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# Carbon stars in the Local Group

## 1. Introduction

Carbon stars are tracers of the intermediate age population in galaxies. Either they are currently undergoing third dredge-up on the (Thermal-Pulsing) Asymptotic Giant Branch (TP-AGB) – the cool and luminous N-type carbon stars –, or have been enriched with carbon-rich material in a binary system when the present-day white dwarf was on the AGB (the carbon dwarfs and CH-stars. The R-stars may be the result of a coalescing binary \[McClure 1997\]).

Since their spectral signature is very different from oxygen-rich and S-type stars, it is relatively easy to identify carbon stars even at large distances. In Sect. 2 the main technique to identify carbon stars is briefly discussed, and in Sect. 3 the various surveys for carbon stars in external galaxies are summarised. That section is in fact, an update of a review I gave at IAU Symposium 191 (Groenewegen 1999; hereafter G99), and here I will only refer to new results published since then, or older literature when I use it to obtain new results. Please refer to G99, and the similar review by Azzopardi (1999) for the full story. The results and some recent theoretical predictions are discussed in Sect. 4.

## 2. Methods

This has been discussed in some detail in G99. Briefly, the most effective method for large scale surveys of late-type M- and C-stars uses typically two broad-band filters from the set $`V,R,I`$, and two narrow-band filters near 7800 and 8100 Å, which are centred on a CN-band in carbon stars, and a TiO band in oxygen-rich stars, respectively. In an \[78-81\] versus $`[VI]`$ (or similar) colour-colour plot, carbon stars and late-type oxygen-rich stars clearly separate redwards of $`VI`$ 1.6. For an illustration of this, see Cook & Aaronson (1989), or Kerschbaum et al. (1999).

A caveat is that, unfortunately, not all groups adopt the same “boxes” in these diagrams to select M- and C-stars (e.g. compare Nowotny et al. 2001 and Demers et al. 2002). Furthermore, in many cases, only the photometry is published for the stars the respective authors consider to be the M- and C-stars, so its impossible to apply ones own selection criteria a posteriori. Furthermore, one usually applies the same lower-limit on the broad band colour ($`(VI)`$, or $`(RI)`$) to select M-stars (usually chosen to correspond to M0 and later) to C-stars, while it is known (e.g. Kerschbaum et al. 1999) that the hottest C-stars (spectral type C0) are bluer than this limit. So, applying the same lower-limit on the broad-band colour will bias against the hottest C-stars.

## 3. Surveys

In this section the (recent) surveys for carbon stars in external galaxies, or new results in general, are described.

The Magellanic Clouds

A huge new survey of the LMC was presented by Kontizas et al. (2001) covering about 300 sq.degree and containing 7760 objects. I used the listed $`R,I`$ data to calculate the bolometric magnitude using bolometric corrections (BCs) from Costa & Frogel (1996; hereafter CF) for a reddening of $`E(BV)`$ = 0.06.

Kunkel et al. (2000) present a new survey of carbon stars in the periphery of the SMC, and present $`B`$, $`R`$, and heliocentric velocities for 150 stars.

It should be mentioned that the data release of the infra-red surveys DENIS and 2MASS has allowed to identify many candidate AGB stars based on colour criteria, e.g. Egan et al. (2001), who combine 2MASS with MSX data, to suggest about 500 candidate AGB stars, or Nikolaev & Weinberg (2000) who analyse 2MASS data to find that there is a significant population of AGB stars. In the near future multi-object spectroscopy will assign spectral types and measure radial velocities for many of them.

Sagittarius dwarf galaxy

The total number of known carbon stars is 26, with an estimated total of about 100 (Whitelock et al. 1999). $`JHK`$ photometry is listed for 11 of them in Whitelock et al. (1996). I correlated all 26 of them with 2MASS, finding 14 matches, 9 also with photometry in Whitelock et al. (1996). The object with the largest difference in $`K`$, is the object classified by Whitelock et al. (1999) as a Mira, actually the first confirmed Mira-type variable in a dwarf spheroidal. The bolometric magnitudes for the 16 stars are calculated adopting $`E(BV)`$ = 0.15 and BCs from Bessell & Wood (1984; hereafter BW84).

Fornax dwarf galaxy

Azzopardi et al. (1999) lists a total known number of 104, with an estimated total of 120.

Demers & Irwin (1987) identify 30 long-period variables but none with Mira-type amplitudes. Bersier & Wood (2002) give a list of 85 candidate LPVs.

Stetson et al. (1998) present a list of 161 candidate luminous red stars in a field of 1274 sq.arcmin based on $`B`$ and $`R`$ exposures. Cross-identifications with Demers & Kunkel (1979), Westerlund et al. (1987) and Lundgren (1990) are also given.

Demers et al. (2002) consider the 2MASS observations in the direction of Fornax and the LMC and use a selection in $`JK`$ to identify 5 new candidates, and confirm 21 known carbon stars in Fornax.

I took the coordinates from Stetson et al. and made a correlation with the 2MASS catalogue in 2 steps. First using a search radius of 2 arcsec, finding 140 matches. Plotting the offsets between the input coordinates and the 2MASS coordinates revealed that there is an offset of 0.66 arcsec in RA and 1.10 arcsec in Dec. In a second pass, the Stetson et al. coordinates were corrected for this offset, and a search radius of 1.5 arcsec was used. 152 matches were found, with an rms in the difference between 2MASS and input coordinates now 0.42 arcsec in RA and 0.32 arcsec in Dec. This sub-sample of 152 stars contains 41 C-, 7 S- and 19 M-stars. Bolometric magnitudes are calculated adopting a reddening $`E(BV)`$ of 0.020, and BCs to the $`K`$ magnitude from BW84.

Figure 1 and 2 show the colour-colour and colour-magnitude diagram for these 152 red stars with 2MASS counterparts. From both diagrams it is clear that the carbon stars stand out from the M- and S-stars, a feature that is well known and related to the different molecular absorption features in the NIR. The carbon stars are on average more luminous than the M- and S-stars. Note that the two reddest stars seem to have a relatively low luminosity again. This is likely to be an artifact, since these red colours are influenced by circumstellar reddening because of mass loss, and hence a simple BCs formulation to obtain $`M_{\mathrm{bol}}`$ may become inaccurate.

Leo i dwarf galaxy

The total number of known carbon stars is 23. Demers & Battinelli (2002) use the narrow-band filter technique to find 7 new carbon stars. The number of M0+ stars they estimate to be 15 (foreground corrected), and based on the expected colours of M-stars I estimated that the number of M2+, M3+ and M5+ stars is 13, 10 and 1, respectively. This (and similar estimates described below for other galaxies) is based on colours derived from the M-type spectra of Fluks et al. (1994), as listed in Table 1. Demers & Battinelli (2002) give $`R,I`$ for all 23 stars, and I calculated bolometric magnitudes assuming $`E(BV)`$ = 0.02 and BCs from CF.

Recently, Menzies et al. (2002) surveyed a field of 7.2 arcmin square in the inner part of Leo i in $`JHK`$. They find all 21 known and suspected carbon stars in the field, but also identify 3 very red objects (and a fourth in a nearby field), which, based on their colours, are possibly carbon stars undergoing mass loss.

Sculptor dwarf galaxy

I took the coordinates from Azzopardi et al. (1986) and correlated them with 2MASS to find a match in all cases. For the 2 stars with IR photometry listed in Frogel et al. (1982) the agreement is excellent. Bolometric magnitudes are calculated assuming $`E(BV)`$ = 0.02, and BCs from BW84. The number of stars available to calculate the LF is therefore increased from 2 to 8.

Leo ii dwarf galaxy

The total known number of certain carbon stars is 8. Azzopardi et al. (2000) state they found 2 new ones, without providing further details.

I extracted the coordinates for the 6 certain and 1 candidate carbon stars in Azzopardi et al. (1985), and cross-correlated them with 2MASS, to find 6 matches (all but ALW 5). The $`K`$-magnitudes for ALW 4 and 6 agree to with a few hundredth of a magnitude with those listed in Aaronson & Mould (1985), the difference in the sense Aaronson & Mould minus 2MASS is 0.1 mag for ALW1, –0.18 for ALW3 and –0.36 for ALW7, possibly indicating they are variable. I determined the bolometric magnitude for ALW2, and removed the star DH 260 in Aaronson & Mould (1985), which I inadvertently had included in 1999 in the luminosity function of this galaxy, but is not a carbon star.

Phoenix dwarf galaxy

Martinez-Delgado et al. (1999) present $`I`$-band photometry of the two known carbon stars that agrees very well with the values in Van de Rydt et al. (1991).

Carina dwarf galaxy

Azzopardi et al. (1999) list 11 carbon stars, which is two more than listed in G99, but no details are given.

Ursa Minor dwarf galaxy

The total number of known carbon stars is 7. Armandroff et al. (1995) confirm the 1 certain and 1 candidate carbon star in Azzopardi et al. (1986, and references therein), and find 2 new ones. Shetrone et al. (2001) do follow-up spectroscopy of red stars and find 3 new carbon stars to bring the total to 7. They list $`B,V`$ photometry for all. I correlated these 7 using the positions in Shetrone et al. with 2MASS and found a match within 1 arcsec in 6 cases, of which 5 have good photometry in $`J`$ and $`K`$. A reddening of $`E(BV)`$ = 0.032 is adopted to compute $`m_{\mathrm{bol}}`$ with BCs from BW84.

Draco dwarf galaxy

The total known number of carbon stars is 6. Armandroff et al. (1995) confirm the 3 certain and 1 candidate carbon star in Azzopardi et al. (1986, and references therein), and find one new one. Shetrone et al. (2001) do follow-up spectroscopy of red stars and find a sixth carbon star. $`B,V`$ photometry is listed for all. Draco is not yet observed by 2MASS. Margon et al. (2002), in a search for “Faint High Latitude Carbon Stars”, identify three known carbon stars in SDSS data.

M31

From Brewer et al. (1995, table 8), and the expected colours of M-stars (Table 1), I estimated the number of M0+, M2+, M3+, M5+, M6+ stars to be 5254, 4887, 3920, 789 and 223, respectively.

A new survey was presented by Nowotny et al. (2001) for one field of 5.3x5 arcmin (unvignetted area) in between fields 3 and 4 of Brewer et al. (1995). They find 61 carbon stars and 507 M0+ stars. Since no colour information for the M-stars is given, no spectral subdivision according to colour can be made. The C/M ratio and the number of objects per unit area found by Nowotny et al. (2001) are very similar to those found by Brewer et al. (1995) for their flanking field no 4.

M33

The colours of the M-stars in Cook et al. (1986) were inspected and I estimated the number of M0+, M2+, M3+, M5+, M6+ stars to be 60, 34, 26, 5, 2.

And i,ii,iii

Cote et al. (1999) took spectra of red stars in And ii and confirm one new carbon star, and give $`V,I`$ photometry. Da Costa et al. (2000) quote a $`V`$-magnitude fainter by 0.2 mag for this object. However, since the list of Cook et al. remains unpublished it is unclear whether this star is in their list already. Bolometric magnitudes are available for 2 certain C-stars, one based on IR photometry (Aaronson et al. 1985b), and the other calculated by me using the average of the two available $`V`$ data points, $`VI`$ from Cote et al. (1999), assuming $`E(BV)`$ = 0.06, and BCs from BW84.

NGC 6822

A new survey using the narrow-band filter technique was presented by Letarte et al. (2002), covering the whole galaxy and identifying 904 carbon stars. A similar number of M-stars with colours corresponding to spectral type M0 and later was identified. Unfortunately no information is given on the number distribution of M-stars as a function of colour (spectral type). I took their $`R,I`$ data, and calculated the bolometric magnitudes adopting $`E(BV)`$ = 0.24 and BCs from CF.

Sagittarius DIG

A new survey using the narrow-band filter technique was presented by Demers & Battinelli (2002), covering the whole galaxy. They found 16 carbon stars. The foreground contamination is so strong that no useful estimate of the number of M stars could be made. I took their $`R,I`$ data and reddening ($`E(BV)`$= 0.05) and the BCs from CF to estimate the bolometric magnitudes.

Pegasus

A new survey using the narrow-band filter technique was presented by Battinelli & Demers (2000), covering the whole galaxy. They found 40 carbon stars for their preferred reddening of $`E(BV)`$ = 0.03. The C/M ratio they quote appears to be in error however. Based on their Figure 4, I count 19 M-stars in the area of approximately 5.6 sq.arcmin they define as the foreground area, and 116 M-stars in the 11.4 sq.arcmin covered by Pegasus. This implies there are 11.4/5.6 $`\times `$ 19 = 39 foreground stars in the area covered by Pegasus, and hence the C/M ratio is 40 /(116 - 39) = 0.52, and not 0.77. Assuming that 57% of all M-stars in the field are foreground, I estimated the number of M0+, M2+, M3+, M5+, M6+ stars in Pegasus to be 77, 30, 17, 1, 0, respectively. I calculated the bolometric magnitude using the BCs from CF.

Aquarius

A new survey using the narrow-band filter technique was presented by Battinelli & Demers (2000), covering the whole galaxy. They found 3 carbon stars. The foreground contamination is such that no reliable estimate for the C/M ratio can be made. I calculated the bolometric magnitude using the BCs from CF, and a reddening of $`E(BV)`$ = 0.03.

Tucana

A new survey using the narrow-band filter technique was presented by Battinelli & Demers (2000), covering the whole galaxy. They found no carbon stars.

IC 1613

A new survey, covering the whole galaxy, using the narrow-band filter technique is presented by Albert et al. (2000). They identify 195 carbon stars, and, considering the foreground contamination, about 300 stars of spectral type M0 and later. Assuming the same fraction of foreground contamination as for all M-stars, I estimated from their Figure 5, that there are approximately 35 M5+ and 2 M6+ stars. I took their $`R,I`$ data, and calculated the bolometric magnitudes assuming $`E(BV)=0.03`$ and BCs from CF.

Kurtev et al. (2001) identify the first known Mira in IC 1613, with a period of 640 days, and an amplitude in the $`R`$-band of 2.5-3 magnitudes. Its spectral type is around M3.

WLM

The colours of the M-stars in Cook et al. (1986) were inspected and I estimated the number of M0+, M2+, M3+, M5+ stars to be 6, 3, 3, 0.

NGC 55

I corrected an error in the distance and $`M_\mathrm{V}`$ in G99. The colours of the M-stars in Pritchet et al. (1987) were inspected and the number of M3+, M5+ stars is estimated to be 7 and 6.

NGC 300

Richer et al. (1985) identify 25 M-stars (with an estimated 2 foregound objects) with observed colours $`VI1.9`$ and assume all to be of spectral type M5+. Using Table 1, I estimated the number of stars in NGC 300 with spectral type M1+, M2+, M3+, M5+ to be 23, 21, 15, 6, respectively.

For the Sextans dwarf galaxy, NGC 205 and NGC 2403 there has been no new information on the carbon star population since G99.

Table 2 summarises the number of known carbon stars in external galaxies. Local Group members not explicitly mentioned have no published information on their C-star population. The last three entries are galaxies outside the Local Group. Listed are the adopted distance, absolute visual magnitude, metallicity (these three parameters come from Mateo (1998) and van den Bergh (2000)), number of known carbon stars, the surface area on the sky of the respective survey, the ratio of the area of the galaxy on the sky (taken from the NED catalogue) and the survey area, and the number of late-type M-stars, when known (the symbol ‘3+’ meaning stars of spectral type M3 and later, etc.). The entry for the number of carbon stars in our galaxy is the local surface density of TP-AGB stars by Groenewegen et al. (1992).

## 4. Discussion

Figure 3 shows the well-known correlation between metallicity and absolute visual magnitude. The interpretation being that the more luminous galaxies are also the more massive ones that have had more gas mass available to transform into stars and enrich the interstellar medium. There is a clear outlier, SagDIG, but several research groups find a similar low metallicity for this galaxy (see discussion in Momany et al. 2002)

Figure 4 shows the number of carbon stars in a galaxy versus $`M_\mathrm{V}`$ represented in two ways. First, the total number of C-stars in a galaxy was estimated by simply multiplying the known number by the ratio of total surface area of a galaxy to the survey area. As for some galaxies the survey area is less than a few percent, this correction factor can be quite large (and uncertain). To circumvent this, the bottom panel shows the surface density of carbon stars in the particular survey. The drawback of this approach is that it does not take into account the spatial variation of the density of carbon stars within a galaxy. In neither approach did I correct for the fact that we do not see these galaxies face-on. Some interesting things can be noticed. There is a clear relation between the (estimated) total number of C-stars and $`M_\mathrm{V}`$, and there seems to be a maximum surface density of about 200 kpc<sup>-2</sup> averaged over a galaxy. In both plots NGC 55, 300 and 2403 are clear outliers. These are the most distant galaxies surveyed, and one might suppose that the surveys have been incomplete. For NGC 55 the explanation probably lies as well in the fact that we see this galaxy almost disk-on, and so both the total number as well as the surface density have been underestimated. Reddening within the galactic disk of the galaxy can also play a role. For NGC 2403 the small number of carbon stars lies in the fact that the survey has been incomplete. All 4 known C-stars have luminosities that are much higher than the average in galaxies for which we know the LF in more detail. The same is true for NGC 300. A last note of caution is that I did not try to make a distinction between carbon stars on the TP-AGB and lower-luminosity carbon stars. For example, the data for our Galaxy represents TP-AGB stars only, while on the other hand the SMC is known to contain a large fraction of low-luminosity carbon stars (see later).

Figure 5 shows the ratio of C- to late M-stars, and it confirms the well known trend (Cook et al. 1986, Pritchet et al. 1987). The interpretation is that a star with a lower metallicity needs fewer thermal pulses to turn from an oxygen-rich star into a carbon star.

Figure 6 shows the ratio of the total estimated number of carbon stars over the visual luminosity of the galaxy (e.g. Aaronson et al. 1983). Most of the galaxies scatter between a value of –3 and –4, with a few outliers which are the same as noticed in Fig. 2.

Figure 7 shows the C-stars bolometric LF for the galaxies for which it could be constructed (Sect. 2); for the Magellanic Clouds see Groenewegen (1998) for details. Table 3 lists the maximum, minimum and mean magnitude, as well as the spread, calculated from the rms deviation from the mean. Also listed are the number of stars that went into the calculation and are plotted in Fig. 7, and the number of C-stars that are fainter than $`M_{\mathrm{bol}}=3.5`$, the luminosity of the tip of the RGB. This is not an absolute foolproof limit between true AGB stars and binary masqueraders as (low initial mass) genuine AGB stars may have a luminosity fainter than $`M_{\mathrm{bol}}=3.5`$ when experiencing the first few pulses on the TP-AGB and/or when they happen to be observed during the luminosity-dip of the thermal pulse cycle (about 10-20% of the inter pulse time). As an aside it is noted that in the case the luminosity is not conclusive about the AGB nature of an object, one could try to observe one or more Technetium lines (e.g. Abia et al. 2002 and references therein), as the presence of this unstable isotope indicates recent nucleosynthesis.

The data show that in well populated LFs, the mean $`M_{\mathrm{bol}}`$ is between –4 and –5. It also shows that the mean in NGC 300 and NGC 2403 is much higher. Unless one would invoke a large uncertainty in the distance or a burst of recent star formation, the most natural explanation lies in the incompleteness of the surveys in these distant galaxies. Finally, the data shows that in the fainter galaxies the mean magnitude increases and that a fair number of C-stars are of the low-luminosity type. This is more clearly seen in Fig. 8 where the mean magnitude is plotted. A LF which is dominated by faint carbon stars is indicative of an absent intermediate age population, and a corresponding star formation history. It is also evident that there is a considerable spread at a given metallicity or $`M_\mathrm{V}`$, inhibiting the use of the mean carbon star luminosity as a distance indicator.

In a recent paper Mouhcine & Lançon (2002) present evolutionary population synthesis models, including chemical evolution, with special focus on intermediate age populations. Their models are the first that are able to account for the observed trend in Fig. 3 adopting ‘typical’ SFH for Sa, Sb, Sc and Irr Hubble type galaxies. The AGB phase is included through a semi-analytical treatment of the third dredge-up, with efficiency parameters set to values that have been determined in other studies to fit the LMC carbon star LF and C/M ratio.

## 5. Conclusion

In principle, the overall carbon star LF and C/M ratio contains information about the star-formation rate history from, say, 10 Gyr ago (the low-luminosity C-stars in binaries) to a few-hundred Myr ago (the high luminosity tail of the LF). Its a challenge to theoretical models to use these constraints together with other data to derive the chemical evolution and star formation history of these galaxies. The models of Mouhcine & Lançon represent a first successful step in this direction.

### Acknowledgments.

I thank Pierre Royer (KUL) for a critical reading of the manuscript. This publication makes use of data products from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, which is a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation.

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# LU-ITP 2002/016, RNCP-Th02016, KANAZAWA-02-19, ITEP-LAT/2002-09 19 August, 2002 Monopoles, confinement and the photon propagator in QED3

## Abstract

We study the lattice gauge boson propagator of $`3D`$ compact QED in Landau gauge at zero and non-zero temperature. Non-perturbative effects are reflected by the generation of a mass $`m`$, by an anomalous dimension $`\alpha `$ and by the photon wave function renormalisation $`Z`$. These effects can be attributed to monopoles: they are absent in the propagator of the regular part of the gauge field. The rôle of Gribov copies is carefully investigated.

Three–dimensional compact electrodynamics (cQED3) shares two essential features with QCD, confinement  and chiral symmetry breaking . Confinement of electrically charged particles is caused by a plasma of monopoles which emerge due to the compactness of the gauge field. Recently we have interpreted the deconfinement phase transition in cQED2+1 from the monopole point of view and have shown that the transition is independent of the strength of external fields . In Ref.  we have demonstrated how the confinement property is manifest in the gauge boson propagator of this theory and how the propagator changes at the deconfinement temperature. We have found that an anomalous dimension $`\alpha `$ appears which modifies the momentum dependence, apart from the generation of a mass $`m`$, which can be well described by Polyakov’s theory . We have shown that all nontrivial effects originate from the singular fields of the monopoles and disappear with the formation of dipoles.

Here we report on an extension of this study to the case of $`T=0`$ and a careful investigation on the severity of the Gribov copy problem. At $`T0`$, it is important to realize that more structure functions are necessary for a full description. We found that one of the finite $`T`$ propagators is extremely gauge fixing sensitive. For our lattice study we have adopted the Wilson action, $`S[\theta ]=\beta _p\left(1\mathrm{cos}\theta _p\right)`$, where $`\theta _p`$ is the $`U(1)`$ field strength tensor corresponding to the compact link field $`\theta _l`$. The lattice coupling $`\beta `$ is related to the lattice spacing $`a`$ and the continuum coupling constant $`g_3`$ of the $`3D`$ theory, $`\beta =1/(ag_3^2)`$. The Landau gauge is defined as the maximum of a functional $`=_l\mathrm{cos}\theta _l^G`$ with respect to gauge transformations $`G`$. For the Monte Carlo algorithm (combining local and global updates) and the gauge fixing procedure see Ref. . Simulations for $`T=0`$ have been performed on a $`32^3`$ lattice, those for $`T>0`$ on a $`32^2\times 8`$ lattice.

We have studied the gauge boson propagator in Landau gauge in lattice momentum space $`\stackrel{}{k}`$ where it is defined as $`D_{\mu \nu }(\stackrel{}{p})=\stackrel{~}{A}_{\stackrel{}{k},\mu }\stackrel{~}{A}_{\stackrel{}{k},\nu }`$ in terms of the Fourier transformed gauge potential $`\stackrel{~}{A}_{\stackrel{}{k},\mu }`$ for $`p_\nu =(2/a)\mathrm{sin}(2\pi k_\nu /L_\nu )`$. The gauge field in lattice position space is taken as $`A_{\stackrel{}{n}+\frac{1}{2}\stackrel{}{\mu },\mu }=\mathrm{sin}\theta _{\stackrel{}{n},\mu }/(g_3a)`$. The most general tensor structure of $`D_{\mu \nu }`$ at $`T=0`$ is given by

$$D_{\mu \nu }(\stackrel{}{p})=P_{\mu \nu }(\stackrel{}{p})D(p^2)+(p_\mu p_\nu )/p^2F(p^2)/p^2$$
(1)
with the $`3`$-dimensional transverse projection operator $`P_{\mu \nu }(\stackrel{}{p})=\delta _{\mu \nu }(p_\mu p_\nu )/p^2`$. If the Landau gauge is fulfilled exactly, $`F(p^2)p_\mu D_{\mu \nu }p_\nu =0`$. The transverse and longitudinal propagators, $`D`$ and $`F`$, are extracted by projection and are found approximately rotationally invariant or vanishing.

For $`T>0`$ the propagator lacks $`O(3)`$ rotational symmetry. Thus, we have to consider two scalar functions $`D_{T/L}`$ using the $`2`$-dimensional transverse/longitudinal projection operators $`P_{\mu \nu }^{T/L}`$:

$$D_{\mu \nu }(\stackrel{}{p})=P_{\mu \nu }^TD_T+P_{\mu \nu }^LD_L+(p_\mu p_\nu )/p^2F/p^2.$$
(2)
These projectors are given as follows ($`i,j=1,2`$; $`𝐩^2=p_ip_i`$): $`P_{ij}^T=\delta _{ij}(p_ip_j)/𝐩^2`$, $`P_{33}^T=P_{3i}^T=P_{i3}^T=0`$ and $`P_{\mu \nu }^L=P_{\mu \nu }P_{\mu \nu }^T`$. The functions $`D_T(|𝐩|,p_3)`$ and $`D_L(|𝐩|,p_3)`$ can be extracted from $`D_{\mu \nu }`$. In the static limit, $`p_3=0`$, we have $`D_L(|𝐩|,0)D_{33}(|𝐩|,0)`$, i.e. $`D_L`$ contains only temporal gauge degrees of freedom directly exhibiting confinement, while $`D_T`$ contains the spatial gauge degrees of freedom.

In order to discuss the form of the propagator from the monopole plasma point of view, we decompose the gauge fields links into singular (monopole) and regular (photon) contributions, $`\theta _{\stackrel{}{n},\mu }=\theta _{\stackrel{}{n},\mu }^{phot}+\theta _{\stackrel{}{n},\mu }^{mono}`$  (see also ). Once the decomposition of the link angles is done, one is free to define the corresponding propagators in position space, transform to momentum space, and to define the decomposition of $`D`$ or $`D_{L/T}`$ (and $`F`$) into monopole, photon and mixed contributions.

In Fig. 1 we show for $`T=0`$ at $`\beta =1.8`$ the measured transverse propagator $`D`$ and its different components in lattice momentum space. To create the best Landau gauge realization, we have evaluated $`N_G=20`$ Gribov copies, independent maxima of $``$ obtained from maximizing random gauge transforms of the original configuration. The monopole part of the transversal propagator $`D^{mono}`$ reaches a maximum in the low momentum region before it drops towards $`p^2=0`$. The regular (photon) part is singular at $`p^20`$ like $`D^{phot}1/p^2`$, while the full transversal propagator is not. $`p^2D^{phot}`$ is flat independently of $`\beta `$. As expected, the longitudinal part $`F`$ vanishes within errors.

Following  we describe $`D`$ by the function

$`D(p^2)=(Z/\beta )m^{2\alpha }/[p^{2(1+\alpha )}+m^{2(1+\alpha )}]+C.`$ (3)
The photon part $`D^{phot}`$ is fitted using (3) with $`\alpha =m=0`$. At finite $`T`$, the propagator data for $`D_L`$ and $`D_T`$ are analyzed for $`p_3=0`$, as a function of $`𝐩^2`$ using the same fit function (3). We have investigated the Gribov copy dependence of $`D`$ and the finite $`T`$ propagators $`D_L`$ and $`D_T`$. In this respect, the zero temperature $`D`$ behaves similarly as $`D_L`$. Some results are summarized in Fig. 2

at $`\beta `$ values below and above the phase transition. After a few Gribov copy attempts $`N_G`$ all fit parameters of $`D_L`$ are almost insensitive to $`N_G`$. The results at large $`N_G`$ are independent of whether the total Monte Carlo algorithm includes global updates or not  (see the label “local ” for the latter case).

The parameters for $`D_T`$ (and $`D_T(|𝐩|,0)`$ itself), however, are strongly dependent on $`N_G`$ if global updates are included. At $`N_G=100`$ a plateau is not yet reached. In the deconfinement phase, results are also sensitive to the presence of global update steps, in particular at high values of $`\beta `$. Runs with only local updates produce propagators with significantly lower fit values of $`\alpha _T`$ and $`m_T`$, nearer to what is expected.

Realizing this, we decided to use in the final measurements at $`T>0`$, in the region $`\beta 2.0`$, only local updates and to use not less than $`N_G=100`$ Gribov copies per configuration. Deep in confinement (below $`\beta =2.0`$ for $`T0`$, and generally for $`T=0`$) our standard was $`N_G=20`$, with global updates included in the Monte Carlo. Thus, the results for $`D_T`$ at larger $`\beta `$ should be considered only as qualitative. The best fit parameters $`\alpha `$ and $`m`$ of the propagators $`D`$, $`D_L`$ and $`D_T`$ are presented in Fig. 3 as functions of $`\beta `$.

The anomalous dimensions $`\alpha 0`$ in the confinement region for all propagators are functions not only of the monopole density (which is monotonously decreasing with growing $`\beta `$). The cluster structure of the monopole configurations seems to play a significant role. The fit parameters $`\alpha _L`$ and $`m_L`$ of $`D_L`$ vanish at $`\beta _c`$, giving a clear signal of the finite temperature phase transition  caused by the formation of dipoles. This is not the case for $`\alpha _T`$ and $`m_T`$ of the $`D_T`$ propagator. We associate the (so far) inconclusive behaviour of $`D_T`$, at the transition and beyond, with the insufficient gauge fixing. The mass $`m`$ for $`T=0`$ is in good agreement with the theoretical prediction  valid for a dilute monopole gas.

In conclusion, we have studied the gauge boson propagator in cQED3, both at zero and non–zero temperatures. We have found that the propagators in all cases under investigation can be fitted by (3) which is a sum of the massive propagator with an anomalous dimension plus a contact term. Similar to $`D_L`$ in the confinement phase , $`D`$ for $`T=0`$ has an anomalous dimension $`\alpha 0`$. The behavior of $`D_T`$ at the phase transition is obscured by the extreme sensitivity with respect to Gribov copy effects, i.e. remaining wrapping Dirac strings.


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# Model atmosphere analyses of post-common envelope stars

## 1. Introduction

Pre-Cataclysmic Variables (pre-CVs) are objects consisting of a white dwarf and a late, low-mass main-sequence star. The distinguishing feature of these objects is that they have already undergone a phase of common-envelope (CE) evolution, and are sometimes also called post-common-envelope binaries (PCEBs).

Initially the binary separation is large, however the CE phase allows a large amount of angular momentum to be lost in the system, and the binary separation shrinks. Pre-CV or PCEB stars have not yet reached the evolutionary stage of significant mass-transfer due to Roche-lobe overflow when they would enter the cataclysmic-variable stage. Pre-CVs are therefore excellent objects for studying the initial evolutionary stages as observations are not confused by discs or hotspots.

EG UMa was initially identified as a DA white dwarf (Stephenson 1960) and later a binary companion with emission lines was discovered (Greenstein 1965). The following system parameters have been determined (see Bleach et al. 2000 for details and references): The primary is a cool white dwarf at around 13,000 K, with a mass of 0.64 M and a radius of 0.013 R, while the secondary is an M4–5 dwarf with a mass of 0.42 M and a radius of 0.45 R. The orbital period of the system is around 16 hours (Lanning 1982).

However, previous work has indicated that the M dwarf might have a larger radius and mass than that for a main-sequence star of similar spectral type (Bleach et al. 2000). We can use high-resolution spectroscopy to obtain estimates of the gravity in the M dwarf, which would give some insight into the mass and radius inconsistencies.

## 2. Observations

Echelle spectroscopy was taken with the Utrecht Echelle Spectrograph (UES) on the 4.2-metre William Herschel Telescope (WHT) during two nights in March 1998. A total of 13 spectra of EG UMa together with 9 normal M dwarf stars, ranging in spectral types between M0–6, were observed. Wavelength ranges from $``$4250 – 9000 Å covering, much of the red region where the red dwarf is dominant, and also included the Na I doublet at 8170–8220 Å and the Ca II triplet around 8540 Å.

The data were reduced using the echomop (Mills, Webb & Clayton 1997) and the figaro (Shortridge et al. 1999) packages. The blaze function was removed from the spectra by normalizing with a polynomial fit to the observed continuum (Bleach et al. 2002a). A spectral atlas of EG UMa has been produced and is discussed in Bleach et al. (2002b).

## 3. Synthetic Spectra

We have generated a grid of high-resolution (0.05Å steps) solar-composition synthetic spectra using phoenix code and the NextGen grid of model atmospheres (Hauschildt et al. 1999 and references therein), covering the $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ range 2500–3900 K in steps of 100 K and the $`\mathrm{log}g`$ range 3.5–5.5 in steps of 0.5 dex. The synthetic spectra were rotationally broadened to match the observations: EG UMa has $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ = 27.8 kms-1 (Bleach et al. 2002a), while the standards have values less than 3 kms-1.

## 4. Atmospheric Parameters of EG UMa

To constrain the effective temperature and surface gravity of our programme stars, line-profile fitting to prominent lines in the spectra, namely K, Na I, Rb, TiO, Ti and Fe, was performed. Table 1 gives the best-fitting parameters obtained from the line-profiles for all objects in our programme. Overall the K, TiO, Ti and Fe lines gave consistent results, indicating that this multi-line methods appears to give reliable atmospheric parameters. For example, our parameters for Gl 406 agree very well with those obtained by Basri et al. (2000).

EG UMa is fitted more consistently by a higher surface gravity than normal dwarf M stars, as shown by the K (7699 Å) line in Fig. 1. Good fits to the core and wings are obtained, as well as to adjacent spectral features, by using the $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ = 3300 K and $`\mathrm{log}g`$ = 5.5 solar-composition synthesis. The higher surface gravity indicates either a lower radius or larger mass (or both) than a main-sequence star of the same spectral type. This is somewhat at odds with the Bleach et al. (2000) conclusion that the radius is larger than a main-sequence star. The parameters given by Bleach et al. (2000) would indicate a value of $`\mathrm{log}g=4.75\pm 0.10`$, which is closer to the values found for the normal M dwarfs.

The equivalent widths of the Na I doublet (8170–8220Å) in EG UMa gives an associated spectral range of M4–5, which is in agreement with the previous work of Bleach et al. (2000). Inspection of Table 1 reveals that this spectral type is consistent with the $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ obtained from the spectral fits.

Minor discrepancies do exist, however, between the synthetic spectra and the observations. The Na D lines (5896, 5890Å) and Ca II triplet (8498, 8542, 8662Å) are somewhat stronger in the syntheses. The line broadening for the strongest lines is not too well known. For example, using the Van der Waals broadening calculations based on the Anstee, Barklem and O’Mara (ABO) cross-section data give different line strengths (Barklem, Anstee & O’Mara 1998, Barklem & O’Mara 1998, Barklem, Piskunov & O’Mara 2000). In addition, possible non-LTE effects may also be important. Nevertheless, the overall fits to both EG UMa and the normal M stars are certainly very impressive. In EG UMa, however, the Na and Ca lines are affected by emission (Bleach et al. 2000, 2002b) and as such were not used in the determination of the atmospheric parameters.

Overall, the M star in EG UMa appears to be relatively normal and well fitted by a solar-composition synthetic spectrum. This indicates that the gross properties of the star might not be too far from that of a normal non-binary M dwarf. However, several spectral features revealed that EG UMa is not a totally normal star.

## 5. Yttrium oxide Bands

In EG UMa there are several prominent molecular bands which are not observed in the standard stars. These bands are present in both nights, and in adjacent orders, and follow the radial velocity shifts of the secondary star around the binary orbit, so they are believed to be real stellar features. They were found at 5972, 5988, 6004, 6020, and 6132 Å, and are due to Yttrium Oxide (YO) (Bernard et al. 1979, Bernard & Gravina 1983). The first four bands are shown in Fig. 2.

The discovery of YO bands in the spectrum of EG UMa was totally unexpected and potentially very significant. YO bands are usually only found in S and the latest M stars (Keenan 1966, Scalo 1974, Wyckoff & Clegg 1978, Ake 1979). EG UMa is not an S star because it displays intense TiO absorption. YO typically appears at much lower gravities due to changes in the chemistry from high to low pressures. Therefore, it is found in giants, but not usually in dwarfs.

Resolutions to this paradox are: star spots (EG UMa is an active star, Bleach et al. 2002b); a giant secondary; an extended atmosphere; or a distorted M dwarf with a low gravity region. Star spots are unlikely because the bandheads would show orbital phase variation, which is not observed. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that the stellar surface is inhomogeneous. The M dwarf cannot be a giant because log $`g`$ clearly is outside the range for giants, and also the star would have to remain well within its Roche lobe or it would become a cataclysmic variable. The system parameters indicate that EG UMa is not tidally distorted, and its gravity does not change by more than 0.02 dex from equator to pole (Maxted, private communication).

Alternatively, YO could represent an abundance enhancement of Y. This would be expected in a post-CE binary because Y, along with Ba, Sr and Rb, are all s-process elements, which could have been accreted during the CE stage. Support for this scenario is given by a strong Rb enhancement (Figure 3) and a possible enhancement of Sr. However, the Ba lines appear to be normal.

## 6. Conclusions

Line-profile fitting has been used to determine the atmospheric parameters of the secondary star in the EG UMa binary system. The best fitting solution gives a surface temperature of the M star as 3300 $`\pm `$ 100 K and a surface gravity of $`\mathrm{log}g`$ = 5.5. This value of $`\mathrm{log}g`$ is slightly higher than the average for an early M dwarf. EG UMa is unique among the stars in the sample by displaying YO bands. These may be explained by an abundance enhancement of Y, which would be consistent with s-process enhancement from the common-envelope phase of the binary system’s evolution. Similarly, such enrichment has been inferred for Sr and Rb, but not for Ba. Further work is in progress to examine the anomalies in more detail.

## References

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Barklem P.S., O’Mara B.J., 1998, MNRAS, 300, 863.

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Bleach J.N., Wood J.H., Smalley B., Catalán M.S., 2002a, MNRAS, (in press).

Bleach J.N., Wood J.H., Smalley B., Catalán M.S., 2002b, MNRAS, (in press).

Greenstein J.L., 1965, in First Conf. on Faint Blue Stars, Luyten W.J. (ed), University of Minnesota Press, p. 97.

Hauschildt P.H., Allard F., Baron E., 1999, ApJ, 512, 377.

Keenan P.C., 1966, IAU Symposium 24, Spectral Classification and Multicolor Photometry, Loden K., Lod’en L.O., Sinnerstad (eds.), Academic Press, New York, p. 26.

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# Phase diagram for rotating compact stars with two high density phases

## Acknowledgement

We thank I. Bombaci, M. Colpi, N.K. Glendenning, A. Sedrakian and F. Weber for their stimulating interest in our work, C. Gocke, C.D. Roberts and S. Schmidt for their useful remarks. D.B. thanks for partial support of the Department of Energy during the program INT-01-2: ”Neutron Stars” at the University of Washington. The work of G.P. was supported by DAAD fellowship A/01/08510 and by DFG grant 436 ARM 17/7/00, that of H.G. by DFG grant 436 ARM 17/5/01.


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# The Apparent Host Galaxy of PKS 1413+135: HST, ASCA and VLBA Observations

## 1 Introduction

Despite two decades of observations in the radio, infrared, optical and X-rays, the unusual flat-spectrum, radio loud AGN PKS 1413+135 remains a puzzle. The source was first classified as a “red quasar” by Rieke et al. (1979), and Bregman et al. (1981) and Beichman et al. (1981) presented the first analysis of its broadband spectrum, showing an extreme, essentially exponential cutoff just blueward of the thermal infrared. Subsequent observations have shown that its appearance changes radically as one observes in progressively blueward bands throughout the near-infrared and optical. In K band, the source is highly polarized (16 $`\pm `$ 3%, Stocke et al. 1992) and shows a featureless spectrum (Perlman et al. 1996), both properties typical of BL Lacertae (BL Lac) objects, a classification which was first applied to PKS 1413+135 by Bregman et al. (1981) and Beichman et al. (1981). Similarly, ground-based imaging in the H band reveals a dominant nuclear point source surrounded by a faint nebulosity (Lamer et al. 1999). But in the optical, the spectrum of the object is red, with only stellar features and a very weak \[OII\] line (Stocke et al. 1992). Optical images obtained with both ground-based telescopes and HST reveal a clear spiral galaxy but show no evidence of an active nucleus (Stocke et al. 1992; McHardy et al. 1991, 1994).

A variety of evidence points to heavy absorption as the cause of this spectral cutoff. Einstein observations require an absorbing column of $`N_H>2\times 10^{22}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ (Stocke et al. 1992). Radio observations reveal a strong, redshifted 21 cm HI absorption line (Carilli et al. 1992), and a rich variety of molecular species, including OH, 12CO, 13CO, HCN, HCO+, HNC, and CN (Wiklind & Combes 1995, 1997; Kanekar & Chengalur 2002). And an optical HST image reveals a prominent dust lane across the disk midplane (McHardy et al. 1994). With such a large absorbing column within a powerful AGN’s host galaxy, one might expect to see evidence for a bright, reradiated thermal continuum or near-IR emission lines (e.g., NGC 1068, Thompson, Lebofsky & Rieke 1978; Rotaciuc et al. 1991). Yet the object’s broadband spectrum shows no evidence of a thermal “hump”(Bregman et al. 1981, Beichman et al. 1981, Stocke et al. 1992), and near-infrared spectroscopy (Perlman et al. 1996) found no evidence for emission lines.

The resulting picture of PKS 1413+135 is both puzzling and incomplete. It was in the light of these mysteries that Stocke et al. (1992) proposed that the AGN might be background to the optical galaxy, and perhaps also amplified by gravitational lensing. But confirmatory evidence for this hypothesis has been difficult to come by. Ground-based images reveal that the nuclear point source appears centered within the optical galaxy to within $`0.050.1^{\prime \prime }`$ (Lamer et al. 1999, Stocke et al. 1992). And radio VLBI imaging (Perlman et al. 1994, 1996) shows no evidence of double images, instead revealing an arcuate morphology reminiscent of wide-angle-tail radio sources, but with a total linear size of only 200 pc. However, as was pointed out by Perlman et al. (1996), these arguments are not entirely decisive, particularly given the large scale height of the optical galaxy.

Here we report new HST, ASCA and VLBA observations of PKS 1413+135, which shed considerable light on the nature of the host galaxy and absorbing medium. In Section 2, we discuss the details of the observations themselves and our data reduction procedures. In Section 3, we present the new HST/NICMOS image and analyze it along with an archival HST/WFPC observation. In Section 4, we discuss new X-ray observations of PKS 1413+135. In Section 5, we discuss new VLBA observations, in the redshifted 21 cm line as well as continuum observations at 2 cm and 0.7 cm (15 GHz and 43 GHz). Section 6 discusses the overall impact of these results, particularly as it affects both our picture of the optical galaxy and its relationship to the AGN.

Throughout this paper, we assume a redshift of $`z=0.24671`$ for the optical galaxy associated with PKS 1413$`+`$135, as derived from the redshifted HI absorption (Carilli et al. 1992). We assume $`H_0=60\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{tot}=1`$ throughout, which gives a map scale of 1 arcsecond = 4.05 kiloparsecs.

## 2 Observations and Data Reduction

### 2.1 HST Observations

We observed PKS 1413+135 with HST/NICMOS on 25 August 1998, using the F160W filter (corresponding roughly to $`H`$ band) and the NIC1 camera. The resulting image has a scale of approximately 0.0432 arcseconds per pixel. The total integration time was 5120s. To maximize resolution and minimize the effect of known instrumental problems such as grot (Sosey & Bergeron 1999), bad columns and warm pixels, the NICMOS observations were dithered in a square, four-position pattern with offsets of $`1.5^{\prime \prime }`$ between each pointing.

We obtained from the archive WF/PC 1 observations of PKS 1413+135, taken by I. McHardy and collaborators on 26 December 1992, using the Planetary Camera mode, which has a scale of 0.046 arcseconds per pixel. The observation was taken with the F555W filter, corresponding roughly to $`V`$ band. The total integration time was 2523 sec, split between three exposures offset from one another by $`0.5^{\prime \prime }`$. The WF/PC observations were analyzed extensively by McHardy et al. (1994), and we do not attempt to repeat their analysis, except to compare the $`V`$ and $`H`$ band images and create an optical/near-IR color image.

We reduced both HST datasets in IRAF using the best recommended flat fields, darks, biases and illumination correction images. Unequal pedestal effects in the NICMOS data were eliminated with UNPEDESTAL. The dithered NICMOS images were combined using DRIZZLE. In the process, we corrected the image for the slightly rectangular NICMOS pixels and for geometric distortion using the best available correction files. The dithered WF/PC images were first registered, then combined, using CRREJ. We then smoothed the resulting image using GAUSS, assuming a Gaussian of $`\sigma =3`$ pixels. Flux calibrated images were obtained from the reduced image using SYNPHOT. The images were rotated so that North is along the y axis using header information + IMLINTRAN in IRAF.The NICMOS image is shown in Figure 1, with the panels showing two stretches meant to emphasize (respectively) the unresolved AGN and the galactic structure. Figure 2 shows a contour map of the nuclear regions of the NICMOS image. The WF/PC image is shown in Figure 3.

### 2.2 X-ray Observations

The ASCA observation of PKS 1413+135 was carried out on 24-25 July 1998. The SIS detectors were operated in a 1-CCD mode, and all data were converted to the BRIGHT mode. The GIS detectors were operated in the standard PH-nominal mode. We used standard ASCA data selection, which includes rejection of the data during SAA passages, and when the geomagnetic rigidity was lower than 6 GeV $`c^1`$. The only exception to the standard screening criteria was that we accepted only data when the source was at least 20o from the Earth limb. This is because we expected that 1413+135 would be a faint X-ray emitter, and we wanted to minimize the effect of any potential contamination from the Earth’s atmosphere. We extracted photon data from the resulting X-ray images from a circle within 3.5 and 3 radii respectively for the GIS and SIS detectors, selecting the SIS data corresponding to grades 0, 2, 3, and 4. For background, we used regions away from the target, avoiding any other obvious point sources.

For all instruments, the net exposure time was about 36000 seconds after the above selection criteria were applied. The net count rates were $`0.0080\pm 0.0012`$ ct s-1 for SIS0, $`0.0060\pm 0.0012`$ ct s-1 for SIS1, $`0.0062\pm 0.0011`$ ct s-1 for GIS2, and $`0.0118\pm 0.012`$ ct s-1 for GIS3. The count rates for SIS0, SIS1 and GIS2 match well; however, the count rate for GIS3 is somewhat higher. The most likely reason for this discrepancy is that the location of the source on GIS3 is closer to the optical axis than on GIS2, SIS1 or SIS0. As a result, the observing efficiency was higher in GIS3.

For the subsequent spectral fitting, we grouped the data to have at least 20 counts in each PH bin. As expected, the source was quite faint; the 2-10 keV flux inferred from the data using the best-fit absorbed power law model as below was $`9\times 10^{13}`$ erg cm-2 s-1. Needless to say, with such low count rates, there was no indication of variability during the ASCA observations. For the X-ray spectral fitting, we prepared the response matrices using the standard ASCA tools. This included the sisrmg tool for generation of the redistribution matrix for the SIS detectors, and the ASCAarf tool for preparation of the effective area files. The results we report supercede those of Sugiho et al. (1999), which included an earlier analysis of the same data.

### 2.3 VLBI Observations

#### 2.3.1 Redshifted HI line Observations

VLBA observations of PKS 1413+135 in the redshifted HI line were carried out on 8 July 1998. All ten antennas of the VLBA were used, for 12 hours observing time. The observing frequency was 1.137319 GHz, corresponding to the rest frequency of the HI 21 cm line at $`z=0.24671`$ (Carilli et al. 1992). Spectral line mode was used, with 256 channels of frequency width 15.625 kHz, corresponding to a velocity width of 4.1 km/s. The beam of the VLBA was 21.53 $`\times `$ 14.55 milliarcseconds in PA $`7.57^{}`$.

The data were correlated at the VLBA correlator in Socorro, NM. Fringe-fitting, calibration and mapping were done in AIPS, using a point-source model for initial fringe fitting. A priori amplitude calibration was done using the gain and system temperature curves for each station, yielding correlated flux densities. Maps were made in each channel; a channel 0 continuum map was made and then subtracted from each channel to produce the final, continuum-subtracted cube. Hybrid-mapping procedures were started using clean components from the 18 cm image of Perlman et al. (1996) as a starting point for initial phase calibration. In subsequent iterations of self-calibration, we allowed first the phase and then both amplitude and phase to vary.

The cumulative line profile from these VLBA observations was discussed in a different context by Carilli et al. (2001). We refer the reader to that paper for a discussion of the cumulative line profile. That paper did not give absorption maps, which is the subject of our discussion in §5.

#### 2.3.2 High-frequency Continuum Observations

VLBA observations of PKS 1413+135 at 15 and 43 GHz were carried out on 16 July 1995. All ten antennas of the VLBA were used. The data were obtained in continuum mode, with 128 MHz bandwidth. Both left and right hand circularly polarized data were obtained. These observations were part of a campaign featuring twice-yearly monitoring, designed to measure proper motions and high-frequency spectral structure in PKS 1413+135; this time block also included 8 and 22 GHz observations which will be discussed, along with a detailed discussion of the source structure, spectral morphology and proper motions in Langston et al. (2002). The beam of the VLBA at 15 GHz was 0.96 $`\times `$ 0.49 milliarcsec in PA $`4.43^{}`$, while at 43 GHz it was 0.34 $`\times `$ 0.19 milliarcsec in PA $`0.87^{}`$.

The data were correlated at the VLBA correlator in Socorro, NM. Fringe-fitting, calibration and mapping were done in AIPS, using a point-source model for initial fringe fitting. A priori amplitude calibration was done using the gain and system temperature curves for each station, yielding correlated flux densities. Hybrid-mapping procedures were started using a point source model for initial phase calibration. In subsequent iterations of self-calibration, we allowed first the phase and then both amplitude and phase to vary. Uniform weighting (Robust = -1 in IMAGR) was used to make the final images.

## 3 Results from the HST Observations

As can be seen from Figures 1 and 2, the dominant feature in the NICMOS image is the AGN point source, which is so bright that its first Airy ring is roughly twice as bright as the galaxy at the same radius. This is quite different from the situation for the WF/PC image (Figure 3, McHardy et al. 1994), where no evidence of an unresolved source is seen. Also marked on Figure 1 is a faint companion galaxy about $`6^{\prime \prime }`$ away, which was noted by Lamer et al. (1999).

### 3.1 Isophotal Analysis of the NICMOS Image

We extracted isophotes for the host galaxy of PKS 1413+135 using the IRAF tasks ELLIPSE, BMODEL and IMCALC. This extraction and analysis was done on the unrotated image, in order to minimize any effects from rotating the image to the North-up configuration. The results of this procedure are shown in Figure 4a-e. We exclude from our analysis isophotes with semi-major axis $`a<0.3^{\prime \prime }`$ because of the extreme brightness of the unresolved AGN source (Figure 1, left panel). Indeed, the innermost of the isophotes beyond $`0.3^{\prime \prime }`$ still shows some significant effect from the first Airy ring, and there is also evidence for a second, and even third Airy ring in the isophotes within $`0.7^{\prime \prime }`$.

Figure 4a shows the isophotal profile of the optical galaxy. We fit this profile to an exponential model of the form $`log_{10}(ADU)=b+ma`$, with best fit values for the parameters $`b=2.385`$ and $`m=1.072`$. As can be seen, the fit to this model is quite good at $`0.75<a<2^{\prime \prime }`$. At smaller radii, the galaxy’s profile visibly flattens, such that the model overshoots. This is a typical characteristic of spiral galaxies with a significant bulge; the presence of a significant bulge at $`a<0.75^{\prime \prime }`$ (i.e., 3 kpc) was in fact noted by McHardy et al. (1994) in their analysis of the WF/PC 1 data. We have shown the division between the bulge and disk at $`a=0.75^{\prime \prime }`$ in Figure 4a by a dashed vertical line. The large size of the bulge suggests that the optical galaxy is a fairly early spiral, perhaps an Sa, as suggested by McHardy et al. (1994). The disk itself is rather extensive, as at $`a>2^{\prime \prime }`$ (8 kpc), the galaxy’s profile flattens yet further, such that the model overshoots. This might be a remnant of past interactions with companions such as the one seen on Figure 1. The bulge can also be seen in Figure 4b, where we plot isophote ellipticity. As can be seen, $`ϵ`$ varies from near zero at $`a<0.4^{\prime \prime }`$ to $`0.75`$ at $`a>3^{\prime \prime }`$, increasing nearly monotonically with $`a`$. As Figure 4c shows, the dependence of isophotal PA with semi-major axis appears weak. This is not at all atypical of bright spiral galaxies seen at large inclination angle (Courteau 1996).

Figures 4d and 4e plot the location of the centroid of each isophote. In those plots, the location of the unresolved point source is denoted by a dashed line. It is particularly interesting to examine the points within the inner $`0.75^{\prime \prime }`$, i.e., the bulge. One would expect that the location of the point source should coincide with the centroid of the bulge isophotes (the disk isophotes might be affected by patchiness in the disk and/or dust obscuration). However, as can be seen, there appears to be a significant offset. We take the most conservative estimate of this offset, generated by the isophotes at $`0.30.5^{\prime \prime }`$ , which yields a decentering of $`0.013^{\prime \prime }\pm 0.004^{\prime \prime }`$ or $`53\pm 16`$ pc at $`z=0.24671`$, relative to the isphote centroids (as can be seen in Figure 4e we find even larger decentering at larger values of $`a`$). The X isophotal centers show much less significant (if any) evidence of an offset. The offset can just be seen in Figure 2, which shows that the nucleus appears just northeast of the center of the galaxy isophotes (marked by a cross). This is quite surprising, as all previous images of this object have shown that the AGN appears to be well centered within the optical galaxy (see Stocke et al. 1992, Lamer et al. 1999). Those images were, however, ground-based and could not detect a decentering of $`0.013^{\prime \prime }`$. We tried several different permutations of initial parameters for ISOPHOTE but this effect remains present. An off-center AGN could indicate either that the AGN is background to the optical galaxy, or alternately if the AGN is hosted by the optical galaxy, that there is significant nuclear structure aligned with the AGN or radio lobes, perhaps augmented by any effects due to dust, which is not completely absent at $`H`$ band ($`A_H/A_V=0.176`$ for $`R=3.1`$, Mathis 1991). We discuss both possibilities in §6.

### 3.2 WF/PC Image and Optical/Near-IR Colors

As shown by Figure 3, a rather different picture of this system is seen in the optical than in the infrared. The archival WF/PC image shows no evidence for a central point; instead, the most prominent feature on the image is a dust lane more than 4 arcseconds long, extending roughly along the disk plane of the galaxy, and traversing the nuclear region. The dust lane appears to be clearly resolved with a width $`0.25^{\prime \prime }`$ (1 kpc). The nuclear regions appear distinctly peanut-shaped, with a central bar extending for over $`0.5^{\prime \prime }`$ perpendicular to the dust lane. Interestingly, the orientation of the nuclear bar corresponds fairly closely to that of the milliarcsecond radio structure (Perlman et al. 1996).

By combining the WF/PC and NICMOS images, we constructed a $`VH`$ color image. To do this, we resampled the NICMOS image to $`0.046^{\prime \prime }`$/pix, and registered the two images by assuming that the unresolved point source seen in the NICMOS image corresponds to the center of the nuclear bar seen on the WF/PC image (which also corresponds to the middle of the dust lane). Even though this assumption is not supported by an image in an intermediate band, it is consistent with the large absorbing column required by the Einstein data (Stocke et al. 1992) as well as the HI and other radio absorption line observations (Carilli et al. 1992, Wiklind & Combes 1997, see also §5).

The resulting $`VH`$ image is shown in Figure 5. This image has two dominant features. First, the disk midplane is considerably redder than other regions of the galaxy, with typical values of $`VH22.8`$ compared to $`VH11.5`$. This is consistent with the presence of dust, as noted above, and as in McHardy et al. (1994). Interestingly, the dust disk does not appear in the $`VH`$ image as a sharp feature, instead appearing more gradual, perhaps indicating a patchy distribution of dust in the optical galaxy’s disk. There is also significant variation in $`VH`$ color along the disk midplane, with generally redder values closer to the nucleus. This is a property that shared with the small companion galaxy $`6^{\prime \prime }`$ away, which also appears to have a ’disky’ morphology and somewhat redder colors in its midplane and nucleus ($`VH1.82.2`$ compared to $`VH11.4`$.)

Second, the nucleus is extremely red ($`VH`$ = 6.9), four magnitudes redder than any other feature in the map. Given the lack of a nuclear point source in the optical, it is useful to note that since the central ’bar’ is the brightest feature in the WF/PC image any alternate choice for registering the nucleus would yield an even more extreme color for the AGN.

This speaks to either extreme absorption, an infrared spectral cutoff, or both. In fact, the spectral cutoff implied by the $`VH`$ color is so extreme ($`\alpha >2.3`$ for $`S_\nu \nu ^\alpha `$) that no synchrotron aging mechanism can account for the observed spectral cutoff by itself, without resorting to an unphysical exponential cutoff in the particle distribution. Thus we are forced to conclude that a significant and probably dominant factor in the shape of the infrared spectrum of PKS 1413+135 is extinction. This conclusion is supported by the large column implied by the X-ray spectrum (Stocke et al. 1992, §4). However, it is also difficult to account for the observed nuclear spectrum by reddening alone, given a normal extinction law. This difficulty was first pointed out by Beichman et al. (1981) without the X-ray data or a high-resolution near-IR image; given the extreme color we find for the nucleus it is even more acute now. The most consistent explanation is a combination of a rollover due to synchrotron aging combined with extinction, as first advocated by Stocke et al. (1992). If, for example, the intrinsic nuclear spectral index were to steepen by $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha =0.5`$ in the neighborhood of 3-5 microns ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha =0.5`$ is predicted for synchrotron aging with continuous reinjection of electrons, Meisenheimer & Heavens 1989), then our data require an excess 3 mag of extinction at the position of the nucleus. If one then assumes a normal extinction law (Mathis 1991) and $`R_V=3.1`$, the required column is $`N_H=5.7\times 10^{21}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, assuming a covering factor $`f=1`$. A more likely value for the covering factor. however, is $`0.10.2`$, given the value of $`N_H`$ we derive in §4 for the X-ray absorption (see also Stocke et al. 1992). This implies 10-30 mag of extinction along our sightline to the AGN. These conclusions would be helped significantly by an HST image in an intermediate band to confirm the spectral slope and compare in detail to extinction laws.

## 4 ASCA Observations

PKS 1413+135 has been the target of several X-ray observations. The source was quite faint for both Einstein (Stocke et al. 1992) and ROSAT (McHardy et al. 1994), where only photons at energies $`>1`$ keV were observed (only about 15 above background in each case). However, neither Einstein nor ROSAT had significant sensitivity above $`3`$ keV, where most of the observable X-ray emissions for such a heavily absorbed source would be. It was for this reason that we observed PKS 1413+135 with ASCA.

For the purposes of this paper, ASCA is essentially a spectrometer only, as its angular resolution is $`1`$ arcminute. We show in Figure 6a the X-ray spectrum of PKS 1413+135 extracted from both the SIS and GIS data. In Figure 6b we show contour ellipses in the $`(N_H,\alpha _x)`$ plane at 68 %, 95% and 99% confidence. The model fitted in Figure 6 is a power law with two components of Morrison & McCammon (1992) absorption. We fix the Galactic absorption at the value indicated by the survey data of Stark et al. (1992), $`N_H`$(Galactic) $`=2.3\times 10^{20}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, and assume that the dominant absorption comes from the optical galaxy at $`z=0.24671.`$ The best fit parameters for this model are $`\alpha _x=0.66\pm 0.40`$ and intrinsic $`N_H=4.6_{1.6}^{+2.1}\times 10^{22}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, and the goodness of fit is $`\chi _\nu ^2=1.068`$ (errors are quoted at 90% confidence). These parameters agree well with the parameters fitted to the Einstein data by Stocke et al. (1992) as well as those quoted by Sugiho et al. (1999) for an earlier fit to these data. The X-ray spectral index is typical of those seen in both OVV quasars and low-frequency peaked BL Lacs (Urry et al. 1996, Sambruna et al. 1999).

The X-ray flux was F (2–10 keV) = $`9\times 10^{13}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{cm}^2`$, and the derived luminosity was $`L(210\mathrm{keV})=2.6\times 10^{44}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$. Thus in this observation PKS 1413+135 was fainter by a factor $`5`$ than seen in previous X-ray observations. It is worth noting that any 2–10 keV flux figure obtained from the ROSAT and Einstein observations is based almost completely on extrapolations, so the actual variability could be somewhat different in magnitude. However, as was noted by Stocke et al. (1992), Stevens et al. (1994), Perlman et al. (1996) and Lamer et al. (1999), this source is highly variable in both the radio and optical, so variations of a factor 5 in the hard X-rays should not be seen as surprising.

The large column required by all the X-ray observations of PKS 1413+135 is quite consistent with the observed optical absorbing column (§3.2) if the absorbing material is patchy, with covering fraction $`f=0.12_{0.05}^{+0.07}`$ (the errors are at 90% confidence and are dominated by the error in the column fit to the ASCA data). This suggests that the absorbing material covers only $`1/21/4`$ of a WF/PC pixel, i.e., $`50`$ parsecs at $`z=0.24671`$. Such a size, patchiness and absorbing column would not be atypical of giant molecular cloud complexes in our own galaxy (e.g., Orion; Green & Padman 1993). Given that the observed CO excitation temperature ($`10`$ K; Wiklind & Combes 1995, 1997) is more typical of outer-galaxy GMC complexes than a nuclear cloud (Maloney 1990), it is then useful to point out that our sight-line to PKS 1413+135 remains highly unusual. Indeed, if one assumes projected dimensions of $`1\times 15`$ kpc for the dust lane, the probability of observing the AGN projected behind a $`50\times 50`$ pc GMC complex is $`2\times 10^4`$. Since PKS 1413+135 has unique properties for a Parkes radio source, this low inferred probability is consistent with the very small percentage of similar sources found in bright radio surveys.

If indeed a large amount of absorbing material were present in the nuclear regions, we would expect to see a bright, but narrow, Fe K$`\alpha `$ line. As can be seen (Figure 6a) no line is observed, although due to the low signal to noise our upper limit on equivalent width is quite modest: 500 eV. Our nondetection of this line is consistent with the absorbing material being either well out in the disk of the optical galaxy, or far in the foreground compared to the AGN (the so called background AGN hypothesis, cf. §6).

## 5 VLBA Observations

### 5.1 HI Absorption Observations

The existence of a redshifted 21 cm HI line in the spectrum of PKS 1413+135, discovered by Carilli et al. (1992) was a second important link implicating significant absorption as the cause of the IR rollover. In the light of evidence indicating a patchy absorbing column and a significantly resolved radio source with a size corresponding to $`\stackrel{<}{}100`$ milliarcsec, i.e., $`2`$ WF/PC pixels, it is quite useful to look at any spatial structure in the radio HI absorber.

In Figure 7, we show contour maps of the absorbing material in four of the 256 channels in our VLBA observations, corresponding to a range of 16 km/s centered around the frequency of the HI line at $`z=0.24671`$ (Carilli et al. 1992). All panels of Figure 7 have the channel 0 image shown in greyscale. The nucleus is shown at (0,0) in all four panels. No other significant features were found in the image for these or any other channels, although noise is a significant issue. For comparison, the single-dish observation of Carilli et al. (1992) found a FWHM of 18 km s-1, consistent with the four channels found in these observations, but suggesting that some less-obscured regions may exist in outlying channels, below the noise level.

Because of the relatively low signal to noise of the absorption maps, we do not show optical depth maps; however, an examination of those maps indicates that the optical depth within the absorber is typically $`5070\%`$, i.e., optical depth $`\tau 1`$. By comparison, Carilli et al. (1992) found a peak line depth of $`0.34\pm 0.04`$. However, those single-dish measurements did not resolve the source. If, as indicated by Figure 7, a significant amount of the source flux is not obscured by the HI absorbing screen, multiplying the observed optical depth by the fraction of flux that is behind the screen, yields good agreement with the value quoted by Carilli et al. (1992).

As can be seen, the radio HI screen obscures primarily the mini-lobe 15-40 milliarcsec northeast of the nucleus. There is a possible, slight extension of the absorber to the southwest (towards the nucleus). There is also some marginal velocity structure, with the easternmost part of the screen having a velocity width somewhat narrower than the region near the mini-lobe’s flux maximum. We do not observe significant absorption at the nucleus position, to a $`2\sigma `$ optical depth limit of $`0.5`$; however as this is not much lower than the optical depth figures we observe to the eastern mini-lobe this is only a weak limit. We cannot use the total HI optical depth to improve significantly on this because of the relative faintness of the nucleus at this frequency. Interestingly, the HI absorber covers the regions with the steepest radio spectral index ($`\alpha _r`$ ranging from 1.3-2.5) regions in the maps of Perlman et al. (1996).

### 5.2 High-frequency Observations

The 15 and 43 GHz VLBA images of PKS 1413+135 are shown in Figure 8. As in Figure 7, the nucleus is shown at (0,0). As can be seen, by far the brightest feature in these images is the nucleus, a stark contrast from the structure seen in Figure 7 (redshifted 21 cm), where the lobe is a factor 5-6 brighter than the nucleus. This is not terribly surprising given the spectral index maps published by Perlman et al. (1996) which show a highly inverted spectrum ($`\alpha =1.7`$) for the core but very steep spectra for all the extended structure (ranging from $`\alpha =0.7`$ to $`\alpha >2`$).

The 15 GHz image shows a jet extending west for about 3 milliarcsec, before taking a bend. There is flux at greater distances which is just barely visible in the contours but is significant on smoothed image; the position angle of the jet in this image matches that of the jet at 5 GHz and 8.4 GHz (Perlman et al. 1996). The western jet appears to emerge south of the nucleus’s centroid, indicating a likely second bend closer in to the nucleus which we cannot resolve. Also visible on the 15 GHz image is a possible counterjet, at a PA similar to that of the eastern mini-lobe, and about 180 from the location where the western jet emerges. At 43 GHz, all that is seen is the nucleus and a slight extension to the west (supporting the indications of a bend at submilliarcsecond scales, seen in the 15 GHz map), which unfortunately becomes too faint to see about 0.3 milliarcsec from the nucleus. We see no evidence of structure outside this fairly simple configuration, and in particular there is no evidence of a double image of the nucleus down to resolutions of about 0.2 arcseconds (see §6.2). Note that the high frequency radio emission from PKS 1413+135 is synchrotron in nature and thus physically unrelated to the high-frequency absorption features superposed along our line of sight.

## 6 Discussion

The data shown in §§3-5 allow us to place significant constraints on several of the outstanding mysteries (mentioned in §1) regarding the absorbing material in PKS 1413+135 and its relationship to the AGN. Based on the NICMOS image, we confirm that the optical galaxy is indeed a spiral, as found by previous workers. The spiral has a fairly large nuclear bulge, about 3 kpc in size, with a significantly flatter surface brightness profile than the outer regions of the galaxy. McHardy et al. (1994) found that the scale height of the bulge of the optical galaxy was 6.9 kpc, a figure which our data support.

Two issues addressed in the foregoing section particularly bear further elucidation.

### 6.1 Location and Properties of the Absorbing Material

Our data provide strong evidence that the AGN of PKS 1413+135 is heavily reddened by absorbing dust and gas along our line of sight. The optical galaxy itself has a prominent dust lane along the disk midplane which measures 15 kpc $`\times `$ 1 kpc, where the $`VH`$ color is about 1 mag redder then elsewhere in the galaxy. Such features are common among edge-on spirals. However, the AGN has a far more extreme color than anything else in the image ($`VH=6.9`$) , implying a spectral cutoff so steep that it requires both an intrinsic break at a few microns plus 3-4 mag of extinction. The implied absorbing column is consistent with the VLBA HI and ASCA observations if the covering factor $`f=0.10.2`$ and the HI spin temperature is a few hundred degrees. Combining this with a molecular line spin temperature of $`10`$ K (Wiklind & Combes 1995, 1997) we can state that it is most likely that the absorber is a giant molecular cloud (GMC) complex in the outer reaches of the optical galaxy’s spiral disk (a location in the galaxy’s nucleus would predict a somewhat higher spin temperature and a strong Fe K$`\alpha `$ line, which is not observed). The superposition of an outer-galaxy GMC right along the line of sight is rather unlikely ($`P2\times 10^4`$, as discussed in §4), but it does appear to be the most consistent hypothesis.

As discussed in §5.1, the radio HI absorber appears to be centered about 20-25 milliarcseconds east of the nucleus, along our line of sight to the eastern mini-lobe. This mini-lobe dominates the radio flux below about 2 GHz (Perlman et al. 1996), with a surface brightness some 5-6 times that of the core at 1139 MHz. This offset of the HI absorber with respect to the nucleus (which must be covered by the X-ray absorber) is very interesting. It therefore behooves us to inquire as to the relationship of the various absorption components to one another. It would not at all be surprising, for example, to have a GMC complex or star formation region with both warm and cold components, with the warm component responsible for the X-ray absorption and the colder, dusty component responsible for the optical and radio absorption.

Absorption lines from a wide variety of molecular species have been observed in the radio spectrum of PKS 1413+135. Only one of these lines is at low frequencies - the recently-discovered OH line found in GMRT observations (Kanekar & Chengalur 2002). The remainder of the lines, discovered by Wiklind & Combes (1995, 1997), were all at much higher frequencies (ranging from about 70-200 GHz in the observed frame; see Table 1 of Wiklind & Combes 1997). All the molecular lines are narrow, with the OH absorption width being 14 km $`s^1`$ while the other lines are $`\stackrel{<}{}10\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, and only very slightly offset from the HI line center ($`4\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ compared to an HI line width of 18 km s-1).

As its radio structure spans only 100 millarcseconds (Perlman et al. 1996), PKS 1413+135 was unresolved for all the molecular line observations. However, given the information presented here and in Perlman et al. (1996) we have adequate information to resolve the likely location of the molecular absorbing material. At low frequencies, the eastern mini-lobe dominates the radio flux (Figure 7, §5.1). Therefore, we believe it is more likely that the material which produces the OH line covers the eastern mini-lobe, although it may also partially cover the core, a conclusion somewhat at variance with that of Kanekar & Chengalur (2002). The situation is different, however, for the higher-frequency lines. Above 20 GHz, the core accounts for nearly all the emission from PKS 1413+135 (Figure 8). Thus the molecular material accounting for the high-frequency lines observed by Wiklind & Combes must be projected within a small distance of the core ($`<0.2`$ milliarcsec given the compactness of the 43 GHz structure, Figure 8).

To sum up, then, the center of the observed HI absorber appears to be along the line of sight to the eastern mini-lobe, 20-25 milliarcseconds from the nucleus. However, the X-ray absorbing material and most of the molecular absorbing material must cover the core, where our data gives a weak $`2\sigma `$ upper limit of $`\tau _{HI}0.5`$, only $`factor2`$ less than that observed against the lobe. Thus the radio molecular and HI absorbers are not necessarily all physically co-located. Looking at the small velocity difference between the HI and molecular features, however, it is still most likely that all the absorbing material is part of the same GMC complex, as much larger velocity differences would be expected if the HI and molecular clouds were at different locations within the galaxy’s spiral disk. The projected location of most of the molecular absorbing material (i.e., covering the VLBI core) is logical, given the observed optical/near-IR reddening.

With a linear size of at least 40$`\times 25`$ milliarcseconds (160 $`\times `$ 100 pc) and an HI velocity width of $`18\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$, this GMC complex must be somewhat more massive than, for example, the Orion region in our own galaxy (which spans $`100\times 100`$ pc region and has an HI velocity width of a few km s-1), and it likely has a rather patchy and/or filamentary structure, similar to GMC complexes in our own galaxy. A patchy structure would make it rather difficult to estimate a mass or other physical parameters for the absorber. For the sake of illustration only we assume a cylindrical GMC region measuring $`50\times 25\times 25`$ milliarcsec ($`200\times 100\times 100`$ parsecs), with the long dimension superposed near the direction of the eastern lobe but overlapping the position of the nucleus, and with one of the molecular cores located virtually along our line of sight to the nucleus (within 0.2 milliarcsecond or 0.8 parsecs impact parameter - see §6.2). Such a configuration is consistent with the covering fraction constraints from combining the optical and ASCA data. To conform with both the HI and molecular line data it would have to be centered somewhere along the line between the lobe and nucleus, at perhaps 15 milliarcsec projected distance from the nucleus. This works out to a volume of just under $`2.1\times 10^6`$ cubic parsecs, or $`6.1\times 10^{61}\mathrm{cm}^3`$. For a path length of 100 parsecs ($`3.09\times 10^{20}`$ cm) and $`N_H=4.6\times 10^{22}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ the mean density would be $`n_H150\mathrm{cm}^3`$, thus yielding a mass of $`7.6\times 10^6M_{}`$. While this estimate is of course geometry dependent, it is roughly comparable to the largest GMC complexes in our own galaxy. Deeper observations are required to further constrain the configuration of the radio absorbing material.

### 6.2 Relationship of the AGN to the Optical Galaxy and Absorber

Perhaps the most surprising result of our isophotal analysis is that the HST data seem most consistent with an AGN position very slightly offset ($`0.013^{\prime \prime }`$, just at the edge of HST’s astrometrical capabilties in the near-IR) from the center of the galaxy’s isophotes. This could be interpreted as the first evidence in favor of the background source hypothesis. If indeed the source were decentered, then given the very large scale length of this galaxy (6.9 kpc) and a smoothly varying projected mass distribution, we might not expect to see either double images or an arc (see Narayan & Schneider 1990 although n.b., this source has a decentering two orders of magnitude smaller than that seen for AO0235+164 and 0537$``$441, the sources modelled in that paper).

In light of the evidence presented here, however, we cannot assume that the projected mass distribution of the optical galaxy is smooth. To the contrary, a patchy, likely filamentary GMC complex with mass $`7.6\times 10^6M_{}`$ and size $`\stackrel{>}{}160\times 100`$ pc must lie along our line of sight to the AGN. This geometry is considerably more interesting with respect to the issue of possible microlensing of a background source and the AGN/absorber relationship. The Einstein radius for a $`7.6\times 10^6M_{}`$ GMC is about 5.7 milliarcsec (for an AGN at $`z1`$), compared to a likely projected location of the cloud center $`25`$ milliarcsec from AGN position on the sky. Thus the most naive examination of the geometry would conclude that milli-lensing by the GMC complex is quite unlikely. However, the molecular line and X-ray absorption data lead us to conclude that there is a molecular core within 0.2 milliarcsecond of the line of sight to the nucleus. If the molecular cloud core is responsible for all the X-ray absorption, and if we assume a density in this region typical of molecular cores, $`10^3\mathrm{cm}^3`$, the path through the absorber must be $`13`$ pc long. Assuming this molecular core to be spherical, then, we derive a mass of 32000 $`M_{}`$ which must be located within at most 0.2 milliarcsec of our line of sight – well within its Einstein radius of 0.37 milliarcsec. One would expect such a lens to produce multiple images with separation $`0.2`$ milliarcsec, which is not seen in Figure 8. Given the available data, the only way for a background AGN to not produce prominent evidence of microlensing would be to have the AGN at $`z<0.3`$. At such a redshift (only slightly greater than that of the optical galaxy) the host galaxy of the AGN would easily be visible on the near-IR image - yet as can be seen from Figure 1 we see no evidence of it. Thus the available data now make the background AGN hypothesis even more unlikely.

There are other, less exotic explanations for such a small decentering. If indeed the absorption is patchy and $`N_H4\times 10^{22}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ as suggested by our data, some regions of the nucleus might well be absorbed, even in H band. This could significantly bias the isophote centroids, since for a standard extinction law one would still expect 2-5 mag of extinction at $`H`$ band for 10-30 mag of extinction at V band. Furthermore, if the nuclear “bar” is the result of structure aligned and perhaps associated with the radio source’s “lobes” (i.e., a miniature alignment effect, as seen in, for example, 4C31.04, Perlman et al. 2001), such aligned emission would not be expected to be symmetrical and in fact would be expected to bias the measurement of isophote centroids. Either (or both) of these constitute a much more plausible explanation for the observed decentering given the available data.

As was previously suggested by Perlman et al. (1996), one can reconcile an absorber within the optical galaxy with the observed lack of re-emitted AGN continuum by locating the absorber in the outer disk, as our data seem to suggest. One would also have to assume some beaming of the continuum (as in the models of Snellen et al. 1998) to explain the observed lack of IR emission lines; however that does not appear to be inconsistent with the known properties of PKS 1413+135 including high and variable polarization, extreme variability and extremely core-dominated high-frequency VLBI structure, although it would require some superluminal motion, which was not seen by Perlman et al. (1996) based on two-epoch data which, however, did not adequately resolve the jet’s inner regions. We will return to this latter issue in Langston et al. (2002, in preparation). The same model would, however, require a somewhat underluminous broad line region compared to most Seyfert galaxies, as observed in other compact symmetric object radio sources (Perlman et al. 1996 first drew the link between PKS 1413+135 and compact symmetric objects). Indeed, the reasonability of this hypothesis is underscored by the fact that IRAS data in NED (which was not included in Perlman et al. 1996) show fluxes at 60 $`\mu `$m and $`100\mu `$ m of 220-290 mJy (two observations with some possible variability between them) and a roughly flat spectrum between 60-100 $`\mu `$m. This is within 50 % of the prediction one would make by simply scaling up by a factor of 10 (appropriate to the observed $`N_H`$) the correlation of Knapp (1990) between galaxy magnitude and 60 $`\mu `$m flux.

### 6.3 Conclusions

The most consistent explanation to the properties we observe in PKS 1413+135 appears to be that the absorbing screen consists of a GMC complex within the outer disk of the optical galaxy. This geometry is fully consistent with our new HST, ASCA and VLBA observations and is also fully consistent with previous observations in other wavebands. The optical galaxy is most likely the true host of the AGN and radio source given the properties we observe. While it is still not possible to fully rule out the background AGN hypothesis, it now becomes significantly less likely given that the absorption data require a $`3\times 10^4M_{}`$ molecular core within 0.2 milliarcsec of our line of sight.