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# Optical Spectroscopy of Supernova 1993J During Its First 2500 Days

## 1 Introduction

Supernova 1993J was visually discovered in the nearby galaxy M81 (NGC 3031; $`d`$ = 3.6 Mpc; Freedman et al. 1994) by F. Garcia on 1993 March 28.906 UT (Ripero, Garcia, & Rodriguez 1993; note that all calendar dates used herein are UT). It reached a maximum brightness of $`m_V=10.8`$ mag (e.g., Richmond et al. 1994), becoming the brightest supernova (SN) in the northern hemisphere since SN 1954A ($`m_{\mathrm{pg}}=9.95`$; Wild 1960; Barbon, Ciatti, & Rosino 1973). In terms of observational coverage, both in temporal consistency (almost nightly observations at early times) and in the details of individual observations (including observations with signal-to-noise \[S/N\] ratios, spectral resolutions, and wavelength regions not typically found in studies of SNe), SN 1993J is surpassed only by SN 1987A. Early spectra showed an almost featureless blue continuum, possibly with broad, but weak, H$`\alpha `$ and He I $`\lambda `$5876 lines. This led to a classification of the SN as Type II (Filippenko et al. 1993; Garnavich & Ann 1993; see Filippenko 1997 for a general discussion of SN types). Wheeler & Filippenko (1996) present a thorough review of the early work on SN 1993J.

Both the spectra and the light curve of SN 1993J quickly began to indicate that this was not a typical Type II SN. Indeed, the initially unusual light curve and the appearance of He I lines in the spectra was interpreted as evidence that SN 1993J was similar to a SN Ib, with a low-mass outer layer of hydrogen that gave the early impression of a SN II (see discussion and references below). Following Woosley et al. (1987), it was described as a “Type IIb” SN. This transformation from SN II to nearly SN Ib indicates a common mechanism (core collapse) for these two observationally defined subclasses. SN 1993J is thus one of the most significant SNe ever studied, not only for its role in linking Types II and Ib (and possibly Ic), but also because it was observed with such great detail.

In §2 of this paper we review the study of SN 1993J; we are presenting over six years of optical spectra and it is appropriate to provide such a summary. (Wheeler & Filippenko  only cover the first few months of the development of SN 1993J in their review; moreover, the interpretation to follow depends on the context of the previous observations and analyses.) We then present the collection of our spectra of SN 1993J from the Lick and Keck Observatories111Spectropolarimetry obtained at Lick on days 24, 34, and 45 is discussed by Tran et al. (1997), and is not duplicated here. (§3), along with a general description of the spectra through the various phases of evolution for the SN in §4. Detailed analysis of our spectra for individual phases is discussed elsewhere (Filippenko, Matheson, & Ho 1993, hereinafter FMH93; Filippenko, Matheson, & Barth 1994, hereinafter FMB94; Matheson et al. 2000, hereinafter Paper II).

## 2 Previous Studies of Supernova 1993J

The evolution of the light curve of SN 1993J did not follow either of the two typical paths for SNe II. SN 1993J did not remain at a relatively constant brightness after a slight decline from maximum, as a normal Type II plateau SN would, nor did the brightness decline in the pattern of a Type II linear SN (for examples of these Type II light curves, see, e.g., Doggett & Branch 1985). Instead, SN 1993J rose quickly, then rapidly declined for $``$1 week, only to brighten a second time over the next two weeks. This led to another rapid decrease in brightness for $``$3 weeks, followed by an approximately exponential decline. For a complete discussion of the photometry of SN 1993J, see Okyudo et al. (1993), Schmidt et al. (1993), van Driel et al. (1993), Wheeler et al. (1993), Benson et al. (1994), Lewis et al. (1994), Richmond et al. (1994, 1996), Barbon et al. (1995), Doroshenko et al. (1995), and Prabhu et al. (1995).

The unusual initial behavior of the light curve rapidly led many SN modelers to conclude that SN 1993J was the result of a core-collapse explosion in a progenitor that had lost a significant fraction of its hydrogen envelope, leaving only $`0.10.5M_{\mathrm{}}`$ of hydrogen. The original envelope could have been lost through winds (Höflich, Langer, & Duschinger 1993) from a fairly massive star ($`2530M_{\mathrm{}}`$). Another possibility explored by Hashimoto, Iwamoto, & Nomoto (1993; see also Nomoto et al. 1993) is that SN 1993J was the result of the explosion of an asymptotic giant branch star having main-sequence mass $`M_{ms}710M_{\mathrm{}}`$, with a helium-rich envelope.

A more likely solution is that the progenitor of SN 1993J was a member of a binary system and the companion had stripped away a considerable amount of hydrogen. The progenitor was observed during prior studies of M81. Aldering, Humphreys, & Richmond (1994) analyzed several sets of pre-existing images and deduced that the photometry was inconsistent with a single star at the position of SN 1993J. They found that the best fit for the progenitor itself was a K0 I star with $`M_{\mathrm{bol}}7.8`$ mag and $`\mathrm{V R}0.7`$ mag. Cohen, Darling, & Porter (1995) derived a similar color from a five-month series of images of M81 from 1984; there was no apparent variability.

Using the scenario of a star that had been stripped of most of its hydrogen envelope, Nomoto et al. (1993) and Shigeyama et al. (1994) found a best fit to the light curve from their model of a $`4M_{\mathrm{}}`$ helium core, although a range of $`36M_{\mathrm{}}`$ for the core is reasonable. The main-sequence mass of the star would have been 15 $`M_{\mathrm{}}`$, while the residual hydrogen envelope is less than $`0.9M_{\mathrm{}}`$. Starting with a star of initial mass of $`1316M_{\mathrm{}}`$, Woosley et al. (1994) could reproduce the light curve from the explosion of a remaining helium core with mass $`4.0\pm 0.5M_{\mathrm{}}`$ and hydrogen envelope with mass $`0.20\pm 0.05M_{\mathrm{}}`$. A similar model by Podsiadlowski et al. (1993) had $`0.2M_{\mathrm{}}`$ of hydrogen remaining on a star of initial mass $`M_i15M_{\mathrm{}}`$. Ray, Singh, & Sutaria (1993) also invoked a binary system for SN 1993J with a residual hydrogen envelope mass of $`0.2M_{\mathrm{}}`$. Utrobin (1994) used an envelope mass of $`0.1M_{\mathrm{}}`$ remaining on a $`3M_{\mathrm{}}`$ helium core from an initial mass of $`12M_{\mathrm{}}`$. Bartunov et al. (1994) achieved a good fit to the light curve with a helium core mass of 3.5 $`M_{\mathrm{}}`$, but a larger hydrogen envelope ($`M_{env}0.9M_{\mathrm{}}`$). Later studies continued to conclude that a low-mass envelope of hydrogen on a helium core was the most likely scenario for the progenitor (Young, Baron, & Branch 1995; Utrobin 1996). Intercomparison of two methods also indicated that the results were robust (Blinnikov et al. 1998). Houck & Fransson (1996) used a non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) synthetic spectrum code to fit nebular spectra and found that the Nomoto et al. (1993) models could explain the late-time spectra. They found a best fit with a 3.2 $`M_{\mathrm{}}`$ helium core with a $`0.20.4M_{\mathrm{}}`$ hydrogen envelope. Patat, Chugai, & Mazzali (1995) also used the late-time spectra, specifically the H$`\alpha `$ line, to derive an ionized hydrogen mass of $`0.050.2M_{\mathrm{}}`$; this is a lower limit to the envelope mass.

Woosley et al. (1987) had already considered such a possibility for core-collapse SNe, giving them a new name: SNe IIb. The low-mass outer layer of hydrogen would give the initial appearance of a SN II, but the spectrum would slowly change to one more similar to that of a SN Ib, dominated by helium lines with the hydrogen either appearing weakly or completely gone. Indeed, Nomoto et al. (1993) predicted that the spectrum of SN 1993J would show this behavior. This was first confirmed by Filippenko & Matheson (1993), followed rapidly by Schmidt et al. (1993) and Swartz et al. (1993). A complete analysis of our optical spectra covering the transformation of SN 1993J from a Type II to a Type IIb is presented by FMH93. Other studies of the early optical spectra include those of Wheeler et al. (1993), Taniguchi et al. (1993), Garnavich & Ann (1994), Ohta et al. (1994), Prabhu et al. (1995), and Metlova et al. (1995).

Jeffery et al. (1994) present an early ultraviolet (UV) spectrum of SN 1993J taken with the *Hubble Space Telescope (HST)* on 1993 April 15. The other core-collapse SNe that had been observed in the UV to that point were compared with SN 1993J, and there were striking differences. SN 1993J had a relatively smooth UV spectrum and was more similar to SN 1979C and SN 1980K, both of which are radio sources and thus likely to have thick circumstellar envelopes (e.g., Weiler et al. 1986). The UV spectra of SN 1987A, in contrast, showed broad absorption features. The illumination from circumstellar interaction may reduce the relative strengths of line features compared to the continuum and thus produce the featureless UV spectra of SNe 1979C, 1980K, and 1993J (Branch et al. 2000).

SN 1993J then evolved fairly rapidly into the nebular phase; our analysis of this transition is covered by FMB94. The nebular-phase spectra were similar to those of a typical SN Ib, but the hydrogen lines never faded completely. In fact, H$`\alpha `$ began to dominate the spectrum at late times, most likely the result of circumstellar interaction. There were several other papers that considered the nebular-phase spectra (and some relatively late-time spectra). Lewis et al. (1994) present the complete La Palma archive covering days 2 through 125. Li et al. (1994) discuss the nebular-phase spectra observed from the Beijing Astronomical Observatory. Barbon et al. (1995) show the first year of observations from Asiago; the transformation of the SN from Type II to IIb is evident, as is the return of H$`\alpha `$ at late times (by $``$ 200 days). A longer baseline ($`500`$ days) for the spectra is found in the work of Finn et al. (1995); all the features described above are evident in their spectra, but the very late-time observations show even more clearly the presence of circumstellar interaction.

There were optical spectropolarimetric observations of SN 1993J. Trammell, Hines, & Wheeler (1993) found a continuum polarization of $`P=1.6\%\pm 0.1\%`$ on day 24 (assuming 1993 March 27.5 as the explosion date; see below). Trammell et al. (1993), as well as later considerations of the same data (Höflich 1995; Höflich et al. 1996), argued that this polarization implied an overall asymmetry, but the source of this asymmetry was undetermined. The presence of SN 1993J in a binary system was implicated as a potential source for the asymmetry. With more epochs of observation (days 7, 8, 11 \[$`V`$-band only\], 24, 30, 31, 32, 34, 45, and 48), Tran et al. (1997) also found a polarization in the continuum of $``$ 1%, but a different level for the interstellar polarization. Nevertheless, they also concluded that SN 1993J was asymmetric. It is interesting to note that a subsequent SN IIb, SN 1996cb, showed substantially similar polarization of its spectra (Wang et al. 2000).

The analysis of individual aspects of the spectra has yielded some interesting results. Both Wang & Hu (1994) and Spyromilio (1994) found evidence for clumpy ejecta with blueshifted emission lines. Houck & Fransson (1996) argue that the lines are not actually blueshifted, but that contamination from other lines appears to shift them. Nonetheless, the lines do show substructure that indicates clumpy ejecta. The discussion of the clumpy nature of the ejecta based on analysis of our spectra is presented in Paper II.

Models of the early spectra could reproduce their overall shape, but the line strengths were problematic. Baron et al. (1993) found a photospheric temperature of $``$ 8000 K for day 10, but the predicted hydrogen and helium lines were too weak, possibly indicating unusual abundances or non-thermal effects. A later analysis including the *HST* UV spectrum was fit well by including enhanced helium abundance and NLTE effects (Baron, Hauschildt, & Branch 1994). Jeffery et al. (1994) also had difficulties fitting line strengths for transitions that are susceptible to NLTE effects. Clocchiatti et al. (1995) studied the early spectra to follow the evolution of color temperature and to calculate a distance to M81 ($``$ 3.5 Mpc) using the expanding photosphere method (e.g., Eastman, Schmidt, & Kirshner 1996). The NLTE treatment of calcium is explored by Zhang & Wang (1996), who found a best fit with a reduced calcium abundance.

SN 1993J was also observed quite thoroughly at other wavelengths (see Wheeler & Filippenko 1996 for a summary of early results). Pooley & Green (1993) presented a light curve at 2 cm obtained with the Ryle Telescope. These data were merged by Van Dyk et al. (1994) with the VLA data, which included not only observations at 2 cm, but also at 1.3 cm, 3.6 cm, 6 cm, and 20 cm. Interpreting the data within the context of standard theories of radio emission from SNe (e.g., Chevalier 1982, 1984; Weiler et al. 1986; Weiler, Panagia, & Sramek 1990), Van Dyk et al. (1994) concluded that the radio absorbing material around the SN is inhomogeneous and that the circumstellar density profile is flatter than that expected for a constant mass-loss rate, constant-velocity wind. The flatter profile could be the result of decreasing mass-loss rate or increasing wind velocity. SN 1993J was also observed using very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). Early studies indicated either a disk-like structure or an optically thick shell (Marcaide et al. 1994), and other observations found SN 1993J to be circularly symmetric and expanding linearly (Bartel et al. 1994). Later measurements found a spherically symmetric shell (Marcaide et al. 1995). After years of observation using VLBI, Marcaide et al. (1997) still observed a symmetric shell, but the SN expansion had apparently begun to decelerate. With an even longer baseline, Bartel et al. (2000) also found that the expansion had begun to decelerate, as well as revealing some structure in the ejecta. As these studies probe different regions than the polarimetric observations described above, the spherical symmetry revealed by the VLBI images is not inconsistent with the asymmetry deduced from polarimetry.

Soft X-rays were detected from SN 1993J six days after the explosion by *ROSAT* (Zimmerman et al. 1994) and two days later by *ASCA* (Kohmura et al. 1994). Both observatories followed the SN for several months, recording a gradual decrease in X-ray flux as well as a softening of the energy spectrum. The *Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory* detected SN 1993J with OSSE, and hard X-rays ($`>`$ 50 keV) were observed on at least two epochs (Leising et al. 1994). All three of these groups, as well as Suzuki & Nomoto (1995) and Fransson, Lundqvist, & Chevalier (1996), interpreted these observations as indications of circumstellar interaction, with the X-rays coming from either the shocked wind material or the reverse-shocked SN ejecta. Both Patat et al. (1995) and Houck & Fransson (1996) concluded that the late-time optical spectra could only be powered by a circumstellar interaction; radioactive decay alone was not enough.

Although SN 1993J has provided the best observational evidence for the transformation of a SN from one type to another, there have been other examples. The early spectra of SN 1987K showed hydrogen lines, but the late-time spectra more closely resembled those of SNe Ib (Filippenko 1988). The transition itself was not observed, occurring while SN 1987K was in conjunction with the Sun. SN 1996cb underwent a very similar metamorphosis from SN II to SN Ib; Qiu et al. (1999) present a complete spectroscopic record of the transformation. In addition, there were some suggestions of hydrogen in spectra of the Type Ic SN 1987M (Jeffery et al. 1991; Filippenko 1992) and the SN Ic 1991A (and perhaps SN Ic 1990aa; Filippenko 1992). SN 1993J is clearly a significant object in the study of SNe. By providing a link between SNe II and SNe Ib, it has strengthened the argument that SNe Ib (and, by extension, SNe Ic) are also core-collapse events.

## 3 Observations and Reductions

### 3.1 Low-Dispersion Spectra

Low-dispersion spectra of SN 1993J were obtained with the Kast double spectrograph (Miller & Stone 1993) at the Cassegrain focus of the Shane 3-m reflector at Lick Observatory and with the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (LRIS; Oke et al. 1995) at the Cassegrain focus of the Keck 10-m telescopes (both Keck I and Keck II were used). The Kast spectrograph has Reticon $`400\times 1200`$ pixel CCDs in both cameras, while LRIS has a single Tektronix $`2048\times 2048`$ pixel CCD. The spatial scale for the Kast CCD was 0.$`\mathrm{}`$8 per pixel; the LRIS CCD was binned in the spatial direction, yielding 0.$`\mathrm{}`$43 per pixel. At Lick, the slit width was generally 2$`\mathrm{}`$, but 8$`\mathrm{}`$ observations were also taken on potentially photometric nights to provide an absolute flux scale; the 2$`\mathrm{}`$ data were scaled to the flux level of the 8$`\mathrm{}`$ observation. The 8$`\mathrm{}`$ observations were done only when SN 1993J was reasonably bright (until about day 200). The LRIS slit width was typically 1$`\mathrm{}`$, but 0.$`\mathrm{}`$7 widths were also used when conditions allowed or when attempting to obtain better spectral resolution. Various gratings and grisms were utilized, yielding resolutions (full width at half maximum, FWHM) ranging from 2.5 Å to 15 Å. Details of the exposures are given in Table 1. Most of the spectra were taken with the slit oriented at, or near (within 10), the parallactic angle (Filippenko 1982), but exceptions are noted in Table 1. We follow Lewis et al. (1994) in adopting 1993 March 27.5 (JD 2,449,074) as the date of explosion.

Standard CCD processing and spectrum extraction were accomplished with VISTA (Terndrup, Lauer, & Stover 1984) through day 553 and IRAF222IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which are operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. for day 670 and thereafter (day 56 was also processed using IRAF). Optimal extraction was used for the IRAF reductions (Horne 1986). The wavelength scale was established using low-order polynomial fits to calibration lamps of He-Hg-Cd-Ne-Ar (Lick) or He-Ne-Kr-Ar (Keck). The typical root-mean-square (rms) deviation for the wavelength solution was $`0.10.5`$ Å, depending on the resolution for the particular exposure. Final adjustments to the wavelength scale were obtained by using the background sky regions to provide an absolute scale. We employed our own routines to flux calibrate the data; comparison stars are listed in Table 1. Particular care was taken to remove telluric absorption features through division by an intrinsically featureless spectrum, where possible (Wade & Horne 1988; see also Paper II). The flux standard was routinely employed for this purpose.

As most of the spectra were observed with the position angle oriented along or near the parallactic angle, the relative spectrophotometry is quite good. For the nights during which an 8$`\mathrm{}`$ slit width exposure was taken to provide an absolute flux scale, we checked our fluxes against the $`BVRI`$ photometry of Richmond et al. (1996). Days 16, 45, and 209 were not photometric. Days 17, 18, 19, 34, 56, and 93 all agreed quite well with the photometry (within $``$ 5% in $`B`$ and $`V`$, slightly larger deviations in $`R`$ and $`I`$, probably due to the differences between the observed passband and the assumed passband used to calculate fluxes from the spectra). The flux of the day 109 spectrum has large deviations from the broad-band photometry ($``$ 20%). That night was our first attempt to observe SN 1993J “under the pole” with the equatorially mounted Shane 3-m telescope, and we attribute the fluxing errors to the difficulties arising from this complication to the observing program. Subsequent uses of the telescope “under the pole” were more successful, and days 123 and 139 are in fairly good agreement with the photometry, although they do differ in $`B`$. This may be the result of difficulties aligning the slit along the parallactic angle for these observations. Day 167 agrees with the photometry to within $``$ 10%, but day 182 shows much larger differences. The spectrum had become almost completely nebular by this stage, so the effects of strong emission lines falling near the edges of passbands may explain the discrepancies. For all of the other spectra, we had no absolute calibrators.

### 3.2 High-Dispersion Spectrum

A single high-dispersion spectrum was obtained on 1994 April 14 UT (day 383) with the HIRES echelle spectrometer (Vogt 1992, 1994) on the Keck I 10-m telescope. The HIRES detector is a Tektronix $`2048\times 2048`$ pixel CCD. The setup for these observations encompassed the range $`42406720`$ Å in 31 spectral orders. Beyond $``$ 5100 Å, small gaps in the wavelength coverage appear because the CCD was too small to span the progressively wider orders. A KV408 order-blocking filter was used to eliminate second-order blue light. The “C5” slit decker (1.$`\mathrm{}`$15 $`\times `$ 7$`\mathrm{}`$) was utilized to prevent overlapping orders and to ensure adequate sky background, yielding a spectral resolution of $`R=38,000`$. The HIRES chip was binned in the spatial direction, with 0.$`\mathrm{}`$41 per pixel. There were three exposures of SN 1993J, two with integration times of 2700 s and one with an integration time of 1800 s. The seeing was $``$ 1.$`\mathrm{}`$2 and the night was photometric. At the time, HIRES had neither an image rotator nor an atmospheric dispersion compensator, so differential light losses may affect the spectrum; the position angle of the slit was not at the parallactic angle (Filippenko 1982). For all three observations, SN 1993J was at an airmass of $``$ 1.5, so the effects are small, especially redward of 4500 Å.

Once again, IRAF was used for standard CCD processing and spectrum extraction. We extracted one-dimensional spectra by summing the five pixels centered on a polynomial fit to the centroid of the light distribution along the dispersion, yielding an effective aperture of 1.$`\mathrm{}`$15 $`\times `$ 2.$`\mathrm{}`$05. A third-order fit to the thorium-argon comparison lamp spectra provided a wavelength solution with a dispersion of $``$ 0.003 Å. No attempt was made to flux calibrate the data. The sdG star HD 84937 (Oke & Gunn 1983) was observed for use in the identification and removal of telluric lines. In order to preserve the large-scale shape of the lines, several different attempts were made using the observed spectrum of HD 84937 and featureless regions of the spectrum of SN 1994I (see Ho & Filippenko  for a discussion of the SN 1994I spectrum observed on this night). The corrections to the continuum shape made with SN 1994I provided the best representation when compared with low-dispersion spectra taken on approximately the same date. Residual errors remain in the overall shape of individual orders, but the small-scale structure is reproduced accurately.

## 4 Results and Discussion

### 4.1 Days 3 to 34

Spectra from days 3 to 34 are shown in Figure 1. The first spectrum obtained at Lick Observatory was taken on 1993 March 30, day 3. It shows a blue, nearly featureless continuum. There are some broad undulations that may be incipient P-Cygni features of H$`\alpha `$ and He I $`\lambda `$5876, but the presence of reduction artifacts makes interpretation problematic. Clocchiatti et al. (1995) found a best-fit blackbody curve for this spectrum that indicated a temperature of $``$ 30,000 K, along with $`A_V0.7`$ mag. The day 3 spectrum also contained narrow (unresolved) emission features of He II $`\lambda `$4686, \[Fe X\] $`\lambda `$6374, and H$`\alpha `$. Benetti et al. (1994) also observed \[Fe XIV\] $`\lambda `$5303. In addition, there are narrow absorption components of Ca II H&K and Na I D. The observed wavelengths of the narrow emission features allowed us to derive a relative heliocentric velocity for the SN of $`140`$ km s-1, well in agreement with other results (e.g., Vladilo et al. 1993, $`135`$ km s-1). All spectra presented herein have had this velocity removed. More detailed studies using high-resolution spectrographs that discuss the narrow lines in the spectra of SN 1993J include those of Benetti et al. (1994), Vladilo et al. (1993, 1994), and Bowen et al. (1995).

As the SN cools, line structure begins to appear in the spectra. By days 16 through 19, SN 1993J resembles a relatively typical SN II, although some details of the lines are slightly unusual. The emission component of the H$`\alpha `$ P-Cygni line has a flat top. Figure 2 shows the day 19 spectrum on a linear flux-density scale with some line identifications. Overall, this spectrum is very much like that of most SNe II. The spectra from days 32 through 34 start to show that SN 1993J is not a typical SN II. A broad notch develops in the H$`\alpha `$ profile, and the emission component begins to split in two. In addition, the profile associated with He I $`\lambda `$5876 and Na I D strengthens, especially in the absorption component. As described above, this is interpreted as the onset of a phase wherein the He I lines grow in prominence, with the notch in H$`\alpha `$ being the P-Cygni profile of He I $`\lambda `$6678. Note that the narrow feature seen in the H$`\alpha `$ emission profile of earlier spectra at the wavelength of the helium notch is most likely telluric absorption (see Paper II for details). Another indication of helium is the P-Cygni profile of He I $`\lambda `$7065 that also appears on day 32 in our spectra. Other He I lines are blended with other lines or are weak, and so are less convincing than $`\lambda `$6678 and $`\lambda `$7065.

The notch in H$`\alpha `$ is not obvious in the day 22 spectra of Barbon et al. (1995) or Lewis et al. (1994), or in the day 23 spectrum of Prabhu et al. (1995). It does appear in the day 25 spectra of Prabhu et al. (1995) and Barbon et al. (1995); they also have a day 26 spectrum with the notch. The notch is clearly present in the day 27 spectrum of Finn et al. (1995). (Note that the day 26 spectrum of Lewis et al.  appears to have some reduction and/or observation errors; it is very different from the spectra of the other groups at similar times, including their own from day 22.)

### 4.2 Days 45 to 109

The helium features continue to strengthen and the metamorphosis of SN 1993J from a Type II to IIb becomes readily apparent in days 45 through 109, shown in Figure 3. The day 45 spectrum (Figure 4) exhibits almost the entire He I series of lines. The most obvious lines remain He I $`\lambda `$5876, $`\lambda `$6678, and $`\lambda `$7065, although $`\lambda `$5876 is probably contaminated by Na I D. Other He I lines are also blended with other features, including $`\lambda `$7281 (contaminated by \[Ca II\] $`\lambda \lambda `$7291, 7324), $`\lambda `$5015 (blended with Fe II $`\lambda `$5018), $`\lambda `$4921 (affected by H$`\beta `$ and Fe II $`\lambda `$4924), and $`\lambda `$4471 (blended with H$`\gamma `$).

By day 89, the helium lines begin to weaken in comparison with the rest of the spectrum, and they are effectively gone by day 109, although a strong absorption due to He I $`\lambda `$5876 and Na I D remains. This is similar to the late-time behavior of a typical SN Ib (e.g., Gaskell et al. 1986; Branch, Nomoto, & Filippenko 1991). Although not quite at the fully nebular phase, some nebular lines begin to appear at these times, including Mg I\] $`\lambda `$4571, \[O I\] $`\lambda \lambda `$6300, 6364, and \[Ca II\] $`\lambda \lambda `$7291, 7324.

### 4.3 Days 123 to 266

The spectra from days 123 through 226 (Figure 5) show fairly little evolution. The nebular lines strengthen relative to the continuum over time, resulting in an almost purely emission-line spectrum. The most dramatic aspect of these spectra is the continuing weakness of H$`\alpha `$. Qualitatively following the relative strength of \[O I\] $`\lambda \lambda `$6300, 6364 and H$`\alpha `$ over these days shows the oxygen lines evolving to dominate the hydrogen strength. (Blending of the lines makes a quantitative ratio of these features very difficult.) The spectrum from day 182 is shown in Figure 6 with some line identifications. Aside from the weak H$`\alpha `$, this could easily be the nebular spectrum of a SN Ib or SN Ic.

### 4.4 Days 286 to 553

The nebular lines begin to fade away during days 286 through 553 (Figure 7). The most prominent lines in the spectra on day 286 — Mg I\] $`\lambda `$4571, \[O I\] $`\lambda \lambda `$6300, 6364, \[Ca II\] $`\lambda \lambda `$7291, 7324, and the Ca II near-IR triplet — are virtually gone by days 473 and 523. The H$`\alpha `$ line, though, remains at a fairly constant strength as the \[O I\] doublet decreases (see Figure 4 of FMB94). H$`\alpha `$ is comparable to \[O I\] $`\lambda \lambda `$6300 6364 in strength by days 387 and 433, and the oxygen line is reduced to a small feature on the blue shoulder of the H$`\alpha `$ line by day 553.

The day 387 spectrum is shown in Figure 8. Note the development of the box-like H$`\alpha `$ profile in comparison with day 182 (Figure 6). The presence of the box-like profile for H$`\alpha `$ on day 553, as well as for other lines (He I $`\lambda `$5876 and Na I D, possibly \[O III\] $`\lambda `$4363 and \[O III\] $`\lambda \lambda `$4959, 5007), indicates that a new emission phase has begun for SN 1993J—one dominated by the effects of circumstellar interaction. This profile for H$`\alpha `$ is discernible as early as day 298, perhaps even day 226, but it does not dominate the emission until day 473 and beyond. These emission profiles imply a roughly spherical distribution for the source material, probably a geometrically thin shell, similar to that discussed above in the context of late-time radio observations. The nature of the spectra is very similar to that described by Chevalier & Fransson (1994). Another interesting aspect of the day 387 spectrum (and earlier spectra) is the presence of small-scale features in some of the emission lines. They are even more evident in Figure 9, wherein the region of the spectrum containing \[O I\] $`\lambda \lambda `$6300 6364 and H$`\alpha `$ is shown in greater detail, along with the HIRES spectrum obtained four days earlier. A full exploration of the clumps exhibited in the spectra of SN 1993J is presented in Paper II.

### 4.5 Days 670 to 2454

Circumstellar interaction continues to dominate the spectra of SN 1993J up to the most recent observations. Spectra from days 670 through 2454 are shown in Figure 10. The box-like profiles are especially obvious in the day 976 spectrum (Figure 11). While these profiles are present earlier, the high S/N ratio of this spectrum allows one to see clearly the “double-box” created by the overlapping lines of He I $`\lambda `$5876 and Na I D.

One striking change that occurs during this period is highlighted by the spectra from day 976 (Figure 11) and day 1766 (Figure 12). There appear to be narrower emission features on top of the boxy profiles for \[O III\] $`\lambda \lambda `$4959, 5007 and \[O II\] $`\lambda \lambda `$7319, 7330 on day 1766 that are not obvious in the day 976 spectrum. Unfortunately, there is a large gap in the coverage at this point, so it is not known when these features appeared. They do show up at the same relative velocity in each profile (including the \[O I\] $`\lambda \lambda `$6300, 6364 doublet), indicating that they are related to the underlying oxygen lines. We interpret these features as the blue and red peaks of a double-horned profile due to a somewhat flattened, perhaps even disk-like emission source, with the red peak attenuated by absorption (see Paper II for details). They are superposed on the box-like profile from a roughly spherically distributed source. This is especially intriguing in light of the polarization measurements done at early times (Trammell et al. 1993; Tran et al. 1997).

With the knowledge of the day 1766 spectrum, the incipient beginnings of these features are discernible in the day 976 spectrum. In fact, the day 976 spectrum shows the weak, narrow remnant of the once prominent \[O I\] $`\lambda `$6300 line still present, but fading in comparison with the blue component of the two-horned profile of \[O I\]. These features persist, being strongly evident in the day 2454 spectrum (Figure 13).

The only other significant change in the later spectra is the strengthening of \[O III\] $`\lambda \lambda `$4959, 5007 relative to \[O III\] $`\lambda `$4363, indicating a drop in the density of the oxygen-emitting regions. The \[O I\] $`\lambda \lambda `$6300, 6364 doublet begins to grow again relative to H$`\alpha `$. These changes are especially clear when comparing the day 2454 spectrum (Figure 13) with the day 976 spectrum (Figure 11). Note that there is very little change between days 2176 and 2454 (cf. Figure 10). The overall spectra exhibit almost solely the emission from circumstellar interaction. The line-intensity ratios are generally similar to the predictions of Chevalier & Fransson (1994), although some differ. Details of this analysis of the late-time spectral lines is presented in Paper II.

## 5 Conclusions

We have presented the complete existing collection of low-dispersion spectra of SN 1993J obtained at Lick and Keck Observatories, as well as one high-dispersion spectrum from Keck. These 42 low-dispersion spectra, representing coverage from day 3 after explosion to day 2454, document thoroughly the distinctive characteristics of SN 1993J. The early spectra show a slightly unusual Type II event, followed by the appearance of strong helium absorption lines. After SN 1993J underwent this metamorphosis from Type II to IIb, the nebular phase developed rapidly, appearing as a typical late-time SN Ib or SN Ic, but with a weak residual H$`\alpha `$ line. As the nebular lines weakened, new line profiles emerged with box-like shapes implying circumstellar interaction with a spherical shell-like distribution. At even later times, double-horned profiles appeared on top of the box profiles, indicating the presence of a somewhat flattened or disk-like morphology along with the shell. As SN 1993J appears to be fading slowly (see Paper II), we plan to continue monitoring it spectroscopically for years to come. The metamorphosis in our spectra was discussed by FMH93, while the nebular spectra were analyzed by FMB94. Our study of the detailed line structure at relatively early times and the circumstellar interaction phase is presented in Paper II.

This research was supported by NSF grants AST-9115174 and AST-9417213 to A.V.F. We are grateful to the staffs of the Lick and Keck Observatories for help with the observations; we are especially thankful to the Lick staff for their heroic efforts in reconfiguring the hardware and software of the equatorial Shane 3-m telescope to allow us to observe “under the pole” during the summer months of 1993 and 1994. William and Marina Kast provided a generous gift that led to the construction of the double spectrograph on the 3-m telescope that was used for most of the observations reported here. The W. M. Keck Observatory is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and NASA. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. Robert H. Becker and Richard L. White graciously provided the 1993 June 24 (day 89) spectrum. We thank Alison Coil, Ryan Chornock, Isobel Hook, Chien Peng, Saul Perlmutter, Adam Riess, Hien Tran, and Schuyler Van Dyk for assistance with some of the observations and reductions.


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# The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary

## 1 Introduction

At this writing (May 2000) the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is ending its commissioning phase and beginning operations. The purpose of this paper is to provide a concise summary of the vital statistics of the project, a definition of some of the terms used in the survey and, via links to documentation in electronic form, access to detailed descriptions of the project’s design, hardware, and software, to serve as technical background for the project’s science papers. The electronic material is extracted from the text (the “Project Book”) written to support major funding proposals, and is available at the Astronomical Journal web site via the on-line version of this paper. The official SDSS web site (http://www.sdss.org) also provides links to the on-line Project Book, and it can be accessed directly at http://www.astro.princeton.edu/PBOOK/welcome.htm. In the discussion below we reference the chapters in the Project Book by the last part of the URL, i.e. that following PBOOK/. The versions accessible at the SDSS web sites also contain extensive discussions and summaries of the scientific goals of the survey, which are not included here.

The text of the on-line Project Book was last updated in August 1997. While there have been a number of changes in the hardware and software described therein, the material accurately describes the design goals and the implementation of the major observing subsystems. As the project becomes operational, we will provide a series of formal technical papers (most still in preparation), which will describe in detail the project hardware and software in its actual operational state.

Section 2 describes the Survey’s objectives: the imaging depth, sky coverage, and instrumentation. Section 3 summarizes the software and data reduction components of the SDSS and its data products. Section 4 reviews some recent scientific results from the project’s initial commissioning data runs, which demonstrate the ability of the project to reach its technical goals. All Celestial coordinates are in epoch J2000.

## 2 Survey Characteristics

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey will produce both imaging and spectroscopic surveys over a large area of the sky. The survey uses a dedicated 2.5 m telescope equipped with a large format mosaic CCD camera to image the sky in five optical bands, and two digital spectrographs to obtain the spectra of about one million galaxies and 100,000 quasars selected from the imaging data.

The SDSS calibrates its photometry using observations of a network of standard stars established by the United States Naval Observatory (USNO) 1 m telescope, and its astrometry using observations by an array of astrometric CCDs in the imaging camera.

### 2.1 Telescope

The SDSS telescope is a 2.5m f/5 modified Ritchey-Chrétien wide-field altitude-azimuth telescope (see telescop/telescop.htm) located at the Apache Point Observatory (APO), Sunspot, New Mexico (site/site.htm). The telescope achieves a very wide ($`3^{}`$) distortion-free field by the use of a large secondary mirror and two corrector lenses. It is equipped with the photometric/astrometric mosaic camera (camera/camera.htm, Gunn et al. 1998) and images the sky by scanning along great circles at the sidereal rate. The imaging camera mounts at the Cassegrain focus. The telescope is also equipped with two double fiber-fed spectrographs, permanently mounted on the image rotator, since the spectrographs are fiber fed. This ensures that the fibers do not flex during an exposure. The telescope is changed from imaging mode to spectroscopic mode by removing the imaging camera and mounting at the Cassegrain focus a fiber plug plate, individually drilled for each field, which feeds the spectrographs. In survey operations, it is expected that up to nine spectroscopic plates per night will be observed, with the necessary plates being plugged with fibers during the day. The telescope mounting and enclosure allow easy access for rapid changes between fiber plug plates and between spectroscopic and imaging modes. This strategy allows imaging to be done in pristine observing conditions (photometric sky, image size $`1.5^{\prime \prime }`$ FWHM) and spectroscopy to be done during less ideal conditions. All observing will be done in moonless sky.

Besides the 2.5m telescope, the SDSS makes use of three subsidiary instruments at the site. The Photometric Telescope (PT) is a 0.5m telescope equipped with a CCD camera and the SDSS filter set. Its task is to calibrate the photometry. Two instruments, a seeing monitor and a 10$`\mu `$m cloud scanner (Hull et al. 1995; site/site.htm) monitor the astronomical weather.

### 2.2 Imaging Camera

The SDSS imaging camera contains two sets of CCD arrays: the imaging array and the astrometric arrays (camera/camera.htm, Gunn et al. 1998).

The imaging array consists of 30 2048 $`\times `$ 2048 Tektronix CCDs, placed in an array of six columns and five rows. The telescope scanning is aligned with the columns. Each row observes the sky through a different filter, in temporal sequence $`r^{},i^{},u^{},z^{}`$, and $`g^{}`$. The pixel size is 24$`\mu m`$ ($`0.396^{\prime \prime }`$ on the sky). The imaging survey is taken in drift-scan (time-delay-and-integrate, or TDI) mode, i.e. the camera continually sweeps the sky in great circles, and a given point on the sky passes through the five filters in succession. The effective integration time per filter is 54.1 seconds, and the time for passage over the entire photometric array is about 5.7 minutes (strategy/strategy.htm; Gunn et al. 1998). Since the camera contains six columns of CCDs, the result is a long strip of six scanlines, containing almost simultaneously observed five-color data for each of the six CCD columns. Each CCD observes a swath of sky $`13.52^{}`$ wide. The CCDs are separated in the row direction (i.e. perpendicular to the scan direction) by 91.0 mm ($`25.2^{}`$ on the sky) center-to-center. The observations are filled in by a second strip, offset from the first by 93% of the CCD width, to produce a filled stripe, $`2.54^{}`$ wide, with 8% ($`1^{}`$) lateral overlap on each side. Because of the camera’s large field of view, the TDI tracking must be done along great circles. The Northern Galactic Cap is covered by 45 great-circle arcs (shown projected on the sky in Figures 1 and 2).

### 2.3 Photometry and Photometric Calibration

The five filters in the imaging array of the camera, \[$`u^{},g^{},r^{},i^{}`$ and $`z^{}`$\] have effective wavelengths of \[3590 Å, 4810 Å, 6230 Å, 7640 Å and 9060 Å\] (Fukugita et al. 1996; Gunn et al. 1998). An a priori model estimate of the telescope and camera throughputs and of the sky brightness predicted that we would reach the 5$`\sigma `$ detection limit for point sources in $`1^{\prime \prime }`$ seeing at \[22.3, 23.3, 23.1, 22.3, 20.8\] in the ($`u^{},g^{},r^{},i^{},z^{}`$) filters, respectively, at an airmass of 1.4. We have put formal requirements on throughput at 75% of the values used for the above estimation, and have demonstrated that we meet this requirement in all bands with the possible exception of $`z^{}`$. The sensitivity limit can be tested by finding the magnitude at which repeat observations of a given area of sky yield 50% reproducibility of the objects detected. This has been tested most thoroughly with data taken in less than optimal seeing ($`1.3^{\prime \prime }1.6^{\prime \prime }`$); nevertheless, the 50% reproducibility level lies within a few tenths of a magnitude of the above-quoted 5$`\sigma `$ detection limit in all five bands (see Ivezić et al. 2000). The SDSS science requirements demand that photometric calibration uncertainties for point sources be 0.02 in $`r^{}`$, 0.02 in $`r^{}i^{}`$ and $`g^{}r^{}`$, and 0.03 in $`u^{}g^{}`$ and $`i^{}z^{}`$. To meet these stringent requirements in both signal-to-noise ratio and photometricity, imaging data are declared to be survey quality only if the PT determines that the night is photometric, with a zero-point uncertainty below 1%, and if the seeing is better than $`1.5^{\prime \prime }`$. The imaging data saturate at about  magnitudes for point sources.

The magnitude scale is on the $`AB_\nu `$ system (Oke 1969, unpublished), which was updated to the $`AB_{79}`$ system by Oke & Gunn (1983) and to $`AB_{95}`$ by Fukugita et al. (1996). The magnitudes m are related to flux density $`f`$ by m$`sinh^1(f)`$ rather than logarithmically (see Lupton, Gunn & Szalay 1999 and Fan et al. 1999). This definition is essentially identical to the logarithmic magnitude at signal-to-noise ratios greater than about 5 and is well behaved for low and even zero and negative flux densities.

The calibration and definition of the magnitude system is carried out by the USNO 1 m telescope and the 0.5m PT. The SDSS photometry is placed on the $`AB_\nu `$ system using three fundamental standards ($`\mathrm{BD}+17^{}4708`$, $`\mathrm{BD}+26^{}2606`$, and $`\mathrm{BD}+21^{}609`$), whose magnitude scale is as defined by Fukugita et al. (1996); a set of 157 primary standards, which are calibrated by the above fundamental standards using the USNO 1m telescope, and which cover the whole range of right ascension and enable the calibration system to be made self-consistent; and a set of secondary calibration patches lying across the imaging stripes, containing stars fainter than $`14^m`$ whose magnitudes are calibrated by the PT with respect to those of the primary standards and which transfer that calibration to the imaging survey. The locations of these patches on the survey stripes are shown in Figure 1. On nights when the 2.5 m is observing, the PT observes primary standard stars to provide the atmospheric extinction coefficients over the night and to confirm that the night is photometric. The standard star network is described in photcal/photcal.htm — note that the telescope described there has now been replaced by the 0.5m PT.

### 2.4 Astrometric Calibration

The camera also contains leading and trailing astrometric arrays — narrow (128$`\times `$2048), neutral-density-filtered, $`r^{}`$-filtered CCDs covering the entire width of the camera. These arrays can measure objects in the magnitude range $`r^{}`$ 8.5 - 16.8, i.e. they cover the dynamic range between the standard astrometric catalog stars and the brightest unsaturated stars in the photometric array. The astrometric calibration is thereby referenced to the fundamental astrometric catalogues (see astrom/astrom.htm), using the Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues (ESA 1997) and specially observed equatorial fields (Stone et al. 1999). Comparison with positions from the FIRST (Becker et al. 1995) and 2MASS (Skrutskie 1999) catalogues shows that the rms astrometric accuracy is currently better than 150 milliarcseconds (mas) in each coordinate.

### 2.5 Imaging Survey: North Galactic Cap

The imaging survey covers about 10,000 contiguous square degrees in the Northern Galactic Cap. This area lies basically above Galactic latitude $`30^{}`$, but its footprint is adjusted slightly to lie within the minimum of the Galactic extinction contours (Schlegel, Finkbeiner & Davis 1998), resulting in an elliptical region. The region is centered at $`\alpha =12^h20^m`$, $`\delta =+32.5^{}`$. The minor axis is at an angle $`20^{}`$ East of North with extent $`\pm 55^{}`$. The major axis is a great circle perpendicular to the minor axis with extent $`\pm 65^{}`$. The survey footprint with the location of the stripes is shown in Figure 2 — see strategy/strategy.htm for details.

### 2.6 Imaging Survey: The South Galactic Cap

In the South Galactic Cap, three stripes will be observed, one along the Celestial Equator and the other two north and south of the equator (see Figure 2). The equatorial stripe ($`\alpha `$ = $`20.7^h`$ to $`4^h`$, $`\delta `$ = $`0^{}`$) will be observed repeatedly, both to find variable objects and, when co-added, to reach magnitude limits about $`2^m`$ deeper than the Northern imaging survey.

The other two stripes will cover great circles lying between $`\alpha ,\delta `$ of ($`20.7^h`$, -$`5.8^{}4.0^h`$, -$`5.8^{}`$) and ($`22.4^h,8.7^{}2.3^h`$, $`13.2^{}`$).

### 2.7 The Spectroscopic Survey

Objects are detected in the imaging survey, classified as point source or extended, and measured, by the image analysis software (see below). These imaging data are used to select in a uniform way different classes of objects whose spectra will be taken. The final details of this target selection will be described once the survey is well underway; the criteria discussed here are likely to be very close to those finally used.

Two samples of galaxies are selected from the objects classified as “extended”. About $`9\times 10^5`$ galaxies will be selected to have Petrosian (1976) magnitudes $`r_P^{}`$ 17.7. Galaxies with a mean $`r^{}`$ band surface brightness within the half light radius fainter than 24 magnitudes/$`\mathrm{arc}\mathrm{second}^2`$ will be removed, since spectroscopic observations are unlikely to produce a redshift. For illustrative purposes, a simulation of a slice of the SDSS redshift survey is shown in Figure 3 (from Colley et al. 2000). Galaxies in this CDM simulation are ‘selected’ by the SDSS selection criteria. As Figure 3 demonstrates, the SDSS volume is large enough to contain a statistically significant sample of the largest structures predicted.

The second sample, of approximately $`10^5`$ galaxies, exploits the characteristic very red color and high metallicity (producing strong absorption lines) of the most luminous galaxies: the “Brightest Cluster Galaxies” or “Bright Red Galaxies” (BRGs); redshifts can be well measured with the SDSS spectra for these galaxies to about $`r^{}`$ = 19.5. Galaxies located at the dynamical centers of nearby dense clusters often have these properties. Reasonably accurate photometric redshifts (Connolly et al. 1995) can be determined for these galaxies, allowing the selection by magnitude and $`g^{}r^{}i^{}`$ color of an essentially distance limited sample of the highest-density regions of the Universe to a redshift of about 0.45 (see Figure 4 for a simulation).

With their power-law continua and the influence of Lyman-$`\alpha `$ emission and the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest, quasars have $`u^{}g^{}r^{}i^{}z^{}`$ colors quite distinct from those of the vastly more numerous stars over most of their redshift range (Fan 1999). Thus about $`1.5\times 10^5`$ quasar candidates are selected for spectroscopic observations as outliers from the stellar locus (cf., Krisciunas et al. 1998; Lenz et al. 1998; Newberg et al. 1999; Figure 5 below) in color-color space. At the cost of some loss of efficiency, selection is allowed closer to the stellar locus around z = 2.8, where quasar colors approach those of early F and late A stars (Newberg & Yanny 1997; Fan 1999). Some further regions of color-color space outside the main part of the stellar locus where quasars are very rarely found are also excluded, including the regions containing M dwarf-white dwarf pairs, early A stars, and white dwarfs (see Figure 5). The SDSS will compile a sample of quasars brighter than $`i^{}`$ 19 at $`z<`$ 3.0; at redshifts between 3.0 and about 5.2, the limiting magnitude will be about $`i^{}`$ = 20. Objects are also required to be point sources, except in the region of color-color space where low-redshift quasars are expected to be found. Stellar objects brighter than $`i^{}`$ =20 which are FIRST sources (Becker, White and Helfand 1995) are also selected. Based on early spectroscopy, we estimate that roughly 65% of our quasar candidates are genuine quasars; comparison with samples of known quasars indicates that our completeness is of order 90%.

In all cases, the magnitudes of the objects are corrected for Galactic extinction before selection, using extinction in the SDSS bands calculated from the reddening map of Schlegel, Finkbeiner & Davis (1998). Objects are then selected to have a magnitude limit outside the Galaxy. If this correction were not made, the systematic effects of Galactic extinction over the survey area would overwhelm the statistical uncertainties in the SDSS data set. After the imaging and spectroscopic survey is completed in a given part of the sky, the reddening and extinction will be recalculated using internal standards extracted from the imaging data. The SDSS plans to use a variety of extinction probes, including very hot halo subdwarfs, halo turnoff stars, and elliptical galaxies whose intrinsic colors can be estimated from their line indices.

Together with various classes of calibration stars and fibers which observe blank sky to measure the sky spectrum, the selected galaxies and quasars are mapped onto the sky, and ‘tiled’, i.e. their location on a $`3^{}`$ diameter plug plate determined (tiling/tiling.htm). The centers of the tiles are adjusted to provide closer coverage of regions of high galactic surface density, to make the spectroscopic coverage optimally uniform. Excess fibers are allocated to several classes of rare or peculiar objects (for example objects which are positionally matched with ROSAT sources, or those whose parameters lie outside any known range – these are serendipitous objects) and to samples of stars. The spectra are observed, 640 at a time (with a total integration time of 45 - 60 minutes depending on observing conditions) using a pair of fiber-fed double spectrographs (spectro/spectro.htm). The wavelength coverage of the spectrographs is continuous from about 3800 Å to 9200 Å, and the wavelength resolution, $`\lambda /\delta \lambda `$, is 1800 (Uomoto et al. 1999). The fibers are located at the focal plane via plug plates constructed for each area of sky. The fiber diameter is 0.2 mm ($`3^{\prime \prime }`$ on the sky), and adjacent fibers cannot be located more closely than $`55^{\prime \prime }`$ on the sky. Both members of a pair of objects closer than this separation can be observed spectroscopically if they are located in the overlapping regions of adjacent tiles.

Tests of the redshift accuracy using observations of stars in M67 whose radial velocities are accurately known (Mathieu et al. 1986) show that the SDSS radial velocity measurements for stars have a scatter of about 3.5 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

## 3 Software and Data Products

The operational software is described in datasys/datasys.htm. The data are obtained using the Data Acquisition (DA) system at APO (Petravick et al. 1994) and recorded on DLT tape. The imaging data consist of full images from all CCDs of the imaging array, cut-outs of detected objects from the astrometric array, and bookkeeping information. These tapes are shipped to Fermilab by express courier and the data are automatically reduced through an interoperating set of software pipelines operating in a common computing environment.

The photometric pipeline reduces the imaging data; it corrects the data for data defects (interpolation over bad columns and bleed trails, finding and interpolating over ‘cosmic rays’, etc), calculates overscan (bias), sky and flat field values, calculates the point spread functions (psf) as a function of time and location on the CCD array, finds objects, combines the data from the five bands, carries out simple model fits to the images of each object, deblends overlapping objects, and measures positions, magnitudes (including psf and Petrosian magnitudes) and shape parameters. The photometric pipeline uses position calibration information from the astrometric array reduced through the astrometric pipeline and photometric calibration data from the photometric telescope (reduced through the photometric telescope pipeline). Final calibrations are applied by the final calibration pipeline, which allows refinements in the positional and photometric calibration as the survey progresses. The photometric pipeline is extensively tested using repeat observations, examination of the outputs, observations of regions of the sky previously observed by other telescopes (HST fields, for example) and a set of simulations, described in detail in simul/simul.htm. For an example of the repeatability of SDSS photometry over several timescales, see Ivezić et al. (2000). These repeat observations show that the mean errors (for point sources) are about $`0.03^m`$ to $`20^m`$, increasing to about $`0.05^m`$ at $`21^m`$ and to $`0.12^m`$ at $`22^m`$. These observed errors are in good agreement with those quoted by the photometric pipeline. They apply only to the $`g^{},r^{}`$ and $`i^{}`$ bands – in the less sensitive $`u^{}`$ and $`z^{}`$ bands, the errors at the bright end are about the same as those in $`g^{}r^{}i^{}`$, but increase to $`0.05^m`$ at $`20^m`$ and $`0.12^m`$ at $`21^m`$.

The outputs, together with all the observing and processing information, are loaded into the operational data base which is the central collection of scientific and bookkeeping data used to run the survey. To select the spectroscopic targets, objects are run through the target selection pipeline and flagged if they meet the spectroscopic selection criteria for a particular type of object. The criteria for the primary objects (quasars, galaxies and BRGs) will not be changed once the survey is underway. Those for serendipitous objects and samples of interesting stars can be changed throughout the survey. A given object can in principle receive several target flags. The selected objects are tiled as described above, plug plates are drilled, and the spectroscopic observations are made. The spectroscopic data are automatically reduced by the spectroscopic pipeline, which extracts, corrects and calibrates the spectra, determines the spectral types, and measures the redshifts. The reduced spectra are then stored in the operational data base. The contents of the operational data base are copied at regular intervals into the science data base for retrieval and scientific analysis (see appsoft/appsoft.htm). The science data base is indexed in a hierarchical manner: the data and other information are linked into ‘containers’ that can be divided and subdivided as necessary, to define easily searchable regions with approximately the same data content. This hierarchical scheme is consistent with those being adopted by other large surveys, to allow cross referencing of multiple surveys. The science data base also incorporates a set of query tools and is designed for easy portability.

The photometric data products of the SDSS include: a catalog of all detected objects, with measured positions, magnitudes, shape parameters, model fits and processing flags; atlas images (i.e. cutouts from the imaging data in all five bands) of all detected objects and of objects from the FIRST and ROSAT catalogs; a $`4\times 4`$ binned image of the corrected images with the objects removed: and a mask of the areas of sky not processed (because of saturated stars, for example) and of corrected pixels (e.g. those from which cosmic rays were removed). The atlas images are sized to enclose the area occupied by each object plus the PSF width, or the object size given in the ROSAT or FIRST catalogues. The photometric outputs are described in http://www.astro.princeton.edu/SDSS/photo.html. The data base will also contain the calibrated 1D spectra, the derived redshift and spectral type, and the bookkeeping information related to the spectroscopic observations. In addition, the positions of astrometric calibration stars measured by the astrometric pipeline and the magnitudes of the faint photometric standards measured by the photometric telescope pipeline will be published at regular intervals.

## 4 Early Science from the SDSS Commissioning Data

The goal of the SDSS is to provide the data necessary for studies of the large scale structure of the Universe on a wide range of scales. The imaging survey should detect $`5\times 10^7`$ galaxies, $`10^6`$ quasars and $`8\times 10^7`$ stars to the survey limits. These photometric data, via photometric redshifts and various statistical techniques such as the angular correlation function, support studies of large scale structure well past the limit of the spectroscopic survey. On even larger scales, information on structure will come from quasars.

The science justification for the SDSS is discussed in several conference papers (e.g. Gunn & Weinberg 1995; Fukugita 1998; Margon 1999). The Project Book science sections can be accessed at http://www.astro.princeton.edu/PBOOK/science/science.htm. Much of the science for which the SDSS was built, the study of large scale structure, will come when the survey is complete, but the initial test data have already led to significant scientific discoveries in many fields. In this section, we show examples of the first test data and some initial results. To date (May 2000), the SDSS has obtained test imaging data for some 2000 square degrees of sky and about 20,000 spectra. Examples of these data are shown in Figures 5 (sample color-color and color-magnitude diagrams of point-source objects), 6 (sample spectra) and 7 (a composite color image of a piece of the sky which contains the cluster Abell 267),

Fischer et al. (2000) have detected the signature of the weak lensing of background galaxies by foreground galaxies, allowing the halos and total masses of the foreground galaxies to be measured.

The searches by Fan et al. (1999a,b; 2000a,c), Schneider et al. (2000) and Zheng et al. (2000) have greatly increased the number of known high redshift (z$`>`$3.6) quasars and include several quasars with z $`>`$ 5. Fan et al. (1999b) have found the first example of a new kind of quasar: a high redshift object with a featureless spectrum and without the radio emission and polarization characteristics of BL Lac objects. The redshift for this object ($`z`$ = 4.6) is found from the Lyman-$`\alpha `$ forest absorption in the spectrum.

Some 150 distant probable RR Lyrae stars have been found in the Galactic halo, enabling the halo stellar density to be mapped; the distribution may have located the edge of the halo at approximately 60 kpc (Ivezić et al. 2000). The distribution of RR Lyrae stars and other horizontal branch stars is very clumped, showing the presence of possible tidal streamers in the halo (Ivezić et al. 2000; Yanny et al. 2000). Margon et al. (1999) describe the discovery of faint high latitude carbon stars in the SDSS data.

Strauss et al. (1999), Schneider et al. (2000), Fan et al. (2000b), Tsvetanov et al. (2000), Pier et al. (2000) and Leggett et al. (2000) report the discovery of a number of very low mass stars or substellar objects, those of type ‘L’ or ‘T’, including the first field methane (‘T’) dwarfs and the first stars of spectral type intermediate between ‘L’ and ‘T’. The detection rate to date shows that the SDSS is likely to identify several thousand L and T dwarfs. These objects are found to occupy very distinct regions of color-color and color-magnitude space, which will enable the completeness of the samples to be well characterized.

Measurements of the psf diameter variations and the image wander allow variations in the turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere to be tracked. These data demonstrate the presence of anomalous refraction on scales at least as large as the $`2.3^{}`$ field of view of the camera (Pier et al. 1999).

Of course the most exciting possibility for any large survey which probes new regions of sensitivity or wavelength is the discovery of exceedingly rare or entirely new classes of objects. The SDSS has already found a number of very unusual objects; the nature of some of these remains unknown (Fan et al. 1999c). These and other investigations in progress show the promise of SDSS for greatly advancing astronomical work in fields ranging from the behavior of the Earth’s atmosphere to structure on the scale of the horizon of the Universe.

###### Acknowledgements.

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is a joint project of The University of Chicago, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, The Johns Hopkins University, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory, and the University of Washington. Apache Point Observatory, site of the SDSS, is operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium. Funding for the project has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the SDSS member institutions, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Monbusho. The official SDSS web site is www.sdss.org.


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# Signs of the cusps in binary lenses

## I. Introduction

The application of catastrophe theory in the study of the lens mapping represents a considerable step in the understanding of the critical behaviour in gravitational lensing . Particularly interesting is the classification of singularities through these methods, relying on the evaluation of intrinsic mathematical quantities . A complete treatment of these topics can be found in .

The methods of catastrophe theory have proved very powerful in the study of the caustic structure of the binary lens  where it has been employed to find the transitions between different topologies, previously studied in the equal mass case . Erdl & Schneider derived the positions of the cusps and showed that, in these transitions, pairs of cusps are created or destroyed passing through beak–to–beak singularities . Witt & Petters  used complex notation to study the singularities of the binary lens with an additional shear field and continuously distributed matter.

Since the binary lens is one of the most important lens models, a detailed study of its singularities can help in the interpretation of the physical behaviour of this system and gain information about features that cannot be calculated analytically. For example, the study of the amplification map near the cusps, performed in general by Schneider & Weiss , can provide very useful information on the amplification of images in some regimes. Several results on cusp counting in multiple lens systems can be found in .

A particular problem is the creation of images in the neighbourhood of cusps. When a source crosses a caustic in a fold singularity, two images of opposite parities are created. The creation of these images happens in a different way when the crossing occurs at a cusp. In this case, one pre–existing image changes parity and two new images of the same parity are created. As the parity of the two new images is the same of the first before the crossing, the sum of the final parities equals the parity of the single image before the crossing.

The parity of the original image involved in this process is a characteristic property of the cusp, called sign . Positive and negative cusps clearly behave in an opposite way, but also the lens mapping in their neighbourhood is influenced in different ways. The sign of a cusp can be determined by a detailed study of the analytical form of the caustic, through the evaluation of the fundamental quantities of catastrophe theory.

In this work, we first give an intrinsic definition of the sign of the cusps and then we use it to determine the signs of the cusps in the caustics of the binary lens. Instead of dealing with the involved exact formulae, we prefer to prove our assertions in some particular cases where perturbative approximations are available  and then extend our results by means of continuity arguments.

In Sect. II, we review the principal steps in the description of a cusp by catastrophe theory to state our definition. Sect. III contains the body of the calculation of the signs of the cusps in binary lenses. Sect. IV contains some considerations about the extensions to multiple lenses.

## II. Cusps in catastrophe theory

As usual, we introduce the Einstein radius of a reference mass $`M_0`$:

$$R_\mathrm{E}^0=\sqrt{\frac{4GM_0}{c^2}\frac{D_{\mathrm{LS}}D_{\mathrm{OL}}}{D_{\mathrm{OS}}}}.$$
(1)
We indicate the coordinates in the lens plane normalized to $`R_\mathrm{E}^0`$ by $`𝐱=(x_1;x_2)`$ and the coordinates in the source plane by $`𝐲=(y_1;y_2)`$. All masses are measured in terms of $`M_0`$. The matter density normalized to the critical density

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\mathrm{cr}}=\frac{c^2D_{\mathrm{OS}}}{4\pi GD_{OL}D_{\mathrm{LS}}}$$
(2)
is $`\kappa \left(𝐱\right)`$.

The Fermat potential of a given distribution of matter is:

$$\varphi (𝐱,𝐲)=\frac{1}{2}\left(𝐱𝐲\right)^2\frac{1}{\pi }\mathrm{d}^2x^{}\kappa \left(𝐱^{}\right)\mathrm{ln}\left|𝐱𝐱^{}\right|.$$
(3)
The lens equation is obtained by taking the gradient of this potential:

$$_𝐱\varphi (𝐱,𝐲)=0.$$
(4)
This equation can be written in the form of an application from the lens plane to the source plane:

$$𝐲=𝐲\left(𝐱\right).$$
(5)
Given a source position $`𝐲`$, the $`𝐱`$’s solving the equation (5) are called images.

The local properties of the lens mapping can be studied through its Jacobian matrix

$$J=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\frac{y_1}{x_1}& \frac{y_1}{x_2}\\ \frac{y_2}{x_1}& \frac{y_2}{x_2}\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1\kappa \gamma _1& \gamma _2\\ \gamma _2& 1\kappa +\gamma _1\end{array}\right),$$
(6)
where $`\gamma _1=\frac{1}{2}\left(\varphi _{11}\varphi _{22}\right)`$ and $`\gamma _2=\varphi _{12}=\varphi _{21}`$. We use the notation $`\varphi _i=\frac{\varphi }{x_i}`$. The trace of the Jacobian matrix is

$$\mathrm{Tr}J=2\left(1\kappa \right).$$
(7)
Many properties of the lens mapping can be studied through the determinant $`D`$ of the Jacobian matrix

$$D=\left(1\kappa \right)^2\left(\gamma _1^2+\gamma _2^2\right).$$
(8)
The sign of this determinant, evaluated at the position of an image, is called parity. Images with negative parity are characterized by a reversed handedness. In the points where $`D=0`$, the lens mapping is not invertible. These points are arranged in smooth curves called critical curves and their images through the lens mapping (5) are called caustics .

If a parameterization of the critical curve is available in the form:

$$𝐱=𝐱^\mathrm{c}\left(\theta \right),$$
(9)
its tangent vector can be written as:

$$𝐓=\frac{\mathrm{d}𝐱^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta }.$$
(10)
For the caustic, we have the natural parameterization:

$$𝐲=𝐲^\mathrm{c}\left(\theta \right)=𝐲\left(𝐱^\mathrm{c}\left(\theta \right)\right),$$
(11)
leading to a tangent vector:

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}𝐲^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta }=J𝐓=\left(𝐓\right)𝐲\left(𝐱\right)|_{𝐱=𝐱^\mathrm{c}\left(\theta \right)}.$$
(12)
The caustic singularities can be classified into different types, including folds, cuspoids, umbilics, beak–to–beaks and lips .

The zero order singularity is the fold, that is a simple critical point, satisfying:

$$D=0,$$
(13)
not belonging to other special classes.

What we are interested into is the cuspoid sequence. A cusp point is a point belonging to the critical curve (thus satisfying condition (13)), such that the vector tangent to the caustic vanishes:

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}𝐲^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta }=0.$$
(14)
Its image on the caustic is the cusp.

The cuspoid of second order is the swallowtail, coming up when the condition:

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}^2𝐲^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta ^2}=0$$
(15)
is added to the conditions (13) and (14). The vanishing of higher order derivatives leads to singularities of higher order. These definitions do not depend on reparameterizations of the critical curve, since for a cuspoid of order $`p`$ we require all derivatives up to the $`p^{\mathrm{th}}`$ order to vanish simultaneously.

To analyse in detail the lensing behaviour near a cusp, it is convenient to choose the coordinates so as to have the cusp point in the origin of the lens plane and the cusp in the origin of the source plane. With an opportune rotation, the lens mapping can be generally written in the form

$`y_1=cx_1+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}bx_2^2`$ (16a)
$`y_2=bx_1x_2+ax_2^3,`$ (16b)
where $`a`$, $`b`$, $`c`$ are coefficients depending on the derivatives of the Fermat potential evaluated at the cusp point .

The determinant and the trace of the Jacobian, in this frame, are

$`D=bcx_1+\left(3acb^2\right)x_2^2`$ (17)
$`\mathrm{Tr}J=c.`$ (18)
The critical curve is found solving the equation $`D=0`$. We parameterize it in this way:

$`x_1^c={\displaystyle \frac{b^23ac}{bc}}\theta ^2`$ (19a)
$`x_2^c=\theta .`$ (19b)
The caustic is

$`y_1^c=3{\displaystyle \frac{b^22ac}{2b}}\theta ^2`$ (20a)
$`y_2^c={\displaystyle \frac{b^22ac}{c}}\theta ^3.`$ (20b)
The sign of the quantity $`2acb^2`$ defines the sign of the cusp . We can guess that the behaviour of the caustic changes in an evident way according to this sign. To see these differences, one can solve the lens mapping explicitly in the neighbouhood of a cusp point. A detailed discussion of this topic can be found in Refs. . In Fig. 1, we briefly recall the behaviour of the lens mapping near positive (top row) and negative cusps (bottom row). When a source crosses the caustic in a positive cusp, a positive image crosses a critical curve, thus changing its parity. Moreover, two positive images come up from the crossing point in the direction tangential to the critical curve. For negative cusps, all parities are reversed. Then a negative image changes its parity and a pair of negative images arises. Of course, the sum of the parities is unchanged in both processes.

Now we want to give a definition for the sign of the cusp that can be used in all frames. With this definition, we will be able to compute easily the signs of the cusps for the caustics of any lens mapping without having to look for the standard frame for each cusp.

The vector tangent to the cusp is

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}𝐲^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta }=\left(\begin{array}{c}3\frac{b^22ac}{b}\theta \\ 3\frac{b^22ac}{c}\theta ^2\end{array}\right).$$
(21)
Its derivative, evaluated at the cusp is

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}^2𝐲^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta ^2}=\left(\begin{array}{c}3\frac{b^22ac}{b}\\ 0\end{array}\right).$$
(22)
We can notice, recalling (15), that a cusp with a vanishing sign is a swallowtail.

The vector

$$𝐍=\frac{D}{\mathrm{Tr}J}$$
(23)
is everywhere orthogonal to the critical curve. In the standard frame, it reads

$$𝐍=\left(\begin{array}{c}b\\ \frac{2\left(b^23ac\right)}{c}x_2\end{array}\right).$$
(24)
At the cusp point, $`𝐍`$ is parallel to the second order derivative of the caustic (22).

Then, the quantity

$$𝐍\frac{\mathrm{d}^2𝐲^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta ^2},$$
(25)
evaluated at the cusp point, is $`3\left(2acb^2\right)`$. So its sign coincides with the sign of the cusp. Moreover, the expression (25) is invariant for translations and rotations of the coordinate frame and for reparameterizations of the critical curve (as long as it is evaluated at the cusp point). Then it is natural to take Eq. (25) as the general definition for the sign of the cusp, valid not only in the standard frame but for any choice of the coordinates and parameterizations of the critical curve.

In what follows, we will use this definition to determine the signs of the cusps in the binary lens.

## III. Signs of the cusps in binary lenses

The critical curves of binary lenses can be classified according to two parameters: the mass ratio of the two lenses and their separation. We indicate the two masses (always measured in terms of the reference mass $`M_0`$) by $`m_1`$ and $`m_2`$. The total mass is $`M=m_1+m_2`$. For each mass ratio, three possible topologies are present depending on the separation $`a`$ between the lenses. In Fig. 2, we show them for a system of two equal masses.

For close binaries, i.e. when $`\frac{\left(M^2a^4\right)^3}{27a^8}>m_1m_2`$ , three caustics are present: the one at the centre of the system has four cusps, while the other two have three cusps (Fig. 2a).

Wide binary systems, characterized by the condition $`a^2>\left(m_1^{1/3}+m_2^{1/3}\right)^3`$, have two caustics with four cusps each (Fig. 2c).

Intermediate binaries have one caustic with six cusps (Fig. 2b).

If we change the parameters of the system continuously, we can follow each cusp unambiguously, since their positions are continuous functions of the parameters. Also the quantity (25), giving the sign of the cusp, is a continuous function of the parameters. So, remembering that the two vectors in the scalar product of Eq. (25) are parallel at the cusp, a change of sign in a cusp can only occur through a higher order singularity, according to Eq. (15). But no higher order cuspoid is present in binary lenses, so each cusp bears its sign unaltered as the parameters change, even when transitions between different topologies occur (if the cusp is not directly involved in these transitions).

These observations allow us to introduce an overall labelling for the cusps as we have done in Fig. 2. As we are interested in the study of the sign of the cusps, we have given the same label to the cusps which can be obtained by reflection on one or both axes in the equal–masses case, as they obviously have the same sign. For this reason we have two cusps of type $`a`$, four of type $`b`$ and so on.

In total, twelve cusps can be distinguished in the binary lens: two of them (indicated by $`e`$ in Fig. 2c) are only present in wide binaries; four of them (indicated by $`c`$ and $`d`$ in Fig. 2) only exist in close binaries. The other six are always present. The disappearance of cusps $`c`$ and $`d`$ and of cusps $`e`$ occurs through beak–to–beak singularities at the critical values of the separation between the masses, leading to the intermediate topology .

Since the sign of the cusp is a characteristic not depending on the particular choice of the parameters, we can lead our study in the simplest cases and then extend our results in general, exploiting the continuity of the quantities involved in our calculations. Of course, a natural simplifying choice can be the equal–mass case, as concerns the mass ratio. So, from now on we put $`m_1=m_2=M/2`$.

Now, we could deal with the exact formulae for the caustics, given in Refs. , but we would rather simplify our treatment further, reducing to the cases where perturbative results are employable. In this way, by very few steps, we can derive properties of the general binary lens from the study of its particular cases.

In Ref.  approximations are given for the caustics of the binary lens in the form of multipole expansions in its extreme cases: very close binary systems ($`a\sqrt{M}`$), very wide binary systems ($`a\sqrt{M}`$) and planetary systems ($`m_2m_1`$). Perturbative expansions to the first significant orders for multiple lenses were derived by Bozza  in the same cases. In the following subsections, we use the expressions in refs.  to analyze the signs of the cusps in representative cases. Deriving these signs for all types of cusps identified in Fig. 2, our demonstration will be concluded.

### A. Cusps in wide binary caustics

Let’s begin from the caustics formed by the two lenses when they are very far each other. Choosing the mass of each single lens as the reference mass, i.e. $`M/2=1`$, the starting hypothesis is

$$a1.$$
(26)
These caustics are the results of the deformations on the two separated Einstein rings of each mass induced by the other. We put the first lens at the origin and the second at the position $`𝐱_2=(a;0)`$. Thanks to Eq. (26), we shall expand all our objects in series of the perturbative parameter $`\frac{1}{a}`$ to the first non trivial order. The lens equation becomes:

$`y_1`$ $`=`$ $`x_1{\displaystyle \frac{x_1}{\left|𝐱\right|^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{a}}+{\displaystyle \frac{x_1}{a^2}},`$ (27a)
$`y_2`$ $`=`$ $`x_2{\displaystyle \frac{x_2}{\left|𝐱\right|^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{x_2}{a^2}}.`$ (27b)
The determinant of the Jacobian matrix is

$$D=1\frac{1}{\left|𝐱\right|^4}\frac{2\left(x_1^2x_2^2\right)}{a^2\left|𝐱\right|^4}.$$
(28)
The solution of the equation $`D=0`$ with $`D`$ given by Eq. (28) is the critical curve of the first mass

$$𝐱^\mathrm{c}\left(\theta \right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{cos}\theta \left(1+\frac{\mathrm{cos}2\theta }{2a^2}\right)\\ \\ \mathrm{sin}\theta \left(1+\frac{\mathrm{cos}2\theta }{2a^2}\right)\end{array}\right).$$
(29)
The caustic is

$$𝐲^\mathrm{c}\left(\theta \right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}\frac{1}{a}+\frac{2\mathrm{cos}^3\theta }{a^2}\\ \\ \frac{2\mathrm{sin}^3\theta }{a^2}\end{array}\right).$$
(30)
Now we can build the objects involved in the classification of the cuspoids. The vector tangent to the caustic

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}𝐲^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta }=\frac{3\mathrm{sin}2\theta }{a^2}\left(\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{cos}\theta \\ \\ \mathrm{sin}\theta \end{array}\right)$$
(31)
vanishes at $`\theta =n\pi /2`$ for $`n=0,1,2,3`$. The cusp obtained for $`n=0`$ is on the $`x_1`$–axis, directed towards the other mass. Looking at Fig. 2c, where the caustic of the first mass is the left one, it can be identified as a cusp of type $`e`$. The cusp for $`n=2`$ is in the opposite direction and is a cusp $`a`$. The other two are cusps of type $`b`$.

Now, let’s calculate the signs of these cusps. The second derivative of the caustic is

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}^2𝐲^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta ^2}=\frac{3}{a^2}\left(\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{cos}\theta \left(1+3\mathrm{cos}2\theta \right)\\ \\ \mathrm{sin}\theta \left(1+3\mathrm{cos}2\theta \right)\end{array}\right),$$
(32)
and the vector $`𝐍`$, defined in Eq. (23) is:

$$𝐍=\left(\begin{array}{c}2\mathrm{cos}\theta +\frac{1}{a^2}\left(5\mathrm{cos}\theta +\mathrm{cos}3\theta \right)\\ \\ 2\mathrm{sin}\theta +\frac{1}{a^2}\left(5\mathrm{cos}\theta +\mathrm{cos}3\theta \right)\end{array}\right).$$
(33)
Finally, the quantity (25) evaluated at the four cusps is

$$𝐍\frac{\mathrm{d}^2𝐲^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta ^2}|_{\theta =n\pi /2}=\left(1\right)^n\frac{12}{a^2}.$$
(34)
Then, the cusps $`a`$ and $`e`$ are positive, while the cusps $`b`$ are negative. Having established the signs of these three types of cusps, the only cusps to be studied are of type $`c`$ and $`d`$, to be found in the analysis of close binary systems.

### B. Cusps in close binary main caustic

We calculate now the signs of the cusps of the main caustic of close binary systems. This is necessary to obtain the sign of the cusps of type $`c`$. However, we also get a confirmation for cusps of type $`a`$. Now we choose the origin to be at the center between the two masses and consider the total mass as the reference mass: $`M=1`$, $`𝐱_1=(\frac{a}{2};0)`$, $`𝐱_2=(\frac{a}{2};0)`$. We consider the limit

$$a1.$$
(35)
By virtue of this hypothesis, all objects will be expanded in powers of $`a`$. Stopping at the first significant order, the lens equation becomes

$`y_1`$ $`=`$ $`x_1{\displaystyle \frac{x_1}{\left|𝐱\right|^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{a^2x_1\left(x_1^23x_2^2\right)}{4\left|𝐱\right|^6}}`$ (36a)
$`y_2`$ $`=`$ $`x_2{\displaystyle \frac{x_2}{\left|𝐱\right|^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{a^2x_2\left(x_2^23x_1^2\right)}{4\left|𝐱\right|^6}}.`$ (36b)
The Jacobian determinant is

$$D=1\frac{1}{\left|𝐱\right|^4}\frac{3a^2\left(x_1^2x_2^2\right)}{2\left|𝐱\right|^8}.$$
(37)
The main critical curve is given by the expression

$$𝐱^\mathrm{c}\left(\theta \right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{cos}\theta \left(1+\frac{3a^2\mathrm{cos}2\theta }{8}\right)\\ \\ \mathrm{sin}\theta \left(1+\frac{3a^2\mathrm{cos}2\theta }{8}\right)\end{array}\right).$$
(38)
The caustic is

$$𝐲^\mathrm{c}\left(\theta \right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}\frac{a^2}{2}\mathrm{cos}^3\theta \\ \\ \frac{a^2}{2}\mathrm{sin}^3\theta \end{array}\right).$$
(39)
The calculation proceeds in a way analogous to the previous case.

The vector tangent to the caustic

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}𝐲^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta }=\frac{3a^2\mathrm{sin}2\theta }{4}\left(\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{cos}\theta \\ \\ \mathrm{sin}\theta \end{array}\right)$$
(40)
vanishes at $`\theta =n\pi /2`$ for $`n=0,1,2,3`$. The cusps obtained for $`n=0,2`$ are on the $`x_1`$–axis, thus being of type $`a`$. The other two are cusps of type $`c`$.

The second derivative is

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}^2𝐲^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta ^2}=\frac{3a^2}{8}\left(\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{cos}\theta +3\mathrm{cos}3\theta \\ \\ \mathrm{sin}\theta +3\mathrm{sin}3\theta \end{array}\right)$$
(41)
and the vector $`𝐍`$ is

$$𝐍=\left(\begin{array}{c}2\mathrm{cos}\theta +\frac{3a^2}{8}\left(\mathrm{cos}\theta 3\mathrm{cos}3\theta \right)\\ \\ 2\mathrm{sin}\theta \frac{3a^2}{8}\left(\mathrm{sin}\theta +3\mathrm{sin}3\theta \right)\end{array}\right).$$
(42)
Finally, the quantity (25) evaluated at the four cusps is:

$$𝐍\frac{\mathrm{d}^2𝐲^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta ^2}|_{\theta =n\pi /2}=\left(1\right)^n\frac{3a^2}{2}.$$
(43)
Then, besides the confirmation of the positivity of cusps $`a`$, we find that the cusps $`c`$ are negative.

### C. Cusps in close binary secondary caustics

Finally, we need the sign of the cusps of type $`d`$. They arise in close binary systems and belong to secondary caustics. Studying the cusps of these caustics, we also have the confirmation of the negativity of cusps $`b`$. We retain the same choices of the previous subsection for the parameters of the system. The critical curve we investigate is the upper secondary one

$$𝐱^\mathrm{c}\left(\theta \right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}\frac{a^3\mathrm{cos}\theta }{4}\\ \\ \frac{a}{2}+\frac{a^3\mathrm{sin}\theta }{4}\end{array}\right).$$
(44)
corresponding to the bottom secondary caustic

$$𝐲^\mathrm{c}\left(\theta \right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}\frac{a^3}{8}\left(2\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{sin}2\theta \right)\\ \\ \frac{1}{a}+\frac{a}{2}+\frac{a^3}{8}\left(2\mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{cos}2\theta \right)\end{array}\right).$$
(45)
The vector tangent to the caustic

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}𝐲^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta }=\frac{a^3}{4}\left(\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{cos}2\theta +\mathrm{sin}\theta \\ \\ \mathrm{sin}2\theta +\mathrm{cos}\theta \end{array}\right)$$
(46)
vanishes at $`\theta =2n\pi /3+\pi /2`$ for $`n=0,1,2`$. The cusp obtained for $`n=0`$ is on the $`x_2`$–axis, then it is the one of type $`d`$. The other two are the cusps of type $`b`$.

The second order derivative is:

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}^2𝐲^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta ^2}=\frac{a^3}{4}\left(\begin{array}{c}\mathrm{cos}\theta 2\mathrm{sin}2\theta \\ \\ \mathrm{sin}\theta +2\mathrm{cos}2\theta \end{array}\right)$$
(47)
and the vector $`𝐍`$ is

$$𝐍=\left(\begin{array}{c}\frac{4\mathrm{cos}\theta }{a^3}\\ \\ \frac{4\mathrm{sin}\theta }{a^3}\end{array}\right).$$
(48)
Finally, the quantity (25) evaluated at the four cusps is:

$$𝐍\frac{\mathrm{d}^2𝐲^\mathrm{c}}{\mathrm{d}\theta ^2}|_{\theta =2n\pi /3+\pi /2}=3n.$$
(49)
All of the cusps are negative, not only the ones of type $`b`$, already studied, but also the cusp $`d`$.

In conclusion, in binary lenses, we have that the cusps on $`x_1`$–axis ($`a`$ and $`e`$) are positive and the others are negative.

## IV. Extensions to multiple systems

In refs. , the expressions for the caustics were derived not only for binary systems but for a general multiple lens. Then, by further continuity arguments, we can extend our results even to some special multiple lenses.

In a first approximation , the caustic of a lens very far from the other components of the distribution of mass is a Chang–Refsdal caustic , with shear:

$$\gamma =\sqrt{\left[\underset{i=2}{\overset{n}{}}\frac{m_i\mathrm{sin}\left(2\phi _i\right)}{\rho _i^2}\right]^2+\left[\underset{i=2}{\overset{n}{}}\frac{m_i\mathrm{cos}\left(2\phi _i\right)}{\rho _i^2}\right]^2},$$
(50)
along the direction

$$\phi =\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{arctan}\left[\frac{\underset{i=2}{\overset{n}{}}\frac{m_i\mathrm{sin}\left(2\phi _i\right)}{\rho _i^2}}{\underset{i=2}{\overset{n}{}}\frac{m_i\mathrm{cos}\left(2\phi _i\right)}{\rho _i^2}}\right].$$
(51)
In these two expressions, the positions of the masses producing the shear are given in polar coordinates $`\rho _i`$, $`\phi _i`$.

In Sect. 3.1, we have analyzed the case of a binary system where only the mass $`m_2`$ produced the shear field on the first mass. This field was directed towards $`m_2`$. We found that the cusps along this direction were positive and the other two were negative. Then, if we let a third mass $`m_3`$ arise from zero to some finite value (also placed far from the mass $`m_1`$, in order to remain in the approximation of wide multiple lenses), the shear would be modified, but the shape of the caustic would remain the same. The positions of the cusps change continuously and then we can still say that the cusps on the shear axis are positive and the other two are negative as long as the topology is unaltered.

Regarding close multiple lenses, we can follow the same procedure. In this case, the caustic formed by masses having mutual distances much smaller than the total Einstein radius is a quadrupole caustic , with moment

$$Q=M\sqrt{\left[\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}m_i\rho _i^2\mathrm{cos}\left(2\phi _i\right)\right]^2+\left[\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}m_i\rho _i^2\mathrm{sin}\left(2\phi _i\right)\right]^2},$$
(52)
oriented along

$$\phi =\mathrm{arctan}\frac{QM\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}m_i\rho _i^2\mathrm{cos}\left(2\phi _i\right)}{M\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{}}m_i\rho _i^2\mathrm{sin}\left(2\phi _i\right)}.$$
(53)
In the binary case, examined in Sect. 3.2, $`\phi =0`$. The two cusps on this axis were positive and the other two were negative. Again, turning on additional masses from zero to some finite value, the orientation changes continuously and the signs of the cusps are preserved as long as the topology remains the same. Then, the cusps on the orientation axis are positive and the other two are negative.

For secondary caustics, in close multiple systems, we start referring to planetary systems. If we have a star surrounded by one planet placed inside the Einstein ring of the star, two secondary critical curves are formed very close to the planet . According to the arguments in Sect. 3.3, the resulting secondary caustics have three negative cusps each. Now, if we add more planets inside the Einstein ring of the star, each of them will be accompanied by two small secondary critical curves. Since, in a first approximation, each couple of secondary critical curves formed by one planet is not affected by the presence of the other planets , we deduce that these caustics have the same properties of the binary secondary caustics (obtained putting the masses of the other planets to zero): they have only negative cusps. Now, we let the masses of all the planets increase continuously from their small values to their definitive values, in order to obtain a generic multiple system with distances smaller than the global Einstein radius. The positions of the secondary critical curves will change, but their shape (and the signs of the cusps) will remain the same as long as they remain simple critical curves, i.e. as long as they do not meet each other to give multiple critical curves . Yet, even in this case, the transitions can be achieved by suppressing two cusps through a beak–to–beak singularity . The surviving cusps will anyway preserve their sign. In conclusion, all secondary caustics (both simple and multiple) have negative cusps. A direct calculation using the formulae given in  confirms this statement derived here by continuity arguments.

We see that the approach used in this specific problem (calculations in perturbative cases and extensions by continuity arguments) can be a powerful tool in order to gain information about situations where there is poor analytical direct knowledge. In the study of caustics of gravitational lens models, this methodology can surely provide a great help for the comprehension of the topologies actually realized in physical systems.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Salvatore Capozziello for his helpful comments on the manuscript.

Work supported by fund ex 60% D.P.R. 382/80.