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# Detection of TeV Gamma-Rays from the BL Lac 1ES 1959+650 in its low states and during a major outburst in 2002 Table 4 is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.125.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html

## 1 Introduction

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are known to be sources of extragalactic TeV $`\gamma `$-radiation. Except for a recent report of a significant TeV excess from the radio galaxy M 87 observed with the HEGRA Cherenkov telescopes (Aharonian et al. 2003b ) all TeV AGN detected so far are of the BL Lac class. In these objects the very high energy photons are believed to originate (possibly due to inverse Compton scattering) in the relativistic jets oriented at small angles to the observer’s line of sight. To these TeV $`\gamma `$-ray emitters belong the well studied BL Lac objects Mkn 421 ($`z=`$ 0.030) and Mkn 501 ($`z=`$ 0.034).

Recently, the much more distant BL Lac H1426+428 ($`z=`$ 0.129) has been firmly established as an emitter of TeV $`\gamma `$-radiation by the VERITAS (Horan et al. (2002), Petry et al. (2002)), HEGRA (Aharonian et al. (2002), Aharonian et al. 2003a ), and CAT (Djannati-Ataï et al. (2002)) collaborations. Possible further TeV detections of BL Lac objects have been reported by different collaborations for 1ES2344+514 ($`z=`$0.044) (Catanese et al. (1998)), the BL Lac PKS2155-304 ($`z=`$0.117) (Chadwick et al. (1999)) and the very distant object 3C 66A ($`z=`$0.444) (Neshpor et al. (1998)), but no confirmation by any other group was stated so far.

The object 1ES 1959+650 (Elvis et al. (1992)) with a redshift of $`z=`$ 0.047 was classified as a BL Lac in 1993 using a specially developed radio/optical/X-ray technique (Schachter et al. (1993)). A first detection at TeV energies was reported by the Utah Seven Telescope Array collaboration for the 1998 observational season (Nishiyama et al. (1999)). An excess with a statistical significance of 3.9 $`\sigma `$ above 600 GeV was obtained after 57 h. There was no independent confirmation until the year 2001, when the HEGRA collaboration reported a detection of 1ES 1959+650 with a significance of $`>`$ 4 $`\sigma `$ (Götting et al. (2001)), resp. $`>`$ 5 $`\sigma `$ with a larger data set (Horns et al. (2002)).

In May 2002, 1ES 1959+650 underwent a strong TeV outburst, detected by the VERITAS (Holder et al. (2002)), HEGRA (Horns et al. (2002), Kranich et al. (2002)) and CAT (Vorobiov et al. (2002)) collaborations. Strong variations with flux levels of up to 3 times the Crab flux have been measured.

In this Letter the results of extensive observations of 1ES 1959+650 using the HEGRA IACT system (Daum et al. (1997)) during the years 2000/2001 and 2002 are reported. Astrophysical conclusions concerning the nature of this fourth established TeV Blazar regarding possible influence by the DEBRA absorption are briefly discussed.

## 2 Observations and results of analysis

For the following analysis, a total of 18.4 h of data from the year 2000, 89.4 h from 2001, and 89.6 h from 2002 were used taken with the HEGRA IACT system. The dates of the HEGRA observation periods are listed in Table 1. The mean zenith angle of all observations was 38.8, resulting in a mean energy threshold (defined as the peak detection rate for $`\gamma `$-showers) of 1.4 TeV for a Crab-like spectrum (Konopelko et al. (1999)).

The 1ES 1959+650 data were mainly taken with the complete 5-telescope setup of the IACT system. A few data runs were taken with only 4 telescopes due to technical reasons. Individual runs were accepted, if well-defined quality criteria were fulfilled (see, e. g. Aharonian et al. 2003b ). About 8 % of all data were rejected due to this selection.

All observations of 1ES 1959+650 were carried out in the so-called wobble mode allowing for simultaneous estimation of the background (“OFF”) rate induced by charged cosmic rays (Aharonian et al. (1997)). This analysis uses for the signal search the so-called ring segment background model as explained in Aharonian et al. 2003b  providing a small ratio of ON to OFF-source solid angle areas $`\alpha =A_{\text{ON}}/A_{\text{OFF}}`$ (resulting in improved background statistics). For the spectral analysis a set of 7 independent background regions is used (Aharonian et al. (2001)).

The general shower reconstruction and the event selection cuts for the image analysis have been described in previous publications (e. g. Aharonian et al. (1999)). For the signal search, the stereo air shower direction reconstruction algorithm #3 (Hofmann et al. (1999)) and a tight shape cut (parameter mscw $`<1.1`$) (Konopelko et al. (1999)) for an effective $`\gamma `$-hadron separation have been applied. Because of the relatively large zenith angles more usable shower images per event are recorded compared to observations close to the zenith. Therefore, a minimum number of 3 images per event is required for the whole reconstruction chain rejecting all 2-telescope events, which only provide a poor resolution. The optimum angular cut was derived using $`\gamma `$-ray events from the Crab nebula on the basis of a nearly contemporaneous data set at similar zenith angles. The procedure of spectral evaluation – with an energy resolution of $`12`$ % for a single event – is discussed in Aharonian et al. 2003a . The energy spectrum is derived from a background subtracted photon count spectrum using an effective area on an event by event basis, depending upon the number of active telescopes, the reconstructed energy, the zenith angle and the assumed spectral shape. In order to take into account the slightly varying detector performance, the effective areas are determined on a monthly basis along with the mirror reflectivities, photocathode efficiencies and conversion factors from digitized photomultiplier signals to photoelectrons (Pühlhofer et al. (2003)).

The relevant direction reconstruction algorithms, event selection cuts, resulting event numbers, and significances for the individual HEGRA 1ES 1959+650 data sets used for the signal search and the spectral analysis are summarized in Table 2. Figure 1 shows the event distribution for the ON-source and the OFF-source regions from the May 2002 flare and the year 2000/2001 quiescent state data sets, respectively, as a function of the squared angular distance to the source position. The statistical significance of the excess from the direction of 1ES 1959+650 amounts to 5.2 $`\sigma `$ in the year 2000/2001 observations, calculated using formula 17 in Li & Ma (1983). The evidence for TeV $`\gamma `$-rays from 1ES 1959+650 during this quiescent state at a value of $`(5.3\pm 1.1_{\text{stat}})`$ % of the flux of the Crab nebula (Aharonian et al. (2000)) already confirms the tentative detection of 1ES 1959+650 by the Utah Seven Telescope Array. The HEGRA detection during the strong outburst in May 2002 is obvious at a very high significance of greater than 23 $`\sigma `$.

The diurnal integral flux levels above 2 TeV observed in the year 2002 are shown in Figure 2 (Table 4 containing the complete lightcurve for the years 2000 - 2002 is available at the CDS, see note to the title). The strong outburst in May 2002 is followed by a post-flare low state in June. During July, the source has exhibited more activity again followed by a period of diminishing TeV flux in August and September 2002.

The spectral investigation of the 1ES 1959+650 “high state” was performed using the data of the 6 nights in May and July 2002 with the object’s integral flux being larger than 1 Crab above 2 TeV (see Table 3). Within the limited statistics, the single nights of these 8.5 h of observations show the same spectral shape. A fit of a pure power law d$`N/\text{d}E=N_0\times (E/\text{1\hspace{0.17em}TeV})^\alpha `$ to the differential energy spectrum results in $`N_0=(7.4\pm 1.3_{\text{stat}}\pm 0.9_{\text{sys}})\times 10^{11}`$ phot. cm-2 s-1TeV-1 and $`\alpha =2.83\pm 0.14_{\text{stat}}\pm 0.08_{\text{sys}}`$ with $`\chi _{\text{red.}}^2(\text{d.o.f.})=1.9(6)`$. A fit of a power law with an exponential cut-off d$`N/\text{d}E=N_0\times (E/\text{1\hspace{0.17em}TeV})^\alpha \times \mathrm{exp}(E/E_c)`$ with $`N_0=(5.6\pm 0.9_{\text{stat}}\pm 0.7_{\text{sys}})\times 10^{11}`$ phot. cm-2 s-1TeV-1, $`\alpha =1.83\pm 0.15_{\text{stat}}\pm 0.08_{\text{sys}}`$, $`E_c=(4.2_{0.6\text{stat}}^{+0.8}\pm 0.9_{\text{sys}})`$ TeV, $`\chi _{\text{red.}}^2(\text{d.o.f.})=1.7(5)`$, is also an adequate description of these data (see Fig. 3).

Figure 3 also shows the spectral energy distribution of the 1ES 1959+650 “low state”. Nearly 150 h of observations during nights with 1ES 1959+650 emitting TeV $`\gamma `$-rays at a flux level below 0.5 Crab have been used for this purpose. The spectrum can be described by a pure power law with $`N_0=(7.8\pm 1.5_{\text{stat}}\pm 1.0_{\text{sys}})\times 10^{12}`$ phot. cm-2 s-1TeV-1 and $`\alpha =3.18\pm 0.17_{\text{stat}}\pm 0.08_{\text{sys}}`$ with $`\chi _{\text{red.}}^2(\text{d.o.f.})=0.22(3)`$. A power law with an exponential cut-off and a spectral index fixed at $`\alpha =1.8`$ fits the data with $`N_0=(6.0\pm 1.4_{\text{stat}}\pm 0.8_{\text{sys}})\times 10^{12}`$ phot. cm-2 s-1TeV-1 and $`E_c=(2.7_{0.4\text{stat}}^{+0.6}\pm 0.6_{\text{sys}})`$ TeV with $`\chi _{\text{red.}}^2(\text{d.o.f.})=0.65(3)`$.

## 3 Summary and Conclusions

The BL Lac object 1ES 1959+650 has been observed with the HEGRA IACT system for a total of 197.4 h. The object has been detected at TeV energies during its low flux state in the years 2000 and 2001 at a value of $`(5.3\pm 1.1_{\text{stat}})`$ % of the Crab flux and during flaring states in 2002, reaching a flux level as high as 2.2 Crab. Extensive HEGRA observations in 2002 show strong changes in the absolute flux level.

The time averaged energy spectrum of the high state observations is well described by a pure power law with spectral index $`\alpha =2.83\pm 0.14_{\text{stat}}\pm 0.08_{\text{sys}}`$ or by a power law with an exponential cut-off at $`E_c=(4.2_{0.6\text{stat}}^{+0.8}\pm 0.9_{\text{sys}})`$ TeV. Within the synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model the TeV $`\gamma `$-ray emission of a BL Lac type object corresponds to the Inverse Compton (IC) component. Costamante & Ghisellini (2002) have predicted the IC flux above 1 TeV in a flaring state of 1ES 1959+650 to be $`1.74\times 10^{11}`$ phot. cm-2 s-1 using a phenomenological parametrization of the spectral energy distribution by Fossati et al. (1998). Taking into account the strong variations of 1ES 1959+650 in 2002 the observed flux values can be easily accommodated.

Due to the absorption of TeV photons by the pair production process $`\gamma _{\text{TeV}}+\gamma _{\text{DEBRA}}e^++e^{}`$ with the DEBRA the observed spectrum differs from the source spectrum. In the range from 1 to several TeV however, the spectral shape remains nearly unchanged since the optical depth in this energy range is rather constant for most of the DEBRA candidate spectra in the relevant wavelength range of 1 to 10 $`\mu `$m (Aharonian (2001)). Using a “model of choice” prediction of the DEBRA spectral energy density (Aharonian (2001)), the attenuation coefficients for the HEGRA 1ES 1959+650 high state data points have been calculated and applied to unfold the measured spectrum as shown in Figure 3. The cut-off energy is only marginally shifted to $`(4.5_{0.8\text{stat}}^{+1.2}\pm 0.9_{\text{sys}})`$ TeV. The low event statistics at the highest energies observed around 10 TeV and above (Tab. 3) do not allow one to see the strong deformation of the spectral shape, which is expected from the energy dependence of the attenuation coefficients (e. g. see Figure 9 in Aharonian (2001)).

The fact that 1ES 1959+650 is about 1.5 times more distant than the nearby TeV Blazars Mkn 421 and Mkn 501 and bridges the distance gap to H1426+428 makes it a very important object for future DEBRA probing in the optical to near-infrared region.

###### Acknowledgements.

The support of the German Federal Ministry for Research and Technology BMBF and of the Spanish Research Council CICYT is gratefully acknowledged. G. Rowell acknowledges receipt of a von Humboldt fellowship. We thank the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) for the use of the HEGRA site at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM) and for supplying excellent working conditions on La Palma.


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# On the Spatial Correlations of Lyman Break Galaxies

## 1. Introduction

Cosmologists love to count and correlate, and mostly for good reasons. If structure formation proceeds through gravitational instability, then the number densities and distributions of cosmological objects are directly dependent on the underlying physical model. Thus measuring the number of objects as function of virial velocity and redshift provides a direct probe of the primordial power spectrum and the overall cosmological parameters. This technique has been applied most cleanly to galaxy clusters, whose number densities and evolution provide strong constraints on the overall matter density (eg., Eke, Cole, & Frenk 1996; Bahcall, Fan, & Cen 1997; Carlberg, Yee, & Ellingson 1997).

Similarly, because the density peaks in which objects form are more clustered than the underlying mass distribution, the clustering of virialized structures provide a wealth of information. This “geometrical bias” is a systematic function of the mass of these structures, an effect that has been well-studied analytically and numerically (Kaiser 1984; Bardeen et al. 1986; Mo & White 1996; Porciani et al. 1998; Jing 1999; Scannapieco & Barkana 2002).

Perhaps the most famous measurement of this biasing has been in the large sample of $`z3`$ galaxies made available by the Lyman-break color-selection technique (Adelberger et al. 1998; Steidel et al. 1998). Early papers pointed out that if the mass of these Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) could be determined, their clustering would serve as a sensitive test of cosmology (Mo & Fukugita 1996; Adelberger et al. 1998; Giavalisco et al. 1998). Later efforts inverted this approach, using a wide range of cosmological constraints to compute the bias of LBGs and relate this to their overall mass (eg. Coles et al. 1998; Giavalisco & Dickenson 2001; Shu, Mao, & Mo 2001; Wechsler et al. 2001; Porciani & Giavalisco 2002). Such comparisons have shown that the clustering of LBGs brighter than $`_{AB}25.5`$ is roughly that expected from the geometrical bias of $`10^{12}M_{}`$ objects in the currently favored cosmological model. Furthermore, the theoretical number density of $`10^{12}M_{}`$ objects at $`z=3`$ is consistent with the observed densities of LBGs, roughly $`2\times 10^3h^3`$ Mpc-3, where $`h`$ is the Hubble constant in units of 100 km s-1 Mpc-1. Thus counting and correlating suggest a one-to-one correspondence between LBGs and $`10^{12}M_{}`$ objects.

Yet there are problems with this simple picture. LBGs are extremely luminous in their rest-frame UV, implying star formation rates on the order of $`50M_{}`$ per year (eg. Adelberger & Steidel 2000). Thus a one-to-one correspondence means that all $`10^{12}M_{}`$ objects must be forming stars at an enormous rate at $`z=3`$. Furthermore, the linewidths measured from the nebular emission of a spectroscopic sample of the brightest of such galaxies gives projected velocity dispersions of $`50115`$ km/s (Pettini et al. 2001), which correspond to total masses $`10^{11}M_{}`$, if interpreted as circular velocities.

In this Letter we explore an alternative possibility. We associate LBGs with a limited subset of objects that experience an appreciable increase in mass, which we naturally associate with a starburst. Through a detailed numerical simulation we show that such accreting groups are more clustered than the general population, mimicking the properties of higher-mass halos, and modifying the mass scales that are most naturally associated with LBGs.

This “temporal biasing” has never before been measured in simulations, and is not dependent on any merger criteria or properties of the accreted material. However the idea that LBGs correspond to merger induced starbursts has been proposed (eg. Kolatt et al. 1999), and several authors have conducted numerical studies of the bias of mergers, obtaining mixed results. Kauffmann & Haehnelt (2002) analyzed the cross-correlation between objects undergoing major-mergers and the general population, finding weak enhancement at small distances. Gottöber et al. (2002) found that applying a merger criterion at $`z=1`$ can effect the bias of objects at $`z=0.`$ Finally, Percival et al. (2003, hereafter P03) applied a set of merger criteria at $`10^8`$ yr intervals, failing to obtain enhancement as discussed in detail below.

The structure of this work is a follows: In §2 we describe our numerical simulation and in §3 we discuss our group-finding algorithms and develop a robust definition of accreting groups. In §4 we present our results for the correlation functions of these samples, and a discussion is given in §5.

## 2. Simulations

Driven by measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background, the number abundance of galaxy clusters, and high redshift supernova distance estimates (eg. Spergel et al. 2003; Eke et al. 1996; Perlmutter et al. 1999) we focus our attention on a Cold Dark Matter cosmological model with parameters $`h=0.7`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ = 0.3, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ = 0.65, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b=0.05`$, $`\sigma _8=0.87`$, and $`n=1`$, where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_b`$ are the total matter, vacuum, and baryonic densities in units of the critical density, $`\sigma _8^2`$ is the variance of linear fluctuations on the $`8h^1\mathrm{Mpc}`$ scale, and $`n`$ is the “tilt” of the primordial power spectrum. The Bardeen et al. (1986) transfer function was used with an effective shape parameter of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0.18`$.

The two competing desires of achieving high mass resolution while simulating a large sample of halos led us to use a box size of $`73`$ comoving Mpc on a side, populated with $`350^3`$ dark matter particles. The mass of each particle was $`4.3\times 10^8M_{}`$, which gives a nominal minimum mass resolution for our group finding of $`3.4\times 10^{10}M_{}`$ as we select only groups with 80 or more particles. The simulation was started at an initial redshift of $`z=49`$, and a fixed physical Plummer softening length of 5.7 kpc was chosen. The simulations used a parallel OpenMP-based version of the HYDRA code (Couchman et al. 1995, Thacker & Couchman 2000), with 64-bit precision being used throughout.

## 3. Group Finding and Halo Tracing

Group finding is a widely studied topic in cosmology since it can lead to (small) systematic differences (eg Jenkins et al. 2001). To demonstrate the robustness of our results we have chosen two distinct group finding approaches; the friends-of-friends approach (Davis et al. 1985, FOF) and the HOP algorithm (Eisenstein & Hut 1998). Although it remains popular, the FOF masses estimates are known to have significant scatter due to a linking problem that can occur as small strings of particles fall within the linking length.

The HOP algorithm works by using the local density for each particle to trace (‘hop’) along a path of increasing density to the nearest density maxima, at which point the particle is assigned to the group defined by that local density maximum. As this process assigns all particles to groups, a ‘regrouping’ stage is needed in which a merger criterion for groups above a threshold density $`\delta _{outer}`$ is applied. This criterion merges all groups for which the boundary density between them exceeds $`\delta _{saddle}`$, and all groups thus identified must have one particle that exceeds $`\delta _{peak}`$ to be accepted as a group (see Eisenstein & Hut 1998 for explicit details).

Beginning from $`z=4.89`$, we saved particle positions every 50 million years up to the final output at $`z=3`$. For the final 5 outputs we found FOF groups using a linking parameter of $`b=0.18`$, and HOP groups using the parameters: $`N_{dens}=48`$, $`N_{hop}=20`$, $`N_{merge}=5`$, $`\delta _{peak}=160`$, $`\delta _{saddle}=140`$, and $`\delta _{outer}=80`$. Visual inspection showed strong similarities between the two halo populations, with a small amount of unavoidable noise coming from groups around the 80 particle resolution limit (a group found by FOF at this limit may not be found by HOP and vice versa). The group index of each particle was stored at each output to enable tracing between outputs.

P03 investigated the clustering of mergers within simulations using the FOF algorithm, finding no evidence for bias in a series of populations defined using different selection criteria. To test their conclusions we reconstructed their samples within our simulation. To give a rough Fig. 1.—Comparison of halo growth. The FOF algorithm exhibits a significant amount of scatter in mass estimates between outputs. Only 67% of groups grow from one output to another, compared to 82% for HOP.
estimation of the accuracy of the group finding methods in Fig. 1 we plot the mass of the most massive progenitor at $`t_1(z=3.059)`$, versus the mass at $`t_2(z=3)`$, such that $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=5\times 10^7`$ yr. Clearly HOP identifies groups that are more likely to be more massive at later outputs, while FOF groups show considerable scatter about the mean. The effect of this difference is significant.

Using the P03 definition of ‘new’ groups, namely, those for which 50% of constituent particles were not in a progenitor of equal or higher mass at the previous time, we find a large difference between the total number of groups identified: 9367 versus 12129 for FOF and HOP respectively (from 16330 and 16831 total groups, respectively). However, neither of these populations has stronger clustering than the complete halo population as measured by their correlation functions in mass bins of 0.5 dex. Notably the P03 halo subsets, corresponding to 3:1 and 17:3 mass ratio mergers,we significantly different between the FOF and HOP populations. This can partially be attributed synchronization problems, and as the time difference between outputs is increased the identified subsets become more similar. Further scatter is also introduced by hard selection criteria, such as requiring progenitors fit a certain mass threshold. For the 3:1 and 17:3 merger ratios we find only 171(226) groups between $`z=3.2`$ and $`z=3`$, respectively. The correlation functions of these halo populations, co-added over the final five outputs, show no clear bias, confirming the conclusions of P03, however better statistics are necessary for a definitive result.

Our definition of accreting groups is similar to the P03 criteria, except that we select the subset of halos that grew by 20% from output to output, which implicitly includes mass accretion via smooth infall and results in 545(980) HOP(FOF) groups if $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=5\times 10^7.`$ Note that the mass of each halo is that at the end of each time interval, such that we tag all halos that experienced appreciable infall. The 20% value is arbitrary, but we selected it primarily because it appears to lie outside the central ‘noise’ band in the FOF data (see Fig 1). The number of halos corresponding to this cut is also illustrated Fig 1, as points to the right of the dashed lines.

## 4. Temporal Bias

In Figure 2 we show the correlation function of the groups selected by both the HOP and FOF algorithms and compare them with $`\xi (r)`$ of the accreting groups. In the accreting case we co-added the correlation functions calculated from the differences from the last four $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=5\times 10^7`$ year intervals and the last two $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=10\times 10^7`$ year intervals. Radial bins of 1/80 the simulation size, corresponding to $`0.92`$ Mpc, were taken throughout.

For comparison, in each panel of Fig. 2 we also show the correlation function of all the groups in the next largest mass bin. The $`\nu 1.686D(z)^1\sigma (M)^1`$ values (where $`D`$ is the linear growth factor) for each of these bins are 1.38, 1.58, and 1.83 which result in geometrical bias factors of $`b1+(\nu ^21)/1.69`$ of 1.53, 1.89, and 2.39 respectively. The amplitudes of the correlation functions obtained using all the HOP groups are in good agreement with these bias values, and likewise, the correlation functions of the full set of HOP and FOF groups agree with each other to within statistical uncertainties.

The upper row of plots demonstrate a clear enhancement of the clustering of accreting groups at both the $`10^{10.5}M_{}`$ and $`10^{11.0}M_{}`$ mass scales, with their correlation functions roughly matching those of objects three times greater in mass (no conclusion can be drawn from the high mass bin as the sample is too small). This “temporal biasing” arises from the fact that both objects accreting substructure as well as those experiencing considerable smooth infall tend to be found in the densest regions of space, which are themselves highly clustered. This conclusion is supported by the fact that the average local overdensity of groups in the $`10^{10.5}(10^{11})M_{}`$ mass bin is 0.82(0.87) (measured in 4 Mpc (comoving) spheres, corresponding to a mass scale of $`1.2\times 10^{13}`$ $`M_{}`$), where as the same mass bin for the entire population exhibits an overdensity of 0.60(0.73).

In the second row of Fig. 2 we take a longer interval of $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=10\times 10^7`$ yr. This has a slight dampening effect on temporal bias, as groups in less dense regions are able to sustain this level of infall. Nevertheless a detectable enhancement is still seen, particularly in the $`10^{10.5}M_{}`$ bin, which contains the most common objects, with $`\nu `$ the smallest. In the $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=20\times 10^7`$ yr case, however, only a very weak enhancement of $`\xi (r)`$ was measured.

In the lower two rows of this figure, we repeat our analyses using the FOF group finder. Although this approach is more susceptible to statistical noise, the same trends are apparent as in the HOP case. If $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=5\times 10^7`$ yr, this temporal bias is roughly equal to the geometrical bias of the groups three times more massive, while if $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=10\times 10^7`$ yr, $`\xi (r)`$ is boosted to a slightly lesser degree.

Besides the comparisons shown, we have also studied the effect of varying a number of parameters: $`\delta _{peak}`$, $`\delta _{saddle}`$ and $`\delta _{outer}`$ in the HOP method, the linking length of the FOF groups, and the fractional value we used to define “appreciable” accretion. Again, the same bias trends were visible, and our results remained robust over a wide range of reasonable choices for these quantities.

Finally, to quantify our results, we have computed the effective temporal bias in each mass bin, $`\mathrm{\Delta }t`$, and group finder. We define $`b_t^2`$ as the ratio of the correlation function of the accreting groups to the overall correlation function, weighted by the number of points in each bin in the overall function; $`b_t^2_{i=0}^{20}\frac{\xi _{\mathrm{accreting},i}N_{\mathrm{all},i}}{\xi _{\mathrm{all},i}N_{\mathrm{all},i}}`$, where the sum is carried out over all bins within $`r20`$ comoving Mpc. These values are labeled in each panel, and in the $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=20\times 10^7`$ yr case, $`b_t^2=`$ 1.1(1.0) in the $`10^{10.5}(10^{11.0})M_{}`$ HOP bins and 1.1(1.3) in the respective FOF bins.

## 5. Discussion

From the tests presented above, it is clear that if small time intervals are chosen, the clustering of accreting groups is robustly enhanced with respect to the underlying populations. To relate this to LBGs we plot the spatial correlation function of $`_{AB}25.5`$ LBGs, as derived by Wechsler et al. (2001), in the center column of Fig. 2. Although there are significant uncertainties involved in computing this quantity, since comparisons are more naturally conducted in angular coordinates, the shaded regions provide a guide to the range of $`\xi (r)`$ values consistent with observations. In these panels, we see that if $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=5\times 10^7`$ yr is chosen, then temporal bias boosts the correlation function of $`10^{11}M_{}`$ halos into reasonable agreement with observations.

This mass is marginally consistent with the upper mass bound inferred from the rotation curves of a somewhat bright ($`_{AB}24`$) spectroscopic subset of LBGs (Pettini et al. 2001). Furthermore, only $`4\%`$ of all groups exhibit appreciable accretion in each $`\mathrm{\Delta }t=5\times 10^7`$ year time interval and the density of $`10^{11}M_{}`$ halos is $`2\times 10^2`$ Mpc3, at $`z=3`$ in our assumed cosmology. Thus associating such objects with $`5\times 10^7`$ year starbursts results in a density $`5\times 10^4`$ Mpc3, comparable with that observed. While this time interval is small, taking the mean gas and dark matter ratio, and an overall star formation efficiency of $`10\%`$, results in a star formation rate of $`0.2\times 10^{11}M_{}\mathrm{\Omega }_b/\mathrm{\Omega }_0/5\times 10^7\mathrm{yr}`$ = $`7M_{}`$ yr-1. This is less than the observed values of $`50M_{}`$ yr-1, perhaps implying that an even shorter time interval is appropriate.

While quite suggestive, these comparisons are not meant as a complete model, and may not prove to be the final explanation of the discrepant mass estimates of LBGs. Kinematic models have been explored, for example, in which the observed velocity dispersions of LBGs are much less than the circular velocities of the halos in which they are contained (eg. Mo, Mao, & White 1999). What is clear however, is that this bias can not be ignored and must be carefully considered when interpreting the clustering of these objects. While perhaps only part of the story, temporal biasing represents an important factor that must be taken into account when studying the properties of Lyman break galaxies.

ES would like to express his sincere thanks for the hospitality shown to him by Jon Weisheit and the T-6 group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where this work was initiated. We are grateful to Marc Davis for fruitful suggestions and to Max Pettini for helpful comments. ES was supported in part by an NSF MPS-DRF fellowship. RJT acknowledges funding from the Canadian Computational Cosmology Consortium and use of the CITA computing facilities.


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# From neutrino oscillations to baryogenesis 1footnote 11footnote 1Based on the talk presented at the Fourth International School of Physics “Bruno Pontecorvo”, Capri, May 26-29, 2003

DSF-17/2003

## Abstract

The evidence for neutrino oscillations leads to small neutrino masses, which can be realized by means of the seesaw mechanism. In this framework, baryogenesis may be achieved from leptogenesis.

I. Brief history of neutrino oscillations

The concept of neutrino oscillations was introduced by B. Pontecorvo in 1957 p1 . He considered $`\nu \overline{\nu }`$ oscillations in vacuum, in analogy to $`K\overline{K}`$ oscillations gp .

Flavor mixing was proposed by Maki, Nakagawa and Sakata in 1962 mns . According to this idea, two weak (flavor) eigenstates $`\nu _\alpha `$ are related to two mass eigenstates $`\nu _i`$ by a rotation $`U`$, that is $`\nu _\alpha =U_{\alpha i}\nu _i`$. More generally, $`U`$ is a unitary matrix.

Flavor oscillations of Majorana neutrino were introduced by B. Pontecorvo in 1967 p2 . In this paper he also anticipated the solar neutrino problem, since he pointed out that, due to neutrino oscillations, the observed flux of solar neutrinos should be half of the expected flux. In fact, in 1968, a deficit of solar neutrinos ($`\nu _e`$) was found dhh , with respect to the theoretical calculation on the basis of the solar model bbs . Then, in 1969, Gribov and Pontecorvo proposed the solution of the solar neutrino problem by means of neutrino oscillations in vacuum gb . The pattern of oscillations is modified in matter msw . Several years later, the atmospheric neutrino anomaly was discovered atm , that is a deficit in atmospheric neutrinos ($`\nu _\mu `$).

Evidence for neutrino oscillations in atmospheric neutrinos was indeed found in 1998 by the SuperKamiokande experiment sk . Then, in 2002, evidence for neutrino oscillations in solar neutrinos has been also found sno . Finally, in 2003, terrestrial evidence for $`\overline{\nu _e}`$ oscillations from reactor neutrinos kamland  and terrestrial evidence for $`\nu _\mu `$ oscillations from accelerator neutrinos k2k  are achieved.

Hence, the solar neutrino problem is solved by $`\nu _e\nu _{\mu ,\tau }`$ matter oscillations in the sun, while the atmospheric neutrino anomaly is explained by $`\nu _\mu \nu _\tau `$ vacuum oscillations.

II. Neutrino masses and mixings

The oscillation formula is given by the expression

$$P\mathrm{sin}^22\theta \mathrm{sin}^2\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }m^2L}{4E},$$
(1)
where P is the probability of transition at distance $`L`$ from the source, $`E`$ is the energy of neutrinos, $`\theta `$ is the mixing angle, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ is the square mess difference between the two mass eigenstates involved in the process. Therefore, neutrino oscillations imply neutrino masses and mixings. From oscillation data, the following values are inferred:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }m_{32}^2=m_3^2m_2^22.710^3\text{eV}^2,$$
(2)
$$\mathrm{\Delta }m_{21}^2=m_2^2m_1^27.110^5\text{eV}^2,$$
(3)
where the three masses $`m_1`$, $`m_2`$, $`m_3`$ are the effective neutrino masses. The lepton mixing matrix, is given by the approximate form

$$U\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\frac{\sqrt{2}}{\sqrt{3}}& \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}}& 0\\ \frac{1}{\sqrt{6}}& \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}}& \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\\ \frac{1}{\sqrt{6}}& \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}}& \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\end{array}\right).$$
(4)
This expression yields large $`U_{e2}`$, near maximal $`U_{\mu 3}`$, and small $`U_{e3}`$. Hence, lepton mixings can be large and even maximal, while quark mixings are all small.

Neutrino masses are very small with respect to charged fermion masses. In fact, from beta decay experiments we get

$$m_{\nu _e}=(U_{ei}^2m_i^2)^{1/2}<2.2\text{eV},$$
(5)
which gives $`m_i1`$ eV. Also from cosmology we get $`m_i1`$ eV. Moreover, for Majorana neutrinos, a upper limit comes from neutrinoless double beta decay,

$$M_{ee}=(U_{ei}^2m_i)<0.86\text{eV}.$$
(6)
In contrast, charged fermion masses span the range going from $`m_e1`$ MeV to $`m_t100`$ GeV. We should find a mechanism for generating very small neutrino masses.

III. Dirac and Majorana masses

A Dirac mass term can be written in the form

$$m_D\overline{\psi _R}\psi _L+h.c..$$
(7)
It conserves electric charge and lepton number.

Majorana mass terms for left-handed and right-handed particles can be written as

$$m_L\overline{(\psi _L)^c}\psi _L+h.c.,$$
(8)
$$m_R\overline{(\psi _R)^c}\psi _R+h.c.,$$
(9)
respectively. They violate electric charge and lepton number, thus are allowed only for neutral particles, in particular neutrinos.

A Dirac neutrino is expressed by the field $`(\nu _L,\nu _R)`$, which under charge conjugation goes into $`((\nu _R)^c,(\nu _L)^c)`$. Instead, Majorana neutrino fields are given by $`(\nu _L,(\nu _L)^c)`$ and $`((\nu _R)^c,\nu _R)`$, which are both self-conjugate. Majorana fields contain only one type of Weyl spinor, left or right, while Dirac fields contain both types of spinors.

IV. Seesaw mechanism

If both Dirac and Majorana masses are present, the full mass matrix of neutrinos is

$$M=\left(\begin{array}{cc}m_L& m_D\\ m_D& m_R\end{array}\right).$$
(10)
Let us assume that $`m_L=0`$, and $`m_Rm_D`$. Then $`M`$ has mass eigenvalues nearly equal to $`m_R`$ and $`m_D^2/m_R`$. The latter can be written as $`(m_D/m_R)m_D`$, so that it is much smaller than $`m_D`$. This is the seesaw mechanism ss . The corresponding two eigenstates are of the Majorana kind, see for example kay . For three generations of fermions, we have the seesaw formula for mass matrices,

$$M_LM_\nu M_R^1M_\nu ^T,$$
(11)
where $`M_L`$ is the effective mass matrix of (light) left-handed neutrinos, $`M_\nu `$ is the Dirac neutrino mass matrix, and $`M_R`$ is the mass matrix of (heavy) right-handed neutrinos.

In the minimal standard model, the neutrino is massless because $`\nu _R`$ does not exist. The minimal extension is then adding $`\nu _R`$. Gauge extension, such as the left-right model, the Pati-Salam model, and the $`SO(10)`$ unified model, do include the right-handed neutrino. It is natural for the Dirac mass to be similar to charged fermion masses, since all are generated from couplings to the same Higgs fields. In particular, we expect $`M_eM_d`$ and $`M_\nu M_u`$. Instead, the Majorana mass matrix of right-handed neutrinos is generated as bare mass term or by coupling to another Higgs field, so that its value can be very large. These conditions lead to the seesaw mechanism.

Moreover, a seesaw enhancement of lepton mixing can appear smirnov . For instance, let us take

$$M_\nu \left(\begin{array}{ccc}0& a& 0\\ a& b& c\\ 0& c& 1\end{array}\right)m_t,$$
(12)
with $`abc1`$, and falc

$$M_R\left(\begin{array}{ccc}c^2& 0& 0\\ 0& c^2& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right)m_R.$$
(13)
Then we obtain

$$M_L\left(\begin{array}{ccc}k^2& k& k\\ k& 1& 1\\ k& 1& 1\end{array}\right)\frac{m_t^2}{m_R},$$
(14)
with $`k=a/c`$. Other minimal forms which give large lepton mixing are falc

$$M_R\left(\begin{array}{ccc}0& ac& 0\\ ac& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right)m_R,$$
(15)
$$M_R\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\frac{a^2}{c}& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\\ 0& 1& 0\end{array}\right)m_R.$$
(16)
In another approach, we may invert the seesaw formula,

$$M_RM_\nu ^TM_L^1M_\nu ,$$
(17)
in order to determine the heavy neutrino mass matrix. Assuming $`M_\nu M_u`$, that is $`a\lambda ^6`$, $`c\lambda ^4`$, we get two possible forms fal

$$M_R\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\lambda ^{12}& \lambda ^{10}& \lambda ^6\\ \lambda ^{10}& \lambda ^8& \lambda ^4\\ \lambda ^6& \lambda ^4& 1\end{array}\right)\frac{m_t^2}{m_k},$$
(18)
with eigenvalues $`M_1/M_2\lambda ^4`$, $`M_1/M_3\lambda ^{12}`$, and

$$M_R\left(\begin{array}{ccc}0& \lambda ^6& 0\\ \lambda ^6& \lambda ^4& 1\\ 0& 1& 0\end{array}\right)\lambda ^6\frac{m_t^2}{m_1},$$
(19)
with eigenvalues $`M_1/M_2\lambda ^6`$, $`M_1/M_3\lambda ^6`$. The first form has small mixings, while the second one has large mixing in the 2-3 sector.

V. Baryogenesis from leptogenesis

It is interesting to see the implications of the previous matrix models for the baryogenesis via leptogenesis mechanism fy . This is based on the out-of-equilibrium decays of the right-handed neutrinos, which produce a lepton asymmetry, partially converted to a baryon asymmetry by electroweak sphalerons. The baryon asymmetry is given by

$$Y_B\frac{1}{2}\frac{1}{g^{}}dϵ_1,$$
(20)
where $`ϵ_1`$ can be written as

$$ϵ_1\frac{3}{16\pi v^2}\left[\frac{(M_D^{}M_D)_{12}^2}{(M_D^{}M_D)_{11}}\frac{M_1}{M_2}+\frac{(M_D^{}M_D)_{13}^2}{(M_D^{}M_D)_{11}}\frac{M_1}{M_3}\right].$$
(21)
Here, $`M_D`$ is the Dirac neutrino mass matrix in the basis where $`M_R`$ is diagonal, and $`M_i`$ are the heavy neutrino masses. The parameter $`d<1`$ is a dilution factor, and $`g^{}100`$. The allowed value for the baryon asymmetry is $`Y_B910^{11}`$.

For matrix models (13) and (15), sufficient baryon asymmetry can be obtained, while matrix model (16) give too small asymmetry.

For the two matrix models (18) and (19), we get a too low baryon asymmetry fal . Then, we proposed another mass matrix model, where the overall mass scale of $`M_\nu `$ is again $`m_t`$, but the internal hierarchy is that of $`M_d`$ and $`M_e`$, namely $`a\lambda ^3`$, $`c\lambda ^2`$. In this case a sufficient amount of baryon asymmetry is achieved fal .

For other recent studies of the relation between seesaw mechanism and leptogenesis, see Refs.ft ; afs . In particular, baryon asymmetry is enhanced for $`M_1M_2`$, as happens for models (13) and (15).

VI. Conclusion

It is quite impressive the chain which takes us from neutrino oscillations to small neutrino masses, to the seesaw mechanism, and to baryogenesis through leptogenesis. If the seesaw mechanism is indeed correct, we should find confirmed evidence for the neutrinoless double beta decay.

The author thanks prof. F. Buccella for invitation to the School.


text:
# Hot and cold bubbles in M87

## 1 Introduction

The X-ray data from the CHANDRA and XMM-Newton satellites have shown that the hot gas in galaxy clusters is not the multiphase gas envisaged in the standard cooling flow picture (for a review see Böhringer et al., 2002). The gas is clearly radiatively cooling but this does not lead to distributed mass dropout and the cooling must be interrupted at least occasionally by heating from non-gravitational energy sources (e.g. Voit & Bryan, 2001; Voigt et al., 2002; Kaiser & Binney, 2003). Recently, heating by the outflows from AGN in the cluster centres has attracted much attention (e.g. Reynolds et al., 2001; Ruszkowski & Begelman, 2002; Brüggen & Kaiser, 2002; Basson & Alexander, 2003). This process is complicated and the exact details are still subject to debate. It is therefore of crucial importance to investigate clusters containing AGN in as much detail as possible. Because of its proximity, M87 in the Virgo cluster is the ideal target for such studies.

X-ray data from ROSAT (Böhringer et al., 1995) in combination with low frequency radio observations (Owen et al., 2000, hereafter OEK00) have already shown that the outflow from the AGN in M87 significantly influences the gas in the Virgo cluster (Böhringer et al., 1995; Harris et al., 1999). In this system it has been suggested that hot, rarefied plasma bubbles injected by the AGN are rising buoyantly in the cluster atmosphere, uplifting in their wake colder material from the cluster centre (Churazov et al., 2001, hereafter CBK01). More recent observations with XMM-Newton (Böhringer et al., 2001; Belsole et al., 2001; Molendi & Pizzolato, 2001; Molendi & Gastaldello, 2001; Gastaldello & Molendi, 2002; Matsushita et al., 2002, hereafter MBF02; Molendi, 2002, hereafter M02) and with CHANDRA (Young et al., 2002, hereafter YWM02) confirm the presence of a mixture of hot and cold gas in the regions influenced by the AGN outflow (MBF02, M02, YMW02). Thus not radiative cooling but the activity of the AGN creates a multi-phase medium in the cluster atmosphere: (i) A relatively hot component representing the bulk of the gas which would be present even without the AGN, (ii) even hotter bubbles injected by the AGN and buoyantly rising in the gravitational potential of the cluster and (iii) cold bubbles uplifted from the cluster centre in the wake of the hot bubbles.

In this paper we show that the X-ray and radio observations of M87 and the surrounding Virgo cluster are consistent with an atmosphere containing all three of the above components. We start by relating the idea of hot and cold bubbles to the radio and X-ray observations in Section 2. In Section 3 we will use the X-ray data to construct a model for the temperature and density distribution of the cluster atmosphere, component (i). We also show that the cumulative mass of this gas is a power-law of its entropy index as suggested for cooling cluster atmospheres by Kaiser & Binney (2003). Section 4 derives an upper limit for the age of the buoyant hot bubbles, component (ii), from their radio synchrotron emission and shows that this is consistent with their estimated dynamical age. We show that this requires the spatial separation of the relativistic electrons from the magnetic field. In Section 5 we develop a simple model to determine the trajectory of cold gas clouds, component (iii), uplifted by the rise of the hot bubbles. The results from this model are consistent with the XMM-Newton data. Finally, we summarise our conclusions in Section 6. Throughout we assume the distance of the Virgo cluster to be 15.9 Mpc (Tonry, 1991).

## 2 Morphology

Radio maps of the central regions of the Virgo cluster show three distinct features. Following YWM02 we refer to these as the bright ‘inner’ radio lobes extending to about 30 arcsec ($`2.5`$ kpc) from the cluster centre, the ‘intermediate’ radio structures at roughly 3 arcmin ($`15`$ kpc) and the ‘outer’ radio halos reaching out to 8 arcmin ($`40`$ kpc). The inner radio lobes are the well-known, bright structures in the immediate surroundings of the radio jet and the radio core. The intermediate radio structure to the east of the cluster centre shows a distinct torus or ‘ear’-shape structure connected to the inner lobes by a bridge of radio emission. The entire structure resembles the ‘mushroom’ cloud caused by the buoyant rise of a bubble of hot gas in the gravitational potential of the cluster (CBK01). To the west and south-west of the centre the morphology is less clear, but OEK00 argue that the observations indicate a torus similar to that on the eastern side which is somewhat disrupted. In the following study of the hot buoyant bubbles and colder bubbles uplifted in their wake, we concentrate mainly on this intermediate structure. Finally, the outer halos give the appearance of two almost circular regions with diameters of 4 arcmin ($`40`$ kpc) superimposed on the inner radio structures.

The high resolution X-ray CHANDRA observations of YWM02 reveal ridges of enhanced emission following the intermediate radio structures remarkably well. The X-ray ridge on the eastern side extends to at least the centre of the radio torus, roughly 3.3 arcmin from the cluster centre. In the south-west, the X-ray ridge appears to extend somewhat further. YWM02 also show that the temperature of the gas in the region of the X-ray ridges is significantly lower than in their surroundings. They demonstrate that the X-ray spectrum of the ridges extending to 3.3 arcmin is better fitted by a model assuming a mixture of hot and cold gas compared to a single temperature model. Based on the lower resolution XMM-NEWTON observations, M02 argues that two temperature models provide a better fit to the data out to about 6 arcmin from the cluster centre.

In this paper we interpret the torus structures observed in the radio on intermediate scales as buoyant bubbles containing hot gas. Bubbles of cold gas from the cluster centre are uplifted in the wake of the hot bubbles. These cold bubbles could be responsible for the observed ridges of enhanced X-ray emission and will lead to a mixture of hot and cold gas in the vicinity of the intermediate radio structure.

## 3 Fitting the cluster atmosphere

For our investigation of the properties and evolution of the hot and cold bubbles of gas in the surroundings of M87 in the Virgo cluster, we require a model for the cluster atmosphere. The best data for this purpose is provided by the X-ray observations of the Virgo cluster obtained with XMM-Newton. Temperature profiles of the cluster atmosphere can be obtained by fitting single or double temperature MEKAL models to the data (MBF02, M02). Using spectral deprojection techniques, the density distribution of the gas can also be determined (MBF02). Both methods require the averaging of the observational data over concentric annuli around the cluster centre. Thus the temperature and density are given only at a limited number of radii (see data points in Figure 1).

In this paper we are mainly interested in the properties of the cluster atmosphere at radii $`<6`$ arcmin. Out to this radius the XMM-NEWTON observations suggest the presence of a mixture of hot and cold gas in the cluster atmosphere (M02). We assume that the cluster gas within this radius has been affected by the AGN activity. Within this region we fit the density distribution with a $`\beta `$-model,

$$n=\frac{n_0}{\left[1+\left(r/a_0\right)^2\right]^{1.5\beta }},$$
(1)
where $`r`$ is the radius from the cluster centre. The free parameters $`\beta `$, $`a_0`$ and $`n_0`$ are determined by comparison of the model with the data. We use the density points given by MBF02 which we convert from electron density to gas density using $`n=21/11n_\mathrm{e}`$.

Figure 1 shows a comparison of the data with the $`\beta `$-model for the density with $`n_0=0.26`$ cm-3, $`a_0=0.27`$ arcmin and $`\beta =0.33`$. We did not attempt a formal fit of the model to the data as this would require calculating the X-ray emission predicted by the model, folding this with the telescope response and then analysing the model emission in the same way as the observations. The $`\beta `$-model shown here is in reasonable agreement with the data and our conclusions are not affected by the exact choice of the model parameters. MBF02 also fit the density points with two rather than a single $`\beta `$-model. We prefer the simpler single $`\beta `$-model here as it provides a reasonable description of the data within 6 arcmin of the cluster centre.

The entropy index of the cluster gas is given by $`\sigma =kTn^{2/3}`$. Using the density and temperature values of MBF02 we calculate $`\sigma `$ at 11 radii inside 6 arcmin from the cluster centre. Integrating the $`\beta `$-model for the density distribution, we can also determine the mass of the gas inside these radii. Figure 2 shows the resulting plot of the cumulative gas mass, $`M(<\sigma )`$ as function of $`\sigma `$. In the Hydra cluster $`M(<\sigma )`$ is observed to follow a simple power-law relation with $`\sigma `$ of the form (Kaiser & Binney, 2003)

$$M(<\sigma )=A\left(\sigma \sigma _0\right)^ϵ,$$
(2)
with

$$A=\frac{M(<\sigma _{\mathrm{max}})}{\left(\sigma _{\mathrm{max}}\sigma _0\right)^ϵ}.$$
(3)
Here $`\sigma _0`$ is the lowest value of the entropy index of gas at the centre of the cluster and $`\sigma _{\mathrm{max}}`$ is the largest entropy index of gas contributing to the total gas mass $`M(<\sigma _{\mathrm{max}})`$. The solid line in Figure 2 shows the power-law described in equation (2) providing the best fit to the data when taking into account the uncertainties in the entropy index of the gas, $`\sigma `$. We conclude that equation (2) allows a good approximation of the data within 6 arcmin of the cluster centre for $`ϵ=2.3`$, $`\sigma _0=1.5`$ keV cm2, $`\sigma _{\mathrm{max}}=40`$ keV cm2 and $`M(<\sigma _{\mathrm{max}})=2.5\times 10^{10}`$ M. Kaiser & Binney (2003) pointed out that, once established, radiative cooling of the cluster gas with the cooling function presented in Figure 9-9 of Binney & Tremaine (1987) preserves the power-law form of $`M(<\sigma )`$ and may indeed create a power-law distribution in the first place. The observations of the hot atmosphere in the Virgo cluster is consistent with this view.

Combining equations (1) and (2) allows us to express the entropy index as a function of radius,

$$\left(\sigma \sigma _0\right)^ϵ=\frac{4\pi \mu m_\mathrm{p}n_0a_0^3}{A}_0^{r/a_0}\frac{x^2}{\left(1+x^2\right)^{3/2\beta }}𝑑x,$$
(4)
where $`m_\mathrm{p}`$ is the mass of a proton and $`\mu `$ is the mean relative atomic weight of the cluster gas. The temperature of the cluster gas is then given by $`kT=\sigma n^{2/3}`$. Figure 3 compares the prediction from the models with the measurements. Although this is not a model fit, the agreement is reasonably good. For ideal gas conditions, we can also find an expression for the gas pressure of the cluster gas, $`p=\sigma n^{5/3}`$.

Assuming that the hot cluster atmosphere is in hydrostatic equilibrium within the gravitational potential of the dark matter halo of the Virgo cluster, the gravitational acceleration is given by

$$g=\frac{1}{\mu m_\mathrm{p}n}\frac{\mathrm{d}p}{\mathrm{d}r}.$$
(5)
It is now straightforward to show that

$$g=n^{2/3}r\left\{\frac{5\beta \sigma }{\mu m_\mathrm{p}a_0^2\left[1+\left(\frac{r}{a_0}\right)^2\right]}\frac{4\pi }{ϵA}\left(\sigma \sigma _0\right)^{1ϵ}rn\right\}.$$
(6)
## 4 Hot bubbles from the AGN

### 4.1 Intermediate radio structures

We adopt the idea of CBK01 that the intermediate radio structure resembling a torus observed to lie eastwards of the currently active AGN in M87 (OEK00) is a bubble of rarefied plasma rising buoyantly in the colder cluster atmosphere. The situation on the western side of the AGN is less clear, but a similar buoyant structure may exist on this side as well.

The ear-like radio structure on the eastern side extends over roughly 3.2 arcmin ($`15`$ kpc) in a north-south direction. Identifying this structure with a buoyant bubble containing gas significantly hotter than the surrounding material implies that we may expect to detect a depression of the X-ray surface brightness in this region. Such ‘holes’ have been detected in a number of clusters and strongly support the recent ideas of heating of the cluster gas by AGN outflows. Using the model for the gas distribution in the Virgo cluster derived in the previous section, we can estimate the expected depression of the X-ray surface brightness from the buoyant bubble at this location. For a completely evacuated spherical bubble with diameter 3.2 arcmin at a distance of 3.3 arcmin from the cluster centre, the X-ray surface brightness would decrease by roughly 30% for a line of sight through the centre of the bubble compared to a cluster without such a bubble. Such a strong depression is not detected in the CHANDRA data. However, various effects will make the detection of any suppression of the X-ray surface brightness due to a buoyant bubble difficult. Firstly, because of its buoyant motion, the hot bubble displaces and compresses cluster gas leading to the formation of a dense shell around the bubble. Assuming the shell thickness to be 1/10 of the bubble diameter the enhanced emission of the dense shell roughly compensates for the emission deficit caused by the bubble. Because of the strong dependence of the X-ray emissivity on gas density, the bubble would show up as an X-ray enhancement if the shell was thinner. Secondly, the buoyant bubble is almost certainly not spherical because fluid instabilities will deform it into a torus (e.g. CBK01). The observed radio structure suggests such a toroidal geometry. The length of our line of sight through the bubble will therefore always be shorter than the diameter of the torus leading to a reduced effect of the bubble on the X-ray surface brightness. Finally, there is clear evidence for cold gas in the X-ray map at the location of the centre of the radio torus. We will argue further on that this cold material is uplifted from the cluster centre by the hot bubble. Its enhanced X-ray emission complicates the detection of any X-ray depression by the hot bubble. In all other clusters where holes in the X-ray surface brightness are observed, the bubbles appear spherical rather than torus-shaped. Also, in these clusters the bubbles may not be buoyantly rising anymore which implies the absence of a dense shell around the bubble. In fact, a close inspection of the CHANDRA map shows very slight depressions of the X-ray surface brightness immediately north and south of the torus centre (A.J. Young, private communication). In general the deviations from perfect spherical symmetry of the X-ray surface brightness of the gas in the Virgo cluster makes it very difficult to detect X-ray depressions in this highly complex region.

The detection of an X-ray hole at the location of the radio ‘ear’-structure would show beyond doubt the existence of a buoyant bubble filled with hot gas at this position. Its absence means that we cannot prove the existence of the postulated bubble. However, the morphology of the radio structure in combination with the work of CBK01 strongly suggests that a hot, buoyant bubble causes the ‘ear’-shaped structure to the east of the cluster centre.

CBK01 showed that a buoyant bubble will quickly reach its terminal rise velocity, $`v_\mathrm{t}`$, defined by the balance of the buoyant and drag forces acting on the bubble. In the case of M87 $`v_\mathrm{t}400`$ km s-1 and thus the position of the bubble as a function of time is simply $`r=v_\mathrm{t}t`$. We cannot determine how projection changes the apparent distance of the bubble from the cluster centre in the radio observations of OEK00. The direction of the buoyant rise of the hot bubbles is determined by the properties of the large-scale distribution of gas in the cluster atmosphere rather than the direction of the currently active jet inside the inner radio structure. If the line connecting the eastern bubble with the cluster centre makes an angle $`\theta `$ with our line of sight, then the bubble is currently located about $`15.4\left(\mathrm{sin}\theta \right)^1`$ kpc from the cluster centre. If the bubble started its journey at the cluster centre, then its age must be $`t_\mathrm{c}=3.8\times 10^7\left(\mathrm{sin}\theta \right)^1`$ years. To demonstrate the influence of the viewing angle $`\theta `$ on our results, we consider the cases $`\theta =90^{}`$ and $`\theta =30^{}`$. The latter case corresponds to a doubling of the unprojected distance of the bubble from the cluster centre and thus a bubble age of $`t_\mathrm{c}=7.6\times 10^7`$ years.

The bubble is observed to emit synchrotron radio emission of frequencies at least up to 10.55 GHz (Rottmann et al., 1996). As CBK01 showed, this is hard to reconcile with the usual assumption that the bubble is filled uniformly with relativistic particles and a magnetic field tangled on scales smaller than the bubble’s size. Only if the magnetic field is much lower than its equipartition value can the electrons barely survive their constant energy losses for long enough to explain the observations.

The assumption of a uniform distribution for the magnetic field in the radio structures caused by AGN may well be too simplistic (e.g. Eilek et al., 1997, and references therein). OEK00 point out that the entire large-scale radio structure of M87 shows filamentary substructure that may very well indicate an inhomogeneous magnetic field in this region. Sophisticated models of the synchrotron emission from plasmas threaded by an inhomogeneous magnetic field have been developed in the literature (e.g. Tribble, 1993, 1994; Eilek et al., 1997). Here we only consider the limiting case in which the radio structure is made up of regions filled with a tangled magnetic field in pressure equilibrium with regions devoid of any magnetic field but containing relativistic particles. For simplicity we will also assume that the electrons do only diffuse into the areas containing the magnetic field but once inside do not diffuse out again. Thus, while in the field-free regions, the electrons are subject to energy losses only due to the adiabatic expansion of the buoyant bubble and due to inverse Compton scattering of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation. For the Lorentz factor of a relativistic electron, $`\gamma `$, we can therefore write

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}\gamma }{\mathrm{d}t}=\frac{\gamma }{3V}\frac{\mathrm{d}V}{\mathrm{d}t}\frac{4\sigma _\mathrm{T}}{3m_\mathrm{e}c}u_\mathrm{c}\gamma ^2,$$
(7)
where $`V`$ is the volume of the bubble containing the relativistic electrons, $`\sigma _\mathrm{T}`$ is the Thomson cross-section, $`m_\mathrm{e}`$ is the electron mass and $`u_\mathrm{c}`$ is the energy density of the CMB. Because of the adiabatic expansion of the bubble during its rise, we can replace $`V`$ with the pressure of the bubble which must be equal to that of the cluster atmosphere at the location of the bubble,

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}\gamma }{\mathrm{d}t}=\frac{\gamma }{3\mathrm{\Gamma }p}\frac{\mathrm{d}p}{\mathrm{d}t}\frac{4\sigma _\mathrm{T}}{3m_\mathrm{e}c}u_\mathrm{c}\gamma ^2,$$
(8)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the ratio of specific heats of the bubble material. In the following we will assume $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=4/3`$. Using the results of Section 3, it is straightforward to numerically solve this differential equation.

The bubble regions containing the magnetic field are in pressure equilibrium with the cluster atmosphere. For $`r=15`$ kpc, the current position of the bubble if $`\theta =90^{}`$, this implies that $`B=70`$$`\mu `$G. For $`\theta =30^{}`$, we find $`r=30`$ kpc and $`B=54`$$`\mu `$G. Relativistic electrons diffusing into this magnetic field will mainly radiate at a frequency $`\nu \gamma ^2eB/(2\pi m_\mathrm{e}c)`$, where $`e`$ is the elementary charge. Therefore the eastern bubble observed at 10.55 GHz in M87 must currently contain electrons with a Lorentz factor $`\gamma 7300`$ for $`\theta =90^{}`$ and $`\gamma 8400`$ for $`\theta =30^{}`$.

Figure 4 shows the results of solving Equation (8) for the pressure profile derived in Section 3. We assume that electrons are injected into the bubble at time $`t=0`$ and then passively loose energy during the rise of the bubble. To explain the observations the electrons must clearly be injected with Lorentz factors of several $`10^4`$. It is also interesting to note that even for initially $`\gamma \mathrm{}`$ the lifetime of the electrons is limited to about $`2\times 10^8`$ years. This is mainly caused by the inverse Compton scattering losses. If we neglect the adiabatic term in Equation (8) and set $`\gamma \mathrm{}`$ at $`t=0`$, we can solve directly for $`\gamma `$ yielding

$$\gamma =\frac{3m_\mathrm{e}c}{4\sigma _\mathrm{T}u_\mathrm{c}t},$$
(9)
which gives $`t_{\mathrm{max}}=3\times 10^8`$ years for $`\gamma =8000`$.

From these considerations it becomes clear that the observed radio emission can be explained in terms of a single injection of relativistic electrons into the buoyant bubble. However, this almost certainly requires a non-uniform magnetic field structure. In the case of the eastern torus the maximum lifetime of the relativistic electrons is consistent with the age of the structure estimated from dynamical considerations. Even for a viewing angle to the path of the hot bubble of $`\theta =30^{}`$ to our line of sight, an initial injection of relativistic electrons into the buoyant bubble is consistent with the radio observations. However, the relativistic electrons could easily diffuse into the cluster atmosphere if they are not bound to the bubble by at least a weak magnetic field. The field needed to prevent diffusion is very weak but would of course further shorten the lifetimes of the electrons.

The alternative to the scenario sketched above is that relativistic particles are constantly re-accelerated in the buoyant bubble. This would require the presence of shocks and/or strong turbulence. Such sites of ongoing particle acceleration should in principle be very conspicuous as bright spots in the radio images. The observed filaments could of course mark regions of particle acceleration. However, they are not very much brighter than their surroundings and they are more naturally interpreted as local enhancements of the magnetic field. In any case, shocks or strong turbulence would require a supersonic or at least chaotic fluid flow inside the buoyant bubble. This is hard to reconcile with the subsonic and comparatively smooth buoyant rise of the bubble in the cluster atmosphere suggested for the formation of the torus and circular structures.

### 4.2 Outer Radio structures

All the arguments above also apply to the relativistic electrons in the almost circular outer radio structures enveloping the tori on intermediate scales discussed so far. CBK01 interpreted the outer structures as buoyant bubbles that were released from the AGN even earlier than the torus structures and have reached their iso-entropy surfaces. If this interpretation is correct, the outer radio structures cannot be older than a few $`10^8`$ years or otherwise we would not detect them. This implies that the AGN in M87 must have a duty cycle of roughly $`10^8`$ years or shorter.

At the iso-entropy surface the bubbles stop rising and start spreading. Thus the circular emission regions should be thin (CBK01). As they must be roughly in pressure equilibrium with their surroundings, the location of these bubbles at their iso-entropy surface implies that their mass density must be equal to that of the surrounding cluster medium. The density of the relativistic electrons responsible for the observed radio synchrotron emission is orders of magnitude lower than that of the cluster gas. Therefore the spreading bubbles must contain a significant amount of thermal material mixed with the relativistic particles and the magnetic field. Obviously we cannot decide whether this thermal material was present in the bubbles at the time their buoyant rise started or whether it was mixed in during the rise itself. In any case, the thermal electrons embedded in the magnetic field could lead to Faraday rotation and thus depolarisation of the radio synchrotron emission.

Rottmann et al. (1996) find the polarisation of the synchrotron emission at 10.55 GHz from the outer radio structures to exceed 70% of the total flux. This is close to the theoretical upper limit for the polarisation and indicates that the synchrotron radiation suffers very little depolarisation. We use the simple models of Cioffi & Jones (1980) to calculate the expected internal depolarisation due to the thermal electrons inside the spreading bubbles. For a conservative estimate we assume that the circular outer radio structures are at the same distance ($`15`$ kpc) from the cluster centre as the intermediate tori. The $`\beta `$-model fit for the density of the cluster gas derived in section 3 then implies an electron density of $`0.01`$ cm-3 inside the spreading bubbles. We also assume that the magnetic field inside the bubbles is comparable to that in the intermediate torus structures (70 $`\mu `$G). If we allow a maximum reduction of 5% of the fraction of polarised flux, the thickness of the bubbles along our line of sight must be less than 1 kpc. Although we cannot place any other constraints on this dimension of the bubbles, the picture of a spreading bubble is probably consistent with a ratio of bubble thickness and bubble diameter in the plane of spreading of 1/40. In case the spreading bubbles are further away from the cluster centre, then both the electron density and the strength of the magnetic field are probably lower than assumed here. This leads to a higher upper limit on the thickness of the spreading bubbles. Finally, it should be noted that high degrees of polarisation do not necessarily imply the absence of thermal electrons in the synchrotron emission region. If the structure of the magnetic field is more complex than in the simple models used here, then large amounts of thermal material can be present without significant depolarisation taking place (Laing, 1984).

## 5 Cold bubbles lifted by hot bubbles

Simulating the buoyant rise of a hot bubble from the AGN, CBK01 found that cold material from the cluster centre was lifted to larger distances from the cluster centre in the wake of the hot bubble. Recently, MBF02 and M02 noted that the X-ray observations of M87 obtained with XMM-Newton strongly suggest the presence of a mixture of hot and cold plasma in the region influenced by the buoyant bubble. Here we argue that the cold component of this mixture can be identified with bubbles of cold gas uplifted from the cluster centre in the wake of a buoyant, hot bubble. The cold bubbles may also form the ridges of enhanced X-ray emission detected in the high resolution maps obtained with CHANDRA (YWM02).

The exact details of the trajectory of a bubble of cold gas dragged along by the rise of a hot bubble are complicated and their investigation require numerical simulations. Here we develop a very simple model for the motion of the cold bubbles in the cluster atmosphere. We assume that the passage of the hot bubble accelerates the cold bubble instantaneously to a fraction $`f1`$ of the terminal rise velocity of the hot bubble, $`v_\mathrm{t}`$. Thus the cold bubble moves outward but is decelerated because of a buoyant force,

$$F_\mathrm{b}=V\left(\rho _\mathrm{a}\rho _\mathrm{b}\right)g,$$
(10)
acting on it. Here, $`V`$ is the volume of the cold bubble, $`\rho _\mathrm{b}`$ and $`\rho _\mathrm{a}`$ are the mass density of the cold bubble and of the cluster atmosphere in the vicinity of the bubble respectively and $`g`$ is the gravitational acceleration exerted by the dark matter halo (see Equation 5). The cold bubble is surrounded by cluster gas which would normally exert a drag force on the bubble. However, as all the material in the wake of the hot bubble is moving with roughly the same velocity, because it is subject to the same gravitational acceleration, we can neglect the drag force here. This situation changes once the cold bubble comes to rest and starts sinking back towards the cluster centre under the influence of the buoyant force. Now its surroundings are at rest and will exert a drag force

$$F_\mathrm{d}=\frac{1}{2}CSv^2\rho _\mathrm{a},$$
(11)
where $`S`$ is the surface area of the bubble on which the drag force acts and $`v`$ is its velocity. The drag coefficient $`C`$ is of order unity and we set it to 0.75 which was found for the hot, buoyant bubble in the simulations of CBK01. The equation of motion for the cold bubble is therefore

$$\frac{\mathrm{d}^2r}{\mathrm{d}t^2}=g\left(1\frac{\rho _\mathrm{a}}{\rho _\mathrm{b}}\right)+\frac{3}{4}\frac{C}{R}\left(\frac{\mathrm{d}r}{\mathrm{d}t}\right)^2\frac{\rho _\mathrm{a}}{\rho _\mathrm{b}},$$
(12)
where we have assumed that the cold bubble is a sphere with radius $`R`$. During its rise and subsequent fall, the cold cloud will be in pressure equilibrium with the cluster atmosphere. The radiative cooling time of the cloud material is long compared to the dynamical timescales considered here and so the evolution of the cloud will be adiabatic. The pressure equilibrium and the adiabatic behaviour allow us to self-consistently determine the radius, $`R`$, and other properties of the cold cloud.

Consider a bubble of gas located initially at a radius $`r_\mathrm{s}`$ from the cluster centre. For this bubble we start the integration of Equation (12) at the time the hot bubble passes through $`r_\mathrm{s}`$. At this point in time, the hot bubble accelerates the cold bubble instantaneously to $`fv_\mathrm{t}`$. While the cold bubble is rising, we neglect the drag force. We set the initial radius of the cold bubbles to $`R_\mathrm{s}`$. The position of the cold bubble at time $`t_\mathrm{c}`$ after the hot bubble started its rise in the cluster centre, i.e. the current time, is shown in Figure 5 as a function of $`r_\mathrm{s}`$. The result depends somewhat on the angle to our line of sight $`\theta `$ of the path of the cold bubbles in the wake of the hot bubble. However, projection reduces this effect because the longer rise time of the hot bubble compensates for the longer unprojected distances the cold bubbles have to travel. Maybe somewhat surprisingly the size of the uplifted, cold bubbles has a very limited effect on their final position. However, only the contribution of the drag force to equation (12) depends on the bubble size. All cold bubbles originally located outside a radius of about 0.3 arcmin from the cluster centre are still rising at time $`t_\mathrm{c}`$. By construction, no drag force acts on these clouds and so their motion is independent of their size.

The results presented in Figure 5 depend crucially on the initial velocity of the cold clouds. If the buoyant hot cloud does not accelerate the cold clouds to a significant fraction of its own rise velocity, then the restructuring of the cluster atmosphere through uplift of cold clouds is not very significant. Even for a moderate reduction of their initial velocity ($`f=0.25`$), the cold clouds do not rise very far in the cluster before starting to fall back to their initial positions.

Initially we assume that the cold clouds are part of the cluster gas at radius $`r_\mathrm{s}`$, i.e. their temperature and density are given by our models of the cluster atmosphere discussed in Section 3. Using the adiabatic evolution of the cold clouds we can readily calculate the temperature and the entropy index of the cloud material at later times. In Figure 6 we show the distribution of the temperature and entropy index in the unprojected cluster atmosphere and for the uplifted cold clouds at the current time $`t_\mathrm{c}`$. While rising, the cold clouds expand to adjust to the lower pressure further out in the cluster. Therefore they cool while their entropy index is of course constant. The pressure distribution in the cluster atmosphere leads to a virtually constant temperature of the cold clouds for most of the range in radius they occupy within the cluster. The exact value of this temperature depends on the projection angle $`\theta `$, but the flat temperature profile is preserved independent of the values of $`\theta `$ or $`f`$. Again we find that only for a slower initial velocity of the cold clouds this result is significantly altered because the cold clouds do not rise very far within the cluster atmosphere. A constant temperature of the uplifted cold bubbles is consistent with the observational results of M02. Note also that for strong projection, i.e. small values of $`\theta `$, the temperature of the cold clouds located furthest away from the cluster centre naturally exceeds the temperature of the unperturbed gas of the unprojected cluster atmosphere. Deprojection would show that this material is located at larger radii where the temperature is higher than the projected image suggests.

The entropy index distribution of the cold bubbles is simply shifted and stretched in the direction of increasing radius compared with the unperturbed cluster gas. Again this is consistent with the findings of M02. Projection has a much stronger influence on the entropy index distribution compared to the temperature distribution. For small values of $`\theta `$ we would expect a small difference between the entropy index of the unperturbed cluster gas compared to that of the cold bubbles. M02 find that for a given radius the entropy index of the cold gas component in the Virgo cluster is roughly a factor 3 lower than that of the hot component. A qualitative comparison with Figure 6 shows that this indicates $`\theta 90^{}`$ for the cold bubbles uplifted by the hot bubble associated with the ‘intermediate’ radio structure in the Virgo cluster.

Note here that there is no a priori reason why observations of cold clouds uplifted by hot bubbles from AGN in other clusters should result in a similar constant temperature distribution. However, for the specific conditions of the cluster atmosphere in the Virgo cluster the observations of cold material associated with the radio structure are consistent with the uplift of cold clouds described here.

## 6 Conclusions

The excellent data on the hot, gaseous atmosphere of the Virgo cluster obtained with XMM-Newton allows us to accurately fit the temperature and density distribution of the cluster gas. Using these models we find that the cumulative mass of the cluster gas, $`M(<\sigma )`$, is a power-law function of the form presented in Equation (2) of the entropy index $`\sigma =kTn^{2/3}`$. For the Virgo cluster we find $`ϵ=2.3`$ and $`\sigma _0=1.5`$ keV cm2. The Virgo cluster is therefore the second cluster after the Hydra cluster for which such a power-law has been found. This supports the suggestion of Kaiser & Binney (2003) that these distributions arise naturally in cluster atmospheres under the influence of radiative cooling by bremsstrahlung.

We revisit the idea that the torus structure seen to the east of the currently active AGN in M87 is caused by the buoyant rise of a hot bubble injected by an earlier activity cycle of the AGN. If there was a single injection of relativistic electrons responsible for the synchrotron radio emission into the bubble at the time it started its buoyant rise, then the fact that it is still detectable at 10.55 GHz (Rottmann et al., 1996) implies a maximum age of $`3\times 10^8`$ years for this structure. However, this requires that the relativistic electrons are separated from the magnetic field for most of the time. The dynamical age is of order $`5\times 10^7`$ years and is therefore consistent with the ‘radiative age’ above. This result does not depend projection effects.

The upper limit for the age derived here also applies to the circular emission regions seen in the map of OEK00. If these are the remnants of buoyant bubbles from an even earlier activity cycle as suggested by CBK01, then the duty cycle of the AGN in M87 must be of order $`10^8`$ years. From the observations we cannot rule out a process constantly re-accelerating relativistic particles in the radio structures. However, their appearance and their interpretation as slowly rising buoyant structures make such a process unlikely. We propose that the bubbles forming the circular emission regions have reached their iso-entropy surface in the cluster atmosphere. This implies that they contain significant amounts of thermal material mixed with the relativistic particles and magnetic field giving rise to the radio synchrotron emission. We show that this scenario is consistent with the high degree of polarisation of the observed radio emission if the circular emission regions are thin and therefore seen in projection.

The hot bubble drags in its wake colder material from the cluster centre further out. We develop a simple model for the trajectory of such cold clouds. From this model we calculate the entropy index and temperature structure of the cold material in the Virgo cluster. The temperature of the cold material should be roughly constant as a function of radius over a large range of radii. The entropy index distribution of the cluster atmosphere is shifted and stretched in the direction of larger radii for the cold material. Both results depend crucially on the initial velocity with which the cold bubbles start rising in the wake of the hot bubble. If this initial velocity is significantly lower than the rise velocity of the hot bubble, then no flat temperature profile is found. Projection effects do not alter the shape of the temperature or entropy index distributions. However, they determine the absolute values of these gas properties of the cold clouds at a given radius. Our findings do not depend significantly on the size of the cold bubbles.

A flat temperature profile and the entropy distribution are consistent with the temperature and entropy index distribution of the cold component in the cluster atmosphere derived directly from the X-ray data by M02. The flat temperature structure arises from the uplifting of material from a range of initial radii. This material naturally has a range of initial temperatures. The pressure distribution of the cluster atmosphere of Virgo then leads to the observed temperature distribution. We conclude that the mixture of hot and cold gas in the atmosphere of Virgo can be explained by the uplift of cold gas from the cluster centre by the buoyant hot bubbles injected by the AGN.

The Virgo cluster is probably the best studied cooling flow cluster containing an active AGN. The superb quality of the X-ray and radio data enable us to study the interaction of the AGN and the cluster gas in great detail. The results presented here suggest that further X-ray studies of other clusters containing AGN should reveal a power-law relation between the gas mass and the entropy index of the gas and a mixture of hot and cold gas in the regions influenced by the AGN activity.

## Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Dr. A.J. Young and Dr. M. Hardcastle for useful discussions and the anonymous referee for many helpful comments.


text:
# Effects of the background radiation on radio pulsar and supernova remnant searches and the birth rates of these objects

## 1 Introduction

Although the problem of birth rates of radio-pulsars (PSRs) and supernova remnants (SNRs) has been discussed for many years, it is still an open question. The main difficulties in solving this problem are the selection effects in observations. It is not well known under which circumstances single PSRs are born under a supernova (SN) explosion. Actually, PSRs may be born under SN explosions of types Ib, Ic and II (here we do not consider the accretion induced collapse). SNRs are formed as a result of SN explosions with energies 1049-1051 erg, and in some cases, even with energies several times smaller than 1049 erg (e.g. Crab, Sollerman et al. 2000) and with energies $`>`$1051 erg (e.g. Cas A, Vink et al. 1998; Wright et al. 1999).

According to Lorimer et al. (1993) PSRs are formed once every 150 years in the Galaxy and the lower limit for the mass of the stars which form PSRs at the end of their evolution is about 5 M. By examining the historical SNRs, Strom (1994) found that a SN explosion occurs every 6 years in the Galaxy and the lower limit for the mass of the progenitors of these SNRs is also about 5 M. There is an unlikely large difference between the birth rate of PSRs given by Lorimer et al. (1993) and the formation rate of SNe given by Strom (1994). Does the formation of PSRs predominantly depend on some other parameters because of the lower limit for the progenitor mass being the same in both cases?

It is known that in Sb-type galaxies rate of SN explosion is similar to the SN rate in our galaxy, $``$1-2 in 100 years on average, because our galaxy also is Sb-type. (van den Bergh & Tammann 1991). Recent statistical investigations of SN rate in Sb-type galaxies show that the rate of SN Ia is 0.4$`\pm `$0.2 in 100 years and the rate of SN II together with SN Ib and SN Ic is about 1.5$`\pm `$1.0 per century in Sb-type galaxies and so in our galaxy (Capellaro et al. 1999; Capellaro & Turatto 2001).

In our galaxy no evidence was found of a SN explosion in the last 300 years. The results of optical, radio and X-ray observations of the region up to 5 kpc around the Sun showed that there is a very small probability to find a neutron star (NS) or a SNR with such a small age.

Kaspi et al. (1999) and Kaspi & Helfand (2002) give a list of the youngest ($`\tau `$$``$2.44$`\times `$104 yrs) 17 PSRs. Ten of these PSRs are genetically connected to SNRs. The opposite of this is not true, i.e. in most of the SNRs with such ages no PSR has been found. Searching for dim point X-ray sources in nearby SNRs is essential to solve this important problem, because after finding point X-ray sources in SNRs these point sources can precisely be examined in the radio band.

Assuming the lower limit for the mass of the progenitors, which end their evolution with SN explosion, to be 5 or 8 M leads to a difference of a factor of 3 in the formation rate of SNRs, if we use the initial mass function (IMF) of Blaha & Humphreys (1989). Even for different galaxies and star formation regions (SFRs) we can use a simple IMF with a value of power about 2.3–3 (Schaerer 2002). A lower limit for the mass of progenitors of SN about 7-8 M is in accordance with a rate of one SN in 65 years. It is necessary also to note that the SFRs in our galaxy are not symmetrically located and also the star formation rates vary from one region to another.

## 2 Effects of the background radiation on SNR and PSR searches

### 2.1 Effects of the background radiation on each PSR and each SNR separately

It is known that the background radio radiation increases when the line of sight becomes closer to the Galactic center direction and the Galactic plane. Distribution of the temperature which characterizes the background radiation at 400 MHz is known (’Physics of Cosmos’ 1986). When we compare the intensity (temperature) of the background radiation with the structure of the Galactic arms (Georgelin & Georgelin 1976; Paladini et al. 2003), the effect of giant HII regions located in SFRs is seen.

As known, the source of the background radiation in the radio band is electron gas and number density of electrons increases under the approach to the Galactic center. Mainly because of this reason, as the direction approaches to the Galactic longitude l=0o and the Galactic latitude b=0o, intensity of this radiation increases. Naturally, the background radiation is most effective on the PSRs with low flux values and on the SNRs with low surface brightness ($`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$) values.

In the Galaxy, there are HII region complexes (which include several OB associations) with large sizes and high surface brightness values. Some of these complexes are located close to the Sun and in the directions far away from the Galactic center direction. Such HII region complexes can have considerable contribution to the background radio radiation and they can change the smoothness of distribution of the background radiation at small angular sizes. This is clearly seen, for example, for the region where Vela is located in (262o $`<`$ l $`<`$ 268o). Below, we will discuss the effect of the background radiation and the effects of different SFRs (which include many O-type stars) on the PSR search at 1400 MHz and on the SNR search at 1000 MHz. Please note that the searches for PSRs at 400 MHz have high sensitivity only in the Arecibo window (40o $`<`$ l $`<`$ 65o, $``$b$``$$``$2.5o, Hulse & Taylor 1974, 1975). It must also be noted that PSRs have steep spectrum in general, so that, effect of the background radiation is not so important on radiation of PSRs at 400 MHz.

We have examined the effect of Galactic background radiation on the observed SNRs by considering the l and b values. SNRs G3.8+0.3 and G354.8-0.8 are the dimmest among the SNRs which are the closest to the Galactic center direction (in the range l=0o$`\pm `$10o and $``$b$``$$`<`$2o). $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ values of these 2 SNRs are, respectively, 1.86$`\times `$10-21 Wm-2Hz-1ster-1 and 1.17$`\times `$10-21 Wm-2Hz-1ster-1. The SNRs G6.4+4.0 and G358.0+3.8 (which have a bit larger $``$b$``$ values) have $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ values 2.04$`\times `$10-22 Wm-2Hz-1ster-1 and 1.56$`\times `$10-22 Wm-2Hz-1ster-1, respectively. It is possible to observe such low-$`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ SNRs with $``$l$``$$`>`$60o–70o (i.e. far away from the Galactic center) and even with $``$b$``$$`<`$2o. Among the observed SNRs only 2 of them (G156.2+5.7, which is not shown in Figure 1, and G182.4+4.3) have $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ $`<`$ 10-22 Wm-2Hz-1ster-1 (Green 2001). So, the effect of the background radiation on the SNR search in the Galactic anticenter directions can surely be neglected for the SNRs with $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ $``$ 3$`\times `$10-22 Wm-2Hz-1ster-1 (see Figures 1 and 2). On the other hand, only 21% of all the SNRs given in Green (2001) have $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ $`<`$ 10-21 Wm-2Hz-1ster-1. For the SNRs in the anti-center directions, even if the $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ values are small, the flux values (F$``$$`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$$`\times `$$`\theta `$2, where $`\theta `$ is the angular diameter of the SNR) can be larger compared to the flux values of the SNRs in the Galactic central directions in most of the cases (see Figure 3), because the SNRs in the anticenter directions have, in general, smaller distances and larger sizes.

Among the known PSRs in the interval l=0o$`\pm `$10o and $``$b$``$$`<`$2o, PSR J1728-3733 (l = 350o.8, b = $``$1o.66) has the lowest flux at 1400 MHz: F1400 = 0.19 mJy. Other low-flux PSRs are PSR J1804-2228 (l = 7o.72, b = $``$0o.4) with F1400 = 0.2 mJy and both PSR 1736-3511 (l = 353o.6, b = $``$1o.6) and PSR J1751-2516 (l = 3o.85, b = 0o.69) with F1400 = 0.22 mJy. So, the background radiation practically can not hide PSRs in the surveys of the last $``$10 years if F1400 $`>`$ 0.2 mJy (similar to the case of SNRs with $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$$`>`$10-21 Wm-2Hz-1ster-1) (Figures 4,5). It is necessary to note that the observations of PSRs also depend on the pulse period, the dispersion measure and also the observational instruments. Here it is easier and more reliable to make statistical investigations because most of the PSRs were observed with the same telescope. Below, we will examine the influence of the background radiation and the influence of nearby HII regions on PSR and SNR searches.

### 2.2 Effect of the background radiation on the samples of PSRs and SNRs

We can assume that, the SNR search in the Galaxy has been made with roughly the same sensitivity, but not necessarily with the same precision, in all directions. In Figure 3, flux values (at 1000 MHz) of the SNRs (Green 2001) with respect to Galactic longitude for the SNRs with $``$b$``$ $`<`$ 5o are represented. As seen in this figure, the SNRs were searched down to the same flux value in all directions, but, since SNRs are extended objects, the SNRs with larger angular sizes are more easily observed in the Galactic anticenter directions. Observing SNRs depends significantly on their $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ values as well as their fluxes.

The distribution of the SNRs in different longitude intervals with respect to $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ show that the longitude interval which is the most affected by the background radiation is l=0o$`\pm `$40o (Figure 2). How this effect decreases as the line of sight recedes from the Galactic center direction is also clearly seen. As mentioned above, among the SNRs with $``$b$``$$`<`$5o the lowest $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ value belongs to SNR G182.4+4.3. As seen from Figure 1, in the Galactic central directions, except l$``$0$`\pm `$40o, almost all the SNRs with $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$$`>`$3$`\times `$10-22 Wm-2Hz-1ster-1 are observable. The background radiation is strong in the regions l $``$ 10o–30o and l $``$ 330o–340o, and the number of the HII regions in these intervals is large (’Physics of Cosmos’ 1986; Georgelin & Georgelin 1976; Paladini et al. 2003). Since this is related to the number of massive stars being large in these intervals, this fact shows itself in Figure 1. In such regions the formation rates of SNRs and PSRs must be high. The result of this is not clearly seen in Figures 1–3, but it can be seen in Figures 4 and 5 which show the distributions of the PSR sample including young PSRs. In these regions also, number of the SNRs with high surface brightness values is large.

In the last 7 years, the Galactic plane (especially the southern hemisphere) and particularly the Galactic central directions were observed at 1400 MHz and a large number of new PSRs were found (Johnston et al. 1995; Manchester et al. 1996; Sandhu et al. 1997; Lyne et al. 1998, 2000; Camilo et al. 2001; Edwards & Bailes 2001a,b; Manchester 2001, D’Amico et al. 2001; Manchester et al. 2002; Morris et al. 2002). As a result of these searches, today the number of the known PSRs with measured 1400 MHz flux is larger than the number of the known PSRs with measured 400 MHz flux. Because of this, we examine the PSRs observed at 1400 MHz.

In Figure 4, 634 PSRs with $``$b$``$ $`<`$ 5o are displayed. As seen from the flux distribution with respect to the Galactic longitude, many PSRs with small F1400 values are located in Galactic arms and in the Galactic central directions. From the figure it is seen that, in the 280o $`<`$ l $`<`$ 340o part of the region which was searched with the highest sensitivity (F1400 $`<`$ 0.2 mJy) more low-flux PSRs were found. In the interval l = 0o$`\pm `$20o the number of PSRs with F1400 $`<`$ 0.2 mJy is very small. The reason for this is not the search being not so sensitive and precise, but the background radiation being very strong. In Figure 5, F1400 – l diagram of 496 PSRs with $``$b$``$ $`<`$ 2o is displayed. When we compare Figures 4 and 5, we see a larger decrease in the number of the PSRs located in the Galactic central directions which have F1400 $`<`$ 0.2 mJy.

In Figure 6, $``$z$``$–l diagram of the PSRs with $``$l$``$$`<`$70o, $``$b$``$ $`<`$ 2o, DM $`<`$ 800 pc/cm3 and F1400 $`<`$ 0.5 mJy is represented. Since the electron density strongly depends on the longitude value, as the direction becomes far away from the Galactic center direction, the PSRs (in such directions) which have the same DM value that the PSRs in the Galactic center direction have, are located at larger distances. This leads to the possibility of the $``$z$``$ values to be larger for the same $``$b$``$ values. For the same DM value of two different PSRs, the smaller distance value belongs to the one which is closer to the Galactic center direction. As seen from Figure 8, although the distances of the PSRs in the interval l = 0o$`\pm `$20o are somewhat less, the average $``$z$``$ value is larger and this shows that the average $``$b$``$ value of these PSRs is larger. This is also a result of the effect of the background radiation.

In order to have the probability of observing the PSRs with roughly the same flux values and the SNRs with roughly the same $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ values to be almost the same for the whole Galactic plane and in order not to reduce the number of the objects too much, we will first consider only the PSRs with F1400 $``$ 0.2 mJy and the SNRs with $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ (at 1 GHz) $``$ 10-21 Wm-2Hz-1ster-1.

The character of the background radiation (see Figure 1) does not show the possibility of the influence of each of the OB associations separately on observations of PSRs and SNRs. Despite this fact, we have checked the possibility of influences of the OB associations given in the lists of Garmany & Stencel (1992) and Melnik & Efremov (1995). We did not find any significant contribution of any one of the OB associations to the Galactic background radiation.

## 3 Discussion and Conclusions

Observational data of PSRs (ATNF Pulsar Catalogue 2003; Guseinov et al. 2003a) and SNRs (Green 2001) show that even in the Galactic central directions (l=0o$`\pm `$10o, $``$b$``$$`<`$2o) all the SNRs with $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$$`>`$10-21 Wm-2Hz-1sr-1 and the PSRs with F1400$`>`$0.2 mJy are observable. Since the background radiation is strongly dependent on the Galactic latitude, the SNRs with $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$$`>`$1.5$`\times `$10-22 Wm-2Hz-1sr-1 in the same longitude interval can be observed if $``$b$``$$`>`$4o. Also, the SNRs in the interval 60o $`<`$ l $`<`$ 300o can easily be observed for all values of b if $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$$`>`$3$`\times `$10-22 Wm-2Hz-1sr-1.

In the Galaxy, total number of the SNRs with $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$$`>`$3$`\times `$10-22 Wm-2Hz-1sr-1 and d$`<`$3.2 kpc in the interval 60o $`<`$ l $`<`$ 300o is 33 (Guseinov et al. 2003b). It is seen from PSR-SNR associations that the ages of the SNRs which are genetically connected to PSRs do not exceed 3$`\times `$104 yr in general (Kaspi & Helfand 2002). Since the SNRs in the regions we examined have less surface brightness values on average, we can roughly say that the ages of these SNRs may exceed 3$`\times `$104 yr but not greater than 5$`\times `$104 yr. There are 23 SNRs with $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$$`>`$10-21 Wm-2Hz-1sr-1 located at d$``$3.2 kpc from the Sun, among which 14 of them are in the sector under consideration. If we assume that the ratio of the number of the SNRs with 3$`\times `$10-22 $`<`$ $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ $``$ 10-21 Wm-2Hz-1sr-1 to the number of the bright SNRs in the central region (l=0o$`\pm `$60o) is equal to the same ratio of the SNRs in the region 60o $`<`$ l $`<`$ 300o, then we can use the ratio for the Galactic anticenter directions to find the number of dim SNRs in the Galactic central directions. In this case, the number of the SNRs with $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$$`>`$3$`\times `$10-22 Wm-2Hz-1sr-1 and ages $``$5$`\times `$104 yr in the region up to 3.2 kpc from the Sun is 54. If we further assume that the radius of the Galaxy is 12 kpc and the average number density of the SNRs in the whole Galaxy is the same as the number density of the SNRs within 3 kpc around the Sun, then the number of the SNRs having ages less than 5$`\times `$104 yr must be about 800 in the Galaxy. (Since the distribution of SNRs in the Galaxy is not homogeneous and the distribution of their number density with respect to Galactic radius is not known well, we can not estimate number of the SNRs considerably better). From this result, the formation rate of SNRs turns out to be about one in 65 yr which is approximately the same as the SN explosion rate (van den Bergh & Tammann 1991; Capellaro et al. 1999; Capellaro & Turatto 2001). We can use the same approach to estimate the birth rate of PSRs.

There are 48 PSRs with $`\tau `$$``$106 yr located at d$``$ 3.2 kpc around the Sun (Guseinov et al. 2003a). If we assume the distribution of the PSRs in the Galaxy to be similar to the distribution of the SNRs given above, then the number of PSRs with $`\tau `$$``$106 yr must be about 710 in the Galaxy. If we further assume the beaming factor to be $``$0.35 (Lyne & Graham-Smith 1998), then number of the PSRs turns out to be 2030. We can estimate the total number of PSRs knowing that 75% of the PSRs around the Sun have L1400$`>`$3 mJy kpc2 and using the luminosity function of Guseinov et al. (2003c): the number of PSRs with $`\tau `$$``$106 yr must be $``$4.5$`\times `$103 in the Galaxy. Using this result the birth rate of PSRs is found to be one in 220 yr. But the PSRs with magnetic fields $`>`$1013 G may pass the death belt in less than 106 yr. Taking this fact also into account, the birth rate of PSRs can roughly be assumed to be one in 200 yr. If we have used the luminosity function of Lorimer et al. (1993) or Allakhverdiev et al. (1997) instead of the luminosity function given by Guseinov et al. (2003c), then the birth rate of PSRs would be a bit larger.