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# Did Globular Clusters Reionize the Universe?

## 1 Introduction and Rationale

Observation of Ly$`\alpha `$ absorption systems toward newly found high-redshift quasars (Becker et al., 2001; Djorgovski et al., 2001) indicate that the redshift of reionization of the intergalactic medium (IGM) should be close to $`z=6`$ (Gnedin, 2002; Songaila & Cowie, 2002). Perhaps the recent identification of a lensed galaxy at $`z=6.56`$ points to a somewhat earlier redshift of reionization (Hu et al., 2002). Although quasars play a dominant role in photoionizing the IGM at $`z3`$ (Meiksin & Madau, 1993), their dwindling numbers at $`z>4`$ suggest the need for another ionization source. Unless a hidden population of quasars is found, radiation emitted by high-redshift massive stars seems necessary to reionize the universe. A key ingredient in determining the effectiveness by which galaxies photoionize the surrounding IGM is the parameter $`f_{esc}`$, defined here as the mean fraction of Lyc photons escaping from galaxy halos into the IGM. To be an important source of ionizing photons and rival with quasars, a substantial fraction ($`10`$%) of them must escape the gas layers of the galaxies (Madau & Shull, 1996).

Cosmological simulations and semi-analytical models of IGM reionization by stellar sources find that the ionizing background rises steeply at the redshift of reionization. Unfortunately a direct comparison between models is difficult because of different recipes used for star formation, clumping of the IGM or the definition of $`f_{esc}`$. But a result common to all the models is that, in order to reionize the IGM by $`z=67`$, the escape fraction must be relatively large: $`f_{esc}`$ $`\stackrel{>}{}10`$% assuming a Salpeter initial mass function (IMF) and the standard $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$CDM cosmological model. Benson et al. (2002) finds that $`f_{esc}`$ should be about 15% for reionization at $`z=6`$, but a smaller value $`f_{esc}`$ $`\stackrel{<}{}10`$% is consistent with the observed ionizing background at $`z3`$. Gnedin (2002) finds that assuming a primordial power spectrum index $`n=0.93`$, the preferred value from CMB and LSS data, reionization at $`z\stackrel{>}{}6`$ requires a large $`f_{esc}`$; but this assumption produces an ionizing background at $`z\stackrel{<}{}4`$, that is too large. The common assumption of a universal star formation efficiency (SFE) (e.g., the coefficient in front of the Schmidt-Law in some models or in others the fraction $`f_{}`$ of baryons converted into stars) is consistent with the observed values of the star formation rate (SFR) at $`0<z<5`$ and total star fraction $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{}`$ at $`z=0`$. However, the assumption of a constant $`f_{esc}`$ does not seem to be consistent with observations. An escape fraction $`f_{esc}`$ $`1`$ is required for reionization at $`z6`$ but the ionizing background at $`z3`$ is consistent with $`f_{esc}`$ $`\stackrel{<}{}10`$% (Bianchi et al., 2001). Small values of $`f_{esc}`$ at $`z\stackrel{<}{}3`$ are also supported by direct observations of the Lyc emission from Lyman-break and starburst galaxies. Giallongo et al. (2002) find an upper limit $`f_{esc}`$ $`<16`$% at $`z3`$ (but see Steidel et al., 2001) and observations of low-redshift starbursts are consistent with $`f_{esc}`$ upper limits ranging from a few percent up to 10% (Hurwitz et al., 1997; Deharveng et al., 2001).

Calculations of $`f_{esc}`$ from first principles are difficult. The main complications arise in simulating a realistic interstellar medium (ISM) that includes small-scale physics and feedback processes. Moreover the mean $`f_{esc}`$ results from the contribution of a variety of galaxies whose ISM properties are largely unknown at high redshift. Theoretical models (Dove et al., 2000; Ciardi et al., 2002) for the radiative transfer of ionizing radiation through the disk layer of spiral galaxies similar to the Milky Way find $`f_{esc}`$ $`610`$%. At high redshift the mean value of $`f_{esc}`$ is expected to decrease almost exponentially with increasing redshift (Ricotti & Shull, 2000; Wood & Loeb, 2000); at $`z>6`$, $`f_{esc}`$ $`\stackrel{<}{}0.11`$% even assuming star formation rates typical of starburst galaxies (e.g., SFR$`10`$ times that of the Milky Way). Using Monte-Carlo simulations, Ricotti & Shull (2000) have studied how $`f_{esc}`$ depends on galactic parameters. Assuming gas density profile in hydrostatic equilibrium in the dark matter (DM) potential, star density proportional to the gas density and a power law for the luminosity function of the OB associations, they found that $`f_{esc}`$ $`(ϵf_gM_{DM})^{1/3}\mathrm{exp}[(z_{vir}+1)ϵ^{1/3}]`$. Here $`ϵ`$ is proportional to the SFE, $`f_g`$ is the fraction of collapsed gas, $`z_{vir}`$ is the virialization redshift and $`M_{DM}`$ is the DM halo mass. The majority of photons that escape the halo come from the most luminous OB associations located in the outermost parts of the galaxy. Indeed Ricotti & Shull (2000) have shown that changing the luminosity function of the OB association and the density distribution of the stars has major effects on $`f_{esc}`$ (see their Figs. 8 and 9). In the aforementioned models, $`f_{esc}`$ should be regarded as an upper limit since dust extinction and absorption of ionizing radiation from the molecular cloud in which OB associations are born are neglected.

The theoretical suggestion of a decreasing $`f_{esc}`$ with increasing redshift is in contrast with models for reionization that require $`f_{esc}`$ $`1`$ at $`z=6`$. A different star formation mode, with very luminous OB associations forming in the outer parts of galaxy halos, could explain the large $`f_{esc}`$ required for reionization. Globular clusters (GCs) are possible observable relics of such a star formation mode. Their redshift of formation is compatible with redshift of reionization (Gnedin et al., 2002). Because of their large star density they survived tidal destruction and represent the most luminous tail of the luminosity distribution of primordial OB associations. In § 2.2 I explain that several models for the formation of proto-GCs imply an $`f_{esc}`$ $`1`$. I will also show that the total amount of stars in GCs observed today is sufficient to reionize the universe at $`z6`$ if their $`f_{esc}`$ $`1`$. This conclusion is reinforced if the GCs we observe today are only a fraction, $`1/f_{di}`$, of primordial GCs as a consequence of mass segregation and tidal stripping.

The paper is organized as follows. In § 2 I briefly review recent progress in our understanding of GC properties and formation theories; in § 3 I discuss the model assumptions in light of GC observations and present the results. In § 4 I present my conclusions.

## 2 Short review on GC systems

In this section I review some observational and theoretical results on GCs useful to the aim of this paper. I also try to justify my assumption $`f_{esc}`$ $`1`$ for GCs on the base of theoretical models of proto-GC formation.

### 2.1 Observations

Most galaxies have a bimodal GCs distribution indicating that luminous galaxies experience at least two major episodes of GCs formation. The bulk of the globulars in the main body of the Galactic halo appear to have formed during a short-lived burst ($`0.52`$ Gyr) that took place about 13 Gyrs ago. This was followed by a second burst associated with the formation of the galactic bulges. Clusters may have been formed in dwarf spheroidal galaxies and acreted by the Galactic halo (van den Bergh, 1999). Massive cluster formation occurred in galaxies as small as the Fornax dwarf spheroidal but not in massive ones such as the small magellanic cloud (Zepf et al., 1999).

#### 2.1.1 Absolute and relative ages

The method for determinating the absolute age of GCs is based on fitting the observed color-magnitude diagram with theoretical evolutionary tracks. The systematics in the evolutionary model and the determination of the cluster distance are the major sources of errors. Recent determinations of the absolute age of old GCs find $`t_{gc}=12.5\pm 1.2`$ Gyr (Chaboyer et al., 1998), consistent with radioactive dating of a very metal-poor star in the halo of our galaxy (Cayrel et al., 2001). Relative ages of Galactic GCs can be determined with greater accuracy, since many systematic errors can be eliminated. In our Galaxy $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_{gc}=0.5`$ Gyr, but differences in age between GC systems in different galaxies could be $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_{gc}2`$ Gyr (Stetson et al., 1996).

#### 2.1.2 Specific frequency

The specific frequency is defined as the number, $`N`$, of GCs per $`M_V=15`$ of parent galaxy light, $`S_N=N\times 10^{0.4(M_V+15)}`$ (Harris & van den Bergh 1981). The most striking characteristic is that $`S_N(\mathrm{Ellipticals})>S_N(\mathrm{Spirals})`$. $`S_N=0.5`$ in Sc/Ir galaxies (Harris, 1991), $`S_N=1`$ in spirals of types Sa/Sb , $`S_N=2.5`$ in field ellipticals (Kundu & Whitmore, 2001a, b). Converting to luminosity ($`L_V/L_{}=10^{0.4(M_V4.83)}`$) we have $`N=(L/L_{})S_N/8.55\times 10^7`$. I can therefore calculate the efficiency of GC formation defined as,

$$ϵ_{gc}=\frac{M_{gc}}{M}=\frac{f_{di}Nm_{gc}}{M}=\frac{S_Nf_{di}}{(M/L)_V}\times 0.00585,$$
(1)
where $`M_{gc}`$ is the total mass of the GC system, $`m_{gc}=5\times 10^5`$ M is the mean mass of GCs today, $`M`$ is the stellar mass and $`(M/L)_V`$ is the mass to light ratio of the galaxy. In the next paragraph we show that, because of dynamical evolution, $`m_{gc}`$ and $`N`$ are expected to be larger at the time of GC formation than today. Therefore, the parameter $`f_{di}1`$ is introduced to account for dynamical disruption of GCs during their lifetime.

#### 2.1.3 IMF, Metallicity and Dynamical Evolution

The IMF of GCs is not known. The present mass function is known only between 0.2 and 0.8 M since high-mass stars are lost because of two-body relaxation and stellar evolution processes. Theoretical models show that the shape is consistent with a Salpeter-like IMF. The mean metallicity of old GCs is $`Z0.03Z_{}`$. One of the most remarkable properties of GCs is the uniformity of their internal metallicity $`\mathrm{\Delta }[Fe/H]\stackrel{<}{}0.1`$. This implies that the bulk of the stars that constitute a GC formed in a single monolithic burst of star formation. A typical GC emits $`S3\times 10^{53}`$ s-1 ionizing photons in a burst lasting 4 Myrs: about $`300`$ times the ionizing luminosity of largest OB associations in our Galaxy.

During their lifetime GCs lose a large part of their initial mass or are completely destroyed by internal and external processes. Prominent internal processes are mass loss by stellar evolution (about half of the initial mass is lost) and two-body relaxation, the effects of which are mass segregation (change in the mass function) and core collapse (expansion and evaporation). External processes can be divided roughly into two classes: gravitational shocks from GC motion through the disk or bulge of the galaxy, and tidal forces, which cause mass loss due to tidal truncation. Numerical simulations show that about 50%–90% of the mass of GCs is lost due to external processes, depending on the host galaxy environment, initial concentration and IMF of the proto-GCs (Chernoff & Weinberg, 1990; Gnedin & Ostriker, 1997). Many of the low-metallicity halo field stars in the Milky-Way could be debris of disrupted GCs. The mass in stars in the halo is about 100 times the mass in GCs. Therefore the parameter $`f_{di}`$, defined in § 2.1.2, could be as large as $`f_{di}=100`$. Overall $`f_{di}`$ is not well constrained since it depends on unknown properties of the proto-GCs. According to results of N-body simulations $`f_{di}`$ should be in the $`f_{di}210`$ range.

### 2.2 Why is $`f_{esc}`$ $`1`$ plausible for GCs?

I discuss separately two issues: (i) the $`f_{esc}`$ from the gas cloud in which the GC forms, and (ii) the $`f_{esc}`$ through any surrounding gas in the galaxy.

* The evidence for $`f_{esc}`$ $`1`$ comes from the observed properties of present-day GCs. The fact that they are compact self-gravitating systems with low and uniform metallicity points to a high efficiency of conversion of gas into stars. A longer timescale of star formation would have enriched the gas of metals and the mechanical feedback from SN explosions would have stopped further star formation. If $`f_{}10`$% of the gas is converted into stars in a single burst (with duration $`<4`$ Myr) at the center of a spheroidal galaxy, following the simple calculations shown in Ricotti & Shull (2000) \[see their eq. (18)\] at $`z=6`$ we have,

$$f_{esc}=10.06\frac{(1f_{})^2}{f_{}}\left(\frac{1+z}{7}\right)^350\%.$$
(2)
* The justification for $`f_{esc}`$ $`1`$ is model dependent but in general there are two main arguments: a) the high efficiency of star formation $`f_{}`$, and b) the sites of proto-GC formation in the outermost parts of the galaxy halo.

In the “cosmological objects model” ($`30<z_f<7`$) of Peebles & Dicke (1968) GCs form with efficiency $`f_{}100\%`$, implying $`f_{esc}`$ $`=1`$ (note that such a high $`f_{}`$ is not found in numerical simulations of first object formation (Ricotti et al., 2002a, b)). In “hierarchical formation models” ($`10<z_f<3`$) (Larson, 1993; Harris & Pudritz, 1994; McLaughlin & Pudritz, 1996; Gnedin et al., 2002) GCs form in the disk or spheroid of galaxies with gas mass $`M_g10^710^9`$ M. Compact GCs survive the accretion by larger galaxies while the rest of the galaxy is tidally stripped. Assuming that $`110`$ GCs form in a galaxy with $`M_g10^710^8`$ M implies $`f_{}10\%`$ and therefore $`f_{esc}`$ $`50\%`$. $`f_{esc}`$ is larger than in eq. (2) if proto-GCs are located off-center (e.g., if they form from cloud-cloud collisions during the galaxy assembly) or if part of the gas in the halo is collisionally ionized as a consequence of the virialization process.
In models such as the “supershell fragmentation” ($`z_f<10`$) of Taniguchi et al. (1999) or the “thermal instability” ($`z_f<7`$) of Fall & Rees (1985), $`f_{esc}`$ $`1`$ since proto-GCs form in the outermost part of an already collisionally ionized halo.

In summary, since $`f_{esc}`$ depends strongly on the luminosity of the OB associations and on their location, proto-GCs, being several hundred times more luminous than Galactic OB associations, should have a comparably larger $`f_{esc}`$.

## 3 Method and Results

In this section I estimate the number of ionizing photons emitted per baryon per Hubble time, $`𝒩_{ph}`$, by GC formation. In § 3.1 I derive $`𝒩_{ph}`$ assuming that all GCs observed at $`z=0`$ formed in a time period $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_{gc}`$ with constant formation rate. In § 3.2 I use the Press-Schechter formalism to model more realistically the formation rate of old GCs.

### 3.1 The simplest estimate

I start by estimating the fraction, $`\omega _{gc}`$, of cosmic baryons converted into GC stars. By definition $`\omega _{gc}=\omega _{}ϵ_{gc}`$, where $`\omega _{}`$ is the fraction of baryons in stars at $`z=0`$ and $`ϵ_{gc}`$ is the efficiency of GC formation defined in § 2.1.2. In all the calculations I assume $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b=0.04`$. In Table 1, I summarize the star census at $`z=0`$ according to Fukugita et al. (1998) and I derive $`ϵ_{gc}`$ using eq. (1), assuming $`f_{di}=1`$. Using similar arguments McLaughlin (1999) finds a universal efficiency of globular cluster formation $`ϵ_{gc}=(0.26\pm 0.05)`$%, in agreement with the simpler estimate presented here. It follows that $`\omega _{gc}=f_{di}(2.7_{1.7}^{+2.3}\times 10^4)`$ at $`z=0`$.

The total number of ionizing photons per unit time emitted by GCs is $`\eta \omega _{gc}^f/\mathrm{\Delta }t_{gc}`$, where $`\eta `$ is the number of ionizing photons emitted per baryon converted into stars, and $`\omega _{gc}^f2.1\omega _{gc}`$ takes into account the mass loss due to stellar winds and SN explosions adopting an instantaneous-burst star formation law. GCs did not recycle this lost mass since they formed in a single burst of star formation. $`\eta `$ depends on the IMF and on the metallicity of the star. I calculate $`\eta `$ using a Salpeter IMF and star metallicity $`Z=0.03Z_{}`$ (see § 2.1.3) with Starburst99 code (Leitherer et al., 1999), and find $`\eta =8967`$. The number of ionizing photons per baryon emitted in a Hubble time at $`z=6`$ is,

$$𝒩_{ph}^{gc}=\eta \omega _{gc}^f\frac{t_H(z=6)}{\mathrm{\Delta }t_{gc}}=(5.1_{3.2}^{+4.3})\frac{f_{di}}{\mathrm{\Delta }t_{gc}(Gyr)},$$
(3)
where I have assumed $`f_{esc}`$ $`=1`$ and Hubble time at $`z=6`$ $`t_H=1\pm 0.1`$ Gyr. I expect $`1f_{di}\stackrel{<}{}100`$ and $`0.5\stackrel{<}{}\mathrm{\Delta }t_{gc}\stackrel{<}{}2`$ Gyr. A conservative estimate of $`f_{di}\stackrel{>}{}2`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_{gc}\stackrel{<}{}2`$ Gyr (i.e., $`10<z_f<3`$) implies $`f_{di}/\mathrm{\Delta }t_{gc}\stackrel{>}{}1`$. The IGM is reionized when $`𝒩_{ph}=C`$, where $`C=n_{HII}^2/n_{HII}^2`$ is the ionized IGM clumping factor. According to the adopted definition of $`f_{esc}`$, $`C=1`$ for a homogeneous IGM, or $`1\stackrel{<}{}C\stackrel{<}{}10`$ taking into account IGM density fluctuations producing the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest (Miralda-Escudé et al., 2000; Gnedin, 2000). The estimate from eq. (3) is rather rough because I have implicitly assumed that the SFR is constant during the period of GC formation $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_{gc}`$. A more realistic SFR as a function of redshift requires assuming a specific model for the formation of GCs. I try to address this question in the next section.

### 3.2 A bit of modeling

I assume that the formation rate of stars or GCs in galaxies is proportional to the merger rate of galaxy halos (each galaxy undergoes a major star burst episode when it virializes). Using the Press-Schechter formalism I calculate,

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d\omega _{gc}^f(z)}{dt}}`$ $`=`$ $`𝒜{\displaystyle _{M_1}^{M_2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\mathrm{\Omega }(M_{DM},z)}{dt}}d\mathrm{ln}M_{DM},`$ (4)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{d\omega _{}^f(z)}{dt}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _{M_m}^{\mathrm{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{d\mathrm{\Omega }(M_{DM},z)}{dt}}d\mathrm{ln}M_{DM},`$ (5)
where $`\mathrm{\Omega }(M_{DM},z)d\mathrm{ln}(M_{DM})`$ is the mass fraction in virialized DM halos of mass $`M_{DM}`$ at redshift z. I determine the constants $`𝒜`$ and $``$111By definition $`_0^{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{\Omega }(M_{DM},z)d\mathrm{ln}(M_{DM})=1`$. I find the following values of the constants $`𝒜=1.3\%,1.6\%,0.6\%`$ for cases (i), (ii) and (iii) respectively (see text) and $`=12\%`$. by integrating eqs. (4)-(5) with respect to time, and assuming $`\omega _{gc}^f=0.1`$% (i.e., $`f_{di}=2`$) and $`\omega _{}^f=1.4\omega _{}=13`$% at $`z=0`$ (the factor 1.4 takes into account the mass loss due to stellar winds and SN explosions adopting a continuous star formation law). I assume that GCs form in halos with masses $`M_1<M_{DM}<M_2`$. The choice of $`M_1`$ and $`M_2`$ determine the mean redshift, $`z_f`$, and time period, $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_{gc}`$, for the formation of old GCs. In order to be consistent with observations I consider three cases: case (i) halos with virial temperature $`2\times 10^4<T_{vir}<5\times 10^4`$ K; case (ii) $`5\times 10^4<T_{vir}<10^5`$ K; and case (iii) $`10^5<T_{vir}<5\times 10^5`$ K. In case (i),(ii) and (iii) $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_{gc}=2.2,3.7`$ and 5.2 Gyr, respectively, and the GC formation rate has a peak at $`z=7.5,6`$ and 4.6, respectively. Disk and spheroid stars form in halos with $`M_{DM}>M_m`$. At $`z>10`$ I assume that the first objects form in halos with $`M_m`$ corresponding to a halo virial temperature $`T_{vir}=5\times 10^3`$ K. At $`z<10`$ only objects with $`T_{vir}>2\times 10^4`$ K can form (see Ricotti et al., 2002b). The comoving star formation rate, given by $`\dot{\rho }_{}=\overline{\rho }\dot{\omega }_{}^f`$, where $`\overline{\rho }=5.51\times 10^9`$ M Mpc-3 is the mean baryon density at $`z=0`$, is shown in Fig. 1. The points show the observed SFR from Lanzetta et al. (2002).

In Fig. 2 I show $`𝒩_{ph}`$ for GCs (thick lines) and for galaxies (thin lines) defined as,

$`𝒩_{ph}^{gc}`$ $`=`$ $`\eta f_{di}{\displaystyle \frac{d\omega _{gc}^f}{dt}}t_H(z),`$ (6)
$`𝒩_{ph}^{}`$ $`=`$ $`\eta f_{esc}{\displaystyle \frac{d\omega _{}^f}{dt}}t_H(z).`$ (7)
The thick solid, dashed and short-dashed lines show $`𝒩_{ph}^{gc}`$ for case (i), (ii) and (iii), respectively. For comparison, I show (thin solid line) $`𝒩_{ph}^{}`$ assuming $`f_{esc}`$ $`=0.1\times \mathrm{exp}[z/2]`$, chosen to fit the observed values (squares) of $`𝒩_{ph}^{}`$ at $`z=2,3,4`$ (Miralda-Escudé et al., 2000). The thin dashed line shows $`𝒩_{ph}^{}`$ assuming constant $`f_{esc}`$ $`=5`$%.

## 4 Conclusions

Observed Lyman break galaxies at $`z3`$ are probably the most luminous starburst galaxies of a population that produced the bulk of the stars in our universe. Their formation epoch corresponds to the assembly of the bulges of spirals and ellipticals. Nevertheless the observed upper limit on $`f_{esc}`$ from Lyman break galaxies is $`f_{esc}`$ $`\stackrel{<}{}10`$%, insufficient to reionize the IGM according to numerical simulations. Recently Ferguson et al. (2002), using different arguments, have claimed that the radiation emitted from Lyman break galaxies is insufficient to reionize the IGM assuming a continuous star formation mode.

I propose that GCs could produce enough ionizing photons to reionize the IGM. Assuming $`f_{di}=2`$ (i.e., during their evolution GCs have lost half of their original mass), I find $`\omega _{gc}^f0.1`$%, small compared to the total $`\omega _{}^f10`$% at $`z=0`$. But GCs are around 12-13 Gyr old and, if they formed between $`7<z<5`$ (in about 0.5 Gyr), the expected total $`\omega _{}^f`$ formed during this time period is about $`\omega _{}^f1`$%, only 10 times larger than $`\omega _{gc}^f`$. Assuming $`f_{di}=20`$, expected from the results of N-body simulations, I find $`\omega _{gc}^f1`$%, suggesting that GC formation is an important mode of star formation at high-redshift. The special star formation mode required to explain the formation of GCs suggests an $`f_{esc}`$ $`1`$ from these objects. This is because $`f_{esc}`$ is dominated by the most luminous OB associations and GCs are extremely luminous, emitting $`S3\times 10^{53}`$ s-1 ionizing photons in bursts lasting 4 Myrs. Moreover, according to many models, GCs form in the hot, collisionally-ionized galaxy halo, from which all the ionizing radiation emitted can escape into the IGM. Therefore it is not too surprising, if GCs started forming before $`z=6`$, that their contribution to reionization is large. I find that the number of ionizing photons per baryon emitted in a Hubble time at $`z=6`$ by GCs is $`𝒩_{ph}^{gc}=(5.1_{3.2}^{+4.3})f_{di}/\mathrm{\Delta }t_{gc}>1`$, therefore sufficient to reionize the IGM even if we assume $`f_{di}=1`$. Here, $`\mathrm{\Delta }t_{gc}0.52`$ is the period of formation of the bulk of old GCs in Gyrs. Using simple calculations based on Press-Schechter formalism (see Fig. 2) I find that, if normal star formation in galaxies have $`f_{esc}`$ $`\stackrel{<}{}5`$%, GC contribution to reionization should be important. If GCs formed by thermal instability in the halo of $`T_{vir}10^5`$ K galaxies (case (iii)), the ionizing sources are located in rare peaks of the initial density field. Therefore, the mean size of intergalactic H ii regions before overlap is large and reionization is inhomogeneous on large scales.

In this letter I have considered the possibility that an increasing $`f_{esc}`$ at $`z6`$ due to GCs formation could explain IGM reionization and still be consistent with the observed values of the ionizing background at $`z<3`$. Alternatively an increasing production of ionizing photons per baryon converted into stars, due to a varying IMF, would have similar effects on the IGM. Chemical evolution studies should be able to distinguish between these two scenarios.


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# The far-ultraviolet emission of early-type galaxies

## 1 Introduction

The UV emission discovered in early-type galaxies as early as 1969 by the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory-2 (Code et al. cod0 (1972)) is now currently interpreted in terms of low-mass, helium-burning stars in extreme horizontal branch and subsequent stages of evolution. O’Connell (oco (1999)) has extensively reviewed the built-up of that interpretation thanks to the combination of high quality UV data and new generations of theoretical models for advanced stellar evolution (e.g. Greggio & Renzini gre1 (1990), gre2 (1999) and references therein). The former include spectra with the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) (e.g. Ferguson & Davidsen fer (1993), Brown et al. bro0 (1995)) and high angular resolution images with HST (e.g. Brown et al. bro2 (1998), bro3 (2000)). Notorious difficulties for converging on a well accepted interpretation were the large variety of advanced stages of stellar evolution and the sensitivity of UV production to small changes of physical properties.

Because the most detailed observations are both time consuming and intrinsically difficult, the current interpretation of the far-UV radiation from early-type galaxies relies on a small number of objects. In addition to the bulge of M31, only 7 elliptical galaxies were spectroscopically observed with HUT; it is not yet possible to resolve UV-bright stars down to the horizontal branch beyond M31 (bulge) and its companions (Brown et al. bro3 (2000)). Studying a large sample of early-type galaxies would therefore require the use of cruder approaches, such as broad-band and integrated UV fluxes, but would still be of interest. It would help to understand the generality of the conclusions reached and to distinguish the possibility and frequency of low level of star formation in the population of early-type galaxies. Although this latter phenomenon is now excluded as a general explanation for the UV emission, it may well be present in a number of objects and have implications on galaxy evolution.

A sample of 32 early-type galaxies was already studied by Burstein et al. bur (1988) (hereafter BBBFL) and, albeit observed spectroscopically with IUE, was mostly discussed in terms of their ($`1550V`$) color (see also Dorman et al. dor (1995)). With the availability of several UV imaging surveys performed in the IUE-era (Brosch bros2 (1999), O’Connell oco (1999)), it is now possible to study a larger sample of early-type galaxies in the far-UV. Such a sample would have the advantage to be essentially UV-flux selected and to potentially reveal UV emission from unexpected early-type objects. This is a significant difference with the BBBFL sample made of objects with substantial record in the refereed literature and selected for one-by-one spectroscopic investigation. An additional motivation of our approach is to prepare ourselves to the extended UV survey of GALEX (Martin et al. mar (1999)) and what should be learnt of the early-type galaxies.

The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes how our sample of UV selected early-type galaxies has been built and is complemented by a wealth of data at other wavelengths. The $`UVV`$ color distribution and color-color diagram are presented in sections 3 and 4. The analysis follows in section 5. We first take advantage of the fact that the BBBFL sample contains most of the objects that have been studied in details to emphasize a possible relationship between the UV color and the categories of stars responsible for the UV radiation. We then discuss the relative frequencies of these categories of stars in the population of early-type galaxies, the possible cases of recent star formation, the role of global properties such as the luminosity, the relation with the Mg2 spectral line index and the UV light profiles in a few objects.

## 2 The sample

### 2.1 Data origin

The sample analysed in this work is composed of all the optically selected early-type galaxies (type $``$ S0a) belonging to the Zwicky catalogue (CGCG, Zwicky et al. 1961- (1968)) ($`m_{pg}`$ $``$ 15.7) detected in the UV by the FOCA experiment during the observations of the Coma, A1367 and Cancer clusters (Donas et al. don2 (1990), don3 (1995), private communication). To these, we add all the early-type galaxies belonging to the Virgo Cluster Catalogue (VCC; Binggeli et al. bin (1985)) ($`m_{pg}`$ $``$ 18) detected by SCAP, FOCA and FAUST in the direction of Virgo (Donas et al. don1 (1987), private communication; Deharveng et al. deh (1994)). The sample is thus composed primarily of cluster galaxies, even though some background or foreground objects are also included. Galaxies whose UV detection is doubtful because of confusion with nearby objects, (such as VCC 311), unless specified, have been systematically excluded. The sample, largely dominated by objects observed with FOCA (85%), is complete to a UV magnitude of about 18 whereas only 7 objects come from the less deep images of SCAP and FAUST. Two additional early-type galaxies identified by Brosch et al. (bros1 (1997)) in their detailed study of FAUST images in the direction of the Virgo cluster have not been included. In order to preserve homogeneity and UV-flux selection, the sample was not extended with other sources of UV data (UIT archives, O’Connell et al. oco0 (1992); Maoz et al. mao (1996); Rifatto et al. rif (1995) and references therein).

The final combined sample comprises 82 early-type galaxies, including a few dwarf ellipticals and spheroidals. The accuracy of the morphological classification is excellent for the Virgo galaxies (Binggeli et al. bin (1985)). Because of the higher distance, the morphology of galaxies belonging to the other surveyed regions suffers from an uncertainty of about 1.5 Hubble type bins.

### 2.2 UV data and precision

Most of the UV data are total integrated magnitudes obtained at 2000 Å with the FOCA experiment described by Milliard et al. (mil (1991)). The FOCA UV magnitudes from Donas et al. (don2 (1990), don3 (1995)) have been reprocessed adopting a new zero-point calibration and a revised version of the data reduction pipeline (Donas et al., private communication). A comparison of the FOCA magnitudes with IUE data (stars and galaxies) has revealed large fluctuations from object to object, with the FOCA fluxes being on average 0.3 mag brighter. Because of this dispersion and various possible explanations on a case by case basis, we decided to stay on the FOCA calibration in order to be consistent with previous works. The comparison with IUE will again be addressed in the specific context of the colors of the galaxies in section 3. The UV magnitudes at 1650 Å of the additional galaxies (6) from FAUST have been transformed to 2000 Å using the relation $`UV`$(2000 Å) = $`UV`$(1650 Å) $`+`$ 0.2. This relation is intended to account for the average spectral trend of ellipticals between 1650 Å and 2000 Å as well as the comparison of FAUST magnitudes with other UV measurements (Deharveng et al. deh (1994)). The estimated error on the (FOCA) UV magnitude due to the flux extraction procedure and to the linearisation of the photographic plates is 0.3 mag in general, but it ranges from 0.2 mag for bright galaxies to 0.5 mag for weak sources. This, combined with the previously discussed uncertainty on the zero point, gives errors on the UV magnitudes of $``$ 0.5 mag. This uncertainty should be reminded when discussing color trends in our sample; it is extremely large in comparison with the current range of optical colors (as $`BV`$) but should be seen in the context of the much larger range of variation of the UV color. A comparison of 4 galaxies measured with both FOCA and FAUST (for homogeneity only the FOCA data have been retained in the sample) shows the FOCA fluxes 0.55 mag fainter than FAUST fluxes on average. This number suggests a possible systematic effect but remains consistent with our evaluation of the uncertainty of UV magnitudes.

### 2.3 Complementary data

Optical data, available for 63 objects in the V, 72 in the B and 51 in the U band are from Gavazzi & Boselli (gav1 (1996)) and Boselli et al. (private communication). NIR data, from Nicmos3 observations, are taken from Boselli et al. (bos1 (1997)) and Gavazzi et al. (2000a , gav7 (2001)) (74 galaxies). From these data we derive total (extrapolated to infinity) magnitudes $`H_T`$ determined as described in Gavazzi et al. (2000b ) with typical uncertainties of $``$ 10 %. For a few objects we derive the H luminosity from K band measurements assuming an average $`HK`$ color of 0.25 mag (independent of type; see Gavazzi et al. 2000b ) when the true $`HK`$ color is not available. The estimated error on the optical and near-IR magnitudes is 0.1 mag.

The multifrequency data used in this work are listed in Table 1, arranged as follow:

* Column 1: VCC designation, from Binggeli et al. (bin (1985)) for Virgo galaxies, or CGCG (Zwicky et al. 1961- (1968)) for A1367, Coma and Cancer cluster galaxies.
* Column 2: UGC name.
* Column 3: NGC/IC name.
* Column 4: morphological type as given in the VCC for Virgo galaxies or in Gavazzi & Boselli (gav1 (1996)) for the other objects.
* Column 5: photographic magnitude from the VCC for Virgo galaxies, from the CGCG for the other objects.
* Columns 6 and 7: major and minor optical diameters. For VCC galaxies the diameters are measured on the du Pont plates at the faintest detectable isophote. For CGCG galaxies these are the major and minor optical diameters ($`a_{25}`$, $`b_{25}`$) (in arcmin) derived as explained in Gavazzi & Boselli (gav1 (1996))
* Column 8: distance, in Mpc. Distances to the various substructures of Virgo are as given in Gavazzi et al. (1999a ). A distance of 91.3 and 96 Mpc is assumed for galaxies in the A1367 and Coma clusters respectively. For Cancer cluster galaxies and for background and foreground objects the distance is determined from the redshift assuming $`H_0`$= 75 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{Mpc}^1`$.
* Column 9: cluster membership as defined in Gavazzi et al. (1999a ) for Virgo and in Gavazzi et al. (1999b ) for A1367 and Coma. P is for pairs, G for groups, BkgV for galaxies in the background of Virgo, ForC for objects in the foreground of Coma.
* Columns 10 to 15: K, H, J, V, B and U magnitudes determined as in Gavazzi & Boselli (gav1 (1996)), corrected for galactic extinction according to Burstein & Heiles (burstein (1982)). S0a galaxies are corrected for internal extinction as in Gavazzi & Boselli (gav1 (1996)).
* Column 16 and 17: $`UV`$ (2000 Å) magnitude corrected for galactic extinction according to Burstein & Heiles (burstein (1982)) assuming $`A(UV)=2.1\times A(B)`$ (all the targets being high galactic latitude objects, $`A(UV)`$ 0.3 mag), and reference.
* Column 18: Mg2 data for the nuclear regions from Golev & Prugniel (gol (1998)) and Jorgensen (jor (1999)). The index is defined as in Worthey (wor (1994)).
* Column 19: logarithm of the H band luminosity, in solar units, determined from the relation log$`L_H`$ = 11.36 + 2log$`D`$ $``$ 0.4$`H_T`$, where $`H_T`$ is the total extrapolated $`H`$ magnitude and $`D`$ the distance (in Mpc).
* Column 20: the $`C_{31}`$ index, defined as the ratio of the radii containing 75% to 25% of the total H-band light of the galaxy.
* Column 21: comments to individual objects

Comments to individual objects:

Virgo:

49: low-luminosity dwarf Seyfert nucleus (Ho et al. ho (1994))

731: $`H\alpha +[NII]`$E.W.=2 Å (Kennicutt & Kent ken0 (1983))

763: Low Excitation Radio Galaxy (NED); $`H\alpha +[NII]`$E.W.=1 Å (Trinchieri & Di Serego Alighieri tri (1991)); also measured with FAUST (Deharveng et al. deh (1994))

781: interacting with NGC 4388? (Corbin et al. cor (1988))

881: M86; $`H\alpha +[NII]`$E.W.=13 Å (Trinchieri & Di Serego Alighieri tri (1991)); also measured with FAUST (Deharveng et al. deh (1994))

944: classified “ SB0: sp” in NED

1003: $`H\alpha +[NII]`$E.W.=5 Å (Boselli & Gavazzi bos2 (2002))

1030: interacting with NGC 4438; LINER

1226: M49; $`H\alpha +[NII]`$E.W.=1 Å (Kennicutt & Kent ken0 (1983)); also measured with FAUST (Deharveng et al. deh (1994))

1316: M87; radio galaxy; $`H\alpha +[NII]`$E.W.=2 Å (Boselli & Gavazzi bos2 (2002)); also measured with FAUST (Deharveng et al. deh (1994))

1327: bright star superposed (Prugniel et al. pru (1987))

1499: unresolved in UV from the nearby companion VCC 1491; given the extreme red color of VCC 1491 and the blue color of VCC 1499 (Gavazzi et al. gav7 (2001)), the UV source should be identified to VCC 1499 (instead of VCC 1491 in Deharveng et al. deh (1994)). VCC 1499 is as blue as a dwarf irregular and has a spectrum with the characteristics of a post-starburst galaxy (PSB) (Gavazzi et al. gav7 (2001)).

Coma/A1367/Cancer:

97125: $`H\alpha +[NII]`$E.W.=26 Å (Moss et al. mos (1998)), $`H\alpha +[NII]`$E.W.=21 Å (Gavazzi et al. gav2 (1998))

97127: Low Excitation Radio Galaxy (NED)

98078: Mrk 758, $`H\alpha +[NII]`$E.W.=82 Å (Gavazzi et al. gav2 (1998))

119030: classified “spiral” in NED

119053: $`H\alpha +[NII]`$E.W.=42 Å (Kennicutt et al. ken (1984))

127032: classified as (R)SAB(s)ab in NED

127045: $`H\alpha +[NII]`$E.W.=13 Å (Moss et al. mos (1998))

160039: radio galaxy (NED)

160044: binary system

160068: AGN (NED); Balmer absorption lines (Sparke et al. spa (1980)); PSB (Caldwell et al. cal (1993))

160104: PSB (Caldwell et al. cal1 (1997))

160231: cD galaxy

160241: cD galaxy

160249: classified as “SA0 pec sp” in NED

References to the UV data: 1: FAUST data (Deharveng et al. deh (1994)); 2: SCAP data (Donas et al. don1 (1987)); 3: Donas et al. don2 (1990) (reprocessed data, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$zero-point=$`+`$0.30 mag, see text); 4: Donas et al. don3 (1995) (reprocessed data, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$zero-point=$``$0.12 mag, see text); 5–9: Donas et al. private communication (5, Coma-A1367), (6, Virgo center), (7, Cancer), (8, Virgo M100), (9, Virgo M49)

## 3 The $`UVV`$ color distribution

The scatter of the early-type galaxies in the UV in comparison with their behavior in the optical to near-infrared domain was noted as early as the first OAO-2 observations (Code & Welch cod1 (1981)). This scatter was confirmed by subsequent observations (e.g. Burstein et al. bur (1988)), and it was shown as well that the scatter among UV colors of galaxies with similar types was decreasing from early to late types (Code & Welch cod2 (1982), Smith & Cornett smi (1982), Deharveng et al. deh (1994)).

The distribution of the $`UVV`$ colors of 63 galaxies of our sample are illustrated in Figure 1 and compared with that of the ($`1550V`$) colors of BBBFL. The distributions are similar in several aspects: a peak near a color of 4, a relatively sharp cut-off on the red side, a more shallow decrease on the blue side (from color 4 to 2) and a few “outliers” on the very blue side (precise definition and implications to be seen later on). In both cases the bulk of the objects have colors in the range 2 to 5 or so.

For five objects in common (NGC 4374, NGC 4406, NGC 4472, NGC 4486, NGC 4889), our $`UVV`$ colors are found 1.4 mag redder on average than those of BBBFL. Three factors may account for this disturbingly large difference. First, our ($`2000V`$) colors are less influenced than the ($`1550V`$) colors by the UV-upturn phenomenon. Second, our measurements are integrated whereas the IUE data are for a 10″$`\times `$ 20″ region centered on the nucleus, and all objects (except M32) are known to become redder in $`UVB`$ at large radii (Ohl et al. ohl (1998)). Last but not least, the UV flux is integrated in a smaller area than the V light in the case of objects that are well resolved with FOCA; for 3 of the five objects in common, this factor would reduce the $`UVV`$ color by about 0.7 mag. For this reason and since the peak of our histogram (Figure 1) appears only slightly redder than the BBBFL distribution, we remain confident that a large discrepancy in $`UVV`$ colors is not the rule.

It is important to note that the increase in the number of objects from the blue to the peak at a color of $``$ 4 is opposite to the trend expected from selection effects with UV-flux limited samples. These effects decrease the volume for finding red galaxies, hence their proportion relative to blue galaxies. This very trend certainly plays a role in the cutoff at color $`>`$ 4.

## 4  Color-color diagram

The scatter of the $`UVV`$ color can be studied as a function of the $`BV`$ color in the color-color diagram of Figure 2. The objects can be roughly separated in two groups. A first group, forming a vertical plume with red $`BV`$ colors ($`>`$ 0.9), is consistent with the idea that the population of stars responsible for the UV emission and whose changing proportions would explain the scatter in the $`UVV`$ color are expected to make virtually undetectable contribution at visible wavelengths (O’Connell oco (1999)). A second group is made of objects that get bluer in $`BV`$ and $`UVV`$. In addition to star formation, many factors such as the color-magnitude relation and the metallicity have already been identified as responsible for a scatter (or blueing) in the $`BV`$ color of elliptical galaxies.

In this presentation we have ignored the fact that the $`UVV`$ and $`BV`$ colors are not completely independent variables. We have verified that the results are similar in the $`UVB`$ vs. $`BV`$ diagram but we keep using the $`UVV`$ color for comparison with the previous work of BBBFL.

In spite of the differences in the observing wavelength and the measurement aperture, the BBBFL data have been plotted in Figure 2 for comparison. These data do not populate the diagram in the same specific areas as our data (for instance a significant number of objects with $`UVV`$ color as blue as 2 but red in $`BV`$ are added) but follow the same trends. The $`BV`$ colors needed to display the color-color diagram for the BBBFL galaxies have been obtained from the NASA Extragalactic Database. They refer to the integrated light whereas the $`UVV`$ colors are for the IUE aperture, which may be a problem in some cases. These $`BV`$ colors have also been found to be on average 0.02 mag bluer than the $`BV`$ colors used for our data points and derived from Table 1; this may explain a small horizontal offset between the two datasets in Figure 2. There was no attempt to merge the data into a larger and unique dataset, given the differences described above and the UV-selected origin of our data.

## 5 Analysis

### 5.1 Context

It is currently thought that HB stars and their progeny are responsible for the far-UV emission in elliptical galaxies. The variety of observed UV spectral energy distributions is explained by changing proportions of stars along the zero-age HB (ZAHB) and the following post-HB evolution tracks. Three main classes of post-HB evolution are distinguished, each evolving from a different range of effective temperature on the ZAHB: from the red end of the HB, the stars evolve as post-AGB stars, at hotter temperatures they follow post-early AGB evolution and the bluest follow AGB-Manqué evolution (e.g. Brown et al. bro2 (1998)). The ZAHB location (hence the specific evolutionary track) is driven mainly by the envelope mass: the lower this mass, the hotter is the ZAHB location. The envelope mass itself depends critically on the mass losses during the red giant phase. The real populations involve a mixture of these different categories of stars. On one hand, the PAGB-stars fail to produce enough UV because they are UV-bright for a too short period of time; nonetheless they are bright enough to be observed. On the other hand, the bluest HB stars and their progeny, if alone, would overproduce UV. The galaxies with stronger UV-upturn and bluer UV color have therefore a larger fraction of their populations evolving along these latter paths and a smaller fraction of stars evolving along the PAGB track. Brown et al. (bro1 (1997)) have attempted to place numbers on these fractions. It is generally admitted that the strongest UV-upturn does not require more than about 15 % of the evolving population passing through the hot HB phase. At the opposite, PAGB stars alone might account for the weakest UV-upturn. Nevertheless, STIS observations (Brown et al. bro3 (2000)) have shown that the hot HB is populated in the case of the weak UV-upturn galaxy M32.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that, even if star formation is ruled out as a general interpretation of the UV emission, it can still be present in a number of instances. Features in the optical spectra of some early-type galaxies have been interpreted as evidence for a low-level of star formation activity (e.g. Caldwell et al. cal (1993)); NGC 205 and NGC 5102 are well known examples of nearby early-type galaxies with direct evidence for massive star formation (Hodge hod (1973), Pritchet pri (1979)).

### 5.2 Comparison with a sample of known objects

A number of authors have developed spectral population synthesis models, based on the different families of evolutionary tracks for low-mass stars discussed above (e.g. Dorman et al. dor (1995), Tantalo et al. tan (1996), Yi et al. yi1 (1997)). The UV output is found to be extremely sensitive to the parameters used, chief among them the mass loss on the giant branch. Conversely, infering something on the various categories of low-mass stars responsible for the UV flux is difficult, if not impossible, from observations as limited as a broad band measurement. Until the physical processes driving the distribution of stars along the ZAHB and the post-HB evolution are better understood our interpretation of UV color will remain limited to analogies that can be established with a few objects used as references.

The BBBFL sample contains a significant number of known objects for which a correspondance can be made between the $`UVV`$ color and the more detailed information available. They are NGC 1399 observed with HUT by Ferguson et al. (fer0 (1991)), the 6 early-type galaxies observed with HUT by Brown et al. (bro0 (1995), bro1 (1997)), M31 and M32 observed with HUT (Ferguson & Davidsen, fer (1993)) and the HST (Brown et al. bro2 (1998), bro3 (2000) and references therein). NGC 205 and NGC 5102 have also been studied in details in the UV domain (Bertola et al. ber (1995), Jones et al. jon (1996), Cappellari et al. cap (1999), Deharveng et al. deh2 (1997)). All these 11 galaxies are identified in the color-color diagram of Fig. 2.

### 5.3 The relative contribution of the different families of low-mass stars in advanced stages of evolution

For the moment, we concentrate on the spread in $`UVV`$ color, irrespectively of the scatter in $`BV`$, and defer discussion of the bluest objects ($`UVV`$ $`<`$ 1.5) close to NGC 205 ($`UVV`$ = 1.19) and NGC 5102 ($`UVV`$ = 0.8) to the following subsection. Most of the objects in Fig. 2 lie in the range of UV colors 2 – 4.5 defined by the two extreme objects, M32 ($`UVV`$ = 4.5) and NGC 1399 ($`UVV`$ = 2.05) in the small sample of reference ellipticals. If the interpretation of NGC 1399 in terms of UV-bright stellar content is correct and can be extrapolated to other objects with the same $`UVV`$ color, this means that in our relatively large sample we have not found galaxies requiring a larger population of hot HB than in NGC 1399, i.e. not more than say 15 % of the evolving population passing through the hot HB. The precision in this number is of course limited by its extreme sensitivity to the envelope mass and the interplay of other parameters (Y, Z, ages). At the opposite, the objects as red as 4.5 in $`UVV`$ would be explained, if the case of M32 is representative, essentially by PAGB evolution (although population passing through the hot HB phase has been resolved in M32 by Brown et al. bro3 (2000)). Of the 7 reddest objects, with $`UVV`$ colors from 4.5 up to 5.5, 3 are among those in common with the BBBFL sample and reported with a disturbingly redder color than IUE data. These objects are likely to be affected by an integration of the UV flux in a smaller area than in the optical band and remind us of the uncertainties (including systematics) in the color-color diagram. Although uncertain, these extreme red UV colors would remain compatible with the interpretation by PAGB evolution, given the spread in envelope mass and the role of other parameters (Y, Z and ages) as illustrated by the models of Tantalo et al. (tan (1996)), Yi et al. (yi1 (1997),yi2 (1998)) and references therein.

An important feature of Figure 2 is the large fraction of galaxies with $`UVV`$ color in the bin 4 $`\pm `$ 0.4: they make 29 of the 63 galaxies displayed in Figure 2. They outnumber the objects in the bin 2.4 $`\pm `$ 0.4 by a factor 4, or 36 when the difference of volume surveyed (UV-flux limited sample) is roughly accounted for. They are not found from the same cluster as the unusually red early-type galaxies reported by Marcum et al. (marc (2001)) in the Perseus cluster. If our comparisons above are correct, this dominant number of galaxies with weak UV-upturn would imply that the PAGB stars which are necessarily present in elliptical galaxies are the main channel of evolution for the low-mass, metal-rich population. This large fraction of red objects, implying relatively young ages (e.g. Tantalo et al. tan (1996), Yi et al. yi2 (1998)), is also consistent with the age spreads that are now being reported for early-type galaxies (e.g. Trager et al. tra (2000)). At the opposite, the scarcity of objects with $`UVV`$ in the range 2.5 - 3.2 suggests a sort of bimodality along the ZAHB or something special with the group of six objects (including NGC 1399) reported with a strong UV-upturn with IUE.

Further interpretation, either on the possibility of a minor contribution of stars passing through the hot HB in the reddest galaxies, or on the factors controling the distribution at hot temperatures along the ZAHB, would require a larger number of objects and a better photometry than that offered by the present data.

### 5.4 The case for recent star formation

Our sample contains seven objects with UV color bluer than 1.4, comparable to those of NGC 205 ($`UVV`$ = 1.19) and NGC 5102 ($`UVV`$ = 0.80). By analogy it is tempting to say these seven objects also harbour some residual star formation. While this conclusion seems reasonable for the bluest of these objects, it is more arbitrary for the others. There is indeed no solid argument to draw a line between galaxies with and without residual star formation. It is very possible that an UV color slightly bluer than 2.0 may be explained by a more extreme than usual mixture of evolved low-mass stars and does not require any additional younger population. Conversely, it is conceivable that a low level of star formation can hide in a few objects with relatively red UV colors.

We have examined individually the 7 objects with $`UVV`$ $`<1.4`$ and suspected star formation. Hints of star formation are known in three of them, CGCG 119053, CGCG 97125 and the bluest VCC 1499 (see notes to Table 1). VCC 49 (NGC 4168) has a low-luminosity Seyfert nucleus and CGCG 119030 reminds us that misclassification is also a possibility (see notes to Table 1). The two last, VCC 616 and CGCG 119086, have so far nothing special. This analysis reasonably confirms our assertion, based on the comparison with NGC 205 and NGC 5102, that the objects blue in $`UVV`$ (say, $`<`$ 1.4) may have some residual star formation. It also suggests that the UV light has the potential to sort out new cases of residual star formation.

If we now pay more attention to the location of the objects in the color-color diagram of Figure 2, three (VCC 616, VCC 49 and CGCG 97125) of the 7 objects with $`UVV`$ $`<1.4`$ are puzzling by their relatively red $`BV`$ whereas residual star formation is expected to move the objects to the blue in both colors. We have no explanations for this situation. The location of NGC 205 also deserves attention: its $`BV`$ refers to the integrated light whereas the $`UVV`$ from BBBFL refers to the central region; a $`BV`$ of the order of 0.65, as expected from the surface photometry of Lee (lee (1996)), would be more appropriate for the comparison. This would isolate further the three red ($`BV`$) objects discussed above.

For the 19 galaxies in Table 1 without an $`UVV`$ color, the $`UVm_{pg}`$ color can be a useful approximation, especially for sorting out blue objects as discussed in this subsection. Of the five objects with $`UVm_{pg}`$ $`<0`$ (VCC 1809, VCC 1111, CGCG 98078, VCC 914, VCC 288), one again (CGCG 98078) is known to have an extremely strong H$`\alpha `$ emission (see notes to Table 1).

It is difficult to translate such signs of on-going star formation into something more quantitative. For one, it is unknown whether the residual star formation takes place in an elliptical with a weak or a strong UV-upturn as caused by low-mass evolved stars. Second, the same UV color excess may result from different combinations of burst strength, duration and ages. The situation is illustrated for an instantaneous burst in Figure 3 displaying the combinations of strength and age that would make the $`UVV`$ color of an host elliptical bluer than a given limit ($`UVV`$ of 1.4 and 1 adopted in Fig. 3). The time evolution of the spectral energy ditribution from the burst has been calculated with STARBURST 99 (Leitherer et al. lei (1999)). A mass-to-visual light ratio of 7 M L$`{}_{V,\mathrm{}}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{1}`$ is assumed for the host elliptical (Charlot et al. cha (1996), Bressan et al. bre (1994)), allowing us to define the burst strength as a fraction of the mass of the host and to calculate the composite color.

If a constant star formation is assumed, it is also possible with STARBURST 99 (Leitherer et al. lei (1999)) to calculate the rate which would make an host elliptical bluer than a given $`UVV`$ limit; the result has, however, to be expressed per unit V-band luminosity and becomes independent of duration for period over 100 Myrs. With the limit of $`UVV`$ = 1.4 as in Fig. 3 we obtain $`9.2\times 10^{12}`$ M yr-1 L$`{}_{V,\mathrm{}}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{1}`$ and $`4.3\times 10^{12}`$ M yr-1 L$`{}_{V,\mathrm{}}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{1}`$ for an host with a $`UVV`$ color of 4 and 2 respectively. For an elliptical with $`M_V=21`$, this translates into rates of 0.2 and 0.09 M yr-1 respectively. Such numbers are comparable with the rate of gas shed by stellar evolution in early-type galaxies (e.g. Faber & Gallagher fab (1976)). As noted by O’Connell (oco (1999)), a complete recycling into new stars is therefore excluded by UV observations as a regular phenomenon in early-type galaxies. In contrast, the few objects bluer than the limits adopted suggest special events triggered by interaction and gas transfer. Constraints on a partial gas recycling would require to appreciate lower level of star formation, which is not yet permitted by the scatter of UV colors and the present understanding of the UV emission from HB stars and post-HB progeny.

### 5.5 The scatter in $`BV`$ and relationship to other properties

An important feature of Figure 2 is the significant number of objects that have relatively blue $`BV`$ color (say $`<`$ 0.85), in contrast to the galaxies in the red vertical plume, as exemplified by the 4 reference objects (NGC 1399, NGC 4649, NGC 4552 and NGC 4486) which have red $`BV`$ $``$ 0.95 (with $`UVV`$ $``$ 2.2).

We have first examined whether a blueing in $`BV`$ may be explained by the variety of evolution paths responsible for the scatter of the UV color. We have not found any evidence for a blueing and a scatter of the $`BV`$ color in the current stellar population models reproducing the UV color (Bressan et al. bre (1994), Tantalo et al. tan (1996)).

Residual star formation is a possible explanation, especially since the correlation between the $`UVV`$ and $`BV`$ extends into the domain of the bluest $`UVV`$ galaxies that have been discussed in terms of star formation in the previous subsection. However, because the galaxies blue in $`BV`$ are not all very blue in $`UVV`$, it is also reasonable to consider other factors such as the diversity of luminosity and morphological type.

An individual examination of extreme objects is instructive. Of the seven objects with $`BV`$ $`<`$ 0.75 (and $`UVV`$ $`>`$ 1.5), three are dwarf ellipticals (VCC 608, VCC 781, VCC 951), a category of objects known to have bluer $`BV`$ than regular ellipticals (e.g. Ferguson, fer1 (1994)). Three are S0 galaxies (CGCG 127032, CGCG 160068, CGCG 160120); among them, CGCG 127032 (NGC 3821) is perhaps misclassified (see note to Table 1) and has a significant amount of neutral hydrogen (Eder et al. ede (1991)), CGCG 160068 (NGC 4853) has strong Balmer absorption lines (see note to Table 1) and is the bluest in $`UVV`$ of all seven. The last object (of the seven), VCC 1327 (NGC 4486A), should be discarded because a bright star is superimposed and probably contaminates the photometric measurements.

The potential role of the luminosity (and mass) has also been explored in various color-magnitude diagrams built with our sample. Figure 4 is an example of these diagrams with the H-band luminosity. The main trend of variation shows the blueing (and scatter) of the $`BV`$ color with the low-luminosity objects, among them the three Virgo dwarf ellipticals discussed above. The branch leaving this main trend at log($`L_H`$) $``$ 11 and $`BV`$ $``$ 0.75 is caused by objects of the Coma cluster with possible misclassification due to the distance and signs of star formation as discussed above. Interestingly, this branch is comparable to that followed by spiral galaxies in a more general study of the photometric and structural properties of galaxies (Scodeggio et al. sco (2002)).

With an interpretation of the scatter in $`BV`$ more in terms of luminosity effects than star formation (both are not exclusive), it remains to understand the apparent lack of galaxies blue in $`BV`$ ($`<`$ 0.75 as above) and red in $`UVV`$ (say, $``$ 4). This feature contributes to enhance the correlation between the $`UVV`$ and $`BV`$ colors reported for a number of objects in the color-color diagram. There is probably a selection effect in the sense that a galaxy with $`UVV`$ = 4 and a $`BV`$ color implying an absolute magnitude $`>17`$ would fall below the UV detection limit at the distance of Virgo.

### 5.6 The Mg2\- UV color correlation

The correlation found between the UV color and the spectral line index Mg2, with the color being bluer in more metal-rich galaxies (Faber fab1 (1983), BBBFL), has played a crucial role in establishing evolved low-mass stars rather than massive stars as the main source of UV emission in early-type systems. In contrast, the 42 objects of our sample that have both an $`UVV`$ color and a Mg2 index do not show such a correlation (Figure 5). There are several possible explanations for this difference.

First, the Mg2 index obtained from the literature refers to the central regions whereas our $`UVV`$ color refers to the integrated light. This may account for some of the scatter in Fig.5 but not for the lack of correlation, as shown by the amplitudes of aperture correction displayed by Golev & Prugniel (gol (1998)).

Second, the Mg2-UV correlation of BBBFL is more apparent (as in Dorman et al. dor (1995)) after removing galaxies with activity or on-going star formation. In such domains of the plot, we also have data points that might be removed on the same criteria.

Third and more important, Fig. 5 shows that our data do not contradict the BBBFL correlation in terms of location in the plot but are clumped within a narrower domain than the BBBFL data. This feature, combined with the relatively large dispersion at a given Mg2 index, is in agreement with the idea (Dorman et al. dor (1995)) that the correlation may arise from distinct classes of galaxies rather than from a continuum of properties. Most of our data would belong to an intermediate group with modest dependence of UV colors on Mg2.

At the interpretation level the lack of correlation is not so embarrassing since the dominant factor for the production of UV light is not the metallicity but the distribution of envelope masses on the ZAHB, which is itself determined by mass loss on the giant branch. The explanation for the correlation would be that mass-loss parameter increases with Z (Dorman et al. dor (1995), O’Connell oco (1999)). In contrast, the current correlation of the $`BV`$ color with metal abundance, driven by opacity effects in stellar atmospheres, is equally clear in the two samples with the color getting redder as the Mg2 index increases.

### 5.7 UV light profile and color gradient

Four galaxies in our sample have a significant angular extent that allowed us to derive a radial UV profile and $`UVB`$ color profile, according to procedures described by Gavazzi et al. (2000b ). The angular resolution of $``$20″ in the UV images prevents any conclusion to be reached within a radius of 20″, a domain where most of the galaxies are known to exhibit a plateau in $`UVB`$ color (Ohl et al. ohl (1998)). Beyond that radius and up to 50″, the $`UVB`$ color of M87 displays a reddening of 0.7 mag comparable to that reported by Ohl et al. (ohl (1998)) and then reaches a plateau up to 150″, beyond the measurements with UIT (Ohl et al. ohl (1998)). In all three other objects (NGC 4374, NGC 4406 and NGC 4429) the angular extent is less and the external data points have low precision; NGC 4374 and NGC 4406 at least do not seem to support a reddening as reported by Ohl et al. (ohl (1998)) in all their objects except M32.

## 6 Prospects for the GALEX survey

The future GALEX survey (e.g. Martin et al. mar (1999)) will considerably increase the number of flux measurements of galaxies in the far-UV. Adopting the counts of early-type systems of Marzke et al. (marz (1998)), assuming a limiting UV magnitude of 18 and a simplified mixture of ellipticals with two $`UVV`$ colors (4 and 2, in proportion 4 to 1 as in the present paper), we estimate that GALEX may detect about 4400 early-type galaxies in 20,000 square degrees.

The sheer size of the sample would allow us to explore the role of many parameters in the UV properties themselves. In combination with the uniformity of the UV-flux selection, it should be possible to expand over the two major issues addressed here, the relative proportion of the different categories of evolved stars responsible for the UV emission and the relative frequency of residual star formation activity. From then and the measurement of the volume surveyed, it should be possible to estimate the volume density of star formation in early-type galaxies. Such an evaluation was not possible with our present sample because of the small number of objects, which in addition were mostly cluster galaxies.

The GALEX survey will also provide spectral information not available in the present sample, in the form of two UV bands (and low-resolution spectra for some of the objects). Models based on two UV bands and developed by Dorman et al. (dor (1995)), Yi et al. (yi1 (1997), yi2 (1998)) will help to take advantage of this additional information.

## 7 Conclusions

We have assembled a sample of 82 early-type galaxies with a flux measurement in the far-ultraviolet. In addition to more than doubling the number of objects, this sample has the advantage to be essentially UV-flux selected. The following has emerged from the analysis.

1) The large scatter of the $`UVV`$ color in comparison with the colors in the optical is confirmed. As shown with a small number of objects studied previously in much detail, the color spread between 2 and 5 might be explained by changing proportions of stars along the ZAHB and the following post-HB evolutionary tracks.

2) The galaxies with red $`UVV`$ ($`4`$) colors (or weak UV upturn) outnumber those with blue $`UVV`$ ($`2`$) colors (or strong UV upturn) in our sample. If the current interpretation of the UV-upturn can be extended to our sample, the PAGB tracks would be the most common evolution path among elliptical galaxies. Only a minority of elliptical galaxies would need a fraction of their stars evolving from the blue part of the ZAHB. The GALEX survey should considerably refine this finding, including possible differences between the various categories of early-type galaxies.

3) Few blue objects ($`UVV`$ $`<`$ 1.5) may harbour some residual star formation as shown by the examples of NGC 205 and NGC 5102. The implication in terms of the cosmic density of the star formation rate in early-type galaxies should await for a more extended survey like GALEX.

4) For a fraction of the objects, the scatter of the $`UVV`$ color is accompanied by a scatter in the $`BV`$ color. The latter should be caused by the variety of morphological types and luminosities in the sample rather than the evolutionary features explaining the UV emission.

5) The correlation between the $`UVV`$ color and the Mg2 spectral index is not found. This is in line with the idea that the UV flux is not driven by the metallicity but by the mass loss along the giant branch that determines the envelope mass on the horizontal branch.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank B. Milliard, M. Laget and M. Viton for providing new sets of UV fluxes of galaxies in advance of publication, G. Gavazzi for sharing with us a large number of complementary photometric data, and A. Donati for running for us his program on the radial light profiles. The referee, R. O’Connell, is thanked for improvements to the text and for pointing out interesting features in the data.


text:
# Constraints on Trilinear Coupling Constant 𝐴₀ in minimal Supergravity Model

## Abstract

Constraints on the common trilinear coupling constant $`A_0`$ are obtained in the minimal supergravity model. $`A_0`$ is usually given at GUT scale $`M_X`$ by-hand, and has been regarded as one of the five arbitrary parameters in this model. However, $`B(M_Z)`$ as the common bilinear coupling constant $`B`$ at the electroweak scale $`M_Z91`$(GeV) is fixed by the shape of the Higgs potential. With the renormalization group equations, this $`B(M_Z)`$ is evolved to $`B_0`$ at $`M_X`$ where a well-known relation exists between the evolved $`B_0`$ and $`A_0`$ as $`B_0=(A_01)m_0`$. Therefore, $`A_0`$ is fixed as a function of the other arbitrary parameters. In other words, the number of arbitrary parameters are reduced by this method. Additionally, large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta >40`$ is forbidden by the conditions at $`M_Z`$.

It has been considered that the minimal supergravity model contains five arbitrary parameters ($`A_0,m_0,m_{1/2},\mathrm{tan}\beta ,\text{sig}(\mu )`$), where $`A_0`$ stands for the common trilinear coupling constant of the scalar fields at the breakdown scale $`M_X2\times 10^{16}`$(GeV) of the supersymmetry. $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ is defined as the ratio $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =v_u/v_d`$ between the vacuum expectation values(VEVs) of the two Higgs doublets of the u-quark$`(v_u)`$ and of the d-quark$`(v_d)`$ sectors as usual. $`m_0`$ and $`m_{1/2}`$ are the common scalar and the common gaugino mass at $`M_X`$, respectively. $`\text{sig}(\mu )`$ means the sign of the Higgs mixing parameter $`\mu `$. There exists a well-known relation between $`A_0`$ and the bilinear coupling constant $`B_0`$ at $`M_X`$ in this modelNilles ,

$$B_0=(A_01)m_0,$$
(1)
however, of this relation have never been thought as a constraint on $`A_0`$, because both $`B_0`$ and $`m_0`$ have been also regarded as arbitrary parameters at $`M_X`$. Nevertheless, $`B(M_Z)`$ as the bilinear coupling constant $`B`$ at the electroweak scale $`M_Z91`$(GeV) is fixed by the shape of the Higgs potential. Once the bilinear coupling constant $`B`$ at $`M_Z`$ is given, corresponding $`B_0`$ (at $`M_X`$) is obtained by the evolution of the renormalization group equations(RGEs) of this model. Therefore, the conditions on $`B(M_Z)`$ fix $`A_0`$ at $`M_X`$ with Eq.(1). Furthermore, $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ is restricted by the conditions at $`M_Z`$ to realize the appropriate structure of the vacuum at $`M_Z`$. Derived constraints on $`A_0`$ and $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ are presented in the following.

The boundary conditions of the RGEs to analyse the behaviors of the parameters are given here. All the RGEs are at one-loop levelCastano ,Arason .

* Conditions at $`M_X`$

$$B_0=(A_01)m_0.$$
(2)
Note that the breakdown scale $`M_X`$ of the supersymmetry is made equal to the energy-scale of the gauge grand unification in this paper.
* Conditions at $`M_Z`$
The boundary conditions of the gauge coupling constants are given at $`M_Z`$Particle . On the Higgs sectors at $`M_Z`$,

$$\mu ^2=\frac{m_Z^2}{2}+\frac{m_{h_d}^2m_{h_u}^2\mathrm{tan}^2\beta }{\mathrm{tan}^2\beta 1},$$
(3)
$$B(M_Z)=\frac{1}{2\mu }\left(m_{h_d}^2m_{h_u}^2+2\mu ^2\right)\mathrm{sin}2\beta ,$$
(4)
where, $`m_{h_d}`$ and $`m_{h_u}`$ stand for the soft-breaking mass parameters of the d-type and the u-type quark sectors in each Higgs doublet at $`M_Z`$, respectively. Since the sign of $`\mu `$ can be positive or negative, both of these two situations will be taken place. The vacuum expectation values(VEVs) of the Higgs potential at $`M_Z`$ should keep the appropriate positivity. Moreover, the squared CP-odd Higgs mass also should be positive. Furthermore, the squared soft-breaking masses of the squarks and sleptons have to be positive, in other words, the squarks and sleptons should be kept in no VEV.
* Other conditions
The decoupling energy-scale $`M_{SUSY}`$ of the supersymmetric region is fixed to $`1`$(TeV) as usualAmaldi . On larger three(top, bottom, and tau) Yukawa coupling constants, their values are referred from the latest issue of the Particle Data GroupParticle , and fixed on their self mass-shell scales, respectively. The other(light) quarks and leptons are neglected.

The behaviors of $`A_0`$ are numerically derived by the RGE analysis under these conditions.

Figures 1a and 1b show $`A_0`$(solid curves) at $`m_{1/2}/m_0`$=0.5, 1, and 2. The authors found $`A_0`$ does not depend on each absolute values of $`m_0`$ or $`m_{1/2}`$, but only depends on the dimensionless ratio of $`m_{1/2}/m_0`$, if both of $`m_0`$ and $`m_{1/2}`$ are larger than the electroweak scale $`M_Z`$. The rightsides of the dashed curves plotted for $`0.1m_{1/2}/m_010`$ are excluded by the conditions at $`M_Z`$. Allowed region of $`A_0`$ with $`\mu >0`$ is very narrow as shown in Fig. 1a. Especially, $`A_0`$ is fixed to $`1.5`$ independent of the ratio $`m_{1/2}/m_0`$ when $`\mathrm{tan}\beta 7`$. With $`\mu <0`$, $`A_0`$ is always larger than 2, and restricted in shallowly U-shaped band on the support of $`2\mathrm{tan}\beta 40`$ as shown in Fig. 1b. The bottom of $`A_0`$ is always around $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =15`$ with $`\mu <0`$. From the qualitative point of view, the behaviors of $`A_0`$ at $`M_X`$ directly reflect ones of $`B(M_Z)`$ at $`M_Z`$ through the RGEs.

As the results of the RGE analysis, $`A_0`$ is fixed as a function of the other parameters. Such tight constraints on $`A_0`$ are derived from the common bilinear coupling constant $`B(M_Z)`$ in the Higgs sector at $`M_Z`$ and the relation $`B_0=(A_01)m_0`$ at $`M_X`$ scale. Additionally, $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ is restricted as smaller than about 40 almost independent of the other free parameters. This restriction on $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ stems from the conditions at $`M_Z`$, where the squared soft-breaking masses of the squarks and sleptons (especially, of the stau) should be positive, and the Higgs potential must keep the appropriate VEVs.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors thank H. Oka for a lot of useful advice.