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# S-wave superconductivity near a surface

## I INTRODUCTION

Experimental probes of various properties of superconductors can generally be classified into two categories – bulk and surface probes. Tunneling and photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) are examples in the second category, and while PES has only recently been utilized heavily to investigate superconductivity , tunneling has long been an important tool for determining the energy gap  and electron-phonon related structure  in superconductors. Through comparison with results from bulk probes, it has been well established that the superconducting order parameter in conventional superconductors remains robust at surfaces.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which this statement is theoretically understood. In order to do so, in the context of conventional s-wave superconductivity, we adopt a minimal model to describe s-wave superconductivity, namely the attractive Hubbard model. This choice allows us to explore various aspects of the problem that otherwise might be difficult to study: electron density dependence and weak-to-strong coupling tendencies, to name a few. The tight-binding and lattice features of the this model also make it amenable to numerical treatment. The presence of surfaces can be included in this model simply by requiring that electrons cannot hop beyond the surfaces, e.g., by imposing open boundary conditions (OBC) as opposed to periodic boundary conditions (PBC).

The paper is organized as follows. In the next section we outline the formalism used in this study. We simply solve the Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) equations , as described in a previous publication . We also compare results with those obtained from the Anderson prescription , for which a brief review is provided. In the following section we present results for the order parameter as a function of distance from a surface for various parameter regimes. It is clear that a large spatial variation occurs, dependent on coupling strength and electron density. We also examine the local density of states as a function of distance from the surface, and find significant variation close to the surface. In this work we focus our study on one dimension, in which the impact of a surface can be visualized clearly. The effects of dimensionality on the “Friedel-like” oscillations are discussed, and also some results for the local density of states are shown for a two-dimensional system.

## II FORMULATION

The use of the Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) equations  (or a corresponding quasi-classical formulation ) is required to solve for the superconducting order parameter in cases where the order parameter varies with position. This will generally occur in the vicinity of a defect or impurity, but first and foremost, will always occur near a surface. Even if the surface does not modify the material parameters, its existence causes an abrupt change in the effective pair potential, and hence the order parameter will vary in its vicinity.

What governs the length scale of the variation in the order parameter as one moves away from the surface? Three length scales enter the problem (we leave out the actual thickness of the sample, which enters in the Tomasch-Rowell experiment , or in nanograin superconductors). These are (i) the lattice spacing, a, (ii) the coherence length, $`\xi _0`$, and (iii) a measure of the inter-electron spacing, say, $`k_F^1`$, where $`k_F`$ is the Fermi wavevector. Near half-filling (i) and (iii) coincide; in the low-density limit, we will find that (iii) governs the order parameter variation. In all cases, one can observe a ‘healing length’, over which the order parameter attains its bulk value. This is qualitatively described by the coherence length, determined here with the BCS expression:

$$\xi =\sqrt{R^2},$$
(1)
where $`R^2`$ is the mean square radius of an electron pair . Strictly speaking, as defined this length has little to do with coherence (defined for a single pair). However, at low temperatures, to which we confine this study, this tends to coincide with the Ginzburg-Landau coherence length, which more properly describes the length scale of fluctuations in the order parameter away from its mean value.

The BdG equations are :

$`E_lu_l(i)={\displaystyle \underset{i^{}}{}}A_{ii^{}}u_l(i^{})+V_iu_l(i)+\mathrm{\Delta }_iv_l(i)`$ (2)
$`E_lv_l(i)={\displaystyle \underset{i^{}}{}}A_{ii^{}}v_l(i^{})V_iv_l(i)+\mathrm{\Delta }_i^{}u_l(i)`$ (3)
where

$$A_{ii^{}}=t\underset{\delta }{}\left(\delta _{i^{},i\delta }+\delta _{i^{},i+\delta }\right)\delta _{ii^{}}\mu .$$
(4)
The self-consistent potentials, $`V_i`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i`$, are given by

$`\mathrm{\Delta }_i=|U|{\displaystyle \underset{l}{}}u_l(i)v_l^{}(i)(12f_l)`$ (5)
$`V_i=|U|{\displaystyle \underset{l}{}}\left[|u_l(i)|^2f_l+|v_l(i)|^2(1f_l)\right].`$ (6)
The index $`l`$ is used to label the eigenvalues (there are $`2N`$ of them), the index $`i`$ to label the sites (1 through $`N`$), and the composite eigenvector is given by $`\left(\genfrac{}{}{0pt}{}{u_l}{v_l}\right)`$, of total length $`2N`$. The sums in Eqs. (5,6) are over positive eigenvalues only. The $`f_l`$ is the Fermi function, with argument $`\beta E_l`$, where $`\beta =1/k_BT`$ with $`T`$ the temperature, and $`k_B`$ the Boltzmann constant. The single-site electron density, $`n_i`$, is given through Eq. (6) by $`V_i=|U|n_i/2`$. As usual, the parameters $`t`$ and $`|U|`$ are the hopping integral and attractive coupling strength, $`\mu `$ is the chemical potential, and the subscript ‘$`\delta `$’ in Eq. (4) refers to nearest neighbour sites in units of the lattice spacing.

These equations are solved by iteration until full self-consistency is achieved. If (as is often the case) a given electron density is desired, a second iteration loop is inserted to vary the chemical potential $`\mu `$, until the required average density $`n\frac{1}{N}_in_i`$ is attained. The quasiparticle amplitudes are used to calculate the local density of states (LDOS) given by

$`A_i(\omega )={\displaystyle \underset{l}{}}\left[|u_l(i)|^2\delta (\omega E_l)+|v_l(i)|^2\delta (\omega +E_l)\right].`$ (7)
We will make reference to solutions to the Anderson equations in what follows. As described in the original paper  and explained for the attractive Hubbard model in Ref. , these are a BCS-like set of equations for an inhomogeneous system, for which solutions are required for the non-interacting problem. For tight-binding systems with open boundary conditions, these solutions can be found analytically. Once the single-particle states are obtained, the BCS-like equations can be solved much more easily than their BdG counterparts. As shown previously  and further in this work, they provide an excellent qualitative description of the position dependence of the order parameter and the density of states, for a fraction of the numerical cost for BdG.

## III RESULTS

### A BdG vs. Anderson

In the absence of a surface or impurity, momentum is a good quantum number, and the BCS gap equations  can be solved. For the attractive Hubbard model, the resulting order parameter turns out to be constant in momentum space as well as in real space. The presence of a surface breaks translational invariance, so that both the order parameter and the density distribution become dependent on position close to the surface. In particular they exhibit “Friedel-like” oscillations. In Figs. 1 and 2, this is demonstrated for the order parameter for a 64-site system with OBC, where site 1 and 64 represent the surfaces. As mentioned above, the only distinction in our tight-binding formalism is that there is no hopping matrix element connecting the surface sites to outside of the chain. Further refinements, such as altering the hopping matrix elements or the attractive interaction for sites near the surface, are possible; however we do not explore these possibilities here. Unlike the Ginzburg-Landau approaches, we do not impose boundary conditions on the order parameter itself: the surface behaviour of the order parameter is determined by the BdG equations themselves.

In Figs. 1 and 2, the BdG and Anderson results are shown with solid and dashed curves, respectively. Figure 1 shows the order parameter $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i`$ (scaled by the site-averaged value) as a function of site number $`i`$ for half filling, for various coupling strengths. At half filling, the order parameter is peaked at the surface and oscillates as one moves in towards the bulk. These oscillations decay over the scale roughly determined by the coherence length $`\xi `$, beyond which the order parameter relaxes to its bulk value. For sufficiently large samples, the bulk value is the same as that achieved for the homogeneous case obtained with PBC. This can be seen clearly in Fig. 1, with $`\xi `$ becoming longer as the coupling strength is decreased. An exception is the case with $`|U|=1.1t`$, where we encounter finite size effects – the system is not quite large enough to allow relaxation of the order parameter to its bulk value.

The “Friedel-like” oscillations in the order parameter are a reflection of the single-particle wave function at the Fermi level. For a given density $`n`$, the oscillation period in site number is given by $`\pi /k_Fa`$, where $`a`$ is the lattice spacing, and $`k_F`$ and $`n`$ are connected by the usual Pauli consideration. To illustrate this, we plot the order parameter with $`|U|=1.1t`$ for various values of density $`n`$ in Fig. 2. As $`n`$ decreases, $`k_F`$ decreases and the period becomes longer, as is indicated by the bar in each panel. Note moreover that the coherence length $`\xi `$, for the given coupling strength $`|U|=1.1t`$, decreases monotonically from $`n=1.0`$ to $`0.25`$: this is shown in Fig. 3(a), where we plot $`\xi `$ as a function of electron density $`n`$. In Fig. 3(b) $`\xi `$ for half filling is plotted as a function of coupling strength $`|U|`$. In these figures, we have also included some analytical forms valid in the weak-coupling limit ($`\xi _{BCS}`$), and in (b), one in the strong-coupling limit as well. Note, particularly in (b) the excellent agreement of the analytical forms with $`\xi `$ in the two extremes. It is clear that in both Figures 1 and 2 the Anderson prescription (dashed curves) captures the essential features of the “Friedel-like” oscillations in the order parameter. This is also the case for the electron density distribution (not shown).

In Fig. 4 we examine the local density of states calculated with both the BdG and Anderson formalisms. The delta functions in Eq. (7) have each been replaced by a normalized Gaussian, and the smoothing width for the results shown in all the LDOS figures is $`0.1t`$. It can be seen that the Anderson prescription reproduces the BdG results remarkably well in all details. In this figure the LDOS at various sites is shown for the same system as in Fig. 1 but with $`|U|/t=2.0`$. Near a surface the LDOS is quite different from that in the bulk (as represented by the LDOS in the middle of the sample, or by the average DOS over all sites). Although the overall LDOS as a function of energy is very different from the bulk DOS, the energy gap in the spectrum on the surface is almost the same as that in the bulk (compare the BdG results for site 1 and 32). On the other hand, it is intriguing that the energy gap is larger at every second site (site 2 and 4 in Fig. 4): this statement applies only to half filling. For quarter filling, for example, the energy gap is slightly larger at every fourth site. The Anderson results reproduce these features correctly, and their agreement with the BdG results becomes better further away from the surface. Note, however, the absence of coherence peaks in the more accurate BdG results at the surface position.

### B Friedel-like oscillations

Next we study the “Friedel-like” oscillations in more detail. In Fig. 5 the density distribution $`n_i`$ as a function of site number $`i`$ is shown for a 64-site chain (OBC, $`|U|/t=1.5`$) for various values of the average electron density $`n`$. In this figure the density distribution obtained from the BdG results (solid curves) is compared with the density distribution for the noninteracting case (dotted curves). Except for half filling, the density distributions in both the superconducting and normal states exhibit oscillations, with period determined by $`k_F^1`$. In the superconducting state the oscillations are smoothed as one moves away from the surface, as was the case with the order parameter (see Fig. 2). This distance over which the electron density becomes smooth is the same as for the order parameter, and is loosely given by the coherence length $`\xi `$. The exceptional case of half filling ($`n=1.0`$) has an electron density that is independent of site position, due to the particle-hole symmetry present at half filling (see next subsection, however).

As seen in Fig. 5, the density distribution (for nonzero $`U`$) sometimes has higher amplitude near a surface, particularly close to half filling. This behaviour is not to be confused with the decay of the “Friedel-like” oscillations in the order parameter. The former simply follows the non-interacting distribution, which results from the particle-in-a-box problem subject to the Pauli exclusion principle. With OBC the single-particle states are standing waves, and the sum of their probability distribution tends to be higher near a surface near half filling.

While the electron-electron interaction is local in this model, in two and three dimensional systems, the “Friedel-like” oscillations appear in somewhat different ways from one dimension (1D). The difference stems mainly from two factors. One is that unlike in 1D, with OBC, most of the single-particle energy levels are degenerate in higher dimensions. As a result, interference occurs among degenerate single-particle states at the Fermi level, and the order parameter and density distribution can exhibit quite complicated structure. In two dimensions (2D) at half filling, however, it is relatively simple due to the structure of the Fermi surface. We illustrate this in Fig. 6, where the order parameter is plotted for a $`20\times 20`$-site system for $`|U|/t=2.5`$ and 1.5. At half filling, the order parameter shows the “Friedel-like” oscillations, where it is peaked along the diagonal sites and largest near the corners. As a function of decreasing $`|U|`$ (increasing $`\xi `$), the oscillations extend towards the middle of the sample. These oscillations, as seen in Fig. 6, can be explained by the interference of single-particle wave functions. In the zero-coupling limit ($`|U|0`$), Eq. (5) reduces to $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i|U|(1/2)_{𝐤_F}u_{𝐤_F}(i)v_{𝐤_F}^{}(i)`$ at half filling at zero temperature, and $`u_{𝐤_F}(i)v_{𝐤_F}(i)u_{𝐤_F}^0(i)`$. Here $`u_{𝐤_F}^0(i)`$ is the single-particle wave function (analytical solution ) for the Fermi momentum $`𝐤_F=(k_x,k_y)`$, and the $``$ denotes that the oscillatory behaviour is similar. In fact the amplitude of the hole-like part decreases with $`|U|`$ for electron-like states and vice-versa for the electron-like part.. Using the relation $`k_y=k_x+\pi `$ on the Fermi surface to eliminate $`k_y`$, and approximating the sum by an integral over $`k_x`$, we can calculate $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i`$ analytically. Thus

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_i\mathrm{\Delta }\left[\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}+\frac{1}{2}(\delta _{y_i,x_i}+\delta _{y_i,x_i})\right],$$
(8)
where $`x_i,y_i`$ are the $`x`$ and $`y`$ coordinates of site $`i`$, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is a small number. Clearly $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i`$ is larger along the diagonals ($`x_i=\pm y_i`$). We have obtained the BdG solutions for $`N=32^2`$ at half filling as a function of $`|U|`$, and found that for very weak coupling (e.g., $`|U|/t=0.1`$), the above equation indeed describes the order parameter structure.

For three dimensional systems, the largest size we have examined is $`N=12^3`$. For coupling strengths small enough to see the “Friedel-like” oscillations, however, this size is still small – there are only 12 sites on one side and the surfaces occupy a large portion of the system – so that the order parameter is dominated by finite size effects. We have calculated the three-dimensional version of Eq. (8) numerically, and found that it qualitatively explains the oscillatory structure of the order parameter in the weak-coupling limit.

As $`n`$ becomes smaller than 1, the interference pattern changes. As seen above, in 2D, for $`n1`$, the Fermi surface is approximately $`k_y=k_x+\pi `$ and the oscillations in $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i`$ as well as $`n_i`$ are along several sites around the diagonal. Away from half filling, the oscillations occur everywhere along the surfaces. Figure 7 shows the order parameter and density distribution for $`N=20^2`$ and $`|U|/t=2`$ at quarter filling. In the low-density limit, both $`n_i`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i`$ are suppressed on and near the surfaces.

Another factor that distinguishes one dimension from higher dimensions is the dependency of nesting on dimensionality. In 1D, the Fermi surface is perfectly nested for all values of $`n`$. In 2D and 3D this is the case only at half filling, and this means that away from half filling, “Friedel-like” oscillations can be suppressed compared with 1D. We have not identified any noticeable difference in this sense between 1D and 2D. For 3D, we have examined this aspect by placing a nonmagnetic impurity which shifts the chemical potential at that site and using PBC. In this way a disturbance that breaks translational invariance is one site, as opposed to all the surfaces. In Fig. 8 we show the order parameter for $`N=11^3`$, $`n=0.9`$, and $`|U|/t=2`$, in the first layer (top) and the second layer (bottom). The impurity potential is $`0.5t`$ in the middle of the first layer. The basic features caused by an impurity are the same as in 1D : in the first layer $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i`$ is suppressed at the impurity site and shows the “Friedel-like” oscillations around it. The size-dependent electron density, $`n_i`$ (not shown), behaves similarly, except that for an attractive potential, it is peaked at the impurity site. The $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i`$ is peaked right below the impurity site in the second layer and suppressed in the third layer, and so on. However, the extent to which the oscillations propagate is smaller compared with 1D and 2D. This is the case within the layer where the impurity is, as seen in Fig. 8. Moreover, the oscillation amplitudes decrease quickly as one moves away from that layer: note that in Fig. 8 the $`z`$-axis range for the second layer is half of that for the first layer.

In the strong-coupling limit, at half filling in any dimension, the order parameter is larger on the surfaces (largest at the corners) and more or less flat inside. In Fig. 9 we show $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i`$ for $`N=12^3`$ and $`|U|/t=2`$ at half filling, for the first four layers. While $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i`$ is larger on the surfaces (the first layer and peripherals of each layer), some oscillations near the surfaces can be seen.

### C CDW

For the half-filled attractive Hubbard model with nearest neighbour hopping on a translationally invariant system, the superconducting (SC) and charge-density-wave (CDW) states are degenerate. The presence of an impurity tends to make a CDW state more favourable, and one might expect that a surface has the same effect. This is not necessarily the case, however. With an even number of sites $`N`$, with OBC, the SC and CDW states are degenerate at half filling. Moreover, the state with constant density distribution discussed above is not the only SC solution. When the density distribution of a CDW state is used as input, the BdG equations converge to a SC state with a similar density distribution, and this state has the same energy as the one with constant density. The order parameter structure is the same for both states, but the overall magnitude is smaller for the former. For any average density, the BdG equations always converge to a SC solution.

The situation is different, however, for an odd-$`N`$ system with surfaces. The BdG equations converge to a SC solution at any density that corresponds to an odd number of electrons, e.g., at half filling. For an even number of electrons, the BdG equations either do not converge at all, or converge to a CDW solution. This presumably is caused by the incommensurability of the electron number (all paired) and the number of sites. The same CDW solution for an even number of electrons is obtained by solving the Hartree equations (no superconducting order parameter). With $`N+1`$ electrons the system is equivalent to an $`N+1`$ system with PBC at half filling, with a strong repulsive impurity at one site where the electron density becomes zero. While the Hartree equations usually do not converge for an odd electron number, we were able to find a CDW solution at half filling with odd $`N`$. It is interesting to note that unlike even $`N`$, the CDW state has a lower energy than the SC state, and we did not find a SC state with an oscillating density distribution.

In Fig. 10(a) we show the average density $`n`$ vs. chemical potential (“dressed” with the Hartree energy), obtained by BdG for 1D with $`N=15`$ with $`|U|/t=1`$. The plateaus correspond to CDW states, where the superconducting order parameter is zero. For stronger coupling and larger system size, the plateaus tend to disappear, but the BdG equations pick up the CDW solutions at certain densities. In Fig. 10(b) the density distribution is shown for a CDW state in 1D with $`N=63`$, $`|U|/t=0.5`$, and $`n=18/63`$. In both (a) and (b), the BdG and Anderson results are plotted with solid and dashed curves, respectively. Although the Anderson results are similar to the BdG results, they are not CDW solutions: the density distribution is the same as the one in the noninteracting case.

### D Local density of states

To distinguish the features that are due to the opening of a superconducting gap from those that are due to the single-particle states, we compare, in Fig. 11, the LDOS (the same BdG results as shown in Fig. 4) with that in the noninteracting case, for various sites near the surface. Interestingly, the noninteracting LDOS has a gap-like feature at every second site (e.g., site 2 and 4) near a surface (again this is the case only for half filling). This is consistent with a larger gap at these sites in the superconducting state.

As seen in Figs. 4 and 11, the energy gap as it appears in the LDOS on the surface is not very different from the one in the bulk, despite the fact that both the order parameter and the density distribution behave quite differently on and near the surface. However, the BCS coherence factors, which give rise to peaks in the density of states just beyond the gap (as seen in the LDOS for site 32 in Fig. 11), are barely existent near the surface; for half filling, particularly at the even-numbered sites. For an orbital structure much more complicated than the single-band one-dimensional model adopted here, these effects would have to be considered when interpreting STM or ARPES data.

The site variation of the LDOS also depends on electron density. In Fig. 12 we plot the LDOS at the surface of a 64-site chain for various average electron densities. We have solved the BdG equations self-consistently for $`|U|/t=2.0`$ and for the given values of electron density. The resulting LDOS is compared to that calculated in the bulk (we simply averaged over all sites, which gives a result identical to that obtained in the interior, or that obtained with PBC). Particularly in the low-density limit large differences occur: the bulk DOS always has a well-defined energy gap, with remnants of the BCS coherence peaks, whereas the LDOS on the surface does not. This occurs mainly because in the low-density limit, the electron density at the surface sites is significantly lower than in the bulk. This is most apparent in Fig. 5, where the electron density (even in the non-interacting limit) is considerably lower near the surface than in the bulk. This is true even when we include repulsive Coulomb interactions between electrons, as we have verified by direct calculation in the low-density limit. In other words, Coulomb interactions do not affect the inhomogeneous electron distribution as much as one might think because we are in the dilute limit.

In 2D and 3D, the LDOS behaves in a similar way as in 1D, as one moves away from a corner along the diagonal. In Fig. 13 the LDOS for $`N=32^2`$ and $`|U|/t=2.5`$ at quarter filling is shown for several sites near the surfaces.

## IV SUMMARY

We have calculated the spatially inhomogeneous order parameter and local density of states (LDOS) for a very simple model exhibiting s-wave superconductivity, as a function of coupling strength and electron density. We have used the Bogoliubov-de Gennes formalism and solved the resulting equations self-consistently, including both the anomalous and normal effective potentials. We find that both the order parameter and the density distribution vary significantly as a function of position near the surface. The details of this variation are dependent on both the electron density and the coupling strength. The LDOS shows a similar variation. If one can somehow preferentially tunnel electrons into the surface or subsurface layers, this variation may be observable . Here again, details will be dependent on the specifics of the model, i.e., the character of the orbitals involved in the superconductivity as well as the symmetry of the superconducting order parameter. We intend to further investigate these issues in future work.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank Matthias Eschrig and Stuart Trugman for stimulating discussions. This research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.


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# Chandra Observations of Extended X-ray Emission in Arp 220

## 1 Introduction

The evolutionary importance of energetic events on galactic scales has become central to our present understanding of cosmological evolution. The realization in the IRAS era (e.g. Soifer et al. 1984) that super-starburst ultraluminous infrared galaxies rivalled quasars in their energy output made it clear that for at least a subset of galaxies a large fraction of their stellar content and gas mass is drastically rearranged during interactions which last from $`10^8`$ to $`10^9`$ years (Clements et al. 1996) The observation of superwinds (Chevalier & Clegg 1985) emphasizes the role of energetic events in galaxies in redistributing material both within a galaxy and into the intergalactic medium. The energy and momentum involved in the biggest train wrecks in the universe are released in a number of different channels: stellar velocity dispersions, tidal disruption, gas heating, mechanical energy deposited in the gas and stars, shock-triggered star formation and subsequent infrared emission.

Truman H. Safford (1836-1901) discovered the nebula Safford 7 (IC 1127) at Chicago on 1866 May 4 (Safford 1887), but recorded its position with an RA off by one minute of time. Javelle111Stephane Javelle (1864-1917) is most famous for claiming to have seen a strange light on Mars, and appears thinly disguised in H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds (1898) as ‘Lavelle of Java’. (1905) rediscovered it as Javelle 1368 at Nice on 1903 Jul 25. It was recorded by Dreyer in IC2 (Dreyer 1910) as IC 4553, but the object remained obscure until A.G Wilson identified it on Palomar Sky Survey prints as unusual and Arp (1966) included it in his catalog of peculiar galaxies as Arp 220, the designation by which it is most commonly known today. The discovery of strong OH maser emission (Baan, Wood & Haschick 1982) and ultra-luminous far infrared output (Soifer et al. 1984) established Arp 220 as the prototypical infrared superluminous merger. ISO observations (e.g. Genzel et al. 1998, Lutz et al. 1998) support a starburst interpretation for the bulk of the luminosity and Scoville et al. (1998) locate a number of massive star clusters in the nuclear region using NICMOS. At a distance of 76 Mpc (z= 0.018; Kim & Sanders 1998), it is one of the most luminous objects in the local universe. The galaxy, with an apparent B magnitude of 13.9 and a total infrared luminosity (10-100 microns) of $`1.5\times 10^{12}L_{}`$, is believed to have been formed by the almost face-on collision of two spiral disks.

In the optical, Arp 220 appears irregular and dusty, but other wavebands have been used to probe into the center of the object and reveal the presence of activity within a few parsecs of the nucleus. VLBI observations of Arp 220 suggest that the peak of the OH emission originates in a structure $``$ 1 pc across (Lonsdale et al. 1994) and Rieke et al. (1985) claimed that as much as half of the luminosity in Arp 220 may be due to an active nucleus. Armus et al. (1995) used near-infrared spectra to suggest that as much as 80-90% of the total luminosity is powered by an obscured AGN. Dudley and Wynn-Williams (1997) use the depth of the silicate absorption feature to estimate a size for the emission region at 10 microns of only a few parsecs.

Eales & Arnaud (1988) reported the first detection of X-rays from Arp 220, using the Einstein IPC. However, their observation was confused by emission from a neighbouring group of galaxies first noted by Heckman et al. (1996) who carried out the first detailed study of the X-ray properties of the galaxy with the ROSAT PSPC. Their data show that the X-ray emission in the 0.1-2.4 keV band has a size of $`30\times 11`$ kpc and a luminosity of between $`4.3\times 10^{40}`$ and $`2.3\times 10^{41}`$ ergs s-1 and set an upper limit of $`20\%`$ of the observed X-ray emission associated with any single point source. They noted that the spatial extent of the X-ray emission was around 22 kpc, much larger than the IR-emitting region, and that the X-ray luminosity was an order of magnitude larger than that of normal spiral galaxies. The ”double-bubble” morphology seen in optical emission-line images (Heckman, Armus & Miley 1987) coincided with the X-ray nebula seen with ROSAT, but the spatial resolution of those data was insufficient for a detailed comparison. Heckman et al. suggested that both the X-ray and line emission is due to a bipolar ”superwind” driven out from the nucleus by a starburst or a dust-shrouded QSO. Gallagher et al (2002) report similar extended X-ray emission in the ultraluminous galaxy Markarian 231, although at z=0.042 the spatial resolution of their Chandra image reveals less detail than the observations presented here.

## 2 Observations and Data Analysis

We observed Arp 220 on 2000 Jun 24 for 56 ks with the ACIS camera on the Chandra X-ray Observatory as part of the Cycle 1 guest observer program. Arp 220 was placed on the S3 back illuminated chip near the node 0/node 1 boundary. Here we report on the extended emission from Arp 220; Clements et al (2002, Paper I) discuss the point sources in the nuclear region. Data reduction was carried out with CIAO version 2.1 and 2.2. The data were taken with the chip at a temperature of -120C and were gain-corrected using the revised file acisD2000-01-29gainN0003.fits from the July 2001 recalibration, which improves the calibration at low energies. The observation was relatively unaffected by background flares and only a small amount of exposure was removed, leaving an effective exposure time of 55756s. Astrometry was corrected using a revised geometry file (telD1999-07-23geomN0004.fits) which is believed to provide positions across the full ACIS field accurate to about 1 arcsecond.

The extended emission from Arp 220 is clearly visible in the raw data. The west lobe is dithered partly across the node 0 boundary, but the remainder of the emission is all on node 1. We generated spectral responses making use of the recently recalibrated (acisD2000-01-29fef\_piN0002.fits) low energy response, both using the standard CIAO mkrmf tool and using the calcrmf tool developed by Alexey Vikhlinin (available from the Chandra software swap page), which produces a count-weighted average of the response. As expected, there was very little difference in the results from the two methods.

For global images, we used the background event files developed by Markevitch et al (2000), together with the standard exposure map tools, to generate background-subtracted, exposure corrected images in various energy bands. These corrected images were then normalized to retain the same mean number of counts, and adaptively smoothed using the csmooth program. X-ray color images of the smoothed data (Figs. 1 to 4) show the morphology of the region and allow regions of different spectral properties to be distinguished. The smoothed images were used in further analysis only to define extraction regions, not to determine any numerical quantities.

For spectral studies we extracted PI count histograms for various regions in the emission (Fig. 5). We made two background spectra, one using the Markevitch background files and one using a local background extracted from two 50-arcsecond-radius circles at either end of node 1 in our dataset and containing 10650 counts. The two spectra were similar, and the results presented here use the local background. The galactic extinction in the direction of Arp 220 has a column of $`4.1\times 10^{20}\text{cm}^2`$ (Stark et al. 1992) and this has been used as a lower limit in our spectral fits.

## 3 X-ray emission from Arp 220

### 3.1 Overall morphology

The Chandra view of Arp 220 reveals structure on scales from one arcsecond to several arcminutes. We can distinguish four scales of interest: the nuclear region, the galaxy with two regions of extended emission (‘plumes’), the extended 20-kpc scale emission (‘lobes’), and the unrelated group of galaxies to the south reported by Heckman et al. (1996). The position angles of the plumes and lobes are in agreement with the PSPC and HRI structures described by Heckman et al. Here we describe the observations, leaving most physical interpretation to later sections.

The integrated spectrum from Arp 220 can be fit by the sum of several thermal contributions and a power law, and gives good agreement on the total flux with the individual fits to components, with 1694 net counts and a luminosity of $`1.2\times 10^{41}`$ erg s-1, in good agreement with the estimates of Heckman et al (1996). The data on individual components are summarized in Table 1 and discussed below.

### 3.2 The circumnuclear region

In the nuclear region we see hard emission on a scale of two to three arcseconds, and indications of bright point sources, denoted X-1 and X-4 in Paper I (Clements et al. 2002) close to the nucleus. A soft emission peak, denoted X-3 in Paper I, is also present and is extended over a diameter of 2.5 kpc. Its centroid is displaced 1.5 arcseconds to the northwest of the hard emission. The hard emission coincides with a dust lane in the galaxy (Joy et al. 1986), and indeed the soft emission is suppressed there. However, the absence of hard emission away from the nucleus shows that the spectral change is due to a different type of source, and not merely an absorption effect. In Paper I we presented reconstructed images and spectral fits to the nuclear sources X-1 to X-4.

### 3.3 The plumes

On a scale of a few kiloparsecs, we see two regions of bright extended X-ray emission, one on either side of the nucleus, along a position angle of 135-150 degrees. This emission was seen in the HRI observations reported by Heckman et al. (1996); we will refer to these regions as the NW and SE ‘plumes’. We cannot rule out that the emission comes from unresolved point sources, but if the plumes are two unrelated starburst regions we would expect binaries to contribute a hard component to the spectrum. Fig. 6 shows a contour plot of the reconstructed image of the plume region.

The bright region of the NW plume is about 3 kpc in extent and the SE plume is larger and brighter, 3 x 5 kpc in extent; the projected tip-to-tip length of the emission is 10 kpc. Each of the plumes appears to be roughly round, but with an elongation in the radial direction for the SE plume. The emission is not sharp-edged, and the dimensions given here correspond to a contour of 10 percent of the peak surface brightness.

The east plume spectrum is inconsistent with that from a single temperature plasma. It includes a soft thermal contribution with a temperature of less than 0.25 keV, together with hotter thermal plasma or bremsstrahlung ranging from 1 to 5 keV. There are fewer counts in the west plume, but the spectrum definitely contains flux out to 2 keV. Formally, the data provides only an upper limit to the absorption column in the plumes of $`1.5\times 10^{22}\text{cm}\text{-2}`$. The difference in inferred intrinsic luminosity (source side of absorption) between assuming only foreground absorption and using this upper limit renders estimates of the unabsorbed luminosity for this soft emission uncertain by a factor of a thousand; the values in Table 1 should therefore be considered illustrative. The overall morphology of the plumes could also be affected by patchy absorption in the galaxy, but the visible dust lanes do not correlate with the plume boundaries except in the inner edge of the east plume. Radio observations (Hibbard, Vacca and Yun 2000) show the presence of an elongated HI emission feature to the NE and SW of the galaxy on 20 kpc scales; notably, the HI emission avoids the regions of X-ray emission - there is a gap in the HI which corresponds to the area with the plumes and is aligned with them. However, the measured column of the HI, less than $`5\times 10^{19}\text{cm}\text{-2}`$ in the region of the plumes, would provide too little absorption to affect the observed soft X-ray morphology. We will assume in the later discussion that the observed morphology corresponds to the actual distribution of soft X-ray emitting gas.

### 3.4 The lobes

Beyond the plumes we observe large, lower surface brightness extended oval regions (which we will refer to as the E and W ‘lobes’) which lie along a position angle of 100-110 degrees. This larger scale emission extends across 25 kpc from the end of one lobe to that of the other, and each oval lobe is 8 kpc along its major axis. The east lobe has a major axis diameter of 23 arcseconds (8 kpc) along PA 90 degrees, and a minor axis diameter of 15 arcseconds (5 kpc). The west lobe is elongated NE to SW and may consist of two separate components; it is 10 x 22 arcseconds in size. We have estimated nominal centers of the east and west lobes at 11 and 8 kpc from the nucleus.

The smoothed image makes it appear that the lobes are edge brightened, although this is only marginally evident in the raw data and one might worry that it is an artifact of the smoothing process. Extracting counts from raw data in the lobe centers and the lobe rims shows a difference of 4 sigma, with 6 total counts in the 0.2-2 keV range for a pair of 5 arcsecond diameter circles in the E and W holes (lobe centers) respectively, compared to 26 total counts in a bright rim region of equal size. We conclude that the lobes are indeed edge-brightened, although an exposure three times as deep would provide a firm confirmation.

The lobes show marginal evidence for some very soft photons below 0.25 keV, but the spectral calibration of ACIS is still unreliable in that energy band. The spectrum is consistent with no absorption in excess of the foreground value from Stark et al.; formally, the best fits of the east lobe data to a two temperature Raymond-Smith model are with a lower temperature of $`0.3\pm 0.1`$ keV and a higher temperature of $`1.0\pm 0.2`$ keV, while the west lobe is slightly softer with values of 0.2 and 0.7 keV.

There are 364 total net counts in the lobes. Their total luminosity is $`1.3\times 10^{40}`$ erg s-1, a result which is insensitive to the assumed spectral fit parameters (but see below). We fixed the absorption at the galactic value of 4$`\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2; we were not able to obtain an acceptable fit with a single Raymond-Smith plasma for either lobe, but the sum of two temperatures was adequate (although of no physical significance with this small number of counts).

We note that ACIS-S is not very sensitive to diffuse hard emission. The hard background in our data gives a weak upper limit of about $`1\times 10^{40}`$ erg s-1 for the 2-10 keV luminosity in the lobes, comparable to the observed soft luminosity. Therefore, although we have demonstrated the presence of low temperature X-ray gas in the lobes, we cannot rule out the presence of hotter temperature gas. Nevertheless, we see no evidence for the $`1\times 10^{41}`$ erg s-1 of emission reported by Iwasawa et al (2001) from BeppoSAX data. This emission was detected in a 3 arcminute circle and is not inconsistent with our upper limit on this scale, but we can rule out its association with the inner regions of Arp 220; possibly they underestimated the contribution from Heckman’s group (see below). The spectra of the lobes and the plumes are compared in Fig. 7.

### 3.5 The background cluster

Fig. 8 shows a larger scale X-ray image which includes the region of Heckman et al.’s (1996) z=0.09 group 1RXH J153456.1+232822. The X-ray observations of this object and others in the field will be discussed in detail in Paper III (McDowell et al., in preparation). We briefly note here that we confirm the X-ray source as a diffuse object associated with the optical group and detect several embedded point sources. Galaxies Ohyama A and C (Ohyama et al. 1999, Grogin & Geller 2000), which are are also 2MASS sources (2MASS, 1999), are both bright X-ray sources, with Ohyama A showing a soft extended plume, while the third cataloged galaxy, Ohyama B, is not detected. Two further bright point sources CXOU 153452.9+232833 and CXOU 153451.9+232828 are present within the cluster but have no counterparts on the POSS2 images.

## 4 Correspondence with other wavebands

### 4.1 Optical line emission

We obtained new integral field spectroscopy of the Arp 220 system in H$`\alpha `$ and NII as part of a program to study ionized gas in ULIRGs. Arribas, Colina & Clements (2001) presented observations of the nuclear region of the galaxy. The present observations were taken on 2000 May 8 and 9 on the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope using INTEGRAL (Arribas et al. 1998) and WYFFOS (Bingham et al. 1994) and consist of a mosaic of three pointings with a 30 arcsecond field-of-view fiber bundle.

As in other star forming galaxies studied by Chandra (e.g. Strickland et al 2000), there is a strong correlation of X-ray morphology with optical line emission. Heckman, Armus & Miley (1987) discovered the 20 kpc ‘double-bubble’ H$`\alpha `$ structure around Arp 220, as well as the inner H$`\alpha `$ SE plume.

The H$`\alpha `$ and soft X-ray morphology agree well in overall form and location - faint lobes, stronger plumes and the bright nuclear region - but there are differences in detail. Fig. 9 shows contours of H$`\alpha `$ emission superimposed on the soft X-ray image.

The peak of the H$`\alpha `$ emission coincides to within the 1” registration error with the soft X-ray peak (X-3). The holes in the lobes agree to within a couple of arcseconds, and the eastern plume is brighter than its western counterparts in both H$`\alpha `$ and X-rays. However, the brightest part of the line emission in the western lobe is shifted about 8 arcseconds south of the western X-ray lobe, and the eastern lobe is much more prominent in X-rays than it is in H$`\alpha `$. The peak of the SE plume is 2 arcseconds north of the plume’s soft X-ray peak.

For a typical electron density of $`100\text{cm}^3`$ and temperature of $`10^4`$ K we derive the mass of H$`\alpha `$-emitting gas to be $`2\times 10^6M_{}`$. The velocity in the plumes derived from the H$`\alpha `$ observations (Colina et al 2003, in prep.) is about 200 km/s on average (with gradients up to 600 km/s in the lobes). Interpreting this as an outflow leads to a kinetic energy of $`8\times 10^{53}`$ erg s-1.

### 4.2 Overall picture of Arp 220

Arp 220 is a complex system with tidal tails, dust lanes, and multiple nuclei. About 150 clusters and nine satellite galaxies can be seen on a recent HST I-band image (Paper III), reinforcing the impression that the Arp 220 system is massive compared to the Milky Way. The hard source X-1 is clearly associated with the galaxy’s central regions, and is probably coincident with the western nucleus Arp 220B (Paper I), although uncertainties in registration mean we cannot rule out an identification with the eastern nucleus. The soft emission and the X-3 peak (which also has a soft spectrum) coincide with the emission line peak rather than with the optical continuum peak. As other authors have discussed, the location of the optical peak is likely determined by gaps in the absorption and may not correspond to a physical object. None of the known optical and infrared clusters in this system (Shaya et al. 1994, Scoville et al. 1998) are detected in X-rays. X-2 is in a star cloud just to the south of the western end of the central dust lane; there is a probable cluster at 1.2 arcsecond from its estimated location, not close enough to propose as an identification.

The optical dust lane coincides with the separation between the nuclear emission and the SE plume, indicating that this separation is probably due to absorption. Interestingly, the plumes’ outer boundaries, while not sharp, coincide with a drop in the optical isophotes and plausibly represent the escape of the gas into a less dense halo interstellar medium. The axis of the plumes is perpendicular to the dust lane of Joy et al. (1986) and the CO disk, implying that they may be collimated in the inner region. One might expect the faintness of the NW plume to reflect its orientation deeper into the galaxy, but the X-ray spectrum does not allow us to constrain the possibility of larger absorption in the NW. However, a second dust lane visible in the HST data bounds the brightest part of the NW plume on its northern side, implying that there may be more X-ray emission hidden behind it.

## 5 Discussion

### 5.1 The Superwind and the Plumes

Heckman et al. (1996) proposed that the extended H-alpha and soft X-ray emission in Arp 220 originates in a ‘superwind’ driven by starbursts which have been triggered by the merger. An alternate possibility, to be discussed in more detail by Hearn & Lamb (2003), is that the galaxy collision and merger dynamics are directly responsible for the extended structural morphology and hot gas. We consider each of these possibilities and conclude that both processes may play important roles in the Arp 220 system.

If Arp 220 is the product of the merger of two gas-rich disk galaxies, as is commonly thought to be the case because of the apparent presence of two, very close galactic nuclei and the overall disturbed morphology, then the physical processes that take place in this collision lead not only to conditions ripe for a central starburst, but also large-scale shocking of the interstellar gas over significant parts of the galactic disks. That is, in such a system, it is expected that a starburst-generated superwind will have to punch through a complicated region that lacks three dimensional symmetry, and consists of sectors of rapidly outflowing and inflowing shock-heated gas, coupled to sectors of flowing neutral gas that did not experience a direct impact. Thus the dominant flow direction of the superwind is likely to be constrained by the evolving geometry of the colliding system. The plumes will not expand into the regions of high pressure and high density, that comprise the hot expanding shocked gas and the cool expanding gas, respectively. The three dimensional morphology of the overall system is very dependent on the collision parameters, and the time since first impact. Thus the environment of a superwind in a merging system is possibly different to that in a system like M82, that appears to be experiencing a central massive starburst in a previously relatively undisturbed disk galaxy.

Strickland and Stevens (2000) have used a combined Eulerian/Lagrangian hydrodynamics code to perform 2-D modeling of the superwind in M82, assuming cylindrical and reflection symmetry. As discussed by them, construction of a model to match the observed wind proved to be elusive, and will possibly require the inclusion of processes such as inflow of cold material or magnetic fields, to produce the observed confinement at the base of the wind in the starburst region. They conclude from their modeling that the bulk of the outflowing gas is at high temperatures of around $`10^{7.5}`$K and low density, and would, therefore, be difficult to observe because of low emissivity. Interesting new information on the nature of starburst-driven winds and the interpretation of their observed X-ray fluxes is provided in Strickland et al. (2000). This tends to support the supposition that the temperature of the outflowing gas is not easily determined from X-ray data. They find that high-resolution Chandra observations of the kiloparsec-scale wind in NGC 253 demonstrate a strong correspondence between the X-ray and H-alpha observations of the outflow cone, with approximately equal amounts of energy being emitted from the hot gas in optical lines and in X-rays, and a total energy in both of the order of $`10^{41}`$ erg s-1. This is about one percent of the mechanical energy estimated to be injected by the starburst. Strickland et al. (2000) also determined that the bulk of the X-ray flux originates in a limb-brightened structure, with at most 20% of the flux coming from the body of the fluid. This provides the first direct evidence that this radiation is generated at the interface between the outflowing gas and the ambient denser medium, rather than in the bulk of the flowing gas, whose temperature is, therefore, not well established.

Comparing our Chandra observations of Arp 220 with those of NGC 253, we see some similarities, despite the large difference in scale. As noted previously, the extended X-ray lobes in Arp 220 extend a distance of 10-15 kpc from the nucleus on the plane of the sky, and these also appear to be limb-brightened. The observed “edges” show reasonable overlap with the arcs of H-alpha emission in these regions, one each on the east and west sides (see Fig. 9). The lobes also display apparent central ”holes” in the emission. In fact, the counts in the lobe regions are sufficiently low that our results are consistent with all of this soft X-ray flux originating within edge-brightened structures. However, although both sets of structures (plumes and lobes) appear to be produced by outflowing gas colliding with an external, denser medium, this may be an incorrect model for the lobes of Arp 220, because simulations of colliding galaxies indicate that the collision itself may have flung a dense ring-like structure of gas out on each side of the nucleus. For this system, we suggest that at these vast distances from the nucleus, it is the tidal interaction itself that is propelling the gas outwards; that there is shock heating within, and along the edges of the locally overdense structures, as demonstrated in previous studies of colliding galaxies (see Gerber et al, 1996, Lamb et al, 1998, and Hearn & Lamb, 2001); and that whether the source of the outflow energy is overpressure from a central starburst or tidally channeled galactic gravitational energy, the net effect is a strong correlation between the X-ray emission and H-alpha emission from gas that attains a temperature of around $`10^6`$K in shocks at an interface.

The inner two plumes of hot gas observed in Arp 220 are likely to be due to a superwind that is driven by a central massive starburst, because such a wind would be a natural outcome (although similar features can be produced by flowing shocked regions of gas in slightly off-center galaxy collisions). In this first picture, the central regions have become sufficiently dense that a large fraction of the gas has cooled to form molecular gas and a super starburst has occurred. This latter has then produced a superwind which has interacted with, and been somewhat chanelled by the structures formed by the collision itself.

The extent of these plumes is large, spanning 11 kpc across the nuclear region. However, in contrast to the outflow cone in NGC 253, the Arp 220 plumes are very bright in soft X-rays, and no limb-brightening is noticable in our data. The ambient medium into which these plumes are driving may be considerably different to that in NGC 253, consisting of entangled regions of shock-heated flowing gas and cooler, non-shocked gas, as discussed above. The energy flux coming from the central starburst in Arp 220 is larger than that from NGC 253 by a factor of 70, and this may also play a role in producing the different X-ray properties of the two objects. As noted in Section 3.3, the Chandra X-ray data for the Arp 220 plumes is consistent with a thermal plasma with temperatures ranging from 0.25 to 1 keV. This temperature range may result from the interaction of gas ejected in hot stellar winds and SN with regions of collisionally shock-heated gas, and with cooler flowing gas. That is, the entrained material may be of very varied initial temperature.

### 5.2 Merger Simulations

The overall context within which we wish to discuss our Chandra X-ray data for Arp 220 is that of a colliding pair of co-rotating, comparable mass, gas-rich galaxies which have not yet fully merged, but whose nuclei are now very close, and lie within a central disk of material that has been formed from remnants of the original two gaseous disks. Other disk remnants have been flung to large distances from the joint nuclear region. Relevant numerical modeling (Lamb et al 2003) indicates that the collision was likely almost face-on, and had an impact parameter of roughly 70% of the optical disk radius. Such a collision will leave some parts of the gas disks, those furthest from the impact point, unshocked by the direct collision, and this material is likely to retain its original temperature, whereas that gas involved in the direct collision between the two disks will have been heated to over $`10^6`$ K. All regions experience an initial inflow towards the impact point (that point in each disk where the center of mass of the other galaxy passes), followed by outflow, and then further inflow (see Gerber, Lamb, & Balsara, 1996). The subsequent, gravitationally-driven flows lead to relative gas velocities that are much larger in magnitude than the original impact velocity, with relative velocities of approximately 900 km/s obtained in some regions of the disk for the Arp 220 model fit, assuming that the Arp 220 system has a mass similar to that of the Milky Way. The rate of inflow and outflow in the disk material scales with the initial distance of the material from the impact point, being smaller for the more distant stars and gas. This, together with the asymmetries introduced by an off-center collision, lead to an evolving, intricate structure in the gas. As has been noted by many previous authors, such collisions can lead to the accumulation of large masses of gas in the merging nuclear region (for example, see Mihos and Hernquist, 1996). We note that this can only happen on a timescale of relevance to a system such as Arp 220 if the initial impact velocity is relatively low, less than a couple of a hundred km s-1 for galaxies with a mass of several $`10^{11}M_{}`$, because larger impact velocities lead to a much longer merger time for the system as a whole.

The particular detailed numerical simulations of a pair of colliding gas-rich disk galaxies which was found to provide a suitable fit to the large-scale structure of Arp 220 was taken from a series of simulations in which mass ratio, impact velocity, impact parameter, relative disk spin direction, and relative tilt-angle of the two galaxies have been explored (Lamb et al., 2003). The 3-D simulations include a representation of the gas, stars, and dark matter, which all interact gravitationally. The gas hydrodynamics is followed using the method of Smooth Particle Hydrdynamics (SPH), and the gravational potential is calculated on a grid for the full particle set. A description of the details of this n-body/SPH methodology, together with the galaxy starting models, is given in Gerber, Lamb & Balsara, 1996. We note that in these simulations, the gas is considered to be isothermal. That is, there is no explicit heating and cooling in the simulation calculations. This is a useful approximation if one wishes to follow the overall dynamics of the gas and the build-up of dense regions, but we are not able to give a detailed map of the eventual temperature structure in the system. Rather, we can give a general description of the eventual location of that gas which has passed through shocks during the collision, and that gas which has not. An example of the latter is the gas that is in the outer edges of the disks that do not overlap at impact because of the off-center nature of the collision. This material is rapidly propelled outwards in the plane of the disks, after the brief overall contraction of the two galaxies.

A detailed exploration of the temperature distribution in the system as it evolves must await further modeling with appropriate physics included. However, it is of interest here to explore the range in possible post-shock temperatures obtained in the gas due to the collision. Assuming that the strong shocks that we have here are adiabatic, we can use the standard analytical expressions that relate the post-shock temperature of the gas $`T_2`$ to the relative velocity $`v`$ of the colliding gas streams, and the adiabatic index $`\gamma `$ and mean molecular weight $`\mu `$ of the gas (see Landau & Lifshitz 1987, Chapter 9). For a $`\gamma =5/3`$ gas, $`k_\mathrm{B}T_2=\mu \times v^2/3`$. In the present situation, $`\mu =0.6m_\mathrm{H}`$, where $`m_\mathrm{H}`$ is the mass of the hydrogen atom. Thus for the maximum relative velocity found in our simulation of 900 $`\text{km s}^1`$, we estimate the post-shock temperature is $`2\times 10^7`$ K. However, we expect the bulk of the shocked gas to be at a few million degrees because the relative velocities of the internally-generated gas streams range downwards from the maximum. For a relative velocity of $`200\text{km s}^1`$, the post-shock temperature is just $`10^6`$ K.

In Fig. 10, we present a view of the gas distribution in our best-fit 3-D model from a viewing angle appropriate to our line-of-sight to Arp 220. The gas density is represented by intensity (color in the electronic edition), as indicated in the figure caption. From an inspection of the morphology of the simulation, we identify regions that correspond to the lobes and plumes observed in Arp 220, as shown in the figure. We also indicate the general regions in which mostly unshocked gas resides at this time in the evolution of the system. We connect these latter regions to those in Arp 220 that show HI emission, such as those observed by Hibbard, Vacca & Yun (2000).

The choice of model is constrained in both computational simulation epoch and in viewing angle. The distinct changes in the morphology of the simulated galaxies over relatively short time scales due to the collision dynamics produces the observed features only over a select range of times after the collision. There is some flexibility in the viewing angle chosen, but a very small fraction of the $`4\pi `$ steradians is available to produce a match. Projections of the complex three-dimensional structure of this collisional system onto the plane of the sky necessarily produces a wide range of distinct features that depend upon the direction from which the system is viewed. This restriction in viewing angle is a considerable strength of the model in that it places strong constraints on the predicted integrated line-of-sight velocities across the structure; these velocities can be compared to kinematic observations of Arp 220 when they are available.

We note that the simulations include the effects of gravity and gas dynamics on the preexisting stellar and gas distributions, but do not include the feed-back effects of star formation or a superwind on the gas dynamics. Nevertheless, the model shows that structures similar to those observed in Arp 220 can arise purely from the merger dynamics. We have demonstrated in previous studies (see Hearn & Lamb, 2001) that the dense regions that form in the gas due to a collision are prime sites of episodic, large-scale star formation events in colliding galaxies. Thus, we expect that star formation has taken place in the dense features that formed in Arp 220. Where young stellar populations have been formed, they will dominate the blue light, and will likely dominate the V-band also.

The maxima in the gas densities obtained in this simulation at this time in the outwardly propagating rings that form the outer edges of the ”lobes” are approximately $`2.2`$ and $`2.4\times 10^6M_{}\text{ kpc}\text{-3}`$ for the two respectively, again using Milky Way Galaxy scaling. The bulk of the material in these structures is at lower density, and $`10^6M_{}\text{ kpc}\text{-3}`$ is a good average value. This is to be compared to a maximum in the inner regions of the model system of $`3.8\times 10^7M_{}\text{ kpc}\text{-3}`$ which occurs at a distance of about 3 kpc from the gravitational center at this epoch. All densities calculated in these simulations scale with the mass of the system.

The numerical models also provide a wealth of information on the velocity structure. However, the absolute values of the velocities and the time parameter in the simulations scale with the system mass and radius. In general, the computational units are chosen such that the quantity $`GMT^2/L^3`$ is a dimensionless scalar, where G is the gravitational constant, and T and L are the computational time and length units, respectively, and in these simulations, $`MT^2/L^3`$ is set equal to 1. Thus $`T=L\sqrt{L/M}`$, indicating that the gravitationally driven processes occur most rapidly in compact, massive galaxies. We do not have direct knowledge of the original radii of the two disk galaxies involved in the Arp 220 merger, nor do we yet have a very precise mass estimate for this system, therefore we will discuss the relative velocities generated in the model, and provide magnitudes based upon the mass and radius of the Milky Way galaxy for reference. We see from above that the scaling of the time unit is not very sensitive to the mass; we also note that the value of the length unit can be constrained by detailed comparisons of the models and observations of a particular system. In this case, the best fit model shown in Fig. 10 corresponds to a time $`1.5\times 10^8`$ yr after the closest approach of the two nuclei, making Arp 220 a very young, incomplete merger.

These remarks should not be construed as implying that the full time interval of approximately $`1.5\times 10^8`$ years is available for a superwind to propagate out through the galaxy from the central nuclear region seen at this epoch in the model. Only after the joint nucleus is formed will enough stellar material be colocated over a long enough time to allow the enhanced star formation and merged superwind associated with a nuclear super-starburst. Although dense, presumably star-forming regions form in the gas in each disk very soon after the collision, their location in the disk changes over time, and none of these regions reform into the two galactic nuclei until well after the initial closest approach of the two nuclei. It takes an even longer time for the material from both disks to settle into one, joint central region, as observed in the Arp 220 system. The time for this central stellar turn-on is well defined in the sense that the central density remains low until this time and grows rapidly thereafter. In the chosen model, with the Milky Way scaling applied, the combined central region has been in existence for approximately $`1.5\times 10^7`$ years, a factor of ten shorter than the time since the first closest approach. This then provides the timescale for the outward propagation of a superwind from a starburst in this central location. The central region will have been fed by a continual stream of infalling material during this $`1.5\times 10^7`$ year period, which might be expected to help fuel an increasingly larger central starburst. This result is consistent with those of Mihos and Hernquist (1996) in their investigations of the timescale for central merger, infall of gas, and the potential production of a central starburst, in systems with somewhat different collision parameters than those presented here.

The regions in the model corresponding to the ‘plume regions’ in Arp 220 show an infalling of gas towards the nucleus of about 400 km s-1, rather than the outflow of 225 km s-1 derived by Heckman et al (1996) for a superwind in this system. We note that both of these values would be reduced by projection effects as viewed on the sky and, at the approximate viewing angle given by our model fit, become approximately 300 km s-1 and 170 km s-1, respectively. Neither of these numbers should be given great weight because both are based on simple assumptions for the flow mechanism and the properties of the system. However, the interaction of an infalling collisionally shocked gas stream with a superwind would provide an interesting dynamical situation in the central regions of the galaxy and could lead to a slowed wind or to turbulent mixing, for example. In such a case the usual boundary conditions used in superwind calculations, such as those of Strickland & Stevens (2000) would need to be modified, and a 3-D simulation would likely be needed.

The outer, dense edges of the ‘lobe regions’ in the model are continuing to expand outwards and are experiencing a general rotation that is a remnant of the original rotation of the two disks. The rotational velocity is larger than that of the corresponding Keplerian velocity at that radius because a collision leads to an increase in the azimuthal velocity of the expanding ring (see Gerber 1993, and Gerber et al. 1996). The combination of the azimuthal and radial motions for these rings leads to a declining line-of-sight velocity along each of the lobe rims ranging from approximately 185 to 25 km s-1, and -175 to -20 km s-1, in the frame of the galaxy, for the two respectively. Insufficient observational data for these regions in Arp 220 currently exists to check these predictions against observations, but the detection of consistent rotation in the two lobe exteriors would provide support for our model.

Fig. 11 displays the distribution of the disk star particles corresponding to the same time step and viewing angle as shown for the gas distribution in Fig. 10. The particles representing the original disk stars are shown in black (yellow in the electronic version). We note that the distribution of the stars has an overall similarity to that of the gas, as both are driven primarily by the evolving gravitational potential. However, the density features in the gas are sharper than those in the stellar distribution because of the collisional nature of the gas, and the size of the expanding gaseous envelope is slightly smaller than the expanding remains of the stellar disk. In a real galaxy, we expect that the old original disk stars would contribute heavily in the near-IR.

If we can assume that the original gas disks which formed Arp 220 did not extend far beyond their respective stellar disks, which is not a good assumption for all disk galaxies (see Briggs et al. 1980, Martin 1998), then we predict that the gas and the old, intermediate and low-mass stars should be found to roughly co-exist in space on large scales. That is, we expect the near IR flux from these stars in Arp 220 to extend as far as the X-ray and H-alpha images, or a little further. The collisional nature of the gas produces high density features not found in the stellar mass distribution, so the detailed structure is not the same in both, and the old stellar distribution in such systems can appear relatively smooth (see Stanford & Bushouse 1991) in comparison to that of the gas, and even more so in comparison to that of the new star-forming regions.

If either of the original disk galaxies had an extensive HI disk beyond the stellar disk, much of this material would now contribute to distended HI features on either side of the newly forming tight, central disk observed in the system. However, some fraction of the original HI gas, that residing on the near sides of the two disks during the collision, would have been collisionally shocked and heated to high temperatures. Galaxy collisions provide a means of heating large amounts of HI gas, as well as delivering vast amounts of material to the galaxy center, or into other dense regions, such as the extensive ring structures and tidal arms observed in some colliding systems (see Lamb, Hearn & Gao 1998, and Hearn et al. 2001), that can cool efficiently and subsequently form extranuclear superstarclusters. Indeed, Arp 220 does display such starclusters away from the nucleus, and the location and age of these can help to pin down the correct numerical models for this system, and even help to put constraints on the masses of the colliding galaxies.

### 5.3 The Lobes as Superwind or Merger Products

The lobes are morphologically distinct from the plume regions; their lower surface brightness and different position angle indicate that either the lobes and plumes are dynamically distinct, or that the outflowing material undergoes a transition at the lobe/plume boundary. In the latter case, we can interpret the lobes as the outflowing material from the plumes which has encountered a rapid drop in density at this radius in the galaxy’s halo and created a low-density, hot bubble of gas on either side of Arp 220. In principle, an unimpeded superwind of velocity $`1000v_3`$ km s-1 could create a bubble of size $`10r_{10}`$ kpc in $`1\times 10^7(r_{10}/v_3)`$ yr where $`r_{10}`$ and $`v_3`$ are scaling parameters. This would be feasible, given the time scaling of our merger simulation, if we assume that we do not observe the lobes in projection, which would imply a larger true linear dimension, and that the central starburst occurred immediately after the combined stellar and gaseous nucleus formed. The numerical simulations indicate that the material now found in the central regions of Arp 220 was initially flung to a considerable distance from its current location, and has subsequently fallen back inwards in a steady stream that continues to this epoch. It appears unlikely that a strong, unimpeded superwind has existed for the last $`10^7`$ yr. Further, if the true superwind velocity is low, as suggested by Arribas et al (2002), the timescale for lobe formation would be considerably longer than the maximum of $`10^7`$ years available in the collision and merger model described here. If the true mass of the Arp 220 system is larger than that of the Milky Way, the time available for the superwind to propagate outwards is decreased.

In this section, we consider the alternative possibility that the connection between the lobes and the plumes is an artifact of projection and that the lobes arise purely from merger dynamics and collisional shock heating of the gas. As we mentioned earlier, the particular morphological form that appears to provide a good fit to the observed large-scale structure of Arp 220 can be obtained for off-center, face-on, co-rotating disk collisions if the impact velocity is less than a couple of hundred km s-1. If the impact velocity is larger, for example 300 km s-1 or more, lobes form and then disperse long before the nuclear region has had time to recondense, and we would not then expect either a starburst or its accompanying superwind to coexist with the collisionally induced lobes. The expanding, rotating, non-planar rings obtained in our chosen model, those that we identify with the outer, limb brightened portions of the lobes of Arp 220, do not appear ring-like from the chosen viewing angle. The gas contained within them was once a part of the two disks and has experienced both a collision with the gas from the other galaxy and, internally, with infalling, outer gas from the same disk. This latter process often leads to large-scale clumping of the gas, and a highly asymmetric density distribution around the ring (see Gerber, Lamb, & Balsara 1992), as well as very high relative velocities. In this picture, our line-of-sight to the centers of the lobes, as projected on the plane of the sky, passes through mostly very low density gas because the outwardly propagating ring structures have excavated these regions. The details of this proposed origin of the Arp 220 lobes can be further explored and checked against observations once detailed dynamical information for the lobes is available, and once a better mass estimate for the system is available from near-IR photometric imaging.

## 6 Conclusion

We have demonstrated the presence of distinct regimes in the X-ray emission in Arp 220: a nuclear region where a mixture of sources contribute (discussed in Paper I); a plume region of end-to-end dimension 11 kpc, with X-ray temperatures from 0.2 to several keV, that we suggest is likely associated with a superwind from the starburst at the center of the merger; two cooler diffuse lobe regions outside the optical galaxy with a temperature of 0.2-1.0 keV, that stretch to 10-15 kpc on either side of the nuclear region. We suggest the lobes are a product of the collision itself, when a fraction of the gas gains a sufficiently higher than average share of the collision kinetic energy to radiate in the observed X-ray range. This picture helps to resolve several of the puzzles about this system raised by Heckman et al (1996); namely, the ’misalignment,’ by 25-30 degrees, of the plumes and lobes, by attributing each to different structures rather than to a continuous structure, their apparent continous appearance on the sky being caused by superposition; the integrity of the outer lobes, which we interpret as collisionally produced ring structures, rather than the outer edges of a wind-blown bubble which might be expected to have experienced ’blow-out’ by this time; and the collimation of the supposed wind-blown plumes which may have been influenced by the collisionally modified phase and velocity structure of the near-disk galactic environment. We note that the disk itself is likely to have only recently reformed after the disk disruption caused by the initial collision of the galaxies.

Arp 220 is a prototype for the large number of rapidly star-forming infrared mergers at higher redshift. The complexity of its interstellar medium is a salutary warning of the difficulty of interpreting data with poorer linear resolution. If the Arp 220 X-ray lobes are due to a superwind, the amount of energy being pumped into the intergalactic medium is a significant fraction of the energy generated by the starbust, in contrast to that of the superwind of NGC 253 which has an energy of just a few percent of the output from the central starburst. If the lobes are a dynamical collision remnant, they may provide a source of infalling material at later times, but can also be dispersed into the intergalactic medium if the collision parameters and galactic environment are appropriate (Hearn & Lamb 2003).

We acknowledge use of the ADS, SIMBAD, NED, and CIAO. Partial support for this work was provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through Chandra Award Number GO1-1166 issued by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, which is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for and on behalf of NASA under contract NAS8-39073. S. Lamb and N. Hearn acknowledge support from DOE contract LLNL B209032 and the support of NPACI through an allocation of computer time to perform the numerical simulations presented in this paper, and to NSCA for computational support for visualization of the models. We thank the referee for helping us clarify the presentation.


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# Stellar disk in the galactic center — a remnant of a dense accretion disk?

## 1 Introduction

The dusty center of our galaxy harbors a compact massive object Sgr A , most likely a black hole (Genzel et. al. 1997, Ghez et. al. 1998). The galactic center is also host to a numerous population of young stars (see Genzel et. al. 2000, hereafter G00, and references therein). Such a combination is a puzzle as the tidal field of Sgr A should suppress star formation in its vicinity (Phinney 1989). Interestingly, G00 have found that most young stars move clockwise on the sky around the putative black hole.

In this Letter we analyze and interpret the three-dimensional (3D) velocity data of G00. In the next section, we show the available sample of 13 stars and find that 10 of them revolve in a thin disk. We discuss this result in § 3 and propose that a burst of star formation occurred recently within a dense gaseous disk. In § 4, we consider the orbit of S2, the young star closest to Sgr A (Schödel et al. 2002; Ghez et al. 2003). Its orbital plane is inclined by $`75^\mathrm{o}`$ to the stellar disk. We show that the orbital plane of S2 is turning around the black-hole spin axis due to the Lense-Thirring precession, and thus it is possible that S2 was born in the plane of the stellar disk. Within this hypothesis, we are able to constrain the magnitude of the black-hole spin.

## 2 The young stellar disk

For 13 young stars with strong He-emission lines, G00 were able to measure 3D velocities. Eleven of them were found to move clockwise on the sky. We find that 10 velocity vectors of the clockwise-moving stars from this sample lie in one plane within the measurement errors.

Figure 1 shows the full available sample of 13 vectors in two projections: (a) as viewed by an observer on Earth and (b) as viewed by an observer located in the found plane. One can see that ten vectors lie in the plane within at most $`1.6\sigma `$. The sample is clearly inconsistent with a stellar population of randomly oriented orbits. Indeed, what would be the probability to have 10 out of 13 random vectors clustering so tightly near a single plane? A Monte-Carlo simulation demonstrates that this probability is $`P10^2`$. If we limit our sample to stars 1—11 that move clockwise on the sky, then $`P10^3`$.

The pattern of velocities observed in Figure 1b suggests that the stars are divided into two groups. (1) Stars 1—10 with nearly co-planar velocities belong to a thin disk; note that they all move clockwise on the sky. (2) Stars 11—13 with velocities far from the disk plane ($`>3\sigma `$); they have a random sense of rotation on the sky (stars 12 and 13 move counter-clockwise).

We fitted vectors 1—10 by one plane using the $`\chi ^2`$ test. The reduced $`\chi ^2`$ is defined by

$$\chi ^2=\frac{1}{N1}\mathrm{\Sigma }_{i=1}^N\frac{(𝐧𝐯_i)^2}{(n_x\sigma _{xi})^2+(n_y\sigma _{yi})^2+(n_z\sigma _{zi})^2},$$
(1)
where $`N`$ is the number of stars, $`𝐧=(n_x,n_y,n_z)`$ is a unit vector normal to the plane, $`𝐯_i`$ is the velocity vector of the $`i`$th star, and $`(\sigma _{xi},\sigma _{yi},\sigma _{zi})`$ are the measurement errors of the components of $`𝐯_i`$. The best fit has the reduced $`\chi ^2=0.67`$. If we added the 11th star then $`\chi ^2`$ would jump to 3.2. Unit vector $`𝐧`$ normal to the best-fit plane is $`(0.486,0.725,0.487)`$ in conventional galactic coordinates: $`x`$ and $`y`$ are the coordinates on the sky (right ascension and declination, respectively) and $`z`$ axis is directed along the line of sight away from us. The $`\chi ^2`$ test also shows that the uncertainty in $`𝐧`$ is small: $`\chi ^2`$ increases by a factor of two if one rocks $`𝐧`$ through $`9^\mathrm{o}`$.

Although the data is consistent with stars 1—10 having orbits exactly in the best-fit plane, the measurement errors allow modest orbital inclinations relative to this plane, $`\theta _i0`$ ($`i=1,\mathrm{},10`$), i.e. the stellar disk can have a modest openning angle. We now evaluate the upper limit on this angle. Suppose the ten stars are drawn from a rotating stellar system with orbital planes pivoting around the best-fit plane with a dispersion $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$. To check the consistency of a given $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$ with the data we use the Monte-Carlo technique. We simulate a random realization of ten orbital planes $`i=1,\mathrm{},10`$ drawn from the model population, and choose in each plane a vector $`𝐯_i`$ with the absolute value equal to the corresponding real $`v_i`$ and a random direction111 To mimic the measurement procedure, we also superimpose random Gaussian errors $`\delta 𝐯_i`$ on the generated vectors. Their mean deviations $`(\sigma _{xi},\sigma _{yi},\sigma _{zi})`$ are taken equal to those of the real measurements of G00.. Then, using equation (1), we fit $`𝐯_i`$ by one plane. With many realizations of the artificial sample, we find the probability that $`\chi ^20.67`$. In other words, we find the probability that the artificial sample allows as good co-planar fit as the one we found for the real data. This probability $`P(\mathrm{\Delta }\theta )`$ is a measure of the data consistency with assumed $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta `$. The results are shown in Figure 2. We find $`P10^2`$ for $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta =20^\mathrm{o}`$ and $`P10^1`$ for $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta =10^\mathrm{o}`$. Thus, the half-opening angle of the stellar disk does not exceed $`10^\mathrm{o}`$.

## 3 The interpretation: disrupted young cluster versus remnant of an accretion disk

The existence of the young stellar disk provides a new insight into the puzzle of star formation in the galactic center. Normal star formation via fragmentation of a molecular cloud is impossible there, since the cloud would be ripped apart by the tidal forces it would encounter so close to the black hole (Phinney 1989). One solution to this problem was proposed by Gerhard (2001). In his picture, a stellar cluster was born $`10`$ pc away from Sgr A , and then spiraled in due to gravitational interaction with ambient stars. As it spiraled in, the cluster was stripped and finally its core was disrupted by the tidal field of Sgr A . The young stars left from the disintegrated cluster would continue to move in orbital planes close to that of the parent cluster, within an angle $`\mathrm{\Delta }\theta (M_c/M)^{1/3}`$, where $`M_c`$ is mass of the cluster core and $`M`$ is the black-hole mass. This is consistent with the observed thickness of the stellar disk if $`M_c<5\times 10^3M2\times 10^4M_{}`$, which also agrees with Gerhard’s estimate for $`M_c`$. However, this scenario has a problem: the cluster should be disrupted relatively far from Sgr A , at about 0.4 pc (Gerhard 2001). In contrast, many of the young stars are located within 0.1 pc, thus their origin remains unexplained.

We propose that the stars were born in a dense gaseous disk that existed around Sgr A in the past. Such a disk can form when an infalling molecular cloud is tidally disrupted by the central black hole. Alternatively, the disk can grow gradually by accumulating gas from the ambient medium. In either case, the disk orientation is determined by the gas angular momentum. Accumulation of gas in one plane leads to a significant increase of its density. When the density exceeds $`M/(2\pi R^3)`$ at a radius $`R`$, the disk become unstable with respect to its own gravity, and its fragments collapse (Paczynski 1978). The clumping instability can lead to formation of stars, and this process is believed to occur in active nuclei of other galaxies (Kolykhalov and Sunyaev 1980, Shlosman and Begelman 1987, Collin and Zahn 1999). Detailed models of self-gravitating disks show that the fragmentation takes place at radii $`R=(10^410^5)GM/c^2`$ (Goodman 2003), which is consistent with the proximity of the young stellar population to Sgr A. The dense accretion disk can also trap old stars from initially inclined orbits (Artymowicz, Lin, and Wampler 1993). The trapped stars would then accrete the disk material and grow to large masses, so that now they would appear as young stars.

No dense gaseous disk is currently observed around Sgr A , which implies that it is a transient phenomenon. After the onset of the clumping instability and the burst of star formation, the disk can be drained quickly: partly it is blown away by the stellar winds and partly it is accreted onto the central black hole. A major remnant of the past activity near Sgr A are the young stars. The estimated ages of stars indicate that the burst of accretion took place $`39`$ millions of years ago.

The stellar disk is immersed in the ambient spherical cluster of old stars, and is being stirred by their gravitational fields. With time, the disk will get thicker and, in approximately $`30`$ million years, it will become indistinguishable from the spherical cluster (see G00 for the estimate of the cluster relaxation time). The present age of the young stars is significantly smaller and the disk can be well preserved. The fact that a fraction of the young stars do not belong to the disk remains to be explained. In particular, 3 stars with measured 3D velocities are out of the disk plane, and 2 of them are on counter-rotating orbits.

## 4 The Lense-Thirring precession of close stars

The available sample used in our work does not include a comparable number of stars that are even closer to Sgr A but whose 3D velocities remain unmeasured. In the accretion-disk scenario, they could have migrated inward as a result of tidal interaction with the dense disk (Ward 1986, Gould and Rix 2000). The lack of 3D velocity measurements of close stars does not allow us to check whether their orbits are in the disk plane. Recently, it became possible to map out the 3-dimensional orbit of star $`S2`$, which is closest to the black hole (Schödel et. al. 2002, Ghez et. al. 2003). Its sense of orbital rotation is similar to that of the stellar disk, however, the orbital plane is different. There is no inconsistency here: S2 is so close to Sgr A that the black-hole spin can make the orbital plane of S2 turn slowly around the spin axis. This is a general-relativistic effect known as Lense-Thirring precession (Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler 1973). Using the measured orbit eccentricity $`e=0.87`$ and semimajor axis $`r_0=4.6\times 10^3`$ pc, we find the period of precession,

$$P_{\mathrm{LT}}=5.76\times 10^6a^1\left(\frac{3\times 10^6M_{}}{M}\right)^2\left(\frac{1e^2}{10.87^2}\right)^{3/2}\left(\frac{r_0}{4.6\times 10^3\text{pc}}\right)^3\text{yr},$$
(2)
where $`a`$ is the dimesionless spin of the black hole, with $`a=1`$ corresponding to a maximal spin. Thus, even though S2 orbit is not presently in the plane of the stellar disk, it could have been there a few million years ago. The current angle between the disk and S2 orbital plane is about $`75^\mathrm{o}`$, and the disk origin of S2 would require

$$a>0.21\left(\frac{3\times 10^6M_{}}{M_{\mathrm{BH}}}\right)^2\left(\frac{5.76\times 10^6\text{yr}}{t_{\mathrm{S2}}}\right),$$
(3)
where $`t_{\mathrm{S2}}`$ is the age of $`S2`$.

Once the orbits of other close stars are mapped out, the hypothesis that they were born in the stellar disk and later precessed out of the disk plane can be tested. Just one additional orbit will be sufficient to determine the direction of the black-hole spin, and two additional orbits would allow one to confirm or rule out the precession hypothesis.

We are grateful to Reinhard Genzel for the update on the stellar velocities, and to Norm Murray, Marten van Kerkwijk, and Chris Matzner for discussions. We thank Sarah Levin for her advise on the prose. This work was supported by NSERC and RFBR grant 00-02-16135.