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# On-axis spatially resolved spectroscopy of low redshift quasar host galaxies: HE 1503+0228, at 𝑧=0.135 based on observations made with ANTU/UT1 at ESO-Paranal observatory in Chile (program 65.P-0361(A)), and with the ESO 3.5m NTT, at La Silla observatory (program 62.P-0643(B)).

## 1 Introduction

Luminous quasars are now known to be generally located at the cores of large galaxies. With the recent discovery that supermassive black holes appear to reside in most if not all galaxies with substantial bulges (e.g., Magorrian et al. Mago98 (1998)), it is now quite likely that quasar-like activity is an extremely common but transient phenomenon, linking the growth of now extinct black holes to the violent processes during phases of active accretion (cf. McLeod et al. leod99 (1999)). However, very little of the physical processes operating during such episodes of nuclear activity is actually understood: neither do we know the actual conditions for fueling (or refueling) massive black holes, nor the time-scales involved. A particularly interesting problem is the importance of the feedback from a high-luminosity Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) onto its host galaxy, in the form of huge quantities of ionizing radiation as well as possible mechanical outflows (jets).

Quasar host galaxies have been studied almost exclusively by imaging (e.g., Bahcall et al. bahcall97 (1997), Stockton et al. Stockton98 (1998), Márquez et al Marquez01 (2001)). Recent Hubble Space Telescope optical studies have established that high-luminosity quasars generally reside in big ellipticals, irrespective of radio properties (McLeod & Rieke leod95 (1995), Disney et al. disney95 (1995), Hughes et al. hugh00 (2000)). There also seems to be a trend that more luminous QSOs are hosted by more massive galaxies (McLure et al. Lure99 (1999), McLeod & Rieke leod95 (1995)).

A more detailed understanding of the physical conditions in host galaxies can only be obtained from spectroscopic observations. Available evidence in this field is extremely scarce, and although extensive quasar host spectroscopy was conducted already in the early 1980s (e.g., Boroson et al. boroson85 (1985)), they have never really been followed up with improved instrumentation and analysis techniques, except for a few isolated objects (among them 3C 48 being the probably best-studied case in this field – e.g., Chatzichristou et al. cha99 (1999), Canalizo & Stockton canal2000 (2000)). Particularly important is the fact that nearly all these observations up to now were designed as “off-nuclear” spectroscopy, avoiding the strong contamination from the AGN itself, but yielding only information on the host for distances of $`510`$ kpc from the nucleus.

With the aim of studying the stellar and gas content of quasar host galaxies, as well as their dynamics, we have initiated a spectroscopic campaign with the ESO-VLT to observe a sample of luminous radio-quiet quasars at low redshift. The sample is based on the Hamburg/ESO Survey (HES; Wisotzki et al. wisotzki00 (2000)), a wide-angle ($`7500`$ deg2) search for optically bright ($`B17.5`$) quasars in the southern sky. This survey is particularly suited to provide samples for host galaxy studies, mainly because of two reasons: (1) because of its bright limiting magnitude, the survey yields low-redshift quasars in large numbers, (2) the selection does not encompass morphological criteria, i.e., there is no limitation to point sources as in most other optical quasar surveys. This fact and the wide range of selection criteria employed in the HES (cf. Wisotzki et al. 2000) ensure that quasars are selected irrespective of morphological properties of their host galaxies (see also Köhler et al. koehler97 (1997)). Our objects all have $`M_B<23`$ and $`z<0.33`$.

The present paper is aimed at exposing the techniques used to obtain high quality spectra of quasar hosts, decontaminated from the contamination by the quasar, and to show their application to one object, taken as a test case: HE 1503+0228, at $`z=0.135`$.

## 2 Observations – data reduction

### 2.1 Imaging

We have obtained $`H`$-band images of HE 1503+0228, at La Silla observatory (ESO, Chile) on the night of 1999 February 24th. SOFI was used, the near-IR imager of the 3.5m ESO New Technology Telescope (NTT). The pixel size was 0.29″ and numerous dithered images of the field were taken in order to produce a combined sky subtracted frame with a total exposure time of 480 sec and a final mean seeing of 0.8″. The image is displayed on the left panel of Fig. 1. It shows the environment of the quasar on a 5′$`\times `$ 5′ field, with no obvious companion.

Additional data were obtained with the first of the four 8.2m telescopes (UT1) at Paranal observatory. A shallow 30s $`R`$-band image was taken, in order to design the spectroscopic mask. The seeing was 0.62″, sampled with a pixel scale of 0.2″.

Both the near-IR and optical images were deconvolved using the MCS deconvolution algorithm (Magain et al. 1998). While one single optical image of HE 1503+0228 was obtained, many dithered IR images were available in the $`H`$-band. Eight stacks of images were produced with the data and simultaneously deconvolved as explained in Courbin et al. (1998). This procedure allows for better decomposition of the data into a sum of point source and “background” channels, hence a better extraction of the image of the host, uncontaminated by the AGN’s light. The deconvolved data are shown in Fig. 2, where the quasar has been subtracted.

The photometry of the host of HE 1503+0228 has been performed on the deconvolved images, in a 10″ diameter aperture. The magnitudes we infer in that way are $`R=16.78\pm 0.20`$ and $`H=14.57\pm 0.20`$.

Determining the shape of the galaxy is of importance as the inclination of the disk component in the mass model (see next sections) depends on the observed galaxy shape, hence affecting the mass determination of the galaxy. We make the assumption that the galaxy has an intrinsic circular geometry, to turn the fitted ellipticities into an inclination angle. Given the relatively low signal-to-noise of our images we chose to determine the shape of the host by fitting analytical profiles to the data (Kuhlbrodt et al. in preparation). Our model is composed of a nucleus, a disk, and a spheroid, convolved with the observed PSF before any fitting is performed. In the case of HE 1503+0228 the spheroid is used to model a bar-like feature in the center of the galaxy, that may affect the fit of the disk component if it were not taken properly into account.

The analysis yields the Position Angle (PA=$`38\mathrm{°}\pm 3\mathrm{°}`$) of the host, its inclination ($`i=32\mathrm{°}\pm 2\mathrm{°}`$), and the angle ($`\varphi =12\pm 3\mathrm{°}`$) between the slit and the major axis of the galaxy. These values are in fact very close to the values found just by measuring the outmost isophotes in the VLT images.

### 2.2 Spectroscopy

The spectroscopic data were taken on the night of 2000, April 11th with FORS1 mounted on Antu, the first of the four 8.2m VLT Unit Telescopes at Paranal observatory (ESO, Chile). Three grisms were used (G600B, G600R, G600I) to cover the whole optical spectral range 4000-9500Å with a mean spectral resolution of about 700. The seeing during the observations was good, about 0.6″. Each grism was exposed 1200 sec, under photometric conditions and dark time, which yields a mean S/N of about 150-200 per pixel (quasar+host). The large pixel size of the detector was used, 0.2″.

We show in the right panel of Fig. 1 and in Fig. 2 the orientation of the slitlets relative to the quasar host and to the PSF star. In Fig. 2, the images have been deconvolved and the quasar has been removed from the data. The FORS mask consists of 19 slitlets with fixed length and width (19″x 1″). One slit was centered on HE 1503+0228, one slit was centered on a bright PSF star and the rest of the slits were used either to observe fainter PSF or galaxies. Galaxy G1 is indicated in Fig. 1. It is at $`z0.3`$ and is unrelated to the quasar.

At the adopted spectral resolution, the area accessible on the CCD without loosing spectral information at the edges of the array is restricted to a strip of sky about 40″ wide. As we have to observe simultaneously the quasar and at least one PSF star, the PA of the mask is therefore imposed to us by the instrumental design, i.e., the 40″ strip of sky has to include both the quasar and the PSF star(s). This means that the slitlet centered on the quasar is not necessarily oriented along one of the axes of symmetry of our targets. It also means that we do not observe at parallactic angle. This is however not a major problem as FORS1 has an efficient atmospheric refraction corrector and the data remain unaffected by slit losses.

A two-dimensional wavelength calibration was applied in order to correct for slit curvature, followed by a two-dimensional sky subtraction. The spectrum of HE 1503+0228 and of the PSF star were reduced exactly in the same way, and they were rebinned to a common pixel size of 1Å in the spectral direction. They were also rebinned to a common starting wavelength, which ensures that to each spectral resolution element of the quasar, corresponds the same spectral resolution element in the PSF.

## 3 Extraction of the host’s spectrum

Most current spectroscopic studies of quasar host galaxies are designed as off-axis observations, with the slit of the spectrograph placed one to several times the size of the seeing disk away from the center of the AGN (e.g., Hughes et al. hugh00 (2000)).

While such an observational strategy is minimizing contamination by the quasar, it has severe drawbacks. First, one can only study the outer parts of the galaxy. This is limiting the study to particular regions of the hosts. It also requires very long exposure times on large telescopes to detect the extremely faint wings of the hosts. Second, all velocity information is lost, as is the spatial information in general, along the galaxy’s axes of symmetry. Finally, the method is still restricted to the most extended objects and does not allow a full decontamination of the quasar’s light.

Instead, our observations are taken on-axis, placing the slit of the spectrograph on the quasar’s center of light. This avoids all drawbacks of the off-axis observations, but requires clean post-processing techniques in order to remove accurately the spectrum of the AGN. For this purpose we use the spectroscopic version of the MCS deconvolution algorithm (Magain et al. Magain (1998), Courbin et al. Courbin\_a (2000)). Using the spatial information contained in the spectrum of PSF stars located close to the object of interest, the algorithm sharpens the data in the spatial direction, sub-samples them in order to achieve smaller pixel size, and decomposes them into two channels containing (i) the spectrum of the AGN and (ii) the two-dimensional spectrum of the host galaxy.

In the deconvolved spectrum, the new sub-sampled pixel size is 0.1″ and 1Å in the spectral direction. In Fig. 3 are displayed the one dimensional flux calibrated spectra, integrated along the spatial direction on the deconvolved data. Interestingly, the three FORS1 grisms have significant regions of overlap that are in perfect agreement with one another. In addition, at the redshift of HE 1503+0228, most emission lines are present in two grisms. This allowed us to construct a combined 2-D flux calibrated spectrum. All measurements presented in this paper, except for velocity curves, are done on the final combined spectrum.

## 4 Dynamics of the host galaxy

### 4.1 Redshift

From the different emission lines of the quasar and of the galaxy, we can extract a sharp value for the redshift of HE 1503+0228, by simple Gaussian fitting. The lines of the host galaxy in the deconvolved spectrum have to be measured with particular care: in the center of the host, the lines are double, due to the velocity field of the galaxy and to the deconvolution method. This is mainly due to the extreme contrast between the narrow emission lines of the host, and the broad lines of the quasar: some of the flux in the sharpest parts of the host’s emission lines is taken in the point-source component (the quasar) of the deconvolved spectrum, i.e., the central parts of the lines are dimmed. We have therefore taken the mean wavelength between the two sides of emission lines, when measuring the host’s redshift. The results for each line are given in table 1. The details of the individual emission lines is accessible via a method described in Section 4.2, which does not alter the center of the lines.

### 4.2 Velocity curves: extraction method

In the spectroscopic version of the MCS algorithm (Courbin et al. Courbin\_a (2000)), the difference in spatial properties between the AGN (point source) and the host galaxy (extended component) is used to separate the spectra of these two sources. A smoothing in the spatial direction is applied for this purpose to the extended component. While such a decomposition method is well suited to most spectral regions of the host, it is not optimal for deriving velocity curves: spatial smoothing (which is not precisely known as it varies with the local S/N) may modify the spectral position of the lines at a given spatial position, by averaging spatial components of different radial velocities.

We have devised another method which is better suited for extracting radial velocity curves of the host galaxy. Instead of using the difference in spatial properties to extract the spectra, we take advantage of the different spectral  properties of the AGN and host to determine the radial velocity as a function of distance.

The fact that the spectral lines of the host are much narrower than any feature in the AGN spectrum is used to determine the spectral position and intensities of the host spectral lines as a function of spatial position. More specifically, at each spatial coordinate we fit the sum of a Gaussian profile of variable width representing the host emission line, plus a smooth numerical curve accounting for the AGN spectrum plus the continuum of the host.

In doing this fit, we also take advantage of the constant shift in wavelength between two given emission lines: several emission lines are fitted simultaneously under the constraint that they are separated by a fixed gap in wavelength. Thus, when we refer to the H$`\alpha `$ velocity curve, we in fact use the H$`\alpha `$ and \[NII \] emission lines simultaneously. Similarly, the H$`\beta `$ curve is obtained from the H$`\beta `$ and the \[OIII \] (5007Å) lines, simultaneously . An example of such an extraction is displayed on Fig. 4.

In converting the wavelength shifts into velocity curves, we take several effects into account:

1. The orientation of the slit does not coincide with the major axis of the galaxy. This is due to observational constraints, i.e. the fact that we had to obtain the spectrum of a PSF star simultaneously with the quasar and host (see Section 2.2).
2. The slit width is comparable to the angular size of the galaxy. The observed wavelength shifts are thus averages of velocity components coming from many parts of the galaxy.
3. The galaxy is not seen edge-on, but with an inclination angle $`i`$. Radial velocities have thus to be divided by $`\mathrm{sin}i`$ to be transformed into rotation velocities.
4. The radial velocity curves are smeared by convolution with the seeing profile, both in spatial and spectral directions.

The procedure we use assumes a simple analytical mass model for the host galaxy, which includes a thin disk, a spherical dark matter halo, and a central point mass. The velocity at a distance $`r`$ away from the galaxy’s center is then given by:

$$V_{\mathrm{mod}}(r)=\sqrt{r(F_{\mathrm{disk}}+F_{\mathrm{dark}}+F_{\mathrm{CM}})}$$
(1)
The radial forces in equation (1) are computed using a Kuzmin potential for the disk:

$$F_{\mathrm{disk}}(r,z)=\frac{r^2GM_{\mathrm{disk}}}{(r^2+(a+|z|)^2)^{\frac{3}{2}}}$$
(2)
where we assume $`z=0`$, hence neglecting the thickness of the disk. $`M_{\mathrm{disk}}`$ is the total mass of the disk and $`a`$ measures its scale length.

Dark matter is assumed to be spherically symmetrical about the galaxy’s center. The force it creates at the distance $`r`$ away from the center, given a radially dependent density distribution is:

$$F_{\mathrm{dark}}(r)=\frac{4\pi G\rho _0r_0^3}{r}(\frac{r}{r_0}\mathrm{arctan}\frac{r}{r_0})$$
(3)
where $`r_0`$ is the scale length for the mass distribution within the dark matter halo and $`\rho _0`$ its central density (Binney & Tremaine binney (1987)).

The force from the central mass $`M_{\mathrm{cm}}`$ is simply

$$F_{\mathrm{CM}}(r)=\frac{GM_{\mathrm{cm}}}{r}$$
(4)
The five parameters $`M_{\mathrm{disk}}`$, $`a`$, $`\rho _0`$, $`r_0`$ and $`M_{\mathrm{cm}}`$ are determined by a least squares fit to the data, i.e., to the measured velocity shifts at each spatial pixel along the slit. We therefore minimize the following $`\chi ^2`$:

$$\chi ^2=\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}\frac{1}{\sigma _j^2}\left\{\left(sV_{\mathrm{mean}}\right)_j\mathrm{sin}id_j\right\}^2$$
(5)
where $`N`$ is the total number of pixels along the slit, and where $`d_j\pm \sigma _j`$ is the measured radial velocity shift at pixel $`j`$ along the slit. $`V_{\mathrm{mean}}`$ is a one dimensional vector that contains the mean (see next paragraph for the signification of “mean”) velocity predicted by our mass model at pixel $`j`$ along the slit. Due to the seeing, this velocity is affected by blurring in the spatial direction, hence the need for the convolution by the 1 dimensional PSF $`s`$ obtained from the spectrum of stars. As the galaxy has an inclination $`i`$, we multiply the result of the convolution by $`sini`$ before comparing with the observed velocity $`d_j`$. The error $`\sigma _j`$ on the radial velocity measurements is estimated by comparing the measured $`d_j`$ for the same emission lines in different grisms. This was possible for the H$`\alpha `$, \[NII \], H$`\beta `$ and \[OIII \] emission lines.

All the calculations in Eq. 5 assume that the galaxy is seen face-on, the inclination being taken into account by the $`\mathrm{sin}i`$ term. Due to the non-zero angle $`\varphi `$ between the slit and the major axis of the galaxy, the velocity in Eq. 5 is a weighted mean $`V_{\mathrm{mean}}`$ of several velocity components across the slit.

For each pixel $`j`$ along the slit, lets say at point $`P`$ (see Fig. 6), one can compute a mean velocity as follows:

$$V_{\mathrm{mean}}(P)=\frac{1}{I_{\mathrm{tot}}}_{X_{\mathrm{f}_\mathrm{i}}}^{X_{\mathrm{f}_\mathrm{e}}}I[r(x)]V_{\mathrm{mod}}[r(x)]\frac{x}{r(x)}𝑑x$$
(6)
$`V_{\mathrm{mean}}(P)`$ is the average of all the velocity components located along the dash-dotted line in Fig. 5. If the galaxy was seen face-on (as we would like it to be in Eq. 5), this line would be rotated and lengthened, and mapped onto the dotted line of Fig. 5. The integral in Eq. 6 runs along this dotted line. Its equation (Eq. 7) is easily obtained from geometrical considerations, given the inclination $`i`$ of the galaxy with respect to the plane of the sky and given the orientation $`\varphi `$ of the slit relative to the major axis of the galaxy:

$$y=\frac{\mathrm{cos}\varphi }{\mathrm{cos}i}(x\frac{x_\mathrm{P}}{\mathrm{cos}\varphi }).$$
(7)
$`x_\mathrm{P}`$ is the coordinate of the point $`P`$ on the major axis $`X`$ (Fig. 6) of the galaxy.

The integration in Eq. 6 is then performed as follow: for each position x along the major axis of the galaxy, we calculate the distance $`r(x)`$ from the galaxy’s center O to the point of the integration line that is considered. This distance is used to weight each velocity component $`V_{\mathrm{mod}}[r(x)]`$ of the velocity model, according to the light distribution of the galaxy in the emission line. We have estimated the light distribution $`I(r)`$ of the galaxy, assuming it is intrinsically symmetrical about the center of the galaxy. We model it by fitting a Moffat profile to the 1-dimensional intensity profile along the emission line, and applying deprojection (note that the fit of the emission line is one-dimensional, but since $`I(r)`$ is known analytically, one can compute weights in 2 dimensions when calculating the integral in Eq. 6). When doing the fit, the Moffat profile is convolved with the PSF. Correct normalisation is assured by $`I_{\mathrm{tot}}`$: the total flux of the regions contributing to the measured emission at position $`P`$ along the slit.

The term $`\frac{x}{r(x)}`$ in Eq. 6 is the projection of the rotation velocity on the minor axis of the galaxy, which will give rise to a radial velocity once inclination is taken into account. The component of the velocity along the X-axis does not contribute to the mean velocity calculation, once inclination has been taken into account.

The intersections between the integration line and the slit edges, $`f_i`$ and $`f_e`$, give us the limits of the integration, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6).

An example of a inclination/seeing-corrected velocity curve is given in Fig. 7 for the H$`\alpha `$/N\[II \] lines. In our calculations of the linear scales and distances we have used $`H_0`$=65 km.s-1Mpc-1, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M=0.3`$, leading to a scale of $`1\mathrm{}=2.5`$ kpc.

### 4.3 Velocity curves: results

We give in Table 2 the best fit for the 5 parameters of our mass model. The mean velocity curve, as extracted from the H$`\alpha `$ and H$`\beta `$ lines is displayed in Fig. 8. This mean corresponds to four independent curves obtained for the H$`\alpha `$ and the H$`\beta `$ lines, both seen in two different grisms.

Table 3 gives our mass estimates which are weighted means of the four fits presented in Table 2, the weights being a function of the residuals after modeling of the data obtained in each individual grism. These weights are the same as the ones applied to compute the mean velocity curve of Fig. 8.

We investigate in Table 4 the effect of the error on the inclination of the galaxy and on its PA. Uncertainties on inclination and orientation of the major axis lead to error bars on masses, which are summarized in Table 4.

These results should be interpreted with care, as there is a strong correlation between the model parameters and since the adopted model is simpler than reality. However, while the details of the mass distribution within the galaxy remain inaccurate, we can still determine the total mass of dark matter and as well the disk mass enclosed in a given radius.

Given the results in Tables 2, 3 and 4, we infer a mass estimate of M(r $`<`$ 1 kpc) = $`(2.0\pm 0.3)10^{10}`$ M. The corresponding mass, integrated over 10 kpc is M(r $`<`$ 10 kpc) = $`(1.9\pm 0.3)10^{11}`$ M. Table 4 shows that an additional error of 10% should be added, due in part to the uncertainty on the PA of the major axis of the host, but mainly to the uncertainty on its inclination.

## 5 Stellar and Gas Content

One of the primary goals of our study is to infer the characteristics of the stellar population of quasar host galaxies: does the stellar population of HE 1503+0228 match that of a normal galaxy ? Where does it lie in the Hubble sequence ?

Let us first note that $`H`$ = 14.57 mag corresponds, with the same cosmological parameters used earlier, to an absolute magnitude of MH =$`24.5`$ mag. This, in addition to the profile fitting described in the previous sections, indicates a normal early type local spiral galaxy (Bothun et al. 1985; Arimoto & Jablonka 1991). While the photometric data alone already allow to point out a plausible morphological type for the host of HE 1503+0228, spectroscopy is the key to the determination of its stellar content. A few considerations have to be made before looking at the spectral features in any detail.

First, galactic extinction has to be taken into account. The extinction towards HE 1503+0228 is AB = 0.217 corresponding to E(B-V)=0.05 (Schlegel et al 1998). Our spectrum of HE 1503+0228 has been corrected accordingly.

Second, although no velocity standard stars were taken during the observations, the resolution in the $`R`$-grism (4.9Å; 3.6Å at rest-frame) is good enough to make use of the stellar library of Jacoby et al. (1984) (FWHM =3.5 Å). This gives a velocity dispersion of $``$ 170 km/s, which we only take as an indicative upper limit value.

Third, we observed HE 1503+0228 with three different grisms, each having a different dispersion. The three spectra were combined in order to cover the wide wavelength range 3670Å to 9165Å (3150Å to 8073Å once corrected from the redshift z=0.1355, or v=37837.4 km/s). In doing this, we have degraded the observations to the resolution of the less resolving grism, i.e., 5.7 Å (or $``$ 5 Å at rest-frame).

Finally, due to the low signal-to-noise ratio of the spectrum in its bluer part, we consider only features from 4000 Å on (3523Å at rest-frame).

We have only considered the integrated spectrum of HE 1503+0228. In fact, the signal-to-noise of the measurements on each individual spatial resolution element of the 2D data varies between 3 and 6, and therefore does not give much hope in tracing any radial variation in the stellar population, unless deeper data are obtained.

In the following, we measure well known indicators for the underlying stellar populations, for the host of HE 1503+0228, and we compare them with the values obtained for two control samples: the one of Trager et al. (1998) for the elliptical galaxies, and the one of Kennicutt (1992a,b) for the spiral galaxies.

### 5.1 Emission lines

One of our concern was to verify that the deconvolution procedure had indeed left out any non thermal excitation process.

We have measured the equivalent widths (EW) of the most prominent emission lines seen in the spectrum of HE 1503+0228, i.e., \[OII \], \[OIII \](4959Å), \[OIII \](5007Å) and H$`\alpha `$+\[NII \] (see Table 5).

Kennicutt (1992a) provided measurement of the Oxygen lines \[OII \] (3727Å), \[OIII \] (5007Å) and H$`\alpha `$+\[NII \]. He noted that among galaxies with normal star formation rates (EW(H$`\alpha `$+\[NII \]) $``$ 40Å), the \[OIII \] lines are rarely detected at all (EW $``$ 0.5Å). For HE 1503+0228, while EW(H$`\alpha `$+\[NII \]) $``$ 30Å, we detect \[OIII \], with an equivalent width of $``$ 4Å. This is the only and discreet sign of an excitation process in or surrounding HE 1503+0228 which is not directly related to star formation and, hence, which might be triggered by the central AGN radiation field. Kennicutt (1992a) also reported that galaxies dominated by stellar photoionization follow a mean relation EW(\[OII \]) $``$ 0.4 EW(H$`\alpha `$+\[NII \])(with an rms of 50% ). HE 1503+0228 falls nearly exactly on this relation, as shown in Fig. 9. Kennicutt’s galaxies are represented by plain dots, the mean relationship between H$`\alpha `$+\[NII \] and \[OII \] is the solid line. The position of HE 1503+0228 in this plane is indicated by a cross.

HE 1503+0228 exhibits a weak \[OIII \] (5007Å) line. We have left out from the Kennicutt sample the objects which displays strong \[OIII \] (5007Å) lines, when analysing in the next section the absorption line features. This ensures that we compare HE 1503+0228 with objects of similar properties.

To further investigate this matter, we have measured the line intensity ratios, \[OIII \]/ H$`\beta `$ (0.05), \[OIII \]/ H$`\beta `$ (0.54), \[NII \]/ H$`\alpha `$ (-0.20). Due to the deconvolution procedure, the ratios between Oxygen and Balmer lines are upper limits. Indeed, the Balmer lines are probably underestimated. When placed in the diagnostic diagrams of Sodré and Stasińska (1999), the host galaxy of HE 1503+0228 falls perfectly on the sequence drawn by the normal spiral galaxies.

To summarize, our analysis of the emission lines suggests that HE 1503+0228 is a perfectly normal spiral galaxy, where the gas emission is dominated by ionization by stars rather than by the central AGN.

### 5.2 Absorption lines

Our spectra have sufficient signal-to-noise to measure the Lick indices for several stellar absorption features. As the spectral resolution of the Lick system is lower than the resolution of our data, we have convolved the spectrum of HE 1503+0228 with the appropriate Gaussian kernel, in order to match a 200 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ rest-frame resolution.

For a full compatibility between the measurements done for HE 1503+0228 and for the galaxy control sample (see previous section), we have re-measured the Lick indices on Kennicutt’s galaxies in exactly the same way as for HE 1503+0228.

A difficulty when looking at the stellar population in HE 1503+0228 is to avoid contamination due to the gas emission. This emission can either “fill-in” absorption lines –the Balmer lines is a well known example, but Mgb can be affected as well (Goudfrooij & Emsellem 1996)– or contaminate the continuum side bands used for the measurements of the equivalent widths. We have identified four absorption lines that are strong enough and free of this contamination by emission lines. They correspond to the Lick indices G4300, Ca4455, Ca4668, Fe5270 and Fe5335. With only a tiny change in the definition of the continuum window used for the Mg2 index, we could avoid contamination by the \[OIII \] (4959Å) emission line for this index. The small change we impose on the continuum side bands produces a change of at most $`\pm `$0.04mag (or 20%) in the measurement of the Mg2 index. In addition to the indices for the absorption lines, we also measure the important calcium break at 4000Å, which gives the D4000 index (Bruzual 1983).

Table 5 summarizes the results of our measurements. The available signal-to-noise ratio (per Å) for performing the measurements varies between $``$ 10 (blue part) and $``$25 (red part).

The continuum shape of HE 1503+0228 is rather flat, indicative of on-going star formation. Similarly to the result of Fig. 9, Fig. 10 puts HE 1503+0228 among normal spiral galaxies. The latter figure compares the index D4000, which measures the 4000Å break, with the equivalent width of H$`\beta `$ which is indicative of the presence of star formation. HE 1503+0228 nicely falls on the sharp relation traced by normal spirals.

As for the chemical abundances, we chose to present in Fig. 11 the Mg2 and Fe5270 indices. They trace the $`\alpha `$ and iron peak-elements, respectively. Here again, HE 1503+0228 is located exactly on the Hubble sequence, at the location of spiral galaxies, rather than ellipticals. Furthermore, the values of the absorption line equivalent widths strongly suggests the stellar population of an early type spiral galaxy.

## 6 Conclusions

We have undertaken a VLT program aimed at unveiling the spectroscopic properties of quasar host galaxies for a sample of radio quiet, bright quasars at low redshift. Our long term scientific goal is double: (1) to compare the stellar populations of quasar hosts with those of other (“normal”) galaxies, and (2) to study their dynamics, as close as possible to the central AGN.

The present paper considers HE 1503+0228 as a test case. An important part of our work is dedicated to the correction of geometrical effects and removal of the atmospheric blurring. This is crucial in the central parts of the galaxy, with sizes comparable to the seeing disk.

We find that the stellar population of the host galaxy of HE 1503+0228 compares well with that of the normal non-AGN spiral galaxies of Kennicutt (1992a,b) and Trager et al. (trager98 (1998)). They show no trace of enhanced star formation. The interstellar medium does not show significant ionization by the central AGN. Its mass M(r $`<`$ 10 kpc) = $`(1.9\pm 0.3)10^{11}`$ M also compares very well with that of other spiral galaxies. To summarize, the host galaxy of HE 1503+0228 is a normal spiral galaxy.

###### Acknowledgements.

The authors would like to thank Sandrine Sohy for help with some of the intensive programing involved in this work. Géraldine Letawe is a teaching assistant supported by the University of Liège, (Belgium) and is partially funded by the Pôle d’Attraction Interuniversitaire, P4/05 (SSTC, Belgium). Frédéric Courbin acknowledges financial support through Marie Curie grant MCFI-2001-0242. Chilean grant FONDECYT/3990024 and additional support from the European Southern Observatory are also gratefully acknowledged. Dante Minniti is supported in part by Fondap Center for Astrophysics.


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# The Inflationary Perturbation Spectrum

## Abstract

Motivated by the prospect of testing inflation from precision cosmic microwave background observations, we present analytic results for scalar and tensor perturbations in single-field inflation models based on the application of uniform approximations. This technique is systematically improvable, possesses controlled error bounds, and does not rely on assuming the slow-roll parameters to be constant. We provide closed-form expressions for the power spectra and the corresponding scalar and tensor spectral indices.

preprint: LA-UR-02-5306
Recent observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and of the distribution of galaxies have been largely consistent with inflation, not only with the result that the Universe is at critical density but also with the idea that the structure in the Universe arose from the gravitational collapse of adiabatic, Gaussian, and nearly-scale invariant primordial fluctuations, a key prediction of simple models of inflation infpertorig . The prospect of using precision CMB observations to distinguish between models of inflation has focused attention on the predictive control of the theory underlying the generation of inflationary fluctuations.

The form of the power spectrum alluded to above is predicted by models where inflation is caused by the dynamics of a scalar field in a ‘featureless’ potential, evolving in a friction-dominated ‘slow-roll’ regime. In more complex models (multiple fields, nontrivial potentials) it is possible to engineer spectra in a variety of ways; however, present observations do not demand the consideration of dynamically exotic inflation models.

Inflation predicts a spectrum of metric perturbations in the scalar (density) and tensor (gravitational wave) sectors, the vector component being naturally suppressed. Both scalar and tensor perturbations cause anisotropy in the CMB temperature anisotropy . Tensor modes cause a potentially observable polarization of the CMB, a prime target for next-generation CMB observations polar .

In tests of the inflationary paradigm, a key point is that, in inflation, the scalar and tensor fluctuations are not independent. It is important to accurately quantify this relationship, e.g., via ‘consistency relations’ cons . However, approximations based on ‘slow-roll’ assumptions lack error control and are not systematically improvable wms . Attempts to cure this problem have so far led to restrictive assumptions and/or tedious mathematical formulations.

Our purpose in this Letter is to present an analysis of the inflationary perturbation spectrum by applying a uniform approximation to the relevant mode equations. Our analysis does not make restrictive assumptions, possesses error bounds, and is systematically improvable. We also provide compact expressions for the scalar and tensor spectral indices $`n_S`$ and $`n_T`$. Details will be reported elsewhere hhjmp .

The dynamical equations for gauge-invariant scalar perturbations can be found by linearizing the Einstein equations in the longitudinal gauge (see, e.g., Ref. ivrevs2 ). In terms of the standard choice of gauge invariant variable $`u`$ (following the conventions of Ref. sl ), one of these equations reduces to the compact form $`u^{\prime \prime }\mathrm{\Delta }u(z^{\prime \prime }/z)u=0`$ where $`za\varphi ^{}/h`$, $`ha^{}/a`$, $`a`$ is the scale factor and the prime denotes a derivative with respect to the conformal time $`\eta 𝑑t/a`$. This equation represents the dynamics of a free field with a time-dependent mass. The canonical form makes $`u`$ the appropriate variable to quantize.

To proceed further, we introduce the quantity $`\zeta u/z`$, the intrinsic curvature perturbation of the comoving hypersurfaces givdhl . The dynamical equation for $`u`$ forces $`\zeta `$ to be nearly constant in the long wavelength limit $`k0`$. This is true during the inflationary phase as well as in the post-reheating era. A computation of $`\zeta `$ provides all the information needed (aside from the transfer functions) to extract the temperature anisotropy of the CMB. Details of this procedure can be found in Refs. ivrevs2 ; wms ; ms2 .

The calculation of power spectra involves computing two-point functions of quantum operators, e.g.,

$$0|\widehat{u}(\eta ,𝐱)\widehat{u}(\eta ,𝐱+𝐫)|0=_0^{\mathrm{}}\frac{dk}{k}\frac{\mathrm{sin}kr}{kr}P_u(\eta ,k).$$
(1)
The associated complex amplitude $`u_k(\eta )`$ satisfies

$$u_k^{\prime \prime }+\left(k^2\frac{z^{\prime \prime }}{z}\right)u_k=0.$$
(2)
Solving Eqn. (2) is the fundamental problem in determining the primordial power spectrum $`P_u`$ (or the power spectrum for $`\zeta `$, here defined as $`P_S`$).

The case of the tensor perturbations proceeds analogously. The relevant mode equations are

$$v_k^{\prime \prime }+\left(k^2\frac{a^{\prime \prime }}{a}\right)v_k=0,$$
(3)
which correspond to the wave equation for a massless, minimally coupled, scalar field in an FRW Universe.

One approach to analytically approximating Eqns. (2) and (3) relies on the fact that exact solutions exist in the limits $`k^2\left|z^{\prime \prime }/z\right|`$ (short wavelength) and $`k^2\left|z^{\prime \prime }/z\right|`$ (long wavelength) or, as will be made more explicit below, as $`k\eta \mathrm{}`$ and $`k\eta 0^{}`$. For scalar perturbations,

$`u_k`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\text{e}^{ik\eta }}{\sqrt{2k}}}\left(k^2\left|z^{\prime \prime }/z\right|,k\eta \mathrm{}\right),`$ (4)
$`u_k`$ $``$ $`A_kz\left(k^2\left|z^{\prime \prime }/z\right|,k\eta 0^{}\right).`$ (5)
Here, the short wavelength solution corresponds to the choice of an adiabatic vacuum for modes on length scales much smaller than the scale set by the curvature. The long wavelength solutions correspond to the growing mode on scales much larger than the Hubble length. Similar solutions exist for tensor perturbations. The problem of determining the power spectrum boils down to matching the asymptotic solutions, i.e., determining $`A_k`$.

To facilitate further analysis, it is useful to introduce the substitution

$$z^{\prime \prime }/z\left(\nu _S^2(\eta )1/4\right)/\eta ^2$$
(6)
in Eqn. (2), yielding

$$u_k^{\prime \prime }(\eta )+\left[k^2\frac{1}{\eta ^2}\left(\nu _S^2(\eta )\frac{1}{4}\right)\right]u_k(\eta )=0.$$
(7)
In the standard slow-roll method, $`\nu _S(\eta )`$ is taken to be constant in the intermediate regime $`k\eta 1`$ or $`kaH`$ (horizon-crossing for the $`k`$-mode of interest), in which case the mode equations can be solved in terms of Bessel functions and these intermediate solutions matched to the short and long wavelength solutions sl  (see the discussion in Ref. wms ). Systematic improvement of the approach runs into serious difficulties wms : as soon as $`\nu _S(\eta )`$ is varying, the Bessel solution no longer holds. (A perturbative improvement based on the leading order Bessel solution is given in Ref. sg . See also, Ref. seqns .)

To overcome these difficulties, we will here apply the method of uniform approximation Olver . This method provides a single approximating solution which converges uniformly, for time-dependent $`\nu _S`$, taking on the Liouville-Green (LG) or WKB form in both the short and long wavelength limits. The uniform approximation employs no intermediate matching, and, as opposed to the standard slow-roll approach, the approximation procedure can be systematically improved and possesses an error control function hhjmp .

We now turn to the specific form of the approximate solutions. Following Ref. Olver  we find a solution for $`u_k(\eta )`$ containing a part valid to the left of the turning point, $`\eta =\overline{\eta }_S`$ (defined by $`k^2=\nu _S^2/\overline{\eta }_S^2`$), and a part valid to the right. The leading order unnormalized solutions to the left $`(\eta \overline{\eta }_S)`$ and right $`(\eta \overline{\eta }_S)`$ of the turning point can be written in terms of Airy functions ($`\mathrm{Ai}^{(1)}\mathrm{Ai}`$, $`\mathrm{Ai}^{(2)}\mathrm{Bi}`$) as

$`u_{\stackrel{k<}{>}}^{(1,2)}(\eta )`$ $`=`$ $`f_{\stackrel{<}{>}}^{1/4}(\eta )g_S^{1/4}(\eta )\mathrm{Ai}^{(1,2)}[f_{\stackrel{<}{>}}(\eta )],`$ (8)
$`f_{\stackrel{<}{>}}(\eta )`$ $``$ $`\left\{\pm {\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}{\displaystyle _\eta ^{\overline{\eta }_S}}𝑑\eta ^{}\left[g_S(\eta ^{})\right]^{1/2}\right\}^{2/3},`$ (9)
$`g_S(\eta )`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\nu _S^2(\eta )}{\eta ^2}}k^2.`$ (10)
The general solution is a linear combination $`u_k=Au_k^{(1)}+Bu_k^{(2)}`$ with the constants $`A`$ and $`B`$ ensuring that $`u_k(\eta )=(1/\sqrt{2k})e^{ik\eta }`$ in the limit $`k\mathrm{}`$. In this limit, for well-behaved $`\nu _S`$, $`f_<(\eta )`$ is large and negative and we can employ the asymptotic forms

$$\{\mathrm{Ai}^{(1)},\mathrm{Ai}^{(2)}\}(x)=\frac{\{\mathrm{cos},\mathrm{sin}\}\left(2x^{3/2}/3\pi /4\right)}{\pi ^{1/2}x^{1/4}}.$$
(11)
Making the choices, $`A=\sqrt{\pi /2}`$, $`B=i\sqrt{\pi /2}`$, we obtain the required adiabatic form of the solution at short wavelengths and as $`\eta \mathrm{}`$ fulling . Note how the uniform approximation makes the matching procedure very simple.

The power spectra are computed in the limit $`\eta 0^{}`$. The $`1/\eta ^2`$ pole dominates the behavior of the solutions and the Airy solution limits to the LG/WKB solution. The argument of the Airy functions, $`f_>(\eta )`$, becomes large, allowing the use of the asymptotic forms

$$\{\mathrm{Ai}^{(1)},\mathrm{Ai}^{(2)}\}(x)=\frac{x^{1/4}}{\{2,1\}\sqrt{\pi }}\mathrm{exp}\left(\{,+\}\frac{2}{3}x^{3/2}\right).$$
(12)
For computing the power spectra in the $`k\eta 0^{}`$ limit only the growing part of the solution is relevant:

$$u_k(\eta )\stackrel{k\eta 0^{}}{=}iC\sqrt{\frac{\eta }{\nu _S(\eta )}}\mathrm{exp}\left(_{\overline{\eta }_S}^\eta 𝑑\eta ^{}\sqrt{g_S(\eta ^{})}\right),$$
(13)
where $`C`$ is an irrelevant constant phase factor. The calculation for the tensor case proceeds in a similar fashion, with the replacement of $`\nu _S`$ by $`\nu _T`$ defined by $`a^{\prime \prime }/a\left[\nu _T^2(\eta )1/4\right]/\eta ^2`$. A numerical illustration of the accuracy of the approximation is provided in Fig. 1.

Once the approximate solutions to Eqns. (2) and (3) have been found in the manner described above, the relevant power spectra can be easily computed via $`P_S(k)(k^3/2\pi ^2)|u_k(\eta )/z|^2`$. Using Eqn. (13), we find

$$P_S(k)=\frac{k^3}{4\pi ^2}\frac{1}{|z(\eta )|^2}\frac{\eta }{\nu _S(\eta )}\mathrm{exp}\left(2_{\overline{\eta }_S}^\eta 𝑑\eta ^{}\sqrt{g_S(\eta ^{})}\right).$$
(14)
The generalized spectral index for scalar perturbations can be obtained from the power spectrum via $`n_S(k)=1+d\mathrm{ln}P_S(k)/d\mathrm{ln}k`$. It is important to note that the turning point is a function of $`k`$, since $`k=\nu _S(\overline{\eta }_S)/\overline{\eta }_S`$ where $`\nu _S(\overline{\eta }_S)`$ is the value of $`\nu _S(\eta )`$ at the turning point $`\eta =\overline{\eta }_S`$. Using this relation, one finds

$$n_S(k)=4+2\frac{\nu _S(\overline{\eta }_S)k}{|\overline{\eta }_S|}_{\overline{\eta }_S}^\eta \frac{d\eta ^{}}{\sqrt{g_S(\eta ^{})}}.$$
(15)
The above analysis can be carried out for tensor perturbations in an identical fashion with the replacement $`\nu _S\nu _T`$. The spectral index for tensors is given by

$$n_T(k)=3+2\frac{\nu _T(\overline{\eta }_T)k}{|\overline{\eta }_T|}_{\overline{\eta }_T}^\eta \frac{d\eta ^{}}{\sqrt{g_T(\eta ^{})}}.$$
(16)
The expressions (14), (15), and (16) constitute our fundamental result.

In order to achieve a completely local expression, we can make additional approximations in the integrals in Eqns. (15) and (16). The integrand has a square-root singularity at the turning point while at the upper limit $`\eta `$ goes to zero and the integrand vanishes linearly. Therefore, assuming $`\nu _S(\eta )`$ and $`\nu _T(\eta )`$ are well-behaved, we expect the dominant contribution to arise from the lower limit. Assuming that $`\nu _S`$ and $`\nu _T`$ vary in such a way that one can expand them around the turning point in a Taylor series, to first order in derivatives, we find

$$\nu _S^2(\eta )\nu _S^2(\overline{\eta }_S)+2\nu _S(\overline{\eta }_S)\nu _S^{}(\overline{\eta }_S)\left(\eta \overline{\eta }_S\right).$$
(17)
The integrals in Eqns. (15) and (16) can now be solved exactly, and the spectral indices are given by

$`n_S(k)`$ $`=`$ $`42\nu _S(\overline{\eta }_S)\left[1\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{\nu _S^{}(\overline{\eta }_S)}{\nu _S(\overline{\eta }_S)}}\overline{\eta }_S\right],`$ (18)
$`n_T(k)`$ $`=`$ $`32\nu _T(\overline{\eta }_T)\left[1\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{\nu _T^{}(\overline{\eta }_T)}{\nu _T(\overline{\eta }_T)}}\overline{\eta }_T\right].`$ (19)
As a simple test of the uniform approximation, we consider the case of constant $`\nu _S`$ and $`\nu _T`$ where exact results are available. In this case (14), (15), (16) can be evaluated immediately. One finds

$`P_S(k)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2^{2\nu _S2}}{\pi ^2}}\nu _S^{2\nu _S1}e^{2\nu _S}\left({\displaystyle \frac{H}{a\dot{\varphi }}}\right)^2(k\eta )^{2\nu _S+1}k^2`$ (20)
$`=`$ $`P_S^{\mathrm{ex}}(k)\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{6\nu _S}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{72\nu _S^2}}+\mathrm{}\right),`$
$`n_S`$ $`=`$ $`42\nu _S,n_T=32\nu _T,`$ (21)
where we have used Stirling’s formula for the Gamma function in the exact power spectrum $`P_S^{\mathrm{ex}}(k)`$ (See, e.g., Ref. recon ). The spectral indices are found exactly, unlike in slow-roll expansions. All analytic examples so far used to test slow-roll results sl ; sg , e.g., power-law inflation, inflation near a maximum, and natural inflation have constant $`\nu _S`$: the uniform approximation recovers the spectral indices exactly in all of these cases.

Error bounds follow from the computation of the variation of the error control function Olver

$`(\eta )`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}{\displaystyle 𝑑\eta \left\{g_S^{3/2}\left[g_S^{\prime \prime }\frac{5}{4}g_S^1(g_S^{})^2\frac{1}{\eta ^2}g_S\right]\right\}}`$ (22)
$`\pm {\displaystyle \frac{5}{24|f_{\stackrel{<}{>}}|^{3/2}}}.`$
This calculation allows the determination of the errors $`ϵ_1(\eta )`$ and $`ϵ_2(\eta )`$ in the two independent solutions $`u_k^{(1)}`$ and $`u_k^{(2)}`$ (8). The error can be reduced if required by applying higher-order uniform approximations. Details will be provided in Ref. hhjmp . As an illustration, for the case of constant $`\nu _S`$, the absolute value of the relative error in the unnormalized solutions, over the full domain of interest, is bounded by

$$|ϵ_{1,2}|\sqrt{2}\left(\frac{1}{6\nu _S}+\frac{\lambda }{72\nu _S^2}+\mathrm{}\right),$$
(23)
where $`\lambda 1.04`$. The error bound has a weak subleading dependence on $`k`$ arising from the end-points, falling as $`1/k\eta `$ far to the left of $`\overline{\eta }_S`$ and vanishing as $`k^2\eta ^2`$, in the limit $`\eta 0^{}`$. The fact that the error bound is essentially $`k`$-independent is consistent with the spectral indices being exact in this case. The error in the power spectrum given in Eqn. (20) falls comfortably within the bound.

It is instructive to recast our results in the more familiar language of the slow-roll expansion. The exact forms of $`z^{\prime \prime }/z`$ and $`a^{\prime \prime }/a`$ are

$`{\displaystyle \frac{z^{\prime \prime }}{z}}`$ $`=`$ $`2a^2H^2\left(1+ϵ{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}\delta {\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}ϵ\delta +{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\delta ^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\xi _2\right),`$ (24)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{a^{\prime \prime }}{a}}`$ $`=`$ $`2a^2H^2\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}ϵ\right),`$ (25)
where $`ϵ\dot{H}/H^2`$, $`\delta \ddot{\varphi }/(H\dot{\varphi })`$, and $`\xi _2(\dot{ϵ}\dot{\delta })/H`$. The overdot represents a derivative with respect to the cosmic time $`t`$ and $`H\dot{a}/a`$.

In the slow-roll approximation $`ϵ`$, $`\delta `$, and $`\xi _2`$ are treated as small parameters, and one aims to solve Eqns. (2) and (3) in terms of expansions in these parameters. The exact equations of motion for $`ϵ`$ and $`\delta `$ are

$$\frac{\dot{ϵ}}{H}=2ϵ(ϵ\delta ),\frac{\dot{\delta }}{H}=2ϵ(ϵ\delta )\xi _2.$$
(26)
The conformal time $`\eta `$ can be written in terms of the slow-roll parameters via repeated integration by parts recon :

$$\eta =\frac{1}{aH}\left[\frac{1}{1ϵ}+2ϵ(ϵ\delta )+\mathrm{}\right].$$
(27)
If $`ϵ`$, $`\delta 1`$, $`\xi _2𝒪(ϵ^2,\delta ^2,ϵ\delta )`$, then, $`ϵ`$ and $`\delta `$ are constant to leading order (and to this order, $`\xi _20`$; the notation $`\xi _2`$ makes explicit that $`\xi _2`$ is a second-order quantity). At leading order, $`\eta (1+ϵ)/aH`$ \[Cf. Eqn. (27)\].

Our results (18) and (19) correspond to a resummation of the slow-roll expansion to all orders. The procedure of partially undoing this resummation to produce a less-accurate, but more familiar, expansion is as follows. We begin by substituting Eqn. (24) in the exact expression for $`\nu _S^2`$, Eqn. (6). Expanding Eqn. (27) to quadratic order in slow-roll parameters, $`a^2H^2(1+2ϵ+7ϵ^24ϵ\delta )/\eta ^2`$, then yields,

$`\nu _S`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}+2ϵ\delta {\displaystyle \frac{11}{3}}ϵ\delta +{\displaystyle \frac{14}{3}}ϵ^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\xi _2,`$
$`\eta \nu _S^{}`$ $``$ $`2ϵ(\delta ϵ)2\xi _2.`$ (28)
The desired form of the final result can be obtained by substituting these expressions in Eqn. (18)

$`n_S(k)`$ $``$ $`14ϵ_0+2\delta _0+2\left({\displaystyle \frac{17}{3}}\pi \right)ϵ_0\delta _0`$ (29)
$`2\left({\displaystyle \frac{20}{3}}\pi \right)ϵ_0^22\left({\displaystyle \frac{4}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{2}}\right)\xi _{02},`$
where the subscripts on the slow-roll parameters denote that they are evaluated at the turning point $`k=\nu _S(\overline{\eta }_S)/\overline{\eta }_S`$. Clearly this expression is of lower accuracy than (18). For example, one no longer recovers the exact results when $`\nu _S`$ is constant. The analogous result for the tensor spectral index is

$$n_T(k)2ϵ_02\left(\frac{23}{4}\pi \right)ϵ_0^2+2\left(\frac{14}{3}\pi \right)ϵ_0\delta _0.$$
(30)
These second-order slow-roll results are new and can be compared against the results of Ref. sg : both agree at leading order as well as for the case of power-law inflation, however the next-to-leading expressions differ in the general case. The second order approximations given above are consistent with the first order derivative expansions in Eqns. (18) and (19). The consistency of higher order derivative approximations can be determined by comparing against the computed error bounds at a given order of the uniform approximation.

To summarize, we have presented a controlled approximation for the computation of the inflationary perturbation spectrum which overcomes the matching problem of the conventional slow-roll approximation and systematically improves the calculation in the generic case of varying $`\nu _S`$ and $`\nu _T`$. Future applications of this method include precision studies of generic predictions of inflation models kinney , reconstruction recon , and studies of backreaction of quantum fluctuations on the background spacetime metric.

We thank Scott Dodelson, Fabio Finelli, Sabino Matarrese, Dominik Schwarz, Mike Turner, and, especially, Ewan Stewart for helpful conversations. SH and KH acknowledge the hospitality of the Aspen Center for Physics.


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# Generalized Cardassian Expansion: a Model in which the Universe is Flat, Matter Dominated, and Accelerating

## 1 Generalized Cardassian Models

Here we wish to generalize this proposal to other functions on the right hand side of the FRW equation. Pure matter (or radiation) alone can drive an accelerated expansion if the Friedmann Robertson Walker (FRW) equation is modified to become

$$H^2=g(\rho ),$$
(3)
We take $`g(\rho )`$ to be a function of $`\rho `$ that returns simply to $`\rho `$ at early epochs, but that can drive an accelerated expansion in the recent past of the universe at $`z<𝒪(1)`$. We take the usual energy conservation:

$$\dot{\rho }+3H(\rho +p)=0,$$
(4)
which gives the evolution of matter:

$$\rho _M=\rho _{M,0}(R/R_0)^3.$$
(5)
Here subscript $`0`$ refers to today. Eqs.(3) and (4) contain the complete information of the two Friedmann equations.

We note here that the geometry is flat, as required by measurements of the cosmic background radiation , so that there are no curvature terms in the equation. There is no vacuum term in the equation. This paper does not address the cosmological constant ($`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$) problem; we simply set $`\mathrm{\Lambda }=0`$.

The simplest example of this type of behavior is the sum of two terms:

$$H^2=\rho +f(\rho )$$
(6)
where $`f(\rho )`$ is a different function of $`\rho `$.

As mentioned above, in Paper I, the specific form of $`f(\rho )`$ that we considered was $`H^2=A\rho +B\rho ^n`$ with $`n<2/3`$ and $`n`$ constant in time. Another way to write this equation is

$$H^2=A\rho [1+(\frac{\rho }{\rho _{car}})^{n1}].$$
(7)
The first term inside the bracket dominates initially but the second term takes over once the energy density has dropped to the value $`\rho _{car}`$. Here, $`\rho _{car}`$ is the energy density at which the two terms are equal: the ordinary energy density term on the right hand side of the FRW equation is equal in magnitude to the new term. Hence there are two parameters in the model: one can take them to be $`B`$ and $`n`$, or equivalently, $`\rho _{car}`$ and $`n`$, or equivalently, $`z_{car}`$ and $`n`$.

The new term in the equation (the second term on the right hand side) is initially negligible. It only comes to dominate recently, at the redshift $`z_{car}O(1)`$ indicated by the supernovae observations. Once the second term dominates, it causes the universe to accelerate. When the new term is so large that the ordinary first term can be neglected, we find

$$Rt^{\frac{2}{3n}}$$
(8)
so that the expansion is superluminal (accelerated) for $`n<2/3`$. As examples, for $`n=2/3`$ we have $`Rt`$; for $`n=1/3`$ we have $`Rt^2`$; and for $`n=1/6`$ we have $`Rt^4`$. The case of $`n=2/3`$ produces a term in the FRW equation $`H^2R^2`$; such a term looks similar to a curvature term but is generated here by matter in a universe with a flat geometry. Note that for $`n=1/3`$ the acceleration is constant, for $`n>1/3`$ the acceleration is diminishing in time, while for $`n<1/3`$ the acceleration is increasing (the cosmic jerk).

Note that the parameter $`B`$ here is chosen to make the second term kick in at the right time to explain the observations. As yet we have no explanation of the coincidence problem; i.e., we have no explanation for the timing of $`z_{car}`$. Such an explanation would arise if we had a reason for the required mass scale of $`B`$; such an explanation may arise in the context of extra dimensions.

We were motivated to study an equation of this form by the work of Chung and Freese  who showed that terms of the form $`\rho ^n`$ can arise as a consequence of embedding our observable universe as a brane in extra dimensions.

## 2 Examples of Alternative FRW Equations

We wish to mention here some alternative forms of $`g(\rho )`$ in Eq.(3). Wang, Freese, Frieman, and Gondolo  are studying three Cardassian alternatives:

1) A simple generalization of Eq.(1) is:

$$H^2=A\rho [1+(\rho /\rho _{car})^{q(n1})]^{1/q}.$$
(9)
Here, $`q>0`$. As before, we require $`n<2/3`$. The right hand side returns to $`A\rho `$ (the ordinary FRW equation) at early times, but becomes $`\rho ^n`$ at late times, just as in Eq.(7). However, the cross over time period during which the two terms are roughly comparable is different here.

2) Another possibility is

$$H^2=D[1+(\rho /\rho _{car})^q]^{1/q}.$$
(10)
This example can have a particularly interesting equation of state. Gondolo and Freese  are considering treating the right hand side of Eq.(10) as a single fluid. Then this fluid behaves as a polytrope of negative index:

$$p(\frac{\rho }{\rho _{car}})^{1q},$$
(11)
which corresponds to a polytrope $`p=K\rho ^{1+1/N}`$ with negative index $`N=1/q`$ and negative pressure ($`K<0`$).

3) A third possibility modifies the simplest Cardassian proposal with a logarithm:

$$H^2=A\rho +B\rho ^n\mathrm{log}^q\rho .$$
(12)
Many other possibilities for the function $`g(\rho )`$ in Eq.(3) exist.

As will be shown in future work , the predictions for observational tests of these models can be very different from generic quintessence models whether the equation of state is constant or time dependent.

## 3 The simplest Cardassian Model: FRW with additional $`\rho ^n`$ term

For the rest of this presentation, we study specifically the case where $`g(\rho )=A\rho +B\rho ^n`$ for constant $`n<2/3`$. This is the case that was studied in Paper I. We use it to illustrate the basic properties of a Cardassian model.

### 3.1 What is the Current Energy Density of the Universe?

Observations of the cosmic background radiation show that the geometry of the universe is flat with $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=1`$. In the Cardassian model we need to revisit the question of what value of energy density today, $`\rho _0`$, corresponds to a flat geometry. We will show that the energy density required to close the universe is much smaller than in a standard cosmology, so that matter can be sufficient to provide a flat geometry.

From evaluating Eq.(1) today, we have

$$H_0^2=A\rho _0+B\rho _0^n.$$
(13)
The energy density $`\rho _0`$ that satisfies Eq.(13) is, by definition, the critical density. We can solve Eq.(13) to find that the critical density $`\rho _c`$ has been modified from its usual value, i.e., the number has changed. We find

$$\rho _c=\rho _{c,old}\times F(n)$$
(14)
where

$$F(n)=[1+(1+z_{car})^{3(1n)}]^1$$
(15)
and

$$\rho _{c,old}=1.88\times 10^{29}h_0^2\mathrm{gm}/\mathrm{cm}^3$$
(16)
and $`h_0`$ is the Hubble constant today in units of 100 km/s/Mpc.

In the (simplest) Cardassian model with new term $`\rho ^n`$, the value of the critical density can be much lower than previously estimated. Since $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=1`$ today, we have today’s energy density as $`\rho _0=\rho _c`$ as given above222An alternate possible definition would be to keep the standard value of $`\rho _c`$ and discuss the contribution to it from the two terms on the right hand side of the modified FRW equation. Then there would be contribution to $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ from the $`\rho `$ term and another contribution from the $`\rho ^n`$ term with the two terms adding to 1. This is the approach taken when one discusses a cosmological constant in lieu of our second term. However, the situation here is different in that we have only matter in the equation. The disadvantage of this second choice of definitions would be that the value of the energy density today equal to $`\rho _c`$ equal to $`\rho _c`$ according to this second definition would not correspond to a flat geometry..

For the past ten years, a multitude of observations has pointed towards a value of the matter density $`\rho _o0.3\rho _{c,old}`$. The cluster baryon fraction  as well as the observed galaxy power spectrum are best fit if the matter density is 0.3 of the old critical density. Recent results from the CMB  also obtain this value. In the standard cosmology this result implied that matter could not provide the entire closure density. Here, on the other hand, the value of the critical density can be much lower than previously estimated. Hence the cluster motivated value for $`\rho _o`$ is now compatible with a closure density of matter, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_o=1`$, all in the form of matter.

For example, if $`n=0.6`$ with $`z_{car}=1`$, or if $`n=0.2`$ with $`z_{car}=0.4`$, a critical density of matter corresponds to $`\rho _o0.3\rho _{c,old}`$, as required by the cluster baryon fraction and other data. If we assume that the value $`\rho _o=0.3\rho _{c,old}`$ is correct, for a given value of $`n`$ (that is constant in time) we can compute the value of $`z_{car}`$ for our model from Eq.(15). Henceforth we shall use these combinations of parameters.

### 3.2 Other observational tests

As discussed in Paper I, the simplest Cardassian model with an additional term $`\rho ^n`$ satisfies many observational constraints: the universe is somewhat older, the first Doppler peak in the microwave background is slightly shifted, early structure formation ($`z>1`$) is unaffected, but structure will stop growing sooner. In addition the modifications to the Poisson equation will affect cluster abundances and the ISW affect in the CMB.

### 3.3 Comparing to Quintessence

We note that, with regard to observational tests, one can make a correspondence between the $`\rho ^n`$ Cardassian and Quintessence models for constant $`n`$; we stress, however, that the two models are entirely different. Quintessence requires a dark energy component with a specific equation of state ($`p=w\rho `$), whereas the only ingredients in the Cardassian model are ordinary matter ($`p=0`$) and radiation ($`p=1/3`$). However, as far as any observation that involves only $`R(t)`$, or equivalently $`H(z)`$, the two models predict the same effects on the observation. Regarding such observations, we can make the following identifications between the Cardassian and quintessence models: $`nw+1`$, $`F\mathrm{\Omega }_m`$, and $`1F\mathrm{\Omega }_Q`$, where $`w`$ is the quintessence equation of state parameter, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m=\rho _m/\rho _{c,old}`$ is the ratio of matter density to the (old) critical density in the standard FRW cosmology appropriate to quintessence, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_Q=\rho _Q/\rho _{c,old}`$ is the ratio of quintessence energy density to the (old) critical density, and F is given by Eq.(15). In this way, the Cardassian model with $`\rho ^n`$ can make contact with quintessence with regard to observational tests.

### 3.4 Best Fit of Parameters to Current Data

We can find the best fit of the Cardassian parameters $`n`$ and $`z_{car}`$ to current CMB and Supernova data. The current best fit is obtained for $`\rho _o=0.3\rho _{c,old}`$ (as we have discussed above) and $`n<0.4`$ (equivalently, $`w<0.6`$) . In Table I one can see the values of $`z_{car}`$ compatible with this bound, as well as the resultant age of the universe. As an example, for $`n=0.2`$ (equivalently, $`w=0.8`$), we find that $`z_{car}=0.42`$. Then the position of the first Doppler peak is shifted by a factor of 1.12. The age of the universe is 13 Gyr. The cutoff energy density is $`\rho _{cutoff}=2.7\rho _c`$, so that the new term is important only for $`\rho <\rho _{cutoff}=2.7\rho _c`$. Hence, the Cardassian term won’t affect the physics of the Earth or solar system in any way.

## 4 Discussion

We have presented $`H^2=g(\rho )`$ as a modification to the FRW equations in order to suggest an explanation of the recent acceleration of the universe. In the Cardassian model, the universe can be flat and yet matter dominated. We have found that the new Cardassian modifications can dominate the expansion of the universe after $`z_{car}=𝒪`$$`(1)`$ and can drive an acceleration. We have found that matter alone can be responsible for this behavior. The current value of the energy density of the universe is then smaller than in the standard model and yet is at the critical value for a flat geometry. We reported on results for the simplest Cardassian case of Eq.(1): Structure formation is unaffected before $`z_{car}`$. The age of the universe is somewhat longer. The first Doppler peak of the cosmic background radiation is shifted only slightly and remains consistent with experimental results. Such a modified FRW equation may result from the existence of extra dimensions. Further work is required to find a simple fundamental theory responsible for Eq.(1). In this presentation, generalized cardassian models were discussed. As will be shown in future work, the predictions for observational tests of these models can be very different from generic quintessence models, whether the equation of state is constant or time dependent.

## 5 Acknowledgments

This paper reflects work with collaborators Matt Lewis, Paolo Gondolo, Yun Wang, and Josh Frieman. K.F. thanks T. Baltz, D. Chung, R. Easther, G. Evrard, P. Gondolo, W. Hu, L. Hui, W. Kinney, R. Wechsler, and especially J. Liu for many useful conversations and helpful suggestions. We acknowledge support from the Department of Energy via the University of Michigan, and thanks the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at Santa Barbara.