text:
# Einstein metrics on tangent bundles of spheres.

## 1 Introduction.

Over the last few years there has been considerable interest in a family of Ricci-flat Kähler metrics discovered by Stenzel \[St\] with underlying manifold diffeomorphic to the tangent bundle of the $`(n+1)`$-sphere. (The $`n=2`$ case was found earlier by Candelas and de la Ossa \[CD\] : the $`n=1`$ case is the Eguchi-Hanson metric \[EH\]). The complex structure is that of the quadric in $`^{n+2}`$.

One source of interest in physics is that there is a “conifold transition”\[CD\]–both the Stenzel metrics and another family of Ricci-flat Kähler metrics due to Bérard-Bergery \[BB\] have a cone as a common degenerate limit. Also, Cvetic, Gibbons, Lü and Pope have recently studied the harmonic forms on these metrics and found an explicit formula for the Stenzel metrics in terms of hypergeometric functions \[CGLP\].

In an unpublished 1993 preprint \[DS2\] we gave a rather different description of these metrics, and showed that they also have analogues with negative Einstein constant. The underlying manifold of the latter metrics is still diffeomorphic to $`TS^{n+1}`$, though the complex structure is now that of a tube in the quadric rather than the whole quadric.

As several people have expressed interest in this work, we hope that it may be worthwhile to publish it, with some amplification, in the current paper.

We remark that the existence of a canonical complex structure on (a tube in) the tangent bundle of a Riemannian manifold $`(M,g)`$ is a general fact due to Guillemin-Stenzel \[GS\] and Lempert-Szöke \[LSz\], \[Sz1\]. Now the existence theorem of Mok-Yau \[MY\] shows the existence of complete Kähler-Einstein metrics on tubes in $`TM`$ of radius smaller than the maximal radius on which the complex structure is defined \[Sz2\].

In our case (i.e. when $`M`$ is the round sphere) we are able to give a much more elementary and concrete treatment, exploiting the fact that the metrics are of cohomogeneity one with respect to an action of $`SO(n+2)`$. Our techniques are similar to those of our paper \[DS1\], where we classified K$`\ddot{\mathrm{a}}`$hler-Einstein metrics in real dimension four which are of Bianchi IX type.

## 2 Cohomogeneity one Kähler-Einstein metrics.

Let us consider a Riemannian manifold $`(M,g)`$, which admits an isometric action of $`SO(n+2)`$ with principal orbit $`SO(n+2)/SO(n)`$. We further suppose that this action is of cohomogeneity one, that is, each principal orbit has real codimension one in $`M`$. It follows that the (real) dimension of $`M`$ is $`2n+2`$.

The union of the principal orbits will form an open dense set in $`M`$. On this set we can write the metric as

$$g=dt^2+g_t$$

where $`t`$ is the arclength parameter along a geodesic orthogonal to the group orbits, and $`g_t`$ is a homogeneous metric on the orbits.

Now, for any homogeneous space $`G/H`$ with $`H`$ compact we may identify the tangent space at a point with an Ad $`H`$ -invariant complement $`𝔭`$ for $`𝔥`$ in $`𝔤`$. With this identification, $`G`$-invariant metrics on $`G/H`$ correspond precisely to Ad $`H`$-invariant inner products on $`𝔭`$.

In our case we embed $`𝔰𝔬(n)`$ in $`𝔰𝔬(n+2)`$ so that if $`X_{i,j}`$ denotes the matrix with $`ij`$th entry $`=1`$, $`ji`$th entry= $`1`$ and all other entries zero, then $`\{X_{i,j}:j=n+1,n+2,1i<j\}`$ spans a complement $`𝔭`$ for $`𝔰𝔬(n)`$ in $`𝔰𝔬(n+2)`$. Now the decomposition of $`𝔭`$ into irreducible components under the adjoint action of $`SO(n)`$ is

$$𝔭=𝔭_1𝔭_2𝔭_3$$

where $`𝔭_1,𝔭_2`$ are standard $`n`$-dimensional representations spanned by $`\{X_{i,n+1}:1in\}`$ and $`\{X_{i,n+2}:1in\}`$ respectively, and $`𝔭_3`$ is the trivial representation spanned by $`X_{n+1,n+2}`$.

We shall consider metrics of the form

$$g_t=a(t)^2B_{𝔭_1}b(t)^2B_{𝔭_2}c(t)^2B_{𝔭_3}$$

where $`B`$ is the Killing form on $`𝔰𝔬(n+2)`$ defined by $`B(X,Y)=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{Tr}XY`$. Note that this is not the most general possibility for $`g_t`$. As $`𝔭_1`$ and $`𝔭_2`$ are isomorphic as $`SO(n)`$-representations it is a definite restriction to assume that $`𝔭_1`$ and $`𝔭_2`$ are orthogonal for all $`t`$.

If $`a^2=b^2`$ our metric $`g_t`$ is obtained using a Riemannian submersion with circle fibre over the flag manifold $`SO(n+2)/SO(n)\times SO(2)`$ equipped with a K$`\ddot{\mathrm{a}}`$hler-Einstein metric. If $`a^2`$ and $`b^2`$ are not equal, however, $`g_t`$ does not arise in this way.

It is convenient to introduce at this stage a new transverse coordinate $`\zeta `$ defined by

$$dt=a^nb^ncd\zeta .$$

We shall denote differentiation with respect to $`\zeta `$ by a prime.

The formulae of B$`\stackrel{´}{\mathrm{e}}`$rard-Bergery \[BB\] enable us to write down the Einstein equations $`\text{R}ic_g=\mathrm{\Lambda }g`$ for the cohomogeneity one metric $`g`$. They are:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{a^{2n2}b^{2n}c^2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{a^{}}{a}}\right)^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{a^4(b^2c^2)^2}{2b^2c^2}}+n1`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Lambda }a^2,`$ (2.1)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{a^{2n}b^{2n2}c^2}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{b^{}}{b}}\right)^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{b^4(c^2a^2)^2}{2a^2c^2}}+n1`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Lambda }b^2,`$ (2.2)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{a^{2n}b^{2n}}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{c^{}}{c}}\right)^{}+{\displaystyle \frac{n(c^4(a^2b^2)^2)}{2a^2b^2}}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Lambda }c^2,`$ (2.3)
$$\frac{1}{a^nb^nc}\left(\frac{1}{a^nb^nc}\left(n\frac{a^{}}{a}+n\frac{b^{}}{b}+\frac{c^{}}{c}\right)\right)^{}\frac{1}{a^{2n}b^{2n}c^2}\left(n\left(\frac{a^{}}{a}\right)^2+n\left(\frac{b^{}}{b}\right)^2+\left(\frac{c^{}}{c}\right)^2\right)=\mathrm{\Lambda },$$
(2.4)
where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the Einstein constant.

###### Remark 2.5

If $`n=1`$, then (2.1)-(2.4) are a presentation of the Einstein equations for a Bianchi IX metric.

It can be verified by direct calculation that (2.1)-(2.4) hold in particular if $`a,b,c`$ satisfy the following three first-order equations

$`a^{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}a^nb^{n1}(b^2+c^2a^2),`$ (2.6)
$`b^{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}a^{n1}b^n(c^2+a^2b^2),`$ (2.7)
$`c^{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}na^{n1}b^{n1}c\left(a^2+b^2c^2{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{\Lambda }}{n}}a^2b^2\right).`$ (2.8)
It is this reduction of the Einstein equations which we shall study. The metrics arising from solutions of these equations are precisely those Einstein metrics with respect to which the $`SO(n+2)`$-invariant almost complex structure $`J`$ defined by

$$J:X_{i,n+1}\frac{a}{b}X_{i,n+2},:\frac{}{t}\frac{1}{c}X_{n+1,n+2}$$
(2.9)
is K$`\ddot{\mathrm{a}}`$hler.

## 3 Complete metrics.

We shall now demonstrate the existence of solutions to (2.6)-(2.8) which give rise to complete metrics. It will be convenient to introduce a new variable $`u`$ defined by

$$du=(ab)^{n1}d\zeta $$

so $`dt=abcdu`$, and our equations become

$`a_u`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}a(b^2+c^2a^2),`$ (3.1)
$`b_u`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}b(c^2+a^2b^2),`$ (3.2)
$`c_u`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}nc\left(a^2+b^2c^2{\displaystyle \frac{2\mathrm{\Lambda }}{n}}a^2b^2\right),.`$ (3.3)
###### Remark 3.4

If $`n=1`$ these are the Bianchi IX Kähler-Einstein equations studied by the authors in \[DS1\].

The critical points of the system (3.1)-(3.3) are precisely the points $`(0,K,\pm K),(K,0,\pm K)`$ and $`(K,\pm K,0),`$ where $`K`$.

Assumption

From now on we shall take $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ to be less than or equal to zero.

Subject to this assumption, the linearisation of (3.1)-(3.3) about each critical point (except the origin) has one negative, one positive and one zero eigenvalue. So each of these critical points has an unstable curve.

Let us consider an unstable curve of $`(0,K,K)`$ where $`K`$ is nonzero. This will be a solution to (3.1)-(3.3) defined on a maximal interval $`(\mathrm{},\eta )`$ for some $`\eta `$ ($`\eta `$ may be $`\mathrm{}`$).

It follows from (3.1)-(3.3) that if any one of $`a,b`$ or $`c`$ is zero at a point in $`(\mathrm{},\eta )`$, then it is identically zero. It is clear that on the unstable curve none of $`a,b`$ or $`c`$ is identically zero, so none of them vanishes anywhere on $`(\mathrm{},\eta )`$. The metric and the equations (3.1)-(3.3) are invariant under changes of sign of $`a,b`$ or $`c`$ so from now on we can assume that $`a,b,c`$ are all positive on $`(\mathrm{},\eta )`$; in particular we can take $`K`$ to be positive.

The metric is therefore defined on $`(\mathrm{},\eta )`$ and to show that it is complete we need to study its behaviour as $`u`$ tends to $`\mathrm{}`$ and as $`u`$ tends to $`\eta `$.

Note that if $`a`$ equals $`b`$ at any point on the unstable curve then $`a`$ is identically equal to $`b`$, giving a contradiction. It follows that $`b`$ is greater than $`a`$ on the unstable curve, and so (from (3.1)) $`a`$ is strictly increasing. It now follows from (3.1),(3.2) that $`\frac{b}{a}`$ is strictly decreasing, and tends to some limit $`L1`$ as $`u`$ tends to $`\eta `$.

###### Lemma 3.5

On an unstable curve of $`(0,K,K)`$ we have the inequalities

$$c^2a^2+b^2\frac{2\mathrm{\Lambda }}{n}a^2b^2$$
(3.6)
$$b^2a^2+c^2.$$
(3.7)
Proof

Suppose that $`c^2>a^2+b^2\frac{2\mathrm{\Lambda }}{n}a^2b^2`$ at $`u_0`$. The equations (3.2),(3.3) imply that $`b`$ is increasing and $`c`$ is decreasing at $`u_0`$. Recall also that $`a`$ is increasing. We deduce that $`c^2`$ is greater than $`a^2+b^2\frac{2\mathrm{\Lambda }}{n}a^2b^2`$ on $`(\mathrm{},u_0)`$ and hence that $`a,b`$ are increasing and $`c`$ is decreasing on this interval. It follows that $`c`$ is bounded away from $`b`$ on $`(\mathrm{},u_0)`$. This contradicts the fact that $`(a,b,c)`$ tends to $`(0,K,K)`$ as $`u`$ tends to $`\mathrm{}`$, so we have established inequality (3.6). The proof of inequality (3.7) is very similar. $`\mathrm{}`$

###### Remark 3.8

We deduce from (3.2),(3.3) that $`b,c`$ are increasing on $`(\mathrm{},\eta )`$. We remarked earlier that $`a`$ is strictly increasing on this interval.

Let us now study the behaviour of the metric as $`u`$ tends to $`\mathrm{}`$ and as $`u`$ tends to $`\eta `$.

As $`u`$ tends to $`\mathrm{}`$

$$aMe^{K^2u},bK,cK$$

for some constant $`M`$.

Choosing $`R=Me^{K^2u}`$ as a new coordinate, find that the metric is asymptotically given by

$$dR^2+R^2B_{𝔭_1}+K^2(B_{𝔭_1}B_{𝔭_3}).$$

as $`R`$ tends to zero.

Now, $`B_{𝔭_1}`$ defines the standard $`SO(n+1)`$-invariant metric on $`S^n`$, while $`B_{𝔭_2}B_{𝔭_3}`$ defines the standard $`SO(n+2)`$-invariant metric on $`S^{n+1}`$. Therefore we obtain a nonsingular metric by adding in an $`(n+1)`$-sphere at $`R=0`$. In terms of the orbit type of the $`SO(n+2)`$ action, the isotropy group jumps at $`R=0`$ from $`SO(n)`$ to $`SO(n+1)`$, so an $`n`$-dimensional sphere collapses to a point and the orbit at $`R=0`$ is the $`(n+1)`$-sphere $`SO(n+2)/SO(n+1)`$ rather than $`SO(n+2)/SO(n)`$. The orbit at $`R=0`$ is called a Bolt of the second kind in the terminology of Gibbons, Page and Pope \[GPP\]. Note that $`K`$ determines and is determined by the volume of the Bolt.

To examine the behaviour of the metric as $`u`$ tends to $`\eta `$ we introduce a new coordinate $`\rho `$, defined by

$$\rho =2(ab)^{\frac{1}{2}}.$$

This is an allowable change of variables as $`ab`$ is increasing.

The metric is now given by

$$W^1d\rho ^2+\frac{1}{4}\rho ^2\left(\frac{a}{b}B_{𝔭_1}+\frac{b}{a}B_{𝔭_2}+WB_{𝔭_3}\right)$$
(3.9)
where $`W=\frac{c^2}{ab}`$. It follows from equations (3.1)-(3.3) that

$$\frac{dW}{d\rho }+\frac{2(n+1)W}{\rho }=\frac{2n}{\rho }\left(\frac{a}{b}+\frac{b}{a}\right)\mathrm{\Lambda }\rho .$$
(3.10)
Recall that the inequalities (3.6) and (3.7) show that $`a,b,c`$ are monotonic increasing on $`(\mathrm{},\eta )`$. Suppose that the limit $`\lambda `$ of $`a`$ as $`u`$ tends to $`\eta `$ is finite. Since $`b/a`$ is decreasing, and because of the estimate (3.6), we see that the limits $`\mu ,\nu `$ of $`b,c`$ at $`u=\eta `$ are also finite. If $`\eta =\mathrm{}`$ then $`(\lambda ,\mu ,\nu )`$ is a critical point, which leads to a contradiction as $`\lambda ,\mu ,\nu `$ are all positive. If $`\eta `$ is finite, then we also obtain a contradiction because $`(\mathrm{},\eta )`$ is by definition a maximal interval on which the solution exists. So we deduce that $`a`$, and hence $`\rho `$, tends to infinity as $`u`$ tends to $`\eta `$.

Therefore we must study the asymptotics of the metric $`(\text{3.9})`$ as $`\rho `$ tends to infinity. It follows from $`(\text{3.10})`$ that

$$\frac{d}{d\rho }\left(\rho ^{2n+2}W\right)=2n\rho ^{2n+1}\left(\frac{a}{b}+\frac{b}{a}\right)\mathrm{\Lambda }\rho ^{2n+3}.$$

Solving for $`W`$, and recalling that $`\frac{b}{a}`$ decreases monotonically on $`(\mathrm{},\eta )`$ to some finite positive limit $`L`$, we see that $`W=O(\rho ^2)`$ if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is negative and $`W`$ is bounded for large $`\rho `$ if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is zero. It follows that the geodesic distance $`_{\rho _0}^{\mathrm{}}\sqrt{W^1}𝑑\rho `$ from $`\rho =\rho _0`$ to $`\rho =\mathrm{}`$ is infinite.

We have shown that the metric is complete. The underlying topological manifold is the total space of a rank $`n+1`$ vector bundle $`E`$ over $`S^{n+1}`$. In fact the sphere bundle of this vector bundle is the Stiefel manifold $`SO(n+2)/SO(n)`$, so $`E`$ is in fact the tangent bundle of $`S^{n+1}`$. The Bolt is the zero section of $`E`$.

We summarise our results in the next theorem.

###### Theorem 3.11

The unstable curves of points $`(0,K,K)`$, where $`K`$ is nonzero, give complete Einstein metrics with nonpositive Einstein constant on $`TS^{n+1}`$.

###### Remark 3.12

(i) As remarked earlier, our metrics and the equations (3.1)-(3.3) are invariant under changing the sign of any of $`a,b,c`$, and also under interchanging $`a,b`$. Therefore the metrics arising from unstable curves of $`(0,K,K)`$ or $`(K,0,\pm K)`$ where $`K`$ is nonzero are isometric to those of Theorem 3.11.

(ii) One can also obtain complete metrics by considering the unstable curves of $`(K,\pm K,0)`$ where $`K`$ is nonzero and $`n\mathrm{\Lambda }K^2`$ is a half-integer. The latter condition is needed to ensure that the metric can be completed by adding a Bolt, which in this case is the flag manifold $`SO(n+2)/(SO(n)\times SO(2))`$. The underlying manifold of the complete metric is the total space of a complex line bundle over the Bolt.

However, for these trajectories $`a^2`$ is identically equal to $`b^2`$ and the metrics on the $`SO(n+2)`$ orbits are obtained by Riemannian submersions with circle fibres. The resulting cohomogeneity one metrics are included in the examples of B$`\stackrel{´}{\mathrm{e}}`$rard-Bergery \[BB\] (see also Gibbons and Pope \[GP\], and Pedersen and Poon \[P\], \[PP\]).

(iii) If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$ we have a special solution, given up to translation of $`u`$ by

$$a=b=\sqrt{\frac{n+1}{2n}}c=\left(1\left(\frac{2n}{n+1}\right)u\right)^{1/2}$$

This is the Ricci-flat cone over an Einstein metric on $`SO(n+2)/SO(n)`$. For this solution, the trajectory is an unstable curve emanating from $`(0,0,0)`$, hence the metric can be viewed as a limiting case of both the Stenzel metrics and of the Bérard-Bergery metrics, in the limit that the volume of the Bolt ($`S^{n+1}`$ or $`SO(n+2)/SO(n)\times SO(2)`$ respectively) tends to zero.

If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }<0`$, then, as remarked above, the values of $`K`$ for which the Bérard-Bergery metric extends over the Bolt are discrete so we cannot take a continuous limit of the Bérard-Bergery metrics.

(iv) The Bolt is complex for the Bérard-Bergery metrics, but totally real for the metrics arising from unstable curves of $`(K,0,K)`$. We can see this from (2.9), as in the Bérard-Bergery case the tangent space to the Bolt is the $`J`$-invariant space $`𝔭_1𝔭_2`$, while in the other case the tangent space is $`𝔭_1𝔭_3`$, which satisfies $`(𝔭_1𝔭_3)J(𝔭_1𝔭_3)=\{0\}`$.

(v) In the special case when $`n=1`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$ the equations are symmetric in $`a,b,c`$ and the metrics in the two families are both isometric to the hyperkähler Eguchi-Hanson metric–but with respect to two different complex structures in its two-sphere of complex structures.

## 4 Relation with Stenzel’s work

Stenzel \[St\] has shown the existence of complete Ricci-flat K$`\ddot{\mathrm{a}}`$hler metrics on the tangent bundles of spheres by different methods. He considers the complex structure on $`TS^{n+1}`$ obtained by identifying this space with the quadric in $`^{n+2}`$. Regarding the complement of the zero section in $`TS^{n+1}`$ as $`(0,\mathrm{})\times SO(n+2)/SO(n)`$, and taking $`r`$ as a coordinate on $`(0,\mathrm{})`$, this complex structure is defined by

$$\stackrel{~}{J}:\frac{}{r}X_{n+1,n+2},X_{i,n+1}\mathrm{tanh}rX_{i,n+2}.$$

Stenzel now shows that if $`f`$ satisfies the differential equation

$$\frac{d}{dr}\left(\left(\frac{df}{dr}\right)^{n+1}\right)=(n+1)k(\mathrm{sinh}r)^n$$
(4.1)
for some constant $`k`$, and if the derivative of $`f`$ vanishes at $`r=0`$, then the function $`\varphi `$ defined by $`\varphi (r)=f(2r)`$ is the Kähler potential with respect to $`\stackrel{~}{J}`$ for a Ricci-flat metric $`\stackrel{~}{g}`$ on $`(0,\mathrm{})\times SO(n+2)/SO(n)`$ which extends to the whole of $`TS^{n+1}`$.

Explicitly, the metric is

$$\stackrel{~}{g}=\frac{1}{2}\varphi ^{\prime \prime }dr^2+\stackrel{~}{g}_r,$$
(4.2)
where the homogeneous metric $`\stackrel{~}{g}_r`$ is defined in the notation of section 2 by

$$\frac{1}{2}\left(\varphi ^{}(r)\mathrm{tanh}rB_{𝔭_1}\varphi ^{}(r)\mathrm{coth}rB_{𝔭_2}\varphi ^{\prime \prime }(r)B_{𝔭_3}\right).$$
(4.3)
(In these expressions, and for the remainder of the paper, we use a prime to indicate differentiation with respect to $`r`$).

By virtue of (4.1) the function $`\varphi `$ satisfies

$$\varphi ^{\prime \prime \prime }=n\varphi ^{\prime \prime }\left(\mathrm{coth}r+\mathrm{tanh}r\frac{\varphi ^{\prime \prime }}{\varphi ^{}}\right).$$
(4.4)
Defining the variable $`u`$ by $`du=(2/\varphi ^{})dr`$, it is now straightforward to verify that this metric is one of those defined by equations (3.1)-(3.3) with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$. Moreover $`\varphi ^{}\mathrm{tanh}r`$ tends to zero as $`r`$ tends to zero. In order to obtain a metric on $`TS^{n+1}`$ we need $`\varphi ^{}\mathrm{coth}r`$ and $`\varphi ^{\prime \prime }`$ to tend to equal nonzero limits as $`r`$ tends to zero. This implies that the solution to (3.1)-(3.3) must be an unstable curve of a critical point $`(0,K,\pm K)`$ with $`K`$ nonzero, so the metric is one of the Ricci-flat examples of Theorem 3.11

Conversely, suppose we have a solution to the equations (3.1)-(3.3) with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$ arising as an unstable curve of $`(0,K,\pm K)`$ where $`K`$ is nonzero. Letting $`r`$ satisfy $`dr=abdu`$, we obtain from (3.1),(3.2) the equations

$$(ab)^{}=c^2,:\left(\frac{a}{b}\right)^{}=1\left(\frac{a}{b}\right)^2.$$

It easily follows that the metric can be put in the form given by (4.2),(4.3). Equation (3.3) is then equivalent to (4.4), which may be integrated to give (4.1). Moreover, the fact that $`(a,b,c)`$ tends to $`(0,K,\pm K)`$ as $`u`$ tends to $`\mathrm{}`$ gives the initial condition for equation (4.1). Therefore the Ricci-flat metrics of Theorem 3.11 are precisely the metrics of \[St\]

This argument also shows that any of the metrics of Theorem 3.11 with negative Einstein constant can be put in the form (4.2), (4.3). Now the coordinate $`r`$ is defined by $`r=_{\mathrm{}}^uab𝑑u`$ or equivalently, in the notation of (3.10), $`r=_0^{\rho (u)}\frac{2}{\rho W}𝑑\rho `$. We saw earlier that $`W=O(\rho ^2)`$ if the Einstein constant is negative, so this integral converges as $`\rho `$ tends to $`\mathrm{}`$, that is, as $`u`$ tends to $`\eta `$. The upshot is that the complex structure for our complete metrics with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ negative is obtained by restricting Stenzel’s complex structure on $`TS^{n+1}`$($`=`$ quadric in $`^{n+2}`$) to a tube of finite radius. In particular the K$`\ddot{\mathrm{a}}`$hler structure extends to the Bolt, giving us a globally defined K$`\ddot{\mathrm{a}}`$hler structure in the metrics of Theorem 3.11.

Acknowledgements A.S.D. thanks the Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik, Bonn, for its support, and Xenia de la Ossa and Robert Szöke for discussions. I.A.B.S. would like to thank the University of Newcastle for a Wilfred Hall fellowship.

Dancer : Jesus College, Oxford University, Oxford, OX1 3DW, United Kingdom

Email : dancer@maths.ox.ac.uk

Strachan : Department of Mathematics, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX, United Kingdom

Email : i.a.strachan@hull.ac.uk


format: text

text:
# The Contribution of HI-rich Galaxies to the Damped Ly-𝛼 Absorber Population at 𝑧=0

## 1 Introduction

Damped Lyman-$`\alpha `$ absorption-line systems (DLAs) seen against background quasars are the highest column density absorbers, N$`{}_{HI}{}^{}>2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2, and are thought to be associated with galaxies. Often they are assumed to be the disks of large spiral galaxies or their progenitors (Wolfe 1995), but there is growing evidence that not all DLAs are associated with bright spirals (e.g. Cohen 2001, Lanzetta et al. 1997, Miller et al. 1999, Colbert & Malkan 2001). The difficulty in studying the properties of these systems arises, in large part, because there are not many systems known at low-$`z`$: only 9 DLAs have been found with $`z<0.5`$ (Rao & Turnshek 2000, Bowen et al. 2001a, Steidel et al. 1994, Lanzetta et al. 1997, and Le Brun et al. 1997), and only 2 of those are at $`z<0.1`$ where detailed observations are possible. Absorption line studies do not provide adequate statistical samples at low-$`z`$ because their pencil beams survey only small volumes of local space.

Many of the identified DLA candidates have low luminosity or low surface brightness, so it has been suggested that the absorption line population may be biased against detecting bright spiral galaxies. For example, bright spiral galaxies might contain enough dust to obscure the background QSO (Fall & Pei 1993). However, no low redshift comparison sample exists to provide an indication of what we should expect to see. In this study we construct a local comparison sample from a blind 21 cm survey we carried out at the Arecibo Observatory111The Arecibo Observatory is part of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, which is operated by Cornell University under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. (Rosenberg & Schneider 2001) and use it to predict the characteristics of the low redshift DLA population.

Several previous attempts have been made to predict the properties of DLAs in the local universe based on known properties of nearby galaxies. Rao & Briggs (1993) and Rao, Turnshek & Briggs (1995) combined optical luminosity functions for different morphological types with a linear relationship between HI mass and optical luminosity. They found that nearly all of the galaxy cross-section comes from large, bright spirals and that the HI cross-section implied by these galaxies would indicate a substantial decline in total HI cross-section since $`z`$=0.5. Salucci & Persic (1999) also attempted to account for the local population of DLAs by combining HI observations with optical luminosity functions. They found that large spirals contain most of the HI mass density in the local universe and that their mass density is similar to what is found in the damped absorbers. In parallel with this work, Zwaan, Briggs, & Verheijen (2001) studied a volume limited, optically selected sample of galaxies in the Ursa Major cluster. The results they obtain are similar those those found here despite concerns one may have about the optical selection and overdensity in the region.

Because galaxies with relatively high HI masses contribute most of the HI content of the local universe (Rosenberg & Schneider 2001; Zwaan et al. 1997), and because most luminous spirals have large HI masses, it may seem reasonable to conclude that luminous spirals must produce most of the absorption. The failing of this argument is that the correlation between HI mass and stellar luminosity is quite weak—a large fraction of high HI-mass systems have very low stellar luminosities, as we show in §4.2.

The recent completion of large 21 cm HI surveys provides a galaxy measurement that is more directly related to HI absorption that can be used to predict the characteristics of DLAs. Preliminary studies of these “blind” surveys (Rosenberg & Schneider 2001; Zwaan et al. 2001) suggested a significantly larger total HI cross-section for the nearby galaxy population than was suggested by the earlier optically-selected samples. The present paper expands on those preliminary results with a more detailed analysis of the predicted HI and optical properties of the DLAs. In particular, we analyze near-infrared measurements of our sample of galaxies from the 2-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) to predict the stellar properties of the DLAs.

In Section 2 we show that an HI-selected sample makes a good basis for predicting the properties of DLAs. In addition to selecting galaxies within the same range of gas column densities, HI mass selection is nearly equivalent to selection by cross-sectional area. Section 3 contains a discussion of how $`dN/dz`$ is calculated for our HI-selected sample and the resulting value of $`dN/dz`$ at $`z`$=0. In Section 4 we discuss our predictions for the properties of local DLAs: HI masses (§4.1), J-band luminosities (§4.2), and kinematics (§4.3).

## 2 A Surrogate Sample of DLAs in the Local Universe

Studying the properties of damped Ly-$`\alpha `$ absorbers is difficult because it requires the systems to be nearby where absorption-line studies requires space based UV spectroscopy and the volume surveyed by each line of sight is small. To study the properties of low-$`z`$ absorbers we must construct a surrogate sample for which we have better statistics. We use a blind, 21 cm emission line survey, the Arecibo Dual-Beam Survey (ADBS) as a local comparison sample for DLA properties.

The ADBS selected galaxies on the basis of their 21-cm HI flux. The survey covered $``$ 430 deg2 in the Arecibo main beam with a velocity coverage of –654 to 7977 km s-1 and identified 265 galaxies, with HI masses ranging from $`<2\times 10^7`$ to $`>3\times 10^{10}`$ M. Only a third of the ADBS galaxies had previously identified optical counterparts, partly because we detected some galaxies in the zone of avoidance, but also because there is a substantial population of low surface brightness galaxies that are not easily identified in magnitude-limited optical surveys.

To relate the ADBS detection statistics to those of DLA studies, we need to determine the cross-sectional area for the galaxies above a column density of $`2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2. Only a few of the ADBS sources were resolved in the Arecibo observations and, therefore, only had a measure of the total HI flux. We made spatially-resolved D-array follow-up observations from the Very Large Array222The Very Large Array is part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory which is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc (VLA) for 84 of the ADBS galaxies. For this study, we use the 50 sources with a major axis diameter (at 2$`\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2) at least 40% larger than the beam to determine the HI cross-section properties of our sample.

We find that the HI cross-section is closely correlated with the HI mass of each source, as shown in Figure 2. The HI mass is determined from the source flux, distance, and linewidth using the standard equation:

$$M_{HI}/M_{_{\mathrm{}}}=2.36\times 10^5D^2S𝑑v$$
(1)
where $`S𝑑v`$ is the integrated line flux in Jy km s-1, and D is the distance in Mpc, corrected for large scale velocity flows (Tonry et al. 2000), adopting H0 = 75 km s-1 Mpc-1. The area of the galaxy, $`A_{DLA}=\pi ab/4`$, where $`a`$ and $`b`$ are the major and minor axis diameters at an HI column density of $`2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2. The measurements for each galaxy are provided in the Appendix.

Because most of our VLA measurements were not highly resolved, one might question whether our cross-section estimates are accurate. We have therefore consulted the literature, collecting high-resolution HI measurements for a wide variety of galaxies (see Appendix). The 53 literature sources with minor-axis dimensions at least 5 times larger than synthesized beam are shown in Figure 2 with open triangles, and are in excellent agreement with the ADBS sample, shown as solid circles. The highest-resolution literature sources (with a minor axis diameter at least 10 times larger than the beam size) are indicated by large triangles. We find no significant differences between any of these samples, leading us to conclude that the correlation seen in Figure 2 is unrelated to resolution effects. In any case, the HI masses are based on the total HI emission from the galaxy, so resolution effects could only shift points up or down in the figure and could not artificially generate the observed correlation. Distance errors do lead to errors parallel to the observed correlation; however, the largest conceivable errors lead to small shifts on the scale of this figure, which spans four orders of magnitude in HI mass.

We averaged forward and backward least squares fits to the high-resolution data, yielding the relationship:

$$\mathrm{log}(A_{DLA})=1.05\mathrm{log}(M_{HI})7.24,$$
(2)
where $`A_{DLA}`$ is the cross-section in kpc2 and $`M_{HI}`$ is the HI mass in solar masses (shown in the figure by the dotted line). We find similar relationships for the ADBS data alone (although with a slope slightly less than unity), and for subsets of the high-resolution data. None of these subsets have slopes significantly different from 1. If we combine all of the data, the slope is $`1.004\pm 0.021`$, with a correlation coefficient of 97.7%. If we assume the relationship has slope 1, the resulting fit is:

$$\mathrm{log}(A_{DLA})=\mathrm{log}(M_{HI})6.82,$$
(3)
and the intercept value ($`6.82`$) is consistent for the various subsets to within $`\pm 0.03`$.

A similar correlation between HI size and HI mass was previously noted for high-HI-mass galaxies by Giovanelli & Haynes (1983) using the Arecibo telescope. Their sample included galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, yet they found no significant differences between the fits for HI-deficient and HI-rich galaxies. Verheijen & Sancisi (2001) likewise observed a correlation for Ursa Major Cluster galaxies (with $`M_{HI}>10^8M_{_{\mathrm{}}}`$ measuring them at a slightly lower HI column density. Our results demonstrate that the correlation spans a very wide range of masses, and the correlation is consistent whether the sample is HI-selected (ADBS galaxies) or optically selected (literature data). This indicates that the relationship between HI mass and cross-section is fundamental.

The tightness of this relationship indicates that our HI mass dependent galaxy selection is nearly equivalent to the cross-sectional area selection of the DLA population.

The strong correlation we find between HI cross-section and HI mass is probably due, in part, to measuring the galaxies at a high column density. We expect a larger dispersion at lower column densities because in the outer parts of galaxies tidal debris and gas-stripping processes have a strong effect on the measured extent. For both the ADBS and literature galaxies, the HI above the $`2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 isophote is generally confined to a roughly disk-shaped region, but we see emission with a wide variety of extents and morphologies at lower column densities.

Another reason for the good correlation is that the HI cross-section has a weak dependence on galaxy inclination. There is a partial cancellation between the smaller area presented by an inclined disk, and the larger radius at which the column density remains above $`2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 because of the longer path length through an inclined disk. We find this to be demonstrated empirically for those disk galaxies that authors have constructed inclination-corrected models of the radial dependence of HI surface density (see appendix).

Haynes & Giovanelli (1984) found a similar correlation between HI mass and the optical sizes of galaxies for a sample spanning a similar range in HI mass. We also find that the dimensions of ADBS galaxies as measured on the Palomar Sky Survey closely correlate with their HI mass. This suggests that the size of the optically visible region is closely related to the dense regions of the HI gas being studied here.

Finally, we note that in comparing emission and absorption line studies we are comparing gas on very different angular scales: a background quasar’s extent of perhaps 0.25″-1″ for absorption versus $``$10–60″ for synthesis array studies. The resolution of the synthesis data may overlook the small scale properties of these systems. If the surface filling factor for N$`{}_{HI}{}^{}>2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 is small, we would overestimate the size of the damped region for each of these galaxies. On the other hand, there may be small regions of damped emission diluted with low column density gas beyond our measured HI isophote which contribute to a larger HI covering area. Detailed studies of the HI covering fraction are available for very few galaxies, and from what has been done to date, there are disparities in the covering fractions that have been derived. Braun & Walterbos (1992), studying the small scale HI structure in M31 with a resolution of 33 pc, find that the HI surface filling fraction approaches 1 where the emission brightness temperature exceeds $``$5 K (equivalent to a column density of 2 $`\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 for an asymptotic temperature T$`{}_{\mathrm{}}{}^{}=125`$ K and a velocity width of 21.5 km s-1). These numbers suggest that the correction for the covering fraction in these galaxies should be relatively small.

## 3 The Total cross-section of DLAs in the Local Universe

We can estimate the probability of detecting a galaxy in an absorption line study if we know its cross-section and its relative contribution to the overall population of absorbers. For each ADBS galaxy we use the correlation found in the previous section to estimate its cross-section $`A_{DLA}(M_{HI})`$, and we determine its relative contribution based on the relative sensitivity to each source detected. We characterize the latter by the total volume $`𝒱_{tot}`$ within which each source could have been detected. The sensitivity criteria and completeness of the ADBS has been carefully evaluated and tested and is a function of the galaxy’s flux and linewidth, the signal-to-noise ratio of the detection, and properties of the instrumental response (see Rosenberg & Schneider 2002 for a complete discussion). To find the number of systems expected per unit redshift ($`dN/dz`$), we sum over all sources:

$$dN/dz=\underset{i}{}1/𝒱_{tot,i}A_i(M_{HI})(c/H_0)$$
(4)
where $`1/𝒱_{tot}`$ gives the volume density for each source.

Thus, summing over all of the ADBS galaxies, our predicted total cross section at zero redshift is $`dN/dz=0.053\pm 0.013`$. We assume an error on the ADBS result of 25% as an estimate of potential systematics in the mass cross-section relationship and the covering factor to actually produce damped Ly-$`\alpha `$ absorption. The formal statistical uncertainty associated with our estimate is only a few percent.

Figure 3 shows $`dN/dz`$ as a function of redshift for DLAs. The highest-$`z`$ points, indicated by stars, are from Storrie-Lombardi & Wolfe (2000) who combined their survey of 40 quasars with previous surveys. The resulting sample contains 646 quasars and 85 DLAs with column densities $`N_{HI}=2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 covering the redshift range $`0.008<z<4.694`$. The open squares are from Rao & Turnshek (2000) whose sample consisted of 12 DLAs detected in 87 Mg II absorber lines of sight. At $`z=0`$, the solid triangle is from the study of Rao et al. (1995), based on the properties of optically-selected galaxies at low redshift. The filled circle is our result described above. Our value for $`dN/dz`$ at $`z=0`$ is consistent with the $`dN/dz(z=0.05)`$ = $`0.08_{0.05}^{+0.09}`$ value found by Churchill (2001) for Mg II systems with strong Fe II absorption, which are good candidates for damped absorption systems (Rao & Turnshek 2000). These results are also consistent with a similar study of the HI properties of galaxies by Zwaan et al. (2001).

Our ADBS result is consistent with the $`q_0=0`$, no evolution model shown by the solid line in Figure 3. Because of the large error bars on these data, we cannot entirely rule out evolution in the DLA population. However, our result rules out strong evolution of the absorber population between $`z=0`$ and $`z=0.5`$ as was implied by the Rao et al. (1995) result. These results differ because the $`dN/dz`$ distribution in the local universe is not dominated by large disks, but has substantial contribution from dwarf galaxies as we explore in the next section.

## 4 The Predicted Properties of DLAs at $`z`$ = 0

We have identified a sample of galaxies that we believe is representative of DLAs at $`z=0`$. We use the properties of this sample to predict the nature of the DLA population locally by splitting up the contribution to $`dN/dz`$ in Equation 2 according to various properties of the ADBS galaxies.

### 4.1 HI Mass Distribution of DLAs

Figure 4.1 shows the contribution of galaxies to $`dN/dz`$ according to their HI mass. The errors for each bin have been determined from small number counting statistics using the method described by Gehrels (1986), and include no estimate of systematic errors. The vertical line indicates M$`_{HI_{}}`$, the knee of the Schechter function fit to the HI mass function, as determined by Rosenberg & Schneider (2002). The dotted histogram corresponds to the determination of HI cross-section from the averaged forward and backward least squares fit, while the solid line if from the fit assuming that the slope is unity.

This figure shows that the central 50% of the cross-sectional area comes from galaxies in the range $`2.9\times 10^8<\mathrm{log}M_{HI}/M_{}<3.5\times 10^9`$. Galaxies above M$`_{HI_{}}`$$`=7.6\times 10^9`$ M account for only 9.5% of the area. Therefore, this central 50% of sources cover a range in HI mass from $`0.04M_{HI_{}}`$ to $`0.46M_{HI_{}}`$, relatively low HI mass sources compared to the knee of the Schechter function.

### 4.2 J-Band Magnitude Distribution of DLAs

Because $`L_{}`$ galaxies are a major source of the light in the universe, and $`M_{HI_{}}`$ galaxies are a major source of the HI mass, it is sometimes assumed that the optical counterparts to the DLAs are HI-rich $`L_{}`$ galaxies – bright spirals (Wolfe 1995). Instead, many of the low-$`z`$ DLAs appear to be low luminosity or are not detected (Colbert & Malkan 2001, Steidel et al. 1994, LeBrun et al. 1997, Lanzetta et al. 1997, Rao & Turnshek 1998, Pettini et al. 2000). Most of the DLA candidates do not have confirmed redshifts so the actual luminosity distribution of DLAs is hard to determine. We use the ADBS sample to predict the distribution of luminosities for DLAs in the local universe by calculating the contribution to $`dN/dz`$ in $`J`$-band luminosity bins.

We obtained the near infrared data used in these analyses from the 2-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS, Jarrett et al. 2000). 2MASS used 2 identical 1.3m telescopes in Tucson and Chile which provide simultaneous $`J`$, $`H`$, and $`K_s`$ observations. Although the observing time per point is only 7.8 seconds, we were able to detect all but 27 of the galaxies in our sample on the 2MASS images. Eighteen of these were undetected while the remaining 9 did not have image data available at the time of this study. The automated 2MASS galaxy detection algorithms missed 52 faint galaxies that are visible on the images so we measured them individually within elliptical isophotes at 21 mag arcsec-2. In addition, 13 galaxies had magnitudes measured by the 2MASS galaxy extraction algorithms, but for various reasons they did not have magnitudes measured at a $`J`$-band 21 mag arcsec-2 isophote. For the 2 galaxies which have $`J`$-band magnitudes measured within the $`K_s`$-band 20 mag arcsec-2 isophote, we substitute these values since these two types of magnitudes are well correlated. For the remaining 11 galaxies, we use the correlation between the $`J`$-band magnitude at 21 mag arcsec-2 and the magnitude in a 10″ circular aperture to calculate the magnitude. (See Rosenberg et al. 2002 for details of these galaxy measurements.)

The distribution of HI mass as a function of $`J`$-band luminosity is shown in Figure 4.2. The solid line in the figure shows what a one-to-one relation between $`L_J`$ and $`M_{HI}`$ would look like, while the dashed line shows the actual linear least-squares fit between the values ($`\mathrm{log}(L_J)=2.27\mathrm{log}M_{HI}11.97`$). Although there is a correlation between the the HI mass and the J-band luminosity, the relationship is nearly vertical, so that a galaxy with a given HI mass could have a J-band luminosity spanning four orders of magnitude. There is also a wide scatter in HI cross-sections for any given J-band luminosity. The dotted lines show $`M_{HI_{}}`$ and $`L_J_{}`$, the knees in the Schechter function fit to, respectively, the HI mass function (Rosenberg & Schneider 2002) and J-band lumiunosity function (Kochanek et al. 2001).

Figure 4.2 shows the predicted contribution to $`dN/dz`$ according to galaxy magnitude along the line of sight. The histograms assume the unity-slope fit between HI mass and cross-section (see §2), but we show several alternatives for the distribution depending on the estimates of the $`J`$-band luminosities of the undetected galaxies (see below). No matter what assumptions we make about the missing galaxies, the luminosity distribution is quite flat. Even if we make a conservative assumption that the missing galaxies are relatively bright, 50% of the galaxies lie between luminosities of $`8.1\times 10^7L_{}`$ and $`8.9\times 10^9L_{}`$, spanning a factor of $``$110 in luminosity. Only 4.5% of the galaxies are brighter than $`J_{}=22.98`$ ($`L_J_{}=5.1\times 10^{10}L_{}`$) (Cole et al. 2001).

In making various alternative assumptions for generating the histograms in Figure 4.2, we have attempted to explore what biases may have resulted from the 27 galaxies for which we have no 2MASS fluxes. The dotted-line histogram shows the result when we simply exclude the sources that were not detected. The solid-line histogram assumes that the missing galaxies had $`J`$-band luminosities determined by the fit to the mass-luminosity relation in Figure 4.2. This is probably an upper limit to the luminosities of the galaxies that were too faint to be detected by 2MASS. The dashed-line histogram assumes that the missing galaxies have a $`J`$-band magnitude of 19, slightly fainter than the faintest apparent magnitude we detect. The differences in the results for the 3 assumptions is small, However, if the non-detections are all very faint sources then the distribution is even flatter down to lower J-band luminosities.

The definition of “dwarf” galaxy often varies from paper to paper, but systems that are fainter than 10% of $`L_{}`$ are often considered dwarfs. By this definition, 63% of DLAs in the local universe should be dwarf galaxies.

### 4.3 Kinematics of DLAs

Prochaska & Wolfe (1997) argue that the kinematics of DLAs rule out the possibility that they are dwarf galaxies at the 97% confidence level based on simulating dwarfs as slowly rotating hot disk systems. However, their definition of a dwarf is not a luminosity definition as is often used observationally, but instead is a galaxy with circular velocity less than 50 km s-1. Our results above indicate that most DLAs might well be classified as dwarfs in terms of near infrared luminosity and HI mass. Significant differences between the kinematics of the low-$`z`$ ADBS sample, and the $`z>1.2`$ systems studied by Prochaska & Wolfe (2001, hereafter PW) could indicate evolution of the population despite the fairly constant number density of sources found above.

One complication in comparing the absorption and emission kinematics is that absorption studies probe a single line-of-sight through a galaxy’s kinematic profile while emission studies probe the full extent of the system. We can make a comparison between the linewidths for the high and low redshift systems, but with the difference in the methods of measurement, we will not be able to show definitively that there has been no evolution of the population.

PW have analyzed the kinematics of 46 low-ionization lines and 32 high-ionization lines in DLAs and used them to constrain models of the origin of these systems (Prochaska & Wolfe 2001, Prochaska & Wolfe 1997; Prochaska & Wolfe 1998; Wolfe & Prochaska 2000). PW use the low-ionization transitions (Al II, Cr II, Fe II, Ni II, and Si II) as tracers of the disk component and the high-ionization transition (C IV) as a tracer of an infalling component. The velocity width of the system is defined to be 90% of the optical depth of the line. We compare our emission line widths to twice the low-ionization line widths calculated in these studies to account for the full rotation of the galaxy.

For the ADBS, we subdivide the calculated $`dN/dz`$ values (§3) according to the linewidth (measured at 50% peak). The left panel in Figure 4.3 shows the fraction of sources with each linewidth in the ADBS sample as compared with the low-ionization species (open histograms) in the PW sample (46 DLAs). The PW widths have been multiplied by two in order to compare the single sightline velocity dispersion with the full velocity width measured by the HI. We find that the ADBS velocity widths are not significantly smaller than the DLA widths as is found for comparison with pure dwarf galaxy samples. We note that the velocity widths of the DLAs should also be corrected for the effect of only sampling a small portion of the disk, but we do not know what that correction is so we do not make it. The upper panel of Figure 4.3 shows the cumulative distribution comparison for the same data sets. A KS test indicates that the kinematics can be rejected as being from the same sample at the 9% confidence level. Because we do not know how to correct for the differences in disk sampling we can not show that there has been no evolution of the population, but the statistics do not require it to explain the observations.

The right panel of Figure 4.3 shows the comparison between the ADBS data and the high-ionization species in the PW sample (32 DLAs). Here, we have corrected the ADBS linewidths for inclination and compared then with the high-ionization lines (which have not been multiplied by two). If the high-ionization species are infalling, they should be a good probe of the galactic potential, and should measure gas from both the near and far sides of the galaxy. Here the difference between the ADBS data and the DLA data would be due to the probes not penetrating a radial line of sight through the galaxy’s center. Figure 4.3 shows the cumulative distribution and the KS-test probability that they are drawn from different samples is 31% . There is a high line width tail for the ADBS sources that could indicate that there has been evolution, or that the absorption lines are just not probing the center of the potential.

The K-S test does not preclude that the kinematics of the ADBS galaxies and the DLAs are drawn from similar samples. It is not clear whether the kinematic differences are due to small number statistics, differences in the way the quantities are measured, or evolution of the populations. However, the ADBS line widths are, in general, as large or larger than the DLA linewidths indicating that the DLA sample does not require significantly more massive disks than those identified in an HI selected sample locally.

## 5 Summary

We have predicted the properties of the low-$`z`$ DLA population from an HI-selected galaxy survey of the local universe. The strong linear correlation between HI cross-section and HI mass means that selection effects should be very similar and allows us to use the statistics available for the properties of ADBS galaxies to predict those of low-$`z`$ DLAs.

We find a much higher value of $`dN/dz`$ at $`z`$=0 from the ADBS than was found for the optically-selected, spiral dominated sample of Rao et al. (1995). The Rao et al. data have been used as evidence that there was evolution of the DLA population between $`z`$=0.5 and $`z`$=0. However, the ADBS prediction for the total cross-section at $`z=0`$ is consistent with $`dN/dz`$ for Mg II absorbers with Fe II absorption, systems that are good candidates for damped absorption and both of these data sets indicate that no evolution is required to explain the DLA population. With the large error bars on all of the $`dN/dz`$ points, we can not rule out some evolution on the DLA population, but it is not required.

The $`dN/dz`$ distribution of galaxies as a function of HI mass is peaked around $`10^9`$ M, and 50% of the galaxies should fall within a factor of $``$3 of this value. To date only 2 DLA absorbers have been studied in emission at 21 cm: one has a MHI of 1.3 $`\times 10^9`$ M (Bowen et al. 2001b), the other was not detected with a 3$`\sigma `$ upper limit of 2.25 $`\times 10^9`$ M (Kanekar et al. 2001). These results do not provide a statistical test of our HI mass distribution, but the results are consistent with what we would expect.

The ADBS sample indicates that the stellar luminosities of DLAs should be distributed fairly evenly over several orders of magnitude. As with the HI masses, there are few galaxy/DLA associations for which the galaxy redshift is confirmed and a luminosity is measured. The absorber candidates that have been identified (Steidel et al. 1994, LeBrun et al. 1997, Lanzetta et al. 1997, Rao & Turnshek 1998, Pettini et al. 2000) span a wide range of luminosities. This range of DLA luminosities is a warning for high redshift DLA candidate searches—the absorber candidates are not necessarily the nearest L galaxy to the line of sight.

We have compared the internal kinematics of the ADBS galaxies with those for high redshift DLAs (a low redshift sample does not exist). Prochaska & Wolfe (1997), through simulations of gas disks, rule out galaxies with small velocity widths as the primary source of damped emission at a 97% confidence level. The ADBS galaxies that we associate with the DLAs locally have larger line widths than the Prochaska & Wolfe “dwarf” galaxies, but the sample consists of a range of galaxy types dominated by galaxies with HI masses of $``$0.1 M$`_{HI_{}}`$ and luminosities below L$`_J_{}`$. We find that we can not rule out evolution in the kinematics of HI-rich galaxies, but it is not required and more massive HI disks then found in our local sample are not necessary to account for the kinematics.

We thank Jason X. Prochaska for helpful discussions about the kinematics of DLAs and the referee for a thoughtful reading of this paper. We would also like to thank the VLA staff for their assistance in the observations and reduction of this data, and the 2MASS team for all of the hard work that went into making the survey a reality.

## Appendix A Appendix

In this appendix we present VLA data for the ADBS sample of galaxies, as well as high-resolution literature data used as a comparison sample to confirm our results. In addition, we provide some further analysis of the HI cross-sections of the galaxies beyond the analysis in the main text.

### A.1 VLA HI Data for the ADBS

The galaxies in the ADBS were observed with the VLA in D-array, with relatively short duration (10 to 15 min) integrations. These were usually split into two time intervals in order to improve the $`u`$-$`v`$ coverage of the observations. Further details of the observational procedures can be found in Rosenberg & Schneider (2002).

We present the basic information on the 50 sources detected with the VLA that have a major axis diameter (at $`2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2) at least 40% larger than the beam.. All were reduced using the observatory’s AIPS routine IMAGR, setting the ROBUST parameter to 0. This provides a good compromise, providing nearly as good noise characteristics as natural weighting and nearly as small a beam as uniform weighting. Table A.1 lists the FWHM dimensions of the beam along with other measured parameters for the galaxies.

The elliptical dimensions of the galaxies at a column density of $`2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 were fit to the total HI maps using the IRAF STSDAS package ELLIPSE. The mean velocities and total HI masses determined from the VLA observations are all consistent with our Arecibo detection measurements. We also provide a flow-corrected distance estimate based on Tonry et al. (2000), assuming $`H_0=75`$ km s-1 Mpc-1.

### A.2 HI Synthesis Data from the Literature

We compiled higher-resolution HI measurements from the literature for comparison with our results. We consulted sources listed in Martin’s (1998) bibliographic compilation of HI maps in order to identify synthesis observations with beam sizes at least ten times smaller than the reported HI dimensions. We further restricted our sample to sources that Martin indicated reached column densities below $`2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 and which had both HI contour maps and radial density profiles. This yielded about 100 candidate sources. We found that the resulting list contained few low-mass sources, so we added several more-recent papers that concentrated on dwarf galaxies. The resulting sample spans all galaxy types from giant ellipticals to dwarf irregulars.

Table A.2 compiles the information collected from these papers in a similar format as for our ADBS galaxies. None of the papers directly reported the dimensions of the galaxy at $`2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2, so we estimated them from the HI column density contour maps. The beam dimensions are those reported in each paper for the contour maps. In a few cases (noted by the word “ring” or “mult” in the notes column of the table) the distribution of HI above $`2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 was not well described as a disk. In these cases, we give major and minor axis dimensions that approximately indicate (a) the combined length of the regions of HI that exceeded our fiducial level, and (b) the narrower dimension of these regions. These dimensions should yield a fairly accurate total cross-section for the sources. We note that many other sources also showed irregularities around the edges, or small holes or small regions outside the main disk, but these amount to only slight deviations in the overall dimensions of the sources.

For papers that displayed inclination-corrected, azimuthally-averaged radial density profiles, we again used the published plots to estimate the radius at which the HI column density reached our fiducial level. In a few cases the radial profile was plotted, but did not exceed the $`2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 level. In all of these cases, the HI contour map had regions above this level, but the azimuthal averaging had produced a lower mean level. We note that these radial profiles are quite sensitive to the inclination estimates. As a result, they tend to be more accurate for disk galaxies, and much less so for dwarf irregulars.

The redshifts and morphological types listed in the table were taken from the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED). The distances are again based on the flow-corrected Tonry model, except when the redshift was less than 250 km s-1, in which case we used the distance quoted by the author. For two of these nearby galaxies, UGC 8091 (Dohm-Palmer et al. 1998) and UGC 12613 (Gallagher et al. 1998), recent distance estimates were significantly different from those reported in the HI paper, and we have adopted the newer values.

### A.3 The HI Mass/Cross-Section Correlation

The strong, one-to-one correlation between HI mass and cross-section over such a wide range of galaxy sizes and masses is somewhat surprising. At first glance, it suggests that all types of galaxies share the same surface density of HI. Actually the data are a little more complicated to interpret, since the relationship is between the total HI, and the area of the disk that exceeds the relatively high surface density of $`2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2. If all galaxies had their HI in exponential disks with varying scale lengths but the same central surface brightness, such a relationship would pertain, but clearly that is not a realistic description of galaxy HI distributions. We present here a few exploratory comments about the data presented in Table A.2 to examine this correlation in greater detail.

For the central purpose of this paper, we focused on the relationship between the HI mass and the observed cross-section of HI on the sky. However, as we briefly noted in §2, the observed cross-section is relatively independent of inclination. We show this in Figure 1, where we plot the ratio of observed to face-on cross sections above $`2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 as a function of the observed axis ratio. The sample shown is the subset of galaxies from Figure 2 that also had inclination-corrected radial profile models. The cross-section does not simply decline as $`\mathrm{cos}(i)`$ (curve in figure), as would occur for a sharp-edged disk. Because of the longer path length through the disk, the $`2\times 10^{20}`$ cm-2 isophote shifts outward to a physically larger radius by an amount that depends on the scale-length of the HI distribution. The two effects nearly cancel for most inclinations, although edge-on galaxies do finally exhibit a significantly smaller cross-section. Overall, the observed cross-sections are about 25% smaller, on average, than the inclination-corrected models predict for galaxies with axis ratios larger than $`b_{DLA}/a_{DLA}>0.5`$.

The scatter about the fit between mass and cross-sectional area improves slightly when we use azimuthally-averaged, inclination-corrected model results. Using these face-on cross-sections yields a similar slope ($`1.04\pm 0.04`$) as we found using the observed cross-sections in a linear least squares fit, although the intercept shifts because of the larger cross-section found on average for the face-on models. We will assume both actually have slope unity so that we can just compare the distribution of $`\mathrm{log}[M_{HI}/A_{DLA}]`$. For the 64 galaxies with measurements of both the face-on, $`a_0`$, and observed dimensions, $`a_{DLA}\times b_{DLA}`$, the rms scatter of $`\mathrm{log}[M_{HI}/A_{DLA}]`$ is 0.194 and 0.227 respectively.

There seems to be little dependence with morphological type. If we use observed cross-sections for galaxies which are not highly inclined ($`b_{DLA}/a_{DLA}>0.5`$), we find the following results by morphological type:

The earliest-type galaxies (Sa – Sb) may have slightly lower values of $`\mathrm{log}[M_{HI}/A_{DLA}]`$ than late-types, but the difference is marginal. This appears to be true for the S0’s as well, but our few examples have peculiar HI distributions, so any conclusions depend on whether the model or observed cross-sections are used, and whether outliers are rejected. While there may be some dependence on morphological type, the remarkable thing is how little variability there is between types over an enormous range of masses.