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# Photon and neutral pion production in Au+Au collisions at √𝑠__NN = 130 GeV

## I Data Analysis

The data presented in this paper were recorded by the STAR collaboration during the first $`\sqrt{s_{_{\mathrm{NN}}}}`$ = 130 GeV Au+Au run at RHIC. Events that had a primary collision vertex position less than 100 cm and 150 cm distant from the geometric center of the TPC along the beam axis ($`z`$–axis) were selected for the photon and $`\pi ^0`$ analyses respectively. Details of the STAR geometry are presented in Fig. 1 and discussed in star\_geometry ; star\_geometry2 . For the event sample used for $`\pi ^0`$ measurements, which were limited by statistical uncertainties, approximately 87% of the events in the minimum bias (least trigger–biased) data set passed the $`z`$ vertex requirement. With this range of collision vertices, part of the support structure for the Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT) could be utilized as a converter, as shown in Fig. 1. In addition, the inner field cage and gas (10% CH4 and 90% Ar) of the STAR TPC were also used as converters. The combined material from both detectors resulted in an average conversion probability of approximately 1% during the data run of year 2000. Although this conversion probability was low, it was compensated by the complete 2$`\pi `$ azimuthal acceptance of the STAR TPC.

As discussed in flow\_paper , the definition of collision centrality was based on the number of reconstructed primary tracks in the pseudo–rapidity range $`|`$$`\eta `$$`|`$$`<`$0.75. Using this as a basis, four centrality classes were defined, common to both the photon and $`\pi ^0`$ analyses. They were an inclusive minimum bias (0–85% of the total inelastic hadronic cross section), peripheral (34%–85%), mid central (34%–11%) and central (0–11%). These centrality classes were selected to allow the extraction of $`\pi ^0`$ yield over a wide range of $`p_t`$ (0.25$`<`$$`p_t`$$`<`$2.5 GeV/c) in independent regions of centrality. They contained 328980, 198196, 87484 and 449095 events, respectively.

### I.1 Reconstructing Photon Pair Conversions $`\gamma Ze^{}e^+Z`$

The dominant interaction process for photons with a total energy above 10 MeV is pair conversion, $`\gamma Ze^{}e^+Z`$ (Fig. 2). Pair conversions that occurred in the detector material before or inside the TPC tracking volume were reconstructed from the resulting charged particle daughters detected in the TPC. This was accomplished in three steps: the selection of track, pair, and primary photon candidates. All three steps utilized the unique topological signature of a photon conversion – two tracks of opposite charge emerging from a secondary vertex with a small opening angle ($``$ $`m_ec^2/E_\gamma `$ radians, where $`m_e`$ is the electron mass and $`c`$ is the speed of light).

At the track level, improbable conversion daughters were removed by requiring tracks to satisfy a geometric cut and to have the ionization energy loss expected for an electron in the TPC gas. Neglecting resolution effects, the projection of a daughter track from a primary photon conversion onto the bend plane will form a circle which does not enclose the collision vertex. This is because photons typically propagate some distance before conversion and daughters emerge with a near zero opening angle (see Fig. 2). Thus, low $`p_t`$ ($`<`$0.3 GeV/c) tracks with circular projections that enclosed the collision vertex in the bend plane of the 0.25 T solenoidal magnetic field were immediately removed. This cut was important, since the elimination of non electron (positron) tracks in this region of $`p_t`$ via ionization energy loss $`dE/dx`$ is difficult due to the fact that the highly populated pion band crosses the electron $`dE/dx`$ band. It was not necessary to use this cut at higher $`p_t`$, since the yield of particles drops and electron (positron) identification via $`dE/dx`$ improves. It is also the case that at higher $`p_t`$ this cut begins to remove daughters of primary photons since stiff track geometries make the distance from the collision vertex to the closest point on the circular projection of the helix comparable to the resolution of the measurement. At all momenta, electron and positron candidates which had a $`dE/dx`$ value between -2 and 4 standard deviations ($`\sigma _{res}`$) of the value expected for electrons and positrons were retained ($`\sigma _{res}`$ denotes the resolution of charge particle $`dE/dx`$ measurements in the TPC gas; $`\sigma _{res}`$ 8.2% of the $`dE/dx`$ value measured with a clean sample of electrons and positrons). The predicted energy loss curves for electrons, pions, kaons, and protons are shown as a function of rigidity in Fig. 3. The $`dE/dx`$ requirement was chosen to be asymmetric, because on the lower side of the electron band other particle bands run in parallel and contamination is more prominent. On the upper side of the electron band other particle bands approach and cross the electron $`dE/dx`$ band in a narrow range of momentum. This reduced the usefulness of a tight cut on the upper side. It was estimated that approximately 3% of the true photon daughters were removed with this $`dE/dx`$ requirement.

Photon candidates were found by searching for track pairs which exhibited the topological signature of a photon conversion. Oppositely charged tracks were paired and passed through a geometric filter. The filter required each pair to originate from a secondary vertex with a near zero opening angle and low invariant mass. Secondary vertices were located by extrapolating daughter candidates to a common point. At the point of closest approach, daughters were required to come within 1 cm of each other in the non–bend plane ($`rz`$–plane) and within 1.5 cm of each other in the bend plane ($`xy`$–plane). The angular resolutions of opening angle measurements also differed in the two planes. In the non–bend plane and bend plane the precision of opening angle measurements have single Gaussian sigmas near 0.02 and 0.1 radians, respectively. Since even at energies as low as 100 MeV photon conversions on average have an opening angle of 0.01 radians, ten times smaller than the precision in the bend plane, the full opening angle and the opening angle in the non–bend plane of each candidate pair were checked seperately. These values were required to be less than 0.4 and 0.03 radians respectively. The differing angular resolutions in the bend and non-bend planes are apparent in the invariant mass distribution of pairs assuming an electron (positron) hypothesis for the daughters (Fig. 4). The invariant mass distribution has a sharp peak near zero and a broad peak close to 0.012 GeV/c2. The sharp peak at lower mass primarily results from cases where the bend plane projection of the opening angle was assumed to be zero. In these cases, the track geometries do not overlap in the bend plane, so the tracks were assumed to be parallel in the bend plane at the point of closest approach. Track geometries that do overlap in the bend plane lead to a higher invariant mass because the complete opening angle was used in calculation of the invariant mass. In this case, the less precise measure of the opening in the bend plane tends to dominate the result of the invariant mass calculation, moving and smearing the invariant mass peak. For this reason, a cut was placed on the value of the invariant mass of pairs calculated with only the non–bend plane projection of the opening angle. This cut required the invariant mass of candidate pairs to be less than 0.012 GeV/c2. The minimum mass returned by the calculation is $`2m_e`$ = 1.022 MeV/c2, which is above the first four 0.25 MeV/c2 wide mass bins in Fig. 4. This causes the absence of entries in the lower mass bins in the figure.

The kinematic parameters for photon candidates were derived from the kinematic variables of the associated daughter tracks. The energy was calculated by summing the electron and positron energies. The angular direction in the bend plane was extracted by forming the cross-product of the vector from the helix center of the positron to the helix center of the electron, with the magnetic field vector. The angular direction in the non–bend plane was found by averaging the direction of electron and positron at the conversion point. With these three variables all kinematic parameters for photon candidates could be derived.

Primary photon candidates were selected from the set of all photon candidates by requiring the momentum vector to be consistent with the direction of a photon originating from the collision vertex. For these photons, the momentum vector has the same direction as the vector from the collision vertex to the conversion point. Due to differing angular resolution, the direction of the momentum vector and conversion point vector were compared separately in the bend and non–bend planes. For primary photon candidates, the difference between the momentum vector and the conversion point vector was required to be less than 0.035 and 0.015 radians in the bend and non–bend planes respectively. In order to reduce background in the photon sample from the random pairing of primary tracks, conversion vertices in the region close to the collision vertex ($`r_{xy}`$$`<`$10 cm) were excluded.

### I.2 Photon Spectra

Photon spectra were measured as a function of $`p_t`$ and $`y`$ in three independent centrality classes as well as for an inclusive minimum bias data set. These spectra were produced from photon candidates identified with the standard event, track, and photon selection criteria (discussed in Sec. I.1).

Photon yields were extracted using the particle identification information of the positive daughters in the TPC. A $`dE/dx`$ deviant variable was constructed by comparing the energy loss predicted as a function of momentum for electrons and positrons with the measured $`dE/dx`$ and rigidity of daughter candidates, folding in the $`dE/dx`$ resolution of the TPC. This variable accounts for the momentum dependence in $`dE/dx`$, and its value is therefore independent of the daughter particle’s momentum and the parent photon’s $`p_t`$. Consequently, the $`dE/dx`$ deviant values for daughters of differing momenta could be merged into bins based on the parent photon’s $`p_t`$ and $`y`$. Distributions of the $`dE/dx`$ deviant values of positive daughters were chosen rather than the negative daughter to reduce the number of false photon candidates in the distributions that arise from knock-out electrons that originate when charged particles scatter in the detector material ($`\delta `$–electrons). The remaining contamination from this scattering process, which may result in a knock-out electron and positive particle ($`\pi ,K,`$ or $`p`$) having a momentum in a region where the $`dE/dx`$ bands overlap the positron band (see Fig. 3), was removed by requiring the fraction of the positive daughters energy to the total photon energy to be less than 75%. The shape of the remaining background in the $`dE/dx`$ deviant distribution was studied on a sample of photon candidates that satisfied anti–photon cuts (primarily a sample of background candidates). Anti–photon cuts suppress positrons from true photons by requiring the photon selection criteria to be in the outermost extent of the cut distributions. For example, the two–track distance of closest approach for daughter tracks was required to be 1.5$`<`$$`|`$dxy$`|`$$`<`$2 cm and 1$`<`$$`|`$dz$`|`$$`<`$1.5 cm. A two parameter exponential plus linear function was used to describe these background distributions, as shown for one $`p_t`$ bin in Fig. 5. Parameters of the background functions were found by fitting to the background distributions with the region around the expected value removed ($`dE/dx`$ deviants between -1.5 and 3 $`\sigma _{res}`$). This was necessary to avoid fitting the signal from residual photons that still existed after the application of anti–photon cuts. With the knowledge of the background shape, the raw yield of photon candidates was extracted using a three parameter Gaussian function plus the background function which had one free scaling parameter (also shown in Fig. 5).

The purity of the photon candidate sample was determined by dividing the integral of the Gaussian function by the integral of the entire Gaussian plus background function between $`dE/dx`$ deviant values of -2 and 4 $`\sigma _{res}`$. For $`p_t`$ $`<`$ 0.75 GeV/c, the purity of the photon candidate sample is greater than 90% in all centrality classes. In the 0–11% most central centrality class, where the purity is the lowest, the purity drops linearly from approximately 90% at $`p_t`$ = 0.75 GeV/c to about 60% at $`p_t`$ = 2.4 GeV/c. A cleaner sample (purity $`>`$95% below $`p_t`$ = 0.90 GeV/c for the 0–11% most central collisions) was obtained by requiring photons to convert in the inner field cage and TPC gas, $`r_{xy}`$$`>`$40 cm.

Uncorrected yields were obtained from the weighted sum of the entries in the distributions. The weights were extracted by dividing the height of the Gaussian function by the height of the entire fit at the location of each entry. Distributions in $`y`$ were extracted in a 4 x 10 array of $`p_t`$$`y`$ bins to properly account for the variation in efficiency as a function of $`p_t`$. Three 0.25 GeV/c wide $`p_t`$ bins were used below $`p_t`$ = 0.75 GeV/c where the efficiency grows rapidly, and one large bin was used for 0.75$`<`$$`p_t`$$`<`$2.5 GeV/c where the efficiency is flat. The $`p_t`$ distributions did not require division into $`p_t`$ and $`y`$ bins, since the corrected $`y`$ distributions and the input distributions for the efficiency calculations were both uniform in $`y`$ for $`|`$$`y`$$`|`$$`<`$0.5.

Efficiency corrections were applied to each $`p_t`$$`y`$ bin independently. These corrections were calculated with detailed simulations (GEANT 3.21) of the propagation of photons and daughter particles through a realistic detector geometry. A TPC Response Simulator (TRS) was used to simulate the drift and electronic response of ionization deposited in the TPC. Digital pad signals produced by TRS were embedded pixel–by–pixel into real events.

Each simulated event contained 2000 photons generated flat in $`p_t`$ and $`y`$. On average, approximately 20 of these photons interacted with the detector material (a consequence of the low conversion probability). This added the ionization of about 40 daughter tracks to each real event. This number is less than 2% of the number of charged particles in the embedded phase space in a typical high multiplicity event. Therefore even in high multiplicity events, which are most sensitive to over–embedding, the introduction of 2000 photons into each event had a negligible effect on the track reconstruction efficiency. An association process was used to link reconstructed and generated photons. The photon finding efficiencies for different centrality definitions were calculated by dividing the distributions of reconstructed photons correctly associated with a generated photon by the input distributions of generated photons.

To reveal systematic trends caused by differences in the layout of the detector material and the material map used in simulation to calculate efficiency corrections, spectra were produced with different requirements on the minimum distance between the location of conversion and the beam axis in the $`xy`$–plane ($`r_{xy}`$$`>`$10 cm and $`r_{xy}`$$`>`$40 cm). It was found that an additional correction factor was needed to compensate for differences in the layouts of the detector material between $`r_{xy}`$ = 10 cm and $`r_{xy}`$ = 40 cm, as illustrated in Fig. 6. Above $`r_{xy}`$ = 40 cm, the material of the inner field cage and the gas of the TPC were well described in the simulation. This region was used as a reference to calculate the correction factor (1.42) for the $`r_{xy}`$$`>`$10 cm spectra. All $`p_t`$ and $`y`$ data points in the $`r_{xy}`$$`>`$10 cm spectra were linearly scaled by this factor.

Corrected $`p_t`$ and $`y`$ spectra for the various centrality classes are shown in Fig. 7. Systematic uncertainties of 7% point–to–point and 12% overall (correlated) have been estimated for the measurements in the $`p_t`$ spectra. There is a 12% (correlated) systematic uncertainty in the normalization of the $`y`$ spectra. These uncertainties account for uncertainty in the detection efficiency and potential measurement bias that may arise from differences in the physical and simulated material maps.

Values in the lowest $`r_{xy}`$$`>`$10 cm $`p_t`$ bins, 0$`<`$$`p_t`$$`<`$0.15 GeV/c, are systematically 15–25% lower than in the corresponding $`r_{xy}`$$`>`$40 cm bins. This is attributed to the efficiency correction being underestimated in these bins for the $`r_{xy}`$$`>`$10 cm, because the simulation lacked material between 10$`<`$$`r_{xy}`$$`<`$40 cm. This gave the inner field cage and TPC gas a larger fraction of the total conversion probability in the simulation, and resulted in a mean $`r_{xy}`$ conversion point that is closer to the TPC. The combination of the shift in the mean position of conversions and the linear scaling of the spectra to compensate for differences in the material layouts artificially increased the efficiency of low $`p_t`$ photons in the $`r_{xy}`$$`>`$10 cm spectra. Therefore the corrections, which are the inverse of the efficiencies, are too small in the $`r_{xy}`$$`>`$10 cm spectra at low $`p_t`$.

### I.3 Measuring the yield of $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decays

The uncorrected yield of $`\pi ^0`$ mesons was extracted from the invariant mass distributions of photon pairs in various $`p_t`$ bins. Individual decays could not be uniquely identified, because of the large combinatorial background in the invariant mass distributions. The combinatorial backgrounds were simulated by rotating the momentum vector of one photon in each pair by $`\pi `$ radians in the bend plane. In this way, it was possible to create combinatorial background distributions which preserved event characteristics such as the vertex position along the beam axis, the event multiplicity and anisotropic flow. Due to the azimuthal symmetry of the STAR TPC, this type of rotation also ensured that a consistent geometric acceptance and track reconstruction efficiency were maintained. At the same time these rotations moved and smeared the invariant mass values of the pairs that are correlated through two photon decays. The shape of the resulting background distributions near the $`\pi ^0`$ mass ($`\pm `$0.1 GeV/c2) was well described and smoothed with a second order polynomial (see Fig. 8). This functional form was also used to describe the shape of the combinatorial background in the unrotated invariant mass distributions. A Gaussian function was used to describe the enhancement at the $`\pi ^0`$ mass. The width ($`\sigma `$) of the enhancement ranged between 4 and 15 MeV/c2, and was found to be consistent with simulations in all centrality classes and as a function of $`p_t`$. It was dominated by the photon momentum resolution not the intrinsic mass width of the $`\pi ^0`$ ($``$8 eV/c2). For this reason a Breit–Wigner function that would be appropriate to describe the intrinsic width of such a resonance was not used. Equation (1) is the complete function that was used to describe invariant mass distributions of photon pairs. Systematic uncertainty related to the choice of the invariant mass bin width, $`\delta `$, was studied by comparing the measured yields for various choices of $`\delta `$. These studies indicated that the systematic uncertainty due to this effect was much smaller than statistical uncertainties in the measurements.

$$C\left(xM_{\gamma \gamma }\right)=\frac{N\delta }{\sigma \sqrt{2\pi }}e^{\left(xm\right)^2/\left(2\sigma ^2\right)}+B\left(a+bx+cx^2\right),$$
(1)
where $`\delta `$ is the width of the invariant mass bins, N is the number in the Gaussian peak, and B is the scale factor of the background function.

A feature of this method of photon reconstruction is that the location of the enhancement from $`\pi ^0`$ decays in the two-photon invariant mass distribution is a few MeV/c2 lower than expected (see Fig. 8). This is attributed to energy loss experienced by the electrons and positrons in the detector material. The “global” tracking routine used in this analysis only compensated for energy loss in the TPC gas and not for that in other detector material. This resulted in the reconstructed momentum for electrons and positrons originating prior to the gas volume of the TPC to be systematically lower than their original momentum. The small ($``$1 MeV on average) energy loss experienced by each of the 4 daughter particles translated to a few MeV/c2 shift in the location of the $`\pi ^0`$ invariant mass peak. This hypothesis is consistent with a similar feature in simulated events. The location of the reconstructed invariant mass peak for simulated $`\pi ^0`$s systematically decreased as the radial distance between the beam axis and conversion point of the closer photon in the pair decreased. This implies that a larger $`\pi ^0`$ mass deviation occurs when more detector material is between the conversion point and the TPC. The reconstructed energy of simulated photons was also systematically lower than the energy input to the simulation and larger deviations also occurred when more detector material was between the conversion point and the TPC.

### I.4 Spectra of $`\pi ^0`$ mesons

Two iterations (described in Sec. I.3) were performed to fit the data and extract the yield of $`\pi ^0`$s as a function of $`p_t`$. For the first iteration, 4 free parameters were used in the fit: the yield (N), mass (m), and width ($`\sigma `$) of the Gaussian function describing the peak, and the scale factor for the background function (B). For the second iteration it was assumed that the width of the invariant mass peak increased linearly with $`p_t`$, as seen in the simulated events. The width parameters for the fits in the second iteration were obtained from a linear fit to the widths found in the first iteration. The values of the slopes for these linear fits ($``$ 3$`\left(MeV/c^2\right)/\left(GeV/c\right)`$) were consistent with those found in simulation. The width parameters were then fixed to the value of the linear function at the center of each $`p_t`$ bin. This reduced the number of free parameters in the second pass to three and increased the stability of the fits.

Uncorrected yields about mid–rapidity ($`|`$$`y`$$`|`$$`<`$1) were extracted in various $`p_t`$ bins for the four different centrality classes. The narrow 6 MeV/c2 width (sigma) of the enhancement at the $`\pi ^0`$ mass measured with this reconstruction method is significantly better than what is typically achieved using a conventional lead-scintillator sampling calorimeter (20 MeV/c2 sigma). The improvement is a result of the excellent photon energy resolution (3% at 1 GeV) obtained with this method of photon reconstruction. The narrow width improves the signal to background ratio and enables the extraction of raw $`\pi ^0`$ yields at low $`p_t`$ ($`p_t`$$`<`$0.75 GeV/c) where the signal to background ratio is seriously degraded by a large combinatorial background.

Efficiency corrections were calculated with a procedure similar to the one used to calculate the photon detection efficiencies (described in Sec. I.2), except that $`\pi ^0`$s were selected in GEANT. Only the ionization in the TPC gas from daughters of those $`\pi ^0`$s selected in GEANT was passed to TRS. This was necessary to perform the calculation in a reasonable amount of cpu time and to prevent saturating real events with ionization. One consequence of the low conversion probability is that on average only 1 in 10000 $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decays is expected to be detected through the reconstruction of pair conversions. At the same time about 1 in 50 $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decays produces a photon that converts to create a pair of tracks that ionize the gas in the TPC. Selecting detectable $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decays in GEANT ($`\pi ^0`$s that decay into two photons, with both photons undergoing interactions which create at least one daughter within the TPC acceptance) reduced the amount of uninteresting ionization in each simulated event. With this selection, the insertion of up to 12 detectable $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decays into each event added less than 2% to the number of tracks in the phase space of the embedding. These events were reconstructed with the same software used to reconstruct real events. Reconstructed photons that could be associated with a photon from a simulated $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decay were retained. These photons were used to generate two-photon invariant mass distributions. The yields of simulated $`\pi ^0`$s were calculated in the same $`p_t`$ and centrality bins, and with the same fitting procedure as the raw yields. Efficiency corrections for these bins were obtained by dividing the reconstructed distributions by the input distributions.

Corrected $`p_t`$ spectra of $`\pi ^0`$s were obtained by applying efficiency corrections to the $`p_t`$ distributions of the raw yields. The corrected spectra are shown in Fig. 9. The uncertainties shown are statistical and mainly reflect the low number of real $`\pi ^0`$s measured. They combine the uncertainty in the raw yields and efficiency corrections. Systematic uncertainties due to the cuts used were studied by varying track, photon, and $`\pi ^0`$ cuts. These studies revealed that the statistical fluctuations dominate the systematic variations in this analysis.

Corrections to the normalization of the spectra were made to compensate for the overall difference in the photon conversion probability in the real detector material and that used in simulation. These correction factors were based on the corrected yield of $`\pi ^0`$s (Y$`_{r_{xy}>40}`$) for photons that converted in the inner field cage or the TPC gas ($`r_{xy}`$$`>`$40 cm) where the two material maps are consistent with each other (see Fig. 6). For 1$`<`$$`p_t`$$`<`$2 GeV/c, a centrality–independent material correction factor was directly extracted by dividing Y$`{}_{r_{xy}>40}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{min}`$ by Ymin for minimum bias events. In this $`p_t`$ interval, the ratio of the $`\pi ^0`$ efficiency for Y$`{}_{r_{xy}>40}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{min}`$ to the efficiency for Ymin is uniform. Therefore it was not necessary to correct this factor for interplay between the shape of the efficiency correction and the exponentially falling spectrum. This material correction factor was crosschecked in three different $`p_t`$ windows. The resulting variation in the the factors was found to be 5$`\times `$ smaller than the uncertainty in an individual factor ($``$40%). This uncertainty is statistical and arises due to the relatively small number ($``$50) of $`\pi ^0`$s reconstructed from photons with $`r_{xy}`$$`>`$40 cm. The stability of this measurement was checked by comparing the results for different invariant mass bin widths. This check confirmed that the statistical uncertainty in the raw yields is the dominant uncertainty. The material correction factor for the minimum bias data set was 0.31 $`\pm `$ 0.12, with 1$`<`$$`p_t`$$`<`$2 GeV/c as the window of $`\pi ^0`$ $`p_t`$. This factor was used to scale the normalization of centrality classes formed by taking subsets of the minimum bias triggered data set (0–85%, 34%–85%, 34%–11%). The uncertainty in this factor ($`\pm `$0.12 or 40%) is common for all these centrality bins and cancels out when ratios are taken. This factor can not be used to normalize the 0–11% centrality bin, because of the differing $`z`$ vertex distributions between the central and minimum bias triggered data sets. A separate centrality–independent factor was calculated for $`|z_{vertex}|`$$`<`$75 cm where the vertex distributions are similar in the two data sets. Minimum bias triggered events with $`z`$ vertices in this region were used to calculate the factor. The factor, 0.26 $`\pm `$ 0.11, was obtained by dividing Y$`{}_{r_{xy}>40}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{min}`$ by Y$`{}_{|z_{ver}|<75}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{min}`$. Using this factor, the normalized yield for the 0–11% centrality bin was computed by taking the product of the factor and Y$`{}_{|z_{ver}|<75}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{cent}`$. This normalized yield, Ycent = 12.0 $`\pm `$ 5.7 for 1$`<`$$`p_t`$$`<`$2 GeV/c, is independent of the vertex distribution. The final 0–11% spectrum was scaled by Ycent/Y$`{}_{|z_{ver}|<150}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{cent}`$ = 0.27 $`\pm `$ 0.14. In summary, the 0–11% most central class of events has the same common uncertainty of $`\pm `$40% plus an additional uncertainty of $`\pm `$19%. These two uncertainties were combined ($`\pm `$49%) for the purpose of comparison to other spectra, like the spectrum of charged hadrons.

## II Contribution of the $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decay to the inclusive photon spectrum

Electromagnetic decays of neutral mesons are the dominant source photons in heavy ion collisions. Among these, the $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decay is largest contributor to the spectrum of inclusive photons. Its large contribution hides the signal from other sources, such as direct photons emitted during the early stages of heavy ion collisions.

To investigate how the $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decay contributes to the inclusive photon spectrum, the $`p_t`$ distributions of $`\pi ^0`$s were used to generate the single photon spectrum expected for the daughters of $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decays. The $`p_t`$ distributions of $`\pi ^0`$ were fit with both a Boltzmann function and a Bose–Einstein function. For both functions, the total energy of the $`\pi ^0`$ was replaced by its transverse energy ($`\sqrt{p_t^2c^2+m_\pi ^2c^4}`$) under the assumption that the system is boost invariant near mid–rapidity. This assumption is supported by the flat shape of particle rapidity distributions close to mid–rapidity star\_hadron ; phobos\_rapidity . Other more sophisticated functions, incorporating resonances that decay into $`\pi ^0`$s and/or handling radial expansion of the system in more detail with additional parameters, were not chosen because the additional parameters were not well constrained by the 7 or 8 data points of the spectra. Both the Boltzmann and Bose–Einstein functions treat the system as a thermalized gas and converge to exponential functions at high $`p_t`$.

Distributions of the $`p_t`$ dependence of $`\pi ^0`$s were generated using these functions, assuming that the rapidity and azimuthal distributions are flat. The input rapidity distribution of $`\pi ^0`$s was limited to $`|`$$`y`$$`|`$$`<`$2. This rapidity window produces more than 99% of the photons with $`|`$$`y`$$`|`$$`<`$0.5 from $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decays. These distributions were passed through a Monte Carlo decay simulator used to calculate the $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decay kinematics and boost between the center of momentum and laboratory frames. The momentum information of the decay photons was used to produce the single photon $`p_t`$ spectra of the daughters.

The fraction of the photons from $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decays in the inclusive photon spectra was calculated as a function of $`p_t`$ by dividing the simulated spectra by the measured inclusive photon spectra, as shown in Figure 10. The shape of the resulting distributions for various centrality classes is independent of the uncertainty in the normalizations of the $`\pi ^0`$ spectra, but may depend on the assumed $`p_t`$ dependence of the $`\pi ^0`$ spectra. For this reason, the fractions are shown for $`p_t`$$`>`$0.45 GeV/c, where the photon contribution is determined from $`\pi ^0`$s in and above the measured $`p_t`$ interval. The kinematics of $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decay limit the $`p_t`$ of the daughter photons. For example a $`\pi ^0`$ of $`p_t`$$`<`$0.435 GeV/c can only produce photons with $`p_t`$ $`<`$ 0.45 GeV/c. Thus, the unmeasured portion of the $`\pi ^0`$ spectra below $`p_t`$ = 0.25 GeV/c does not contribute to the photon spectra in the region where the fractions are plotted.

The fraction of photons from $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decay in the inclusive photon spectrum is approximately constant between 0.75$`<`$$`p_t`$$`<`$1.65 GeV/c. For the 0–11% most central event class, the fraction begins to decrease substantially near $`p_t`$ = 1.65 GeV/c assuming either the Boltzmann function or Bose–Einstein function to describe the $`p_t`$ spectra of $`\pi ^0`$s. Specifically, the relative contribution from $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decays decreases by 20% $`\pm `$ 5% from $`p_t`$ = 1.65 GeV/c to $`p_t`$ = 2.4 GeV/c. Both point–to–point uncertainties in the photon spectrum as well as substantial uncertainty in the slope parameters of the Boltzmann (0.281 GeV $`\pm `$ 0.013) and Bose–Einstein (0.289 GeV $`\pm `$ 0.014) fits have been included in the 5% uncertainty in the region of the decrease. A similar trend was observed by the WA98 collaboration in $`^{^{208}}`$Pb+$`^{^{208}}`$Pb collisions at $`\sqrt{s_{_{\mathrm{NN}}}}`$ = 17.2 GeV WA98\_direct\_photons ; WA98\_long . The WA98 collaboration reported an excess of photons above 1.5 GeV/c in central collisions after accounting for photons from all expected electromagnetic decays. For electromagnetic decays other than the $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decay, the $`\eta \gamma \gamma `$ decay channel is expected to be the next largest contributor. From $`p_t`$ = 1 GeV/c to $`p_t`$ = 4 GeV/c, its contribution is expected to be approximately 15% and to be fairly uniform in $`p_t`$, increasing less than 5% per GeV/c. The WA98 collaboration has estimated that the summed contribution of all other electromagnetic decays is less than a few percent at SPS energies WA98\_long . Based on the above assumptions (the $`\pi ^0`$ $`p_t`$ spectrum has a Boltzmann or Bose–Einstein $`p_t`$ dependence, the $`\eta `$ contribution increases by less than 5% per GeV/c, and the summed contribution of all other electromagnetic decays is less than a few percent) it is unlikely that electromagnetic decays fully account for the observed single photon yields in the 0–11% most central event class.

## III Comparisons to Published Data

Comparisons between the 0–11% $`\pi ^0`$ spectrum and the 0–10% charged hadron spectrum were used to study the composition of the hadron spectrum as a function of $`p_t`$. The ratio of the $`\pi ^0`$ data points to a power law function fit to the charged hadron spectrum ($`\left(h^{}+h^+\right)/2`$) is shown in Fig. 11. At $`p_t`$ = 2 GeV/c the ratio of $`\pi ^0`$s to charged hadrons approaches 50% (also shown in Fig. 11). Assuming isospin symmetry for charged and neutral pions ($`\left(dN_{\pi ^+}+dN_\pi ^{}\right)2\left(dN_{\pi ^0}\right)`$) the proton to pion ratio is close to 1 at $`p_t`$ = 2 GeV/c. This result is similar to the previous observation in central collisions that the “$`\overline{p}`$ and $`p`$ yields are comparable to the $`\pi ^{+/}`$ yields.” phenix\_charged . Another method of probing the ratio of baryons to mesons in the system is by examining the ratio of $`\pi ^0`$ to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ production (shown in Fig. 12). In this figure, Bose–Einstein functions have been used to describe the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ spectra. The value of the $`\pi ^0`$ data points has been divided by the value of the Bose–Einstein function describing the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ spectra at the center of the bins to obtain the $`\pi ^0`$ to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, and $`\pi ^0`$ to $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ ratios. At $`p_t`$ = 2 GeV/c these ratios are approximately 1, consistent with other measurements of the baryon to meson ratio.

A comparison of the $`\pi ^0`$ spectrum for the 0–11% centrality class was also made to other identified pion spectra for central collisions at $`\sqrt{s_{_{\mathrm{NN}}}}`$ = 130 GeV. The PHENIX experiment has published $`\pi ^0`$, $`\pi ^+`$ and $`\pi ^{}`$ spectra for central events phenix\_charged ; phenix\_suppression . The $`\pi ^0`$ spectra were measured via the $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decay channel using both Lead–Scintillator (PbSc) and Lead–Glass (PbGl) calorimeters. These data overlap the STAR $`\pi ^0`$ measurement in the range 1$`<`$$`p_t`$$`<`$3 GeV/c. Ratios between the central STAR $`\pi ^0`$ spectrum to power–law fits of the PHENIX $`\pi ^0`$ spectra indicate that the shapes of the spectra are consistent (Fig. 13) although the two experiments have a systematic offset in normalization. In the region of overlap, the STAR $`\pi ^0`$ spectrum is systematically higher than the PHENIX spectra. A systematic difference in the same direction is also observed in comparisons between the charged hadron spectra ($`\left(h^++h^{}\right)/2`$) from the two experiments for 1$`<`$$`p_t`$$`<`$3 GeV/c. Direct comparison of the 0–11% STAR $`\pi ^0`$ spectrum and the 0–5% PHENIX $`\pi ^\pm `$ spectrum shows the two are consistent in shape (Fig. 14), although once again the normalizations are systematically different once a linear scale factor (0.91 $`\pm `$ 0.04, deduced from $`C`$ values given in star\_highpt ) is applied to convert the 0–5% $`\pi ^\pm `$ data to the 0–10% centrality class. These ratios indicate that meson to baryon ratios are internally consistent within PHENIX and STAR, although between PHENIX and STAR the normalization of the spectra is systematically shifted for $`p_t`$ between 1 GeV/c and 3 GeV/c.

## IV Conclusion

We have presented the first inclusive mid–rapidity, $`|`$$`y`$$`|`$$`<`$0.5, photon spectra as a function of centrality from $`^{^{197}}`$Au+$`^{^{197}}`$Au collisions at $`\sqrt{s_{_{\mathrm{NN}}}}`$ = 130 GeV. The spectra of $`\pi ^0`$s about mid–rapidity, $`|`$$`y`$$`|`$$`<`$1.0, have been presented; as well as the contribution from $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decays to the inclusive photon spectrum. Near $`p_t`$ = 1.65 GeV/c the fractional contribution from $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decays to the inclusive photon spectrum for the 0–11% most central collisions begins to decrease significantly. This decrease indicates that relative to the $`\pi ^0\gamma \gamma `$ decay, the contribution from other sources of photons increases with $`p_t`$. In order to understand the origin of this decrease other electromagnetic decays must be measured or estimated. The combination of increased event statistics in future measurements with the excellent energy resolution achieved using this photon detection technique ($`\mathrm{\Delta }`$E/E $``$ 2% at 0.5 GeV/c) will make the measurement of the $`\eta `$ feasible. A statistically significant enhancement in the two–photon invariant mass distribution has already been observed in the vicinity of the $`\eta `$ mass. Increased event statistics will also lead to higher precision measurements and extend the $`p_t`$ range of the $`\pi ^0`$ spectra. Advances in these directions will not only enhance our understanding of contributions to the single photon spectra, but will also aid measurements of the relative abundance of mesons and baryons at high $`p_t`$ ($`>`$3 GeV/c) where the expected effects of collective motion become less dominant.

Acknowledgements: We thank the RHIC Operations Group and RCF at BNL, and the NERSC Center at LBNL for their support. This work was supported in part by the HENP Divisions of the Office of Science of the U.S. DOE; the U.S. NSF; the BMBF of Germany; IN2P3, RA, RPL, and EMN of France; EPSRC of the United Kingdom; FAPESP of Brazil; the Russian Ministry of Science and Technology; the Ministry of Education and the NNSFC of China; Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, FOM and UU of the Netherlands, DAE, DST, and CSIR of the Government of India; the Swiss NSF.


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# The X-Ray Binary X2127+119 in M15: Evidence for a Very-Low-Mass, Stripped-Giant Companion

## 1 Introduction

The X-ray binary X2127+119 (AC211) in the globular cluster M15 is a very enigmatic object: despite being optically the brightest of the globular cluster XRBs, and despite almost 20 years of observations (e.g. Auriére et al. 1984; Ilovaisky et al. 1987; Naylor et al. 1988; Ilovaisky 1989; Ilovaisky et al. 1993), very little is known about the system, due to the extreme difficulties associated with observing sources in the cores of globular clusters. Spectra of AC211 show blue-shifted Balmer and H i absorption, each line often consisting of several blue-shifted absorption components at different velocities (e.g. Ilovaisky 1989), indicating a complex, structured mass outflow from the system. However, the spectra have never had the signal-to-noise, nor the orbital phase coverage, necessary to enable an understanding of the nature of AC211’s mass outflows.

AC211 is an accretion disc corona (ADC) source: a high inclination system in which the compact object is permanently obscured behind the accretion disc rim, and from which we therefore detect only a small fraction of the intrinsic X-ray flux. Little is known about AC211’s compact object, or about its donor star. It is assumed that the former is a neutron star rather than a black hole, on the grounds that all the other globular cluster low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) contain neutron stars. Observed X-ray bursts previously assumed to have come from AC211 (e.g. Dotani et al. 1990) are now believed to have been produced by a newly-discovered second LMXB in the core of M15, $``$3 arcsec from AC211 (White & Angelini 2001), so AC211’s status as a neutron-star system is no longer as certain as previously believed. From its high optical luminosity and inferred intrinsic X-ray flux, it is believed that AC211 has a high mass transfer rate (e.g. Charles, Jones & Naylor 1986). Together with its long orbital period (17.1 hours), this has led to the assumption that the donor star must be a sub-giant which has relatively recently begun to evolve off the main sequence. The main sequence turn-off point for M15 corresponds to 0.8 $`\mathrm{M}_{}`$ (Fahlman et al. 1985), which has therefore been assumed to be the mass of AC211’s donor.

AC211 lies within an exceptionally crowded stellar field, dominated by giants significantly more luminous in the optical wave-band. As a result, ground-based spectroscopy of AC211 has been heavily contaminated by the cluster background (e.g. Naylor et al. 1988; Ilovaisky 1989). The HST/STIS is able to resolve AC211 and provide spectra free from cluster background light (Ioannou et al. 2003), but temporal coverage with the HST is poor: four to five orbits of HST spectroscopy (a typical allocation) covers only 15-20 % of AC211’s 17.1-h orbital cycle.

The background-subtraction problems endemic to ground-based spectroscopy of AC211, and the impossibility of obtaining long, uninterrupted observing runs with the HST, therefore led to a desire for high-spatial-resolution two-dimensional spectroscopy of the cluster core. We believed that ground-based integral field spectroscopy would enable us to remove the cluster-core contamination from AC211’s spectra, and at the same time give us much longer observing runs and greatly improved temporal coverage.

## 2 Observations

We conducted two observing runs on AC211 (3 nights in August 1999, 5 nights in July 2001) using the INTEGRAL/WYFFOS integral field spectrograph (Arribas et al. 1998; Bingham et al. 1994) on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma. We used a grating of 1200 g/mm and the fibre bundle SB1 which gave a 7.8 $`\times `$ 6.4-arcsec field of view, each fibre having a 0.45-arcsec core diameter. This set-up gave us a spectral resolution of 1.4 Å. Table 1 gives the log of observations. Each INTEGRAL exposure produces typically $``$200 individual spectra, which can be reconstructed to form wavelength-resolved images.

The data were reduced using tasks in the multi-fibre spectroscopy analysis package noao.twodspec.apextract in iraf, which extracts 205 spectra from each exposure and corrects them for fibre-throughput variations, removes scattered light, and performs wavelength calibration. The spectra were not flux-calibrated, but were normalized to the continuum. The resulting sets of spectra could then be used to construct surface maps of the cluster core at any wavelength in the spectral range. To remove the cluster-core contamination from AC211’s spectra we used the spectra from the fibres surrounding AC211’s location to interpolate and subtract the cluster-core background, essentially performing ‘aperture photometry’ for each $`\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda `$ interval of each spectrum. A discussion of background-subtraction with INTEGRAL spectra is given in Arribas, Mediavilla & Fuensalida (1998) and references therein.

Fig. 1 shows the mean AC211 and cluster background spectra from the August 2001 observing run. The top spectrum is the background-subtracted mean spectrum for AC211. The bump near 4680 Å in the cluster background spectrum is an artefact of the continuum-flattening routine we used, which was chosen in such a way as to preserve any structure in the He ii$`\lambda `$4686 wings. The same continuum-fitting parameters are used for all the background and target fibres of individual exposures, and therefore the artefact is completely removed when the background spectra are subtracted from the AC211 spectra.

The quality of the 1999 dataset is poorer compared to that of 2001. There are three reasons for this: (i) in 2001 we used longer integration times for each exposure (1500 s as opposed to 900 s), (ii) in 1999 the seeing was poor ($``$2 arcsec), while in 2001 it was excellent ($``$0.5-1 arcsec), and (iii) in 1999 the spectrograph’s CCD detector was not properly earthed, so that an oscillating signal from the power supply was injected into each exposure as the CCD was read out, with the result that a prominent pseudo-sinusoidal pattern was incorporated into each extracted spectrum. Fortunately, the oscillation patterns in each of the 205 spectra within an individual exposure had approximately similar frequencies, amplitudes and phases, and therefore these superimposed signals could be removed reasonably successfully simply by subtracting the cluster background.

## 3 Results and Discussion

Fig. 1 shows that the background-subtraction technique discussed above is successful. Subtraction removes all spectral lines except those unique to AC211. The clear P Cyg profiles of AC211’s H$`\beta `$ and H$`\gamma `$ lines (first noted by Ilovaisky et al. 1989) are revealed, and He i$`\lambda `$4388, He i$`\lambda `$4471 and He i$`\lambda `$4713 appear in absorption. Further evidence for the P Cyg profiles in the background-subtracted spectra being real rather than artefacts of the subtraction process is the clear asymmetry in the mean unsubtracted AC211 Balmer lines in Fig. 1. Because of the poorer quality of the 1999 spectra, we were unable to remove the background from the Balmer lines as successfully. However, the 1999 spectra show clear, clean He ii$`\lambda `$4686 emission, since the background is flat in this wavelength region.

In Table 2 we list the line velocities (obtained by fitting Gaussians – double Gaussians in the case of P Cyg profiles – to the lines) with respect to the cluster (which has a radial velocity of $`107.3\pm 0.2`$ km s-1; Peterson, Olszewski & Aaronson 1986) for the 1999 and 2001 mean spectra. The short vertical bars in Fig. 1 indicate the rest wavelengths (relative to the cluster) of the relevant lines; AC211’s absorption lines are clearly blue-shifted with respect to the cluster velocity. These observations are consistent with results from previous observations (e.g. Naylor et al. 1988, 1989; Ilovaisky et al. 1989).

In Fig. 2 we plot trailed spectrograms of the He i lines in the 2001 dataset. In all the spectrograms and Doppler maps in this paper, the individual spectra have been normalized to the continuum and and the sense of the grayscales is such that absorption features appear light and emission features appear dark. The flux scales used are arbitrary and have been chosen to maximize the contrast between the absorption features and the continuum. In the 1999 dataset, only the He ii$`\lambda `$4686 profiles have sufficient signal-to-noise to warrant trailing (see Fig. 5), while in the 2001 dataset, the extreme variability of the He ii$`\lambda `$4686 emission renders trailing meaningless. The trailed spectra in Fig. 2 are phase-binned and folded on AC211’s orbital period. Conclusions drawn from the spectrograms should be treated with caution: the spectra are obtained from different orbital cycles, and in Fig. 3 we show that spectra of similar orbital phase but from different orbital cycles can be remarkably different.

In Fig. 3 we have stacked the individual spectra from the July 2001 observations with respect to orbital phase. Alongside the spectra we have plotted simple cartoons of an X-ray binary, in order to highlight any relationships between spectral features and components of the binary system. The cartoons do not, however, show the structure of the accretion disc rim. X-ray observations (Ioannou et al. 2002) indicate that AC211’s disc has a very large disc bulge which extends $``$90 along the disc rim from the stream impact point along the direction of rotation. The location (but not the vertical extent) of the bulge is indicated by the darker shading on the disc edges in the cartoons. The X-ray observations also indicate that the structure of the disc bulge can vary dramatically from orbit to orbit.

### 3.1 The He i lines

Although the He i lines in Fig. 2 are very weak, they show a clear orbital-phase dependence and a net blue-shift, which is consistent with previous observations (Naylor et al. 1988; Ilovaisky 1989). He i$`\lambda `$4388 appears to have a maximum blue-shift near phase 0.75; a motion normally associated with the companion star. Alternatively, He i$`\lambda `$4388 absorption with this motion may occur in material splashing off the stream-disc impact site (the bright spot). It should be noted, however, that the He i$`\lambda `$4388 line is very weak, and the apparent phase-0.75 maximum blue-shift may not be real. In fact, apart from this feature, this line appears much the same as the other He i lines. He i$`\lambda `$4471 and He i$`\lambda `$4713 have motions with maximum blue shifts occurring near phase 0.0. No obvious component within the binary’s geometry moves with this motion.

In Fig. 3 He i$`\lambda `$4471, the strongest of the He i lines, appears strong between phases $``$$`0.10.3`$ in orbital cycles 1 and 5, phases between which there is no disc-bulge obscuration and therefore where the thickness of the outer accretion disc is lowest, allowing us to see into the disc’s hot inner regions. However, He i$`\lambda `$4471 is also strong between phases $``$$`0.80.95`$ in orbit 3 and between phases 0.5 and 0.6 in orbit 6, phases at which the disc bulge obscures our view of the inner disc, indicating that the disc/stream impact region may be a source of the $``$30 000 K continuum required for He i$`\lambda `$4471 absorption. However, it is not clear why He i$`\lambda `$4471 should be so weak between phases $``$$`0.350.5`$ in orbit 2; phases at which disc-bulge obscuration should be insignificant. From this figure it is clear that He ii$`\lambda `$4686 can vary dramatically in strength from orbit to orbit; perhaps so too can He i$`\lambda `$4471.

### 3.2 The Balmer lines

The H$`\beta `$ and H$`\gamma `$ radial velocities in Table 2 seem to imply that AC211’s Balmer lines are produced in an outflow more complex than a simple spherically-expanding wind: both the emission and absorption components of their P-Cyg profiles are blue shifted. This may imply that the outflow in which the Balmer lines are formed is not spherically symmetric, and that we observe more material approaching than receding. HST observations of AC211’s He ii$`\lambda `$1640 (Ioannou et al. 2003) indicate that the outflowing line-producing material exists predominantly above and below the accretion disc, with very little emitting material flowing along the orbital plane.

In Fig. 3 the H$`\beta `$ and H$`\gamma `$ P Cyg components exhibit significant changes in line depth/height and velocity. However, it is not possible to tell whether these effects are intrinsic to the line profiles, or whether they are artefacts due to over- or under-subtraction of the cluster-background Balmer profiles.

### 3.3 The He ii$`\lambda `$4686 line

The most prominent feature of the AC211 INTEGRAL spectra, the He ii$`\lambda `$4686 emission line, is also the most unstable (Fig. 3), most notably in the 2001 data. Its flux and profile changes dramatically from orbit to orbit, and even from exposure to exposure. Fig. 4 illustrates this variability with $``$4.5$`\times `$3.5-arcsec images of the core of M15 reconstructed from continuum-divided He ii$`\lambda `$4686 light. In the first exposure (Fig. 4 A) AC211 has no detectable He ii flux above the continuum level; by the third (Fig. 4 B), the He ii flux is strong, but by the 9th exposure (Fig. 4 C), it has switched off again. In the final panel (Fig. 4 D), an image at the same orbital phase obtained two nights (and three orbital cycles) previously, in which the He ii flux is extremely strong and steady, is plotted for comparison.

It is interesting to note that in the exposures in which He ii$`\lambda `$4686 is ‘off’, the Balmer lines still show P Cyg profiles (Fig. 3), indicating that the Balmer- and He ii-emitting regions do not coincide. Even more intriguingly, He i$`\lambda `$4471 remains present in absorption, indicating that despite significant obscuration, an extremely hot ($``$30,000 K) source of continuum radiation remains visible.

The orbital phases at which the He ii$`\lambda `$4686 flux occasionally but dramatically ‘switches off’, $``$0.5 to $``$0.7, correspond to the phases during which the region around the compact object would be obscured from our line-of-sight by the bulge in the inner part of the accretion disc created by the re-impact of an accretion stream overflowing the disc rim (see Ioannou et al.  for the evidence for and a discussion of this feature in AC211’s disc). It is possible that this strongly variable He ii$`\lambda `$4686 flux is the result of ‘blobbiness’: variations in the height or thickness of the obscuring material. Obscuration by structure in the disc seems the only plausible explanation: it may perhaps be possible to turn the He ii flux on and off by modulating the mass-transfer rate onto the compact object, but this is unlikely to produce the rapid and sharp variations in the He ii$`\lambda `$4686 flux that we observe. In addition, the most dramatic variability occurs at phases associated either with the disc bulge resulting from the stream impact site on the disc edge or with the inner disc bulge associated with stream overflow and re-impact (however, without more extensive observations, it is not possible to know whether the variability always occurs at these phases).

In addition to disc-rim obscuration of the region around the compact object with respect to our line-of-sight, another possible explanation for the He ii$`\lambda `$4686 variability may be disc-rim obscuration of the inner disc with respect to the companion star. Doppler tomograms (Figs. 5 and 6) indicate that some of the He ii$`\lambda `$4686 emission may be the result of X-ray reprocessing off the face of the companion star, and in § 4 we argue that there may be evidence that AC211 has an extreme mass ratio. If the latter is true, and if the height of the disc bulge varies from orbit to orbit, it is possible that the bulge may sometimes subtend a larger angle, as seen from the compact object, than the companion star, thereby shielding the latter from irradiation. This could account for the absence of some, but not all, of the He ii$`\lambda `$4686 emission (provided that X-ray irradiation of the companion from the ADC can be ignored).

If the variation in He ii$`\lambda `$4686 flux is a result of disc rim or disc bulge obscuration, the rapidity of the flux variations implies that the disc rim or bulge has an unstable structure, or that the accretion stream impacting the disc bulge contains blobs of different density (not unlikely, given the evidence for ‘blobby’ accretion stream flows in AM Her stars; e.g. Warner 1995), some causing larger increases in disc-bulge height on impact, or producing more splash, than others.

The orbit-to-orbit variation in He ii$`\lambda `$4686 flux may also imply that the accretion disc is tilted and precesses. However, AC211’s long-term X-ray light curve shows no sign of the modulations characteristic of precessing, tilted discs (Charles, Clarkson & van Zyl 2002). In addition, we observe evidence for variable bulge obscuration in X-ray observations of AC211 (Ioannou et al. 2002), making this, rather than a tilted disc, the more likely reason for the He ii$`\lambda `$4686 flickering.

This strong He ii$`\lambda `$4686 variability is difficult to reconcile with what we know about AC211 from previous observations. He ii emission is understood to come from an accretion disc corona (ADC; e.g. Fabian, Guilbert & Callanan 1987; Naylor et al. 1988), an extended region of low-density, X-ray irradiated material above and below the accretion disc. X-ray and UV observations of AC211 (Ioannou et al. 2002, 2003) show that the ADC is substantially larger than the size of the companion star; for example, in the UV the He ii$`\lambda `$1640 line is not eclipsed (Ioannou et al. 2003).

These results indicate that the He ii emission region lies well above the accretion disc, unobscured by the companion or disc bulge throughout the orbit. The ADC is exposed to an intense X-ray flux from the compact object and inner disc; we would therefore expect He ii recombination to occur predominantly in the outer, cooler regions of the ADC, unobscured by the disc bulge, which is how the He ii$`\lambda `$1640 emission behaves. Our He ii$`\lambda `$4686 data indicate that either He ii$`\lambda `$4686 recombination somehow occurs in regions of the ADC closer to the accretion disc than the He ii$`\lambda `$1640 recombination region (assumed to be in the outer regions of the ADC), or that at the time of the 2001 INTEGRAL observations, the mass-transfer rate onto the compact object – and therefore the accretion luminosity – was lower. However, the XTE ASM shows no change in AC211’s X-ray flux during this period.

### 3.4 Trailed spectrograms, Doppler tomograms and the mass ratio of AC211

In Fig. 5 we plot He ii$`\lambda `$4686 spectrograms, folded on orbital phase, from our 1999 dataset. This shows evidence for an S-wave feature which is at greatest blue-shift near phase 0.8. The 2001 data shows strong variability that doesn’t repeat with the orbital cycle, and does not have complete phase coverage, and thus is less useful for creating a phase-resolved trail.

Doppler tomography can be a helpful tool in interpreting trailed spectra, thus Fig. 5 also contains a Doppler tomogram obtained using the maximum-entropy method (Marsh & Horne 1988). Again, we only show this for the 1999 data, where the trail shows similar flux levels over the orbital cycle. The strong variability of the 2001 data violates an assumption of Doppler tomography, that there are no changes in visibility over the cycle.

The S-wave feature maps to a bright region in the tomogram near velocity coordinates (0, 200) km s-1. Underlying this is a diffuse ring of emission with a radius of $``$ 300 km -1.

The reconstructed trail (Fig. 5, bottom panel) compares well with the observed trail, suggesting the Doppler map is a reasonable representation of the orbital average He ii$`\lambda `$4686 emission distribution.

The diffuse ring in the Doppler map can be associated with accretion disc emission. Another possibility would be emission from a wind, which, owing to its out-of-plane velocity, would appear ‘defocussed’ in the tomogram. However, if this were the case, the trail spectrogram would show a strong asymmetry, equal to the velocity of the ring, which is not seen.

If the ring feature results from a disc, the ring radius corresponds to the velocity of the outer disc edge, and the ring centroid should be located at the orbital velocity of the compact object. Also, an S-wave feature normally results from emission either from the irradiated secondary star, or from the disc edge where it is struck by the accretion stream.

We have overplotted on the tomogram the Keplerian disc velocities and secondary Roche lobes for the two mass ratios $`q=0.57`$ and $`q=0.1`$, and assuming that the compact-star is a neutron star with a canonical mass of 1.4 $`\mathrm{M}_{}`$. The value $`q=0.57`$ then corresponds to a companion mass of 0.8 $`\mathrm{M}_{}`$, which is M15’s main sequence turn-off mass. The second value, $`q=0.1`$ is then chosen as a much-smaller value, appropriate to a $``$ 0.1 $`\mathrm{M}_{}`$ companion.

The tomogram argues against the larger mass ratio of $`q=0.57`$ since the observed ring feature is clearly offset from the expected location, and is not concentric with the Roche lobe of the primary (see Fig. 6, left panel).

On the other hand, the observed feature is concentric with the primary’s Roche lobe for a significantly smaller mass ratio near $`q0.1`$ (see Fig. 6, middle panel and right panel, which have $`q=0.1`$ but different primary masses).

With the small mass ratio but high primary mass ($`M_1`$ = 8 $`\mathrm{M}_{}`$; Fig. 6, middle panel) the ring velocities are much lower than would be expected for disc emission. In particular, the S-wave feature is at too low a velocity to be associated with the secondary.

However, with the small mass ratio and a smaller primary mass of $`M_1=1.4`$$`\mathrm{M}_{}`$ (Fig. 6, right panel), the S-wave is then coincident with the secondary star, and so is compatible with an origin on the irradiated secondary. Further, the velocities of the ring are closer to the expected Keplerian velocities of a disc. In fact, the ring velocity is somewhat lower than the expected Keplerian velocity. However, sub-Keplerian outer disc velocities (whether real or a consequence of an incomplete understanding of how lines form in discs) are not uncommon: the phenomenon has been observed in several systems, for example Z Cha, whose outer disc velocity is sub-Keplerian by $``$30% (Wade & Horne 1988), and X1822–371 (Harlaftis, Charles & Horne 1997).

Thus, despite the limitations of Doppler tomography in data of limited quality, the tomograms suggest that the mass ratio of AC211 is low ($`q0.1`$) and that the compact-star mass is nearer that of a neutron star (1.4 $`\mathrm{M}_{}`$) than a typical black-hole mass (8 $`\mathrm{M}_{}`$).

## 4 The evolutionary status of AC211

The tomography presented in Fig. 6 argues against the companion mass being near the 0.8 $`\mathrm{M}_{}`$ turn-off mass of M15, instead suggesting that the compact object is a neutron star, and the companion mass as low as $``$ 0.1 $`\mathrm{M}_{}`$.

It has in the past been assumed (e.g. Naylor et al. 1988; Bailyn, Garcia & Grindlay 1989) that AC211’s high luminosity, and by implication high mass transfer rate, has been fuelled by the expanding envelope of a companion evolving off the main sequence. A companion with a mass much lower than the main-sequence turn-off mass therefore leads to two difficulties: (i) a lower-mass star would not yet have started evolving off the main sequence and would therefore be unable to fill its Roche-lobe in a binary with a 17.1-h orbital period, and (ii) a low-mass companion would give a mass-transfer rate too low (e.g. Pringle 1985; Edwards & Pringle 1987; Podsiadlowski, Rappaport & Pfahl 2002) to account for AC211’s luminosity.

Both these difficulties could be solved if the companion was once a much more massive star which has had most of its envelope stripped off. Evolved companion models, in which nuclear evolution drives the mass transfer, have been developed by Taam (1983) and Webbink, Rappaport & Savonije (1983). All the properties of the companion star depend on the mass $`M_\mathrm{c}`$ of its helium core, and not on its total mass $`M_2`$. Hydrogen shell burning increases $`M_\mathrm{c}`$, which in turn increases the radius of the companion’s envelope, which drives the mass transfer. $`M_\mathrm{c}`$ will increase, and the companion’s envelope will be stripped away through Roche lobe overflow, until $`M_\mathrm{c}=M_2`$, at which point the companion loses its envelope and detaches from its Roche-lobe, becoming a low mass helium white dwarf.

King (1993) has shown that the companion star in the black hole candidate system V404 Cyg conforms to a stripped-giant model. By inserting AC211’s orbital period into King’s equations, we obtain minimum-mass and maximum-mass solutions of 0.15 and 0.98 $`\mathrm{M}_{}`$ respectively for $`M_2`$, and 0.15 and 0.17 $`\mathrm{M}_{}`$ respectively for $`M_\mathrm{c}`$. (The minimum-mass solution is found by assuming that $`M_\mathrm{c}=M_2`$, i.e. that the companion has had its envelope removed, while the maximum-mass solution is found by assuming the Schönberg-Chandrasekhar limiting mass for $`M_\mathrm{c}`$ of 0.17 $`M_2`$, below which the companion would not have left the main sequence.) The results from our Doppler maps appear to be consistent with the lower end of this range, where $`M_2`$ is close to $`M_\mathrm{c}`$, which would imply that the companion has had most of its envelope stripped away.

There is no reason why a very low mass, stripped-giant companion could not provide an accretion rate sufficient to power AC211’s luminosity. The luminosity intercepted by the companion star may be several orders of magnitude greater than its internal luminosity (Phillips & Podsiadlowski 2002), and the change in the entropy in the layer where the irradiation flux is thermalized may drastically change the equilibrium structure of the star, which may lead to significant expansion (Podsiadlowski 1991). A mass ratio of $``$ 0.1 would mean that the companion is shielded from the compact object by the disc rim; however, it would still be exposed to X-ray irradiation from the ADC. If the ADC scatters a fraction of only $`10^410^3`$ of the system’s X-ray flux onto the companion, that would be enough to completely change its structure and drive up the mass transfer rate (Podsiadlowski 2001, private communication). Irradiation-enhanced mass transfer is a significant possibility in AC211: our He ii$`\lambda `$4686 Doppler maps indicate that the companion is indeed being irradiated.

Although the results of our tomograms need to be treated with caution considering the quality of our data and our limited spectral and temporal resolution, we nevertheless believe that these results point to a significantly different mass-ratio for the system, and therefore provide us with a valuable insight into the evolutionary state of AC211.

## Acknowledgments

This paper is based on observations made with the William Herschel Telescope operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.

LvZ would like to thank Rob Hynes for the use of his binsim binary visualization code, Philipp Podsiadlowski for useful discussions, and Tom Marsh for the use of his molly, doppler and trailer spectral analysis software. LvZ acknowledges the support of scholarships from the Vatican Observatory, the National Research Foundation (South Africa), the University of Cape Town, and the Overseas Research Studentship scheme (UK).

TN acknowledges the support of a PPARC Advanced Fellowship during part of this work.

We would like to thank the anonymous referee for helpful comments.