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# Structural properties of the geometrically frustrated pyrochlore Tb2Ti2O7

## I Introduction

The term geometrical frustrationGaulin (1994); Ramirez (2001); Can (2001) indicates when the spins on a well-ordered lattice interact magnetically, yet individual interactions cannot reach their minimum energy configuration because of competing magnetic interactions from other sites. A simple example occurs on a two-dimensional, corner-shared triangular lattice with antiferromagnetic nearest-neighbor coupling, otherwise known as a kagomé lattice. The three dimensional analogue to such a lattice is a corner-shared tetrahedral lattice, and is realized in the pyrochlore systems, $`A_2B_2`$O7.

Theoretically, it has been shown that Heisenberg, antiferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interacting spin systems Reimers et al. (1991) do not possess a transition into an ordered state. This makes corner-sharing tetrahedral spin systems with antiferromagnetic exchange ideal candidates for three-dimensional, low temperature spin-liquids. A spin-liquid state may not form if further interactions such as crystal field anisotropy,B. C. den Hertog and M. J. P. Gingras (2000), long-range exchange or dipolar interactions perturb the classical spin models.Enjarlran et al. (in press) However, since any amount of lattice disorder can precipitate a spin-glass phase,Edwards and Anderson (1975) geometrically-frustrated systems that do not magnetically order to the lowest temperatures are extremely rare.Canals and Lacroix (1998) This situation has inhibited experimental studies that attempt to isolate the effects of frustration. For instance, lattice imperfections in several geometrically frustrated systems are thought to relieve the frustration allowing the system to freeze. Néel order has been observed in the Jarosites, KCr3(OD)6(SO4)2, which contains Cr3+, S=$`\frac{3}{2}`$ ions on a kagomé lattice,Lee et al. (1997) due to vacancies on the magnetic site. Site disorder in SrCr9pGa12-9pO19,Schiffer et al. (1996) for example, facilitates the formation of a spin glass state, as does intersite mixing in Gd3Ga5O12.Raju et al. (1992); Petrenko et al. (1998)

Significantly, the pyrochlore latticeSubramanian et al. (1983) appears to be capable of producing a spin-liquid state. The magnetic-oxide pyrochlores have the chemical formula $`A_2B_2`$O(1)6O(2) (space group $`Fd\overline{3}m`$). Here, we focus on the case where the $`A`$ site is occupied by a tri-valent rare-earth ion with eightfold oxygen coordination, $`A`$O(2)2O(1)6, and the $`B`$ site is occupied by a tetra-valent transition metal ion with sixfold oxygen co-ordination, $`B`$O(1)6. The $`A`$ and $`B`$ sites individually form infinite interpenetrating sublattices of corner-sharing tetrahedra. A high degree of magnetic frustration is exhibited on this lattice when either site is occupied by antiferromagnetically coupled ions.

Materials with the $`A_2B_2`$O7 formula unit can have various structures, some of which can be thought of as defected versions of the fluorite (CaF2) unit cell. The cubic fluorite cell has Ca atoms at the center of eight F atoms at the corners of a cube. This cell is analogous to one eighth that of the oxide pyrochlore with a random distribution of the metal cations, one oxygen vacancy (the 8$`a`$ site), and the positional parameter $`x`$ for the oxygens on the 48$`f`$ site equal to $`3/8`$. The rare-earth titanate pyrochlores have $`x0.328`$.Lian et al. (2003) Obviously, these structures are related, but the mixing of the metal ions in the fluorite structure creates multiple exchange constants, usually resulting in a static magnetic structure. Other materials with the stoichiometry $`A_2B_2`$O7 include the weberites, which are closely related to the pyrochlore structure, but only half the $`B`$-site ions have the sixfold oxygen coordination, while the others are linked through only four vertices.

Despite the inherent geometrical frustration in the ideal pyrochlore lattice, most pyrochlores order magnetically. Tb2Ti2O7, on the other hand, appears to be the rare case of a pyrochlore that does not order magnetically, exhibiting a high degree of frustration (the large Tb3+ moment has a Curie-Weiss temperature of $``$-19 K) down to 70 mK.Gardner et al. (1999); M. J. P. Gingras et al. (2000); Gardner et al. (2001) However, the pyrochlore system is also capable of producing a lattice with fairly subtle disorder that can precipitate a spin-glass phase, such as in the Mo-Mo near-neighbor pairs in Y2Mo2O7.Booth et al. (2000); Keren and Gardner (2001) A similar mechanism may also precipitate the spin-glass phase in Tb2Mo2O7.Gaulin et al. (1992) In fact, the lack of such frozen magnetic states in Tb2Ti2O7 is somewhat surprising, given the results of previous structural measurements. The crystal structure of Tb2Ti2O7 was first investigated by BrixnerBrixner (1964) in 1964. The most detailed structural study is reported by van de Velde et al.G. M. H. van de Velde et al. (1990) The International Centre for Diffraction Data quotes van de Velde’s data as the standard for Tb2Ti2O7. Their x-ray diffraction study finds that the measured Tb2Ti2O7 sample has approximately 10% disorder on the metal cation and oxygen sublattices, and the authors conclude that Tb2Ti2O7 is an imperfect pyrochlore. The study we report below was motivated by this result and attempts to definitively answer the question of lattice imperfections in Tb2Ti2O7, a significant parameter in any model that would successfully describe the magnetic nature of Tb2Ti2O7.

The present work reports neutron powder diffraction (NPD) measurements of the average structure, and carefully considers the thermal dependence of the mean-squared displacement parameters as a means of separating the non-Debye (presumably static) component of any positional disorder. In addition, the x-ray absorption fine-structure (XAFS) technique is used to check for disorder in the local environment around Tb and Ti atoms, and in particular for the kind of $`B`$-site correlated disorder that occurs in Y2Mo2O7. Finally, the results from the two techniques are combined to determine to what degree correlations exist between several atom pairs.

The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Sample preparation and experimental details are in Sec. II. Data analysis procedures and results are reported in Sec. III. Consequences of these results, comparisons to previous measurements, and further discussion are in Sec. IV, and the final conclusions are in Sec. V.

## II Experimental Details

Polycrystalline Tb2Ti2O7 was prepared by a conventional solid state reaction in the same manner as in Ref. Gardner et al., 1999, namely, by firing stoichiometric amounts of Tb4O7 and TiO2 at 1350 for several days with intermittent grindings to ensure a complete reaction. The neutron diffraction measurements were performed on the time-of-flight Special Environment Powder Diffractometer at the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source (IPNS) at Argonne National Laboratory and on the C2 diffractometer at the NRU reactor at Chalk River Laboratories. The ground powder was packed in a vanadium can and cooled in a displex (IPNS) or a helium-bath cryostat (NRU). A Si(113) crystal was used at the NRU reactor to produce a monochromatic neutron beam with a wavelength of 1.3283 Å. The large difference in the scattering lengths, in particular the negative scattering length of titanium, creates a large contrast with the terbium scattering. This contrast allows for an accurate determination of the crystal structure properties, and especially for any possible cation antisite disorder.

For XAFS measurements, the polycrystalline Tb2Ti2O7 sample was re-ground and passed through a 20 $`\mu `$m sieve. The sieved powder was uniformly distributed over adhesive tape, cut into strips and stacked to obtain absorption edge steps of 0.8 absorption lengths at the Ti $`K`$ edge and 1.0 absorption lengths at the Tb $`L_{\text{III}}`$ edge. Samples were then placed into a LHe-flow cryostat. Transmission XAFS data were collected at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL). Tb $`L_{\text{III}}`$-edge (7515 eV) data were collected on beamline 4-3 with a 1/2-tuned Si(220) double-crystal monochromator. Ti $`K`$-edge (4965 eV) data were collected on beamline 2-3 with a 1/2-tuned Si(111) double-crystal monochromator.

## III Results

The rare earth oxide pyrochlores crystallize in the space group $`Fd\overline{3}m`$ as mentioned above, with 4 crystallographically independent sites ($`A^{3+}`$ in position 16$`d`$ at ($`\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2}`$), $`B^{4+}`$ in 16$`c`$ at (0, 0, 0), O(1) in 48$`f`$ at ($`x,\frac{1}{8},\frac{1}{8}`$) and O(2) in 8$`b`$ at ($`\frac{3}{8},\frac{3}{8},\frac{3}{8}`$)Subramanian et al. (1983)). The position of the 48$`f`$ site is defined by only one variable, $`x`$, which is sensitive to lattice effects, including the absolute size and the relative difference in size of the metal ions, as well as to various forms of disorder.Minervini et al. (2002)

The neutron diffraction data were analyzed with a Rietveld method using the General Structure Analysis System (GSAS) refinement package.Larson and Von Dreele (2000) Figure 1 shows the 45 K data together with the best refinement and the residual, shown at the bottom. No additional peaks, associated with either a second phase or a magnetic unit cell, were observed over the whole temperature range from 4.5-600 K. However as previously reported,Gardner et al. (1999) an anomalous background due to short range magnetic correlations was observed at the lowest temperatures. The atomic displacement parameters of all atoms were assumed to be isotropic during the fitting process since no improvement in the refinement was obtained by using anisotropic parameters. This is in contrast to Y2Mo2O7, where anisotropic parameters for the $`A`$ site were deemed necessary.Reimers et al. (1988) The results of the refinement are summarized in Table 1. The possibility of antisite disorder (site interchange between Tb and Ti atoms) was also considered, such as could occur if the system had a propensity toward a fluorite-like structure.Wang et al. (1999); Chartier et al. (2002) We find no evidence for any such disorder, and place an upper limit of 2% on metal-site mixing. Similarly, we performed fits allowing the oxygen occupancy fractions to vary, including the possibility of oxygen on the nominally vacant 8$`a`$ site. These measurements provide no evidence of excess or deficient oxygen compared to the nominal pyrochlore structure within an upper limit of 2%. Both of these limits are considerably lower than the disorder reported by van de Velde et al.G. M. H. van de Velde et al. (1990)

Figure 2 shows the mean-squared displacements, $`u^2`$, for all four crystallographic sites and the positional parameter, $`x`$, as a function of temperature. No structural anomalies, within uncertainty, were observed. The $`u^2`$’s for each site were fit with a thermal model, including a temperature-independent offset:

$$u_{\text{meas}}^2(T)=u_{\text{static}}^2+u_{\text{thermal}}^2(T).$$
(1)
The temperature-dependent part of the mean-squared displacement parameters, $`u_{\text{thermal}}^2(T)`$, is given in general by a collection of quantum harmonic oscillators:

$$u_{\text{thermal}}^2(T)=\frac{\mathrm{}}{2m}_0^{\mathrm{}}\rho (\omega )coth\left(\frac{\mathrm{}\omega }{2k_\text{B}T}\right)\frac{d\omega }{\omega }$$
(2)
where $`m`$ is the atomic mass and $`\rho `$ is the phonon density of states at the given site. In the Debye model, the density of states is empty above a cutoff frequency, $`\omega _\text{D}`$, and quadratic below it: $`\rho =3\omega ^2/\omega _\text{D}^3`$. The Debye temperature is then just $`\theta _\text{D}=\mathrm{}\omega _\text{D}/k_\text{B}`$. Note that zero-point motion exists such that even in the absence of a static offset, $`\mu _{\text{thermal}}^2`$ is not zero at $`T`$=0, and is, in fact:

$$u_{\text{thermal}}^2(T=0)=\frac{3\mathrm{}^2}{4mk_\text{B}\mathrm{\Theta }_\text{D}}.$$

The temperature-independent offset in addition to this zero-point motion, $`u_{\text{static}}^2`$, when observed, can be a strong indication of the presence of static (non-thermal) disorder in a system. The temperature dependence of the $`u^2`$ parameters is described well by the Debye model as shown by the fits in Fig. 2. In Table 1 we summarize these fits. The $`u_{\text{static}}^2`$ parameters are negligibly small at all atomic sites, and the Debye temperatures are appropriate for the elements they represent.

Investigations of the local environment around the metal ions were performed using temperature dependent XAFS above the Tb $`L_{\text{III}}`$ edge and the Ti $`K`$ edge. XAFS oscillations occur above a core-level x-ray absorption edge, and are due to the interaction between the outgoing photoelectron from the absorbing atom and the component of this photoelectron that is back-scattered by neighboring atoms. The oscillations are periodic in the pair distance, $`r`$, and the photoelectron wave number, $`k=\sqrt{2m(EE_0)}/\mathrm{}`$, where $`E`$ is the incident x-ray energy and $`E_0`$ is the energy at the absorption edge. XAFS analysis gives information about the radial distance distribution around the absorbing atomic species. In particular, pair distances, $`r_i`$, and pair-distance distribution widths, $`\sigma _i^2`$, can be obtained for the first few atomic shells, $`i`$, out to about 5 Å. These XAFS data were analyzed using the UWXAFS package Stern et al. (1995). First, the XAFS function $`\chi =\mu /\mu _01`$ is extracted after determining the atomic background absorption, $`\mu _0`$, obtained with the UWXAFS program AUTOBK by passing a cubic spline through the absorption data, $`\mu `$. The $`k`$-space XAFS data for both measured edges are shown in Fig. 3. Multiple scans were obtained at each edge and temperature, with excellent reproducibility.

Figure 4 shows the magnitude and the real part of the Fourier transformed XAFS for both edges. Note that the peaks are shifted on the $`\stackrel{~}{r}`$ axis from their true bond lengths due to the phase shift of the back-scattered photoelectron. This phase shift, as well as other details of the complex back-scattering function, differ for each atomic species, although they are well approximated by the theoretical treatment provided by the FEFF8 code.Ankudinov et al. (1998) Detailed fits are therefore necessary to obtain quantitative information. Solid lines show the best fit of a multiple shell model that assumes full occupancy of each of the sites, but allows the $`r_i`$ and the $`\sigma _i^2`$ parameters for each shell to vary, with some exceptions. In particular, the Tb-Ti and Tb-Tb pairs near 3.60 Å are constrained to have the same pair distance, as are the Ti-Ti and Ti-Tb pair distances. The fit results are given in Table 2 and Fig. 5. Additional details of the XAFS analysis and the determination of the uncertainty of parameters have been given elsewhere.Stern et al. (1995); Han et al. (2002)

The $`\sigma ^2`$ data were analyzed analogously to the NPD $`u^2`$ parameters described above, except that a correlated-Debye modelBeni and Platzman (1976); Crozier et al. (1988) was used to account for correlated motion/displacements of the atom pairs. This model for $`\sigma ^2`$ is the same as the Debye model (Eq. 1 and 2) except that a correlated-Debye temperature, $`\mathrm{\Theta }_{\text{cD}}`$, is used to differentiate from the regular Debye model, the reduced mass, $`\mu `$, of the atom pairs is used, and the phonon density of states for a given pair at distance $`R`$ is given by

$$\rho =\frac{3\omega ^2}{\omega _\text{D}^3}\left[1\frac{sin(\omega R/c)}{\omega R/c}\right],$$
(3)
where $`\omega _\text{D}`$ is the usual Debye cut-off frequency and $`c=\omega _\text{D}/k_\text{D}`$. The Debye wave vector is given by $`k_\text{D}=(6\pi ^2/V)^{1/3}`$, where $`V`$ is the mean volume per atom in the material. The expression in brackets of Eq. 3 takes into account the correlated motion of the atom pair. This model fits the temperature dependence of the measured $`\sigma ^2`$’s well (Fig. 5) with only negligible static displacements, $`\sigma _{\text{static}}^2`$’s, as shown in Table 2. This lack of pair-distance disorder agrees well with the lack of positional disorder determined from the NPD results above.

A Tb/Ti site interchange model was also considered for these XAFS data. However, XAFS is insensitive to such site interchange in this system because correlations in the fits between the (nominally same) Tb-Tb and Tb-Ti pair distances (as well as the Ti-Tb, Ti-Ti distances), their $`\sigma ^2`$’s, and the alleged interchange render the results inconclusive.

## IV Discussion

The primary result of the above measurements is that the Tb2Ti2O7 lattice is extremely well ordered, both on average (NPD) and locally (XAFS). This result is supported by the high quality of the fits, the low estimated errors, and the temperature dependence of the mean-squared displacement parameters. These data thus strongly support the conclusion made by previous authors that Tb2Ti2O7 is an excellent laboratory to study the effects of geometric frustration in the absence of lattice disorder.

The discrepancy between our results and those of van de Velde et al.G. M. H. van de Velde et al. (1990) must be attributable to either the different techniques used to measure the structure or to produce the sample. Since powder x-ray diffraction should be able to distinguish the cations, we must assume that the synthesis method used in van de Velde et al., namely, preparing Tb2Ti2O7 by the citrate method from TiO(OH)2 and a solution of Tb4O7 in nitric acid, results in an imperfect pyrochlore lattice. This situation is not inconceivable, since considerably lower temperatures and shorter times are used in this method compared to the solid state reaction method used here.Gardner et al. (1999)

Very recently, Lian et al.Lian et al. (2003) reported an x-ray diffraction study of the entire RE2Ti2O7 (RE=rare-earth) series. Although they do not focus on Tb2Ti2O7 or on the detailed search for lattice disorder presented here, they report a room-temperature $`x`$ parameter for the oxygen 48$`f`$ site of 0.3281(5), which is consistent with our measurement of 0.3279(1), but not with the value of 0.317(2)pyr  found by van de Velde et al.G. M. H. van de Velde et al. (1990) A value of $`x0.328`$ is, however, consistent with that found in the RE2Ti2O7 series,Lian et al. (2003) while a value less than 0.32 is a gross deviation. As noted earlier, this parameter is very sensitive to lattice distortions, which could be due to antisite disorder, oxygen excess or deficiency, etc. In fact, Minervini et al.Minervini et al. (2002) find that the theoretical ideal value for $`x`$ given no lattice disorder is $``$0.3278, in excellent agreement with our measurements and those of Lian et al. This agreement, together with the fact that Lian et al. used a flux-growth synthesis technique and obtained similar results to those presented here, is therefore consistent with our interpretation that the main reason van de Velde et al. found Tb2Ti2O7 to be an imperfect pyrochlore is the synthesis method, not the measurement technique, nor is the disorder generic to the material itself.

There are a few interesting points to note about the measured structure and its vibrational properties. One is that the single-site Debye temperatures (from NPD) do not scale as expected in a Debye solid, that is, by the square root of the ratio of their masses. In this way, one sees that the Tb atomic vibrations are governed by much softer phonons that the Ti atoms \[$`\sqrt{m_{\text{Ti}}/m_{\text{Tb}}}\mathrm{\Theta }_\text{D}(\text{Ti})330`$ K, while $`\mathrm{\Theta }_\text{D}`$(Tb)=220 K\].

Another aspect to consider is the correlated displacements of the atom pairs. Since we have both neutron diffraction and XAFS measurements, we can extract the correlations by combining the results from both techniques. The instantaneous distance ($`\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{}{r}_{AB}`$) between two atoms ($`A,B`$) is equal to the difference of the instantaneous displacements of the individual sites, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{}{r}_A\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{}{r}_B`$. Taking $`\sigma _{AB}^2=<\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{}{r}_{AB}^2>`$, $`u_X^2=<\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{}{r}_X^2>`$ and $`u_Au_B\varphi =<\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{}{r}_A\mathrm{\Delta }\stackrel{}{r}_B>`$, we then have

$$\sigma _{AB}^2=u_A^2+u_B^22\varphi u_Au_B.$$
(4)
The correlation coefficient, $`\varphi `$, describes the motion or displacements of an atom relative to the other atom, taking the values +1 for two atoms moving together in the same direction, -1 for the atoms moving in fully opposite directions, and 0 for uncorrelated motion/displacements. The $`\varphi `$’s of Tb2Ti2O7 at the lowest temperature extracted from the XAFS and diffraction measurements are summarized in Table 2. The motions of the two O(2) oxygens located at $``$2.2 Å from the Tb atom and the six O(1) oxygens located at $``$2.0 Å from Ti atom are correlated in the motions to Tb and Ti, respectively, with $`\varphi `$ of $``$60%. It is somewhat surprising that their motions are not more highly correlated with such short bond lengths, especially compared to, say, the copper-oxide superconductors.Booth et al. (1996) More interestingly, the Tb-O(1) pairs are nearly uncorrelated in their motions, with a $`\varphi `$ of only 0.2. Therefore, the motions of the O(1) atoms are governed mainly by the Ti sublattice, and not by the Tb sublattice. This result is consistent with the Tb sites exhibiting softer phonons than expected from the Ti vibrations.

Given these vibrational properties, one should consider the charge distribution in the various ligands. One simple method is to determine whether the bond-valence sumsBrown and Altermatt (1985) for the Tb and Ti oxygen environments correspond to the expected values of +3.0 and +4.0, respectively. Indeed, we obtain +3.01 and +3.95 from the NPD data, indicating that the charge is distributed as expected, given the measured coordination and bond lengths. Therefore, the measured lack of correlation between Tb and O(1) atoms and the soft Tb phonons are most likely a generic feature of a well-ordered pyrochlore lattice, such as Tl2Mn2O7, or any of the other ferromagnetic pyrochlores.

A natural question to ask then is “Why is Tb2Ti2O7 structurally so well ordered?” To this end, we can only speculate as to why, for instance, Y2Mo2O7 exhibits distortions while Tb2Ti2O7 does not. Ionic size arguments are marginally fruitful, since the ionic-size ratioShannon (1976) for Tb2Ti2O7 ($`r_A/r_B=1.72`$) is rather different than for Y2Mo2O7 ($`r_A/r_B=1.57`$). However, both of these values fall well within the range 1.46 to 1.80 typical of the pyrochlores.Subramanian et al. (1983) On the other hand, the negligibly small amount of static disorder on all atomic sites and between all near-neighbor pairs might suggest that the interaction of corner sharing spins is not strong enough to distort the atomic sites, as has been conjectured for Y2Mo2O7.Booth et al. (2000); Keren and Gardner (2001) This explanation is supported by the relatively small Curie-Weiss temperature of $`19`$ K in Tb2Ti2O7, compared to $`200`$ K in Y2Mo2O7.M. J. P. Gingras et al. (1997)

## V Conclusion

We have examined the bulk and local structure of the spin liquid pyrochlore Tb2Ti2O7 by powder neutron diffraction and XAFS at the Tb $`L_{\text{III}}`$ and Ti $`K`$ edges. These data indicate a high degree of crystalline order, suggesting that this compound forms a perfect pyrochlore lattice with no intersite mixing or anion disorder. Furthermore, analysis of the temperature dependence of the atomic displacement parameters and mean-squared displacements shows that the static lattice disorder is negligible. Analysis of the Debye temperatures and the correlations between various site displacements show that, vibrationally, the Tb and Ti sublattices are partially decoupled, and that the more plentiful O(1) atoms are more tightly bound to the Ti sites. This compound, with its near absence of local and bulk structural disorder and antiferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interactions,Gardner et al. (1999); M. J. P. Gingras et al. (1997) is therefore an appropriate system to study the elusive 3-dimensional, low-temperature, spin liquid.

###### Acknowledgements.

It is a pleasure to acknowledge A. Cull and I. Swainson for their assistance with the experiments at Chalk River, and S. Short for her assistance with the experiments at the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source (IPNS). Work at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory was supported by the Director, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098. Work at Brookhaven National Laboratory was supported by the Division of Material Sciences, DOE, under contract DE-AC02-98CH10886. Neutron diffraction data were collected at the Chalk River Laboratories NRU reactor and at the IPNS, which is funded by the DOE, Office of Basic Energy Sciences (OBES), Materials Sciences, under Contract W-31-109-Eng-38. X-ray absorption data were collected at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, a national user facility operated by Stanford University for the DOE, OBES.


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# Optimization of nanostructured permalloy electrodes for a lateral hybrid spin-valve structure

## I INTRODUCTION

Lateral ferromagnet-semiconductor (FM-SC) devices have attracted much interest for future all-electrical spintronics applications DATTADAS90 ; Prinz95 ; review ; Hacia03  such as spin valves or spin transistors. Hereby, ferromagnetic electrodes are sought to spin polarize a current which is subsequently injected into a semiconductor allowing spin manipulation by purely electrical means. While other materials such as half-metallics or ferromagnetic semiconductors are strongly favorable because of high spin polarization and high spin injection rates they suffer major drawbacks due to difficult technological processing and the lack of stable long range ferromagnetism at room temperature. Until today, only ferromagnetic metals provide high enough Curie temperatures for reliable room temperature operation. Unfortunately, ferromagnetic transition metals (Fe, Ni, Co) and the technological relevant alloys (e.g. Permalloy) only allow a moderate spin polarization up to 45 % Mod00 . Therefore we aim at the maximum spin polarization possible by realizing a uniform magnetization at the FM-SC contact. For zero-field operation a magnetic single domain state in remanence of the ferromagnetic electrodes is essential. The magnetization configuration of soft ferromagnetic thin film elements are dominantly determined by geometry. This permits tailoring of the remanent domain configuration and coercive fields by variation of the length-to-width aspect ratio in rectangular elements. However, in recent works on lateral FM-SC spin valves MON99 ; Lee99 ; Hu01 ; Hu02  multi-domain states at remanence prevail or magnetic domain states and stray field contributions were not characterized. A multi-domain configuration of low aspect ratio Py structures as discussed by G. Meier et al. Meier1 ; Meier2  leads to a reduction of the stray field, but an application for zero-field operation is limited as a maximum degree of spin-polarization cannot be achieved. Furthermore, for low-aspect ratio Py platelets a variety of different metastable remanent magnetic states can be found AHubert ; Hub98 ; Hert99 , although a well defined remanent domain state is favorable DATTADAS90 .

In this work, we propose a lateral FM-SC spin-valve layout for a maximum possible spin polarization in remanence (zero-field operation) and a minimum of well-controlled stray fields. Single-domain rectangular Py electrodes are tailored by nanostructuring high-aspect ratios and characterized in detail by magnetic force microscopy (MFM). For application in a lateral hybrid device additional lateral kinks and vertical flanks may have to be considered. Lateral kinks may bridge the gap between the micro- or nanoscale electrodes and macroscale bond pads, and vertical flanks may arise from the transition of a thick field oxide to a thin tunneling oxide at the edge of the FM-SC contact area. We show that lateral kinks lead to domain wall formation and vertical flanks act as domain wall pinning centers. Our MFM study comprises three steps. First, we map the multidomain to single-domain transition for rectangular Py micro- and nanostructures over a wide range of aspect ratios. Second, a reliable maintenance of the highly remanent state in high-aspect ratio Py wires is proven by application of magnetic fields prior to imaging. Third, the influence of lateral kinks and vertical flanks on the formation of domain walls is studied for a lateral Py-InAs spin-valve structure.

## II Preparation and experiment

In order to map the multi- to single-domain transition rectangular polycrystalline Py micro- and nanostructures are prepared on p-Si (111) and undoped n-type InAs (100) by electron-beam lithography (EBL), electron-beam evaporation (EBV) and lift-off. The length $`l`$ varies from 200 nm up to 60 $`\mu `$m and the width $`w`$ from 200 nm up to 30 $`\mu `$m, covering aspect ratios $`m=l/w`$ from 1 to 105 (Py thickness t = 38 nm and 50 nm).

Lateral Py-oxide-InAs spin-valve structures are prepared by high-resolution EBL and lift-off patterning. InAs exhibits a strong spin-orbit interaction which makes it an interesting candidate for spintronic applications DATTADAS90 ; Luo90 ; Andrada97 . First, a 200 nm thick electrically isolating SiO2 film is sputtered on the InAs substrate. Then a 20 $`\mu `$m broad contact area is reopened to the InAs substrate by means of optical lithography and wet chemical etching. A thin tunneling oxide is thermally grown at $`T`$ = 140 C in dry O2 for 120 min. Finally, the 30 nm thin film Py electrodes are prepared by patterning a 80 nm PMMA (polymethylmethacrylate) film using EBL at 5 kV, EBV and lift-off in acetone. The electrodes with overall lengths of 150 $`\mu `$m are placed across a 20 $`\mu `$m wide tunneling contact area. Electrical access to the electrodes is achieved by bond pads on the thick field oxide outside the FM-SC contact area. The electrodes 2 $`\mu `$m and 0.4 $`\mu `$m wide are separated by 0.2 $`\mu `$m.

MFM is performed with a Nanoscope MultiMode scanning-probe microscope (DI) operating in the TappingMode/LiftMode$`^{\text{TM}}`$. A commercially available probe (MESP, DI) is used and pre-magnetized along its vertical axis. Lift scan heights of about 120 nm are applied to minimize the probe-induced perturbations.

Two-dimensional micromagnetic simulation were performed by NIST package OOMMF oommf .

## III RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

### III.1 Multidomain to single-domain transition

Fabrication of single-domain ferromagnetic electrodes for a zero-field operation in FM-SC hybrid devices requires a precise knowledge of the influence of electrode geometry on remanent magnetization. The remanent domain configuration of a rectangular thin film Py structure can accurately be controlled by its aspect ratio $`m`$ because the magnetocrystalline anisotropy is negligible at room temperature and the resulting magnetization arrangement is determined by the competition between the exchange energy and the stray field energy. Here, we map the multi- to single domain transition for the range of aspect ratios $`m`$ from 1 to 70. We find, in accordance with Gomez et al. GOMEZ99 , that Py microstructures of low-aspect ratio (m from 1 to 3) invoke five principle multidomain patterns. As an example, the multidomain MFM image of a low-aspect ratio ($`m`$ = 2.5) rectangular Py structure is shown in Fig. 1 (a), micrograph (I). Dark and light contrasts indicate perpendicular stray field components of the tilted diamond pattern consisting of seven domains in flux closure configuration. Aspect ratios m of about 3 denote a transition from multidomain states to highly remanent magnetization states which originate for $`m`$ 4. MFM images of highly remanent domain states consist of a featureless central region which indicates a uniform magnetization parallel to the long axis of the microstructures and dark or light stray field contrast from fan-type closure domains at both ends. The extension of the closure domains diminish and the regions of homogeneous magnetization increase with increasing aspect ratio. An example of a MFM image exhibiting highly remanent magnetization states is given for two Py stripes with medium aspect ratios of $`m`$ $``$ 14 in Fig. 1 (a), micrograph (II). Finally, single domain states are observed for high-aspect ratios of $`m20`$. By MFM imaging closure domains are not anymore resolved and perpendicular components of stray fields at the wire ends are marked as structureless black and white spots as shown in Fig. 1 (a), micrograph (III) for two Py stripes with high-aspect ratios of $`m`$ = 57 (top) and $`m`$ = 43 (bottom).
The transition from a multi- to a single-domain state is summarized in Fig. 1 (b). The plot establishes validity regions of (I) multidomain patterns, (II) highly remanent magnetization states and (III) single domain states for the investigated structure sizes $`l`$ and corresponding aspect ratios $`m`$. A transition line from single-domain state to highly remanent state is included from a phenomenological model developed by A. Aharoni AHA88  for ellipsoidal particles. Below a lower bound, namely the minor semiaxis ac0, ellipsoidal particles are found to be in a single-domain state in remanence. The lower bound depends on the exchange interaction, on the saturation magnetization, and on the aspect ratio between the particles major and minor axis $`m^{}`$. According to Seynaeve et al. SEY01  a critical length $`L_c=2m^{}a_{c0}`$ separates the multidomain states (above $`L_c`$) from the single-domain states (below $`L_c`$). For the calculation of $`L_c`$ the bulk saturation magnetization of Py, 800 kA/m, is taken and an exchange constant of 1.3$`10^9`$ J/m is required, 2 orders of magnitude higher than the reported bulk value of Py Hert99 . A comparable deviation was found in the analogue evaluation of domain structures for Co microstructures SEY01 . While the model is based on ellipsoidal particles, we investigate rectangular Py microstructures, and this profoundly changes the calculation of the stray field. Furthermore, the prepared structures exhibit finite surface and edge roughness due to vapor deposition and lift-off, which introduces magnetization inhomogeneities at the edges. Finally, experimental MFM data exhibit a resolution limit of the order of the probe lift-scan height, which is approximately 120 nm. Therefore, the phenomenological model AHA88  cannot be expected to match quantitatively, however, the observed qualitative agreement of the multi- to single-domain transition indicates the same underlying fundamentals of scaling behavior.

### III.2 Lateral spin-valve configuration in remanence

A lateral FM-SC hybrid spin valve consist of two spin-polarizing and -detecting ferromagnetic electrodes placed on top of a semiconductor substrate (spin transport channel). For a spin-valve effect distinctly different switching fields of the ferromagnetic electrodes are required. As shown above, a single domain state in remanence is provided by elongated rectangular Py electrodes of high aspect ratios. The switching field of elongated Py wires are essentially determined by their widths and our magnetotransport studies on single Py wires show that the switching field increases linearly with reciprocal wire width Last03 .

Below, we demonstrate two prerequisites for magnetotransport experiments in order to resolve subtle magnetoresistance effects on behalf of spin injection. First, a reproducible, stable remanent magnetic domain configuration after magnetic field sweeps is required. Second, side effects as stray field contributions have to be kept to a minimum.

Prior to MFM imaging Py wires of aspect ratios 14 to 33 were magnetized by applying longitudinal magnetic fields of different amplitude and polarity. MFM images of single domain and highly remanent Py wires are shown in Fig. 2. Wire lengths of 20 $`\mu `$m resemble the electrode sections within the FM-SC contact area in the lateral FM-SC spin-valve structure discussed in section D. The two wires labelled as (I) and (II) exhibit typical widths for lateral spin-valve devices of 0.5 $`\mu `$m and 1.4 $`\mu `$m, respectively. After applying a magnetic field of +60 mT (Fig. 2 (a)) all wires are magnetically saturated. In a reversed field of -20 mT (Fig. 2 (b)) the broad wire II is switched. At fields of -60 mT all wire magnetizations are reversed. This subsequent switching occurs all the same in a reversed magnetic-field sweep. Hence, for parallel Py wires of different aspect ratios magnetic field induced parallel and antiparallel magnetization configuration are stable in remanence. Furthermore, for wires such as (I) and (II) an antiparallel magnetization configuration exists over a field range of several ten mT which is suitable for spin blockade experiments.

The lateral extension $`\mathrm{\Delta }l`$ over which perpendicular stray fields arise from magnetic inhomogeneities at the wire ends can be roughly quantified from MFM images. Due to the finite radius of the MFM tip as well as the distinct scan height the ratio of $`\mathrm{\Delta }l/l`$ of Fig. 2 gives an upper bound, which is given in Fig. 3. As a lower limit, we have also inserted in Fig. 3 the values of the lateral extension of magnetic inhomogeneities in simulated two-dimensional structures with corresponding aspect ratios but lower total length (2 $`\mu `$m). For higher aspect ratios $`\mathrm{\Delta }l`$ is clearly reduced. It is noteworthy that the electrodes of the lateral spin-valve structure proposed in section D have much larger aspect ratios of 375 and 75. The FM-SC contact area exhibits no wire ends. Hence, the lateral extension of magnetic inhomogeneities at the edges of the FM-SC contact area is expected to be strongly reduced or even nil.

### III.3  Lateral kinks in medium aspect ratio wires

The influence of lateral kinks on the highly remanent domain configuration of elongated Py microstructures is outlined for medium aspect ratios $`m`$ $``$ 4. The domain configuration is strongly perturbed by kink angles between 10 and 90, as can be seen from MFM images of Py wires with an aspect ratio of 10 ($`w`$ = 2 $`\mu `$m, $`l`$ = 10 $`\mu `$m) in Fig. 4. An undisturbed, straight wire (Fig. 4 (a)) features the highly remanent domain configuration with significant closure domains at both ends and a uniformly magnetized mid-part. However, a 10 kink changes the domain configuration drastically (Fig. 4 (b)). Here, cross-tie walls separate two main domains. With increasing kink angle the domain configuration transforms back to highly remanent states, but a significant magnetization inhomogeneity at the centre of the structure is observable (Fig. 4 (c), (d)). For kink angles larger than 70 domain walls are clearly visible at the kink. Micromagnetic two-dimensional simulation of the magnetization distribution of similar elongated Py wires with aspect ratio $`m`$ = 10 show equally that small lateral kink angles of 10 degree suffice to introduce magnetic inhomogeneity (Fig. 5). For the simulation the structure length had to be reduced to 2 $`\mu `$m, and a discrete cell size of 10 nm were chosen.

In summary, horizontal kink angles introduced in a Py wire of medium aspect ratio disturb the highly remanent domain state. Fortunately, as shown in section D vertical flanks prevent the originated magnetic inhomogeneities from extending into the FM-SC contact of a lateral spin-valve.

### III.4 Lateral kinks and vertical flanks in high aspect ratio wires: optimized spin-valve geometry

Following the above domain investigations an optimized electrode geometry of a lateral spin-valve structure can be set up to study spin-dependent transport phenomena in low- or zero-field operation. In order to unambiguously identify electrical spin-injection in magnetotransport the lateral spin-valve structure must fulfill the following requirements: stable single-domain states in remanence at the FM-SC contact, distinctly different switching fields of two electrodes, minimized perpendicular stray field components and multi-terminal measurement geometries to identify all magentoresistance contributions.

A top view of a complete device structure is given by the scanning electron micrograph (SEM) in Fig. 6. Two broad and one narrow high-aspect ratio Py electrodes of 30 nm thickness are spaced by 200 nm in the FM-SC contact area. The inset of Fig. 6 enlarges the high-quality nanostructured Py electrodes. For the broad electrodes lateral kinks lead to macroscopic bond pads (not shown). As the narrow electrode dominates the magnetoresistance, it is kept straight in order to avoid any magnetization inhomogeneity in the FM-SC contact area. All three electrodes approach the FM-SC contact window via inclined planes of the etched 200 nm thick sputtered SiO2 which are depicted in the following as vertical flanks. A schematic cross-section of the device is shown in Fig. 7. An upper bound for the inclination angle of 30 to 40 degree is found from a cross-sectional SEM of thermally grown and subsequentially wet-etched SiO2, giving an upper estimate of the lateral width of the flank of about 100 nm.

Due to the overall length of 150 $`\mu `$m and the height difference of 200 nm the complete electrodes structure cannot be captured in one single MFM image. However, decisive parts of the domain configuration in the Py electrodes are detailed in MFM images in Fig. 8. The narrow electrode has an overall aspect ratio of 375 ($`l`$ = 150 $`\mu `$m, $`w`$ = 0.4 $`\mu `$m) and solely black and white contrasts (Fig. 8 (4),(5)) at the ends of the wire are visible. The steep flanks which lead to the 20 $`\mu `$m long FM-SC contact area do not introduce domain walls in this straight high-aspect ratio electrode. The narrow electrode is in a single-domain state in remanence. In consequence, vertical flanks do not impose a multidomain state with domain walls in straight high-aspect ratio wires.

Contrary, the domain configuration of high-aspect ratio electrodes with lateral kinks is more complex. The broad electrodes with an overall aspect ratio of 73 ($`l`$ = 145 $`\mu `$m, $`w`$ = 2 $`\mu `$m) are composed of several parts: the 45 $`\mu `$m long wire ends ($`m`$=21) which are connected to a straight mid-part by a lateral kink angle of 45 degree. The mid-part consists of three 20 $`\mu `$m long straight wire sections ($`m`$ = 10). MFM images of these wire sections are depicted in Fig. 8 (b) by images 1, 2, 5 and 6, which show a uniform magnetization parallel to the length of the wire sections and strong stray field contrasts at the wire ends. At the lateral kink either a magnetization inhomogeneity (Fig. 8 (b) 1, 5) or a domain wall occurs (Fig. 8 (b) 2, 6). However, at the edge of the FM-SC contact area the vertical flanks pin domain walls so that also the broad electrodes are uniformly magnetized within the region of the FM-SC contact. A MFM image of the decisive section of the FM-SC contact area is displayed in Fig. 8 (c), 10, showing uniform remanent magnetization for all three electrodes. From the topography, Fig. 8 (c), image 11, it is evident that the lift-off edges with a roughness less than the wire thickness ($``$ 30 nm) invoke minimal magnetic contrasts due to fringe fields, as visible in Fig. 8 (c), image 10.

In magnetotransport experiments perpendicular stray field components, visible by dark and light contrast in the MFM images, may induce local Hall voltages in the semiconductor MON99 . Such side effects complicate the study of spin-dependent transport considerably. However, in the lateral spin-valve structure presented, stray field contributions are minimized and well-controllable. First, strong perpendicular stray fields occur only at the vertical flanks because the electrodes sections in the FM-SC contact area are in a single-domain state. Furthermore, the remaining stray fields occur at the vertical flanks for which a tunneling injection current is exponentially reduced with increasing oxide thickness. Any remaining contribution of fringe fields to the magnetoresistance can be precisely characterized and subtracted by complementary four-terminal measurements.

## IV Conclusion

A lateral ferromagnet-semiconductor device structure is optimized for spin-valve operation by nanostructuring high-aspect ratio (m $``$ 20) Py electrodes. A combination of lateral kinks and vertical flanks necessary in hybrid devices provides the favored single-domain state of the spin-injection and -detection electrodes in remanence. The advantages of the presented lateral spin-valve layout will apply similarly to future spin-polarizing materials that exhibit long range ferromagnetism.

###### Acknowledgements.

T. Last gratefully acknowledges financial support by the Evangelisches Studienwerk Haus Villigst e.V. This work has been supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft within the Sonderforschungsbereich 491.

Figure 1: (a) Magnetic force microscopy images of Py structures in remanence with (I) low ($`m`$ = 2.5, with $`l`$ = 10 $`\mu `$m, t = 38 nm), (II) medium ($`m`$ $``$ 14, $`l`$ = 20.9 $`\mu `$m, t = 38 nm) and (III) high aspect ratios ($`m`$ = 57 (top wire), $`m`$ = 43 (bottom wire), t = 50 nm). (b) Experimentally observed domain states of Py micro- and nanostructures for varied length l versus aspect ratios m. Open squares indicate multidomain states (I), grey squares denote high remanent states (II) and closed squares indicate a single-domain state (III). The black solid line depicts the transition line between multi- and single-domain configuration from a phenomenological model AHA88 . The dotted lines are guides to the eye.
Figure 2: MFM images of an array of Py wires ($`l`$ = 16.7 $`\mu `$m, 20.9 $`\mu `$m) with aspect ratios from 14.2 to 32.7. Reliable maintenance of highly remanent state after applying longitudinal magnetic fields of: (a) +60 mT and (b) -20 mT are observed.
Figure 3: Ratio of the lateral extension of magnetic inhomogeneities to the structure length $`\mathrm{\Delta }l/l`$ versus the aspect ratio $`m`$ of Py wires. (a) Upper estimates of $`\mathrm{\Delta }l/l`$ from MFM images in 2 of an array of Py wires with medium and high-aspect ratios. (b) Lower limit for $`\mathrm{\Delta }l/l`$ from two-dimensional micromagnetic simulation (wire length: 2 $`\mu `$m). Aspect ratio regions are denoted as (I) low, (II) medium and (III) high.
Figure 4: MFM images of medium-aspect ratio Py wires ($`w`$ = 2 $`\mu `$m, length, $`l`$ = 10 $`\mu `$m, $`m`$ = 10) with lateral kinks of (a) 0, (b) 10, (c) 40, (d) 50, (e) 70 and 90 (f). Arrows in (e) and (f) depict the insertion of domain walls.
Figure 5: Micromagnetic two-dimensional simulation of the magnetization distribution in elongated Py wires of medium aspect ratios ($`m`$ = 10) with lateral kinks (a) 0, (b) 10, (c) 50. Structure length: 2 $`\mu `$m, cell size: 10 nm.
Figure 6: Scanning-electron-microscope image of a lateral Py-oxide-InAs spin-valve structure with electrodes of widths 2 $`\mu `$m and 0.4 $`\mu `$m separated by 0.2 $`\mu `$m in the contact area (electrode length: 150 $`\mu `$m). Inset: Enlargement of the Py electrodes at the FM-SC contact.
Figure 7: Schematic cross-section of the lateral spin-valve structure. The etched vertical SiO2 flanks at the edges of the ferromagnet-semiconductor contact area have inclination angles of 30 to 40.
Figure 8: MFM images of a lateral Py-oxide-InAs spin-valve configuration. High-aspect ratio Py electrodes of 50 nm thickness are separated by 200 nm in the region of the contact area. (a) Schematic view of the complete structure, 150 $`\mu `$m in length, with section numbering of MFM images displayed in (b) and (c).(b) Stray field contrast at the ends of the broad wires (images 1,2,5,6) result from a multidomain configuration which originates from lateral kinks (images 7 and 8). The pair of strong black/white contrasts at the closures of the straight narrow wire (images 3 and 4) indicates a single domain magnetization configuration.

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# Testing the LIGO Inspiral Analysis with Hardware Injections

## 1 Introduction

Gravitational radiation incident on the LIGO interferometers from an inspiralling binary will cause the test masses to move relative to each other. This produces a differential change in length of the arms. *Injection* is the process of adding a waveform to interferometer data to simulate the presence of a signal in the noise. We use injections to measure the performance of the binary inspiral analysis pipeline. *Software injections*, which add a simulated signal to the data after it has been recorded, are used for efficiency measurements. Since this they performed *a posteriori* interferometer is not affected while it is recording data. Alternatively, a simulated signal can be added to the interferometer control system to make the instrument behave as if an inspiral signal is present. We call this *hardware injection*; the data recorded from the instrument contains the simulated signal.

Analysis of hardware injections ensures that the analysis pipeline is sensitive to real inspiral signals and validates the software injections used to test the pipeline efficiency. In order to perform an accurate upper limit analysis for binary neutron stars, we must measure the efficiency of our pipeline. That is, we inject a known number of signals into the pipeline and determine the fraction of these detected. Injecting signals into the interferometer for the duration of a run is not practical, so we use the analysis software to inject inspiral signals in software. By comparing software and hardware injections we confirm that software injections are adequate to measure the efficiency of the upper limit pipeline.

Hardware injections provide a very complete method of testing the inspiral detection pipeline. By recovering the physical parameters of an injected signal, we test our understanding of all aspects of the pipeline, including the instrument calibration, filtering algorithm and veto safety. We injected inspiral signals immediately after the first LIGO science run (S1) in August—September 2002. The data taken during this time was analyzed using with the software tools used to search for real signals. This article describes the results from hardware injection tests performed by the Inspiral Working Group of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (LSC).

## 2 Injection of the Inspiral Signals

To inject the signals, we generate the interferometer strain, $`h(t)`$, produced by an inspiralling binary using the restricted second order post-Newtonian approximation in the time domain. The LSC calibration group supplies a transfer function, $`T(f)`$, which allows us to construct a signal, $`v(t)`$, that produces the desired strain when it is injected into the interferometer. The transfer function, $`T(f)`$, is given by

$$T(f)=\frac{L}{C}\frac{f^2}{f_0^2}$$
(1)
where $`L`$ is the length of the interferometer, $`C`$ is the calibration of the excitation point in nm/count and $`f_0`$ is the pendulum frequency of the test mass. Damping is neglected as it is unimportant in the LIGO frequency band. Codes are available in the LIGO Algorithm Library (LAL) for simulating inspiral waveforms for hardware injection.

The interferometer *Length Sensing and Control* system has excitation points which allow arbitrary signals to be added into the servo control loops or to the drives that control the motion of the mirrors. During S1, we injected signals corresponding to an optimally oriented binary. Injections of two $`1.4M_{}`$ neutron stars at distances from $`10`$ kpc to $`80`$ kpc were used to test the neutron star analysis. We also injected signals from a $`1.4,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4.0}M_{}`$ binary and several $`1.4,1.4M_{}`$ binaries at closer distances. These signals were injected into the differential mode servo and directly into an end test mass drive.

## 3 The S1 Inspiral Analysis Pipeline

The data analysis pipeline used in the neutron star inspiral search is described in . In brief, we use matched filtering with a bank of templates between $`1.0`$ and $`3.0`$ $`M_{}`$ for each element of the binary. This generates a list of triggers which exceed a signal-to-noise threshold and pass a waveform quality test, known as the $`\chi ^2`$ test, which has proved effective at excluding triggers that are due to glitches in the data. Auxiliary interferometer channels are filtered for glitches and those inspiral triggers that are coincident with a glitch are vetoed. We test for coincident triggers, subject to the less sensitive interferometer being able to see the trigger. Triggers that pass all cuts are considered events. The efficiency of the pipeline is measured by a Monte-Carlo simulation which uses software injections into interferometer data.

## 4 Results

### 4.1 Detection of the Injected Signals

Table 1 shows the events generated by processing 4000 seconds of data from the Livingston 4 km interferometer (L1) on 10 September 2002 during the post-run hardware injections. It can be seen that all of the hardware injections are identified as candidate events since they have high signal-to-noise ratios and values of the $`\chi ^2`$ test lower than $`5`$, which was the threshold used in the S1 analysis pipeline.

Since we know the exact end times of the injected signals, we can compare them with the value reported by the search code and ensure that the pipeline is reporting the correct time. The raw data is resampled to $`4096`$ Hz before being filtered. For each of the signals injected, we were able to detect the coalescence time of the injection to within one sample point of the correct value at $`4096`$ Hz, which is consistent with the expected statistical error and confirms that the pipeline has not introduced any distortion of the signals.

### 4.2 Checking the Instrumental Calibration

Calibration measurements of the interferometers were performed before and after the run; these are the reference calibrations. In general, the calibration changes due to changes in the alignment on timescales of minutes. This variation can be encoded in a single parameter $`\alpha `$ which is monitored using a sinusoidal signal injected into the detector (the calibration line). $`\alpha `$ is used as input to the data analysis pipeline and varied between $`0.4`$ and $`1.4`$ during S1. Data is analysed in 256 second segments. For each 256 seconds of data starting at time $`t_0`$, we construct the calibration, $`R(f;t_0)`$ by using $`\alpha (t_0)`$ and a reference calibration. $`R(f;t_0)`$ is then used to calibrate 256 seconds of data.

Figure 1 shows a set of injections into the Livingston interferometer analyzed with different calibrations generated by varying the value of $`\alpha `$. We expect that the signal-to-noise varies quadratically and the effective distance varies linearly with changes in $`\alpha `$. This is confirmed by the injections. There is no single value of $`\alpha `$ that gives the correct effective distance for all the injections; this is consistent with the estimated systematic errors in the calibration. Unfortunately the calibration line was not present during the time the hardware injections were performed, so we cannot directly compare a measured calibration with the result of the injections.

## 5 Conclusions and Future Work

The analysis of the hardware injections in S1 was very productive. It allowed us to test the software injections and check that the correct parameters are recovered for injected signals. We recovered all the injections for the signals between $`10`$ and $`80`$ kpc with a timing accuracy of $`1/4096`$ s. The detected distance of the signals was correct to within the calibration uncertainty of approximately $`30\%`$. We confirmed that the variation of signal-to-noise ratio with calibration scaled as we expected. In addition, hardware injections were used to ensure that our pipeline did not veto real signals due to using unsafe auxiliary channels as vetoes.

The first science run lasted two weeks, so our hardware injections were limited. The second LIGO science run (S2) took place 14 February—14 April 2003 and a more comprehensive set of hardware injections was performed with the calibration line present. We are currently analyzing the data taken during S2. The injection of inspiral signals into the interferometer will again form an important part of our analysis.

We gratefully acknowledge the LIGO project and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, who made the first LIGO science run possible. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under grants PHY-9970821 and PHY-0200852.

## References


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# From gas to starburst and AGN

## 1. Introduction

Nuclear activity in galaxies, either of the stellar (a nuclear or circumnuclear starburst) or non-stellar (“active galactic nucleus”; AGN) variety, is rather common in present-day galaxies (e.g., Ho, Filippenko, & Sargent 1997a). The most tangible link between the nuclear regions and the host galaxy is provided by the fact that the mass of the central supermassive black hole in a galaxy is directly related to the velocity dispersion (hence the mass) of the bulge (Ferrarese & Merritt 2000; Gebhardt et al. 2000). Since such black holes appear to be ubiquitous in the nuclei of both active and non-active galaxies (Kormendy & Richstone 1995), whether or not a galaxy is active must largely be determined by the ability of that galaxy to channel digestible fuel (i.e., gas) to the smallest scales. Large stellar bars, as well as tidal interactions and mergers, can drive gas efficiently from the outer disk into the inner kpc (Shlosman, Frank, & Begelman 1989; Shlosman, Begelman & Frank 1990), but it is non-trivial to drive gas to smaller scales. Nuclear (secondary) bars nested within the large-scale (primary) stellar bar (e.g., Shlosman et al. 1989; Laine et al. 2002) have been suggested as vehicles which drive gas efficiently to scales of 10–100 pc.

We will concentrate here on observational evidence, mostly statistical in nature, of the effects of bars and interactions on starburst and Seyfert activity, which are conceivably linked to these facilitators of inflow. After reviewing observations which can support the theoretical expectation that bars will concentrate mass in the center of a galaxy (Sect. 2), we will review separately the observational evidence, or lack thereof, for relationships between the forms of non-axisymmetry and activity identified above (Sect. 3-6). We will then discuss nuclear rings of star formation and their relations with bars and nuclear activity (Sect. 7, 8). Concluding remarks are given in Sect. 9.

## 2. Bars and central mass concentration

There are several pieces of observational evidence which indicate that bars do indeed concentrate gas in the central regions of spiral galaxies, as expected theoretically and numerically. We will briefly review the evidence here, but also emphasize that it does not necessarily imply that the mass concentration stimulated by bars is connected directly to the occurrence or fueling of nuclear activity because the scales involved are different. Such a connection between mass concentration and activity would have to be separately studied in a statistically meaningful way, which has to our knowledge not been done to date.

The most comprehensive evidence so far for mass concentration by bars stems from surveys of molecular gas concentration in barred as compared to non-barred galaxies, traced through emission in the millimeter domain by CO molecules. Sakamoto et al. (1999) used data from the Owens Valley and Nobeyama interferometers for 10 barred and 10 non-barred galaxies, and found that the barred galaxies, statistically, have more concentrated CO emission, and thus, presumably, molecular hydrogen. More recently, Sheth et al. (2004) used the data from the BIMA-SONG survey (Regan et al. 2001; Helfer et al. 2003) to confirm this conclusion. Their sample contains 29 barred and 15 non-barred galaxies of types Sab-Sd, which have comparable molecular gas masses and surface densities across their disks. In the central kiloparsec, however, both the average surface density and the central concentration of molecular gas are about three times higher in the barred than in the non-barred galaxies, effects which are somewhat more pronounced in the early than in the late type galaxies in the sample. Although the galaxies with the most centrally concentrated CO emission and the highest surface densities in the central kiloparsec are barred, the scatter is large. One of the caveats in this kind of work is the value of the conversion factor between CO intensity and molecular hydrogen column density, the $`X`$-factor, which is usually assumed constant. Findings such as the one by Hüttemeister et al. (2000) of significant changes in the conversion factor within the barred galaxy NGC 7479 as determined from 12CO/13CO line intensity ratios, possibly related to the gas being more diffuse, or unbound, in the bar, may not invalidate this general assumption, but do highlight the need for more detailed scrutiny.

Maiolino, Risaliti, & Salvati (1999) studied the atomic gas column density in front of Seyfert nuclei using X-ray measurements, and found significantly higher columns in those Seyferts which are in barred hosts than in those in non-barred galaxies. Alonso-Herrero & Knapen (2001) studied H ii region populations in the central regions of spiral galaxies, and found that both the luminosity of the most luminous H ii regions and the massive star formation efficiency are higher in the barred than in the non-barred galaxies, which again was interpreted as a consequence of enhanced gas concentration by bars. There is thus indeed some observational evidence that bars drive gas towards the nuclear zones of galaxies. Below, we will explore whether this can be related to the occurrence of nuclear starburst or Seyfert activity.

## 3. Bars and starburst activity

Clear indications that nuclear starbursts preferentially occur in barred hosts have been reported since the early eighties, from radio continuum (e.g., Hummel 1981; Puxley, Hawarden, & Mountain 1988; Huang et al. 1996) or infrared (e.g., Hawarden et al. 1986; Devereux 1987; Dressel 1988) emission and its distribution, or from the morphology of spectroscopically selected starburst galaxies (Arsenault 1989). Even though the results are not unambiguous (see, e.g., discussions in Huang et al. 1996), there is a clear trend. For example, Hummel (1981) found that the central radio continuum component is typically twice as strong in barred than in non-barred galaxies; Hawarden et al. (1986) found that basically all galaxies with a high 25/12$`\mu `$m flux ratio are barred; and Arsenault (1989) found an enhanced bar$`+`$ring fraction among starburst hosts. Huang et al. (1996) refined the methodology used in earlier papers and used IRAS data to confirm that starburst hosts are preferentially barred. They do point out, however, that this result only holds for strong bars (SB class in the RC3 catalog, de Vaucouleurs et al. 1991) and in early-type galaxies. All results mentioned above are based on morphological classifications taken from catalogs such as the RC3.

A study of the molecular gas properties in the inner kpc of starbursts and non-starbursts (Jogee 2001; Jogee et al. 2001) shows that the starbursts generally host larger central gas densities (assuming a standard $`X`$-factor). The fact that both starbursts and non-starbursts in Jogee’s sample can host a large-scale bar suggests that the lifetime of the starburst is short with respect to the timescale over which bars evolve or dissolve. The data also suggest that in a given barred galaxy the dominant star formation mode can change from an inefficient pre-burst phase in the early stages into a powerful circumnuclear starburst once a high enough central gas density builds up. These findings are consistent with the reports referred to above that starbursts are more common in barred than in unbarred galaxies, but they also imply that the presence of a bar is not a sufficient condition for a concurrent starburst.

We conclude that statistical studies show that bars and starbursts are connected, but that the results are subject to important caveats and exclusions. Further study is needed, using carefully defined samples, and exploring more direct starburst indicators, such as nuclear spectra, H$`\alpha `$ imaging, or possibly careful SED fitting, all combined with a bar analysis based upon, ideally, near-infrared (NIR) imaging. What also needs more scrutiny is the nature of the starburst associated with a bar. Hawarden et al. (1986) already suggested that these starbursts might be circumnuclear, and we now know that such circumnuclear star formation can be very compact (e.g., González Delgado et al. 1998). Given the theoretically and observationally established strong connections between circumnuclear star formation and non-axisymmetry in the gravitational potential of their host galaxy (Sect. 7), and given the importance of such features for our understanding of galaxy dynamics and evolution, HST imaging ought to be employed to investigate whether bar-related starburst activity is circumnuclear rather than nuclear in general.

## 4. Bars and Seyfert activity

Seyfert galaxies have a number of characteristics which make them particularly suitable for a study of their host galaxies: they are relatively local AGN and occur predominantly in disk galaxies. Over the years, and starting with the work of Adams (1977), a fair number of authors have studied the fraction of bars in Seyfert galaxies, often comparing the results for the AGN with those for a control sample (e.g., Adams 1977; Simkin, Su, & Schwarz 1980; Balick & Heckman 1982; MacKenty 1990). Unfortunately, these early surveys, and many of the later ones (e.g., Moles, Márquez, & Pérez 1995; Ho, Filippenko & Sargent 1997b; Crenshaw, Kraemer, & Gabel 2003) suffer from one or more of the following imperfections: they are based on optical imaging, where stellar bars are much more difficult to detect than in the NIR; they use the RC3 classification or, worse, ad-hoc and non-reproducible classification criteria to determine whether a galaxy is barred; or they suffer from the absence of properly matched control samples.

There have also been a small number of studies using new, high-quality, NIR imaging of well-matched samples of Seyfert and quiescent galaxies. Mulchaey & Regan (1997), from one such study, report identical bar fractions, but Knapen, Shlosman, & Peletier (2000), using imaging at higher spatial resolution and a rigorously applied set of bar criteria, find a marginally significant difference, with a higher bar fraction in a sample of CfA Seyferts than in a control sample of non-Seyferts (approximately 80% vs. 60%).

This difference was later confirmed at a 2.5 $`\sigma `$ level by Laine et al. (2002), who improved upon the work by Knapen et al. (2000) by increasing the sample size (112 instead of 58 galaxies in total) and by using high resolution HST NICMOS NIR images of the central regions of all galaxies. Laine et al. (2002) find that 41 of their 56 Seyfert galaxies have at least one bar (73%$`\pm `$6%, where the uncertainty is the Poisson error due primarily to the sample size), against 28 of the 56 non-Seyfert control galaxies (50%$`\pm `$7%). Another result is that almost one of every five sample galaxies, and almost one of every three barred galaxies, have more than one bar, although the fraction of small, or nuclear, bars is not enhanced in Seyfert galaxies (see also Erwin & Sparke 2002, who reach much the same conclusions on nuclear bars, even though the classification of especially the smallest bars remains a matter of debate for some individual galaxies, see, e.g., Laine et al. 2002; Erwin 2004). Laine et al. also find that there is no correlation between the presence of companion galaxies, even relatively bright ones, and a bar, thus refuting a claim by Márquez et al. (2000) that the results by Knapen et al. (2000) were unreliable because not all the sample galaxies were isolated.

We can thus conclude that carefully performed studies show that there is a slight, though only just about significant, excess of bars among Seyfert galaxies as compared to non-Seyfert control samples. A significant fraction of Seyfert galaxies appear to be non-barred, although future analysis could potentially reveal a weak or very small bar, or another form of non-axisymmetry in their gravitational potential which could have similar dynamical effects (Shlosman et al. 1989). What even the most detailed of these studies have not shown, however, is a one-to-one correlation between bars and Seyfert activity. Given that any fueling process must be accompanied by angular momentum loss, which in turn is most likely induced by non-axisymmetries, either the timescales of bars (or interactions, see below) are different from those of the activity, or the non-axisymmetries are not as easy to measure as we think, for instance because they occur at smaller scales, or are masqueraded to a significant extent by, e.g., dust or star formation (Laine et al. 2002).

## 5. Interactions and starburst activity

There is ample anecdotal evidence for the connection between galaxy interactions and starburst activity. Practically all extreme infrared sources, specifically the Ultra-Luminous InfraRed Galaxies (ULIRGs), which are thought to be powered mainly by extreme starbursts (Genzel et al. 1998), occur in galaxies with disturbed morphologies, presumably interacting (e.g., Joseph & Wright 1985; Armus, Heckman, & Miley 1987; Sanders et al. 1988; Clements et al. 1996; Murphy et al. 1996; Sanders & Mirabel 1996; see also Sanders, these proceedings, p. 000). Partly as a result of this finding, and considering the much increased interaction rates at large lookback times expected from cosmological models, a significant occurrence of massive starbursts, mostly dust-obscured and thus hidden from direct view, is sometimes inferred from the observation of so-called SCUBA-sources (e.g., Smail, Ivison, & Blain 1997). Given the evidence from, for instance, observations of ULIRGs, it is perhaps not unreasonable to state that such massive starbursts are powered in galaxies which are undergoing a major upheaval, i.e., are merging or interacting.

More in general though, the picture is far less clear, as nicely illustrated in a recent paper by Bergvall, Laurikainen, & Aalto (2003). These authors considered two matched samples of nearby interacting (pairs and clear cases of mergers) and non-interacting galaxies, and measured star formation indices based on $`UBV`$ colors. Contrary to previous reports in the literature (notably by Larson & Tinsley 1978), Bergvall et al. do not find significantly enhanced star-forming activity among the interacting/merging galaxies. Bergvall et al. (2003) estimate from their sample that only about 0.1% of a magnitude limited sample of galaxies will be massive starbursts generated by interactions and mergers. The authors then argue that since virtually all ULIRG morphologies show evidence for recent mergers, other mechanisms cannot reasonably be expected to trigger massive starbursts. Although Bergvall et al.’s fraction of 0.1% is based upon one true massive starburst (ESO 286-IG19) found in a sample of 59 and thus carries substantial error bars, it is also clear that such massive starbursts are a very rare occurrence indeed, at least, but possibly not exclusively (Bergvall et al.), in the local universe.

So although mergers can undoubtedly lead to massive starbursts, and most extreme starbursts show evidence for a merging/interacting history, they appear to do so only in exceptionally rare cases. Most interactions between galaxies may not lead to any increase in the starburst activity, and those that do may be selected cases where a set of parameters, both internal to the galaxies and regarding the orbital geometry of the merger, is conducive to the occurrence of starburst activity (e.g., Mihos & Hernquist 1996). Laine et al. (2003) find very little evidence for trends in starburst activity from detailed HST imaging of the Toomre sequence of merging galaxies, further illustrating this point.

## 6. Interactions and Seyfert activity

Galaxy interactions can easily lead to non-axisymmetries in the gravitational potential of one or more of the galaxies involved, and as such can be implicated in angular momentum loss of inflowing material, and thus conceivably in AGN fueling (Shlosman et al. 1989). Although indeed Seyfert activity occurs in interacting and merging galaxies (NGC 2992 is a rather spectacular example), no unambiguous evidence has been reported for an excess of the numbers of companions to Seyfert galaxies as compared to non-active control galaxies (e.g., Fuentes-Williams & Stocke 1988; de Robertis, Yee, & Hayhoe 1998), nor for a different incidence of Seyfert or AGN activity among more or less crowded environments (e.g., Kelm, Focardi, & Palumbo 1998; Miller et al. 2003). Much of the earlier work, some of which claimed a statistical connection between interactions and Seyfert activity, was unfortunately plagued by poor control sample selection (see Laurikainen & Salo 1995 for a detailed review), while most studies, including some of the most recent ones, are not based on complete sets of redshift information for the possible companion galaxies. In addition, Laine et al. (2002) have shown that the bar fraction among both their Seyfert and non-Seyfert sample galaxies is completely independent of the presence of faint, or bright, companions (interacting galaxies were not considered by Laine et al.). We thus conclude that interactions and Seyfert activity may well be linked in individual cases, but that as yet the case that they are statistically connected has not been made convincingly.

## 7. Bars and nuclear rings

As discussed earlier in this paper, bars concentrate gas in the central regions of galaxies. Bars, however, also set up resonances which can act as focal points for the gas flow, and where gas concentrates in limited radial ranges (see, e.g., review by Shlosman 1999). Rings in disk galaxies are intimately linked to the internal dynamics and the evolution of their hosts, are relatively common, and are most often outlined by massive star formation (see Buta & Combes 1996 for a comprehensive review on galactic rings).

Nuclear rings, on scales of less than one to roughly two kiloparsec in radius, occur in one of every five spiral galaxies (Knapen 2004). They are found almost exclusively in barred galaxies (e.g., Buta & Combes 1996; Knapen 2004; see below), and can be directly linked to inner Lindblad resonances (Knapen et al. 1995; Heller & Shlosman 1996; Shlosman 1999). Individual gas clouds within such a ring can become gravitationally unstable, either spontaneously (Elmegreen 1994), or under the influence of density waves set up by the bar (Knapen et al. 1995; Ryder, Knapen, & Takamiya 2001), and rings are well known for the significant massive star formation occurring within them (although rings without star formation occur as well, see, e.g., Shlosman 1999; Erwin & Sparke 2002). Because of the much enhanced massive star formation occurring in nuclear rings, they are prime tracers of star formation processes in starburst regions, as well as of the dynamics of galaxies on scales of a kiloparsec from the nucleus. As an example of the latter, Fig. 1 shows the relation between the relative nuclear ring size and the gravitational bar torque (a measure of the strength of the bar) for 15 nuclear rings. It is clear that large rings can only occur in weak bars, a result which confirms expectations from theory and modeling, in which, simply put, the extent of the perpendicular $`x`$2 orbits needed to sustain the nuclear ring is limited as the bar gets stronger, i.e., as the $`x`$1 orbits become more elongated (see Knapen et al. 1995; Heller & Shlosman 1996; Knapen, Pérez-Ramírez, & Laine 2002; Knapen 2004).

Some rings apparently occur in non-barred galaxies. In some cases, the host may be classified as non-barred in the major catalogs, but a small bar shows up clearly in NIR imaging (for instance, NGC 1068, Scoville et al. 1988, and NGC 4725, Shaw et al. 1993; Möllenhoff, Matthias, & Gerhard 1995; see the more elaborate discussion in Knapen 2004). Other apparently non-barred nuclear ring hosts may either have a weak oval distortion, or be undergoing the effects of an interaction with a companion galaxy. In either case, a departure from axisymmetry would be set up in the gravitational potential of the galaxy which could lead to ring formation in a very similar way to when a bar is present (Shlosman et al. 1989). We give two examples from the recent literature.

The first example is that of NGC 278, a small, nearby and isolated spiral galaxy ($`v_{\mathrm{sys}}=640`$ km s-1; $`M_B=18.8`$) recently observed in optical and H i by Knapen et al. (2004a). Although classified as SAB(rs)b in the RC3, there is no evidence for the presence of a bar in this galaxy from either HST WFPC2 or ground-based NIR imaging.

As seen in Fig. 2 (left), a $`BR`$ color index image of NGC 278, its optical disk shows two distinct regions, the inner one with copious star formation and clear spiral arm structure, and the outer one ($`r>27`$ arcsec or 1.5 kpc) which is almost completely featureless, of low surface brightness, and rather red. The H i disk (shown at a low resolution of 120 arcsec in Fig 2, right) is much more extended than the optical disk (indicated by the white circle in the H i figure) and shows both morphological (Fig. 2) and kinematic (Knapen et al. 2004a) disturbances which suggest a recent minor merger with a small gas-rich galaxy, perhaps similar to a Magellanic cloud.

The scale and morphology of the region of star formation in NGC 278 indicate that this is in fact a nuclear ring, albeit one with a much larger relative size with respect to its host galaxy than practically all other known nuclear rings (the absolute radius of the nuclear ring is about a kiloparsec, normal for nuclear rings). Knapen et al. (2004a) postulate that it is in fact the past interaction which has set up a non-axisymmetry in the gravitational potential, which in turn, in a way very similar to the action of a classic bar, leads to the formation of the nuclear ring. The case of NGC 278 illustrates how in apparently non-barred galaxies rings can be caused by departures from axisymmetry induced by interactions, but also shows how difficult it can be to uncover this: in the case of NGC 278 only through detailed H i observations.

Another example of the same class may be the case of the blue compact dwarf galaxy Mrk 409, which has recently been shown to possess two star-forming rings, a nuclear one at 0.5 kpc radius, and a further one at a radius of some 2 kpc (Gil de Paz et al. 2003). These authors interpret the inner of the two rings as resulting from a starburst-driven shock interacting with the interstellar medium. In such a scenario, the nuclear starburst would sweep up gas in the galactic plane, which would eventually reach densities high enough for it to become molecular, followed by a phase of massive star formation. Such a scenario seems unattractive, by the way, as a general one, because it would depend on a very strong starburst-bar correlation to reproduce the observed very strong nuclear ring-bar correlation (the former has not been established nearly as conclusively as the latter, see Sect. 3). Gil de Paz et al. (2003) do not offer a preferred explanation for the outermost of the two observed rings in this galaxy.

In light of the appearance and scales of the two rings in Mrk 409, it is tempting to consider them as resonance rings. In that case, as in host galaxies of other nuclear rings, we would expect to see some evidence for the presence of a non-axisymmetry in the gravitational potential. Also known as NGC 3011, Mrk 409 has been classified as ‘.L…..’ in the RC3. No HST images are available from the archive, and a 2MASS (Jarrett et al. 2003) image shows no evidence for a bar. We checked the Hyperleda database (Paturel et al. 2003), and found a number of companion galaxies which, although probably not directly interacting, are certainly close enough to be, or to have been, in some kind of gravitational partnership with Mrk 409. These include PGC 028169 with $`v_{\mathrm{sys}}=1557`$ km s-1 and at a distance of less than 250 kpc, UGC 5287 ($`v_{\mathrm{sys}}=1470`$ km s-1; $`250<d<300`$ kpc), and UGC 5282 ($`v_{\mathrm{sys}}=1470`$ km s-1; $`300<d<350`$ kpc). All these galaxies have similar magnitudes to Mrk 409, which has a $`v_{\mathrm{sys}}`$ of 1527 km s-1. So there are clearly companion galaxies around which may have caused non-axisymmetry in the potential, possibly as in NGC 278. Unfortunately, H i data are not available in this case, but we speculate that these might well show disturbed kinematics and morphology in the outer regions.

## 8. Nuclear rings and nuclear activity

Although nuclear rings and especially nuclear activity have as separate topics received considerable attention in the literature, their possible interrelation has not been much studied. Many nuclear rings, of course, are anecdotally known to occur in galaxies which also host a nuclear starburst or a prominent AGN (often of Seyfert or LINER type, given the typical parameters of the host galaxies involved), and some famous examples include NGC 1068 and NGC 4303.

In a recent paper, we explored the correlations between nuclear activity (both of the non-stellar and starburst variety) and the occurrence of nuclear rings in a sample of 57 nearby spiral galaxies (Knapen 2004). Using information on the activity from the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) and ring parameters from our own H$`\alpha `$ imaging survey (Knapen et al. 2004b), we found not only that nuclear rings significantly more often than not occur in galaxies which also host nuclear activity (only two of the 12 nuclear rings occur in a galaxy which is neither a starburst nor an AGN host; 30 of the 57 sample galaxies would fall into this category), but also that the circumnuclear H$`\alpha `$ emission morphology of the AGN and starbursts is significantly more often in the form of a ring than in non-AGN, non-starburst galaxies (38% of AGN, 33% of starbursts, 11% of non-AGN, and 7% of non-AGN non-starburst galaxies have circumnuclear rings in our sample of galaxies).

Although the number of galaxies in this initial study is rather small for detailed statistical analyses, we did find this most interesting correlation between the occurrence of nuclear rings and that of nuclear activity. Our initial interpretation of this effect is that both nuclear rings, as traced by the massive star formation within them, and starbursts and AGN (of the Seyfert or LINER variety) trace very recent gas inflow. Although it is not clear a priori why the kpc-scale fueling of nuclear rings and the pc-scale fueling of activity might be so closely related, nuclear rings do seem to show a potential for being very interesting and direct tracers of AGN fueling. These findings may also be related to the reported higher incidence of rings (inner and outer, as based on RC3 classifications) among Seyfert and LINER hosts than among normal or starburst galaxies (Hunt & Malkan 1999). All these aspects of rings and nuclear activity need further scrutiny.

## 9. Concluding remarks

There is significant evidence that bars can drive gaseous material to the central regions of a galaxy (Sect. 2), but it is hard to pin down the evidence that this gas leads directly to AGN or even starburst activity. There are indications that starbursts are provoked by bars or interactions, though most probably not in general, but only in special cases (Sect. 3, 5). For Seyfert galaxies, there is very little evidence indeed that this kind of AGN preferentially occurs in host galaxies which are either barred (Sect. 4) or interacting (Sect. 6). These rather disappointing observational results, however, do not imply that bars and interactions can be declared altogether innocent of being involved with nuclear activity.

The kind of deviations from axisymmetry in the gravitational potential of the host galaxy set up by bars and interactions has, theoretically and numerically, long since been linked to nuclear activity (e.g., Shlosman et al. 1989, 1990; see also review by Shlosman 2003). Shlosman et al. postulated that the presence of such non-axisymmetry would be a necessary, but not sufficient condition for the onset of nuclear activity, and that an additional factor or factors, such as the availability of gas at the relevant (small) scales, would likely play a role.

Observationally, we now know that bars can lead to central gas concentration, thus assuring that a viable gas reservoir is present within the central kiloparsec. Either many (or most, or possibly even all) galaxies then become a starburst or Seyfert-type AGN at some stage, but for a short time (and possibly eradicating any links we may wish to find with the host’s properties; Beckman 2001), or some mechanism, as yet unidentified observationally, turns on the activity in specific galaxies. This mechanism may well include gravitational torques due to a non-axisymmetric matter distribution, for instance due to nuclear bars (e.g., Laine et al. 2002), which can dump fuel very close to the nucleus indeed (Shlosman et al. 1989). The timescales of such nuclear inflow are unknown, but may be very short.

Nuclear bars are, unfortunately, rather hard to study observationally. Morphological studies based upon, e.g., HST NIR imaging are hampered by the effects of dust extinction and star formation (Laine et al. 2002). The morphology of dust lanes in the central kpc has been connected to attempts to identify nuclear bars (Regan & Mulchaey 1999; Martini et al. 2001), but nuclear bars, unlike large bars, cannot be expected to lead to a well-defined morphology of offset dust lanes (Shlosman & Heller 2002; Maciejewski et al. 2002). A possible way forward here is the use of integral field spectroscopy (e.g., Bacon et al. 2001), which, if used in conjunction with adaptive optics techniques, gives simultaneous high-resolution mapping of the distributions of stellar populations and dust, as well as of the gas and stellar kinematics. In combination with detailed numerical modeling, this could lead to the detection of the dynamical effects of a nuclear bar on gas flows which may be directly related to the fueling process of starbursts and/or AGN.

As indicated by the many, often contradictory, studies referenced in this paper, there is, however, also still a dire need for continued study of the detailed properties of large and well-defined samples of AGN and starburst host galaxies, as well as of carefully matched control samples of non-active galaxies. Tantalising new results, briefly described in Sect. 7 and 8, indicate that nuclear rings ought to be included in such investigations. The current or future availability of datasets of unprecedented scope and size (e.g., the 2MASS or Sloan surveys) must be exploited to identify and analyse any relationships between nuclear activity and the properties of their host galaxies, which are no doubt more subtle than often suggested in the past.

Acknowledgments

I wish to thank Shardha Jogee, Seppo Laine, and Isaac Shlosman for comments on an earlier version of this paper, and Erwin de Blok for assistance with Fig. 2. I am especially indebted to my collaborators on the various aspects of our joint research described here.

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