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# Dust-to-gas ratio and star formation history of blue compact dwarf galaxies

## 1 Introduction

Dust grains absorb stellar ultraviolet–optical light and emit far-infrared (FIR) light, thereby affecting the spectral energy distributions of galaxies (e.g., Takagi et al. takagi99 (1999)). Since the spectral energy distribution is frequently analysed to infer the star formation history (SFH) that provides us with a key to understand the evolutionary history of galaxies, the research on the origin of the interstellar dust is important to this issue. A key quantity concerning grains is the dust-to-gas mass ratio, $`𝒟`$. Oort & van de Hulst (oort46 (1946)) have observationally shown a strong correlation between the densities of gas and dust. This indicates that dust traces dense environments, which should be rich in heavy elements. Thus, it is worth examining the evolution of $`𝒟`$ in the context of the chemical evolution of galaxies.

The condensation of heavy elements is an important process for the formation of grains. One of the environments where condensation takes place is the atmosphere of a cool giant star (Hoyle & Wickramasinghe hoyle63 (1963)). High-dispersion spectroscopic observation of C2 in post AGB stars may indicate the condensation process on C2 as a dust kernel (Crawford & Barlow 2000; Kameswara Rao & Lambert 2000). Another environment for condensation is a supernova (SN). Dwek & Scalo (dwek80 (1980)) have shown that SNe can be the dominant source of dust grains. This is partly because of a rich metal content in SNe. Indeed, a significant amount of dust is observed within hot SN remnants (Dwek et al. dwek83 (1983); Moseley et al. 1989; Kozasa et al. 1989) and theoretical work by Todini & Ferrara (todini01 (2001)) has explained some principal features of dust formation in SN 1987A. Hirashita (1999a ) has shown that observational dust amounts suggest that $`10\%`$ (the fraction in mass) of the heavy elements ejected from stars condense into dust grains. Since his model prediction reproduces the observed trend between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity of dwarf galaxies, we adopt this fraction for dust condensation.

The processes of dust destruction should also be considered. As shown in Dwek & Scalo (dwek80 (1980)), dust grains are not only made from heavy elements but also destroyed in SN shocks (see also McKee mckee89 (1989); Jones et al. 1996) in a cycle of the birth and death of stars. In short, $`𝒟`$ of a galaxy reflects its SFH via the regulation of dust formation and destruction. To investigate what determines the value of $`𝒟`$, investigation of a star-forming galaxy is the most interesting since SNe are expected to affect most largely their dust amount.

One of the observational features which give us a key to understand the regulation of $`𝒟`$ is the variance of $`𝒟`$ itself (e.g., Lisenfeld & Ferrara lisenfeld98 (1998), hereafter LF98). In this paper we examine the variance of $`𝒟`$ among galaxies. According to LF98, there is a large variance in $`𝒟`$ for a sample of blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs). By definition, galaxies categorised as BCD more or less show active star-forming activity. Therefore, dust formation and destruction are expected to occur in BCDs. Since grains are composed of heavy elements, application of the theory of galactic chemical evolution is useful and interesting. Then, we particularly consider the variance of $`𝒟`$ in BCDs by using the chemical evolution model developed by LF98 and Hirashita (1999b , hereafter H99).

LF98 applied a chemical evolution model to explain $`𝒟`$ of dwarf galaxies including BCDs. They have suggested that if the dust-to-gas ratio in outflow (galactic wind) is different from that in the interstellar medium (ISM), the large dispersion of $`𝒟`$ of dwarf galaxies can be explained. In this scenario, a significant outflow of gas is indispensable to explain the observed variance of dust-to-gas ratio of BCDs. However, is the variance of $`𝒟`$ determined simply by mass outflow? In this paper, after further investigation in the framework of LF98, we answer this question and point out that other factors are also important to explain the value and variance of $`𝒟`$.

Indeed, a recent analysis by Tajiri & Kamaya (tajiri02 (2002)) has suggested that outflow is not so efficient for BCDs. They estimated the current momentum supply from SNe by using H$`\alpha `$ luminosity, and concluded that the supplied momentum is not sufficient to blow away the H i envelopes surrounding star-forming regions and that BCDs do not currently suffer significant mass loss. Legrand et al. (2001) also suggested that low density halos around BCDs can be an obstacle for the ISM to escape from the galaxies themselves. Thus, it is worth examining mechanisms other than mass outflow. Since Tajiri & Kamaya (tajiri02 (2002)) adopted a sample in Sage et al. (sage92 (1992)), we also use the sample. Moreover, the sample in LF98 is also included because this paper is an extended study of LF98.

This paper is organised as follows. First, in Sect. 2 we explain the model that describes the evolution of dust content in a galaxy. In Sect. 3, we consider dust destruction, which is the most important process in this paper. Then, in Sect. 4, model predictions are presented in comparison with observations. In Sect. 5, we discuss the results and propose a physical mechanism that can explain the observations. Finally, we summarise the contents of this paper.

## 2 Model description

In order to consider the dust formation and destruction, we analyse the dust-to-gas ratio along with the chemical evolution model by H99. The model is based on Eales & Edmunds (eales96 (1996)), LF98 and Dwek (dwek98 (1998)). In our model, we do not need to model any SFH. This has an advantage in considering the dust-to-gas ratio of BCDs since the SFH of a dwarf galaxy is generally complex (e.g., Grebel grebel01 (2001)) and is difficult to model. We focus especially on dust destruction, because LF98 have not fully considered it. As we see later, our model is a powerful tool to know the metallicity level where dust destruction becomes effective enough to suppress the dust-to-gas ratio.

### 2.1 Brief review of the model

In order to investigate dust content in a galaxy, H99 has established a set of model equations describing dust formation and destruction processes. In H99, a galaxy is treated as one zone to focus on the quantities averaged over the whole galaxy. The galaxy is assumed to be a closed system; that is, mass inflow and outflow are not considered. If the metallicity of the infalling material is zero or much lower than that of the ISM in the galaxy, the relation between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity, with which we will be concerned in this paper, is not altered by infall (Edmunds edmunds01 (2001); Hirashita hirashita01 (2001)). This is because the infall dilutes both metallicity and dust-to-gas ratio at almost the same rate. Our model does not include the effect of outflow, and this is different to LF98, in which outflow is essential to explain the observed variance of the dust-to-gas ratio in BCDs. Since Tajiri & Kamaya (tajiri02 (2002)) and Legrand et al. (2001) have suggested that outflow is not efficient for BCDs, it is worth examining a case of no outflow. Indeed, we present another clear possibility to explain the large scatter of $`𝒟`$ among BCDs later.

The model equations in H99 (see the paper for details; see also LF98) describe the evolution of total gas mass ($`M_\mathrm{g}`$), the total mass of metals (both in gas and dust phases) labeled as $`i`$ ($`M_i`$; $`i=\mathrm{O}`$, C, Fe, etc.), and the mass of metal $`i`$ in a dust phase ($`M_{\mathrm{d},i}`$). We neglect dust growth in clouds, since Hirashita (1999a ) has shown that this process in low-metallicity systems such as dwarf galaxies is much less efficient than the formation of dust around stars. Then, we adopt an instantaneous recycling approximation as in LF98 and H99 according to the formalism in Tinsley (tinsley80 (1980)): Stars less massive than $`m_t`$ (present turn-off mass set to be 1 $`M_{}`$) live forever and the others die instantaneously.

### 2.2 Solution of the model

Dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity of galaxies are observationally known to correlate with each other (e.g., Issa et al. issa90 (1990)). This relation has recently been used as a test for chemical evolution models including dust formation and destruction (LF98; H99; Hirashita 1999a ; Edmunds edmunds01 (2001)). The model by H99 reduces the following differential equation:

$`𝒴_i{\displaystyle \frac{d𝒟_i}{dX_i}}=f_{\mathrm{in},i}(X_i+𝒴_i)(+\beta _{\mathrm{SN}})𝒟_i,`$ (1)
where $`𝒟_i`$ is the mass fraction of an element $`i`$ locked up in dust (i.e., $`𝒟_iM_{\mathrm{d},i}/M_\mathrm{g}`$); $`X_i`$ is the mass fraction of an element $`i`$ (i.e., $`X_iM_i/M_\mathrm{g}`$); $`f_{\mathrm{in},i}`$ quantifies what fraction of an element $`i`$ ejected from stars condenses into dust grains; $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ is “dust destruction efficiency,” which we explain later; $``$ is the fraction of stellar mass subsequently returned to the interstellar space, and $`𝒴_i`$ is the mass fraction of an element $`i`$ newly produced and ejected by stars.111$`=R`$ and $`𝒴_i=y(1R)`$ for the notation in LF98. These two parameters are calculated in the formalism of the instantaneous recycling approximation. The definition of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ is as follows:

$`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}={\displaystyle \frac{M_\mathrm{g}}{\tau _{\mathrm{SN}}\psi }},`$ (2)
where $`\tau _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ is the timescale of dust destruction by SN shocks (Eq. 5), and $`\psi `$ is the star formation rate (SFR). Hereafter, $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ is called “dust destruction efficiency”, because it is inversely proportional to the timescale of dust destruction ($`\tau _{\mathrm{SN}}`$). This is the most important parameter in this paper.

When all the quantities except $`X_i`$ and $`𝒟_i`$ are constant in time, the analytical solution obtained by LF98 is applicable. With our notations, it is rewritten as

$`𝒟_i(X_i)={\displaystyle \frac{b}{a}}X_i+(1e^{aX_i})\left({\displaystyle \frac{c}{a}}{\displaystyle \frac{b}{a^2}}\right),`$ (3)
where $`a(+\beta _{\mathrm{SN}})/𝒴_i`$, $`bf_{\mathrm{in},i}/𝒴_i`$, and $`cf_{\mathrm{in},i}`$.

Here, we select oxygen as a traced element (i.e., $`i=\mathrm{O}`$) according to LF98, because (i) most of the oxygen is produced by massive stars (Type II SNe and their progenitors), (ii) oxygen is one of the main constituents of dust grains, and (iii) the common tracer for the metal abundance in BCDs is an oxygen emission line. The first item (i) means that an instantaneous recycling approximation may be reasonable for the investigation of oxygen abundances, since the generation of oxygen is a massive-star-weighted phenomenon. In other words, results are insensitive to the value of $`m_t`$. Following H99, we adopt $`(,𝒴_\mathrm{O})=(0.32,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}7.2}\times 10^3)`$, which are consistent with the relation between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity of nearby galaxies including our BCD sample.

## 3 Destruction efficiency of dust

In this paper, we discuss the variance of dust-to-gas ratio of a BCD sample in terms of the variation of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ defined in Eq. (2). We estimate $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ based on McKee (mckee89 (1989)) and LF98, while we also address their differences.

We assume that gas is divided into two components: gas in the star-forming region and that in the H i envelope. Such an envelope is generally observed around a star-forming region of a BCD (e.g., van Zee et al. vanzee98 (1998)). We denote the gas mass fraction in the star-forming region as $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}`$ and that in the H i envelope as $`X_{\mathrm{HI}}`$ (i.e., $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}+X_{\mathrm{HI}}=1`$). We distinguish the two regions for the comparison with the IRAS sample (Sect. 4.1). IRAS FIR bands are sensitive to dust hotter than about 25 K. Such “warm” dust exists in star-forming regions, not in H i envelopes. Calzetti et al. (calzetti95 (1995)) have also shown by using the IRAS sample of actively star-forming galaxies that 70% of the FIR flux comes from such a warm component of dust. Thus, dust mass derived from the IRAS observation of a BCD is considered to trace the dust in the star-forming region. This suggests that it is useful for us to consider dust contained in star-forming regions as long as we are interested in the comparison of our result with the IRAS observations.

Thus, we estimate $`\tau _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ and $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ in star-forming regions. Gas mass accelerated to a velocity of $`v_\mathrm{s}`$ by a SN, $`M_\mathrm{s}(v_\mathrm{s})`$, is estimated as

$`M_\mathrm{s}(v_\mathrm{s})=6800{\displaystyle \frac{E_{51}}{v_{\mathrm{s7}}^2}}M_{},`$ (4)
where $`E_{51}`$ is energy released by a SN in units of $`10^{51}`$ erg and $`v_{\mathrm{s7}}`$ is $`v_\mathrm{s}`$ in units of $`10^7`$ cm s-1 (McKee 1989). In swept ISM, dust is not fully destroyed. Thus, the fraction of destroyed dust, $`ϵ`$ ($`0.1`$; McKee mckee89 (1989)), should be multiplied. Since we are interested in mass swept by multiple SNe in a star-forming region, SN rate must be considered, which is denoted as $`\gamma `$. Then, $`\tau _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ is expressed as

$`\tau _{\mathrm{SN}}={\displaystyle \frac{M_\mathrm{g}X_{\mathrm{SF}}}{ϵ\gamma M_\mathrm{s}(100\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1)}}.`$ (5)
Here, we substitute $`v_\mathrm{s}`$ with the threshold velocity for dust destruction (100 km s-1; McKee 1989). Comparing equations (2) and (5), we obtain

$`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}=ϵM_\mathrm{s}(100\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1){\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{\psi }}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{X_{\mathrm{SF}}}}.`$ (6)
We should consider both Type Ia and II SNe in estimating $`\gamma `$. Type II SNe occur “soon” after a star formation, because the progenitors of Type II SNe have lifetimes much shorter than the age of the universe. On the other hand, Type Ia SNe, whose progenitors are low-mass stars, occur about 1 Gyr after a star formation. Thus, $`\gamma `$ and $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ should be sensitive to the SFH. We express $`\gamma `$ as

$`\gamma =\gamma _{\mathrm{Ia}}+\gamma _{\mathrm{II}},`$ (7)
where $`\gamma _{\mathrm{Ia}}`$ and $`\gamma _{\mathrm{II}}`$ are the rate of Type Ia and Type II SNe, respectively. We note that LF98 estimated $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ to be 5. But, for example, the fraction between $`\gamma _{\mathrm{Ia}}`$ and $`\gamma _{\mathrm{II}}`$ changes according to SFH of BCDs. In the next section, we examine the relation between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity for various $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$, whose probable range is constrained.

## 4 Sample and result

### 4.1 Observational samples

We compare the model calculation in Eq. (3) with the observed values of dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity of BCDs. We adopt the data in Table 2 of LF98 and Table 1 of Sage et al. (sage92 (1992)). The latter sample has been adopted by Tajiri & Kamaya (tajiri02 (2002)). We select BCDs whose 21-cm H i emission and FIR dust emission are both detected. The data are summarised in Table 1.

The observational dust-to-gas ratio in a star-forming region should be

$`𝒟^{\mathrm{obs}}M_\mathrm{d}^{IRAS}/(M_{\mathrm{HI}}X_{\mathrm{SF}}),`$ (8)
where $`M_\mathrm{d}^{IRAS}`$ and $`M_{\mathrm{HI}}`$ are dust mass determined from the IRAS observation and the total H i gas determined from the 21-cm observations. $`M_{\mathrm{HI}}`$ traces H i gas in both the star-forming region and the envelope of a galaxy. On the other hand, $`M_\mathrm{d}^{IRAS}`$ traces the amount of dust in the star-forming region, because the IRAS is sensitive to high-temperature ($`25`$ K) dust. In the following two paragraphs, we describe the two quantities further.

LF98 divided the observed H i mass by a factor of 2 to obtain the gas mass in only the star-forming region. In other words, LF98 assumed that $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}`$ is 0.5. However, $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}`$ is hardly constrained observationally. In this paper we assume $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}=1`$ for the observational sample to obtain the first result. As we discuss in Sect. 5, the variation of $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}`$ also contributes to the variation of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$. Therefore, $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}`$ affects our analysis in the following two ways:

1. Observationally, the estimate of dust-to-gas ratio in a star-forming region is affected by the value of $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}`$.
2. Theoretically, the value of $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}`$ affects the value of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$, thus changing the dust-to-gas ratio.

It is difficult to discuss the former quantitatively, because we need a high-resolution spatial map of H i distribution and a reasonable observational definition of a star-forming region on the map. However, we can discuss the latter because the effect of $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}`$ on $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ is well determined from Eq. (6).

The observational dust mass, $`M_\mathrm{d}^{IRAS}`$, is derived from the luminosity densities at wavelengths of 60 $`\mu `$m and 100 $`\mu `$m observed by IRAS using Eq. (4) of LF98. The IRAS bands are insensitive to the cold ($`20`$ K) dust that lies out of star-forming regions. Moreover, since the dust in a star-forming region suffers destruction by SN shocks, we should take into account an efficient destruction in the star-forming region. Therefore, in order to discuss the IRAS sample and the selective dust destruction in star-forming regions, we need to define $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ as the dust destruction efficiency (Sect. 3) in star-forming regions as we have done in Eq. (6).

Finally, we hypothesise that the fraction of oxygen contained in dust grains is constant for all the sample BCDs. Following H99, we assume the Galactic composition of the grains:

$`𝒟=2.2𝒟_\mathrm{O}.`$ (9)
### 4.2 Conclusion from our model

In Figure 1, we show analytical results calculated according to Eqs. (3) and (9) with $`i=\mathrm{O}`$ for various values of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ as solid line ($`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}=1`$), dotted line ($`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}=5`$; the case of LF98) and dashed line ($`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}=25`$), respectively. The black and gray squares indicate the observational samples in Sage et al. (sage92 (1992)) and LF98, respectively. The number ratio of oxygen atoms to the hydrogen atoms is denoted as (O/H). We convert the mass fraction of oxygen, $`X_\mathrm{O}`$, to (O/H) for the model prediction, assuming $`\mathrm{log}X_\mathrm{O}+10.80=12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$. In this figure, $`f_{\mathrm{in},\mathrm{O}}=0.1`$ is assumed to concentrate on the variation in $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$. LF98 have shown a large variety of $`f_{\mathrm{in},\mathrm{O}}`$ to explain the large scatter of the relation between $`𝒟`$ and $`X_\mathrm{O}`$ in their Figure 7. Since Hirashita (1999a ) has shown that $`f_{\mathrm{in},\mathrm{O}}0.1`$ reproduces the observed trend between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity, it is worth considering the effect of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ by setting $`f_{\mathrm{in},\mathrm{O}}=0.1`$.

From Figure 1, we see that the variance in dust-to-gas ratio is reproduced by an order-of-magnitude variation in $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ (1–25 here). We note that LF98’s value ($`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}=5`$) is within this range. Even if outflow does not efficiently occur in BCDs, we can explain the variance of the dust-to-gas ratio of BCDs with the various “destruction efficiency” of dust, $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$, although we can never reject the importance of outflow in the framework of this paper. The important point is that we have demonstrated that dust destruction by SNe can play an important role in producing the variance of $`𝒟`$. The result also indicates that the difference in dust-to-gas ratio among the three lines becomes clear at an oxygen abundance, $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})8`$. Thus, we conclude

1. that the dust destruction by SNe can vary the dust-to-gas ratio when the metallicity, $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$, reaches about 8 ($`10`$% of the solar metallicity), and
2. that the large variation of the dust-to-gas ratio among BCDs is explained by the variation of dust destruction efficiency, $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$.

## 5 Discussion

### 5.1 Scenario

We propose a scenario for large variation of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ for each BCD along with intermittent SFH. The time variability of SFH on a short ($`<1`$ Gyr) timescale has been suggested observationally by Searle & Sargent (searle72 (1972)) and theoretically by Gerola et al. (gerola80 (1980)). Nonlinear processes in the ISM may also cause an intermittent star formation (Ikeuchi ikeuchi88 (1988); Kamaya & Takeuchi kamaya97 (1997) and references therein). Thus, it is pertinent to consider the intermittent SFH of BCDs.

As shown in the following, an intermittent star formation history leads to the time variation of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$, because $`\gamma /\psi `$ depends on time. We consider an intermittent SFH: a starburst whose SFR is $`\psi _{\mathrm{burst}}`$ and an inter-starburst epoch whose SFR is $`\psi _{\mathrm{inter}}`$. We assume that $`\psi _{\mathrm{burst}}=100\psi _{\mathrm{inter}}`$, for example. Such a two-orders-of magnitude variation in SFR is proposed theoretically by Gerola et al. (1980) and Kamaya & Takeuchi (kamaya97 (1997)). While the starburst is going on, we expect that almost all the SNe are Type II ($`\gamma _{\mathrm{burst}}\gamma _{\mathrm{II}}`$, where $`\gamma _{\mathrm{burst}}`$ is a typical SN rate in the bursting epoch). However, in the inter-burst epoch, Type Ia SNe can be dominated ($`\gamma _{\mathrm{inter}}\gamma _{\mathrm{Ia}}`$, where $`\gamma _{\mathrm{inter}}`$ is a typical SN rate in the inter-burst). According to the model by Bradamante et al. (bradamante98 (1998)), a given stellar population releases energy in the form of Type II and Ia SNe with a ratio of 5:1 (Bradamante et al. bradamante98 (1998); see their Fig. 9. This value is essentially determined by the initial mass function (IMF), and they assumed the Salpeter IMF with a stellar mass range from 0.1 to 100 $`M_{}`$)222We assumed the Salpeter IMF with the range from 0.1–120 $`M_{}`$, but the difference in the higher mass cut has little influence on the SN rate.. Since they assumed the same energy between Type Ia and II SNe, this means that the number ratio between Type Ia and II SNe is 5:1. Therefore, we expect that $`\gamma _{\mathrm{inter}}\gamma _{\mathrm{burst}}/5`$. The intermittent star formation finally predicts that $`\gamma _{\mathrm{inter}}/\psi _{\mathrm{inter}}20\gamma _{\mathrm{burst}}/\psi _{\mathrm{burst}}`$. This means that an intermittent SFH can cause a 20-times variation in $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}\gamma /\psi `$ during a single star formation cycle.

Furthermore, Fig. 1 shows that the value of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ has little effect on the relation between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity for $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})<8`$. Therefore, until the metallicity level becomes $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})8`$, the relation between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity evolves in the same way whatever the value of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ might be. On the contrary, the relation is largely affected by $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ if $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})>8`$. Then, we study the response of the relation between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity to the change of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ at $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})8`$, as we are interested in the intermittent SFH.

First, we shall estimate a typical metallicity increment during a single star formation epoch of the intermittent SFH. The metallicity increase during an episode of star formation, $`\mathrm{\Delta }Z`$, can be estimated by $`\mathrm{\Delta }ZyM_{}/M_\mathrm{g}`$, where $`M_{}`$ is the mass of stars formed in the episode, and $`y`$ is a chemical yield. If the IMF is similar to that of the Galaxy, $`yZ_{}`$ (i.e., $`\mathrm{\Delta }ZZ_{}`$ for $`M_{}M_\mathrm{g}`$). We estimate $`M_{}`$ by multiplying observed SFR with a duration of an episode of a star formation activity. Assuming that the SFR is 0.1 $`M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ and that the duration is $`10^7`$ yr (Legrand et al. legrand01 (2001)), we obtain $`M_{}10^6M_{}`$. With typical gas mass $`M_\mathrm{g}10^7M_{}`$, we obtain $`\mathrm{\Delta }Z0.1Z_{}`$. This corresponds, for example, to the metallicity increase from $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})=8.0`$ to 8.2. The model by Bradamante et al. (bradamante98 (1998)) also indicates that one episode of star formation can result in such a metallicity increment.

As shown above, the effect of intermittence can be examined by changing $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$. In order to examine the effect of time variation of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$, thus, we calculate the relation between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity in the following two cases:

1. $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}=5`$ for $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})8`$ and $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}=25`$ for $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})>8`$
2. $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}=5`$ for $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})8`$ and $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}=1`$ for $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})>8`$

In Figure 2, we show the result of the two calculations (two solid lines). The lower and upper branches represent the cases 1 and 2, respectively. The three dotted lines show the results as in Fig. 1. We see that when the metallicity $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})`$ increases from 8.0 to 8.2, the line rapidly converges to the two dotted lines, which represent the result for constant $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ (1 and 25, respectively). This rapid convergence supports the idea that the dust-to-gas ratio varies widely in response to the time-evolution of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$ in an episode of star formation at the metallicity level of $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})8`$. Thus, it is possible to determine the variance of the dust-to-gas ratio among BCDs from the time variation of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$.

### 5.2 Age difference

If the age of BCDs varies, the present turn-off mass of stars is changed. As a result, the returned fraction of gas ($``$), the metal yield ($`𝒴_i`$), and the dust supply from stars ($`f_{\mathrm{in},i}`$) are effectively different among BCDs. The effect of varying $``$ and $`𝒴_i`$ on the relation between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity has been examined by H99.333See Fig. 3 of the paper. Although H99 examined “different IMF”, this difference only affects the values of $``$ and $`𝒴_i`$. Therefore, his result can be used to see the effect of varying $``$ and $`𝒴_i`$. However, the resulting relation is less sensitive to the two parameters than to $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$. The dependence of $`f_{\mathrm{in},i}`$ on the turn-off mass can be important since it largely affects the dust amount in low-metallicity systems (LF98; Hirashita 1999a ).

Thus, if the BCD sample proves to have a large age variation, we should reconsider the variation in dust-to-gas ratio with a time-dependent formulation. Indeed, we cannot reject the possibility that some BCDs are much younger than the cosmic age. A metal-poor BCD SBS 0335–052 may be younger than $`5\times 10^6`$ yr (Vanzi et al. vanzi00 (2000)). Recently, Hirashita, Hunt, & Ferrara (hirashita02 (2002)) have succeeded in explaining the dust amount of SBS 0335–052 with a time-dependent formulation applicable to young galaxies.

### 5.3 Future observations

The time variation of $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}`$ also leads to the time dependence of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SF}}`$ (Eq. 6), although $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}`$ was assumed as unity (Sect. 4.1). If the various $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}`$ for the BCD sample is interpreted to reflect the time evolution of $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}`$ in each BCD, we can suggest that the gas mass in a star-forming region should change temporally because of the mass exchange between the star-forming region and the envelope. Such a mass exchange during episodic star formation activity in BCDs is indeed suggested by e.g., Saitō et al. (saito00 (2000)). The temporal change of $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}`$ is also possible if the ISM in the star-forming region is consumed for star formation and locked in stellar remnants like white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes.

In order to constrain $`X_{\mathrm{SF}}`$, we need to observe H i emission or FIR emission with angular resolution fine enough. The present typical angular resolution of $`1^{}`$ corresponds to 2.9 kpc in physical size if a galaxy lies at a typical distance of 10 Mpc. Future large space FIR telescopes such as Herschel 444http://astro.estec.esa.nl/First/ (e.g., Pilbratt pilbratt00 (2000)) or SPICA 555http://www.ir.isas.ac.jp/SPICA/index.html (e.g., Nakagawa et al. nakagawa00 (2000)) will resolve the star-forming regions of the BCDs. For example, the Japanese future infrared satellite SPICA will have a diameter larger than 3.5 m. If the diffraction limit is achieved, the angular resolution becomes $`6^{\prime \prime }`$ at the wavelength of 100 $`\mu `$m. This corresponds to 290 pc at the distance of 10 Mpc, and is comparable to or smaller than the half-light radius of a typical BCD (Marlowe et al. marlowe99 (1999)).

## 6 Summary

In this paper, we have analysed the relation between dust-to-gas ratio and metallicity of BCDs by using our chemical evolution model. We have focused on the dust destruction process, because this process was not investigated in LF98. We have shown that the dust destruction significantly affects the dust-to-gas ratio when the metallicity is larger than $`12+\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})8`$. The intermittent SFH can explain the large variety of dust-to-gas ratio among BCDs through the “dust destruction efficiency” of $`\beta _{\mathrm{SN}}`$.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank the anonymous referee for invaluable comments and suggestions which improved this paper very much. We thank A. Ferrara and K. Yoshikawa for useful discussions on dwarf galaxies and excellent environments for our study. We are also grateful to S. Mineshige and J. Silk for continuous encouragement. H. H. was supported by the Research Fellowship of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for Young Scientists. We fully utilised the NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Abstract Service (ADS).


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# Effects of La substitution on superconducting state of CeCoIn5

## I Introduction

Heavy fermion superconductors have been extending for more than two decades the affluence of physical phenomena associated with Cooper pair formation.FiskProc  The competition between magnetism and superconductivity for the same Fermi surface of heavily renormalized carriers resulted in observations of unconventional superconductivityBrulsUPt3 ,ShivaramUPt3  and raised speculations that spin pairing might be mediated by magnetic interaction.PRB34Miyake6554  Research in the field was associated with difficulties in sample preparation, sample to sample variation, experimental conditions and ultimately, in the number of examples where relevant physical phenomena can be observed in a clean form. The recently discovered CeMIn5 family (M=Ir, Rh, Co) of heavy fermion superconductors encapsulates many aspects of important physics in this class of materials. CeRhIn5Rh  superconducts under applied pressures above 17 kbar with T$`_c`$around 2 K whereas CeIrIn5Ir  and CeCoIn5Co  are ambient pressure superconductors. CeCoIn5 offers clean example of ambient pressure heavy fermion superconductivity with a remarkably high Tc=2.3 K. The intriguing properties of CeCoIn5 led to speculation that it may exhibit d-wave superconductivity,Kohori ,NickCo ,Izawa  and Fulde-Ferrel-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state in high magnetic fields.Murphy  In order to have more insight into the nature of CeCoIn5 we perturbed its superconducting state by substituting La onto the Ce site. For the purpose of comparing influences of magnetic and nonmagnetic pair breaking on Tc suppression, we also substituted 5% of Nd on Ce site. We find that the anisotropy in the upper critical field does not change in the whole concentration range and that the decrease of Tc with increased La doping cannot be explained solely with pressure effects due to unit cell expansion. In addition, our results present an evidence for an anisotropic order parameter in CeCoIn5.

## II EXPERIMENT

Single crystals of Ce1-xLaxCoIn5 were grown by the self flux method in a manner previously described.Co  Crystals grew as thin plates with the c axis perpendicular to the plate. Removal of In from the surface was performed by etching in concentrated HCl for several hours followed by thorough rinsing in ethanol. All samples obtained with this process showed no signs of In contamination. Powder X-ray patterns showed that samples crystallized in HoCoGa5 structure without any additional peaks introduced by La alloying. In addition, magnetization measurements provided a more sensitive test of possible presence of magnetically ordered second phases. Both as grown and etched samples showed no sign of antiferromagnetic transition of CeIn3. Electrical contacts were made with Epotek-H20E silver epoxy. In-plane resistivity was measured in Quantum Design MPMS and PPMS measurement systems from 0.35 to 300 K and in fields up to 90 kOe applied parallel and perpendicular to the c-axis. There is uncertainty in nominal resistivity values associated with sample geometry and uneven surfaces of etched samples. We measured several samples for each concentration in order to reduce measurement error which allowed us to estimate uncertainties in nominal values as well. The dimensions of the samples were measured by high precision optical microscope with 10$`\mu `$m resolution and average values are presented. Randomly chosen samples within each batch had no difference in their $`R(T)`$ curves. Magnetization measurements were performed in MPMS-7 Quantum Design magnetometer in the magnetic field of 10kG, applied parallel and perpendicular to c axis.

## III RESULTS

The results of powder X-ray diffraction measurement taken at room temperature are summarized in Table 1 and shown in Fig. 1, together with the unit cell volume of LaCoIn5. As expected, La doped samples have larger unit cell volume. The volume increase in the concentration range $`x=00.175`$ is consistent with expansion of the unit cell as La substitutes Ce in accordance with Vegard’s law.

Fig. 2 shows the magnetic susceptibility for Ce0.95Nd0.05CoIn5, Ce0.85La0.15CoIn5, and CeCoIn5, taken in the applied field of 10kOe. In the whole temperature range above Tc, the substitution of magnetic Ce3+ by nonmagnetic La3+ reduces susceptibility values in La doped sample when compared with undoped CeCoIn5. Comparison of high temperature moments through Curie-Weiss analysis of the polycrystalline susceptibility average at high temperatures shows that approximately 14% Ce ions were substituted with La. No quantitative difference from undoped CeCoIn5 was detected in high temperature susceptibility of 5% Nd doped sample. Low temperature magnetic susceptibility of Ce0.85La0.15CoIn5 does not reveal any difference in Curie tail from pure material, thus ruling out Kondo-hole interpretation of La dilution (Fig. 2 inset).PRB53Lawrence12559  We also see broadening of the plateau-like feature in $`\chi _c`$ in Ce0.85La0.15CoIn5 ascribedNickCo  to thermal depopulation of Ce 4f levels. On the other hand, Nd impurities contribute to pronounced Curie tail at low temperatures. Subtraction of magnetic susceptibility of CeCoIn5 from Ce0.95Nd0.05CoIn5 in the normal state below 10K is consistent with approximately 8% of Nd3+ paramagnetic moment, result close to nominal stochiometric value and within rough approximation of our analysis.

Temperature dependent electrical resistivities normalized to their value at 300 K for Ce1-xLaxCoIn5 and Ce0.95Nd0.05CoIn5 are presented in Fig. 3a. There are several key features to notice. Resistivities of all samples are weakly temperature dependant at high temperatures, and they pass through a maximum as temperature is decreased. This behavior is traditionally interpreted as a crossover from incoherent Kondo scattering to coherent Bloch states of heavy electrons in the Kondo lattice. In the case of CeCoIn5 this drop, at least partially, could be attributed to depopulation of crystalline electric field levels. We observe decrease of $`T_{max}`$ for higher La concentrations (Fig. 3a inset). At low temperatures, there is a clear suppression of Tc as more Ce ions are replaced by La (Fig. 3 inset). The increase of the normal state residual resistivity $`\rho _{0\text{ }}`$is probably due to disorder which contributes to increased conduction electron scattering. On the other hand, the resistive transition width sharpens with La alloying. It is interesting to note that Ce1-xLaxCoIn5 is not in the well defined Fermi liquid regime above Tc: the $`\rho (T)`$ curves above Tc do not show signs of $`T^2`$ dependence, as it has been reported for CeCu2Si2.JLTP118Sheikin113  Depression of Tc in CeCoIn5 seems to scale with $`\rho _{0\text{ }}`$values for both magnetic and nonmagnetic dopants, as seen by comparison of the $`\rho (T)`$ data of Ce0.95Nd0.05CoIn5 and Ce0.98La0.02CoIn5.

Fig. 4 shows the anisotropic upper critical field for Ce1-xLaxCoIn5, normalized to transition temperature in zero field for each value of $`x`$ (values for $`x=0`$ were taken from previous report).JPSJ70Muramatsu3362  The Hc2 data were determined as a midpoint between onset and zero in resistivity from $`\rho (T)`$ curves at constant field and $`\rho (H)`$ curves at constant temperature. Adding La impurities results in depression of HC2, however, anisotropy $`\gamma =H_{c2}^a/H_{c2}^c`$ remains at the same value of $`\gamma `$ 2 (inset in Fig. 4). Uncertainty in our estimate of $`\gamma `$ decreases for higher field data, away from H=0 transition (T/T$`{}_{c}{}^{}`$1).

Assuming that Fermi surface properties of doped material do not change substantially in the dilute La limit,PRB43Jee2656  it is reasonable to assume inverse proportionality between $`\rho `$ and $`l`$, and therefore values of $`l_0`$ could be estimated from $`\rho _0`$ for the whole doping series ($`l_0=\frac{A}{\rho _0}`$) using the the value of constant A from reported $`l_{0\text{ }}`$and $`\rho _{0\text{ }}`$values for pure material.PRL86Movshovich5152  We obtain $`l_{0\text{ }}`$ $`540\stackrel{̊}{A}`$ for CeCoIn5 without La impurities. Fig. 5 shows the ratio of mean free path l0 to in-plane superconducting coherence length $`\xi `$ $`(\xi ^2(T)=\mathrm{\Phi }_0/2\pi H_{c2}(T))`$ for Ce1-xLaxCoIn5 obtained at T=Tc/2. In the whole doping range electronic system is in the clean limit which could explain nearly constant value of $`\gamma =H_{c2}^a/H_{c2}^c`$.

A comparison of the effects of La substitution on Tc in CeCoIn5 and CeCu2.2Si2 is shown on Fig. 6.JMMM76Ahlheim520  Doping results in depression of Tc in both cases but CeCoIn5 is more robust to pair breaking arising from La impurities. The initial rate of Tc suppression is smaller than the rate seen in CeCu2.2Si2: \[(0.056Tc)/(1% of La substitution) in CeCoIn5 vs (0.085Tc)/(1% of La substitution in CeCu2.2Si2)\]. La doping in CeCoIn5 is associated with only modest increase in nominal residual resistivity values $`\rho _0`$, shown in Fig. 6 inset. The $`\rho _0`$ values for $`x=0`$ ($``$5$`\mu \mathrm{\Omega }`$cm) in our experiment are in between values reported previously in literature (3.1$`\mu \mathrm{\Omega }`$cmPRL86Movshovich5152  and $``$7$`\mu \mathrm{\Omega }`$cmJPCM13NicklasL905 ).

## IV DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The slope of Hc2 vs T curve at Tc can be used to estimate zero temperature orbital critical field $`H_{c2o}(0)`$ using the weak - coupling formula for conventional superconductors in Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg model (WHH): $`H_{c2o}(0)0.7(H_{c2}^{})T_c`$.PRWerthamer295  Table 1 shows estimates of $`H_{c2}^{}`$ near Tc for doped samples, together with previously reported value for $`x=0`$ for both crystalline directions.JPSJ70Ikeda2248  All investigated samples have high initial slopes, as expected in the case of heavy fermion superconductors.PRB19Orlando4545 ,PRL49Rauchschwalbe1448  Values of $`H_{c2o}(0)`$ decrease with introduction of La impurities (Table 1). The paramagnetic limiting field $`H_p(0)=\mathrm{\Delta }_0/\mu _B\sqrt{2\text{ }}`$(where $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ is energy gap at T=0 and $`\mu _B`$ is Bohr magneton) for pure CeCoIn5 (Tc=2.3K) is well below the orbital critical field $`H_{c2o}(0)`$ for either s-wave ($`\mathrm{\Delta }_0=3.52k_BT_c`$),PRLClogston261  or d-wave pairing state ($`\mathrm{\Delta }_0=2.14k_BT_c`$),PRB53Graf15147  and our results indicate that this unusual situation is valid for investigated La doping range. We note that experimental values of upper critical field for Ce1-xLaxCoIn5 (x=0-0.15) samples are most likely below the values obtained by applying WHH model (Table 1), probably due to polarization of magnetic sublattice due to enhanced internal field along both crystalline axis.

It has recently been reported that Tc in CeCoIn5 increases under applied pressure.JPCM13NicklasL905  Negative chemical pressure should cause some decrease in Tc. In the lack of better approximation, we take bulk modulus of CeCoIn5 to be the same as the one for CeIn3 (650kbar),ModulusCeIn3  and we calculate approximate chemical pressure (Pchemical) for each La concentration using $`\frac{V_0P}{V}`$650kbar. The results are shown in Table 1. Depression of Tc occurs at a rate $`\frac{dT_c}{dP}0.43`$ K/kbar - a slope that is an order of magnitude larger than reported increase of Tc under hydrostatic pressure. An order of magnitude difference from pure pressure effect on Tc is likely to exceed error in estimation of bulk modulus, and therefore points to the conclusion that the pair breaking mechanisms which enter through disorder due to La alloying and increased scattering of Cooper pairs are dominant in CeCoIn5. In contrast to conventional superconductors where nonmagnetic impurities have small effect on Tc, Cooper pairs formed in CeCoIn5 are rather sensitive to La doping: 2% of La depresses Tc to the same value as $``$5% of Nd.

The Tc suppression induced by the nonmagnetic La substitution in Ce1-xLaxCoIn5 is reminiscent of the pair breaking effect by magnetic impurities.JETP12Abrikosov1243  Although various factors may suppress Tc (an anisotropic scattering, for example),Joerg  we focus here on the scenario of CeCoIn5 having an anisotropic gap $`\mathrm{\Delta }(\stackrel{}{k}_F)`$ on the Fermi surface. This scenario is quite likely given the unconventional nature in many heavy-fermion materials.

It is knownJETP4Hohenberg1208  that if $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ depends on the position at the Fermi surface, the critical temperature is suppressed by nonmagnetic scattering according to:

$$ln\frac{T_{c0}}{T_c}=\alpha \left[\psi (\frac{1+\mu }{2})\psi (\frac{1}{2})\right],\mu =\frac{\mathrm{}}{2\pi T_c}$$
(1)
Here Tc0 is the critical temperature of the material in the absence of all scattering, $`\tau `$ is the scattering time by nonmagnetic impurities, and $`\alpha =1\mathrm{\Delta }^2/\mathrm{\Delta }^2`$ characterizes the gap anisotropy, $`\mathrm{}`$ stands for averaging over Fermi surface, and $`\psi `$ is the digamma function. For a weak gap anisotropy, this result is due to Hohenberg,JETP4Hohenberg1208  see also later publications.PR131Markowitz563 ,JETP63Posazhennikova347  It can be shown that in fact Eq. (1) holds for an arbitrary gap anisotropy.Koganunpublished  For isotropic $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, $`\alpha =0`$, and we come to Anderson’s theorem: Tc=Tc0. For pure d-wave order parameter, $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$, and Eq. (1) describes the d-pair breaking by nonmagnetic scattering (which differs from the Abrikosov-Gor’kov result only by the factor of 2 in the definition of the parameter $`\mu _m`$=$`\mathrm{}/\pi T_c\tau _m`$).

To analyze the $`T_c(x)`$ data shown in Fig. 6, one has to relate $`x`$ to the scattering time $`\tau `$, a nontrivial connection. We avoid this difficulty by assuming that the residual resistivity $`\rho _0`$ is proportional to 1/$`\tau `$. Further, we exclude parameter Tc0 from Eq. (1) by writing it for two values of $`x`$ and subtracting the results:

$$ln\frac{T__2}{T__1}=\alpha [\psi (\frac{1+\mu __1}{2})\psi (\frac{1+\mu _2}{2})],\mu _{_{1,2}}=\beta \frac{\rho _{_{1,2}}}{T_{_{1,2}}}$$
(2)
where $`T_{1,2}=T_c(x_{1,2})`$ and $`\beta `$ is a constant to be determined. Writing this equation for two different pairs $`x_{1,2}`$ one can determine the unknown $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$. This procedure yields values scattered around $`\alpha =0.5`$ and $`\beta =0.2K/\mu \mathrm{\Omega }cm`$.

Hence, we find $`\alpha =\mathrm{\Delta }^2/\mathrm{\Delta }^20.5`$ which implies a strongly anisotropic gap. Knowing the value of $`\beta `$ we can estimate the scattering time using measured resistivities; for $`x=0`$ we obtain $`\tau =\mathrm{}/2\pi k_B\beta \rho 1.3\times 10^{12}s.`$ With the electronic specific heat coefficientPRL86Movshovich5152  $`\gamma =290mJ/moleK^2`$ we roughly estimate the Fermi velocity $`v_F=\frac{\pi k_B}{e\sqrt{\gamma \tau \rho _0}}2\times 10^6`$cm/s. This would correspond to the mean-free path $`l260\stackrel{̊}{A}`$, a value smaller than expected but within factor of two of our determination of mean free path which is reasonable given the assumptions of average Fermi velocity and isotropic scattering.

In summary, diamagnetic pair breaking effect in CeCoIn5 is consistent with picture of strongly anisotropic order parameter. Anisotropy in the upper critical field $`\gamma =H_{c2}^a/H_{c2}^c`$ does not change for x = (0-0.15) in Ce1-xLaxCoIn5, indicating electronic system in the clean limit.

We thank Joerg Schmalian for useful discussions and Hal Sailsbury for help with optical microscope. This work was carried out at Ames Laboratory, which is operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Iowa State University under Contract No. W-7405-82. This work was supported by the Director for Energy Research, Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy.