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# The spectroscopic signature of hot Jupiters in FU Orionis objects

## 1 Introduction

Radial velocity surveys show that the frequency of massive planetary companions to late F and G dwarf stars on the main sequence is at least 6 percent. Around 1 percent of surveyed stars possess ‘hot Jupiters’, that is, massive planets within a tenth of an au of their parent star (Butler et al. 2000; Marcy & Butler 2000). Planetary migration theories (Lin & Papaloizou 1986; Lin, Bodenheimer & Richardson 1996) suggest that the abundance of such planets could be considerably higher in pre-main sequence stars, but even the main sequence numbers imply that a significant fraction – though probably not a majority – of pre-main sequence (T Tauri) stars harbour planetary companions at relatively small orbital radii. Directly detecting planets around T Tauri stars is, however, problematic. The rapid rotation of young stars means that searches for planetary transits have to contend with additional variability due to rotational modulation on a timescale of a few days (Aigrain, private communication), whilst the strong veiling of stellar absorption features in Classical T Tauri stars have made it difficult to detect even stellar companions by radial velocity methods (Mathieu 1994).

In this paper, we point out that the subset of accreting pre-main sequence stars known as FU Orionis objects present a novel opportunity for searching for hot Jupiters. FU Orionis objects are believed to be episodes of enhanced accretion on to young stars, during which the emission from the central star is completely swamped by the accretion luminosity (corresponding to accretion rates of $`10^510^4M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$; see Hartmann, Kenyon & Hartigan 1993; Kenyon 1995; Hartmann & Kenyon 1996 for reviews). During the outburst, both the broad band spectral energy distribution and the broad double peaked absorption lines of FU Orionis objects are well fit by the predictions of a steady state Keplerian accretion disc (Hartmann & Kenyon 1985, 1987; Kenyon, Hartmann & Hewett 1988; Popham et al. 1996). In Section 2, we show that the presence of a planet in the inner disc of an FU Orionis object would generate a non-axisymmetric pattern of disc emission, due to a high rate of accretion onto the planet from the disc. In consequence, the resulting line profiles are likely to be asymmetric and time variable, with the extra absorption moving between the red and blue wing of the line as the planet orbits. We present simple models of the predicted line profiles in this case. In Section 3 we discuss which lines provide the best diagnostics of hot Jupiters, and discuss the implications of a detection for planetary migration theory and the origin of FU Orionis outbursts.

## 2 Non-axisymmetric dissipation and spectral line predictions

The interaction of a planet embedded within a viscous accretion disc has several facets. First, if the planet is sufficiently massive, gravitational torques from the planet will clear a gap (an annular region in which the surface density is greatly reduced as compared to the disc) in the disc (Goldreich & Tremaine 1980; Papaloizou & Lin 1984). Parameterizing the viscosity $`\nu `$ using the Shakura & Sunyaev (1973) $`\alpha `$-prescription, $`\nu =\alpha c_s^2/\mathrm{\Omega }`$, where $`c_s`$ is the sound speed and $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ the angular velocity, gap opening occurs for a mass ratio $`q=M_\mathrm{p}/M_{}`$ given by (Takeuchi, Miyama & Lin 1996),

$$q_{\mathrm{crit}}\mathrm{¿}\mathrm{}\left(\frac{h}{r}\right)^2\alpha ^{1/2},$$
(1)
where $`h/r`$ is the relative scale height of the disc. In the case of FU Orionis outbursts, detailed time-dependent modeling of the disc suggests that $`h/r0.2`$ (Bell & Lin 1994), while numerical simulations of angular momentum transport in discs typically find $`\alpha 10^2`$ (e.g. Stone et al. 1996). The stellar mass is probably comparable to a Solar mass or somewhat smaller – for FU Orionis itself Hartmann & Kenyon (1987) infer $`M_{}0.6M_{}`$. Using these parameters, the critical value for $`q`$ is around $`4\times 10^3`$. This estimate suggests that because of the increased disc thickness during FU Orionis events, Jupiter mass planets around Solar mass stars will no longer be able to open a clean gap, and will instead be embedded within disc gas (Clarke & Syer 1996).

Second, irrespective of the presence or absence of a gap, there can be ongoing accretion from the disc onto the planet (Artymowicz & Lubow 1996). The planetary accretion rate can be expressed as a fraction of the disc accretion rate,

$$\dot{M}_\mathrm{p}=ϵ(q)\dot{M}_{\mathrm{disc}},$$
(2)
where $`\dot{M}_{\mathrm{disc}}`$ is the accretion rate in the disc at a radius substantially greater than that of the planet. Simulations by Lubow, Seibert & Artymowicz (1999), D’Angelo, Henning & Kley (2002), and Bate et al. (2002) show that the efficiency factor $`ϵ1`$ for a planet that is marginally able to open a gap. For larger masses, there is an approximately exponential suppression of the accretion efficiency (Lubow, Seibert & Artymowicz 1999). For lower mass planets $`ϵ`$ also decreases, with a scaling variously measured as $`M_p^{1/3}`$ from 2D simulations (D’Angelo, Henning & Kley 2002) and as $`M_p`$ in 3D calculations (Bate et al. 2002). In either event, Jupiter mass planets, embedded within the inner disc of FU Orionis objects, are expected to accrete mass at a significant fraction of the (very high) disc accretion rate.

Finally, the interaction of massive planets with the disc may induce eccentricity in both the disc material and the planetary orbit. Whether this occurs for Jupiter mass planets is currently uncertain (Papaloizou, Nelson & Masset 2001; Goldreich & Sari 2003; Ogilvie & Lubow 2003), and is probably dependent upon details of the angular momentum transport process in protoplanetary discs (e.g. Ogilvie 2001). We will ignore this possibility henceforth.

To verify some of these estimates, we have simulated the interaction between the planet and the disc using the ZEUS hydrodynamics code (Stone & Norman 1992). The most important parameters for the disc and planet are summarized in Table 1. The simulation was run at a numerical resolution of $`240^2`$ grid points in cylindrical co-ordinates, with outflow boundary conditions at the radial edges of the grid. After 120 orbits of the embedded planet, by which time initial transients have died away, the surface density is as shown in Figure 1. As expected based on the arguments given above, the planet (here of mass $`3M_J`$, where $`M_J`$ is the mass of Jupiter) is unable to clear a well-defined gap in a disc with relative scale height $`h/r`$ appropriate to FU Orionis systems, though there is a clear drop in the surface density at the radius where a gap would form in a cooler disc. A stream from the outer disc carries approximately half of the outer disc accretion rate, forming an (unresolved) circumplanetary disc and extending toward the inner boundary of the simulation.

Apart from gas in the (small) circumplanetary disc, the velocity perturbations to the disc flow are negligible. We have therefore modeled the influence of the planet upon the line profiles by assuming that the dominant effect is due to the enhanced dissipation caused by accretion onto the planet. The magnitude of the extra dissipation is,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }L=ϵ\frac{GM_p\dot{M}_{\mathrm{disc}}}{R_p}$$
(3)
where $`R_p`$ is the planetary radius. Since the disc is extremely optically thick, this extra luminosity will be radiated over a hotspot with a radius $`h0.2r`$. The ratio of the effective temperature of the hotspot $`\stackrel{~}{T}_e`$ to the effective temperature $`T_e`$ of the disc is then,

$$\frac{\stackrel{~}{T}_e^4}{T_e^4}=\frac{L+\mathrm{\Delta }L}{L},$$
(4)
where $`L`$ is the luminosity of the hotspot area in the absence of the enhancement due to the planet. This unperturbed luminosity is given by the product of the hotspot area ($`2\pi h^2`$, allowing for both sides of the disc) and the radiative flux generated by a steady-state accretion disc (e.g. Frank, King & Raine 1992). This product yields,

$$L=\frac{3h^2GM_{}\dot{M}_{\mathrm{disc}}}{4r^3}.$$
(5)
From equations (3), (4) and (5), it follows that,

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\stackrel{~}{T}_e^4}{T_e^4}}1+\left({\displaystyle \frac{ϵ}{0.25}}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{M_p/M_{}}{3\times 10^3}}\right)\left({\displaystyle \frac{R_p}{5R_J}}\right)^1`$
$`\times \left({\displaystyle \frac{h/r}{0.2}}\right)^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{r}{0.1\mathrm{au}}}\right),`$ (6)
where $`R_J`$ is the radius of Jupiter. As noted earlier, a disc aspect ratio of $`h/r0.2`$ is consistent with detailed modeling of FU Orionis events as thermal disc instabilities (Bell & Lin 1994). The planetary radius is more uncertain. In isolation, giant planets shrink rapidly – a $`3M_J`$ planet contracts below $`2R_J`$ within a few Myr (Burrows et al. 1997). A planet which is still actively accreting will be larger, so for this estimate we take a value of $`5R_J`$.

For the parameters given in equation (6), we estimate that the dissipation rate per unit area is about a factor of two greater in the vicinity of the planet than at other phases. For optically thick emission, this corresponds to a 20 percent increase in the effective temperature of the disc in the region around the planet. In the case of absorption lines whose equivalent width varies only weakly with temperature (see below) this extra dissipation produces additional line absorption in the velocity channels centred on the instantaneous line of sight velocity of the planet. We note that the resulting local enhancement of the disc temperature does not depend upon the accretion rate through the disc, and (for fixed planet radius) becomes more significant at larger disc radii.

In Figures 2 and 3 we illustrate the distortion of the line profiles resulting from such a non-axisymmetric surface brightness distribution. In each case, we have plotted the instantaneous line profiles when the planet’s velocity is most closely aligned to the observer’s line of sight. Half the line is plotted, the other half of the line being the mirror image of the unperturbed profile shown by the solid histogram. As the planet orbits the central star, the feature in the line profile would migrate back and forth between the red and blue wing of the line on the planet’s orbital period.

The quantity plotted is the rotational broadening function (with arbitrary normalisation) i.e. it is the function with which the intrinsic spectrum would be convolved in the relevant region of the spectrum. In practice, the rotational broadening function in observed spectra of FU Orionis objects is extracted using cross-correlation techniques, which have the twin advantage of providing a weighted average over many lines and at the same time being mainly sensitive to line shape, rather than line depths (see Hartmann et al. 1986). In the construction of Figures 2 and 3 we adopt a simplified model in which the absorption per unit area at each point in the disc is simply proportional to the black body emission flux at that point. (i.e. we neglect variations in the line equivalent width with either temperature or gravity over temperature ranges appropriate to the lines in question). A more sophisticated treatment would involve the summation of lines from appropriate stellar models, although it is unclear whether this is in fact more correct, given that in discs there is likely to be significant deposition of mechanical energy in the atmosphere, which makes comparison with stellar spectra problematical. In any case, Kenyon et al. (1988) noted that in the infrared, the saturated nature of the CO lines makes the equivalent widths rather insensitive to the effective temperature and gravity and a similar argument can be made for the principal lines in the 6170 Å window (see discussion in Hartmann and Kenyon 1987).

The two spectral regions illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 correspond to bands centred on $`2.2\mu m`$ and 6170 A, and, following Hartmann and Kenyon 1987 and Kenyon et al 1988, we have considered contributions to the line profiles in each spectral region from the temperature ranges $`9005300`$ K and $`33006600`$ K respectively. For the temperature profile of the unperturbed disc, we have adopted the model of Kenyon et al. (1988) which provided the best fit to the spectral energy distribution and line profiles of V1057 Cygni: the disc temperature follows the classic $`r^{3/4}`$ scaling with radius, with maximum temperature of $`9000`$K at the disc’s inner edge ($`0.016`$ au). Such a disc temperature distribution corresponds to an accretion rate of $`10^4M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ onto a solar mass star. Note that material at the inner edge of the disc is too hot to contribute to the absorption in either of the wavebands shown here and so there is likewise no contribution from any (presumably hotter) boundary layer.

In the absence of the planet, the absorption lines exhibit the double peaked structure familiar from the emission line profiles of cataclysmic variables. We have here scaled the velocities so as to roughly reproduce the line widths in V1057 Cyg, requiring the projected Keplerian velocity at the stellar surface to be $`40`$ km s-1 (Kenyon et al. 1988). The maximum velocity corresponds to the projected velocity at the inner edge of the line producing region, whereas the velocity at the line peak reflects the projected velocity at the location where the line emissivity starts to fall (close to the Wien cut-off of the relevant transition). At lower velocities, the line is produced by a mixture of high velocity material projected at low velocity and by low velocity material absorbing in the Wien region of the spectrum. For the parameters employed here, the regions of the unperturbed disc that contribute to the line absorption lie between $`0.0250.07`$ au (for the optical lines) and $`0.040.4`$ au (for the infrared lines).

We model the presence of the planet as a 20 percent boost in the effective temperature distributed in a region of azimuthal extent $`0.1\pi `$ and radial half-width $`0.1r_p`$ centred on the planet at radius $`r_p`$, these choices being motivated by the preceding discussion. The effect of the planet is thus manifest in the absorption line profiles as additional absorption at the projected Keplerian velocity of the planet. It is evident from Figures 2 and 3 that the planet produces a distortion to the line profile whenever its associated region of enhanced dissipation overlaps the region of the disc producing the relevant line. The feature becomes less conspicuous, however, at lower velocities (i.e. within the peak of the line profile), since the contribution from the region disturbed by the planet is then diluted by the contribution from higher velocity material projected into this spectral region.

We note that the distortion of the line profile is quite marked. For example, for the planet located at 0.25 au, the extra emission from the vicinity of the planet represents around 22% of the continuum at $`2.2\mu `$m, produced in a region of the disc from which there is significant line absorption at this wavelength and in a velocity channel around $`10`$ km/s. Thus the line absorption in this channel is boosted by this factor. The extra emission from around the planet however only boosts the overall continuum level at $`2.2\mu `$m by 1.5% so that the line to continuum ratio in this channel is boosted by nearly 20%, as shown in Figure 2. We note that the small contribution of the planet to the over-all continnum level means that such a planet would not produce any detectable effect on the broad band spectral energy distribution of the system.

The features generated by the planet in Figures 2 and 3 are narrow, with velocity widths – comparable to the Keplerian shear across regions of the disc strongly perturbed by the planet – of only a few km/s. As such, they would be hard to resolve in individual spectra, even given the high spectral resolution of a new generation of infrared spectrometers such as NIRSPEC and Phoenix. On the other hand, line monitoring should reveal these features through their regular motion across the line profile. Figure 4 is a grey scale representation of the spectral variations produced at $`2.2\mu `$m by a planet orbiting at $`0.125`$ au, viewed at a spectral resolution of R=75,000. Each horizontal slice is a spectrum from which the mean line profile (over an orbit of the planet) has been subtracted. The planet’s motion is along the line of sight at the bottom of the plot and the feature moves through the line centre (left hand margin) as the planet motion passes through the tangent plane. The characteristic trail produced by the planet is evident despite the inconspicuousness of the planet’s feature in any individual spectrum.

## 3 The detectability of hot Jupiters in FU Orionis systems

The above crude model suggests that the sort of non-axisymmetric dissipation profile that one would associate with an embedded hot Jupiter would have a conspicuous effect on the line profiles of FU Orionis systems. This immediately raises the question of whether such a distortion should already have been detected in FU Orionis objects analysed to date if they indeed harboured such planets. Two factors however militate against the discovery of such features in existing spectra: firstly the limited spectral resolution (particularly in the infrared, where the spectral resolution of published spectra is comparable with the line width) and secondly, the fact that in order to enhance the signal to noise of the lines analysed, spectra have been co-added from a number of observing runs. We have seen above that the regions of the disc in which embedded planets would be detectable in this way are close in (within $`0.5`$ au) and hence the associated orbital timescale is short (months). The effect of a feature crossing the line profile from the red to the blue wing would thus be washed out by combining spectra from different observing seasons.

In order to detect an embedded planet through its time-dependent distortion of the line profile, it is of course necessary that the planet be located in the region of the disc producing the line. This restricts the technique to the detection of rather close planets (within $`0.5`$ au for an effect to be manifest in the infrared lines and within $`0.1`$ au for a manifestation in optical line spectra). Such orbital radii are well within the range of separations of hot Jupiters (to date $`37`$ and $`18`$ exoplanets respectively have been discovered in each of these separation ranges111See e.g. the compilation at exoplanets.org, though note that many of the planets within 0.1 au have $`M_p\mathrm{sin}(i)`$ less than a Jupiter mass.). Since the infrared lines are produced in cooler regions of the disc, it follows that the infrared lines provide a good diagnostic of planets over a larger range of radii. On the other hand, since the optical lines originate in a more spatially restricted region of the disc, it is evident that if a planet is present at an appropriate radius, it will be more conspicuous in the optical line profiles, since the distortion produced by the planet is less diluted by absorption by other annuli.

What, then, is the likelihood of there being an appropriate planet in a FU Orionis system? If the incidence of planets in FU Orionis systems follows the statistics of exoplanets around main sequence stars, then we expect that between 2 and 3 percent of systems will harbour a planet within 0.5 au. There would then be little chance of there being an exoplanet in the $`16`$ systems classified as FU Orionis systems to date (Sandell & Weintraub 2001). There are, however, strong theoretical arguments that close planets should have been commoner during the pre-main sequence stage, and that the incidence of such systems on the main sequence represents only the (possibly small) fraction that survived migration without being swallowed by the star (Lin, Bodenheimer & Richardson 1996; Trilling et al. 1998; Armitage et al. 2002; Trilling, Lunine & Benz 2002). Indeed, given the extreme youth of most FU Orionis systems, it is probable that all close planets present in FU Orionis discs are destined to be swallowed, in which case main sequence statistics provide no constraint whatsoever on the possible population. Although it is impossible to assess by what factor the incidence of hot Jupiters is increased in young stars, the sign of the effect should motivate the search advocated here.

Finally, we remark that FU Orionis objects may be prime targets for detecting hot Jupiters if, as suggested by Clarke and Syer (1996), there is a causal link between the two phenomena. Clarke and Syer (1996) argued that the most plausible way of triggering a rapid rise outburst (i.e. one in which the hundredfold increase in luminosity occurs on a timescale of a few months), is if the disc prior to outburst is ‘dammed up’ behind such a planet. In the Clarke and Syer model, the onset of the thermal ionisation instability upstream of the planet causes the dam to burst, enveloping the planet and causing a rapid rise in accretion luminosity. It is notable that the planetary characteristics advocated by Clarke and Syer (a $`10`$ Jupiter mass planet located at $`0.1`$ au), are just such that they would be detectable through the absorption line diagnostics discussed here. V1057 Cygni and FU Orionis (both of which are of the rapid rise variety and which are well studied spectroscopically) are thus both prime candidates for this sort of investigation.

## Acknowledgements

We thank Doug Lin for useful discussions on the possibility of pre-main-sequence hot Jupiters, and Mark McCaughrean and Keith Horne for advice concerning the observability of the effect. We thank the referee for valuable comments that improved the clarity of the paper. PJA acknowledges support from NASA’s Origins Program via grant NAG5-13207, and from the IoA Visitors Grant. CJC acknowledges support from the JILA Visitors programme.


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# A relation between Supermassive Black Hole mass and quasar metallicity?

## 1 Introduction

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are believed to drive the tremendous energy output of quasars, and more generally, active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Recent studies have shown that the centers of all massive galaxies today harbor SMBHs (Gebhardt et al. 2000a; Ferrarese & Merritt 2002). Moreover, the mass of the black hole scales directly with the mass of the host galaxy, or more specifically, the mass of the host galaxy’s bulge or spheroidal component. The early results were based on a correlation between SMBH mass and bulge luminosity, $`L_{\mathrm{bulge}}`$ (Magorrian et al. 1998; Laor 1998; Wandel 1999), which showed a large scatter, as much as two orders of magnitude in SMBH mass (Ferrarese & Merritt 2000). Subsequent studies focused on the relationship between the masses of SMBHs and the velocity dispersions, $`\sigma `$, of their host bulges or spheroids. This relation shows considerably less scatter than the $`M_{\mathrm{SMBH}}L_{\mathrm{bulge}}`$ relation (Ferrarese & Merritt 2000; Gebhardt et al. 2000a; Merritt & Ferrarese 2001; Tremaine et al. 2002). There is also no significant difference between the relationships measured for active and quiescent galaxies (Gebhardt et al. 2000b; Ferrarese et al. 2001). Recently, SMBH mass has also been shown to correlate strongly with the global structure of ellipticals and bulges (e.g. more centrally concentrated bulges have more massive SMBHs). This relationship is as strong as the $`M_{\mathrm{SMBH}}\sigma `$ relationship with comparable scatter (Graham et al. 2001; Erwin et al. 2002). Studies that carefully model the bulge light profiles of disk galaxies and thereby obtain more accurate values of $`L_{\mathrm{bulge}}`$ also show less scatter in $`M_{\mathrm{SMBH}}L_{\mathrm{bulge}}`$, similar to that in the $`M_{\mathrm{SMBH}}\sigma `$ relationship (McLure & Dunlop 2002; Erwin et al. 2002; Bettoni et al. 2003).

The overall mass of a galaxy is also known to correlate with its metallicity (Faber 1973; Zaritsky et al. 1994; Jablonka et al. 1996; Trager et al. 2000). This relationship is generally understood in terms of the gravitational binding energy. More massive galaxies have deeper potential wells, making it harder for supernovae and stellar winds to blow matter out of the region. Therefore, the gas remains in the galaxy longer, where it is further reprocessed by stars, leading to higher metallicities. This mass-metallicity relationship, combined with the relationship between SMBH mass and galaxy mass, suggests that there should be a relationship between SMBH mass and the metallicity of the gas clouds surrounding quasars (Hamann & Ferland 1993).

The metallicity of the gas in the broad emission line region (BLR) of quasars can be estimated by analyzing prominent emission lines. BLR metallicities should be representative of the gas in the central regions of galaxies if the BLR was enriched by stars in those environments. Previous studies have demonstrated that we cannot simply examine ratios of strong metal to hydrogen lines, such as C IV $`\lambda 1549`$ / Ly$`\alpha `$, to measure the C/H abundance. This is because strong collisionally excited lines like C IV play an important role in cooling the gas. Increasing the metallicity and thus C/H leads to lower gas temperatures and an almost constant C IV / Ly$`\alpha `$ ratio (Hamann & Ferland 1999). The best abundance diagnostics for the BLR involve ratios of lines that are i) not important in the cooling, and ii) have similar excitation/emission requirements (Hamann et al. 2002). Ratios of emission lines involving nitrogen, N, are especially valuable in determining the metallicity, $`Z`$, because of the expected “secondary” N production via the CNO cycle of nucleosynthesis in stars (Shields 1976; Hamann & Ferland 1992, 1993, 1999; Ferland et al. 1996; Hamann et al. 2002). In the CNO cycle, nitrogen is produced from existing carbon and oxygen. The nitrogen abundance should therefore scale roughly as N/H $`Z^2`$ or N/O $``$ O/H $`Z`$ (Tinsley 1980), providing a sensitive metallicity diagnostic even when direct measures of $`Z`$ = O/H are not available. Observations of H II regions indicate that secondary nitrogen production and N/O $``$ O/H scaling dominate for $`Z0.20.3`$ Z (van Zee et al. 1998; Pettini et al. 2002).

Some other studies suggest that there can be significant departures from the simple N/O $``$ O/H relationship owing to time-dependent or perhaps metallicity-dependent yields of N, O, and C (eg. Henry et al. 2000). These effects are often invoked to explain the observed object-to-object scatter in N/O versus O/H. However, there is a general consensus that large (solar or higher) N/O ratios indicate large (solar or higher) metallicities. Moreover, the most homogeneous and therefore most reliable H II region data (Pilyugin et al. 2002; Pettini et al. 2002) indicate that the scatter in N/O decreases and the validity of N/O $``$ O/H improves in the regime of roughly solar or higher metallicities. This is the regime of the gas near quasars, based on studies of both their broad emission and intrinsic narrow absorption lines (Constantin et al. 2001; Dietrich et al. 1999, 2003a; Hamann 1997; Hamann & Ferland 1999; Hamann et al. 2002; Osmer et al. 1994; Petitjean et al. 1994; Warner et al. 2002). In this paper, we simply assume that N/O $``$ O/H applies. We also note that our analysis of composite quasar spectra naturally averages over object-to-object variations. Any metallicity trends that we infer from the emission line ratios depend on this assumption of N/O $``$ O/H in addition to measurement and photoionization modeling uncertainties.

We have collected spectra of over 800 “Type 1” AGNs (quasars and Seyfert 1 galaxies) from the HST archives and various ground-based observing programs to examine trends in their emission line properties (Dietrich et al. 2002). 578 of these spectra span the rest-frame UV wavelengths needed for this study. We compute five composite quasar spectra from this sample, representing different intervals in SMBH mass from $`10^6`$ to $`10^{10}`$ M. We present measurements of the emission lines in these composite spectra and investigate the relationship between SMBH mass and the metallicity of the BLR gas.

## 2 SMBH Mass Determinations

We estimated black hole masses by applying the virial theorem, $`M_{\mathrm{SMBH}}=rv^2/G`$, to the line-emitting gas, where $`v`$ is the velocity dispersion and $`r`$ is the radial distance away from the SMBH (Peterson & Wandel 2000). The relationship between $`v`$ and the FWHM of the broad emission line profile depends on the kinematics and geometry, but can be expressed as $`v=k\times \mathrm{FWHM}`$, where $`k`$ is a factor on the order of unity (McLure & Dunlop 2001; Vestergaard 2002). Kaspi et al. (2000) express the SMBH mass as

$$M=1.464\times 10^5\text{M}\text{}\left(\frac{R_{\mathrm{BLR}}}{\mathrm{lt}\mathrm{days}}\right)\left(\frac{\mathrm{FWHM}}{10^3\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1}\right)^2$$
(1)
FWHM applies to the broad emission line profile, and $`R_{\mathrm{BLR}}`$ is the radial distance between the BLR and the central mass/continuum source. Equation (1) assumes the gas in the BLR is gravitationally bound and BLR velocities are random. The exact geometry and kinematics are still debated (e.g. McLure & Dunlop 2001), but are unknown, so we take this approach of random velocities ($`k=\sqrt{3}/2`$) because it is the most basic and allows for comparison with most other work. Any offset in mass due to different geometric or kinematic assumptions would only affect the absolute SMBH masses and not any trends derived between metallicity and SMBH mass. We estimate $`R_{\mathrm{BLR}}`$ based on the observed relation between $`R_{\mathrm{BLR}}`$ for a particular line and the continuum luminosity (Kaspi et al. 2000; Vestergaard 2002; Wandel et al. 1999). A particular line must be specified because reverberation studies have shown that the BLR is radially stratified, such that higher ionization lines tend to form closer to the central engine than lower ionization lines (Peterson 1993). Kaspi et al. (2000) find

$$R_{\mathrm{BLR}}(H\beta )=(32.9_{1.9}^{+2.0})\left[\frac{\lambda L_\lambda (5100\mathrm{\AA })}{10^{44}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1}\right]^{0.700\pm 0.033}\mathrm{lt}\mathrm{days}$$
(2)
where $`R_{\mathrm{BLR}}(H\beta )`$ is the radial distance between the central continuum source and the $`H\beta `$ emission line region and $`\lambda L_\lambda (5100\mathrm{\AA })`$ is the continuum luminosity at 5100 Å in the AGN rest frame. We choose to use the C IV $`\lambda 1549`$ emission line instead of $`H\beta `$ to estimate the SMBH mass because it is more readily observed across the entire redshift range from $`z`$ 0 to $`z`$ 5. C IV may in fact yield a better estimate of SMBH mass than $`H\beta `$ because $`H\beta `$ can include a narrow line component that forms in a different region and thus must be subtracted before measuring the FWHM. C IV has no such narrow component (Wills et al. 1993, Vestergaard 2002). It has recently been suggested that Mg II $`\lambda 2798`$ may be a better indicator of SMBH mass than C IV (McLure & Jarvis 2002). However, C IV is observable over a wider range of redshifts and is clearly the best choice among UV lines at shorter wavelengths. Significant blending effects are much less common for C IV than other strong lines in the rest-frame UV spectrum and absorption effects are much less common for C IV than for Ly$`\alpha `$ (Vestergaard 2002).

Reverberation studies indicate that the size of the broad emission line region for C IV is about half that of $`H\beta `$ (Stirpe et al. 1994; Korista et al. 1995; Peterson 1997; Peterson & Wandel 1999). We modify Equation (2) to account for this and we use a powerlaw of the form $`F_\nu \nu ^\alpha `$ with $`\alpha =0.4`$ to estimate a conversion between the continuum luminosity at 5100 Å and 1450 Å. We select $`\alpha =0.4`$ based on average quasar spectra from Brotherton et al. (2001), Vanden Berk et al. (2001), and Dietrich et al. (2002). This yields

$$R_{\mathrm{BLR}}(\mathrm{CIV})=9.7\left[\frac{\lambda L_\lambda (1450\mathrm{\AA })}{10^{44}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1}\right]^{0.7}\mathrm{lt}\mathrm{days}$$
(3)
Vestergaard (2002) finds that this technique of using the continuum luminosity and the FWHM of C IV yields an estimate of the central black hole mass that has a 1$`\sigma `$ uncertainty of a factor of three when compared to reverberation mapping studies that use $`H\beta `$ to estimate SMBH masses. From Equations (1) and (3), we obtain

$$M=1.4\times 10^6\text{M}\text{}\left(\frac{\mathrm{FWHM}(\mathrm{CIV})}{10^3\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1}\right)^2\left(\frac{\lambda L_\lambda (1450\mathrm{\AA })}{10^{44}\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1}\right)^{0.7}$$
(4)
This is essentially the same as (within 10% of) the mass relationship derived by Vestergaard using C IV and $`\lambda L_\lambda (1350\mathrm{\AA })`$ (For this comparison, we again assume the powerlaw index, $`\alpha =0.4`$ between 1450 and 1350 Å.) The difference of $`10\%`$ between the two formulae is negligible compared to the 1$`\sigma `$ uncertainty of a factor of three. See also Netzer (2003) and Corbett et al. (2003) for further discussion of the uncertainties.

While multi-epoch spectra are preferable (to average over variabilities), single-epoch spectra may be used if the signal-to-noise ratio is high enough because the FWHM of single-epoch spectra are generally consistent with the FWHMs of the mean and rms spectra obtained from multi-epoch observations (Vestergaard 2002). It is important to accurately measure the FWHM because the uncertainties in SMBH mass are dominated by the uncertainties in the FWHM. Our composite spectra are each made up of single-epoch observations of multiple quasars and therefore should be approximately equivalent to multi-epoch observations of the same sources.

## 3 Data & Analysis

We have compiled a sample of more than 800 quasar spectra, spanning a redshift range from $`0z5`$ and six orders of magnitude in intrinsic luminosity. The spectra were obtained by several groups using various ground-based instruments, as well as the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). One unique aspect of this sample is that it contains new observations of faint quasars at redshift $`z>2.5`$ (Dietrich et al. 2002). Thus we can avoid to some degree the bias toward higher luminosities at higher redshifts that affects other magnitude-limited samples. 578 of the spectra have UV wavelength coverage that encompasses the range $`950\lambda 2050`$ Å. Each spectrum was transformed to the rest-frame using a redshift measured from the centroid of the upper 50% of the C IV $`\lambda 1549`$ profile. See Dietrich et al. (2002) and Dietrich et al. (2003, in prep) for more details on the AGN sample and how luminosities were obtained. Throughout this paper, we use the cosmological parameters H0 = 65 km s-1 Mpc-1, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M`$ = 0.3, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ = 0 (Carroll, Press, & Turner 1992). We used radio flux densities given in Véron-Cetty & Véron (2001) to determine the radio loudness for the quasars.

We use an automated program to estimate the FWHM of C IV in each spectrum. The program averages over noise by applying a smoothing routine that calculates the median of each five-pixel interval. It then fits a local linear continuum (contrained by the flux in 25 Å wide intervals centered around 1442.5 Å and 1712.5 Å) around C IV, measures the peak flux of the emission line (of the smoothed spectrum), and uses those to estimate the FWHM of the line. Comparisons between the FWHMs estimated by the program and those measured manually indicate an error of $`10`$% in the estimates. Lines containing significant absorption are flagged by the program and their FWHMs are estimated manually (by manually interpolating across the absorption feature). We use the FWHM of C IV and the continuum luminosity, $`\lambda L_\lambda (1450\mathrm{\AA })`$ to estimate the central SMBH mass of each quasar based on Equation (4).

We then sorted the quasars by SMBH mass into five bins: $`10^610^7`$ M, $`10^710^8`$ M, $`10^810^9`$ M, $`10^910^{10}`$ M, and $`>10^{10}`$ M, and computed five composite spectra. Each composite spectrum is the average of all the quasar spectra in a bin (see Table 1 for data about each composite spectrum, including the powerlaw index, $`\alpha `$, of the continuum fit, the number of objects contributing to the composite at and FWHM of C IV and $`H\beta `$, continuum luminosity, and mean SMBH mass). Calculating composite spectra increases the signal-to-noise ratio significantly, making it easier to measure weaker emission lines that may be lost in the noise in individual spectra.

Since narrow absorption features may influence the emission line profiles in composite spectra, we developed a method to detect strong narrow absorption features that exclude the contaminated spectral region of individual spectra from the calculation of the composite spectrum. The procedure is roughly as follows (see Dietrich et. al 2002 for more details). First, a preliminary mean spectrum is calculated from all of the spectra in a given mass bin. Each individual spectrum is then divided by this preliminary mean to derive a ratio spectrum. The ratio spectrum is smoothed with a running boxcar function, which provides in addition to the smoothed ratio also a root-mean-square (rms) value for each wavelength box. A narrow absorption line will cause a sharp increase in the rms spectrum. The contaminated spectral regions of individual spectra, identified by these rms spikes, are excluded from the calculation of the final composite spectra, and no interpolation has been applied (Dietrich et al. 2002).

We next corrected each composite spectrum for strong iron emission lines. To get a first estimate of the contribution of Fe emission, we used the empirical Fe emission template that was carefully extracted from I Zw 1 by Vestergaard & Wilkes (2001), which they very kindly provided for this study. The template is mostly Fe II emission but contains some Fe III emission as well. We have modified this Fe emission template int he UV range $`\lambda \lambda 12001540`$ Å in accordance with photoionization model calculations presented by Verner et al. (1999). Based on our analysis of quasar composite spectra (Dietrich et al. 2002), we found that the strength of Fe line emission in the wavelength range $`\lambda \lambda 14201470`$ Å is equal to $``$2 % of the integrated pseudo continuum flux in this wavelength range (Dietrich et al. 2002). Fe contributions vary for other wavelength ranges, but we scale the entire template to match the 2% contribution in the range 1420 – 1470 Å. This estimate of a 2 % contribution is conservatively low to avoid over-subtraction of the Fe emission template. The spectral width of the Fe emission features was adjusted to a width corresponding to the FWHM of the C IV $`\lambda 1549`$ emission line profile of each quasar. The appropriated scaled Fe emission template was subtracted from the corresponding composite spectrum. In spite of its small contribution, the estimate of the Fe line emission improves particularly the measurements of N III\] $`\lambda 1750`$ and lines such as He II $`\lambda 1640`$ near an unidentified $`\lambda 1600`$ Å emission feature (Laor et al. 1994; Vestergaard & Wilkes 2001).

We used the task NFIT1D in the IRAF111The Image Reduction and Analysis Facility (IRAF) is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (USRA), under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. software package to fit the continuum of each Fe-subtracted spectrum with a powerlaw of the form $`F_\nu `$ $``$ $`\nu ^\alpha `$. The fits were constrained by the flux in wavelength intervals between the emission lines, namely in 25 Å wide windows centered at 1460 Å, 1770 Å, and 2000 Å. The spectral indices overall differ from $`\alpha =0.4`$ because the powerlaw fit is to a narrower wavelength range than, for example, Dietrich et al. (2002) or Vanden Berk et al. (2001). However, there is a significant trend for steeper (softer) UV spectra in the low-mass sources (see Table 1). Figures 1 and 2 show the final Fe II-subtracted composite spectra normalized by the continuum fits.

To measure the broad emission lines, we use the spectral fitting routine SPECFIT (Kriss 1994), which employs $`\chi ^2`$ minimization. We fit each line with one or more Gaussian profiles, with the understanding that each individual Gaussian component may have no physical meaning by itself. Our goal in fitting the lines is simply to measure the total line strengths free of blends. Our strategy is to obtain the best fit with the least number of free paramaters and, when necessary, to use the profile of strong unblended lines, such as C IV, to constrain the fits to weaker or more blended lines. Figure 3 shows an example of these fits. The Appendix provides details of our fitting procedure for different lines/blends. Table 2 lists the resulting line fluxes relative to Ly$`\alpha `$, plus the rest-frame equivalent widths (REWs) as measured above the fitted continuum, and the FWHM of each line. The fluxes, REWs, and FWHMs given in Table 2 are from the total fitted profiles, which can include several multiplet components and up to three Gaussian profiles per component (as described in the Appendix).

The primary uncertainty in our flux measurements is the continuum location. We estimate the 1 $`\sigma `$ standard deviation of our measurements of the fluxes of C IV and Ly$`\alpha `$ to be $``$10% based on repeated estimates with the continuum drawn at different levels. By the same method, we estimate the uncertainty in N V, N III\], He II, O III\], and other weaker lines to be $``$10–20%. These estimates do not include the uncertainties due to line blending, which can be important for some of the weak lines and for N V in the wing of Ly$`\alpha `$. The blending and continuum placement uncertainties are both greater for the higher mass spectra because of the broader profiles and generally lower REWs.

## 4 C IV vs. H$`\beta `$ as a Mass Diagnostic

To test the hypothesis that $`R_{\mathrm{BLR}}`$ for C IV is typically half the value of that for $`H\beta `$, we compare the measured FWHM of C IV to that of $`H\beta `$ (see Figure 4). If the velocities are virialized and $`R_{\mathrm{BLR}}`$ for C IV is half that of $`H\beta `$, we expect the FWHM of C IV to be a factor of $`\sqrt{2}`$ larger than the FWHM of $`H\beta `$. FWHMs are estimated by an automated program as described in §3. There can be separate BLR and Narrow Line Region (NLR) contributions to $`H\beta `$ (Marziani et al. 1996, Hamann et al. 1997), so each $`H\beta `$ line is looked at individually. In 5 out of 74 cases, where there is obvious narrow $`H\beta `$ emission with the same redshift and profile as \[O III\] $`\lambda 5007`$, this narrow emission is clipped off and the FWHM of $`H\beta `$ is manually estimated. There appears to be no real correlation between the two FWHMs for individual objects, but averages of objects in selected ranges of C IV FWHM fall generally between a 1:1 correlation and the expected $`\sqrt{2}`$:1 correlation (see Figure 4). It should be noted that observations of $`H\beta `$ and C IV for individual objects were not necessarily made simultaneously, which may contribute to the scatter in Figure 4. Five composite spectra, created from objects in selected ranges in SMBH mass (derived from C IV using Eqn. 4 and plotted as open boxes with error bars), do appear to be consistent with the expectation that FWHM(C IV) = $`\sqrt{2}`$ FWHM($`H\beta `$). All spectra contributing to the composite spectra contain C IV, but only some contain $`H\beta `$ (see Table 1). The narrow component of $`H\beta `$ was not subtracted from any spectrum before the composite spectra were created. In the composites, the narrow $`H\beta `$ contribution smoothly blends into the broad-line profile. Filled diamonds represent the averages of objects in selected ranges of C IV FWHM. These averages contain only the individual objects (plotted with + signs in the figure) that have data at both C IV and $`H\beta `$. Thus, while there is a large scatter among individual sources, the FWHMs of C IV and $`H\beta `$ generally scale as expected in both the composite spectra and the averages of individual objects. Also note that any offsets in Fig. 4 affect only the absolute SMBH masses, with an uncertainty of up to a factor of two, but do not affect any trends with SMBH mass.

We also estimate the SMBH mass derived from C IV and the SMBH mass derived from $`H\beta `$. Masses are derived from $`H\beta `$ using Eqns. 1 and 2. We compare the two masses for all objects in our sample that have observations of both lines (see Figure 5). Filled diamonds represent the averages of objects in selected ranges of SMBH mass (as derived from C IV). As in Fig. 4, these averages contain only the individual objects that have data at both C IV and $`H\beta `$. We find that that there is approximately a 1:1 correlation between the mass obtained from C IV and that obtained from $`H\beta `$. There can be significant deviations from this for individual objects, but the relation holds well for averages of many objects. Hereafter, we will discuss only the masses obtained from C IV.

## 5 Results

### 5.1 SMBH Mass vs. Redshift, Luminosity, and FWHM

Figure 6 shows the redshift distribution of the entire sample as a function of SMBH mass. The sample was designed to span the widest possible range of luminosity at each redshift, and the distribution of points in Fig. 6 closely follows the distribution in $`L`$ vs. $`z`$ (see Dietrich et al. 2002). There is no trend in SMBH mass with redshift. We expect SMBH mass to correlate with both continuum luminosity and FWHM because we derived our mass estimates from these quantities (Eqn. 4). Continuum luminosity is plotted as a function of SMBH mass in Figure 7, and shows the expected trend with little scatter. This relationship is much tighter than the relationship with the FWHM of C IV (see Figure 8), even though our SMBH mass estimates depend more sensitively on FWHM than luminosity. This may be due to the larger dynamic range in luminosity compared to FWHM (see Netzer 2003 for further discussion). In all three plots (Figs. 6-8), no trend is seen based on radio loud vs. radio quiet objects.

### 5.2 Line Properties versus SMBH Mass

The Baldwin Effect is an observed anti-correlation between continuum luminosity (and thus SMBH mass, since that is estimated based on luminosity) and the equivalent widths of emission lines such as C IV, Ly$`\alpha `$, C III\], and O VI (see Baldwin 1977; Croom et al. 2002; Dietrich et al. 2002; Espey et al. 1993; Osmer et al. 1994, Osmer & Shields 1999; Zheng & Malkan 1993). Interestingly, the Baldwin Effect is not seen in N V even though it seems to be present to some extent in N III\]. Dietrich et al. (2002) discuss the Baldwin Effect of this same sample sorted by continuum luminosity. The Baldwin Effect is also evident in our spectra sorted by $`M_{\mathrm{SMBH}}`$. Figure 9 plots rest-frame equivalent widths as a function of SMBH mass (see also Figs. 1 & 2). Al III curiously does not show the Baldwin Effect in these composite spectra and, if anything, its equivalent width actually increases with SMBH mass. This is contrary to its behavior in Dietrich et al. (2002) when sorted by continuum luminosity. The rest of the lines plotted in Fig. 9 show generally the same behavior as in Dietrich et al. (2002). Dietrich et al. (2002) find that the slope of the Baldwin Effect becomes steeper in most lines at higher luminosities. We observe a similar trend for steeper slopes at higher SMBH masses with the notable exception of N III\], which slightly increases in REW at higher SMBH masses.

### 5.3 Metallicity versus SMBH Mass

Figure 10 shows the metallicities inferred by comparing emission line flux ratios for each composite spectrum to the theoretical results in Hamann et al. (2002). We obtain our metallicity estimates by comparing the emission line flux ratios to plots of metallicity vs. line ratio based on theoretical models (see Figure 5 in Hamann et. al 2002 and Figure 3 in Warner et al. 2002). We prefer to estimate the metallicities based on the calculations in Hamann et al. that use a segmented powerlaw for the photoionizing continuum shape. This continuum shape is a good approximation to the average observed continuum in quasars (Zheng et al. 1997; Laor et al. 1997). It also yields intermediate results for line ratios, such as N V/He II, that are sensitive to the continuum shape (see below).

The uncertainties in the metallicities shown in Figure 10 derive simply from the 1-$`\sigma `$ measurement uncertainties discussed in §3. They do not reflect the theoretical uncertainties in the technique we use to derive metallicities from the line ratios (see Hamann et al. 2002 for discussion). Also note that there is a larger statistical uncertainty in the lowest mass composite spectrum, because it is composed of only nine objects (the small number of spectra in this composite make it easier for one or two objects to dominate the composite).

Our best estimate of the overall metallicity from each spectrum (labeled as Average in Fig. 10) is obtained by averaging the results of N III\]/C III\], N III\]/O III\], N V/C IV, and N V/O VI. We select these ratios because we believe they are the most accurately measured ratios and the most reliable from a theoretical viewpoint (Hamann et al. 2002).

We believe the ratios involving N IV\] are less reliable for several reasons. First, the N IV\] flux is difficult to measure because this line is weak and in the wing of the much stronger C IV line profile. Second, ratios such as N IV\]/C IV, which compare a permitted and intercombination line, are potentially more sensitive to uncertainties in the line optical depths and radiative transfer. Third, perhaps as a consequence of the greater uncertainties in N IV\], there is more object-to-object scatter in the results derived from N IV\] compared to N III\] (Hamann et al. 2002). We also exclude N V/He II from our estimate of the average metallicity because i) this ratio compares a collisionally excited line (N V) to a recombination line (He II), and ii) it can yield (for this continuum shape) very high metallicities that are obtained by extrapolations beyond the theoretical results calculated by Hamann et al. (2002).

All of the line ratios involving N III\] and N V show N/O and N/C ratios that are solar or greater. This implies a metallicity of $``$ 1 Z if N is mostly secondary.

### 5.4 Do N III\] and N V Disagree?

All four ratios involving N V show a strong trend in metallicity with SMBH mass. The slope of this trend is not linear and seems to increase as mass increases. The ratios involving N III\], however, show no apparent correlation between metallicity and SMBH mass. We believe that this apparent discrepancy between the two ratios may be due to the large FWHMs and small REWs of the emission lines in the composite spectra representing higher SMBH masses.

The spectra representing higher SMBH masses have broader lines because the mass derivation depends on the line FWHM (Eqn. 4). This may lead to systematic overestimating of the continuum if the wings of the lines blend together and never quite reach the continuum level. In particular, notice the interval around 1460 Å (see Figs. 1 and 2) that we used to constrain our continuum fits (see §3). In the higher mass spectra, C IV and Si IV + O IV\] seem to blend together, never quite reaching the true continuum, and instead forming a “U” shape. This effect of overestimating the continuum could lead to underestimates of N III\] and N IV\] in the higher mass spectra and thus negate or weaken any real trend between SMBH mass and the flux ratios involving these lines. For example, we find that a drop in the continuum level of only 5% will more than double the measured flux in N III\] and N IV\], but increase the flux in stronger lines by only $``$ 15% to 30%.

In order to more thoroughly examine the effects of FWHM on the measured line fluxes, we sort the quasar spectra by the FWHM of C IV and create composite spectra for different ranges in FWHM. We then fit the continuum and measure the emission line fluxes as described in §3. The resulting line ratios are plotted in Figure 11. We find that the flux ratio of C III\]/C IV remains roughly constant at different line widths, but N III\]/N V declines as the lines get broader. Because of this, we again see a discrepancy in metallicity trends between ratios involving N III\] and those involving N V. The ratios involving N V indicate increasing metallicity with increasing line width. This is expected because objects with broader emission lines should have higher black hole masses and thus higher metallicities (§1). The N III\] ratios, however, show a “U”-like behavior in Figure 11, with the narrowest lines having the highest metallicity. The composite spectrum with the narrowest lines is also the only one in which the metallicities derived from N III\] ratios agree with those derived from N V ratios.

There are two possible explanations for the discrepancy between the line ratios. The first possibility is that N V is somehow enhanced in quasars with broader emission lines (and/or larger $`L`$ and $`M_{\mathrm{SMBH}}`$) by a process that we do not understand. The second possibility is that we are systematically overestimating the continuum and thus underestimating the flux of N III\] in spectra with broader lines. There is evidence supporting the latter hypothesis in that N III\]/N V and C III\]/C IV behave similarly in our overall quasar sample. In particular, when N III\]/N V is larger/smaller than average, C III\]/C IV is also larger/smaller by roughly the same factor. The intercombination lines scale roughly together compared to the permitted lines of the same element. The somewhat different behaviors of N III\]/N V and C III\]/C IV in Figure 11 (sorted by FWHM) therefore suggest that we are underestimating the weak N III\] line in the broader line sources. The U-like shape of the N III\]/O III\] and N III\]/C III\] points in this figure could then be caused by an increasing underestimate of N III\] as the FWHM increases from $``$2000 km s-1 to $``$5000 km s-1, offset by the increasing N/O and N/C abundance ratios for FWHM $`5000`$ km s-1. Thus, we believe this is the more likely scenario. This scenario may also explain the fact that the metallicities derived from all ratios agree for objects with narrow emission lines (see also Warner et al. 2002; Baldwin et al. 2003), in which the continuum is unlikely to be systematically overestimated.

## 6 Discussion

Our main result from §5 is that the data are consistent with a trend between BLR metallicity and SMBH mass. The hypothesis motivating this work (§1) was that there should be a trend between metallicity and SMBH mass with roughly the same slope as the mass-metallicity relation in elliptical galaxies, if the BLR gas was enriched by stars in the AGN’s host galaxy. We use a plot of $`\mathrm{Mg}_2`$ index vs. velocity dispersion, $`\sigma `$, in Bender et al. (1993) to estimate the slope of the galactic mass-metallicity relation. $`\mathrm{Mg}_2`$ index is a line strength parameter used to derive metallicities. Bender et al. (1993) derive $`\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{Mg}_2)0.41\mathrm{log}(Z/\text{Z}\text{})`$ and $`\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{Mg}_2)0.20\mathrm{log}(\sigma )`$. Using these proportionalities, along with $`M\sigma ^2`$, we obtain an estimate of the slope of the mass-metallicity relation in log space, $`\mathrm{\Delta }Z/\mathrm{\Delta }M0.24`$. We obtain a similar estimate ($`\mathrm{\Delta }Z/\mathrm{\Delta }M0.34`$) using a plot of \[O/H\] vs. absolute blue magnitude in Zaritsky et al. (1994) combined with a plot of $`\mathrm{log}(L_B)`$ vs. $`\mathrm{log}(M)`$ in van Albada et al. (1995). We also derive $`\mathrm{log}(Z)0.38\pm 0.07\mathrm{log}(M_{\mathrm{SMBH}})`$ from the $`[Z/\mathrm{H}]0.76\pm 0.13\mathrm{log}(\sigma )`$ relation given in Trager et al. (2000). We employ a $`\chi ^2`$ minimization routine to obtain linear fits to the plots of metallicity vs. SMBH mass shown in Figure 10. These fits yield a slope of $`\mathrm{\Delta }Z/\mathrm{\Delta }M0.20.3`$ for all ratios involving N V. This is consistent with the slope of the mass-metallicity relation in elliptical galaxies as expected. The slope for the average metallicity vs. SMBH mass is $``$0.2, slightly lower than the slopes for the N V ratios. The slope for ratios involving N III\] is $``$0, but the slope from only the three highest mass spectra for these ratios is $`0.10.2`$. This may be a lower bound on the slope of metallicity vs. SMBH mass because in the highest mass spectra, the increasing N/O and N/C abundance ratios are starting to dominate the underestimation of N III\] caused by the systematic overestimation of the continuum in spectra with broad lines.

It should be noted that the quasar-BLR metallicities are several times higher than the galactic values derived in the studies listed above. This apparent discrepancy can be understood in the context of normal galaxy evolution. Quasar BLRs sample an earlier evolutionary stage and frequently a different physical location in galaxies compared to the H II regions or average spectra of stars in present day galaxies (Hamann & Ferland 1999). However, the similar slope of the mass-metallicity relationship in both quasars and galaxies supports the premise that the gas in the BLR was processed/enriched by the surrounding stellar population.

The evidence presented here for a mass-metallicity relationship among quasars does not prove that SMBH mass is the fundamental parameter affecting BLR metallicity. However, in these composite spectra, sorted by SMBH mass, the slope of the trend between luminosity and metallicity is at least as steep as (and possibly marginally steeper than) the slope is for composite spectra sorted by luminosity (see Dietrich et al. 2002; Dietrich et al. 2003, in prep). Also, composite spectra created from different ranges in Eddington ratio, $`L_{bol}/L_{edd}`$, show a slight trend with luminosity, but no trend with either SMBH mass or metallicity (see Warner et al. 2003, in prep). These results suggest that SMBH mass could be the fundamental parameter. Further support for mass as the fundamental parameter comes from the similarity of the mass-metallicity relationship among quasars to the corresponding relationship among galaxies. These ideas are also consistent with the growing evidence (e.g. Shields et al. 2002) for a close relationship between quasars and their host galaxies. In particular, the relationship between SMBH mass and host galaxy mass (see refs. in §1) indicates that i) SMBHs are a natural byproduct of galaxy formation, and ii) essentially all massive galaxies were at one time “active.” Quasars at high redshifts are signposts of the last stages in the formation of these massive SMBHs in the cores of young galactic spheroids. The high metallicities near these objects reported here and elsewhere (Constantin et al. 2001; Dietrich et al. 1999, 2003; Hamann 1997; Hamann & Ferland 1999; Hamann et al. 2002; Osmer et al. 1994; Petitjean et al. 1994; Warner et al. 2002) imply that the gas has already (at the quasar epoch) been substantially processed/enriched by multiple generations of massive stars. This rapid evolution at high redshifts, though, is well within the parameters derived in some recent simulations, which show that the densest protogalactic condensations can form stars and reach solar or higher metallicities at $`z6`$ (Gnedin & Ostriker 1997; Haiman & Loeb 2001).

## 7 Summary & Conclusions

We have investigated a large sample of 578 AGNs for a trend between metallicity and SMBH mass. The sample covers a redshift range from $`0z5`$, six orders of magnitude in luminosity, and five orders of magnitude in SMBH mass. We estimate SMBH masses using the virial theorem and formulae given in Kaspi et al. (2000). To improve the signal-to-noise ratio and average over object-to-object variations, we produce composite spectra representing each decade in SMBH mass. Composite spectra allow us to better measure weak emission lines and minimize the influence of irregularities in any individual quasar. After a powerlaw continuum fit, multi-component Gaussian profiles are fit to emission lines to measure their fluxes. Metallicities are then estimated by comparing emission line ratios involving nitrogen to theoretical predictions in Hamann et al. (2002). Our main results are as follows.

1) We estimate SMBH masses based on both C IV and $`H\beta `$ and find approximately a 1:1 correlation for averages of many objects (Fig. 5). We conclude that it is valid to use C IV instead of $`H\beta `$ to estimate average black hole masses in samples of AGNs.

2) There is no trend between SMBH mass and redshift, but as expected, SMBH mass shows a positive correlation with both luminosity and the FWHM of C IV.

3) We observe the usual Baldwin Effect in composite spectra representing different ranges in SMBH mass. In agreement with other studies (see Dietrich et al. 2002), N V does not show the Baldwin Effect even though it seems to be present to some extent in N III\]. However, Al III curiously does not exhibit the Baldwin Effect either, and if anything, its REW actually increases with increasing SMBH mass.

4) We find a trend in metallicity with SMBH mass for emission line ratios involving N V, but not for those involving N III\] or N IV\]. This is consistent with the findings of Dietrich et al. (2002). They find a lack of a Baldwin Effect for N V, which in the present study leads to emission line ratios involving N V increasing with increasing luminosity. However, Dietrich et al. (2003a, 2003b) find that metallicities derived from ratios involving both N III\] and N V yield results of solar or greater, for samples of 70 high redshift ($`3.9z5.0`$) quasars.

5) We conclude that the data are consistent with a trend between SMBH mass and metallicity and some of the data (N V ratios) indicate that there is a very strong trend. N III\] seems to indicate no trend; however, upon further examination, we believe that the uncertainties in N III\] and N IV\] are too large to confirm or test any trend. We note that the correlation between SMBH mass and FWHM may lead to systematic overestimates of the continuum and thus underestimates of N III\] and N IV\] in the higher mass spectra.

6) We estimate the slope of the galactic mass-metallicity relationship in log space to be $`\mathrm{\Delta }Z/\mathrm{\Delta }M0.20.3`$ (see §6). This slope is consistent with linear fits to the plots of metallicity vs. SMBH mass in Fig. 10 that are derived from ratios involving N V, as well as the plot of “average” metallicity vs. SMBH mass. The similarity in the slope of the mass-metallicity relationship in both quasars and galaxies supports the premise that the gas in the BLR was processed/enriched by the surrounding stellar environment and contributes to the growing evidence for a close relationship between quasars and their host galaxies.

Acknowledgements: We are very grateful to Marianne Vestergaard for providing the UV Fe emission template for this study and to Fred Chaffee, Anca Constantin, Craig Foltz, Vesa Junkkarinen, and Joe Shields for their direct participation in reducing or acquiring some of the ground-based spectra. We acknowledge financial support from the NSF via grant AST99-84040 and NASA via grant NAG5-3234.

We fit C IV $`\lambda 1549`$ with three Gaussian profiles. Three Gaussians are necessary to obtain a good fit because the emission lines are not Gaussian by nature and contain broad wings. We ignore the doublet splitting in C IV because it is small compared to the observed line widths. N IV\] $`\lambda 1486`$, where it is measureable, is fit with a C IV profile. That is, we fit it with three Gaussian profiles that have their FWHMs tied to the values fit to C IV and their relative fluxes and relative wavelength shifts are tied to the same ratios as in the fit to C IV. For the two highest mass composite spectra, we fit only an upper-bound to N IV\] because it is too blended with the wing of C IV to measure. He II $`\lambda 1640`$ is fit with two Gaussian profiles, one broad and one narrow and O III\] $`\lambda 1665`$ is fit with a C IV profile. The weak and badly blended doublet Si II $`\lambda \lambda 1527,1533`$ is fit with one Gaussian profile for each component.

Ly$`\alpha `$ $`\lambda 1216`$, like C IV, is fit with three Gaussian profiles, but only the red side of the line is used for $`\chi ^2`$ minimization because of contamination by the Ly$`\alpha `$ forest on the blue side. Each component of the N V $`\lambda 1240`$ doublet is fit with a C IV profile because N V is strongly blended with the wing of Ly$`\alpha `$. This connection between C IV and N V can be justified because they are both high ionization lines with similar excitation properties (Ferland et al. 1998). The relative fluxes of the two components of the N V doublet are set to the ratio of the statistical weight, $`g`$, times the $`A`$ value for each transition (approximately 2:1 in this case), because this yields a better fit than using a 1:1 ratio. We use atomic data obtained from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (http://aeldata.phy.nist.gov/PhysRefData/contents-atomic.html) to calculate $`g`$ times the $`A`$ value for each transition. The weak and blended multiplet Si II $`\lambda \lambda 1260,1264,1265`$ is fit with one Gaussian profile for each component.

We fit O I $`\lambda 1303`$ with a single Gaussian profile and C II $`\lambda 1335`$ with two Gaussians, one for each component of the doublet. The fluxes of the two C II components are tied to a 1:1 ratio because this yields a better fit than a 2:1 ratio. The FWHMs and relative wavelengths are also tied together.

We fit the doublet Si IV $`\lambda \lambda 1393,1403`$ with one Gaussian profile for each of the two components. The fluxes of these components are tied to a 1:1 ratio because this yields a better fit than a 2:1 ratio. O IV\] $`\lambda 1403`$, a blended multiplet of five lines, is fit with one Gaussian profile for each of its five components. The flux ratios of the components in this case are tied to the ratio of $`g`$ times the $`A`$ value for each transition using atomic data obtained from Nussbaumer & Storey (1982). Because Si IV and O IV\] are badly blended, we tie the FWHMs and relative wavelengths together for all seven components of the Si IV - O IV\] blend. We list the sum of the blend in Table 2.

We fit the N III\] $`\lambda 1750`$ multiplet with five C IV profiles, one for each component of the multiplet. We use C IV profiles to constrain the fit because N III\] is a weak intercombination line. The relative fluxes of the five components are tied to the ratio of $`g`$ times the $`A`$ value for each transition because this yields the best fit. The FWHMs and relative wavelengths are all tied together.

We use two Gaussian profiles to fit C III\] $`\lambda 1909`$ because two Gaussians provide a fit that is just as good as the fit obtained by using three Gaussians. The Al III $`\lambda \lambda 1855,1863`$ doublet is fit with one Gaussian profile for each component. The flux ratio is tied to the ratio of $`g`$ times the $`A`$ value for each transition and the FWHMs and relative wavelengths of both components are tied together. Si III\] $`\lambda 1892`$ is fit with one Gaussian profile and has its FWHM and relative wavelength tied to Al III because it is badly blended with C III\].

We fit a local continuum around O VI $`\lambda 1035`$, which was constrained by the flux in wavelength intervals centered at 960 Å and 1100 Å. We then fit each component of the O VI $`\lambda 1035`$ doublet with two Gaussian profiles. The fluxes are tied to a 3:2 ratio, compromising between 1:1 and 2:1, because this yields the best fit. Where they are measureable, C III $`\lambda 977`$ and N III $`\lambda 990`$ are fit with one Gaussian profile each, and their FWHMs and relative wavelengths are tied together. When calculating fluxes from measured REWs, we scale O VI as if it were sitting on top of a segmented powerlaw continuum, defined by our previous continuum fit redward of 1250 Å and by a powerlaw with index $`\alpha =1.76`$ (Telfer et al. 2002) blueward of 1250 Å.

Each of the five spectra is fit in this fashion, with the following exceptions for the broadest ($`M10^{10}`$ M) spectrum, which has many extremely blended lines. In this spectrum, we tie the relative wavelengths of the three Gaussian profiles used to fit C IV and Ly$`\alpha `$ and the two Gaussian profiles used to fit C III\] to the corresponding ratios from our fit to the $`M10^9`$ M sample. We do not attempt to fit N IV\] or Si II $`\lambda \lambda 1527,1533`$, as they are undetectable due to the broad wing of C IV. It should also be noted that in our fit to this spectrum, the broader Gaussian profile of our fit to He II is blueshifted by 15 Å.


text:
# An asymptotical von-Neumann measurement strategy for solid-state qubits

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## Abstract

A measurement on a macroscopic quantum system does in general not lead to a projection of the wavefunction in the basis of the detector as predicted by von-Neumann’s postulate. Hence, it is a question of fundametal interest, how the preferred basis onto which the state is projected is selected out of the macroscopic Hilbert space of the system. Detector-dominated von-Neumann measurements are also desirable for both quantum computation and verification of quantum mechanics on a macroscopic scale. The connection of these questions to the predictions of the spin-boson modelis outlined. I propose a measurement strategy, which uses the entanglement of the qubit with a weakly damped harmonic oscillator. It is shown, that the degree of entanglement controls the degree of renormalization of the qubit and identify, that this is equivalent to the degree to which the measurement is detector-dominated. This measurement very rapidly decoheres the initial state, but the thermalization is slow. The implementation in Josephson quantum bits is described and it is shown that this strategy also has practical advantages for the experimental implementation.

\]

The field of quantum computation has been experimentally pioneered in quantum optics, atomic physics and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). In these quantum-mechanical systems with few degrees of freedom and strong quantum coherence, the measurement devices (“meters”) are well described and can be classified into two types: In atomic physics, e.g., “strong” measurements can be performed, which satisfy von Neumann’s measurement postulate , i.e. the state of the system is projected onto the eigenstate of the meter corresponding to the measurement result. In NMR, on the other hand, the meter couples weakly to each individual spin and decoheres it only weakly. In order to still obtain enough signal and information, the measurement is performed on an ensemble of qubits.

These qubits cannot be easily integrated to large-scale circuits. Thus, solid-state qubits, which can be lithographically manufactured, are a promising alternative. Solid state systems consist of many degrees of freedom, hence quantum coherence can so far only be maintained over very short times . It was proposed that superconducting Josephson circuits in the charge  or flux  regime could act as solid state qubits with appreciable coherence times. In these cases, the measurement apparatus is permanently close to the qubit, although the interaction may effectively be switched off . The measurement process in this system can be described within the spin-boson  or related models .

From a density-matrix description, we can obtain detailed (although incomplete) information about the dynamics of the measurement: After a dephasing time $`\tau _\varphi `$, the density matrix is brought into an incoherent mixture and after the relaxation time $`\tau _\mathrm{r}`$ it thermalizes and the information about the initial state is lost . In order to render $`\tau _\mathrm{r}`$ long enough, usually  the meter is only weakly coupled to the qubit. This makes it necessary to ensemble-average by repeating the measurement. Theoretical research  shows, that an optimization of these weak measurements allows for single-shot measurements without averaging, by waiting longer that the dephasing time. These are optimized weak measurements or qubit dominated measurements: They completely decohere the state of the qubit, however, the final state is not an eigenstate of the measured observable, but of the qubit. Qubit and apparatus do not get strongly entangled. It has also been shown theoretically , that detector-dominated strong measurements of superconducting qubits are possible, on the expense of $`\tau _\mathrm{R}`$ being very short, which sets a strong experimental challenge. It is a fundamental question, under which conditions a measurement performed on a potentially macroscopic object follows the postulates of quantum mechanics and how, in general, the preferred observable basis is selected out of the large Hilbert space of the system and the detector . This question should be addressed using specific models which describe actual detectors. Moreover, there are practical issues: i) The theoretical signal to noise ratio of a weak measurement is limited to 4  ii) Efficient quantum algorithms like error correction  or the test of Bell-type inequalities  rely on strong measurements.

In this paper, I am going to connect the abstract notions of quantum measurement theory to the concepts of the spin-boson model, in particular the issue of entanglement will be connected to scaling of the tunnel matrix element. I will outline a method how to perform genuine detector dominated measurements in this context.

For definiteness, it is assumed that the variable of the quantum bit which is measured is described by the pseudospin-operator $`\widehat{\sigma }_\mathrm{z}`$. When the measurement apparatus is coupled to the qubit, the same term experiences a fluctuating force, which is assumed to be Gaussian and be modeled by a bath of harmonic oscillators. Consequently, we end up with the spin-boson Hamiltonian . After integrating out high frequencies, its pseudospin part reads

$$\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{eff}}=\mathrm{}\left(\frac{ϵ}{2}\widehat{\sigma }_z+\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}}{2}\widehat{\sigma }_x\right)$$
(1)
where the off-diagonal term $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ is in general rescaled due to the environment as compared to the original splitting $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ of an isolated qubit. The spin-boson model generally predicts  the dynamics described in the previous section. In particular, after the dephasing time, the density matrix onto a mixture of eigenstates of $`H_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. Usually, in the weak coupling regime, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ is close to the bare $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ of the qubit and consequently the eigenstates of $`H_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ are far from being eigenstates of $`\widehat{\sigma }_\mathrm{z}`$. Consequently, the state of the qubit will not be procjected onto the measured variable, i.e. the measurement is qubit-dominated. A detector-dominated measurement would be realized for $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}=0`$, i.e. when $`\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{eff}}=(ϵ/2)\widehat{\sigma _\mathrm{z}}`$ and hence commutes with the coupling to the meter. A number of schemes allow to directly suppress $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ using an external control parameter . In what follows, I want to describe, using a generic model, how this is accomplished by the measurement apparatus itself, in agreement with the usual understanding of quantum measurements.

Consider a qubit coupled to a single (big) harmonic oscillator, which experiences linear friction, which is in turn described quantum-mechanically through a bath of oscillators. The Hamiltonian of this system reads

$`\widehat{H}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{}\left({\displaystyle \frac{ϵ}{2}}\widehat{\sigma }_z+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }}{2}}\widehat{\sigma }_x\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{P}^2}{2M}}+{\displaystyle \frac{M}{2}}\mathrm{\Omega }^2(\widehat{X}q\widehat{\sigma }_z)^2`$ (3)
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\widehat{p}_i^2}{2m_i}}+{\displaystyle \frac{m_i}{2}}\omega _i^2(\widehat{x}_i(c_i/m_i\omega _i^2)\widehat{X})^2\right)`$
where the dispacement $`q`$ characterizes the coupling of the qubit to the big oscillator. The oscillator bath is characterized through an ohmic spectral density $`J(\omega )=\frac{\pi c_i^2}{2m_i\omega _i}\delta (\omega \omega _i)=M\mathrm{\Gamma }\omega ,`$ where, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is the friction coefficient of the damped big oscillator. It was shown , that this system is equivalent to the spin-boson model, with an effective spectral density

$$J_{\mathrm{eff}}(\omega )=2\pi \alpha \omega \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }^4}{(\omega ^2\mathrm{\Omega }^2)^2+4\mathrm{\Gamma }^2\omega ^2},$$
(4)
where $`\alpha =2Mq^2\mathrm{\Gamma }/h`$ is a dimensionless dissipation coefficient, which here is assumed to be small, $`\alpha 1`$. From now on, we want to concentrate on the case $`ϵ,\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }`$.

At $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=0`$, the low-energy Hilbert space is is spanned by $`|\pm _{\mathrm{eff}}=|\pm |L/R`$ where $`|\pm `$ are the basis states of the qubit, $`\sigma _z|\pm =\pm |\pm `$ and $`|L/R`$ are coherent states of the harmonic oscillator centered around $`X=\pm q`$, see Fig. 1, left. So in a general low-energy state $`|\psi =a|+_{\mathrm{eff}}+b|_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, $`|a|^2+|b|^2=1`$ qubit and oscillator are entangled  and the oscillator states are pointers onto the qubit states . In this low-energy basis, the Hamiltonian acquires the form eq. (1), with $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}=\mathrm{\Delta }L|R=\mathrm{\Delta }e^\eta `$ with $`\eta =M\mathrm{\Omega }q^2/\mathrm{}`$. Under an appropriate choice of parameters, we can achieve $`\eta >1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}\mathrm{\Delta }`$. This choice corresponds to the condition of almost (meaning here and henceforth “up to an error of $`O(e^\eta )`$”) orthogonal states in the environment, which has been identified as the condition for an ideal von-Neumann-measurement.

For finite $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$, this system can be analyzed using adiabatic renormalization . One finds  $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff},\mathrm{damp}}(\alpha )=\mathrm{\Delta }e^{\frac{\eta }{1\alpha }}(\mathrm{\Delta }/\mathrm{\Omega })^{\frac{\alpha }{1\alpha }}`$ . Thus, finite dissipation $`0<\alpha 1`$ scales $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ down even slightly further.

The coherence properties of our system can at $`ϵ,\mathrm{\Delta },T\mathrm{\Omega }`$ be studied using a systematic weak damping approximation  of the spin-boson model. The relaxation and dephasing rates, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{r}/\varphi }=\tau _{\mathrm{r}/\varphi }^1`$ are given by

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{r}=\pi \alpha \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}^2}{\nu _{\mathrm{eff}}}\mathrm{coth}\left(\frac{\nu }{2T}\right)\mathrm{\Gamma }_\varphi =\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{r}}{2}+2\pi \alpha k_\mathrm{B}\frac{ϵ^2}{\nu _{\mathrm{eff}}}T/\mathrm{}$$
(5)
where $`\nu _{\mathrm{eff}}=\sqrt{\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}^2+ϵ^2}`$. In our case, if $`\eta >1`$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ is exponentially reduced compared to $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, transitions between the basis states are suppressed leaving relaxation very slow, i.e. the state becomes almost localized or “frozen”, see fig. 1, right. The second contribution to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\varphi `$ in eq. (5) reflects dephasing processes which do not change the qubit energy and are consequently not frozen.

The use of a weak damping approximation for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{r},\varphi }`$ is appropriate, although $`J(\omega )`$ can be large at the peak and in fact the down-scaling of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ is essentially a nonperturbative effect. However, decoherence is mostly probing the $`J_{\mathrm{eff}}(\omega )`$ around $`\omega =\nu _{\mathrm{eff}}\mathrm{\Omega }`$, where the weak damping condition holds. This is supported by two observations: i) if we project the full Hamiltonian onto its low-energy Hilbert space spanned by $`|\pm _{\mathrm{eff}}`$, we find an effective ohmic model leading to eq. 5. ii) a full nonperturbative calculation  based on the noninteracting blip approximation (NIBA)  reproduces both the scaling and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{r}`$ within the known  limitations of NIBA.

The measurement can now be performed as follows: As a first step, $`q`$ is adiabatically ramped from $`q=0`$ to a finite $`q_0`$ where $`\eta >1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}\mathrm{\Delta }`$. The adiabatic theorem predicts, that the state of the system evolves as $`(\alpha |++\beta |)|0(\alpha ^{\mathrm{eff}}|+|L+\beta ^{\mathrm{eff}}||R)`$, where

$$\left(\begin{array}{c}\alpha ^{\mathrm{eff}}\\ \beta ^{\mathrm{eff}}\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{cos}\left(\frac{\theta ^{\mathrm{eff}}\theta }{2}\right)& \mathrm{sin}\left(\frac{\theta ^{\mathrm{eff}}\theta }{2}\right)\\ \mathrm{sin}\left(\frac{\theta ^{\mathrm{eff}}\theta }{2}\right)& \mathrm{cos}\left(\frac{\theta ^{\mathrm{eff}}\theta }{2}\right)\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\alpha \\ \beta \end{array}\right)$$
(6)
and $`\mathrm{tan}\theta ^{(\mathrm{eff})}=ϵ/\mathrm{\Delta }^{(\mathrm{eff})}`$. The condition for adiabaticity is $`dq/dt\nu _{\mathrm{eff}}^2/2qM\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, i.e. for small $`q`$, the ramping can be very fast.

When $`\eta >1`$, the matrix element is scaled down and the state is “pre-measured” by entanglement with well-separated pointer states $`L`$ and $`R`$. Only now, we start the measurement, by coupling the oscillator to the meter and decohering the state is projected onto the eigenstates of $`\widehat{H}_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, which are close to the ones of $`\widehat{\sigma }_\mathrm{z}`$. We can then read off the position of the big oscillator serving as a pointer and switch off the meter (or $`q`$) again way before $`\tau _\mathrm{r}`$ without destroying information by relaxation.

In practice, it will usually not be possible to switch the coupling between oscillator and meter separately. Thus, before the entanglement is established, the relaxation rate eq. 5 does not profit from the reduction of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, see fig. 1, right. In order not to lose the information to be measured, the maximum relaxation rate, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{r},\mathrm{max}}`$ reached at $`\eta =1/2`$ (i.e. $`q=q_\mathrm{c}=\sqrt{\mathrm{}/2M\mathrm{\Omega }}`$) should be slow enough, such that by the time $`\tau _{\mathrm{ent}}`$ it takes to ramp above $`q_\mathrm{c}`$, the information is not lost. In practice, this can be achieved by switching $`q`$ very fast, at a time $`\tau _{\mathrm{ent}}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{r},\mathrm{max}}^1`$, to $`q_\mathrm{c}`$ and slower afterwards, when the actual measurement occurs.

In the ohmic spin-boson model , i.e. for $`J_{\mathrm{eff}}=2\pi \alpha \omega e^{\omega /\omega _c}`$, a scaling of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ to zero can be achieved through a dissipative phase transition at strong coupling to the bath ($`\alpha >1`$). This transition is driven by the entanglement with a collective state involving the whole oscillator bath. Ramping $`\alpha `$ to large values increases $`J_{\mathrm{eff}}(\omega )`$ at all frequencies, which leads to rapid relaxation before the scaling is established. Moreover, it is not known, how long it will take for the system to go through this phase transition. Here, according to the adiabatic theorem, this time is set through the inverse level spacing of the coupled system, which is infinite for the dense Ohmic spectrum. On the contrary, the model studied in the present paper provides strong scaling of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ with predictably slow relaxation and gives a clear prediction for the time scale of the entanglement set by the finite level spacing.

This model does not generally predict the efficiency of the detection In order to do so, I chose a specific realization of the model, a superconducting quantum bit . In this case, the read-out device is a Josephson-junction, whose critical current $`I_0`$ is influenced by the state of the qubit, either a superconducting single-electron transistor  or a DC-SQUID , see Fig.2. We study the junction on the superconducting branch at low bias current $`I_\mathrm{B}`$. We assume the tunable junction to be shunted only by a very large resistor $`R`$ and an external capacitance $`C_\mathrm{x}`$ and consequently underdamped. This system has been studied in the weak damping regime in Ref.  and resembles the one experimentally used in . The oscillator in our model represents the plasma resonance  of the tunable junction at $`\mathrm{\Omega }=\sqrt{2eI_0/\mathrm{}C_\mathrm{x}}(1I_\mathrm{B}^2/I_0^2)^{1/4}`$. We can identify $`M=C_\mathrm{x}(\mathrm{}/2e)^2`$, $`X=\varphi `$ (the Josephson phase) and $`q=\frac{\delta I_c}{I_c}\frac{I_B}{\sqrt{I_0^2I_B^2}}`$, where $`\delta I_c/I_c`$ is the difference in critical current induced by the two fundamental states of the qubit. The damping is provided by the resistor and leads to $`\alpha =hq^2/2e^2R=q^211.8k\mathrm{\Omega }/R`$, and the scaling exponent reads $`\eta =q^2\sqrt{C_\mathrm{x}I_c\mathrm{}/8e^3}`$.

When ramping $`I_\mathrm{B}`$, the junction switches to a finite voltage at $`I_{\mathrm{sw}}<I_0`$, which provides a measure for $`I_0`$. This switching is a stochastic process, so if the measurement is repeated, one finds a histogram of switching currents  centered around $`I_{\mathrm{sw},0}`$, whose width $`\delta I_{\mathrm{sw}}`$ limits the resolution of this detector. In our case, the switching is predominantly due to thermal activation, where we can express $`I_{\mathrm{sw},0}/I_0=1(\mathrm{log}(\omega _T/\mathrm{\Gamma }_S)/u_0)^{2/3}`$ and $`\delta I/I_0=(u_0^2\mathrm{log}(\omega _T/\mathrm{\Gamma }_S))^{1/3}`$ through the dimensionless height of the barrier at zero bias $`u_0=(4\sqrt{2}/3)(\mathrm{}I_c/2ekT)`$, the activation frequency $`\omega _\mathrm{T}=2\mathrm{\Omega }/\pi `$ and the ramp rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_s=d(q/q_{\mathrm{max}})/dt`$. The current can be switched within a time $`\tau _{\mathrm{sw}}=\mathrm{\Omega }^1`$, i.e. the ramp rate is limited by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{s},\mathrm{max}}=\mathrm{\Omega }`$.

In a flux qubit, one can realize  $`I_\mathrm{c}=1\mu A`$, shunt with $`C_\mathrm{x}=100pF`$ and $`R=10k\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and $`q_{\mathrm{max}}=0.05`$ at a typical switching current level. We will assume $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0=1`$ GHz and $`ϵ=1`$ GHz for the qubit. These parameters are accessible by doubling the size of the sample studied in . This leads to $`\mathrm{\Omega }=2GHz`$, $`\alpha =0.003`$ and $`\eta _{\mathrm{max}}=3.5`$, i.e. $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{\mathrm{eff}}=0.03\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$. Entanglement sets in at $`q_\mathrm{c}=0.015`$, where the relaxation time is $`\tau _{\mathrm{r},\mathrm{min}}=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{r},\mathrm{max}}^1=5\mu s`$. For $`1\%`$ error, the first switch over this point has to be done $`700ns`$, which is way above $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{s},\mathrm{max}}=500ps`$ and the adiabatic condition $`qdq/dt<(500ns)^1`$ . Close to the measuring point $`I_{\mathrm{sw},0}`$, we find $`\tau _\mathrm{r}=120\mu s`$ and $`\tau _\varphi =100ns`$, which leaves a huge measurement window.

For definiteness, we set the temperature to $`T=200mK`$, we find, using $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_s=(15\mu s)^1`$, that $`I_{\mathrm{sw},0}/I_0=0.96`$, and $`\delta I/I_0=0.35\%`$, so, because $`q=5\%`$, we have a signal/noise ratio of about 14. Hence, a single-shot von-Neumann-measurement appears to be feasible within a gradual improvement of technology.

For the readout for a charge qubit  by a superconducting single-electron-transistor (S-SET),one can achieve values of $`q=0.5`$. within a charging energy $`E_{\mathrm{C},\mathrm{SET}}=2K`$, corresponding to a capacitance scale of $`C=1fF`$. We take the critical current of the SET to be $`I_\mathrm{c}=10nA`$ and a shunt of $`R=10k\mathrm{\Omega }`$ and $`C_\mathrm{x}=1pF`$ shunt capacitance. This leads to $`\eta =3.5`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }=2`$ GHz and damping $`\alpha =0.25`$. Assuming $`\mathrm{\Delta }=1`$ GHz and $`ϵ=1`$ GHz, we find $`\tau _{\mathrm{R},\mathrm{min}}=60ns`$, so for $`1\%`$ error we have to go switch to $`q_c`$ in about $`10ns`$, which is close to the limit of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{s},\mathrm{max}}=500ps`$. however, may pose some challenge for the limiting time scales which are not due to the on-chip circuitry. For the read-out step, we find $`\tau _\mathrm{R}=25\mu s`$ and $`\tau _\varphi =15ns`$. Applying the histogram theory as above at $`T=200mK`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{S}=(3\mu s)^1`$, we end up with $`I_{\mathrm{sw},0}/I_0=40\%`$ and $`\delta I_{\mathrm{sw}}/I_\mathrm{c}=8\%`$, which can resolve our large signal of $`q=30\%`$ at signal/noise of 4. It has been shown , that experimentally SETs can reach signal-to-noise figures comparable to the quantum limit, hence even though the resolution is slightly less favorable then above, von-Neumann-measurements appear to be possible. For qubits  operating in the regime of $`E_J/E_c1`$, more favorable parameters should be accessible.

The read-out of the detector by switching is only one, and not necessarily the optimum alternative. Measurements could also be performed by detecting the kinetic inductance using the same parameters.

A similar circuit, a normal conducting SET without the shunt capacitor has been thoroughly studied in Refs. . In that case, the measurement is started by rapidly switching the gate and monitoring the current. It has been shown, that in this way weak as well as strong measurements can be performed. As a consequence of the direct coupling of a dense spectrum of normal electrons to the qubit, the entanglement and the decoherence are not as strongly separated as in our case. Typical  mixing times during the whole measurement are of the order of $`1\mu s`$, i.e. one has to be able to monitor the current through the SET on the scale of $`100ns`$. In our case, one has to make the first entanglement switch on a similar scale, but has to be monitor the voltage only afterwards, when mixing times are on the scale of $`10\mu s`$. These numbers clearly indicate an advantage of the entanglement with the intermediate oscillator.

I have proposed a strategy for performing detector-dominated von-Neumann measurements on qubits, using entanglement with coherent states of an harmonic oscillator. This system has been quantitatively analyzed using the spin-boson model and it has been shown, that it has very favorable coherence and relaxation properties. A connection between the familiar scaling of the tunnel matrix element and the degree of entanglement with the environment has been established. Realistic superconducting circuitry, which could perform such measurements within present-day technology, has been proposed.

I acknowledge clarifying discussions with J. von Delft, M. Governale, M. Grifoni, A.C.J. ter Haar, P. Hadley, P. Hakonen, C.J.P.M. Harmans, S. Kleff, L. Levitov, S. Lloyd, A. Lupascu, J.E. Mooij, T.P. Orlando, A. Shnirman, and C.H. van der Wal, as well as support by the EU through TMR Supnan and Quiprocone and through ARO under contract Nr. P-43385-PH-QC.