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# Topology and Computational Performance of Attractor Neural Networks

(
March 31, 2003
)

## Abstract

To explore the relation between network structure and function, we studied the computational performance of Hopfield-type attractor neural nets with regular lattice, random, small-world and scale-free topologies. The random configuration is the most efficient for storage and retrieval of patterns by the network as a whole. However, in the scale-free case retrieval errors are not distributed uniformly: the portion of a pattern encoded by the subset of highly connected nodes is more robust and efficiently recognized than the rest of the pattern. The scale-free network thus achieves a very strong partial recognition. Implications for brain function and social dynamics are suggestive.

While intense research activity is centered on structural and topological properties of social, biological and technological networksnetreviews , the consequences of network structure for the dynamics of cooperative processes have been addressed to a lesser extent. Topology is known to affect the ordering and disordering of the Ising modelPekalski -G. Bianconi  and the synchronization of coupled oscillators Barahona Manrubia . Another area of burning interest is the relation between structure and function in the organization of brains. Braitenburg brain brainSW

The goal of this letter is to study the effect of structure on the dynamics of sparsely connected Hopfield-typeAmit -Hopfield  attractor neural networks. It is known that randomly pruning the connections of a Hopfield net (HN) increases the storage capacity per synapse.dilution  Amongst other questions we ask whether there is an optimal topology given a fixed number of nodes and connections. The HN is of interest because it provides a tractable toy model of collective computation and can also be viewed as an extension of the Ising model with limited amounts of frustration and quenched disorder.Mezard  We hope therefore that our results lead to further insights into collective computation as well as ordering and disordering processes occuring on networks.

Our computations involve Hopfield nets with asynchronous updating in random orderAmit HKP , $`p`$ random stored binary pattern vectors $`\xi ^\mu `$ and HebbianHebb  connection strengths

$$w_{ij}=a_{ij}\underset{\mu =1}{\overset{p}{}}\xi _i^\mu \xi _j^\mu $$
(1)
where $`a_{ij}`$ is the adjacency matrix ($`a_{ij}=1`$ if $`i`$ and $`j`$ are connected, $`a_{ij}=0`$ otherwise). The degree of node $`i`$ is $`k_i=_{j=1}^Na_{ij}`$. We always compare networks with the same number of nodes $`N=5000`$ and average degree $`k=50`$, varying only the arrangement of connections. Each node is connected on average to 1% of the other nodes, compared to $``$0.1% in the mouse cortex.Braitenburg  The networks compared are: (1) a regular one-dimensional ring of nodes, each connected to its 50 nearest neighbors, (2) a random (Erdős-RenyiE-R ) network, (3) a small world (Watts-StrogatzWS ) net constructed from a regular lattice by randomly rewiring local links with probability $`r`$, and (4) a scale-free network with degree distribution $`P(k)k^3`$ with a lower cutoff of 25 generated by the Barabasi-Albert algorithm of prefential attachmentBA .

We measured two aspects of the performance of the associative memory networks: the *stability* of the memorized patterns (inversely related to the number of errors induced by crosstalk) and the nework’s *ability to recognize* one of the patterns from a state with a large number of errors. These two features of an associative memory are related but not identical: a pattern can be stable but nonetheless have a small basin of attraction, while on the other hand it is possible for an attractor to have a large basin but nonetheless be imperfectly correlated with the memorized pattern. To quantify pattern retrieval we used the overlap order parameters

$$m^\mu \frac{1}{N}\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}x_i\xi _i^\mu $$
(2)
where $`x_i=\pm 1`$ denotes the output of the $`i`$-th node, as well as partial overlaps $`m^\mu (k_{\mathrm{min}})=m^\mu (k>k_{\mathrm{min}})`$, defined as in (2) except that the sum runs only over those nodes whose degree exceeds $`k_{\mathrm{min}}`$ and is normalized appropriately. $`k_{\mathrm{min}}`$ partitions the network into hubs and non-hubs, and $`m^\mu (k_{\mathrm{min}})`$ measures recognition of the portion of the pattern encoded in the hubs. The stability of the memory patterns was measured by initializing the network to a memory state ($`x_i=\xi _i^\mu `$) and measuring $`m_{final}^\mu `$ after the dynamics converged. The departure of $`m_{final}^\mu `$ from 1 reflects the number of errors induced by crosstalk. As an indicator of the network’s ability to retrieve a pattern from a randomly corrupted version, we measured $`m_{final}^\mu `$ when the initial overlap was $`m_{init}^\mu =0.5`$. We averaged these quantities over several realizations of the topology and patterns, varying the number of patterns $`p`$ to see how the performance degrades with increasing loading.

With $`k=50`$ and $`p50`$, the networks studied are far from the commonly studied limit where both $`p`$ and $`N`$ simultaneously approach infinityAmit . Therefore no discontinous overloading phase transition is apparent, but comparisons are still possible at finite $`p`$ and $`N`$. Figure 1 shows results for the networks as a whole. The most rapid degradation in both stability and retrievability occurs in the regular lattice, and the slowest in the random net. Not surprisingly, the addition of shortcuts to a regular lattice enhances pattern stability and retrieval. The performance of small-world nets is intermediate between that of a regular and a random net. The variation with rewiring probability $`r`$ is not linear, however. A network with $`r=0.5`$ behaves almost as a random ( $`r=1`$) net.

The performance of the scale-free net as a whole degrades slightly faster than that of a random net, but the errors are not distributed evenly as is apparent in figure 2 where we examine $`m^\mu (k_{\mathrm{min}})`$ for $`k_{\mathrm{min}}=50,100,200,`$ and $`400`$. These represent subsets having average sizes of 1235, 333, 97 and 29 nodes, respectively. From figure 2A, it is evident that the frequency of crosstalk-induced errors decreases with increasing degree. For example, the nodes with $`k>k_{\mathrm{min}}=200`$ have very few errors even when $`p=k=50`$. The nodes with $`k>200`$ form a subset of approximately 100 nodes. A fully connected net of 100 nodes alone would be able to store only $`14`$ patterns.Amit HopfieldStorage  Thus, the performance of the hubs in the original network as pattern recognizers is much higher than it would be if the nodes with $`k<k_{\mathrm{min}}`$ were pruned away. Even though the less connected nodes are more prone to errors, they nonetheless assist the hubs in retaining the patterns. The enhanced performance of the well-connected subset manifests itself not only in the stability of the patterns but also in their retrieval, as seen in figure 2B. The hubs are able to distinguish clearly among a large number of patterns even if the pattern reconstruction is incomplete (i.e. limited to the hubs.)

The lower rate of errors among the hubs is not surprising in view of the fact that their input comes from a larger number of nodes. It can be shown using arguments as in Amit  and HKP  that if the state of the network is initially set to one of the patterns ($`𝐱=\xi ^\mu `$ ) then an individual node with degree $`k_i`$ experiences a crosstalk-induced noise-to-signal ratio $`(N/S)_i\sqrt{(p1)/k_i}`$. Hence the probability of a crosstalk-induced error in the $`i`$-th node decreases with increasing degree. The presence of one error reduces the strength of the signal and may increase the likelihood of additional errors, resulting in a cascade of the type responsible for the abrupt overloading phase transition that occurs in the fully connected Hopfield networkAmit HopfieldStorage . Cascades in the opposite direction may also play a role in the reconstruction of patterns from noisy input. The differences between differently connected networks thus lie not just in the initial signal-to noise ratio but in the dynamics of the spread of error cascades. This dynamics differs from ordinary percolation or epidemic propagation, since the susceptibility of a node is inversely correlated with its degree. In most models of epidemic propagation only one infected neighbor suffices to infect a node, regardless of its degree.

Our results are reminiscent of those for the simple Ising model: a one-dimensional lattice is easily disordered by thermal noiseKogut  while even a few long range connections can restore order at a finite temperaturePekalski , and in a scale-free network the nodes with high degree are more strongly magnetized than those with low degreeAleksiejuk . The difference is that in the present case, the disorder is induced by interference among the stored patterns and not by stochastic noise. It is a quenched rather than thermal disorder.

While we found that the most efficient arrangement for storage and retrieval of patterns by the network as a whole is a random network, connections in real brains do not appear to be fully random. One reason may lie in the economy of wiring length.brain  The majority of connections in brains of higher animals as well as in C. elegans WS  appears to occur between nearby neurons, while fewer paths connect more distant regions, suggesting a small-world topology. Our results imply that small-world networks with a moderate number of shortcuts can be almost as computationally efficient as a random network while saving considerably on wiring costs. The suitability of small-world networks for complex computations was also suggested on the basis of other models.brainSW  To what extent scale-free structures play a role in real brains remains to be seen, but our results suggest a mechanism by which information can be centralized in the more connected nodes while the remaining nodes, although noisy, are nonetheless indispensable for the computation. It will be of interest to study the implications of these notions for the formation of knowledge, opinions and power structures in scientific and social networks.Opinion

###### Acknowledgements.

This work was supported by the NSERC of Canada. We thank H. Kwan and R. Kapral for helpful discussions.


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# Behind the Success of the Quark Model

## 1 Introduction

The hadron dynamics is ruled by quantum chromodynamics (QCD). In a spirit of the elementary particle physics, it is desired to comprehend the hadron system directly from QCD. However, due to its strong-coupling nature, it is still difficult to extract the hadron dynamics from QCD in an analytic manner. Instead, the lattice QCD calculation has been adopted as a promising method for the nonperturbative analysis of QCD.

In the first half of this paper, we study the three-quark (3Q) potential in lattice QCD. The inter-quark potential is one of the most fundamental and important quantities in QCD, and is directly responsible for the hadron properties. In contrast with lots of lattice studies for the quark-antiquark (Q-$`\overline{\mathrm{Q}}`$) potential, there had been no reliable lattice-QCD result on the 3Q potential, although the 3Q potential is responsible for the baryon properties and of great importance also for the quark-confinement mechanism in baryons. On the ground-state 3Q potential $`V_{3\mathrm{Q}}^{\mathrm{g}.\mathrm{s}.}`$, the detailed study has been recently performed, and Y-ansatz is now almost conclusive .

In the latter half of this paper, we consider the connection between QCD and the quark model in terms of the excited-state inter-quark potential. The low-lying hadron properties, especially for baryons, can be successfully reproduced in the framework of the simple non-relativistic quark model , which has only quark degrees of freedom and has no gluonic modes. The non-relativistic treatment can be justified by spontaneous chiral-symmetry breaking, which gives rise to a large constituent quark mass of about 300 MeV. On the other hand, we have no reason which supports the absence of the gluonic excitation modes in the low-lying hadron spectra. To give a solution to this mystery, we investigate the gluonic excitation modes. In spite of several lattice studies on the gluonic excitation mode in the Q-$`\overline{\mathrm{Q}}`$ system, the gluonic excited-state potential in the 3Q system has not been investigated in lattice QCD. We show the first result on the 1st excited-state potential $`V_{3\mathrm{Q}}^{\mathrm{e}.\mathrm{s}.}`$ in the spatially-fixed 3Q system in SU(3) lattice QCD .

## 2 The ground-state 3Q potential – Lattice QCD evidences of Y-ansatz

The Q-$`\overline{\mathrm{Q}}`$ potential is described by a simple form as $`V_{\mathrm{Q}\overline{\mathrm{Q}}}^{\mathrm{g}.\mathrm{s}.}(r)=\frac{A_{\mathrm{Q}\overline{\mathrm{Q}}}}{r}+\sigma _{\mathrm{Q}\overline{\mathrm{Q}}}r+C_{\mathrm{Q}\overline{\mathrm{Q}}}`$. In a theoretical conjecture, due to the confinement effect at the large distance, the color-electric flux among the quarks is expected to be squeezed as the color-flux-tube, and the quarks are linked with the one-dimensional flux-tube, which leads to the linear potential. Reflecting the SU(3) gauge symmetry in QCD, the color-flux-tube in the 3Q system has a junction which connects three different colors in a color-singlet manner. In the ground state of the 3Q system, the flux-tube energy proportional to its length is minimized in the presence of the junction, and therefore the Y-type flux-tube is expected to be formed among the three quarks . Thus, similarly in the Q-$`\overline{\mathrm{Q}}`$ potential, the 3Q potential is conjectured to be expressed by a sum of a constant, the two-body Coulomb term from the perturbative OGE process at the short distance and the three-body linear confinement term at the long distance:

$`V_{3\mathrm{Q}}=A_{3\mathrm{Q}}{\displaystyle \underset{i<j}{}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{|𝐫_i𝐫_j|}}+\sigma _{3\mathrm{Q}}L_{\mathrm{min}}+C_{3\mathrm{Q}}\text{(Y-ansatz)}`$ (1)
with the minimal value $`L_{\mathrm{min}}`$ of the total length of color-flux-tubes linking three quarks.

We extract the static 3Q potential $`V_{3\mathrm{Q}}^{\mathrm{g}.\mathrm{s}.}`$ from the 3Q Wilson loop  using SU(3) lattice QCD calculations in the model-independent way. For the accurate measurement of $`V_{3\mathrm{Q}}^{\mathrm{g}.\mathrm{s}.}`$, we adopt the gauge-covariant smearing method, which enhances the ground-state overlap. For more than 300 patterns of the 3Q systems, we investigate $`V_{3\mathrm{Q}}^{\mathrm{g}.\mathrm{s}.}`$ in lattice QCD with $`12^3\times 24`$ lattice at $`\beta =5.7`$ and with $`16^3\times 32`$ lattices at $`\beta =5.8,6.0`$.

As a result, the 3Q potential can be accurately described by the Y-ansatz form in Eq.(1) within the 1%-level deviation. From the comparison with the Q-$`\overline{\mathrm{Q}}`$ potential, we find the universality of the string tension as $`\sigma _{3\mathrm{Q}}\sigma _{\mathrm{Q}\overline{\mathrm{Q}}}`$ and the one-gluon-exchange result as $`A_{3\mathrm{Q}}\frac{1}{2}A_{\mathrm{Q}\overline{\mathrm{Q}}}`$.

This result is also supported by the recent lattice study on the flux-tube profile in the 3Q system . The Y-type flux-tube is observed in the 3Q system as shown in Fig.1. (In contrast, the theoretical basis of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$-ansatz in Ref. insists on the absence of any flux-tube formation in the 3Q system: neither Y nor $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ flux-tube is to be observed in their framework.) Thus, the possibility of $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$-ansatz  is almost denied, and Y-ansatz seems established for the 3Q potential.

## 3 The excited-state 3Q potential and the success of the simple quark model

Color confinement mechanism in QCD leads to a squeezed color-flux-tube, and then the gluonic excitation is theoretically expected to appear as the vibrational mode of the color-flux-tube . Experimentally, this type of the gluonic excitation is closely related to the hybrid mesons and the hybrid baryons, which consist of $`q\overline{q}G`$ and $`qqqG`$, respectively, in the valence picture. In particular, the several states with the exotic quantum number such as $`J^{PC}=0^{},0^+,1^+,2^+,\mathrm{}`$ cannot be constructed with the simple quark picture.

As for the excited-state Q-$`\overline{\mathrm{Q}}`$ potential, recent lattice studies indicate the form as $`V_{\mathrm{Q}\overline{\mathrm{Q}}}^{\mathrm{e}.\mathrm{s}.}(r)=\sqrt{b_0+b_1r+b_2r^2}+c_0`$ . However, the vibrational modes of the Y-type flux-tube system are considered to be much more complicated and chaotic than those of the simple Q-$`\overline{\mathrm{Q}}`$ flux-tube, because of the possible interference among the vibrations of the three flux-tubes connected at the physical junction.

We investigate the 1st excited-state potential in the spatially-fixed 3Q system using lattice QCD with $`16^3\times 32`$ lattice at $`\beta `$=5.8 for 24 patterns of the 3Q systems. In Fig.2, we plot the ground-state potential $`V_{3\mathrm{Q}}^{\mathrm{g}.\mathrm{s}.}`$ and the 1st excited-state potential $`V_{3\mathrm{Q}}^{\mathrm{e}.\mathrm{s}.}`$ as the function of $`L_{\mathrm{min}}`$ in the physical unit.

As a remarkable fact, the lowest gluonic excitation energy $`\mathrm{\Delta }E=V_{3\mathrm{Q}}^{\mathrm{e}.\mathrm{s}.}V_{3\mathrm{Q}}^{\mathrm{g}.\mathrm{s}.}`$ is found to be about 1GeV in the hadronic scale as $`L_{\mathrm{min}}0.51.5\mathrm{fm}`$. This is rather large in comparison with the low-lying excitation energy of the quark origin. (Also for the Q-$`\overline{\mathrm{Q}}`$ system, a large gluonic excitation energy is reported in recent lattice studies .) Such a gluonic excitation contribution would be significant in the highly-excited baryons with the excitation energy above 1GeV, and the lowest hybrid baryon , which is described as $`qqqG`$ in the valence picture, is expected to have a large mass of about 2GeV.

The large gluonic excitation energy corresponding to the flux-tube vibrational energy is considered to originate from the “tight” flux-tube with a large string tension, as a result of the strong confinement effect. Due to the large gluonic excitation energy $`\mathrm{\Delta }E`$ 1GeV, the gluonic excitation modes are invisible in the low-lying excitations of hadrons, which can be considered as a reason of the success of the simple quark model without gluonic modes . (See Fig.3.)


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# Signatures of Electronic Nematic Phase at Isotropic-Nematic Phase Transition

## I Introduction

Recently, novel spatially inhomogeneous and/or anisotropic phases have been found to occur in various condensed matter systems. Similar to classical liquid crystals,de\_gennes  these quantum phases can be classified according to their broken symmetries. One such phase is the smectic phase, often referred to as a stripe phase. This phase can be viewed as an unidirectional charge density wave phase which spontaneously breaks translational symmetry along one direction. Experimental evidence for smectic phases has been found in several transition-metal oxide compounds. In particular, a stripe crystal phase has been observed in manganese oxide compounds by electron diffraction.cheong  Moreover, neutron scattering experiments have provided indirect evidence for stripe phases in the high-$`T_c`$ cuprate superconductors.tranquada

Another such phase is the nematic phase — an anisotropic phase with broken rotational symmetry, but with translational symmetry in tact. This phase can be thought of as a smectic phase “melted” via the proliferation of topological defects. Nematic phases have been argued to be the source of the anisotropic transport observed in quantum Hall systems in high Landau levelseisenstein ; fradkin , and to be relevant to the high-$`T_c`$ cuprate superconductors as well.kivelson  However, an understanding of the transition from the smectic to nematic phase due to the proliferation of the topological defects still remains to be achieved.

Recently, a complementary approach to studying the nematic phase was suggested.vadim ; metzner  In this approach, the nematic phase is obtained from an isotropic liquid by breaking rotational symmetry. In the continuum limit, it was shown that the Goldstone mode resulting from breaking rotational symmetry leads to non-Fermi liquid behavior in the single-particle lifetime.vadim  Exotic superconducting instabilities mediated by the collective mode in the nematic phase were also studied.kim

While the consequences of the nematic order in the recent complementary approach were studied in Ref. kee, ; kivelson2, , we still lack an understanding of the phase transition between the isotropic and nematic phases. In this work, we study a model for the nematic phase on a square lattice, with emphasis on the phase transitions between the isotopic and nematic phases. Furthermore, we study the conductivity tensor and the Hall constant as probes of nematic phase and its transition.

## II Model Hamiltonian and Phase Transitions

The Hamiltonian we consider is

$$H=\underset{𝐤}{}\xi _𝐤c_𝐤^{}c_𝐤^{}+\underset{𝐪}{}F_2(𝐪)\mathrm{Tr}\left[\widehat{Q}(𝐪)\widehat{Q}(𝐪)\right].$$
(1)
In Eq. 1, $`\xi _𝐤`$ is the single-particle dispersion; $`F_2(𝐪)`$ is the inter-electron interaction strength, which can be written as

$$F_2(𝐪)=\frac{F_2}{1+\kappa q^2};$$

$`\widehat{Q}(𝐪)`$ is the quadrupole density tensor

$$\widehat{Q}(𝐪)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{N}}\underset{𝐤}{}c_{𝐤+\frac{𝐪}{2}}^{}\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}k_x\mathrm{cos}k_y& \mathrm{sin}k_x\mathrm{sin}k_y\\ \mathrm{sin}k_x\mathrm{sin}k_y& \mathrm{cos}k_y\mathrm{cos}k_x\end{array}\right)c_{𝐤\frac{𝐪}{2}}^{},$$

where $`N`$ is the number of lattice sites. In what follows, we take $`\xi _𝐤`$ to arise from a tight-binding model on a square lattice with nearest-neighbor ($`t`$) and next-nearest neighbor ($`t^{}`$) hopping integrals

$$\xi _𝐤=2t(\mathrm{cos}k_x+\mathrm{cos}k_y)4t^{}\mathrm{cos}k_x\mathrm{cos}k_y\mu ,$$

where $`\mu `$ is the chemical potential, and we have set the lattice spacing to unity, $`a=1`$.

Within a mean field approximation, we have the self-consistency equations

$`Q_{xx}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤}{}}(\mathrm{cos}k_x\mathrm{cos}k_y)f(\xi _𝐤),`$
$`Q_{xy}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤}{}}(\mathrm{sin}k_x\mathrm{sin}k_y)f(\xi _𝐤),`$ (2)
$`n`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N}}{\displaystyle \underset{𝐤}{}}f(\xi _𝐤),`$
where $`f(\xi _𝐤)`$ is the Fermi function, and $`n`$ is the electron density. The expectation values $`Q_{xx}`$ and $`Q_{xy}`$ lead to a modification of the single-particle dispersion. Defining

$`\lambda =|F_2|Q_{xx}/(2t)\mathrm{and}\lambda ^{}=|F_2|Q_{xy}/(4t^{}),`$ (3)
the single particle dispersion becomes

$`\xi _𝐤`$ $`=`$ $`2t\left[\left(1+\lambda \right)\mathrm{cos}k_x+\left(1\lambda \right)\mathrm{cos}k_y\right]`$ (4)
$``$ $`4t^{}(\mathrm{cos}k_x\mathrm{cos}k_y+\lambda ^{}\mathrm{sin}k_x\mathrm{sin}k_y)\mu .`$
For given values of $`\mu `$, $`F_2`$, and $`t^{}`$, we solved for $`\lambda `$, $`\lambda ^{}`$ and the density $`n=1x`$ ($`x`$ is the hole concentration) using Eq. 2. For all values of the parameters we considered, we found $`\lambda ^{}=0`$.

In Fig. 1, we show the behavior of the nematic order $`\lambda `$ as a function of chemical potential, $`\mu `$ for $`F_2/(2t)=0.55`$, $`t^{}=0.4t`$, and $`2t1`$ at $`T=0`$. An important feature of Fig. 1 is the sharp onset and offset of nematic order at critical values of $`\mu `$: $`\mu _c=0.57`$ and $`0.94`$. The free energy near the transition — $`0.61\mu 0.53`$ and $`0.96\mu 0.89`$ — shows three minima at finite $`\pm \lambda `$ and $`\lambda =0`$. This indicates a region of coexistence of the isotropic and nematic phases: it reflects the negative quartic term in the Ginzburg-Landau free energy.chung  Hence, the transition between the isotropic and nematic phases is first order. The electron density as a function of $`\mu `$ shows a discontinuity at these critical values of $`\mu _c`$, which is a signature of the first order transition.

To better understand the behavior of the nematic order, as well as the robustness of our result, we considered the dependence of $`\lambda `$ on the parameters $`F_2`$ and $`t^{}`$. Upon increasing $`|F_2|`$, we found the maximum value of $`\lambda `$ to increase. Also, increasing $`|F_2|`$ shifts the critical values of $`\mu `$, making the region over which nematic order exists wider. Furthermore, we found an absence of nematic order for all doping concentrations if $`|F_2|/(2t)6\times 10^3`$ (within the numerical precision) for $`t^{}=0.4t`$. By varying $`t^{}`$, we found the structure shown in Fig. 1 to shift. In particular, when $`t^{}=0`$, $`\lambda `$ is maximal at $`\mu =0`$ (i.e. half-filling) and is a symmetric function of $`\mu `$. This is a consequence of the particle-hole symmetry present when $`t^{}=0`$. Though the critical values of $`\mu `$ and the maximal value of $`\lambda `$ depend on the value of $`F_2`$ and $`t^{}`$, we would like to stress that the qualitative features of the phase transition between the isotropic and nematic liquids are not sensitive to the choice of parameters. In what follows, we will present results for $`F_2/(2t)=0.55`$, and $`t^{}=0.4t`$ ($`2t1`$). For small hole concentrations, this gives a hole-like Fermi surface centered about $`(\pi ,\pi )`$ (see Inset (a) of Fig. 3). Such a Fermi surface is consistent with angle resolved photoemission spectroscopycampuzano  and Hall constant measurements hwang  in the high-$`T_c`$ cuprates.

## III Conductivity Tensor and the Hall Constant

Above, we saw that the nematic phase occurs in a finite regime dopings. Furthermore, we found a dramatic change in the Fermi surface topology upon developing nematic order. (See the Inset of Fig. 3.) In this section, we study the conductivity tensor to probe the nematic order, as the conductivity tensor, especially the hall conductivity is sensitive to the topology of the Fermi surface.

Within a Boltzmann equation approach, the longitudinal conductivities are (in units where $`\mathrm{}=1`$)

$$\sigma _{ii}=2e^2\frac{1}{N}\underset{𝐤}{}\left(\frac{f}{\xi _𝐤}\right)\left(v_i^2\tau _𝐤\right),$$
(5)
where $`i`$ = $`x`$ or $`y`$, $`e`$ is the electron’s charge, $`v_i`$ is the component of the Fermi velocity along the $`i`$-axis, and $`\tau _𝐤`$ is the transport lifetime. In the presence of a magnetic field $`𝐇`$ parallel to the $`\widehat{z}`$-axis, the Hall conductivity isziman ; ong

$$\sigma _{xy}=2e^3H\frac{1}{N}\underset{𝐤}{}\left(\frac{f}{\xi _𝐤}\right)\left(v_y\tau _𝐤\right)\left(𝐯_𝐤\times _𝐤\right)_{\widehat{z}}\left(v_x\tau _𝐤\right).$$
(6)
In what follows, we will report results for the case $`\tau _𝐤\tau =\mathrm{const}`$. Some discussion regarding the form of $`\tau _𝐤`$ is given in the following Section.

Using the single-particle dispersion in Eq. 4 with $`\lambda `$ determined from Eq. 2, we plot the conductivity tensor vs. $`\mu `$ in Fig. 2. For comparison, the conductivity tensor without nematic order ($`\lambda =0`$) is shown as a dashed line. When nematic order develops, the Fermi surface topology changes dramatically. More specifically, the hole-like Fermi surface with nematic order becomes an open Fermi surface upon developing nematic order. In the nematic state, the Fermi surface is rather flat along the $`\widehat{y}`$-direction. (See Inset (b) of Fig. 3.) Hence, the hole’s motion along the $`\widehat{x}`$-direction is enhanced, while it is suppressed along the $`\widehat{y}`$-direction. These changes in the Fermi surface are reflected in the longitudinal conductivities, Figs. 2(a) and 2(b) — $`\sigma _{xx}`$ increases suddenly with the onset of nematic order (at $`\mu =0.57`$), while $`\sigma _{yy}`$ shows a sudden decrease. The Hall conductivity, Fig. 2(c), shows a dramatic drop at $`\mu =0.57`$ as well. However, its change is small compared with $`\sigma _{xx}`$ and $`\sigma _{yy}`$. This occurs because the Hall conductivity is not only sensitive to the Fermi surface’s topology, but also its curvature.ong  As shown by the dashed line in Fig. 2(c), the Hall conductivity already decreases fairly rapidly without nematic order. The dotted lines at the transition indicate that Boltzmann equation, Eq. 5 is not applicable near the transition, since there are two phases with different densities coexist.

Another quantity of interest is the Hall constant $`n_H`$, which measures the number of charge carriers, and is related to the Hall resistivity. For weak magnetic fields, the Hall resistivity is

$$\rho _{xy}\frac{\sigma _{xy}}{\sigma _{xx}\sigma _{yy}}=\frac{1}{n_Hec}H,$$
(7)
which defines $`n_H`$ in terms of $`\rho _{xy}`$. For the case of a single-band Fermi liquid model with a circular (or elliptical) Fermi surface, $`n_H`$ is the density of charge carriers per unit cell i.e. the area of the Fermi surface.

In Fig. 3, we plot the Hall constant, $`n_H`$ as a function of chemical potential, $`\mu `$. For comparison, the Hall number without nematic order ($`\lambda =0`$) is shown as a dashed line. Notice the sharp drop of $`n_H`$ at $`\mu =0.57`$, where nematic order becomes finite. It is expected that $`n_H`$ is almost constant in the region where nematic order exists, $`0.94\mu 0.57`$. This can be understood from the conductivity tensor in Fig. 2 — the decrease of hole motion along the $`y`$ direction is compensated by the increase of hole motion along $`x`$ direction, giving a product $`\sigma _{xx}\sigma _{yy}/\sigma _{xy}n_H`$ which is nearly constant.

## IV Discussion

To begin with, our results for the phase transition in Fig. 1 were obtained within a mean-field approximation. Once fluctuations about the mean-field state are included, we expect the range over which the nematic phase exists to be reduced. Furthermore, fluctuations will reduce the value of $`\lambda `$. The effect of fluctuations on the nature of phase transition will be addressed in near future. Another approximation in our treatment was the neglect of collective modes. In the continuum limit of Eq. 1, the breaking of rotational symmetry leads to a Goldstone mode; scattering from this Goldstone mode gives rise to non-Fermi liquid behavior.vadim  On a lattice, however, this collective mode is gapped; we expect scattering from the collective mode to have little effect on the $`dc`$ conductivities.

The subject of disorder deserves some discussion. Though disorder was introduced to understand the behavior of the conductivity through the transitions, we did not address its effects on the transition between the isotropic and nematic phases, nor did we address its consequences on the nematic phase itself.note2  In the absence of disorder, the mean-field treatment of the Hamiltonian Eq. 1 gave the transition between the isotropic and nematic phases to be first order. For systems that undergo a first order transition without disorder, it was shown that the system with quenched disorder could be mapped onto a random field Ising model.cardy  Based on this mapping, it was shown that in $`d2`$ dimensions, the coexistence at the phase transition disappears for arbitrarily small amount of disorder; in $`d>2`$ dimensions this occurs by the application of a finite amount of disorder. For the transition in this work, however, there are gapless fermions presents on both sides of the transition. Therefore it is unclear to us how much the results obtained from the mapping may apply. We hope to address these issues in the future.

It is also important to note that the conductivity tensor depends of the form of the transport scattering rate, and hence on the disorder. Realistic models for disorder usually give transport scattering rates which are momentum dependent. In particular, in most high-$`T_c`$ materials, disorder is mainly due to the dopant ions, which lie outside of the $`CuO_2`$ planes. As a result, these dopant ions cause primarily forward scattering. In the above discussion, we described our results for the case $`\tau _𝐤\tau `$. However, we have also considered the case where $`\tau _𝐤|𝐯_𝐤|`$. chung  Such a form arises for out-of-plane disorder, causing primarily forward scattering.kee2  When $`\lambda =0`$, we found the overall features of $`n_H`$ to be very different from $`\tau _𝐤=\tau `$. However, the effect of the nematic order on the Hall constant gives the same result as when $`\tau _𝐤\tau `$ — there is a sharp drop in the Hall constant in the nematic phase compared with the isotropic phase.

Our findings for the Hall constant have potential relevance to the experiments of the normal state Hall resistivity in the high-$`T_c`$ superconductor, Bi2Sr2-xLaxCuO6+δ.ando ; sudip  In these experiments, the Hall constant was measured in the normal state at low temperatures, by suppressing superconductivity with a large pulsed magnetic field of 60 T. They observed saturation of the Hall constant at low temperatures, suggesting conventional transport properties. However, the Hall constant as a function of doping concentration shows a maximum at $`x=0.15`$, and decreased sharply in underdoped regime. In overdoped regions, there is a regime near optimal doping $`x0.16`$, where the Hall constant shows the dip — the decrease is about $`20\%`$ ($`0.2`$) of its maximum value ($`1.0`$) at $`x=0.15`$. The dip of the Hall constant around $`x=0.16`$ becomes more pronounced at low temperatures ($`<1K`$). This suggests that the nematic phase may be a candidate to explain the anomaly observed in the Hall constant in high $`T_c`$ cuprates.

In conclusion, to study the nematic phase we considered the Hamiltonian in Eq. 1 with quadrupolar density-density interactions on a square lattice. Within a mean-field analysis, we found the nematic phase to occur in a finite region of dopings. Moreover, the transition between the isotropic and nematic phases was found to be first order; a dramatic change in the Fermi surface topology accompanied this transition. As the conductivity is sensitive to the topology of the Fermi surface, we investigated the effects of nematic order on transport. We found the conductivity tensor and Hall constant to show significant changes at the transitions between the isotropic and nematic phases. If observed, such signatures would give evidence for nematic order; it would give evidence for the approach pursued in this paper as an appropriate description of nematic phases in physical systems. Finally, we discussed the effect of disorder and the scattering from collective modes on the phase transitions and on the transport properties at the transitions.

Acknowledgments We would like to thank S. A. Kivelson, V. Oganesyan P. Coleman, Y-B Kim, and E. Fradkin for insightful discussions, and Yoichi Ando for useful comments. We also thank P. Fournier and W. Metzner for pointing out Ref. hwang,  and Ref. metzner, , respectively. This work was supported by the NSERC of Canada(HYK,EHK,CHC), Canada Research Chair(HYK), Canadian Institute of Advanced Research(HYK), Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (HYK), and Emerging Material Knowledge program funded by Materials and Manufacturing Ontario (HYK).


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# Spectral Irradiance Calibration in the Infrared. XIII. “Supertemplates” and On-Orbit Calibrators for SIRTF’s Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)

## 1 Introduction

This series of papers on spectral irradiance calibration in the infrared (IR) was motivated by the need to establish accurate celestial flux standards for use in astronomical spectroscopy and photometry by spaceborne, airborne and ground-based instruments. The earlier papers in this series present the foundations of a method for establishing an entire all-sky network of IR flux calibrators. The NIR to MIR imager on NASA’s Space InfraRed Telescope Facility (SIRTF) - the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) - has four detector arrays, with central wavelengths of 3.6, 4.5, 5.8 and 8.0 $`\mu `$m. The IRAC detectors are roughly 2000 times more sensitive than those of IRAS and would saturate on all but the faintest stars of the existing network. In the current paper, we develop the methodology to predict the IR in-band fluxes of fainter stars using optical photometry, and we report the results of an experiment to demonstrate the reliability of this method. Consequently, this paper describes the approach we are pursuing to create the on-orbit cool giant and hot dwarf calibrators for IRAC, and will serve as a proof-of-concept by validating the efficacy of the method.

The objectives of the current paper were to: select a mix of cool giants and A-dwarfs with well-characterized, precision optical photometry; determine accurate optical spectral types for all these stars; represent their energy distributions by appropriately reddened stellar photospheric spectra; normalize these energy distributions using the optical bands; predict $`JHK`$ from the normalized spectra; secure characterized $`JHK`$ observations of as many of these stars as possible; compare observed and predicted NIR magnitudes; and create a set of absolute spectra for stars considerably fainter than those of our previous all-sky network. The final products to be generated by this effort will likewise be complete, continuous, absolutely calibrated spectra from the UV to MIR, consistent with the context described by Cohen et al. (1999).

§2 overviews the basic components of our methodology, treating: the construction of combined optical–IR “supertemplates” of cool, normal giant stars, which extend from 0.115 to 35 $`\mu `$m; the optical–IR atmospheric models and their synthetic spectra for the hot A-dwarfs; and the reddening corrections applied to the selected stars. §3 follows with a demonstration of the method using a set of selected Landolt and Carter-Meadows standards with published, precision $`UBVRI`$ magnitudes, for which we secured our own optical classification spectroscopy, and applies the technique to the prediction of NIR and MIR magnitudes from optical photometry and spectra. §4 describes the results of renormalizing these supertemplate and model spectra using all available optical, NIR, and MIR photometry, and describes how to obtain these spectra. §5 sets our work in context with 2MASS and SIRTF, showing how this method will be used to estimate the in-band fluxes of our potential calibrators in the four IRAC bands and assessing the degree to which this approach will satisfy the absolute calibration goals for IRAC. In an Appendix, we detail the extension of the method to accommodate space-based optical data from Hipparcos/Tycho, and we focus on the problems encountered with Tycho-1 photometry of cool stars, which are largely mitigated by Tycho-2 data.

## 2 Methodology

### 2.1 Overview

The method extends previously created, empirical, absolutely calibrated, 1.2–35 $`\mu `$m composite spectra (“templates”) of bright stars with spectral types of K0III to M0III, into the UV and optical. These optical-to-infrared “supertemplates” are used as generic spectral shapes for all stars of a given spectral type and luminosity class. The supertemplates, after they have been reddened using a standard extinction law and normalized to broadband optical and NIR/MIR photometric measurements, serve as proxy spectra for a network of stars which are too faint or too numerous to be effectively measured individually.

### 2.2 Limitations of the current network of stars

The current network of 422 stars was constructed by fitting 1.2–35 $`\mu `$m templates to photometry from ground-based and spaceborne telescopes (Cohen et al. 1999). The fundamental reference standards for the spectra are absolutely calibrated models of the A-type stars Sirius and Vega. The templates were constructed by combining empirical spectral fragments for eight bright K/M-giants obtained from ground–based, airborne and spaceborne telescopes. The absolute calibration of these spectra was determined by taking the ratios of the cool stars’ spectra to the observed spectrum of either Vega (below 13$`\mu `$m) or Sirius, and then scaling the ratioed spectra by the theoretical A-star spectra, degraded to the actual spectral resolution of the observations.

The range of fluxes in the network of 422 templates decreases from 800 to 5 Jy in the IRAS 12-$`\mu `$m band, with a handful of stars as faint as 1.1 Jy in a new, unpublished set of 602 templates by Walker & Cohen (2002) which includes the 422 stars of Paper X, sometimes with updated versions of their spectra. The MSX satellite has recently provided a validation of the relative and absolute calibration of subsets of the stars that compose this network. Cohen et al. (2001) have analyzed independently calibrated MSX photometry in six bands from 4.3 to 21.3 $`\mu `$m from all three tiers of the network - Vega/Sirius, the bright K-/M-giants, and the fainter template stars - and find the MSX data agree with the predicted fluxes to within the estimated uncertainties.

To provide meaningful calibrators for IRAC’s four bands requires flux densities from about 1 Jy down to about 1 mJy in these bands. However, we wish to maintain traceability to our absolute spectral products that support the Infrared Telescope in Space (Murakami et al. 1996), the Diffuse Infrared Background Explorer (Hauser et al. 1998, their Table 1; Cohen 1998), the Midcourse Space Experiment (Price et al. 2001; Egan et al. 1999; Mill et al. 1994) and ESA’s Infrared Space Observatory (Kessler et al. 1996) instruments. To extend K0–M0IIIs from 12-$`\mu `$m flux densities of 5 Jy down to the requisite values for IRAC necessitates using stars that are fainter by about 9 mag than those of the current network, at the level of V$``$11–12. One way to achieve even fainter IR flux densities, for stars with the same visual magnitudes as the current network, is to use hot stars, for which Kurucz model atmospheres are quite reliable in the optical and IR.

### 2.3 Creating new “templates” and “supertemplates” for K-/M-giants

The original set of spectral types for which Cohen et al. (1995,1996a,b) have constructed complete, empirical 1.2–35 $`\mu `$m spectra consists of: K0, K1.5, K3, K5, M0, M1.5, M2.5, and M3.4III. To minimize any potential variability we have concentrated solely on the range K0-M0III for IRAC calibrators. To create a finer grid of templates, we have interpolated these spectra to create new IR templates for types K1, K2, K4, and K7III.

The interpolation of a template file, with its five elements ($`\lambda `$, Fλ, absolute error in Fλ, local, and global biases: see Paper X) first requires removal of the global and local biases from the total uncertainty, leaving the solely random component of the uncertainty. Two templates whose spectral types flank that of the required type are normalized in $`\lambda ^4`$Fλ space so that they lie on top of one another longward of the SiO fundamental. The flux density, random error, local bias and global bias are linearly interpolated using the s parameter of de Jager & Nieuwenhuijzen (1987), which represents spectral type more continously and linearly than either stellar effective temperature or its logarithm for normal, mature stars. Finally, the local and global biases are recombined in quadrature with the random errors, yielding the quantities for a new template file. This procedure provides a more complete set of template spectra to apply to new candidate calibrators, and a set that it is fully consistent with our published, complete, empirical spectra of bright K-/M-giants. Figure 1 illustrates the newly created K4III template derived by interpolation between K3III ($`\alpha `$ Hya) and K5III ($`\alpha `$ Tau) templates.

To establish the credibility of such interpolated products, we compare the K4III template with consistently calibrated spectral observations of $`\beta `$ UMi (K4III) taken on the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO) using the HIFOGS instrument (Witteborn et al. 1995) and by the IRAS Low Resolution Spectrometer (LRS). Both HIFOGS (Cohen et al. 1995) and the LRS (Cohen et al. 1992a) have been calibrated in the identical context to that of Paper X. $`\beta `$ UMi was observed on the KAO flights of 14 and 19 April 1995, and calibrated using identically taken HIFOGS spectra of $`\alpha `$ Boo, matching the airmass of $`\beta `$ UMi as closely as possible. Figure 2 illustrates this direct comparison. Note that the two spectrometers have very different resolving powers, of order 200 for HIFOGS (4.9–9.6 $`\mu `$m) and 20-50 for the LRS (7.7–22.7 $`\mu `$m). This accounts for the divergence, for 7.7–8.5 $`\mu `$m, between the filled (KAO) and open (LRS) squares in the deep SiO fundamental absorption. With these exceptions, there is satisfactory overlap at the 1-2$`\sigma `$ level between observations and the K4III template, corresponding to agreement within 5% (except in the saturated ozone feature $`9.3\mu `$m in the KAO spectrum).

To construct combined optical-to-IR “supertemplates”, it is necessary to extend the standard 1.2–35 $`\mu `$m calibrated spectra into the optical. This step was accomplished by splicing the IR templates to the average of the several spectra for stars with relevant MK spectral types from Pickles’s (1998) spectral library that extends from the far-ultraviolet (1150Å) to the NIR (2.5 $`\mu `$m). In some cases, it was necessary to fill in “gaps” in the Pickles “UVKLIB” spectra of the cool giants and to rectify erroneous blackbody-based interpolations by using our own fully-observed spectra longward of 1.22 $`\mu `$m. When the final products were deemed complete, accurate, and without discontinuities, the observed $`(BV)`$ colors for these supertemplates were synthesized and compared with the literature to check that they satisfactorily represented reddening-free spectral shapes, within the respective uncertainties. Figure 3 presents the K5III supertemplate from 0.27–35 $`\mu `$m. Supertemplates formally extend down to 0.115 $`\mu `$m but cool giants rarely are well-detected by IUE below 0.27 $`\mu `$m, so we offer them only longward of 0.275 $`\mu `$m, for practical purposes. Each Pickles spectrum was itself constructed as the average of spectra from up to 17 other libraries, suggesting probable robustness as a representative for each type.

Although we created a K7III template, we recognize that these are rather rarely encountered and, further, Pickles (1998) does not include this type in his spectral library. Therefore, we simply averaged his spectra for K5III and M0III, and appended that to our interpolated K7III IR template.

Implicit in these constructs is the assumption that whatever the actual metallicity and, more importantly, the abundances of C, O, and Si are for any individual star, we can apply a generic spectral shape whose heritage is partly traceable to the bright stars observed spectroscopically from the KAO, from the ground, and from space (using the LRS). The reason for this assumption is that this same technique will be applied to visually very faint stars for which it is most unlikely that such detailed information will be available.

### 2.4 Atmospheric models and synthetic spectra of the hot stars

The A-dwarf synthetic spectra were all taken from the standard, solar-abundance grid of Kurucz LTE model atmospheres (Kurucz 1993), and correspond to stars of effective temperature, 9795, 9397, 9016, 8710, 8433, 8185K, for the set A0V to A5V, respectively (de Jager & Nieuwenhuijzen 1987), and gravity, log(g), between 4.16 and 4.25 (varying monotonically with type).

### 2.5 Supertemplates: validations and usage

Analysis of both empirical IR spectra and theoretical models indicates that effective temperature exerts the dominant influence on the shapes of these spectra, with gravity, and especially metallicity, much less significant. Tests carried out on Kurucz models (for hot, warm, and even cool stars) during the calibration work in support of ISO showed that differences arose between IR templates and models, even when the literature provided explicit estimates of temperature, gravity and \[Fe/H\]. However, empirical and model spectra were generally in good agreement, within $`\pm `$2% in the IR continuum, and $`<`$5% in molecular bands (e.g. the CO first overtone bands). Further, those differences that do arise were not dependent on \[Fe/H\] but rather on a star’s individual abundances of C, O, and Si. Such data are not generally available for faint stars, even when an estimate of \[Fe/H\] might exist.

Another way of validating this entire process derives from the direct comparison of observed stellar angular diameters and “radiometric” diameters (Cohen et al. 1999). There is excellent agreement between measured and radiometrically predicted stellar angular diameters, with the implication that continua and even molecular band shapes and depths are well-matched at least to first order. This result also lends validity to the supertemplates.

### 2.6 Reddening corrections

Stellar reddening was determined by comparing Landolt’s (1992) measured $`(BV)`$ (or, equivalently, the same indices measured by Carter & Meadows (1995)) with the mean intrinsic colors described below. If a star proved too blue for its type, we assigned zero to AV, otherwise we assigned 3.10$`E(BV)`$. The resulting extinctions were applied to the intrinsic supertemplates.

#### 2.6.1 Intrinsic $`(BV)`$ colors

The natural spread of observed $`(BV)`$ indices for unreddened stars of any given spectral type is quite substantial, attaining about $`\pm `$0.15 (Mermilliod 1993). We attribute this to intrinsic cosmic scatter among the stars, caused by: variations in metallicity; the individual abundances of elements - primarily C, O and Si - whose lines and bands significantly sculpt the stellar energy distribution and are not governed solely by temperature and gravity; the quantization of a continuum of stellar temperatures and gravities into discrete spectral classes; and errors in the assignment of spectral types drawn from the literature. It is for this latter reason that we have mounted our own optical spectroscopy program (see §3.4).

To exact the greatest precision from our technique requires the best estimates for the mean color indices of K0–M0III and A0–5V stars because optically faint (hence IR-faint) stars of both these types are likely to be significantly reddened. For these estimates we chose to rely on the Hipparcos output data base (van Leeuwen 1997). Individual records offer the Hipparcos team’s best value of $`(BV)`$ color, along with kinematic and parallax data, spectral types, and a host of information so that one can readily reject multiple and variable stars, and objects with poorly determined parallaxes. The catalog enables the determination of observed colors from subsets with as many as 50–200 stars for each populous type of K-giant, and at least 50 A-dwarfs per subclass, even when demanding meaningful measurements of parallax (hence distance) at the 5–10$`\sigma `$ level.

We converted observed $`B`$ and $`V`$ magnitudes to absolute $`M_B`$ and $`M_V`$ and into estimates of each star’s intrinsic $`(BV)`$. If a star’s distance, calculated from the reciprocal of a significant parallax, placed it within the dust-free local bubble (Fitzgerald 1970; Perry & Johnston 1982; Perry et al. 1982) then we assigned zero extinction on the basis of the extent of the dust-free zone. For stars beyond 75 pc, we assigned an AV of 0.625 mag kpc-1 (and AB/AV=1.299) to determine the absolute magnitudes and intrinsic $`(BV)`$. The values used for the extinction per kpc, and for the ratio AB/AV, come from the reddening law described below. Because we test each parallax-based distance against a simplistic representation of the local bubble, then average the resulting extinctions (many of which are zero), any residual effects of Lutz-Kelker bias are greatly diluted.

#### 2.6.2 The reddening law

The representation of the actual law of extinction that we used between FUV and MIR was based on the 7th-order polynomial fits suggested by Cardelli, Clayton & Mathis (1989) for the ultraviolet and far-ultraviolet, the 8th-order polynomial fits of O’Donnell (1994) for the optical-to-NIR range, and joins smoothly onto the law of reddening used by Cohen (1993) longward of 4.7 $`\mu `$m. We note that there are few substantive differences at short wavelengths ($`1.0\mu `$m) between different, empirically-derived, reddening laws in the literature. This overall law compares favorably, for example, with the representations of other authors, such as Fluks et al. (1994), whose IR reddening law is actually derived from theoretical considerations. We have likewise compared our reddening curve with that described by Fitzpatrick (1999), finding excellent accord except in the vicinity of the $`R`$ band (see Fitzpatrick’s discussion of this region) and, of course, throughout the interstellar silicate absorptions that are absent from his representation of the IR extinction curve. However, Fitzpatrick’s (1999) quantification of the uncertainties in UV-optical extinction curves is particularly valuable. To estimate uncertainties in the NIR and MIR, we first compared the law described above with the independently derived law of Rieke & Lebofsky (1985). Following their adoption of uncertainties of $``$15% in Aλ/AV, we find that the differences between our values and those of the 21 Rieke-Lebofsky points lie well within 1$`\sigma `$ (combined) for 18 wavelengths. Only one point (at 13 $`\mu `$m) lies more than 2.5$`\sigma `$ away. These quantitative uncertainties in our reddening curve are now accommodated in the code that generated the actual spectra of the Landolt and Carter-Meadows stars in this paper, and will likewise be used to create spectra of the SIRTF calibrators.

## 3 A demonstration and proof-of-concept

### 3.1 Overview

We now offer a demonstration of our methodology using a set of selected optical standard stars with published, precision $`UBVRI`$ magnitudes, and for which we have undertaken an optical spectroscopy program at Mt. Hopkins Observatory (MHO) to establish their spectral types. Mt. Hopkins spectral types and extinctions based on the observed $`(BV)`$ are used to appropriately redden the supertemplates or Kurucz synthetic spectra to represent each selected star’s energy distribution. These shapes are then normalized by $`UBVRI`$ photometry and the resulting spectra used to predict IR $`JHK`$ magnitudes. Direct comparison between well-characterized NIR photometry and these predictions tests the efficacy of our approach.

### 3.2 Selection of stars

We now describe our chosen stars which were drawn from two different sets, with their own independent optical and NIR photometry, and discuss the sources of their spectral types. We offer cross-checks on two independent $`UBVRI`$ data sets; compare space-based and ground-based optical normalizations of supertemplates; and demonstrate consistent predictions of different systems of $`JHK`$ for one star common to the two data sets.

Our primary optical data set is the precision $`UBVRI`$ photometry on stars in the Kapteyn Selected Areas offered by Landolt (1973,1983,1992). These furnish an abundant set of faint, optical standards measured through well-documented passbands. Only about 600 of the many stars observed by Landolt had ever been classified spectroscopically, by Drilling & Landolt (1979). Of these, only about 30 were suggested to be K0–M0 giants. Early experiments with the technique described in this paper indicated that some of these types were surely suspect by several subclasses. Consequently, we selected 32 alleged cool giants and about an equal number of stars lying within 10 of the Ecliptic Plane, whose $`(BV)`$ colors suggested that they might be K0-M0IIIs, for a program of optical classification spectroscopy. In total we investigated 62 Landolt stars.

Another valuable set of test objects is the collection of stars offered by Carter & Meadows (1995) as faint standards for 3–4m class ground-based telescopes. Carter & Meadows (1995) also provide their own $`UBVRI`$ measurements from the SAAO 0.5-m telescope at Sutherland. To test the A-stars, we decided to apply our method to all stars for which Carter & Meadows cite a spectral type between “A0” and “A5”, even when a luminosity class is lacking. We had hoped to demonstrate the plausibility of assigning dwarf luminosities to these stars on the basis of a successful prediction of their NIR magnitudes. This gave us an additional 19 stars to investigate.

We have augmented the Landolt sample of cool giants for which we obtained Mt. Hopkins spectra by SA94-251, SA108-475, and HD197806 (whose type of K0III, cited by Carter & Meadows, is vindicated by Houk & Swift (1999)).

We found a final subset of 24 cool giants stars to be useful: i.e. their actual spectral types fell into our desired spectral ranges; we were able to secure precision NIR photometry from Tenerife or from Carter & Meadows; and we could accurately predict their $`JHK`$ magnitudes. These 24 stars appear in Table 1. The other Landolt stars were “lost” either because we found them to be K- or M-dwarfs, or because we were unable to secure Tenerife $`JHK`$ data for them.

We extracted the most accurate coordinates that could be found either in SIMBAD (“S”) or in the Guide Star Catalog GSC1.3 with corrections from ACT (“G”) for these stars. Searching SIMBAD by any of a host of possible star names is not equivalent to searching by coordinates, as Dr. David Shupe, who kindly extracted these coordinates for our first observing run, noted for SA114-670. The SIMBAD position returned by this name is considerably in error compared with the true coordinates that correctly return the star under the name PPM 700910. Table 1 summarizes accurate coordinates, with Landolt or Carter-Meadows $`B`$ and $`V`$ magnitudes. Carter & Meadows provide rough J2000 positions of their stars; but their A-dwarfs are all HD stars and precise coordinates are available unambiguously in the literature.

### 3.3 Optical photometric bands

Dr. Arlo Landolt kindly provided digitized versions of the tables from his 1992 paper in which are given details of the CTIO $`UBVRI`$ passbands used for his photometry of optical standard stars, along with the response curve of the photomultipliers. We further multiplied the product of each passband and the detector response curve by a mean atmospheric transmission spectrum appropriate to Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile. To represent the intervening telluric transmissions above CTIO, we represented the atmospheric transmission using PLEXUS111http://www2.bc.edu/ sullivab/soft/plexus.html#Desc, an AFRL validated “expert system” that incorporates atmospheric code, specifically MODTRAN 3.7, SAMM, and FASCODE3P with the HITRAN98 archives. PLEXUS contains an extensive database to support its expert aspect, so that the effects of Rayleigh scattering, aerosols, and particulates appropriate to the desert conditions of the CTIO sites were included. Paper X also used PLEXUS calculations to represent the site-specific atmospheric transmissions necessary to represent the tens of ground-based filters characterized in that work so we have maintained consistency in our treatment of all systems, both optical and IR. We did compare the CTIO atmospheric transmission from PLEXUS with the simpler formulation for extinction given by Hayes & Latham (1975), based explicitly on the effects of Rayleigh scattering, absorption by ozone, and scattering by aerosols, and we found good accord.

We created $`UBVRI`$ relative spectral response curves (hereafter RSRs) from the combinations of filter, atmosphere, and detector profiles that were normalized to peak values of unity. There have been several comparisons of the SAAO $`UBVRI`$ system with Johnson’s $`UBVRI`$ (Cousins 1984; Bessell 1979), CTIO $`VRI`$ (Menzies 1989), and a wider ranging discussion is given by Straizys (1992). Menzies (1989) found slight differences between the Cousins $`RI`$ passbands and those of Landolt, while Menzies et al. (1991) concluded that the SAAO and Landolt CTIO $`UBV`$ bands differ from one another and probably also from Johnson’s. We have attempted to pursue the actual bands in use at SAAO by way of the detailed response functions offered by Straizys (1992: who also cites Bessell 1979,1983), but this has proved unsatisfactory. We further note the following statement by Menzies (1989): “The photometer on the 0.5-m telescope in Sutherland is in continuous use so there has not been an opportunity to determine the filter transmission functions experimentally.”

Consequently, we have represented the Carter-Meadows relative response curves (filter-plus-atmosphere-plus-detector) in $`UBVRI`$ by the same response curves as those published by Landolt (1992). Direct comparison of $`UBVRI`$ for objects in common to the Carter-Meadows and Landolt samples justifies this step, as exemplified by SA94-251 and SA108-475 (Table 2). For the former, the differences between magnitudes measured in both systems are within the assigned 3$`\sigma `$ uncertainties; for the latter, all differences are within the 1$`\sigma `$ uncertainties.

Menzies et al. (1991) based their conclusions on a set of 212 Landolt stars for which they present SAAO $`UBVRI`$ measurements. These stars span a wide range of spectral types. We have carried out the same experiment, but restricted to 21 Landolt stars in common, for which our Mt. Hopkins spectra indicate K0-M0III spectral types. The result of comparing Landolt-minus-SAAO magnitudes, using inverse-variance weighting for the combinations, show, for $`UBVRI`$ respectively: -0.002$`\pm `$0.022; -0.012$`\pm `$0.011; -0.005$`\pm `$0.007; -0.011$`\pm `$0.009; and -0.011$`\pm `$0.010. On the basis of this restricted range of spectral types relevant to our needs, we conclude that there are no significant differences between Landolt and SAAO photometry. This conclusion also enables us to utilize the data in Table 1 of Menzies et al. (1991) with our subset of Landolt stars. For simplicity, when we later refer to “Landolt” of “$`BVRI`$ photometry”, this might include both Landolt’s and Menzies’ measurements.

All five system response curves were then integrated over our standard, calibrated, Kurucz model spectrum of Vega (Cohen et al. 1992b) to provide their “zero magnitude attributes”. These attributes (Table 3) include the in-band flux (irradiance) and its uncertainty, and the monochromatic specific intensity (e.g. Fλ), as well as the isophotal wavelength for Vega of each filter. For convenience we have also incorporated Fν, the monochromatic specific intensity in frequency terms, in units of Janskys (Jy). Note that the isophotal Fν cannot be accurately rendered simply as $`\lambda `$iso\[$`\mu `$m\]2 $`\times `$ Fλ\[W cm-2 $`\mu `$m-1\]/3$`\times `$10-16 because of the finite bandwidths of these filters. We have recast each RSR in frequency terms, and have performed the identical integrals for in-band, bandwidth, and Fν as we carried out for Fλ. The electronic version of Table 3 offers these combined RSRs by clicking on the links in the “Filter” column.

While Cohen and colleagues (e.g. Paper X) have always defined zero magnitude in the infrared by this Kurucz spectrum of Vega, this star does not have zero magnitudes in the optical. We adopted magnitudes for Vega of $`U`$=0.024, $`B`$=0.028, $`V`$=0.030, $`R`$=0.038, $`I`$=0.034 (Bessell et al. 1998). Therefore, we derived the true zero magnitude irradiance and isophotal Fλ values from those of our Vega spectrum, brightening the Vega values accordingly. Table 3 lists the resulting zero magnitude attributes for the five bands consistent with our previously published absolute calibrations in the optical and IR. Landolt’s system of photometry is based on Johnson’s magnitudes and consequently corresponds to the above magnitudes for Vega. Therefore, we have applied no zero point offsets to align his photometry with our definition of the zero magnitude attributes.

The final column of Table 3 gives the monochromatic ABν magnitudes, as defined by Oke & Gunn (1983), that correspond to zero magnitude for each of the five bands (sometimes described as “zero point magnitudes”).

### 3.4 Our classification spectroscopic program

Our 62 selected Landolt stars were observed with the FAST spectometer on the 1.5 meter Tillinghast telescope of the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (Fabricant et al. 1998). The spectrometer was configured to provide 4000–7000Å spectra with 5Å resolution. The stars were observed as part of a queue observing program on eight different nights, under conditions ranging from photometric to thin clouds, at airmasses below 1.64. Exposure times ranged from 0.5 to 1800 seconds. A $`2^{\prime \prime }`$ slit was used to obtain 5Å resolution. The data were dark-subtracted, flat-fielded, and one-dimensional spectra were extracted. These spectra were then subjected to background subtraction using the adjacent off-source spectra in the original two-dimensional spectra, and a spike rejection routine was applied to eliminate cosmic ray hits. The wavelength scale was determined using calibration lamps.

To establish a methodology for spectral types that was consistent with the MK classification system, spectra of 34 MK standards (24 cool giants, 8 cool dwarfs and 2 cool supergiants, drawn from the Perkins Revised types of Keenan & McNeil (1989)) were obtained in parallel with the targeted 62 Landolt objects, using an identical instrument set-up and data reduction procedure. These spectra, displayed in Figures 4 and 5, show that the FAST spectra, when ordered by spectral type and luminosity class, exhibit a systematic progression of spectral features. This demonstrates that accurate spectral classification consistent with the MK system can be obtained with FAST spectra. Based on independent types in the two wavelength regions, $`\lambda \lambda `$4000-5500Å and $`\lambda \lambda `$5500-7000Å at our $``$5Å resolution, we estimate the uncertainty in our assigned types to be better than $`\pm `$1 spectral subclass.

The release of Volume 5 of the Michigan Catalogue of Two-dimensional Spectral Types for the HD Stars (Houk & Swift 1999) extends the previous four southern hemisphere volumes across the celestial equator. This systematic reclassification in the MK system has enabled us to compare our Mt. Hopkins types for 14 of the brighter Landolt stars that have HD numbers, with the Michigan types. For these K- and M-giants, our types do not differ from the Michigan types by more than 1 subclass, validating our estimated uncertainty in spectral type. Furthermore, in classifying the Landolt cool giants we have become particularly aware of the relevance of the Michigan philosophy whereby one assigns, for example, a type of “K2/3III” as opposed to K2.5III, with the implication that the star in question does not resemble in every way an MK-type of K2.5III, but rather that different criteria are found in the spectrum, some characteristic of a K2III and others of a K3III.

Volume 5 of the Michigan Catalogue now offers two-dimensional types for many of the Carter-Meadows A-stars, a number of which are indeed assigned to dwarf luminosity class, the bulk of them indicating agreement (to within 1 subclass) with the types Carter & Meadows (1995) drew from the literature.

### 3.5 Predicting NIR flux densities

#### 3.5.1 New NIR photometry of faint standards

To test the efficacy of predicting NIR magnitudes from these optical data, we secured $`JHK`$ photometry using the 1.5-m TCS222The TCS is operated on the island of Tenerife by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias at the Spanish Observatorio del Teide of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. at Izana, Tenerife. Paper X (in its Table 2 under “Tenerife”, and Table 3 under “P.H.”) presents the zero point offsets and absolute attributes of this well-characterized set of filters. Table 4 presents our new NIR photometry for the Landolt stars that we have so far been able to measure from Tenerife, together with their uncertainties. All but one star were measured on at least two nights in at least one observing period (either 1998 May 23-24 or 1999 July 12-14), and we obtained good accord between data from the two separate observing runs (Table 4). Data for stars observed at two epochs have been combined using inverse-variance weighting, and the combined data also appear in Table 4. The alternative route depends on Carter-Meadows $`JHK`$ data from SAAO, an equally well-characterized photometric system, also detailed by Paper X (in its Table 2 under “SAAO”, and Table 3 under “B.C.”).

For each hot stellar model or cool stellar supertemplate deemed relevant to a particular star, we assembled all available precision optical photometry, whether due to Landolt, Carter-Meadows, or Menzies. We then integrated all five $`UBVRI`$ response curves over the reddened spectrum (or the two (Tycho-only) or three (Tycho and Hipparcos) spaceborne optical response curves likewise: see Appendix). The resulting integrals through each system band provide the in-band flux and, converting the observed input magnitude into an equivalent irradiance through Table 3, we derive a scale factor for each filter in order to match the observed and normalized irradiance values. Each overall set of optical data (five or ten ground-based, and/or two or three space-based magnitudes) yields an inverse-variance-weighted mean scale factor for the reddened supertemplate (using the photometric uncertainties that constitute an essential element of our approach), and a fractional uncertainty in this mean multiplier, termed the “supertemplate bias”, and expressed as a percentage of the mean scale factor. We limit the magnitude uncertainties to be $``$0.005, for all optical and NIR observations, to avoid any single filter overwhelming the weighted scale factor. Once the supertemplate bias is available, this quantity is combined in quadrature with the global bias in the original supertemplate shape, and thus finds its way into the total wavelength-dependent errors for any star.

Table 5 illustrates the process of determining the scale factor for a reddened supertemplate for the star, SA112-275, a K0III with AV=0.620. Column (1) indicates the filter used; col.(2) gives the scale factor to match predicted to observed in-band fluxes; col.(3) shows the fractional uncertainty in that scale factor; col.(4) provides the isophotal wavelength associated with the combination of filter and supertemplate. The final line summarizes the inverse-variance weighted mean scale for this star based on the five individual scale factors. Note that this table is based solely on Landolt $`UBVRI`$, whereas the final version of the optically normalized supertemplate for this star (and for many others in this paper) will be constrained using photometry from Landolt, Menzies, Hipparcos, and Tycho.

As Table 5 shows, the scale factor derived from the U-band data is obviously much smaller than those associated with the $`BVRI`$ bands. On detailed examination, we found this situation occurred for almost every star. Possible explanations for this kind of behavior are discussed by Bessell (1990; his §6). Therefore, because we wished these stars to be treated in the most precise way possible, we decided not to use the $`U`$ photometry for any of the sample of stars. Utilizing solely $`BVRI`$, but combining both Landolt’s and Menzies’ data, we obtained a scale factor of 5.628E-04$`\pm `$1.860E-06, 1.3% larger than that in Table 5. This difference is typical of the rest of our sample of stars.

#### 3.5.2 The prediction of NIR magnitudes

To predict $`JHK`$, we integrated the Tenerife (TCS) NIR system response curves over the correctly-scaled and reddened supertemplates, and converted the NIR in-band fluxes into their corresponding TCS magnitudes. For assessment of the accuracy of our predictions we used the mean algebraic deviation (MAD) over the set of three TCS filters, in the sense observed-minus-predicted $`JHK`$. Ideally we would like to have the NIR photometry points “straddle” the normalized, reddened supertemplate, rather than to achieve the smallest mean absolute deviation for the three points because that could arise by having a supertemplate lie entirely above, or below, the JHK data, possibly implying an unsatisfactory bias. Accurate prediction of $`JHK`$ from a $`BVRI`$-constrained supertemplate/model depends upon reliable estimates of spectral type, extinction, supertemplate/model shapes, and both optical and NIR photometry, making this a highly demanding process.

Table 6 shows the comparison of predicted and observed TCS $`JHK`$ magnitudes from the final optically-constrained supertemplate for SA112-275 (i.e. based on data from Landolt, Menzies, Hipparcos, and Tycho: see the Appendix for a discussion of how the Tycho photometry was handled), from which the calculation of MAD is performed. Column (1) shows the relevant TCS filter; cols.(2) and (3) give the predicted magnitude and uncertainty after integrating the RSR for that filter over the supertemplate; cols.(4) and (5) offer the corresponding observed magnitude and uncertainty; and col.(6) lists the difference, col.(4) minus col.(2). The last line summarizes the MAD for the star as the unweighted mean of the numbers in col.(6).

Table 7 summarizes these details for all 24 K-/M-giants with their supertemplate types, extinctions, final scale factors, biases, MADs, incorporating both Landolt/TCS and Carter-Meadows/SAAO methods. For SA108-475, both routes were used for our MHO spectral class of K3III; i.e., using Landolt $`BVRI`$ to predict Tenerife $`JHK`$, and using Carter-Meadows $`BVRI`$ to predict Carter-Meadows SAAO $`JHK`$. While the two derived extinctions are not identical, they are very close (0.028 mag apart), which may afford an independent method to assess the uncertainties in our derived values of AV. We derived very similar scale factors and MADs, each pair differing only at the 1.6 $`\sigma `$ level of the joint uncertainties. Consequently, the third record for this star represents the result of combining all its optical and NIR photometry, and using an AV corresponding to the average of the two $`(BV)`$ values.

The fact that the cool giants have biases (the percentage uncertainty in the mean scale factor for a supertemplate or model) that are all so homogeneous and well below 1% reflects primarily the precision achieved in both the Landolt $`BVRI`$ and TCS $`JHK`$ data sets, and secondarily the significant number of photometry points per star, between 8 and 16 (many stars have data from both Landolt and Menzies, and some also have Hipparcos/Tycho-2 data). The larger values seen for stars constrained by SAAO photometry are essentially due to the more conservative uncertainties assigned by Carter to his $`JHK`$ magnitudes ($`\pm `$0.025) as compared with those from Tenerife (typically a factor of 2-3 times smaller). With much sparser data sets, for example just $`BVJHK`$, typical of some potential IRAC calibrators, supertemplate biases are larger, typically $``$2-3%.

Table 8 similarly presents our results on nine A-dwarfs for which the types cited by Carter & Meadows are confirmed by the Michigan Catalog. The biases are all larger than those for the sample of cool giants because we assign an uncertainty of $`\pm `$5% to the synthetic spectra of A-dwarfs, to account for the influence on the continuum and lines of deviations in line strengths, gravities, metallicities, and real stellar structures as compared with opacities and structures represented in models. Examination of the MADs in Table 7 and Table 8 suggests the viability of predicting $`JHK`$ from optically normalized, reddened supertemplates and models, chosen in accord with our MHO spectral types for cool giants, and using types drawn from the Michigan Catalogue for A-dwarfs. Indeed, the (unweighted) average of the MADs for the ensemble of 33 stars is –0.007$`\pm `$0.005.

Figure 6 presents the set of MADs for the A-dwarfs and cool giants separately, broken down into the behavior at $`J`$, $`H`$, and $`K`$. Every individual star is plotted in the appropriate diagrams with the 1$`\sigma `$ error bars on the values of MAD. By and large, the sets of MADs are consistent with the ensembles of stars having essentially zero offset between observation and prediction at the 3$`\sigma `$ level, except perhaps for one or two stars.

### 3.6 Predicting MIR flux densities

#### 3.6.1 IRAS

For nine Landolt stars we were also able to find IRAS measurements, either from the Point Source Catalog (PSC) or, more often, the Faint Source Catalog (FSC) or Faint Source Reject Catalog (FSR). These appear in Table 9, expressed as Fν (in mJy). For these stars, using the same scale factors as implied by the optical normalizations, we predicted the 12- and 25-$`\mu `$m flux densities using the IRAS system response curves, and these flux densities are also given in Table 9. In all cases, predictions lie within $`1\sigma `$ of IRAS observations, further vindicating the efficacy of the technique used to create normalized supertemplates, and limiting the possibility that these cool giants might have circumstellar dust shells.

None of the Carter-Meadows A-dwarfs was detected by IRAS indicating that, at a rather gross level, none of these stars is afflicted by the Vega phenomenon, in keeping with their intended usage as calibrators.

#### 3.6.2 MSX

One star among the Landolt sample, SA114-176, was observed and detected by MSX at 8.28 $`\mu `$m. Table 10 summarizes its observed and predicted irradiances, isophotal flux densities, and magnitudes in this MSX band, based on the scale factor for its supertemplate determined from optical normalization. All lie within $``$1.9$`\sigma `$ of the observed values, again validating our method. The final line in Table 10 shows the predicted MSX quantities based on normalizing the supertemplate for this star using all optical and NIR data. There is almost no difference between the predictions determined from optical data, and from optical-plus-NIR data, essentially because the small MAD for this star (Table 7) indicates that the two mean scale factors must be very similar.

## 4 The supertemplate files, and how to obtain them

Having demonstrated the NIR predictability of these Landolt and Carter-Meadows stars from the spectral types, supertemplates or models, and optical photometry, we have renormalized each spectrum by utilizing every available optical, NIR and MIR photometric point to define the mean scale factor and bias for each templated star. These final spectra elevate our subset of the precision optical standards into IR calibrators, and are self-consistent with our published set of almost 450 fiducial IR standards. As an illustration of how the spectra are constrained by the photometry, Figure 7 shows supertemplates or models for 8 of the 33 stars.

The 33 supertemplates/models are available through the electronic version of this paper. A detailed header precedes every supertemplate and model created as we have described. This header is accompanied by: various names for each star; release version, date, and time of spectrum creation; the supertemplate spectrum used; the extinctions of both the bright star that gave rise to the supertemplate shape and of the templated star; for cool giants, the angular diameter deduced for the stellar supertemplate (derived from the template scale factor and our published values of angular diameters for the bright composite spectra: Cohen et al. (1996b)); all the characterized photometry used to normalize the supertemplate, with references; and our determinations, for each filter used, of isophotal flux and its uncertainty, and isophotal wavelength for the particular spectrum in question. Supertemplates are always named for their HD designations, when a star has an HD number, e.g. “HD139513.tem” (for the star SA107-347); otherwise, the Selected Area star name will represent the file, e.g. “SA113\_259.tem”.

The actual calibrated stellar spectra have a five–column format (exactly as in Paper X). For the wavelength range from 0.275–35.00 $`\mu `$m, we tabulate: wavelength ($`\mu `$m); monochromatic irradiance (Fλ in units of W cm-2 $`\mu `$m-1); total uncertainty (also in units of W cm-2 $`\mu `$m-1) associated with this value of Fλ; local bias; and global bias. For most applications, “total uncertainty” is the error term most appropriate to use. It is the standard deviation of the spectral irradiance and incorporates the local and global biases. Local and global biases are given as percentages of the irradiance. The global bias does not contribute error to flux ratios or color measurements, and may be removed (in quadrature) from the total error. Note that we prefer to provide pristine data, rather than to regrid each supertemplate to an equally-spaced or common wavelength scale. Each supertemplate has a different set of wavelengths in the IR. Consequently, spectra are not tabulated at equal intervals of wavelength but follow Pickles (1998) as far as 2.500 $`\mu `$m, and then mimic the wavelengths of the originally observed composite spectra.

In the electronic version of this paper, the star names in the first column of Table 7 are links to the supertemplates for the 24 Landolt stars (only the last entry for SA108-475 has such a link), while Table 8 similarly links to the supertemplates for the 9 Carter-Meadows A-dwarfs.

Should other well-characterized optical or IR observations of any of these 33 stars become available at some time in the future, that are not directly calibrated by an earlier version of the same star’s spectrum, it would be possible to recreate that supertemplate or model, hopefully with reduced uncertainties. This procedure was followed when MSX measurements first became available for a number of K-/M-giants from Paper X, resulting in the issuance of updated spectra, with reduced template biases (Walker & Cohen 2002). The headers of the associated stellar spectra always carry the date of creation of the updated products so there will be confusion as to which generation of calibration spectrum is represented when these files are downloaded.

## 5 Conclusions

The purpose of this paper has been threefold: to demonstrate the efficacy of our approach to SIRTF/IRAC calibrators; to validate the resulting scale factors, spectral types, and extinctions using different optical data sets for a new, faint set of IR calibrators; and to provide an archive of absolutely calibrated optical-to-infrared supertemplates/models for stars between two and three orders of magnitude fainter than our current published network of IR standards. We have been able to derive mean scale factors for a set of cool giant supertemplates and hot dwarf models, drawn from a set of much fainter potential calibration stars than we have previously established, with supertemplate/model normalizations based solely on either ground-based or spaceborne optical photometry. We have demonstrated the capability of closely predicting the NIR (and in a some cases even MIR) brightnesses of these stars using appropriately reddened supertemplates/models based on a modern set of MK spectral classifications for these potential calibrators. When applied to the actual calibrators for SIRTF, the combination of NIR and MIR points helps to reduce both random and systematic uncertainties in the 3-10 $`\mu `$m range covered by the IRAC.

For the present, we have offered a method that can successfully predict NIR $`JHK`$ magnitudes for a sample of stars of well-determined spectral type in the ranges K0-M0III or A0-5V. Therefore, combining optical and NIR photometry (with MIR when available) on such stars and renormalizing their supertemplates should satisfy our goal of having a set of absolutely calibrated optical-IR spectral energy distributions that will meet the uncertainties required for IRAC calibrators. We have attempted to quantify the uncertainties we expect for potential calibrators by predicting the four IRAC magnitudes, and isophotal flux densities (Fλ,Fν), and their uncertainties, for the faintest A-dwarf (HD15911, A0V, K$``$9.5) and K-giant (SA114-656, K1III, K$``$10.2) in our sample of thirty three stars. Table 11 presents this information by band for each star. The final column in the table offers the absolute error in the in-band flux expressed in terms of the percentage fractional uncertainty. These absolute errors include the estimated uncertainties in the IRAC relative spectral response curves, in our supertemplates and Kurucz models, in the extinction law used, and in the normalizing photometry. All errors are well within the total error budget of 10% absolute set for IRAC. For the cool giant stars, molecular absorption bands contribute to IRAC2 and IRAC3 (the CO fundamental), and IRAC4 (the SiO fundamental), driving up the empirical errors in these features in the observations of the original composites from which supertemplates were derived. We estimate that significantly fainter stars with poor and sparse photometry could have uncertainties of order $``$5% in the IRAC bands. However, even these errors leave a significant component of the budget to instrumental phenomena, such as the characterization of any non-linearities, and time-dependent responsivities on-orbit.

In reality, although this work was undertaken to provide direct calibrational support for IRAC, there are additional constraints on the eventual SIRTF calibrators, namely that they should lie in the constant viewing zones surrounding each Ecliptic Pole. None of the Selected Areas lies near the Ecliptic Poles. However, an additional solution we have proposed to meet IRAC’s calibration needs is a subset of stars distributed in longitude around the Ecliptic Plane, within 10 of this plane in ecliptic latitude. This extra set of standards would support calibration either immediately prior to, or following, data downlinks, when SIRTF will lie in, or close to, the Ecliptic Plane. Some Selected Area stars, of relevand spectral type and with Landolt photometry, lie within this Ecliptic Plane zone. Details of the Ecliptic Pole and Plane stars actually selected to support IRAC, and the derivation of their absolute spectra, will appear in a later paper in this series.

From the supertemplates, one can derive the expected attributes of the stars within any user-specified set of passbands accommodated by the range of our spectra, given the system’s relative spectral response curves, and one can utilize the absolute spectra directly to support the calibration of low-resolution (resolving power $``$100) spectrometers, exactly as for the 422 absolute template spectra published by Cohen et al. (1999). Thus, the supertemplate technique offers the capability to predict IRAC magnitudes and to support low-resolution operations with SIRTF’s InfraRed Spectrometer (IRS), thereby providing potential “cross-calibrators” for this pair of instruments.

The acquisition of ground-based characterized $`JHK`$ photometry can be laborious, particularly when one deals with potential calibration stars significantly fainter than those discussed in the present paper, and some of SIRTF’s calibrators lie in the southern hemisphere. Therefore, we have made further use of these thirty three stars of intermediate brightness, whose optical spectra are proven to be good predictors of NIR magnitudes, to extend our absolute calibration framework to embrace 2MASS’s $`JHK_s`$ bands (Cohen et al. 2003). Thereafter, 2MASS photometry will provide an important resource for the assembly of even fainter calibrators for SIRTF.

MC’s work on IRAC’s calibrators is supported by contract SV9-69008 between UC Berkeley and The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. We are grateful to Arlo Landolt for supplying electronically readable tables of his network of stars, and of his filters and phototube response curves, and to Andrew Pickles for his extremely helpful and detailed review. We thank David Shupe for extracting the most accurate coordinates from SIMBAD for the Landolt stars for our first observing runs at Mt. Hopkins, and Mike Calkins and Perry Berlind for their invaluable efforts to secure FAST spectra. We thank Fred Witteborn, Jesse Bregman, and Diane Wooden for the use of the unpublished HIFOGS KAO spectra of $`\beta `$ UMi from one of our collaborative flight series in 1995. This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France.

## Appendix A Space-based visible photometry

As a further test of the supertemplate method, and because we may well encounter potential IRAC calibration stars that lack any characterized $`UBV`$ photometry, we have compared independent normalizations of supertemplates solely from space-based optical photometry (Tycho $`B_T`$, $`V_T`$ \[Høg et al. 1997\], and $`H_p`$ \[from Hipparcos, when available\]) against benchmark normalizations using solely Landolt’s $`BVRI`$ data for stars in the celestial equator (to which the published Landolt network is confined). Bessell (2000) has discussed the problems and inadequacy of the published information that accompanies the system response curves of the two Tycho bands ($`B_T`$,$`V_T`$) and the single Hipparcos band ($`H_p`$) given in Volume I of the Hipparcos archival volumes (ESA 1997). We adopted Bessell’s (2000) recommended relative spectral response curves, which permit meaningful synthetic photometry. Following Bessell et al. (1998) and by interpolation, we adopted space-based optical magnitudes for Vega of $`B_T`$=0.028, $`V_T`$=0.030, $`H_p`$=0.029. Table 12 contains the zero magnitude attributes for the Hipparcos and Tycho bands, in the identical manner as for the $`UBVRI`$ calibrations in Table 3.

We compared mean scale factors (applied to supertemplates to match predicted and observed irradiances) and their absolute uncertainties for cool giants, for 12 Landolt stars and one Carter-Meadows giant, represented by supertemplates that are normalized by ground-based and by space-based optical photometry. The scale factors derived for these giants from the space-based optical data are systematically a few percent smaller than those from ground-based $`BVRI`$. To investigate this phenomenon in greater depth we have examined the individual scale factors derived from the $`B_T`$, $`V_T`$, and $`H_p`$ bands. Invariably, the $`B_T`$-scale is less than the $`V_T`$-scale, while the $`V_T`$-scale is essentially equal to that found from $`H_p`$. We note that this phenomenon is not seen for the Carter-Meadows A-dwarfs for which the Hipparcos-Tycho bands available yield practically identical scale factors. Further analysis reveals the fact that, even for the cool giants, only the factors derived from $`B_T`$ are in question. We note that $`B_T`$ is strongly concentrated to the region around 4000Å where cool giant spectra are falling very steeply, below the Ca H and K break, rendering these stars particularly faint in $`B_T`$.

Therefore, we decided to investigate possible nonlinearities in the $`B_T`$ scale at faint levels by plotting the ratios of $`BVRI`$ scale factors to those from the three space-based bands against Hipparcos-Tycho magnitude, for all our Landolt cool giants and our Carter-Meadows A-dwarfs. Figures 89, and 10 offer these plots for $`B_T`$, $`V_T`$, and $`H_p`$, respectively, distinguishing between K-/M-giants and A-dwarfs. On inspection, the A-stars never show any dependence of the ratio of scales on brightness, even in $`B_T`$, while the K-/M-stars present an obvious trend toward larger ratios at fainter magnitudes in $`B_T`$ but no similar trends in the other two bands.

These trends are quantified in Table 13 where we give the inverse-variance weighted mean ratios of ground-based to Hipparcos-Tycho scale factors for all the stars discussed in Tables 7 and 8. Table 14 presents the slopes of the regression lines of scale-ratio against space-based magnitude. The concurrence of these three ways of examining the data on normalization ratios points to the conclusion that, for the faintest cool giants, one should not rely on the normalization factor derived directly from the $`B_T`$ band. If a faint cool giant has $`BVRI`$ and space-based data, then the influence of $`B_T`$ on the overall scale factor will be limited because the associated uncertainty in a faint $`B_T`$ magnitude will be large enough that the weight accorded to $`B_T`$’s contribution under inverse-variance weighting will be correspondingly small. If a cool giant lacks any $`UBV(RI)`$ photometry, but Hipparcos-Tycho measurements exist, one could in principle ignore $`B_T`$’s scale factor. However, this could reduce the number of optical normalizing wavelengths to only a single, $`V_T`$, point or at best, two points, if $`H_p`$ is also available. To handle such situations we suggest that it is important to use the regression line to increase the $`B_T`$ scale factor, in accord with this line, so that it would mimic the scale that would have been obtained using $`BVRI`$ observations.

The fact that A-dwarfs exhibit no such anomalies even in this bluest Hipparcos-Tycho band argues for the effect to arise from the extremely different energy distributions of the K-/M-giants, whose faintest optical region lies within $`B_T`$, and the A-stars, which are brightest in the blue. A simple test of this conjecture would be to seek a dependence of the $`B_T`$ scale factor on spectral type. The set of spectral classes probed is K0, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5III, represented in our data set by 4, 1, 5, 1, 1, 1 stars, respectively. A linear regression analysis using inverse-variance weighting for the scale factors found at each spectral class indicates an offset of 1.12$`\pm `$0.02 (so that, even at type K0III, the $`B_T`$ scale is not unity) and a significant slope of 0.04$`\pm `$0.01. Figure 11 displays these data and the formal best fit regression line.

Since the time we began this program, the Tycho-2 catalog has appeared (Høg et al. 2000). This is substantially larger than Tycho-1 (2.5 million stars as compared with 1 million), and has higher quality photometry. Therefore, we decided to examine data from Tycho-2 in light of the trends found in Tycho-1 described above. Figures 12 and 13 present the identical information to Figures 8 and 9 but based on Tycho-2 magnitudes. This time the ratios of supertemplate scale factors for the cool giants do not show any significant slope. The formal slopes and offsets of the regression lines against BT are 0.02$`\pm `$0.02 and 0.96$`\pm `$0.20 (for K-giants), and -0.03$`\pm `$0.05 and 1.27$`\pm `$0.44 (A-dwarfs). Therefore, we have replaced our Tycho-1 photometry for the stars in this paper by the corresponding data from Tycho-2, whenever available. For 12 cool giants with both Tycho-1 and Tycho-2 photometry we have investigated the effects of making this change on the ratios of $`BVRI`$-determined scale factors to those from Tycho alone. In $`B_T`$, these ratios are worse (i.e. larger) with Tycho-2 than with Tycho-1 for 3 stars, unchanged for 2 stars, but better for 7. In $`V_T`$, where the effects are much smaller in magnitude, the ratios are worse for 2 stars, unchanged for 5, and better for 5. The regression analysis for Tycho-2 BT magnitudes between ratios of scale factors and K spectral class appears in Figure 14 along with the formal best fit regression line. For Tycho-2 there is still a significant offset (1.12$`\pm `$0.02) but the formal value for the slope is insignificantly different from unity (0.01$`\pm `$0.01). Therefore, we consider it appropriate to rescale all K- and M-giant scale factors derived from Tycho-2 BT data by $`\times `$1.14$`\pm `$0.01 (corresponding to the inverse-variance weighted average of the 12 K-giants’ factors), thereby bringing them into alignment with $`BVRIH_pV_T`$ normalization multipliers when we create absolute supertemplates. For those cool giants with Tycho-1 data but lacking Tycho-2 data (one star in our sample), we use the regression line in Figure 11 to correct BT scale factors for Tycho-1 photometry of K-/M-giants.

Advanced methods of data reduction, not available at the time Tycho-1 was processed, were applied to the Tycho-2 catalog (Høg et al. 2000), for example, all data series for a given star throughout the entire mission were coadded with appropriate weighting prior to deriving photometry from the accumulated signal. For low signal-to-noise signals in the Tycho star-mappers, the gain in Tycho-2 was substantial, compared with Tycho-1. Known inherent biases in Tycho-1 are highlighted by Høg et al. (2000). Single transits of a star over the star-mappers in which no obvious peak was identifiable were neglected in Tycho-1, leading to preferential selection of brighter transits of the same star (§4.1 of Høg et al. 2000). Second, in the presence of a changing background, the much longer series of sky samples used in Tycho-1 can lead to systematic offsets in the assessed background level (§4.2 of Høg et al. 2000). Both $`V_T`$ and $`H_p`$ sample these cool stellar energy distributions well past the 4000Å break, where their spectra rise rapidly into the red, so there are no corresponding problems with cool stars in $`V_T`$ or $`H_p`$.

We suggest that the phenomenon we see is due to the already known biases in Tycho-1 but, at least partly, to Malmquist bias whereby the detection of faint red stars in BT and, to a lesser extent in $`V_T`$, is enhanced by upward noise fluctuations and this problem systematically worsens with later-type cool giants. Therefore, the K-/M-giants appear brighter than reality, leading to smaller scale factors as stars become fainter and cooler. The improvements in processing of Tycho-2 alleviate this problem, and avoid the known problem of the “dramatic” “faint end bias” intrinsic to Tycho-1 (§7.1 of Høg et al. 2000).