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# AstroMD. A multi-dimensional data analysis tool for astrophysical simulations.

## 1 Introduction

Since the beginning of modern astronomy, the scientific community expressed a great interest in scientific visualisation tools. A strong boost in this direction was determined by the introduction of modern CCD detectors to collect observational data in a digital form. Today, almost all the standard measures are digital and each measure can be generally considered as a collection of images forming a multi-dimensional data set. In many cases extensive image processing is required to obtain meaningful images. Useful scientific information can be obtained from the raw data only using a data reduction pipeline. The most common data reduction tools, like IRAF  from National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO) and MIDAS  from European Southern Observatory, make an extensive use of visualization. This is supported by popular tools like AVS, IRIS Explorer, Data Visualizer and IDL. However, these are generic purpose packages, not specifically designed for astrophysics. This makes often difficult their usage and they often required to learn a new specific programming language. Furthermore it is usually hard, and some time impossible, to add user-developed data analysis tools.

Besides observational data, the improvement of technology and the availability of super-computing multiprocessor system, have led to a dramatic increase of the volume of data coming from numerical simulations. Astrophysical simulations produce today gigabytes of data which have to be efficiently visualized and analyzed. In fact a simulation produces several output to be correlated and analyzed, corresponding to different temporal tags and associated computational meshes (sometimes irregular or structured grids). Furthermore, particle methods  (N-body, SPH , etc) are, especially in cosmology, extremely popular. For this class of data the use of the above mentioned tools is not adequate. Specific tools, like TIPSY , have been created and are commonly used. However, these tools are quite limited in their functionalities, cannot describe and handle mesh-defined fields, usually associated to particles related quantities (like mass), and are not designed to work efficiently with large amount of data.

In this paper we present AstroMD, an analysis and visualization tool specifically designed to deal with the visualization and analysis of astrophysical data, avoiding or solving most of the previously described difficulties and limitations. AstroMD can manage different physical quantities. It can find structures having a not well defined shape or symmetries, and performs quantitative calculations on a selected region or structure. Furthermore, it also makes use of virtual reality techniques which are particularly effective for understanding the three dimensional distribution of the fields, their geometry, topology or specific patterns. The display of data gives the illusion of a surrounding medium into which the user is immersed. The result is that the user has the impression of travelling through a computer-based multi-dimensional model which could be directly hand-manipulated. In this sense, the virtual reality is a progressive lowering of the barrier which separates users from their data .

AstroMD is developed by the VISIT (Visual Information Technology) laboratory at CINECA (Casalecchio di Reno - Bologna) in collaboration with the Astrophysical Observatory of Catania (hereafter OACT). AstroMD is an open source completely free code which is freely available (see http://www.cineca.it/astromd).

The plan of the paper is as follows. In section 2 we will describe the basic features of AstroMD and the Graphic User Interface, in section 3 we describe the first test case on which AstroMD has been tested: the data produced in cosmological simulations performed using the parallel N-body tree code of the OACT group. The preliminary results and data manipulation performed using AstroMD on these data are presented in section 4. Finally, in section 5, we draw the conclusions and future developments.

## 2 The visualization tool: AstroMD

Data produced by astrophysical simulations have peculiarities that make them different from data produced with other kind of simulation or experiment . The principal features can be summarized as follows:

$``$ Different physical species have to be considered: for example, cosmological simulations consider both baryonic and dark matter. These two components have different physical properties and they have to be treated with different numerical approach. Dark matter is usually described by N-body algorithms, while simulation carried out with baryons have a fluid-dynamical description (either Eulerian or Lagrangian). Further components, like stars or different chemical species, can be introduced and followed in a specific way. These kinds of data require different types of analysis and different kind of visualization techniques. Dark matter needs the analysis of particle positions and velocity, while baryons require mesh based analysis and visualization. Furthermore particle associated quantities, like the mass density or the gravitational potential, require their calculation and visualization on a mesh.

$``$ Simulated structures in general have not a well defined shape or particular symmetries. Furthermore they can be distributed with no regularity in the computational box. Therefore it is necessary to have a clear 3D representation and efficient and fast tools of navigation, selection, zoom and the possibility of improving the resolution and the accuracy of calculations in specific user-selected regions

$``$ Evolution changes dynamically the properties of the simulated objects and the information that can be retrieved, therefore it is important to control efficiently sequences of time-frames.

AstroMD is specifically designed to deal properly with all these requirements. In the following subsections we will describe in detail the basic features of the package, the visualization, the data analysis, the graphic user interface and the stereo-graphic capabilities.

### 2.1 VTK: a scalable visualization library

AstroMD is developed using the Visualization Toolkit (VTK) by Kitware, a freely available software portable on several platforms which range from the PC to the most powerful visualization systems, with a good scalability.

VTK  is designed for 3D computer graphics, image processing, and visualization. It includes a C++ class library and several interpreted interface layers. VTK has been ported on nearly every Unix-based platform (Irix, Solaris, Linux etc.) and PC’s (Windows NT and Windows 98). The design and implementation of the library has been strongly influenced by object-oriented principles.

The graphics model in VTK is at a higher level of abstraction than rendering libraries like OpenGL or PEX. This means it is much easier to create useful graphics and visualization applications. In VTK applications can be written directly in C++, Tcl, Java, or Python. Using these languages it is possible to build powerful, fast and portable applications.

VTK supports a wide variety of visualization algorithms including scalar, vector, tensor, texture, and volumetric methods and advanced modelling techniques. It supports stereo-graphic rendering and can be used for virtual reality visualization. Furthermore, being easily extensible, VTK allows the user to build ad hoc implementation of specific data analysis modules.

### 2.2 AstroMD basic functionalities

The input data format presently accepted by AstroMD is the common unformatted C standard. Binary quantities (e.g. vector components) are written in a continuous sequence with no labels or other symbols in within. The same result can be obtained in Fortran using direct access files. However several data input formats like TIPSY and HDF will be soon integrated. AstroMD can use the full dynamic range of the data, in order to retain the highest accuracy in the analysis.

Data are visualized with respect to a box which can describe the whole computational mesh or just a fraction of it. A sub-box can be selected interactively inside the parent box with a different spatial resolution, so that the user can focus on the most interesting regions. Boxes can be translated, rotated, zoomed in and out with respect to selected positions. Colors and luminosities can be chosen freely by the user. Images of different evolutionary stages can be combined in order to obtain a dynamic view of the behaviour of the system.

The program allows one to treat both particles and fields related data. The distribution of the particles can be easily visualized by AstroMD using the particles positions, as shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2.

The user can choose to use a sample of the data, in order to get a faster and easier visualization. The opacity of the particles can be increased, so that low density regions are more easily detectable, or decreased, so that the details of the high density regions substructures are better visualized. Different particles species (e.g. dark matter and baryons) can be visualized at the same time using different colours. Other particle-related continuous quantities, like density fields or the gravitational field, can be calculated as typical grid based fields.

In general, fields have a discrete representation on the cells of a computational mesh. The values of a field on a cell can be interpreted as the average value of the field over that cell. In section 4 we will show several complementary ways of visualizing a field: different colours are associated to the values of the analyzed field. Further possibilities of visualizing the field are either using cutting planes where iso-value curves are drawn, or projecting the distribution on a plane, integrating the field along the line of sight orthogonal to the plane. This last representation, that is closer to what actually comes from observations, will be soon included in the package. Finally, different time frames can be shown in a sequence. When particles are used, their positions are linearly interpolated between two available key-frames. This technique engenders a graphic animation in real time, giving the impression of a continuous movement of particles, generally a randomized sample of the global data set. Both the single images and the whole sequence of time-step can be saved in bitmap format. Further output formats will be soon made available.

### 2.3 AstroMD data analysis functionalities

There are several AstroMD built-in tools which allow an efficient manipulation and analysis of the data. The following functionalities are in progress and all of them will be integrated in version 1 of the package.

$``$ Particles mass density

The mass density field associated to the particle distribution is calculated distributing the mass of each particle over the computational mesh by a eight points Cloud in Cell smoothing algorithm . The computation can be done with the maximum accuracy using all the particles over a uniform high resolution mesh, but AstroMD allows the user to use only a sample of the whole set of particles, and the final result can be extrapolated to all particles of the simulation, reducing the CPU time consuming and the memory request. The smoothing of the masses can be performed generally using a coarse grid, that can be refined where high resolution is necessary.

The same tool can be used to calculate other fields related to quantities possibly associated to the particles, like, for example, the thermal energy density field or the X-ray luminosity field.

$``$ Gravitational field calculation

Considering the mass density $`\varrho (x)`$ defined over the computational mesh as above, the gravitational field can be calculated solving the Poisson equation

$$\varphi (\stackrel{}{x})^2\varrho (\stackrel{}{x}),$$
(1)
where $`\varphi (\stackrel{}{x})`$ is the gravitational potential, by a Fourier Transform procedure. The Poisson equation is transformed in its momentum space image using a FFT VTK built-in function. This reduces the equation to a much simpler algebraic operation

$$\varphi (\stackrel{}{k})\frac{1}{|\stackrel{}{k}|^2}\varrho (\stackrel{}{k}),$$
(2)
where $`\varphi (\stackrel{}{k})`$ and $`\varrho (\stackrel{}{k})`$ are the Fourier images of the potential and of the density and $`|\stackrel{}{k}|^2`$ is the square module of the wavenumber. Finally the potential is transformed to the physical space using an inverse FFT.

$``$ Fourier decomposition, power spectrum and correlation function

The quantity $`\varrho (\stackrel{}{k})`$ is used to calculate the power spectrum $`P(k)`$ of the matter distribution, which is defined as the average value of the square norm of $`\varrho (\stackrel{}{k})`$:

$$P(k)=|\varrho (\stackrel{}{k})|^2.$$
(3)
The power spectrum expresses the weight of each of the Fourier components of the mass distribution between $`k_{min}`$ and $`k_{max}`$ which represent the inverse of the size of the computational mesh and the Nyquist frequency. The power spectrum is a powerful measure of the statistical properties of the distribution, together with the associated correlation function $`\xi (r)`$, which is its Fourier transform. The correlation function indicates the probability to find a particle at a distance $`r`$ from any other particle, and is usually used to analyze the clustering properties of a sample of discrete objects (particle, galaxies, galaxy clusters. etc.)

### 2.4 The Graphic User Interface (GUI)

The AstroMD Graphic User Interface has been projected for a simple and useful setting of the visualization parameters.
The commands are located in two main sections: a set of four menu buttons on the top of the AstroMD window and two columns of commands on the left side (Fig. 3). In the following we describe in detail the most important displayed commands.

#### Menu Buttons.

The File button contains the command to load three types of data: it is possible to load data which can refer to the gas, dark matter and stellar components of a simulated system. The different types of particles can be displayed all together or separately, depending on the type of information the user wants to obtain.
The View button allows the selection of a point of view of the visualized system. These choices (being also reported in the column of the commands), integrate the possibility to rotate, scale and zoom into the domain of the visualized system, using the mouse.
With the Tools button, the user can select several utilities. The Interactor permits to give VTK commands interactively; the Pipeline shows the VTK Pipeline, that is the network of filters which transform data into graphics primitives and creates the visualized objects.

The Opacity selection allows to choice the values of opacity for the components of the astrophysical system. A more accurate setting of the opacities can be performed using the Actor Properties (Fig. 4): for each visualized object, permits the user to regulate the intensity and colour of the Ambient light, i.e. the light reflected or scattered from other objects in the scene; the Diffuse light, which is the light reflected by the object taking into account the angle of incidence of the light onto the object itself, the Specular light, representing direct reflection of a light source off a shiny object, the Specular power which tells how the object reflects the incoming light and the Opacity which regulates the transparency of the object: an opacity value of 0 produces the object to be completely transparent.
The surface colours of the displayed objects are obtained interpolating across polygons. The buttons, Flat, Gourand and Phong correspond to three different types of interpolation: they are related to the process of transformation from graphic primitives to the visualized objects. The background colour can be selected from a button in the Tools menu, the combination of colours and lights of the objects can be saved and reloaded.
With the Options button the user can select the stereo-graphic modality of visualization, wide the rendering window up to full screen and save the window geometry for particular situations.

#### Command Column.

The Zoom and View From section of commands allow the regulation of the point of view of the objects while the Show/Hide section of buttons select the components of the simulated system that the user wants to visualize. The Box, Gas, Dark and Stars have obvious meanings; the Contour button is referred to the visualization of iso-surfaces, the Sampler activation permits the computation of the properties for a subset of particles, and the Boundary button shows a periodic reproduction with one tenth of the total number of particles in the box including all the system.
The user can choose the sample of the loaded particle type (i.e. stars, dark matter and gas particles), the size of the visualization box and the starting time from which he wants to show the evolution of the simulation.
The Density entries control the visualization of the iso-surfaces. These are calculated on a grid whose resolution can be user-selectable.
To allow the user to investigate with more accuracy a subset of the visualized system it is possible to use a cubic sampler. If the sampler is selected (Show/Hide menu), visualized in the scene and enabled (Sampler menu), all the computations are performed only inside the region of the sampler.
AstroMD can also show the evolution in time of the simulated system over all the interval of time for which the data are available, performing interpolations at intermediate frames. The Evolve section permit to fix the initial and final times of the evolution and the number of steps used for the evolution. During the evolution the updated time of evolution is displayed in the Time entry of the Cloud section.
Finally snapshots of the images displayed can be created using the button Take it in the Screenshot menu. A subdirectory named screenshot is created (if it does not exist) and bitmap images (progressively numbered) are created.
All the groups of commands can be changed and are applied using the corresponding Update command, the Update command at the end of the left column updates all the system as a whole.

### 2.5 Stereo-graphic visualization

AstroMD can represent data using stereo-graphic visualization and display data in three dimensions with a stereo-scopic technique. The 3D stereo-scopic perception, is based on the different angles we see a near object due to the distance of the eyes. The combination of the two images determine the position of the object in space. This process is reproduced by stereo-graphic visualization devices. The visualization system displays the same image as it is seen from slightly different points of view and presents it separately to each eye. This is done by different methods. The most common is using shutter glasses (made with liquid crystals) that act so that each eye only sees the image intended. The final superposition of the two images gives the impression of a 3D scene where th user is full immersed. The stereo images can be created on different kind of displays: the screen of a PC, the virtual theatre, up to the cave environments or the head mounted displays

The stereo-graphic functionalities of AstroMD are developed in the Virtual Theatre of CINECA. In this environment we can use two different kind of displays: a wide cylindric screen ($`9.4\times 2.7`$ m, $`150^o`$ view angle) and a projective desk ($`1.9\times 1.3`$ m, 29.1 dpi). The visualization is controlled by a SGI Onix2 Infinite Reality2 system with eight MIPS R10000 processors, 4 Gbytes DRAM and three graphic pipes.

Stereo-graphic visualization gives a useful enhancement of common 2D rendering for many applications. For example, the perception of the three dimensional distribution of structures is much easier. Specific geometric or topological features of the sample comes out clearly from the 3D immersive representation. Furthermore, it is possible to analyze quantities not directly dependent on the position, visualizing their correlations as planes or surfaces. A typical example is the fundamental plane of elliptic galaxies, which relates three observable quantities like the half-light radius, the mean surface brightness and the central velocity dispersion of these systems.

## 3 Numerical cosmology. Preliminary results and data manipulation

In this section we will show some preliminary result we obtain applying the AstroMD tool to the data obtained from a simulation of 16 millions of particles  studying the formation and the evolution of the Universe. The simulation has been performed using the N-body tree code of the OACT group run on the Cray T3E supercomputer of CINECA , . In the following subsection we briefly describe the tree code based on the Barnes-Hut algorithm (hereafter BH) , and the cosmological model we use to obtain the multi-dimensional data set.

### 3.1 Cosmological simulations

Large cosmic structure simulations have improved enormously over the past decade both in terms of mass and force resolution. State-of-the-art N-body codes hardly allow one to deal with a number of particle N$`10^7`$.
The cosmological N-body simulations aim at finding a solution to a set of general relativistic equations of motions describing the motions of particles (e.g. the postulated Dark Matter particles) in the Universe. These equations can be written in the form:

$$𝐩=ma^2\dot{𝐱},\frac{d𝐩}{dt}=m\varphi $$
(4)
$$^2\varphi =4\pi Ga^2\{\rho (𝐱,t)\overline{\rho }(t)\}$$
(5)
where $`m`$ is the mass of a particle, $`G`$ is the gravitational constant, $`a=a(t)`$ is the time-varying expansion parameter (the scale factor of the Universe), $`\varphi =\varphi (𝐱,t)`$ and $`\rho (𝐱,t)`$ are the gravitational potential and the local density respectively at comoving coordinate $`𝐱`$, and $`\overline{\rho }(t)`$ is the mean mass density of the universe.

### 3.2 The simulation code

The BH tree algorithm is a $`NlogN`$ procedure to compute the gravitational force through a hierarchical subdivision of the computational domain into a set of cubic nested regions that form an adaptive tree data structure. Generally speaking, the bodies evolve in time according to the laws of Newtonian physics:

$$\frac{d\stackrel{}{x_i}}{dt}=\underset{ji}{}\frac{Gm_j\stackrel{}{d_{ij}}}{d_{ij}^3}$$
(6)
where $`\stackrel{}{d_{ij}}=\stackrel{}{x_i}\stackrel{}{x_j}`$.
The fundamental approximation of the tree codes consist in the approximation of the force component for the i body. Considering a region $`\gamma `$ the force component on i may be computed as:

$$\underset{j\gamma }{}\frac{Gm_j\stackrel{}{d_{ij}}}{d_{ij}^3}\frac{GM\stackrel{}{d_{i,cm}}}{d_{i,cm}^3}+\text{higher order multipoles terms}$$
(7)
where $`M=_{j\gamma }m_j`$ and $`cm`$ is the center of mass of $`\gamma `$.
The system dynamics involves the advancement of the trajectories of all particles, and this is carried out through a discrete integration of the trajectory of each particle.

The code has been parallelized in order to be used on the CRAY T3E system using both HPF-CRAFT and SHMEM libraries.

### 3.3 The cosmological model and the data set

As a test case for the AstroMD tool we use the output of a simulation with 16.777.216 particles run on a CRAY-T3E 256 processor based machine at the CINECA. The system evolves in a cubic region with size of 50Mpc (about $`5010^{13}`$ km). The Cold Dark Matter cosmological model was used, each particle having about $`110^9`$ solar masses. With this kind of cosmological model it is possible to study the formation and the evolution of galaxies and clusters of galaxies . The simulation starts at a time (red-shift) $`z=50`$, where the latter parameter is a standard measure of time adopted in cosmology. The age of the Universe can be calculated from the red-shift parameter $`z`$ using the following equation: $`t=\frac{2}{3H_0}(1+z)^{\frac{3}{2}}`$ where $`H_0^1=9.777610^9h^1yrs.`$, which is valid for the cosmological models we have simulated. At $`z=50`$ the age of the Universe was about 24 million years, when the matter of the Universe was still almost uniformly distributed. The simulation was stopped at the value $`z=0.005`$, the actual age of the Universe. The system evolve for about 270 time-steps using the opening parameter $`\theta =0.8`$ and clusters of galaxies start to form at about $`z=10`$. We collected 22 output check point files starting from $`z=4`$ up to the end of the simulation totalling 18 Gbytes of data (position and velocity for each particle). This files were managed and randomized so that each selection of the first N particles in the output file, correspond to a selection of N random particles in the box where the system evolves. The AstroMD use this randomized files and the ancillary informations to visualize data and to extract the scientific informations as specified in the following paragraphs.

## 4 Using AstroMD on simulated data

Fig. 1 shows a primordial distribution of dark matter particles inside the 50 Mpc cubic region of the simulation above mentioned. In the displayed picture, only a subset of 200,000 particles has been used, but owing to the fact that the data are randomized, a very good representation of the distribution of particles is obtained. This configuration is quite uniform, with small peaks of density. As it is well known, during the evolution the dark matter collapses onto these peaks of density leading to the formation of at least three main clusters of galaxies and several minor groups, embedded in a typical structure of voids and filaments (Fig. 2). The system evolution, from the primordial distribution of matter up to the formation of the final structures, can be visualized by AstroMD. It is possible to note the augmentation of the velocity of collapse onto the proto-clusters and the oscillations of the matter density (around the main peaks) during the formation of the clusters. Using the mouse it is possible to rotate the box and analyze the shapes of the clusters from different points of view; moreover, zooming into the main structures, the details of the high density regions can be studied. A detailed analysis can be done setting a grid. The Fig. 5 shows the matter density field: the iso-surfaces are determined by connecting the cells in where the field has the same user-defined threshold value. In this figure the Sampler has been used to show the iso-surfaces around the main cluster of galaxies in the simulation, fixing a value for the density 50 times greater than the mean background density, and using a grid of $`64^3`$. The displayed iso-surface of the inner distribution of matter has the ellipsoidal shape . In Fig. 5 the iso-surfaces are completely opaque but lowering the opacity parameter value it is possible to see the particles of dark matter inside the iso-surface.

Another different way of visualizing the field is by a volume rendering technique, where the colour opacity is a function of the field and its value typically increase with the magnitude of the field itself. Therefore, for example, low density regions appear more transparent (and differently coloured) than higher density ones. Looking at the gas distribution in a cluster of galaxies, we can see through the outer shells, until the inner, more dense and more opaque core. In this way we mimic the actual behaviour of light through a dense medium.

## 5 Conclusions and future developments

The enormous amount of data presently obtained both by observation and by numerical simulations, determines a growing request by astrophysicists of powerful tools which combine efficient visualization and accurate analysis capabilities. In this way both a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data can be obtained and great benefits can be achieved. Visualization, in fact, allows one to have a more intuitive approach to the data, to find out easily their overall properties and characteristics and to focus on the most interesting of them. Data analysis gives the quantitative results required by the scientific analysis.

We have presented AstroMD, a new data analysis and visualization tool, which should respond to this demand. In the preliminary version we have focused on the visualization aspects, with particular attention to 3D immersive rendering and on creating a friendly graphic user interface. This makes AstroMD a useful instrument already competitive with other existing software used in astronomy. The package is rapidly evolving and new functionalities, like a cluster identification and reconstruction algorithm, are being added. AstroMD has been built such that it is open source and portable on all the most common Unix systems and MS Windows. One of our basic purpose is to make it a wide spread product, highly diffused and used by the astrophysical community.

## 6 Acknowledgements

The immersive virtual reality was tested using the Virtual Theatre immersive visualization facility made available from CINECA. This is made up by: a graphic supercomputers, (SGI Onix2 Infinite Reality 2, 8 processors R10000, 4 Gbytes RAM); a high resolution projection system (3 projectors Barcographics); a cylindric screen (2.7x9.1 m, 2816x768 pixels); a projective desk (1.6x1.8 m, 29.6 dpi). We gratefully acknowledge useful discussion with Dr. S. Bassini, and we would like to thank G. Erbacci of CINECA for the useful help they gave us.


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# First Observation of Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission in a Free-Electron Laser at 109 nm Wavelength Dedicated to Bjørn H. Wiik, 17.2.1937 – 26.2.1999

## I Introduction

X-ray lasers are expected to open up new and exciting areas of basic and applied research in biology, chemistry and physics. Due to recent progress in accelerator technology the attainment of the long sought-after goal of wide-range tunable laser radiation in the Vacuum-Ultraviolet and X-ray spectral regions is coming close to realization with the construction of free-electron lasers (FEL)  based on the principle of Self-Amplified Spontaneous Emission (SASE) . In a SASE FEL lasing occurs in a single pass of a relativistic, high-quality electron bunch through a long undulator magnet structure.

The radiation wavelength $`\lambda _{\mathrm{ph}}`$ of the first harmonic of FEL radiation is related to the period length $`\lambda _\mathrm{u}`$ of a planar undulator by

$$\lambda _{\mathrm{ph}}=\frac{\lambda _\mathrm{u}}{2\gamma ^2}\left(1+\frac{K^2}{2}\right)$$
(1)
where $`\gamma =E/(m_\mathrm{e}c^2)`$ is the relativistic factor of the electrons, $`K=eB_\mathrm{u}\lambda _\mathrm{u}/(2\pi m_\mathrm{e}c^2)`$ the undulator parameter and $`B_\mathrm{u}`$ the peak magnetic field in the undulator. Equation (1) exhibits two main advantages of the free-electron laser: the free tunability of the wavelength by changing the electron energy and the possibility to achieve very short radiation wavelengths.

For most FELs presently in operation , the electron beam quality and the undulator length result in a gain of only a few percent per undulator passage, so that an optical cavity resonator and a synchronized multi-bunch electron beam have to be used. At very short wavelengths, normal-incidence mirrors of high reflectivity are unavailable. Therefore the generation of an electron beam of extremely high quality in terms of emittance, peak current and energy spread, and a high precision undulator of sufficient length are essential. Provided the spontaneous radiation from the first part of the undulator overlaps the electron beam, the electromagnetic radiation interacts with the electron bunch leading to a density modulation (micro-bunching) which enhances the power and coherence of radiation. In this “high gain mode” , the radiation power $`P(z)`$ grows exponentially with the distance $`z`$ along the undulator

$$P(z)=AP_{\mathrm{in}}\mathrm{exp}(2z/L_\mathrm{g})$$
(2)
where $`L_\mathrm{g}`$ is the field gain length, $`P_{\mathrm{in}}`$ the effective input power (see below), and $`A`$ the input coupling factor . $`A`$ is equal to 1/9 in one-dimensional FEL theory with an ideal electron beam. Typical parameters for a SASE FEL operating in the VUV wavelength range are: $`P_{\mathrm{in}}`$ of about a few Watts and power gain at saturation, $`G=P_{\mathrm{sat}}/P_{\mathrm{in}}`$, of about $`10^8`$.

Since the desired wavelength is very short, there is no laser tunable over a wide range to provide the input power $`P_{\mathrm{in}}`$. Instead, the spontaneous undulator radiation from the first part of the undulator is used as an input signal to the downstream part. FELs based on this Self-Amplified-Spontaneous-Emission (SASE) principle are presently considered the most attractive candidates for delivering extremely brilliant, coherent light with wavelength in the Ångström regime . Compared to state-of-the-art synchrotron radiation sources, one expects full transverse coherence, up to 4-6 orders of magnitude larger average brilliance, and up to 8-10 orders of magnitude larger peak brilliance at pulse lengths of about 200 fs FWHM. Recently there have been important advances in demonstrating a high-gain SASE FEL at 12 $`\mu `$m wavelength  and at 530 nm wavelength .

## II Experimental set-up

The experimental results presented in this paper have been achieved at the TESLA Test Facility (TTF) Free-Electron Laser  at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY. The TESLA (TeV-Energy Superconducting Linear Accelerator) collaboration consists of 39 institutes from 9 countries and aims at the construction of a 500 GeV (center-of-mass) e+/e- linear collider with an integrated X-ray laser facility . Major hardware contributions to TTF have come from Germany, France, Italy, and the USA. The goal of the TTF FEL is to demonstrate SASE FEL emission in the VUV and, in a second phase, to build a soft X-ray user facility .

The layout is shown in Fig. 1. The main parameters for FEL operation are compiled in Table I. The injector is based on a laser-driven 1$`\frac{1}{2}`$-cell rf gun electron source operating at 1.3 GHz . It uses a Cs2Te cathode  and can generate bunch charges more than 10 nC at 1 MHz repetition rate. A loading system allows mounting and changing of cathodes while maintaining ultra-high vacuum conditions . The cathode is illuminated by a train of UV laser pulses generated in a mode-locked solid-state laser system  synchronized with the rf. An energy of up to 50 $`\mu `$J with a pulse-to-pulse variation of 2% (rms) is achieved. The UV pulse length measured with a streak camera is $`\sigma _\mathrm{t}=7.1\pm 0.6`$ ps . The rf gun is operated with a peak electric field of 37 MV/m on the photocathode. The rf pulse length was limited to 100 $`\mu `$s and the repetition rate to 1 Hz for machine protection reasons. The gun section is followed by a 9-cell superconducting cavity, boosting the energy to 16 MeV. The superconducting accelerator structure has been described elsewhere .

The undulator is a fixed 12 mm gap permanent magnet device using a combined function magnet design  with a period length of $`\lambda _\mathrm{u}`$ = 27.3 mm and a peak field of $`B_\mathrm{u}`$ = 0.46 T, resulting in an undulator parameter of $`K=1.17`$. Integrated quadrupole structures produce a gradient of 12 T/m superimposed on the periodic undulator field in order to focus the electron beam along the undulator. The undulator system is subdivided into three segments, each 4.5 m long and containing 10 quadrupole sections to build up 5 full focusing-defocusing (FODO) cells. The FODO lattice periodicity runs smoothly from segment to segment. There is a spacing of 0.3 m between adjacent segments for diagnostics. The total length of the system is 14.1 m. The vacuum chamber incorporates 10 beam position monitors and 10 orbit correction magnets per segment, one for each quadrupole .

For optimum overlap between the electron light beams, high precision on the magnetic fields and mechanical alignment are required. The undulator field was adjusted such that the expected rms deviations of the electron orbit should be smaller than 10 $`\mu `$m at 300 MeV . The beam orbit straightness in the undulator is determined by the alignment precision of the superimposed permanent-magnet quadrupole fields which is better than 50 $`\mu `$m in both vertical and horizontal direction. The relative alignment of the three segments is accomplished with a laser interferometer to better than 30 $`\mu `$m .

Different techniques have been used to measure the emittance of the electron beam : Magnet optics scanning (“quadrupole scans”), tomographic reconstruction of the phase space including space charge effects, and the slit system method. All methods use optical transition radiation emitted from aluminum foils to measure the bunch profiles and yield values for the normalized emittance of ($`4\pm 1`$$`\pi `$ mrad mm for a bunch charge of 1 nC at the exit of the injector. The emittance in the undulator, as determined from quadrupole scans and from a system of wire scanners was typically between 6 and 10 $`\pi `$ mrad mm (in both horizontal and vertical phase space). It should be noted that the measurement techniques applied determine the emittance integrated over the entire bunch length. However, for FEL physics, the emittance of bunch slices much shorter than the bunch length is the relevant parameter. It is likely that, due to spurious dispersion and wakefields, the bunch axis is tilted about a transverse axis such that the projected emittance is larger than the emittance of any slice. Based on these considerations we estimate the normalized slice emittance in the undulator at ($`6\pm 3`$$`\pi `$ mrad mm.

A bunch compressor is inserted between the two accelerating modules, in order to increase the peak current of the bunch up to 500 A, corresponding to 0.25 mm bunch length (rms) for a 1 nC bunch with Gaussian density profile. Experimentally, it is routinely verified that a large fraction of the bunch charge is compressed to a length below 0.4 mm (rms) . There are indications that the core is compressed even further. We estimate the peak current for the FEL experiment at ($`400\pm 200`$) A. Coherent synchrotron radiation in the magnetic bunch compressor may affect the emittance and the energy spread at such short bunch lengths .

## III FEL measurements

A strong evidence for the FEL process is a large increase in the on-axis radiation intensity if the electron beam is injected such that it overlaps with the radiation during the entire passage through the undulator. Fig. 2 shows the intensity passing a 0.5 mm iris, located on axis 12 m downstream of the undulator, as a function of the horizontal beam position at the undulator entrance. The observed intensity inside a window of $`\pm 200\mu `$m around the optimum beam position is a factor of more than 100 higher than the intensity of spontaneous radiation. A PtSi photodiode was used integrating over all wavelengths. Note that the vacuum chamber diameter in the undulator (9.5 mm) is much larger than the beam diameter (300 $`\mu `$m).

SASE gain is expected to depend on the bunch charge in an extremely nonlinear way. Fig. 3 shows the measured intensity on axis as a function of bunch charge $`Q`$, while the beam orbit is kept constant for optimum gain. The solid line indicates the intensity of the spontaneous undulator radiation multiplied by a factor of 100. The strongly nonlinear increase of the intensity as a function of bunch charge is a definite proof of FEL action. The gain does not further increase if the bunch charge exceeds some 0.6 nC. This needs further study, but it is known that the beam emittance becomes larger for increasing $`Q`$ thus reducing the FEL gain.

The wavelength spectrum of the radiation (taken on axis at maximum FEL gain) is presented in Fig. 4. The central wavelength of 108.5 nm is consistent with the measured beam energy of ($`233\pm 5`$) MeV and the known undulator parameter $`K=1.17`$, see Eq. (1). The intensity gain determined with the CCD camera of the spectrometer is in agreement with the photodiode result.

A characteristic feature of SASE FELs is the concentration of radiation power into a cone much narrower than that of wavelength integrated undulator radiation, whose opening angle is in the order of $`1/\gamma `$. Measurements done by moving the 0.5 mm iris horizontally together with the photodiode confirm this expectation, see Fig. 5. The spontaneous intensity is amplified by a factor of 30 to be visible on this scale.

In order to study which section of the undulator contributes most to the FEL gain, we applied closed orbit beam bumps to different sections of the undulator, thus disturbing the gain process at various locations along the undulator. It was seen that practically the entire undulator contributes, but with some variation in local gain. Some improvement in the over-all gain should be possible by optimizing the settings of the 30 orbit correction coils which have not been touched so far.

To determine the absolute FEL intensity, the photodiode is firstly calibrated using the known intensity of undulator radiation. For the iris diameter of 3 mm used for spontaneous emission and averaging the solid angle $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ over the source positions inside the undulator, we get $`\mathrm{\Omega }=2\times 10^8`$. About 70 pJ is accepted within the iris at the first harmonic of the spontaneous undulator radiation per 1 nC bunch charge. The SASE FEL signal was measured using an iris diameter of 0.5 mm, the signal was larger by a factor of about 5. Hence, the energy flux is 2 nJ/mm2 at the location of the detector and the on-axis flux per unit solid angle is about 0.3 J/sr (assuming a source position at the end of the undulator). This value was used as input for the numerical simulation of the SASE FEL performed with the code FAST . The longitudinal profile of the bunch current was assumed to be Gaussian with an rms length of 0.25 mm. The transverse distribution of the beam current density was also taken to be Gaussian. Calculations have been performed for a Gaussian energy spread of 0.1%. According to numerical simulation one of the most critical parameters for FEL operation is the normalized emittance $`\epsilon _n`$ that was varied in the simulations between 5 and 10 $`\pi `$ mrad mm. A first conclusion from our calculations is that the TTF FEL operates in the high-gain linear regime where the power grows exponentially along the undulator. The contribution of the fundamental transverse mode TEM00 to the total power seems to dominate, so that Eq. (2) applies.

Our calculations show that the length at which a level of energy flux of 0.3 J/sr is obtained strongly depends on emittance, but the number of gain lengths is roughly the same in all cases and is about 5. Figs. 4 and 5 include typical theoretical spectral and angular distributions as calculated by our numerical simulation. In both cases experimental curves are wider than the simulation results. A possible source of the widening is energy and orbit jitter, since the experimental curves are results of averaging over many bunches.

The FEL gain is defined as the ratio of output to input power$`P_{\mathrm{out}}/P_{\mathrm{in}}`$, see Eq. (2). It is a characteristic of the FEL amplifier and should depend only on the parameters of the electron beam and the undulator but not on the type of input signal. For a FEL amplifier seeded by an external laser the input power is well defined. For an FEL amplifier starting from noise (i.e. a SASE FEL) the effective power of shot noise can be defined as the power of optimally focused seeding radiation yielding the same output power. The gain $`G`$ is then simply $`G=A\mathrm{exp}(2z/L_\mathrm{g})`$, see Eq. (2). With an input coupling factor A $``$ 0.1, the FEL gain can be estimated at $`G310^3`$. The uncertainty is estimated at a factor of 3 (i.e. $`10^3<G<10^4`$) and is mainly due to the imprecise knowledge of the longitudinal beam profile.

It is essential to realize that the fluctuations seen in Figs. 2 and 3 are not primarily due to unstable operation of the accelerator but are inherent to the SASE process. Shot noise in the electron beam causes fluctuations of the beam density, which are random in time and space . As a result, the radiation produced by such a beam has random amplitudes and phases in time and space and can be described in terms of statistical optics. In the linear regime of a SASE FEL, the radiation pulse energy measured in a narrow central cone (opening angle $`\pm 20\mu `$rad in our case) at maximum gain is expected to fluctuate according to a gamma distribution $`p(E)`$ ,

$$p(E)=\frac{M^M}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(M)}\left(\frac{E}{E}\right)^{M1}\frac{1}{E}\mathrm{exp}\left(M\frac{E}{E}\right)$$
(3)
where $`E`$ is the mean energy, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(M)`$ is the gamma function with argument $`M`$, and $`M^1=(EE)^2/E^2`$ is the normalized variance of $`E`$. The parameter $`M`$ corresponds to the number of longitudinal optical modes. Note that the same kind of statistics applies for completely chaotic polarized light, in particular for spontaneous undulator radiation.

For these statistical measurements the signals from 3000 radiation pulses have been recorded, with the small iris (0.5 mm diameter) in front of the photo diode to guarantee that transversely coherent radiation pulses are selected. As one can see from Fig. 6, the distribution of the energy in the radiation pulses is quite close to the gamma distribution. The relative rms fluctuations are about 26% corresponding to $`M=14.4`$. One should take into account that these fluctuations arise not only from the shot noise in the electron beam, but the pulse-to-pulse variations of the beam parameters can also contribute to the fluctuations. Thus, the value $`M14`$ can be considered as a lower limit for the number of longitudinal modes in the radiation pulse. Using the width of radiation spectrum we calculate the coherence time  and find that the part of the electron bunch contributing to the SASE process is at least 100 $`\mu `$m long. ¿From the quality of the agreement with the gamma distribution we can also conclude that the statistical properties of the radiation are described with Gaussian statistics. In particular, this means that there are no FEL saturation effects.

## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Fundamental work on high accelerating gradients in superconducting cavities at Wuppertal University was essential for the successful construction of the first TTF accelerating modules. We are grateful for the invaluable support by the technical staff of the participating groups. Support by the Moscow Physical Engineering Institute and by the Institute for Nuclear Studies, Swierk, Poland, is gratefully acknowledged.


text:
# Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V. Long-Period 𝛽 Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-𝛽 Relation

## 1 INTRODUCTION

This is the fifth paper based on the OGLE data, but the first one based on the data from the second phase of the OGLE project (OGLE-II, Udalski et al. (1997)) utilizing the new 1.3 meter Polish telescope on Las Campanas. The data are freely available over the computer networks111http://www.astrouw.edu.pl/$``$ogle/ or http://www.astro.princeton.edu/$``$ogle/..

Analysis of large numbers of eclipsing binary stars discovered by the OGLE-I project in the direction of Baade’s Window (BW) revealed that among almost one thousand binaries, about two thirds were contact systems of the W UMa-type (Rucinski 1997a , Rucinski 1997b  = Papers I and II). The direction of the BW is towards the Galactic Bulge, yet all W UMa-type systems discovered there appear to be Disk population objects distributed over the long line of sight to the Bulge (Rucinski 1998b ). While the W UMa-type binaries are very short-period systems, with orbital periods within $`0.25<P<0.6`$ days (this class of binaries is normally assumed to have periods shorter than one day), use of a Fourier decomposition on all available OGLE-I light curves showed that main-sequence contact binaries continue to exist in the Galactic Disk population to orbital periods of about $`1.31.5`$ days and then abruptly vanish, with very few contact systems having longer periods (Rucinski 1998a  = Paper III, see Figure 2 in this paper). Only four apparently contact systems were discovered with the orbital periods $`P>10`$ days. Because of the long periods, these could not be main sequence stars such as those in the typical W UMa-type systems, but giants. Since there exist no theoretical predictions nor any observational indications that contact systems can be formed with giant components, no firm explanation for the long-period systems in BW could be offered at that time of Paper III. However, it was noticed that their light variations could be rather easily be explained by orbital synchronous rotation of a single distorted component filling its Roche lobe. Thus, these long-period binaries could consist of just one evolved component and some other star which – because of its small size and/or low temperature – would be invisible, yet would exert a sufficiently strong gravitational pull to distort the visible component.

In this paper we suggest that the “long-period contact binaries” are in fact representatives of the well known group of $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type binaries. The primary basis for the argument is the well-populated sequence of long-period (LP) systems which has been established among contact binaries discovered by the OGLE-II project in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC)(Udalski et al. 1998a ). We have found members of this sequence by using the same Fourier light-curve shape filter as in the previous papers of this series. Although the filter is meant to select genuine contact binary systems, it can also pass binaries which are not in contact, but which show sufficiently strong ellipsoidal variations and shallow or absent eclipses.

The hypothesis the LP systems are in fact binary systems with only one, Roche-lobe filling component dominating in the total light leads to a prediction of a period–luminosity–color (PLC) relation for such systems. Such a relation is expected to be very similar to what has been suggested for the W UMa-type stars (Rucinski (1994)), but with only one component defining the global relationship. If the total mass and the mass-ratio are not correlated with the orbital period (however, this is an assumption only), a PLC relation will simply result from the Kepler-law scaling of the total systemic dimensions (and thus of the stellar radius) with the orbital period, $`RP^{2/3}`$. Further conversion to a luminosity dependence, $`LR^2T_{eff}^4`$, and then to an absolute-magnitude dependence, will lead to $`M_V10/3\mathrm{log}P`$. In this paper we show that a sample of $`\beta `$ Lyrae systems in the SMC, selected with the exclusion of blue systems ($`(VI)>0.25`$), forms a surprisingly uniform and coherent group for which an absolute-magnitude relation – expressed as $`M_V=M_V(\mathrm{log}P,color)`$, with the expected $`\mathrm{log}P`$ dependence – can indeed be established.

We define the sample in Section 2 and then show the period–color relation (Section 3) as the best tool to delineate the sequence of the long-period contact systems. In Section 4 we show that in fact these are $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type binaries, not genuine contact systems. The color-magnitude diagram (Section 5) leads directly to a period–luminosity–color which we express as a absolute-magnitude calibration (Section 6). We discuss the OGLE-II data for the systems discovered in the Baade’s Window sample in Section 7 and give estimates of the spatial frequency of the LP systems in Section 8. Section 9 summarizes the results of this paper.

## 2 SELECTION OF THE SAMPLE

The first step in the selection of the sample was finding the contact systems among all eclipsing binaries found by Udalski et al. 1998a  in the SMC. Then, following the results of the next Section 3, which suggest a change in the sample characteristics at periods of about 10 days, the long-period representatives of the sequence were further selected. The $`a_2a_4`$ Fourier light-curve shape-filter has been applied to all eclipsing binaries listed in Udalski et al. 1998a . The operation of the filter is shown in Figure Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation while the details of the filter have been described before (Papers I, II, III and in Maceroni & Rucinski (1999) = Paper IV). The filter requires the $`\mathrm{cos}(4\varphi )`$ term to be, in its absolute value, relatively small in relation to the $`\mathrm{cos}(2\varphi )`$ term ($`\varphi `$ is the orbital phase). A line on the $`a_2a_4`$ relation, pre-computed for a case of the inner contact using light curve synthesis models, defines a locus of systems with components just touching. Contact systems show small (in absolute value) $`a_4`$ coefficients when compared with $`a_2`$. In effect, the Fourier light-curve filter selects eclipsing binaries with dominance of geometric distortion effects (which define the overall amplitudes and control the size of $`a_2`$) over eclipse effects (contributing primarily to the $`a_4`$ term).

Normally, the Fourier filter works very well in correctly identifying contact binaries. It also rejects very effectively semi-detached binaries of the Algol type which show deep eclipses. However, the filter may give wrong results for a semi-detached binary with very shallow or absent eclipses, in the situation of a great disparity of sizes of the components, with a large visible star showing a considerable tidal distortion222The filter fails also for systems with secondary minima displaced from phase 0.5. Such systems had to be removed manually form the sample.. Then the $`a_4`$ coefficient can also be small relative to $`a_2`$ and the binary may be erroneously classified as a contact system. This is exactly what we suspect to be the case for the LP binaries described in this paper.

As an aside, we note that the OGLE-II project eliminated small amplitude systems from consideration at the early stage by exclusion of the so-called “ellipsoidal variables” (Udalski et al. 1998a ). This means that some small-amplitude contact, semi-detached and perhaps even detached binaries have been excluded at the stage of formation of the sample. We consider this choice as somewhat unfortunate because criteria for rejection were not clearly formulated in the discovery paper. Thus, the sample cannot be used for statistical studies involving light variation amplitudes or their derived quantities (such as $`a_2`$ and $`a_4`$) at the (poorly defined) low-amplitude ends of their distributions.

## 3 PERIOD – COLOR RELATION

The sequence of long-period contact systems is very well defined in the period-color (PC) relation which – as was many times stressed in this series – plays a special role for contact binary stars. The left panel of Figure Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation shows the PC relation for the all SMC systems selected as contact with the $`a_2a_4`$ light-curve shape filter. The sequence consists of 38 systems. It starts at 11 days (in fact a couple of systems with periods of 8 – 10 days may also belong to the sequence) and continues to 181 days. It has an inverted slope relative to the one normally observed for most common contact binaries of the W UMa-type: Typical contact binaries become hotter as their periods get longer, a trend which is explained by a progression upward along the main sequence. The inverted sense of the slope for the LP sequence suggests that they become cooler with the increase of dimensions, a property normally associated with giants.

The SMC sample is not the first one to show the LP sequence: In addition to the indications from the OGLE-I Baade’s Window (BW) sample that we mentioned in Section 1, the MACHO project has also detected several similar systems in LMC; the latter have been analyzed in Rucinski (1999). We show the LMC systems in the right panel of Figure Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation. Although the BW and the LMC samples give a qualitative support to what will be discussed in this paper, we cannot utilize the BW and LMC data together with the SMC data for the following reasons: (1) It is has been found that the OGLE-I photometry for BW suffers from zero-point offsets as well as from scale errors resulting from the non-linearity of the CCD detector. We discuss the details and present limited new OGLE-II data for three systems in Section 7; (2) The MACHO sample used unconventional spectral bandpasses which resulted in photometry only approximately transformable into the $`(V,VR)`$ color system. Thus, neither the OGLE-I BW sample nor the MACHO sample can be compared with the new, high quality OGLE-II data for SMC.

## 4 LIGHT CURVES

The OGLE-II data for the SMC variable stars consist of light curves in the $`I`$ band and of the maximum light magnitudes and color indices $`(BV)`$ and $`(VI)`$. The light curves are shown in Figures Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation and Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation while the photometric data are given in Table Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation. The first columns of the table contain the OGLE project data: First, the identification numbers (the consecutive ones used in this paper and then the OGLE-II numbers), followed by the orbital periods in days and the three photometric quantities, the $`I_{max}`$ magnitude and the color indices $`(BV)`$ and $`(VI)`$. The OGLE-II identification number is made of the SMC field number (integer part of the number) and of the star number (six digits after the period). Among the 38 systems found in the SMC fields, three have additional identifications in the neighboring fields. The collection of the light curves in Figures Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ RelationEclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation shows only the light-curve data based on the primary identifications. The light-curve Fourier decomposition coefficients $`a_i`$, which are given in the last six columns of Table Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation, have been calculated for both identifications, but we used the primary ones in selection of the contact binary systems through the $`a_2a_4`$ Fourier filter. As in the previous papers of this series, $`a_i`$ are the cosine coefficients while $`b_1`$ is the only sine term representing light curve asymmetries.

The light curves shown in Figures Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation and Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation are not of typical contact systems with very similar depths of eclipses. All show unequally deep eclipses which are characteristic for $`\beta `$ Lyrae (EB) light curves. The light curves are well defined for most systems. Twenty seven systems with relatively large amplitudes of light variations have been selected to enter with full weight in determinations of luminosty calibrations in Section 6. Eleven systems with poorer light curves are marked by asterisks in Figures Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ RelationEclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation and in Table Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation; they are marked by open circles in the remaining figures.

The similarity of all LP systems in terms of their light curves is confirmed by the $`a_2a_1`$ plot in Figure Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation where we see a relatively tight relation, almost a proportionality between the coefficients. For normal W UMa-type systems, the $`a_1`$ coefficients are confined to a band $`0.02<a_1<0`$, without any clear correlation with $`a_2`$ (see Rucinski 1997b , Figure 5 there). Since the $`a_i`$ coefficients are defined in terms of light intensity units, the proportionality of $`a_1`$ to $`a_2`$ implies similar light curves in magnitudes, with similar differences of the eclipse depths. This is exactly the property that was noticed when an attempt was made to model the light curve of the LP system in the BW sample, BW0.036 (Paper III): For a system where the only visible component fills the Roche lobe, the relative depths of eclipses are expected to be very similar almost irrespective of the orbital inclination and only very slightly depend on the mass-ratio.

Although the light curves are similar, they also show some small differences in that some show narrow secondary eclipses while some show relatively more scatter at both maxima. In one case, LP#9, we see well defined eclipses indicating that both components contribute to the systemic light; we show later that this is exactly the system which deviates from the PLC relation. We have made no attempt to model the light curves of the LP systems. We feel that without spectroscopic mass ratios, this would be futile exercise. We note that color curves cannot be currently formed because of much smaller numbers of the $`B`$ and $`V`$ observations relative to the number of $`I`$ observations. However, all the light curve features can be explained by the same model which is applicable to the well-known prototype of $`\beta `$ Lyrae.

At this point, we would like to make a clear distinction between the light-curve shape designated by EB from the name of close-binary stars $`\beta `$ Lyrae. From now on, $`\beta `$ Lyrae will be used here as a binary-system prototype, not as a designator of of the EB light-curve shape. That is, when calling a star a $`\beta `$ Lyrae type, we will consider a binary with only one, giant-type component which dominates the total light, the other component being a main sequence star or collapsed star (perhaps surrounded by an accretion disk) with only a minor influence on the total systemic brightness and its light curve. Such a model is now well established for the prototype, following the extensive research of $`\beta `$ Lyrae and of the related W Serpentis-type binaries (Huang (1963), Woolf (1965), Wilson (1974), Plavec (1985), Hubeny & Plavec (1991), Harmanec & Scholtz (1993), De Greve & Linnell (1994)) and of various X-ray sources with giant-star mass donors. We stress that in calling a star a $`\beta `$ Lyrae binary, we focus on two essential properties: the semi-detached model and the giant characteristics of the Roche-lobe filling component. Later on, to establish an absolute-magnitude calibration, we add the third property: the sufficiently yellow/red color which, in most cases, indicates a negligible photometric importance of the other component.

The light curves of the LP $`\beta `$ Lyrae systems in the SMC sample appear to be symmetric, with identical heights of the light maxima (i.e. the so-called O’Connell effect is nonexistent for these systems). We also see no correlation between the sine coefficients, $`b_1`$, and the coefficients measuring the eclipse-depth differences, $`a_1`$. Such a correlation, manifesting itself as a preference for higher first maxima with the increased eclipse-depth difference, was observed for the short-period EB systems ($`P<1`$ day), appearing in the Baade’s Window sample and analyzed in Rucinski 1997b . An explanation offered there was that these are semi-detached binaries with matter being transferred from the more massive, hotter to the less-massive, cooler components. Such systems are very different from the systems discussed in this paper in that they do not have to contain a giant, Roche-lobe filling component. In fact, judging by short orbital periods, many of them consist of main sequence stars first time evolving into the mass exchange phase or, perhaps, experiencing the semi-detached stage of the thermal-cycle relaxation oscillations (Lucy (1976), Flannery (1976), Robertson & Eggleton (1977), Lucy & Wilson (1979)).

Finally, we note that the light curve amplitudes of the LP systems, as measured by the $`a_2`$ Fourier coefficient, do not show any correlation with the orbital period or the color index of the system. Note also that the light curve shapes in Figures Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ RelationEclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation do not correlate in any obvious way with the periods (the periods are given in parentheses above each panel in these figures). In this respect, the sample appears to be uniform in the sense of consisting of very similar systems.

## 5 COLOR – MAGNITUDE DIAGRAM

The SMC data are an excellent material for forming a color-magnitude diagram (CMD) and for studying location of the LP systems in relation to the well recognized stages of stellar evolution. The distance modulus is relatively well known and will be soon known even better once the matter of systematic deviations between various methods of distance determinations to Magellanic Clouds is resolved (Udalski (1998), Udalski et al. 1998b , Gibson (1999), Nelson et al. (2000), Popowski (2000)). Also, the average reddening for the SMC is small. In contrast, the Baade’s Window sample (Paper III) suffered from large and uncertain reddening corrections and from the (then unrecognized) photometric errors, more fully described in Section 7. In addition, the distances of the BW systems were of course different precluding formation of an independent color-magnitude diagram (other than the one involving an absolute-magnitude calibration). In principle, the MACHO sample for the LMC (Rucinski (1999)) could be used to form a CMD, but the data were in a non-standard photometric system and the reddening corrections (and their variations) are larger than typically for the SMC.

Figure Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation gives the observational CMD for the LP $`\beta `$ Lyrae systems in the SMC, with the main stellar density enhancements (such as the main sequence or the red clump) marked by shading. The approximate discovery completeness limits of 90% (the slanting line starting at $`I=17.5`$ and $`VI=0`$) and of close to 0% (1.5 mag. below), following Udalski et al. 1998a , are shown by slanting, dotted lines. In transforming from the observed, maximum-light photometric quantities to the de-reddened, absolute magnitudes, we used: $`(mM)_0=18.8`$, $`E_{VI}=0.12`$ and $`A_V=2.5E_{VI}`$. The LP systems are much more luminous than the main-sequence stars. They are also systematically brighter than typical giants in the SMC; this may be partly a selection effect as brightest stars are expected to have better photometry. Comparison with in evolutionary tracks in Massey et al. (1995) indicates that the LP binaries considered in this paper cover the area normally associated with evolved, moderately massive ($`35M_{}`$) stars within the range of effective temperatures of $`3.60<\mathrm{log}T_{eff}<4.00`$. Later on, we set a blue limit at $`(VI)_0=0.25`$ so that the effective temperature range is cut from above at $`\mathrm{log}T_{eff}3.9`$.

The orbital periods of the LP $`\beta `$ Lyrae systems are shown in Figure Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation by the size of the symbols. One immediately sees a period progression in that the systems with the longest periods appear in the upper part of the CMD. The longest periods, $`P>100`$ days, appear exclusively among red giants above the Red Clump location, but a similar period progression is also visible in the upper-left, blue part of Figure Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation where five systems of similar color index have luminosities scaling with their orbital periods. This type of the period dependence indicates that a period – luminosity – color relation can be established for the LP systems.

## 6 PERIOD – LUMINOSITY – COLOR RELATION

### 6.1 Calibration of the relation

The previously established absolute magnitude calibrations for contact binary systems of the W UMa-type are of limited value here, primarily because of the vastly different ranges of the orbital periods. While the W UMa calibrations are applicable to the range 0.25 – 0.6 days (Rucinski & Duerbeck (1997))333A blind application of the $`(VI)`$-based calibration of Rucinski & Duerbeck (1997) to the SMC LP systems gives $`M_V`$ estimates about 3.5 magnitudes too bright., the calibration that we would like to establish will cover a large range of the orbital periods from 11 days to 181 days.

We set aside and do not discuss the contact systems with the intermediate periods, starting around 0.6 – 1.5 days at the short end and extending to 10 days. Such systems apparently do not exists in the solar neighborhood and are exceedingly rare in the BW sample (Rucinski 1998a ), but – possibly due to the discovery selection effect preferring brightest objects – are quite common in the present SMC and in the MACHO LMC samples (Figure Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation). We feel that the intermediate-period ($`1.510`$ days) systems which are visible in the SMC and LMC samples are a mix of genuine contact systems with the moderately-short representatives of the $`\beta `$ Lyrae systems discussed in this paper. They will be the subject of a separate investigation.

Assuming the same values for the distance modulus and reddening as in the previous section, the linear regression for the whole available data set of 38 systems (with 11 systems given half weights) gives:

$`M_V`$ $`=`$ $`3.90\mathrm{log}P+3.27(VI)_0+2.40,\sigma =0.50`$ (1)
$`M_V`$ $`=`$ $`4.05\mathrm{log}P+3.01(BV)_0+3.46,\sigma =0.63`$ (2)
The standard errors (per data point) $`\sigma `$ are large and one may question the validity of linear fits in so poorly constrained cases. The deviations from the linear regressions are shown in the upper two panels of Figure Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation. Note, that the bluest stars appear to deviate the most from the linear dependencies. If we exclude these systems setting the limit at $`(VI)0>0.25`$, then the linear fits improve substantially reaching the level of precision of about 0.35 mag. This level of accuracy is similar to that for W UMa-type binaries and for Cepheid variables. For the limited data set of 33 yellow-red systems, the linear weighted regression equations are:

$`M_V`$ $`=`$ $`3.43\mathrm{log}P+2.04(VI)_0+2.80,\sigma =0.34`$ (3)
$`M_V`$ $`=`$ $`3.30\mathrm{log}P+1.49(BV)_0+3.38,\sigma =0.38`$ (4)
The standard deviations are now quite respectably small so that the equations can be used for prediction of absolute magnitudes. The deviations from the linear fits for this case are shown in Figure Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation. Realistic uncertainties of the coefficients for the sample of 33 yellow-red systems have been established by application of a bootstrap re-sampling process. The median values and the 1–$`\sigma `$ ranges give the following relations:

$`M_V`$ $`=`$ $`3.41_{0.27}^{+0.28}\mathrm{log}P+2.00_{0.31}^{+0.29}(VI)_0+2.80_{0.27}^{+0.27}`$ (5)
$`M_V`$ $`=`$ $`3.29_{0.34}^{+0.34}\mathrm{log}P+1.48_{0.34}^{+0.31}(BV)_0+3.36_{0.39}^{+0.43}`$ (6)
The $`\mathrm{log}P`$ coefficients are very close what we suggested would be the case on the basis of very simplified considerations in Section 1, $`M_V3.33\mathrm{log}P`$, which is highly gratifying. But we achieved that by removing the five blue systems with $`(VI)0<0.25`$. This removal is not entirely arbitrary; we discuss it in the next subsection. One can fix the period coefficient at the expected Kepler-law value of $`3.33`$ and determine the other two regression coefficients with higher much accuracy. The results for 33 yellow-red systems are:

$`M_V+3.33\mathrm{log}P`$ $`=`$ $`1.94(VI)_0+2.72,\sigma =0.34`$ (7)
$`M_V+3.33\mathrm{log}P`$ $`=`$ $`1.51(BV)_0+3.40,\sigma =0.38`$ (8)
while the bootstrap-estimated median values and the 1–$`\sigma `$ ranges lead to:

$`M_V+3.33\mathrm{log}P`$ $`=`$ $`1.94_{0.17}^{+0.14}(VI)_0+2.72_{0.14}^{+0.18}`$ (9)
$`M_V+3.33\mathrm{log}P`$ $`=`$ $`1.50_{0.20}^{+0.19}(BV)_0+3.41_{0.16}^{+0.16}`$ (10)
We suggest that until better and more extensive data become available, Eqs. (3)–(4) or Eqs. (7)–(8) serve as the preliminary calibrations of the PLC-$`\beta `$ relation.

### 6.2 Limitations of the PLC-$`\beta `$ relation

One of the limitations of the PLC-$`\beta `$ relation is the necessity to limit selection of the systems to redder than $`(VI)_0=0.25`$. There a few reasons why the blue stars may deviate from the general trends:

* The underpinning of the PLC-$`\beta `$ relation is the assumption that the large, Roche-lobe filling component dominates the photometric characteristics of the system. Only then one can expect a tight relation between the size of this component (governed by the Roche lobe scaled with the size of the whole system) and the total luminosity of the binary system. Even a relatively small, but hot and hence possibly luminous companion can modify the color index to make it blue. Thus, blue color index may be considered as a direct indication that the hot companion of the Roche-filling star is contributing substantially to the system light. The well-observed system LP#9 (OGLE-II#3.134555) which shows clear eclipses is an excellent illustration of the point in that it is one of the blue systems removed from the final calibration.
* It is well known that the optical-range color indices, such as $`(BV)`$ or $`(VI)`$, lose sensitivity to effective temperature for very hot stars. The serious problems in the color – effective temperature transformations occur at $`\mathrm{log}T_{eff}>4.5`$ (Massey et al. (1995)). In our case, the blue stars which deviate from the PLC-$`\beta `$ relation are not that hot, and have temperatures within the range $`3.9<\mathrm{log}T_{eff}<4.0`$.
* $`\beta `$ Lyrae is itself a good case of a blue binary system which does not obey our PLC-$`\beta `$ relation. In this case, it is not the contribution of the other component to the total light, but apparently the Roche-lobe filling component is too luminous. Dobias & Plavec (1985) summarize the parameters of relevance to our discussion: $`P=12.937`$ days, $`M_V=4.7`$ for both components and $`M_V^{vis}=4.1`$ for the visible component, $`(BV)_0=0.13`$ (which implies $`(VI)_00.1`$. Our calibrations predict $`M_V^{VI}=1.3`$ and $`M_V^{BV}=0.5`$ for the visible component. This component is thus some 2.8 – 3.6 mag. over-luminous relative to the calibrations.
* Possibly, use of single linear relations for the color dependence is simply inappropriate over the whole wide range $`0<(VI)_0<1.6`$ observed for the LP $`\beta `$ Lyrae systems. The five hot systems in our sample do show the steep relation between $`M_V`$ and $`\mathrm{log}P`$. If we lump all five and use their average color indices ($`(VI)_0=+0.109`$ and $`(BV)_0=0.067`$) to enter these in Eqs. (3) and (4), then $`M_V3.10\mathrm{log}P`$, with the zero points, $`+0.87`$ and $`+1.19`$ for the $`(VI)`$ and $`(BV)`$ based relations, respectively. These zero points are very different than for the more common yellow-red LP systems, leading to relations by about 2 to 2.5 magnitudes brighter. This would go some way towards expaining the over-luminosity of the $`\beta `$ Lyrae less-massive component.

A serious limitation of any approach requiring de-reddened colour indices is the uncertainty of the reddening correction. Although the colour-index terms have relatively small coefficients and the strongest dependence is in the $`\mathrm{log}P`$ term, nevertheless the reddening corrections must be applied to the observed data. For the SMC OGLE-II data, two indices are available, $`(BV)`$ and $`(VI)`$. Can one use form a reddening-free index, similar to the well-known $`Q`$ index? Unfortunately, this is not the case for the particular combination of the indices. An index constructed in the form: $`Q^{}=(BV)k(VI)`$, where $`k=E_{BV}/E_{VI}`$ is not a monotonic function of the indices: It shows a shallow increase from $`(VI)_0=0.2`$ to 0.9, then a broad maximum around $`0.9<(VI)_0<1.4`$, and a steep decline further to the red. Thus, while the conventional $`Q`$-index technique based on the $`(UB)`$ and $`(BV)`$ would work, the one based on the $`(BV)`$ and $`(VI)`$ indices would fail. The reddening correction uncertainty will remain the main limitation of the PLC-$`\beta `$ relation.

### 6.3 External checks: The LMC and M31 data

Undoubtedly, calibrations of the PLC-$`\beta `$ relation will be substantially improved when similar OGLE-II data for the Large Magellanic Cloud become available. At present, support from other sources is weak. As has been pointed before, the currently available MACHO data for the LP systems in LMC (Rucinski (1999)) are in a non-standard photometric systems only approximating the $`VR`$ filter system. Seven systems in this sample have orbital periods longer than 10 days, in the range $`12<P<52`$ days. Unfortunately, all seven are quite blue ($`VR<0.35`$, see their location in right panel of Figure Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation). It is nevertheless possible to establish a tight linear relation, similar to the calibration Equations (3) – (10), for these systems. The relation ($`M_V=0.26\mathrm{log}P+4.31(VR)_01.58`$ for $`mM=18.3`$ and $`E_{VR}=0.2`$) has a small dispersion $`\sigma =0.1`$ mag., but we do not believe that this relation is of much validity because the photometric system is non-standard and all systems are blue.

The data for binary systems in the Andromeda galaxy detected by the DIRECT project also do not provide an external check on the calibration of the PLC-$`\beta `$ relation. The project found four LP systems of $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type in M31 (Stanek et al. (1998), Stanek et al. (1999), Kaluzny et al. (1999)). All four have periods within 11 to 14 days, so that they do not probe the whole span of the orbital periods of the SMC sample. The DIRECT systems are: D31A–6423, D31C–13944, D31D–5186, D31D–7221 (we will call them below by consecutive numbers, 1 – 4). The systems #1 and #4 have very poor photometric data (especially the crucial color indices are poorly determined) while the system #2 has too blue color index (uncorrected $`VI=0.13`$) to belong to our proper LP sequence. Only the third system, D31D-5186 would qualify, with $`P=11.80`$ days, $`V_{max}=19.5`$, $`VI=0.41`$ and the very uncertain $`BV=0.2`$. The directly evaluated value of $`M_V`$, assuming $`mM=24.5`$ (Stanek & Garnavich (1998)) and $`E_{BV}=0.1`$ is $`M_V=5.3`$, while the one estimated from Eq. (3), assuming the same reddening, is $`M_V=0.2`$. Thus, the discrepancy between the two estimates is very large, either shedding doubt on our SMC calibration or indicating that the companion is over-luminous (as in the very case of $`\beta `$ Lyrae). We note that the DIRECT project can discover only the very brightest binaries in M31 and these would be the ones which would be most likely the ones which deviate the most from the calibration. Also, the color used is highly dependent on the assumed reddening which is only guessed in this case. We cannot exclude a possibility that $`(VI)_0`$ for the system #3 is smaller than our threshold of 0.25; then the system would belong to the blue group which we explicitly excluded from consideration when establishing the PLC-$`\beta `$ relation.

## 7 LONG-PERIOD SYSTEMS IN BAADE’S WINDOW

It has been realized recently that the OGLE-I photometry for Baade’s Window (BW) suffered from systematic zero point offsets and linearity problems resulting from the non-linearity of the original CCD detector. At the brightness level of the Bulge Red Clump Giants, the offsets are moderate: 0.021 in $`V`$, 0.035 in $`I`$ and thus 0.056 in $`(VI)`$ (Paczynski et al. (1999)). More worrisome are however the non-linearities, relatively larger in the $`V`$-filter data for red stars and affecting particularly strongly the $`(VI)`$ color indices of faint and red stars. Dr. Udalski (private communication) estimated that deviations in $`(VI)`$ may be as large as 0.2 mag. for faintest surveyed stars. Since the color indices play an important role in our absolute-magnitude calibrations, the deficiency of the OGLE-I photometry will require a more extensive re-discussion of the results of Papers II and III.

The OGLE project, currently in its Phase II, is characterizing the systematic errors of OGLE-I. Some stars already have excellent new data in $`V`$, $`(BV)`$ and $`(VI)`$. At our request, Dr. Udalski kindly checked the availability of new data for the sequence of the systems with $`P>1`$ days which had been discussed in Rucinski 1998a  (Paper III). About two thirds of these stars have new photometry. Among the four BW systems with $`P>10`$ days, three have new photometric data. These have been made available to us in terms of the average light levels, requiring additional corrections to the maximum light level. They are based on typically 30 observations in $`I`$ and 10 observations in $`V`$. We applied the differences $`\mathrm{\Delta }I=\overline{I_1}I_1`$, as found on the basis of the OGLE-I light curves (Paper III), to convert the data from the average ($`\overline{I_2}`$) to the maximum ($`I_2`$) light levels. The details are given in Table Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation.

The left panel of Figure Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation shows the OGLE-II data for the three LP $`\beta `$ Lyrae systems in the period-color plane, with the assumed reddening corrections the same as in Paper III (the three systems are marked by filled asterisks). The corrections were found on the basis of an assumption that the reddened stars are further than 2 kpc and thus suffer the same amount of reddening as the Bulge stars in the BW (Stanek (1996)). This assumption can be checked for consistency using the calibration in Eq. (3). The estimates of the distances are given in the last column of Table Eclipsing Binaries in the OGLE Variable Star Catalogs. V.  Long-Period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type Systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud and the PLC-$`\beta `$ Relation. The errors reflect the uncertainty of the calibration equation of about 0.3 mag. The results are consistent with two systems in the Bulge (possibly on the other side of it) and one system possibly in front of the Bulge or inside its elongated part directed toward us. The fourth system, #0.036, without the new data, also appears to be located in the Bulge. We treat these distance determinations as very preliminary and disregard a possible metallicity mismatch between the calibration established for the SMC systems and the possibly metal-rich systems in Baade’s Window.

## 8 SPATIAL FREQUENCY

The spatial frequency of the long-period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type systems is difficult to estimate because it is practically impossible to estimate the OGLE-II search volume in the SMC. In terms of the intrinsic luminosities, the LP $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type systems occupy the range $`5<M_V<+1`$ (the calibrated part extends to $`M_V3`$) so that they can be compared with the Cepheid variables. The OGLE-II project observed 2155 Cepheids in the SMC (Dr. A. Udalski – private information) which can be compared with 38 long-period $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type systems discussed here. While a large fraction were previous discoveries and the LP binary systems are new, this gives a rough idea about the frequency of occurrence of the LP $`\beta `$ Lyrae-type more than 50 times below the spatial frequency of the Cepheids. As an aside, notice when comparing the two types of variables, that the period term in the LPC-$`\beta `$ relation appears to be close to the expected $`M_V3.33\mathrm{log}P`$, while the Cepheids show a period dependence, with the period coefficient $`2.78`$ (Feast & Walker (1987)) or $`2.76`$ (Madore & Friedman (1991)). The similarity of these dependencies should not be surprising as both are driven by the same dimension – response time relationship of the dynamical time scale.

The Baade’s Window data give us only a very approximate constraint on their frequency in our Galaxy. If one determines the average frequency of occurrence by simply dividing their number (four) by the volume of the OGLE-I search in the BW area (about $`2.5\times 10^7`$ pc3 to the Galactic center), then an estimate of the frequency is $`1.6\times 10^7`$ LP systems per cubic parsec. However, the LP $`\beta `$ Lyrae systems appear to be strongly concentrated towards the Galactic Bulge so that such a naive estimate does not take into account the increase in numbers of stars as the line of sight penetrates the Galactic Bulge. We recall that the W UMa-type systems of the disk population approximately follow the stellar density in the BW direction with the average density of about $`7.6\times 10^5`$ systems per cubic parsec (Rucinski 1998b ).

## 9 DISCUSSION

This paper discusses consequence and observational support for an assumption that the long-period ($`P>10`$ days), apparently contact binary systems observed in Baade’s Window, and in LMC and SMC, are in fact $`\beta `$ Lyrae systems with the cool components dominating their total luminosity. We analyzed in detail the LP systems in the SMC and found that they form a well-defined, moderately tight, “inverted” period-color relation, implying a color–size relation characteristic for giants rather than for main-sequence stars. The principal support, however, comes from the existence of a period-color-luminosity relation for those which are sufficiently cool. Tentatively, we set the color-index limit at $`(VI)_0>0.25`$. An absolute-magnitude calibration of the new PLC-$`\beta `$ relation in the form $`M_V=M_V(\mathrm{log}P,color)`$, established in a preliminary form on the basis of 33 systems in the SMC, has the expected slope $`M_V3.33\mathrm{log}P`$. It offers an exciting application for distance determination to nearby galaxies. The LP $`\beta `$ Lyrae systems are the brightest among binary stars and their continuous light variations make them also very easy to spot. They occupy roughly the same range of the absolute magnitudes as the Cepheid variables, but appear to be by about 50 times less common in space. Therefore, the PLC-$`\beta `$ relation can play only an auxiliary – although entirely independent – role in distance determinations.

We see sequences of ostensibly contact, long-period systems not only in the SMC, but also in Baade’s Window and in MACHO data for LMC. However, the latter data sets could not be used to improve the absolute magnitude calibration of the PLC-$`\beta `$ relation for reasons described in detail in Sections 3 and 7. It is expected that the data for LMC currently collected by the OGLE-II project will provide an excellent check and improvement of the tentative results presented here.

We conclude by observing that the $`\beta `$ Lyrae binaries discussed in this paper are expected to show some similarities to the cataclysmic variable (CV) binaries. The CV binaries are also known to have secondary (less massive components) filling their Roche lobes. As was observed by Faulkner et al. (1972), a combination of Kepler’s law, $`a^3(M_1+M_2)P^2`$, with the approximate relation for the relative radius of the Roche lobe filling star, $`R_2/a=0.462(q/(1+q))^{1/3}`$, with $`q=M_2/M_11`$, gives a relation similar to that for pulsating stars: $`P=0.438/\sqrt{\rho }`$, where the period $`P`$ is in days and the mean density of the star, $`\rho `$, is in g cm-3. This relation is valid for small mass ratios ($`q<0.5`$), but corrections for larger values of $`q`$ are small. Because the range of the observed period for the LP sequence in the SMC is large, one expects the Roche-lobe filling components to have mean densities within a large range from about $`2\times 10^3`$ g cm-3 to less than $`10^5`$ g cm-3, that is within typical range observed for yellow-red giants and supergiants.

Special thanks are due to Dr. Andrzej Udalski for his prompt response – in spite of many ongoing activities – to a request to extract new OGLE-II data for the LP systems observed by OGLE-I project in Baade’s Window and for several explanatory comments on the data. Thanks are also due to Dr. Stefan Mochnacki for very useful comments and suggestions. The authors would like to thank the OGLE team for making the data freely available over the computer networks. CM acknowledges the support of the Italian Ministry of Research (MURST) through a Cofin98 grant and SMR acknowledges the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada.

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