format: text

text:
# Cyclical behaviour and disc truncation in the Be/X-ray binary A0535+26

## 1 Introduction

Roughly two thirds of High Mass X-ray Binaries possess a Be star as the primary, and are known as Be X-ray binaries or BeXRBs. A neutron star (NS) orbits the O9-B2 primary in $`10300`$days with pronounced eccentricity (e=0.1$``$0.9). Whilst some systems display only weak persistent X-ray emission (X Per type), most additionally exhibit large transient X-ray outbursts, sometimes close to their Eddington luminosity. Outbursts fall into two types \[Stella et al. 1986\]:

(I) Type I outbursts ($`10^{36}10^{37}ergs^1`$) last a matter of days and occur close to or shortly after periastron.

(II) Type II or ’giant’ outbursts of $`10^{38}ergs^1`$ occur between orbital phase 0 and 0.5, lasting several tens of days.

Nearly 3 decades after its discovery during a type II event, A0535+26 remains of considerable interest to those studying BeXRBs; due to its proximity high quality data can be obtained with ease, whilst in many ways it appears to be typical of its class. The O9.7IIIe \[Steele et al. 1998\] primary HDE 245770 displays typical variability in all aspects of spectral, photometric and X-ray properties \[Clark et al. 1998, Clark et al. 1999, Larionov et al. 2001\]. In addition to type I outbursts which recur at 110-111 day intervals (presumed to be the orbital period $`P_{orb}`$), ‘giant’ or type II outbursts have occurred less predictably in 1975, 1980, 1989 and 1994. This paper is an attempt to draw together 15 years of multiwaveband variations to compose a coherent global picture of the behaviour of A0535+26.

Integral to the analysis presented here is recent largely theoretical work regarding disc truncation in BeXRBs \[Okazaki and Negueruela 2001, Okazaki et al. 2002\]. Central to the new picture is the abrupt truncation of the Be disc at a radius smaller than the periastron separation, where the orbital period is resonant with that of the neutron star and tidal interactions exceed viscous forces, the specific resonance being dependant upon the system parameters and the viscosity $`\alpha `$. The traditional picture of the NS passing through the Be disc is thus erroneous, explaining quiescent X-ray states in systems with robust discs.

The mechanisms leading to accretion and X-ray outbursts remain unknown except in systems of such high eccentricity that inefficient truncation permits accretion at periastron. In the case of 4U 0115+63 spectroscopy, photometry and X-ray observations have been combined to yield a picture in which quasi-cycles of 3-5 years govern the system \[Negueruela and Okazaki 2001, Negueruela et al. 2001\]. In their interpretation, such cycles commence with disc-loss followed by reformation and expansion until the disc becomes truncated. The disc becomes unstable to warping/tilting, and precession causes alternating single peaked and shell line profiles. Type II outbursts then occur, presumably related to the unstable disc configuration.

This study was limited by the low S/N and sparsity of photometric and spectroscopic data for 4U 0115+63, attributable largely to the profound reddening. The analysis of A0535+26 presented here has the advantage of a 15 year dataset of spectra and IR photometry including many quasi-simultaneous spectral and photometric measurements and the opportunity to build upon the work that has been done in understanding 4U 0115+63.

In Section 3 we present the first firm evidence for resonant truncation of the Be disc with the discovery that the IR excess is quantised with relative fluxes matching theoretical predictions. In Section 4 we discuss a 1500 day cyclical ’looping’ behaviour seen in plots of $`W_{\lambda H\alpha }`$vs. $`m_K`$, as truncation radius and emission line flux vary coherently but 90 out of phase.

Section 5 describes how X-ray outbursts, in particular ’giant’ type II outbursts, occur at times of decreasing truncation radius and at a specific cyclical phase. An association of ’expelled’ material with NS accretion is strongly suggested and a mechanism for X-ray activity suggested. A further point of interest uncovered in the dataset is the possible IR detection of the NS accretion disc previously inferred from X-ray QPOs \[Finger et al. 1996\] during the 1994 type II X-ray event. In Section 6 data obtained following the 1998 disc-loss event are used in combination with the known disc size to determine the inclination, rotational parameter $`\omega `$, and the circumstellar disc’s radial velocity.

Section 7 discusses the various periodicities observed in A0535+26, their probable origins and mutual associations, in particular highly coherent photometric variations at the oft-detected 103 day period. Thus the phenomenology that has been described regarding 4U 0115+63 is applied to A0535+26 and some modifications suggested. The integral role of the warped, precessing disc invoked in 4U 0115+63 is supported in the case of A0535+26, though in a less transient rôle. We are thus led to a closer understanding of the global behaviour of the system.

## 2 Observations

### 2.1 Photometry

The Southampton/Valencia collaboration has gathered infrared observations at JHK from 1987 to 2001 with the 1.5-m Carlos Sánchez telescope (TCS), located at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife, Spain. The data were reduced following the procedure described by Manfroid (1993). Instrumental values were transformed to the TCS standard system (Alonso, Arribas & Martínez 1998). The data acquired for A0535+26 are plotted in Figure 1.

For the histograms in Figure 2, multiple observations spanning several days from individual observing runs are represented by single data points, which are thus separated by at least 10 days to prevent statistical bias arising from unrepresentative data sampling. Typical photometric errors are $`\pm 0.05`$.

Photometric $`m_{JHK}`$ measurements at epoch 17/12/1997 have been extracted from the 2MASS catalogue at IRSA.

The $`m_V`$ photometric data presented by Lyuty and Zaĭtseva (2000), and available online as a VizieR catalogue, are used here and also plotted in Figure 1. Errors are $`\pm 0.005`$.

### 2.2 Spectroscopy

Spectra of A0535+26 including H$`\alpha `$ and He i $`\lambda 6678`$ have been obtained since 1987 at numerous observatories. Observations not described in Clark et al. \[Clark et al. 1998\] or Haigh et al. \[Haigh et al. 1999\] are listed in Table 1. The JKT, INT and WHT data have been obtained through the ING service programme or the ING Archive.

Reduction took place using STARLINK packages, with spectral analysis performed in DIPSO.

Twelve additional H$`\alpha `$ equivalent width ($`W_{\lambda H\alpha }`$) observations between Jan 1997 and Mar 1998 are taken from Piccioni \[Piccioni et al. 1998\]. Two further values from 11-12/11/1998 are taken from Giovannelli et al. \[Giovannelli et al. 1999\], with one each from 6 Nov 1998 \[Lyuty and Zaĭtseva 2000\] and 29 Jan 2000 (Negueruela, private comm.).

## 3 IR excess quantisation and truncation

In order to study only the circumstellar decretion disc flux the constant stellar component $`m^{}`$ is subtracted - using stellar magnitudes $`m_J^{}=8.6`$, $`m_H^{}=8.5`$ and $`m_K^{}=8.5`$ \- and the resultant magnitude subsequently indicated with the superscript disc. Note $`m_{JHK}^{disc}`$ are relatively insensitive to errors in $`m_{JHK}^{}`$.

Figure 2 shows histograms of the $`m_{JHK,(JK)}^{disc}`$ photometry obtained from 1987 to 2001. These infrared fluxes display a clear bimodality as the system alternates between faint and bright flux states denoted A and B respectively and separated by $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^{disc}`$ magnitudes. The contrasting constancy of $`m_{(JK)}^{disc}`$ shows the dominance of optically thick isothermal emission \[Dougherty et al. 1994\], suggesting that changes in disc area are responsible, rather than optical depth or temperature.

Such a quantized luminosity distribution is a natural consequence of the resonant truncation hypothesis proposed by Okazaki and Negueruela \[Okazaki and Negueruela 2001\]. Here tidal torques, which operate most strongly in orbits resonant with that of the NS, truncate the disc at radii meeting the condition $`P_{NS}:P_{trunc}=n:1`$ where n is an integer. They find that for viscosities of $`\alpha =0.0130.38`$ the disc is truncated at the 6:1 resonance, $`\alpha =0.0380.11`$ at 5:1 and for $`\alpha =0.110.40`$ the disc is supported out to 4:1.

Assuming isothermal optically thick emission, the quantity $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^{disc}`$ is a direct measure of the relative areas of the disc in these two states. Knowing the orbital period of the disc’s outer edge at a given resonance, and assuming Keplerian rotation and a non edge-on inclination enables the relative disc radii and thus $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^{disc}`$ to be predicted independently of stellar mass $`M_{}`$. Thus a change in truncation resonance produces a $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^{disc}`$ plotted in Figure 3, dependant on the size of any central cavity, or separation of the inner disc radius from the photosphere.

Rivinius et al. \[Rivinius et al. 2001\] found that in the typical isolated Be star $`\eta Cen`$, mass injection events or ’outbursts’ lowered the disc inner radius to $`1.2R_{}`$, but at other times a consistent $`3.13.3R_{}`$ was observed. There is no reason to believe that the same mechanisms should not lead to similar cavities in A0535+26. Curves for different values of $`r_{inner}`$ assume $`R_{}=14.7R_{}`$ and $`M_{}=26M_{}`$ \[Vacca et al. 1996\] based upon an O9.7IIIe classification; note the star’s volume produces a ’cavity’ of $`r_{inner}=1R_{}`$. Note that resonances are with the orbital beat frequency of $`P_{beat}=103`$ days rather than the orbital period of $`P_{orb}111`$ days for reasons discussed in Section 7, though this has a minimal effect.

Of the three IR photometric wavebands K has the largest optical depth and most closely approximates the optically thick assumption. Photospheric emission is also minimized in this band, so the $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_K^{disc}`$ data are used hereon, though all wavebands yield similar results. Table 2 and Figure 2 yield a value for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_K^{disc}`$ of 0.60; consulting Figure 3 this suggests a central cavity $`r_{inner}/R_{}4.3`$ taking states A and B to be truncated at 6:1 and 5:1 respectively. Whilst the various assumptions make this only an approximate result, $`M_{}`$ and $`R_{}`$ are sufficiently well determined to yield maximum errors in $`r_{inner}/R_{}`$ of $`30\%`$ requiring a central cavity to be present. Lack of isothermality will cause $`r_{inner}`$ to be underestimated if as expected $`T_{disc}`$ decreases radially. Departures from optical thickness will primarily affect the outer disc and will have the same effect. This result is in encouraging agreement with the central cavities observed in $`\eta Cen`$, whereas using radii for dwarves yields $`r_{inner}/R_{}7.5`$. This result therefore supports the giant (III) classification.

IR photometry \[Persi et al. 1979\], and the $`m_V`$ data presented by Lyuty and Zaĭtseva \[Lyuty and Zaĭtseva 2000\], suggest that the disc was in an even brighter state (C) from the early 1970s until 1980 (see Table 2). Optically thick emission in the IR bands requires this to have been a physically larger disc. As Okazaki and Negueruela \[Okazaki and Negueruela 2001\] note, truncation at 4:1 places the outer edge of the disc marginally outside the Be star Roche lobe at periastron, and thus represents the largest stable disc state. The identity of state C with this 4:1 truncation, and thus states B and A with 5:1 and 6:1, is appealing as it explains the prodigious X-ray activity of the system during the 1970s, periastric Roche lobe overflow alone enabling accretion and X-ray activity \[Okazaki and Negueruela 2001\]. Identifying state C with a 3:1 truncation places much of the disc outside the Be star Roche lobe at periastron preventing stability, and requires an unrealistic viscosity \[Okazaki et al. 2002\].

Figure 3 shows that a change in truncation between 5:1 and 4:1 (state B$``$C) will produce a $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_K^{disc}0.56`$ and thus predicts $`m_K^{disc}6.89`$ for state C, in excellent agreement with the isolated measurement of $`m_K^{disc}=6.94\pm 0.03`$ in the literature (Table 2).

It should be noted here that the strongly shepherded structure of a truncated disc leads to highly stable continuum fluxes - this is discussed in Section 7.

## 4 Cyclical behaviour

Figure 4a plots $`m_K`$ vs. $`W_{\lambda H\alpha }`$ between 1987 and 2001. For each measurement of $`W_{\lambda H\alpha }`$ the closest photometric $`m_K`$ measurement - always within 30 days and mostly within 10 - is taken. Flux states A and B are clearly visible as parallel bands of points.

A0535+26 can be seen to follow a clockwise loop with a mean period of $`4.36\pm 0.5`$ years ($`1590\pm 180`$ days) except for those points around the disc-loss episode \[Haigh et al. 1999\] at lower left. Following Negueruela and Okazaki \[Negueruela and Okazaki 2001\] who observed similar cyclical behaviour in the BeXRB 4U 0115+63, these looping cycles in A0535+26 are defined as commencing following disc-loss, or at the state A$``$B transition which occurs at the same phase. In terms of the flux states described above, each cycle consists of approximately equal periods first in state B followed by state A. During state B, $`W_{\lambda H\alpha }`$ gradually increases before decreasing following the $`BA`$ transition. Figure 5 shows photometry and X-ray activity during cycle 2, which has the best observational coverage and appears to be typical.

In contrast to $`W_{\lambda H\alpha }`$ which varies through a similar range in both states, Figure 4b shows $`W_{\lambda HeI}`$ oscillating between two loci in phase with the $`W_{\lambda H\alpha }`$variations. With the state B locus at $`W_{\lambda HeI}`$ $`0.15`$ and $`W_{\lambda HeI}`$ $`0.60`$ in state B, the emission line flux ratio of states A:B$`4`$, demonstrating that the smaller changes in continuum strength ($`1.3`$, determined from $`m_R`$) cannot be responsible. Allowing for infilling of the underlying photospheric absorption He i$`\lambda 6678`$ has a $`25\%`$ greater flux in the fainter state A. This is interpreted as arising from enhanced densities at the small radii where this line is primarily produced \[Stee et al. 1998\], due to the more strongly confined disc in this state. At the same time, the wings of He i$`\lambda 6678`$ arising in the inner disc display emission to systematically higher velocities. Thus these diagrams enable the flux state to be determined either from spectra or photometry.

Due to the patchy nature of the dataset, a holistic analysis of optical and IR photometric and spectral data was required to reconstruct the timing and phenomena associated with the ongoing and previous 3 cycles, which are marked at the top of Figure 1. Whilst the $`1400`$ day photometric component of these cycles has been previously noted in period searches \[Clark et al. 1999, Larionov et al. 2001\], the coherent variation of other observational parameters has not. These observations demonstrate that the long period variations observed in A0535+26 are not arbitrary but rather linked to a 1400-1500 day cyclical variation, perhaps precessional, in the system, the nature of which is discussed in Section 7.

## 5 Temporal association with X-ray outbursts

When the disc outer radius makes a quantum leap inwards (state C$``$B or B$``$A) the material present between those radii must be relocated elsewhere in the system. It is suggestive to note that such a state change was observed in $`m_K`$ between JD 2449344 (state B) and 2449401 (state A), while a type II X-ray outburst was detected by BATSE \[Finger et al. 1996\] from $`2449380`$ to $`2449432`$. This simultaneity is well seen in Figure 5, and strongly suggests that the giant outburst was the accretion of material previously resident between the 5:1 and 6:1 resonances. The greater duration of variability in $`m_V`$ relative to $`m_K`$ is interpreted as being due to the greater optical depth in $`m_K`$ desensitising the photometry to small variations in disc structure as truncation progressed. The entire 1993-4 series of X-ray outbursts, types I and II, all occurred during the somewhat lengthier truncation process as seen in $`m_V`$, and presumably correspond to material accreted following removal from the outer disc. Importantly, truncation would appear to be the cause of the X-radiation and not vice-versa, as truncation commences before X-ray emission.

In 1989, precisely one cycle earlier during the state $`BA`$ transition of cycle 1, a type II followed by a type I X-ray outburst occurred in the system. Whilst observations are sparser, this series of events appears extremely similar to the 1993-4 events described above, and we therefore suggest that the same processes were responsible.

Unlike cycles 1 and 2, the type II outburst in Oct. 1980 occurred during state C with $`m_V=8.9\pm 0.04`$ from Jan 1980 until Dec 1980. No state change occurred until some months after the event. However this can be understood, as the 4:1 resonance hypothesised to bound state C is marginally outside the Be star Roche lobe (see Section 3) enabling mass transfer without a change in truncation radius \[Okazaki and Negueruela 2001\]. This may indeed be the mechanism behind many of the X-ray outbursts during the bright photometric state of the 1970s, including the 1975 discovery type II event. As has been noted \[Lyuty et al. 1989\] even the quiescent X-ray flux of A0535+26 was elevated from 1975-1980; the identification of this epoch with a 4:1 truncation (state C) permits mass transfer through the inner Lagrangian point at periastron even in the absence of truncation changes. The absence of accurate IR photometry from this period prevents further analysis at the present.

Clark et al. (1999) in discussing the long term photometric variations of A0535+26, noted that X-ray outbursts seemed to occur after a period in which the optical light curve was fading. Clark suggested that this represented an episode in which disc material was lost radially, with X-ray emisison triggered by the interaction of this material with the NS. However, this suggestion was rejected in favour of the traditional ’shell ejection from the primary’ scheme.

The question remains of why some transitions lead to X-ray activity while others do not. A possible factor is that though disc truncation may occur at a specific phase in the 1500 day precession cycle, the precession angle changes by $`26^{}`$ between each periastron passage so system geometries do not recur precisely. To take a simplistic viewpoint, it may be that whether the NS lies precisely in the disc plane at the time of critical precession phase determines whether a type II outburst occurs or not. The 1996 truncation occurred very early in the cycle, and no X-ray activity was seen.

As with the model of Negueruela et al. \[Negueruela et al. 2001\] for 4U 0115+62, this model of X-ray outbursts is effectively independant of Be star activity, and eliminates the unwieldy ’ejections’ of material from the Be star frequently invoked as directly fuelling X-ray outbursts \[de Loore et al. 1984\]. Such connections between long-term (months-years) photometric changes and X-ray events has not received a great deal of attention in the literature, with much work expecting to observe short optical flares associated with enhanced stellar mass-loss prior to an outburst.

It should be noted here that whilst photometry is unavailable, spectroscopy from 2 Jan 2003 showing $`W_{\lambda H\alpha }`$=-13.5Å and $`W_{\lambda HeI}`$λ6678=-0.3Å (Laycock, private comm.) confirms that the system is in the latter stages of state B (see Table 2). The imminent transition to state A, expected mid 2003, could produce the first X-ray outburst in the A0535+26 system since 1994.

### 5.1 IR excess colour changes

The presence of an accretion disc around the neutron star in A0535+26 has been debated in the literature \[Giovannelli and Ziolkowski 1990, Lyuty and Zaĭtseva 2000\]. While no evidence has been found in the optical/IR to date, X-ray observations have provided unequivocal evidence during the 1994 giant outburst. Finger et al. \[Finger et al. 1996\] detected 20-100mHz QPOs and large Ṗ from JD $`2449380`$ to $`2449432`$ which they concluded are due to an accretion disc around the NS. Motch \[Motch et al. 1991\] and Li \[Li 1997\] found that an accretion disc is only present during such giant outbursts, therefore the data obtained at this time presents an excellent opportunity to look for emission from any such disc.

Figure 5 plots $`m_V`$, $`m_K`$ and the IR colour index $`m_{(JK)}`$ for the duration of cycle 2. In particular it shows an anomalous transient decline in $`m_{(JK)}`$, from JD $`2449401`$ to $`2449440`$, simultaneous with the 1994 state B$``$A change, associated type II X-ray outburst and known NS accretion disc. Gaps in the data span 57(182) days before(after). Such a run of points at a low $`m_{(JK)}`$ relative to the typical value of $`0.52\pm 0.05`$ is unique in the 14 year dataset.

This large change in near IR fluxes cannot be due to the underlying B star, and the required increase in $`T_{disc}`$ while the overall disc flux is decreasing makes little sense in terms of normal models of disc emission. Another possibility is that being simultaneous with a state change, transient emission from residual low density material at radii between the new and old truncation radii may alter the global IR properties. However, such emission, assuming $`TT_{disc}`$, is expected to have redder colours than the optically thick disc bulk \[Dougherty et al. 1994\] and so cannot be responsible.

An additional transient source of emission with a relatively blue colour index is thus suggested, the additional flux compensated for by the simultaneous reduction in Be disc emission associated with the state $`BA`$ change. If so an intriguing possibility is that this is emission from the known accretion disc around the NS. Limits can be found for the additional flux in $`m_J`$, the primary uncertainty being the Be disc flux. Based purely upon the colours, even if none of the additional flux is present in $`m_K`$ the 0.1 magnitude colour shortfall requires 10% additional flux in $`m_J`$. Alternatively if we assume the Be star to have faded fully to a typical early state A luminosity then the total system magnitude excluding any accretion disc is $`m_K^{Be}=7.45\pm 0.10`$ (Figure 4) giving $`m_J^{Be}=7.97\pm 0.11`$ (in excellent agreement with the value in Table 2) assuming a typical $`m_{(JK)}^{Be}`$ of $`0.52\pm 0.05`$. The observed $`m_J=7.80\pm 0.07`$ therefore yields a maximum excess of $`0.17\pm 0.13`$ in $`m_J`$. Thus a 10-20% excess in $`m_J`$ with a bluer $`m_{(JK)}`$ than the dominant circumstellar emission is found.

Approximating the radius of the accretion disc to the NS Roche lobe radius at periastron and adopting the canonical $`M_{NS}=1.4M_{}`$ and $`M_{}=26M_{}`$ \[Vacca et al. 1996\] yields $`r_{L(NS)}=3.45\times 10^{10}m`$ \[Eggleton 1983\]. Such a disc has 22% of the emitting area of the Be disc in state A, which in turn emits 44% of the J band flux. If we further assume optically thick emission and temperature $`T_{AD}=T_{Bedisc}`$ an additional 9.7% flux in $`m_J`$ is predicted. Therefore the estimate of a 10-20% excess in $`m_J`$, combined with the bluer $`m_{(JK)}`$, strongly suggests a significantly higher $`T_{AD}`$ and, possibly, a smaller emitting region.

The simultaneity of this unique set of photometric data within the 14 year dataset with an independent signature of an accretion disc in the system is noteworthy. The transient existence of an accretion disc in A0535+26 is thus supported.

## 6 Disc expansion and Inclination

Spectra obtained following the 1998 disc-loss episode provide a valuable glimpse of a reforming disc. Figure 6 plots $`W_{\lambda H\alpha }`$, the separation of the peaks of the H$`\alpha `$ profile $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{peak}`$, and the derived disc radius $`r_{outer}`$. The fit to the data in the lower panel shows that $`r_{outer}`$ can be modelled as increasing linearly at $`824ms^1`$ with a break around JD 2451200. During this break, disc expansion halts and $`W_{\lambda H\alpha }`$ remains constant; this presumably represents a hiatus in disc reformation. Such a highly subsonic expansion velocity is in good agreement with standard models of viscous Keplerian discs.

Following disc-loss in 4U 0115+63, disc expansion continues until truncation becomes effective \[Negueruela and Okazaki 2001\]. In A0535+26 this can be seen to have occurred near JD 2451650; $`m_K`$ shows state A (Figure 1) and thus truncation at the 6:1 resonance (though note a brightening to state B and 5:1 shortly afterwards).

Assuming H$`\alpha `$ emission to the outer edge of a rotating disc, the Doppler displacement $`v_{obs}`$ of each peak of the resultant two peaked line profile represents the line of sight component of the Keplerian velocity at $`r_{outer}`$, whilst the resonant truncation paradigm informs us of the orbital period $`p`$ at this radius. Stee and Bittar \[Stee and Bittar2001\] found that for typical isolated Be stars the H$`\alpha `$ emitting region was bounded at $`18R_{}`$. As confirmed below, for all reasonable values of $`M_{}`$ the disc is fully within this region in both states A and B.

The product of the orbital velocity and period yields $`r_{outer}`$

$$2\pi r_{outer}=\frac{v_{obs}}{sini}p$$
(1)
whilst for a particle in a circular orbit

$$r=\frac{sin^2i}{v_{obs}^2}GM_{}$$
(2)
Eliminating $`r`$ then gives a measure of $`i`$ as a function of $`M_{}`$.

$$i=sin^1\left(v_{obs}\left[\frac{p}{2\pi GM_{}}\right]^{1/3}\right)$$
(3)
which is plotted in Figure 7 for all reasonable stellar masses. The case of the state A truncation at JD 2451650 described above is used, and H$`\alpha `$ $`\mathrm{\Delta }V_{peak}`$=2$`v_{obs}`$ is measured at $`288.9\pm 2`$$`\text{km}\text{s}^1`$, in excellent agreement with the $`275\pm 20`$$`\text{km}\text{s}^1`$measured during the 1994 state A. For the reasons discussed in Section 7 the apparent NS orbital period relative to the disc is $`P_{beat}=103`$ days, though this almost no effect on the result. Section 3 established that state A is probably truncated at the 6:1 resonance giving $`p=17.17`$ days, though $`i`$ vs. $`M_{}`$ is also plotted assuming a 5:1 commensurability yielding inclinations $`3^{}`$ larger.

Uncertainties stem largely from the uncertainty in $`M_{}`$. The standard spectral classification O9.7IIIe requires a mass of $`26\pm 3M_{}`$ \[Vacca et al. 1996\], yielding $`36.1^{}\pm 1.7`$; the less-favoured dwarf (V) classification ($`M_{}=22\pm 3M_{}`$) yields $`38.6^{}\pm 2.5`$. These are at the low end of previous published results \[Janot-Pacheco et al.1987\].

Returning to Equation 1, $`r_{outer}=(5.79\pm 0.2)\times 10^{10}m`$ at a 6:1 truncation and $`(6.68\pm 0.25)\times 10^{10}m`$ at 5:1. Depending upon luminosity class and using $`R_{}`$ from Vacca et al. \[Vacca et al. 1996\] 5:1 truncation corresponds to $`r_{outer}=6.79R_{}`$($`11.9R_{}`$) for luminosity class III(V) verifying the assumption of H$`\alpha `$ emission over the disc’s full extent. This result clearly underscores the extent of truncation in BeXRBs relative to the discs of isolated Be stars.

Of course the rotating disc is not necessarily constrained to lie precisely in the equatorial plane of the star; Section 7 strongly suggests that it does not. However the constancy of the measured line velocities through the cycles requires that the tilt cannot be large ($`10^{}`$) and so whilst this assumption should be born in mind the inclination should be accurate to approximately this tolerance.

### 6.1 Determining $`\omega `$

The disc-loss episode of 1998 provided a rare chance to obtain spectra free from circumstellar emission. Following Mazzali et al. \[Mazzali et al. 1996\] blue end He i lines were used to measure the stellar $`v\text{sin}i`$ due to their intrinsically narrow FWHMa, using photospheric spectra obtained shortly after disc-loss at the WHT. The preferred line, narrow with minimal emission, at 4713.20Å yields a $`v\text{sin}i`$ of $`251\pm 5`$$`\text{km}\text{s}^1`$, whilst the intrinsically broader $`\lambda `$4471,$`\lambda `$4922 lines give 254.2 $`\text{km}\text{s}^1`$ and 261.3 $`\text{km}\text{s}^1`$ respectively. Removing instrumental broadening, determined from arc lines to be 120 $`\text{km}\text{s}^1`$, yields a $`v\text{sin}i`$ of 220.4 $`\text{km}\text{s}^1`$ at $`\lambda `$4713, and 224 (232) $`\text{km}\text{s}^1`$ for $`\lambda `$4471 ($`\lambda `$4922).

Thus a value of $`v\text{sin}i`$=$`225\pm 10`$$`\text{km}\text{s}^1`$ is adopted. This compares with the published value of $`250\pm 15`$$`\text{km}\text{s}^1`$ by Wang and Gies \[Wang and Gies1998\], who did not have the advantage of spectra uncontaminated by emission. A giant(dwarf) classification and thus $`i=38.6^{}\pm 2.5`$($`i=36.1^{}\pm 1.7`$) implies an equatorial rotational velocity of $`361\pm 25`$($`382\pm 20`$) $`\text{km}\text{s}^1`$.

The quantity $`\omega `$ gives the ratio of equatorial rotational velocity to ’critical’ velocity, that of a particle in a circular orbit at the stellar equator. Porter \[Porter 1996\] found that Be shell stars show $`\omega =0.67\pm 0.04`$ and provided overwhelming evidence that this is true of Be stars in general. Depending upon a giant/dwarf classification, the masses and radii of Vacca et al. \[Vacca et al. 1996\] yield values for $`v_{crit}`$ of 582 $`\text{km}\text{s}^1`$(719 $`\text{km}\text{s}^1`$) for luminosity class III(V), giving $`\omega =\frac{v}{v_{crit}}=0.62\pm 0.05`$($`0.53\pm 0.03`$). This is consistent with a giant but excludes dwarves, supporting the O9.7IIIe classification.

## 7 Periodicities and a global model

Whilst many period searches have been undertaken using photometry of A0535+26 (see Larionov et al.\[Larionov et al. 2001\], henceforth L2001, for a review), only 103 and 1400 day periods repeatedly emerge at high significance whilst the orbital period is most notable by its absence. The 1400 day period is a manifestation of the cyclical photometric states described in this work, but the origin of the 103 day period is less clear.

Whilst the strongly shepherded structure of a truncated disc leads to highly stable IR photometric fluxes in all states, in the most strongly confined state (A) even $`m_V`$ demonstrates remarkably little random variation. This photometric stability is highly conducive to period searching. Thus 54 $`m_V`$ data spanning 468 days during state A of cycle 2 (1994-5) were searched for periods in the range 90-120 days using the PDM software \[Stellingwerf 1978\]. The resultant periodogram in Figure 8 again finds a strong $`103.1\pm 0.1`$ day periodicity and nothing at $`P_{orb}`$. Folding using this period, the $`102.83\pm 0.15`$ day period of L2001 and two published orbital periods, reveals the remarkable lightcurves in Figure 9.

While perturbations at the 103 day period result in disc flux changes by a factor of $`2`$ in $`m_V`$, random fluctuations are $`0.03`$ magnitudes, and may in fact be due to observational error. Thus the luminosity, and thus presumably the disc structure, is determined entirely by the NS orbital phase. This may also be the cause of the larger range of $`m_K`$ in state A than state B (Figure 4.

It is clearly of considerable relevance that the beat period of the orbital with the 1400 day period is 103 days. As L2001 suggest this is strongly suggestive of a 1400 day precessional period in one of the major flux producing system components. Adopting a range of $`m_V=9.269.36`$ from Figure 9, and using a photospheric $`m_V=9.45\pm 0.02`$ from the 1998 disc-loss episode (Figure 1 and Haigh et al. \[Haigh et al. 1999\]) gives a range of $`2`$ for the $`P_{beat}`$ fluctuations in disc emission. This variation is in severe conflict with the limit of a few percent to the total $`m_V`$ flux found by Lyuty and Zaĭtseva \[Lyuty and Zaĭtseva 2000\] for the possible contribution of an accretion disc. Furthermore the apparently transient nature of the NS accretion disc (Section 5.1) argues against its involvement.

Therefore the precession must occur in the Be decretion disc, in a retrograde sense to the NS orbital motion in order to yield a NS-disc perturbation period shorter than $`P_{orb}`$. Indeed for a disc rotating in the same sense as the NS such retrograde precession is required \[Wijers and Pringle1999\]. Simulations by Okazaki et al. \[Okazaki et al. 2002\] provide an example of how the disc’s emission can then be modulated in $`m_V`$ at the 103 day period. However because their calculations of phase resolved disc flux assumed optically thin ff/bf emission, the probable optical thickness in $`m_V`$ during state A will alter the variations quantitatively but retain the periodicity. In addition to confirming lack of variability at $`P_{orb}`$, the apparent perturbations occurring at 103 days suggests that NS-disc interactions occur at this shorter period rather than $`P_{orb}`$. For this reason a 103 day period is used as the ’apparent’ orbital period $`P_{beat}`$ in the flux modelling of Figure 3.

Section 4 showed how A0535+26’s observation parameters, most notably the truncation radius, have in recent years varied in well defined cycles of mean duration $`1590\pm 180`$ days. Using the detected $`103.1\pm 0.1`$ day period as a beat period of $`P_{orb}=111.0\pm 0.5`$ with a third period gives $`1450\pm 90`$ days, consistent with the mean cycle duration; this equality is strongly suggestive of a common origin. The cycle period derived from measurements of $`P_{beat}`$ and $`P_{orb}`$ is probably more accurate than simply timing photometric state changes; the larger value found from cycle durations appears largely due to delayed increases in truncation radius as the Be disc declined around the 1996 minimum.

The $`1590`$ day cycles of truncation radius are explicable as arising from geometric variations in the strength of tidal torques as a function of precession angle. A possible clue to such continuous tidal variation is the trend from square-wave to quasi-sinusoidal variation at $``$1500 days towards shorter continuum wavelengths (compare $`m_V`$ to $`m_K`$ in Figure 1 through cycles 1 and 2). Whilst $`m_K`$ represents emission from the surface of a well defined disc $`m_V`$, in general only partially optically thick, is sensitive to disc density and therefore reflects the continuously changing effect of tidal forces upon mass distribution in the disc.

A constant precession of the decretion disc - as opposed to transient precession prior to X-ray activity - is therefore the main suggested alteration to the model of 4U 0115+63 put forward by Negueruela et al. \[Negueruela et al. 2001\].

The identification of specific truncation resonances allows constraints to be placed on the viscosity parameter $`\alpha `$ by comparison with the simulations and theoretical work of Okazaki and Negueruela \[Okazaki and Negueruela 2001\]. The geometrically varying tidal forces will most closely match these theoretical predictions when the Be disc and NS orbit are most closely coplanar. At this time such forces will also be strongest and thus maximum truncation will occur; therefore state A, truncated probably at 6:1, occurs in the most coplanar phase. Thus for stability to occur at this truncation radius suggests the constraint $`\alpha 0.0130.038`$ \[Okazaki and Negueruela 2001\].

### 7.1 A general model for BeXRBs?

The processes described in this work are fundamentally an extension of the theories put forward regarding the BeXRB 4U 0115+63 \[Negueruela et al. 2001, Negueruela and Okazaki 2001\]. However, photometry of the BeXRB 4U 1145-619 presented by Stevens et al. \[Stevens et al. 1997\] clearly shows X-ray outbursts occurring during a fading in $`m_V`$ after a spell at a constant luminosity, an anticorrelation apparently identical to that described for A0535+26 in Section 5.

Approximately 4 yr periods of disc growth/dissipation strikingly similar to those reported here for A0535+262 have been reported for several other BeXRBs. Reig et al. \[Reig et al. 2001\] present photometry and spectroscopy of LS992/RX J0812.4-3114 showing a $`4.3`$ year cycle; following disc-loss IR excess rapidly builds until the onset of X-ray activity, with IR excess fading slightly as Balmer emission peaks - this is identical to the activity cycles of A0535+26 seen in Figures 1 and 4.

The dataset on which the model for 4U 0115+63 (Section 1, Negueruela et al. \[Negueruela et al. 2001\]) is based also shows near-identical variation of Balmer lines, IR excess and X-ray activity over 3-5 year cycles. ’Quasi-cyclic Be star envelope variations’ have been invoked to explain the 4 year modulation in the amplitude of the periodic radio outbursts in LSI+61303 \[Gregory et al. 1989\], while Hummel \[Hummel1998\] reported shell-Be-shell transitions in $`\gamma Cas`$ at $`4\pm 0.4`$ years which he attributed to a precessing circumstellar disc. Clark et al. \[Clark et al.2001\] also show that X Per has exhibited disc-loss and disc ’low states’ separated by intervals of 5 and 6 years.

If disc precession is the root cause of all these cycles, the similarity of cyclical period in systems with disparate orbital periods and inclinations is intriguing. While the disc is probably ousted from the equatorial plane by NS interactions, attribution of the precession to the asymetric potential of the oblate OB star is an appealing explanation, as the primaries of BeXRBs are known to occupy only a small range in $`\omega `$ \[Porter 1996\] and $`M_{}`$ \[Negueruela 1998\] and thus should possess almost identical gravitational properties.

Behaviour similar to that observed in A0535+26, LS992 and 4U0115+63 is probably restricted to systems of moderate eccentricity causing the disc to be truncated at a low resonance (i.e. 4:1) so that changes between adjacent resonances cause observable flux changes. The degree of coplanarity of NS orbit and Be equator will clearly be an influential parameter profoundly affecting the nature of the tidal interactions. Orientation on the sky is also doubtless important for understanding different systems; it seems likely that the Be disc of 4U 0115+63 intercepts the line-of-sight at a specific cyclical phase, causing transient shell lines in that object and not in A0535+26. Clearly further multiwaveband studies of other BeXRB systems will demonstrate how general or indeed accurate this model is, particularly as differences emerge.

## 8 Summary

The primary findings of this study are the detection of quantised disc fluxes strongly supporting the resonant truncation paradigm, association of X-ray outbursts with reductions in truncation resonance, and the rôle of a $``$1500 day Be disc precession period in governing this system behaviour. Optical observations have revealed variability at the ’effective’ $`P_{orb}`$, relative to the precessing Be disc, and represent Be disc perturbations by the NS. The standard luminosity classification, III, is supported.

This greater understanding of the A0535+26 system appears to be applicable to BeXRBs in general, perhaps allowing deeper insights into Be discs and quasi-Keplerian discs in general.

## 9 Acknowledgements

The Carlos Sánchez Telescope is operated at the Teide Observatory (Tenerife) by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. The ING Archive and Service Programmes have provided invaluable data. We acknowledge MMT data courtesy of Laycock, Grindlay & Zhao. Simon Clark is thanked for numerous helpful discussions.


text:
# Statistical Approach for Unpolarized Fragmentation Functions for the Octet Baryons

## I Introduction

Following the first evidence of partonic substructure of the nucleon, by means of deep inelastic scattering (DIS), a large amount of experimental data have been collected in order to understand the parton structure of the nucleon. It is currently known that the $`Q^2`$ evolution behavior of the parton distribution functions (PDF) is well described by perturbative QCD. However, the parton distributions at an initial scale reflect the nonperturbative quark and gluon dynamics of QCD bound states, which cannot be determined from first principles. For this reason, many parametrizations have been proposed GRVupol ; MRSTupol ; CTEQ5 ; GRSVpol ; GSpol , but most of these expressions involve a large number of free parameters, with no clear physical meaning. However, some efforts have been recently made BSB01  to parametrize unpolarized and polarized nucleon PDF based on a statistical approach BSb ; Bha . The nucleon PDF, which involve in this framework a small number of free parameters, can well describe all available experimental unpolarized and polarized DIS data, so this is perhaps an indication that the PDF retain some important statistical features of the nucleon. The statistical approach of the nucleon PDF allows to make predictions, which were tested recently in a satisfactory way, by various experimental data in DIS BSB02 . In order to extend further this framework to new areas, it is natural to envisage, for example, its application to the description of the PDF of the other octet baryons. Unfortunately, these PDF are not directly accessible because, due to their short lifetimes, the hyperons cannot be used as a target in a DIS experiment.

However, it is well known that the quark distributions in a hadron $`h`$, $`q_h(x,Q^2)`$ are related to the corresponding quark to hadron fragmentation function (FF) $`D_q^h(x,Q^2)`$, by means of the so called Gribov-Lipatov relations GLR . This connection between two basic quantities of the hadron structure has been used in several recent works MSSY ; MSSY02 , as an attempt to improve our present poor knowledge on the hadron FF. So this is our motivation to extend the statistical approach to a global description of the octet baryon FF and to check its validity against the available experimental data.

The paper is organized as follows. In Sect. 2, we review the main points of the framework and we give the basic procedure for the construction of the octet baryons FF in the statistical approach, in terms of Fermi-Dirac distributions. In Sect. 3, we determine all free parameters of the model by using some data on the inclusive production of proton and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ in unpolarized deep inelastic scattering and a next-to-leading (NLO) fit to the available experimental data on the production of unpolarized octet baryons in $`e^+e^{}`$ annihilation. The results of the fit for the cross sections and the obtained FF are also presented and we compare our approach with some previous works on baryon FF Florian ; Thomas ; IMR ; JJY . Finally in Sec. 4, we give our conclusions.

## II The statistical approach for unpolarized FF

In the statistical approach, a hadron can be viewed as a gas of massless partons (quarks, antiquarks, gluons) in equilibrium at a given temperature, in a finite size volume. In hadron production, when a parton fragments into a hadron, it picks up other partons from the QCD vacuum in order to form a specific hadron. The formation probability of the hadron is characterized by its statistical properties. Therefore we believe that statistical features which were proposed to build up the nucleon PDF in Ref. BSB01 , can be used also to construct the FF for the octet baryons. We assume that the parton ($`p`$) to hadron ($`h`$) FF $`D_p^h(x)`$, at an input energy scale $`Q_0^2`$, is proportional to

$$[\mathrm{exp}[(xX_0)/\overline{x}]\pm 1]^1,$$
(1)
where the plus sign for quarks and antiquarks, corresponds to a Fermi-Dirac distribution and the minus sign for gluons, corresponds to a Bose-Einstein distribution. Here $`X_0`$ is a constant which plays the role of the thermodynamical potential of the quark hadronization into a hadron and $`\overline{x}`$ is the universal temperature, which is assumed to be equal for all octet baryons. It is reasonable to take its value to be the same as for the nucleon PDF, i.e. $`\overline{x}=0.099`$, according to Ref. BSB01 . The statistical approach for the PDF allows to construct quark distributions of a given helicity and it is also possible to relate simply quark to antiquark distributions, resulting from chiral properties of QCD, as explained in Ref. BSB01 . All these physical quantities were determined precisely due to the existence of a hudge amount of data in unpolarized and polarized DIS. In the case of the octect baryon FF, the situation is different and the sarcacity of the polarized data does not allow such a clear separation, so we will restrict ourselves to the determination of the unpolarized quark FF, although the extention to the polarized case can be easily done. For the quarks $`q=u,s,d`$ the FF are then expressed as

$$D_q^B(x,Q_0^2)=\frac{A_q^BX_q^Bx^b}{\mathrm{exp}[(xX_q^B)/\overline{x}]+1},$$
(2)
where $`X_q^B`$ is the potential corresponding to the fragmentation $`qB`$ and $`Q_0^2`$ is an initial scale, given below in Table 1. We will ignore the antiquark FF $`D_{\overline{q}}^B`$, which are considered to be strongly suppressed. The heavy quark FF $`D_Q^B(x,Q_0^2)`$ for $`Q=c,b,t`$, which are expected to be large only in the small $`x`$ region ($`x0.1`$ or so), are parametrized by a diffractive term with a vanishing potential

$$D_Q^B(x,Q_0^2)=\frac{\stackrel{~}{A}_Q^Bx^{\stackrel{~}{b}}}{\mathrm{exp}(x/\overline{x})+1}.$$
(3)
The initial scale $`Q_0^2`$, which is flavor dependent in this case, is given below in Table 1 444 Due to the fact that the input scale of the $`t`$ quark is above the highest energy data investigated in this work, it does not contribute to our analysis.. This FF for $`QB`$ depends on $`\stackrel{~}{b}`$ and a normalization constant $`\stackrel{~}{A}_B^Q`$ for each baryon $`B`$. For the other quarks, we make some reasonable assumptions in order to reduce the number of parameters in addition to $`b`$, the universal power of $`x`$ in Eq. (2). First we have the obvious constraints, namely, $`D_u^B=D_d^B`$ for $`B=p,\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Moreover we assume that we need only four potentials, two for the proton $`X_u^p=X_d^p`$ and $`X_s^p`$ and two for the hyperons $`X_u^Y=X_d^Y`$ and $`X_s^Y`$ where $`Y=\mathrm{\Lambda },\mathrm{\Sigma }^\pm ,\mathrm{\Xi }^{}`$. Finally for the gluon to baryon FF $`D_g^B(x,Q^2)`$, which is hard to determine precisely, we take a Bose-Einstein expression with a vanishing potential

$$D_g^B(x,Q_0^2)=\frac{A_g^Bx^{\stackrel{~}{b}+1}}{\mathrm{exp}(x/\overline{x})1}.$$
(4)
We assume it has the same small $`x`$ behavior as the heavy quarks and it is the same for all baryons. The normalization constants $`A_q^B`$, $`A_g^B`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{A}_Q^B`$ will have also to be determined by fitting the data, a procedure we present now.

## III Determination of the parameters from the data analysis

The experimental data which was used is twofold. First, hadron production in DIS gives access to a direct determination of $`D_u^p(x,Q^2)`$ EMC89  and $`D_u^\mathrm{\Lambda }(x,Q^2)`$ HERMES00 , in a limited range of $`x`$ and $`Q^2`$. We have also determined the free parameters of the model by making an analysis of the differential cross section for the semi-inclusive hadron production process $`e^+e^{}h+X`$, for $`p,\mathrm{\Lambda },\mathrm{\Sigma },\mathrm{\Xi }`$. Here we note that in these experiments, they usually do not distinguish between $`B`$ and $`\overline{B}`$, so we will include both contributions in our calculations by making the natural assumption $`D_q^B(x,Q^2)=D_{\overline{q}}^{\overline{B}}(x,Q^2)`$. The differential cross section can be expressed as Altarel ; Furman ; Kretzer ; Binnew

$$\frac{1}{\sigma _{tot}}\frac{d\sigma }{dx_E}=\underset{q}{}\underset{x_E}{\overset{1}{}}\frac{d\eta }{\eta }D_q^h(\frac{x_E}{\eta },\mu _F^2)\frac{1}{\sigma _{tot}}\left[C_T^q(\eta ,Q^2,\mu _{F,R}^2)+C_L^q(\eta ,Q^2,\mu _{F,R}^2)\right],$$
(5)
where $`x_E=2E_h/\sqrt{s}`$, which is the energy $`E_h`$ of the produced hadron scaled to the beam energy $`Q/2\sqrt{s}/2`$. 555When experimental data are presented in the momentum scaling variable $`z_p=2p_h/Q`$, we made a conversion to $`x_E`$ in the following figures. The subscripts $`T`$ and $`L`$ denote the contributions due to transverse and longitudinal polarizations, respectively. The summation $`q`$ includes quarks, antiquarks and gluon contributions. In the following we will set the renormalization and the factorization scales equal to $`\mu _R^2=\mu _F^2=Q^2`$. The definitions of the functions $`C_T^q`$ and $`C_L^q`$ follow those of Ref. Kretzer . In Eq. (5), $`\sigma _{tot}`$ is the total cross section for the process.

$$\sigma _{tot}=N_c\underset{q}{}\frac{4\pi \alpha ^2}{3s}\widehat{e}_q^2(s)\left(1+\frac{\alpha _s(s)}{\pi }\right),$$
(6)
where $`N_c`$ is the color number and we shall take $`N_c=3`$, $`\alpha `$ is the QED fine structure constant and $`\alpha _s(s)`$ is the strong coupling constant. The sum in the above equation should be over all active quarks and antiquarks. The electroweak charges in Eq. (6) can be expressed as

$$\widehat{e}_q^2(s)=e_q^2+2v_ev_qe_q\rho _1(s)+(a_e^2+v_e^2)(a_q^2+v_q^2)\rho _2(s),$$
(7)
with

$$\rho _1(s)=\frac{1}{4\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W\mathrm{cos}^2\theta _W}\frac{s(M_Z^2s)}{(M_Z^2s)^2+M_Z^2\mathrm{\Gamma }_Z^2},$$
(8)
$$\rho _2(s)=\frac{1}{16\mathrm{sin}^4\theta _W\mathrm{cos}^4\theta _W}\frac{s^2}{(M_Z^2s)^2+M_Z^2\mathrm{\Gamma }_Z^2},$$
(9)
$$a_e=1,a_q=T_{3q},$$
(10)
$$v_e=\frac{1}{2}+2\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W,v_q=T_{3q}2e_q\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _W,$$
(11)
where $`e_q`$ is the electric charge of the quarks and ($`v_i`$), ($`a_i`$) the electroweak vector and axial couplings of the electron and the quarks to the $`Z`$, respectively. $`T_{3q}`$ is the third component of the strong isospin, $`T_{3q}=1/2,1/2`$ for up-type quark and down-type quark, respectively. $`\theta _W`$ is the weak-mixing angle, and $`M_Z`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_Z`$ are the mass and width of the $`Z`$.

The FF have been evolved at NLO following a method defined in Ref. BSB01 , where for the DGLAP equations we used the timelike splitting functions calculated in Refs. DGLAP . For baryon production in $`e^+e^{}`$ collisions, we made a NLO fit with formula (5) of the experimental data from Refs. TASSO83 -DELPHI95b , where we restricted $`x_E0.1`$. In addition, the input scales choice Kretzer  and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(\overline{MS})`$ are given in Table 1.

Now, let us report the values of the free parameters we have obtained from the NLO fit:

$$\begin{array}{cccc}X_u^p=0.648,& X_s^p=0.247,& X_u^\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.296,& X_s^\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.476\\ b=0.200,& \stackrel{~}{b}=0.472,& A_g^B=0.051.& \end{array}$$
(12)
These parameters have similar values to those obtained for the nucleon PDF BSB01 , in particular, for the thermodynamical potentials, so the intrinsic properties of the quarks when observed in DIS or in fragmentation processes seem to be preserved. Notice that in the nucleon PDF the $`u`$ quark which is dominant has the larger potential and here we have analogously, $`X_u^p>X_s^p`$ and $`X_s^\mathrm{\Lambda }>X_u^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, a situation which is natural to expect. The other parameters $`A_{q_1}^B`$, $`A_{q_2}^B`$, for the quark to baryon FF, and $`\stackrel{~}{A}_Q^B`$ for the heavy quarks are given in Table 2, together with the quark content $`q_1`$, $`q_2`$ and $`Q`$ for each baryon $`B`$. Clearly these normalization constants are decreasing when going from the proton to the heavier hyperons, following the magnitude of the corresponding measured cross sections.

Finally, let us comment on our results. With the data set on proton, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^+`$, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Xi }^{}`$ production, we get a $`\chi ^2=227.5`$ for 206 experimental points ($`x_E0.1`$), i.e. $`\chi ^2/\text{point}=1.1`$ for our NLO fit. This agreement of our results with experimental data is satisfactory and it confirms that the statistical approach is also successful in the description of the octet baryons FF.

In Figs. 1 and 2 we display the available DIS data, which yield directly $`D_u^p(x,Q^2)`$ and $`D_u^\mathrm{\Lambda }(x,Q^2)`$, and the result of our fit. In Figs. 3-6 we show a comparison of the calculated cross sections for various baryons with experimental data. In Fig. 3, we give our results for the proton cross section in electron-positron annihilation at $`\sqrt{s}=22,29,34\mathrm{GeV}`$ and at the Z-pole i.e. $`\sqrt{s}=91.2\mathrm{GeV}`$. The agreement with data is very good even in the low $`x_E`$ region ($`x_E0.1`$) as shown on the same figure, although these data points were not included in our fit.

For the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ production, our results are displayed in Fig. 4 for the energies $`\sqrt{s}=14,22,29,33.3,34.8,42.1,91.2\mathrm{GeV}`$. It is clear from Figs. 3 and 4, which display a sizeable energy domain, that the scaling violations in this range are very small. In order to improve the small $`x_E`$ behavior, we need to modify the evolution of the FF in this region, and also include finite mass corrections and modifications of the splitting functions (see a discussion in Ref. Florian ), but such corrections are outside the scope of the present paper. In Fig. 5 we give our results for $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^\pm `$ production at $`\sqrt{s}=91.2\mathrm{GeV}`$ and in Fig. 6 our results for $`\mathrm{\Xi }^{}`$ production at the Z-pole. For these strangeness production processes, our results show a satisfactory agreement. The corresponding quark to baryon FF are presented in Fig. 7. For all hyperons the strange quark FF dominates largely over the $`u,d`$ quarks, which seems natural. For $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, we are in agreement with a model for SU(3) symmetry breaking in Ref. IMR , which leads to $`D_u^\mathrm{\Lambda }0.07D_s^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. In Ref. Thomas  one also finds $`D_u^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ smaller than $`D_s^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`D_{\overline{q}}^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is strongly suppressed. This is in contrast with the situation of Ref. Florian , where $`u,d`$ and $`s`$ are assumed to contribute equally. However the heavy quarks have a pattern similar to Ref. Florian , with a sizeable contribution only for $`x0.1`$ and a fast dropping off for large $`x`$. This is also at variance with Ref. JJY , where $`D_u^\mathrm{\Lambda }/D_s^\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ decreases from 1 to 0.2 when $`x`$ goes from 0 to 1. For the proton it is surprizing to see that the $`u`$-quark FF dominates only at large $`x`$, whereas the strange and heavy quarks contribute substantially for $`x0.3`$ or so. Finally we notice that for the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, the heavy quarks have a pattern similar to Ref. Florian , with a sizeable contribution only for $`x0.1`$ and a fast dropping off for large $`x`$.

## IV Conclusions

With the motivation to check whether the octet baryons FF have similar statistical features as the nucleon PDF previously studied, we extended the statistical approach to analyze some data on the inclusive production of the octet baryons. We found that these FF can be well described with a small number of free parameters, whose interpretion was discussed. We obtained a satisfactory description of the unpolarized experimental data, suggesting that the statistical approach, with Fermi-Dirac type FF, works equally well, compared to other parametrization forms. The semi-inclusive DIS data for proton and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ production, which give strong constraints, have allowed a flavor separation between $`u,d`$ and $`s`$ quarks FF, an interesting result which remains to be more seriously checked in the future.

In our present analysis, we did not introduce polarized FF, although our formalism can be easily extended to this case. Actually, it is impossible to extract some reliable information on the polarized FF for the moment, due to the scarcity of the data, but we hope this will be possible in the future.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank J.-J. Yang for his contribution at the earlier stage of this work. We are grateful to W. Vogelsang and M. Stratmann for an helpful correspondance and useful comments.


text:
# RAPID COOLING OF DUSTY GAS IN ELLIPTICAL GALAXIES

## 1 Introduction

While most of the interstellar gas mass in elliptical galaxies, typically $`10^9`$ $`M_{}`$, is at the galactic virial temperature $`T_{vir}10^7`$ K, the cores of $`80`$ percent of all large E galaxies contain dusty clouds of cold gas of mass $`\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}10^410^5`$ $`M_{}`$ (e.g. van Dokkum & Franx 1995). In addition, diffuse optical line emission from gas at $`T10^4`$ K is observed in most or all elliptical galaxies within a few hundred parsecs from the center (e.g. Caon et al. 2000), particularly in those galaxies formerly thought to contain “cooling flows.” The notion that the hot gas cools to low temperatures is not supported by XMM spectra (e.g. Peterson et al. 2001; Xu et al. 2001), i.e., the observed cooling rate $`\dot{M}`$ is lower than that expected in traditional cooling flows, $`1`$ $`M_{}`$ yr-1. In any case, cooling of essentially dust-free hot gas cannot produce dust clouds. In the following we propose that the dusty clouds are formed from gas expelled from evolving metal-rich red giant stars in E galaxy cores. Even if these dusty stellar envelopes are heated to $`T_{vir}`$ after leaving the stars, the gas can cool rapidly by collisions between thermal electrons and dust grains.

## 2 Cooling-Sputtering Evolution

Direct evidence that mass is being lost from evolving stars in X-ray luminous ellipticals is provided by near-IR ($`10\mu `$m) observations of hot circumstellar dust (Knapp et al. 1989, 1992; Athey et al. 2002). The 9.7 $`\mu `$m peak from (oxygen-rich) silicate grains apparent in ISO observations places an upper limit on the grain radius, $`a1`$ $`\mu `$m (Figure 5 of Laor & Draine 1993). According to Athey et al., the total luminosity of excess near-IR radiation is consistent with expected total stellar mass loss rates in giant E galaxies, $`1`$ $`M_{}`$ yr-1.

However, as dusty gas moves away from orbiting, mass-losing red giant stars, it encounters the hot interstellar gas at $`TT_{vir}1`$ keV and is violently disrupted by hydrodynamic instabilities. The interaction of the stellar wind/planetary nebula with the hot gas is extremely complicated, but this ejected gas cannot remain at $`T10^4`$ K for more than $`t_{H\alpha }10^5`$ years without exceeding the typical H$`\alpha `$ \+ \[NII\] luminosities observed (Mathews & Brighenti 1999). XMM spectra show no evidence for slowly heating gas at $`T\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}T_{vir}/2`$. This empirical evidence supports rapid thermal mixing of the stellar ejecta, which is probably a consequence of gasdynamical instabilities that enormously increase the surface area between the stellar ejecta and the ambient hot gas. In view of the complexity of this interaction, the thermal evolution $`T(t)`$ of gas ejected from stars is difficult to estimate, but limits can be set. In the following discussion we adopt a useful limiting assumption for $`T(t)`$: the dusty gas is rapidly heated to the temperature of the local hot gas with the dust intact. This assumption maximizes the likelihood that the stellar gas will remain thermally merged with the hot gas phase. Grain sputtering during the rapid heating process is unlikely since the heating time must be $`\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}t_{H\alpha }`$, which is very much less than the sputtering time (see below).

When dust grains are introduced into a hot plasma with $`T\begin{array}{c}>\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}3\times 10^6`$ K, they are sputtered (eroded) by impacting thermal H+ and He+2 ions. The grain radius $`a`$ decreases at a rate

$$\frac{da}{dt}=n_ph_w[1+(T_s/T)^{2.5}]^1\mathrm{cm}\mathrm{s}^1$$
(1)
(Draine & Salpeter 1979; Tsai & Mathews 1995) where $`n(He^{++})=n(H^+)/10`$. Here $`h_w=3.2\times 10^{18}`$ cm4 s-1 and $`T_s=2\times 10^6`$ K are fitting parameters, $`n_p=n_e(43\mu )/(2+\mu )`$ is the proton density and $`\mu =0.61`$ is the molecular weight. We assume for simplicity that the cooling occurs at constant gas pressure $`P`$ so $`n_e=(2+\mu )P/5\mu kT`$.

As soon as the dusty gas is heated (by assumption) to the local gas temperature, it will begin to cool. Cooling occurs by thermal X-ray emission from the gas and by inelastic impacts of thermal electrons with the grains. Grain-electron cooling can greatly exceed that from thermal X-ray emission (e.g. Dwek 1987; Dwek & Arendt 1992) provided the grains are not sputtered away. If the cooling time is shorter than the dynamical time in the galactic potential, the gas will tend to cool approximately in situ, the case we consider here. During isobaric cooling, the gas temperature decreases according to

$$\frac{dT}{dt}=\frac{2}{5}\frac{T}{P}\frac{\rho ^2}{m_p^2}(\mathrm{\Lambda }+\mathrm{\Lambda }_d)=\frac{2}{5}\left(\frac{\mu }{k}\right)^2P\frac{\mathrm{\Lambda }+\mathrm{\Lambda }_d}{T}.$$
(2)
Here $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(T,z)`$ is the usual thermal radiation coefficient for gas with metallicity $`z`$ in solar units (Sutherland & Dopita 1993) and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_d`$ is the coefficient for dust-induced cooling.

The cooling of the hot plasma by grains is due mostly to inelastic impacts of thermal electrons with the grains. For high temperature plasmas, such as we consider, the rate of electron-grain collisions is unaffected by the grain charge (Draine & Salpeter 1979) which we assume is regulated by emission of low energy electrons from the grain surface. An individual grain cools the local gas at a rate

$$\dot{e}_g=4\pi a^2(1/4)n_e\overline{v}_e\overline{E}_e=1.27\times 10^7n_eT_7^{3/2}a_\mu ^2\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1$$
(3)
where $`\overline{E}_e=(3/2)kT`$ and $`\overline{v}_e=(8kT/\pi m_e)^{1/2}`$ are the mean energy and velocity of electrons, $`T_7=T/(10^7\mathrm{K})`$ and $`a_\mu `$ is the grain radius in microns. At pressures of interest, $`P_{10}=P/(10^{10}\mathrm{dy})`$, the plasma mean free path, $`\lambda 0.02T^3/P_{10}`$ cm, is small; only electrons in the cooling regions collide with the grains; electrons from the hot ambient gas thermalize in the cooling plasma before colliding with a grain. In NGC 4472, a giant elliptical in the Virgo cluster which we use for reference, $`n_e0.0551r_{kpc}^{1.18}`$ cm-3 so $`\dot{e}_g=7.7\times 10^9a_\mu ^2`$ and $`7.3\times 10^{10}a_\mu ^2`$ at $`r=1`$ kpc and the effective radius $`r=R_e=8.57`$ kpc respectively. We adopt a distance of 17 Mpc to NGC 4472.

Grains can internally absorb the energy of thermal electrons provided $`\overline{E}_e\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}E_{}=23a_\mu ^{2/3}`$ keV (Dwek & Werner 1981), which we assume is generally satisfied. Cooling by electron impact on grains during the sputtering time, $`t_{sp}a/|da/dt|1.2\times 10^8a_\mu (n_e/10^2)^1`$ yrs, greatly exceeds the additional gas cooling required to fully ionize the grain atoms ejected in the sputtering process or to bring these sputtered ions up to local thermal velocities.

At any moment the space density of interstellar grains $`n_g`$ in luminous elliptical galaxies is very inhomogeneous, being concentrated near mass-losing stars. If $`m_{ej}`$ is the typical total mass of the stellar envelope ejected by evolving stars and $`\rho _g=3.3`$ gm cm-3 is the density of (silicate) grains, then the total number of grains expelled by a single star is $`𝒩_g=\delta m_{ej}/\rho _g(4/3)\pi a^3`$ where $`\delta `$ is the ratio of the dust mass to the gas mass when ejected from the stars. We assume that $`\delta =0.01z_{,Fe}`$ decreases with stellar metallicity as in NGC 4472 where $`z_{,Fe}0.675(r/R_e)^{0.207}`$ in solar units (Brighenti & Mathews 1999).

The initial space density of grains is proportional to the local gas density $`n_{g0}=(𝒩_g/m_{ej})\rho `$. As the gas cools isobarically from some initial temperature $`T_0`$, the grain space density increases, $`n_g=n_{g0}T_0/T=[\delta m_p/\rho _g(4/3)\pi a^3](\mu P/k)/T`$. The dust cooling coefficient in Equation 2, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_d=n_g\dot{e}_g/(\rho /m_p)^2`$, is then

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_d=\frac{9}{8}\frac{2+\mu }{5\mu }\left(\frac{8}{\pi m_e}\right)^{1/2}\frac{\delta m_pk^{3/2}}{\rho _g10^4}\frac{T^{3/2}}{a_\mu }\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{cm}^3\mathrm{sec}^1.$$
(4)
To explore the influence of grain cooling we integrate Equations 1 and 2 beginning with gas at temperature $`T_0=T(r)`$ and pressure $`P(r)`$ at galactic radius $`r`$ in the hot gaseous atmosphere of NGC 4472. The pressure $`P=n_e(r)kT(r)5/(2+\mu )`$ is constant during cooling. For simplicity, we assume the gas is filled with grains all having the same initial radius $`a_0`$. As the gas cools the sputtered debris from the grains increases the metallicity of the gas phase. To evaluate the plasma cooling rate coefficient $`\mathrm{\Lambda }(T,z)`$ during the cooling, we assume that the gas phase metal abundance in solar units increases with decreasing grain mass ($`a^3`$), $`z/z_0=1(a/a_0)^3(\delta /\delta _{max})`$, where $`\delta _{max}0.053`$ is the maximum ratio of dust to gas mass if all elements heaver than He were in grains.

## 3 Results

We describe solutions of Equations 1 and 2 for the elliptical galaxy NGC 4472 with initial conditions at radii $`r=1`$ and $`r=R_e=8.57`$ kpc. According to our assumption, the dusty gas expelled from a star is rather quickly heated to the local temperature of the hot gas at these two galactic radii, $`T_0=0.95\times 10^7`$ and $`1.16\times 10^7`$ K, where the gas density is $`n_{e0}=6.52\times 10^2`$ and $`4.45\times 10^3`$ cm-3 respectively. Figures 1a and 1b show the combined evolution of the gas temperature $`T(t)`$ and grain radius $`a(t)`$ for grains of initial radius $`a_0=1`$ and 0.1 micron, assuming $`\delta =0.01`$ and $`\delta =0.0064`$ at $`r=1`$ and $`r=8.57`$ kpc respectively. For comparison we also plot the cooling curve $`T(t)`$ of dust-free gas ($`a_0=0\mu `$) with the same $`T_0`$ and $`n_{e0}`$.

Dust-enhanced cooling can reduce the cooling time of recently ejected gas by over an order of magnitude compared to the dust-free case. For fixed $`\delta `$, the ratio $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_d/\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ increases rapidly with decreasing grain radius $`a_0`$ because of the larger total surface area of smaller grains.

A defining characteristic of cooling flows is that the isobaric radiative cooling time $`t_{cool,rad}=5m_pkT/2\mu \rho \mathrm{\Lambda }10^8r_{kpc}^{1.2}`$ yrs (in NGC 4472) exceeds the dynamical time $`t_{dy}[r^3/GM(r)]^{1/2}`$ in the galactic potential. Dust-free, moderately positive density perturbations do not cool appreciably faster than unperturbed regions. If overdense regions remain coherent, they oscillate radially in the hot gas atmosphere, becoming underdense relative to the ambient gas during half their cycle (e.g. Loewenstein 1989).

The dust-rich regions we describe here are not initially in an overdense state, but become overdense as the cooling proceeds. The dust-rich gas cools locally if the cooling time is less than the dynamical time at the two selected galactic radii, $`t_{dy}=2.1\times 10^6`$ at $`r=1`$ kpc and $`1.2\times 10^7`$ yrs at 8.57 kpc. Figures 1a and 1b show that $`t_{cool}<t_{dy}`$ is possible at $`r=1`$ kpc, so gas at small galactic radii can cool to low temperature and also preserve a small amount of its original dust since $`t_{cool}<t_{sp}`$. The cooling curves in Figures 1a and 1b are independent of $`m_{ej}`$ and are therefore unchanged if the dusty envelope is disrupted or fragmented during its interaction with the hot gas. We show one case in Figure 1b in which dusty gas with $`a_0=0.1`$ $`\mu `$m begins cooling at $`T_0/3`$, before fully thermalizing with the hot gas. The cooling time is significantly reduced, confirming our assumption that $`T(t=0)=T_0`$ maximizes the cooling time.

As dust-rich stellar winds flow away from orbiting red giant stars, the winds are decelerated by interactions with the local hot gas, but the grains, impelled by their higher momentum, can move into the ambient gas. It is possible in principle that the ejected dust cloud occupies and cools a gas mass larger than that ejected from the star, $`m_{ej}`$. If the cooled mass exceeds $`m_{ej}`$ by a factor $`\omega `$, then the corresponding cooling evolution is found simply by replacing $`\delta `$ in Equation 4 with $`\delta /\omega `$. In Figure 1c we show cooling curves for $`\omega =2`$ at the same two galactic radii for grains of initial radius $`a_0=0.1`$ micron. Both cooling times exceed the dynamical time at the galactic radii considered, so the cooling gas may have a more complex dynamical evolution that may inhibit the cooling.

## 4 Discussion and Conclusions

Stellar mass loss has been regarded as an important internal source of hot gas within group or cluster-centered E galaxies. A $`13`$ Gyr old stellar population of total mass $`M_t`$ typically expels $`\dot{M}_{}1.5(M_t/10^{12}M_{})`$ $`M_{}`$ yr-1. In cluster-centered galaxies, such as M87 in Virgo and NGC 4874 in the Coma cluster, the gas temperature rapidly decreases in the central $`15`$ kpc from the virial temperature of the cluster (3 - 8 keV) to the stellar virial temperature $`1`$ keV at $`r\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}3`$ kpc (Molendi 2002; Vikhliin et al. 2001). Detailed gasdynamical models of traditional cooling inflows in these cluster-centered galaxies indicate that this steep temperature gradient can only be understood if gas is being cooled by thermalization of stellar ejecta (Brighenti & Mathews 2002a). The increase in the hot gas oxygen abundance toward the center of M87 (Gastaldello & Molendi 2002) is expected if mass lost from the SNII-enriched stars has thermally mixed into the hot ISM and if the stars are more O-rich than the Virgo cluster gas. Nevertheless, we propose here that the dust component can cool the stellar ejecta soon after it thermally merges with the ambient hot gas, particularly at $`r\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}1`$ kpc.

We now review how dust-enhanced cooling applies to the issues discussed in the Introduction.

(1) What is the source of interstellar dust observed in the cores of $`80`$ percent of all large E galaxies? van Dokkum & Franx (1995) and others describe small central dust disks, lanes or clouds typically a few 100 pc in size. The small masses of dust $`\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}10^410^5`$ $`M_{}`$ in these cores can easily be produced in $`10^810^9`$ yrs as dust-rich gas cools near the galactic center with incomplete sputtering. It is difficult to accurately estimate the rate that dust accumulates near the center without knowledge of the dust size distribution, the exact thermal history $`T(t)`$ of the stellar ejecta, or the star formation rate in the cold, dusty clouds. Since Type Ia supernova remnants occupy a very small fraction of the interstellar volume at any time (Mathews 1990), heating by Type Ia supernovae is unlikely to interfere with the cooling we describe here. Heating by active galactic nuclei has often been suggested to explain why the hot gas in E galaxies fails to cool to low temperatures (e.g., Rosner & Tucker 1989; Binney & Tabor 1995; Brighenti & Mathews 2002b). If such heating occurs, it must be gentle enough not to destroy the observed central dust clouds or this dust must be rapidly regenerated.

(2) What is the source of the diffuse optical line emission (H$`\alpha `$ \+ \[NII\]) observed in most or all cooling flow galaxies? The velocities of this diffuse emission are unrelated to stellar velocities (Caon et al. 2000). In some E galaxies the optical line emission spatially correlates with X-ray features (e.g. Trinchieri & Goudfrooij 2002) or traces the perimeters but not the centers of X-ray cavities (McNamara, O’Connell & Sarazin 1996; Blanton et al. 2001). While these observations suggest that some gas cools to $`10^4`$ K from the hot phase, there is no evidence for this in XMM X-ray spectra. However, even if dusty gas ejected from metal-rich stars is heated to $`T_{vir}`$, it can quickly cool back to $`10^4`$ K where the cooling may be temporarily arrested by absorption of galactic UV starlight (Binette et al. 1994). Exactly what happens next is unclear, but the dust can help cool the gas to much lower temperatures if the clouds become optically thick to UV radiation. It has often been suggested that dusty gas at $`T10^4`$ K derives from mergers with gas-rich dwarf galaxies (e.g. Caon et al. 2000; Trinchieri & Goudfrooij 2002); this can be verified if the $`10^4`$ K gas is counter-rotating. Nevertheless, cold, dusty gas can arise naturally from stars in E galaxy cores.

(3) Why is the observed cooling rate $`\dot{M}`$ from X-ray observations so low? Xu et al. (2001) found from RGS XMM observations of elliptical galaxy NGC 4636 that X-ray lines expected from gas cooling near $`T2\times 10^6`$ K are unusually weak, indicating a total cooling rate of $`\dot{M}\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}0.30`$ $`M_{}`$ yr-1 in $`r\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}2.5`$ kpc (for $`d=17`$ Mpc). FUSE observations of OVI lines in NGC 4636 (emitted at $`T3\times 10^5`$ K) indicate $`\dot{M}0.17\pm 0.02`$ $`M_{}`$ yr-1 within 1.2 kpc (Bregman et al. 2001). Both cooling rates are less than the $`12`$ $`M_{}`$ yr-1 predicted in traditional cooling flow models (e.g. Bertin & Toniazzo 1995).

Rapid dust-assisted cooling may be relevant to this discrepancy in two ways: (1) by reducing the total rate that gas enters the hot phase, and (2) by reducing the X-ray emission from cooling thermal gas at subvirial temperatures. In models of traditional cooling flows, gas ejected from stars is usually assumed to enter the hot interstellar gas. The stellar mass loss rate in a giant E galaxy, $`1M_{}`$ yr-1, is an important source of gas since it is comparable to the expected cooling rate of the hot gas. In gas dynamical models the cooling rate $`\dot{M}`$ near the center of the flow varies inversely with the specific rate of stellar mass loss, $`\alpha _{}=\dot{M}_{}/M_{}`$. This is true even when there is an extended reservoir of circumgalactic hot gas due to cosmic accretion onto the surrounding galaxy group. Therefore, the apparent cooling rate $`\dot{M}`$ observed with XMM should be reduced approximately in proportion to the fraction of stellar gas that fails to enter the hot gas because of dust-assisted cooling. However, if more than $`90`$ percent of the stellar ejecta fails to enter the hot phase, our gasdynamical models indicate that the density of hot interstellar gas is lowered sufficiently to initiate a strong galactic wind driven by Type Ia energy. The transition to wind flows is rather sudden. Since the very low $`L_x`$ characteristic of strong winds are not observed, this sets a limit on the efficiency of dust-assisted cooling described here.

If dusty gas from stars is indeed heated to $`T_{vir}`$, XMM observations require that it not emit thermal X-rays at intermediate temperatures either as it is heated or as it cools afterward. We argue above that the heating phase is likely to be rapid, $`\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}t_{H\alpha }10^5`$ yrs. When heated to $`T_{vir}`$, the stellar gas may undergo rapid dust-assisted cooling, during which the X-ray emission from intermediate temperatures is greatly reduced. The radiation expected from an X-ray line of emissivity $`\epsilon _{line}(T,\rho )`$ ergs s-1 gm-1, $`E_{line}=\epsilon _{line}𝑑T/|dT/dt|`$ ergs gm-1, varies inversely with the cooling rate $`|dT/dt|`$, which can be $`\begin{array}{c}>\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}10`$ times larger than normal plasma cooling. The X-ray line emission is suppressed by a similar factor.

In dust-assisted cooling, much of the thermal energy in the hot gas is radiated by dust in the far-IR. The maximum FIR luminosity expected, $`L_{FIR}5\dot{M}kT/2\mu m_p2\times 10^{41}(T/10^7)(\dot{M}/M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1)`$ erg s-1, is consistent with ISO FIR luminosities observed in NGC 4472 and NGC 4636, $`\nu L_\nu \begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}25\times 10^{41}`$ erg s-1 (Temi et al. 2003).

Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that dust-enhanced cooling can explain the weakness of X-ray cooling lines from gas at subvirial temperatures in clusters (e.g. Peterson et al. 2001) where the expected cooling rates, $`\dot{M}\begin{array}{c}>\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}100`$ $`M_{}`$ yr-1, greatly exceed the stellar mass loss rate in the central E or cD galaxy.

Studies of the evolution of hot gas in elliptical galaxies at UC Santa Cruz are supported by NASA grants NAG 5-8049 & ATP02-0122-0079 and NSF grants AST-9802994 & AST-0098351 for which we are very grateful. FB is supported in part by grants MURST-Cofin 00 and ASI-ARS99-74.