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# Optical Recombination Lines of Heavy-elements in Giant Extragalactic H II Regions1footnote 11footnote 1Based on observations made with William Herschel Telescope operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias.

## 1 Introduction

The analysis of the spectra of H II regions allows to determine the abundances of He, C, N, O, Ne, S, Ar and Fe in the ionized phase of the interstellar medium. This is useful to trace the chemical evolution of the interstellar gas, to compute the radial abundance gradients in spiral galaxies and even to estimate the primordial helium abundance. Due to the surface brightness of distant extragalactic H II regions it is possible to measure their line intensities with reasonable accuracy. Therefore, it is essential and feasible to have confident determinations of their chemical composition. The possibility to obtain deep spectra of H II regions with large telescopes allows us to detect and measure important faint emission lines. Among these, recombination lines (hereafter RLs) of heavy element ions are of special interest. The brightest RLs of heavy element ions in the optical domain are C II 4267 Å and those of multiplet 1 of O II around 4650 Å. These are in fact very faint lines that have an intensity of the order of 0.001$`\times `$ $`I(H\beta )`$. These lines can give us a more complete view of the physics and chemical content of nebulae and can be used to test if the standard methods for deriving chemical abundances –based on the intensity of bright collisionally excited lines (hereafter CELs)– are valid.

The ionic abundances of elements heavier than He are usually derived from the intensity of CELs, which depend exponentially on the electron temperature ($`T_e`$) of the nebular gas. This fact makes necessary to have a very precise determination of $`T_e`$ to obtain reliable ionic abundances. Peimbert (1967) found that in the presence of inhomogeneities or stratification in the spatial distribution of $`T_e`$ (the so-called temperature fluctuations, defined by the mean square temperature variation over the observed volume: $`t^2`$) the ionic abundances obtained from the intensity of CELs are systematically underestimated. In comparison, ionic abundances determined from RLs are almost independent on $`T_e`$ and are not sensible to the effects of possible temperature structure inside the nebula. However, the faintness of these lines makes very difficult their measurement and even their detection. Esteban et al. (1998, 1999a, 1999b) have obtained high resolution observations of the Galactic H II regions Orion nebula, M8, and M17, obtaining good measurements of C II and O II lines in the three objects. These authors have found that ionic abundances derived from those RLs are systematically larger than the values obtained from CELs. A similar result has been obtained by Tsamis et al. (2003) who present measurements of C II, N II, and O II lines for Orion nebula, M17, NGC 3576, and three Magellanic Clouds H II regions (30 Doradus, LMC N11, and SMC N66).

The main aim of the observations reported in this paper was to detect and measure C II and O II lines in bright giant extragalactic H II regions (hereafter GEHRs) of the northern hemisphere. These observations will permit to compare the O++ abundances obtained by both CELs and RLs from the same spectrum as well as to derive the C++ abundance and compare them with the values derived by other authors from space observations of the UV \[C III\] 1907 $`+`$ C III\] 1909 Å lines.

## 2 Observations

The observations were made on 2001 February 25 and 26 at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (La Palma), using the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) with the ISIS spectrograph at the Cassegrain focus. Two different CCDs were used at the blue and red arms of the spectrograph: an EEV12 CCD with a configuration of 4096$`\times `$2048 pixels of 13 $`\mu `$m in the blue arm and a TEK with 1024$`\times `$1024 of 24 $`\mu `$m in the red arm. The spatial scale was 0.19 arcsec pixel-1 and 0.36 arcsec pixel-1 for the blue and red arms respectively. The maximum unvignetted slit-length usable with ISIS is 3.7 and the width was 1′′. The dichroic used to separate the blue and red beams was set at 5400 Å. Two gratings were used, a 1200 g mm-1 one in the blue and a 316 g mm-1 one in the red arm. These gratings gave reciprocal dispersions of 17 and 62 Å mm-1, and effective resolutions of 0.73 Å and 2.9 Å for the blue and red arms, respectively. The blue spectra cover from 4230 Å to 5060 Å and the red ones from 5720 Å to 7200 Å. A summary of the observations is presented in Table 1.

The average seeing was between 0.8′′ and 2′′ throughout the observations. The slit center and position angle (PA) was chosen to cover the brightest zone of each H II region. For NGC 604 we centered our slit on zone D defined by D’Odorico, Rosa, & Wampler (1983) that was also observed by Díaz et al. (1987). NGC 5461 is rather compact and we placed the slit center on the bright core passing through two fainter H II regions located at 15 and 30 arcsec to the southeast (see image shown by Giannakopoulou-Creighton. Fich, & Wilson, 1999). For NGC 5471 we centered the slit passing through the knots labeled as A and C by Skillman (1985, see his Figure 1). Finally, for NGC 2363 our slit position covered knots A and B defined by González-Delgado et al. (1994, see their Figure 2). Several 30 min exposures were combined to produce the final blue and red spectra of the objects. As we can see in Table 1, the total exposure time for the objects was very large (between 2.5 and 7 hours), this indicates that we are at the limit of the possibilities of a 4m-class telescope. Comparison lamp exposures (CuAr + CuNe) were taken between consecutive spectra of the same object. The absolute flux calibration was achieved by observations of the standard stars Feige 15, Feige 25, Feige 56 (Stone, 1977), Feige 34, G191 B2B (Massey et al., 1988), and BD+33 2642 (Oke, 1990). The correction for atmospheric extinction was performed using an average curve for the continuous atmospheric extinction at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory.

The data were reduced using the standard $`IRAF`$222IRAF is distributed by NOAO, which is operated by AURA, under cooperative agreement with NSF. LONGSLIT reduction package to perform bias corrections, flatfielding, cosmic ray rejection and flux calibration.

## 3 Line Intensities and Physical Conditions

Line intensities were measured integrating all the flux in the line between two given limits and over a local continuum estimated by eye. In the few cases of line-blending, the line flux of each individual line was derived from a multiple Gaussian profile fit procedure. All these measurements were made with the SPLOT routine of the $`IRAF`$ package.

All the line intensities of a given spectrum have been normalized to a particular bright recombination line present in each wavelength interval. For the blue spectra the reference line was H$`\beta `$. For NGC 604, NGC 5461 and NGC 2363 it was necessary to take shorter exposures in the red arm to avoid problems of saturation of H$`\alpha `$. In these three objects we normalized the line intensities measured in the longer exposure spectra to He I $`\lambda `$ 5876 Å. Finally, the intensity ratios were re-scaled to the $`I`$(He I 5876)/$`I`$(H$`\alpha `$) ratio obtained from the shorter exposure red spectra.

The reddening coefficient, $`C`$(H$`\beta `$), was determined by fitting iteratively the observed $`I`$(H$`\beta `$)/$`I`$(H$`\gamma `$) ratio to the theoretical one computed by Storey & Hummer (1995) for the physical conditions determined for each object (see below) and assuming the extinction law of Seaton (1979). The Balmer line intensities were not corrected for the presence of underlying stellar absorption lines due to their large equivalent widths in emission. In Table 2 we present the $`EW`$(H$`\beta `$) values for all the objects. Alternatively, the $`\lambda \lambda `$ 4388, 4471, and 4922 He I lines present in Table 2 were corrected for underlying absorption considering the starburst models of González-Delgado, Leitherer, & Heckman (1999) and considering that the observed continuum is due to a stellar component plus a nebular component. The observed intensities of these helium lines (corrected for reddening but not for underlying absorption) were: 0.50, 4.14, and 1.07 for NGC 604; 0.41, 4.11, and 1.09 for NGC 5461; 0.41, 3.89, and 0.89 for NGC 5471; and 0.46, 3.93, and 0.98 for NGC 2363. The line intensities of the blue arm spectra were corrected for reddening with respect to H$`\beta `$ and the red arm ones with respect to H$`\alpha `$. Finally, the resulting reddening corrected line ratios of the red arm spectra were re-scaled to $`I`$(H$`\beta `$) simply multiplying by the theoretical $`I`$(H$`\alpha `$)/$`I`$(H$`\beta `$) corresponding to the physical conditions derived for each nebula.

The values of $`C`$(H$`\beta `$) obtained are consistent with those obtained by other authors for NGC 604 (0.30: Díaz et al., 1987) and NGC 5471 (0.02: Garnett et al. 1999; 0.18: Luridiana et al. 2002), slightly lower in the case of NGC 5461 (0.56: Garnett et al. 1999; 0.45: Luridiana et al. 2002), and clearly higher in the case of NGC 2363 (0.25: Peimbert et al. 1986; 0.20: González-Delgado et al. 1994). The reason of the large difference found in the case of NGC 2363 is unknown but seems to be a real feature and not an error in the flux calibration nor an effect of atmospheric refraction. The final spectrum used for NGC 2363 is a combination of several spectra taken in two consecutive nights, calibrated independently with different standard stars and giving a similar value of $`C`$(H$`\beta `$) (0.74 for February 25th and 0.66 for February 26th). In any case, the effect on the derived intensity ratios is not large because the emission lines of the blue arm spectra have been corrected for reddening with respect to H$`\beta `$ and those of the red arm with respect to H$`\alpha `$. Therefore, the wavelength baseline between the lines is not large enough to produce strong intensity uncertainties. By comparing the intensities obtained from our $`C`$(H$`\beta `$) value with those obtained from the $`C`$(H$`\beta `$) value by González-Delgado et al. (1994) the differences in the line intensities reach a maximum of 15% for the C II 4267 Å , \[N II\] 5755 Å , and He I 5876 Å lines and are considerably smaller for the other lines.

The final list of observed wavelengths (referred to the heliocentric reference frame) and line intensities (including their uncertainties) relative to H$`\beta `$ for all the objects is presented in Table 2. Colons indicate uncertainties of the order of or larger than 40 per cent. For a given emission line, the observed wavelength is determined by the centroid of a Gaussian fit of its line profile and it is included in columns 5, 7 , 9, and 11 of Table 2.

Figures 1 to 4 show the spectra of the four GEHRs observed. Enlargement of the spectral zones containing C II 4267 Å line and the lines of multiplet 1 of O II (around 4650 Å) are included in the figures. It is evident that the C II 4267 Å line is well measured in the spectra of NGC 604 and NGC 5461 and barely detected in NGC 2363 and NGC 5471. Grandi (1976) showed that recombination dominates the excitation of C II 4267 Å by an order of magnitude. This line comes from a transition involving terms with large $`l`$ values (3$`d^2D`$-4$`f^2F^0`$), levels that cannot be excited by permitted resonance transitions from the ground term (2$`p^2D^0`$). We have detected several lines of different multiplets of O II in the spectra of the GEHRs observed. In most of the cases the lines are at the detection level, only those belonging to multiplet 1 –the brightest one– have enough signal-to-noise ratio to be reasonably well measured (see Figures 1 to 4). Several lines of multiplet 1 of O II are measured in the objects except in the case of NGC 5471, where only one line is detected. It is worth noting that LS-coupling predicts that O II 4649 Å is the brightest line of multiplet 1, and this is what it is observed in NGC 5461, NGC 2363, and also in the Orion nebula (Esteban et al., 1998). However, in the case of NGC 604 that line is too weak with respect the other lines of the multiplet. This anomalous trend has been reported in the spectra of the two slit positions observed in M17 by Esteban et al. (1999b) as well as in the three Magellanic Cloud H II regions observed by Tsamis et al. (2003), but to a lesser extent, in some planetary nebulae (Liu, 2003). Liu (2003) pointed out that this might be caused by the under-population of the ground $`{}_{}{}^{3}P_{2}^{}`$ fine-structure level of the recombining O++ relative to its statistical equilibrium value. The excitation mechanism of the O II spectrum was also investigated by Grandi (1976). The presence of many emission lines of different multiplets of O II in the spectra of H II regions cannot be explained by resonance fluorescence, in fact some of those observed in NGC 604 come from 4f-3d transitions (multiplets 66 and 67) these lines cannot be excited by fluorescence from the 2$`p^3`$$`{}_{}{}^{4}S_{}^{0}`$ ground level. Therefore, recombination is the dominant excitation mechanism of the observed O II lines in NGC 604, but very probably for H II regions in general.

We have observed several lines of Si II in all the objects. These lines belong to multiplets 2 and 4, which correspond to doublets. Grandi (1976) has found that starlight excitation of the 5$`s^2S`$ and 4$`d^2D`$ terms (levels that feed the observed transitions) dominates over recombination in producing the observed intensities in H II regions. Other interesting lines observed are those of Mg I\], the strongest semiforbidden optical lines in nebular spectra, corresponding to $`{}_{}{}^{1}S_{0}^{}^3P_{1,2}`$ transitions. These lines have been observed in bright planetary nebulae (PNe) and are always weak, with intensity in the range 0.05-1.00 per cent of the H$`\beta `$ intensity (see Allan et al., 1988, and references therein). Baldwin et al. (2000) measured the Mg I\] 4571.1 Å line in the Orion nebula (intensity about 0.009 percent of H$`\beta `$), as far as we know, the first detection of this line reported in an H II region. Clegg et al. (1987) and Allan et al. (1988) have found that the weakness of this line in PNe is due to the Mg0+H+ charge-transfer reaction, in the absence of which the intensity would be higher. This conclusion can be also applied to the spectra of H II regions.

In Figures 1 and 2 it can be seen that NGC 604 and NGC 5461 show broad emission features around $`\lambda `$ 4650 Å and $`\lambda `$ 5800 Å, which are produced by Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. The bump in the blue spectra is produced by the blend of He II 4686 Å, N III 4640 Å, and perhaps N V 4620 Å, characteristic of WN stars. On the other hand, the detection of the C IV 5808 Å broad emission feature indicates the presence of WC stars which can also contribute to a fraction of the emission around $`\lambda `$ 4650 Å. The detection of WR stars in NGC 604 was independently reported by D’Odorico & Rosa (1981) and Conti & Massey (1981). In their spectroscopical study of NGC 604 D’Odorico, Rosa, & Wampler (1983) detect WC emission at their zone D, which encompasses the brightest part of our slit position in this object. Drissen, Moffat, & Shara (1993) obtain $`HST`$ images of the ionizing cluster of NGC 604 finding three individual WR stars (their WR1, WR2a, and WR2b) in the zone in common with our extracted 1-D spectrum. In the case of NGC 5461, the presence of the blue WR bump around 4650 Å was first detected by Rayo, Peimbert, & Torres-Peimbert (1982) and later confirmed by D’Odorico, Rosa, & Wampler (1983). Our deep spectrum of NGC 5461 has revealed also a faint bump corresponding to C IV 5808 Å, this indicates -for the first time- the presence of WC stars in this region.

There are several references about the detection of WR stars in NGC 5471, (see Schaerer, Contini, & Pindao, 1999, and references therein), but we only find faint narrow He II 4686 Å emission in our deep spectrum. Izotov, Thuan, & Lipovetsky (1997) report broad and nebular He II 4686 Å emission in the brightest zone of NGC 2363 (zone A). However, we only find nebular He II 4686 Å emission in this zone.

The O II lines of multiplet 1 are in the problematic spectral zone where the WR emission feature is present. This could lead to be suspicious of some contamination of stellar emission in the lines identified as O II. However, several reasons lead us to be fairly confident that the emission lines identified as belonging to O II are of true nebular nature and not due to stellar emission. Firstly, the detection of several lines that can be identified as of O II (except for NGC 5471). Secondly, the observed rest wavelength of all the lines are consistent with their identification as O II ones inside the uncertainties in the wavelength calibration. Finally, they have a line width similar to that of the rest of the nebular lines. In fact the width of the WR bump in NGC 604 and NGC 5461 is clearly much broader than the nebular lines. Our relatively high spectral resolution permits a proper discrimination between nebular and stellar emission in this problematic spectral zone.

In Table 3 we show the physical conditions derived for the four GEHRs from the observed emission line ratios and the five-level program for the analysis of emission line nebulae of Shaw & Dufour (1995). The electron density, $`N_e`$ has been derived from the ratio of the \[S II\] 6717, 6731 Å doublet for all the objects and also from the \[Ar IV\] 4711, 4740 Å doublet in the case of the higher degree of ionization nebulae (NGC 5471 and NGC 2363). The electron temperature, $`T_e`$ has been derived from both the \[O III\] and \[N II\] emission line ratios. The values of $`N_e`$ and $`T_e`$ obtained are in good agreement with those reported in previous works. In the case of NGC 2363, we report the first determination of $`T`$(\[N II\]).

## 4 Ionic Abundances from Collisionally Excited Lines

Ionic abundances of N+, O++, S+, S++, Ar++, Ar3+, and K3+ have been obtained from the intensity of CELs, using the five-level atom program of Shaw & Dufour (1995), and the atomic parameters referenced in it. We have measured several \[Fe III\] lines in all the H II regions and detected \[Fe IV\] lines in NGC 5471 (one line) and NGC 2363 (four lines). Although \[Fe III\] lines were previously reported in NGC 5461 (Torres-Peimbert, Peimbert, & Fierro, 1989) and NGC 5471 (Skillman, 1985), the Fe++/H+ ratio has been never determined for these objects. Following Rodríguez (2002), we have used the Fe III collision strengths of Zhang (1996) and transition probabilities of Quinet (1996) to obtain the Fe++ abundance. No optical \[Fe IV\] lines have been previously detected with confidence in H II regions. Izotov, Chaffee & Schaerer (2001) report a dubious detection of \[Fe IV\] 4907 Å in a low resolution spectrum of the blue compact dwarf galaxy SBS 0335-052 and Rubin et al. (1997) report the detection of \[Fe IV\] 2837 Å in the UV spectrum of the Orion nebula. Therefore NGC 2363 and NGC 5471 are -by now- the H II regions where optical \[Fe IV\] lines have been most clearly identified. The Fe3+/H+ ratio has been determined considering all collisional and downward radiative transitions from the 33 lower levels of Fe3+. To make these calculations we have used the collision strengths of Zhang & Pradhan (1997) and the transition probabilities recommended by Froese Fischer & Rubin (1998) and those of Garstang (1978) for those transitions not included in that reference. We have assumed a two-zone scheme for deriving the ionic abundances, adopting $`T`$(\[O III\]) for the high-ionization-potential ions O++, S++, Ar++, Ar3+, K3+, and Fe3+ and $`T`$(\[N II\]) for the low-ionization-potential ions N+, S+, and Fe++. The ionic abundances obtained are listed in Table 4.

## 5 Ionic Abundances from Recombination Lines

We can derive ionic abundances from RLs for C++, and O++ and they are presented in Table 5. C II 4267 Å is a case-insensitive recombination line and it is located in a spectral zone without problems of line-blending. These important features make C II 4267 Å a suitable line to derive a proper value of the C++ abundance. We have used the C II $`\alpha _{eff}`$ values recently calculated by Davey, Storey, & Kisielius (2000) to derive the C++ abundance. We have assumed $`T`$(\[O III\]) as representative of the zone where this ion is located. The C++/H+ ratio obtained for each object is included in Table 5. There are two previous calculations of the effective recombination coefficient for C II 4267 Å one by Pequignot, Petitjean, & Boisson (1991) and other by Pengelly (1963). We have compared the C++/H+ ratios obtained making use of the different CII $`\alpha _{eff}`$ values finding that Davey, Storey, & Kisielius (2000) and Pequignot, Petitjean, & Boisson (1991) give virtually the same abundances (inside $`\pm `$0.01 dex) whilst the CII $`\alpha _{eff}`$ obtained by Pengelly (1963) gives C++/H+ ratios about 0.08 dex higher.

Storey (1994) has computed the O II $`\alpha _{eff}`$, assuming LS coupling and different cases (A, B, and C). We have used these coefficients to derive the O++ abundances listed in Table 5. The physical conditions assumed are the same as for the C II calculations. The abundances determined from multiplet 1 are almost independent of the case but case B seems to be more appropriate for quartets (see Liu et al., 1995). Taking into account the faintness of the individual lines of O II we have derived the abundances adding the intensity of all the observed lines of multiplet 1 and multiplying it by a correction factor which introduces the expected contribution of unobserved lines of the multiplet assuming LS-coupling (see Esteban et al., 1998). The abundance derived by this method reduce the observational errors related with the faintness of the lines and minimize the effects of possible departures from LS-coupling, as it has been noticed to occur in several objects considering the weakness of O II 4649 Å line with respect the other ones of the same multiplet (see Sect. 6).

## 6 Temperature fluctuations in GEHRs

Ionic abundances from CELs often differ from those derived from RLs in ionized nebulae. Esteban et al. (1998, 1999a, 1999b) have found that the difference is between 0.1 and 0.3 dex in three of the brightest Galactic H II regions. Moreover, Tsamis et al. (2003) obtain similar differences for the Orion nebula and M17 and between 0.30 and 0.69 dex for three Magellanic Clouds H II regions. In the case of planetary nebulae (PNe) the differences vary from one object to another and can be as large as a factor of ten for some PNe (Rola & Stasińska, 1994; Peimbert, Torres-Peimbert, & Luridiana, 1995; Liu, 2002). This discrepancy between the abundances obtained from CELs and RLs is a crucial problem because most of our knowledge of chemical abundances in distant objects -specially in extragalactic ones- comes from determinations based on the intensity of CELs.

Torres-Peimbert et al. (1980) proposed that the abundance discrepancy between calculations based on CELs and RLs may be produced by the presence of spatial fluctuations of the electron temperature in the nebulae, parametrized by $`t^2`$ (Peimbert, 1967). This is due to the different dependence of the emissivity of CELs and RLs on electron temperature, $`T_e`$. While the ratio of two RLs is almost independent of $`T_e`$, the ratio of a CEL with respect to a RL is strongly dependent on it.

Another argument in favor of the presence of temperature variations in gaseous nebulae is the determination of $`t^2`$ and $`T_0`$ based on $`T`$(\[O III\]) and $`T`$(Bac). Some of the best determinations of $`T`$(Bac) in planetary nebulae are those by Peimbert (1971), Liu & Danziger (1993), Liu et al. (1995, 2000, 2001). Liu et al.(2001), presented a good correlation between $`Log(\mathrm{O}^{++}/\mathrm{H}^+)_{RL}/(\mathrm{O}^{++}/\mathrm{H}^+)_{CEL}`$ and $`T`$(\[O III\])–$`T`$(Bac) and mention that this correlation strongly supports the idea that the temperature variations are real, moreover Torres-Peimbert & Peimbert (2003) find that there is good agreemnet between the $`t^2`$ values determined from the CELs/Rls values and those determined from $`T`$(\[O III\]) and $`T`$(Bac) for three of the planetary nebulae with the largest $`t^2`$ values in the literature.

Torres-Peimbert and Peimbert(2003) present a review on tempertaure variations in planetary nebulae and discuss seven possible causes that could explain temperature variations in a given object. One of the possible explanations could be due to the presence of a small mass of extremely cold ($`T_e`$ $``$ 103 K), metal and helium-rich inclusions embedded in diffuse material of “normal” temperature and abundances (see Liu 2002, 2003; Pequignot et al. 2002, 2003) This mechanism is not important in H II regions because they are not directly produced by stellar ejecta. Esteban(2002) reviews indirect evidence that indicates the presence of temperature variations in H II regions.

Assuming the validity of the temperature fluctuations paradigm, the comparison of the abundances determined from both kinds of lines for a given ion should provide an estimation of $`t^2`$. In Table 6 we compare the O++/H+ and C++/H+ ratios obtained from CELs and RLs and the $`t^2`$ values that produce the agreement between both. For the O++/H+ ratios, the values obtained from RLs are always about 0.2 to 0.35 dex larger than those derived from CELs measured in the same spectra, the associated $`t^2`$ parameter is between 0.027 and 0.128. For the C++/H+ ratios the comparison between values obtained from CELs and RLs is not so direct. The brightest CELs of C++ are \[C III\] 1907 $`+`$ C III\] 1909Å , which are in the UV and have to be measured from space observations. Garnett et al. (1999) have observed NGC 5461 and NGC 5471 with the $`FOS`$ spectrograph at the $`HST`$ deriving their C++ abundance. The C++/H+ values included in Table 6 are the higher and lower limits computed by Garnett et al. (1999) because of the uncertainty in the choice of UV reddening function from their data. Peimbert, Peña, & Torres-Peimbert (1986) obtained $`IUE`$ measurements of the \[C III\] 1907 $`+`$ C III\] 1909Å lines for NGC 2363 and derived its C++/H+ ratio, which is also included in Table 6. For NGC 5471 and NGC 2363 the values of $`t^2`$ obtained from the comparison of the C++ abundances are consistent with those obtained from O++/H+. For NGC 5461 only the C++/H+ ratio derived assuming $`R_V`$ = 5 give a $`t^2`$ consistent with that estimated from the comparison of O++ abundances.

The values of $`t^2`$ obtained for bright Galactic H II regions by Esteban et al. (1998, 1999a, 1999b) are also included in Table 6 for comparison. It is important to remark that the C++ abundance of the two slit positions observed for M17 by Esteban et al. (1999b) are now corrected due to an error present in that paper \[12+log(C++/H+) is actually 8.57 and 8.69 for slit positions 3 and 14 and not 8.76 and 8.88 as it was indicated in that paper\] . In the cases of NGC 604 and NGC 5461, the magnitude of the fluctuations is modest and of the same order than those determined for the Galactic objects. Only the GEHRs of lower metallicity –but also higher observational uncertainties: NGC 5471 and NGC 2363– show larger values of $`t^2`$. Observations of higher accuracy are needed to test this result.

The presence of $`t^2`$ in GEHRs has been a secular matter of discussion without a well established observational basis. The first indirect evidence reported was the significant differences between the O/H ratios obtained using the $`R_{23}`$ empirical calibration based on models and on observations. The differences are typically in the 0.2$``$0.4 dex range. Several authors suggested that such differences could be due to the presence of temperature inhomogeneities over the observed volume (Campbell, 1988; Torres-Peimbert, Peimbert, & Fierro, 1989; McGaugh, 1991). It is worth noting also that Peimbert, Sarmiento, & Fierro (1991) indicate that, in the presence of processes increasing the intensity of \[O III\] 4363 Å line (i. e. shocks) the \[O III\] 5007 Å and \[O II\] 3727 Å lines, and consequently $`R_{23}`$, are almost unaffected.

There are few estimations of $`t^2`$ available for extragalactic objects. González-Delgado et al. (1994) find large values of $`t^2`$=0.064-0.098 for NGC 2363 from the comparison of $`T`$(\[O III\]) and $`T`$(Pac), values not too different from our results. On the other hand, Terlevich et al. (1996) obtain $`t^2`$$``$0.00 for NGC 604 making use of the same method. However, the derivation of $`t^2`$ from the comparison of $`T`$(\[O III\]) and $`T`$(Pac) –or $`T`$(Bac)– has a large intrinsic uncertainty. Luridiana, Peimbert, & Leitherer (1999) have computed photoionization models for NGC 2363 and compare them with optical observational data. They are able to reproduce the observed emission-line spectrum and other properties of NGC 2363 only if they assume a metallicity 2.5 times higher than usually adopted and derived from the intensity of CELs. Luridiana, Peimbert, & Leitherer (1999) propose that the presence of temperature fluctuations can explain this discrepancy. It is remarkable that our results are in complete agreement with this suggestion. In fact, if we take the O/H abundance as reference of the metallicity and that O/H is largely O++/H+ in NGC 2363, our O++ abundance obtained from RLs is about 2.2 larger than the value we obtain from CELs. Following the conclusions by Luridiana, Peimbert, & Leitherer (1999), with this corrected metallicity for NGC 2363 it is possible: a) to reconcile the presence of WR stars with the current models of stellar evolution; b) reproduce most of the characteristics of the observed spectrum of the nebula; c) obtain a better agreement with the metallicity estimated making use of the $`R_{23}`$ parameter.

Another estimation of $`t^2`$ in an extragalactic H II region has been obtained by Peimbert, Peimbert, & Ruíz (2000) for NGC 346 who find $`t^2`$=0.022 from the comparison of $`T`$(\[O III\]) and $`T`$(Bac) and a self-consistent determination of $`T`$(He II). Additional indications of the possible presence of $`t^2`$ in GEHR and starburst galaxies have been given by Esteban & Peimbert (1995) and Pérez (1997). Esteban & Peimbert (1995) studied the chemical enrichment produced by massive stars in Wolf-Rayet galaxies, finding that the apparent abnormal position of some of these objects in O vs. $`Y`$ and N vs. $`Y`$ diagrams can be explained by the effect of large $`t^2`$ in the ionized gas associated with the intense star-forming bursts. On the other hand, Pérez (1997) has investigated the change of the ionization structure during the first Myrs of the evolution of a starburst. He has shown that large temperature fluctuations arise naturally in homogeneous gaseous spheres when the spectral energy distribution of the ionizing cluster hardens at about 3 Myr, coinciding with the onset of the WR phase.

Stasińska (2000) has discussed the problems that detailed photoionization models face to reproduce the observed \[O III\] $`\lambda `$4363/5007 ratio of several GEHRs classified as Wolf-Rayet galaxies. The models always predict lower ratios than observed. In the case of I Zw 18, Stasińska & Schaerer (1999) obtain a temperature discrepancy of the order of 30%, which is a rather large value. Stasińska (2000) considers that the classical photoionization models fail and that temperature fluctuations produced by an unknown process could be present in these objects.

## 7 Helium abundances

The He/H value in an H II region is derived from recombination lines that are proportional to $`N_eN(X^{+i})`$, therefore the total He/H value can be obtained from:

$$\frac{N(\mathrm{He})}{N(\mathrm{H})}=\frac{N_eN(\mathrm{He}^0)𝑑V+N_eN(\mathrm{He}^+)𝑑V+N_eN(\mathrm{He}^{++})𝑑V}{N_eN(\mathrm{H}^0)𝑑V+N_eN(\mathrm{H}^+)𝑑V},$$
(1)
in particular it is important to include the $`N_e`$ factors when there are neutral atoms in regions of appreciable electron density. Equation (1) can be approximated by:

$$\frac{N(\mathrm{He})}{N(\mathrm{H})}=ICF(\mathrm{He})\frac{N(\mathrm{He}^+)+N(\mathrm{He}^{++})}{N(\mathrm{H}^+)}.$$
(2)
To obtain He+/H+ values we need a set of effective recombination coefficients for the He and H lines, the contribution due to collisional excitation to the helium line intensities, and an estimate of the optical depth effects for the helium lines. The recombination coefficients that we used were those by Hummer & Storey (1987) and Storey & Hummer (1995) for H, and Smits (1996) for He. The collisional contribution to the helium lines was estimated from Kingdon & Ferland (1995) and Benjamin, Skillman, & Smits (1999). The collisional contribution to the hydrogen lines was not taken into account. The optical depth effects in the triplet lines were estimated from the computations by Robbins (1968).

In Table 7 we present the He+/H+ values derived from six helium lines assuming no temperature variations; consequently $`t^2=0.00`$ and $`T_e`$(\[He II\]) is given by the observed $`T_e`$(\[O III\]) value. To estimate the optical depth of the triplet lines -represented by $`\tau (3889)`$\- and $`N_e`$(He ii) we made use of Table 3 and the intensity of He I 7065 Å, which is very sensitive to both quantities; fortunately, the other helium line intensities are considerably less sensitive to $`N_e`$(He ii) and $`\tau (3889)`$. The $`<`$He+/H$`{}_{}{}^{+}>`$ value is based on the other helium lines excluding He I 7065 Å, with the exception of NGC 2363 where He I 5876 Å was also excluded due to an uncertain reddening correction. The He++/H+ values presented in Table 7 were obtained from the He II 4686 Å to H($`\beta `$) ratio using line emissivities calculated by Hummer & Storey (1987) and Storey & Hummer (1995). The He0/H+ and $`ICF`$(He) values presented in Table 7 were estimated from CLOUDY (Peimbert & Peimbert, 2002; Luridiana et al., 2002).

Similarly in Table 8 we present the He+/H+ values derived from six helium lines assuming temperature variations; consequently $`t^2>0.00`$ and $`T_e`$(\[He II\]) is smaller than the observed $`T_e`$(\[O III\]) value (Peimbert, Peimbert, & Luridiana, 2002).

## 8 Heavy element abundances

To derive the total abundances we need to adopt a $`t^2`$ value and to correct for unseen ionization stages by using ionization correction factors. The values of $`t^2`$ adopted for each object are those obtained from the comparison of the O++/H+ ratios obtained from CELs and RLs, which are given in Table 6. To correct the ionic abundances derived for the effect of temperature fluctuations we have made use of the expressions given by Peimbert & Costero (1969), some reference photoionization models by Stasińska (1990) (model C2C1 for NGC 604; C2B1 for NGC 5461; the average of C2D1 and D2D1 for NGC 5471; D4E1 for NGC 2363), and the most recent atomic parameters and line emissivities available for the different ions used. Since we do not observe \[O II\] lines in our spectra, we have derived the O+/H+ ratio from the intensity of \[O II\] 3727 Å doublet reported by other authors (references given in Table 9) for the brightest zones of each nebulae and assuming our values for the physical conditions. The uncorrected and corrected ionic and total abundances are presented in Table 9.

The absence or faintness of the He II 4686 Å line (and the low He++/H+ ratio associated) and the similarity between the ionization potentials of He+ and O++ implies the absence of significant O3+ in the objects. Therefore, to obtain the total oxygen abundance we have simply added the O+/H+ and O++/H+ ratios.

To derive the N abundance we have used the usual $`ICF`$ based on the similarity between the ionization potential of N+ and O+ (Peimbert & Costero, 1969) for all the objects. For these objects the models of Stasińska (1990) give values of the $`ICFs`$ similar to the $`ICFs`$ by Peimbert and Costero. Alternatively the models based on CLOUDY give $`ICFs`$ somewhat larger (Relaño, Peimbert, & Beckman, 2002; Luridiana et al., 2002).

To derive the C abundance we only have direct determinations of the C++/H+ ratios therefore we have adopted the following equation

$$\frac{N(\mathrm{C})}{N(\mathrm{H})}=\frac{N(\mathrm{O})}{N(\mathrm{H})}\frac{N(\mathrm{C})}{N(\mathrm{O})}=\frac{N(\mathrm{O})}{N(\mathrm{H})}ICF(\mathrm{C}^{++}/\mathrm{O}^{++})\frac{N(\mathrm{C}^{++})}{N(\mathrm{O}^{++})},$$
(3)
where the C++/O++ ratios are determined from RLs. The $`ICF`$(C++/O++) values have been estimated from the models by Stasińska (1990) and Garnett et al. (1999) and fortunately are close to one.

We have measured CELs from two ionization stages of S: S+ and S++. Taking into account the ionization degree of the objects, an $`ICF`$ for the presence of S3+ has to be considered in all cases. We have adopted the $`ICF`$ given by the reference models, and the expected amount of S3+ results to be important in all cases, ranging from 1.45 for NGC 5461 to 5.15 for NGC 2363. Taking into account these high $`ICF`$s we consider that the total S abundance we have derived is uncertain, specially for the objects of higher ionization degree: NGC 5471 and NGC 2363.

For Ar we have determinations of Ar++/H+ and Ar3+/H+. We do not expect significant contributions of Ar4+ but some Ar+ may be present. We have adopted the $`ICF`$(Ar+++Ar3+) given by the reference photoionization models of Stasińska for all the objects. The $`ICFs`$ are always very small being the largest that of NGC 5461, which amounts to 1.06.

We have measured lines of only one stage of ionization (Fe++) for NGC 604 and NGC 5461. In the case of NGC 5471 and NGC 2363 we have also detected lines of Fe3+. The contribution of Fe3+ is expected to be very important. On the other hand, some small contribution of Fe+ should be present, mainly in the nebulae of lower ionization degree. For all the objects, we have estimated the Fe/H ratio from the derived Fe++ abundance and adopting the $`ICF`$(Fe++) given by the reference photoionization models. These models give very large values of that factor ranging from 6.2 to 41 (for NGC 604 and NGC 2363 respectively). We have compared with the $`ICF`$ given by the relation between the Fe++ abundance and O+/O++ obtained by Rodríguez (1996) from the models of Gruenwald & Viegas (1992), finding that the differences with our adopted values of the $`ICF`$(Fe++) are only about 0.1 dex. In the cases of NGC 5471 and NGC 2363 we have also derived the gas-phase Fe/H ratio simply adding the Fe++/H+ and Fe3+/H+ ratios, which are expected to contain about the 97% of the total Fe abundance in the gas-phase according to the reference models. The Fe/H ratio obtained assuming $`ICF`$s are in both cases much larger than the direct determination (0.35 dex for NGC 5471 and 0.65 for NGC 2363). This result was also obtained by Rubin et al. (1997) in the case of the Orion nebula, where their determination of the Fe/H ratio from the intensity of \[Fe IV\] 2837 Å line are much lower than the values obtained from the Fe++/H+ ratios and assuming an $`ICF`$ from detailed photoionization models. We agree with the suggestion of Rubin et al. (1997) that a reexamination of Fe3+ atomic data and perhaps improving H II region modeling would help to solve this problem.

## 9 Discussion

### 9.1 The O/H and C/H gradients in M101

The determination of the O/H and C/H ratios in NGC 5461 and NGC 5471 allows to derive the radial abundance gradients of these two elements in M101. The galactocentric distance of both H II regions is very different. NGC 5461 is located at 11.1 kpc and NGC 5471 at 26.2 kpc assuming a distance of 7.5 Mpc for M101 (Kelson et al., 1996).

The oxygen abundance gradient has been derived for M101 by many authors (Evans, 1986; Vila-Costas & Edmunds, 1992; Henry & Howard, 1995; Kennicutt & Garnett, 1996; Pilyugin, 2001). Our value of $``$0.038 dex kpc-1 has been computed from the O/H ratios obtained from RLs (using CELs and $`t^2=0.00`$ the slope becomes $``$0.035 dex kpc-1) and it is consistent with previous determinations ($``$0.044: Vila-Costas and Edmunds 1992; $``$0.040 to $``$0.050: Kennicutt and Garnett 1992; $``$0.028: Pilyugin 2001) although it is rather uncertain due to the large observational error of the O/H ratio of NGC 5471.

Garnett et al. (1999) based on $`HST`$ UV observations determined the presence of C/H and C/O gradients in external galaxies for the first time. For M101, those authors estimate two values of the C/H and two values for the C/O gradient depending on the $`R_V`$ value adopted (see Table 10). Our values of the C/H and C/O gradients derived from RLs are independent of the $`R_V`$ value adopted and are also presented in Table 10.

The values of C/O obtained for the objects in this paper based on RLs are similar or larger than previous determinations based on the intensity of CELs. For NGC 5461, our value is similar to that obtained by Garnett et al. (1999) assuming $`R_V`$ = 5 ($``$0.37 dex) but smaller than their C/O ratio for $`R_V`$ = 3.1 ($``$0.03 dex). For NGC 5471 and NGC 2363 our C/O ratios are 0.22 and 0.05 dex higher that those obtained by other authors (Garnett et al., 1999; Peimbert, Peña, & Torres-Peimbert, 1986).

The value of the C/H gradient and the C/O ratio derived by us for NGC 5461 favor the results for $`R_V`$ = 5.0 of Garnett et al. (1999). Our C/H value for NGC 5471 is very uncertain, therefore for the following discussion we will consider the C/O gradient of Garnett et al. (1999) for $`R_V`$ = 5.0.

### 9.2 The C/O ratio and chemical evolution

The exact value of the C/O gradient in a spiral galaxy is a strong constraint for models of chemical evolution and the star formation history. The evolution of C/O with O/H is very sensitive to the star formation/enrichment timescale because the different initial mass range of the main producers of both elements.

The O/H gradient for the Milky Way obtained by Esteban et al. (1999b) based on RLs is rather similar to the value found for M101 and it has been also included in Table 10 for comparison. The slope of the Galactic C/H gradient included in Table 10 is a revision of the value given by Esteban et al. (1999b) in their Table 13. This new slope has been re-calculated considering the recombination coefficients by Davey, Storey, & Kisielius (2000) and an error in the C++/H+ ratio of M 17 present in that paper (see Sect. 6).

A general correlation between C/O and O/H was obtained by Garnett et al. (1995) from UV observations of H II regions of dwarf irregular galaxies. This trend was later confirmed by Garnett et al. (1999) from similar observations of six H II regions in the spiral galaxies M101 and NGC 2403. We have found a similar behavior in our data, which are shown in Figure 5 along with the values for the Orion nebula, M8 and M17 (Esteban et al., 1998, 1999a, 1999b), and the Sun (Allende-Prieto, Lambert, & Asplund, 2001; Holweger, 2001). This graph is relevant because all the nebular data included are abundances derived from recombination lines, almost insensitive to potential electron temperature variations inside the nebulae.

The presence of C/O gradients in the Milky Way and M101 is a reflection of this correlation between C/O and metallicity. The behavior of C/O vs. O/H can be approximated by a power law

$$\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{C}/\mathrm{O})=a+b\mathrm{log}(\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{H})$$
(4)
We have performed a regression analysis of the nebular data included in Figure 5 finding $`b`$ = 0.56 $`\pm `$ 0.10 (by considering only the four GEHRS we find $`b`$ = 0.30 $`\pm `$ 0.15) . This value of the slope is consistent with those obtained by Garnett et al. (1997) from a compilation of data for dwarf irregular galaxies (0.41$`\pm `$0.07) and the larger compilation by Henry & Worthey (1999) that includes irregular and spiral galaxies (slope between 0.48 and 0.59). This behaviour gives important insights into the origin and evolution of both elements. Simple chemical evolution models with instantaneous recycling predict a C/O = constant if both C and O are pure primary elements, and C/O $``$ O/H if O is primary and C secondary. As Garnett et al. (1999) have pointed out, since only primary sources of C are known to exist, the observed behavior of C/O vs. O/H indicates that the instantaneous recycling approximation does not hold for both elements and/or the yield of C varies with respect to O. In chemical evolution models that assume infall of primordial gas without galactic winds or radial outflows and a star formation rate proportional to $`\sigma _{gas}^x\sigma _{tot}^{x1}`$ (where $`\sigma _{gas}`$ is the surface gas density, $`\sigma _{tot}`$ is the total surface mass density, and $`x`$ is constant in time and space), the predicted C/O ratio depends mainly on the stellar yields and the initial mass function.

Based on chemical evolution models for the Galactic disk Carigi (2000) has studied the C and O gradients assuming different sets of stellar yields dependent on metallicity. This author has shown that the observed C/O vs. O/H relation –as well as the presence of negative C/O gradients in spiral galaxies– can be explained with the metallicity-dependent yields for C and O for massive stars with radiatively driven mass loss derived by Maeder (1992). In Figure 5 we have also plotted the prediction of selected models (those that reproduce the observed relation) obtained by Carigi (2000). It can be seen that the position of the Galactic objects is well reproduced by the models. However, as Garnett et al. (1999) have pointed out changes in the assumed star formation law through its dependence on the power of the gas surface density can change the curves, mainly shifting the curves in the C/O axis. Therefore, models for the solar vicinity do not necessarily reproduce correctly the chemical evolution of galaxies with different gas consumption timescales.

### 9.3 The $`\mathrm{\Delta }Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }O`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }Z`$ ratios and chemical evolution

Additional parameters that can be used to constrain models of galactic chemical evolution are $`\mathrm{\Delta }Y/\mathrm{\Delta }O`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }Z`$; these values are obtained by assuming that the galaxies form with the primordial helium abundance and no heavy elements. The best objects to obtain this parameter are NGC 604 and NGC 5461 due to their high $`O`$ and $`Y`$ abundances.

In Table 11 we present the helium, oxygen and heavy elements by mass ($`Y`$, $`O`$, and $`Z`$) for NGC 604 and NGC 5461. To derive the $`O`$ values we have added 0.08 dex to the gaseous values to take into account the fraction of heavy elements tied up in dust grains. To derive the heavy element content by mass of NGC 604 and NGC 5461 we made the following considerations: a) we added 0.08 dex and 0.10 dex to the $`O`$ and $`C`$ gaseous abundances respectively to take into account the fraction of these atoms tied up in dust grains (Esteban et al., 1998); b) we assumed that $`C+N+O`$ were representative of the total $`Z`$ value and based on the solar abundances by Grevesse & Sauval (1998) and by Holweger (2001) we obtained that $`C+N+O`$ made up 69% of the total $`Z`$ value,

Also in Table 11 we include the $`Y`$, $`O`$ and $`Z`$ values obtained by Peimbert & Peimbert (2002) based on the line intensities by Esteban et al. (1999b) for M17, the galactic H II region with the best helium abundance determination. To derive the total $`Z`$ values these authors assumed that $`C`$, $`N`$, $`O`$ and $`Ne`$ were representative of the $`Z`$ value, and based on the solar abundances by Grevesse & Sauval (1998) and Holweger (2001) they found that these four elements amount to 79% of the total $`Z`$ value.

We have assumed the primordial helium abundances by mass recently obtained by Peimbert, Peimbert, & Luridiana (2002) of $`Y_p`$(+Hc) = 0.2475 $`\pm `$0.0025 for $`t^2`$ = 0 and $`Y_p`$(+Hc) = 0.2384$`\pm `$0.0025 for $`t^2`$ $`>`$ 0, that were obtained considering the collisional excitation of the Balmer lines (+Hc). In Table 12 we have included the values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }O`$ that we obtain assuming $`t^2`$ = 0 and $`t^2`$ $`>`$ 0.

From the data shown in Table 12 it is remarkable that we obtain fairly similar values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }Y/\mathrm{\Delta }O`$ for $`t^2`$ = 0, which range from 4.6 to 6.6. These ratios for $`t^2`$ = 0 are larger than those obtained by chemical evolution models. For the galactic disk at the solar vicinity Chiappini, Matteucci, & Gratton (1997) find $`\mathrm{\Delta }Y/\mathrm{\Delta }O`$ = 3.15, Copi (1997) derived values in the 2.4 to 3.4 range, and Carigi (2000) obtains $`\mathrm{\Delta }Y/\mathrm{\Delta }O`$ ratios between 2.9 and 4.6, while closed box models for irregular galaxies by Carigi et al. (1995) and Carigi, Colín, & Peimbert (1999) give values in the 2.95 to 4.2 range. In Table 11 we can see that the $`\mathrm{\Delta }Y/\mathrm{\Delta }O`$ ratios for $`t^2`$ $`>`$ 0 are in the 2.55 to 4 range in good agreement with the galactic chemical evolution models.

Similarly the models of chemical evolution of the Galaxy mentioned in the previous paragraph predict $`\mathrm{\Delta }Y/\mathrm{\Delta }Z`$ values in the 1.2–2 range. Again the values derived from observations under the assumption that $`t^2`$ $`>`$ 0 are in better agreement with the models than those derived under the assumption that $`t^2=0`$ (see Table 12).

## 10 Conclusions

Recombination lines of C II and O II are detected by the first time in some of the most interesting GEHRs of the Northern hemisphere. The comparison of ionic abundances obtained from these lines with those obtained from CELs suggests the presence of temperature variations inside these nebulae.

\[Fe IV\] optical lines are detected in NGC 2363 and NGC 5471, this is the clearest identification of these lines in H II regions.

The presence of values of $`t^2`$ $`>`$ 0 in GEHRs has important consequences in various fields of astrophysics, mainly because most of our knowledge about the chemical content of extragalactic objects comes from the spectra of GEHRs. The usual assumption of $`t^2=0`$ leads to underestimate the heavy element abundances derived from CELs. Moreover the usual assumption of $`t^2=0`$ leads to underestimate $`Y_p`$ the primordial helium abundance (Peimbert, Peimbert, & Ruíz, 2000; Peimbert & Peimbert, 2002).

From the RLs of C and O we confirm the existence of C/H and O/H gradients in M101 derived from CELs.

We find a poor agreement between the predicted $`\mathrm{\Delta }Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }O`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }Y`$/$`\mathrm{\Delta }Z`$ values by galactic chemical evolution models and those derived from observations under the assumption that $`t^2=0`$. Alternatively we find a good agreement between the predicted values and those derived from the RLs of C and O and the CELs of N, Ne, S, Ar, and Fe under the assumption that $`t^2`$ $`>`$ 0.

We would like to acknowledge Leticia Carigi for her help with aspects concerning chemical evolution models and Antonio Peimbert for his help on the determination of the helium abundances. We are grateful to an anonymous referee for his/her very useful comments. C. E. would like to thank all the members of the Instituto de Astronomía, UNAM, for their warm hospitality during his stays in Mexico. Financial support has been provided through grant PB97-1435-C02-01 from DGES, Spain.


text:
# Temperature and gravity of the pulsating extreme helium star LSS~3184 (BX~Cir) through its pulsation cycle Based on observations obtained at the Anglo-Australian Telescope, Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia.

## 1 Introduction

Extreme Helium stars (EHes) are a class of low-gravity, hot, evolved stars with very large helium abundances ($`99`$ per cent) and weak or non-existent hydrogen lines. They appear to be rapidly evolving to become white dwarfs. The short time the stars spend as EHes explains why few EHes are known, despite their brightness ($`L900L_{}`$).

The evolutionary history of EHes is still uncertain. The more popular proposals have been that they are formed by the merger of two white dwarfs (Webbink w84 (1984), Iben & Tutukov it84 (1984)) or that they are the result of a ‘late thermal pulse’ when the helium shell near the surface of a white dwarf ignites, causing the star to expand (Iben et al. i83 (1983)). Saio & Jeffery (sj02 (2002)) have recently shown that the white dwarf merger model is the most likely explanation. Determining the history of EHes will provide clues to the evolutionary history of possibly related stars (RCrB stars, He-rich subdwarfs, carbon stars, etc.). As the chemical abundance mixture in EHes appears to be the end result of a combination of CNO and triple-$`\alpha `$ processing, their study may provide information about physical processes occurring in a large fraction of stars.

Some EHes pulsate. The pulsations are driven through the $`\kappa `$ mechanism, with iron group (Z-bump) elements providing the needed opacity (Saio s95 (1995)). Pulsation provides additional methods to study the physical properties of stars. Radial velocities, ultraviolet spectra, and optical photometry have been used to determine the radius, gravity, temperature, mass, and absolute magnitude of two pulsating EHes: LSS 3184 and V652 Her (Lynas-Gray et al. lg84 (1984), Kilkenny et al. k99 (1999), Woolf & Jeffery wj00 (2000), Jeffery et al. jwp01 (2001)). Mass and chemical composition are the parameters which best constrain evolutionary models for EHes. In previous studies of LSS 3184 the relatively large uncertainty for the gravity produced most of the uncertainty for the mass determination.

In a recent study of pulsation models for EHes, Montañéz Rodríguez & Jeffery (mj02 (2002)) showed that the pulsation period and radial velocity curve of LSS 3184 require a mass between 0.38 and 0.5 $`M_{}`$ if the temperature is assumed to be between 22 400 and 24 000 K. However, the models with those parameters also require a luminosity smaller than half of that previously measured.

In this paper we report the determination of chemical abundances and time resolved temperature and effective gravity of LSS 3184 using spectral analysis of the optical spectra used to find radial velocities in Woolf & Jeffery (wj00 (2000)).

## 2 Observations and data reduction

The optical spectra used in this study are those used to determine radial velocities through the pulsation cycle of LSS 3184 as described in Woolf & Jeffery (wj00 (2000)). The spectra were obtained at the Anglo-Australian Telescope on the nights of 1996 May 18 and 19 using the University College London Echelle Spectrograph. Standard iraf packages were used for bias and flat field correction, reducing echelle orders to one dimensional spectra, and applying the wavelength scale using thorium-argon arc spectra. The spectral resolution is $`\lambda /\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda \mathrm{48\hspace{0.17em}000}`$.

We merged the echelle orders to produce a single spectrum for each observation covering the entire observed wavelength range. This is a fairly complicated procedure because the fluxes rarely match and frequently have opposite slopes in the sections of the echelle orders which overlap in wavelength. This is caused mostly by incomplete correction for the grating blaze function.

Combining the echelle orders without properly correcting this produces discontinuities at the wavelengths at which echelle orders begin and end. Normalizing the echelle orders by dividing by estimates of the continuum levels before merging reduces the size of the discontinuities but does not eliminate them. Furthermore, because there are uncertainties in continuum fitting, using this method makes it difficult to determine if a difference between two spectra is caused by stellar variability or by an inconsistency in continuum fitting. This problem is worse when a strong absorption feature appears near or at the end of an echelle order.

To overcome this problem, we coadded the spectra to produce an average spectrum with a high signal to noise ratio. Continuum shapes were estimated for each echelle order where it was reasonable to do so, i.e. orders without strong absorption features. Second degree polynomials, $`y=a+bx+cx^2`$, were sufficient to reproduce the curvatures present. Fifth degree polynomials were then fitted to the coefficient ($`a,b,c`$) vs echelle order curves and used to calculate “smoothed” continuum fit coefficients for all orders, including those with strong absorption features.

The smoothed continuum fits calculated with the average spectrum were then used to normalize individual spectra. The iraf procedure scombine was used to combine the echelle orders into a single normalized spectrum without the problem of discontinuities previously present.

This problem has been treated by others using somewhat different methods (e.g. Barker b84 (1984), Erspamer & North en02 (2002)).

## 3 Analysis

We determined that the individual spectra were too noisy to be used to find the temperature, gravity, and chemical composition of LSS 3184 reliably. We combined the spectra into twelve phase bins to provide spectra with high enough signal to noise ratios (STN) for our analysis $`(30<STN<50)`$ while also providing small enough time increments to allow us to measure changes to the atmospheric conditions through the pulsation cycle. The bins were selected so that the second one is centered at minimum radius (phase = 0.1). Bins are one twelfth of a cycle long ($`P=0.1065784`$ d) (Kilkenny et al. k99 (1999)) and contain between 10 and 15 individual spectra.

Determining microturbulent velocity was an iterative process. C and O abundances were found using absorption line equivalent widths and estimates of $`\mathrm{log}g`$ and $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ in the program spectrum (Jeffery et al. jwp01 (2001)). Microturbulence was varied until there was no slope in the C and O abundance vs equivalent width plots. We calculated $`\mathrm{log}g`$ and $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ assuming this microturbulence (Sect. 3.1). We then tested that the previously determined microturbulence produced C and O abundance vs equivalent width plots with no slope with the newly determined $`\mathrm{log}g`$ and $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$.

We found $`v\mathrm{sin}i`$ by fitting line widths in synthetic spectra to those in the optical spectra. Other line-broadening effects which do not affect line saturation such as macroturbulence and pulsation velocity change during the exposure may be included in the number we found. Based on the accelerations measured in Woolf & Jeffery (wj00 (2000)), the surface velocity change during a 5 minute exposure is about $`1\mathrm{kms}^1`$ for most of the pulsation cycle and about $`12\mathrm{kms}^1`$ near minimum radius. Including this velocity drift in our analysis had no substantial appreciable effect on the temperatures or gravities we calculated.

### 3.1 Temperature and gravity

We determined the temperature and effective gravity of LSS 3184 for each phase bin using the fortran90 program sfit (Jeffery et al. jwp01 (2001)). In sfit interpolated synthetic spectra are fitted to observed spectra to find the best $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ and $`\mathrm{log}g`$ values. The input spectra were calculated for a fixed chemical composition and microturbulent velocity $`\xi =6.9\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$.

Finding the best $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ and $`\mathrm{log}g`$ values for a phase bin was a two step process. In both steps we used $`v\mathrm{sin}i=15.8\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$. In the first step we let $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ vary while holding $`\mathrm{log}g`$ fixed and used the wavelength regions without strong helium lines. We found the $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ values which produced the best fits for various input $`\mathrm{log}g`$ values. In the second step we set sfit to let $`\mathrm{log}g`$ vary while holding $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ fixed and to use the wavelength regions with strong helium lines. We then found the $`\mathrm{log}g`$ values which produced the best fits for various input $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ values. Examples of spectral fits for He lines and metal lines are shown in Fig. 1. (We note that modeling the cores of strong He lines in hot He stars is a continuing problem.)

We estimated the temperature and gravity for each phase bin by plotting the $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ vs $`\mathrm{log}g`$ data for the two steps and finding the intersection of the two sets (Fig. 2). Uncertainty in the spectral data and the analysis caused intersections to occur over a range of $`T_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ and $`\mathrm{log}g`$. We can therefore only determine that the best estimate lies within the intersection range. We believe that a large part of this uncertainty occurs because the spectral fitting routine adjustments to the continuum level of the observed spectrum can improperly cancel the effects of $`\mathrm{log}g`$ differences.

The $`\mathrm{log}g`$ values we measured are effective $`\mathrm{log}g`$ values: $`\mathrm{log}g_{\mathrm{eff}}=\mathrm{log}(g_{\mathrm{rest}}+a)`$ where $`\mathrm{log}g_{\mathrm{rest}}`$ is the gravitational acceleration, $`GMr^2`$, which would be measured for the star at a current radius if it were not pulsating, and $`a`$ is the $`\mathrm{d}^2r/\mathrm{d}t^2`$ acceleration of the surface of the pulsating star. (To avoid confusion, hereafter we will refer to $`\mathrm{log}g_{\mathrm{rest}}`$ as “gravity” and $`\mathrm{d}^2r/\mathrm{d}t^2`$ as “acceleration”.) The gravity for each phase bin can be determined by subtracting the acceleration from the measured $`\mathrm{log}g_{\mathrm{eff}}`$. Fig. 3 displays $`\mathrm{log}g_{\mathrm{eff}}`$, $`\mathrm{d}^2r/\mathrm{d}t^2`$, and $`\mathrm{log}g_{\mathrm{rest}}`$ through the pulsation cycle. The phase bin at maximum acceleration (minimum radius) does not have a data point in the upper panel because the radial acceleration is larger than the effective gravity measured, giving a negative gravity. The points in the upper panel with X’s were not used to calculate the average $`\mathrm{log}g_{\mathrm{rest}}`$: they appear to be affected by the atmosphere being out of equilibrium as a result of the strong compression caused by radial acceleration near minimum radius. The error bars indicate formal measurement errors. They do not include systematic errors caused by uncertainties in the assumptions used or incomplete physics in our analysis. As will be discussed in the results section, there is obviously some important physics omitted in our analysis of the star near minimum radius.

### 3.2 Chemical composition

The chemical composition of LSS 3184 should not change with pulsation phase. We calculated elemental abundances using the combined spectra from the four phase bins closest to maximum radius (minimum temperature) when the atmosphere is changing more slowly and where assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium conditions is more reasonable. The spectral wavelengths were corrected to zero velocity prior to co-adding. This provided a representative spectrum with a high signal to noise ratio ($`\mathrm{STN}100`$) for abundance analysis.

A model atmosphere was calculated for the mean temperature and gravity found previously for the four bins. We calculated atomic abundances using this model atmosphere and the fortran90 program sfit\_synth (Jeffery et al. jwp01 (2001)) to fit synthetic spectra to the combined observed spectrum. Fe was an exception. With only three Fe III lines (4139.4, 4164.8, and 4419.6 Å) unblended and strong enough for analysis we used the program spectrum to find the Fe abundance based on their equivalent widths. We did not find any Mg lines of adequate quality to determine the Mg abundance.

## 4 Results: physical properties of LSS 3184

The effective temperature and effective gravity for each phase bin are listed in Table 1. The uncertainties quoted for our data are formal errors based on how precisely the models predict temperature and gravity. They do not include uncertainties in the physics that went into the models. Near minimum radius where non-equilibrium effects occur the model uncertainties are large.

The variation of effective gravity with phase is displayed in Fig. 3. The difference in radius at maximum and minimum provides a gravity change of only 0.04 dex in $`\mathrm{log}g`$, so the effective gravity variation is primarily caused by acceleration of the star’s surface due to pulsation. When we use spectroscopy to measure gravity, what we are actually measuring is the pressure in the atmosphere as manifested in the wings of strong lines (He lines in EHes). Acceleration of the atmosphere produces corresponding pressure changes which are small when the acceleration is small, so that the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium in the model atmosphere is reasonable. But at minimum radius and maximum acceleration the measured gravity does not increase as much as expected and we calculate a negative gravity. This is probably because one of the assumptions used in determining the gravity, local equilibrium, is clearly not valid when the atmosphere is undergoing a strong, fast acceleration and compression. We believe that the gravity values found at minimum radius and nearby phase bins (missing or marked with X’s in the top panel of Fig. 3) are inaccurate because of these effects.

The temperature variation is compared to the variation found by fitting UV and visible flux levels (Woolf & Jeffery wj00 (2000)) in Fig. 4. The temperatures found using spectral analysis of visual spectra are hotter by more than 1600 K than those found using visual and UV fluxes for both LSS 3184 and V652 Her. The temperature variation amplitude based on visible spectra is also larger. This problem is discussed for V652 Her in Jeffery et al. (jwp01 (2001)).

The temperature curve found by Kilkenny et al. (k99 (1999)) using optical photometry is very similar to the one we find using optical spectral analysis. Montañéz Rodríguez & Jeffery (mj02 (2002)) found that models which fitted the velocity and flux curves of LSS 3184 well required a mass between 0.38 and $`0.50M_{}`$ and a temperature between 22 300 and 23 900 K. Because analysis of optical spectra, optical photometry, and theoretical models each predict the hotter temperature, it appears that the lower temperature estimate found using UV and visual fluxes is probably in error. That a nearly identical discrepancy was found for V652 Her means that this is probably a systematic problem. We suspect that incomplete line opacity in our models is the main cause.

The physical parameters and chemical abundances derived for LSS 3184 are presented in Table 2 and are compared with those found in previous studies and with those of the Sun, “typical” hot EHes, and V652 Her. V652 Her is a hot EHe with pulsation period, temperature, and radius nearly identical to those of LSS 3184. The errors quoted for our data are formal measurement errors and do not account for systematic errors due to uncertainties in our input assumptions or incomplete physics in our calculations. The parameters we report are consistent with those found previously using optical spectra with higher noise, lower spectral resolution, and no time resolution. We found a larger gravity, though it is within the uncertainty quoted for the previous determination. The new gravity combined with the stellar radius found in Woolf & Jeffery (wj00 (2000)) produces a mass estimate 12 per cent larger than that found using the previously determined $`\mathrm{log}g`$.

The elemental abundances found for LSS 3184, V652 Her, and typical hot EHes are shown in Fig. 5. The Mg abundance for LSS 3184 is taken from Drilling et al. (d98 (1998)).

In the figure we can see that LSS 3184 has a much lower H abundance and V652 Her has a much lower C abundance than the others. The H abundance we report for LSS 3184 is an upper limit: we could find no evidence for any H absorption lines in our spectra. As an example, the observed spectrum is compared to synthetic spectra with different H abundances in the spectral region including the Balmer H$`\beta `$ line in Fig. 6. The weak feature at 4860.97 Å is an O II line and is fitted well with no H contribution. The H line strengths become negligible for $`\mathrm{H}<6.0`$ (mass fraction less than one part in $`1.4\times 10^6`$).

It is also evident from Fig. 5 that LSS 3184 has a lower metallicity than V652 Her and typical hot EHes. It has a lower abundance of all metals measured except that V652 Her has a smaller C abundance, probably as the result of CNO processing its C to N, and the typical EHe Fe abundance is smaller. We believe the metallicity differences indicate differences in metallicity of the progenitor stars.

Saio & Jeffery (sj00 (2000), sj02 (2002)) showed that the white dwarf (WD) merger model can explain the chemical abundances observed in EHes. V652 Her shows evidence of the CNO process converting essentially all carbon and oxygen into nitrogen. LSS 3184 and typical hot EHes show evidence of CNO processing with high N abundances, but also show evidence of the triple-$`\alpha `$ process adding new C. Saio & Jeffery say this this could be because V652 Her is the result of a He-He WD merger while LSS 3184 and typical hot EHes are the result of He-CO WD mergers. A He-He WD merger for V652 Her would also help explain other differences (e.g. the luminosity) between it and other EHes, including LSS 3184.

Although the gravity we find for for LSS 3184 is larger than that previously determined, the mass to which it corresponds, $`M=0.47\pm 0.03M_{}`$, is still smaller than that permitted by WD merger models for EHe production. It is unclear whether improved merger models or gravities found with an improved model atmosphere program will remove this discrepancy or if this will rule out the WD merger model.

The hydrodynamic models of LSS 3184 which best match its pulsation period and radial velocity curve for temperatures between 22 400 and 24 000 require a mass between 0.38 and $`0.5M_{}`$ (Montañéz Rodríguez & Jeffery mj02 (2002)). The mass we find here using optical spectral analysis ($`0.47\pm 0.03M_{}`$) and the mass we found by fitting synthetic spectral fluxes to UV spectra and optical photometry ($`0.42\pm 0.12M_{}`$) Woolf & Jeffery (wj00 (2000)) are comfortably within this range.

However, the Montañéz Rodríguez & Jeffery models also predict a luminosity $`2.74<\mathrm{log}L/L_{}<2.84`$ smaller than half of the luminosity found using the temperature and radius from Woolf & Jeffery (wj00 (2000)), $`\mathrm{log}L/L_{}=3.15\pm 0.09`$ . We do not derive a new luminosity in this paper. Kilkenny et al. (k99 (1999)) found $`2.54<\mathrm{log}L/L_{}<2.79`$ using optical photometry. Most of the difference between the luminosities are caused by the differences in stellar radius used in the calculations: $`1.519<R/R_{}<1.708`$ from the pulsation models, $`R=1.35\pm 0.15R_{}`$ from optical photometry, and $`R=2.35\pm 0.10R_{}`$ from UV plus optical flux fitting.

We suspect that the match between the model luminosity and the optical photometry luminosity and the mismatch with the luminosity based on UV plus optical flux fitting is another indication that there is a problem with the part of our code that deals with UV flux.

## 5 Conclusions

We have used time resolved spectra with high signal to noise ratios and high spectral resolution to determine the temperature, gravity, and chemical composition of LSS 3184. Our results are consistent with those of previous analyses based on optical spectra and photometry. We have reduced the uncertainties on some of these quantities.

We have reduced the upper limit on the hydrogen abundance by a factor of 52 to $`\mathrm{H}<6.0`$. Our gravity and mass estimates are 12 per cent larger than previous estimates.

The time averaged mean temperature estimate we obtain with our spectral analysis is 1750 K hotter than that obtained by fitting UV and visible flux levels. A similar temperature discrepancy was found for V652 Her. The problem is probably the result of incomplete line opacity in our model stellar atmospheres.

The mass and temperature we find for LSS 3184 is consistent with those expected based on the pulsation models of Montañéz Rodríguez & Jeffery (mj02 (2002)) and with those found using optical photometry. The discrepancy between the luminosity expected from the models and that calculated based on UV observations remains a problem.

The chemical composition of LSS 3184 corresponds well to that expected from a white dwarf merger. However, its mass is smaller than the merger models currently allow.

###### Acknowledgements.

We acknowledge financial support from the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts, and Leisure and the UK PPARC (grant Ref PPA/G/S/1998/00019).


text:
# Suppression of Entropy Perturbations in Multi–Field Inflation on the Brane

## Abstract

At energies higher than the brane tension, the dynamics of a scalar field rolling down a potential are modified relative to the predictions of General Relativity. The modifications imply, among other things, that steeper potentials can be used to drive an epoch of slow–roll inflation. We investigate the evolution of entropy and adiabatic modes during inflation driven by two scalar fields confined on the brane. We show that the amount of entropy perturbations produced during inflation is suppressed compared to the predictions made by General Relativity. As a consequence, the initial conditions do not matter in multiple field inflation in brane worlds if inflation is driven at energies much higher than the brane tension.

preprint: DAMTP-2002-xyz

DAMTP-2002-107

Inflation provides an explanation for the origin of structures in the universe. In its simplest form, inflation is driven by a single scalar field, called the inflaton, which slowly rolls down a potential. Perturbations in the inflaton field are adiabatic and obey Gaussian statistics \[REFERENCES\]. However, this picture might be over simplistic as there is no reason to believe that inflation is driven solely by a single scalar field. Instead, the possibility that inflation is driven by a system of several scalar fields must be considered. In particular, perturbations are, in general, no longer purely adiabatic. Entropy (or isocurvature) perturbations can be generated. In addition, non–Gaussian fluctuations are now possible. In the case of multiple field inflation, there are no unique background trajectories for the fields and therefore predictions of density perturbations could depend on initial conditions \[REFERENCES\].

Current data do not exclude an additional entropy mode \[REFERENCES,REFERENCES\]. Future experiments such as the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP), the Planck Surveyor, the 2 Degree Field Galaxy Survey (2dF) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SLOAN) will constrain deviations from the standard predictions of single scalar field inflation. These prospects motivated recent work to consider multi–field inflation and the consequences for density perturbations \[REFERENCESREFERENCES\].

In the case of brane worlds based on the model of Randall and Sundrum \[REFERENCES\], inflation driven by a scalar field confined on the brane has been considered (see e.g. \[REFERENCESREFERENCES\]. It was shown that the correction of Einstein’s equation at high energies lead to a suppression of the usual slow roll parameters due to the enhanced damping of the scalar field. This in turn implies that the spectral index of the spectrum of perturbations is nearer one for a given potential compared to the predictions of General Relativity. In this letter we point out that the enhanced damping implies that the generation of entropy perturbations is suppressed in the case of multiple–field inflation on the brane for a given potential. We also deduce that steeper potentials are needed to create the same amount of entropy modes as in usual four–dimensional gravity. Furthermore, any transfer of non–Gaussianity from the entropy modes to the adiabatic modes is suppressed. If inflation is driven at energies much higher than the brane tension, the results of density perturbations in multiple field inflation become independent of the initial conditions.

General Relativity: Before we consider inflation on a brane, we review briefly the results obtained in General Relativity \[REFERENCES\]. It turns out the form of the equations are not modified in the case of the brane world model we consider.

To be precise, we consider the case of two scalar fields, $`\varphi `$ and $`\chi `$, which are slowly rolling down some potential $`V(\varphi ,\chi )`$. The equations of motion are governed by the Friedmann equation and Klein–Gordon equations:

$`H^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{8\pi G}{3}}\rho ,`$ (1)
$`\ddot{\varphi }`$ $`+`$ $`3H\dot{\varphi }+V_\varphi =0,`$ (2)
$`\ddot{\chi }`$ $`+`$ $`3H\dot{\chi }+V_\chi =0,`$ (3)
where $`\rho `$ is the energy density of both fields. We assume that the fields are slow–rolling, implying that the parameters

$`ϵ_\varphi `$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{16\pi G}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{V_\varphi }{V}}\right)^2,ϵ_\chi {\displaystyle \frac{1}{16\pi G}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{V_\chi }{V}}\right)^2`$ (4)
$`\eta _{\varphi \varphi }`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8\pi G}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{V_{\varphi \varphi }}{V}}\right),\eta _{\varphi \chi }{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8\pi G}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{V_{\varphi \chi }}{V}}\right)`$ (5)
$`\eta _{\chi \chi }`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8\pi G}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{V_{\chi \chi }}{V}}\right)`$ (6)
are small. A convenient formalism to study entropy perturbations was presented in \[REFERENCES\] which we will use here. Instead of working with the fields $`\varphi `$ and $`\chi `$ it is useful to perform a field rotation as follows:

$`\delta \sigma `$ $`=`$ $`(\mathrm{cos}\theta )\delta \varphi +(\mathrm{sin}\theta )\delta \chi `$ (7)
$`\delta s`$ $`=`$ $`(\mathrm{sin}\theta )\delta \varphi +(\mathrm{cos}\theta )\delta \chi ,`$ (8)
with

$$\mathrm{cos}\theta =\frac{\dot{\varphi }}{\sqrt{\dot{\varphi }^2+\dot{\chi }^2}},\mathrm{sin}\theta =\frac{\dot{\chi }}{\sqrt{\dot{\varphi }^2+\dot{\chi }^2}}.$$
(9)
$`\sigma `$ is called the adiabatic field and $`s`$ is called the entropy field. The meaning of the names of the fields becomes clear when one considers their fluctuations.

The line–element for arbitrary scalar perturbations of the Robertson–Walker metric for a spatially flat universe reads (using the notation of \[REFERENCES\])

$`ds^2`$ $`=`$ $`(1+2A)dt^2+2a^2B_{,i}dx^idt`$ (10)
$`+`$ $`a^2\left[(12\psi )\delta _{ij}+2E_{,ij}\right]dx^idx^j.`$ (11)
The gauge–invariant curvature perturbation, defined as

$$=\psi +\frac{H\delta \rho }{\dot{\rho }},$$
(12)
is, on very large scales, constant for purely adiabatic perturbations (see e.g. \[REFERENCES\] and references therein). However, entropy perturbations are a source for the curvature perturbation (12). In addition, the entropy perturbation between two species $`A`$ and $`B`$, defined as

$$𝒮=\frac{\delta n_A}{n_A}\frac{\delta n_B}{n_B},$$
(13)
where $`n_i`$ are the number densities of the particle species $`i`$, can evolve in time, even on superhorizon scales. Therefore it was argued \[REFERENCES\], that on very large scales in general we have the following equations describing the evolution of $``$ and $`𝒮`$:

$`\dot{}`$ $`=`$ $`\alpha H𝒮`$ (14)
$`\dot{𝒮}`$ $`=`$ $`\beta H𝒮`$ (15)
For the case of the two slow-rolling scalar fields and in the spatial flat gauge ($`\psi =0`$), $``$ and $`𝒮`$ are given by

$$\frac{H\left(\dot{\varphi }\delta \varphi +\dot{\chi }\delta \chi \right)}{\dot{\varphi }^2+\dot{\chi }^2}=\frac{H\delta \sigma }{\dot{\sigma }}$$
(16)
and

$$𝒮=\frac{H\left(\dot{\varphi }\delta \chi \dot{\chi }\delta \varphi \right)}{\dot{\varphi }^2+\dot{\chi }^2}=\frac{H\delta s}{\dot{\sigma }}$$
(17)
Fluctuations in the field $`\sigma `$ are adiabatic perturbations, whereas fluctuations in $`s`$ are entropic perturbations. On very large scales ($`kaH`$) and in the flat gauge the evolution of fluctuations are described as \[REFERENCES\]:

$`(\delta \sigma )^{..}+3H(\delta \sigma )^.+\left(V_{\sigma \sigma }\dot{\theta }^2\right)\delta \sigma =`$ (18)
$`2V_\sigma A+\dot{\sigma }\dot{A}+2(\dot{\theta }\delta s)^.2{\displaystyle \frac{V_\sigma }{\dot{\sigma }}}\dot{\theta }\delta s`$ (19)
and

$`(\delta s)^{..}+3H(\delta s)^.+\left(V_{ss}\dot{\theta }^2\right)\delta s=`$ (20)
$`2{\displaystyle \frac{\dot{\theta }}{\dot{\sigma }}}\left[\dot{\sigma }((\delta \sigma )^.\dot{\sigma }A)\ddot{\sigma }\delta \sigma \right].`$ (21)
The metric perturbation $`A`$ can be obtained from Einstein’s equation and is given, in the flat gauge, by

$$HA=4\pi G\left(\dot{\varphi }\delta \varphi +\dot{\chi }\delta \chi \right)$$
(22)
It was shown in \[REFERENCES\] that for the case of two slow–rolling scalar fields, $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ in (14) and (15) are given in terms of the slow roll parameters

$`\alpha `$ $`=`$ $`2\eta _{\sigma s},`$ (23)
$`\beta `$ $`=`$ $`2ϵ+\eta _{\sigma \sigma }\eta _{ss},`$ (24)
and are, therefore, specified by the potential $`V(\varphi ,\chi )`$. In the last two equations, the slow roll parameter are constructed from the usual slow–roll parameter for $`\varphi `$ and $`\chi `$ (5) and are given by

$$ϵ=\frac{1}{16\pi G}\left(\frac{V_\sigma }{V}\right)^2ϵ_\varphi +ϵ_\chi .$$
(25)
and

$`\eta _{\sigma \sigma }`$ $`=`$ $`\eta _{\varphi \varphi }\mathrm{cos}^2\theta +2\eta _{\varphi \chi }\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{sin}\theta +\eta _{\chi \chi }\mathrm{sin}^2\theta ,`$ (26)
$`\eta _{ss}`$ $`=`$ $`\eta _{\varphi \varphi }\mathrm{sin}^2\theta 2\eta _{\varphi \chi }\mathrm{cos}\theta \mathrm{sin}\theta +\eta _{\chi \chi }\mathrm{cos}^2\theta ,`$ (27)
$`\eta _{\sigma s}`$ $`=`$ $`(\eta _{\chi \chi }\eta _{\varphi \varphi })\mathrm{sin}\theta \mathrm{cos}\theta +\eta _{\varphi \chi }(\mathrm{cos}^2\theta \mathrm{sin}^2\theta ).`$ (28)
The time evolution of $``$ and $`𝒮`$ between horizon crossing and some later time are given by

$`\left(\begin{array}{c}\\ 𝒮\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& T_𝒮\\ 0& T_{𝒮𝒮}\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}\\ 𝒮\end{array}\right)_{},`$ (35)
where the asterisk marks the time of horizon crossing. The transfer functions $`T_𝒮`$ and $`T_{𝒮𝒮}`$ are given by

$`T_{𝒮𝒮}(t,t_{})`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}\left({\displaystyle _t_{}^t}\beta (t^{})H(t^{})𝑑t^{}\right)`$ (36)
$`T_𝒮(t,t_{})`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle _t_{}^t}\alpha (t^{})T_{𝒮𝒮}(t_{},t^{})H(t^{})𝑑t^{}.`$ (37)
Thus, in the case of two slow rolling scalar fields, the transfer functions are completely specified by the potential through the slow–roll parameter. In the following we would like to find the changes of the evolution of adiabatic and entropy perturbations in brane world theories.

Brane World in AdS: In the case of a brane embedded in an Anti–de Sitter spacetime, Einstein’s equation is not valid at high energies. Here, modifications become important in the form of a term which is quadratic in $`T_{\mu \nu }`$, the energy–momentum tensor of matter confined on the brane. In addition, the gravitational field in the bulk is encoded in the projection of the five–dimensional Weyl–tensor onto the brane. It was shown that the Einstein–equation has the from \[REFERENCES\]

$$G_{\mu \nu }=\kappa _4^2T_{\mu \nu }+\kappa _5^2\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }E_{\mu \nu },$$
(38)
where $`\mathrm{\Pi }_{\mu \nu }`$ is the term quadratic in $`T_{\mu \nu }`$ and $`E_{\mu \nu }`$ is the projected Weyl tensor. For the case of a homogeneous and isotropic expanding brane embedded in an Anti–de Sitter space ($`E_{\mu \nu }=0`$), the Friedmann equation is given by

$$H^2=\frac{8\pi G}{3}\rho \left[1+\frac{\rho }{2\lambda }\right].$$
(39)
In this equation $`\lambda `$ is the (intrinsic) brane tension and $`\rho `$ is the total energy density of the scalar fields***We have assumed that the four–dimensional cosmological constant is negligible.. The equations of motion for scalar fields confined on the brane are given by the usual Klein–Gordon equations (2) and (3).

It was shown in \[REFERENCES\] that slow roll inflation driven by a single scalar field demands that the two slow–roll parameters

$`ϵ`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{16\pi G}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{V^{}}{V}}\right)^2\left[{\displaystyle \frac{4\lambda (\lambda +V)}{(2\lambda +V)^2}}\right]`$ (40)
$`\eta `$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8\pi G}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{V^{\prime \prime }}{V}}\right)\left[{\displaystyle \frac{2\lambda }{2\lambda +V}}\right]`$ (41)
are small. The number of e–folds is enhanced for a given potential compared to the usual four–dimensional case. It was also shown that the amplitude of scalar perturbations is enhanced relative to the standard result in four dimensions for a given potential.

In the case of the two scalar fields $`\varphi `$ and $`\chi `$, the set of slow–roll parameters is given by

$`ϵ_\varphi `$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{16\pi G}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{V_\varphi }{V}}\right)^2\left[{\displaystyle \frac{4\lambda (\lambda +V)}{(2\lambda +V)^2}}\right],`$ (42)
$`ϵ_\chi `$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{16\pi G}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{V_\chi }{V}}\right)^2\left[{\displaystyle \frac{4\lambda (\lambda +V)}{(2\lambda +V)^2}}\right],`$ (43)
$`\eta _{\varphi \varphi }`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8\pi G}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{V_{\varphi \varphi }}{V}}\right)\left[{\displaystyle \frac{2\lambda }{2\lambda +V}}\right],`$ (44)
$`\eta _{\varphi \chi }`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8\pi G}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{V_{\varphi \chi }}{V}}\right)\left[{\displaystyle \frac{2\lambda }{2\lambda +V}}\right],`$ (45)
$`\eta _{\chi \chi }`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8\pi G}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{V_{\chi \chi }}{V}}\right)\left[{\displaystyle \frac{2\lambda }{2\lambda +V}}\right],`$ (46)
which implies the corresponding changes for the slow–roll parameters for the adiabatic field $`\sigma `$ and $`s`$. The changes in perturbations on brane worlds are two–fold. First, we perturb the spacetime away from Anti–de Sitter, meaning that the projected Weyl–tensor no longer vanishes. i.e. $`\delta E_{\mu \nu }0`$. However, in the case of a de Sitter brane and on large scales, it was shown that the Weyl contribution is negligible (e.g. \[REFERENCES\]). We therefore neglect that term. The second contribution is quadratic in $`T_{\mu \nu }`$, which we do not neglect. It implies that the metric perturbation $`A`$ is now given by \[REFERENCES\]

$$HA=4\pi G\left(1+\frac{\rho }{\lambda }\right)\left(\dot{\varphi }\delta \varphi +\dot{\chi }\delta \chi \right).$$
(47)
Using (18) and (20), it is not difficult to show that these changes imply that

$`H^1(\delta \sigma )^.\left(2ϵ\eta _{\sigma \sigma }\right)\delta \sigma 2\eta _{\sigma s}\delta s`$ (48)
and

$`H^1(\delta s)^.\eta _{ss}\delta s,`$ (49)
on large scales in the slow roll regime. These are exactly the same expressions found in \[REFERENCES\] for General Relativity. This implies that the evolution of $``$ and $`𝒮`$ are given by the expressions

$`\dot{}`$ $``$ $`2H\eta _{\sigma s}𝒮`$ (50)
$`\dot{𝒮}`$ $``$ $`\left[2ϵ\eta _{ss}+\eta _{\sigma \sigma }\right]H𝒮`$ (51)
Thus, we have found that the equations have the same form as in usual cosmology based on General Relativity. Therefore, the parameters $`\alpha `$ and $`\beta `$ are the same as in eq. (23) and (24), but for a given potential they are reduced by a factor $`\lambda /V`$ at high energies on the brane. At very high energies, i.e. $`V\lambda `$, we have that the ratios $`\dot{}/𝒮`$ and $`\dot{𝒮}/𝒮`$ are suppressed by a factor $`\sqrt{\lambda /V}`$. That means that the transfer functions (37) are significantly modified in that case. Indeed, for very large energies we have $`T_{𝒮𝒮}1`$ and $`T_𝒮0`$ as $`V/\lambda \mathrm{}`$, meaning that entropy perturbations have less influence on adiabatic perturbations and even if entropy perturbations are created, the final correlation between the adiabatic and entropy modes would be suppressed.

Our findings imply that, even in models with step potentials (see \[REFERENCES\]) and multiple scalar fields, the production of entropy perturbations is suppressed, as long as the energies are much higher than the brane tension.

It is not difficult to understand the physical reason for the results obtained so far. From equation (18) and (20) we see that the angle $`\theta `$ merely has to vary in order for the fields $`s`$ and $`\sigma `$ to interactIf $`\theta `$ is time varying, the background trajectory is curved.. For the case of the slow–rolling scalar fields on the brane, the equation of motion for the angle $`\theta `$ in the slow roll regime is given by

$$\dot{\theta }\eta _{\sigma s}H.$$
(52)
This equation holds also for General Relativity (see \[REFERENCES\]). For a given potential, this equation implies that, for brane world inflation at high energies, $`\theta `$ is almost constant, and therefore that the background trajectory will quickly follow a straight line (see figure).

For the extreme case $`V/\lambda \mathrm{}`$, the equation above implies that $`\dot{\theta }0`$. In that case there is no efficient transfer of energy between $`s`$ and $`\sigma `$. Instead, $`s`$ evolves like a background field which does not influence perturbations in $`\sigma `$ and the gravitational potential. Note that this also means that any transfer of non–Gaussianity from the entropy field $`s`$ to the gravitational potential and/or the adiabatic field $`\sigma `$ is strongly suppressed (see \[REFERENCES\] for a recent discussion).

Note that our findings do not imply that there are no entropy perturbations generated in brane worlds. In this letter we have discussed only the evolution of perturbations during inflation. In principle the power spectra in the radiation dominated epoch depend on the details of the decay of the fields $`\varphi `$ and $`\chi `$ and therefore a calculation has to be made using a detailed theory of preheating in two–field inflation.

After inflation, there is another source of entropy perturbation, namely the projected Weyl–tensor in equation (38), which acts as a source term for perturbations on the brane. It could, in principle, produce entropy perturbations even at late times \[REFERENCES\]. However, the amplitude of the source term in (REFERENCES) for linear perturbations around a homogeneous–isotropic brane universe has not been calculated so far.

To conclude, we have shown that the modifications to General Relativity implied by brane world scenarios can suppress the production of entropy perturbations during inflation driven by multiple scalar fields. The reason is that, for a given potential, the background trajectories are less curved in brane worlds due to the larger friction acting on the fields. In addition, if inflation is driven at energies much larger than the brane tension, the final power spectra do not depend on the initial conditions and/or trajectories of the fields. This also implies that any transfer of non–Gaussianity from the entropy field to the gravitational potential and/or adiabatic perturbations is suppressed. Thus, if any entropy perturbations are detected in the CMB and/or large scale structure, it would mean that either inflation on a brane happened at energies smaller than the brane tension or that steeper potentials have driven inflation. Although our calculations are based on the Randall–Sundrum model, we believe that our conclusions carry over to other brane world models as well, such as models with a bulk scalar field \[REFERENCES\]. In these models, the brane tension is not necessarily constant but depends on the evolution of the bulk scalar field near the brane. As long as the time–evolution of the bulk scalar field is negligible compared to the evolution of the inflaton fields, our conclusions should hold. Otherwise, there will be a source for the curvature perturbation, coming from the apparent non–energy–conservation on the brane due to the bulk scalar field \[REFERENCES\].

Acknowledgements: We are grateful for comments from C. Gordon and G. Rigopoulos. The authors are supported in part by PPARC.