text:
# [O iii]/[N ii] as an abundance indicator at high redshift

## 1 Introduction

Extragalactic H ii regions are central to the study of chemical abundances in the universe (e.g. Garnett 2004). Accurate abundance measurements require the determination of the electron temperature, which in turn is usually obtained from the ratios of auroral to nebular line intensities, such as \[O iii$`\lambda 4363/\lambda 5007`$. This is often referred to as the ‘direct’ $`T_\mathrm{e}`$ method. A well-known difficulty, however, arises from the fact that, as the metallicity increases, the electron temperature decreases (since the cooling is via metal lines) and the auroral lines eventually become too faint to measure. Detailed modelling can overcome this problem. For example, Kewley & Dopita (2002) have recently used a combination of stellar population synthesis and photoionization models to develop a set of ionization parameter and abundance diagnostics based only on the strong optical emission lines. Their ‘optimal’ method uses ratios of \[N ii\], \[O ii\], \[O iii\], \[S ii\], \[S iii\] and the Balmer lines, that is the full complement of strong nebular lines accessible from the ground. They also recommended procedures for the derivation of abundances in cases where only a subset of these lines is available.

The advent of 8-10 m class telescopes has made it possible to extend observations of these lines to galaxies at high redshifts (e.g. Teplitz et al. 2000; Pettini et al. 2001; Kobulnicky et al. 2003; Lilly, Carollo, & Stockton 2003; Steidel et al. 2004). At high redshift, however, the study of nebular emission encounters new obstacles. The first and obvious difficulty is that, given the much larger distances involved, the line fluxes are reduced dramatically. The problem is compounded by the fact that the lines are redshifted into the near-infrared wavelength region, where the sky background is orders of magnitude higher than in the optical. Second, at a given redshift only a subset of the strong lines will fall within an atmospheric window and thus be accessible from the ground. Even at particularly favourable redshifts, such as $`z2.3`$ which shifts \[O ii\], \[O iii\] and H$`\beta `$, and H$`\alpha `$ and \[N ii\] respectively into the middle range of the $`J`$, $`H`$ and $`K`$ bands, it is not possible to record all these lines in a single exposure. Rather, different spectrograph settings are normally required, and this can easily introduce additional errors in the relative flux calibrations. For all of these reasons, there are practical limitations to the accuracy with which emission line ratios can be measured in high redshift objects.

There is thus an incentive to explore simpler abundance indicators based on only a few emission lines—preferably close in wavelength—which, while admittedly less accurate than the full treatments mentioned above, may still be adequate to characterise the chemical enrichment of distant galaxies. The idea of such indicators goes back to a fundamental paper by Searle (1971) who, noting some measurements of nebular \[O iii\] lines in M33 by Aller (1942), himself found a systematic increase in \[O iii\]/H$`\beta `$ and a corresponding decrease in \[N ii\]/H$`\alpha `$ with galactocentric distance as a generic property of giant H ii regions in late-type spiral galaxies. Searle pointed out that these trends were most likely due to radial abundance gradients, thereby raising the possibility of using these line ratios more generally as indicators of abundance. Such indicators can be calibrated against more secure abundance determinations, based on auroral line measurements or on detailed photoionization models, to establish their typical accuracy; for this reason they are often referred to as ‘empirical’ methods. The first exploration of such a method was by Jensen, Strom & Strom (1976) who considered the ratio \[O iii\]/H$`\beta `$. The subsequent extension of this idea by Pagel et al. (1979), who included \[O ii\], led to the most widely used abundance indicator, the $`R_{23}`$ index which relates the abundance of oxygen to the ratio of (\[O ii\] + \[O iii\]) to H$`\beta `$. In the last 25 years there have been many efforts to refine the calibration of $`R_{23}`$. The most successful are the calibration by McGaugh (1991) which is based on photoionisation models and the empirical one by Pilyugin (2003); both improve the accuracy by making use of the \[O iii\]/\[O ii\] ratio as an ionisation parameter. Even so, systematic differences of up to 0.5 dex remain between the oxygen abundances derived from the $`R_{23}`$ index and those deduced from the ‘direct’ $`T_\mathrm{e}`$ method (e.g. Skillman, Côté, & Miller 2003; Kennicutt, Bresolin, & Garnett 2003). When compounded with the well-known double-valued behaviour of (O/H) vs. $`R_{23}`$, this can lead to order of magnitude uncertainties in (O/H) in galaxies at $`z3`$ (Pettini et al. 2001).

Partly to circumvent this latter problem, analogous $`S_{23}`$ (\[S ii\] + \[S iii\])/H$`\beta `$ (Vílchez & Esteban 1996; Christensen, Petersen, & Gammelgaard 1997; Díaz & Pérez-Montero 2000) and $`S_{234}`$ (\[S ii\] + \[S iii\]+ \[S iv\])/H$`\beta `$ (Oey et al. 2002) indices have been proposed. Although these sulphur-line based indices turn over at higher metallicities than $`R_{23}`$, the sulphur lines are weaker than their oxygen counterparts and their red and infrared rest wavelengths place them beyond the reach of ground-based observations at redshifts $`z\stackrel{>}{}1.5`$.

More promising are methods which involve \[N ii\] and H$`\alpha `$. In this paper we reconsider the $`N2`$ index ($`N2`$ log{\[N ii$`\lambda 6583`$/H$`\alpha `$}) recently discussed by Denicoló, Terlevich, & Terlevich (2002), and show how its accuracy can be further improved in the high abundance regime by comparison with \[O iii$`\lambda 5007`$/H$`\beta `$.

## 2 The $`N2`$ index

Following up on earlier work by Storchi-Bergmann, Calzetti, & Kinney (1994) and by Raimann et al. (2000), Denicoló et al. (2002) have focussed attention again on the $`N2`$ index, pointing out its usefulness in the search for low metallicity galaxies. The \[N ii\]/H$`\alpha `$ ratio is highly sensitive to the ‘metallicity’, as measured by the oxygen abundance (O/H), through a combination of two effects. As (O/H) decreases below solar, there is a tendency for the ionization to increase (either from hardness of the ionizing spectrum or from the ionization parameter, or both), decreasing the ratio \[N ii\]/\[N iii\], and, furthermore, the (N/O) ratio itself decreases at the high-abundance end because of the secondary nature of nitrogen (e.g. Henry, Edmunds, & Köppen 2000; Pettini et al. 2002a). From the ground, H$`\alpha `$ and \[N ii\] can be followed all the way to redshift $`z2.5`$ (the limit of the $`K`$ band). With thousands of galaxies now known at $`z>1`$ (Madgwick et al. 2003; Steidel et al. 2004; Abraham et al., in preparation), the $`N2`$ index offers the means to determine metallicities in a wholesale manner over look-back times which span most of the age of the universe. It is thus worthwhile reconsidering its accuracy.

Denicoló et al. (2002) compiled an extensive sample of nearby extragalactic H ii regions which could be used to calibrate $`N2`$ vs. (O/H). We have revised their database by: (i) including only H ii regions with values of (O/H) determined either via the $`T_\mathrm{e}`$ method or with detailed photoionization modelling, and excluding the untabulated estimates for H ii regions from the catalogue of Terlevich et al. (1991), because for many of these (O/H) had been estimated from ‘empirical’ (i.e. $`R_{23}`$ or $`S_{23}`$) indices; (ii) updating it with recent measurements by Kennicutt et al. (2003) for H ii regions in M 101 and by Skillman et al. (2003) for dwarf irregular galaxies in the Sculptor Group.

The total sample, shown in Figure 1, consists of 137 extragalactic H ii regions with well determined values of (O/H) and $`N2`$. In all but six cases (shown with filled symbols) the oxygen abundance was determined with the $`T_\mathrm{e}`$ method. References to the original works are given in the Figure caption. It can be readily appreciated from Figure 1 that, while $`N2`$ does indeed increase monotonically with $`\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$, a linear relationship is only an approximate representation of the data, which rather tend to lie along an S-shaped curve. In particular, when (O/H) $`8.2\pm 0.2`$, the value of $`N2`$ can span one order of magnitude, from $`N21.8`$ to $`N20.8`$, whereas at solar metallicity and beyond \[N ii\] tends to saturate (Baldwin, Phillips & Terlevich 1981) because it comes to dominate the cooling (Kewley & Dopita 2002). Forcing a linear fit to the sample,111We performed an unweighted least squares fit to the data because in compilations such as this the error estimates are highly heterogeneous. However, a weighted least squares fit gives very similar results. we obtain a line of best fit according to the relation:

$$12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})=8.90+0.57\times N2$$
(1)
shown with the long-dash line in Figure 1. Both the slope and the intercept are lower than the values of the fit by Denicoló et al. (2002) who proposed $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})=9.12+0.73\times N2`$. While the formal statistical errors on the slope and intercept are small (0.03 and 0.04 respectively), of more interest is the dispersion of the points about the line of best fit in Figure 1. Specifically, 95% (68%) of the measurements of $`\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$ lie within $`\pm 0.41`$ ($`\pm 0.18`$) of the line defined by eq. (1); the $`2\sigma `$ limits are shown as short-dash lines in Figure 1. Only a marginally better fit to the data is provided by a third order polynomial of the form:

$$12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})=9.37+2.03\times N2+1.26\times N2^2+0.32\times N2^3$$
(2)
(valid in the range $`2.5<N2<0.3`$), with 95% (68%) of the measurements being within $`\pm 0.38`$ ($`\pm 0.18`$) of the values given by eq. (2). This cubic fit is indicated by the continuous line in Figure 1. We conclude that with the $`N2`$ calibrator it is possible to estimate the abundance of oxygen to within a factor of $`2.5`$ at the 95% confidence level. This accuracy is comparable to that of the $`R_{23}`$ method.

## 3 The $`O3N2`$ Index

We now consider to what degree the accuracy in the determination of (O/H) can be improved by considering two ratios, \[N ii\]/H$`\alpha `$ and \[O iii\]/H$`\beta `$. Alloin et al. (1979) were the first to introduce the quantity $`O3N2\mathrm{log}`${(\[O iii$`\lambda 5007`$/H$`\beta `$)/ (\[N ii$`\lambda 6583`$/H$`\alpha `$)},222This definition is slightly different from the original one proposed by Alloin et al. (1979) who included both \[O iii\] doublet lines in the numerator of the first ratio. but since then the $`O3N2`$ index has been comparatively neglected in nebular abundance studies. There is now a sufficient body of high quality data to reassess its merits. We expect the inclusion of \[O iii\] to be most useful in the high metallicity regime where \[N ii\] saturates but the strength of \[O iii\] continues to decrease with increasing metallicity.

Figure 2 shows how $`O3N2`$ varies with (O/H) for the 137 extragalactic H ii regions in our sample. Clearly this method is of little use when $`O3N2\stackrel{>}{}2`$, but at lower values there appears to be a relatively tight, linear and steep relationship between $`O3N2`$ and $`\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$. A least squares linear fit to the data in the range $`1<O3N2<1.9`$ yields the relation:

$$12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})=8.730.32\times O3N2$$
(3)
which is shown by the long-dash line in Figure 2, with 95% (68%) of the measurements within 0.25 (0.14) dex of the best fit line; the short-dash lines in Figure 2 show the $`2\sigma `$ limits. The caveats are that the statistics are somewhat limited, with only 65 out of the 137 H ii regions in our sample satisfying the condition $`O3N2<1.9`$, and that the relationship defined by eq. (3) relies heavily on the four data points with $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})9.0`$ deduced from photoionisation models rather than the ‘direct’ $`T_\mathrm{e}`$ method. Nevertheless, in the high metallicity regime the $`O3N2`$ method appears promising and it would be very worthwhile extending the database of nearby H ii region measurements to improve its statistics.

## 4 Conclusions

In this note we have reassessed the usefulness of ‘empirical’ methods based on the \[N ii\]/H$`\alpha `$ ratio for determining the oxygen abundance in H ii regions, particularly with an eye to their application to the analysis of star-forming galaxies at high redshift. We have revised the extensive compilation prepared by Denicoló et al. (2002) to include only H ii regions where the oxygen abundance is believed to be known reliably, either because the electron temperature has been determined with high precision, or through detailed modelling of the ionisation of the nebula. Our main conclusions are as follows.

1. The relationship between $`N2\mathrm{log}`$ (\[N ii$`\lambda 6583`$/H$`\alpha `$) and $`\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$ is only approximately linear and yields (with the revised data set considered here) estimates of (O/H) which are only accurate to within $`0.4`$ dex at the 95% confidence level. This level of precision is comparable to that of the more widely used $`R_{23}`$ method.

2. At moderate to high metallicities, greater than $`1/4`$ solar, the oxygen abundance can be deduced to within a factor of $`0.25`$ dex (again at the 95% confidence level) if $`O3N2\mathrm{log}`${(\[O iii$`\lambda 5007`$/H$`\beta `$)/(\[N ii$`\lambda 6583`$/H$`\alpha `$)} is lower than $`1.9`$. The $`O3N2`$ index is particularly useful at solar and super-solar metallicities, where $`N2`$ saturates.

When applied to high redshift galaxies, the $`N2`$ and $`O3N2`$ indices offer several advantages compared to the more familiar $`R_{23}`$ method. First, the N-based indices have a monotonic behaviour with (O/H), overcoming the ambiguities introduced by the double-valued character of $`R_{23}`$. Second, both $`N2`$ and $`O3N2`$ rely on ratios of emission lines which are close in wavelength, so that corrections for reddening, and accurate flux calibration of the spectra, are not necessary. Third, both indices are highly sensitive to the oxygen abundance and are thus particularly well suited to the analysis of data of only moderate signal-to-noise ratio. Specifically, the slope of 0.57 of the relationship between $`\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$ and $`N2`$ implies that one only needs to measure the \[N ii\]/H$`\alpha `$ ratio with an accuracy of about 25%. Better precision would not improve the estimate of (O/H) since the random error would then be of minor importance relative to the systematic uncertainty of $`\pm 0.4`$ dex in the method. Similar considerations apply to the $`O3N2`$ index which is inherently more accurate in the high metallicity regime and varies even more steeply with $`\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$.

The high sensitivity of $`O3N2`$ to the oxygen abundance also helps to mitigate another complication which may arise preferentially at high redshift. The galaxies accessible to detailed spectroscopic studies at redshifts $`z=13`$ support very high rates of star formation, one to two orders of magnitude higher than those seen in the local universe (e.g. Steidel et al. 2003, 2004). There are also mounting indications that, even at these early epochs, such galaxies have already reached near-solar metallicities (e.g. Pettini 2004). When galactic chemical evolution proceeds at such a fast pace, the production of primary nitrogen from intermediate and low mass stars can lag behind that of oxygen from Type II supernovae, as found by Pettini et al. (2002b) in the $`z=2.7276`$ Lyman break galaxy MS1512-cB58 (see also Matteucci & Pipino 2002). How far (N/O) is ‘out of equilibrium’ depends on the metallicity, the star formation rate, and the yet poorly constrained timescale for the release of primary nitrogen (e.g. Meynet & Pettini 2003). However, even in cases where N is over-deficient relative to O by factors of 2–3, as in MS1512-cB58, the slope of $`0.32`$ in the relation $`\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$ vs. $`O3N2`$ limits the error in $`\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$ to $`\stackrel{<}{}0.15`$ (given that (\[N ii\]/H$`\alpha `$) varies linearly or slower with the nitrogen abundance in this regime).

Finally, it is encouraging that abundance calibrators developed from measurements in individual extragalactic H ii regions seem to be fairly robust when applied to the integrated light of galaxies (Kobulnicky, Kennicutt, & Pizagno 1999; Moustakas & Kennicutt, in preparation). Thus, we propose that, with the aid of the $`O3N2`$ index, it should be possible to measure the oxygen abundances of star forming galaxies at $`z>1`$ to better than a factor of two with only a relatively modest investment in observing time.

We are grateful to Chris Akerman, Mike Irwin and Samantha Rix for help with the production of the figures, and to Mike Dopita, Lisa Kewley and Chuck Steidel for valuable comments.


format: text

text:
# Using VLBI to Probe the Orion-KL Outflow on AU Scales

## 1 Introduction

Young massive stars spend a considerable fraction (10-20%) of their lifetimes embedded within the molecular cloud cores from which they formed (Wood & Churchwell 1989). Throughout this period, however, they can have a dominant effect on the inter-stellar dynamics in the surrounding region by forming complex and large scale molecular outflows. The exact mechanism by which these stars drive such outflows remains unclear, but models generally involve a stellar wind entraining molecular material (Richer et al 2000). Study of these objects at early phases of evolution before they have emerged from parental clouds is difficult due to the naturally large opacities in the IR and optical. Furthermore, angular resolutions of instruments in these wavebands are insufficient to image the very beginning of an outflow close to the young stellar object. Connected element radio interferometry relieves the opacity problem, but still cannot probe angular scales much less than 0.5 arc seconds. In some cases, high brightness and compact SiO maser emission is seen towards massive star forming regions and can be imaged with 0.1 milli arc second resolution (Greenhill et al 1998, Doeleman et al 1999 (Paper I), Eisner et al 2000). The pumping requirements of these masers ($`\rho _H10^9\text{cm}^3`$, $`T1200K`$ (Elitzur 1992)) require that they originate very close to a high luminosity source and thus offer a method of exploring the immediate circumstellar regions of select massive young stars with angular resolutions much smaller than the stellar disk.

The Orion BN/KL region is undeniably a site of intense molecular outflow activity. Bow shocks seen in $`\text{H}_2`$ form along “fingers” extending up to 2 arc minutes that collectively trace back to the center of the BN/KL region (Gezari, Backman & Werner 1998, Stolovy et al. 1998). A high velocity and weakly bipolar CO outflow is also centered there (Chernin & Wright 1996). Water maser features out to 15 arc seconds exhibit proper motions consistent with a common center of expansion that is also near the BN/KL center (Genzel et al 1979). A number of objects in the region probably contribute to powering this complex dynamical picture, but one in particular, the radio continuum source I (Churchwell et al 1987), is associated with powerful SiO masers. Its inverted radio spectrum makes it likely that Source I marks the position of an HII region or stellar jet associated with a young massive star, and precise astrometry places I at the exact centroid of the Orion BN/KL SiO maser features (Menten & Reid 1995, Gezari et al 1998). No definitive optical or IR counterpart to Source I has been found, a fact attributable to the visible extinction towards this object for which estimates yield values of $`A_\nu 60`$ (Gezari et al 1998).

Compact v=1 J=1-0 SiO maser emission extends only $`70`$AU from Source I, well within the extent of the larger scale outflows described above. Early single dish polarimetry of this emission, combined with connected element array observations, led to a model in which the SiO masers formed in a rotating and expanding circumstellar disk (Barvainis 1984, Plambeck et al 1990). These efforts, however, were tainted by spectral blending. Because the angular extent of the maser emission is smaller than the synthesized beams of connected arrays, widely separated maser features at similar radial velocities cannot be distinguished and the maps of Plambeck et al (1990) show only the centroids of emission in each observing frequency channel. These maps show the centroids to form two arcs that appear to encircle Source I, a morphology consistent with a circumstellar disk.

Recent high resolution VLBI imaging reveals that the SiO maser emission does not form in two arcs, but resolves into four main regions that appear to trace the outlines of a bipolar conical outflow oriented in the NW-SE direction of the larger CO outflow (Greenhill et al 1998, Doeleman et al 1999). The SiO emission, however, is redshifted to the NW and blueshifted to the SE, opposite the weak polarity of the CO outflow. This apparent conflict can be accommodated if the outflow is oriented close to our line of sight which would magnify the effects of small direction changes in the outflow (Doeleman et al 1999). Alternatively, limb brightening effects on the conical surfaces may allow blue maser emission from a generally red shifted cone of emission (and vice-versa) if the outflow alignment is close to the plane of the sky (Greenhill et al 1998). In either case, it is important to investigate the physical conditions and spatial extent of the maser emitting region in an effort to forge a link between the small scale SiO structures and the larger scale outflows.

In general, multi-transition SiO maser imaging holds the promise of revealing small scale temperature and density gradients in the host environment. Conclusions from previous multi-line SiO maser studies, though, have necessarily been somewhat uncertain due to their heavy reliance on data from single dish monitoring. The particular difficulty with this approach stems from the spectral blending that may occur when two spatially separated maser features emit at nearly the same frequency. Barvainis and Predmore (1985), for example, used single dish polarimetry of the v=1 J=2$``$1 and the J=1$``$0 transitions towards a set of evolved stars and inferred a low degree of spatial overlap between the lines. McIntosh and Predmore (1987), however, used similar observations of SiO masers surrounding the variable star Mira to conclude that the same transitions were cospatial. Comparison of single dish SiO maser spectra cannot definitively address the question of relative maser positions. Important connected-element interferometry work exemplified by Baudry, Herpin & Lucas (1999), Morita et al. (1992) and Colomer et al. (1996) provides inter-line comparisons of centroids of emission at a given velocity but no detailed spatial information. The first multi-line VLBI comparison of SiO masers was the claim by Miyoshi et al (1995) that the v=1 and v=2 J=1$``$0 transitions were largely cospatial towards the evolved star VYCMa. They concluded that only a collisional pumping mechanism could account for the overlap. The angular resolution of their observations, however, was still much larger than the smallest SiO maser feature sizes ($`0.2`$ mas), and thus their observations were insufficient to definitively prove cospatiality. Indeed, more recent and higher resolution observations (Desmurs et al. 2000) suggest that on 0.2 mas scales, these two J=1$``$0 transitions are offset from each other. Phillips et al. (2003) have registered VLBI maps of the v=1 J=2$``$1 and J=1$``$0 maser emission in the envelope of the evolved star RCas. For this source, some maser features from both transitions appear to arise in the same volumes of gas, but the overall morphology of emission in the two transitions differs.

Here, we report on results of mapping the Orion-KL SiO masers in both the v=1 $`J=21`$ ($`\nu _{\text{rest}}=86243.442`$ MHz) and $`J=10`$ ($`\nu _{\text{rest}}=43122.027`$ MHz) transitions. The accuracy of relative astrometry in the images allows comparison at the sub-AU level and we find that, at the resolution of our maps, the brightest masers in each transition are not cospatial. Spatial offsets between the two transitions place the $`J=10`$ emission slightly closer to the central exciting source, leading us to conclude that they trace and occur in different physical conditions.

## 2 Observations

We observed the Orion-KL SiO masers using the position determined by Wright et al (1990) of $`\alpha =5^h35^m14\stackrel{\mathrm{s}}{\mathrm{.}}505`$, $`\delta =05^{}22^{}30.45^{\prime \prime }`$ (J2000). Observations at $`\lambda 7`$ mm took place on 13 Dec. 1997 using seven antennas of the VLBA and one element of the VLA, both run by the NRAO222The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.. Paper I describes the $`\lambda `$7 mm observations and the resulting calibration and imaging steps used to generate high resolution maps. Coordinated Millimeter VLBI Array333Support for the Coordinated Millimeter VLBI Array work at the Haystack Observatory is provided under a grant from the NSF to the Northeast Radio Observatory Corporation (CMVA) observations at 86 GHz covered a time range from 13 Dec. to 15 Dec. 1997 and included the following antennas: Haystack(Westford, MA.), FCRAO 14m (Amherst, MA.)444This work was supported by NSF grant AST 97-25951 to the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory, Kittpeak 12m(Kittpeak, AZ.), the phased BIMA (Redding, CA.) and the VLBA site at PieTown, NM. The overlap in time between the 43GHz and 86GHz observing sessions ensures that variability of source structure has a negligible effect on comparisons between the two maser transitions. The array was split into two sub-arrays, a ’low-resolution’ array consisting of the relatively short (85 km) Haystack- Quabbin baseline and a ’high-resolution’ array comprising Kittpeak, BIMA and PieTown. There were very few interferometric detections between the short baseline array and the high resolution array, forcing us to separate the analysis of the two data sets. A technical problem at the PieTown VLBA site rendered data from the ’high-resolution’ array unsuitable for imaging. In this letter, we report on results only from the Haystack-Quabbin baseline. Data were recorded in three partially overlapping IF channels of the MKIII VLBI system, each of 4MHz bandwidth yielding a total effective velocity coverage at 86 GHz of $`34`$km/s. The IF overlap was sufficient to avoid band edge effects and also allowed removal of instrumental phase shifts between IFs. Correlation at Haystack Observatory yielded 112 spectral channels in each IF for a velocity resolution of 0.12km/s which closely matches the resolution of the 43 GHz results (0.11km/s) of Paper I.

## 3 Calibration and Imaging

Single baseline 86 GHz VLBI has already been used to map SiO masers around the evolved giant star VXSgr (Doeleman, Lonsdale & Greenhill 1998) and the associated difficulties are well understood. The most important aspect of the reduction is the need to find a spectrally isolated component which is point-like. Phase referencing the entire data set to this reference feature simultaneously removes atmospheric effects and shifts the reference feature to the map origin. Without a point source as reference, the data set would be corrupted by the emission structure in the reference channel which cannot be satisfactorily determined in the absence of calibrated phases. To identify a point source with a single baseline, one must search through all spectral channels for one in which the visibility amplitudes are constant as a function of baseline length and orientation. This signature can easily be masked by amplitude variations due to antenna gain fluctuations and high quality antenna gain calibration is therefore essential.

Gain calibration for both sites was obtained using spectral template fitting. A 90 second total power spectrum of the maser emission at the Quabbin telescope was calibrated assuming a 40 Jy/K gain and served as a template. Spectra at all other times from both sites were fitted to the template, and relative gains as a function of time for both antennas were determined (Fig. 8) for each 90 second interval. Relative calibration errors are at the 5% level due to the high quality of the total power spectra while we estimate the absolute calibration of the template spectrum to be within 10%. Once calibrated, the channel at $`V_{\text{LSR}}`$=0.84km/s had amplitudes constant to 20% and we adopted it as the reference. For comparison, Fig. 8 shows the amplitudes as a function of time for the reference channel as well as amplitudes at a nearby velocity which exhibit dramatic “beating” indicative of complex structure.

Strong fringe detections on a single 390 second VLBI scan of the continuum source 3C273 provided the delay calibration for both days allowing removal of linear phase slopes as a function of frequency across the bandpass. Phase offsets between adjacent IFs were checked using maser features in the overlapping portions of the three IF channels and shown to be good to within a few degrees. In addition, visibility phase versus frequency was differenced for two segments of data at the same LST on both days and showed a negligible shift in delay. The lack of phase slope in this difference validates use of the single 3C273 scan to calibrate the delay for both days.

Fringe rate solutions from the reference channel were applied to the data and synthesis image cubes constructed using standard techniques implemented in the NRAO AIPS software package. Resulting images covered $`0.64\mathrm{}\times 0.64\mathrm{}`$ on the sky, sufficient to completely map the known extent of the maser emission (Paper I). Due to high beam sidelobe levels (71%), CLEAN deconvolution was applied conservatively in each velocity channel using a loop gain of 0.05 with a limit of 100 iterations. Deconvolution tests on these data showed that the adopted CLEAN parameters prevented divergence in the algorithm and minimized imaging artifacts. The restoring beam was $`9\times 66`$ milli arcseconds with a PA of $`18^{}`$.

## 4 Image Analysis

With only two antennas and the relatively sparse baseline coverage that results, the fidelity of the channel maps is limited by sidelobes of bright emission regions caused by imperfect deconvolution of the synthesized beam. Bright isolated maser emission, for example, is often accompanied by negative sidelobes which distort nearby faint emission. Faint emission that is far removed from bright map features can be more clearly distinguished against the residual map background. Setting a threshold above which map features are taken to represent maser emission, is thus position dependent and requires that each channel map be considered separately.

Composite maps for three velocity ranges corresponding to the three observed 4MHz passbands were formed by selecting the maximum intensity of all velocity channels at each image pixel (Fig. 8a-c). The lowest 3mm contours in the composite maps mark the cutoff below which sidelobe features begin to appear.

For a more detailed analysis of the 3mm image, maser spot maps were made at each velocity, where ’spot’ (or component) will be defined as an isolated region of maser emission within a single frequency channel. This was done by fitting 2-D elliptical Gaussians to each map feature to determine size and integrated flux density. In almost all cases, the high spectral resolution and relatively coarse angular resolution of the observations ensured that each identified map feature could be well modeled as an unresolved source convolved with the restoring beam. Restrictive criteria were applied to these features to identify maser emission components. These included feature persistence in at least two adjacent velocity channels and a flux density threshold set by the largest negative sidelobe within 3 beamwidths. In Fig. 8d, all 3 mm maser spots meeting our selection criteria are plotted as circles with area proportional to total flux density.

The positional accuracy of maser components relative to each other within the 3mm map depends on a number of factors. Foremost among these is the effect of non-point like structure in the reference channel which will contaminate phases for all other channels resulting in position errors. In the Orion 3mm data (Fig. 8) the observed variation in reference channel visibility amplitudes is $``$20%. The corresponding phase error can be estimated by assuming this amplitude variation is due to two spatially separated maser spots in the reference channel. The observed range of amplitudes would then imply visibility phase variations up to $`\pm 6^{}`$ or $`\pm 0.02`$ of the synthesized beam width.

A secondary concern is the effect of combining the two days of 3mm VLBI data on relative maser positions. The data were combined primarily to increase signal to noise ratio, but if the masers exhibit very high proper motions, data between the two days could be inconsistent. Assuming the proper motions are comparable to the radial velocity range observed ($`30`$km/s), the two day separation corresponds to motions of 0.1 mas, a negligible offset compared to the 3mm VLBI resolution. Even if the SiO outflow were $`10^{}`$ out of the plane of the sky, the corresponding proper motions would be $`150`$ km/s, leading to 0.5 mas positional offsets between the two days.

Mis-calibration of the interferometer delay due to geometrical and station clock errors can also lead to uncertainty in relative astrometry (Genzel et al 1981, Thompson, Moran & Swenson 1986). Such delay errors cause phase slopes across the bandpass leading to astrometry errors whose magnitudes vary as a function of frequency. The high signal to noise ratio 3C273 detections limit clock errors to $`5`$ns or 18 degrees of phase across the observing bandpass. The maximum geometrical delay error, in turn, is set by the uncertainty in the position of the Orion BN/KL SiO masers and the baseline length. The Orion BN/KL maser position is known to within $`0.6\mathrm{}`$ ($`3\sigma `$) which, coupled with the relatively short Quabbin - Haystack baseline, produces a delay error of only $`0.75`$ns. Thus, the total delay error contributes positional errors of no more than 21 degrees of phase, or $`\pm 0.06`$ synthesized beam widths.

Further errors in maser spot positions (Fig. 8d) can be attributed to uncertainty in identification of individual features and fitting them with elliptical Gaussians, but in all cases, these uncertainties are a small fraction of the synthesized beam. Combining all sources of relative positional error above, we conservatively limit relative errors in maser spot positions of 0.1 of the synthesized beam. For the main purposes of the present work, the combination of all relative positional errors are small compared to the errors in aligning the 3mm and 7mm maser transitions discussed below.

## 5 Comparison of 3mm and 7mm Emission

### 5.1 Characterization of 3mm Maser Emission

Maps of the 3mm maser emission show it to be broadly similar in structure to that observed in the 7mm transition. Regions A, B, G and H marking the outlines of opposing conical outflows at 7mm in Paper I have corresponding regions at 3mm. Even region E, which does not conform to the simple bi-conical picture, is populated by both SiO transitions. At 3mm, each region comprises multiple components whose velocity widths range from 0.5 km/s to over 2 km/s. These are larger than spectral widths of typical maser features in the 7mm image, but this is likely due to the larger beam size at 86 GHz which subtends multiple closely spaced features at similar velocities. As at 7mm, there is obvious velocity overlap between region pairs (A,B) and (G,H); strong emission often appears in both paired regions at the same velocity.

### 5.2 3mm and 7mm Map Alignment

Because the 3mm and 7mm data were obtained using different instruments, it is impossible to register the maps using phase referencing techniques. We note that use of these techniques may be possible in the future as experience with VLBA operation at 86 GHz increases and if the frequency switching time remains below the coherence time of the atmosphere. Instead, we necessarily explored registration techniques involving map comparisons and certain assumptions about maser structure.

Comparison of the two maps reveals that a pure translation of one map relative to the other will not allow all four main emission regions (A, B, H, (F+G)) to coincide. Exactly superposing region B, for example, at each frequency leaves the remaining regions grossly misaligned. If, however, we assume that emission in both transitions originates in similar interactions of a bi-polar outflow with the surrounding cloud, then the center of symmetry in both transitions should be coincident and reflect the position of the protostar. An approximate center of symmetry in each map can be defined as the intersection of lines that connect the emission centroids of regions A with H and B with (F+G). Registering the 3mm and 7mm emission in this manner (Fig. 8), shows that J=2$``$1 masers appear to form farther from the central proto-star than the J=1$``$0 masers.

After registration, total offsets between the 3 mm and 7 mm centroids for each emission region were measured to be: A (6.6 AU), B (7.5 AU), F+G (7 AU), H (17 AU) assuming a 450 pc distance to the source (Paper I). Variation in the offsets is directly related to the extent of emission in each region. Region H, for example, exhibits the largest offset, due primarily to the large area over which 3mm emission is found. In all cases, the 3 mm emission appears further from the presumed location of the protostar than the 7 mm emission.

### 5.3 Spectra

Total power spectra of each transition in Fig. 8 show that the 3mm and 7mm masers share the same basic double peaked form with a central velocity near 5.3 km/s. This indicates a common bulk flow affecting both maser lines. In fact, individual spectra of emission in regions A-H of the 3mm map cover roughly the same velocity ranges as the corresponding 7mm spectra : Region A (11 $``$ 17.5 km/s), Region B (13.5 $``$ 19 km/s), Region H (2.5 $``$ -9 km/s), Region G ( -2.5 $``$ -11 km/s). Both the red and blue shifted peaks contain multiple spectral components, a few of which have matching peaks in both transitions that correspond to within 0.5 km/s. A one-to-one correspondence in spectral features between the two transitions, though, is clearly absent. The observed spatial offset between the lines underlines the pitfalls of deriving spatial coincidence information solely from single dish spectra.

## 6 Discussion

### 6.1 Outflow Model and Dynamics

Impetus for the biconical outflow model of the Orion-KL SiO masers originated with a clear ”X” morphology of the v=1 J=1$``$0 transition, presumed to trace the outflow boundary. Though generally not coincident with the J=1$``$0 masers, the J=2$``$1 emission displays a remarkably similar general structure consistent with the outflow model. This general structure is consistent with both SiO maser transitions inhabiting a zone of shocks and overdensities where an outflow interacts with the surrounding molecular medium (Paper I). The resolution of the J=2$``$1 image does not allow us to compare the two transitions on the smallest scales seen in the J=1$``$0 maps. We cannot rule out some overlap on scales smaller than the 3 mm beam and future high resolution work at this frequency is needed to address this. One caveat to make clear is that in both transitions, roughly half the flux density is undetected by VLBI. This “missing flux” must exist in structures larger than the 5 milliarcsecond synthesized beam of the J=2$``$1 data. The smallest baselines in the VLBA array also correspond to this size scale. Detection and location of this large scale emission will require connected element arrays with baselines of order 100 km.

The combined spatial and velocity information from both 3 mm and 7 mm VLBI now make it possible to explore velocity patterns within each main emission region. In region A, the combined 3 mm and 7 mm maser emission covers a range of radii from 40 to 67 AU as measured from the central registration point. Over this range, the average radial velocity across region A steadily decreases from 26 to 13 km/s implying a smooth velocity gradient of $`0.5`$km/s/AU due North. Similar calculations for the other three regions yield no clear velocity gradients, arguing for a local explanation of the pattern observed in Region A.

One possibility is that in Region A, maser features closer to the protostar are also located closer to the central stellar jet. Molecular gas closer to the jet will accelerate more quickly and to generally higher terminal velocities, giving rise to the observed velocity gradient. In this scenario, the thickness of the conical shell where masers occur is sufficient to generate the velocity difference among Region A maser features. Similarly, a local gradient in the density of the medium surrounding the stellar jet could have the same effect on the radial maser velocities by altering the efficiency of entrainment as a function of distance from the central protostar. Constraining these possibilities is not possible with the measurements described herein, but future proper motion measurements of individual maser features will allow a much more detailed examination of the SiO maser dynamics and directly address this issue. For completeness, we note that one could also attribute the velocity gradient to a gravitational deceleration of a ballistic flow in which the masers form. The central mass required would then be $`M_{}28[\mathrm{cos}^2(\theta _{\text{los}})\mathrm{sin}(\theta _{\text{los}})]^1M_{}`$ where $`M_{}`$ is the enclosed central mass and $`\theta _{\text{los}}`$ is the angle made by the direction of propagation of the Region A SiO masers to our line of sight. At its minimum, this expression yields a central mass of $`M_{}73M_{}`$. In the case of gravitational deceleration, though, one would expect similar velocity gradients in all maser regions.

The new J=2$``$1 images also highlight a region not directly addressed in Paper I. Region E is the weakest of all the labeled maser complexes but appears clearly in J=2$``$1 and more faintly in J=1$``$0. This region differs importantly from the others in that the spatial relationship between the transitions is reversed with J=1$``$0 slightly farther from the center. The mere existence of this maser cluster in both transitions is difficult to understand in the context of a pure biconical outflow model. It cannot correspond in any simple way to a conical edge or tangent line. Since Region E emission velocities are near the centerpoint between the red and blue lobes (Vlsr$``$5 km/s) it may result from outflow shocks propagating to a central disk or torus oriented perpendicularly to the outflow as observed by Wright et al (1995) in thermal SiO. Another possibility is that Region E forms in an equatorial outflow modeled by Greenhill et al. (1998) to explain the morphology of the $`\text{H}_2\text{O}`$ masers. Whatever its genesis, the 86 GHz confirmation of strong SiO emission in Region E must be accounted for in future dynamical models.

### 6.2 Maser Pumping

Most treatments of SiO maser pumping model the case of a spherically symmetric evolved star. Elitzur (1982) has outlined a possible explanation for the special case of the Orion-BN/KL SiO masers assuming they form in the bulk of an expanding wind from the protostar. Models of this type are not generally workable in the evolved stellar case as mass loss rates in those objects are too small to sustain maser amplification within a smooth wind. The validity of the Elitzur (1982) model, which also dealt with the specific radiation field in the region, is now called into question by the filamentary maser features seen in J=1$``$0 (Paper I). These high aspect ratio structures indicate maser formation in shocks and local density enhancements rather than in a smooth wind.

Many stellar SiO maser models incorporate the effects of dust grain formation and stellar pulsation driven shocks, effects that likely play a role in the Orion SiO masers. Both radiative and collisional pump mechanisms have been used to explain SiO masers in these models, but a general consensus remains elusive. VLBI results of Miyoshi et al (1994) showing the J=1$``$0, v=1 and v=2 masers in VYCMa and WHya to be coincident within 2 mas, strengthened the case for collisional pumping which allows these transitions to be cospatial over a wide range of physical parameters (Lockett & Elitzur 1992). Radiative pumping schemes are much more restrictive and one would not typically expect such coincidence (Bujurrabal 1994). Desmurs et al. (2000) have mapped TXCam with a resolution of 0.2 mas and claim that centroids of J=1$``$0, v=1 and v=2 maser features are offset by $``$1.5 mas. Their refutation of the Miyoshi et al. (1994) results must be tempered though, by the fact that their maps show a high degree of overlap between the transitions despite the measured mean offset.

The positional offset now observed between the J=2$``$1 and J=1$``$0 masers is in stark disagreement with predictions of most maser pumping models for SiO masers around evolved stars. Radiative and collisional excitation theories both predict multiple SiO maser lines among rotational levels within a given vibrational state. These rotational “chains” are due to the monotonic decrease in radiative decay rates with increasing rotational level (J) when ro-vibrational transitions become optically thick (Elitzur 1992). This produces a natural inversion between rotational states given a J-independent pump mechanism. In such a case, one would expect v=1, J=2$``$1 and J=1$``$0 masers to generally inhabit the same volumes of gas. Our results show that this is not the case for the brightest maser features at the resolution of our maps.

Some SiO maser models do allow for spatial separation of rotational masers within a vibrational state, but require specialized conditions for this to take place. Lockett & Elitzur (1992) show that collisional pumps tuned for conditions around evolved stars selectively quench higher J level transitions as SiO column densities rise, so that the J=1$``$0 maser is the only one to survive above $`10^{20}\text{cm}^2`$. These results are consistent with J=1$``$0 masers occuring closer to the protostar where higher neutral $`H_2`$ densities would be found. Larger SiO column densities might also result from an increase in SiO abundance due to the liberation of SiO into a gaseous state from dust grains in shocks at the interface between the Orion outflow and the surrounding medium (Caselli, Hartquist & Havnes 1997). Such interpretations would, however, require very high column densities to suppress the higher J transition. Radiative pumps typically show little change in J=1$``$0 and J=2$``$1 maser intensities as $`H_2`$ density and SiO abundance are varied (Bujurabbal 1994) and offer no clear explanation of the findings reported here.

Given the large number of SiO maser transitions possible, saturation and competitive gain effects can be important. Doel et al (1995) argue that SiO maser spot sizes and flux densities imply that much of the maser emission is in the saturated regime. These authors have extended SiO maser models for evolved stars to include these effects and find that the J=2$``$1 maser gains can exceed those of J=1$``$0 in a very narrow range of $`H_2`$ density around $`5\times 10^9\text{cm}^3`$. The possibility that this density range holds throughout the large SiO maser region in Orion BN/KL is unlikely.

Potentially of more relevance to the Orion BN/KL case is the work of Humphreys et al (2002) to include the effects of hydrodynamic shocks on SiO maser formation in evolved stellar envelopes. In this model, stellar pulsations drive shocks which enhance collisions and give rise to pockets of SiO masers emission. Simulations show that the v=1 J=2$``$1 emission occurs at slightly larger radii from the central star than the v=1 1$``$0 emission. The size of this effect ($`2`$% of the maser radii) is much smaller than the $`14`$% offset between the two transitions we have observed here. Inclusion of shocks in SiO models, though, will likely be important in future specific application to the Orion BN/KL case.

In general, the relevance of these SiO maser models in the context of hard radiation fields and shocks in the environment surrounding Source I is questionable. Perhaps the clearest statement that can be made regarding the offset between the two rotational maser transitions discussed in this work, is that they appear to require distinct physical conditions for maser amplification. Use of these transitions as probes of the Orion-KL environment depends heavily on the specific predictions of theoretical models which currently cannot adequately explain our observations.

## 7 Conclusions

We have made the first contemporaneous spectral line VLBI observations of 3mm and 7mm wavelength SiO maser transitions towards the Orion BN/KL region. Images of the 3mm v=1 J=2$``$1 transition show the masers to be grouped in four main emission regions along the arms of an ’X’, similar morphology to that previously reported for corresponding observations of the 7mm J=1$``$0 transition. These results reinforce a scenario in which the SiO masers form in the interface region between a bi-conical protostellar outflow and the surrounding medium. Long tangential maser gain paths along the edges of the outflow result in the masers appearing along the outline of the outflow. Significant SiO maser emission outside the outflow cones defined by the main maser regions is easily identified in the new J=2$``$1 image (Region E) and exists, but is less distinct, in the J=1$``$0 map. These maser features are inconsistent with the simple bi-conical picture and may indicate the presence of a protostellar disk or other dense outflowing material in the plane orthogonal to the stellar outflow.

In contrast with predictions of SiO maser models, we observe a positional offset between the centroids of J=2$``$1 and J=1$``$0 maser emission with the higher rotational transition occurring farther from the central protostar. This offset indicates a preference of the two transitions for distinct physical environments. The J=2$``$1 masers extend the maximum radius at which SiO masers are seen in Orion-BN/KL to 67 AU and agree with a velocity gradient observed in J=1$``$0 emission along the Northern outflow limbs. This is almost certainly due to an effect local to this region of emission as the remaining three maser regions exhibit no clear velocity gradients.

A more complete picture of the SiO masers and their use as tracers at the origins of the Orion BN/KL outflow will require further observations. Proper motion studies of individual maser features will produce three dimensional velocity information and allow detailed study of dynamics in the maser region. High resolution (0.2 mas) simultaneous observation of multiple maser lines are needed to make progress toward understanding the maser pump models. Indeed, VLBI study of SiO masers has now outpaced theoretical maser efforts. The utility of multi-line studies highlights the need to extend the spectral line VLBI technique to higher frequencies to reach other SiO maser transitions. Imaging of higher rotational level maser lines may reveal unexpected effects similar to those discussed in this work.

## 8 Figure Captions


text:
# EVN and MERLIN observations of microquasar candidates at low galactic latitudes

## 1 Introduction

Microquasars are stellar-mass black holes or neutron stars that mimic, on smaller scales, many of the phenomena seen in AGN and quasars. Microquasars have been found in X-ray binary systems, where a compact object accretes matter from a companion star. Radio Emitting X-ray Binaries (REXBs) with relativistic radio jets, like SS~433, GRS~1915+105, GRO~J1655$-$40 or Cyg~X-3, are good examples of microquasars (see Mirabel & Rodríguez mirabel99 (1999) for a detailed review), while other well known sources like LS~I~+61~303 could turn out to be new relativistic jet sources (Massi et al. massi02 (2002)). With the recent addition of LS~5039 (Paredes et al. paredes00 (2000)), Cyg~X-1 (Stirling et al. stirling01 (2001)) and XTE~J1550$-$564 (Hannikainen et al. hannikainen01 (2001)) to the microquasar group, the current known number of this kind of sources is 14, among $`50`$ REXBs within the $`280`$ known X-ray binaries (Liu et al. liu00 (2000); Liu et al. liu01 (2001)). Recent studies of microquasars can be found in Castro-Tirado et al. (castro01 (2001)).

As pointed out in Sect. 1 of Paredes et al. (paredes02 (2002), hereafter Paper I), the number of known microquasars remains still small, especially when trying to study them from a statistical point of view. An interesting aspect of microquasars is their possibility of being related to unidentified high-energy $`\gamma `$-ray sources, as suggested by Paredes et al. (paredes00 (2000)). Moreover, some parameters like the jet velocity, seem to be related to the mass of the compact object (i.e., with its potential well). Nevertheless, the lack of meaningful statistical studies because of the small population of microquasars with known jet velocities, prevents any definitive statements of this kind being made. Therefore, it is worth searching for new microquasars in order to increase the known population.

In this context, the sources to search for are REXBs, which are in fact microquasar candidates. To this end, a cross-identification between the X-ray ROSAT all sky Bright Source Catalog (RBSC) (Voges et al. voges99 (1999)) and the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) (Condon et al. condon98 (1998)) was made for sources with $`|b|<5\mathrm{°}`$ under very restrictive selection criteria, and the obtained results have been presented in Paper I. A sample containing 13 sources was obtained, and 6 of them were observed at radio wavelengths in order to obtain radio spectra and their variability, as well as accurate radio positions, which allowed the authors to discover the corresponding optical counterparts for all of them. At the end of this study, two of the sources, namely 1RXS~J001442.2+580201 and 1RXS~J013106.4+612035 were classified as promising microquasar candidates. The remaining four sources were classified as weaker candidates for a number of reasons. 1RXS~J042201.0+485610 shows a highly inverted spectrum at high radio frequencies and an optical counterpart slightly extended. 1RXS~J062148.1+174736 is an object extended in the optical. 1RXS~J072259.5$-$073131 presents a one-sided radio jet at arcsecond scales, supporting the possibility of being extragalactic. And finally, 1RXS~J072418.3$-$071508 is a known quasar.

In this paper we present Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations of these six sources, aimed at revealing possible jet-like features at milliarcsecond scales. We describe the observations and the data reduction in Sect. 2, present the results and a discussion in Sect. 3, and we summarize our findings in Sect. 4.

## 2 Observations and data reduction

We observed the six sources studied in Paper I simultaneously with the Multi-Element Radio-Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) and the European VLBI Network (EVN) on February 29th/March 1st 2000 (23:30–23:05 UT) at 5 GHz. Since some of the target radio sources were faint, we scheduled the observations introducing phase-reference calibrators with cycle times of around 7 min (compatible with the expected coherence times). Apart from the calibrators presented in Table 1, 4C~61.02 was used as calibrator for 1RXS~J013106.4+612035, and TXS~0422+496 and NRAO~150 for 1RXS~J042201.0+485610. We also observed the fringe-finder DA~193 and the MERLIN flux density calibrator 3C~286. Single dish flux density measurements were carried out with the MPIfR 100 m antenna in Effelsberg, Germany.

### 2.1 MERLIN

MERLIN is a connected radio interferometer across England, with baselines reaching up to 217 km length. This array observed with 2-bit sampling at dual polarisation with two blocks of 16 channels, each channel of 1 MHz bandwidth. We analysed the left hand circular polarisation data excluding one channel at both edges of the band, yielding a final bandwidth of 14 MHz. The correlator integration time was of 4 s.

The MERLIN data reduction was carried out at Jodrell Bank Observatory, using standard procedures within the Astronomical Image Processing System (aips, developed and maintained by the US National Radio Astronomy Observatory). We did not detect 1RXS~J042201.0+485610. All other sources were detected, and accurate positions for the target radio sources were obtained via phase-referencing. These positions, presented in Table 1, were used later as a priori information for the VLBI correlation. The position given in Table 1 for the quasar 1RXS~J072418.3$-$071508 was obtained from the VLA observations presented in Paper I. The position of 1RXS~J072259.5$-$073131 is deduced from the phase-reference offset relative to 1RXS~J072418.3$-$071508 provided by MERLIN.

To image the sources, we averaged the data in frequency and exported them to be processed into the difference mapping software difmap (Shepherd et al. shepherd94 (1994)), where we time-averaged the data in 32 s bins after careful editing.

### 2.2 EVN

The EVN observations were performed with the following array (name, code, location, diameter): Effelsberg, EB, Germany, 100 m; Jodrell Bank, JB, U.K., 25 m; Cambridge, CM, U.K., 32 m; Westerbork, WB, The Netherlands, 14$`\times `$25 m; Medicina, MC, Italy, 32 m; Noto, NT, Italy, 32 m; Shanghai, SH, China, 25 m; Toruń, TR, Poland, 32 m; and Onsala85, ON, Sweden, 25 m. Data were recorded in MkIV mode with 2-bit sampling at 256 Mbps with left hand circular polarization. A bandwidth of 64 MHz was used, divided into 8 intermediate frequency (IF) bands.

The data were processed at the EVN MkIV correlator at the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE), in Dwingeloo, The Netherlands. The correlator integration time was of 4 s. A first post-processing analysis was also carried out at JIVE. The data were processed using aips. A first a priori visibility amplitude calibration was performed using antenna gains and system temperatures measured at each antenna. The fringe fitting (fring) of the residual delays and fringe rates was performed for all the radio sources. No fringes were found for 1RXS~J042201.0+485610 and 4C~61.02. Fringes for many baselines were missing for 1RXS~J001442.2+580201, 1RXS~J062148.1+174736 and TXS~0422+496.

To improve the fringe detection on all baselines for 1RXS~J001442.2+580201 and 1RXS~J062148.1+174736 we used the delay, rate, and phase solutions from their corresponding phase-reference calibrators (J0007+5706, 1°18′ separation, and J0630+1738, 1°59′ separation) and interpolated them to the target sources using the aips task clcal. We fringe-fitted the target sources again using narrower search windows and obtained solutions for all baselines. A similar attempt on 1RXS~J042201.0+485610 (with respect to TXS~0422+486 and NRAO~150) was unfruitful. Effelsberg was used as reference antenna throughout the aips data reduction process.

We then averaged the data in frequency and exported them to be imaged and self-calibrated in difmap. The a priori visibility amplitude calibration was not sufficient to reliably image the weakest radio sources. We improved that by first imaging in difmap the calibrator sources J0007+5706, J0147+5840, and J0630+1738, with appropriate amplitude self-calibration. We deduced correction factors for each antenna, these being consistent for the three radio sources within 2%. We corrected the amplitude calibration back in aips and exported the data again into difmap, where the final imaging was performed after editing and averaging of the visibilities in 32 s blocks.

### 2.3 Combining EVN and MERLIN

The EVN and MERLIN arrays have one common baseline, between JB and CM, which allows to combine both data sets and map them together. We processed the data within aips in order to combine both arrays. The B1950.0 $`(u,v)`$ coordinates of the MERLIN data had to be corrected to the ones of the EVN for the same reference system (J2000.0) with uvfix. Then, the MERLIN data were self-calibrated with the EVN images (see below), and the phase solutions were limited to the longest MERLIN baselines. The MERLIN data were imaged and the peak-of-brightness of both data sets were checked to be similar. As a next step, the EVN data were averaged in frequency to correspond to the MERLIN data. The aips headers of both data sets were modified conveniently to match together, and the weighting of both data sets was also modified to be equal with wtmod. Finally, both data sets were concatenated (using dbcon) and exported to difmap to be imaged with different data weighting in $`(u,v)`$ distance (tapering) after time averaging in 32 s bins.

### 2.4 Flux density measurements at the 100 m antenna in Effelsberg

We interleaved cross-scans (in azimuth and elevation) with the 100 m Effelsberg antenna to measure the radio source flux densities (A. Kraus, private communication). We fitted a Gaussian function to the flux-density response for every cross-scan, and we averaged the different Gaussians. We linked the flux density scale by observing primary calibrators such as 3C~286, 3C~48, or NGC~7027 (see e.g. Kraus kraus97 (1997); Peng et al. peng00 (2000)). We list the single dish flux density measurements in the second column of Table 2. The flux density values for the main VLBI calibrators were of $`7.5\pm 0.1`$ Jy for 3C 286, and $`5.9\pm 0.2`$ Jy for DA 193.

## 3 Results and discussion

We present all the imaging results in Figs. 15, and the image parameters in Table 2. The total flux density values for the different images diverge from each other and from the single dish measurements, due to the amplitude self-calibration process in all cases. Therefore, those values should be considered with care. The minimum contours in the images are those listed as $`S_{\mathrm{min}}`$ in Table 2, while consecutive higher contours scale with $`3^{1/2}`$. Here follows a detailed discussion on each source.

### 3.1 1RXS~J001442.2+580201 and its two-sided jet

As can be seen in our images, shown in Fig. 1, this source appears point-like at MERLIN resolution, partially resolved in the tapered EVN+MERLIN image and clearly resolved at EVN scales. In this last case, it shows a two-sided jet-like structure roughly in the north-south direction, with brighter components towards the south. The trends are visible in the closure phases, giving us confidence that the structure observed is not a consequence of sidelobes or imaging artifacts. In the tapered EVN+MERLIN images, the structure extends up to 20–30 mas outside of the core, and more clearly towards the north. This discrepancy could be due to calibration problems.

Model fitting of the EVN visibilities with circular Gaussians provides a parametrization of the inner structure. Five components reproduce the visibilities. The central one has 7.8 mJy, with a FWHM of 0.4 mas. Towards the north, one component (N2) of 0.6 mJy at 3.6 mas (P.A. $`10\mathrm{°}`$, FWHM 0.7 mas) and another one (N1) of 0.5 mJy at 8.6 mas (P.A. $`2\mathrm{°}`$, extended over 3 mas) are needed. Brighter components are present southwards, one (S2) of 1.1 mJy at 5.0 mas (P.A. $`177\mathrm{°}`$, FWHM of 0.8 mas) and the other one (S1) of 0.4 mJy at 13.7 mas (P.A. $`177\mathrm{°}`$, FWHM below 0.3 mas).

If we assume that components S1 and N1 correspond to a pair of plasma clouds ejected at the same epoch near the compact object and perpendicularly to the accretion disk, we can estimate some parameters of the jets by using the following equation:

$$\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta =\frac{\mu _\mathrm{a}\mu _\mathrm{r}}{\mu _\mathrm{a}+\mu _\mathrm{r}}=\frac{d_\mathrm{a}d_\mathrm{r}}{d_\mathrm{a}+d_\mathrm{r}},$$
(1)
$`\beta `$ being the velocity of the clouds in units of the speed of light, $`\theta `$ the angle between the direction of motion of the ejecta and the line of sight and $`\mu _\mathrm{a}`$ and $`\mu _\mathrm{r}`$ the proper motions of the approaching and receding components, respectively (Mirabel & Rodríguez mirabel99 (1999)). Although we do not know the epoch of ejection of the clouds, we can cancel the time variable by using the relative distances to the core $`d_\mathrm{a}`$ and $`d_\mathrm{r}`$, as expressed in Eq. 1. Since both variables, $`\beta `$ and $`\mathrm{cos}\theta `$, take values between 0 and 1, it is clear that knowing $`\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta `$ allows us to compute a lower limit for the velocity ($`\beta _{\mathrm{min}}`$) and an upper limit for the angle ($`\theta _{\mathrm{max}}`$). The same applies for the S2 and N2 components. In Table 3 we list the positions of the components obtained from model fitting, together with the derived values from $`\beta _{\mathrm{min}}`$ and $`\theta _{\mathrm{max}}`$ for each one of the pairs. The slightly different results obtained using pair 1 or 2, could be due to the fact that the position for the S1 component obtained with model fitting happens to be at the lower part of this elongated component, hence increasing $`\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta `$, or to intrinsic different velocities for each one of the pairs. Hereafter we will use $`\beta >0.20\pm 0.02`$ and $`\theta <78\pm 1\mathrm{°}`$.

A similar approach to obtain the jet parameters of the source can be performed thanks to the brightness asymmetry of the components using the following equation (Mirabel & Rodríguez mirabel99 (1999)):

$$\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta =\frac{\left(S_\mathrm{a}/S_\mathrm{r}\right)^{1/(k\alpha )}1}{\left(S_\mathrm{a}/S_\mathrm{r}\right)^{1/(k\alpha )}+1},$$
(2)
where $`S_\mathrm{a}`$ and $`S_\mathrm{r}`$ are the flux densities of the approaching and receding components, respectively, $`k`$ equals 2 for a continuous jet and 3 for discrete condensations, and $`\alpha `$ is the spectral index of the emission ($`S_\nu \nu ^{+\alpha }`$). However, the equation above is only valid when the components are at the same distance from the core. If this is not the case (i.e., $`d_\mathrm{r}<d_\mathrm{a}`$), the ratio $`S_\mathrm{a}/S_\mathrm{r}`$ will be lower than the one that should be used in Eq. 2 (because the flux density decreases with increasing distance from the core). In consequence, Eq. 2 only allows us to obtain a lower limit for $`\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta `$.

In order to use this approach we will consider $`k=3`$, because the components seem to be discrete condensations, and $`\alpha =0.20\pm 0.05`$, according to the overall spectral index reported in Paper I, since we do not have spectral index information of the components. The use of the flux densities obtained after model fitting gives $`\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta >0.09\pm 0.04`$ for the S2–N2 pair and $`\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta >0.07\pm 0.08`$ for the S1–N1 pair. This last value is certainly surprising, although it can be explained by the fact that the S1 flux density obtained after model fitting does not account for the total flux of this plasma cloud. In fact, better estimates of the flux densities can be obtained summing together the flux densities of the clean components obtained within each one of the four plasma clouds. This yields to $`\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta >0.13\pm 0.05`$ for the S2–N2 pair and $`\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta >0.17\pm 0.02`$ for the S1–N1 pair, in good agreement with the values computed using the distances from the components to the core, shown in Table 3.

If we compare the VLA position reported in Paper I with the MERLIN position in Table 1 we can see that they are different. In fact, taking into account the errors, the MERLIN$``$VLA position offsets can be expressed as: $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha \mathrm{cos}\delta =16\pm 10`$ mas and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\delta =27\pm 10`$ mas. Assuming that the difference in position is due to intrinsic proper motions and considering the time span between both observations, 224 days, we obtain: $`\mu _{\alpha \mathrm{cos}\delta }=26\pm 16`$ mas yr-1 and $`\mu _\delta =44\pm 16`$ mas yr-1. Although a proper motion of the source would clearly indicate its microquasar nature, because no proper motion would be detected in an extragalactic source, we must be cautious with this result. First of all, the phase-reference sources where different in the VLA and MERLIN observations, as well as the observing frequencies from which positions were estimated. On the other hand, none of these results exceeds the $`3\sigma `$ value, preventing to state that a proper motion has been detected.

Summarizing, our results indicate that this source exhibits relativistic radio jets with $`\beta >0.20`$ and, therefore, together with the results reported in Paper I, we consider 1RXS~J001442.2+580201 as a very promising microquasar candidate.

### 3.2 1RXS~J013106.4+612035 and its one-sided jet

We show in Fig. 2 the images obtained after our observations. Although the source appears compact at MERLIN and EVN+MERLIN scales, there is a weak one-sided radio jet towards the northwest in the EVN image. Model fitting with circular Gaussian components can reproduce the observed visibilities as follows: a central 15.4 mJy component with 0.64 mas FWHM, and a northwest 2.1 mJy component with a FWHM of 0.74 mas, located at 1.8 mas in P.A. $`73\mathrm{°}`$. As can be seen, this last component is located at a distance of $`2`$ times the beam size from the core.

Using the fact that we do not detect a counter-jet, we can use Eq. 2 replacing $`S_\mathrm{r}`$ with the $`3\sigma `$ level value. This, of course, will only provide a lower limit to $`\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta `$, expressed as follows:

$$\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta >\frac{\left(S_\mathrm{a}/3\sigma \right)^{1/(k\alpha )}1}{\left(S_\mathrm{a}/3\sigma \right)^{1/(k\alpha )}+1}.$$
(3)
Using $`S_\mathrm{a}=2.1`$ mJy, $`3\sigma =0.30`$ mJy (the $`1\sigma `$ value has been taken as the root mean square noise in the image), $`\alpha =0.05\pm 0.05`$ (see Paper I), and $`k=3`$ to be consistent with the lowest limit, we obtain $`\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta >0.31\pm 0.05`$ ($`\beta >0.31\pm 0.05`$ and $`\theta <72\pm 3`$). Hence, a lower limit of $`\beta 0.3`$ is obtained, pointing towards relativistic radio jets as the origin of the elongated radio emission present in the EVN image. Although the one-sided jet morphology at mas scales is found mostly in extragalactic sources, it is also present in some galactic REXBs, like Cyg~X-3 (Mioduszewski et al. mioduszewski01 (2001)) or LS~I~+61~303 (Massi et al. massi01 (2001)). Hence, we cannot rule out a possible galactic nature on the basis of the detected morphology.

As done for the previous source, we can compare the VLA position with the MERLIN one, and find that they differ in $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha \mathrm{cos}\delta =39\pm 10`$ mas and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\delta =0.8\pm 10`$ mas. If the offsets are real, this would imply $`\mu _{\alpha \mathrm{cos}\delta }=64\pm 16`$ mas yr-1 and $`\mu _\delta =1\pm 16`$ mas yr-1. Hence, it seems possible that we have detected a proper motion in right ascension at a $`4\sigma `$ level. However, we must be cautious since, as in the previous case, the phase-reference sources and observing frequencies were different in each observation.

Overall, these results are indicative of relativistic radio jets, and hence, together with the results reported in Paper I, allow us to classify this source as a promising microquasar candidate.

### 3.3 1RXS~J042201.0+485610, a non-detected source

This radio source was marginally seen in the cross-scans carried out in Effelsberg. In fact, this is compatible with the low flux density of $`2.3\pm 0.4`$ mJy at 1.4 GHz listed in the NVSS. The source was not detected with MERLIN or with the EVN, mainly due to problems with the phase-reference sources, as pointed out in Sect. 2.2. In fact, as discussed in Paper I, VLA A configuration observations showed a flux density of 0.4 mJy at 5 GHz and an inverted spectrum with a spectral index up to $`\alpha =+1.6`$, suggesting thermal radio-emission resolved at higher angular resolutions. However, we cannot exclude the possibility of having a highly variable source.

### 3.4 1RXS~J062148.1+174736, a compact source

As can be seen in our images, shown in Fig. 3, the radio source is compact on all scales. In fact, model fitting of the EVN visibilities converges to a point-like radio source (the FWHM of a circular Gaussian tends to zero). We must note that when this source was observed it was below the horizon in SH. Therefore, the obtained beam size for the EVN image is larger than the ones obtained for the other sources, as can be seen in Table 2, hence providing lower angular resolution than in the other cases. A comparison between the VLA and MERLIN positions reveals that they are perfectly compatible within the errors, suggesting an extragalactic nature or a small proper motion if it turns out to be a galactic microquasar. Although the compactness of the source is not indicative of a galactic or an extragalactic origin, the extended optical counterpart, reported in Paper I, suggests an extragalactic origin for this source. In fact, the detected radio variability from 8 to 11 mJy within a week reported in Paper I, is compatible with the compactness in an extragalactic object (see IDV phenomenon, Wagner & Witzel wagner95 (1995)).

### 3.5 1RXS~J072259.5$-$073131 and its bent one-sided jet

The images obtained at different resolutions are plotted in Fig. 4. The MERLIN image presents a compact structure with some elongation eastwards, while the EVN and combined EVN+MERLIN images show a clear one-sided jet towards the east, with a slight bent towards the south at larger core separations. The closure phases clearly show that the source departs from symmetry, with preferred emission to the east, both in the MERLIN and the EVN data sets. Two distinct components are present in the EVN image, at 9 and 17 mas from the compact core (P.A. of 89 and 113$`\mathrm{°}`$, respectively). Those components can be model fitted with elliptical Gaussians, yielding flux densities of 3.7 and 2.8 mJy, respectively, for a core of 40.3 mJy.

Using again the fact that we do not detect a counter-jet, we can use Eq. 3 with $`S_\mathrm{a}=3.7`$ mJy (the closest component to the core in the EVN image), $`3\sigma =0.54`$ mJy (as previously done, the $`1\sigma `$ value has been taken as the root mean square noise in the image), $`\alpha =0.25\pm 0.2`$ (see Paper I), and $`k=3`$ to be consistent with the discrete nature of the components, to obtain $`\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta >0.29\pm 0.05`$, and hence $`\beta >0.29\pm 0.05`$ and $`\theta <73\pm 3\mathrm{°}`$. Therefore, these results point towards relativistic radio jets as the origin of the elongated radio emission present in the images.

As pointed out for 1RXS~J013106.4+612035, the one-sided jet morphology does not rule out a microquasar nature for this object. However, the bending of the jet at such small angular scales resembles the ones seen in blazars. In fact, as reported in Paper I, a one-sided arcsecond scale jet is also present in VLA A configuration observations at 1.4 GHz, an unusual feature in the already known microquasars.

A comparison between the VLA and MERLIN positions reveals that they agree within the errors, suggesting an extragalactic nature or a small proper motion if it turns out to be a galactic microquasar.

Overall, these results are indicative of relativistic radio jets, although this source shows characteristics more similar to blazars than to microquasars.

### 3.6 1RXS~J072418.3$-$071508, a quasar with a bent one-sided jet

This radio source has recently been (March 2002) classified as a quasar in the SIMBAD database, and it is not any more a microquasar candidate. It is catalogued in the Parkes-MIT-NRAO (Griffith et al. griffith94 (1994)) and the Texas Survey (Douglas et al. douglas96 (1996)). It is listed as PMN~J0724$-$0715 in the NED database, and is the source WGA~J0724.3$-$0715 in Perlman et al. (perlman98 (1998)), who reported a faint and quite broad H$`\alpha `$ emission line (rest-frame $`W_\lambda =30.3`$ Å, FWHM=4000 km s-1), and classified it as a Flat Spectrum Radio Quasar (FSRQ) with $`z=0.270`$. Nevertheless, we have reported here our observational results for this source, since it was a candidate when we performed the observations. It presents (Fig. 5) a one-sided pc-scale jet oriented towards the northeast, changing from a P.A. of $`50\mathrm{°}`$ at 5 mas from the core (EVN image) to $`20\mathrm{°}`$ up to 200 mas, at MERLIN scales.

Model fitting of the EVN visibilities with circular Gaussians reveals a compact core (0.7 mas FWHM) with 245.4 mJy, and two distinct components, one with 11.9 mJy at 6.2 mas (P.A. $`46\mathrm{°}`$, 1.9 mas FWHM, present in the right panel image of Fig. 5) and another one with the size of the beam, a flux density of 1.7 mJy at a distance of 29.6 mas in P.A. $`27\mathrm{°}`$ (visible in the middle panel image of Fig. 5).

Using again the fact that we do not detect a counter-jet, we can use Eq. 3 with $`S_\mathrm{a}=11.9`$ mJy (the closest component to the core), $`3\sigma =0.45`$ mJy, $`\alpha =0.07\pm 0.02`$ (see Paper I), and $`k=3`$ to be consistent with the discrete nature of the components, to obtain $`\beta \mathrm{cos}\theta >0.51\pm 0.04`$. Hence, an upper limit of $`\theta <60\pm 3\mathrm{°}`$ and a lower limit of $`\beta >0.51\pm 0.04`$ is obtained, pointing towards relativistic radio jets as the origin of the elongated radio emission present in the images of this already identified quasar.

## 4 Summary

We have presented EVN and MERLIN observations of the six sources studied by Paredes et al. (paredes02 (2002)) in their search for microquasar candidates at low galactic latitudes. The first one, namely 1RXS~J001442.2+580201, displays a two-sided radio jet, which after analysis implies $`\beta >0.20\pm 0.02`$ and $`\theta <78\pm 1\mathrm{°}`$. 1RXS~J013106.4+612035, displays a one-sided radio jet, requiring $`\beta >0.31\pm 0.05`$ and $`\theta <72\pm 3\mathrm{°}`$. The third one, namely 1RXS~J042201.0+485610, was not detected due to its low flux density and/or to phase-referencing problems. 1RXS~J062148.1+174736 appeared compact at all scales. The fifth one, namely 1RXS~J072259.5$-$073131, displays a bent one-sided radio jet, implying $`\beta >0.29\pm 0.05`$ and $`\theta <73\pm 3\mathrm{°}`$. Finally, 1RXS~J072418.3$-$071508 shows also a bent one-sided jet, requiring $`\beta >0.51\pm 0.04`$ and $`\theta <60\pm 3\mathrm{°}`$.

After a detailed analysis of our data, we show in Table 4 a summary of the results obtained after the VLA and optical observations (Paper I), and the EVN+MERLIN observations reported here. As can be seen, the first two sources, 1RXS~J001442.2+580201 and 1RXS~J013106.4+612035, are promising microquasar candidates. 1RXS~J042201.0+485610 is probably of thermal nature due to the highly inverted spectrum at high radio frequencies, while 1RXS~J062148.1+174736 is probably an extragalactic object due to the extended nature of the optical counterpart. 1RXS~J072259.5$-$073131 shows properties common to blazars, while 1RXS~J072418.3$-$071508 is an already identified quasar. We note that 1RXS~J072259.5$-$073131 is bright enough at radio wavelengths to attempt an H i absorption experiment, that could allow to determine if this source is galactic or not. In any case, optical spectroscopic observations of the first five sources are in progress, to clearly unveil their galactic or extragalactic nature.

###### Acknowledgements.

We acknowledge R. Porcas and W. Alef for their useful comments and suggestions after reading through a draft version of this paper. We acknowledge useful comments from L. F. Rodríguez, the referee of this paper. We are very grateful to S. T. Garrington, M. A. Garrett, D. C. Gabuzda, and C. Reynolds for their valuable help in the data reduction process. This paper is based on observations with the 100-m telescope of the MPIfR (Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie) at Effelsberg. We thank the staff of the JIVE correlator and of the observing telescopes, especially A. Kraus for the single dish flux density measurements at the 100 m antenna in Effelsberg. The European VLBI Network is a joint facility of European, Chinese and other radio astronomy institutes funded by their national research councils. MERLIN is operated as a National Facility by the University of Manchester at Jodrell Bank Observatory on behalf of the UK Particle Physics & Astronomy Research Council. The EVN observations were carried out thanks to the TMR Access to Large-scale Facilities programme under contract No. ERBFMGECT950012. Part of the data reduction was done at JIVE with the support of the European Community - Access to Research Infrastructure action of the Improving Human Potential Programme under contract No. HPRI-CT-1999-00045. M. R., J. M. P. and J. M. acknowledge partial support by DGI of the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Spain) under grant AYA2001-3092, as well as partial support by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF/FEDER). During this work, M. R. has been supported by two fellowships from CIRIT (Generalitat de Catalunya, ref. 1998 BEAI 200293 and 1999 FI 00199). J. M. has been aided in this work by an Henri Chrétien International Research Grant administered by the American Astronomical Society, and has been partially supported by the Junta de Andalucía. This research has made use of the NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Abstract Service, of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France, and of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.


text:
# Unraveling Brown Dwarf Origins

Brown dwarfs are not massive enough to be stars, nor are they planets in the traditional sense. They are often found in isolation but may also be companions to stars. They share some characteristics with stars and others with planets, and occupy the mass range in between: from about 75 to about 10 Jupiter masses. Although there is the potential for an identity crisis (1), brown dwarfs may hold clues to the formation of stars as well as planets. The identification of hundreds of brown dwarfs over the past 5 years in the solar neighborhood and in young star clusters (see the figure) has led to widespread interest in their origin. \[For a discussion of brown dwarf chemistry, see (2).\]

How can free-floating objects with inferred masses as low as 10 Jupiter masses form? One possibility is that brown dwarfs form as a result of the turbulent fragmentation and contraction of molecular cloud cores–that is, in the same way as stars. In 1976, Low and Lynden-Bell (3) calculated that the Jeans mass (the minimum mass for a cloud fragment to overcome pressure and collapse under gravity) could be as small as about 7 Jupiter masses, comparable to the masses of some planets detected around nearby Sun-like stars and below the threshold of 13 Jupiter masses for deuterium burning. This deuterium-burning limit is taken by some astronomers as the boundary between brown dwarfs and planets. Simulations suggest that fragmentation of a collapsing cloud might produce self-gravitating objects with initial masses as low as 1 Jupiter mass, provided that magnetic field tension effects are important in the cloud environment (4).

In another scenario proposed by Reipurth and Clarke (5), brown dwarfs are stellar embryos that are ejected from newborn multiple systems before they have accreted sufficient mass (about 75 Jupiter masses) to burn hydrogen. In this scenario, a stellar embryo competes with its siblings to accrete infalling matter; the one that grows slowest is the most likely to be ejected through dynamical interactions. In computer simulations, objects with very low mass are indeed often kicked out of nascent stellar systems (6). It has also been suggested that brown dwarfs form in gravitationally unstable regions of disks surrounding protostars or young binaries.

Studies of young brown dwarfs may help to distinguish among these different scenarios. For example, if the ejection hypothesis were true, one might expect disks around brown dwarfs to be pruned by close interactions within a multiple system (6). The disks may therefore be short-lived. It is also unlikely that many brown dwarfs would come in pairs, because such binaries are likely to be torn apart during ejection.

Several groups have recently searched for dusty disks around large numbers of young brown dwarfs in nearby star-forming regions and clusters (7-10). Such disks would absorb light from the central star or brown dwarf and re-emit at longer wavelengths, making objects with disks appear brighter in the infrared than those without. The results show that disks are rather common around brown dwarfs at an age of about 1 million years, as is the case for Sun-like stars. It has not yet been possible to measure the sizes of brown dwarf disks to determine whether they are truncated, but their lifetimes appear to be comparable to those of disks around stars.

Brown dwarfs also accrete material from surrounding disks in the same way as their stellar cousins. Using high-resolution optical spectrographs on the Keck and Magellan telescopes, astronomers have detected broad, asymmetric emission lines of hydrogen in the spectra of many very young brown dwarfs (11-13). These lines are the telltale sign of gas flowing from the inner edge of the disk onto the central object at velocities of 100 km/s or higher. The rate of mass accretion from the disk is lower in brown dwarfs than in solar-mass stars by a factor of 10 to 100. But in some cases, the material may continue to trickle in for up to 10 million years (14)–another piece of evidence for long-lived disks around these substellar objects.

A particularly intriguing case is the young brown dwarf LS-RCrA 1 in the R Corona Australis star-forming region. Its spectrum not only exhibits signs of ongoing accretion onto the brown dwarf, presumably from a disk, but also shows hints of mass outflow from it: It contains many forbidden emission lines (15, 16), which are usually associated with young stars in which a fraction of the inflowing material is ejected perpendicular to the disk. If confirmed through future observations, this finding would further strengthen the analogy between nascent brown dwarfs and their stellar counterparts.

The mounting evidence thus points to a similar infancy for Sun-like stars and brown dwarfs. Does this mean that the two kinds of objects are born in the same way? Many observers tend to think so (7-12), but it may be too early to rule out the ejection scenario for at least some brown dwarfs. Far-infrared observations with the Spitzer Space Telescope (launched in August 2003) and millimeter observations with ground-based radio telescopes may reveal the sizes and masses of brown dwarf disks, allowing us to determine whether most disks are truncated. Better statistics of the frequency of binary brown dwarfs could provide another observational test. Infrared studies of even younger “proto-brown dwarfs,” which are still embedded in a dusty womb, may also provide clues to their origin.

References

1. G. Basri, Mercury 32, 27 (2003).
2. K. Lodders, Science 303, 323 (2004).
3. C. Low, D. Lynden-Bell, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 176, 367 (1976).
4. A. Boss, Astrophys. J. 551, L167 (2001).
5. B. Reipurth, C. Clarke, Astron. J. 122, 432 (2001).
6. M. R. Bate, I. A. Bonnell, V. Bromm, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 332, L65 (2002).
7. A. A. Muench et al., Astrophys. J. 558, L51 (2001).
8. A. Natta et al., Astron. Astrophys. 393, 597 (2002).
9. R. Jayawardhana et al., Astron. J. 126, 1515 (2003).
10. M. Liu et al., Astrophys. J. 585, 372 (2003).
11. R. Jayawardhana, S. Mohanty, G. Basri, Astrophys. J. 578, L141 (2002).
12. R. Jayawardhana, S. Mohanty, G. Basri, Astrophys. J. 592, 282 (2003).
13. J. Muzerolle et al., Astrophys. J. 592, 266 (2003).
14. S. Mohanty, R. Jayawardhana, D. Barrado y Navascués, Astron. Astrophys. 380, 264 (2001).
15. M. Fernández, F. Comerón, Astron. Astrophys. 380, 264 (2001).
16. D. Barrado y Navascués, S. Mohanty, R. Jayawardhana, Astrophys. J., in press.