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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The premiere astrophysical conundrum is the nature and identity of dark matter. The accumulated body of evidence in favor of the existence of dark matter is by now overwhelming: Studies of the cosmic microwave background , high redshift supernovae , galactic clusters and galactic rotation curves  indicate that the matter density of the universe is $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M0.30.4`$. Constraints from big-bang nucleosynthesis, however, limit the baryonic matter density to a small fraction of this number . Furthermore, the observed density of luminous matter is also very small, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_L<0.01`$ . Therefore, the vast majority of the mass in the universe is dark. Additionally, cosmic microwave background studies and large scale structure formation requires that the majority of the dark matter be cold (non-relativistic) .

Dark matter could exist in several forms. Perhaps the most interesting possibility is a neutral, stable, weakly interacting particle arising from physics beyond the Standard Model. Candidates for such an animal abound, including the lightest supersymmetric particle, the axion, etc. The possibility of a stable Kaluza-Klein (KK) excitation as particle dark matter was raised many years ago  and more recently . Models in which all of the Standard Model fields propagate in “universal” extra dimensions  (for earlier work, see ) provide the most natural home for KK dark matter . This is because bulk interactions do not violate higher dimensional momentum conservation (KK number), and in these models all of the couplings among the Standard Model particles arise from bulk interactions. To generate chiral fermions at the zero mode level, the extra compact dimension(s) must be modded out by an orbifold. For five dimensions this is $`S^1/Z_2`$, while in six dimensions $`T^2/Z_2`$ is suitable and has other interesting properties  including motivation for three generations from anomaly cancellation  and the prevention of fast proton decay . An orbifold does, however, lead to some of the less appealing aspects of the model. Brane-localized terms can be added to both orbifold fixed points that violate KK number. If these brane localized terms are symmetric under the exchange of the two orbifold fixed points, then a remnant of KK number conservation remains, called KK parity. All odd-level KK modes are charged under this discrete symmetry thereby ensuring that the lightest level-one KK particle (LKP) does not decay. This is entirely analogous to exactly conserved $`R`$-parity in supersymmetric models which ensures the lightest supersymmetric particle is stable. The stability of the LKP suggests it could well be an interesting dark matter candidate.

The identity of the lightest KK particle crucially depends on the mass spectrum of the first KK level. At tree-level, the mass of each excitation is simply

$$\left(m_i^1\right)^2=\frac{1}{R^2}+\left(m_i^0\right)^2$$
(1)
where $`R`$ is the compactification radius that could be as large as $`1/(300\mathrm{GeV})`$ without conflict with experiment . However, brane-localized terms can be added on the orbifold fixed points that significantly modify the masses and higher dimensional wavefunctions. The tree-level (matching) contributions at the cutoff scale of the higher dimensional theory are not calculable, but can be estimated using naive dimensional analysis. The result is that the size of these terms are suppressed by a volume factor, of order $`\mathrm{\Lambda }R`$ where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the cutoff. More importantly, these brane-localized terms are renormalized upon evolving from the matching scale to the mass scale of the light KK modes . For universal extra dimensions, Cheng, Matchev, and Schmaltz showed that the tree-level mass formula receives significant one-loop radiative corrections from log-enhanced brane-localized terms on the orbifold fixed points . These radiative corrections are, in many cases, larger than the shifts in the tree-level masses resulting from the masses of the zero modes. Indeed, here we will generally assume that these contributions dominate over the tree-level volume-suppressed matching contributions. Then, with the further assumption that the KK excitation of the Higgs does not receive a (significant) brane-localized negative contribution to its mass, the identity of the lightest KK state is identified as the first KK excitation of the photon. Like the ordinary photon, the KK photon is an admixture between the first KK hypercharge gauge boson and the first KK neutral SU(2) gauge boson. However, this identification is somewhat misleading, as  point out, since the mixing angle for the level-one KK gauge bosons is generally much smaller than the Weinberg angle. A leading order approximation to the mass of the lightest $`B^1`$ state is

$$m_{B^1}^2\frac{1}{R^2}\left[1+\frac{g^2}{16\pi ^2}\left(\frac{39\zeta (3)}{2\pi ^2}\frac{1}{3}\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Lambda }R+(2\pi Rv)^2\right)\right]$$
(2)
neglecting higher order $`𝒪(\mathrm{sin}\theta ^1v^2)`$ corrections. This approximation is equivalent to identifying LKP $`\gamma ^1B^1`$, which we do for the remainder of the paper.

The relic density of the $`B^1`$ has been calculated in a recent paper by Servant and Tait . Assuming the LKPs were once in thermal equilibrium, they found that the relic density is in the favorable region for providing the cold dark matter of the universe, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{B^1}h^2=0.16\pm 0.04`$, when the mass is moderately heavy, between $`600`$ to $`1200`$ GeV. The range of mass depends on the relative importance of coannihilation with KK modes near in mass to the LKP. We shall see later that coannihilation is active throughout the parameter space when the KK mass spectrum is obtained using the radiative corrections arising from renormalized brane-localized terms. Direct detection of the LKP as dark matter has been considered by Cheng, Feng, and Matchev . They emphasized that unlike the case of a neutralino LSP, the bosonic nature of the LKP means there is no chirality suppression of the annihilation signal into fermions. The annihilation rate of the LKP is therefore roughly proportional to the (hypercharge)4 of the final state, leading to a large rate into leptons. The large mass of the LKP suggests that dark matter detection experiments sensitive to very heavy mass relics should be among the most promising methods of detection. In this paper, we explore the signal expected at present and future high energy neutrino telescopes that can probe precisely this type of heavy dark matter.111Note that  also remarked on the potential importance of indirect detection at neutrino telescopes.

## 2 Relic density and KK mass spectrum

The relic density of $`B^1`$’s depends on the $`B^1`$ mass, the annihilation cross section, and the coannihilation rate. The annihilation and coannihilation cross sections are determined by SM couplings and the mass spectrum of the first KK level. In , the relic density of $`B^1`$’s was calculated in the following approximation: the masses of all of the first level KK modes are equal, and electroweak breaking effects (i.e., fermion and gauge boson masses) are neglected. In the low-velocity limit their result is

$$\sigma v=\frac{95g_1^4}{324\pi m_{B^1}^2},$$
(3)
into fermion final states. There are also annihilations into Higgs boson pairs, but this is only a few percent additive correction to the above and so can be neglected. A more general calculation for arbitrary masses of intermediate state KK fermions is straightforward, but as we will see, not necessary to obtain the quantitative results we present below.

The full KK mass spectrum with one-loop corrections is presented in . The general expression for the correction to the level one KK fermion masses is given by

$$m_{f^1}=\frac{1}{R}\left[1+\frac{9}{32\pi ^2}\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Lambda }R\underset{a}{}C_a(f)g_a^2\right].$$
(4)
(The Yukawa corrections to this formula can be safely ignored since the KK top plays a negligible role in the analysis to follow.) The sum is over all of the SM gauge groups, and $`C_a(f)`$ is the quadratic Casimir for the fermion transforming under the group $`a`$. The scale $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the strong coupling cutoff scale of the extra dimensional theory. An important observation from this general formula is that the fractional shift in the mass to the KK quarks is generally an order of magnitude larger than for the KK leptons. This is simply due to the much larger QCD corrections over the electroweak corrections. In particular, consider the following fractional shifts

$`r_{\mathrm{}_R^1}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_{\mathrm{}_R^1}m_{B^1}}{m_{B^1}}}={\displaystyle \frac{g^2}{32\pi ^2}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{28}{3}}\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Lambda }R+{\displaystyle \frac{39\zeta (3)}{2\pi ^2}}(2\pi Rv)^2\right]`$ (5)
$`r_{u_R^1}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_{u_R^1}m_{B^1}}{m_{B^1}}}={\displaystyle \frac{6g_3^2}{16\pi ^2}}\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Lambda }R+{\displaystyle \frac{g^2}{32\pi ^2}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{13}{3}}\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Lambda }R+{\displaystyle \frac{39\zeta (3)}{2\pi ^2}}(2\pi Rv)^2\right].`$ (6)
$`r_{d_R^1}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{m_{d_R^1}m_{B^1}}{m_{B^1}}}={\displaystyle \frac{6g_3^2}{16\pi ^2}}\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Lambda }R+{\displaystyle \frac{g^2}{32\pi ^2}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{4}{3}}\mathrm{ln}\mathrm{\Lambda }R+{\displaystyle \frac{39\zeta (3)}{2\pi ^2}}(2\pi Rv)^2\right].`$ (7)
The non-logarithmically enhanced terms contribute at most a percent (for $`1/R=300`$ GeV), and are negligible for the radii of interest here ($`1/R>600`$ GeV). The ratio of the fractional shifts is

$$\frac{r_{q_R^1}}{r_{\mathrm{}_R^1}}\frac{18g_3^2}{14g^2}12\mathrm{where}r_{q_R^1}r_{u_R^1}r_{d_R^1}.$$
(8)
Notice that the ratio is independent of the compactification radius and also independent of the cutoff scale. Hence, the relative KK particle mass hierarchy is fixed by the just the SM couplings.

What is the size of the radiative correction for a given KK mode? This is dependent on the cutoff scale in theory. Strong coupling in extra dimensional theories appears when $`g^2N`$ is order one, where $`g`$ is the coupling and $`N`$ is the number of (KK) particles exchanged. For five universal dimensions this has been estimated to be $`\mathrm{\Lambda }20/R`$ . This results in the fractional shifts $`r_{\mathrm{}_R^1}0.011`$ and $`r_{q_R^1}0.14`$. For six universal dimensions the fractional shifts are about half as big.

Several observations based on this discussion of the KK mass spectrum are in order: First, the right-handed KK lepton is within a percent or so of the $`B^1`$ mass, implying that coannihilation of the $`B^1`$ with $`\mathrm{}_R^1`$ is always important. This means that for the $`B^1`$ to have the appropriate abundance to be the dark matter of the Universe, it must have a mass between about $`600`$ to $`800`$ GeV using the results of . Second, we see that the estimate of the relic density (3) in which all of the level one KK modes were taken to have the same mass is a reasonably good approximation since none of the KK modes is more than about $`20\%`$ heavier than the $`B^1`$.

## 3 Capture and annihilation in the Sun

The calculation of the flux of neutrinos from WIMP annihilations in the Sun (and Earth) has been explored in some detail, especially for the case of neutralino dark matter . The basic idea is to begin with the relatively well-known local dark matter density from the galactic rotation data, compute the interaction cross section of the WIMPs with nuclei in the Sun, compare the capture rate with the annihilation rate to determine if these processes are in equilibrium, and then compute the flux of neutrinos that result from this rate of WIMP capture and annihilation.

There are two separate channels by which WIMPs can scatter off nuclei in the Sun: spin-dependent interactions and spin-independent interactions. For accretion from spin-dependent scattering, the capture rate is

$$C_{\mathrm{SD}}^{}3.35\times 10^{18}\mathrm{s}^1\left(\frac{\rho _{\mathrm{local}}}{0.3\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{cm}^3}\right)\left(\frac{270\mathrm{km}/\mathrm{s}}{\overline{v}_{\mathrm{local}}}\right)^3\left(\frac{\sigma _{\mathrm{H},\mathrm{SD}}}{10^6\mathrm{pb}}\right)\left(\frac{1000\mathrm{GeV}}{m_{B^1}}\right)^2$$
(9)
where $`\rho _{\mathrm{local}}`$ is the local dark matter density, $`\sigma _{\mathrm{H},\mathrm{SD}}`$ is the spin-dependent, WIMP-on-proton (hydrogen) elastic scattering cross section, $`\overline{v}_{\mathrm{local}}`$ is the local rms velocity of halo dark matter particles and $`m_{B^1}`$ is our dark matter candidate. The analogous formula for the capture rate from spin-independent (scalar) scattering is

$$C_{\mathrm{SI}}^{}1.24\times 10^{18}\mathrm{s}^1\left(\frac{\rho _{\mathrm{local}}}{0.3\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{cm}^3}\right)\left(\frac{270\mathrm{km}/\mathrm{s}}{\overline{v}_{\mathrm{local}}}\right)^3\left(\frac{2.6\sigma _{\mathrm{H},\mathrm{SI}}+0.175\sigma _{\mathrm{He},\mathrm{SI}}}{10^6\mathrm{pb}}\right)\left(\frac{1000\mathrm{GeV}}{m_{B^1}}\right)^2.$$
(10)
Here, $`\sigma _{\mathrm{H},\mathrm{SI}}`$ is the spin-independent, WIMP-on-proton elastic scattering cross section and $`\sigma _{\mathrm{He},\mathrm{SI}}`$ is the spin-independent, WIMP-on-helium elastic scattering cross section. Typically, $`\sigma _{\mathrm{He},\mathrm{SI}}16.0\sigma _{\mathrm{H},\mathrm{SI}}`$. The factors of $`2.6`$ and $`0.175`$ include information on the solar abundances of elements, dynamical factors and form factor suppression.

Although these two rates appear to be comparable in magnitude, the spin-dependent cross section is typically three to four orders of magnitude larger than the spin-independent cross section . Therefore, solar accretion by spin-dependent scattering dominates, and hereafter we can safely ignore spin-independent scattering. The microscopic elastic scattering spin-dependent cross section of a $`B^1`$ off of a proton was calculated in . Their result can be well-approximated by

$$\sigma _{\mathrm{H},\mathrm{SD}}=\frac{g^4m_p^2}{648\pi m_{B^1}^4r_{q_R^1}^2}\left(4\mathrm{\Delta }_u^p+\mathrm{\Delta }_d^p+\mathrm{\Delta }_s^p\right)^2$$
(11)
since the scattering cross section is dominated by exchanges of right-handed KK quarks due to their larger hypercharge over left-handed KK quarks. Here, $`m_p`$ is the mass of the proton and the $`\mathrm{\Delta }_q^p`$’s parameterize the fraction of spin carried by a constituent quark $`q`$ ,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_u^p=0.78\pm 0.02,\mathrm{\Delta }_d^p=0.48\pm 0.02,\mathrm{\Delta }_s^p=0.15\pm 0.07.$$
(12)
Inserting the spin-fractions, we obtain

$$\sigma _{\mathrm{H},\mathrm{SD}}=0.9\times 10^6\mathrm{pb}\left(\frac{1000\mathrm{GeV}}{m_{B^1}}\right)^4\left(\frac{0.14}{r_{q_R^1}}\right)^2.$$
(13)
If the capture rates and annihilation cross sections are sufficiently high, the Sun will reach equilibrium between these processes. For $`N`$ number of $`B^1`$’s in the Sun, the rate of change of this number is given by

$$\dot{N}=C^{}A^{}N^2,$$
(14)
where $`C^{}`$ is the capture rate and $`A^{}`$ is the annihilation cross section times the relative WIMP velocity per volume. $`C^{}`$ was given in (9), while $`A^{}`$ is

$$A^{}=\frac{\sigma v}{V_{\mathrm{eff}}}$$
(15)
where $`V_{\mathrm{eff}}`$ is the effective volume of the core of the Sun determined roughly by matching the core temperature with the gravitational potential energy of a single WIMP at the core radius. This was found in  to be

$$V_{\mathrm{eff}}=1.8\times 10^{26}\mathrm{cm}^3\left(\frac{1000\mathrm{GeV}}{m_{B^1}}\right)^{3/2}.$$
(16)
The present $`B^1`$ annihilation rate is

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=\frac{1}{2}A^{}N^2=\frac{1}{2}C^{}\mathrm{tanh}^2\left(\sqrt{C^{}A^{}}t_{}\right)$$
(17)
where $`t_{}4.5`$ billion years is the age of the solar system. The annihilation rate is maximized when it reaches equilibrium with the capture rate. This occurs when

$$\sqrt{C^{}A^{}}t_{}1.$$
(18)
Combining our expression for the capture and annihilation rate \[using $`\sigma v`$ from (3)\], we find

$$\sqrt{C^{}A^{}}t_{}=2.4\left(\frac{1000\mathrm{GeV}}{m_{B^1}}\right)^{13/4}\frac{0.14}{r_{q_R^1}}.$$
(19)
Hence, throughout the mass range that leads to the ideal relic abundance of $`B^1`$’s considered by , we find that the Sun either reaches or nearly reaches equilibrium between $`B^1`$ capture and annihilation.

The Earth, being less massive and accreting dark matter only by scalar interactions, captures particles much more slowly than the Sun. For the optimistic case of $`m_{B^1}=500`$ GeV with $`\sigma _\mathrm{H}10^6`$ pb (scalar only), the ratio of the age of the solar system to the equilibrium time is on the order of $`10^5`$, which corresponds to a $`10^{10}`$ suppression in the annihilation rate. We find no scenario in which KK dark matter annihilation in the Earth provides an observable signal.

## 4 Event rates and prospects for detection

Now that we have determined the annihilation rate in the Sun, we need to determine the outgoing flux of detectable particles. This corresponds to determining the annihilation fraction directly into muon neutrinos, as well as indirectly through decays. We are interested exclusively in muon neutrinos since at the energies relevant to $`B^1`$ annihilation, neutrino telescopes only observe muon tracks generated in charged-current interactions. In the approximation that all heavier level one KK modes have the same mass, the relative annihilation fraction can be determined from simply the hypercharge of the final state fermions. This is shown in Table 1 for the column $`r_{f^1}=0`$.

However, the annihilation into KK quarks is slightly further suppressed since the KK quarks are slightly heavier than the KK leptons. Using $`r_{q_R^1}=0.14`$, our estimates of the modified branching fractions are shown in Table 1. Clearly the relative annihilation fractions are not particularly sensitive to the details of the spectrum so long as KK leptons are the same mass or lighter than KK quarks as the one-loop radiative corrections suggest.

Neutrinos are generated in annihilations directly, but can also be produced in the decays of tau leptons, quarks and Higgs bosons generated in annihilations. Only very short lived particles contribute to secondary neutrino flux, as longer lived particles lose the majority of their energy from scattering in the Sun before decaying. Bottom and charm quarks lose energy from hadronization before decaying. Although top quarks do not hadronize, they generate neutrinos only through gauge bosons and bottom quarks generated in their decay. Neutrinos can also lose energy traveling through the Sun . Muon neutrinos that escape the Sun then travel to the Earth where a small fraction of them are converted to muons through charged current interactions. Neutrino telescopes observe high energy muon neutrinos by identifying a muon track in the detector medium generated in a charged-current interaction (for a review, see ).

To calculate the event rate in neutrino telescopes, we first must calculate the spectrum of neutrinos from annihilation directly to neutrinos as well as from other annihilation modes that lead indirectly to neutrinos from decays. Calculating the flux of indirectly produced neutrinos requires modeling the physics of the final state, including hadronization and decay, and must be done numerically. Fortunately, the indirect sources have been previously calculated in supersymmetric models for neutralino annihilation in the Sun. The flux of muon neutrinos from the indirect final states of leptons, quarks, gauge bosons, and Higgs particles has been simulated and parameterized by Edsjo . We use this parameterization, replacing the neutralino with the LKP, and using the relative annihilation rates into the various final states as shown in Table 1. In this parameterization the flux of muons expected at an Earth-based detector is

$$\frac{d\mathrm{\Phi }_\mu }{dz}(m_{B^1},z)=\frac{p_1m_{B^1}^2\left[1\mathrm{exp}\left(p_5\frac{m_{B^1}}{z^{p_8}}\right)\right]\mathrm{exp}\left(p_7m_{B^1}z\right)}{1+\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{zp_2\mathrm{exp}(p_3m_{B^1})p_6}{p_4}\right)}$$
(20)
where $`zE_\mu /m_{B^1}`$ and $`p_1\mathrm{}p_8`$ are the parameters fitted to the simulation results that can be found in . The accuracy of this parameterization was estimated to be within about 15% so long as the threshold is not too close to the LKP mass, $`E_\mu ^{\mathrm{th}}<0.2m_{B^1}`$. We have used a muon energy threshold of $`50`$ GeV, although our results are not very sensitive to this choice. This energy threshold is well below the masses of the LKPs considered here, and thus well within the range where this parameterization is expected to be valid.

The calculation of the direct neutrino signal was done separately. Annihilation of LKPs into neutrinos results in a mono-energetic spectrum of neutrinos. Of course not all of the neutrinos escape the Sun, due to interactions in the solar medium. The probability of a neutrino escaping the Sun without interacting is given by

$$P=e^{E_\nu /E_k}$$
(21)
where $`E_k`$ ($`130`$, $`160`$, $`200`$, $`230`$) GeV for ($`\nu _\mu `$, $`\nu _\tau `$, $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$, $`\overline{\nu }_\tau `$). We make the conservative approximation that all neutrinos that interact in the Sun are absorbed rather than regenerated. Note that this exponential suppression of very high energy neutrinos emitted from the Sun is implicitly included in the parameterization, Eq. (20).

Neutrinos exiting the Sun travel to the Earth and then occasionally interact through charged current interactions. The mono-energetic spectrum of muon neutrinos becomes a distribution of muon energies  due to the conversion interactions. The resulting muon travels a distance $`R_\mu `$ before its energy falls below the threshold energy $`E_{\mathrm{th}}`$. This distance, called the muon range, is given by

$$R_\mu \frac{1}{\rho \beta }\mathrm{ln}\left[\frac{\alpha +\beta E_\mu }{\alpha +\beta E_{\mathrm{th}}}\right]$$
(22)
where $`\rho `$ is the density of the detector medium, $`\alpha 2.0`$ MeV cm2/g and $`\beta 4.2\times 10^6`$ cm2/g. The effective volume in which a muon producing interaction can occur and be observed is simply the muon range times the effective area of the detector.

Another important effect for all sources of neutrinos is flavor oscillations. In the Sun, for the energies of interest to us here, an originally outgoing muon or tau neutrino oscillates sufficiently so as to randomize its final flavor . (Oscillation into electron neutrinos occurs only for a significantly lower energy source of neutrinos.) This gives a significant increase to the number of muon neutrinos that result from the annihilation process $`B^1B^1\tau ^+\tau ^{}`$, since every $`\tau `$ decay results in a tau neutrino that has about an even chance of exiting the Sun as a muon neutrino.

In Fig. 1

we show the muon flux at the surface of the Earth from $`B^1`$ annihilations in the Sun for $`m_{B^1}=600`$ and $`1000`$ GeV, respectively. For the purposes of comparison, the spin-dependent cross section was fixed at $`\sigma _{\mathrm{H},\mathrm{SD}}=10^6`$ pb for both masses. The majority of events result from the indirect source $`B^1B^1\tau ^+\tau ^{}`$, when the $`\tau `$’s decay producing a muon neutrino either directly or through flavor oscillations.

Using the neutrino energy spectrum, the event rate expected at an existing or future neutrino telescope can be calculated. This is shown in Fig. 2

for a detector with an effective area of $`1`$ km2, such as IceCube. Each line corresponds to a different value of $`r_{q_R^1}`$. We should emphasize that the expected size of the one-loop radiative corrections from (6)–(7) predict $`0.1<r_{q_R^1}<0.2`$ for $`10/R<\mathrm{\Lambda }<100/R`$. For this range, a kilometer scale neutrino telescope would be sensitive to a $`B^1`$ with mass up to about 1 TeV. The relic density of the $`B^1`$ varies from low to high values from left to right in the graph. The range of mass of the $`B^1`$ that gives the appropriate relic density $`\mathrm{\Omega }_{B^1}h^2=0.14\pm 0.04`$ to be dark matter was estimated from  and shown in the figure by the solid sections of the lines. Note that coannihilation with KK quarks is not included in Fig. 2, however this is not likely to significantly affect our results for $`r_{q_R^1}>0.1`$ as shown in the figure . Generally the largest uncertainties in our calculations arise from astrophysical sources, such as the local dark matter halo density, which we estimate to be within about a factor of two. Combining the expected size of the one-loop radiative corrections with a relic density appropriate for dark matter, we find that IceCube should see between a few to tens of events per year.

For detectors with smaller effective areas one simply has to scale the curves down by a factor $`A/(1\mathrm{km}^2)`$ to obtain the event rate. In particular, for the first generation neutrino telescopes including AMANDA, ANTARES, and NESTOR, with effective areas of order $`0.1`$ km2, the event rate could be as high as a few events per year for a $`B^1`$ mass at the lower end of the solid line region.

A discovery of WIMP annihilations in the Sun would inevitably require a careful analysis of the signal over background. The background for this class of experiments consists of atmospheric neutrinos  and neutrinos generated in cosmic ray interactions in the Sun’s corona . In the direction of the Sun (up to the angular resolution of a neutrino telescope), tens of events above 100 GeV and on the order of 1 event per year above 1 TeV, per square kilometer are expected from the atmospheric neutrino flux. Fortunately, for a very large volume detector with sufficient statistics, this background is expected to be significantly reduced, and possibly eliminated. Furthermore, this rate could be estimated based on the rate from atmospheric neutrinos, a level of about a few events per year. The final background is then further reduced by selecting on judiciously chosen angular and/or energy bins. Neutrinos generated by cosmic ray interactions in the Sun’s corona, however, cannot be reduced in this way. This irreducible background is predicted to be less than a few events per year per square kilometer above 100 GeV.

## 5 Conclusions

The prospects for indirect detection of $`B^1`$ dark matter is very promising at kilometer scale neutrino telescopes. Using the one-loop radiative corrections to the KK mass spectrum, we showed that if the $`B^1`$ lies in the mass range in which it has an acceptable present-day relic density to be the dark matter of the universe, then a $`1`$ km2 neutrino telescope is expected to detect between a few to tens of $`B^1`$ annihilation events in the Sun per year. This mass range of the $`B^1`$ is between about $`600`$ to $`800`$ GeV where coannihilations with right-handed KK leptons plays a significant role. The relatively large signal relies on the Sun reaching equilibrium between $`B^1`$ capture and annihilation, which we explicitly verified for this range of $`B^1`$ masses.

Although we have focused on the $`B^1`$ mass range that results in the appropriate dark matter relic density as currently consistent with cosmology, it is straightforward to extrapolate to other masses. In fact, there are two particle physics effects that are expected to lead to a *lowering* of the $`B^1`$ mass for a fixed relic density. The first effect is the inclusion of coannihilation with left-handed KK leptons. The second effect, in a six dimensional model, is that there are typically multiple LKPs corresponding to multiple conserved parities. In both of these cases the lowering of the mass of the LKP(s) for a fixed relic density implies a larger event rate at neutrino telescopes. We are therefore optimistic that future detectors will find or exclude this fascinating possibility.

## Acknowledgments

We thank Géraldine Servant and Tim Tait for several valuable discussions and for reading the manuscript. We also thank John Beacom for informing us of Ref.  and for enlightening discussions concerning its effects on our results. G.D.K. thanks the Aspen Center for Physics and the T-8 group of Los Alamos National Laboratory for hospitality where part of this work was completed. This work was supported in part by a DOE grant No. DE-FG02-95ER40896 and in part by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.


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# Imaging coherent electron wave flow in a two-dimensional electron gas

## Abstract

We measure the energy distribution of electrons passing through a two-dimensional electron gas using a scanning probe microscope. We present direct spatial images of coherent electron wave flow from a quantum point contact formed in a GaAs/AlGaAs two-dimensional electron gas using a liquid He cooled SPM. A negative voltage is placed on the tip, which creates a small region of depleted electrons that backscatters electron waves. Oscillating the voltage on the tip and locking into this frequency gives the spatial derivative of electron flow perpendicular to the direction of current flow. We show images of electron flow using this method. By measuring the amount of electrons backscattered as a function of the voltage applied to the tip, the energy distribution of electrons is measured.

, , , , , , ,

thanks: Corresponding author. E-mail: leroy@physics.harvard.edu

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) has become increasingly important for understanding mescoscopic phenomena including quantum point contacts, the quantum Hall effect and carbon nanotubes . SPM techniques provide information on a local scale, which is not available from bulk transport measurements. In this paper, we present images showing coherent electron flow from a quantum point contact (QPC). We demonstrate a technique for imaging the spatial derivative of electron flow perpendicular to the direction of current flow by oscillating the voltage on the tip and locking into this frequency. We also measure the distribution of electrons as a function of energy by measuring the number of electrons backscattered as a function of the voltage applied to the tip.

Fig. 1(A) shows the measurement setup used to image coherent electron wave flow. The sample used is a GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure with a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) located 57 nm beneath the surface. Metal gates are deposited on the surface to form the QPC. A negative voltage is put on the SPM tip with respect to the 2DEG, which creates a small depleted region directly below the tip. The depleted region can backscatter electrons reducing the conductance through the QPC. By raster scanning the tip over the sample and recording the conductance, an image of electron flow is obtained. Fig. 1(B) is a plot of the QPC conductance G, versus its width controlled by the voltage on the gate. Well defined conductance plateaus are visible at multiples of 2e2/h . The inset shows an SEM micrograph of the device.

Fig. 2 shows images of electron flow taken simultaneously with the two different measurement techniques. Fig. 2(A) is an image of how the conductance, G changes as a function of tip position. Areas of high $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$G correspond to areas of high electron flow. Fig. 2(B) is a spatial derivative of Fig. 2(A) acquired by adding a small oscillating voltage to the DC voltage applied to the tip and locking into that frequency. Oscillating the tip voltage changes the size of the depleted region below the tip and hence the location where electrons are backscattered. This technique therefore gives the spatial derivative of the electron flow because we are only sensitive to signals that change as a function of tip position.

Fig. 3 shows how we can use the tip voltage to probe the distribution of electrons in the 2DEG. The tip reduces the conductance through the QPC only when the voltage on it is sufficient to deplete the electrons directly below and backscatter them. There is a distribution of electron energies impingent on the tip, requiring a different tip voltage to backscatter the different energy electrons. Fig. 3(A) shows the tip potential for three different tip voltages. As the voltage increases, the tip backscatters electrons of increasing energy. For the lowest and highest tip potential, there is little change in the conductance with tip voltage since the distribution of electrons is not changing quickly. In contrast, when the tip potential is at the Fermi energy there is the largest change in conductance with tip voltage since there is a largest change in the electron distribution at this energy. Fig. 3(B) shows the differential conductance with respect to tip voltage as a function of tip voltage. For a thermal distribution of electrons, we would expect the signal to be the derivative of the Fermi function with respect to energy. This is shown by the gray circles in Fig. 3(B) which fit the data very well, indicating that we are measuring the distribution of electrons. The oscillations in the signal for larger tip voltages come from the size of the depleted region under the tip growing and the position of the backscattered electrons changing. The tip is just moving through the interference fringes seen in Fig. 2.


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# AE Aquarii: how CVs descend from supersoft binaries

## 1 Introduction

AE Aqr is one of the most distinctive cataclysmic variables (CVs). It has a long orbital period of 9.88 hr (Welsh et al., 1993), and the shortest coherent pulse period (33 s), increasing on a timescale $`10^7`$ yr (de Jager et al., 1994). Doppler tomography reveals the apparent absence of an accretion disc. This has led to its interpretation as a ‘propeller’ system (Wynn et al., 1997): the white dwarf is apparently expelling centrifugally the matter transferred from the companion. To arrive at such a highly non–equilibrium spin rate, the mass transfer rate in the recent ($`10^7`$ yr) past must have been much higher than its current value $`\dot{M}_2`$ few $`\times \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}^9\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$, and decreased on a still shorter timescale. IUE spectra of AE Aqr (Jameson et al., 1980) reveal the most extreme Civ to Nv ratio of all CVs (Mauche et al., 1997), probably indicating strong carbon depletion and thus CNO cycling. The short spin period makes the system effectively a double–lined spectroscopic binary, with masses $`M_10.89\pm 0.23\mathrm{M}_{}`$ for the white dwarf (WD) and $`M_20.57\pm 0.15\mathrm{M}_{}`$ for the donor star (Welsh et al., 1995; Casares et al., 1996). The donor star is of spectral type K5V (Welsh, 1999) which is too late for the given orbital period and too early for the measured $`M_2`$ if it is on the main sequence.

We show here that all of these properties are consistent with the idea that AE Aqr descends from a supersoft X–ray binary, cf. Schenker & King (2002). The thermal–timescale mass transfer characterizing such sources ends once the secondary/primary mass ratio $`q=M_2/M_1`$ decreases sufficiently, leading to a rapid transition to normal CV evolution driven by angular momentum losses, cf. King (1988). If the white dwarf is magnetic, as in AE Aqr, the high mass transfer rate in the thermal–timescale phase will have spun it up to a short spin period. This must lengthen rapidly in order to reach equilibrium with the lower transfer rate in the CV state, and this spindown is what drives its propeller action. The very short lifetime of the propeller phase implies a high birthrate for such systems, comparable to those of known CVs. This in turn suggests that systems descending from evolutions like AE Aqr must constitute a large fraction of all CVs.

The simple idea that all CVs form with essentially unevolved, low–mass main sequence (MS) donors has been repeatedly challenged for more than a decade (Pylyser & Savonije, 1988a, b; Baraffe & Kolb, 2000; Schenker, 2001; King & Schenker, 2002; Schenker & King, 2002). If mass transfer starts with mass ratio $`q1`$ the secondary’s Roche lobe $`R_\mathrm{L}`$ tends to shrink with respect to its thermal–equilibrium radius $`R_{\mathrm{TE}}`$. Mass is therefore transferred on a thermal timescale ($``$ few $`\times 10^7`$ yr), at rates high enough to sustain steady nuclear burning on the material accreted by the white dwarf, and thus explain (short-period) supersoft X-ray sources (van den Heuvel et al., 1992; King et al., 2001).

After this relatively brief phase, $`q`$ becomes small enough that $`R_\mathrm{L}`$ shrinks more slowly than $`R_{\mathrm{TE}}`$, and thermal–timescale mass transfer ends. The systems either evolve off to longer orbital periods, driven by nuclear evolution, or switch to stable, angular-momentum–loss-driven mass transfer like ordinary CVs. We will show that AE Aqr is at the end of this transition phase to a CV, accounting for its strange properties. AE Aqr is passing through this transition very rapidly; its whole evolution up to its current state is short compared to the stable CV phase afterwards. In this sense AE Aqr is not unique at all: a significant fraction of CVs must descend from similar evolutions.

In the next section we derive some rough estimates for the potential progenitor system of AE Aqr, using a simplified analytic description of the orbital evolution during rapid mass transfer. Sect. 3 studies the behaviour of single star models under fixed mass loss of the order expected during such an evolution. This allows us to identify the influence of varying stellar parameters, and establish whether the observed properties of AE Aqr are compatible with this scenario. We present a set of full binary evolution calculations in Sect. 4 and discuss them in Section 5. Section 6 is the Conclusion.

## 2 Simplified orbital evolution

To get a first idea about the required initial parameters for the progenitor system of AE Aqr, we recall that during thermal–timescale mass transfer additional angular momentum losses (magnetic braking & gravitational radiation) are negligible compared to the changes of the Roche radius resulting from mass transfer itself, e.g. King et al. (2001). We define $`\eta `$ by

$$\dot{M}_1=\eta \dot{M}_2$$
(1)
as the fraction of the mass lost from the secondary that is actually accreted on to the WD, while assuming that the rest leaves the system with average specific angular momentum equal to the primary’s, i.e. $`\beta =1`$ in the nomenclature of King et al. (2001). From their eq. (10) we obtain the evolutionary tracks as

$$\frac{P}{P_i}=\left(\frac{M_{2i}}{M_2}\right)^3\left(\frac{M_i}{M}\right)^2\left(\frac{M_{1i}}{M_1}\right)^{3/\eta }$$
(2)
and

$$\frac{R_2}{R_{2i}}=\left(\frac{M_{2i}}{M_2}\right)^{5/3}\left(\frac{M_i}{M}\right)^{4/3}\left(\frac{M_{1i}}{M_1}\right)^{2/\eta }$$
(3)
respectively for $`\eta >0`$. For the limit $`\eta =0`$ these lead to the exponential expressions given e.g. in King & Ritter (1999).

Equipped with these expressions we can estimate where analytically computed curves for the evolution of radius and orbital period intersect those describing mass loss under the assumption of permanent thermal equilibrium (i.e. essentially along the MS). These intersections mark the transition between the fast thermal–timescale mass transfer (supersoft) and CV–like angular–momentum–loss–driven evolution at lower mass transfer rates. Figure 1 shows a set of curves for different $`\eta `$ together with the shaded location of the MS framed by a pair of thick curves marking the zero–age MS (ZAMS) and the turn–off MS (TMS). For the latter we sue the point of maximal radius prior to core hydrogen exhaustion. Note that this definition is not applicable to MS stars without convective cores (i.e. with masses below $`1.2\mathrm{M}_{}`$). The lowest panel shows the growth of the WD mass as the donor evolves (from right to left) for various $`\eta `$. The initial WD mass $`M_{1i}`$ is chosen so that the current position of AE Aqr is reached with masses of $`(M_1,M_2)=(0.89\mathrm{M}_{},0.57\mathrm{M}_{})`$ in accordance with observation. A good fit should also pass through the correct orbital period and radius (estimated by the corresponding period – mean density relation). The assumption of fully conservative mass transfer ($`\eta =1`$) leads to much higher WD masses than observed, and we therefore do not consider it further.

Using the curves shown we derive first guesses for the system parameters of the progenitor system, i.e. $`M_{1i}`$, $`M_{2i}`$, and $`\eta `$. We cannot expect these estimates to be very precise, as the actual reaction of the system to mass loss in this transition phase follows neither the Roche curves nor the equilibrium curves (the secondary is out of thermal equilibrium).

Nevertheless we can estimate $`M_{2i}2\mathrm{M}_{}`$ and $`1.5q_i3`$, where the upper constraint derives from the occurence of delayed dynamical instabilities (DDI, see King et al. (2001) and discussion section). As explained above, conservative mass transfer gives too high a WD mass. However a value $`\eta 0.3`$ is plausible and gives an $`M_1`$ mildly increased over the average field WD mass, in accordance with observations of AE Aqr.

## 3 Single star calculations

We have shown that in principle a recent thermal–timescale mass transfer supersoft phase could explain AE Aqr. We now use full stellar models. This determines the star’s reaction to mass loss, and thus whether the observed spectral type (SpT) may be reached in this way. We simplify the mass transfer history as

$$\dot{M}_2=\{\begin{array}{cc}M_2/\tau _{\mathrm{KH}}\hfill & M_2>M_{\mathrm{sw}}\hfill \\ 2\times 10^9\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1\hfill & M_2M_{\mathrm{sw}}\hfill \end{array}$$
(4)
where $`\tau _{\mathrm{KH}}`$ is the secondary star’s Kelvin–Helmholtz time, thus mimicking thermal–timescale mass transfer and the subsequent transition to an evolution driven by angular momentum loss, as in ordinary CVs. The switching mass $`M_{\mathrm{sw}}`$ is chosen so that thermal–timescale mass transfer ends when $`q1`$, i.e. it can be roughly identified with $`M_1`$. A more thorough discussion of the exact stability conditions in CVs is presented in Webbink (1985); Sobermann et al. (1997).

The code we use in both the single star case of the last Section and the binary calculations reported here is based on Mazzitelli (1989), as adapted by Kolb & Ritter (1992) plus minor improvements. The mapping from effective temperature to SpT follows the procedure outlined in Beuermann et al. (1998) and Baraffe & Kolb (2000). This is not entirely self–consistent as our code still uses grey atmospheres.

At first we performed a number of calculations for Pop. I stars with 1.2, 1.6 and $`2.0\mathrm{M}_{}`$ and initial ages of 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1 of their MS-lifetime, using a switching mass of $`M_{\mathrm{sw}}=1\mathrm{M}_{}`$. As shown in Fig. 2, more massive stars of the same evolutionary phase and further evolved stars of the same mass will both lead to larger equilibrium radii after the thermal–timescale mass transfer.

Single star radii can easily be converted into orbital periods by equating to the corresponding Roche radius (with a primary mass given by $`M_1`$). This allows us to compare our tracks with the observed parameters for AE Aqr, $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}=9.88\mathrm{hr}`$, SpT = K5 and $`M_2=0.57\mathrm{M}_{}`$. For the remaining calculations in this section (shown in Figs. 3 and 4) a switching mass of $`0.7\mathrm{M}_{}`$ was used. We varied this value slightly for the purpose of testing, but it turned out to have little influence on the fitting of final system parameters.

We obtained four approximate solutions for the initial parameters of AE Aqr $`(M_{2i}/M_{}`$, $`X_{ci}`$, $`M_2/M_{})`$: S1 (1.8, 0.18, 0.6), S2 (1.9, 0.21, 0.6), S3 (2.1, 0.23, 0.54) and S4 (2.3, 0.247, 0.5), which provided the starting point for the full binary calculations in the next section. A decreasing amount of initial core hydrogen fraction $`X_{ci}`$ indicates a donor that is advanced futher in its MS evolution. The tracks for S3 and S4 are shown in Figs. 3 and 4 as the evolution of spectral type over secondary mass and orbital period respectively.

The (admittedly crude) modelling presented in this section leads to an overall fitting end state of the system, i.e. a reasonable model for AE Aqr today. However the preceding transition phase is poorly modelled. As a general trend derived from comparing S1-S4, lower initial secondary masses require the donor to be a bit more evolved, and lead to a slightly higher current donor mass in AE Aqr. We can therefore expect initial values around $`M_22\mathrm{M}_{}`$ to provide progenitors for AE Aqr.

## 4 Full binary calculations

There are two major effects suppressed by the single star treatment in the previous section:

1. For identical initial donor stars, different initial WD masses and thus initial mass ratios can produce very different mass transfer rate histories, which are represented too simplistically by eq.(4).
2. The growth of the WD mass is ignored in converting radii to orbital periods.

Therefore we have computed a range of tracks in a more self–consistent way. The mass transfer rate is calculated according to the current orbital parameters (‘full binary evolution’). The code used for this work is still based on the Kolb & Ritter (1992) version of Mazzitelli’s stellar evolution. The main challenge in computing the evolutions through and beyond a phase of thermal–timescale mass transfer lies in a proper treatment of numerical and physical instabilities.

We present here the results for six tracks, whose parameters are given in Table 1. In all cases the mass accretion efficiency $`\eta `$ defined in eq.(1) is kept constant throughout the evolution. Conservative mass transfer ($`\eta =1`$) is not considered (see Sect. 2). Figure 5 illustrates the variety of post–thermal–timescale mass transfer transitions mentioned in the discussion of the single star results above. Track B3 shows just a small bump of enhanced mass transfer. Increasingly S-shaped period loops appear in B2, B6, and B1. Tracks B5 and B4 show the beginning of an apparent runaway caused by a delayed dynamical instability (DDI); here extreme mass ratios coincide with sufficiently deep transient outer convection zones. None of these cases, including the dip in the mass transfer rate at the end of the thermal–timescale mass transfer found in B1, is adequately described by eq.(4).

The dominant parameter governing the behaviour along the sequence B3–B2–B6–B1–B5–B4 is the initial mass ratio: larger values correspond to stronger thermal instability. In addition the choice of $`\eta `$ (modifying the stability criterion) and the evolutionary state of the donor (e.g. B5–B6) can also have a strong impact on the evolutionary curves.

In some of the curves, particularly B1, a significant amount of numerical noise is apparent during the early high mass transfer rate phase. This is connected with the growth of an outer convective envelope caused by the rapid mass loss. As donors of these masses have initially radiative envelopes, very thin convective layers are present at the onset of this transition. This creates substantial numerical difficulties as minute discontinuities in the evolution of the star’s radius will be reflected in erratic jumps of the mass transfer rate. As time proceeds, the average thermal reaction of the star can be seen to pass right through the average of the scatter in $`\dot{M}_2`$: various tests with enhanced resolution and reduced timesteps have confirmed that the subsequent structure of the star is unaffected from these problems, which are localized in layers close to the surface and thus have quite short thermal relaxation timescales.

Here we discuss tracks B1-B3 and B6. Figure 6 shows remarkable similarities to Fig. 3, except for the high initial mass ratio cases (B1 & B6) which evolve in a much wider arc back to the mass and SpT of AE Aqr. Inset (a) shows a zoomed part of the end region of the tracks (discussed in the next section), while inset (b) focusses on the region near the current position of AE Aqr (again marked by an open diamond). Asterisks mark the position along each track where the observed mass ratio (presumably the best determined observable quantity besides orbital period) is matched. Given the uncertainties of spectral type calibration in the models and observational mass determinations, all four models qualify as potential progenitors. Not suprisingly the evolution vs orbital period shown in Fig. 7 has very different features from the corresponding Fig. 4: the loops and wiggles in the full binary plot correspond to the S-shaped curves shown in Fig. 5. Insets (a) and (b) again zoom in on regions of special interest, showing the rather good agreement with the observed values of AE Aqr. The jitter visible at the beginning of especially B2 results as discussed above from numerical difficulties at the onset of mass transfer from an outer convective envelope. Again the strong influence of a large initial mass ratio on the curves of B1 and B6 can be seen.

All tracks appear very non–MS like after passing through AE Aqr, which is a consequence of their advanced nuclear evolution. As listed in Table 1 and obvious from Fig. 7, the remaining core hydrogen content at the onset of mass transfer decreases with initial donor mass (B1–B2–B3–B6) in order to get near the current position of AE Aqr.

The full binary calculations in this section confirm the single star results for a range of suitable progenitors for AE Aqr. Evolutionary tracks for a variety of models do pass through the currently observed orbital period, spectral type, mass ratio and even individual masses $`M_1`$ and $`M_2`$.

So far we have not used the additional constraints from other observational properties of AE Aqr. These distinguish between different scenarios.

## 5 Properties of CVs descending from supersoft binaries

### 5.1 The WD spin

We first consider the current accretion state in AE Aqr. The rapidly rotating WD ($`P_{\mathrm{spin}}=33\mathrm{s}`$) is spinning down on a timescale of $`10^7\mathrm{yr}`$, consistent with powering the mass expulsion in the propeller phase (Wynn et al., 1997). As the timescale for the spin to reach equilibrium with the mass transfer rate is $`10^7`$ yr, the high mass transfer rate which spun up the WD must have ended only about $`10^7\mathrm{yr}`$ in the past. Figure 8 compares the mass transfer rate evolution for the four full binary models (B1–B3, B6). Clearly all cases predict the right $`\dot{M}_2`$, but all except one (B6) take too much time to reach that position. The spindown properties therefore clearly favour a large initial mass ratio for the progenitor of AE Aqr, and some fractional mass accumulation (here an average of $`0.3`$) on to the WD during the supersoft thermal–timescale mass transfer phase.

### 5.2 Abundances

Another potential way to distinguish between the models lies in their different initial masses and central hydrogen fractions. If we combine the observations of the extreme UV line ratios of Civ and Nv with the apparent oversize of the donor for its spectral type (long orbital period), the natural explanation is chemical evolution of the stellar interior. Given the complex convective history and the different initial core masses and compositions of our four cases, we can construct e.g. an evolutionary sequence of characteristic surface elements as shown in Fig. 9. Despite the loss of more than a solar mass from the donor, solar composition is still maintained for a long time in sequence B2. Later however the ratios of 12C to 13C and C to N decrease by more than one or two orders of magnitude respectively. Vertical lines mark the point in the evolution where the orbital period and mass ratio of AE Aqr are matched: clearly this sequence provides more than enough C depletion to explain the UV observations of Jameson et al. (1980). Very similar results are found in the other cases. Bearing in mind that B2 was not a particularly strong case of thermal–timescale mass transfer, it seems very likely that chemical anomalies like these are quite common in post–thermal–timescale mass transfer systems.

In order to understand the origin of this specific form of change in the C/N ratio, we take a closer look at the internal structure of sequence B3 in Fig. 10. Mass transfer in this sequence started with a $`1.8\mathrm{M}_{}`$ donor having only 19% hydrogen left in the core. The left panel of Fig. 10 shows the internal profile of C/N shortly after filling the Roche lobe, with mass $`M_2=1.69\mathrm{M}_{}`$. The initial solar composition has been modified severly by nuclear burning and subsequent mixing in the central $`1\mathrm{M}_{}`$. Although substantial energy generation by CNO burning is limited to the very central regions (especially the convective core plateau in the inner $`0.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$), the relatively long duration of the previous MS lifetime has allowed the nuclear reactions to change the composition much further out. The temperature–dependent CNO equilibrium ratios have been reached out to $`0.6\mathrm{M}_{}`$, whereas the slower nuclear reactions beyond that have only started to reduce the amount of C. Once thermal–timescale mass transfer sets in however, this chemical profile remains frozen (everything happens within $`10^7\mathrm{yr}`$, cf. Fig. 8). Material is removed layer by layer from the top, until finally an outer convection zone starts to penetrate the chemically modified region, or the region itself is laid bare already. The right panel of Fig. 10 illustrates this, when only $`M_2=0.69\mathrm{M}_{}`$ is left. The C/N ratio in the small surface convection zone is more than a factor of 100 below solar, i.e. even the weakest thermal–timescale mass transfer in case B3 has no trouble explaining the anomalous composition of AE Aqr.

### 5.3 Evolutionary endpoints: the AM CVn systems

The later stages and endpoints of the evolutionary scenarios found for AE Aqr are connected to the advanced initial stage of nuclear burning on the MS. As the insets (a) in Figs. 6 and 7 show, the most extreme case B6 (and quite similar B3, which has been stopped around $`P_{\mathrm{orb}}=5\mathrm{hr}`$) reach an orbital period of 60 min or below. In this state the donors consist largely of helium produced during detached MS burning. Thus these systems qualify as AM CVn systems or at least intermediate cases such as V485 Cen (Augusteijn et al., 1996). An almost identical channel of forming ultra-compact binaries has recently been studied by Podsiadlowski et al. (2001), focussing on initial donor masses below $`1.4\mathrm{M}_{}`$ and binary population synthesis aspects.

### 5.4 Other properties

1. The upper limit for the donor mass that potentially leads to similar evolutionary tracks is determined by the occurence of a DDI, and the requirement of a strong braking mechanism at the end of the thermal–timescale mass transfer supersoft phase. Both are extremely sensitive to the amount of mass accreted during the high $`\dot{M}_2`$ episode, which certainly needs further investigation. We suggest that masses up to $`2\mathrm{M}_{}`$ should be considered.
2. After passing the state exemplified by AE Aqr, all donor stars in our models have spectral types too late for their orbital periods. Hence post–thermal–timescale mass transfer systems provide a natural explanation for the apparently evolved state of many CVs with periods above $`6\mathrm{hr}`$ (Baraffe & Kolb, 2000). Podsiadlowski et al. (2001) claim agreement between the properties of their population and the observed SpT distribution in CVs (Beuermann et al., 1998).
3. A simple argument (King & Schenker, 2002) implies a substantial number of evolved systems among CVs: at the borderline between systems brought into contact by some form of braking and those by nuclear evolution there will always be donors which have almost finished their MS phase, but are still kept at short orbital periods by a thermal–timescale mass transfer phase followed by normal angular momentum loss driven evolution.
4. Most importantly, AE Aqr seems to be living proof that this kind of evolution does exist. If (as we strongly suspect; see below) a large number of systems with similar properties have passed through such a phase, the same group of systems may account for short-period supersoft binaries, AM CVns, V485 Cen–type close binaries, and a substantial fraction of CVs. Although these probably include unusual ones like AE Aqr or V1309 Ori, many of them may appear fairly normal.
5. If we assume the track of B6 as shown in Fig. 8 as typical for all supersoft, AM CVn, and AE Aqr–like stages, one would expect roughly equal durations of the supersoft and spindown phases. The subsequent lifetime as normal CV above the period gap is about 100 times longer. More difficult to estimate is the fraction of post–TTMT systems that end up as AM CVn stars: the uncertainties of post-common envelope distributions, DDI, and magnetic braking issues prevent serious quantitative predictions. Direct comparison with observed statistics is further complicated by poorly understood selection effects in these different classes.

A related question concerns the expected fraction of post–thermal–timescale mass transfer systems among CVs. We make a simple estimate using recently improved fits to the Galactic mass function (Chabrier, 2001), which enter as the distribution of initial donor star masses between $`0.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$ and $`2.1\mathrm{M}_{}`$. The upper limit is set by the onset of delayed dynamical instability ($`q_i=3`$) for a white dwarf mass fixed for simplicity at $`0.7\mathrm{M}_{}`$. Assuming that these systems evolve as normal CVs for $`q_i<1`$ and via thermal–timescale mass transfer for $`q_i>1`$ we find that in a steady state about one–third of current CVs should be post–thermal–timescale mass transfer systems. As a simple correction for the reduced binary fraction at low masses we have applied a weighting factors of $`0.7`$ (for the thermal–timescale mass transfer mass range) and $`0.3`$ (for normal CV donor masses). While this is obviously a fairly crude estimate, it does strongly suggest that a substantial fraction of CVs could show signs of an earlier thermal–timescale mass transfer phase. We note that more exhaustive studies of CV formation lead to roughly similar results. For example Table 1 from de Kool (1992) indicates that a large fraction (if not a majority) of zero–age binaries will undergo thermally unstable mass transfer rather than becoming a CV directly.

## 6 Conclusion

We have shown that the assumption of thermal–timescale mass transfer in the recent past of AE Aqr provides plausible explanations for all of its current observational properties. The system parameters for the best-fitting progenitor model presented in this paper (B6) are $`M_{2i}=1.6\mathrm{M}_{}`$ (fairly far evolved on the MS) and $`P_i=18.6\mathrm{hr}`$ with a primary of $`M_{1i}=0.6\mathrm{M}_{}`$ which manages to accrete about 30% of the total transferred mass upon reaching the current phase of AE Aqr. This indicates a relatively large initial mass ratio, and some fraction of mass accretion during the thermal–timescale mass transfer phase. Although the precise values may change, the idea is very robust, as the differential results from Sect. 3 & 4 clearly indicate that it will be always possibly to end up with an excellent model for AE Aqr.

The short duration of the thermal–timescale mass transfer and the transition stage (where AE Aqr currently is) implies a large birthrate, and thus suggests a large number of systems passing through similar evolutions. We expect descendants from systems similar to AE Aqr, and thus from supersoft binaries, to form a substantial fraction of the currently known CVs. The contortions of the $`\dot{M}_2P`$ curves of Fig. 5 suggest that non–magnetic descendant systems may change between recurrent novae, novalike and dwarf nova behaviour during and after the transition from thermal–timescale mass transfer to normal CV evolution. Descendants with significant WD magnetic fields will also appear in various guises during these phases. We suggest that the long–period AM Her system V1309 Ori (Schmidt & Stockman, 2001; Staude et al., 2001) is a descendant of a supersoft binary, cf. King et al. (2002). This system is apparently able to synchronise at its unusually long period of 8 hr because of the drop in mass transfer rate at the end of the thermal–timescale mass transfer phase. The pulsing supersoft source XMMU J004319.4+411758 found by XMM in M31 may be an example of a progenitor still in the thermal–timescale mass transfer phase (King et al., 2002). Note that V1309 Ori, the slightly nonsynchronous polar BY Cam (Bonnet–Bidaud & Mouchet, 1987) and the intermediate polar TX Col (Mouchet et al., 1990) all show high Nv/Civ ratios similar to AE Aqr. Abundance anomalies possibly related to stripping of a partially evolved companion were suggested by Mouchet et al. (1990) in the latter two cases.

We conclude that in spite of its apparent uniqueness, AE Aqr is only the first confirmed member of a much larger population of post–supersoft binaries, constituting a significant fraction of all CVs. A way of checking for this population is to determine the C/N ratio by measuring Civ 1550 versus Nv 1238. A low value here will be strongly suggestive of descent from a supersoft binary.

## Acknowledgements

Theoretical astrophysics research at Leicester is supported by a PPARC rolling grant. ZZ was supported by Royal Society China Joint Project Q760.


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# The Asiago-ESO/RASS QSO Survey II. The Southern Sample1footnote 11footnote 1Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, Chile (ESO P66.A-0277 and ESO P67.A-0537), with the Arizona Steward Observatory and with National Telescope Galileo (TNG) during AO3 period.

## 1 Introduction

QSOs are an important astrophysical and cosmological tool: they represent a major source of information about the origin and evolution of the structures in the Universe. They can be used either directly, as tracers of the density peaks, or as cosmic lighthouses, probing the Universe along the line of sight with their conspicuous flow of photons.

Early stages of galaxy formation are probably connected with QSO activity and central BH accretion. In recent years there has been increasing observational evidence that the evolution of normal galaxies and quasars is closely related and that quasars are short-lived. The evolution of the global star formation rate of the Universe, the space density of starbursting galaxies and that of luminous QSOs appear to be remarkably similar. Recently Kormendy (2000a) proposed that such “monsters” could be set at the heart of galaxy formation. A number of models indeed relate QSOs with galaxies both using theoretical (Haehnelt & Kauffmann, 2000; Granato et al., 2001; Monaco et al., 2000; Romano et al., 2001) and observational (Gebhardt et al., 2001; Kormendy, 2001) arguments. It is generally accepted now that QSO activity, the growth of SMBHs and the formation of spheroids are all closely linked (Kormendy, 2000b).

A well defined large sample of bright QSOs at $`z0.3`$ is instrumental in confirming or revising our conceptions about the evolution of QSOs and constitutes a significant challenge for any theoretical model. In particular, it provides key informations on the following issues: what is the typical mass of Dark Matter Halos hosting AGN ? What is the duty cycle for AGN activity ? What is the typical efficiency of the central engine at the various redshifts ?

It is paradoxical that in the era of 2dF (Croom et al., 2001; Shanks et al., 2000) and SDSS (Fan et al., 2000), with thousands of faint QSOs discovered up to the highest redshifts ($`z=6.28`$), the statistical properties of the QSO population are much better known at $`z2`$ than in the local Universe. The aim of this work is to fill this gap with a very large area search for bright and low-z AGN, the Asiago-ESO/RASS QSO Survey (hereafter AERQS). At present, the Northern Sample described in Grazian et al. (2000) (hereafter Paper I) is 85% identified and spectroscopic observations have been planned to complete the survey.

The structure of this paper is the following: in § 2 we report on the Southern Photometry used, the selection criteria are described in § 3; § 4 is dedicated to the New Southern Sample and its statistical properties (selections, completeness, efficiency); finally on § 5 we discuss the properties of the completely identified sample, showing the spectra of newly identified AGN and galaxies. We assume $`H_0=50Kms^1Mpc^1`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }_m=1.0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=0.0`$. A detailed treatment of the LF and clustering properties of AGN is left to forthcoming papers.

## 2 The Southern Photometry

The surface density of bright AGN at low redshift is very small, around $`10^2sq.deg.^1`$ as shown in Fig. 1. In practice, to reach significant statistics, an area comparable with the whole sky has to be covered. In Paper I we have discussed a number of databases sampling a wide domain in the electro-magnetic (e.m.) spectrum for the selection of an all-sky sample of optically bright QSOs with a high level of completeness and success rate.

In the northern part of the AERQS the basis of the optical photometry was chosen to be the US Naval Observatory Catalogue (USNO-1A222http://archive.eso.org/servers/usnoa-server) and the Guide Star Catalogue (GSC-1333http://www-gsss.stsci.edu/gsc/gsc12/) with a typical error of 0.2-0.3 in magnitude. For the Southern Sample we have tried to improve the optical photometry, using the positions and optical magnitudes derived from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS444http://archive.eso.org/dss/dss). For each target of interest (the selection is described in § 3) all the objects with known $`B_J`$ magnitudes within a radius of 1.5 arcmin were extracted from the GSC Catalogue. Small scans of the target and the GSC calibrating objects were extracted from the DSS plates. Instrumental magnitudes were then computed by aperture photometry in a circular area of 7.5 arcsec radius (9 DSS pixels diameter). A polynomial calibration curve is used to interpolate the magnitudes of the target. A typical calibration curve is shown in Fig. 2. We have tested the accuracy of this procedure using 446 photometric standards of the input catalogue used to calibrate the photometric material of the Homogeneous Bright QSO Survey (Cristiani et al., 1995), deriving a $`\sigma _{B_J}`$ of 0.10 $`mag`$ in the interval $`12.0B_J15.5`$.

The 7.5 arcsec aperture size (corresponding to a radius of 18.5 Kpc at $`z=0.1`$) is the result of a trade-off between the attempt to estimate nuclear magnitudes for our AGN (reducing the contribution of the host galaxy) and the necessity of a photometry that is “robust” against errors in the centering of the aperture. By comparing our photometry with the GSC2 catalogue we find, for the 80 AGN of Tab. 1 that have GSC2 $`J`$ magnitudes, a mean difference $`<J_{GSC2}B_J>=0.10`$ with a scatter of 0.4 mag, which can be ascribed to photometric errors and AGN variability. Using larger apertures obviously increases the contribution of the host galaxy. For example if we compare the magnitudes obtained with a 7.5 arcsec circular aperture with the magnitudes in a 15 arcsec aperture, for the 111 AGN of Tab. 1 we obtain a $`<B_J(7.5)B_J(15.0)>=0.5`$ with a scatter of 0.4.

We have used only plates based on IIIaJ emulsion to compute the magnitudes, as other emulsions are not standard and difficult to calibrate. This, together with the selection criteria described below, is the source of non uniformity of the sky coverage. Fig. 3 shows the area of the sky covered by the present survey. Table 2 provides a list of the sky sub-areas plotted in Fig. 3, which total 5660 sq. deg. of the Southern Hemisphere.

## 3 The Selection Criteria

QSO candidates have been selected by cross correlating the X-ray sources in the ROSAT All Sky Survey Bright Source Catalog (RASS-BSC, Voges et al. (1999)) with optically bright objects in the DSS plates. As stated in Paper I, given the low surface density of local bright AGN, misidentifications are very unlikely since we adopt a matching radius that is three times the RMS positional uncertainty of each X-ray source (typically 15-20 $`arcsec`$).

We want to stress here that this survey aims at finding optically bright QSOs and the X-ray emission is used only to compute an “X-Optical color” for the selection of AGN. Therefore the result of our selection cannot be considered an identification of X-ray sources. This makes the follow-up spectroscopy quicker than in the case of optical identifications of X-ray sources, because we do not care about objects fainter than the chosen optical flux limits and mis-identifications of optically fainter X-ray sources have no effect on the result.

We applied to the X-ray catalogue a number of criteria that do not affect drastically the completeness of our survey (basically the same used in Paper I): exposure time $`t_{exp}300s`$, Galactic latitude $`|b_{gal}|30^{}`$, hardness ratio in the 0.5$`÷`$2.0 and 0.1$`÷`$0.4 keV energy bands $`0.9HR1+0.9`$, hardness ratio in the 0.9$`÷`$2.0 and 0.5$`÷`$0.9 keV energy bands $`0.6HR2+0.8`$, likelihood of extent $`lik_{ext}35`$ to avoid extended X-ray sources; this corresponds to a limit for source extent $`ext100`$ in agreement with the preliminary results of the North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) survey (Voges et al. (2001) and C. Mullis private communications, 2001). In addition the likelihood of detection $`lik_{det}25`$ to select only reliable sources, with a significant level of detection in the RASS-BSC. These parameters have been described extensively in Voges et al. (1999).

Then we apply two basic criteria:

$``$ $`12.60B_J15.13`$

and

$``$ $`a_{ox}1.9`$

where $`a_{ox}=0.438log_{10}(cps)0.193B_J+4.20`$ and $`cps`$ is the X-ray flux measured in counts per second.

We have used the selection criterion $`\alpha _{ox}\alpha _{max}`$ which, as shown in Fig. 1 of Paper I, for objects brighter than the adopted optical limits provides a sample with a degree of incompleteness that is not a function of the apparent magnitude. We have compared the present selection with the low redshift ($`z0.3`$) optically or IR selected QSOs of the Véron Catalogue (Véron-Cetty & Véron (2001), hereafter VV01): out of the 67 QSOs known within our spatial and optical flux limits, 42 (63 $`\%`$) meet our selection criteria. Radio or X-ray selected AGN are not taken into account, to avoid biases in the estimation of the completeness.

The adopted selections in $`lik_{det}`$, $`lik_{ext}`$, $`HR1`$ and $`HR2`$ remove $`25\%`$ of the RASS sources that are probably stars, extended X-ray sources and other spurious contaminants; spectroscopic identifications for these sources are not available. The application of the same criteria for the AGN in the VV01 Catalogue lowers the completeness from $`64\%`$ to $`63\%`$; we can conclude, as in Paper I, that the adopted criteria increase the effectiveness without affecting the completeness.

We have selected a total of 243 candidates in the Southern Hemisphere over $``$5660 $`sq.deg.`$ at high Galactic latitude $`|b_{gal}|30^{}`$. They are listed in Tab. 1.

## 4 The Southern Sample

Of the 243 candidates belonging to the southern part of the AERQS, 45% had previous spectroscopic identifications in the literature (Véron Catalogue, NED555http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/). For the remaining 137 objects we started an observational campaign. We had several runs with different telescopes for a total of 7 nights: Tab. 3 summarizes the observations.

The reduction process used the standard MIDAS facilities (Banse et al., 1983) and other useful software available at ESO Garching through the SCISOFT666http://www.eso.org/science/scisoft/ environment. The raw data were sky-subtracted and corrected for pixel-to-pixel sensitivity variations by division with a suitably normalized exposure of the spectrum of an incandescent source (flat-field). The wavelength calibration was carried out by comparison with exposures of He and Ne lamps. Relative flux calibration was carried out by observations of spectrophotometric standard stars (Oke, 1990). For extended objects, only the core/nucleus flux was considered.

The identification classes reported in Table 1 are: $`AGN`$ = Active Galactic Nucleus; $`STAR`$ = star; $`GAL`$ = galaxy; $`BLLAC`$ = BL Lac object.

Objects with emission lines were classified as AGN only if they show broad and/or strong lines (typically $`H_\alpha `$, $`H_\beta `$ or Mg II). Galaxies with a weak ($`EW12\AA `$) unresolved $`H_\alpha `$ and no other features of AGN activity are classified as $`EMGAL`$ and, together with the newly identified AGN or normal galaxies, are shown in Fig.4,5,6,7,8,9. The objects classified as BL Lacs in Tab. 1 were already known from the literature (VV01 Catalogue). In the next section we will describe more in detail the emission line galaxies and try to interpret their properties.

At the end of our spectroscopic campaign we have carried out 137 new identifications; we have discovered more than 60 new AGN, significantly enlarging the number of bright QSOs at $`z0.3`$. Fig. 10 shows the redshift distribution of the AGN in this sample.

## 5 Discussion

We have found 111 AGN out of 243 candidates, corresponding to a success rate of 46$`\%`$. Stars are the mean source of contamination, especially active M stars, which are powerful X-ray emitters compared to their optical magnitudes, resembling the $`a_{ox}`$ of AGN. To distinguish them effectively an optical color, for example $`BR`$, would be extremely useful as these two classes have typically different optical spectral energy distributions. We have obtained $`J`$ and $`F`$ magnitudes, equivalent to $`B`$ and $`R`$ respectively, from the GSC-2777http://www-gsss.stsci.edu/gsc/gsc2/GSC2home.htm catalogue for all the object of this survey. In Fig. 11 the $`JF`$ color distribution is plotted for different classes of objects. We have divided AGN into two classes “Point-like” and “Extended” or “Galaxy-like” according to the classification given in the GSC-2 catalogue. There is no evident difference in colors between these two classes. AGN and normal stars are not so different in $`JF`$. M-stars, instead, can be easily separated from AGN. With the application of a reasonable cut in the optical color ($`JF1.6`$) the success rate of the present survey would be increased from the present value of 46$`\%`$ to 63$`\%`$ but the completeness would be affected as well, decreasing from 63$`\%`$ to a value of 40$`\%`$. If we compare the “Extended” and “Point-like” AGN of Fig. 11, a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test gives a probability of $`89\%`$ that the two samples are extracted from the same population. The mean values of $`JF`$ for the two samples are similar (0.69 and 0.72 for “Extended” and “Point-like”, respectively) and the dispersion is slightly larger for the “Extended” objects.

A more important consideration is the fact that surveys based only on optical colors, assuming typical blue SEDs for AGN, are significantly incomplete especially at low redshift and at faint absolute magnitudes, where the host galaxy contribution starts to be relevant. Fig. 12 shows the dependence of the AGN color $`JF`$ on absolute magnitude $`M_B`$: faint Nuclei tend to be redder than the bright QSOs. In Fig. 13 we show the $`JF`$ color distribution for 30 QSOs with $`z0.3`$ in the PG Survey (Schmidt & Green, 1983). We compare it with the same distribution for 80 AGN in the AERQS Survey with $`z0.3`$: an extended tail towards the red $`JF`$ color for the X-ray selected AGN is evident. PG QSOs have typically a blue optical color ($`JF1.04`$). If we had selected only AGN bluer than $`JF1.04`$, 22 ($`28\%`$) objects would have been missed.

Two effects can determine the big spread in the observed $`JF`$ color: the starlight contamination of the host galaxy and the existence of intrinsically red Active Galactic Nuclei. An additional contribution can be due to QSO variability, whose effect is difficult to address in detail, as it significantly depends on the time lag between the different flux measurements. From the analysis of the structure function (Cristiani et al., 1996) we should expect an average uncertainty on the $`JF`$ color due to variability of 0.2 mag for QSOs with a typical absolute magnitude $`M_B25`$ and 0.3 for $`M_B23`$.

The contribution of the host galaxy is clearly visible in Fig. 14, where we have normalized and stacked all QSO spectra obtained in this survey. We compare the result with the composite spectra by SDSS (Vanden Berk et al., 2001), First Bright Quasar Survey (Brotherton et al., 2001) and with a synthetic spectrum used for photometric redshift studies with a continuum slope of $`\nu ^{1.75}`$, redder than a typical $`\nu ^{1.2}`$ Blue QSOs. It is clearly visible in our composite spectrum the red continuum and the strong feature typical of early type galaxies (Ca doublet at 3929.3 and 3963.8 Å), producing a significant absorption in the rest-frame B band. Besides, it is apparent that for QSOs fainter than $`M_B=24`$ the contribution of the host galaxy produces a redder SED with respect to QSOs brighter than $`M_B=24`$. K-corrections are computed following the recipe of Cristiani & Vio (1990), but based on the new QSO composite spectra (FBQS and SYNT) plotted in Fig. 14.

In Fig. 15 we have tried to model the pattern of $`JF`$ color observed in Fig. 12. To reproduce the full range in $`JF`$ color, both a contamination from the host galaxy and the existence of AGN bluer and redder than the adopted composite spectra are necessary. QSO variability and photometric errors are expected to increase the scatter observed in Fig. 12 with respect to Fig. 15. Clearly the synthetic QSO spectrum is too red with respect to the observed $`JF`$ distribution, while the FBQS composite spectrum is roughly in agreement with the observations (a slightly bluer QSO spectrum would produce an even better match). A morphological analysis of individual cases is required in order to quantify the relative incidence of these effects.

There are 5 objects with $`H_\alpha `$ in emission, faint \[O III\] doublet and no other signature of AGN activity. We have classified them as $`EMGAL`$ in Table 1. They could be special cases, for example AGN obscured by dusty torus, according to the unified model. Another possibility is that they are normal starbursts or liners, common in a soft X-ray survey like the ROSAT sample. Further analysis, for example using hard X-ray observations with Chandra or XMM-Newton, can shed light on their nature and disentangle between Starburst and AGN activity. In the following papers only objects classified as bona-fide $`AGN`$ will be taken into account to study properties like clustering or Luminosity Function.

The LogN-LogS relation for AGN belonging to this sample is shown in Fig. 1 and compared with the relation found by Köhler et al. (1997) for QSOs with $`0.07z2.2`$. It is also consistent with the same relation found for the northern part of the AERQS.

With the completion of the southern part of the AERQS a statistically well-defined set of 340 bright QSOs with $`z0.3`$ has been collected. On the basis of the measured success rate, at the end of the present project, we expect to provide a full-sky “local” sample of 400 AGN.

We warmly thank the referee for carefully reading the manuscript, for useful suggestions and for improving significantly the quality of this paper. Part of the work has been supported by the European Community Research and Training Network ”Physics of the Intergalactic Medium”. AG was supported by the ESO DGDF 2000 and by an ESO Studentship and acknowledges the generous hospitality of ESO headquarters during his stay at Garching. It is a pleasure to thank R. Mignani for his invaluable help with the GSC-2 and A. Goncalves Darbon for her precious suggestions on objects classifications and interesting discussions. This project has been supported by the European Commission through the “Access to Research Infrastructures Action of the Improving Human Potential Programme”, awarded to the ’Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias’ to fund European Astronomers access to the European Northern Observatory, in the Canary Islands. This paper makes use of the ROSAT All-Sky Survey Bright Source Catalogue (1RXS). The Guide Star Catalogue-II (GSC-2) is a joint project of the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino. Space Telescope Science Institute is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under contract NAS5-26555. The participation of the Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino is supported by the Italian Council for Research in Astronomy. Additional support is provided by European Southern Observatory, Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility, the International GEMINI project and the European Space Agency Astrophysics Division. Based on photographic data obtained using the UK Schmidt Telescope. The UK Schmidt Telescope was operated by the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, with funding from the UK Science and Engineering Research Council, until 1988 June, and thereafter by the Anglo-Australian Observatory. Original plate material is copyright the Royal Observatory Edinburgh and the Anglo-Australian Observatory. The plates were processed into the present compressed digital form with their permission. The Digitized Sky Survey was produced at the Space Telescope Science Institute under US Government grant NAG W-2166. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.