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# Color Gradients and Surface Brightness Profiles of Galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field-North

## 1 Introduction

Two of the most fundamental and intriguing questions in astronomy are how galaxies form and how they evolve with time. In order to answer these questions, we must be able to compare and contrast the properties of galaxies at different redshifts. Whereas we have a wealth of information about galaxies at z $``$ 1.0, our knowledge of the properties of galaxies at higher redshifts is limited. However, with the advent of the Hubble Deep Field-North (HDF-N) project (Williams et al., 1996; Thompson et al., 1998; Dickinson, 1999; Dickinson et al., 2000), we can probe to fainter surface brightness limits and smaller angular scales than before, the sizes, shapes, and colors of distant galaxies which will ultimately yield important clues to understanding their structure, formation, and subsequent evolution. The near-infrared data from NICMOS combined with the optical data from WFPC-2 give us the unique opportunity to compare the surface brightness properties of galaxies at the same rest-frame wavelengths over a range of redshifts allowing us to better understand galaxy formation and evolution from an observational standpoint.

One observational test of galaxy evolution is the study of color profiles which will give us an idea of the distribution of stellar populations in the galaxies and whether this distribution changes with time. Due to limits in resolution, the study of the color profiles of galaxies have been predominantly restricted to the low and intermediate redshift regimes. However, the deep, high resolution, multi-wavelength data from the HDF-N probed in this study provides us with the rare opportunity to study the color profiles of galaxies at higher redshifts than those studied in the past. Previous studies of early-type galaxies at z $``$ 1.0 have shown that they tend to have redder colors in their central regions and gradually become bluer outwards (Tamura et al., 2000; Tamura & Ohta, 2000; Vader et al., 1988; Franx, Illingworth, & Heckman, 1989; Peletier, Valentijn, & Jameson, 1990). This trend in the color profiles can be explained by either a stellar age or metallicity gradient which become degenerate at $`z=0`$ (Silva & Elston, 1994). Most studies concur that models involving the metallicity gradient best reproduce the color gradients seen in early-type galaxies at z $``$ 1.0. On the other hand, the gradients observed in late-type galaxies may be due to both age and metallicity effects, i.e., the central parts of the galaxies in general have older stars and higher metallicity than the outer parts making them have redder colors towards the centers. In their study of the near-IR and optical color profiles of 86 face-on disk dominated galaxies, de Jong (1996) concluded that their color gradients were best reproduced by models involving both stellar age and metallicity gradients. The existence or lack of dust in galaxies can also complicate matters and must be addressed when interpreting color profiles since, in theory, dust may also be responsible for the central reddening in galaxies if we assume that dust generally tends to be more concentrated in the center and consequently would produce more extinction there (de Jong, 1996; Evans, 1994; Byun et al., 1994).

A study of the color profiles and surface brightness profiles of galaxies spanning a wide range of redshifts will help us place constraints on galaxy formation and evolution by enabling us to compare what we learn from observations with what we predict from theoretical models. Currently, the hierarchical structure formation model (Baugh et al., 1998; Cole et al., 1994; Kauffmann, Nusser, & Steinmetz, 1997; Roukema et al., 1997; White & Frenk, 1991) represents the popular framework for how structure formed and evolved in the universe. This model assumes that the universe is dominated by nonbaryonic dark matter which only interacts with visible matter through its gravitational influence and ultimately determines where galaxies will form. It predicts that the gravitational perturbations in the early universe will cause the smallest mass fluctuations to collapse first and then to subsequently merge into progressively larger structures until they form the mature galaxies we observe today. Baugh et al. (1998) (hereafter BCFL) analyzed the properties of the high redshift Lyman break galaxies in the context of this model. In their semi-analytic treatment of galaxy formation in hierarchical clustering theories, they generated mock catalogs of the high redshift Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) using the color criterion imposed by Steidel & Hamilton (1993) and modeled the growth of dark matter haloes by the accretion of matter through mergers taking into account the cooling of gas into stars and feedback. Somerville, Primack, & Faber (2000) (hereafter SPF) also applied semi-analytic models of galaxy formation within the hierarchical clustering framework to analyze the population of Lyman break galaxies at high redshift. Since they conveniently address the properties of Lyman break galaxies (the sample of significant interest to us) within the current popular framework for galaxy formation and evolution, we will interpret our results within the context of the BCFL and SPF models.

## 2 Data and Sample Selection

It is important to study the properties of the galaxies at different redshifts at the same rest-frame wavelengths because some galaxies might experience what is called ”morphological k-corrections”. This is a phenomena which occurs when galaxies at different redshifts look different when viewed through the same passband since the passband would represent different rest-frame wavelengths. For example, the $`I_{814}`$ image for a galaxy at redshift $`z=0.5`$ would reflect the properties of the galaxy at the rest optical wavelengths whose light would include both young and old stellar populations, whereas for a galaxy at redshift $`z=3`$, the $`I_{814}`$ image would represent the rest-UV wavelengths of the galaxy which is dominated by the younger, bluer stellar populations. Thus, if we want to compare the properties of the same stellar populations, we need to choose our passbands such that they reflect the same rest wavelengths at all redshifts.

The original HDF-N data was a Director’s Discretionary program on HST designed to image a field at high galactic latitude using the WFPC-2 camera in four passbands spanning the wavelengths $`0.30.8`$ $`\mu `$m (Williams et al., 1996). At low redshifts, these images were sufficient to study the galaxies in the rest-frame optical wavelengths, however at z $`>`$ 1, the WFPC-2 images could only be used to study the rest ultraviolet properties of the galaxies since their rest optical wavelengths were shifted into the near-IR. Near-IR data of galaxies in the HDF-N were available from ground-based observations (Hogg et al., 1997). However, since the ground-based data were taken at much lower resolution ($``$ 1 $`\mathrm{}`$) and reached shallower depths than did the WFPC-2 images, it was very difficult to compare the properties of high redshift galaxies with their lower redshift counterparts at the same rest-frame wavelengths. To address this problem, Dickinson et al. (2000), embarked on a General Observer’s (GO) Program 7817 to image the entire WFPC-2 region of the HDF-N in the near-IR using the NICMOS Camera 3 F110W and F160W filters. The data reached an average depth of $`AB=26.1`$ in F110W and F160W with a signal-to-noise ratio of 10 in 0.$`\mathrm{}`$7 diameter aperture and has a PSF of $`FWHM=0.`$$`22`$ after the dithered data was combined by drizzling. To avoid the morphological k-correction problem, we study the intermediate redshift galaxies in the HDF-N using the WFPC-2 images taken in F450W ($`B_{450}`$), F606W ($`V_{606}`$) and F814W ($`I_{814}`$) and the high redshift galaxies using WFPC-2 F814W ($`I_{814}`$) and the NICMOS CAM3 images taken in F110W ($`J_{110}`$) and F160W ($`H_{160}`$) in order to probe their rest-frame near-UV and optical properties.

Since we will be comparing the color profiles of galaxies at a range of redshifts, it is important to establish what we mean by intermediate and high redshift galaxies. We will define intermediate redshift galaxies as those having redshifts between 0.5 $``$ z $``$ 1.2 and high redshift  galaxies as those having redshifts between 2.0 $``$ z $``$ 3.5. We do not include galaxies with 1.2 $``$ z $``$ 2.0 in our sample because at these redshifts, there are no prominent optical features to constrain the redshifts with the high precision required in our study. Our sample consists of 33 intermediate redshift galaxies with $`I_{814}`$ $`<`$ 25 identified by spectroscopic redshifts (Cohen et al., 1996; Zepf et al., 1997) and 50 high redshift galaxies with $`H_{160}`$ $`<`$ 27, of which 25 were identified by spectroscopic redshifts (Steidel et al., 1996; Lowenthal et al., 1997) and 25 by photometric redshifts (Budavári et al., 2000). In our paper, we assume a cosomology where $`Ho=71km/s/Mpc`$ and $`q_o=0.3`$.

## 3 Methodology

### 3.1 Surface Photometry

We performed detailed surface photometry on our sample of galaxies using the ELLIPSE task in the IRAF/STSDAS package. This task fits elliptical isophotes to the galaxies using the iterative scheme described in Jedrzejewski (1987). We entered inital guesses for the ellipse center (x,y), ellipticity (e), and position angle ($`\varphi `$) and allowed the task to update these parameters following the iteration scheme. The errors in the azimuthally averaged intensity are obtained from the rms scatter of the intensity measurements along each fitted isophote. In order to generate color profiles, it was important that we kept the ellipses fixed between the different filters since positional displacement of the isophotes in the different filters may cause the color distribution of the galaxy to be artificially asymmetric. Thus, we combined the images taken in different passbands, fitted ellipses to the combined image, and then used the set of ellipses generated from the combined image as the input ellipses for no-fit mode on each individual image. In this way, we made sure that the surface brightness profiles from the different bands were generated using the same fitted ellipses. It is also important that the PSFs between the different filters match. This was accomplished by degrading the $`B_{450}`$, $`V_{606}`$, $`I_{814}`$, and $`J_{110}`$ images to match the resolution of the $`H_{160}`$ image. The PSF matching was verified by looking for color gradients in stellar profiles. Many of the galaxies, especially at high redshifts, possessed nearby companions. In order to perform the fits only on the galaxy of interest, we masked out the companion. We then converted all fluxes to AB magnitudes.

### 3.2 Fitting Surface Brightness Profiles

From the elliptical isophotes, we produced azimuthally averaged radial surface brightness profiles. For our intermediate redshift sample, we produced surface brightness profiles of the images taken in $`I_{814}`$, while for the high redshift sample, we produced surface brightness profiles for the images taken in $`H_{160}`$. At the respective redshifts of the galaxies, these images represent approximately their rest-frame B wavelengths.

We analyzed the resulting intensity distribution using the STSDAS task NFIT1D to perform $`\chi ^2`$ fitting to the surface brightness profiles. Normally we would fit the profiles with the sum of an $`r^{1/4}`$ bulge (de Vaucouleurs, 1948) and an exponential disk (Freeman, 1970) profile. However, for most of the galaxies, especially at high redshifts, the scale lengths of the galaxies were so small and severely affected by PSF smearing that it was difficult to obtain reliable fits using these profiles. Thus, we decided to fit the radial light profiles with a generalized exponential (Sérsic, 1968):

$$S(r)=S(e)exp[(1.9992n0.3271)(r/R(e)^{1/n}1)]$$
(1)
where R(e) is the half-light radius, S(e) is the flux at R(e), $`S(r)`$ is the surface brightness at r, and n is the Sérsic index which tells us about the degree of flattening in the profile ($`n=1`$ recovers the exponential disk profile and $`n=4`$ recovers the $`r^{1/4}`$ law). Trujillo et al. (2001) have applied an analytic approach to study the effects of the PSF on the Sérsic profiles. They found that, of the free parameters in the Sérsic profile, the one that is affected most by the PSF is $`n`$ which is smaller in the observed profile than in the actual profile. Furthermore, the higher the original value of $`n`$ is, the more it will be affected by the PSF. At the faint magnitudes and small scale lengths of typical high redshift galaxies in the HDF-N, we will show that the PSF can potentially flatten both an exponential and an $`r^{1/4}`$ profile into a Sérsic profile with n $`<`$ 1. It then becomes challenging to distinguish between galaxies having exponential profiles from those having de Vaucouleurs profiles. The next section explains our attempts to understand the effects of the PSF on the surface brightness profiles in order to more accurately classify morphologies.

### 3.3 Creating Model Galaxies to Account for PSF Effects

In order to account for the effects of the PSF on the data, we created model galaxies and convolved them with the PSF to match the resolution of the data. To reproduce the surface brightness profiles of the intermediate redshift sample, we created 10 galaxies with exponential disk profiles ($`n=1`$) and 10 with $`r^{1/4}`$ ($`n=4`$) bulge profiles with varying half-light radii and $`I_{814}`$ magnitudes = 21, 22, 23, and 24 (this spans the range of magnitudes in our intermediate redshift sample) for a total of 80 galaxies. Since the WFPC-2 and NICMOS images have all been degraded to match the resolution of the $`H_{160}`$ passband, we convolved the model galaxies with an isolated, unsaturated star taken from this passband. We performed the convolution using the IRAF task FCONVOLVE which takes the fourier transform of the model galaxy and the PSF (normalized to conserve flux), multiplies them together, and then takes the inverse transform of the product to produce the final convolved galaxy. We then added the model galaxies onto blank areas of the sky in the HDF $`I_{814}`$ image. By doing so, we include the contribution of the background noise which exists in the image. However, we have chosen to neglect the poisson noise from the galaxies themselves since it will be negligible compared to the background noise. To simulate our high redshift sample, we repeated the process but added the model galaxies onto blank areas of the HDF $`H_{160}`$ image with $`H_{160}`$ magnitudes = 23 and 24.

We then generated surface brightness profiles and fit Sérsic profiles to the convolved disk and spheroid galaxies in order to determine the degree of flattening due to the PSF. Tables 1 and 2 lists the half-light radii and the Sérsic indices of the convolved model galaxies with a range of magnitudes in the $`I_{814}`$ and $`H_{160}`$ passbands respectively. From Tables 1 and 2, we can see that after convolution with the PSF, the profiles of all the galaxies are significantly flattened, i.e. their Sérsic index $`n`$ decreased significantly from the original profile (recall that $`n=1`$ for disks and $`n=4`$ for spheroids). In fact, Table 1 shows that after convolution with the PSF, the Sérsic indices of the mock intermediate redshift galaxies originally possessing an $`r^{1/4}`$ profile can drop all the way to a value of 1 which is indicative of an exponential profile. Table 2 shows an even more drastic drop in Sérsic indices of the mock high redshift galaxies after they had been convolved with the PSF of the HDF. At these small scale lengths and faint magnitudes typical of the high redshift galaxies in our sample, the Sérsic indices of the model spheroids drop to 1 and below rendering them almost indistinguishable from the model disks. Furthermore, the smaller the galaxy is, the more the value of $`n`$ decreases for both the disk and bulge models. Consequently it would be very difficult to determine from the convolved profile whether it originally possessed an exponential or an $`r^{1/4}`$ profile.

Fortunately, trends exist which allow us to reliably distinguish between the two types of galaxies even after they have been significantly flattened by the PSF. We notice that at a given radius and magnitude both profiles are severely smoothed out, but that $`n`$ for the spheroid is always higher than $`n`$ for the disk, i.e. the disk has a more flattened profile. For example, at $`I_{814}`$ = 21 and half-light radius of approximately 0.$`\mathrm{}`$84, $`n`$ for the spheroid is 1.736 whereas $`n`$ for the disk is 0.789 (Table 1) which is significantly lower. This trend occurs at all radii and magnitudes. Thus, although the surface brightness profiles of the galaxies in the HDF-N are significantly affected by the PSF, we can still broadly classify galaxies morphologically by comparing the value of $`n`$ and the half-light radii of these galaxies at a given magnitude with those of our model galaxies. However, caution must be taken when using this method to classify the morphologies of galaxies with half-light radii less than $`0.12\mathrm{}`$ since it would be pushing the resolution limit of the instrument and, consequently, the results would not be reliable. Fortunately, there are no galaxies in our sample where this is the case. We must also note that in our high redshift sample, we can only reliably classify the morphologies of galaxies with magnitudes less than $`H_{160}`$ = 24.5 since, at fainter magnitudes, the Sérsic indices of a disk and spheroid at a given radius is within the range of the scatter. We must keep in mind also that our galaxy classification scheme is not intended to be used to classify galaxies on a case by case basis, but rather to obtain statistics about the galaxy population as a whole.

### 3.4 Generating Color Profiles and Determining the Gradients

We determined the color profiles of the galaxies by subtracting the surface brightness profile of one passband from the surface brightness profile of the adjacent passband. For our intermediate redshift sample, we generated $`(B_{450}V_{606})`$ color profiles, and for our high redshift samples, we produced $`(I_{814}J_{110})`$ color profiles. We then applied k-corrections described in the following section to transform them to their rest-frame $`(UV_{218}U_{300})_o`$ colors where UV $``$ 2192 Å and U $``$ 2943 Å. The k-corrections applied are minimal since we have chosen to work with passbands which closely map to their rest-frame wavelengths. We then performed a weighted least-squares fit to the profile. We started the fit 0.14″ out from the center of the profile since the color differences near the center might reflect slight differences in the PSF between the two passbands rather than indicate true color changes in the galaxy. From the fits, we were able to obtain the value of the color gradient ($`\mathrm{\Delta }(UV_{218}U_{300})_o`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$log(r)) where $`(UV_{218}U_{300})_o`$ is the rest-frame color and r is the radius in kpc. The main source of error in this procedure is the uncertainty in the determination of the local sky background values. The global sky background subtraction might be adequate for the larger and brighter galaxies in our intermediate redshift sample, but for the smaller and fainter galaxies in our high redshift sample, there could be residuals in the background which could significantly change the value and even the sign of the color gradient if the effect is huge. We determined the value of the local sky background by extending the elliptical isophotes out past five scale lengths in 0.12″ increments taking care to mask out nearby objects. We then adopted the value of our background as the typical value of the isophotes located far enough from the object such that the flux level ceased to decrease steadily, but instead fluctuated around some value. From this method, we found that in general there had been an overestimation in the global background value in the reduced images used for this study.

### 3.5 K-corrections

When we observe two galaxies at different distances with the same intrinsic brightness through the same passband, we will measure two different magnitudes not only because of the inverse square law, but also because their spectral energy distributions (SED) will be shifted towards longer wavelengths and also ”stretched” by a factor of $`(1+z)`$ due to the expansion of the universe. In order to correct for this effect and to convert the color profiles to their rest-frame values, we need to apply k-corrections to our results. We use the definition of the k-correction from Oke & Sandage (1968):

$$K_i(z)=2.5log_{10}(1+z)+2.5log_{10}\left[S_i(\lambda )F(\lambda )d(\lambda )/S_i(\lambda )F(\lambda /1+z)d(\lambda )\right]$$
(2)
where $`S_i(\lambda )`$ is the sensitivity function of the detector i, $`F(\lambda )`$ is the observed energy flux density, $`F(\lambda /1+z)`$ is the energy flux density of the galaxy at rest, $`d(\lambda )`$ is the bandwidth of the detector i, and $`K_i(z)`$ is the k-correction of the galaxy observed through detector i at redshift z. The first term of the correction is due to the ”stretching” of the passband whereas the second term represents the shifting of the SED to longer wavelengths.

Since k-corrections do not currently exist for the NICMOS passbands, we generated our own set by using the SEDs from Devriendt, Guiderdoni, & Sadat (1999). They used the STARDUST model to produce SEDs for 17 galaxies ranging from local spirals, starbursts, luminous infrared galaxies, and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGS) extending from the far-UV to sub-mm wavelengths. Their SEDs also included the effects of internal extinction and emission of dust in the galaxies.

## 4 Surface Brightness Profiles

In the process of analyzing the color profiles of the galaxies, we also studied their surface brightness profiles. Tables 3 and 4 list the statistics for the 33 galaxies in the intermediate redshift and 50 galaxies in the high redshift regime respectively. Column (4) of Tables 3 and 4 lists the Sérsic indices in the $`I_{814}`$ passband for galaxies at intermediate redshifts and the $`H_{160}`$ passband for galaxies at high redshifts. These passbands translate to approximately the rest-frame B band for all the galaxies. Ideally galaxies which possess exponential profiles would have a Sérsic index of 1 whereas galaxies which possess a de Vaucouleurs profile would have a Sérsic index of 4. Thus, from a naive inspection of the Sérsic indices of the galaxies at high redshifts, we would assume that only one (ID 4-555.11 with $`n`$ = 1.467) has a steeper profile than an exponential. However, we have demonstrated in section 3.3 that when we classify morphologies based on the Sérsic indices, it is critical to take into account the role of the PSF since in many cases, especially at high redshifts, the PSF can smooth what was originally an $`r^{1/4}`$ profile to one with $`n`$ $`<`$ 1. The 5th column lists our profile classification for each galaxy (after taking into account PSF effects) based on the galaxy models discussed in section 3.3 where ”deV” represents a de Vaucouleurs $`r^{1/4}`$ profile, ”Exp” represents an exponential profile, ”Int” represents an intermediate profile with 1 $``$ $`n`$ $``$ 4 (these galaxies most likely possess both a bulge and disk component), and ”O” represents ”Others” for galaxies showing irregular structure which could not be fit with any profile. In our attempt to classify the morphologies of the galaxies, we do not automatically assume that objects which possesss exponential profiles are disks while objects which possess de Vaucouleurs profiles are spheroids since this is not necessarily always the case because many dwarf spheroids have been shown to possess exponential profiles (Koo et al., 1994, 1995). We naively lump into one category (”O”) those galaxies which have irregular profiles and do not follow an exponential or $`r^{1/4}`$ law. Wu (1999) explain that there are actually two types of ”irregular” galaxies. One type is the traditional irregular which is the late-type system classified in the Hubble scheme whereas the other type possesses an irregular profile as a result of galaxy-galaxy interactions and mergers. However, it is not within the scope of this paper to differentiate between the two types. Thus, it is evident that our classification scheme represents an oversimplification designed to obtain a sense of the overall trends in the morphologies of the galaxies and should not be taken as a robust classification scheme on the individual level.

Figures $`13`$ show the surface brightness profiles and the fits to the profiles of all the galaxies in our sample. The Williams et al. (1996) identification numbers and Sérsic indices are included in the plots. Figures 4 and 5 represent plots of the half-light radii versus the Sérsic indices ($`r_{1/2}n`$) of the model disks and spheroids after they had been convolved with the HDF PSF in the $`I_{814}`$ (with $`I_{814}`$ = 21, 22, 23, and 24) and $`H_{160}`$ (with $`H_{160}`$ = 23 and 24) passband respectively. Again, for the high redshift sample, the results from the galaxy models are only reliable for $`H_{160}`$ $``$ 24.5 since for fainter magnitudes, it is difficult to clearly distinguish the locus of Sérsic indices for the model spheroids from the locus of Sérsic indices for the model disks. The triangles represent the values for the model spheroids and the asterisks represent the values for the model disks. The dashed and dotted lines represent weighted least-squares fit to the model spheroids and model disks respectively, whereas the solid lines represent the 1$`\sigma `$ error in the fits. For all $`I_{814}`$ magnitudes and for $`H_{160}`$ $``$ 24.5, we have also plotted the values of the galaxies in our intermediate and high redshift sample (represented by squares) to attempt to classify their morphologies by observing where they fall on the diagram. We do not include in these plots those galaxies which could not be fit by the Sérsic law since their profiles were too irregular. These galaxies were, however, still included in our statistics and were labeled as ”O” for ”Others”. At intermediate redshifts, the morphologies are better constrained since the galaxies are brighter and the distinction between the model spheroids and disks is more apparent. As a further check on the accuracy of our classification system, we can utilize the images we have of the intermediate redshift galaxies since, for many, they are large enough and bright enough to classify their morphologies by eye.

With the $`r_{1/2}n`$ plots, we have attempted to classify the morphologies of all the galaxies in the intermediate redshift bin and those with $`H_{160}`$ $``$ 24.5 in the high redshift bin, although it should be kept in mind that the process is rather crude since it relies mainly on the galaxy models which should be regarded as highly speculative at small scale lengths and faint magnitudes. The galaxies whose Sérsic indices fall above the locus for the model spheroids were classified as posessing $`r^{1/4}`$ profiles since this would indicate that they possess profiles that are steeper than our models, whereas those whose Sérsic indices fall below the locus for the model disks are classified as possessing exponential profiles since this would indicate they possess profiles that are shallower than our models. For the galaxies which have Sérsic indices in between the locus of our model spheroids and disks, we placed an acceptance limit of 5$`\sigma `$. If the values of the Sérsic indices were less than 5$`\sigma `$ away from the locus of spheroids, we classified them as possessing $`r^{1/4}`$ profiles, if they were less than 5$`\sigma `$ from the locus of the disks, we classified them as possessing exponential profiles, and if they were more than 5$`\sigma `$ away from either loci, we classified them as possessing intermediate profiles. There were a few galaxies which possessed Sérsic indices with less than 5$`\sigma `$ deviations from both loci. In these cases, we classified them according to the magnitude of their deviation. If the deviation from the locus of model spheroids was less than it was from the locus of model disks, then we classified those galaxies as possessing $`r^{1/4}`$ profiles. If however, the converse was true, we classified those galaxies as possessing exponential profiles. But here is where we introduce some uncertainty in our classification scheme. Since these galaxies have such small deviations from both loci, even though we associate these galaxies with a certain profile, it does not mean that it can not possess the other types of profiles. For example, ID 3-404 was classified as possessing an exponential profile since its Sérsic index was only 2.1$`\sigma `$ away from the locus of the model disks, however, there is still a good chance that it could possess an $`r^{1/4}`$ profile since it was only 3.3$`\sigma `$ away from the locus of model spheroids. Or it could also possibly possess an intermediate profile. There are only two galaxies in the intermediate redshift sample (IDs 2-353 and 3-404) and one in the high redshift sample (ID 2-321) which have less than 5$`\sigma `$ deviations from both loci. If we include these uncertainties, it will at most increase the poissonian errors by 1 percent. Thus, the profile classification is very robust, and the uncertainties in the classification system is dominated by the poissonian error.

Table 5 summarizes our best effort to classify the morphologies of the galaxies based on the combination of the results from the fits to the surface brightness profiles of the galaxies in the two redshift bins, the plots of the galaxy models, and visual inspection. Quoted are the percentages found for each profile with their poissonian error. The number of galaxies possessing that profile is in parenthesis. In our intermediate redshift sample, out of 32 galaxies, we classified 28 $`\pm `$ 9% as possessing $`r^{1/4}`$ profiles, 53 $`\pm `$ 13% as possessing exponential profiles, 13 $`\pm `$ 6% as intermediates, and 6 $`\pm `$ 3% as ”Others” since they possessed irregular substructure. The galaxy that we did not include in the statistics is ID 3-610 in which both an $`r^{1/4}`$ and and exponential component could be resolved. The Sérsic index for the inner region of this galaxy is 2.32 while for the outer, disk part it is 0.826. This is the only galaxy large enough in our sample to distinguish the two components. In our high redshift sample only 20 galaxies had $`H_{160}`$ $`24.5`$. Out of these galaxies, we classified 60 $`\pm `$ 15% as possessing $`r^{1/4}`$ profiles, 20 $`\pm `$ 10% as possessing exponential profiles, and 20 $`\pm `$ 10% as ”Others”. In the high redshift bin there are no galaxies which we classified as intermediates. This does not mean that no intermediates exist at these redshifts, but rather that since the separation between the locus of model spheroids and model disks is very small, there is not a clearly defined region for the intermediate cases.

We must stress that we are limited by small number statistics, especially at high redshifts since we are only able to classify the morphologies of 20 out of our original 50 galaxies. Nevertheless, we can still comment on the general trends seen. From Table 5, we see that, at higher look-back time, the fraction of the galaxies possessing $`r^{1/4}`$ profiles increased by 32 $`\pm `$ 18% whereas the fraction of exponential-type profiles decreased by 33 $`\pm `$ 16%. These differences are marginally significant since they represent $``$ 2$`\sigma `$ changes in both cases. Our results differ from what has been previously published (Marleau & Simard, 1998). By using a profile decomposition method on 522 galaxies down to $`m_{F814W}`$ $`<`$ 26, Marleau & Simard (1998) found that the majority of HDF-N galaxies are disk dominated with only 8% having dominant bulge fractions. They interpreted their results as measuring a decrease in the number of bulge dominated galaxies as a function of look-back time. Given the high degree of difficulty in the classification of the morphologies of these small faint galaxies, which are severely affected by the PSF and the limitation of small number statistics, it is not surprising that at this point, we are not able to reach a general consensus. At high redshifts, we also see a statistically insignificant increase of 14 $`\pm `$ 10% in the fraction of galaxies which we have classified as ”Others”. This is along the lines of what was observed in previous studies of galaxies in the HDF-N which have shown that by $`I_{AB}`$ $`>`$ 24, there are few galaxies possessing traditional Hubble sequence morphologies. Instead they tend to be more ”peculiar” in the sense that they may represent mergers in progress (Abraham et al., 1996; Bunker, 1999). Although we detect changes in morphology between the two redshift bins, these changes may not be solely attributed to evolution. In Section 6.0 we discuss the possibility that the trends in morphology may be influenced by observational selection effects.

## 5 Color Profiles

We generated ($`B_{450}V_{606}`$) and ($`I_{814}J_{110}`$) color profiles for the 33 intermediate redshift and 50 high-redshift sample respectively and applied k-corrections in order to determine if these galaxies exhibited significant color changes (i.e. $`|`$ $`\mathrm{\Delta }(UV_{218}U_{300})_o`$/ $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$log(r) $`|`$ $``$ 0.2 mag dex<sup>-1</sup>) in their rest-frame $`(UV_{218}U_{300})_o`$ profiles (Figures $`68`$). We can assume that since we are observing the color profiles for the rest-frame $`(UV_{218}U_{300})_o`$, we will be probing primarily the light from the young stars. Thus, the sign of the gradient will give us an idea of the locations of the star forming regions if the color gradient is caused by an age gradient alone. If the galaxy possesses a positive gradient, this would indicate a blueing towards the center, which might be explained by star formation that is centrally concentrated. If the galaxy possesses a negative gradient, this would point to a blueing with increasing radius which would imply an older stellar population in the center. If, however, we observe no significant gradient in the galaxy, we can assume that the star formation regions are uniformly dispersed throughout the galaxy.

Due to the $`(1+z)^4`$ fall off in the surface brightness, the color profiles of our high redshift sample do not extend to the low surface brightness levels of our intermediate redshift sample. For example, in our high redshift galaxies, we might reach depths of as much as 28 $`mag/arcsec^2`$, but due to the fall off in surface brightness, this would translate to a depth of only $``$ 24.5 $`mag/arcsec`$ in our intermediate redshift sample. In order to consistently compare the results for our two redshift bins, we must sample over approximately the same surface brightness range, thus, we must apply a cutoff in surface brightness in our intermediate redshift sample. Applying a cutoff in the radial range is approximately the same as applying the cutoff in surface brightness. Thus, we have chosen to fit the color profiles of the intermediate redshift sample only out to a radius of 4 kpc. This radius cutoff represents approximately twice the mean half-light radius of our high redshift sample which was determined by summing up all the light within approximately 28 $`mag/arcsec^2`$. Column (8) in Tables 3 and 4 lists the color gradients from the weighted least-squares fit to the color profiles and their associated errors for our intermediate redshift and high redshift samples, respectively. The errors quoted include the uncertainties from the fit and a conservative upper limit in the uncertainty from the systematic background subtraction ($``$ $`\pm `$ 0.037 mag/dex).

From Table 3, column (8) we notice that 12 (36%) of the galaxies in our intermediate redshift sample possess positive gradients, but only two of them have gradients greater than 0.2 mag dex<sup>-1</sup> which indicates that they may have a strong central concentration of star formation perhaps indicative of a burst. Although 64% of the galaxies at intermediate redshifts possess negative gradients, only 39% of them possess gradients less than -0.20 mag dex<sup>-1</sup>. Furthermore, the mean of the color gradients of all the galaxies at intermediate redshifts is -0.091 $`\pm `$ 0.007 mag dex<sup>-1</sup> which is relatively shallow. Thus, although the negative color gradients indicates that, in general, the colors of these galaxies are bluer in the outer parts of the galaxies, since the mean of the gradient is not too steep, the color changes are gradual across the galaxies. Column (8) in Table 4 lists the rest-frame $`(UV_{218}U_{300})_o`$ color gradients and the associated errors for our high redshift sample determined using all the isophotes which reach up to depths $``$ 28 $`mag/arcsec^2`$. We notice that the color gradients of the majority of the high-redshift galaxies (72%) are positive with a mean of 0.272 $`\pm `$ 0.007 mag dex<sup>-1</sup>. Out of the 36 galaxies that have positive gradients, 83% of them have gradients greater than 0.200 mag dex<sup>-1</sup> indicating that there are significant color changes across these galaxies.

Figure 9 represents a plot of the redshift versus the color gradients of the galaxies in our two redshift bins. When we compare the rest-frame $`(UV_{218}U_{300})_o`$ color gradients for our intermediate redshift sample with our high redshift sample, we detect different trends in the two redshift bins. In our intermediate redshift sample, we saw a slight trend for a blueing with increasing radius (negative color gradients), implying that the star formation regions may be located generally in the outer disks of the galaxies or that the older stellar populations may be located towards the center. But given that the amplitude of the gradients were not too significant, we conclude that in general the color changes are gradual across the galaxies. However, in our high redshift sample, the majority of the galaxies possessed significant positive gradients in their color profiles. On average, these color gradients were 0.363 $`\pm `$ 0.010 mag dex<sup>-1</sup> higher than their lower redshift counterparts. If these color gradients are due primarily to an age gradient, this would mean that these galaxies have bluer colors towards the center implying that their star formation regions may be centrally concentrated, i.e. there are more young stars at the centers than in the outer parts of the galaxies. Numerous analysis show that both present-day disks and spheroids have metallicity gradients with higher metallicities toward the galaxy centers. Such a metal gradient would only strengthen the age gradient needed to make the centers bluer. Thus, from our analysis, we conclude that there is evolution in the color profiles of galaxies in the HDF-N. When we look further back in time, the star formation regions of the galaxies are more centrally concentrated. Since it is beyond the scope of this paper to generate models to interpret our results, in the next section, we discuss modeling of color gradients taken from the literature in order to infer the dominant processes responsible for producing the trends seen in the color gradients.

### 5.1 Discussion

Not much is currently known about the ultraviolet color gradients of galaxies in the local universe. The few studies of this kind were conducted using the information from the images taken with the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope during the Astro-1 and 2 missions (O’Connell et al., 1992; Ohl et al., 1998). From the Astro-1 mission O’Connell et al. (1992) analized the (152-249) color profiles of two Sb bulges and two E galaxies which were generated using the images taken with the 152 nm and 249 nm filters. They concluded that all but M32 exhibited prominent positive gradients in their profiles. In their study of the FUV(1500Å)-B color profiles for eight early-type galaxies, Ohl et al. (1998) found, again, that all but M32 exhibited large positive color gradients, with differences in color greater than 1.0 mag over the entire profile. These large ultraviolet color gradients are reflective of the ”UV upturn” or ”UVX” population which has been observed in the far-UV (1200 Å$`<`$ $`\lambda `$ $`<`$ 2000 Å) imaging of local spiral bulges and early-type galaxies ((Code & Welch, 1979; de Boer, 1982). They propose that a combination of an increase in metallicity combined with the existence of older stellar populations may contribute in producing these color gradients. The trends in the far-UV color gradients of these galaxies are in the opposite sense to what we observe in the rest-frame near-UV for the majority of the intermediate redshift galaxies in our HDF-N sample and local galaxies which have been observed in the optical and near-IR. However, since the study of the far-UV color profiles of galaxies were conducted at shorter wavelengths, and given that the sample sizes were much smaller and limited only to early-type systems and spiral bulges, it is difficult to compare it with our study. Thus, more observations of local galaxies in the ultraviolet are needed in order to fairly compare with our sample of galaxies at intermediate and high redshifts.

In our intermediate redshift sample of galaxies, we find that most of the galaxies (6 out of 9) which we classified as having $`r^{1/4}`$ profiles possess negative rest-frame $`(UV_{218}U_{300})`$ color gradients indicating reddening towards the center of the profile. This is consistent with the rest-frame optical color profiles observed in the past. In general early-type galaxies have been found to exhibit negative gradients, i.e. they have redder colors in the center and gradually become bluer outwards (Tamura et al., 2000; Tamura & Ohta, 2000; Vader et al., 1988; Franx, Illingworth, & Heckman, 1989; Peletier, Valentijn, & Jameson, 1990). In their study of the ($`V_{606}I_{814}`$) color profiles of 10 elliptical galaxies in the HDF-N from $`z=0.11.0`$, Tamura et al. (2000) observed the same trends. They found that all but two (one of them being galaxy 2-251 in our sample) exhibited redder colors towards the centers. At $`z=0`$, both an age and a metallicity gradient in the stellar populations can be responsible for producing the negative color gradients observed in the galaxies, i.e. the galaxy colors are redder in the center than in the outer parts because they either have older stellar populations or higher metallicities there. This age-metallicity degeneracy makes it difficult to determine the cause of the color gradient. In order to break the degeneracy, they generated two model gradients which reproduce the typical color gradients of elliptical galaxies at $`z=0`$, one caused by a metallicity gradient of old stars, the other from an age gradient of stars with the same metallicity. They then evolved these models to the redshifts of their observed galaxy sample. By comparing the model gradients with the observed gradients, they concluded that the model involving the metallicity gradient agreed well with observations at all redshifts whereas the model involving the age gradient was only in good agreement up to a redshift of z $``$ 0.3. We also have ($`V_{606}I_{814}`$) color profiles for the galaxies in our intermediate redshift sample which reveal the same trends in the color gradients (Figure 10). We again observe that over half (5 out of 9) of the galaxies possessing $`r^{1/4}`$ profiles exhibit negative color gradients. Thus, we may interpret the central reddening in the color profiles of the elliptical galaxies in our intermediate redshift sample in the HDF-N as being due primarily to a metallicity gradient; the centers of the galaxies have higher metallicities than in the outer parts. We observe the same negative trend in the color gradients for the majority of the intermediate redshift galaxies (14 out of 23) which we classified as peculiars/irregulars or having exponential profiles. In the study of the near-IR and optical color profiles of 86 face-on disk dominated galaxies, de Jong (1996) concluded that their negative color gradients were best reproduced by models involving both stellar age and metallicity gradients. Therefore, we interpret the gradients seen in the late-type galaxies as arising as a result of both age and metallicity effects; the central parts of the galaxies in general have older stars and higher metallicity than the outer parts making them have redder colors towards the centers.

Whereas the trends seen in the color profiles of our intermediate redshift sample are well understood, we can not say the same for our high redshift sample. Since this is the first study of its kind to be conducted on galaxies with z $``$ 2.0, there are no other high redshift observations of color profiles to compare our results with. Thus, we must attempt to account for the positive gradients seen in our high redshift sample by understanding what is responsible for producing similar trends in the color profiles seen at intermediate and low redshifts. Guzmán et al. (1998) generated rest-frame $`(BV)`$ color profiles for five compact narrow emission line galaxies (CNELGs) which are low mass ($`M10^{10}`$ $`M_{}`$) starburst systems seen at $`z1.0`$ and are similar to nearby HII galaxies. They noticed that although the gradients were not significant, there was a slight trend for the bluest color to occur in the central regions. On average, they found that the color inside the half-light radius is $`0.14\pm 0.05`$ mag bluer than outside the half-light radius. Guzmán et al. (1998) futhermore describes the CNELGs as having either compact cores, fans and tails, or several small compact regions. These morphologies are along the lines of what we see in our high redshift sample. They also determined half-light radii to span from $`15`$ kpc ($`H_o=50km/s/Mpc`$, $`q_o=0.1`$) which match the range we see in our high redshift sample. Given that the morphologies, half-light radii, and color profiles of the CNELGs are similar to what we observe in the high redshift sample, it is not unreasonable to believe that CNELGs could be the low redshift, lower-luminosity analogs of the higher redshift Lyman break galaxies. We can then interpret the positive gradients seen in our high redshift sample as being caused by centrally concentrated starbursts.

The high redshift galaxies have been shown to possess modest to high star formation rates ($`425`$ $`h_{50}^1`$ $`M_{}`$/yr, $`q_o`$=0.5) (Lowenthal et al., 1997; Steidel, Pettini, & Hamilton, 1995; Pettini et al., 1998) which further enforces the idea that the positive gradients seen in our sample could be caused by centrally concentrated starbursts. Starbursts can be triggered by several mechanisms including mergers and interactions (Mihos & Hernquist, 1994; Hernquist & Mihos, 1995; Mihos & Hernquist, 1996; Barnes & Hernquist, 1996; Somerville, Primack, & Faber, 2000), bar instabilities (Shlosman, Begelman, & Frank, 1990), and SNe and stellar winds, e.g. Heckman, Armus, & Miley (1990). Since the volume of the high redshift universe is smaller than it is now, mergers have been implied to be the cause of the enhanced star formation, however, this topic is still under debate. In Section 7, we argue that the starbursts which may be responsible for causing the central blue colors of our high redshift sample are most likely ignited through mergers and interactions.

### 5.2 Sources of Uncertainties

When we discuss the trends seen in the color profiles, we must take into account the uncertainities involved. These uncertainties include the determination of the sky background, the correlation of the pixels, and the role of dust. While statistical errors dominating the inner parts of the color profiles and PSF effects contribute to the uncertainty in the least-squares fit, the systematic errors due to sky subtraction dominate in the outer parts of the profile . In order to assess how our color gradients are affected by sky subtraction, we chose 20 high redshift galaxies possessing positive color gradients and for each we obtained statistics on 11x11 pixel wide grids in six blank areas of the sky around the object in the $`I_{814}`$ and the $`J_{110}`$ passbands. We generated a histogram of the 726 total pixels in the six grids to determine the mean and the standard deviation of the mean ($`\sigma `$). For each galaxy, we then determined both a lower and an upper limit of the sky values in $`I_{814}`$ and $`J_{110}`$ by subtracting 3$`\sigma `$ from the means to obtain their lower limits (I-, J-) and adding 3$`\sigma `$ to the means to obtain their upper limits (I+,J+). Lastly, we generated their ($`I_{814}J_{110}`$) color profiles and obtained their color gradients for each of the five possible combinations of sky values subtracted off ((1) mean in $`I_{814}`$, mean in $`J_{110}`$ (2) I- ,J- (3) I+,J+ (4) I-,J+ (5) I+, J-). The mean in the color gradients for the five different cases respectively are 0.3722, 0.425, 0.321, 0.249, and 0.503 which represent a 3$`\sigma `$ deviation of $``$ 0.112 mag/dex making the typical uncertainty in the estimation of the sky background to be $``$ 0.037 mag/dex. As we can see, the mean value of the color gradients remain positive and greater than 0.200 mag/dex in all cases. Thus, we find that the typical gradients seen in the high redshift galaxies ($``$ 0.26 mag/dex) are significant enough, that even with the uncertainties involved in the estimation of the sky background, our main conclusion that these galaxies have centrally concentrated star formation still holds.

Another potential source of concern is the correlation of the pixels. Since the images have been drizzled, convolved to recover approximately the same resolution as the $`H_{160}`$ image, and fitted with ellipses at 0.1 pixel increments, the errors that we obtain from the photometry will be correlated due to the oversampled pixels. Thus, when we performed a weighted least-squares fit to the color profiles, the error bars used in the determination of the weights were correlated. Consequently, the parameters that we obtain from the fit, i.e. the color gradient in this case, may be off from what would be measured if the errors had been independent. To understand how the correlated errors in our photometry affect the least-squares fitting to a straight line, we obtained rms images (M. Dickinson 2001, private communication) in the passbands of interest. These images quantify the uncertainty of the noise in the background (sky + readout noise + dark current) before any processes were performed to cause interpixel correlations. We re-analyzed ten random galaxies from the intermediate and high redshift sample using the rms images. With the same set of ellipses that we used in the surface photometry, we replaced the correlated errors with the ”true” uncorrelated errors for each galaxy. In doing so, we have chosen to neglect the poisson noise from the galaxies themselves since they are so faint that it would be insignificant compared to the background noise. From this analysis, we find that even after taking into account interpixel correlations, the sign of the color gradients for the galaxies does not change. The high redshift galaxies still possess predominantly positive color gradients whereas the intermediate redshift galaxies possess predominantly negative color gradients.

However, the rest-frame $`(UV_{218}U_{300})_o`$ color profiles may be affected by the presence of dust. In theory, dust can cause the color profiles of galaxies to be redder towards the center if we assume that the dust would be more concentrated at the center and would produce more extinction there (de Jong, 1996; Evans, 1994; Byun et al., 1994). de Jong (1996) conducted Monte Carlo simulations of light rays traveling through a dusty medium in order to understand to what extent dust can affect color gradients in late-type systems. They concluded that although a fraction of the color gradients could be attributed to dust, an additional explanation is needed to account for the total reddening in the system. Wise & Silva (1996) produced color profiles extincted by dust for a set of model ellipticals from the U to the K passband and compared them with 52 early-type galaxies from the literature. They concluded that if dust is the primary cause of color gradients then the dust must be spatially extended ($`\rho _d`$ $`r^1`$) implying high dust masses comparable to the dust masses inferred by the IRAS data. Thus, the presence of dust may be partly responsible for producing the color gradients seen in our intermediate redshift sample for both early-type and late-type systems, however, given that the total mass of the dust and its spatial distribution are not well constrained, we can not say, for now, to what degree dust affects the color distribution in the galaxies. On the other hand, even though dust might play a role in our high redshift sample, there is no reason why its presence would cause the color profile to be bluer towards the center. As previously mentioned, dust would tend to cause extinction and, thus, reddening towards the center, not the outer parts of the galaxies. In fact, if dust is found to cause extinction in the centers of these galaxies, then the color gradients seen in our high redshift sample would be even greater. Thus, although dust may play a role in generating the color gradients of our intermediate redshift sample, it can not explain the trends seen in our high redshift sample.

## 6 Selection Effects

Anytime we compare observations of galaxies in two different redshift ranges, we must take into account the effect of observational selection. At high redshifts, we will be able to detect and study only those galaxies with the highest luminosities and surface brightnesses, thus, the trends that we see in the surface brightness and color profiles may potentially be affected by this bias. We have tried to minimize some selection effects by observing the galaxies at different redshifts in the same rest-frame wavelengths. This guarantees that at all redshifts, we will be probing the same population of stars. Furthermore, at high redshifts we sample not only galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts, but also galaxies with photometric redshifts which are, in general, fainter than those galaxies that can be detected spectroscopically. Thus, we are sampling the fainter population at high redshifts and are not only just picking out the UV luminous galaxies.

Wu (1999) performed simulations on galaxies in the HDF-N in order to understand the selection effects that may arise when studying galaxies at different redshifts. She takes the galaxies with $`0.75z1.2`$ in the F814W band and simulates their appearance at $`z=1.5`$ and $`z=2.3`$ by using the corresponding images in F606W and F450W filters respectively to minimize k-corrections. She finds that at $`z=1.5`$ only 33% of the original objects can still be detected and by $`z=2.3`$, only 3% of them remain. To further understand the sampling of the galaxy population as a function of redshift, she defines a concentration versus asymmetry index ($`A_WC_W`$). She plots the $`A_WC_W`$ relation for galaxies in the HDF separating them into five redshift bins with redshifts ranging from z $``$ 0.6 to redshifts z $`>`$ 3.0. From these plots, she concludes that whereas the range of $`A_W`$ and $`C_W`$ values remain constant for z $`<`$ 1.2, at higher redshifts, the number of high $`C_W`$ objects seem to decrease while the number of high $`A_W`$ objects seem to increase. Since high concentration is associated with early-type systems such as ellipticals and early-type spirals and high asymmetry is associated with merging systems, it seems from her plots that at z $`>`$ 1.2, there is a decrease in the early-type systems and an increase in merging systems. However, she shows in her work, that these trends can naturally be explained by selection effects. In her simulations she has shown that, by $`z=2.3`$ most of these galaxies with high concentration have faded so much that they ”disappear” into the noise and can no longer be detected.

From Wu’s (1999) discussion it is quite possible that the trends we see in the surface brightness profiles may be influenced by these selection effects. In our work with the surface brightness profiles, if we had not corrected for the PSF effect, we would have seen the same decrease in early-type systems. If we just inspect the Sérsic indices of the galaxies and ignore the effect of PSF smearing, we would naively classify 5 out of a total of 32 (16 $`\pm `$ 7%) of the galaxies in the intermediate sample and only 1 out of the 20 (5 $`\pm `$ 5%) galaxies with H $``$ 24.5 in the high redshift sample as possessing an $`r^{1/4}`$ profile. Thus, it would seem that the number of early-type systems had decreased with redshift. However, since we have corrected for the effect of the PSF, we recover the number of galaxies with $`r^{1/4}`$ profiles (i.e. 28 $`\pm `$ 9% for the intermediate redshift sample and 60 $`\pm `$ 15% in the high redshift sample). Thus, by correcting for the PSF, we take care of one selection effect. However at z $`>`$ 2, we are still sampling only the tip of the surface brightness function where asymmetries are more evident. Consequently, it is not surprising that we would find a slightly higher fraction of ”irregular” galaxies in the high redshift sample, 20 $`\pm `$ 10% as opposed to 6 $`\pm `$ 3% in the intermediate redshift sample. Although the selection effects may be responsible for some of the trends seen in the morphological classification of galaxies, they cannot explain the trends that exist in the color profiles. They cannot explain why at high redshifts, we detect a significant population of galaxies possessing large positive color gradients but at lower redshifts, they seem to ”disappear” .

## 7 Comparison with Theoretical Models

In order to fully comprehend galaxy formation and evolution, it is important to compare observations with theoretical models. However, only in the last decade has it been possible to study galaxy formation observationally. Previously, we were only able to predict how galaxies form and evolve by using N-body simulations and semi-analytical modeling of dark matter halos, which demonstrated that structure builds up into larger and larger units through continual accretion and merger (Baugh et al., 1998; Cole et al., 1994; Kauffmann, Nusser, & Steinmetz, 1997; Roukema et al., 1997; White & Frenk, 1991). These models gave support to the ”hierarchical clustering” scenario pioneered by Peebles (1970) which is a less restricted version of the standard cold dark matter (CDM) model since it allows for the assumption of different cosmologies. In the last several years, much advancement has been made in the observational regime since many have used the Lyman break technique (Steidel & Hamilton, 1993) to reliably detect galaxies at high redshift in large numbers. With the detection of numerous high redshift galaxies at high resolution and sensitivities, it is now feasible to compare observations with theoretical predictions.

From our surface brightness analysis of the galaxies in the HDF-N, we find that as we look further back in time, the star formation regions are more centrally concentrated and their morphologies are more irregular, deviating from the traditional Hubble sequence. Although our results may be affected by uncertainties and selection effects, we can compare to models to test for consistency and determine what may be the driving force behind the trends seen if they are at the very least attributed in some way to galaxy evolution. We have discussed the possibility of mergers and interactions as the cause of the trends seen. In order to understand how our results fit in with the overall picture of galaxy formation and evolution, we compare our observations of galaxies in the HDF-N with the predictions from the semianalytic model of galaxy formation described by BCFL and SPF which focuses particularly on the high redshift Lyman break galaxies.

In their model, BCFL used a Monte Carlo simulation to generate binary merger trees which essentially describes the merging histories for dark matter halos with predetermined final masses. They generated the mock high redshift progenitors by applying the selection criteria for Lyman break candidates described in Steidel & Hamilton (1993) and quantified the amount of cold gas available by measuring the rate at which cold gas in thin shells can cool to form stars. They chose values for the star formation timescale, the feedback parameter, the shape of the initial mass function (IMF), the overall luminosity normalization, and the merger timescale for galaxies that would best reproduce the local B and K band luminosity functions. Lastly, they fixed the threshold mass for a galaxy merger causing a disk to become a spheroid to match the relative population of ellipticals, S0’s, and spirals locally. They produced their model for three different cosmologies: the standard CDM model ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=1`$, $`h=0.5`$, $`\sigma _8=0.67`$), the flat CDM model ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_0=0.7`$, $`h=0.6`$, $`\sigma _8=0.97`$), and the open CDM model ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=0.4`$, $`h=0.6`$, $`\sigma _8=0.68`$).

From their simulations, BCFL show that present day galaxies that make up the bright end of the luminosity function have at least one Lyman break progenitor at $`z3`$. Furthermore, depending on their merging histories, these Lyman break progenitors can end up as a L $`>`$ L\* galaxy with any morphological type. If they experienced major mergers at recent epochs they may evolve to become ellipticals and S0s. If they grew by the quiescent accretion of cooling gas, the gas might form a disk around a bulge that was created by an earlier merger event. And if they experienced minor mergers which are too weak to destroy the disk, they might accumulate more stars in the central bulge. They expect the Lyman break galaxies to be rotating disks with typical half-light radii $`0.5h^1kpc`$ and predict that the stars of the progenitors will congregate primarily in the central regions.

BCFL additionally conclude that the star formation of galaxies at all redshifts occurs quiescently with SFRs that never obtain a value higher than a few solar masses per year. Their conclusion matches the observations of LBGs only if internal dust extinction is ignored. However, in reality, the effects of dust is probably non-negligible although how much of a role it plays is still presently uncertain. Pettini et al. (1997) measured the extinction to be a factor of $``$ 3 at 1500Å whereas Meurer et al. (1997) and Sawicki & Yee (1998) report values closer to $`1520`$. Now the general consensus is to use an extinction correction of $``$ 5 (Meurer, Heckman, & Calzetti, 1999; Steidel et al., 1998). If the central blueing seen in the color profiles of our high redshift sample is caused by a central starburst, which seems likely, then BCFL’s assumption of quiescent star formation in an extended disk does not agree with our observations. On the other hand, the results of the model from SPF would agree well with what we observe in the color profiles and with what we currently know about the SFRs of LBGs. Instead of undergoing quiescent star formation, they favor the idea that LBGs are experiencing what they term as ”collisional starbursts” which describe starbursts that are induced by galaxy-galaxy mergers.

SPF explain that they obtain different results from BCFL because of the different assumptions made in the two models. The assumptions made in BCFL for supernovae feedback, gas cooling, and types of mergers were such that, taken in combination, would act to suppress star formation at early epochs (please refer to BCFL and SPF for the specifics on the differences in the two models). SPF use a semi-analytic modeling of galaxies in the CDM hierarchical clustering framework adopting the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ CDM cosmology ($`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=0.3`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.7`$, $`h=H_0/(100km/s/Mpcs)=0.7`$, $`\sigma _8=1.0`$) to understand the nature of Lyman break galaxies. Their models take into account the effects of the cooling rate of gas, supernovae feedback, galaxy-galaxy mergers, and star formation and subsequent evolution. They address the effects of dust extinction by following the recipe described in Wang & Heckman (1996) for nearby starbursts which returns the optical depth for a given extinguished UV luminosity, intrinsic UV luminosity, and face-on optical depth. They generate Monte-Carlo based merger trees in which each branch in the tree is associated with a merger. Within this framework, they considered three different models to represent the variety of star formation events. The ”collisional starburst” model is one in which star formation occurs quiescently with additional star formation occurring in bursts. The ”constant efficiency quiescent” model only involves quiescent star formation with no bursts. And the ”accelerated quiescent” model involves quiescent star formation but with the star formation rate increasing with look-back time. SPF conclude that among the three models, the ”collisional starburst” model best reproduces the observations of the LBGs including comoving number density, star formation rates, internal velocity dispersions and the observed luminosity function, global star formation rate density, and cold gas and metallicity abundances in the Universe. Thus, they advocate that star formation occurred at a higher rate in the high redshift universe and that mergers were responsible for increasing the star formation rate by triggering gas inflow to the central regions.

The positive color gradients we see at high redshifts would then be associated with nuclear starbursts induced by mergers and/or interactions, which could also cause star formation to ”migrate” over time from the central regions to the spiral arms where we see most of the star formation today. That is, when galaxies are first formed, the stars would tend to be born in the dense central regions. Then some galaxies may undergo mergers, which funnel gas to the central regions causing a burst of star formation. After awhile, the gas will be depleted and dispersed such that during the late stages of merger, the central light profiles will evolve to follow the $`r^{1/4}`$ law (Mihos, Richstone, & Bothun, 1992; Negraponte & White, 1983; Barnes, 1992). During the late stages of the merger, the presence of a central bulge might suppress the inflow of gas and consequently reduce the star formation efficiency (Mihos & Hernquist, 1994). Then if the galaxy experiences further interactions with another galaxy, material can rain in on the outer parts causing the gas to collapse to form stars around the spheroid. Therefore, if the hierarchical structure formation scenario represents an accurate prediction of structure formation, then at redshifts between 2.0 $``$ z $``$ 3.5, we may be witnessing the epoch at which galaxies are experiencing mergers and their star formation is enhanced and centrally concentrated.

## 8 Conclusions

From our surface brightness and color analysis of galaxies at a range of redshifts probed at the same rest-frame wavelengths in the Hubble Deep Field-North, we conclude:

1). The color profiles of galaxies reveal that at earlier epochs, there are fewer galaxies with old red stellar populations in their centers and most galaxies have centrally concentrated star formation. As in local samples of galaxies, our intermediate redshift galaxies (0.5 $``$ z $``$ 1.2) have redder central regions due to a combination of age, metallicity and dust gradients. Since age gradients are the only viable explanation for the central blueing of our high redshift sample, we conclude that the majority of high redshift galaxies contain centrally concentrated starbursts.

2). From the galaxy models, we have demonstrated the importance of taking into account the PSF effects before attempting to classify morphologies. After correcting for the PSF effects in the surface brightness profiles, we find that the population of galaxies possessing $`r^{1/4}`$ profiles have slightly increased with look-back time while those with exponential profiles have slightly decreased. Our results also suggest a statistically insignificant increase in the fraction of galaxies with peculiar/irregular structure at higher redshifts. The results should be viewed with a note of caution, however, due to the small sample size and large uncertainties in the galaxy models especially at small scale lengths and faint magnitudes.

3). If, as predicted by hierarchical galaxy formation models, mergers and interactions played an important role in the lifetime of these galaxies, such processes would be responsible for the positive color gradients indicative of centrally concentrated star formation seen in the high redshift galaxies. SPF show that their ”collisional starburst” model, in which bursts are triggered by mergers, best reproduces the observed properties of Lyman break galaxies and of the Universe in general. Such centrally condensed nuclear star bursts are consistent with our observed trends in the color gradients. A good way to test whether the ”collisional starburst” model holds is by applying the color-asymmetry diagram developed by Conselice, Bershady, & Gallagher (2000) to distinguish between starbursts driven by mergers and interactions from starbursts which were ignited by some other method.

Since the Hubble Deep Field represents only a small volume of space, we must be cautious in generalizing our results to the universe as a whole. We need to obtain more observations of high redshift galaxies to measure critical quantities such as their virial masses and estimation of dust content. We also need to better understand how and to what degree observational selection comes into play when we compare galaxies at different redshifts. Given that we are now detecting fainter galaxies at higher redshifts and that instruments with multi-object spectroscopic capabilities in the near-IR and 8-m class telescopes are now readily available, much information will undoubtedly be unraveled in the near future concerning the nature of LBGs which will allow us to formulate a more robust theory on the formation and evolution of galaxies.

We would like to thank R. Guzmán for his much appreciated suggestions during the finishing stages of the paper, M. Dickinson for providing extremely informative answers to questions about the data, K. Wu for her support and useful discussion on selection effects, Devriendt et al. for kindly emailing us their SEDs, R. Pina and J. Radomski for their help on IDL, and E. McKenzie for a useful discussion on K-corrections. Funds for this research were made possible by the CAREER Grant AST-9875448 and NASA grant ”NICMOS MAP of the HDF” GO-07817.05-96A. P. Moth also acknowledges funding from the Florida Space Grant Fellowship.


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# Importance of multi-mesonic fusion processes on (strange) antibaryon production

## I Brief Overview on Antihyperon Production

Strangeness enhancement has been predicted a long time ago as a potential probe to find clear evidence for the temporary existence of a quark gluon plasma (QGP) in relativistic heavy ion collisions. A strong experimental effort has been made since and is still made for measuring strange particle abundancies in experiments at Brookhaven and at CERN (for a short recent review see ). In particular because of high production thresholds in binary hadronic reaction channels antihyperons had been advocated as the appropriate QGP candidates . Indeed, a satisfactory picture of nearly chemically saturated populations of antihyperons has been experimentally demonstrated over the last years with the Pb+Pb experiments NA49 and WA97 at CERN-SPS. For this statement, of course, a quantitative, theoretical analysis by employing a thermal (or ‘statistical’) model has to be invoked by fitting the thermodynamical parameters to the set of individual (strange) hadronic abundancies .

On the other hand, already since the first measurements with the lighter ions have been undertaken in the early nineties, the theoretical description of the antibaryon production within hadronic transport schemes in comparison to these data faced some severe difficulties. Some phenomenological motivated attempts to explain a more abundant production of antihyperons within a hadronic transport description  had been proposed like the appearance of color ropes, the fusion of strings, the percolation of strings, or the formation of high-dense hadronic clusters. The underlying mechanisms, however, have to be considered exotic and to some extent ad hoc, their purpose lies mainly to create (much) more antibaryon in the very early intial stage of the reaction (compared to simple rescaled p+p collisions). To some extent indeed the philosophy behind these mechanisms was to model a precursor of initial QGP formation within a hadronic transport scheme. On the other hand, in most of the transport calculations a dramatic role of subsequent antibaryon annihilation is observed, which, in return, has to be more than counterbalanced by these more exotic, initially occuring mechanisms. Large annihilation rates result if the free-space cross section is employed. The situation seems even more paradox with respect to the fact that the chemical description within thermal models works indeed amazingly well for the antihyperons and being, of course, completely nondependent on the (large) magnitude of the annihilation cross section. For all of this reasons the theoretical and dynamical understanding of the production of (strange) antibaryons has remained a delicate and challenging task .

As we will demonstrate, a correct incorporation of the baryonic annihilation channels had actually not been done consistently. We have conjectured recently that a sufficiently fast redistributions of strange and light quarks into (strange) baryon-antibaryon pairs should be achieved by multi-mesonic fusion-type reactions of the type

$$n_1\pi +n_2K\overline{Y}+p$$
(1)
occuring in a moderately dense hadronic system  (illustrated in Fig. 1). The beauty of this argument lies in the fact that (at least) these special kind of multi-hadronic reactions have to be present because of the fundamental principle of detailed balance. As the annihilation of antihyperons on baryons is of dramatic relevance, the multi-mesonic (fusion-like) ‘back-reactions’ involving $`n_1`$ pions and $`n_2`$ kaons, where $`n_2`$ counts the number of anti-strange quarks within the antihyperon $`\overline{Y}`$), must, in principle, be taken care of in a dynamical simulation. These reactions are then the most dominant source of production. This crucial fact had been overseen in all of the aforementioned treatments. The underlying reasoning was first raised by Rapp and Shuryak who described the maintenance of nearly perfect chemical equilibrium of antiprotons together with pions and nucleons during the very late stage of the expanding fireball before the particles loose contact .

The crucial input, though plausible, is now to assume that the annihilation cross sections for any strange or nonstrange antibaryon on any baryon are approximately the same order as for $`N\overline{p}`$ at the same relative momenta, i.e. $`\sigma _{B\overline{Y}n\pi +n_YK}\sigma _{N\overline{p}n\pi }`$, being in the range of 50-100 mb for characteristic and moderately low momenta occuring in an expanding hadronic fireball. The equilibration timescale $`(\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\overline{Y}})^{(1)}1/(\sigma _{B\overline{Y}}v_{B\overline{Y}}\rho _B)`$ is to a good approximation proportional to the inverse of the density of baryons and their resonances. Adopting an initial density of 1–2 times normal nuclear matter density $`\rho _0`$ for the initial and thermalized hadronic fireball, the antihyperons do equilibrate on a timescale of 1–3 fm/c well within the expansion timescale of the late hadronic fireball. Hence, fast chemical equilibration of the antihyperon abundancies is guaranteed by detailed balance with respect to the strong annihilation, the final yields then being independent of the actual size of the (large) annihilation cross section, solving the aforementioned paradox.

To be quantitative, (some) novel results by solving rate calculations for a dynamical setup are presented in the following. Before turning to their discussion, we will review briefly on some general ideas of the baryon-antibaryon annihilation process, in order to strengthen the one main assumption concerning the general size of its cross section, and on how to come to general master equations.

## II Antibaryon Annihilation and its Effective Description by a Master Equation

Antinucleon-nucleon annihilation is the strongest of all strong interaction processes. The strong annihilation of a nucleon and an antinucleon can be thought quantum mechanically as a complete absorbtive scattering process given approximately by the black disk formula $`\sigma _{abs}=\pi (R+\lambda )^2`$ or by a more sophisticated boundary condition description . For $`p+\overline{p}`$-annihilation one finds for the ‘black disk’ radius $`R=1.07`$ fm, for which then this decription reproduces very accurately the total inelastic cross section as a function of the beam momentum  and also its steep increase and diverging behaviour at low momenta. Hence, the quantum mechanical interpretation of the annihilation (being exotherm) is a picture of complete absorption. One is now tempted to generalize this simple and intuitive picture for all baryon-antibaryon annihilation processes. The only ‘free’ parameter which then can change is the radius $`R`$. Again, as it basically reflects the radius of the proton in the case of $`p\overline{p}`$-annihilation, one would expect that this canonical value of $`1`$ fm is of general validity for all the annihilation processes. Thus it is plausible to assume that the cross section for annihilation between any baryon and antibaryon should be rather the same for the same relative momenta. Indeed, there does exist old data on the total $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}+p`$ cross section  with reasonably large value, although the $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ momenta was exceeding $`4`$ GeV/c in all data taken. (These data are not conclusive to really extrapolate dwn to lower momenta, though they give a right indication: The authors of  reported an extrapolated formula of $`\sigma _{abs}=47(\pm 10)p_\mathrm{\Lambda }^{1/2}`$ mb GeV-1/2, which is not fully analogue to the black disk formula, but has already a rather correct shape with a sizeable magnitude.)

A more microscopic and quite popular picture, which can decribe quantitatively the complicated final states of individual outgoing mesonic channels, is the concept of two meson doorway states  given by

$$\overline{B}+BM_1+M_2n_1\pi +n_2K.$$
(2)
The main assumption is that the annihilation occurs exclusively via two mesons with nearest threshold dominance. $`M_1`$ and $`M_2`$ can be rather highlying resonances and/or hybrid states which come close with their individual threshold. The final decay of these two mesons into the various channels of multiple pions and kaons is then treated statistically and microcanonically. It turns out that such a description describes rather nicely reproduces the available data and can also be generalized straightforwardly for antihyperon annihilation . There do exist a lot of other phenomenological and microscopic descriptions like quark models or flux tube models, which try to describe quantitatively the complicated process of the annihilation in more dynamical terms (for a review see ).

How can one incorporate such complicated processes into a description of transport dynamics? It is clear that as the very microscopy of the annihilation processes is not fully understood, one has to abandon any detailed local modelling, but has to turn to an effective coarse grained description which is guided by physical principles. Following the concepts of relativistic kinetic theory, the microscopic starting point is a Boltzmann-type equation of the form

$`_tf_{\overline{Y}}+{\displaystyle \frac{𝐩}{E_{\overline{Y}}}}f_{\overline{Y}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{\{n_1\};B}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2E_{\overline{Y}}}}{\displaystyle \frac{d^3p_B}{(2\pi )^32E_B}\underset{\{n_1,n_2\}}{}\frac{d^3p_i}{(2\pi )^32E_i}(2\pi )^4\delta ^4(p_{\overline{Y}}+p_B\underset{\{n_1,n_2\}}{}p_i)}`$ (4)
$`|n_1,n_2|T|\overline{Y}B|^2\left\{()f_{\overline{Y}}f_B{\displaystyle \underset{\{n_1,n_2\}}{}}(1+f_i)+{\displaystyle \underset{\{n_1,n_2\}}{}}f_i(1f_{\overline{Y}})(1f_B)\right\},`$
where

$`\sigma _{\overline{Y}B}^{\{n_1\}}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\mathrm{`}Flux^{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{\{n_1\}}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{\{n_1,n_2\}}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{d^3p_i}{(2\pi )^32E_i}(2\pi )^4\delta ^4\left(p_{\overline{Y}}+p_B\underset{\{n_1,n_2\}}{}p_i\right)|n_1,n_2|T|\overline{Y}B|^2}`$ (5)
corresponds to the total annihilation cross section into the various possible multiple pion states. This form of the collision exactly incorporates the principle of detailed balance. The static fixed point of this equation (together with the usual binary kinetic processes) are thermal and chemical saturated distributions. Without the back reaction channels the equations would only have vanishing distributons as stable fixed points, which is, of course, unacceptable. Hence, the back reactions have to be considered as very basic and important ingredient of the transport description when trying to implement the baryon-antibaryon annihilation processes.

Furthermore it is obvious that the back reactions will guarantee that the (strange) antibaryons become chemical saturated with the pions, kaons and nucleons on a very short timescale. To see this more explicit, and also for the further numerical treatment, one can bring the above Boltzmann equation into a more intuitive form of a master or rate equation. Assuming $`v_{rel}\sigma _{\overline{Y}B}(\sqrt{s})`$ to be roughly constant, which is actually a good approximation for the $`p\overline{p}`$-annihilation, or, invoking a standard description of further effective coarse graining by using thermally averaged cross sections and distributions, and furthermore taking the distributions in the Boltzmann approximantion, the following master equation for the respectively considered antihyperon density is obtained

$$\frac{d}{dt}\rho _{\overline{Y}}=\sigma _{\overline{Y}B}v_{\overline{Y}B}\left\{\rho _{\overline{Y}}\rho _B\underset{\{n_1\}}{}\widehat{M}_{(n_1,n_2)}(T,\mu _B,\mu _s)(\rho _\pi )^{n_1}(\rho _K)^{n_2}\right\},$$
(6)
where the ‘back-reactions’ of several effectively clustering pions and kaons are incorporated in the ‘mass-law’ factor

$$\widehat{M}_{(n_1,n_2)}(T,\mu _B,\mu _s)=\frac{\rho _{\overline{Y}}^{eq.}\rho _B^{eq.}}{(\rho _\pi ^{eq.})^{n_1}(\rho _K^{eq.})^{n_2}}p_{n_1}.$$

Here $`p_{n_1}`$ (which will generally depend on the thermodynamical parameters) states the relative probability of the reaction (1) to decay into a specific number $`n_1`$ of pions and $`\rho _B`$ denotes the total number density of baryonic particles. As is well-known, the mass-law factor $`\widehat{M}`$ depends only on the temperature and the baryon and strange quark chemical potentials. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\overline{Y}}\sigma _{\overline{Y}N}v_{\overline{Y}N}\rho _B`$ gives the effective annihilation rate of the respective antihyperon specie on a baryon.

For a further manipulation one has to make assumptions for the various abundancies occuring in the master equation. Nonequilibrium inelastic hadronic reactions can explain to a good extent the overall strangeness production seen experimentally: The major amount of the produced kaons at SPS-energies can be understood in terms of still early and energetic non-equilibrium interactions . In Fig. 2 the time evolution of netbaryon density at midrapidiy obtained within a dynamical transport simulation  is depicted. All strangeness is being produced still when string-like excitations are governing the dynamics. In the later hadronic stage the number of strange quarks stays more or less constant and can only be redistributed among the various hadrons . Also the pions and nucleons do stay more or less at thermal equilibrium. Refering to the master equation (6), one can then take the pions, baryons and kaons to stay approximately in thermal equilibrium throughout the later hadronic evolution of the collision, the later being modelled to be an isentropic expansion with fixed total entropy content being specified via the entropy per baryon ratio $`S/A`$ (compare with Fig. 3). (6) has the intuitive form

$$\frac{d}{dt}\rho _{\overline{Y}}=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\overline{Y}}\left\{\rho _{\overline{Y}}\rho _{\overline{Y}}^{eq}\right\}.$$
(7)
The production rate per unit volume $`dN_{\overline{Y}}/dtdV`$ is given by the non-vanishing, though small value $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\overline{Y}}\rho _{\overline{Y}}^{eq}`$. Still this rate is enough to populate the antihyperons to their (very small) equilibrium value.

For the calculations solving this master equation (7) one has to employ an ‘effective’ volume $`V(t)`$ in order to extrapolate from Fig. 2 to Fig. 3, i.e. simulating the global characteristic of the expansion and the dilution of the baryon density and thus the annihilation rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\overline{Y}}(t)`$. The ‘effective’ (global or at midrapidity) volume $`V(t)`$ is parametrized as function of time by longitudinal Bjorken expansion and including a transversal expansion either with a linear profile

$$V_{eff,lin}(tt_0)=\pi (ct)\left(R_0+v_{lin}(tt_0)\right)^2$$
(8)
(taking $`v_{lin}`$ as an appropriate parameter to simulate slower or faster expansion) or with an accelerating radial flow

$$V_{eff,acc}(tt_0)=\pi (ct)\left(R_0+v_0(tt_0)+0.5a_0(tt_0)^2\right)^2$$
(9)
with $`R_0=6.5fm`$, $`v_0=0.15c`$ and $`a_0=0.05c^2/fm`$ for the later modeling.

## III Results and Implications

At starting time $`t_0`$ an initial temperature $`T_0`$ is chosen. ($`T_0`$ is set to $`190`$ MeV for the SPS and $`150MeV`$ for the AGS situation, while the initial energy densities are then about 1 GeV/fm3.) From (8) or (9) together with the constraint of conserved entropy the temperature and the chemical potentials do follow as function of time and thus also $`\rho _B(t)`$ as well as $`\rho _{\overline{Y}}^{eq}(t)`$ within the hadronic resonance gas. As a minimal  assumption the initial abundancy of antihyperons is set to zero. Equation (7), taking into account the volume dilution, is solved for each specie. For the thermally averaged cross section we take a simple constant value of $`\sigma _{ann}v:=\sigma _040`$ mb.

In Fig. 4 the number of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$s (normalized to the conserved net baryon number) as a function of time is depicted. The entropy per baryon is chosen as $`S/A=30`$ being characteristic to global (‘$`4\pi `$’) SPS results . Here we have chosen the ansatz (8)for the expansion of the volume being linear in time in the transverse direction. The parameter $`v_{lin}`$ is varied to simulate slow or fast expansion of the late hadronic fireball. The general characteristics is that first the antihyperons are dramatically being populated, and then in the very late expansion some more are still being annihilated, depending on how fast the expansion goes. A rapid expansion gives a higher yield, which can increase the final yield by a factor of 2 to 3. However, the typical expansion behaviour obtained from simulations or extracted from the analysis of transverse momentum slopes of individual hadrons (pions and protons) is that at the late stages the transverse expansion velocity shoul be about $`0.5`$ c. In the following we stay to the second ansatz (9) which extrapolates from an initially slower to a later faster expansion.

In Fig. 5 the number of $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$s as a function of time is depicted, where now the cross section employed is varied by a constant factor, i.e. $`\sigma _{eff}\lambda \sigma _0`$. The results are rather robust against a variation by a factor of 2 in the cross section. Typically (for $`\lambda =1`$) about more than 5 times in number of antihyperons are created during the evolution compared to the final number freezing out, thus reflecting the fast back (‘annihilation’) and forth (‘creation’) processes at work dictated by detailed balance.

In Fig. 6 the number of antihyperons of each specie are now shown as a function of the decreasing temperature $`T(t)`$ of the hadronic system. For a direct comparison the instantaneous equilibrium abundancy $`N_{\overline{Y}}^{eq.}(T(t),\mu _B(t),\mu _s(t))/N_B`$ is also given. As noted above, after a fast initial population, the individual yields of the antihyperons do overshoot their respective equilibrium number and then do finally saturate at some slightly smaller value. Moreover, one notices that the yields effectively do saturate at a number which can be compared to an equivalent equilibrium number at a temperature parameter around $`T_{eff}150160`$ MeV, being strikingly close to the ones obtained within the various thermal analyses .

In Fig. 7 the number of anti-$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$s as a function of time is given for various entropy per baryon ratios. One notices that the final value in the yield significantly depends on the entropy content, or, in other words, on the baryochemical potential. We note that the results at midrapidity from WA97 can best be reproduced by employing an entropy to baryon ratio $`S/A=40`$. Indeed, at midrapidity one qualitatively expects a higher entropy content due to the larger pion to baryon ratio as compared to full ‘$`4\pi `$’ data over all rapidities. At this point it will also be very interesting to compare our semi-quantitative calculations with the new results from NA49 on the $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$-yield at lower SPS energies of 80 AGeV and 40 AGeV with lower entropy contents, respectively. As the presented results are very sensitive on the entropy content, one first needs a clean analysis to obtain a rather accurate $`S/A`$ number from the measured pion and proton abundancies.

There is also a clear hint at AGS energies of enhanced anti-$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ production . For most central collisions more anti-$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$s are found compared to anti-protons, which is quite puzzling as within a thermal model analysis this ratio is found not to be larger than 1. This enhanced ratio of anti-$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$s compared to anti-protons at AGS energies one can understand in a way that one assumes that their annihilation cross section on baryons is just slightly smaller than for the antiprotons. In Fig. 8 a similar study like that of Fig. 5 is shown for a characteristic situation at AGS. For smaller, yet not too small effective cross sections the final yield can here be enlarged by a factor of 2 compared to the case with a ‘full’ crossection, as the final reabsorption is not as effective. But, of course, this idea is speculation at present. Also, we remark that the $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$s effectively do saturate at an equivalent equilibrium number at a temperature parameter around $`T_{eff}120130`$ MeV. Unfortunately, there are no data for $`\overline{\mathrm{\Xi }}`$ at AGS. Again the new NA49 data at lower energies are worthwhile to pursue. A detailed measurement of all antihyperons represents also an excellent opportunity for future heavy ion facilities at an energy upgraded GSI.

To summarize, multi-mesonic production of antihyperons is a consequence of detailed balance and, as the annihilation rate is large, it is by far the most dominant source in a hadronic gas. This is a remarkable observation, as it clearly demonstrates the importance of hadronic multi-particle channels, occuring frequently enough in a (moderately) dense hadronic environment in order to populate and chemically saturate the rare antibaryons. In order to be more competitive for a direct comparison with various experimental findings, new strategies have to be developed to describe for such multi-particle interactions within present day transport codes. A significant first step forward was very recently made; first results concerning the production of anti-protons at AGS and SPS energies are quite impressive . Another strategy could be to exploit microscopically the concept of two meson doorway states (2) and their sequential decay by standard binary scattering processes.