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# Results on Correlations and Fluctuations from NA49

## 1 Fluctuations

### 1.1 Charge fluctuations

It has been suggested that charge fluctuations might be sensitive to the presence of a quark qluon plasma phase . A suitable observable, however, must take into account the effect of impact parameter fluctuations, acceptance effects, the total net charge of the reaction system, and charge conservation. For this purpose a generalized $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{x}`$ measure  can be employed:

$`\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{x}=\sqrt{Z^2/N}\sqrt{\overline{z^2}}`$ $`\text{with:}Z={\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}}z_i`$ $`\text{and}z_i=x_i\overline{x}`$ (1)
Here $`N`$ is the event multiplicity, while $`x`$ is the quantity to be studied. The overline denotes the average over a single particle inclusive distribution, whereas $`\mathrm{}`$ means the average over all events. In the case of charge fluctuations, $`x`$ is chosen as the electric charge $`q`$ of a particle . $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{q}`$ can vary between two extreme cases: For independent particle emission $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{q}`$ is equal to 0, while local charge conservation would imply $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{q}=1`$. Figure 2 shows the measured $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{q}`$ values in central Pb+Pb reactions11140 and 80 $`A`$GeV: 7% most central, 158 $`A`$GeV: 10% most central at 40, 80, and 158 $`A`$GeV beam energy. $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{q}`$ depends strongly on the ratio of accepted charged particles to the total number of charged particles $`N_{\text{ch}}(\mathrm{\Delta }y)/N_{\text{ch}}_{\text{tot}}`$, which is varied by changing the accepted rapidity window $`\mathrm{\Delta }y`$. However, it is approximately independent of the beam energy. The solid line in Fig. 2 labelled $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{q}^{\text{cc}}`$ represents the expectation for a system with total net charge zero, in which the only correlations are due to global charge conservation.

$$\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{q}^{\text{cc}}=\sqrt{1N_{\text{ch}}/N_{\text{ch}}_{\text{tot}}}1$$
(2)
In order to enlarge any deviations from this trivial effect, the difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{q}=\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{q}\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{q}^{\text{cc}}`$ is displayed in Fig. 2. It is found that $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{q}`$ is close to zero.

To study the sensitivity of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{q}`$ measure a model, describing a quark gluon plasma, was investigated . This model assumes an ideal gas of massless quarks and gluons in equilibrium with zero baryonic chemical potential ($`\mu _\text{B}=0`$). The requirement of entropy and local charge conservation during hadronization allows to extract predictions for $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{q}`$ in different scenarios. Fig. 2 includes two extreme cases: The one labelled “Frozen QGP” assumes hadronization only into pions and no diffusion of the net charge in rapidity space, so that the initial QGP-like fluctuations are conserved. In fact, this results in $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{q}`$ values clearly below zero. In the other scenario (“Resonances”) hadronization is happening entirely into $`\rho `$-mesons. It turns out that in this case the initial fluctuations are completely obscured by the subsequent decay of the resonances, which cause a smearing of the original QGP fluctuations in rapidity space.

### 1.2 $`p_\text{t}`$ fluctuations

For the study of event-by-event $`p_\text{t}`$ fluctuations again the $`\mathrm{\Phi }_\text{x}`$ observable, defined in Eq. 1, is used. This time, however, $`x`$ is replaced by the $`p_\text{t}`$ of a given particle. Independent particle emission will again result in $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\text{pt}}=0`$. The $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\text{pt}}`$ values, shown in Fig. 3, are all corrected for the effects of the two track resolution of the detector. Generally, it is found that $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\text{pt}}`$ is small for all investigated reaction systems: $`|\mathrm{\Phi }_{\text{pt}}|<10\text{MeV}/c`$. A weak centrality dependence is observable, with a maximum in $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\text{pt}}`$ for very peripheral Pb+Pb collisions. Also, $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\text{pt}}`$ is clearly charge dependent: $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\text{pt}}`$ is always larger for negatively charged particles than for positively charged. This may be a reflection of the fact that the positively charged particles contain a larger fraction of baryons, which are subject to Fermi-Dirac statistics, while the negatively charged particles are dominated by bosons . However, $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\text{pt}}`$ for all charged particles is still higher than for the negatively charged ones, indicating that there are additional correlations present.

Since $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\text{pt}}`$ is a global observable, a small value of $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\text{pt}}`$ does not neccessarily imply the absence of any strong correlation. It is also possible that contributions of two effects just cancel out each other. Looking at two particle correlations provides a more differential way of studying $`p_\text{t}`$ fluctuations . In the procedure employed here, first the $`p_\text{t}`$ of a given particle is transformed into a cumulative variable $`x`$ :

$`x(p_\text{t})={\displaystyle \frac{_0^{p_\text{t}}\frac{dn}{dp_\text{t}^{}}𝑑p_\text{t}^{}}{_0^{\mathrm{}}\frac{dn}{dp_\text{t}^{}}𝑑p_\text{t}^{}}}`$ $`\text{, where}dn/dp_\text{t}^{}\text{is the inclusive}p_\text{t}\text{distribution.}`$ (3)
Then two particle correlation plots are generated by plotting $`x_\text{1}`$ versus $`x_\text{2}`$ for all particle pairs inside one event. Figure 4 shows the result for different reactions systems at 158 $`A`$GeV. While there is a clear structure visible in p+p reactions, reflecting the long range correlations present in this case, these structures get more and more diluted when going to larger systems. On one side this is naturally due to the effect of the increased combinatorics between the growing number of particle pairs, an effect that is removed by the $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\text{pt}}`$ measure. On the other side differences in the reaction dynamics between elementary p+p and nucleus-nucleus collisions will show up in the two particle correlations. The relation between $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\text{pt}}`$ and the two particle correlations is still under study.

To see how dynamical fluctuations affect the two particle correlations, a model study is performed. In this model the only source of fluctuations are the event-by-event fluctuations of the slope parameter $`T`$ of the transverse momentum spectra. As can be seen on the left panel of Fig. 5, $`T`$ fluctuations of the order of 10% already result in a very prominent structure in the two particle correlation. A structure on this level is clearly absent in the central Pb+Pb data (right panel of Fig. 5). Here only short range correlations (e.g. Bose Einstein correlations) are visible as an enhancement close to the diagonal. A comparison of the measured $`\mathrm{\Phi }_{\text{pt}}`$ in the 5% most central Pb+Pb reactions at 158 $`A`$GeV to a prediction for small $`T`$ fluctuations  actually suggests that $`\sigma (T)/T`$ is smaller than 1%.

## 2 Correlations

### 2.1 Centrality dependence of h-h- Bose Einstein correlations

The radius parameters shown in Fig. 6 are derived from the fit of the Bertsch-Pratt parametrization in the LCMS222Longitudinally Co-Moving System.

$$C_{\text{BP}}=1+\lambda \mathrm{exp}(R_{\text{side}}^2q_{\text{side}}^2R_{\text{out}}^2q_{\text{out}}^2R_{\text{long}}^2q_{\text{long}}^22R_{\text{out long}}^2q_{\text{out}}q_{\text{long}})$$
(4)
to the h-h- correlation function (c.f.). The Coulomb correction is included in the fit procedure, and is applied only to the fraction of real pairs in the c.f. For both beam energies the pairs are in the c.m. rapidity region $`0.0<y^{}<0.5`$ with $`k_\text{t}=180\text{MeV}/c`$. The radius parameters in side and out direction show a significant increase with the system size. $`R_{\text{long}}`$, however, shows no clear evidence for a variation with $`N_{\text{part}}`$, except perhaps for very central reactions. The results at 40 and 158 $`A`$GeV are very similar.

### 2.2 Kaon Bose Einstein correlations in central Pb+Pb reactions

|  | K+ (NA49) | K- (NA49) | K+ (NA44)  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| $`m_\text{t}`$ (GeV) | 0.62 | 0.61 | 0.51 |
| $`R_{\text{side}}`$ (fm) | $`3.58\pm 0.40\pm 0.28`$ | $`4.55\pm 0.31\pm 0.39`$ | $`4.04\pm 0.28\pm 0.32`$ |
| $`R_{\text{out}}`$ (fm) | $`5.07\pm 0.27\pm 0.35`$ | $`4.97\pm 0.39\pm 0.33`$ | $`4.12\pm 0.26\pm 0.31`$ |
| $`R_{\text{long}}`$ (fm) | $`4.46\pm 0.25\pm 0.39`$ | $`4.78\pm 0.33\pm 0.40`$ | $`4.36\pm 0.33\pm 0.32`$ |

Figure 7 shows the c.f. of charged kaons together with the applied fit of the Bertsch Pratt parametrization. The data points are corrected for the Coulomb interaction and the momentum resolution.

The table summarizes the values of the radius parameters together with statistical and systematical errors. Also included are published results from the NA44 collaboration  on K+ correlations that agree quite well with our measurement.

### 2.3 Other two particle correlations

Apart from the effect of quantum statistics, the c.f. reflects also the influence of the final state interaction. This can be exploited to gain useful information from correlations between non identical particles. Results on $`\pi `$p correlations allow to study relative space time asymmetries , and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$p correlation give access to the source size . Additionally, one can use the c.f. as a tool to learn about the two particle interaction in cases where it is unknown, like in the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ case . The above correlations are studied in the variable:

$`Q=q_{\text{inv}}=2k^{}`$ with $`k^{}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(\stackrel{}{p}_\text{1}\stackrel{}{p}_\text{2})\text{(in pair c.m.).}`$ (5)
#### 2.3.1 $`\pi `$p correlations

Since the relative wave function of pairs of non identical particles contains odd terms in $`\stackrel{}{k}^{}\stackrel{}{r}^{}`$, where $`\stackrel{}{r}^{}`$ are the emission points in the pair c.m., relative space time asymmetries should become visible in the ratio $`R_\text{+}/R_\text{-}`$. Here, $`R_\text{+}`$ is the c.f. containing all pairs with $`\stackrel{}{k}_{\text{out}}^{}\stackrel{}{r}^{}>0`$, while $`R_\text{-}`$ consists of pairs with $`\stackrel{}{k}_{\text{out}}^{}\stackrel{}{r}^{}<0`$, where the out-direction is defined in the LCMS. As can be seen from Fig. 8 a clear asymmetry is observed in the data, which goes into opposite directions for $`\pi ^+`$p and $`\pi ^{}`$p pairs. This mirror symmetry is caused by the fact that the aymmetry in $`R_\text{+}/R_\text{-}`$ is effected mainly by the Coulomb interaction, which introduces a dependence on the charge sign. Additionally, Fig. 8 includes the result from a RQMD simulation. Due to its long range character the Coulomb interaction is very sensitive to the tails in the spatial distribution of the source. The simulated emission points have been scaled by a factor of 0.8 in accordance with the analysis of $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`\pi ^+/\pi ^{}`$p correlation functions.

#### 2.3.2 $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$p correlations

Figure 10 shows the measured c.f., containing 60k pairs with $`Q<0.3\text{GeV}/c`$, together with theoretical c.f. fitted to the data. The calculation is based on an effective range approximation, using a s-wave scattering length of $`f_\text{0}=`$ -2.3 fm (singlet) / -1.8 fm (triplet) . The Gaussian source is assumed to be spherically symmetric and static, and is defined by the parameter $`R_\text{G}`$. Figure 10 includes two different fits. In the first $`R_\text{G}`$ and the $`\lambda `$ parameter can vary freely. In the second $`\lambda `$ is fixed to a value that is estimated from the background of particle misidentification and the contribution from feed down. Both fits suggest a Gaussian source size of $`R_\text{G}`$ = 3 - 4 fm, which is compatible with the NA49 result on pp correlations ($`R_\text{G}=4.0\pm 0.15_{0.18}^{+0.06}\text{fm}`$) .

#### 2.3.3 $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ correlations

The significance of the measured $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ c.f., shown in Fig. 10, is unfortunately limited by low statistics (3500 pairs with $`Q<0.3\text{GeV}/c`$) and does not show any clear structure. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to do a comparison to theoretical expectations, in an attempt to limit the range of possible parameter values. Therefore, a fit is performed where $`R_\text{G}`$ and $`\lambda `$ are now fixed and the scattering length $`f_\text{0}`$, describing the strengh of the interaction, is varied. The result indicates that the c.f. would favour a relatively small $`f_\text{0}`$, quite independent from the assumed source size. As a comparison a calculation with $`f_\text{0}`$ = -20 fm is also shown, which would correspond to the scattering length in the nucleon-nucleon case, and which looks rathers unlikely, although is is not totally ruled out.

### 2.4 Deuteron coalescence

From the measurement of proton and deuteron spectra (all at mid-rapidity for central reactions33340 and 80 $`A`$GeV: 7% most central, 158 $`A`$GeV: 5% most central), a deuteron coalescence factor $`B_\text{2}`$ can be derived:

$$E_\text{d}\frac{d^3N_\text{d}}{dp_\text{d}^3}=B_\text{2}\left(E_\text{p}\frac{d^3N_\text{p}}{dp_\text{p}^3}\right)^2,p_\text{d}=2p_\text{p}$$
(6)
Figure 12 displays the extracted $`B_\text{2}`$ for different beam energies, also including data from the AGS and other CERN SPS experiments. $`B_\text{2}`$ decreases significantly with increasing beam energy. Even in the SPS energy range, taken alone, there is a change by a factor of 2. $`B_\text{2}`$ is also strongly dependent on the system size, as is illustrated in Fig. 12. Going from very peripheral to central reactions, it decreases by a factor of almost 10. This is in contrast to the centrality dependence of the radii from Bose Einstein correlations (see Fig. 6), which can be related to $`B_\text{2}`$ via :

$`B_\text{2}={\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}(\sqrt{\pi }\mathrm{}c)^3{\displaystyle \frac{m_\text{d}}{m_\text{p}^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{R_\text{G}^3}}`$ with $`R_\text{G}=\sqrt[3]{R_{\text{side}}^2R_{\text{long}}}`$ (7)
As is demonstrated in Fig. 12 the $`B_\text{2}`$ derived from the HBT volume changes much less with the centrality than the measured deuteron coalescence parameter.

Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Director, Office of Energy Research, Division of Nuclear Physics of the Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics of the US Department of Energy (DE-ACO3-76SFOOO98 and DE-FG02-91ER40609), the US National Science Foundation, the Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung, Germany, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research (2 P03B 130 23 and 2 P03B 02418), the Hungarian Scientific Research Foundation (T14920 and T32293), Hungarian National Science Foundation, OTKA, (F034707), the EC Marie Curie Foundation, and the Polish-German Foundation.


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# X-ray versus Optical Observations of Active Galactic Nuclei: Evidence for Large Grains?

## 1 Introduction

The unified model of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) posits that Seyfert 1 (Sy 1) and Seyfert 2 (Sy 2) galaxies are intrinsically the same, but that obscuring matter along our line of sight to the nucleus extincts the broad lines and nuclear continuum in Sy 2s (see Antonucci 1993 for a review). The obscuring matter is usually referred to as the “torus”, although its geometry has not yet been established.

The torus is located at a distance $`r1\mathrm{pc}`$ from the center, on the basis of the following observational evidence. First, the infrared spectral energy distribution of AGNs is dominated by thermal emission from grains with a range of temperatures extending up to the sublimation temperature, $`1500`$$`2000\mathrm{K}`$. This temperature is reached at a distance $`1\mathrm{pc}`$ from the center. Variations in the IR continuum follow variations in the UV/optical continuum with a delay of $``$ hundreds of days, confirming the presence of dust with $`r1\mathrm{pc}`$. See §4.3 of Peterson (1997) for further details and references. Second, VLBI observations of “megamasers” in AGNs demonstrate that molecules are located at $`r1\mathrm{pc}`$ (see Maloney 2002 for a review).111The megamaser observations also suggest a warped disk geometry for the torus; see Maloney (2002). Third, Risaliti, Maiolino, & Salvati (1999) have shown that the column density $`N_\mathrm{H}10^{24}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ for at least 50% of Sy 2 galaxies, and have pointed out that if the obscuring matter were located at $`r10`$$`100\mathrm{pc}`$, then its mass would exceed the dynamical mass for that region.

In addition to Sy 1s and Sy 2s, there are also intermediate-type galaxies, with weaker broad lines than observed in Sy 1s. For example, Sy 1.8 galaxies have very weak broad H$`\alpha `$ and H$`\beta `$ lines and Sy 1.9s have no detectable broad H$`\beta `$. Risaliti et al. (1999) found that the column density (determined from the photoelectric cutoff in the X-ray spectrum) along the line of sight to the nucleus is typically much higher in Sy 2s than in 1.8s and 1.9s (see Figure 1). The lower column densities in intermediate-type Seyferts could possibly result from our line of sight traversing relatively low-density outer regions of the torus. Alternatively, the X-ray-absorbing material in Sy 1.8s and 1.9s might be unrelated to the torus. Maiolino & Rieke (1995) found that Sy 1.8s and 1.9s are mostly found in edge-on host galaxies, implying that the optical extinction is due to dust located beyond the torus. If the optical extinction is unrelated to the torus, then it seems plausible that the same could be true for the X-ray absorption as well.

Maiolino et al. (2001a; hereafter M01a) presented a sample of AGNs for which at least some broad lines are observed, but with significant reddening. For each of the objects in the M01a sample, both the reddening $`E(\mathrm{B V})`$ and the total H column density $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ along the line of sight to the nucleus have been estimated.222The reddening is the extinction at $`B`$ minus the extinction at $`V`$; i.e., $`E(\mathrm{B V})=A_BA_V`$. The column density is inferred from observations of the absorption of X-rays from the central source. M01a found that, with the exception of a few low-luminosity AGNs, $`E(\mathrm{B V})/N_\mathrm{H}`$ is generally lower than it is in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) of our Galaxy, by factors of a few up to $`100`$. M01a assumed that the X-ray-absorbing material and optical-absorbing material are identical, which would imply that either (1) the dust-to-gas ratio in this material is lower than in the Galaxy or (2) the grains in this material are so large that, unlike Galactic grains, they do not extinct and redden efficiently in the optical. In a companion paper, Maiolino, Marconi, & Oliva (2001b; hereafter M01b) argued in favor of the latter interpretation. Their argument assumes that the medium probed by M01a is in fact the torus that is responsible for the optical obscuration of the broad line region (BLR) and nuclear continuum in Sy 2s.

Here, we propose an alternative interpretation, namely, that the lines of sight to the nuclei in the M01a sample pass not through the torus, but through lightly or moderately ionized material located off the torus and/or accretion disk, perhaps in a wind. This material, which is responsible for the X-ray absorption, could be either dust-free or dominated by large enough grains that very little extinction and reddening result. The observed reddening of the BLR occurs in a dusty medium that is physically distinct from the X-ray-absorbing material. In §2 we describe the M01a sample and present evidence that (1) the torus is not being probed and (2) the X-ray- and optical-absorbing gas are distinct. In §3 we review the evidence that led M01b to conclude that the grain size distribution of the obscuring material must be dominated by very large grains, and show that this conclusion does not hold in our alternative scenario. In §4, we discuss a method for determining the extinction per column in Seyfert tori. Currently available observations yield limits that are consistent with the torus dust being similar to Galactic dust, but observations at higher resolution are needed in order to establish more stringent limits. We briefly summarize in §5.

## 2 The M01a Sample

M01a collected a sample of intermediate AGNs for which both the reddening of the BLR and $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ could be estimated from observations. They did not attempt to construct an unbiased sample; an object was included so long as $`E(\mathrm{B V})`$ and $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ could both be determined and there was no evidence for either “warm” absorption (O VII or O VIII absorption edges) or partial covering of the nucleus. The reddening was found by comparing the ratio of the fluxes in two different broad H recombination lines with the expected intrinsic value. The column density was determined from the photoelectric cutoff in the X-ray spectrum. We reproduce their sample in Table 1; see their Table 1 for further details. Note that many of the objects in the M01a sample are Seyfert 1.8 or 1.9 galaxies.

M01b assumed that the low $`E(\mathrm{B V})/N_\mathrm{H}`$ found for most of the objects in the sample is a property of the torus, but this is not necessarily true. The bottom panel in Figure 1 shows the column density distribution for the M01a sample. The distribution mirrors the Risaliti et al. (1999) distribution for Sy 1.8s and 1.9s, which may not obscured by the torus, as discussed in §1. Of course, column densities characteristic of intermediate-type Seyferts are to be expected, since some broad lines are observed in the M01a sample objects.

In Figure 2 we plot $`E(\mathrm{B V})`$ versus $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ for the M01a galaxies. The three points on the left side of the figure are the three low-luminosity AGNs for which $`E(\mathrm{B V})/N_\mathrm{H}`$ was found to exceed the Galactic value of $`1.7\times 10^{22}\mathrm{mag}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ (Bohlin, Savage, & Drake 1978). The box is AX J0341-44, for which only an upper limit on $`E(\mathrm{B V})`$ has been established.

If the gas that absorbs the X-rays were the same as the gas that absorbs the optical radiation, then we would expect $`E(\mathrm{B V})`$ to increase with $`N_\mathrm{H}`$. However, Figure 2 is just a scatter plot, suggesting that the X-ray-absorbing gas and the optical-absorbing gas are, in fact, unrelated. The only hint of a correlation between $`E(\mathrm{B V})`$ and $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ is the presence of three points in the upper right part of the figure. However, one of these is AX J0341-44 (with just an upper limit on the reddening) and the other two are NGC 1365 and NGC 5506. Both of these latter galaxies are edge-on spirals, and a dust lane is observed to directly cover the nucleus in NGC 1365 (see further discussion below).

Closer examination of some of the well-studied galaxies in the M01a sample yields valuable insight:

Mrk 231. M01a took their X-ray data on Mrk 231 from Turner (1999), who observed it with ROSAT and ASCA. Maloney & Reynolds (2000) have observed it more recently with ASCA, and concluded that the observed X-rays are reflected and that the direct line of sight to the X-ray source is Compton thick ($`N_\mathrm{H}10^{24}\mathrm{cm}^2`$).333Note that O VII and O VIII edges would not be observed in this case, even if these ions were present, since the X-rays are observed in reflection. Gallagher et al. (2002) observed with Chandra and also concluded that the direct line of sight is Compton thick. R. Maiolino (2002, private communication) has brought our attention to recent (not yet published) XMM-Newton data which suggest that Mrk 231 is Compton thin. We adopt the M01a value for $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ in Figure 2, but note that the point representing Mrk 231 should perhaps be located further to the right.

Gallagher et al. (2002) also showed that Mrk 231 is a broad absorption line quasar (BALQSO), since an HST spectrum shows blueshifted C IV absorption. Gallagher et al. interpreted their Chandra observations in the context of the radiatively-driven disk wind model for BALQSOs (Murray et al. 1995). They favor a scenario in which the direct X-rays are absorbed in the highly-ionized “hitchhiking gas”; the observed X-rays are scattered off of the hitchhiking gas and absorbed in the BAL wind (see their Figure 12). If this picture is correct, then the X-ray-absorbing gas is dust-free, since the BAL wind originates well within the dust sublimation radius. We can see this directly from the observed width $`\mathrm{\Delta }v`$ of the C IV absorption. The sublimation radius $`r_{\mathrm{sub}}0.20L_{46}^{1/2}\mathrm{pc}`$, where $`L_{46}`$ is the bolometric luminosity in units of $`10^{46}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (Laor & Draine 1993). If the absorption occurs at $`r_{\mathrm{sub}}`$, then we expect the width to be $`\mathrm{\Delta }v_{\mathrm{sub}}(2GM_{\mathrm{BH}}/r_{\mathrm{sub}})^{1/2}`$, where $`M_{\mathrm{BH}}`$ is the mass of the black hole. Thus,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }v_{\mathrm{sub}}2.1\times 10^3M_8^{1/2}L_{46}^{1/4}\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1,$$
(1)
where $`M_8`$ is $`M_{\mathrm{BH}}`$ in units of $`10^8`$ solar masses. The infrared luminosity of Mrk 231 is $`1.5\times 10^{46}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (Rieke & Low 1972, 1975) and, from the Gallagher et al. spectrum, $`\mathrm{\Delta }v9\times 10^3\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. Thus, $`\mathrm{\Delta }v>\mathrm{\Delta }v_{\mathrm{sub}}`$, and the BAL wind is within the sublimation radius.

Mrk 231 is also an ultraluminous infrared starburst galaxy and contains $`5`$ times as much molecular gas as the Galaxy (Sanders et al. 1987). Thus, a reddening $`E(\mathrm{B V})0.34`$ due to dust in the host galaxy would not be unexpected.

NGC 1365. Risaliti, Maiolino, & Bassani (2000) observed NGC 1365 with BeppoSAX. Combining their observation with a previous ASCA observation (Iyomoto et al. 1997), Risaliti et al. concluded that there must be a directly observed component and a reflected component. They found that $`N_\mathrm{H}4\times 10^{23}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ for the directly transmitted X-rays and that a Compton-thick component is required near the central source to account for the high reflection efficiency. NGC 1365 is an edge-on spiral galaxy; Edmunds & Pagel (1982) suggested that most of the BLR extinction occurs in a dust lane that has been observed to just barely extend over the nucleus.

IRAS 13197-1627 (= MCG-03-34-064). M01a took broad H$`\alpha `$ and H$`\beta `$ fluxes from Agüero et al. (1994). However, other authors have reported only narrow lines. Young et al. (1996) concluded that the narrow lines have broad wings and did not find a need for separate broad lines. Thus, this object (with $`E(\mathrm{B V})/N_\mathrm{H}0.0092`$ relative to Galactic, the lowest of the M01a AGNs) should be removed from the M01a sample.

NGC 5506. M01a obtained their estimate for the reddening from the ratio of near-infrared lines, taking Pa$`\beta `$ from Rix et al. (1990). However, Goodrich, Veilleux, & Hill (1994) argue that there is actually no broad component of the Pa$`\beta `$ line, just broad wings on the narrow component. Young et al. (1996) found that the narrow lines are broader in polarized light, supporting the view of Goodrich et al. From the absence of broad Pa$`\beta `$, Goodrich et al. conclude that $`E(\mathrm{B V})3.5`$, a factor of 2.2 greater than the reddening adopted by M01a. Given that M01a already found $`E(\mathrm{B V})/N_\mathrm{H}=0.27`$ Galactic, the discrepancy between NGC 5506 and the Galaxy is small, if there is any discrepancy at all. Young et al. argue that NGC 5506 is actually a Sy 1 that is heavily reddened by dust in the host galaxy, which is of type S0/a and is seen edge-on (see p. 1242 of their paper for the details of their evidence).

NGC 2992. M01a take the broad line reddening from Gilli et al. (2000). Gilli et al. find the same reddening for the narrow line region (NLR) as for the BLR, and suggest that both are reddened by the same medium, perhaps the dust lane that is observed to run across the nucleus.

MCG-5-23-16. M01a adopt $`E(\mathrm{B V})=0.6`$ from the broad Pa$`\alpha `$ and Br$`\gamma `$ fluxes measured by Veilleux, Goodrich, & Hill (1997). Veilleux et al. note that it is not clear whether or not broad components of the Balmer lines have been detected. Taking a generous upper limit on the broad H$`\alpha `$ flux, they find upper limits on the BLR $`E(\mathrm{B V})`$ of 2.3 (1.9) from Pa$`\beta `$/H$`\alpha `$ (Br$`\gamma `$/H$`\alpha `$). They do not understand the discrepancy with the result derived using only the infrared lines. For the NLR, Durret & Bergeron (1988) found $`E(\mathrm{B V})=0.85`$ from H$`\alpha `$/H$`\beta `$ and Goodrich et al. (1994) found $`E(\mathrm{B V})=0.91`$ (0.77) from H$`\alpha `$/H$`\beta `$ (Pa$`\beta `$/H$`\alpha `$). Ferruit, Wilson, & Mulchaey (2000) imaged MCG-5-23-16 with HST and found a rich dust structure in the vicinity of the nucleus, on the scale of hundreds of pc. They also resolve the NLR, which extends to $`180\mathrm{pc}`$ from the nucleus in two opposite directions. Based on color variations across their images, they tentatively find $`E(\mathrm{B V})0.8`$ for the nucleus, consistent with the above determinations for the NLR. If the BLR $`E(\mathrm{B V})=0.6`$, then it appears that the reddening is due to dust located in the host galaxy, well beyond the torus. If the BLR $`E(\mathrm{B V})2`$, then this may still be the case, but it could also be that some of the reddening arises in material much closer to the nucleus.

IRAS 05189-2524. M01a take the reddening from Severgnini et al. (2001), who found $`E(\mathrm{B V})=0.7`$ for the BLR from Pa$`\alpha `$/Pa$`\beta `$. Severgnini et al. also report the fluxes in the narrow lines, and their ratio yields a NLR reddening that is a factor of 2.8 times larger than the BLR reddening. If this is correct, then it certainly suggests that dust in the host galaxy is responsible. However, Veilleux, Sanders, & Kim (1999), who also measured broad Pa$`\alpha `$ and Pa$`\beta `$, caution against using Pa$`\beta `$ to determine the reddening, because its profile is affected by strong absorption features arising in Earth’s atmosphere. Veilleux et al. (1999) find $`E(\mathrm{B V})2.8`$ for the BLR from Pa$`\alpha `$ and the upper limit on H$`\alpha `$ from Veilleux et al. (1997). Veilleux et al. (1999) find $`E(\mathrm{B V})=2.6`$ (2.0) for the NLR from Pa$`\beta `$/H$`\alpha `$ (H$`\alpha `$/H$`\beta `$).

NGC 526a. Winkler (1992) found that the NLR is unreddened and did not detect broad lines. Winkler mentions that an unpublished spectrum taken by Martin Ward in 1978 did detect broad H$`\alpha `$ and H$`\beta `$, and that the line ratio indicated substantial reddening. Thus, this object might be a case in which the BLR-obscuring dust is located in the vicinity of the torus. M01a cite Marconi et al. (in preparation) for the reddening; this paper apparently has not yet been published.

To summarize this section, a plot of $`E(\mathrm{B V})`$ versus $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ for the M01a sample suggests that the X-ray absorption and optical extinction arise in different material. Observations of several of the M01a galaxies reveal that the optical extinction arises at $`r100\mathrm{pc}`$, beyond the location of the torus. This is consistent with the following two results: (1) most Sy 1.8s and 1.9s are located in edge-on galaxies (Maiolino & Rieke 1995) and (2) the nuclear reddening in Sy 1s increases with the inclination angle of the host galaxy (Crenshaw & Kraemer 2001 and references therein). In a couple of cases, there are also indications that the X-ray-absorbing gas is located close to the center, at $`r1\mathrm{pc}`$. Finally, the low inferred column densities suggest that the line of sight does not pass through the torus, or at most only through a relatively low density outer layer of the torus. Taken together, these pieces of evidence strongly contradict the M01a and M01b interpretation that $`E(\mathrm{B V})/N_\mathrm{H}`$ is substantially lower than Galactic for AGN tori. Rather, the evidence suggests that the M01a AGNs suffer optical extinction farther out in the host galaxy (on scales of $`0.1`$$`1\mathrm{kpc}`$) and X-ray absorption in close to the nucleus, in material that lacks typical Galactic grains, and that the obscuring torus is not being probed in these objects.

## 3 Large Grains?

M01b considered various possible explanations for the low $`E(\mathrm{B V})/N_\mathrm{H}`$ found in the M01a sample and dismissed most of them. For example, they considered the possibility that the broad lines are not viewed directly through the same material that absorbs the X-rays, but rather are seen in reflection from a medium located at some distance from the center, with a lower column of material between us and the scattering medium. However, the observed polarization of the broad lines is usually much lower than would be expected in this case. Furthermore, the generally low scattering efficiency would imply unexpectedly large intrinsic broad line intensities, given the observed fluxes.

M01b also considered the possibility that the line of sight to the central X-ray source encounters different material than the line of sight to the BLR. Although this could certainly occur, it is unlikely to be the case for all of the galaxies discussed by M01a, since the distance from the center to the BLR is much less than the distance to the torus.

Perhaps the most obvious explanation is that the dust-to-gas ratio in the obscuring material is lower than it is in the Galaxy. M01b argue that this cannot be the case for all of the M01a galaxies as follows. As mentioned above, they assume that the obscuring medium is the torus, which presumably consists largely of neutral gas. Thus, most of the H-ionizing ultraviolet photons will be absorbed, either by dust or by gas. In the latter case, emission in H recombination lines results. If the torus has a covering factor of $`80\%`$ (see below for further discussion of this), then in the dust-depleted case a large fraction of the ultraviolet continuum will be reprocessed into H recombination lines, with widths comparable to the narrow line widths. On the other hand, the narrow line intensities imply a NLR covering factor of $`8\%`$. Thus, the dust depletion scenario would lead to $`10`$ times too much narrow line emission.

M01b argued that this problem can be avoided if the dust is dominated by large grains. The grains are large enough that the extinction efficiency is low in the optical, yielding the low $`E(\mathrm{B V})/N_\mathrm{H}`$, yet are still able to absorb enough of the UV continuum to suppress the H recombination lines.

As discussed in §2, the torus most likely does not lie along our line of sight to the nucleus for the M01a galaxies. We agree with M01b that ionizing photons incident on the torus are absorbed by grains, but in our scenario these grains need not be different from Galactic grains. We can estimate the covering factor of the X-ray-absorbing material probed by the M01a sample from the fraction of Seyferts that are of intermediate type. Maiolino & Rieke (1995) found that the ratio Sy 2 : Sy (1.8+1.9) : Sy (1+1.2+1.5) $``$ 3:1:1 and concluded that the intermediate Seyferts usually are obscured not by the torus proper, but by material in the host galaxy located at a greater distance from the nucleus. This led M01b to take the covering factor of neutral material to be 80%. We conclude that the covering factor of the X-ray-absorbing material probed by the M01a sample is as low as 20% (if it does not overlap the torus) and as high as 80% (if it also covers the 60% of the sky covered by the torus). In any case, the effective covering factor is 20%, since any line emission originating from behind the torus would not be visible. Thus, if this material were neutral and dust-free, then the excess H recombination line intensity is reduced from a factor of $`10`$ to a factor of $`2.5`$.

However, the H in this material is probably ionized. For dust-free gas, the largest possible ionized column density can be found by balancing ionization and recombination:

$$N_\mathrm{H}6\times 10^{23}\mathrm{cm}^2\left(\frac{\dot{N}}{10^{54}\mathrm{s}^1}\frac{10^{13}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1}{\alpha _r}\frac{n}{10^5\mathrm{cm}^3}\right)^{1/3},$$
(2)
where $`\dot{N}`$ is the rate at which H-ionizing photons are emitted from the central source and $`\alpha _r`$ is the case B radiative recombination coefficient. We estimate $`\dot{N}10^{54}\mathrm{s}^1`$ by taking an ionizing luminosity of $`10^{44}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ and an average photon energy of $`50\mathrm{eV}`$. For $`T=10^4\mathrm{K}`$ ($`10^5\mathrm{K}`$), $`\alpha _r=4.2\times 10^{13}`$ ($`6.9\times 10^{14}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{s}^1`$).444We evaluate $`\alpha _r`$ using the FORTRAN routine rrfit, written by D. A. Verner, and available at http://www.pa.uky.edu/$``$verner/fortran.html. Thus, we expect that the central source can typically maintain an ionized column density of $`N_\mathrm{H}6\times 10^{23}\mathrm{cm}^2`$, which is a factor $`2`$ larger than the highest $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ in the M01a sample (for IRAS 13197-1627, which, as we showed in §2, should be removed from the M01a sample, or NGC 1365). In other words, for NGC 1365, only half of the ionizing photons are absorbed by the gas, assuming it is dust-free. The other half could either be absorbed by dust farther out in the host galaxy or escape the host galaxy altogether. Since significant reddening is observed for the M01a galaxies, the former alternative is generally more likely. In either case, only half of the ionizing photons passing through this medium result in H recombination lines. Thus, for NGC 1365, the excess narrow line power is reduced from a factor 2.5 to a factor 1.25. For the other galaxies in the M01a sample, with lower $`N_\mathrm{H}`$, a smaller (often much smaller) fraction of the ionizing photons are absorbed, and there is no excess narrow line power. Thus, in our scenario there is no need for larger-than-Galactic grains in active galactic nuclei. They are not needed in the torus, since the M01a observations do not probe the torus and hence do not rule out Galactic-type grains. They are not needed in the material probed by the M01a sample, because this material is ionized and has a lower covering factor than the torus.

M01a pointed out two other observations that they claim argue against the presence of typical Galactic grains in the obscuring media in AGNs. First, the $`2175\mathrm{\AA }`$ extinction feature, which is nearly ubiquitous in the Galaxy and is usually attributed to carbonaceous grains, has not been observed in those Sy 1s for which some extinction has been measured. Li & Draine (2001) and Weingartner & Draine (2001) suggested that the $`2175\mathrm{\AA }`$ feature is due to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules. PAHs can be destroyed in the harsh radiation environment of AGNs (see, e.g., Voit 1992), so the absence of the $`2175\mathrm{\AA }`$ feature in Sy 1s is perhaps not surprising. It is interesting to note that the $`2175\mathrm{\AA }`$ feature is also absent in the SMC bar (Gordon & Clayton 1998). In intermediate and type 2 Seyferts, the extinction is so strong that the UV emission is completely suppressed, and there is no chance to search for the $`2175\mathrm{\AA }`$ feature. Since the extinction in Sy 1s is not due to the torus, the lack of the $`2175\mathrm{\AA }`$ feature in these objects does not tell us about the dust in the torus.

M01a also noted that the $`9.7\mathrm{\mu m}`$ feature (associated with silicate grains with sizes $`3\mathrm{\mu m}`$) is generally very weak in AGNs. Clavel et al. (2000) found that this feature appears weakly in emission in Sy 1s and may appear in either emission or absorption in Sy 2s, in either case very weakly. It is difficult to determine the silicate feature accurately because of strong PAH emission features on either side of it. Clavel et al. inferred that there is substantial mid-infrared extinction in Sy 2s; M01a concluded that there must therefore be grains in the torus, but that they must be large enough to not produce a $`9.7\mathrm{\mu m}`$ absorption feature. We consider this to be the best piece of evidence for large grains in Seyfert tori. Unlike the M01a sample, the Clavel et al. observations apparently do probe the torus. M01a noted that radiative transfer effects could possibly lead to the weak silicate feature in Sy 2s, but considered this unlikely. In this context, it is interesting to note that earlier observations (that did not take into account the PAH absorption near $`9.7\mathrm{\mu m}`$) found the $`9.7\mathrm{\mu m}`$ feature to be absent in Sy 1s but strongly present in absorption in Sy 2s (Roche et al. 1991). Although this was initially perplexing, Manske et al. (1998) were able to find a simple radiative transfer scheme that could account for the observations. Further study is needed to determine whether the Clavel et al. observations can be explained by a radiative transfer scheme when silicate grains with $`a3\mathrm{\mu m}`$ are present.

## 4 Extinction in Sy 2s

As discussed above, the study of reddening in intermediate-type Seyferts probably does not inform us about the properties of grains in the obscuring torus. Perhaps an analysis of extinction in Sy 2s could be helpful. Narrow-aperture observations of the nucleus (e.g., in the optical or near-infrared) would yield fluxes which can be compared with the flux expected in the case of no obscuration, using an isotropic indicator of the intrinsic luminosity (e.g., \[O III\] $`\lambda 5007`$; see Bassani et al. 1999). This would yield a lower limit on the extinction due to the torus, since some of the observed flux could be due to scattering of the nuclear radiation and/or to emission by material located beyond the torus.

Quillen et al. (2001) compiled high-resolution HST images of Seyfert galaxies at $`1.6\mathrm{\mu m}`$ and tabulated the nuclear fluxes at this wavelength. In this section, we use their data to try to constrain $`A_{1.6}/N_\mathrm{H}`$ for Seyfert tori ($`A_{1.6}`$ is the extinction at $`1.6\mathrm{\mu m}`$). Note that $`1.6\mathrm{\mu m}`$ is approximately the shortest wavelength at which emission from hot dust can be observed; if the dust were hot enough to emit at shorter wavelengths, then it would have sublimated away. Thus, observations at somewhat shorter wavelengths, if available, would be preferable.

In Table 2 we list $`1.6\mathrm{\mu m}`$ fluxes for all of the Sy 1+1.2+1.5 galaxies from Quillen et al. for which \[O III\] fluxes are available from Whittle (1992). In Figure 3 we plot the $`1.6\mathrm{\mu m}`$ luminosities versus the \[O III\] luminosities for these galaxies (squares; cf Figure 3a in Quillen et al.). We infer the distances to the galaxies from the radial velocities, assuming the Hubble constant $`H=60\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$. A least squares fit yields the expected intrinsic $`1.6\mathrm{\mu m}`$ luminosity $`L_{1.6}^{\mathrm{int}}`$ as a function of the observed \[O III\] luminosity $`L_\mathrm{O}`$: $`L_{1.6}^{\mathrm{int}}=2.83\times 10^{11}L_\mathrm{O}^{0.766}`$ (with the luminosities in $`\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$). Note the large scatter of the observations about the fit, due in part to the large uncertainties in the \[O III\] fluxes (Whittle 1992).

In Table 3 we list the Sy 2 galaxies from Quillen et al. for which \[O III\] fluxes and $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ (measurements or lower limits) are available from Bassani et al. (1999) or Risaliti et al. (1999). We also include these Sy 2s in Figure 3; note that they mostly lie well below the Sy 1s. We estimate $`A_{1.6}`$ by comparing the observed $`1.6\mathrm{\mu m}`$ luminosity, $`L_{1.6}^{\mathrm{obs}}`$, with $`L_{1.6}^{\mathrm{int}}`$ and compare $`A_{1.6}/N_\mathrm{H}`$ with the typical value for the diffuse ISM in our Galaxy, $`1.0\times 10^{22}\mathrm{cm}^2`$ (Cardelli, Clayton, & Mathis 1989); see Table 3. In cases where only an upper limit on the $`1.6\mathrm{\mu m}`$ flux was established, a lower limit on $`A_{1.6}/N_\mathrm{H}`$ results. Similarly, upper limits on $`A_{1.6}/N_\mathrm{H}`$ are established when only lower limits on $`N_\mathrm{H}`$ are available.

The resulting $`A_{1.6}/N_\mathrm{H}`$ (normalized to the typical Galactic value) cover a range similar to the Galactic-normalized $`E(\mathrm{B V})/N_\mathrm{H}`$ found by M01a for intermediate Seyferts. We suspect that the large values obtained for NGC 1672 and NGC 3079 may be due to underestimates of $`N_\mathrm{H}`$. In Figure 4, we plot $`A_{1.6}`$ versus $`N_\mathrm{H}`$. As for the M01a sample, $`A_{1.6}`$ does not systematically increase with $`N_\mathrm{H}`$, indicating that we have not actually determined $`A_{1.6}/N_\mathrm{H}`$ for the torus. For most of the objects, $`L_{1.6}^{\mathrm{obs}}0.1L_{1.6}^{\mathrm{int}}`$ (i.e., $`A_{1.6}2.5`$). Since the HST resolution at the distances of the observed galaxies is $`10\mathrm{pc}`$, scattering at locations beyond the torus could be responsible for most of the observed $`1.6\mathrm{\mu m}`$ flux. In other words, the determinations of $`A_{1.6}/N_\mathrm{H}`$ in this section should actually be interpreted as lower limits. The large scatter of the Sy 1 galaxies about the $`L_{1.6}`$$`L_\mathrm{O}`$ relation indicates that inferred values of $`A_{1.6}2`$ are suspect. Also, galaxies with low inferred $`A_{1.6}`$ might have an unresolved star cluster very close to the nucleus (Quillen et al. 2001). Thus, the results in this section are entirely consistent with the dust in Seyfert tori being similar to Galactic dust. More stringent limits on the extinction per column will require higher resolution. Improved measurements of \[O III\] fluxes (for both Sy 1s and 2s) would also be helpful.

## 5 Summary

M01a constructed a sample of intermediate-type Seyfert galaxies that have been observed in the X-ray and in the optical or infrared and found that $`E(\mathrm{B V})/N_\mathrm{H}`$ is substantially lower than its value in the Galaxy for most of the objects in the sample. M01b concluded that the only viable explanation for this result is that the grains in Seyfert tori are typically substantially larger than the grains in the ISM of our Galaxy.

Here, we have shown that the material that absorbs the X-rays is probably unrelated to the material that absorbs the optical/infrared radiation (§2, Figure 2) and that the torus probably is not probed by the observations of the M01a sample (§2, Figure 1). We suggest that, alternatively, the line of sight towards an M01a galaxy passes through ionized material located just off the torus and/or the accretion disk. This material is responsible for the X-ray absorption, while the optical/infrared extinction occurs in material farther from the nucleus, where the dust may be quite similar to Galactic dust. The X-ray-absorbing material may be dust-free or may contain large grains that have very small extinction efficiencies in the optical/infrared (§3). This material may be associated with a disk wind, which would originate within the dust sublimation radius. In this case, the material would naturally be dust-free. The disk wind scenario can be tested by searching for blue-shifted absorption by ions characteristic of lightly or moderately ionized gas, e.g., C IV. However, such ultraviolet absorption lines could be difficult to detect due to the moderate levels of extinction.

Although the M01a sample does not present evidence in favor of large grains in AGN tori, nor does it present evidence against large grains. The apparent lack of strong $`9.7\mathrm{\mu m}`$ silicate absorption in Sy 2s could indicate large grains in Seyfert tori, as pointed out by M01a. More detailed studies of radiative transfer are needed in order to clarify this point.

We have attempted to obtain limits on the $`1.6\mathrm{\mu m}`$ extinction per column in Sy 2s (§4), but the HST does not have adequate resolution to exclude nuclear light that is scattered into our line of sight from locations beyond the torus. Current observations are consistent with the torus dust being similar to Galactic dust; observations at higher resolutions will yield more stringent limits.

We are grateful to R. W. Goodrich, R. Maiolino, and A. C. Quillen for helpful discussions. This research was supported by NSERC of Canada and has made use of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France and the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.


text:
# Tachyonic Inflation in the Braneworld Scenario

## I Introduction

The inflationary scenario offers the attractive possibility of resolving many puzzles of the standard Hot Big Bang cosmology. The crucial feature of most inflationary models is the period of “slow-roll” evolution of a scalar field (the “inflaton”) during which the potential energy dominates the kinetic energy and the universe undergoes a period of exponential expansion. Although particle physics, in particular string theory, provides several very weakly coupled scalar fields which are natural inflaton candidates, at present there exists no clearly preferred inflationary model; it is therefore interesting to explore new possibilities for the inflationary scenario in the early universe.

The study of non-BPS objects such as non-BPS branes, brane-antibrane configurations and spacelike branes has recently attracted great attention given its implications for string/M-theory and cosmology. The conjecture that the classical decay of unstable D-branes leads, in string theory, to a pressureless gas with non-vanishing energy density, and that the vacuum of the tachyon effective action describes a configuration with no D-branes, so that around this minimum there are no physical open string excitations , has quickly lead to the idea of a tachyon cosmology . In this scenario, the main idea is to consider the coupling with gravity by adding the Einstein-Hilbert action to the tachyon effective action . From this perspective, it is quite natural to consider the possibility of inflation driven by the rolling tachyon.

Recently, several authors have investigated the cosmological implications of a tachyon rolling down its potential, which depends on the underlying bosonic or supesymmetric theory , to its ground state. Tachyonic inflation  has also been studied using phenomenological potentials that have not been derived from string theory and can be related to the so called “k-Inflation” .

It has been shown by Kofman and Linde  that it is very difficult to find realistic inflationary models in the context of string theory tachyon condensation, as it leads to unacceptably large metric perturbations. Also, inflation in these theories occurs only at super-Planckian values of the brane energy density, making the effective four-dimensional gravity theory unreliable near the top of the potential .

A natural extention of this proposal is to consider the tachyon as a degree of freedom on the visible three-dimensional brane. Hence, the Einstein-Hilbert action would describe dynamics on the bulk, which is most often considered to be a five-dimensional AdS spacetime background . This proposal implies that, on the brane, the dynamics would be described by the modified Einstein equations . In this work, we will show that these underlying assumptions allow for an inflationary period in which all known observational constraints are successfully met. As we shall see, an important advantage of our proposal is that this period of inflation occurs at the top of the tachyonic potential emerging from the tachyonic effective theory. Also, the brane energy density remains sub-Planckian allowing us to work with the effective four-dimensional gravity theory. Moreover, we find constraints on the fundamental string mass scale $`M_s`$ and the five-dimensional Planck mass, $`M_5`$.

We will show how our approach allows avoiding, to some extent, difficulties with tachyonic inflation , even though there is still the serious problem of reheating whose solution does require a better understanding of the couplings of the tachyon to matter .

## II Tachyonic Inflation

The effective field theory action for the tachyon field $`T`$ on a $`D3`$ brane computed in the bosonic String Field Theory (SFT), around the top of the potential, is given by

$$S_B=\tau _3d^4x\mathrm{exp}(T)[l_s^2_\mu T^\mu T+(1+T)],$$
(1)
where the normalization factor $`\tau _3`$ is the D3 brane tension

$$\tau _3=\frac{M_s^4}{(2\pi )^3g_s},$$
(2)
$`g_s`$ is the string coupling, and the string mass scale is given by $`M_s^2=1/l_s^2`$.

The action given by Eq. (1) is exact up to second order in $`_\mu T^\mu T`$ and accounts for the effects of all open string modes. Notice that, with our conventions, the tachyon field $`T`$ is dimensionless and hence the potential $`V(T)=\tau _3(1+T)\mathrm{exp}(T)`$ has mass dimension four. Moreover, due to the factor $`\mathrm{exp}(T)`$, the kinetic term has a nonstandard form; it is, however, possible to eliminate this factor via a field redefinition

$$\varphi =\mathrm{exp}(T/2),$$
(3)
and hence obtain a canonical kinetic term; in this case, the potential becomes

$$V(\varphi )=\tau _3\varphi ^2\mathrm{log}(\varphi ^2/e).$$
(4)
Now the “stable vacuum” to which the tachyon condenses is at $`T\mathrm{}`$ (or at $`\varphi =0`$) and, for this vacuum, $`V^{^{\prime \prime }}\mathrm{}`$ and the tachyon acquires an infinite mass. Hence, with a standard kinetic term for $`\varphi `$, we have a field theory for the tachyon with the property that it rolls down to its stable vacuum and condenses, disappearing from the spectrum as it acquires an infinite mass. This is the manifestation of the disappearance of the whole tower of the open string fields and is consistent with Sen’s conjecture.

One can also write a closed form expression for the action Eq. (1), incorporating all the higher powers of $`_\mu T`$. The effective tachyon field action in Born-Infield form, ignoring the second and higher derivative terms, is described in the presence of gravity by

$$S_{BI}=\tau _3d^4x\sqrt{g}V(T)\sqrt{1+l_s^2f(T)_\mu T^\mu T}.$$
(5)
For small $`_\mu T`$, one can treat the action Eq. (1) as an expansion of action Eq. (5) with $`V(T)=(1+T)\mathrm{exp}(T)`$ and $`f(T)=2(1+T)^1`$. It should, however, be noted that late time evolution of the tachyon field, in either case, does not seem to match the asymptotic behaviour conjectured by Sen. However, we are interested in the early time evolution of the tachyon field, when it is slightly displaced from the top of the potential at $`T=0`$ (or $`\varphi =1`$), where the time derivatives of the tachyon turn out to be small, and one can safely assume either action (1) or (5). We shall proceed with the action given by Eq. (1) and the field redefinition given by Eq. (3) but it should be noted that, if one uses the action of Eq. (5), with $`V(T)`$ and $`f(T)`$ given above, within the slow-roll approximation, the results are the same.

We now show that the potential (4), within the five-dimensional brane scenario, leads to a successful inflationary model.

In the five-dimensional ADS braneworld scenario, the Friedmann equation on the visible brane becomes :

$$H^2=\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }}{3}+\left(\frac{8\pi }{3M_P^2}\right)\rho +\left(\frac{4\pi }{3M_5^3}\right)^2\rho ^2+\frac{ϵ}{a^4},$$
(6)
where

$$M_P=\sqrt{\frac{3}{4\pi }}\frac{M_5^3}{\sqrt{\lambda }},$$
(7)
$`\lambda `$ is the brane tension, which relates the four and five-dimensional Planck scales and the four and five-dimensional cosmological constants via the relationship

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }=\frac{4\pi }{M_5^3}\left(\mathrm{\Lambda }_5+\frac{4\pi }{3M_5^3}\lambda ^2\right).$$
(8)
Assuming that, as required by observations, the cosmological constant is negligible in the early universe and since the last term in Eq. (6) rapidly becomes unimportant after inflation sets in, the Friedmann equation becomes

$`H^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{8\pi }{3M_P^2}}\rho \left[1+{\displaystyle \frac{\rho }{2\lambda }}\right]`$ (9)
$`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{4\pi }{3M_5^3}}\right)^2\rho ^2\left(1+{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _c}{\rho }}\right),`$ (10)
with

$$\rho _c=\frac{3}{2\pi }\frac{M_5^6}{M_P^2}.$$
(11)
Hence, the new term in $`\rho ^2`$ is dominant at high energies, compared to $`\lambda ^{1/4}`$, i.e. $`\rho >\rho _c`$, but quickly decays at lower energies.

Finally, we shall assume that the scalar field is confined to the brane, so that its field equation has the standard form

$$\ddot{\varphi }+3H\dot{\varphi }+\frac{dV}{d\varphi }=0.$$
(12)
The number of e-folds during inflation is given by $`N=_{t_\mathrm{i}}^{t_\mathrm{f}}H𝑑t`$, which becomes

$$N(8\tau _3l_s^2)\frac{8\pi }{M_P^2}_{\varphi _\mathrm{i}}^{\varphi _\mathrm{f}}\frac{V}{V^{}}\left[1+\frac{V}{2\lambda }\right]𝑑\varphi ,$$
(13)
in the slow-roll approximation. We see that, as a result of the modification in the Friedmann equation, the expansion rate is increased, at high energies, by a factor $`V/2\lambda `$.

One can also define the two slow-roll parameters

$`ϵ`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{M_P^2}{16\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8\tau _3l_s^2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{V^{}}{V}}\right)^2{\displaystyle \frac{1+V/\lambda }{(2+V/\lambda )^2}},`$ (14)
$`\eta `$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{M_P^2}{8\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8\tau _3l_s^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{V^{\prime \prime }}{V}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1+V/2\lambda }}.`$ (15)
Notice that both parameters are suppressed by an extra factor $`\lambda /V`$ at high energies and that, at low energies, $`V\lambda `$, they reduce to the standard form. The extra factor $`1/8\tau _3l_s^2`$ appears in the expressions for $`N,ϵ`$ and $`\eta `$ due to the presence of the factor $`\tau _3l_s^2`$ in the kinetic energy term in Eq. (1).

The value of $`\varphi `$ at the end of inflation can be obtained from the condition

$$\mathrm{max}\{ϵ(\varphi _F),|\eta (\varphi _F)|\}=1.$$
(16)
We shall use the high energy approximation ($`V\lambda `$) in our calculations which, for the potential Eq. (4), implies

$$M_5<\left(\frac{1}{6\pi ^2g_s}\right)^{1/2}\left(\frac{M_5}{M_s}\right)^2M_P.$$
(17)
For our model, the slow-roll parameters are given by

$$ϵ=\frac{2a(1+\mathrm{log}(\varphi ^2/e))^2}{8\pi \varphi ^4\mathrm{log}^3(\varphi ^2/e)},$$
(18)
$$\eta =\frac{2a(6+2\mathrm{log}(\varphi ^2/e))}{8\pi \varphi ^4\mathrm{log}^2(\varphi ^2/e)},$$
(19)
where

$$a6\pi ^5g_s^2(M_5/M_s)^6.$$
(20)
The expression for number of e-foldings now becomes

$$N\frac{8\pi }{4a}_{\varphi _i}^{\varphi _f}\frac{\varphi ^3\mathrm{log}^2(\varphi ^2/e)}{1+\mathrm{log}(\varphi ^2/e)}𝑑\varphi .$$
(21)
For $`N70`$, the minimum number of e-foldings required to solve different cosmological problems, Eqs. (21) and (16) lead to $`a0.279`$ and $`\varphi _f0.236`$, assuming $`\varphi _i=0.999`$. Indeed, we have checked that sufficient inflation can easily be achieved if the field starts very near the top of the potential, at $`\varphi 1`$ (See Figure 1).

We now turn to the constraints imposed by the observed CMB anistropies. The amplitude of scalar perturbations is given by

$$A_s^28\tau _3l_s^2\frac{512\pi }{75M_P^6}\frac{V_{}^3}{V_{}^2}\left[1+\frac{V_{}}{2\lambda }\right]^3,$$
(22)
with $`V_{}=V(\varphi _{})`$, where $`\varphi _{}`$ is the value of $`\varphi `$ when scales corresponding to large-angle CMB anisotropies, as observed by COBE, left the Hubble radius during inflation i.e. approximately after 55 e-foldings. For the potential of Eq. (4), again using the high energy approximation, the above equation becomes

$$A_s^2\frac{512\pi ^3}{4800}\frac{g_s\varphi _{}^{10}}{a^3}\frac{\mathrm{log}^6(\varphi _{}^2/e)}{\mathrm{log}^2(\varphi _{}^2/e+1)}.$$
(23)
For our model, with $`N_{}55`$, $`\varphi _i=0.999`$ and $`a=0.279`$, we get, using Eq. (21)

$$\varphi _{}0.996.$$
(24)
Inserting the above values of $`a`$ and $`\varphi _{}`$ into Eq. (23) and using the fact that the observed value from COBE is $`A_s2\times 10^5`$, we get a constraint on $`g_s`$, namely $`g_s1.5\times 10^{16}`$. Using these values of $`g_s`$ and $`a`$ in Eqs. (17) and (20), we get the following bounds on $`M_5`$ and $`M_s`$:

$`M_5\text{ }<5.6\times 10^3M_P,M_s\text{ }<1.3\times 10^7M_P.`$ (25)
The scale-dependence of the perturbations is described by the spectral tilt

$$n_s1\frac{d\mathrm{ln}A_s^2}{d\mathrm{ln}k}6ϵ+2\eta ,$$
(26)
where the slow-roll parameters are given in Eqs. (14) and (15).

The ratio between the amplitude of tensor and scalar perturbations is given by

$$r_s=4\pi \left(\frac{A_t}{A_s}\right)^2\frac{3M_P^2}{4}\left(\frac{V^{}}{V}\right)^2\frac{2\lambda }{V}.$$
(27)
In our model, under the high energy approximation, for $`N=70`$, we get

$$n_s0.825,$$
(28)
and

$$r_s9.7\times 10^5,$$
(29)
which are within the bounds resulting from the latest CMB data from BOOMERANG , MAXIMA  and DASI , namely

$$0.8<n_s<1.05,r_s<0.3.$$
(30)
Repeating the above calculations for other values of $`a(N)`$, we obtain Table 1. We see that, as $`a`$ decreases, $`\varphi _f`$ decreases and $`N`$, $`n_s`$, $`r_s`$ and $`M_5`$ increase. In all cases, the string remains very weakly coupled ($`g_s10^{16}`$) and the string energy density $`\tau _3`$ remains sufficiently below the Planck scale ($`\tau _3<10^{12}M_P^4`$) so that one can safely use the low energy four-dimensional gravity theory.

## III Conclusions

In this work, we have shown that successful tachyonic inflation can be achieved in the context of a five-dimensional ADS braneworld scenario. We have shown the bosonic SFT action around the top of the tachyon potential does allow a sufficiently long period of inflation provided the string remains very weakly coupled ($`g_s10^{16}`$) and the string energy density $`\tau _3`$ is sufficiently below the Planck scale ($`\tau _3<10^{12}M_P^4`$) to render the low-energy four-dimensional gravity theory description reliable. Our setup leads to upper bounds on the string scale, typically $`M_s\text{ }<8\times 10^7M_P`$, and on the five-dimensional scale, $`M_5\text{ }<10^2M_P`$ (values of this order seem to be a common feature of inflation on the brane, as they arise in chaotic inflation  as well as in supergravity models ).

We emphasize that, in our formulation, inflation takes place very close the top of the tachyon potential, thus avoiding the recently identified problem of formation of caustics with multi-valued regions for scalar Born-Infeld theories with arbitrary runaway potentials, meaning that high order spatial derivatives of $`T`$ become divergent .

###### Acknowledgements.

M.C.B. and O.B. acknowledge the partial support of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal) under the grant POCTI/1999/FIS/36285. The work of A.A. Sen is fully financed by the same grant.