

Burstein, D. and Rubin, V. C. 1985, ApJ, 297, 423.

Casertano, S. and Van Gorkom, J. M. 1991, AJ, 101, 1231.

Kalnajs, A. J. 1983, in: Internal Kinematics of Galaxies, IAU Symposium no.100, ed. E. Athanassoula (Dordrecht: Reidel), p. 87

Kent, S. M. 1986, AJ, 91, 1301

Kent, S. M. 1987, AJ, 93, 816

Kregel, M. 2003, PhD thesis, University of Groningen

Navarro, J. F., Frenk, C. S. and White, S. D. M. 1997, ApJ, 490, 493

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Swaters, R. A. 1999, PhD thesis, University of Groningen

Swaters, R. A. and Sancisi, R. 2003, in preparation

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Zwaan, M. A., Van der Hulst, J. M., and Bosma, A. 2003, private communication


text:
# Reversing a granular flow on a vibratory conveyor

(November 25, 2003)

## Abstract

Experimental results are presented on the transport properties of granular materials on a vibratory conveyor. For circular oscillations of the shaking trough a non-monotonous dependence of the transport velocity on the normalized acceleration $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is observed. Two maxima are separated by a regime, where the granular flow is much slower and, in a certain driving range, even reverses its direction. A similar behavior is found for a single solid body with a low coefficient of restitution, whereas an individual glass bead of 1 mm diameter is propagated in the same direction for all accelerations.

The controlled transport of bulk cargoes by means of vibratory conveyors is of major importance for a whole variety of industrial processes pajer88 ; rademacher94 ; sloot96 . The granular material is usually (i) agitated by a stick-slip drag on a horizontally vibrated deck with asymmetric forward and backward motions, (ii) forced to perform ballistic flights if the vertical component of the acceleration exceeds gravity, or (iii) can be transported horizontally by a vertically oscillating asymmetric sawtooth-shaped profile of the base derenyi98 ; farkas99 .

Since these transport phenomena involve the nonlinear interaction of many-particle systems with complex behavior leading to self-organized spatiotemporal patterns, the investigation of vibrating granular materials has become a challenging subject to physicists, too jaeger96 ; kadanoff99 . Such intriguing phenomena as surface waves douady89 ; pak93 ; melo94 ; metcalf97 , organized clusters strassburger00  or segregation effects aumaitre01 ; aumaitre03 ; moon03  have attracted a lot of attention.

In this letter, we introduce a conveyor system with convertible modes of oscillation based on the combined forces of four rotating unbalanced masses. First results are reported on the surprising transport properties caused by circular vibrations of the trough.

The circular vibratory conveyor, shown schematically in Fig. 1(a), is a prototype apparatus specially developed to investigate the transport under principal oscillation modes, i.e. linear, elliptical, and circular for a long running time, without disturbing boundary conditions. In our experiments, the transporting trough has the form of a horizontally oriented ring with radius $`R`$ = 22.5 cm and width $`w`$ = 5 cm and is suspended on adjustable columns via elastic bands. By means of four driving units, symmetrically positioned below the trough, the conveyor can vibrate with defined amplitude and oscillation pattern along its entire circumference. This motion can be described by a trajectory performed on a cylindrical surface, consisting of a vertical oscillation $`z(t)=A\mathrm{cos}(\omega t)`$ superposed with a torsional vibration $`\varphi (t)=A/R\mathrm{cos}(\omega t+\phi )`$ around the symmetry axis of the apparatus, where $`\phi `$ is the fixed phase shift between the two oscillations. Note that, since the ratio $`A/R`$ is only about 1 percent, the path of each segment of the tray can be considered to lie almost in a vertical plane. If, for example, the phase shift $`\phi `$ is chosen to be $`\pi /2`$, then each point on the trough traces a circular path in a vertical plane tangent to the trough at that point.

For achieving this kind of motion with the inherent possibility to generate different modes of oscillation a special adjustable drive is acquired. Unbalanced-mass vibrators are well established in industrial applications since long time. Their working principle is based on a centrifugal force $`F=m_\mathrm{u}r_\mathrm{u}(2\pi f)^2`$ produced by an unbalanced mass $`m_\mathrm{u}`$ rotating with frequency $`f`$, with $`r_\mathrm{u}`$ being the distance between the center of gravity of the unbalanced (eccentric) mass and its rotation axis. A motor driving a load $`M`$ with one single unbalanced mass will create, for frequencies well above resonance, a circular vibration with an amplitude $`A_{\mathrm{}}=r_\mathrm{u}m_\mathrm{u}/M`$. A linear motion can be excited by the joint action of two equal vibrators rotating in opposite directions. In consequence, by combining two such linear vibrators oriented perpendicularly to each other, it is possible to generate any desired Lissajous figure by adjusting the phase shift $`\phi `$ between the two oscillations. Three examples of possible modes are shown in Fig. 1(b).

Each driving unit is built as the above described system of four unbalanced masses, which are placed vertically on both sides of the unit. The vibrators are fixed to the carrying plates by bolts located in circular grooves, which enable the adjustment of the vibration angle $`\alpha `$ between $`8^{}`$ and $`82^{}`$. The oscillation amplitude can be adjusted in steps by changing the number of impaled unbalanced masses.

The four driving units are coupled to the motor via a common central gear box, which keeps all drives in the same phase. The driving torque is transmitted from the gear box to the vibrators by use of rotating rods connected with compensation clutches. The conveyor is driven by an electric motor (Siemens Combimaster 1UA7, with integrated frequency inverter). By changing its rotation frequency $`f`$, the number of unbalanced masses $`m_\mathrm{u}`$, and their angular alignment, the adjustment of all required oscillation conditions is possible.

The circular vibratory conveyor has been designed as an ‘over-resonance’ apparatus. Low spring constants of the suspensions set the resonance frequency to $`f_04.5`$ Hz. For frequencies $`f>15`$ Hz the change of the amplitude is less than 10 %. Thus the system can be assumed as working with constant amplitude independent from the frequency. However, for execution of accurate experiments the frequency response of the amplitude

$$A(f)=A_{\mathrm{}}\frac{f^2}{\sqrt{(f_0^2f^2)^2+(2\zeta f_0f)^2}}$$
(1)
(with damping $`\zeta =0.08\pm 0.01`$) has been measured. The dimensionless acceleration of the conveyor $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=A(f)(2\pi f)^2/g`$, where $`g`$ is the gravitational acceleration, can be varied by changing the rotation frequency $`f`$ of the unbalanced masses in the range $`0<\mathrm{\Gamma }<7`$.

For the case of circular vibrations we define the transport direction of the granulate positive (‘forward’), if the rotational direction of the vibration – seen from outside the apparatus – is clockwise while the particles move to the right, or vice versa. To be more specific, we assign to the circular motion an axial vector $`\stackrel{}{\omega }`$ (see inset of Fig. 2). A positive transport velocity $`\stackrel{}{v}_{\mathrm{tr}}`$ is found, whenever the product $`\stackrel{}{v}_{\mathrm{tr}}(\stackrel{}{g}\times \stackrel{}{\omega })`$ is positive.

The granulate used consists of $``$ 300 000 glass beads with diameter $`d`$ = 1 mm, yielding a layer height of $`5d`$. The velocity $`v_{\mathrm{tr}}`$ of the granular flow was measured as a function of the dimensionless acceleration $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ in the range between 0 and 7. The non-monotonous dependence $`v_{\mathrm{tr}}(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ is shown in Fig. 2. Below a critical value $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_c0.45`$ the grains stay at rest, i.e., they follow the agitation of the tray without being transported. The onset of particle motion is restrained by frictional forces between grains and the substrate. For accelerations above this threshold the granular material becomes fluidized. Individual particles are unblocked and begin to move freely on top of each other. A net granular flow with constant velocity is observed. Note that this behavior is found already in a regime $`\mathrm{\Gamma }<1`$ with a vertical acceleration less than gravity. In order to be transported, the granular material does not have to leave the ground. It is sufficient to overcome the frictional forces at the bottom of the granular layer. This transport mechanism due to stick-slip drag on a horizontally vibrated deck with asymmetric forward and backward motions is well known to engineers as ‘sliding’.

If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ exceeds 1, the vertical component of the circular acceleration will cause the grains to detach from the bulk followed by a flight on a ballistic parabola. The corresponding transport mechanism is called ‘throwing’.

In our experiments the transport velocity has a first maximum at $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1.2`$. A second maximum is observed at $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=4.2`$. In between, the granular flow is slower and even reverses its direction for $`2.6<\mathrm{\Gamma }<3.8`$.

In contrast, a single 1 mm glass bead is propagated on this vibratory conveyor in the same direction for all accelerations. The high coefficient of restitution $`\epsilon 0.9`$ for collisions between the glass bead and the carbon-fiber tray leads, especially for high $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-values, to an almost ‘random walk’ of the particle in the conveyor with a slight tendency to propagate in one direction. This is reflected in the large scatter of the net transport velocity.

In order to study the transport mechanism for a single body in a more controlled fashion (‘sandbag test’ rademacher95 ) we designed an object with a very low coefficient of restitution and non-spherical shape. The fingertip of a rubber glove was filled with sand. This single object shows qualitatively the same behavior as the granulate (see Fig. 3). The regime of velocity reversal is, however, shifted to lower values ($`1.8<\mathrm{\Gamma }<3.2`$).

By varying the unbalanced mass, the amplitude $`A_{\mathrm{}}`$ of the circular vibration has been changed between 1.0 and 2.5 mm. We find that the transport velocity increases linearly with the amplitude. In order to obtain a dimensionless graph, the granular velocity is scaled by the intrinsic speed of the driving apparatus, i.e. the circular velocity $`A\omega `$ of the tray. The resulting master curve (Fig. 4) shows clearly that the onset of particle transport depends only on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. This supports the notion that the particles have to overcome a (frictional) force.

An alternative approach would have been to scale the vibratory agitation with the Froude number $`Fr=(A\omega )^2/gd=\mathrm{\Gamma }A/d`$, i.e. a typical dimensionless kinetic energy. However, the corresponding plot fails to produce a similar data collapse.

Independent on the oscillation amplitude $`A`$ we observe that the maximal achievable transport velocity is equal to $`0.5A\omega `$ (Fig. 5). For the single particle with low coefficient of restitution this is true for both directions of motion, even at higher accelerations. The reversed granular flow, however, does not attain this limit.

In conclusion, the vibratory conveyor system introduced here opens up the possibility to investigate the transport properties of granular materials in a systematic way. Our results show that under certain conditions not even the direction of the granular flow can be predicted a priori. The delicate interactions of the particles with the support as well as among themselves have to be taken into account. First clues indicate that a detailed analysis of the frictional forces becomes important. A simple model metcalfe02  for a frictional block on a horizontally oscillating bed has been introduced recently, which provides a relaxational mechanism between static and dynamic friction. This suggests that before tackling the full problem of many interacting particles it is even rewarding to investigate the complex behavior of a single object under the influence of a controlled environment.

We would like to thank H. Elhor, S.J. Linz, F. Landwehr, S. Strugholtz, and T. Schnautz for valuable discussions. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG-Sonderprogramm ‘Verhalten granularer Medien’).


text:
# Constraints on Cardassian Expansion

## 1 Introduction

Over the last ten years, the $`m`$-$`z`$ relation below $`z`$1 has been constrained through observations of distant type Ia supernovae, and indicates that the Universe is currently in a phase of accelerated expansion (e.g. Perlmutter et al. 1997; Riess et al. 1998). This is supported by recent measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background angular power spectrum and the galaxy power spectrum. The standard model provides an interpretation of these results by proposing that the Universe consists of only $``$4 per cent baryonic matter with the remainder in the form of Cold Dark Matter and a dark energy component which drives the expansion. This cosmology provides a good fit to the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) CMB power spectrum and high redshift supernova data, and is consistent with local large-scale structure and cluster baryon fraction measurements of the matter density. This cosmology is slightly problematic however as it invokes the use of two unobserved forms of energy. While the evidence for Cold Dark Matter is considerable, evidence for the existence of a dark energy component remains indirect.

An interesting alternative to the standard model of cosmology recently proposed by Freese & Lewis (2002) invokes an additional term in the Friedmann equation, proportional to $`\rho ^n`$, which results in a Universe which is consistent with the recent evidence for an increasing expansion rate, but is both flat and matter dominated. The need for a dark energy component is therefore removed, and the expansion is driven solely by the new $`\rho ^n`$ term in the modified Friedmann equation. The theoretical motivation for this Cardassian model of cosmology (see Freese & Lewis 2002) is fairly speculative however, and the implications for Einstein’s equations of General Relativity are currently undetermined.

In order to constrain the Cardassian model, it is critical that the observational data used do not assume a prior cosmology. The simplest constraints can therefore be imposed by the CMB angular power spectrum, high redshift supernova data and local large-scale structure, since in a Cardassian cosmology these observables depend on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$, the Cardassian parameter $`n`$, and the redshift at which the Cardassian term in the modified Friedmann equation begins to dominate, $`z_{eq}`$.

Previously, Sen & Sen (2003a) used predictions for the locations of the first and third Doppler peaks in the CMB power spectrum for a Cardassian cosmology, and Archeops and Boomerang data to constrain possible values for $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ and $`n`$. Supernova data from the Calan-Tololo project and the Supernova Cosmology Project (Perlmutter et al. 1997) were also used to constrain these parameters, since the modification of the luminosity distance in a Cardassian cosmology alters the predicted apparent magnitude for supernovae. These two constraints restricted the parameters to 0.31$``$$`<`$$`n`$$``$$`<`$ 0.44 and 0.13$``$$`<`$$`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$$``$$`<`$ 0.23. Zhu & Fujimoto (2003) also used these supernova data to constrain the Cardassian model, and found best fit parameters of $`n`$=-1.33 and $`z_{eq}`$=0.43 assuming $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$=0.3. However, it is not clear how the fit is affected for different values of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$. More recently Sen & Sen (2003b) used WMAP and Boomerang measurements of the locations for the first, second and third Doppler peaks to further constrain the parameter space.

In this paper, the parameter space is constrained using the WMAP and Boomerang measurements for the locations of the first, second and third Doppler peaks in the CMB angular power spectrum used in Sen & Sen (2003b), and various high redshift supernova datasets taken from Tonry et al. (2003). An orthogonal constraint is also applied using an assumed upper limit of $`z_{eq}`$=1; this value is used in order to be consistent with local large-scale structure (Freese & Lewis, 2002). In Section 2, the Cardassian model is outlined. The supernova analysis method and the resulting constraints for various samples are presented in Section 3, along with the CMB constraints and the additional constraint imposed by the inferred upper limit on $`z_{eq}`$. The discussion and conclusions follow in Section 4.

## 2 The Cardassian Model

An additional term is added to the Friedmann equation such that

$$H^2=A\rho +B\rho ^n$$
(1)
where $`A`$=$`\frac{8\pi G}{3}`$, $`H`$ is the Hubble constant, $`\rho `$ is the energy density and $`n`$ is a parameter of the Cardassian model. When the second term dominates, the scale factor $`a`$ $``$t$`^{\frac{2}{3n}}`$, gives rise to accelerated expansion for $`n<\frac{2}{3}`$. In order to determine $`B`$, it is convenient to equate the first and second terms at $`z_{eq}`$, the epoch at which the Cardassian term begins to dominate. Since $`\rho _m`$=$`\rho _{m,0}`$(1+z)3

$$B=\frac{8\pi G}{3}[\rho _{m,0}(1+z_{eq})^3]^{1n}$$
(2)
assuming the radiation contribution to the energy density is negligible. This expression gives rise to a modification in the critical energy density such that in a Cardassian cosmology

$$\rho _{crit}=F(n,z_{eq})\times \rho _{crit,old}$$
(3)
where

$$F(n,z_{eq})=[1+(1+z_{eq})^{3(1n)}]^1$$
(4)
which for a flat cosmology is equivalent to $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$. Hence, this modification to the critical energy density is consistent with a flat, matter dominated cosmology. Fig. 1 shows the variation of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ ($``$F(n,$`z_{eq}`$)) with $`n`$ and $`z_{eq}`$. Equivalently, Fig. 2 shows the variation of $`z_{eq}`$ with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ and $`n`$.

## 3 Observational Constraints

### 3.1 Supernova Data

In order to constrain the cosmological parameters of the Cardassian model, firstly, high redshift supernova data is used. Since altering the cosmology modifies the luminosity distance, the Cardassian model can be constrained by comparing empirical data with predicted values for the apparent magnitudes of standard candles at known redshifts. The relation between apparent and absolute magnitude can be written in the form (Perlmutter et al. 1997)

$$m_B=_B+5\mathrm{log}𝒟_L$$
(5)
where $`_B`$=$`M_B5logH_0+25`$ is the Hubble constant-free absolute $`B`$-band magnitude, and is determined empirically for type Ia supernovae as $`_B`$=-3.32$`\pm `$0.05 (Perlmutter et al. 1997) from the intercept on the Hubble diagram.$`𝒟_L`$=$`H_0d_L`$ is the Hubble constant-free luminosity distance. The luminosity distance is given by

$$d_L(z)=\frac{c}{H_0}(1+z)_0^z\frac{dz}{E(z)}$$
(6)
where $`E(z)`$ in a Cardassian cosmology is given by (Freese & Lewis, 2002)

$$E^2(z)=\mathrm{\Omega }_m(1+z)^3+(1\mathrm{\Omega }_m)(1+z)^{3n}$$
(7)
Equations 5, 6 and 7 determine a theoretical prediction for the apparent magnitude ($`m_B(\mathrm{\Omega }_m,n)`$) of a supernova at a particular redshift. Hence, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ and $`n`$ are constrained through a determination of $`\chi ^2\chi _{min}^2`$ where

$$\chi ^2=\frac{\left(m_B(\mathrm{\Omega }_m,n)m_{B_i}\right)^2}{\sigma _{m_{B_i}}^2}$$
(8)
where $`\sigma _{m_{B_i}}`$ is determined by quadrature of the errors on log$`𝒟_L`$ and $`_B`$. For a more robust determination of the errors, the uncertainty in $`_B`$ and the distance should be integrated over the entire parameter space, and an error on the redshift could also be included in the determination of $`\chi ^2`$. However, these makes little difference to the resulting confidence regions and the determination of the errors described above is adequate for this analysis.

The observational data is taken from Tonry et al. (2003), which presents redshift and distance information for 230 supernovae compiled from the literature and eight new supernovae from the High-$`z`$ Supernova Search Team. Since the techniques for analysing the observational data vary between individual samples of supernovae, the authors have attempted to recompute the extinction estimates and the distance fitting using the methods of Riess et al. (1998), Jha et al. (2003) and Tonry et al. where possible, as well as apply a consistent zero-point for the local distance calibration. A complete description of this procedure is given in Tonry et al. (2003).

Four supernova subsamples are selected from the 230 supernovae listed in Tonry et al. (2003). Firstly, the entire sample of 230 supernovae is used; the resulting 1$`\sigma `$, 2$`\sigma `$ and 3$`\sigma `$ constraints are shown in Fig. 3. Secondly, the 54 supernovae included in Fit C in Perlmutter et al. (1997) taken from the Calan-Tololo Survey and the Supernova Cosmology Project are selected (see Fig. 4). Thirdly, the 130 supernovae originally published by the High-$`z`$ Supernova Search Team are used to constrain the parameter space (see Fig. 5). Finally, a redshift cut of $`z>`$0.01 and an extinction cut of $`A_V>`$0.5 mag. is applied where possible, as in Tonry et al. (2003), in order to remove objects where an uncertain effect is apparent from either local peculiar velocities or host galaxy extinction; the constraints arising from the resulting 172 supernovae are shown in Fig. 6.

### 3.2 The Cosmic Microwave Background

In order to further constrain the available parameter space of the Cardassian model, empirical measurements for the locations of the first three Doppler peaks in the CMB angular power spectrum are compared with predicted values in a Cardassian cosmology. From Doran et al. (2001), the acoustic scale can be defined in terms of the conformal time

$$l_A=\pi \frac{\tau _0\tau _{ls}}{c_s\tau _{ls}}$$
(9)
where $`\tau _0`$ and $`\tau _{ls}`$ are the conformal time at the present day and at last scattering respectively. cs defines the mean speed of sound before last scattering and is constant for a particular $`\frac{\rho _b}{\rho _{rad}}`$ and is taken to be 0.52 (Doran et al. 2001). The definition derived by Sen & Sen (2003a) for this expression of lA in a Cardassian cosmology is

$$l_A=\frac{\pi }{c_s}\left(\frac{_0^{a_0}\frac{da}{X(a)}}{_0^{a_{ls}}\frac{da}{X(a)}}1\right)$$
(10)
where $`a_0`$=1, $`a_{ls}`$=1100-1 and

$$X(a)=\left(a+a^{43n}\left(\frac{1\mathrm{\Omega }_{m,0}}{\mathrm{\Omega }_{m,0}}\right)\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}$$
(11)
For a spectral index of ns=1, the locations of the Doppler peaks are related to the acoustic scale by the relation

$$l_m=l_A(m\varphi _m)$$
(12)
where $`\varphi _m`$ is a phase shift arising from driving and dissipative effects in the photon-baryon fluid before last scattering, and is weakly dependent on $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2`$ and ns (see Doran & Lilley 2002). The expressions for $`\varphi _m`$ for the first three acoustic peaks are given in Sen & Sen (2003b). Hence for assumed values of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2`$ and ns, the locations of the Doppler peaks in a Cardassian cosmology can be predicted for a particular $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ and $`n`$. In the following analysis, values of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_bh^2`$=0.02 (e.g. Burles et al. 2001; Pettini & Bowen 2001; Kirkman et al. 2003) and ns=1.0 are used, the effects of which are investigated in Sen & Sen (2003b).

The WMAP value for the locations of the first and second Doppler peaks are given as l1=220.1$`\pm `$0.8 and l2=546$`\pm `$10 by Hinshaw et al. (2003) from Gaussian and hyperbolic fits to the power spectrum. The location of the third peak is given as l3=825$`{}_{13}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{+10}`$ (Hu et al. 2001). The resulting 1$`\sigma `$ and 2$`\sigma `$ constraints arising from each peak location are shown in Fig. 7.

## 4 Discussion & Conclusions

The Cardassian expansion model utilises an additional term in the Friedmann equation, proportional to $`\rho ^n`$, such that the Universe is flat, matter-dominated and in a phase of accelerated expansion. The need for a dark energy component is therefore removed, as the expansion observed in distant supernovae is driven solely by this additional component. In order to constrain the parameters of the Cardassian model $`n`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ and $`z_{eq}`$ (the epoch at which the Cardassian term begins to dominate the expansion), it is necessary to select observational data free from any cosmological priors.

In this paper, various samples of type Ia supernova data from Tonry et al. (2003) were used to constrain $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ and $`n`$. Fig. 4 shows the 1$`\sigma `$, 2$`\sigma `$ and 3$`\sigma `$ confidence levels derived from the 54 supernovae included in Fit C of Perlmutter et al. (1997). This is in general agreement with the constraints imposed by Sen & Sen (2003a) for the same sample of supernovae, although the constraints are slightly broader, perhaps due to their use of contouring for absolute values of $`\chi ^2`$. Since the errors are uncertain, more robust confidence levels can be derived when contouring around a minimum value of $`\chi ^2`$ as used for the supernova data in this paper. Sen & Sen (2003a) also use a different method of analysis in which a different value of $`_B`$ is used with an uncertain associated error.

The tightest constraints from the supernova data are provided by the 172 supernovae sample (Fig. 6) for which an extinction limit of $`A_V`$=0.5 and a redshift cut of $`z>`$0.01 have been applied in order to remove objects with potentially large effects from perculiar velocities at low redshift and large host galaxy extinctions. The resulting 1$`\sigma `$ constraints favour a value of 0.19$`<\mathrm{\Omega }_m<`$0.32 and $`n<`$0.13. However, the available parameter space within the 3$`\sigma `$ confidence region is large, although this represents a significant improvement over previous constraints.

To constrain the available parameter space further, WMAP (Hinshaw et al. 2003) and Boomerang (Hu et al. 2001) measurements for the first three Doppler peaks in the CMB angular power spectrum are compared to the associated Cardassian prediction as in Sen & Sen (2003b) (Fig. 7). These three constraints are in remarkably good agreement at $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$0.15, but begin to diverge at the values of $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$ and $`n`$ suggested by the 172 supernovae sample.

In Fig. 8, the combined constraints from the first three Doppler peaks and the 172 supernovae sample are combined. Also included is the $`z_{eq}`$=1.0 track which represents an approximate upper limit arising from the effect of the Cardassian term in the modified Friedmann equation on local large-scale structure (Freese & Lewis, 2002). The 1$`\sigma `$ constraint imposed by the combined CMB data indicates values of 0.15$``$$`<`$$`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$$``$$`<`$ 0.18, 0.28$`<n<`$0.36 and $`z_{eq}>`$1.0. However, there is good agreement at the 2$`\sigma `$ level with constraints of 0.19$`<\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$$``$$`<`$ 0.26, 0.01$`<n<`$0.24 and 0.42$`<z_{eq}<`$0.89. This is consistent with the loose constraint of $`z_{eq}<`$1.0 imposed by local large-scale structure. However, it is in contradiction to the constraints derived by Sen & Sen (2003) of 0.13$``$$`<`$$`\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$$``$$`<`$ 0.23 and 0.31$`<n<`$0.44.

In conclusion, high redshift supernova data and recent mesaurements of the CMB power spectrum provide relatively tight constraints on the available parameter space of the Cardassian expansion model. There is a large discrepancy between the CMB and supernova 1$`\sigma `$ confidence regions, with the CMB 1$`\sigma `$ constraint implying a parameter space which is potentially at odds with local large-scale structure and is rejected by the supernova data at the $`>`$2$`\sigma `$ level. However, there is good agreement at the 2$`\sigma `$ level, with the associated confidence regions limiting 0.19$`<\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$$``$$`<`$ 0.26, 0.01$`<n<`$0.24 and 0.42$`<z_{eq}<`$0.89.

## Acknowledgments

WJF would particularly like to thank Phil Outram, Mark Sullivan, Adam Myers, Tom Shanks and Ruth Emerson for useful discussion and technical assistance.